The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1910-05-24
OF ANIMALS
Interesting Old Time Stories of
Bird and Beast.
THE HORSE AND THE CAMEL.
An Arabian Folklore Tale Tells Why
Every Steed Shudders on a First
Meeting With Camel-SoIomon and
the Neck of the Vulture.

In the beginning the birds had no
feathers, but nj last word was brought
that the Great Spirit had their clothes
ready If they would send some one for
them. AS the distance was long, the
turkey buzzard was selected on ac-
touDt of his endurance. and in recoCni-
tion of the service he was to have first
choice of apparel. the one condition be-
ing that he could try no suit on tho
second time. eau you guess the re-
suit? For one trifing objection or
another he let all the fine feathers 60
by until. to his Mortified establishment
there was nothing left but the poor
commonplace suit that he wears to-
day
We talk conceitediy OF the airship
as though brand new invention of
the modern brain when thousands of
years ago King Solomon had n most
satisfactory one, n magic carpet upon
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 uncomfortuby upon the
royal head Now. the wisdom of Solo
mon included rare linguistic accom-
pishment. The king spoke the Ian
guage 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 awning.
But they were going north, the king
toward the south, and to his righteous
Indignation the birds insolently re-
fused
"Cursed be We. o vultures" he cried
In wrath. And because you will not
obey the commands of your lord who
rules over the whole world the feath-
ers of yonr neckS shall fall off and th,
heat of the sun 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. aud. whereas you
have hitherto Jared delicately. hence
forward you shall eat carrion and
your race shall be impure until the end
of the world"
Acquiring w ATdD IOihlple, Out uds
Allah called the south wind to him.
condensed it. took a handful. blew
upon it the breath OF life and thus Gre
ated a horse. But the steed at once
began to find fault His nick. he COM
planned. was too short to reach the
grass. bis back had nothing to steady
a saddle. his hoofs were so sharp that
they would surely sink into the sand.
Instead of reproving his ingratitude
III words Allah then created the camel
as an object lesson of reproach.
The horse shuddered at the sight of
what he wanted to become. and this
is the reason that every horse starts
when first meeting his caricature
Perhaps you have not had the OPP
portunity 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.
10 the south of the Zuni lands in
New Mexico a coyote once started out
hunting. but got no farther thar 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 be learned the
nrde e thn a a
homeward. proudly repeating them,
when by bad luck he fell into a go
piers hole, said other words under his
breath and forgot his lines.
Back to the pine tree he trolted,
again imposed upon the locust's good
nature, once more sailed forth in tri-
umph. But this time as he practiced
aloud he frightened flock of pigeons
that flew out with such noise as com
pletely TO muddle his brain. and there
was nothing left for him but another
appeal to the wornout locust.
Now. even music teacher will turn.
and the locust. seeing him coming from
afar and having heard that coyotes ate
insects, decided to rid himself of this
tiresome fellow. No sooner thought
than done In a fash he swelled up.
split his skin and crawled out. Find
ing at hand clear. light colored Bit
of quartz. he put it in the empty skin,
mucAaged it up the back with pitch
and few off to another tree.
The trick worked TO a charm. The
coyote called out to the supposed To-
Gust again and again without receiving
reply, became enraged. snatched the
efiigy out of the tree and bit so hard
on the stone that he ran yelping away
The water of creek partly soothed
his pain. but ever since the mouth OF
a coyote has shown the effect of that
tragic bite. and whenever a locust
ventures out on a summer morning to
sing a song 1t is his custom to protect
himself from the consequences of at
tracing too mucn attention by skin
ming himself and leaving his counter
a Il