Two days after, the cat caught a cow, and the sultan was told, ‘Master,
the cat has caught a cow,’ but he only said, ‘It was my cow and my cat.’
And the cat waited a few days, and then it caught a donkey, and they
told the sultan, ‘Master, the cat has caught a donkey,’ and he said,
‘My cat and my donkey.’ Next it was a horse, and after that a camel, and
when the sultan was told he said, ‘You don’t like this cat, and want me
to kill it. And I shall not kill it. Let it eat the camel: let it even
eat a man.’
And it waited till the next day, and caught some one’s child. And the
sultan was told, ‘The cat has caught a child.’ And he said, ‘The cat is
mine and the child mine.’ Then it caught a grown-up man.
After that the cat left the town and took up its abode in a thicket near
the road. So if any one passed, going for water, it devoured him. If it
saw a cow going to feed, it devoured him. If it saw a goat, it devoured
him. Whatever went along that road the cat caught and ate.
Then the people went to the sultan in a body, and told him of all the
misdeeds of that cat. But he answered as before, ‘The cat is mine and
the people are mine.’ And no man dared kill the cat, which grew bolder
and bolder, and at last came into the town to look for its prey.
One day, the sultan said to his six sons, ‘I am going into the country,
to see how the wheat is growing, and you shall come with me.’ They went
on merrily along the road, till they came to a thicket, when out sprang
the cat, and killed three of the sons.
‘The cat! The cat!’ shrieked the soldiers who were with him. And this
time the sultan said:
‘Seek for it and kill it. It is no longer a cat, but a demon!’
And the soldiers answered him, ‘Did we not tell you, master, what the
cat was doing, and did you not say, “My cat and my people”?’
And he answered: ‘True, I said it.’
Now the youngest son had not gone with the rest, but had stayed at home
with his mother; and when he heard that his brothers had been killed
by the cat he said, ‘Let me go, that it may slay me also.’ His mother
entreated him not to leave her, but he would not listen, and he took his
sword and a spear and some rice cakes, and went after the cat, which by
this time had run of to a great distance.
The lad spent many days hunting the cat, which now bore the name of ‘The
Nunda, eater of people,’ but though he killed many wild animals he saw
no trace of the enemy he was hunting for. There was no beast, however
fierce, that he was afraid of, till at last his father and mother begged
him to give up the chase after the Nunda.
But he answered: ‘What I have said, I cannot take back. If I am to die,
then I die, but every day I must go and seek for the Nunda.’
And again his father offered him what he would, even the crown itself,
but the boy would hear nothing, and went on his way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account