Just So Stories for Little Children / Просто сказки. Книга для чтения на английском языке

‘No,’ said the Man. ‘Once a day and once a night the Sea runs up the Perak River and drives the sweet-water back into the forest, so that my house is made wet; once a day and once a night it runs down the river and draws[264] all the water after it, so that there is nothing left but mud, and my canoe is upset[265]. Is that the play you told it to play?’

‘No,’ said the Eldest Magician. ‘That is a new and a bad play.’

‘Look!’ said the Man, and as he spoke the great Sea came to the mouth of the Perak River, driving the river backwards till it overflowed[266] all the dark forests for miles and miles, and flooded[267] the Man’s house.

‘This is wrong. Launch your canoe and we will find out who is playing with the Sea,’ said the Eldest Magician. They stepped into the canoe; the little girl-daughter came with them; and the men took his kris – a curving, wavy dagger with a blade like a flame, – and they pushed out on the Perak River. Then the Sea began to run back and back, and the canoe was sucked out of the mouth of the Perak River, past Selangor, past Malacca, past Singapore, out and out to the Island of Bintang, as though it had been pulled by a string.

Then the Eldest Magician stood up and shouted, ‘Ho!’ beasts, birds, and fishes, that I took between my hands at the Very Beginning and taught the play that you should play, which one of you is playing with the Sea?’

Then all the beasts, birds, and fishes said together, ‘Eldest Magician, we play the plays that you taught us to play – we and our children’s children. But not one of us plays with the Sea.’

Then the Moon rose big and full over the water, and the Eldest Magician said to the hunchback old man who sits in the Moon day to catch the World, ‘Ho! Fisher of the Moon, are you playing with the Sea?’

‘No,’ said the Fisherman, ‘I am spinning[268] a line with which I shall some day catch the World; but I do not play with the Sea.’ And he went on spinning his line.

Now there is also a Rat up in the Moon who always bites[269] the old Fisherman’s line as fast as it is made, and the Eldest Magician said to him, ‘Ho! Rat of the Moon, are you playing with the Sea?’

And the Rat said, ‘I am too busy biting through the line that this old Fisherman is spinning. I do not play with the Sea.’ And he went on biting the line.

Then the little girl-daughter put up her little soft brown arms with the beautiful white shell bracelets and said, ‘O Eldest Magician! when my father here talked to you at the Very Beginning, and I leaned upon his shoulder while the beasts were being taught their plays, one beast went away naughtily into the Sea before you had taught him his play.’

And the Eldest Magician said, ‘How wise are little children who see and are silent! What was that beast like?’

And the little girl-daughter said, ‘He was round and was flat; and his eyes grew upon stalks; and he walked sideways like this; and he was covered with strong armour upon his back.’

And the Eldest Magician said, ‘How wise are little children who speak truth! Now I know where Pau Amma went. Give me the paddle!’

So he took the paddle; but there was no need to paddle, for the water flowed steadily past all the islands till they came to the place called Pusat Tasek – the Heart of the Sea – where the great hollow is that leads down to the heart of the world, and in that hollow grows the Wonderful Tree, Pauh Janggi, that bears the magic twin-nuts[270]. Then the Eldest Magician slid his arm up to the shoulder through the deep warm water, and under the roots of the Wonderful Tree he touched the broad back of Pau Amma the Crab. And Pau Amma settled down at the touch, and all the Sea rose up as water rises in a basin when you put your hand into it.

‘Ah!’ said The Eldest Magician. ‘Now I know who has been playing with the Sea’; and he called out, ‘What are you doing, Pau Amma?’

And Pau Amma, deep down below, answered, ‘Once a day and once a night I go out to look for my food. Once a day and once a night I return. Leave me alone.’

Then the Eldest Magician said, ‘Listen, Pau Amma. When you go out from your cave the waters of the Sea pour down into Pusat Tasek, and all the beaches of all the islands are left bare, and the little fish die, and Rajah Moyang Kaban, the

King of the Elephants, his legs are made muddy.

When you come back and sit in Pusat Tasek, the waters of the Sea rise, and half the little islands are drowned, and the Man’s house is flooded, and Rajah Abdullah, the King of the Crocodiles, his mouth is filled with the salt water.’

Then Pau Amma, deep down below, laughed and said, ‘I did not know I was so important.

Henceforward[271] I will go out seven times a day, and the waters shall never be still[272].’

And the Eldest Magician said, ‘I cannot make you play the play you were meant to play, Pau

Amma, because you escaped[273] me at the Very

Beginning; but if you are not afraid, come up and we will talk about it.’