Speaker 1: The Brahmin Girl That Married a Tiger from the book
Speaker 1: Tales of Southern India in Myths and Legends Around the World,
Speaker 1: Collection fifteen. This is a liberyvox recording. All liberyvox recordings
Speaker 1: are in the public domain. The more information or to volunteer,
Speaker 1: please visit liberywox dot org. Read by Yoganan The Brahmin
Speaker 1: Girl That Married a Tiger by Lucas Cleeve and Pundit
Speaker 1: Nadesha Shastri. In a certain village there lived an old
Speaker 1: Brahmin who had three sons and a daughter. The girl,
Speaker 1: being the youngest, was brought up most tenderly and became spoilt,
Speaker 1: and so whenever she saw a beautiful boy, she would
Speaker 1: say to a parent that she must be wedded to him.
Speaker 1: Her parents were therefore much put about a device excuses
Speaker 1: for taking her away from her youthful lovers. Thus passed
Speaker 1: on some years till the girl was very nearly grown up,
Speaker 1: and then the parents, fearing that they would be driven
Speaker 1: out of their caste if they failed to dispose of
Speaker 1: and in marriage before she came to the years of maturity,
Speaker 1: began to be eager about finding a bridegroom for her.
Speaker 1: Now near the village there lived a fierce tiger that
Speaker 1: had attained to great proficiency in the art of magic
Speaker 1: and had the power of assuming different forms. Having a
Speaker 1: great taste for Brahmin's food, the tiger used to no
Speaker 1: on them to frequent temples and other places of public
Speaker 1: refreshment in the shape of an old famished Brahman in
Speaker 1: order to share the food prepared for the Brahmins. The
Speaker 1: tiger also wanted, if possible, a Brahman wife to take
Speaker 1: to the woods and there to make her cook kiss
Speaker 1: means after a fashion. One day, when he was partaking
Speaker 1: of his meals in Brahmin's shape at Tasatra footnote a
Speaker 1: place of public feeding. End of footnote, he heard the
Speaker 1: talk about the Brahmin girl who was always falling in
Speaker 1: love with a very beautiful Brahmin boy. Said he to himself,
Speaker 1: praised be the face that I saw first. This morning.
Speaker 1: I shall assume the shape of a Brahmin boy and
Speaker 1: appear as beautiful can be and win the heart of
Speaker 1: the girl. Next morning, he accordingly became in the form
Speaker 1: of a great Sasa tary profesion in Ramayana, and took
Speaker 1: his seat near the ghart of the sacred river of
Speaker 1: the village, scattering holy ashes profusely over his body, opened
Speaker 1: the rama ina and began to read. The voice of
Speaker 1: the new Sassery is most enchanting. Let us go and
Speaker 1: hear him, said some women among themselves, and sat down
Speaker 1: before him to hear him expom the great book. The
Speaker 1: girl for whom the tiger had assumed the shape came
Speaker 1: in due time to bathe at the river, and as
Speaker 1: soon as she saw the new sasa Tary fell in
Speaker 1: love with him and bothered her old mother to speak
Speaker 1: to her father about him, so as not to lose
Speaker 1: her new lover. The old woman, too was delighted at
Speaker 1: the bridegroom, whom fortune had thrown in away, and ran
Speaker 1: home to her husband, who, when he came and saw
Speaker 1: the SaaS Tri raised up his hand in praise of
Speaker 1: the great God Mayeshara. His Sasary was now invite to
Speaker 1: take his meals with them, and as he had come
Speaker 1: with the express intention of marrying the daughter, he of
Speaker 1: course agreed a grand dinner followed in honor of the
Speaker 1: sasas Threy, and his host began to question him as
Speaker 1: to his parentage et cetera. To which the cunning tiger
Speaker 1: replied that he was born in a village beyond the
Speaker 1: adjacent wood. The Brahmin had no time to wait for
Speaker 1: further enquiries, and as the boy was very fair, he
Speaker 1: married his daughter to him the very next day. Fees
Speaker 1: followed for a month, during which time the bridegroom gave
Speaker 1: every satisfaction to his new relatives, who supposed him to
Speaker 1: be human. All the while he also did full justice
Speaker 1: to the Brahmin dishes and swallowed everything that was placed
Speaker 1: before him. After the first month was over, the tiger
Speaker 1: bridegroom bethought him of his accustomed prey and hankered after
Speaker 1: his abode in the woods. The change have died for
Speaker 1: a day or two is all very well, But to
Speaker 1: renounce his own proper food for more than a month
Speaker 1: was hard. So one day he said to his father
Speaker 1: in law, I must go back soon to my old parents,
Speaker 1: for they will be pining at my absence. But why
Speaker 1: should we have to bear the double expense of my
Speaker 1: coming all the way here again to take my wife
Speaker 1: to my village. So if you will kindly let me
Speaker 1: take the girl with me, I shall take her to
Speaker 1: a future home and hand her over to a mother
Speaker 1: in law and see that she is well taken care of.
Speaker 1: The old Brahmin agreed to this and replied, my dear
Speaker 1: son in law, you are our husband and she is yours,
Speaker 1: and we now send her with you. Though it is
Speaker 1: like sending her into the wilderness with her eyes tied up,
Speaker 1: But as we take you to be everything to her,
Speaker 1: we trust you to treat her kindly. The mother of
Speaker 1: the Bright shed tears at the idea of having to
Speaker 1: send her away, but nevertheless, the very next day was
Speaker 1: fix it for the journey. The old woman spent the
Speaker 1: whole day in preparing cakes and sweetmeats for a daughter,
Speaker 1: and when the time for the journey arrived, she took
Speaker 1: care to place in a bundles and on her head
Speaker 1: on or two margoza leaves. Footnote among high cast windows.
Speaker 1: When girls leave one village and go to another, the
Speaker 1: old woman of the house, the mother or grandmother, always
Speaker 1: places in a bundles and on a head A few
Speaker 1: margosa leaves is a talisman against demons, end a footnote
Speaker 1: to keep her off demons. The relatives of the Bright
Speaker 1: requested her husband to allow her to rest wherever she
Speaker 1: found shade and to eat wherever she found water. And
Speaker 1: to this he agreed, and so they began their journey.
Speaker 1: The boy tiger and his human wife pursued their journey
Speaker 1: for two or three gadikas. Footnote A gadika is twenty
Speaker 1: four minutes. The story being Hindu, the Hindu method of
Speaker 1: reckoning distance is used end of footnote. In Free and
Speaker 1: Pleasant Conversation, when the girl happened to see a fine
Speaker 1: pond around which the birds were barbbling the sweet notes,
Speaker 1: she requested her husband to follow her to the water's
Speaker 1: edge and to partake of some cakes and sweetmeats with her.
Speaker 1: But he replied, be quiet, or I shall show you
Speaker 1: my original shape. This made her afraid, so she pursued
Speaker 1: a journey in silence. Central she saw another pond when
Speaker 1: she asked the same question of her husband, who replied
Speaker 1: in the same tone. Now she was very hungry and
Speaker 1: not liking husband's stone, which she found had greatly changed
Speaker 1: ever since they had entered the woods, said to him,
Speaker 1: show me your original shape. No sooner where these words
Speaker 1: are tired than Her husband's form changed from that of
Speaker 1: a man, four legs, striped skin, a long tail, and
Speaker 1: a tiger's face came over him suddenly, and horror of
Speaker 1: horus tiger and not a man should behore her. Not
Speaker 1: were a fear stilled when the tiger and human voice
Speaker 1: began as follows. Know henceforth that I, your husband, am
Speaker 1: a tiger, this very tiger that now speaks to you.
Speaker 1: If you have any regard for your life, you must
Speaker 1: obey all my orders implicitly, for I can speak to
Speaker 1: you in human voice and understand what you say in
Speaker 1: a couple of gadikas, we shall reach my home, of
Speaker 1: which you will become the mistress. In front of my
Speaker 1: house you will see half a dozen tups, each of
Speaker 1: which you must fill up daily with some dish or other,
Speaker 1: cooked in your own way. I shall take care to
Speaker 1: supply you with all the provisions you want, so saying,
Speaker 1: the tiger slowly conducted her to his house. The misery
Speaker 1: of the girl may be more imagined than described, for
Speaker 1: if she were to object, she would be put to death.
Speaker 1: So weeping all the way, she reached her husband's house.
Speaker 1: Leaving her there, he went out and written with several
Speaker 1: pumpkins and some flesh, of which she soon prepared a
Speaker 1: curry and gave it to her husband, of which she
Speaker 1: soon prepared a curry and gave it to her husband.
Speaker 1: He went out again after this, and returned in the
Speaker 1: evening with several vegetables and some more flesh, and gave
Speaker 1: her an order. Every morning, I shall go out in
Speaker 1: search of provisions and pray and bring something with me
Speaker 1: on my return. You must keep cook for me. What
Speaker 1: if I leave in the house. So next morning, as
Speaker 1: soon as the tiger had gone away, she cooked everything
Speaker 1: left in the house and filled all the tubs with food.
Speaker 1: At the tenth kadiga, the tiger returned and rolled out.
Speaker 1: I smell a man, I smell a woman in my wood,
Speaker 1: and his wife, a very fair shut herself up in
Speaker 1: the house. As soon as the tiger had satisfied his epithete,
Speaker 1: he told her to open the door, which she did,
Speaker 1: and they talked together for a time, after which the
Speaker 1: tiger rested awhile and then went out hunting again. Thus
Speaker 1: passed many a day till the tiger's bramin wife had
Speaker 1: her son, which also turned out to be only a tiger.
Speaker 1: One day, after the tiger had gone out to the woods,
Speaker 1: his wife was crying all alone in the house when
Speaker 1: a crow happened to pick at some rice that was
Speaker 1: scattered near her, and, seeing the girl crying, began to
Speaker 1: shed tears. Can you assist me? Asked the girl. Yes,
Speaker 1: said the crow. So she brought out a palmera leaf
Speaker 1: and wrote on it with an iron nail all the
Speaker 1: sufferings in the wood, and requested her brothers to come
Speaker 1: and believe her. This pamera leaf she tied to the
Speaker 1: neck of the crow, which, seeming to understand her thoughts,
Speaker 1: flew to a village and sat down before one of
Speaker 1: her brothers. She untied the leaf and read the countings
Speaker 1: of the letter and told them to his other brothers.
Speaker 1: All the three then started for the wood, asking their
Speaker 1: mother to give them something to eat on the way.
Speaker 1: She had not enough rice for the three, so she
Speaker 1: made a big ball of clay and stuck it over
Speaker 1: with water she had so as to make it look
Speaker 1: like a ball of rice. This she gave to the
Speaker 1: brothers to eat on their way, and started them off
Speaker 1: to the woods. They had not proceeded long before they
Speaker 1: aspired an ass. The youngest was of a playful disposition,
Speaker 1: wished to take the ass with him. The two elder
Speaker 1: brothers objected to this, for a time, but in the
Speaker 1: end they allowed him to have his own way. Further on,
Speaker 1: they saw an ant, which the middle brother took with him.
Speaker 1: Near the ant, there was a big palmyra tree lying
Speaker 1: on the ground, which the eldest took with him to
Speaker 1: keep off the tiger. The sun was now high in
Speaker 1: the horizon, and the three brothers became very hungry, so
Speaker 1: they sat down near a tank and opened the bundle
Speaker 1: contained the ball of rice. To their utter disappointment, they
Speaker 1: found it to be all clay. But being extremely hungry,
Speaker 1: they drank all the water on the pond and continued
Speaker 1: their journey. On leaving the tank, they found a big
Speaker 1: eye tub belonging to the washerman of the adjacent village.
Speaker 1: This they took also with them, in addition to the ass,
Speaker 1: the ant, and the palmira tree. Following the road described
Speaker 1: by their sister in a letter sent by the crow,
Speaker 1: they walked on and on till they reached the tiger's house.
Speaker 1: The sister, overjoyed to say her brothers again, ran out
Speaker 1: at once to welcome them. My dearest brothers, I am
Speaker 1: so glad to see you that you have come here
Speaker 1: to relieve me after all, but the time for the
Speaker 1: tiger's coming home is approaching, So hide yourself in the
Speaker 1: loft and wait till he is gone. So saying, she
Speaker 1: helped her brothers to ascend into the loft. By this
Speaker 1: time the tiger returned and perceived the presence of human
Speaker 1: beings with the peculiar smell. He asked his wife whether
Speaker 1: any one had come to their house. She said no.
Speaker 1: But when the brothers, who were their trophies of the way,
Speaker 1: they asked, the aunt and so on were sitting upon
Speaker 1: the loft, saw the tiger dallying with their sister, they
Speaker 1: were greatly frightened, so much so that the youngest, through fear,
Speaker 1: began to quake, and they all fell on the floor.
Speaker 1: What is all this, said the terrified tiger to his wife. Nothing,
Speaker 1: she said, but your brother's in law. They came here
Speaker 1: a watch footnote, A watch is a yama three yards
Speaker 1: end a footnote a go, And as soon as you
Speaker 1: have finished your meals, they want to see you. How
Speaker 1: can my brothers in law be such cowards, thought the
Speaker 1: tiger to himself. He then asked them to speak to him.
Speaker 1: Whereon the youngest brother put the ant which he had
Speaker 1: in his hand into the ear of the ass, and
Speaker 1: as soon as the latter was bitten, it began to
Speaker 1: bawl out most horribly. How is that your brothers have
Speaker 1: such a hoard's voice, said the tiger to his wife.
Speaker 1: He next asked them to show him their legs, taking
Speaker 1: courage of the stupidity of the tiger on the two
Speaker 1: former occasions. The eldest brother now stretched out the palme
Speaker 1: a tree. Why, my father, I've never seen such a leg,
Speaker 1: said the tiger, and asked his brothers in law to
Speaker 1: show their billies. The second brother now showed the tub,
Speaker 1: at which the tiger shuddered, and saying such a harsh voice,
Speaker 1: so stout a leg and such a belly. Truly, I've
Speaker 1: never heard of such persons as these, he ran away.
Speaker 1: It was already dark, and the brothers, wishing to take
Speaker 1: advantage of the tiger's terra, prepared to witten home with
Speaker 1: their sister. At once. The ate up WoT littlefoot she
Speaker 1: had and ordered her to start. Fortunately for her, a
Speaker 1: tiger child was asleep, so she tore it into two
Speaker 1: pieces and suspended them over the hearth, and thus getting
Speaker 1: rid of the child. She ran off with her brothers
Speaker 1: towards home. Before leaving, she bolted the front door from
Speaker 1: inside and went out at the back of the house.
Speaker 1: As soon as the pieces of the cub, which were
Speaker 1: hung up over the hearth began to roast, they dripped,
Speaker 1: which made the fire hiss and splutter, And when the
Speaker 1: tiger returned about midnight, he found the door shut and
Speaker 1: heard the hasting of the fire, which he mistook for
Speaker 1: the noise of cooking muffins. Footnote tumbled overside end of
Speaker 1: footnote I see, said he to himself, how very cunning
Speaker 1: you are. You have bolted the door and are cooking
Speaker 1: muffins by your brothers. Let us see if we can't
Speaker 1: get your muffins. So saying, he went round to the
Speaker 1: back and entered his house, and was greatly perplexed to
Speaker 1: find his cup tone in two and being roasted, his
Speaker 1: house deserted by his Brahmin wife, and his property plundered.
Speaker 1: For his wife, before leaving, had taken with her as
Speaker 1: much of the tiger's property as she could conveniently carry.
Speaker 1: The tiger now discovered all the treachery of his wife,
Speaker 1: and his heart breed for the loss of his son
Speaker 1: that was now no more. He determined to be revenged
Speaker 1: on his wife and to bring her back into the wood,
Speaker 1: and there tear it into many pieces in place of
Speaker 1: only two. But how to bring her back? He assumed
Speaker 1: his original shape of a young bridegroom, making of course
Speaker 1: due elements for the number of years that had passed
Speaker 1: since his marriage, and next morning went to his father
Speaker 1: in law's house. His brothers in law and his wife
Speaker 1: saw from a distance the deceitful form he had assumed,
Speaker 1: and devised means to kill him. Meanwhile, the tiger Brahman
Speaker 1: approached his father in law's house, and the old people
Speaker 1: welcomed him. The younger ones too, ran here and there
Speaker 1: to bring provisions to feed him sumptuously, and the tiger
Speaker 1: was highly pleased at the hospital way in which he
Speaker 1: was received. There was a ruined well at the back
Speaker 1: of the house, and the eldest of the brothers placed
Speaker 1: some thin sticks across its mouth, over which he spread
Speaker 1: a fine matter. Now it's usual to ask kest to
Speaker 1: have an oil bath before dinner, and so his three
Speaker 1: brothers in law requested the tiger to take his seat
Speaker 1: on the fine mat for his bath. As soon as
Speaker 1: he sat on it, the thin sticks being unable to
Speaker 1: bear his weight, gave way and down filled the cunning
Speaker 1: tiger with a heavy crash. The well was at once
Speaker 1: filled in with stones and other rubbish, and thus the
Speaker 1: tiger was effectually prevented from doing any more mischief. But
Speaker 1: the Bramin girl, in memory of her having married a tiger,
Speaker 1: raised a pillar over the well and planted a tullsea
Speaker 1: shrub on top of it. Footnote A fragrant herb held
Speaker 1: in great veneration by Hindus ossimum sandtan. This herb is
Speaker 1: sacred alike to Shiva and Vishno. Those species specially sacred
Speaker 1: to Siva ar Vendulasi Siru Tulasi and Siva Tulasi. Those
Speaker 1: to Vishnu are Sendula si and Vishna Tulasi. End of footnote.
Speaker 1: This story is told to explain the Tamil proverb sumairaya
Speaker 1: surua te kata tuma, which means be quite or I
Speaker 1: shall show you my original shape. End of the Brahmin
Speaker 1: girl that married a Taiga.
Speaker 2: The Blue Belt and Myths and Legends around the World
Speaker 2: collection fifteen From East of the Sun and West of
Speaker 2: the Moon, Old Tales from the North by Asbertzen et al.
Speaker 2: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
Speaker 2: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
Speaker 2: visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Jerrem Masters. The Blue
Speaker 2: Belt by Peter Christian Aspirertzen and yeern Angebretzen Mow. Once
Speaker 2: upon a time there was an old beggar woman who
Speaker 2: had gone out to beg. She had a little lad
Speaker 2: with her, and when she had got her bag full,
Speaker 2: she struck across the hill towards her own home. So
Speaker 2: when they had gone a bit up the hillside, they
Speaker 2: came upon a little blue belt which lay where the
Speaker 2: two paths met, and the lad asked his mother's leave
Speaker 2: to pick it up. No, she said, maybe there's witchcraft
Speaker 2: in it, and so with threats she forced him to
Speaker 2: follow her. But when they had gone a bit further,
Speaker 2: the lad said he must run aside a moment out
Speaker 2: of the road, And meanwhile his mother sat down on
Speaker 2: a tree stump. But the lad was a long time gone,
Speaker 2: for as soon as he got so far into the
Speaker 2: wood that the old dame could not see him, he
Speaker 2: ran off to where the belt lay, took it up,
Speaker 2: tied it round his waist, and lo he felt as strong,
Speaker 2: as if he could lift the whole hill. When he
Speaker 2: got back, the old Dame was in a great rage
Speaker 2: and wanted to know what he had been doing all
Speaker 2: that while you don't care how much time you waste,
Speaker 2: And yet you know the night is drawing on, and
Speaker 2: we must cross the hill before it is dark. So
Speaker 2: on they tramped, but when they'd got about halfway, the
Speaker 2: old Dame grew weary and said she must rest under
Speaker 2: a bush. Dear mother, said the lad, mayn't I just
Speaker 2: go up to the top of this high crag while
Speaker 2: you rest and try if I can't see some sign
Speaker 2: of folk hereabouts. Yes, he might do that. So when
Speaker 2: he had got to the top, he saw a light
Speaker 2: shining from the north. So he ran down and told
Speaker 2: his mother, we must get on. Mother, we're near a house,
Speaker 2: for I see a bright light shining quite close to
Speaker 2: us in the north. Then she rose and shouldered her
Speaker 2: bag and set off to see. But they hadn't gone
Speaker 2: far before there stood a steep spur of hill right
Speaker 2: across their path. Just as I thought, said the old Dame.
Speaker 2: Now we can't go a step further. A pretty bed
Speaker 2: we shall have here. But the lad took the bag
Speaker 2: under one arm, and his mother under the other, and
Speaker 2: ran straight up the steep crag with them. Now, don't
Speaker 2: you see, don't you see that we're close to a house.
Speaker 2: Don't you see that bright light? But the old dames
Speaker 2: said those were no Christian folk, but trolls, for she
Speaker 2: was at home in all that forest far and near,
Speaker 2: and knew that there was not a living soul in
Speaker 2: it until you were well over the ridge and come
Speaker 2: down on the other side. But they went on, and
Speaker 2: in a little while they came to a great house
Speaker 2: which was all painted red. What's the good, said the
Speaker 2: old dame. We daren't go in, for here the trolls live,
Speaker 2: don't say, so we must go in. There must be
Speaker 2: men where the lights shine, so said the lad. So
Speaker 2: in he went, and his mother after him. But he
Speaker 2: had scarce opened the door before she swooned away, for
Speaker 2: there she saw a great stout man at least twenty
Speaker 2: feet high, sitting on the bench. Good evening, grandfather, said
Speaker 2: the lad. Well here I've sat three hundred years, said
Speaker 2: the man who lived on the bench, and no one
Speaker 2: has ever come and called me grandfather before then the
Speaker 2: lad sat down by the man's side and began to
Speaker 2: talk to him as if they'd ben old friends. But
Speaker 2: what's come over your mother, said the man, after they'd chatted.
Speaker 2: Awhile I think she swooned away, you'd better look after her.
Speaker 2: So the lad went and took hold of the old
Speaker 2: dame and dragged her up the hill along the floor
Speaker 2: that brought her to herself, And she kicked and scratched
Speaker 2: and flung herself about, and at last sat down upon
Speaker 2: a heap of firewood in the corner. But she was
Speaker 2: so frightened that she scarce dared to look one in
Speaker 2: the face. After a while, the lad asked if they
Speaker 2: could spend the night there. Yes, to be sure, said
Speaker 2: the man. So they went on talking again, and the
Speaker 2: lad soon got hungry and wanted to know if they
Speaker 2: could get food as well as lodging. Of course, said
Speaker 2: the man, that might be got too, And after he
Speaker 2: had sat a while longer, he rose up and threw
Speaker 2: six loads of dry pitch pine on the fire. This
Speaker 2: made the old hag still more afraid. Oh now he's
Speaker 2: going to roast us alive, she said in the corner
Speaker 2: where she sat. And when the wood had burned down
Speaker 2: to glowing embers, up got the man and strode out
Speaker 2: of his house. Heaven bless and help us. What a
Speaker 2: stout heart you've got, said the old dame. Don't you
Speaker 2: see we've got amongst trolls, stuff and nonsense, said the lad,
Speaker 2: No harm if we have. In a little while back
Speaker 2: came the man with an ox so fat and big
Speaker 2: the lad had never seen its like. And he gave
Speaker 2: it one blow with his fist under the ear, and
Speaker 2: down it fell dead on the floor. When that was done,
Speaker 2: he took it up by all the four legs and
Speaker 2: laid it on the glowing embers, and turned it and
Speaker 2: twisted it about until it was burnt brown outside. After
Speaker 2: that he went to a cupboard and took out a
Speaker 2: great silver dish and laid the ox upon it. And
Speaker 2: the dish was so big that none of the ox
Speaker 2: hung over on any side. This he put on the table,
Speaker 2: And then he went down into the cellar and fetched
Speaker 2: a cask of wine, knocked out the head, and put
Speaker 2: the cask on the table, together with two knives, which
Speaker 2: were each six feet long. When this was done, he
Speaker 2: bade them go and sit down to supper and eat.
Speaker 2: So they went, the lad first, and the old Dame after,
Speaker 2: but she began to whimper and wail, and to wonder
Speaker 2: how she should ever use such knives. But her son
Speaker 2: seized one and began to cut slices out of the
Speaker 2: thigh of the ox, which he placed before his mother.
Speaker 2: And when they had eaten a bit, he took up
Speaker 2: the cask with both hands and lifted it down to
Speaker 2: the floor. Then he told his mother to come and drink,
Speaker 2: but it was still so high that she couldn't reach
Speaker 2: up to it, so he caught her up and held
Speaker 2: her up to the edge of the cask while she drank.
Speaker 2: As for himself, he clambered up and hung down like
Speaker 2: a cat inside the cask while he drank. So when
Speaker 2: he had quenched his thirst, he took up the cask
Speaker 2: and put it back on the table and thanked the
Speaker 2: man for the good meal, and told his mother to
Speaker 2: come and thank him too, And a feared though she was,
Speaker 2: she dared do nothing else but thank the man. Then
Speaker 2: the lad sat down alongside the man and began to gossip,
Speaker 2: And after they had sat awhile, the man said, well,
Speaker 2: I must go and get a bit of supper too,
Speaker 2: And so he went to the table and ate up
Speaker 2: the whole ox, hooves and horns and all, and drained
Speaker 2: the cask to the last to drop, and then went
Speaker 2: back and sat on the bench. As for beds, he said,
Speaker 2: I don't know what's to be done. I've only got
Speaker 2: one bed and a cradle. But we could get on
Speaker 2: pretty well if you would sleep in the cradle, and
Speaker 2: then your mother might lie in the bed yonder. Thank
Speaker 2: you kindly, that'll do nicely, said the lad, And with
Speaker 2: that he pulled off his clothes and lay down in
Speaker 2: the cradle. But to tell you the truth, it was
Speaker 2: quite as big as a four poster. As for the
Speaker 2: old dame, she had to follow the man who showed
Speaker 2: her to bed, though she was out of her wits
Speaker 2: for fear, well, thought the lad to himself, twill never
Speaker 2: do to go to sleep, Yet I'd best lie awake
Speaker 2: and listen how things go as the night wears on.
Speaker 2: So after a while the man began to talk to
Speaker 2: the old dame, and at last he said, we two
Speaker 2: might live here so happily together. Could we only be
Speaker 2: rid of this son of yours? But do you know
Speaker 2: how to settle him? Is out you're thinking of? Said she?
Speaker 2: Nothing easier, said he at any rate he would try.
Speaker 2: He would just say he wished the old dame would
Speaker 2: stay and keep house Frim for a day or two,
Speaker 2: and then he would take the lad out with him
Speaker 2: up to a hill to quarry corner stones, and roll
Speaker 2: down a great rock on him. All this the lad
Speaker 2: lay and listened to. Next day, the troll, for it
Speaker 2: was a troll clear as day, asked if the dame
Speaker 2: would stay and keep house Frim for a few days.
Speaker 2: And as the day went on, he took a great
Speaker 2: iron crowbar and asked the lad if he had a
Speaker 2: mind to go with him up to the hill and
Speaker 2: quarry a few corner stones. With all his heart, he said,
Speaker 2: and went with him. And so after they'd split a
Speaker 2: few stones, the troll wanted him to go down below
Speaker 2: and look after cracks in the rock. And while he
Speaker 2: was doing this, the troll worked away and wearied himself
Speaker 2: with his crowbar till he moved a whole crag out
Speaker 2: of its bed, which came rolling right down on the
Speaker 2: place where the lad was. But he held it up
Speaker 2: till he could get on one side, and then let
Speaker 2: it roll on. Oh, said the lad to the troll,
Speaker 2: I see now what you mean to do. With me.
Speaker 2: You want to crush me to death. So just go
Speaker 2: down yourself and look after the crags and refts in
Speaker 2: this rock, and I'll stand above. The troll did not
Speaker 2: dare do otherwise than the lad bade him, And the
Speaker 2: end of it was that the lad rolled down a
Speaker 2: great rock, which fell upon the troll and broke one
Speaker 2: of his thighs. Well, you are in a sad plight,
Speaker 2: said the lad, as he strode down, lifted the rock,
Speaker 2: and set the man free. After that he had to
Speaker 2: put him on his back and carry him home. So
Speaker 2: he ran with him as fast as a horse, and
Speaker 2: shook him so that the troll screamed and screeched as
Speaker 2: if a knife were run into him. And when he
Speaker 2: got home, they had to put the troll to bed,
Speaker 2: and there he lay in a sad pickle. When the
Speaker 2: night wore on, the troll began to talk to the
Speaker 2: old Dame again, and to wonder however they could be
Speaker 2: rid of the lad. Well, said the old dame. If
Speaker 2: you can't hit on a plan to be rid of him,
Speaker 2: I'm sure I can't. Let me see, said the troll.
Speaker 2: I've got twelve lions in a garden if they could
Speaker 2: only get hold of the lad, they'd soon tear him
Speaker 2: to pieces. So the old dame said it would be
Speaker 2: easy enough to get him there she would sham sick
Speaker 2: and say that she felt so poorly nothing would do
Speaker 2: her any good but lion's milk. All that the lad
Speaker 2: lay and listened to, And when he got up in
Speaker 2: the morning, his mother said that she was worse than
Speaker 2: she looked, and she thought she should never be right
Speaker 2: again unless she could get some lion's milk. Then I'm
Speaker 2: afraid you'll be poorly a long time there, said the lad,
Speaker 2: for I'm sure I don't know where any is to
Speaker 2: be got. Oh if that be all, said the troll,
Speaker 2: there's no lack of lion's milk if we only had
Speaker 2: the man to fetch it. And then he went on
Speaker 2: to say how his brother had a garden with twelve
Speaker 2: lions in it, and how the lad might have the
Speaker 2: key if he had a mind to milk the lions.
Speaker 2: So the lad took the key and a milking pail
Speaker 2: and strode off. And when he unlocked the gate and
Speaker 2: got into the garden, there stood all the twelve lions
Speaker 2: on their hind paws, rampant and roaring, at him, But
Speaker 2: the lad laid hold of the biggest and led him
Speaker 2: about by the fore paws and dashed him against stocks
Speaker 2: and stones till there wasn't a bit of him left
Speaker 2: but the two paws. So when he got home, they
Speaker 2: lay down outside the house with their fore paws on
Speaker 2: the door sill. Now, mother, you'll soon be well, said
Speaker 2: the lad, when he went in for here's the lion's milk.
Speaker 2: He had just milked a drop in the pail. But
Speaker 2: the troll, as he lay in bed, swore it was
Speaker 2: all a lie. He was sure the lad was not
Speaker 2: the man to milk lions. When the lad heard that,
Speaker 2: he forced the troll to get out of bed through
Speaker 2: open the door, and all the lions rose up and
Speaker 2: seized the troll, and at last the lad had to
Speaker 2: make them leave their hold. That night, the troll began
Speaker 2: to talk to the old dame again. I'm sure I
Speaker 2: can't tell how to put this lad out of the way,
Speaker 2: so awfully strong, can't you think of some way? No,
Speaker 2: said the old dame. If you can't, I'm sure I can't, well,
Speaker 2: said the troll. I have two brothers in a castle.
Speaker 2: They are twelve times as strong as I am, and
Speaker 2: that's why I was turned out and had to put
Speaker 2: up with this farm. They hold that castle, and round
Speaker 2: it there is an orchard with apples in it, and
Speaker 2: whoever eats those apples sleeps for three days and three nights.
Speaker 2: If we could only get the lad to go for
Speaker 2: the fruit, he wouldn't be able to keep from tasting
Speaker 2: the apples. And as soon as ever he fell sleep,
Speaker 2: my brothers would tear him in pieces. The old dame
Speaker 2: said she would sham sick and say that she could
Speaker 2: never be herself again unless she tasted those apples, for
Speaker 2: she had set her heart on them. All this the
Speaker 2: lad lay and listened to. When the morning came, the
Speaker 2: old dame was so poorly that she couldn't utter a
Speaker 2: word but groans and sighs. She was sure that she
Speaker 2: should never be well again unless she had some of
Speaker 2: those apples that grew in the orchard near the castle
Speaker 2: where the man's brothers lived. Only she had no one
Speaker 2: to send for them. Oh, the lad was ready to
Speaker 2: go that instant, but the eleven lions went with him.
Speaker 2: So when he came to the orchard, he climbed up
Speaker 2: into the apple tree and ate as many apples as
Speaker 2: he could, and he had scarce got down before he
Speaker 2: fell into a deep sleep, but the lions all lay
Speaker 2: round him in a ring. The third day came the
Speaker 2: troll's brothers, but they would not come in man's life.
Speaker 2: They came snorting like man eating steeds, and wondered who
Speaker 2: it was that dared to be there, and said they
Speaker 2: would tear him to pieces so small there should not
Speaker 2: be a bit of him left. But up rose the
Speaker 2: lions and tore the trolls into small pieces, so that
Speaker 2: the place looked as if a dung heap had been
Speaker 2: tossed about it. And when they had finished the trolls,
Speaker 2: they lay down again. The lad did not wake until
Speaker 2: late in the afternoon, and when he got on his
Speaker 2: knees and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he
Speaker 2: began to wonder what had been going on when he
Speaker 2: saw the marks of hoofs. But when he went towards
Speaker 2: the castle, a maiden looked out of the window, who
Speaker 2: had seen all that had happened, and she said, you
Speaker 2: may thank your stars you weren't in that tussle, else
Speaker 2: you must have lost your life. What I lose my life?
Speaker 2: No fear of that, I think, said the lad, so
Speaker 2: she begged him to come in that she might talk
Speaker 2: with him, for she hadn't seen a Christian's soul ever
Speaker 2: since she came there. When she opened the door, the
Speaker 2: lions wanted to go in too, but she got so
Speaker 2: frightened that she began to scream, and so the lad
Speaker 2: let them lie outside. Then the two talked and talked,
Speaker 2: and the lad asked how it came that she, who
Speaker 2: was so lovely, could put up with those ugly trolls.
Speaker 2: She never wished it, she said, twas quite against her will.
Speaker 2: They had seized her by force, and she was the
Speaker 2: King of Arabia's daughter. So they talked on, and at
Speaker 2: last she asked him what he would do, whether she
Speaker 2: should go back home, or whether he would have her
Speaker 2: to wife. Of course you would have her, and she
Speaker 2: shouldn't go home. After that, they went round the castle,
Speaker 2: and at last they came to a great hall where
Speaker 2: the troll's two great swords hung high up on the wall.
Speaker 2: I wonder if you're man enough to wield one of these,
Speaker 2: said the princess, who I said the lad, twould be
Speaker 2: a pretty thing if I couldn't one of these. With that,
Speaker 2: he put two or three chairs atop of the other,
Speaker 2: jumped up and touched the biggest sword with his finger tips,
Speaker 2: tossed it up in the air, and caught it again
Speaker 2: by the hilt, leapt down, and at the same time
Speaker 2: dealt such a blow with it on the floor that
Speaker 2: the whole hall shook. After he had thus got down,
Speaker 2: he thrust the sword under his arm and carried it
Speaker 2: about with him. So, when they had lived a little
Speaker 2: while in the castle, the princess thought that she ought
Speaker 2: to go home to her parents and let them know
Speaker 2: what had become of her. So they loaded a ship,
Speaker 2: and she set sail from the castle. After she had gone,
Speaker 2: and the lad wandered about a little, he called to
Speaker 2: mind that he'd been sent out on an errand thither
Speaker 2: and had come to fetch something for his mother's health.
Speaker 2: And though he said to himself, after all the old
Speaker 2: dame was not so bad, that she's all right, by
Speaker 2: this time, stilly thought he ought to go and see
Speaker 2: how she was. So he went, and both the man
Speaker 2: and his mother quite fresh and hardy. What wretches you
Speaker 2: are to live in this beggarly hut, said the lad.
Speaker 2: Come with me up to my castle, and you shall
Speaker 2: see what a fine fellow I am. Well. They were
Speaker 2: both ready to go, and on the way his mother
Speaker 2: talked to him and ask how he had got so strong.
Speaker 2: If you must know, it came of that blue belt
Speaker 2: which lay on the hillside the time when you and
Speaker 2: I were out begging, said the lad. Have you got it? Still?
Speaker 3: Asked she?
Speaker 2: Yes he had. He was tied around his waist. Might
Speaker 2: she see it? Yes she might, And with that he
Speaker 2: pulled open his waistcoat and shirt to show it to her.
Speaker 2: Then she seized it with both her hands, tore it off,
Speaker 2: and twisted it around her fist. Now she cried, what
Speaker 2: shall I do to such a wretch as you. I'll
Speaker 2: give you one blow and dash your brains out. Far
Speaker 2: too good a death for such a scamp, said the troll. No,
Speaker 2: Let's first burn out his eyes and then turn him
Speaker 2: adrift in a little bow. So they burned out his
Speaker 2: eyes and turned him adrift in spite of his prayers
Speaker 2: and tears. But as the boat drifted, the lions swam after,
Speaker 2: and at last they laid hold of it and dragged
Speaker 2: it ashore on an island, and placed the lad under
Speaker 2: a fir tree. They caught game for him, and they
Speaker 2: plucked the birds and made him a bed of down,
Speaker 2: but he was forced to eat his meat raw, and
Speaker 2: he was blind at last. One day the biggest lion
Speaker 2: was chasing a hare, which was blind, for it ran
Speaker 2: straight over stock and stone, and the end was it
Speaker 2: ran right up against a fir tree and tumbled head
Speaker 2: over heels across a field right into a spring. But lo,
Speaker 2: when it came out of the spring, it saw its
Speaker 2: way quite plain, and so saved its life. So so
Speaker 2: thought the lion, and went and dragged the lad to
Speaker 2: the spring, and dipped him over head and ears in it.
Speaker 2: So when he had got his sight again, he went
Speaker 2: down to the shore and made signs to the lion
Speaker 2: that they should all lie close together like a raft.
Speaker 2: Then he stood upon their backs while they swam with
Speaker 2: him to the mainland. When he reached the shore, he
Speaker 2: went up into a birchen copse and made the lions
Speaker 2: lie quiet. Then he stole up to the castle like
Speaker 2: a thief, to see if he couldn't lay hands on
Speaker 2: his belt. And when he got to the door, he
Speaker 2: peeped through the keyhole, and there he saw his belt
Speaker 2: hanging up over the door. In the kitchen, so he
Speaker 2: crept softly in across the floor, for there was no
Speaker 2: one there. But as soon as he'd got hold of
Speaker 2: the belt, he began to kick and stamp about as
Speaker 2: though he were mad. Just then his mother came rushing out,
Speaker 2: dear heart, my darling boy, do give me the belt again,
Speaker 2: she said, thank you kindly, said he. Now you shall
Speaker 2: have the doom you passed on me, and he fulfilled
Speaker 2: it on the spot. When the old troll heard that,
Speaker 2: he came in and begged and prayed so prettily that
Speaker 2: he might not be smitten to death. Well you may live,
Speaker 2: said the lad, but you shall undergo the same punishment
Speaker 2: you gave me. And so he burned out the troll's
Speaker 2: eyes and turned him adrift on the sea in a
Speaker 2: little boat. But he had no lions to follow him.
Speaker 2: Now the lad was all alone, and he went about,
Speaker 2: longing and longing for the princess. At last he could
Speaker 2: bear it no longer. He must set out to seek her.
Speaker 2: His heart was so bent on having her, so he
Speaker 2: loaded four ships and set sail for Arabia. For some
Speaker 2: time they had fair wind and fine weather, but after
Speaker 2: that they lay wind bound under a rocky island, so
Speaker 2: the sailors went ashore and strolled about to spend the time,
Speaker 2: and there they found a huge egg, almost as big
Speaker 2: as a little house. So they began to knock it
Speaker 2: about with large stones, but after all they couldn't crack
Speaker 2: the shell. Then the Lad came up with his sword
Speaker 2: to see what all the noise was about, And when
Speaker 2: he saw the egg, he thought it a trifle to
Speaker 2: crack it, so he gave it one blow and the
Speaker 2: egg split and out came a chicken as big as
Speaker 2: an elephant. Now we have done wrong, said the Lad.
Speaker 2: This can cost us all our lives. And then he
Speaker 2: asked the sailors if they were men enough to sail
Speaker 2: to Arabia in four and twenty hours if they got
Speaker 2: a fine breeze. Yes, they were good to do that,
Speaker 2: they said. So they set sail with a fine breeze
Speaker 2: and got to Arabia in three and twenty hours. As
Speaker 2: soon as they landed, the Lad ordered all the sailors
Speaker 2: to go and bury themselves up to the eyes in
Speaker 2: a sand hill so that they could barely see the ships.
Speaker 2: The Lad and the captains climbed a high crag and
Speaker 2: sate down under a fur in a little while came
Speaker 2: a great bird flying with an island in its claws,
Speaker 2: and let it fall down on the fleet and sunk
Speaker 2: every ship. After it had done that, it flew up
Speaker 2: to the sand hill and flapped its wings so that
Speaker 2: the wind nearly took off the heads of the sailors,
Speaker 2: and it flew past the fur with such force that
Speaker 2: it turned the lad right about. But he was ready
Speaker 2: with his sword and gave the bird one blow and
Speaker 2: brought it down dead. After that he went to the town,
Speaker 2: where everyone was glad because the king had got his
Speaker 2: daughter back. But now the king had hidden her away
Speaker 2: somewhere himself, and promised her hand as a reward to
Speaker 2: anyone who could find her. And this though she was
Speaker 2: betrothed before. Now. As the lad went along, he met
Speaker 2: a man who had white bear skins for sale. So
Speaker 2: he bought one of the hides and put it on,
Speaker 2: And one of the captains was to take an iron
Speaker 2: chain and lead him about. And so he went into
Speaker 2: the town and began to play pranks. At last, the
Speaker 2: news came to the king's ears that there never had
Speaker 2: been such fun in the town before, for there was
Speaker 2: a white bear that danced and cut capers just as
Speaker 2: it was bid, So a messenger came to say that
Speaker 2: the bear must come to the castle at once, for
Speaker 2: the king wanted to see its tricks. So when it
Speaker 2: got to the castle, everyone was afraid, for such a
Speaker 2: beast they had known, ever seen before. But the captain
Speaker 2: said that there was no danger unless they laughed at it.
Speaker 2: They mustn't do that, else it would tear them to pieces.
Speaker 2: When the King heard that, he warned all the court
Speaker 2: not to laugh. But while the fun was going on,
Speaker 2: there came one of the king's maids and began to
Speaker 2: laugh and make game of the bear. The bear flew
Speaker 2: at her and tore her so that there was scarce
Speaker 2: a rag of her left. Then all the court began
Speaker 2: to bewail, and the captain most of all stuff and nonsense,
Speaker 2: said the King. She's only a maid. Besides, it's more
Speaker 2: my affair than yours. When the show was over, it
Speaker 2: was late at night. It's no good your going away
Speaker 2: when it's so late, said the King. The bear had
Speaker 2: best sleep here. Perhaps it might sleep in the ingle
Speaker 2: by the kitchen fire, said the captain. Nay, said the King.
Speaker 2: It shall sleep up here, and it shall have pillows
Speaker 2: and cushions to sleep on. So a whole heap of
Speaker 2: pillows and cushions was brought, and the captain had a
Speaker 2: bed in a side room. At midnight, the king came
Speaker 2: with a lamp in his hand, in a bunch of keys,
Speaker 2: and carried off the white bear. He passed along gallery
Speaker 2: after gallery, through doors and rooms, upstairs and downstairs, till
Speaker 2: at last he came to a pier which ran out
Speaker 2: into the sea. Then the king began to pull and
Speaker 2: haul at posts and pins, this one up and that
Speaker 2: one down, till at last a little house floated up
Speaker 2: to the water's edge. There he kept his daughter, for
Speaker 2: she was so dear to him that he had hid
Speaker 2: her so no one could find her out. He left
Speaker 2: the white bear outside while he went in and told
Speaker 2: her how it had danced and played its pranks. She
Speaker 2: said she was afraid and dared not look at it,
Speaker 2: but he talked her over, saying that there was no
Speaker 2: danger if she only wouldn't laugh. So they brought the
Speaker 2: bear in and locked the door, and it danced and
Speaker 2: played its tricks. But just when the fun was at
Speaker 2: its height, the princess's maid began to laugh. Then the
Speaker 2: lad flew her and tore her to bits, and the
Speaker 2: princess began to cry and sob stuff and nonsense, cried
Speaker 2: the king, all this fuss about a maid, I'll get
Speaker 2: you just as good a one again. But now I
Speaker 2: think the bear had best stay here till morning, for
Speaker 2: I don't care to have to go and lead it
Speaker 2: all along those galleries and stairs this time of night, well,
Speaker 2: said the princess. If it sleeps here, I'm sure I won't.
Speaker 2: But just then the bear curled himself up and lay
Speaker 2: down by the stove, and it was settled at last
Speaker 2: that the princess should sleep there too, with a light burning.
Speaker 2: But as soon as the king had well gone, the
Speaker 2: white bear came and begged her to undo his collar.
Speaker 2: The princess was so scared she almost swooned away, but
Speaker 2: she felt about till she found the collar, and she
Speaker 2: had scarce undone it before the bear pulled his head off.
Speaker 2: Then she knew him again, and was so glad. There
Speaker 2: was no end to her joy, and she wanted to
Speaker 2: tell her father at once that her delivery was come,
Speaker 2: but the lad would not hear of it. He would
Speaker 2: earn her once more, he said so in the morning,
Speaker 2: when they heard the king rattling the posts outside. The
Speaker 2: lad drew on the hide and lay down by the stove.
Speaker 2: Well has it lain still, the king asked, I should
Speaker 2: think so, said the princess. It hasn't so much as
Speaker 2: turned or stretched itself once. When they got up to
Speaker 2: the castle again, the captain took the bear and led
Speaker 2: it away. And then the lad threw off the hide
Speaker 2: and went to a tailor and ordered clothes fit for
Speaker 2: a prince. And when they were fitted on, he went
Speaker 2: to the king and said he wanted to find the princess.
Speaker 2: You are not the first that is wished the same thing,
Speaker 2: said the king. But they have all lost their lives.
Speaker 2: For if anyone who tries can't find her in four
Speaker 2: and twenty hours, his life is forfeitted. Yes, the lad
Speaker 2: knew all that, still he wished to try, and if
Speaker 2: he couldn't find her, twas his look out Now in
Speaker 2: the castle there was a band that played sweet tunes,
Speaker 2: and there were fair maids to dance with, And so
Speaker 2: the lad danced away. When twelve hours were gone, the
Speaker 2: king said, I'd pity you with all my heart. You're
Speaker 2: so poor a hand at seeking. You will surely lose
Speaker 2: your life stuff, said the lad. While there's life, there's hope.
Speaker 2: So long as there's breath in the body, there's no fear.
Speaker 2: We have lots of time, And so he went on
Speaker 2: dancing till there was only one hour left. Then he
Speaker 2: said he would begin to search. It's no use now,
Speaker 2: said the king. Time's up. Light your lamp, out with
Speaker 2: your big bunch of keys, said the lad, and follow
Speaker 2: me whither I wish to go. There's still a whole
Speaker 2: hour left. So the lad went the same way which
Speaker 2: the King had led him the night before, and he
Speaker 2: bade the King unlock door after door till they came
Speaker 2: down to the pier which ran out into the sea.
Speaker 2: It's all no use, I tell you, said the king.
Speaker 2: Times up, and this will only lead you right out
Speaker 2: into the sea. Still five minutes more, said the lad,
Speaker 2: as he pulled and pushed at the posts and pins,
Speaker 2: and the house floated up. Now the time is up,
Speaker 2: bawled the king. Come and hear their heads men, and
Speaker 2: take off his head. Nay, nay, said the lad. Stop
Speaker 2: a bit, there are still three minutes out. With the key,
Speaker 2: and let me go into this house. But there stood
Speaker 2: the king and fumbled with his keys to draw out
Speaker 2: the time. At last he said he hadn't any key. Well,
Speaker 2: if you haven't, I have, said the lad, And he
Speaker 2: gave the door such a kick that it flew to
Speaker 2: splinters inwards on the floor. At the door, the princess
Speaker 2: met him and told her father. This was her deliverer
Speaker 2: on whom her heart was set. So she had him,
Speaker 2: And this was how the beggar boy came to marry
Speaker 2: the daughter of the King of Arabia. End of the
Speaker 2: Blue Belt in Myths and Legends Around the World, Collection fifteen.
Speaker 4: The Cox Kraal in Myths and Legends Around the World
Speaker 4: Collection fifteen. From fairy Tales from South Africa. This is
Speaker 4: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
Speaker 4: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Speaker 4: Read by David mccott. The Cox Kraal a Swazi tale.
Speaker 4: Once upon a time there lived a great chief who
Speaker 4: ruled over many thousands of men. The city in which
Speaker 4: he dwelt was so large that it would have taken
Speaker 4: you many hours to walk around it, and no one
Speaker 4: had yet counted the multitude of his cattle. But in
Speaker 4: spite of his great wealth. He was of so grasping
Speaker 4: a disposition that he never seemed to have enough, nor
Speaker 4: did he care whether he gained his ends justly. You
Speaker 4: shall hear the story of the misfortunes he incurred through
Speaker 4: the same passion of greed. One day he sent out
Speaker 4: a party of men, headed by his chief and Duna,
Speaker 4: to hunt for odderskins for the royal bodyguard. This regiment
Speaker 4: was the finest of his army, and he prided himself
Speaker 4: on its perfect equipment. To show how highly he esteemed
Speaker 4: the men belonging to it, he allowed them to wear
Speaker 4: oddus skins, the royal fir and long waving head dresses
Speaker 4: of fostrich feathers. His bravest son was their commander. No
Speaker 4: soldiers equaled them in all the land. The hunting party
Speaker 4: had good sport, traveling by for many miles down the
Speaker 4: river and attacking the otters by night when they assemble
Speaker 4: under the great rocks. The nights were warm and pleasant,
Speaker 4: and day off to day. They followed their quarry till
Speaker 4: they were far from home and found themselves in a
Speaker 4: new country. Then in a few hours the weather changed.
Speaker 4: Clouds came up and covered the hills, and then followed
Speaker 4: a cold, misty rain. It grew colder and colder, and
Speaker 4: they had no shelter and were drenched to the bone.
Speaker 4: They tried to light a fire by rubbing two pieces
Speaker 4: of wood together, but the wood was damp and no
Speaker 4: spark came. They tried flint stones, but the rain had
Speaker 4: spoilt their tinder. Then they thought of going to a
Speaker 4: neighboring kraal and there obtaining fire. But the country tree
Speaker 4: round was bare and empty. Not a soul was to
Speaker 4: be seen, and the rain continued to fall heavily. At
Speaker 4: last they decided to mount a hill and see if
Speaker 4: any habitation could be found. They ascended the highest point
Speaker 4: within reach, and far away, in the middle of a
Speaker 4: great plain. On the other side, they saw a single
Speaker 4: column of smoke. They all set out at once in
Speaker 4: the new direction, and at the end of some hours
Speaker 4: arrived at the gate of a big kraal. Many hundreds
Speaker 4: of huts stood round the cattle pen, and there were
Speaker 4: oxen in plenty, and large herds of goats and sheep,
Speaker 4: But not a single human could be could they see.
Speaker 4: The men walked round the whole city, but the only
Speaker 4: occupants of the huts were foul of every size and color.
Speaker 4: They walked in and out of the doors, and seemed
Speaker 4: busy and occupied in unimportant affairs. The inDuna grew more
Speaker 4: and more puzzled. At last they reached the great entrance
Speaker 4: of the cattle Kraal, and there a magnificent golden cock
Speaker 4: stood on the fence. Whence he could survey the whole city.
Speaker 4: He did not move as at their approach, but surveyed
Speaker 4: them boldly with his bright yellow eyes. What do you want?
Speaker 4: He asked in the tones of a man. The Enduner
Speaker 4: and his warriors were so surprised that they could not
Speaker 4: answer for a moment. Do you seek shelter, repeated the cock.
Speaker 4: If so, my people will help you. We thank you,
Speaker 4: said the inDuna. We only want fire. We are far
Speaker 4: from home and have no means of warming ourselves or
Speaker 4: cooking food. You shall have all you want, said the cock.
Speaker 4: I am a man like yourselves, but a wicked king
Speaker 4: who is stronger than I has bewitched me and all
Speaker 4: my people. He was a cannibal and actually asked for
Speaker 4: the hands of my daughter in marriage for his sons.
Speaker 4: I refused to allow them to have anything to do
Speaker 4: with such a wicked race, whereupon his magicians changed me
Speaker 4: and all my subjects into cocks and hens. Can you
Speaker 4: not win back your old forms, asked the inDuna, Only
Speaker 4: if I overcome a more powerful chief than myself, and
Speaker 4: that I shall find difficult in my present shape. Then
Speaker 4: he took the Duner and his men to two beautiful huts,
Speaker 4: gave them food and drink of the best, and when
Speaker 4: they departed, provided them with a thin stick lighted in
Speaker 4: the fire, which could be smallder for many hours. Dunding
Speaker 4: party went back to their arder skins, lighted a fire,
Speaker 4: and presently returned home with their booty. They related all
Speaker 4: their adventures to the king and gave him a full
Speaker 4: account of the enchanted cock, his beautiful kraal, and his
Speaker 4: great flocks and herds. The king's greed awoke at once,
Speaker 4: and then he cried, what fools serve me? Why did
Speaker 4: you not take the cattle and come back with ever once?
Speaker 4: Could you not overcome a few cocks and hens? Great King,
Speaker 4: as said the inDuna, there was no order to conquer.
Speaker 4: Why should we steal from the cock who gave us
Speaker 4: all we wanted freely? How could you possibly miss such
Speaker 4: a chance? Said the king, I will see to the
Speaker 4: matter myself at once. Then he ordered one of his
Speaker 4: regiments to start for the cock's krawl forthwith, and waited
Speaker 4: at home for the expected's foil. His men soon found
Speaker 4: the path, and after a few days traveling, arrived within
Speaker 4: sight of the enchanted city. The golden cock was at
Speaker 4: his usual post at the gate of the cattle Kraal.
Speaker 4: As he saw the regiment approach in battle array, he
Speaker 4: called all the sheep and cattle and sent them into
Speaker 4: the kraal. Then he flew to the chief hut and
Speaker 4: called to all the fowls who lived in the city,
Speaker 4: come out, Come out. Here are warriors who have come
Speaker 4: to take your cattle. Come out, Come out, and defend
Speaker 4: your homes. The fowls flew in from their lands in
Speaker 4: hundreds and thousands, and stood each at the door of
Speaker 4: their hut directly the regiment set foot in the city.
Speaker 4: Each picked out his man and flew towards him, flapping
Speaker 4: his wings round his enemy's head. In a few minutes,
Speaker 4: each bird had pecked out the eyes of his opponent,
Speaker 4: and such was their strength and ferocity that but two
Speaker 4: or three escaped alive out of the whole regiment. The
Speaker 4: king was greatly incensed when he heard the news. His
Speaker 4: blood was up, and he instantly set forth his royal Bodyguard,
Speaker 4: the flower of his army, under the command of his
Speaker 4: favorite son. They set out, clad in rich odder skins,
Speaker 4: crowned with long black feathers, each man a perfect warrior.
Speaker 4: Many long days passed. Every evening, at sundown, the king
Speaker 4: looked for the victorious army, driving before them great herds
Speaker 4: of lowing towels, themselves scarcely visible in the clouds of
Speaker 4: gold and dust. But no one came, and the days
Speaker 4: grew into weeks at length. One night, at dusk, a
Speaker 4: wretched fugitive arrived, footsore and scarcely able to drag himself along.
Speaker 4: His plumes were gone, a fragment of otter skins was
Speaker 4: still about his loins. Great King said he with many groans.
Speaker 4: I am all that remains of the royal bodyguard. Is
Speaker 4: my son also dead, cried the king in horror. Great King,
Speaker 4: the prince is dead, and all our men no one
Speaker 4: can stand against the assault of the enchanted fowls. The
Speaker 4: golden cocks spared me alone, so that the fate of
Speaker 4: our warriors might be known. He bade me say he
Speaker 4: is still ready for you. But the king owned himself beaten.
Speaker 4: How can I fight any more? He said, My bodyguard
Speaker 4: is destroyed, and my bravest son killed led the cockkeeper's
Speaker 4: city and his cattle. As the words fell from his lips,
Speaker 4: the golden cock and all his men regained once more
Speaker 4: their rightful shape. They conquered in fair fight, and now
Speaker 4: ruled over a great land in happiness and peace and
Speaker 4: of Cox's Kraal in Myths and Legends Around the World
Speaker 4: Collection fifteen.
Speaker 5: Babushka in Myths and Legends Around the World Collection fifteen
Speaker 5: from Twilight Tales. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
Speaker 5: recordings are in the public domain. For more information, would volunteer,
Speaker 5: please visit LibriVox dot org. Read Belli Vogler Babushka. If
Speaker 5: you were a Russian child, you would not watch to
Speaker 5: see Santa Claus come down the chimney, but you would
Speaker 5: stand by the windows to catch a peep at poor
Speaker 5: Babushka as she hurries by. Who is Babushka? Is she
Speaker 5: Santa claus wife? No, indeed, she is only a poor, little, crooked,
Speaker 5: wrinkled old woman who comes at Christmas time into everybody's house,
Speaker 5: who peeps into every cradle, turns back every cover lid,
Speaker 5: drops a tear on the baby's white pillow, and goes
Speaker 5: away far, very very sorrowful. And not only at Christmas time,
Speaker 5: but through all the cold winter, especially in March, when
Speaker 5: the wind blows loud and whistles and howls and dies
Speaker 5: away like a sigh. The Russian children hear the rustling
Speaker 5: step of Babushka. She is always in a hurry. One
Speaker 5: hears her running fast along the crowded streets over the
Speaker 5: quiet country fields. She seems to be out of breath
Speaker 5: and tired, yet she hurries on whom is she trying
Speaker 5: to overtake? She scarcely looks the little children as they
Speaker 5: press their rosy faces against the window pane and whisper
Speaker 5: to each other. Is the Babushka looking for us? No,
Speaker 5: she will not stop only on Christmas evil. She come
Speaker 5: upstairs into the nursery and give each little one a present.
Speaker 5: You must not think she leaves handsome gifts such as
Speaker 5: Santa Claus springs for you. She does not bring bicycles
Speaker 5: to the boys or French dolls to the girl. She
Speaker 5: does not come in a gay little sleigh drawn by reindeer,
Speaker 5: but hobbling along on foot. She leans on a crutch.
Speaker 5: She has her old apron filled with candy and cheap toys,
Speaker 5: and the children all love her dearly. They watch to
Speaker 5: see her come, and when one hears a rustling, he
Speaker 5: cries lo the Babushka. Then all the others look, but
Speaker 5: one must turn one's head very quickly, or she vanishes
Speaker 5: and never saw her myself. Best of all, she loves
Speaker 5: little babies, and often when the tired mothers sleep, she
Speaker 5: bends over their cradles, puts her brown wrinkled face close
Speaker 5: down to the pillow, and looks very sharply. What is
Speaker 5: she looking for? Ah, that you can't guess unless you
Speaker 5: know her sad story long long ago, a great many
Speaker 5: yesterdays ago, the Babushka, who even then was an old woman,
Speaker 5: was busy sweeping her little hut. She lived in the
Speaker 5: coldest corner of cold Russia. And she lived alone in
Speaker 5: a lonely place where four wide roads met. These roads
Speaker 5: were at this time white with snow, for it was
Speaker 5: winter time. In the summer time, when the fields were
Speaker 5: full of flowers, in the air full of sunshine and
Speaker 5: singing birds. Babushka's home did not seem so very quiet.
Speaker 5: But in the winter time, with only the snowflakes and
Speaker 5: the shy snow birds and the loud wind for company,
Speaker 5: the old woman felt very cheerless. But she was a
Speaker 5: busy old woman, and as it was already twilight in
Speaker 5: her home but half swept, she felt in a hurry
Speaker 5: to finish her work before bedtime. You must know that
Speaker 5: Babushka was poor and could not afford to do her
Speaker 5: work by candle light. Presently, down the widest and lonesomest
Speaker 5: of all the white roads, there appeared a long train
Speaker 5: of people. They were walking slowly and seemed to be
Speaker 5: asking each other questions as to which way they should take.
Speaker 5: As the procession came nearer and finally stopped outside the
Speaker 5: little hut, Babushka was frightened at the splendor. There were
Speaker 5: three kings with crowns on their heads, and the jewels
Speaker 5: on the king's breastplates sparkled like sunlight. Their heavy fur
Speaker 5: coats were white with the falling of snowflakes, and the queer,
Speaker 5: humpy camels on which they rode looked white as milk.
Speaker 5: In the snowstorm. The harness on the camels was decorated
Speaker 5: with gold, and plates of silver adorned the saddles. The
Speaker 5: saddle cloths were of the richest Eastern steps, and all
Speaker 5: the servants had dark eyes and hair of an Eastern people.
Speaker 5: The slaves carried heavy loads on their backs, and each
Speaker 5: of the three kings carried a present. One carried a beautiful,
Speaker 5: transparent jar, and in the fading light, Pabusha could see
Speaker 5: in it a golden liquid, which she knew from its
Speaker 5: color must be murr. Another hat in his hand a
Speaker 5: richly woven bag, and it seemed to be heavy, as
Speaker 5: indeed it was, for it was full of gold. The
Speaker 5: third had a stone vase in his hand, and from
Speaker 5: it the rich perfume which filled the snowy air. One
Speaker 5: could guess the base to have been filled with incense.
Speaker 5: Babushka was terribly frightened, so she hid herself in her
Speaker 5: hut and let the servants knock a long time at
Speaker 5: her door before she dared open it and answer their
Speaker 5: questions as to the road they should take to a
Speaker 5: far away down. You know, she had never studied geography
Speaker 5: lesson in her life, was old and stupid and scared.
Speaker 5: She knew the way across the fields to the nearest village,
Speaker 5: but she knew nothing of all the wide world full
Speaker 5: of cities. The servants scolded, but the three kings spoke
Speaker 5: kindly to her and asked her to accompany them on
Speaker 5: their journey, that she might show them the way as
Speaker 5: far as she knew it. They told her in words
Speaker 5: so simple that she could not fail to understand, that
Speaker 5: they had seen a star in the sky and were
Speaker 5: following it to a little town where a young child lay.
Speaker 5: The snow was in the sky now, and the star
Speaker 5: was lost out of sight. Who is the child, asked
Speaker 5: the old woman. He is a king, and we go
Speaker 5: to worship him. They answered, These presents of gold, frankincense
Speaker 5: and mirror for him. When we find him, we will
Speaker 5: take the crowns off of our heads and lay them
Speaker 5: at his feet. Come with us, babushka, what do you suppose.
Speaker 5: Shouldn't you have thought the poor little woman would have
Speaker 5: been glad to leave her desolate home on the plains
Speaker 5: to accompany these kings on their journey. But the foolish
Speaker 5: woman shook her head.
Speaker 6: No.
Speaker 5: The night was dark and cheerless and her little home
Speaker 5: was warm and cozy. She looked up into the sky,
Speaker 5: and the star was nowhere to be seen. Besides, she
Speaker 5: wanted to put her out in order, perhaps she would
Speaker 5: be ready to go tomorrow, but the three kings could
Speaker 5: not wait, so when the morrow's sun rose, they were
Speaker 5: far ahead on their journey. It seemed like a dreamed
Speaker 5: poor Babushka, for even the tracks of the camel's feet
Speaker 5: were covered by the deep white of snow. Everything was
Speaker 5: the same as usual. And to make sure that the
Speaker 5: Knight's visitors had not been a fancy, she found her
Speaker 5: old broom hanging on a peg behind the door, where
Speaker 5: she had put it when the servants knocked. Now that
Speaker 5: the sun was shining, and she remembered the glitter of
Speaker 5: gold and the smell of sweet gums, and myrrhr, she
Speaker 5: wished she had gone with the travelers, And she thought
Speaker 5: a great deal about the dear baby the three kings
Speaker 5: had gone to worship. She had no children of her own,
Speaker 5: nobody loved her if only she had gone. The more
Speaker 5: she brooded on the thought, the more miserable she grew,
Speaker 5: till the very sight of her home became hateful to her.
Speaker 5: It is a dreadful feeling to realize that one has
Speaker 5: lost a chance of happiness. There is a feeling called
Speaker 5: remorse that can gnaw like a sharp little tooth. Babushka
Speaker 5: felt this little tooth cut into her heart every time
Speaker 5: she remembered the visit of the three Kings. After a while,
Speaker 5: the thought of the little child became the first thought
Speaker 5: at waking, and the last thought at night. One day
Speaker 5: she shut the door of her house forever and set
Speaker 5: out on a long journey. She had no hope of
Speaker 5: overtaking the three kings, but she longed to find the
Speaker 5: child that she too might love and worship him. She
Speaker 5: asked every one she met, and some people thought her crazy,
Speaker 5: but others gave her kind answers. Have you perhaps guessed
Speaker 5: that the young child whom the three kings sought was
Speaker 5: our Lord himself? People told Babushka how he was born
Speaker 5: in a manger, and many other things which you children
Speaker 5: have learned long ago. These answered puzzled the old dame mightily.
Speaker 5: She had but one idea in her ignorant head. The
Speaker 5: three kings had gone to seek a baby, she would,
Speaker 5: if not too late, seek him too. She forgot, I'm
Speaker 5: sure how many long years had gone by. She looked
Speaker 5: in vain for the Christ child and his manger cradle.
Speaker 5: She spent all her little savings and toys and candy
Speaker 5: as to make friends with the little children, that they
Speaker 5: might not run away when she came hobbling into their nurseries.
Speaker 5: Now you know for whom she is sadly seeking when
Speaker 5: she pushes back the bed curtains and bends down over
Speaker 5: each baby's pillow. Sometimes, when the old grandmother sits nodding
Speaker 5: by the fire and the bigger children sleep in their beds,
Speaker 5: old Babushka comes hobbling into the room and whispers softly,
Speaker 5: is the young child here? Ah? No, she has come
Speaker 5: too late, too late, But the little children know and
Speaker 5: love her. Two thousand years ago she lost the chance
Speaker 5: of finding him. Crooked, wrinkled, old, sick and sorry. She
Speaker 5: yet lives on looking into each baby's face, always disappointed,
Speaker 5: always seeking. Will she find him at last? Come, bossy,
Speaker 5: Come bossy, here I am with my cup. Come give
Speaker 5: me some milk, rich and sweet. I will pay you
Speaker 5: well with the red clover. Hay, the nicest you ever
Speaker 5: did eat and Babushka. In myths and legends around the
Speaker 5: World Collection fifteen.
Speaker 7: How income Woman abandoned one of her twins in the
Speaker 7: forest and how it was saved by the hawk in
Speaker 7: Myths and Legends Around the World, Collection fifteen. This is
Speaker 7: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
Speaker 7: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Speaker 7: Read by Jerome Ware. How an income woman abandoned one
Speaker 7: of her twins in the forest and how it was
Speaker 7: saved by the hawk. A Wu was a native woman
Speaker 7: of income, a town on the right bank of the
Speaker 7: Cross River, consisting of five compounds separate from one another
Speaker 7: by about half a mile. Bush O Wu was a
Speaker 7: fine girl, but preferred to enjoy herself as she liked,
Speaker 7: rather than to get married, which would mean too hard work.
Speaker 7: She used to walk from one town to another and
Speaker 7: attend all the dances and plays, as she was a
Speaker 7: good singer and dancer. She always wore a cloth of
Speaker 7: the latest past and a silk handkerchief round her head,
Speaker 7: with plenty of hairs from the elephant's tail around her
Speaker 7: neck and strings of beads round her waist. She also
Speaker 7: wore a piece of black braid tied around each ankle
Speaker 7: and some rings on her fingers. These are the signs
Speaker 7: of a girl who is popular with young men. A
Speaker 7: Wu had men friends in every town she visited, but
Speaker 7: she never stayed long with any of them, being what
Speaker 7: is called a walking woman. At last she conceived, and
Speaker 7: when she was about eight months gone with child, she
Speaker 7: happened one day to go into the forest to gather
Speaker 7: firewood to cook her mourning food. While she was thus engaged,
Speaker 7: a branch fell from her tree and hit her on
Speaker 7: the belly. This immediately brought on her confinement, and she
Speaker 7: gave birth to twins in the forest. The firstborn was
Speaker 7: a girl, to whom she gave the name of Arrow,
Speaker 7: and the second was a boy, whom she named ag
Speaker 7: When a Wu found that she had given birth to twins,
Speaker 7: she was very much ashamed of herself and was afraid
Speaker 7: to take both the babies back to the town, as
Speaker 7: they would be killed by the people and she would
Speaker 7: be turned out of the town and left the starve
Speaker 7: in the bush. She therefore decided to take the firstborn child,
Speaker 7: Arrow back with her, but Agbar she left on the
Speaker 7: ground underneath the tree. Very soon after a Wu had departed,
Speaker 7: the driver ants discovered Agbar and quickly covered him, commencing
Speaker 7: to eat him. The bites of the driver ants made
Speaker 7: the child cry. All this time, a hawk had been
Speaker 7: circling around high up in the air searching for food,
Speaker 7: and when he saw a Wu had deserted her baby,
Speaker 7: he swooped down and carried the infidanet off with him
Speaker 7: to the top of a high tree. The hawk, seeing
Speaker 7: what a fine child Agbar was, thought he would try
Speaker 7: to save his life, and immediately set about removed ants
Speaker 7: from Agbar's body. He lit a fire and boiled some water,
Speaker 7: with which she washed the child, and the ants very
Speaker 7: quickly disappeared. The hawk looked after Agbar until he grew up.
Speaker 7: One day, a Wu sent her daughter Arrow to get
Speaker 7: her some fire, and Arrow, after wandering about, eventually found
Speaker 7: herself at the hawk's house, where she saw Agbar sitting down.
Speaker 7: Arrow was so taken with Agbar's good looks that she
Speaker 7: continued to stare at him without speaking, until at last
Speaker 7: Agbar said why do you look at me like that?
Speaker 7: But Erro did not reply and picked up some fire,
Speaker 7: continuing to stare at Agbar. Then he repeated his question
Speaker 7: and added, do I resemble either your father or your mother,
Speaker 7: If so, let the fire you are holding go out.
Speaker 7: And the fire went out at once. Arrow then took
Speaker 7: some more fire, and Agbar put the same question to
Speaker 7: her again, and the fire Arrow was holding when out
Speaker 7: a second time. This was done three times, each time
Speaker 7: with the same result. Then Arrow ran home to her
Speaker 7: mother and reported what she had seen, and said what
Speaker 7: a fine boy Agbar was. When a Wu, the mother,
Speaker 7: had heard about the fire, she knew at once that
Speaker 7: Agbar must be her son, whom she had deserted and
Speaker 7: left to die in a forest. She therefore made up
Speaker 7: her mind that she would go and see him the
Speaker 7: following morning. Therefore, she rose at first cock crow and
Speaker 7: went to the hawk's house, where she found Agbar and
Speaker 7: took a great fancy to him. A Wu wanted to
Speaker 7: get Agbar away from the Hawk and keep him for herself,
Speaker 7: but did not quite see how it could be done.
Speaker 7: At last, she thought of the porcupine, who was well
Speaker 7: known throughout the country as a clever and resourceful person,
Speaker 7: and went to him and told her a story. Now,
Speaker 7: the porcupine was a lot cast and when he had
Speaker 7: cast thoughts, he decided that the best thing that Aou
Speaker 7: could do was to go to a house and lie down,
Speaker 7: pretending to be dead. The porcupine told her that if
Speaker 7: she did this directly the hawk heard that she was dead,
Speaker 7: he would send Agbar to his dead mother's side to
Speaker 7: mourn for her. Then a Wu would be able to
Speaker 7: seize him. The mother, having paid the porcupine for his advice,
Speaker 7: went away and did what she had been told to do.
Speaker 7: When the hawk heard that a Wu was dead, he
Speaker 7: told Agbar the next day he should go and cry
Speaker 7: at his mother's side. So when the morning came, the
Speaker 7: hawk dressed Agbar up and he started off to cry.
Speaker 7: When he arrived at the house, Agbar wanted to sit
Speaker 7: at the head of his mother, but the people who
Speaker 7: had assembled would not allow this and told him to
Speaker 7: sit at AOU's feet, which Agbar did. Directly he sat down,
Speaker 7: his mother jumped up and seized him and said she
Speaker 7: would not let him go again. Very soon afterwards, the
Speaker 7: hawk arrived on the scene to take Agbor away, but
Speaker 7: his mother would not part with him. Then the hawk
Speaker 7: became angry and addressed the people as follows. Here is
Speaker 7: a walking woman who several years ago gave birth to
Speaker 7: twins in the forest and being naturally ashamed of herself,
Speaker 7: deserted her baby boy and left him on the ground
Speaker 7: to be eaten by the driver. Ants I saved the
Speaker 7: boy's life, and have brought him up and fed him.
Speaker 7: I now demand that he'd be returned to me at once.
Speaker 7: When the people heard this, they said to the hawk,
Speaker 7: if you will let a will have her son back,
Speaker 7: we will give you a slave in his place. But
Speaker 7: the hawk refused this offer indignantly. Then they offered him cows, sheep, goats,
Speaker 7: and pigs, all of which the hawk refused with scorn.
Speaker 7: The people then suggested giving some cocks and hens to
Speaker 7: the hawk, to which he replied that although he would
Speaker 7: not accept them for Agbar, they were getting nearer to
Speaker 7: what he possibly might accept. At last, the people offered
Speaker 7: him a large basket of eggs, whereupon the hawk immediately
Speaker 7: closed the bargain, handed over Agbar to his mother, and
Speaker 7: flew away with the basket of eggs and his claws.
Speaker 7: The next morning, early the hawks started off with his
Speaker 7: basket of eggs and left one egg in every house
Speaker 7: all around the country until all the eggs in the
Speaker 7: basket were exhausted. He then returned home in the evening
Speaker 7: with the empty basket. After a few months had elapsed,
Speaker 7: the hawks said to himself, the time has now come
Speaker 7: for me to take my revenge upon the people for
Speaker 7: taking my boy Agbar from me. So he flew from
Speaker 7: town to town, taking chickens from every compound. This that's
Speaker 7: the reason why hawks always take chickens wherever they find them.
Speaker 7: And in those days, the people never thought of making
Speaker 7: any trouble with the hawk, as he had a right
Speaker 7: to the chickens. But nowadays, when a hawk swoops down
Speaker 7: and seizes a chicken, the people shout out and try
Speaker 7: to kill him, as they have forgotten the story of
Speaker 7: how the twin child Agbore was redeemed by a basket
Speaker 7: of eggs. This story was related by a native of
Speaker 7: income called a Bossi. End of how an income woman
Speaker 7: abandoned one of her twins in the forest and how
Speaker 7: it was saved by the hawk. In Myths and Legends
Speaker 7: Around the World Collection fifteen, read by Jerome Ware, San Diego,
Speaker 7: March twenty third, twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3: The Monkey and the Turtle in Myths and Legends Around
Speaker 3: the World Collection fifteen from Philippine folk Tales. Well cook Cold.
Speaker 3: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
Speaker 3: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
Speaker 3: visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Fatima Garcia. The Monkey
Speaker 3: and the Turtle an Ilocano folk tale. A monkey, looking
Speaker 3: very sad and dejected, was walking along the bank of
Speaker 3: the river one day when he met a turtle. How
Speaker 3: are you, asked the turtle, noticing that he looked sad.
Speaker 3: The monkey replied, oh, my friend, I am very hungry.
Speaker 3: The squash of mister farmer were all taken by the
Speaker 3: other monkeys, and now I am about to die from
Speaker 3: want of food. Do not be discouraged, said the turtle.
Speaker 3: Take a bolo and follow me, and we will steal
Speaker 3: some banana plants. So they walked along together until they
Speaker 3: found some nice plant, which they dug up, and then
Speaker 3: they looked for a place to set them. Finally, the
Speaker 3: monkey climbed a tree and planted his in it, But
Speaker 3: as the turtle could not climb, he dug a hole
Speaker 3: in the ground and set his there. When their work
Speaker 3: was finished, they went away, planning what they should do
Speaker 3: with their crop. The monkey said, when my tree bears fruit,
Speaker 3: I shall sell it and have a great deal of money,
Speaker 3: And the turtle said, when my tree bears fruit, I
Speaker 3: shall sell it and buy three warries of cloth to
Speaker 3: wear in place of this cracked shell. A few weeks
Speaker 3: later they went back to the place to see their plant,
Speaker 3: and found it of the monkey was dead, for its
Speaker 3: root had no soil in the tree, But that of
Speaker 3: the turtle was tall and bearing fruit. I will climb
Speaker 3: to the top so that we can get the fruit,
Speaker 3: said the monkey, and he sprang up the tree, leaving
Speaker 3: the poor turtle on the ground. Please give me some
Speaker 3: to eat, called the turtle. But the monkey threw him
Speaker 3: only a green one, and ate all the ripe ones himself.
Speaker 3: When he had eaten all the good bananas, the monkey
Speaker 3: stretched his arms around the tree and went to sleep.
Speaker 3: The turtle, seeing this, was very angry and considered how
Speaker 3: he might punish the teeth. Having decided on a scheme,
Speaker 3: he grabbed some sharp bamboo, which he stuck all around
Speaker 3: the tree, and then he exclaimed, crocodile is coming. Crocodile
Speaker 3: is coming. The monkey was so tartled at the cry
Speaker 3: that he fell upon the sharp bamboo and was killed.
Speaker 3: Then the turtle cut the that monkey into pieces, put
Speaker 3: salt on it, and dried it in the sun. The
Speaker 3: next day he went to the mountains and sold his
Speaker 3: meat to other monkeys, who gladly gave him squash in return.
Speaker 3: As he was leaving them, he called back, lazy fellows,
Speaker 3: you are now eating your own body. You are now
Speaker 3: eating your own body. Then the monkeys ran and caught
Speaker 3: him and carried him to their own home. Let us
Speaker 3: take a hatchet, said one old monkey, and cut him
Speaker 3: into very small pieces. But the turtle left and said,
Speaker 3: that is what I like. I have been struck with
Speaker 3: a hatchet many times. Do you not see the black
Speaker 3: scars on my shell? Then one of the monkeys said,
Speaker 3: let us throw him into the water. At this the
Speaker 3: turtle cried and begged to spare his life, but they
Speaker 3: d no heed to his pleadings and threw him into
Speaker 3: the water. He sank to the bottom, but very soon
Speaker 3: came up with a lobster. The monkeys were greatly surprised
Speaker 3: at this and begged him to tell them how to
Speaker 3: catch lobsters. I tied one end of a string around
Speaker 3: my waist, said the turtle. To the other end of
Speaker 3: the string, I tied a stone so that I would sink.
Speaker 3: The monkeys immediately tied strings around themselves as the turtle said,
Speaker 3: and when all was ready, they plunged into the water,
Speaker 3: never to come up again. And to this day monkeys
Speaker 3: did not like to eat meat because they remember the
Speaker 3: ancient story and of the monkey and the turtle. In
Speaker 3: Myths and Legends Around the World Collection fifteen. The Hawk
Speaker 3: and the Hen in Myths and Legends Around the World
Speaker 3: Collection fifteen from Philippine folk Tales by Mobel cook Coal.
Speaker 3: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
Speaker 3: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
Speaker 3: visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Fatima Gracia. The Hawk
Speaker 3: and the Hen a Visayan folktale. A hawk flying about
Speaker 3: in the sky one day decided that he would like
Speaker 3: to marry a hen, whom he often saw on earth.
Speaker 3: He flew down and searched until he found her, and
Speaker 3: then asked her to become his wife. She at once
Speaker 3: gave her consent, on the condition that he would wait
Speaker 3: until she could grow wings like his, so that she
Speaker 3: might also fly high. The hawk agreed to this and
Speaker 3: flew away, after giving her a ring as an engagement present,
Speaker 3: and telling her to take good care of it. The
Speaker 3: hand was very proud of the ring and placed it
Speaker 3: around her neck. The next day, however, she met the cock,
Speaker 3: who looked at her in astonishment and said, where did
Speaker 3: you get that ring? Do you not know that you
Speaker 3: promised to be my wife? You must not wear the
Speaker 3: ring of anyone else. Throw it away, And the hen
Speaker 3: threw away the beautiful ring. Not long after this, the
Speaker 3: hawk came down, bringing beautiful feathers to dress the hand.
Speaker 3: When she saw him coming, she was frightened and ran
Speaker 3: to hide behind the door, but the hawk called to
Speaker 3: her to come and see the beautiful dress he had
Speaker 3: bought her her. The hen came out, and the hawk
Speaker 3: at once saw the ring was gone. Where is the
Speaker 3: ring I gave you? He asked, why do you not
Speaker 3: wear it? The hen was frightened and ashame to tell
Speaker 3: the truth, so she answered, oh, sir, yesterday, when I
Speaker 3: was walking in the garden, I met a large snake,
Speaker 3: and he frightened me so that I ran as fast
Speaker 3: as I could to the house. Then I missed the ring,
Speaker 3: and I searched everywhere, but could not find it. The
Speaker 3: hawk looked sharply at the hand, and he knew that
Speaker 3: she was deceiving him. Then he said to her, I
Speaker 3: did not believe that you could behave so badly. When
Speaker 3: you have found the ring, I will come down again
Speaker 3: and make you my wife.
Speaker 8: But as a.
Speaker 3: Punishment for breaking your promise, you must always scratch the
Speaker 3: ground to look for the ring, and every chicken of
Speaker 3: yours that I find, I'll snatch away. Then he flew away,
Speaker 3: and ever since all the hands throughout the world have
Speaker 3: been scratching to find the Hawk's ring. End of the
Speaker 3: story The Hawk and the Hen in Myths and Legends
Speaker 3: Around the World Collection fifteen.
Speaker 6: The Vigil of Marmy in Myths and Legends Around the
Speaker 6: World Collection fifteen from told on the Pagoda Tales of Burma.
Speaker 6: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
Speaker 6: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
Speaker 6: visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Ahanamalik. The Vigil of
Speaker 6: Marmy by Mabel Cosgrove. Marmy was a little Burmese girl
Speaker 6: who kept his small stall filled with cherroots in one
Speaker 6: of the crowded, many colored streets of Rangoon. There she
Speaker 6: sat all through the sultry languorous days, smoking and waiting
Speaker 6: with philosophical calm for customers. Now and then a great, big,
Speaker 6: well fed looking Indian would stop and handle her goods, and,
Speaker 6: crumbling perhaps a little would eventually buy. Or a lean
Speaker 6: Chinaman in baggy blue trousers would pause and smile and
Speaker 6: talk a while, Or some little naked child would come
Speaker 6: and beg one for nothing. Or the black coolies, their
Speaker 6: silver belts glittering in the sunlight, would cluster around and
Speaker 6: bargain and quarrel among themselves, perhaps in the end throwing
Speaker 6: her goods back to her with no very complimentary language.
Speaker 6: Or a Chetti airily attired in scanty white muslin, his
Speaker 6: shaved head protected by a big cotton umbrella, would come
Speaker 6: and haggle over the annas as a poor Berman would
Speaker 6: never dream of doing. Then again, a well to do
Speaker 6: woman of her own race, dressed in silk and with
Speaker 6: gold bracelets on her wrists, would purchase. But they were always,
Speaker 6: as Marmae used to say, with a shake of her
Speaker 6: small head, the meanest of all. She was a bright
Speaker 6: little girl, though very poor, often hungry, and always wretchedly clad.
Speaker 6: For two years past she had squatted behind her tray
Speaker 6: in the hot, hard, cruel glare, when the sun beat
Speaker 6: on the flat roofed white houses mercilessly, when even the
Speaker 6: river with its forests of ships, seemed to cease to flow,
Speaker 6: when all things were gasping and weary, and the gharry
Speaker 6: wallas slept soundly, and the poor lean ponies tried to
Speaker 6: flick the flies of their backs with their tails, When
Speaker 6: the Indian shopkeepers stretched themselves on wooden beds just in
Speaker 6: the shadow of their doorways and snored away, dreaming of
Speaker 6: rupees and curry, while only the Paria dogs scratched and
Speaker 6: smelt in the road for something to eat. No one stirred.
Speaker 6: The drowsy influence of the heat seemed universal. Or on
Speaker 6: the dull, wet days, when the sky was clouded and
Speaker 6: rain poured down, soaking everything through and through, and the
Speaker 6: thin colored dresses clung pitifully round their owner's dark forms,
Speaker 6: and nobody had time to think of buying as they
Speaker 6: passed on in the warm, damp, oppressive atmosphere. Still Marmy
Speaker 6: sat no matter what the season, rolling her chirroots, cutting
Speaker 6: beetal shoes, and crooning some little song to herself. At midday,
Speaker 6: she ate some rice, and got a draft of water
Speaker 6: from a pump not far distant. Often someone was kind
Speaker 6: and gave her some fruit or a cake oftener. They
Speaker 6: were unkind, but oftener still they were indifferent. It was
Speaker 6: a hard life, very, and she was only seventeen. Yet
Speaker 6: was she content. Nature had been her nurse, The sun
Speaker 6: and the rain had made her what she was, A hardy, honest,
Speaker 6: upright little soul, envying and hating no one. When the
Speaker 6: shadows grew long and the green shutters of the shops closed,
Speaker 6: Marmy rolled up her wares and wended her way homewards
Speaker 6: through the noisy, many hued crowds, to a miserable wooden
Speaker 6: hut which stood in dirty yellow water, spanned by a
Speaker 6: rotten plank, and was situated in one of the poorest
Speaker 6: and most squalid quarters of the town, a quarter in
Speaker 6: which poverty in its most hideous form stalked. Half clothed men,
Speaker 6: women and children of all ages dwelt together there and
Speaker 6: kept life in them as best they could. In the huts,
Speaker 6: there was scarce one piece of furniture, save perhaps a bed,
Speaker 6: or a roll of matting, or a ragged pertha. The scorpions,
Speaker 6: the white ants and the great toads held high revel
Speaker 6: amidst rose, hard words, evil things, cries of little children,
Speaker 6: and growls of half starved dogs. Marmaid dwelt and was happy.
Speaker 6: She did not know of any better life than hers.
Speaker 6: The day passed in the fresh air under the changeless
Speaker 6: azure of the skies, and the night curled up in
Speaker 6: a corner of the hut, with the purple stars looking
Speaker 6: down through some chink in the roof, and knowing of
Speaker 6: any other. It is doubtful if she would have cared
Speaker 6: to exchange. Marquis May, a black browed woman whom Marmy
Speaker 6: had lived with as long as she could remember, was
Speaker 6: very good and kind to her in her own way.
Speaker 6: But she had many children tugging at her skirt, and
Speaker 6: her life was a very hard one. She was married
Speaker 6: to an Indian who had nearly all the faults of
Speaker 6: his by no means faultless race. His past has been bad,
Speaker 6: his present was even more so. He counted the cost
Speaker 6: of anything done or undone as small if it only
Speaker 6: brought in piecee piece sufficient to procure tody, the hot, horrible,
Speaker 6: poisonous stuff kept in the little shop by a chinaman
Speaker 6: in one of the narrow, tortuous by lanes of the
Speaker 6: native quarter. To him, it mattered uttered nothing that his
Speaker 6: children had oftentimes not enough to eat, and that the
Speaker 6: lines about his wife's patient mouth deepened. The passion for
Speaker 6: drink possessed him to the exclusion of all other feelings.
Speaker 6: Stretched on a wooden settle in the crowded, dirty shop
Speaker 6: that abutted on the still dirtier street, reeking with filth
Speaker 6: and smells, he passed his time sunk in a semi
Speaker 6: conscious stupor. The proprietor looked upon Mola Khan as one
Speaker 6: of the best customers he had. For him was his smile,
Speaker 6: the sweetest to him was he most accommodating in the
Speaker 6: matter of money of a day. The frequenters of the
Speaker 6: place were comparatively few, but when the night crept on,
Speaker 6: pun Lin lit up his place with many sickly oil lamps,
Speaker 6: whose light showed up the gaudy sign board with its
Speaker 6: ill written Toady shop on it, surrounded by a cute
Speaker 6: design in Chinese, and drew the human moths around in
Speaker 6: dozens to smoke, drink, play and talk. Indian, Burmese. All
Speaker 6: countries were represented there in that crowded, noisy, dirty place.
Speaker 6: The babel of many tongues broke on the ear afar off.
Speaker 6: The neighborhood was a notoriously bad one, so that the
Speaker 6: fighting and sickening sound of blows that usually ended those
Speaker 6: gatherings of convivial spirits excited no comment. Even the deep
Speaker 6: groans from those who wounded lay helplessly for many hours,
Speaker 6: gained no sympathy or succore of any kind. Often but
Speaker 6: in vain in the hot, sulfurous nights. Markine had found
Speaker 6: her way there and begged of the great coarse brute
Speaker 6: whom she called husband, to return with her. But for
Speaker 6: a long time past she had ceased to plead, realizing
Speaker 6: how useless it was. And yet, strangely, with all his
Speaker 6: drunkenness and cruelty, the faithful soul refused to desert or
Speaker 6: even see him as he really was. He had been
Speaker 6: the chosen one of her girlfriend when she young and pretty,
Speaker 6: had left her people to web this stranger out of India.
Speaker 6: They had deemed her disgraced by the union. They had
Speaker 6: been well to do people, and would have married her
Speaker 6: to one of her own race. Her life had held
Speaker 6: many bitter, unhappy years but she was proud in her way,
Speaker 6: and from her lips no word or moan had ever passed.
Speaker 6: Children had come and multiplied, and though the wants of
Speaker 6: such people are very few, often they had not the
Speaker 6: wherewithal to supply them. But of late years things had
Speaker 6: been better for Marquise, who had a keen eye for business,
Speaker 6: had made and saved a little Unknown to everyone except Mammy,
Speaker 6: the money was kept bedded away in a teawood box
Speaker 6: in a corner of their damp, warm eaten house. Markhini's
Speaker 6: cherished ambition, trader that she was, was to open a
Speaker 6: little shop, as many of her class did, a little
Speaker 6: place filled with miscellaneous articles, pillows, lacquer boxes, wooden trays, crockery,
Speaker 6: pewter pants, some sandals, and perhaps there was no knowing,
Speaker 6: that is, if she was lucky, some tamins and silk
Speaker 6: portsos for the men there behind it. The proud possessor,
Speaker 6: she dreamt that she would sit and roll the cherroots
Speaker 6: and have her children by her, keeping an eye on
Speaker 6: the younger as they played. This picture Markhiney often painted
Speaker 6: to herself. It was her ideal of earthly bliss. She
Speaker 6: dreamt of it by day and night but kept it
Speaker 6: locked up in her own heart. Anything that she could
Speaker 6: spare from what she made by washing the clothes of
Speaker 6: her richer neighbors. She put by so carefully handling it,
Speaker 6: so fondly, storing it so cautiously, grimy brown piecee little
Speaker 6: silver pieces, one or two soiled, crumpled notes. How often
Speaker 6: she looked at them and counted them and took them
Speaker 6: in her lean, brown hands. She would start out of
Speaker 6: her sleep fearing someone had stolen her treasure that represented
Speaker 6: the scraping together of two hard, long years. There was
Speaker 6: some little history attached to every coin. She remembered, how
Speaker 6: each one was gained, every circumstance of toil or sacrifice
Speaker 6: through which it was put by. And not a soul knew,
Speaker 6: not a soul save Marmay and herself. Marmy she trust.
Speaker 6: Marmie loved her, and was as honest and true as
Speaker 6: a little dog. Markuye never left the box in the
Speaker 6: house with no one to mind it, for fear it
Speaker 6: should be taken, though for two years gone by it
Speaker 6: had rested securely and undisturbed in its hiding place. The
Speaker 6: knowledge of its existence and what, in the end it
Speaker 6: was to accomplish lent a courage to her to bear
Speaker 6: with the blows, the sickness, and the abject poverty of
Speaker 6: her surroundings. It upheld her. It lent a brightness to
Speaker 6: her eyes, a lightness to her feet when they would
Speaker 6: have been otherwise pitifully wary. When she spoke, there was
Speaker 6: oftentimes a strange ring of gladness in her voice, for hope,
Speaker 6: that wonderful strengthener dwelt with her. As time went on,
Speaker 6: and it wanted but three months for the money to
Speaker 6: be complete. They had been rarely lucky, marm had sold
Speaker 6: well every day, Marquis had had much to do. A
Speaker 6: great content abode with her. Even the morose, savage manner
Speaker 6: of her husband troubled her but little. The children flew
Speaker 6: at his approach and hid behind the mud hill close by,
Speaker 6: or their mother's ragged skirts, or anywhere they could, And
Speaker 6: she soothed and comforted the little trembling ones as best
Speaker 6: she could, and on her face was a happy smile.
Speaker 6: At last, At last, she thought, One warm, clear night,
Speaker 6: when the sky glittered with stars and a young moon
Speaker 6: showed against it, Markuine made ready to take some silks
Speaker 6: that she had been washing home. She had promised them,
Speaker 6: for it was the eve of a great Buddhist feast.
Speaker 6: It was a long way for her to go right
Speaker 6: across the town, but she did not mind. So she
Speaker 6: cleared up the remains of their evening, Rice, swept the
Speaker 6: floor with her straw, Bessom filled the water. Chatty, standing
Speaker 6: in the corner Afresh, bade Marmaye to watch carefully, and
Speaker 6: Marmy assured her, as she had often done before, that
Speaker 6: if any one was ever to find out their secret
Speaker 6: the money, they should never have save they killed her first.
Speaker 6: So Marquis took up her bundle and went forth into
Speaker 6: the radiance of the night. Marmie looked after her until
Speaker 6: she was out of sight, and then squatted down smoking.
Speaker 6: The hours went by, the lights were put out in
Speaker 6: the huts. Marmi felt very sleepy and tired where she sat,
Speaker 6: but she was good. She remained awake, staring out into space.
Speaker 6: A tall, dark figure stood before her. It was Mola Khan.
Speaker 6: He had not been home for two days. His eyes
Speaker 6: were blood shot, his turban disarranged. He stood over her
Speaker 6: and looked down at her. She trembled a little. She
Speaker 6: feared him greatly. She stirred uneasily, but nevertheless met his
Speaker 6: look without flinching. He only uttered one word, and that
Speaker 6: in a voice which drink had rendered hoarse and thick.
Speaker 6: Money he spoke in Hindustani. I have none, she answered him,
Speaker 6: in the same tongue. He gave a sort of gurgling laugh.
Speaker 6: Look you, he muttered. I know there is money hidden somewhere,
Speaker 6: pise and anna's and rupees, and I will have it.
Speaker 6: I know it, I tell you, I know it. There
Speaker 6: is none, the girl replied. She had risen. She had
Speaker 6: her back to the hole in the wall where the
Speaker 6: money was. Give it to me, he cried, in a
Speaker 6: voice of frantic rage. I do not know who has
Speaker 6: told you this thing, she said, But it is not true.
Speaker 6: She felt chilly with fright. She knew that once his
Speaker 6: suspicion aroused, he would search till he found She would
Speaker 6: be powerless to protect it. Tears dimmed the fond eyes
Speaker 6: of the child. She knew none better all the toil,
Speaker 6: privations and hopes that lay in that poor little box.
Speaker 6: Yet what could she do. She was so small and
Speaker 6: her strength so puny. If he searched, he would find it.
Speaker 6: Its hiding place was not so secure as to be
Speaker 6: proof against those cruel fingers. Though all Marquiney's future lay there,
Speaker 6: she gave no sign of fear. She kept her ground boldly.
Speaker 6: He shook her savagely. When she stood, she was wondering
Speaker 6: who could have told him? She watched him, with a dull,
Speaker 6: throbbing brain, move unsteadily round the wretched room, groping by
Speaker 6: the light of the moon, feeling feeling everywhere along the
Speaker 6: wall for holes, till turning over all the things. Then,
Speaker 6: with a muttered word or two, out he went on
Speaker 6: to the rafters made of mud behind, into a little
Speaker 6: piece of ground, but there was nothing, nothing anywhere. Her
Speaker 6: breath came a little quicker, a little more freely perhaps,
Speaker 6: after all. But with a bound he was by her side.
Speaker 6: He nearly wrenched her slender, childish wrists off. It is here,
Speaker 6: he cried, in triumph. She set her strong white teeth
Speaker 6: in his black arm, but with a brutal gesture he
Speaker 6: flung her light weight from him. She fell with a dull,
Speaker 6: heavy thud. He did not heed her for a while,
Speaker 6: searching eagerly, thirstily, his eyes glittering with cruel greed. At
Speaker 6: last he drew it forth triumphantly, the poor little shabby
Speaker 6: treasure house, and took the money, letting some drop in
Speaker 6: his haste, hiding it with trembling, feverish hands in his
Speaker 6: white linen jacket. Then he put the box back and
Speaker 6: turned to Marmay. He looked she was very still. He
Speaker 6: crept nearer and nearer, and his cowardly soul shrank within him.
Speaker 6: The moonbeams had found her out and fell upon her thin,
Speaker 6: upturned face. He peered around. He held his very breath.
Speaker 6: No one was stirring. There was silence everywhere. His dark,
Speaker 6: aquiline face was as cunning as that of any fox cub.
Speaker 6: He paused for a second or two, Then, as if
Speaker 6: a sudden thought struck him, he gathered her up hastily
Speaker 6: in his arms. She was a little heavy, but he
Speaker 6: was strong. The river that was drifting outwards to the
Speaker 6: ocean and the moon were the only things that shared
Speaker 6: the secret of that night with him, and they guard
Speaker 6: their secrets well. If Marmy wanted the money, I would
Speaker 6: have given it to her, for I loved her. She
Speaker 6: need not have left me, Marquine said, with a great
Speaker 6: sorrow and a sense of desolate despair in her heart,
Speaker 6: and tears in her honest eyes when Mola Khan told
Speaker 6: his tale. She never learned different. She never will, unless,
Speaker 6: indeed the day dawns when the sea shall give up
Speaker 6: its stead. End of the Vigil of Marmy. In Myths
Speaker 6: and Legends Around the World Collection fifteen.
Speaker 8: Dear Lake in Myths and Legends Around the World Collection
Speaker 8: fifteen from Legends of Vancouver. This is a LibriVox recording.
Speaker 8: All LibriVox records are in the public domain. For more
Speaker 8: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read
Speaker 8: by Christa Zeleski. Dear Lake by E. Pauline Johnson. Few
Speaker 8: white men ventured Inland a century ago, in the days
Speaker 8: of the first Chief Caupillano, when the spoils of the
Speaker 8: mighty Fraser River poured into coppered colored hands, but did
Speaker 8: not find their way to the remotest corners of the
Speaker 8: earth as in our times, when the gold from its sources,
Speaker 8: the salmon from its mouth, the timber from its shores
Speaker 8: are world known riches. The fisherman's craft, the hunter's cunning
Speaker 8: were plied where now cities and industries. Trade and commerce,
Speaker 8: buying and selling hold sway. In those days, the moccasined
Speaker 8: foot awoke no echo in the forest trails. Primitive weapons, arms, implements,
Speaker 8: and utensils were the only means of the Indian's food
Speaker 8: getting his livelihood depended upon his own personal prowess, his
Speaker 8: skill in woodcraft and water lore. And as this is
Speaker 8: a story of an elk bone spear, the reader must
Speaker 8: first be in sympathy with the fact that this rude instrument,
Speaker 8: most deftly fashioned, was of priceless value to the first Capillano,
Speaker 8: to whom it had come through three generations of ancestors,
Speaker 8: all of whom had been experienced hunters and dexterous fishermen.
Speaker 8: Capillano himself was without a rival as a spearsman. He
Speaker 8: knew the moods of the Fraser River, the habits of
Speaker 8: its thronging tenants, as no other man has ever known
Speaker 8: them before or since. He knew every aisle and inlet
Speaker 8: along the coast, every boulder, the sand bars, the still pools,
Speaker 8: the temper of the tides. He knew the spawning grounds,
Speaker 8: the secret streams that fed the large rivers, the outlets
Speaker 8: of rock bound lakes, the turns and tricks of swirling rapids.
Speaker 8: He knew the haunts of bird and beast, and fish
Speaker 8: and fowl, and was master of the arts and artifice
Speaker 8: that men must use when matching his brain against the
Speaker 8: eluding wiles of the untamed creatures of the wilderness. Once
Speaker 8: only did his cunning fail him. Once only did nature
Speaker 8: baffle him with her mysterious fabric of waterways and landlers.
Speaker 8: It was when he was led to the mouth of
Speaker 8: the unknown River, which has evaded discovery through all the centuries,
Speaker 8: but which, so say the Indians, still sings on its
Speaker 8: way through some buried channel that leads from the lake
Speaker 8: to the sea. He had been sealing along the shores
Speaker 8: of what is now known as Point Gray. His canoe
Speaker 8: had gradually crept inland, skirting up the coast to the
Speaker 8: mouth of False Creek. Here he encountered a very king
Speaker 8: of seals, a colossal creature that gladdened the hunter's eyes.
Speaker 8: As game worthy of his skill. For this particular prize,
Speaker 8: he would cast the elk bone spear. It had never
Speaker 8: failed his sire, his grandsire, his great grandsire. He knew
Speaker 8: it would not fail him. Now A long, pliable cedar
Speaker 8: fiber rope lay in his cane. Many expert fingers had
Speaker 8: woven and plated. That rope had beaten and oiled it
Speaker 8: until it was soft and flexible as a serpent. This
Speaker 8: he attached to the spearhead, and with deft unerring aim
Speaker 8: cast it at the King's seal. The weapon struck home.
Speaker 8: The gigantic creature shuddered, and with a cry like a
Speaker 8: hurt child, it plunged down into the sea. With the
Speaker 8: rapidity and strength of a giant fish. It scudded inland
Speaker 8: with the rising tide while Capillano paid out the rope
Speaker 8: its entire length, and as it stretched taut felt the
Speaker 8: canoe leap forward, propelled by the mighty strength of the creature,
Speaker 8: which lashed the waters into whirlpools, as though it was
Speaker 8: possessed with the power and properties of a whale. Up
Speaker 8: the stretch of False Creek, the man and monster drove
Speaker 8: their course, where a century hence great bridges were to
Speaker 8: over arch the waters. They strove and struggled, each for
Speaker 8: the mastery. Neither of them weakened, neither of them faltered,
Speaker 8: the one dragging the other their driving. In the end,
Speaker 8: it was to be a matching of brute and human wits,
Speaker 8: not forces, as they neared the point where now Main
Speaker 8: Street Bridge flings its shadow across the waters. The brute
Speaker 8: leaped high into the air, then plunged headlong into the depths.
Speaker 8: The impact ripped the rope from Capollano's hands. It rattled
Speaker 8: across the gunwale. He stood staring at the spot where
Speaker 8: it had disappeared. The brute had been victorious. At low tide,
Speaker 8: the Indian made search. No trace of his game, of
Speaker 8: his precious elkbone spear of his cedar fiber rope could
Speaker 8: be found. With the loss of the latter, he firmly
Speaker 8: believed his luck as a hunter would be gone. So
Speaker 8: he patrolled the mouth of False Creek for many moons.
Speaker 8: His graceful, high bowed canoe rarely touched other waters, but
Speaker 8: the seal king had disappeared. Often he thought long strands
Speaker 8: of drifting sea grasses were his long lost cedar fiber rope.
Speaker 8: With other spears, with other cedar fibers, with paddled laid
Speaker 8: and cunning traps, he dislodged the weeds from their moorings,
Speaker 8: but they slipped their slimy lengths through his eager hands.
Speaker 8: His best spear, with his attendant coil, was gone. The
Speaker 8: following year, he was sealing again off the coast of
Speaker 8: Point Gray, and one night after sunset he observed the
Speaker 8: red reflection from the west, which seemed to transfer itself
Speaker 8: to the eastern skies. Far into the night, dashes of
Speaker 8: flaming scarlet pushed far beyond the head of False Creek.
Speaker 8: The color rose and fell like a beckoning hand and
Speaker 8: indian like. He immediately attached some portentous meaning to the
Speaker 8: unusual sight, that it was some omen he never doubted.
Speaker 8: So he paddled inland, beached his canoe, and took the
Speaker 8: trail towards the little group of lakes that crowded themselves
Speaker 8: into the area that lies between the present cities of
Speaker 8: Vancouver and New Westminster. But long before he reached the
Speaker 8: shores of Deer Lake, he discovered that the beckoning hand
Speaker 8: was in reality flame. The little body of water was
Speaker 8: surrounded by forest fires. One avenue alone stood open. It
Speaker 8: was a group of giant trees that as yet the
Speaker 8: flames had not reached. As he neared the point, he
Speaker 8: saw a great moving mass of living things leaving the
Speaker 8: lake and hurrying northward through this one egress. He stood
Speaker 8: listening intently, watching with alert eyes, the swir of myriad
Speaker 8: of little traveling feet caught his quick ear. The moving
Speaker 8: mass was an immense colony of beaver, thousands upon thousands
Speaker 8: of them. Scores of baby beavers staggered along following their mothers,
Speaker 8: scores of older beavers that had felled trees and built
Speaker 8: dams through many seasons, A countless army of trekking fur bearers,
Speaker 8: all under the generalship of a wise old leader, who,
Speaker 8: as king of the colony, advanced some few yards ahead
Speaker 8: of his battalions out of the waters, through the forests
Speaker 8: towards the country to the north they journeyed. Wandering hunters
Speaker 8: said they saw them cross buried inlet at the second Narrows,
Speaker 8: heading inland as they reached the farther shore. But where
Speaker 8: the mighty army of royal little Canadians set up their
Speaker 8: new colony, no man knows. Not even the astuteness of
Speaker 8: the first Capillano ever discovered their destination. Only one thing
Speaker 8: was certain, Dear Lake knew them no more. After their passing,
Speaker 8: the Indian retraced their trail to the water's edge. In
Speaker 8: the red glare of the encircling fires. He saw what
Speaker 8: he at first thought was some dead and dethroned king beaver.
Speaker 8: On the shore, a huge carcass lay half in half
Speaker 8: out of the lake. Approaching it, he saw the wasted
Speaker 8: body of a giant seal. There could never be two
Speaker 8: seals of that marvelous size. His intuition now grasped the
Speaker 8: meaning of the omen of the beckoning flame that had
Speaker 8: called him from the far coasts of Point Gray. He
Speaker 8: stooped above his dead conqueror and found embedded in its
Speaker 8: decaying flesh the elkbone spear of his forefathers, And trailing
Speaker 8: away at the rotter's rim was a long, flexible cedar
Speaker 8: fiber rope. As he extracted this treasured heirloom, he felt
Speaker 8: the power that men of magic possess creep up his
Speaker 8: sinewy arms. It entered his heart, his blood, his brain.
Speaker 8: For a long time he sat and chanted songs that
Speaker 8: that only great medicine men may sing. And as the
Speaker 8: hours drifted by the heat of the forest fire subsided,
Speaker 8: the flames diminished into smoldering blackness. At daybreak, the forest
Speaker 8: fire was dead, but its beckoning fingers had served their purpose.
Speaker 8: The magic elkbone spear had come back to its own
Speaker 8: until the day of his death. The first Capillano searched
Speaker 8: for the unknown river up which the seal traveled from
Speaker 8: False Creek to Deer Lake. But its channel is a
Speaker 8: secret that even Indian eyes have not seen. But although
Speaker 8: those of the Squamish tribe tell and believe that the
Speaker 8: river still sings through its hidden trail that leads from
Speaker 8: Deer Lake to the sea, its course is as unknown.
Speaker 8: Its channel is as hopelessly lost as the brave little
Speaker 8: army of beavers that a century ago marshaled their forces
Speaker 8: and traveled up into the great lone north end of
Speaker 8: Dear Lake. In Myths and Legends Around the World, Collection fifteen.
Speaker 9: Planting a pear tree in Myths and Legends Around the
Speaker 9: World Collection fifteen from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.
Speaker 9: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
Speaker 9: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
Speaker 9: visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Angela Liao. Strange Stories
Speaker 9: from a Chinese Studio by Pusson Ling, translated by Herbert A. Giles.
Speaker 9: A countryman was one day selling his peers in the market.
Speaker 9: They were unusually sweet and fine flavored, and the price
Speaker 9: he asked was high. A doused priest in rags and tatters,
Speaker 9: stopped at the barrow and begged one of them. The
Speaker 9: countryman told him to go away, but as he did
Speaker 9: not do so, he began to curse and swear at him.
Speaker 9: The priest said, you have several hundred peers in your barrow,
Speaker 9: I ask for a single one, the loss of which, sir,
Speaker 9: you would not feel. Why then get angry? The lookers
Speaker 9: on told the countryman to give him an inferior one
Speaker 9: and let him go, but this he obstinately refused to do. Thereupon,
Speaker 9: the beadle of the place, finding the commotion too great,
Speaker 9: purchased a peer and handed it to the priest. The
Speaker 9: latter received it with a bow, and, turning to the crowd, said,
Speaker 9: we who have left our homes and given up all
Speaker 9: that is dear to us, are at a loss to
Speaker 9: understand selfish neggardly conduct in others. Now, I have some
Speaker 9: exquisite peers, which I shall do myself the honor to
Speaker 9: put before you here. Somebody asked, since you've peers yourself,
Speaker 9: why don't you eat those? Because, replied the priest, I
Speaker 9: wanted one of these pips to grow them from so saying,
Speaker 9: he munched up the peer, and when he had finished,
Speaker 9: took a pip in his hand, and strapped a peck
Speaker 9: from his back, and proceeded to make a hole in
Speaker 9: the ground several inches deep, wherein he deposited the pip,
Speaker 9: filling in the earth as before. He then asked the
Speaker 9: bystanders for a little hot water to water it with,
Speaker 9: and one among them, who loved a joke, fetched him
Speaker 9: some boiling water from a neighboring shop. The priest poured
Speaker 9: this over the place where he had made the hole,
Speaker 9: and every eye was fixed upon him when sprouts were
Speaker 9: seen shooting up and gradually growing larger and larger. By
Speaker 9: and by there was a tree with branches sparsely covered
Speaker 9: with leaves, then flowers, and last of all, fine large,
Speaker 9: sweet smelling pears hanging in great profusion. These the priest
Speaker 9: picked and handed round to the assembled crowd until all
Speaker 9: were gone. When he took his pick and hacked away
Speaker 9: for a long time at the tree, finally cutting it down.
Speaker 9: These he shouldered, leaves and all, and sauntered quietly away.
Speaker 9: Now from the very beginning, our friend the Countryman had
Speaker 9: been amongst the crowd, straining his neck to see what
Speaker 9: was going on, and forgetting all about his business. At
Speaker 9: the departure of the priest, he turned round and discovered
Speaker 9: that every one of his peers was gone. He then
Speaker 9: knew that those the old fellow had been giving away
Speaker 9: so freely were really his own peers. Looking more closely
Speaker 9: at the barrow, he also found that one of the
Speaker 9: handles was missing, evidently having been newly cut off. Boiling
Speaker 9: with rage, he set out in pursuit of the priest,
Speaker 9: and just as he turned the corner, he saw the
Speaker 9: lost barrow handle lying under the wall, being in fact
Speaker 9: the very pear tree that the priest had cut down,
Speaker 9: But there were no traces of the priest, much to
Speaker 9: the amusement of the crowd in the market place, and
Speaker 9: of planting a peetree. In Myths and Legends Around the
Speaker 9: World Collection fifteen.
Speaker 10: How two Friends Fell Out the Spider and the Grasshopper
Speaker 10: in Myths and Legends Around the World Collection fifteen. This
Speaker 10: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
Speaker 10: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
Speaker 10: LibriVox dot org. Read by Jerome Ware, How two Friends
Speaker 10: fell out the spider and the grasshopper. Long ago, the
Speaker 10: spider and the grasshopper were good friends. Unfortunately, the spider
Speaker 10: was intensely greedy, and this led to much unpleasantness. Now,
Speaker 10: the spider wanted to go some distance from his house
Speaker 10: to marry a wife in a strange country, so they
Speaker 10: called upon his friend, the grasshopper, to accompany him. They
Speaker 10: started off together in the morning before the sun was hot,
Speaker 10: and when they had gone some little way, the spider
Speaker 10: said to his friend, while we are away together, I
Speaker 10: want you to call me Stranger. Now we'll call you Dobby.
Speaker 10: We must not call one another by our proper names,
Speaker 10: as I do not want people to know who we
Speaker 10: really are. To this, the grasshopper readily consented, little knowing
Speaker 10: what he was letting himself in for. Shortly afterward, they
Speaker 10: arrived at the first town and were welcomed by the chief.
Speaker 10: The grasshopper said he was called Dobby and introduced his
Speaker 10: friend as Stranger. The chief then ordered food to be
Speaker 10: placed before them, But the spider, whilst thanking the chief
Speaker 10: for his kindness, said, surely the customer of the country
Speaker 10: is when a stranger arrives in a town, to first
Speaker 10: of all offer him the piece dish consisting of dried
Speaker 10: meat and coala nuts, to show that he is welcome
Speaker 10: and that there is peace between them. The chief replied, yes,
Speaker 10: there is certainly that custom here. But as I thought
Speaker 10: you were hungry after your long walk, I ordered the
Speaker 10: food to be brought at once. He then told one
Speaker 10: of his slaves to bring the dried meat and the cola,
Speaker 10: and when it was brought, the spider ate all them
Speaker 10: meat and cola except two nuts, one which he returned
Speaker 10: to the chief and the other he gave to the grasshoppers, saying,
Speaker 10: you must wait, my friend Dobby for your food, as
Speaker 10: this meat and cola was brought for the stranger and
Speaker 10: your name was not mentioned. Later on the general supply
Speaker 10: of food was passed round, a certain amount being set
Speaker 10: on one side for the strangers. This the spider also eat,
Speaker 10: saying I am I'm sorry, Dabbi, but there is no
Speaker 10: food for you, as this was brought for the stranger
Speaker 10: and that is my name. The next day they resumed
Speaker 10: their journey, and when they arrived at the town where
Speaker 10: the girl lived whom the spider was about to marry,
Speaker 10: he went to his future father in law's house whose
Speaker 10: name was ta Wu, and said, taou, I have come
Speaker 10: to marry your daughter. Now, Tawu had a wife, Carlo Segi,
Speaker 10: who was a very good natured woman, which was lucky
Speaker 10: for the rasshopparress. Things turned up. When ta Wu had
Speaker 10: embraced his future son in law. He ordered a cow
Speaker 10: to be killed to welcome him, and when the people
Speaker 10: brought the food, they said, here is a stranger's portion. Immediately,
Speaker 10: the spiders said to his friend, did you hear that, Dabbi?
Speaker 10: Your name was not mentioned, so you have no right
Speaker 10: to this food, which is all for me the stranger.
Speaker 10: But the grasshopper kept quiet and never said a word
Speaker 10: to anyone, although he was very hungry. The marriage between
Speaker 10: the spider and Chief Taboo's daughter was celebrated the following day,
Speaker 10: all the people are called together to dance and play.
Speaker 10: Guns were fired off in the town and Chief Taboo
Speaker 10: killed four more cows where the strangers who had come
Speaker 10: from a distance. The grasshopper longed to eat the food,
Speaker 10: but did not see how he could manage it, as
Speaker 10: he was known as Dobby and his name was never called.
Speaker 10: The spider therefore eat his own share and the grasshoppers
Speaker 10: as well, while the poor grasshopper sat down by himself,
Speaker 10: feeling very sad and not speaking to any one. When
Speaker 10: he had finished the food, the spider went out to
Speaker 10: dance and play with his new wife, but the grasshopper
Speaker 10: did not go, as he was very hungry and weak
Speaker 10: and not feeling at all to singing and dancing. After
Speaker 10: he had been alone for a little while, the chief's wife, Ooseeg,
Speaker 10: came in and, seeing the grasshopper looking so miserable, went
Speaker 10: up to him and said, why are you so silent
Speaker 10: and sad at my daughter's wedding when all the other
Speaker 10: people are feasting and dancing. At this, the grasshopper could
Speaker 10: contain himself no longer and burst into tears, saying, three
Speaker 10: days ago, when we left our home, the spider asked
Speaker 10: me to call him stranger and said he would call
Speaker 10: me Dobby. During all this time, I have been starving,
Speaker 10: and I am very hungry. Indeed, as all the food
Speaker 10: has been brought for the stranger and the spider has
Speaker 10: eaten it. Because my name is Dobby and I was
Speaker 10: never mentioned. Then, Oseke said she would tell the people
Speaker 10: what their proper names were, so that when the food
Speaker 10: was brought, the grasshopper would have his share. Bseeke then
Speaker 10: went out and gave the necessary orders and told her
Speaker 10: slaves to be most particular, to call the grasshoppers name
Speaker 10: the next time there was food, so that he should
Speaker 10: be able to eat in the afternoon. This was done,
Speaker 10: but when the spider heard his friend's name called out,
Speaker 10: he was so angry that he would not eat. The
Speaker 10: second day, the servants did the same, and the spider
Speaker 10: again refused the food when it was brought. Early in
Speaker 10: the morning of the third day, the spider told his
Speaker 10: father in law that he was going home and that
Speaker 10: he would leave his wife for a time and come
Speaker 10: back for her later. Ta Wu then said he would
Speaker 10: make another feast to celebrate their departure, and that he
Speaker 10: should like to see his son in law dance one
Speaker 10: more time before he returned home. So the people were
Speaker 10: called to another play, and the chief milk one more
Speaker 10: cow for their food. When the food was ready, the
Speaker 10: spider said to his friend, come on, Dobby, let us
Speaker 10: go and dance. But the grasshopper refused and said, now
Speaker 10: you go and dance and I will join you later.
Speaker 10: So the spider went by himself, leaving the grasshopper in
Speaker 10: their room where the food was. Seeing that there was
Speaker 10: no one about, he took his outside skin off very
Speaker 10: quickly and hung it up on a peg on the wall,
Speaker 10: making it look just like a living grasshopper. He then
Speaker 10: went out and joined the dancers. When the spider saw
Speaker 10: the grasshopper had arrived and was busily engaged dancing. Being
Speaker 10: very hungry, he stole off by himself to the room
Speaker 10: where the food was and put his hand into the pot.
Speaker 10: But just as he was going to take out a
Speaker 10: piece of meat, he happened to look up and saw
Speaker 10: the skin of the grasshopper, which was so lifelike that
Speaker 10: it deceived him to thinking that it really was his
Speaker 10: friend on the wall. So he pulled his hand out
Speaker 10: of the pot and said, trying to laugh, it is
Speaker 10: all right, doabby, my friend. I was not going to
Speaker 10: eat anything. I just came in to see what the
Speaker 10: food was like. He then went out again to where
Speaker 10: the people were dancing, and to his great surprise, he
Speaker 10: saw the grasshopper where he had left him, dancing and
Speaker 10: enjoying himself with some pretty young girls. Spider couldnot understand
Speaker 10: how it was that the grasshopper had managed to get
Speaker 10: back to the play so quickly, But as he saw
Speaker 10: him there, he was too hungry to trouble much about that,
Speaker 10: and went back again to get the food he was
Speaker 10: so much in need of. Everything was quiet when he returned,
Speaker 10: so he lifted the lid again and took out a
Speaker 10: large piece of yam, and had only taken one bite
Speaker 10: when his eye caught the grasshopper's skin in the same
Speaker 10: place where he had seen it before. The spider was
Speaker 10: amazed at this and thought there must be some juju
Speaker 10: in it, so he put the yam down and ran
Speaker 10: out of the house, shouting as he went.
Speaker 11: All right, Dobby, I only thought I would like to
Speaker 11: taste the food to see that it was good. But
Speaker 11: when he got to the dance, he again saw, to
Speaker 11: his intense astonishment that the grasshopper was dancing away as
Speaker 11: mary before. The spider then went up to his father
Speaker 11: in law and asked him to stop the dance, as
Speaker 11: he wished to go home at once. This was done,
Speaker 11: and they all went back to the chief's house together.
Speaker 11: Chief Tawu then gave both the spider and the grasshopper
Speaker 11: a dog each as a present, and shortly afterwards they
Speaker 11: started off together on their return journey. After walking a
Speaker 11: short distance outside the town, the spider was so hungry
Speaker 11: that he stopped and killed the dog that his father
Speaker 11: in law had given, and very soon had eaten the
Speaker 11: whole of it.
Speaker 10: He then tried to get the grasshopper to kill his dog,
Speaker 10: but he refused, saying the dog was given to me
Speaker 10: by the chief as a present and not for food.
Speaker 10: I shall take it home with me. When the spider
Speaker 10: had finished eating his dog, he put the skull of
Speaker 10: the dog in his bag and asked the grasshopper to
Speaker 10: go in front of him. Shortly after this, the dog,
Speaker 10: scenting some game, dived into the bush, and Verison returned
Speaker 10: to the path with a small bush buck.
Speaker 7: In his mouth.
Speaker 10: As the grasshopper had gone on in front and had
Speaker 10: not waited for his dog, the spider took the buck, and,
Speaker 10: having cut its head off and put it in his
Speaker 10: bag next to the dog's skull, he sat down and
Speaker 10: ate the body. When he rejoined the grasshopper later in
Speaker 10: the day, he produced his bag and took out that
Speaker 10: buck's head and told the grasshopper that his dog's gull
Speaker 10: was very clever and had killed the buck. Although the
Speaker 10: grasshopper knew quite well what had happened. He did not
Speaker 10: say anything, but walked on again in front with his dog,
Speaker 10: as he had done before. That night, they slept in
Speaker 10: the bush, and the next day, when they got near
Speaker 10: the first town they had passed through when leaving home,
Speaker 10: the dog again dashed off into the forest and chased
Speaker 10: a bush cow, which he bit very badly in the leg.
Speaker 10: When they reached the town, the spider told the people
Speaker 10: that the grasshopper's dog had chased one of the chief's
Speaker 10: cows and bitten it very badly. This made the people angry,
Speaker 10: and they all turned out with sticks to beat the grasshopper,
Speaker 10: But when he saw them coming, he called out to
Speaker 10: them and soon convinced them that his dog had not
Speaker 10: bitten the chief's cow, but had chased a bush cow
Speaker 10: and wounded it badly. He then offered to show the
Speaker 10: hunters where the place was, and they gladly accepted his offer.
Speaker 10: The hunters then got their bows and arrows, and having
Speaker 10: been shown the tracks of the bush cow by the grasshopper,
Speaker 10: they had little difficulty in tracking it by its blood
Speaker 10: and eventually killed it. The people then carried the meat
Speaker 10: back to the town and placed the horns in front
Speaker 10: of their juju. Half the meat was given to the grasshopper,
Speaker 10: and the remainder divided amongst the people, the spider getting nothing.
Speaker 10: When the spider saw this, he was vexed and told
Speaker 10: the grasshopper that he did not on him for his
Speaker 10: friend again. He then set himself to make a net
Speaker 10: of web in order to revenge himself on the grasshopper,
Speaker 10: and has ever since lived on insects. End of How
Speaker 10: two friends fell out The Spider and the Grasshopper in
Speaker 10: Myths and Legends Around the World Collection fifteen, read by
Speaker 10: Jerome Ware San Diego, May fifth, twenty twenty two.
Speaker 6: Jupiter and his Mighty Company in Myths and Legends Around
Speaker 6: the World Collection fifteen from Old Greek stories. This is
Speaker 6: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
Speaker 6: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Speaker 6: Read by Ahnamalikh. Jupiter and his Mighty Company by James Baldwin.
Speaker 6: A long time ago, when the world was much younger
Speaker 6: than it is now, people told and believed a great
Speaker 6: many wonderful stories about wonderful things which neither you nor
Speaker 6: I have ever seen. They often talked about a certain
Speaker 6: mighty being called Jupiter or Zeus, who was king of
Speaker 6: the sky and the earth. And they said that he
Speaker 6: sat most of the time amid the clouds, on the
Speaker 6: top of a very high mountain, where he could look
Speaker 6: down and see everything that was going on in the
Speaker 6: earth beneath. He liked to ride on the storm clouds
Speaker 6: and hurled burning thunderbolts right and left among the trees
Speaker 6: and rocks. And he was so very, very mighty that
Speaker 6: when he nodded, the earth quaked, the mountains trembled and smoked,
Speaker 6: the sky grew black, and the sun hid his face.
Speaker 6: Jupiter had two brothers, both of them terrible fellows, but
Speaker 6: not nearly so great as himself. The name of one
Speaker 6: of them was Neptune or Poseidon, and he was the
Speaker 6: king of the Sea. He had a glittering golden palace
Speaker 6: far down in the deep sea caves, where the fishes
Speaker 6: live and the red coral crows. And whenever he was angry,
Speaker 6: the waves would rise mountain high, and the storm winds
Speaker 6: would howl fearfully, and the sea would try to break
Speaker 6: over the land. The men called him the Shaker of
Speaker 6: the Earth. The other brother of Jupiter, was a sad,
Speaker 6: pale faced being whose kingdom was underneath the earth, where
Speaker 6: there shown, and where there was darkness and weeping and
Speaker 6: sorrow all the time. His name was Pluto or Adonis,
Speaker 6: and his country was called the lower world, or the
Speaker 6: land of shadows or heads. Men said that whenever anyone died,
Speaker 6: Pluto would send his messenger or shadow leader to carry
Speaker 6: that one down into his cheerless kingdom, And for that
Speaker 6: reason they never spoke well of him, but thought of
Speaker 6: him only as the enemy of life. A great number
Speaker 6: of other mighty beings lived with Jupiter amid the clouds
Speaker 6: on the mountain top, so many that I can name
Speaker 6: a very few only. There was Venus, the queen of
Speaker 6: love and beauty, who was fairer by far than any
Speaker 6: woman that you or I have ever seen. There was
Speaker 6: Athena or Minerva, the queen of the Air, who gave
Speaker 6: people wisdom and taught them how to do very many
Speaker 6: useful things. There was Juno, the queen of Earth and Sky,
Speaker 6: who sat at the right hand of Jupiter and gave
Speaker 6: him all kinds of advice. There was Mars, the great warrior,
Speaker 6: whose delight was in the din of battle. There was Mercury,
Speaker 6: the swift messenger, who had wings on his cap and shoes,
Speaker 6: and who flew from place to place like the summer
Speaker 6: clouds when they are driven before the wind. There was Vulcan,
Speaker 6: a skillful blacksmith, who had his forge in a burning mountain,
Speaker 6: and wrought many wonderful things of iron and copper and gold.
Speaker 6: And besides these there were many others about whom you
Speaker 6: will learn by and by, and about whom men told
Speaker 6: strange and beautiful stories. They lived in glittering golden mansions,
Speaker 6: high up among the clouds, so high indeed, that the
Speaker 6: eyes of men could never see them, but they could
Speaker 6: look down and see what men were doing. And oftentimes
Speaker 6: they were said to leave their lofty homes and wander
Speaker 6: unknown across the land or over the sea. And of
Speaker 6: all these mighty folk, Jupiter was by far the mightiest
Speaker 6: end of Jupiter and his mighty company. In myths and
Speaker 6: legends around the world, Collection fifteen