232 IN MALAY FORESTS. 



On another occasion the mouse-deer challenged the 

 crocodile to a tug-of-war, the crocodile to pull from 

 the water and the mouse-deer from the land. The 

 mouse-deer tied his end of the rope to the top of a 

 coco-nut-tree, and then gave the word to pull. The 

 crocodile tugged with all his might, and the palm- 

 tree swayed to and fro. When the crocodile, swirling 

 in a turmoil of water, pulled his hardest, the palm 

 yielded and bowed towards him ; but when he relaxed 

 his efforts for a second, the palm resumed its natural 

 position, and the crocodile lost the few feet that he 

 had gained. So it went on, and after a while the 

 mouse-deer called from the bank, suggesting that they 

 should wait for a breathing-space. 



The exhausted crocodile agreed, and the mouse-deer 

 came lightly leaping down the bank. 



" That was a splendid pull," he said cheerily to the 

 crocodile. " You are better than I had thought, but 

 I'll get you over easily next time." 



The crocodile could hardly speak for lack of breath, 

 and when he saw that the mouse-deer showed no 

 signs of fatigue, he declined to continue the contest, 

 and admitted his inferiority. 



But it is not only the crocodile that the mouse-deer 

 scores off in this fashion. He is always getting the 

 better of the tiger, the elephant, and all the other 

 animals, in the same sort of way. The stories are 

 generally very slight, and, as I have said, they do not 

 always show the wily mouse-deer in a very favourable 

 light; but somehow the little creature has a charm 

 that is peculiarly his own. If he is undoubtedly a 

 trickster, he is without doubt a very fascinating little 



