"She came from the sea," he said.
Well then, these very four giants having gone on the sea, and having
gone to the city at which is the Princess, at the time when they
looked saw that the Princess is bound [in marriage] to the King.
Having cut down the King and the widow woman, the giant of the ash-heap
exercised the sovereignty of that country; and the other giants went
back to the very places where each of them stayed. [121]
North-western Province.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. xvii, p. 50, in a Salsette story by
Mr. G. Fr. D'Penha, a Prince to avoid marrying his sister went away
with a hunter and a carpenter. At a deserted city at which they stayed
a Rakshasa came daily when one was left to cook, and ate the rice. On
the third day the Prince was the cook, and he killed the Rakshasa. The
Prince's life was in his sword; if it rusted he fell sick, if it broke
he would die. He made the carpenter King of the city and the hunter
King of another, giving them life-index plants. The Prince then went
away, killed another Rakshasa, and got from his waist a diamond which
showed a passage through the water of a tank to a palace where he
married a Princess and became King. He then forgot his sword, and it
rusted. His friends learnt by the fading plants that he was ill, and
found him just alive. He recovered when they cleaned and repolished
the sword, after which they became his Chief Officers of State.
In Folk-Tales of Hindustan (Shaik Chilli), p. 45, a Prince,
accompanied by the sons of a goldsmith, a pandit, and a carpenter,
went to kill a giant. While they halted, a giant took the food that
each in turn cooked. When the Prince cooked he vanquished the giant,
who offered him his daughter in marriage, and joined his party. The
Prince married her to the goldsmith's son, and went to another city
where the Prince's giant killed a giant who ate the people. The
King's daughter was married to the pandit's son. At a third city the
giant killed a lion, and a Princess was married to the carpenter's
son. When they arrived at the city of the giant they had come to
kill, the Prince and giant found he was the one already killed at the
second city. These giants could take any shape, and thus evidently
were Rakshasas. The Prince married a Princess at the fourth city
and lived there with his giant. One day his wife lost her shoe while
bathing in a stream, and a Raja's son found it floating down. A witch
undertook to find the owner, dived into the water, came to the fort,
became the Princess's servant, and learnt that the Prince's life lay
in the brightness of his sword; if it became rusty he would die. One
night the witch burnt the sword in a furnace, the Prince died, and
she took his wife through the water to her admirer's palace, where
she demanded a year's delay before marrying him. The Prince's giant
found and repolished the sword, and the Prince revived. They summoned
the other friends, went in search of the Princess, killed the Raja,
his son, and the witch, and returned home.
In Tales of the Punjab (Mrs. Steele), p. 42, when a Prince was
travelling accompanied by a knife-grinder, a blacksmith, and a
carpenter, a demon in the form of a mannikin ate the food which
the last three cooked in turn, but was killed by the Prince when he
cooked. The Prince married the knife-grinder to the King's daughter,
the blacksmith to the daughter of a King at another city at which the
Prince killed a ghost (Churel), and the carpenter to a Princess at a
third city. To each of the friends the Prince gave a barley plant as
his life index; if it drooped he would be in trouble and needing their
help. He went on, killed a Jinn who had carried off a Princess with
golden hair, married her, and lived at the Jinn's palace. When bathing
she set one or two hairs afloat in a Bo-leaf cup, which was secured by
a King lower down the river. A wise woman sent to find their owner,
discovered her, ascertained that the Prince's life was in his sword,
at night put it in a fire, and when the hilt rolled off the Prince
died. She then carried off the Princess to the King. As the barley
plants snapped in two, the three friends came with armies, found the
body of the Prince and his sword, repaired and repolished the latter,
and thus restored the Prince's life. The carpenter discovered the
Princess, made a flying palankin, into which she, together with the
King's sister and the wise woman, mounted with him, and he sailed
back to the Prince, throwing down the other two women on the way.
In Sagas from the Far East, p. 39, four companions took possession
of a house on a hill. They cooked in turn, the other three going
to hunt. On each day a demoness in the form of a woman a span high
begged a taste of the food, and she and the food and cooking-pot then
disappeared. The fourth man killed her.
In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 386, the sword incident
varies. A Prince's wife, wishing to deprive him of the magic power
conferred by the sword, put the weapon in a fire while he slept. He
became unconscious when the sword was dimmed, but recovered when the
Goddess Durga restored its brightness.
In the same work, vol. ii, p. 487, an Asura's vital point was his
left hand; he died when a King shot him through it.
In the Maha Bharata (Vana Parva, cccxi) four of the Pandava Princes
were killed in turn by a Yaksha as soon as they drank at a pool. When
the eldest brother answered his questions satisfactorily he revived
them.