The Story of a Gazelle · page 31 2 3201And it said ‘Mother!’202And she answered, ‘Here, my son?’203And it said, ‘Go and tell my master upstairs the gazelle is very ill.’204‘Very good, my son; and if he should ask me what is the matter, what am I to say?’205‘Tell him all my body aches badly; I have no single part without pain.’206The old woman went upstairs, and she found the mistress and master sitting on a couch of marble spread with soft cushions, and they asked her, ‘Well, old woman, what do you want?’207‘To tell the master the gazelle is ill,’ said she.208‘What is the matter?’ asked the wife.209‘All its body pains; there is no part without pain.’210‘Well, what can I do?211Make some gruel of red millet, and give to it.’212But his wife stared and said: ‘Oh, master, do you tell her to make the gazelle gruel out of red millet, which a horse would not eat?213Eh, master, that is not well.’214But he answered, ‘Oh, you are mad!215Rice is only kept for people.’216‘Eh, master, this is not like a gazelle.217It is the apple of your eye.218If sand got into that, it would trouble you.’219‘My wife, your tongue is long,’ and he left the room.220The old woman saw she had spoken vainly, and went back weeping to the gazelle.221And when the gazelle saw her it said, ‘Mother, what is it, and why do you cry?222If it be good, give me the answer; and if it be bad, give me the answer.’223But still the old woman would not speak, and the gazelle prayed her to let it know the words of the master.224At last she said: ‘I went upstairs and found the mistress and the master sitting on a couch, and he asked me what I wanted, and I told him that you, his slave, were ill.225And his wife asked what was the matter, and I told her that there was not a part of your body without pain.226And the master told me to take some red millet and make you gruel, but the mistress said, ‘Eh, master, the gazelle is the apple of your eye; you have no child, this gazelle is like your child; so this gazelle is not one to be done evil to.227This is a gazelle in form, but not a gazelle in heart; he is in all things better than a gentleman, be he who he may.’228And he answered her, ‘Silly chatterer, your words are many.229I know its price; I bought it for an eighth.230What loss will it be to me?’231The gazelle kept silence for a few moments.232Then it said, ‘The elders said, “One that does good like a mother,” and I have done him good, and I have got this that the elders said.233But go up again to the master, and tell him the gazelle is very ill, and it has not drunk the gruel of red millet.’234So the old woman returned, and found the master and the mistress drinking coffee.235And when he heard what the gazelle had said, he cried: ‘Hold your peace, old woman, and stay your feet and close your eyes, and stop your ears with wax; and if the gazelle bids you come to me, say your legs are bent, and you cannot walk; and if it begs you to listen, say your ears are stopped with wax; and if it wishes to talk, reply that your tongue has got a hook in it.’236The heart of the old woman wept as she heard such words, because she saw that when the gazelle first came to that town it was ready to sell its life to buy wealth for its master.237Then it happened to get both life and wealth, but now it had no honour with its master.238And tears sprung likewise to the eyes of the sultan’s wife, and she said, ‘I am sorry for you, my husband, that you should deal so wickedly with that gazelle’; but he only answered, ‘Old woman, pay no heed to the talk of the mistress: tell it to perish out of the way.239I cannot sleep, I cannot eat, I cannot drink, for the worry of that gazelle.240Shall a creature that I bought for an eighth trouble me from morning till night?241Not so, old woman!’242The old woman went downstairs, and there lay the gazelle, blood flowing from its nostrils.243And she took it in her arms and said, ‘My son, the good you did is lost; there remains only patience.’244And it said, ‘Mother, I shall die, for my soul is full of anger and bitterness.245My face is ashamed, that I should have done good to my master, and that he should repay me with evil.’246It paused for a moment, and then went on, ‘Mother, of the goods that are in this house, what do I eat?247I might have every day half a basinful, and would my master be any the poorer?checked by a teacher248But did not the elders say, “He that does good like a mother!”’249And it said, ‘Go and tell my master that the gazelle is nearer death than life.’250So she went, and spoke as the gazelle had bidden her; but he answered, ‘I have told you to trouble me no more.’251But his wife’s heart was sore, and she said to him: ‘Ah, master, what has the gazelle done to you?252How has he failed you?253The things you do to him are not good, and you will draw on yourself the hatred of the people.254For this gazelle is loved by all, by small and great, by women and men.255Ah, my husband!256I thought you had great wisdom, and you have not even a little!’257But he answered, ‘You are mad, my wife.’258The old woman stayed no longer, and went back to the gazelle, followed secretly by the mistress, who called a maidservant and bade her take some milk and rice and cook it for the gazelle.259‘Take also this cloth,’ she said, ‘to cover it with, and this pillow for its head.260And if the gazelle wants more, let it ask me, and not its master.261And if it will, I will send it in a litter to my father, and he will nurse it till it is well.’262And the maidservant did as her mistress bade her, and said what her mistress had told her to say, but the gazelle made no answer, but turned over on its side and died quietly.263When the news spread abroad, there was much weeping among the people, and Sultan Darai arose in wrath, and cried, ‘You weep for that gazelle as if you wept for me!264And, after all, what is it but a gazelle, that I bought for an eighth?’265But his wife answered, ‘Master, we looked upon that gazelle as we looked upon you.266It was the gazelle who came to ask me of my father, it was the gazelle who brought me from my father, and I was given in charge to the gazelle by my father.’267And when the people heard her they lifted up their voices and spoke:268‘We never saw you, we saw the gazelle.269It was the gazelle who met with trouble here, it was the gazelle who met with rest here.270So, then, when such an one departs from this world we weep for ourselves, we do not weep for the gazelle.’271And they said furthermore:272‘The gazelle did you much good, and if anyone says he could have done more for you he is a liar!273Therefore, to us who have done you no good, what treatment will you give?274The gazelle has died from bitterness of soul, and you ordered your slaves to throw it into the well.275Ah! leave us alone that we may weep.’276But Sultan Darai would not heed their words, and the dead gazelle was thrown into the well.277When the mistress heard of it, she sent three slaves, mounted on donkeys, with a letter to her father the sultan, and when the sultan had read the letter he bowed his head and wept, like a man who had lost his mother.278And he commanded horses to be saddled, and called the governor and the judges and all the rich men, and said:279‘Come now with me; let us go and bury it.’280Night and day they travelled, till the sultan came to the well where the gazelle had been thrown.281And it was a large well, built round a rock, with room for many people; and the sultan entered, and the judges and the rich men followed him.282And when he saw the gazelle lying there he wept afresh, and took it in his arms and carried it away.283When the three slaves went and told their mistress what the sultan had done, and how all the people were weeping, she answered:284‘I too have eaten no food, neither have I drunk water, since the day the gazelle died.285I have not spoken, and I have not laughed.’286The sultan took the gazelle and buried it, and ordered the people to wear mourning for it, so there was great mourning throughout the city.287Now after the days of mourning were at an end, the wife was sleeping at her husband’s side, and in her sleep she dreamed that she was once more in her father’s house, and when she woke up it was no dream.288And the man dreamed that he was on the dust-heap, scratching.289And when he woke, behold! that also was no dream, but the truth.290(Swahili Tales.)1 2 3← previousThe Two Frogsnext →How a Fish Swam in the Air and a Hare in the Water.↑ back to The Violet Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/15/page/3/