Pride Goeth Before a Fall
by Unknown · from Indian Fairy Tales
Adapted Version
Once upon a time, ten merchants walked home.
Ten good merchants walked home. They walked through a big forest. They had many good things to sell. They felt happy. They went to their village.
Three Big Robbers came. They stood in the path. The Big Robbers were mean. They took the merchants' bags. They took their coats. The merchants felt cold. They felt very sad.
The Big Robbers felt very big. They felt very strong. They told the sad merchants to dance. "Dance for us!" they said. The merchants did not want to dance. They were still sad. They felt very bad.
One merchant was very clever. He looked at the Big Robbers. They were happy and careless. They sat on the grass. They put their sticks down. They put their ropes down. The Clever Merchant saw this. He thought of a good plan.
The Clever Merchant started to dance. He sang a special song. It was a secret song. Only merchants knew it. The song had a secret message. It was for his friends. The other merchants listened close. They heard the secret words.
The Clever Merchant sang his song. He sang it two times. He sang it three times. The song told his friends what to do. "Ten merchants, three robbers," the song said. "Each merchant will gently hold a robber. The Clever Merchant will tie them." The merchants understood the plan.
The robbers did not know the secret. They just laughed. They thought it was a fun song. They were busy eating. They were busy talking. They were not watching the merchants.
The song ended. Merchants moved fast. They did their plan. They gently held the Big Robbers. The Big Robbers were very surprised. The Clever Merchant tied them. He used the soft ropes. The robbers could not move.
The merchants got their bags. They got their coats. They took the robbers' sticks. They took the ropes. They went home.
They told their happy story to friends. Everyone smiled and laughed. The merchants were so clever! They were very proud.
The merchants were happy. They learned that being clever is very strong. It is better than being big and mean.
Original Story
Pride goeth before a Fall
n a certain village there lived ten cloth merchants, who always went about together. Once upon a time they had travelled far afield, and were returning home with a great deal of money which they had obtained by selling their wares. Now there happened to be a dense forest near their village, and this they reached early one morning. In it there lived three notorious robbers, of whose existence the traders had never heard, and while they were still in the middle of it the robbers stood before them, with swords and cudgels in their hands, and ordered them to lay down all they had. The traders had no weapons with them, and so, though they were many more in number, they had to submit themselves to the robbers, who took away everything from them, even the very clothes they wore, and gave to each only a small loin-cloth a span in breadth and a cubit in length.
The idea that they had conquered ten men and plundered all their property, now took possession of the robbers' minds. They seated themselves like three monarchs before the men they had plundered, and ordered them to dance to them before returning home. The merchants now mourned their fate. They had lost all they had, except their loin-cloth, and still the robbers were not satisfied, but ordered them to dance.
There was, among the ten merchants, one who was very clever. He pondered over the calamity that had come upon him and his friends, the dance they would have to perform, and the magnificent manner in which the three robbers had seated themselves on the grass. At the same time he observed that these last had placed their weapons on the ground, in the assurance of having thoroughly cowed the traders, who were now commencing to dance. So he took the lead in the dance, and, as a song is always sung by the leader on such occasions, to which the rest keep time with hands and feet, he thus began to sing:
"We are enty men,
They are erith men:
If each erith man,
Surround eno men
Eno man remains.
Tâ, tai, tôm, tadingana."
The robbers were all uneducated, and thought that the leader was merely singing a song as usual. So it was in one sense; for the leader commenced from a distance, and had sung the song over twice before he and his companions commenced to approach the robbers. They had understood his meaning, because they had been trained in trade.
When two traders discuss the price of an article in the presence of a purchaser, they use a riddling sort of language.
"What is the price of this cloth?" one trader will ask another.
"Enty rupees," another will reply, meaning "ten rupees."
Thus, there is no possibility of the purchaser knowing what is meant unless he be acquainted with trade language. By the rules of this secret language erith means "three," enty means "ten," and eno means "one." So the leader by his song meant to hint to his fellow-traders that they were ten men, the robbers only three, that if three pounced upon each of the robbers, nine of them could hold them down, while the remaining one bound the robbers' hands and feet.
The three thieves, glorying in their victory, and little understanding the meaning of the song and the intentions of the dancers, were proudly seated chewing betel and tobacco. Meanwhile the song was sung a third time. Tâ tai tôm had left the lips of the singer; and, before tadingana was out of them, the traders separated into parties of three, and each party pounced upon a thief. The remaining one—the leader himself—tore up into long narrow strips a large piece of cloth, six cubits long, and tied the hands and feet of the robbers. These were entirely humbled now, and rolled on the ground like three bags of rice!
The ten traders now took back all their property, and armed themselves with the swords and cudgels of their enemies; and when they reached their village, they often amused their friends and relatives by relating their adventure.
Story DNA
Moral
Pride and overconfidence can lead to one's downfall, and cleverness can overcome brute force.
Plot Summary
Ten cloth merchants are ambushed and robbed by three overconfident thieves in a forest. Stripped of their possessions and forced to dance, one clever merchant devises a plan. He sings a coded song in a secret trade language, instructing his companions to overpower the robbers. Unaware of the ruse, the proud robbers are caught off guard as the merchants execute the plan, recovering their goods and returning home victorious, often recounting their clever escape.
Themes
Emotional Arc
despair to triumph
Writing Style
Narrative Elements
Cultural Context
The use of a 'riddling sort of language' or cant is a historical practice among various trades or groups to communicate privately.
Plot Beats (10)
- Ten cloth merchants, returning from a successful trip, enter a dangerous forest.
- Three robbers ambush the unarmed merchants, stripping them of their goods and clothes, leaving them only loin-cloths.
- The robbers, full of pride in their easy victory, order the humiliated merchants to dance for them.
- One clever merchant notices the robbers' overconfidence and their weapons lying on the ground.
- The clever merchant begins to lead a dance and sings a coded song using secret trade language.
- The song, repeated multiple times, instructs the nine other merchants to each pounce on a robber, while the leader binds them.
- The uneducated robbers, oblivious to the song's true meaning, remain boastful and distracted.
- At the climax of the song, the merchants execute the plan, overwhelming and tying up the robbers.
- The merchants retrieve their stolen goods, arm themselves with the robbers' weapons, and continue their journey home.
- The merchants recount their adventure to friends and family, often amusing them with the tale of how they outsmarted the robbers.
Characters
The Clever Merchant
Of average height and build for a man of his profession and region, likely lean from travel. His skin is tanned from exposure to the sun during his journeys. He possesses an observant gaze.
Attire: Initially stripped to only a small, simple off-white or undyed cotton loin-cloth, a span in breadth and a cubit in length. After the confrontation, he reclaims his original attire, which would be practical, durable clothing suitable for a merchant in a South Asian village setting – perhaps a simple cotton dhoti, a loose tunic (kurta), and a shawl (gamcha) for carrying goods or protection from the sun.
Wants: To reclaim his and his friends' stolen property and dignity, and to ensure their safe return home.
Flaw: Initially, his lack of physical weaponry and the surprise of the attack made him vulnerable.
Transforms from a plundered victim into the mastermind of a successful counter-attack, reaffirming his leadership and ingenuity.
Clever, resourceful, observant, strategic, and a natural leader. He quickly assesses situations and devises solutions under pressure.
The Robber Leader
A burly, imposing man, likely taller and broader than the average merchant, with a menacing presence. His skin is weathered from an outdoor life.
Attire: Initially, he would wear practical, dark, and worn clothing suitable for a forest brigand, perhaps a coarse cotton tunic and trousers, possibly with a rough vest or sash. After the plunder, he is seated like a monarch, but still in his brigand attire. Ultimately, he is stripped and bound.
Wants: To plunder and dominate others, driven by greed and a desire for power and ease.
Flaw: His immense pride and underestimation of his victims' intelligence, coupled with his lack of education, which prevents him from understanding the merchants' secret language.
Begins as a triumphant oppressor, but his pride leads to his downfall, ending as a humiliated and bound captive.
Arrogant, overconfident, uneducated, cruel, and easily pleased by displays of submission. He underestimates his victims.
Locations
Dense Forest Clearing
A clearing within a dense forest, likely in a tropical or subtropical region of India, with tall trees forming a thick canopy. The ground is covered in grass, where the robbers seat themselves 'like three monarchs'.
Mood: Initially tense and fearful, then shifting to cunning and ultimately triumphant.
The merchants are ambushed, stripped of their belongings, forced to dance, and then execute their clever plan to overpower the robbers.