Himalayan Times (1951)

Six $«n«iafian fc** Juno 10, 19

19

TALES FROM THE SACRED BOOKS The Monkeys And The Moon.

OF TIBET. I" long Past times there lived a band

( Collected from Mr. Ralston's English trans- of monkeys in a forest. As they rumbled

lation of flerr. F. A. Von Schiefner's German about they saw the reflection of the

Edition of the Tibetan Kangyur. ) moon in a well and the leader of the

The Jackal In The Elephant's Footprints, band said : " 0 frjends the moou has

, , , * fallen into the well. Ihe world is i,ow

. An elephant came long ago to the without & mo(m> Ought not we to draw

Himalayas to drink water. In the track ^ ^

followed a jackal, which saw the elephant's * , . ^

footprints and began to measure its own / The monkeys said, ' Good; we will

stride with them. draw '* out- ,So th,ey be8an to ho,d

™, f . counsel as to how they were to draw

itself,

"These footprints are mine" it said 1 ifc out> gome of them ^ t«Do nQt

you know?. The monkeys must form a
Then springng forward it set its chain and so draw the 'moon out"
foot in one of the footprints and tri- go th formed a chain> tfae firgt

Ff /n!iaM piece monkey han§ing on to the branch of

( kanriakillaka ) a ^ and second to lhe first monkey'.s

A deity uttered this verse:— tail and a third one in its turn to the

In a word, 0 Fool, thy footprints tail of the second one.
and those of the elephant are not alike. When in this way they were all

Give up this useless attempt. Thou wilt hanging on to one another, 'the branch

only derive weariness therefrom". began to bend a good deal. The water

The Crow With The Golden Cap. became troubled, the Election of the
Tl , , , . moon disappeared, the branch broke and

It happened long ago that a crow a]1 the m^keys fe„ into the Tell and

uttered agreeable somas in the presence were disagreeabi dftmaged.
oi a woman whose husband had under- °
taken a long journey. A diety ottered this verse:- When

rp, ., ttTT~ ,, ~ vou have a foolish leader, they all go

The woman said, "HO there,0 crow! ;o rujn ]jke tne monk ' whoJ wanted

if my husband returns home safe and to df&w the mQon /rQm the vvell.
sound, 1 will give you a golden cap.' r

After a time her husband returned
home safe and sound when the crow
appeared before her with an eye to the
golden cap, and uttered agreeable sounds.
She gave it a golden cap.

The ciow put it on, and fled
hither and thither. But on account of the
golden cap a falcon tore off the crow's
ht-ad.

A deity uttered this verse - "A
possession, which has no necessity cause,
will be taken away. The gold on the
crow's head was looked after by a robber"

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at Hotel Hill V ew, Phone Kalimpong 00.