Georgene Faulkner

“ Run! Brother Camel! The earth is falling in! The earth is falling in!” So the Camel ran with them.
On and on, they ran, faster and faster, until presently they met a big Elephant. He snorted at them through his long trumpet. “Why do you all run so fast, and where are you going?”
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“Run! Run! Brother Elephant! The earth is falling in! The earth is falling in!” called the Camel.
So the Elephant joined them and went madly rushing along through the jungle, blowing a blast through his trumpet and shouting, “Run! Run! The earth is falling in! The earth is falling in!” ”

“ But the Chattee-maker never would ride on a horse. He had his own beautiful coach in which to ride and he was often carried about on a litter so that no one ever knew that he was not a bold and brave rider. Had he not ridden on a tiger and had he not routed an army by rushing at them and pulling up trees to frighten them away? Yes, indeed, the people were all very proud of the valiant Chattee-maker, and he lived very happily, all the rest of his life. ”

“ One day he went to sleep under a big palm-tree and, when he awoke, he shivered and shook with fright, and said, “What if the earth should fall in? What would become of me, then?”
Just at that very moment, some monkeys up in the tree dropped a big cocoanut. It fell down with a bang upon the ground.
“Oh, dear me! oh, dear me! what a terrible noise!” gasped the little Rabbit. “Oh, dear me! the earth is falling in. Where shall I run and hide?” and the little Rabbit ran bouncing away through the jungle. ”

“ The Brahmin then told how he had opened the cage door for the Tiger and how the Tiger had broken his word. “Do you call that just, or right, Brother Camel?” asked the Brahmin.
“As just and right as I am treated by man,” snorted the Camel, gnashing his teeth in rage. “When I was young and strong and could carry a heavy load for my master, he took care of me and gave me food and shelter. Now I am old and have lost my strength in the service, and so he overloads me, starves me and beats me. Men are an unjust and cruel race. So I say let the Tiger eat the Brahmin.” ”

“ He rides at full speed over rocks and ditches and tears up the trees in his rage!”
And running to the Rajah, they cried out in fright, “Here comes the whole force of the enemy! Men of gigantic stature, mounted on mighty horses. As they gallop along, they tear up trees in their rage and brandish them about as war-clubs. We can fight men, but we cannot fight monsters!”
Now, the Chattee-maker was coming nearer and nearer and shrieking louder and louder in his terror, as he waved the tree wildly about his head and the horse plunged on. ”

“ He was a Brahmin, or priest, and he had such a kind heart that he could not bear to see anything suffer. Everyone loved him, because he was so good to all the poor people and so gentle with the beasts.
One day, as the Brahmin was walking along the road, he saw a huge Tiger who had been caught by the villagers and put in an iron cage to punish him for his wickedness.
“Brother Brahmin, Brother Brahmin,” moaned the Tiger, “pray have pity on me and let me out of this cruel cage for one little minute, so that I may get a drink of water for I am dying of thirst.” ”

“ Then the King called to his Prime Minister who was a Fox, named Sandy. “Go, and command that mountain to come to me at once!”
So Sandy, the Prime Minister, went to find the mountain. And the next day he came back, leading the Camel by his nose-string. But, when the Camel saw how very little the King of the Mice was, he began to grunt and to gurgle, to wrinkle up his nose and make scornful faces at the King.
“Hello, is this little thing your King? I thought that your King was a lion at least. I should never have come for such a tiny creature. Bah! you are no more than a speck.” ”

“ Rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub! went the drum.
“Seize that insolent bird,” said the King, “and shut him up in the hen-house. There will be nothing left of him in the morning.”
So the servants took the Blackbird and threw him out into the hen-house.
When all the world was sound asleep, Blackbird said:
“Come out, Pussy, from my ear!
There are many fowls for you here;
Scratch them—make their feathers fly,
Wring their necks until they die!” ”

“ Millions of Mice were busy all day and all night, carrying out little baskets of earth from under the foundations. They worked and worked and they gnawed and gnawed, until very soon the Woodcutters’ village was standing on a thin shell of earth, while underneath them was a big dark hole.
At last the Mouse King felt that the time had come to strike a blow. He knew that the crust of earth was so thin that the least shock would destroy it. So the Mouse King wrote a letter to the Woodcutter Chief asking once more for his Camel. ”

“ The Alligator was so angry that he lashed the water to a foam with his tail. “I will not be tricked again by that saucy Jackal,” he said. “Next time, I will be as cunning as he is and catch him at his own game.”
The Alligator waited for the Jackal many, many days, but the Jackal did not return to the river.
“Who knows,” said the Jackal to himself, “but another time that greedy old Alligator will gobble me up. I will not go fishing for crabs any more. I will eat wild figs after this.” ”

“ Now the tiny Mice were not able to meet the big Woodcutters out in the field, and fight them, but they had their own way of waging warfare. Night and day, day and night, they burrowed and burrowed under the earth. ”

“ Now the mother tiger always pretended to be a dear friend of the Nanny goat, but she really was jealous because Nanny had four little ones while she herself had only two.
One day the old tiger growled to herself, “If only I could find some way to eat up two of Nanny’s kids, then all things would be equal. But I must never let Nanny suspect me.” So the tricky tiger licked her striped coat until it fairly shone and she went to call on the Nanny goat.
“Dear friend Nanny,” she said with a sweet smile, “my little ones have gone out and I am very lonely at home. ”

“ In this same book, we find the story of “The Bear’s Bad Bargain,” and we learn how a stupid and clumsy bear is outwitted by a grasping old woman and her greedy husband. Even if they have the best of the bargain, our sympathies are all with the poor old bear.
“The King of the Mice,” “The Bold Blackbird,” and “The Kid and the Tiger” (retold from “The Talking Thrush and Other Tales from India,” collected by W. Crooke and 9 retold by W. H. D. Rouse) are all stories of the triumph of the weak and cunning over the brutish and strong. ”

“ You must put our enemies to flight.”
“It shall be as you command,” said the Chattee-maker. “But before I lead the whole army, let me go out alone and find out something about the strength of the enemy, and examine their position.”
The Rajah consented to this and the Chattee-maker went home to his wife. “Oh, wife, wife, what shall I do?” he asked, in fright. “They have made me their Commander-in-Chief! It is a very hard place for me to fill. I shall have to ride at the head of my troops, and you know that I was never on a horse in my life. So I have asked the Rajah to let me go out alone first. ”

“ When the old Elephant saw that his Baby Elephant was strong enough to work, he said to himself: “I must take my son to the Woodcutters, for I am getting old and I am no longer strong. He can learn to do my work and be of service to them.”
So the old Elephant said to his son: “White Elephant, now that you have grown large and strong, I want you to help my friends, the Woodcutters. One day, many years 13 ago, when I had a cruel splinter in my foot, they pulled it out for me and bound me up, and gave me food. ”

“ But the Alligator in great anger snorted out:
“Humph! I hunt no man, but, whenever I put my nose out of the water, men torment me and try to kill me. As long as men live, we shall have no peace. So I say let the Tiger eat the Brahmin.”
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Then the Tiger, sprang toward the Brahmin. “This time I shall eat you up, for all are against you.”
“One moment!” said the Brahmin. “I still have one opinion of the sixth judge.”
So the Tiger was obliged to wait, and by and by they met a little Jackal who came gaily prancing down the road. ”

“ Now, a very rich man had his orchard near their home—so close, in fact, that the boughs of a big pear-tree hung right over their yard. The rich man was a generous neighbor, and he agreed to give the poor man and his wife the fruit that fell into their garden. So the old woodman and his wife watched with hungry eyes as the pears ripened in the sunshine. ”

“ Wherever he went, people pointed him out and said, “There is the brave man who captured a hungry tiger and rode on his back.”
Now, not long after this, a Rajah from a neighboring country sent word that he was bringing a mighty army to wage war. When the people heard this, they were terrified; all the generals came to the Rajah and said, “We are not prepared for war! Who will be the Chief Commander?”
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Then some of the people said, “You have just given the Chattee-maker command over a thousand horsemen. He is a brave and fearless man. Why do you not put him in command of your army?” ”

“ So others rushed to the Rajah and said, “It is true! It is true! See, they are coming! Look, look! Let us fly for our lives!”
Then the whole panic-stricken crowd fled from their camp, for no one wanted to meet such an enemy. But, first, they made the Rajah write a note, begging for peace.
Soon after the enemy had fled from the camp, the horse carrying the Chattee-maker came galloping into it. As he reached the camp, the ropes broke and the Chattee-maker tumbled to the ground and the horse, worn out from his long run, stood still. ”

“ We have seen him with our own eyes, and he is as much larger than you, as you are larger than we are. Oh, he is indeed most terrible! When he roars his voice is so loud that the leaves tremble upon the trees. ”

“ The next day the Jackal returned to the river to catch crabs for his dinner. But this time he was very cautious. So he called out, “Whenever I go fishing for my dinner, I see the nice little crabs crawling up through the mud, then I reach down and catch them and eat them. Oh, how I wish that I could see a nice little crab!”
The old Alligator was buried in the mud at the bottom of the river and he heard every word, so he popped out the point of his snout, saying to himself, “That Jackal will take the tip of my nose for a crab and, when he puts his paw down to catch me, I will gobble him up.” ”

“ When he finds that the pot is empty, he will rampage about a little, but he cannot do very much damage. He will never bother to carry all that wood away again, for bears are as lazy as they are greedy.”
Now all this time the bear had been working hard in the forest and it took him much longer than he had expected to gather all that wood. However, at last he dragged half a cord of wood to the house of the old woodman. Seeing the brass khichri pot standing by the fire, he threw down his pile of wood and went at once for his dinner. ”

“ So One-Eye began, “When I eat my dinner, I like to eat kids. Four little kids are just one mouthful for me, and today I’m very hungry. So I am coming to your house and I shall make one mouthful of you and your brothers and sisters.”
“Good, good!” cried Roley, clapping his paws. “What good stories you do tell. Now, listen, and I will tell you a story.
“When you come to eat us up, Skipster will hold you by the forelegs, and Jumpster will hold you by the hind legs, and Poley will hold your head, and Roley will chop it off. And our mother will have a big fire ready, and we will cook you. ”

“ The woodman went home and told his wife about his bargain with the bear. “Half a cord of wood is good pay for a share of our dinner,” said the man.
Now the wife knew that her husband had made a good bargain with the bear, but she always found fault and grumbled about everything, so she began to scold the old man.
“You should have made a better bargain with the bear. Bears are always greedy,” she stormed. “You know that he will gobble up all the khichri, before we have had a mouthful.”
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“Do you think your wife would give me some khichri, if I brought her some wood?” ”

“ He was so big and strong that he could carry loads which would have needed thousands of Mice, and so he could do more work in one day than a whole army of Mice could do in a week.
The Mouse King commanded the Camel to build strong walls and forts around the city and to make everything so strong that he had no fear of his enemies.
For a long, long time, things went on very smoothly, but one day some Woodcutters came into the forest. These men lived in a strong village of their own and they used the forest wood to build houses. ”

“ All the way he kicked and beat the Tiger, thinking it was his donkey. When he got home, the Chattee-maker tied the Tiger securely to the hitching-post in front of the house, and went in to bed.
Next morning, when the Chattee-maker’s wife got up and looked out of her window, she beheld a great Tiger tied up in front of the house. The Tiger looked as frightened and as meek as a lamb.
“Husband! Husband!” she called, loudly. “Wake up! Wake up! Do you know what animal you brought home, last night?”
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“Look, look!” ”

“ When One-Eye heard this he was so frightened that he gave a great jump and down tumbled the whole seven tigers in a heap, and all fighting and biting and scratching and spitting at each other, for they imagined other beasts were fighting them, and so they fought with one another until they were quite worn out. ”