Told by MÁTÁ DÍN, assistant teacher, Pili-Bhít district, N.W.P.
A Shepherd had a lame Goat which he beat--It ran away--Fearing the wild
beasts, it sat down beside a cave where were footsteps of a Lion--A
Jackal comes up--"Rám, Rám, grandfather! I have found food after many
days." "Rám, Rám, grandson, I was told to sit here by the owner of these
footprints."--"A Lion! if I eat you, he will eat my cubs"--He goes--A
Wolf comes, and the same thing happens--The Lion comes--Says the Goat,
"By the influence of your footprints I have been safe; beasts came to
devour me, and I became your man: they fled." "If you have called
yourself my man I will not eat you"--Lion finds an Elephant: "I have a
lame Goat; let him go on your back and eat the young leaves as you
graze"--He agrees, and the Goat says, "Khoj pakar liyo baran ko hasti
mili hai ái gaj mastak achchhi charhi ajayá kopal khâya" ("By betaking
myself to the footprints of the great, I have got an Elephant")--Mounting
on the Elephant's head, the Goat feeds well on new leaves.