Part 8 (1/2)

Having thus disposed of his captors, the cunning little fellow joined some men going to his native city, and as he walked along, he thought, ”I was ever wanting to see other places, and now I have been carried a long journey, and have silver to last me many days ... surely, I have much _boon_.”[16]

16: Merit.

”To Aid Beast is Merit; To Aid Man is but Vanity”[17]

A hunter, walking through a jungle, saw a man in a pit unable to escape.

The man called to him, ”If thou wilt aid me to escape from this snare, always will I remember thy grace and merit.” The hunter drew him out of the pit, and the man said, ”I am goldsmith to the head chow, and dwell by the city's gate. Shouldst thou ever want any benefit, come to me, and gladly will I aid thee.”

As the hunter travelled, he met a tiger caught in a snare set for an elephant, and the tiger cried, ”If thy heart prompts thee to set me free, thy aid will ever be remembered by me.” He helped the tiger from the snare, and it said, ”If ever thou needest aid, call and I will come to thee.”

Then again the hunter went on his way, and came to a place where a snake had fallen into a well and could not get out, and the snake cried, ”If thou wilt aid me, I can aid thee also in the time soon to come,” and he a.s.sisted the snake. ”When the time comes that thou needest me, think of me, and I will come to thee with haste,” said the snake.

Now, it had happened that on the day that the hunter had rescued the tiger it had killed the chow's child, but of this the hunter knew nothing. And it came to pa.s.s that three days after, the hunter desiring to test the words of the tiger, went to the forest. Upon calling it, the tiger came to him immediately and brought with him a long golden chain, which he gave to the hunter. The hunter took the chain home, and, wis.h.i.+ng to sell it, sought the goldsmith whom he had befriended. But the goldsmith, seeing it, said, ”You are the man who has killed the chow's child.” And he had his men bind the hunter with strong cords and took him to the chow in the hope of gaining the reward offered to any who might find him who had killed the child.

The chow put the hunter in chains and commanded he die on the morrow.

The hunter begged for seven days' respite, and it was granted him. In the night he thought of the snake he had helped, and immediately the snake came, bringing with him a medicine to cure blindness. While the household of the chow slept, the snake entered and cast of its venom in the eyes of the chow's wife, and she was blind.

Throughout all the province the chow sought for some one to restore the eyes of his afflicted wife, but no one was found.

It happened on a day, that word came to the chow's ears that the hunter he had in chains for the death of his child, was a man of wisdom and knew the merit of all the herbs of the field, therefore he sent for him.

When the hunter came into the presence of the chow unto where the wife sat, he put the medicine which the snake had brought him into the eyes of the princess, and sight, even like unto that of a young maiden, was restored unto her.

Then the chow desired to reward the hunter, and the hunter told him how he had come into possession of the golden chain, of the medicine which the serpent had given him because he had aided it in its time of trouble, and of the goldsmith, who had not only forgotten benefits received, but had accused him so he might gain a reward. And when the chow learned the truth, he had the ungrateful goldsmith put to death, but to the hunter did he give half of his province, for had he not restored the sight of the princess?

17: This only of the Folk Tales has been written before. It is taken from an ancient temple book and is well-known in all the Laos country.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The ”Chow” and his Palace.]

VIII The G.o.ds Know and the G.o.ds Reward

Love's Secrets

There was once a poor woodsman, who went to the jungle to cut wood, so he might sell it and buy food for his wife and child. And upon a day, when the cool evening had come, wearied, the man lay down to rest and fell into a deep sleep.

From his home in the sky, the G.o.d who looks after the destiny of man was hot-hearted[18] when he saw the man did not move, and he came down to see if he were dead. When he spake in the wood-cutter's ear, he awoke and arose, and the fostering G.o.d led him home. As they came near the gate, the G.o.d said, ”Stand here, whilst I go and see to the welfare of thy wife.” Listening without, the G.o.d heard the fond wife say to the little child, ”I fear some evil hath befallen thy kind father. Ever doth he return as it darkens about us.”

The G.o.d knew from her words that the wife was good, and taught the child love and reverence for its father, therefore was he pleased, and returning to the woodsman, sent him in haste to his home, and said, ”I, myself, will lay the wood in its place.”

The next morning, when the eye of day opened, the fond wife went for wood to build a fire that her husband might eat of hot food ere he went to his daily labor, and, lo, when she saw the wood which her husband had brought home, all was turned into gold! Thus had the cheris.h.i.+ng G.o.d rewarded a husband faithful in his work, and a wife loving and thoughtful.

Leaving the house of the worthy woodsman, the G.o.d met a man tardily wending his way home with a small, poorly-made bundle of sticks.

Approaching him, the G.o.d said, ”Wait at the steps. I will go first and see how it is with thy wife.” And the G.o.d went up unseen, and heard the wife say to her son, ”Ever is it thus. Thy father thinks naught of us; he stays away so he need be with us but little.”

Sadly the G.o.d returned to the laggard, took the bundle from him, and bade him go to his wife and child, saying he would put the wood in its place.