Santal (South Asian people) -- Folklore; Santali literature -- Translations into English; Tales -- India
At cock-crow the thief became aware, that it was
a tiger he had been contending with in the dark, and not an ox. He
then said to the tiger, "It is you then, whom I have taken possession
of." He then released the tiger, who fled to the jungle at full speed.
The thief having been awake all night felt tired, and lying down in
the shade of a ridge of a rice field to rest, fell asleep.
The tiger as he ran encountered a jackal who exclaimed, "Ho! Ho! uncle,
where are you off to, at such a break-neck pace?" The tiger replied,
"I am going in this direction. A mite kept me awake all night, I
am fleeing through fear of him." The jackal then said, "It is very
strange, uncle, that you did not vanquish him. We eat such as he. Tell
me where he is, and I shall soon snap him up." The tiger said, "He is
over in the direction of those rice fields, asleep somewhere." The
jackal then went in search of him, and soon found him asleep in
the shade of a ridge of a rice field. He then went all round him
reconnoitring, and when he had completed the circuit exclaimed,
"The tiger said he was a mite, but he turns out to be of immense
size, I cannot eat him all myself. I will gather my friends together
to assist me, and then we shall devour him in no time." So he sat
down with his back towards the sleeping thief, so near that his tail
touched his neck, and began to yell as only a hungry jackal can. The
noise awoke the sleeper, and seeing the jackal sitting so near to him,
he quietly caught him by the tail, and springing on to his feet swung
him round and round above his head, and then flung him from him. The
jackal was severely stunned, but picking himself up, fled as fast as
his legs could carry him. After he had gone some little distance he
met a bear, who said, "Where away in such hot haste?" He made answer,
"Uh! What can I tell you more than that that barren tiger grossly
deceived me. He told me he was a mite, I went to see him and found he
was a ghur pank, [6] and without doubt he ghur panked me." The bear
then said, "Oh! I'll eat him. Tell me where he is." The jackal said,
"You will find him over in these rice fields." So the bear went
to find him and eat him. When still some distance off he spied him
laying asleep, and was greatly delighted, exclaiming, "My belly will
be swollen with eating him before long." The thief accidentally lifted
his head, and saw the bear coming straight for him, so he jumped up
and ran to the nearest tree into which he climbed. The bear saw him,
and went up after him, and tried to get hold of him, but he jumped
from one branch to another as the bear followed him. After this had
gone on for some time, it so happened that the bear missed his footing
and fell heavily to the ground. The thief immediately jumped on to his
back. The bear was frightened, and getting to his feet fled as fast
as he could; the thief clasped him tightly round the neck, saying,
"If I let go my hold he will eat me." The bear of course ran to the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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