Tigerovorous foxcubs

In a dense forest near the sea, there lived a fox and a lady fox. They had three very small cubs. But they had no place to live in.

As the rainy season came nigh, the fox thought, "What to do now? If we don't find a hole or a tunnel now, our cubs will fall sick n die." So, he and his wife searched for two days. As the sun set on the second day, they found out a big cave in the deep of the jungle. But, looking carefully around in the dim skylight, the lady-fox said, "Dear! It's a tiger's cave. How can we stay here?"

Hearing that, the fox said, "What can we do? We searched the whole forest. Now, at last we got a cave. We must stay here."

The Lady-fox said, "What shall we do if the tiger comes back?"

The Fox said, "Then you pinch our kids hard so that they start crying aloud. I'll ask you then, why they're crying. And you then tell me, they want to eat the tiger.

So, the lady-fox said, "OK. Got it." And she happily took her kids inside the cave. And, they started living there.

One week passed like that, and nothing happened. Then, as the ninth day rolled into the tenth, in the dark of the evening, the lady-fox saw the tiger coming. Quickly she held her cubs in one paw, and with the other paw started pinching them hard. And the way the cubs cried was really remarkable in loudness and pitch.

The fox was watching the whole thing. Now, he cracked his voice, and in a coarse tone asked, "Honey! Why are the kids crying?"

Lady-fox replied in a similar coarse voice, "Honey! They want to eat tiger. That's why..."

The tiger was happily returning from a feast at his cousin's. Suddenly he heard all the noise and the words, "they want to eat tiger." He was so stunned that he started sweating. He thought, "God! Who these creatures are inside my cave! They must be very dangerous ogres. That's why their kids want to eat tiger!"

While the tiger was thinking all that, the fox said again, "Where can I get a tiger now? Whatever I could get last week I brought them."

On that, the lady-fox replied, "No way now. Bring one tiger today however you can. Or, they won't stop crying." And she started pinching them harder.

And the fox said aloud, "Aha! Hush hush! I see there's a tiger coming right here. You give me my crockey... I'm going to do it frockey."

Now, there is nothing called crockey or frockey. All that were the fox's creation. But, the tiger's heart stopped hearing that crockey and frockey. He thought, "Let me save my skin in time before they attack"."

And he did not wait a second there. The fox peeped out a little and saw the tiger running out of the place without looking back. Then, he and his wife breathed out in relief.

Meanwhile, the tiger was so scared that he ran out of jungle losing all breath.

A monkey was sleeping peacefully on a mango tree. As the tiger came there running he woke up by the sound and wondered, "It's strange! I've never seen in my ten years on earth a tiger running as if for life! Must be something serious happened" So, he shouted from the treetop, "Hey hey tiggy-bro! What happened? Why are you running like that?"

The tiger lost all his breath by then. So, he stopped with his tongue out, and managed to say, "Running for life brother. Or, by now they'd have eaten me alive!!"

Totally confused, the monkey asked, "Eat you alive? Is there such an animal? I never knew!! You must have mistaken."

Tiger said, "Had you been there you'd have known. Anybody can comment from a treetop."

Monkey replied, "Had I been there I'd have showed you that there was nothing. You're stupid, that's why you got scared."

The tiger got very angry hearing this.

So, he said, "So I'm stupid? And you are very intelligent? Very well. Go there and show me."

Monkey said, "Of course I'll. But, you've to carry me on your back."

On that, the tiger said, "Very good. Come. sit on my back." And he fearfully started back to the cave.

There, the cubs already fell asleep when the fox saw the tiger coming back with the monkey on his back. Quickly he woke up his wife, and she started pinching the kids.

And they started crying like ghost-kids.

When the tiger was near the cave's mouth, the fox changed his voice, and said, "Aha! Stop stop!! Don't cry so loudly. You'll fall sick!"

Lady-fox said,"I told you. If you want them well, go and bring a tiger immediately. Until they eat a full tiger they won't sleep."

Fox said, "But I asked their uncle to bring a tiger long ago. He must be on the way with the meat.

Aha! Here he is! Ai my little toona moona! Stop crying. I see your monkey-uncle has brought a tiger for us. Give me my crockey to make it a frockey."

The monkey held back his courage through all these, but as he heard crockey and frockey, he leapt up a tree and vanished from the scene.

And what to say of the poor tiger! The way he ran out of that forest, he could have easily gone to the tiger's olympic and set a record for the sprint.

After that, the foxes had no trouble. They happily lived there ever after.

Fingé and Kukro

There was a giant, his name was Fingé. He used to roam around with a four-fifty feet long baobab wood-rod. There was another giant, his name was Kukro. He punched cast iron dumbbells flat.

Whichever other giants were around, Kukro beat them all flat on all fours.Only Fingé was left. Now, he began searching for Fingé all around the globe.

One morning, he heard Fingé had gone to seaside. So, he went there too.
But before Kukro reached, Fingé got the news and fled to his house over the mountain top.

As the house was on a mountain top, anyone could see ten days' walk from there. So, Fingé thought if he stayed there Kukro could not suddenly attack.

Seeing Fingé come back hurriedly, his wife Oona got scared. She asked, "What happened?"

Fingé pointed to the sea and said, "Kukro is coming. That guy smashes iron dumbbells in a punch. This time I'm done for."

Oona looked at the sea and saw Kukro coming. But, he seemed to be very far, at least three-four days' walk away. So, she told Fingé, "You don't worry. Just sit n relax. Leave this to me."

But, could Fingé breathed a relief on such false hopes? He kept shivering on thinking about the pains that he would get after Kukro's beating.

While Fingé was trembling in fear sitting in his chair, Oona was arranging things. She went to the village houses and gathered all discarded blades, spades, spears, bolts, rods, hammers and nails in baskets. Then, for two days, she baked pies and cakes, stuffing all those things in them.

Fingé could not understand a thing, and he kept asking her.

But Oona said,  "Don't bother yourself about this. Just sit and watch."

After the pies were ready, she prepared three tubful of cheese. Then, she repeatedly taught Fingé what to do once Kukro came.

Next day, before lunch, Kukro reached the house. As soon as he climbed to the top, he growled like thunder, "Where's Fingé?"

Oona came out and said, "He's not home. Some newbie braggart called Kukro was boasting about his prowes. so, Fingé became very angry and went out to kill him with the baobab rod. If Fingé can catch him, that poor guy won't be in single piece."

Hearing this, Kukro got so surprised that he sat down and said, "But, that's me only. I'm Kukro. I came here to fight him."

On that Oona almost died laughing. Then she observed Kukro for a long time, with wrinkled nose, and said, "You'll fight Fingé with such a lizardly body? You're a kid. You don't know him. Why do you want to lose life so soon? Follow my advice n you'll get back alive.

"Do something meanwhile. Too much windy now. Fingé is not home. Who'll rotate the house? Do it if you can."

Kukro thought, "My god! Fingé rotates this house to stop wind? Now, if I say no, these people will laugh at me."

So, he clicked his mid-finger knuckle very well. This knuckle held all his power, he was nothing without that. After the knuckle was clicked, he hugged the house and rotated it so much that the mountain top rotated too.

Fingé was lying inside, under a blanket, as if he was Oona's baby boy. He started hiccup seeing all these.

But, Oona seemed to be very pleased with Kukro. She told him, "Good boy you are! But, there's not a single drop of water in the room. How can I give you sweets? There's lots of water under the mountain. When Fingé is here, he pushes the mountain and gets the water for us. But, he's not home now, what'll I do? Could you please push the mountain a little so I can get water?"

Kukro again clicked his knuckle, and went downhill. There he pushed the mountain so hard that a hundred feet deep lake appeared from nowhere. Seeing this, Oona almost cried out in awe. But, she was too wise for that. So, he controlled herself, and said, "Well done. Now sit here. I'll give you pies to eat."

He sat on the table as Oona served him with the pies and cakes. So greedy was he, that he took ten of those pies together. As soon as the pies went into his mouth, the whole house shook by his loud ouch. The asbestos ceiling almost whiffed away by that sound. Oona saw his four teeth dropping out from a bleeding mouth.

She said, "Hey! Don't cry so much! Baby is asleep. I thought you were a strong man, you'd love this pie. Fingé n baby eat this pie everyday."

As she spoke, the baby bellowed like a bull, "Ayannn! Gimme cake. Gimme pie."

Fingé almost jumped from the chair hearing that unworldly sound. But, he kept himself calm. Oona made some normal pies for the baby. She gave him some from that store. But, Kukro did not know that. He saw the baby eating the pies that broke his four teeth. He then thought, "By Odin! If the baby eats such pies so easily, what can his dad do! I'm lucky he's not home."

Meanwhile, the baby finished his pies, and said, "Gimme my stone. I play."

Oona gave the baby handful of cheese and Kukro a white lava stone, and said, "All the time he plays one thing. Squeezing water out of stone. You too try on this one."

Kukro's stone was so strong that he could do nothing even after pressing it with all his effort. But, the baby's cheese released lots of water. Now, Kukro started trembling in fear and thought, "My gosh! I must run away in time. If his dad returns I'll be nowhere. Only, I'm too curious to check the bay's teeth. I must see how are those teeth with which he eats such pies."

Thinking that, he quickly poked his fingers in the baby's mouth. And the baby bit them off from the base, in a quicker manner.

Kukro had all the power in his finger. So, he lost all his strength immediately and dropped to the floor. And without delay, "the baby" grabbed his four-fifty feet long baobab rod and broke Kukro's bones in no time.

The Hunchback & the ghosts

There was a guy called Kanai. He had a very big hunchback.

Kanai was a really nice, helpful guy. He used to look after old people in times of need, gave money to the poor, always stood by people's side in need. But, no one loved him for his hunchback.

Kanai was a weaver of cane wickers. No one in town could weave like him. So, other wicker-makers were jealous of him, and always backbit him to the town people. Hence, the town people used to think that Kanai was a really bad guy, and no one wanted to talk to him except on severe need. Kanai was so sad for all these reasons...

Kanai could not freely walk with his big hunchback. One day he went to sell his wickers to a far-away village, and could not return home in daytime. On the road it got dark, and he was already so tired he wanted to take rest. The spot where Kanai stopped, was a haunted place. Even in daytime, people tried to avoid that place. They said ghosts were everywhere around that area. But, Kanai was so severely tired that he decided to sit there and rest.

Sitting there in the dark and among mosquitoes, Kanai almost fell asleep. Suddenly he heard in half-sleep a sound coming from the old building where on the steps he was sitting. It seemed many voices, in chorus, were singing. And aha! what a divinely harmonious melodious tune that was! Kanai got relieved of all weariness. He forgot everything. Only kept listening to the music.

The tune was strangely beautiful, but it had only one line! "Loon hai, tel hai, imlee hai, hing hai!"

Kanai was so engrossed in the music that he automatically joined the chorus on high voice, "Loon hai, tel hai, imlee hai, hing hai!" After singing this much, suddenly more words came to his mind. So, he kept on the top voice:

"lasoon hai, mirchi hai, chang bang shootki hai!" (chang bang = snake-frog; shootki = dried fish)

Kanai sang so loudly that his voice reached inside the house and went to the ethereal singers there, no doubt. Those singers, however, were ghosts. They became so happy hearing the new words that they ran out to find Kanai, without delay.

They came out, took Kanai in with themselves, and entertained him like a King. They fed Kanai with strangely delicious foods and sweets. Then, all together, they started dancing and singing the two lines in a choir.

"Loon hai, tel hai, imlee hai, hing hai,
Lasoon hai , mirchi hai, chang bang shootki hai!"

Kanai also started merrily with them. Suddenly he found himself dancing without any effort. And he was so surprised what to say of that. He thought, "Strange! I can't even walk with this big hunchback! How am I dancing?!!" As he said he tried to touch his back and ... what a big surprise! There was no hunchback anymore!!

One ghost noticed all this, and said, "Whatta look there for, buddy? It's not there any more. See, it's lying on the floor!"

Indeed, the hunchback was no more on his body. It was lying separated on the floor. Aha! Kanai was so happy seeing that! And he felt so easy and light, that he fell asleep there on the dusty floor in seconds.

When he woke up the next morning, he saw he was lying on the garden outside the house; and that he was wearing a very fashionable colorful new dress.

He quickly got up and reached home. There, nobody was able to recognize him, he had a long time to convince them that he was indeed the same Kanai, only without the hunchback, thank to the ghosts.

Very rapidly, Kanai's story was known across the whole land. Whoever heard that got amazed. Now, no one ignored him, everybody wanted to talk to him only. Every night, people invited him to listen to the story of his transformation from his own mouth. So many people came to buy his wickers just to listen to that story only. Kanai became a rich man selling wickers.

This way, days passed. One day, while Kanai was weaving wickers in his shop, a very old woman stopped and asked him, "Hey boy! Which way to go to Kebalhati?"

Kanai said, "This is Kebalhati. who do you want?"

So, old woman said, "Is there someone called Kanai whose hunchback was cured by ghosts? I came here to learn the magic chants from him, so that I can cure my Manik's hunchback too."

Kanai said, "I'm that Kanai. The ghosts cured my hunchback only. But, that was not by any magic chant. They were singing all night, I was lying outside their house and heard them, and added a new sentence to their song. So they became happy and cured me and gave me new dress."

The old woman then learnt all details by asking Kanai, and then blessed him and went home.

Her son, Manik had a hunchback even bigger than Kanai.. But, that fellow was such a rogue that neighbours always avoided him. So, his familymen took him one night to the haunted house where Kanai got cured. Manik lay there in the darkness and thought when would the ghosts start singing, he would add words to that, and they would cure him.

That night, when the ghosts started, "Loon hai, tel hai, imli hai...", without letting them finish Manik cried out in broken voice, "Gurcharan modak ki dukan ka gulabjamoon hai." Thus, the singing got totally off beat, and some ghosts started vomiting by hearing the word gulabjamoon. Ghosts hate all such sweet things. They cannot even hear their names.

So, they snarled with all teeth out and ran out to see who made such a cacophony. The head ghost slapped Manik for two hours continuously and said, "Who're ya uncultured dumbass? Tonedeaf, beatless uncouth animal, you dare spoil our song??!! Let us show u!"

Saying this, he brought Kanai's hunchback and set that on the top of Manik's own one. It fixed itself there so permanently that nobody could tell he was not born with two giant hunchbacks below his shoulder.

Next day, when Manik's familymen came, they were so shocked and sad by seeing him... But, the villagers all said, "Good punishment for such a rogue!"

A Bird's Tale Or How the Female Bird Stopped Singing (Tagore's Totakahini)

Once upon a time, in a Kingdom beyond the seven seas, there lived a bird. She was ill-read. She sang spontaneously, hopped from leaf to leaf; but never cared to read scriptures. She flew from tree to tree, pecked at all mellow fruits in joy of heart; but never showed a discipline in behavior.

So, the King said, "Such a bird is good for nothing. It only damages the fruit market and State revenues by pecking at fruits."

He ordered the Minister, "Educate that bird!"

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King's nephews took on the duty of educating the bird.

Pundits were appointed for that. They discussed a lot on education. The most important question was, what could be the reason for such ignorance in the bird.

Finally they came to a decision. A nest made with mere grass and junks could not hold much wisdom. So, they decided, first there should be a proper cage for the bird.

Everyone became happy with the decisions. And the pundits got very high payments for that.

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This world lacks in everything but cynics. They said, "The cage is getting improved. But none cares for the bird."

Their whispers flew on air to King's ears. He called for the Nephew. When he came, the King asked, "Nephew! What's this I hear?!"

Nephew said, "My King Sire! If you want to know the truth, call the goldsmith, the pundits, the copiers. Call the dusters, the cleaners, the polishers. Those cynics eat nothing, so they malign."

The King got it very clearly from the nephew's answer. Immediately he gifted the nephew with a big golden chain.

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One day, the King thought of visiting the cage to see how the education was going on. So, he came there with his sidekicks, banters, guards and sycophants.

On the gate, started a big ovation for the King. All conchs, bells, drums, brasses, trumpets raised a hullabaloo like anything. Pundits stood hands clasped and started chanting in full voice. Dusters, cleaners, goldsmith, copiers, supervisers and nephews filled the air with "Long live the King".

Nephew said, "My King Sire! Don't you feel wonder?!"

The King replied, "Real wonder! What big sounds!!"

Nephew said, "Only sound? Billions already spent behind all these!"

The King became so happy that he turned back to get on his elephant . But, the cynic was there somewhere hiding in the bush. He whispered from there, "My King Sire! Have you seen the bird?"

The King now remembered. He said, " Aha! I forgot that  in all these things. Let's see the bird."

He returned to the bird's education house, and asked the pundit, "Show me your method of educating the bird"

And he saw. He became extremely happy by what he saw. The method was so bigger than the bird that she was not seen at all. It seemed that there was no need to see her.

The King understood everything was going correctly. Nothing was lacking. He saw no fruit, no water near the bird, only heaps of pages torn from the scrolls and scriptures and books were stuffed by the pen nibs through the bird's mouth into her body.

The King became happy to see that she could no longer sing, there was even no place in her mouth to chirp or shout.

"What a sight!", he felt. In happiness and joy, the King's body shivered.

This time, before getting on his elephant for home, King asked the head-boxer of his court to box up the cynic well.

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The bird, as usual, withered away as days passed. Her self-imposed guardians felt hope for her. But, out of her natural instinct, on some mornings, she looked in the way of light and very badly fluttered his wings. Even, once in a while, she was seen to be trying to cut the rods of her cage with her thin beak.

The head sentry saw that and said, "What an audacity!"

Then, iron smith was called with his bellows and fire and hammer to the education house. And what a hammering he did! Iron chain was made and the bird's wings were cut.

The Kings' brother-in-laws frowned and said, "In this Kingdom, birds not only lack wisdom, but gratefulness too!"

Then, pundits resumed with renewed spirit, pen in one hand, and sword in the other. People had to say, "Yes! This is called education!"

The ironsmith got such a reputation and practice that his wife built a toilet studded with diamonds. And the head sentry was promoted over many people by the King.

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The bird died. When, nobody knew. The bad cynic spread the rumor, "The bird has died!"

The nephew was summoned. King asked him, "Nephew! What is this I hear?!"

Nephew replied, "My King Sire! Her education is complete."

King asked, "Does she hop and leap anymore? "

Nephew relied, "By jove! Nooooooooo."

-- "Does she fly?"

-- "No."

-- "Does she shout for fruits?"

-- "No."

Then, the King said, "Bring the bird. Let me see how she is."

The bird was brought. With her, the head-sentry came along with guards and horsemen. King pressed the tummy of the bird.   For the first time, she did not respond. Only in her tummy, the dry pages of the scrolls moved and ruffled.



Outside, the southern wind of new spring passed sighing among the new leaves under the Sun.