if rs 5) CORANTSIBE U NPV E RSs LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN I89I BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE MARY ELIZABETH MILROY. IS BYE ISTQ FAIRY TALES FROM THE FAR EAST. FAIRY TALES FROM THE FAR EAST (ADAPTED FROM THE BIRTH STORIES OF BUDDHA) BY THEO. GIFT Auruor oF “Lit Lorimer,” ‘Cave Town Dicky,” ‘Tae Littce Coxonists,” &c., &c. ! WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 0. VON GLEHN SECOND EDITION LONDON LAWRENCE & BULLEN 16, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. 1892 & Ab3334¢S” LONDON: PRINTED BY HENDERSON AND SPALDING, LIMITED, MARYLEBONE LANE, w. CONTENTS. PAGE THE QUARRELSOME QUAILS 3 THE TORTOISE THAT COULDN’T HOLD ITS TONGUE 17 THE WISE MERCHANT AND THE FOOLISH - 49 Bic CHERRY AND LITTLE CHERRY; OR, THE STORY OF THE Envious Ox 77 THE MONKEYS AND THE.GOBLIN POND 103 THE CRAB THAT OUTWITTED THE CRANE 125 SELIM’S FORTUNE ; OR, SMALL BEGINNINGS MAKE GREAT ENDS 145 THE GOBLIN’S QUESTION 165 THE CONCEITED DEER 185 TO MY CHILD READERS. My pear CHILDREN, If you like these stories, which I have collected and put into story-shape for you, and which come out of one of the very oldest books in the world, you must thank not me, so much as a very learned man, Professor Rhys Davids, who first translated into English the book I speak of out of the ancient language in which, thousands of years ago, it was originally written; and so made it possible for less learned people like you and me to enjoy the stories in it. That you may get as much fun out of reading them as I have done out of writing and shaping them for you, is the hearty wish of your friend, THEO. GIFT. THE QUARRELSOME QUAILS. THE QUARRELSOME QUAILS. ONCE upon a time there was a fowler, a poor man, with a wife and family, who earned a small living for himself and them by catching quails, which he afterwards killed and sold in the public market. Now, the way in which he caught them was this. He used to lie down in the long grass and imitate the cry of a wounded quail; and then, when the quails came running up from all sides to see who was hurt (for quails are very sociable, affectionate birds, and live in large B 2 4 THE QUARRELSOME QUAILS. flocks), he would throw his net over the lot, and go off to catch some more before collecting them together in a heap, breaking their necks, and packing them into his basket; and in this way he caught very many, so many that nearly all the quail families were in mourning; and the crows did quite a good business in black feathers. One day, therefore, the oldest father quail called all the quails together and said to them— “My children, the fowler is thinning our numbers every day, and bringing death and destruction to us; but I have thought of a means by which we may escape him. In future, as soon as he has thrown his net over you, lie still till it has settled, THE QUARRELSOME QUAILS. 5 and then let each one put his head through a mesh in the net and lift wz up all together, spreading your wings at the same time, so that you may fly away with it until you come to the nearest thorn bush. Drop down gently on that, and the thorns will seize the net by its meshes, and hold it up from you, thus allowing you to slip out easily from underneath.” The quails thought this was a capital idea, and the very next time that a group of them got caught under the fowler's net they lifted it up altogether, as the father quail had told them, flew away with it, and, leaving it on a thorn bush, got off safely, a he had said, and without the loss of one of their number. As for the 6 THE QUARRELSOME QUAILS. fowler, he had to run after them as hard as he could, and while he was trying to disentangle his net from the thorns without tearing it, the birds crept farther and farther away under shelter of the long dry grass, and were soon snugly hidden among the shrubs and _ bushes, so that he had to go home empty-handed. Next day the same thing happened again ; and so it did the day after next. The quails always did as they had been taught by the father quail, and so the fowler spent the whole time following them about and disentangling his nets till night fell, when he had to go home without having caught a single bird or earned any money. Now, when this had happened a THE QUARRELSOME QUAILS. 7 good many times his wife got very angry, and, flying into a rage, she said to him— “How am I or the children to live if you come home empty-handed every day? We have nothing for dinner, as it is, and we shall starve if this sort of thing goes on. Evidently you have left off caring what becomes of us. The fact is, I believe you have a wife and family somewhere else, and spend your _money on them.” ‘ ‘“My dear,” said the fowler, ‘Fate has been’ cruel to me; but not so cruel as it might be. I have no wife but you, and no family but yours, to spend my money on. I will tell you exactly how it happens. These quails are so 8 THE QUARRELSOME QUAILS. wonderfully united and friendly with one another that they have evidently made a plan to act all in concert and fly away with my net the moment I cast it over them, Don’t get angry with me, however, this can’t go on for ever. Birds are quarrelsome folk. They are sure to fall out before long; and the minute they do so I shall get the better of them. ‘When friends and families come to blows, Then is the time to fear their foes. “Only be patient for a little.” And, true enough, it all fell out as he said; for a few days later, as they were tumbling out of the net after leaving it on the thorn bush, one of them trod accidentally on another one’s head. THE QUARRELSOME QUAILS. 9 “Now, then! what did you do ¢hat for, treading on my head?” cried the one who was hurt. “What did you put your head in the way for? I didn’t tread on you on_ purpose,” retorted the other. “No,” said the injured one, “but because you were so clumsy you couldn’t look where you were going.” “No more clumsy than yourself!” cried the other, ‘and for my part I’d rather be clumsy than an ill-tempered old _ baldhead.” But this made matters worse. “ Bald/” cried the one quail, in a rage. ‘And if I am bald, it is because I have rubbed 10 THE QUARRELSOME QUAILS. all the down off my head with pushing it through those horrid meshes in order to lift the net off you.” “ Off me/” shouted the other quail. “ Well, I like that! Do listen to him, you fellows; one would think he did all the work of lifting! Why, only yesterday I lost two of the very best feathers out of my right wing in the efforts I had to make to raise the net from the ground.