Folktales from Bengal Read Online Free

gulped and closed his eyes.
    The words left the tiger
speechless and confused. He was not used to getting his prey home
delivered. So he did not kill the fox, but scolded him, “You
scoundrel! Why did you make me fall inside the well?”
    “ Don’t even
think of such evil, my dear uncle,” said the fox. “The land there
was too soft for your mighty feet. So it collapsed when you jumped
on it. And I was only running to get help, which, being this
powerful, you did not need. Tell me this, could someone so weak and
pathetic as me trick someone so mighty and clever as
you?”
    The tiger closed its eyes
and smiled, “You are right, nephew. I must have had landed too
strongly for the ground to handle.”
    So they were friends
again. But the fox never forgave the tiger for the helplessness and
the hunger he had caused him. He bid his time, and waited for
another opportunity for revenge.
    One day, the fox was
walking by the river, and saw a crocodile resting on the river
bank. He ran to the tiger, and said, “Uncle, hey uncle. I bought a
boat. Come and take a ride.”
    The tiger came to the
river, and saw the sleeping crocodile, and thought that it was
actually a boat. So he sat on top of it.
    “ I’ll go
fetch an oar,” said the fox, and trotted off to a safe distance,
while the tiger made himself comfortable.
    The crocodile did not
like at all having a tiger sitting on him, and so, in one large
snap, he caught the tiger by the neck, and dragged him into the
water, where he drowned. And finally, the fox returned home, happy
as ever.

The Fox and the Foolish
Farmer

    Not a long time ago, in a
village not so far away, a young farmer lived in a small hut, with
his mother. One night, the mother was not feeling well, and called
up her son.
    “ Listen, and
listen well, you fool of a boy. I am not feeling well today, so you
will have to get up real early tomorrow and cut the crop. Wake up
really early tomorrow, okay?”
    “ Why do I
need to wake up so early, mother?”
    “ So that the
sun is low when you are in the field,” the mother
replied.
    “ What if it
goes high up in the sky?” he asked.
    “ If you work
in the sun for too long, you’ll get a fever.”
    “ What’s a
fever?” he asked.
    “ It’s when
you fall sick and you heat up, like I am doing right now. Touch my
forehead.”
    So he did, and it felt
really hot. “You’re burning up, mother.”
    “ That is
because I worked all day in the sun. So don’t make the same
mistake.”
    “ Okay,
mother.” Then he fell asleep.
    When he woke up, it was
nearly noon. So he hurried off to the field with his sickle and
began to cut the rice plants as fast as he could. He sweated in the
heat and very soon, got tired. He fell asleep in the field again.
When he woke up, he saw that the sickle was very hot. Naturally, it
had to be, for it had been lying all afternoon in the sun. But the
foolish farmer thought that his sickle had caught a fever. He sat
down and started to cry.
    “ My sickle
has a fever, what am I going to do now? Someone call a
doctor.”
    Another farmer was
working in a nearby field. He heard him, and asked him, “What is
wrong, son? Why are you crying?”
    “ My sickle
has a fever.”
    “ Is that it?
I know just the remedy. Immerse in in water for a while. That will
cure it.” The farmer said, smiling.
    “ What a
strange cure,” thought the boy. But he did as he was told, and the
sickle cooled down in a moment. He finished up the day’s work and
trotted home happily, singing to himself.
    When he got home, he saw
that his mother was still lying on the bed.
    “ What is
wrong with you, mother?” he asked.
    “ The fever’s
gone up. Leave me alone.” She replied.
    “ Don’t worry
mother, I know just the cure.” he lifted her up, took her to the
pond, and held her under the water. The more the old woman
struggled, the stronger he held her. “Just a little more,” he said,
“The fever is as good as gone.”
    When she stopped
squirming, he took