behind.

The tiger, by this time tired to death and suffering from the burns of
the bamboos, saw the buffalo and accosted him as he had his other
friends.

"O good friend buffalo," he cried, "I am in great danger of being burned
alive. The horse and the ox have not only deceived me, but in following
their advice I have arrived at a worse condition than before. What can I
do to be freed from this great danger?"

The buffalo looked up from the cool river where he was enjoying a bath,
and taking compassion on him said: "If you will catch hold of my throat
I will duck you in the river and so you shall escape from the danger
that is following you."

So the tiger seized the good buffalo by the throat and was held under
water till the fire had burnt itself out. The tiger was very grateful to
the buffalo and made an agreement with him that from that time no tiger
should ever kill a buffalo, and it is only the very worst tigers, those
that kill men, that ever kill a buffalo, and the tigers that are guilty
of killing buffaloes are sure to be killed themselves, sooner or later.

The tiger held so fast to the buffalo that when the latter came out of
the water, his throat and neck were all white, and buffaloes all have
that mark on their necks and throats till this very day.

The tiger was so cold after his bath that he shook and shivered as
though he had fever, and seeing a little house made of dried grass a
short distance off he went to it and found that a hare was living there.

"Good friend," said the tiger, "I am so cold I am afraid I shall die.
Will you take compassion on me and allow me to rest in your house and
get warm before I return home?"

"Come in, our lord," said the hare. "If our lord deigns to honor my poor
house with his presence, he will confer a favor that his slave will
never forget."

The tiger was only too glad to go into the hare's house, and the latter
immediately made room for him by sitting on the roof. Soon the tiger
heard click! click! click! and he called out: "O friend hare, what are
you doing up there on the roof of your house?"

Now the hare was really at that moment striking fire with her flint and
steel, but she deceived the tiger and said, "It is very cold up here,
and our lord's slave was shivering," but the next moment the spark
struck the dried grass on the roof and the house was soon in flames.

The tiger dashed out just in time and turned in a rage on his late host,
but the hare w