Folklore of the Santal Parganas
by Cecil Henry Bompas · English · Gutenberg #11938 · 850,999 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Folklore of the Santal Parganas
Author: Cecil Henry Bompas
Release date: April 1, 2004 [eBook #11938]
Most recently updated: October 28, 2024
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLKLORE OF THE SANTAL PARGANAS ***
Folklore of the Santal Parganas
Translated by
Cecil Henry Bompas
of the Indian Civil Service
1909
Preface
The Santals are a Munda tribe, a branch of that aboriginal element
which probably entered India from the North East. At the present day
they inhabit the Eastern outskirts of the Chutia Nagpore plateau.
Originally hunters and dwellers in the jungle they are still but
indifferent agriculturists. Like the Mundas and Hos and other
representatives of the race, they are jovial in character, fond of
their rice beer, and ready to take a joke.
Their social organization is very complete; each village has its
headman or manjhi, with his assistant the paranik; the jogmanghi
is charged with the supervision of the morals of the young men and
women; the naeke is the village priest, the godet is the village
constable. Over a group of villages is the pargana or tribal chief. The
Santals are divided into exogamous septs--originally twelve in number,
and their social observances are complex, e.g. while some relations
treat each other with the greatest reserve, between others the utmost
freedom of intercourse is allowed.
Their religion is animistic, spirits (_bongas_) are everywhere around
them: the spirits of their ancestors, the spirit of the house, the
spirit dwelling in the patch of primeval forest preserved in each
village. Every hill tree and rock may have its spirit. These spirits
are propitiated by elaborate ceremonies and sacrifices which generally
terminate in dances, and the drinking of rice beer.
The Santal Parganas is a district 4800 sq. miles in area, lying
about 150 miles north of Calcutta, and was formed into a separate
administration after the Santals had risen in rebellion in 1856. The
Santals at present form about one-third of the population.
The stories and legends which are here translated have been collected
by the Rev. O. Bodding, D.D. of the Scandinavian Mission to the
Santals. To be perfectly sure that neither language nor ideas should in
any way be influenced by contact with a European mind he arranged for
most of them to be written out in Santali, principally by a Christian
convert named Sagram Murmu, at present living at Mohulpahari in the
Santal Parganas.
Santali is an agglutinative language of great regularity and complexity
but when the Santals come in contact with races speaking an Aryan
language it is apt to become corrupted with foreign idioms. The
language in which these stories have been written is beautifully
pure, and the purity of language may be accepted as an index that
the ideas have not been affected, as is often the case, by contact
with Europeans.
My translation though somewhat condensed is very literal, and the
stories have perhaps thereby an added interest as shewing the way in
which a very primitive people look at things. The Santals are great
story tellers; the old folk of the village gather the young people
round them in the evening and tell them stories, and the men when
watching the crops on the threshing floor will often sit up all night
telling stories.
There is however, no doubt that at the present time the knowledge of
these stories tends to die out. Under the peace which British rule
brings there is more intercourse between the different communities
and castes, a considerable, degree of assimilation takes place,
and old customs and traditions tend to be obliterated.
Several collections of Indian stories have been made, _e.g._ Stokes,
Indian Fairy Tales; Frere, Old Deccan Days; Day, Folk Tales of
Bengal; and Knowles' Folk Tales of Kashmir, and it will be seen
that all the stories in the present collection are by no means of
pure Santal origin. Incidents which form part of the common stock of
Indian folklore abound, and many of the stories professedly relate
to characters of various Hindu castes, others again deal with such
essentially Santal beliefs as the dealings of men and _bongas_.
The Rev. Dr. Campbell of Gobindpore published in 1891 a collection
of Santal Folk Tales. He gathered his material in the District of
Manbhum, and many of the stories are identical with those included in
the present volume. I have added as an appendix some stories which I
collected among the Hos of Singhbhum, a tribe closely related to the
Santals, and which the Asiatic Society of Bengal has kindly permitted
me to reprint here.
My task has been merely one of translation; it is due solely to Mr
Bodding's influence with, and intimate knowledge of, the people that
the stories have been committed to writing, and I have to thank him
for assistance and advice throughout my work of translation.
I have roughly classified the stories: in part 1 are stories of a
general character; part 2, stories relating to animals; in part 3,
stories which are scarcely folklore but are anecdotes relating to
Santal life; in Part 4, stories relating to the dealings of _bongas_
and men. In part 5, are some legends and traditions, and a few notes
relating to tribal customs. Part 6 contains illustrations of the
belief in witchcraft. I have had to omit a certain number of stories
as unsuited for publication.
C. H. Bompas.
Table of Contents
PART I
I. Bajun and Jhore
II. Anuwa and His Mother
III. Ledha and the Leopard
IV. The Cruel Stepmother
V. Karmu and Dharmu
VI. The Jealous Stepmother
VII. The Pious Woman
VIII. The Wise Daughter-in-Law
IX. The Oilman and His Sons
X. The Girl Who Found Helpers
XI. How to Grow Rich
XII. The Changed Calf
XIII. The Koeri and the Barber
XIV. The Prince Who Acquired Wisdom
XV. The Monkey Boy
XVI. The Miser's Servant
XVII. Kuwar and the Raja's Daughter
XVIII. The Laughing Fish
XIX. How the Cowherd Found a Bride
XX. Kara and Guja
XXI. The Magic Cow
XXII. Lita and His Animals
XXIII. The Boy Who Found His Father
XXIV. The Oilman's Bullock
XXV. How Sabai Grass Grew
XXVI. The Merchant's Son and the Raja's Daughter
XXVII. The Flycatcher's Egg
XXVIII. The Wife Who Would Not Be Beaten
XXIX. Sahde Goala
XXX. The Raja's Son and the Merchant's Son
XXXI. The Poor Widow
XXXII. The Monkey and the Girl
XXXIII. Ramai and the Animals
XXXIV. The Magic Bedstead
XXXV. The Ghormuhas
XXXVI. The Boy Who Learnt Magic
XXXVII. The Charitable Jogi
XXXVIII. Chote and Mote
XXXIX. The Daydreamer
XL. The Extortionate Sentry
XLI. The Broken Friendship
XLII. A Story Told By a Hindoo
XLIII. The Raibar and the Leopard
XLIV. The Ungrateful Snake
XLV. The Tiger's Bride
XLVI. The Killing of the Tiger
XLVII. The Dream
XLVIII. The King of the Bhuyans
XLIX. The Foolish Sons
L. Kora and His Sister
LI. A Story on Caste
LII. Tipi and Tepa
LIII. The Child With the Ears of the Ox
LIV. The Child Who Knew His Father
LV. Jogeshwar's Marriage
LVI. The Strong Man
LVII. The Raja's Advice
LVIII. The Four Jogis
LIX. The Charitable Raja
LX. A Variant.--The Wandering Raja
LXI. The Two Wives
LXII. Spanling and His Uncles
LXIII. The Silent Wife
LXIV. The Dumb Shepherd
LXV. The Good Daughter-in-Law
LXVI. The Raja's Dream
LXVII. The Mongoose Boy
LXVIII. The Stolen Treasure
LXIX. Dukhu and His Bonga Wife
LXX. The Monkey Husband
LXXI. Lakhan and the Wild Buffaloes
LXXII. The Boy with the Stag
LXXIII. The Seven Brothers and the Bonga Girl
LXXIV. The Tiger's Foster Child
LXXV. The Caterpillar Boy
LXXVI. The Monkey Nursemaid
LXXVII. The Wife Who Could Not Keep a Secret
LXXVIII. Sit and Lakhan
LXXIX. The Raja Who went to Heaven
LXXX. Seven Tricks and Single Trick
LXXXI. Fuljhari Raja
LXXXII. The Corpse of the Raja's Son
LXXXIII. The Sham Child
LXXXIV. The Sons of the Kherohuri Raja
LXXXV. The Dog Bride
LXXXVI. Wealth or Wisdom
LXXXVII. A Goala and the Cow
LXXXVIII. The Telltale Wife
LXXXIX. The Bridegroom Who Spoke in Riddles
XC. The Lazy Man
XCI. Another Lazy Man
XCII. The Widow's Son
XCIII. The Boy Who Was Changed Into a Dog
XCIV. Birluri and Birbanta
XCV. The Killing of the Rakhas
XCVI. The Children of the Vultures
XCVII. The Ferryman
XCVIII. Catching a Thief
XCIX. The Grasping Raja
C. The Prince Who Would Not Marry
CI. The Prince Who Found Two Wives
CII. The Unfaithful Wife
CIII. The Industrious Bride
CIV. The Boy and His Fate
CV. The Messengers of Death
CVI. The Speaking Crab
CVII. The Leopard Outwitted
CVIII. The Wind and the Sun
CIX. The Coldest Season
PART II
CX. The Jackal and the Crow
CXI. The Tiger Cub and the Calf
CXII. The Jackal and the Chickens
CXIII. The Jackal Punished
CXIV. The Tigers and the Cat
CXV. The Elephants and the Ants
CXVI. A Fox and His Wife
CXVII. The Jackal and the Crocodiles
CXVIII. The Bullfrog and the Crab
CXIX. The Hyena Outwitted
CXX. The Crow and the Egret
CXXI. The Jackal and the Hare
CXXII. The Brave Jackal
CXXIII. The Jackal and the Leopards
PART III
CXXIV. The Fool and His Dinner
CXXV. The Stingy Daughter
CXXVI. The Backwards and Forwards Dance
CXXVII. The Deaf Family
CXXVIII. The Father-in-Law's Visit
CXXIX. Ramai and Somai
CXXX. The Two Brothers
CXXXI. The Three Fools
CXXXII. The Cure For Laziness
CXXXIII. The Brahmin's Powers
CXXXIV. Ram's Wife
CXXXV. Palo
CXXXVI. The Women's Sacrifice
CXXXVII. The Thief's Son
CXXXVIII. The Divorce
CXXXIX. The Father and the Father-in-Law
CXL. The Reproof
CXLI. Enigmas
CXLII. The Too Particular Wife
CXLIII. The Paharia Socialists
CXLIV. How A Tiger Was Killed
CXLV. The Goala's Daughter
CXLVI. The Brahmin's Clothes
CXLVII. The Winning of the Bride
PART IV
CXLVIII. Marriage With Bongas
CXLIX. The Bonga Heaven
CL. Lakhan and the Bonga
CLI. The House Bonga
CLII. The Sarsagun-Maiden
CLIII. The Schoolboy and the Bonga
CLIV. The Bonga's Cave
CLV. The Bonga's Victim
CLVI. Baijal and the Bonga
CLVII. Ramai and the Bonga
CLVIII. The Boundary Bonga
CLIX. The Bonga Exorcised
PART V
CLX. The Beginning of Things
CLXI. Chando and His Wife
CLXII. The Sikhar Raja
CLXIII. The Origin of Tobacco
CLXIV. The Transmigration of Souls
CLXV. The Next World
CLXVI. After Death
CLXVII. Hares and Men
CLXVIII. A Legend
CLXIX. Pregnant Women
CLXX. The Influence of the Moon
CLXXI. Illegitimate Children
CLXXII. The Dead
CLXXIII. A Hunting Custom
Part VI
CLXXIV. Witchcraft
CLXXV. Of Dains and Ojhas
CLXXVI. Initiation Into Witchcraft
CLXXVII. Witch Craft
CLXXVIII. Witch Stories
CLXXIX. Witch Stories
CLXXX. Witch Stories
CLXXXI. The Two Witches
CLXXXII. The Sister-in-Law Who Was a Witch
CLXXXIII. Ramjit Bonga
CLXXXIV. The Herd Boy and the Witches
CLXXXV. The Man-Tiger
Glossary
Appendix
Folklore of the Kolhan
Part I.
In these stories there are many incidents which appear in stories
collected in other parts of India, though it is rather surprising
that so few of them appear elsewhere in their entirety. We have
however, instances of the husk myth, the youngest son who surpasses
his brother, the life of the ogre placed in some external object, the
jealous stepmother, the selection of a king by an elephant, the queen
whose husband is invariably killed on his wedding night, etc. etc.
Few of the old Indian stories found in the Kathâ Sarit Sâgara or the
Buddhist Birth stories appear in recognizable form in the present
collection.
I. Bajun and Jhore.
Once upon a time there were two brothers named Bajun and Jhore. Bajun
was married and one day his wife fell ill of fever. So, as he was
going ploughing, Bajun told Jhore to stay at home and cook the dinner
and he bade him put into the pot three measures of rice. Jhore stayed
at home and filled the pot with water and put it on to boil; then he
went to look for rice measures; there was only one in the house and
Jhore thought "My brother told me to put in three measures and if I
only put in one I shall get into trouble." So he went to a neighbour's
house and borrowed two more measures, and put them into the pot and
left them to boil. At noon Bajun came back from ploughing and found
Jhore stirring the pot and asked him whether the rice was ready. Jhore
made no answer, so Bajun took the spoon from him, saying "Let me feel
how it is getting on", but when he stirred with the spoon he heard a
rattling noise and when he looked into the pot he found no rice but
only three wooden measures floating about; then he turned and abused
Jhore for his folly, but Jhore said "You yourself told me to put in
three measures and I have done so." So Bajun had to set to work and
cook the rice himself and got his dinner very late.
Next day Bajun said to Jhore, "You don't know how to cook the dinner;
I will stay at home to-day, you go to plough, and take a hatchet
with you and if the plough catches in a root or anything, give a
cut with the hatchet." So Jhore went ploughing and when the plough
caught in anything and stopped, he gave a cut with his hatchet at
the legs of the bullocks; they backed and plunged with the pain and
then he only chopped at them the more until he lamed them both. At
noon Bajun saw the bullocks come limping back and asked what was
the matter with them. "O," said Jhore, "that is because I cut at
them as you told me." "You idiot," said Bajun, "I meant you to give
a cut at the roots in which the plough got caught, not at the legs
of the bullocks; how will you live if you do such silly things? You
cannot plough, you must stay at home and cook the rice. I will show
you this evening how it is done." So after that Jhore stayed at home
and cooked. Bajun's wife grew no better, so one day Bajun, before he
went to the fields, told Jhore to warm some water in order that his
wife might wash with it. But Jhore made the water boiling hot and
then took it and began to pour it over his sister-in-law as she lay
on her bed; she was scalded and shrieked out "Don't pour it over me,"
but Jhore only laughed and went on pouring until he had scalded her
to death. Then he wrapped her up in a cloth and brought her dinner to
her and offered it her to eat, but she was dead and made no answer to
him, so he left it by her and went and ate his own rice. When Bajun
came back and found his wife scalded to death he was very angry and
went to get an axe to kill Jhore with; thereupon Jhore ran away into
the jungle and Bajun pursued him with the axe.
In the jungle Jhore found a dead sheep and he took out its stomach and
called out "Where are you, brother, I have found some meat." But Bajun
answered, "I will not leave you till I have killed you." So Jhore ran
on and climbed up inside a hollow tree, where Bajun could not follow,
Bajun got a long stick and poked at him with it and as he poked, Jhore
let fall the sheep's stomach, and when Bajun saw it he concluded that
he had killed his brother. So he went home and burned the body of
his wife and a few days later he performed the funeral ceremonies to
the memory of his wife and brother; he smeared the floor of the house
with cowdung and sacrificed goats and fowls. Now Jhore had come back
that day and climbed up on to the rafters of the house, and he sat
there watching all that his brother did. Bajun cooked a great basket
of rice and stewed the flesh of the animals he had sacrificed and
offered it to the spirits of the dead and he recited the dedication
"My wife I offer this rice, this food, for your purification," and
so saying he scattered some rice on the ground; and he also offered
to Jhore, saying, "Jhore, my brother, I offer this rice, this food,
for your purification," and then Jhore called out from the roof "Well,
as you offer it to me I will take it." Bajun had not bargained to get
any answer, so he was astounded and went to ask the villagers whether
their spirits made answer when sacrificed to: and the villagers told
him that they had never heard of such a thing. While Bajun was away
on this errand, Jhore took up the unguarded basket of rice and ran
away with it; after going some way he sat down by the road and ate
as much as he wanted, then he sat and called out "Is there anyone on
the road or in the jungle who wants a feast?" A gang of thieves who
were on a thieving expedition heard him and went to see what he meant;
he offered to let them eat the rice if they would admit him to their
company; they agreed and he went on with them to steal; they broke
into a rich man's house and the thieves began to collect the pots
and pans but Jhore felt about in the dark and got hold of a drum and
began to beat on it. This woke up the people of the house and they
drove away the thieves. Then the thieves abused Jhore and said that
they could not let him stay with them: "Very well", said he, "then
give me back the rice you ate." Of course they could not do this. So
they had to let him stay with them. Then they went to the house of a
rich Hindu who had a stable full of horses and they planned to steal
the horses and ride away with them; so each thief picked out a horse,
but Jhore got hold of a tiger which had come to the back of the stable
to kill one of the horses; and when the thieves mounted their horses,
Jhore mounted on the tiger, and the tiger ran off with him towards the
jungle. Jhore kept on calling out "Keep to the road, you Hindu horse,
keep to the road, you Hindu horse." But it dragged him through the
briars and bushes till he was dead and that was the end of Jhore.
II. Anuwa and His Mother.
Once there was a young fellow named Anuwa who lived with his old
mother, and when he was out ploughing his mother used to take him
his breakfast. One day a jackal met her on her way to the field with
her son's breakfast and told her to put down the food which she was
carrying or he would knock her down and bite her; so she put it down
in a fright and the jackal ate most of it and then went away and
the old woman took what was left to her son and told him nothing
about what had happened. This happened several days in succession;
at last one day Anuwa asked her why she brought so little rice and
that so untidily arranged; so she told him how she was attacked every
day by the jackal. Then they made a plan that the next day the mother
should take the plough afield, while Anuwa should dress up as an old
woman and carry the breakfast. This they did and the jackal met Anuwa
as usual and made him put down the breakfast basket, but while the
jackal was eating, Anuwa knocked him head over heels with his stick;
and the jackal got up and fled, threatening and cursing Anuwa. Among
other things the jackal as he ran away, had threatened to eat Anuwa's
_malhan_ plants, so Anuwa put a fence of thorns round them and when
the jackal came at night and tried to eat the pods he only got his
nose pricked.
Foiled in this the jackal called out "Well, I will eat your fowls
to-morrow;" but Anuwa the next night sat by the fowl house with a
sickle and when the jackal came and poked in his head, Anuwa gave him a
rap on the snout with the sickle, so the jackal made off crying "Well,
Anuwa, your fowls have pecked me on the head, you shall die." So the
next day Anuwa pretended to be dead and his mother went about crying;
she took her way to the jungle and there she met the jackal and she
told him that Anuwa had died in consequence of his curse and she
invited him to the funeral feast, saying that he used to eat the
rice which she had cooked and he had become like a son to her. The
jackal gladly promised to attend, and he collected a number of his
friends and at evening they went to Anuwa's house and sat down in
the courtyard. Then the old woman came out and began to bewail her
son: but the jackal said "Stop crying, grannie, you cannot get back
the dead: let us get on to the feast." So she said that she would
fry some cakes first, as it would take some time before the rice was
ready. The jackals approved of this but they asked her to tie them up
with a rope first lest they should get to fighting over the food, so
the old woman brought a thick rope and tied them all up and tightest
of all she tied up the jackal which had cursed Anuwa; then she went
inside and put an iron pan on the fire and from time to time she
sprinkled water on it and when the jackals heard the water hissing
they thought that it was the cakes frying and jumped about with
joy. Suddenly Anuwa came out with a thick stick and set to beating
the jackals till they bit through the ropes and ran away howling;
but the first jackal was tied so tightly that he could not escape,
and Anuwa beat him till he was senseless and lay without moving all
night. The next morning Anuwa took the jackal and tied him to a stake
near the place where the village women drew water and he put a thick
stick beside it and every woman who went for water would give the
jackal one blow with the stick. After a few days beating the body
of the jackal became all swollen and one night some other jackals
came there and asked him what he ate that he had got so fat and he
said that every one who came to draw water gave him a handful of rice
and that was why he was so fat; and if they did not believe him they
could take his place and try for themselves.
So one jackal agreed to try and untied the first jackal and let himself
be tied in his place, but in the morning five women came down and
each gave him a blow with the stick till he jumped about for pain,
and seeing him jumping other women came and beat him till he died.
III. Ledha and the Leopard.
Once upon a time a boy named Ledha was tending cattle with other
boys at the foot of a hill, and these boys in fun used to call out
"Ho, leopard: Ho, leopard," and the echo used to answer from the hill
"Ho, leopard." Now there really was a leopard who lived in the hill
and one day he was playing hide and seek with a lizard which also
lived there. The lizard hid and the leopard looked every where for
it in vain. At last the leopard sat down to rest and it chanced that
he sat right on top of the lizard which was hiding in a hole. The
lizard thought that the leopard meant to hurt it and in revenge bit
him and fastened on to his rump so that he could not get it off,
so that day when the boys came calling out "Ho, leopard," he ran
towards them to get their help: but when they saw the leopard they
all fled for their lives. Ledha however could not run fast because
he was lame, and the leopard headed him off and begged him to remove
the lizard. This he did after the leopard had sworn not to eat him,
and before they parted the leopard made him promise to tell no one
that the lizard had bitten him, and said that if he told then he would
be carried off and eaten. So Ledha rejoined his companions and told
them nothing of what had passed between him and the leopard. But that
night when they had all gone to bed, Ledha's sister-in-law began to
worry him to tell her what the leopard had said to him, when it had
caught him. He told her that the leopard would eat him if he told,
but she coaxed him and said that no one could hear them inside the
house; so at last he told her that he had taken off a lizard which
was hanging on to its rump. Then they went to sleep; but the leopard
was hiding at the back of the house and heard all that they said;
and when they were all asleep, he crept in and carried off Ledha's bed
with Ledha in it on his head. When Ledha woke up towards morning, he
found himself being carried through dense jungle and he quietly pulled
himself up into one of the trees which overhung the path. Thus when
the leopard put down the bed and was going to eat Ledha, he found it
empty. So he went back on his track and by and bye came to the tree
in which Ledha was hiding. The leopard begged Ledha to come down,
as he had something to say to him, and promised not to eat him; but
directly Ledha reached the ground the leopard said "Now I am going to
eat you." Ledha was powerless, so he only asked to be allowed to have
one chew of tobacco before he died; the leopard assented and Ledha
felt in his cloth for his tobacco, but the tobacco did not come out
easily and as Ledha felt about for it the dry tobacco leaves crackled;
the leopard asked what the crackling sound was, and Ledha said "That
is the lizard which bit you yesterday;" then the leopard got into a
terrible fright and ran away as hard as he could, calling out "Don't
let it loose: Don't let it loose."
So Ledha was saved from the leopard, but he did not know his way out
of the jungle. He wandered about, till he came to the place where the
wild buffaloes used to sleep at night, and he swept up the place and
made it clean and then took refuge in a hollow tree; he stayed there
some days, sweeping up the place daily and supporting himself on the
fruit of a fig-tree. At last one day the buffaloes left one cow behind
to watch and see who it was who swept up their sleeping place. The cow
pretended to be too ill to rise, and Ledha after watching for some
time came out and swept the ground as usual, and then tried to pull
the sick cow up by the tail; but she would not move so he went back to
his hollow tree. When the buffaloes returned they heard that it was a
kindhearted man who cleaned their sleeping place; so they called Ledha
out and said that they would keep him as their servant to clean their
sleeping place and to scrub them when they bathed in the river; they
made him taste the milk of all the cows and appointed the cow whose
milk he liked best to supply him. Thenceforward he used to wander
about with the buffaloes and he made a flute and used to play on it.
One day after scrubbing the buffaloes he washed his head in the river
and some of his hairs came out; so he wrapped them up in a leaf and
set the packet to float down the stream. Lower down the stream two
princesses were bathing with their attendants, and when they saw
the packet they tried who could fish it out and it was the younger
princess who caught it. Then they measured the hairs and found them
twelve cubits long. The princess who had taken the packet from the
water went home and took to her bed and said that she would not
eat until the man was found to whom the hairs belonged. Her father,
the Raja, sent messengers in all directions to search for the man
but they could not find him. Then he sent a parrot and the parrot
flew up high and looking down saw Ledha with the buffaloes in the
forest; but it did not dare to go near, so the parrot returned and
told the Raja that the man was in the forest but that no messenger
could approach for fear of the wild buffaloes. However a crow said,
"I can bring him if any one can," so they sent the crow and it went
and perched on the backs of the buffaloes and began to peck them;
then Ledha threw stones at it, but it would not go away; then he threw
a stick at it and last of all he threw his flute. The crow caught up
the flute and flew up to a tree with it. Ledha ran after it, but the
crow kept flying on a short distance and Ledha still pursued until he
came to the Raja's city. The crow flew on till it entered the room
where the princess lay, and dropped the flute into the hands of the
princess. Ledha followed right into the room and they shut him in
and the princess gave him his flute after he had promised to marry her.
So he stayed there a long time, but meanwhile the buffaloes all got
weak and ill for want of some one to look after them. One day Ledha
set off to the jungle with his wife to see them and when he saw how
ill the buffaloes were, he decided to build a house in the jungle
and live there. And the Raja sent them money and horses and cattle
and elephants and servants and they built a palace and Ledha subdued
all the jungle and became a great Raja; and he made a highway to his
father-in-law's home and used to go to and fro on it.
IV. The Cruel Stepmother.
There was once a Raja whose wife died leaving him with one young
child. He reared it with great care and when it could toddle about
it took a great fancy to a cat; the child was always playing with it
and carrying it about.
All his friends begged the Raja to marry again, but he said that he
was sure that a stepmother would be cruel to his child; at last they
persuaded him to promise to marry again, if a bride could be found
who would promise to care for the child as her own, so his friends
looked out for a bride; but though they found plenty of girls who
were anxious to marry the Raja, not one would promise to care for
his child as her own. There was a young widow in a certain village
who heard of what was going on, and one day she asked whether a
bride had been found for the Raja and she was told that no one was
willing to take charge of the child. "Why don't they agree," said she,
"I would agree fast enough. If I were Rani I should have nothing to
do but look after the child and I would care for it more than its own
mother could." This came to the ears of the Raja and he sent for the
widow and was pleased with her looks, and when she promised to love
his child as her own, he married her.
At first no one could be kinder to the child than she was, but in the
course of time she had a child of her own and then she began to be
jealous of the elder child; and she thought daily how she could get
rid of him. He was still devoted to his cat and one day when he came
back to the house, he asked his stepmother where the cat was. She
answered angrily, "The cat has bewitched the boy! It is 'cat, cat,'
all day long." At this the child began to cry; so she found the cat
and threw it to him, saying, "Here is your cat: you are mad about
your cat." But the boy hugged it in his arms and kept on crying at his
stepmother's cross words. As he would not keep quiet his stepmother got
more angry still; and catching hold of the cat she scratched her own
arms and legs with the cat's claws until the blood flowed; then she
began to cry and scold and when the neighbours came to see what was
the matter, she told them that the boy had let his cat scratch her;
and the neighbours saw that she was not loving the boy as she promised.
Presently the Raja came in and asked what was the matter; she turned
and scolded him saying: "You have reared the accursed cat and it has
scratched me finely; look, it has taken all the skin off; this is the
way the boy repays me for all my trouble. I will not stay with you; if
I stay the boy will injure me like this again." The Raja said, "Don't
cry like a baby; how can a simple child like that know better? when
he grows up I will scold him." But the woman persisted and declared
that she would go away with her own child unless the Raja promised
to kill his elder son. The Raja refused to do this, so the Rani took
up her baby and went out of the house with it in a rage. Now the Raja
was deeply in love with her and he followed and stopped her, and said
that he could not let her take away his younger child; she answered,
"Why trouble about the child? it is mine; I have left you your boy,
if you don't kill him, when he grows up, he will tell you some lie
about me and make you have me beaten to death." At last the Raja
said "Well, come back and if the boy does you any harm I will kill
him." But the Rani said. "Either kill him now or let me go." So at
last the Raja promised and brought her back to the palace. Then the
Raja called the boy and gave him his dinner and told him that they
were going on a visit to his uncle's: and the child was delighted
and fetched his shoes and umbrella, and off they set, and a dog came
running after them. When they came to a jungle the Raja told his son
to sit under a tree and wait for him, and he went away and killed the
dog that had followed them and smeared the blood on his axe and went
home, leaving the child.
When his father did not return, the child began to cry, and Thakur
heard him and came down, and to frighten the boy and make him leave
the jungle he came in the guise of a leopard; but the child would not
move from where he was; then Thakur appeared as a bear, and as a snake
and an elephant and in many other forms but the child would not move;
so at last Thakur took the form of an old woman, who lifted him in
her arms and soothed him and carried him to the edge of the jungle
and left him on the outskirts of a village.
In the morning a rich Brahman found him and took him home, and as no
one claimed the child he brought him up and made him his goat-herd,
and they gave him the name of Lela. The Brahman's sons and daughters
used to go school, and before he took his goats out to graze Lela
used to carry their books to the school. And going to the school every
day Lela got to know one or two letters and used to draw them in the
sand while minding his goats; later he got the children to give him
an old book saying that he wanted to pretend to the other boys that
he could read and out of this book he taught himself to read: and as
he grew up he became quite a scholar. One day he picked up a letter
and found that it was from one of the village girls arranging to elope
that very evening with a young man. At the appointed time Lela went to
the rendez-vous and hid himself in a tree; soon he saw the Brahman's
daughter come to the place, but as her letter had not been delivered
her lover did not appear. The girl got tired of waiting and then she
began to call to her lover, thinking that perhaps he was hiding for
a joke. When she called, Lela answered from the tree and she thought
that it was her lover and said "Come down and let us be off." So
Lela came down and they started off together; when day dawned she saw
that it was Lela who was with her and she sat down and upbraided him
for deceiving her. Lela said that they had met by chance; he had not
enticed her away, no harm had been done and she could go home if she
liked or come away with him if she liked. The girl considered but she
saw that if she went home now she would be disgraced and her family
would be outcasted, so in the end she agreed to run away with Lela.
They went on and after travelling some days they came to a great
city, where they took up their quarters in a tumble-down house and
the next morning Lela went into the city to look for work. He went to
the cutcherry and enrolled himself as a _muktear_ (attorney) and soon
the litigants and the magistrates found out how clever he was and he
acquired a big practice. One day the Raja said, "This fellow is very
handsome, I wonder what his wife is like?" And he sent an old woman
to see; so the old woman went and got into conversation with Lela's
wife and returned to the Raja and told him that none of his wives was
so beautiful as Lela's wife; so the Raja determined to go and see
her himself, and as the old woman said that she would hide herself
in the house if she saw the Raja coming, he disguised himself as a
poor man and went and saw her; he found that the old woman had not
exaggerated and he determined to possess himself of Lela's wife. He
had first to get Lela out of the way, so he sent for him and said,
"You are a fine fellow and have given me satisfaction. I have one
more commission for you, if you perform it I will give you half my
kingdom and my sister in marriage." Lela said that he must hear what
it was before he made any promise. The Raja said "It is this: in a
certain mountain grows the Chandmoni Kusum flower; bring it to me
and I will give you what I have promised:"--but the Raja felt sure
that if Lela went to the mountain he would be eaten by the Rakhas
(ogress) who dwelt there. Lela said that he would go if the Raja
gave him a written bond In the presence of witnesses; and this the
Raja willingly did. Then Lela went and told his wife and she said,
"This is excellent: I have a younger sister in the mountain, her name
is Chandmoni and it was she who planted the Chandmoni Kusum flower;
when you get there call her by her name and she will certainly give
you the flower."
So Lela started off and when he was gone his wife fell ill, and
her body became a mass of sores. Directly Lela was out of the way,
the Raja sent the old woman to see what his wife was doing and she
brought back word that she was afflicted with illness; so the Raja
sent medicines and told the old woman to nurse her. Lela went off and
came to the cave in the mountain where Chandmoni lived with the Rakhas;
and the Rakhas was away hunting men, so Lela called out Chandmoni and
told her who he was and begged her to hide him; then they planned how
they should kill the Rakhas, and she hid him in the cave; presently
the Rakhas returned and said to Chandmoni "I smell a man: where is
he?" But Chandmoni said that there was no one there but herself;
and that the smell was probably due to the Rakhas having been eating
human flesh and recommended her to anoint herself with hot ghee. The
Rakhas agreed: so Chandmoni put a great iron pan of ghee on to boil,
and when it was boiling she called the Rakhas, and as the Rakhas was
leaning over the pan, Lela ran out and pushed her into the boiling
ghee and she died. Then Chandmoni asked Lela why he had come, and
he told her, "to fetch the flower." She promised to give it to him
but asked what was to become of her now that the ogress with whom she
lived was dead. Lela promised to take her with him, so they cut off the
tongue and ears and claws of the Rakhas and returned to the city. And
directly Lela returned, his first wife recovered from her illness.
Then the Raja saw that it was useless to contend with Lela, and he
gave him half his kingdom and married him to his sister according
to his bond. So Lela lived with his three Ranis and they bore him
children and after some years he told them that he was the son of a
Raja and he wished to visit his own country and see whether his father
was alive. So they set out in great style with horses and elephants
and came to the town where Lela's father lived. Now five or six days
after abandoning Lela, his father had become blind and, he made over
the management of his kingdom to a Dewan, and the Dewan and the Rani
managed everything. When the Dewan heard that Lela had come with a
great force he thought that he would loot the country and he ran away
in fear. Then Lela sent word to his father to come to him, as he was
the son who had been abandoned in the jungle, so the Raja set forth
joyfully and after he had gone a few paces he began to see dimly,
and by the time that he came to Lela's camp he had quite recovered
his eyesight. When they met, father and son embraced and wept over
each other; and Lela ordered a feast to be prepared and while this
was being done a maidservant came running to say that the wicked
Rani had hanged herself, so they went and burned the body and then
returned and enjoyed the feast. Then the Raja resigned his kingdom
to Lela and the ryots begged him to stay and rule over them; so he
remained there and lived happily ever after.
V. Karmu and Dharmu.
There were once two brothers Karmu and Dharmu. Karmu was a farmer and
Dharmu was a trader; once when Dharmu was away from home Karmu gave
a religious feast and did not invite Dharmu's household; when Dharmu
returned and learnt this, he told his wife that he also would perform
the ceremonies in his house, so they set to work and were employed
in cooking rice and vegetables far into the night; and Karam Gosain
came down to see what preparations Dharmu was making in his honour,
and he watched from the back of the house.
Just then Dharmu strained off the water from the cooked rice and threw
it out of the window, and it fell on Karam Gosain and scalded him, and
as the flies and insects worried the wound, Karam Gosain went off to
the Ganges and buried himself in the middle of the stream. As he had
thus offended Karam Gosain, all Dharmu's undertakings failed and he
fell into deep poverty, and had not even enough to eat, so he had to
take service with his brother Karmu. When the time for transplanting
the rice came, Dharmu used to plough and dig the ditches and mend the
gaps along with the day labourers. Karmu told him not to work himself
but act as overseer of the other labourers, and the labourers also told
him that it was not suitable for him to work as a labourer himself,
but Dharmu said that he must earn his wages and insisted on working;
and in the same way Dharmu's wife might have acted as overseer of
the women, but she was ashamed not to work too.
One day they were transplanting the rice and Karmu brought out
breakfast for the labourers; he told Dharmu and his wife to wash their
hands and come and eat; but they answered that they belonged to the
household and that the hired labourers should be fed first, so the
labourers ate and they ate up all the rice and there was nothing left
for Dharmu and his wife. When the midday meal was brought the same
thing happened, Dharmu and his wife got nothing; but they hoped that
it would be made up to them when the wages were paid, and worked
on fasting. At evening when they came to pay the wages in kind,
Dharmu's name was called out first, but he told his brother to pay
the labourers first, and in doing this the paddy was all used up and
there was nothing left for Dharmu and his wife; so they went home
sorrowfully and their children cried for food and they had nothing
to give them. In the night Dharmu's wife said "They promised to pay
us for merely looking after the work and instead, we worked hard
and have still got nothing. We will not work for them anymore; come,
let us undo the work we did to-day, you cut down the embankments you
repaired, and I will uproot the seedlings which I planted." So they
went out into the night to do this. But whenever Dharmu raised his
spade a voice called out "Hold, hold!" And whenever his wife put out
her hand to pull up the rice a voice called out "Hold, hold!" Then they
said "Who are you who stop us?" And the voice answered "You have done
evil and offended Karam Gosain by scalding him; this is why you have
become poor and to-day have worked without food and without wages;
he has gone to the Ganges and you must go and propitiate him." And
they asked how they should propitiate him, and the voice said "Grind
turmeric and put it on a plate, and buy new cloth and dye it with
turmeric and make ready oil and take these things to the Ganges and
call on Karam Gosain." And they believed the voice and the next day
did as it commanded, and set off, leaving their children in charge
of Karmu. On the way they came to a fig-tree full of figs and they
went to eat the fruit; but when they got near they found that all
the figs were full of grubs, and they sang:--
"Exhausted by hunger we came to a fig-tree,
And found it full of grubs,
O Karam Gosain, how far off are you?"
Then they came to a mango tree and the same thing happened. And they
went on and saw a cow with a calf; and they thought that they would
milk the cow and drink the milk, but when they went to catch it it
ran away from them and would not let itself be caught; and they sang:--
"We go to catch the cow and it runs away,
We go to catch the calf and it runs away,
O Karam Gosain how far off are you?"
But the cow said to them--"Go to the banks of the Ganges." Then
they came to a buffalo and went to milk it, but it lowered its head
and charged them; and Dharam cried but his wife said "Don't cry"
and sang:--
"If you go to catch the buffalo, Dharmu,
It will kill you.
How shall we drink milk? How shall we drink milk?
How far off are you, O our Karam Gosain?"
And the buffalo said "Go on to the bank of the Ganges." Then they came
to a horse and they thought that they would catch it and mount it,
but it kicked and snorted; and they sang:--
"Dharmu tries to catch the horse:
But it kicks and runs away.
How shall we reach the Ganges?
O Karam Gosain, how far off are you?"
And the horse said "Go to the banks of the Ganges." Then they saw an
elephant but it would not let them approach, so they decided to push
on straight for the river; and they saw under a banyan tree a large
pot full of rupees, but they were so disheartened that they made no
attempt to touch it; then they met a woman who asked where they were
going and when she heard, she said "For twelve years I have had a _pai_
measure stuck on my throat; ask Karam Gosain for me how I am to get
rid of it," and they promised; and going on they met a woman with a
bundle of thatching grass stuck to her head; and she made them promise
to ask Karam Gosain how she could be freed; then they met a woman with
both her feet burning in a fire and another with a stool stuck fast
to her back and they promised to enquire how these might be delivered.
So at last they came to the Ganges and they stood on the bank and
called to Karam Gosain; and when he came they caught hold of him and
he said "Fie, what low caste person is touching me?" But they said. "It
is no low caste person, but Dharmu." Then they bathed him and anointed
him with oil and turmeric and wrapped him in the new cloth which they
had brought, and thus they persuaded him to return; so they rose up
to go back, and Dharmu asked about the women whom they had met, and
Karam Gosain said: "The woman has a stool stuck to her back because
when visitors came she never offered them a seat; let her do so in
future, and she will be freed; and the woman has her feet burning in
the fire because she pushed the fuel into the fire with her foot; let
her not do so in future, and she will be freed; and the woman has the
thatching grass stuck to her head because when she saw a friend with
straw sticking in her hair she did not tell her about it; let her do
so in future and she will be freed; and the woman has the pai measure
stuck to her throat because, when her neighbour wanted to borrow her
measure, she would not lend it; let her do so in future and she will
be freed." And Karam Gosain asked whether they had seen an elephant
and a horse and a buffalo and a cow and money and mangoes and figs and
Dharmu said "Yes," but that he had not been able to catch the animals
and the fruit was bad. Karam Gosain promised them that on their way
back they should take possession of all; and they did so and mounted
on the elephant and returned to their home with great wealth. On their
way they met the four women and told them how they could be saved from
their troubles. The villagers welcomed Dharmu and he arranged a great
feast and gave paddy to all the villagers to husk; but when they had
boiled it the weather became cloudy so that they could not dry it,
so they prayed to the sun and he at once shone out and dried the paddy.
Then a day was fixed and they prepared rice beer, and worshipped
Karam Gosain and they danced all night and got very drunk and enjoyed
themselves.
VI. The Jealous Stepmother.
There was once a man whose wife died leaving him with one son and
after a year he married again. The second wife was very jealous of the
son and she told her husband that she would not stay with him unless
he killed the boy; at first he refused but she insisted and then he
said that he was frightened to do the deed, but she might kill the
boy herself if she liked. She said, "No: he is your son and you must
kill him; if he were mine I would do it. You need not be frightened;
when you take him out ploughing make him drive the front plough, and
you sharpen your plough pole to a point and drive it into him from
behind and kill him and then it will seem to be an accident." So the
man promised and made a sharp point to his plough pole but whenever
they ploughed, the son drove his plough so fast that the father could
not catch him up and so the boy was not killed; then the woman abused
her husband and said that he was deceiving her. So he promised to
finish the business the next day and told her to give the boy a good
hot breakfast before they started, so that he might receive one last
kindness, and he said that they must find some other way of killing
him because all the ploughing was finished; but his wife told him he
could plough down their crop of _goondli_, the bullocks would stop
to eat the _goondli_ as they went along and so he would easily catch
up his son. Accordingly the next morning father and son took out the
ploughs and the boy asked where they should plough, and the father said
that they would plough down the field of _goondli_. But the boy said
"Why should we do that? it is a good crop and will be ripe in a day
or two; it is too late to sow again, we shall lose this crop and who
knows whether we shall get anything in its place?"
And the father thought 'What the boy says is true; the first crop
is like the first child, if I kill him who will support me in my
old age? Who knows whether my second wife will have children. I will
not kill him however angry she be;' so they unyoked their ploughs and
went home. He told his wife that he would not kill the boy and scolded
her and ended by giving her a beating. Then she ran away in a passion
but he did not trouble to go and look for her and in a few days her
father and brothers brought her back, and her husband told them what
had happened and they also scolded her and told her to mend her ways.
VII. The Pious Woman.
There was once a very pious woman and her special virtue was that she
would not eat or drink on any day until she had first given alms to a
beggar. One day no beggar came to her house, so by noon she got tired
of waiting, and, tying in her cloth some parched rice, she went to the
place where the women drew water. When she got there she saw a Jugi
coming towards her, she greeted him and said that she had brought
dried rice for him. He said that omens had bidden him come to her
and that he came to grant her a boon: she might ask one favour and
it would be given her. The woman said: "Grant me this boon--to know
where our souls go after death, and to see at the time of death how
they escape, whether through the nose or the mouth, and where they
go to; and tell me when I shall die and where my soul will go to;
this I ask and no more." Then the Jugi answered, "Your prayer is
granted, but you must tell no one; if you do, the power will depart
from you." So saying he took from his bag something like a feather and
brushed her eyes with it and washed them with water. Then the woman's
eyes were opened and she saw spirits--_bongas, bhuts, dains, churins_,
and the souls of dead men; and the Jugi told her not to be afraid,
but not to speak to them lest men should think her mad; then he took
his leave, and she returned home. Now in the village lived a poor man
and his wife and they were much liked because they were industrious
and obedient; shortly afterwards this poor man died and the pious
woman saw men come with a palankin and take away the poor man's soul
with great ceremony. She was pleased at the sight and thought that
the souls of all men were taken away like this. But shortly afterwards
her father-in-law died. He had been a rich man, but harsh, and while
the family were mourning the pious woman saw four sipahis armed with
iron-shod staves and of fierce countenance come to the house and two
entered and took the father-in-law by the neck and thrust him forth;
they bound him and beat him, they knocked him down and as he could
not walk they dragged him away by his legs. The woman followed him to
the end of the garden and when she saw him being dragged away, she
screamed. When her husband's relatives saw her screaming and crying
they were angry and said that she must have killed her father-in-law
by witchcraft, for she did not sit by the corpse and cry but went to
the end of the garden. So after the body had been burnt they held
a council and questioned her and told her that they would hold her
to be a witch, if she could not explain. So she told them of the
power which the Jugi had conferred on her and of what she had seen,
and they believed her and acquitted her of the charge of witchcraft;
but from that time she lost her power and saw no more spirits.
VIII. The Wise Daughter-in-Law.
There was once a rich man who had seven sons, but one day his wife
died and after this the family fell into poverty. All their property
was sold and they lived by selling firewood in the bazar. At last the
wife of the eldest son said to her father-in-law. "I have a proposal
to make: Do you choose one of us to be head of the family whom all
shall obey; we cannot all be our own masters as at present." The old
man said "Well, I choose you," and he assembled the whole family and
made them promise to obey the wife of his eldest son.
Thereupon she told them that they must all go out into the fields
and bring her whatever they found. So the next day they went out
in different directions and the old man found some human excrement
and he thought "Well, my daughter-in-law told me to bring whatever
I found" so he wrapped it up in leaves and took it home; and his
daughter-in-law told him that he had done well and bade him hang
up the packet at the back of the house. A few days later he found
the slough of a snake and he took that home and his daughter-in-law
told to tie a clod of earth to it to prevent its being blown away,
and to throw it on to the roof of the house.
Some years after the Raja of the country was ill with cancer of the
face and none of the _ojhas_ could cure him. At last one _ojha_ said
that there was only one medicine which could effect a cure, but he
saw no chance of obtaining it and that was human excrement 12 years
old. Then the Raja sent messengers throughout the kingdom offering a
reward of 200 Rupees to any one who could supply excrement twelve years
old; and when a messenger came to the village where this family lived
the daughter-in-law produced the packet which the old man had brought
home and received the reward of 200 Rupees; and they were all delighted
at making so much money by what the old man had brought home in jest.
And again it happened that the son of a Raja was bathing and he left
his gold belt on the bank and a kite thought it was a snake and flew
off with it. The prince was much distressed at the loss but the Raja
told him not to grieve as the kite must have dropped it somewhere and
he would offer a reward of a thousand rupees for it. Now the kite had
soon found that the belt was not good to eat and seeing the snake's
skin which the old man had thrown on to the roof of the house, it
dropped the belt and flew off with the skin; and the daughter-in-law
picked up the belt and when criers came round offering a reward she
produced it and received the money. And they praised her wisdom and
by this means the family became rich again.
IX. The Oilman and His Sons.
There was once an oilman with five sons and they were all married
and lived jointly with their father. But the daughters-in-law were
discontented with this arrangement and urged their husbands to ask
their father to divide the family property. At first the old man
refused, but when his sons persisted, he told them to bring him a
log two cubits long and so thick that two hands could just span it,
and he said that if they could break the log in two, he would divide
the property; so they brought the log and then asked for axes, but he
told them that they must break it themselves by snapping it or twisting
it or standing on it; so they tried and failed. Then the old man said,
"You are five and I make six; split the log into six," So they split it
and he gave each a piece and told them to break them, and each easily
snapped his stick; then the old man said "We are like the whole log: we
have plenty of property and are strong and can overcome attack; but if
we separate we shall be like the split sticks and easily broken." They
admitted that this was true and proposed that the property should not
be divided but that they should all become separate in mess. But the
father would not agree to this for he thought that people would call
him a miser if he let his sons live separately without his giving
them their share in the property as their own, So as they persisted
in their folly he partitioned the property.
But in a few years they all fell into poverty and had not enough to
eat nor clothes to wear, and the father and mother were no better off;
then the old man called all his sons and their wives and said "You see
what trouble you have fallen into; I have a riddle for you, explain
it to me. There are four wells, three empty and one full of water;
if you draw water from the full one and pour it into the three empty
ones they will become full; but when they are full and the first one
is empty, if you pour water from the three full ones into the empty
one it will not be filled; what does this mean?" And they could not
answer and he said, "The four wells mean that a man had three sons,
and while they were little he filled their stomachs as the wells were
filled with water; but when they separated they would not fill the
old man's stomach."
And it was true, that the sons had done nothing to help their father
and they were filled with shame and they agreed that as long as their
father lived they would be joint with him and would not separate
again until he died.
X. The Girl Who Found Helpers.
Once upon a time there were seven brothers, and they were all married,
and they had one sister who was not married. The brothers went away
to a far country for a whole year, leaving their wives at home. Now
the wives hated their sister-in-law and did their best to torment
her. So one day they gave her a pot full of holes and told her to
bring it back full of water; and threatened that if she failed she
should have no food. So she took the pot to the spring and there sat
down and cried and sang:--
"I am fetching water in a pot full of holes,
I am fetching water in a pot full of holes,
How far away have my brothers gone to trade."
After she had cried a long time, a number of frogs came up out of
the water and asked her what was the matter, and she told them that
she must fill the pot with water, and was not allowed to stop the
holes with clay or lac. Then they told her not to cry, and said, that
they would sit on the holes and then the water would not run out;
they did this and the girl dried her eyes and filled the pot with
water and took it home. Her sisters-in-law were much disappointed at
her success, but the next day they told her to go to the jungle and
bring back a bundle of leaves, but she was to use no rope for tying
them up. So she went to the jungle and collected the leaves and then
sat down and cried and sang:--
"I am to fetch leaves without a rope
I am to fetch leaves without a rope
How far have my brothers gone to trade?"
and as she cried a _buka sobo_ snake came out and asked why she was
crying, and when she told it, it said that it would coil itself round
the leaves in place of a rope. So it stretched itself out straight
and she piled the leaves on the top of it and the snake coiled itself
tightly round them and so she was able to carry the bundle home on her
head. Her sisters-in-law ran to see how she managed it, but she put
the bundle down gently and the snake slipped away unperceived. Still
they resolved to try again; so the next day they sent her to fetch
a bundle of fire wood, but told her that she was to use no rope to
tie it with. So she went to the jungle and collected the sticks and
then sat down and cried:--
"I am to bring wood without tying it,
I am to bring wood without tying it,
How far have my brothers gone to trade?"
and as she cried a python came out and asked what was the matter,
and when it heard, it told her not to cry and said that it would act
as a rope to bind up the sticks; so it stretched itself out and she
laid the sticks on it and then it coiled itself round them and she
carried the bundle home.
As the sisters-in-law had been baffled thus, they resolved on another
plan and proposed that they should all go and gather sticks in the
jungle; and on the way they came to a _machunda_ tree in full flower
and they wanted to pick some of the flowers. The wicked sisters-in-law
at first began to climb the tree, but they pretended that they could
not and kept slipping down; then they hoisted their sister-in-law into
the branches and told her to throw down the flowers to them. But while
she was in the tree, they tied thorns round the trunk so that she could
not descend and then left her to starve. After she had been in the tree
a long time, her brothers passed that way on their return journey,
and sat down under the tree to rest; the girl was too weak to speak
but she cried and her tears fell on the back of her eldest brother,
and he looked up and saw her; then they rescued her and revived her
and listened to her story; and they were very angry and vowed to
have revenge. So they gave their sister some needles and put her in a
sack and put the sack on one of the pack-bullocks. And when they got
home, they took the sack off gently and told their wives to carry it
carefully inside the house, and on no account to put it down. But when
the wives took it up, the girl inside pricked them with the needles so
that they screamed and let the sack fall. Their husbands scolded them
and made them take it up again, and they had to carry it in, though
they were pricked till the blood ran down. Then the brothers enquired
about all that had happened in their absence, and at last asked after
their sister, and their wives said that she had gone to the jungle
with some friends to get firewood. But the brothers turned on them and
told how they had found her in the _machunda_ tree and had brought her
home in the sack, and their wives were dumbfounded. Then the brothers
said that they had made a vow to dig a well and consecrate it; so they
set to work to dig a well two fathoms across and three fathoms deep;
and when they reached water, they fixed a day for the consecration;
and they told their wives to put on their best clothes and do the
_cumaura_ (betrothal) ceremony at the well. So the wives went to the
well, escorted by drummers, and as they stood in a row round the well,
each man pushed his own wife into it and then they covered the well
with a wooden grating and kept them in it for a whole year and at
the end of the year they pulled them out again.
* * * * *
Another version of this story gives three other tasks preliminary to
those given above and begins as follows:--
Once upon a time there was a girl named Hira who had seven
brothers. The brothers went away to a far country to trade leaving
her alone in the house with their wives; these seven sisters-in-law
hated Hira and did what they could to torment her; one day they sowed
a basketful of mustard seed in a field and then told her to go and
pick it all up; she went to the field and began to lament, singing:--
"They have sown a basket of mustard seed!
Oh, how far away have my brothers gone to trade."
As she cried a flock of pigeons came rustling down and asked her what
was the matter, and when they heard, they told her to be comforted;
they at once set to work picking up the mustard grain by grain and
putting it into her basket; soon the basket was quite full and she
joyfully took it home and showed it to her sisters-in-law. Then they
set her another task and told her to bring them some bear's hair that
they might weave it into a hair armlet for her wedding. So she went off
to the jungle and sat down to cry; as she wept two bear cubs came up
and asked what was the matter; when she told her story they bade her
be of good cheer and took her into their cave and hid her. Presently
the mother bear came back and suckled her cubs, and when they had
finished they asked their mother to leave them some of her hair that
they might amuse themselves by plaiting it while she was away. She
did so and directly she had gone off to look for food, the cubs gave
the girl the hair and sent her home rejoicing. The sisters-in-law
were only made more angry by her success and plotted how to kill her,
so they ordered her to bring them some tiger's milk that they might
make it into curds for her wedding. Then she went off to the jungle
and began to weep, singing:--
"I brought the hair of a bear:
How far away have my brothers gone to trade."
At the sound two tiger cubs came running up and asked what was the
matter; they told her to be comforted and they would manage to give
her what she wanted; and they took her and hid her near where they
were lying. Presently the tigress came back and suckled her cubs and
as she did so she declared that she smelt a human being, but the
cubs laughed at her and said that it must be they whom she smelt;
so she was satisfied, and as she was leaving them they asked her to
leave some of her milk in an earthern pot so that they might have
something to drink if she were long in coming back. The tigress did
so and directly she was gone the cubs gave the milk to the girl who
took it home.--The story then continues as before.
XI. How to Grow Rich.
Once upon a time there was a woman whose husband died while she was
pregnant, and she was very unhappy and used to pray daily to Singh
Chando to give her a man child in place of her husband; she was left
well off and among her property were three gold coins, and as she was
afraid of these being stolen she decided to place them in the care
of the village headman. So she took them to him and asked him to keep
them till her child was born; and no one was present at the time but
the headman's wife. In due time her child was born and by the mercy
of Singh Chando it was a son; and when the boy had grown a bit and
could run alone his mother decided to take back the gold coins, so she
went to the headman and asked him for them; but he and his wife said:
"We do not understand what you are talking about? We know of no gold
coins: where are your witnesses? You must have had witnesses in such
a business." And they drove her out. She went away crying and called
the villagers together and asked them to decide the matter. So they
questioned her and the headman but as it was word against word they
could come to no decision; so they settled to put the parties on
oath, but the headman and the woman both swore that they had spoken
the truth, saying, "May we die if we have spoken falsely." Then
the villagers made them swear by their children and the woman and
the headman laid their hands on the heads of their sons and swore;
and when the woman swore her son fell down dead and she took up the
dead body in her arms and ran away with it.
The villagers were very sorry for what had happened but the headman
and his wife abused them for not having believed their word. The
woman had not gone very far before she met a stranger who asked why
she was crying and when she told him, he said: "Do not cry: you told
one falsehood and so your son has died. Take your child back to the
villagers and tell them that it was five gold coins and not three
that you gave to the headman and if you do this the child will come
to life again."
So the woman hastened back and found the villagers still assembled
and she told them as the stranger had directed; and she agreed to be
sworn again on the body of the child, and the headman promised to pay
five gold pieces if the child were restored to life. So the woman
laid her hands on the dead child and swore, and it was restored to
life. Then the headman was dumbfounded and reluctantly brought out
five gold pieces and gave them to the woman. She gave five rupees
to the villagers and they made the headman give them ten rupees for
having deceived them, and they bought pigs and had a feast.
In the course of time the boy grew up and his mother urged him to
marry. He asked her if she knew how to choose a wife and also what
sort of cattle to buy, and she said that she did not know; her husband
had not told her this. So the youth said that he would go to Singh
Chando and ask.
His mother washed his clothes for him and gave him food for the
journey and he set out. On the way he met a man who asked him where
he was going and he answered that he was going to make a petition to
Singh Chando. "Then," said the man, "make a petition for me also. I
have so much wealth that I cannot look after it all; ask him to take
away half from me." The youth promised and went on and he met another
man who said that he had so many cattle that he could not build enough
cow-houses for them and asked him to petition Singh Chando to diminish
their number; and he promised, and went on and came to Singh Chando,
and there he asked how to choose a wife and how to buy cattle. And
Singh Chando said, "When you buy a bullock first put your hand on
its quarter and if it shrinks and tries to get free, buy it; and when
you want a wife enquire first as to the character of her father and
mother; good parents make good children." Then the youth asked about
the two men he had met; Singh Chando said;--"Tell the first man when
he is ploughing to plough two or three furrows beyond the boundary
of his field and his wealth will diminish and tell the second man to
drive away three or four of his cattle every day and their number
will decrease." So the youth returned and met the man who had too
many cattle and told him what Chando had said, and the man thought
"If I drive away three or four head of cattle every day I shall soon
become poor" so from that time he looked out for any straying cattle
and would drive them home with his own; if the owner claimed them,
he gave them up, but if no claimant appeared, he kept them and so
he became richer than ever. And the youth went on and met the man
who was too rich, and when he heard what Chando had said he thought
"If I plough over the boundary on to my neighbour's land it will
be a great sin and I shall soon become poor;" and he went to his
ploughmen and told them never to plough right up to the edge of the
field but to leave two of three furrows space, and they obeyed and
from that time he grew richer than ever. And the youth returned to
his mother and told her all that had happened and they understood
the meaning of the advice which Chando had given to the two men and
acted accordingly. And it is true that we see that avaricious men
who trespass across boundaries become poor.
XII. The Changed Calf.
There was once a cowherd named Sona who saved a few rupees and he
decided to buy a calf so as to have something to show for his labours;
and he went to a distant village and bought a bull calf and on the way
home he was benighted. So he turned into a Hindu village and went to an
oilman's house and asked to be allowed to sleep there. When the oilman
saw such a fine calf he coveted it and he told Sona to put it in the
stable along with his own bullock and he gave him some supper and let
him sleep in the verandah. But in the middle of the night the oilman
got up and moistened some oil cake and plastered it over the calf;
he then untied his own bullock and made it lick the oil cake off the
calf, and as the bullock was accustomed to eat oil cake it licked it
greedily; then the oilman raised a cry, "The bullock that turns the
oil mill has given birth to a calf." And all the villagers collected,
and saw the bullock licking the calf and they believed the oilman. Sona
did not wake up and knew nothing of all this, the next morning he
got up and went to untie his calf and drive it away, but the oilman
would not let him and claimed the calf as his own. Then Sona called
the villagers to come and decide the matter: but they said that they
had seen him bring no calf to the village and he had not called any of
them to witness it, but they _had_ seen the bullock licking the calf;
why should the bullock lick any but its own calf? No one ever saw a
bullock lick a strange bullock or cow and so they awarded the calf
to the oilman. Then Sona said that he would call someone to argue the
matter and he went away meaning to get some men from the next village:
but he lost his way in the jungle and as he went along a night-jar
flew up from under his feet; he called out to it to stay as he was in
great distress, and the bird alighted and asked what was the matter,
and Sona told it his trouble. Then the night-jar said that it would
argue the matter for him but it must have a colleague and it told Sona
to go on and ask the first living being he met to help; so he went on
and met a jackal and the jackal agreed to help the night-jar, and they
told him to call the villagers to the edge of the jungle and not to
let them bring any dogs with them. So Sona brought all the villagers
to the jungle and the night-jar and jackal sat side by side on a stone.
Then Sona asked the villagers whether they would let him take away
the calf or no, and they persisted in their previous opinion. At last
one man said, "What are your advocates doing? it seems to me that they
are asleep." And at this the two woke up with a start and looked about
them, and the night-jar said "I have been asleep and dreamed a dream:
will you men please hear it and explain its meaning?"
And the jackal said, "I too have had a dream, please explain it for
me. If you can explain the meaning you shall keep the calf and, if
not, the boy shall have it." The villagers told them to speak and the
night-jar said, "I saw two night-jar's eggs and one egg was sitting
on the other; no mother bird was sitting on them, tell me what this
means." And the jackal said, "I saw that the sea was on fire and the
fishes were all being burnt up, and I was busy eating them and that
was why I did not wake up, what is the meaning of this dream?" And
the villagers said. "The two dreams are both alike: neither has
any meaning; an egg cannot sit on an egg, and the sea cannot catch
fire." The jackal said, "Why cannot it be? If you won't believe that
water can catch fire why do you say that a bullock gave birth to
a calf? Have you ever seen such a thing? Speak," And they admitted
that they had never seen a bullock have a calf, but only cows. "Then,"
said the jackal, "explain why you have given the oilman a decree." And
they admitted that they were wrong and awarded the calf to Sona and
fined the oilman five rupees for having deceived them.
XIII. The Koeri and the Barber.
There was a well-to-do man of the Koeri (cultivating) caste and
opposite his house lived a barber who was very poor; and the barber
thought that if he carried on his cultivation just as the Koeri did he
might get better results; so every day he made some pretext to visit
the Koeri's house and hear what work he was going to do the next day,
and with the same object he would listen outside his house at night;
and he exactly imitated the Koeri: he yoked his cattle and unyoked
them, he ploughed and sowed and transplanted just when the Koeri did
and the result was good, for that year he got a very fine crop. But he
was not content with this and resolved to continue to copy the Koeri;
the Koeri suspected what the barber was doing and did not like it. So
he resolved to put the matter to the test and at the same time teach
the barber to mind his own business. In January they both planted
sugar cane, and one day when the crop was half grown the barber
was sitting at the Koeri's house and the Koeri gave orders to his
servants to put the leveller over the crop the next day and break it
down; this was only a pretence of the Koeri's, but the barber went
away and the next day crushed his sugar cane crop with the leveller,
the whole village laughed to see what he had done; but it turned out
that each root of the barber's sugar cane sent up a number of shoots
and in the end he had a much heavier crop than the Koeri.
Another day the Koeri announced that he was going to sow _but_ (pulse)
and therefore ordered his servants to bring out the seed and roast
it well, that it might germinate quickly; and the barber hearing this
went off and had his seed _but_ roasted and the next day he sowed it,
but only a very few seeds germinated, while the crop of the Koeri
which had not really been roasted sprouted finely. The barber asked
the Koeri why his crop had not come up well, and the Koeri told him
that it must be because he had not roasted the seed enough; the few
seeds that had come up must have been those which had been roasted
most. But in the end the laugh was against the Koeri, for the few
seeds of the barber's which germinated, produced such fine plants
that when he came to thresh them out he had more grain than the Koeri,
and so in 3 or 4 years the barber became the richer man of the two.
XIV. The Prince Who Acquired Wisdom.
There was once a Raja who had an only son and the Raja was always
urging his son to learn to read and write in order that when he came
to his kingdom he might manage well and be able to decide disputes
that were brought to him for judgment; but the boy paid no heed to
his father's advice and continued to neglect his lessons. At last
when he was grown up, the Prince saw that his father was right and
he resolved to go away to foreign countries to acquire wisdom; so he
set off without telling anyone but his wife, and he took with him
a purse of money and three pieces of gold. After travelling a long
time, he one day saw a man ploughing in a field and he went and got
some tobacco from him and asked him whether there were any wise men
living in that neighbourhood. "What do you want with wise men?",
asked the ploughman. The Prince said that he was travelling to get
wisdom. The ploughman said that he would give him instruction if
he were paid. Then the Prince promised to give him one gold piece
for each piece of wisdom. The ploughman agreed and said. "Listen
attentively! My first maxim is this: You are the son of a Raja;
whenever you go to visit a friend or one of your subjects and they
offer you a bedstead, or stool, or mat to sit on, do not sit down
at once but move the stool or mat a little to one side; this is
one maxim: give me my gold coin." So the Prince paid him. Then the
ploughman said. "The second maxim is this: You are the son of a Raja;
whenever you go to bathe, do not bathe at the common bathing place,
but at a place by yourself; give me my coin," and the Prince did
so. Then he continued, "My third maxim is this: You are the son of a
Raja; when men come to you for advice or to have a dispute decided,
listen to what the majority of those present say and do not follow
your own fancy, now pay me;" and the Prince gave him his last gold
coin, and said that he had no more. "Well," said the ploughman, "your
lesson is finished but still I will give you one more piece of advice
free and it is this: You are the son of a Raja; Restrain your anger,
if anything you see or hear makes you angry, still do not at once take
action; hear the explanation and weigh it well, then if you find cause
you can give rein to your anger and if not, let the offender off."
After this the prince set his face homewards as he had spent all
his money; and he began to repent of having spent his gold pieces
on advice that seemed worthless. However on his way he turned into
a bazar to buy some food and the shopkeepers on all sides called out
"Buy, buy," so he went to a shop and the shopkeeper invited him to sit
on a rug; he was just about to do so when he remembered the maxim of
his instructor and pulled the rug to one side; and when he did so he
saw that it had been spread over the mouth of a well and that if he
had sat on it he would have been killed[1]; so he began to believe
in the wisdom of his teacher. Then he went on his way and on the
road he turned aside to a tank to bathe, and remembering the maxim
of his teacher he did not bathe at the common place but went to a
place apart; then having eaten his lunch he continued his journey,
but he had not gone far when he found that he had left his purse
behind, so he turned back and found it lying at the place where he
had put down his things when he bathed; thereupon he applauded the
wisdom of his teacher, for if he had bathed at the common bathing
place someone would have seen the purse and have taken it away. When
evening came on he turned into a village and asked the headman to let
him sleep in his verandah, and there was already one other traveller
sleeping there and in the morning it was found that the traveller had
died in his sleep. Then the headman consulted the villagers and they
decided that there was nothing to be done but to throw away the body,
and that as the Prince was also a traveller he should do it. At first
he refused to touch the corpse as he was the son of a Raja, but the
villagers insisted and then he bethought himself of the maxim that
he should not act contrary to the general opinion; so he yielded and
dragged away the body, and threw it into a ravine.
Before leaving it he remembered that it was proper to remove the
clothes, and when he began to do so he found round the waist of the
body a roll of coin; so he took this and was glad that he had followed
the advice of his teacher.
That evening he reached the boundary of his own territory and decided
to press on home although it was dark; at midnight he reached the
palace and without arousing anyone went to the door of his wife's
room. Outside the door he saw a pair of shoes and a sword; at the
sight he became wild with rage and drawing the sword he called out:
"Who is in my room?"
As a matter of fact the Prince's wife had got the Prince's little
sister to sleep with her, and when the girl heard the Prince's voice
she got up to leave; but when she opened the door and saw the Prince
standing with the drawn sword she drew back in fear; she told him
who she was and explained that they had put the shoes and sword at
the door to prevent anyone else from entering; but in his wrath the
Prince would not listen and called to her to come out and be killed.
Then she took off her cloth and showed it to him through the crack of
the door and at the sight of this he was convinced; then he reflected
on the advice of his teacher and repented, because he had nearly
killed his sister through not restraining his wrath.
XV. The Monkey Boy.
There was once a man who had six sons and two daughters and he died
leaving his wife pregnant of a ninth child.
And when the child was born it proved to be a monkey.
The villagers and relations advised the mother to make away with it,
but she refused saying "Chando knows why he has given me such a child,
but as he has done so I will rear it."
All her relations said that if she chose to rear a monkey they would
turn her out of the family. However she persisted that she would do
so at all costs. So they sent her to live with her child in a hut
outside the village, and the monkey boy grew up and learned to talk
like a human being.
One day his elder brothers began to clear the jungle for cultivation
and the monkey boy took a hatchet and went with them; he asked where
he could clear land for himself and in fun they showed him the place
where the jungle was thickest. So he went there and drove his hatchet
into the trunk of a tree and then returned and watched his brothers
working hard clearing the scrub, and when they had finished their work
he went and fetched his hatchet and returned home with them. Every
day he did the same--and one day his brothers asked why he spent all
his time with them, but he said that he only came to them when he was
tired of cutting down trees; they laughed at this and said that they
would like to see his clearing, so he took them to the place and to
their astonishment they saw a large clearing, bigger than they had
been able to make for themselves. Then the brothers burnt the jungle
they had cut down and began to plough the land.
But the monkey boy's mother had no plough or cattle nor any seed rice;
the only thing in the house was a pumpkin, so he took the seed out
of the pumpkin and sowed it in his clearing. His brothers asked what
he had sown and he told them--Rice.
The brothers ploughed and sowed and used to go daily to watch the
growing crop, and one day they went to have a look at the monkey boy's
crop and they saw that it was pumpkins and not rice and they laughed
at him. When their crop was ripe the brothers prepared to offer the
first fruits and the monkey boy watched them that he might observe the
same ceremonies as they. One day they brought home the first fruits
and offered them to the _bongas_, and they invited the monkey boy
and his mother to come to the feast which followed the offering.
They both went and enjoyed themselves; and two or three days later
the monkey boy said that he would also have a feast of first fruits,
so he told his mother to clear the courtyard and invited his brothers
and he purified himself and went to his clearing and brought home the
biggest pumpkin that had grown there; this he offered to the spirits;
he sliced off the top of it as if it were the head of a fowl, and
as he did so he saw that the inside was full of rice; he called his
mother and they filled a winnowing fan with the rice and there was
enough besides to nearly fill a basket; they were delighted at this
windfall but kept the matter secret lest they should be robbed. The
monkey boy told his mother to be sure and cook enough rice so that
his brothers and their wives might have as much as ever they could
eat, and not merely a small helping such as they had given him,
and if necessary he would go and fetch another pumpkin; so his
mother boiled the rice. When the time fixed for the feast came,
nothing was to be seen of the brothers because they did not expect
that there would really be anything for them to eat; so the monkey
boy went and fetched them, and when they came to the feast they
were astonished to have as much rice as they could eat. When the
crop was quite ripe the monkey boy gathered all the pumpkins and
got sufficient rice from them to last for the whole year. After
this the brothers went out to buy horses, and the monkey boy went
with them and as he had no money he took nothing but a coil of rope;
his brothers were ashamed to have him with them and drove him away,
so he went on ahead and got first to the place where the horsedealer
lived. The brothers arrived late in the evening and decided to make
their purchases the following morning and ride their horses home, so
they camped for the night. The monkey boy spent the night hiding on
the rafters of the stable; and in the night the horses began to talk
to each other and discussed which could gallop farthest, and one mare
said "I can gallop twelve _kos_ on the ground and then twelve _kos_
in the air." When the monkey boy heard this he got down and lamed
the mare by running a splinter into her hoof. The next morning the
brothers bought the horses which pleased them and rode off. Then the
monkey boy went to the horsedealer and asked why the mare was lame
and advised him to apply remedies. But the dealer said that that
was useless: when horses got ill they always died; then the monkey
boy asked if he would sell the mare and offered to give the coil of
rope in exchange; the dealer, thinking that the animal was useless,
agreed, so the monkey boy led it away, but when he was out of sight
he took out the splinter and the lameness at once ceased. Then he
mounted the mare and rode after his brothers, and when he had nearly
overtaken them he rose into the air and flew past his brothers and
arrived first at home. There he tied up the mare outside his house
and went and bathed and had his dinner and waited for his brothers.
They did not arrive for a full hour afterwards and when they saw
the monkey boy and his mount they wanted to know how he had got home
first. He boasted of how swift his mare was and so they arranged to
have a race and match their horses against his. The race took place
two or three days later and the monkey boy's mare easily beat all the
other horses, she gallopped twelve _kos_ on the ground and twelve
_kos_ in the air. Then they wanted to change their horses for his,
but he said they had had first choice and he was not going to change.
In two or three years the monkey boy became rich and then he announced
that he wanted to marry; this puzzled his mother for she thought that
no human girl would marry him while a monkey would not be able to talk;
so she told him that he must find a bride for himself. One day he set
off to look for a wife and came to a tank in which some girls were
bathing, and he took up the cloth belonging to one of them and ran
up a tree with it, and when the girl missed it and saw it hanging
down from the tree she borrowed a cloth from her friends and went
and asked the monkey boy for her own; he told her that she could only
have it back if she consented to marry him; she was surprised to find
that he could talk and as he conversed she was bewitched by him and
let him pull her up into the tree by her hair, and she called out to
her friends to go home and leave her where she was. Then he took her
on his back and ran off home with her.
The girl's father and relations turned out with bows and arrows to
look for the monkey who had carried her off but he had gone so far
away that they never found him. When the monkey boy appeared with his
bride all the villagers were astonished that he had found anyone to
marry him, but everything was made ready for the marriage as quickly
as possible and all the relations were invited and the wedding took
place and the monkey boy and his wife lived happily ever after.
XVI. The Miser's Servant.
Once there was a rich man who was a miser. Although he kept farm
servants they would never stay out the year with him; but ran away in
the middle. When the villagers asked why they ran away and so lost
their year's wages the servants answered. "You would do the same in
our place: at the busy time of the year he speaks us fair and feeds
us well, but directly the crops are gathered he begins to starve us;
this year we have had nothing to eat since September."
And the villagers said "Well, that is a good reason, a man can
stand scolding but not starvation; we all work to fill our bellies,
hunger is the worst disease of all." The news that the miser made his
servants work for nothing spread throughout the neighbourhood so he
could get no servants near by and when he brought them from a distance
they soon heard of his character and ran away. Men would only work
for him on daily wages and because of his miserliness they demanded
higher wages than usual from him and would not work without. Now
there was a young fellow named Kora who heard all this and he said
"If I were that man's servant I would not run away. I would get the
better of him; ask him if he wants a servant and if he says, yes,
take me to him." The man to whom Kora told this went to the miser
and informed him that Kora was willing to engage himself to him;
so Kora was fetched and they had a drink of rice beer and then the
miser asked Kora whether he would work for the full year and not run
away in the middle. Kora said that he would stay if he were satisfied
with the wages. The master said "I will fix your wages when I see
your work; if you are handy at every thing I will give you 12 _Kats_
of rice and if you are only a moderate worker then 9 or 10 _Kats_
besides your clothes. How much do you ask for?"
And Kora said "Well, listen to me: I hear that your servants run away
in the middle of the year because you give them so little to eat, all
I ask for my wages is that you give me once a year one grain of rice
and I will sow it and you must give me low land to plant all the seed
that I get from it; and give me one seed of maize and I will sow it for
seed, and you must give me upland to sow all the seed I get from it;
and give me the customary quantity of clothes, and for food give me
one leaf full of rice three times a day. I only want what will go on a
single leaf, you need not sew several leaves together into a plate. I
will ask for no second helping but if you do not fill the leaf full
I shall have the right to abuse you, and if I do not do all the work
you give me properly, then you can abuse me and beat me. If I run away
from fear of hard work you may cut off the little finger of my right
hand, and if you do not give me the wages we have agreed upon then I
shall have the right to cut off the little finger of your hand. What
do you say to this proposal: consult your friends and give me your
answer." Then the miser answered "I engage you on these terms and if
I turn you off without reason you may cut off my little finger." Then
Kora turned to the man who had fetched him and said "Listen to all
this: if there is any dispute hereafter you will be my witness."
So Kora began to work and the first day they gave him rice on a
single _sal_ leaf and he ate it up in one mouthful: but the next
day he brought a plantain leaf (_which is some three feet long_)
and said "Give me my rice on this and mind you fill it full." And
they refused: but he said "Why not? it is only a single leaf" and
they had to give in because he was within his rights; so he ate as
much as he wanted, and every day he brought a plantain leaf till his
master's wife got tired and said to her husband "Why have you got a
servant like this--he takes a whole pot of rice to himself every day,"
but he answered "Never mind: his wages are nothing, he is working for
his keep alone;" so the whole year Kora got his plantain leaf filled
and he was never lazy over his work so they could find no fault with
him on that score, and when the year was up they gave him one grain
of rice and one seed of maize for his wages for the year. Kora kept
them carefully, and his master's sons laughed at him and said "Mind
you don't drop them or let a mouse eat them."
Kora said nothing but when the time for sowing maize came he took his
grain of maize and sowed it by the dung heap, and he called them to
see where he sowed it; and at the time of sowing rice he sowed his
grain separately, and when the time for transplanting came he planted
his rice seedling in a hollow and bade them note it. When the maize
ripened it was found that his plant had two big cobs and one small
one on it, and his rice seedling sent up a number of ears; and when
it ripened he cut it and threshed it and got one _pai_ of rice, and he
kept the maize and rice for seed. And the next year also he sowed this
seed separately and it produced a big basket of rice and another one
of maize, and he kept this also for seed; and in the course of five
or six years he had taken all their high lands to sow his seed in
and in a few years more he had taken all their rice lands too. Then
his master was very miserable but he saw that it was useless to make
any complaint and the master became so poor that he had to work as
a servant to Kora. At last the miser called the heads of the village
together and wept before them, and they had pity on him and interceded
for him; but Kora said "It is God who has punished him and not I; he
made poor men work for nothing for so long and now he has to suffer;"
but they asked him to be merciful and give him some land, and he agreed
and said "Cut off his little finger and I will let him off his bargain;
and call all the servants whom he has defrauded and I will pay them"
but the miser would not have his finger cut off; then Kora said "Let
him keep his finger and I will give him back half his land." The miser
agreed to this and promised to treat his servants well in future,
and in order to lessen his shame he married his daughter to Kora;
and he had to admit that it was by his own folly that this trouble
had befallen him.
XVII. Kuwar and the Raja's Daughter.
There was once a rich merchant who lived in a Raja's city; and the
Raja founded a school in order that his own children might have some
education, and the boys and the girls of the town used to go to the
school as well as the Raja's sons and daughters and among them the
rich merchant's son, whose name Was Kuwar. In the course of time the
children all learned to read and write. In the evenings all the boys
used to mount their horses and go for a ride.
Now it happened that Kuwar and the Raja's daughter fell in love with
each other and she wrote him a letter saying that if he did not marry
her she would forcibly install herself in his house. He wrote back
and begged her not to come to his house as this would be the ruin of
his family; but he said that he would willingly run away with her to
a distant country, and spend his whole life with her, if she would
overlook the fact that they were of different castes; and if she
agreed to this they must settle to what country to go. Somehow news
of their intention got about, and the Raja was told that his daughter
was in love with the merchant's son. Then the Raja gave orders that
his daughter was not to be allowed to go outside the palace, and the
merchant spoke severely to Kuwar and neither of them was allowed to
go to the school any more. But one day the princess went to the place
where the Raja's horses were tied up and among them was a mare named
Piyari and she went up to the mare and said "You have eaten our salt
for a long time, will you now requite me?" And Piyari said "Certainly
I will!". Then the princess asked "If I mount you, will you jump
over all these horses and this wall and escape?" And the mare said
"Yes, but you will have to hold on very tight." The princess said
"That is my look-out: it is settled that on the day I want you you
will jump over the wall and escape." Then she wrote a letter to Kuwar
and gave it to her maid-servant to deliver into Kuwar's own hands,
without letting anyone know: and in the letter she fixed a day for
their elopement and told Kuwar to wait for her by a certain tree. So
on the day fixed after everyone was asleep Kuwar went to the tree and
almost at once the princess came to him riding on Piyari; he asked
her how she had escaped and whether she had been seen and she told
him how the mare had jumped over the wall without anyone knowing;
then they both mounted Piyari and drove her like the wind and in one
night they passed through the territory of two or three Rajas and in
the morning were in a far country.
Then they dismounted to cook their rice, and went to the house of an
old woman to ask for a light with which to light their fire. Now this
old woman had seven sons and they were all robbers and murderers;
and six of them had killed travellers and carried off their wives
and married them. When Kuwar and the princess came asking for a
light the seven sons were away hunting and when the old woman saw
the princess she resolved to marry her to her youngest son, and made
a plan to delay them; so she asked them to cook their rice at her
house and offered them cooking pots and water pots and firewood and
everything necessary; they did not know that she meant to kill Kuwar
and unsuspiciously accepted her offer. When they had finished cooking
Kuwar asked the old woman whether she lived alone and she told him
that she was a widow but had seven sons and they were all away on a
trading expedition. The old woman kept on looking out to see if her
sons were returning, and she had made an arrangement with them that if
she ever wanted them she would set fire to a small hut and they would
come home at once when they saw the smoke rising. But before her sons
came back Kuwar and the princess finished their meal and paid the old
woman and mounted Piyari and gallopped off. Then the old woman set fire
to the hut and her sons, seeing the smoke hurried home. She told them
that a beautiful girl had just left who would make a suitable wife for
the youngest of the brothers. Then the brothers tied on their swords
and mounted their horses and went in pursuit. Kuwar and the princess
knew nothing of their danger and rode on happily, but presently they
heard horses neighing behind them and looking round, saw men riding
after them with drawn swords. Then the princess said to Kuwar "Our
enemies are upon us; do you sit in front and let me sit behind you,
then they will kill us both together. If I am in front they may kill
you alone and carry me off alive." But while they were thinking of
this the seven brothers caught them up, and began to abuse them and
charge them with having set fire to the house in which they had eaten
their rice, and told them to come back with them at once. Kuwar and
the princess were too frightened to answer and they had no sword with
which to defend themselves. Then the robbers surrounded them and killed
Kuwar, and they said to the princess "You cannot stay here all alone;
we will take you back and you shall marry one of us." The princess
answered "Kill me here at once, never will I go with you." They said
"We shall take away your horse and all your food, will not that make
you go?" But the princess threw herself on the dead body of Kuwar
and for all they could do they could not drag her off it. Then the
murderers said to the youngest brother "She is to be your wife: you
must pull her away." But he refused saying "No, if I take her away she
will not stay with me, she will probably hang herself or drown herself;
I do not want a wife like that, if any of you want her, you can have
her." But they said that it would not be right for one of them to take
a second wife while their youngest brother was unmarried, and that
their mother intended him to marry this girl; if he would not they
would kill her there and then. But the youngest brother had pity on
her and asked them to spare her life, so they took away her horse and
her food and everything that she had and went away and left her there.
For a day and a night the princess lay there weeping and lamenting
her dead Kuwar and never ceased for a moment. Then Chando said "who
is this who is weeping and what has happened to her?" And he sent
Bidhi and Bidha to see what was the matter; they came and told him
that a princess was weeping over the body of her dead husband and
would not leave him though she had been robbed of everything she had.
Then Chando told them to go and frighten her, and if they could
frighten her away from her husband's dead body he would do nothing, but
if she would not leave him then they were to restore him to life. So
they went and found her holding the dead body of her husband In her
lap and weeping; and they first assumed the form of tigers and began
to circle round her roaring, but she only went on weeping and sang--
"You have come roaring, tigress:
First eat me, tigress:
Then only will I let you eat the body of my lord."
She would not quit the body nor run away from fear of the tigers,
so they slunk away and came back in the form of two leopards, and
prowled round her growling; but she only sang
"You have come roaring, leopardess
First eat me, leopardess
Then only will I let you eat the body of my lord."
and as she would not fly from them they slunk away and came back
in the form of two bears, but the princess only sang the same song;
then they appeared as two elephants; and then as two huge snakes which
hissed terribly but still she only wept; and in many forms they tried
to frighten her away but she would not move nor leave the corpse of
Kuwar, so in the end they saw that all the heart of the princess was
with Kuwar and that even in death they could not be separated, so at
last they drew near to her in the form of human beings and asked her
why she was crying, as they had heard her weeping from a long way off,
and had been filled with pity for her lamentations. Then the princess
said "Alas, this youth and I are from such and such a country and
as we loved and our lives were bound up in each other we ran away
together hither, and here on the road he has been killed and the
murderers have left me without my horse or food; and this is why I
weep." Then Bidhi and Bidha said "Daughter, rise up and we will take
you to your home, or we will find you another husband; this one is
dead and cannot be restored to you; you will find another; come arise,
you have but one life," But the princess answered "No I will not go
and leave him here. I will not leave him while my life lasts; but I
pray you if you know of any medicine that might restore him to life,
to try it." Then they answered "We know something of medicine and
if you wish we will try to cure him;" so saying, they ground up some
simples and told the princess to spread out a cloth and lay the dead
body on it and to put the head which had been cut off into position,
and then to cover it with the cloth and hold the head in position;
so she did as they bade, and they rubbed the medicine on the body
and then they suddenly disappeared from her sight.
Then in a few moments she saw Kuwar's chest heave as if he were
breathing; thereupon she shook him violently and he rose up and said
"Oh, what a long time I have slept," but the princess said "Do not
talk of sleep; you were killed and two men appeared from somewhere
and applied medicine and brought you to life again;" then Kuwar asked
where they were and she told him how they had disappeared without
her knowledge.
Then they rose up and went in search of food to a village where
there was a bazar, and they tried to get employment as servants;
but the people advised them to go to the capital city where the Raja
lived, and there if no one would take them as servants they could get
employment as coolies on a big tank which the Raja was excavating. So
they went there, and as they could not get employment as servants they
went to work at the tank with the common coolies and were paid their
wages at the end of the week and so managed to live. Kuwar's desire
was to somehow save five or six rupees and then build a little house
for themselves.
Now although the tank had been dug very deep there were no signs of
any water. Then the Raja ordered the centre post to be planted in
hopes that this would make the water rise; and he told the coolies
not to run away as he would make a feast to celebrate the making of
the tank and would distribute presents among them, and at this the
labourers were very pleased.
Now Kuwar's wife was very fair to see and the Raja saw her and fell
in love with her and made a plot to get possession of her. So when
the centre post had been planted and still no water came he said
"We must see what sacrifice is required to make the water come. I
have animals of all kinds; one by one they shall be offered and you
shall sing and dedicate them." So first an elephant was led down into
the bed of the tank and the people sang
"Tank, we will sacrifice to you an elephant
Let clear water bubble up, O tank,"
but no water came.
Then they led down a horse and sang a similar song, but no water came;
and then in succession a camel, a donkey, a cow, a buffalo, a goat and
a sheep were offered but no water came; and so they stopped. Then
the Raja asked why they stopped and they said that they had no
more animals. Then the Raja bade them sing a song dedicating a man,
to see if that would bring the water; so they sang and as they sang
water bubbled up everywhere from the bottom of the tank and then the
coolies were stricken with fear for they did not know which of them
would be sacrificed.
But the Raja sent his soldiers and they seized Kuwar and bound him
to the post in the middle of the tank; and then a song was sung
dedicating him to the tank and as the water rose around him the
princess wept bitterly; but the Raja said "Do not cry I will arrange
for your support and will give you part of my kingdom and you shall
live in my palace." The princess said "Yes: hereafter I may stay with
you, but let me now watch Kuwar till he is drowned;" so Kuwar fixed
his eyes on the princess and tears streamed down his face until the
waters rose and covered him; and the princess also gazed at him till
he was drowned. Then the Raja's soldiers told her to come with them
and she said "Yes, I am coming, but let me first offer a libation
of water to my dead husband;" and on this pretext she went into the
water and then she darted to the place where Kuwar had been bound and
sank beneath the surface. The Raja bade men rescue her but all were
afraid to enter the water and she was seen no more. Then the Raja
gave all the coolies a feast and scattered money among the crowd and
dismissed them. And this is the end of the story.
XVIII. The Laughing Fish.
There was once a merchant who prospered in his business and in the
course of time became very rich. He had five sons but none of them
was married. In the village where he lived was an old tank which was
half silted up and he resolved to clean it out and deepen it, if the
Raja would give it to him; so he went to the Raja and the Raja said
that he could have the tank if he paid forty rupees. The merchant paid
the money and then went home and called his family together and said
that they would first improve the tank and then find wives for all
his sons. The sons agreed and they collected coolies and drained
off the water and began to dig out the silt. When they had drained
off the water they found in the bed of the tank a number of big fish
of unknown age: which they caught and two of them they sent to the
Raja as a present. When the fish were carried into the presence of the
Raja they both began to laugh: then the Raja said "What is the meaning
of this? Here are two dead fish, why are they laughing?" And he told
the men who brought the fish to explain what was the matter or else
to take them away again. But they could give no explanation. Then the
Raja called all his officers and astrologers and asked them what they
thought it meant: but no one could give him any answer. Then the Raja
told the men to take the fish away again, and to tell the merchant
that, if he could not explain why the fish laughed, he would kill him
and all his descendants; and he wrote a letter to the same effect,
and fixed a day by which the merchant was to explain the matter. When
the merchant read the letter he fell into the greatest distress and
for two or three days he could not make up his mind whether to go on
with the work on the tank or no; but in the end he resolved to finish
it so that his name might be held in remembrance. So they finished the
work and then the merchant said to his sons: "My sons I cannot arrange
for your marriages, for the Raja has threatened to kill us all, if I
cannot explain why the fish laughed; you must all escape from here so
that our family may not die out;" but the younger sons all answered
"We are not able to take care of ourselves, either you come with us
to protect us or we will stay here." Then the merchant told his eldest
son to escape alone so that their family might not become extinct.
So the eldest son took a supply of money and went away into a far
country. After travelling a long time he came to a town where a
Raja lived and decided to stay there; so he first went to a tank and
bathed and sat down on the bank to eat some refreshment; and as he
sat the daughter of the Raja came down to the tank to bathe and she
saw the merchant's son and their eyes met. Then the princess sent
her maid-servants to ask him where he came from; and he told them
where he came from and that he meant to make a stay in that town,
and he promised them a rupee if they could persuade the princess to
uncover her face. They went and told their mistress all this and she
answered "Go and get your rupee from him, I will uncover my face;
and ask him what he wants." And when they went, she drew aside the
cloth from her face; then he gave them the rupee, and they asked him
whether he had seen her and what his intention was; then he said that
his wish was to marry the princess and live with her in her father's
house! When the princess heard this she said "Yes, my heart has gone
out to him also;" so then she bathed and went home and lay down in
her room and would not get up, and when her father asked her what
was the matter, she made no answer. Then they asked her maidens what
was the matter and they said that she had seen a stranger by the
tank and wished to marry him. The Rani asked whether the stranger
was still there and they said that they had left him by the tank. So
two men were sent to fetch the stranger or to find out where he had
gone. The two servants went and found the merchant's son just ready
to continue his journey, and they asked him who he was and what he
wanted. He said that he was looking for employment but would like
best to marry and live in the house of his father-in-law. Then they
told him not go away and they would arrange such a marriage for him,
so they took him to a house in the town and left him there and went
back to the Raja. They told the Raja that the stranger had gone away
but that they could follow him and bring him back if he gave them some
money for their journey. So the Raja gave them two rupees; then they
went off but only ate their dinner at home, and then they brought
the merchant's son to the Raja, pretending that they had overtaken
him a long way off. He was questioned about himself and he told his
whole history except that the Raja had threatened to cut off his
family, and his account being satisfactory it was arranged that he
should marry the princess. Musicians were sent for and the marriage
took place at once. After his marriage the merchant's son was much
depressed at the thought of his brothers' fate and in the middle of
the night he used to rise up and weep till the bed was soaked with
his tears; the princess noticed this and one night she pretended to
go to sleep but really lay awake and watched her husband; and in the
middle of the night saw him rise quietly and begin to sob. She was
filled with sympathy and went to him and begged him to tell her what
was the matter and whether he was sorry that he had married her; and
he answered "I cry because I am in despair; in the daytime I restrain
my tears before others with difficulty but in the night they cannot
be kept back; but I am ashamed for you to see me and I wait till you
are asleep before I give way to my feelings."
Then she asked what was the cause of his sorrow and he answered "My
father and mother and brothers and sisters are all doomed to die;
for our Raja has sworn to kill them by a certain day if he is not
told why two fish, which my father sent to him as a present, laughed
when they were brought before him. In consequence of this threat
my father sent me from home that one of the family might survive
and although I may be safe here the thought of them and their fate
makes me weep." The princess asked him what was the day fixed for
the mystery to be explained; and he told her that it was at the
full moon of a certain month. Then the princess said "Come take me
to your father's house: I shall be able to explain why the fishes
laughed." The merchant's son joyfully agreed to start off the next
day; so in the morning they told the Raja why they wished to go, and
he said to his daughter "Go and do not be afraid; go in confidence,
I promise you that you will be able to explain why the fishes laughed."
So they made ready and journeyed to the merchant's house; and when
they arrived they told the merchant to go to the Raja and ask him
to collect all the citizens on a certain day to hear the reason why
the fishes laughed. The merchant went to the Raja and the Raja gave
him a letter fixing the day and all the citizens were assembled in
an open plain; and the princess dressed herself as a man and went to
the assembly and stood before the Raja.
Then the Raja bade her explain why the fishes laughed, and the princess
answered "If you wish to know the reason order all your Ranis to be
brought here;" so the Ranis were summoned; then the princess said
"The reason why the fishes laughed was because among all your wives
it is only the eldest Rani who is a woman and all the others are
men. What will you give me if this is not proved to be true?" Then
the Raja wrote a bond promising to give the merchant half his kingdom
if this were proved to be true. When enquiry was made it was found
that the wives had really become men, and the Raja was put to shame
before all his people. Then the assembly broke up and the merchant
received half the Raja's kingdom.
XIX. How the Cowherd Found a Bride.
There was once a Goala who was in charge of a herd of cattle and
every day he used to bring the herd for their midday rest to the
foot of a peepul tree. One day the peepul tree spoke and said to him
"If you pour milk every day at my roots I will grant you a boon." So
thenceforward the Goala every day poured milk at the roots of the tree
and after some days he saw a crack in the ground; he thought that
the roots of the tree were cracking the earth but the fact was that
a snake was buried there, and as it increased in size from drinking
the milk it cracked the ground and one day it issued forth; at the
sight of it the Goala was filled with fear and made sure that the
snake would devour him. But the snake said "Do not fear: I was shut
up in the nether world, and you by your kindness have rescued me,
I wish to show gratitude to you and will confer on you any boon for
which you ask." The Goala answered that the snake should choose what
he would give him; then the snake called him near, and breathed on
his hair which was very long and it became glistening as gold, and the
snake said that his hair would obtain for him a wife and that he would
be very powerful; and that whatever he said would come to pass. The
Goala asked what sort of things would come to pass. The snake answered
"If you say a man shall die he will die and if you say he shall come
to life, he will come to life. But you must not tell this to anyone;
not even to your wife when you marry; if you do the power will vanish."
Some time afterwards it happened that the Goala was bathing in the
river; and as he bathed one of his hairs came out and the fancy took
him to wrap it in a leaf and set it to float down the stream. Lower
down the river a princess was bathing with her attendants and they
saw the packet come floating down and tried to stop it but it floated
straight to the princess and she caught it and opened it and found
the hair inside. It shone like gold and when they measured it, it was
twelve fathoms long. So the princess tied it up in her cloth and went
home and shut herself up in her room, and would neither eat nor drink
nor speak. Her mother sent two of her companions to question her,
and at last she told them that she would not rise and eat until they
found the person to whom the golden hair belonged; if it were the
hair of a man he should be her husband and if it came from a girl
she would have that girl come and live with her.
When the Raja and Rani heard this and that the hair had come floating
down the river they went to their daughter and told her that they
would at once send messengers up the stream to find the owner of the
hair. Then she was comforted and rose up and ate her rice. That very
day the Raja ordered messengers to follow up the banks of the stream
and enquire in all the villages and question every one they met to
find trace of the owner of the golden hair; so the messengers set out
on both banks of the stream and followed it to its source but their
search was vain and they returned without news; then holy mendicants
were sent out to search and they also returned unsuccessful. Then the
princess said "If you cannot find the owner of the golden hair I will
hang myself!" At this a tame crow and a parrot which were chained to
a perch, said "You will never be able to find the man with the golden
hair; he is in the depths of the forest; if he had lived in a village
you would have found him, but as it is we alone can fetch him; unfasten
our chains and we will go in search of him." So the Raja ordered them
to be unfastened and gave them a good meal before starting, for they
could not carry a bag of provisions with them like a man. Then the
crow and the parrot mounted into the air and flew away up the river,
and after long search they spied the Goala in the jungle resting his
cattle under the peepul tree; so they flew down and perched on the
peepul tree and consulted how they could lure him away. The parrot
said that he was afraid to go near the cattle and proposed that the
crow should fly down and carry off the Goala's flute, from where it
was lying with his stick and wrapper at the foot of the tree. So the
crow went flitting from one cow to another till it suddenly pounced
on the flute and carried it off in its beak; when the Goala saw this
he ran after the crow to recover his flute and the crow tempted him
on by just fluttering from tree to tree and the Goala kept following;
and when the crow was tired the parrot took the flute from him and
so between them they drew the Goala on right to the Raja's city,
and they flew into the palace and the Goala followed them in, and
they flew to the room in which the princess was and dropped the
flute into the hand of the princess and the Goala followed and the
door was shut upon him. The Goala asked the princess to give him the
flute and she said that she would give it to him if he promised to
marry her and not otherwise. He asked how he could marry her all of
a sudden when they had never been betrothed; but the princess said
"We have been betrothed for a long time; do you remember one day
tying a hair up in a leaf and setting it to float downstream; well
that hair has been the go-between which arranged our betrothal." Then
the Goala remembered how the snake had told him that his hair would
find him a wife and he asked to see the hair which the princess had
found, so she brought it out and they found that it was like his,
as long and as bright; then he said "We belong to each other" and
the princess called for the door to be opened and brought the Goala
to her father and mother and told them that her heart's desire was
fulfilled and that if they did not allow the wedding to take place in
the palace she would run away with the Goala. So a day was fixed for
the wedding and invitations were issued and it duly took place. The
Goala soon became so much in love with his bride that he forgot all
about his herd of cattle which he had left behind, without any one
to look after them; but after some time he bethought himself of them
and he told his bride that he must return to his cattle, whether
she came with him or no. She said that she would take leave of her
parents and go with him; then the Raja gave them a farewell feast and
he made over to the Goala half his kingdom, and gave him a son's share
of his elephants and horses and flocks and herds and said to him "You
are free to do as you like: you can stay here or go to your own home;
but if you elect to stay here, I shall never turn you out." The Goala
considered and said that he would live with his father-in-law but that
he must anyhow go and see the cattle which he had abandoned without
any one to look after them. So the next day he and his wife set off
and when they got to the jungle they found that all the cattle were
lying dead. At this the Goala was filled with grief and began to weep;
then he remembered the promise of the snake that he should be able
to restore the dead to life and he resolved to put it to the test.
So he told his wife that he would give the dead cows medicine and he
got some jungle roots as a blind and held them to the noses of the dead
animals and as he did so, he said "Come to life" and, behold, one by
one the cows all got up and began lowing to their calves. Having thus
proved the promises of the snake the Goala was loud in his gratitude
and he filled a large vessel with milk and poured it all out at the
foot of the peepul tree and the snake came and breathed on the hair
of the princess and it too became bright as gold.
The next day they collected all the cows and drove them back to the
princess' home and there the Goala and his wife lived happily, ruling
half the kingdom. And some years after the Goala reflected that the
snake was to him as his father and mother and yet he had come away in
a hurry without taking a proper farewell, so he went to see whether
it was still there; but he could not find it and he asked the peepul
tree and no answer came so he had to return home disappointed.
XX. Kara and Guja.
Once upon a time there were two brothers named Kara and Guja who
were first class shots with the bow and arrow. In the country
where they lived, a pair of kites were doing great damage: they
had young ones in a nest in a tree and used to carry off children
to feed their nestlings until the whole country was desolated. So
the whole population went in a body to the Raja and told him that
they would have to leave the country if he could not have the kites
killed. Then the Raja made proclamation that any one who could kill
the two kites should receive a large tract of land as a reward, and
thereupon many men tried to kill them; but the kites had made their
nest of ploughs and clod-crushers so that the arrows could not hit
them, and the shooters had to give up the attempt. At last Kara and
Guja thought that they would try, so they made an ambush and waited
till the birds came to the nest to feed their young and then shot them
both through the hole in a clod-crusher into which the pole fits, and
the two kites fell down dead, at the source of the Ganges and Jumna,
and where they fell they made a great depression in the ground. Then
Kara and Guja carried the bodies to the Raja and he gave them a grant
of land; and their grateful neighbours made a large rice field of the
depression which the kites had made in the earth and this was given
to Kara and Guja as service land to their great delight.
Kara and Guja used to spend their time in the forest, living on what
they could find there; they slept in a cave and at evening would
cook their rice there or roast jungle roots. One day a tiger spied
them out as they were roasting tubers and came up to them suddenly
and said. "What are you cooking? Give me some or I will eat you." So
while they went on eating the roasted tubers, they threw the coals
from the fire to the tiger at the mouth of the cave and he crunched
them up and every now and then they threw him a bit of something good
to eat; the tiger would not go away but lay there expecting to be fed,
and Kara and Guja debated how to get rid of him. Then Guja suddenly
jumped up and dashed at the tiger and caught him by the tail and began
to twist the tail and he went on twisting until he twisted it right
off and the tiger ran roaring away. Kara and Guja roasted the tail
and ate it, and they found it so nice that they decided to hunt the
tiger and eat the rest of him. So the two brothers searched for him
everywhere and when they found him they chased him until they ran
him down and killed him; then they lit a fire and singed the hair
off and roasted the flesh and made a grand meal: but they did not
eat the paunch. Kara wanted to eat it but Guja would not let him,
so Kara carried it away on his shoulder.
Presently they sat down in the shade of a banyan tree by the side of a
road and along the road came a Raja's wedding procession; when Kara and
Guja saw this they climbed into the tree and took the tiger's paunch up
with them. The wedding party came to a halt at the foot of the tree and
some of them lay down to eat and the Raja got out of his palki and lay
down to sleep in the shade. After a time Kara got tired of holding the
tiger's paunch in his arms and whispered to Guja that he could hold it
no longer, Guja told him on no account to let it go but at last Kara
got so tired that he let it fall right on the top of the Raja; then
all the Raja's attendants raised a shout that the Raja's stomach had
burst and all ran away in a panic leaving everything they had under
the tree; but after they had gone a little distance they thought of
the goods they had left behind and how they could not continue the
journey without them, so they made their way back to the banyan tree.
But meanwhile Kara and Guja had climbed down and gathered together all
the fine clothes and everything valuable and taken them up into the
tree. And Kara took up a large drum which he found and in one end of
the drum he made a number of little holes: and he caught a number of
wild bees which had a nest in the tree and put them one by one into
the drum. When the Raja's attendants came back and saw that there
were two men in the tree, they called out: "Why have you dishonoured
our Raja? We will kill you." Kara and Guja answered "Come and see who
will do the killing." So they began to fight and the Raja's men fired
their guns at Kara and Guja till they were tired of shooting, and had
used up all their powder and shot, but they never hit them. Then Kara
and Guja called out "Now it is our turn!" And when the Raja's men saw
that Kara and Guja had nothing but a drum they said "Yes, it is your
turn." So Kara and Guja beat the drum and called "At them, my dears:
at them my dears." And the wild bees flew out of the drum and stung
the Raja's men and drove them right away. Then Kara and Guja took
all their belongings and went home and ever after were esteemed as
great Rajas because of the wealth which they had acquired.
XXI. The Magic Cow.
There was once a Raja who had an only son named Kara and in the
course of time the Raja fell into poverty and was little better than
a beggar. One day when Kara was old enough to work as a cowherd his
father called him and said "My son, I am now poor but once I was
rich. I had a fine estate and herds of cattle and fine clothes; now
that is all gone and you have scarcely enough to eat. I am old and
like to die and before I leave you I wish to give you this advice:
there are many Rajas in the world, Raja above Raja; when I am dead
do you seek the protection of some powerful Raja." As there was not
enough to eat at home Kara had to take service as goat-herd under a
neighbouring Raja; by which he earned his food and clothes and two
rupees a year. Some time afterwards his father died and Kara went
to his master and asked for a loan of money with which to perform
his father's funeral ceremonies, and promised to continue in his
service until he had worked off the loan. So the Raja advanced him
five rupees and five rupees worth of rice, and with this money Kara
gave the funeral feast. Five or six days later his mother died, and
he again went to the Raja and asked for ten rupees more; at first the
Raja refused but Kara besought him and promised to serve him for his
whole life if he could not repay the loan. So at last the Raja lent
him ten rupees more, and he gave the funeral feast. But the Raja's
seven sons were very angry with their father because he had lent twenty
rupees to a man who had no chance of paying, and they used to threaten
and worry Kara because he had taken the money. Then Kara remembered
how his father had said that there were many Rajas in the world,
Raja above Raja, and he resolved to run away and seek service with
the greatest Raja in the world. So he ran away and after travelling
some distance he met a Raja being carried in a palki and going with a
large party to fetch a bride for his son; and when he heard who it was
he decided to follow the Raja; so he went along behind the palki and
at one place a she-jackal ran across the road; then the Raja got out
of his palki and made a salaam to the jackal. When Kara saw this he
thought "This cannot be the greatest Raja in the world or why should
he salaam to the jackal. The jackal must be more powerful than the
Raja; I will follow the jackal." So he left the wedding party and
went after the jackal; now the jackal was hunting for food for her
young ones, and as Kara followed her wherever she went she could
find no opportunity of killing a goat or sheep; so at last she went
back to the cave in which she lived. Then her cubs came whining to
meet her and she told her husband that she had been able to catch
nothing that day because a man had followed her wherever she went,
and had come right up to their cave and was waiting outside.
Then the he-jackal told her to ask what the man wanted. So she went
out to Kara and asked him and Kara said "I have come to place myself
under your protection;" then she called the he-jackal and they said
to him, "We are jackals and you are a man. How can you stay with us;
what could we give you to eat and what work could we find for you to
do?" Kara said that he would not leave them as all his hopes lay in
them; and at last the jackals took pity on him and consulted together
and agreed to make him a gift as he had come to them so full of
hope; so they gave him a cow which was in the cave, and said to him:
"As you have believed in us we have made up our minds to benefit
you; take this cow, she will supply you with everything you want;
if you address her as mother she will give you whatever you ask,
but do not ask her before people for they would take her from you;
and do not give her away whatever inducements are offered you."
Then Kara thanked them and called down blessings on their heads
and took the cow and led it away homewards. When he came to a tank
he thought he would bathe and eat; while he bathed he saw a woman
washing clothes at the other side of the tank but he thought that
she would not notice him, so he went up to the cow and said "Mother,
give me a change of clothes." Thereupon the cow vomited up some nice
new clothes and he put them on and looked very fine. Then he asked
the cow for some plates and dishes and she gave them; then he asked
for some bread and some dried rice, and he ate all he wanted and
then asked the cow to keep the plates and dishes for him; and the
cow swallowed them up again.
Now the woman by the tank had seen all that had happened and ran
home and told her husband what she had seen and begged him to get
hold of the wonderful cow by some means or other. Her husband could
not believe her but agreed to put it to the test, so they both went
to Kara and asked where he was going and offered to give him supper,
and put him up for the night and give grass for his cow. He accepted
this invitation and went with them to their house and they gave him
the guest-room to sleep in and asked what he would have to eat, but he
said that he did not want any supper,--for he intended to get a meal
from the cow after every one was asleep. Then the man and his wife
made a plot and pretended to have a violent quarrel and after abusing
each other for some time the man flung out of the house in a passion
and pretended to run away; but after going a short distance he crept
back quietly to the guest-room. Hanging from the roof was the body of a
cart and he climbed up into that and hid himself, without Kara knowing
anything about it. When Kara thought that every one was asleep, he
asked his cow for some food and having made a good meal went to sleep.
The man watching up above saw everything and found that his wife had
spoken the truth; so in the middle of the night he climbed down and
led away Kara's magic cow and put in its place one of his own cows of
the same colour. Early the next morning Kara got up and unfastened the
cow and began to lead it away, but the cow would not follow him; then
he saw that it had been changed and he called his host and charged him
with the theft. The man denied it and told him to call any villagers
who had seen him bring his cow the day before; now no one had seen
him come but Kara insisted that the cow had been changed and went to
summon the village headman and the villagers to decide the matter:
but the thief managed to give a bribe of one hundred rupees to the
headman and one hundred rupees to the villagers and made them promise
to decide in his favour; so when they met together they told Kara
that he must take the cow which he had found tied up in the morning.
Kara protested and said that he would fetch the person from whom he
had got the cow and take whichever cow he pointed out. Telling them
that they were responsible for his cow while he was away, he hastened
off to the cave where the jackals lived. The jackals somehow knew
that he had been swindled out of the cow, and they met him saying
"Well, man, have you lost your cow?" And he answered that he had
come to fetch them to judge between himself and the villagers: so
the jackals went with him and he went straight to the headman and
told him to collect all the villagers; meanwhile the jackals spread
a mat under a peepul tree and sat on it chewing _pan_ and when the
villagers had assembled the jackal began to speak, and said: "If a
judge takes a bribe his descendants for several generations shall eat
filth, in this world and the next; but if he make public confession,
then he shall escape this punishment. This is what our forefathers have
said; and the man who defrauds another shall be thrust down into hell;
this also they have said. Now all of you make honest enquiry into this
matter; we will swear before God to do justice and the complainant and
the accused shall also take oath and we will decide fairly." Then the
village headman was conscience stricken and admitted that he had taken
a bribe of one hundred rupees, and the villagers also confessed that
they had been bribed; then the jackal asked the accused what he had
to say to this: but he persisted that he had not changed the cow;
the jackal asked him what penalty he would pay if he were proved
guilty and he said that he would pay double. Then the jackal called
the villagers to witness that the man had fixed his punishment, and
he proposed that he and his wife should go to the herd of cattle,
and if they could pick out the cow that Kara claimed it would be
sure proof that it was his. So the jackals went and at once picked
out the cow, and the villagers were astonished and cried. "This is
a just judgment! They have come from a distance and have recognised
the cow at once." The man who had stolen it had no answer to give;
then the jackal said: "You yourself promised to pay double; you gave
a bribe of one hundred rupees to the headman and one hundred rupees
to the villagers and the cow you stole is worth two hundred rupees
that is four hundred rupees, therefore you must pay a fine of eight
hundred rupees;" and the man was made to produce eight hundred rupees
and the jackal gave all the money to the villagers except ten rupees
which he gave to Kara; and he kept nothing for himself.
Then Kara and the jackals went away with the cow, and after getting
outside the village the jackals again warned Kara not to ask the cow
for anything when anyone was by and took their leave of him and went
home. Kara continued his journey and at evening arrived at a large
mango orchard in which a number of carters were camping for the
night. So Kara stopped under a tree at a little distance from the
carters and tied his cow to the root. Soon a storm came up and the
carters all took shelter underneath their carts and Kara asked his
cow for a tent and he and the cow took shelter in it. It rained hard
all night and in the morning the carters saw the tent and wondered
where it came from, and came to the conclusion that the cow must have
produced it; so they resolved to steal the cow.
Kara did not dare to make the cow swallow the tent in the day time
while the carters were about, so he stayed there all the next day and
at night the cow put away the tent. Then when Kara was asleep some
carters came and took away the cow and put in its place a cow with
a calf, and they hid the magic cow within a wall of packs from their
pack bullocks. In the morning Kara at once saw what had happened and
went to the carters and charged them with the theft; they denied all
knowledge of the matter and told him he might look for his cow if he
liked; so he searched the encampment but could not see it.
Then he called the village headman and chowkidar and they searched
and could not find the cow and they advised Kara to keep the cow and
calf as it must be better than his own barren cow; but he refused and
said that he would complain to the magistrate and he made the headman
promise not to let the carters go until he came back. So he went to
a Mahommedan magistrate and it chanced that he was an honest man who
gave just judgments and took no bribes, and made no distinction between
the rich and the poor; he always listened to both sides carefully,
not like some rascally magistrates who always believe the story
that is first told them and pay no attention to what the other side
say. So when Kara made his complaint this magistrate at once sent for
the carters and the carters swore that they had not stolen the cow:
and offered to forfeit all the property they had with them, if the
cow were found in their possession.
Then the magistrate sent police to search the encampment and the police
pulled down the pile of packs that had been put round the cow, and
found the cow inside and took it to the magistrate. Then the magistrate
ordered the carters to fulfil their promise and put them all in prison
and gave all their property to Kara. So Kara loaded all the merchandise
on the carts and pack bullocks and went home rejoicing. At first the
villagers did not recognise who it was who had come with so much wealth
but Kara made himself known to them and they were very astonished and
helped him to build a grand house. Then Kara went to the Raja from
whom he had borrowed the money for his parents' funerals and paid back
what he owed. The Raja was so pleased with him that he gave him his
daughter in marriage and afterwards Kara claimed his father-in-law's
kingdom and got possession of it and lived prosperously ever after.
And the seven sons of his first master who used to scold him were
excited by his success and thought that if they went to foreign parts
they also could gain great wealth; so they took some money from their
father and went off. But all they did was to squander their capital
and in the end they had to come back penniless to their father.
XXII. Lita and His Animals.
Once upon a time there was a man who had four sons: two of them were
married and two were unmarried and the youngest was named Lita. One
day Lita went to his father and asked for fifty or sixty rupees that
he might go on a trading expedition and he promised that if he lost
the money he would not ask for any share in the paternal property. As
he was very urgent his father at last gave him sixty rupees and he
set out on his travels. After going some way he came to a village in
which all the inhabitants were chasing a cat; he asked them what was
the matter and they told him that the cat was always stealing their
Raja's milk and the Raja had offered a reward of twenty rupees to
anyone who would kill it. Then Lita said to them "Do not kill the cat;
catch it alive and give it to me and I will pay you twenty rupees for
it; then you can go to the Raja and say that you have killed it and ask
for the reward; and if the Raja asks to see the body tell him that a
stranger came and asked for the body, for he thought that a cat which
had fed on milk should be good eating and so you gave it to him." The
villagers thought that this would be an excellent plan and promised to
bring him the cat alive. They soon managed to catch it hiding under
a heap of firewood and brought it to Lita and he paid them twenty
rupees and then they went to the Raja and got twenty rupees from him.
Then Lita went on, and by-and-bye came to a village where the villagers
were hunting an otter in a tank; they had made a cut in the bank and
had let out all the water. Lita went to them and asked what they were
doing; they said that they were hunting for an otter which had been
destroying the Raja's fish and the Raja had promised them a reward if
they killed it, and they had driven it into the tank and were draining
off the water in order to catch it. Then Lita offered to buy it of them
if they brought it to him alive; so when they caught it they brought
it to him and he gave them money for it and continued his journey
with the cat and the otter. Presently he saw a crowd of men and he
went up to them and asked what they were doing: and they told him that
they were hunting a rat which was always gnawing the Raja's pens and
papers and the Raja had offered a reward for it, and they had driven
it out of the palace, but it had taken refuge in a hole and they were
going to dig it out Then Lita offered to buy it from them as he had
bought the other two animals and they dug it out and sold it to him.
He went on and in the same way found a crowd of men hunting a snake
which had bitten many people: and he offered to buy it for twenty
rupees and when they had chased it till it was exhausted, they
caught it alive and sold it to Lita. As his money was all spent,
he then set off homewards; and on the way the snake began to speak
and said: "Lita, you have saved my life; had you not come by, those
men would certainly have had my life; come with me to my home, where
my father and mother are, and I will give you anything you ask for;
we have great possessions." But Lita was afraid and said: "When you
get me there you will eat me, or if you don't, your father and mother
will." But the snake protested that it could not be guilty of such
ingratitude and at last Lita agreed to accompany it when he had left
the other animals at his home.
This he did and set off alone with the snake, and after some days they
reached the snake's home. The snake told Lita to wait outside while he
went and apprized his parents and he told Lita that when he was asked
to choose his reward he should name nothing but the ring which was on
the father-snake's finger, for the ring had this property that if it
were placed in a _seer_ of milk and then asked to produce anything
whatever, that thing would immediately appear. Then the snake went
on to his home and when the father and mother saw him they fell on
his neck and kissed him and wept over him saying that they had never
expected to see him again; the snake told them how he had gone to
the country of men and how a reward had been set on his head and he
had been hunted, and how Lita had bought him from the men who would
have killed him. The father snake asked why he had not brought Lita
to be rewarded and the snake said that he was afraid that when they
saw him they would eat him.
But the father and mother swore that they could not be guilty of
such ingratitude, and when he heard this the snake went and brought
in Lita, and they entertained him handsomely for two days; and on
the third day the father snake asked Lita what he would take as his
reward. Lita looked round at the shining palace in which they lived
and at first was afraid to speak but at last he said: "I do not want
money or anything but the ring on your finger: if you will not give
me that, I will take nothing; I saved your son from peril and that
you will remember all your lives, and if you give me the ring I will
honour you for it as long as I live." Then the father and mother snake
consulted together and the mother said "Give it to him as he asks for
it" so the father snake drew it from his finger and gave it to Lita
and they gave him also some money for his journey back; and he went
home and found the other three animals safe and sound waiting for him.
After a time his father said that Lita must marry; so marriage
go-betweens were sent out to look for a bride and they found a very
rich and beautiful girl whose parents were agreeable to the match. But
the girl herself said that she would only marry a man who would build
a covered passage from her house to his, so that she could walk to her
new home in the shade. The go-betweens reported this, and Lita's father
and brothers consulted and agreed that they could never make such a
passage, but Lita said to his father: "Arrange the match; it shall
be my charge to arrange for making the covered passage; I will not
let you be put to shame over it." For Lita had already put the ring
to the test: he had dropped it into a _seer_ of milk and said "Let
five _bharias_ of parched rice and two _bharias_ of curds appear" and
immediately the parched rice and curds were before him; and thereupon
he had called out "The snake has worthily rewarded me for saving his
life;" and the cat and the otter and the rat overheard what he said.
So the go-between was told to arrange for the wedding to take place
that very month, as Lita's birthday fell in the next month, which
therefore was not suitable for his wedding. Then the bride's family
sent him back to say that they were prepared to send a string of nine
knots; and the next day the go-between told this to Lita's family
and they said that they were willing to accept it; so the go-between
brought a string of nine knots to signify that the wedding would take
place in nine days. The days passed by and Lita's father and brothers
became very anxious because they saw no sign of the covered passage;
but on the very night before the wedding, Lita took his ring and
ordered a covered passage to be made from the one house to the other
with a good path down the middle; and the next morning they found
it made; and the bridegroom's party passed along it to the bride's
house and the bride was escorted home along it.
Now the bride had been deeply in love with another young man who lived
in her village and had much wished to marry him but her wishes of
course were not consulted in the matter. Some time after the marriage
she one day in the course of conversation asked her husband Lita how
much he had spent on making the covered passage to her house and how
he had built it so quickly. He told her that he knew nothing about it;
that his father and mother had arranged for it and no doubt had spent a
large sum of money. So the next day she took an opportunity of asking
her mother-in-law about it, but Lita's mother said that nothing had
been spent at all; somehow the passage had been made in one night,
she knew not how.
Then Lita's wife saw that Lita was keeping a secret from her, and
she began to reproach him for having any secrets from his wife: and
at last when she had faithfully promised never to reveal the matter
to anyone, he told her the secret of the ring. Now her former lover
used still to visit her and one day she sent for him and said that she
would no longer live with Lita, but wished to run away with him. The
lover at first objected that they would be pursued and killed while if
they escaped to a distance he would have nothing to support her with;
but the faithless woman said that there need be no anxiety about that
and she told him about the magic ring and how by means of it they
could provide themselves with a house and everything they wanted. So
they fixed a night for the elopement and on that night when Lita
was asleep his wife quietly drew the ring off his finger and went
out to her lover who was waiting outside and told him to get a goat
from the pen; then they beheaded the goat and went inside and poured
all its blood on the ground under the bed on which Lita was sleeping,
and then having hid the body and head of the goat, they ran away.
Towards morning Lita woke up and missed his wife, so he lit a lamp to
look for her and then saw the pool of blood under the bed. At this
sight he was terror stricken. Some enemy had killed and carried off
his wife and he would be charged with the murder. So he lay there
wondering what would happen to him. At last his mother came into the
room to see why he and his wife had not got up as usual and when she
saw the blood she raised a cry; the village headman and chowkidar
were sent for and they questioned Lita, but he could only say that
he knew nothing of what had happened; he did not know what the blood
was, he did not know where his wife was. Thereupon they sent two men
to the house of the wife's parents to see if by any chance she had
run away there and in any case to bring her relations to be present
at the enquiry into her disappearance. When her father and brothers
heard what had happened they at once went to Lita's house in wrath
and abused him as a murderer. They asked why, if his wife had not done
her duty to him, he had not sent her back to them to be chastised and
taught better, instead of murdering her and they went straight to the
magistrate and complained: the magistrate sent police who arrested
Lita and took him before the magistrate.
Meanwhile it had become known that not only was Lita's wife missing
but also her lover; and Lita's father presented a petition to the
magistrate bringing this to notice and asserting that the two must
have run away together. Then the magistrate ordered every search to be
made for the missing couple but said that Lita must remain in custody
till they were found, so he was shut up in prison. From prison he made
an application to the magistrate that his three tame animals, the cat
and the otter and the rat might be brought to the place where he was;
the magistrate kindly consented but the animals were not allowed
into the prison. However at night the rat being small made its way
inside and found out Lita, and asked what was to be done. Lita said
that he wanted the three animals to save him from his great danger
as he had saved them; he wanted them to trace his wife and her lover
and recover the ring; they would doubtless find them living in some
gorgeous palace, the gift of the ring.
The rat went out and gave the other two Lita's message and they
readily undertook to do their best; so the next morning the three
animals set off. In vain they hunted all over the country, till one
day they came to the bank of the Ganges and there on the other side
they saw a palace shining like gold. At this their hopes revived,
for this might be a palace made by the magic ring. But the cat and
the rat objected that they could not cross the river. The otter said
that he would easily manage that and he took the cat on his back and
the rat climbed on to the back of the cat and so the otter ferried
them both across the river; then they consulted and decided that
it would be safest to wait till the evening before they went to the
palace to see who lived in it. When they looked in in the evening,
they at once recognised Lita's wife and her lover; but these two were
in constant terror of being pursued and when they had had their evening
meal they fastened and bolted every entrance so securely that no one
could gain admittance. Then the cat and the otter told the rat that
he must collect all the rats of the neighbourhood and they must burrow
through the wall and find some way of abstracting the magic ring.
So the rat collected a crowd of his friends and in no time they bored
a hole through the wall; then they all began to look for the ring;
they hunted high and low but could not find it; however the cat sat
at the entrance of the hole which they had made and vowed that they
should not come out, unless they got the ring. Then the first rat
climbed on to the bed in which the couple were sleeping and searched
their clothes and examined their fingers and toes but in vain; then
he thought that the woman might have it in her mouth so he climbed
on to her chest and tickled her nose with the tip of his tail; this
made her sneeze and behold she sneezed out the ring which she had
hidden in her mouth. The rat seized it and ran off with it and when
the cat was satisfied that he had really got it, she let him out and
the three friends set off rejoicing on their homeward journey. They
crossed the river in the same way as when they came with the cat
riding on the otter and the rat on the cat: and the rat held the
ring in its mouth. Unfortunately when they were halfway across,
a kite swooped down to try and carry off the rat. Twice it swooped
and missed its grasp but the second time it struck the rat with its
wing and the rat in terror let the ring fall into the river.
When they reached the bank the three friends consulted what they
were to do in this fresh misfortune. As the otter was the only one
who could swim it volunteered to look for the ring, so it plunged
into the water and searched the bottom of the river in vain; then it
guessed that a fish must have swallowed the ring and it set to work
to catch every fish it saw and tore them open; at last in the stomach
of a big fish it found the ring, so it brought the fish to the bank
and while they were all rejoicing and eating a little of the fish a
kite swooped down and carried off the fish, ring and all.
The three animals watched the kite flying away with the fish; but some
women who were gathering firewood ran after the kite and took the fish
from it and putting it in their basket went home. Then the otter and
the rat said to the cat "Now it is your turn: we have both recovered
the ring once, but we cannot go into the house of these humans. They
will let you go near them easily enough; the ring is in the fish's
stomach, you must watch whether they throw away the stomach or clean
it, and find an opportunity for carrying off the ring."
So the cat ran after the women and when they began to cut up the
fish, it kept mewing round them. They threw one or two scraps to it,
but it only sniffed at them and would not eat them; then they began
to wonder what on earth the cat wanted, and at last they threw the
stomach to it. This it seized on gladly and carried it off and tore
it open and found the ring and ran off with it to where the otter
and the rat were waiting. Then the three friends travelled hard for
a day and a night and reached the prison in which Lita was confined.
When Lita got the ring he begged his jailer to get him a _seer_
of milk and when it was brought he dropped the ring in it, and said
"I wish the bed on which my faithless wife and her lover are sleeping
to be brought here with them in it this very night" and before morning
the bed was brought to the prison. Then the magistrate was called and
when he saw that the wife was alive he released Lita, and the lover
who had run away with her had to pay Lita double the expenditure
which had been incurred on his marriage, and was fined beside.
But Lita married another wife and lived happily with her. And some
time afterwards he called the otter and the cat and the rat to him
and said that he purposed to let them go and before they parted he
would give them anything they wished for. They said that he owed them
nothing, and they made Lita promise to let them know if ever he lost
the ring or fell into trouble, and he promised to help them if ever
their lives were in danger, and one morning he took them to a bazar,
near which was a tank full of fish, and he turned the otter into
the tank and left the cat and the rat to support themselves in the
bazar. The next day he went to see them and the otter came out of
the tank and gave him a fish which it had caught, and the cat brought
him some milk it had stolen, and that was the last he saw of them.
XXIII. The Boy Who Found His Father.
There was once a boy who used always to cheat when playing _Kati_
(pitch and toss) and for this the village boys with whom he played used
to quarrel with him, saying "Fatherless orphan, why do you cheat?" So
one day he asked his mother why they called him that name and whether
his father was really dead. "He is alive" said she "but a long time
ago a rhinoceros carried him off on its horn." Then the boy vowed
that he would go in search of his father and made his mother put him
up provisions for the journey; and he started off taking with him an
iron bow and a big bundle of arrows.
He journeyed on all day and at nightfall he came to a village; there he
went up to the house of an old woman to ask for a bed. He stood at the
threshhold and called out to her "Grannie, grannie, open the door." "I
have no son, and no grandchildren to call me grannie," grumbled the
old woman and went to open the door to see who was there, and when she
opened the door and saw him, she said "Ho, you are my grandson." "Yes,"
answered he, "I am your grandchild." So she called him inside and gave
him a bed to sleep on. The old woman was called Hutibudi; and she and
the boy sat up late talking together and then they lay down to sleep;
but in the middle of the night he heard the old woman crunching away
trying to bite his bow to pieces. He asked her what she was eating:
"Some pulse I got from the village headman," "Give me a little to
try" he begged. "I am sorry my child, I have finished it all." But
really she had none to give, however she only hurt her jaws biting
so that she began to groan with pain: "What are you groaning for,
Grannie?" said the boy; "Because I have toothache" she answered: and
in truth her cheeks were badly swollen. Then he told her that a good
cure for toothache was to bite on a white stone and she believed him
and the next morning got a piece of white quartz and began to bite on
it; but this only broke her teeth and made her mouth bleed so that the
pain was worse than before: then the boy jeered at her and said. "Did
you think, Grannie, that you could bite my iron bow and arrows?"
So saying he left her and continued the search for his father and
his road led him to a dense jungle which seemed to have no end, and
in the middle of the jungle he came to a lake and he sat down by it
to eat what was left of the provisions he had brought: as he sat,
he suddenly saw some cow-bison coming down to the lake: at this he
caught up his bow and arrows in a hurry and climbed up a tall _sal_
tree: from the tree he watched the bison go down to the water to drink
and then go back into the jungle. And after them tigers and bears
came down to the water: the sight of them frightened him and he sang:--
"Drink your fill, tiger,
I shall not shoot you.
I shall shoot the giant rhinceros."
and they drank and went away. Then various kinds of birds came and
after them a great herd of rhinceroses and among them was one which
had the dried up body of the boy's father stuck on its horn. The boy
was rather frightened and sang
"Drink your fill, rhinceroses,
I shall not shoot you
I shall shoot the giant rhinceros."
and when the giant rhinceros with the body of his father stooped its
head to drink from the lake, he put an arrow through it and it turned
a somersault and fell over dead: while all the other rhinceroses
turned tail and ran away. Then the boy climbed down from the tree and
pulled the dead body of his father off the horn of the dead animal and
laid it down at the foot of a tree and began to weep over it. As he
wept a man suddenly stood before him and asked what was the matter,
and when he heard, said "Cry no more: take a cloth and wet it in the
lake and cover your father's body with it: and then whip the body
with a _meral_ twig and he will come to life." So saying the stranger
suddenly disappeared; and the boy obeyed his instructions and behold
his father sat up alive and rubbing his eyes said "I must have been
asleep a very long time." Then his son explained to him all that had
happened and gave him some food and took him home.
XXIV. The Oilman's Bullock.
There was once a poor but industrious oilman; he got a log of wood
and carved out an oil mill and, borrowing some money as capital,
he bought mustard and sesame seed and set to work to press it; as he
had no bullock he had to turn the mill himself. He was so industrious
that he soon began to prosper and was able to buy a bullock for his
mill. By and bye he got so rich that he was able to buy some land and
a cart and pair of bullocks and was quite a considerable man in the
village. One day one of his cart bullocks died and this loss was a
sad blow to the oilman. However he tied up the surviving bullock in
the stable along with the old oil mill bullock and fed them well. One
night it chanced that one of the villagers passed by the stable and
hear the two animals talking and this is what he heard.
The young bullock said "You came to this house first, friend; what
sort of treatment does one get here?"
"Why do you ask me?" said the other. "Oh, I see your shoulder is
galled and your neck shows mark of the yoke." The old bullock answered
"Whether my master treats me well or ill I owe him money and have to
stay here until I have paid him off. When I have paid him five hundred
rupees I shall go." "How will you ever pay back such a sum?" "If
my master would only match me to fight the Raja's elephant for five
hundred rupees I should win the fight and my debt would be cleared;
and if he does not do that I shall probably have to work for him all
my life. How long do you intend to stay?" "My debt will be cleared
if I work for him two years" answered the new comer.
The man who overheard this conversation was much astonished and
went off to the oilman and told him all about it. Next day the whole
village had heard of it and they were all anxious for the oilman to
match his bullock against the Raja's elephant; but the oilman was
very frightened, for he feared that if he sent such a challenge, the
Raja would be angry with him and drive him out of the country. But
the leading villagers urged him and undertook to find the money if he
lost, and to persuade the Raja that the oilman was mad, if he became
angry with him. At last the oilman consented, provided that some of
the villagers went to the Raja and proposed the match; he was too
frightened to go himself. So two of the village elders went to the
Raja and asked him to match his elephant against the oilman's bullock
for five hundred rupees; the Raja was very much amused and at once
fixed a day for the fight. So they returned and told the oilman to
be ready and raised a subscription of five hundred rupees.
The evening before the contest the oilman gave the bullock a big feed
of meal and oilcake; and on the eventful morning the villagers all
collected and watched him oiling its horns and tying a bell round its
neck. Then the oilman gave the bullock a slap on its back and said
"Take care: you are going to fight an elephant; if you owe me so much
money you will win, and if not, then you will be defeated." When
he said this the bullock pawed the ground and snorted and put down
its head.
Then they all set out with the five hundred rupees to a level field
near the Raja's palace; a great crowd collected to see the fun and
the Raja went there expecting easily to win five hundred rupees. The
elephant was brought forward with vermilion on its cheeks, and a
pad on its back, and a big bell round its neck, and a mahout riding
it. The crowd called out "Put down the stakes:" so each side produced
the money and publicly announced that the owner of the animal which
should be victorious should take all the stakes. But the oilman
objected to the mahout's riding the elephant; no one was going to ride
his bullock. This was seen to be fair and the mahout had to get off;
then the fight began. The bullock snorted and blew through its nose,
and ran at the elephant with its head lowered. Then the elephant also
rushed forward but the bullock stood its ground and stamped; at this
the elephant turned tail and ran away; the bullock ran after it and
gored it from behind until it trumpeted with pain. The crowd shouted
"The Raja's elephant is beaten." And the oilman took the five hundred
rupees and they all went home. From that day the oilman no longer put
the bullock to work the oil mill but fed it well and left it free to
go where it liked. But the bullock only stayed on with him for one
month and then died.
XXV. How Sabai Grass Grew.
Once upon a time there were seven brothers who had an only
sister. These brothers undertook the excavation of a large tank;
but although they spent large sums and dug very deep they could not
reach water and the tank remained dry.
One day as they were consulting what to do to get the tank to fill,
they saw a Jogi corning towards them with a lota in his hand; they at
once called to him to come and advise them, for they thought that,
as he spent his time wandering from country to country, he might
somewhere have learned some thing which would be of use to them. All
the Jogi said to them was "You have a sister: if you sacrifice her,
the tank will fill with water." The brothers were fond of the girl,
but in their despair at seeing their labour wasted they agreed to give
the advice of the Jogi a trial. So they told their mother the next day
that, when their sister brought them out their midday meal, she was
to be dressed in her best and carry the rice in a new basket and must
bring a new water pot to draw their water in. At midday the girl went
down to her brothers with her best cloth and all her jewellery on; and
when they saw their victim coming they could not keep from tears. She
asked them what they were grieving for; they told her that nothing was
the matter and sent her to draw water in her new water-pot from the
dry tank. Directly the girl drew near to the bank the water began to
bubble up from the bottom; and when she went down to the water's edge
it rose to her instep. She bent down to fill her pot but the pot would
not fill though the water rose higher and higher; then she sang:--
"The water has risen, brother,
And wetted my ankle, brother,
But still the _lota_ in my hand
Will not sink below the surface."
But the water rose to her knees and the pot would not fill, and
she sang:--
"The water has risen, brother,
And wetted my knees, brother,
But still the lota in my hand
Will not sink below the surface."
Then the water rose to her waist and the pot would not fill, and
she sang:--
"The water has risen, brother,
And wetted my waist, brother,
But still the lota in my hand
Will not sink below the surface."
Then the water reached her neck and the pot would not fill; and
she sang:--
The water has risen, brother,
And wetted my neck, brother,
But still the lota in my hand
Will not sink below the surface."
At last it flowed over her head and the water-pot was filled, but the
girl was drowned. The tank however remained brimful of sparkling water.
Now the unhappy girl had been betrothed and her wedding day was just
at hand. On the day fixed the marriage broker came to announce the
approach of the bridegroom; who shortly afterwards arrived at the
outskirts of the village in his palki. The seven brothers met him,
and the usual dancing began.
The bridegroom's party however wished to know why the bride did not
appear. The brothers put them off with various excuses, saying that
the girl had gone with her friends to gather firewood or to the river
to draw water. At last the bridegroom's party got tired of waiting
and turned to go home in great wrath at the way in which they had
been treated. On their way they passed by the tank in which the girl
had been sacrificed and, growing in the middle of it, they saw a most
beautiful flower. The bridegroom at once determined to possess this,
and he told his drummers to pick it for him; but whenever one of them
tried to pick it, the flower moved out of his reach and a voice came
from the flower saying:--
"Take the flower, drummer,
But the branch you must not break."
and when they told him what the flower sang the bridegroom said that
he would try and pick it himself; no sooner had he reached the bank
than the flower of its own accord floated towards him and he pulled it
up by the roots and took it with him into the palki. After they had
gone a little way the palki bearers felt the palki strangely heavy:
and when they looked in they found the bride also sitting in it,
dressed in yellow garments; for the flower was really the girl who
had been drowned.
So they joyfully took the happy couple with drumming and music to
the bridegroom's house.
In a short time misfortune befel the seven brothers; they fell into
the deepest poverty and were forced to earn what they could by selling
leaves and sticks which they gathered in the jungle. As they went about
selling these, they one day came to the village where their sister
was living and as they cried their wares through the streets they were
told to go to the house where the marriage had taken place. They went
there, and as they were selling their leaf plates their sister saw
and recognised them; they had only ragged loincloths on, and their
skins were black and cracked like a crocodile's.
At the sight their sister began to cry. Her friends asked what was
the matter and she said a straw from the thatch had run into her eye,
so they pulled down some of the thatch; she still went on crying and
they again asked what was wrong; she said that she had knocked her
foot against a stone in the ground; so they dug up the stone and threw
it away. But she still went on weeping and at last confessed that the
miserable-looking leaf-sellers were her brothers. Then her husband's
parents told her to be comforted, and they gave the brothers oil and
bade them go and bathe and oil their bodies: but the brothers were
so hungry that when they got to the bathing place they drank the oil
and ate the oil cake that had been given to them; and came back with
their skins as rough as when they went. So then they were given more
oil and some of the household went with them and made them bathe and
oil themselves properly and then brought them to the house and gave
them new clothes and made them a feast of meat and rice. According to
the custom of the country they were made to sit down in order of age
and were helped in that order; when they had all been helped and had
eaten, their sister said to them "Now brothers you come running to
me for food, and yet you sacrificed me in the tank." Then they were
overwhelmed with shame: they looked up at the sky but there was no
escape there; they looked down at the earth; and the earth split open
and they all ran into the chasm. The sister tried to catch the youngest
brother by the hair and pull him out, calling "Come back, brother,
come back brother, you shall carry my baby about for me!" but his
hair came off in her hand and the earth swallowed them all up. Their
sister planted the hair in a corner of the garden and it is said that
from that human hair, _sabai_ grass originated.
XXVI. The Merchant's Son and the Raja's Daughter.
Once a merchant's wife and a Raja's wife were both with child and one
day as they bathed together they fell into conversation, and they
agreed that if they both bore daughters then the girls should be
"flower friends" while if one had a son and one a daughter then the
children should marry: and they committed the agreement to writing. A
month or two later the Raja's wife bore a daughter and the merchant's
wife a son. When the children grew up a bit they were sent to school,
and as they were both very intelligent they soon learnt to read and
write. At the school the boys used to be taught in an upstairs room
and the girls on the ground floor. One day the boy wrote out a copy
of the agreement which their mothers had made and threw It down to
the girl who was below.
She read it and from that day they began to correspond with each other;
love soon followed and they decided to elope. They fixed a day and
they arranged that the boy should wait for the girl under a _turu_
tree outside the town. When the evening came the girl made haste to
cook her parents' supper and then, when they went to bed, she had
as usual to soothe them to sleep by rubbing their limbs; all this
took a long time and the merchant's son soon got tired of waiting,
so he sang to the tree:--
"Be witness be witness for me 'Turu tree'
When the Raja's daughter comes."
and so singing he tied his horse to the roots of the tree and himself
climbed up into the branches, and sitting in the tree he pulled off
and threw down a number of twigs. Late at night the Raja's daughter
came; she saw the horse tied and the twigs scattered on the ground,
but no other sign of her lover. And at last she got tired of waiting
and called the _Turu_ tree to witness, singing:--
"Be witness be witness for me 'Turu tree'
When the merchant's son comes."
As she finished her song the merchant's son threw down a large branch
to her, so she looked up and saw him sitting in the tree. Then she
climbed up to him and began to scold him for putting her to the pain
of waiting so long. He retorted "It was you who made me anxious by
keeping me waiting." "That was not my fault: you know how much work
a woman has to do. I had to cook the supper and put my parents to
bed and rub them to sleep. Climb down and let us be off." So they
climbed down from the tree and mounted the horse and rode off to
a far country. On the road the girl became very thirsty but in the
dense jungle they could find no water, at last the merchant's son
threw a stone at hazard and they heard it splash in a pool; so they
went in the direction of the sound and there they found water but it
was foul and full of worms and the girl refused to drink it. She said
that she would only drink water "which had a father and mother."
So they went on their way, and after a time they came to a number
of crows holding a meeting and in the midst was an owl with its head
nodding drowsily; it was seeing dreams for them; every now and then
a crow would give it a shove and ask what it had dreamt, but the owl
only murmured that it had not finished and went off to sleep again. At
last it said "I have seen a gander and a goose go down into a river
and swim about in it."
The merchant's son and his companion went on and presently came to
a river in full flood, which was quite uncrossable; on the far bank
was a cow lowing to a calf which had been left on the bank where they
were. When she saw them the girl began to sing:--
"The cow lows for its calf
The calf bleats for its mother:
My father and mother
Are weeping for me at home."
When he heard her lament like this the merchant's son exclaimed
"You women are all alike, come let us go back."
"How can we go back now?" answered the girl "You of course can pretend
that you have been hunting; but we women lose our character if we
are hidden by a bush for a minute."
So as they could not cross the river by themselves, a goose and gander
carried them across on their backs. As they went on the merchant's
son asked the girl how far she would like to go, a six days' journey
or a six months' journey. He told her that in the six months' journey
they would only have fruits and roots and such like to eat and water
to drink, but the six days' journey was easy and free from hardship.
The girl chose the six days' journey, so they went on for six days
and came to a stream on the banks of which stood a cottage in which
lived an old woman. Before they went up to it the girl told her lover
not to eat any rice given to him by the old woman but to throw it
to the fowls; then they went and asked to be allowed to cook their
food there; now the old woman had seven unmarried sons, who were away
hunting at the time, and when she saw the Raja's daughter she wished
to detain her and marry her to one of her sons. So in order to delay
them she gave them a damp stove and green firewood to cook with;
she also offered the merchant's son some poisoned rice but he threw
it to the fowls, and when they ate it they fell down dead.
The girl could not make the fire burn with the green wood, so
they hurried away as fast as they could without waiting to cook any
food. Before they started however the old woman managed to tie up some
mustard seed in a cloth and fasten it to their horse's tail, so that
as they rode, the seed was spilt along the road they took. When the
old woman's sons came back from hunting she greeted them by saying:
"Why did you not come back sooner? I have just found a pretty wife
for you; but I have tied mustard seed to their horse's tail and it is
being scattered along the road: in one place it is sprouting in another
it is flowering; in another it is seeding and in another it is ripe;
when you get to the place where it is ripe you will catch them." So
the seven brothers pursued the two lovers and caught them up, but
the merchant's son cut down six of them with his sword; the seventh
however hid under the horse's belly and begged for mercy and offered to
serve them as groom to their horse. This man's name was Damagurguria;
they spared his life and he followed them running behind the horse;
but he watched his opportunity and caught the merchant's son unawares
and killed him with his sword.
Then he told the girl that she belonged to him and she admitted it and
asked that she might ride behind him on the horse, so Damagurguria
mounted and took her up behind him and turned homewards. He could
not see what the girl was doing and they had not gone far when she
drew his sword and killed him with it.
Then she rode back to where the body of her lover lay and began to weep
over it. As she sat there a man in shining white clothing appeared and
asked what was the matter; she told him Damagurguria had killed her
lover. Then he bade her stop crying and go and wet a _gamcha_ he gave
her and come straight back with it without looking behind her and then
pick a _meral_ twig and beat the corpse with it. So the girl took the
_gamcha_ and went and dipped it in a pool but, as she was bringing it
back, she heard a loud roaring behind her and she looked back to see
what it was; so the stranger sent her back again to the pool and this
time she did not look round though she heard the same roaring. Then
the stranger told her to join the severed head to the body and cover
it with the wet _gamcha_; and then, after waiting a little, to beat
the body with the _meral_ twig. So saying he disappeared. The girl
carefully complied with these instructions and to her joy saw the
merchant's son sit up and rub his eyes, remarking that he must have
been asleep for a long time. Great was his astonishment when he heard
how Damagurguria had killed him and how he had been restored to life
by the help of the stranger in white. This was the end of the lovers'
troubles and they lived happily ever after.
XXVII. The Flycatcher's Egg.
One day a herd boy found a flycatcher's egg and he brought it home
and asked his mother to cook it for him, but she put it on a shelf
and forgot about it. His mother was a poor woman and had to go out all
day to work; so before she started she used always to cook her son's
dinner and leave it covered up all ready for him. No sooner had she
gone to work than a _bonga_ girl used to come out of the flycatcher's
egg and first eat up the rice that had been left for the herd boy
and then quickly put water on to boil and cook some rice with pulse;
and, having eaten part of it, cover up the rest, ready for the herd
boy on his return. Then she used to comb and dress her hair and go
back into the egg. This happened every day and at last the boy asked
his mother why she gave him rice cooked with pulse every day, as he
was tired of it. His mother was much astonished and said that some
one must have been changing his food, because she always cooked his
rice with vegetables. At this the boy resolved to watch and see who
was touching his food; so one day he climbed up on to the rafters
and lay in wait. Presently out of the egg came the _bonga_ girl and
cooked the food and combed her hair as usual. Just as she was going
back into the egg, the herd boy sprang down and caught her. "Fi, Fi,"
cried she "is it a _Dome_ or a _Hadi_ who is clasping me?" "No _Dome_
or _Hadi_," said he: "we are husband and wife:" so he took her to
wife and they lived happily together.
He strictly forbade her ever to go outside the house and he said
incantations over some mustard seed and gave it to her, and told
her that, if any beggars came, she was to give them alms through the
window and, if they refused to take them in that way, then she was
to throw the mustard seed at them; but on no account to go outside
the house. One day when her husband was away a jugi came begging;
the _bonga_ girl offered him alms through the window but the jugi
flatly refused to take them; he insisted on her coming out of the
house and giving them. Then she threw the mustard seed at him and he
turned into ashes. By superior magic however he at once recovered his
own form and again insisted on her coming outside to give him alms,
so she went out to him and he saw how beautiful she was.
The jugi went away and one day he went to beg at the Raja's palace and,
talking to the Raja, he told him how he had seen a girl of more than
human beauty. The Raja resolved to possess her, and one day he took
the form of a fly and flew to the house and saw the beautiful _bonga_;
a second day he came back in the same form and suddenly caught her
up and flew off with her on his back to his palace, and in spite of
her weeping shut her up in a beautifully furnished room on the roof
of his palace. There she had to stay and her food was brought to her
there. When the herd boy came home and found that his beautiful wife
was missing he filled the air with lamentations and leaving his home
he put on the garb of a jugi and went about begging. One day he came
to the palace of the Raja who had carried off his wife; as he begged
he heard his wife's voice, so he sang:--
"Give me, oh give me, my flycatcher wife,
Give me my many-coloured wife."
Then they offered him a jar full of money to pacify him, but he threw
the rupees away one by one and continued his lament. Then the Raja
called for his two dogs Rauta and Paika and set them on the man and
they tore him to death. At this his wife wept grievously and begged
them to let her out since there was no one to carry her away, now
that her husband was dead.
They prepared to take away the corpse to burn it and the _bonga_
girl asked to be allowed to go with them as she had never seen the
funeral rites of a jugi: so they let her go.
Before starting she tied a little salt in the corner of her cloth. When
she reached the burning place, she sang to the two dogs:--
"Build the pyre, Rauta and Paika!
Alas! The dogs have bitten the jugi,
Alas! They have chased and killed the jugi."
So the two dogs built the pyre and lay the body on it. Then she
ordered them to split more wood, singing:--
"Cut the wood, Rauta and Paika!
Alas! The dogs have bitten the Jugi,
Alas! They have chased and killed the jugi."
So they split more wood and then she told them to apply the fire,
singing:--
"Light the fire, Rauta and Paika!
Alas! The dogs have bitten the Jugi,
Alas! they have chased and killed the jugi."
When the pyre was in full blaze she suddenly said to the dogs "Look up,
Rauta and Paika, see the stars are shining in the day time." When the
two dogs looked up, she threw the salt into their eyes, and, while
they were blinded, she sprang into the flames and died as a _sati_
on the body of her husband.
XXVIII. The Wife Who Would Not Be Beaten.
There was once a Raja's son who announced that he would marry no woman
who would not allow him to beat her every morning and evening. The
Raja's servants hunted high and low in vain for a bride who would
consent to these terms, at long last, they found a maiden who agreed
to be beaten morning and evening if the prince would marry her. So
the wedding took place and for two or three days the prince hesitated
to begin the beating; but one morning he got up and, taking a stick
from the corner, went to his bride and told her that she must have
her beating. "Wait a minute" said she "there is one thing I want to
point out to you before you beat me. It is only on the strength of
your father's position that you play the fine gentleman like this:
your wealth is all your father's and it is on his wealth that you
are relying. When you have earned something for yourself, and made
a position for yourself, then I am willing that you should beat me
and not before."
The prince saw that what his bride said was true and held his
hand. Then, in order to earn wealth for himself, he set out on a
trading expedition, taking quantities of merchandise loaded in sacks;
and he had a large band of retainers with him, mounted on horses and
elephants, and altogether made a fine show. The princess sent one of
her own servants with the prince and gave him secret instructions
to watch his opportunity and if ever, when the prince was bathing,
he should throw away a loin cloth, to take possession of it without
the prince knowing anything about it and bring it to her. The prince
journeyed on till he came to the country called Lutia.
The Raja of Lutia was walking on the roof of his palace and he saw
the cavalcade approaching, and he sent a _sipahi_ to meet the prince
and ask him this question, "Have you the secret of prosperity for ever
or of prosperity for a day?" When this question was put to the prince
he answered that he had the secret of prosperity for ever. When the
Lutia Raja was told of this answer, he ordered his men to stop the
prince's train; so they surrounded them and seized all the merchandise
and the prince's retainers fled on their horses and elephants and
left him alone and penniless. In his distress the prince was forced
to take service with a rich Hindu, and he had nothing to live on but
what his master chose to give him, and all he had to wear was a loin
cloth like the poorest labourer.
The only man who did not desert him was the servant whom the Princess
had sent; and one day he saw that the prince had thrown away an old
loin cloth while bathing; this he picked up and took home to his
mistress, who put it away. When she heard all that had happened to
her husband, she set out in her turn to the Lutia country and all
she took with her was a mouse and a shawl. When she reached the Lutia
country the Raja as before sent a messenger to ask whether she knew
the secret of prosperity for ever or of prosperity for a day.
She answered "prosperity for a day." Thereupon the Raja had her sent
for and also all the retainers who had deserted the Prince and who
had collected together in the neighbourhood. When they had all come
the Raja said that he would now decide who should have all the wealth
which had been taken from the prince: he produced a cat and said that
the person towards whom the cat jumped should have all the wealth. So
they all sat round the Raja and the Princess had her mouse hidden
under her shawl and every now and then she kept uncovering its head
and covering it up again. The cat soon caught sight of the mouse and,
when the Raja let it go, it jumped straight to the Princess in hopes
of catching the mouse. The Raja at once adjudged all the merchandise
to her, and she loaded it on the horses and elephants and took it
home accompanied by her husband's retainers.
A few days afterwards her husband came home, having got tired of
working as a servant, and, putting a bold face on it, he went up to
her and said that now he was going to beat her; all the retainers who
had accompanied him when he set out to trade and also the servant whom
the princess had sent with him were present. Then, before them all,
the princess took up the old loin cloth and asked him if he knew to
whom it had belonged; at this reminder of his poverty the prince was
dumb with shame. "Ask your retainers" continued the princess "to whom
all the merchandise with which you set out now rightfully belongs,
ask them whether it is yours or mine, and then say whether you will
beat me."
The prince had no answer to give her and after this lesson gave up
all idea of beating his bride.
XXIX. Sahde Goala.
Once a marriage was arranged between Sahde Goala and Princess Chandaini
and on the wedding day when it began to get dusk Sahde Goala ordered
the sun to stand still. "How," said he, "can the people see the
wedding of a mighty man like myself in the dark?" So at his behest
the sun delayed its setting for an hour, and the great crowd which
had assembled saw all the grand ceremonies.
The next day Sahde and his bride set off home and it took them three
days to reach the place where he lived. Before they left they had
invited the princess's father to come and see them; accordingly a day
or two later he set out, but it took him three months to accomplish the
distance which Sahde Goala had traversed in three days. When the old
Raja reached his son-in-law's house they welcomed him and washed his
feet and offered him refreshments; and when he had eaten, he asked his
son-in-law to take him out for a stroll. So they went out, Sahde Goala
in front and the old Raja following behind him and as they walked Sahde
Goala struck his foot against a stone, and the stone was shattered to
pieces. When the Raja saw this proof of his son-in-law's superhuman
strength, he became alarmed for his daughter's safety. If Sahde ever
lost his temper with her he might clearly smash her to atoms, so he
made up his mind that he could not leave her in such keeping. When
he told his daughter what he had seen she was as frightened as her
father and begged him to take her home, so they agreed to escape
together some time when Sahde Goala was out of the way.
One morning Sahde Goala went out to watch his men working in the
fields and the old Raja and his daughter seized this opportunity to
escape. Sahde Goala had a sister named Lorokini and she ran to the
field to tell her brother that his wife was running away. "Let her go"
said Sahde Goala. The old Raja travelled faster than his daughter and
left her behind and as she travelled along alone Sahde Goala made a
flooded river flow across her path. It was quite unfordable so the
Princess stood on the bank and sang:--
"My mother gave me birth,
My father gave me in marriage:
If the water upstream would stand still
And the water downstream would flow away
Then I could go and live in my own home."
But no such thing happened and she had to go back to her husband's
house.
When she arrived her mother-in-law gave her a large basket of cooked
rice and a pot of relish and told her to take them to the labourers
in the field. Her mother-in-law helped her to lift the basket on to
her head and she set off. When she reached the field she called to
her sister-in-law:--
"Come Lorokini,
Lift down from my head
The basket of rice
And the pot of relish."
But Lorokini was angry with her for trying to run
away and refused to help, singing:--
"I will not come
I will not lift down the basket:
Prop it against a _murup_ tree:
I will not lift it down."
Then Chandaini Rani propped it against the trunk of a _murup_ tree,
and so set it on the ground.
Then she sang to her husband:--
"Here, husband, is the lota of water:
Here, husband, is the tooth stick;
Come, and wash your hands:
If you are angry with me
Take me back to my father and mother."
But Sahde Goala was ploughing at the head of his men and paid no
attention to her: then she sang again:--
"Seven hundred labourers
And twenty hundred women labourers,
You are causing to die of thirst."
But still Sahde Goala paid no attention. Then Chandaini Rani got
angry and by leaning the basket against the _murup_ tree managed to
get it on to her head again and carried it home, and from that time
murup trees grow slanting. Directly she had taken the rice and relish
to the house she set off again to run away to her mother. As before
Sahde Goala caused a flooded river to flow across her path and as
before she sang:--
"My mother gave me birth,
My father gave me in marriage:
If the water upstream would stand still
And the water downstream would flow away
Then I could go and live in my own home,"
And this time the water did stand still and the water below all
flowed away and she crossed over. As she crossed she said "If I am
really chaste no one will be able to touch me." And as she reached
the opposite bank she saw a young man sitting waiting for her; his
name was Bosomunda, he had been sitting waiting for her on the bank
for days without moving. When he saw Chandaini Rani mount the bank
he rose and said "Come: I have been waiting for you, you are to be
my mistress." "Fie, fie!" answered she "Am I to belong to any Dome or
Hari?" Bosomunda swore that she should be his. "If so, then follow a
little behind me so as not to tread on my shadow." So they went on, the
Rani in front and Bosomunda behind. Presently they came to a tamarind
tree on which grew two enormous fruits; the Rani pointed to them saying
"If I am to belong to you, you must pick me those fruits." So Bosomunda
began to climb the tree, and as he climbed she prayed that the tree
might grow and touch the sky; and in fact as fast as Bosomunda climbed
so the tree grew and he got no nearer to the fruit.
Then the Chandaini Rani picked up the weapons which he had laid
on the ground and threw them away one to the north and one to the
south, one to the east and one to the west, and ran off as fast as
she could. Bosomunda at first did not see her because his eyes were
fixed on the tamarind fruit, but after she had gone a long way he
caught sight of her and came down as fast as he could and, gathering
up his weapons, went in pursuit. But Chandaini Rani had got a long
start, and as she hurried along she passed a thorn tree standing by
the side of the road and she called to it "Thorn tree, Bosomunda is
coming after me, do your best to detain him for a little." As she
spoke it seemed as if a weight descended on the tree and swayed it
to and fro so that its branches swept the ground, and it answered her
"I will do like this to him." Then she went on and met a goat on the
road, and she asked it to do its best to delay Bosomunda, and the
goat pawed the ground and dug its horns into the earth and said that
it would do the same to Bosomunda. Then she went on and met a ram and
made the same request; the ram charged a tree and butted it right over
and promised to treat Bosomunda in the same way. Afterwards she came
to a bull and the bull drove its horns into a bank and brought down
a quantity of earth and said that that was the way he would treat
Bosomunda. Next she came to a buffalo and the buffalo charged a bank
of earth to show what he would do to Bosomunda. Then she came to an
elephant and the elephant trampled a clod of earth to dust and said
that he would treat Bosomunda so. Then she went on and saw a paddy
bird feeding by the roadside and she asked it to do its best to delay
Bosomunda; the paddy bird drove its bill into
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