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"I think I do," said the Giant. "Cannot you give me some medicine?" "I have no medicine with me," said the Mouse-deer, "but I can bandage you, as I have bandaged myself, and that is sure to do you good." "Thank you," said the Giant. "It is good of you to take the trouble to cure me."
Presently a Pig passed by the mouth of the pit. The Mouse-deer called out to him, and he looked in and asked the Mouse-deer what he was doing at the bottom of the pit. "Don't you know what is going to happen?" said the Mouse-deer. "The sky is going to fall down, and everybody will be crushed to dust unless he takes shelter in a pit. If you want to save your life, you had better jump in."
Let me have what I want." "It does not belong to me," said the Deer, in great fear. "It belongs to the Pig, the Bear, the Tiger, and the Mouse-deer. They would punish me severely if I gave any of it to you." "Don't talk to me in that way," said the Giant, impatiently. "If you do not let me have what I want, I will eat you up."
They scratched the side of the pit with their feet until it sloped, and enabled them to scramble out; then they followed the trail of the Mouse-deer, and soon overtook him. The Mouse-deer saw them coming, and climbed up a tree from the bough of which a large beehive was hanging. "Come down," said the Pig and Deer angrily. "You have deceived us, and we mean to kill you."
Just then the others returned from their fishing. Great was their joy to find their enemy securely bound. With shouts of triumph they fell upon the Giant and killed him, and praised the Mouse-deer for his cleverness in securing him. A Mouse-deer, wandering in the jungle, fell into a pit. He could not get out, so he waited patiently for some passer-by.
The Pig jumped into the pit, and the Mouse-deer got on his back, but he found he was not high enough to enable him to leap out. Next a Deer came along, and, seeing the two animals in the pit, asked them what they were doing there. The Mouse-deer replied: "The sky is going to fall down, and everyone will be crushed unless he hides in some hole. Jump in, if you want to save your life."
A FULL-GROWN "paddy melon," a small and beautiful species of kangaroo, bearing the same resemblance to the "boomer" that a Cingalese mouse-deer does to an elk, was once given to me as a pet, and we became great friends.
At first the Tiger refused to give any to him, but when the Giant threatened to attack him, he was afraid, like the others had been, and let him have as much as he wanted. On their return, again the animals found their fish had been stolen. Then the Mouse-deer spoke. "I see," he said, "that it is no use depending on you others. You boast, but when the time comes for action, you have no courage.
By this time the Giant began to get uneasy, and trying to get up, and finding himself securely bound, he struggled, and roared in pain and anger. The little Mouse-deer sat before him and laughed, and said: "You were a match for the Deer, the Pig, the Bear, and the Tiger, but you are defeated by me. Don't make so much noise, or I shall drive a peg through your temples and kill you."
"You need not try to put us off with any more lies. You must come down, for we mean to have your blood." "I cannot," said the Mouse-deer, "because the King has asked me to watch his gong," pointing to the bees' nest. "Is that the King's gong?" said the Deer. "I should like to strike it to hear what it sounds like."
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