Page:Folk-lore of the Telugus.djvu/126

118 noiselessly to it and would every day partake of the food. Once upon a time he was conversing with his friend Vinakarna and was constantly looking up and shaking his rattle and terryfying me. Vinakarna then asked Chudakarna:—'Why is it that you look up and shake your rattle?' To which he replied:—'A rat every day gets up the wooden peg and partakes of the food there. It is a source of very great trouble to me.' Vinakarna hearing this said:—'Where is the rat and where the wooden peg ? Where did such little creature get the strength to climb such a great height ? There must be some cause for this. Some time ago I went to a Brahman's house to eat, when the Brahman called his wife and said:—'To-morrow a few Brahmans must be fed as it is the new-moon day. What provisions have you collected for it?' To which the housewife replied:—'If the men bring home provisions, the women can cook them. If they do not bring them what can we do?' Whereupon he grew exceedingly angry and turning to his wife said:—'We must