There was once a king who was noted throughout his dominions for
daily boasting of his power and riches. His ministers at length
became weary of this self-glorification, and one day when he
demanded of them, as usual, whether there existed in the whole
world another king as powerful as he, they plainly told him that
there was such another potentate; upon which he assembled his
troops and rode forth at their head, challenging the neighbouring
kings to fight with him. Ere long he met with more than his
match, for another king came with a great army and utterly
defeated him, and took possession of his kingdom. Disguising
himself, the humbled king escaped with his wife and two boys, and
arriving at the sea shore, found a ship about to sail. The master
agreed to take him and his family and land them at the port for
which he was bound. But when he beheld the beauty of the queen,
he became enamoured of her, and determined to make her his own.
The queen was the first to go on board the ship, and the king and
his two sons were about to follow, when they were seized by a
party of ruffians, hired by the shipmaster, and held back until
the vessel had got fairly under way. The queen was distracted on
seeing her husband and children left behind, and refused to
listen to the master's suit, who, after having tried to win her
love for several days without success, resolved to sell her as a
slave. Among the passengers was a merchant, who, seeing that the
lady would not accept the shipmaster for her husband, thought
that if he bought her, he might in time gain her affection.
Accordingly he purchased her of the master for a large sum of
money, and then told her that he had done so with a view of
making her his wife. The lady replied that, although the shipman
had no right thus to dispose of her, yet she would consent to
marry him at the end of two years, if she did not during that
period meet with her husband and their two sons; and to this
condition the merchant agreed. In the meanwhile the king, having
sorrowfully watched the vessel till it was out of sight, turned
back with his two boys, who wept and lamented as they ran beside
him. After walking a great distance, he came to a shallow but
rapid river, which he wished to cross, and, as there was no boat
or bridge, he was obliged to wade through the water. Taking up
one of his sons he contrived to reach the other side in safety,
and was returning for the other when the force of the current
overcame him and he was drowned.
When the two boys noticed that their father had perished, they
wept bitterly. Their separation, too, was a further cause for
grief. There they stood, one on either side of the river, with no
means of reaching each other. They shouted, and ran about hither
and thither in their grief, till they had almost wearied
themselves into sleep, when a fisherman came past, who, seeing
the great distress of the boys, took them into his boat, and
asked them who they were, and who were their parents; and they
told him all that had happened. When he had heard their story, he
said, "You have not a father or mother, and I have not a child.
Evidently God has sent you to me. Will you be my own children and
learn to fish, and live in my house?" Of course, the poor boys
were only too glad to find a friend and shelter. "Come," said the
fisherman kindly, leading them out of the boat to a house close
by, "I will look after you." The boys followed most happily, and
went into the fisherman's house, and when they saw his wife they
were still better pleased, for she was very kind to them, and
treated them as if they had been her own children. The two boys
went to school, and when they had learned all that the master
could teach them, they began to help their adoptive father, and
in a little while became most expert and diligent young
fishermen.
Thus time was passing with them, when it happened that a great
fish threw itself on to the bank of the river and could not get
back again into the water. Everybody in the village went to see
the monstrous fish, and cut a slice of its flesh and took it
home. A few people also went from the neighbouring villages, and
amongst them was a maker of earthernware. His wife had heard of
the great fish and urged him to go and get some of the flesh. So
he went, although the hour was late. On his arrival he found that
all the people had returned to their homes. The potter had taken
an axe with him, thinking that the bones would be so great and
strong as to require its use in breaking them. When he struck the
first blow a voice came out of the fish, like that of some one in
pain, at which the potter was greatly surprised. "Perhaps,"
thought he, "the fish is possessed by a bh�t.[FN#513] I'll try
again," whereupon he struck another blow with his axe. Again the
voice came forth from the fish, saying, "Woe is me! woe is me!"
On hearing this, the potter thought, "Well, this is evidently not
a bh�t, but the voice of an ordinary man. I'll cut the flesh
carefully. May be that I shall find some poor distressed
person." So he began to cut away the flesh carefully, and
presently he perceived a man's foot, then the legs appeared, and
then the entire body. "Praise be to God," he cried, "the soul is
yet in him." He carried the man to his house as fast as he could,
and on arriving there did everything in his power to recover him.
A large fire was soon got ready, and tea and soup given the man,
and great was the joy of the potter and his wife when they saw
him reviving.[FN#514] For some months the stranger lived with
those good people, and learnt how to make pots and pans and other
articles and thereby helped them considerably. Now it happened
that the king of that country died and it was the custom of the
people to take for their sovereign whomsoever the late king's
elephant and hawk should select. And so on the death of the king
the royal elephant was driven all over the country, and the hawk
was made to fly about, in search of a successor and it came to
pass that the person before whom the elephant saluted and on whom
the hawk alighted was considered as the divinely-chosen one.
Accordingly the elephant and the hawk went about the country, and
in the course of their wanderings came by the house of the potter
who had so kindly succoured the poor man whom he found in the
belly of the monstrous fish; and it chanced that as they passed
the place the stranger was standing by the door, and behold, no
sooner did the elephant and hawk see him than the one bowed down
before him and the other perched on his hand. "Let him be king!
let him be king!" shouted the people who were in attendance on
the elephant, and they prostrated themselves before the stranger
and begged him to accompany them to the palace.[FN#515]
The ministers were glad when they heard the news, and most
respectfully welcomed their new king. As soon as the rites and
ceremonies necessary for the installation of a king had been
observed, his majesty entered on his duties. The first thing he
did was to send for the potter and his wife and grant them some
land and money. In this and other ways, such as just judgments,
proper laws, and kindly notices of all who were clever and good,
he won for himself the good opinion and affection of his subjects
and prospered in consequence thereof. After a few months,
however, his health was impaired, and his physicians advised him
to take out-door exercise. Accordingly, he alternately rode,
hunted and fished. He was especially fond of fishing, and
whenever he indulged in this amusement, he was attended by two
sons of a fisherman, who were clever and handsome youths.
About this time the merchant who bought the wife of the poor king
that was carried away by the rapid river visited that country for
purposes of trade. He obtained an interview with the king, and
displayed before him all his precious stones and stuffs. The king
was much pleased to see such treasures, and asked many questions
about them and the countries whence they had been brought. The
merchant satisfied the king's curiosity, and then begged
permission to trade in that country, under his majesty's
protection, which the king readily granted, and ordered that some
soldiers should be placed on guard in the merchant's courtyard,
and sent the fisherman's two sons to sleep in the premises.
One night those two youths not being able to sleep, the younger
asked his brother to tell him a story to pass the time, so he
replied, "I will tell you one out of our own experience: Once
upon a time there lived a great and wealthy king, who was very
proud, and his pride led him to utter ruin and caused him the
sorest afflictions.. One day when going about with his army,
challenging other kings to fight with him, a great and powerful
king appeared and conquered him. He escaped with his wife and two
sons to the sea, hoping to find a vessel, by which he and his
family might reach a foreign land. After walking several miles
they reached the sea-shore and found a ship ready to sail. The
master of the vessel took the queen, but the king and his two
sons were held back by some men, who had been hired by the master
for this purpose, until the ship was under way. The poor king
after this walked long and far till he came to a rapid river. As
there was no bridge or boat near, he was obliged to wade across.
He took one of his boys and got over safely, and was returning
for the other when he stumbled over a stone, lost his footing,
and was carried down the stream; and he has not been heard of
since. A fisherman came along, and, seeing the two boys crying,
took them into his boat, and afterwards to his house, and became
very fond of them, as did also his wife, and they were like
father and mother to them. All this happened a few years ago, and
the two boys are generally believed to be the fisherman's own
sons. O brother, we are these two boys! And there you have my
story."
The tale was so interesting and its conclusion so wonderful that
the younger brother was more awake than before. It had also
attracted the attention of another. The merchant's promised wife,
who happened to be lying awake at the time, and whose room was
separated from the warehouse by a very thin partition, overheard
all that had been said, and she thought within herself, "Surely
these two boys must be my own sons." Presently she was sitting
beside them and asking them many questions. Two years or more had
made great difference in the persons of both the boys, but there
were certain signs which a hundred years could not efface from a
mother's memory. These, together with the answers which she
elicited from them, assured her that she had found her own sons
again. Tears streamed down her face as she embraced them, and
revealed to them that she was the queen, their mother, about whom
they had just been speaking. She then told them all that had
happened to her since she had been parted from them and their
poor father, the king; after which she explained that although
the merchant was a good man and very wealthy yet she did not like
him well enough to become his wife, and proposed a plan for her
getting rid of him. "My device," said she, "is to pretend to the
merchant that you attempted my honour. I shall affect to be very
angry and not give him any peace until he goes to the king and
complains against you. Then will the king send for you in great
wrath and inquire into this matter. In reply you may say it is
all a mistake, for you regard me as your own mother, and in proof
of this you will beg the king to summon me into his presence,
that I may corroborate what you say. Then I will declare that you
are really my own sons, and beseech the king to free me from the
merchant and allow me to live with you in any place I may choose
for the rest of my days."
The sons agreed to this proposal, and next night, when the
merchant was also sleeping in the house, the woman raised a great
cry, so that everybody was awakened by the noise. The merchant
came and asked the cause of the outcry, and she answered, "The
two youths who look after your warehouse have attempted to
violate me, so I screamed in order to make them desist." On
hearing this the merchant was enraged. He immediately bound the
two youths, and, as soon as there was any chance of seeing the
king, took them before him preferred his complaint. "What have
you to say in your defence?" said the king, addressing the
youths; "because, if what this merchant charges against you be
true, I will have you at once put to death. Is this the gratitude
you manifest for all my kindness and condescension towards you?
Say quickly what you have to say." "O king, our benefactor,"
replied the elder brother, "we are not affrighted by your words
and looks, for we are true servants. We have not betrayed your
trust in us, but have always tried to fulfil your wishes to the
utmost of our power. The charges brought against us by this
merchant are unfounded. We have not attempted to dishonour his
wife; we have rather always regarded her as our own mother. May
it please your majesty to send for the woman and inquire further
into this matter."
The king consented, and the woman was brought before him. "Is it
true," he asked her "what the merchant, your affianced husband,
witnesses against these two youths?" "O king," she replied, "the
youths whom you gave to help the merchant have most carefully
tried to carry out your wishes. But the night before last I heard
their conversation. The elder was telling the younger a tale,
from his own experience, he said. It was a story of a conceited
king who had been defeated by another more powerful than he, and
obliged to fly with his wife and two children to the sea. There,
through the vile trickery of the master of a vessel, the wife was
stolen and taken away to far distant lands, where she became
engaged to a wealthy trader; while the exiled king and his two
sons wandered in another direction, till they came to a river, in
which the king was drowned. The two boys were found by a
fisherman and brought up as his own sons. These two boys, O king,
are before you, and I am their mother, who was taken away and
sold to the trader, and who after two days must be married to
him. For I promised that if within a certain period I should not
meet with my husband and two sons I would be his wife. But I
entreat your majesty to free me from this man. I do not wish to
marry again, now that I have found my two sons. In order to
obtain an audience of your majesty, this trick was arranged with
the two youths."
By the time the woman had finished her story the king's face was
suffused with tears and he was trembling visibly. When he had
somewhat recovered he rose from the throne and going up to the
woman and the two youths embraced them long and fervently. "You
are my own dear wife and children," he cried. "God has sent you
back to me. I, the king, your husband, your father, was not
drowned as you supposed; but was swallowed by a great fish and
nourished by it for some time, and then the monster threw itself
upon the river's bank and I was extricated. A potter and his wife
had pity on me and taught me their trade, and I was just
beginning to earn my living by making earthen vessels when the
late king of this country died, and I was chosen king by the
royal elephant and hawk--I who am now standing here." Then his
majesty ordered the queen and her two sons to be taken into the
inner apartments of the palace, and explained his conduct to the
people assembled. The merchant was politely dismissed from the
country. And as soon as the two princes were old enough to govern
the kingdom, the king committed to them the charge of all
affairs, while he retired with his wife to a sequestered spot and
passed the rest of his days in peace.
The tale of Sarwar and N�r, "as told by a celebrated Bard from
Baraut, in the Merath district," in vol. iii. of Captain R. C.
Temple's "Legends of the Panj�b" (pp. 97-125), though differing in
form somewhat from the Kashm�r� version, yet possesses the
leading incidents in common with it, as will be seen from the
following abstract: