_THE BLIND MAN, THE DEAF MAN AND THE DONKEY._
A Blind Man and a Deaf Man once entered into partnership. The Deaf Man
was to see for the Blind Man, and the Blind Man was to hear for the
Deaf Man.
One day both went to a nautch[82] together. The Deaf Man said, "The
dancing is very good, but the music is not worth listening to;" and
the Blind Man said, "On the contrary, I think the music very good, but
the dancing is not worth looking at."
[82] Musical and dancing entertainment.
After this they went together for a walk in the jungle, and there they
found a Dhobee's donkey that had strayed away from its owner, and a
great big chattee (such as Dhobees boil clothes in), which the donkey
was carrying with him.
The Deaf Man said to the Blind Man, "Brother, here are a donkey and a
Dhobee's great big chattee, with nobody to own them! Let us take them
with us--they may be useful to us some day." "Very well," said the
Blind Man, "we will take them with us." So the Blind Man and the Deaf
Man went on their way, taking the donkey and the great big chattee
with them. A little farther on they came to an ant's nest, and the
Deaf Man said to the Blind Man, "Here are a number of very fine black
ants, much larger than any I ever saw before. Let us take some of them
home to show our friends." "Very well," answered the Blind Man; "we
will take them as a present to our friends." So the Deaf Man took a
silver snuff-box out of his pocket, and put four or five of the finest
black ants into it; which done, they continued their journey.
But before they had gone very far a terrible storm came on. It
thundered and lightened and rained and blew with such fury that it
seemed as if the whole heavens and earth were at war. "Oh dear! oh
dear!" cried the Deaf Man, "how dreadful this lightning is! Let us
make haste and get to some place of shelter." "I don't see that it's
dreadful at all," answered the Blind Man, "but the thunder is very
terrible; we had better certainly seek some place of shelter."
Now, not far off was a lofty building, which looked exactly like a
fine temple. The Deaf Man saw it, and he and the Blind Man resolved to
spend the night there; and having reached the place, they went in and
shut the door, taking the donkey and the great big chattee with them.
But this building, which they mistook for a temple, was in truth no
temple at all, but the house of a very powerful Rakshas; and hardly
had the Blind Man, the Deaf Man and the donkey got inside and fastened
the door than the Rakshas, who had been out, returned home. To his
surprise, he found the door fastened and heard people moving about
inside his house. "Ho! ho!" cried he to himself, "some men have got in
here, have they! I'll soon make mince-meat of them." So he began to
roar in a voice louder than the thunder, and he cried, "Let me into
my house this minute, you wretches; let me in, let me in, I say," and
to kick the door and batter it with his great fists. But though his
voice was very powerful, his appearance was still more alarming,
insomuch that the Deaf Man, who was peeping at him through a chink in
the wall, felt so frightened that he did not know what to do. But the
Blind Man was very brave (because he couldn't see), and went up to the
door and called out, "Who are you? and what do you mean by coming
battering at the door in this way and at this time of night?"
"I'm a Rakshas," answered the Rakshas, angrily, "and this is my house.
Let me in this instant, or I'll kill you." All this time the Deaf Man,
who was watching the Rakshas, was shivering and shaking in a terrible
fright, but the Blind Man was very brave (because he couldn't see),
and he called out again, "Oh, you're a Rakshas, are you! Well, if
you're Rakshas, I'm Bakshas; and Bakshas is as good as Rakshas."
"Bakshas!" roared the Rakshas. "Bakshas! Bakshas! What nonsense is
this? There is no such creature as a Bakshas!" "Go away," replied the
Blind Man, "and don't dare to make any further disturbance, lest I
punish you with a vengeance; for know that I'm Bakshas! and Bakshas is
Rakshas' father." "My father?" answered the Rakshas. "Heavens and
earth! Bakshas and my father! I never heard such an extraordinary
thing in my life. You my father; and in there! I never knew my father
was called Bakshas!"
"Yes," replied the Blind Man; "go away instantly, I command you, for I
am your father Bakshas." "Very well," answered the Rakshas (for he
began to get puzzled and frightened), "but if you are my father, let
me first see your face." (For he thought, "Perhaps they are deceiving
me.") The Blind Man and the Deaf Man didn't know what to do; but at
last they opened the door a very tiny chink and poked the donkey's
nose out. When the Rakshas saw it he thought to himself, "Bless me,
what a terribly ugly face my father Bakshas has!" He then called out,
"O father Bakshas, you have a very big, fierce face; but people have
sometimes very big heads and very little bodies. Pray let me see your
body as well as head before I go away." Then the Blind Man and the
Deaf Man rolled the great, big Dhobee's chattee with a thundering
noise past the chink in the door, and the Rakshas, who was watching
attentively, was very much surprised when he saw this great black
thing rolling along the floor, and he thought, "In truth, my father
Bakshas has a very big body as well as a big head. He's big enough to
eat me up altogether. I'd better go away." But still he could not help
being a little doubtful, so he cried, "O Bakshas, father Bakshas! you
have indeed got a very big head and a very big body; but do, before I
go away, let me hear you scream" (for all Rakshas scream fearfully).
Then the cunning Deaf Man (who was getting less frightened) pulled the
silver snuff-box out of his pocket, and took the black ants out of it,
and put one black ant in the donkey's right ear, and another black ant
in the donkey's left ear, and another and another. The ants pinched
the poor donkey's ears dreadfully, and the donkey was so hurt and
frightened he began to bellow as loud as he could, "Eh augh! eh augh!
eh augh! augh! augh!" and at this terrible noise the Rakshas fled away
in a great fright, saying, "Enough, enough, father Bakshas! the sound
of your voice would make the most refractory obedient." And no sooner
had he gone than the Deaf Man took the ants out of the donkey's ears,
and he and the Blind Man spent the rest of the night in peace and
comfort.
Next morning the Deaf Man woke the Blind Man early, saying, "Awake,
brother, awake; here we are indeed in luck! the whole floor is covered
with heaps of gold and silver and precious stones." And so it was, for
the Rakshas owned a vast amount of treasure, and the whole house was
full of it. "That is a good thing," said the Blind Man. "Show me where
it is and I will help you to collect it." So they collected as much
treasure as possible and made four great bundles of it. The Blind Man
took one great bundle, the Deaf Man took another, and, putting the
other two great bundles on the donkey, they started off to return
home. But the Rakshas, whom they had frightened away the night before,
had not gone very far off, and was waiting to see what his father
Bakshas might look like by daylight. He saw the door of his house open
and watched attentively, when out walked--only a Blind Man, a Deaf Man
and a donkey, who were all three laden with large bundles of his
treasure. The Blind Man carried one bundle, the Deaf Man carried
another bundle, and two bundles were on the donkey.
The Rakshas was extremely angry, and immediately called six of his
friends to help him kill the Blind Man, the Deaf Man and the donkey,
and recover the treasure.
The Deaf Man saw them coming (seven great Rakshas, with hair a yard
long and tusks like an elephant's), and was dreadfully frightened; but
the Blind Man was very brave (because he couldn't see), and said,
"Brother, why do you lag behind in that way?" "Oh!" answered the Deaf
Man, "there are seven great Rakshas with tusks like an elephant's
coming to kill us; what can we do?" "Let us hide the treasure in the
bushes," said the Blind Man; "and do you lead me to a tree; then I
will climb up first, and you shall climb up afterward, and so we shall
be out of their way." The Deaf Man thought this good advice; so he
pushed the donkey and the bundles of treasure into the bushes, and led
the Blind Man to a high soparee tree that grew close by; but he was a
very cunning man, this Deaf Man, and instead of letting the Blind Man
climb up first and following him, he got up first and let the Blind
Man clamber after, so that he was farther out of harm's way than his
friend.
When the Rakshas arrived at the place and saw them both perched out of
reach in the soparee tree, he said to his friends, "Let us get on each
other's shoulders; we shall then be high enough to pull them down." So
one Rakshas stooped down, and the second got on his shoulders, and the
third on his, and the fourth on his, and the fifth on his, and the
sixth on his; and the seventh and the last Rakshas (who had invited
all the others) was just climbing up when the Deaf Man (who was
looking over the Blind Man's shoulder) got so frightened that in his
alarm he caught hold of his friend's arm, crying, "They're coming,
they're coming!" The Blind Man was not in a very secure position, and
was sitting at his ease, not knowing how close the Rakshas were. The
consequence was, that when the Deaf Man gave him this unexpected push,
he lost his balance and tumbled down on to the neck of the seventh
Rakshas, who was just then climbing up. The Blind Man had no idea
where he was, but thought he had got on to the branch of some other
tree; and, stretching out his hand for something to catch hold of,
caught hold of the Rakshas' two great ears, and pinched them very hard
in his surprise and fright. The Rakshas couldn't think what it was
that had come tumbling down upon him; and the weight of the Blind Man
upsetting his balance, down he also fell to the ground, knocking down
in their turn the sixth, fifth, fourth, third, second and first
Rakshas, who all rolled one over another, and lay in a confused heap
at the foot of the tree together. Meanwhile the Blind Man called out
to his friend, "Where am I? what has happened? Where am I? where am
I?" The Deaf Man (who was safe up in the tree) answered, "Well done,
brother! never fear! never fear! You're all right, only hold on tight.
I'm coming down to help you." But he had not the least intention of
leaving his place of safety. However, he continued to call out, "Never
mind, brother; hold on as tight as you can. I'm coming, I'm coming,"
and the more he called out, the harder the Blind Man pinched the
Rakshas' ears, which he mistook for some kind of palm branches. The
six other Rakshas, who had succeeded, after a good deal of kicking, in
extricating themselves from their unpleasant position, thought they
had had quite enough of helping their friend, and ran away as fast as
they could; and the seventh, thinking from their going that the danger
must be greater than he imagined, and being moreover very much afraid
of the mysterious creature that sat on his shoulders, put his hands to
the back of his ears and pushed off the Blind Man, and then (without
staying to see who or what he was) followed his six companions as fast
as he could.
As soon as all the Rakshas were out of sight, the Deaf Man came down
from the tree, and, picking up the Blind Man, embraced him, saying, "I
could not have done better myself. You have frightened away all our
enemies, but you see I came to help you as fast as possible." He then
dragged the donkey and the bundles of treasure out of the bushes, gave
the Blind Man one bundle to carry, took the second himself, and put
the remaining two on the donkey, as before. This done, the whole party
set off to return home. But when they had got nearly out of the jungle
the Deaf Man said to the Blind Man, "We are now close to the village,
but if we take all this treasure home with us, we shall run great risk
of being robbed. I think our best plan would be to divide it equally;
then you shall take care of your half, and I will take care of mine,
and each one can hide his share here in the jungle, or wherever
pleases him best." "Very well," said the Blind Man; "do you divide
what we have in the bundles into two equal portions, keeping one-half
yourself and giving me the other." But the cunning Deaf Man had no
intention of giving up half of the treasure to the Blind Man; so he
first took his own bundle of treasure and hid it in the bushes, and
then he took the two bundles off the donkey and hid them in the
bushes; and he took a good deal of treasure out of the Blind Man's
bundle, which he also hid. Then, taking the small quantity that
remained, he divided it into two equal portions, and placing half
before the Blind Man and half in front of himself, said, "There,
brother, is your share to do what you please with." The Blind Man put
out his hand, but when he felt what a very little heap of treasure it
was, he got very angry, and cried, "This is not fair--you are
deceiving me; you have kept almost all the treasure for yourself and
only given me a very little." "Oh, oh! how can you think so?" answered
the Deaf Man; "but if you will not believe me, feel for yourself. See,
my heap of treasure is no larger than yours." The Blind Man put out
his hands again to feel how much his friend had kept; but in front of
the Deaf Man lay only a very small heap, no larger than what he had
himself received. At this he got very cross, and said, "Come, come,
this won't do. You think you can cheat me in this way because I am
blind; but I'm not so stupid as all that. I carried a great bundle of
treasure, you carried a great bundle of treasure, and there were two
great bundles on the donkey. Do you mean to pretend that all that made
no more treasure than these two little heaps! No, indeed; I know
better than that." "Stuff and nonsense!" answered the Deaf Man. "Stuff
or no stuff," continued the other, "you are trying to take me in, and
I won't be taken in by you." "No, I'm not," said the Deaf Man. "Yes,
you are," said the Blind Man; and so they went on bickering, scolding,
growling, contradicting, until the Blind Man got so enraged that he
gave the Deaf Man a tremendous box on the ear. The blow was so violent
that it made the Deaf Man hear! The Deaf Man, very angry, gave his
neighbor in return so hard a blow in the face that it opened the Blind
Man's eyes!
So the Deaf Man could hear as well as see! and the Blind Man could see
as well as hear! This astonished them both so much that they became
good friends at once. The Deaf Man confessed to having hidden the bulk
of the treasure, which he thereupon dragged forth from its place of
concealment, and, having divided it equally, they went home and
enjoyed themselves.
[Decoration]
[Decoration]