Folktales from Bengal (5 page)

After getting repeatedly
fooled by the fox, the crocodile thought, “The fox is very learned.
That’s why he always beats me. I am going to send my seven kids to
him, so they aren’t as stupid as I am. Once they are learned and
smart, then I’ll show him. I will beat him in his own game.” Being
thus pleased with his own reasoning, the crocodile took his seven
children, and went to the fox.

The fox was sitting in
his cave, having a crab for lunch. It was all shells and had little
flesh, and it was summer, so fish were hard to come by. The fox was
very bored, and very hungry, when the crocodile came knocking at
his door.

“
Mr. Fox,
wise old Mr. Fox. Are you home?” the crocodile said.

“
And what
brings you here, my friend?” the fox asked.

“
I brought my
seven sons to you. Teach them what you know, so that they become as
cunning and wise as you are when they grow up.”

The fox’s mouth watered
seeing the fat little crocodiles. He licked his lips, and said, “Of
course, of course, what are friends for? In seven days, I will make
these seven baby crocs as learned as the wisest of scholars.”
Hearing this, the crocodile left, feeling very pleased with
himself.

The fox took one of the
little crocodiles in a corner, and said, “Repeat after me
–

A for apple, B for
bell,

And C for a crocodile
that tastes so well.”

Then he snapped his neck
off and ate him.

The next day, the
crocodile came to visit his sons. The fox tied the little
crocodile’s mouths shut, so that they could not speak. Then he
showed the six of them one by one, showing the last crocodile
twice. The foolish crocodile did not catch the trick, and thought
he had seen all his seven children.

“
But fox, why
are their mouths tied?”

“
It’s so that
they talk less and listen more. It’s all part of the
course.”

The crocodile left for
home.

The fox then picked the
next one up and said,

“
Repeat after
me – A for apple, B for bell,

And C for crocodile that
tastes so well.”

And saying this, he
gulped him down.

The crocodile came the
next day to check up on his sons. The fox showed them again; taking
one out of the hole, and putting it back in before taking the other
out. He showed the first four of them only once, and the fifth he
showed three times. And the crocodile was none the wiser, and left
happily for home again.

Every day, the fox ate
one of the little crocodiles, and fooled the crocodile the same
way, until finally, only one was left.

The wife of the fox told
him, “What happens after tomorrow, when he finds out?”

“
Tomorrow is
a long way ahead, my dear.” The fox replied.

The next day, the fox
showed the last crocodile seven times. But on the seventh time, the
little croc snapped free of the rope that was tying his mouth, and
yelled, “He ate everyone daddy. He ate them all.”

At this, the fox and his
wife ran for it. The crocodile was dazed, so he went into the cave
and looked about, only to find the bones of his six sons. He was
furious. He got out and chased after the fox.

The fox and his wife
stopped at the bank of a river.

“
There’s a
forest on the other side. We can live there without getting
caught.” they dived in.

But the crocodile was
close at their tails. He jumped into the water, and was much faster
at swimming than the fox. Just as the fox was about to jump out of
the water, the crocodile grabbed his hind leg.

“
Oh, no. I
knew this was a bad idea,” cried the wife.

“
Relax, dear.
The fool only bit onto my walking stick,” the fox assured
her.

Thinking he had really
bit the fox’s walking stick, the crocodile quickly let go to get
hold of his leg, and just as he let go, the fox kicked on his head
and jumped out of the water.

Days passed, and the
crocodile kept on trying to catch the fox, but the fox was clever,
and stayed clear of the river. The crocodile thought for a long
time, and came out with a plan.

He came out of the water,
then turned over and lay on his back, pretending to be dead. The
fox was out looking for food, and his wife spotted the
crocodile.

“
It’s dead.
Let’s go eat it.” She said.

The fox wasn’t too sure.
So he craned his neck from a safe distance, and said aloud, “I
don’t think it’s dead, dear. Everyone knows when a crocodile dies
its tail wags from side to side.”

The crocodile began to
wag his tail about, and the fox said, “Yeah he’s dead all right.
Brain-dead.” And they trotted far away from the place. Fooled
again, the crocodile gritted his teeth, “I’ll show you fox, you
just wait and see.”

There was a pond inside
the forest where the fox came to drink water. The crocodile found
this out, and hid in the water there. The next morning, when the
fox went to the pond, he noticed that there weren’t any fish
swimming about. He knew the crocodile must be around. He said
aloud, “The water seems too clear today. I like it a little muddy.
I better go somewhere else and take a drink. Immediately, the
crocodile began to roll over and make the water muddy. The fax
laughed at the crocodile again, and left.

There was another spot in
the forest where the fox went to eat crabs. The crocodile went
there ahead of time to ambush him again. But the fox was too
clever, and so he knew that the crocodile would be waiting for him
there. He went close to the water, and said, “I don’t see anything
that looks like a crab here. I better go home.” the crocodile stuck
the tip of his tail out of the water and moved it about, trying to
bait the fox. “Fooled you again, crocodile,” The fox yelled, and
ran away.

And thus, after
repeatedly being foiled by the fox, the crocodile finally realized
that it was pointless to go after such a cunning enemy. He went
back home defeated and ashamed, and did not get out for a long
time.

Once, a merchant was
travelling on his horse. After travelling for a day, he got tired,
and he tied the horse to a tree, and fell asleep.

At night, he heard a
strange noise and woke up, only to find that a thief was escaping
with his horse.

He exclaimed, “Hold on,
brother. Where are you running off to, with my horse?”

The thief replied
angrily, “What horse? What are you talking about?”

The merchant was
astonished at this, and said, “Are you crazy? You are walking away
with my horse, and you are asking me what horse?”

The thief said, raising
his voice, “Hey. This is my horse. Don’t you dare say that it’s
yours.”

“
I brought
the horse straight from my home. How can it be yours?” The merchant
argued.

“
This is the
cub of my tree I am taking with me. The tree you were sleeping
under just gave birth to it. Hence it’s mine. Mind what you say,
stranger, or you will be in trouble.”

The merchant dragged the
thief to the king’s court, and complained. “Your majesty, I had
tied up my horse to a tree and fell asleep. And that thief was
taking it away, saying it is his.”

“
He is a
liar, your majesty.” The thief exclaimed. “There is no way this is
his horse. My tree gave birth to it, and I saw it with my own eyes.
I just tied up my tree-cub and was going to the market, when this
man came to quarrel, saying that it is his horse.”

The king scolded the
merchant, “This is very unfair. His tree had a cub, and you are
trying to say it is your horse. What an evil man you are. Now
flee!” He let the thief keep the horse.

Heartbroken, the merchant
started to walk back home. On his way, he ran into a
fox.

“
Why the long
face, my man?” The fox asked.

“
What an
idiot our king is,” he said. Then he told the fox his
story.

“
I think I
might have a solution for you,” the fox said. “Go tell the king
that you have a witness, but he will only show if he has no dog
about in his home.

The merchant went to the
king and said, “I have a witness, my king. But he is terribly
afraid of dogs. He would come, if you get rid of your
dogs.”

After the dogs were rid
of, the fox appeared. He walked slowly and in a drowsy way, with
his eyes closed. When he reached the yard, he leaned on a wall, and
yawned. Then he half opened his eyes.

The king laughed at the
fox’s appearance. “Oh wise fox, why are you so sleepy
today?”

He blinked at the king
sleepily, and said, “Oh it’s nothing. I was awake all night
yesterday, eating fishes. That’s why I can’t stay up
today.”

“
And where
did you get so many fishes?” The king asked.

“
The river
was on fire last night. All the fishes ran ashore, and climbed up
on trees. We chased them up and ate them. There were so many, that
we couldn’t finish them up till it was noon.”

Hearing this, the king
laughed so hard, he rolled on the floor. When he stopped, he said,
“What a foolish thing to say. How can a river catch fire, and
whoever has heard of fish climbing trees?”

The fox said, “Well if a
tree can have a cub that is a horse, why would my story seem weird
to you?”

“
The fox is
right,” said the king. “Somebody, quick! Tie the thief up, and
bring him here immediately.”

Ten of the guards
immediately caught the thief and brought him back to
court.

“
Hit him
fifty times with a shoe, and a hard one at that!” the kind
ordered.

After twenty five strokes
of the shoe, the thief yelled, “Please, stop. I am returning his
horse. Please no more.” But who would listen to him? After the
fifty strokes, the king said, “Bring the horse now, or fifty more
strokes it is.”

The thief quickly brought
back the horse. But his punishment was far from over. He had his
head and eyebrows shaved, sour milk poured over him, and exiled
from the country.

The merchant praised the
fox many times, and returned happily to his home.

The Head elephant of the
king was the largest, most beautiful creature in the kingdom. The
king loved him most among all the beasts in his stable, and rode
him to his daily affairs. So when this elephant died, the king was
in a lot of pain.

The king grieved for a
day and a half, and then told his men to throw the corpse away.
Five hundred men tied a rope around the body and dragged it to a
field, where they left the elephant to rot.

A fox lived in the forest
by the field. He hadn’t had a decent meal for a long while, and was
very pleased to see the dead elephant. He started to chew through
the belly of the large beast, and eat and eat and eat, until he
tunnelled himself deep into its body. Days passed, and he continued
to eat the elephant from inside out.

Meanwhile, the heat and
the sun had been drying the elephant out, and the hole the fox had
burrowed in through, had shrunk. After days of eating, the fox had
become very fat. Once he stopped, he realized that he was stuck
inside. He was very full, and so, couldn’t burrow his way out. So
he sat there thinking, figuring out a way to get him out of this
situation.

Three farmers were
passing by the corpse. The fox peeked through the tiny hole, and
saw them. This gave him an idea.

“
Hey,
brothers. Can you give the king a message? Tell him that if he
smears fifty pitchers of ghee on my belly, I will live
again.”

“
Look what
the elephant is saying. Let’s go tell the king,” said the
farmers.

“
O King, your
dead elephant says that if you smear fifty pitchers of ghee on its
belly, it will live again.”

The king was overjoyed
listening to this. “What are fifty pitchers of ghee to me if my
elephant lives again? Get a thousand pitchers, and smear it all
over the elephant until it lives.”

So, a thousand milk-men
delivered a thousand pitchers of ghee to the field, and two
thousand men smeared it on to the elephant’s body, for seven days
and nights.

After the seventh night,
the fox noticed that the elephant had softened up, and the hole in
its stomach was big enough for him to crawl out of. So he called
everyone and said, “Now I am going to stand up. But I feel a little
nauseous, so you better steer clear of the way, or I might fall on
top of you.”

Nobody wanted to be
smashed by a falling elephant. Everyone pushed each other to
scramble away from the elephant. This created great chaos, and
nobody was around to see if the elephant did stand up or not.
Everyone had run as far from the place as possible.

The fox realized that now
was the time to run. He shot out of the hole, and ran and ran and
ran, never once looking back.