The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1910-07-29
LEGENDS 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-soomon and
the Neck of the VuIture.


S In the beginning the birds had n
feathers but mt last word was brough
that the Great Spirit had their cothe
ready if they would send some one TO
e them. AS the distance was long, tn
turkey buzzard was selected on at
count of his endurance. and in recogni
ton of the service lie was to have frs
l choice of apparel, he one condition be
ing that he could Try no suit on th
second time. Can you guess the re
suit! For one trifing objection u
another he let all the fine feathers II
by until. to his horriied establishment
there was nothing left but the poor
commonplace suit that he wears to
day.
We talk conceitediy OF the airshir
as though a brand new invention OF
the modern brain when thousands oil
years ago King Solomon had n most
satisfactory one. Il magic carpet upon
which he frequently took spin
through space. Only one fault could
be found with this carpat touring car.
|
sun shone intentionally upon the
royal head. Now. the wisdom of Solo
mon included rare linguistic accom-
plishment. The king spoke the lam
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 your necks shall fall off and the
heat Of the sun and the coldness of
winter and the keenness of the wind
and the beating Of the rain shall fall
upon your rebelions necks, which shall
not be protected with feathers like the
necks of other birds, and, whereas YOU
have hitherto Jared delicately. hence
forward 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 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. his back had nothing to steady
q saddle, his hoofs were so sharp that
they would surely sink into the sand.
Instead of reproving his ingratitude
IN words Allah then created the camel
rs 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 Cd. |
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.
To the south of the Zuni lands in
New Mexico coyote once started out
hunting. but got no farther than the
foot of certain old pine tree, so fas-
did be become in locust who
sat playing flute and singing In one
)f its branches. In fact, such was the
enthusiasm that he insisted
upon taking lesson on the spot His
voice proved hoarse and growly, but
ne persevered until he learned the
words of the locust song and turned
proudly repeating them.
when by bad luck he fell into a go.
)her's hole. said other words under his
breath and forgot his lines.
Back to the pine tree be trotted.
lgain imposed upon the locust's good
nature, once more sailed forth in tri-
lmph. But this time as he practiced
loud lie frightened flock of pigeons
hat flew out with such a noise as COM
'letely TO middle his brain. and there
vas nothing left for him but another
ppeal to the wornout locust.
Now. even music teacher will turn
nd the locust, seeing him coming from n
far and having heard that coyotes ate
Insects, decided to rid himself of this
lresome fellow. No sooner thought
han done. In Il flash he swelled up.
plit his skin and crawled out. Find
,g at hand clear. light colored bit I
quartz, he put it in the empty skin. g
lucilaged 1t up the back with pitch ?
nd flew off to another tree. 7
The trick worked to a charm. The
,yote tslieG out to the supposed To-
list again aid again without receiving
reply, became enraged. snatched the o
hgy out Of the tree and bit so hard
! the stone that he ran yelping away \
he water of creek partly soothed
s pain. but ever since the mouth of
coyote has shown the effect of that
agic bite. and whenever locust
INJURIES out on a summer morning to
1g song it is his custom to protect
rpcalf frnu tho ..npSouuapnoc Of ut |