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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India, by 
+Katherine Neville Fleeson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India
+
+Author: Katherine Neville Fleeson
+
+Illustrator: W. A. Briggs
+
+Release Date: March 12, 2011 [EBook #35564]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAOS FOLK-LORE OF FARTHER INDIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
+
+The Contents are placed after the Introduction, as in the original.
+
+Italic type is marked with _underlines_ and bold with *asterisks*.
+Footnote references are marked with [brackets] and the texts have been
+placed at the end of each story.
+
+Changes to the original publication (possible typographic errors or
+inconsistencies) are listed at the end.
+
+
+
+
+                    Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India
+
+
+[Illustration: A Group of Laos Girls.]
+
+
+                             Laos Folk-Lore
+                                   of
+                             Farther India
+
+                                   BY
+                       Katherine Neville Fleeson
+
+              With Illustrations from Photographs taken by
+                          W. A. Briggs, M. D.
+
+                      NEW YORK   CHICAGO   TORONTO
+                       Fleming H. Revell Company
+                  Publishers of Evangelical Literature
+
+
+                            Copyright, 1899
+                                   by
+                       FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+
+These Folk-Tales from the Laos country, a part of the kingdom of Siam,
+in addition to their intrinsic merit have the charm of complete novelty.
+Until the translator of this volume collected these stories, they were
+even unwritten, with a single exception which was found in a Laos
+manuscript. They are orally preserved in the provinces which constitute
+the Laos country, just as they have been handed down from generations of
+ancestors, with slight variations in words or incidents. The elders
+among the people tell the stories at their merrymakings around the
+camp-fires and within their primitive houses, to amuse and instruct the
+youth and children.
+
+Living among the Laos in the friendly and intimate relation of a
+missionary, the translator has had the advantage of long residence and
+unrivalled opportunity for understanding the history, customs, religious
+ideas and aspirations of this interesting people. Aptness in use of
+their colloquial speech gave her special facility for gathering the
+stories with exactness, as they fell from the lips of the narrators in
+her hearing; and for the delicate additional task of translating them
+into English. The scholar, who is a student of the world's Folk-Lore,
+may be assured that he has here, the Laos tales unobscured, just as they
+are told to-day.
+
+Reflecting, as they do, thoughts, desires and hopes common to our
+humanity, these stories at the same time exhibit, in a pathetic way, the
+need in Laos of the uplifting and transforming power of the Christian
+religion.
+
+                                                        Willis G. Craig.
+
+  McCormick Theological Seminary,
+            Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+                                                            PAGE
+
+          I. Tales of the Jungle                              13
+  1 A Child of the Woods                                      15
+  2 The Enchanted Mountain                                    17
+  3 The Spirit-Guarded Cave                                   20
+  4 The Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars                23
+
+          II. Fables from the Forest                          25
+  1 Right and Might                                           27
+  2 Why the Lip of the Elephant Droops                        29
+  3 How a Dead Tiger Killed the Princess                      32
+  4 The Monkeys and the Crabs                                 33
+
+          III. Nature's Riddles and their Answers             35
+  1 The Man in the Moon                                       37
+  2 The Origin of Lightning                                   38
+  3 Why the Parrot and the Minor Bird but
+    Echo the Words of Man                                     41
+  4 The Fatherless Birds                                      44
+
+          IV. Romance and Tragedy                             47
+  1 The Lovers' Leap                                          49
+  2 The Faithful Husband                                      51
+  3 The Faithful Wife                                         57
+  4 An Unexpected Issue                                       60
+
+          V. Temples and Priests                              63
+  1 The Giants' Mountain and the Temple                       65
+  2 Cheating the Priest                                       67
+  3 The Disappointed Priest                                   69
+  4 The Greedy Priest                                         71
+  5 The Ambitious Priest                                      73
+
+          VI. Moderation and Greed                            75
+  1 The Wizard and the Beggar                                 77
+  2 A Covetous Neighbor                                       80
+  3 A Lazy Man's Plot                                         83
+  4 The Ungrateful Fisherman                                  84
+  5 The Legend of the Rice                                    85
+
+          VII. Parables and Proverbs                          87
+  1 "One Woman, in Deceit and Craft,
+    is More than a Match for Eight Men"                       89
+  2 "The Wisest Man of a Small Village
+    is Not Equal in Wisdom to a Boy
+    of the City Streets"                                      93
+  3 "To Aid Beast is Merit;
+    to Aid Man is But Vanity"                                 95
+
+          VIII. The Gods Know and the Gods Reward             99
+  1 Love's Secrets                                           101
+  2 Poison-Mouth                                             103
+  3 Strife and Peace                                         105
+  4 The Widow's Punishment                                   107
+  5 Honesty Rewarded                                         109
+  6 The Justice of In Ta Pome                                111
+
+          IX. Wonders of Wisdom                              113
+  1 The Words of Untold Value                                115
+  2 A Wise Philosopher                                       119
+  3 The Boys Who Were Not Appreciated                        122
+  4 The Magic Well                                           126
+
+          X. Strange Fortunes of Strange People              129
+  1 The Fortunes of Ai Powlo                                 131
+  2 The Fortunes of a Lazy Beggar                            135
+  3 The Misfortunes of Paw Yan                               139
+  4 An Unfortunate Shot                                      141
+
+          XI. Stories Gone Astray                            143
+  1 The Blind Man                                            145
+  2 "Heads, I Win. Tails, You Lose"                          148
+  3 The Great Boaster                                        149
+  4 A Clever Thief                                           151
+  5 Eyeless-Needle, Rotten-Egg, Rotten-Banana,
+    Old-Fish and Broken-Pestle                               152
+
+
+
+
+List of Illustrations.
+
+
+  A Group of Laos Girls                                 _Frontispiece_
+  Types of the Laos People                           _Facing page_  15
+  A Laos Forest-stream                                  "     "     28
+  The Laos Governor's Wife at her Embroidery Frame      "     "     57 
+  A Group of Buddhist Priests                      } 
+  The Interior of a Buddhist Temple                }    "     "     66
+  Monastery Grounds at Chieng Tung, Laos                "     "     72
+  At Work in the Rice Fields                            "     "     86
+  The "Chow" and his Palace                             "     "     96
+  Laos Feast                                       }
+  A Street in a Laos Town                          }    "     "    136
+
+
+
+
+  I
+  Tales of the Jungle
+
+[Illustration: Types of the Laos People]
+
+
+A Child of The Woods
+
+Deep in the forest of the North there is a large village of jungle
+people, and, among them is one old woman, who is held in reverence by
+all. The stranger who asks why she is honored as a princess is thus
+answered by her:
+
+"Verily, I have much _boon_,[1] for I am but a child of nature. When I
+was a young maiden, it fell upon a day that my heart grew hot with
+anger. For many days the anger grew until it filled my whole heart, also
+were my eyes so red that I could see but dimly, and no longer could I
+live in the village or among my own people, for I hated all men and I
+felt that the beasts of the forest were more to me than my kindred.
+Therefore, I fled from the face of man into the jungle where no human
+foot had ever gone. All day I journeyed, running as though my feet would
+never weary and feeling no pangs of hunger. When the darkness closed
+about me, I was not afraid, but lay down under the shelter of a tree,
+and, for a time, slept peacefully, as peacefully as though in my own
+home. At length, I was awakened by the breath of an animal, and, in the
+clear light of the moon, I saw a large tiger before me. It smelled of my
+face, my hands and my feet, then seated itself by my head and watched me
+through the night, and I lay there unafraid. In the early morning, the
+tiger departed and I continued my journey. Quieter was my heart. Still,
+I disliked my own people but had no fear of the beasts or the reptiles
+of the forest.
+
+During the day I ate of the fruit which grew wild in abundance, and at
+night I slept 'neath a tree, protected and guarded by fierce, wild
+beasts which molested not my sleep. For many days I wandered thus, and
+the nights were secure; for the wild beasts watched over and protected
+me. Thus my heart grew cool in my bosom, and I no longer hated my
+people; and, after one moon had gone, I found myself near a village. The
+people wondered to see me approach from the jungle, dreaded as being the
+jungle of the man-eating tiger. When I related my story, the people were
+filled with wonder and brought rich gifts to me. For a year and a day I
+abode there, and no more the wild beasts molested their cattle.
+
+But my heart yearned to see the face of my kindred again, so, laden with
+silver, gold and rich garments and seated in the howdah[2] of an
+elephant, the people escorted me to my own village, and here have I
+abode in content these one hundred years.
+
+  1: Merit.
+
+  2: The car placed on the back of elephants.
+
+
+The Enchanted Mountain
+
+The hunters who are continually going about from place to place,
+climbing up high hills, descending into deep ravines and making ways
+through jungles in search of the wild bison and other game, tell strange
+tales of an enchanted place away on the top of a lofty mountain. There,
+is a beautiful lake, which is as bright and clear as a drop of morning
+dew hanging on the petal of the white water-lily, and, when you drink of
+it, you are no longer aweary; new life has come into you, and your body
+is more vigorous than ever before. The flowers on the margin of this
+enchanted lake are more beautiful than those that grow in any other
+spot, and, such is the love of the cherishing spirits for it, that they
+care for it as for no other place in this world. Bananas of a larger
+growth than can be found in the gardens of man, and oranges, sweeter to
+the taste than those we ever eat, are there. The fruits of all trees,
+more beautiful to the eye and richer than man can produce, are there,
+free to those who can find them. All the fowls usually nurtured by man
+and flocking about his door are there, and they are not affrighted by
+the presence of the hunter but come at his call. Should the hunter wish
+to kill them, his arrow cannot pierce their charmed bodies to deprive
+them of life, but the arrow falls harmless to the ground, because the
+spirits protect them and their lives are sacred. Great fields of rice
+are about this place, and the hunter marvels at the size of the grains
+and at the strength of the stalks. No field cared for by man has seen
+grain like that which the spirits nourish.
+
+Many men, on hearing of this wonderful mountain-top, have sought it, but
+all have returned unsuccessful to their homes, saying, no such place is
+on this earth. Only the hunter, who has chased the game through the
+jungle, o'er the streams and up the steep mountain-sides, when tired and
+discouraged because the coveted prize has gone far beyond his reach, is
+rewarded for all his labor, when he finds himself in the garden of
+fruit, or on the margin of the enchanted lake, whose waters give renewed
+vigor to his wearied body.
+
+Often, when the hunter desires to eat of the flesh of the fowls, he
+endeavors to kill the fowls, but no effort of his can take their life,
+as the spirits hold them in their care. No mortal can harm them. Nor can
+the hunter take any of the fruit away, for, as he leaves the spot, no
+matter how he may hold it, it vanishes from his hand. Thus, no man, who
+has not seen the place, has eaten of the fruit nor drank of the water;
+so, many doubt their existence, for such is the heart of man that he
+must touch with his hands, see with his eyes, or taste with his tongue,
+ere he can believe. Nevertheless, on the top of the lofty mountain there
+is the lake with the cool waters, clear and beautiful, where the fowls
+swim on its surface, or drink from its margin, and the grain and the
+fruit ripen for those who are loved of the spirits, and are led by them
+to this cherished spot where they may rest and be refreshed, and then
+return to their wives and children and tell them of the care of the
+spirits. The little ones, who have hearts free from guile, believe.
+
+
+The Spirit-Guarded Cave
+
+When the people of the far north[3] were molested by their foes and were
+in continual fear, they consulted together, saying, "Our lives are spent
+in trying to escape from our enemies and no joy can be ours. Let us flee
+to the south country[4] where, if the people make slaves of us, we can,
+at least, know that our lives will be spared, and life, even in slavery,
+is better than this constant fear of our enemies destroying both
+ourselves and our dwelling-places and taking our cattle for their own."
+Therefore, they gathered together all their household goods, secreted
+their money and jewels about their persons, and, loading their cattle
+with rice, they commenced their toilsome journey through the narrow
+jungle paths and across the high mountains on their way to the south,
+where they hoped for peace and safety. The way was long and difficult,
+and the rice was all eaten and the cattle killed and consumed before
+they had nearly reached their journey's end. Then the fugitives
+commenced to use their money to buy food that they might have strength
+for the journey, and they whispered one to another that the people
+looked with covetous eyes on their hoard of money and jewels, and they
+feared they would be slain because of the greed of the people.
+
+One man, wiser than the others, said, "Why do we endanger our lives for
+our possessions? Can we not find some secret place in which to leave our
+money and jewels, and when brighter days come to us we can return and
+find them even as we left them?"
+
+All the people cried, "Your words are wise. Let us do accordingly," and
+as these people were loved of the spirits, they were led to a deep cave
+in the midst of a wood where man seldom came, and there they left their
+possessions in the care of the spirits who promised to guard them until
+in the days, when life being brighter and more secure, the owners would
+come and claim them.
+
+The people journeyed on to the south country, and there lived as slaves.
+Many generations of them lived and died, but they could not escape nor
+come to claim the vast wealth and jewels which they had left in care of
+the spirits of the cave.
+
+The story became known, and the inhabitants of all the surrounding
+countries went to the cave and sought to secure the treasure. But such
+was the care of the spirits that no man with safety could enter the
+cave. A light was instantly extinguished, if let down into the deep pit
+leading into the chamber where the treasure was, for the spirits blew
+their breath upon it and it was no more. All devices were tried to
+obtain the treasure, and from all parts of the country the people came
+to try to overcome the charm which the spirits had placed upon the cave,
+but no one was able to break it. One man went even into the treasure
+chamber and filled his hands with the precious stones, but he was
+overcome by a deadly sickness and was forced to replace the jewels in
+the treasure chest and flee for his life so as to escape the wrath of
+the guarding spirits. Even the white, foreign strangers, who have come
+into the land and placed their strong hands on the elephants and the
+trees[5] of the forest and claimed them for their use, were baffled and
+driven back by the faithful spirits when they endeavored to enter the
+treasure chamber, and for all time this treasure shall remain there,
+for, if the white foreigner, by his wisdom, or by his craft, fails to
+obtain it, verily it will remain untouched forever.
+
+  3: In China.
+
+  4: Siam.
+
+  5: Teak-wood.
+
+
+The Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars
+
+The spirits, who lived in the mountains near a large city, upon a time
+wanted money for some purpose, and they brought down to the people of
+the city a number of large and heavy stone mortars which they commanded
+them to buy at an exorbitant price.
+
+The men of the city said, "The price you ask is too great; moreover, we
+have no need of your mortars, as they are too large for us to use in
+pounding out our rice, or for any other purpose. Therefore, we do not
+wish to buy them."
+
+The spirits were very angry because they did not cheerfully agree to pay
+the money, and answered, "If you will not buy these mortars which we
+have brought for your use, you shall carry them up to our home on the
+top of the mountain, for the labor of bringing them down has wearied
+us."
+
+Not daring to incur the wrath of the spirits, and yet being utterly
+unable to carry the huge mortars to the high mountain, they paid the
+price, for, they reasoned, "Is any price too great to risk our falling
+under the displeasure of the evil spirits?"
+
+The spirits departed with the money, and to this day, the stone mortars
+are scattered about the streets of that city, and, when strangers ask
+why they are there and what use is made of them, this story will be
+told, and all people say it is verily the truth, for do you not see them
+with your eyes, and how else could they have come here, had not the
+spirits brought them?
+
+
+
+
+  II
+  Fables From the Forest
+
+
+Right and Might
+
+While a deer was eating wild fruit, he heard an owl call, "Haak,
+haak,"[6] and a cricket cry, "Wat,"[7] and, frightened, he fled.
+
+In his flight he ran through the trees up into the mountains and into
+streams. In one of the streams the deer stepped upon a small fish and
+crushed it almost to death.
+
+Then the fish complained to the court, and the deer, owl, cricket and
+fish had a lawsuit. In the trial came out this evidence:
+
+As the deer fled, he ran into some dry grass, and the seed fell into the
+eye of a wild chicken, and the pain of the seed in the eye of the
+chicken caused it to fly up against a nest of red ants. Alarmed, the red
+ants flew out to do battle, and in their haste, bit a mon-goose. The
+mon-goose ran into a vine of wild fruit and shook several pieces of it
+on the head of a hermit, who sat thinking under a tree.
+
+"Why didst thou, O fruit, fall on my head," cried the hermit.
+
+The fruit answered: "We did not wish to fall; a mon-goose ran against
+our vine and threw us down."
+
+And the hermit asked, "O mon-goose, why didst thou throw the fruit?"
+
+The mon-goose answered: "I did not wish to throw down the fruit, but the
+red ants bit me and I ran against the vine."
+
+The hermit asked, "O ants, why did ye bite the mon-goose?"
+
+The red ants replied: "The hen flew against our nest and angered us."
+
+The hermit asked, "O hen, why didst thou fly against the red ants'
+nest?"
+
+And the hen replied: "The seed fell into my eyes and hurt me."
+
+And the hermit asked, "O seed, why didst thou fall into the hen's eyes?"
+
+And the seed replied: "The deer shook me down."
+
+The hermit said unto the deer, "O deer, why didst thou shake down the
+seed?"
+
+The deer answered: "I did not wish to do it, but the owl called,
+frightening me and I ran."
+
+"O owl," asked the hermit, "why didst thou frighten the deer?"
+
+The owl replied: "I called but as I am accustomed to call--the cricket,
+too, called."
+
+Having heard the evidence, the judge said, "The cricket must replace the
+crushed parts of the fish and make it well," as he, the cricket, had
+called and frightened the deer.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The cricket was smaller and weaker than the owl or the deer, therefore
+had to bear the penalty.
+
+  6: Haak--a spear.
+
+  7: Wat--surrounded.
+
+[Illustration: A Laos Forest-stream.]
+
+
+Why the Lip of the Elephant Droops
+
+In the days when the earth was young lived a poor man and his wife who
+had twelve daughters, whom they no longer loved and no longer desired.
+Day after day the father and mother planned to be free of them, and upon
+a day, the father made ready a basket; in the bottom he placed ashes,
+but on the top he spread rice. Taking this basket with him, he called
+his daughters to come go to the jungle to hunt for game.
+
+When the heat of the day had come, they all sat down to eat, and, after
+they had eaten, the father gave each daughter a bamboo joint, and bade
+her get water for him. The joints were so made that they would not hold
+water, and while the maidens endeavored to make them so they would, the
+father returned home. In vain did the maidens try to make the joints
+hold the water and after a time they sought their father, but, lo, the
+father was gone and only the basket remained! Examining the basket, they
+found rice but on the top, and on the bottom filled with ashes, so they
+knew their parents sought to be free of them by leaving them in the
+trackless jungle. Unable to find their way out, there they slept
+peacefully, for the wild beasts molest not those who fearlessly stay
+with them.
+
+As the eye of day opened in the East, the forlorn maidens beheld, as
+they awakened, a beautiful woman standing near, and of her they sought
+help.
+
+"Come with me and be companions to my little daughter. Often am I away
+from home and she is lonely. Come home with me, play with my daughter,
+and, in exchange I will give you a home," said the beautiful woman.
+
+Gladly the maidens consented and went with the woman to her home far in
+the jungle. All places save one small garden were they free to enter.
+And upon a day, the fair woman said, "I go to the jungle and will not
+return until the eye of day has closed. Do not play in the small
+garden." Scarcely had she gone ere she returned, but the maidens had not
+sought the garden.
+
+Again, upon a day, the fair woman said, "I go to the jungle but for a
+short time. Go not to play in the small garden."
+
+Thinking she would this time be gone all day, the maidens sought the
+small garden, and lo, it was strewn with human bones! Then they knew the
+fair woman was a cannibal. Full of fear, they fled, and, as they fled
+they met a cow.
+
+"Protect us," they cried.
+
+The cow opened its mouth and the maidens jumped in. Thus they journeyed
+from the cannibal's home. As the cow returned, it met the fair woman
+seeking the maidens.
+
+"Have you seen twelve maidens pass this way?" asked she.
+
+"No," answered the cow.
+
+"If you do not speak the truth, I'll kill and eat you," cried she.
+
+"I saw them as they made haste in that way," replied the cow.
+
+The cannibal woman pursued that way.
+
+After the cow left them, the maidens hastened on and as they hastened
+they met an elephant and begged it to save them from the cannibal.
+
+The elephant opened its mouth and the maidens jumped in, but so slowly
+did one jump that an edge of her garment hung out of the mouth. As they
+journeyed the cannibal overtook them.
+
+"Did you see twelve maidens hastening toward the city?" asked the
+cannibal.
+
+"No," answered the elephant.
+
+"From this time forth forever the lip of thy mouth shall hang down as a
+garment," cursed the cannibal, for she had seen the edge of the maiden's
+garment hanging out of the elephant's mouth and knew it was protecting
+the twelve maidens. And to this day doth the lip of the elephant hang
+down like a garment.
+
+
+How a Dead Tiger Killed the Princess
+
+There was once a king who had a daughter at whose birth a wise man
+foretold that she would be killed by a tiger when she was a maiden
+grown. In order that no animal might approach her, the king built her a
+house set upon one huge pillar, and there she and her attendants ever
+dwelt.
+
+And it fell upon a day, when the daughter was well grown, that one of
+the hunters, whose labor it was to kill the tigers of the country,
+brought a dead one to the palace of the king. The princess, seeing her
+dead enemy, came down from her tower and plucked a whisker from the
+tiger, and, as she blew her breath on it, she cried, "I do not fear
+thee, O my enemy, for thou art dead!" But the poison, which is in the
+whiskers of a tiger, entered into the blood of the princess, and she
+died.
+
+Then did the king make a proclamation, and sent messengers throughout
+all his realm, commanding that, when a tiger was killed, all his
+whiskers be immediately pulled out and burned, that a tiger may not be
+able to slay when dead; and until this day, the people obey the command
+of the king.
+
+
+The Monkeys and the Crabs
+
+All the monkeys which live in the forests near the great sea in the
+south, watch the tide running out, hoping to catch the sea-crabs which
+are left in the soft earth. If they can find a crab above the ground,
+they immediately catch and eat it.
+
+Sometimes, the crabs bury themselves in the mud, and the monkeys, seeing
+the tunnels they have made, reach down into them with their long tails,
+and torment the crabs until they, in anger, seizing the tormenting tail,
+are drawn out and devoured by their cunning foes. But, sometimes, alas,
+the crab fails to come out! No matter with what strength the monkey
+pulls and tugs, the crabs do not appear, and the poor monkey is held
+fast, while the tide comes in and drowns it. When the tide goes out
+again, leaving the luckless monkey on the beach, the crabs come out from
+their strongholds and feast on the dead enemy.
+
+
+
+
+  III
+  Nature's Riddles and Their Answers
+
+
+The Man in the Moon
+
+There was a blacksmith once, who complained: "I am not well, and my work
+is too warm. I want to be a stone on the mountain. There it must be
+cool, for the wind blows and the trees give a shade."
+
+A wise man, who had power over all things, replied, "Go thou, be a
+stone." And he was a stone, high up on the mountain-side.
+
+It happened a stone-cutter came that way for stone, and, when he saw the
+one that had been the blacksmith, he knew it was what he sought and he
+began to cut it.
+
+The stone cried out: "This hurts. I no longer want to be a stone. A
+stone-cutter I want to be. That would be pleasant."
+
+The wise man, humoring him, said, "Be a cutter." Thus he became a
+stone-cutter and, as he went seeking suitable stone, he grew tired, and
+his feet were sore. He whimpered, "I no longer want to cut stone. I
+would be the sun, that would be pleasant."
+
+The wise man commanded, "Be the sun." And he was the sun.
+
+But the sun was warmer than the blacksmith, than a stone, than a
+stone-cutter, and he complained, "I do not like this. I would be the
+moon. It looks cool."
+
+The wise man spake yet again, "Be the moon." And he was the moon.
+
+"This is warmer than being the sun," murmured he, "for the light from
+the sun shines on me ever. I do not want to be the moon. I would be a
+smith again. That, verily, is the best life."
+
+But the wise man replied, "I am weary of your changing. You wanted to be
+the moon; the moon you are, and it you will remain."
+
+And in yon high heaven lives he to this day.
+
+
+The Origin of Lightning
+
+There was once a great chief who desired above all things to be happy in
+the future life, therefore he continually made feasts for the priests
+and the poor; spending much money in making merit. He had ten wives,
+nine of whom helped him in all the merit-makings, but the head wife, his
+favorite, would never take part. Laughing, and making herself beautiful
+in soft garments and jewels, she gave naught to the priests.
+
+And on a day, when the great chief and his nine merit-making wives were
+no more, but had gone to live in the sky on account of their
+merit-making, the great chief longed for his favorite, and taking a
+glass, he looked down on the earth to see her. After many days, he
+beheld her as a crane hunting for food on the border of a lake. The
+great chief, to try her heart and to see if she had repented, came down
+from his home in the sky in the form of a fish, and swam to the crane.
+Seeing the fish, the crane pecked at it, but the fish sprang out of the
+water, and when the crane saw it was alive, she would not touch it.
+Again the fish floated near the crane and she pecked at it, but on
+finding it was alive let it escape. Then was the heart of the great
+chief glad, for he saw that his favorite wife would not destroy life
+even to satisfy her hunger, and he knew that her merit was such she
+could be born in the form of a woman again.
+
+It happened on a day that the crane died, and, when again born, had the
+form of a gardener's child. As the child grew in years and stature, she
+was fairer than any other in the land, and, when a maiden, the father
+and mother made a feast, inviting all the people to come. During the
+feast, they gave a wreath of beautiful flowers to their daughter and
+said, "Throw this into the air, and on whosesoever head it falls, that
+one will be to thee a husband."
+
+The great chief, her husband of old, seeking her, came down to the earth
+in the form of an old man, and, when the maiden cast the wreath into the
+air, it fell on the head of this old man.
+
+Great sport was made of him, and tauntingly the people cried, "Does this
+bent stick think he is mate for our lotus flower?"
+
+But the fair maiden placed her hand in the old man's hand, and, together
+they rose into the air. In vain they sought to detain them--the father
+even shot at the old man, but they were soon lost to sight, and to this
+day, when the people see the chain lightning in the sky, they say it is
+the wreath of the beautiful maiden; when the lightning strikes, they say
+it is the gardener shooting at the old man, and, when the heat lightning
+flashes, they say it is the great chief flashing his glass over the
+earth in search of his favorite and beautiful wife.
+
+
+Why the Parrot and the Minor Bird but Echo the Words of Man
+
+Long ago people caught and nourished the sao bird, because it learned
+the language of man more readily than either the parrot or minor bird.
+While they had to be taught with much care, the sao bird had but to hear
+a word and it could readily utter it; moreover, the sao bird could utter
+its own thoughts.
+
+Upon a time a man of the north country, owning a sao bird, stole a
+buffalo from his neighbor and killed it. Part of the buffalo the man
+cooked and ate; the rest he hid either in the rice bin or over the rice
+house.
+
+Seeking the buffalo, next day, the neighbor asked the man if he had seen
+it.
+
+The man replied, "No." The sao bird, however, cried out, "He killed it;
+part he hid in the rice bin, part over the rice house."
+
+The neighbor searched in both of these places and found the parts just
+as the sao bird had said.
+
+"I did not steal the buffalo," insisted the man.
+
+But the bird ever called, "He killed it and put part into the rice bin,
+and part over the rice house."
+
+Unable to decide between the words of the man and the words of the bird,
+the neighbor appealed to the court. And, it happened, the night before
+the trial, that the man took the sao bird, placed it in a jar, covered
+the jar and poured water over the cloth and beat on the outside of the
+jar. The noise of the beating was low and rumbling. All that night was
+the bird kept in the jar, and not once did it see the bright moonlight,
+which was almost as bright as day, for it was in the midst of the dry
+season and full moon. When the eye of day opened, the man removed the
+bird from the jar and placed it in its cage, and then took it to the
+court as a witness.
+
+When the bird was called, it said, as before, "He killed it; part he put
+in the rice bin, and part over the rice house."
+
+All people believed the bird.
+
+"Ask it another question. Ask it what manner of night it was last night.
+Will you condemn me to death on the word of a bird?" cried the man.
+
+The question was put to the bird, but, remembering its fear, during the
+night, of the rumbling noise and the sound of running water, it
+answered, "Last night the sky called and the rain fell."
+
+Then the people cried, "Of a truth, the bird cannot be believed. Because
+it has imperilled the life of an innocent man, from this time forth, the
+sao bird must not be cherished by man."
+
+The thief was set free because there were but the words of the bird to
+condemn him.
+
+No longer is the sao bird nourished by man, but lives in the forest.
+Those who are full of fear, when they hear them talking in the forest,
+say, "it is the spirits."
+
+When the sao bird saw the bright plumage of the parrot, and the black
+and gold of the minor bird, it knew they were strangers who had come to
+dwell in the north, and it asked the crow and the owl what manner of
+birds they were.
+
+"Beautiful in plumage, as thou canst readily see," answered they.
+"Moreover, they speak the words of man."
+
+"Speak the words of man," echoed the sao bird. "I'll warn them. Come,
+let us greet them." And they went forth to meet the beautiful strangers.
+
+And upon a day, as they all came together in one place, the sao bird
+cried out, "We, the chief birds of the north land, come to greet you and
+to give you of our wisdom, as you are but strangers in our land. It is
+told me you speak as does man; even so can I. Nourished by the hand of
+man many years, I did see with my eyes and hear with my ears, and my
+tongue uttered not only the things I beheld and heard, but things
+displeasing to my masters. At one time, all men spoke well of me, but
+afterward was I cruelly punished and driven from the homes of men.
+Therefore come I this day unto you to warn you that, if man learns of
+your speaking tongue, he will capture you and nourish you in his home.
+Yet, should you speak other than he teaches you, you will be punished
+and driven from the homes of men, for man loves only to hear _his_
+thoughts repeated and loves not even a bird that has wisdom or truth
+greater than his own."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Fearful of uttering their thoughts, lest man resent it, the parrot and
+minor bird but echo the words of man.
+
+
+The Fatherless Birds
+
+A mother bird sat brooding on her nest. Her heart was sad, for her mate
+had flown away in the morning and had not returned. When the little ones
+stirred and clamored for food, with drooping wings she flew in quest of
+it that they might not hunger.
+
+Day after day her heart grew sadder, for her mate came not, and alone
+she struggled to provide for her fledglings.
+
+When the little birds had grown strong and were able to fly, sorrow and
+heart hunger had so weakened the mother bird that she lay dying. The
+little birds crowded about her asking what they could do to aid her, and
+with her dying breath she cried, "Call, oh, call your father."
+
+The little birds, flying low over the plains, cried, "Paw h�ey, paw
+h�ey," and children, left alone in their homes, while their parents
+labor in the rice fields, hearing the wail of the birds, wept, crying
+too, "Paw h�ey, maa h�ey."[8]
+
+Never has the father bird been found, and, to this day, flying low over
+the plains, the little birds cry, in their plaintive voices, "Paw h�ey,
+paw h�ey," and lonely children echo, "Paw h�ey, maa h�ey."
+
+  8: Paw h�ey--Oh, father! Maa h�ey--Oh, mother!
+
+
+
+
+  IV
+  Romance and Tragedy
+
+
+The Lovers' Leap
+
+Many, many years ago there lived, on the mountains among the rapids of
+the Maa Ping, a young man who loved a maiden and the maiden loved him
+truly, but her father refused his consent to their union and commanded
+that his daughter see her lover no more, nor hold communication with
+him. At all times and in all ways the father of the maiden endeavored to
+overcome her regard for her lover, but she would think of no other,
+although many came to woo her.
+
+Often did the young lovers seek to meet, but so constantly were they
+watched it was impossible and they could only wait patiently. Each knew
+the other was true and each heart rested in this assurance.
+
+And upon a time the father of the maiden thought she had forgotten her
+lover, and, greatly rejoiced, he made a feast and invited all the people
+of the province to come and make merry with him, and he reasoned, "Now
+that she has forgotten her former lover, will she not consent to marry a
+man I choose for her?"
+
+While they were feasting the maiden wandered out to think of the one she
+had not seen for so long and weary a time, and, suddenly, the dark
+evening became to her as the bright noonday, for her lover was before
+her. He entreated her to come with him and to be his wife. Thinking of
+the dreary days she had passed and the more dreary ones to come, should
+she see her heart's choice no more, she consented. As they were mounting
+his strong, young horse, a servant saw them and ran to the house and
+gave the alarm. Soon the father and all the men were in pursuit of the
+lovers. For a time the young horse kept far ahead of its pursuers, but,
+wearying of its double burden, it began to lag just as it reached the
+top of a lofty hill overhanging a rushing torrent of the river far
+below.
+
+Nearer and nearer came the father and all the men. The only escape, and
+a most desperate venture was it, was to leap across the rushing torrent
+to the hill on the other side. Looking into each other's eyes, then back
+at their approaching pursuers, and then at the wide chasm, they chose
+death together rather than life apart, and, urging their jaded horse to
+the leap, they missed the opposite cliff and were dashed to pieces on
+the rocks of the rapids below.
+
+
+The Faithful Husband[9]
+
+Upon a day in years long since gone by, Chow[10] Soo Tome, wearied of
+the talking of his slaves, wandered into the forest. As he walked in an
+unfrequented path, he came to a lake where seven beautiful winged nymphs
+were disporting themselves in the water. One, Chow Soo Tome readily saw
+was more beautiful than the others, and he loved her and desired her for
+his wife. On seeing the Chow, however, they all fled, but the most
+beautiful one permitted herself to be overtaken.
+
+"When I saw thee, my heart was filled with love for thee. If thou dost
+not consent to be my wife, of sorrow will I die," cried Chow Soo Tome.
+
+"Easily could I have escaped, had not love for thee made me loath to
+leave thee," replied the nymph. And in great joy they returned to the
+Chow's home.
+
+"My son, let me take the wings of thy wife, lest she fly and leave thee
+in sorrow," urged the Chow's mother, and, readily did the nymph wife lay
+aside her wings.
+
+But it happened that the head chow heard of the beauty of the wife of
+Chow Soo Tome, and he coveted her, and seeking to do away with Chow Soo
+Tome, he sent him to war, and commanded that he lead the battle.
+
+The young nymph wife knew the design of the head chow, and, as soon as
+her husband had gone, she sought her mother-in-law and begged that she
+give her back her wings.
+
+"I am filled with sorrow. Without Soo Tome I cannot remain in the house.
+Give me my wings that I may fly in the air and be comforted," pled the
+wife.
+
+"Consent that I tie a rope to thy feet. Then, I will give thee the
+wings," answered Soo Tome's mother.
+
+The young wife consented, but, having donned her wings and flown up in
+the air, she cut the rope fastened to her feet and was safe from the
+head chow's pursuit. Her freedom made her think of the home of her
+father in the kingdom of Chom Kow Kilat,[11] and thither she flew.
+
+Chow Soo Tome, unhurt and victorious, returned from the war and found
+his home desolate without his nymph wife, and would not be comforted but
+determined to seek her. "Now, I will go seek her in her father's
+kingdom, Chom Kow Kilat, though seven years, seven months and seven days
+be required for the journey."
+
+Through forest, over mountains and across plains toiled Chow Soo Tome
+patiently. And, as he journeyed, upon a day, he met an ape.
+
+"My friend, where do you go?" asked the ape.
+
+"To a land far away, where the love of my heart abides, in the kingdom
+of Chom Kow Kilat. The way I do not know, but my heart guides me,"
+answered Chow Soo Tome.
+
+The ape pitied him and sought to aid him, and what food he had or found
+he shared with Chow Soo Tome gladly. Together they travelled many days
+until they reached the sea. They had no means of crossing, and when the
+ape realized he could no longer aid Chow Soo Tome, he cried bitterly,
+saying, "No longer can I aid thee, now; therefore is my sorrow greater
+than I can bear," and, lo, he died! For three days did Chow Soo Tome
+mourn this kind friend, and, as he mourned, a fly came to eat of the
+ape.
+
+"I am but alive and fear I will die if I do not have food at once," said
+the fly. "The ape is dead and can feel no pain. I am alive and hunger,
+thou art in trouble and need aid. If thou wilt give me to eat of the
+flesh of the dead ape, whenever thou needst me, think on me and I will
+come to thee," added the fly.
+
+"Eat," said Chow Soo Tome, and then he went on his way, but shortly
+after, sat down under a tree. While there, he saw two eagles alight on
+the tree.
+
+"When we are rested, we will fly across the sea and eat of the feast
+which the king of Chom Kow Kilat gives in honor of the return of his
+beautiful daughter," said one of the eagles to its mate.
+
+Hearing these words, Chow Soo Tome cautiously climbed into the tree and
+crept under the wing of the larger eagle, who shortly after said to its
+mate: "Before we fly hence, I must rid myself of an insect which is
+under my wing and annoys me."
+
+"This is a sacred day, and, for some punishment has the insect come
+under your wing; let it remain," counselled the other eagle, and then
+they flew over the sea. When they rested in a tree on the other shore,
+Chow Soo Tome crept from under the wing and climbed down the tree. After
+a time he reached a _sala_[12] near a large city. Near the sala was a
+well, and, as Chow Soo Tome rested, seven slaves of the king of Chom Kow
+Kilat came from the city for water.
+
+"Why dost thou draw of the water?" asked Chow Soo Tome of a slave.
+
+"We are this day glad, for the most beautiful daughter of the king of
+Chom Kow Kilat hath returned from the land of men and the water will be
+poured over her head," said the slave addressed.
+
+Approaching the seventh slave, Chow Soo Tome asked that he might place a
+ring in her water jar. Now, the ring was one which he had received from
+his nymph wife, and he sought thus to turn her thoughts to him again.
+
+"Pour your water in such a manner that, when it falls, the ring will
+fall upon the hands of the princess," directed Chow Soo Tome.
+
+The slave did as directed, and, as the ring fell on the hands of the
+young princess, she knew her husband was near, and she asked the slave
+who was at the well when she drew the water.
+
+"A chow of a far country," said the slave, "who rests in the sala by the
+sacred well outside the city gate."
+
+In great haste and joy, did the young princess seek her father. "Outside
+the city gate, in the sala by the sacred well, doth my husband await me.
+Let me go to him, father," she pleaded.
+
+"I must first prove that he be thy husband. Let all my daughters make
+ready a table spread with the best of the feast, and hide themselves.
+The man shall be called, and, if he selects thy table, he is thy
+husband, but, if he knows not thy table, he shall die," replied the
+king.
+
+The tables were made ready, Chow Soo Tome was summoned and commanded to
+select the table prepared by the princess whom he claimed as his wife.
+Sore perplexed, Chow Soo Tome bethought himself of the fly's promise,
+and he called it to his aid. Immediately the fly appeared and sat on the
+table prepared by the wife of Chow Soo Tome, and there Chow Soo Tome sat
+down.
+
+"Yet another test," said the king. "Make ready seven curtains and place
+my daughters behind the seven curtains, allowing but one finger of each
+princess to be seen. Then, from among the fingers, select that of thy
+wife."
+
+Immediately did the grateful fly rest upon the curtain where lay the
+finger of the young wife, and unhesitatingly Chow Soo Tome walked up to
+the curtain and clasped the right finger.
+
+"It is enough. She is thy wife," declared the king, and so pleased was
+he that he made Chow Soo Tome second in power in the kingdom of Chom Kow
+Kilat.
+
+  9: This represents a very well-known m�rrchen.
+
+  10: Chow--a prince or high official.
+
+  11: A fabulous city.
+
+  12: A rest-house for guests.
+
+[Illustration: The Laos Governor's Wife at her Embroidery Frame.]
+
+
+The Faithful Wife
+
+The young and beautiful son of a head chow sought of a wise man what
+manner of wife should be his.
+
+"As you walked by the way, whom did you meet?" asked the wizard.
+
+"No one," replied the young man.
+
+"Nay, my son, you saw a slave of your father's, cutting grass in a
+garden. She is to be your wife."
+
+Distressed that such a woman should be his wife, the young man fled from
+his own country.
+
+And it came to pass, that the chow saw the slave girl that she was kind,
+noble, and beautiful, and he took her to his house as a daughter, and
+she became more kind, more noble, and more beautiful.
+
+Years had gone by, and, upon a day the son returned, and, seeing in the
+one-time slave a most lovable and lovely woman, sought and gained her as
+his wife. Word reached the young man then that this was but a slave,
+and, on learning the truth, he begged that he might be released to go on
+a long journey. The young wife consented.
+
+A boat was made ready, and the chow's son had it in his heart never to
+return. So, secretly, the chow had a gold image hidden in the bottom of
+the boat. When the day of departure had come, the chow in haste sent his
+servants to inquire of his son what he had in the boat.
+
+"I have but my possessions," replied the son.
+
+"Nay, you have the image of gold, which is the possession of my master,
+the chow," insisted the servants. "If we find it in the boat, what will
+you do?" they asked.
+
+"Return with you as a slave to my father!" exclaimed the son.
+
+All the goods were removed from the boat and the image was found. Then
+the son returned as a slave to his father and was made keeper of the
+elephants.
+
+Upon a day, the young wife of the son came to the chow and sought
+permission to go to the forest to find her husband.
+
+Willingly did the chow say, "Go, my child," and forthwith he had a boat
+put in readiness for her and sent with her many of his servants. One
+servant was called, "Eye That Sees Well," another, "Ear That Hears
+Well."
+
+Sailing down the river, they reached the province where the young man
+was searching for elephants, and there they remained.
+
+The chow of the province sent a servant secretly to hide a golden image
+in the boat. But the "Ear That Hears Well" heard and the "Eye That Sees
+Well" saw, and together they took the image from the boat and hid it in
+the sand.
+
+The following day, the chow sent a messenger asking why the princess had
+taken the image.
+
+"I have not seen it," were the words of the princess.
+
+"If it is found in your boat, what will you promise?" asked the chow's
+messenger.
+
+"I and my servants will be slaves to him, if the image be found in my
+boat," replied the princess, "but, should the image not be found there,
+what will your master promise?"
+
+"All his goods and his province, if the image be not found," readily
+answered the messenger.
+
+A diligent search failed to discover the image of gold, and, true to his
+word, the chow gave of his goods and his province to the princess.
+Rejoicing, and hoping thus to discover her husband, the princess gave a
+large feast, and bade all the people. While all were feasting, lo, a
+man, in soiled garments and carrying a heavy tusk of an elephant, came
+towards them, and immediately did the princess recognize her husband,
+and the husband, realizing after what manner his wife loved him, grew to
+love her, and together they lived in her province for many, many years.
+
+
+An Unexpected Issue
+
+Far away from other men, on the side of a lonely mountain, a man and his
+wife were preparing their ground that they might plant the hill rice.
+Their work was hard, and they saw no one from day to day, and, upon a
+time, when tired of their labor, the husband said,
+
+"Let us play that we are young and unmarried, and that I am coming to
+visit you to try to gain you for a wife."
+
+The wife dressed herself as a young maiden, with flowers in her hair,
+and sat at the spinning-wheel.
+
+The husband came as though from a distance, and in his hand he carried
+the stem of a banana leaf, which he pretended was a musical instrument.
+Playfully, he drew his fingers over it, singing, "It is pleasant to be
+here. Where you are, I am happy. Where you are not, I am but of little
+heart and sad." He drew near, and, as he was not forbidden, he walked up
+into the house and sat down by the maiden. Bowing himself to the ground,
+he spoke, saying, "O fair princess, I come but as your servant! May I
+sit here near you?"
+
+Smilingly she answered, "To sit there is but a waste of time."
+
+"I am not sitting where another has sat. Tell me, do I talk to one who
+has another lover?"
+
+"I fear that the one who loves you, and whom you loved ere you came to
+me, will be angry with me and curse me," she coyly answered.
+
+Then he feigned anger, and moved away quickly. In his haste he did not
+see where he was going, and he fell down the steps of the house, upon a
+stone. Though he lay there groaning, and called, "O, help me!" his wife
+thought him still in sport and sat quietly at her wheel. Having waited
+some time, she arose and went to him, and, lo, he lay there dead!
+
+"Had we worked and not played as children, my husband would be yet
+alive," lamented the wife.
+
+
+
+
+  V
+  Temples and Priests
+
+
+The Giants' Mountain and the Temple
+
+In the time long since gone by, when the world was young, the men of a
+large province desired to build a temple, a temple which might be seen
+by men from afar. Their ground, however, was low, and there was no lofty
+mountain on which they might rear it, and it was deemed wise by all to
+entreat the giants, who lived in the far East, to help them bring the
+earth together in one place for a mound.
+
+Willingly did the giants consent to aid them, but asked, "Why labor to
+dig the earth and pile it into a mound? Behold the high hills are ours,
+with our strong arms we can remove the top from one of them and bring it
+to you and you may rear your beautiful temple thereon, and all men can
+see it. Go, therefore, and make ready your bricks and mortar, bringing
+to one place all the materials which you will require, whilst we carry
+one of our mountains to you for your use."
+
+The giants went their way to bring a mountain-top from the far East to
+the plains near the city. Day after day they labored and moved the
+mountain top a great distance, but the people neither helped them nor
+did they even commence to prepare the materials for the temple. As the
+giants toiled, word was brought them that the people were sitting in
+idleness on the ground.
+
+"Come help us, or gather the materials together," the giants sent word.
+
+"You, yourselves, offered to carry the mountain-top to us. Your words
+are stronger than your deeds. You say you will aid us, then ask us to
+help you," the people replied. This they said, thinking to goad the
+giants on to the labor of bringing the mountain-top to the desired
+place.
+
+"We offered to aid you," retorted the giants, "but you sit and watch
+while we do all. Had you done your part, we would have done ours. Now,
+you shall labor, and we, from our high mountain, will laugh at you."
+
+Thereupon they left the work and sought their homes, and wearily did the
+men of the plains dig the earth, carrying it in small loads into one
+place to build the mound, and sadly did they look toward the East, where
+they could see the mountain-top the giants had carried such a distance
+to them, and most bitterly did they repent not having done their share.
+
+The temple is builded now, and from afar the people can see the gleam of
+the spire when the eye of day first opens in the East, or closes in the
+West, and, to this day the mountain-top lies there far distant from the
+mountain range and equally far distant from the city of the plains, and
+the people point it out to strangers, saying, "If you ask aid from
+others, it is well to put your own heart into the work."
+
+[Illustration: A Group of Buddhist Priests.]
+
+[Illustration: The Interior of a Buddhist Temple.]
+
+
+Cheating the Priest
+
+Upon a time a man and his wife went a day's journey from their village
+to the bazaar to sell their wares, and it fell upon the day of their
+return that it rained heavily, and as they hurried along the highway,
+they sought shelter from the head priest of a temple. He, however, would
+not even let them enter. They begged to be permitted to sleep in the
+sheltered place at the head of the stairs, but this also the priest
+refused. Angered, they went under the temple and there rested.
+
+When the priest had lain down on his mat in the room just over the place
+where the man and his wife were hidden, he heard the man say to his
+wife, "It will be good to be again with our young and beautiful
+daughter. I trust all is well with her."
+
+Having heard these words, the priest arose hastily and called, "Come up,
+good people, and sleep in the temple. Here, too, are mats to rest upon."
+And, as they talked of their beautiful daughter, the priest asked, "When
+I am out of the temple, released from my vows, will you give me your
+daughter to wife?"
+
+Looking at his wife, the husband replied, "It is good in our sight."
+
+When the morning came and they wished to steam some rice for their
+breakfast, they had no pot, but the priest freely offered the use of his
+pot and insisted upon their using of the sacred wood for their fire, the
+wood which was used in propping the branches of the Po tree.[13]
+
+Being ready to go on their way, the priest presented them with gifts of
+food, silver and gold, saying, "I will soon leave the priesthood and
+come to marry your beautiful daughter."
+
+But three days had passed, when the man and his wife came again to the
+temple and told the priest that their daughter was dead, and a long time
+they all mourned together.
+
+"I will ever remain true to my love for your daughter. Never will I
+leave the priesthood," vowed the priest, while the man and his wife
+returned to their home, spent the silver and gold the priest had given
+them, and cheerfully laughed at him, for never had they had a daughter!
+
+  13: The sacred tree of Buddhists.
+
+
+The Disappointed Priest
+
+In a temple of the north lived a priest who had great greed for the
+betel nut.[14] One day, compelled by his appetite, he inquired of a
+boy-priest if no one had died that day, but the boy replied he had heard
+of no death.
+
+A man, while worshipping in the temple, overheard the priest's words,
+and on his return to his home, said, "The priest wants some one to die
+so he can have betel to eat. Let us punish him, because he loves the
+betel nut better than the life of a man. Make me ready for the grave,
+then wail with a loud voice and the priest will come."
+
+When all was ready, they wailed with a loud voice and the priest, filled
+with cheerful thoughts of satisfying his appetite, came quickly.
+
+The people all said, "We must hasten to the grave with our dead brother.
+As it is already evening, we will not have the feast until we return."
+
+All hastened to the place of burning, and, upon reaching it, they took
+one end of the cloth covering the body and placed it in the hands of the
+priest, while the other end they left on the body of the supposed dead
+man.
+
+"While you ask blessings on our dead brother, we will go prepare wood
+for the burning," said the people, and, leaving the priest praying, they
+returned as they had come, cut thorns and briars and placed them on and
+about the path, so the priest could not escape unhurt. Then they hid
+themselves.
+
+As the darkness closed about him, the priest prayed fast and loud. Lo!
+the man stirred and groaned, and the priest cried, "O, my father, I am
+asking blessings on thee! Why movest thou?"
+
+Again the man rose up and groaned even louder, and the priest,
+terrified, ran away towards the temple. Caught by the briars, he fell
+headlong, cut and bleeding. With great effort, he at last reached the
+temple, and with much pain had his wounds dressed by the boy-priest. Not
+until he had rested, did he inquire of the boy if the people of the dead
+man had brought any betel to the temple in his absence.
+
+"No," said the boy-priest. "Go to the house of the dead man and eat with
+them."
+
+But the priest most vehemently said, "If ten or twenty men die, I will
+not go again. Die like that man! I shall never go again."
+
+  14: Areca nut. Chewing this nut is a habit common among all the
+  peoples of Farther India and Malaysia.
+
+
+The Greedy Priest
+
+In the compound of a temple in the south there was a large fruit tree,
+the fruit of which was coveted by all, as they passed, but the head
+priest would permit no one to eat of it, because he was greedy and
+selfish and wished but to satisfy his own appetite.
+
+Two men, talking together, said they would obtain fruit from the priest,
+and they would have it without price.
+
+One came and asked for the fruit. The priest refused him gruffly,
+saying, "I need it for my own use." The man replied, "I desired it to
+eat with my venison curry, of which I have so much that I want you to
+come and eat with me." On hearing this the priest said, "Take what you
+want." Filling his scarf with the coveted fruit, the man left the
+priest, saying, "I will call for you as the eye of day closes."
+
+Shortly after, the second man came and begged for fruit and likewise was
+refused, until he said he wished it to eat with his pork curry, and,
+that as the eye of day closed, he would come for the priest to eat with
+him, when the priest said, "All you desire, take." And the man filled a
+large basket with the coveted fruit.
+
+As the eye of day closed, the two men called together for the priest.
+
+When they reached a fork in the road, one laid hold on the arm of the
+priest, and said, "Come with me first, my house is down this way."
+
+"Come with me first," said the other, "my family will already be
+eating."
+
+Thus they disputed, drawing the greedy old priest this way and that
+until he was bruised and tired, when he said, "It is enough. I will
+neither eat of the venison, nor of the pork."
+
+And the men went home and laughed, for neither had the one venison nor
+the other pork.
+
+[Illustration: Monastery Grounds at Chieng Tung, Laos.]
+
+
+The Ambitious Priest
+
+There is a tale of an old priest who prayed each day that the gods would
+give him a jewel of great price--one that had the power to make him fly
+as a bird.
+
+A young priest in the temple hearing his prayer, secured the eye of a
+fish and hid it in his room, and when again the old priest prayed for
+the jewel, the young priest brought the eye of the fish and gave it to
+him. Then was the old priest glad, "Now can I rise up as though on wings
+and fly from this earth," said he.
+
+Selecting two large palm leaves, thinking "I must have wings first," he
+tried to fly, but could not.
+
+The young priest said, "From here you cannot fly; it is not high enough.
+Go up to the roof of the temple and fly from there."
+
+Acting on this suggestion, the old priest went up to the roof, but fell
+from his high place, and, lo, when they came to him, he was dead!
+
+
+
+
+  VI
+  Moderation and Greed
+
+
+The Wizard and the Beggar
+
+Once upon a time there was a poor man who ever begged for food, and, as
+he walked along the road he thought, "If any one will give me to eat
+until I am satisfied, never will I forget the grace or merit of that
+person." Chanting these words as he walked slowly along, he met a
+wizard.
+
+"What do you say as you walk along, my son?" asked the wizard.
+
+"If any one will give me to eat all I crave, I will never forget the
+grace or merit of that person," said the poor man.
+
+"My son, the people of this day are ever careless and ungrateful. They
+forget benefits," replied the wizard.
+
+"I will not forget," vowed the poor man.
+
+"Go on, my son," said the wizard.
+
+Chanting as before, the poor man went on his way, and as he walked he
+met a dog.
+
+"What do you say as you go along, my son?" asked the dog.
+
+"Whosoever will give me to eat to my satisfaction, the grace or merit of
+that person will I never forget," replied the poor man.
+
+"Men are prone to forget. None remember favors. When I was young and
+strong, I guarded my master's house and grounds; now, when I am old, he
+will not permit me to enter his gate, but curses and beats me and gives
+me no food. By him are all my services forgotten," said the dog.
+
+Ever chanting, the poor man walked on, and as he walked he met a
+buffalo.
+
+"What do you say as you walk along, my son?" asked the buffalo. And the
+poor man repeated what he had told the wizard and the dog.
+
+"Man is ever ungrateful. When I was young and strong, I plowed the
+fields so my master could have rice and my master was grateful to me.
+Now that I cannot work, I am driven out to die," said the buffalo. And
+the poor man, discouraged, sought the wizard again.
+
+"My son, will you ever remember benefits?" asked the wizard.
+
+"Never would I forget a benefit," vowed the poor man, vehemently.
+
+"Then here are two jewels; one, if held in your mouth, will enable you
+to fly as a bird; the other, if held in the mouth, will give you your
+desires, and this second one I now give to you," said the wizard, and he
+handed the second jewel to the poor man.
+
+"Your grace and merit will ever be remembered by me. More than tongue
+can utter, do I thank you. Ever will I wish you health and happiness and
+pray for blessings on your head," declared the poor man. Having thus
+spoken, the once poor man sought his home and, through the virtue of the
+wishing jewel he had every wish for wealth gratified.
+
+"How do you secure your desires?" asked the neighbors of the once poor,
+begging man.
+
+"A wizard gave me a wishing-jewel and, by simply placing it in my mouth,
+all I wish to possess is mine," answered he. "Listen to me," he
+continued, "the wizard has yet another jewel, which, if placed in the
+mouth, will enable one to fly as a bird. Come, let us go and kill him
+that we may all possess it together."
+
+With one accord they agreed, and, as they approached the home of the
+wizard, the wizard, espying the man he had so benefited, called to him,
+
+"Why have you not visited me, my son?"
+
+"There was no time, much work have I had to do," replied the ungrateful
+man.
+
+Now the wizard of course knew the intent of the wicked fellow, that he,
+with his neighbors, had come to secure the second jewel, and he asked,
+
+"Why do you desire to kill me?"
+
+"Give to me the jewel you have, else I shall kill you, you old wizard,"
+cried the ungrateful fellow.
+
+"Have you the wishing-jewel with you? If so, show it to me first," said
+the wizard.
+
+Eagerly did the greedy fellow thrust it toward the old wizard, but he,
+having already placed the flying-jewel in his mouth, seized the
+wishing-jewel and instead of giving the rascal the flying-jewel, flew
+away, leaving both the man and his neighbors without either.
+
+
+A Covetous Neighbor
+
+There was a poor and lonely man who had but a few melon seeds and grains
+of corn which he planted; tenderly did he care for them, as the garden
+would furnish his only means of a living. And it came to pass that the
+melons and corn grew luxuriantly, and the apes and the monkeys from the
+neighboring wilderness, seeing them, came daily to eat of them, and, as
+they talked of the owner of the garden, wondered just what manner of man
+he might be that he permitted them unmolested to eat of his melons. But
+the poor man, through his sufferings, had much merit, and charitably and
+willingly shared his abundant fruit with them.
+
+And upon a day, the man lay down in the garden and feigned death. As the
+monkeys and apes drew near, seeing him so still, his scarf lying about
+his head, with one accord they cried, "He is already dead! Lo, these
+many days have we eaten of his fruit, therefore it is but just that we
+should bury him in as choice a place as we can find."
+
+Lifting the man, they carried him until they came to a place where two
+ways met, when one of the monkeys said, "Let us take him to the cave of
+silver." Another said, "No, the cave of gold would be better."
+
+"Go to the cave of gold," commanded the head monkey. There they carried
+him and laid him to rest.
+
+Finding himself thus alone, the man arose, gathered all the gold he
+could carry and returned to his old home, and, with the gold thus easily
+gained, he built a beautiful house.
+
+"How did you, who are but a gardener, gain all this gold?" asked a
+neighbor, and freely the man told all that had befallen him.
+
+"If you did it, I, too, can do it," said the neighbor, and forthwith, he
+hastened home, made a garden, and waited for the monkeys to feast in it.
+All came to pass as the neighbor hoped; when the melons were ripe great
+numbers of monkeys and apes came to the garden and feasted. And upon a
+day, they found the owner lying as one dead in the garden. Prompted by
+gratitude, the monkeys made ready to bury him, and while carrying him to
+the place of burial, they came to the place in the way where the two
+roads met. Here they disputed as to whether they should place the man in
+the cave of silver, or the cave of gold. Meanwhile, the man was thinking
+thus, "I'll gather gold all day. When I have more than I can carry in my
+arms, I'll draw some behind me in a basket I can readily make from
+bamboo," and, when the head monkey said, "Put him in the cave of
+silver," he unguardedly cried out, "No, put me in the cave of gold."
+
+Frightened, the monkeys dropped the man and fled, whilst he, scratched
+and bleeding, crept painfully home.
+
+
+A Lazy Man's Plot[15]
+
+Upon a day a beggar, who was too lazy to work, but ever lived on the
+bounty of the people, received a great quantity of rice. He put it in a
+large jar and placed the jar at the foot of his bed, then he lay down on
+the bed and thus reasoned:
+
+"If there come a famine, I will sell the rice, and with the money, buy
+me a pair of cows, and when the cows have a calf, I'll buy a pair of
+buffaloes. Then, when they have a calf, I'll sell them, and with that
+money, I'll make a wedding and take me a wife. And, when we have a child
+large enough to sit alone, I'll take care of it, while my wife works the
+rice fields. Should she say, 'I will not work,' I'll kick her after this
+manner," and he struck out his foot, knocking the jar over, and broke
+it. The rice ran through the slats of the floor, and the neighbors' pigs
+ate it, leaving the lazy plotter but the broken jar.
+
+  15: The motive corresponds to that of the venerable story of the
+  Milkmaid.
+
+
+The Ungrateful Fisherman
+
+It happened on a time that a poor fisherman had caught nothing for many
+days, and while he was sitting thinking sadly of his miserable fortune,
+Punya In, the god of wisdom, came from his high home in heaven in the
+form of a crow, and asked him, "Do you desire to escape from this life
+of a fisherman, and live in ease?" And the fisherman replied, "Greatly
+do I desire to escape from this miserable life."
+
+Beckoning him to come to him and listen, the crow told him of a far
+distant province, whose chow lay dead.
+
+"Both the province and all the chow's former possessions will I give
+thee, if thou wilt promise ever to remember the benefits I bestow," said
+the crow.
+
+Readily did the fisherman promise, "Never, never will I forget."
+
+Immediately the crow took the fisherman on his back and flew to the far
+distant province. Leaving the fisherman just outside the city gate, the
+crow entered the city, went to the chow's home, and took the body of the
+chow away, and, in the place put the fisherman.
+
+When the fisherman moved, the watchers heard, and rejoicing, they all
+cried, "Our chow is again alive."
+
+Great was the joy of the people, and, for many years, the fisherman
+ruled in the province and enjoyed the possessions of the former chow.
+
+But, as time went by, the fisherman forgot the crow had been the author
+of all his good fortune, that all were the gifts of a crow, and he drove
+all crows from the rice fields. Even did he attempt to banish them from
+the province. Perceiving this, the god of wisdom again assumed the form
+of a crow and came down and sat near the one-time fisherman.
+
+"O, chow, wouldst thou desire to go where all is pleasure and delight?"
+asked the crow.
+
+"Let me go," replied the chow. And the crow took him on his back and
+flew with him to the house where, as a fisherman he had lived in poverty
+and squalor, and ever had he to remain there.
+
+
+The Legend of the Rice
+
+In the days when the earth was young and all things were better than
+they now are, when men and women were stronger and of greater beauty,
+and the fruit of the trees was larger and sweeter than that which we now
+eat, rice, the food of the people, was of larger grain. One grain was
+all a man could eat, and in those early days, such, too, was the merit
+of the people, they never had to toil gathering the rice, for, when
+ripe, it fell from the stalks and rolled into the villages, even unto
+the granaries.
+
+And upon a year, when the rice was larger and more plentiful than ever
+before, a widow said to her daughter, "Our granaries are too small. We
+will pull them down and build larger."
+
+When the old granaries were pulled down and the new one not yet ready
+for use, the rice was ripe in the fields. Great haste was made, but the
+rice came rolling in where the work was going on, and the widow,
+angered, struck a grain and cried, "Could you not wait in the fields
+until we were ready? You should not bother us now when you are not
+wanted."
+
+The rice broke into thousands of pieces and said, "From this time forth,
+we will wait in the fields until we are wanted," and, from that time the
+rice has been of small grain, and the people of the earth must gather it
+into the granary from the fields.
+
+[Illustration: At Work in the Rice Fields.]
+
+
+
+
+  VII
+  Parables and Proverbs
+
+
+"One Woman in Deceit and Craft is More Than a Match for Eight Men"
+
+Chum Paw was a maiden of the south country. Many suitors had she, but,
+by her craft and devices, each suitor thought himself the only one.
+Constantly did each seek her in marriage, and, upon a day as one pressed
+her to name the time of their nuptials, she said, "Build me a house, and
+I'll marry you when all is in readiness." To the others, did she speak
+the same words.
+
+Each man sought the jungle for bamboo for a house, and, it happened,
+while they were in the jungle that they all met.
+
+"What seekest thou?" they asked one another. "What seekest thou?" The
+one answer was, "I have come to fell wood for my house."
+
+And, as they ate their midday meal together, each had a bamboo stick,
+filled with chicken and rice. Now, it happened that Chum Paw had given
+the bamboo sticks to the men, and, lo, on investigation, they found the
+pieces in their various sticks were the parts of one chicken, and with
+one accord, they cried, "Chum Paw has deceived us. Come, let us kill
+her. Each has she promised to marry; each has she deceived."
+
+All were exceedingly angry and vowed they would kill the deceitful
+woman.
+
+Chum Paw, seeing the men return together, knew her duplicity was known
+and realized they sought to kill her.
+
+"I entreat that you spare my life, but take and sell me as a slave to
+the captain of the ship lying at the mouth of the river."
+
+Relenting, the suitors took her to the captain. She, however, running on
+before, privately told the captain she had seven young men, her slaves,
+whom she would sell him for seven hundred pieces of silver. Seeing the
+young men were desirable, the captain gave Chum Paw the silver, and she
+fled while the seven lovers were placed in irons.
+
+Chum Paw fled to the jungle, but, frightened by the wild beasts, she
+sought refuge in a tree. And it came to pass that the suitors escaped
+from the ship and they, too, sought refuge in the jungle. Unable to
+sleep and also frightened, one of them climbed a tree that he might be
+safe from the wild beasts, and, lo, it was the same tree in which Chum
+Paw had taken refuge.
+
+"Be silent, make no noise, lest the others hear us," whispered Chum Paw.
+"I love you and knew you were wise and would escape from the ship. I
+only desired the silver for us to spend together."
+
+The unfortunate man believed, and sought to embrace her, but, as he
+threw up his arms, Chum Paw threw him down, hoping thus to kill him. The
+others, hearing the commotion, feared a large bear was in the tree and
+hastily fled. Uninjured the suitor, whom Chum Paw had thrown from the
+tree, fled with them.
+
+Chum Paw seeing that they all fled ran behind, as she knew no beast
+would attack her while there was so great a commotion. As the suitors
+looked back, they saw her, but mistook her for a bear and ran but the
+faster, and finally, they all, the seven suitors and Chum Paw reached
+their homes.
+
+Knowing the suitors would again seek her life, Chum Paw made a feast of
+all things they most liked and bade the young men to come. (All the food
+was prepared by Chum Paw and poisoned.) "I want but to make me _boon_
+before I die, so I beg you eat of my food and forgive me, for I merit
+death," said the maiden, as they sat in her house. All ate; and all
+died.
+
+Chum Paw carried six bodies into the inner part of the house, and one
+she prepared for the grave. Weeping and wailing, she ran to the nearest
+neighbor, crying, "I want a man to come bury my husband. He died last
+night. As he had smallpox, fifty pieces of silver will I give to the one
+who buries him."
+
+A man who loved money said, "I will bury him." When he came to the
+house, Chum Paw said, "Many times has he died and come back to life. If
+he comes back again, no money shall you have."
+
+The man took the body, made a deep grave, buried the man and returned
+for his silver. Lo, on the mat lay the body! He made a deeper grave and
+again buried it. Six times he buried, as he supposed, the body, and, on
+returning and finding it a seventh time, he angrily cried, "You shall
+never return again." Taking the body with him, he built a fire, placed
+the body on it, and, while it burned, went to the stream for water. When
+he returned, lo, a charcoal man was standing there, black from his work.
+
+Filled with wrath, the man ran up to him crying, "You will come back
+again, will you? will cause me this trouble again, will you?"
+
+The charcoal burner replied, "I do not understand." Not a word would the
+man hear, but fought the burner, and as they struggled, they both fell
+into the fire and were burned to death.
+
+Chum Paw built a beautiful home and spent the silver as she willed.
+
+
+"The Wisest Man of a Small Village is Not Equal in Wisdom to a Boy of
+the City Streets"
+
+Once a boy of the city, watching a buffalo outside the gate of the
+largest city in the province, saw three men approaching. Each was the
+wisest man of the village from whence he came. The boy called to them,
+"Where go ye, old men?"
+
+The men angrily replied, "Wherefore dost thou, who art but a child,
+speak thus to us who are old and the judges of the villages from whence
+we come?"
+
+The boy replied, "There is no cause for anger. How was I to know ye were
+wise men? To me, ye seem but as other men from a country place,--the
+wisest of whom are but fools."
+
+The three men were very angry, caught the boy and said, "We will not
+enter into the city, but will go to another province and sell this
+insolent boy, because he neither reverences age nor wisdom."
+
+The boy refused to walk, so they carried him. All day they walked along
+the road, carrying the boy, and at night they slept by the roadside. In
+the morning, when they craved water and bade the boy go to a brook, he
+refused, saying, "If I go, ye will run and leave me. I will not go."
+
+Thirst drove one of the wise men for the water, and the boy drank of it
+freely.
+
+Several days' journey brought them to a wall of a large city, and night
+was spent at a _sala_ near the wall. Seeking to rid themselves of the
+boy, they bade him go to the city for fire to cook food. Realizing their
+motive, he answered, "Should I go, ye will leave me. I will not go,
+though, if ye let me tie ye to the posts of the _sala_, then will I go."
+
+With one accord they agreed, saying, "Do thou even so. We are weary
+carrying thee and cannot go for the fire."
+
+Tying them all, the boy ran to the city, where he met a man whom he
+asked, "Dost thou wish to purchase three slaves? Come with me."
+
+The man returned with the boy, saw the men, and gave him full value for
+each.
+
+Having thus disposed of his captors, the cunning little fellow joined
+some men going to his native city, and as he walked along, he thought,
+"I was ever wanting to see other places, and now I have been carried a
+long journey, and have silver to last me many days ... surely, I have
+much _boon_."[16]
+
+  16: Merit.
+
+
+"To Aid Beast is Merit; To Aid Man is but Vanity"[17]
+
+A hunter, walking through a jungle, saw a man in a pit unable to escape.
+The man called to him, "If thou wilt aid me to escape from this snare,
+always will I remember thy grace and merit." The hunter drew him out of
+the pit, and the man said, "I am goldsmith to the head chow, and dwell
+by the city's gate. Shouldst thou ever want any benefit, come to me, and
+gladly will I aid thee."
+
+As the hunter travelled, he met a tiger caught in a snare set for an
+elephant, and the tiger cried, "If thy heart prompts thee to set me
+free, thy aid will ever be remembered by me." He helped the tiger from
+the snare, and it said, "If ever thou needest aid, call and I will come
+to thee."
+
+Then again the hunter went on his way, and came to a place where a snake
+had fallen into a well and could not get out, and the snake cried, "If
+thou wilt aid me, I can aid thee also in the time soon to come," and he
+assisted the snake. "When the time comes that thou needest me, think of
+me, and I will come to thee with haste," said the snake.
+
+Now, it had happened that on the day that the hunter had rescued the
+tiger it had killed the chow's child, but of this the hunter knew
+nothing. And it came to pass that three days after, the hunter desiring
+to test the words of the tiger, went to the forest. Upon calling it, the
+tiger came to him immediately and brought with him a long golden chain,
+which he gave to the hunter. The hunter took the chain home, and,
+wishing to sell it, sought the goldsmith whom he had befriended. But the
+goldsmith, seeing it, said, "You are the man who has killed the chow's
+child." And he had his men bind the hunter with strong cords and took
+him to the chow in the hope of gaining the reward offered to any who
+might find him who had killed the child.
+
+The chow put the hunter in chains and commanded he die on the morrow.
+The hunter begged for seven days' respite, and it was granted him. In
+the night he thought of the snake he had helped, and immediately the
+snake came, bringing with him a medicine to cure blindness. While the
+household of the chow slept, the snake entered and cast of its venom in
+the eyes of the chow's wife, and she was blind.
+
+Throughout all the province the chow sought for some one to restore the
+eyes of his afflicted wife, but no one was found.
+
+It happened on a day, that word came to the chow's ears that the hunter
+he had in chains for the death of his child, was a man of wisdom and
+knew the merit of all the herbs of the field, therefore he sent for him.
+
+When the hunter came into the presence of the chow unto where the wife
+sat, he put the medicine which the snake had brought him into the eyes
+of the princess, and sight, even like unto that of a young maiden, was
+restored unto her.
+
+Then the chow desired to reward the hunter, and the hunter told him how
+he had come into possession of the golden chain, of the medicine which
+the serpent had given him because he had aided it in its time of
+trouble, and of the goldsmith, who had not only forgotten benefits
+received, but had accused him so he might gain a reward. And when the
+chow learned the truth, he had the ungrateful goldsmith put to death,
+but to the hunter did he give half of his province, for had he not
+restored the sight of the princess?
+
+  17: This only of the Folk Tales has been written before. It is taken
+  from an ancient temple book and is well-known in all the Laos country.
+
+[Illustration: The "Chow" and his Palace.]
+
+
+
+
+  VIII
+  The Gods Know and the Gods Reward
+
+
+Love's Secrets
+
+There was once a poor woodsman, who went to the jungle to cut wood, so
+he might sell it and buy food for his wife and child. And upon a day,
+when the cool evening had come, wearied, the man lay down to rest and
+fell into a deep sleep.
+
+From his home in the sky, the god who looks after the destiny of man was
+hot-hearted[18] when he saw the man did not move, and he came down to
+see if he were dead. When he spake in the wood-cutter's ear, he awoke
+and arose, and the fostering god led him home. As they came near the
+gate, the god said, "Stand here, whilst I go and see to the welfare of
+thy wife." Listening without, the god heard the fond wife say to the
+little child, "I fear some evil hath befallen thy kind father. Ever doth
+he return as it darkens about us."
+
+The god knew from her words that the wife was good, and taught the child
+love and reverence for its father, therefore was he pleased, and
+returning to the woodsman, sent him in haste to his home, and said, "I,
+myself, will lay the wood in its place."
+
+The next morning, when the eye of day opened, the fond wife went for
+wood to build a fire that her husband might eat of hot food ere he went
+to his daily labor, and, lo, when she saw the wood which her husband had
+brought home, all was turned into gold! Thus had the cherishing god
+rewarded a husband faithful in his work, and a wife loving and
+thoughtful.
+
+Leaving the house of the worthy woodsman, the god met a man tardily
+wending his way home with a small, poorly-made bundle of sticks.
+Approaching him, the god said, "Wait at the steps. I will go first and
+see how it is with thy wife." And the god went up unseen, and heard the
+wife say to her son, "Ever is it thus. Thy father thinks naught of us;
+he stays away so he need be with us but little."
+
+Sadly the god returned to the laggard, took the bundle from him, and
+bade him go to his wife and child, saying he would put the wood in its
+place.
+
+Late the following day, long after the husband had gone to his work, the
+wife went for some wood, and, lo, found all the wood had turned to
+venomous snakes! Then was she afraid, and she grew kinder of heart and
+strove to make her husband better and happy.
+
+  18: Anxious.
+
+
+Poison-Mouth
+
+There was once a poor father and mother who had a little daughter,
+called "Poison-Mouth."
+
+And it happened on a day that a great number of cows came into the
+garden, and when the mother saw them she cried angrily, "You but destroy
+our garden. I would you were all dead."
+
+"Poison-Mouth" hearing her mother's angry words, called out, "Die, all
+of you, for you are destroying our garden." And immediately all the
+cattle dropped dead.
+
+Upon another day, the bees were swarming and great companies flew over
+the house, and the mother said complainingly, "Why do you never come to
+us that we may have honey?"
+
+Little "Poison-Mouth" called: "Come to us that we may have honey." And,
+lo, before the eye of day had closed, the house was filled with bees and
+the poor people had more honey than they could use.
+
+Word of "Poison-Mouth" reached a great chow, and, prompted by the god of
+love to sweeten the poisoned mouth, he sent ten men with this message to
+the child's parents: "Take good care of your child; let her hear no
+evil, and when she is old enough, I will take her to wife."
+
+When the men approached the home of "Poison-Mouth" they said, "O, poor
+people," but the mother would not permit them to finish, as their words
+angered her, and she exclaimed, "You are bad dogs!" And the men were no
+longer men, but dogs, snapping and snarling, for little "Poison-Mouth"
+had also cried, "Bad dogs are you."
+
+Though greatly distressed, the chow sent yet again twenty men with his
+message. And again, when the mother beheld these men, she exclaimed,
+"See, the dogs coming yonder!" "Poison-Mouth" echoed, "Yes, twenty dogs
+are coming now," and they also changed into dogs, fighting on the
+streets.
+
+"Who can help me?" cried the chow, distressed though not despairing.
+
+An old man answered, "I will help you. I will go to the child." And,
+while the mother was absent, he sought the little one, and thus softly
+said, "My child, thy tongue is given thee to bless with, and not to
+curse. Come with me, and learn only that which is good." The little one
+answered, "I will come," and the old man took her to the chow, who, from
+that time forth, spoke no evil, and, little "Poison-Mouth," hearing none
+but beautiful and good words, grew beautiful and good, and her words
+brought blessings ever.
+
+
+Strife and Peace
+
+There was once a husband and wife who ever quarrelled. Never were they
+pleasant with each other.
+
+A wealthy man sought to see if they could spend but a day in peace, so
+he sent two men with one hundred pieces of silver to them, saying, "If
+this day be spent without strife, this silver shall be yours." Then the
+two men hid themselves near the house to watch after what fashion they
+spent the day.
+
+"If we are to earn the reward, it were better thou shouldst hold thy
+tongue with thy hand, else thou canst not endure throughout the day,"
+said the husband.
+
+"Ever am I quiet. It is well known of all the neighbors that thou, and
+thou alone, art ever quarrelsome," retorted the wife.
+
+And thus they disputed until both grew angry, and the quarrel was so
+loud that all the people living near heard it. Thereupon the two men
+came forth from their hiding-place, and said, "The silver does not
+belong to you, of a certainty."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Determined to find virtue, the rich man sent the two men with the silver
+to a husband and wife who never quarrelled, and bade them say, "If this
+day, you will strive one with the other, these one hundred pieces of
+silver shall be yours."
+
+The husband greatly desired the money and sought to anger his wife. He
+wrought a basket which she wanted to use in sunning the cotton, with the
+strands of bamboo so wide apart that the least wind would blow all the
+cotton out of the basket. Yet, when he handed it to his wife, she
+pleasantly said, "This is just the right kind of a basket. The sun can
+come in all about the cotton, as though it were not in a basket at all."
+
+Again, the husband made a basket so narrow at the top that it was
+difficult to put anything into it, and also the mouth was of rough
+material so that the hand would be scratched in putting in or taking out
+the cotton. "Surely, this will anger her," thought the husband.
+
+Turning it from side to side, the wife said, "Now, this, too, is just
+right, for when the wind blows, the cotton will be caught on the rough
+wood at the mouth and cannot blow away."
+
+The two men in hiding all day heard nothing but gentle words, so, in the
+evening, they returned to the rich man, saying, for they knew not the
+efforts of the husband to provoke his wife, "Those two know not how to
+quarrel."
+
+Gladdened, the seeker for virtue commanded them to be given the silver,
+for they loved peace.
+
+
+The Widow's Punishment
+
+Once there lived a woman who had a son and a nephew living with her. And
+upon a day they came to her desiring money that they might go and trade
+in the bazaar. She gave each a piece of silver of equal value, and bade
+them so to trade and cheat that they might bring home much money.
+
+At the bazaar, one bought a large fish, the other, the head and horns of
+a buffalo, and, as they rested by the roadside on their way home, they
+tied the large, living fish and the buffalo head together, and threw
+them in a muddy stream. When they threw the stones at the fish, it
+jumped, thus causing the buffalo head to move as though it were alive.
+
+A man saw the head in the water and desired to buy the buffalo. The boys
+named the price of a live animal, and, having received it, they fled.
+
+As they went along, not long after, they found a deer which a wild dog
+had killed, but had not eaten of it. It they took with them, and, a
+drover, seeing it, asked where they had found it.
+
+"Our dog," said the boys, "is so trained, it goes to the jungle and
+catches the wild animals for our food."
+
+The drover desired to buy the dog.
+
+"No," said the boys, "we will not sell it."
+
+Their words but made the drover more eager to possess the dog, and he
+offered ten of his best cattle in exchange. The exchange pleased the
+boys, and, having received the cattle for their useless dog, they
+hastened to a large city, where they sold them for much money and
+returned home. On reaching it, they divided the money equally, but the
+mother was dissatisfied and desired that her son have the larger
+portion, therefore she insisted that they make an offering to the spirit
+in the hollow tree near by, before the money could be rightly divided.
+
+While the boys were preparing the offering, the mother ran and hid in
+the hollow tree, and when they had made their offering and asked the
+spirit, "What division must we make of the money?" a voice replied,
+"Unto the son of the widow, give two portions--unto the nephew of the
+widow, give one portion."
+
+Greatly angered, the nephew put wood all about the tree and set fire to
+it. Though he heard the voice of his aunt, saying, "I beg that thou have
+mercy on me and set me free," he would not recognize it, and the widow
+and the tree perished. Thus, she who had taught him to cheat, by her own
+pupil was destroyed.
+
+
+Honesty Rewarded
+
+In the far north country there lived a father, mother, and son. So poor
+and desolate were they that their only possession was an old ax. Each
+morning, as the eye of day opened on the earth, they went to the woods
+and there remained until the evening, cutting the wood, which, when
+sold, furnished their only source of a living.
+
+Upon a day, when the cutting was done, they placed the ax near the wood
+and went deeper into the jungle for vines to bind the wood. It happened
+the chow of the province came that way with twelve of his men; one of
+whom bore an ax of gold, another bore an ax of silver and both belonged
+to the chow. Yet, when the chow saw the old, wooden-handled ax lying
+near the wood, he commanded that it be taken home with them.
+
+The family returning found their ax gone. Deeply distressed, they sat
+down and wept, and thus in trouble, did the chow and his men find them
+as they came that way again.
+
+"Why are your hearts thus troubled?" inquired the chow.
+
+They answered: "O chow, we had but one ax and it is gone and no other
+means of earning food have we!"
+
+The chow replied: "I found your ax. Here it is." And he commanded they
+be given the ax of silver, whose handle even was silver.
+
+"That is not ours," they cried, "not ours."
+
+The chow commanded the ax of gold be given them. Yet they wept but the
+more, saying, "The golden ax is not ours. Ours was old, 'twas but of
+steel and the handle of wood, but 'twas all we had."
+
+Their honesty gladdened the heart of the chow and he commanded that not
+only their own ax be returned, but the ax of gold, the ax of silver, and
+even a pun[19] of gold be given them. Thus was merit rewarded.
+
+  19: About 3 lbs. avoir.
+
+
+The Justice of In Ta Pome
+
+Men of three countries wanted a chemical to change stones and metals
+into gold, and they all came together to worship In Ta Pome, one of the
+gods. One man was from China, one from India, and one from Siam. They
+all worshipped at the feet of In Ta Pome, saying, "We beg thee, O In Ta
+Pome, give unto us the chemical which will change all stones and metals
+into gold."
+
+In Ta Pome replied, "Each of you kill one of your children, cut him into
+pieces and put him into a jar. Cover this with a new, clean cloth, and
+bring it unto me."
+
+The Chinaman feared to kill his child, so killed a pig, cut it up and
+placed it in a jar, over which he tied a close cover.
+
+The Siamese did the same with a dog, but the Indiaman believed in In Ta
+Pome, and killed his only son, put him into a jar, and covered it.
+
+All returned to the god with their several jars.
+
+In Ta Pome sprinkled the jar of the Chinaman first, saying, "Whatsoever
+is silver, let it be silver; whatsoever is gold, let it be gold," but
+the pig grunted, as pigs do, and In Ta Pome said, "From this time forth,
+you shall take care of pigs and kill them to gain gold." Sprinkling the
+jar of the Siamese, the god again said, "Whatsoever is silver, let it be
+silver; whatsoever is gold, let it be gold," but the dog barked, as dogs
+do, and In Ta Pome said, "You must plow the earth, and only by the sweat
+of your brow shall you have enough to keep you in food."
+
+Taking the jar of the Indiaman, and having sprinkled it, In Ta Pome
+cried, "Whatsoever is silver, let it be silver, and whatsoever is gold,
+let it be gold," and lo, the child came to life! And to the Indiaman did
+In Ta Pome give the chemical that changes all stones and metals into
+gold, because he had believed, and had not tried to mock and deceive the
+gods.
+
+
+
+
+  IX
+  Wonders of Wisdom
+
+
+The Words of Untold Value
+
+In the days long since gone by, a young man, a son of a poor widow,
+desired to go with two of his friends to Tuck Kasula,[20] the country
+where one could learn the wisdom of all the world, but he had no gold
+with which to buy the wisdom, for does not every one know that wisdom is
+difficult to obtain, and is therefore of great price.
+
+Now, the two young friends had each two puns[21] of gold, but the
+widow's son had but two hairs of his mother's, which, when he wept
+because he had no money, the widow had given him, saying, "I have naught
+but these two fine hairs to give thee, my son, but go with thy friends,
+each hair will be to thee as a pun of gold."
+
+Then the son placed the two hairs in a package with his clothing, and
+sealed the package with wax, and set out with his friends to visit Tuck
+Kasula.
+
+After they had travelled some time, they grew hungry, and on arriving in
+a village, they entered a house for food. The widow's son left his
+package and his other goods on the veranda. While he was within the
+house a hen ran away with the package and lost it. The owners of the hen
+offered the son anything they had either of food or clothing to replace
+his loss, but he would be content with nothing but the hen, and they
+gave it to him.
+
+And again when they entered another house for food, the widow's son tied
+the hen to a small bush in the compound, and, lo, an elephant stepped
+upon it and killed it!
+
+The people offered the young man many things to make good his loss, but
+he would be content with nothing but the elephant, and they gave him the
+elephant.
+
+At last they reached Tuck Kasula, and while his two friends, with their
+gold, sought the house of the teachers, the widow's son stayed under a
+tree where he could hear the teachers instructing their disciples.
+
+"If you wish to know others, sleep. If you wish to see, go and look,"
+said a wise man. "These words are of untold value, but, for only two
+puns of gold will I give them unto you," he added.
+
+The widow's son knew he had heard without price the wisdom for which his
+two friends would each have to pay two puns of gold, so he quietly
+turned the elephant and returned home.
+
+"I will buy your words of wisdom, if you will sell them," said the judge
+to the widow's son.
+
+"For two puns of gold I will sell them," answered the widow's son.
+
+"Two puns of gold will I give thee," said the judge.
+
+"'If you wish to know others, sleep. If you wish to see, go and look,'"
+said the widow's son, when he had in his possession the two puns of
+gold.
+
+The judge, desiring to test the truth of the words, as he understood
+them, called unto him his four wives, and said, "I am not well. Give me
+water to drink, and fan me." Soon he seemed to be asleep, and his wives
+talked thus together in low voices:
+
+"It is not pleasant to be the wife of this foolish man," said the first.
+
+"I like another man better," said the second.
+
+"I wish I could steal his goods and flee while he sleeps," said the
+third.
+
+"I would like to make him a savory dish with poison in it to kill him,"
+said the fourth.
+
+Then the judge sprang up and cruelly punished his wives and put them in
+chains.
+
+And upon another day, the judge arose early and went out to see how his
+slaves worked. Under the house, hunting for something, he saw a man.
+
+"What do you seek?" asked the judge.
+
+"I have just stolen from the judge all of his silver, and, in trying to
+get it through a small opening, I broke my finger-nail. If I do not find
+it, the judge will die and all his possessions will be destroyed, for,
+as thou knowest, ever is it thus, if a finger-nail falls near a house."
+
+When the man had found the broken nail, the judge said, "I, who stand
+here, am the judge. I will but take from you the silver which you have
+stolen and no punishment shall be yours, because of the truth which you
+have told." Then the judge said to himself, "The two puns of gold was a
+small price to pay for the wisdom which I have obtained."
+
+  20: A fabulous "City of Wisdom."
+
+  21: A pun--about 3 lbs. avoir.
+
+
+A Wise Philosopher
+
+As a rich trader journeyed to another province, he rested by the road
+under a tree, and, as he sat there, a poor young man approached and
+asked that he might accompany him.
+
+"Come," said the trader, and, as they journeyed, they came to a place
+where there were many stones, indeed there was naught else to be seen.
+
+"Here are there no stones," said the poor young man.
+
+"You are right, here are no stones," replied the trader.
+
+Soon they reached the shade of a large forest, and the young man said,
+
+"Here are no trees."
+
+"You are right, here are no trees," the trader assented.
+
+When they reached a large village, the poor young man said,
+
+"Here are no people."
+
+"You are right," spake the trader, but he wondered what manner of man
+might he be who knows nothing and has neither eyes nor ears. However, as
+he returned home and the poor young man begged to accompany him, he
+agreed and took him with him.
+
+And, as they approached the trader's home his daughter called, "O
+father, what have you brought?"
+
+"Nothing but this foolish young man," answered the trader.
+
+"Why do you call him a fool?" asked the daughter. "By his appearance and
+manner I would judge he were the god of wisdom come down in man's form."
+
+"I can see no wisdom in one who, when he can see but stones, says,
+'There are no stones here,' or, when he is in the forest, says, 'Here
+are no trees,' or, when in the midst of a populous village, says, 'There
+is no man here,'" replied the trader.
+
+"He meant, where the stones were all about, that none were precious;
+where the forest was, that there was no teak, no wood good for man's
+use; and, where the village was, there were no people, as the people had
+all fallen away from the religion of Buddha, living but as beasts and
+making no merit for the future life," argued the daughter.
+
+"If you esteem him so highly, take him for your husband," said the
+trader.
+
+"If your daughter will have me as her husband, ever will I endeavor to
+make the path on which she treads smooth and beautiful for her feet,"
+cried the poor young man.
+
+They were married and lived happily, and, upon a time, the head chow
+summoned the trader to come watch his house during the night. Greatly
+was the trader troubled. "I shall die this night," cried the trader.
+
+"Why shall you die, my father?" asked the son-in-law, in great concern.
+
+"The chow has called me to watch this night and for some time past he
+has killed all who have watched for him; an evil spirit has possessed
+him and he loves to punish with death the watchmen, for, he falsely says
+they sleep and he has them killed but to satisfy the spirit in him,"
+answered the trader.
+
+"I will watch in thy stead," said the son-in-law. And fearlessly did he
+go to the chow's, and, when midnight was come and the chow descended
+secretly to see if the watchman slept, lo, the young man prayed aloud
+for the god of wisdom to come teach him what to do. The chow, hearing
+the sound of voices, listened, and heard one voice say, "The brave and
+the strong govern themselves, then have they the power to govern others.
+The wise make themselves loved because they are good and true, and are
+served by others through love and not through fear," and another voice
+steadily repeated the words. Three times during the night came the chow.
+Each time the voice was speaking and being answered, and, lo, when the
+eye of day opened in the East, the chow was found possessed of a kind
+and loving spirit and no longer desired to destroy his people. The young
+son-in-law of the trader was made a leader of the people, for the chow
+declared unto all that the spirit of the god of wisdom dwelt in the
+young man's heart, and, it came to pass that the whole land was blessed
+because one young man had learned of the god of wisdom.
+
+
+The Boys Who Were Not Appreciated
+
+Once there were two brothers. The elder watched and tended the younger
+during the day, while their mother went to labor for food. It had
+happened that the father had died, and the mother had taken another
+husband who ever sought to teach the mother to dislike and neglect the
+brothers.
+
+And it fell upon a day that the children waited and watched for their
+mother's return until they were hungry, for all day had they had no
+food. When the eye of day closed, they sought food and found some green
+fruit. This they ate and then lay down to sleep.
+
+Long after darkness had settled, came the mother and her husband home,
+and the mother cooked rice which they sat down to eat.
+
+Awakened by the odor of the rice, the children heard the talking, and
+the elder led his younger brother to his mother and begged food, but the
+husband said, "Do not give them of our food," and the mother beat them
+and drove them from home. The elder brother carried his little brother
+back to sleep under the house, but even thence were they driven. At last
+they sought and found shelter with a neighboring widow, who gave them
+mats to sleep on. As the eye of day opened, the two children set out to
+find a new home. For many days did they walk, and upon an evening they
+found a _sala_ near the chief city of another province. There they
+slept. In the morning the elder boy sought food, and behold, he saw two
+snakes wrestling under the _sala_. Both were wounded. One, however,
+killed the other and then left it and ate some grass growing near, and,
+lo, immediately the snake was whole as before. Waiting only until the
+restored snake had gone, the boy gathered some of the grass, and put it
+in the mouth of the dead snake, and forthwith it came to life and
+blessed the boy. Gathering more of the grass, the boy returned to his
+brother and they both ate of it and were strengthened.
+
+Not long after, a servant of the chow of the neighboring province came
+to the _sala_, and the boys asked, "For whom is the mourning in the
+city?" The servant replied, "The young daughter of the chow; and the
+chow mourns. If any one will restore her unto life, the chow declares,
+unto him will he give half of his province and goods."
+
+Eager to try the wonderful grass, the boy carried his young brother and
+some of the grass even unto the chow's house, where he sought permission
+to restore the child with the grass. Gladly the chow consented. The boy
+placed the magic grass in the maiden's mouth, and immediately she came
+to life. Full of joy, the chow shared his province and goods with him
+and even gave his daughter in marriage, as promised.
+
+And upon a day after they had lived happily a long time in that province
+and had grown wise and strong, the two young men thought of their
+mother, and said, "We will go and visit her and her husband."
+
+They made ready joints of bamboo and closed them, after having filled
+them with gold, in such a way that no one could see the gold. When all
+was ready, with a great number of elephants and servants, they returned
+to their native province.
+
+On reaching their home, they gave of the bamboo joints to their friends
+and relatives, one each, but to their mother and her husband, gave they
+five of the largest joints, and two of the largest gave they to the kind
+widow.
+
+"The bamboo makes fine firewood," they said to their mother. "Cut it up
+and burn it."
+
+The mother and her husband were angry and would not speak to the sons
+who had brought but wood as a gift, and sorrowfully they returned to the
+other province.
+
+Upon a day the widow visited the mother and urged that she cut the
+bamboo joints.
+
+"Your sons say that the bamboo makes a good firewood. Where is yours?"
+the widow asked.
+
+The mother replied, "It is outside. Our children came from a great
+distance and brought to us but this firewood. We shall never touch it."
+
+But the widow urged, "I would believe and trust the love of my children.
+I beg that you cut up the wood." At last they did so, and when the
+husband cut into the joints, lo, he found them all gold. Then ran they
+both to find the sons to thank them, but they were already too far
+distant. Unable to endure their remorse, there the mother and her
+husband died on the wayside.
+
+
+The Magic Well
+
+The chow of a large province lay ill. All the doctors of many provinces
+were summoned, but none could aid him, nor could any understand his
+malady. Lying in his house one day, an old man begged he might see him,
+saying he had a message from the spirits. Brought into the presence of
+the chow, the old man said, "Last night, as I lay on my bed, I had this
+vision. A spirit came to me and touched me and led me to the river's
+brink. There I saw a boat prepared for my use. I entered the boat and it
+was rowed swiftly by unseen hands down the stream. After a little time,
+it stopped at the foot of a tall mountain. Up this the spirit led me,
+and through which was no path. We journeyed until we reached the
+mountain's top. On its summit were two great walls of rock, and between
+the walls was a gate, looking like a gate which led into a city. Leading
+me to the other side of the mountain, the spirit bade me ascend the rock
+where the foot of man had never before trod, and, far up in the face of
+the rock, I saw a small opening, like the mouth of a well. I lay down
+and stretched my arm to its full length, but failed to reach the bottom
+of the opening. By the side of this opening, on looking more closely, I
+beheld a cup tied to the end of a staff. With the cup I dipped pure
+water from the well. About to drink of the water, the spirit restrained
+me and commanded I should come to thee and tell thee this water, and
+this water alone, would heal thee. Therefore have I come, O prince, to
+lead thee unto this place."
+
+The prince did not doubt him, but commanded the boats be prepared for
+his use. Taking with him a large retinue of servants, and guided by the
+aged man, they departed in search of the health-restoring well.
+
+After just such a journey as the man had described, at his bidding, the
+boats landed at the foot of a tall mountain, where he led them
+unerringly upward, although no path could be seen; the chow, leaning on
+the arms of two strong men, followed.
+
+There indeed were the walls of rock and the gateway, as the guide had
+described, and, after a long and weary climb, they reached the opening
+in the rock.
+
+Taking the staff of the chow and binding his golden drinking-cup
+thereto, the aged man dipped from the well and gave it to the prince to
+drink. Having drank of the water, and having poured it on his head and
+hands, the chow was healed of his sickness, and was as a new man. And to
+this day, the water is used for the healing of the people.
+
+
+
+
+  X
+  Strange Fortunes of Strange People
+
+
+The Fortunes of Ai Powlo
+
+Once upon a time a father and mother had a wicked son whose name was Ai
+Powlo. One day, while in the rice fields together, the father sent the
+son to his mother with a message. Instead, however, of delivering the
+message, Ai Powlo said his father had been eaten by a tiger. Leaving his
+mother in great distress, he returned to the rice fields and told his
+father that both his mother and the house were burned, and, for three
+days, did the father mourn for his wife, as he lay in the watchhouse.
+
+While the father was mourning, Ai Powlo moved his mother and the house
+to a new place and then sought his father, saying, "I saw a woman in a
+new house by the stream who resembles my mother. Would you like her for
+a wife?"
+
+"If my son seeks her for me, I would be thankful," replied the father.
+
+Going to his mother, Ai Powlo said, "I have a man who would make thee a
+good husband. He would work in the rice fields. Will you take him for a
+husband?"
+
+Thinking of the work, the mother said, "I will. Go, bring him to me, my
+son."
+
+Lo, when the father and mother met, they recognized one another, and
+they knew their crafty son had deceived them!
+
+As Ai Powlo fled from the wrath of his mother and father, he journeyed
+many days, and, upon a day it happened he stole some pork from a
+Chinaman. Taking the pork, he sought the rice fields and there he saw an
+old man at work. Running up to him, he called, "Father, do you not
+hunger for some pork? I have some to share with you."
+
+"I do, my son," replied the old man.
+
+Together they went to the watchhouse to cook the pork, but found no pot
+there.
+
+"Whilst I make a fire, go thou, my son, to my house and ask my wife for
+a pot."
+
+"Your husband wants you to give me all the money in the house, as he has
+heard of an elephant which he can buy now," said Ai Powlo to the wife.
+
+The wife refused to give it to him and Ai Powlo called to the husband,
+who sat by the watchhouse waiting for the pot, "She will not give it to
+me." The old man called back, as he was hungry for the pork, "Give it to
+him. Make haste," and receiving all their store, Ai Powlo fled into
+another province.
+
+Upon a day, as Ai Powlo walked by the highway, he saw four bald-headed
+men pouring water on their heads to cool themselves. Running up to them,
+he said, "I know a medicine which will make the hair grow. Rub your
+heads until the skin is broken, whilst I make the medicine."
+
+Taking some red peppers, he pounded them to a soft paste, put some salt
+in it, and then handed it to the four simple-minded old men, who had
+already rubbed their heads until they bled.
+
+Having used the medicine, they suffered great pain and would have killed
+Ai Powlo, but he fled and took refuge with the chow, to whom he said, "I
+saw four old men on the way, who butted their heads together, trying to
+see which could overcome the other. All have much strength, and their
+heads are scratched and bleeding." Even as Ai Powlo spoke to the chow,
+the chow espied the men, and, when they came up, he commanded them,
+saying, "If you are able thus to wrestle for your own pleasure, you can
+wrestle for my pleasure." Not daring to disobey the command of the chow,
+the men painfully wrestled. While they struggled, Ai Powlo, fearing
+their wrath, fled, and as he fled, he fell into a deep stream and was
+drowned.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Many years after, two fishermen were fishing in the stream, and as they
+drew in the net, they found not a fish, but a skull, and lo, the skull
+both laughed and mocked!
+
+As the fishermen talked together of the curious skull, a man with a
+boat-load of goods approached, and they called to him, asking, "Did you
+ever see a skull which laughed and mocked?"
+
+"Never did I see such a skull, nor ever will I believe there is such a
+thing," replied the man.
+
+"If we show you such a skull, what will you give unto us?" asked the
+fishermen.
+
+"All the goods in my boat," laughingly answered the man.
+
+On beholding the skull, which, of a truth did both laugh and mock him,
+the boatman forfeited his goods, but, in his anger, he cut the skull and
+broke it into pieces, and, of these pieces he made dice with which to
+gamble, and was it not fitting, as Ai Powlo, whose skull it was, in life
+had but deceived, and ever done evil?
+
+
+The Fortunes of a Lazy Beggar
+
+Once upon a time a man lived who was never known to work. When the
+neighbors grew weary supplying him with food, he sought the forest, and
+lay down under a fig-tree so the ripe fruit might drop into his mouth.
+Often, when the food fell out of his reach, he would suffer hunger,
+rather than make an effort.
+
+It fell upon a day that a stranger passed that way, and the lazy man
+asked him to please gather some fruit and put it into his mouth, as he
+hungered. The wily stranger gathered a handful of earth and put it into
+his mouth, as he lay there with his eyes even closed. Tasting the earth,
+the lazy man was angry, and he threw figs after the retreating impostor,
+who ran away mocking him.
+
+Days after, a ripe fig fell into a stream near by and, floating down the
+stream, was seen and eaten by the daughter of a chow. Delicious to the
+taste, she grew dissatisfied with all other fruit and vowed that, from
+henceforth, she would eat of no other fruit, and that the man who had
+thrown the one beautiful fig should be her husband.
+
+Angered by such a caprice, her father urged her to be guided by his
+judgment. Unable to restrain her, and, hoping to turn her desire
+elsewhere, the chow made an elaborate feast and bade all the people of
+the province to it. But, among all was not the one who had thrown the
+fig into the stream.
+
+"Is there not yet a man who has not come to the feast?" asked the chow.
+
+"None save the lazy beggar who lies at the fig-tree," they said.
+
+"Bring him hither," commanded the chow, determined to have his daughter
+see what manner of man she was selecting as her husband.
+
+Too lazy to walk, the lazy man was carried into the presence of the chow
+and his guests.
+
+Ashamed that his daughter sought such as her husband, and would have no
+other, as it was supposed that the lazy man alone had thrown the fig
+into the stream, and he was too lazy to deny it, the chow had a boat
+built for their use and commanded that they be floated down the stream
+to the sea. This he did, hoping his obstinate daughter and her lazy
+husband might be lost to the world forever.
+
+All day long the boat drifted; all day long spake the princess not one
+word to her husband, nor would she have aught to eat. Fearing she would
+not live, if she did not eat, the beggar made a fire to cook some rice
+for her. Lazy as ever, he put but two stones under the kettle, and it
+tottered.
+
+"I cannot endure your lazy ways. Put three stones under the kettle,"
+cried his wife.
+
+The husband did so, glad she had spoken to him.
+
+And when the boat had drifted many days, it came to a place where once
+there had been a large rice field and there it remained.
+
+While the princess stayed in the boat, the once indolent beggar labored
+day after day in the rice fields that they might live; moreover, he had
+learned to love his princess wife.
+
+When the god, who looks to men's deeds, from his home in the sky saw the
+man no longer loved his ease more than all else, but would toil for his
+wife, he said within himself, "the man deserves reward." So he called to
+him six wild monkeys from his woods, and gave into their care six magic
+gongs, telling them to go beat them in the rice fields where the husband
+toiled.
+
+The husband heard the monkeys and the clanging of the gongs, but, at
+last, unable to endure the noise, finally caught the monkeys and secured
+the gongs. He then threatened to kill the monkeys, but they plead that
+they were sent, by the god who looks to men's deeds, with the gongs as a
+reward for his merit. "Having seen your efforts to provide for your
+wife, who loves not you, he sends you these gongs. If you strike this
+one, you will grow beautiful; that one, you will have wisdom. Another
+gives you lands and servants, and, another, if struck while holding it
+in your hands, will cause people to do you reverence as though you were
+a god," they told the man.
+
+Having permitted the monkeys to go, he beat the gong of beauty, and his
+body grew straight and tall, also his face became most pleasant to look
+upon. Beating the gong of power, and taking the others with him, he
+sought his wife. She did not recognize him, and would have done him
+reverence, but he said, "Do me no reverence. I am thy husband," and he
+told her of the god's reward. When she heard of the magic gongs, she
+entreated him to return to her father that he might forgive her for not
+having heeded his counsel.
+
+Through the magic gongs, had they wealth, power and all benefits the
+gods could bestow, and the father loved them, and indeed gave his
+son-in-law power above all the princes in his province. And the once
+lazy man thought within himself: "In former times the people derided me
+as a lazy man, because I would not work, now that I am possessed of
+wealth, they do me reverence; yet behold I am as lazy as ever, for I
+open my mouth and food is ready for my use. Thus it is, that when a poor
+man does not work, he is called a lazy beggar, but when a prince, or
+rich man, does not work, he has power, and people do him reverence."
+
+[Illustration: A Laos Feast.]
+
+[Illustration: Street in a Laos Town.]
+
+
+The Misfortunes of Paw Yan
+
+Upon a day, Paw Yan[22] said to his wife, "Today I shall build a
+watch-tower in the rice fields."
+
+"You will need four posts about the size of our children here," replied
+the wife.
+
+Taking the four children with him to the rice fields, Paw Yan dug four
+post holes and made the children stand in them. Then he packed the earth
+about their feet to make them firm, took the beams and laid them on
+their shoulders, tied them in place, and went for more bamboo to finish
+the watch-tower.
+
+The eye of day had closed in the West, yet the husband and the children
+returned not, so the wife, in distress, sought them in the fields, and,
+lo, when she reached them, there stood the four children as posts for
+the watch-tower.
+
+"Know you not anything? I said take four posts the size of our
+children," cried the wife.
+
+And upon another day did Paw Yan attempt to build the tower, but so
+utterly did he fail that his wife said, "While I build the watch-tower
+you gather the food for the pigs, and, when the eye of day closes, give
+it to them."
+
+Paw Yan watched until the eye of day was about to close, but forgot to
+gather the food for the pigs, so he took all the rice, which was the
+food for the family, and went out to the pigs. He called, "Ow, ow,
+ow,"[23] and the pigs ran about trying to find the food, but Paw Yan
+forgot to throw it to them, for, while he stood there, he saw ants
+running down the trunk of a tree, and he could think of nothing else.
+"That's an easy way to get down a tree," thought Paw Yan. "I'll try it,"
+and, throwing the rice aside, he climbed the tree, and, head first,
+started down, but fell to the ground and broke his neck!
+
+  22: Paw Yan--a blunderer.
+
+  23: Ow--take.
+
+
+An Unfortunate Shot
+
+There was once a poor man too ill to work, and he had no one to give him
+food. The chow of the province heard of him and sent for him to come to
+his house.
+
+When the man reached the house of the chow, the chow gave him a bow and
+arrow, saying, "Shoot upward toward the sky. When the arrow falls to the
+earth, if it fall making a hole in the earth, I will weigh the earth
+which the arrow digs up, and give thee the weight of it in gold. On
+whatsoever thy arrow falls, that will I weigh and give its weight unto
+thee in gold. If, in its fall, the arrow should make a hole in the
+ground six feet long and six feet deep, that earth will I weigh, and
+gold according to the weight thereof shall be thine."
+
+The poor man was indeed glad, and, shooting with all his strength into
+the air, the arrow pierced a pomegranate seed, therefore the chow gave
+unto him gold but the weight of the seed!
+
+
+
+
+  XI
+  Stories Gone Astray
+
+
+The Blind Man
+
+A man and a woman had a daughter to whom they ever taught, in selecting
+a husband, to take none but a man with rough hands, as then she might
+know he would work.
+
+Overhearing this advice, and desiring a wife, a blind man took some
+rice, pounded it, and having rubbed it over his hands, came to woo the
+maiden. Though utterly blind, the eyes of the blind man appeared even as
+the eyes of those who see, and the maiden loved him and gave herself to
+him in marriage. Never did she suspect the truth.
+
+Many days they lived happily, but upon a time the wife made curry of
+many kinds of meat, and her husband ate but of one kind. When she asked
+him why he ate but of the one kind, the husband replied, "If a man eat
+from a dish, that dish should he wash. If I eat but from one, I need
+wash but one."
+
+Again, upon a day, as the husband plowed the rice field, he plowed up
+the ridges between the fields.
+
+"Why dost thou work after that fashion?" asked the wife.
+
+"The places for planting the rice are small and narrow. I wish to make
+them larger," replied the husband.
+
+When the rice had grown, the man went into the fields with his wife,
+and, as they walked, he fell over the ridges, in among the rice.
+
+"Why dost thou fall upon the rice?" asked the wife.
+
+"I do but measure the distance between the plants. If the rice be good
+this year, I will then know just how far apart to plant it next year,"
+he answered.
+
+And upon a time it happened the house was burning, and, as the wife
+fled, she saw her husband lingering and unable to find the door.
+
+"Come this way, the door is here," cried the wife.
+
+"I know, I know. I but measure the house that we may build another of
+its size," retorted the husband.
+
+Lo, as the husband left the burning house and was running, he fell into
+a well. His wife placed a ladder for him to climb out, but, behold, he
+climbed far above the mouth of the well.
+
+"Come down. Here is the ground," called the wife.
+
+"I know, I know. I am up here to see if the fire is out," called down
+the husband.
+
+Long had the father of the wife suspected the husband was blind, and,
+upon a day, he came to test his eyes. Carrying a bell, such as a buffalo
+wears, the father hid in the bushes and rang the bell.
+
+"Go, bring the buffalo into the compound,"[24] directed the wife.
+
+Suspecting naught, the husband went to the bushes, and cried, "Yoo,
+yoo!"[25] The father struck him, but he freed himself and returned to
+the house and told his wife that the buffalo had been dangerous and had
+horned him. But the father, convinced the husband had deceived them all,
+drove him from the house.
+
+As the blind man walked, he met a man with palsied feet.
+
+"If thou wilt be eyes to me, I will be feet to thee," called the blind
+man, and, forthwith, he put the palsied man on his back. As they
+journeyed, they met a wizard, who said, "Would you prosper, that which
+you grasp hold with a secure hand."
+
+And upon a day, the man with the palsy saw a bird's nest; thinking there
+would be eggs therein, he bade the blind man go up the tree and bring
+them. When the blind man grasped the nest, the head of a venomous snake
+appeared, but his companion called, "Grasp it tightly," and, as he held
+it, the snake cast of its venom in his eyes, and he saw all things. Just
+lingering to place the snake on his afflicted friend, and seeing him,
+too, restored, the husband hastened home to his wife, but as he ran, he
+beheld her coming out to him. With these kind words did she greet him,
+"O, my husband, come I will work for thee. I have ever loved thee!" but,
+when she beheld that his eyesight was restored, she was exceeding glad,
+and greatly did she rejoice.
+
+  24: Enclosed grounds or yard--generally a place of residence.
+
+  25: Yoo, yoo--stand still, be quiet.
+
+
+Heads I Win, Tails You Lose
+
+A man once asked his newly-married son-in-law, "You will help me in the
+work that the chow gives me to do, now that you are one of us, will you
+not?"
+
+And the son-in-law replied, "I will promise this. Whenever you go, I
+will stay at home, and when I stay at home, you will go and work."
+
+Pleased with the ready promise, the father said, "I thank you, my son."
+
+When the chow called the father, the son said, "This time you go, and I
+will stay at home," and the father went.
+
+And when the chow again called, the son said, "Now, I will stay at home,
+whilst you go."
+
+Then the father understood the promise of his son, and he did his
+government work alone until the day of his death.
+
+
+The Great Boaster
+
+There lived in the south a man who so continually boasted of his
+strength and endurance that all the people called him, "Kee-oo-yai"--the
+great boaster. Never entered into his ear a tale of danger, but his
+mouth opened to speak of a greater one which had been his; never a feat
+of strength but he could tell of one requiring greater strength which he
+had done, so, when the men of the village talked together and saw him
+drawing near, they would derisively say, "There is the great boaster
+coming. We must flee from his face for, is not he as strong and brave as
+the elephant? And we, compared to him are but as the dogs, or as the
+pigs." And the company would separate, so when the boaster reached the
+place no one would be there.
+
+Once, a young boy came from a distant province, and, hearing of the
+boaster, said, "Verily, I can bring him to have a face of shame before
+his neighbors, for, in one thing I can excel any man almost. I can run
+for a short distance and my heart does not beat faster, neither can any
+man say that my heart is quicker than when I am but seated, doing no
+labor. I will challenge the boaster to run up a hill with me, breathing
+but four times until the top is reached."
+
+The next day, the boy met and challenged the boaster to run to the top
+of a small hill, drawing breath but four times on the way. "If you can
+run and draw breath but four times, I can run the same distance and draw
+breath but twice," the boaster said.
+
+When the race was run, many men ran along to see that neither of the
+runners deceived the other. The boaster ran but a short distance, when
+he shouted in pain and shame, "Had we been running down-hill, I am sure
+that I could have done more than you."
+
+Then all the men mocked the boaster, saying, "Your words are truly
+large, but your works are but small. Never again will we listen to you,
+for a young lad has overcome one who says that he is stronger than the
+strongest." From that time never were they troubled, for,
+"Kee-oo-yai,"--the great boaster, was never heard to boast again.
+
+
+A Clever Thief
+
+Once a man went into the field of a gardener and stole a melon. Before
+he had had time to eat it the gardener discovered him, took the melon
+and tied it to the neck of the thief, and led him to the home of the
+head man of the village.
+
+As they walked along, the thief took his scarf and covered his head and
+shoulders, and, as he was in front, he ate the melon without the
+gardener's seeing him.
+
+When they reached the home of the head man, the gardener said, "This man
+stole a melon from me. It is tied to his neck under the cloth which
+covers his head and shoulders."
+
+"I thought this man but walked along. I did not know he would accuse me
+of such a sin. If I stole a melon, where is it?" asked the thief. He
+removed the scarf, and, lo, there was nothing to prove his guilt, and
+the head man said, "I see no sign of guilt in this man. Do not again
+falsely accuse one, or you will be punished."
+
+
+Eyeless-Needle, Rotten-Egg, Rotten-Banana, Old-Fish and Broken-Pestle.
+
+Once upon a time there were five men so lazy and wicked that no one
+would speak to them nor have anything to do with them. No one of their
+native province would speak to them at all, and, to show their contempt
+for them, the people had christened them by odious names. One was
+called, "Eyeless-Needle"; one, "Rotten-Egg"; one, "Rotten-Banana"; one,
+"Old-Fish," and the fifth, "Broken-Pestle."
+
+As there was neither shelter nor food for them in the village, they went
+to live in the woods, and one day they saw a cannibal building a fire.
+He had both a fine house and much goods, so one of the men said, "Let us
+go kill him, and take his goods."
+
+"Eyeless-needle" said, "No, we must not kill him now. When he sleeps we
+will kill him. I have planned just how it shall be done. You,
+'Rotten-Egg,' go to the fireplace. You, 'Old-Fish,' jump into the water
+jar. 'Rotten-Banana,' lie down at the top of the stairs, and, you,
+'Broken-Pestle,' lie at the foot."
+
+As the eye of day had closed and the cannibal slept, "Eyeless-Needle,"
+from under the bed, pricked him. The cannibal thought insects were
+biting him, and, unable to sleep, he arose to build a fire. When he
+stooped to blow the flame, "Rotten-Egg" broke and flew up into his face;
+when he sought the water jar to wash his face, "Old-Fish" jumped and
+broke the jar and all the water was lost. Taking the dipper to go to the
+well for water, the cannibal slipped on "Rotten-Banana" and fell
+downstairs, where "Broken-Pestle" struck him on the head and killed him.
+Then, taking much goods, "Eyeless-Needle," "Rotten-Banana,"
+"Rotten-Egg," "Old-Fish," and "Broken-Pestle" fled, and to this day, has
+no one either seen or heard of them.
+
+
+
+
+For Work Among Children
+
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+*Home Duties.* Practical Talks on the Amenities of the Home. By Rev. R.
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+
+CONTENTS: Duties of Husbands. Duties of Wives. Duties of Parents. Duties
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+The Method of Family Worship. A Home for Every Family and How to Get It.
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+In the first story, A Child of The Woods, the second paragraph starts
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+
+List of changes from the printed edition (in parentheses the original
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+p. 72: "venison" for "vension" (I will neither eat of the vension, nor
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+
+p. 80: "flying-jewel" for "flying jewel" (and instead of giving the
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+
+p. 155: ";" for "." (Cloth, 75 cents. paper cover, 30 cents)
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+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India, by 
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India, by 
+Katherine Neville Fleeson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India
+
+Author: Katherine Neville Fleeson
+
+Illustrator: W. A. Briggs
+
+Release Date: March 12, 2011 [EBook #35564]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAOS FOLK-LORE OF FARTHER INDIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="main_text">
+
+<div class="transcribers_note">
+
+<h3>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE</h3>
+
+<p>The <a href="#contents">Contents</a> are placed after the <a
+href="#introduction">Introduction</a>, as in the original.</p>
+
+<p>Footnotes have been moved to the end of each story. The illustrations
+(photographs) appeared in unnumbered pages in the printed book, in this version
+they have been placed between stories too; the <a href="#illustrations">List of
+Illustrations</a> contains the original placement of the plates. The
+illustrations in this document are linked to larger versions, which can be
+obtained by clicking on the images or otherwise following the link.</p>
+
+<p>Changes to the original publication (possible typographic errors or
+inconsistencies) have been marked with <ins title="Example of change">a dotted
+underline</ins>, and the printed text may appear in a “pop-up box” when hovering
+the cursor on it. There is also a list of changes <a href="#tn_end">at the end
+of the book</a>.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_1">1 </a></span>
+
+<div class="booktitle">
+Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_2">2 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor no_p"><a id="plate_1">frontispiece </a></span>
+
+<div id="ill_1" class="illustration">
+<a href="images/image-01.jpg"><img src="images/image-01-min.jpg" alt=""></a><br>
+A Group of Laos Girls.
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_3">3 </a></span>
+
+<div class="cover_page">
+
+<div class="title">
+Laos Folk-Lore<br>
+<small>of</small><br>
+Farther India
+</div>
+
+<div class="author">
+<span class="smallcaps">by</span><br>
+Katherine Neville Fleeson
+</div>
+
+<div>
+<small>With Illustrations from Photographs taken by<br>
+W. A. Briggs, M. D.</small>
+</div>
+
+<div>
+<img src="images/logo.png" alt="Publisher’s logo">
+</div>
+
+<div class="publisher">
+<span class="location"><span class="smallcaps">New York</span></span>
+<span class="location"><span class="smallcaps">Chicago</span></span>
+<span class="location"><span class="smallcaps">Toronto</span></span><br>
+<big>Fleming H. Revell Company</big><br>
+Publishers of Evangelical Literature
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_4">4 </a></span>
+
+<div class="copyright_page">
+Copyright, 1899<br>
+by<br>
+FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_5">5 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">These</span> Folk-Tales from the Laos country, a
+part of the kingdom of Siam, in addition to
+their intrinsic merit have the charm of complete
+novelty. Until the translator of this volume collected
+these stories, they were even unwritten,
+with a single exception which was found in a
+Laos manuscript. They are orally preserved in
+the provinces which constitute the Laos country,
+just as they have been handed down from generations
+of ancestors, with slight variations in words
+or incidents. The elders among the people tell
+the stories at their merrymakings around the
+camp-fires and within their primitive houses, to
+amuse and instruct the youth and children.</p>
+
+<p>Living among the Laos in the friendly and
+intimate relation of a missionary, the translator
+has had the advantage of long residence and
+unrivalled opportunity for understanding the
+history, customs, religious ideas and aspirations
+of this interesting people. Aptness in use of
+their colloquial speech gave her special facility
+for gathering the stories with exactness, as they
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_6">6 </a></span>
+fell from the lips of the narrators in her hearing;
+and for the delicate additional task of translating
+them into English. The scholar, who is a student
+of the world’s Folk-Lore, may be assured that he
+has here, the Laos tales unobscured, just as they
+are told to-day.</p>
+
+<p>Reflecting, as they do, thoughts, desires and
+hopes common to our humanity, these stories at
+the same time exhibit, in a pathetic way, the
+need in Laos of the uplifting and transforming
+power of the Christian religion.</p>
+
+<div class="signature">
+Willis G. Craig.
+</div>
+
+<div class="address">
+McCormick Theological Seminary,<br>
+Chicago.
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_7">7 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="contents">Contents</h2>
+
+<table summary="" class="contents">
+
+<tr>
+  <th></th>
+  <th>PAGE</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="chapter">I. <a href="#part-1">Tales of the Jungle</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_13">13</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>1 <a href="#chapter-1-1">A Child of the Woods</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_15">15</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>2 <a href="#chapter-1-2">The Enchanted Mountain</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_17">17</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>3 <a href="#chapter-1-3">The Spirit-Guarded Cave</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_20">20</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>4 <a href="#chapter-1-4">The Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_23">23</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td class="chapter">II. <a href="#part-2">Fables from the Forest</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_25">25</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>1 <a href="#chapter-2-1">Right and Might</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_27">27</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>2 <a href="#chapter-2-2">Why the Lip of the Elephant Droops</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_29">29</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>3 <a href="#chapter-2-3">How a Dead Tiger Killed the Princess</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_32">32</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>4 <a href="#chapter-2-4">The Monkeys and the Crabs</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_33">33</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td class="chapter">III. <a href="#part-3">Nature’s Riddles and their Answers</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_35">35</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>1 <a href="#chapter-3-1">The Man in the Moon</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_37">37</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>2 <a href="#chapter-3-2">The Origin of Lightning</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_38">38</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>3 <a href="#chapter-3-3">Why the Parrot and the Minor Bird but Echo
+  the Words of Man</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_41">41</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>4 <a href="#chapter-3-4">The Fatherless Birds</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_44">44</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td class="chapter">IV. <a href="#part-4">Romance and Tragedy</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_47">47</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>1 <a href="#chapter-4-1">The Lovers’ Leap</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_49">49</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>2 <a href="#chapter-4-2">The Faithful Husband</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_51">51</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>3 <a href="#chapter-4-3">The Faithful Wife</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_57">57</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>4 <a href="#chapter-4-4">An Unexpected Issue</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_60">60</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td class="chapter">V. <a href="#part-5">Temples and Priests</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_63">63</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>1 <a href="#chapter-5-1">The Giants’ Mountain and the Temple</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_65">65</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>2 <a href="#chapter-5-2">Cheating the Priest</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_67">67</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>3 <a href="#chapter-5-3">The Disappointed Priest</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_69">69</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>4 <a href="#chapter-5-4">The Greedy Priest</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_71">71</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>5 <a href="#chapter-5-5">The Ambitious Priest</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_73">73</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td class="chapter"><span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_8">8 </a></span>VI. <a href="#part-6">Moderation and Greed</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_75">75</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>1 <a href="#chapter-6-1">The Wizard and the Beggar</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_77">77</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>2 <a href="#chapter-6-2">A Covetous Neighbor</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_80">80</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>3 <a href="#chapter-6-3">A Lazy Man’s Plot</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_83">83</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>4 <a href="#chapter-6-4">The Ungrateful Fisherman</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_84">84</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>5 <a href="#chapter-6-5">The Legend of the Rice</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_85">85</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td class="chapter">VII. <a href="#part-7">Parables and Proverbs</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_87">87</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>1 <a href="#chapter-7-1">“One Woman, in Deceit and Craft, is More
+  than a Match for Eight Men”</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_89">89</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>2 <a href="#chapter-7-2">“The Wisest Man of a Small Village is Not
+  Equal in Wisdom to a Boy of the City
+  Streets”</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_93">93</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>3 <a href="#chapter-7-3">“To Aid Beast is Merit; to Aid Man is But
+  Vanity”</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_95">95</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td class="chapter">VIII. <a href="#part-8">The Gods Know and the Gods Reward</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_99">99</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>1 <a href="#chapter-8-1">Love’s Secrets</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_101">101</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>2 <a href="#chapter-8-2">Poison-Mouth</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_103">103</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>3 <a href="#chapter-8-3">Strife and Peace</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_105">105</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>4 <a href="#chapter-8-4">The Widow’s Punishment</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_107">107</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>5 <a href="#chapter-8-5">Honesty Rewarded</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_109">109</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>6 <a href="#chapter-8-6">The Justice of In Ta Pome</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_111">111</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td class="chapter">IX. <a href="#part-9">Wonders of Wisdom</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_113">113</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>1 <a href="#chapter-9-1">The Words of Untold Value</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_115">115</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>2 <a href="#chapter-9-2">A Wise Philosopher</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_119">119</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>3 <a href="#chapter-9-3">The Boys Who Were Not Appreciated</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_122">122</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>4 <a href="#chapter-9-4">The Magic Well</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_126">126</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td class="chapter">X. <a href="#part-10">Strange Fortunes of Strange People</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_129">129</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>1 <a href="#chapter-10-1">The Fortunes of Ai Powlo</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_131">131</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>2 <a href="#chapter-10-2">The Fortunes of a Lazy Beggar</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_135">135</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>3 <a href="#chapter-10-3">The Misfortunes of Paw Yan</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_139">139</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>4 <a href="#chapter-10-4">An Unfortunate Shot</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_141">141</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td class="chapter"><span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_9">9 </a></span>XI. <a href="#part-11">Stories Gone Astray</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_143">143</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>1 <a href="#chapter-11-1">The Blind Man</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_145">145</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>2 <a href="#chapter-11-2">“Heads, I Win. Tails, You Lose”</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_148">148</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>3 <a href="#chapter-11-3">The Great Boaster</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_149">149</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>4 <a href="#chapter-11-4">A Clever Thief</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_151">151</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>5 <a href="#chapter-11-5">Eyeless-Needle, Rotten-Egg, Rotten-Banana,
+  Old-Fish and Broken-Pestle</a></td>
+  <td><a href="#pg_152">152</a></td>
+
+</table>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_10">10 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_11">11 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="illustrations">List of Illustrations.</h2>
+
+<table summary="" class="illustrations">
+
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#ill_1">A Group of Laos Girls</a></td>
+  <td colspan="3"><a href="#plate_1"><em>Frontispiece</em></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#ill_2">Types of the Laos People</a></td>
+  <td colspan="2"><em>Facing page</em></td>
+  <td><a href="#plate_2">15</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#ill_3">A Laos Forest-stream</a></td>
+  <td class="center">“</td> <td class="center">“</td>
+  <td><a href="#plate_3">28</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr> 
+  <td><a href="#ill_4">The Laos Governor’s Wife at her Embroidery Frame</a></td> 
+  <td class="center">“</td> <td class="center">“</td> 
+  <td><a href="#plate_4">57</a></td> 
+</tr> 
+
+<tr> 
+  <td><a href="#ill_5">A Group of Buddhist Priests</a></td> 
+  <td class="center bar" rowspan="2">“</td> <td class="center" rowspan="2">“</td> 
+  <td rowspan="2"><a href="#plate_5">66</a></td> 
+</tr> 
+
+<tr> 
+  <td><a href="#ill_6">The Interior of a Buddhist Temple</a></td> 
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#ill_7">Monastery Grounds at Chieng Tung, Laos</a></td>
+  <td class="center">“</td> <td class="center">“</td>
+  <td><a href="#plate_6">72</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#ill_8">At Work in the Rice Fields</a></td>
+  <td class="center">“</td> <td class="center">“</td>
+  <td><a href="#plate_7">86</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#ill_9">The ”Chow” and his Palace</a></td>
+  <td class="center">“</td> <td class="center">“</td>
+  <td><a href="#plate_8">96</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#ill_10">A Laos Feast</a></td>
+  <td class="center bar" rowspan="2">“</td> <td class="center" rowspan="2">“</td>
+  <td rowspan="2"><a href="#plate_9">136</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#ill_11">A Street in a Laos Town</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_12">12 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_13">13 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="part-1">I<br>
+Tales of the Jungle</h2>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_14">14 </a></span>
+
+<div id="ill_2" class="illustration">
+<a href="images/image-02.jpg" id="plate_2"><img src="images/image-02-min.jpg" alt=""></a><br>
+Types of the Laos People
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_15">15 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-1-1">A Child of The Woods</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Deep</span> in the forest of the North there is a large
+village of jungle people, and, among them is one
+old woman, who is held in reverence by all.
+The stranger who asks why she is honored as a
+princess is thus answered by her:</p>
+
+<p><ins title="Note: this quote is never closed or continued, it has been left unchanged" id="cg_1">“</ins>Verily, I have much <em>boon</em>,<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-1" href="#fn-1">1</a> for I am but a
+child of nature. When I was a young maiden,
+it fell upon a day that my heart grew hot with
+anger. For many days the anger grew until it
+filled my whole heart, also were my eyes so red
+that I could see but dimly, and no longer could I
+live in the village or among my own people, for
+I hated all men and I felt that the beasts of
+the forest were more to me than my kindred.
+Therefore, I fled from the face of man into the
+jungle where no human foot had ever gone. All
+day I journeyed, running as though my feet
+would never weary and feeling no pangs of
+hunger. When the darkness closed about me, I
+was not afraid, but lay down under the shelter of
+a tree, and, for a time, slept peacefully, as peacefully
+as though in my own home. At length, I
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_16">16 </a></span>
+was awakened by the breath of an animal, and,
+in the clear light of the moon, I saw a large tiger
+before me. It smelled of my face, my hands and
+my feet, then seated itself by my head and
+watched me through the night, and I lay there
+unafraid. In the early morning, the tiger departed
+and I continued my journey. Quieter
+was my heart. Still, I disliked my own people
+but had no fear of the beasts or the reptiles of
+the forest.</p>
+
+<p>During the day I ate of the fruit which grew
+wild in abundance, and at night I slept ’neath a
+tree, protected and guarded by fierce, wild beasts
+which molested not my sleep. For many days I
+wandered thus, and the nights were secure; for
+the wild beasts watched over and protected me.
+Thus my heart grew cool in my bosom, and I no
+longer hated my people; and, after one moon
+had gone, I found myself near a village. The
+people wondered to see me approach from the
+jungle, dreaded as being the jungle of the man-eating
+tiger. When I related my story, the people
+were filled with wonder and brought rich
+gifts to me. For a year and a day I abode
+there, and no more the wild beasts molested
+their cattle.</p>
+
+<p>But my heart yearned to see the face of my
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_17">17 </a></span>
+kindred again, so, laden with silver, gold and
+rich garments and seated in the howdah<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-2" href="#fn-2">2</a> of an
+elephant, the people escorted me to my own village,
+and here have I abode in content these one
+hundred years.</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-1">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-1">1</a>: Merit.
+</div>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-2">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-2">2</a>: The car placed on the back of elephants.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-1-2">The Enchanted Mountain</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">The</span> hunters who are continually going about
+from place to place, climbing up high hills, descending
+into deep ravines and making ways
+through jungles in search of the wild bison and
+other game, tell strange tales of an enchanted
+place away on the top of a lofty mountain.
+There, is a beautiful lake, which is as bright and
+clear as a drop of morning dew hanging on the
+petal of the white water-lily, and, when you
+drink of it, you are no longer aweary; new life
+has come into you, and your body is more vigorous
+than ever before. The flowers on the margin
+of this enchanted lake are more beautiful
+than those that grow in any other spot, and,
+such is the love of the cherishing spirits for it,
+that they care for it as for no other place in this
+world. Bananas of a larger growth than can be
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_18">18 </a></span>
+found in the gardens of man, and oranges,
+sweeter to the taste than those we ever eat, are
+there. The fruits of all trees, more beautiful to
+the eye and richer than man can produce, are
+there, free to those who can find them. All the
+fowls usually nurtured by man and flocking
+about his door are there, and they are not affrighted
+by the presence of the hunter but come
+at his call. Should the hunter wish to kill them,
+his arrow cannot pierce their charmed bodies to
+deprive them of life, but the arrow falls harmless
+to the ground, because the spirits protect them
+and their lives are sacred. Great fields of rice
+are about this place, and the hunter marvels at
+the size of the grains and at the strength of the
+stalks. No field cared for by man has seen grain
+like that which the spirits nourish.</p>
+
+<p>Many men, on hearing of this wonderful
+mountain-top, have sought it, but all have returned
+unsuccessful to their homes, saying, no
+such place is on this earth. Only the hunter,
+who has chased the game through the jungle,
+o’er the streams and up the steep mountain-sides,
+when tired and discouraged because the
+coveted prize has gone far beyond his reach, is
+rewarded for all his labor, when he finds himself
+in the garden of fruit, or on the margin of the
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_19">19 </a></span>
+enchanted lake, whose waters give renewed
+vigor to his wearied body.</p>
+
+<p>Often, when the hunter desires to eat of the
+flesh of the fowls, he endeavors to kill the fowls,
+but no effort of his can take their life, as the
+spirits hold them in their care. No mortal can
+harm them. Nor can the hunter take any of the
+fruit away, for, as he leaves the spot, no matter
+how he may hold it, it vanishes from his hand.
+Thus, no man, who has not seen the place, has
+eaten of the fruit nor drank of the water; so,
+many doubt their existence, for such is the heart
+of man that he must touch with his hands, see
+with his eyes, or taste with his tongue, ere he
+can believe. Nevertheless, on the top of the
+lofty mountain there is the lake with the cool
+waters, clear and beautiful, where the fowls
+swim on its surface, or drink from its margin,
+and the grain and the fruit ripen for those who
+are loved of the spirits, and are led by them to
+this cherished spot where they may rest and be
+refreshed, and then return to their wives and
+children and tell them of the care of the spirits.
+The little ones, who have hearts free from guile,
+believe.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_20">20 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-1-3">The Spirit-Guarded Cave</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">When</span> the people of the far north<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-3" href="#fn-3">3</a> were
+molested by their foes and were in continual
+fear, they consulted together, saying, “Our lives
+are spent in trying to escape from our enemies
+and no joy can be ours. Let us flee to the south
+country<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-4" href="#fn-4">4</a> where, if the people make slaves of us,
+we can, at least, know that our lives will be
+spared, and life, even in slavery, is better than
+this constant fear of our enemies destroying both
+ourselves and our dwelling-places and taking our
+cattle for their own.” Therefore, they gathered
+together all their household goods, secreted their
+money and jewels about their persons, and, loading
+their cattle with rice, they commenced their
+toilsome journey through the narrow jungle paths
+and across the high mountains on their way to the
+south, where they hoped for peace and safety.
+The way was long and difficult, and the rice was
+all eaten and the cattle killed and consumed before
+they had nearly reached their journey’s end.
+Then the fugitives commenced to use their
+money to buy food that they might have strength
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_21">21 </a></span>
+for the journey, and they whispered one to another
+that the people looked with covetous
+eyes on their hoard of money and jewels, and
+they feared they would be slain because of the
+greed of the people.</p>
+
+<p>One man, wiser than the others, said, “Why
+do we endanger our lives for our possessions?
+Can we not find some secret place in which to
+leave our money and jewels, and when brighter
+days come to us we can return and find them
+even as we left them?”</p>
+
+<p>All the people cried, “Your words are wise.
+Let us do accordingly,” and as these people were
+loved of the spirits, they were led to a deep cave
+in the midst of a wood where man seldom came,
+and there they left their possessions in the care of
+the spirits who promised to guard them until in
+the days, when life being brighter and more
+secure, the owners would come and claim them.</p>
+
+<p>The people journeyed on to the south country,
+and there lived as slaves. Many generations of
+them lived and died, but they could not escape
+nor come to claim the vast wealth and jewels
+which they had left in care of the spirits of the
+cave.</p>
+
+<p>The story became known, and the inhabitants
+of all the surrounding countries went to the
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_22">22 </a></span>
+cave and sought to secure the treasure. But such
+was the care of the spirits that no man with
+safety could enter the cave. A light was instantly
+extinguished, if let down into the deep
+pit leading into the chamber where the treasure
+was, for the spirits blew their breath upon it and
+it was no more. All devices were tried to obtain
+the treasure, and from all parts of the country the
+people came to try to overcome the charm
+which the spirits had placed upon the cave, but
+no one was able to break it. One man went
+even into the treasure chamber and filled his
+hands with the precious stones, but he was overcome
+by a deadly sickness and was forced to
+replace the jewels in the treasure chest and flee
+for his life so as to escape the wrath of the
+guarding spirits. Even the white, foreign
+strangers, who have come into the land and
+placed their strong hands on the elephants and
+the trees<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-5" href="#fn-5">5</a> of the forest and claimed them for
+their use, were baffled and driven back by the
+faithful spirits when they endeavored to enter
+the treasure chamber, and for all time this treasure
+shall remain there, for, if the white foreigner,
+by his wisdom, or by his craft, fails to obtain
+it, verily it will remain untouched forever.</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-3">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-3">3</a>: In China.
+</div>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-4">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-4">4</a>: Siam.
+</div>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-5">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-5">5</a>: Teak-wood.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_23">23 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-1-4">The Mountain Spirits and the Stone
+Mortars</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">The</span> spirits, who lived in the mountains near a
+large city, upon a time wanted money for some
+purpose, and they brought down to the people
+of the city a number of large and heavy stone
+mortars which they commanded them to buy at
+an exorbitant price.</p>
+
+<p>The men of the city said, “The price you ask
+is too great; moreover, we have no need of your
+mortars, as they are too large for us to use in
+pounding out our rice, or for any other purpose.
+Therefore, we do not wish to buy them.”</p>
+
+<p>The spirits were very angry because they did
+not cheerfully agree to pay the money, and
+answered, “If you will not buy these mortars
+which we have brought for your use, you shall
+carry them up to our home on the top of the
+mountain, for the labor of bringing them down
+has wearied us.”</p>
+
+<p>Not daring to incur the wrath of the spirits, and
+yet being utterly unable to carry the huge mortars
+to the high mountain, they paid the price, for,
+they reasoned, “Is any price too great to risk our
+falling under the displeasure of the evil spirits?”</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_24">24 </a></span>
+
+<p>The spirits departed with the money, and to
+this day, the stone mortars are scattered about
+the streets of that city, and, when strangers ask
+why they are there and what use is made of
+them, this story will be told, and all people say
+it is verily the truth, for do you not see them
+with your eyes, and how else could they have
+come here, had not the spirits brought them?</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_25">25 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="part-2">II<br>
+Fables From the Forest</h2>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_26">26 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_27">27 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-2-1">Right and Might</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">While</span> a deer was eating wild fruit, he heard
+an owl call, “Haak, haak,”<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-6" href="#fn-6">6</a> and a cricket cry,
+“Wat,”<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-7" href="#fn-7">7</a> and, frightened, he fled.</p>
+
+<p>In his flight he ran through the trees up into
+the mountains and into streams. In one of the
+streams the deer stepped upon a small fish and
+crushed it almost to death.</p>
+
+<p>Then the fish complained to the court, and the
+deer, owl, cricket and fish had a lawsuit. In the
+trial came out this evidence:</p>
+
+<p>As the deer fled, he ran into some dry grass,
+and the seed fell into the eye of a wild chicken,
+and the pain of the seed in the eye of the chicken
+caused it to fly up against a nest of red ants.
+Alarmed, the red ants flew out to do battle, and
+in their haste, bit a mon-goose. The mon-goose
+ran into a vine of wild fruit and shook several
+pieces of it on the head of a hermit, who sat
+thinking under a tree.</p>
+
+<p>“Why didst thou, O fruit, fall on my head,”
+cried the hermit.</p>
+
+<p>The fruit answered: “We did not wish to
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_28">28 </a></span>
+fall; a mon-goose ran against our vine and
+threw us down.”</p>
+
+<p>And the hermit asked, “O mon-goose, why
+didst thou throw the fruit?”</p>
+
+<p>The mon-goose answered: “I did not wish
+to throw down the fruit, but the red ants bit me
+and I ran against the vine.”</p>
+
+<p>The hermit asked, “O ants, why did ye bite
+the mon-goose?”</p>
+
+<p>The red ants replied: “The hen flew against
+our nest and angered us.”</p>
+
+<p>The hermit asked, “O hen, why didst thou
+fly against the red ants’ nest?”</p>
+
+<p>And the hen replied: “The seed fell into my
+eyes and hurt me.”</p>
+
+<p>And the hermit asked, “O seed, why didst
+thou fall into the hen’s eyes?”</p>
+
+<p>And the seed replied: “The deer shook me
+down.”</p>
+
+<p>The hermit said unto the deer, “O deer, why
+didst thou shake down the seed?”</p>
+
+<p>The deer answered: “I did not wish to do it,
+but the owl called, frightening me and I ran.”</p>
+
+<p>“O owl,” asked the hermit, “why didst
+thou frighten the deer?”</p>
+
+<p>The owl replied: “I called but as I am accustomed
+to call—the cricket, too, called.”</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_29">29 </a></span>
+
+<p>Having heard the evidence, the judge said,
+“The cricket must replace the crushed parts of
+the fish and make it well,” as he, the cricket, had
+called and frightened the deer.</p>
+
+<div class="break"></div>
+
+<p>The cricket was smaller and weaker than the
+owl or the deer, therefore had to bear the
+penalty.</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-6">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-6">6</a>: Haak—a spear.
+</div>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-7">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-7">7</a>: Wat—surrounded.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<div id="ill_3" class="illustration">
+<a href="images/image-03.jpg" id="plate_3"><img src="images/image-03-min.jpg" alt=""></a><br>
+A Laos Forest-stream.
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-2-2">Why the Lip of the Elephant Droops</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">In</span> the days when the earth was young lived a
+poor man and his wife who had twelve daughters,
+whom they no longer loved and no longer
+desired. Day after day the father and mother
+planned to be free of them, and upon a day, the
+father made ready a basket; in the bottom he
+placed ashes, but on the top he spread rice.
+Taking this basket with him, he called his
+daughters to come go to the jungle to hunt for
+game.</p>
+
+<p>When the heat of the day had come, they all
+sat down to eat, and, after they had eaten, the
+father gave each daughter a bamboo joint, and
+bade her get water for him. The joints were
+so made that they would not hold water, and
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_30">30 </a></span>
+while the maidens endeavored to make them so
+they would, the father returned home. In vain
+did the maidens try to make the joints hold the
+water and after a time they sought their father,
+but, lo, the father was gone and only the basket
+remained! Examining the basket, they found
+rice but on the top, and on the bottom filled with
+ashes, so they knew their parents sought to be
+free of them by leaving them in the trackless
+jungle. Unable to find their way out, there they
+slept peacefully, for the wild beasts molest not
+those who fearlessly stay with them.</p>
+
+<p>As the eye of day opened in the East, the forlorn
+maidens beheld, as they awakened, a beautiful
+woman standing near, and of her they
+sought help.</p>
+
+<p>“Come with me and be companions to my
+little daughter. Often am I away from home
+and she is lonely. Come home with me, play
+with my daughter, and, in exchange I will give
+you a home,” said the beautiful woman.</p>
+
+<p>Gladly the maidens consented and went with
+the woman to her home far in the jungle. All
+places save one small garden were they free to
+enter. And upon a day, the fair woman said,
+“I go to the jungle and will not return until the
+eye of day has closed. Do not play in the small
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_31">31 </a></span>
+garden.” Scarcely had she gone ere she returned,
+but the maidens had not sought the garden.</p>
+
+<p>Again, upon a day, the fair woman said, “I go
+to the jungle but for a short time. Go not to
+play in the small garden.”</p>
+
+<p>Thinking she would this time be gone all day,
+the maidens sought the small garden, and lo, it
+was strewn with human bones! Then they knew
+the fair woman was a cannibal. Full of fear,
+they fled, and, as they fled they met a cow.</p>
+
+<p>“Protect us,” they cried.</p>
+
+<p>The cow opened its mouth and the maidens
+jumped in. Thus they journeyed from the cannibal’s
+home. As the cow returned, it met the fair
+woman seeking the maidens.</p>
+
+<p>“Have you seen twelve maidens pass this
+way?” asked she.</p>
+
+<p>“No,” answered the cow.</p>
+
+<p>“If you do not speak the truth, I’ll kill and eat
+you,” cried she.</p>
+
+<p>“I saw them as they made haste in that way,”
+replied the cow.</p>
+
+<p>The cannibal woman pursued that way.</p>
+
+<p>After the cow left them, the maidens hastened
+on and as they hastened they met an elephant
+and begged it to save them from the cannibal.</p>
+
+<p>The elephant opened its mouth and the
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_32">32 </a></span>
+maidens jumped in, but so slowly did one jump
+that an edge of her garment hung out of the
+mouth. As they journeyed the cannibal overtook
+them.</p>
+
+<p>“Did you see twelve maidens hastening toward
+the city?” asked the cannibal.</p>
+
+<p>“No,” answered the elephant.</p>
+
+<p>“From this time forth forever the lip of thy
+mouth shall hang down as a garment,” cursed
+the cannibal, for she had seen the edge of the
+maiden’s garment hanging out of the elephant’s
+mouth and knew it was protecting the twelve
+maidens. And to this day doth the lip of the
+elephant hang down like a garment.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-2-3">How a Dead Tiger Killed the Princess</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">There</span> was once a king who had a daughter at
+whose birth a wise man foretold that she would
+be killed by a tiger when she was a maiden
+grown. In order that no animal might approach
+her, the king built her a house set upon one huge
+pillar, and there she and her attendants ever
+dwelt.</p>
+
+<p>And it fell upon a day, when the daughter was
+well grown, that one of the hunters, whose labor
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_33">33 </a></span>
+it was to kill the tigers of the country, brought a
+dead one to the palace of the king. The princess,
+seeing her dead enemy, came down from
+her tower and plucked a whisker from the tiger,
+and, as she blew her breath on it, she cried, “I
+do not fear thee, O my enemy, for thou art
+dead!” But the poison, which is in the whiskers
+of a tiger, entered into the blood of the princess,
+and she died.</p>
+
+<p>Then did the king make a proclamation, and
+sent messengers throughout all his realm, commanding
+that, when a tiger was killed, all his
+whiskers be immediately pulled out and burned,
+that a tiger may not be able to slay when dead;
+and until this day, the people obey the command
+of the king.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-2-4">The Monkeys and the Crabs</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">All</span> the monkeys which live in the forests near
+the great sea in the south, watch the tide running
+out, hoping to catch the sea-crabs which are left
+in the soft earth. If they can find a crab above
+the ground, they immediately catch and eat it.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes, the crabs bury themselves in the
+mud, and the monkeys, seeing the tunnels they
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_34">34 </a></span>
+have made, reach down into them with their
+long tails, and torment the crabs until they, in
+anger, seizing the tormenting tail, are drawn out
+and devoured by their cunning foes. But, sometimes,
+alas, the crab fails to come out! No matter
+with what strength the monkey pulls and
+tugs, the crabs do not appear, and the poor
+monkey is held fast, while the tide comes in and
+drowns it. When the tide goes out again, leaving
+the luckless monkey on the beach, the crabs
+come out from their strongholds and feast on the
+dead enemy.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_35">35 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="part-3">III<br>
+Nature’s Riddles and Their Answers</h2>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_36">36 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_37">37 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-3-1">The Man in the Moon</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">There</span> was a blacksmith once, who complained:
+“I am not well, and my work is too
+warm. I want to be a stone on the mountain.
+There it must be cool, for the wind blows and
+the trees give a shade.”</p>
+
+<p>A wise man, who had power over all things,
+replied, “Go thou, be a stone.” And he was
+a stone, high up on the mountain-side.</p>
+
+<p>It happened a stone-cutter came that way for
+stone, and, when he saw the one that had been
+the blacksmith, he knew it was what he sought
+and he began to cut it.</p>
+
+<p>The stone cried out: “This hurts. I no
+longer want to be a stone. A stone-cutter I
+want to be. That would be pleasant.”</p>
+
+<p>The wise man, humoring him, said, “Be a
+cutter.” Thus he became a stone-cutter and, as he
+went seeking suitable stone, he grew tired, and
+his feet were sore. He whimpered, “I no longer
+want to cut stone. I would be the sun, that
+would be pleasant.”</p>
+
+<p>The wise man commanded, “Be the sun.”
+And he was the sun.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_38">38 </a></span>
+
+<p>But the sun was warmer than the blacksmith,
+than a stone, than a stone-cutter, and he complained,
+“I do not like this. I would be the
+moon. It looks cool.”</p>
+
+<p>The wise man spake yet again, “Be the
+moon.” And he was the moon.</p>
+
+<p>“This is warmer than being the sun,” murmured
+he, “for the light from the sun shines on
+me ever. I do not want to be the moon. I
+would be a smith again. That, verily, is the
+best life.”</p>
+
+<p>But the wise man replied, “I am weary of
+your changing. You wanted to be the moon;
+the moon you are, and it you will remain.”</p>
+
+<p>And in yon high heaven lives he to this day.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-3-2">The Origin of Lightning</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">There</span> was once a great chief who desired
+above all things to be happy in the future life,
+therefore he continually made feasts for the
+priests and the poor; spending much money in
+making merit. He had ten wives, nine of whom
+helped him in all the merit-makings, but the
+head wife, his favorite, would never take part.
+Laughing, and making herself beautiful in soft
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_39">39 </a></span>
+garments and jewels, she gave naught to the
+priests.</p>
+
+<p>And on a day, when the great chief and his
+nine merit-making wives were no more, but
+had gone to live in the sky on account of their
+merit-making, the great chief longed for his
+favorite, and taking a glass, he looked down on
+the earth to see her. After many days, he beheld
+her as a crane hunting for food on the
+border of a lake. The great chief, to try her
+heart and to see if she had repented, came down
+from his home in the sky in the form of a fish,
+and swam to the crane. Seeing the fish, the
+crane pecked at it, but the fish sprang out of the
+water, and when the crane saw it was alive, she
+would not touch it. Again the fish floated near
+the crane and she pecked at it, but on finding it
+was alive let it escape. Then was the heart of
+the great chief glad, for he saw that his favorite
+wife would not destroy life even to satisfy her
+hunger, and he knew that her merit was such
+she could be born in the form of a woman again.</p>
+
+<p>It happened on a day that the crane died, and,
+when again born, had the form of a gardener’s
+child. As the child grew in years and stature,
+she was fairer than any other in the land,
+and, when a maiden, the father and mother made
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_40">40 </a></span>
+a feast, inviting all the people to come. During
+the feast, they gave a wreath of beautiful flowers
+to their daughter and said, “Throw this into the
+air, and on whosesoever head it falls, that one
+will be to thee a husband.”</p>
+
+<p>The great chief, her husband of old, seeking
+her, came down to the earth in the form of an
+old man, and, when the maiden cast the wreath
+into the air, it fell on the head of this old man.</p>
+
+<p>Great sport was made of him, and tauntingly
+the people cried, “Does this bent stick think he
+is mate for our lotus flower?”</p>
+
+<p>But the fair maiden placed her hand in the old
+man’s hand, and, together they rose into the air.
+In vain they sought to detain them—the father
+even shot at the old man, but they were soon lost
+to sight, and to this day, when the people see the
+chain lightning in the sky, they say it is the
+wreath of the beautiful maiden; when the
+lightning strikes, they say it is the gardener
+shooting at the old man, and, when the heat
+lightning flashes, they say it is the great chief
+flashing his glass over the earth in search of his
+favorite and beautiful wife.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_41">41 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-3-3">Why the Parrot and the Minor Bird but
+Echo the Words of Man</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Long</span> ago people caught and nourished the sao
+bird, because it learned the language of man
+more readily than either the parrot or minor
+bird. While they had to be taught with much
+care, the sao bird had but to hear a word and it
+could readily utter it; moreover, the sao bird could
+utter its own thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>Upon a time a man of the north country, owning
+a sao bird, stole a buffalo from his neighbor
+and killed it. Part of the buffalo the man cooked
+and ate; the rest he hid either in the rice bin or
+over the rice house.</p>
+
+<p>Seeking the buffalo, next day, the neighbor
+asked the man if he had seen it.</p>
+
+<p>The man replied, “No.” The sao bird, however,
+cried out, “He killed it; part he hid in the
+rice bin, part over the rice house.”</p>
+
+<p>The neighbor searched in both of these places
+and found the parts just as the sao bird had said.</p>
+
+<p>“I did not steal the buffalo,” insisted the man.</p>
+
+<p>But the bird ever called, “He killed it and put
+part into the rice bin, and part over the rice
+house.”</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_42">42 </a></span>
+
+<p>Unable to decide between the words of the
+man and the words of the bird, the neighbor
+appealed to the court. And, it happened, the
+night before the trial, that the man took the sao
+bird, placed it in a jar, covered the jar and poured
+water over the cloth and beat on the outside of
+the jar. The noise of the beating was low and
+rumbling. All that night was the bird kept in
+the jar, and not once did it see the bright moonlight,
+which was almost as bright as day, for it
+was in the midst of the dry season and full moon.
+When the eye of day opened, the man removed
+the bird from the jar and placed it in its cage, and
+then took it to the court as a witness.</p>
+
+<p>When the bird was called, it said, as before,
+“He killed it; part he put in the rice bin, and part
+over the rice house.”</p>
+
+<p>All people believed the bird.</p>
+
+<p>“Ask it another question. Ask it what manner
+of night it was last night. Will you condemn
+me to death on the word of a bird?” cried the
+man.</p>
+
+<p>The question was put to the bird, but, remembering
+its fear, during the night, of the
+rumbling noise and the sound of running water,
+it answered, “Last night the sky called and the
+rain fell.”</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_43">43 </a></span>
+
+<p>Then the people cried, “Of a truth, the bird
+cannot be believed. Because it has imperilled the
+life of an innocent man, from this time forth,
+the sao bird must not be cherished by man.”</p>
+
+<p>The thief was set free because there were but
+the words of the bird to condemn him.</p>
+
+<p>No longer is the sao bird nourished by man,
+but lives in the forest. Those who are full of
+fear, when they hear them talking in the forest,
+say, “it is the spirits.”</p>
+
+<p>When the sao bird saw the bright plumage of
+the parrot, and the black and gold of the minor
+bird, it knew they were strangers who had come
+to dwell in the north, and it asked the crow and
+the owl what manner of birds they were.</p>
+
+<p>“Beautiful in plumage, as thou canst readily
+see,” answered they. “Moreover, they speak
+the words of man.”</p>
+
+<p>“Speak the words of man,” echoed the sao
+bird. “I’ll warn them. Come, let us greet
+them.” And they went forth to meet the beautiful
+strangers.</p>
+
+<p>And upon a day, as they all came together in
+one place, the sao bird cried out, “We, the chief
+birds of the north land, come to greet you and
+to give you of our wisdom, as you are but
+strangers in our land. It is told me you speak as
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_44">44 </a></span>
+does man; even so can I. Nourished by the hand
+of man many years, I did see with my eyes and
+hear with my ears, and my tongue uttered not
+only the things I beheld and heard, but things
+displeasing to my masters. At one time, all
+men spoke well of me, but afterward was I
+cruelly punished and driven from the homes of
+men. Therefore come I this day unto you to
+warn you that, if man learns of your speaking
+tongue, he will capture you and nourish you in
+his home. Yet, should you speak other than he
+teaches you, you will be punished and driven
+from the homes of men, for man loves only to
+hear <em>his</em> thoughts repeated and loves not even a
+bird that has wisdom or truth greater than his
+own.”</p>
+
+<div class="break"></div>
+
+<p>Fearful of uttering their thoughts, lest man resent
+it, the parrot and minor bird but echo the
+words of man.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_45">45 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-3-4">The Fatherless Birds</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">A mother</span> bird sat brooding on her nest. Her
+heart was sad, for her mate had flown away in
+the morning and had not returned. When the
+little ones stirred and clamored for food, with
+drooping wings she flew in quest of it that they
+might not hunger.</p>
+
+<p>Day after day her heart grew sadder, for her
+mate came not, and alone she struggled to provide
+for her fledglings.</p>
+
+<p>When the little birds had grown strong and
+were able to fly, sorrow and heart hunger had so
+weakened the mother bird that she lay dying.
+The little birds crowded about her asking what
+they could do to aid her, and with her dying
+breath she cried, “Call, oh, call your father.”</p>
+
+<p>The little birds, flying low over the plains,
+cried, “Paw hüey, paw hüey,” and children, left
+alone in their homes, while their parents labor in
+the rice fields, hearing the wail of the birds,
+wept, crying too, “Paw hüey, maa hüey.”<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-8" href="#fn-8">8</a></p>
+
+<p>Never has the father bird been found, and, to
+this day, flying low over the plains, the little
+birds cry, in their plaintive voices, “Paw hüey,
+paw hüey,” and lonely children echo, “Paw
+hüey, maa hüey.”</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-8">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-8">8</a>: Paw hüey—Oh, father! Maa hüey—Oh, mother!
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_46">46 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_47">47 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="part-4">IV<br>
+Romance and Tragedy</h2>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_48">48 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_49">49 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-4-1">The Lovers’ Leap</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Many</span>, many years ago there lived, on the
+mountains among the rapids of the Maa Ping, a
+young man who loved a maiden and the maiden
+loved him truly, but her father refused his consent
+to their union and commanded that his
+daughter see her lover no more, nor hold communication
+with him. At all times and in all
+ways the father of the maiden endeavored to
+overcome her regard for her lover, but she would
+think of no other, although many came to woo
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Often did the young lovers seek to meet, but
+so constantly were they watched it was impossible
+and they could only wait patiently. Each
+knew the other was true and each heart rested in
+this assurance.</p>
+
+<p>And upon a time the father of the maiden
+thought she had forgotten her lover, and, greatly
+rejoiced, he made a feast and invited all the people
+of the province to come and make merry
+with him, and he reasoned, “Now that she has
+forgotten her former lover, will she not consent
+to marry a man I choose for her?”</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_50">50 </a></span>
+
+<p>While they were feasting the maiden wandered
+out to think of the one she had not seen
+for so long and weary a time, and, suddenly, the
+dark evening became to her as the bright noonday,
+for her lover was before her. He entreated
+her to come with him and to be his wife. Thinking
+of the dreary days she had passed and the
+more dreary ones to come, should she see her
+heart’s choice no more, she consented. As they
+were mounting his strong, young horse, a servant
+saw them and ran to the house and gave the
+alarm. Soon the father and all the men were in
+pursuit of the lovers. For a time the young
+horse kept far ahead of its pursuers, but, wearying
+of its double burden, it began to lag just as it
+reached the top of a lofty hill overhanging a
+rushing torrent of the river far below.</p>
+
+<p>Nearer and nearer came the father and all the
+men. The only escape, and a most desperate
+venture was it, was to leap across the rushing
+torrent to the hill on the other side. Looking
+into each other’s eyes, then back at their approaching
+pursuers, and then at the wide chasm,
+they chose death together rather than life apart,
+and, urging their jaded horse to the leap, they
+missed the opposite cliff and were dashed to
+pieces on the rocks of the rapids below.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_51">51 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-4-2">The Faithful Husband<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-9" href="#fn-9">9</a></h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Upon</span> a day in years long since gone by, Chow<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-10" href="#fn-10">10</a>
+Soo Tome, wearied of the talking of his slaves,
+wandered into the forest. As he walked in an
+unfrequented path, he came to a lake where
+seven beautiful winged nymphs were disporting
+themselves in the water. One, Chow Soo Tome
+readily saw was more beautiful than the others,
+and he loved her and desired her for his wife.
+On seeing the Chow, however, they all fled, but
+the most beautiful one permitted herself to be
+overtaken.</p>
+
+<p>“When I saw thee, my heart was filled with
+love for thee. If thou dost not consent to be my
+wife, of sorrow will I die,” cried Chow Soo
+Tome.</p>
+
+<p>“Easily could I have escaped, had not love for
+thee made me loath to leave thee,” replied the
+nymph. And in great joy they returned to the
+Chow’s home.</p>
+
+<p>“My son, let me take the wings of thy wife,
+lest she fly and leave thee in sorrow,” urged the
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_52">52 </a></span>
+Chow’s mother, and, readily did the nymph wife
+lay aside her wings.</p>
+
+<p>But it happened that the head chow heard of
+the beauty of the wife of Chow Soo Tome, and
+he coveted her, and seeking to do away with
+Chow Soo Tome, he sent him to war, and commanded
+that he lead the battle.</p>
+
+<p>The young nymph wife knew the design of
+the head chow, and, as soon as her husband had
+gone, she sought her mother-in-law and begged
+that she give her back her wings.</p>
+
+<p>“I am filled with sorrow. Without Soo Tome
+I cannot remain in the house. Give me my
+wings that I may fly in the air and be comforted,”
+pled the wife.</p>
+
+<p>“Consent that I tie a rope to thy feet. Then,
+I will give thee the wings,” answered Soo Tome’s
+mother.</p>
+
+<p>The young wife consented, but, having donned
+her wings and flown up in the air, she cut the
+rope fastened to her feet and was safe from the
+head chow’s pursuit. Her freedom made her
+think of the home of her father in the kingdom
+of Chom Kow Kilat,<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-11" href="#fn-11">11</a> and thither she flew.</p>
+
+<p>Chow Soo Tome, unhurt and victorious, returned
+from the war and found his home desolate
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_53">53 </a></span>
+without his nymph wife, and would not be comforted
+but determined to seek her. “Now, I
+will go seek her in her father’s kingdom, Chom
+Kow Kilat, though seven years, seven months
+and seven days be required for the journey.”</p>
+
+<p>Through forest, over mountains and across
+plains toiled Chow Soo Tome patiently. And, as
+he journeyed, upon a day, he met an ape.</p>
+
+<p>“My friend, where do you go?” asked the ape.</p>
+
+<p>“To a land far away, where the love of my
+heart abides, in the kingdom of Chom Kow
+Kilat. The way I do not know, but my heart
+guides me,” answered Chow Soo Tome.</p>
+
+<p>The ape pitied him and sought to aid him, and
+what food he had or found he shared with Chow
+Soo Tome gladly. Together they travelled many
+days until they reached the sea. They had no
+means of crossing, and when the ape realized he
+could no longer aid Chow Soo Tome, he cried
+bitterly, saying, “No longer can I aid thee, now;
+therefore is my sorrow greater than I can bear,”
+and, lo, he died! For three days did Chow Soo
+Tome mourn this kind friend, and, as he
+mourned, a fly came to eat of the ape.</p>
+
+<p>“I am but alive and fear I will die if I do not
+have food at once,” said the fly. “The ape is dead
+and can feel no pain. I am alive and hunger,
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_54">54 </a></span>
+thou art in trouble and need aid. If thou wilt
+give me to eat of the flesh of the dead ape,
+whenever thou needst me, think on me and I will
+come to thee,” added the fly.</p>
+
+<p>“Eat,” said Chow Soo Tome, and then he
+went on his way, but shortly after, sat down
+under a tree. While there, he saw two eagles
+alight on the tree.</p>
+
+<p>“When we are rested, we will fly across the
+sea and eat of the feast which the king of Chom
+Kow Kilat gives in honor of the return of his
+beautiful daughter,” said one of the eagles to its
+mate.</p>
+
+<p>Hearing these words, Chow Soo Tome cautiously
+climbed into the tree and crept under the
+wing of the larger eagle, who shortly after said
+to its mate: “Before we fly hence, I must rid
+myself of an insect which is under my wing
+and annoys me.”</p>
+
+<p>“This is a sacred day, and, for some punishment
+has the insect come under your wing; let it
+remain,” counselled the other eagle, and then they
+flew over the sea. When they rested in a tree
+on the other shore, Chow Soo Tome crept from
+under the wing and climbed down the tree.
+After a time he reached a <em>sala</em><a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-12" href="#fn-12">12</a> near a large city.
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_55">55 </a></span>
+Near the sala was a well, and, as Chow Soo
+Tome rested, seven slaves of the king of Chom
+Kow Kilat came from the city for water.</p>
+
+<p>“Why dost thou draw of the water?” asked
+Chow Soo Tome of a slave.</p>
+
+<p>“We are this day glad, for the most beautiful
+daughter of the king of Chom Kow Kilat hath
+returned from the land of men and the water
+will be poured over her head,” said the slave addressed.</p>
+
+<p>Approaching the seventh slave, Chow Soo
+Tome asked that he might place a ring in her
+water jar. Now, the ring was one which he had
+received from his nymph wife, and he sought
+thus to turn her thoughts to him again.</p>
+
+<p>“Pour your water in such a manner that,
+when it falls, the ring will fall upon the hands of
+the princess,” directed Chow Soo Tome.</p>
+
+<p>The slave did as directed, and, as the ring fell
+on the hands of the young princess, she knew
+her husband was near, and she asked the
+slave who was at the well when she drew the
+water.</p>
+
+<p>“A chow of a far country,” said the slave,
+“who rests in the sala by the sacred well outside
+the city gate.”</p>
+
+<p>In great haste and joy, did the young princess
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_56">56 </a></span>
+seek her father. “Outside the city gate, in the
+sala by the sacred well, doth my husband await
+me. Let me go to him, father,” she pleaded.</p>
+
+<p>“I must first prove that he be thy husband.
+Let all my daughters make ready a table spread
+with the best of the feast, and hide themselves.
+The man shall be called, and, if he selects thy table,
+he is thy husband, but, if he knows not thy
+table, he shall die,” replied the king.</p>
+
+<p>The tables were made ready, Chow Soo Tome
+was summoned and commanded to select the
+table prepared by the princess whom he claimed
+as his wife. Sore perplexed, Chow Soo Tome
+bethought himself of the fly’s promise, and he
+called it to his aid. Immediately the fly appeared
+and sat on the table prepared by the wife of
+Chow Soo Tome, and there Chow Soo Tome sat
+down.</p>
+
+<p>“Yet another test,” said the king. “Make
+ready seven curtains and place my daughters behind
+the seven curtains, allowing but one finger
+of each princess to be seen. Then, from among
+the fingers, select that of thy wife.”</p>
+
+<p>Immediately did the grateful fly rest upon the
+curtain where lay the finger of the young wife,
+and unhesitatingly Chow Soo Tome walked up
+to the curtain and clasped the right finger.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_57">57 </a></span>
+
+<p>“It is enough. She is thy wife,” declared the
+king, and so pleased was he that he made Chow
+Soo Tome second in power in the kingdom of
+Chom Kow Kilat.</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-9">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-9">9</a>: This represents a very well-known märrchen.
+</div>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-10">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-10">10</a>: Chow—a prince or high official.
+</div>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-11">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-11">11</a>: A fabulous city.
+</div>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-12">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-12">12</a>: A rest-house for guests.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<div id="ill_4" class="illustration">
+<a href="images/image-04.jpg" id="plate_4"><img src="images/image-04-min.jpg" alt=""></a><br>
+The Laos Governor’s Wife at her Embroidery Frame.
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-4-3">The Faithful Wife</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">The</span> young and beautiful son of a head chow
+sought of a wise man what manner of wife
+should be his.</p>
+
+<p>“As you walked by the way, whom did you
+meet?” asked the wizard.</p>
+
+<p>“No one,” replied the young man.</p>
+
+<p>“Nay, my son, you saw a slave of your father’s,
+cutting grass in a garden. She is to be
+your wife.”</p>
+
+<p>Distressed that such a woman should be his
+wife, the young man fled from his own country.</p>
+
+<p>And it came to pass, that the chow saw the
+slave girl that she was kind, noble, and beautiful,
+and he took her to his house as a daughter, and
+she became more kind, more noble, and more
+beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>Years had gone by, and, upon a day the son
+returned, and, seeing in the one-time slave a
+most lovable and lovely woman, sought and
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_58">58 </a></span>
+gained her as his wife. Word reached the
+young man then that this was but a slave, and,
+on learning the truth, he begged that he might
+be released to go on a long journey. The young
+wife consented.</p>
+
+<p>A boat was made ready, and the chow’s son
+had it in his heart never to return. So, secretly,
+the chow had a gold image hidden in the bottom
+of the boat. When the day of departure had
+come, the chow in haste sent his servants to inquire
+of his son what he had in the boat.</p>
+
+<p>“I have but my possessions,” replied the son.</p>
+
+<p>“Nay, you have the image of gold, which is
+the possession of my master, the chow,” insisted
+the servants. “If we find it in the boat, what
+will you do?” they asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Return with you as a slave to my father!”
+exclaimed the son.</p>
+
+<p>All the goods were removed from the boat and
+the image was found. Then the son returned as a
+slave to his father and was made keeper of the
+elephants.</p>
+
+<p>Upon a day, the young wife of the son came
+to the chow and sought permission to go to the
+forest to find her husband.</p>
+
+<p>Willingly did the chow say, “Go, my child,”
+and forthwith he had a boat put in readiness for
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_59">59 </a></span>
+her and sent with her many of his servants.
+One servant was called, “Eye That Sees Well,”
+another, “Ear That Hears Well.”</p>
+
+<p>Sailing down the river, they reached the province
+where the young man was searching for
+elephants, and there they remained.</p>
+
+<p>The chow of the province sent a servant secretly
+to hide a golden image in the boat. But
+the “Ear That Hears Well” heard and the “Eye
+That Sees Well” saw, and together they took the
+image from the boat and hid it in the sand.</p>
+
+<p>The following day, the chow sent a messenger
+asking why the princess had taken the image.</p>
+
+<p>“I have not seen it,” were the words of the
+princess.</p>
+
+<p>“If it is found in your boat, what will you
+promise?” asked the chow’s messenger.</p>
+
+<p>“I and my servants will be slaves to him, if
+the image be found in my boat,” replied the
+princess, “but, should the image not be found
+there, what will your master promise?”</p>
+
+<p>“All his goods and his province, if the image
+be not found,” readily answered the messenger.</p>
+
+<p>A diligent search failed to discover the image
+of gold, and, true to his word, the chow gave of
+his goods and his province to the princess. Rejoicing,
+and hoping thus to discover her husband,
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_60">60 </a></span>
+the princess gave a large feast, and bade all the
+people. While all were feasting, lo, a man, in
+soiled garments and carrying a heavy tusk of an
+elephant, came towards them, and immediately
+did the princess recognize her husband, and the
+husband, realizing after what manner his wife
+loved him, grew to love her, and together they
+lived in her province for many, many years.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-4-4">An Unexpected Issue</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Far</span> away from other men, on the side of a
+lonely mountain, a man and his wife were preparing
+their ground that they might plant the
+hill rice. Their work was hard, and they saw no
+one from day to day, and, upon a time, when
+tired of their labor, the husband said,</p>
+
+<p>“Let us play that we are young and unmarried,
+and that I am coming to visit you to try to
+gain you for a wife.”</p>
+
+<p>The wife dressed herself as a young maiden,
+with flowers in her hair, and sat at the spinning-wheel.</p>
+
+<p>The husband came as though from a distance,
+and in his hand he carried the stem of a banana
+leaf, which he pretended was a musical instrument.
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_61">61 </a></span>
+Playfully, he drew his fingers over it,
+singing, “It is pleasant to be here. Where you
+are, I am happy. Where you are not, I am but
+of little heart and sad.” He drew near, and, as
+he was not forbidden, he walked up into the
+house and sat down by the maiden. Bowing
+himself to the ground, he spoke, saying, “O
+fair princess, I come but as your servant! May
+I sit here near you?”</p>
+
+<p>Smilingly she answered, “To sit there is but
+a waste of time.”</p>
+
+<p>“I am not sitting where another has sat. Tell
+me, do I talk to one who has another lover?”</p>
+
+<p>“I fear that the one who loves you, and whom
+you loved ere you came to me, will be angry
+with me and curse me,” she coyly answered.</p>
+
+<p>Then he feigned anger, and moved away
+quickly. In his haste he did not see where he
+was going, and he fell down the steps of the
+house, upon a stone. Though he lay there
+groaning, and called, “O, help me!” his wife
+thought him still in sport and sat quietly at her
+wheel. Having waited some time, she arose and
+went to him, and, lo, he lay there dead!</p>
+
+<p>“Had we worked and not played as children,
+my husband would be yet alive,” lamented the
+wife.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_62">62 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_63">63 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="part-5">V<br>
+Temples and Priests</h2>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_64">64 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_65">65 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-5-1">The Giants’ Mountain and the Temple</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">In</span> the time long since gone by, when the
+world was young, the men of a large province
+desired to build a temple, a temple which might
+be seen by men from afar. Their ground, however,
+was low, and there was no lofty mountain
+on which they might rear it, and it was deemed
+wise by all to entreat the giants, who lived in the
+far East, to help them bring the earth together in
+one place for a mound.</p>
+
+<p>Willingly did the giants consent to aid them,
+but asked, “Why labor to dig the earth and pile
+it into a mound? Behold the high hills are ours,
+with our strong arms we can remove the top
+from one of them and bring it to you and you
+may rear your beautiful temple thereon, and all
+men can see it. Go, therefore, and make ready
+your bricks and mortar, bringing to one place all
+the materials which you will require, whilst we
+carry one of our mountains to you for your use.”</p>
+
+<p>The giants went their way to bring a mountain-top
+from the far East to the plains near the city.
+Day after day they labored and moved the
+mountain top a great distance, but the people
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_66">66 </a></span>
+neither helped them nor did they even commence
+to prepare the materials for the temple. As the
+giants toiled, word was brought them that the
+people were sitting in idleness on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>“Come help us, or gather the materials together,”
+the giants sent word.</p>
+
+<p>“You, yourselves, offered to carry the mountain-top
+to us. Your words are stronger than
+your deeds. You say you will aid us, then ask
+us to help you,” the people replied. This they
+said, thinking to goad the giants on to the labor
+of bringing the mountain-top to the desired
+place.</p>
+
+<p>“We offered to aid you,” retorted the giants,
+“but you sit and watch while we do all. Had
+you done your part, we would have done ours.
+Now, you shall labor, and we, from our high
+mountain, will laugh at you.”</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon they left the work and sought their
+homes, and wearily did the men of the plains dig
+the earth, carrying it in small loads into one
+place to build the mound, and sadly did they
+look toward the East, where they could see the
+mountain-top the giants had carried such a distance
+to them, and most bitterly did they repent
+not having done their share.</p>
+
+<p>The temple is builded now, and from afar the
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_67">67 </a></span>
+people can see the gleam of the spire when the
+eye of day first opens in the East, or closes in the
+West, and, to this day the mountain-top lies
+there far distant from the mountain range and
+equally far distant from the city of the plains,
+and the people point it out to strangers, saying,
+“If you ask aid from others, it is well to put
+your own heart into the work.”</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<div id="ill_5" class="illustration">
+<a href="images/image-05.jpg" id="plate_5"><img src="images/image-05-min.jpg" alt=""></a><br>
+A Group of Buddhist Priests.
+</div>
+
+<div id="ill_6" class="illustration">
+<a href="images/image-06.jpg"><img src="images/image-06-min.jpg" alt=""></a><br>
+The Interior of a Buddhist Temple.
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-5-2">Cheating the Priest</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Upon</span> a time a man and his wife went a day’s
+journey from their village to the bazaar to sell
+their wares, and it fell upon the day of their return
+that it rained heavily, and as they hurried
+along the highway, they sought shelter from the
+head priest of a temple. He, however, would
+not even let them enter. They begged to be
+permitted to sleep in the sheltered place at the
+head of the stairs, but this also the priest refused.
+Angered, they went under the temple and there
+rested.</p>
+
+<p>When the priest had lain down on his mat in
+the room just over the place where the man and
+his wife were hidden, he heard the man say to
+his wife, “It will be good to be again with our
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_68">68 </a></span>
+young and beautiful daughter. I trust all is well
+with her.”</p>
+
+<p>Having heard these words, the priest arose
+hastily and called, “Come up, good people, and
+sleep in the temple. Here, too, are mats to rest
+upon.” And, as they talked of their beautiful
+daughter, the priest asked, “When I am out of
+the temple, released from my vows, will you
+give me your daughter to wife?”</p>
+
+<p>Looking at his wife, the husband replied,
+“It is good in our sight.”</p>
+
+<p>When the morning came and they wished to
+steam some rice for their breakfast, they had no
+pot, but the priest freely offered the use of his
+pot and insisted upon their using of the sacred
+wood for their fire, the wood which was used in
+propping the branches of the Po tree.<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-13" href="#fn-13">13</a></p>
+
+<p>Being ready to go on their way, the priest presented
+them with gifts of food, silver and gold,
+saying, “I will soon leave the priesthood and
+come to marry your beautiful daughter.”</p>
+
+<p>But three days had passed, when the man and
+his wife came again to the temple and told the
+priest that their daughter was dead, and a long
+time they all mourned together.</p>
+
+<p>“I will ever remain true to my love for your
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_69">69 </a></span>
+daughter. Never will I leave the priesthood,”
+vowed the priest, while the man and his wife returned
+to their home, spent the silver and gold
+the priest had given them, and cheerfully laughed
+at him, for never had they had a daughter!</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-13">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-13">13</a>: The sacred tree of Buddhists.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-5-3">The Disappointed Priest</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">In</span> a temple of the north lived a priest who had
+great greed for the betel nut.<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-14" href="#fn-14">14</a> One day, compelled
+by his appetite, he inquired of a boy-priest
+if no one had died that day, but the boy replied
+he had heard of no death.</p>
+
+<p>A man, while worshipping in the temple, overheard
+the priest’s words, and on his return to his
+home, said, “The priest wants some one to die
+so he can have betel to eat. Let us punish him,
+because he loves the betel nut better than the life
+of a man. Make me ready for the grave, then
+wail with a loud voice and the priest will come.”</p>
+
+<p>When all was ready, they wailed with a loud
+voice and the priest, filled with cheerful thoughts
+of satisfying his appetite, came quickly.</p>
+
+<p>The people all said, “We must hasten to the
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_70">70 </a></span>
+grave with our dead brother. As it is already
+evening, we will not have the feast until we return.”</p>
+
+<p>All hastened to the place of burning, and, upon
+reaching it, they took one end of the cloth covering
+the body and placed it in the hands of the
+priest, while the other end they left on the body
+of the supposed dead man.</p>
+
+<p>“While you ask blessings on our dead brother,
+we will go prepare wood for the burning,” said
+the people, and, leaving the priest praying, they
+returned as they had come, cut thorns and briars
+and placed them on and about the path, so the
+priest could not escape unhurt. Then they hid
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>As the darkness closed about him, the priest
+prayed fast and loud. Lo! the man stirred and
+groaned, and the priest cried, “O, my father, I
+am asking blessings on thee! Why movest
+thou?”</p>
+
+<p>Again the man rose up and groaned even
+louder, and the priest, terrified, ran away towards
+the temple. Caught by the briars, he fell headlong,
+cut and bleeding. With great effort, he at
+last reached the temple, and with much pain had
+his wounds dressed by the boy-priest. Not until
+he had rested, did he inquire of the boy if the
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_71">71 </a></span>
+people of the dead man had brought any betel to
+the temple in his absence.</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said the boy-priest. “Go to the house
+of the dead man and eat with them.”</p>
+
+<p>But the priest most vehemently said, “If ten
+or twenty men die, I will not go again. Die like
+that man! I shall never go again.”</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-14">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-14">14</a>: Areca nut. Chewing this nut is a habit common among all
+the peoples of Farther India and Malaysia.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-5-4">The Greedy Priest</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">In</span> the compound of a temple in the south there
+was a large fruit tree, the fruit of which was
+coveted by all, as they passed, but the head
+priest would permit no one to eat of it, because
+he was greedy and selfish and wished but to
+satisfy his own appetite.</p>
+
+<p>Two men, talking together, said they would
+obtain fruit from the priest, and they would have
+it without price.</p>
+
+<p>One came and asked for the fruit. The priest
+refused him gruffly, saying, “I need it for my
+own use.” The man replied, “I desired it to eat
+with my venison curry, of which I have so much
+that I want you to come and eat with me.” On
+hearing this the priest said, “Take what you
+want.” Filling his scarf with the coveted fruit,
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_72">72 </a></span>
+the man left the priest, saying, “I will call for
+you as the eye of day closes.”</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after, the second man came and begged
+for fruit and likewise was refused, until he said
+he wished it to eat with his pork curry, and, that
+as the eye of day closed, he would come for the
+priest to eat with him, when the priest said,
+“All you desire, take.” And the man filled a
+large basket with the coveted fruit.</p>
+
+<p>As the eye of day closed, the two men called
+together for the priest.</p>
+
+<p>When they reached a fork in the road, one laid
+hold on the arm of the priest, and said, “Come
+with me first, my house is down this way.”</p>
+
+<p>“Come with me first,” said the other, “my
+family will already be eating.”</p>
+
+<p>Thus they disputed, drawing the greedy old
+priest this way and that until he was bruised and
+tired, when he said, “It is enough. I will
+neither eat of the <ins title="Note: “vension” in the original" id="cg_2">venison</ins>, nor of the pork.”</p>
+
+<p>And the men went home and laughed, for
+neither had the one venison nor the other pork.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<div id="ill_7" class="illustration">
+<a href="images/image-07.jpg" id="plate_6"><img src="images/image-07-min.jpg" alt=""></a><br>
+Monastery Grounds at Chieng Tung, Laos.
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_73">73 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-5-5">The Ambitious Priest</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">There</span> is a tale of an old priest who prayed
+each day that the gods would give him a jewel
+of great price—one that had the power to make
+him fly as a bird.</p>
+
+<p>A young priest in the temple hearing his
+prayer, secured the eye of a fish and hid it in
+his room, and when again the old priest prayed
+for the jewel, the young priest brought the eye
+of the fish and gave it to him. Then was the
+old priest glad, “Now can I rise up as though on
+wings and fly from this earth,” said he.</p>
+
+<p>Selecting two large palm leaves, thinking “I
+must have wings first,” he tried to fly, but could
+not.</p>
+
+<p>The young priest said, “From here you cannot
+fly; it is not high enough. Go up to the roof of
+the temple and fly from there.”</p>
+
+<p>Acting on this suggestion, the old priest went
+up to the roof, but fell from his high place, and,
+lo, when they came to him, he was dead!</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_74">74 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_75">75 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="part-6">VI<br>
+Moderation and Greed</h2>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_76">76 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_77">77 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-6-1">The Wizard and the Beggar</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Once</span> upon a time there was a poor man who
+ever begged for food, and, as he walked along
+the road he thought, “If any one will give me to
+eat until I am satisfied, never will I forget the
+grace or merit of that person.” Chanting these
+words as he walked slowly along, he met a
+wizard.</p>
+
+<p>“What do you say as you walk along, my
+son?” asked the wizard.</p>
+
+<p>“If any one will give me to eat all I crave, I
+will never forget the grace or merit of that person,”
+said the poor man.</p>
+
+<p>“My son, the people of this day are ever careless
+and ungrateful. They forget benefits,” replied
+the wizard.</p>
+
+<p>“I will not forget,” vowed the poor man.</p>
+
+<p>“Go on, my son,” said the wizard.</p>
+
+<p>Chanting as before, the poor man went on his
+way, and as he walked he met a dog.</p>
+
+<p>“What do you say as you go along, my
+son?” asked the dog.</p>
+
+<p>“Whosoever will give me to eat to my satisfaction,
+the grace or merit of that person will I
+never forget,” replied the poor man.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_78">78 </a></span>
+
+<p>“Men are prone to forget. None remember
+favors. When I was young and strong, I
+guarded my master’s house and grounds; now,
+when I am old, he will not permit me to enter
+his gate, but curses and beats me and gives me
+no food. By him are all my services forgotten,”
+said the dog.</p>
+
+<p>Ever chanting, the poor man walked on, and
+as he walked he met a buffalo.</p>
+
+<p>“What do you say as you walk along, my
+son?” asked the buffalo. And the poor man repeated
+what he had told the wizard and the
+dog.</p>
+
+<p>“Man is ever ungrateful. When I was young
+and strong, I plowed the fields so my master
+could have rice and my master was grateful to
+me. Now that I cannot work, I am driven out
+to die,” said the buffalo. And the poor man,
+discouraged, sought the wizard again.</p>
+
+<p>“My son, will you ever remember benefits?”
+asked the wizard.</p>
+
+<p>“Never would I forget a benefit,” vowed the
+poor man, vehemently.</p>
+
+<p>“Then here are two jewels; one, if held in
+your mouth, will enable you to fly as a bird; the
+other, if held in the mouth, will give you your
+desires, and this second one I now give to you,”
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_79">79 </a></span>
+said the wizard, and he handed the second jewel
+to the poor man.</p>
+
+<p>“Your grace and merit will ever be remembered
+by me. More than tongue can utter, do I
+thank you. Ever will I wish you health and
+happiness and pray for blessings on your head,”
+declared the poor man. Having thus spoken,
+the once poor man sought his home and, through
+the virtue of the wishing jewel he had every wish
+for wealth gratified.</p>
+
+<p>“How do you secure your desires?” asked the
+neighbors of the once poor, begging man.</p>
+
+<p>“A wizard gave me a wishing-jewel and, by
+simply placing it in my mouth, all I wish to possess
+is mine,” answered he. “Listen to me,” he
+continued, “the wizard has yet another jewel,
+which, if placed in the mouth, will enable one to
+fly as a bird. Come, let us go and kill him that
+we may all possess it together.”</p>
+
+<p>With one accord they agreed, and, as they approached
+the home of the wizard, the wizard,
+espying the man he had so benefited, called to
+him,</p>
+
+<p>“Why have you not visited me, my son?”</p>
+
+<p>“There was no time, much work have I had to
+do,” replied the ungrateful man.</p>
+
+<p>Now the wizard of course knew the intent
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_80">80 </a></span>
+of the wicked fellow, that he, with his neighbors,
+had come to secure the second jewel, and
+he asked,</p>
+
+<p>“Why do you desire to kill me?”</p>
+
+<p>“Give to me the jewel you have, else I shall
+kill you, you old wizard,” cried the ungrateful
+fellow.</p>
+
+<p>“Have you the wishing-jewel with you? If
+so, show it to me first,” said the wizard.</p>
+
+<p>Eagerly did the greedy fellow thrust it toward
+the old wizard, but he, having already placed the
+flying-jewel in his mouth, seized the wishing-jewel
+and instead of giving the rascal the <ins title="Note: “flying jewel” in the original" id="cg_3">flying-jewel</ins>,
+flew away, leaving both the man and his
+neighbors without either.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-6-2">A Covetous Neighbor</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">There</span> was a poor and lonely man who had
+but a few melon seeds and grains of corn which
+he planted; tenderly did he care for them, as the
+garden would furnish his only means of a living.
+And it came to pass that the melons and corn
+grew luxuriantly, and the apes and the monkeys
+from the neighboring wilderness, seeing them,
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_81">81 </a></span>
+came daily to eat of them, and, as they talked of
+the owner of the garden, wondered just what
+manner of man he might be that he permitted
+them unmolested to eat of his melons. But the
+poor man, through his sufferings, had much
+merit, and charitably and willingly shared his
+abundant fruit with them.</p>
+
+<p>And upon a day, the man lay down in the
+garden and feigned death. As the monkeys and
+apes drew near, seeing him so still, his scarf
+lying about his head, with one accord they cried,
+“He is already dead! Lo, these many days have
+we eaten of his fruit, therefore it is but just that
+we should bury him in as choice a place as we
+can find.”</p>
+
+<p>Lifting the man, they carried him until they
+came to a place where two ways met, when one
+of the monkeys said, “Let us take him to the
+cave of silver.” Another said, “No, the cave of
+gold would be better.”</p>
+
+<p>“Go to the cave of gold,” commanded the head
+monkey. There they carried him and laid him
+to rest.</p>
+
+<p>Finding himself thus alone, the man arose,
+gathered all the gold he could carry and returned
+to his old home, and, with the gold thus easily
+gained, he built a beautiful house.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_82">82 </a></span>
+
+<p>“How did you, who are but a gardener, gain
+all this gold?” asked a neighbor, and freely the
+man told all that had befallen him.</p>
+
+<p>“If you did it, I, too, can do it,” said the
+neighbor, and forthwith, he hastened home,
+made a garden, and waited for the monkeys to
+feast in it. All came to pass as the neighbor
+hoped; when the melons were ripe great numbers
+of monkeys and apes came to the garden
+and feasted. And upon a day, they found the
+owner lying as one dead in the garden.
+Prompted by gratitude, the monkeys made ready
+to bury him, and while carrying him to the place
+of burial, they came to the place in the way
+where the two roads met. Here they disputed
+as to whether they should place the man in the
+cave of silver, or the cave of gold. Meanwhile,
+the man was thinking thus, “I’ll gather gold
+all day. When I have more than I can carry in
+my arms, I’ll draw some behind me in a basket I
+can readily make from bamboo,” and, when the
+head monkey said, “Put him in the cave of silver,”
+he unguardedly cried out, “No, put me in
+the cave of gold.”</p>
+
+<p>Frightened, the monkeys dropped the man and
+fled, whilst he, scratched and bleeding, crept
+painfully home.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_83">83 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-6-3">A Lazy Man’s Plot<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-15" href="#fn-15">15</a></h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Upon</span> a day a beggar, who was too lazy to
+work, but ever lived on the bounty of the people,
+received a great quantity of rice. He put it in
+a large jar and placed the jar at the foot of his
+bed, then he lay down on the bed and thus
+reasoned:</p>
+
+<p>“If there come a famine, I will sell the rice,
+and with the money, buy me a pair of cows, and
+when the cows have a calf, I’ll buy a pair of
+buffaloes. Then, when they have a calf, I’ll sell
+them, and with that money, I’ll make a wedding
+and take me a wife. And, when we have a
+child large enough to sit alone, I’ll take care of it,
+while my wife works the rice fields. Should
+she say, ‘I will not work,’ I’ll kick her after this
+manner,” and he struck out his foot, knocking
+the jar over, and broke it. The rice ran through
+the slats of the floor, and the neighbors’ pigs
+ate it, leaving the lazy plotter but the broken jar.</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-15">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-15">15</a>: The motive corresponds to that of the venerable story of the
+Milkmaid.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_84">84 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-6-4">The Ungrateful Fisherman</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">It</span> happened on a time that a poor fisherman
+had caught nothing for many days, and while he
+was sitting thinking sadly of his miserable fortune,
+Punya In, the god of wisdom, came from
+his high home in heaven in the form of a crow,
+and asked him, “Do you desire to escape from
+this life of a fisherman, and live in ease?” And
+the fisherman replied, “Greatly do I desire to
+escape from this miserable life.”</p>
+
+<p>Beckoning him to come to him and listen, the
+crow told him of a far distant province, whose
+chow lay dead.</p>
+
+<p>“Both the province and all the chow’s former
+possessions will I give thee, if thou wilt promise
+ever to remember the benefits I bestow,” said the
+crow.</p>
+
+<p>Readily did the fisherman promise, “Never,
+never will I forget.”</p>
+
+<p>Immediately the crow took the fisherman on
+his back and flew to the far distant province.
+Leaving the fisherman just outside the city gate,
+the crow entered the city, went to the chow’s
+home, and took the body of the chow away, and,
+in the place put the fisherman.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_85">85 </a></span>
+
+<p>When the fisherman moved, the watchers
+heard, and rejoicing, they all cried, “Our chow
+is again alive.”</p>
+
+<p>Great was the joy of the people, and, for many
+years, the fisherman ruled in the province and
+enjoyed the possessions of the former chow.</p>
+
+<p>But, as time went by, the fisherman forgot the
+crow had been the author of all his good fortune,
+that all were the gifts of a crow, and he drove all
+crows from the rice fields. Even did he attempt
+to banish them from the province. Perceiving
+this, the god of wisdom again assumed the form
+of a crow and came down and sat near the one-time
+fisherman.</p>
+
+<p>“O, chow, wouldst thou desire to go where
+all is pleasure and delight?” asked the crow.</p>
+
+<p>“Let me go,” replied the chow. And the
+crow took him on his back and flew with him to
+the house where, as a fisherman he had lived in
+poverty and squalor, and ever had he to remain
+there.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-6-5">The Legend of the Rice</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">In</span> the days when the earth was young and all
+things were better than they now are, when men
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_86">86 </a></span>
+and women were stronger and of greater beauty,
+and the fruit of the trees was larger and sweeter
+than that which we now eat, rice, the food of
+the people, was of larger grain. One grain was
+all a man could eat, and in those early days,
+such, too, was the merit of the people, they
+never had to toil gathering the rice, for, when
+ripe, it fell from the stalks and rolled into the
+villages, even unto the granaries.</p>
+
+<p>And upon a year, when the rice was larger and
+more plentiful than ever before, a widow said to
+her daughter, “Our granaries are too small. We
+will pull them down and build larger.”</p>
+
+<p>When the old granaries were pulled down and
+the new one not yet ready for use, the rice was
+ripe in the fields. Great haste was made, but
+the rice came rolling in where the work was going
+on, and the widow, angered, struck a grain
+and cried, “Could you not wait in the fields until
+we were ready? You should not bother us now
+when you are not wanted.”</p>
+
+<p>The rice broke into thousands of pieces and
+said, “From this time forth, we will wait in the
+fields until we are wanted,” and, from that time
+the rice has been of small grain, and the people
+of the earth must gather it into the granary from
+the fields.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<div id="ill_8" class="illustration">
+<a href="images/image-08.jpg" id="plate_7"><img src="images/image-08-min.jpg" alt=""></a><br>
+At Work in the Rice Fields.
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_87">87 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="part-7">VII<br>
+Parables and Proverbs</h2>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_88">88 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_89">89 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-7-1">“One Woman in Deceit and Craft is More
+Than a Match for Eight Men”</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Chum Paw</span> was a maiden of the south country.
+Many suitors had she, but, by her craft and devices,
+each suitor thought himself the only one. Constantly
+did each seek her in marriage, and, upon
+a day as one pressed her to name the time of
+their nuptials, she said, “Build me a house, and
+I’ll marry you when all is in readiness.” To the
+others, did she speak the same words.</p>
+
+<p>Each man sought the jungle for bamboo for a
+house, and, it happened, while they were in the
+jungle that they all met.</p>
+
+<p>“What seekest thou?” they asked one another.
+“What seekest thou?” The one answer
+was, “I have come to fell wood for my house.”</p>
+
+<p>And, as they ate their midday meal together,
+each had a bamboo stick, filled with chicken and
+rice. Now, it happened that Chum Paw had
+given the bamboo sticks to the men, and, lo, on
+investigation, they found the pieces in their various
+sticks were the parts of one chicken, and
+with one accord, they cried, “Chum Paw has deceived
+us. Come, let us kill her. Each has she
+promised to marry; each has she deceived.”</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_90">90 </a></span>
+
+<p>All were exceedingly angry and vowed they
+would kill the deceitful woman.</p>
+
+<p>Chum Paw, seeing the men return together,
+knew her duplicity was known and realized they
+sought to kill her.</p>
+
+<p>“I entreat that you spare my life, but take and
+sell me as a slave to the captain of the ship lying
+at the mouth of the river.”</p>
+
+<p>Relenting, the suitors took her to the captain.
+She, however, running on before, privately told
+the captain she had seven young men, her
+slaves, whom she would sell him for seven hundred
+pieces of silver. Seeing the young men
+were desirable, the captain gave Chum Paw the
+silver, and she fled while the seven lovers were
+placed in irons.</p>
+
+<p>Chum Paw fled to the jungle, but, frightened
+by the wild beasts, she sought refuge in a tree.
+And it came to pass that the suitors escaped from
+the ship and they, too, sought refuge in the
+jungle. Unable to sleep and also frightened, one
+of them climbed a tree that he might be safe
+from the wild beasts, and, lo, it was the same
+tree in which Chum Paw had taken refuge.</p>
+
+<p>“Be silent, make no noise, lest the others hear
+us,” whispered Chum Paw. “I love you and
+knew you were wise and would escape from the
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_91">91 </a></span>
+ship. I only desired the silver for us to spend
+together.”</p>
+
+<p>The unfortunate man believed, and sought to
+embrace her, but, as he threw up his arms, Chum
+Paw threw him down, hoping thus to kill him.
+The others, hearing the commotion, feared a
+large bear was in the tree and hastily fled. Uninjured
+the suitor, whom Chum Paw had thrown
+from the tree, fled with them.</p>
+
+<p>Chum Paw seeing that they all fled ran
+behind, as she knew no beast would attack her
+while there was so great a commotion. As the
+suitors looked back, they saw her, but mistook
+her for a bear and ran but the faster, and finally,
+they all, the seven suitors and Chum Paw reached
+their homes.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing the suitors would again seek her life,
+Chum Paw made a feast of all things they most
+liked and bade the young men to come. (All
+the food was prepared by Chum Paw and
+poisoned.) “I want but to make me <em>boon</em> before
+I die, so I beg you eat of my food and forgive
+me, for I merit death,” said the maiden, as
+they sat in her house. All ate; and all died.</p>
+
+<p>Chum Paw carried six bodies into the inner
+part of the house, and one she prepared for the
+grave. Weeping and wailing, she ran to the
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_92">92 </a></span>
+nearest neighbor, crying, “I want a man to
+come bury my husband. He died last night.
+As he had smallpox, fifty pieces of silver will I
+give to the one who buries him.”</p>
+
+<p>A man who loved money said, “I will bury
+him.” When he came to the house, Chum Paw
+said, “Many times has he died and come back to
+life. If he comes back again, no money shall you
+have.”</p>
+
+<p>The man took the body, made a deep grave,
+buried the man and returned for his silver. Lo,
+on the mat lay the body! He made a deeper
+grave and again buried it. Six times he buried,
+as he supposed, the body, and, on returning and
+finding it a seventh time, he angrily cried, “You
+shall never return again.” Taking the body with
+him, he built a fire, placed the body on it, and,
+while it burned, went to the stream for water.
+When he returned, lo, a charcoal man was standing
+there, black from his work.</p>
+
+<p>Filled with wrath, the man ran up to him crying,
+“You will come back again, will you? will
+cause me this trouble again, will you?”</p>
+
+<p>The charcoal burner replied, “I do not understand.”
+Not a word would the man hear, but
+fought the burner, and as they struggled, they
+both fell into the fire and were burned to death.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_93">93 </a></span>
+
+<p>Chum Paw built a beautiful home and spent
+the silver as she willed.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-7-2">“The Wisest Man of a Small Village is
+Not Equal in Wisdom to a Boy
+of the City Streets”</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Once</span> a boy of the city, watching a buffalo outside
+the gate of the largest city in the province,
+saw three men approaching. Each was the
+wisest man of the village from whence he came.
+The boy called to them, “Where go ye, old
+men?”</p>
+
+<p>The men angrily replied, “Wherefore dost
+thou, who art but a child, speak thus to us who
+are old and the judges of the villages from whence
+we come?”</p>
+
+<p>The boy replied, “There is no cause for anger.
+How was I to know ye were wise men? To
+me, ye seem but as other men from a country
+place,—the wisest of whom are but fools.”</p>
+
+<p>The three men were very angry, caught the
+boy and said, “We will not enter into the city,
+but will go to another province and sell this
+insolent boy, because he neither reverences age
+nor wisdom.”</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_94">94 </a></span>
+
+<p>The boy refused to walk, so they carried him.
+All day they walked along the road, carrying the
+boy, and at night they slept by the roadside. In
+the morning, when they craved water and bade
+the boy go to a brook, he refused, saying, “If
+I go, ye will run and leave me. I will not go.”</p>
+
+<p>Thirst drove one of the wise men for the
+water, and the boy drank of it freely.</p>
+
+<p>Several days’ journey brought them to a wall
+of a large city, and night was spent at a <em>sala</em> near
+the wall. Seeking to rid themselves of the boy,
+they bade him go to the city for fire to cook food.
+Realizing their motive, he answered, “Should I
+go, ye will leave me. I will not go, though, if
+ye let me tie ye to the posts of the <em>sala</em>, then will
+I go.”</p>
+
+<p>With one accord they agreed, saying, “Do
+thou even so. We are weary carrying thee and
+cannot go for the fire.”</p>
+
+<p>Tying them all, the boy ran to the city, where
+he met a man whom he asked, “Dost thou wish
+to purchase three slaves? Come with me.”</p>
+
+<p>The man returned with the boy, saw the men,
+and gave him full value for each.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus disposed of his captors, the cunning
+little fellow joined some men going to his native
+city, and as he walked along, he thought, “I was
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_95">95 </a></span>
+ever wanting to see other places, and now I have
+been carried a long journey, and have silver to
+last me many days ... surely, I have much
+<em>boon</em>.”<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-16" href="#fn-16">16</a></p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-16">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-16">16</a>: Merit.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-7-3">“To Aid Beast is Merit; To Aid Man is
+but Vanity”<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-17" href="#fn-17">17</a></h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">A hunter</span>, walking through a jungle, saw a
+man in a pit unable to escape. The man called
+to him, “If thou wilt aid me to escape from this
+snare, always will I remember thy grace and
+merit.” The hunter drew him out of the pit, and
+the man said, “I am goldsmith to the head chow,
+and dwell by the city’s gate. Shouldst thou ever
+want any benefit, come to me, and gladly will I
+aid thee.”</p>
+
+<p>As the hunter travelled, he met a tiger caught
+in a snare set for an elephant, and the tiger cried,
+“If thy heart prompts thee to set me free, thy
+aid will ever be remembered by me.” He helped
+the tiger from the snare, and it said, “If ever
+thou needest aid, call and I will come to thee.”</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_96">96 </a></span>
+
+<p>Then again the hunter went on his way, and
+came to a place where a snake had fallen into a
+well and could not get out, and the snake cried,
+“If thou wilt aid me, I can aid thee also in the
+time soon to come,” and he assisted the snake.
+“When the time comes that thou needest me,
+think of me, and I will come to thee with
+haste,” said the snake.</p>
+
+<p>Now, it had happened that on the day that the
+hunter had rescued the tiger it had killed the
+chow’s child, but of this the hunter knew nothing.
+And it came to pass that three days after,
+the hunter desiring to test the words of the tiger,
+went to the forest. Upon calling it, the tiger
+came to him immediately and brought with him
+a long golden chain, which he gave to the hunter.
+The hunter took the chain home, and, wishing to
+sell it, sought the goldsmith whom he had befriended.
+But the goldsmith, seeing it, said,
+“You are the man who has killed the chow’s
+child.” And he had his men bind the hunter with
+strong cords and took him to the chow in the
+hope of gaining the reward offered to any who
+might find him who had killed the child.</p>
+
+<p>The chow put the hunter in chains and commanded
+he die on the morrow. The hunter
+begged for seven days’ respite, and it was granted
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_97">97 </a></span>
+him. In the night he thought of the snake he
+had helped, and immediately the snake came,
+bringing with him a medicine to cure blindness.
+While the household of the chow slept, the snake
+entered and cast of its venom in the eyes of the
+chow’s wife, and she was blind.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout all the province the chow sought
+for some one to restore the eyes of his afflicted
+wife, but no one was found.</p>
+
+<p>It happened on a day, that word came to the
+chow’s ears that the hunter he had in chains for
+the death of his child, was a man of wisdom and
+knew the merit of all the herbs of the field, therefore
+he sent for him.</p>
+
+<p>When the hunter came into the presence of the
+chow unto where the wife sat, he put the medicine
+which the snake had brought him into the
+eyes of the princess, and sight, even like unto
+that of a young maiden, was restored unto
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Then the chow desired to reward the hunter,
+and the hunter told him how he had come into
+possession of the golden chain, of the medicine
+which the serpent had given him because he had
+aided it in its time of trouble, and of the goldsmith,
+who had not only forgotten benefits received,
+but had accused him so he might gain a
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_98">98 </a></span>
+reward. And when the chow learned the truth,
+he had the ungrateful goldsmith put to death, but
+to the hunter did he give half of his province, for
+had he not restored the sight of the princess?</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-17">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-17">17</a>: This only of the Folk Tales has been written before. It is
+taken from an ancient temple book and is well-known in all
+the Laos country.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<div id="ill_9" class="illustration">
+<a href="images/image-09.jpg" id="plate_8"><img src="images/image-09-min.jpg" alt=""></a><br>
+The “Chow” and his Palace.
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_99">99 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="part-8">VIII<br>
+The Gods Know and the Gods Reward</h2>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_100">100 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_101">101 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-8-1">Love’s Secrets</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">There</span> was once a poor woodsman, who went
+to the jungle to cut wood, so he might sell it and
+buy food for his wife and child. And upon a day,
+when the cool evening had come, wearied, the
+man lay down to rest and fell into a deep sleep.</p>
+
+<p>From his home in the sky, the god who looks
+after the destiny of man was hot-hearted<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-18" href="#fn-18">18</a> when
+he saw the man did not move, and he came
+down to see if he were dead. When he spake
+in the wood-cutter’s ear, he awoke and arose,
+and the fostering god led him home. As they
+came near the gate, the god said, “Stand here,
+whilst I go and see to the welfare of thy wife.”
+Listening without, the god heard the fond wife
+say to the little child, “I fear some evil hath
+befallen thy kind father. Ever doth he return as
+it darkens about us.”</p>
+
+<p>The god knew from her words that the wife
+was good, and taught the child love and reverence
+for its father, therefore was he pleased, and
+returning to the woodsman, sent him in haste to
+his home, and said, “I, myself, will lay the
+wood in its place.”</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_102">102 </a></span>
+
+<p>The next morning, when the eye of day
+opened, the fond wife went for wood to build a
+fire that her husband might eat of hot food ere
+he went to his daily labor, and, lo, when she saw
+the wood which her husband had brought home,
+all was turned into gold! Thus had the cherishing
+god rewarded a husband faithful in his work,
+and a wife loving and thoughtful.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the house of the worthy woodsman,
+the god met a man tardily wending his way
+home with a small, poorly-made bundle of sticks.
+Approaching him, the god said, “Wait at the
+steps. I will go first and see how it is with thy
+wife.” And the god went up unseen, and heard
+the wife say to her son, “Ever is it thus. Thy
+father thinks naught of us; he stays away so he
+need be with us but little.”</p>
+
+<p>Sadly the god returned to the laggard, took the
+bundle from him, and bade him go to his wife
+and child, saying he would put the wood in its
+place.</p>
+
+<p>Late the following day, long after the husband
+had gone to his work, the wife went for some
+wood, and, lo, found all the wood had turned to
+venomous snakes! Then was she afraid, and
+she grew kinder of heart and strove to make her
+husband better and happy.</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-18">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-18">18</a>: Anxious.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_103">103 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-8-2">Poison-Mouth</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">There</span> was once a poor father and mother who
+had a little daughter, called “Poison-Mouth.”</p>
+
+<p>And it happened on a day that a great number
+of cows came into the garden, and when the
+mother saw them she cried angrily, “You but
+destroy our garden. I would you were all dead.”</p>
+
+<p>“Poison-Mouth” hearing her mother’s angry
+words, called out, “Die, all of you, for you are
+destroying our garden.” And immediately all
+the cattle dropped dead.</p>
+
+<p>Upon another day, the bees were swarming
+and great companies flew over the house, and
+the mother said complainingly, “Why do you
+never come to us that we may have honey?”</p>
+
+<p>Little “Poison-Mouth” called: “Come to us
+that we may have honey.” And, lo, before the
+eye of day had closed, the house was filled with
+bees and the poor people had more honey than
+they could use.</p>
+
+<p>Word of “Poison-Mouth” reached a great
+chow, and, prompted by the god of love to
+sweeten the poisoned mouth, he sent ten men
+with this message to the child’s parents: “Take
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_104">104 </a></span>
+good care of your child; let her hear no evil, and
+when she is old enough, I will take her to wife.”</p>
+
+<p>When the men approached the home of
+“Poison-Mouth” they said, “O, poor people,”
+but the mother would not permit them to finish,
+as their words angered her, and she exclaimed,
+“You are bad dogs!” And the men were no
+longer men, but dogs, snapping and snarling,
+for little “Poison-Mouth” had also cried, “Bad
+dogs are you.”</p>
+
+<p>Though greatly distressed, the chow sent yet
+again twenty men with his message. And again,
+when the mother beheld these men, she exclaimed,
+“See, the dogs coming yonder!”
+“Poison-Mouth” echoed, “Yes, twenty dogs are
+coming now,” and they also changed into dogs,
+fighting on the streets.</p>
+
+<p>“Who can help me?” cried the chow, distressed
+though not despairing.</p>
+
+<p>An old man answered, “I will help you. I
+will go to the child.” And, while the mother
+was absent, he sought the little one, and thus
+softly said, “My child, thy tongue is given thee
+to bless with, and not to curse. Come with me,
+and learn only that which is good.” The little
+one answered, “I will come,” and the old man
+took her to the chow, who, from that time forth,
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_105">105 </a></span>
+spoke no evil, and, little “Poison-Mouth,” hearing
+none but beautiful and good words, grew
+beautiful and good, and her words brought blessings
+ever.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-8-3">Strife and Peace</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">There</span> was once a husband and wife who ever
+quarrelled. Never were they pleasant with each
+other.</p>
+
+<p>A wealthy man sought to see if they could
+spend but a day in peace, so he sent two men
+with one hundred pieces of silver to them, saying,
+“If this day be spent without strife, this
+silver shall be yours.” Then the two men hid
+themselves near the house to watch after what
+fashion they spent the day.</p>
+
+<p>“If we are to earn the reward, it were better
+thou shouldst hold thy tongue with thy hand,
+else thou canst not endure throughout the day,”
+said the husband.</p>
+
+<p>“Ever am I quiet. It is well known of all the
+neighbors that thou, and thou alone, art ever
+quarrelsome,” retorted the wife.</p>
+
+<p>And thus they disputed until both grew angry,
+and the quarrel was so loud that all the people
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_106">106 </a></span>
+living near heard it. Thereupon the two men
+came forth from their hiding-place, and said,
+“The silver does not belong to you, of a certainty.”</p>
+
+<div class="break"></div>
+
+<p>Determined to find virtue, the rich man sent
+the two men with the silver to a husband and
+wife who never quarrelled, and bade them say,
+“If this day, you will strive one with the other,
+these one hundred pieces of silver shall be
+yours.”</p>
+
+<p>The husband greatly desired the money and
+sought to anger his wife. He wrought a basket
+which she wanted to use in sunning the cotton,
+with the strands of bamboo so wide apart that
+the least wind would blow all the cotton out of
+the basket. Yet, when he handed it to his wife,
+she pleasantly said, “This is just the right kind
+of a basket. The sun can come in all about the
+cotton, as though it were not in a basket at all.”</p>
+
+<p>Again, the husband made a basket so narrow
+at the top that it was difficult to put anything into
+it, and also the mouth was of rough material so
+that the hand would be scratched in putting in or
+taking out the cotton. “Surely, this will anger
+her,” thought the husband.</p>
+
+<p>Turning it from side to side, the wife said,
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_107">107 </a></span>
+“Now, this, too, is just right, for when the wind
+blows, the cotton will be caught on the rough
+wood at the mouth and cannot blow away.”</p>
+
+<p>The two men in hiding all day heard nothing
+but gentle words, so, in the evening, they returned
+to the rich man, saying, for they knew
+not the efforts of the husband to provoke his
+wife, “Those two know not how to quarrel.”</p>
+
+<p>Gladdened, the seeker for virtue commanded
+them to be given the silver, for they loved peace.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-8-4">The Widow’s Punishment</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Once</span> there lived a woman who had a son and
+a nephew living with her. And upon a day they
+came to her desiring money that they might go
+and trade in the bazaar. She gave each a piece
+of silver of equal value, and bade them so to
+trade and cheat that they might bring home much
+money.</p>
+
+<p>At the bazaar, one bought a large fish, the
+other, the head and horns of a buffalo, and, as
+they rested by the roadside on their way home,
+they tied the large, living fish and the buffalo
+head together, and threw them in a muddy
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_108">108 </a></span>
+stream. When they threw the stones at the fish,
+it jumped, thus causing the buffalo head to move
+as though it were alive.</p>
+
+<p>A man saw the head in the water and desired
+to buy the buffalo. The boys named the price of
+a live animal, and, having received it, they fled.</p>
+
+<p>As they went along, not long after, they found
+a deer which a wild dog had killed, but had not
+eaten of it. It they took with them, and, a
+drover, seeing it, asked where they had found it.</p>
+
+<p>“Our dog,” said the boys, “is so trained, it
+goes to the jungle and catches the wild animals
+for our food.”</p>
+
+<p>The drover desired to buy the dog.</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said the boys, “we will not sell it.”</p>
+
+<p>Their words but made the drover more eager
+to possess the dog, and he offered ten of his best
+cattle in exchange. The exchange pleased the
+boys, and, having received the cattle for their
+useless dog, they hastened to a large city, where
+they sold them for much money and returned
+home. On reaching it, they divided the money
+equally, but the mother was dissatisfied and
+desired that her son have the larger portion,
+therefore she insisted that they make an offering
+to the spirit in the hollow tree near by, before the
+money could be rightly divided.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_109">109 </a></span>
+
+<p>While the boys were preparing the offering,
+the mother ran and hid in the hollow tree, and
+when they had made their offering and asked the
+spirit, “What division must we make of the
+money?” a voice replied, “Unto the son of the
+widow, give two portions—unto the nephew of
+the widow, give one portion.”</p>
+
+<p>Greatly angered, the nephew put wood all
+about the tree and set fire to it. Though he
+heard the voice of his aunt, saying, “I beg that
+thou have mercy on me and set me free,” he
+would not recognize it, and the widow and the
+tree perished. Thus, she who had taught him
+to cheat, by her own pupil was destroyed.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-8-5">Honesty Rewarded</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">In</span> the far north country there lived a father,
+mother, and son. So poor and desolate were they
+that their only possession was an old ax. Each
+morning, as the eye of day opened on the earth,
+they went to the woods and there remained until
+the evening, cutting the wood, which, when
+sold, furnished their only source of a living.</p>
+
+<p>Upon a day, when the cutting was done, they
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_110">110 </a></span>
+placed the ax near the wood and went deeper
+into the jungle for vines to bind the wood. It
+happened the chow of the province came that
+way with twelve of his men; one of whom bore
+an ax of gold, another bore an ax of silver and
+both belonged to the chow. Yet, when the chow
+saw the old, wooden-handled ax lying near the
+wood, he commanded that it be taken home with
+them.</p>
+
+<p>The family returning found their ax gone.
+Deeply distressed, they sat down and wept, and
+thus in trouble, did the chow and his men find
+them as they came that way again.</p>
+
+<p>“Why are your hearts thus troubled?” inquired
+the chow.</p>
+
+<p>They answered: “O chow, we had but one
+ax and it is gone and no other means of earning
+food have we!”</p>
+
+<p>The chow replied: “I found your ax. Here
+it is.” And he commanded they be given the ax
+of silver, whose handle even was silver.</p>
+
+<p>“That is not ours,” they cried, “not ours.”</p>
+
+<p>The chow commanded the ax of gold be
+given them. Yet they wept but the more, saying,
+“The golden ax is not ours. Ours was
+old, ’twas but of steel and the handle of wood,
+but ’twas all we had.”</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_111">111 </a></span>
+
+<p>Their honesty gladdened the heart of the chow
+and he commanded that not only their own ax be
+returned, but the ax of gold, the ax of silver, and
+even a pun<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-19" href="#fn-19">19</a> of gold be given them. Thus was
+merit rewarded.</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-19">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-19">19</a>: About 3 lbs. avoir.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-8-6">The Justice of In Ta Pome</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Men</span> of three countries wanted a chemical to
+change stones and metals into gold, and they all
+came together to worship In Ta Pome, one of the
+gods. One man was from China, one from
+India, and one from Siam. They all worshipped
+at the feet of In Ta Pome, saying, “We beg
+thee, O In Ta Pome, give unto us the chemical
+which will change all stones and metals into
+gold.”</p>
+
+<p>In Ta Pome replied, “Each of you kill one of
+your children, cut him into pieces and put him
+into a jar. Cover this with a new, clean cloth,
+and bring it unto me.”</p>
+
+<p>The Chinaman feared to kill his child, so killed
+a pig, cut it up and placed it in a jar, over which
+he tied a close cover.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_112">112 </a></span>
+
+<p>The Siamese did the same with a dog, but the
+Indiaman believed in In Ta Pome, and killed
+his only son, put him into a jar, and covered it.</p>
+
+<p>All returned to the god with their several
+jars.</p>
+
+<p>In Ta Pome sprinkled the jar of the Chinaman
+first, saying, “Whatsoever is silver, let it be
+silver; whatsoever is gold, let it be gold,” but
+the pig grunted, as pigs do, and In Ta Pome said,
+“From this time forth, you shall take care of
+pigs and kill them to gain gold.” Sprinkling the
+jar of the Siamese, the god again said, “Whatsoever
+is silver, let it be silver; whatsoever is gold,
+let it be gold,” but the dog barked, as dogs do, and
+In Ta Pome said, “You must plow the earth, and
+only by the sweat of your brow shall you have
+enough to keep you in food.”</p>
+
+<p>Taking the jar of the Indiaman, and having
+sprinkled it, In Ta Pome cried, “Whatsoever is
+silver, let it be silver, and whatsoever is gold, let
+it be gold,” and lo, the child came to life! And
+to the Indiaman did In Ta Pome give the chemical
+that changes all stones and metals into gold, because
+he had believed, and had not tried to mock
+and deceive the gods.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_113">113 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="part-9">IX<br>
+Wonders of Wisdom</h2>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_114">114 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_115">115 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-9-1">The Words of Untold Value</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">In</span> the days long since gone by, a young man,
+a son of a poor widow, desired to go with two
+of his friends to Tuck Kasula,<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-20" href="#fn-20">20</a> the country where
+one could learn the wisdom of all the world, but
+he had no gold with which to buy the wisdom,
+for does not every one know that wisdom is
+difficult to obtain, and is therefore of great price.</p>
+
+<p>Now, the two young friends had each two
+puns<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-21" href="#fn-21">21</a> of gold, but the widow’s son had but two
+hairs of his mother’s, which, when he wept because
+he had no money, the widow had given
+him, saying, “I have naught but these two fine
+hairs to give thee, my son, but go with thy
+friends, each hair will be to thee as a pun of
+gold.”</p>
+
+<p>Then the son placed the two hairs in a package
+with his clothing, and sealed the package with
+wax, and set out with his friends to visit Tuck
+Kasula.</p>
+
+<p>After they had travelled some time, they grew
+hungry, and on arriving in a village, they entered
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_116">116 </a></span>
+a house for food. The widow’s son left his
+package and his other goods on the veranda.
+While he was within the house a hen ran away
+with the package and lost it. The owners of the
+hen offered the son anything they had either of
+food or clothing to replace his loss, but he would
+be content with nothing but the hen, and they
+gave it to him.</p>
+
+<p>And again when they entered another house
+for food, the widow’s son tied the hen to a small
+bush in the compound, and, lo, an elephant
+stepped upon it and killed it!</p>
+
+<p>The people offered the young man many things
+to make good his loss, but he would be content
+with nothing but the elephant, and they gave
+him the elephant.</p>
+
+<p>At last they reached Tuck Kasula, and while
+his two friends, with their gold, sought the house
+of the teachers, the widow’s son stayed under a
+tree where he could hear the teachers instructing
+their disciples.</p>
+
+<p>“If you wish to know others, sleep. If you
+wish to see, go and look,” said a wise man.
+“These words are of untold value, but, for only
+two puns of gold will I give them unto you,” he
+added.</p>
+
+<p>The widow’s son knew he had heard without
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_117">117 </a></span>
+price the wisdom for which his two friends
+would each have to pay two puns of gold, so he
+quietly turned the elephant and returned home.</p>
+
+<p>“I will buy your words of wisdom, if you
+will sell them,” said the judge to the widow’s
+son.</p>
+
+<p>“For two puns of gold I will sell them,” answered
+the widow’s son.</p>
+
+<p>“Two puns of gold will I give thee,” said the
+judge.</p>
+
+<p>“‘If you wish to know others, sleep. If you
+wish to see, go and look,’” said the widow’s
+son, when he had in his possession the two puns
+of gold.</p>
+
+<p>The judge, desiring to test the truth of the
+words, as he understood them, called unto him
+his four wives, and said, “I am not well. Give
+me water to drink, and fan me.” Soon he
+seemed to be asleep, and his wives talked thus
+together in low voices:</p>
+
+<p>“It is not pleasant to be the wife of this foolish
+man,” said the first.</p>
+
+<p>“I like another man better,” said the second.</p>
+
+<p>“I wish I could steal his goods and flee while
+he sleeps,” said the third.</p>
+
+<p>“I would like to make him a savory dish with
+poison in it to kill him,” said the fourth.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_118">118 </a></span>
+
+<p>Then the judge sprang up and cruelly punished
+his wives and put them in chains.</p>
+
+<p>And upon another day, the judge arose early
+and went out to see how his slaves worked.
+Under the house, hunting for something, he saw
+a man.</p>
+
+<p>“What do you seek?” asked the judge.</p>
+
+<p>“I have just stolen from the judge all of his
+silver, and, in trying to get it through a small
+opening, I broke my finger-nail. If I do not find
+it, the judge will die and all his possessions will
+be destroyed, for, as thou knowest, ever is it
+thus, if a finger-nail falls near a house.”</p>
+
+<p>When the man had found the broken nail, the
+judge said, “I, who stand here, am the judge.
+I will but take from you the silver which you
+have stolen and no punishment shall be yours,
+because of the truth which you have told.” Then
+the judge said to himself, “The two puns of
+gold was a small price to pay for the wisdom
+which I have obtained.”</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-20">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-20">20</a>: A fabulous “City of Wisdom.”
+</div>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-21">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-21">21</a>: A pun—about 3 lbs. avoir.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_119">119 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-9-2">A Wise Philosopher</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">As</span> a rich trader journeyed to another province,
+he rested by the road under a tree, and, as he sat
+there, a poor young man approached and asked
+that he might accompany him.</p>
+
+<p>“Come,” said the trader, and, as they journeyed,
+they came to a place where there were
+many stones, indeed there was naught else to be
+seen.</p>
+
+<p>“Here are there no stones,” said the poor
+young man.</p>
+
+<p>“You are right, here are no stones,” replied
+the trader.</p>
+
+<p>Soon they reached the shade of a large forest,
+and the young man said,</p>
+
+<p>“Here are no trees.”</p>
+
+<p>“You are right, here are no trees,” the trader
+assented.</p>
+
+<p>When they reached a large village, the poor
+young man said,</p>
+
+<p>“Here are no people.”</p>
+
+<p>“You are right,” spake the trader, but he
+wondered what manner of man might he be
+who knows nothing and has neither eyes nor
+ears. However, as he returned home and the
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_120">120 </a></span>
+poor young man begged to accompany him, he
+agreed and took him with him.</p>
+
+<p>And, as they approached the trader’s home
+his daughter called, “O father, what have you
+brought?”</p>
+
+<p>“Nothing but this foolish young man,” answered
+the trader.</p>
+
+<p>“Why do you call him a fool?” asked the
+daughter. “By his appearance and manner I
+would judge he were the god of wisdom come
+down in man’s form.”</p>
+
+<p>“I can see no wisdom in one who, when he
+can see but stones, says, ‘There are no stones
+here,’ or, when he is in the forest, says, ‘Here are
+no trees,’ or, when in the midst of a populous
+village, says, ‘There is no man here,’” replied
+the trader.</p>
+
+<p>“He meant, where the stones were all about,
+that none were precious; where the forest was,
+that there was no teak, no wood good for man’s
+use; and, where the village was, there were no
+people, as the people had all fallen away from
+the religion of Buddha, living but as beasts and
+making no merit for the future life,” argued the
+daughter.</p>
+
+<p>“If you esteem him so highly, take him for
+your husband,” said the trader.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_121">121 </a></span>
+
+<p>“If your daughter will have me as her husband,
+ever will I endeavor to make the path on
+which she treads smooth and beautiful for her
+feet,” cried the poor young man.</p>
+
+<p>They were married and lived happily, and,
+upon a time, the head chow summoned the
+trader to come watch his house during the night.
+Greatly was the trader troubled. “I shall die
+this night,” cried the trader.</p>
+
+<p>“Why shall you die, my father?” asked the
+son-in-law, in great concern.</p>
+
+<p>“The chow has called me to watch this night
+and for some time past he has killed all who have
+watched for him; an evil spirit has possessed
+him and he loves to punish with death the
+watchmen, for, he falsely says they sleep and he
+has them killed but to satisfy the spirit in him,”
+answered the trader.</p>
+
+<p>“I will watch in thy stead,” said the son-in-law.
+And fearlessly did he go to the chow’s,
+and, when midnight was come and the chow
+descended secretly to see if the watchman slept,
+lo, the young man prayed aloud for the god of
+wisdom to come teach him what to do. The
+chow, hearing the sound of voices, listened, and
+heard one voice say, “The brave and the strong
+govern themselves, then have they the power to
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_122">122 </a></span>
+govern others. The wise make themselves loved
+because they are good and true, and are served
+by others through love and not through fear,”
+and another voice steadily repeated the words.
+Three times during the night came the chow.
+Each time the voice was speaking and being answered,
+and, lo, when the eye of day opened in
+the East, the chow was found possessed of a
+kind and loving spirit and no longer desired to
+destroy his people. The young son-in-law of
+the trader was made a leader of the people, for
+the chow declared unto all that the spirit of the
+god of wisdom dwelt in the young man’s heart,
+and, it came to pass that the whole land was
+blessed because one young man had learned of
+the god of wisdom.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-9-3">The Boys Who Were Not Appreciated</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Once</span> there were two brothers. The elder
+watched and tended the younger during the day,
+while their mother went to labor for food. It
+had happened that the father had died, and the
+mother had taken another husband who ever
+sought to teach the mother to dislike and neglect
+the brothers.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_123">123 </a></span>
+
+<p>And it fell upon a day that the children waited
+and watched for their mother’s return until they
+were hungry, for all day had they had no food.
+When the eye of day closed, they sought food
+and found some green fruit. This they ate and
+then lay down to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Long after darkness had settled, came the
+mother and her husband home, and the mother
+cooked rice which they sat down to eat.</p>
+
+<p>Awakened by the odor of the rice, the children
+heard the talking, and the elder led his younger
+brother to his mother and begged food, but the
+husband said, “Do not give them of our food,”
+and the mother beat them and drove them from
+home. The elder brother carried his little brother
+back to sleep under the house, but even thence
+were they driven. At last they sought and found
+shelter with a neighboring widow, who gave
+them mats to sleep on. As the eye of day
+opened, the two children set out to find a new
+home. For many days did they walk, and upon
+an evening they found a <em>sala</em> near the chief city
+of another province. There they slept. In the
+morning the elder boy sought food, and behold,
+he saw two snakes wrestling under the <em>sala</em>.
+Both were wounded. One, however, killed the
+other and then left it and ate some grass growing
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_124">124 </a></span>
+near, and, lo, immediately the snake was whole
+as before. Waiting only until the restored snake
+had gone, the boy gathered some of the grass,
+and put it in the mouth of the dead snake, and
+forthwith it came to life and blessed the boy.
+Gathering more of the grass, the boy returned to
+his brother and they both ate of it and were
+strengthened.</p>
+
+<p>Not long after, a servant of the chow of the
+neighboring province came to the <em>sala</em>, and the
+boys asked, “For whom is the mourning in the
+city?” The servant replied, “The young daughter
+of the chow; and the chow mourns. If any
+one will restore her unto life, the chow declares,
+unto him will he give half of his province and
+goods.”</p>
+
+<p>Eager to try the wonderful grass, the boy carried
+his young brother and some of the grass
+even unto the chow’s house, where he sought
+permission to restore the child with the grass.
+Gladly the chow consented. The boy placed the
+magic grass in the maiden’s mouth, and immediately
+she came to life. Full of joy, the chow
+shared his province and goods with him and even
+gave his daughter in marriage, as promised.</p>
+
+<p>And upon a day after they had lived happily a
+long time in that province and had grown wise
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_125">125 </a></span>
+and strong, the two young men thought of their
+mother, and said, “We will go and visit her and
+her husband.”</p>
+
+<p>They made ready joints of bamboo and closed
+them, after having filled them with gold, in such
+a way that no one could see the gold. When all
+was ready, with a great number of elephants and
+servants, they returned to their native province.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching their home, they gave of the bamboo
+joints to their friends and relatives, one each,
+but to their mother and her husband, gave they
+five of the largest joints, and two of the largest
+gave they to the kind widow.</p>
+
+<p>“The bamboo makes fine firewood,” they said
+to their mother. “Cut it up and burn it.”</p>
+
+<p>The mother and her husband were angry and
+would not speak to the sons who had brought
+but wood as a gift, and sorrowfully they returned
+to the other province.</p>
+
+<p>Upon a day the widow visited the mother and
+urged that she cut the bamboo joints.</p>
+
+<p>“Your sons say that the bamboo makes a good
+firewood. Where is yours?” the widow asked.</p>
+
+<p>The mother replied, “It is outside. Our children
+came from a great distance and brought to
+us but this firewood. We shall never touch it.”</p>
+
+<p>But the widow urged, “I would believe and
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_126">126 </a></span>
+trust the love of my children. I beg that you cut
+up the wood.” At last they did so, and when
+the husband cut into the joints, lo, he found them
+all gold. Then ran they both to find the sons to
+thank them, but they were already too far distant.
+Unable to endure their remorse, there the
+mother and her husband died on the wayside.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-9-4">The Magic Well</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">The</span> chow of a large province lay ill. All the
+doctors of many provinces were summoned, but
+none could aid him, nor could any understand
+his malady. Lying in his house one day, an old
+man begged he might see him, saying he had a
+message from the spirits. Brought into the
+presence of the chow, the old man said, “Last
+night, as I lay on my bed, I had this vision. A
+spirit came to me and touched me and led me to
+the river’s brink. There I saw a boat prepared
+for my use. I entered the boat and it was rowed
+swiftly by unseen hands down the stream.
+After a little time, it stopped at the foot of a tall
+mountain. Up this the spirit led me, and through
+which was no path. We journeyed until we
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_127">127 </a></span>
+reached the mountain’s top. On its summit
+were two great walls of rock, and between the
+walls was a gate, looking like a gate which led
+into a city. Leading me to the other side of the
+mountain, the spirit bade me ascend the rock
+where the foot of man had never before trod,
+and, far up in the face of the rock, I saw a small
+opening, like the mouth of a well. I lay down
+and stretched my arm to its full length, but
+failed to reach the bottom of the opening. By
+the side of this opening, on looking more closely,
+I beheld a cup tied to the end of a staff. With
+the cup I dipped pure water from the well.
+About to drink of the water, the spirit restrained
+me and commanded I should come to thee and
+tell thee this water, and this water alone, would
+heal thee. Therefore have I come, O prince, to
+lead thee unto this place.”</p>
+
+<p>The prince did not doubt him, but commanded
+the boats be prepared for his use. Taking with
+him a large retinue of servants, and guided by
+the aged man, they departed in search of the
+health-restoring well.</p>
+
+<p>After just such a journey as the man had
+described, at his bidding, the boats landed at the
+foot of a tall mountain, where he led them unerringly
+upward, although no path could be
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_128">128 </a></span>
+seen; the chow, leaning on the arms of two
+strong men, followed.</p>
+
+<p>There indeed were the walls of rock and the
+gateway, as the guide had described, and, after
+a long and weary climb, they reached the opening
+in the rock.</p>
+
+<p>Taking the staff of the chow and binding his
+golden drinking-cup thereto, the aged man
+dipped from the well and gave it to the prince to
+drink. Having drank of the water, and having
+poured it on his head and hands, the chow was
+healed of his sickness, and was as a new man.
+And to this day, the water is used for the healing
+of the people.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_129">129 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="part-10">X<br>
+Strange Fortunes of Strange People</h2>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_130">130 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_131">131 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-10-1">The Fortunes of Ai Powlo</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Once</span> upon a time a father and mother had a
+wicked son whose name was Ai Powlo. One
+day, while in the rice fields together, the father
+sent the son to his mother with a message.
+Instead, however, of delivering the message, Ai
+Powlo said his father had been eaten by a tiger.
+Leaving his mother in great distress, he returned
+to the rice fields and told his father that both his
+mother and the house were burned, and, for
+three days, did the father mourn for his wife, as
+he lay in the watchhouse.</p>
+
+<p>While the father was mourning, Ai Powlo
+moved his mother and the house to a new place
+and then sought his father, saying, “I saw a
+woman in a new house by the stream who
+resembles my mother. Would you like her for a
+wife?”</p>
+
+<p>“If my son seeks her for me, I would be
+thankful,” replied the father.</p>
+
+<p>Going to his mother, Ai Powlo said, “I have a
+man who would make thee a good husband.
+He would work in the rice fields. Will you take
+him for a husband?”</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_132">132 </a></span>
+
+<p>Thinking of the work, the mother said, “I
+will. Go, bring him to me, my son.”</p>
+
+<p>Lo, when the father and mother met, they
+recognized one another, and they knew their
+crafty son had deceived them!</p>
+
+<p>As Ai Powlo fled from the wrath of his mother
+and father, he journeyed many days, and, upon
+a day it happened he stole some pork from a
+Chinaman. Taking the pork, he sought the rice
+fields and there he saw an old man at work.
+Running up to him, he called, “Father, do you
+not hunger for some pork? I have some to share
+with you.”</p>
+
+<p>“I do, my son,” replied the old man.</p>
+
+<p>Together they went to the watchhouse to
+cook the pork, but found no pot there.</p>
+
+<p>“Whilst I make a fire, go thou, my son, to my
+house and ask my wife for a pot.”</p>
+
+<p>“Your husband wants you to give me all the
+money in the house, as he has heard of an elephant
+which he can buy now,” said Ai Powlo to
+the wife.</p>
+
+<p>The wife refused to give it to him and Ai
+Powlo called to the husband, who sat by the
+watchhouse waiting for the pot, “She will not
+give it to me.” The old man called back, as he
+was hungry for the pork, “Give it to him.
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_133">133 </a></span>
+Make haste,” and receiving all their store, Ai
+Powlo fled into another province.</p>
+
+<p>Upon a day, as Ai Powlo walked by the highway,
+he saw four bald-headed men pouring
+water on their heads to cool themselves. Running
+up to them, he said, “I know a medicine
+which will make the hair grow. Rub your
+heads until the skin is broken, whilst I make the
+medicine.”</p>
+
+<p>Taking some red peppers, he pounded them to
+a soft paste, put some salt in it, and then handed
+it to the four simple-minded old men, who had
+already rubbed their heads until they bled.</p>
+
+<p>Having used the medicine, they suffered great
+pain and would have killed Ai Powlo, but he fled
+and took refuge with the chow, to whom he
+said, “I saw four old men on the way, who
+butted their heads together, trying to see which
+could overcome the other. All have much
+strength, and their heads are scratched and
+bleeding.” Even as Ai Powlo spoke to the
+chow, the chow espied the men, and, when they
+came up, he commanded them, saying, “If you
+are able thus to wrestle for your own pleasure,
+you can wrestle for my pleasure.” Not daring
+to disobey the command of the chow, the men
+painfully wrestled. While they struggled, Ai
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_134">134 </a></span>
+Powlo, fearing their wrath, fled, and as he fled,
+he fell into a deep stream and was drowned.</p>
+
+<div class="break"></div>
+
+<p>Many years after, two fishermen were fishing
+in the stream, and as they drew in the net, they
+found not a fish, but a skull, and lo, the skull
+both laughed and mocked!</p>
+
+<p>As the fishermen talked together of the curious
+skull, a man with a boat-load of goods approached,
+and they called to him, asking, “Did
+you ever see a skull which laughed and
+mocked?”</p>
+
+<p>“Never did I see such a skull, nor ever will I
+believe there is such a thing,” replied the man.</p>
+
+<p>“If we show you such a skull, what will you
+give unto us?” asked the fishermen.</p>
+
+<p>“All the goods in my boat,” laughingly answered
+the man.</p>
+
+<p>On beholding the skull, which, of a truth did
+both laugh and mock him, the boatman forfeited
+his goods, but, in his anger, he cut the skull and
+broke it into pieces, and, of these pieces he made
+dice with which to gamble, and was it not fitting,
+as Ai Powlo, whose skull it was, in life
+had but deceived, and ever done evil?</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_135">135 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-10-2">The Fortunes of a Lazy Beggar</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Once</span> upon a time a man lived who was never
+known to work. When the neighbors grew
+weary supplying him with food, he sought the
+forest, and lay down under a fig-tree so the ripe
+fruit might drop into his mouth. Often, when
+the food fell out of his reach, he would suffer
+hunger, rather than make an effort.</p>
+
+<p>It fell upon a day that a stranger passed
+that way, and the lazy man asked him to please
+gather some fruit and put it into his mouth, as he
+hungered. The wily stranger gathered a handful
+of earth and put it into his mouth, as he lay
+there with his eyes even closed. Tasting the
+earth, the lazy man was angry, and he threw figs
+after the retreating impostor, who ran away
+mocking him.</p>
+
+<p>Days after, a ripe fig fell into a stream near by
+and, floating down the stream, was seen and
+eaten by the daughter of a chow. Delicious to
+the taste, she grew dissatisfied with all other
+fruit and vowed that, from henceforth, she would
+eat of no other fruit, and that the man who had
+thrown the one beautiful fig should be her husband.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_136">136 </a></span>
+
+<p>Angered by such a caprice, her father urged
+her to be guided by his judgment. Unable to
+restrain her, and, hoping to turn her desire elsewhere,
+the chow made an elaborate feast and
+bade all the people of the province to it. But,
+among all was not the one who had thrown the
+fig into the stream.</p>
+
+<p>“Is there not yet a man who has not come to
+the feast?” asked the chow.</p>
+
+<p>“None save the lazy beggar who lies at the fig-tree,”
+they said.</p>
+
+<p>“Bring him hither,” commanded the chow,
+determined to have his daughter see what manner
+of man she was selecting as her husband.</p>
+
+<p>Too lazy to walk, the lazy man was carried into
+the presence of the chow and his guests.</p>
+
+<p>Ashamed that his daughter sought such as her
+husband, and would have no other, as it was
+supposed that the lazy man alone had thrown the
+fig into the stream, and he was too lazy to deny
+it, the chow had a boat built for their use and
+commanded that they be floated down the stream
+to the sea. This he did, hoping his obstinate
+daughter and her lazy husband might be lost to
+the world forever.</p>
+
+<p>All day long the boat drifted; all day long
+spake the princess not one word to her husband,
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_137">137 </a></span>
+nor would she have aught to eat. Fearing she
+would not live, if she did not eat, the beggar
+made a fire to cook some rice for her. Lazy as
+ever, he put but two stones under the kettle,
+and it tottered.</p>
+
+<p>“I cannot endure your lazy ways. Put three
+stones under the kettle,” cried his wife.</p>
+
+<p>The husband did so, glad she had spoken to
+him.</p>
+
+<p>And when the boat had drifted many days, it
+came to a place where once there had been a
+large rice field and there it remained.</p>
+
+<p>While the princess stayed in the boat, the once
+indolent beggar labored day after day in the rice
+fields that they might live; moreover, he had
+learned to love his princess wife.</p>
+
+<p>When the god, who looks to men’s deeds,
+from his home in the sky saw the man no longer
+loved his ease more than all else, but would toil
+for his wife, he said within himself, “the man
+deserves reward.” So he called to him six wild
+monkeys from his woods, and gave into their
+care six magic gongs, telling them to go beat
+them in the rice fields where the husband toiled.</p>
+
+<p>The husband heard the monkeys and the clanging
+of the gongs, but, at last, unable to endure
+the noise, finally caught the monkeys and secured
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_138">138 </a></span>
+the gongs. He then threatened to kill the monkeys,
+but they plead that they were sent, by the
+god who looks to men’s deeds, with the gongs as
+a reward for his merit. “Having seen your efforts
+to provide for your wife, who loves not
+you, he sends you these gongs. If you strike
+this one, you will grow beautiful; that one, you
+will have wisdom. Another gives you lands and
+servants, and, another, if struck while holding it
+in your hands, will cause people to do you reverence
+as though you were a god,” they told the
+man.</p>
+
+<p>Having permitted the monkeys to go, he beat the
+gong of beauty, and his body grew straight and
+tall, also his face became most pleasant to look
+upon. Beating the gong of power, and taking
+the others with him, he sought his wife. She did
+not recognize him, and would have done him
+reverence, but he said, “Do me no reverence. I
+am thy husband,” and he told her of the god’s
+reward. When she heard of the magic gongs,
+she entreated him to return to her father that he
+might forgive her for not having heeded his
+counsel.</p>
+
+<p>Through the magic gongs, had they wealth,
+power and all benefits the gods could bestow,
+and the father loved them, and indeed gave his
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_139">139 </a></span>
+son-in-law power above all the princes in his
+province. And the once lazy man thought within
+himself: “In former times the people derided
+me as a lazy man, because I would not work,
+now that I am possessed of wealth, they do me
+reverence; yet behold I am as lazy as ever, for I
+open my mouth and food is ready for my use.
+Thus it is, that when a poor man does not work,
+he is called a lazy beggar, but when a prince, or
+rich man, does not work, he has power, and people
+do him reverence.”</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<div id="ill_10" class="illustration">
+<a href="images/image-10.jpg" id="plate_9"><img src="images/image-10-min.jpg" alt=""></a><br>
+A Laos Feast.
+</div>
+
+<div id="ill_11" class="illustration">
+<a href="images/image-11.jpg"><img src="images/image-11-min.jpg" alt=""></a><br>
+Street in a Laos Town.
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-10-3">The Misfortunes of Paw Yan</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Upon</span> a day, Paw Yan<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-22" href="#fn-22">22</a> said to his wife, “Today
+I shall build a watch-tower in the rice fields.”</p>
+
+<p>“You will need four posts about the size of
+our children here,” replied the wife.</p>
+
+<p>Taking the four children with him to the rice
+fields, Paw Yan dug four post holes and made
+the children stand in them. Then he packed the
+earth about their feet to make them firm, took
+the beams and laid them on their shoulders, tied
+them in place, and went for more bamboo to finish
+the watch-tower.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_140">140 </a></span>
+
+<p>The eye of day had closed in the West, yet the
+husband and the children returned not, so the
+wife, in distress, sought them in the fields, and,
+lo, when she reached them, there stood the four
+children as posts for the watch-tower.</p>
+
+<p>“Know you not anything? I said take four
+posts the size of our children,” cried the wife.</p>
+
+<p>And upon another day did Paw Yan attempt to
+build the tower, but so utterly did he fail that his
+wife said, “While I build the watch-tower you
+gather the food for the pigs, and, when the eye
+of day closes, give it to them.”</p>
+
+<p>Paw Yan watched until the eye of day was
+about to close, but forgot to gather the food for
+the pigs, so he took all the rice, which was the
+food for the family, and went out to the pigs.
+He called, “Ow, ow, ow,”<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-23" href="#fn-23">23</a> and the pigs ran
+about trying to find the food, but Paw Yan forgot
+to throw it to them, for, while he stood
+there, he saw ants running down the trunk of a
+tree, and he could think of nothing else. “That’s
+an easy way to get down a tree,” thought Paw
+Yan. “I’ll try it,” and, throwing the rice aside,
+he climbed the tree, and, head first, started down,
+but fell to the ground and broke his neck!</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-22">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-22">22</a>: Paw Yan—a blunderer.
+</div>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-23">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-23">23</a>: Ow—take.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_141">141 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-10-4">An Unfortunate Shot</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">There</span> was once a poor man too ill to work,
+and he had no one to give him food. The chow
+of the province heard of him and sent for him to
+come to his house.</p>
+
+<p>When the man reached the house of the chow,
+the chow gave him a bow and arrow, saying,
+“Shoot upward toward the sky. When the
+arrow falls to the earth, if it fall making a hole
+in the earth, I will weigh the earth which the
+arrow digs up, and give thee the weight of it in
+gold. On whatsoever thy arrow falls, that will I
+weigh and give its weight unto thee in gold. If,
+in its fall, the arrow should make a hole in the
+ground six feet long and six feet deep, that earth
+will I weigh, and gold according to the weight
+thereof shall be thine.”</p>
+
+<p>The poor man was indeed glad, and, shooting
+with all his strength into the air, the arrow
+pierced a pomegranate seed, therefore the chow
+gave unto him gold but the weight of the seed!</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_142">142 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_143">143 </a></span>
+
+<h2 id="part-11">XI<br>
+Stories Gone Astray</h2>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_144">144 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_145">145 </a></span>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-11-1">The Blind Man</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">A man</span> and a woman had a daughter to whom
+they ever taught, in selecting a husband, to take
+none but a man with rough hands, as then she
+might know he would work.</p>
+
+<p>Overhearing this advice, and desiring a wife, a
+blind man took some rice, pounded it, and having
+rubbed it over his hands, came to woo the
+maiden. Though utterly blind, the eyes of the
+blind man appeared even as the eyes of those
+who see, and the maiden loved him and gave
+herself to him in marriage. Never did she suspect
+the truth.</p>
+
+<p>Many days they lived happily, but upon a time
+the wife made curry of many kinds of meat, and
+her husband ate but of one kind. When she
+asked him why he ate but of the one kind, the
+husband replied, “If a man eat from a dish, that
+dish should he wash. If I eat but from one, I
+need wash but one.”</p>
+
+<p>Again, upon a day, as the husband plowed the
+rice field, he plowed up the ridges between the
+fields.</p>
+
+<p>“Why dost thou work after that fashion?”
+asked the wife.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_146">146 </a></span>
+
+<p>“The places for planting the rice are small and
+narrow. I wish to make them larger,” replied
+the husband.</p>
+
+<p>When the rice had grown, the man went into
+the fields with his wife, and, as they walked, he
+fell over the ridges, in among the rice.</p>
+
+<p>“Why dost thou fall upon the rice?” asked
+the wife.</p>
+
+<p>“I do but measure the distance between the
+plants. If the rice be good this year, I will then
+know just how far apart to plant it next year,”
+he answered.</p>
+
+<p>And upon a time it happened the house was
+burning, and, as the wife fled, she saw her husband
+lingering and unable to find the door.</p>
+
+<p>“Come this way, the door is here,” cried the
+wife.</p>
+
+<p>“I know, I know. I but measure the house
+that we may build another of its size,” retorted
+the husband.</p>
+
+<p>Lo, as the husband left the burning house and
+was running, he fell into a well. His wife
+placed a ladder for him to climb out, but, behold,
+he climbed far above the mouth of the
+well.</p>
+
+<p>“Come down. Here is the ground,” called
+the wife.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_147">147 </a></span>
+
+<p>“I know, I know. I am up here to see if the
+fire is out,” called down the husband.</p>
+
+<p>Long had the father of the wife suspected the
+husband was blind, and, upon a day, he came to
+test his eyes. Carrying a bell, such as a buffalo
+wears, the father hid in the bushes and rang the
+bell.</p>
+
+<p>“Go, bring the buffalo into the compound,”<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-24" href="#fn-24">24</a>
+directed the wife.</p>
+
+<p>Suspecting naught, the husband went to the
+bushes, and cried, “Yoo, yoo!”<a class="fn_call" id="fn_call-25" href="#fn-25">25</a> The father
+struck him, but he freed himself and returned to
+the house and told his wife that the buffalo had
+been dangerous and had horned him. But the
+father, convinced the husband had deceived
+them all, drove him from the house.</p>
+
+<p>As the blind man walked, he met a man with
+palsied feet.</p>
+
+<p>“If thou wilt be eyes to me, I will be feet to
+thee,” called the blind man, and, forthwith, he
+put the palsied man on his back. As they
+journeyed, they met a wizard, who said,
+“Would you prosper, that which you grasp
+hold with a secure hand.”</p>
+
+<p>And upon a day, the man with the palsy saw
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_148">148 </a></span>
+a bird’s nest; thinking there would be eggs
+therein, he bade the blind man go up the tree
+and bring them. When the blind man grasped
+the nest, the head of a venomous snake appeared,
+but his companion called, “Grasp it tightly,” and,
+as he held it, the snake cast of its venom in his
+eyes, and he saw all things. Just lingering to
+place the snake on his afflicted friend, and seeing
+him, too, restored, the husband hastened home
+to his wife, but as he ran, he beheld her coming
+out to him. With these kind words did she
+greet him, “O, my husband, come I will work
+for thee. I have ever loved thee!” but, when
+she beheld that his eyesight was restored, she
+was exceeding glad, and greatly did she rejoice.</p>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-24">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-24">24</a>: Enclosed grounds or yard—generally a place of residence.
+</div>
+
+<div class="fn" id="fn-25">
+<a class="fn_mark" href="#fn_call-25">25</a>: Yoo, yoo—stand still, be quiet.
+</div>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-11-2">Heads I Win, Tails You Lose</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">A man</span> once asked his newly-married son-in-law,
+“You will help me in the work that the
+chow gives me to do, now that you are one of
+us, will you not?”</p>
+
+<p>And the son-in-law replied, “I will promise
+this. Whenever you go, I will stay at home,
+and when I stay at home, you will go and
+work.”</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_149">149 </a></span>
+
+<p>Pleased with the ready promise, the father
+said, “I thank you, my son.”</p>
+
+<p>When the chow called the father, the son
+said, “This time you go, and I will stay at
+home,” and the father went.</p>
+
+<p>And when the chow again called, the son
+said, “Now, I will stay at home, whilst you go.”</p>
+
+<p>Then the father understood the promise of his
+son, and he did his government work alone until
+the day of his death.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-11-3">The Great Boaster</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">There</span> lived in the south a man who so continually
+boasted of his strength and endurance
+that all the people called him, “Kee-oo-yai”—the
+great boaster. Never entered into his ear a
+tale of danger, but his mouth opened to speak of
+a greater one which had been his; never a feat of
+strength but he could tell of one requiring greater
+strength which he had done, so, when the men of
+the village talked together and saw him drawing
+near, they would derisively say, “There is the
+great boaster coming. We must flee from his
+face for, is not he as strong and brave as the
+elephant? And we, compared to him are but as
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_150">150 </a></span>
+the dogs, or as the pigs.” And the company
+would separate, so when the boaster reached the
+place no one would be there.</p>
+
+<p>Once, a young boy came from a distant
+province, and, hearing of the boaster, said,
+“Verily, I can bring him to have a face of
+shame before his neighbors, for, in one thing I
+can excel any man almost. I can run for a short
+distance and my heart does not beat faster,
+neither can any man say that my heart is
+quicker than when I am but seated, doing no
+labor. I will challenge the boaster to run up a
+hill with me, breathing but four times until the
+top is reached.”</p>
+
+<p>The next day, the boy met and challenged the
+boaster to run to the top of a small hill, drawing
+breath but four times on the way. “If you can
+run and draw breath but four times, I can run
+the same distance and draw breath but twice,”
+the boaster said.</p>
+
+<p>When the race was run, many men ran along
+to see that neither of the runners deceived the
+other. The boaster ran but a short distance,
+when he shouted in pain and shame, “Had we
+been running down-hill, I am sure that I could
+have done more than you.”</p>
+
+<p>Then all the men mocked the boaster, saying,
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_151">151 </a></span>
+“Your words are truly large, but your works are
+but small. Never again will we listen to you,
+for a young lad has overcome one who says that
+he is stronger than the strongest.” From that
+time never were they troubled, for, “Kee-oo-yai,”—the
+great boaster, was never heard to
+boast again.</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-11-4">A Clever Thief</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Once</span> a man went into the field of a gardener
+and stole a melon. Before he had had time to
+eat it the gardener discovered him, took the
+melon and tied it to the neck of the thief, and
+led him to the home of the head man of the
+village.</p>
+
+<p>As they walked along, the thief took his scarf
+and covered his head and shoulders, and, as he
+was in front, he ate the melon without the
+gardener’s seeing him.</p>
+
+<p>When they reached the home of the head man,
+the gardener said, “This man stole a melon from
+me. It is tied to his neck under the cloth which
+covers his head and shoulders.”</p>
+
+<p>“I thought this man but walked along. I did
+not know he would accuse me of such a sin. If
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_152">152 </a></span>
+I stole a melon, where is it?” asked the thief.
+He removed the scarf, and, lo, there was nothing
+to prove his guilt, and the head man said, “I see
+no sign of guilt in this man. Do not again
+falsely accuse one, or you will be punished.”</p>
+
+<div class="separator">
+<img src="images/separator.png" alt="">
+</div>
+
+<h3 id="chapter-11-5">Eyeless-Needle, Rotten-Egg, Rotten-Banana,
+Old-Fish and Broken-Pestle.</h3>
+
+<p><span class="firstword">Once</span> upon a time there were five men so lazy
+and wicked that no one would speak to them
+nor have anything to do with them. No one of
+their native province would speak to them at all,
+and, to show their contempt for them, the people
+had christened them by odious names. One was
+called, “Eyeless-Needle”; one, “Rotten-Egg”;
+one, “Rotten-Banana”; one, “Old-Fish,” and
+the fifth, “Broken-Pestle.”</p>
+
+<p>As there was neither shelter nor food for them
+in the village, they went to live in the woods,
+and one day they saw a cannibal building a fire.
+He had both a fine house and much goods, so
+one of the men said, “Let us go kill him, and
+take his goods.”</p>
+
+<p>“Eyeless-needle” said, “No, we must not
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_153">153 </a></span>
+kill him now. When he sleeps we will kill him.
+I have planned just how it shall be done. You,
+‘Rotten-Egg,’ go to the fireplace. You, ‘Old-Fish,’
+jump into the water jar. ‘Rotten-Banana,’
+lie down at the top of the stairs, and,
+you, ‘Broken-Pestle,’ lie at the foot.”</p>
+
+<p>As the eye of day had closed and the cannibal
+slept, “Eyeless-Needle,” from under the bed,
+pricked him. The cannibal thought insects were
+biting him, and, unable to sleep, he arose to
+build a fire. When he stooped to blow the
+flame, “Rotten-Egg” broke and flew up into
+his face; when he sought the water jar to wash
+his face, “Old-Fish” jumped and broke the jar
+and all the water was lost. Taking the dipper to
+go to the well for water, the cannibal slipped on
+“Rotten-Banana” and fell downstairs, where
+“Broken-Pestle” struck him on the head and
+killed him. Then, taking much goods, “Eyeless-Needle,”
+“Rotten-Banana,” “Rotten-Egg,”
+“Old-Fish,” and “Broken-Pestle” fled, and to
+this day, has no one either seen or heard of
+them.</p>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_154">154 </a></span>
+<br>
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_155">155 </a></span>
+
+<div class="ads">
+
+<h3>For Work Among Children</h3>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Practical Primary Plans.</b> For Sabbath School Teachers.
+By Israel P. Black. Illustrated with diagrams. 16mo, cloth,
+$1.00.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Object Lessons for Junior Work.</b> Practical Suggestions,
+Object Lessons, and Picture Stories. By Ella N. Wood. 16mo,
+cloth, with designs and illustrations, 50 cents.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>The Children’s Prayer.</b> By Rev. James Wells, D.D.
+Addresses to the Young on the Lord’s Prayer. 16mo, cloth,
+75 cents.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Bible Stories Without Names.</b> By Rev. Harry Smith, M.A.
+With questions at the end of each chapter and the answers in a
+separate booklet. 16mo, cloth, 75 cents.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Object Lessons for Children</b>; or, Hooks and Eyes, Truth
+Linked to Sight. Illustrated. By Rev. C. H. Tyndall, Ph.D.,
+A.M. <em>2d edition.</em> 12mo, cloth, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Attractive Truths in Lesson and Story.</b> By Mrs. A. M.
+Scudder. Introduction by Rev. F. E. Clark, D.D. <em>3d thousand.</em>
+8vo, cloth, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Pictured Truth.</b> A Handbook of Blackboard and Object
+Teaching. By Rev. R. F. Y. Pierce. Introduction by R. H.
+Conwell, D.D. With illustrations by the author. <em>3d thousand.</em>
+12mo, cloth, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Children’s Meetings, and How to Conduct Them.</b> By
+Lucy J. Rider and Nellie M. Carman. Introduction by Bishop
+J. H. Vincent. Cloth, illustrated, <em>net</em>, $1.00; paper covers, <em>net</em>,
+50 cents.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Talks to Children.</b> By Rev. T. T. Eaton, D.D., with
+introduction by Rev. John A. Broadus, D.D., LL.D., 16mo,
+cloth, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Conversion of Children.</b> By Rev. E. P. Hammond. A
+practical volume, replete with incident and illustration. Suggestive,
+important, and timely. Cloth, 75 cents<ins title="Note: “.” in the original" id="cg_4">;</ins> paper cover,
+30 cents.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Gospel Pictures and Story Sermons for Children.</b> By
+Major D. W. Whittle. Profusely illustrated. <em>47th thousand.</em>
+12mo, cloth, 30 cents, net; paper, 15 cents.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Seed for Spring-time Sowing.</b> A Wall Roll for the use of
+Primary, Sabbath School and Kindergarten Teachers. Compiled
+by Mrs. Robert Pratt. 75 cents.</p>
+
+<div class="footer">
+
+<p class="title">Fleming H. Revell Company</p>
+
+<span class="location"><span class="smallcaps">New York</span>: 158 Fifth Avenue</span>
+<span class="location"><span class="smallcaps">Chicago</span>: 63 Washington Street</span>
+<span class="location"><span class="smallcaps">Toronto</span>: 154 Yonge Street</span>
+
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<span class="page_anchor"><a id="pg_156">156 </a></span>
+
+<div class="ads">
+
+<h3>The Home and Children</h3>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Child Culture in the Home.</b> By Martha B. Mosher. 12mo,
+cloth, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p>“Rarely has so helpful a book on the moral education of children
+appeared. The emotions, the senses, the will, as well as the training
+of the habits of the child and methods of training, are all considered.”—<em>The
+Outlook</em>.</p>
+
+<p>“It is written in a clear, straightforward manner, is rich in suggestions
+and illustrations, and is thoroughly wholesome in counsel.”—<em>Cumberland
+Presbyterian</em>.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Studies in Home and Child-Life.</b> By Mrs. S. M. I. Henry.
+<em>Eighth thousand</em>, 12mo, cloth, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p>“It is clear, concise and vigorous throughout, and has the charm
+of Mother love and God love from first to last. We cannot conceive
+of a more helpful manual than this would be in the hands of young
+parents, and indeed of all who have to do with children.”—<em>The
+Union Signal</em>.</p>
+
+<p>“The book is one we can heartily commend to every father and
+mother to read and re-read, and ponder over and read again.”—<em>The
+Observer</em>.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Child Culture; or, The Science of Motherhood.</b> By Mrs.
+Hannah Whitall Smith, <em>3rd edition</em>, 16mo, decorated
+boards, 30 cents.</p>
+
+<p>“We have read nothing from the pen of this gifted woman which
+we have more enjoyed than this wisely-written booklet, as spiritual
+as it is practical, and as full of common sense as of exalted sentiment.
+Any mother having prayerfully read this heart message of a true
+woman will be a better mother.”—<em>Cumberland Presbyterian</em>.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>The Children for Christ.</b> By Rev. Andrew Murray, D.D.
+Thoughts for Christian Parents on the Consecration of the
+Home Life. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p>“The author seems to have had a Divine vocation in writing
+this book, and thousands of parents ought to derive blessings from
+it for their children.”—<em>The Evangelist</em>.</p>
+
+<p class="first"><b>Home Duties.</b> Practical Talks on the Amenities of the
+Home. By Rev. R. T. Cross. 12mo, paper, 15 cents;
+cloth, 30 cents, net.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smallcaps">Contents</span>: Duties of Husbands. Duties of Wives. Duties
+of Parents. Duties of Children. Duties of Brothers and Sisters.
+The Duty of Family Worship. The Method of Family Worship.
+A Home for Every Family and How to Get It.</p>
+
+<p>“A model of what can be done in so brief a space.”—<em>The
+Independent</em>.</p>
+
+<div class="footer">
+
+<p class="title">Fleming H. Revell Company</p>
+
+<span class="location"><span class="smallcaps">New York</span>: 158 Fifth Avenue</span>
+<span class="location"><span class="smallcaps">Chicago</span>: 63 Washington Street</span>
+<span class="location"><span class="smallcaps">Toronto</span>: 154 Yonge Street</span>
+
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="transcribers_note" id="tn_end">
+
+<h3>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE</h3>
+
+<p>In the first story, <a href="#chapter-1-1">A Child of The Woods</a>, the
+second paragraph starts with an <a href="#cg_1">opening quote</a> that is never
+closed or continued, this has been left unchanged.</p>
+
+<p>List of changes from the printed edition:</p>
+
+<table class="changes" summary="">
+
+<tr>
+ <th>page</th>
+ <th>original</th>
+ <th>changed to</th>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+ <td><a href="#cg_2">72</a></td>
+ <td>vension</td>
+ <td>venison</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+ <td><a href="#cg_3">80</a></td>
+ <td>flying jewel</td>
+ <td>flying-jewel</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+ <td><a href="#cg_4">155</a></td>
+ <td>75 cents. paper</td>
+ <td>75 cents; paper</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India, by 
+Katherine Neville Fleeson
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India, by
+Katherine Neville Fleeson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India
+
+Author: Katherine Neville Fleeson
+
+Illustrator: W. A. Briggs
+
+Release Date: March 12, 2011 [EBook #35564]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAOS FOLK-LORE OF FARTHER INDIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
+
+The Contents are placed after the Introduction, as in the original.
+
+Italic type is marked with _underlines_ and bold with *asterisks*.
+Footnote references are marked with [brackets] and the texts have been
+placed at the end of each story.
+
+Changes to the original publication (possible typographic errors or
+inconsistencies) are listed at the end.
+
+
+
+
+                    Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India
+
+
+[Illustration: A Group of Laos Girls.]
+
+
+                             Laos Folk-Lore
+                                   of
+                             Farther India
+
+                                   BY
+                       Katherine Neville Fleeson
+
+              With Illustrations from Photographs taken by
+                          W. A. Briggs, M. D.
+
+                      NEW YORK   CHICAGO   TORONTO
+                       Fleming H. Revell Company
+                  Publishers of Evangelical Literature
+
+
+                            Copyright, 1899
+                                   by
+                       FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+
+These Folk-Tales from the Laos country, a part of the kingdom of Siam,
+in addition to their intrinsic merit have the charm of complete novelty.
+Until the translator of this volume collected these stories, they were
+even unwritten, with a single exception which was found in a Laos
+manuscript. They are orally preserved in the provinces which constitute
+the Laos country, just as they have been handed down from generations of
+ancestors, with slight variations in words or incidents. The elders
+among the people tell the stories at their merrymakings around the
+camp-fires and within their primitive houses, to amuse and instruct the
+youth and children.
+
+Living among the Laos in the friendly and intimate relation of a
+missionary, the translator has had the advantage of long residence and
+unrivalled opportunity for understanding the history, customs, religious
+ideas and aspirations of this interesting people. Aptness in use of
+their colloquial speech gave her special facility for gathering the
+stories with exactness, as they fell from the lips of the narrators in
+her hearing; and for the delicate additional task of translating them
+into English. The scholar, who is a student of the world's Folk-Lore,
+may be assured that he has here, the Laos tales unobscured, just as they
+are told to-day.
+
+Reflecting, as they do, thoughts, desires and hopes common to our
+humanity, these stories at the same time exhibit, in a pathetic way, the
+need in Laos of the uplifting and transforming power of the Christian
+religion.
+
+                                                        Willis G. Craig.
+
+  McCormick Theological Seminary,
+            Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+                                                            PAGE
+
+          I. Tales of the Jungle                              13
+  1 A Child of the Woods                                      15
+  2 The Enchanted Mountain                                    17
+  3 The Spirit-Guarded Cave                                   20
+  4 The Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars                23
+
+          II. Fables from the Forest                          25
+  1 Right and Might                                           27
+  2 Why the Lip of the Elephant Droops                        29
+  3 How a Dead Tiger Killed the Princess                      32
+  4 The Monkeys and the Crabs                                 33
+
+          III. Nature's Riddles and their Answers             35
+  1 The Man in the Moon                                       37
+  2 The Origin of Lightning                                   38
+  3 Why the Parrot and the Minor Bird but
+    Echo the Words of Man                                     41
+  4 The Fatherless Birds                                      44
+
+          IV. Romance and Tragedy                             47
+  1 The Lovers' Leap                                          49
+  2 The Faithful Husband                                      51
+  3 The Faithful Wife                                         57
+  4 An Unexpected Issue                                       60
+
+          V. Temples and Priests                              63
+  1 The Giants' Mountain and the Temple                       65
+  2 Cheating the Priest                                       67
+  3 The Disappointed Priest                                   69
+  4 The Greedy Priest                                         71
+  5 The Ambitious Priest                                      73
+
+          VI. Moderation and Greed                            75
+  1 The Wizard and the Beggar                                 77
+  2 A Covetous Neighbor                                       80
+  3 A Lazy Man's Plot                                         83
+  4 The Ungrateful Fisherman                                  84
+  5 The Legend of the Rice                                    85
+
+          VII. Parables and Proverbs                          87
+  1 "One Woman, in Deceit and Craft,
+    is More than a Match for Eight Men"                       89
+  2 "The Wisest Man of a Small Village
+    is Not Equal in Wisdom to a Boy
+    of the City Streets"                                      93
+  3 "To Aid Beast is Merit;
+    to Aid Man is But Vanity"                                 95
+
+          VIII. The Gods Know and the Gods Reward             99
+  1 Love's Secrets                                           101
+  2 Poison-Mouth                                             103
+  3 Strife and Peace                                         105
+  4 The Widow's Punishment                                   107
+  5 Honesty Rewarded                                         109
+  6 The Justice of In Ta Pome                                111
+
+          IX. Wonders of Wisdom                              113
+  1 The Words of Untold Value                                115
+  2 A Wise Philosopher                                       119
+  3 The Boys Who Were Not Appreciated                        122
+  4 The Magic Well                                           126
+
+          X. Strange Fortunes of Strange People              129
+  1 The Fortunes of Ai Powlo                                 131
+  2 The Fortunes of a Lazy Beggar                            135
+  3 The Misfortunes of Paw Yan                               139
+  4 An Unfortunate Shot                                      141
+
+          XI. Stories Gone Astray                            143
+  1 The Blind Man                                            145
+  2 "Heads, I Win. Tails, You Lose"                          148
+  3 The Great Boaster                                        149
+  4 A Clever Thief                                           151
+  5 Eyeless-Needle, Rotten-Egg, Rotten-Banana,
+    Old-Fish and Broken-Pestle                               152
+
+
+
+
+List of Illustrations.
+
+
+  A Group of Laos Girls                                 _Frontispiece_
+  Types of the Laos People                           _Facing page_  15
+  A Laos Forest-stream                                  "     "     28
+  The Laos Governor's Wife at her Embroidery Frame      "     "     57 
+  A Group of Buddhist Priests                      } 
+  The Interior of a Buddhist Temple                }    "     "     66
+  Monastery Grounds at Chieng Tung, Laos                "     "     72
+  At Work in the Rice Fields                            "     "     86
+  The "Chow" and his Palace                             "     "     96
+  Laos Feast                                       }
+  A Street in a Laos Town                          }    "     "    136
+
+
+
+
+  I
+  Tales of the Jungle
+
+[Illustration: Types of the Laos People]
+
+
+A Child of The Woods
+
+Deep in the forest of the North there is a large village of jungle
+people, and, among them is one old woman, who is held in reverence by
+all. The stranger who asks why she is honored as a princess is thus
+answered by her:
+
+"Verily, I have much _boon_,[1] for I am but a child of nature. When I
+was a young maiden, it fell upon a day that my heart grew hot with
+anger. For many days the anger grew until it filled my whole heart, also
+were my eyes so red that I could see but dimly, and no longer could I
+live in the village or among my own people, for I hated all men and I
+felt that the beasts of the forest were more to me than my kindred.
+Therefore, I fled from the face of man into the jungle where no human
+foot had ever gone. All day I journeyed, running as though my feet would
+never weary and feeling no pangs of hunger. When the darkness closed
+about me, I was not afraid, but lay down under the shelter of a tree,
+and, for a time, slept peacefully, as peacefully as though in my own
+home. At length, I was awakened by the breath of an animal, and, in the
+clear light of the moon, I saw a large tiger before me. It smelled of my
+face, my hands and my feet, then seated itself by my head and watched me
+through the night, and I lay there unafraid. In the early morning, the
+tiger departed and I continued my journey. Quieter was my heart. Still,
+I disliked my own people but had no fear of the beasts or the reptiles
+of the forest.
+
+During the day I ate of the fruit which grew wild in abundance, and at
+night I slept 'neath a tree, protected and guarded by fierce, wild
+beasts which molested not my sleep. For many days I wandered thus, and
+the nights were secure; for the wild beasts watched over and protected
+me. Thus my heart grew cool in my bosom, and I no longer hated my
+people; and, after one moon had gone, I found myself near a village. The
+people wondered to see me approach from the jungle, dreaded as being the
+jungle of the man-eating tiger. When I related my story, the people were
+filled with wonder and brought rich gifts to me. For a year and a day I
+abode there, and no more the wild beasts molested their cattle.
+
+But my heart yearned to see the face of my kindred again, so, laden with
+silver, gold and rich garments and seated in the howdah[2] of an
+elephant, the people escorted me to my own village, and here have I
+abode in content these one hundred years.
+
+  1: Merit.
+
+  2: The car placed on the back of elephants.
+
+
+The Enchanted Mountain
+
+The hunters who are continually going about from place to place,
+climbing up high hills, descending into deep ravines and making ways
+through jungles in search of the wild bison and other game, tell strange
+tales of an enchanted place away on the top of a lofty mountain. There,
+is a beautiful lake, which is as bright and clear as a drop of morning
+dew hanging on the petal of the white water-lily, and, when you drink of
+it, you are no longer aweary; new life has come into you, and your body
+is more vigorous than ever before. The flowers on the margin of this
+enchanted lake are more beautiful than those that grow in any other
+spot, and, such is the love of the cherishing spirits for it, that they
+care for it as for no other place in this world. Bananas of a larger
+growth than can be found in the gardens of man, and oranges, sweeter to
+the taste than those we ever eat, are there. The fruits of all trees,
+more beautiful to the eye and richer than man can produce, are there,
+free to those who can find them. All the fowls usually nurtured by man
+and flocking about his door are there, and they are not affrighted by
+the presence of the hunter but come at his call. Should the hunter wish
+to kill them, his arrow cannot pierce their charmed bodies to deprive
+them of life, but the arrow falls harmless to the ground, because the
+spirits protect them and their lives are sacred. Great fields of rice
+are about this place, and the hunter marvels at the size of the grains
+and at the strength of the stalks. No field cared for by man has seen
+grain like that which the spirits nourish.
+
+Many men, on hearing of this wonderful mountain-top, have sought it, but
+all have returned unsuccessful to their homes, saying, no such place is
+on this earth. Only the hunter, who has chased the game through the
+jungle, o'er the streams and up the steep mountain-sides, when tired and
+discouraged because the coveted prize has gone far beyond his reach, is
+rewarded for all his labor, when he finds himself in the garden of
+fruit, or on the margin of the enchanted lake, whose waters give renewed
+vigor to his wearied body.
+
+Often, when the hunter desires to eat of the flesh of the fowls, he
+endeavors to kill the fowls, but no effort of his can take their life,
+as the spirits hold them in their care. No mortal can harm them. Nor can
+the hunter take any of the fruit away, for, as he leaves the spot, no
+matter how he may hold it, it vanishes from his hand. Thus, no man, who
+has not seen the place, has eaten of the fruit nor drank of the water;
+so, many doubt their existence, for such is the heart of man that he
+must touch with his hands, see with his eyes, or taste with his tongue,
+ere he can believe. Nevertheless, on the top of the lofty mountain there
+is the lake with the cool waters, clear and beautiful, where the fowls
+swim on its surface, or drink from its margin, and the grain and the
+fruit ripen for those who are loved of the spirits, and are led by them
+to this cherished spot where they may rest and be refreshed, and then
+return to their wives and children and tell them of the care of the
+spirits. The little ones, who have hearts free from guile, believe.
+
+
+The Spirit-Guarded Cave
+
+When the people of the far north[3] were molested by their foes and were
+in continual fear, they consulted together, saying, "Our lives are spent
+in trying to escape from our enemies and no joy can be ours. Let us flee
+to the south country[4] where, if the people make slaves of us, we can,
+at least, know that our lives will be spared, and life, even in slavery,
+is better than this constant fear of our enemies destroying both
+ourselves and our dwelling-places and taking our cattle for their own."
+Therefore, they gathered together all their household goods, secreted
+their money and jewels about their persons, and, loading their cattle
+with rice, they commenced their toilsome journey through the narrow
+jungle paths and across the high mountains on their way to the south,
+where they hoped for peace and safety. The way was long and difficult,
+and the rice was all eaten and the cattle killed and consumed before
+they had nearly reached their journey's end. Then the fugitives
+commenced to use their money to buy food that they might have strength
+for the journey, and they whispered one to another that the people
+looked with covetous eyes on their hoard of money and jewels, and they
+feared they would be slain because of the greed of the people.
+
+One man, wiser than the others, said, "Why do we endanger our lives for
+our possessions? Can we not find some secret place in which to leave our
+money and jewels, and when brighter days come to us we can return and
+find them even as we left them?"
+
+All the people cried, "Your words are wise. Let us do accordingly," and
+as these people were loved of the spirits, they were led to a deep cave
+in the midst of a wood where man seldom came, and there they left their
+possessions in the care of the spirits who promised to guard them until
+in the days, when life being brighter and more secure, the owners would
+come and claim them.
+
+The people journeyed on to the south country, and there lived as slaves.
+Many generations of them lived and died, but they could not escape nor
+come to claim the vast wealth and jewels which they had left in care of
+the spirits of the cave.
+
+The story became known, and the inhabitants of all the surrounding
+countries went to the cave and sought to secure the treasure. But such
+was the care of the spirits that no man with safety could enter the
+cave. A light was instantly extinguished, if let down into the deep pit
+leading into the chamber where the treasure was, for the spirits blew
+their breath upon it and it was no more. All devices were tried to
+obtain the treasure, and from all parts of the country the people came
+to try to overcome the charm which the spirits had placed upon the cave,
+but no one was able to break it. One man went even into the treasure
+chamber and filled his hands with the precious stones, but he was
+overcome by a deadly sickness and was forced to replace the jewels in
+the treasure chest and flee for his life so as to escape the wrath of
+the guarding spirits. Even the white, foreign strangers, who have come
+into the land and placed their strong hands on the elephants and the
+trees[5] of the forest and claimed them for their use, were baffled and
+driven back by the faithful spirits when they endeavored to enter the
+treasure chamber, and for all time this treasure shall remain there,
+for, if the white foreigner, by his wisdom, or by his craft, fails to
+obtain it, verily it will remain untouched forever.
+
+  3: In China.
+
+  4: Siam.
+
+  5: Teak-wood.
+
+
+The Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars
+
+The spirits, who lived in the mountains near a large city, upon a time
+wanted money for some purpose, and they brought down to the people of
+the city a number of large and heavy stone mortars which they commanded
+them to buy at an exorbitant price.
+
+The men of the city said, "The price you ask is too great; moreover, we
+have no need of your mortars, as they are too large for us to use in
+pounding out our rice, or for any other purpose. Therefore, we do not
+wish to buy them."
+
+The spirits were very angry because they did not cheerfully agree to pay
+the money, and answered, "If you will not buy these mortars which we
+have brought for your use, you shall carry them up to our home on the
+top of the mountain, for the labor of bringing them down has wearied
+us."
+
+Not daring to incur the wrath of the spirits, and yet being utterly
+unable to carry the huge mortars to the high mountain, they paid the
+price, for, they reasoned, "Is any price too great to risk our falling
+under the displeasure of the evil spirits?"
+
+The spirits departed with the money, and to this day, the stone mortars
+are scattered about the streets of that city, and, when strangers ask
+why they are there and what use is made of them, this story will be
+told, and all people say it is verily the truth, for do you not see them
+with your eyes, and how else could they have come here, had not the
+spirits brought them?
+
+
+
+
+  II
+  Fables From the Forest
+
+
+Right and Might
+
+While a deer was eating wild fruit, he heard an owl call, "Haak,
+haak,"[6] and a cricket cry, "Wat,"[7] and, frightened, he fled.
+
+In his flight he ran through the trees up into the mountains and into
+streams. In one of the streams the deer stepped upon a small fish and
+crushed it almost to death.
+
+Then the fish complained to the court, and the deer, owl, cricket and
+fish had a lawsuit. In the trial came out this evidence:
+
+As the deer fled, he ran into some dry grass, and the seed fell into the
+eye of a wild chicken, and the pain of the seed in the eye of the
+chicken caused it to fly up against a nest of red ants. Alarmed, the red
+ants flew out to do battle, and in their haste, bit a mon-goose. The
+mon-goose ran into a vine of wild fruit and shook several pieces of it
+on the head of a hermit, who sat thinking under a tree.
+
+"Why didst thou, O fruit, fall on my head," cried the hermit.
+
+The fruit answered: "We did not wish to fall; a mon-goose ran against
+our vine and threw us down."
+
+And the hermit asked, "O mon-goose, why didst thou throw the fruit?"
+
+The mon-goose answered: "I did not wish to throw down the fruit, but the
+red ants bit me and I ran against the vine."
+
+The hermit asked, "O ants, why did ye bite the mon-goose?"
+
+The red ants replied: "The hen flew against our nest and angered us."
+
+The hermit asked, "O hen, why didst thou fly against the red ants'
+nest?"
+
+And the hen replied: "The seed fell into my eyes and hurt me."
+
+And the hermit asked, "O seed, why didst thou fall into the hen's eyes?"
+
+And the seed replied: "The deer shook me down."
+
+The hermit said unto the deer, "O deer, why didst thou shake down the
+seed?"
+
+The deer answered: "I did not wish to do it, but the owl called,
+frightening me and I ran."
+
+"O owl," asked the hermit, "why didst thou frighten the deer?"
+
+The owl replied: "I called but as I am accustomed to call--the cricket,
+too, called."
+
+Having heard the evidence, the judge said, "The cricket must replace the
+crushed parts of the fish and make it well," as he, the cricket, had
+called and frightened the deer.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The cricket was smaller and weaker than the owl or the deer, therefore
+had to bear the penalty.
+
+  6: Haak--a spear.
+
+  7: Wat--surrounded.
+
+[Illustration: A Laos Forest-stream.]
+
+
+Why the Lip of the Elephant Droops
+
+In the days when the earth was young lived a poor man and his wife who
+had twelve daughters, whom they no longer loved and no longer desired.
+Day after day the father and mother planned to be free of them, and upon
+a day, the father made ready a basket; in the bottom he placed ashes,
+but on the top he spread rice. Taking this basket with him, he called
+his daughters to come go to the jungle to hunt for game.
+
+When the heat of the day had come, they all sat down to eat, and, after
+they had eaten, the father gave each daughter a bamboo joint, and bade
+her get water for him. The joints were so made that they would not hold
+water, and while the maidens endeavored to make them so they would, the
+father returned home. In vain did the maidens try to make the joints
+hold the water and after a time they sought their father, but, lo, the
+father was gone and only the basket remained! Examining the basket, they
+found rice but on the top, and on the bottom filled with ashes, so they
+knew their parents sought to be free of them by leaving them in the
+trackless jungle. Unable to find their way out, there they slept
+peacefully, for the wild beasts molest not those who fearlessly stay
+with them.
+
+As the eye of day opened in the East, the forlorn maidens beheld, as
+they awakened, a beautiful woman standing near, and of her they sought
+help.
+
+"Come with me and be companions to my little daughter. Often am I away
+from home and she is lonely. Come home with me, play with my daughter,
+and, in exchange I will give you a home," said the beautiful woman.
+
+Gladly the maidens consented and went with the woman to her home far in
+the jungle. All places save one small garden were they free to enter.
+And upon a day, the fair woman said, "I go to the jungle and will not
+return until the eye of day has closed. Do not play in the small
+garden." Scarcely had she gone ere she returned, but the maidens had not
+sought the garden.
+
+Again, upon a day, the fair woman said, "I go to the jungle but for a
+short time. Go not to play in the small garden."
+
+Thinking she would this time be gone all day, the maidens sought the
+small garden, and lo, it was strewn with human bones! Then they knew the
+fair woman was a cannibal. Full of fear, they fled, and, as they fled
+they met a cow.
+
+"Protect us," they cried.
+
+The cow opened its mouth and the maidens jumped in. Thus they journeyed
+from the cannibal's home. As the cow returned, it met the fair woman
+seeking the maidens.
+
+"Have you seen twelve maidens pass this way?" asked she.
+
+"No," answered the cow.
+
+"If you do not speak the truth, I'll kill and eat you," cried she.
+
+"I saw them as they made haste in that way," replied the cow.
+
+The cannibal woman pursued that way.
+
+After the cow left them, the maidens hastened on and as they hastened
+they met an elephant and begged it to save them from the cannibal.
+
+The elephant opened its mouth and the maidens jumped in, but so slowly
+did one jump that an edge of her garment hung out of the mouth. As they
+journeyed the cannibal overtook them.
+
+"Did you see twelve maidens hastening toward the city?" asked the
+cannibal.
+
+"No," answered the elephant.
+
+"From this time forth forever the lip of thy mouth shall hang down as a
+garment," cursed the cannibal, for she had seen the edge of the maiden's
+garment hanging out of the elephant's mouth and knew it was protecting
+the twelve maidens. And to this day doth the lip of the elephant hang
+down like a garment.
+
+
+How a Dead Tiger Killed the Princess
+
+There was once a king who had a daughter at whose birth a wise man
+foretold that she would be killed by a tiger when she was a maiden
+grown. In order that no animal might approach her, the king built her a
+house set upon one huge pillar, and there she and her attendants ever
+dwelt.
+
+And it fell upon a day, when the daughter was well grown, that one of
+the hunters, whose labor it was to kill the tigers of the country,
+brought a dead one to the palace of the king. The princess, seeing her
+dead enemy, came down from her tower and plucked a whisker from the
+tiger, and, as she blew her breath on it, she cried, "I do not fear
+thee, O my enemy, for thou art dead!" But the poison, which is in the
+whiskers of a tiger, entered into the blood of the princess, and she
+died.
+
+Then did the king make a proclamation, and sent messengers throughout
+all his realm, commanding that, when a tiger was killed, all his
+whiskers be immediately pulled out and burned, that a tiger may not be
+able to slay when dead; and until this day, the people obey the command
+of the king.
+
+
+The Monkeys and the Crabs
+
+All the monkeys which live in the forests near the great sea in the
+south, watch the tide running out, hoping to catch the sea-crabs which
+are left in the soft earth. If they can find a crab above the ground,
+they immediately catch and eat it.
+
+Sometimes, the crabs bury themselves in the mud, and the monkeys, seeing
+the tunnels they have made, reach down into them with their long tails,
+and torment the crabs until they, in anger, seizing the tormenting tail,
+are drawn out and devoured by their cunning foes. But, sometimes, alas,
+the crab fails to come out! No matter with what strength the monkey
+pulls and tugs, the crabs do not appear, and the poor monkey is held
+fast, while the tide comes in and drowns it. When the tide goes out
+again, leaving the luckless monkey on the beach, the crabs come out from
+their strongholds and feast on the dead enemy.
+
+
+
+
+  III
+  Nature's Riddles and Their Answers
+
+
+The Man in the Moon
+
+There was a blacksmith once, who complained: "I am not well, and my work
+is too warm. I want to be a stone on the mountain. There it must be
+cool, for the wind blows and the trees give a shade."
+
+A wise man, who had power over all things, replied, "Go thou, be a
+stone." And he was a stone, high up on the mountain-side.
+
+It happened a stone-cutter came that way for stone, and, when he saw the
+one that had been the blacksmith, he knew it was what he sought and he
+began to cut it.
+
+The stone cried out: "This hurts. I no longer want to be a stone. A
+stone-cutter I want to be. That would be pleasant."
+
+The wise man, humoring him, said, "Be a cutter." Thus he became a
+stone-cutter and, as he went seeking suitable stone, he grew tired, and
+his feet were sore. He whimpered, "I no longer want to cut stone. I
+would be the sun, that would be pleasant."
+
+The wise man commanded, "Be the sun." And he was the sun.
+
+But the sun was warmer than the blacksmith, than a stone, than a
+stone-cutter, and he complained, "I do not like this. I would be the
+moon. It looks cool."
+
+The wise man spake yet again, "Be the moon." And he was the moon.
+
+"This is warmer than being the sun," murmured he, "for the light from
+the sun shines on me ever. I do not want to be the moon. I would be a
+smith again. That, verily, is the best life."
+
+But the wise man replied, "I am weary of your changing. You wanted to be
+the moon; the moon you are, and it you will remain."
+
+And in yon high heaven lives he to this day.
+
+
+The Origin of Lightning
+
+There was once a great chief who desired above all things to be happy in
+the future life, therefore he continually made feasts for the priests
+and the poor; spending much money in making merit. He had ten wives,
+nine of whom helped him in all the merit-makings, but the head wife, his
+favorite, would never take part. Laughing, and making herself beautiful
+in soft garments and jewels, she gave naught to the priests.
+
+And on a day, when the great chief and his nine merit-making wives were
+no more, but had gone to live in the sky on account of their
+merit-making, the great chief longed for his favorite, and taking a
+glass, he looked down on the earth to see her. After many days, he
+beheld her as a crane hunting for food on the border of a lake. The
+great chief, to try her heart and to see if she had repented, came down
+from his home in the sky in the form of a fish, and swam to the crane.
+Seeing the fish, the crane pecked at it, but the fish sprang out of the
+water, and when the crane saw it was alive, she would not touch it.
+Again the fish floated near the crane and she pecked at it, but on
+finding it was alive let it escape. Then was the heart of the great
+chief glad, for he saw that his favorite wife would not destroy life
+even to satisfy her hunger, and he knew that her merit was such she
+could be born in the form of a woman again.
+
+It happened on a day that the crane died, and, when again born, had the
+form of a gardener's child. As the child grew in years and stature, she
+was fairer than any other in the land, and, when a maiden, the father
+and mother made a feast, inviting all the people to come. During the
+feast, they gave a wreath of beautiful flowers to their daughter and
+said, "Throw this into the air, and on whosesoever head it falls, that
+one will be to thee a husband."
+
+The great chief, her husband of old, seeking her, came down to the earth
+in the form of an old man, and, when the maiden cast the wreath into the
+air, it fell on the head of this old man.
+
+Great sport was made of him, and tauntingly the people cried, "Does this
+bent stick think he is mate for our lotus flower?"
+
+But the fair maiden placed her hand in the old man's hand, and, together
+they rose into the air. In vain they sought to detain them--the father
+even shot at the old man, but they were soon lost to sight, and to this
+day, when the people see the chain lightning in the sky, they say it is
+the wreath of the beautiful maiden; when the lightning strikes, they say
+it is the gardener shooting at the old man, and, when the heat lightning
+flashes, they say it is the great chief flashing his glass over the
+earth in search of his favorite and beautiful wife.
+
+
+Why the Parrot and the Minor Bird but Echo the Words of Man
+
+Long ago people caught and nourished the sao bird, because it learned
+the language of man more readily than either the parrot or minor bird.
+While they had to be taught with much care, the sao bird had but to hear
+a word and it could readily utter it; moreover, the sao bird could utter
+its own thoughts.
+
+Upon a time a man of the north country, owning a sao bird, stole a
+buffalo from his neighbor and killed it. Part of the buffalo the man
+cooked and ate; the rest he hid either in the rice bin or over the rice
+house.
+
+Seeking the buffalo, next day, the neighbor asked the man if he had seen
+it.
+
+The man replied, "No." The sao bird, however, cried out, "He killed it;
+part he hid in the rice bin, part over the rice house."
+
+The neighbor searched in both of these places and found the parts just
+as the sao bird had said.
+
+"I did not steal the buffalo," insisted the man.
+
+But the bird ever called, "He killed it and put part into the rice bin,
+and part over the rice house."
+
+Unable to decide between the words of the man and the words of the bird,
+the neighbor appealed to the court. And, it happened, the night before
+the trial, that the man took the sao bird, placed it in a jar, covered
+the jar and poured water over the cloth and beat on the outside of the
+jar. The noise of the beating was low and rumbling. All that night was
+the bird kept in the jar, and not once did it see the bright moonlight,
+which was almost as bright as day, for it was in the midst of the dry
+season and full moon. When the eye of day opened, the man removed the
+bird from the jar and placed it in its cage, and then took it to the
+court as a witness.
+
+When the bird was called, it said, as before, "He killed it; part he put
+in the rice bin, and part over the rice house."
+
+All people believed the bird.
+
+"Ask it another question. Ask it what manner of night it was last night.
+Will you condemn me to death on the word of a bird?" cried the man.
+
+The question was put to the bird, but, remembering its fear, during the
+night, of the rumbling noise and the sound of running water, it
+answered, "Last night the sky called and the rain fell."
+
+Then the people cried, "Of a truth, the bird cannot be believed. Because
+it has imperilled the life of an innocent man, from this time forth, the
+sao bird must not be cherished by man."
+
+The thief was set free because there were but the words of the bird to
+condemn him.
+
+No longer is the sao bird nourished by man, but lives in the forest.
+Those who are full of fear, when they hear them talking in the forest,
+say, "it is the spirits."
+
+When the sao bird saw the bright plumage of the parrot, and the black
+and gold of the minor bird, it knew they were strangers who had come to
+dwell in the north, and it asked the crow and the owl what manner of
+birds they were.
+
+"Beautiful in plumage, as thou canst readily see," answered they.
+"Moreover, they speak the words of man."
+
+"Speak the words of man," echoed the sao bird. "I'll warn them. Come,
+let us greet them." And they went forth to meet the beautiful strangers.
+
+And upon a day, as they all came together in one place, the sao bird
+cried out, "We, the chief birds of the north land, come to greet you and
+to give you of our wisdom, as you are but strangers in our land. It is
+told me you speak as does man; even so can I. Nourished by the hand of
+man many years, I did see with my eyes and hear with my ears, and my
+tongue uttered not only the things I beheld and heard, but things
+displeasing to my masters. At one time, all men spoke well of me, but
+afterward was I cruelly punished and driven from the homes of men.
+Therefore come I this day unto you to warn you that, if man learns of
+your speaking tongue, he will capture you and nourish you in his home.
+Yet, should you speak other than he teaches you, you will be punished
+and driven from the homes of men, for man loves only to hear _his_
+thoughts repeated and loves not even a bird that has wisdom or truth
+greater than his own."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Fearful of uttering their thoughts, lest man resent it, the parrot and
+minor bird but echo the words of man.
+
+
+The Fatherless Birds
+
+A mother bird sat brooding on her nest. Her heart was sad, for her mate
+had flown away in the morning and had not returned. When the little ones
+stirred and clamored for food, with drooping wings she flew in quest of
+it that they might not hunger.
+
+Day after day her heart grew sadder, for her mate came not, and alone
+she struggled to provide for her fledglings.
+
+When the little birds had grown strong and were able to fly, sorrow and
+heart hunger had so weakened the mother bird that she lay dying. The
+little birds crowded about her asking what they could do to aid her, and
+with her dying breath she cried, "Call, oh, call your father."
+
+The little birds, flying low over the plains, cried, "Paw hueey, paw
+hueey," and children, left alone in their homes, while their parents
+labor in the rice fields, hearing the wail of the birds, wept, crying
+too, "Paw hueey, maa hueey."[8]
+
+Never has the father bird been found, and, to this day, flying low over
+the plains, the little birds cry, in their plaintive voices, "Paw hueey,
+paw hueey," and lonely children echo, "Paw hueey, maa hueey."
+
+  8: Paw hueey--Oh, father! Maa hueey--Oh, mother!
+
+
+
+
+  IV
+  Romance and Tragedy
+
+
+The Lovers' Leap
+
+Many, many years ago there lived, on the mountains among the rapids of
+the Maa Ping, a young man who loved a maiden and the maiden loved him
+truly, but her father refused his consent to their union and commanded
+that his daughter see her lover no more, nor hold communication with
+him. At all times and in all ways the father of the maiden endeavored to
+overcome her regard for her lover, but she would think of no other,
+although many came to woo her.
+
+Often did the young lovers seek to meet, but so constantly were they
+watched it was impossible and they could only wait patiently. Each knew
+the other was true and each heart rested in this assurance.
+
+And upon a time the father of the maiden thought she had forgotten her
+lover, and, greatly rejoiced, he made a feast and invited all the people
+of the province to come and make merry with him, and he reasoned, "Now
+that she has forgotten her former lover, will she not consent to marry a
+man I choose for her?"
+
+While they were feasting the maiden wandered out to think of the one she
+had not seen for so long and weary a time, and, suddenly, the dark
+evening became to her as the bright noonday, for her lover was before
+her. He entreated her to come with him and to be his wife. Thinking of
+the dreary days she had passed and the more dreary ones to come, should
+she see her heart's choice no more, she consented. As they were mounting
+his strong, young horse, a servant saw them and ran to the house and
+gave the alarm. Soon the father and all the men were in pursuit of the
+lovers. For a time the young horse kept far ahead of its pursuers, but,
+wearying of its double burden, it began to lag just as it reached the
+top of a lofty hill overhanging a rushing torrent of the river far
+below.
+
+Nearer and nearer came the father and all the men. The only escape, and
+a most desperate venture was it, was to leap across the rushing torrent
+to the hill on the other side. Looking into each other's eyes, then back
+at their approaching pursuers, and then at the wide chasm, they chose
+death together rather than life apart, and, urging their jaded horse to
+the leap, they missed the opposite cliff and were dashed to pieces on
+the rocks of the rapids below.
+
+
+The Faithful Husband[9]
+
+Upon a day in years long since gone by, Chow[10] Soo Tome, wearied of
+the talking of his slaves, wandered into the forest. As he walked in an
+unfrequented path, he came to a lake where seven beautiful winged nymphs
+were disporting themselves in the water. One, Chow Soo Tome readily saw
+was more beautiful than the others, and he loved her and desired her for
+his wife. On seeing the Chow, however, they all fled, but the most
+beautiful one permitted herself to be overtaken.
+
+"When I saw thee, my heart was filled with love for thee. If thou dost
+not consent to be my wife, of sorrow will I die," cried Chow Soo Tome.
+
+"Easily could I have escaped, had not love for thee made me loath to
+leave thee," replied the nymph. And in great joy they returned to the
+Chow's home.
+
+"My son, let me take the wings of thy wife, lest she fly and leave thee
+in sorrow," urged the Chow's mother, and, readily did the nymph wife lay
+aside her wings.
+
+But it happened that the head chow heard of the beauty of the wife of
+Chow Soo Tome, and he coveted her, and seeking to do away with Chow Soo
+Tome, he sent him to war, and commanded that he lead the battle.
+
+The young nymph wife knew the design of the head chow, and, as soon as
+her husband had gone, she sought her mother-in-law and begged that she
+give her back her wings.
+
+"I am filled with sorrow. Without Soo Tome I cannot remain in the house.
+Give me my wings that I may fly in the air and be comforted," pled the
+wife.
+
+"Consent that I tie a rope to thy feet. Then, I will give thee the
+wings," answered Soo Tome's mother.
+
+The young wife consented, but, having donned her wings and flown up in
+the air, she cut the rope fastened to her feet and was safe from the
+head chow's pursuit. Her freedom made her think of the home of her
+father in the kingdom of Chom Kow Kilat,[11] and thither she flew.
+
+Chow Soo Tome, unhurt and victorious, returned from the war and found
+his home desolate without his nymph wife, and would not be comforted but
+determined to seek her. "Now, I will go seek her in her father's
+kingdom, Chom Kow Kilat, though seven years, seven months and seven days
+be required for the journey."
+
+Through forest, over mountains and across plains toiled Chow Soo Tome
+patiently. And, as he journeyed, upon a day, he met an ape.
+
+"My friend, where do you go?" asked the ape.
+
+"To a land far away, where the love of my heart abides, in the kingdom
+of Chom Kow Kilat. The way I do not know, but my heart guides me,"
+answered Chow Soo Tome.
+
+The ape pitied him and sought to aid him, and what food he had or found
+he shared with Chow Soo Tome gladly. Together they travelled many days
+until they reached the sea. They had no means of crossing, and when the
+ape realized he could no longer aid Chow Soo Tome, he cried bitterly,
+saying, "No longer can I aid thee, now; therefore is my sorrow greater
+than I can bear," and, lo, he died! For three days did Chow Soo Tome
+mourn this kind friend, and, as he mourned, a fly came to eat of the
+ape.
+
+"I am but alive and fear I will die if I do not have food at once," said
+the fly. "The ape is dead and can feel no pain. I am alive and hunger,
+thou art in trouble and need aid. If thou wilt give me to eat of the
+flesh of the dead ape, whenever thou needst me, think on me and I will
+come to thee," added the fly.
+
+"Eat," said Chow Soo Tome, and then he went on his way, but shortly
+after, sat down under a tree. While there, he saw two eagles alight on
+the tree.
+
+"When we are rested, we will fly across the sea and eat of the feast
+which the king of Chom Kow Kilat gives in honor of the return of his
+beautiful daughter," said one of the eagles to its mate.
+
+Hearing these words, Chow Soo Tome cautiously climbed into the tree and
+crept under the wing of the larger eagle, who shortly after said to its
+mate: "Before we fly hence, I must rid myself of an insect which is
+under my wing and annoys me."
+
+"This is a sacred day, and, for some punishment has the insect come
+under your wing; let it remain," counselled the other eagle, and then
+they flew over the sea. When they rested in a tree on the other shore,
+Chow Soo Tome crept from under the wing and climbed down the tree. After
+a time he reached a _sala_[12] near a large city. Near the sala was a
+well, and, as Chow Soo Tome rested, seven slaves of the king of Chom Kow
+Kilat came from the city for water.
+
+"Why dost thou draw of the water?" asked Chow Soo Tome of a slave.
+
+"We are this day glad, for the most beautiful daughter of the king of
+Chom Kow Kilat hath returned from the land of men and the water will be
+poured over her head," said the slave addressed.
+
+Approaching the seventh slave, Chow Soo Tome asked that he might place a
+ring in her water jar. Now, the ring was one which he had received from
+his nymph wife, and he sought thus to turn her thoughts to him again.
+
+"Pour your water in such a manner that, when it falls, the ring will
+fall upon the hands of the princess," directed Chow Soo Tome.
+
+The slave did as directed, and, as the ring fell on the hands of the
+young princess, she knew her husband was near, and she asked the slave
+who was at the well when she drew the water.
+
+"A chow of a far country," said the slave, "who rests in the sala by the
+sacred well outside the city gate."
+
+In great haste and joy, did the young princess seek her father. "Outside
+the city gate, in the sala by the sacred well, doth my husband await me.
+Let me go to him, father," she pleaded.
+
+"I must first prove that he be thy husband. Let all my daughters make
+ready a table spread with the best of the feast, and hide themselves.
+The man shall be called, and, if he selects thy table, he is thy
+husband, but, if he knows not thy table, he shall die," replied the
+king.
+
+The tables were made ready, Chow Soo Tome was summoned and commanded to
+select the table prepared by the princess whom he claimed as his wife.
+Sore perplexed, Chow Soo Tome bethought himself of the fly's promise,
+and he called it to his aid. Immediately the fly appeared and sat on the
+table prepared by the wife of Chow Soo Tome, and there Chow Soo Tome sat
+down.
+
+"Yet another test," said the king. "Make ready seven curtains and place
+my daughters behind the seven curtains, allowing but one finger of each
+princess to be seen. Then, from among the fingers, select that of thy
+wife."
+
+Immediately did the grateful fly rest upon the curtain where lay the
+finger of the young wife, and unhesitatingly Chow Soo Tome walked up to
+the curtain and clasped the right finger.
+
+"It is enough. She is thy wife," declared the king, and so pleased was
+he that he made Chow Soo Tome second in power in the kingdom of Chom Kow
+Kilat.
+
+  9: This represents a very well-known maerrchen.
+
+  10: Chow--a prince or high official.
+
+  11: A fabulous city.
+
+  12: A rest-house for guests.
+
+[Illustration: The Laos Governor's Wife at her Embroidery Frame.]
+
+
+The Faithful Wife
+
+The young and beautiful son of a head chow sought of a wise man what
+manner of wife should be his.
+
+"As you walked by the way, whom did you meet?" asked the wizard.
+
+"No one," replied the young man.
+
+"Nay, my son, you saw a slave of your father's, cutting grass in a
+garden. She is to be your wife."
+
+Distressed that such a woman should be his wife, the young man fled from
+his own country.
+
+And it came to pass, that the chow saw the slave girl that she was kind,
+noble, and beautiful, and he took her to his house as a daughter, and
+she became more kind, more noble, and more beautiful.
+
+Years had gone by, and, upon a day the son returned, and, seeing in the
+one-time slave a most lovable and lovely woman, sought and gained her as
+his wife. Word reached the young man then that this was but a slave,
+and, on learning the truth, he begged that he might be released to go on
+a long journey. The young wife consented.
+
+A boat was made ready, and the chow's son had it in his heart never to
+return. So, secretly, the chow had a gold image hidden in the bottom of
+the boat. When the day of departure had come, the chow in haste sent his
+servants to inquire of his son what he had in the boat.
+
+"I have but my possessions," replied the son.
+
+"Nay, you have the image of gold, which is the possession of my master,
+the chow," insisted the servants. "If we find it in the boat, what will
+you do?" they asked.
+
+"Return with you as a slave to my father!" exclaimed the son.
+
+All the goods were removed from the boat and the image was found. Then
+the son returned as a slave to his father and was made keeper of the
+elephants.
+
+Upon a day, the young wife of the son came to the chow and sought
+permission to go to the forest to find her husband.
+
+Willingly did the chow say, "Go, my child," and forthwith he had a boat
+put in readiness for her and sent with her many of his servants. One
+servant was called, "Eye That Sees Well," another, "Ear That Hears
+Well."
+
+Sailing down the river, they reached the province where the young man
+was searching for elephants, and there they remained.
+
+The chow of the province sent a servant secretly to hide a golden image
+in the boat. But the "Ear That Hears Well" heard and the "Eye That Sees
+Well" saw, and together they took the image from the boat and hid it in
+the sand.
+
+The following day, the chow sent a messenger asking why the princess had
+taken the image.
+
+"I have not seen it," were the words of the princess.
+
+"If it is found in your boat, what will you promise?" asked the chow's
+messenger.
+
+"I and my servants will be slaves to him, if the image be found in my
+boat," replied the princess, "but, should the image not be found there,
+what will your master promise?"
+
+"All his goods and his province, if the image be not found," readily
+answered the messenger.
+
+A diligent search failed to discover the image of gold, and, true to his
+word, the chow gave of his goods and his province to the princess.
+Rejoicing, and hoping thus to discover her husband, the princess gave a
+large feast, and bade all the people. While all were feasting, lo, a
+man, in soiled garments and carrying a heavy tusk of an elephant, came
+towards them, and immediately did the princess recognize her husband,
+and the husband, realizing after what manner his wife loved him, grew to
+love her, and together they lived in her province for many, many years.
+
+
+An Unexpected Issue
+
+Far away from other men, on the side of a lonely mountain, a man and his
+wife were preparing their ground that they might plant the hill rice.
+Their work was hard, and they saw no one from day to day, and, upon a
+time, when tired of their labor, the husband said,
+
+"Let us play that we are young and unmarried, and that I am coming to
+visit you to try to gain you for a wife."
+
+The wife dressed herself as a young maiden, with flowers in her hair,
+and sat at the spinning-wheel.
+
+The husband came as though from a distance, and in his hand he carried
+the stem of a banana leaf, which he pretended was a musical instrument.
+Playfully, he drew his fingers over it, singing, "It is pleasant to be
+here. Where you are, I am happy. Where you are not, I am but of little
+heart and sad." He drew near, and, as he was not forbidden, he walked up
+into the house and sat down by the maiden. Bowing himself to the ground,
+he spoke, saying, "O fair princess, I come but as your servant! May I
+sit here near you?"
+
+Smilingly she answered, "To sit there is but a waste of time."
+
+"I am not sitting where another has sat. Tell me, do I talk to one who
+has another lover?"
+
+"I fear that the one who loves you, and whom you loved ere you came to
+me, will be angry with me and curse me," she coyly answered.
+
+Then he feigned anger, and moved away quickly. In his haste he did not
+see where he was going, and he fell down the steps of the house, upon a
+stone. Though he lay there groaning, and called, "O, help me!" his wife
+thought him still in sport and sat quietly at her wheel. Having waited
+some time, she arose and went to him, and, lo, he lay there dead!
+
+"Had we worked and not played as children, my husband would be yet
+alive," lamented the wife.
+
+
+
+
+  V
+  Temples and Priests
+
+
+The Giants' Mountain and the Temple
+
+In the time long since gone by, when the world was young, the men of a
+large province desired to build a temple, a temple which might be seen
+by men from afar. Their ground, however, was low, and there was no lofty
+mountain on which they might rear it, and it was deemed wise by all to
+entreat the giants, who lived in the far East, to help them bring the
+earth together in one place for a mound.
+
+Willingly did the giants consent to aid them, but asked, "Why labor to
+dig the earth and pile it into a mound? Behold the high hills are ours,
+with our strong arms we can remove the top from one of them and bring it
+to you and you may rear your beautiful temple thereon, and all men can
+see it. Go, therefore, and make ready your bricks and mortar, bringing
+to one place all the materials which you will require, whilst we carry
+one of our mountains to you for your use."
+
+The giants went their way to bring a mountain-top from the far East to
+the plains near the city. Day after day they labored and moved the
+mountain top a great distance, but the people neither helped them nor
+did they even commence to prepare the materials for the temple. As the
+giants toiled, word was brought them that the people were sitting in
+idleness on the ground.
+
+"Come help us, or gather the materials together," the giants sent word.
+
+"You, yourselves, offered to carry the mountain-top to us. Your words
+are stronger than your deeds. You say you will aid us, then ask us to
+help you," the people replied. This they said, thinking to goad the
+giants on to the labor of bringing the mountain-top to the desired
+place.
+
+"We offered to aid you," retorted the giants, "but you sit and watch
+while we do all. Had you done your part, we would have done ours. Now,
+you shall labor, and we, from our high mountain, will laugh at you."
+
+Thereupon they left the work and sought their homes, and wearily did the
+men of the plains dig the earth, carrying it in small loads into one
+place to build the mound, and sadly did they look toward the East, where
+they could see the mountain-top the giants had carried such a distance
+to them, and most bitterly did they repent not having done their share.
+
+The temple is builded now, and from afar the people can see the gleam of
+the spire when the eye of day first opens in the East, or closes in the
+West, and, to this day the mountain-top lies there far distant from the
+mountain range and equally far distant from the city of the plains, and
+the people point it out to strangers, saying, "If you ask aid from
+others, it is well to put your own heart into the work."
+
+[Illustration: A Group of Buddhist Priests.]
+
+[Illustration: The Interior of a Buddhist Temple.]
+
+
+Cheating the Priest
+
+Upon a time a man and his wife went a day's journey from their village
+to the bazaar to sell their wares, and it fell upon the day of their
+return that it rained heavily, and as they hurried along the highway,
+they sought shelter from the head priest of a temple. He, however, would
+not even let them enter. They begged to be permitted to sleep in the
+sheltered place at the head of the stairs, but this also the priest
+refused. Angered, they went under the temple and there rested.
+
+When the priest had lain down on his mat in the room just over the place
+where the man and his wife were hidden, he heard the man say to his
+wife, "It will be good to be again with our young and beautiful
+daughter. I trust all is well with her."
+
+Having heard these words, the priest arose hastily and called, "Come up,
+good people, and sleep in the temple. Here, too, are mats to rest upon."
+And, as they talked of their beautiful daughter, the priest asked, "When
+I am out of the temple, released from my vows, will you give me your
+daughter to wife?"
+
+Looking at his wife, the husband replied, "It is good in our sight."
+
+When the morning came and they wished to steam some rice for their
+breakfast, they had no pot, but the priest freely offered the use of his
+pot and insisted upon their using of the sacred wood for their fire, the
+wood which was used in propping the branches of the Po tree.[13]
+
+Being ready to go on their way, the priest presented them with gifts of
+food, silver and gold, saying, "I will soon leave the priesthood and
+come to marry your beautiful daughter."
+
+But three days had passed, when the man and his wife came again to the
+temple and told the priest that their daughter was dead, and a long time
+they all mourned together.
+
+"I will ever remain true to my love for your daughter. Never will I
+leave the priesthood," vowed the priest, while the man and his wife
+returned to their home, spent the silver and gold the priest had given
+them, and cheerfully laughed at him, for never had they had a daughter!
+
+  13: The sacred tree of Buddhists.
+
+
+The Disappointed Priest
+
+In a temple of the north lived a priest who had great greed for the
+betel nut.[14] One day, compelled by his appetite, he inquired of a
+boy-priest if no one had died that day, but the boy replied he had heard
+of no death.
+
+A man, while worshipping in the temple, overheard the priest's words,
+and on his return to his home, said, "The priest wants some one to die
+so he can have betel to eat. Let us punish him, because he loves the
+betel nut better than the life of a man. Make me ready for the grave,
+then wail with a loud voice and the priest will come."
+
+When all was ready, they wailed with a loud voice and the priest, filled
+with cheerful thoughts of satisfying his appetite, came quickly.
+
+The people all said, "We must hasten to the grave with our dead brother.
+As it is already evening, we will not have the feast until we return."
+
+All hastened to the place of burning, and, upon reaching it, they took
+one end of the cloth covering the body and placed it in the hands of the
+priest, while the other end they left on the body of the supposed dead
+man.
+
+"While you ask blessings on our dead brother, we will go prepare wood
+for the burning," said the people, and, leaving the priest praying, they
+returned as they had come, cut thorns and briars and placed them on and
+about the path, so the priest could not escape unhurt. Then they hid
+themselves.
+
+As the darkness closed about him, the priest prayed fast and loud. Lo!
+the man stirred and groaned, and the priest cried, "O, my father, I am
+asking blessings on thee! Why movest thou?"
+
+Again the man rose up and groaned even louder, and the priest,
+terrified, ran away towards the temple. Caught by the briars, he fell
+headlong, cut and bleeding. With great effort, he at last reached the
+temple, and with much pain had his wounds dressed by the boy-priest. Not
+until he had rested, did he inquire of the boy if the people of the dead
+man had brought any betel to the temple in his absence.
+
+"No," said the boy-priest. "Go to the house of the dead man and eat with
+them."
+
+But the priest most vehemently said, "If ten or twenty men die, I will
+not go again. Die like that man! I shall never go again."
+
+  14: Areca nut. Chewing this nut is a habit common among all the
+  peoples of Farther India and Malaysia.
+
+
+The Greedy Priest
+
+In the compound of a temple in the south there was a large fruit tree,
+the fruit of which was coveted by all, as they passed, but the head
+priest would permit no one to eat of it, because he was greedy and
+selfish and wished but to satisfy his own appetite.
+
+Two men, talking together, said they would obtain fruit from the priest,
+and they would have it without price.
+
+One came and asked for the fruit. The priest refused him gruffly,
+saying, "I need it for my own use." The man replied, "I desired it to
+eat with my venison curry, of which I have so much that I want you to
+come and eat with me." On hearing this the priest said, "Take what you
+want." Filling his scarf with the coveted fruit, the man left the
+priest, saying, "I will call for you as the eye of day closes."
+
+Shortly after, the second man came and begged for fruit and likewise was
+refused, until he said he wished it to eat with his pork curry, and,
+that as the eye of day closed, he would come for the priest to eat with
+him, when the priest said, "All you desire, take." And the man filled a
+large basket with the coveted fruit.
+
+As the eye of day closed, the two men called together for the priest.
+
+When they reached a fork in the road, one laid hold on the arm of the
+priest, and said, "Come with me first, my house is down this way."
+
+"Come with me first," said the other, "my family will already be
+eating."
+
+Thus they disputed, drawing the greedy old priest this way and that
+until he was bruised and tired, when he said, "It is enough. I will
+neither eat of the venison, nor of the pork."
+
+And the men went home and laughed, for neither had the one venison nor
+the other pork.
+
+[Illustration: Monastery Grounds at Chieng Tung, Laos.]
+
+
+The Ambitious Priest
+
+There is a tale of an old priest who prayed each day that the gods would
+give him a jewel of great price--one that had the power to make him fly
+as a bird.
+
+A young priest in the temple hearing his prayer, secured the eye of a
+fish and hid it in his room, and when again the old priest prayed for
+the jewel, the young priest brought the eye of the fish and gave it to
+him. Then was the old priest glad, "Now can I rise up as though on wings
+and fly from this earth," said he.
+
+Selecting two large palm leaves, thinking "I must have wings first," he
+tried to fly, but could not.
+
+The young priest said, "From here you cannot fly; it is not high enough.
+Go up to the roof of the temple and fly from there."
+
+Acting on this suggestion, the old priest went up to the roof, but fell
+from his high place, and, lo, when they came to him, he was dead!
+
+
+
+
+  VI
+  Moderation and Greed
+
+
+The Wizard and the Beggar
+
+Once upon a time there was a poor man who ever begged for food, and, as
+he walked along the road he thought, "If any one will give me to eat
+until I am satisfied, never will I forget the grace or merit of that
+person." Chanting these words as he walked slowly along, he met a
+wizard.
+
+"What do you say as you walk along, my son?" asked the wizard.
+
+"If any one will give me to eat all I crave, I will never forget the
+grace or merit of that person," said the poor man.
+
+"My son, the people of this day are ever careless and ungrateful. They
+forget benefits," replied the wizard.
+
+"I will not forget," vowed the poor man.
+
+"Go on, my son," said the wizard.
+
+Chanting as before, the poor man went on his way, and as he walked he
+met a dog.
+
+"What do you say as you go along, my son?" asked the dog.
+
+"Whosoever will give me to eat to my satisfaction, the grace or merit of
+that person will I never forget," replied the poor man.
+
+"Men are prone to forget. None remember favors. When I was young and
+strong, I guarded my master's house and grounds; now, when I am old, he
+will not permit me to enter his gate, but curses and beats me and gives
+me no food. By him are all my services forgotten," said the dog.
+
+Ever chanting, the poor man walked on, and as he walked he met a
+buffalo.
+
+"What do you say as you walk along, my son?" asked the buffalo. And the
+poor man repeated what he had told the wizard and the dog.
+
+"Man is ever ungrateful. When I was young and strong, I plowed the
+fields so my master could have rice and my master was grateful to me.
+Now that I cannot work, I am driven out to die," said the buffalo. And
+the poor man, discouraged, sought the wizard again.
+
+"My son, will you ever remember benefits?" asked the wizard.
+
+"Never would I forget a benefit," vowed the poor man, vehemently.
+
+"Then here are two jewels; one, if held in your mouth, will enable you
+to fly as a bird; the other, if held in the mouth, will give you your
+desires, and this second one I now give to you," said the wizard, and he
+handed the second jewel to the poor man.
+
+"Your grace and merit will ever be remembered by me. More than tongue
+can utter, do I thank you. Ever will I wish you health and happiness and
+pray for blessings on your head," declared the poor man. Having thus
+spoken, the once poor man sought his home and, through the virtue of the
+wishing jewel he had every wish for wealth gratified.
+
+"How do you secure your desires?" asked the neighbors of the once poor,
+begging man.
+
+"A wizard gave me a wishing-jewel and, by simply placing it in my mouth,
+all I wish to possess is mine," answered he. "Listen to me," he
+continued, "the wizard has yet another jewel, which, if placed in the
+mouth, will enable one to fly as a bird. Come, let us go and kill him
+that we may all possess it together."
+
+With one accord they agreed, and, as they approached the home of the
+wizard, the wizard, espying the man he had so benefited, called to him,
+
+"Why have you not visited me, my son?"
+
+"There was no time, much work have I had to do," replied the ungrateful
+man.
+
+Now the wizard of course knew the intent of the wicked fellow, that he,
+with his neighbors, had come to secure the second jewel, and he asked,
+
+"Why do you desire to kill me?"
+
+"Give to me the jewel you have, else I shall kill you, you old wizard,"
+cried the ungrateful fellow.
+
+"Have you the wishing-jewel with you? If so, show it to me first," said
+the wizard.
+
+Eagerly did the greedy fellow thrust it toward the old wizard, but he,
+having already placed the flying-jewel in his mouth, seized the
+wishing-jewel and instead of giving the rascal the flying-jewel, flew
+away, leaving both the man and his neighbors without either.
+
+
+A Covetous Neighbor
+
+There was a poor and lonely man who had but a few melon seeds and grains
+of corn which he planted; tenderly did he care for them, as the garden
+would furnish his only means of a living. And it came to pass that the
+melons and corn grew luxuriantly, and the apes and the monkeys from the
+neighboring wilderness, seeing them, came daily to eat of them, and, as
+they talked of the owner of the garden, wondered just what manner of man
+he might be that he permitted them unmolested to eat of his melons. But
+the poor man, through his sufferings, had much merit, and charitably and
+willingly shared his abundant fruit with them.
+
+And upon a day, the man lay down in the garden and feigned death. As the
+monkeys and apes drew near, seeing him so still, his scarf lying about
+his head, with one accord they cried, "He is already dead! Lo, these
+many days have we eaten of his fruit, therefore it is but just that we
+should bury him in as choice a place as we can find."
+
+Lifting the man, they carried him until they came to a place where two
+ways met, when one of the monkeys said, "Let us take him to the cave of
+silver." Another said, "No, the cave of gold would be better."
+
+"Go to the cave of gold," commanded the head monkey. There they carried
+him and laid him to rest.
+
+Finding himself thus alone, the man arose, gathered all the gold he
+could carry and returned to his old home, and, with the gold thus easily
+gained, he built a beautiful house.
+
+"How did you, who are but a gardener, gain all this gold?" asked a
+neighbor, and freely the man told all that had befallen him.
+
+"If you did it, I, too, can do it," said the neighbor, and forthwith, he
+hastened home, made a garden, and waited for the monkeys to feast in it.
+All came to pass as the neighbor hoped; when the melons were ripe great
+numbers of monkeys and apes came to the garden and feasted. And upon a
+day, they found the owner lying as one dead in the garden. Prompted by
+gratitude, the monkeys made ready to bury him, and while carrying him to
+the place of burial, they came to the place in the way where the two
+roads met. Here they disputed as to whether they should place the man in
+the cave of silver, or the cave of gold. Meanwhile, the man was thinking
+thus, "I'll gather gold all day. When I have more than I can carry in my
+arms, I'll draw some behind me in a basket I can readily make from
+bamboo," and, when the head monkey said, "Put him in the cave of
+silver," he unguardedly cried out, "No, put me in the cave of gold."
+
+Frightened, the monkeys dropped the man and fled, whilst he, scratched
+and bleeding, crept painfully home.
+
+
+A Lazy Man's Plot[15]
+
+Upon a day a beggar, who was too lazy to work, but ever lived on the
+bounty of the people, received a great quantity of rice. He put it in a
+large jar and placed the jar at the foot of his bed, then he lay down on
+the bed and thus reasoned:
+
+"If there come a famine, I will sell the rice, and with the money, buy
+me a pair of cows, and when the cows have a calf, I'll buy a pair of
+buffaloes. Then, when they have a calf, I'll sell them, and with that
+money, I'll make a wedding and take me a wife. And, when we have a child
+large enough to sit alone, I'll take care of it, while my wife works the
+rice fields. Should she say, 'I will not work,' I'll kick her after this
+manner," and he struck out his foot, knocking the jar over, and broke
+it. The rice ran through the slats of the floor, and the neighbors' pigs
+ate it, leaving the lazy plotter but the broken jar.
+
+  15: The motive corresponds to that of the venerable story of the
+  Milkmaid.
+
+
+The Ungrateful Fisherman
+
+It happened on a time that a poor fisherman had caught nothing for many
+days, and while he was sitting thinking sadly of his miserable fortune,
+Punya In, the god of wisdom, came from his high home in heaven in the
+form of a crow, and asked him, "Do you desire to escape from this life
+of a fisherman, and live in ease?" And the fisherman replied, "Greatly
+do I desire to escape from this miserable life."
+
+Beckoning him to come to him and listen, the crow told him of a far
+distant province, whose chow lay dead.
+
+"Both the province and all the chow's former possessions will I give
+thee, if thou wilt promise ever to remember the benefits I bestow," said
+the crow.
+
+Readily did the fisherman promise, "Never, never will I forget."
+
+Immediately the crow took the fisherman on his back and flew to the far
+distant province. Leaving the fisherman just outside the city gate, the
+crow entered the city, went to the chow's home, and took the body of the
+chow away, and, in the place put the fisherman.
+
+When the fisherman moved, the watchers heard, and rejoicing, they all
+cried, "Our chow is again alive."
+
+Great was the joy of the people, and, for many years, the fisherman
+ruled in the province and enjoyed the possessions of the former chow.
+
+But, as time went by, the fisherman forgot the crow had been the author
+of all his good fortune, that all were the gifts of a crow, and he drove
+all crows from the rice fields. Even did he attempt to banish them from
+the province. Perceiving this, the god of wisdom again assumed the form
+of a crow and came down and sat near the one-time fisherman.
+
+"O, chow, wouldst thou desire to go where all is pleasure and delight?"
+asked the crow.
+
+"Let me go," replied the chow. And the crow took him on his back and
+flew with him to the house where, as a fisherman he had lived in poverty
+and squalor, and ever had he to remain there.
+
+
+The Legend of the Rice
+
+In the days when the earth was young and all things were better than
+they now are, when men and women were stronger and of greater beauty,
+and the fruit of the trees was larger and sweeter than that which we now
+eat, rice, the food of the people, was of larger grain. One grain was
+all a man could eat, and in those early days, such, too, was the merit
+of the people, they never had to toil gathering the rice, for, when
+ripe, it fell from the stalks and rolled into the villages, even unto
+the granaries.
+
+And upon a year, when the rice was larger and more plentiful than ever
+before, a widow said to her daughter, "Our granaries are too small. We
+will pull them down and build larger."
+
+When the old granaries were pulled down and the new one not yet ready
+for use, the rice was ripe in the fields. Great haste was made, but the
+rice came rolling in where the work was going on, and the widow,
+angered, struck a grain and cried, "Could you not wait in the fields
+until we were ready? You should not bother us now when you are not
+wanted."
+
+The rice broke into thousands of pieces and said, "From this time forth,
+we will wait in the fields until we are wanted," and, from that time the
+rice has been of small grain, and the people of the earth must gather it
+into the granary from the fields.
+
+[Illustration: At Work in the Rice Fields.]
+
+
+
+
+  VII
+  Parables and Proverbs
+
+
+"One Woman in Deceit and Craft is More Than a Match for Eight Men"
+
+Chum Paw was a maiden of the south country. Many suitors had she, but,
+by her craft and devices, each suitor thought himself the only one.
+Constantly did each seek her in marriage, and, upon a day as one pressed
+her to name the time of their nuptials, she said, "Build me a house, and
+I'll marry you when all is in readiness." To the others, did she speak
+the same words.
+
+Each man sought the jungle for bamboo for a house, and, it happened,
+while they were in the jungle that they all met.
+
+"What seekest thou?" they asked one another. "What seekest thou?" The
+one answer was, "I have come to fell wood for my house."
+
+And, as they ate their midday meal together, each had a bamboo stick,
+filled with chicken and rice. Now, it happened that Chum Paw had given
+the bamboo sticks to the men, and, lo, on investigation, they found the
+pieces in their various sticks were the parts of one chicken, and with
+one accord, they cried, "Chum Paw has deceived us. Come, let us kill
+her. Each has she promised to marry; each has she deceived."
+
+All were exceedingly angry and vowed they would kill the deceitful
+woman.
+
+Chum Paw, seeing the men return together, knew her duplicity was known
+and realized they sought to kill her.
+
+"I entreat that you spare my life, but take and sell me as a slave to
+the captain of the ship lying at the mouth of the river."
+
+Relenting, the suitors took her to the captain. She, however, running on
+before, privately told the captain she had seven young men, her slaves,
+whom she would sell him for seven hundred pieces of silver. Seeing the
+young men were desirable, the captain gave Chum Paw the silver, and she
+fled while the seven lovers were placed in irons.
+
+Chum Paw fled to the jungle, but, frightened by the wild beasts, she
+sought refuge in a tree. And it came to pass that the suitors escaped
+from the ship and they, too, sought refuge in the jungle. Unable to
+sleep and also frightened, one of them climbed a tree that he might be
+safe from the wild beasts, and, lo, it was the same tree in which Chum
+Paw had taken refuge.
+
+"Be silent, make no noise, lest the others hear us," whispered Chum Paw.
+"I love you and knew you were wise and would escape from the ship. I
+only desired the silver for us to spend together."
+
+The unfortunate man believed, and sought to embrace her, but, as he
+threw up his arms, Chum Paw threw him down, hoping thus to kill him. The
+others, hearing the commotion, feared a large bear was in the tree and
+hastily fled. Uninjured the suitor, whom Chum Paw had thrown from the
+tree, fled with them.
+
+Chum Paw seeing that they all fled ran behind, as she knew no beast
+would attack her while there was so great a commotion. As the suitors
+looked back, they saw her, but mistook her for a bear and ran but the
+faster, and finally, they all, the seven suitors and Chum Paw reached
+their homes.
+
+Knowing the suitors would again seek her life, Chum Paw made a feast of
+all things they most liked and bade the young men to come. (All the food
+was prepared by Chum Paw and poisoned.) "I want but to make me _boon_
+before I die, so I beg you eat of my food and forgive me, for I merit
+death," said the maiden, as they sat in her house. All ate; and all
+died.
+
+Chum Paw carried six bodies into the inner part of the house, and one
+she prepared for the grave. Weeping and wailing, she ran to the nearest
+neighbor, crying, "I want a man to come bury my husband. He died last
+night. As he had smallpox, fifty pieces of silver will I give to the one
+who buries him."
+
+A man who loved money said, "I will bury him." When he came to the
+house, Chum Paw said, "Many times has he died and come back to life. If
+he comes back again, no money shall you have."
+
+The man took the body, made a deep grave, buried the man and returned
+for his silver. Lo, on the mat lay the body! He made a deeper grave and
+again buried it. Six times he buried, as he supposed, the body, and, on
+returning and finding it a seventh time, he angrily cried, "You shall
+never return again." Taking the body with him, he built a fire, placed
+the body on it, and, while it burned, went to the stream for water. When
+he returned, lo, a charcoal man was standing there, black from his work.
+
+Filled with wrath, the man ran up to him crying, "You will come back
+again, will you? will cause me this trouble again, will you?"
+
+The charcoal burner replied, "I do not understand." Not a word would the
+man hear, but fought the burner, and as they struggled, they both fell
+into the fire and were burned to death.
+
+Chum Paw built a beautiful home and spent the silver as she willed.
+
+
+"The Wisest Man of a Small Village is Not Equal in Wisdom to a Boy of
+the City Streets"
+
+Once a boy of the city, watching a buffalo outside the gate of the
+largest city in the province, saw three men approaching. Each was the
+wisest man of the village from whence he came. The boy called to them,
+"Where go ye, old men?"
+
+The men angrily replied, "Wherefore dost thou, who art but a child,
+speak thus to us who are old and the judges of the villages from whence
+we come?"
+
+The boy replied, "There is no cause for anger. How was I to know ye were
+wise men? To me, ye seem but as other men from a country place,--the
+wisest of whom are but fools."
+
+The three men were very angry, caught the boy and said, "We will not
+enter into the city, but will go to another province and sell this
+insolent boy, because he neither reverences age nor wisdom."
+
+The boy refused to walk, so they carried him. All day they walked along
+the road, carrying the boy, and at night they slept by the roadside. In
+the morning, when they craved water and bade the boy go to a brook, he
+refused, saying, "If I go, ye will run and leave me. I will not go."
+
+Thirst drove one of the wise men for the water, and the boy drank of it
+freely.
+
+Several days' journey brought them to a wall of a large city, and night
+was spent at a _sala_ near the wall. Seeking to rid themselves of the
+boy, they bade him go to the city for fire to cook food. Realizing their
+motive, he answered, "Should I go, ye will leave me. I will not go,
+though, if ye let me tie ye to the posts of the _sala_, then will I go."
+
+With one accord they agreed, saying, "Do thou even so. We are weary
+carrying thee and cannot go for the fire."
+
+Tying them all, the boy ran to the city, where he met a man whom he
+asked, "Dost thou wish to purchase three slaves? Come with me."
+
+The man returned with the boy, saw the men, and gave him full value for
+each.
+
+Having thus disposed of his captors, the cunning little fellow joined
+some men going to his native city, and as he walked along, he thought,
+"I was ever wanting to see other places, and now I have been carried a
+long journey, and have silver to last me many days ... surely, I have
+much _boon_."[16]
+
+  16: Merit.
+
+
+"To Aid Beast is Merit; To Aid Man is but Vanity"[17]
+
+A hunter, walking through a jungle, saw a man in a pit unable to escape.
+The man called to him, "If thou wilt aid me to escape from this snare,
+always will I remember thy grace and merit." The hunter drew him out of
+the pit, and the man said, "I am goldsmith to the head chow, and dwell
+by the city's gate. Shouldst thou ever want any benefit, come to me, and
+gladly will I aid thee."
+
+As the hunter travelled, he met a tiger caught in a snare set for an
+elephant, and the tiger cried, "If thy heart prompts thee to set me
+free, thy aid will ever be remembered by me." He helped the tiger from
+the snare, and it said, "If ever thou needest aid, call and I will come
+to thee."
+
+Then again the hunter went on his way, and came to a place where a snake
+had fallen into a well and could not get out, and the snake cried, "If
+thou wilt aid me, I can aid thee also in the time soon to come," and he
+assisted the snake. "When the time comes that thou needest me, think of
+me, and I will come to thee with haste," said the snake.
+
+Now, it had happened that on the day that the hunter had rescued the
+tiger it had killed the chow's child, but of this the hunter knew
+nothing. And it came to pass that three days after, the hunter desiring
+to test the words of the tiger, went to the forest. Upon calling it, the
+tiger came to him immediately and brought with him a long golden chain,
+which he gave to the hunter. The hunter took the chain home, and,
+wishing to sell it, sought the goldsmith whom he had befriended. But the
+goldsmith, seeing it, said, "You are the man who has killed the chow's
+child." And he had his men bind the hunter with strong cords and took
+him to the chow in the hope of gaining the reward offered to any who
+might find him who had killed the child.
+
+The chow put the hunter in chains and commanded he die on the morrow.
+The hunter begged for seven days' respite, and it was granted him. In
+the night he thought of the snake he had helped, and immediately the
+snake came, bringing with him a medicine to cure blindness. While the
+household of the chow slept, the snake entered and cast of its venom in
+the eyes of the chow's wife, and she was blind.
+
+Throughout all the province the chow sought for some one to restore the
+eyes of his afflicted wife, but no one was found.
+
+It happened on a day, that word came to the chow's ears that the hunter
+he had in chains for the death of his child, was a man of wisdom and
+knew the merit of all the herbs of the field, therefore he sent for him.
+
+When the hunter came into the presence of the chow unto where the wife
+sat, he put the medicine which the snake had brought him into the eyes
+of the princess, and sight, even like unto that of a young maiden, was
+restored unto her.
+
+Then the chow desired to reward the hunter, and the hunter told him how
+he had come into possession of the golden chain, of the medicine which
+the serpent had given him because he had aided it in its time of
+trouble, and of the goldsmith, who had not only forgotten benefits
+received, but had accused him so he might gain a reward. And when the
+chow learned the truth, he had the ungrateful goldsmith put to death,
+but to the hunter did he give half of his province, for had he not
+restored the sight of the princess?
+
+  17: This only of the Folk Tales has been written before. It is taken
+  from an ancient temple book and is well-known in all the Laos country.
+
+[Illustration: The "Chow" and his Palace.]
+
+
+
+
+  VIII
+  The Gods Know and the Gods Reward
+
+
+Love's Secrets
+
+There was once a poor woodsman, who went to the jungle to cut wood, so
+he might sell it and buy food for his wife and child. And upon a day,
+when the cool evening had come, wearied, the man lay down to rest and
+fell into a deep sleep.
+
+From his home in the sky, the god who looks after the destiny of man was
+hot-hearted[18] when he saw the man did not move, and he came down to
+see if he were dead. When he spake in the wood-cutter's ear, he awoke
+and arose, and the fostering god led him home. As they came near the
+gate, the god said, "Stand here, whilst I go and see to the welfare of
+thy wife." Listening without, the god heard the fond wife say to the
+little child, "I fear some evil hath befallen thy kind father. Ever doth
+he return as it darkens about us."
+
+The god knew from her words that the wife was good, and taught the child
+love and reverence for its father, therefore was he pleased, and
+returning to the woodsman, sent him in haste to his home, and said, "I,
+myself, will lay the wood in its place."
+
+The next morning, when the eye of day opened, the fond wife went for
+wood to build a fire that her husband might eat of hot food ere he went
+to his daily labor, and, lo, when she saw the wood which her husband had
+brought home, all was turned into gold! Thus had the cherishing god
+rewarded a husband faithful in his work, and a wife loving and
+thoughtful.
+
+Leaving the house of the worthy woodsman, the god met a man tardily
+wending his way home with a small, poorly-made bundle of sticks.
+Approaching him, the god said, "Wait at the steps. I will go first and
+see how it is with thy wife." And the god went up unseen, and heard the
+wife say to her son, "Ever is it thus. Thy father thinks naught of us;
+he stays away so he need be with us but little."
+
+Sadly the god returned to the laggard, took the bundle from him, and
+bade him go to his wife and child, saying he would put the wood in its
+place.
+
+Late the following day, long after the husband had gone to his work, the
+wife went for some wood, and, lo, found all the wood had turned to
+venomous snakes! Then was she afraid, and she grew kinder of heart and
+strove to make her husband better and happy.
+
+  18: Anxious.
+
+
+Poison-Mouth
+
+There was once a poor father and mother who had a little daughter,
+called "Poison-Mouth."
+
+And it happened on a day that a great number of cows came into the
+garden, and when the mother saw them she cried angrily, "You but destroy
+our garden. I would you were all dead."
+
+"Poison-Mouth" hearing her mother's angry words, called out, "Die, all
+of you, for you are destroying our garden." And immediately all the
+cattle dropped dead.
+
+Upon another day, the bees were swarming and great companies flew over
+the house, and the mother said complainingly, "Why do you never come to
+us that we may have honey?"
+
+Little "Poison-Mouth" called: "Come to us that we may have honey." And,
+lo, before the eye of day had closed, the house was filled with bees and
+the poor people had more honey than they could use.
+
+Word of "Poison-Mouth" reached a great chow, and, prompted by the god of
+love to sweeten the poisoned mouth, he sent ten men with this message to
+the child's parents: "Take good care of your child; let her hear no
+evil, and when she is old enough, I will take her to wife."
+
+When the men approached the home of "Poison-Mouth" they said, "O, poor
+people," but the mother would not permit them to finish, as their words
+angered her, and she exclaimed, "You are bad dogs!" And the men were no
+longer men, but dogs, snapping and snarling, for little "Poison-Mouth"
+had also cried, "Bad dogs are you."
+
+Though greatly distressed, the chow sent yet again twenty men with his
+message. And again, when the mother beheld these men, she exclaimed,
+"See, the dogs coming yonder!" "Poison-Mouth" echoed, "Yes, twenty dogs
+are coming now," and they also changed into dogs, fighting on the
+streets.
+
+"Who can help me?" cried the chow, distressed though not despairing.
+
+An old man answered, "I will help you. I will go to the child." And,
+while the mother was absent, he sought the little one, and thus softly
+said, "My child, thy tongue is given thee to bless with, and not to
+curse. Come with me, and learn only that which is good." The little one
+answered, "I will come," and the old man took her to the chow, who, from
+that time forth, spoke no evil, and, little "Poison-Mouth," hearing none
+but beautiful and good words, grew beautiful and good, and her words
+brought blessings ever.
+
+
+Strife and Peace
+
+There was once a husband and wife who ever quarrelled. Never were they
+pleasant with each other.
+
+A wealthy man sought to see if they could spend but a day in peace, so
+he sent two men with one hundred pieces of silver to them, saying, "If
+this day be spent without strife, this silver shall be yours." Then the
+two men hid themselves near the house to watch after what fashion they
+spent the day.
+
+"If we are to earn the reward, it were better thou shouldst hold thy
+tongue with thy hand, else thou canst not endure throughout the day,"
+said the husband.
+
+"Ever am I quiet. It is well known of all the neighbors that thou, and
+thou alone, art ever quarrelsome," retorted the wife.
+
+And thus they disputed until both grew angry, and the quarrel was so
+loud that all the people living near heard it. Thereupon the two men
+came forth from their hiding-place, and said, "The silver does not
+belong to you, of a certainty."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Determined to find virtue, the rich man sent the two men with the silver
+to a husband and wife who never quarrelled, and bade them say, "If this
+day, you will strive one with the other, these one hundred pieces of
+silver shall be yours."
+
+The husband greatly desired the money and sought to anger his wife. He
+wrought a basket which she wanted to use in sunning the cotton, with the
+strands of bamboo so wide apart that the least wind would blow all the
+cotton out of the basket. Yet, when he handed it to his wife, she
+pleasantly said, "This is just the right kind of a basket. The sun can
+come in all about the cotton, as though it were not in a basket at all."
+
+Again, the husband made a basket so narrow at the top that it was
+difficult to put anything into it, and also the mouth was of rough
+material so that the hand would be scratched in putting in or taking out
+the cotton. "Surely, this will anger her," thought the husband.
+
+Turning it from side to side, the wife said, "Now, this, too, is just
+right, for when the wind blows, the cotton will be caught on the rough
+wood at the mouth and cannot blow away."
+
+The two men in hiding all day heard nothing but gentle words, so, in the
+evening, they returned to the rich man, saying, for they knew not the
+efforts of the husband to provoke his wife, "Those two know not how to
+quarrel."
+
+Gladdened, the seeker for virtue commanded them to be given the silver,
+for they loved peace.
+
+
+The Widow's Punishment
+
+Once there lived a woman who had a son and a nephew living with her. And
+upon a day they came to her desiring money that they might go and trade
+in the bazaar. She gave each a piece of silver of equal value, and bade
+them so to trade and cheat that they might bring home much money.
+
+At the bazaar, one bought a large fish, the other, the head and horns of
+a buffalo, and, as they rested by the roadside on their way home, they
+tied the large, living fish and the buffalo head together, and threw
+them in a muddy stream. When they threw the stones at the fish, it
+jumped, thus causing the buffalo head to move as though it were alive.
+
+A man saw the head in the water and desired to buy the buffalo. The boys
+named the price of a live animal, and, having received it, they fled.
+
+As they went along, not long after, they found a deer which a wild dog
+had killed, but had not eaten of it. It they took with them, and, a
+drover, seeing it, asked where they had found it.
+
+"Our dog," said the boys, "is so trained, it goes to the jungle and
+catches the wild animals for our food."
+
+The drover desired to buy the dog.
+
+"No," said the boys, "we will not sell it."
+
+Their words but made the drover more eager to possess the dog, and he
+offered ten of his best cattle in exchange. The exchange pleased the
+boys, and, having received the cattle for their useless dog, they
+hastened to a large city, where they sold them for much money and
+returned home. On reaching it, they divided the money equally, but the
+mother was dissatisfied and desired that her son have the larger
+portion, therefore she insisted that they make an offering to the spirit
+in the hollow tree near by, before the money could be rightly divided.
+
+While the boys were preparing the offering, the mother ran and hid in
+the hollow tree, and when they had made their offering and asked the
+spirit, "What division must we make of the money?" a voice replied,
+"Unto the son of the widow, give two portions--unto the nephew of the
+widow, give one portion."
+
+Greatly angered, the nephew put wood all about the tree and set fire to
+it. Though he heard the voice of his aunt, saying, "I beg that thou have
+mercy on me and set me free," he would not recognize it, and the widow
+and the tree perished. Thus, she who had taught him to cheat, by her own
+pupil was destroyed.
+
+
+Honesty Rewarded
+
+In the far north country there lived a father, mother, and son. So poor
+and desolate were they that their only possession was an old ax. Each
+morning, as the eye of day opened on the earth, they went to the woods
+and there remained until the evening, cutting the wood, which, when
+sold, furnished their only source of a living.
+
+Upon a day, when the cutting was done, they placed the ax near the wood
+and went deeper into the jungle for vines to bind the wood. It happened
+the chow of the province came that way with twelve of his men; one of
+whom bore an ax of gold, another bore an ax of silver and both belonged
+to the chow. Yet, when the chow saw the old, wooden-handled ax lying
+near the wood, he commanded that it be taken home with them.
+
+The family returning found their ax gone. Deeply distressed, they sat
+down and wept, and thus in trouble, did the chow and his men find them
+as they came that way again.
+
+"Why are your hearts thus troubled?" inquired the chow.
+
+They answered: "O chow, we had but one ax and it is gone and no other
+means of earning food have we!"
+
+The chow replied: "I found your ax. Here it is." And he commanded they
+be given the ax of silver, whose handle even was silver.
+
+"That is not ours," they cried, "not ours."
+
+The chow commanded the ax of gold be given them. Yet they wept but the
+more, saying, "The golden ax is not ours. Ours was old, 'twas but of
+steel and the handle of wood, but 'twas all we had."
+
+Their honesty gladdened the heart of the chow and he commanded that not
+only their own ax be returned, but the ax of gold, the ax of silver, and
+even a pun[19] of gold be given them. Thus was merit rewarded.
+
+  19: About 3 lbs. avoir.
+
+
+The Justice of In Ta Pome
+
+Men of three countries wanted a chemical to change stones and metals
+into gold, and they all came together to worship In Ta Pome, one of the
+gods. One man was from China, one from India, and one from Siam. They
+all worshipped at the feet of In Ta Pome, saying, "We beg thee, O In Ta
+Pome, give unto us the chemical which will change all stones and metals
+into gold."
+
+In Ta Pome replied, "Each of you kill one of your children, cut him into
+pieces and put him into a jar. Cover this with a new, clean cloth, and
+bring it unto me."
+
+The Chinaman feared to kill his child, so killed a pig, cut it up and
+placed it in a jar, over which he tied a close cover.
+
+The Siamese did the same with a dog, but the Indiaman believed in In Ta
+Pome, and killed his only son, put him into a jar, and covered it.
+
+All returned to the god with their several jars.
+
+In Ta Pome sprinkled the jar of the Chinaman first, saying, "Whatsoever
+is silver, let it be silver; whatsoever is gold, let it be gold," but
+the pig grunted, as pigs do, and In Ta Pome said, "From this time forth,
+you shall take care of pigs and kill them to gain gold." Sprinkling the
+jar of the Siamese, the god again said, "Whatsoever is silver, let it be
+silver; whatsoever is gold, let it be gold," but the dog barked, as dogs
+do, and In Ta Pome said, "You must plow the earth, and only by the sweat
+of your brow shall you have enough to keep you in food."
+
+Taking the jar of the Indiaman, and having sprinkled it, In Ta Pome
+cried, "Whatsoever is silver, let it be silver, and whatsoever is gold,
+let it be gold," and lo, the child came to life! And to the Indiaman did
+In Ta Pome give the chemical that changes all stones and metals into
+gold, because he had believed, and had not tried to mock and deceive the
+gods.
+
+
+
+
+  IX
+  Wonders of Wisdom
+
+
+The Words of Untold Value
+
+In the days long since gone by, a young man, a son of a poor widow,
+desired to go with two of his friends to Tuck Kasula,[20] the country
+where one could learn the wisdom of all the world, but he had no gold
+with which to buy the wisdom, for does not every one know that wisdom is
+difficult to obtain, and is therefore of great price.
+
+Now, the two young friends had each two puns[21] of gold, but the
+widow's son had but two hairs of his mother's, which, when he wept
+because he had no money, the widow had given him, saying, "I have naught
+but these two fine hairs to give thee, my son, but go with thy friends,
+each hair will be to thee as a pun of gold."
+
+Then the son placed the two hairs in a package with his clothing, and
+sealed the package with wax, and set out with his friends to visit Tuck
+Kasula.
+
+After they had travelled some time, they grew hungry, and on arriving in
+a village, they entered a house for food. The widow's son left his
+package and his other goods on the veranda. While he was within the
+house a hen ran away with the package and lost it. The owners of the hen
+offered the son anything they had either of food or clothing to replace
+his loss, but he would be content with nothing but the hen, and they
+gave it to him.
+
+And again when they entered another house for food, the widow's son tied
+the hen to a small bush in the compound, and, lo, an elephant stepped
+upon it and killed it!
+
+The people offered the young man many things to make good his loss, but
+he would be content with nothing but the elephant, and they gave him the
+elephant.
+
+At last they reached Tuck Kasula, and while his two friends, with their
+gold, sought the house of the teachers, the widow's son stayed under a
+tree where he could hear the teachers instructing their disciples.
+
+"If you wish to know others, sleep. If you wish to see, go and look,"
+said a wise man. "These words are of untold value, but, for only two
+puns of gold will I give them unto you," he added.
+
+The widow's son knew he had heard without price the wisdom for which his
+two friends would each have to pay two puns of gold, so he quietly
+turned the elephant and returned home.
+
+"I will buy your words of wisdom, if you will sell them," said the judge
+to the widow's son.
+
+"For two puns of gold I will sell them," answered the widow's son.
+
+"Two puns of gold will I give thee," said the judge.
+
+"'If you wish to know others, sleep. If you wish to see, go and look,'"
+said the widow's son, when he had in his possession the two puns of
+gold.
+
+The judge, desiring to test the truth of the words, as he understood
+them, called unto him his four wives, and said, "I am not well. Give me
+water to drink, and fan me." Soon he seemed to be asleep, and his wives
+talked thus together in low voices:
+
+"It is not pleasant to be the wife of this foolish man," said the first.
+
+"I like another man better," said the second.
+
+"I wish I could steal his goods and flee while he sleeps," said the
+third.
+
+"I would like to make him a savory dish with poison in it to kill him,"
+said the fourth.
+
+Then the judge sprang up and cruelly punished his wives and put them in
+chains.
+
+And upon another day, the judge arose early and went out to see how his
+slaves worked. Under the house, hunting for something, he saw a man.
+
+"What do you seek?" asked the judge.
+
+"I have just stolen from the judge all of his silver, and, in trying to
+get it through a small opening, I broke my finger-nail. If I do not find
+it, the judge will die and all his possessions will be destroyed, for,
+as thou knowest, ever is it thus, if a finger-nail falls near a house."
+
+When the man had found the broken nail, the judge said, "I, who stand
+here, am the judge. I will but take from you the silver which you have
+stolen and no punishment shall be yours, because of the truth which you
+have told." Then the judge said to himself, "The two puns of gold was a
+small price to pay for the wisdom which I have obtained."
+
+  20: A fabulous "City of Wisdom."
+
+  21: A pun--about 3 lbs. avoir.
+
+
+A Wise Philosopher
+
+As a rich trader journeyed to another province, he rested by the road
+under a tree, and, as he sat there, a poor young man approached and
+asked that he might accompany him.
+
+"Come," said the trader, and, as they journeyed, they came to a place
+where there were many stones, indeed there was naught else to be seen.
+
+"Here are there no stones," said the poor young man.
+
+"You are right, here are no stones," replied the trader.
+
+Soon they reached the shade of a large forest, and the young man said,
+
+"Here are no trees."
+
+"You are right, here are no trees," the trader assented.
+
+When they reached a large village, the poor young man said,
+
+"Here are no people."
+
+"You are right," spake the trader, but he wondered what manner of man
+might he be who knows nothing and has neither eyes nor ears. However, as
+he returned home and the poor young man begged to accompany him, he
+agreed and took him with him.
+
+And, as they approached the trader's home his daughter called, "O
+father, what have you brought?"
+
+"Nothing but this foolish young man," answered the trader.
+
+"Why do you call him a fool?" asked the daughter. "By his appearance and
+manner I would judge he were the god of wisdom come down in man's form."
+
+"I can see no wisdom in one who, when he can see but stones, says,
+'There are no stones here,' or, when he is in the forest, says, 'Here
+are no trees,' or, when in the midst of a populous village, says, 'There
+is no man here,'" replied the trader.
+
+"He meant, where the stones were all about, that none were precious;
+where the forest was, that there was no teak, no wood good for man's
+use; and, where the village was, there were no people, as the people had
+all fallen away from the religion of Buddha, living but as beasts and
+making no merit for the future life," argued the daughter.
+
+"If you esteem him so highly, take him for your husband," said the
+trader.
+
+"If your daughter will have me as her husband, ever will I endeavor to
+make the path on which she treads smooth and beautiful for her feet,"
+cried the poor young man.
+
+They were married and lived happily, and, upon a time, the head chow
+summoned the trader to come watch his house during the night. Greatly
+was the trader troubled. "I shall die this night," cried the trader.
+
+"Why shall you die, my father?" asked the son-in-law, in great concern.
+
+"The chow has called me to watch this night and for some time past he
+has killed all who have watched for him; an evil spirit has possessed
+him and he loves to punish with death the watchmen, for, he falsely says
+they sleep and he has them killed but to satisfy the spirit in him,"
+answered the trader.
+
+"I will watch in thy stead," said the son-in-law. And fearlessly did he
+go to the chow's, and, when midnight was come and the chow descended
+secretly to see if the watchman slept, lo, the young man prayed aloud
+for the god of wisdom to come teach him what to do. The chow, hearing
+the sound of voices, listened, and heard one voice say, "The brave and
+the strong govern themselves, then have they the power to govern others.
+The wise make themselves loved because they are good and true, and are
+served by others through love and not through fear," and another voice
+steadily repeated the words. Three times during the night came the chow.
+Each time the voice was speaking and being answered, and, lo, when the
+eye of day opened in the East, the chow was found possessed of a kind
+and loving spirit and no longer desired to destroy his people. The young
+son-in-law of the trader was made a leader of the people, for the chow
+declared unto all that the spirit of the god of wisdom dwelt in the
+young man's heart, and, it came to pass that the whole land was blessed
+because one young man had learned of the god of wisdom.
+
+
+The Boys Who Were Not Appreciated
+
+Once there were two brothers. The elder watched and tended the younger
+during the day, while their mother went to labor for food. It had
+happened that the father had died, and the mother had taken another
+husband who ever sought to teach the mother to dislike and neglect the
+brothers.
+
+And it fell upon a day that the children waited and watched for their
+mother's return until they were hungry, for all day had they had no
+food. When the eye of day closed, they sought food and found some green
+fruit. This they ate and then lay down to sleep.
+
+Long after darkness had settled, came the mother and her husband home,
+and the mother cooked rice which they sat down to eat.
+
+Awakened by the odor of the rice, the children heard the talking, and
+the elder led his younger brother to his mother and begged food, but the
+husband said, "Do not give them of our food," and the mother beat them
+and drove them from home. The elder brother carried his little brother
+back to sleep under the house, but even thence were they driven. At last
+they sought and found shelter with a neighboring widow, who gave them
+mats to sleep on. As the eye of day opened, the two children set out to
+find a new home. For many days did they walk, and upon an evening they
+found a _sala_ near the chief city of another province. There they
+slept. In the morning the elder boy sought food, and behold, he saw two
+snakes wrestling under the _sala_. Both were wounded. One, however,
+killed the other and then left it and ate some grass growing near, and,
+lo, immediately the snake was whole as before. Waiting only until the
+restored snake had gone, the boy gathered some of the grass, and put it
+in the mouth of the dead snake, and forthwith it came to life and
+blessed the boy. Gathering more of the grass, the boy returned to his
+brother and they both ate of it and were strengthened.
+
+Not long after, a servant of the chow of the neighboring province came
+to the _sala_, and the boys asked, "For whom is the mourning in the
+city?" The servant replied, "The young daughter of the chow; and the
+chow mourns. If any one will restore her unto life, the chow declares,
+unto him will he give half of his province and goods."
+
+Eager to try the wonderful grass, the boy carried his young brother and
+some of the grass even unto the chow's house, where he sought permission
+to restore the child with the grass. Gladly the chow consented. The boy
+placed the magic grass in the maiden's mouth, and immediately she came
+to life. Full of joy, the chow shared his province and goods with him
+and even gave his daughter in marriage, as promised.
+
+And upon a day after they had lived happily a long time in that province
+and had grown wise and strong, the two young men thought of their
+mother, and said, "We will go and visit her and her husband."
+
+They made ready joints of bamboo and closed them, after having filled
+them with gold, in such a way that no one could see the gold. When all
+was ready, with a great number of elephants and servants, they returned
+to their native province.
+
+On reaching their home, they gave of the bamboo joints to their friends
+and relatives, one each, but to their mother and her husband, gave they
+five of the largest joints, and two of the largest gave they to the kind
+widow.
+
+"The bamboo makes fine firewood," they said to their mother. "Cut it up
+and burn it."
+
+The mother and her husband were angry and would not speak to the sons
+who had brought but wood as a gift, and sorrowfully they returned to the
+other province.
+
+Upon a day the widow visited the mother and urged that she cut the
+bamboo joints.
+
+"Your sons say that the bamboo makes a good firewood. Where is yours?"
+the widow asked.
+
+The mother replied, "It is outside. Our children came from a great
+distance and brought to us but this firewood. We shall never touch it."
+
+But the widow urged, "I would believe and trust the love of my children.
+I beg that you cut up the wood." At last they did so, and when the
+husband cut into the joints, lo, he found them all gold. Then ran they
+both to find the sons to thank them, but they were already too far
+distant. Unable to endure their remorse, there the mother and her
+husband died on the wayside.
+
+
+The Magic Well
+
+The chow of a large province lay ill. All the doctors of many provinces
+were summoned, but none could aid him, nor could any understand his
+malady. Lying in his house one day, an old man begged he might see him,
+saying he had a message from the spirits. Brought into the presence of
+the chow, the old man said, "Last night, as I lay on my bed, I had this
+vision. A spirit came to me and touched me and led me to the river's
+brink. There I saw a boat prepared for my use. I entered the boat and it
+was rowed swiftly by unseen hands down the stream. After a little time,
+it stopped at the foot of a tall mountain. Up this the spirit led me,
+and through which was no path. We journeyed until we reached the
+mountain's top. On its summit were two great walls of rock, and between
+the walls was a gate, looking like a gate which led into a city. Leading
+me to the other side of the mountain, the spirit bade me ascend the rock
+where the foot of man had never before trod, and, far up in the face of
+the rock, I saw a small opening, like the mouth of a well. I lay down
+and stretched my arm to its full length, but failed to reach the bottom
+of the opening. By the side of this opening, on looking more closely, I
+beheld a cup tied to the end of a staff. With the cup I dipped pure
+water from the well. About to drink of the water, the spirit restrained
+me and commanded I should come to thee and tell thee this water, and
+this water alone, would heal thee. Therefore have I come, O prince, to
+lead thee unto this place."
+
+The prince did not doubt him, but commanded the boats be prepared for
+his use. Taking with him a large retinue of servants, and guided by the
+aged man, they departed in search of the health-restoring well.
+
+After just such a journey as the man had described, at his bidding, the
+boats landed at the foot of a tall mountain, where he led them
+unerringly upward, although no path could be seen; the chow, leaning on
+the arms of two strong men, followed.
+
+There indeed were the walls of rock and the gateway, as the guide had
+described, and, after a long and weary climb, they reached the opening
+in the rock.
+
+Taking the staff of the chow and binding his golden drinking-cup
+thereto, the aged man dipped from the well and gave it to the prince to
+drink. Having drank of the water, and having poured it on his head and
+hands, the chow was healed of his sickness, and was as a new man. And to
+this day, the water is used for the healing of the people.
+
+
+
+
+  X
+  Strange Fortunes of Strange People
+
+
+The Fortunes of Ai Powlo
+
+Once upon a time a father and mother had a wicked son whose name was Ai
+Powlo. One day, while in the rice fields together, the father sent the
+son to his mother with a message. Instead, however, of delivering the
+message, Ai Powlo said his father had been eaten by a tiger. Leaving his
+mother in great distress, he returned to the rice fields and told his
+father that both his mother and the house were burned, and, for three
+days, did the father mourn for his wife, as he lay in the watchhouse.
+
+While the father was mourning, Ai Powlo moved his mother and the house
+to a new place and then sought his father, saying, "I saw a woman in a
+new house by the stream who resembles my mother. Would you like her for
+a wife?"
+
+"If my son seeks her for me, I would be thankful," replied the father.
+
+Going to his mother, Ai Powlo said, "I have a man who would make thee a
+good husband. He would work in the rice fields. Will you take him for a
+husband?"
+
+Thinking of the work, the mother said, "I will. Go, bring him to me, my
+son."
+
+Lo, when the father and mother met, they recognized one another, and
+they knew their crafty son had deceived them!
+
+As Ai Powlo fled from the wrath of his mother and father, he journeyed
+many days, and, upon a day it happened he stole some pork from a
+Chinaman. Taking the pork, he sought the rice fields and there he saw an
+old man at work. Running up to him, he called, "Father, do you not
+hunger for some pork? I have some to share with you."
+
+"I do, my son," replied the old man.
+
+Together they went to the watchhouse to cook the pork, but found no pot
+there.
+
+"Whilst I make a fire, go thou, my son, to my house and ask my wife for
+a pot."
+
+"Your husband wants you to give me all the money in the house, as he has
+heard of an elephant which he can buy now," said Ai Powlo to the wife.
+
+The wife refused to give it to him and Ai Powlo called to the husband,
+who sat by the watchhouse waiting for the pot, "She will not give it to
+me." The old man called back, as he was hungry for the pork, "Give it to
+him. Make haste," and receiving all their store, Ai Powlo fled into
+another province.
+
+Upon a day, as Ai Powlo walked by the highway, he saw four bald-headed
+men pouring water on their heads to cool themselves. Running up to them,
+he said, "I know a medicine which will make the hair grow. Rub your
+heads until the skin is broken, whilst I make the medicine."
+
+Taking some red peppers, he pounded them to a soft paste, put some salt
+in it, and then handed it to the four simple-minded old men, who had
+already rubbed their heads until they bled.
+
+Having used the medicine, they suffered great pain and would have killed
+Ai Powlo, but he fled and took refuge with the chow, to whom he said, "I
+saw four old men on the way, who butted their heads together, trying to
+see which could overcome the other. All have much strength, and their
+heads are scratched and bleeding." Even as Ai Powlo spoke to the chow,
+the chow espied the men, and, when they came up, he commanded them,
+saying, "If you are able thus to wrestle for your own pleasure, you can
+wrestle for my pleasure." Not daring to disobey the command of the chow,
+the men painfully wrestled. While they struggled, Ai Powlo, fearing
+their wrath, fled, and as he fled, he fell into a deep stream and was
+drowned.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Many years after, two fishermen were fishing in the stream, and as they
+drew in the net, they found not a fish, but a skull, and lo, the skull
+both laughed and mocked!
+
+As the fishermen talked together of the curious skull, a man with a
+boat-load of goods approached, and they called to him, asking, "Did you
+ever see a skull which laughed and mocked?"
+
+"Never did I see such a skull, nor ever will I believe there is such a
+thing," replied the man.
+
+"If we show you such a skull, what will you give unto us?" asked the
+fishermen.
+
+"All the goods in my boat," laughingly answered the man.
+
+On beholding the skull, which, of a truth did both laugh and mock him,
+the boatman forfeited his goods, but, in his anger, he cut the skull and
+broke it into pieces, and, of these pieces he made dice with which to
+gamble, and was it not fitting, as Ai Powlo, whose skull it was, in life
+had but deceived, and ever done evil?
+
+
+The Fortunes of a Lazy Beggar
+
+Once upon a time a man lived who was never known to work. When the
+neighbors grew weary supplying him with food, he sought the forest, and
+lay down under a fig-tree so the ripe fruit might drop into his mouth.
+Often, when the food fell out of his reach, he would suffer hunger,
+rather than make an effort.
+
+It fell upon a day that a stranger passed that way, and the lazy man
+asked him to please gather some fruit and put it into his mouth, as he
+hungered. The wily stranger gathered a handful of earth and put it into
+his mouth, as he lay there with his eyes even closed. Tasting the earth,
+the lazy man was angry, and he threw figs after the retreating impostor,
+who ran away mocking him.
+
+Days after, a ripe fig fell into a stream near by and, floating down the
+stream, was seen and eaten by the daughter of a chow. Delicious to the
+taste, she grew dissatisfied with all other fruit and vowed that, from
+henceforth, she would eat of no other fruit, and that the man who had
+thrown the one beautiful fig should be her husband.
+
+Angered by such a caprice, her father urged her to be guided by his
+judgment. Unable to restrain her, and, hoping to turn her desire
+elsewhere, the chow made an elaborate feast and bade all the people of
+the province to it. But, among all was not the one who had thrown the
+fig into the stream.
+
+"Is there not yet a man who has not come to the feast?" asked the chow.
+
+"None save the lazy beggar who lies at the fig-tree," they said.
+
+"Bring him hither," commanded the chow, determined to have his daughter
+see what manner of man she was selecting as her husband.
+
+Too lazy to walk, the lazy man was carried into the presence of the chow
+and his guests.
+
+Ashamed that his daughter sought such as her husband, and would have no
+other, as it was supposed that the lazy man alone had thrown the fig
+into the stream, and he was too lazy to deny it, the chow had a boat
+built for their use and commanded that they be floated down the stream
+to the sea. This he did, hoping his obstinate daughter and her lazy
+husband might be lost to the world forever.
+
+All day long the boat drifted; all day long spake the princess not one
+word to her husband, nor would she have aught to eat. Fearing she would
+not live, if she did not eat, the beggar made a fire to cook some rice
+for her. Lazy as ever, he put but two stones under the kettle, and it
+tottered.
+
+"I cannot endure your lazy ways. Put three stones under the kettle,"
+cried his wife.
+
+The husband did so, glad she had spoken to him.
+
+And when the boat had drifted many days, it came to a place where once
+there had been a large rice field and there it remained.
+
+While the princess stayed in the boat, the once indolent beggar labored
+day after day in the rice fields that they might live; moreover, he had
+learned to love his princess wife.
+
+When the god, who looks to men's deeds, from his home in the sky saw the
+man no longer loved his ease more than all else, but would toil for his
+wife, he said within himself, "the man deserves reward." So he called to
+him six wild monkeys from his woods, and gave into their care six magic
+gongs, telling them to go beat them in the rice fields where the husband
+toiled.
+
+The husband heard the monkeys and the clanging of the gongs, but, at
+last, unable to endure the noise, finally caught the monkeys and secured
+the gongs. He then threatened to kill the monkeys, but they plead that
+they were sent, by the god who looks to men's deeds, with the gongs as a
+reward for his merit. "Having seen your efforts to provide for your
+wife, who loves not you, he sends you these gongs. If you strike this
+one, you will grow beautiful; that one, you will have wisdom. Another
+gives you lands and servants, and, another, if struck while holding it
+in your hands, will cause people to do you reverence as though you were
+a god," they told the man.
+
+Having permitted the monkeys to go, he beat the gong of beauty, and his
+body grew straight and tall, also his face became most pleasant to look
+upon. Beating the gong of power, and taking the others with him, he
+sought his wife. She did not recognize him, and would have done him
+reverence, but he said, "Do me no reverence. I am thy husband," and he
+told her of the god's reward. When she heard of the magic gongs, she
+entreated him to return to her father that he might forgive her for not
+having heeded his counsel.
+
+Through the magic gongs, had they wealth, power and all benefits the
+gods could bestow, and the father loved them, and indeed gave his
+son-in-law power above all the princes in his province. And the once
+lazy man thought within himself: "In former times the people derided me
+as a lazy man, because I would not work, now that I am possessed of
+wealth, they do me reverence; yet behold I am as lazy as ever, for I
+open my mouth and food is ready for my use. Thus it is, that when a poor
+man does not work, he is called a lazy beggar, but when a prince, or
+rich man, does not work, he has power, and people do him reverence."
+
+[Illustration: A Laos Feast.]
+
+[Illustration: Street in a Laos Town.]
+
+
+The Misfortunes of Paw Yan
+
+Upon a day, Paw Yan[22] said to his wife, "Today I shall build a
+watch-tower in the rice fields."
+
+"You will need four posts about the size of our children here," replied
+the wife.
+
+Taking the four children with him to the rice fields, Paw Yan dug four
+post holes and made the children stand in them. Then he packed the earth
+about their feet to make them firm, took the beams and laid them on
+their shoulders, tied them in place, and went for more bamboo to finish
+the watch-tower.
+
+The eye of day had closed in the West, yet the husband and the children
+returned not, so the wife, in distress, sought them in the fields, and,
+lo, when she reached them, there stood the four children as posts for
+the watch-tower.
+
+"Know you not anything? I said take four posts the size of our
+children," cried the wife.
+
+And upon another day did Paw Yan attempt to build the tower, but so
+utterly did he fail that his wife said, "While I build the watch-tower
+you gather the food for the pigs, and, when the eye of day closes, give
+it to them."
+
+Paw Yan watched until the eye of day was about to close, but forgot to
+gather the food for the pigs, so he took all the rice, which was the
+food for the family, and went out to the pigs. He called, "Ow, ow,
+ow,"[23] and the pigs ran about trying to find the food, but Paw Yan
+forgot to throw it to them, for, while he stood there, he saw ants
+running down the trunk of a tree, and he could think of nothing else.
+"That's an easy way to get down a tree," thought Paw Yan. "I'll try it,"
+and, throwing the rice aside, he climbed the tree, and, head first,
+started down, but fell to the ground and broke his neck!
+
+  22: Paw Yan--a blunderer.
+
+  23: Ow--take.
+
+
+An Unfortunate Shot
+
+There was once a poor man too ill to work, and he had no one to give him
+food. The chow of the province heard of him and sent for him to come to
+his house.
+
+When the man reached the house of the chow, the chow gave him a bow and
+arrow, saying, "Shoot upward toward the sky. When the arrow falls to the
+earth, if it fall making a hole in the earth, I will weigh the earth
+which the arrow digs up, and give thee the weight of it in gold. On
+whatsoever thy arrow falls, that will I weigh and give its weight unto
+thee in gold. If, in its fall, the arrow should make a hole in the
+ground six feet long and six feet deep, that earth will I weigh, and
+gold according to the weight thereof shall be thine."
+
+The poor man was indeed glad, and, shooting with all his strength into
+the air, the arrow pierced a pomegranate seed, therefore the chow gave
+unto him gold but the weight of the seed!
+
+
+
+
+  XI
+  Stories Gone Astray
+
+
+The Blind Man
+
+A man and a woman had a daughter to whom they ever taught, in selecting
+a husband, to take none but a man with rough hands, as then she might
+know he would work.
+
+Overhearing this advice, and desiring a wife, a blind man took some
+rice, pounded it, and having rubbed it over his hands, came to woo the
+maiden. Though utterly blind, the eyes of the blind man appeared even as
+the eyes of those who see, and the maiden loved him and gave herself to
+him in marriage. Never did she suspect the truth.
+
+Many days they lived happily, but upon a time the wife made curry of
+many kinds of meat, and her husband ate but of one kind. When she asked
+him why he ate but of the one kind, the husband replied, "If a man eat
+from a dish, that dish should he wash. If I eat but from one, I need
+wash but one."
+
+Again, upon a day, as the husband plowed the rice field, he plowed up
+the ridges between the fields.
+
+"Why dost thou work after that fashion?" asked the wife.
+
+"The places for planting the rice are small and narrow. I wish to make
+them larger," replied the husband.
+
+When the rice had grown, the man went into the fields with his wife,
+and, as they walked, he fell over the ridges, in among the rice.
+
+"Why dost thou fall upon the rice?" asked the wife.
+
+"I do but measure the distance between the plants. If the rice be good
+this year, I will then know just how far apart to plant it next year,"
+he answered.
+
+And upon a time it happened the house was burning, and, as the wife
+fled, she saw her husband lingering and unable to find the door.
+
+"Come this way, the door is here," cried the wife.
+
+"I know, I know. I but measure the house that we may build another of
+its size," retorted the husband.
+
+Lo, as the husband left the burning house and was running, he fell into
+a well. His wife placed a ladder for him to climb out, but, behold, he
+climbed far above the mouth of the well.
+
+"Come down. Here is the ground," called the wife.
+
+"I know, I know. I am up here to see if the fire is out," called down
+the husband.
+
+Long had the father of the wife suspected the husband was blind, and,
+upon a day, he came to test his eyes. Carrying a bell, such as a buffalo
+wears, the father hid in the bushes and rang the bell.
+
+"Go, bring the buffalo into the compound,"[24] directed the wife.
+
+Suspecting naught, the husband went to the bushes, and cried, "Yoo,
+yoo!"[25] The father struck him, but he freed himself and returned to
+the house and told his wife that the buffalo had been dangerous and had
+horned him. But the father, convinced the husband had deceived them all,
+drove him from the house.
+
+As the blind man walked, he met a man with palsied feet.
+
+"If thou wilt be eyes to me, I will be feet to thee," called the blind
+man, and, forthwith, he put the palsied man on his back. As they
+journeyed, they met a wizard, who said, "Would you prosper, that which
+you grasp hold with a secure hand."
+
+And upon a day, the man with the palsy saw a bird's nest; thinking there
+would be eggs therein, he bade the blind man go up the tree and bring
+them. When the blind man grasped the nest, the head of a venomous snake
+appeared, but his companion called, "Grasp it tightly," and, as he held
+it, the snake cast of its venom in his eyes, and he saw all things. Just
+lingering to place the snake on his afflicted friend, and seeing him,
+too, restored, the husband hastened home to his wife, but as he ran, he
+beheld her coming out to him. With these kind words did she greet him,
+"O, my husband, come I will work for thee. I have ever loved thee!" but,
+when she beheld that his eyesight was restored, she was exceeding glad,
+and greatly did she rejoice.
+
+  24: Enclosed grounds or yard--generally a place of residence.
+
+  25: Yoo, yoo--stand still, be quiet.
+
+
+Heads I Win, Tails You Lose
+
+A man once asked his newly-married son-in-law, "You will help me in the
+work that the chow gives me to do, now that you are one of us, will you
+not?"
+
+And the son-in-law replied, "I will promise this. Whenever you go, I
+will stay at home, and when I stay at home, you will go and work."
+
+Pleased with the ready promise, the father said, "I thank you, my son."
+
+When the chow called the father, the son said, "This time you go, and I
+will stay at home," and the father went.
+
+And when the chow again called, the son said, "Now, I will stay at home,
+whilst you go."
+
+Then the father understood the promise of his son, and he did his
+government work alone until the day of his death.
+
+
+The Great Boaster
+
+There lived in the south a man who so continually boasted of his
+strength and endurance that all the people called him, "Kee-oo-yai"--the
+great boaster. Never entered into his ear a tale of danger, but his
+mouth opened to speak of a greater one which had been his; never a feat
+of strength but he could tell of one requiring greater strength which he
+had done, so, when the men of the village talked together and saw him
+drawing near, they would derisively say, "There is the great boaster
+coming. We must flee from his face for, is not he as strong and brave as
+the elephant? And we, compared to him are but as the dogs, or as the
+pigs." And the company would separate, so when the boaster reached the
+place no one would be there.
+
+Once, a young boy came from a distant province, and, hearing of the
+boaster, said, "Verily, I can bring him to have a face of shame before
+his neighbors, for, in one thing I can excel any man almost. I can run
+for a short distance and my heart does not beat faster, neither can any
+man say that my heart is quicker than when I am but seated, doing no
+labor. I will challenge the boaster to run up a hill with me, breathing
+but four times until the top is reached."
+
+The next day, the boy met and challenged the boaster to run to the top
+of a small hill, drawing breath but four times on the way. "If you can
+run and draw breath but four times, I can run the same distance and draw
+breath but twice," the boaster said.
+
+When the race was run, many men ran along to see that neither of the
+runners deceived the other. The boaster ran but a short distance, when
+he shouted in pain and shame, "Had we been running down-hill, I am sure
+that I could have done more than you."
+
+Then all the men mocked the boaster, saying, "Your words are truly
+large, but your works are but small. Never again will we listen to you,
+for a young lad has overcome one who says that he is stronger than the
+strongest." From that time never were they troubled, for,
+"Kee-oo-yai,"--the great boaster, was never heard to boast again.
+
+
+A Clever Thief
+
+Once a man went into the field of a gardener and stole a melon. Before
+he had had time to eat it the gardener discovered him, took the melon
+and tied it to the neck of the thief, and led him to the home of the
+head man of the village.
+
+As they walked along, the thief took his scarf and covered his head and
+shoulders, and, as he was in front, he ate the melon without the
+gardener's seeing him.
+
+When they reached the home of the head man, the gardener said, "This man
+stole a melon from me. It is tied to his neck under the cloth which
+covers his head and shoulders."
+
+"I thought this man but walked along. I did not know he would accuse me
+of such a sin. If I stole a melon, where is it?" asked the thief. He
+removed the scarf, and, lo, there was nothing to prove his guilt, and
+the head man said, "I see no sign of guilt in this man. Do not again
+falsely accuse one, or you will be punished."
+
+
+Eyeless-Needle, Rotten-Egg, Rotten-Banana, Old-Fish and Broken-Pestle.
+
+Once upon a time there were five men so lazy and wicked that no one
+would speak to them nor have anything to do with them. No one of their
+native province would speak to them at all, and, to show their contempt
+for them, the people had christened them by odious names. One was
+called, "Eyeless-Needle"; one, "Rotten-Egg"; one, "Rotten-Banana"; one,
+"Old-Fish," and the fifth, "Broken-Pestle."
+
+As there was neither shelter nor food for them in the village, they went
+to live in the woods, and one day they saw a cannibal building a fire.
+He had both a fine house and much goods, so one of the men said, "Let us
+go kill him, and take his goods."
+
+"Eyeless-needle" said, "No, we must not kill him now. When he sleeps we
+will kill him. I have planned just how it shall be done. You,
+'Rotten-Egg,' go to the fireplace. You, 'Old-Fish,' jump into the water
+jar. 'Rotten-Banana,' lie down at the top of the stairs, and, you,
+'Broken-Pestle,' lie at the foot."
+
+As the eye of day had closed and the cannibal slept, "Eyeless-Needle,"
+from under the bed, pricked him. The cannibal thought insects were
+biting him, and, unable to sleep, he arose to build a fire. When he
+stooped to blow the flame, "Rotten-Egg" broke and flew up into his face;
+when he sought the water jar to wash his face, "Old-Fish" jumped and
+broke the jar and all the water was lost. Taking the dipper to go to the
+well for water, the cannibal slipped on "Rotten-Banana" and fell
+downstairs, where "Broken-Pestle" struck him on the head and killed him.
+Then, taking much goods, "Eyeless-Needle," "Rotten-Banana,"
+"Rotten-Egg," "Old-Fish," and "Broken-Pestle" fled, and to this day, has
+no one either seen or heard of them.
+
+
+
+
+For Work Among Children
+
+*Practical Primary Plans.* For Sabbath School Teachers. By Israel P.
+Black. Illustrated with diagrams. 16mo, cloth, $1.00.
+
+*Object Lessons for Junior Work.* Practical Suggestions, Object Lessons,
+and Picture Stories. By Ella N. Wood. 16mo, cloth, with designs and
+illustrations, 50 cents.
+
+*The Children's Prayer.* By Rev. James Wells, D.D. Addresses to the
+Young on the Lord's Prayer. 16mo, cloth, 75 cents.
+
+*Bible Stories Without Names.* By Rev. Harry Smith, M.A. With questions
+at the end of each chapter and the answers in a separate booklet. 16mo,
+cloth, 75 cents.
+
+*Object Lessons for Children*; or, Hooks and Eyes, Truth Linked to
+Sight. Illustrated. By Rev. C. H. Tyndall, Ph.D., A.M. _2d edition._
+12mo, cloth, $1.25.
+
+*Attractive Truths in Lesson and Story.* By Mrs. A. M. Scudder.
+Introduction by Rev. F. E. Clark, D.D. _3d thousand._ 8vo, cloth, $1.25.
+
+*Pictured Truth.* A Handbook of Blackboard and Object Teaching. By Rev.
+R. F. Y. Pierce. Introduction by R. H. Conwell, D.D. With illustrations
+by the author. _3d thousand._ 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
+
+*Children's Meetings, and How to Conduct Them.* By Lucy J. Rider and
+Nellie M. Carman. Introduction by Bishop J. H. Vincent. Cloth,
+illustrated, _net_, $1.00; paper covers, _net_, 50 cents.
+
+*Talks to Children.* By Rev. T. T. Eaton, D.D., with introduction by
+Rev. John A. Broadus, D.D., LL.D., 16mo, cloth, $1.00.
+
+*Conversion of Children.* By Rev. E. P. Hammond. A practical volume,
+replete with incident and illustration. Suggestive, important, and
+timely. Cloth, 75 cents; paper cover, 30 cents.
+
+*Gospel Pictures and Story Sermons for Children.* By Major D. W.
+Whittle. Profusely illustrated. _47th thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 30 cents,
+net; paper, 15 cents.
+
+*Seed for Spring-time Sowing.* A Wall Roll for the use of Primary,
+Sabbath School and Kindergarten Teachers. Compiled by Mrs. Robert Pratt.
+75 cents.
+
+Fleming H. Revell Company
+
+  NEW YORK: 158 Fifth Avenue
+  CHICAGO: 63 Washington Street
+  TORONTO: 154 Yonge Street
+
+
+The Home and Children
+
+*Child Culture in the Home.* By Martha B. Mosher. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.
+
+"Rarely has so helpful a book on the moral education of children
+appeared. The emotions, the senses, the will, as well as the training of
+the habits of the child and methods of training, are all
+considered."--_The Outlook_.
+
+"It is written in a clear, straightforward manner, is rich in
+suggestions and illustrations, and is thoroughly wholesome in
+counsel."--_Cumberland Presbyterian_.
+
+*Studies in Home and Child-Life.* By Mrs. S. M. I. Henry. _Eighth
+thousand_, 12mo, cloth, $1.00.
+
+"It is clear, concise and vigorous throughout, and has the charm of
+Mother love and God love from first to last. We cannot conceive of a
+more helpful manual than this would be in the hands of young parents,
+and indeed of all who have to do with children."--_The Union Signal_.
+
+"The book is one we can heartily commend to every father and mother to
+read and re-read, and ponder over and read again."--_The Observer_.
+
+*Child Culture; or, The Science of Motherhood.* By Mrs. Hannah Whitall
+Smith, _3rd edition_, 16mo, decorated boards, 30 cents.
+
+"We have read nothing from the pen of this gifted woman which we have
+more enjoyed than this wisely-written booklet, as spiritual as it is
+practical, and as full of common sense as of exalted sentiment. Any
+mother having prayerfully read this heart message of a true woman will
+be a better mother."--_Cumberland Presbyterian_.
+
+*The Children for Christ.* By Rev. Andrew Murray, D.D. Thoughts for
+Christian Parents on the Consecration of the Home Life. 12mo, cloth,
+$1.00.
+
+"The author seems to have had a Divine vocation in writing this book,
+and thousands of parents ought to derive blessings from it for their
+children."--_The Evangelist_.
+
+*Home Duties.* Practical Talks on the Amenities of the Home. By Rev. R.
+T. Cross. 12mo, paper, 15 cents; cloth, 30 cents, net.
+
+CONTENTS: Duties of Husbands. Duties of Wives. Duties of Parents. Duties
+of Children. Duties of Brothers and Sisters. The Duty of Family Worship.
+The Method of Family Worship. A Home for Every Family and How to Get It.
+
+"A model of what can be done in so brief a space."--_The Independent_.
+
+Fleming H. Revell Company
+
+  NEW YORK: 158 Fifth Avenue
+  CHICAGO: 63 Washington Street
+  TORONTO: 154 Yonge Street
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
+
+In the first story, A Child of The Woods, the second paragraph starts
+with an opening quote that is never closed or continued, this has been
+left unchanged.
+
+List of changes from the printed edition (in parentheses the original
+text):
+
+p. 72: "venison" for "vension" (I will neither eat of the vension, nor
+of the pork)
+
+p. 80: "flying-jewel" for "flying jewel" (and instead of giving the
+rascal the flying jewel, flew away)
+
+p. 155: ";" for "." (Cloth, 75 cents. paper cover, 30 cents)
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India, by
+Katherine Neville Fleeson
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAOS FOLK-LORE OF FARTHER INDIA ***
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