The Tigers And The Cat

: Part I.
: Folklore Of The Santal Parganas

In former days tigers and cats were friends and used to hunt together

and share the game they caught; and they did not eat the game raw

but used to cook it as men do.



One day some tigers and a cat had killed a deer and they had no fire

with which to cook it; then the tigers said to the cat "You are small,

go and beg a light from yonder village." But the cat said that he was

afraid to go; however they urge him saying "You have a thin tail and

plump feet; you can bring it in a trice." So, as they all insisted on

his going, he at last consented; and said "Well, I will go; but don't

expect me to be very quick; if I get a good opportunity for fetching

the fire, I will come back soon." They said "All right, go and run

off with a small fire-brand and we will meet you outside the village."



So the cat went off and coming to a house, went inside to pull a

firebrand from the hearth. On the fire some milk was boiling; and

the cat thought "This smells very nice, I will have a taste of it"

and he found it so nice that he made up his mind to drink it all,

before he took away the fire-brand. But in order to lap the milk

he had to put his feet on the fireplace, and it was so hot that he

burnt his feet and had to get down; so then he sat down and waited

till the fire went out and the hearth grew cool, and then he lapped

up the milk and ran off with a piece of smouldering wood.



Meanwhile the tigers had got tired of waiting and had eaten the deer

raw; and they were very angry at being made to eat raw flesh and swore

that they would eat the cat too. When they saw the cat bringing the

fire they ran to meet him and abused him and cried out "You have made

us eat raw flesh; we will eat you too, dung and all" On hearing this

threat the cat ran back to the village in fear of his life; and the

tigers followed in pursuit; but when they got near the village, the

village dogs all ran out barking and the tigers were frightened and

turned back and the cat was saved. From that day tigers and leopards

have eaten raw flesh; and cats bury their excrement, because of what

the tigers had said.



Every day the tigers went to the village in search of the cat; but when

the dogs barked they slunk away; for the tigers were very frightened

at the sight of the dogs' curly tails; they thought that the tails

were nooses and that they would be strangled by them. One day one

of the tigers met a jackal and called to him "Nephew, listen to me;

a cat made us eat raw flesh and has escaped into this village and I

want to catch it, but the dogs come barking at me. I don't mind that,

but I am very frightened of their nooses. Now, you are very like a

dog, cannot you go and tell them not to use their nooses." The jackal

answered, "Uncle, you are quite mistaken; what you see are their tails,

not nooses; they will not strangle you with them." So the tiger took

courage and the next day went to the village to hunt for the cat,

but he could not find it. And when the dogs barked he got angry and

caught and killed one of them; and from that time tigers and leopards

eat dogs.