The Talking Beasts Part 19

"Oh, never mind!" said the Fox; "follow me! I can defend you against any foe."

So the Crabs followed him with pleasure. On the way the Fox told them all sorts of delightful things, and cheered them on most heartily.

Having thus gone some distance, they reached a plain, where the Fox came to a stand, and made a low moan in the direction of an adjacent wood. Instantly a number of foxes came out of the wood and joined their kinsman, and all of them at once set about hunting the poor Crabs, who fled in all directions for their lives, but were soon caught and devoured.

When the banquet was over, the Foxes said to their friend: "How great thy skill and cunning!"

The heartless villain replied, with a wink: "My friends, _There is cunning in cunning_."

The Camel and the Pig

A Camel said: "Nothing like being tall! Look how tall I am!"

A Pig, who heard these words, said: "Nothing like being short! Look how short I am!"

The Camel said: "Well, if I fail to prove the truth of what I said, I shall give up my hump."

The Pig said: "If I fail to prove the truth of what I have said, I shall give up my snout."

"Agreed!" said the Camel.

"Just so!" said the Pig.

They came to a garden, enclosed by a low wall without any opening. The Camel stood on this side the wall, and reaching the plants within by means of his long neck made a breakfast on them. Then he turned jeeringly to the Pig, who had been standing at the bottom of the wall without even a look at the good things in the garden, and said: "Now, would you be tall, or short?"

Next they came to a garden, enclosed by a high wall, with a wicket gate at one end. The Pig entered by the gate and, after having eaten his fill of the vegetables within, came out, laughing at the poor Camel, who had had to stay outside, because he was too tall to enter the garden by the gate, and said: "Now, would you be tall, or short?"

Then they thought the matter over, and came to the conclusion that the Camel should keep his hump and the Pig his snout, observing: "_Tall is good, where tall would do; if short, again, 'tis also true!_"

MALAYAN FABLES

"He who is not possessed of such a book as will dispel many doubts, point out hidden treasures, and is, as it were, a mirror of all things, is even an ignorant man."

MALAYAN FABLES

Father "Lime-stick" and the Flower-p.e.c.k.e.r

Old Father Lime-stick once limed a tree for birds and caught a Flower-p.e.c.k.e.r. He was just about to kill and eat it when the bird cried out, "O Grandfather, surely you are not going to eat me? Why, flesh, feathers and all, I am no bigger than your thumb!" "What!" said the old man; "do you expect me then to let you go?" "Yes," said the bird, "only let me go, and I will fetch you such a talisman as never was--a Bezoar-stone as big as a cocoanut and worth at least a thousand." Said the old man, "Do you really mean it?" "Really, I do,"

replied the bird. "Just let me go, and I'll bring it to you." Then, on being released, he flew off and perched on a tree, and began to preen his feathers, to get rid of the bird-lime.

Presently the old man said: "Where has that bird got to? Bird, where is the Bezoar-stone you promised to bring me, the one that was worth at least a thousand?" "Out-on-you," was the reply, "this is really _too_ ridiculous. Just think of me, with my body as big as your thumb, carrying a Bezoar-stone as big as a cocoanut! It really is too absurd.

Why, have I even got the strength to lift it?" At this the old man held his peace. "Well," continued the bird, "you will gain nothing by repenting that you set me free. Only remember in future not to undertake an affair quite out of keeping with your own powers. Neither try to get your arms round a tree too big for your embrace, nor attempt to climb one higher than your strength permits you."

The Mouse-deer's s.h.i.+pwreck

"Come," said the Mouse-deer to the Stump-tailed Heron, "come and sail with me to Java." So they set sail, and Friend Mouse-deer held the tiller and Friend Heron spread the sail, and the wind blew from the north. Soon however Friend Mouse-deer got drowsy, and let the boat fall out of the wind.

At this Friend Heron said: "Why does the boat fall off? How is your helm, Friend Mouse-deer?" "I was only taking a few winks," said he.

"Bring her up to the wind again," said the Heron. And the Mouse-deer replied: "All right, I'm 'on the spot.'" Presently, however, he dozed again and the Heron exclaimed: "Oh, if that's to be it, you may die and be done with. I'll peck a hole in this boat of ours and you'll go to the bottom."

But the Mouse-deer said: "_Please_ don't, I'm _such_ a bad hand at swimming." So they sailed on. And the Mouse-deer dozed a third time.

At this the Heron could contain himself no longer, and said, "Confound you, Friend Mouse-deer, for sleeping at the helm." And losing his temper he pecked a hole in the boat, and the boat let in the water and Friend Heron flew away. But the Mouse-deer swam struggling with his feet in the midst of the sea.

Presently there came up a young Shark who exclaimed, "I'll have a meal off you this time at all events." But the Mouse-deer answered, "What, Friend Shark, you'll make a meal off me? Why, in place of the little flesh I've got, if you'll carry me ash.o.r.e, I'll teach you some excellent Magic which will save you from ever having to hunt for your food again." To this the Shark replied, "Agreed. If you'll teach me 'your excellent Magic' I'll carry you ash.o.r.e." So the Mouse-deer got upon Friend Shark's back, and was carried straight ash.o.r.e.

And on their arrival the Mouse-deer said: "Wait here a bit, while I go and get the simples." And going a-land he hunted up a rattan creeper and took it back with him and said: "Now I'll give you the simples I spoke of," and bound it fast to Friend Shark's tail. And presently the Shark said: "Why have you made the line fast to my tail?" But the Mouse-deer replied: "'Keep quite quiet till I have tied you up properly, and then I'll give you the simples." But presently he dragged the Shark up on to the dry beach, and made butcher's meat of him. Just then, however, a Tiger came up, exclaiming, "Here's really a good meal for Me, for once in a way!" To this, however, the Mouse-deer replied: "What is the use of eating me, when there's already plenty of butcher's meat and to spare?" "Very well, I'll share it with you,"

said the Tiger. The Mouse-deer replied, "You may share it with me by all means, if you will only go and get some water to do the cooking."

So the Tiger went off to get water and presently came back with it.

"Wash the meat before you roast it," said the Mouse-deer. The Tiger took the meat and washed it in the water. "Go and fetch fire and roast it," said the Mouse-deer. The Tiger fetched fire and came back to do the cooking. And when the meat was done, "Now go and fetch some drinking water," said the Mouse-deer, "and we'll have our meal together." So the Tiger went off again to fetch the drinking water.

But the Mouse-deer in the meantime made off with the Shark's meat and climbed up with it to the top of a She-oak Tree. And presently the Tiger came back and found both Mouse-deer and meat missing. At this he exclaimed: "For once in a way, Mr. Mouse-deer, you've fairly cheated Me; if we don't meet again no matter, but if we do, I'll be the death of you." And here the story ends.

The Tiger Gets His Deserts

A Tiger which had been caught in a trap, seeing a man, begged to be released. The man said to the Tiger: "If I let you out of the trap will you promise not to attack me?" "Certainly," said the Tiger, and the man therefore let the Tiger go; but the moment the Tiger was loose it sprang upon the man and caught him. At this the man begged the Tiger to wait until he had inquired how the law stood with reference to their contract, and the Tiger agreed to do so. The man and the Tiger therefore set out together; and on coming to a Road the man said: "O Road, Road, is it lawful to requite evil for good, or good for good only?" The Road replied: "I do good to mankind, but they requite me with evil, defiling my surface as they go." Then they came to a Tree, of which the man asked the same question. The Tree replied: "I do good to mankind, but they requite me with evil, lopping off my branches and cutting me down." At last they came to the Mouse-deer and the man made the same inquiry as before. The Mouse-deer replied: "I must really go into the question thoroughly before I answer it; let us go back together to the trap." On reaching the trap, he requested the Tiger to "Step inside," and the Tiger entering the trap, the Mouse-deer let down the door of the trap, and exclaimed, "Accursed Brute, you have returned evil for good and now you shall die for it." He then called in the neighbours and had the Tiger killed.

The Tune That Makes the Tiger Drowsy

There is a tune which when played upon the "Kerotong" (a two-stringed bamboo harp) makes Rimau the Tiger drowsy, but only a few old people know it. One evening two men were sitting together and playing in a hut in the jungle when two tigers overheard them.

The Tigers took counsel together, and one of them said to the other, "You shall be the first to go into the house. Whatever you seize shall therefore be your portion, but Whatever plunges down the steps to escape shall be mine."

At this the second Tiger ascended the house-ladder and was just crouching upon the topmost rung when one of the men to amuse himself commenced to play the Tune that makes the Tiger drowsy. As soon as the Tiger heard it he began to grow sleepy, and presently fell plump down the steps to the ground, where he was seized by his companion. When he objected his companion exclaimed, "Did we not agree that Whatever plunged down the steps was to be my portion?" and, so saying, he proceeded to devour him at his leisure.

The Tiger and the Shadow

There was a "salt-lick" in the jungle to which all the beasts of the forest resorted, but they were greatly afraid by reason of an old Tiger which killed one of them every day. At length, therefore, P'lando' the Mouse-deer said to the Tiger, "Why not permit me to bring you a beast every day, to save you from hunting for your food?" The Tiger consented and P'lando' went off to make arrangement with the beasts.

But he could not persuade any of them to go, and after three days he set off, taking n.o.body with him but Kuwis the smallest of the Flying Squirrels.

On their arrival P'lando' said to the Tiger: "I could not bring you any of the other beasts because the way was blocked by a fat old Tiger with a Flying Squirrel sitting astride its muzzle." On hearing this the Tiger exclaimed, "Let us go and find it and drive it away." The three therefore set out, the Flying Squirrel perched upon the Tiger's muzzle and the Mouse-deer sitting astride upon its hind quarters. On reaching the river, the Mouse-deer pointed to the Tiger's likeness in the water and exclaimed, "Look there! That is the fat old Tiger that I saw." On hearing this, the Tiger sprang into the river to attack his own shadow, and was drowned immediately.

The King-crow and the Water-snail

A Water-snail was coming up-stream from the lower reaches, when a King-crow heard it. Said the King-crow to himself: "Who can it be coming up-stream that exclaims so loudly at the rapids? One might say it was a man, but that there is nothing to be seen." So the King-crow settled on a tree to watch, but as he could see nothing from his perch on the tree he flew down to the ground, and walked along by the water-side. And when he thought to see some man exclaiming, he caught sight of the Water-snail.