APPENDIX G
THE FOLK-LORE OF TIBET.
T h e three following tales are characteristic of Tibetan folk-lore,
and it is interesting to note how similar they are to those of
Europe. It is difficult, however, to see how any external influence
can have been brought to bear upon them, as there are
almost no Chinese or other foreign women in the country
I.
THE TALE OF THE MONKEY AND THE LIZARDS.
Once upon a time a Lizard and his family lived in a lake by
the side of a great forest in Tibet. Now there was not much
to eat in the lake, and after a while Mrs. Lizard said to her
husband : “ I see on the shore a tree with beautiful fruits upon
i t ; if you really cared about me and the children, you would go
ashore and climb the tree and bring us back some of the beautiful
fruits, that we may not all starve.”
And the Lizard said : “ My dear, you know that I cannot
climb a tree, so why should I go ashore to try to do that which
you know is impossible ? ”
But Mrs. Lizard kept on day after day saying that he did
not really care about her and the children, or he would go ashore
and climb the tree and bring back the beautiful fruits for her
and the little Lizards.
So at last the Lizard was weary' of what bis wife said to him
day after day, and swam ashore and tried to climb the tree.
Now you know a Lizard cannot climb a tree.*
I But there was up in the branches of the tree a Monkey, and
to him the climbing of a tree is the easiest thing in the world.
And he was a clever Monkey, and having made the Lizard very
grateful to him, by picking for him the beautiful fruits on the
tree, he struck up a friendship with the Lizard and persuaded
m m m b B come and uve with ^ u a caVe.
So there they lived, and the Lizard forgot all about Mrs. Lizard
f n •+ f ^ ’ and remamed in the cave eating the beautiful
iruits of the tree.
Now after a while Mrs. Lizard began to think that something
had happened to the Lizard, and at last, after long hesitation!
she sent one of her little children to see what had happened to
ather Lizard. So the little Lizard went ashore, and spied out
to see what had happened to father Lizard who had been away
for such a long time. And for a long time he could see nothing
of anyone, but towards evening he saw father Lizard come out
of the cave with the Monkey and go to the tree. And then the
Monkey ran up the tree and picked the beautiful fruits and
B i + d°Wn’ and the Lizard carried them into the cave
and that was all he saw.
So he swam back to his mother and told her, and she was
veiy angry, for there was nothing to eat for herself and the
children, and now she knew that her husband was living in a
cave m the forest and eating plentifully with a Monkey, and
forgetting all about his wife and children.
So she sent the little Lizard once again, and she said to him :
Go to the cave from which you saw your father come out
and cafi to him, and when he comes out to you, take him aside
and say to him, Mother Lizard is sick unto death.’ And sav
no more then. And when he says to you, ‘ What is the matter ?
How can she be cured ? ’ then say to him, ‘ Only one remedy
there is. And then say no more to him. And when he shall
say to you What is the remedy ? ’ then you shall say, ‘ There is
only one thing which can cure her, and that is a piece of a
monkey s heart. ”
So the little Lizard did as he was told, and went on shore
and called out for his father, and said to him as his mother had
thgf M U S S ™ etan story I I Should have thought that there was nothing on earth
that the big Tibetan lizards could not climb.
V O L . I I .