TOLD AT THE CAMP FIRE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 16, 17 January 1913, Page 7

TOLD AT THE CAMP FIRE.

THE SNAKE, THE PROPHET, AND

THE FOX

(“S. A. Register.”)

(Related by Shoergoel, formerly sergeant in His Majesty’s 30th (Belooch) Regiment, lately camel driver for the Government Geologist, and recorded by E.C.E.G.)

A prophet was going along one day, and he saw a lire. He went over to it, and found that it was a big fire and round like a ring; and in the middle there was a big snake. 'I he snake kept calling out for help, and shouting—“l shall be burnt! I shall be burnt! Will nobody help me out of this dreadful fire?”

So the prophet got sorry for the snake, and he took his bag—a bag like a tucker bag—and put it on the end of his lance, and held it out over the ring of fire; and the snake made himself small, and crawled into the bag, and the prophet hoisted the lanca back over the fire, and lot the snake out of the bag. And the snake was glad, and said :

“I should have been burnt. You have saved me. You have done me good, so I must do you bad, and so 1 will eat you.”

But the prophet said:—“You talk like a fool, or you must be a mad snake. Because I have done you good, you must do me more good, and not bad!”

The snake answered: “You are altogether wrong, O prophet ! You do me good ,and I will do you bad. It is the way of the world. It is always so.” And the prophet said: “It is you who are wrong, and I think you must be a cranky snake. We must have a witness.” Shoergool meant an um-

pire. „ Tlie snake said, “Very well. ; You are a good man and 1 arn sorry. We will have a witness. But it will he all the same.” So they went away to-gether, the snake and the prophet, and they came to a big bare plain, and in the middle there grew a tree—a fine, big tree, with many branches and much shade. And the prophet said to the tree—- “ You are our witness This snake was in the middle of a fire. He would have been burnt. I took him out. 1 saved him. And now he says he must eat me._ I have done him good, and now he would do me bad. You are our witness.” And the tree spoke to the prophet, and said, “Yes; that is quite right. That is always the way. The snake is quite right, 0 prophet!” “But,” said the prophet, “you are a foolish tree. How can it be right for him; to do me bod when I only.did him good?” And the tree answered again, “It is always the way. Look at me. " 1 am the only tree for ever so far. Men come along this plain ,and the sun burns and bakes them. They come into my shade. They say, ‘What lovely shade! Allah, bless this tree!’ And then, when the evening comes and the day gets cool, they break branches off me—it hurts mc4and they make a fire of them an!d cook their food. And then, before’ they go away, they break moife branches off me and make walking sticks of them. Ido them good—they do me bad. It is always so in the world. So, indeed, the snake must eat you, 0 prophet!” Then the prophet said to the snake, “This tree is a fool of a tree. We must have another witness.” And the snake said, “Very well; but it will be all the same.” So they travelled on, the snake and the prohpot, through thick scrub and desolate sand hills, and at last they came to a spring of water. The prophet said to the spring: “You are our witness. I saved this snake from being burnt in a fire, and now he would eat me. I did him good—-he should do me good. You are our witness.” And the spring said: “No; you are quite wrong. Because you have done him good, therefore he must do you bad. This is the way they do things in the world—always. Look at me! The water I bubble out is beautiful, fresh, and cool. Men coine to me fainting. Out of the desert’s blinding heat they drop alongside me exhausted—dying—with no thought in their souls but—Water!—Water! —Water! They think, and drink, and drink, and life comes back to them. They are new men again, and they bow their heads and say, ‘Allah! bless this water!’ And then—what do they do? By-and-by they .wash their dirty facets in mo. They wash their dirty feet in me. They rinse out their mouths and spit in me, as though 1 were a dog. I have done them good —they do me bad. Indeed and indeed, 0 prophet, it is always so, and the snake must surely eat you.” Then the prophet tore his hair and said; “This is awful—this is terrible! The snake is mad. The tree is a fool. This spring is mad, and a i fool altogether. We must have another witness. By the'great Allah! wo must find one sane witness.” And the snake said: “Very well; we will have one more witness, but it must Ire tlie last one.” Then the snake and the prophet travelled away again, and at last

they came not far from the fire they had started from, and here they met a fox. The prophet spoke to tJm fox as he had spoken to the tree and the spring. The fox sat down and thought for a time, and then lie said: “How did yon get the snake cut of the fire?” And the prophet answered: “1 pat my bag on the end of my lance, and held it over the ring of lire, and the snake crawled in, and then 1 he sted him clear of the fire.” And the fox said: ‘Show me your bag.” And the proplmt .showed it. Then the fox got very cross, and said:— “You are both liars and sens ol

lying fathers, and your mothers were bad people too. How could a big snake like that get into a little bag like that? Go away, and tell your lies to somebody else.” Then the snake was very cross, and he shouted: “You are a moth-eaten imitation of a bad fox; and when 1 have eaten the prophet I will kill you, but I will not eat you, for you would make mo ill. But I will first show you whether I am a liar and the son of a liar. Open the bag, 0 prophet!” And the prophet opened the bag; and the snake, cursing the fox all the time, crawled into the bag, and when ho was right in the fox cried out—

“Tie the bag up tight, 0 prophet !” And the prophet tied it up. Then the fox said to the prophet: “Take off your boots, and take the bag with the snake in it, and put it back exactly where you found him; and let the fire burn him, or let some other fool take him out again.” So the prophet did what the fox told him.

And when he came back he found that the fox had gone away, and had stolen his boots.