Then the Cat said, “While Tokkan the Devil-dancer stays there quietly, and I stay here [quietly], this one having said it through arrogance, and as I am on guard over it, I must put it out of the way.” Having said this he ate that one also.
Now then, the Hare called Tokkan the Devil-dancer ascertaining that he was eating it, began to cry in the morning.
“What, Tokkan the Devil-dancer, are you crying for?” he asked.
“I know thoroughly how to dance dances. Because there is no one to look at the dances I was sorry,” he said.
After he had said, “If so, dance a little for me to look at it,” the Hare said, “Upāsakarāla, open the doorway so that a little light may fall into the cave. Having seen my dance you must eat me also,” the Hare said.
When he moved from the door, out of the way, for a little light to fall inside, the Hare, having jumped to the four corners of the cave, springing over the head of the Cat went away.
P. B. Madahapola, Raṭēmahatmayā. North-western Province.
How the Cat performed Bell Worship. (Variant.)
In a certain country a man reared a Cat, it is said. The Cat every day goes to eat by stealth in the villages. On account of it the man one day caught the Cat, and having tied a hawk’s bell[10] on its neck, let it go.