Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/525

 BALOCHI TALES.

I.

The Tiger and the Fox.

N a certain wood, where dwelt many jackals and foxes, a tiger came and took up his abode. And what did he do? This is what he used to do. Every day he would kill a jackal or two. So the jackals and foxes gathered together, and said: "If he goes on this way he will destroy us all, so, as we are now assembled here, let us agree that each one will take his turn to be devoured. And so they did: every day they used to give to the tiger the one whose turn it was. One day it was a fox's turn. At first he hid himself, but then he thought, "Now I have to go, for I am hemmed in on both sides. I'll go, but I'll try by some trick to keep my breath in me," So on he went, shivering as he went, till he came to the tiger's presence. "Ah!" says the tiger, "you fox, why have you been so long?" "Sire," said the fox, "another tiger has come to live in your country." "Where is that tiger?" said the tiger. "Come with me," said the fox, "and I will show him to you." So the fox went in front and the tiger went behind, and they went on till they came to a well. They came and stood at the mouth of the well, and then the fox said: "Oh, my lord Tiger! that other tiger has just come home after feeding on a jackal, and he is now sitting inside this well." Then the tiger said: "What kind of tiger can he be to come to my country! Either I must stay here alone or he can stay alone, but we cannot live together." Then he went up to the well and looked in, and saw a