A certain Brahmana had a daughter named Candrapati. She was a person
endowed with beauty. Four Brahmana Princes having heard of the
excellence of her figure, came to try to marry her. The Brahmana her
father having inquired what sciences they knew, each one said that
he did not know [any]. He said that he could not marry and give the
Princess-daughter to them.
Thereupon, they four having arrived at shame, came near a travellers'
rest-house, and conversing [said], "We four persons having gone
separately to districts for learning sciences, [after] three months in
succession again let us arrive at this very place." Promising [this],
and having looked in the four directions, they departed. In this
manner the four of them having arrived each in a different district,
and having [become] conversant with the sciences,--looking at omens,
going in the sky, abating poison, giving life [anew,--after] three
months in succession arrived at the aforesaid travellers' rest-house.
Thereafter, they four again departed for taking in marriage the
Princess. At that time a Huna (House Lizard) cried. Then the person
who was clever at omens told the remaining three persons that a
cobra having bitten the Princess, they are taking her to the grave
at that time.
Thereupon the person who possessed the power of flight through the
air, having gone by the power of flight through the air, together
with the other three, halted at the grave of the dead body. Then the
poison discharger reduced the poison; the other gave her life.
Afterwards, while the four of them are one by one boasting of the
gain due to themselves, they quarrelled over it. For that reason,
not obtaining the Princess, they again went away.
North-western Province.
In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 349, four Brahmana
brothers decided to "search through the earth and acquire some magic
power." So they separated and went east, west, north, and south, after
fixing upon a meeting-place. The rest of the story differs from the
Sinhalese one; they met together, found a piece of bone, gave it flesh,
hide, limbs, and life, so that it became a lion which killed them.
In the same work, vol. i, p. 499, four men wanted to marry a Princess;
one was a clever weaver, one a Vaisya who knew the language of beasts
and birds, the third a Kshatriya who was an expert swordsman, the
fourth a Brahmana who could raise the dead to life. She refused all
four, and died after three months, and the Brahmana was unable to
restore life to her corpse as she was only human owing to a curse
which had come to an end. See also vol. ii, p. 276.
In the same work, vol. ii, pp. 242, 258, there are variants in the
series of Trivikramasena and the Vetala, the second one being like
the Sinhalese tales in several respects. The father promised a girl
to a man who had magic power, the mother promised her to one who
had knowledge, her brother promised her to a hero. When they all
came on the appointed day, she had disappeared. The learned man
ascertained that she had been abducted by a Rakshasa, the magician
prepared a magic chariot in which all three went to rescue her, and
the hero killed the Rakshasa. Each one claimed her in a similar form
of words to that employed by the learned man, who said, "If I had not
known where this maiden was, how would she have been discovered when
concealed?" The King decided that the hero ought to marry her.
In the Tota Kahani (Small), p. 51, a carpenter, goldsmith, tailor, and
hermit, halting in a forest one night and each working in turn, carved
the figure of a beautiful woman, robed it, adorned it, and caused it
to be endowed with life. In the morning they quarrelled regarding the
ownership of the woman, and all those to whom the matter was referred
also claimed her. When the decision was left to a large old tree,
"the tree of decision," it burst open, and the woman entering it
became wood once more.
In the same work, p. 139, three young men saved a merchant's daughter
from a fairy who had abducted her. One discovered where she was, the
second made a flying wooden horse, on which the third rode and brought
her back after killing the fairy. They then quarrelled regarding their
claims to marry her. The parrot which related the story considered
that she belonged to the last one because he risked his life for her.
At p. 157 also, a girl's husband who had vowed to offer his own head to
a deity in case he married her, decapitated himself at the temple. A
Brahmana who entered feared he would be charged with murdering him,
and cut off his head also. The girl came, and was about to follow
their example when a voice from the shrine informed her that if she
joined the heads to the trunks the two persons would be restored to
life. In doing this she misplaced the heads, and both persons then
claimed her. The parrot was of opinion that she belonged to the man
with her husband's head. There is a variant in the Katha Sarit Sagara
(Tawney), vol. ii, p. 261, the second man being the girl's brother.
In Sagas from the Far East, p. 109, five companions went in search of
the sixth, whose life-index tree had withered. One found him buried
under a rock; the second, a smith's son, broke it and took out the
body; the third, a doctor's son, made a potion which caused it to
revive. The five then helped the man to recover his wife, who had
been abducted by a Khan, and each one claimed her as his reward. In
their struggle for her she was torn in pieces.
In the same work, p. 299, four youths, working in turn, made a girl
out of wood and gave her a soul; each one claimed her. The decision
was that she belonged to the fourth, who gave the figure life.
In this work, p. 277, it is stated that Prince Vikramaditya learnt from
robber bands the art of robbery, and from fraudulent dealers to lie.
In A. von Schiefner's Tibetan Tales (Ralston), p. 93, Prince
Abhaya, son of Bimbisara, King of Magadha, is stated to have learnt
coach-making; another son, Jivaka, became a celebrated doctor. A full
account of him is given in Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes),
vol. iii, p. 331ff. Sir R. Burton stated that, according to ancient
Mohammedan practice, all rulers should learn a handicraft. (Arabian
Nights, Lady Burton's ed., vol. i, p. 339, note).
In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 110, a Prince who
had been trained by an expert robber stole the egg from under a hawk
while it sat on its nest, without disturbing the bird.
There are West African variants of the Sinhalese tale. One from the
coast provinces on the north side of the Congo is given in Notes on
the Folklore of the Fjort (Dennett), p. 33. A hunter who had three
wives was killed while hunting. The first wife dreamt of this, the
second guided the others to the spot, the third collected simples
and revived him. When they quarrelled regarding the one to whom his
life was due, and it was settled that the one whose food he ate first
should be considered his preserver, he ate the food of the third wife,
and the majority of the people approved of his decision.
In the same work, p. 74, the beautiful daughter of Nzambi, the Earth
Goddess, could only be won by an earthly being who could bring down the
heavenly fire. The spider went to fetch it, assisted by the tortoise,
rat, woodpecker, and sandfly. Each of the animals afterwards claimed
the girl, and in the end, Nzambi, as she could not give her to all,
paid each one her value, and the girl remained unwed.
A variant of the Sierra Leone district is given in Cunnie Rabbit,
Mr. Spider, and the Other Beef (Cronise and Ward), p. 200. A man
who had four young sons was killed while hunting. The sons heard the
story from their mother when they were full grown, and went in search
of him. The eldest found his gun and bones, the second collected and
joined them, the third re-made the body with mud, the youngest blew
up the nose through a charmed horn, and he became alive. The narrator
stated that it has been impossible to decide to whom of the three
his restoration to life was due.