Tibetan Folk Tales by A. L. Shelton (free biff chip and kipper ebooks TXT) 📖

Tibetan Folk Tales

by A.L. Shelton

[1925, not renewed]

Contents

One: The Wise Bat

Two: The Tiger and the Frog

Three: The Cony Who Got into Bad Company

Four: The Story of the Donkey and the Rock (A Black Tent Story)

Five: Story of the Foolish Head-Man

Six: How the Fox Fell a Victim to His Own Deceit

Seven: The Ingratitude of Man

Eight: Covetousness

Nine: The Wise Carpenter

Ten: The Story of Drashup and the Goddesses

Eleven: How the Louse Got the Black Streak Down His Back

Twelve: The Man and the Ghost

Thirteen: The Wicked Stepmother

Fourteen: The Story of the Two Devils

Fifteen: The Wise Woman

Sixteen: The Three Friends

Seventeen: The Rabbit and Bumblebee Bet

Eighteen: How the Rabbit Killed the Lion

Nineteen: How the King Lost His Great Jewel

Twenty: The Story of the Three Hunters

Twenty-One: The Hunter and the Unicorn

Twenty-Two: The Decision of the Official as to Who Owned the One Hundred Ounces of Silver

Twenty-Three: Story of the Prince’s Friend

Twenty-Four: How the Raven Saved the Hunter

Twenty-Five: The Two Thieves. (A Black Tent Story)

Twenty-Six: The Golden Squash. (A Black Tent Story)

Twenty-Seven: The Story of the Bald-Headed Man

Twenty-Eight: The Man with Five Friends with Different Colored Eyes (A Black Tent Story)

Twenty-Nine: The Story of the Violinist

Thirty: How the Sacred Duck Got His Yellow Breast

Thirty-One: The Two Little Cats

Thirty-Two: Story of a Juggler’s Tricks

Thirty-Three: How the Wolf, the Fox and the Rabbit Committed a Crime

Thirty-Four: The Pewter Vase

Thirty-Five: A Rabbit Story

Thirty-Six: The Story of a Juggler

Thirty-Seven: The Story of a Turquoise

Thirty-Eight: A Wise Idiot

Thirty-Nine: The Man and the Monkeys

Forty: The Story of the Tree of Life

Forty-One: The Story of the Man with the Goitre

Forty-Two: The Story of the Beggar

Forty-Three: The Wily Poor Man

Forty-Four: The Quarrel of the Five Friends

Forty-Five: The Frugal Woman

Forty-Six: The Story of Yugpacan, the Brahman. From Jaschke

Forty-Seven: The Story of Da Jang. From Amundsen

Forty-Eight: Like unto Solomon. From Jaschke

Forty-Nine: Tibetan Song

***

TIBETAN FOLK TALES

TRANSLATED BY A. L. SHELTON, M.D. (Shelton of Tibet)

EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY FLORA BEAL SHELTON

ILLUSTRATED BY MILDRED BRYANT

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

UNITED CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY [1925]

Scanned at sacred-texts.com, July 2005. Proofed and formatted by John Bruno Hare.

This text is in the public domain in the United States because it was not renewed in a timely fashion at the US Copyright Office as required by law at the time. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose, provided this notice of attribution is left intact in all copies.

DEDICATED TO MY TWO LITTLE GIRLS

DORRIS AND DOROTHY

WHO HAVE MADE SUNSHINE IN THE LAND WHERE THESE TALES WERE GLEANED

PREFACE

It is found among the old, old histories of the Tibetans that a female demon living among the mountains in Northern India mated with a monkey from the forests of Tibet, and from this union sprang the Tibetan race of people. The greater part of their literature is of a sacred nature, telling of their creation, of the formation of the world, of Buddha and his miraculous birth and death, of his reincarnations and the revisions of his teachings.

A kind of almanac, a little astronomy, plans for casting a horoscope, and many books filled with religious teachings and superstitions, including the worship of devils and demons, are about all that can be found.

The little stories in this book are told as the people sit around their boiling tea made over a three stone camp-fire. They are handed down from father to son, from mother to daughter, and though often filled with their superstitious beliefs, through them all run a vein of humor and the teachings of a moral truth which is quite unexpected.

These tales were gathered by Dr. A. L. Shelton on his trips among the Tibetans, around their camp-fires at night, and in their black tents high up in the mountains. p. viii

Every country has its folk-lore tales that have always been a joy and pleasure to the children, not only of their own land, but of other lands as well.

May these stories add a little to this pleasure and enjoyment everywhere, in whatsoever tongue they may be translated or in whatever land they may be read.

FLORA BEAL SHELTON.

(Mrs. A. L. Shelton.)

***

TIBETAN FOLK TALES

***

ONE The Wise Bat

If you are a parable unto yourself—there exists no evil.

Tibetan Proverb.

A LONG time ago, a very long time ago, when men and animals spoke to each other and understood the languages of one another, there lived a very powerful king. He lived far off in a corner of the world and alone ruled all the animals and men in his jurisdiction. Around his grounds and palace were great forests and in these forests many birds and animals lived. Every one seemed happy, except the king’s wife, and she said that so many birds singing at the same time made such frightful discord that it worried her. One day she asked the king to call them all in and cut off their bills so they couldn’t sing any more.

“All right,” the king said. “We will do that in a few days.”

Now, hanging under the eaves of the palace, close to the queen’s room, was a little bat, and though he seemed to be asleep, he heard and understood everything the queen had said. He said to himself, “This is very bad indeed. I wonder what I can do to help all the birds.”

The next day the king sent letters by runners into every corner of the kingdom, telling all the birds that by the third day at noon—and it mustn’t be forgotten, so put this word down in the center of their hearts—that all of them were to assemble at the palace.

The bat heard the order, but because he was very wise and understood everything he sat very still thinking and thinking about what the queen had said and didn’t go to the king’s audience on the third day, but waited until the fourth. When he entered, the king said angrily:

“What do you mean by coming on the fourth day when I ordered every one to be here on the third day!” Oh, he was very angry indeed.

The bat replied, “All these birds have no business and can come whenever the king calls, but I have many affairs to look after. My father worked and I too must work. My duty is to keep the death rate from ever exceeding what it should be, in order to govern the sex question, by keeping the men and women of equal numbers.”

The king, much surprised, said, “I never heard of all this business before. How does it come that you can do this?”

The bat answered, “I have to keep the day and night equal as well.”

The king, more surprised, asked, “How do you do that? You must be a very busy and powerful subject to attend to all these matters. Please explain how you do it.”

“Well,” the bat replied, “when the nights are short I take a little off the morning, and when the nights are long I take a little off the evening and so keep the day and night equal. Besides, the people don’t die fast enough. I have to make the lame and the blind to die at the proper time in order to keep the birth and death rate in proportion. Then sometimes there are more men than women, and some of these men say, ‘Yes, yes,’ to everything a woman asks them to do and think they must do everything a woman says. These men I just turn into women and so keep the sexes even.”

The king understood very well what the bat meant, but didn’t allow him to know it. He was very angry with himself because he had agreed to do so quickly what the queen had asked, and thought perhaps the bat might change him into a woman.

“I am not a good king,” he thought, “when I listen to a woman’s words and yield so easily, and I am terribly ashamed to have given this order. I’ll just not do what my wife asks, but send these birds all back home and not cut off their bills.”

So he called the birds all to him and said, “Heretofore, men haven’t known how to mete out punishment and laws for you, but now I am going to make the Cuckoo your king, and what I called you up to-day for is this: I wanted to ask your King and the prime minister, the Hoopoe, to rule wisely, judge justly, and not oppress the people. If big or little come to you in a law-suit you must judge rightly between them and not favor either rich or poor. Now, you may all return to your homes.”

But the king in his heart was still angry at the bat because he hadn’t obeyed him and came the fourth day instead of the third, and to show him he was the ruler and to be instantly obeyed he gave him a light spanking for his disobedience and then turned him loose.

***

TWO The Tiger and the Frog

The tall strong pine is a great help, for with its support the weak vine may climb as high.

Tibetan Proverb.

ONCE upon a time, in the days when the world was young and all animals understood each other’s languages, an old, old tiger named Tsuden went out hunting for some food. As he was creeping quietly along the banks of a stream a frog saw him and was badly scared. He thought, “This tiger is coming to eat me up.” He climbed up on a little bunch of sod and when the tiger came near, called out, “Hello, where are you going?”

The tiger answered, “I am going up into the forest to hunt something to eat. I haven’t had any food for two or three days and I am very weak and hungry. I guess I’ll eat you up. You’re awfully small, but I can’t find anything else. Who are you, anyway?”

The frog replied, swelling up as big as he could, “I am the king of the frogs. I can jump any distance and can do anything. Here’s a river, let’s see who can jump across.”

The tiger answered, “All right,” and as he crouched ready to jump, the frog slipped up and got hold of the end of his tail with his mouth, and when the tiger jumped he was thrown away up the bank across the river. After Tsuden got across he turned around and looked and looked into the river for the frog. But as the tiger turned, the frog let loose of his tail and said, “What are you looking for, old tiger, down there?”

The tiger whirled quickly, very much surprised to see the frog away up the bank behind him.

Said the frog, “Now I beat you in that test, let’s try another. Suppose we both vomit.” The tiger being empty could only throw up a little water, but the frog spit up some tiger hair. The tiger much astonished asked, “How do you happen to be able to do that?” The frog replied,