Page:Folk Tales from Tibet (1906).djvu/54

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30

STORY No. VI.

THE STORY OF THE FOOLISH YOUNG MUSSULMAN.

There was once a young Mussulman, who lived with his poor mother in a small cottage on the outskirts of a large town. As the Boy grew up, it was found that he was rather weak-minded, and that he was continually getting himself into scrapes, owing to his own folly and carelessness; and the naughty boys of the neighbourhood used to take advantage of the poor young fellow, and were constantly teasing him and telling him all sorts of absurd stories.

It chanced one day that he went for a walk in a large meadow, where there were a number of yellow flowers, and presently sitting down to rest, he began to gather a nosegay, when a young man passing by called out to him:

"Hullo! what are you doing there? Do you know that the soles of your feet are all yellow, and that is a sure sign that you are going to die at once?"

The poor young fellow was greatly frightened at hearing this, and he thought to himself:

"Well, if I am going to die, I had better have a grave ready."