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C. Swynnerton —Folktales from the Upper Punjab. [No. 2 } 
snatching up a small piece of dry wood in his mouth, he began to enter 
the water with ‘measured steps and slow.’ Gradually as he advanced, the 
astonished fleas rushed up his legs, and took refuge on his back. The 
rising water again drove them in multitudes from his back to his head, and 
from his head to his nose, whence they escaped on to the piece of wood 
which became perfectly black with them. When the sly jackal perceived 
the situation of his foes, be suddenly bobbed his head into the water, relin¬ 
quished the wood, and with a chuckle swam back to the shore, leaving the 
fleas to their fate. 
XXVII. The Elephant and his keeper.* 
There was an elephant which was accustomed to suffer most cruel 
treatment at the bands of his keeper, and the keeper knowing the sagacity 
of these animals, and being in fear of his life, used to sleep some little dis¬ 
tance from the tree to which the elephant was tied. One night the 
elephant, taking up a long loose branch, chewed the end of it in order to 
separate the fibres, and having twisted them in the long hair of the sleep¬ 
ing man, he dragged him within reach and trampled him to death. 
XXVIII. The Miser and the Grain op Wheat. 
A great miser was once sitting on a precipice and dangling his feet 
over the edge. Hunger having become insupportable, he took out his small 
bag of parched grain, and began to toss the food, grain by grain, into his 
mouth. All at once a single grain missed its destination and fell to the 
bottom of the ravine. “ Ah what a loss !” cried he. “ But even a grain of 
wheat is of value and only a simpleton would lose it.” Whereupon he in¬ 
continently leaped down from the rock, and broke both his legs. 
XXIX. The Miser and the Pice. 
A miser once found his way into the bazar to buy bread. The wea¬ 
ther was unusually warm, and as he trudged along, the perspiration gathered 
round the coin, which was closely clutched in his hand. Arresting his steps, 
he gazed at the moist piece with a fond eye and said, “ I won’t spend you—■ 
weep not, dear Pice, we shall not separate after all—I will starve first !” 
So he restored the money to his bag, and begged for scraps from door to 
door. 
XXX. The two Misers. 
Once upon a time two misers hobnobbed together to eat their food. 
One of them had a small vessel of ghee into which he sparingly and grudg¬ 
ingly dipped his morsels of bread. The other miser, observing this, pro¬ 
tested vehemently against such wasteful extravagance. “ Why waste so 
* This anecdote, told by a Panjabi, probably belongs to Hindustan. 
