22. THE FOX AND THE UNIVERSE.

When a man threatens a lot of people with impossible menaces, the reply often is “Don’t act like the fox ‘Lóyn’ who was carried away by the water.” A fox one day fell into a river: as he swept past the shore he cried out, “The water is carrying off the universe.” The people on the banks of the river said, “We can only see a fox whom the river is drifting down.”

23. THE FOX AND THE POMEGRANATE.

    1. Lóyn
    2. The fox
    3. danù
    4. the pomegranate
    5. né utshàtte
    6. not reached
    7. somm
    8. on account
    9. tshàmm
    10. sour,
    11. thù:
    12. spitting,
    13. tshùrko
    14. sour
    15. hanú.
    16. it is.

“The fox wanted to eat pomegranates: as he could not reach them, he went to a distance and biting his lips [as “tshàmm” was explained by an Astori although Gilgitis call it “tshappé,”] spat on the ground, saying, they are too sour.” I venture to consider the conduct of this fox more cunning than the one of “sour grapes” memory. His biting his lips and, in consequence, spitting on the ground, would make his disappointed face really look as if he had tasted something sour.

SONGS.

THE GILGIT QUEEN AND THE MOGULS.
1. GILGITI SONG.

Once upon a time a Mogul army came down and surrounded the fort of Gilgit. At that time Gilgit was governed by a woman, Mirzéy Juwāri[20] by name. She was the widow of a Rajah supposed to have been of Balti descent. The Lady seeing herself surrounded by enemies sang: