After that, "If so, bring it," the Turtle's father said.
After that, having gone outside the city gate, when he was playing
the lute the Virgin Women brought and gave him the Suri-kanta
flower. After they gave it, having brought it he gave it into his
father's hand. Having so given it, when he presented it to the Princess
they accomplished the wedding festival of [the marriages of] six other
Princes to the six younger Princesses who still remained to the King,
and of the Turtle to the eldest Princess.
Having accomplished it, during the time when they are thus those
six Princes went hunting. Because they married and gave the eldest
daughter to the Turtle, having built a house outside the palace and
given it to these two, they separated [them from the others].
When this party are going near that house they ask at the hand of that
eldest daughter, "Where [is he], Bola? Isn't thy Turtle going hunting?"
Thereupon the Princess remains grieved at it. The Turtle, who had
heard it, having called the Princess (devi), said, "Go to the royal
palace, and asking for a horse and a sword for me bring them." At that
speech the Princess went and asked for them at the King's hand. At
that time the King having said, "For the Turtle what horses! what
swords!" became angry at the Princess. The Princess having become
grieved, told the Turtle that her father the King will not give them.
After that, having said, "Asking for an old mare and a short sword,
come [with them]," he sent her yet [another] time. After that, he
gave her an old mare and a short sword. Having given them, after she
brought them to the Turtle's house, to the Princess the Turtle says,
"Pull creepers, and having placed me on the back of the mare, twine
them [round me and the mare]."
Thereupon the Princess having pulled creepers, wrapped [them round him
on the mare]. Having wrapped them, making [the mare] bound he went
somewhat far; and having come out of the turtle-shell, the Prince
(as he now was), taking the lute, played the lute for the Virgin
Women to come. Then the Virgin Women came.
After they came, because those Princes went in white clothes on the
backs of white horses, this Prince said, "You must bring and give
me very speedily an excellent [292] horse, and a white dress, and
an excellent [292] sword." Thereupon with that speed they brought
and gave them.
After they gave them, the Prince, having tied the old mare at a tree,
putting on the [dress and] ornaments they brought, mounted on the
back of the white horse. Having gone to a very large open place,
and placed (that is, hung from his shoulder) the bag called Kokka,
he thought, "A great number of all quadrupeds must assemble together
in my presence." After that, all the quadrupeds that were in the
midst of that forest, the whole having come, collected together.
Without those six Princes meeting with any animal whatever,
they approached near the Prince who had collected these quadrupeds
together. Having arrived and said, "O Lord, where is Your Majesty going
in the midst of this forest?" [the Princes], having paid reverence
to him, made obeisance.
Thereupon the Prince says, indeed, "I am the person who exercises
sovereignty over the whole of the wild animals in the midst of this
forest. Where are ye fellows going?" he asked falsely.
At that time these six Princes said thus regarding it, "O Lord, we
six persons came hunting; we did not meet with any animal whatever,"
they said.
Thereupon this Prince says thus, "To you six persons I will give six
deer should you cut off and give [me] six [pieces] of your cloths,"
he said.
Thereupon having cut and given six pieces from the six cloths which
the six Princes had been wearing, killing six deer they came away.
Having allowed the party to come, this Prince descended from the back
of the horse, and catching a rat and having killed it, brought it
home; having come and having crept into the turtle-shell, he says thus
[to his wife], "Give a half from this rat to your father the King,
and cook the other piece for us two," he said.
At that time the Princess doing thus, went and gave a half to the
King. Thereupon the King having become angry at it, put her also
outside the [palace] gate. The Princess, feeling (lit., bringing)
vexation at it, having come weeping and weeping, the two cooked and
ate the other half.
In this way, six days they went hunting. On the whole of the six days
the Turtle also having gone, gave hunting-meat to those six Princes,
taking the jewelled rings from their fingers, ears, and the hairs of
the head; all these when the seventh day was coming were finished.
What of this Prince's acting with so much ability! That he is a Prince
even yet any person you like has no knowledge.
At the time when he is thus, having gone hunting and finished,
on the seventh day making ready an eating like a very great feast
they remained at the royal palace with the Kings [who had come for
it]. Thereupon, on that day this Turtle was minded to bathe. Having
become so minded, he told [his wife] to warm and give him water;
having told her to give it, he told her to tie and give him mats also,
round about [as a screen].
That day the Princess had boiled and boiled paddy at the hearth in the
open space in front of the house. Having warmed water and tied the
mats, she gave [it to him] to bathe. Having given it, this Princess
went to light the fire [afresh] at the paddy hearth. When she was
going, this Prince having gone to bathe, and having come out of the
turtle-shell [within the screen], went outside from the place where
the mats were tied, for the purpose of lowering water over his body.
When he was going, this Princess having seen that he was a Prince,
went running, and taking the turtle shell put it on the hearth at
which she boiled that paddy. Thereupon the Prince having gone crying
out, got only the lute that was in the turtle shell. The turtle shell
burnt away.
At that time the Prince, decorating himself, went to the royal
palace. After he went he began to relate the manner in which he
gave hunting-meat to the six Princes. While telling it he showed the
[rings from the] fingers, ears, and hair, and the pieces of cloth of
the six Princes.
After he showed them, [the King], having given the sovereignty to
the Prince, made the other Princes servants of the Prince. He married
those six Princesses also to that very Prince.
Finished.
North-western Province.
In The Story of Madana Kama Raja (Natesa Sastri), p. 141, a tortoise
(turtle) Prince went to the Sun in search of divine Parijata flowers;
see vol. i, p. 71. The Queen bore the turtle and the Minister's wife
the girl. The Minister refused to agree to their marriage, but the
girl told him that she had vowed to marry whoever brought the divine
flowers. The Apsaras who gave him the flowers also presented him with
a vina, or lute, playing on which would summon her. From the first
sage who showed him the way and who opened his eyes at each watch
he got a magic cudgel in exchange for it, from the second sage who
opened his eyes after two watches a purse which supplied everything
required, from the third sage who opened his eyes after three watches
he received magic sandals which would transport their wearer wherever
desired. After exchanging the lute for each of these articles he
recovered it each time by the aid of the cudgel. Afterwards he left
the articles with the Apsaras, returned as a turtle with the flowers,
and was married to the Minister's daughter. After his marriage the
husbands of his sisters-in-law went hunting, the turtle followed tied
on the back of a horse, got his club from a banyan tree where he had
hidden it, went to the hunt on the magic sandals, and got from his
brothers-in-law (who thought him Siva) the tips of their little fingers
and their rings. On regaining his Prince's form he produced these,
but the brothers-in-law were not punished. His wife broke the turtle
shell when he was bathing, and in the end he succeeded to the throne.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. iv, p. 54, in a Bengal story by
Mr. G. H. Damant, a Prince went in search of a beautiful woman seen in
a dream by his father. An ascetic told him of five heavenly nymphs who
came to bathe in a pool at the full moon, and instructed him to take
their clothes and remain concealed. After being cursed and turned to
ashes he was revived by the ascetic, again carried off their clothes,
and sat in Siva's temple. They cursed him ineffectively and then
agreed that he should marry one of them. He selected the ugliest,
who was the disguised beauty; she gave him a flute by means of which
he could summon her at any time. The rest of the story is unlike the
Sinhalese one.
In Mr. Thornhill's Indian Fairy Tales, p. 15, a Prince went in search
of his wife, an Apsaras who had left him, to a sage who slept six
months at a time, and after attending on him for three months was
accompanied by him to the pool in which the Apsarases bathed on
the full moon night. After being once turned to ashes and revived
by the sage, he again stole his wife's shawl and escaped with it
to the sage's hut, where he was safe. The Apsarases then agreed to
give up his wife if he could select her. He picked out the ugliest,
and Indra afterwards turned her into a mortal.
In Indian Nights' Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 343, a Prince
secreted the feather dress of one of four fairies who, in the form
of white doves, came to bathe at a pool in a palace garden. She was
then unable to fly away, and he married her.
In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 452, a person who was
in search of his master, a Prince, was advised by a hermit to carry
off the clothes of one of the heavenly nymphs who came to bathe in a
river. He did so, was followed by her, and the hermit agreed to return
her garments on her giving information of the Prince's whereabouts;
she afterwards became the ascetic's wife. She is termed a Vidyadhari.
In the same work, vol. ii, p. 576, a gambler by order of the God
Mahakala (Bhairava) similarly obtained a daughter of Alambusha,
the Apsaras, as his wife.
In A. von Schiefner's Tibetan Tales (Ralston), p. 54, by the advice
of a sage a hunter threw a magic unerring chain received from Nagas,
over a Kinnara Princess when she bathed at a pool at the full moon; and
she was unable to escape. She could fly only when wearing a head-jewel.
The female Jinn who in the form of birds visited pools in order to
bathe in them, and could not fly without their feather dresses, have
been mentioned in vol. i, p. 311. See the Arabian Nights, vol. iii,
p. 417, and vol. v, p. 68. In the second story the hero obtained in
the Wak Islands a cap of invisibility, and a copper rod which gave
power over seven tribes of Jinn, and by their aid recovered his wife
and sons. He got the articles by inducing two sons of a magician to
race for a stone which he threw; while they were absent he put on the
cap and disappeared. On his return journey he presented the articles
to the two magicians who had helped him.
In the same work, vol. iv, p. 161, a man from Cairo obtained for a
magician three magical articles, and received from him as a reward
a pair of inexhaustible saddle-bags which provided any foods.
In Folk-Tales of Hindustan (Shaik Chilli), p. 72, a Prince who was
wandering in search of his fairy wife received from an ascetic,
a musician, and a youth respectively, an iron rod which could beat
anyone, a guitar that entranced all, and a cap of invisibility;
from a Yogi he obtained balsam for healing burns, and slippers that
transported him where desired.
In Les Avadanas (Julien), No. lxxiv, vol. ii, p. 8, each one of two
demons (Pisacas) had a box which supplied everything desired, a stick
that rendered him invincible, and a shoe that enabled the bearer
to fly, and each one wanted to possess those of the other demon. A
man who offered to divide them put on both the shoes and flew off,
taking the other articles.
In Chinese Nights' Entertainment (A. M. Fielde), p. 10, a pious man who
was wrecked and cast on an island obtained food and clothing from the
inhabitants, and an apparent outcast gave him a hat of invisibility,
a cloak of flight, and a basket that when tapped filled with gems. He
left them to his three sons, and the power of the articles gradually
declined.
At p. 58, a woman had a son encased in a chank shell, which he could
leave at will. His bride one night hid the shell, and he remained
with her for some years, until her grandmother put it out to dry. He
got into it, crawled into the sea, and disappeared.
In Sagas from the Far East, p. 148, in a Kalmuk story, an inexhaustible
bag was stolen from Dakinis (female evil spirits) by a man. When his
brother went to get one the spirits seized him, drew out his nose to
a length of five ells, and made nine knots on it.
In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 365, a Prince who
worked as an under-gardener was selected by a Princess and married
to her. The King's sons and sons-in-law through jealousy arranged
a hunting expedition, and left him only a mare that no one could
ride. He reached the jungle first, shot a jackal, bear, and leopard,
cut off the tail, nose, and ear respectively, and when the others,
who found no game, took back these animals and showed them as their
own game, he produced his trophies. It was settled that he should
succeed to the throne.
In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 41, the son of the youngest
Queen, who was born with a removable monkey skin, three times performed
the task of hitting a Princess with an iron ball in his Prince's form,
and was married to her. After saving his life when the sons of the
other six Queens threw him out of a boat into the water, his wife
burnt his monkey skin, and he retained his human shape.
At p. 130, the hunting incident is given, six Princes taking part in
it and meeting with the Prince who, while disguised as a labourer,
had been selected and married by the youngest daughter of their
father-in-law. The others found no game, begged a meal from him,
and were burnt with a red-hot pice on their backs, "the mark of a
thief." The Prince rode home in his own form, and afterwards exposed
the six Princes who had mocked him on account of his low origin.
At p. 156, a Prince found four fakirs quarrelling over four articles,
a flying bed, an inexhaustible bag, a bowl which yielded as much
water as was required, a stick and rope that would beat and tie up
everyone. While they raced for arrows that he shot, he got on the
bed and went off with the other things.
In Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), p. 170, a boy got a pair of inexhaustible
horns which when spoken to supplied everything desired. They even
provided him with a fine house.