An Anthology of Fables

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An Anthology of Fables
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The Smell of Soup and the Sound of Money
Nasreddin Hodja

• A beggar was given a piece of bread, but nothing
  to put
• on it. Hoping to get something to go with his
  bread,
• he went to a nearby inn and asked for a piece
  of cheese.
• The innkeeper turned him away with nothing, but
  the
• beggar sneaked into the kitchen where he saw a
  large pot
• of soup cooking over the fire.
• He held his piece of bread over the steaming
  pot,
• hoping to thus capture a bit of flavor from the
• good-smelling vapor.
• Suddenly the innkeeper seized him by the arm and
• accused him of stealing soup."I took no soup,"
  said
• the beggar. "I was only smelling the vapor."
• "Then you must pay for the smell," answered the
• innkeeper. The poor beggar had no money, so the
• angry innkeeper dragged him before the qadi.

• Now Nasreddin Hodja was at that time serving as
• qadi, and he heard the innkeeper's complaint and
• the beggar's explanation.
• "So you demand payment for the smell of your
  soup?"
• summarized the Hodja after the hearing.
• "Yes!" insisted the innkeeper.
• "Then I myself will pay you," said the Hodja,
  "and I will
• pay for the smell of your soup with the sound of
  money."
• Thus saying, the Hodja drew two coins from his
  pocket,
• rang them together loudly, put them back into his
  pocket,
• and sent the beggar and the innkeeper each on his
  own
• way.

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Eat, My Clothes!Giufà/Italy

• Giufà was a very simple man and no one
• showed him any kindness, such as to invite him to
  his house or give him anything to eat.
• Once Giufà went to a farmhouse
• and when the farmers saw him looking so ragged
  and poor, set the dogs on him,
• and made him leave in a hurry.
• When his mother heard it she made him
• a fine coat, a hat, a pair of breeches, and
• a velvet vest.

• Giufà dressed up, went to the same farmhouse, and
  then you should see what great ceremonies they
  made! They invited him to dine with them saying,
  "Welcome, Giufà.
• While at the table all were very attentive to
  him.The placed him at the head of the table, and
  said, "Please to eat, dear Giufà.
• Giufà, on the one hand, filled his stomach, and
  on the other, put into the pockets of his coat,
  and hat whatever was left over, saying "Eat, my
  clothes, for you were invited!"

4
The Man Who Became Rich through a Dream1001
Nights

• Once there lived in Baghdad a wealthy man who
  lost all his means and was thus forced to earn
  his living by hard labor. One night a man came to
  him in a dream, saying, "Your fortune is in
  Cairo go there and seek it." So he set out for
  Cairo. He arrived there after dark and took
  shelter for the night in a mosque. As Allah would
  have it, a band of thieves entered the mosque in
  order to break into an adjoining house. The noise
  awakened the owners, who called for help. The
  Chief of Police and his men came to their aid.
  The robbers escaped, but when the police entered
  the mosque they found the man from Baghdad asleep
  there. They laid hold of him and beat him with
  palm rods until he was nearly dead, then threw
  him into jail.
• Three days later the Chief of Police sent for him
  and asked, "Where do you come from?"
• "From Baghdad," he answered.
• "And what brought you to Cairo?"

• "A man came to me in a dream and told me to come
  to Cairo to find my fortune," answered the man
  from Baghdad "But when I came here, the promised
  fortune proved to be the palm rods you so
  generously gave to me."
• "You fool," said the Chief of Police, laughing
  until his wisdom teeth showed. "A man has come to
  me three times in a dream and has described a
  house in Baghdad where a great sum of money is
  supposedly buried beneath a fountain in the
  garden. He told me to go there and take it, but I
  stayed here. You, however, have foolishly
  journeyed from place to place on the faith of a
  dream which was nothing more than a meaningless
  hallucination." He then gave him some money
  saying, "This will help you return to your own
  country."
• The man took the money. He realized that the
  Chief of Police had just described his own house
  in Baghdad, so he forthwith returned home, where
  he discovered a great treasure beneath the
  fountain in his garden. Thus Allah gave him
  abundant fortune and brought the dream's
  prediction to fulfillment.

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The Man and the SerpentAesop

• A countryman's son by accident trod upon a
  serpent's tail, which turned and bit him so that
  he died. The father in a rage got his ax, and
  pursuing the serpent, cut off part of its tail.
  So the serpent in revenge began stinging several
  of the farmer's cattle and caused him severe
  loss. Well, the farmer thought it best to make it
  up with the serpent, and brought food and honey
  to the mouth of its lair, and said to it, "Let's
  forget and forgive. Perhaps you were right to
  punish my son, and take vengeance on my cattle,
  but surely I was right in trying to revenge him.
  Now that we are both satisfied, why should not we
  be friends again?"
• "No, no," said the serpent. "Take away your
  gifts. You can never forget the death of your
  son, nor I the loss of my tail.

• Injuries may be forgiven, but not forgotten

6
An Unusual Ride Switzerland/Germany

• A man was riding home on his donkey, while his
  boy walked beside them. A traveler came along and
  said, "Father, it is not right for you to ride
  while you make your boy walk. You have stronger
  limbs." So the father climbed off the donkey and
  let his son ride. Another traveler came along and
  said, "Boy, it is not right for you to ride while
  you make your father go on foot. You have younger
  legs."
• So they both mounted the donkey and road on a
  little way. A third traveler came along and said,
  "How stupid! Two fellows on one weak animal.
  Someone should take a stick and knock you off its
  back!"

• So they both climbed off, and all three went
  along on foot, the father and son left and right,
  and the donkey in the middle. A fourth traveler
  came along and said, "You are three strange
  companions. Isn't it enough if two of you were to
  go on foot? Wouldn't it be easier if one of you
  would ride?"
• So the father tied the donkey's front legs
  together, and the son tied its back legs
  together. Then they put a strong pole that was
  lying beside the road through its legs and
  carried the donkey home on their shoulders.
• That's how far it can go if one tries to please
  everyone.

7
Jean de La FontaineThe Middle-Aged Man and the
Two Widows

• A man of middle age, Fast getting gray,
  Thought it would be but sage To fix the
  marriage day. He had in stocks, And under
  locks, Money enough to clear his way.
• Such folks can pick and choose all tried to
  please The moneyed man but he, quite at his
  ease, Showed no great hurry, Fuss, nor scurry.
  "Courting," he said, "was no child's play."
• Two widows in his heart had shares -- One young
  the other, rather past her prime, By careful art
  repairs What has been carried off by Time.
• The merry widows did their best To flirt and
  coax, and laugh and jest Arranged, with much of
  bantering glee, His hair, and curled it
  playfully.

• The eldest, with a wily theft, Plucked one by
  one the dark hairs left. The younger, also
  plundering in her sport, Snipped out the gray
  hair, every bit. Both worked so hard at either
  sort, They left him bald -- that was the end of
  it.

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The Husband Who Was to Mind the House Norway

• Once upon a time there was a man who was so bad
  tempered that he thought his wife did nothing
  right in the house. Dear love, don't be so
  angry, said his wife, "tomorrow let's change
  jobs. I'll go out and mow, and you can mind the
  house."
• So early the next morning, his wife went to the
  field to mow and the man did the work at home.
• First of all he wanted to churn the butter. But
  when he had churned a while, he got thirsty and
  went down to the cellar to drink from the barrel.
  He opened the tap, when he heard the pig come
  into the kitchen above. As fast as he could, he
  ran up to the kitchen. When he got there he saw
  that the pig had already knocked the churn all
  over the floor. He got so angry that he gave it
  such a powerful kick that he killed it on the
  spot. Then he remembered he had forgotten the tap
  of the barrel. But when he returned to the
  cellar, all the ale had run out of the barrel.

• Then he filled the churn again and he began to
  churn, for they had to have butter for dinner.
  When he had churned a bit, he remembered that
  their cow was still shut up in the barn and
  hadn't eaten or drunk all morning. But it was too
  far to take her down to the meadow, so he'd just
  get her up onto the roof, for a fine crop of
  grass was growing there.
• But he couldn't leave the churn, for his little
  baby was crawling on the floor. "If I leave it,"
  he thought, "the child will tip it over." So he
  put the churn on his back, and went out with it.
  But then he thought he'd better first water the
  cow, so he picked up a bucket to draw water out
  of the well. But as he stooped over the well all
  the cream ran down into the well.

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The Husband Who Was to Mind the House Norway

• Now it was nearly dinnertime, and he hadn't even
  finished the butter yet, so he thought he'd best
  boil the porridge. He filled the pot with water
  and hung it over the fire. When he had done that,
  it occurred to him that the cow might fall off
  the roof, so he climbed up onto the house to tie
  her up. He tied one end of the rope around the
  cow's neck. He slipped the other end down the
  chimney and tied it around his own leg. Then he
  had to hurry, for the water was now boiling in
  the pot, and he still had to grind the oatmeal.
•  
• He began to grind away but the cow fell off the
  roof, dragging the man up the chimney by the
  rope. There he stuck. As for the cow, she hung
  halfway down the wall for she could neither get
  down nor up.

• Now the wife waited for her husband to come and
  call her home to dinner, but he never came. At
  last she went home. But when she arrived home and
  saw the cow hanging there, she ran up and cut the
  rope. When she did this, her husband fell down
  from within the chimney. When the old woman came
  inside, she found him with his head in the
  porridge pot.

10
The Crow and Its Ugly FledglingsRomania

• Of all the birds the crow is considered the
  ugliest, especially its young. The legend tells
  that sometime after God had created all the
  living beings, he called everyone to see them and
  their offspring. He wanted to see how the young
  birds and animals looked, and then to give them
  suitable gifts, and food for their little ones.
• They came one by one, and God looked at them,
  patted some and stroked others, and was very
  pleased with every one of them, for each one had
  something of beauty in it. And so he blessed them
  and gave them food by which to live. The last to
  come was the crow, bringing her little offspring
  with her, very proud of them.
• When God cast his eyes upon the young crows, he
  spat in astonishment, and said, "Surely these are
  not my creatures. I could not have made such ugly
  things. Every one of my creatures has such
  beautiful young ones that they are a pleasure to
  look at, but yours are so ugly that it makes one
  sick to look at them. Where did you get this
  one?"
• "Where should I get them from?" replied the crow.

• "It is my very own young child," she added with
  pride.
• "You had better go back and bring me another one.
  This is much too ugly. I cannot look at it."
• Annoyed at the words of God, the crow went away
  and flew all over the earth to search for another
  young one that would be more beautiful than the
  one she had brought to God. But no other young
  bird appeared so beautiful in her eyes as her
  own. So she returned back to God and said, "I
  have been all over the world, and I have searched
  high and low, but young birds more beautiful than
  mine I have not been able to find."
• Then God smilingly replied, "Quite right. Just so
  are all mothers. No other child is so beautiful
  in their eyes as their own."
• Then he blessed the little crows and sent them
  away into the world with his gifts.

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The Foolish Friend Panchatantra/India

• A king took a monkey for a pet. He kept him
  constantly close at him for his amusement.
• The monkey, fed on the various dishes that the
  king gave him, grew large and was given respect
  by all who surrounded the king. Indeed, the king,
  due to his love and exceeding trust of the
  monkey, even gave him a sword to carry.
• In the vicinity of the palace the king had a
  garden with many trees of various sorts. Early in
  the springtime the king noticed how beautiful the
  garden was. Its blossoms exuded a magnificent
  fragrance, while swarms of bees sang praise to
  the god of love. Thus he entered the grove with
  his favorite wife. He ordered all his servants to
  wait for him at the entrance.
• After having pleasantly strolling through and
  observing the garden, he grew tired and said to
  his monkey, "I want to sleep a little in this
  arbor of flowers. Take care that nothing disturbs
  me!" Having said this, the king fell asleep.

• Presently a bee, pursuing the aroma of the
  flowers, flew up and lit on his head. Seeing
  this, the monkey thought angrily, "What is this?
  Am I to allow this common creature to bite the
  king before my very eyes?"
• With that he proceeded to drive it away. However,
  in spite of the monkey's defense, the bee
  approached the king again and again. Finally,
  blinded by anger, the monkey drew his sword and
  struck down the bee with a single blow. However,
  the same blow also split the king's head.
• The queen, who was sleeping next to the king
  jumped up in terror. Seeing the crime, she said,
  "Oh, oh, you foolish monkey! What have you done
  to the king who placed such trust in you?"
• The monkey explained how it had happened, but
  thereafter he was scorned by everyone. Thus it is
  said, "It is better to have a clever enemy than a
  foolish friend."

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The ParrotEngland (Yorkshire)

• There was once a grocer who had a beautiful
  parrot and it hung in a cage at his shop door. It
  was a very sensible bird, and very observing. But
  it proclaimed aloud all that it knew, announcing
  to everyone who entered the shop the little
  circumstances which had fallen under its
  observation.
• One day the parrot observed its master sanding
  the sugar. Presently in came a woman and asked
  for some brown sugar. "Sand in the sugar! Sand in
  the sugar!" vociferated the bird, and the
  customer rushed out of the shop.
• The indignant grocer rushed to the cage and shook
  it well. "You abominable bird, if you tell tales
  again, I will wring your neck!" And again he
  shook the cage till a cloud of its feathers was
  flying about the shop.
• Next day it saw its master mixing cocoa powder
  with brick dust. Presently in came a customer for
  cocoa powder. "Brick dust in the cocoa!" cried
  the parrot, eagerly and repeatedly, till the
  astonished customer believed it, and went away
  without his cocoa. A repetition of the shaking of
  the cage ensued, with a warning that such another
  instance of tale-telling should certainly be
  punished with death.

• The parrot made internal resolutions never to
  speak again. Presently, however, it observed its
  master making shop butter of lard. In came a lady
  and asked for butter.
• "Nice fresh butter, ma'am, fresh from the dairy,"
  said the shop man
• "Lard in the butter! Lard in the butter!" said
  the parrot.
• "You scoundrel, you!" exclaimed the shop man,
  rushing at the cage. Opening it, drawing forth
  the luckless bird, and wringing its neck, he cast
  it into the ash pit. But Polly was not quite
  dead, and after lying quiet for a few minutes,
  she lifted up her head. She sat up and tried her
  wings. "They are sound. Great is truth in my own
  country, but in this dingy England it is at a
  discount, and lies are at a premium."
• Then spreading her wings, Polly flew away. But
  whether she ever reached her own land, where
  truth was regarded with veneration, I have not
  heard. No, she flew twice round the world in
  search of it, and could not find it. I wonder
  whether she has found it now!