Why the Camel Rolls in the Ashes

sore loser?

A long time ago the names of the animals representing the twelve years of the Mongolian calendar, that is the buddhist calendar, were being chosen and eleven names were called at once. But then there was the question which animal should begin the circle of the twelve years. The camel and the mouse both proposed their names and quarreled about who should be included in the circle. Not wanting to offend either of them, Buddha said: “Settle this between yourselves!” And so the two animals made a bet to decide who would have the honour to start the calendar: Whoever saw the first rays of the rising sun the next morning, would start the twelve years.
The camel, sure to win, faced East where the sun would rise and waited. But the mouse quickly climbed upon the camel’s hump and stared unwaveringly at the mountain peaks in the West. When the sun rose, the first rays were reflected from the snow-covered peaks of the eastern mountains and so the mouse was the first to see them crying: “The sun is rising!”
The camel became so angry to have lost the bet, that it wanted to trample the mouse to death. The mouse quickly crawled beneath a pile of ashes hiding there.
Since then whenever a camel sees a pile of ashes it wants to trample down the hated mouse and starts trampling and rolling in the ashes.
In the meantime, it was the mouse that got included in the circle while the camel was left out. But although the camel wasn’t included in the calendar as such, its body bears the distinctive features of the twelve animals of the circle. These features are:
1. the ears of the mouse
2. the belly of the cow
3. the paws of the tiger
4. the lips of the hare
5. the body of the dragon
6. the eyes of the snake
7. the mane of the horse
8. the wool of the sheep
9. the hump of the monkey
10. the comb the cock
11. the legs of the dog
and
12. the tail of the pig
*****
I realise just now that I should have posted this yesterday what with the number twelve being central to this legend and yesterday having been my 12th post. But okay. Didn’t happen.

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The Fox and the Grapes by Aesop

One evening in autumn, a mouse and a sparrow sat beneath a grape-vine chatting about this and that. Suddenly, the sparrow chirped to his friend: “Hide yourself, the fox is coming!” And he himself quickly flew up into the vine’s foliage.

trying to get to those grapes

The fox sneaked closer and closer to the grape-vine, his eyes longingly on the fat, blue, overripe grapes. Carefully he peeked into all direction. Then he pounced, put his fore-paws against the vine’s stem, stretched his body and tried to catch a few grapes with his mouth. Alas, they were hanging too high. Somewhat angered, he tried his luck again. This time he took a giant leap but again he only caught empty air.
He tried a third time and he tried as hard as he could, jumping with all his might. Almost beside himself with greed, he snapped after the juicy grapes and stretched and stretched until fell down on his back. Not a single leaf had moved.
The sparrow who had silently observed the fox’s attempts until now, could no longer contain himself and chirped cheekily: “Mister fox, you have your sights set too high!”
The mouse peeked out from her hiding place and piped up: “Do not bother, you will never get the grapes.” And like an arrow she shot back into her mouse-hole.
The fox bit his teeth, turned up his nose and said loftily: “They are simply not ripe enough yet. I don’t like my grapes sour.” And with his head held high he pranced back into the forest.
Copyright for this fable’s translation: TaleTellerin
Copyright for image used: The Fox and the Grapes, from ”The Æsop for Children”,
*****
Re-reading this fable, I’m wondering about hens and eggs. Because has this one become a classic because it successfully and entertainingly embodies the lesson about over-ambition and pride which is at the heart of Western societies. Or has this critical stance on ambition and pride become central because it has been advocated in central socio-cultural texts such as these? Huh.

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Fox and Crane

When fox with her pointed muzzle and bushy tail one day came back from hunting, she met crane with her long legs and narrow, long beak. “Dear Mrs. Crane, what are you searching for that you are bending down again and again?” asked fox.
„I turn the sky into my horse, the steppe into my ger and search for insects to turn them into food to fill my belly. Fox, dear old madam, what are you searching for sniffling along?” replied crane.
„I’m on the hunt, too, and when my muzzle and my nose have become greasy, I will head home. You who I have just met in the steppes and thus come to know, please honor me with a visit,” said fox and after thus inviting crane, she went on.
On the next day, the long-legged, narrow-beaked crane happily came to the pointy-muzzled, bushy-tailed one.
„Ah, my friend, the way here surely has tired you,“ said fox and led crane into her ger where she served a thin, steaming hot soup on a flat plate. “Please enjoy!” said fox and gave her the plate.
Crane with her long, narrow beak and her long legs could not find a way to eat the hot, thin soup from the flat plate; she circled the plate, her beak watering to no avail. Fox saw this and asked: “What are you examining? Don’t be shy, eat, eat!” Fox had slurped her soup all up and was licking the plate clean, so people say. Crane, though, could not eat anything and so she got up and went home with her belly still empty.
“Dear madam fox, please pay me a visit tomorrow,” crane invited her.
And so on the next day, fox came with her pointed muzzle and the bushy tail, all dressed up, to the long-legged, narrow-beaked one.
„Ah, my friend, the way here surely has tired you,“ said crane and led fox into her ger where she served fragrant rice in a narrow-necked vase. “Please enjoy!” said crane and gave her the vase.
But even though fox pushed her pointed muzzle into the vase, her tongue could not reach the rice. Since she could not, she circled the vase, licking here and there. Crane saw this and said: “My food is good, is it not? Why are you so shy?” She had already picked up and eaten her own rice, so it is told.
Fox, though, could not eat a single, tiny grain of rice and so she went home with her belly still empty, so it is told.

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The Fox and the Little Birdie

just imagine the fox instead of the confused cows

Once upon a time, a little birdie had become friends with a fox and he adored him very much. But the fox had a cunning character and thought all the time, how to outsmart him. One day, the fox said: “Let’s sow wheat, the two of us together. We will share the work equally and the wheat as well.” People say, the birdie agreed. And off they went to the cornfield as it was time to sow the grain. But since the fox was unbelievably lazy, he outfoxed the birdie.
“Oh, this does not look good at all. The sky is about to crumble. I will hurry to climb that mountain and brace the sky. If I don’t do it, then the sky will surely fall down and crush out cornfield,” he told the birdie and the little birdie believed him.
“My friend, how will you be able to do that all by yourself? Can you then lift the sky?” he asked in worry.
“How I will do it? What can I do but to give my very best so that we may live,” said the fox. And so the cunning fox climbed upon the mountain, lay down with his legs folded comfortably beneath him and slept the day away. Meanwhile, the poor birdie did all the hard work – he scattered the grain, he sowed the wheat.
When the seasons turned to fall and it was time, to cut the wheat, the fox helped himself to another trick. “Oh,” he said, “this does not look good at all. It is surely about to rain. And then our wheat will be spoiled. I will have to go again and fence the clouds.” And the birdie believed him again.
“My dear friend, how will you do that all by yourself? Can you really just fence the clouds?” he asked concerned.
“How I will do it? can I do but to give my very best so that we may live,” the fox replied and off he went until he was out of the birdie’s sight. Then he stretched himself and said himself down comfortably, so people say.
The poor little birdie who did not doubt the fox at all, worked in a great to hurry to harvest the wheat. When the time came to bring the cut wheat into their barn, the fox found another excuse.
“If I don’t protect it from the wind, it will surely be blown away!” he announced and went off. And so the poor birdie again worked hard the whole day to bring the cut wheat into the barn and to separate it from the chaff, so it is told. Meanwhile, the fox was lazy and lie in the sun. After the little birdie had finished fanning the wheat and had done away with the chaffs, it called for the fox: “Fox, my dear friend, please come here! Now we want to share the wheat.”
Hearing this, the fox hurried back. When the little birdie saw him, it asked: “Fox, my friend, how will we share the wheat between us?”
The fox pretended to think about and then he said: “I will take nine parts out of ten. I will give you that tenth part. It is so because my work was harder than the work you did. Not everybody can brace the sky, fence the clouds and hold off the wind.”
“That is very true,” said the birdie and gave him nine parts out of ten. But since the tenth part that remained for the little birdie was all too small, it started to cry. When a guard dog saw it crying so bitterly, it came over and asked: „Little birdie, why are you crying? Who has wronged you?”
And so the birdie told him all that had happened. After the dog had heard his tale, he became very angry. “Why have you become friends with a fox who is such a bad, bad animal? Oh well, I will think of something and teach him a lesson!”
When the fox came to see after his wheat the next day to get it grinded, a big ear peaked out from the pile. The fox thought this would be a tasty meal. But when he bit into the ear, the big dog jumped up from beneath the wheat, pounced on him and grabbed him.
“You can’t outfox me the way you did the poor birdie again and again!” he said. The fox was suddenly very afraid and as soon as the dog let him go he raced off as fast as his legs would carry him.
And this is the story of how the dog helped the birdie. Together they brought the wheat home that the fox had obtained by his trickery, so people say. And from this time on, the little birdie is no longer friends with the fox.

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