Wonder Tales from Many Lands 11

Wonder Tales from Many Lands 11

THE MAGIC RICE KETTLE

 

A KOREAN STORY

 

 

THERE was once an old man who was so poor he was scarcely able to buy

food enough to keep him alive.

 

He had never married, and so he had no children, but he had a little

dog and cat that lived with him, and these two he loved as though they

were his own son and daughter. What little he had was shared with them,

and if they were sometimes hungry, it was because he had nothing in the

house to eat.

 

One day the old man found that all he had was one scant handful of rice.

 

“Alas, my little dog and cat, what will become of us now?” he cried.

“This handful of rice is all that is left to keep us alive. After it is

gone, you must seek another master who can feed you better than I. Even

if I must starve, that is no reason why you should too.”

 

The little cat mewed, and the dog looked up into his master’s face, as

though they had understood all he said to them.

 

The old man put the rice over the fire to cook, and just as it was

done, and he was about to feed the animals, the light in the hut was

darkened; looking round, he saw a tall stranger standing in the open

doorway.

 

“Good day,” said the stranger.

 

“Good day,” answered the old man.

 

“I have come a long way,” said the stranger, “and I am footsore and

weary. May I come in and rest?”

 

Yes, he might do that and welcome.

 

The stranger came in and sat down in the most comfortable place. “I am

hungry as well as weary.”

 

“Alas,” cried the old man, “this is a poor house in which to seek for

food.”

 

The stranger looked all about him. “Is not that rice that I see?” he

asked, pointing to the kettle.

 

“Yes, it is rice, but my little dog and cat are hungry also, and not

another morsel have we in the house beside that.”

 

“Nevertheless, it is right that a man should be fed before dumb

brutes,” said the stranger. “Give me at least a taste of the rice

before you feed them.”

 

The old man did not know how to refuse him.

 

“Take some of it, then,” he said, “but leave a little for them, I beg

of you.”

 

At once the stranger dipped into the kettle and began to eat, and he

ate so fast that before the old man could stop him, all the rice was

gone from the kettle, to the very last grain.

 

The old man was cut to the heart to think that his guest could have

done this. Now his little dog and cat would have to go to bed hungry.

All the same, he said nothing. He took up the empty kettle and was

about to put it back on the shelf when the stranger said to him, “Fill

the kettle with water and hang it over the fire again.”

 

“Why should I do that?” asked the old man. “Water will not fill our

stomachs or satisfy our hunger.”

 

“Nevertheless, do as I bid you,” said the stranger.

 

He spoke in such a way that the old man did not dare to disobey him.

Muttering to himself, he filled the kettle with water and hung it over

the fire.

 

The stranger drew out a piece of something that looked like amber and

threw it in the pot. At once the water began to boil, and as it did so

it became filled with rice. And such rice! The grains were twice as big

as usual, and from them arose a smell more delicious than anything the

old man had ever smelled before in all his life.

 

Filled with wonder and fear, he turned toward where the stranger had

been sitting, but the guest was gone. He had disappeared, and only the

little cat and dog were left in the room, waiting hungrily for their

dinner.

 

The old man lifted the kettle from the fire and began to serve out

the rice. And now a still more wonderful thing happened. No matter how

much was dipped out from the kettle, still it was always full. He could

hardly believe his eyes. He dipped and dipped. Soon all the pots and

kettles and bowls in the house were full of rice, and still the more he

took out the more there was.

 

“It is magic,” cried the old man. “It must be that the amber the

stranger threw in the pot was a charm. If so, puss and my dog and I

need never suffer hunger again.”

 

And so it turned out to be. As long as the amber was in the kettle, it

was always full of rice to the brim. The rice was always fresh, and

delicious too, so that not only the neighbours but the people from the

village across the river came to buy it; and they paid well for it.

 

The little cat and dog grew fat and sleek. As for the man, he not only

had enough to eat, but he was able to buy for himself all the clothes

he needed and to make presents to those who were poorer than himself.

 

One evening the old man felt very tired. So many people had come

through the day to buy rice that his arm quite ached with serving it

out.

 

He took a bowl and filled it for the cat and dog, and was about to set

it on the floor when he noticed to his surprise that the kettle was not

as full as it had been. He took another bowl and dipped out some more

of the rice. The kettle failed to fill itself.

 

Again he dipped, and the more he took out, the emptier the kettle grew.

The old man was very much frightened. He plunged his hands into the

rice that was left in the kettle and began to feel about for the charm,

but it was not there. Somehow, that day, while he was dipping out the

rice for his customers, he must have dipped out the charm, and some one

had carried it off home with his bowl of rice.

 

The old man was ready to tear his hair with despair. At once he ran out

and began to go about the neighbourhood, knocking at all the doors and

begging to know whether a piece of amber had been found in the rice the

people there had bought that day. But every one told him no. They had

found nothing in their bowls but rice.

 

Worn out with sorrow, he went back to his hut at last and threw himself

on the floor to sleep. It was a long time, however, before he could

close his eyes. Soon all the money that had been paid him for the rice

would be spent, and he was too old to work. Then there would be nothing

for him but the same poverty and hunger he had endured for so many

years. And his little dog and cat would have to suffer with him unless

they were wise enough to run away and seek another master. At last,

toward morning, the old man fell asleep, and then the dog and cat

began to talk together in low tones.

 

“This is a bad business,” said the dog.

 

“Bad enough,” answered puss. “Our master has been very careless. He

deserves to suffer. As for me, I have no notion of being half-starved

again the way I used to be. I shall go away and try to find another

home where there will be more to eat than here.”

 

“You are very ungrateful,” answered the dog. “Instead of planning to

run away, you ought to set your wits to work to think how we can help

our master.”

 

“But how could we do that? I know of no way.”

 

“Let us go out and hunt for the charm. Perhaps we can find it. Our

sense of smell is so keen that if we came anywhere near where it is I

am sure we could find it, however well it was hidden. We will go from

house to house—all through the village, if need be. I will nose about

in the gardens and out-buildings, and you must manage to creep into the

houses and hunt about through the rooms.”

 

“Very well,” answered the cat. “I am sure I would be glad enough to

help our master, and to stay with him too, if only he could give us

enough to eat.”

 

So, early the next day, before the old man was awake, the dog and the

cat started out together on their search. The people of the village

were still asleep, but the cat managed to find a way to creep into

several of the houses, and the dog searched about outside, as he had

promised to do.

 

But with all their searchings, they found nothing except some scraps

of food here and there. These they ate, and so satisfied their hunger

somewhat. Then, when night came, they returned home, footsore and weary.

 

The old man was very glad to see them. All day he had missed them and

had wondered where they were. He had saved some supper for them and

was surprised that they did not seem more hungry for it. He was still

very sad. All day people had been coming to the hut to buy rice from

him, and when they found he had none to sell, they had been very much

disappointed. Some of them had even been angry and had scolded him.

 

The following day the dog and cat continued their search, but night

found them still unsuccessful. So it went on, day after day and week

after week. At last they had visited every house in the village, but

they had seen and heard nothing of the charm.

 

“Now you see how it is. We are only wasting our time,” said the cat.

“I knew we could not find it, and I, for one, shall begin to look for

another home.”

 

“Nay, but wait a bit,” answered the dog. “Have you forgotten that many

of our master’s customers came from the village across the river? We

have not searched there yet.”

 

“No, nor will we as far as I am concerned,” answered the cat. “I am

no swimmer. I have no idea of getting drowned. If you want to search

there, you will have to go by yourself.”

 

The dog began to beg and plead with her. “Very soon,” said he, “the

river will be frozen, and then we can cross on the ice without your

wetting even the smallest toe of your paw. Only come!”

 

“Very well,” said the cat at last. “I will do it; but mind you, we must

wait until the river is well frozen, and there is no chance of our

breaking through.”

 

The dog agreed to this, and so, one cold day, when the river was as

hard as stone, the two friends crossed to the farther side, and at once

began to search the houses there.

 

At the first house they found nothing. At the second it was the same

thing; but no sooner had the cat entered the third house than she

smelled something that reminded her of the rice that had bubbled up in

the magic kettle. She made her way from one room to the other, and at

last she came to a small upper chamber that seemed to be unused. And

now she could smell the charm more strongly than ever, and the smell

seemed to come from the top of a high chest of drawers.

 

With a bound puss leaped to the top of it and looked about her. There,

pushed well back against the wall, was a heavy wooden box, and the

moment the cat put her nose to the keyhole she knew that the charm was

inside of it.

 

She had found the charm, and that was one thing, but how to get it

out of the box was quite a different matter. The box was locked, and

puss soon found it was impossible to raise the lid. She tried to push

it off the chest of drawers, hoping that if it fell on the floor it

might burst open, but the box was so heavy that she could not budge it

a hair’s breadth. It seemed a hopeless matter. If the dog were only

there, no doubt he could have pushed the box off; but then he had no

way of getting into the house; and even if he did, he could not climb

to the top of the chest of drawers.

 

But when puss went down to tell him about it, he did not seem to think

it was such a hopeless matter after all. He was overjoyed that she had

found the charm, and was sure that they could get it out of the box

some way or other.

 

“What we need,” said he, “is to get a good big rat to come and gnaw a

hole in the box for us.”

 

“Yes, but that is not so easy to do,” said the cat. “The rats have no

love for me, as you very well know. I have caught and eaten too many

of them. I believe they would be glad to starve me to death if they

only could.”

 

“You might make a bargain with them,” said the dog. “They would be glad

enough to help you, if you, in return, would promise not to catch any

of them for ten years to come.”

 

Well, the cat did not want to make that bargain at all. She was too

fond of catching the rats whenever she could. She and the dog argued

about it for a long time, but at last she agreed to do as he wished.

 

The next thing was to get a message to the king of the rats, and puss

knew of a way to manage that. She had seen a mouse-hole near one of the

out-buildings, and now she set herself very patiently to wait beside

it until the mouse should come out. She had to wait for a long time

too. Perhaps the mouse had heard the two friends prowling about. At any

rate, it lay so still in its hole that no one would have guessed it was

there at all except a cat. At length, toward evening, the mouse thought

it might be safe to venture out. But scarcely had it poked its nose out

of its hole when the cat pounced upon it and held it in her claws.

 

The mouse began to beg and plead for mercy. “Oh, good Mrs Cat—oh,

dear Mrs Cat, spare me, I pray of you! I have a wife and five little

mouselings at home, and they would surely die of grief if any harm came

to me.”

 

“I am not going to hurt you,” answered the cat, though her mouth

watered to eat it. “Instead, I am going to let you go, if you will

promise to carry a message for me to the king of the rats.”

 

When the mouse heard that the cat would let it go, it could hardly

believe in its good fortune. It promised that it would do anything the

cat wished it to, and at once the cat took her paws off it and set it

free. Then she told it what the message was that she wished it to carry

for her: she wished the king to send a rat to gnaw a hole in a box so

that she could get a charm that was locked away in it; if the king

would do this, she, in return, would promise not to hurt or harm any

mouse or rat for ten long years.

 

The mouse listened attentively, and as soon as he was sure he quite

understood the message he hurried away to carry it to the king of the

rats. He was only gone for a short time, and when he came back he

brought a stout, strong young rat with him. This rat had been sent by

the king, who was ready to agree to the bargain the cat had proposed,

and had sent the strongest, sharpest-toothed rat he had to gnaw the

hole in the box.

 

As soon as the cat heard this, she made her way back into the house,

while the rat and the mouse followed close after her, leaving the dog

to wait for them outside. The cat led the way to the upper room and

showed the rat the box on the chest of drawers. At once he set to work

on it. He gnawed and gnawed and gnawed, but the wood was as hard as

stone, as well as very thick.

 

At last he gnawed through it, but the hole was too small for him to

crawl through, and he was too exhausted to make it any larger. The cat,

indeed, could reach her paw through, and could even feel the charm, but

she could not hook it out, though she tried again and again. But here

the mouse made itself of use. It slipped through the hole into the box

and quickly brought the charm out in its mouth.

 

When the cat saw the charm she purred with joy. Once again she promised

the rat and mouse that she would not even try to catch them or any of

their kind for ten years. Then she took the charm in her mouth and ran

down to where the dog was.

 

The dog was even more delighted than she when he saw the charm.

 

“Oh, my dear master!” he cried. “How happy he will be.”

 

“Yes,” said the cat; “but now make haste. If the people in the house

discover the charm is gone, they might suspect us, and follow us, and

try to get it back.”

 

“Come, then,” said the dog. “But, oh, my dear master! I can hardly wait

to show him the charm.”

 

The cat and dog hurried on down to the river, but when they reached the

bank they met with a new difficulty. The weather had suddenly turned

very warm and the ice had begun to melt. In many places it was gone

altogether, and where it was left it was too thin even to bear such

small animals as themselves.

 

“And now what are we to do?” cried the cat. “We will never be able to

get back to our village.”

 

“Oh, yes, we can,” replied the dog. “Do you mount upon my back. Dig

your claws deep into my long hair and hold on tight, and I will carry

you across.”

 

The cat was terribly frightened at the thought of such a thing, but

still she saw no other way to cross the river. She climbed upon the

dog’s back, fastened her claws well in his hair, and then he plunged

into the water and began to swim across.

 

All went well until they neared the other bank. A crowd of children had

gathered there to see the ice break up. When they saw the dog swimming

across with the cat on his back, it seemed to them the funniest thing

they had ever seen in all their lives.

 

The dog was so busy swimming that he did not even notice them, but

the cat, upon his back, saw everything that was going on. She herself

suddenly began to think what a funny thing it was that she should be

riding at ease on the dog’s back, while he was swimming so hard.

 

She tried not to laugh, but she was so amused that at last she could

refrain no longer. She burst into a loud cat-laugh, and at once the

charm slipped from her mouth plump into the river, and sank to the

bottom.

 

“The charm! The charm!” the cat cried. “I have dropped it in the river,

and it has sunk to the bottom.”

 

As soon as the dog heard that, he dived down into the river to regain

it. He was in such a hurry that he never thought of telling the cat of

what he meant to do.

 

The cat’s claws were fastened so firmly in his hair that she could not

have let go if she had wished. Also her mouth was open, so that when

they went down into the river she swallowed a great deal of water. By

the time the dog came to the top again, panting and snorting, the cat

was almost drowned.

 

But the dog was too angry to think anything of that. “Wait till we get

to the shore,” he growled. “Just wait until we get to the shore, and

see what I will do to you for dropping the charm.”

 

But the cat had no idea of waiting for this. As they came near the

shore, she bounded from the dog’s back to the dry land, and then she

raced away and up a tall tree.

 

The dog chased after her, but he could not catch her. For some time he

stood at the foot of the tree, barking and growling, but at last he

trotted on home with drooping head and ears and a sad heart.

 

The old man was very glad to welcome the dog home again. He had feared

it was lost. He looked out from the door in all directions, hoping to

see the cat also, but the cat, which had now climbed down from the

tree, had gone to look for another home. It feared the dog’s anger too

much to venture back to the hut. Moreover, it had no liking for poverty

and hunger, and it hoped to find some place where it would be better

fed than with the old man.

 

And now indeed there were hard times in the hut. The old man grew

poorer and poorer, and thinner and thinner, and it was just as bad with

the faithful dog. The dog spent much of his time down at the river

looking sadly at the place where the charm had been lost and wishing

there were some way for him to find it.

 

Now there was a great deal of fishing done in that river, and sometimes

one of the fishermen, more kind-hearted than the rest, would throw a

fish to the hungry dog. This the dog always carried home to his master,

and the two faithful friends would share it together. It was always a

feast day when this happened.

 

One day one of the fishermen, who had been very lucky, called to the

dog and threw him a particularly large fish.

 

The dog caught it in his mouth and started home with it. Suddenly he

smelled something: it was like the magic rice that had bubbled up in

the pot; it must be the charm; it could be nothing but that; and the

smell came from the fish he was carrying in his mouth.

 

As soon as the dog was sure of this, he began to run. He could not get

home fast enough. He reached the hut and bounded in and laid the fish

upon the table.

 

“Good dog! Good dog!” cried his master. “Have you brought us a fine

dinner to-day?”

 

He took his knife and began to prepare the fish, but scarcely had he

cut into it before the blade struck against something hard. The old man

looked to see what it was, and what was his joy and amazement to find

that it was the charm, which the fish must have swallowed.

 

The old man was so delighted that he hardly knew how to contain himself.

 

“Oh, my precious charm!” he cried. “Oh, what good fortune! Oh, how

happy I am! Wait until I fill the kettle, my dear little dog, and then what a feast we will have.”