This is yet another example of ATU 2030. The Old Woman and her Pig.
A fowl sat near a thistle, and opened a rag, in which corals were tied up. Suddenly one fell into the thistle; the fowl said, “O thistle, give me my coral.”
The thistle said, “This is not my business.”
The fowl said, “Then I will burn thee.” The thistle agreed.
The fowl then begged the fire to burn the thistle.
The fire replied, “Why should I burn this weak thorn?”
The fowl thereupon threatened to extinguish the fire by appealing to water: “O water, kill this fire for my sake.”
The water asked, “What is thy enmity with the fire, that I should kill it?”
The fowl said, “I will bring a lean cow to drink thee up.” The water said, "Well."
But the cow refused, as it was too lean and weak to do so.
Then the fowl threatened to bring the wolf to eat the cow. The wolf refused, as he could feed better on fat sheep.
The fowl threatened the wolf with the huntsman, as he would not eat the lean cow.
The huntsman refused to shoot the wolf, as it was not fit to eat.
The fowl then threatened the huntsman with the mouse. The huntsman replied, “Most welcome.”
But the mouse said that it was feeding on almonds and other nice things, and had no need to gnaw the leather-skin of the huntsman.
The fowl then said, “I will tell the cat to eat thee.”
The mouse said, “The cat is my enemy in any case, and will try to catch and eat me wherever it comes across me, so what is the use of your telling the cat?”
The fowl then begged the cat to eat the mouse.
The cat agreed to do so whenever it was hungry. “Now,” it added, “I do not care to do so."
The fowl then became very angry, and threatened to bring little boys to worry the cat. The cat said, “Yes.”
The fowl then begged the little boys to snatch the cat one from the other, so that it might know what it was to be vexed.
The boys, however, just then wanted to play and fight among themselves, and did not care to interrupt their own game.
The fowl then threatened to get an old man to beat the boys. The boys said, “By all means.”
But the old man refused to beat the boys without any cause, and called the fowl a fool.
The fowl then said to the Pir (old man), “I will tell the wind to carry away thy wool.” The old man acquiesced.
And the wind, when ordered by the fowl, with its usual perverseness, obeyed the fowl, and carried off the old man's wool.
Then the old man beat the boys, and the boys worried the cat, and the cat ran after the mouse, and the mouse bit the huntsman in the waist, and the huntsman went after the wolf, and the wolf bit the cow, and the cow drank the water, and the water came down on the fire, and the fire burnt the thistle, and the thistle gave the coral to the fowl, and the fowl took back its coral.
NOTES
From Appendix III: Fables, Legends, and Songs of Chitral (called Chitrar by the natives). Collected by H. H. Sirdar Nizam-ul-Mulk, Raja of Yasin, etc., and by Dr. G. W. Leitner, and translated from Persian or Chitrali.
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