Sandman Stories PresentsEP 340: Right and Might; Why the Lip of the Elephant Droops; How a Dead Tiger Killed the Princess; The Monkeys and the Crabs (Fleeson)
Right and Might
While a deer was eating wild fruit, he heard an owl call, “Haak, haak,” and a cricket cry, “Wat,” and, frightened, he fled.
In his flight he ran through the trees up into the mountains and into streams. In one of the streams the deer stepped upon a small fish and crushed it almost to death.
Then the fish complained to the court, and the deer, owl, cricket and fish had a lawsuit. In the trial came out this evidence:
As the deer fled, he ran into some dry grass, and the seed fell into the eye of a wild chicken, and the pain of the seed in the eye of the chicken caused it to fly up against a nest of red ants. Alarmed, the red ants flew out to do battle, and in their haste, bit a mongoose. The mongoose ran into a vine of wild fruit and shook several pieces of it on the head of a hermit, who sat thinking under a tree.
“Why did you, O fruit, fall on my head,” cried the hermit.
The fruit answered: “We did not wish to fall; a mongoose ran against our vine and threw us down.”
And the hermit asked, “O mongoose, why did you throw the fruit?”
The mongoose answered: “I did not wish to throw down the fruit, but the red ants bit me and I ran against the vine.”
The hermit asked, “O ants, why did you bite the mongoose?”
The red ants replied: “The hen flew against our nest and angered us.”
The hermit asked, “O hen, why did you fly against the red ants’ nest?”
And the hen replied: “The seed fell into my eyes and hurt me.”
And the hermit asked, “O seed, why did you fall into the hen’s eyes?”
And the seed replied: “The deer shook me down.”
The hermit said unto the deer, “O deer, why did you shake down the seed?”
The deer answered: “I did not wish to do it, but the owl called, frightening me and I ran.”
“O owl,” asked the hermit, “why did you frighten the deer?”
The owl replied: “I called but as I am accustomed to call—the cricket, too, called.”
Having heard the evidence, the judge said, “The cricket must replace the crushed parts of the fish and make it well,” as he, the cricket, had called and frightened the deer.
The End
Why the Lip of the Elephant Droops
In the days when the earth was young, there lived a poor man and his wife who had twelve daughters, whom they no longer loved and no longer desired. Day after day the father and mother planned to be free of them. One day, the father made a basket; in the bottom of it he placed ashes, but on the top he spread rice. Taking this basket with him, he called his daughters to come go to the jungle to hunt for game.
When the heat of the day had come, they all sat down to eat, and, after they had eaten, the father gave each daughter a bamboo joint, and asked her to get water for him. The joints were made so that they would not hold water, and while the maidens endeavored to make them so that they would, the father returned home. In vain the maidens tried to make the joints hold the water and after a while they sought their father, but, lo, the father was gone and only the basket remained! Examining the basket, they found rice but on the top, and on the bottom filled with ashes, so they knew their parents sought to be free of them by leaving them in the trackless jungle. Unable to find their way out, there they slept peacefully, for the wild beasts molest not those who fearlessly stay with them.
As the eye of day opened in the East, the forlorn maidens beheld, as they awakened, a beautiful woman standing near, and of her they sought help.
“Come with me and be companions to my little daughter. Often I am away from home and she is lonely. Come home with me, play with my daughter, and, in exchange I will give you a home,” said the beautiful woman.
Gladly the maidens consented and went with the woman to her home far in the jungle. All places save one small garden were they free to enter. And upon a day, the fair woman said, “I go to the jungle and will not return until the eye of day has closed. Do not play in the small garden.” Scarcely had she gone ere she returned, but the maidens had not sought the garden.
Again, after a day, the fair woman said, “I go to the jungle but for a short time. Go not to play in the small garden.”
Thinking she would this time be gone all day, the maidens sought the small garden, and lo, it was strewn with human bones! Then they knew the fair woman was a cannibal. Full of fear, they fled, and, as they fled they met a cow.
“Protect us,” they cried.
The cow opened its mouth and the maidens jumped in. Thus they journeyed from the cannibal’s home. As the cow returned, it met the fair woman seeking the maidens.
“Have you seen twelve maidens pass this way?” she asked.
“No,” answered the cow.
“If you do not speak the truth, I’ll kill and eat you,” she cried.
“I saw them as they made haste in that way,” replied the cow.
The cannibal woman ran that way.
After the cow left them, the maidens hastened on and as they hastened they met an elephant and begged it to save them from the cannibal.
The elephant opened its mouth and the maidens jumped in, but so slowly did one jump that an edge of her garment hung out of the mouth. As they journeyed the cannibal overtook them.
“Did you see twelve maidens hastening toward the city?” asked the cannibal.
“No,” answered the elephant.
“From this time forth forever the lip of your mouth shall hang down as a garment,” cursed the cannibal, for she had seen the edge of the maiden’s garment hanging out of the elephant’s mouth and knew it was protecting the twelve maidens. And to this day doth the lip of the elephant hangs down like a garment.
The End
How a Dead Tiger Killed the Princess
There was once a king who had a daughter, at whose birth a wise man foretold that she would be killed by a tiger when she was a grown maiden. In order that no animal might approach her, the king built her a house set upon one huge pillar, and there she and her attendants dwelt.
And it fell upon a day, when the daughter was well grown, that one of the hunters, whose labor it was to kill the tigers of the country, brought a dead one to the palace of the king. The princess, seeing her dead enemy, came down from her tower and plucked a whisker from the tiger, and, as she blew her breath on it, she cried, “I do not fear thee, O my enemy, for thou art dead!” But the poison, which is in the whiskers of a tiger, entered into the blood of the princess, and she died.
Then did the king make a proclamation, and sent messengers throughout all his realm, commanding that, when a tiger was killed, all his whiskers be immediately pulled out and burned, that a tiger may not be able to slay when dead; and until this day, the people obey the command of the king.
The End
The Monkeys and the Crabs
All the monkeys which live in the forests near the great sea in the south, watch the tide running out, hoping to catch the sea-crabs which are left in the soft earth. If they can find a crab above the ground, they immediately catch and eat it.
Sometimes, the crabs bury themselves in the mud, and the monkeys, seeing the tunnels they have made, reach down into them with their long tails, and torment the crabs until they, in anger, seizing the tormenting tail, are drawn out and devoured by their cunning foes. But, sometimes, alas, the crab fails to come out! No matter with what strength the monkey pulls and tugs, the crabs do not appear, and the poor monkey is held fast, while the tide comes in and drowns it. When the tide goes out again, leaving the luckless monkey on the beach, the crabs come out from their strongholds and feast on the dead enemy.
The End
Source: Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India, by Katherine Neville Fleeson
Photo Credit: “Elephant mouth, Amboseli National Park, Kenya” by GRIDArendal is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
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