The Nunda, Eater of People · page 21 2 3101You cannot get rid of me.’102‘I did not eat your dates,’ persisted the bird, ‘and the day is dawning.103Leave me to go my way.’104But again the boy answered him: ‘My six brothers are hateful to my father because you came and stole the dates, and to-day my father shall see you, and my brothers shall see you, and all the people of the town, great and small, shall see you.105And my father’s heart will rejoice.’106‘Well, if you will not leave me, I will throw you off,’ said the bird.107So it flew up higher still--so high that the earth shone like one of the other stars.108‘How much of you will be left if you fall from here?’ asked the bird.109‘If I die, I die,’ said the boy, ‘but I will not leave you.’110And the bird saw it was no use talking, and went down to the earth again.111‘Here you are at home, so let me go my way,’ it begged once more; ‘or at least make a covenant with me.’112‘What covenant?’ said the boy.113‘Save me from the sun,’ replied the bird, ‘and I will save you from rain.’114‘How can you do that, and how can I tell if I can trust you?’115‘Pull a feather from my tail, and put it in the fire, and if you want me I will come to you, wherever I am.’116And the boy answered, ‘Well, I agree; go your way.’117‘Farewell, my friend.118When you call me, if it is from the depths of the sea, I will come.’119The lad watched the bird out of sight; then he went straight to the date tree.120And when he saw the dates his heart was glad, and his body felt stronger and his eyes brighter than before.121And he laughed out loud with joy, and said to himself, ‘This is MY luck, mine, Sit-in-the-kitchen!checked by a teacher122Farewell, date tree, I am going to lie down.123What ate you will eat you no more.’124The sun was high in the sky before the head-man, whose business it was, came to look at the date tree, expecting to find it stripped of all its fruit, but when he saw the dates so thick that they almost hid the leaves he ran back to his house, and beat a big drum till everybody came running, and even the little children wanted to know what had happened.125‘What is it?126What is it, head-man?’ cried they.127‘Ah, it is not a son that the master has, but a lion!128This day Sit-in-the-kitchen has uncovered his face before his father!’129‘But how, head-man?’130‘To day the people may eat the dates.’131‘Is it true, head-man?’132‘Oh yes, it is true, but let him sleep till each man has brought forth a present.133He who has fowls, let him take fowls; he who has a goat, let him take a goat; he who has rice, let him take rice.’134And the people did as he had said.135Then they took the drum, and went to the tree where the boy lay sleeping.checked by a teacher136And they picked him up, and carried him away, with horns and clarionets and drums, with clappings of hands and shrieks of joy, straight to his father’s house.137When his father heard the noise and saw the baskets made of green leaves, brimming over with dates, and his son borne high on the necks of slaves, his heart leaped, and he said to himself ‘To-day at last I shall eat dates.’138And he called his wife to see what her son had done, and ordered his soldiers to take the boy and bring him to his father.139‘What news, my son?’ said he.140‘News?141I have no news, except that if you will open your mouth you shall see what dates taste like.’142And he plucked a date, and put it into his father’s mouth.143‘Ah!144You are indeed my son,’ cried the sultan.145‘You do not take after those fools, those good-for-nothings.146But, tell me, what did you do with the bird, for it was you, and you only who watched for it?’147‘Yes, it was I who watched for it and who saw it.148And it will not come again, neither for its life, nor for your life, nor for the lives of your children.’149‘Oh, once I had six sons, and now I have only one.150It is you, whom I called a fool, who have given me the dates: as for the others, I want none of them.’151But his wife rose up and went to him, and said, ‘Master, do not, I pray you, reject them,’ and she entreated long, till the sultan granted her prayer, for she loved the six elder ones more than her last one.152So they all lived quietly at home, till the sultan’s cat went and caught a calf.153And the owner of the calf went and told the sultan, but he answered, ‘The cat is mine, and the calf mine,’ and the man dared not complain further.154Two days after, the cat caught a cow, and the sultan was told, ‘Master, the cat has caught a cow,’ but he only said, ‘It was my cow and my cat.’155And the cat waited a few days, and then it caught a donkey, and they told the sultan, ‘Master, the cat has caught a donkey,’ and he said, ‘My cat and my donkey.’156Next it was a horse, and after that a camel, and when the sultan was told he said, ‘You don’t like this cat, and want me to kill it.157And I shall not kill it.158Let it eat the camel: let it even eat a man.’159And it waited till the next day, and caught some one’s child.160And the sultan was told, ‘The cat has caught a child.’161And he said, ‘The cat is mine and the child mine.’162Then it caught a grown-up man.163After that the cat left the town and took up its abode in a thicket near the road.164So if any one passed, going for water, it devoured him.165If it saw a cow going to feed, it devoured him.166If it saw a goat, it devoured him.167Whatever went along that road the cat caught and ate.168Then the people went to the sultan in a body, and told him of all the misdeeds of that cat.169But he answered as before, ‘The cat is mine and the people are mine.’170And no man dared kill the cat, which grew bolder and bolder, and at last came into the town to look for its prey.171One day, the sultan said to his six sons, ‘I am going into the country, to see how the wheat is growing, and you shall come with me.’172They went on merrily along the road, till they came to a thicket, when out sprang the cat, and killed three of the sons.173‘The cat!174The cat!’ shrieked the soldiers who were with him.175And this time the sultan said:176‘Seek for it and kill it.177It is no longer a cat, but a demon!’178And the soldiers answered him, ‘Did we not tell you, master, what the cat was doing, and did you not say, “My cat and my people”?’179And he answered: ‘True, I said it.’180Now the youngest son had not gone with the rest, but had stayed at home with his mother; and when he heard that his brothers had been killed by the cat he said, ‘Let me go, that it may slay me also.’181His mother entreated him not to leave her, but he would not listen, and he took his sword and a spear and some rice cakes, and went after the cat, which by this time had run of to a great distance.182The lad spent many days hunting the cat, which now bore the name of ‘The Nunda, eater of people,’ but though he killed many wild animals he saw no trace of the enemy he was hunting for.183There was no beast, however fierce, that he was afraid of, till at last his father and mother begged him to give up the chase after the Nunda.184But he answered: ‘What I have said, I cannot take back.185If I am to die, then I die, but every day I must go and seek for the Nunda.’186And again his father offered him what he would, even the crown itself, but the boy would hear nothing, and went on his way.187Many times his slaves came and told him, ‘We have seen footprints, and to-day we shall behold the Nunda.’188But the footprints never turned out to be those of the Nunda.189They wandered far through deserts and through forests, and at length came to the foot of a great hill.190And something in the boy’s soul whispered that here was the end of all their seeking, and to-day they would find the Nunda.191But before they began to climb the mountain the boy ordered his slaves to cook some rice, and they rubbed the stick to make a fire, and when the fire was kindled they cooked the rice and ate it.192Then they began their climb.193Suddenly, when they had almost reached the top, a slave who was on in front cried:194‘Master!195Master!’196And the boy pushed on to where the slave stood, and the slave said:197‘Cast your eyes down to the foot of the mountain.’198And the boy looked, and his soul told him it was the Nunda.199And he crept down with his spear in his hand, and then he stopped and gazed below him.200‘This MUST be the real Nunda,’ thought he.1 2 3← previousThe History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 3next →The Story of Hassebu↑ back to The Violet Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/29/page/2/