Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/184

156 two bottles. The Hare fills his bottle and tells the Wild Cat to fill his. The Wild Cat says, "I will drink now and by and bye I will fill the bottle." The Hare runs away and calls out, "Come now or the rope will break and he will kill you." The Wild Cat says, "You say so, but I am not afraid." The Hare runs further and says, "Fill your bottle and come; the rope will break." The Wild Cat says, "Run away yourself; I am not afraid; I have heard you all right." By and bye the rope breaks and the Elephant runs after the Wild Cat. At last the Wild Cat hides in a hole at the root of a tree. The Elephant fills it up with a stone and goes. The Wild Cat thinks the stone is the Elephant and so it is afraid to come close; each time he draws near he thinks it is the Elephant and he runs back again. At last the sun goes down and he is nearly dead. He thinks, "All right, I will go and see him." He goes close and lays hold and finds it is a stone. He pushes it away and comes out. The Hare is waiting near, and says, "What is this?" He says, "It is you; you said the rope would break, and it did break." The Hare says, "Very well, it was your fault, because you would stay; don't do it again."

There was a tree and it died. A borer (woodworm) was eating in it, and it sang:

A boy heard it and went home and told his brothers, "There is a tree with a thing in it which sings. To-morrow I go again to hear it." The brothers said, "We shall come too." Next day they went and heard it again. All the brothers came and listened and they ate no food because they were listening. Next day they came again and listened and they said, "It would be a good thing to sleep