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The
Two Old Women and the Crocodile |
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| An old woman was going
down to the river with a washbasin full of dirty clothes,
when she heard something rustling in the bushes near
her. She was shocked to see a very large crocodile only
so near. |
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| "Please do not
run away, old woman," the crocodile said. "I
have a favor to ask you." |
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| The old woman remained
rooted where she stood, more out of fear than curiosity. |
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| "In a cave near
here I have hidden away my three hatchlings. They are
restless little things, and I cannot be with them all
the time. I beg you, watch over them while I am away
hunting, and I shall reward you richly." |
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| The
crocodile led the stupefied old woman to her cave. Sure
enough, three crocodile babies were there, fierce-looking
and listless. For a moment the old woman was afraid
the crocodile mother would feed her to the ugly little
things, but she could not even command her feet to run
away.
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| So, since she could
not run, the old woman said she would do as she was
bidden. The crocodile thanked her politely and then
stepped out of the cave. The old woman was left with
the three hatchlings, and since she could do nothing
with them, she decided to lull them to sleep. |
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| She cradled the hatchlings
in her arms as if they were human children, and sang
them a gentle lullaby. When the mother crocodile returned,
a few hours before dusk, she found her babies peacefully
at rest in the old woman’s arms. She was very
thankful to the old woman. |
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| "I had promised
you a reward," she said. "Go to the bamboo
plant just beside the entrance to this cave. Strike
it with your fist three times and it will pour gold
for you." |
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| The old woman trusted
the crocodile. She went to the bamboo plant and struck
it three times with her fist. And soon enough, a tear
appeared in one of the bamboo shafts, and gold poured
onto her shaking hands. She took as much gold as she
could carry, and then fled the site of the cave. With
that much gold in her possession, she did not have to
go down to the river to do the washing again, and so
she never saw the kind crocodile again. |
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| On the other hand,
the old woman had a neighbor who became curious when
she saw the old woman rushing home with an unusually
heavy washbasin. She spied on the old woman as she took
out the gold pieces and counted them one by one. Then
she jumped on the old woman, and demanded that she be
told where the gold had been acquired. |
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| "You won’t
believe this," the old woman said, "but I
got them by the river – from a crocodile who asked
me to babysit her three hatchlings, and then rewarded
me for doing such a good job." |
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| "Hah! A crocodile!
That’s absurd!" said the saucy old neighbor.
But she had already begun to plan about visiting to
the riverbank herself.
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| The saucy neighbor
bullied the old woman into telling her the location
of the crocodile’s cave. And then early the next
morning, the saucy neighbor made her way to the very
same cave. |
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| She found the three
hatchlings there: listless, as the old woman had said,
and uglier than she had expected! But she had not come
there to find them beautiful. She pressed the three
hatchlings to her bosom, and when they did not calm
down, she started getting angry and beating them with
a stick. At last the crocodile babies were hurt so much
that they fell into quiet whimpering, and, thus silenced,
the saucy neighbor felt that it would already be easy
to put them to sleep. |
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| She sang them songs
meant for ugly children, thinking that one lullaby was
just like any other. The crocodile arrived and saw that
her babies had fallen asleep, more out of pain than
drowsiness. She was very angry with the saucy neighbor. |
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| "I put your babies
to sleep!" the saucy neighbor argued. "Give
me some gold as payment for my efforts!" |
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| The crocodile tucked
away her anger, and coolly directed the old woman to
the bamboo plant that stood by the entrance to her cave.
She told the woman to strike the bamboo plant twice
with her fist. |
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| The saucy neighbor
did so, impatiently. But instead of gold, scorpions
came pouring out of the crack that appeared on a bamboo
shaft immediately after her fist came away. The scorpions
fell upon the saucy old neighbor and chased her off,
as befitted a mean shrew. |
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