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Stories of the Adivasi

Collected by Marianne Schnapauff



 

The Fox and the Hare

Once long ago there lived a fox in a village. He was very hungry and he went into the forest looking for some fruit or vegetables to eat. But all to no avail. So he was very sad and came back home. On his way back there was a hare sleeping in the shade of a tree. The fox went close to the hare and woke him up. The hare jumped up on seeing the fox and asked him to sit down for a while. He asked him, "what can I do for you ?". So the fox replied, "Nothing much really. I've been ill for a couple of days so I haven't gone to work. There is no food at home and I'm very hungry." The hare said," Oh I'm sorry. I just ate up the last morsel of food in my house and so I was resting". Then the hare felt sorry for the fox and said, "O.K. come with me. I will take you to the landlord's banana farm. He has planted many bananas and there is no watchman there. The fruits are just falling onto the ground and being wasted". The fox was really hungry and readily agreed to follow the hare to the banana field. The Hare saw the scarecrow that was planted in the middle of the field, got frightened and shouted, "The landlord is coming, let's run". So saying the hare ran for his life. The fox took a closer look and said, "It's only a dummy, don't run brother hare". Then the fox said to himself, "it's o.k. if the hare is scared let him go. I am hungry so I will go ahead and eat by myself". The fox was really happy to see all the ripe bananas. He ate to his heart's content. After the meal he was too tired to move and decided to rest for a while in the shade of the banana plants. The fox fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up he saw all the landlord's men standing around him. All the men got together and beat him up. Then the fox thought to himself it's not enough to learn how to steal, I must also learn not to get caught.

The Pond heron and the Fox

A pond heron built her nest on a tree. She then laid her eggs in this nest. Around that time one fox came by, he was a lazy fox who wouldn't go for any work. He saw the fruits on the tree and climbed the tree to pluck the fruits. When he climbed the tree he saw the eggs. He ate all the eggs and quietly ran away. When the heron come back in the evening from work she found her eggs missing. The heron broke down and cried. The next day she laid new eggs and went for work as usual. The fox came again and ate off the eggs. This time the heron was really sad and determined to find the thief. She laid eggs again and this time didn't go for work but hid herself in the branches of the tree. Then the fox came again and the heron saw him. So she promised to take revenge. The heron asked the fox "Would you like to see the world from above". The fox tried to look intelligent and asked "How is it possible for me, you can fly but I cannot." The heron said "I'll take you with me. You just bite my tail and hold on". The fox agreed. The fox said "Let us go tomorrow" . The next day the heron set off with the fox holding on to her tail. They flew really high. Then the heron asked the fox "Are you able to see everything clearly?". The fox only said, "Mmm .....". So the heron said, "Don't just say 'Mmm......', say "Yes". The fox then opened his mouth to say "yes", lost his grip on the tail and fell down from above and died.
       This way the mother heron had her revenge. Then the heron laid new eggs and the new babies were hatched. When they grew up the mother told them the story of the fox and she told her little ones to be careful of such people.

The Lion and the Fox

One day there was a carcass of an elephant lying on the forest floor. The elephant had been dead for many months now. A fox came by one day. He was very hungry. He stumbled upon the carcass and was very happy that he had found so much meat that he could eat. The fox tried to bite off some of the meat. But it was very hard and his teeth were not strong enough. So he could not eat it. He went on ahead quite disappointed and met a lion. He ran towards the lion and fell at his feet and said "You are the true king". The lion asked what it was that he wanted. The fox said "You are the king of these forests. There is a dead elephant near here. And all the animals came together to eat the meat. I held them back saying that we must offer the meat to our king first". The lion felt very proud. He asked the fox to take him to the elephant. As soon as he reached there , the lion bit a piece off the meat and asked the fox to call everyone to come and eat. Then the lion went away. The fox very cunningly ate as much as he could and went home happily.

The Fox and the Tiger

Once there was a couple who had two girls. Everytime the girls would cry, their parents would tell them if you go on crying we'll give one of you to the fox and one to the tiger. One day the fox came passing the house and he heared the parent telling this to the girls. The fox also told this the tiger.
       One day, when the girls were a little older the fox and the tiger came to the house and said You wil give us your daughters, otherwise we'll kill you. so the parents gave them the daughters and they married them.
       One day the parents wanted to visit their daughters so they first went to the tigers house there they would only finde dead dears and cows so they became very sad and returned home without having seen the girl. The next day they went to the foxes place. There they found only her daughter she didn't have any food to offer to them, so the parents asked "why didn't you cook anythink for us?" But she answered she woud prepare something after the fox had come home. When the fox came he took a long wooden stick and beated against the house while saying some magic words. Suddenly there appeart some food on the table. The mother said "son there'll be the marriage of my niece, therefor I'll take this stick and then I can prepare food for everybody." So she took the stick and tried to prepare the food for the wedding like this. But nothing happened, because she didn't know the magic words. Then the fox came and said this words and so the food would appear. after this expereance the mother no longer wanted this magic food but would only like to prepare regular food.

A Dog and her Children

Once there lived a king in a villege. This king had a Dog. One day the Queen turned pregnant and the same day also the dog was pregnant. The king was very happy and he gave his wife fruits and milk and told her toshare it with deh dog. But the Queen felt hut by the king and kept al the food for her selve. After nine month the Queen and the dog delivered exactly at the same time but the Queen delivered little puppies and the dog delivered two girls. The Queen was angry and ran off to a river, threr she trough her puppies into the water. But the dog came and saved them.. Now the dog left and lived in the forest with the two girls and the puppies.
       Ever, when the girls would leave the house they would couver theire face with black colour. Once there came two jung princes this way and saw these butiful joung girls with the couvered faces. Both wished to see these faces in all theire grace and to see the original colours. So thei told the girls that tey were thirsty an wanted some water to drink. And the girls would offer them some. But the princes wouldn't drink this water but throu it onto the two girs and like this wash off the colour. Now they could see all their beauty and their original colour. Now they wished to marry them and decided, the elder prince would take the elder sister and the jounger prince would take the jounger one. So they took the girls to theire palaces. On her way to the palace the elder sister would cut her dress into small peaces, so that the dog-mother could finde her. And once the dog-mother came to visit her elder daughter she was very happpy and gave her a good meal of lentel. Later the mother visited also [...?]

The Fox and the Boar

A fox and a boar were good friends and lived together in the forest. One day they went to a landlord and asked him for work. The landlord gave them some work. He asked the boar to cut the grass and the fox to break stones. The fox convinced the boar into exchanging the chores. So while the boar was painfully trying to break stones, the fox fooled around and didnot do his part of the work. Meanwhile the boar was not able to break the stones. So he asked his friend the fox, "Please tell me what is the best way to break these stones?" the fox told him to hit his head against the stones, that was the easiest way to break the stones. The boar sincerely too the fox's advice and so he died.
       The fox ran to the landlord and told him that the boar died. The landlord left thefox in charge of the fields of grain and went to cut up the meat of the boar. The fox waited for sometime and then he shouted out ot the landlord that his fields had caught fire. the landlord came running to have a look. At the same time the fox ran to the boar's carcass and took off a large share of the meat and escaped.
       As the fox was going along , he saw an old lady sitting with her grazing cow. He told the old mother, " Please cook this meat for me and I'll look after your cow." The fox was very impatient and wanted to eat the meat quickly, so he kept asking the old mother ,"Is the meat ready as yet?" and every time the mother said, "No". So the exasperated fox pushed the cow into some quick sand and ran to the old mother saying," your cow has fallen into some quicksand." The mother ran out of the house to rescue her cow and the fox ran in and took of the meat. He climbed a tree and sat down to enjoy the meat.
       Just then a Tiger came walking by and he saw some bones on the ground and he looked up and saw the fox on the tree. He asked the fox what it was that he was eating. The fox was quite irritated and said, "I am just catching some of the birds that are flying overhead and eating them." So the simple tiger asked him for some of the meat. the fox gave him some. The tiger found it most delicious and he asked again. This time the fox told him he was eating the muscles of his thigh. So the tiger asked him, "But how will the wound heal then." Now the fox just wanted to get rid of the tiger and he told him, "Just take any leaf and squeeze out the juice into the wond and that should heal the wound. After sometime go and find a really hot rock and go and sit on it."
       The poor tiger did everything that the fox told him to do. He then found a hot rock and sat on it . His flesh stuck to the rock and he couldn't get up. Then a group of wild dogs came by dancing and playing the flute. The helpless tiger asked them to help him get up. The dogs helped him out [...?]

The Tiger and the Fox

One day the fox was very hungry so he went into the forest and surched for some food. After some time he met the tiger who had just caught a dear and was about to eat it. The fox told the tiger that he was very hungry too and would like to eate some of he dear. But the tiger answered :look, I don't have enough for my family so I'll have to go again and finde anouther dear to feed them. And the fox asked again :So maybe you could give me some of that meet? I am very hungry. And the tiger answered again :no, I can't give you any of the meet but I'll tell you how to catch one. You will go to the bushes and hide and wate untill one dear passes by. Then you will jump onto his neck and bite the dear to death.

The Fox

Once upon a time there was a couple who had a boychild, everytime they were eating they didn't want to share anything of there food but to have everything for them selves. The father and his son went to the forest everyday, to collect food, the mother stayed in the house.
       One day they went to the forest and while they were walking they found a fox lying in front of them. They thought, the fox would be dead, so the son said "Let us take the fox, we'll have a good meal" but the father said "no, this won't be enough for the three of us." So they went on and looked for more food. And as they went their way the fox who wasn't dead and had heard everything stood up and ran forword to lay down in front of them again, to fool them. On their way they also collectet other food to prepare it with the fox.
       Suddenly there was again a fox lying in front of them and they again thought it would be dead. The son said "let us take this fox , we can have a good meal with the two foxes." but the father answered "No, two foxes won't be enough for the tree of us, we need three." So they went on walking . After some time this would happen again but now the father said "now we have found enough for all tree of us. You go and collect the two other foxes, I'll take this one." So the son would go away to collect the other foxes. The father, who was a little blinde tried to take the fox but he couldn't see it properly so the fox could move away and eat all the things they had colected in the forest. After some time the son came back without the foxes and he also found his father without any food.

Moral: Thou shallst always share, even if you ave only little.

  







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