Indian Fairy Tales by Jacobs, Joseph, 1854-1916

JOSEPH JACOBS.

CONTENTS

I. THE LION AND THE CRANE II. HOW THE RAJA'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABAM III. THE LAMBIKIN IV. PUNCHKIN V. THE BROKEN POT VI. THE MAGIC FIDDLE VII. THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED VIII. LOVING LAILI IX. THE TIGER, THE BRAHMAN AND THE JACKAL X. THE SOOTHSAYER'S SON XI. HARISARMAN XII. THE CHARMED RING XIII. THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE XIV. A LAC OF RUPEES FOR A PIECE OF ADVICE XV. THE GOLD-GIVING SERPENT XVI. THE SON OF SEVEN QUEENS XVII. A LESSON FOR KINGS XVIII. PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL XIX. RAJA RASALU XX. THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN XXI. THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER XXII. THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN XXIII. THE PRINCE AND THE FAKIR XXIV. WHY THE FISH LAUGHED XXV. THE DEMON WITH THE MATTED HAIR XXVI. THE IVORY CITY AND ITS FAIRY PRINCESS XXVII. SUN, MOON, AND WIND GO OUT TO DINNER XXVIII. HOW THE WICKED SONS WERE DUPED XXIX. THE PIGEON AND THE CROW

NOTES AND REFERENCES

THE LION AND THE CRANE

The Bodhisatta was at one time born in the region of Himavanta as a white crane; now Brahmadatta was at that time reigning in Benares. Now it chanced that as a lion was eating meat a bone stuck in his throat. The throat became swollen, he could not take food, his suffering was terrible. The crane seeing him, as he was perched an a tree looking for food, asked, "What ails thee, friend?" He told him why. "I could free thee from that bone, friend, but dare not enter thy mouth for fear thou mightest eat me." "Don't be afraid, friend, I'll not eat thee; only save my life." "Very well," says he, and caused him to lie down on his left side. But thinking to himself, "Who knows what this fellow will do," he placed a small stick upright between his two jaws that he could not close his mouth, and inserting his head inside his mouth struck one end of the bone with his beak. Whereupon the bone dropped and fell out. As soon as he had caused the bone to fall, he got out of the lion's mouth, striking the stick with his beak so that it fell out, and then settled on a branch. The lion gets well, and one day was eating a buffalo he had killed. The crane, thinking "I will sound him," settled an a branch just over him, and in conversation spoke this first verse:

In reply the Lion spoke the second verse: