A certain rich merchant had a blockhead of a son. He, once on a time, went to the island of Kataha to trade, and among his wares there was a great quant.i.ty of fragrant aloes-wood. And after he had sold the rest of his wares, he could not find any one to take the aloes-wood off his hands, for the people who live there are not acquainted with that article of commerce. Then, seeing people buying charcoal from the woodmen, the fool burnt his stock of aloes-wood and reduced it to charcoal. Then he sold it for the price which charcoal usually fetched, and returning home, boasted of his cleverness, and became a laughing-stock to everybody.

"I have told you of the man who burnt aloes-wood, now hear the tale of the cultivator of sesame."

Story of the man who sowed roasted seed. [48]

There was a certain villager who was a cultivator, and very nearly an idiot. He one day roasted some sesame-seeds, and, finding them nice to eat, he sowed a large number of roasted seeds, hoping that similar ones would come up. When they did not come up, on account of their having been roasted, he found that he had lost his substance, and people laughed at him.

"I have spoken of the sesame-cultivator, now hear about the man who threw fire into water."

Story of the fool who mixed fire and water. [49]

There was a silly man, who, one night, having to perform a sacrifice next day, thus reflected:--"I require water and fire, for bathing, burning incense, and other purposes; so I will put them together, that I may quickly obtain them when I want them." Thus reflecting, he threw the fire into the pitcher of water, and then went to bed. And in the morning, when he came to look, the fire was extinct, and the water was spoiled. And when he saw the water blackened with charcoal, his face was blackened also, and the faces of the amused people were wreathed in smiles.

"You have heard the story of the man who was famous on account of the pitcher of fire, now hear the story of the nose-engrafter."

Story of the man who tried to improve his wife's nose.

There lived in some place or other a foolish man of bewildered intellect. He, seeing that his wife was flat-nosed, and that his spiritual instructor was high-nosed, [50] cut off the nose of the latter when he was asleep: and then he went and cut off his wife's nose, and stuck the nose of his spiritual instructor on her face, but it would not grow there. Thus he deprived both his wife and his spiritual guide of their noses.

"Now hear the story of the herdsman who lived in a forest."

Story of the foolish herdsman.

There lived in a forest a rich but silly herdsman. Many rogues conspired together and made friends with him. They said to him, "We have asked the daughter of a rich inhabitant of the town in marriage for you, and her father has promised to give her. When he heard that, he was pleased and gave them wealth, and after a few days they came again and said, "Your marriage has taken place." He was very much pleased at that, and gave them abundance of wealth. And after some more days they said to him: "A son has been born to you." He was in ecstasies at that, and he gave them all his wealth, like the fool that he was, and the next day he began to lament, saying, "I am longing to see my son." And when the herdsman began to cry, he incurred the ridicule of the people on account of his having been cheated by the rogues, as if he had acquired the stupidity of cattle from having so much to do with them.

"You have heard of the herdsman; now hear the story of the ornament-hanger."

Story of the fool and the ornaments. [51]

A certain villager, while digging up the ground, found a splendid set of ornaments, which thieves had taken from the palace and placed there. He immediately took them and decorated his wife with them; he put the girdle on her head, and the necklace round her waist, and the anklets on her wrists, and the bracelets on her ears.

When the people heard of it, they laughed, and bruited it about. So the king came to hear of it, and took away from the villager the ornaments, which belonged to himself, but let the villager go unharmed, because he was as stupid as an animal.

Story of the Fool and the Cotton. [52]

I have told you, prince, of the ornament-finder, now hear the story of the cotton-grower. A certain blockhead went to the market to sell cotton, but no one would buy it from him on the ground that it was not properly cleaned. In the meanwhile he saw in the bazar a goldsmith selling gold, which he had purified by heating it, and he saw it taken by a customer. When the stupid creature saw that, he threw the cotton into the fire in order to purify it, and when it was burnt up, the people laughed at him.

"You have heard, prince, this story of the cotton-grower, now hear the story of the men who cut down the palm-trees."

Story of the Foolish Villagers who cut down the palm-trees.

Some foolish villagers were summoned by the king's officers, and set to work to gather some dates in accordance with an order from the king's court. [53] They, perceiving that it was very easy to gather the dates of one date-palm that had tumbled down of itself, cut down all the date-palms in their village. And after they had laid them low, they gathered from them their whole crop of dates, and then they raised them up and planted them again, but they did not succeed in making them grow. And then, when they brought the dates, they were not rewarded, but on the contrary punished with a fine by the king, who had heard of the cutting down of the trees. [54]

"I have told you this joke about the dates, now I am going to tell you about the looking for treasure."

Story of the Treasure-finder who was blinded.

A certain king took to himself a treasure-finder. And the wicked minister of that king had both the eyes of the man, who was able to find the places where treasure was deposited, torn out, in order that he might not run away anywhere. The consequence was that, being blind, he was incapacitated from seeing the indications of treasure in the earth, whether he ran away or remained; and people, seeing that, [55] laughed at the silly minister.

"You have heard of the searching for treasure, now hear about the eating of salt."

Story of the Fool and the Salt.

There was once on a time an impenetrably stupid man living in a village. [56] He was once taken home by a friend who lived in the city, and was regaled on curry and other food, made savoury by salt. And that blockhead asked, "What makes this food so savoury?" His friend told him that its relish was princ.i.p.ally due to salt. He came to the conclusion that salt was the proper thing to eat, so he took a handful of crushed salt and threw it into his mouth, and ate it; the powdered salt whitened the lips and beard of the foolish fellow, and so the people laughed at him till his face became white also.

"You have heard, prince, the story of the devourer of salt, now hear the story of the man who had a milch-cow."

Story of the Fool and his Milch-cow. [57]

There was once on a time a certain foolish villager, and he had one cow. And that cow gave him every day a hundred palas of milk. And once on a time it happened that a feast was approaching. So he thought; "I will take all the cow's milk at once on the feast-day, and so get very much." Accordingly the fool did not milk his cow for a whole month. And when the feast came, and he did begin to milk it, he found its milk had failed, but to the people this was an unfailing source of amus.e.m.e.nt.

"You have heard of the fool who had a milch-cow, now hear the story of these other two fools."

Story of the Foolish Bald Man and the Fool who pelted him.

There was a certain bald man with a head like a copper pot. Once on a time a young man, who, being hungry, had gathered wood-apples, as he was coming along his path, saw him sitting at the foot of a tree. In fun he hit him on the head with a wood-apple; the bald man took it patiently and said nothing to him. Then he hit his head with all the rest of the wood-apples that he had, throwing them at him one after another, and the bald man remained silent, even though the blood flowed. So the foolish young fellow had to go home hungry without his wood-apples, which he had broken to pieces in his useless and childish pastime of pelting the bald man; and the foolish bald man went home with his head streaming with blood, saying to himself; "Why should I not submit to being pelted with such delicious wood-apples?" And everybody there laughed, when they saw him with his head covered with blood, looking like the diadem with which he had been crowned king of fools.

"Thus you see, prince, that foolish persons become the objects of ridicule in the world, and do not succeed in their objects; but wise persons are honoured."

When Naravahanadatta had heard from Gomukha these elegant and amusing anecdotes, he rose up and performed his day's duties. And when night came on, the prince was anxious to hear some more stories, and at his request, Gomukha told this story about wise creatures.

Story of the Crow and the King of the Pigeons, the Tortoise and the Deer. [58]

There was in a certain forest region a great Salmali tree; and in it there lived a crow, named Laghupatin, who had made his dwelling there. One day, as he was in his nest, he saw below the tree a terrible-looking man arrive with a stick, net in hand. And while the crow looked down from the tree, he saw that the man spread out the net on the ground, and strewed there some rice, and then hid himself.