For three days unweariedly he scooped and poured.
On the fourth day a Water-sprite came up out of the water, and asked :
“ Why art thou scooping ? “
The man replied :
“ I am scooping because I have lost a pearl.”
The Water-sprite asked :
“ Are you going to stop before long ? “
The man replied :
“When I have scooped the sea dry, then I shall stop.”
Then the Water-sprite returned into the depths, and brought up the very same pearl, and gave it to the man.
XV
BLIND MAN AND THE MILK
ONE blind from birth asked a man who could see :
“What color is milk?”
The man who could see replied :
“ The color of milk is like white paper.”
The blind man asked :
“ This color, then, rustles in the hands like paper ? “
The man who could see replied :
“ No; it is white, like white flour.”
The blind man asked :
“ Then it is soft and friable like flour, is it ? “
The man who could see replied :
“ No; it is simply white, like a rabbit.”
The blind man asked :
“ Then it is downy and soft like a rabbit, is it? “
The man who could see replied :
“ No; white is a color exactly like snow.”
The blind man asked :
“ Then it is cold like snow, is it ? “
And in spite of all the comparisons which the man who could see made, still the blind man was wholly un-able to comprehend what the color of milk really was.
XVI
WOLF AND THE BOW
A HUNTSMAN with his bow and arrows went out to hunt; he killed a goat, flung it over his shoulders, and was carrying it home.
On the way he saw a wild boar.
The Huntsman dropped the goat, shot the boar, and wounded him.
The boar rushed upon the Huntsman, gored him to death with his tusks, and then himself died.
A Wolf smelled the blood, and came to the place where were lying the goat, the boar, the man and his bow.
The Wolf was overjoyed, and said to himself, “ Now I shall have enough to eat for a long time; but I am not going to eat it all up at once; I will eat a little at a time, so that none of it may be wasted. First I will eat the hardest Part, and then I will feast on the softest and daintiest.”
The Wolf sniffed the goat, the boar, and the man, and he said :
“ This food is soft, I will eat this afterward; but first of all I will eat the tendon on this bow.”
And he began to gnaw at the tendon on the bow. When he had bitten through the bowstring, the bow sprang and hit the Wolf in the belly. And the Wolf also perished, and the other wolves came and ate up the man, and the goat, and the boar, and the Wolf.
XVII
BIRDS IN THE SNARE
A HUNTSMAN set a snare by a lake. Many birds were caught in it. The birds were large; they seized the snare, and flew off with it.
The Huntsman began to run after the birds. A peasant saw him running after them, and he said : “ Where are you going? Can you catch birds on foot ? “
The Huntsman replied:
“ If there were only one bird, I should not catch him; but as it is, I shall bag my game.”
And so it proved.
When evening came, the birds each tried to fly off in his own direction; one to the forest, another to the swamp, a third to the field, and all fell with the net to the ground, and the Huntsman captured them.
XVIII
TSAR AND THE FALCON
A TSAR, while out hunting, unleashed his favorite Falcon at a hare, and galloped after it.
The Falcon caught the hare. The Tsar took away the hare, and started to seek for some water to quench his thirst. The Tsar found the water on a hillside. But it trickled out, a drop at a time. So the Tsar drew his cup from the holster, and placed it under the water.
The water trickled into the cup, and when the cup was full, the Tsar put it to his mouth, and was about to drink. Suddenly the Falcon fluttered down upon the Tsar’s hand, flapped his wings, and spilled the water.
Again the Tsar placed the cup under the spring. He waited long, until it was filled brimming full, and again, when he lifted it to his lips, the Falcon flew upon his wrist and spilled the water.
When for the third time the Tsar managed to get his cup filled, and was lifting it to his lips, the Falcon again spilled it.
The Tsar grew wroth, and struck the Falcon with all his might with a stone, and killed him.
Then came the Tsar’s servants, and one of them ran up to the spring in order to find a more plentiful supply of water and come back quickly with a full cup.
But the servant brought no water back; he returned with an empty cup, and said :
“ The water is not fit to drink; there is a serpent in the spring, and it has poisoned all the water. It is a good thing that the Falcon spilt it. If you had drunk of the water, you would have perished.
The Tsar said :
“ Foully have I recompensed the Falcon; he saved my life, and I killed him for it.”
XIX
TSAR AND THE ELEPHANTS
AN Indian Tsar commanded to gather together all the blind men, and when they were collected, he com-manded to show them his Elephants. The blind men went to the stables, and began to feel of the Elephants.
One felt of the leg; another, of the tail; a third, of the rump; a fourth, of the belly; a fifth, of the back; a sixth, of the ears; a seventh, of the tusks; an eighth, of the proboscis.
Then the Tsar called the blind men to him, and asked them :
“ What are my Elephants like ? “
And one blind man said :
“Thy Elephants are like pillars.”
This blind man had felt of the legs.
The second blind man said :
“They are like brooms.”
This one had felt of the tail.
The third said :
“ They are like wood.”
This one had felt of the rump.
The one who had felt of the belly said :
“ Elephants are like lumps of earth.”
The one who had felt of the side said :
“ They are a wall.”
The one who had felt of the back said :
“ They are like a hill.”
The one who had felt of the ears said :
“They are like a handkerchief.”
The one who had felt of the head said :
“ They are like a mortar.”
The one who had felt of the tusks said :
“They are like horns.”
The one who had felt of the proboscis said :-
“ They are like a stout rope.”
And all the blind men began to dispute and quarrel.
XX
WHY THERE IS EVIL IN THE WORLD
A HERMIT lived in the forest, and the animals were not afraid of him. He and the wild animals used to talk together, and they understood one another.
Once the Hermit lay down under a tree, and a Raven, a Dove, a Stag, and a Snake came to the same place to sleep.
The animals began to reason why evil should exist in the world.
The Raven said :
“It is all owing to hunger that there is evil in the world. When we have as much as we wish to eat, we sit by ourselves on the bough and caw, and everything is good and gay, and we are in every respect well off; but some other day we are famished, and everything is quite the opposite, so that we can see no brightness in God’s world, and we feel full of unrest; we fly about from place to place, and there is no rest for us. And even if we see some meat afar off, then it becomes still worse; for if we fly down to get it, either sticks and stones are thrown at us, or wolves and dogs chase us, and we are absolutely destroyed. How much trouble comes upon us from hunger ! All evil is caused by it.”
The Dove said :
“ In my opinion, evil does not arise from hunger, but it all comes from love. If we only lived alone, we should have little trouble. Wretchedness shared makes one doubly wretched. And so we always live in pairs. And if we love our mates there is no peace for us at all. We are always thinking, * Has she had enough to eat ? is she warm ? ‘ And when our mate is away from us anywhere, then we are wholly lost; we cannot help worrying all the time, ‘ If only the hawk does not carry her off, or men make way with her; ‘ and we ourselves fly off in pursuit of her, and perhaps find the poor thing either in the hawk’s claws or in the snare. And if our mate is lost, then there is no more comfort for us. We cannot eat, we cannot drink; we can only fly about and mourn. How many of us have perished in this way ! No; evil comes not from hunger, but from love.”
The Snake said :
“ No; evil arises neither from hunger nor from love, but from ill-temper. If we lived peacefully, we should not do so much harm; everything would be delightful for us. But now if anything
