Perhaps you’ve heard Aesop’s fable about how the slow and steady tortoise won a race against the quick but flighty hare. Or maybe someone told you about the man who pulled a thorn from a lion’s paw and won his eternal friendship. These tales, and many others besides, came from Asia. They’ve been translated into so many languages, and have so many versions, that it’s almost impossible to say who told the story first.
In India, a story is told of a lonely gardener and a bear who decided to become as brothers to each other, on the condition that the bear never hug the gardener – because, as you know, a bear is much stronger than a man.
And all went well until, one day, a fly landed upon the sleeping gardener’s nose. The bear tried to shoo the fly away, but the fly kept returning to land on the bear’s friend. Finally, the bear lost his temper and smashed the fly with a rock – killing the fly, but also the gardener.
Here is another story from India.
Two buffalo laboured on a farm. Nearby, in a pen, a pig laid about at its ease, doing nothing but getting fat.
The small buffalo complained, “We work all the time, and the pig does nothing.”
The large buffalo advised, “Wait and see.”
One day, the fattened pig was slaughtered. The small buffalo said, “I see that it is better to work hard and live a long life than to have an easy but short life.”
According to an Indonesian tale, one day a boar woke up and told his friend the antelope, “I must eat you, for I have dreamed this and it must be so.”
The antelope said, “Let us ask the king for a judgement.”
The king agreed that the boar must eat the antelope for the sake of the dream.
A clever ape, overhearing this conversation, leapt down from a nearby tree and announced, “Sire, I will marry your daughter.”
“Impossible!” cried the king.
“Possible,” returned the ape, “for I dreamed it, and it therefore must be so.”
The king refused the ape, and reversed his decision on the boar and the antelope.
From Nepal comes another tale of an animal that tried to overstep his place.
A rat sought the most powerful person in the world to marry his beloved daughter. He first tried the sun. But the sun refused the rat, saying, “The clouds are more powerful than I. They can keep me from shining.”
The clouds said, “We are blown by the wind.”
The wind said, “The mountain does not bend before me.”
The mountain said, “I can be split by a growing tree.”
The tree growled, “How dare you ask me to marry your daughter! You rats make our lives miserable. You gnaw on our roots.”
The father cried, “Then we rats are the most powerful in the world!”
And he married his daughter to a fine young rat – which was what she wanted in the first place.
According to a story from Iran, one day the father of a young cockroach said, “I can no longer support you. You must find a husband.”
So Mistress Cockroach put on an onion skin dress and an eggplant skin cloak, sprinkled her head with gold dust, and slipped on a pair of almond shell shoes. She was so beautiful that many fell in love with her. But she married a kind and wealthy mouse.
All was well, until one day the mouse fell into the cook’s kettle while fetching soup for his wife, and he drowned. Poor Mistress Cockroach realised then that what mattered was her husband’s love, not her fine clothes or jewels.
“From now on,” she said, “I will have no pretensions. I will dress like the cockroach I am.”
And this is why roaches now go about only in brown or black.
From India comes a tale of an elephant and a clever rabbit.
In a time of drought, a herd of elephants discovered a pool whose banks were home to many rabbits. Often, the poor rabbits were crushed by the elephants’ feet as they waded into the water.
Finally, a wise old rabbit approached the elephant king and said, “This pool belongs to the moon, and we are its guardians. You must leave.”
The elephant laughed. “Prove it,” he said.
The rabbit said, “Look into the pool.”
And behold! There was the moon, floating in the water! And further, it bore the mark of a rabbit – for in India, it is said that there is a rabbit in the moon rather than a man in the moon.
The elephants apologised and left.
Another Indian story tells of an unjust lion king and a rabbit that wanted to get rid of him.
“Lord,” the rabbit said to the lion, “I have seen another mighty lion, and he demands that you prove your superiority.”
The lion growled, “Take me to this creature!”
And the rabbit led him to a well. “Look down,” said the rabbit, “for there is your adversary.”
The lion, looking into the water, saw another lion, and sprang upon him with a roar. But it was only the lion king’s reflection, and he drowned in the well.
From Tibet comes a tale of a tiger that was convinced by jackals that they were fiercer than he.
“Come now,” a baboon said. “You are stronger than a jackal. Let us return to them, and I will show you.”
The tiger was so frightened that he tied his tail to the baboon’s, the way you and I might hold hands.
And when the jackals told the tiger they would eat him and the baboon, he ran away so fast that he pulled off the baboon’s tail! And that is why baboons have no tails today.
A Japanese story tells of another strange partnership.
A crab was killed by a monkey, who is, as in many Asian tales, an unscrupulous animal. The crab’s son asked his friends – a chestnut, a bee and a mortar stone – to help avenge his father.
So the young crab invited the monkey for tea. And the chestnut popped open in the fire and flew into him. As the burnt monkey stumbled around, the bee stung him. And as the monkey ran out of the house, the mortar, which was hiding above the door, fell and crushed the monkey. And then, the crab’s son cut off his head with his great claws.
The monkey fares better in this story, also from Japan.
One day, the wife of the Dragon King, who lived under the sea in a coral reef, fell ill. The only thing that could cure her was a monkey’s liver.
The jellyfish, who at that time was armoured like a turtle, went to Monkey Island, and offered to show the Dragon Palace to any monkey that would ride upon his back. One monkey accepted. But as they travelled, the jellyfish accidentally revealed that the monkey was wanted for his liver.
The clever monkey said, “Too bad. I left it in a tree. We must return to Monkey Island for it.”
Of course, the minute they touched dry land, the monkey ran away. And the jellyfish had to return to the Dragon King without the monkey or his liver. The furious King had the jellyfish beaten to a pulp, which accounts for the jellyfish’s present state.
According to a story from Thailand, in ancient days the seas were ruled by two sea serpents. They had agreed to share all their food. One day, they had an argument over the just division of a porcupine.
The fight went on and on, until finally the Creator dried up the sea, and told one of the serpents to go east and the other to go west until they found different seas, which they did.
As they crossed the land, their bodies left tracks, which filled with water and became rivers.
This last story is from Nepal.
One day, a cobra was being pursued by a mongoose. She begged many people for help, but it was a poor young farmer that came to rescue her.
She said to him, “Little brother, we have both been scorned. But some day, you at least will be honoured.”
She gave him treasure upon treasure. And when the people saw how fine he had become, they asked him to be their ruler.
So it is that the farmer was repaid for his kindness to a small and unloved creature.
And that, finally, is the point of many of these stories: that every living thing is to be cherished and respected.
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