The Drop of Honey

The king and his prime minister were eating outside on the palace balcony one day. "Be so kind as to pass the honey," said the king to his prime minister.

"Of course, Your Majesty," replied the prime minister.

As the king reached out to take the honey, something happened: did the king's hand tremble? or the prime minister's? However it happened, it happened: a single drop of honey fell down to the ground below.

A fly buzzed by and landed on the honey, gobbling it up.

Then a spider scurried up and gobbled the fly.

Next, a lizard darted forward and gobbled the spider.

A cat saw the lizard and ran to grab it, but a dog, also seeing the lizard, intercepted her.

The cat and the dog began fighting.

Hearing the cat yowling and the dog barking, the owner of the cat and the owner of the dog ran out into the street, and they began fighting.

Then the relatives of the owner of the cat and the relatives of the owner of the dog joined the fray.

Then their friends and neighbors.

As the riot spread from street to street, the prime minister advised the king, "You must send out the palace guards to quell this violence, Your Majesty."

But it turned out that some of the palace guards were allied to the cat faction while others were allied to the dog faction, and so the fighting grew even worse.

The conflict spread to the suburbs of the capital.

Then civil war raged throughout the kingdom.

Rival kings to the north, south, east, and west seized the opportunity; they invaded from all directions and divided the kingdom amongst themselves.

And that is how a kingdom was lost, all because of a drop of honey. 

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Inspired by: "A Kingdom Lost for a Drop of Honey" in A kingdom lost for a drop of honey and other Burmese folktales by Maung Htin Aung and Helen G. Trager, 1968.
Notes: You can read the original story online. I also did my own 100-word version of the story too!

The illustrations by Paw Oo Thet are marvelous!

Anansi and the Pea

Anansi found a pea lying in the road. Just one little pea. 

"I wish I had more," said Anansi sadly, but he planted his pea, and then he waited to see what would happen.

The pea-plant grew and grew.

Then one day Goat wandered by, and he ate Anansi's pea-plant.

"Hey!" shouted Anansi. "That was my pea-plant. You must give me something in exchange."

"Okay," said Goat, and he gave Anansi one of his horns.

Anansi took the horn down to the river to wash it, but the River grabbed the horn and took it away from Anansi.

"Hey!" shouted Anansi. "That was my horn. You must give me something in exchange."

"Okay," said River, and she gave Anansi a fish.

Walking home, Anansi met a woman. "I'm hungry!" the woman said, and she grabbed Anansi's fish.

"Hey!" shouted Anansi. "That was my fish. You must give me something in exchange."

"Okay," said the woman, and she gave Anansi a shirt.

Next, Anansi met a little boy who had no clothes on. "I need clothes!" he said, and he grabbed Anansi's shirt.

"Hey!" shouted Anansi. "That was my shirt. You must give me something in exchange."

"Okay," said the boy, and he gave Anansi his whip.

Then Anansi met a cowherd. "I need that whip to herd my cows!" said the cowherd, and he grabbed Anansi's whip.

"Hey!" shouted Anansi. "That was my whip. I want something in exchange. Give me one of your cows!"

So the cowherd gave Anansi one of his cows.

From the cow, Anansi got milk, and from the milk Anansi got cheese.

Anansi sold the cheese and bought more cows.

Soon Anansi had a herd of cows all his own.

And he started with just one pea!

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Inspired by: "The Pea That Made a Fortune" in Anansi and Company: Retold Jamaican Tales by Bish Denham, 2013.
Notes: You can read a very short version of the story here: Anansi and the Pea.

(from pxfuel)

Baboon's Foolish Judgment

Someone had chewed the tailor's clothes.

The tailor thought Mouse looked guilty. "Did you chew my clothes, Mouse?" asked the angry tailor.

"I did not!" protested Mouse. "Cat is the guilty one."

Cat blamed Dog, Dog blamed Wood, Wood blamed Fire, who blamed Water, who blamed Elephant, who blamed Ant. 

The tailor wasn't sure what to do, so he went to Baboon. "Someone has chewed my clothes! I blamed Mouse, but Mouse blamed Cat who blamed Dog who blamed Wood who blamed Fire, and Fire blamed Water, Water blamed Elephant, and Elephant blamed Ant. You, Baboon, must be the judge. Summon all the suspects here and find the criminal. I demand satisfaction!"

Baboon called all the suspects to come to court for the trial. 

After hearing all the evidence, Baboon didn't know which suspect to punish, so he decided that they should all punish each other.

"Cat, bite Mouse!" Baboon shouted.

Cat bit Mouse, and then Baboon shouted, "Dog, chase Cat!" 

Dog chased Cat, and then Baboon shouted, "Wood, beat Dog!" 

Wood beat Dog, and then Baboon shouted, "Fire, burn Wood!" 

Fire burnt Wood, and then Baboon shouted, "Water, extinguish Fire!" 

Water extinguished Fire, and then Baboon shouted,  "Elephant, drink Water!" Elephant drank Water, and then Baboon shouted, "Ant, sting Elephant!" 

Ant stung Elephant.

There was no one left to shout at, so Baboon squashed Ant under his foot.

Then he turned to the tailor and asked. "Are you satisfied now?"

"I suppose so," said tailor. "You've punished every single suspect, so, yes: I'm satisfied."
But there's been trouble ever since Baboon's foolish judgment: Ant keeps stinging Elephant, Elephant keeps drinking Water, Water keeps extinguishing Fire, Fire keeps burning Wood, Wood keeps beating Dog, Dog keeps chasing Cat, and Cat keeps biting Mouse... and everybody keeps squashing Ant.

As for Baboon, he used to walk on two legs like a person, but now he walks on four legs like the other animals, all because of his foolish judgment.

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Inspired by: "The Judgment of the Baboon" in Reynard the fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot fables and tales by Wilhelm Bleek, 1864.
Notes: You can read the original story online. Bleek got the story from the missionary J. G. Kroenlein, who recorded it in Namaqualand in southern Africa; more about Kroenlein at Wikipedia. I expanded on the story to bring out the chain of accusations in detail, and I added the part about squashing Ant; that was not part of the original chain. The story said they were going to "punish each other," so I figured someone needed to punish Ant too.

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