In Folk-Tales from Tibet, p. 12, a musk-deer that let a tiger out of a house was seized by it, and appealed to a tree, a buffalo cow, and a hare. The two former condemned it; the hare induced the tiger to re-enter the house, shut the door, and left it to die of starvation.
In Reynard the Fox in Southern Africa, p. 11, there is a Hottentot variant. A white man saved a snake’s life by removing a stone that had fallen on it. When it was about to bite him it agreed to obtain the opinions of some wise people. A hyæna when asked replied, “What would it matter?” A jackal when questioned about the matter refused to believe that the snake would be unable to rise when under the stone, got the man to replace the stone on it, and then told him to leave it to escape by itself. On p. 13, in a variant, application was first made to a hare and afterwards to these other animals.
I am indebted to my friend Mr. McKie, of Castletown, for an Eastern Bengal variant recently published in an Isle of Man paper. A benevolent Brāhmaṇa saved a tiger that was stuck in the mud of a tank. As the tiger was then about to eat him he appealed to a Banyan tree and an old pot, both of which condemned him. When the opinion of the jackal was asked for, it wished to see the place where the tiger was stuck fast, got the animal into its original position, and then ran off accompanied by the man. The tiger sank more deeply in the mud, and perished. A variant of this story is given in Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, p. 40, the pot being replaced by a cow, and the Brāhmaṇa by several men, who at last stoned and killed the tiger.
In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 150, the Panjāb form of the tale is given, in which the bride saved the man. In the same vol., p. 313, a leopard which was about to eat a man who had saved its life, agreed to make inquiry if this was fair. The water and tree recommended that he should be eaten, but the jackal induced the leopard to enter the man’s sack as before, and then told the man to smash its head with a stone.
Page 346. In Folk-tales of the Telugus, p. 72, the story is told of a crane and some fish, to which it stated that it was doing penance, predicted a twelve years’ drought, offered to carry them to an adjoining lake, and ate them. The crab is not introduced into this story.
In the Arabian Nights, vol. v, p. 391, no bird is mentioned. The fishes applied to the crab for advice on account of the drought, and were recommended to pray to Allah, and wait patiently. They did so, and in a few days a heavy rain refilled their pond.
Page 349, in last line of Notes. For kā, doer, read ekā, one.
Page 354. In A. von Schiefner’s Tibetan Tales, p. 344, there is a story like that in The Jātaka, the animals being an old cat that pretended to be doing penance, and five hundred mice; the cat seized the last mouse as they returned to their hole. The mouse chief exposed its false penance.
In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. ii, p. 414, the same story is given, the animals that were eaten being rats. In vol. iii, p. 139, a heron suggested that it and other birds should live together; during their absence it ate their eggs and young ones. They noticed this, and scolded and left it.
Page 358. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 23, the last incident regarding the boy and the leopard occurs with little variation.