Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Human Resource Management 11th Edition Hollenbeck Test Bank instant download all chapter
Human Resource Management 11th Edition Hollenbeck Test Bank instant download all chapter
https://testbankdeal.com/product/human-resource-management-11th-
edition-rue-test-bank/
https://testbankdeal.com/product/human-resource-management-11th-
edition-noe-solutions-manual/
https://testbankdeal.com/product/human-resource-management-11th-
edition-rue-solutions-manual/
https://testbankdeal.com/product/canadian-human-resource-
management-canadian-11th-edition-schwind-test-bank/
Canadian Human Resource Management Canadian 11th
Edition Schwind Solutions Manual
https://testbankdeal.com/product/canadian-human-resource-
management-canadian-11th-edition-schwind-solutions-manual/
https://testbankdeal.com/product/human-resource-management-15th-
edition-mathis-test-bank/
https://testbankdeal.com/product/human-resource-management-6th-
edition-bernardin-test-bank/
https://testbankdeal.com/product/human-resource-management-10th-
edition-torrington-test-bank/
https://testbankdeal.com/product/human-resource-management-10th-
edition-byars-test-bank/
Human Resource Management, 11e (Noe)
Chapter 8 Performance Management
1) Visible support of the performance management process by the CEO and senior management
ensures that the system is consistently used across the company.
2) The initial steps of the performance management cycle involve an employee and a manager
identifying what the employee can do to capitalize on performance strengths.
6) Desiree and Jack were sharing their thoughts on the upcoming performance reviews. Desiree
shares that she feels the system is fair. She has accepted the performance management system.
7) Scott has ranked his employees from the highest performer to the lowest performer
demonstrating his understanding of alternation ranking.
8) Since Jose has started using the comparative approach, he has increased his leniency with some
employees and become stricter with others. He is using the comparative approach correctly.
9) Quality-based performance methods are quite easy to develop and are generalizable across a
variety of jobs, strategies, and organizations.
10) Attribute-based performance methods have strong congruence between the techniques and the
company's strategy.
13) Thinking strategically, motivating others, and fostering teamwork are all competencies.
15) Productivity measurement and evaluation system (ProMES) is designed to specifically define
performance dimensions by developing behavioral anchors associated with different levels of
performance.
1
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
16) One of the advantages of the results approach to performance measurement is that it
disassociates an individual's results from the organization's strategies and goals.
17) The assumption of Pareto analysis is that the majority of problems are the result of a small
number of causes.
18) The quality approach relies primarily on a combination of the attribute and results approaches
to performance measurement.
19) When evaluating employees, the most frequently used source is the manager of the unit.
20) Sanjeev looks forward to completing his self-rating. He always gives himself a high rating
showing that the company will be lost without him. He does not know that the self-rating is used
for administrative purposes only.
21) The major advantage of the 360-degree appraisal technique is that it provides a means for
minimizing bias in an otherwise subjective evaluation technique.
22) Older employees tend to have more confidence in the fairness of social performance
management than younger employees do.
23) Marian is worried that her unit will be the lowest performing unit again this year and she might
lose her job. She looks at each person's evaluation and gives them an increase by an entire
percentage point raising the overall total of her unit. Marian is engaged in appraisal politics.
24) Once the expected performance has been defined and employees' performances have been
measured, it is necessary to feed that performance information back to the employees so that they
can correct any deficiencies.
26) ________ is the means through which managers ensure that employees' activities and outputs
are congruent with the organization's goals.
A) Performance standardization
B) Performance budgeting
C) Performance management
D) Performance indicator
E) Performance dampener
27) The process through which an organization gets information on how closely an employee's
actual performance meets his or her performance plan is known as
A) performance appraisal.
B) job analysis.
C) performance feedback.
D) ability analysis.
E) achievement discrepancy.
2
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
28) Tami meets with each employee to go over their performance review. She knows that
________ is important if she wants the employees to improve.
A) performance appraisal
B) achievement discrepancy
C) job rotation
D) ability analysis
E) performance feedback
29) Olivia is writing her goals for her team for the next year. She looks back over the goals from
the last year and the company's goals for this year to craft the goals. This first step of performance
management is
A) developing employee goals, behavior, and actions to achieve outcomes.
B) identifying performance outcomes for company divisions and departments.
C) providing consequences for performance results.
D) identifying the improvements needed.
E) providing support and ongoing performance discussions.
30) Rick is the vice president of the human resources team. He designs a new performance
management process. He completes the first step and moves on to the next step of developing
employee goals and actions to achieve the outcomes. Which of the following is he likely to do next
to create an effective performance management process?
A) He will define performance outcomes for divisions and departments.
B) He will evaluate performance.
C) He will identify improvements needed.
D) He will provide support and ongoing performance discussions.
E) He will provide consequences for performance results.
32) As the CEO of Blue Corp., Terrell makes it a point to meet new hires at all levels of his
organization. He explains the goals of the company and emphasizes the importance of an
individual employee's role in the larger picture. This initiative of Terrell focuses on the ________
of performance management.
A) strategic purpose
B) administrative purpose
C) developmental purpose
D) statistical purpose
E) validity purpose
3
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
33) ________ is the extent to which the performance management system elicits job performance
that is consistent with an organization's strategy, goals, and culture.
A) Specificity
B) Reliability
C) Validity
D) Strategic congruence
E) Acceptability
34) Globo Analytics Inc., a data analysis company, has modified its performance management
system. Apart from training employees on their specific tasks, the trainers and managers help the
employees become more aware of the overall goals of the company and how their individual
performances influence the broader goals of the company. As a result of this, employees'
performances have become more consistent with the organization's strategies, goals, and culture.
This initiative of Globo focuses on the ________ criterion of performance management.
A) consistency
B) strategic congruence
C) social
D) acceptability
E) risk avoidance
35) Prometheus Corp. is a large-scale manufacturer of consumer electronic gadgets. As part of its
performance management system, Prometheus measures the amount each employee contributes to
the profits of the company, and the employees are either held accountable or rewarded based on
their contributions. With regard to performance measurement, under which of the following would
contribution to profits be categorized?
A) Key risk indicators (KRIs)
B) Critical success factors (CSFs)
C) Non-performing assets (NPAs)
D) Key performance indicators (KPIs)
E) Behavioral Observation Scales (BOSs)
36) Which performance management evaluation criterion reflects the extent to which a
performance measure assesses all the relevant—and only the relevant—aspects of performance?
A) Reliability
B) Strategic congruence
C) Acceptability
D) Specificity
E) Validity
4
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
37) Whittaker Publishing Corp. is a publishing company that wants to hire more technical experts
to handle the software requirements in the publishing process. However, the test given to the
programmers assesses not only their technical knowledge but also their communication skills,
language abilities, and understanding of client services. The test conducted by Whittaker
Publishing Corp. is
A) high on reliability.
B) low on strategic congruence.
C) high on specificity.
D) high on acceptability.
E) low on validity.
39) A software company assesses its developers more on their client support skills than their
development skills. Which of the following would best describe the software company's
performance management process?
A) Deficient
B) Contaminated
C) Unreliable
D) Inconsistent
E) Unspecified
40) Elle Inc. is a firm that holds frequent reviews and feedback sessions for its employees. It
demands that the same person review the employees of a team to ensure that the performance
evaluation is consistent; tests-retests are conducted periodically to make sure the evaluation is
consistent. These two steps taken by Elle Inc. focus on the ________ of performance management.
A) reliability
B) strategic congruence
C) specificity
D) acceptability
E) validity
41) Barrett and Lynn both rated the employees on the sales team. If their ratings are consistent then
they have ________ reliability.
A) internal consistency
B) interrater
C) inter-method
D) test-retest
E) parallel-forms
5
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
42) A measure that results in drastically different ratings over time lacks ________ reliability.
A) internal consistency
B) interrater
C) parallel-forms
D) test-retest
E) inter-method
43) Which of the following statements best defines the acceptability of a performance measure?
A) It is the extent to which the performance management system elicits job performance that is
consistent with the organization's strategy, goals, and culture.
B) It is the extent to which a performance measure gives detailed guidance to employees about
what is expected of them and in what ways they are unsuitable for the job.
C) It is the extent to which a performance measure assesses all the relevant—and only the
relevant—aspects of job performance.
D) It is the extent to which a performance measure is free from random error.
E) It is the extent to which a performance measure is deemed to be satisfactory or adequate by
those who use it.
44) The extent to which a performance measure gives guidance to employees about what is
expected of them is called
A) reliability.
B) validity.
C) specificity.
D) acceptability.
E) strategic congruence.
45) Which of the following approaches to measuring performance uses some overall assessment of
an individual's performance or worth and seeks to develop a ranking of the individuals within a
work group?
A) The results approach
B) The attribute approach
C) The comparative approach
D) The consequential approach
E) The behavioral approach
46) Darla is planning to rank her employees again this year. She has put Aaliyah at the top of the
list and then proceeds to cross her off. Which comparative approach is she using?
A) Simple ranking
B) Alternation ranking
C) Reverse ranking
D) Elimination by aspect
E) Forced distribution
6
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
47) Every year managers are given targets for categorizing their employees' performance at the
end of the year. The managers are allowed 5 percent at the top, 80 percent in the middle and then
15 percent at the bottom. This company is using
A) forced distribution.
B) the high/low ranking system.
C) paired comparison.
D) alternation ranking.
E) simple ranking.
48) The ________ method requires managers to compare every employee with every other
employee in a work group, giving an employee a score of 1 every time he or she is considered the
higher performer.
A) partner measurement
B) probability distribution
C) forced distribution
D) paired comparison
E) alternation ranking
49) Jian is a manager at Zobos Corp. He needs to perform an evaluation of his subordinates. He
does this by pairing each of his subordinates with every other subordinate in the same group, then
selects the higher performer between the two. At the end of the process, he calculates the number
of times a subordinate has been the higher performer in a match-up. Which type of performance
management system does Jian employ to perform the evaluation?
A) Probability distribution
B) Simple ranking
C) Forced distribution
D) Paired comparison
E) Scanlon plans
50) Roundel Inc. is a company that sells automobile tires. The company is projecting an increase in
sales in the next 12 months and is looking to fill the senior positions through internal recruiting to
meet this demand. The company is evaluating the individual performances and seeking to develop
some ranking of the individuals within a work group to identify the best performer. Which of the
following approaches is the company using?
A) The results approach
B) The attribute approach
C) The comparative approach
D) The behavioral approach
E) The quality approach
51) The ________ approach to performance management focuses on the extent to which
individuals have certain characteristics or traits believed desirable for the company's success.
A) results
B) quality
C) behavioral
D) comparative
E) attribute
7
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
52) Which of the following attribute approaches to performance management is most commonly
used?
A) Behaviorally anchored rating scales
B) Mixed standard scales
C) Behavior observation scales
D) Graphic rating scales
E) Simple ranking scales
53) Teknikal Inc. decides to implement a new performance management system. It consists of a
list of five traits used to evaluate all the employees. The manager considers one employee at a time
and, on a continuum with different points, circles the number that signifies how much of a
particular trait the individual has. Which type of performance management system is Teknikal Inc.
using?
A) Probability distribution
B) Simple ranking
C) Forced distribution
D) Paired comparison
E) Graphic rating scale
55) In which performance technique are managers given three statements of performance per
dimension and asked to indicate whether an employee's performance is above (+), at (0), or below
(−) the statements?
A) Behaviorally anchored rating scale
B) Forced distribution scale
C) Behavior observation scale
D) Graphic rating scale
E) Mixed-standard scale
8
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
56) Which of the following is true regarding the attribute approach to performance management?
A) There is usually a high congruence between the techniques used in this approach and the
company's strategy.
B) The methods usually have clearer performance standards due to which different raters provide
similar ratings and rankings.
C) It is easy to develop and is generalizable across organizations and strategies.
D) It provides specific guidance and feedback to employees.
E) The ratings from this approach are easily accepted by employees during feedback.
57) Bridget has an employee who is struggling with meeting quotas and attendance. You offer her
advice by telling her to not use the ________ as it will not provide guidance on improving
employee behavior.
A) quality approach
B) comparative approach
C) behavioral approach
D) attribute approach
E) results approach
58) Which performance management technique initially involves the identification of a large
number of critical incidents, followed by the classification of these incidents into performance
dimensions, and finally ranking these incidents into levels of performance?
A) Behaviorally anchored rating scale
B) Graphic rating scale
C) Comparative rating scale
D) Organizational behavior modification
E) A competency model
59) Zoe would like to terminate an employee. She claims that the employee is always on her cell
phone and not focusing on her work. You recommend she use a ________ to track the frequency of
the behavior, so she can share that information with the employee.
A) simple ranking method
B) behavioral observation scale
C) graphic rating scale
D) organizational behavior modification method
E) forced distribution scale
60) Which of the following is true regarding behavioral approaches to performance measurement?
A) They link the company's strategy to the specific behavior necessary to implement that strategy.
B) They adopt a very subjective approach to evaluating human behavior at the workplace.
C) They result in techniques that have a low degree of validity and acceptability.
D) They assume that there are multiple best ways to do the job.
E) Despite substantial investments in training, the techniques are not strong enough to be reliable.
9
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
61) The ________ approach assumes that subjectivity can be eliminated from the measurement
process and that outcomes are the closest indicators of one's contribution to organizational
effectiveness.
A) behavior
B) results
C) attribute
D) quality
E) comparative
62) Which of the following is a means of measuring and feeding back productivity information to
personnel with the main goal of motivating employees to higher levels of productivity?
A) Projective tests
B) Productivity Measurement and Evaluation System
C) Assessment centers
D) Critical incidents
E) Multicriteria decision analysis
63) Which of the following is the first step in the Productivity Measurement and Evaluation
System (ProMES)?
A) The staff defines indicators of the products to measure how well the products are being
generated.
B) The management develops a feedback system that provides employees and work groups with
information about their specific level of performance.
C) People in the organization identify the set of activities or objectives the organization expects to
accomplish.
D) The employee and manager identify what the employee can do to capitalize on performance
strengths.
E) The staff establishes the contingencies between the amount of the indicators and the level of
evaluation associated with that amount.
64) Which of the following is true about the results approach to performance management?
A) The results approach relies primarily on a combination of the attribute and results approaches to
performance measurement.
B) The results approach virtually eliminates problems of leniency, central tendency, and strictness.
C) The techniques of the results approach usually have very little congruence with the company's
strategy.
D) The results approach is usually highly unacceptable to both managers and employees.
E) The results approach minimizes subjectivity, relying on objective, quantifiable indicators of
performance.
65) A performance management system designed with a strong quality orientation can be expected
to
A) emphasize an assessment of system factors, but not person factors, in the measurement system.
B) emphasize managers and employees working separately to solve performance problems.
C) involve only the external customers in setting standards and measuring performances.
D) use multiple sources to evaluate person and system factors.
E) emphasize an assessment of person factors, but not system factors, in the measurement system.
10
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
66) ________ consists of practices participated in by employees from all levels of the company
that focus on continuous improvement of business processes.
A) Quality circle
B) Muda
C) Kaizen
D) Root cause analysis
E) Business process reengineering
67) Which of the following statistical process quality control techniques help identify the
redundancies in procedures that increase manufacturing or service time?
A) Cause-and-effect diagrams
B) Control charts
C) Pareto charts
D) Process-flow analyses
E) Histograms
68) A ________ is a quality control technique that lists the causes of a problem in decreasing order
of importance.
A) cause-and-effect diagram
B) control chart
C) Pareto chart
D) process-flow analysis
E) histogram
69) La'Keisha wants to understand data that HR has given her. She plots the points and evaluates
the variance between the outcomes and the expected value. She most likely creates a
A) control chart.
B) histogram.
C) cause-and-effect diagram.
D) process-flow analysis.
E) Pareto chart.
11
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
71) Which of the following is true about the quality approach to performance measurement?
A) The quality approach techniques usually have very little strategic congruence.
B) The quality approach has very low acceptability.
C) The quality approach does not advocate the evaluation of personal traits.
D) The quality approach adopts a systems-oriented focus.
E) The quality approach relies primarily on a combination of the comparative and results
approaches to performance measurement.
72) Both the comparative and the attribute approaches to performance measurement are
A) high on strategic congruence.
B) very low on specificity.
C) low on acceptability.
D) high on reliability.
E) very high on validity.
74) When gathering information on performance, HR relies on ________ more frequently than
any other group, because they will have the most accurate information.
A) peers
B) managers
C) subordinates
D) employees themselves
E) customers
75) Which of the following is true of peers as the source of performance information?
A) Peers have expert knowledge of job requirements and often have the most opportunity to
observe an employee in day-to-day activities.
B) Peer evaluations give employees power over their managers, thus putting managers in a
difficult situation.
C) Peers are comfortable providing evaluations for both administrative and developmental
purposes.
D) Peers have the ability to discard the fact that they may be friends with the ratee in order to
provide an unbiased rating.
E) Peers give feedback that is strongly related to performance and to employee perceptions of the
accuracy of the appraisal.
12
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
76) Appraisals that involve collecting subordinates' evaluations of a manager's behavior or skills
are known as
A) 360-degree feedback.
B) screening interviews.
C) peer review.
D) social performance.
E) upward feedback.
77) As a new strategy this year, HighLo Company is having its managers evaluated by the
members of their teams. This decision was made to give employees an opportunity to
anonymously share information about how they are being managed. HighLo most likely has not
considered that this type of performance evaluation has which disadvantage?
A) Subordinates tend to focus only on aspects of their manager's performance that are measured,
neglecting those that are not.
B) Subordinates do not have adequate opportunity to observe a manager's interactions and
behavior.
C) Friendship has the potential to bias ratings.
D) Subordinates have power over their managers, thus putting the managers in a difficult situation.
E) Subordinates find the situation of being both rater and ratee uncomfortable when the
evaluations are made for administrative decisions.
78) The ________ technique consists of having multiple raters above, equal to, and below the
manager providing input into a manager's evaluation.
A) gamification
B) background check
C) 360-degree appraisal
D) upward feedback
E) performance appraisal
79) At BayPoint Strategies, employees can work on several projects over the course of a year,
reporting to different managers and interacting with a variety of team members. Which of the
following approaches would be most effective and efficient in assessing employee performance at
this consulting firm?
A) Upward feedback
B) Social performance management
C) Productivity Measurement and Evaluation System
D) 360-degree appraisal
E) Paired comparison method
13
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
81) Harriet wants all of her team members to receive a raise, so she gives them all a high rating.
Which of the following errors is she falling prey to?
A) Halo
B) Contrast
C) Central tendency
D) Leniency
E) Similar to me
82) A ________ rater error is one in which a rater gives middle or average ratings to all employees
despite their performance.
A) horns
B) leniency
C) central tendency
D) strictness
E) contrast
83) ________ rating error occurs when a rater gives an employee high ratings on all aspects of
performance because of the rater's overall positive impression of the employee.
A) Contrast
B) Halo
C) Leniency
D) Similar to me
E) Central tendency
84) Benito, a psychology student, has had an overall negative impression of his psychology
professor. As a consequence, during the end-of-term appraisal, he rates his professor low on all
performance criteria. Which of the following rater errors has Benito committed?
A) Horns
B) Leniency
C) Central tendency
D) Contrast
E) Strictness
85) A situation in which evaluators purposefully distort a rating to achieve personal or company
goals is referred to as
A) Bayesian inference.
B) group dynamics.
C) 360-degree feedback.
D) appraisal politics.
E) the similar to me error.
14
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
86) ________ attempts to emphasize the multidimensional nature of performance and thoroughly
familiarize the raters with the actual content of various performance dimensions.
A) Social performance measurement
B) Sensitivity training
C) Multidimensional training
D) Rater accuracy training
E) Process-flow analysis
87) ________, attended by managers, provide a way to help ensure that performance is evaluated
consistently across managers and to reduce the influence of rating errors and politics on appraisals.
A) Calibration meetings
B) Frame-of-reference trainings
C) Multidimensional trainings
D) Rater accuracy trainings
E) Succession planning meetings
89) CobWeb Inc., a software firm, assesses managers based on how well they understand their
subordinates, as well as the factors involved in their poor performance. Which of the following
examples is the most appropriate evaluation of the input factors involved in analyzing poor
performance?
A) Lin considers if her subordinate has the technical skills required for the task.
B) Rocio checks if his subordinate is emotionally able to perform at the expected level.
C) Aliya looks into whether her subordinate has been given information about his performance.
D) Will analyzes if performance consequences are given in a timely manner.
E) DeShaun checks if the job flow and procedures are logical.
90) In what legal suit would the plaintiff allege that the performance measurement system varied
according to individuals?
A) Harassment suit
B) Statutory tort
C) Unjust dismissal suit
D) Discrimination suit
E) Custody action
92) What does the comparative approach do in terms of measuring performance? Discuss how
ranking can impact the employee and ultimately his or her performance.
15
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
93) Using examples, explain the advantages and disadvantages of using behavioral anchors in the
behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS).
95) Explain how the expected results of a performance management system designed with a strong
quality orientation can impact employee performance.
96) Discuss the differences between the attribute and behavioral approaches to performance
measurement related to the criteria of (a) strategic congruence, (b) validity, and (c) reliability.
97) Managers are the most frequently used source of performance information. Explain this
statement.
100) Discuss the ways a manager can improve the performance feedback process.
16
Copyright 2019 © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tales from silver
lands
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.
Language: English
CHAPTER PAGE
I A Tale
.......................................................................
of Three Tails 1
II The.......................................................................
Magic Dog 14
III The.......................................................................
Calabash Man 23
IV Na-Ha
.......................................................................
the Fighter 35
V The.......................................................................
Humming-Bird and the Flower 43
VI The.......................................................................
Magic Ball 48
VII El .......................................................................
Enano 59
VIII The.......................................................................
Hero Twins 69
IX The.......................................................................
Four Hundred 79
X The.......................................................................
Killing of Cabrakan 92
XI The.......................................................................
Tale of the Gentle Folk 99
XII The.......................................................................
Tale that Cost a Dollar 107
XIII The.......................................................................
Magic Knot 122
XIV The.......................................................................
Bad Wishers 134
XV The.......................................................................
Hungry Old Witch 143
XVI The.......................................................................
Wonderful Mirror 156
XVII The.......................................................................
Tale of the Lazy People 170
XVIII Rairu
.......................................................................
and the Star Maiden 188
XIX The.......................................................................
Cat and the Dream Man 197
WOODCUTS
So when he had done I asked him about that, for all the rats I had
seen had tails which were far from beautiful, according to my notion.
The man listened gravely, then said: “But certainly, once the rat
had a tail like a horse.”
“When was that?” I asked.
“When the rabbit had a tail like a cat,” he said.
“But I am still puzzled,” I told him. “Was it long ago?”
“It was when the deer’s tail was plumed like the tail of a dog,” he
told me.
As we talked, a kind of polite silence was upon all the people
gathered about us; then a very, very old woman who was smoking a
cigar nodded her head and said: “But Tio Ravenna is right. It was in
the days of Hunbatz, who lived on beetles and spiders, and I heard it
from my mother’s mother, and she from the mother of her mother.”
Then the old woman went on smoking with her eyes closed, and all
who were there nodded at one another, thinking, I suppose, that the
old grandmother would presently tell the story. But of course, they
who knew her well were wiser than to ask her to tell the Tale of
Three Tails, so every one waited.
Presently, a little girl gave the old grandmother a piece of sugar
and asked: “Was it two brothers, or three, who had to clear the great
forest? I am not sure.”
At that the little old lady’s eyes were bright and she threw away
her cigar and said:
“Two brothers. That I have told you before.” After a little sigh,
which was only pretending that she was weary of telling the tale, she
said: “You know that I have told it to you before, and it is wrong that I
should have to tell it so often. But you see this.”
So saying, she took from her bosom, where she had it fastened
to a silk thread, a little piece of jade and let us see it. It was broken
from a larger piece, but we could make out on it a carving which I
saw to be a deer with a tail like a sheep dog’s. We passed it about
and every one looked at it carefully, although certainly all of them
must have seen it time and time again, and when it came to the old
grandmother again she replaced it and told us the Tale of Three
Tails, just as I have written it here.
Once, long ago, the rat had a beautiful tail like a horse, with long
sweeping hairs, though it was before my time of life. It was in the
days of old Hunbatz, and he was a wizard who lived in the dark of
the great forest that used to be on the other side of the big river. In
those days things were not as now and animals were different; some
larger, some smaller. The deer, as you have seen on the stone I
showed you, had a tail like a dog, and the rabbit’s tail was long and
furry like the tail of a cat.
Now in that land there was a hunter with whom neither lasso nor
arrow ever failed, and he had two sons, beautiful to look at and
brave of heart, stout and quick of foot. Not only did the brothers work
better than any men had ever worked, but they could play ball and
sing, throwing the ball higher than birds could fly, and singing in a
way that brought the wild things to hear them. Nor was there living
creature able to run as swiftly as the two brothers. The birds alone
could outrace them.
The brothers being grown, their father thought that it was time for
them to make a home for themselves, so chose a place on the
farther side of the forest, and told them to clear it, which, he said,
could be done in seven days. It was no little forest, you must
remember, but a vast place, where sunlight never pierced, and the
roots of trees were like great ropes; a jungle that stretched for miles
and miles and the tangle in it was so thick that a monkey could
barely get through without squeezing. Deep in the forest there was a
blackness like the blackness of night. The trunks of the trees were so
large that three men holding hands could not circle them and where
there were no trees, there were vines and snakelike lianas and
thorn-bushes and flowers so great that a man could lie down to sleep
in the shade of them.
The first day the brothers took a great space, piling the trees at
one corner, clearing the tangle and leaving all as smooth as the
water of a lake. They sang as they worked, and they sang as they
rested in the heat of the day, and the organ bird and the flute bird
answered them from the gold-green shade. So pleasant was their
music that the old iguana, though he was as big as a man, came
from his resting place in the trees to listen.
Seeing how things were going, old Hunbatz in the dark of the
forest grew very angry, fearing that his hiding place would soon
dwindle and vanish. So he went to the great gray owl, his friend, and
they talked the matter over between them. The owl told Hunbatz that
he must set the father’s heart against the brothers, telling him that
the boys were lazy and instead of working spent their time in playing
with the ball and in singing.
“Go,” said the owl, “to their father, and when he asks how the
lads fare with their work, say to him:
It may fall out that he will grow angry and cut off their heads, and
thus the forest will be safe for us.”
That seemed to the wizard to be good advice, and before the
close of the day’s work, old Hunbatz, who could fly by flapping his
hands in a certain way like a swimmer, cast himself into the air and
flew with great swiftness to the place where the father lived. But he
took care to dress himself like a woodman.
“Well met,” said the father, seeing Hunbatz, but thinking him no
wizard of course. “From where do you come?”
“From the other side of the forest,” was the reply.
“Then perchance you saw my two sons who are clearing the
forest,” said the father.
“I did,” said Hunbatz.
“And how are the boys doing?” asked the father.
At that old Hunbatz shook his head sadly and answered, as the
owl had told him:
That, you know, was quite untrue, for while they sang, there was
no stopping of work, and as for the play, it is true that they threw the
ball from one to the other, but so clever were they that one would
throw the ball so high that it would take hours and hours before it
came down again, and of course, while it was in the air, the brothers
went on working.
“I would cut off their heads to teach them a lesson,” said
Hunbatz, “if they were sons of mine.” Then he turned on his heel and
went away, not flying until he was out of the father’s sight, for he did
not wish any man to know that he was a wizard.
To be sure, the good man was grieved and his face clouded,
when he heard the tale of Hunbatz, but he said nothing, and, a short
time after, the brothers came home. He was much surprised when,
asking the lads how much work they had done that day, they told him
that they had cleared off the space of forest he had bidden them to.
After much thought he told them that the next day they would have to
do twice as much as before. The brothers thought the new task hard,
but they went to work with a good will and on the second day the
trees fell like corn before a man with a machete, and before night
they had finished that which they had been given to do.
Again old Hunbatz flew through the air to the father and tried to
set him against the boys, and again that night, when the boys were
home, their task was set for the next day twice as much as the day
before.
It was the same the third day, and the fourth, until at last the boys
came to a point where by the mightiest working they could not move
a stick or a blade of grass more. And yet, because of old Hunbatz,
the father set them a task still greater.
On the fifth day things looked very hopeless for the boys, and
their hearts were sad as they looked at the forest and saw the task
that their father had set them to do. They went to work feeling for the
first time it would be impossible for the sun to go down on their
finished task, and the heart of old Hunbatz was glad. But the birds in
the forest were silent that morning, for they too knew that there were
sad hearts in the brothers. Even the grasshoppers and the
mosquitoes and the bees were still, and as for the boys, not a note of
joy could they raise.
Then to them came the iguana, wise old lizard who knew
everything that went on in the forest, and as soon as he had heard
what the brothers had to say he smiled and called on them to listen,
after making sure that there was no living creature to hear except the
birds, for of them he had no fear, knowing that the birds tell no
secrets.
“Be cheerful,” said the iguana, “and I will tell you a charm. It is
this: mark about the handles of your working tools rings of black,
white, red, and green, and before you start to work, sing:
and if your hearts are brave, you will see what happens.”
Having said this and smiled on the brothers, the old iguana
climbed into a tree and stretched himself along the branch of it
where he could best see, and the birds gathered in a great circle, a
matchless melody going up to the sky.
So the brothers took their axes, their spades, their hoes, and their
machetes, and painted about the handles of them rings of black and
of white and of red and of green, and their voices rang sweet and
clear as they sang, as the iguana had told them:
Had I such sons, I would cut their heads off to teach them a lesson.”
Said the father: “To-morrow I shall go to the forest, and if you
have not spoken truth, then this arrow which has never yet missed a
mark shall find one in your heart. But if it is as you say, then my sons
shall feel my anger.”
Old Hunbatz did not like that at all, for well he knew that the
hunter’s arrows were never wasted. So back he flew to the owl and
the two of them whispered together. That night there was a great
gathering of the animals: of the hare, the deer, the rat, the jaguar, the
puma, the opossum, and many others. The rat, the deer, and the
rabbit led them, and in a wonderfully short time, not only were all
things restored and the work of the day undone, but the trees and
the bushes and the vines and the lianas that had been moved on the
other days were put back in their old places, growing and blooming,
so that all was as though the brothers had never been at the forest at
all.
Sad was the hour the next morning when the hunter came with
his two sons and saw the forest as though hand had never touched
it. The brothers could not believe their eyes. Grinning from the thick
of a rubber tree was the face of Hunbatz, and on his shoulder was
the owl. For a moment the father thought to cut off the heads of the
lads to teach them a lesson, but on second thought he told them that
he would give them another chance.
“What should have been done is not done,” he said. “I will grant
you a day and a night to clear all the forest as you told me it was
cleared. To-morrow morning I will come again, and see whether all is
well done.” At that he left them and went his way.
No sooner had he gone than the two brothers went to see the
iguana, who told them of the witchery of the owl and Hunbatz and
bade them to act as before. So they made the ring about the handles
of their working tools once more and sang:
and, as on the day before, axes, machetes, and spades went to work
and in a short time all was clear again. Then the iguana told the
brothers of the evil that Hunbatz had done and bade them set traps
and keep watch that night. So three traps were made and set, and
when night fell, from all parts of the forest there came animals led by
the rat, the deer, and the rabbit, and old Hunbatz and the owl
watched from the dark caves of the leaves.
No sooner had the first three animals stepped into the clearing
than they were caught fast in the traps, whereupon the rest of the
animals turned and fled. Then the brothers rushed to the traps. The
rabbit gave a great jump when he felt the jaws close upon his
beautiful catlike tail, but it was chopped off close to the body. The
deer, with his tail like a plume, fared no better. So both deer and
rabbit fled to the woods ashamed, and, as you see for yourself, have
had no tails ever since. As for the rat, he was far too wise to jump as
the rabbit and deer had done. But seeing the brothers coming, he
pulled and pulled and pulled so that all the beautiful hair was
stripped, leaving him with but a bare and ugly thing of a tail as you
see to-day.
The next morning when the hunter-father came, there was the
forest cleared and all in good order as the boys had said. So he
sought out old Hunbatz, who flapped his hands and flew for very
fear. But so fast he went that his clothes were burnt off, and his skin
was baked into a hard crust by the great heat, and he fell to the earth
and so became what we call an armadillo. As for the two brothers,
they lived very happily for many, many years, and things went well
with them and the land they lived in was a land of good harvest and
fruit trees.
So now you know the Tale of Three Tails and if you do not believe
it, look at the rat and the deer and the rabbit and the armadillo, and
see for yourself.