Salin dan Unduh
The Peasant, the Buffalo and the Tiger
Once upon a time, a peasant was working in his rice field with his water buffalo, at a time when buffalo had sharp teeth like all the other beasts of the world. A tiger crept up to the water buffalo and said: "I don't come as an enemy. I just want to ask you something. I have seen you every day without your seeing me. Hidden in the bushes, I have watched the curious spectacle of your toil. How does it come about that Man, this little and upright being without great strength, with no piercing sight and no sense of smell, manages to lead you and make you work for him, you who are ten times bigger and much more powerful than he?" The water buffalo replied: "To tell you the truth, I don't know.
Yet I can never free myself from his mastery. I know only that he is in possession of a talisman called intelligence." So the tiger resolved to ask the peasant for some of his intelligence. But when the tiger asked, the peasant told him: "Excuse me, sir. I've left it at home. Nobody ever brings it along with him when working in the field. Besides, I have so little of it for myself that I can not impart any of it to you."
When the tiger insisted, the peasant relented and said he would get his intelligence from the village, but that he would have to tie up the tiger as insurance against him eating his water buffalo. The tiger agreed to this, and the peasant bound the tiger to a tree. The peasant went to the village and returned with bundles of straw, which he piled around the tiger and set ablaze. "There it is, my intelligence," shouted the peasant as the tiger roared in pain and rage. The water buffalo laughed so hard at the sight of this spectacle that he whacked his head against a rock and broke out all of his teeth. Water buffalo have never had upper teeth since that day. Eventually the ropes holding the tiger burned up, and the cat leapt free and dashed into the jungle. Bits of burning straw stuck to his skin and left long black scorch marks.
When the tiger insisted, the peasant relented and said he would get his intelligence from the village, but that he would have to tie up the tiger as insurance against him eating his water buffalo. The tiger agreed to this, and the peasant bound the tiger to a tree. The peasant went to the village and returned with bundles of straw, which he piled around the tiger and set ablaze. "There it is, my intelligence," shouted the peasant as the tiger roared in pain and rage. The water buffalo laughed so hard at the sight of this spectacle that he whacked his head against a rock and broke out all of his teeth. Water buffalo have never had upper teeth since that day. Eventually the ropes holding the tiger burned up, and the cat leapt free and dashed into the jungle. Bits of burning straw stuck to his skin and left long black scorch marks.
This is how the tiger got his stripes. (The tiger regains his dignity in a subsequent story titled "The Toad and the Rain," in which the cat takes part in a toad-led expedition to convince the Emperor of Heaven to end a punishing drought.)
http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/1152
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