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Pub One Info - Herman Martens Frederick

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183 pages

English

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Once upon a time there were two brothers, who lived in the same house. And the big brother listened to his wife's words, and because of them fell out with the little one. Summer had begun, and the time for sowing the high-growing millet had come. The little brother had no grain, and asked the big one to loan him some, and the big one ordered his wife to give it to him. But she took the grain, put it in a large pot and cooked it until it was done. Then she gave it to the little fellow. He knew nothing about it, and went and sowed his field with it. Yet, since the grain had been cooked, it did not sprout. Only a single grain of seed had not been cooked; so only a single sprout shot up. The little brother was hard-working and industrious by nature, and hence he watered and hoed the sprout all day long. And the sprout grew mightily, like a tree, and an ear of millet sprang up out of it like a canopy, large enough to shade half an acre of ground. In the fall the ear was ripe. Then the little brother took his ax and chopped it down

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	23 octobre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819907817
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0100€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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I
W OMEN'S WORDSPART FLESH AND BLOOD
Once upon a time there were two brothers, who livedin the same house. And the big brother listened to his wife'swords, and because of them fell out with the little one. Summer hadbegun, and the time for sowing the high-growing millet had come.The little brother had no grain, and asked the big one to loan himsome, and the big one ordered his wife to give it to him. But shetook the grain, put it in a large pot and cooked it until it wasdone. Then she gave it to the little fellow. He knew nothing aboutit, and went and sowed his field with it. Yet, since the grain hadbeen cooked, it did not sprout. Only a single grain of seed had notbeen cooked; so only a single sprout shot up. The little brotherwas hard-working and industrious by nature, and hence he wateredand hoed the sprout all day long. And the sprout grew mightily,like a tree, and an ear of millet sprang up out of it like acanopy, large enough to shade half an acre of ground. In the fallthe ear was ripe. Then the little brother took his ax and choppedit down. But no sooner had the ear fallen to the ground, than anenormous Roc came rushing down, took the ear in his beak and flewaway. The little brother ran after him as far as the shore of thesea.
Then the bird turned and spoke to him like a humanbeing, as follows: "You should not seek to harm me! What is thisone ear worth to you? East of the sea is the isle of gold andsilver. I will carry you across. There you may take whatever youwant, and become very rich."
The little brother was satisfied, and climbed on thebird's back, and the latter told him to close his eyes. So he onlyheard the air whistling past his ears, as though he were drivingthrough a strong wind, and beneath him the roar and surge of floodand waves. Suddenly the bird settled on a rock: "Here we are!" hesaid.
Then the little brother opened his eyes and lookedabout him: and on all sides he saw nothing but the radiance andshimmer of all sorts of white and yellow objects. He took about adozen of the little things and hid them in his breast. "Have youenough?" asked the Roc. "Yes, I have enough," he replied. "That iswell," answered the bird. "Moderation protects one from harm."
Then he once more took him up, and carried him backagain.
When the little brother reached home, he boughthimself a good piece of ground in the course of time, and becamequite well to do.
But his brother was jealous of him, and said to him,harshly: "Where did you manage to steal the money?"
So the little one told him the whole truth of thematter. Then the big brother went home and took counsel with hiswife. "Nothing easier," said his wife. "I will just cook grainagain and keep back one seedling so that it is not done. Then youshall sow it, and we will see what happens."
No sooner said than done. And sure enough, a singlesprout shot up, and sure enough, the sprout bore a single ear ofmillet, and when harvest time came around, the Roc again appearedand carried it off in his beak. The big brother was pleased, andran after him, and the Roc said the same thing he had said before,and carried the big brother to the island. There the big brothersaw the gold and silver heaped up everywhere. The largest pieceswere like hills, the small ones were like bricks, and the real tinyones were like grains of sand. They blinded his eyes. He onlyregretted that he knew of no way by which he could move mountains.So he bent down and picked up as many pieces as possible.
The Roc said: "Now you have enough. You will overtaxyour strength." "Have patience but a little while longer," said thebig brother. "Do not be in such a hurry! I must get a few morepieces!"
And thus time passed.
The Roc again urged him to make haste: "The sun willappear in a moment," said he, "and the sun is so hot it burns humanbeings up." "Wait just a little while longer," said the bigbrother. But that very moment a red disk broke through the cloudswith tremendous power. The Roc flew into the sea, stretched outboth his wings, and beat the water with them in order to escape theheat. But the big brother was shrivelled up by the sun. Note: Thisfairy-tale is traditionally narrated. The Roc is called pong in Chinese, and the treasures on the island are spoken of as "allsorts of yellow and white objects" because the little fellow doesnot know that they are gold and silver.
II
T HE THREERHYMSTERS
Once there were three daughters in a family. Theoldest one married a physician, the second one married amagistrate; but the third, who was more than usually intelligentand a clever talker, married a farmer.
Now it chanced, once upon a time, that their parentswere celebrating a birthday. So the three daughters came, togetherwith their husbands, to wish them long life and happiness. Theparents-in-law prepared a meal for their three sons-in-law, and putthe birthday wine on the table. But the oldest son-in-law, who knewthat the third one had not attended school, wanted to embarrasshim. "It is far too tiresome," said he, "just to sit here drinking:let us have a drinking game. Each one of us must invent a verse,one that rimes and makes sense, on the words: 'in the sky, on theearth, at the table, in the room,' And whoever cannot do so, mustempty three glasses as a punishment."
All the company were satisfied. Only the thirdson-in-law felt embarrassed and insisted on leaving. But the guestswould not let him go, and obliged him to keep his seat.
Then the oldest son-in-law began: "I will make astart with my verse. Here it is: "In the sky the phenix proudlyflies, On the earth the lambkin tamely lies, At the table throughan ancient book I wade, In the room I softly call the maid."
The second one continued: "And I say: "In the skythe turtle-dove flies round, On the earth the ox paws up theground, At the table one studies the deeds of yore, In the room themaid she sweeps the floor."
But the third son-in-law stuttered, and foundnothing to say. And when all of them insisted, he broke out inrough tones of voice: "In the sky – flies a leaden bullet, On theearth – stalks a tiger-beast, On the table – lies a pair ofscissors, In the room – I call the stable-boy."
The other two sons-in-law clapped their hands andbegan to laugh loudly. "Why the four lines do not rime at all,"said they, "and, besides they do not make sense. A leaden bullet isno bird, the stable-boy does his work outside, would you call himinto the room? Nonsense, nonsense! Drink!"
Yet before they had finished speaking, the thirddaughter raised the curtain of the women's room, and stepped out.She was angry, yet she could not suppress a smile. "How so do ourlines not make sense?" said she. "Listen a moment, and I'll explainthem to you: In the sky our leaden bullet will shoot your phenixand your turtle-dove. On the earth our tiger-beast will devour yoursheep and your ox. On the table our pair of scissors will cut upall your old books. And finally, in the room – well, the stable-boycan marry your maid!"
Then the oldest son-in-law said: "Well scolded!Sister-in-law, you know how to talk! If you were a man you wouldhave had your degree long ago. And, as a punishment, we will emptyour three glasses." Note: This is also a fairy-tale traditionallyhanded down.
III
H OW GREED FOR ATRIFLING THING LED A MAN TO LOSE A GREAT ONE
Once upon a time there was an old woman, who had twosons. But her older son did not love his parents, and left hismother and brother. The younger one served her so faithfully,however, that all the people spoke of his filial affection.
One day it happened that there was a theatricalperformance given outside the village. The younger son started tocarry his mother there on his back, so that she might look on. Butthere was a ravine before the village, and he slipped and fell downin the middle of it. And his mother was killed by the rollingstones, and her blood and flesh were sprinkled about everywhere.The son stroked his mother's corpse, and wept bitterly. He wasabout to kill himself when, suddenly, he saw a priest standingbefore him.
The latter said: "Have no fear, for I can bring yourmother back to life again!" And as he said so, he stooped, gatheredup her flesh and bones, and laid them together as they should be.Then he breathed upon them, and at once the mother was alive again.This made the son very happy, and he thanked the priest on hisknees. Yet on a sharp point of rock he still saw a bit of hismother's flesh hanging, a bit about an inch long. "That should notbe left hanging there either," said he, and hid it in his breast."In truth, you love your mother as a son should," said the priest.Then he bade the son give him the bit of flesh, kneaded a manikinout of it, breathed upon it, and in a minute there it stood, areally fine-looking little boy. "His name is Small Profit," saidhe, turning to the son, "and you may call him brother. You are poorand have not the wherewithal with which to nourish your mother. Ifyou need something, Small Profit can get it for you."
The son thanked him once more, then took his motheron his back again, and his new little brother by the hand, and wenthome. And when he said to Small Profit: "Bring meat and wine!" thenmeat and wine were at hand at once, and steaming rice was alreadycooking in the pot. And when he said to Small Profit: "Bring moneyand cloth!" then his purse filled itself with money, and the chestswere heaped up with cloth to the brim. Whatever he asked for thathe received. Thus, in the course of time, they came to be very welloff indeed.
But his older brother envied him greatly. And whenthere was another theatrical performance in the village, he tookhis mother on his back – by force – and went to it. And when hereached the ravine, he slipped purposely, and let his mother fallinto the depths, only intent to see that she really was shatteredinto fragments. And sure enough his mother had such a bad fall thather limbs and trunk were strewn around in all directions. He