|
THE TALE OF HOW THE FOX FOLLOWED THE ELEPHANT.
The fox and the elephant were together. When they started, the elephant
said to the fox: "Where art thou going, fox?" The fox answered him: "I
am going with thee." The elephant, however, said to him: "Stay here,
thou canst not endure hunger and thirst." But the fox said to him: "I
can endure [it]; I shall not say unto thee that I am hungry or thirsty."
And the elephant said to him: "Very well, then." And they went together
about a day's journey. Then the fox said to the elephant: "Uncle, I am
thirsty." But the elephant replied: "Didst thou not tell me, thou
wouldst not be thirsty? How is this now?" And the fox said to him: "When
did I think that we should go through such a dry country?" The elephant
said: "Go then, drink from that water-pit there and come back!" And the
fox went, and after having drunk he filled up the pit and returned to
the elephant. And the elephant asked him: "Hast thou drunk?", but he
replied: "No, I found [the pit] filled up." Thereupon after they had
marched a while, the fox said to him : " Uncle, I am thirsty!" The
elephant: "Go then, drink from such and such a well; then come." He
went, drank and filled up the well and said: "I found nothing in it, it
was filled up." And again after they had marched on a while, he said to
him: "Uncle, I am thirsty." He said to him: "Go then and drink from such
and * such a well; then come!" And that one also he covered up and said:
"I found nothing."
While the fox spoke thus and the elephant showed him every well, they
came into a country which the elephant did not know. The fox said to
him: "Uncle, I am thirsty." He answered: "I do not know the wells of
this country. But enter here in my anus, and when thou hast drunk, come
back without turning right or left. There is water within my belly." So
he entered into the anus of the elephant, drank from that water and came
back in his tracks. Afterwards when they had marched on from there, he
said
to him: "Uncle, I am thirsty!" And the elephant replied: "Enter into me
as before, and when thou hast drunk, come back!" The fox entered into
him, and when he had drunk, on his return he saw the fat in the belly of
the elephant swinging; and tearing a bite off from the fat he ate. The
elephant said to him: "Fox, mayest thou be betrayed! How couldst thou
betray me?" But the fox sat there, in order to eat from the fat. The
elephant: "Why doest thou not come out from me?" The fox: "Where then
shall I go out from thee?" He replied: "Where thou hast come in, there
go out!" The fox: "That thy dung may soil me?" The elephant: "Come out
through my mouth!" The fox: "Well, uncle, that thou mayest break me into
pieces with thy tusks ?" "Come out through me foot!" "If then thou
squashes me?" "Come out then through my ear!" "That the wax of thy ear
may soil me?" "Come out through my trunk!" "If then thou catches me with
it?" And through whatsoever he told him, he refused to go out. The
elephant said to him: "Now then, after thou hast refused to come out, I
shall throw myself with thee down from this precipice." But the fox said
to him: "What do I care? Throw thyself down!" And the elephant intending
to perish together with the fox, jumped from the precipice and all his
bones broke into pieces. But the fox went out through his anus, when he
began to jump down. Thereupon he took out the entrails, and while
unrolling them and dragging them along he was met by traveling
merchants. And he recognized his cousin among the merchants, and they
greeted each other. Said his cousin to
him: "From where hast thou come, fox?" And he told him his adventures
and said to him: "To my luck and thy luck, I have found an elephant
fallen down." So his cousin in- formed his company, and they asked him:
"Where is he, fox?" He answered: "These his entrails will guide you;
just follow them!" "But who will stay with our things for us? n said
they. He replied: "I shall stay with them." And after they had gone to
the elephant, the fox opened their skins and drank the melted butter ')
that was in them; then he filled the skins with excrement. But from the
skin of his cousin he kept away. And when they returned, they said to
him: "Thou hast stayed [here] for us, fox; thou hast done well." And
they said: "Make a meal for him!" And when they had made [the meal] for
him, he asked them: "Make me butter-sauce out of the skin of my cousin ;
my aunt's butter I know beforehand, it is good." So they made a sauce of
it for him. And after he had eaten, he went away from them. When the
merchants entered the town, they opened their skins in order to sell the
butter; but they found nothing but excrement in their skins ; only the
skin of the cousin of the fox was good. The merchants said: "The fox has
done this to us," and went to seek him. But the fox had mixed with his
friends, so [that] they did not recognize him. Then the merchants
gathered all the foxes, planted a spear for them and said to them :
"Jump over it." The other foxes jumped over it, but the fox who had
drunk their melted butter could not jump. The merchants said: "It is he;
because, he has drunk our butter he is now unable to jump," and they
seized it him. And after they had tied him to a tree, they went away
with the words: "Let us fetch switches with which to scourge him !"
While he was thus tied, the jackal came to him with his few goats. He
said to him: "Fox, what has happened to thee? Why art thou thus tied."
He replied: "My family told me to become their chief, but I refused the
chieftainship." "Does he whom they tell to become chief [ever] refuse
the chieftainship?" "If thou wishes it, untie me that I give it to thee.
Then I shall tie thee in my place. And when they lash thee with
switches, speak to them: 'I will be chief!" The jackal untied him, and
after that the fox tied him to the tree. Then he went away taking from
him his few goats and also the harp which he had had. Now when the
merchants returned and lashed the jackal with the switches, he said to
them: "I will be chief; let me alone!" When they recognized him they
asked him: "Who art thou ? And who told thee to become chief?" He
answered: "I am the jackal; and the fox has betrayed me and told me :
'My family told me to become chief and I refused the chieftainship.'
When I asked him: 'Does he whom they tell to become chief [ever] refuse
the chieftainship ?', he said to me : 'Untie me that I place thee in my
stead. And when they lash thee, speak to them : 'I will become chief;
let me alone!' And he took my few goats and my harp and went away." Then
they said: "This traitor has escaped us," and they untied him. And in
this way the fox escaped from them. [This is what] they say.
i) The Tigre speaking people eat no hard butter (zebdat\ but take it
only
boiled and melted (h> ias)\ to eat hard butter is an abomination.
|
