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

sky and a head just like yours fell on top of my palace, and we took it and burned it. When your son found it out he ran and jumped in the fire and killed himself.”

When the king of the lower regions heard this his face grew black as thunder and he said fear-fully, “I am not dead, my body is here, and you are responsible for my son, and your life must pay for his life.” The king of earth fell on his knees and began to beg for his life, saying, “I will give my kingdom, all my land and gold and all I have, if you do not ask me to pay my life for your son’s life.” So he yielded up all his goods until he had nothing left and kotowed over and over again.

“Well,” said the king of the lower regions, “you need not kotow any more, just look up.” When he looked, nothing was there but the old juggler sitting on a bench smiling at him.

The king was as angry as he could be when he saw him, knowing he had been the victim of a trick, but remembered he had given the juggler a letter promising not to punish him for anything he would do. He swallowed his anger as best he could, took his servants and went back into his palace.

***

THIRTY-THREE

How the Wolf, the Fox and the Rabbit Committed a Crime

When an evil man gets mad at his enemy he beats his horse on the head.

Tibetan Proverb.

ONCE upon a time a wolf, a fox and a rabbit were walking along the road together when they met a wizard carrying a pack on his back. The rabbit said to the rest of them, “I’ll go limping along in front of this fellow and he will put his load down and try to catch me, and you two slip around behind him, and when he puts his things down, you get them.”

Sure enough, the man put his pack down, picked up some rocks and started after the rabbit in hot haste, while the wolf and the fox got his load and ran off with it. He came back pretty soon, when he found he couldn’t catch the rabbit, and found his things were all gone. In great grief he started down the road, wondering what he would do and how he was going to live.

Meanwhile the wolf, the fox and the rabbit met in a chosen place and opened the pack to see what was in it. There were a pair of Tibetan boots with many layers in the soles, which made them very heavy, a cymbal with a tongue or clapper, an idol of tsamba and some bread. The rabbit acted as divider and said to the wolf, “You have to walk a lot, so you take the heavy boots.” And the wolf took the boots. To the fox he said, “You have a lot of children, you take the bell for them to play with, and I’ll take the food.” The wolf put on the boots and started out to hunt a sheep. The boots were so heavy he fell on the ice and couldn’t get up, and the shepherd found him and killed him. The fox took the bell and went in to his children ringing it, Da lang, da lang, da lang, and thought it would please them, but instead it scared them all to death. So the rabbit ate up the idol of tsamba and all the bread and got the best of that bargain.

***

THIRTY-FOUR The Pewter Vase

If good words come—listen. If good food—eat.

Tibetan Proverb.

ONCE upon a time there were two men who were friends. They went out one day for a fine time together, and as they were walking around on the top of the mountain, they found a golden vase. One of them began to scheme in his heart how he could get it away from the other; but the other chap, who was a good fellow, proposed (as it did not cost anything) that they take and divide it and use the money for charitable purposes, giving it to the poor and to the lamas.

The first one said he didn’t believe it was a real vase, that it was only an imaginary one, and that the gods had made it appear real to them. It was only an illusion. If they attempted to do anything with it, it would vanish entirely. They discussed the matter for a while and finally went down to the home of the man who desired it all for himself.

After a while he said to his friend, “You leave this vase here with me for a while; you want to go home now, and when you return we will divide it, each take his half and use it as he desires.”

So the man went on to his home, remaining there for three or four days. When he came back he met the man who had taken care of the vase and he was crying and beating his breast and tearing his hair. He exclaimed, “What is the matter with you and why are you carrying on in this manner?”

He replied, “Oh, I dare not tell you, it is too dreadful.” But his friend said, “Tell me what it is, perhaps I can help you.” For a long time he refused, but was finally persuaded and told him the trouble. “You know that golden vase we found, well, when I cut it it was only pewter.” His friend replied, “That does not matter, we did not pay anything for it, we only found it, so we have lost nothing.” Then the man stopped crying and felt wonderfully well satisfied with himself, thinking his friend had given up very easily and now he could keep the vase all for himself.

So the good man started home, but as he was leaving he said, “Your place here on the mountain is not a very pleasant spot, here it is cold and damp, while my place is fresh and green and warm, with plenty of grass for the cattle and fruit in abundance. You have two sons, let them take your cattle, go home with me and stay for a while.” The man agreed and said it would be a nice trip for the boys, so they were allowed to accompany the good man. On the road as they were going home they saw two monkeys and caught them, taking them along. The man began to teach the monkeys tricks, taught them to dance when he sang for them, to come when he called them by name, and gave to them the names of his friend’s two sons.

In a month or two he got a letter from his friend saying he was coming down for his boys. When he arrived he found the man crying and beating his breast and going on in a terrible manner. (Just before the arrival of the boy’s father, he had taken the two boys and tied them up tight in a cave on the mountain.) As his friend came in he said, “What is the matter?” “Oh, I don’t dare tell you,” he answered, and went on crying and beating his breast. But his friend insisted and said, “It does not matter, perhaps I can help you.” He finally consented and told him, “Well, you know, those two boys of yours that came home with me have changed into monkeys. If you don’t believe it, call them and see.” He called his sons’ names and the monkeys came to him at once. The father looked at them for a little while and remarked, “Well, you are a smarter man than I, that vase is gold all right. You bring out the boys and I will divide the vase with you.” So their trouble was peacefully settled and they were friends forever afterward.

***

THIRTY-FIVE A Rabbit Story

The voice of the wolf is a sign to the sheep.

Tibetan Proverb.

ONCE upon a time there were two neighbor families, one family composed of an old mother bear and her son and the other of an old mother rabbit and her son. The children kept the house while the two mothers went out to dig roots. The rabbit’s claws were sharp and quick and she got the most. This made the old bear mad so she killed the rabbit and took the dead body and roots home, although she couldn’t dig very many, as her claws were dull. The little rabbit waited and waited and could not understand why his mother didn’t come home. Finally he slipped over to the old bear’s house to see what he could discover. He peeped in and saw that the old bear was cooking his mother, and she and her son sat down and ate her all up. He felt dreadfully bad and began to think of revenge, and said to himself: “Some day I will get even with them.”

One day the old mother bear went out to carry water, and while she was gone the little rabbit heated an arrow red hot and shot the little bear in the ear and killed him. Then he took his mother’s sack which the old bear had stolen with the roots in it and carried it away with him. As he went up the mountain he met a tiger and said to him, “There is a bear coming after me, Mr. Tiger, won’t you save me and find a place for me to hide?” “All right, you crawl in my ear and that bear will never find you.”

The old mother bear returned, bringing her kang of water, and found her son dead. She said, “The young rabbit has done this. I shall follow him and kill him.” So, going after the rabbit, she came upon the tiger and asked, “Have you seen a fellow with gray fur and long ears anywhere? If you don’t tell me the truth I will kill you.” The tiger answered, “Don’t talk to me that way, for I could kill you without very much trouble.” And the old bear went on. The rabbit sat there in the tiger’s ear eating some of the roots he had in his sack and the tiger could hear him munching away, and asked: “What are you eating?” “My own eye-ball,” he answered. The tiger said, “Give me one, they seem very good.” The rabbit handed him a root, the tiger ate and said, “That’s very good. Let’s take my eye-balls out and eat them, and if I am blind, since I saved you from this bear, you will take care of me and lead me around, will you not?” The rabbit said, “I will do that all right.” So he dug out the tiger’s two eye-balls and handed him some roots to eat in place of them. Then he went on leading the tiger, who now was blind, right up to the side of a big steep cliff, where he told him to lie down and go to sleep. Then he built a big fire on the other side of the tiger, who got so hot that when he moved away he fell over the cliff and killed himself.

The rabbit now went to a shepherd and told him, “There is a dead tiger up there, you can go and cut him up.” Then he went to the wolf and said, “The shepherd is gone and you can go kill some sheep.” Then he went to the raven and said, “You can go and pick the little wolves’ eyes out, as their mother is gone to kill a sheep.” Now the rabbit had done so much harm he thought he had better