30 chapters
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30 chapters
Warning
Warning
To the Studious or Scientific Reader I hope no one will imagine this to be a scientific book. It is meant to amuse children; and if it succeeds in this, its aim will be hit. Thus the stories here given, although grounded upon the great Buddhist collection named below, have been ruthlessly altered wherever this would better suit them for the purpose in view; and probably some of them Buddha himself would fail to recognise. My thanks are due to the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press for per
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The Giant Crab
The Giant Crab
“Dear Mr. Crab!” she said, “please let my husband go!” The Crab poked his eyes out of the water. You know a crab’s eyes grow on a kind of little stalk; and this Crab was so big, that his eyes looked like two thick tree-trunks, with a cannon-ball on the top of each. Now this Crab was a great flirt, or rather he used to be a great flirt, but lately he had nobody to flirt with, because he had eaten up all the creatures that came near him. And Mrs. Elephant was a beautiful elephant, with a shiny bro
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The Hypocritical Cat
The Hypocritical Cat
“And why do you face the sun?” “Because I worship the sun.” “What a pious Cat!” the Rats all thought. Ever after that, when they started out in the morning, they did not fail first to make their bow to the Cat one by one, and to show thus their respect for his piety. This was just what our Cat wanted. Every day, as they filed past, he waited till the tail of the string came up; then like lightning pounced upon the hindmost, and gobbled him up in a trice; after which he stood on one leg as before
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The Crocodile and the Monkey
The Crocodile and the Monkey
He wallowed along the bank to a place just underneath a big tree. Up on the tree our Monkey was swinging by his tail, and chattering to himself. “Monkey!” he called out, in the softest voice he could manage. It was not very soft, something like a policeman’s rattle; but it was the best he could do, with all those sharp teeth. The Monkey stopped swinging, and looked down. The Crocodile had never spoken to him before, and he felt rather surprised. “Monkey, dear!” called the Crocodile, again. “Well
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The Axe, the Drum, the Bowl, and the Diamond
The Axe, the Drum, the Bowl, and the Diamond
The man wished himself down from the tree, and looked about for a large stone, with which he battered the pig’s skull till it was dead. Then he held the diamond over the pig, so that the sun’s rays shone down and were reflected through it; and so fine and strong was the diamond, that in a very short time a delicious smell of roast pork rose to his nostrils, and the whole pig was done to a turn, with rich crisp crackling. Then he took a sharp shell which he found lying on the beach, and carved of
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The Wise Parrot and the Foolish Parrot
The Wise Parrot and the Foolish Parrot
Then he went away. As soon as he was out of sight, the maid began her games. She picked the locks of his cupboards and ate the sugar, she ate the biscuits, she drank the wine. Beaky hopped into the room, stood on one leg, and shrieked, “Naughty maid! Aren’t you afraid? Master shall know, And you shall go!” The maid jumped as if she had been shot, and looked round. She thought somebody had caught her unawares; but when she saw it was Beaky she put on a sweet smile, and held out a lump of sugar, s
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The Dishonest Friend
The Dishonest Friend
Then he ran back to the boy’s father. “Where is my boy?” asked the father. “Your boy? Oh, I remember—a hawk swooped down and carried him off.” “Oh, you liar! oh, you murderer!” said the friend. “Come before the judge, and then we shall see.” “As you please,” said the man. So they went to the court. “What is your complaint?” asked the judge. “My lord, this man took my son out for a walk with him, and came back alone, and now he says a hawk carried him off. He must have murdered the boy! Justice,
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The Mouse and the Farmer
The Mouse and the Farmer
“All right,” said he; “only if you leave out one day, you’re a dead mouse!” Then, with a frightful spit, bristling up all his whiskers and eyebrows, Grimalkin ran away. So next day, when the Farmer gave Mousie his dinner, Mousie carried it off to the black Cat, and the black Cat spat and swore and ate it up, and away ran Mousie trembling. But by degrees Mousie grew thinner and thinner, because Grimalkin always had his dinner; and soon he was nothing but skin and bone. Then the Farmer noticed how
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The Talkative Tortoise
The Talkative Tortoise
“Look there!” cried one to the rest, “two Geese carrying a Tortoise on a stick!” The Tortoise on hearing this was so angry that he forgot all about his danger, and opened his mouth to cry out: “What’s that to you? Mind your own business!” But he got no farther than the first word; for when his mouth opened he loosed the stick, down he dropped, and fell with a crash on the stones. The talkative Tortoise lay dead, with his shell cracked in two. Once upon a time there was a beautiful park, full of
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The Monkeys and the Gardener
The Monkeys and the Gardener
“Brothers,” said the Monkey chief, “our good friend, the gardener has given us charge of this garden and all there is in it. We must take care not to hurt anything, and, above all, not to waste the water. There is very little water, and I really don’t think it will go round.” It was in fact a well, very small at the top, but very deep, and at the bottom the water was always running. You might have watered till doomsday out of that well; but monkeys, though they are cunning, are not wise, and the
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The Goblin and the Sneeze
The Goblin and the Sneeze
The Goblin, however, was not going to let them off so easily; he wanted his dinner too. After waiting a long time, with never a sneeze from one or the other, he raised a cloud of fine dust; that was rather mean of him, but still he was very hungry, and did not stick at trifles. Sure enough, the father nearly sneezed his head off. The Goblin chuckled, and made ready to pounce from his perch and devour the pair of them. But the son happened to see him, and, being a sharp lad, he guessed the truth.
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The Grateful Beasts and the Ungrateful Prince
The Grateful Beasts and the Ungrateful Prince
As the tree came near to a bend in the river, it was washed close to the bank. And on the bank a man was sitting. He did not mind the rain a bit, because he was a Hermit, who thought the world so wicked that he left it and went to live in the jungle all by himself. He built himself a little hut by the riverside, and, wet or fine, he cared not a jot. This man saw the tree, and managed to catch hold of it and pull it ashore. Then he got the four creatures off it, and took them into his hut, and dr
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The Goblin in the Pool
The Goblin in the Pool
Once there was a foolish Farmer, who had a son at court, serving the King. This Farmer was a very poor man, and all he had to plough his fields with was one pair of oxen. Two oxen was all he had, and one of them died. The poor Farmer was in despair. One ox was not enough to draw the plough over the heavy land; and he had no money to buy another. So he sent a message to his son, that he was wanted at home. When the son came, his father told him that one of his oxen was dead, and he had no money t
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The Foolish Farmer and the King
The Foolish Farmer and the King
“Well,” said the Farmer, “I think I can say that.” And he repeated it over and over, bowing and scraping to the bunch of grass that he called the King. Every day for a whole year the Farmer practised; and how the ploughing got on meanwhile I do not know. Perhaps he lived on the seed-corn, and did not plough at all. At the end of the year he said to his son: “Now I know that little verse of yours! Now I can say it before any man! Take me to the King!” So together father and son trudged away to th
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The Pious Wolf
The Pious Wolf
Once upon a time there was a big horse called Chestnut. He was as fierce as a fury, and bit everybody who came near him; his groom always had a broken bone, or a bruise at the least; and, as for the other horses, let Chestnut loose in the herd, and there was a fine to-do: a kick for one, a bite for another; it was hurry, skurry, worry, till they took themselves off and left him alone in the clover. Now the King wanted to buy some horses, and a dealer had driven down a couple of hundred of them f
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Birds of a Feather
Birds of a Feather
“If the reason you would know, Like to like will always go; Here’s a pair of vicious horses Just the same in all their courses; Both are wild, and bite their tether: Birds of a feather flock together.” Some people were steaming peas under a tree, in order to make a meal for their horses. Up in the branches sat a Monkey, who watched with his restless eyes what they were doing. “Aha!” thought the Monkey. “I spy my dinner!” So when they had finished steaming the peas, and turned away for a moment t
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Spend a Pound to Win a Penny
Spend a Pound to Win a Penny
Once upon a time a number of fish lived in a little pool. It was all very well while there was rain; but when summer came, and it began to be very hot, the water dried up and got lower and lower, until there was hardly enough to hide the fish. Now not far away there was a beautiful lake, always fresh and cool; for it lay under the shadow of great trees, and it was covered all over with water-lilies. And a Crane lived on the banks of this lake. The Crane used to eat fish, when he could catch any;
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The Cunning Crane and the Crab
The Cunning Crane and the Crab
“That’s true enough,” said the Fish; “the water is hot.” Well, the end of it was, they persuaded an old Fish with one eye to go and see. The Crane took the one-eyed Fish in his beak and put him in the lake; and when he had seen that what the Crane said was true so far, he carried the Fish back again to tell the others. The old Fish could not say enough to praise the lake. “It’s ever so big,” he said, “and deep and cool, just as the Crane said; and there are trees overshadowing it, and water-lili
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Union is Strength
Union is Strength
“I tell you I didn’t!” “What a lie!” “A lie, is it? Hoity, toity, how high-and-mighty we are, to be sure! I suppose it is you lift up the net, all by yourself, when the man throws it over us!” And so they went on, getting angrier and angrier. And the result was, that next day, when the fowler made his cast, said the first Quail to the second: “Now then, Samson, lift away! They say that last time your feathers all fell off your head!” “Oh, indeed! They say that when you tried to lift, both your w
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Silence is Golden
Silence is Golden
“All will see what kind you be If you yelp as once before; So don’t try it, but keep quiet, Yours is not a lion’s roar.” The poor Cub slunk away with his tail between his legs, while the other Lions sniffed and turned up their noses at him. Ever after that he took good care to hold his tongue when he was in the company of his betters. Once upon a time, in a great and rich city, reigned a mighty King, who was called by the title of the Great Yellow King. This King was very cruel to his people, an
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The Great Yellow King and His Porter
The Great Yellow King and His Porter
But the other man laughed, and said, “Don’t be afraid of that, Porter! He’s dead and done for, and however much they wish it, they can never send him back to us again.” So the Porter was comforted, and wiped his eyes, and went to get a glass of beer. There once was a young Quail that lived on a farm. When the farmer ploughed up the land, Quailie used to hop about over the clods and pick up seeds, or weeds, or worms, or anything that the plough turned up, and he ate these and lived on them. You m
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The Quail and the Falcon
The Quail and the Falcon
“Oh, nonsense, Quailie, clods won’t help you. Just try; off you go! I’ll follow.” The Quail flew off, feeling as happy now as he was miserable a moment gone; and when he got back to his farm he picked out a big clod and perched on the top. “Come on, Falcon!” cried he; “come on!” Down came the Falcon with a swoop like a flash of lightning; but just as he came close the Quail dodged him nimbly and tumbled over the clod to the other side, leaving the Falcon to come full tilt against the clod of ear
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Pride Must Have a Fall
Pride Must Have a Fall
They said “How do you do?” and told their errand; because they meant to go through with it now, although they did not much like the look of this ugly bird Streaky, with his airs and graces. Mrs. Crow was very much pleased, but Streaky looked bored, and said: “Aw, caw, I don’t think I can fly all that way. It is really too much trouble. Why did not the Governor come to see me instead, as usual—aw?” This rude bird called his father the Governor; you see, as he had been brought up among carrion cro
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The Bold Beggar
The Bold Beggar
The man bowed low, and went away happy in the success of his trick. I don’t know whether the King spent less money upon his dinner after that, but I am quite sure that no one else got a meal at his table in the same way. Once upon a time there was a family of Lions that lived in the Himalaya Mountains in a Golden Cave. They were three brothers and one sister. Near by was a silver mountain with a Crystal Cave, and in this Crystal Cave lived a Jackal. The young Lions used to be out all day, huntin
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The Jackal Would A-Wooing Go
The Jackal Would A-Wooing Go
“Why, what on earth is the matter?” asked he. “A nasty, dirty Jackal came, and wanted to marry me!” “The brute!” said her brother. “Where is he?” “Can’t you see him, lying up in the sky?” You know the crystal was transparent, and as she had never been there she could not tell he was really in a cave. Off galloped the young Lion, furious with rage, and when he got near the place where the Jackal was lying in his Crystal Cave, he leaped at him, when—crack! went his skull against the wall of crysta
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The Lion and the Boar
The Lion and the Boar
He said this so humbly that the Boar became haughtier than ever. “Oh, very well,” said he, “it shall never be said I took a mean advantage of any one. This day week, then! Good-day to you.” When he got home, his friends hardly knew him. Every bristle on his back was standing up straight; his little greedy eyes were gleaming; he ran into the house, knocking over the pots and pans, snarling at his wife, and making himself very disagreeable indeed. At last the other Boars protested, and said they w
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The Goblin City
The Goblin City
However, next morning, he found a chance of telling his mates what he had discovered. Some of them believed him, and some said he must have been dreaming; they were sure their wives would not do such a thing. Those who believed him agreed that they would look out for a chance of escape. But there was a kind fairy who hated those Goblins; and she determined to save the men. So she told her flying horse to go and carry them away. And accordingly, as the men were out for a walk next day, the captai
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Lacknose
Lacknose
The Gardener knew very well that his nose would not grow again like his whiskers, and he thought the little boy rather rude to mention it; so he became angry. “Go away!” said he, “and get your posy somewhere else!” The boy went away disappointed; but the second boy thought he would try his luck too. Perhaps the first boy had not spoken nicely; and he had made a verse of poetry too, which he thought would just suit the old Gardener. So in he came with “Good morning, Mr. Lacknose!” “Good morning,
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The King’s Lesson
The King’s Lesson
“Get out of the way!” said the driver of the other carriage. “Get out of the way yourself!” said King Godfrey’s man. “I have a King inside,” said he; you see, he knew who the disguised traveller was, and he thought there was no need to hide it now, when it might save him trouble. “If you have one King, I have another!” said the other man; and imagine how astonished King Godfrey’s coachman was to hear that. “Oh dear, oh dear,” he said, “what is to be done? Both Kings! How old is your King?” he ad
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Corrections
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