Old Sultan
Once there was a farmer, who had a dog called Sultan. Sultan was a great dog, but now he was old. Before, he had guarded the house, but now he had lost all his teeth, so he could not eat easily. He could not bite food, or bite people. None of the other animals were afraid of him anymore.
One day, the farmer was talking to his wife, and said, ‘Tomorrow I will kill Old Sultan. He is no longer useful.’
His wife felt sorry for the animal, and said, ‘He has been in our house for so long. He has guarded us so well. Can we not let him live?’
‘What?!’ said the man. ‘Don’t be silly. He doesn’t have a single tooth in his mouth. No animal or man is afraid of him. He has no use for us. Yes, he has guarded us well, but we gave him food and a home.’
But Old Sultan was lying outside in the sun, and he had heard everything.
“I don’t want to die tomorrow!” he thought.
Luckily, Sultan had a good friend, the wolf, so he went into the forest that night to see him. He told the wolf what the farmer had said.
‘Don’t worry, Old Sultan,’ said the wolf. ‘I will help you. I have an idea. Tomorrow, early in the morning, the farmer will go to work with his wife. Usually, they take their child with them, and the boy lies in the sun. Lie beside the boy, as if you are guarding him. Then I will run out of the forest and take the child away. You will run after me, and take the child back. I will give it to you, and you will take it back to the parents. They will think that you saved the child, and they will be so happy that they won’t kill you. In fact, they will be so happy that they will be very nice to you!’
The dog liked the plan, so they did it just as the wolf said. The farmer shouted when he saw the wolf running away with the child, but when Old Sultan brought it back, he was so happy. He said to the dog, ‘I can’t hurt you now. You can eat my food as long as you live.’ He turned to his wife and said, ‘Go home and make Old Sultan some soup, and put some bread it in, so that he can eat it without teeth. And he can sleep in my bed if he wants!’
From then on, Old Sultan lived a very comfortable life. But a few weeks later, the wolf visited him.
‘I am so happy to see you like this,’ said the wolf. ‘So I am sure you want to help me as well. Your farmer has quite a few fat sheep, and they look very nice. I think I will take one away tonight. You will let me, won’t you?’
‘No,’ said the dog. ‘I must guard the sheep for the farmer. I cannot help you.’
The wolf thought, “Well, Old Sultan is a good friend of mine. After all, I helped him, and now he lives like a king. One sheep is not much…”
So the wolf came in the night and took away the sheep. But Old Sultan had told the farmer of the wolf’s plan, and the man caught the wolf and hit him many times. The wolf had to run away, but he said to the dog, ‘Just wait. You will pay for this!’
The next morning the wolf sent a pig to talk to the dog.
‘You, Old Suntan.’
‘My name is Old Sultan,’ the dog said, like a king.
‘Yeah, yeah. Come to the forest. The wolf wants to talk to you.’
Now Old Sultan was very afraid. He knew that the wolf and the pig wanted to fight, but he was not strong. No strong animal would help him. All he could find was a cat with three legs. As they went into the forest, the cat limped along.
‘Oh, it hurts! It hurts!’ said the cat. Her tail was high and straight in the air, because it hurt so much.
The wolf and the pig were waiting for them. But when they saw the dog and the cat, they thought that the cat’s tail was a sword. And when they saw the cat limping on three legs, they thought it was picking up a stone to throw at them.
‘I don’t know,’ said the wolf. ‘That cat looks strong. She has a sword, and she’s picking up a stone! Let’s hide.’
So the pig hid in the grass and the wolf hid in a tree.
The dog and the cat arrived, but there was nobody there. The pig, however, had not hidden himself very well. His ear could be seen in the grass. The cat looked around, and saw the pig’s ear. She thought it was a mouse, so she jumped on it and bit it.
‘Ow!’ cried the pig, and ran away, saying, ‘The wolf is up in the tree!’
The dog and the cat looked up and saw the wolf.
‘Well, well, well,’ said the dog. ‘The big bad wolf is hiding in a tree.’
The wolf jumped down, very embarrassed. ‘You showed me. I thought you were so strong, and I was all afraid. Can we be friends?’
‘Of course,’ said the dog.
‘You mean I can’t fight?’ said the cat. ‘I wanted to fight!’
THE END
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