The Heron and the Crab

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本に付いていた註

Duraya. North-western Province.




THE POND HERON. (VARIANT.)

At the time of a great drought the water of a pool having nearly
dried up, the fishes [123] saw that they were coming near dying. A
Pond Heron [124] which saw it, having very speedily come flying,
spoke to the fishes: "Friends, I will go and conduct you to a pool
in which there is much water," he said. They were pleased at it.

The Pond Heron holding one by his bill, and having gone and put it
down at the pool in which there was water, again brought it near
those that were in the pool at which the water had dried up, and let
it go. The fish which he brought informed them that there was a pool
in which there was water, in the way the Heron said. All the fishes
that were in the dried-up pool became wishful to go.

Now then, the Pond Heron having taken them one by one, leaving aside
the pool in which there was water, took them to a tree near it,
and ate them. After not many days the fishes were finished; the Pond
Heron ate all. Having eaten them, below the tree on which he put them
there was a heap of bones to the extent of a tree in height.

Afterwards having seen that a Crab was in the dried-up pool, the Pond
Heron spoke to it: "Friend, you also come to be conducted there,"
he said.

The Crab also spoke to the Pond Heron: "Friend, my shell is very thin,"
he said.

"I will take you carefully," the Pond Heron said. After he had said
it the Crab became wishful to go.

The Pond Heron took hold of his shell, and the Crab took hold of the
neck of the Pond Heron with his two claws. Having taken hold of him the
Pond Heron flew away. Having seen that, leaving the pool on this side,
he was flying to the tree, the Crab spoke to him. "The pool is here,"
he said.

"I am taking thee to eat," the Pond Heron said.

At that time having seized the two claws the Pond Heron killed him.


Washerman. North-western Province.




THE POND HERON. (VARIANT.)

In a certain country a Pond Heron stayed, it is said. At the time
while the Pond Heron was there, seeking small fishes in the tanks,
a great general drought befel. On account of it all the tanks dried
up. The Pond Heron ate all the small fishes that stayed in them.

Having eaten them, he remained hungry for two or three days, there
being no more small fishes. Having been in that state, and having
flown away to seek food, as he was going along he saw that a tank
having dried up, small fishes were there, being unable to go elsewhere.

The Pond Heron having gone there, asked the small fishes, "What,
friends, are you there for?"

Then the small fishes said, "Ane! Friend, the little water that there
was for us having dried up, we are without water."

After that, the Pond Heron said, "If so, friends, there is a good
river for you. I will take you to it, and put you down there."

The little fishes said, "It is good, friend. If so, take us and put
us down there."

The Pond Heron said, "If so, let one come [first, and see the river],"
and holding it with his bill he took it to the river, and put it down.

That small fish going in the water all round the river came near
the Pond Heron. Then the Pond Heron having said to the small fish,
"Let us go, friend," the small fish said, "Friend, I cannot go."

The Pond Heron said, "No, friend, let us go. Can you remain, without
going? Your other people are to come."

Afterwards the small fish said "Ha." So the Pond Heron, taking the
small fish with his bill, came flying back. Having come to a great
rough tree, and settled on a branch of the tree, he ate the small fish.

Again he went flying to the place where the small fishes were. The
small fishes asked, "Friend, one of us went with you. Where is he?"

The Pond Heron replied, "Friends, he said he would not come. He stayed
in the river."

Then those small fishes said, "If so, go with us, and put us down
in it."

After that, the Pond Heron, taking one of them, settled on the tree
at which he ate that small fish, and ate it. Again he came to the
place where the other small fishes were. Then those small fishes said,
"Friend, take us also, and put us in the river."

The Pond Heron again having taken a small fish and settled on that
very tree, ate it. Thus, in that way having taken the small fishes
until they were finished, he ate them all.

Having finished the small fishes, a Crab was omitted outside. The Pond
Heron came and asked the Crab, "What, friend, are you here alone for?"

The Crab said, "Ane! Friend, the small fishes of this tank went to
the quarters where they went. I alone remain."

Then the Pond Heron said, "Friend, shall I take you also to the river,
and put you down in it?" The Crab said "Ha."

Afterwards the Pond Heron, holding the Crab with his bill, took it
and settled on the tree on which he ate the small fishes. While he
was there the Crab asked, "What, friend, have you delayed here for?"

Then the Pond Heron said, "It is here that I ate also the few small
fishes that stayed in the tank. It is here I shall eat you also."

Afterwards the Crab, having stiffened his claws a little, seized the
neck of the Pond Heron. Then the Pond Heron with his bill tightened
his hold of the Crab. Thus, in that way holding each other, both of
them died, and fell on the ground below the tree.


Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.



The Jataka story No. 38 (vol. i, p. 96), about a Crane and a Crab,
nearly agrees with the second of these tales, but the ending is like
that of the first one, the Crab killing the Crane. It is also much
more artificial and developed in the conversations.

It is possible that the story related by the Duraya may represent a
very early form of the tale, or perhaps the original one. If the story
were derived from the Jataka tale, it is very improbable that in a
country where ponds are more numerous than in any other, we should
find the pool of the Jataka, to which the fishes were to be taken,
displaced in two of these by a river.

The story is given in Indian Fables (Ramaswami Raju), p. 88. A Crane
pretended to carry the fish to a pond, and was killed by a Crab.

In Skeat's Fables and Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest, p. 18,
the bird was a Pelican, which was killed by a Crab.

In the Panchatantra (Dubois), a Cormorant came to the fishes at a pool,
and allayed their suspicions by putting on an appearance of piety and
by alleging that he had become a religious devotee. He informed them
that he foresaw a twelve years' drought, in which the pools would
dry up and they would perish, and he offered to transport them to a
mountain pool fed by a perennial spring. They were eaten on a rock,
and the Crab strangled the bird.

In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 31, the animals were
a Crane and a Makara, which is said by the translator to generally
mean a crocodile, though in early carvings in Ceylon and India it
is a fabulous animal with two short legs and a tail usually curved
upon its back. The bird frightened the fish by saying that a man was
coming to catch them with a net, and he offered to convey them to a
lake. When the Makara was taken to the rock at which the others were
killed, he cut off the Crane's head.

This story nearly agrees with that in the Hitopadesa, in which a Crab
killed the bird.