Folklore of the Santal Parganas - Cecil Henry Bompas (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📗

is that you are

repeating?" "I am only reading a book, uncle."

 

"What, nephew, do you know how to read and write?"

 

"Yes, certainly I do," answered the jackal.

 

"In that case," returned the crocodile "would you mind teaching my

five children?" The jackal was quite willing to be their master, but

a difficulty struck the crocodile; the jackal lived on high land, and

the little crocodiles could not go so far from the water. The jackal

at once suggested a way out of the difficulty: "Let the crocodile

dig a little pool near where the jackal lived and put the children

into it. Then the jackal could take the little crocodiles out of it

when he was giving them their lessons and put them back again when

they had finished." So it was arranged, and in two or three days the

crocodile dug the pool and the jackal began the lessons.

 

Each morning the jackal took the five little crocodiles out of the

water and told them to repeat after him what he said, and then he began

"Ibor obor iakoro sotro" "Ibor obor iakoro sotro." But try as they

might the little crocodiles could not pronounce the words properly;

then the jackal lost his temper and cuffed them soundly. In spite of

this they still showed no signs of improvement, till at last the jackal

made up his mind that he could not go on with such unsatisfactory

pupils, and that the best thing he could do would be to eat them up

one at a time. So the next morning he addressed the little crocodiles,

"I see that you can't learn, when I take you in class all together: in

future I will have you up one at a time and teach you like that." So

he took one out of the water and began to teach it; but the little

crocodile could not pronounce its words properly, so in a very short

time the jackal got angry and gobbled it up. The next day he took out

another, which soon met the same fate as its brother; and so things

went on till the jackal had eaten four out of the five.

 

When there was only one left, the crocodile came to see how the lessons

were getting on. The sight of him put the jackal in a terrible fright;

but he answered the crocodile that the children were making very fair

progress. "Well, I want to see them. Come along and let us have a

look at them."

 

This was awkward for the jackal, but his wits did not desert him;

he ran on ahead to the pool and going into the water, caught the one

little crocodile which remained, and held it up, saying "See here is

one." Then he popped it under the water and brought it up again and

said "See, here's another" and this he did five times and persuaded

the crocodile that he had seen his five children.

 

The crocodile pretended to be satisfied but he was not quite easy in

his mind and would have preferred to see all the five little ones

at once. However, he said nothing, but made up his mind to watch

the jackal; so the next day he hid himself and waited to see what

happened. He saw the jackal take the little crocodile out of the water

and begin the lesson--"Ibor obor iakoro." Then when the unfortunate

pupil still failed to pronounce the words, the jackal began to give

it cuffs and blows. At this sight the crocodile ran forward and

caught the jackal, crying out "Show me my other four little ones;

is this the way you treat my children?" The jackal had no answer to

give and the crocodile soon put an end to his life and took back his

one remaining child to the tank where he lived.

CXVIII. (The Bullfrog and the Crab.)

 

There was a Raja who had no head and there was a Tiger who had no

tail. One day they met in a nullah. "Here's a fine dinner for me"

said the Tiger. "Here's a fine dinner for me!" said the Raja. At

this retort the Tiger's courage oozed away; and he did not dare to go

any nearer; but he called out "Well, if I am to be your dinner, come

and catch me:" and the Raja called out "If I am to be your dinner,

come and catch me." So they stood challenging each other, but neither

took a step forward. Then the Tiger became abusive and called out,

"What have you done with your head?" the Raja retorted "What is a tiger

without a tail? You also are short of a member. I may have no head

but I have more legs than you." The Tiger could think of no retort

to make to this and so said "Come, don't let us quarrel any more;

let us be friends; I live near here, where do you live?"

 

"My home is also near here."

 

"Then we are neighbours: there is no reason why we should be enemies."

 

"Who knows what you are at?" answered the Raja: "for you are

pretending that you cannot see aright, but it is quite true that we

are neighbours." "You are right," said the other, "I admit that I

did wrong, and I bow down before you." So they saluted each other and

the Tiger said "Let's have a song to show what good friends we are:

and he sang (to the rice planting tune):

 

 

    "The Frog King and the Frog Queen

    Sat at their front door.

    The Frog King's marriage is going on:

    Look, my master!

    The Frog King and the Frog Queen!

    The Frog King's marriage is going on."

 

 

CXIX. (The Hyaena Outwitted.)

 

Once upon a time there was a great tiger who lived in a forest;

and all the other animals that lived in the forest treated him as

their Raja, down to the very birds. They all felt safe under his

protection, because he was so much feared that no men dared hunt in

that forest. One day it happened that this Raja tiger killed a man

and made such a enormous meal on the flesh, that he got very bad

indigestion. The pain grew worse and worse, till he felt sure that

his last hour was come.

 

In his agony he sent for a hyaena and offered to make him his _dewan_,

if only he would call all the other animals of the forest to come

and pay a farewell visit to their lord. The hyaena readily agreed

but thought it would be better to send another messenger, while

he stayed by the tiger to see that all the animals duly presented

themselves. Just then a crow flew overhead; so they called him and

deputed him to summon all the animals.

 

The crow flew off and in a short time all the animals assembled before

the tiger and paid their respects to him and expressed wishes for his

speedy recovery;--all except the jackals. They had been summoned along

with the others; but somehow they paid no attention and only remembered

about it in the afternoon. Then they were very frightened as to what

would be the consequence of their remissness; but one chief jackal

stood up and told them not to fear, as he would contrive a way of

getting the better of the hyaena. There was nothing else to be done,

so they had to put what trust they could in their chief and follow

him to the Tiger.

 

On his way the chief jackal picked up a few roots, and took them with

him. When they reached the place where the suffering monarch lay,

the hyaena at once began to abuse them for being late, and the Tiger

also angrily asked why they had not come before; then the chief jackal

began humbly "O Maharaja, we were duly summoned; your messenger is not

to blame; but we reflected that it was useless merely to go and look at

you when you were so ill: that could do you no good; so we bestirred

ourselves to try and find some medicine that would cure you. We have

searched the length and breadth of the jungle and have found all that

is necessary, except one thing and that we have failed to find." "Tell

me what it is," said the hyaena, "and I will at once despatch all

these animals to look for it and it will surely be found." "Yes,"

echoed the tiger, "what is it?" "Maharaja," said the jackal, "when you

take these medicines, you must lie down on the fresh skin of a hyaena,

which has been flayed alive; but the only hyaena we can find in the

forest is your _dewan_" "The world can well bear the loss of one

hyaena," said the Tiger: "take him and skin him." At these words all

the animals set upon the hyaena and flayed him alive; and the tiger

lay down on the skin and took the medicines brought by the jackal;

and as he was not seriously ill, his pain soon began to pass away.

 

"That is a lesson to the hyaena not to scold us and get us into

trouble," said the jackal, as he went home.

 

CXX. (The Crow and the Egret.)

 

A crow and a white egret once made their nests in the same tree,

and when the nestlings began to grow up the crow saw how pretty and

white the young egrets were, and thought them much nicer than her

own black young ones. So one day when the egret was away, the crow

changed the nestlings and brought the little white egrets, to her

own nest. When the mother egret returned and found the ugly little

black crows in her own nest, it did not take her long to see what

had happened and she at once taxed the crow with the theft. The crow

denied all knowledge of the matter and a fine quarrel ensued.

 

Quarrelling led to nothing and they agreed to refer the dispute

to the decision of a money-lender, whose house stood by the tree

in which the two nests were. The crow, as the less shy of the two,

flew down and asked the money-lender to come out and settle their

dispute. The first question the money-lender asked was what they were

going to give him. The egret promised to catch him a fine _rohu_ fish,

which was what she was accustomed to eat, but the