Chapter 15 "Indian Fairy Tales Collection"-1

(India) by Mu Ra Anand foreword The author of this collection of Indian folk tales, M.R. Anand, was born in Peshawar, on the northwestern border of India, in 1905. He participated in the Youth anti-imperialist movement. After graduating from a university in his home country, he went to the United States for education and came into contact with progressive intellectuals in Britain.Anand began writing in his early twenties, and he was one of the earliest members of the Writers' Guild of India.His works are mainly novels and short stories, describing the painful life of the Indian people under the oppression of imperialism and feudalism.He is an anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, and anti-war writer, and a master of the Indian peace movement.

Anand is also a director of the India-China Friendship Association, the vice-chairman of the Indian Peace Council, and a director of the World Peace Council.In 1951, he came to Beijing, my country as a member of the Indian Goodwill Mission to my country to participate in the National Day celebration ceremony of our country.In 1953, he was awarded the 1952 International Peace Prize of the World Peace Council. When I joined the delegation of the China-India Friendship Association to visit India at the end of 1953, the author gave me this collection of folk tales and asked me to tell them to the children of our country.

As mentioned in the original preface, the stories in this collection are all the most popular stories in India that the author heard from his mother, aunts and aunts when he was young.These stories impressed him so much that he rewrote them.He believes that these stories can be read not only by children but also adults, not only Indians but also foreigners; because folk stories often have similar themes through international exchanges.On this point, I agree very much, because there are similar stories in the fairy tales of many countries in the article "Castle in the Air" in this book; The story of "The Wolf of Zhongshan" is very similar; in "The Talkative Turtle", India and Myanmar have almost identical stories.

In these twelve stories, except for the stories with animals as the protagonists, almost all of them are stories with gods, princes and princesses as the protagonists. This is inseparable from the religious and historical background of India, but the author is rewriting Sometimes, he added his own point of view, for example, in the article "Crane and Fish", I thought the author was alluding to the conspiracy of the colonists in India to rule. The original text of this collection of folk tales is very beautiful. In order to facilitate the reading of Chinese children, I have slightly abridged the longer names; The form of spoken language also moves up and down slightly.On these points, I think the author can understand.Xie Bingxin's original preface in October 1954 The stories in this collection were all told to me by my mother and aunt when I was a child.My first motivation for retelling these stories is the nostalgia for that time, when "Once upon a time..." began, and the story was not finished and the eyes were closed.

But I also think that in the folklore of our country there remains the only link of our broken tradition.I thought that only by going back to the form of the story that mother told to son, and son to son, could we develop our new type of modern short story.Of course, the modern short story, if it is a folktale at all, is a highly developed folktale.But a resurgence like the present of the short story form seems opportune, to relate it to earlier stories, and this form, surprisingly, seems to exist in the litter of stories I have collected.In any case, I must admit that when I wrote my own short stories, although I put a lot of new psychology into it, I always tried to make its techniques similar to folk tales; The impact is always deep.

Therefore, these stories can be read not only by children, but also by adults who have not lost their childlike innocence.And, however foreign the atmosphere and effect of these stories may be to non-Indians, what I present here is not something wholly foreign to Westerners, but the familiar and well-known subject matter of stories they have read in childhood. .Because through merchants, travelers, gypsies, artisans and crusaders, Indian and Western folk tales also had many international contacts, and many popular stories abroad all have the same source as these stories. In retelling the stories that I have kept in my memory many years ago, I have compared other books and got the best stories from different texts, so this book, and the one or two that will be published later book, may become a representative anthology of Indian folk tales.

Once upon a time in Persia there lived a very powerful wrestler.One day, a man who had been to India told him that there was a wrestler in Hindustan who was stronger than him.The Persian wrestler felt that his prestige was destroyed, and he immediately decided to challenge the Indian.He went to the market and bought 100,000 pounds of flour, put it in bags, put it on his head, and set off. At dusk he walked to the edge of a lake on the border of Hindustan.He felt hungry and thirsty, so he knelt by the lake, drank the water with his mouth, and sucked the lake half dry with just one gulp.He poured out some more flour, and mixed a little batter with the remaining water, and used it to satisfy his hunger.He fell asleep after eating.

An elephant comes to this lake every morning to drink water.Early the next morning, when it came to drink water, it found that the water in the lake was completely dry. "What should I do?" it said to itself: "Within a thousand miles around here, there is nowhere to find water..." Just as it walked away disappointed, it found that the wrestler was very comfortable. Fall asleep by the lake.As soon as it saw the wrestler's big belly, he knew that he must have drunk the water of the lake.It got very angry and ran to step on the wrestler's head.But the wrestler just turned around and said, "Don't be so gentle, you won't cure my headache with such a gentle touch. If you want to press my head, press it harder. "

The elephant, seeing that he had not trampled on him, stepped back angrily and stood still.It thought to itself, "I'm going to teach this beast a lesson, and I'm going to eat him." But the wrestler was up and ready to go, and he took the elephant by the waist, wrapped it in a felt blanket, put it on his shoulders, and walked towards Hindustan. He only took a few strides before he walked to the opponent's earthen house.He told him to say, "Come out, you Ruston of India, come out and throw me down." The Indian wrestler's wife replied shyly, "He is not at home. He has gone to the woods to collect firewood."

"Okay, I'll come back later, please accept the gift I brought him." ① Rusdun was a strongman in ancient Persia. — After the translator finished speaking, he threw the felt bag wrapped in the elephant into the yard from the wall of the earthen house. The Indian wrestler's wife cried out: "Oh, mother, mother, look, your son's opponent has thrown a mouse into our house." The Indian wrestler's mother said, "It's all right, boy, just leave him alone, and my son will teach him to be more polite later on. Just put a mouse clip on it and we'll throw it away." "

The Persian wrestler listened to these words and thought to himself: "Well, if in the eyes of the Indian wrestler's wife, such a big elephant is just a mouse, then in the eyes of the Indian wrestler Here, what should it be?" But still he mustered up his courage to go to the forest to find his opponent.After walking a few steps, he saw the Indian wrestler walking home with a thousand-car load of firewood on his head.The Persian wrestler thought to himself, "This man is a worthy opponent." He cried out, "My friend, let me be your victim. I heard your name, and I came from Persia to meet you. " The Indian wrestler replied, "You are very welcome, I must fight you. But let's go to the amphitheater in town and fight in front of an audience, what's the point of wrestling if there's no applause? " The Persian wrestler said: "But I'm busy going back, come on, let's compete here now. If you want an audience, look at an old lady over there twisting around, I'll go invite Come on her." As he spoke, he yelled, "Old mother! Old mother! Please stop and watch us wrestle!" The old lady replied, "No, my boy, no, my daughter has stolen my camel, and I am running after her. If you will wrestle in the palm of my hand, I can judge you as I go." .” The two wrestlers jumped onto the old lady's right palm, and wrestled as the old lady climbed the mountain. The old lady's daughter saw these two strong wrestlers fighting desperately in the old lady's palm from afar. At first she was very frightened, thinking that they were soldiers brought by her mother to arrest her.When she saw that they were but two wrestlers, she took her mother and both wrestlers, and bound them and her one hundred and sixty camels into one pack, Put it on your head and keep going. A camel was hungry, and it barked with its head out of the pack.The old lady's daughter pulled up one or two trees from the ground and threw them in its mouth as fodder to feed. The farmer on this land saw it and shouted loudly: "There is a thief, there is a thief, catch the thief." The daughter was not happy with the farmer messing with her like this, so she wrapped the farmer and his field, including the cows, horses, and plows in a felt blanket, and ran away.Before long, she ran to a town and was hungry.She covered up a bakery and even the whole town, and continued on her way.Finally she came to a field where a large watermelon was growing.When she was thirsty, she cut open the big watermelon and ate the inside.Then she stuffed the bundle into the watermelon rind and fell asleep under her head. While she was asleep, a great flood came and washed the watermelon rind all the way to the seashore.The top half of the rind fell off, and out of the rind came the old lady, the two wrestlers, the camel, the tree, the farmer, the ox, the horse, the plow, the pie maker, and many other things.This is how the world began.Rhoda and Krisna Once upon a time, on the Indian steppes, there lived a young prince named Krisna; he ruled over a tribe of cattlemen.He was exceedingly handsome, with skin the color of twilight sunlight, and a face like the full moon.He could play a magic flute that would fascinate man and beast alike, as the song of a nymph would tame the sky and the sea, and the thunder god's wrath would subdue the mountains. All the girls in his country have a secret desire to be his lover.They often play games with him.Their curly hair wore garlands of jasmine, their necks were covered with cinnamon, and their hands held white lotus flowers, which, like their affectionate hearts, smelt of admiration. There was an elegant maiden named Rhoda whom Krisna liked best.She admired him so deeply that her lover could tell it at once, just as one can smell the fragrance from the heart of a flower.He married her, and took her to live in an fairy palace, with balconies of crystal floors, and pools of clear water, in which the stars shone at night. One day, a wrinkled old woman knocked on the door of Krisna's palace. After letting her in, she said that she was poor and poor and homeless; she asked to be a maid in the palace.Rhoda took pity on her, gave her food, clothed her, and asked her to do some chores.But Rhoda didn't know that the old woman was a witch. She wanted to kill Rhoda and make herself Krisna's wife out of admiration for Krisna's beauty. A few days later.During these days, the old woman knew everything in the palace by heart.She felt that the time was ripe, and she wanted Krisna to kill Rhoda himself.She hacked a goat, sneaked into Rhoda's bedroom at night, and smeared the goat's blood on Rhoda's face.When it was dawn, she ran to Krisna and told him that his wife was a cannibal monster, and told him to go to Rhoda's bedroom to have a look.Seeing Rhoda's face covered in blood, Krisna really thought he was marrying a monster, so he drew his knife, killed her, and buried her in the lush forest. Rhoda's soul is as holy as a temple.After she died, her soul became a beautiful temple.Her arms and legs became pillars of jade.Her head became a dome, and her black hair garlanded like tendrils that climbed the dome.Her body turned into a pool of crystal-clear elixir, and the temple stood in the middle of the pool.Her eyes became a pair of doves, all day long in the temple porch in this wilderness, squawking softly. One day, Krisna went hunting in the woods, and got separated from his companions, lost his way and walked around in the dense forest full of thorns.At night, he was still walking around in the dense forest, and suddenly he saw a beautiful temple in the wilderness, and he was very surprised.He wanted to rest there for the night.He tied the horse to a tree, fed it with grass, and plucked some fruit from the tree to satisfy his hunger.Then he went into the temple and lay down in the porch to sleep.Before he could close his eyes, he heard the sound of wings fluttering above his head. He looked up and saw two gentle doves flying over and sitting together, and began to talk: "This is the cruel man who killed his wife," he heard the cock say, "because a wicked ghost tricked him." "Won't he find his wife?" asked the hen pigeon. "He's too trusting. It's not all his fault that he was cheated on." The cock replied, "Well, it's not all his fault, he was cheated. Maybe he'll find his wife, but he doesn't know how." Full of compassion, the hen asked, "Tell me, how can he find her?" "Well," said the male pigeon, "in the middle of the night, his wife and companions come to bathe in this pool of fairy dew. She wears a crimson 'sari'①, and her friends①" "Ali" is the rolled cloth that Indian women wear.—The translators wear magenta. If he goes to the pool and steals their clothes and jokes with them, her wife will Recognize him as her husband from the way he jokes, and she will remarry him." Krisna heard every word the cock said.He lay restlessly, counting the hours, and when it was midnight, he went to the gate of the temple and hid behind it.Sure enough, he saw Rhoda and her female companions jumping up and down, talking and laughing.They unbuttoned their belts, took off their clothes, flung them aside, and jumped into the pool. Love made him steal, so he quietly walked to the pool, picked up the clothes, and climbed to the nearby linden tree.He took out the magic flute and played it again, which touched the hearts of the happy girls.They shyly looked up at him.They recognized him as their beloved Krisna. They folded their palms together, lowered their eyes, and begged him with a smile: "Honey, please give us back the clothes hanging on the tree branch." But he threw handfuls of twigs at them, and teased them with tugging and tugging tunes from his flute. "Give us back the clothes, dear, and we'll give you our love," they begged him, knowing he was a troublemaker. He sang in reply: "I want every girl to kiss me for ransom. And I want Rhoda to marry me." They danced, the tapes jingled, and their hands forgot their wearyness for the game of love.They lingered on the moonlit night, each kissed their lord as a ransom, and waited to see the wedding of Rhoda and Krisna. When the world was just beginning, one day, the sun, the moon and the wind all went to their Uncle Lei and Aunt Dian's house for dinner.Their mother, Sky, blessed them and told them to play to their heart's content. She watched the house by herself and waited for them to come back. The sun and the wind are two greedy and selfish children. They ate up all the good food that their uncle and aunt gave them; they didn't think of their poor mother at all. She sat at home hungry and prayed, wishing them happiness and hope They eat well and play hard.Only that gentle little moon did not forget her mother.She kept a little of each dish that was placed in front of her, and took it home to feed her mother. When the children came home in the evening, the mother asked them, "Well, children! What have you brought me?" "Old woman, what do you mean?" the eldest son Sun said roughly, "what do you want me to bring you? I am here to eat, drink, play and have fun, not to bring you something .And like the good dishes we eat, you, who are used to eating rough rice, can't taste the taste." "Isn't it?" the little villain Feng also said, "you don't know how to eat, you don't have any teeth in your mouth, and you can't eat. You think we will eat for you, so we will eat those Carrying everything in pockets, dirtying good clothes? Besides, wrapping food in a handkerchief is an unseemly thing. No one in the upper class would do that. How could a farmer do that? Know the price of jewels? How can you know which rules are good and which are bad?" The gentle moon came in and said, "Dirty things, don't be so unruly, you don't know how to behave, say such things to your mother!" She comforted her mother and said: "Mom, try the food I brought you. I brought a little of everything." The old lady said: "May you live a long life, my moon child." She turned her head angrily and said to her two sons: "God's wrath will be upon you. You, my eldest son, you go out to eat and never think of your mother who is at home all day and is your slave. You shall burn in the fire of heaven, your light is hot, what You get scorched when you come near it. You come out arrogant and people hate you when they see you. And you, my little rascal wind, you are so greedy and selfish, you blow dry air, things touch You'll do it when you get there, so wherever you go, people hate you...and you, my sweet girl, you're always thinking of mommy, you'll always be fine, you'll be cool and quiet, soft and beautiful .People are very happy when they see you, and they will sing to you and say you are blessed." Therefore, when the sun rises too high, people hate him.People hate him when the wind blows too hard.Only the moon is everyone's joy.A love story In a village where the Ganges River reaches the plain, a temple fair is held every twelve years, and rich and poor people from all over Hindustan come to the festival.At one of the assemblies a king came with his daughter. The king and his daughter's tent happened to be pitched opposite that of a young prince.One day, the prince came out of the tent and was about to go to the temple to offer incense, when a wonderful music—a love song—was heard in his ears, and he was surprised to hear it.From that day on, no matter how he tried to distract himself, he could never forget this song.He sat down sadly and prayed to forget the song, but the strings of the song haunted his imagination.After a few days, he felt that there was no hope of ever forgetting the music or finding out where it came from.He suddenly saw a lonely girl lying on a garden bench in the opposite tent. She was so beautiful that even Leng Yue would be ashamed to dim her brilliance when she saw her face. He thought to himself, "Oh, she's so beautiful, I really want to talk to her." He was really lucky, because at the same time the princess saw him, and she was thinking: "Maybe he is the object of my heart's desire. For him, the strings soaked in my tears played the music in my heart; for him, My love has become a carol." From that time on, they all waited for their chance and looked at each other like an instrument waiting for a song.They saw each other, and longed to meet one step closer, but there was a gap between them, and there was no way to cross it. The temple fair was over, and the princess' father ordered his servants to prepare to leave.The prince saw the busyness in his lover's tent, and felt that the love between them was about to die.When he was standing and trying to find a way, he suddenly saw his lover lift the curtain of the sedan chair. She was sitting in the sedan chair, biting a lotus flower, and put it on her ear, letting it fall to the ground. Then she closed the curtain. .The sedan chair left.This is the last time they see each other. The prince's heart was broken and he didn't know what it meant."It must be a code," he thought to himself, "but I can't guess it. I don't know her name, what is her father's name, I don't even know the name of her country. " He was very sad and made him sick.When I returned to my home country, I fell ill in a dark room, neither eating nor drinking during the day and night.His father was very sad when he saw this scene.They asked him why, and he always replied, "No reason." He didn't even want to see the doctor who diagnosed him, and always lay silently, keeping the secret of his love. The son of the prime minister of this country, and the prince are best friends. They used to go to school together and stay together all day.The prime minister's son found out that the prince did not go to court, so he came to ask why.Seeing the prince lying on the bed, he asked: "What happened to you?" The prince replied feebly, "It's nothing." The prime minister's son knew that the prince must be lovesick, so he comforted him and said: "If you tell me the source of the disease, I can help you." After a long time of questioning, the prince told the truth: "At the temple fair next to the Ganges, there was a king who lived in a tent opposite me. He had a very beautiful daughter. One day I heard her sing, and I fell in love with her." I fell in love with her. Since then I have seen her every day, but I have never dared to talk to her. A month later, she left with her father. Now, I have her name, her father's name, and her country I don't even know their names." "Kouou, it's very simple," said the prime minister's son, "I will definitely take you to her place. You get up and put on your clothes, and go to eat. After eating, let's go." The prince asked: "You don't even know her name, even her father's name, or even the name of her country. How can you take me to see her?" The prime minister's son replied: "You don't have to worry about it. You get up, get dressed, eat, and I'll take you to her." The prince got up at once, dressed and tidied up, and after eating, he was ready to go. The prime minister's son asked him, "What did the princess say and do when she was leaving?" The prince said: "That's right, she was holding a lotus flower in her hand. She bit it first, then put it on her ear, and then threw it on the ground." The prime minister's son said: "Oh, then her name is Princess Lotus. Come on, I will definitely bring you to her." The prince went and told his parents that he was going abroad for a change of air.His parents thought that he had been ill and a change of air would be beneficial, so they were very happy and agreed without hesitation. The prince and the prime minister's son got on their horses and set off.When they passed through each country, they asked if there was a princess named Lotus in that country.But no country has a princess with this name.At last they came to a country by the sea and met an old woman, and they asked her if there was a princess named Lianhua who lived in this country. The old woman replied: "The daughter of the king of this country is named Lianhua. I am her godmother, and I have been her nurse. She grew up on my milk." The prime minister's son was very clever, so he asked the old woman to let them live in her house.Seeing that they were young and lovely nobles, the old woman agreed to let them live with her. They stayed at the old woman's house for a few days, and the prime minister's son told the old woman from beginning to end about his friend falling in love with Princess Lotus.He begged her to tell her goddaughter that her lover wanted to meet her. When the old woman saw the prince coming here, she missed him very much, made her very haggard, and felt very sorry for him.She went to convey the words of the prime minister's son.The princess liked it very much, and told the old woman to ask the prince to meet her on the terrace of the palace in the garden at night. The prime minister's son took the prince carefully to the designated place, and he himself kept watch outside.The prince met his lover and was very happy.From this night on, for a week, the prince went to see her every night, and then proposed to her.The princess told the prince that she would first ask her parents for permission. The next day the princess went to her parents, and said that she was in love with a prince who lived in her nanny's house, and would marry him.Her parents summoned the prince to the palace.As soon as they saw the prince's handsome appearance, they agreed to marry their daughter to him. The wedding was held in a very joyous atmosphere.After the prime minister's son attended the wedding, he went back to live in the old woman's house, and the prince lived in his wife's palace. At first, the prince was very happy.After a few months, he thought of the arrival of the son of his friend, the prime minister, and felt very bored. Seeing his gloomy look, the princess asked, "What's the matter with you?" "I'm sad because I haven't seen my friend for a long time," he said. "That's easy," she said, "just go and see him." The prince went to see the prime minister's son, who was very happy to see him again after a long absence, and stayed there for a whole week. When the prince came back a week later, the princess was very angry because he had been away so long.The prince told her that he liked this friend very much, and after being separated for several months, he had a lot to talk to his friend, so he couldn't come back sooner.But the princess was unwilling to listen to his explanation. Soon the princess and her husband were reconciled, and they lived happily for another month.But the Prince became bored again, and wanted to visit his friend again. "Well, go and see him," said the princess, and she gave the prince some sweets, and said, "Take these sweets to him, for they are my present to him." The prince gave the candy to his friend, saying that the princess had made it for him.The prime minister's son put the candy aside, saying he would eat it later.The prince urged him to eat immediately, and the prime minister's son said, "Look, let me show you a miracle." He broke open the candy and threw a piece to the crows in the yard.As soon as the crows ate the candy, they died immediately; a dog came by by chance and smelled the candy, and died immediately; the prince was surprised when he saw it. The prince was very angry when he saw this.He decided never to return to the wicked princess who murdered his friend. A month passed, and the prime minister's son tried his best to persuade the prince to go back, but he refused. Finally, the son of the prime minister said: "If you still want to see a miracle, you go back to your wife. When she is asleep, take off all her jewelry and bring them back to me. You come back Before, you had to use a triangular fork to pierce her foot." The prince went back to the princess's palace, and did as his friend said.When the princess awoke, and found that all her jewels had been stolen, she cried aloud.Her parents came and she reported that her jewelry had been stolen.The king immediately ordered the soldiers to search the whole city, and the thief must be caught. At this time, the prime minister's son put on the clothes of a practitioner, dressed the prince as his apprentice, and asked him to go to the market to sell the jewels.He himself went to sit by the river. When the prince was selling those jewelry, he was caught by soldiers.They asked him where the jewels came from. The prince said: "I am not a thief. My master is an elder. He gave these things to me to sell." The soldiers asked, "Where is your master? Please lead us to see him." The prince took them to the river. When the soldiers saw the prime minister's son disguised as an old man, they yelled at him, "What's the matter? Are you a beggar monk or a thief? Where did you get these jewels from? Honestly bring them here." The prince's friend replied: "I am a monk, I am not a thief, the origin of these jewels is this: last night, when I was sitting here, a woman came, she fished out a corpse from the river, and ate it. Get up. I was very angry when I saw it. I picked up a triangular fork and chased her. I hurt her foot. When she ran for her life, she threw these jewels on the ground. I picked them up. I didn’t know her It is the daughter of your king." The soldiers brought back the jewels and presented them to the king, and also reported all the words of the beggar monk to the king.The king investigated the matter thoroughly, and he found that there was a scar of a triangular fork on his daughter's leg. The king ordered: "Drive her out of the country, she was born in my house by the devil." The soldiers threw the princess into the forest where there were many wild animals. The prime minister's son and the prince returned to the old woman's house, changed into their original clothes, and went to the forest to find Princess Lotus. They found her and the prime minister's son asked her "Are you going to poison me just because the prince is my friend?"? " Princess Lotus cried bitterly and repented of her sins.They returned to the kingdom of the prince together and lived happily ever after.Cranes and Fish In a beautiful valley in the north of Hindustan, there is a large lake. The stone banks of this lake are as green as if they were made of emeralds, and the waves in the lake are like sapphires, shining in the sun.Many fishes, crabs and other small animals of Hindustan live in this lake. Once, there was a crane bird. She was an adventurer and often heard how rich and beautiful the lake was, so she flew from overseas.When she found that the lake was a good hunting ground for food, she went to the king crocodile of the lake and asked permission to live by the lake and do a little business with the lake with spices grown on land.She cooed and flattered the king, using all kinds of sweet words to curry favor with him.The king was a cowardly, impetuous, greedy, and lustful bad guy. He liked the flattery very much, so he accepted her gift and gave her a license to do business in the country. After a while, the king died, and his son took the throne; and then the new king died, and his son continued to reign. The new king was a tyrant, and many mutinies broke out in the country, and some nobles declared independence in several parts of the country. Crane Bird has been pretending to do business, but in fact, she has taken a fancy to the thousands of fish in the lake and always wants to eat them.The incident in Hu Country gave her the best chance. She helps one noble and attacks other nobles. She pretends to be very friendly with the side she helps, but in fact she wants to get the details of the fighting in this country.When the strength of these nobles was weakened by this mutual killing war, Crane Bird expressed her willingness to mediate so that the country could be peaceful and prosperous.She said that if they would make her queen, at least until the fish could govern themselves, then she would be able to fulfill these promises. The poor fish believed Crane Bird's words, mainly because she never interfered with their religious beliefs.But they did not know that the Empress, who secretly devoured many fish every day, and sent the wealth of the country back to her native land, kept telling them that she had all the interests of their welfare. After some time, the crane bird became more and more greedy, and one day she wanted to eat all the fish.She pretended to be very depressed. Her common people came to ask her why she was troubled. She replied: "A twelve-year long drought is coming, and there will be no water in this country. You will all die. If you want to escape, I will have to take you to another lake far away. go!" The fish were very moved to see that the queen cared about them so much. They thanked the most merciful queen and asked her to save them from the coming disaster. So the crane bird took them one by one in its mouth, and pretended to send them to another lake, but swallowed them all on the way. She ate all the fish in the lake, and finally it was a crab's turn.She proposes to him to send him away too. "How will you take me away?" asked the crab. The crane bird replied: "Of course I will hold you in my mouth like I took those fish." Crabs are very cautious.He knew that the beak of the crane bird was not too far from her belly.He thought, "It would be wonderful if she would actually take me to another lake. But what if she doesn't?" He said to her, "Queen, I don't think you can hold me tight. We crabs all have strong pincers, if you let me clamp your neck, I am willing to go with you. " Crane Bird's thinking was a little slow, and he didn't see any articles here.She let the crab clamp her neck and flew away. Not far away, the crane bird stopped, trying to take the crab into its mouth. The crab asked, "What are you doing?" Crane Bird replied: "Nothing, you are tired of hanging my neck, I want to loosen it, and put you in my mouth." The crab said, "No, no, you will break me into pieces if you are not careful when you put me from the neck to the mouth. Crane Bird said: "It doesn't matter if you fall, anyway, you will die sooner or later. If you don't fall to your death, you'll have to feed my stomach after a while. Have you seen those bones?Those are the bodies of your brothers and sisters. " The crab said, "You are so clever, but I am not so stupid as those fishes. For I have already strangled your neck, and if you stretch out your mouth, I will clamp your neck in two." At this time, the cruel Crane Bird knew that she had been tricked, so he cried: "Noble crab, I was just kidding with you. Don't take offense at what I said, I will never eat you." The crab said: "Well, you can send me back to the original lake." The crane bird turned and flew back and forth, sending the crab back to the lake where it came from.Just as she was about to put the crab down, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her throat.The crab pinched her neck off.As she stood dying, she heard the Crab say, "A bad king's end is sudden."