The Sa'-Zada Tales

by Burt L. Standish

  FOURTH NIGHT

  THE STORY OF RAJ BAGH, THE KING TIGER

  While the Keeper Sa'-zada was still loitering over his tea, there cameto his ears an imperious roaring call "Wah-h-h! Wah-h-h! Wah-houh!"

  "This is the Tiger's night, indeed," he muttered to himself. "Old RajBagh is eager to tell us the tale of his life." Then he hurried down totheir cages and corrals saying, "Come, comrades; the King of the Junglecalls us."

  "We shall have strong tales of blood-letting to-night," muttered Maghthe Orang-Outang.

  "King of the Jungle, indeed!" sneered Hathi, the Elephant. "When I wasLord of the jungle I knew no king--that is, amongst the animals."

  "Now," began Sa'-zada, opening The Book, when the Jungle Dwellers hadall gathered in front of Bagh, the killer's cage; "now we shall knowall about Huzoor Stripes. And mind you, Hathi, and all the rest, theremust be no anger, for Bagh's way of life has not been of his ownmaking; for with his kind it is their nature to kill that which theyeat."

  "I was born in Chittagong," began Bagh, "and well I remember the little_Nullah_ in which my Mother kept me, a big tea garden spread over threehills just near our hiding place, and there was always much goodeating.

  "For months after I was born my Mother made me hide in the _Nullah_.That was always in the evening. And as for hiding, how anyone can getalong without stripes in his coat I can't understand. Let me hide in agrass field where the sun throws sharp shadows up and down acrosseverything and I'll give my ration of meat for the week to anyone whocan see me three lengths of my tail away."

  "Where was your Mother all this time?" queried Magh, tauntingly.

  "To be sure," answered Bagh, "she would be away for hours making thekill, and when she came back would lick my face, and teach me the sweetsmell of new meat and hot blood. Then the next evening, just as it wasgetting dark, she would take me with her to the kill, which was usuallya Cow, and which she had very cunningly hidden in elephant grass, or abamboo clump, or some little _Nullah_. There would be still half of itleft. I grew big and strong, and longed to make a kill on my ownaccount.

  "But that year a terrible thing happened to the Buffaloes and Cows uponwhich we depended for food. They were all down in the Flat Lands,which is close by the sea, and one day when the jungle was much torn bystrong, fierce winds, a great water came over the land, and ate up allthe Cattle, and many of the Men-kind. Then, indeed, we fairly starved,for the few that were left were kept close to the bamboo houses of thevillagers. Night after night, even in the day-time, my Mother and Isought for the chances of a kill, for I had grown big at that time, andshe took me with her. We were really starving; perhaps a small Chital(deer), or a Dog, or something came our way once in a while, but thepain in my stomach was so great that I moaned, and moaned, and Ibelieve it was because of me that my Mother became a Man-killer."

  "Horrible!" exclaimed Mooswa. "Became a killer of the Men-kind?Dreadful!"

  "I, too, have killed Men," asserted Raj Bagh; "and why is it so evil,my big-nosed eater-of-grass? Your food is the leaves of the jungle, andyou have it with you always. When you are hungry you walk, walk, andsoon you come to where there is much food, and you eat, and with youthat is all right--there is no evil in it. As Sa'-zada has said, it isour way of life to kill our eating. When there is no Chital we killSambhur; when there are no Deer we kill Pigs, or even Buffalo; whenthere is nothing but Man, and we are changed from our usual way of killby great hunger, we slay Man. With all Dwellers of the Jungle, thereis fear of the Men-kind, that is all, nothing but fear; and when oncethat is broken we kill the Men-kind even as any other Jungle Dweller."

  "Little Brother," began Sa'-zada, "it is spoken amongst my Kind, that aMan-killer is always an old, broken-toothed Tiger, full-manged, and ofevil ways; and that once having tasted human flesh he becomes a killerof nothing else."

  "Ha-hauk!" laughed Bagh, "those be silly Jungle tales. Am Ibroken-toothed, or full of a mange, or is Raj Bagh? All a lie, LittleMaster, all a lie. It is but a chance of the Jungle that makes aMan-killer, even as I will tell, and the taste of the flesh is not morethan the taste of meat.

  "Yes," he continued, "I was with my Mother that day, the first day ofthe Man-kill, and in my stomach was a great pain like the biting of RedAnts. It was near the coming of night, and we crept down into the teagarden where there were many of the coolie kind working amongst thebushes. I think my Mother was looking for a stray dog, or perhaps asmall Bullock; but the coolies seeing us cried aloud in their fright,'Bagh hai!' and ran. I think it was this that made my Mother chargesuddenly amongst them, for if they had stood and looked at us I'm surewe should have turned and gone away; but in the charge a Man fell.Baghni seized him by the neck, threw him on her back, and we bothgalloped into the jungle. After that, whenever we were hungry we wentback to the tea garden in just the same way.

  "But one day a coolie saw us first and ran to his master's bungalowcrying with much fear. Neither of us thought anything of that, for itwas as they had done before; so we went on down in the little _Nullah_between the hills, looking sharply for others of the Black Workers.Suddenly I heard a noise as of something approaching.

  "'Keep still, O Baghela,' said Baghni, 'here cometh one of theMen-kind, and I will make a kill.'

  "As we waited, presently there was no sound. 'The kill has gone away,'I whispered to Baghni, but she struck me hard with her tail, almostknocking some of my teeth out; that was to keep still. There was noteven any scent of the Men-kind in the wind now; most surely he had goneaway, I thought. What a silly old Baghni my Mother must be.

  "I heard a soft whistle behind me, 'Sp-e-e-t!' just like that, much asyou've heard Hawk in his cage call. When I looked around there was oneof the White-face, even the Sahib of the tea garden. I knew him, for Ihad seen him once before. In his hand he held what I have since learnedwas a thunder-stick. I looked in his eyes for perhaps three lashes ofmy tail, but I could see there nothing of the Man-fear Hathi has toldus of. Such eyes I have never seen in any animal's head; not yellowlike those of my kind, nor red and black like Hathi's, nor even dullbrown like Korite the killer's; just of a quiet color like a tiny bitof the sky coming between the leaves of the forest.

  "What was he waiting for, I thought. Baghni had not heard him, for shedid not turn her head. Then he made the call like Hawk's again, andBaghni turned her head even as I had, and looked full at him, but hedid not run away.

  "Now feeling something lifted from me, because his eyes were on Baghni,I think, I looked again sideways from the corner of my eye. Baghni hadset her ears tight back, and drawn her lip up in a cross snarl, so thather teeth, almost the length of Boar's tusks, said as plain as couldbe, 'Now I will crush your back.' But still in his eyes that were likebits of sky was not the Man-fear; if I had seen it there most surely Ihad charged straight at his throat, for I was angry, and still, Ithink, filled with much fear.

  "Then Baghni turned around, crouched with her head low, lookingstraight at him. As she did so, the Sahib raised his thunder-stick,there was an awful noise from it, I heard Baghni scream 'Gur-houk!' andshe had charged. I, too, followed her, thinking she had got this Manwho was our kill; but just beyond in the _Nullah_, even the length ofBainsa's corral from here, I saw her on her side tearing up the teabushes with her great paws. I stopped for the length of two breaths,but I could see that there was something very wrong--she was going tosleep. Then the greatest fear that I have ever known came over me, andI galloped fast into the jungle to where was my hiding-place."

  "BUT I COULD SEE THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING VERYWRONG ..."]

  "They had killed your Mother, had they, Bagh?" asked Mooswa.

  "I think so, for I never saw her again. I was afraid to go back wherethe men labored, and, as I had said, there were no Bullocks, and Inearly starved to death."

  "But how did they catch you?" queried Magh.

  "It was all because of my hunger. When I was not stronger than a jungleBakri (sheep), not having eaten for days and days, I heard one night aPariah Dog howling in the jungle.
It took me hours to know that therewas no danger near this crying one of the Dog-kind. I went round andround in circles that I had made smaller each time, and drew the windfrom all sides into my nose to see if there was the Man scent. Therewas nothing but the Pariah, and by some means he had got into a hole.Of course, afterwards I knew it was the evil work of this Sahib who hadkilled Baghni. Such a hole the Pariah was in, it was as long as thesetwo cages, and though wide at the bottom, it was small at the top, evenlike the cover of Magh's house yonder. I crawled in and caught the Dogin my strong jaws. Sweet flesh! how he howled when he knew I wascoming.

  "Then with a crash something fell behind me, and closed the hole so Icould not get out, and at once I heard them shouting."

  "Where had they come from so soon?" queried Magh.

  "They were up in the jungle trees," answered Bagh.

  "I think it is a fine lie," grunted Boar. "Do you mean to say, Bagh,that you could not see them in the trees?"

  "You have little knowledge of my kind, Piggy. Know you not that whengoing through the jungle we never look up?"

  "I do," interrupted Raj Bagh, "but I learned the trick. Brother Bagh isright, though; I suppose it comes from always looking for our kill onthe ground, and I have heard that this is why the Hunters so often killus from _Machans_ (shooting rest in a tree). We never see them until weare struck."

  "The Men were all about the hole," continued Bagh, "and it was he ofthe white face that cried, 'Don't kill him, don't stick him with thespears! He is only a Baghela, and we will take him alive for Sa'-zada.'

  "They dug little holes from the top, and bound me with strong ropes; itwas so narrow I couldn't turn round, you see. Then I was sent here toSa'-zada. Though he is good to me, still I wish I was back in my oldjungle."

  "Ah-h-houk! Great Brothers," roared Raj Bagh. "My mate has told you ofChittagong and his tea gardens, but the middle jungles in India is theplace for a Tiger to rule; and for years I was Lord of the SumnaForests, and the terror of the Gonds, the little black-faced Men whoare wondrous Shikaris. Close grass. Waw-hough! but it was beautifulthere. The many red faces of the chewal tree smiled at me, and thepurple ears of the sal tree listened to my roar till its great branchestrembled in fear. Close hid in the Khagar grass I would lie and sleepall through the long hot day, and the little Gonds, even the big,white-faced Men, might pass the length of this cage from me, and notknow that I was there. But I would know. Talking, talking always theywould go, and if they were up wind, my nose would find them many jumpsaway.

  "I was born there, and Baghni, my Mother, and Sher Bagh, my Sire,taught me all that a Tiger should know of the ways of the Men-kind. Butin the end both of them came to their death through the evil ways ofthese seekers for our lives. Wah, wah, wah-hough! I am a Man-killer.And why not?"

  "You should be ashamed to say so," cried Magh, petulantly, "and beforeSa'-zada, too."

  "Wah! I was a Man-killer," repeated Raj Bagh, "a killer of many Men,but it was not my fault. When I was a cub my Sire was Lord of the SumnaJungles; and close to our lair was a _jhil_ to which all animals ofthose parts came to drink when they were hot, and the hills blazed redwith the evil fire of the little Gonds. Chetal, and Nilgai, andSambhur, and the Ribbed-Faced Deer that coughed like a Wild Dog; evenChinkara, the little Gazelle that is but a mouthful for one of myneeds--all came there when the forest grew dark; and always when wewere hungry, which was often, more came than went away. It was ever thesame with Sher Bagh, who was my Sire, and Baghni, always the same wayin a kill with them. In those days I watched it often, for I, being aBagheela, took no part except in the eating. Chita walks not softer inhis cage than Sher Bagh would step through the jungle when he wasstalking a kill; and then at the end with a rush it was all over.

  "But one year it became so hot--why, the rocks burned our pads as wewalked; so hot that our _jhil_ dried up, and none of the JungleDwellers came to drink. It was hot, so hot, and never a drop of thesweet water falling. The fire crept down from the hills and ate up thesmall part of the jungle and the grass, and I think the Jungle Dwellerswent to other parts. At any rate, as Brother Bagh has said, we weresore distressed for a kill. Of course, we could go and drink where theother Dwellers dared not, close to the villages of the little Gonds. Iremember, being but a Baghela and having little wisdom, saying toBaghni, 'Why do we not kill Goru (cattle) and Bainsa, who are here inthe hands of the Men-kind?' But Sher Bagh, who had lived into muchwisdom, growled, and striking me hard with his paw, said, 'Little one,that way comes the full hate of the Men-kind, and we who fear not theDwellers in the Jungle, fear Man.'

  "But still we became more hungry, and Baghni, whose milk was my onlyfood, grew unwise and said, 'Let us kill the Goru.' But Sher Baghgrowled at her, and said again, 'That way comes the hate of theMen-kind. Now when these little men who are Gonds pass near to me inthe jungle, they salaam and say, "Peace be with you, Sher Bagh, HuzoorBagh"; and they go in peace, and the fear that is on me when I look intheir eyes passes away.'

  "For many nights after that we wandered far through the jungle, I withBaghni, and Sher Bagh by himself in another part. And in the days thatwere so hot, as I slept, great times of blood drinking and sweetmeat-eating came to my mind--but when I woke there was nothing--nothingbut hunger pains in my stomach. It was also this way with Baghni andSher Bagh. Many times Baghni said, 'Let us kill the Goru, for of whatuse is the good will of the Men-kind if we die?'

  "At last Sher Bagh also became unwise, and said, 'We will kill theGoru, for Baghela and you, Baghni, are starving. When the Goru feed ina herd to-morrow, even in the time of light--which, of course, was theday--together we will creep close in the much-thorned korinda, andkill a Cow; for if we kill one in a herd there will be less trouble,and perhaps it will not be missed of the Men-kind.' Wah! I shall neverforget the sweet eating of that Goru. And the drink of blood!Che-hough! it was as though I had been athirst since my birth.

  "Sher Bagh dragged the Goru to a jungle of Kakra trees, and we ate itall. But the next day the Horned Ones did not feed in that place, andas we were walking in the close of the daytime Sher Bagh heard thethin-voiced cry of a Gond cart coming over the road; it was like thesong of the Koel bird; it was made by the wheels, I think. 'There willbe Goru to the cart,' said Sher Bagh. 'Yes, two of them,' answeredBaghni, 'but also one of the Men-kind, a little Gond.' 'Even now I amhungry,' declared Sher Bagh; 'when I roar in front of the Goru thelittle Gond will pass quickly into a sal tree, and then we can eat ofhis Bullocks.'

  "It was as my Sire had said, and we made a kill, and carried them farfrom the roadside, and had the sweetest eating for two nights. All ourstrength was coming back to us, and Baghni, purring softly, for she waspleased, said to her Lord, 'Did I not say "drink the blood of theGoru," when we were starving, and are they not easy of kill?' But SherBagh, looking up in the trees, for it was as we came to the kill forour second night's eating, answered, 'We must be careful, for upon uswill surely fall the full hate of these little Gonds; and they claim akill for a kill, blood for blood; it is their manner of life when theydeal with others of the Men-kind.'

  "I knew that fear of the little Gonds had come strong upon my Sire whenhe looked up to the sal trees, for, as I have said, it is not of ourhabit to look up; we fear nothing of the jungle that hides in trees.The Peacocks, and Monkeys, and Crows, even Panther--what are they?Nothing to claim the time of my kind. Said Sher Bagh to Baghni, 'TheGoru that go in carts are easy for the kill.' 'And there are always twoof them,' answered she.

  "This new manner of life by practice became easy to us; we would hidein the khagar grass or the jowri, which is a nut grass of the Men,beside the road at the day's end, and always we would know of thecart's coming by its voice, that was like Koel bird's, or the miaou ofa Peacock. We made many a kill of this kind. And it was this way that Ibecame first of all a Man-killer, even my first kill was of theMen-kind, just an evil chance. It was Baghni who said to Sher Bagh,'Baghela must know the method of a kill. We have now not much hunger,so let him make the next kill of the Goru
, and if he misses, it willnot matter, for we are well fed.'

  "I shall never forget that night as I crouched by the road besideBaghni, waiting for the little Gond with his Goru. I was trembling likethe tall grass shivers at the top when one passes through it. 'Keepstill,' whispered Baghni; 'a little noise makes a hard kill, and muchnoise is no kill at all.' If it had been a Sambhur or a Nilgai weshould have had no supper, for the grass whispered under me as I shookit with my trembling. Then down the road in the early dark came thecart with its snarling voice. Just as the Goru were opposite, Baghnistruck me with her tail and cried, 'Ah-h-houk!' which means to charge.As I sprang, being but a Baghela, and my first kill, I was slow, andthe Goru jumped, causing me to miss sadly. But I landed full on thecart, and by an evil chance the little Gond was under my paws. Mind,Comrades, with me it was but a kill, and I could not see his eyes, andwithout intent on my part his shoulder was in my jaws, and in less timethan I can tell it I had him in the jungle. It was my first kill, and Iwas wild--but I don't want to talk about it. I wish he had beaten meoff, even struck me with the thunder-stick, for, after all, what wasthe kill? not bigger than a Chetal, and it brought the full hate of theMen-kind to us, and Sher Bagh and Baghni were slain."

  "By the little Gonds?" asked Hathi.

  "The Gonds and the Sahibs," answered Tiger. "Even your people, Hathi,took part in the kill of my Sire and Baghni. But it was our old enemy,hunger, that caused it all. For three nights we waited by the roadsideand no carts passed. It is true one passed; a lodhi cartman, with thewisdom of Cobra, put Pig's fat on the wheels of his cart, and therewas no noise until he was right upon us, even had passed, for the stalkhad not properly started, you see. 'Never mind,' said Baghni, 'thelittle Men of a slow wit, the Gonds, will come this way with theirGoru, many of them'; but they didn't. And save for two old Langurs(monkeys) that cursed from a pipal tree as we went back to our_Nullah_, we saw no Dweller of the Jungle, nor of the fields. 'The hateof the little Gonds is coming to us,' growled Bagh. 'And I am sohungry,' moaned Baghni. 'Baghela should not have killed any of theMen-kind,' declared my Sire.

  "The Men go to their rest at night, even the little Gonds, knowing thatthe Jungle Dwellers will not come in great numbers to the fieldsbecause of our guard. And it was but an evil chance, too, that I made akill of the Gond. But when we were most hungered, after many days, onenight, not far from our _Nullah_, was a Bullock tied to a tree.'Waw-houk!' exclaimed Baghni, calling her Lord to the find;'Che-waugh!' said she, 'here is a Bail of the Men-kind; make the kill.'

  "'It is of their hate,' growled Sher Bagh, 'the Bullocks do not come oftheir own way here to the jungle--we must be careful.'

  "Half the night was gone before we had stalked all sides of the Goru,but there was nothing--not even up in the sal leaves. That was whatBaghni said, for with her sharp eyes she saw Hookus (big greenpigeon), resting on a branch, which meant that there was nothing tofrighten him. When Sher Bagh had made the kill, he dragged it far awayfrom our _Nullah_. That was most wise, Comrades; it was so that theMen-kind should not find our home.

  "When our hunger was gone Baghni said, 'We will eat again when thesun's light passes once more.' 'No,' growled my Sire, 'we will not comeback to the kill, for the hate of the little Gonds will be here whenthey see that we have eaten of the Goru.'

  "That was wise also. To make sure, and to teach me, a Baghela, SherBagh took us down wind from the drag next night, and the scent of theMen-kind came strong in our faces. 'Our enemies are there,' declaredBagh.

  "Being a Baghela I thought this fine play, and by the cunning of mySire we killed what we found tied in the Jungle, but never went back tothe drag. Even once in the dark, as we hunted, hearing the grunt of aGoru, and going up wind to it, Sher Bagh knew that the Hunters werewaiting in the sal and pipal trees over the bait, so we went back tothe _Nullah_ and rested on lean stomachs."

  "Your Sire was too clever for them," commented Magh, as Tiger ceasedspeaking for an instant.

  "Perhaps it was clever," answered Raj Bagh. "But in two days moresomething came to us that no Jungle Dweller can withstand: a full beatof the Jungles.

  "Being but a Baghela," sighed Raj Bagh, "I did not know what it waswhen the beat commenced; I thought that the forest winds were in anevil temper, but Sher Bagh cried to Baghni, 'Quick! we must go far, fornow comes the hate of the white-faced kind, for the beat is their wayof a kill.' We lay quiet in our _Nullah_, thinking they might pass.'Tap, tap, tap!' I heard on one side, much like the klonk, klonk! ofMis-gar (coppersmith bird). 'What is that?' I asked my Sire.

  "'The sal trees cry because they are stricken by the Beaters,' heanswered. 'Tum, tum, tum-m!' I heard from the other side of the_Nullah_. 'Is it the belling of a Nilgai?' I asked. 'The little Gondswho are of this beat call with their drums,' answered Sher Bagh. 'Allthe jungle is falling,' I cried. 'It is the coming of Hathi,' answeredmy Sire, 'for it is a beat of many Hathi. Come, Baghela, come, Baghni,'he called, and we stole like frightened Chinkara through the sal andpipal jungle.

  "'To the Baghni-wali nulla!' (tigress valley) cried Sher Bagh to us aswe followed. But as we sought to enter this place of many caves aBeater smote at us with the thunder-stick from a tree, but that wasonly to frighten us away, for Bagh whispered, 'The Beaters are not tomake the kill.'

  "'Here will be little spoor for them to follow,' growled Sher Bagh aswe ran. Soon we thought we had lost those who sought our lives. As werested for a little while in some thick, wild plum bushes they came allabout us. There were many Hathi, and on three of the Hathi were littlecaves----"

  "Haudas," corrected Elephant. "That is the way the Men-kind ride on myback when we are in the beat."

  "And the Men had thunder-sticks with which they smote Sher Bagh andBaghni. 'Waw, waw-houk!' roared my Sire when he wasstruck--'Che-waugh!' he cried to me, 'flee, Baghela, while I charge.'With a rush he sprang on a big Hathi's nose, and I think he got even tothe hauda, for the Hathi turned and ran, screaming with pain; and I,seeing this, broke from my cover and charged back through the Beaterswho were on foot. Just in my path I saw one of the Beaters striking twosticks together. Being cross because of my hot pads, and what they haddone to Sher Bagh, I seized this one, and took him with me.

  "After that, I lived alone, and because the Jungle Dwellers had fledfrom those parts, and because of the wrong we had from these Gonds, Ibecame a Man-killer, eating that which was put in my reach."

  "How did they catch you?" questioned Wolf.

  "MY SIRE ... SPRANG ON A BIG HATHI'S NOSE."]

  "Because I sought to change my way of life," answered Bagh, "andleaving the Man-kill I made to satisfy my hunger with a Goat. I heardthe Goat cry at night-time," continued Bagh, "and after a carefulstalk, finding nothing of the presence of Man, I sprang on Bakri theGoat----"

  "And the Goat captured you," cried Magh, gleefully.

  "Together we fell into a deep hole that had been dug by the evil littleGonds. Though I ate the Bakri I could not get out again, and in themorning the Men were all about me, both white and black. How the littleMen reviled me! But it seemed the Sahibs wanted to take me alive, sothey dug another hole close to the one in which I was, put a big woodencage with a door to it down, and then with long spears broke throughthe walls between the cage and the hole I was in. Of course, I was gladenough to go any place; besides, they threw down on me their dreadfulfire. I sprang in the cage and the door dropped behind me. Then many ofthe Men-kind pulled the cage out with ropes, and I was sent here toSa'-zada."

  Fifth Night

  The Story of the Tribe of King Cobra