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Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens
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Title: The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient
Author: Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens
Illustrator: Dugald Stewart Walker
Release Date: July 31, 2021 [eBook #65965]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
Produced by: Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JADE STORY BOOK; STORIES FROM THE
ORIENT ***
The Jewel Series
THE
DIAMOND
STORY
BOOK.
Compiled
by
Penrhyn
W.
Coussens.
Illustrations in color by Ethel
Green.
THE EMERALD STORY BOOK.
Stories of Spring, Nature,
and Easter. By Ada and
Eleanor
Skinner.
Frontispiece in color by
Maxfield Parrish.
THE RUBY STORY BOOK.
Tales of Courage and
Heroism. Retold by Penrhyn
W. Coussens. Frontispiece
in color by Maxfield Parrish.
THE SAPPHIRE STORY BOOK.
Tales of the Sea. Collected
and retold by Penrhyn W.
Coussens. Frontispiece in
color by Maxfield Parrish.
THE TOPAZ STORY BOOK.
Stories and Legends of
Autumn, Hallowe’en, and
Thanksgiving. Compiled by
Ada M. and Eleanor L.
Skinner.
Frontispiece
in
color by Maxfield Parrish.
THE
TURQUOISE
STORY
B O O K . Stories
and
Legends of Summer and
Nature. By Ada M. and
Eleanor
L.
Skinner.
Frontispiece in color by
Maxfield Parrish.
THE PEARL STORY BOOK.
Stories and Legends of
Winter, Christmas and
New Year’s Day. Compiled
by Ada M. and Eleanor L.
Skinner.
Frontispiece
in
color by Maxfield Parrish.
THE GARNET STORY BOOK.
Tales of Cheer both Old
and New. Compiled by Ada
M. and Eleanor L. Skinner.
Frontispiece in color by
Dugald S. Walker.
THE JADE STORY BOOK.
Stories from the Orient.
Compiled by Penrhyn W.
Coussens. Frontispiece in
color by Dugald Stewart
Walker.
Drawn by Dugald Stewart Walker
THE
JADE STORY BOOK
Stories from the Orient
BY
PENRHYN W. COUSSENS
Author of “The Diamond Story Book,” “The Ruby Story Book,” “The
Sapphire Story Book.” Editor of “One Thousand Books for Children,”
“A Child’s Book of Stories,” “Poems Children Love,” etc.
FRONTISPIECE BY
DUGALD STEWART WALKER
NEW YORK
DUFFIELD AND COMPANY
1922
Copyright, 1922, by
DUFFIELD & COMPANY
Printed in the United States of America
TO MY
DEAREST PAL
MY WIFE
CONTENTS
Arranged Alphabetically
PAGE
Preface
ix
Adventures of Juan,
The
Tagalog
298
Crane and the
Crab, The
India
111
Dyed Jackal, The
India
244
Empress Janqwi
and the Magicians
China
260
Faithful Rajpoot,
The
India
16
Feast of the
Lanterns, The
China
303
Four Friends, The
Persia
292
Fox and the Crafty
Crab, The
China
67
He Wished to Live
Forever
Japan
102
How the Birds
Saved the
Emperor’s Life
China
3
In Union is Strength
China
323
Ingratitude
India
70
Jackal, Deer and
the Crow, The
India
89
Lion and the Hare,
The
India
116
Lumawig on Earth
Igorot
316
Mr. Sin, the Carp
China
206
Mysterious Garden,
The
India
357
Paper Bag, The
Japan
77
Pestle and Mortar
of Jade, The
China
338
Pigeon-King and
Mouse-King
India
98
Prince Ahmed
Persia
141
Prince Varna
Persia
250
Prince Zeyn
Alasnam and the
Sultan of the Genii
Persia
218
Princess Moonlight
Japan
52
Punchkin
India
30
Rasalu, the Fakir
and the Giants
India
365
Rajah Rasalu
India
271
Rosamond, the
Swift of Foot
Oriental
84
Story of Bantugan,
The
Moro
326
Story of Caliph
Stork, The
Oriental
119
Tale of Two
Merchants, The
Persia
23
Why Dogs Wag
Their Tails
Visayan
247
Widow’s Son, The
Mindanao
198
PREFACE
“The Jade Story Book” contains tales gathered from the folklore of Far Eastern countries—India, China, Japan, the
Philippine Islands and Persia. Most of those from India are adapted from “The Hitopadesa,” which is also known as “The
Book of Good Counsels,” and “The Criterion of Wisdom.” It may also be called “The Father of All Fables.”
These Fables were originally compiled in Sanscrit, and later, many centuries later, (about the year 600 A. D.), they were
rendered into Persic. About two hundred and fifty years afterwards they were translated into the Arabic, Hebrew and
Greek languages. They are perhaps best known in India today under the title of “Anvari Suhaili.” The translation from
which these particular stories are adapted is that from the original Sanscrit made by Sir Edwin Arnold.
The Igorot, Tagalog, Visayan, Mindanao and Moro stories are used by kind permission of A. C. McClurg & Co.,
publishers of “Philippine Folk Tales,” edited by Mabel Cook Cole.
Several of the Persian stories are taken from “The Arabian Nights” and others, from Persia, India, China and Japan, are
adapted from various sources, not least of which is “Gesta Romanorum.” One of them, “The Story of Caliph Stork,” is
from the collection by Wilhelm Hauff.
The author has on other occasions seized the opportunity to emphasize the fact that fairy tales and fables are really
necessary to the child, who, without them, is being defrauded of that which belongs to him. They stimulate the youthful
imagination and provide a good foundation for the further development of the mind.
Most fairy stories not only amuse, but their unfolding shows the child that good invariably triumphs over evil, and the moral
is that one who is kind, polite, generous, unselfish and brave wins in the end. Surely this is worth while.
ix
x
THE JADE STORY BOOK
HOW THE BIRDS SAVED THE EMPEROR’S LIFE
There was once an Emperor of China whose palace was the most wonderful in the world, being built entirely of priceless
porcelain. In the garden were the most beautiful flowers, on some of which were little golden bells which tinkled in the wind
so that you could not help looking at them.
It was a really wonderful garden, and so large that even the Head Gardener himself did not know where it ended. If you
should reach the end of the garden you would come to a magnificent forest in which were great trees and deep lakes. The
banks sloped down to the water, which was as clear as crystal. Overhanging the lakes were the boughs of some of the
trees, which were so large that ships could sail beneath them. In one of these trees there lived a Nightingale which sang so
beautifully that a poor fisherman, who had a great deal to do, even stopped his work to listen to the bird singing. “How
beautiful it is!” he said, but he had to attend to his duties and then forgot about the bird. But each night it was the same; the
fisherman could not resist the temptation and he left his work to listen to the bird.
The Emperor’s palace and garden were so magnificent that many travelers from foreign countries wrote books describing
their beauty; but every scholar who wrote said that the finest thing of all was the singing of this Nightingale.
These books were read by many people all over the world, and at last some of them reached the Emperor, who sat in his
chair of solid jade and read and read and read. He was very much pleased that so many people who were scholars should
write so much about his palace and garden, but he was surprised to find that in each book the Nightingale was spoken of
as the finest and most wonderful thing of all.
“It is very strange,” said the Emperor, “I’ve never heard this Nightingale and it does seem unusual that I should know
about it for the first time from reading books written by travellers.”
He called his First Lord to him and said, “In all of these books there is mention of a very remarkable bird which is called
‘The Nightingale.’ The writers all say that it is the most glorious thing in my kingdom. How is it that no one has ever told
me about it?”
“Why, I don’t know anything about it myself,” said the First Lord, “but I will go and find it.”
The First Lord didn’t know where it was, so he ran all over the palace and asked everybody there, but none of them had
ever heard of the Nightingale. Then he returned to the Emperor and said it must be an invention of those who had written
the books.
“Your Royal Highness must know that not all that is written is true, and that much of it is invented,” said he.
“But the last book I read,” said the Emperor, “was sent to me by the great ruler of Japan, so that it must be true, and I
insist upon your bringing the Nightingale here this evening; if you do not, every one in this palace shall be trampled under
foot.”
“All right, your Majesty,” said the First Lord; and he ran up and down the stairs, through halls and corridors, and as he
told the people what would happen to them if the Nightingale were not brought there that evening they all followed him,
because they had no wish to be trampled under foot, and all were most curious to know about this wonderful Nightingale
which it seemed that everybody in the world knew about except those who lived in the palace.
At last they met a poor little girl in the kitchen who said, “Why, I know the Nightingale, and I have often heard her sing.
Every night when I go home to my Mother I am so tired that I sit and rest for a little while in the wood, and then I hear the
Nightingale sing, and it is so wonderful that it always brings tears to my eyes.”
“Then,” said the First Lord, “little kitchen maid, if you can lead us to this Nightingale you shall have leave to see the
Emperor at dinner this evening, for she is invited by His Majesty to come and sing to him.” Then they all went into the
garden where the Nightingale lived, and on the way they heard the mooing of a cow.
“Oh, this must be the Nightingale! How wonderful that such a little bird has such a tremendous voice!” said they.
“That is not a bird singing, that is a cow mooing,” said the little kitchen maid. “We have a long way to go yet.”
A little farther on they heard some frogs croaking in the marsh. The Chinese Chaplain was with them and he said, “How
sublime! That is just like the ringing of a church bell.”
“Why,” said the little kitchen maid, “those are frogs croaking, but very soon we shall hear her.”
Just then the Nightingale began to sing.
“Hark!” cried the little girl. “Listen!” and pointing to a little bird sitting up in the branches, said, “There she is.”
“It doesn’t seem possible that so very common looking a bird as that can sing,” said the First Lord. “It must be that she
has lost her brilliant plumage because there are so many distinguished people here.”
Then the little kitchen maid called out, “Little Nightingale, our gracious Emperor invites you to sing before him this
evening!”
“It will give me great pleasure to do so,” said the Nightingale; and then she began to sing so gloriously that they were all
entranced. The First Lord said, “I have never heard anything so beautiful before. His Majesty will be delighted.”
The Nightingale, thinking the First Lord was the Emperor, said, “Shall I sing again for your Majesty?”
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