Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/710

 400 Folk Tales from the Naoa Hills of Assam.

■ Then the Raja said, " To-morrow I will take your case." Then Gakripu thought, " Whatever I do, things most certainly look bad."

And so he, as his cunning was great, at night time took some dung, put it in a chunga, and put it in the pockets of the coats of the old woman and the other man. And so they came together in front of the Raja to plead their cause. And to salaam him they bowed, and the dung fell out of their pockets.

Therefore the Raja was very angry and would not hear their case.

" A man who is clever will never find himself in a tight corner " — thus is it said in Tenyima lore.

No. 3. Matsi.

Matsi was a man of much guile, and so when the men of his village went down to the fields used to steal the rice of the boys who remained in the village.

And so the villagers one day in the course of conversation said to Matsi, " Because we are clever we will go with you, Matsi, into the jungle to shikar." So they went down into the jungle with Matsi and said to him, " You go into the jungle to shikar, and we will stop at the edge and if a deer comes out will kill it." So they sent Matsi into the jungle. Then they burnt the jungle and leaving Matsi completely shut off returned to their village.

Then Matsi and a deer together remained in the jungle, shut off by the fire. The two fled together, but could get nowhere at all.

And so Matsi slew the deer, and when the fire came entered into its skin, and slept hiding in its belly.

After that he again emerged, and on the next day went to sleep across the path. Then the villagers again came and saw him, and said, " Here is Matsi dead." And they were very pleased, all of them.

But one old woman saw him and was very grieved and cried. Then Matsi got up and said, " My dear old woman I'm not dead.