thou art mine enemy, for if it were not for the blessed legs, none of
us would have seen the sun any more. All right, out thou goest, thou
fool. Thou must no longer be with me or with my darling eyes." And,
turning round, she crawled backwards and pushed it out of the lair. The
hound, who was sitting outside, was just waiting for this, and no
sooner did he see the bush of the tail coming out than he pounced on
it and, getting hold of it, he pulled with all his might and dragged
out tail and fox together. And that was the end of the fox. The fox
may have been very clever, but the old proverb is true. "Each animal
dies through his own tongue." And since that time the partridge hatches
her young unmolested, and the land of the fox has remained unploughed.
This Rumanian tale belongs to a large cycle of similar tales, of
which the Rumanian seems to have preserved only the first part,
unless the second part has afterwards been tacked on to it. In the
extended tale the dog asks for the payment of the food, drink, and
merriment which the bird had promised.
An almost identical story is found among the Slavonic Tales, Krauss,
No. 9. In this no mention is made of the fox claiming to be the
landowner. It is only out of pity for the partridge that the dog
attacks the fox, which runs away, and then the story continues exactly
like the Rumanian. The first part of No. 6 is another parallel to
the Rumanian tale, but it is greatly reduced and is only the first
part of a much longer tale of "The Starling, the Fox, and the Dog."
The starling promises the dog food, drink, and merriment, if he
would avenge it against the fox, who, in spite of sworn friendship,
had taken advantage of the absent starling to eat the young birds. The
tale contains also the episode of the fox's undoing. But then the
Slavonic story goes on to detail the manner in which the starling
outwitted a boy who carried food to his people on the field, a man
who carried a wine cask, and a hewer of wood, all to provide for the
promised food, drink, and merriment of, the dog.
This last part, as a tale by itself, quite independent of the story
of the dog and fox, is found in Haltrich, No. 81. Here the bird offers
food, drink and merriment to the fox who is to spare her young.
In a more reduced form still, the first part having entirely
disappeared, the story appears in Grimm, iii. p. 100, who refers to a
similar episode in the French version of Reinecke and to an Esthonian
tale. Cf. also the Russian Tale in Afanasief, No. 32.
XCV.
THE STORY OF THE PARTRIDGE AND HER YOUNG.
A partridge once built her nest in the furrows of a newly ploughed
cornfield, and hatched her young when the stalks of the corn had
grown tall and the corn began to ripen. There was food in plenty and
safety enough for them to play and to frolic about without fear of
any danger. But the good things in this world never stay long with
us, and this the partridge was soon to find out. The time came when
the corn was cut and hunters appeared followed by their dogs, whose
barking they could hear drawing nearer and nearer. The partridge now
began to be frightened for her young. She tried to cover them with
her wings, but they could not help hearing the reports of the guns and
the barking of the dogs. One day, not being able to stand the strain
any longer, she remembered a place of safety which she had known, in
the cleft of a mountain beyond the seas. Tucking her eldest under her
wing, she started one morning on her flight, intent on carrying it to
the mountain beyond the sea. When she reached the border of the sea
there stood a huge tree. Tired from her long flight, she settled on
one of the branches of the tree overhanging the water. And she said
to her young, "Little darling, see how great is the love of a mother
and what trouble I am taking. Nay, I am putting my life in danger in
order to save you."
"Never mind, mother," replied the little one, "Wait till we grow up
and then we will take care of you when you grow old and weak."
When the partridge heard these words she tilted her wing and
let the young bird fall into the water of the sea, where it was
drowned. Distressed, weary, and lost in thought, she returned to
her nest and took the middle one of her three young, and, putting it
on the wing, she started again on her flight to the mountain beyond
the sea. On the way she again alighted on the tree with the branches
overhanging the sea. And she spoke to this one in the same manner as
she had spoken to the first. And he replied, "Do not worry, mother,
when you get old we shall take care of you and show you our love."
The partridge, grieving at the words of this one, again dipped her
wing and the young bird slid down into the bottom of the sea, where
it was drowned. Almost broken hearted, not knowing any more what to
do with herself, and heavy with sorrow and anxiety, her only hope
being the youngest one, she returned to her nest, and, taking the
youngest--the mother's pet--she tucked it under her wing and flew
again to the mountain beyond the sea.
Tired from her continual flight hither and thither, she again alighted
on the tree with the branches overhanging the sea, and with her heart
trembling within her for fear and love, she said to the youngest,
"See, my beloved little pet, how much trouble mother is taking to save
her dear little ones, how willingly I am suffering pain and fatigue;
see how exhausted I am and wearied, but nothing is too much for a
mother if only she knows that her young will be safe."
"Do not worry, mother dear, for we when we grow up will also take
care of our young children with the same love and devotion."
At these words, the mother pressed the little one nearer to her heart,
and, full of joy, carried him across the sea to a place of safety,
for of all her children this alone had spoken the truth. And is it
not so in the world?
This is the story of the partridge and her young.
XCVI.
THE STORY OF THE LARK AND THE TAMING OF WOMEN.
A man was once ploughing his field. In the midst of it a lark had
made her nest and was hatching her young. When the cock lark saw
what the man was doing, and that he was coming nearer and nearer with
the plough, he feared that the nest would be destroyed. So he turned
to the man and said, "Prithee, spare my nest; go round it with your
plough and do not touch it, for I might also do you some good."
The man, surprised at hearing the lark speak to him, said, "What good
can you do to me?"
"Oh," replied the lark, "you never know what I can do. Just bide your
time, there might be a chance."
"Well," said the man, "I do not mind going with my plough round that
piece of ground, it will not make much difference, but you see I have
a very bad-tempered wife, and should she come out and see what I have
done, and that I have left a part of the field without ploughing it,
I shall come in for a good hiding."
"What," said the lark, "you a man, and your wife, a woman, beating you,
how can that be?"
"Oh," replied the man, "you do not know her; from morning till evening
she does nothing but strike and beat me, I have not a minute's rest
and peace."
"I can help you," replied the lark, "if only you will do what I
tell you."
"If you will help me I shall be for ever grateful to you."
"Well then, this is what you have to do. You get yourself a stout
stick, and should she come and start chiding you, you just lay out
and go for her without mercy. You will see it will be all right."
Whilst they were thus speaking, the woman came out, with one jaw on
earth and the other in heaven, spitting fire and fury; and when she saw
that the man had left a part of the field not ploughed she started to
go for him with her fists and to give him a good beating. But before
she had time to get to him, remembering the advice which the lark had
given him, he got hold of the stick, and there was a great change. The
woman did not know what it was that happened to her; the blows fell
upon her fast and thick over her head, face, shoulders, hands. At last
she got frightened, and ran away vowing vengeance. After she had gone,
the lark said to the man:
"Don't be a fool, I know she awaits you at home with a long stick,
but you get yourself a short, stout stick, and just slip into the
house before she has time to use her long rod, and then you go for
her, hitting as fast as you can and as hard as you can, for, being
in the house, the woman will not be able to use the long rod to
any advantage."
The man did as the lark had taught him, and the woman came in for a
drubbing she never expected. The tables were now turned, and instead
of beating the husband the woman got it now, and twice over.
That was the first case of the men beating their women, instead of the
men being beaten by the women, for the neighbours, seeing how things
had changed with this man, soon followed his example, and there was
yelling and shouting and cursing as never before, the women getting
the worst.
When the women saw that the men got the upper hand, they all
gathered together in the market-place and held a conference under the
leadership of the head woman of the town. After a long consultation
and discussion, they all decided to leave their husbands alone and
to get across the Danube to the other side.
So they did; they gathered themselves together and, led by the head
woman, left the town to go across the Danube. When the men saw what
the women were doing, and that they were in earnest, they turned on
the first man who had set the example and threatened to kill him, for
he had brought all that trouble upon them. And the man got frightened
and ran out into the field, and going to the lark told all that was
going on and that he was in danger of his life.
The lark laughed and said, "Oh, you are worse than a set of old
women. Do not be afraid, nothing will happen to you; you just wait
and see, I am going to bring the women home again."
So saying, the lark rose up in the air, and flying over the heads
of the women who were standing by the banks of the Danube waiting to
cross, it sang out, "Tsirli, tsirli, on the other side of the Danube
there are no men."
One of the women, hearing the bird's song, said to her neighbour,
"Did you hear what that bird was singing?"
"Oh, yes, we can all hear it saying that across the Danube there are
no men, and if that be true I think we had better return to our own
husbands, never mind whether they beat us or not."
And they all returned home quite meekly to their houses, and ever
since then the men beat their wives, but the women never beat their
husbands. And you should know that if a woman does beat her husband,
he is not a man, but a donkey.
XCVII.
THE STORY OF THE TURTLE DOVE AND ITS LOVE FOR ITS MATE.
Of the turtle-dove the Rumanian popular poetry relates that when she
loses her mate she never associates with any bird, but sits solitary on
the branches of trees, not on the green or the high bough, but on the
low, and on the withered branches of the tree. She no longer goes to
clear water, but she first stirs the mud and then drinks the troubled
water, and when she sees the hunter she goes to meet him cheerfully,
hoping that he will kill her. The tears of the turtle-dove are the
most powerful antidote against every spell and sorcery.
An incident in one of the Rumanian Fairy Tales reminds us of the
story of the Shirt of Nessus given to Hercules.
It is of a step-mother who tries to kill her daughter-in-law by
inducing her to buy such a poisoned shirt. As soon as she has put
one on she becomes very ill, and her illness grows with every day
that passes.
Her father, who has been absent, comes home and sees what is the cause
of her illness, so he washes her in tears of the turtle-dove. The
spell is broken, the fire is driven out, and the young woman recovers
her health.
XCVIII.
WHY DOES THE WREN HIDE HIMSELF?
The Story of the Wren, the Eagle, and the Owl.
The wren is called by the Rumanians the little king. The reason for
it is that the birds once came together to elect a ruler. They were
all there, big and small, and after much wrangling and discussion
they agreed that he who flew highest of all should be king. It was
the eagle who suggested it, for he knew that no bird could fly so
high as he could, and he told them that the highest place they could
reach would be the region of the wild winds. They arranged that he
who would reach so high, should give them a sign and then they should
descend. They all started for the race. There was much fluttering
of wings and shrieking and boasting, for every bird believed that
he would be the winner. But they had not measured their strength,
for after a while the weakest stopped in their flight and began to
descend slowly. The stronger ones flew a little higher but they too
got tired and came down to the ground, until at last almost every
bird that had entered the race had given it up. Only one bird was
continuing the flight. It was the eagle, who was soaring higher and
higher. At a certain moment, the eagle signalled to them that he had
reached the wild wind, that is the wind which blows very high up in
the sky and is bitterly cold, much colder than ice and frost. But
the eagle was not to win the race. The little wren, a midget among
the birds, had crept stealthily under one of the outer feathers of
his wings; the eagle did not feel it, and so it was borne aloft to
the very high heavens. Now when the eagle stopped in his flight, and
began to descend, the little bird, not at all tired, came out from
under the wing, and he, flying higher, far above the eagle, shouted:
"He! he! you thought you would be the king, that no one could fly
as high as you do! You see I have flown much higher, no one can
deny it, you can all see me, and though I am very small and light,
I am your king." The birds, hearing the little wren and seeing that
it had been flying far above the eagle, wondered greatly, but they
could not help themselves, they had to stand by their agreement,
and so the wren was proclaimed king.
But the birds soon learnt the trick by which the wren had outwitted
them, and furious at the way in which they had been played, they
wanted to tear him to pieces. The little wren, knowing what was in
store for him from the enraged birds, ran away quickly, and hid
himself inside the hollow of a tree, slipping in by so narrow an
opening that no other bird could follow him. When the birds found
out the hiding-place of the wren, and that they could not get at it,
they decided to starve him out, and put some to watch over the opening
to prevent the wren escaping. The wren thought it better to starve
than to come out and be torn in pieces. "I will wait my chance,"
he said to himself, and the chance came when they appointed the
owl to watch over the tree. The owl is a lazy bird, and sitting down
quietly soon fell asleep. That was just what the wren was waiting for,
and before the owl could have turned round, it was out and away in
the bushes and under the roots of the trees. When the owl awoke it
found that the prisoner had gone: catch him if you can! The birds,
full of wrath, turned on the owl for letting the wren escape and
the owl had to run for its life. It is for that reason that the owl
never shows itself in day-time. It is frightened of the birds, for
they bear it a grudge for not keeping careful watch over the wren,
and as the wren knows what the birds have in store for him, he hides
himself under the bushes and trees and has become a very furtive bird.
Cf. Grimm, No. 171.
XCIX.
WHY IS THERE NO KING OVER THE BIRDS?
The Story of the Hawk and the Election of the King.
Once upon a time the birds came together to decide which was to rule
over them all, and in what order authority should be distributed
among them, who was to be the superior and who was to be inferior
among them. After a long discussion it was agreed that the eagle
should be the highest of all. The second in command should be the
falcon, the third in command the black vulture, under him the white
vulture, under him the vulture with the striped tail, under him the
lamb's vulture and under him the kite, under him the hen-harrier,
under him the blue heron, and under him the sparrow-hawk. All the
birds consented and accepted this arrangement without much demur or
contradiction. Only the sparrow-hawk, who though the smallest and
the weakest, yet knew himself to be quicker and cleverer than many
of them, objected to the arrangement, and said to them:
"Do you expect that I should submit to you? or be frightened of you,
as if you were the strongest and mightiest creatures in the world? You
are greatly mistaken. There are other beings stronger and mightier
and greater than you. Of these I am frightened, but not of you. I do
not care for you."
"But what creatures are stronger and more powerful than we?" asked
the other birds greatly surprised.
"What!" said he, "you do not know who is greater and stronger than you
are? You all think yourselves to be the cleverest of created beings,
and you expect me, the smallest of you, to tell you that? Very well,
then, since you do not know even as much as this, hear it from
me. Stronger than all of you are the archers and the sportsmen."
"Why," replied the birds, "how can that be?"
"Well," he said, "if they meet you they can make an end of you,
and that, before you know where you are; you, who are so clever,
that you wanted to put me at the tip of your tail!"
"What can we do to save ourselves?"
The sparrow-hawk replied, "You must never gather together and fly in
large numbers, for thus we are sure to fall a prey to them. Our only
safety lies in our dispersion."
As soon as the birds heard that, they dispersed quickly, and since
that time hawks are never found together in large numbers, except
when they see carrion. In such wise did the little sparrow-hawk free
himself from the domination of the other birds of his clan.
C.
THE STORY OF KING LOG AND KING STORK.
The Story of the Frogs.
This is the well-known story of King Log and King Stork.
Once upon a time the frogs assembled and decided to ask God to appoint
a king who would guide them and rule over them, for they were like a
people scattered all over the waters and seas with no one to look after
them. God gratified their request, and taking a log of wood cast it
into the water and said to the frogs, "This is to be your king." When
the log fell into the water it made such a splash and such a noise,
that the poor frogs did not know where to hide themselves in their
fright. After a while the noise subsided, and the log lay still in the
place where it had fallen. Gaining a little courage, the frogs came out
of their hiding places and crept slowly on to the log of wood, which
they found lying quite still and motionless. They waited for a time
to see it move, but in vain. So they went again to God and said to him:
"What is the good of a king who can neither guide us, nor rule over
us, and cannot even move about to look after us?"
And God said, "You shall have one who will move about, and he will
guide you and rule you after the manner of kings." And he called the
stork and appointed him king over the frogs. He moves about amongst
them very fast indeed, and guides them and rules them in the proper
manner of kings, for he gobbles them up as soon as he sets eyes on
them in the proper manner of kings, who always go about and eat up
their subjects as fast as they can.
Here, of course, a moral from modern life has been added to the old
tale, but this does not detract from its popularity.
CI.
THE STORY OF THE STORK AND LITTLE TOMTIT.
Once upon a time there was a stork who could not rear any young. His
wife's eggs had become addled, or something else had happened to them,
and the long and short of it was that there were no young birds. Very
distressed, he was walking about in the forest when he noticed a little
tomtit on the ground. Seeing he was so small, he thought it was a young
bird, a chick that had fallen out from a stork's nest somewhere. So
he picked him up gently and carried him to his own nest, and there
he kept him and fed him most tenderly. He would fly about for miles
to get worms to feed the little bird. The days passed, and the stork
could not help wondering why that little bird of his did not grow:
it remained so small. One day there came a down-pour of cold rain
mixed with hailstones. In order to protect his little young, he put
the tomtit under his wing, and going into the forest placed himself
under the branches of a thick-leaved tree to shelter himself from the
rain and hail. In the trunk of that tree there was a little hollow. As
soon as tomtit espied it he glided into it, and from there he kept up
a conversation with the stork. Among other things, the stork said,
"What terrible weather that is, I cannot remember anything like it
all my life."
"What," piped little tomtit, "you call this bad weather. You should
have seen what bad weather means, when the red snow fell."
"Hush, you little thing," said the stork, "how do you come to speak
of red snow, you have never seen such a thing?"
"Oh," replied tomtit, "I remember it quite well, although it was so
many years ago."
"You remember it, you little cunning beast, who made yourself out to
be quite a little chicken!" and the sharp beak of the stork pierced
the hollow of the tree and spiked the insolent little tomtit, who
had made a fool of the stork.
CII.
THE STORY OF THE FLEA AND THE GNAT.
The flea once upon a time meeting a gnat, said to her:
"I say, sister, why is your back so bent, and why is your head so
low? What heavy care is worrying you?"
"Oh, my sister," replied the gnat, "it is the heavy work which I have
to do that bends my back and pulls my head so low. I have to drive the
oxen to the plough, and make them do their work. I must sit between
the horns and prick them to urge them on. Their hide is so thick
that I have to bend my body and put my head very low to drive the
sting through it. But, then, tell me, why is your back so much bent,
sister flea? You have no heavy work like me."
"You do not know what you are talking about. I have to keep mankind
to their duties. These men have such heavy clothing that it takes
all my strength to lift it up so that I can move about, to get at him."
CIII.
THE STORY OF THE GNAT, THE LION, AND THE MAN.
The fable of the gnat and the lion is told in order to explain
the proverb, "The gnat, small as it is, proved stronger than the
lion." Once upon a time a lion sat himself down to rest under a
tree. Suddenly a gnat appeared and settled upon his nose. The lion,
feeling the tickle, struck out with his paw, but missed her. The
gnat then settled in his ear, and again the lion tried to strike her,
but failed. So he said to the gnat:
"Who are you? and why do you come here and worry me? Who are you
that although so small can worry so much and give so much trouble,
and yet are one whom it is impossible to catch?"
"I am the gnat, and I drink the blood of anyone I choose, and no one
can hurt me."
"You may drink blood from whomever else you choose, but my blood you
shall not drink, for I am the stronger."
"If you believe that I cannot drink your blood, very well then,
let us wait and see who is the stronger," said the gnat.
"I am quite satisfied," said the lion, and they made the bet. Without
saying a single word, the gnat jumped on to the nose of the lion,
and digging its point into the flesh of the lion sucked the blood
until it was full, but the lion could not do anything to her. When
she had finished, she asked the lion:
"What do you say now? have I not beaten you? Now it is your turn to
show me your strength."
"I am so strong that if a man should happen to pass here I could eat
him up."
He had scarcely finished speaking when a boy happened to pass. The
lion, as soon as he saw him, wanted to catch him and eat him. "Stop,"
said the gnat, "this is not yet a man, wait until he grows to be a
man." The lion felt ashamed and let the boy pass.
Soon afterwards a very old man happened to pass. Again the lion,
saying, "Now, a man is passing," wanted to get hold of him. And again
the gnat stopped him, saying, "This is no longer a man, he has been
so some long time ago. It is a pity to break your teeth on him." And
the lion left him also alone.
Now there came riding along a hussar.
"This is a man," said the gnat, "go for him and show your strength."
The lion went for him, but when the hussar saw him he drew his sword
and smote him two or three times over his head. The lion, seeing that
this was not a joke, turned tail and ran away; there was his road
to safety. The gnat, following him, settled on his ear and asked him
how he felt. The lion, half-stunned, replied:
"That foolish man drew a rib from his side and hacked lustily away
and had I not run away only bits of me would have been left."
Hence the proverb, "However small, the gnat proved more powerful than
the lion."
This is a parallel to the story of the "Gnat and the Lion." Among the
South Slavonic Tales, (Krauss, No. 12) we find another parallel to it,
though differing in some details. A lion was continually boasting of
its strength. One day a tiger, tired of his boasting, said to him: