“No indeed,” answered the Duck; “he insists that you must come out.”  So the Fox crept stealthily to the door, but as soon as she popped out her wicked old head the Hunter was ready for her, and Bang!  That was the end of the Fox’s pilgrimage.

The Duck also had had enough of being a pilgrim.  He went home with the Hunter and became a tame Duck, and lived happily ever after on the pond near the Hunter’s house.

THE GROUND-PIGEON

Once upon a time there was a little Malay maiden who lived in the forest with her father and mother and baby sister.  They dwelt very happily together, until one day Coora’s father decided to clear the ground on the edge of the forest and have a rice plantation, as many of his neighbors were doing.

So one morning early after breakfast he started out with his axe on his shoulder to cut down the trees and make a clearing.

“O Father, let me go with you!” begged Coora.  “I do so want to see the plantation grow from the very beginning.”

But her father said No, she must stay at home until the trees were felled.

“And after that may I go with you?” asked Coora.  And her father promised that it should be so.

The days went by and at last the trees were all felled in the clearing.  When Coora heard this she jumped up and down on her little bare brown feet until her anklets tinkled, and cried, “O Father!  Now I may go with you to the clearing, may I not?  For so you promised.”

But again her father shook his head and said, “No, Coora, not yet.  You must wait until the fallen timber has been burned off.  Then you shall go with your mother and me to the planting of the rice.”

Coora was very much disappointed, and the big tears stood in her eyes.  But she only said, “Do you promise that I may help plant the rice, really and truly?”

And he called back over his shoulder, “I promise!”

At last the fallen timber was burned away, and the ground was ready for planting.  One morning Coora saw her father and mother making ready to go out together.  “Oh, where are you going, Father and Mother?” she asked.

“We go to the planting of the rice,” answered her father, slinging a big bag over his shoulder.

“But you promised that I should go with you when that time came?” cried Coora wistfully.  “Please, please may I not be your little helper?”

“No, no, Coora,” answered her mother impatiently.  “Do not tease us so.  You must stay at home to take care of your little sister.  Be a good girl this time, and when the rice is well grown we will all go together and harvest it.  That will be great fun!”

“Shall I really go?  Do you promise, Mother?” asked poor Coora hopefully, for she felt sure that her mother would not deceive her.

“I promise,” said the mother, not looking her in the eyes; and the parents went away through the forest to plant the rice.