There was once an old man, who, when he was cutting reeds for his
fence in the jungle, heard a tiger growling close to him; and it
happened that at that moment a bird also flew away. On which the old
man, though he was in truth very frightened, called after the bird
"Ah! if you had only stopped, I would have taught you the secret
of the ghughu ban." And this saying he kept on repeating, so that
the tiger said to himself "What is it that the old man is saying? I
must get him to tell me; and in that case I won't even eat him." So
he called to the old man. "Look here, old man, what is that about
the ghughu ban?" But the old man, answering not a word, kept on
chopping his reeds. Then the tiger crept up quite close to him,
and said to the old man "If you don't tell me what you are talking
about, I will eat you!" But the old man, for all his fear, only said
"You come to my house tomorrow, and I will tell you." Very early
the next morning the tiger asked his way to the old man's house,
and when he got there, it being still early morning, the old man said
"And what may your honour be pleased to want?" And the tiger replied
"I want to know what you were talking about yesterday." But the old
man replied "I cannot possibly teach you alone. You had better go
and get two or three other tigers." And so the tiger went away and
returned with two or three of his brethren. In the meanwhile the
old man had spread his unthreshed paddy in the yard. And, putting
his earliest acquaintance first, he tied all the tigers to the post,
round which the cattle revolve when they are treading out the grain,
and set them to work to tread.
But the one in the middle, who was unaccustomed to such labour, cried
out in a piteous voice that his head ached, and that he was getting
very giddy. But the old man said "Wait a bit, my friend; you haven't
learned yet." And when the tiger complained again, the old man fetched
his goad and pricked him sore, so that, giddy and stumbling, he had to
go round and round, and when the tiger said "I shall die at this rate,"
the old man replied "You wanted to learn the ghughu ban yesterday,
and unless you endure this trouble, you cannot possibly learn;" and,
so saying, pricked him the more cruelly. Finally, the tiger said
"If so be, I must be in pain, I must be. But I don't see what it is
all about." Then the old man replied "This is precisely what they
called the ghughu ban." Then the tiger said "I see, I see, now let us
go. We have learned our lesson." But the old man said "Wait a bit,
the paddy is nearly trodden out," and would not stop pricking the
tigers for all their entreaties. And when the paddy was all threshed,
the old man began untying their bonds. But before he had finished,
the tigers were in such pain that they tore the rope out of his hands
and ran away. When they stopped to rest, they saw the old man's rope,
and said to one another "If we do not give the old man his rope again,
we shall get into further trouble." So, after much debate, the first
tiger was deputed to take it back.
So back he went, trembling with fear in every limb, and, getting close
to the old man's house, offered him his rope. But the old man said
"It is night, and I am in bed. I can't come out. Put the rope in at
the window." So the tiger put it on his tail and thrust it in at the
window. But the old man had his knife ready and cut the tiger's tail
off. On which the tiger once more fled, howling with pain. But the old
man shouted after him "You may run as far as you like, but my brother
is after you, and will catch you." On which the tiger ran faster than
ever. At last, however, he stopped to rest near a cool pool of water,
and, not seeing the old man's brother, dipped the wounded stump of
his tail into the pool for refreshment. But a crab, which dwelt in
that pool, nipped the stump of his tail; and the tiger crying "The
old man's brother has caught me!" again fled through the jungle,
and it was not till the crab was knocked off against the trees that
he at last rested. And that's all!