The Rat replied to the Toad: "Thou dost not know how to run; having
flung thyself anywhere thou stoppest there. This is all thy run; and
wilt thou say that thou canst do more than I?"
When the Toad had heard the words of the Rat he said to him: "If,
according to thy opinion, I cannot do more than thou, thou shalt see
what I will begin to do to-morrow; and if thou beginnest and doest the
same, without anything happening to thee, thou canst do more than I."
The Rat agreed to the Toad's proposal, and went to see the Toad.
The Toad prepared himself, and when the sun reached about the middle,
between the horizon and the zenith, the great men felt its heat, and
went to sit down in the shade of a tree. The Toad on seeing this,
arose, went to where the men were sitting, and passed through the midst
of them. When the men observed him they said: "If you touch him, your
hand will become bitter." So no one touched him, and the Toad passed
through and went home.
Then the Toad said to the Rat, "Didst thou see me? Now if thou canst
do what I do, arise, and begin to do it. I will see!"
The Rat, attending to what the toad said, got ready and the following
morning, when the sun had gained strength and the great men had stood
up and got under the shade of a tree, the Rat saw them sitting there,
and went to do what the Toad had done; but when he came to where the
men were sitting, and just went to pass through the midst of them, they
saw him, and they all took sticks, and sought to kill him: one man
attempting to kill him with a stick, struck at him, but did not hit him
well, the stick touching him only a little on the back; so he ran away
to the Toad.
On his arrival the Rat said to the Toad:
"Brother Toad, as thou wentest to where the people were sitting no one
said a word to thee, and thou camest home again with a sound skin; but
when I went, and they saw me, just as I went to pass through them they
all took sticks, and sought to kill me; and one man taking a stick and
striking at me to kill me, our Lord helped me, that the stick hit me
only a little on the back; so I ran away, and came to thee. I disputed
with thee, thinking that I could do what thou doest: now to-day I have
experienced something; to-morrow let us begin again and when I have the
experience of to-morrow, I shall be able to give thee an answer."
The Toad said to the Rat: "The things of today are passed; to-morrow,
when the great men have gone and sat down under the tree, I will get
ready and when thou hast seen that, on observing me come to them and
pass through the midst of them, they will not say a word to me, thou
also shalt do what I did." So the Rat then went to see the Toad.
As soon as the Toad saw the great men sitting under the tree, he again
began, saying to the Rat, "Look at me, as I go to the place where the
great men are sitting, with a sound skin: but if, on my return from
them, if thou seest the wale of a stick on any part of my body, thou
hast spoken the truth, and canst do more than I."
The Toad got ready, and on coming to where the men were sitting no one
said anything to him; so he passed through the midst of them, and went
again to the Rat, saying: "Look at me! Look at my whole body! Canst
thou see the wale of a stick? If thou seest one, then tell me of it!"
When the Rat had looked at the Toad's whole body and not seen any wale
of a stick he said to the Toad:
"Brother Toad, I have looked at thy whole body, and not seen any wale
of a stick: thou art right."
The Toad said to the Rat. "As thou disputest with me, and maintainest
that thou canst do what I do, get up again, and go to where the great
men are sitting; and if on seeing thee, these men do not say anything
to thee, so that I see thee come back to me again with a sound skin,
then I know that thou canst do more than I."
The Rat, attending to what the Toad said, arose, got himself ready, and
when he saw the great men sitting under the tree, he went toward them;
but on observing him, they said: "Here comes a Rat," and they every one
took a stick, and pursued him in order to kill him; so he ran away, and
as he ran, a man with a stick pursued him; saying, "I will not let this
Rat escape."
The Rat ran until his strength failed him. The man pursued him with
his stick, to kill him; and having come near to him, he took his stick,
and struck at him, with the purpose of killing him; but the stick did
not hit him, and God saved him, his time being not yet arrived, by
showing him a hole into which he crept. When the man saw that he had
gotten into the hole, he went back and returned home. The Rat, on
seeing that the man had gone home, came again out of the hole, and went
to the Toad, saying to him:
"Brother Toad, I indeed at first disputed with thee, saying that I
could do more than thou; but, as for my disputing with thee, thou in
truth canst do more than I: when the people saw thee, they did not say
a word to thee, but when they saw me, they wished to kill me; if our
Lord had not helped me and showed me a hole, they, on seeing me, would
not have left, but killed me; thou surpassest me in greatness."
At that time the Rat entreated our Lord and he placed it in a hole, but
the Toad he placed in the open air. The Rat does not come out by day,
before any one; as to the time when it comes out at night, it stretches
its head out of the hole, and when it does not see anybody it comes out
to seek its food.
As for the Toad, it comes out by day and by night, at any time,
whenever it likes; it comes out and goes about, not anything likes to
molest it; it is bitter, no one eats it on account of its bitterness;
the Toad is left alone; therefore it goes about wherever it likes.
The Rat does not come out of its hole and walk about except at night.
What the Toad and the Rat did, this I heard, and have told to thee.
This fable of the Toad and the Rat is now finished.