The Women of the Arabs eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 357 pages of information about The Women of the Arabs.

The Women of the Arabs eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 357 pages of information about The Women of the Arabs.
for you to take the wood, and return with your claws.  Not so, said the Carpenter, I am afraid that you will not wait for me.  You are a stranger, and I do not trust your word.  I fear you will run away before I return.  Said the Lion, it is impossible that the Lion should run away from any one.  Said the Carpenter, I cannot admit what you say, unless you will grant me one thing.  And what is that, said the Lion.  The Carpenter said, I have here a little rope.  Come let me tie you to this tree until I return, and then I shall know where to find you.  The Lion agreed to this plan, and the Carpenter bound him with ropes to the tree until he and the tree were one compact bundle.  Then the Carpenter went away to his shop, and brought his glue pot, and filling it with glue and pitch boiled it over the fire.  Then he returned and besmeared the Lion with the boiling mixture from his head to the end of his tail, and applied a torch until he was all in a flame from head to tail, and in this plight the Carpenter left him.  Then the Lion roared in agony until the whole forest echoed the savage roar, and all the animals and wild beasts came running together to see what had happened.  And when they saw him in this sad plight, they rushed to him and loosed his bonds, and he sprang to the river and extinguished the flames, but came out singed and scarred, with neither hair nor mane.  Now when all the beasts saw this pitiable sight, they made a covenant together to kill Ibn Adam.  So they watched and waited day and night, until at length they found him in the forest.  As soon as he saw them, he ran to a lofty tree, and climbed to its very top, taking only his adze with him, and there awaited his fate.  The whole company of beasts now gathered around the foot of the tree, and tried in vain to climb it, and after they walked around and around, at length they agreed that one should stand at the foot of the tree, and another on his back, and so on, until the upper one should reach Ibn Adam, and throw him down to the ground.  Now the Lion whose back was burned and blistered, from his great fear of man demanded that he should stand at the bottom of the tree.  To this all agreed.  Then the Camel mounted upon the Lion’s back, the Horse upon the Camel, the Buffalo upon the Horse, the Bear upon the Buffalo, the Wolf upon the bear, and the Donkey upon the Wolf, and so on in order, until the topmost animal was almost within reach of the Carpenter, Ibn Adam.  Now, when he saw the animals coming nearer and nearer, and almost ready to seize him, he shouted at the top of his voice.  Bring the glue pot of boiling pitch to the Lion!  Hasten!  Hasten!  Now when the Lion heard of the boiling pitch, he was terrified beyond measure and leaped one side with all his might and fled.  Down came the pile of beasts, tumbling in confusion, the one upon the other, and all lay groaning bruised and bleeding, some with broken legs, some with broken ribs, and some with broken heads.  But as soon as the clamor of their first agony was over, they all called out to the Lion, why did you leap out and bring all this misery upon us!  The Lion replied: 

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The Women of the Arabs from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.