Part 12 (2/2)

An Unfortunate Shot

There was once a poor man too ill to work, and he had no one to give him food. The chow of the province heard of him and sent for him to come to his house.

When the man reached the house of the chow, the chow gave him a bow and arrow, saying, ”Shoot upward toward the sky. When the arrow falls to the earth, if it fall making a hole in the earth, I will weigh the earth which the arrow digs up, and give thee the weight of it in gold. On whatsoever thy arrow falls, that will I weigh and give its weight unto thee in gold. If, in its fall, the arrow should make a hole in the ground six feet long and six feet deep, that earth will I weigh, and gold according to the weight thereof shall be thine.”

The poor man was indeed glad, and, shooting with all his strength into the air, the arrow pierced a pomegranate seed, therefore the chow gave unto him gold but the weight of the seed!

XI Stories Gone Astray

The Blind Man

A man and a woman had a daughter to whom they ever taught, in selecting a husband, to take none but a man with rough hands, as then she might know he would work.

Overhearing this advice, and desiring a wife, a blind man took some rice, pounded it, and having rubbed it over his hands, came to woo the maiden. Though utterly blind, the eyes of the blind man appeared even as the eyes of those who see, and the maiden loved him and gave herself to him in marriage. Never did she suspect the truth.

Many days they lived happily, but upon a time the wife made curry of many kinds of meat, and her husband ate but of one kind. When she asked him why he ate but of the one kind, the husband replied, ”If a man eat from a dish, that dish should he wash. If I eat but from one, I need wash but one.”

Again, upon a day, as the husband plowed the rice field, he plowed up the ridges between the fields.

”Why dost thou work after that fas.h.i.+on?” asked the wife.

”The places for planting the rice are small and narrow. I wish to make them larger,” replied the husband.

When the rice had grown, the man went into the fields with his wife, and, as they walked, he fell over the ridges, in among the rice.

”Why dost thou fall upon the rice?” asked the wife.

”I do but measure the distance between the plants. If the rice be good this year, I will then know just how far apart to plant it next year,”

he answered.

And upon a time it happened the house was burning, and, as the wife fled, she saw her husband lingering and unable to find the door.

”Come this way, the door is here,” cried the wife.

”I know, I know. I but measure the house that we may build another of its size,” retorted the husband.

Lo, as the husband left the burning house and was running, he fell into a well. His wife placed a ladder for him to climb out, but, behold, he climbed far above the mouth of the well.

”Come down. Here is the ground,” called the wife.

”I know, I know. I am up here to see if the fire is out,” called down the husband.

Long had the father of the wife suspected the husband was blind, and, upon a day, he came to test his eyes. Carrying a bell, such as a buffalo wears, the father hid in the bushes and rang the bell.

”Go, bring the buffalo into the compound,”[24] directed the wife.

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