long way from their homes, they came to a wide plain in the midst of a
jungle, and on it they saw a goat which seemed to be a very good
milch-goat. The seven men said to each other, "If this goat belonged
to any one, it would not be left all alone in the jungle. Let us take
it with us." They did so, and no one they met asked them any questions
about the goat.
In the evening they arrived at a village where they stayed for the
night. They cooked and ate their dinners, and gave the goat grass and
grain. At midnight, when they were all asleep, the goat became a great
she-demon, with a great mouth, and swallowed one of the seven men.
Then she became a goat again, and went back to the place where she had
been stabled.
The men got up in the morning, and were very much surprised to find
they were only six, not seven. "Where is the seventh gone?" they
said. "Well, when he returns we will all go on together." They sat
waiting and waiting for him, till, as it was getting late and he had
not come, they all thought they had better start without him. So they
continued their journey, taking the goat with them. Before they went
they said to the villagers, "If our seventh man comes back to you,
send him after us."
At evening they came to another village, where they stayed for the
night. They cooked and ate their dinners, and gave grain and grass to
the goat. At midnight, when they were fast asleep, the goat became a
demon and swallowed another man, and then took her goat's shape again.
In this way she ate five men. The two that were left were very sad at
finding themselves alone. "We were seven men," they said, "now we are
but two." The grain merchant's son was one of the two, and he was very
quick and sharp. He determined he would not say anything to his
companion, but that he would watch by him that night, and find out, if
he could, what had happened to his other friends. To keep himself
awake he cut a piece out of his finger, and rubbed a little salt into
the wound, so that when his companion went to sleep, he should not be
able to sleep because of the pain. At midnight the goat came and
turned into a huge demon. She went quickly up to the sleeping man to
swallow him; but the merchant's son rushed at her, beat her, and
snatched his companion from her mouth. The demon turned instantly into
a goat, and went back to the place where it had been stabled.
The two men next morning set out from the village where they had
passed the night. They would have killed the goat had they been able.
As they could not do so, they took it with them till they came to a
plain in the jungle, where they tied it up to a tree, and left it.
Then they continued their journey, and were very sorry they had not
known how wicked the goat was before it had swallowed their five
companions.
The goat meanwhile turned itself into a most beautiful young girl,
dressed in grand clothes and rich jewels, and she sat down in the
jungle and began to cry. Just then the king of another country was
hunting in this jungle; and when he heard the noise of the crying, he
called his servants and told them to go and see who was crying. The
servants looked about until they saw the beautiful girl. They asked
her a great many questions, but she only cried, and would not answer.
The servants returned to the king, and told him it was a most
beautiful young girl who was crying; but she would do nothing but cry,
and would not speak.
The king left his hunting and went himself to the girl, and asked her
why she cried. "My husband married me," she said, "and was taking me
to his home. He went to get some water to drink, and left me here. He
has never come back, and I don't know where he is; perhaps some tiger
has killed him, and now I am all alone, and do not know where to go.
This is why I cry." The king was so delighted with her beauty, that he
asked her to go with him. He sent his servants for a fine palanquin,
and when it came he put the girl into it, and took her to his palace,
and there she stayed.
At midnight she turned into a demon, and went to the place where the
king's sheep and goats were kept. She tore open all their stomachs,
and ate all their hearts. Then she dipped seven knives in their blood,
and laid the knives on the beds of the seven queens.
Next morning the king heard that all his sheep and goats were lying
dead; and when his seven wives woke, they saw that their clothes were
all bloody, and that bloody knives lay on their beds. They wondered
who had done this wicked thing to them.
The next night at twelve o'clock the beautiful girl turned into a
demon again, and went to the cow-house. There she tore open the cows
and ate their hearts. Then she smeared the queens' clothes, and laid
knives dipped in blood on their beds; but she washed her own hands and
clothes, so that no blood should show on them. For a long time the
same thing happened every night, till she had eaten all the elephants,
horses, camels,--every animal, indeed, belonging to the king. The king
wondered very much at his animals all being killed in this way, and he
could not understand either why every morning his wives' clothes were
bloody, and bloody knives found on their beds.
When she had eaten all the animals, the demon said to the king, "I am
afraid your wives are very wicked women. They must have killed all
your cows and sheep, goats, horses, elephants, and camels. I am afraid
one day they will eat me up." "I have been married to them for many
years," answered the king, "and anything like this has never happened
before." "I am very much afraid of them," said the demon, who all this
time looked a most beautiful girl. "I am very much afraid; but if you
cut out their eyes, then they cannot kill me."
The king called his servants and said to them, "Get ready seven
palanquins, and carry my seven wives into the jungle. There you must
leave them; only first take out their eyes, which you must bring to
me." The servants took the queens to a jungle a long way from the
king's country. There they took out their eyes, and left them, and
brought the eyes to the king, who gave them into the demon's hands.
She pounded them to bits with a stone, and threw the bits away.
The seven queens in the jungle did not know which way to go; so they
walked straight on, and fell into a dry well which lay just before
them. In this well they stayed; and the day when they thought they
must die of hunger and thirst was drawing near. But before it came the
eldest queen had a little son. She and the five next wives were so
hungry, that they agreed to kill the child, and divide it into seven
pieces. They each ate a piece, and gave one to the seventh and
youngest wife. She said nothing, and hid the piece. These five wives
each had a son one after the other, and they killed and divided their
children as the eldest wife had done with hers. But the youngest wife
hid all the six pieces that were given her, and would eat none. Her
son was born last of all. Then the six eldest wives said, "Let us kill
and divide your child." "No," she said, "I will never kill or divide
my boy; I would rather die of hunger. Here are the six pieces you gave
me. I would not eat them. Take them and eat them, but you must not
touch my son." God was so pleased with her for not killing her child,
that he made the boy grow bigger and bigger every day; and the little
queen was very happy.
They all lived in the dry well without any food till the little prince
was five years old. By that time he was very quick and clever. One day
he said to his mother, "Why have we lived all this while in the well?"
His mother and all the other wives told him about the wicked demon who
lived in his father's palace, and how the king believed her to be a
beautiful girl and had married her, and of all the evil things that
she had done to them, and how she had made the king send them to the
jungle and have their eyes cut out and given to her, and how from not
being able to see they had fallen into this well, and how they had
eaten all his brothers, because they were so very hungry they thought
they should die--all but his mother at least, for she would not eat
the other wives' children and would not kill her own little son. "Let
me climb out of this well," said the boy, who determined in his heart
that he would kill this wicked demon one day. His mother said, "No,
stay here; you are too young to leave the well."
The boy did not listen to her, but scrambled out. Then he saw they
were in a wide plain in the jungle. He ran after a few birds, caught
and killed them. Then he roasted the birds and brought them with some
water to his seven mothers in the well. When they had eaten them and
drunk the water, they were happy and worshipped God. The six mothers
who had eaten their children were full of sorrow, and said, "If our
six sons were now living, how good it would be for us: how happy we
should be." The young prince went out hunting for little birds every
day, and in the evening he cooked those he caught and brought them,
with water, to his mothers.
Now the demon, because she was a demon and was therefore wiser than
men and women, knew that the seven queens lived in the well, and that
the son of the youngest queen was still alive. She determined to kill
him; so she pretended her eyes hurt her, and began crying, and making
a great to-do. The king asked her, "What is the matter?" "See, king,
see my eyes," she said. "They ache and hurt me so much." "What
medicine will make them well again?" said the king. "If I could only
bathe them with a tigress's milk, they would be well," she answered.
The king called two of his servants and said to them, "Can either of
you get me a tigress's milk? Here are two thousand rupees for
whichever of you brings me the milk." Then he gave them the rupees,
and told them to get it at once.
The servants took the rupees, and said nothing to the king, but they
said to each other, "How can we get a tigress's milk?" And they were
very sad. They left the king's country, and wandered on till they came
to the jungle-plain, where lived the young prince and his mothers.
There they saw him sitting by a dry well and roasting birds. "Do you
live in this jungle?" they said to him. "Yes," answered the boy. Then
the servants talked together. "See," they said, "this boy lives in the
jungle, so he will surely be able to get us the milk. Let us tell him
to get it, and give him the two thousand rupees."
So they came back to the boy, who asked them where they were going.
"Our queen is very ill with pain in her eyes, and our king has sent us
for some tigress's milk for her to bathe them with, that they may get
well. He has given us two thousand rupees, for whichever of us to keep
who gets the milk. But we do not know where or how to get it."
"Good," said the boy; "give me the two thousand rupees and I will get
it for you. Come here for it in a week's time."
The king's servants were very much pleased at not having to try and
get it themselves, so they gave him the rupees and went home. The
demon knew quite well when she asked for the milk that none of the
king's servants would dare to go for it, but that his son would be
brave enough to go. This is why she asked for it, for she meant the
tigers to kill him.
The little prince now took his seven mothers out of the well, and they
all went together to his father's country. There he got a small house
for them, and good clothes and food. He got a servant, too, for them,
to cook their dinner and take care of them. "Be very tender to them,"
he said to the servant, "for they cannot see." For himself he bought a
little horse, and good clothes, and a gun, and a sword. Then he made
his mothers many salaams, and told them he was going to get a
tigress's milk. They all cried and begged him not to go.
But he set off and rode for three or four days through the jungles.
Then he came to a large jungle which was in a great blaze, and two
tiger-cubs were running about in the jungle trying to get out of the
fire. He jumped off his horse, and took them in his hands; then he
mounted his horse again and rode out of the jungle. He rode on till
he came to another which was not on fire. He let the cubs loose in it
that they might run away; but they placed themselves in front of his
horse, and said, "We will not let you go till you have seen our father
and mother."
Meanwhile the tiger and tigress saw the boy coming with their cubs,
and they came running to meet them. Till then they had thought their
cubs were burned in the jungle-fire. Now they knew at once this boy
had saved them. The cubs said to their father and mother, "We should
have died had it not been for this boy. Give him food; and when he has
eaten some food, we will drink milk." The tigers were very happy at
having their children safe. They went to a garden and got food and
good water for the boy, who ate and drank. Then the little cubs drank
their mother's milk.
The tiger said to the prince, "You are such a little child, how is it
your mother let you come alone to this jungle?"
"My mother's eyes are sore and pain her; and the doctor says that if
she bathes them in a tigress's milk they will get well. So I came to
see if I could get a little for her."
"I will give you some," said the tigress, and she gave him a little
jar full of her milk. The cubs said, "One of us will go with you, and
the other will stay with our father and mother." "No," said the little
prince, "do you both stay with your father and mother. I will not take
either of you away. What should I do with you?" "No," said one of the
cubs; "I will go with you. I will do all you tell me. Wherever you bid
me stay, there I will stay; and I will eat any food you give me."
"Take him with you," said the old tiger; "one day you will find him of
use." So the boy took the cub and the milk, and made his salaam to the
old tigers and went home. His mothers were delighted at his return,
though, as they had no eyes, they could not see him.
He tied up the tiger's cub and fed him. Then he took a little of the
milk, and went to the dry well in the jungle and sat down by it. The
king's servants came when the week had passed, and the boy gave them
the milk. The servants took it to the king, who gave it to the demon.
She was very angry when she found the tigers had not eaten the boy;
but she bathed her eyes with the milk, and said nothing.
At the end of another week she would not eat or drink, and did nothing
but cry. "What is the matter?" said the king. "See how my eyes pain
me," she answered. "If I could only get an eagle's feather to lay on
them they would be well. Oh, how they hurt me!"
The king called his servants and gave them four thousand rupees. "Go
and get me an eagle's feather," he said, "and he who gets it is to
take the four thousand rupees." "Let us go to the jungle well," they
said, "and find the boy who got us the tigress's milk. We could never
get an eagle's feather, but this child certainly can get one for us."
So they went to the well where they found the boy. The little prince
was very wise, though he was such a little child; and he knew the
demon would try to send him on some other errand that she might get
rid of him. He was quite willing to go on her errands, for he thought
he might thus learn how to kill her. He was not a bit afraid of being
killed himself, for he knew that God loved him, and that no one but
God could kill him.
He at once asked the king's servants, "What do you want now?" "Our
king has sent us for an eagle's feather to lay on the queen's eyes,
which pain her again. Here are four thousand rupees for you if you
will get it for us." "Give me the rupees," said the king's son. "Come
here in two weeks, and I will give you the feather."
He took the rupees to his mothers, and told them he was going to fetch
an eagle's feather. "Where will you find one?" they said. "I don't
know," he answered, "but I am going to look for one." He hired some
more servants, and told them to take care of his mothers and the
tiger-cub.
He rode straight on for two or three days, and at last came to a very
dense jungle, through which he rode for another three or four days.
When he got out of it he found himself on a beautiful smooth plain in
which was a tank. There, too, was a large fig-tree, and under the tree
cool shade, and cool, thick grass. He was very much pleased when he
saw the tank and the tree. He got off his horse, bathed in the tank,
and sat down under the fig-tree, thinking, "Here I will sleep a little
while before I go further."
While he lay asleep in the grass, a great snake crawled up the tree,
at the top of which were two young eagles. They began screaming very
loud. Their cries awakened the little prince. He looked about and saw
the great snake in the tree. Then he took his gun and fired at it, and
the snake fell dead to the ground. He cut it into five pieces, and hid
them in the long grass. Then he lay down again and went to sleep.
The baby eagles were alone in the tree, as their father and mother had
gone to another country. But now the old birds came home, and found
the king's son sleeping in the grass. "See," they said, "here is the
thief who every year robs us of our children! But now he cannot get
away. We will kill him." However, they thought it better to go and
look first at their children, to see if they were safe or not. They
flew up to the top of the tree, and when they found their children
safe, they wished to give them food. All the time they kept saying,
"Eat; then we will kill the thief who steals away our children every
year." The young eagles thought, "Oh, if God would only give us the
power to speak, then we would tell our father and mother that this
boy is no thief." Then God gave them the power to speak, and they said
to the old eagles, "Listen; if that boy had not been here, we should
have died, for he killed a huge snake that was going to swallow us:
only go and look, and you will see it dead and cut into pieces." And
the eaglets refused to eat till the boy had been fed.
The big eagles flew down and found the bits of the snake: so they flew
away to a beautiful garden, where they got delicious fruits and water.
These they brought to the boy, and awoke him and fed him. Then they
said to him, "It is indeed good to find our children alive. Hitherto
our children have always been eaten by that snake. How are your father
and mother? Why did they let you come to this jungle? What have you
come here for?" The little prince said, "My mother's eyes are very
sore; but they would be cured if she could have an eagle's feather to
lay on them. So I came to look for one." Then the mother gave him one
of her feathers.
When the boy was going home, the eaglets said they would go with him.
"No," he said, "I will not take you with me." But the old birds said,
"Take one of them, it will help you one day." The little prince made
his salaam to the big eagles, and took one of their young ones,
mounted his horse, and rode off. The eaglet flew over his head to
shade him from the sun.
When he got home to his seven mothers, he took the feather and went
and sat by the dry well. The king's servants came there to him, and he
gave them the feather, and said, "Take it to your king." This they
did, and the king gave it to the demon, who flew into a great rage.
She said to herself, "The tigers did not kill him, and now the eagles
have not killed him."
At the end of two weeks she began to cry and would not eat. The king
asked her, "What is the matter with you? what has happened to you?"
"My eyes pain me so much," she said. "What will cure them?" said the
king. "If I had only some night-growing rice," she said, "I would boil
it, and make rice-water, which I would drink. Then I should get well."
Now this night-growing rice was a wonderful rice that no men, and only
one demon, possessed. This was the demon-queen's brother. He used to
put a grain of this rice into his huge cavern of a mouth at night when
he went to sleep, and when he woke in the morning this grain would
have become a tree. Then the demon used to take the rice-tree out of
his mouth.
The demon, who seemed such a lovely girl, now wrote a letter to her
brother, in which she said, "The bearer of this letter goes to you for
some night-growing rice. You must kill him at once; you must not let
him live." The king gave this letter to his servants, with six
thousand rupees. "Take this letter," he said, "and fetch some of the
night-growing rice. Here are six thousand rupees for whichever of you
finds it." The king had no idea that it was not these men who had gone
for the tigress's milk and the eagle's feather.
The servants said, "Let us go to the well, to the boy who has helped
us before. We don't know where to get this night-growing rice, but
that boy is sure to know."
The boy was sitting by the well, and asked what they wanted. They
answered, "See, the king has given us six thousand rupees and a
letter, and told us to fetch him some night-growing rice." "Very
good," said the king's son. "Come here in three weeks' time, and I
will give you some." The servants gave him the rupees and returned
home.
He took the rupees to his mothers, and told them he was going on a
fresh errand, and they were to keep the money. Then he made them
salaams, took his letter, and rode off. The eaglet went too, and flew
above his head. The tiger's cub he left at home.
He rode on and on through a very large jungle, and he rode a long,
long way: at last in a jungle he saw a fakír, who was living in it. He
made him salaams, and the fakír was delighted to see him, "because,"
he said, "for many years I have been in this country, and all that
time have never seen any man." The prince sat down by the fakír, and
the fakír was very much pleased. He asked the boy who had sent him to
the jungle, and why he had come to it. "My mother has sore eyes," he
answered, "and wants some night-growing rice. She has given me a
letter to the man who owns it."
The fakír took and read the letter, and was very sorry. He tore it up
and threw it away. Then he wrote another, in which he said, "Your
sister is very ill, and her son has come for some night-growing rice
for her." This he gave to the boy, and told him to continue his
journey. He also told him that the man who had the rice was a huge
demon, and that he lived in the country by the great sea. Then he told
him the way.
The boy rode on and on, and after a week's journeying he came to the
demon's country. There he saw the huge demon sitting on the ground,
with his great, big mouth, that was just like a cavern. As soon as the
demon saw him he stood up and said, "It is many days since a man came
here. Now I will eat this one." He went towards the prince to seize
him, and a great rushing wind came blowing from the demon, as it
always did when he was angry. But the boy, who had begun to walk
towards him when he stood up, threw the letter to him with all his
might, so that it fell on him; at the same time he made many salaams.
The demon read the letter, and found his sister was very ill, and this
was her son; so he stopped the wind, and came up to the boy, who he
thought was his sister's son. "You have come for the rice for my
sister who is ill," he said to him; "you shall have it."
The demon had a splendid house full of beautiful things, and a great
many servants. He took the little prince home with him, and told his
servants to get water ready and gave the child a bath. They were also
to cook a good dinner for him. Then the demon showed the boy all his
gardens, and all his beautiful things, and took him through all the
rooms of his house. One room he did not show to the prince. He told
him he was never to go into it, though he might go everywhere else
that he liked. In this room lived the demon's daughter, who was very
beautiful, just like a fairy. She was ten years old. Every day before
her father went out, he used to make the girl lie on her bed, and
cover her with a sheet, and he placed a thick stick at her head, and
another at her feet; then she died till he came home in the evening
and changed the sticks, putting the one at her head at her feet, and
the one at her feet at her head. This brought her to life again.