THE STORY OF UNG.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9720, 16 January 1895, Page 3

THE STORY OF UNG.

Once on the glittering ice-field, thousand* of years ago, Unp, a maker of pictures, fashioned an image of snow. Fashioned the form of a tribesman. Gaily ha whistled and sung, Working the snow with his fineers. Read ye tho story of dig. Pleased was his tribo with the image; came in their hundreds to scan— Handled it, smelt it, and grunted: "Verily, tHis is a man! ■ . • ■ , x Thus do we carry our lances; thus is a war-belt slung. ~ x „ Lo 1 it Is oven as we are. Glory and honour to Ung.' Later, ho jdctured an Aurochs—later, he pictured a boar- ' . Pictured the Sabre-tooth tiger dragging a man to his lair— . Pictured the mountainous Mammoth, hairy, abhorrent, alone- ' ' . Out of the love that he bore them, scribing them clearly on bone. Swift came the tribo to behold them, pushing and ■ peering and still Men of the berg-battered beaches, men of the boulder-hatched hill- ... Hunters and fishers and trappers, presently whisporing low : '. . , " Yea', they are like-and it may be ; but how does ' the Pictureman know "Uftg—has he slept with the Aurochs—watched where the Mastodons roam ? Spoke on the ice with tho Bowhead—followed the Sabre-tooth homo? Bah! these are toys of his fancy If he have cheated us so, ' How is there truth in his image—the man that he fashioned of snow ?" Wroth was that maker of pictures. Hotly lie answered the call : " Hunters and fishers and trappers, children and fools are ye all ! Look at tho beasts when ye hunt them! Swift from the tumult he broke. Ran to the cave of his father, and told him the shame that they spoke. • « * * *

Anil the father of Ung gave answer, that was old and wise in the craft, Maker of pictures aforetime, he leaned on hii lance and laughed. "If they could see as thou seest, they would do what thou hast done, And each m;m would make him a picture, and— what would become of my Bon':' "There would be no pelts of the reindeer flung down at thy feet for a gift, Nor dole of the oily timber that comes on the Baltic

drift, No'Htoio of well-drilled needles, nor ouches of amber pale. No new-cut tongues of the bison, nor meat of the

.stranded whale. "Thou hast not toiled at thss fishing when the

sodden trammels freeze, ~ Nor rowed the war-boats outward,, through the rush of tho rock-staked seas'; . ■ Yofc they bring thee flsh and plunder—full meal anil an easy bed— , . „ And all for the sake of thy pictures." And Ung held down his he id. " Thou hast not stood to the Aurochs when the red

snow reeks of the fightMen have no time at the houghing to count his

curls aright. :■ ' And the heart of the hairy mammoth thou sayest

they do nob see, . Yet they save it whole from the beache», and boil the best for thee. "And now do they press to thy pictures, with opened mouth ana eye, ... And a little gift in the doorway, and the praise no . gift can buy; ~».'.* . ~, , But, sure, they have doubted the pictures, and that is a burning stain— ' Son that can see so clearly, return them their gifts

again." And Ung looked down at bis deerskins—their broad gut-tasselled bands— _ . And Ung drew downward his mittens, and looked at his naked hands ; •....,, And he gloved himself and departed, and he heard his father behind : . J "Son that can sou so clearly rejoice that thy tribe is blind !" • Straight on the glittering ice-field, by the caves of . the lost Dordogne, Ung, a maker of pictures, went to his scribing on bone, „,... ..I u j j Even to mammoth editions. Gaily he whistled and

Blessing' the tribe for their blindness. Heed ye the story of Ung. „ _ JBUDYARD KIPLING.