vowed vengeance on the jackal and determined to kill him. For some time the latter was shy of showing himself; but the crocodile knew he must come down to drink, and every evening he lay in wait for him, hiding amidst the roots of a tree on the river's edge. One night the jackal waded in close to where the crocodile was lurking. The latter immediately seized hold of his enemy's leg. "That is not my leg you think you've got hold of," cried the jackal, "but a piece of wood." Straightway the crocodile let go his hold and snapped at a piece of root near, and the jackal laughing heartily at the success of his ruse made off safe back into the jungle.[1]
The Bottle-bird and the Monkey.
The bottle-bird at the beginning of the rains taunted a monkey, crying out, "Why didn't you build yourself a house before the rainy season? Your hands are like a man's and your feet are like hands too. The rains will last four months, and you will be wet and uncomfortable all this time. It is stupid of you not to have built a house." The monkey upon this got angry, and climbing up to where the bottle-bird's nest was hanging, like a lady's pocket, from a branch, he pulled it down, and with his hands and feet tore it to pieces.[2]
The Sparrow and the Crow.
The sparrow once came to the crow, who was building her nest of salt, and said, "Give me a little salt. I have none wherewith to savour my curry and rice." But the crow refused her any. Now when the rains came on the salt of the crow's nest melted and her nest was all wet. So she went to the sparrow and said, "Let me have a place in your dry nest." But the sparrow replied, "When I wanted some salt you had none to give me, and now you want a dry spot I have none to give you."
- ↑ Compare Miss Frere's Old Deccan Days, p. 279 (Story No. 24); also Jacobs' English Fairy Tales, p. 164 (Mr. Miacca).
- ↑ It is of course well known that monkeys make themselves no dwelling-place of any kind. The bottle-bird's nest is in the shape of an egg and quite a foot long. It has an entrance top and bottom, and, within, another entrance to a roofed partition in which is the actual nest.
