The Sa'-Zada Tales Part 19

"Strange how it is that every Jungle Dweller's hand is against the Pig.

I declare here, before all you Comrades, that more than once I have been lying dog-oh, close hid in the _bowlchie_, when a screech-voiced Peac.o.c.k has commenced to cry, 'Aih-ou, aih-ou!' as plain as you like, 'Here he is, here he is!' and down on my heels would come the Spear Men on their rus.h.i.+ng Ponies. But I soon learned to take to the Scrub-Jungle, knowing that the ponies would not follow me. But even there in the Jungle I've been hunted by the Black-kind; and then it was the same way, enemies afoot, and enemies overhead. Langur, a fool-cousin of Magh's there, many a time has betrayed my hiding-place to the hunt Man. 'Che-che-che, wow, wow!' over my head the silly thieves would chatter and well the Huntsmen would know that I had gone that way.

"Once when I was started out of the Seoni Bund, and was making with full speed through the _dol khet_, a meddlesome white Dog came chasing after me, snapping at my heels, and crying, 'Bah, ki-yi, bah, ki-yi!'

Well I knew that as long as that noise kept up, I might as well be running out in the open in full view, so I checked my pace a little, and the Dog, with more pluck than good sense, laid me by the ear. With one rip of my tusk sideways, I cast him open from end to end. But such matters take some time, and check one when the run is close, and before I could take to cover again, a Pony was fair on top of me.

"I jinked, as only a Boar who has been in many a run knows how. My jink was so sudden that the rider, seeking to spear me under his Pony's neck, came a full cropper in the black cotton-earth. Ugh-huh-huh! it makes me laugh now when I think of it. Of course I hadn't time to laugh then, for I had no sooner jinked clear of his spear than I saw coming up on the other side, the longest one of the Men-kind that was ever in the Jungle, and what with his spear he seemed like a tree. At once I remembered what my Mother had told me to do if ever a Spear-hunter got full on top of me. 'Into the horse's legs,' the old Dame had said; 'that's your only hope.' I must say that I charged Bagh that other time with greater joy than I slashed into that long Sahib's Pony.

"Of course, the Hunter thought I was going to run for it, so when I jinked short about and ripped his Pony's foreleg the full length of my nose, he was taken quite off his guard.

"It seemed as though part of the Jungle had fallen on me, for Pony and Huntman came down like ripe fruit off the Mowha tree. I got one rip at the Man's leg, and thought I'd made a fine cut, but I learned afterward, after they'd caught me, of course, that it was his boot-leg I had ripped----"

[Ill.u.s.tration: "'INTO THE HORSE'S LEGS,' THE OLD DAME HAD SAID."]

"Oh, Sa'-zada, I believe the Seoni Boar is the best liar we've struck yet," said Magh.

"Not so," declared the Keeper, "this tale of the pig-sticking is a true tale, for it is written in The Book."

"I only tell that which is true," declared Big Tusk, the Seoni Boar.

"And before I had got to the Scrub-Jungle, I had a spear driven into my shoulder from another Sahib, but I put my teeth through the giver's foot as I knocked his pony over from the side. It was a rare fight that day, but I got away at last."

"How were you caught?" queried Magh.

"Oh, that was long afterwards, and happened because of Bagh's evil ways. The Huntman had spread a big net in the Jungle to take Bagh, who had slain a Woman; and in the drive, not knowing of this evil thing, I came full into the net, and got so tangled up that I could not move.

When the White Hunter saw that it was I, the Seoni Boar, he said, 'Let us take him alive, for he has given us mighty sport and fought well.'

So they made a cage and I was forced into it from the net."

"Is that all?" asked Magh.

"Yes," replied Boar.

"Well," continued the Orang-Outang, "from your own account you appear to be a very fine fellow. I can't understand why all the Jungle Dwellers, even the Men-kind, connect your name with everything that's evil. I doubt if one of them could speak as well for himself, were he allowed to tell his own story."

"As I have said before," commented Sa'-zada, "it's hardly fair to give an animal a bad name without knowing all about him, and Boar's stories have all been true, I know. But it's late now, so each one away to his cage or corral, and sleep."

Eleventh Night

The Stories of Oohoo, the Wolf, and Sher Abi, the Crocodile

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

ELEVENTH NIGHT

THE STORIES OF OOHOO, THE WOLF, AND SHER ABI, THE CROCODILE

"To-night," said Sa'-zada, the Keeper, "we shall have a story from White Wolf of his home in the frozen North, and also one from Sher Abi, the Crocodile, of the warm land in which he lived, Burma."

"I am glad there is to be a tale of the North-land," said Mooswa, "for it's a lovely place."

"And Sher Abi is so stupid," added Magh the Orang, "that he's sure to fall to boasting of some of his murders."

"There's little to choose between them in that respect," commented Muskwa, "except that for cunning there is no one but Carcajou of the same wit as Wolf."

"Thank you, Comrade," cried Oohoo, the Arctic Wolf; "those of my land who are short of wit go with a lean stomach, I can tell you. But yet it is just the sweetest place that any poor animal ever lived in."

"It is," concurred Mooswa; "forests of green Spruce trees----"

"Not so, Brother Tangle-leg," objected Oohoo; "true I have been within the Timber Boundaries, but that was far to the south of my home. I remember, once upon a time, thinking to better my condition, for it was a year of scarce Caribou; I trailed down past Great Slave Lake to the home of my cousin, Blue Wolf, who was Pack Leader of the Timber Wolves.

Ghurrh-h! but they led a busy life. Almost day and night they were on the hunt, for their kill was small; a Grey Rabbit, or a Grouse, or a Marten--a mere mouthful for a full-hungered Wolf.

"But in the Northland where one could travel for days and days over the white snow and the hunt meant a free run with no chance of cover for the prey, it was all a matter of strength and speed. Leopard has boasted of the merit of his spotted coat for hiding in the sun-splashed Jungle; and also Bagh has told how the stripes on his sides hide him in the strong gra.s.s. But look at me, my Comrades----"

"You are pretty," sneered Magh.

"Here I am dirty brown," resumed Oohoo, paying no attention to the taunt, "and what does that mean?"

"That you are dirty and a Wolf," answered Magh, innocently.

"It shows that I live in a dirty brown place," a.s.serted Wolf. "We are all dirty brown here."

"I'm not," objected Python.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "ONE COULD TRAVEL FOR DAYS OVER THE WHITE SNOW."]

"You would be if you didn't lie in the water all day; but, as I was going to say, in that land of snow I was all white, and, by my cunning, with a careful stalk I always got within a running distance of--of--I mean anything I wanted to look at closely, you know."

"A Babe Caribou, I suppose," grunted Muskwa; "just to see how he was coming on. Have I not said that he has the cunning of a great thief?"

Bear whispered to Hathi.

"But if he talks much the truth will come out," answered the Elephant.

"There were just three of us Plain Dwellers in all that great Barren Land," proceeded Oohoo; "my kind, and Caribou, and Musk-Ox."

"Eu-yah! the Musk-Ox are cousins of mine," remarked Bison. "Queer taste they have to live in that terrible land of rock and snow. What do they eat, Oohoo? Surely the sweet Buffalo Gra.s.s does not grow there?"

"They do not mind the cold," answered Wolf; "they have the loveliest long black hair you ever saw on any Animal. And under that again is the soft grey fur----"

"Yes," interrupted Sa'-zada to explain, "the Musk-Ox seems to have hair, and fur, and wool all on one pelt--much like a Sheep, and a Goat, and a Bison combined."

"And as for eating," resumed Oohoo, the Wolf, "the rocks are thickly covered with moss----"