the themes of
fable. Emerson's "Fable," the story of the
quarrel between the mountain and the squirrel,
is a most excellent presentation of the same
idea (see No. 363). "The Little Elf," by John
Kendrick Bangs, makes the same point for
smaller folks.

THE CAMEL AND THE PIG

ADAPTED BY P. V. RAMASWAMI RAJU

A camel said, "Nothing like being tall! See how tall I am!"

A Pig who heard these words said, "Nothing like being short; see how
short I am!"

The Camel said, "Well, if I fail to prove the truth of what I said, I
will give up my hump."

The Pig said, "If I fail to prove the truth of what I have said, I will
give up my snout."

"Agreed!" said the Camel.

"Just so!" said the Pig.

They came to a garden inclosed by a low wall without any opening. The
Camel stood on this side the wall, and, reaching the plants within by
means of his long neck, made a breakfast on them. Then he turned
jeeringly to the Pig, who had been standing at the bottom of the wall,
without even having a look at the good things in the garden, and said,
"Now, would you be tall or short?"

Next they came to a garden inclosed by a high wall, with a wicket gate
at one end. The Pig entered by the gate and, after having eaten his fill
of the vegetables within, came out, laughing at the poor Camel, who had
to stay outside, because he was too tall to enter the garden by the
gate, and said, "Now, would you be tall or short?"

Then they thought the matter over, and came to the conclusion that the
Camel should keep his hump and the Pig his snout, observing,--

"Tall is good, where tall would do;
Of short, again, 'tis also true!"

237

Many scholars have believed that all fables
originated in India. The great Indian
collection of symbolic stories known as Jataka
Tales, or Buddhist Birth Stories, has been
called "the oldest, most complete, and most
important collection of folklore extant." They
are called Birth Stories because each one gives
an account of something that happened in
connection with the teaching of Buddha in some
previous "birth" or incarnation. There are
about 550 of these Jatakas, including some 2000
stories. They have now been made accessible in
a translation by a group of English scholars
and published in six volumes under the general