Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 09 (16 page)

Then Thakane stepped forward in front of the cattle and sang:

Bring to me Dilah, Dilah the rejected one, Dilah, whom her father
Masilo cast out!

And Dilah came from the waters holding out her hands to Masilo
and Thakane, and in her place the cattle sank into the lake, and
were driven by the old woman to the great city filled with
people, which lies at the bottom.

(Contes Populaires des Bassoutos.)

One day a wolverine was out walking on the hill-side, when, on
turning a corner, he suddenly saw a large rock.

'Was that you I heard walking about just now?' he asked, for
wolverines are cautious animals, and always like to know the
reasons of things.

'No, certainly not,' answered the rock; 'I don't know how to
walk.'

'But I SAW you walking,' continued the wolverine.

'I am afraid that you were not taught to speak the truth,'
retorted the rock.

'You need not speak like that, for I have SEEN you walking,'
replied the wolverine, 'though I am quite sure that you could
never catch ME!' and he ran a little distance and then stopped to
see if the rock was pursuing him; but, to his vexation, the rock
was still in the same place. Then the wolverine went up close,
and struck the rock a blow with his paw, saying: 'Well, will you
catch me NOW?'

'I can't walk, but I can ROLL,' answered the rock.

And the wolverine laughed and said: 'Oh, that will do just as
well'; and began to run down the side of the mountain.

At first he went quite slowly, 'just to give the rock a chance,'
he thought to himself; but soon he quickened his pace, for he
found that the rock was almost at his heels. But the faster the
wolverine ran, the faster the rock rolled, and by-and-by the
little creature began to get very tired, and was sorry he had not
left the rock to itself. Thinking that if he could manage to put
on a spurt he would reach the forest of great trees at the bottom
of the mountain, where the rock could not come, he gathered up
all his strength, and instead of running he leaped over sticks
and stones, but, whatever he did, the rock was always close
behind him. At length he grew so weary that he could not even
see where he was going, and catching his foot in a branch he
tripped and fell. The rock stopped at once, but there came a
shriek from the wolverine:

'Get off, get off! can't you see that you are on my legs?'

'Why did you not leave me alone?' asked the rock. 'I did not
want to move—I hate moving. But you WOULD have it, and I
certainly sha'n't move now till I am forced to.'

'I will call my brothers,' answered the wolverine. 'There are
many of them in the forest, and you will soon see that they are
stronger than you.' And he called, and called, and called, till
wolves and foxes and all sorts of other creatures all came
running to see what was the matter.

'How DID you get under that rock?' asked they, making a ring
round him; but they had to repeat their question several times
before the wolverine would answer, for he, like many other
persons, found it hard to confess that he had brought his
troubles on himself.

'Well, I was dull, and wanted someone to play with me,' he said
at last, in sulky voice, 'and I challenged the rock to catch me.
Of course I thought I could run the fastest; but I tripped, and
it rolled on me. It was just an accident.'

'It serves you right for being so silly,' said they; but they
pushed and hauled at the rock for a long time without making it
move an inch.

'You are no good at all,' cried the wolverine crossly, for it was
suffering great pain, 'and if you cannot get me free, I shall see
what my friends the lightning and thunder can do.' And he called
loudly to the lightning to come and help him as quickly as
possible.

In a few minutes a dark cloud came rolling up the sky, giving out
such terrific claps of thunder that the wolves and the foxes and
all the other creatures ran helter-skelter in all directions.
But, frightened though they were, they did not forget to beg the
lightning to take off the wolverine's coat and to free his legs,
but to be careful not to hurt him. So the lightning disappeared
into the cloud for a moment to gather up fresh strength, and then
came rushing down, right upon the rock, which it sent flying in
all directions, and took the wolverine's coat so neatly that,
though it was torn into tiny shreds, the wolverine himself was
quite unharmed.

'That was rather clumsy of you,' said he, standing up naked in
his flesh. 'Surely you could have split the rock without tearing
my coat to bits!' And he stooped down to pick up the pieces. It
took him a long time, for there were a great many of them, but at
last he had them all in his hand.

'I'll go to my sister the frog,' he thought to himself, 'and she
will sew them together for me'; and he set off at once for the
swamp in which his sister lived.

'Will you sew my coat together? I had an unlucky accident, and
it is quite impossible to wear,' he said, when he found her.

'With pleasure,' she answered, for she had always been taught to
be polite; and getting her needle and thread she began to fit the
pieces. But though she was very good-natured, she was not very
clever, and she got some of the bits wrong. When the wolverine,
who was very particular about his clothes, came to put it on, he
grew very angry.

'What a useless creature you are!' cried he. 'Do you expect me
to go about in such a coat as that? Why it bulges all down the
back, as if I had a hump, and it is so tight across the chest
that I expect it to burst every time I breathe. I knew you were
stupid, but I did not think you were as stupid as that.' And
giving the poor frog a blow on her head, which knocked her
straight into the water, he walked off in a rage to his younger
sister the mouse.

'I tore my coat this morning,' he began, when he had found her
sitting at the door of her house eating an apple. 'It was all in
little bits, and I took it to our sister the frog to ask her to
sew it for me. But just look at the way she has done it! You
will have to take it to pieces and fit them together properly,
and I hope I shall not have to complain again.' For as the
wolverine was older than the mouse, he was accustomed to speak to
her in this manner. However, the mouse was used to it and only
answered: 'I think you had better stay here till it is done, and
if there is any alteration needed I can make it.' So the
wolverine sat down on a heap of dry ferns, and picking up the
apple, he finished it without even asking the mouse's leave.

At last the coat was ready, and the wolverine put it on.

'Yes, it fits very well,' said he, 'and you have sewn it very
neatly. When I pass this way again I will bring you a handful of
corn, as a reward'; and he ran off as smart as ever, leaving the
mouse quite grateful behind him.

He wandered about for many days, till he reached a place where
food was very scarce, and for a whole week he went without any.
He was growing desperate, when he suddenly came upon a bear that
was lying asleep. 'Ah! here is food at last!' thought he; but
how was he to kill the bear, who was so much bigger than himself?
It was no use to try force, he must invent some cunning plan
which would get her into his power. At last, after thinking
hard, he decided upon something, and going up to the bear, he
exclaimed: 'Is that you, my sister?'

The bear turned round and saw the wolverine, and murmuring to
herself, so low that nobody could hear, 'I never heard before
that I had a brother,' got up and ran quickly to a tree, up which
she climbed. Now the wolverine was very angry when he saw his
dinner vanishing in front of him, especially as HE could not
climb trees like the bear, so he followed, and stood at the foot
of the tree, shrieking as loud as he could, 'Come down, sister;
our father has sent me to look for you! You were lost when you
were a little girl and went out picking berries, and it was only
the other day that we heard from a beaver where you were.' At
these words, the bear came a little way down the tree, and the
wolverine, seeing this, went on:

'Are you not fond of berries? I am! And I know a place where
they grow so thick the ground is quite hidden. Why, look for
yourself! That hillside is quite red with them!'

'I can't see so far,' answered the bear, now climbing down
altogether. 'You must have wonderfully good eyes! I wish I had;
but my sight is very short.'

'So was mine till my father smashed a pailful of cranberries, and
rubbed my eyes with them,' replied the wolverine. 'But if you
like to go and gather some of the berries I will do just as he
did, and you will soon be able to see as far as me.'

It took the bear a long while to gather the berries, for she was
slow about everything, and, besides, it made her back ache to
stoop. But at last she returned with a sackful, and put them
down beside the wolverine. 'That is splendid, sister!' cried the
wolverine. 'Now lie flat on the ground with your head on this
stone, while I smash them.'

The bear, who was very tired, was only too glad to do as she was
bid, and stretched herself comfortably on the grass.

'I am ready now,' said the wolverine after a bit; 'just at first
you will find that the berries make your eyes smart, but you must
be careful not to move, or the juice will run out, and then it
will have to be done all over again.'

So the bear promised to lie very still; but the moment the
cranberries touched her eyes she sprang up with a roar.

'Oh, you mustn't mind a little pain,' said the wolverine, 'it
will soon be over, and then you will see all sorts of things you
have never dreamt of.' The bear sank down with a groan, and as
her eyes were full of cranberry juice, which completely blinded
her, the wolverine took up a sharp knife and stabbed her to the
heart.

Then he took off the skin, and, stealing some fire from a tent,
which his sharp eyes had perceived hidden behind a rock, he set
about roasting the bear bit by bit. He thought the meat was the
best he ever had tasted, and when dinner was done he made up his
mind to try that same trick again, if ever he was hungry.

And very likely he did!

(Adapted from Bureau of Ethnology.)

Once upon a time there lived in Japan a rat and his wife who came
of an old and noble race, and had one daughter, the loveliest
girl in all the rat world. Her parents were very proud of her,
and spared no pains to teach her all she ought to know. There
was not another young lady in the whole town who was as clever as
she was in gnawing through the hardest wood, or who could drop
from such a height on to a bed, or run away so fast if anyone was
heard coming. Great attention, too, was paid to her personal
appearance, and her skin shone like satin, while her teeth were
as white as pearls, and beautifully pointed.

Of course, with all these advantages, her parents expected her to
make a brilliant marriage, and, as she grew up, they began to
look round for a suitable husband.

But here a difficulty arose. The father was a rat from the tip
of his nose to the end of his tail, outside as well as in, and
desired that his daughter should wed among her own people. She
had no lack of lovers, but her father's secret hopes rested on a
fine young rat, with moustaches which almost swept the ground,
whose family was still nobler and more ancient than his own.
Unluckily, the mother had other views for her precious child.
She was one of those people who always despise their own family
and surroundings, and take pleasure in thinking that they
themselves are made of finer material than the rest of the world.
'HER daughter should never marry a mere rat,' she declared,
holding her head high. 'With her beauty and talents she had a
right to look for someone a little better than THAT.'

So she talked, as mothers will, to anyone that would listen to
her. What the girl thought about the matter nobody knew or
cared—it was not the fashion in the rat world.

Many were the quarrels which the old rat and his wife had upon
the subject, and sometimes they bore on their faces certain marks
which looked as if they had not kept to words only.

'Reach up to the stars is MY motto,' cried the lady one day, when
she was in a greater passion than usual. 'My daughter's beauty
places her higher than anything upon earth,' she cried; 'and I am
certainly not going to accept a son-in-law who is beneath her.'

'Better offer her in marriage to the sun,' answered her husband
impatiently. 'As far as I know there is nothing greater than
he.'

'Well, I WAS thinking of it,' replied the wife, 'and as you are
of the same mind, we will pay him a visit to-morrow.'

So the next morning, the two rats, having spent hours in making
themselves smart, set out to see the sun, leading their daughter
between them.

The journey took some time, but at length they came to the golden
palace where the sun lived.

'Noble king,' began the mother, 'behold our daughter! She is so
beautiful that she is above everything in the whole world.
Naturally, we wish for a son-in-law who, on his side, is greater
than all. Therefore we have come to you.'

'I feel very much flattered,' replied the sun, who was so busy
that he had not the least wish to marry anybody. 'You do me
great honour by your proposal. Only, in one point you are
mistaken, and it would be wrong of me to take advantage of your
ignorance. There is something greater than I am, and that is the
cloud. Look!' And as he spoke a cloud spread itself over the
sun's face, blotting out his rays.

'Oh, well, we will speak to the cloud,' said the mother. And
turning to the cloud she repeated her proposal.