'And your father,' said the farmer, 'a poor wretch, with hardly enough to keep body and soul together--(the bunniah snorted, but was silent)--came to my father, and he said, putting his hands together as humble as could be----'
The bunniah here flashed a furious glance at his companion, but bit his lips and held his peace.
'"I haven't tasted food for a week. Oh! great master, let me have the loan of sixteen maunds of wheat from your store, and I will repay you."'
'"Certainly, neighbour," answered my father; "take what you need, and repay it as you can."'
'Well?' demanded the bunniah with fury in his eye.
'Well, he took the wheat away with him,' replied the farmer; 'but he never repaid it, and it's a debt to this day. Sometimes I wonder whether I shall not go to law about it.'
Then the bunniah began running his thumb quickly up and down the fingers of his right hand, and his lips moved in quick calculation.
'The wheat is the cheaper; I'll pay you for the wheat,' said the bunniah, with the calmness of despair, as he remembered that by his own arrangement he was bound to give the farmer a hundred rupees.
And to this day they say in those parts, when a man owes a debt: 'Give me the money; or, if not that, give me at least the wheat.'
[1] Grain merchant and banker, and generally a very greedy man.
One hot night, in Hindustan, a king and queen lay awake in the palace in the midst of the city. Every now and then a faint air blew through the lattice, and they hoped they were going to sleep, but they never did. Presently they became more broad awake than ever at the sound of a howl outside the palace.
'Listen to that tiger!' remarked the king.
'Tiger?' replied the queen. 'How should there be a tiger inside the city? It was only a jackal.'
'I tell you it was a tiger,' said the king.
'And I tell you that you were dreaming if you thought it was anything but a jackal,' answered the queen.
'I say it was a tiger,' cried the king; 'don't contradict me.'
'Nonsense!' snapped the queen. 'It was a jackal.' And the dispute waxed so warm that the king said at last:
'Very well, we'll call the guard and ask; and if it was a jackal I'll leave this kingdom to you and go away; and if it was a tiger then you shall go, and I will marry a new wife.'