Wonder Tales from Tibet

by Eleanore Myers Jewett

Early in the morning Ananda (for that was the youngest daughter’s name) set forth with the goats to the hillside, resolved to be very alert and avoid all the trouble her sisters had fallen into. The weather was unusually warm and sultry, and about [[30]]noon a great sense of heaviness and sleep came upon her, so that, in spite of all her efforts, her eyes would no longer stay open. She lay down under a tree, thinking she would let herself sleep for just a few moments, but when she awoke she found, to her dismay, that the moments had lengthened into hours, the sun was nigh setting, and while she had slept one of the goats had gone astray.

“Alas!” she thought. “My father will kill me if another goat is lost! I must find it, though I hunt all night!” She began looking hurriedly everywhere, in all the pastures where the flock were wont to stray, on the neighboring hillsides and in the valleys, calling the goat by name and watching in the soft ground for the mark of his hoofs. At last, a long distance from where the others had grazed, she found the impression of the hoofs of a single goat leading away along the muddy banks of a stream. These she followed eagerly, hoping with every step to see her missing [[31]]charge in the distance. The marks led steadily on, and she followed farther and farther until at length she found herself in a strange country full of great rocks and dark-mouthed caves. The hoof marks left the bank of the stream at this point, led directly to a cave in the side of a hill, and there stopped short. The mouth of the cave was closed by a big red door, and Ananda, pushing against it, found that it opened easily, leading into a passageway dim and damp. At the end of this passage was another door which shone in the dark, making the way almost bright before it. This, she found, was of solid gold and, wondering much, she tried it and found that it, too, opened readily. Beyond was another passage, shorter than the first and lighted by the radiance of the gold door behind her. Ananda hastened to the end of it, where she found, to her astonishment, two doors, side by side, one of mother-of-pearl and the other of emerald. By this time she had quite forgotten the goat, so [[32]]filled was she with wonder and curiosity. She lost no time in pushing against the mother-of-pearl door, but, though she threw all her weight upon it, she could not make it yield an inch. So, turning with a sigh, she tried the emerald door, which opened at once; stepping across the threshold, she found herself in a large vaulted room, brilliantly lighted by lamps which swung from the ceiling. On every side were signs of luxury and wealth, soft divans, curious rich furnishings, and on the floor, in careless piles, gold coins and precious stones,—diamonds, rubies, emeralds and many others, beyond all power to count. Ananda rubbed her eyes, thinking she must still be sleeping. There appeared to be no living being in the room, so she began peering around in this corner and that, wondering more and more as she came upon one rich object after another. Suddenly she was startled by a voice quite close behind her. [[33]]

“Good day, fair damsel!” it said. “May I ask what it is you are looking for?”

Ananda wheeled around in terror, but there was no person visible behind her. Only she noticed a richly carved table in the corner with a gold cage upon it, and in the cage a beautiful snow-white bird.

She noticed a richly carved table in the corner with a golden eagle upon it. Page 33.

“Who could have been speaking?” said she to herself, still looking in every direction, and, as if in answer to her thought, the white bird moved on his golden perch and spoke again.

“Damsel, I bid you good day, and welcome to my dwelling. But pray tell me what it is you are seeking?”

Ananda stared in astonishment. “So it was you who spoke!” said she. “In truth, I hadn’t noticed you before!” And then, bethinking her of the question twice asked, and not yet answered, she continued, “I beg your pardon—I have come to seek my father’s goat which is lost. I followed his hoof marks to the door of this cave and had hoped to find him within.” [[34]]

“I can restore your goats to you,” said the bird, “that which you lost to-day, and those which your sisters lost before you.”