won’t burn stick; stick won’t beat snake; snake won’t bite queen; queen won’t
talk to king; king won’t chide carpenter; carpenter won’t cut mill-handle; my pea
is in the socket of the mill-handle; what shall I eat, what shall I drink, and what
shall I take to foreign countries?’ But the mouse said, ‘Be off with you, do you
think that for the sake of a single pea I am going to cut the bhaunr?’
“Then the bird went to the cat, and said, ‘Cat, cat, eat mouse; mouse won’t cut
bhaunr; bhaunr won’t snare elephant; elephant won’t drink up sea; sea won’t
quench fire; fire won’t burn stick; stick won’t beat snake; snake won’t bite
queen; queen won’t talk to king; king won’t chide carpenter; carpenter won’t cut
mill-handle; my pea is in the socket of the mill-handle; what shall I eat, what
shall I drink, and what shall I take to foreign countries?’ And the cat said, ‘By all
means; the mouse is my natural prey, why should I not eat it?’
“So the cat went to eat the mouse; and the mouse went to cut the bhaunr, saying,
—
‘Hamko khao, a o, mat koi,
Ham bhaunr ko katat loi.’‘Oh, oh, eat, oh! eat me no one, I will take and cut the bhaunr.’ And the bhaunr
went to snare the elephant, saying, ‘Oh, cut, oh! cut me no one, I’ll take and
snare the elephant.’ And so on with each one, till it came to the carpenter, who
extracted the pea, and the bird took it, and went away rejoicing.”
The close resemblance between this fable and the English one of “The Silver
Penny,” attests a common origin. For it cannot be supposed that either was
conveyed by means of oral communication from one country to the other; and
the only feasible conclusion seems to be that they are different versions of a
nursery tale which belonged to our common Aryan forefathers. There can be no
doubt as to its antiquity.[68]
Among the earlier superstitions of Scotland was a belief in the efficacy of
charms, or metrical incantations; a belief prevailing in almost every country and
period, and indirectly attesting man’s strong inward conviction of the existence
of another world. That communications could be maintained with the unseen
creatures that live in the air, and “the ooze;” above, beneath, and around us; that
they could be made to assume a bodily form and presence; that storms could be