. Tales of the Punjab : told by the people . THE BEARS BAD BARGAIN. NCE upon a time, a very oldwoodman lived with his veryold wife in a tiny hut close tothe orchard of a rich man,—so close that the boughs of apear-tree hung right over thecottage yard. Now it wasagreed between the rich manand the woodman, that if any of the fruit fell into the. yard, the old couplewere to be allowed to eat it ; so you may imaginewith what hungry eyes they watched the pearsripening, and prayed for a storm of wind, or a flockof flying foxes, or anything which would cause thefruit to fall. But nothing came, and th
. Tales of the Punjab : told by the people . THE BEARS BAD BARGAIN. NCE upon a time, a very oldwoodman lived with his veryold wife in a tiny hut close tothe orchard of a rich man,—so close that the boughs of apear-tree hung right over thecottage yard. Now it wasagreed between the rich manand the woodman, that if any of the fruit fell into the. yard, the old couplewere to be allowed to eat it ; so you may imaginewith what hungry eyes they watched the pearsripening, and prayed for a storm of wind, or a flockof flying foxes, or anything which would cause thefruit to fall. But nothing came, and the old wife,who was a grumbling, scolding old thing, declaredthey would infallibly become beggars. So she tookto giving her husband nothing but dry bread to eat, 36 TALES OF THE PUNJAB and insisted on his working harder than ever, till thepoor old soul got quite thin ; and all because thepears would not fall down ! At last, the woodmanturned round and declared he would not work anymore unless his wife gave him khichri to his dinner ;so with a very bad grace the
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidtalesofpunjabtol00stee
