about the dangers of being too clever
selected and edited by
D. L. Ashliman
© 2001-2002
and other fables of Aarne-Thompson type 105
about the dangers of being too clever
selected and edited by
D. L. Ashliman
© 2001-2002
|
The fox knows many things, |
Here's a good rule of thumb: |
Return to D. L. Ashliman's folktexts, a library of folktales, folklore, fairy tales, and mythology.
Two fish lived in a pond. Their names were Satabuddhi (having the understanding of a hundred) and Sahasrabuddhi (having the understanding of a thousand). The two of them had a frog for a friend, whose name was Ekabuddhi (having the understanding of one).
For a time they would enjoy friendly conversation on the bank, and then they would return to the water. One day when they had gathered for conversation, some fishermen came by just as the sun was setting. They were carrying nets in their hands and many dead fish on their heads.
When the fishermen saw the pond, they said to one another, "There seem to be a lot of fish in this pond, and the water is very low. Let us come back here tomorrow morning!" After saying this, they went home.
These words struck the three friends like a thunderbolt, and they took counsel with one another.
The frog said, "Oh, my dear Satabuddhi and Sahasrabuddhi, what shall we do? Should we flee, or stay here?"
Hearing this, Sahasrabuddhi laughed and said, "Oh, my friend, don't be afraid of words alone! They probably will not come back. But even if they do come back, I will be able to protect myself and you as well, through the power of my understanding, for I know many pathways through the water."
After hearing this, Satabuddhi said, "Yes, what Sahasrabuddhi says is correct, for one rightly says: Where neither the wind nor the sun's rays have found a way, intelligent understanding will quickly make a path. And also: Everything on earth is subject to the understanding of those with intelligence. Why should one abandon the place of one's birth that has been passed down from generation to generation, just because of words? We must not retreat a single step! I will protect you through the power of my understanding."
The frog said, "I have but one wit, and it is advising me to flee. This very day I shall go with my wife to another pond."
After saying this, as soon as it was night, the frog went to another pond.
Early the next day the fishermen came like servants of the god of death and spread their nets over the pond. All the fish, turtles, frogs, crabs, and other water creatures were caught in the nets and captured, also Satabuddhi and Sahasrabuddhi, although they fled, and through their knowledge of the various paths escaped for a while by swimming to and fro. But they too, together with their wives, fell into a net and were killed.
That afternoon the fishermen happily set forth toward home. Because of his weight, one of them carried Satabuddhi on his head. They tied Sahasrabuddhi onto a string and dragged him along behind.
The frog Ekabuddhi, who had climbed onto the bank of his pond, said to his wife, "Look, dear! Mr. Hundred-Wit lies on someone's head, and Mr. Thousand-Wit is hanging from a string. But Mr. Single-Wit, my dear, is playing here in the clear water."
A fox was boasting to a cat of its clever devices for escaping its enemies.
"I have a whole bag of tricks," he said, "which contains a hundred ways of escaping my enemies."
"I have only one," said the cat. "But I can generally manage with that."
Just at that moment they heard the cry of a pack of hounds coming towards them, and the cat immediately scampered up a tree and hid herself in the boughs.
"This is my plan," said the cat. "What are you going to do?"
The fox thought first of one way, then of another, and while he was debating, the hounds came nearer and nearer, and at last the fox in his confusion was caught up by the hounds and soon killed by the huntsmen.
Miss Puss, who had been looking on, said, "Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon."
The fox and cat, two saints indeed,
To make a pilgrimage agreed.Two artful hypocrites they were,
Soft-footed, sly, and smooth, and fair.
Full many a fowl, and many a cheese,
Made up for loss of time and ease.The road was long, and weary too;
To shorten it, to talk they flew.
For argument drives sleep away,
And helps a journey on, they say.The fox to the cat says, "My friend,
To be so clever you pretend;
Say what am I? I've in this sack
A hundred tricks." "Well, on my back,"
The other, very timid, said,
"I've only one, I'm quite afraid;
But that, I hold, is worth a dozen,
My enemies to cheat and cozen."Then the dispute began anew,
With "So say I!" and "I tell you!"
Till, suddenly, some hounds in sight
Silenced them soon, as it well might.The cat cried, "Search your bag, my friend,
Or you are lost, you may depend.
Choose out your choicest stratagem!"
Puss climbed a tree, and baffled them.The fox a hundred burrows sought:
Turned, dodged, and doubled, as he thought
To put the terriers at fault,
And shun their rough and rude assault.In every place he tried for shelter,
But begged it vainly. Helter-skelter
The hounds were on the treacherous scent,
That still betrayed, where'er he went.At last, as from a hole he started,
Two swift dogs on poor Reynard darted;
Then came up all the yelping crew,
And at his throat at once they flew.Too many schemes spoil everything.
We lose our time in settling.
Have only one, as wise man should;
But let that one be sound and good.
It happened that the cat met Mr. Fox in the woods. She thought, "He is intelligent and well experienced, and is highly regarded in the world," so she spoke to him in a friendly manner, "Good-day, my dear Mr. Fox. How is it going? How are you? How are you getting by in these hard times?"
The fox, filled with arrogance, examined the cat from head to feet, and for a long time did not know whether he should give an answer. At last he said, "Oh, you poor beard-licker, you speckled fool, you hungry mouse hunter, what are you thinking? Have you the nerve to ask how I am doing? What do you know? How many tricks do you understand?"
"I understand only one," answered the cat, modestly.
"What kind of a trick is it?" asked the fox.
"When the dogs are chasing me, I can jump into a tree and save myself."
"Is that all?" said the fox. "I am master of a hundred tricks, and in addition to that I have a sackful of cunning. I feel sorry for you. Come with me, and I will teach you how one escapes from the dogs."
Just then a hunter came by with four dogs. The cat jumped nimbly up a tree, and sat down at its top, where the branches and foliage completely hid her.
"Untie your sack, Mr. Fox, untie your sack," the cat shouted to him, but the dogs had already seized him, and were holding him fast.
"Oh, Mr. Fox," shouted the cat. "You and your hundred tricks are left in the lurch. If you had been able to climb like I can, you would not have lost your life."
One day the owl met a fox, and the latter bragged about his intelligence and cleverness, and said that he was very cunning and slim.
The owl asked him, "Brother mine, how many minds (wits) have you?"
"Seven," he said, boastingly.
"No wonder you are so clever. I have only one," said the owl.
A short time afterwards the owl again met the fox, but this time he was running for his life. The hunters were after him, and the hounds were trying to catch him. Running as fast as his legs could carry him, he at last managed to slip into a hole.
The owl followed him, and seeing him there, exhausted, asked him, "How many minds (wits) have you?"
And he replied, "Six. I have lost one by the chase."
Meanwhile the hunters and dogs came nearer and nearer, so they could hear the baying of the dogs. The fox did not know what to do.
The owl asked him, "How many minds (wits) have you now, old fellow?"
"Oh, I have lost all my minds (wits). I have none left."
"Where is your cunning of which you bragged?"
"It is not kind of you, now, to go for a poor fellow when the dogs are at his heels, and there is no escape for him."
"Well," said the owl, "I have but one mind (wit), and I will see whether I cannot save you with my one wit. It is my turn. I am going to lie down here at the entrance as though dead. When the hunters come, they will see me and get hold of me and talk about me. Meanwhile they will forget you, and in the midst of the trouble, you just dash out and run for your life."
It happened just as the owl had said.
No sooner did the hunters come up and find the owl than they said, "What is this ugly bird doing here? And a dead one to boot."
And whilst they were busy with the owl, trying to get hold of it to throw it away, off went the fox through them and escaped.
Soon afterwards the owl met him again, and she said, "How have your seven minds (wits) helped you when in time of danger? It is like that with people who have too much. They often have nothing when they want it most, but you see, I had only one mind (wit), but a strong one and not a dissolute one like yours, and that saved both you and me."
I do not know how he managed it, but a fox one day got into a poultry yard, and there he ate his fill. Some time afterwards, going along to the poultry yard, the hedgehog met him.
"Where are you going, brother?"
"I am going to eat my fill."
"Surely you cannot get it just as you like."
"Oh," he said, "you just come with me, and I will show you. I know my way, and there is plenty for me and for you, and some to leave behind for another time."
The hedgehog, who was a wise old fellow, said to the fox, "Now, be careful. Are you sure that the owners of the poultry yard will let you in again so easily?"
"Don't you trouble," said the fox. "I know my business. You just come with me."
And the hedgehog went with him. But the people of the poultry yard were not such fools as the fox had taken them for, and just where the fox had got in last time they had dug a deep pit, and into that the fox and the hedgehog tumbled.
When they found themselves at the bottom of the pit, the hedgehog turned to the fox and said, "Well, you clever fellow, is that the proper way to get into the poultry yard? Did I not warn you?"
"What is the good of talking?" replied the fox. "We are here now, and we must see how to get out of it."
"But you are so clever, and I am only a poor old fool."
"Never mind. You were always a wise one. Can you help me?"
"No," he said. "I cannot help you. This sudden fall has upset me, and I feel queer and sick."
"What," cried the fox. "You are not going to be sick here. That is more than I can stand. Out you go!"
So he got hold of the hedgehog by the snout, and the hedgehog coiled himself up with his little paws into a little ball round the fox's mouth. The fox lifted up his head with a jerk and threw the little fellow out of the pit.
As soon as he saw himself safely out of the pit, the little hedgehog, bending over the mouth of the pit, said, chuckling to the fox, "Where is your wisdom, you fool? You boast that you have a bagful of wits, whilst it is I who get myself out of the pit, though I have only a little wit."
"Oh," said the fox, whining, "do have pity on me! You are such a clever old fellow. Help me out of it too."
"Well, said the hedgehog, "I will help you. Now, you pretend to be dead, and when the people come and find you stiff and stark, and a nasty smell about you, they will say, 'The fox has died, and his carcass is rotting. It is going to make all the poultry yard offensive.' They will take you and throw you out. And then see whither your way lies."
The fox did as the hedgehog had advised him, and when the people came and found him in that state, they hauled him out and threw him out of the yard onto the road. Quicker than you could clap your hands, the fox was on his legs, and he ran as if the ground was burning under him.
Since then the fox and the hedgehog are good friends.
A fox meeting a hedgehog asked him, "How many wits have you?"
And he replied, "Only three. But how many have you?"
"I," boasted the fox," have seventy-seven."
As they were talking and walking along, not noticing where they were going, they fell into a deep hole which the peasants had dug.
The fox asked the hedgehog to save him.
The hedgehog said, "I have only three wits. Perhaps you will save me first, then I will see about you afterwards," and he asked the fox to pitch him out of the hole.
The fox did so, and then asked the hedgehog whether he could help him.
The hedgehog said, "I cannot help you with three, if you cannot help yourself with seventy-seven."
And so the fox was caught in the morning by the peasants and killed.
Once upon a time, in the depths of a mountain range, there lived a tiger. He was a very strong tiger, but, thanks to the fact that he was unusually clumsy, he could hardly ever catch any animals.
One day he went out from his cave to look for food. As he went along he saw a cat speeding towards him, coming down the mountainside. The cat's swift and easy movements were the envy of the tiger, who thought to himself, "Wouldn't it be fine if I were as clever as that cat!"
He went to the cat and said pleadingly, "Honored Teacher Cat, could you teach me how to climb the mountain as well as you do?"
Knowing that tigers are wicked at heart, the cat was afraid that if she taught him all she knew, then probably her own life would be in danger. She therefore shook her head and said, rather hesitatingly, "I don't think I'd better. If I do, how do I know you'll not use your knowledge against me?"
The tiger behaved fawningly, and kowtowed deeply to the cat.
"Honored Teacher Cat," he said, "I am a man of my word. If you will be so kind as to teach me, I will not betray your goodness. And afterwards, if anyone should bully you, I shall crush him to death."
Hoodwinked by these honeyed words, the cat began to be sympathetic. She put her head on one side and said, "All right. If you really promise that, and are sure you will not be ungrateful, I'll teach you."
The tiger was overjoyed. He waved his tail and knelt down in front of her, saying, "In future, when I have mastered all the skills of climbing hills and catching animals, I shall never forget you, my teacher. May I fall into the deepest gully and be crushed to death myself if I am ever unkind to you!"
He kept his word for some time, and behaved to the cat as one should behave to a teacher. Every day from dawn to dusk the cat did her best to teach her pupil. Very soon she had taught him all her tricks except one. The tiger was very pleased with himself, and highly satisfied with the cat as a teacher.
Then one day, when he came to his teacher for further instruction, he looked at the cat's plump body, and his mouth began to water. What a good meal she would make! But the cat was fully aware of his bad intentions. She decided to give him a test.
"I have taught you all I know," she said. "You need no further lessons."
The tiger thought his chance had come. "Aha!" he said to himself. "This fat little cat will not escape my claws now!" But he thought he had better make sure that he had not misunderstood her, so he asked again, "Honored Teacher Cat, are you certain you have taught me everything?"
"Yes, everything!" said the wily cat.
An idea flashed into the tiger's head, and his eyes sparkled. "Teacher," said he, "what is that there on the tree?"
As the cat turned her head to look, the tiger, his jaws wide open and his claws out, threw himself upon her. But as quickly the cat ran up the tree.
The cat sat up in the tree, and said indignantly, "Well! You ungrateful creature! Your word is worth nothing. It was lucky for me that I had been prudent enough not to teach you how to climb trees. If I had taught you that, I see, you would have eaten me by now."
The tiger flew into a rage and flung himself repeatedly at the tree. But he did not know how to climb it. He tried to gnaw it down, but the trunk was so thick that he could make no impression on it. The cat skipped about in the branches, now and then tantalizing him by sitting down to wash, or look at him. The tiger grew angrier and angrier, and raged about, but there was nothing he could do. Finally the cat jumped easily to another tree, and then another, until she had vanished.
All the tiger's wicked schemes came to naught, and all he could do was to make his way up the mountain again.
Return to D. L. Ashliman's folktexts, a library of folktales, folklore, fairy tales, and mythology.
Revised January 26, 2002.