At that time the King [his father] becoming afraid and terrified,
he said, "Father-King, here, behold! the Mi-flower Princess. Here,
behold! the Na-flower Princess. Here, behold! the Blue-lotus-flower
Princess," and showed them.
Then the King says, "Are you willing to take the sovereignty of the
city?" he asked at the hand of the King's father. "I can," he said.
To his father he gave the sovereignty. To the elder brother he gave
the Ministership (aemaetkoma); he appointed the [second] Ministership
for the younger elder brother. "Now then," he said, "when we have
gone you will not give us a little betel!"
In this story is [related] the manner in which a foolish King, taking
the sovereignty, without considering exercised the sovereignty.
North-western Province.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. xviii, p. 120, in a South Indian (Tamil)
story by Pandit S. M. Natesa Sastri, a Brahmana who had seven sons
asked them one night what they would like to do. The elders expressed
good wishes, but the youngest stated that he would like to spend the
fine moonlight in a beautiful house with lovely girls. The father
turned him out for saying this, and he had various adventures unlike
those of this Sinhalese story.
In the same work, vol. xxvi, p. 109, in a Telugu story by
G. R. Subramiah Pantulu, Divijakirtti, King of Cholamandala, had
three sons, of each one of whom he inquired what he most desired. The
first wished to be surrounded by learned men and to study the great
Indian Epics and sacred books, the second wished to obtain wealth
and visit sacred shrines, the third wanted to acquire a kingdom and
gain a good reputation by making it prosperous. The King made over
the sovereignty to the third one, giving the first one villages and
the second one money to go on a pilgrimage.
In The Jataka, No. 96 (vol. i, p. 234), the Bodhisatta received
a charmed thread and some charmed sand from Pacceka Buddhas as
safe-guards on a journey. These preserved him, the sand placed on his
head and the thread twisted round his brow, from an Ogress (Rakshasi)
who, with others, devoured all in the palace.
In The Jataka, No. 380 (vol. iii, p. 161) a "being of perfect merit"
fell from Sakra's heaven, and was re-born as a girl inside a lotus
flower. "When the other lotuses grew old and fell, that one grew great
and stood." An ascetic opened it, found the girl inside, and reared
her. Sakra created a crystal palace for her, provided her with divine
clothing and food, and in the end the King of Benares married her.
In The Story of Madana Kama Raja (Natesa Sastri), p. 81, when a King
of Udayagiri one moonlight night asked his seven sons what they
would like to be doing, the first suggested leading an army into
an enemy's country, the second wished to be irrigating some land,
the third wished to be ploughing, the fourth to be walking from
one village to another, the fifth to be hunting, the sixth to be a
cooly. The seventh son wished to be the sole Emperor of the world,
reclining on a couch, attended by four wives, the daughters of Indra,
Agni, Varuna, and Adisesha (the serpent-king). His mother, hearing
that he was to be executed for this wish, sent him away secretly with
a bag of money. Next morning the executioners showed the blood of
an animal as that of the Prince. The Prince acquired the wished-for
wives, induced a King who tried to kill him, to jump into a fire from
which he himself had come successfully by Agni's aid, and became King
of a magic city. In the meantime his father had been driven out of
Udayagiri, and with his wife and other sons got a living by selling
firewood. The young King recognised them, gave the sovereignty to
his father, and himself took the post of Minister. He had further
adventures afterwards.
There are several Indian accounts of girls who made their appearance
out of fruits or flowers, and one of a Prince, in addition to the
deity in the tale numbered 153, and the sons of King Sagara, mentioned
in the note after it. In one old legend the Goddess Pattini in one
incarnation was produced from a Mango fruit, and in another from a
Blue-lotus flower.
In Old Deccan Days (M. Frere), p. 96, a girl was found inside a
Mango fruit.
In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 11, a Prince and Princess who
had been killed came to life afresh inside two fruits produced on a
tree which grew at the spot where their livers had been thrown. At
p. 81 a Princess reappeared full-grown inside a fruit in a King's
garden. At p. 138, there is an account of a Princess who issued
full-grown from a Bel fruit (Ægle marmelos). After being drowned she
became a Pink-lotus flower, and when this was destroyed she reappeared
as an infant inside a Bel fruit.
In the Kolhan tales (Bompas) appended to Folklore of the Santal
Parganas, p. 461, there is a story of this type regarding a Princess
who was in a Bel fruit.
In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 142, a tear of joy
fell from the eye of a Vidyadhara maiden on a Jambu flower, and a
fruit was produced; when it fell and broke open a heavenly maiden
came out of it, and was reared by a hermit.
In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii, p. 327,
a Buddhist nun, Amrapali, related an account of her previous births
during ninety-one kalpas, from mango flowers. The details of her last
birth are given; she became the mother of the celebrated physician
Jivaka, the son of King Bimbisara, and afterwards took the religious
vows. Professor Chavannes states that the work in which this story
occurs was translated into Chinese between A.D. 148 and 170.
In the same volume, p. 337, there is a story of the birth of two
other girls from flowers, one from a Sumana flower and the other from
a Blue lotus.
In Korean Tales (Dr. H. N. Allen), p. 164, a girl who had drowned
herself to appease an evil spirit who refused to allow the passage
of some boats, was sent back to life in a large flower on a plant
floating on the sea. A King who preserved the flower saw her when
she emerged at night, and married her.
In the Maha Bharata (Vana Parva, cxlvi ff.) Bhimasena, one of the
Pandava Princes, went in search of golden lotus flowers, and found
them in a lake at the Gandhamadana mountain, belonging to Kuvera,
the God of Wealth.
In Reynard the Fox in Southern Africa (Dr. Bleek), p. 55, a girl
appeared out of a calabash in which a woman had placed her daughter's
heart after it had been recovered from the body of a lion that had
eaten her. The woman put with it the first milk of the cows which
calved.