The Violet Fairy Book (27 page)

'What news, my son?' said he.

'News? I have no news, except that if you will open your mouth
you shall see what dates taste like.' And he plucked a date, and
put it into his father's mouth.

'Ah! You are indeed my son,' cried the sultan. 'You do not take
after those fools, those good-for-nothings. But, tell me, what
did you do with the bird, for it was you, and you only who
watched for it?'

'Yes, it was I who watched for it and who saw it. And it will
not come again, neither for its life, nor for your life, nor for
the lives of your children.'

'Oh, once I had six sons, and now I have only one. It is you,
whom I called a fool, who have given me the dates: as for the
others, I want none of them.'

But his wife rose up and went to him, and said, 'Master, do not,
I pray you, reject them,' and she entreated long, till the sultan
granted her prayer, for she loved the six elder ones more than
her last one.

So they all lived quietly at home, till the sultan's cat went and
caught a calf. And the owner of the calf went and told the
sultan, but he answered, 'The cat is mine, and the calf mine,'
and the man dared not complain further.

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.

Many times his slaves came and told him, 'We have seen
footprints, and to-day we shall behold the Nunda.' But the
footprints never turned out to be those of the Nunda. They
wandered far through deserts and through forests, and at length
came to the foot of a great hill. And something in the boy's
soul whispered that here was the end of all their seeking, and
to-day they would find the Nunda.

But before they began to climb the mountain the boy ordered his
slaves to cook some rice, and they rubbed the stick to make a
fire, and when the fire was kindled they cooked the rice and ate
it. Then they began their climb.

Suddenly, when they had almost reached the top, a slave who was
on in front cried:

'Master! Master!' And the boy pushed on to where the slave
stood, and the slave said:

'Cast your eyes down to the foot of the mountain.' And the boy
looked, and his soul told him it was the Nunda.

And he crept down with his spear in his hand, and then he stopped
and gazed below him.

'This MUST be the real Nunda,' thought he. 'My mother told me
its ears were small, and this one's are small. She told me it
was broad and not long, and this is broad and not long. She told
me it had spots like a civet-cat, and this has spots like a
civet-cat.'

Then he left the Nunda lying asleep at the foot of the mountain,
and went back to his slaves.

'We will feast to-day,' he said; 'make cakes of batter, and bring
water,' and they ate and drank. And when they had finished he
bade them hide the rest of the food in the thicket, that if they
slew the Nunda they might return and eat and sleep before going
back to the town. And the slaves did as he bade them.

It was now afternoon, and the lad said: 'It is time we went
after the Nunda.' And they went till they reached the bottom and
came to a great forest which lay between them and the Nunda.

Here the lad stopped, and ordered every slave that wore two
cloths to cast one away and tuck up the other between his legs.
'For,' said he, 'the wood is not a little one. Perhaps we may be
caught by the thorns, or perhaps we may have to run before the
Nunda, and the cloth might bind our legs, and cause us to fall
before it.'

And they answered, 'Good, master,' and did as he bade them. Then
they crawled on their hands and knees to where the Nunda lay
asleep.

Noiselessly they crept along till they were quite close to it;
then, at a sign from the boy, they threw their spears. The Nunda
did not stir: the spears had done their work, but a great fear
seized them all, and they ran away and climbed the mountain.

The sun was setting when they reached the top, and glad they were
to take out the fruit and the cakes and the water which they had
hidden away, and sit down and rest themselves. And after they
had eaten and were filled, they lay down and slept till morning.

When the dawn broke they rose up and cooked more rice, and drank
more water. After that they walked all round the back of the
mountain to the place where they had left the Nunda, and they saw
it stretched out where they had found it, stiff and dead. And
they took it up and carried it back to the town, singing as they
went, 'He has killed the Nunda, the eater of people.'

And when his father heard the news, and that his son was come,
and was bringing the Nunda with him, he felt that the man did not
dwell on the earth whose joy was greater than his. And the
people bowed down to the boy and gave him presents, and loved
him, because he had delivered them from the bondage of fear, and
had slain the Nunda.

(Adapted from Swahili Tales.)

Once upon a time there lived a poor woman who had only one child,
and he was a little boy called Hassebu. When he ceased to be a
baby, and his mother thought it was time for him to learn to
read, she sent him to school. And, after he had done with
school, he was put into a shop to learn how to make clothes, and
did not learn; and he was put to do silversmith's work, and did
not learn; and whatsoever he was taught, he did not learn it.
His mother never wished him to do anything he did not like, so
she said: 'Well, stay at home, my son.' And he stayed at home,
eating and sleeping.

One day the boy said to his mother: 'What was my father's
business?'

'He was a very learned doctor,' answered she.

'Where, then, are his books?' asked Hassebu.

'Many days have passed, and I have thought nothing of them. But
look inside and see if they are there.' So Hassebu looked, and
saw they were eaten by insects, all but one book, which he took
away and read.

He was sitting at home one morning poring over the medicine book,
when some neighbours came by and said to his mother: 'Give us
this boy, that we may go together to cut wood.' For wood-cutting
was their trade, and they loaded several donkeys with the wood,
and sold it in the town.

And his mother answered, 'Very well; to-morrow I will buy him a
donkey, and you can all go together.'

So the donkey was bought, and the neighbours came, and they
worked hard all day, and in the evening they brought the wood
back into the town, and sold it for a good sum of money. And for
six days they went and did the like, but on the seventh it
rained, and the wood-cutters ran and hid in the rocks, all but
Hassebu, who did not mind wetting, and stayed where he was.

While he was sitting in the place where the wood-cutters had
left him, he took up a stone that lay near him, and idly dropped
it on the ground. It rang with a hollow sound, and he called to
his companions, and said, 'Come here and listen; the ground seems
hollow!'

'Knock again!' cried they. And he knocked and listened.

'Let us dig,' said the boy. And they dug, and found a large pit
like a well, filled with honey up to the brim.

'This is better than firewood,' said they; 'it will bring us more
money. And as you have found it, Hassebu, it is you who must go
inside and dip out the honey and give to us, and we will take it
to the town and sell it, and will divide the money with you.'

The following day each man brought every bowl and vessel he could
find at home, and Hassebu filled them all with honey. And this
he did every day for three months.

At the end of that time the honey was very nearly finished, and
there was only a little left, quite at the bottom, and that was
very deep down, so deep that it seemed as if it must be right in
the middle of the earth. Seeing this, the men said to Hassebu,
'We will put a rope under your arms, and let you down, so that
you may scrape up all the honey that is left, and when you have
done we will lower the rope again, and you shall make it fast,
and we will draw you up.'

'Very well,' answered the boy, and he went down, and he scraped
and scraped till there was not so much honey left as would cover
the point of a needle. 'Now I am ready!' he cried; but they
consulted together and said, 'Let us leave him there inside the
pit, and take his share of the money, and we will tell his
mother, "Your son was caught by a lion and carried off into the
forest, and we tried to follow him, but could not." '

Then they arose and went into the town and told his mother as
they had agreed, and she wept much and made her mourning for many
months. And when the men were dividing the money, one said, 'Let
us send a little to our friend's mother,' and they sent some to
her; and every day one took her rice, and one oil; one took her
meat, and one took her cloth, every day.

It did not take long for Hassebu to find out that his companions
had left him to die in the pit, but he had a brave heart, and
hoped that he might be able to find a way out for himself. So he
at once began to explore the pit and found it ran back a long way
underground. And by night he slept, and by day he took a little
of the honey he had gathered and ate it; and so many days passed
by.

One morning, while he was sitting on a rock having his breakfast,
a large scorpion dropped down at his feet, and he took a stone
and killed it, fearing it would sting him. Then suddenly the
thought darted into his head, 'This scorpion must have come from
somewhere! Perhaps there is a hole. I will go and look for it,'
and he felt all round the walls of the pit till he found a very
little hole in the roof of the pit, with a tiny glimmer of light
at the far end of it. Then his heart felt glad, and he took out
his knife and dug and dug, till the little hole became a big one,
and he could wriggle himself through. And when he had got
outside, he saw a large open space in front of him, and a path
leading out of it.

He went along the path, on and on, till he reached a large house,
with a golden door standing open. Inside was a great hall, and
in the middle of the hall a throne set with precious stones and a
sofa spread with the softest cushions. And he went in and lay
down on it, and fell fast asleep, for he had wandered far.

By-and-by there was a sound of people coming through the
courtyard, and the measured tramp of soldiers. This was the King
of the Snakes coming in state to his palace.

They entered the hall, but all stopped in surprise at finding a
man lying on the king's own bed. The soldiers wished to kill him
at once, but the king said, 'Leave him alone, put me on a chair,'
and the soldiers who were carrying him knelt on the floor, and he
slid from their shoulders on to a chair. When he was comfortably
seated, he turned to his soldiers, and bade them wake the
stranger gently. And they woke him, and he sat up and saw many
snakes all round him, and one of them very beautiful, decked in
royal robes.

'Who are you?' asked Hassebu.

'I am the King of the Snakes,' was the reply, 'and this is my
palace. And will you tell me who you are, and where you come
from?'