The clever little hedgehog

Once upon a time, a Wolf, a Fox, and a Hedgehog lived together on the rolling steppes of Mongolia. One day, a long caravan of camels bearing all manner of goods from faraway lands passed near their home. When the dust raised by the caravan had settled, the three firends discovered a little plum that had fallen from one of the many sacks.

The animals had heard about plums, but none had ever seen one, let alone tasted one. They began to discuss which of them should have the priviledge of eating this exotic fruit: there was only enough for one.

After a long debate, the friends finally agreed to a contest. It was the Wolf who had the idea:

“I know!” he cried. “I think the one who gets drunk on airak the quickest should have the pleasure of eating this plum!”

Thinking, of course, that he would win, the Wolf continued:

“As for me, I get drunk after just one sip of airak!”

“The Fox was next to speak, and knowing that he was much smarter than the Wolf, he said: “That’s nothing! I get drunk just by smelling airak!”

The last to speak was the Hedgehog, whom the others looked down upon because he was so small. He told his friends:

“Well, its very said for me, but I get drunk just by hearing about airak!”

And with that, the Hedgehog swayed as if he were drunk.

The other animals had to admit that this clearly made the Hedgehog the winner. But before the Hedgehog could open his mouth to eat his prize, the envious Fox shouted:

“Wait! I have another idea. We need a second contest. I think that the one of us who runs the fastest should get to eat the plum!”

They all agreed to this second match, and prepared themselves for the race. The Hedgehog, who knew he stood no chance of winning because of his short legs, had already thought of a trick.

As the Wolf and the Fox took off in a cloud of dust, the Hedgehog caught hold of the fluffy tail of the Fox, and held on tight.

Just before the speedy Fox crossed the finish line, he stopped and looked back to check where the others were. At that moment, the little Hedgehog dropped off his tail, scurried under his belly, and from the winning side of the finish line called out:

“Well, hello there Mr. Fox! Hello Mr. Wolf! I see you’ve finally arrived! What took you so long?”

This is how the Hedgehog also won the second contest.

As the Wolf and the Fox looked on enviously, the clever little Hedgehog gobbled up the plum.

And a plum never tasted better.

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The Khulan and the crow and the wolf

In times long ago, a khulan – that is a Mongolian wild ass –, a crow and a wolf lived together as brothers. One day they went in search of a new place to live and the crow said: “There is this place where every one of us would find plenty to eat. But there lives a skilled hunter with his bow and his traps. The traps would be a danger for us.”

little khulan all relaxed

The wolf thought: “If the khulan would happen to get caught in one of the hunter’s traps, I could eat as much as I want.” So he said out loud: “Let’s move to this beautiful place and live there. Or are you afraid of one hunter?”

Therefore the three friends moved to that place and for a while they lived there in peace. But one day the khulan got caught in a trap. As soon as the wolf heard about it, he hurried to get to the trapped animal before the crow would find him. When he arrived there, the wolf asked the khulan: “How did this happen?”

“How did I got caught in this trap? I don’t really know. I was just walking along when I suddenly fell into it,” the khulan answered, “How will I get out of it again?”

The wolf told him: “Jump up and down! You will surely be able to free yourself that way!” And with that the wolf left the khulan alone. He thought it would be better to wait a bit longer before eating the khulan and so he hid himself behind a bush.

But just then the crow came flying along and when she saw the khulan she asked her friend: “Why are you jumping up and down like that?”

“Why do I do it? I got caught in one of the hunter’s traps and the wolf came along and said: ‘Jump up and down and you will be free soon!’ That’s why I jump like this. But now my legs are hurting and I’m very tired,” the khulan said.

The crow gave him the following piece of advise: “Stop jumping up and down. You will break your legs and then you will probably die soon. You mustn’t move at all! Play dead! When the hunter believes that you’re dead already, he will set you free. And when he does, then you can flee. But you will have to run as fast as you can.” The khulan nodded and did what the crow had told him.

The crow flew up into the air, ever higher, and started circling above the ger of the hunter croaking to draw his attention. The experienced hunter thought: “Oh, an animal must have gotten caught in my trap.” And so he took his bow and his quiver and went to take a look.

In the meanwhile the wolf thought: “That annoying crow has come and opened the khulan’s eyes.” He got up to get back to the still trapped khulan when he caught sight of the approaching hunter. “Now the time has come to fill my belly,” the wolf said to himself and crouched behind the bush again.

When the hunter saw that it was a khulan who he had caught, he was very happy. And since he believed that the animal was dead, he set him free. Then he sat down to smoke his pipe. At this moment the khulan jumped up and ran away as fast as he could. The hunter shot many arrows after him. But because the khulan had run into the direction of the bush behind which the wolf hid himself, the arrows didn’t hit the khulan but the wolf who died when one of them hit him fatally at the head.

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The Dumb wolf

Once upon a time a wolf was wandering about when he saw a black pudding lying right in his path. The wolf wanted to eat it at once but the black pudding asked: “Mister Wolf, do not eat me! A little further ahead a three-year old mare is stuck in the mud. Why don’t you go there and eat her instead?”

hunting a wolf the early modern European way

The wolf followed the black pudding’s advice and there really was a mare stuck in the mud. When the wolf saw her, he wanted to eat her but the mare said: “Mister Wolf, if you want to eat me, you’d better pull me from the mud first.” So that was what the wolf did.

He pulled the mare from the mud and was just about to eat her, when the mare said: “Oh, but I am covered in mud. You should lick me clean first before you eat me.” Once again the wolf did as the mare told him and licked her clean.

But when he wanted to eat her, she said: “There is something written on the hoof of my hind leg. Wouldn’t you like to read it before you eat me?” When the wolf went to her hind legs to read what was written there, the mare kicked out. She hit his neck and ran away. The wolf, though, lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

When he came to again and looked about, the mare was already far away. So he got to his feet and with his nose sniffing at the ground he ran to and fro between the bushes and the hills. He could scarcely believe his luck when found a one year old calf on one of the hills.

The wolf went to the calf wanting to eat it but the calf said: “If you eat me up here on the hill, the humans will see you. It would be better if you’d bring me to a small gorge and eat me there!” When the wolf made to do as the calf had said, the little calf said: “Mister Wolf, you seem to be tired and exhausted. Sit on me and I will carry you!” And so the wolf climbed on top of the little calf and let himself be carried.

“When we climb down into the gorge, you’d better close your eyes so you won’t get dizzy,” the calf suggested. And so the wolf closed his eyes. The calf, though, carried the wolf right in front of the ail, an assembly of ger, of a family of Mongolian nomads. Screaming and shouting, the people beat the wolf up and then chased him away.

The wolf fled and thought to himself:
“What am I doing in the distant mountains?
What am I doing near the humans?
I was a fool going along this way.
I was a block head to be tricked by a black pudding.
Am I the owner that I pulled the horse from the mud?
Am I the mother to lick the mare clean?
When did I even learn to read and write?
Do I not have legs of my own to walk with?
I am dumb and now I am dying…”

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Two good horses

In times long past, two horses that had been sold to a place far away longed for home. But while they were on their way home, one of the horses had grown old and then one day it stayed behind as it could not go any further.

...and so the young horse walked on alone

“Now, little brother, be good and always follow the road. Your aged, older brother is going to die. Little brother, do not wander off the road. Do not approach things that you can only dimly see. Do not untie a bundle’s opening.” In this way the old horse instructed his brother and then it fell behind.

The young horse slowly and hesitantly continued on its way. But then it saw the shape of something it could only dimly see, it is told. The horse wanted to explore the mysterious thing and ran impatiently towards the shape. It turned out to be a bundle and whatever was inside it, made it move about. “Whatever that may be,” thought the young horse. It could not wait any longer and untied the opening at once. Immediately, a big, hungry, brown wolf jumped out.

“What sort of horse are you that you untied my bundle. When I captured sheep from a rich ail and ate them, the owner hunted me down on his fast horse – one just like you – caught me and put me into this bundle. Now I will eat you!” said the wolf. But as he was about to do as he had said, a hare came along and when it saw the two of them, it asked:

“What sort of horse and wolf are the two of you?” After the two of them had truthfully recounted what had happened, the hare contemplated a way to save the horse’s life. Finally, the hare said:

“But no, Mister Wolf! You are such a handsome, tall man. It must surely be a lie that you came out of this tiny bundle. But if it is true after all, then I will offer myself to you along with the horse.”

The wolf answered: “It is true. I was inside that bundle.”

But the hare was not convinced. “Honored Wolf, how would you have ever fit? Ich cannot believe it until I have seen it with my own eyes.”

And because the wolf was so eager to eat both the horse and the hare, he did not hesitate but to crawl back into the bundle until only his head was still visible.

“See, your head does not fit into the bundle!” cried the hare. The wolf hurried to pull his head inside the bundle. The hare, though, rushed to tie the opening closed again.

And this is how the horse was saved by the grace of the clever if small hare and it lived well and happy, so people say.

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The Cat Who Pretended To Be A Lama

A long time ago there was a lama, a Buddhist monk, who spent his time in deep meditation. Next to him there lay a cat. One day the cat stole the lama’s snuff bottle and the lama went after the cat and got his snuff bottle back. Then another time the cat stole the lama’s rosary and hid in a hole. When the lama grabbed the cat by the tail, the tail suddenly got torn off.

not a Mongolian snuff-bottle but close enough

The cat went away and came upon a place where many mice lived. There she made herself comfortable and put the rosary around her neck. One day some mice came along the way and circled the cat warily. So the cat said: “Don’t be afraid of me! I’m one of those lama cats. Let me teach you the holy doctrine saying not to kill another living being. Come! Come here!” So the mice went to the cat and let her teach them. After a few days had passed Khuchin tuct, the khaan of the mice, told them: “Oh, it seems as if our teacher is eating us. In her excrements there are traces of bone and hair. Go back home and get a bell.” He sent a few mice to carry out his request.
The mice went home and came back with a bell. They said to the cat: “Teacher, please accept this jewellery from us!” And they put the bell around her neck. Khuchin tuct told his mice: “After today’s lesson will be over, we will exit one after another. If the bell should ring, we’ll turn around and hurry back.”
So when the lesson was finished, the mice went out together when suddenly they heard the bell ringing. The mice hurried back, and there the cat had caught one of the mice and was just about to eat it. Kuchin tuct said mournfully: “We believed the lies of our false, hypocritical teacher and so we lost several of our brothers and sisters.” And so the mice moved to another place.
The cat thought remorsefully: “If I had hidden my excrements, who would have ever found out about me?” And since then, it is told, cats hide their excrements by burying them.

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The Bear

A poor cooper*was on a search for a tree fitting to make it into rings for a barrel. When he came to an island in the lake, he saw a red willow. This one, he wanted to make into rings. But when he approached the willow to cut it down, it said to him: “Don’t chop me down, please! I will give you everything that you want.”
And it kept its word – soon the cooper became wealthy. Even rich, people say. After a little while had passed, he went to the red willow again and said: “Please make me the khaan.” And so the willow made the cooper the khaan. But after he had thus become khaan, the cooper and his khatan – his wife, the queen – got into a box wagon, took a great number of soldiers with them and went to chop down the red willow.

not a Buryat khaan but a Chinese emporor but look at the waggon

But as the soldiers raised their axes to fell the willow, as they had been ordered to, the willow spoke to them: “Look at the khaan and the khatan!” When the soldiers turned around, they saw that the khaan and his khatan had become bears and were fleeing into the wood. All of the soldiers feared them very much and ran off without even touching the red willow.
This is the reason, so the Buryat people tell us, that the bear had been khaan in earlier time. And when you meet a bear in the steppes, you just tell him: “Dear khaan, please be kind-hearted!” and he will toddle off. Or so they say.

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The Tale of the Khaan and the Badarcin

 

Once upon a time there lived a khaan, that is, the Mongolian equivalent to a king. On one very normal day, he suddenly announced: “I will leave my throne to the man telling a lie which makes a sitting man stand up and a sleeping man wake up.”
A tailor heard this and came before the khaan to become khaan in his stead. “Dear khaan, dear khaan! In the heavy rain of the day before last, the edges of heaven got torn and I went and sewed them up again using the tendons of a louse,” he lied. Happy with himself he thought: “Now I have surely told a lie which will make a sitting man stand up and wake up a sleeping one.”
But the khaan said: “Bah, you sewed it up badly. After all it rained again yesterday morning.” The tailor left the room without saying another word, his head hung in disappointment.
Then a herdsman stepped in front of the khaan and told him: “Dear khaan, dear khaan! My deceased father owned a whip with which he struck the stars from the sky.”
The khaan answered: “That’s nothing. My own deceased father, the former khaan, owned a pipe. When he lit it up, the smoke curled around the stars in the sky and tied them all together.” The herdsman did not know what to say and went away.
Just then a badarcin, a Mongolian itinerant monk, came into the room carrying a bucket. The khaan asked him: “Badarcin, what do you want?”
“What, don’t you recognise me?” asked the badarcin, “After all you have borrowed a bucket full of gold from me. I have come to get my gold back.”
The khaan jumped out of his seat and demanded to know: “And when should I have borrowed that gold from you? You are lying!” The noise woke up the khatan, the khaan’s wife, who had slept nearby. “You are lying when you claim to have borrowed me gold. Beat him, hit him!” the khaan yelled and gesticulated wildly at his guard.
The badarcin said: “If I am lying then leave me your throne, dear khaan.”
The khaan thought about that for a moment and then he replied: “Wait a moment! You are telling the truth. I did borrow the gold from you. I just remembered.”
Then give me my gold!” demanded the badarcin and the khaan did as he was told.
Thus the badarcin told a lie which made a sitting man stand up and woke up a sleeping woman. He gained a bucket of gold and taught the careless khaan a lesson.

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