There was
once an old man, who, when he was cutting reeds for his fence in the jungle,
heard a tiger growling close to him; and it happened that at that moment a bird
also flew away. On which the old man, though he was in truth very frightened,
called after the bird "Ah! If you had only stopped, I would have taught
you the secret of the ghughu ban." And this saying he kept on repeating,
so that the tiger said to himself "What is it that the old man is saying?
I must get him to tell me; and in that case I won't even eat him." So he
called to the old man. "Look here, old man, what is that about the ghughu
ban?" But the old man, answering not a word, kept on chopping his reeds.
Then the tiger crept up quite close to him, and said to the old man "If
you don't tell me what you are talking about, I will eat you!" But the old
man, for all his fear, only said "You come to my house tomorrow, and I
will tell you." Very early the next morning the tiger asked his way to the
old man's house, and when he got there, it being still early morning, the old
man said "And what may your honour be pleased to want?" And the tiger
replied "I want to know what you were talking about yesterday." But
the old man replied "I cannot possibly teach you alone. You had better go and
get two or three other tigers." And so the tiger went away and returned
with two or three of his brethren. In the meanwhile the old man had spread his
unthreshed paddy in the yard. And, putting his earliest acquaintance first, he
tied all the tigers to the post, round which the cattle revolve when they are
treading out the grain, and set them to work to tread.
But the one
in the middle, who was unaccustomed to such labour, cried out in a piteous
voice that his head ached, and that he was getting very giddy. But the old man
said "Wait a bit, my friend; you haven't learned yet." And when the
tiger complained again, the old man fetched his goad and pricked him sore, so
that, giddy and stumbling, he had to go round and round, and when the tiger
said "I shall die at this rate," the old man replied "You wanted
to learn the ghughu ban yesterday, and unless you endure this trouble, you
cannot possibly learn;" and, so saying, pricked him the more cruelly.
Finally, the tiger said "If so be, I must be in pain, I must be. But I
don't see what it is all about." Then the old man replied "This is
precisely what they called the ghughu ban." Then the tiger said "I
see, I see, now let us go. We have learned our lesson." But the old man
said "Wait a bit, the paddy is nearly trodden out," and would not
stop pricking the tigers for all their entreaties. And when the paddy was all
threshed, the old man began untying their bonds. But before he had finished, the
tigers were in such pain that they tore the rope out of his hands and ran away.
When they stopped to rest, they saw the old man's rope, and said to one another
"If we do not give the old man his rope again, we shall get into further
trouble." So, after much debate, the first tiger was deputed to take it
back.
So back he
went, trembling with fear in every limb, and, getting close to the old man's
house, offered him his rope. But the old man said "It is night, and I am
in bed. I can't come out. Put the rope in at the window." So the tiger put
it on his tail and thrust it in at the window. But the old man had his knife
ready and cut the tiger's tail off. On which the tiger once more fled, howling
with pain. But the old man shouted after him "You may run as far as you
like, but my brother is after you, and will catch you." On which the tiger
ran faster than ever. At last, however, he stopped to rest near a cool pool of
water, and, not seeing the old man's brother, dipped the wounded stump of his
tail into the pool for refreshment. But a crab, which dwelt in that pool,
nipped the stump of his tail; and the tiger crying "The old man's brother
has caught me!" again fled through the jungle, and it was not till the
crab was knocked off against the trees that he at last rested. And that's all!
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