me. On account of it, having made my way into the midst of the forest,
I have come to you for you to eat indeed. If you are going to eat me,
eat me; if you are going to keep me, keep me alive."
After that, the Yaka asked, "What do you eat?"
The Prince said, "We eat wheat flour, ghi, sugar, and camels'
flesh. [59] These indeed we eat."
All these requisites having been brought by the Yaka, after he had
given them to the Prince, the Prince made the food, and gave to the
Yaka also.
The Yaka having eaten the food, sprang up into the air, and said to the
Prince, "I never ate a meal like this. I will do anything you tell me."
Then the Prince said to the Yaka, "Where is the path to go to the
Kule-baka garden?"
The Yaka sprang up into the air, and fell on the ground, and beating
his head, said, "If you had said so before this, by this time I
should have eaten you. What can I do now that I have promised to help
you?" Having said, "Go away from here," he told him about the path.
Then the Prince went along it. There, also, a Yaksani [60] (female
Yaka) was guarding it, and the Prince came to her. The Yaksani asked
the Prince, "Where are you going?"
The Prince said, "Having delayed in the midst of a forest, as I was
returning I was unable to find the country with my village. Now I
have met with you here."
As he appeared good to the Yaksani she caused him to stay there,
and married her daughter to him. The name of the girl to whom the
Prince was married was Maha-Muda. [61]
During the time while he was there the Prince remained angry.
The girl asked, "What are you angry for?"
The Prince said, "I must go to look at the Kule-baka garden."
Then the girl spoke about this matter to her mother. So that woman
having fetched rats, caused a tunnel to be made by them to the
Kule-baka garden. Along that tunnel the Prince went to the flower
garden, and having gone there, and plucked the flowers, came back
again.
Having returned there, calling Maha-Muda he came to the house of
Diribari-Laka. Having arrived there, he burnt on the lower part of
the back the four Princes who had remained as prisoners. The Prince
who went for the Kule-baka flowers having burnt in this way the four
Princes, who stayed as slaves at the house of Diribari-Laka, these
four persons were freed from imprisonment.
Then the Prince, Maha-Muda, and Diribari-Laka, taking the flowers,
came to the Prince's native country. Having arrived there, he burnt
the Kule-baka flowers on the two eyes of his father the King, and
the two eyes of the King became well.
After that, the King having asked the Prince regarding these matters,
learnt that he was the King's Prince, [and he and his two wives
continued to live there with him].
North-western Province.
In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 276 ff.--Tales of the
Punjab, p. 263, 264--a rat assisted King Sarkap in games at Chaupur
(the Pachis game), until it was frightened by a kitten that Prince
Rasalu had rescued from a potter's kiln.
At p. 250 of the former work it was predicted that if his father saw
the Prince during the twelve years after his birth, he (the father)
would die.
In Indian Nights' Entertainment, Panjab (Swynnerton), p. 319, a
rat which had been saved from drowning assisted a girl to defeat a
Princess at Chaupur, by attracting the attention of a cat that moved
the pieces for the Princess. The cat was struck by the girl while
trying to seize the rat which she held; when it ran off she won.
In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 149, the cat belonging
to a female gambler, at a sign from her mistress, extinguished the
lamp whenever the game was going against her.
In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 277, a Princess, in order to get back
her husband, started a gambling establishment at which they gambled
with dice, the stake being one hundred thousand rupees, together with
the imprisonment of the loser at her house. Her ruse was successful. A
rich merchant's son, the Prefect's son, the Minister's son, and the
Prince, all came in turn and lost.
NO. 23
KURULU-GAMA APPU, THE SOOTH-SAYER
In a certain city a man was stricken by a scarcity of food to eat,
and he went to another country. Having gone there, during the time
while he was residing in a village, the village men asked, "What sooth
can you tell?" [62] He said, "I can tell one sooth; to do that sooth
I want Jak-tree gum, Coconut oil, and Euphorbia milk" (the milky sap
which exudes from cuts or bruises in the bark). Thereupon the men
having collected those things that he mentioned, gave them to him.
Then he went and warmed these things [making bird-lime] and placed
[limed] twigs, and catching birds and coming with them, he gave them
daily, two by two at each house, and thus ate. The man's name was Appu;
his village was Kurulu-gama (Birds' village).
While he was continuing to eat in this manner, the men of that
village started to go to Puttalam, carrying produce for sale. That
man also said, "I also must go." Then the men of the village asked,
"You have nothing; what will you take?" Thereupon this one tying up
a pingo load of chaff and coconut husks, goes with the men.
Then the men who were going on that journey, having come down to the
high road, set off to go. While they were going, the men having said
[in fun] "Vedarala" (Doctor) to that man, he kept the name.
Having gone very far, the Vedarala, telling the men who went with
him to wait on the road, placed his pingo (carrying-stick) on the
road, and went into an open place in the jungle. While going along
in it, when he looked about, a yoke of cattle were entangled in
the bushes. Then this Vedarala having gone near the yoke of cattle,
looked at the letter marks branded on them, and having come back and
taken up the pingo load, while they were going on it became night.
This party having halted on the road near a village, sent the Vedarala
to get a resting-place for the night. Having gone to a house in the
village, when he asked for it the house men said, "What giving of
resting-places is there for us! We are lamenting in sorrow for the
difficulty we are in. Our yoke of cattle are missing."
The Vedarala said, "Now then, what have we to do with your losing a
yoke of cattle? Give us a resting-place."
"If you want one, look there! There is the shed, come and stay there,"
they said.
Then the Vedarala having come back, says to the people of the party,
"There is a shed indeed. Stay if you like; go on, if you want to go,"
he said. So this party having come to the shed sat down.
The people of the party said to the Vedarala, "Vedarala, why are
you staying looking about? Night is coming on. We must seek a little
firewood and water," they spoke together.
The house persons having heard these words, said, "What is this, that
you are saying 'Vedarala'? Does he know sooth and the like?" they
asked. [63]
The persons of the party said without a reason for it (nikamata),
"To a certain extent he can tell matters of sooth."
"If so, don't be delayed on account of anything you want. We will
bring and give you rice, firewood, and water." So they brought and
gave them five quarts of rice, a dried fish, a head of ash-plantains.
This party, cooking amply, and having eaten, said at night to the
person who owned the house, "Now then, bring a packet of betel leaves
for him to tell you sooth." So the house person having brought the
betel, gave it to the Vedarala.
Thereupon the assumed (lit. "face") Vedarala, having taken the betel,
after having looked at it falsely becoming "possessed," said, "It is
a yoke of oxen of yours that have been lost, isn't it?"
Then the house person said, "You have said the sooth very correctly. I
asked it of the deities of many dewalas (demon-temples), and of
sooth-sayers. There wasn't a person who told me even a sign of it."
Thereafter the Vedarala asked, "What will you give me for seeking
and giving you the yoke of cattle?"
That person said, "Even if you can't give the full yoke of cattle,
I will give a half share of the value"; thus he promised.
The Vedarala having said, "It is good," and told him to get and bring
a torch, cunningly having gone near the yoke of cattle that remained
entangled in the bush at that place where he went on coming, asked if
these were his oxen. Then the man said, "These are indeed my cattle,"
and having unfastened them and come back, in the morning gave him a
half share [64] of the value of the cattle. Taking it, and throwing
away the chaff and coconut husks, he went away.
That day also, having gone on until the time when it was becoming
night, he got a resting-place in the very way in which, having
spoken before, he got one. At the time when they were in the shed the
persons of the party said, "Vedarala, what are you staying looking
about for? We must seek and get firewood and water."
Then the house people say, "What are you saying 'Vedarala' for? Does
he know to say sooth and the like?"
After that, this party say, "He can also tell sooth. Last night he
sought and gave a yoke of cattle."
Then the house persons quickly having brought rice, fish, firewood,
water, gave them to the men.
This party having amply cooked and eaten, while they were sleeping,
the house person, having brought a packet of betel leaves, spoke to
the Vedarala: "How am I to ask sooth?"
The Vedarala rebuked him. "All these persons being now without memory
or understanding, what saying of sooth is there?" [65] Then that one
having gone, he went to sleep.
A woman of the house was there; her name was Sihibuddi. The woman
having heard the words which the Vedarala said, came and having softly
awakened the Vedarala, said, "The Sihibuddi you mention is I indeed. It
was I indeed who stole this house person's packet of waragan. [66]
I will give you a share; don't mention it."
Thereupon the Vedarala says, "Where is it? Bring it quickly, and
having brought it place it near that clump of plantains."
Then this woman having brought the packet of waragan, and placed it
at the foot of the plantain clump and gone away, he went to sleep.
Afterwards the Vedarala called the house person. "Now then, bring
betel for me to say sooth." The man having brought betel gave it to
the Vedarala.
Then the Vedarala, having taken the betel and looked at it, said,
"It is a packet of waragan that has been lost, isn't it."
That man said, "It is that indeed. Should you seek and give what has
been lost of mine, I will give you a half share."
Then the Vedarala having told him to get a light, becoming "possessed,"
went and took and gave him the packet of waragan that was at the foot
of the plantain clump.
Having taken from it a half share, at the time when the party were
going on, thieves having broken into the box at the foot of the King's
bed, [67] he made public by beat of tom-toms that many offices would
be given by the King to a person who should seek and give it to him.
At that time this party said, "In our party indeed, there is a
sooth-sayer. On the night of the day before yesterday he sought
out and gave a yoke of cattle. Yesternight he sought out and gave a
packet of waragan." Thereupon the persons took this Vedarala near the
King. Then the King asks, "Can he catch and give the thief who broke
into the box at the foot of my bed?" The party said that he could.
Then the sooth-sayer, having become afraid, thought, "I will tie a cord
to my neck and die." So he said, "After tying white cloths in a house
(as a decoration, on the walls and under the roof), and a piece of
cord to the cross-beam, and placing a bed, chairs, and table in it, and
setting on end a rice mortar, you must give me it in the evening." The
King having prepared them in that very way, gave him them.
Afterwards, the Vedarala, after it became night, having gone inside the
house, told them to shut the door from the outside, and lock it. Then
having mounted on the rice mortar, when he tried to put the cord round
his neck it was too short. On account of it he said, "Both the cord
is too short and the height is insufficient. What shall I do?" [68]
As the Vedarala was saying this word Kumandaeyi, a citizen, Kumanda,
an old thief, was there [listening outside]. Having heard this, he
thought, "He is calling out my name"; so becoming afraid he came near
and spoke to the Vedarala, and said, "It is I indeed whom you call
Kumanda. It is I indeed who committed the theft. Don't say anything
about it to the King."
Then the Vedarala said, "If so, bring the things and put them in
this house."
Thereupon the old thief, having brought to the house all the things
taken out of the box which was at the foot of the King's bed, gave
them to the sooth-sayer through the window.
Then the Vedarala slept until light having come it became daylight.
Afterwards, the King having sent messengers in the morning, they awoke
the Vedarala. Then the Vedarala, thinking it unseasonable, said,
"Who is talking to me without allowing me to sleep?" and silently
went to sleep again. So the messengers returned and told the King.
Afterwards the King came and spoke to him, and opened the door. The
Vedarala having come out, said, "O Lord, Your Majesty, I was unable
to seize the thieves; the things indeed I met with."
Then the King said, "The thief does not matter; after you have met
with the things it is enough."
Then the King, catching a great many fire-flies and putting them in
a coconut shell, asked the Vedarala, "What is there in this?"
The sooth-sayer, becoming afraid, went as far as he could see him, and
thinking, "I will strike my head against a tree and die," came running
and struck his head against a tree. [69] Then the sooth-sayer said,
"O Father! It was as though a hundred fire-flies flew about."
The King said, "That is true. They are indeed fire-flies that are in
my hand."
After that, the King caught a bird, and clenching it in his fist,
asked the sooth-sayer, "What is there in this fist?"
The sooth-sayer, having become afraid, began to beat his head on
a stone. Then he said, "Kurulu-gama Appu's strength went (this
time)." [70]
The King said, "Bola, it is indeed a bird that is in my hand"; and
having called the Vedarala, and given him many offices, and a house,
told him to stay at that very city.
Afterwards the Vedarala, thinking, "They will call me again to tell
sooth," having put away the things that were in the house, and having
set fire to the house, said, "Kurulu-gama Appu's sooth-saying is
finished from to-day. The sooth books have been burnt." Having made
it public he stayed at that very city.
North-western Province.
The second discovery of the sooth-sayer is extracted from a variant
by a washerman, the rest of the story having been written by a man
of the cultivating caste.
In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 272, there is an account
of a pretended sooth-sayer, a poverty-stricken Brahmana. He first hid
a horse, and when application was made to him to discover it, he drew
diagrams and described the place where it would be found. After that,
when a thief stole gold and jewels from the King's palace he was sent
for and shut up in a room, where he began to blame his tongue, jivha,
which had made a vain pretence at knowledge. The principal thief, a
maid called Jivha, overheard him, and told him where she had buried
her share of the plunder. Afterwards the King tested him by placing
a frog in a covered pitcher. He expected that he would be killed, and
said, "This is a fine pitcher for you, Frog (his father's pet name for
himself), since suddenly it has become the swift destroyer of yourself
in this place." He was thought a great sage, and the King presented
him with "villages with gold, umbrella, and vehicles of all kinds."
There is another story of a pretended sooth-sayer in vol. ii,
p. 140, of the same work, but it does not, like the last, resemble
the Sinhalese tale.
NO. 24
HOW A PRINCE WAS CHASED BY A YAKSANI, AND WHAT BEFEL
A prince went for hunting-sport. As he was going, a Yaksani (female
Yaka) who was living in the midst of the forest, chased him, saying
that she was going to eat the Prince, and drove the Prince down the
path. The Prince having gone running, went bounding through the middle
of a city. The Yaksani followed him in the disguise of a woman.
The King of the city having seen them, sent the Ministers, and told
them to look what it was about. The Ministers asked the Yaksani who
was bounding behind him, "What is that for?"
The Yaksani said, "My husband having quarrelled with me and left me,
is running away. I am running after him because of it."
The Ministers then brought her before the King, and having seen the
beauty of the Yaksani, the King was pleased with her, and said, "If
you should not go with him it does not matter; stay here." So the King,
having prepared another house for the Yaksani, and having married her,
establishing her in the office of Chief Queen, she remained there.
While she was there, this Yaksani having gone like a thief during the
time when all were sleeping, and killed and eaten the men of the city,
brought a few of the bones, and placed them in a heap at the back of
the houses in which the twelve Queens of the King slept.
When a little time had gone by in this manner, the men of the city
came to the King, and saying, "Since you have brought and are keeping
this Yaksani this city is altogether desolate," made obeisance. Then
the King made inquiry into the matter.
Then that Yaksani said, "Ane! O Lord, Your Majesty, I indeed do not
know about that, but I did indeed see that thief who eats human flesh,
although I did not tell you."
The King asked, "Who is it?"
The Yaksani said, "If Your Majesty should look behind the houses of
the twelve Queens you can ascertain."
When the King went there and looked, he found that it was true, and
gave orders for the twelve Queens to be killed. Then the Yaksani told
him not to kill them, but to pluck out their eyes, and send them into
the midst of the forest. Having heard the words which the Yaksani said,
he acted in that very manner.
So all this party of Queens went and stayed in one spot, and there all
the twelve bore children. As each one was born, they divided and ate
it. The youngest Queen put aside all the flesh that was given to her,
and while she was keeping it she, also, bore a son. Then those eleven
Queens made ready to eat that Prince, so that Princess gave them the
flesh which she had kept, and the party ate it.
As time went on that Prince having grown a little, began to bring and
give them fruits that were lying on the ground. Then the Prince met
with a bow and an arrow that had been concealed there. After that
he began to shoot various kinds of small animals, and to bring and
give them to the Queens. Afterwards he shot large animals, and having
brought fire and boiled them, he gave the flesh to them. By this time
the Prince understood all things thoroughly.
After that, one day this Prince asked, "Mother, what is the reason
why your eyes have become blind, and my eyes are well?"
The party said, "We were the Queens of such and such a King;
having taken a Yaksani in marriage, this was done to us through her
enmity." Then the Prince remained thinking of killing the King.
One day, as he was going hunting, he met with a Vaedda. Thinking
he would kill the Vaedda, the Prince chased him along the path. The
Vaedda, being afraid, went running away, and having met with the King
said, "O Lord, Your Majesty, there is a very handsome Prince in the
midst of this forest. One cannot say if the Prince is the son of a
deity or a royal Prince. He does not come near enough to speak. When
he sees a man he drives him away, saying he is going to eat him." He
spoke very strongly about it.
So the Ministers were sent by the King, who told them to seize and
bring him. As the party were going to seize him, he sprang forward,
saying that he was going to eat them. At that, the party became afraid,
and ran away. Having come running, they told the King, "O Lord, Your
Majesty, we cannot seize him. He comes springing at us saying he is
going to eat us."
Then the King came, bringing his war army. Thereupon the Prince,
who before that was angry with the King in his mind, threw a stone
in order to kill the King, and struck him. Being struck by the stone,
the King's head was wounded (lit. split), so the King and all of them
became afraid, and ran away.
The King, having returned, wrote letters to foreign countries: "There
is a wicked Prince in the midst of the forest in my kingdom. Who he
is I cannot find out. Because of it you must come to seize the Prince."
The Prince having got to know of it, and thinking, "It is not good
for me to be killed at the hands of these men; having met with the
King I will kill him," went to the royal palace. When he arrived
there the King saw him, and asked, "Who are you?"
The Prince said, "I am a royal Prince; I stay in the midst of this
forest."
The King said, "Would it be a bad thing if you remained at this
palace?"
The Prince asked, "What work would there be for me?"
The King said, "Remain and do the work of the First Minister of
the Ministers."
The Prince asked, "How much pay would there be for me for the day?"
The King replied, "I will give fifty masuran."
"Fifty masuran are insufficient for me. Will you give me every day
in the evening a hundred masuran?" he asked.
The King said, "It is good," and after that he stayed there. While
remaining there he came twice a day and assisted his twelve mothers.
When no long time had gone by, some one was heard crying out in the
night near the city. The King told him to look who was crying. The
Prince having gone, taking his sword, when he looked, a dead body
was hanging in a tree, and a Yaksani was springing up to eat the dead
body. Being unable to seize it she was crying out.
The Prince went and asked, "What is that for?"
The Yaksani replied, "My son having gone into the tree cannot descend;
because of it I am crying out."
The Prince said, "Mount on my shoulders and unfasten him."
The Yaksani having got on his shoulders, as she was about to eat the
Prince he chopped at her with his sword. A foot was cut off, and she
fled. Taking the foot and returning with it, the Prince showed it to
the King. The King having seen the Prince's resoluteness, in order
to cause him to be killed said that unless he should bring the other
foot he could not take charge of this one.
After that, the Prince went to the palace where the Yakas dwelt. There
this Yaksani whom he had wounded came, and having made obeisance,
fell down and said, "Lord, do not kill me. I will do anything you
tell me." Summoning her to accompany him and returning, he showed
her to the King.
Afterwards he employed this Yaksani, and caused her to make a city
at the place where his mothers were, and having made her construct
a palace, he told the Yaksani and his mothers to dwell there.
While they were there the Yaksani said to the Prince, "I know the
place where the King's life is. Whatever you should do to the King
himself you cannot kill him."
The Prince asked, "Where is it?"
"It is in a golden parrot in such and such a tree," she said.
After that he went there and caught the parrot and killed it. Then
the King died.
After he died, the Prince having set fire to the palace there, and
cut down the Yaksani who stayed with the King, left his mothers in
charge of the city formed by the maimed Yaksani, and remained ruling
the kingdom.
Western Province.
For some variants, see the notes at the end of the story numbered 48.
In Indian Nights' Entertainment, Panjab (Swynnerton), p. 355, a
Princess in man's disguise, acting as the King's guard, found a ghul
in the form of a woman howling under a corpse that was hanging from
a gallows. She stated that it was her son whom she could not reach,
and she asked to be lifted up. When raised up to it by the Princess
she began to suck the blood, on seeing which the Princess made a cut at
her, but only severed a piece of her clothing, which proved to be of so
rich a quality that the King ordered her to procure more for his wife.
In the Jataka story No. 96 (vol. i, p. 235) an Ogress in the disguise
of a woman followed a man into Takkasila, intending to devour him. The
King saw her, was struck by her beauty, and married her. When he had
given her authority over those who dwelt in the palace, she brought
other Ogres at night, and ate the King and every one in the place.
NO. 25
THE WICKED KING
In a certain country there are a King and a Queen, it is said. The
Queen has no children. During the time while she was rearing another
(adopted) Prince, a child was born to the Queen.
After it was born, the King and Queen having spoken together, "Let us
kill the Prince whom we have brought up," said to the King's Minister,
"Take this Prince and put him down in a clump of bamboos." The Minister
having taken the Prince, and put him down in a clump of bamboos,
returned. The Prince was seven years old.
After that, a man having gone to the bamboo clump to cut bamboos,
and having seen, when he looked, that this Prince was there, without
stopping to cut bamboos took away this Prince.
On the following day the King said to the Minister, "Look if the
Prince is in the bamboo bush, and come back." Afterwards he went,
and when he looked, the Prince was not there. So he came to the King,
and said, "The Prince is not there."
Then the King said, "The man who went away after cutting bamboos will
have taken him. Give these thousand masuran, and bring him." Having
said this, he gave him a thousand masuran. The Minister, having taken
the thousand masuran, and given them to the man who took away the
Prince, brought him and gave him to the King.
Afterwards the King said to the Minister, "Take this one and put him
down in the middle of the path to a cattle fold in which five hundred
cattle are collected, and return, so that, having been trampled on
as the cattle are going along the path, he may die." So the Minister
having taken that Prince, and put him down in the middle of the path to
a cattle fold in which five hundred cattle were collected, came away.
After that, as the five hundred cattle were setting off to go into the
cattle fold, when the great chief bull which went first was about to go
in, having seen this Prince he placed him under his body, and allowing
the other cattle to go in, this bull went afterwards. Subsequently,
as the herdsman who drove the cattle was going along he saw this
Prince, and taking the Prince the herdsman went away.
On the following day the King said to the Minister, "Look if the
Prince is at the cattle fold, and come back." The Minister went,
and when he looked the Prince was not there. So the Minister came
and said to the King, "He is not there."
Then the King having given a thousand masuran into the Minister's hand
said, "The herdsman who drove the cattle will have taken him. Give
these thousand masuran and bring him." So the Minister having taken
the thousand masuran, and given them to the herdsman, brought the
Prince and gave him to the King.
After that, the King said, "Take this one and put him down in the
road on which five hundred carts are coming." So the Minister having
taken the Prince, and put him down in the road on which five hundred
carts were coming, returned.
Then the carters, having seen from afar that the Prince was there,
took the Prince, and placed him in a cart, and went home with him.
On the following day the King said to the Minister, "Go and look
if the Prince is in the road on which the five hundred carts come,
and return." The Minister went, and when he looked the Prince was
not there. So the Minister came and told the King, "The Prince is
not there."
Then the King gave the Minister a thousand masuran, and said, "The
carters will have taken him. Give these thousand masuran and bring
him." The Minister having given the thousand masuran to the carters,
brought the Prince and gave him to the King.
After that, the King said to the Minister, "Speak to the potter and
come back. There is no other means of killing this one but surrounding
him with pottery in the pottery kiln, and burning him." So the Minister
went and spoke to the potter, "Our King tried thus and thus to kill
this Prince; he could not. Because of that, how if you should surround
him even in the pottery kiln?"
The potter said, "Should you bring him I will surround him."
So the Minister came and said to the King, "The potter told me to
take the Prince."
After that, the King wrote a letter: "Immediately on seeing the Prince
who brings this letter, surround him in the pottery kiln, and kill
him." Having written that in the letter, and given the letter to the
Prince who had been adopted, he said, "Take this letter to such and
such a potter, and having given it come back."
Afterwards, as the Prince was going along taking the letter, the King's
Prince having played at "Disks," [71] and the counters having been
driven out, was dragging along the hop counters. Then, having seen this
Prince, the King's Prince asked, "Where, elder brother, are you going?"
The Prince said, "Father gave me this letter, and told me to give it
to such and such a potter. Having given it I am going to return."
The King's Prince said, "If so, elder brother, I will give that letter
and come back. You drag these hop counters."
Then this Prince having said "Ha," and given the letter into the
hands of the King's Prince, dragged the hop counters.
While the King's Prince was taking the letter, the potter was making
ready the pottery kiln. After the Prince had given the letter to
the potter, when the potter looked at it there was in the letter,
"After you have seen this letter, surround in the pottery kiln the
Prince who brings this letter, and set fire to it." So the potter
taking the Prince surrounded him in the pottery kiln, and set fire
to it. While it was burning in the pottery kiln the King's Prince died.
After the adopted Prince finished dragging the hop counters, and came
to the palace, the King asked, "Did you give the letter to the potter?"
The Prince said, "As I was going there, younger brother having played
at 'Disks,' and the counters being driven out, was dragging the hop
counters. Having seen me going, younger brother asked, 'Where, elder
brother, are you going?' I said, 'Father gave me this letter to give
to such and such a potter; having given it I am going to return.' Then
younger brother said, 'Elder brother, I will give that letter and come;
you draw these hop counters.' So I gave the letter into the hand of
younger brother, and I myself having drawn the hop counters came back."
Then the King quickly said to the Ministers, "Go to the potter,
and look if the Prince is there, and return."
The Ministers went and asked the potter, "Is the Prince here?"
The potter said, "I killed the Prince."
So the Ministers came and told the King that the Prince was dead.
The King immediately wrote a letter to the King of another city, that
when he saw the Prince who brought the letter he was to kill him; and
having given the letter into the hand of this adopted Prince, he said,
"Give this letter to the King of such and such a city, and come back."
The Prince having taken the letter went to the palace of the King
of the city. At that time the King was not in the palace; the King's
Princess was there. This Prince having grown up was beautiful to look
at; the Princess thought of marrying him. Asking for the letter in
the hand of the Prince, when she looked at it there was written that
on seeing the Prince they were to kill him.
Then the Princess having torn up and thrown away the letter, wrote
a letter that on seeing the Prince they were to marry him to the
Princess. Having written it and given it into the hand of the Prince,
she said, "After our father the King has come give him this letter."
After that, while the Prince, having taken the letter, was there, the
King came. The Prince gave him the letter. When the King looked at the
letter he learnt that on seeing the Prince he was to marry the King's
Princess to him. So the King married the King's Princess to the Prince.
Having married her, while the Prince was there, illness seized the
King who brought up the Prince, and they sent letters for this Prince
to come. The Prince would not. Afterwards they sent a letter: "Even
now the King cannot be trusted [to live]; he is going to die even
to-day. You must come." To that also the Prince replied, "I will not."
The Princess said, "Having said 'I will not,' how will it be? Let us
two go to-day." So the Prince and Princess came. When they arrived,
the King was about to die, and breathing with difficulty. The Prince
came and sat near the King's feet; the Princess sat near the King's
head. The King told the Prince to come near in order to give him an
oath [to repeat], in such a manner that he would be unable to seize
any article of the King's.
Well then, as the King was coming to mention the King's treasure
houses and all other things, while he was opening his mouth to say the
truth-oath to the Prince, the Princess, the King's daughter-in-law,
being aware of it, stroked the King's neck, saying, "If so, father,
for whom are they if not for us?" Then that which the King was about
to say he had no opportunity of saying; while she was holding his
neck he died.
After that, the Prince having obtained the sovereignty, and the
treasure houses, and the other different houses that were there,
the Prince and Princess stayed at that very palace.
Anun nahanda yanakota tamumma nahinawa.
While they are going to kill others they die themselves.
North-western Province.
NO. 26
THE KITUL SEEDS
A certain man and his son, who was a grown-up youth, were walking
along a path one day, when they came to a place where many seeds had
fallen from a Kitul Palm tree.
The man drew his son's attention to them, and said, "We must gather
these Kitul seeds, and plant them. When the plants from them grow
up we shall have a large number of Kitul trees, from which we will
take the toddy (juice), and make jaggery (a kind of brown sugar). By
selling this we shall make money, which we will save till we shall
have enough to buy a nice pony."
"Yes," said the boy, "and I will jump on his back like this, and ride
him," and as he said it he gave a bound.
"What!" said the father, "would you break my pony's back like
that!" and so saying, he gave him a blow on the side of the head
which knocked him down senseless.
E. G. Goonewardene, Esqre.
North-western Province.
There is another story of this type in the tale No. 53, below.
In the Jataka story No. 4 (vol. i, p. 19), there is a tale of a young
man who acquired a fortune and became Lord Treasurer by means of a
dead mouse which he picked up and sold for a farthing, subsequently
increasing his money by careful investments.
In the Katha Sarit Sagara, vol. i, p. 33, a nearly identical mouse
story is given.
In Indian Fairy Tales (Stokes), p. 31, there is a different one. A
man who was to receive four pice for carrying a jar of ghi, settled
that he would buy a hen with the money, sell her eggs, get a goat,
and then a cow, the milk of which he would sell. Afterwards he would
marry a wife, and when they had children he would refuse some cooked
rice which they would offer him. At this point he shook his head as
he refused it, and the jar fell and was broken.
In Indian Nights' Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 23, a man who was
carrying a jar of butter on his head, and who expected to get three
halfpence for the job, was going to buy a hen, then a sheep, a cow,
a milch buffalo, and a mare, and then to get married. As he patted
his future children on the head the pot fell and was broken.
In The Arabian Nights (Lady Burton's ed., i, p. 296) there is a
well-known variant in which the fortune was to be made out of a tray
of glass-ware.
NO. 27
THE SPEAKING HORSE
There was once a certain King who was greatly wanting in common sense,
and in his kingdom there was a Panditaya who was extremely wise. The
King had a very beautiful white horse of which he was very proud. The
Panditaya was respected and revered by all, but for the King little
or no respect was felt, on account of his foolish conduct. He
observed this, and became jealous of the Panditaya's popularity,
so he determined to destroy him.
One day he sent for him. The Panditaya came and prostrated himself
before the King, who said, "I hear that you are extremely learned and
wise. I require you to teach my white horse to speak. I will allow
you one week to consider the matter, at the end of which time you must
give me a reply, and if you cannot do it your head will be cut off."
The Panditaya replied, "It is good, O Great King," [72] and went home
in very low spirits.
He lived with a beautiful daughter, a grown-up girl. When he returned
she observed that he was melancholy, and asked the reason, on which
the Panditaya informed her of the King's command, and said that it
was impossible to teach a horse to speak, and that he must place his
affairs in order, in preparation for his death.
"Do as I tell you," she said, "and your life will be saved. When you
go to the King on the appointed day, and he asks you if you are able
to teach his horse to speak, you must answer, 'I can do it, but it
is a work that will occupy a long time. I shall require seven years'
time for it. You must also allow me to keep the horse by me and ride
it, while you will provide food for it.' The King will agree to this,
and in the meantime who knows what may happen?"
The Panditaya accepted this wise advice. He appeared before the King
at the end of the week, and prostrated himself. The King asked him,
"Are you able to teach my white horse to speak?"
"Maharajani," he replied, "I am able." He then explained that it would
be a very difficult work, and would occupy a long time; and that he
would require seven years for it, and must have the horse by him all
the time, and use it, while the King would provide food for it.
The King was delighted at the idea of getting his horse taught to
speak, and at once agreed to these conditions. So the Panditaya took
away the horse, and kept it at the King's expense.
Before the seven years had elapsed the King had died, and the horse
remained with the Panditaya.
E. G. Goonewardene, Esqre.
North-western Province.
NO. 28
THE FEMALE QUAIL
A female Quail having laid an egg on a rock, went to eat food. Then
the [overhanging] rock closed over it, and when the bird returned
there was no egg. "Ando! There is no egg," she said.
Well then, she went to the Mason. The Mason said, "Sit down, O Bird."
"What is [the use of] sitting and staying? What is [the use of]
betel leaf and areka nut at the corner of the bed? Cut the rock,
and give me the egg, O Mason," she said.
The Mason said, "I will not."
From there she went to the Village Headman. [73] The Village Headman
said, "Sit down, O Bird."
"What is the use of sitting and staying? What is the use of betel
leaf and areka nut at the corner of the bed? O Village Headman, tie up
the house-door [74] of the Mason, the Mason who did not cut the rock,
and give me the egg," she said.
The Village Headman said, "I will not."
From there she went to the Pig. The Pig said, "Sit down, O Bird."
"What is the use of sitting and staying? What is the use of betel
leaf and areka nut at the corner of the bed? O Pig, feed in the rice
field of the Village Headman, the Village Headman who did not tie
up the house-door of the Mason, the Mason who did not cut the rock,
and give me the egg," she said.
The Pig said, "I will not."
From there she went to the Vaedda. The Vaedda said, "Sit down, O Bird."
"What is the use of sitting and staying? What is the use of betel
leaf and areka nut at the corner of the bed? O Vaedda, shoot (with
bow and arrow) the Pig, the Pig who did not feed in the rice field
of the Village Headman, the Village Headman who did not tie up the
house-door of the Mason, the Mason who did not cut the rock, and give
me the egg," she said.
The Vaedda said, "I will not."
From there she went to the Timbol creeper. [75] The Timbola said,
"Sit down, O Bird."
"What is the use of sitting and staying? What is the use of betel leaf
and areka nut at the corner of the bed? O Timbola, prick the body of
the Vaedda, the Vaedda who did not shoot the Pig, the Pig who did not
feed in the rice field of the Village Headman, the Village Headman
who did not tie up the house-door of the Mason, the Mason who did
not cut the rock, and give me the egg," she said.
The Timbola said, "I will not."
From there she went to the Fire. The Fire said, "Sit down, O Bird."
"What is the use of sitting and staying? What is the use of betel leaf
and areka nut at the corner of the bed? O Fire, burn the Timbola,
the Timbola that did not prick the body of the Vaedda, the Vaedda
who did not shoot the Pig, the Pig who did not feed in the rice
field of the Village Headman, the Village Headman who did not tie
up the house-door of the Mason, the Mason who did not cut the rock,
and give me the egg," she said.
The Fire said, "I will not."
From there she went to the Water-pot. The Water-pot said, "Sit down,
O Bird."
"What is the use of sitting and staying? What is the use of betel leaf
and areka nut at the corner of the bed? O Water-pot, quench the Fire,
the Fire that did not burn the Timbola, the Timbola that did not
prick the body of the Vaedda, the Vaedda who did not shoot the Pig,
the Pig who did not feed in the rice field of the Village Headman,
the Village Headman who did not tie up the house-door of the Mason,
the Mason who did not cut the rock, and give me the egg," she said.
The Water-pot said, "I will not."
From there she went to the Elephant. The Elephant said, "Sit down,
O Bird."
"What is the use of sitting and staying? What is the use of betel
leaf and areka nut at the corner of the bed? O Elephant, make
muddy the Water-pot, the Water-pot that did not quench the Fire,
the Fire that did not burn the Timbola, the Timbola that did not
prick the body of the Vaedda, the Vaedda who did not shoot the Pig,
the Pig who did not feed in the rice field of the Village Headman,
the Village Headman who did not tie up the house-door of the Mason,
the Mason who did not cut the rock, and give me the egg," she said.
The Elephant said, "I will not."
From there she went to the Rat. The Rat said, "Sit down, O Bird."
"What is the use of sitting and staying? What is the use of betel leaf
and areka nut at the corner of the bed? O Rat, creep into the ear of
the Elephant, the Elephant who did not make muddy the Water-pot, the
Water-pot that did not quench the Fire, the Fire that did not burn
the Timbola, the Timbola that did not prick the body of the Vaedda,
the Vaedda who did not shoot the Pig, the Pig who did not feed in the
rice field of the Village Headman, the Village Headman who did not tie
up the house-door of the Mason, the Mason who did not cut the rock,
and give me the egg," she said.
The Rat said, "I will not."
From there she went to the Cat. The Cat said, "Sit down, O Bird."
"What is the use of sitting and staying? What is the use of betel leaf
and areka nut at the corner of the bed? O Cat, eat the Rat, the Rat
who did not creep into the ear of the Elephant, the Elephant who did
not make muddy the Water-pot, the Water-pot that did not quench the
Fire, the Fire that did not burn the Timbola, the Timbola that did not
prick the body of the Vaedda, the Vaedda who did not shoot the Pig,
the Pig who did not feed in the rice field of the Village Headman,
the Village Headman who did not tie up the house-door of the Mason,
the Mason who did not cut the rock, and give me the egg," she said.
The Cat said "Ha" (Yes).
Well then, the Cat went to catch the Rat, the Rat went to creep into
the ear of the Elephant, the Elephant went to make muddy the Water-pot,
the Water-pot went to quench the Fire, the Fire went to burn the
Timbola, the Timbola went to prick the body of the Vaedda, the Vaedda
went to shoot the Pig, the Pig went to feed in the rice field of the
Village Headman, the Village Headman went to tie up the house-door of
the Mason, the Mason went to cut the rock, and take and give the egg.
Here the story ends. "Was the egg given?" I asked. "It would be given,"
the narrator said. "No, he gave it," said a listener.
North-western Province.
In a variant which I heard in the Southern Province, a bird laid two
eggs in a crevice between two stones, which drew close together. She
went to a Mason or Stone-cutter; (2) to a Pig; (3) to a Hunter;
(4) to an Elephant, which she requested to kill him; (5) to a Lizard
(Calotes), which she told to crawl up the Elephant's trunk into its
brain; (6) to a Jungle Hen, which she told to peck and kill the Lizard;
(7) to a Jackal, who, when requested to kill the Jungle Hen, at once
agreed, and said, "It is very good," and set off after her.
In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 209--Tales of the Punjab,
p. 195--there is a variant. While a farmer's wife was winnowing corn,
a crow carried off a grain, and perched on a tree to eat it. She threw
a clod at it, and knocked it down, but the grain of corn rolled into
a crack in the tree, and the crow, though threatened with death in
case of failure, was unable to recover it.
It went for assistance, and requested (1) a Woodman to cut the tree;
(2) a King to kill the man; (3) a Queen to coax the King; (4) a Snake
to bite the Queen; (5) a Stick to beat the Snake; (6) Fire to burn the
Stick; (7) Water to quench the Fire; (8) an Ox to drink the water;
(9) a Rope to bind the Ox; (10) a Mouse to gnaw the Rope; (11) a
Cat to catch the Mouse. "The moment the Cat heard the name Mouse,
she was after it, for the world would come to an end before a Cat
would leave a Mouse alone." In the end the Crow got the grain of corn,
and saved its life.
In Indian Folk Tales (Gordon), p. 53, there is an allied variant. A
bird had bought three grains of corn for three cowries, and while
she was on a new cart eating them one fell into a joint of the cart
where she was unable to get it.
She appealed to (1) the Carpenter to take the cart to pieces, so that
she might obtain it; (2) the King to make him do it; (3) the Queen
to persuade the King; (4) a Deer to graze in the Queen's garden;
(5) the Stick to beat the Deer; (6) the Fire to burn the Stick;
(7) the Lake to quench the Fire; (8) the Rats to fill up the Lake;
(9) the Cat to attack the Rats; (10) the Elephant to crush the Cat;
(11) an Ant to crawl into the Elephant's ear; (12) the Crow, "the
most greedy of all creatures," to eat the Ant. The Crow consented,
and the usual result followed.
NO. 29
THE PIED ROBIN
At a certain city, while a female Pied Robin [76] was digging and
digging on a dung-hill, she met with a piece of scraped coconut refuse,
it is said. She took it, and put it away, and having gone again, while
she was digging and digging there was a lump of rice dust. Having
taken it, and put it to soak, she said, "Sister-in-law at that house,
Sister-in-law at this house, come and pound a little flour." [77]
The women, saying, "No, no, with such a fragment you can pound that
little bit yourself," did not come.
The Pied Robin pounded the flour, and cooking a cake of the size of
a rice mat (wattiya), and tying a hair-knot of the size of a box,
and putting on a cloth of the breadth of a thumb, while she was going
away she met with a Jackal.
The Jackal asked, "Where are you going?"
"Having looked for a [suitable] marriage, I am going to get married,"
she said.
The Jackal said, "Would it be bad if you went with me?" [78]
The bird asked, "What do you eat?"
The Jackal said, "I eat a land crab, and drink a little water."
Then the bird said, "Chi! Bullock, Chi!" and while going on again
she met with a blind man.
The blind man asked, "Where are you going?"
"Having looked for a [suitable] marriage, I am going to get married,"
she said.
The blind man said, "Would it be bad if you went with me?"
The bird asked, "What do you eat?"
The blind man said, "Having chewed an eel, I drink a little water."
Then the bird said, "Chi! Bullock, Chi!" and while going on again
she met with a Hunchback, chopping and chopping at a bank (nira)
in a rice field.
The Hunchback said, "Where are you going?"
"Having looked for a [suitable] marriage, I am going to get married,"
she said.
The Hunchback said, "Would it be bad if you went with me?"
The bird asked, "What do you eat?"
The Hunchback said, "I eat rice cakes."
Then the bird having said, "Ha. It is good," the Hunchback said, "I put
rice on the hearth to boil, and came away. You go and look after it."
After the bird had gone to the Hunchback's house, she found that the
water was insufficient for cooking the rice, and except that it was
making a sound, "Kuja tapa tapa, kuja tapa tapa," it was not cooking.
So the bird went to the Hunchback, and said, "The water is
insufficient for cooking the rice. It only says 'Kuja tapa tapa,
kuja tapa tapa.' [79] Bring water, O Hunchback."
The Hunchback became angry [at the nicknames], and having come home,
when he was taking a water-pot to the well, a frog sitting on the
well mouth jumped into the well, making a sound, "Kujija bus." [80]
Then the Hunchback, having drawn and drawn up the water from the
well, caught and killed the frog, and tried to fill the water-pot
with water. The water continuing, as he poured it, to make a sound
"Kuja kutu kutu, kuja kutu kutu," [81] except that it splashed up
does not fill the water-pot.
Through anger at it, he took the water-pot and struck it against the
mouth of the well, and smashed it.
While he was coming home he met a Village Headman. The Village Headman
asked, "Where, Mr. Hunchback, did you go?"
The Hunchback said, "What is the journey on which I am going to thee,
Bola, O Heretic?" and having come home, killed the Pied Robin, and
ate the cakes that the bird brought.
North-western Province.
In Indian Folk Tales (Gordon), p. 59, a large grain measure (paila)
having quarrelled with his wife, the small grain measure (paili),
and beaten her, she ran off, and on her way met with a Crow, which
invited her to stay with him. She inquired, "What will you give me
to eat and drink, what to wear and what to spend?" The reply being
unsatisfactory, she went on, and met a Bagula (crane or heron), which
also invited her to stay, and when asked the same question gave an
unsatisfactory answer. She next met a King, who said, "I will place
one cushion below you and one above, and whatsoever you desire you
may have to eat." She refused this, and met a dog, who told her that
in the King's store there was much raw sugar, of which they would
eat as much as they pleased. She accepted this offer, and they lived
in the store; but one day the King's daughter threw in the scales,
which wounded the dog on the head, so the measure jumped out.
NO. 30
THE JACKAL AND THE HARE
In a certain country there are a Jackal and a Hare living together,
it is said.
One day when the Jackal was rubbing himself in the morning in the
open space at the front of the house, there was a pumpkin seed in his
hair. He took it and planted it. Afterwards, when the Hare went to the
open ground, and was rubbing himself, he also had a pumpkin seed in his
hair. He, too, took it and planted it. That which the Jackal planted,
being without water, died. The Hare having brought water in his ears,
and watered his seed, it sprouted, grew large, and bore a fruit.
After the fruit had become large, the Jackal and Hare spoke together,
"Friend, with that pumpkin fruit let us eat pumpkin milk-rice." They
also said, "Whence the rice, coconut, and the like, for it?"
Then the Hare said, "We two will go to the path to the shops. You
stay in the bushes. I will be lying down in the grass field (pitiya)
at the side of the path. Men going along the road, having placed on
the path the articles which they are carrying to the shops, will come
to take me. Then you take the goods, and go off to the bushes."
When the Jackal and Hare had gone to the path that led to the shops,
and seen a man coming, bringing a bag of rice, the Hare lay down in
the grass field as though dead. The Jackal hid himself and waited.
That man having come up, and seen that the Hare was dead, said,
"Appa! Bola, there is meat for me." So he placed the bag of rice on
the road, and went to get the Hare. Then the Jackal came running,
and carried off the bag of rice into the bushes. When the man was
approaching the Hare, it got up and ran away. So the man had neither
the bag of rice nor the Hare. He went home empty-handed (nikam).
Again when the Jackal and Hare were looking out, they saw a man come,
bringing a pingo (carrying-stick) load of coconuts, and the Hare
went and lay down again in the grass field. The Jackal hid himself
and looked out.
Afterwards that man came up, and as he was going on from there he
saw that the Hare was lying dead, and saying, "Appa! Bola, there is
a Hare," placed the pingo load of coconuts on the path, and went
to get the Hare. The Jackal, taking the pingo load of coconuts,
went into the bushes. As that man approached the Hare it got up and
ran away. So the man had neither the pingo load of coconuts nor the
Hare. He went home empty-handed.
As the Jackal and Hare were looking out again, they saw that a man
was bringing a bill-hook and a betel-cutter, which he had got made
at the forge. So the Hare went and lay down again in the field.
The man came up, and when going on from there, having seen that the
Hare was dead, placed the bill-hook and betel-cutter on the path, and
went to get the Hare. Then the Jackal carried the bill-hook and the
betel-cutter into the bushes. As that man was coming near to take the
Hare, it got up and ran away. So that man had neither the bill-hook,
nor the betel-cutter, nor the Hare. He went home empty-handed.
As the Jackal and Hare were looking out again, they saw a potter
coming, bringing a pingo load of pots, so the Hare went and lay down
again in the grass field. The Jackal hid himself and waited.
When the potter was going on from there, he saw that the Hare was
dead, and having placed the pingo load of pots on the path, he went
to get it. Then the Jackal, taking the pingo load of pots, went off
into the bushes. As the man was coming near the Hare it got up and
ran away. So that man had neither the pingo load of pots nor the
Hare. He went home empty-handed.
Then the Jackal and Hare took home the bag of rice, and the pingo
load of coconuts, and the bill-hook, and the betel-cutter, and the
pingo load of pots. After that, having plucked and cut up the pumpkin
fruit, and washed the rice, and put it in the cooking pot, and placed
it on the fire, and broken the coconut, and scraped out the inside,
while squeezing it [in water in order to make coconut-milk], the
Jackal said to the Hare, "Friend, I will pour this on the rice, and
in the meantime before I take it off the fire, you go, and plucking
leaves without a point bring them [to use] as plates."
While the Hare was going for them, the Jackal ate all the rice,
and placed only a little burnt rice in the bottom of the cooking
pot. Then he lay down on the ash-heap.
Afterwards the Hare returned, and saying, "Friend, there is not a leaf
without a point. I have walked and walked through the whole of this
jungle in search of one," gave into the paws of the Jackal two leaves
with the ends bitten off. Then, without getting up, the Jackal said,
"Ando! Friend, what is the use of a leaf without a point now? The rice
people, the coconut people, the bill-hook and betel-cutter people, the
pots people having eaten the rice, and beaten me also, rolled me over
on this ash-heap. There will still be a little burnt rice in the bottom
of the cooking pot. Scrape it off, and putting a little in your mouth,
put a little in my mouth too." So the Hare having scraped off the burnt
rice, and eaten a little of it, put a little in the Jackal's mouth.
Then the Jackal said, "Friend, a tick is biting my nose; rid me
of it." When the Hare was coming near to rid him of it, the Jackal
vomited all over the Hare's body. Then the Hare bounded off to the
river, and jumped into it, and having become clean returned to the
place where the Jackal was.
The Jackal asked, "How, Friend, did you become clean?"
The Hare said, "I went to a place where a washerman-uncle is washing
clothes, and got him to wash me."
The Jackal asked, "Where is he washing?"
The Hare said, "Look there! He is washing at the river."
Afterwards the Jackal went to the river, and said to the
washerman-uncle, "Ane! Washerman-uncle, wash me too, a little."
When the washerman-uncle, having taken hold of the Jackal's tail,
had struck a couple of blows with him on the stone, the Jackal said,
"That will do, that will do, washerman-uncle, I shall have become
clean now." But the washerman-uncle, saying, "Will you eat my fowls
again afterwards? Will you eat them?" gave him another stroke. Then
the washerman-uncle, having washed the clothes, went home.
From that time the Jackal and Hare became unfriendly, and the Jackal
said that whenever he saw Hares he would eat them.
North-western Province.
According to a variant, the washerman struck the Jackal on the stone
until he was dead.
NO. 31
THE LEOPARD AND THE MOUSE-DEER
In a jungle wilderness in the midst of the forest there is a rock
cave. In the cave a Leopard dwells. One day when the Leopard had
gone for food a lame female Mouse-deer (Miminni) crept into the cave,
and gave birth to two young ones.
Afterwards the Mouse-deer having seen that the Leopard, having got wet
at the time of a very great rainfall, was coming to the cave, began
to beat the young ones, so the young ones began to squall. Then the
Mouse-deer came out, saying, "There is fresh Leopard's flesh, there
is dried Leopard's flesh; what else shall I give you? Having eaten
these, still you are crying in order to eat fresh Leopard's flesh!"
As the Mouse-deer was saying it, the Leopard heard it, and thought,
"They are going to eat me," and having become afraid, sprang off and
ran away, thinking, "I will go to my Preceptor, and tell him."
Having gone to him, the Jackal said, "What is it, Sir? You are running
as though afraid. Why?" he asked.
The Leopard then replied, "Preceptor, the danger that has happened to
me is thus: A Mouse-deer having crept into the cave that I live in,
and having borne young ones there, as I was returning came shouting
and springing to eat me. Through fear of it I came running away,"
he said to the Jackal.
The Jackal then said, "What of that! Don't be afraid. I will come with
you and go there. As soon as I go I will bite her and cast her out."
As they went near the cave, the Leopard having lagged a very little
behind, said, "Friend, I cannot go, I cannot go."
Then the Jackal said, "If you are afraid to that extent, be so good
as to go after tying a creeper to my neck, and tying the other end
to your waist, Sir," he said to the Leopard.
So bringing a creeper, and tying one end to the Jackal's neck, and
tying the other end to the Leopard's waist, they set off to go to
the cave.
As they were going there, the Mouse-deer, having seen that the Jackal
was bringing the Leopard, began to beat the young ones. When the
young ones were squalling, the Mouse-deer having come out, says,
"Don't cry; the Jackal is bringing another Leopard for you." Then
she says to the Jackal, "Jackal-artificer, after I told you to bring
seven yoke of Leopards, what has the Jackal-artificer come for,
tying a creeper to only this one lean Leopard?"
After she had asked this, the Leopard thought, "They have joined with
the Jackal, and are going to kill me," and began to run off. Then the
creeper having become tightened round the Jackal's neck, the Leopard
ran away, taking him along, causing the Jackal-artificer to strike
and strike against that tree, this tree, that stone, this stone.
The Leopard having gone a great distance in the jungle, after he
looked [found that] the creeper had become thoroughly tightened on the
Jackal-artificer's neck. Having seen that he was grinning and showing
his teeth, the Leopard says, "The laugh is at the Jackal-artificer. I
was frightened, and there is no blood on my body," he said.
When he looked again, the Jackal was dead, grinning with his teeth
and mouth.
North-western Province.
This story is given in The Orientalist, vol. iv, p. 79
(D. A. Jayawardana), but the animals that went to the cave are wrongly
termed tiger and fox, which are not found in Ceylon.
It is also related in vol. iv, p. 121 (S. J. Goonetilleke), the
animals being a hind and a tiger.
In vol. i, p. 261, there is a Santal story (J. L. Phillips), in which
a goat with a long beard, which had taken refuge in a tiger's cave
frightened it when asked, "Who are you with long beard and crooked
horns in my house?" by saying, "I am your father." A monkey returned
with it, their tails being tied together. When they came to the cave,
the monkey asked the same question, and received the same answer,
which frightened both animals so much that they fled, the monkey's tail
being pulled off. When the tiger stopped, and began to lick himself, he
found the monkey's tail so sweet that he went back and ate the monkey.
In the Panchatantra (Dubois), a bearded goat frightened a lion that
he found in a cave in which he took refuge, by saying, "I am the Lord
He-goat. I am a devotee of Siva, and I have promised to devour in his
honour 101 tigers, 25 elephants, and 10 lions." He had eaten the rest,
and was now in search of the lions. A jackal persuaded the lion to
return, but the goat frightened them again.
In Old Deccan Days (Frere), p. 303, a pandit frightened a demon in
this manner, by scolding a wrestler who brought for dinner an apparent
goat which the pandit recognised as a demon.
In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 132 ff.--Tales of the
Punjab, p. 123 ff.--a farmer's wife frightened a tiger that was going
to eat a cow. A jackal persuaded it to return, their tails being tied
together. On the tiger's running off again, the jackal was jolted
to death.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. iv, p. 257, there is a Santal story by
Rev. E. T. Cole, of a tiger which was frightened by two brothers. The
three sat round a fire and asked riddles. The tiger's was, "One I
will eat for breakfast, and another like it for supper." The men
expressed their inability to guess the answer, and their riddle was,
"One will twist the tail, the other will wring the ear." When the
tiger was escaping, they held the tail till it came off.
In Tota Kahani (Small), p. 98, a lynx took possession of a tiger's
cave, and behaved like the mouse-deer when the tiger came up. When
the tiger returned with a monkey, the lynx frightened it like the
mouse-deer, by telling its young ones that a monkey friend had sworn to
bring a tiger that day. On hearing this, the tiger killed the monkey,
and fled.
NO. 32
THE CROCODILE'S WEDDING
In a certain country there is a Crocodile in the river, it is said. On
the high ground on the other bank there was a dead Elephant. A Jackal
of the high ground on this side came to the river bank, and on his
saying "Friend," the Crocodile rose to the surface.
Then the Jackal said, "Now then, how are you getting on, living in
that [solitary] way? I could find a wife for you, but to fetch you
a mate I have no means of going over to the land on that bank."
The Crocodile said, "Ane! Friend, if you would become of assistance
to me in that way can't I put you on the other bank?"
The Jackal said, "If so, Friend, put me on the ground on the other
side, so that I may go to-day and ask for a mate for you, and come
back again."
Then the Crocodile, placing the Jackal on his back, swam across the
river, and after placing the Jackal on the other bank returned to
the water.
The Jackal went and ate the body of that dead Elephant. Having eaten it
during the whole of that day, he returned again to the river. Having
arrived there, when he said "Friend," the Crocodile rose to the
surface and asked the Jackal, "Friend, did you ask for a mate for me?"
Then the Jackal said, "Friend, I did indeed ask for a mate; we have
not come to an agreement about it yet. To-morrow I must go again to
settle it. On that account put me on the ground on the other side." So
the Crocodile, placing the Jackal on his back, swam across the river,
and placed the Jackal on this bank.
Next day, as it became light, the Jackal went to the river, and
as he was saying "Friend," the Crocodile rose to the surface. The
Jackal said, "Friend, in order that I may go and make a settlement
of yesterday's affair and return again, put me on the other bank."
Then the Crocodile, placing the Jackal on his back crossed the river,
and having placed the Jackal on the other bank went again into
the water.
The Jackal having gone to the dead body of the Elephant, and eaten
it even until nightfall, came to the river after night had set in. As
he was saying "Friend," the Crocodile rose to the surface, and asked,
"Friend, did you get it settled to-day?"
The Jackal said, "Friend, I have indeed settled the matter. They told
me to come to-morrow in order to summon her to come. On that account
put me on the far bank."
After that, the Crocodile, placing the Jackal on his back, went across
the river, and having placed the Jackal on the ground on this side
returned to the water.
The Jackal next day also, as it became light, went to the river. When
he said "Friend," the Crocodile rose to the surface. The Jackal said,
"Friend, if I must bring and give you your mate to-day, put me on
the other bank."
After that, the Crocodile, placing the Jackal on his back, went across
the river, and having placed the Jackal on the ground on the other
side, went into the water.
The Jackal went that day to the dead body of the Elephant, and having
eaten it until nightfall the Elephant's carcase became finished. In
the evening the Jackal came to the river, and when he was saying
"Friend," the Crocodile rose to the surface, and asked, "Friend,
where is the mate?"
Then the Jackal said, "Ando! Friend, they made a mistake about it
to-day; they told me to return to-morrow to invite her to come. Because
of that put me on the other bank again. Having come to-morrow I will
bring and give you the mate."
After that, the Crocodile, placing the Jackal on his back, swam across
the river, and having put down the Jackal on the ground on this side,
went into the water.
Then the Jackal, sitting down on the high ground on this bank, said
to the Crocodile, "Foolish Crocodiles! Is it true that a Jackal King
like me is going to ask for a wedding for thee, for a Crocodile who
is in the water like thee? I went to the land on that bank to eat the
carcase of an Elephant which died on that side. To-day the carcase
was finished. So now I shall not come again. Thou art a fool indeed."
Having said this, the Jackal came away.
North-western Province.
This story is known by the Village Vaeddas.
In The Orientalist, vol. ii, p. 46, this story is given by
Mr. E. Goonetilleke, the Crocodile being termed an Alligator.
In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 243--Tales of the Punjab,
p. 230--there is a variant in which the Jackal was attracted by a
fruit-laden wild plum tree. He made love to a lady Crocodile, and
was carried across the river by her.
NO. 33
THE GAMARALA'S CAKES
At a village there are a Gamarala (a village headman or elder) and
a Gama-Mahage (his wife) and their four sons, it is said.
One day while they were there the Gamarala said to his wife, "Bolan,
it is in my mind to eat cakes. For the boys and for me fry ample cakes,
and give us them," he said.
The Gamarala was looking out for them for many days; the Gama-Mahage
did not cook and give him the cakes.
Again one day the Gamarala thought of eating cakes. That day, also,
the Gamarala reminded her of the matter of the cakes. On the following
day the Gama-Mahage having fried five large cakes, placed them in the
corn store. The boys having gone to the chena and come back, after
they had asked, "Is there nothing to eat?" the Gama-Mahage said to
the boys, "Look there! There are cakes in the corn store. I put them
there for father, too; eat ye also," she said. The boys having gone
to the corn store, all four ate the cakes.
After they had eaten them, the Gamarala, having gone to the watch-hut,
came back. After he came the boys said, "Father, we ate cakes." When
the Gamarala asked, "Where are [some] for me?" "Mother puts them in
the corn store," they said.
When the Gamarala went to the corn store for the cakes to eat, there
were no cakes. "Where, Bolan, are the cakes?" he asked.
Saying, "Why are you asking for them at my hands? If there are none
the boys will have eaten them," the Gama-Mahage pushed against the
Gamarala.
Then the Gamarala said, "Now I shall not remind you again. You do not
make and give me the food I tell you about." Having said, "It is good,"
and thinking, "Having pounded and taken about half a quart of rice,
and given it at a place outside, and got the cakes fried, I must eat
them," pounding the rice he took it away.
As he was going he saw a poor house. Having seen it the Gamarala
thought, "Should I give it at this house, these persons because they
are poor will take the rice, and I shall not be able to eat cakes
properly." So having gone to a tiled house near it, and given a little
rice, he said, "Make and give me five cakes out of this, please."
The people of the house replied, "It is good," and taking a little
of the rice fried some cakes. The woman who fried them then looked
into the account. "For the trouble of pounding the rice and grinding
it into flour, I want ten cakes," she said. "Also for the oil and
coconuts I want ten cakes, and for going for firewood, and for the
trouble of frying the cakes, I want ten cakes." So that on the whole
account for cooking the cakes it was made out that the Gamarala must
give five cakes.
Next day the Gamarala, having eaten nothing at home, came to eat the
cakes. Having sat down, "Where are the cakes?" he asked.
Then the woman who fried the cakes said, "Gamarala, from the whole
of the rice I fried twenty-five cakes. For pounding the rice and
grinding it into flour I took ten cakes. For the oil and coconuts I
took ten cakes. For going for firewood, and for the trouble of frying
the cakes ten more having gone, still the Gamarala must bring and
give me five cakes."
Then the Gamarala thought, "Ada! What a cake eating is this that has
happened to me!"
After thinking thus, having gone outside and walked along, and come to
that poor house, he sat down. As he was thinking about it that poor man
asked, "What is it, Gamarala, that you are thinking about in that way?"
The Gamarala said, "The manner in which they fried and gave me cakes
at that house," and he told him about it.
Then the man of that poor house said to the Gamarala, "Since we
are poor you did not give the rice to us. If he had given it to us
wouldn't the Gamarala have been well able to eat cakes? The Gamarala
having given us the rice would have had cakes to eat, and still five
cakes to give for that debt.
"For those cakes I will teach the Gamarala a trick," that poor man
said to the Gamarala. "The husband of the woman who fried the cakes
has gone to his village. The woman is now connected with another
man. Every day the man having come at night taps at the door when
he comes. After she has asked from inside the house, 'Who is it?' he
makes a grunt, 'Hum.' Then having opened the door he is given by her
to eat and drink. To-day she will give the cakes made for the Gamarala.
"After the Gamarala has gone at night in that manner, and tapped
at the door, she will ask, 'Who is it?' Then say, 'Hum.' Then she
will open the door. Having gone into the house without speaking, she
will give to eat and drink. Having eaten and drunk, and been there a
little time, open the door and come away." Thus the poor man taught
his lesson to the Gamarala.
In that manner, the Gamarala having gone after it became night,
tapped at the house door. [82] "Who is it?" she asked. "Hum," he
said. Then having opened the door and taken the Gamarala into the
house, she gave him cakes and sweetmeats to eat.
As he was eating them, some one else having come taps at the door. The
Gamarala became afraid. "Don't be afraid," she said, and sent the
Gamarala to the corn loft [under the roof of the house, at the level
of the top of the side walls].
Having sent him there she asked, "Who tapped at the door?" "Hum,"
he said. Then she opened the door, and after she had looked it was
the Tambi-elder-brother, [83] who was trading in the village. She
got him also into the house, and gave him sweetmeats to eat.
When a little time had gone, again some one tapped at the door. Then
the Tambi-elder-brother, having become afraid, prepared to run off
without eating the sweetmeats. "Don't be afraid," she said, and she
put the Tambi also in another part of the corn loft [and he lay down].
Having come back, after she had opened the door and looked, it
was the man of the house who, having been to the village, had come
back. She gave him water to wash his face, hands, and feet. After
he had finished washing, she gave him cakes and the like to eat,
and water to drink. The man afterwards lay down to sleep.
When a little time had gone, the man who went first to the corn loft,
the Gamarala, asked for water, saying, "Water, water." Then the man
of the house having opened his eyes, asked, "What is speaking in the
corn loft?"
"When you went to the village, as you were away a long time, I made
an offering of a leaf-cup of water to the deity. Perhaps the deity
is asking for it now," she said.
Then the man told her to put a coconut in the corn loft. So the woman
put a coconut in the corn loft.
The Gamarala, taking the coconut in his hand, sought for a place
on which to strike it [in order to break it, so that he might
drink the water in it]. As he was going feeling with his hand, the
Gamarala's hand touched a lump like a stone in hardness, the head
of Tambi-elder-brother. After he touched it, the Tambi-elder-brother
[not knowing what it was] through fear trembled and trembled, and did
not speak. Then the Gamarala, taking the coconut, struck it very hard
on the head of the Tambi-elder-brother, thinking it was a stone.
The man of the house thought [before this], "The water in the coconut
is insufficient for the deity. He will be ascending [and leaving
us]." After he had quickly opened the door, and gone out to get more
water to give him, the Tambi-elder-brother sprang from the corn loft,
breaking his head, and ran away.
Then the man who came out to get the water said, "My deity! Here is
water, here is water," holding the water kettle in his hand. While
he was calling out to him, the woman having opened her eyes said,
"What is it, Bolan?" As she was coming outside the man said, "The
deity jumped down and ran away."
At that very time, breaking out from the corn loft, the Gamarala also
jumped down and ran off. Then the man of the house asks the woman,
"Who is that running away?"
The woman says, "Why, Bolan, don't you understand in this way? Didn't
the God Saman also run behind him?"
Village Vaedda of Bintaenna.
NO. 34
THE KINNARA AND THE PARROTS
In a large forest there is a great Banyan tree. In that tree many
Parrots roost. While they were doing so, one day, having seen a Crow
flying near, a Parrot spoke to the other Parrots, and said, "Bolawu,
[84] do not ye ever give a resting-place to this flying animal,"
he said.
While they were there many days after he said it, one day, as a
great rain was falling at night, on that day the flying Crow, saying,
"Ka, Ka," came and settled on the tree near those Parrots.
That night one Parrot out of the flock of Parrots was unable to come
because of that day's rain. Having seen that this Crow was roosting
on the tree, all the Parrots, surrounding and pecking and pecking
the Crow, drove it out in the rain.
Again, saying, "Ka, Ka," having returned it roosts in the same tree. As
the Parrots getting soaked and soaked were driving off the Crow in this
way, an old Parrot, sitting down, says, "What is it doing? Because it
cannot go and come in this rain it is trying [85] to roost here. What
[harm] will it do if it be here this little time in our company?" thus
this old Parrot said. So the other Parrots allowed it to be there,
without driving away the Crow.
While it was there, the Crow in the night left excreta, and in the
morning went away. At the place where the excreta fell a tree sprang up
[from a seed that was in them]; it became very large.
As it was thus, one day as Kinnaras were going near that [Crows']
village, having seen that another tree was near the tree in which
the Parrots roosted, the Kinnaras spoke with each other, "In these
days cannot we catch the Parrots that are in this tree?" they said.
Before that, the Kinnaras were unable to catch the Parrots in the
tree. There was then only that tree in which the Parrots roosted. When
the Kinnaras were going along the tree to catch the Parrots, the
Parrots got to know [owing to the shaking of the tree], so all the
Parrots flew away. Because of that they were unable to catch the
Parrots.
The Kinnaras having [now] gone along the tree which had grown up
through the Crow's dropping the seed under the tree, easily placed
the net [over the Parrots' tree]. All the Parrots having come in the
evening had settled in the tree. Having settled down, and a little
time having gone, after they looked, all the Parrots being folded in
the net were enclosed. The Parrots tried to go; they could not.
While they were under the net in that way, the Parrot Chief says to
the other Parrots, "How has another tree grown up under this tree
that we live in?" thus the Parrot Chief asked the other Parrots. "At a
time when I was not here did ye give a resting-place to any one else?"
Then the Parrots say, "One day when it was raining at night, a Crow
having come and stayed here, went away," they said.
Then the Parrot Chief says, "I told you that very thing, 'Don't give a
resting-place to any one whatsoever.' Now we all have become appointed
to death. To-morrow morning the Kinnaras having come and broken our
wings, seizing us all will go away."
When a little time had gone, the Parrot Chief [again] spoke to the
Parrots, and said, "I will tell you a trick. Should you act in that
way the whole of us can escape," the Parrot Chief said. "When the
Kinnaras come near the tree, all of you, tightly shutting your eyes
and mouths, be as though dead, without even flapping your wings. Then
the Kinnaras, thinking we are dead, having freed us one by one from
the net, when they are throwing us down on the ground, and have taken
and placed all there, fly away after they have thrown down the last
one on the ground," he said.
"That is good," they said.
While they were there, a Kinnara, tying a large bag at his waist,
having come to the bottom of the tree, says, "Every day [before],
I couldn't [catch] ye. To-day ye are caught in my net."
Having ascended the tree, as he was going [along it] the Kinnara says,
"What is this, Bola? Are these dead without any uncanny sound?" Having
climbed onto the tree, after he looked [he saw that] a part having
hung neck downwards, a part on the branches, a part in the net,
they were as though dead.
Then the Kinnara saying, "Ada! Tell ye the Gods! Yesterday having
climbed the tree I had no trouble in spreading the net; to-day having
come to the tree I have no trouble in releasing the net. Ada! May the
Gods be witnesses of the event that has occurred! What am I to do with
these dead bodies!" and freeing and freeing each one from the net,
threw it down on the ground.
As he threw them to the ground he said "One" at the first one that he
threw to the ground, and having taken the account [of them], after all
had fallen, at the time when the Kinnara, freeing the net, was coming
descending from the tree, the whole flock of Parrots went flying away.
Village Vaedda of Bintaenna.
A version of this story from the North-western Province, by a Duraya,
though shorter, contains the same incidents, the tree, however,
being another Fig, the Aehaetu, Ficus tsiela. It ends as follows--
"As he [the Kinnara] was throwing them down in this way, having been
counting and counting 'One,' the Parrot which he counted last having
flapped its wings and screamed, [according to a pre-arranged plan,
to show] that the man was cheated and that it had escaped, flew
away. All the Parrots having gone, after they had looked into the
account of the whole flock [found that] they were all correct.
"Then the Parrots said, 'Let us not give a resting-place to the
Crow. At the places where he goes he is a dangerous one. To us also,
this danger came now [through him]. Ada! Because we gave this one a
resting-place. O Vishnu, burst thou lightning on him who did this to
us! Ada! Where shall we all go now?' After flying and flying in the
midst of the forest, all went to each place where they had relatives."
The story is given in Old Deccan Days (Frere), p. 114, with the
variations that a thousand crows came to the tree instead of one,
and that snares of thread were used in place of the net. The last
parrot did not escape, but was taken away and sold.
In Tota Kahani (Small), p. 64, when a parrot and its young ones were
caught in a net they feigned death. All the young ones escaped by
this means. The mother was captured and sold to the King, and regained
her liberty by pretending to fetch some medicine to cure his illness.
NO. 35
HOW A JACKAL SETTLED A LAWSUIT.
In a village there is a rich foolish man. One son was born to the
man. When they had been there in that way for a long time, as the rich
man's son was growing up, his father died. Then all this wealth came
into the hands of his son. The son was a fool just like the father.
One day, having seen a wealthy man going in a carriage in which a horse
was yoked, that rich man's son thought he ought to go in that way in
a carriage in which a horse was yoked. This rich man having gone home
spoke to a servant, and said, "I will give thee thy expenses for going
and coming. Go thou, and buy and bring me a horse," he said. Having
said it, he gave him a hundred masuran, and having given them sent
him away.
This servant having gone on and on, went to a great big country. Having
gone there, he made inquiry throughout the country--"Are there horses
to sell in this country?"
Then a man of that country said, "The Gamarala of this country has
many horses," he said. This servant who went to bring horses having
given a masurama to the man whom he had met, said, "Please show me the
house of the Gamarala who has the horses," he said. So the man, calling
the servant, having gone to the Gamarala's house, sent him there.
The Gamarala asked these men, "What have you come here for?"
The servant who went to get horses said, "I have come to take a horse
for money," he said.
"For whom?" he asked.
"For a rich man in a village," he said.
Having given fifty masuran he got a horse. After he got it he again
gave a masurama to that man who went with him. Having given it, and
the two persons having gone a considerable distance, [86] this man
left both the horse and the man to go [alone], and went home.
When the servant had taken the horse, and gone a considerable
distance, after he looked [he found that] night was coming on. On
seeing it, taking the horse and saying, "This night I cannot go,"
having sought and sought for a resting-place, he met with a place
where there were chekkus (mills for expressing oil). There this man
found a resting-place; and having tied the horse to an oil-mill, this
servant went to a village, and ate and drank, and having returned went
to a shed at the side of the oil-mill, and lay down to sleep. Having
become much fatigued because he had brought this horse very far,
the servant went to sleep.
At dawn, the man who owned the oil-mill, having arisen and come
near the oil-mill, when he looked saw that a horse was tied near the
oil-mill. So this man thought, "Last night the oil-mill gave birth to
a horse"; and unloosing it from the place where it was tied, the owner
of the oil-mill, having taken the horse home, tied it in the garden.
Then the servant having opened his eyes, after he looked, because the
horse was not near the oil-mill went seeking it. Having seen it tied
in a garden close to a house, he spoke to the [people in the] house,
"Having tied this horse near the oil-mill, in the night I went to
sleep. This one breaking loose in the night came here." Unfastening
it, as he was making ready to go, the man who owned the house came
running, [and saying], "Where did my oil-mill give birth to this
horse for thee last night?" he brought the horse back, and began to
scold the servant. Then the servant thought, "Now I shall not be
allowed to go and give this horse to the rich man. Because of it,
I must go for a lawsuit."
As he was going seeking a trial he met with a place where lawsuits
were heard. The servant having gone [there] told the judge about the
business: "When I was bringing yesterday the horse that I am taking
for a rich man, it became night while I was on the road. As there was
no way to go or come, I tied and placed the horse at this oil-mill,
and went to sleep. Having arisen in the morning, after I looked,
because the horse that I brought was not there I went looking and
looking along its foot-prints. Having seen that it was tied in the
garden near the house of the oil-mill worker, thinking, 'This one
breaking loose has come here,' I unfastened it. As I was making ready
to bring it away, having scolded me and said that the oil-mill gave
birth to the horse, he took it," he said to the judge; and stopped.
Then the judge says, "If the oil-mill gave birth to the horse, the
horse belongs to the man who owns the oil-mill," the judge said.
The servant having become grieved says, "What am I to do now? Without
the masuran which the rich man gave me, and without the horse that I
got after giving fifty masuran, having gone to the village what shall
I say to the rich man, so that I may escape?" he said with much grief.
Then a Jackal having come there along the same road, and having seen
it, asks the servant, "Because of what matter are you going sorrowing
in this way?"
The servant says to the Jackal, "Jackal-artificer, [87] is the trouble
that happened to me right to thee, according to what was said?"
As they were going along, the Jackal, having gone behind him, asks
again, "Tell me a little about it, and let us go. More difficult
things than that have happened to us--folds [full] of scare-crows
tangled together. As we cleared up those with extreme care there is
no difficulty in clearing up this also." So the Jackal-artificer said
to the servant.
Then the servant told the Jackal the way in which the rich man gave
the servant one hundred masuran; the way in which, having given fifty
masuran, he got the horse; the way in which, having brought the horse,
he tied and placed it at the oil-mill; the way in which the oil-mill
owner, unfastening the horse, went and tied it; the way in which,
after he went to ask for it he would not give it, saying that the
oil-mill gave birth to the horse, and came to scold him; then also
what the judge said. The servant told [these] to the Jackal-artificer,
making all clear.
Then the Jackal-artificer says, "Ane! That's thick work. I'll put that
right for you. You must assist me also," he said. "You yourself having
gone near the judge again, and made obeisance, you must say, 'The
oil-mill did not give birth to the horse. The owner of the oil-mill,
unfastening it from the place where I tied it, took it away. I have
evidence of it. Having heard the evidence please do what you want,'"
so the Jackal taught him.
So the servant having gone, made obeisance to the judge. "What have
you come again for?" the judge asked.
Then the servant says, "The oil-mill did not give birth to the
horse. Unfastening it from the place where I tied it, and having gone,
he tied it up. I have evidence of it. Having heard the evidence do
what you want, Sir," he said.
The judge says, "It is good. Who is your witness?"
"The Jackal-artificer," he said. So the judge sent a message to the
Jackal to come. That day the Jackal did not come. On the following
day, also, he sent a message. He did not come. Next day he sent a
message. That day the Jackal, having thoroughly prepared himself,
came to the judgment court.
After the judge asked, "Dost thou know about this lawsuit?" "Yes,
Sir," the Jackal-artificer said.
"Why didst thou not come yesterday," the judge asked the Jackal.
"Yesterday I did not come; I saw the sky," he said. While saying it
the Jackal was sleepy.
Again he asked, "Why didst thou not come on the first day?"
"On that day I saw the earth," he said. While saying it the Jackal
was sleepy.
"Why hast thou come to-day?" he asked.
"To-day I saw the fire," he said.
"Having seen the sky why didst thou not come?" the judge asked.
Then the Jackal says, "O Lord, the sky cannot be trusted. Sometimes it
rains, sometimes it clears up. Because of that I did not come." Having
said it he was sleepy.
"Having seen the earth why didst thou not come?" he asked.
"That also cannot be trusted," he said. "In some places there are
mounds, in some places it is flat; in some places there is water, in
some places there is not water," he said. Having said it he was sleepy.
"What hast thou come to-day for?" the judge asked.
"To-day I saw the fire," he said. "Because of that I came," he
said. Then the Jackal says, "After the fire has blazed up you do not
look after your cold hut. I do not look after my palace also." [88]
Having said it the Jackal was sleepy.
On account of that saying the judge having become angry, "Being here
what art thou sleeping for?" he asked.
"Ane! O Lord who will become a thousand Buddhas [in future existences],
I am very sleepy indeed," he said.
"Why, Bola?" he asked.
"Last night I went to look at the fishes sporting on the land. Because
of that I am sleepy," he said.
Then the judge having become angry with the Jackal, says very severely,
"Having beaten him, cast ye him out."
This rascally Jackal having prayed with closed paws, saying, "O Lord,
who will become a thousand Buddhas," fell down and made obeisance.
"In what country, Bola, Jackal, do the fish who are in the water
sport on the land?" the judge asked the Jackal.
The Jackal said, "I must receive permission [to ask also a question],
O Lord. How does an oil-mill which expresses the kinds of oils give
birth to horses?"
Then the judge, having become ashamed and his anger having gone,
told the rich man's servant to take away the horse.
Village Vaedda of Bintaenna.
In Indian Fables, p. 45, Mr. P. V. Ramaswami Raju gives a South Indian
variant of the latter part of this story. A thief stole a horse that
was tethered to a tree, and then stated that he saw the tree eat the
horse. The case was referred to a fox [jackal]. The fox said he felt
dull. "All last night the sea was on fire; I had to throw a great deal
of hay into it to quench the flames, so come to-morrow and I shall hear
your case." When he was asked how hay could quench flames, he replied,
"How could a tree eat up a horse?"
In Indian Nights' Entertainment, Panjab (Swynnerton), p. 142, there is
a story about a foal that was born in the night while a mare was left
near an oil-press, and was claimed by the oil man. The King who tried
the case decided that the "mare could not possibly have had this foal,
because, you see, it was found standing by the oil-press." A jackal
assisted the owner to recover it, and fell down several times in the
court, explaining that during the night the sea caught fire, and he was
tired out by throwing water on it with a sieve, to extinguish it. When
asked how this could be possible, the jackal retorted by inquiring
if any one in the world ever heard of an oil-press's bearing a foal.
In the interior of West Africa there is a variant, given in Contes
Soudanais (C. Monteil), p. 23. A mare was buried near a house, and
a pumpkin spread from the adjoining piece of land, until it extended
round the stake to which she was formerly tied. When the owner of the
pumpkin split open a fruit that grew near the stake, there were two
foals inside it, which the owner of the mare claimed. The judgment was
that as a dead mare could not bear foals nor a pumpkin contain horses,
neither of the claimants had a right to the foals; but as one sowed
the pumpkin, and the other had watered it, each should take one foal.
In another tale in the same volume, p. 141, a hyaena had a bull
and a hare a cow, which bore a calf in the hare's absence. This was
claimed by the hyaena, as having been borne by the bull. The dispute
was referred to a male rat, which sent its young ones to say that it
could not leave its hole, as it was about to bear young ones. When
the hyaena laughed at the idea, and inquired when such an occurrence
had been known, the rat replied, "Since it has been the bulls which
bore calves."
NO. 36
THE JACKAL AND THE TURTLE
At a village there is a large pond. At the margin of the pond two
Storks [89] live. When they had been eating the small fishes in that
pond in that way for a long time, the pond became dried up by a very
great drought. These two Storks having eaten the small fishes in the
pond until they were becoming finished, one day a Stork of these two
Storks having spoken to the other Stork, says, "Friend, now then,
that we have been here is no matter to us. Because of it let us go
to another district." Thus he spoke.
Now, a Turtle stayed in the pond. The Turtle having heard the speech
of these two Storks, the Turtle says, "Ane! Friends, I also now have
been staying in this pond a long time. The pond having now dried
up, I also have nothing to eat, nor water to be in, and nowhere to
go. Because of it, friends, having taken me to the village to which
you two go, put me down there," the Turtle said to the two Storks.
Then one Stork says to the Turtle, "Ane! Bola, foolish Turtles! How
wilt thou go with us to another village?"
Then the Turtle says, "Ane! Friends, I indeed cannot go flying to
the village to which you go. You two somehow or other having gone
with me must put me there."
Then the two Storks say to the Turtle, "If thou, shutting thy mouth,
wilt remain without speaking anything, we two having gone to the place
where there is water will put thee down there," the two Storks said.
Having said this they brought a stick, and said to the Turtle, "Grasp
the middle of this stick tightly with the mouth, and hold it tightly."
Having said this, the two Storks [holding the stick near the ends]
took the Turtle. While they were going flying, as they were going
above a dried field a Jackal saw the shadow going with the two Storks
carrying the Turtle. Having seen it the Jackal says, "Isn't this a
troublesome comrade they are taking?"
Then the Turtle having become angry, says, "The troublesome comrade
whom they are taking is for thy mother." So the Turtle's mouth was
opened. Then the Turtle fell on the ground. The two Storks left him
and went away.
The Jackal having come running, after he looked saw the Turtle,
and turning and turning it over to eat, when he tried to eat it the
Turtle says, "I have now for a long time been staying dried up without
water. In that way you cannot eat me. Having gone with me to a place
where there is water and put me in it, should I become soaked you
will be able to eat me," he said to the Jackal.
Then the Jackal having taken hold of the Turtle with his mouth, and
placed it in a pond containing water, when he had been treading on
it [to prevent it from escaping] for a little time, the Turtle says,
"Now every place is soaked. Under the sole of your foot, Sir, I have
not got wet. Should you raise the sole of your foot a little it would
be good," it said. So the Jackal raised the foot a little. Then the
Turtle crept to the bottom of the mud. The Jackal quickly seized the
Turtle [by its leg] again.
After he had caught it the Turtle says, "The Jackal-elder-brother
being cheated has got hold of the Ketala [plant] root." The
Jackal-elder-brother quickly having let go the Turtle, speedily got
hold of the Ketala root that was near by. Then the Jackal being unable
[to go deeper], the Turtle going yet a little further in the water,
says, "Bola! Even to-day you are Jackals! When didst thou eat us?"
Many Jackals prated to the Jackal about the Turtle. On account of the
Jackal's being unable to eat the Turtle or to seize it, he became much
ashamed. While he was there, having contrived and contrived a trick,
saying he must somehow or other kill the Turtle, another Jackal came
there to drink water. Having drunk water, he asks the other Jackal,
"What, friend, are you thinking of and clenching your nails about?"
Then the Jackal who was unable to seize the Turtle, says, "Friend,
a Turtle cheated me, and went into this pond. Having become angry on
account of that, I am looking for it in order to kill that one should
that one come onto the land," he said to the other Jackal.
That Jackal says, "Ae, Bola! Fool! How many Turtles are there yet
in the pond? How canst thou seek out the one that cheated thee?" the
Jackal that came to drink water said.
Every day in that manner this Jackal comes to the pond to drink
water. One day when he came to drink water, having seen that a crowd
of Turtles are grimacing on the lotus, the Jackal says, "If ye and
we be friends, how much advantage we can gain by it!" Having spoken
thus on that day the Jackal went away.
Having gone, when he met the Jackal whom the Turtle cheated he said,
"Friend, having met with a crowd of Turtles while they were in the
pond to-day, I spoke words [to them]. We must devise together a trick
to kill them." Having said this the two Jackals talked together.
Again, on a day when the Jackal went to the pond to drink water,
having seen in the [same] way as on that day the Turtles grimacing
on the lotus, the Jackal says, "How can ye and we remain in this
manner? Should ye and we, both parties, take wives [from each other]
wouldn't it be good?" the Jackal asked the Turtles.
Then the Turtles say, "If so, indeed how good it would be!"
"Then one day we will come and speak with ye [about] the
wedding." Having said this the Jackal went away.
Having gone he says to the Jackals, "[After] speaking words with the
Turtles who are in that pond regarding taking and giving wives I have
come away."
Then the other Jackals said, "It is very good. Some day let us all
go." So they spoke.
Again on a day, after the Jackal had gone to the pond to drink water,
on that day, having seen that Turtles more than on the other day were
[there], he says, "Friends, to-day about all of you are [here]. Because
of it, on what day will it be good to come and summon [our wives]?" he
asked.
"We will say in a day or two days," they said.
The Jackal having drunk water and having gone, said to the other
Jackals, "They said they will say in a day or two days [on which day
we are to go to summon our wives]."
Then the Jackal whom the Turtle cheated said, "In some way or other
we must completely destroy them. Friends, somehow or other having
gone and spoken about this wedding, make ready quickly," he said.
On the following day this Jackal went to drink water, and to speak
about the wedding. Having drunk water the Jackal asked the Turtles,
"When will it be good to come?"
"To-morrow will be good," the Turtles said.
Then the Jackal says, "We shall all come. All ye also having got
ready be present."
Having said this, the Jackal quickly came running, and after all the
Jackals had collected together, said, "Let nobody of ye go anywhere
to-morrow. We must all go to call the Turtles for the wedding,
and return."
The Jackal whom the Turtle cheated said, "Somehow or other having
sought out the Turtle that cheated me and called it to the wedding,
I must torture it and kill it," he said.
After that, all the Jackals having collected together, started to go
to call the Turtles for the wedding. Having set off, the Jackal who
drank water at the pond having gone in front to invite the Turtles
[to be ready], said, "They are coming to summon you to the wedding. All
ye having prepared for it be pleased to be quite ready," he said.
Then all the Turtles having come and climbed onto the branches of
trees fallen in the pond, were looking out.
The Jackal who came with the message having gone back near the Jackals,
said, "All the Turtles having climbed on the trees and the branches,
are present looking out till we come."
Well then, all the Jackals having started, while they were going with
the tom-tom beaters, the Jackal who drank water at the pond said,
"You stay here. I will go and look if the Turtles are coming or what."
Having gone, after he looked [he saw that] all the Turtles in
the trees, more than the Jackals, all having climbed onto the
branches, were looking out. Having seen [this] the Jackal says,
"Haven't you tom-toms, drums, kettle-drums?" the Jackal asked the
Turtles. "There! we indeed are coming beating well the tom-toms,
kettle-drums, drums, and [blowing] trumpets," he said.
Then the Turtle Chief said, "Beat our tom-toms," he said.
Then all the Turtles began to beat tom-toms by singing, "Gaja, Gaja;
Gora, Gora; Baka, Baka," enough to destroy the ears.
Then the Jackal having come running to the front of the Jackals, said,
"All the Turtles having climbed completely along the branches of the
trees are there. We all having gone near the Turtles must go along
the trees that we can mount onto, and seize the Turtles," he said.
Then the Jackal Chief said, "Not so. As we come very near the Turtles
beat this tom-tom verse," he said. Then all at a leap having jumped
onto the trees where the Turtles are he told them to seize them. The
very tom-tom verse that he told the tom-tom beaters to beat on the
tom-toms is, "Ehe; Kata, kata, kata. Ehe; Kata, kata, kata."
Then when they were far off, the Turtles having seen the Jackals
coming, said, "There they are, Bola. Now then, get ready."
As they were coming near, beating the tom-toms, "Ehe; Kata, kata,
kata. Ehe; Kata, kata, kata," the Turtles having heard all this,
all the Turtles began to cry out, "Baka, Baka," as they came near.
Then, as they came very near, singing "Baka, Baka," all the Turtles
sprang into the pond [and disappeared].
On account of this thing that they did, the Jackals became still
more ashamed. "These Cattle-Turtles have cheated us," they said;
and having become angry, went away.
The way the Jackal-artificers called the Turtles to the wedding
is good.
Village Vaedda of Bintaenna.
The first part of this tale is found in the Jataka story No. 215
(vol. ii, p. 123). In it two Hansas or sacred Geese asked a Turtle
to accompany them to their home, a golden cave in the Himalayas. They
carried it like the Storks. The Jackal is not introduced at all. Some
village children saw the Turtle in the air, and made a simple remark
to that effect. The Turtle, wishing to reply, opened its mouth,
and was smashed by falling in the King's court-yard.
In the Panchatantra (Dubois), as well as in a variant of the
North-western Province of Ceylon, and elsewhere in the island, the
story does not end at this point, but with the escape of the Turtle
after the Jackal had soaked it in the water.
In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 37, the story ends
with the fall of the Turtle, which was being carried to a lake in
which there was water. In this case, as in the Jataka story, the
point to be illustrated only required the Turtle to fall and be killed.
The variant of the North-western Province is practically identical
with the first part of the Vaedda tale, but the drought is stated
to have lasted for seven years. The Jackal was about to howl, and on
turning his head upward for the purpose saw two Black Storks carrying
the Turtle.
He asked, "Where are you taking a present?" (referring to the way
in which a considerable load is sometimes carried slung on a stick,
the ends of which rest upon the shoulders of two men, one in front and
the other behind). The Turtle replied, "For your mother's head." When
the Jackal tried to eat it he heard the Turtle laughing inside the
shell, and said, "Friend, what are you laughing at?" The Turtle said,
"I am laughing at your thinking you can eat me in that way. I have
been dried up for seven years, and if you want to eat me you must
first soak me in water." The Jackal did this, and the Turtle escaped
in the way related by the Vaeddas.
The rest of the story is, I think, found only among the
Vaeddas. Although it is clear that it must have been invented by the
settled inhabitants of villages, the marriage custom according to which
the bride was to be taken to the bridegroom's house to be married is
not that of the modern Sinhalese, but is in accordance with the story
related in the Mahavansa, i, p. 33, regarding the marriage of a Vaedi
Princess at the time of Wijaya's landing in Ceylon. The Sinhalese
custom is found in the story of the Glass Princess (No. 4), in which
six Princes accompanied by their parents, went to their brides'
city to be married, returning home with their brides afterwards.
It is probable that the original story ended with the escape of the
Turtle from the Jackal after it was placed in the water. It is a
folk-tale, and not a story written to illustrate a maxim. It appears
to have been invented to show the folk-lore superiority of the Turtle's
intelligence over that of the Jackal. The Turtle is always represented
as a very clever animal, not only because of the ease with which he can
protect himself by withdrawing his head and legs inside the shell--of
which Mr. A. Clark, formerly of the Forest Department of Ceylon, and
I once had an amusing illustration at a pool in the Kanakarayan-aru,
when his bull-terrier made frantic attempts to kill one, like the
Jackal--but possibly also because, as I was told of another amphibious
animal in West Africa, "he lives both in the water and on the land,
therefore he knows the things of both the land and the water."
In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 134, the story as far as the escape of
the Turtle was given by Mr. H. A. Pieris, the animals concerned being
wrongly termed Tortoise, Cranes, and Fox; the two latter animals are
not found in Ceylon. To this the Editor added the story found in the
Hitopadesa, in which the animals were a Turtle and two Geese, which
agreed to carry the Turtle to another lake in order that it might not
be killed by some fishermen next day. Some herdsmen's boys saw it,
and remarked that if it fell they would cook and eat it. The Turtle
replied, "You shall eat ashes," fell down, and was killed by the men.
In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 37, the birds were
"Swans" (probably Hansas, which are always represented as geese in
ancient carvings in Ceylon). Some men made remarks to each other on the
strange object that was being carried, and the Turtle, on asking the
birds what the chattering was about, fell and was killed by the men.
In Old Deccan Days (Frere), p. 310, a Jackal escaped from an Alligator
[Crocodile] in the same manner as the Turtle.
In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 155--Tales of the Punjab,
p. 147--an Iguana or Monitor Lizard outwitted a Jackal who had caught
him by the tail as he was entering the hole in which he lived. Both
pulled for a long time without any result. At last the Lizard said
he gave in, and requested the Jackal to allow him to turn round and
come out. When released he disappeared into the hole.
NO. 37
THE LION AND THE TURTLE
In a jungle there is a Lion King. While he was there, one day there
was no prey for the Lion King when he was walking about seeking it. He
obtained nothing as prey that day. As the Lion through fatigue was
staying below a great big tree, avoiding the heat, he went to sleep.
While he was sleeping, a Turtle came out [of the bushes], having
set off to go away from there. As he was going along, a "sara, sara"
sound was heard, having been made by the dry leaves. The Lion King
having opened his eyes [90] at the sound of this Turtle's going,
after he had looked saw the Turtle, and having become angry sprang
at once near the Turtle. Having said, "Bola! What art thou going
on a rapid journey in this manner for? Didst thou not see that I am
[here]?" the Lion King pushed against the Turtle.
Then the Turtle says, "O Lord who will become a thousand Buddhas
[in future existences], I didn't come to cause you alarm, Sir; I am
walking to procure my food," the Turtle said to the Lion King.
"What art thou going to seek and eat in this forest?" the Lion asked.
Then the Turtle says, "O Lord, I am walking to obtain and eat any
sort of things that I can eat," the Turtle said.
Then anger having gone to the Lion, he sprang to eat the Turtle. Then
the Turtle, having brought his head inside, became like a stone. After
he became thus, the Lion turning the Turtle to that side and to this
side, and having clawed him and bitten him, looked at him, having been
unable to do anything to him. After he had been looking the Lion says,
"Having been like a what-is-it stone, didn't you preach to me in
overbearing words?"
When he had been looking at him a little time, as the Turtle,
having put his head outside again, was going off, the Lion says,
"Bola, art thou a being who can do anything?"
"O Lord, the things that you, Sir, can do you do. I do the things
that I can do," the Turtle said.
"Bola, canst thou, who endest by drawing slowly and slowly what is
like a lump of stone, run, jump, roar, swim in rivers that way and
this way, equal to me? And what canst thou do to me, who having roared
and caused the bottom of the ears to burst, and killed every animal,
eats it?" the Lion said.
Then the Turtle says, "You, Sir, frighten and eat even all. You cannot
frighten and kill, nor eat, me except on land. In the water, you,
Sir, cannot swim that side and this side equal to me," the Turtle
said to the Lion.
After the Lion, having become angry, said, "Wilt thou come to swim
that side and this side with me? If not, I will put thee under a
large stone," the Turtle having become afraid that he would kill him,
having given his word to swim with the Lion that side and this side
in a river, went near the river.
Having gone [there] the Turtle met with yet a Turtle, and said,
"Friend, a great trouble has befallen me to-day." After the friendly
Turtle asked, "What is it, friend?" the other Turtle says, "The Lion
King has come and wagered with me to swim that side and this side,"
he said.
Then the Turtle says, "Why are you afraid of that, friend? Say, 'It
is good.' I will tell you a good trick; you act in that way. What is
it? You place a red flower in your mouth. I will place a red flower
in my mouth. You having been on this side with the Lion King, and
having sprung into the river and hidden at the bottom of the water
very near there, remain [there]. I having hidden near the river bank
on that side will be [there]. The Lion King having come swimming,
as he is going to land on that side, I being near the river bank and
having said, 'Kurmarsha,' [91] taking the flower will land [before
him]. You also in that way having been hidden near the bank on this
side, as the Lion King is going to land, having said, 'Kurmarsha,'
quickly land [before him]." The friendly Turtle having said [this],
hid at the bottom of the water near the bank on that side of the river.
The Turtle that spoke with the Lion went near the Lion. Then the Lion
asks, "Art thou coming to swim?" he asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty," the Turtle said.
Then [after they had gone to the river] the Lion said to the Turtle,
"Thou, having swum in front, be off. I having come slowly shall get
in front of thee," he said.
Then the Turtle, also holding a red flower in his mouth, having
descended to the river, and having gone a little far, got hid
at the bottom of the water. While it was hidden, as the Lion was
going swimming near the river bank, the other Turtle which stopped
at that side, having got in front before the Lion landed, and said,
"Kurmarsha," having placed a red flower also in his mouth, landed on
the river bank at once.
The Lion having seen him, again sprang into the river. As he came
to this side, the Turtle that remained at the bank at this side,
having got in front of the Lion at once, taking the flower also, said,
"Kurmarsha," and landed.
Again the Lion swam to the other side. In that very way the Turtle
having been there and said, "Kurmarsha," landed [in front of him].
Thus, in that way, when swimming seven or eight times, the Lion,
who was without even any prey that day, having become unable to swim,
and being without strength in the middle of the river, died.
Village Vaedda of Bintaenna.
In a variant of the North-western Province, the Lion lived in a cave,
and met the Turtle when he went to the river to drink. He told the
Turtle that it was unable to travel quickly because it always lived in
one place. The Turtle shrugged its shoulders, and replied, "Can you
travel better than I?" The Lion challenged it to race with him, and
the Turtle accepted the challenge, fixing the time eight days later.
The race of the two animals was not across the river, but along it,
a series of Turtles having been stationed at various points where
it was arranged that the Lion should come to the bank and call out,
"Friend." At each place a Turtle rose on hearing this, and said,
"What is it, friend?" At the fifth stage, the Lion leapt over two
stages as quickly as one, and broke his neck.
The resemblance of the race in this variant to that between Brer
Rabbit and Brer Tarrypin in Uncle Remus is striking; it even extends
to the number of stages, five in both stories.
In The Orientalist, vol. i, pp. 87, 88, Mr. W. Goonetilleke gave
a variant from Siam, by Herr A. Bastian, in which the animals were
the Garuda [or Rukh] and the Turtle; and two others by Lord Stanmore,
from Fiji, where the animals were a Crane and a Crab in one instance,
and a Crane and a Butterfly in the other, the insect being perched
on the bird's back during the race.