retired to their respective houses; and a little
later the otter went to the river to fish. But, as he took his bag of
salt with him when he made the plunge, all the salt was melted in a
moment, to his great disappointment. The monkey was equally unlucky;
for, having taken his mat and spread it on the top of a tree, and made
his children dance there, the children fell, and were dashed to pieces
on the ground below.

The monkey and the otter, enraged by the misfortunes which the fox's
wiles had brought upon them, now joined together in order to fight the
fox. So the latter took a lot of beans out of his bag, chewed them to a
pulp, smeared all his body with the paste, and lay down pretending to be
very ill. And when the otter and the monkey came and made to kill him,
he said: "See to what a pitiful plight I am reduced! As a punishment for
having deceived you, my whole body is now covered with boils, and I am
on the point of death. There is no need for you to kill me. Go away! I
am dying fast enough." The monkey looked, and saw that the fox seemed to
be speaking the truth. So he went testily away, across the sea to Japan.
That is the reason why there are no monkeys in the land of the
Ainos.--(Written down from memory. Told by Ishanashte, 11th July, 1886.)

xiv.--_The Fox and the Tiger._--(No. I.)

Said the tiger to the fox: "Let us run a race from the top of the world
to the bottom of the world, and he who wins it shall be lord of the
world!" The fox agreed, and off the tiger bounded, but without noticing
that the fox had caught hold of his tail so as to get pulled along by
him. Just as the tiger was about to reach the other end, he suddenly
whisked round, in order to jeer at the fox, whom he believed to be far
behind. But this motion exactly threw the fox safely on to the far end,
so that he was able to call out to the astonished tiger: "Here I am.
What are you so long about?"

For this reason there are no tigers in Aino-land.

(No. II.)

Said the tiger to the fox: "You are said to be the craftiest of all
creatures. Let us now enter into rivalry, and see which of us can roar
the loudest; for to him shall belong the chieftainship of the world."
The fox consented, and the two stood up alongside of each other. But as
it was for the tiger to roar first, he remained standing up, and did not
notice how the fox scraped a hole with his paws to hide his head in, so
that his ears might not be stunned by the tiger's roarin