Reading Notes: Tibetan Folk Tales (Part B)

(Tibetan Folk Tales)

How the Rabbit Killed the Lion: 

• One day when the lion was the king, a rabbit did not want to kowtow to him so he stayed in his bed of grass
• The king lion came to him and was angry that the rabbit did not kowtow to him 
• The rabbit lied and said he was unable to come because he was scared by a she-devil he encountered 
• The rabbit told the lion that the she-devil was looking for the lion and wanted him to get into the water where she is and fight her 
• The rabbit lead the lion to the stream where he jumped in to fight the she-devil and drowned

The Story of the Three Hunters: 

• There lived three hunters who were brothers and who were all married and their sister lived with them as well 
• One day they went out to hunt and got a deer 
• They brought it home and ate it and once they had their fill they gave the leg bone to their sister 
• This made all of the wives angry and they plotted to kill the sister
• When the brothers went on a hunt they decided now was the time 
• The wife of the youngest brother did not agree and refused to help but the other two killed the sister anyway 
• On their way home from hunting the brothers saw a little bird that kept singing. They told to bird to hop into their hands if it was their sister 
• When the bird did this, they knew their sister was dead
• They returned home but said nothing until the youngest wife told them of what the others did to their sister 
• They killed the other two and shared the youngest wife between the three of them 

How the Raven Saved the Hunter: 

• There once was a poor man who made him money hunting 
• He went out to hunt one day and caught nothing 
• He stopped to drink from a stream but as he went to sip a raven flew down and knocked the drink from his hands 
• He went to drink again but the raven did the same thing again 
• The hunter decided to shoot and eat the raven so he shot it dead and then wandered up the stream to see where the water was coming from 
• He saw that there was a great snake along the bank of the stream and many Skeletons of birds and animals that had been drinking the water 
• He was upset because he killed the raven who saved his life 

The Golden Squash: 

• There were two old men living in the mountains 
• One was very nice and the other wanted to be wealthy 
• The nice man found a crippled bird in his garden and cared for it until it was healthy and flew away 
• The bird returned with a seed and told the nice man to plant it and a fine squash would grow 
• It grew very big and he had 5 men help bring it into his home
• As he peeled the skin he realized it was solid gold underneath 
• He became very rich and gave much of his money to the poor 
• The other old man wanted to be rich as well so he shot a bride's leg and pretended to care for the bird until it was healthy 
• The bird returned with a seed and the man thought he would be rich now too 
• As soon as it grew he cut it open and a man from the lower region jumped out and killed him 

The Man with Five Friends:

• A man told his son that when we were married to never trust his wife with secrets until they have 10 children to always choose by their eye color
• The man said if he is funded these two things he will be happy and never get into trouble
• After his father died he married and made many friends
• One of his friends had blue eyes, one yellow eye, another brown eye, another with black eyes
• He didn't tell his wife his secrets until after his first son was born
• He told his wife when his father said but told her he trusted her anyway
• One night he stopped at a man's place and bought a hog
• He killed the hog and put the hog in his trousers and threw it over his back and carried home
• When he got home he told his wife to land him in quickly and said that he killed a man and suggested they put him in the pond
• She helped entire rocks to the trousers and sinking into the water. He told her she must never tell anybody
• One day when he fought with his wife she threatened to tell be official but The man he killed and she did
• An officer arrested him to put him in chains until it was time for his beheading
• The man told his five friends and four of them said they could not help in left
• A friend told the officials that if they would spare him he would give him the man's weight silver
• A man told The official of his father told him and now he tested it any official said he was very wise and gave him any presents

How the Scared Duck Got His Yellow Breast: 

• There were a frog and rabbit tour playing around when the frog found a beautiful golden pot
• The rabbit said he thought first
• They fought over the pot until the rabbit suggested they go to the go to the mountain and race back to the top and whoever was first gets to keep the pot
• Defrost knew he couldn't possibly win that kind grace so he thought of the scheme and found it to friends exactly like himself in every way
• One he took to the top of the mountain and put it in the pot, the other he placed halfway down the mountain, and he himself at the base
• The next morning and the rabbit came they were ready to start the race
• The rabbit took off running but on reaching the summit saw the frog in the pot
• The frog did not how to get the big pot done Mountain and as he thought about it, a duck flew overhead when asked about his trouble 
• The duck offered to take the pot on the mountain if the frog gave him half of the Gold
• The frog agreed and the duck carried it down for him
• The duck smeared his half of the Golden his breast and that is how he got his beautiful golden breast

The Two Little Cats: 

• Two little cats searched for some salt to put in their tea and as they walked along they met a Handre
• They ran from it until I came across a CAL who offered to protect them
• Send a met a dog who also offered to protect them
• Next, they met a crow who offered to help them as well
• They also met a painful of ashes who offered his help as well
• Medicine Inc. who offered to help
• As they walked along they found a little bowl of hard black peas. The bowl offered to help protect them as well
• They all helped the two cats kill the Handre 

How the Wolf, the Fox, and the Rabbit Committed a Crime: 

• A Wolf, a fox, and a rabbit were walking along the road together when they met a wizard carrying a bag
• The rabbit told the rest of them to try and catch him when he puts his things down and get them
• The animals took the wizard bag and opened it to see what was in it
• Inside they found a pair boot and they decided the wall should take the heavy boots
• They also found a cymbal and they decided the fox should have it
• The wolf put on the boots and hunted a sheet but the boots were so heavy he fell on the ice and could not get up and the shepherd found him and killed him
• The Fox and the bell and went to his children ringing it but it scared them all to death
• The rabbit got all the bread from the bag and ate up the idol tsamba 

A Rabbit Story: 

• There were two families, one compose the old mother bear and her son, the other of an old mother rabbit and her son
• The mothers went out to dig for roots and the mother bear was so mad that she could not dig like the rabbit so she killed the mother rabbit and took the body and the roots home 
• The little rabbit waited and did not understand why his mother did not return
• He saw that the bear had his mother’s body so he plotted revenge 
• One day the little rabbit shot and killed the little bear and took back his other’s sack and roots 
• He went to a tiger and asked for a place to hide from the mother bear 
• The tiger did not tell the mother bear about the little rabbit hiding near him 
• They decided to eat the tiger’s eyeballs and the little rabbit agreed to take care of the tiger since he hid him 
• He led the now blind tiger off a cliff 
• He then went to a shepherd and told him of a dead tiger body to cut up 
• He then went to the wolf and told him the Shepard was gone so he could kill the sheep 
• The rabbit knew he did much harm so he ran away to live somewhere far

The Man and the Monkeys: 

• A traveling man found the garden of Eden and decided to stay so he did not have to work anymore 
• He decided to take a nap and when he was sleeping he tumbled over into the lake 
• A monkey who saw him fall into the water helped him out of the water 
• He decided to try and sleep somewhere else but they monkeys were too loud so when they fell asleep he shook them all out of the trees and killed them 
• He started to bring his family to the garden but the monkey god was mad and turned him into a snake and he killed and ate his entire family. 

Story Source: Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton with illustrations by Mildred Bryant (1925).