Folktales from Bengal Read Online Free Page B

my
friend’s marriage is coming up. All of you have to sing for him.”
The foxes howled, “Yes we will come, and we will sing.”
    He went to the frogs and
told them,” My friend is getting married. All of you have to come
and sing for him.” The frogs croaked, “We will come. We will
come.”
    He went to the swallows
and told them,” My friend is getting married. All of you have to
come and sing for him.” The swallows twitted, “We will come. We
will come.”
    He went to the crows and
told them,” My friend is getting married. All of you have to come
and sing for him.” The crows cawed, “We will come. We will
come.”
    He went to the monkeys
and told them,” My friend is getting married. All of you have to
come and sing for him.” The monkeys chattered, “We will come. We
will come.”
    He went to the owls and
told them,” My friend is getting married. All of you have to come
and sing for him.” The owls hooted, “We will come. We will
come.”
    And he went to the
peacocks, the ducks, the swans, the cranes, the hedgehogs, the
moles, the mice, and all the creatures in the forest to invite them
to the wedding, and this took seven days and nights.
    On the eighth day, the
fox borrowed some expensive clothes and ornaments for his friend,
and when Raja wore these, he really started to look like a king. By
night, everything was in order, and all the guests, including the
animals, were ready. They went for the king’s palace in a huge
procession.
    When they were a mile
from the palace, the fox said. “Everyone stand here now. We are
almost there. Now shout and rejoice, my friends.”
    And five thousand foxes
howled, “Hukka Huaaaa!”
    Ten thousand frogs
croaked, “Ghangor ghang, ghangor ghang.”
    Six thousand crows said,”
Caw, caw, caw, caw.”
    Ten thousand Hyenas
laughed, “Ha ha, ho ho, he he.”
    A thousand owls hooted,
“Whooo, whoooo.”
    Monkeys chattered,
peacocks danced, chickens clucked, elephants trumpeted and hippos
stomped. There was not a single animal of the forest who did not
participate in the tumultuous noise.
    Everyone in the king’s
palace was shivering all over. And that was the fox’s plan all
along. Now when he arrived at the palace to greet the king, the
king asked him nervously, “Fox, what is that earth shattering
noise?”
    “ It’s just
the sound of our people rejoicing.”
    That made the king very
nervous. Where was he supposed to sit all these people? And what
would he feed them? He confided the problem to the fox, who closed
his eyes in deep meditation, and then, after five minutes of utter
silence, he said, “I will send everyone back and bring just the
king in.”
    The king was immensely
relieved, and immediately paid the fox a thousand gold coins. The
clever fox used this to buy all kinds of foods, sweets and drinks,
and took these back to his fellow animals and men. They had a great
feast at the edge of the forest, and then the villagers and the
animals went back to their homes.
    Then he took Raja to the
palace. But he warned him. “Whatever you do, do not
speak.”
    Everyone at the palace
was delighted to see the groom. “What a handsome young man,” they
said. ”But why doesn’t he talk?”
    The fox replied. ”His
mother recently died. He does not speak of grief.”
    “ Oho, the
poor, fellow,” said everyone. But the real reason the fox told him
not to talk was that the moment Raja spoke, they would realize he
is not a king.
    When it was time for
dinner, the servants gave him rice in a golden plate, and a hundred
different types of dishes to go with it. There were sweets, curry,
chutneys, roti, sweetmeats, fries, and what not. But Raja had never
seen any of the food before. He picked them one by one, then
sniffed them, and finally, poured everything into the rice. The
result was a disaster. He just took one mouthful of the stuff, and
lost his appetite. But he did not want to waste all the food, so he
laid out his shawl, and poured the remaining food