The Talking Beasts Part 23

"Brother Toad, I indeed at first disputed with thee, saying that I could do more than thou; but, as for my disputing with thee, thou in truth canst do more than I: when the people saw thee, they did not say a word to thee, but when they saw me, they wished to kill me; if our Lord had not helped me and showed me a hole, they, on seeing me, would not have left, but killed me; thou surpa.s.sest me in greatness."

At that time the Rat entreated our Lord and he placed it in a hole, but the Toad he placed in the open air. The Rat does not come out by day, before any one; as to the time when it comes out at night, it stretches its head out of the hole, and when it does not see anybody it comes out to seek its food.

As for the Toad, it comes out by day and by night, at any time, whenever it likes; it comes out and goes about, not anything likes to molest it; it is bitter, no one eats it on account of its bitterness; the Toad is left alone; therefore it goes about wherever it likes.

The Rat does not come out of its hole and walk about except at night.

What the Toad and the Rat did, this I heard, and have told to thee.

This fable of the Toad and the Rat is now finished.

The Lion and the Wild Dog

The Lion said to the Wild Dog that he did not fear any one in the forest except these four, viz., tree-leaves, gra.s.s, flies, and earth, and when the Wild Dog said, "There is certainly one stronger than thou," the Lion replied to the Wild Dog, "I kill the young ones of the elephant, the wild cow, and the leopard, and bring them to my children to be eaten. If I give one roar, all the beasts of the forest tremble, every one of them, on hearing me roar; none is greater than I within this forest."

The Wild Dog said to the Lion, "As thou sayest that thou fearest not any one in this forest, so let us go and show me thy house; and I will come and call thee, in order to show thee a place where a black bird comes to eat, as soon as I shall see him again."

The Lion took the Wild Dog with him and showed him his house; and then the Wild Dog went home.

The next day, when a hunter was come to the forest the Wild Dog, on seeing him, went to the Lion's house, and said to the Lion:

"Brother Lion, come, and follow me, and I will show thee something which I have seen."

The Lion arose and followed the Wild Dog, and when they were come to where the hunter was, the hunter prepared himself: he had put on his forest garment, had sewn the bill of a long bird to his cap, and put it on his head, and he walked as a bird. The Wild Dog, seeing him, said to the Lion:

"Brother Lion, yonder is that black bird. Go and catch him, and when thou hast caught him, please give me one of his legs, for I want it for a charm."

The Lion attended to what the Wild Dog said, and went softly to where the bird was; but the Wild Dog ran back.

The Lion went, thinking, "I will kill the bird," but he did not know that on seeing him the hunter had prepared himself, and taken out his arrow; so, as he thought, "I will go and seize the bird," and was come close to the hunter, the hunter shot an arrow at the Lion and hit him.

Then the Lion fell back, and having got up and fallen down three times, the arrow took effect and he felt giddy. In the same moment the hunter had disappeared[1] so that he saw him no more. Then the Lion recovered his courage and went very gently home.

On his arrival at home the Wild Dog said to him:

"Brother Lion, as thou saidst to me that thou art not afraid of any one in the world except our Lord, tree-leaves, gra.s.s, flies, and dirt, why didst thou not catch that black bird which I showed thee, and bring it to thy children?"

The Lion replied, "This man's strength is greater than mine."

Then the Wild Dog said again, "Thou saidst that thou fearest no one, except gra.s.s, flies, earth and tree-leaves; thou fearest, lest when thou enterest the forest, the leaves of trees should touch thee, or lest gra.s.s should touch thy body, or lest flies should sit on thy skin; thou also fearest to lie upon the bare earth, and thou fearest our Lord, who created thee: all these thou fearest, 'but not any other I fear within this forest,' thou saidst; and yet I showed thee a bird, the which thou couldst not kill, but thou leftest it, and rannest home; now tell me how this bird looks?"

The Lion answered and said to the Wild Dog: "Wild Dog, what thou saidst is true, and I believe it; a black man is something to be feared; if we do not fear a black man neither shall we fear our Lord who created us."

Now all the wild beasts which G.o.d has created hunt for their food in the forest, and eat it; but as soon as they see one black man standing, they do not stop and wait, but run away. Now the following beasts are dangerous in the forest: viz., the leopard, the lion, the wild cow, the wild dog and the hyena; but when they see a black man, they do not stop and wait. As for the dispute which the Lion and the Wild Dog had, the Wild Dog was right, and the Lion gave him his right; then they shook hands again, and each went and ran to his own home. This fable, which I heard, respecting the Wild Dog and the Lion, is now finished.

[1]This refers to the universal belief that hunters are able to render themselves invisible, in moments of danger, by the operation of charms and witchcraft.

How Sense Was Distributed

In the beginning not one of all the beasts of the forest was endowed with sense: when they saw a hunter come to them intending to kill them, they stood and looked at the hunter, and so the hunter killed them; day after day he killed them. Then our Lord sent one who put all the sense into a bag, tied it, carried it, and put it down under a large tree.

The Weasel saw the man put the bag down, and afterward went, called the Hare, and said to him:

"Brother Hare, I saw a man put something down under a tree, but as I went to take it, I could not; so let us go and if thou wilt take it I will show it to thee that thou mayest do so."

When the Weasel and the Hare had gone together to where the bag was, the Weasel said to the Hare, "Behold, here is the thing which I could not take and for which I called thee here."

But as the Hare went and attempted to take it, he could not, so he left it and went away.

When he was gone the Weasel went again to take hold of the bag, but as he attempted to take it, it was too heavy; so the Weasel did not know what to do. Then came a Pigeon, who sat upon a tree, and said something to the Weasel. The Weasel heard it say: "Lean it over and take it." And again, "Bend it and take it."

As soon as he had heard this, he dragged the bag along and thus brought it and leaned it against a tree, and caused it to stand in an inclined position; then having gone to the bottom of it, he bowed down, put his head to the bag, and as he drew the bag toward him it went upon his head; this being done, he pressed himself upon the ground, rose up and stood there. After this he went his way home, and on putting the bag down upon the ground and untying it, the Weasel saw that there was no other thing in the bag, but pure sense.

So he went and called the Hare again, and when the Hare was come, he said to him:

"Brother Hare, there was not a single other thing in that bag but pure sense: G.o.d has loved us so that to-day we have obtained sense; but do not tell it to anybody, then I will give thee a little, and what remains I will hide in my hole until some one comes and begs of me, and then I will give him also a little."

So he took one sense and gave to the Hare, saying, "If thou takest home this one sense, which I give thee, it will preserve thee. When thou sleepest by day open thy eyes; then if one comes to thee, thinking, 'I have got meat, I will take it,' and sees that thine eyes are open, he will think that thou art not asleep, will leave thee alone and go; but when thou goest and liest down without sleeping, then shut thine eyes, and if one sees thee, and sees that thine eyes are shut, when he comes close to thee, saying, 'I have got meat, I will take it,' then thou wilt see him, rise up and run away into thy forest. This one sense will be enough for thee; but what remains I will keep in mine own house." The Hare took his one sense and went home.

Now if one sees a Hare lying with his eyes open, it sleeps, but if its eyes are closed it is awake, and does not sleep. By this one sense which it has got the Hare is preserved.

The Weasel took all the sense that was left and hid it in his house.

The Weasel surpa.s.ses all the beasts of the field in sense. When you see the Weasel, and say, "There the King of Sense has come out," and drive it before you, saying, "I will catch it," it runs into its hole; and if you begin to dig up the hole, it comes out behind you, and runs until you see it no more. This is why now if one sees a Weasel, one calls it "The King of Sense."

Amongst all the beasts of the field he distributed sense only little by little, and this is what they now have.

This word, showing how sense came abroad in the world, and the meaning of which I have heard, is now finished.

What Employment Our Lord Gave to Insects

All the Insects a.s.sembled and went to our Lord to seek employment. On their arrival they said to our Lord, "Thou hast given every one his work; now give us also a work to do, that we may have something to eat."

Our Lord attended to the request of the Insects, and said to them, "Who will give notice that to-morrow all the Insects are to come?"

The Merchant-insect arose and said to our Lord, "The Cricket can give notice well."

So our Lord called the Cricket and said to him when he was come, "Go and give notice this evening, when the sun has set, that to-morrow morning all the Insects are to come to me, for I wish to see them."

The Cricket, obeying our Lord's command, went back to his house, waited until evening, until the sun set, and as soon as he had seen the setting of the sun, he prepared and arose to give notice. So when the Cricket had given notice until midnight, our Lord sent a man to him saying: "Go and tell the Cricket, that there has been much notice, and that it is now enough; else he will have the headache." But the Cricket would not hear, he said: "If I am out they will see me." So he went into his hole, stretched only his head out, and began to give notice. The Cricket went on giving notice until the day dawned; but when it was day he became silent and stopped giving notice. Then all the Insects arose and went to the prayer-place of our Lord, the Merchant alone being left behind. To all the Insects who came first, our Lord gave their employment, which they all took and went home.

Afterward also the Merchant-insect went to our Lord, and our Lord said to him: "To all thy people who came before, I have given their work, and they are gone; now what kept thee back that thou camest to me last?"

The Merchant-insect replied to our Lord, "My bags are many and on the day when I took my bags and bound them up in my large travelling sacks to load them upon my a.s.ses, then my people left me behind and came to thee first."

Our Lord said to him: "All other employments are a.s.signed; the people who came first took them and went away; but stop, I will also give one to thee. Go, and having arrived at the entrance of the black ants, where are a great many ant-heads, when thou seest these many heads of the black ants, take them, and fill thy bags with them; then load thy bags upon thy a.s.s, carry them to market, spread mats there, and sell them."