St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-02-03
1fnr hs Children.
An ASiatiC story.
IHarpsr's Young People.l 1


We suppose most of our Young read
ers know that the people of far-otf Asia
have their folklore and their fairy
stories just as we have them. This is
one relating to a quarrel about the stu
pid question of "caste," which simply
means whether one person is of better
blood and position than another =
There was once a dog and eat. 1t
was very rainy day, and some men
were eating their dinner inside their
house. The eat sat inside, too, eating
her dinner, and the dog sat on the door
step. The cat called ont to the dog,
81 am high-caste person, and you are
very low-caste person. ''Oh," said
the dog, "not at all. | am the high
caste person, and you are of very low
caste. You eat all the mems dinner
up, and snatch the food from their
hands just as they are putting it into
their mouths. And you scratch them,
and they beat you, while | sit away
from them, and so they don't beat me.
And if they give me any dinner, I'll eat
it; but if they don't, | WON'T "Oh,"
says the cat, "nOt a bit of it. | eat
nice clean food but you eat nasty,
dirty food, which the men have thrown
away" "No, said the dog, 81 am high
caste, and you are very low caste for
if gave you a slap you would tumble
down directly" "NO, no. said the
cat. And they went on disputing and
began to fight, until the dog said :
every well, let us go to the wise iackal
and ask him which of us is the better"
"GOOd,n said the cat. SO they went to
Ia in.lya al aud 81 yo1 him, Sai1 ha
cat, 81 am of the higher caste, and the
the iackal, "the dog is of the higher
caste" The cat said, "No," and the
jackal said, "Yes," and they began to
fight.
Then the jackal and the dog pro-
posed to go and ask great big beast,
who lived in the Jungle, and was like
tiger. But the cat said, 81 cannot
go near "A tiger, OF anything like one"
SO then they said, ''When we come
near the beast you can remain behind,
and we will 90 on and speak to him."
SO they ran into the jungle, where
there was a tiger who had been lying
on the ground with great thorn stick
ing in his foot. When his aunt, the
cat, saw him, she scampered off, for
she was dreadfully frightened. The
thorn had given the tiger great pain ;
for IA long while he could get no one to
take it out, so had lain there for days.
At last he had seen a man passing by,
to whom he called and said, "Take out
this thorn, and promise | won't eat
you" But the man refused through
fear, saying, "NO, | won't, for you will
eat me- Three times the tiger had
promised not to eat him SO at last the
man took out the thorn. Then the
tiger sprang up and said, "NOw | will
eat you, for | am very hungry" "Oh,
no, !" said the man. "What a liaI
you are! You promised not to eat me
if would take the thorn out of your
say you will eat me-" And they began
won't eat me, | will bring you a COW
and a goat" But the tiger refused
saying: "NO, | won't eat them will
eat you"
At this moment the jackal and the
dog came up. And the .jackal asked
"What is the matter ? why are you
fighting ?" SO the man told him why
they were fighting; and the ijackal said
to the tiger: Il will tell you a good
way of eating the man. Go and fetch
a big bag" SO the tiger went and
brought it to the iackal. Then the
jackal said, "Get inside the bag and
leave its mouth open, and I'll throw the
man in to you" SO the tiger got in
side the bag, and the iackal, the dog
and the man quickly tied it up as tight
as they could. Then they began to
beat the tiger with all their might un-
til at last they killed him. Then the
man went home, and the jackal went
home, and the dog went home.