The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-06-03


years ago King Solomon had a most
satisfactory one, a magic carpet up
on which he frequently took a spin
through space. Only one fault could
be found with this carpet touring car
1t had no covering, and too often
the sun shone uncomfortably upon
the royal head. Now, the wisdom
of Solomon included a rare linguistic
accomplishment. The king spoke the
language of birds. So one day when
out riding on his carpet he called
upon some passing vultures to hold
their wings over him by way Of avn
ing. But they were going north, the
king toward the south, and to his
righteous indignation the birds. inscl-
emily refused. .'"T''~r~
Cursed be ye, O vultures!" he
cried in wrath. "And because you
will not obey the commands Of your
lord who rules over the whole world
the feathers of your necks shall fall
off and the heat Of the u and the
GOODNESS of winter and the keenness
of the wind and the beating Of the
rain shall fall upon your rebellious
necks, which shall not be protected
with feathers like the necks Of other
birds, and, whereas you have hitherto
Jared de~licately, h~enceforward you
! shall eat carrion" and your race shall
be impure until the end of the world"
According to Arab folklore, one day
Allah called the south wind to him,
| condensed it., took. a handful, blew
upon it the breath of life and thus
created. a. horse. But the steed at
once began to find fault. His neck.
he complained, was too short to reach
the grass, his back had nothing to
| steady a saddle, his hoofs were SO
sharp that they would surely sink
into the sand. Instead of reprovins
his ingratitude in words Allah then
created the camel as an object lesson
of reproach. The horse shuddered at
the sight of what he wanted to be-
come, and this is the reason that
every horse starts when first meeting
his c~aricature.
Perhaps you have not had the op-
p~ortunity of gazing dentist-wise into
the mouth of a coyote and so have
never wondered why its back teeth
looked as though they were broken
off and forced down into the gums:
but you must surely have come
| across many an empty locust skin.
To the south Of the Zuni lands in
New Mexico a coyote started Out
hunting, but got no farther than the
foot of a certain old pine tree, so fas-
cinated did he become in a locust
who sat playing a flute and singing
in one of its branches. In fact, such
was the animals enthusiasm that he
insisted upon taking a lesson on the
spot. His voice proved hoarse and
growly, but he ~persevered until he
learned the words of the locust song
and turned homeward, proudly re-
peating them, when by bad luck he
fell into gopher's hole, said other
words under his breath and forgot
his lines.
Back to the pine tree he trotted
! again imposed upon the locust's good
nature, once more sailed forth in tri-
unph. But this time as he practiced
aloud he frightened a flock Of pigeons
! that flew out with such a noise as
| completely to middle his brain, and
there was nothing left for him but
another appeal to the wornout To-
Gust g
Now, even a music teacher will
turn, and the locust, seeing him COM
ing from afar and having heard that
coyotes ate insects. decided to rid
himself of this tiresome fellow. No
sooner thought than done. In a flash
he swelled up, split his skin and
crawled out. Finding at hand a
clear, light colored bit Of quartz, he
put it in the empty skin, mucilaged it