In the days when the earth was young and all things were better than
they now are, when men and women were stronger and of greater beauty,
and the fruit of the trees was larger and sweeter than that which we now
eat, rice, the food of the people, was of larger grain. One grain was
all a man could eat, and in those early days, such, too, was the merit
of the people, they never had to toil gathering the rice, for, when
ripe, it fell from the stalks and rolled into the villages, even unto
the granaries.
And upon a year, when the rice was larger and more plentiful than ever
before, a widow said to her daughter, "Our granaries are too small. We
will pull them down and build larger."
When the old granaries were pulled down and the new one not yet ready
for use, the rice was ripe in the fields. Great haste was made, but the
rice came rolling in where the work was going on, and the widow,
angered, struck a grain and cried, "Could you not wait in the fields
until we were ready? You should not bother us now when you are not
wanted."
The rice broke into thousands of pieces and said, "From this time forth,
we will wait in the fields until we are wanted," and, from that time the
rice has been of small grain, and the people of the earth must gather it
into the granary from the fields.
[Illustration: At Work in the Rice Fields.]
VII
Parables and Proverbs
"One Woman in Deceit and Craft is More Than a Match for Eight Men"
Chum Paw was a maiden of the south country. Many suitors had she, but,
by her craft and devices, each suitor thought himself the only one.
Constantly did each seek her in marriage, and, upon a day as one pressed
her to name the time of their nuptials, she said, "Build me a house, and
I'll marry you when all is in readiness." To the others, did she speak
the same words.
Each man sought the jungle for bamboo for a house, and, it happened,
while they were in the jungle that they all met.
"What seekest thou?" they asked one another. "What seekest thou?" The
one answer was, "I have come to fell wood for my house."
And, as they ate their midday meal together, each had a bamboo stick,
filled with chicken and rice. Now, it happened that Chum Paw had given
the bamboo sticks to the men, and, lo, on investigation, they found the
pieces in their various sticks were the parts of one chicken, and with
one accord, they cried, "Chum Paw has deceived us. Come, let us kill
her. Each has she promised to marry; each has she deceived."
All were exceedingly angry and vowed they would kill the deceitful
woman.
Chum Paw, seeing the men return together, knew her duplicity was known
and realized they sought to kill her.
"I entreat that you spare my life, but take and sell me as a slave to
the captain of the ship lying at the mouth of the river."
Relenting, the suitors took her to the captain. She, however, running on
before, privately told the captain she had seven young men, her slaves,
whom she would sell him for seven hundred pieces of silver. Seeing the
young men were desirable, the captain gave Chum Paw the silver, and she
fled while the seven lovers were placed in irons.
Chum Paw fled to the jungle, but, frightened by the wild beasts, she
sought refuge in a tree. And it came to pass that the suitors escaped
from the ship and they, too, sought refuge in the jungle. Unable to
sleep and also frightened, one of them climbed a tree that he might be
safe from the wild beasts, and, lo, it was the same tree in which Chum
Paw had taken refuge.
"Be silent, make no noise, lest the others hear us," whispered Chum Paw.
"I love you and knew you were wise and would escape from the ship. I
only desired the silver for us to spend together."
The unfortunate man believed, and sought to embrace her, but, as he
threw up his arms, Chum Paw threw him down, hoping thus to kill him. The
others, hearing the commotion, feared a large bear was in the tree and
hastily fled. Uninjured the suitor, whom Chum Paw had thrown from the
tree, fled with them.
Chum Paw seeing that they all fled ran behind, as she knew no beast
would attack her while there was so great a commotion. As the suitors
looked back, they saw her, but mistook her for a bear and ran but the
faster, and finally, they all, the seven suitors and Chum Paw reached
their homes.
Knowing the suitors would again seek her life, Chum Paw made a feast of
all things they most liked and bade the young men to come. (All the food
was prepared by Chum Paw and poisoned.) "I want but to make me _boon_
before I die, so I beg you eat of my food and forgive me, for I merit
death," said the maiden, as they sat in her house. All ate; and all
died.
Chum Paw carried six bodies into the inner part of the house, and one
she prepared for the grave. Weeping and wailing, she ran to the nearest
neighbor, crying, "I want a man to come bury my husband. He died last
night. As he had smallpox, fifty pieces of silver will I give to the one
who buries him."
A man who loved money said, "I will bury him." When he came to the
house, Chum Paw said, "Many times has he died and come back to life. If
he comes back again, no money shall you have."
The man took the body, made a deep grave, buried the man and returned
for his silver. Lo, on the mat lay the body! He made a deeper grave and
again buried it. Six times he buried, as he supposed, the body, and, on
returning and finding it a seventh time, he angrily cried, "You shall
never return again." Taking the body with him, he built a fire, placed
the body on it, and, while it burned, went to the stream for water. When
he returned, lo, a charcoal man was standing there, black from his work.
Filled with wrath, the man ran up to him crying, "You will come back
again, will you? will cause me this trouble again, will you?"
The charcoal burner replied, "I do not understand." Not a word would the
man hear, but fought the burner, and as they struggled, they both fell
into the fire and were burned to death.
Chum Paw built a beautiful home and spent the silver as she willed.
"The Wisest Man of a Small Village is Not Equal in Wisdom to a Boy of
the City Streets"
Once a boy of the city, watching a buffalo outside the gate of the
largest city in the province, saw three men approaching. Each was the
wisest man of the village from whence he came. The boy called to them,
"Where go ye, old men?"
The men angrily replied, "Wherefore dost thou, who art but a child,
speak thus to us who are old and the judges of the villages from whence
we come?"
The boy replied, "There is no cause for anger. How was I to know ye were
wise men? To me, ye seem but as other men from a country place,--the
wisest of whom are but fools."
The three men were very angry, caught the boy and said, "We will not
enter into the city, but will go to another province and sell this
insolent boy, because he neither reverences age nor wisdom."
The boy refused to walk, so they carried him. All day they walked along
the road, carrying the boy, and at night they slept by the roadside. In
the morning, when they craved water and bade the boy go to a brook, he
refused, saying, "If I go, ye will run and leave me. I will not go."
Thirst drove one of the wise men for the water, and the boy drank of it
freely.
Several days' journey brought them to a wall of a large city, and night
was spent at a _sala_ near the wall. Seeking to rid themselves of the
boy, they bade him go to the city for fire to cook food. Realizing their
motive, he answered, "Should I go, ye will leave me. I will not go,
though, if ye let me tie ye to the posts of the _sala_, then will I go."
With one accord they agreed, saying, "Do thou even so. We are weary
carrying thee and cannot go for the fire."
Tying them all, the boy ran to the city, where he met a man whom he
asked, "Dost thou wish to purchase three slaves? Come with me."
The man returned with the boy, saw the men, and gave him full value for
each.
Having thus disposed of his captors, the cunning little fellow joined
some men going to his native city, and as he walked along, he thought,
"I was ever wanting to see other places, and now I have been carried a
long journey, and have silver to last me many days ... surely, I have
much _boon_."[16]
16: Merit.
"To Aid Beast is Merit; To Aid Man is but Vanity"[17]
A hunter, walking through a jungle, saw a man in a pit unable to escape.
The man called to him, "If thou wilt aid me to escape from this snare,
always will I remember thy grace and merit." The hunter drew him out of
the pit, and the man said, "I am goldsmith to the head chow, and dwell
by the city's gate. Shouldst thou ever want any benefit, come to me, and
gladly will I aid thee."
As the hunter travelled, he met a tiger caught in a snare set for an
elephant, and the tiger cried, "If thy heart prompts thee to set me
free, thy aid will ever be remembered by me." He helped the tiger from
the snare, and it said, "If ever thou needest aid, call and I will come
to thee."
Then again the hunter went on his way, and came to a place where a snake
had fallen into a well and could not get out, and the snake cried, "If
thou wilt aid me, I can aid thee also in the time soon to come," and he
assisted the snake. "When the time comes that thou needest me, think of
me, and I will come to thee with haste," said the snake.
Now, it had happened that on the day that the hunter had rescued the
tiger it had killed the chow's child, but of this the hunter knew
nothing. And it came to pass that three days after, the hunter desiring
to test the words of the tiger, went to the forest. Upon calling it, the
tiger came to him immediately and brought with him a long golden chain,
which he gave to the hunter. The hunter took the chain home, and,
wishing to sell it, sought the goldsmith whom he had befriended. But the
goldsmith, seeing it, said, "You are the man who has killed the chow's
child." And he had his men bind the hunter with strong cords and took
him to the chow in the hope of gaining the reward offered to any who
might find him who had killed the child.
The chow put the hunter in chains and commanded he die on the morrow.
The hunter begged for seven days' respite, and it was granted him. In
the night he thought of the snake he had helped, and immediately the
snake came, bringing with him a medicine to cure blindness. While the
household of the chow slept, the snake entered and cast of its venom in
the eyes of the chow's wife, and she was blind.
Throughout all the province the chow sought for some one to restore the
eyes of his afflicted wife, but no one was found.
It happened on a day, that word came to the chow's ears that the hunter
he had in chains for the death of his child, was a man of wisdom and
knew the merit of all the herbs of the field, therefore he sent for him.
When the hunter came into the presence of the chow unto where the wife
sat, he put the medicine which the snake had brought him into the eyes
of the princess, and sight, even like unto that of a young maiden, was
restored unto her.
Then the chow desired to reward the hunter, and the hunter told him how
he had come into possession of the golden chain, of the medicine which
the serpent had given him because he had aided it in its time of
trouble, and of the goldsmith, who had not only forgotten benefits
received, but had accused him so he might gain a reward. And when the
chow learned the truth, he had the ungrateful goldsmith put to death,
but to the hunter did he give half of his province, for had he not
restored the sight of the princess?
17: This only of the Folk Tales has been written before. It is taken
from an ancient temple book and is well-known in all the Laos country.
[Illustration: The "Chow" and his Palace.]
VIII
The Gods Know and the Gods Reward