Three Dancing Goats
The Three Dancing Goats
"fTT^HIS evening I am going to tell you the
JL tale of the three dancing goats,
"
began
Baba Trinco as he squatted on the floor and greeted us with his broad smile.
" Once upon a time it happened that a hardworking young peasant was lucky enough to possess three dancing goats. He was lucky because they brought him all he desired a little comfort for his widowed mother, and a pretty wife. " He and his mother lived in a little bamboo hut and had a small plot of grazing land. Their entire wealth consisted of a couple of cows.
When a year of drought came they were in great trouble, so that one morning the widowed mother with tears in her eyes said to her son: " '
Sindhu, we shall have to get rid of the two cows. So go to the market-town and sell them/
" The thought of selling the cows they loved so much distressed the boy. It was a pity that they had not enough fodder; but what could they do?
"So Sindhu set out with the two cows and
The Three Dancing Goats said to himself that he was not going to sell them to a butcher and that he would beg their purchaser to take great care of them.
"
Before coming to the market town he met an old woman who was also going to market to sell her three goats. Both Sindhu and the woman rested under a tree and both plucked leaves from it to feed their pets.
" The old woman looked at the boy compassionately as he was feeding the cows, and said: Tell me, my lad, what is troubling you I know it is not a good time for the peasants/
What can I do? I have to sell the two cows we love so much/ murmured Sindhu.
" The old woman asked him all sorts of questions and at last came close and said :
My dear lad, I like you and admire your love for your cows. Let me have them and I promise they shall be well cared for. You take my three goats/
" '
Nonsense/ replied Sindhu. ' What can we do with your goats, my dear woman? We must have grain for our own meals, and how can I feed your goats?'
" ' But these goats are much better than
"fTT^HIS evening I am going to tell you the
JL tale of the three dancing goats,
"
began
Baba Trinco as he squatted on the floor and greeted us with his broad smile.
" Once upon a time it happened that a hardworking young peasant was lucky enough to possess three dancing goats. He was lucky because they brought him all he desired a little comfort for his widowed mother, and a pretty wife. " He and his mother lived in a little bamboo hut and had a small plot of grazing land. Their entire wealth consisted of a couple of cows.
When a year of drought came they were in great trouble, so that one morning the widowed mother with tears in her eyes said to her son: " '
Sindhu, we shall have to get rid of the two cows. So go to the market-town and sell them/
" The thought of selling the cows they loved so much distressed the boy. It was a pity that they had not enough fodder; but what could they do?
"So Sindhu set out with the two cows and
The Three Dancing Goats said to himself that he was not going to sell them to a butcher and that he would beg their purchaser to take great care of them.
"
Before coming to the market town he met an old woman who was also going to market to sell her three goats. Both Sindhu and the woman rested under a tree and both plucked leaves from it to feed their pets.
" The old woman looked at the boy compassionately as he was feeding the cows, and said: Tell me, my lad, what is troubling you I know it is not a good time for the peasants/
What can I do? I have to sell the two cows we love so much/ murmured Sindhu.
" The old woman asked him all sorts of questions and at last came close and said :
My dear lad, I like you and admire your love for your cows. Let me have them and I promise they shall be well cared for. You take my three goats/
" '
Nonsense/ replied Sindhu. ' What can we do with your goats, my dear woman? We must have grain for our own meals, and how can I feed your goats?'
" ' But these goats are much better than