Mr. G. H. Damant, some men who had been cheated by a farmer, called
at his house regarding the matter. He offered them food, and when they
sat down to the meal struck his wife with his bullock goad, and said,
"Be changed into a girl, and bring in the curry." She went out, and
sent back their little daughter with the food. He then sold the men the
magic stick for one hundred and fifty rupees, telling them that if they
beat their wives well with it they would all recover their youth. They
acted accordingly, and beat them so thoroughly that the wives were all
killed. Then they returned and burnt the farmer's house down, as noted
at the end of the last story, where the later incidents are given.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. xviii, p. 120, there is a South Indian
story by Pandita Natesa Sastri, in which, when three persons who had
been cheated by a man came to interview him regarding the frauds,
they were welcomed by him. According to arrangement, he beat his wife,
who was dressed as an old woman, with a pestle and put her inside
the house, explaining to his guests that he had only done it to make
her young again. Soon afterwards she reappeared as a young woman. He
lent them the magic pestle for a week, but by its use they only killed
their relatives. Then they returned in order to square up accounts with
him, tied him in a bag, and carried him up a mountain, intending to
burn him alive. When they went for the firewood, a cow-herd came up,
learnt from him that he was about to be forcibly married to a girl,
took his place, and was burnt, the impostor himself driving off the
1,001 cows which the man was watching. When the three cheated persons
returned and learnt that he had been sent back from Kailasa with the
cattle, as his time on earth had not expired, two of them got him to
burn them in a similar way.
NO. 11
THE WHITE TURTLE
At a village there are an elder sister and a younger sister, two
persons. The two are going away, it is said.
While going, they saw two bulls going along. Then the cattle asked,
"Where are you going?"
"We are going to a country where they give to eat and to wear"
(meaning that they were in search of husbands).
"Are we good enough for you?" [31] the cattle asked.
"What do you eat?" they asked.
"Having been put in those chenas we eat paddy and jungle vegetables."
Saying, "We don't want you," the two women go on.
As they were going, they met with two jackal-dogs. "Where are you
going?" they asked the two women.
"We are going to a country where they give to eat and to wear,"
they said.
"Are we good enough for you?" they asked.
"What do you eat?" they asked.
"We eat a few fruits and crabs," the two jackals said. "What do
you eat?"
"We eat dried-fish fry," they said. Saying, "We do not want two
jackals," the two women still go on.
While they were going, an elder brother and a younger brother were
ploughing. They asked the two women, "Where are you going?"
"We are going to a country where they give to eat and to wear,"
they said.
"Are we good enough for you?" they asked.
The two women asked, "What do you eat?"
"We eat dry-fish fry," they said.
"Then both parties eat it," they said. "It is good."
"If so, it is good. Go to our house," the men said. [32]
Afterwards those two men, having given the two keys of their houses
into the hands of the elder sister and the younger sister, said,
"The cooking things are in such a place; go there, and having opened
the doors cook until we come."
Then the two women went to the houses, and the elder sister opened the
door of the elder brother's house and cooked; and the younger sister
opened the door of the younger brother's house and cooked. Afterwards
the two men came home, and having eaten, stopped there [with the
sisters, as their husbands].
After many days had passed, the two sisters bore two girls. The
younger sister had many things at her house; the elder sister had
none. On account of that, the elder sister through ill-feeling thought,
"I must kill younger sister."
One day, the two sisters having cooked rice, while they were taking
it to the rice field the younger sister went in front, and the elder
sister went behind. On the way, they came near the river. Then the
elder sister said, "Younger sister, didst thou never bathe? The skin
on thy back is dirty. Take off that necklace and the clothes on thy
body, and lay them down, and let us bathe and then go."
They put down the two mat boxes of cooked rice, and having descended
into the river, she called, while bathing, to her sister, "Younger
sister, come here for me to rub thy back." While rubbing she threw her
into the middle of the river. Then she took the two boxes of cooked
rice and went to the rice field. The younger sister died in the river.
After the elder sister went to the rice field, the younger brother
asked at the hand of the elder sister, "Why has no one come from
our house?"
Then the elder sister said, "Ando! Catch her coming! [33] Isn't she
playing [illicit] games at home?" Having given the two boxes of rice
to the elder brother and the younger brother, that woman returned home.
Afterwards that younger sister's girl asked, "Loku-Amma, [34] where
is our mother?"
Then the woman said, "Ando! Catch her coming! When I came she was
still stopping in the rice field."
After it became night, the elder brother and the younger brother having
come home, the younger brother asked, "Girl, where is thy mother?"
Then the girl said, "At noon she took cooked rice to the rice field
with Loku-Amma; she has not come yet."
The younger brother said, "Where? She did not go to the rice field."
Then the girl said, "At the time when I asked at the hand of Loku-Amma,
'Where is our mother?' she said, 'She is at the rice field.'"
Afterwards the elder sister, calling the elder brother and the younger
brother, both of them [to be her husbands], took her sister's goods,
and remained there with them. From the next day, having cooked she gave
the rice into the hands of the two girls to take to the rice field.
After the girls had gone near the river for two or three days, they
saw one day a White Turtle in it, and approached and tried to catch
it. When the elder sister's girl went to catch it, it went to the
middle of the river; when the younger sister's girl went, it came to
the bank, and rubbed itself over the whole of her body.
After the elder sister's girl had gone home, she told the elder sister
of it: "Mother, there is a White Turtle in the river. When that girl
goes it comes to her; when I go it swims far away," she said.
That elder sister said, "Ha. It is good. I shall eat it," and lay down.
The younger sister's girl hearing it, went near the river, and said,
"Mother, she must eat you, says Loku-Amma."
Then the White Turtle said, "Ha. It is good, daughter. Let her
eat. After she has cooked she will give you, also, a little gravy,
and a bone. Drink the gravy, and take the bone to the cattle-fold,
and having said, 'If it be true that you are our mother, may you be
created a Mango tree,' throw it down."
Afterwards, when those two men came home, having seen that the woman
was lying down, "What are you lying down for?" they asked.
Then the woman said, "It is in my mind to eat the White Turtle that
is in the river." So the men went to the river, and having caught
the White Turtle, and brought it home, and cooked it, gave it to the
woman. Then the woman got up and ate it.
She gave the girl a little gravy, and a bone. The girl having drunk
the gravy, took the bone to the cattle-fold, and saying, "If it
be true that you are our mother, may you be created a Mango tree,"
threw down the bone.
After that, a Mango tree being created, in a day or two grew large and
bore fruit. As the two girls were going near the Mango tree they saw
that there were Mangoes on it, and went close to it. When the elder
sister's girl went to pluck the Mango fruits, the branches rose up;
when the younger sister's girl went to pluck them, the branches bent
down, and spread over her body and head. Well then, after that girl
had plucked and eaten as many as she wanted, the branches rose again.
That also the elder sister's girl, having come home, told her: "Mother,
there are fruits on the Mango tree at the cattle-fold. When I try to
pluck them the branches rise; when that girl tries to pluck them the
branches rub the ground."
The woman said, "Ha. It is good. I will split that and warm it in
the fire."
After hearing that also, that girl, having gone to the Mango tree
said, "Mother, having split you she must warm you in the fire,
Loku-Amma says."
Then the Mango tree said, "Ha. It is good, daughter. Let her split. A
splinter having fallen will remain here. Take it, and having said,
'If it be true that you are our mother, may you be created a Kaekiri
creeper,' put it down at the back of the house."
Afterwards, when the elder sister's two men came, having seen that she
was lying down, "What are you lying down for to-day also?" they asked.
Then the woman said, "Having split the Mango tree at the cattle-fold,
it is in my mind to have a few splinters warmed for me in the fire." So
the two men having gone to the cattle-fold, and having cut and split
up the Mango tree, and brought a few splinters home, put them in the
fire and fanned it. After that, the woman got up, and warmed herself
at the fire.
Then that girl went to the place where the Mango tree was, and when
she looked a splinter was there. Taking it, she came to the back of
the house, and having said, "If it be true that you are our mother,
may you be created a Kaekiri creeper," she put it down. In a day or
two a Kaekiri creeper was created there, and bore fruits.
On going there, the younger sister's girl said, "There is fruit," and
having plucked and eaten as many as she wanted, she came home. When the
elder sister's girl went to pluck them there was not a single fruit.
Having returned home, the girl said regarding that also, "Mother,
on the Kaekiri creeper which is at the back of the house there are
many fruits when that girl goes to it; when I go, not a single one."
The woman said, "Ha. It is good. Having uprooted it I will eat it in
a dry curry."
That girl after hearing that also, went near the Kaekiri creeper and
said, "Mother, having uprooted you and cooked you in a dry curry,
she must eat you, says Loku-Amma."
The Kaekiri creeper said, "Ha. It is good, daughter. Let her eat. At
the place where I am uprooted there will be a Kaekiri root. Take it
to the river, and having said, 'If it be true that you are our mother,
be created a Blue-Lotus flower,' throw it into the river."
The elder sister having uprooted the Kaekiri creeper, took it home,
and having cooked the curry, ate. After that, the girl went to the
place where the Kaekiri creeper had been, and when she looked a
Kaekiri root was there. Having taken it to the river, and said, "If
it be true that you are our mother, be created a Blue-Lotus flower,"
she threw it into the river. Then a Blue-Lotus flower was created.
When the two girls were going together to the river to bathe, having
seen that there was a Blue-Lotus flower, that younger sister's girl
went and held out her hands in a cup shape. Then the flower which
was in the middle of the river came into the girl's hands, and opened
out while in her hands. When the elder sister's girl was holding her
hands for it, it goes to the middle of the river.
That girl having come home, said of it also, "Mother, there is a
Blue-Lotus flower in the river. When that girl goes it comes to her
hands; when I go it moves far away."
The woman said, "Ha! It is good. That also I shall seize, and take."
The girl after having heard that also, went and said, "Mother, she
must pluck you also, says Loku-Amma."
Then the Blue-Lotus flower said, "Let that woman say so, daughter. She
is unable to pluck me."
Afterwards the woman having told at the hands of the two men, "Pluck
the flower and come back," the two men having gone to the river
tried to pluck it; they could not. When they are trying to pluck it,
it goes to the middle of the river.
Afterwards, the men having told it at the hand of the King of the
country, and having told the King to cause the flower to be plucked
and to give them it, the King also came near the river on the back
of an elephant, together with the King's servants. The elder sister,
and the two girls, and the two men stayed on this side.
Then the people on this side and the people on that side try and try
to take that flower; they cannot take it. That younger sister's girl
having gone to one side, after looking on said, "Indeed I am able
to take it, that flower." The King on the other side of the river
having heard that, while he was on the back of the elephant, said,
"What is it, girl, that you are saying?"
Then that girl said, "O Lord, I am greatly afraid to speak; I indeed
am able to take it, the flower."
"Ha. Take it," the King said. Afterwards, when the girl was holding
her hands in a cup shape, the flower that was in the middle of the
river came into her hands.
Afterwards the King, taking that flower, and placing the girl on the
elephant, went to the King's city.
North-western Province.
In the Jataka story No. 67 (vol. i, p. 164), a woman went to a King
and begged for "wherewith to be covered," by which she meant her
husband, who had been arrested. She explained that "a husband is a
woman's real covering."
In Indian Fairy Tales (Stokes), p. 144, a girl who was supposed to
be drowned became a pink-lotus flower which eluded capture, but came
of its own accord into the hand of a Prince.
NO. 12
THE BLACK STORKS' GIRL
In a certain country there are a woman and a man, it is said. The man
cuts jungle at a chena clearing; the woman is weaving a bag. After
the man comes home, the woman asks, "Is the jungle cut yet?" The man
says, "A couple of bushes are cut; is the bag woven?" The woman says,
"A couple of rows are woven."
Continuing in that way, after the end of two or three days the man,
while returning from cutting jungle, saw a Kaekiri creeper at a
threshing-floor, and having come near, and seen that there was a fruit
on it, plucked and ate it. A Kaekiri seed remained fixed in his beard.
After he came home, the woman, seeing it, asked, "Where did you
eat Kaekiri?"
The man said, "When I was coming home there was a Kaekiri creeper at
a threshing-floor on the way; on it there was a fruit. I ate it."
Then the woman said, "There will be more on that creeper. After I
have woven the bag let us go there."
Afterwards, having gone with him to the threshing-floor, she saw that
the Kaekiri creeper had spread completely over the floor, and that
there were as many fruits as leaves. While plucking them, she bore
a girl there.
Afterwards, the man having plucked Kaekiri, and filled and tied up
the bag, said to the woman, "Shall I take the girl, or shall I take
the bag?"
The woman told him to take the bag, leaving the girl there. So the
girl was left at the threshing-floor, and the man and woman went home,
taking the bag of fruit with them.
While a Black Stork (Mana) and a female Black Stork (Mani) were
going about seeking food, the female Stork saw that a girl was at the
threshing-floor, and having gone near it, cried out, "Ade! A thing
for me! Ade! A thing for me!" When the male Stork heard this he came
running to the spot. Having looked at the girl, the two Black Storks
took her to their house, and reared her there.
After a time, the girl having become big, the female Black Stork and
the male Black Stork said, "Daughter, we must go for golden bracelets
and golden anklets for you."
At that house there were a Parrot, a Dog, and a Cat, which were
reared there. The two Storks told the girl, "Daughter, after we
have gone, do not reduce the food of either the Parrot, or the Dog,
or the Cat. Until we return, be careful not to put out the fire on
the hearth, and not to go anywhere whatever." After saying this,
they went to bring the golden bracelets and golden anklets.
That girl having been careful for two or three days in the way
the female Stork and male Stork told her, lessened the food of the
Cat. That night the Cat extinguished the fire on the hearth.
Next morning, the girl having gone to the hearth to cook, when she
looked there was no fire on the hearth. So she said to the Parrot,
"Younger brother, last night I reduced the food of the Cat a
little. For that, the Cat has extinguished the fire on the hearth,
and now there is no fire for cooking. You go and look from which
house smoke is rising, and come back."
Then the Parrot having gone flying, looked and looked. There was not
any coming from any other houses; from the house of the Rakshasa,
only, there was a smoke. The Parrot having come home, said, "Elder
sister, I looked at the whole of the houses. There was not any; only
from the house of the Rakshasa the smoke came." Afterwards the girl,
having said, "If so, younger brother, you stop at home until I go
and bring fire," went for the fire.
The Rakshasa was not at home; only the Rakshasa's wife was there. The
girl having gone to that house, said, "Give me a little fire." Then
that woman made the girl boil and dry seven large baskets of paddy
(unhusked rice), and pound the paddy in those seven, and bring seven
large pots of water, and bring seven bundles of firewood. Then taking a
piece of coconut shell with a hole in it, she put ashes at the bottom,
and having placed a fire-charcoal on them, gave it to her. While
the girl was going home, the ashes fell through the hole all along
the path.
Afterwards, when the Rakshasa came home, "What is this, Bolan?" he
asked the woman; "there is a smell of a human body, a human body that
has been here."
The woman said, "A girl came for fire. Thinking you would come, I
employed that girl, and having made her boil seven baskets of paddy,
and dry it, and pound it, and bring seven large pots of water,
and seven bundles of firewood, when I looked you were not to be
seen. Afterwards, having placed ashes in a piece of coconut shell
with a hole in it, I put a fire-charcoal on them, and gave her it. By
this time she will have gone home. There will be ashes along the path
on which that girl went. Go, looking and looking at the ashes-path,"
she said.
Afterwards the Rakshasa went along the ashes-path. The Parrot having
seen him coming in the rice field, said, "Elder sister, the Rakshasa
is coming. Shut the door," he said. So the girl, shutting the door
and bolting it, stopped in the house.
The Rakshasa having come near the house, said, "Here are golden
bracelets, O daughter. Here are golden anklets, O daughter. Open the
door, my daughter."
Then the Parrot said, "No golden bracelets, O elder sister. No golden
anklets, O elder sister. Open not the door, wise elder sister."
Then the Rakshasa ran to catch the Parrot. He could not catch it;
the Parrot went into the forest and stayed there.
Afterwards the Rakshasa having come again near the house said,
"Here are golden bracelets, O daughter. Here are golden anklets,
O daughter. Open the door, my daughter."
Then the Dog, which was in the open space at the front of the house,
said, "No golden bracelets, O elder sister. No golden anklets,
O elder sister. Open not the door, wise elder sister."
The Rakshasa having gone running after the Dog, and having caught and
killed the Dog, came again near the house, and said, "Here are golden
bracelets, O daughter. Here are golden anklets, O daughter. Open the
door, my daughter."
Then the Cat that was in the raised veranda said, "No golden bracelets,
O elder sister. No golden anklets, O elder sister. Open not the door,
wise elder sister."
The Rakshasa, having gone running, killed also the Cat, and again
having come near the house, said, "Here are golden bracelets,
O daughter. Here are golden anklets, O daughter. Open the door,
my daughter."
Then the Gam-Murunga [35] tree said, "No golden bracelets, O elder
sister. No golden anklets, O elder sister. Open not the door, wise
elder sister."
Afterwards the Rakshasa, having cut down and broken up the Gam-Murunga
tree, again went near the house, and said, "Here are golden bracelets,
O daughter. Here are golden anklets, O daughter. Open the door,
my daughter."
Then the Murunga logs said, "No golden bracelets, O elder sister. No
golden anklets, O elder sister. Open not the door, wise elder sister."
The Rakshasa, having set fire to the logs, and gone near the house
again, said, "Here are golden bracelets, O daughter. Here are golden
anklets, O daughter. Open the door, my daughter."
Then the ashes of the burnt Murunga tree said, "No golden bracelets,
O elder sister. No golden anklets, O elder sister. Open not the door,
wise elder sister."
The Rakshasa, having collected the ashes, and taken them to the river
and placed them in it, and again having gone to the house, said,
"Here are golden bracelets, O daughter. Here are golden anklets,
O daughter. Open the door, my daughter."
Then the water of the river said, "No golden bracelets, O elder
sister. No golden anklets, O elder sister. Open not the door, wise
elder sister."
Afterwards, the Rakshasa, having gone to the river, and having drunk
and drunk, could not finish the water, and at last he burst open
and died.
After that, the female Black Stork and the male Black Stork brought
the golden bracelets and golden anklets, and having given them to
the girl, remained there.
North-western Province.
In a variant of this story, related by a Duraya in the North-western
Province, the persons who abandoned the child were a Gamarala and
his wife, the Gama-mahage.
On the Storks' finding it, they cried, "Ada! I have met with a
gem!" Their home was in a rock-cave. When the Parrot warned the girl
that the Rakshasa was coming, "having gone running, and having sprung
into the cave, she shut the door. The Rakshasa says, 'Having brought
bracelets for the arms, jackets for the body, cloths for the waist,
O daughter, open the door, my daughter.'
"Then the Parrot said, 'It is false that there are bracelets for the
arms, jackets for the body, cloths for the waist. Open not the door,
my elder sister.'
"Then the Rakshasa tried to kill the Parrot. Having flown away it
settled on a tree. The Rakshasa having smashed the Parrot's cage,
again says, 'Having brought bracelets for the arms,'" etc.
The Cat warned the girl and was killed, then the Dog, next the
Ash-plantain tree, and lastly the Katuru-Murunga tree. I now translate
again.
"After that, he struck a finger-nail into the lintel, and having
struck another finger-nail into the threshold, the Rakshasa went away.
"After that, the male Black Stork and female Black Stork came. Having
come, they say, 'Having brought bracelets for the arms, jackets for
the body, cloths for the waist, open the door, my daughter.'
"Then the Parrot says, 'It is true that there are bracelets for the
arms, jackets for the body, cloths for the waist, elder sister. Open
the door, my elder sister.'
"As she was coming out opening the door, her foot was pricked by a
finger-nail, and the crown of her head by a finger-nail. Then becoming
unconscious she fell down, the finger-nails having entered her. Both
Storks together drew out the finger-nails."
She recovered, and they gave her the things they had brought, but
sent her away. The rest of the story is an evident modern addition
of no interest. She went to a large chena, and was taken home by a
widow who was there.
In another variant of the Western Province the two birds which
reared the child were Crows. After the child was born, the mother,
a Gamarala's wife (Gama-Mahage or Gama-Mahayiya) said, "Are we to take
the child, or are we to take the bag of Kaekiri?" Her husband replied,
"Should we take the child it will be [necessary] to give it to eat
and to wear; should we take the bag of Kaekiri we shall be able to
eat it for one meal." "So the Gama-Mahage, having put the child
among the Kaekiri creepers, taking the bag went home." The Crows
carried away the infant, and called it Emal Bisawa, Queen of the
Flowers. When the girl had grown up, the birds went to bring pearls
for her to wear, after giving her the usual injunctions regarding the
food of the Dog, the Cat and the Parrot. She reduced the Dog's food,
and it put out the fire. The Parrot found smoke rising from the house
of a Rakshasi, and guided her to the place. The Rakshasi was absent;
her two daughters gave the girl two amunas (nearly twelve bushels)
of paddy to pound. "She thought, 'Having been pounded, go into the
house,' and it became pounded of its own accord." Then they gave
her seven perforated pots to be filled with water and brought. She
filled them and handed them over. They gave her a piece of coconut
husk with a hole in it, and a perforated coconut shell, and filled
the former with sesame seeds, and the latter with ashes on which was
placed burning charcoal. She hurried home with these, being warned
by the Parrot that the Rakshasi was coming.
When the Rakshasi asked her daughters who had been to the house,
they replied that the female Crow's girl had taken some fire, and
that there would be sesame and ashes along the path by which she
had gone. The Rakshasi ran along it, found the door shut, and said,
"Mother has come. Father has come. We are bringing pearls of the sea;
we are bringing also wire for stringing the pearls. Open the door,
O daughter." The Katuru-Murunga tree warned her that it was false;
when it was burnt, its ashes repeated the warning, then the Dog, the
Cat, and the Parrot. Then the Rakshasi, "having broken her finger
nails, and having fixed one above and one below in the door-frame,
went away. After that, her mother and father came, and said, 'Mother
has come. Father has come. We are bringing pearls of the sea; we
are bringing also wire for stringing the pearls. Open the door,
my daughter.' The Parrot said the same. As she opened the door,
a finger-nail having entered the crown of her head she died. When
they asked the Parrot, 'What has happened?' 'Because of the Rakshasi
elder sister died,' he said."
In a fourth variant of the North-western Province the aspect of
the story is partly changed, and I give a translation of the latter
portion, because it contains an account of a runaway match, such as
still sometimes occurs.
In this story, a Gamarala's wife went with another woman to the chena
while the Gamarala was asleep, and after eating as much fruit as
possible they filled a bag also. As they were proceeding home rapidly
with it, the Gamarala's wife gave birth to a child at a hollow in which
pigs wallowed. She asked the other woman to carry it home for her,
but this person refused, and took the bag of Kaekiri fruit instead,
so the child was abandoned.
Then the two Storks came, and carried the child to their cave, and
reared it. After the girl grew up, they went off to seek bracelets and
necklaces for her, instructing the girl to "give an equal quantity of
food to the Cock, the Dog, the Cat, the Parrot, the Crow, the Rat,
and the other creatures," and warning her that if she gave less to
the Rat it would extinguish the fire. After some days she reduced
the Rat's food, so it put out the fire.
The Parrot found a house--not a Rakshasa's--from which smoke was
rising, and guided the girl to it. The woman who was at it gave her
some fire without delaying her, and she returned home with it. I now
translate the concluding part.
"After the son of the woman who had the fire came home, the woman says
to her son, 'To-day a good-looking Princess came to the house.' Then
the son asks, 'Mother, by which stile did the Princess go?' His mother
says, 'Here, by this stile,' and showed him it.
"Then the man having set off, and having gone near the cave, and seen
the Princess, when he said, 'Let us go to our house,' the Princess
said, 'Because my parents are not here [to give their consent]
I cannot go.' This man says, 'No matter for that,' and seizing the
hand of the Princess, they came to his house.
"Afterwards the two Black Storks which went seeking bracelets and
rings, having come near the cave, when they looked the Princess was not
there. The Black Storks ask the Dog, the Cat, the Crow, the Parrot,
the Rat, and the Cock, 'Where is the Princess?' They all say, 'A man
came, and while the Princess was saying she could not go he seized her
hand and took her away.' When the Storks asked, 'By which stile did he
take her?' saying, 'There, by that stile,' the animals showed them it.
"Then the two Black Storks having gone flying, when they looked the
Princess was staying at the house. Afterwards the two Storks gave
the Princess the bracelets, rings, and coral necklaces which they had
brought; and having handed her over to the man, the two Black Storks
went to their dwelling."
In Old Deccan Days, Ganges Valley (Frere), p. 87 ff., there is a
variant according to which the child was carried off to their nest
by two eagles, from the side of the mother. After the eagles went to
bring a ring for her, the cat stole some food, and on being punished
by the girl put out the fire.
The girl went to a Rakshasa's house for a light, and was detained by
his mother, pounding rice and doing other housework. She left at last
with instructions to scatter corn along the path.
The Rakshasa followed the track and climbed to the nest, but the outer
door was bolted, and he could not enter, so he left his nail in a crack
of the door. When the girl opened the outer door--there were seven
in all--the nail wounded her hand, and being poisonous apparently
killed her. The eagles returned, and seeing this flew away. When a
King arrived and drew out the nail, she recovered, and he married her.
NO. 13
THE GOLDEN KAEKIRI FRUIT
In a certain city there are a man and his daughter, it is said. The
man's wife being dead, the girl cooks food for the man. The man
cuts jungle at a chena clearing. The girl every day having cooked,
and placed the food ready for her father, goes to rock in a golden
swing. [36] Then a Mahage [37] comes and says, "Daughter, give me a
little fire." The girl sitting in the swing says, "Is it here with
me? It is at the hearth; take it." The Mahage goes into the house,
pulls out and takes the things which that girl has cooked and placed
there, and having eaten, carries away the fire.
So, after two or three days had passed in that manner, the man asked,
"Who, daughter, while I am coming home has eaten the rice that you
have cooked and placed for me?"
Then the girl said, "I don't know, father. Every day when I have
cooked the food and placed it ready for you, and gone to rock in the
golden swing, a Mahage comes and begs fire from me. Then I say, 'Is
it here with me? It is at the hearth; take it.' It will be the Mahage."
Then the man, having said, "Ha. Daughter, cook and arrange the food
to-day also, and go to the golden swing," got onto the shelf, and
stayed there.
Afterwards the girl, having cooked and placed the food exactly as on
other days, went to the golden swing. Then the Mahage having come on
that day also, begged, "Daughter, give me a little fire." The girl
said, "Is it here with me? It is at the hearth; take it."
Then the Mahage having gone into the house, and drawn out the pots,
and eaten part of the rice, when she was about to rise after taking the
fire, the man on the shelf asked, "What is that you have been doing?"
The Mahage said, "What indeed! Why don't you invite me [to be your
wife]?"
The man said, "Ha. Stop here." So the woman stayed.
After a great many days had passed, the woman lay down. "What are
you lying down for?" asked the man.
The woman said, "It is in my mind to eat your daughter's two eyes."
Afterwards the man called the girl, and said, "Daughter, a yoke of
cattle are missing; let us go and seek them." While he went with the
girl, taking a cord, the dog also followed behind.
Having gone into a great forest, he said, "Daughter, come here in
order that I may look at your head." [38] While he was looking and
looking at it, the girl fell asleep. Then the man placed the girl
against a tree, and tied her to it; and having cut out her two eyes,
came home and placed one on the shelf and one in the salt pot. The
dog that went with the man having come home, howled, rolling about
in the open space in front of the house.
There was also a child. That little one having gone somewhere, on
coming back bringing a mango, asked that Mahage, "Loku-Amma, give me
a knife." The woman said, "Have I got one here? It is on the shelf;
get it."
Then the child, going into the house, and putting his hand on the
shelf, caught hold of the eye placed there by the man, and said, "This
is indeed our elder sister's eye. Loku-Amma, give me a piece of salt."
The woman said, "Have I got any here? Take it from the salt pot."
When the child put his hand into the salt pot the other eye was
there. He took it also. When he stepped down from the veranda of the
house into the compound, the dog went in front, and the child followed
after him.
Having gone on and on, the dog came to the place in the great forest
where the girl was, and stopped there. When the child looked, his elder
sister was tied to the tree. He saw that red ants were biting her from
her eyes downward, and having quickly unfastened her he took her to a
tank, and bathed her. Then taking both her eyes in his hand, he said,
"If these are our elder sister's eyes, may they be created afresh,"
and threw them down. After that, they were created better than before.
Afterwards the girl said, "Younger brother, we cannot go again to that
house. Let us go away somewhere." So they went off. While they were
going along the road, a King was coming on horseback, tossing and
tossing up a golden Kaekiri fruit. The child, after looking at it,
said, "Elder sister, ask for the golden Kaekiri."
The girl replied, "Appa! Younger brother, he will kill both of us. Come
on without speaking."
Then the child another time said, "Elder sister, ask for it and give
me it."
The King having heard it, asked, "What, Bola, is that one saying?"
The girl replied, "O Lord, nothing at all."
"It was not nothing at all. Tell me," the King said a second time.
Then the girl replied, "O Lord, I am much afraid to say it. He is
asking for that golden Kaekiri."
The King said, "I will give the golden Kaekiri if thou wilt give me
thy elder sister."
The child said, "Elder sister and I, both of us, will come."
So the King, having placed the girl on horseback, went to his city
with the child, and married the girl.
After many days had passed, when the King was about to go to a war
the girl was near her confinement. So the King said, "If it be a girl,
shake an iron chain. If it be a boy, shake a silver chain." Afterwards
the girl bore a boy, and shook a silver chain.
Before the King came back, the girl's father and Loku-Amma
(step-mother), having collected cobras' eggs, polangas' [39] eggs,
and the like, the eggs of all kinds of snakes, and having cooked
cakes made of them, came to the place where the girl was.
The girl's Loku-Amma told her to eat some of the cakes. When she
did not eat them, that woman, taking some in her hand, came to her
and rubbed some on her mouth. At that very moment the girl became a
female cobra, and dropped down into a hole in an ant-hill. Her father
and Loku-Amma went home again. The infant was crying on the bed.
Afterwards, when the girl's younger brother was saying to the golden
Kaekiri:--
They'll me myself to kill devise;
In bed the gold-hued nephew cries;
As a lady, gold-hued sister rise," [40]
the cobra returned [in her woman's form], and having suckled and
bathed the infant, and sent it to sleep, again [becoming a snake]
goes back to the ant-hill.
Then the King having returned, asked the younger brother, "Where,
Bola, is thy elder sister?"
The child said, "Our father and Loku-Amma having cooked a sort of
cakes came and gave us them, and Loku-Amma told elder sister to
eat. Afterwards, as she did not eat, Loku-Amma, taking some, rubbed
them on elder sister's mouth. At that very moment elder sister became
a female cobra, and dropped down into an ant-hill."
Then the King asked, "Did she not return again, after she had dropped
down into the ant-hill?"
The child replied, "While I was calling her she came back once."
The King said, "Call her again in that very way."
So the boy said to the golden Kaekiri,
They'll me myself to kill devise;
In bed the gold-hued nephew cries;
As a lady, gold-hued sister rise."
Afterwards, the cobra came [in her woman's form], and having suckled
and bathed the child, and sent it to sleep, cooked for the King,
and apportioned the food for him.
Then when she tried to go away [in her cobra form], the King cut the
cobra in two with his sword. One piece dropped down into the ant-hill;
the other piece became the Queen, and remained there.
After that, the King collected cobras, polangas, all kinds of snakes,
and having, with the Queen, put them into two corn measures, they
took the two boxes, and went to the house where the Queen's father and
Loku-Amma were. There they gave them the two boxes, and said, "We have
brought presents for you. Go into the house, and having shut the door,
and lowered the bolt, open the mouths of the two boxes. Otherwise, do
not open the mouths in the light." The King and Queen remained outside.
The Queen's father and Loku-Amma, taking the two boxes, went into the
house, and having shut the door and bolted it, opened the mouths of
the two boxes. At that moment, the snakes that were in them came out,
and bit both of them, and both of them died.
Afterwards, the King and Queen came to the city, and stayed there.
North-western Province.
In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 132, a girl received a fan, the
shaking of which summoned a Prince, however far away he might be.
At p. 239 also, a Queen received a golden bell, the ringing of which
summoned the absent King.
In the Sinhalese story, it is evidently to be understood that the
shaking of the chain would be heard by the King while he was away,
although the narrator omitted to mention this.
NO. 14
THE FOUR DEAF PERSONS
In a certain city there were a woman and a man, it is said. Both of
them were deaf. A female child was born to that man, and this child
was also deaf. The man to whom she was given in marriage when she
grew up was also deaf.
The girl's husband went to plough a rice field at the side of the
high road. While he was ploughing, a man who was going along the road
asked the way. Continuing to plough with the yoke of bulls, the deaf
man said, "I brought this bull from the village. This other bull is
from father-in-law's herd."
"What are the facts about the bulls to me? Tell me the way," the
man said.
The deaf man replied, "The bull is from my herd."
The man said again, "What are the facts about the bulls to me? Tell
me the way."
Then the deaf man, replying, "Don't say that another time," beat the
man with the goad, and the man having received the blows went away.
Afterwards, the deaf man's wife having brought cooked rice to the
field, he unfastened the cattle which had been ploughing, and while
he was eating said to the woman, "A man came just now, and saying,
'Whose is the yoke of bulls?' quarrelled with me about them."
The woman replied, "Through seeking firewood and water and vegetables,
and cooking, I was a little late in the day in coming."
Having quarrelled with him over it, she bounded off, and having gone
home, went to the place where her mother was plaiting a mat, and said
to her, "Mother, our house man quarrelled with me, saying that I was
late in taking the rice."
The woman said, "Marry thy father! What is it to thee whether my
works are good or not good now?" and she quarrelled with her.
The woman having gone to the place where her husband was watching
a sweet-potato chena during the day time, on account of thieves
uprooting the plants, said, "To-day my daughter having taken cooked
rice to the field, and having given it and returned, quarrelled with
me, saying that the plaiting of my mat was bad. I also indeed scolded
her a great deal, saying, 'What is it to thee whether my works are
good or not good now?' I have come to tell you about it."
Then the man said, "Bola, you infamous woman! Because I stopped in
the chena you cooked and ate three sweet-potatoes, did you?" and he
beat and drove away the woman.
Then saying that it was useless to go on with the chena when his
wife was eating the crop, he cut the fence, and abandoned it to the
cattle. And the man left the village and the district, and went away.
North-western Province.
The quarrels of deaf persons through misunderstanding each other's
remarks form a common subject of folk-tales. The mistakes of three
deaf people are related in Folklore in Southern India (Natesa Sastri),
p. 3 ff., and Tales of the Sun (Kingscote and N. Sastri), p. 1 ff.
The Abbé Dubois published another amusing South Indian variant,
which recounted the mistakes of four deaf men (le Pantcha-Tantra,
1872, p. 339 ff.). The four persons in it were a shepherd, a
village watchman, a traveller who was riding a stolen horse, and
a Brahmana. The shepherd requested the watchman to look after his
flock during his temporary absence. In reply the latter refused to
let him have the grass that he had cut. On the shepherd's return,
he offered him a lame lamb as a reward for the trouble he thought
the man had taken, but the watchman fancied he was being accused of
laming it. They stopped a horseman who was riding past, and asked him
to decide their quarrel. In reply, he admitted that the horse was not
his. Each thought the decision was against him, and cursed him for it;
and while the quarrel was at its height they referred it to a Brahmana
who came up, who replied that it was useless for them to stop him,
as he was determined never to return to his wicked wife. "In the crew
of devils I defy any one to find one who equals her in wickedness,"
he said. The horse-thief, observing men coming in the distance,
made off on foot, the shepherd returned to his flock, the watchman,
seeing the lamb left, took it home in order to punish the shepherd
for his false charge, and the Brahmana stayed at a rest-house, and
went home again next day.
In the Contes Soudanais (W. Africa), by C. Monteil, p. 18 ff.,
there is a story which resembles both this South Indian one and the
Sinhalese one, in part. A shepherd in search of a lost sheep asked
a cultivator about it. He replied, "My field begins before me and
ends behind me." The shepherd found the sheep, and offered it to the
cultivator in payment for quarters for the night. The latter thought
he was being charged with stealing it, and took him before a village
headman, who remarked, "Still another story about women! Truly this
can't continue; I shall leave the village." When he told his wife
to accompany him, she said she would never live with a man who was
always talking of divorcing her.
NO. 15
THE PRINCE AND THE YAKA
A king of a single city had one son, who was a Prince of five
years. At that time, a Yaka [41] having settled in that kingdom began
to devour the people of the city, and by reason of this the whole city
was like to be abandoned. At last, the King and the men of the city,
making great efforts, seized the Yaka, and having made an iron house,
put him in it, and shut the door.
At that time it became necessary for the King of the city to go to
war. After he had gone off to the war, when the King's son one day
had opened the door of the house in which was the man-eating Yaka,
and was looking at him, the Yaka fell down, and made obeisance to him,
and signifying his misery to the Prince, began to weep. So the Prince,
pitying him, told the Yaka to go away. Then the Yaka, saying to the
Prince, "It is good. I will assist you, too," went away.
After he had left, when the Prince had gone home the King who had
gone to the war returned, having conquered. When he looked at the
room in which the Yaka had been, the door was open. The King asked
who had opened the door. The Queen replied that the Prince opened
it. Then the King said, "To-morrow I must behead that wicked Prince."
The Queen, being sorry at this, having tied up a packet of cooked
rice, and given it and money to the Prince, and having given him a
horse and sword, said, "The King has settled to behead you to-morrow
for letting the Yaka escape. Go away at night to any country you like."
So the Prince, taking the money and the bundle of cooked rice, and the
sword, mounted the horse, and set off to go to another country. There
was a travellers' shed at the road along which he was going. As he
was unable to go further on account of weariness, he went that night
to the travellers' shed; and having fastened the horse to one of the
posts of the shed, he lay down, placing the bundle of rice at his side.
Then seeing a youth running along the road, he called him, and asked,
"Boy, where art thou going?"
The boy said, "I am going to a place where they give to eat and
to wear."
Then the Prince said, "I will give you pay. Stop and look after
my horse."
The youth said, "It is good. I will stay."
The Prince said, "I do not know the fords in this country; therefore
tell me of a path by which we can go to another country."
The youth replied, "There is a river here. On the other side of
it there is a city, to go to which there is not a short road from
here. However, there is another road further on. By it we must pass
over a bridge."
"If so," said the Prince, "having bathed here let us go."
Having seen that three Princesses who were at the city on the other
side were bathing, he also was pleased at bathing there. After he
had gone to bathe, the three Princesses of the King of the country
on the other side, when they looked saw the good figure of this Prince.
After that, as the Prince wished to go after bathing, the youth who
was to look after the horse having mounted it, began to ride away,
wearing the Prince's clothes, and taking the sword.
When the Prince, having bathed, and seen the Princesses on the other
bank putting on their clothes, came ashore to put on his clothes, on
his looking for them there were no clothes, no sword, no horse. The
youngest Princess of the three who had bathed on the other side well
knew what had happened.
This Prince, having on only his bathing cloth, bounded off, and while
running along overtook the horse and youth. When he was still far
away, the youth said, "Do not come near me; should you come I will
cut you with the sword. If you are willing to look after this horse,
take hold of its tail and come."
Then because that one in any case must go to the city, he said,
"It is good," and having taken hold of the horse's tail went with
him. Going thus from there, they arrived at the city.
It was a custom of the King of that country that, having sent a guard,
when any one of the men of another country arrived, he was to write
the names of those persons, and come to the King. When these persons
arrived, a guard being there asked their names. The youth who came
on the horse said, "My name is Manikka Settiya; except the youth who
looks after my horse, there is no one else with me."
The guard having gone, said to the King, "Lord, a person called
Manikka Settiyare has come and is there, together with a horse-keeper."
Then the King thought, "Because the man called Manikka Settiyare has
this name, Manikka, he will be able to value my gem" (manikya). A
gem of the King's having been taken through the whole country, no
one had been able to value it.
So having summoned that Manikka Settiyare, the King, after giving
him food and drink, showed him it, and said, "Manikka Settiyare,
there is my gem. Can you value it?"
That Manikka Settiyare replied, "My horse-keeper will tell you
the value."
The King became angry because he said, "My horse-keeper will tell you
it," and indignantly caused the horse-keeper to be brought speedily,
and asked, "Can you value this?" The horse-keeper Prince said,
"If I try hard I can." Then the King gave it into his hands.
Taking it and weighing it, and learning when he looked at it that
there was sand inside the gem, he said, "As it now appears to me,
the value of this gem is four sallis" (half-farthings).
The King becoming angry asked, "How do you know?"
The Prince replied, "There is sand inside this gem."
Then the King asked, "Can you cut it, and show me it?"
The horse-keeper said, "If you will ask for the sword belonging to
that Manikka Settiyare, I will cut it and show you it."
After that, the King gave him the sword that was in the hand of the
Settiyare. Then the horse-keeper, taking the sword, and remembering the
name of his father the King, and thinking, "By the favour of the Gods,
if it be appointed that it will happen to me to exercise sovereignty
over this city, I must cut this gem like cutting a Kaekiri fruit,"
put the gem on the table, and cut it with the sword. Then the sand
that was in the gem fell out, making a sound, "Sara sara."
Afterwards the King, thinking, "When this horse-keeper knows so much,
how much doesn't this Settirala know!" having given food and drink
to the horse-keeper, and also to the Settiyare, and having greatly
assisted them, made them stay there a little time.
The youngest Princess well knew the wicked things that this Settiyare
was saying about the horse-keeper youth. On account of her great
sorrow concerning this horse-keeper, the Princess instructed the
butler who gave the food at the royal house: "Give the horse-keeper
who accompanied that Manikka Settiyare, food like that you prepare
for me, and a bed for sleeping on, and assist him a little."
After that, the butler and the rest helped him. The Prince was
unwilling to enjoy that pleasure. "Ane! I am a horse-keeper. Do not
you assist me in that way," he said.
After that, the King's youngest Princess, for the sake of sending the
Prince away from the post of looking after the horse, went to the King,
and wept while saying thus: "Ane! Father, [42] because of this youth
who looks after them, my sheep are nearly finished. On that account,
taking the horse-keeper who came with that Settiyare, to look after
my sheep, let us send the youth who looks after the sheep to look
after the horse."
The King replied, "Having asked the Settiyare we can do it."
The King having asked the Settiyare the thing she told him, "You can
do it," he said; and after he had thus spoken to the Settiyare it was
done. So the horse-keeper went to look after the sheep. Having gone
there, while he was looking after them for a long time, the sheep
increased in number by hundreds of thousands.
One day, when the King had gone for hunting sport into the midst of
the forest, he was seized there by a Yaka. After being seized, he
undertook to give the Yaka the King's three Princesses, and having
escaped by undertaking this charge he came back.
Next day he made a proclamation through the whole city by beat
of tom-toms. What was it? "Having been seized yesterday in the
forest by a Yaka, I only escaped by promising to give him my three
Princesses. To-morrow a Princess, on the day after to-morrow a
Princess, on the day after that a Princess; in this manner in three
days I am giving the three Princesses. If a person who is able to do
it should deliver them, having married that person to them, I will
appoint him to the kingdom."
Then Manikka Settiyare said, "I can do it."
On that day, that Prince who was looking after the sheep went to look
after them. While he was there, a man, taking a sheep, ran off into the
chena jungle. While bounding after him in order to recover it, having
gone very far, the Prince saw him go down the hole of a polanga snake.
After going near the polanga's hole, and looking down it, and seeing
that the hole descended into the earth, the Prince went along that
tunnel. Having gone on from there it became dark, and going on in
the darkness he saw a very great light. Having gone to the light,
when he looked about there was a man asleep, wearing very many clothes.
Then it was in the mind of this shepherd to go away, and in his mind
not to go. If you should say, "Who was sleeping there?" it was the
Yaka who had formerly been in that iron house, and had left it. That
Yaka at that very time saw in a dream that the Prince who had sent
him out of that house had come to him, and was there. While seeing
him in the dream, the sleeping Yaka awoke, and when he looked up the
Prince was beside him.
The Yaka, getting up from there, went to the Prince, and while he
was embracing him the Prince became afraid. Then the Yaka said,
"Lord, let not Your Majesty be afraid. The Yaka whom you sent away
from that house is I indeed."
After that, the Prince sat down. Then the Yaka asked, "Where are
you going?"
The Prince replied, "That I sent you away, our father the King decreed
as a fault in me, and appointed that I should be beheaded. Then our
mother, having tied up and given me a bundle of cooked rice, told me
to go anywhere I wanted." Having said this he told him all the matter.
After that, the Yaka brought the lost sheep, and having given it to
the Prince, asked, "What more do you want?"
The Prince said, "I want another assistance."
"What is the assistance?" he asked.
The Prince replied, "After I had remained in this way, the King,
the father of the Princess who looks after the sheep, and of two more
Princesses, having gone hunting and been caught by a Yaka, is giving
the three Princesses to him as demon offerings. If there should be
a person who can deliver them, he has made proclamation by beat of
tom-toms that having given to him the three Princesses in marriage,
he will also give him a part of the kingdom."
The Yaka said, "It is good. I will bring and give you victory in
it. Be good enough to do the thing I tell you. After you have eaten
rice in the evening, be good enough to come to this palace." He then
allowed the Prince to return home.
The Prince having eaten his rice in good time, went to the Yaka. After
he had gone there, the Yaka having given him a good suit of clothes,
and a horse, and a sword, instructed him: "As you go from here there
will be a path. Having gone along that path, there will be a great
rough tree. Go aside at it, and while you are waiting there the
Yaka from afar will make a cry, 'Hu.' Having come to the middle of
the chena jungle he will say again, 'Hu, Hu, Hu.' At the next step,
having bounded to the place where the Princess is stopping, he will
again say, 'Hu.' After he has said this, as he comes close to the
Princess you will be good enough to step in front. Then the Yaka,
becoming afraid, will look in the direction of your face; then be
good enough to cut him down with the sword."
The Prince having gone in that manner to the tree, when he looked
about, Manikka Settiyare having climbed aloft was in a fork of the
trunk, lamenting, having turned his back. While he was lamenting he
saw this Prince coming, and [thinking it was the Yaka], trembled and
lost his senses.
Then, in the very manner foretold, the Yaka came, crying and crying
out. As he came near the Princess, the Prince cut him down, and
having drawn out and cut off his tongue, and also asked for a ring
off the hand of the Princess, came away to the palace of the friendly
Yaka. Having arrived there, and placed there the clothes, the horse,
and the tongue, all of them, he returned to his house before any
one arose.
Manikka Settiyare, having descended in the morning, chopped the Yaka's
body into bits, and smeared the blood on his sword. While he was
there, the King went in the morning to see if the Princess was dead or
alive. Having arrived there, he saw Manikka Settiyare there looking on,
and he returned to the city, taking Manikka Settiyare and the Princess.
On the next night, also, they went and tied another Princess. The
Prince that night also having gone there, killed a Yaka who came,
and cut off the Yaka's tongue, and after asking for a jewelled ring
came away. That time, also, Manikka Settiyare went there, and after
smearing blood on his sword remained there. The King went there in
the morning, and calling the two persons came away.
On the following day he did the very same to the other Princess. This
Prince, having taken away the three jewelled rings that were on the
hands of the three Princesses, and the three tongues of the three
Yakas that he had cut off, remained silent.
As Manikka Settiya had come falsely smearing blood on his sword each
morning, as though he had killed the Yakas, the King sent letters to
all royal personages: "Manikka Settiya has cut down three such powerful
Yakas, and has delivered the three Princesses who had been devoted
to be given as a demon offering to the Yaka who seized me when I went
hunting. Because of that, I am giving the three Princesses to him in
marriage. You must come to the festival, and look at the Yakas who have
been killed." After that, the royal persons came from those countries.
While they were there, that Prince went to the palace of the friendly
Yaka. The Yaka having given that Prince golden clothes, and a golden
crown and necklace, and a golden sword, told him to go, taking those
rings and tongues, and mounted on a white horse. The Prince putting
on those things, and mounting the white horse, went.
When he went to the palace where the royal persons were who had come
to fulfil the object of the occasion, those royal persons became
afraid, and having made obeisance to him, asked, "Lord, where is Your
Majesty going?"
"'I have cut down a very powerful sort of Yaka.' Letters went through
foreign countries to this effect, and that there is a marriage
festival for the person who killed the Yaka. On account of the news
I also have come to look," he said.
After that, those royal persons said, "It is good, Lord," and with
pleasure showed him the heads of the Yakas.
Then this Prince asked, "Is there or is there not a tongue to every
living being whatever?"
Every one said, "Yes, there is one."
The Prince having looked for the tongues in the mouths of the Yakas,
asked, "What is this, that there are not tongues for these Yakas?"
After that, every one asked it of Manikka Settiya. Manikka Settiya
being afraid, remained without speaking.
Then he asked it of the two eldest Princesses. The two Princesses said,
"We do not know."
At the time when he was asking it of the youngest Princess, she
replied, seizing the hand of the Prince who split off the tongues
and took the jewelled rings, "This one went away after taking in his
hand the ring, and cutting off the tongue of the Yaka." After that,
the Prince brought to light the three rings and the three tongues,
and showed them.
Speedily having beheaded and cast out Manikka Settiya, they carried
out the wedding festival of the marriage of the three Princesses to the
Prince. After that, those royal personages went to their own kingdoms,
and the kingdom having been bestowed on this Prince he remained there
ruling it.
North-western Province.
In the Jataka story No. 510 (vol. iv, p. 305), an iron house was
built, in which a King's son was confined for sixteen years in order
to preserve him from a female Yaka who had carried off two children
born previously. The demon was unable to break into it.
In the Jataka story No. 513 (vol. v, p. 13), there is an account of a
King who was seized by an Ogre while hunting. The latter allowed the
King to go home on a promise to come back next day to be eaten. His
heroic son returned in his place, but was spared by the Ogre. The
Prince said of these beings, "The eyes of Ogres are red, and do not
wink. They cast no shadow, and are free from all fear."
NO. 16
HOW A YAKA AND A MAN FOUGHT
In a certain country three men went shooting, [43] it is said. At
the time when the three persons were going, one man was obliged to
go aside for a certain purpose. The man went aside without telling
those two men.
A Yaka saw the man separate from those two persons. Having seen it, the
Yaka seized the man, and began to push against him. At that time those
two men were very distant. The men having said, "What has happened
to this man?" came to look for him. When they came [they saw that]
there was a black one near the man. The two persons spoke together,
"Let us shoot this black one." So they shot [43] him. Then the black
one went out of the way.
Afterwards the men went to look near at hand. When they went the man
had fallen. After that, having taken hold of the man and raised him,
when they looked at him the man's body having gone quite slimy he
was unconscious also.
Afterwards, while the two men, raising [and carrying] that man, were
[endeavouring] to come away, the Yaka did not allow them to come. He
shakes the bushes; he breaks the trees; he blocked up the path all
along. One man of the two men looked upward. Then the Yaka spit into
the man's eye, and the man's eye became blind.
Well then, the two men having uttered and uttered spells, with pain
lifting up [and carrying] that man, came to the village. Having
come there, and summoned a Yaksa Vedarala [44] to restore the man to
consciousness, when he arrived they showed him this man. Then the Yaksa
Vedarala told them to warm a large pot of water. So they warmed the
water. After that, having bathed the man, and having uttered spells,
after the Vedarala had tied protective written spells and diagrams
[45] on him the man became conscious.
After that, the Yaksa Vedarala and those two men asked about the
circumstances that had occurred. The man said, "A Yaka having
come, seizing me pressed against me for me to roll over on to the
ground. What of that? I did not fall [on account of it]. After you two
fired, indeed, I fell. Then the Yaka bounded off, and went away. Well,
I don't know anything after that. Whether you came and lifted me up,
or what, I do not know."
The man having recovered from that, again the Yaka came, and
having possessed the man he began to have the powers conferred by
"possession." [46] Afterwards that Yaksa Vedarala having come again,
and given the Yaka many offerings placed on frames (dola pideni),
the Yaka went out of the way. The man remained very well [afterwards].
North-western Province.
NO. 17
CONCERNING A MAN AND TWO YAKAS
In a certain country there was a man who had cut a chena. The man,
without any one joining with him, went one day and made ready to cut
a fresh chena at a place where there was a large tree.
Then the Yaka who dwelt in the tree became afraid, and having descended
to the ground, and having said, "Lord, do not cut a chena here. At
every eventide I will bring and give you rice, coconuts, chillies,
etc.," he made obeisance. The man said, "It is good," and went home.
That very evening the Yaka brought and gave him rice and all things
sufficient for curries, and went away. After that, in no long time
the man became in a good position and wealthy, through the Yaka's
bringing him his provisions.
When coming afterwards, the Yaka met another Yaka, who asked, "Where
are you taking those things?"
The Yaka replied, "A man came to cut the residence in which I stay. On
account of it, I promised to give him food and goods."
Then the Yaka said, "Do thou give the things to-day only. I will kill
the man to-morrow."
The other Yaka said, "It is good."
On the following day, when the man of that house was going somewhere
or other, the Yaka who said, "I will kill him," came to the house,
and having crept under the bed remained there. At that time the man
returned, and sitting on the bed, said to his wife, "Bola, I am hungry
enough to eat a Yaka."
His wife had placed the knife on the shelf, and having plucked a
pine-apple had put it under the bed. The woman [not seeing the Yaka],
said, "Look there! On the shelf. Look there! Under the bed."
So the man, taking the knife that was on the shelf, went near the
bed to get the pine-apple. Then the Yaka, thinking he was coming to
kill and eat him, said, "Lord, do not eat me. I will bring and give
you each month anything you want."
So the man saying, "It is good," sent away the Yaka.
Then the Yaka met that other Yaka, and said, "When I went to set you
free I also was caught. Both of us are in the same state."
After that he gave the things monthly. Then this man having become
a great wealthy person, remained so.
North-western Province.
In a variant in Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), pp. 258-260, a barber
frightened a Bhuta (evil spirit) who was going to eat him, by
threatening to put him in his bag. He took out his looking-glass,
and showed the Bhuta his reflection, which the evil spirit thought was
another imprisoned one. The Bhuta promised to obey the barber's orders,
and provided money, and a granary filled with paddy. The Bhuta's uncle
told him that he had been cheated; but he was treated in the same way,
and made to build another granary, and fill it with rice.
NO. 18
THE THREE QUESTIONS [47]
In a certain country, as a man was going through the middle of a
city he met a man of the city, and asked him, "In what manner does
the King of this city rule?"
The man said, "It does not appear to us that he has any fault."
Then the man said [sarcastically]: "Does the King of this city know
these three matters--the centre of this country, the number of the
stars in the sky, and the work which the King of the world of the Devas
[48] does?" Having asked this, that wicked man went through the midst
of the city.
Afterwards, the man of the city came to the palace, and declared
to the King that there were three matters regarding which a man
had wanted information. After he had informed him, the King asked,
"What are the three matters?"
The man said, "The centre of the country, the number of the stars in
the sky, and the work which the King of the world of the Devas does;
these three matters," he said.
Then the King, having caused the Ratemahatmayas--(the highest
provincial Chiefs)--to be told that he ordered them to come, after he
had asked them concerning these three matters, the Chiefs said that
they could not tell him the answers. When they said that, the king
commanded that the Ratemahatmayas should be beheaded. Thereupon the
executioners came and beheaded them.
After that, he caused the Adikaramas--(the Ministers)--to be brought,
and asked them if they knew these three matters. Those persons also
said that they could not explain them. He commanded that party also
to be beheaded, and the executioners came and beheaded them.
Having beheaded all the people of both parties, there remained still
the Royal Preceptor [49] only, so he caused the Royal Preceptor to
be brought, and asked him regarding these matters. Then the Royal
Preceptor said, "I cannot tell you about them to-day. I will tell
you to-morrow." After he had said this he returned to his house, and
having come there, lying down prone on the bed he remained without
speaking a word.
The youth who looked after the Royal Preceptor's goats came at that
time, and asked, "For what reason are you lying down, Sir?"
The Royal Preceptor said, "They beheaded the Adikarama party and the
Ratemahatmaya party to-day; they will behead me to-morrow. The post
that I have told thee of [under the executioner] will be made over
to one's self."
The youth said, "Lord, you must tell me the reasons for it."
The Royal Preceptor replied, "If I should be unable to-morrow to say
which is the centre of the country, the number of the stars, and the
work which the God of the world of the Devas does, they will behead
me to-morrow."
Then the youth said, "Are you so much troubled about that? I will
say those very things for you."
Afterwards, at the time when the Royal Preceptor, on the morning of
the following day, was setting off to go to the palace, he called
the youth, and went with him to the palace. The King asked for
the answers to these three sayings. Then the Royal Preceptor said,
"What is there in these for me to tell you? Even the youth who looks
after the goats for me knows those three sayings." Then he told the
youth to come forward, and the youth came near the King.
The King asked, "Dost thou know the centre of the country, and the
number of the stars, and the work which the God of the world of the
Devas does?"
The youth fixed a stick in the ground, and showed it. "Behold! Here
is the centre of one's country. Measure from the four quarters, and
after you have looked at the account, if it should not be correct be
good enough to behead me," he said. The King lost over that.
Then he told him to say the number of the stars in the sky. Throwing
down on the ground the goat-skin that he was wearing, "Count these
hairs, and count the stars in the sky. Should they not be equal be
good enough to behead me," he said. The King lost over that also.
Thirdly, he told him to say what work the God of the world of the
Devas does.
The youth said, "I will not say it thus."
The King asked, "If so, how will you say it?"
The youth said, "Should you decorate me with the Royal Insignia, and
put on me the Crown, and give the Sword into my hands, and place me
on the Lion-throne, I will say it."
Then the King, having caused that youth to bathe, and having decorated
him, placed him upon the Lion-throne.
After that, he called the executioners, and said to them, "Ade! This
one beheaded so many [innocent] people; because of that take him and
go, and having beheaded him, cast him out. Behold! That indeed is
the work which the King of the world of the Devas does," he said.
Thus, having killed the foolish King, the youth who looked after the
goats obtained the sovereignty; and ruling the kingdom together with
the Royal Preceptor, he remained there in prosperity.
North-western Province.
The dramatic, and apparently improbable, ending of this Kandian story
is founded upon an historical fact. It is recorded in the Mahavansa,
the Sinhalese history (Part I, chapter 35), that King Yasalalaka-Tissa,
who reigned in Ceylon from 52 to 60 A.D., had a young gate porter or
messenger called Subha, who closely resembled him in appearance. The
Mahavansa relates the story of the King's deposition by him as follows
(Turnour's translation):--
"The monarch Yasalalaka, in a merry mood, having decked out the said
Subha, the messenger, in the vestments of royalty, and seated him
on the throne, putting the livery bonnet of the messenger on his own
head, stationed himself at a palace gate, with the porter's staff in
his hand. While the ministers of state were bowing down to him who
was seated on the throne, the King was enjoying the deception.
"He was in the habit, from time to time, of indulging in these
scenes. On a certain occasion (when this farce was repeated),
addressing himself to the merry monarch, the messenger exclaimed:
'How does that messenger dare to laugh in my presence?' and succeeded
in getting the King put to death. The messenger Subha thus usurped
the sovereignty, and administered it for six years."
A variant was related to me by the resident monk at a Buddhist temple
to the south of Colombo. Its tenour was as follows:--
THE FOUR DIFFICULT QUESTIONS.
A certain King put four questions to a Sangha-raja, or Superior of
the Buddhist monks. The first one was, "How deep is the sea?" the
second, "How many stars are there?" the third, "Which is the centre
of the earth?" and fourthly, he must tell the King what he, the King,
thought. The Sangha-raja was allowed a certain time in which to find
answers to the questions.
One day a monk seeing him sad, asked him the reason, and was told
that the King had put these questions to him, and had threatened to
take his life if he could not answer them.
The monk told him not to have any fear, and said that he would go
on the appointed day, and answer the King. When the day came round,
the monk dressed himself in the Sangha-raja's robes, and appeared
before the King, saying that he was ready to answer the questions.
The King asked him, "How deep is the sea?" He replied, "At first it
is knee-deep; as you go on it is waist-deep; further on it is up to
the neck; and beyond that it is over the head." The King was satisfied.
He next asked, "How many stars are there?" "Twenty lakshas (two
millions)," said the monk. "If you do not believe it, count them." With
this answer, also, the King was satisfied.
He then inquired, "Where is the centre of the earth?" The monk took
a staff which he had brought with him, and fixed it upright in the
ground. "Here is the centre," he said. "Measure each way from it,
and you will find the distance the same." The King was satisfied with
this answer also.
"Lastly, you must tell me what I am thinking," the King said. The
monk replied, "You think I am the Sangha-raja, but I am only one of
his monks." So the four questions were all answered satisfactorily.
I heard the following version in Cairo:--
A certain King said to his Chief Minister, "Find me a man who can
measure the world and show me the centre of it, and who can count me
the number of the stars."
The Minister considered the matter carefully, but could think of
no way of complying with the King's orders. At last his wife said,
"I can see that something is troubling you. Tell me what it is;
perhaps I can assist you." Then he told her the orders of the King,
and that he did not know where to look for any one who could do what
the King desired. "Go," she said, "to the coffee-dealer's shop. You
will find there a man who is always taking hashish. He may be able
to help you" [his mental powers being exalted by the drug].
So he went to the coffee-dealer's, and told the hashish-eater his
difficulty. "I can soon solve these questions for you," replied the
hashish-eater. "Take me to the King."
Thereupon they proceeded to the palace, and the Minister introduced
the hashish-eater to the King. He came with a donkey, which was
drawing a great load of rope.
"First show me the centre of the world," said the King.
"This place is the centre," said the hashish-eater. "If you doubt
it, send your men to drag the other end of this rope up to the sky,
and I will prove to you that you are just in the middle."
"Very well," said the King, "that is a satisfactory answer. Now give
me the number of the stars."
"Let your people count the hairs on my donkey. You will find that
they are exactly equal to the stars in number," said the man. The
King admitted that he could not prove that he was answered incorrectly.
The English version is given in the ballad termed "King John and
the Abbot of Canterbury," and is found in Bishop Percy's Reliques
of Ancient English Poetry (ed. 1844, ii, 328). I give some extracts,
etc., for the benefit of readers in Ceylon, because of its resemblance
to the second Sinhalese story.
With a view to seizing the Abbot's wealth, the King put three questions
to him, the penalty for failing to answer them being beheading. The
Abbot received three weeks' grace in which to discover the replies,
but the wisest doctors could not assist him:
Away rode the Abbot all sad at that word;
And he rode to Cambridge and Oxenforde;
But never a doctor there was so wise,
That could with his learning an answer devise.
However, as in the Kandian version, the shepherd came to his
assistance, and took his place on the appointed day, robed as the
Abbot, whose features resembled his, and accompanied by the usual
train of servants and monks.
Now welcome, sire abbot, the king he did say,
'Tis well thou'rt come back to keepe thy day;
For and if thou canst answer my questions three,
Thy life and thy living both saved shall bee.
And first, when thou seest me here in this stead,
With my crown of golde so fair on my head,
Among all my liege-men so noble of birthe,
Tell me to one penny what I am worth.
"For thirty pence our Saviour was sold
Amonge the false Jewes, as I have bin told;
And twenty-nine is the worth of thee,
For I thinke, thou are one penny worser than hee."
The king he laughed, and swore by St. Bittel,
I did not think I had been worth so littel!
--Now secondly tell me, without any doubt,
How soone I may ride this whole world about.
"You must rise with the sun, and ride with the same,
Until the next morning he riseth againe;
And then your grace need not make any doubt,
But in twenty-four hours you'll ride it about."
The king he laughed, and swore by St. Jone,
I did not think, it could be gone so soone!
--Now from the third question thou must not shrinke,
But tell me here truly what I do thinke.
"Yea, that shall I do, and make your grace merry:
You thinke I'm the abbot of Canterbury;
But I'm his poor shepheard, as plain you may see,
That am come to beg pardon for him and for mee."
The king he laughed, and swore by the masse,
Ile make thee lord abbot this day in his place!
"Now naye, my liege, be not in such speede,
For alacke I can neither write, ne reade."
Four nobles a weeke, then, I will give thee,
For this merry jest thou hast showne unto mee;
And tell the old abbot when thou comest home,
Thou hast brought him a pardon from good king John.
NO. 19
THE FAITHLESS PRINCESS
In a certain country there is a Prince, it is said. The Prince,
saying that women are faithless, does not marry.
The God Sakra having ascertained this, came in the appearance of a man,
and asked at the hand of the Prince whether if he created a Princess
out of his own very body, and gave her to him, he would be willing
to take her in marriage. The Prince said, "It is good."
Afterwards the God Sakra created a Princess from the Prince's body,
and gave her to him.
When the Prince and Princess, having got married, had been living
together for a very long time, the Princess associated with a
Nagaya. [50] When they had been thus for a long time, the Princess and
the Nagaya spoke together as to how to kill the Princess's Prince. Then
the Nagaya said, "Ask at the hand of the Prince where the Prince's
death is. After you have got to know the place where his death is,
I will bite [51] him there."
After that, the Princess asked at the hand of the Prince, "Where is
your death?" The Prince did not tell her. Every day the Princess was
asking it. On a certain day the Prince said, "To-day my death is in
my thumb."
Then the Princess told the Nagaya, "He said that his death is in
his thumb."
So the Nagaya went [in his snake form, as a cobra], and stopped on
the path on which the Prince was going for his bath, in order to
bite [51] him.
Afterwards, the Prince's people went first; the Prince went in the
middle. Then the people who went first saw the Nagaya, and killed it.
Afterwards, the people and the Prince having returned from bathing,
the Prince told at the hand of the Princess, "As we were going to bathe
to-day a cobra was on the path; my people killed it." The Princess,
clasping her hands with grief, asked, "Where was it?" The Prince told
her of the place where the cobra was staying, and she knew that it
was the Nagaya.
Afterwards the Princess having given gold to the goldsmith, and having
got a waist-chain made, told him to make a case for it. The goldsmith
made it, and gave it. Then the Princess went to the place where the
cobra was, and cut off its hood; and placing the cobra in the case
of the golden waist-chain, the Princess put it round her waist.
Having it there, when they had eaten and drunk in the evening, and
lighted the lamp in the house, both of them went into the house.
Then the Princess said to the Prince, "I will ask you a riddle. Should
you be unable to explain it, I will kill you. Should you explain it,
you shall kill me."
The Prince said "Ha," and both of them swore it.
The Princess saying,
The Naga belt Naga patiya
(Is) the golden waist-chain. Ran hawadiya.
Explain (it), friend. Tora, sakiya.
told the Prince to solve it. For fifteen paeyas (six hours), without
extinguishing the lamp, he tried and tried to explain it. He could
not. So she was to kill the Prince next day.
A Devatawa (godling) who drank the smoke of the lamp of that house,
was there looking on [invisibly] until the lamp was extinguished. After
the lamp was put out, having drunk a little smoke, he took a little
that was only slightly burnt with him for his wife. The Devatawa and
Devatawi lived in an Ironwood tree on the roadside.
This Prince's elder sister, and the man to whom she was given in
marriage, having set off to come to the Prince's city, stayed that
night at the resting-place under the Ironwood tree.
Then that Devatawa having brought a little of the under-burnt smoke
of the lamp, after he had given it to the Devatawi she quarrelled
with him until fifteen paeyas (six hours) had gone, saying, "Where
have you been?"
The Devatawa said, "Do not quarrel. In such and such a city, such
and such a Prince's Princess having associated with a Nagaya, the
Prince's people killed the Nagaya. Having cut off the Nagaya's hood,
and laid aside her golden waist-chain, putting it round her waist in
order to kill the Prince, because of her anger at the killing of the
Nagaya, the Princess told a riddle to the Prince. Having sworn that
should the Prince be unable to solve it she is to kill the Prince:
should he solve it he is to kill the Princess, the Princess said,
The Naga belt
Is the golden waist-chain.
Explain it, friend.
"From the evening, without extinguishing the lamp, he tried to solve
it. The Prince could not explain it. After fifteen paeyas had gone
by, he put out the light. Up to the very time when he extinguished
the lamp, so long I remained there. She said that she will kill the
Prince to-morrow."
Hearing it, there stayed below the Ironwood tree the Prince's elder
sister, and the man to whom she was given. After having heard it, as
it became light, when they were coming along to the Prince's house,
they saw from afar that they were going to behead the Prince. The elder
sister said from afar, "A! Don't behead him. I will solve that riddle."
Having come near, the Prince's elder sister explained the riddle in
the manner stated by the Devatawa. So the Prince was saved, and they
beheaded the Princess.
North-western Province.
In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 227, a Fakir split a
King, and made a wife for him from half his body, but warned him that
she would be unfaithful. She fell in love with one of his wazirs,
but they were detected, and she was killed.
NO. 20
THE PRINCE WHO DID NOT GO TO SCHOOL
In a certain country there is a King, it is said, and there are two
Princes of the King. The two Princes are sent to school, and as they
are going from the palace the two go along together. After they have
walked a little way, the younger brother goes along the path to the
school, and having arrived at the school, learns his letters and
returns home. The elder brother, after playing and playing in the
water of the river, puts the school aside, it is said; and having
come round that way and joined the younger brother, again comes to
the palace with him.
After many days had gone by in that manner, the King one day told
the two Princes, "To-day I must look at your lessons."
The younger brother said, "Father-King, I indeed go to the school,
and having said my lessons return. Elder brother and I having met here,
and set off together, after we have gone part of the way, where elder
brother goes I do not know. Having gone somewhere or other, when
I have left the school and am returning, elder brother meets me on
the road, and we two come again to the palace. I can say my lessons;
elder brother indeed cannot."
After that, the King looked into the lessons of the two Princes. When
he looked, the younger Prince's lessons were good. When he asked
the elder Prince, he knew nothing. So the King settled to behead the
elder Prince.
The King had, besides, a Prince older than that Prince. He said to
that elder Prince, "Behead this one."
Then the Prince having taken a sword to the chena jungle, and killed a
"Blood-sucker" lizard (Calotes sp.), returned after rubbing the blood
on the sword, and showed it to the King. "Behold! Father-King, I cut
younger brother," he said. Afterwards their mother having cooked a
bundle of rice, and given it, and also a sword, to the Prince who
was ordered to be beheaded, said, "Go to any place you like."
As the Prince was going away taking the bundle of cooked rice and the
sword, he met with a man. The man having uprooted Palmira trees and
Coconut trees, was taking them away and tying a fence. Having seen
this, the Prince said to that man, "Come thou and go with me."
The man having said "Ha," as the two persons were going along together,
another man was cutting the earthen ridges in a rice field. The
blade of the man's digging hoe was as large as a liyadda (one of the
squares into which the rice field was divided). Having seen that,
the Prince said to that man who was cutting the ridge in the field,
"Come thou and go with me."
The man having said "Ha," and laid down his digging hoe at that very
place, came away with those two persons. As the three were going
along together, they saw yet a man ploughing. Having seen that the
man ploughed a liyadda at one ploughing (furrow), the Prince said,
"Come thou and go with me." The man said "Ha," and laying down his
plough at that very place, went with the three persons. The three
persons whom the Prince had met with on the way were three giants.
The four persons having gone on and on, went near the house of a
Rakshasi at a city. Sitting down there, the Prince said to one of
the giants, "There! Go to that house and bring thou cooking pots and
fire." So that giant went to the house of the Rakshasi.
As he arrived there, the Rakshasi was pouring water over (i.e. bathing)
a child. The giant went near the Rakshasi, and said, "Ane! Give me
fire and cooking pots." The Rakshasi told him the way to the house in
which she ate human flesh, and said, "There! They are in that house;
take them." After that, at the time when the giant was going into
the house, the Rakshasi went running and shut the door, so that the
giant could not come out.
Those two giants and the Prince remained a long time looking out; the
giant did not come. Afterwards the Prince again told a giant to go. The
giant having gone, asked the Rakshasi, "Didn't a man come here?"
The Rakshasi said, "He did not come here."
Then the giant said, "If so, give me cooking pots and fire." Then the
Rakshasi, in the same manner in which she told that giant, showed him
the way to the house in which she ate human flesh. As the giant was
going into the house, the Rakshasi, having gone running, shut the door.
That Prince and the third giant having been there a long time, neither
of the giants came. Afterwards the Prince told the other giant to
go. The giant went, and asked the Rakshasi, "Didn't two men come here?"
The Rakshasi said, "They did not come here."
So the giant said, "If so, give me cooking pots and fire." The
Rakshasi, in that very way having told him the path to the house in
which she ate human flesh, at the time when the giant was going into
it shut the door.
The Prince remained looking out for a long time; the three giants
did not come. Afterwards the Prince, taking his sword, came near the
Rakshasi, and asked, "Didn't three men come here?"
The Rakshasi said, "They did not come here."
Then the Prince, seizing the Rakshasi's hair knot, prepared to chop
at her with the sword. "Give me quickly my three men; if not, I shall
chop thy head off," he said.
Then the Rakshasi, saying, "Ane! Do not kill me. At any place where
you want it I will assist you," gave him the three men.
After that, the Prince and the three giants having gone away without
killing the Rakshasi, the Prince caused the three giants to stay at
a city; and having given into their hands a Blue-lotus flower, said,
"Should I not be alive, this Blue-lotus flower will fade, and the
lime trees at your house will die." So saying, the Prince, taking
his sword, went quite alone.
After going a long way he came to a city, and having gone to the
house of a Rakshasa, when he looked, the Rakshasa had gone for human
flesh as food and only a girl was there. The Prince asked the girl
for a resting-place.
The girl said, "Ane! What have you come here for? A Rakshasa lives
at this house. The Rakshasa having eaten the men of this city they
are now finished."
The Prince said, "I will kill him. Are there dried coconuts and meneri
[52] here?" The girl said there were. The Prince told her to bring
them, and the girl brought them.
Then the Prince asked, "How does he come to eat men?"
The girl said, "Having come twelve miles--(three gawwas)--away, he
cries, 'Hu'; having come eight miles away, he cries, 'Hu'; and having
come four miles away, he cries, 'Hu'; and then he comes to this house."
After that, the Prince having spread out, from the stile at the fence,
the meneri seed and the dried coconuts, over the whole of the open
ground near the front of the house, went to sleep in the veranda,
placing the sword near him, and laying his head on the waist pocket
of the girl.
Then the Rakshasa, when twelve miles away, cried, "Hu." Tears fell
from the girl's eyes, and dropped on the Prince's head. The Prince
arose, and said to the girl, "What are you weeping for?"
Then the Rakshasa cried, "Hu," eight miles away. The girl said,
"There! The Rakshasa cried, 'Hu,' eight miles away." Continuing to say,
"He will cry, 'Hu,' the next time, and then come here," the girl wept.
The Prince, having told the girl not to weep, took the sword in his
hand, and while he was there the Rakshasa, crying "Hu," came into
the open space near the house.
Then the Prince chopped at the Rakshasa with his sword, and the
Rakshasa went backward. Thereupon the Prince said, "Will not even
the Rakshasi whom I set free that day without killing her, render
assistance in this?"
The Rakshasi came immediately, and struck a thorn into the crown of
the Rakshasa's head, and at that very instant the Rakshasa died. After
that, the Prince buried the body, and marrying the girl remained there.
When he had been there a long time, a widow-mother came and said to
the Prince and the girl, "Children, I will come and live with you,
as you are alone." Both of them said "Ha," so the woman stayed there.
After she had lived there a long time, the woman said to the girl,
"Daughter, ask in what place is the life of the Prince."
Afterwards the girl said to the Prince, "Mother is asking where your
life is."
The Prince said, "My life is in my neck."
The girl told the woman, "I asked him; he said his life is in his
neck."
The woman said, "It is not in the neck. He is speaking falsely. Ask
again." So the girl asked again.
The Prince said, "My life is in my breast."
The girl told the woman, "He said it is in his breast."
The woman said, "It is not in the breast. Tell him to speak the truth."
Afterwards she said again to the Prince, "Mother says it is not in
your breast. She said that you are to speak the truth."
Then the Prince said, "My life is in my sword."
So the girl told the widow-mother, "He said it is in his sword."
When a long time had gone by, one day the Prince, laying down the
sword, went to sleep. After the Prince had gone to sleep, the widow
woman and that girl having quietly taken the sword, put it in the fire
on the hearth. Then as the sword burnt and burnt away the Prince died.
After that, the widow woman took the girl, and gave her to the King,
and the woman also stayed at the palace.
Then the Blue-lotus flower which the Prince gave to those three giants
on going away, faded, and the lime trees died. When the giants saw
this they said, "Ade! Our elder brother will have died," and having
spoken together, the three giants came to seek the Prince.
Having come there, and asked the men of the city at which the Prince
stayed, regarding him, they went to the house in which he lived,
and searched for him. As they were digging in a heap of rubbish, they
found that a little bit of the end of the sword was there, and they
took it. Afterwards the giants placed it on a bed, and after they had
tended it carefully, the sword little by little became larger. When
the sword became completely restored, the Prince was created afresh.
Afterwards, when the Prince looked to see if the girl whom he had
taken in marriage was there, neither the girl nor the widow-mother
was there. Then the Prince went with the three giants to the King's
palace, and on looking there they learnt that the girl was married
to the King, and that the widow woman also was there. So the Prince
said to the widow woman, "Quickly give me the Princess whom I married."
The woman said, "Ane! The Princess whom I knew is not here. She did
not come with me."
Then the Prince cut off the woman's head with his sword, and having
gone to the King, asked, "Where is my Princess? You must give her
to me."
The King said, "No Princess will be here."
Thereupon the Prince cut off the King's head with his sword; and he
and the three giants having cut down all the servants who were in
the palace, summoning the Princess, remained in that very palace.
North-western Province.
The giving a plant or flower as a life index, which fades when illness
or danger besets the giver, and dies at his death, is a very common
incident in folk-tales.
In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 52--Tales of the Punjab
(Steel), p. 47--it was a barley plant.
In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 189, a Prince planted a tree as
his life index, and said, "When you see the tree green and fresh then
you know that it is well with me; when you see the tree fade in some
parts, then you know that I am in an ill case; and when you see the
whole tree fade, then know that I am dead and gone."
In Tota Kahani (Small), p. 43, when a man was about to leave his wife,
she gave him a nosegay of flowers which would retain their freshness
if she were faithful to him, and fade if she misconducted herself.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. xvii, p. 54, a plant was given to each
of two persons, as a Prince's life index. He said, "If this plant
should fade, know that I am sick or in danger; if it should die know
that I also am dead."
The notion that a person's life may be concealed in some external
object, usually a bird or a bee, is one of the commonest features
of folk-tales.
In the story numbered 24 in this volume, the King's life was in a
golden parrot.
In Wide-Awake Stories, p. 59--Tales of the Punjab, p. 52--a Jinni's
life was in a bee, which was in a golden cage inside the crop (?) of
a Maina [bird].
At pp. 62, 63, Tales of the Punjab, p. 55, a Prince's life was in his
sword. When this was placed in the fire he felt a burning fever, and
when it was made red-hot and a rivet came out of the hilt, his head
came off. Afterwards, when the sword was repaired and repolished,
the Prince was restored to life.
At p. 83, Tales of the Punjab, p. 75, the life of a Princess was in a
nine-lakh necklace, which was in a box inside a bee that lived in the
body of a fish. When asked about it, she first said that her life was
in each of the seven sons of the wicked Queen who wanted to kill her,
all of whom were murdered by the Queen.
In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 49, the lives of
Rakshasas were in seven cocks, a spinning-wheel, a pigeon, and
a starling.
At p. 134, the life of one was in a veranda pillar at his house;
when it was broken he died.
At p. 383, the life of one was in a queen-bee in a honey-comb hanging
on a tree.
In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), pp. 2 and 6, the life of a Prince was
in a golden necklace deposited in a wooden box which was in the heart
of a fish.
At pp. 85 and 86, the lives of seven hundred Rakshasas were in two
bees which were on the top of a crystal pillar, deep in the water
of a tank. If a drop of their blood fell on the ground, a thousand
Rakshasas would start up from it.
At p. 121, the life of a Rakshasi was in a bird that was in a cage. As
its limbs were torn off, a corresponding limb dropped off the Rakshasi
who had been made the Queen.
At p. 253, the lives of two Rakshasas (m. and f.) were in two bees
that were in a wooden box at the bottom of a tank. If a person who
killed them allowed a drop of their blood to fall on the ground,
he would be torn into seven hundred pieces by the Rakshasas.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. i, p. 86, in a Dardu legend
(G. W. Leitner), the life of a King of Gilgit was in snow, and he
could only die by fire.
At p. 117, in a Bengal story (G. H. Damant), the lives of Rakshasas
were in two bees in a gourd which was inside a crystal pillar at the
bottom of a tank. If one drop of the bees' blood fell on the ground,
the Rakshasas would be twice as numerous as before. The bees were
killed by being squeezed to death.
At p. 171, in a Bengal story (G. H. Damant), the lives of Rakshasas
were in a lemon, and a bird. When the lemon was cut in Bengal,
the Rakshasas in Ceylon died. As the bird's wings were broken, the
Rakshasi Queen's arms were broken; when the bird died, she died.
In vol. xvi, p. 191, the life of a giant was in a parrot; when it
was killed he died.
In vol. xvii, p. 51, a Prince's life was in a sword; if it rusted he
was sick, and if it broke he died.
In Folk-Tales of Hindustan, Allahabad (Shaik Chilli), p. 51, the life
of a Prince was in the brightness of his sword. When it was placed in
a furnace and lost the brightness, he died. A giant who was his friend
found it, and discovering that a little brightness remained at the tip,
rubbed it until it regained its lustre, on which the Prince revived.
At p. 114, the lives of Rakshasas were in a number of birds; they
died when these were killed.
In a tale of the interior of W. Africa in Contes Soudanais
(C. Monteil), p. 154, the life of a King was in a little box inside
a small goat-skin, which was in a little pot placed inside a large
pot. When the King was told this he died.
Doubtless this strange notion of a life safeguarded by being hidden
away, is of early date, and may be due originally to the early magical
idea prevalent in Egypt, Assyria, and India, that a person might be
killed from any distance by piercing the heart of a figurine formed
to represent him. This action is mentioned in the Commentary on the
Atharva Veda (Bloomfield's translation, p. 359); and in the Rigveda,
i, 29, 7 (Griffith's translation), prayer is made to Indra for the
destruction of "him who in secret injures us."
In the Jataka story No. 208 (vol. ii, p. 111), a monkey escaped from
a crocodile that was going to kill it in order to get its heart,
by telling it that monkeys kept their hearts hanging on trees.
In the Maha Bharata, Vana Parva, 135, 52, a Rishi caused buffaloes
to shatter a mountain, and thereby killed a child whose life was
dependent on its existence, if not supposed to be actually in it.
The recovery of the three giants from the house of the Rakshasi is
evidently based on the story of Wijaya, the first King of Ceylon, and
Kuweni, a female Yakkha or aboriginal Princess, who, taking the form of
a devotee, had captured his followers one by one, and imprisoned them.
The story is given in the Mahavansa, chapter vii, as follows:--"All
these persons not returning, Wijaya becoming alarmed, equipping himself
with the five weapons of war, proceeded after them; and examining the
delightful pond [to which they had gone to bathe], he could perceive
footsteps leading down only into the tank; and he there saw the
devotee. It occurred to him: 'My retinue must surely have been seized
by her.' 'Woman, hast thou seen my attendants?' said he. 'Prince,' she
replied, 'what need hast thou of attendants? Do drink and bathe ere
thou departest.' Saying to himself, 'Even my lineage, this Yakkhini
is acquainted with it,' proclaiming his title, and quickly seizing
his bow, he rushed at her. Securing the Yakkhini by the throat with
a 'naracana' ring, with his left hand seizing her by the hair, and
raising his sword with his right hand, he exclaimed, 'Slave! restore me
my followers, or I will put thee to death.' The Yakkhini, terrified,
implored that her life might be spared. 'Lord! spare my life; on thee
I will confer this sovereignty; unto thee I will render the favours
of my sex, and every other service according to thy desire.' In order
that she might not prove herself treacherous, he made the Yakkhini
take an oath. While he was in the act of saying, 'Instantly produce
my followers,' she brought them forth" (Mahavansa, i, p. 32).
The idea of the thorn which was driven into the head of the Rakshasa,
is borrowed from magical practice. In the case of a figurine made for
the destruction or injury of a person, pins or nails or thorns were
run into various parts of the body, one being inserted in the crown
of the head. In a variant of the story numbered 73 in this work,
a female Yaka was kept in subjection by means of an iron nail that
was driven into the crown of the head.
In Indian Fairy Tales (Stokes), p. 12, a pin was fixed in the head
of a woman who had been transformed into a bird. When it was drawn
out she resumed her human form.
In The Illustrated Guide to the South Indian Railway, 1900, p. 232,
it is stated regarding the great stone Bull, 12 feet high, at the
Tanjore temple, that "it was popularly supposed by the natives that
this bull was growing, and as they feared it might become too large
for the mandapam [stone canopy] erected over it a nail was driven
into the back of its head, and since this was done the size of the
monolith has remained stationary."
NO. 21
NAGUL-MUNNA
In a village there were two persons called Nagul-Munna and Mun-aeta
Guruwa. While those two were living there they spoke together,
"Friend, while we two are remaining in this way matters are not going
on properly." At the time when they spoke thus, Mun-aeta Guruwa replied
to Nagul-Munna's talk, and said, "It is good, friend. If that be so
let us two cut a chena."
Having spoken thus, the two persons went to the chena jungle, and
there being no watch-hut there, built one; and taking supplies week
by week, began to chop down the bushes while they were living at the
house in the jungle. Having chopped down the jungle, and burnt it,
and sown the chena, the millet plants grew to a very large size.
When the two persons were at the watch-hut they remained talking one
night for a long time, and said, "To-morrow we must go to the village
to bring back supplies." After talking thus, they went to sleep,
both of them.
During the time while they were sleeping, Mun-aeta Guruwa's clothes
caught fire. Then Nagul-Munna awoke, and jumped down to the ground,
and ran away. Mun-aeta Guruwa was burnt in the shed and died. On
account of his being killed, through fear of being charged with
causing his death, Nagul-Munna bounded off into the jungle, and did
not return to the village.
That day the relatives of those people who were in the village,
thinking, "Nagul-Munna and Mun-aeta Guruwa will be coming to fetch
supplies," getting ready the supplies, stayed looking for them. On
that day the two persons did not come; because they did not come two
men went from the village to look for them.
The two having gone and looked, and seen that the watch-hut had been
burnt, spoke together concerning it: "Both these men have been burnt
and died. Let us go back to the village." So they returned.
Nagul-Munna, who sprang into the jungle that night, having come home
during the night of the following day, spoke to his wife, who was
in the house. The woman, thinking that he had died, was frightened
at his speech, and cried out, "Nagul-Munna has been born as a Yaka,
and having come here is doing something to me." At that cry the
men of the village came running; when they looked he was not there,
having run off through fear of being seized.
In that manner he came on two days. The woman, being afraid, did not
open the door. On the third day he arose, and hid himself at the tank
near the village. While he was there, a tom-tom beater having gone
to a devil-dance, [53] came bringing a bit of cooked rice, and a box
containing his mask and decorations. [54]
As he was coming along bringing them, this Nagul-Munna having
seen him, went and beat the tom-tom beater, and taking the bit of
cooked rice and the box of devil-dancer's things, bounded into the
jungle. Having sprung into the jungle, and eaten the bit of rice,
he unfastened the box of devil-dancer's goods, and taking the things
in it, dressed himself in them, putting the jingling bracelets [55]
on his arms and the jingling anklets [56] on his legs.
There was a large mask in it. Taking it, and tying it on his face,
he went to the village when it became night, and having gone to
a house there, broke the neck of a calf that was tied near it, and
sprang into the rice-field near by. Having made a noise by shaking the
jingling bracelets, and given three cries, "Hu, Hu, Hu," he shouted,
"If you do not give a leaf-cup of rice and a young coconut at dawn,
and at night a leaf-cup of rice and a young coconut, I will kill all
the cattle and men that are in your village, and having drunk their
blood, go away."
The men of the village becoming afraid on account of it, began to give
rice every day in the way he said. Having given it for about four
or five years in this manner, the men spoke together, "Let us fetch
a sooth-sayer to seize that Yaka." After having said concerning it,
"It is good," they fetched a doctor (Veda).
When the doctor went to the tank to catch that Yaka, Nagul-Munna came,
and seizing that doctor, cut his bathing cloth, and having taken
him to the place where he was staying, killed him, and trampled on
his bathing cloth. Through the seizing and killing of the doctor,
the men of the village became afraid to a still greater degree.
After that, having talked about bringing another sooth-sayer they
fetched one. In the same manner, when he went to the tank the Yaka
killed the sooth-sayer. At that deed the men of the village became
more afraid still.
Having fetched a Sannyasi (a Hindu religious mendicant) from Jaffna,
they went to him, and told him to seize the Yaka. That man said,
"It is good"; and having gone to the aforesaid tank to look for him,
the Yaka was in a tree. So the sooth-sayer repeated incantations to
cause the Yaka to descend. The Yaka did not descend.
After that, because he did not descend, that person got to know that
he was a man, and on his calling "Hu," to the men of the village
the men came. Afterwards, seizing Nagul-Munna, who was in the tree,
they went to the village.
Because Mun-aeta Guruwa had died, the relatives of Mun-aeta Guruwa
came for their [legal] action against him.
Saying that he had cheated them, and eaten food wrongly obtained from
them, the men of the village came for their action.
Because he had stolen the rice and the box with tom-tom beater's
things in it, the tom-tom beater came for his action.
Saying that he killed the first sooth-sayer, his people came for
their action.
The second sooth-sayer's people also in the same way came for their
action.
For his killing the calf the owner came for his action.
After all who had brought these actions had came to one spot, the
man, saying, "Because my wife told me to cut the chena together
with Mun-aeta Guruwa, and through my cutting the chena with him,
this happened," killed his own wife.
Then, while he was going for his trial a bear bit that man on the way,
and he died.
North-western Province.
In The Orientalist, vol. iii, p. 31, there is a nearly similar
story of a tom-tom beater who was supposed to be burnt in his watch
hut. In reality, it was a beggar who was burnt. The man being afraid
of being charged with murdering him, got hid in the jungle. He came
to his house at night, but was supposed to be the Mala upan Yaka,
"the evil spirit born from the dead," and was refused admittance
by his wife, who gave an alarm. As men were coming on hearing it,
he ran off. On another night when he came, his wife assailed him with
a volley of invectives, as demon-scarers; so carrying off his dancing
paraphernalia, he again retired, and afterwards robbed travellers, and
frightened the people till they threatened to leave the district. The
King offered a handsome reward for his apprehension, but he tied up
a Kattadiya or devil priest who came to exorcise him. In the end he
was captured by a Buddhist monk, taken before the King, and after
relating his adventures, appears to have been allowed to go unpunished.
In the Jataka story No. 257 (vol. ii, p. 209), there is an account
of four actions brought against one man on the same day. It is a
folk-tale in Ceylon also.
NO. 22
THE KULE-BAKA FLOWERS
In a certain country a King was ruling; the King was without
children. The King having performed many meritorious deeds, five
children were born.
When they looked into the Naekata (or prognostics resulting from the
positions of the planets) at the time when the children were born,
those of four were good, but that of the fifth child was that on
seeing him his father's two eyes would become blind. The King told
them to take the Prince and put him down in the forest. So having
taken the Prince they put him in the forest.
After that, animals having come through the favour of the Prince's
guardian deity, gave him milk, and reared him.
After much time had passed, the Prince's father, the King, went to have
the jungle driven (for shooting); and having gone, while they were
driving the jungle that Prince came, and bounded round the King's
enclosure. Then, the King having seen him his eyes became blind,
and he went away without his eyes seeing anything. The people who
went with the King, lifting him up, carried him to the palace.
Having arrived there, various medical treatments were applied; he
was not cured. After that, he caused sooth-sayers to be brought,
and after he had asked them regarding it, they said, "By applying
medical treatment you will not meet with a cure. In the midst of the
Forest of the Gods there is a flower called Kule-baka. Having brought
that flower, and burnt it on your eyes, your eyes will see."
Afterwards the King asked the people, "Who is able to bring this
flower?" All the people said they could not do it. Then the four
eldest Princes of the King, having said, "Let us go," asked permission
of the King; the King told them to go. So the four persons having
started, went.
As they were going, the four persons went to a city. A courtesan
stayed in that city; her name was Diribari-Laka. [57] She gambled
(i.e. kept a gambling house). These four persons went to her house,
and having gone there prepared to gamble. Then the woman said, "Should
you lose by this game, I shall make you four persons prisoners (that
is, slaves)." The four persons having said, "It is good," gambled,
and all four having lost remained there as prisoners.
The Prince who was in the forest, having got to know all these matters,
also set off to seek the flower, and on his way arrived at the city
at which the Princes who were made prisoners were staying. This one,
having gone to the King of the city, was appointed to do messenger's
work there. While he was living thus, this one obtained news that the
courtesan was gambling, and thereupon this Prince asked the King for
leave of absence. Having obtained it, he went to the house of an old
woman near the courtesan's house.
Having gone there, this Prince having fallen down near the feet of that
old woman and made obeisance, weeping and weeping, these words are what
he said, "Mother, are you in the enjoyment of health? Do not you let
your face be even visible (to) scrofulous offspring. When lightning
has struck you (may it) take your progeny." [58] Having spoken and
spoken with these honours he remained weeping. The woman's child,
not of small age, was there, and having said similar things to the
child also, and while weeping having paid respect, the woman made that
Prince rise, and asked him, "Where were you for such a long period?"
"I was with a King," the Prince said. "Mother, whose is that house?" he
asked.
The woman said, "Why, son? Do not say anything about it. That house
is the house of a courtesan. There is a gambling game of that woman's,
and by it many persons, having lost, remain as prisoners."
The Prince asked, "Mother, how does one win by that game?"
Then the woman said, "A bent lamp having been lighted, is placed at
the gambling place. Below the lamp a cat is sitting. While the woman is
gambling the cat raises its head; then victory falls to the woman. When
another person is playing the cat lowers its head; then defeat falls
to that man. If you are to win, having extinguished the bent lamp,
and driven away the cat, and brought and placed there another lamp,
if you should then play you can win."
After that, the Prince went to gamble. Having gone there, when he was
ready to gamble she said, "Should you lose in gambling, you will be
condemned to imprisonment; should you win you marry me."
The Prince said, "It is good," and gambled. When he was losing, he
extinguished the lamp, and having beaten and driven away the cat, he
told the woman to bring another lamp. After that, the woman brought
a lamp. Having brought and placed the lamp there, they gambled. The
woman having lost all, the Prince won. Afterwards, that woman married
this Prince.
During the time while he was living there, as this Prince was starting
to go and bring the Kule-baka flower, the woman said, "Don't go."
The Prince said, "I did not come for this gambling; I came for the
Kule-baka flower. I must indeed go, after having set off for this
purpose," he said. So the Prince went to bring the flower. Before this,
he had allowed the imprisoned men to go, and said to the four Princes,
"Stop until I return."
Having thus gone, he entered into the midst of a forest. While he
was there, human-flesh-eating serpents and forest animals that were
in the midst of the forest sprang to devour this Prince, but he made
supplication to his deity, so they were unable to do it, and went away.
Then the Yaka who was guarding the Kule-baka garden, having seen the
Prince, and having arisen and come near the Prince, asked, "Have you,
a man born in the world of men, come into my presence to be a prey
to me?"