The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1910-05-03
OF ANIMALS
interesting Old Time Stories Of
Bird and Beast.
THE HORSE AND THE CAMEL.

THE HORSE AND THE CAMEL.
An AsabiaR Pejlsless Tais Tells Why
Every etssd ohudders On Q First
Msstins With . camsi-selensen and
tss Neck 81 the vuiture.
In the beginning the birds had no
feathers. but At last word was brought
that the Great Spirit had their clothes
ready IL they would send some one for
them. As the distance was long, the
turkey buxzard was selected on &C.
count Of his endurance, and in recogni-
tion OF the service he was to have frst
choice Of apparel, the one condition be-
ing that he could try NO suit on the
second time. Can you guess the re-
suit? For one triding objection or
another he let all the fine feathers go
by until, to his horrined establishment,
there was nothing left but the poor,
commonplace suit that he wears to-
day.
We talk conceitedly Of the airship
as though q brand new invention of
the modern brain when thousands of
years ago King Solomon had most
satisfactory one, q 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 uncomfortably upon the
royal head. Now, the wisdom Of Solo,
mon included a rare linguistic accom-
plishment. 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 tho birds insolently re-
fused.
Cursed be ye, o vulturesv' 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 on 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 rebellious necks. which shall
not be protected with feathers like the
necks Of other birds. and, whereas you
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 1t, took Q handful, blew
upon 1t the breath Of life and thus ere
ated q horse. But the steed at once
began to find fault. His neck he COM
planned, was too short to reach the
grass, his back had nothing to steady
4 saddle, his boots were 30 sharp that
they would surely sink into the sand.
Instead Of reproving 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 become, and this
II the reason that every horse starts
when flrst meeting his caricature.
Perhaps you have not had the op-
portunity Of gazing dentist-wise into
the mouth OF coyote and so have
never wondered why Its back teeth
looked a. though they were broken OF
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 than the
foot Of a certain old pine tree, SO fas
cinated did he become In locust who
sat playing flute and singing In one
Of Its branches. In fact. such was the
animals enthusiasm that he insisted
upon taking lesson on the spot. His
voice proved hoarse and Erowly, but
be persevered until he learned the
words Of the locust song and turned
h0meward, proudly repeating them,
when by bad luck he fell into . go
piers 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-
umph. But this time as he practiced
aloud he frightened fiock Of pigeons
that dew 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 a 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
tireaome. fellow. No sooner thought
than done. In a dash he swelled up,
split his skin and. crawled out. Find
Ing ut hand clear, light colored bit
Of quartz. he put 1t In the empty skin.
mucilaged 1t up the back with pitch
and fiew on to another tree.
The trick worked to charm. The
coyote called out to the supposed 10.
Gust again and again without receiving
q reply, became enraged, snatched the
cfIixy out OF the tree and bit SO hard
ou the stone that he ran yelping away.
The water Of creek partly soothed
his pain. but ever since the mouth Of
4 coyote has shown the effect Of that
tragic bite, and whenever . locust
ventures out on q summer morning ia
eing . song II Is his custom to protect
himself from the consequences Of at.
tracing too much attention BY skin
nlug himself and leaving his counter