Page:Tales of the Punjab.pdf/220

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THE GRAIN OF CORN

ONCE upon a time a farmer's wife was winnowing corn, when a crow, flying past, swooped off with a grain from the winnowing basket and perched on a tree close by to eat it. The farmer’s wife, greatly enraged, flung a clod at the bird with so good an aim that the crow fell to the ground, dropping the grain of corn, which rolled into a crack in the tree. The farmer's wife, seeing the crow fall, ran up to it, and seizing it by the tail, cried, ‘Give me back my grain of corn, or I will kill you!’

The wretched bird, in fear of death, promised to do so, but, lo and behold! when he came to search for the grain, it had rolled so far into the crack that neither by beak nor claw could he reach it,

So he flew off to a woodman, and said—

‘Man! man! cut tree;

I can’t get the grain of corn

To save my life from the farmer’s wife !’

But the woodman refused to cut the tree; so the crow flew on to the King's palace, and said—

‘King! king! kill man ;

Man won't cut tree ;