STORIES TOLD
OF OR BY
THE LOWER CASTES
NO. 38
THE MONKEY AND THE WEAVER-BIRD
In the midst of a forest there were a Wandura (a large grey Monkey,
Semnopithecus) and a Weaver-bird.
One day the Monkey came to the tree in which the Weaver-bird lodged,
and after that a great rain-storm began. The Weaver-bird without
getting wet remained in much comfort in its nest; the Monkey stayed
in a fork of the tree, getting thoroughly soaked.
Then the Weaver-bird said, "Why does a person endowed with hands and
feet, and strength, like thee, get soaked in this rain? Such a small
animal as I am having built a house stays in it without getting
wet. Not a drop of rain leaks into it. If I were equal to thee I
should build a good house."
On account of that remark the Monkey became angry, and saying,
"What is my business to thee?" broke down the nest of the Weaver-bird.
Then the Weaver-bird went to the [Monkey] King, and instituted an
action [against the Monkey]. Afterwards, orders were issued by the
King to seize the Monkey. After remaining in concealment, the Monkey,
thinking, "If I should be caught they will kill me," plucked a Jak
fruit, and went with it to the King. After that [the King] caused
the Weaver-bird to be brought, so that he might try the case.
As he was inquiring into the case, it came to be accepted that
on account of his breaking down the nest the fault lay with the
Monkey. Then the Monkey said, "The action is coming to an end. Will
the Maharaja be pleased to look behind me?"
At that very time, when the King having considered [his judgment],
looked around, he saw that there was a Jak fruit behind the
Monkey. Then the King, thinking, "The Jak fruit has been brought
to be given to me for the sake of obtaining my favour," said to the
Weaver-bird, "The fault is in thy hands. Whether he gets soaked or
however he may be, it is no affair of thine."
Having said this, the King drove her away; and the Monkey, having
given him the Jak fruit, went away.
At that time animals were able to talk.
Potter. North-western Province.
The first part of this story is given in the Hitopadesa, but not the
trial before the Monkey King.
NO. 39
THE JACKAL DEVATAWA
In a certain country there was a dead Elephant, it is said. A Jackal
having gone to eat the Elephant's carcase, and having eaten and eaten
a hole into the Elephant from behind, passed inside it. While he was
eating and eating the carcase of the Elephant as he remained inside
it, the skin [dried and] became twisted up, and the path by which
the Jackal entered became closed.
A man who was a tom-tom beater was going near it, taking a tom-tom
for a devil-dance. Then among the bones the sound of tom-tom beating
was heard. So the Jackal asked, "Who is going here?"
The tom-tom beater said, "I am going to this devil-dance."
The Jackal said, "What art thou going this way for, without
permission?"
The tom-tom beater replied, "O Lord, I am going without knowing about
this [permission's being necessary]."
The Jackal asked, "What wilt thou obtain for the dancing?"
The tom-tom beater said, "I receive presents and the like."
Then the Jackal said, "I will give thee a present better than
money. It is owing to thy good luck that thou hast come this way. I
am a Devatawa (deity) who is guarding his own treasure here. If I am
to give thee the treasure, split one eye (end) of the tom-tom which
is in thy hand, and having filled it with water and brought it here,
pour it on this Elephant."
After that, the tom-tom beater having plucked out the eye of the
tom-tom, filling it with water brought it, and poured it on the
Elephant's dried up carcase. The Jackal, also, sitting inside it,
worked and worked it into the skin with its muzzle. Having made the
skin pliable it sprang out, and went away.
When this man looked inside, no deity was there, but there were many
maggots. So the man, taking his broken tom-tom, went home.
In a few days afterwards, a rain having fallen, the Elephant's carcase
floated, and went down into the water-course. From the water-course
it passed down to the stream. A flock of crows covered the carcase. As
they were going eating and eating the dead body, it descended into the
river, and from the river it passed down to the great sea. There the
skin having rotted began to fall to the bottom. After the crows had
looked [around], there was not even a tree [to be seen], and before
they were able to fly to a place where there were trees their wings
were broken, and they died.
Washerman. North-western Province.
A variant related in another village is nearly the same. Some tom-tom
beaters passing the Elephant's carcase were accosted by the Jackal,
to whom they replied that they were going to "a poya tom-tom beating,"
that is, one given on the Buddhist sabbath, at the quarter of the
moon. When he inquired what profit they would get from it, they
stated that they would receive cakes and milk-rice. "You don't want
cakes and milk-rice," he said, "I will give you gold. Bring water
to this Elephant's carcase." They did so, breaking open the "eyes"
of their tom-toms for the purpose, and the Jackal escaped.
The story concludes: "For the tom-tom beaters there was neither gold,
nor cakes and milk-rice. Having broken their tom-toms, lamenting and
lamenting they went to their village."
In the Jataka story No. 148 (vol. i, p. 315), a Jackal became
imprisoned in the same way, but escaped when a tempest soaked the
skin. The tale is also given in No. 490 (vol. iv, p. 206).
In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 77, a man crept inside
the skin of an Elephant from which jackals had eaten the flesh. A
rain-storm caused it to contract (?) and closed the aperture. The flood
carried it into the Ganges and thence to the sea. There a Garuda [Rukh]
picked it up, and took it to Ceylon, where the man escaped when it tore
open the hide. I insert the following as an account of the supposed
state of things in Ceylon under the rule of Vibhisana, the Rakshasa
King of Ceylon, after the death of Ravana: "Two Rakshasas contemplated
him from a distance with feelings of fear." They reported his arrival
to Vibhisana, who sent for him and entertained him in a friendly and
hospitable manner. When asked how he came to Ceylon, the Brahmana
cunningly replied that he had been sent by Vishnu, who had informed
him that Vibhisana would present him with wealth. He stayed some time
in the island, and was allowed a young Garuda on which to ride about
the country, and at last he was carried back to Mathura by it.
In Old Deccan Days (Frere), p. 179, a Jackal got inside a dead bullock,
and informed the scavengers who came to bury it that he was the god
of their village. They poured water on the hide, and he escaped.
In Indian Folk Tales (Gordon), p. 61, a live Elephant swallowed a
Jackal. The Jackal fed on the heart and killed the Elephant, but was
imprisoned inside when the skin dried up. When the God Mahadeo (Siva),
who was passing, heard cries and inquired who was there, the Jackal,
after ascertaining who it was, said that he was Sahadeo, father of
Mahadeo, and induced the latter to prove his identity by causing a
heavy rainfall, owing to which the skin was softened and he escaped.
It is said in the Southern Province that all tom-tom beaters are
fools. [92] In the North-western Province the same opinion is held
regarding some of them. To what extent it is justified I am unable to
say, but an example which supported the general notion fell under my
own observation. Some jungle was being cut for an irrigation channel,
at the side of an uncultivated field belonging to a tom-tom beaters'
village, and one of the men came to watch the progress of the work. I
questioned him regarding eggs. He stated at first that only things
which could fly laid eggs, but he admitted that this rule did not apply
to crocodiles, lizards, and snakes. About bats he was not certain, but
thought they do not lay eggs. Rats certainly do not lay them, he said.
I had seen a Green Bee-eater flying near us, and I observed a small
hole such as this bird makes as its nest-hole, in the sandy ground. I
drew his attention to it, and he at once asserted that it was a
rat-hole; of that he had no doubt whatever. "Well then, let us see
if there are any eggs in it," I said, knowing that it was then the
breeding season of the Bee-eaters.
He looked on, smiling ironically, while I got one of my men to open
the tunnel carefully. When he came to the end, there on the sand,
in a little saucer-shaped cavity, were four shining, spherical white
eggs of the bird. The man was astonished, but was quite satisfied
that they were rat's eggs. "I saw them with my two eyes," he said to
my men, who all laughed at him.
The following stories were written for me as the foolish doings
traditionally attributed to the tom-tom beaters of a village in the
North-western Province. Apparently the village is at the side of a
rice field.
NO. 40
A KADAMBAWA MAN'S JOURNEY TO PUTTALAM
In order to go to Puttalam, a Kadambawa man having yoked his bull in
his cart, sent it in advance with the cart, saying, "My bull knows
the way to Puttalam." He himself walked behind the cart.
The bull [being without guidance], having gone completely round the
rice field, came again to the path leading to the man's house. There
the man's children came out, saying, "Ade! Has our father been to
Puttalam and come back?"
The man [thinking he had come to another village] said, "What are
you saying 'Father' to me for? I am a Kadambawa man. I am going to
Puttalam." Then he again sent on the bull in front [as before].
In the same manner as before, the bull having gone round the rice
field came again to the house. Then those children saying, "Ade! Has
our father been to Puttalam and come back?" went on in front.
Then the man said, "Ha! At each place that I go to, the boys call me
'Father.' I am a Kadambawa man. I am going to Puttalam. At a village
on the road, also, certain boys said 'Father' to me." So saying,
he again sent on the bull in front.
In the same way as before, the bull turning round the rice field
came again to the village. Again the man's children said, "Ade! Has
our father been to Puttalam and come back? Have you come on in front
[of the others who went]?"
Then the man said, "Ha! At each place that I go to, the boys say
'Father' to me. I am a Kadambawa man. I am going to Puttalam. At two
villages on the road the boys called me 'Father.'"
As he was setting off to go again, the man's wife came and spoke
to him. Then the man having recognised that it was his own house,
unfastened the bull, and having sent it off to eat food stayed quietly
at home.
In The Orientalist, vol. ii, p. 102, there is a story by
Mr. A. E. R. Corea, in which a man who was going to a village in order
to hire out his bull, allowed the animal to take its own way while he
trudged behind it. The bull wandered about eating, and at last lay
down near a stream. The man being tired out also lay down, and fell
asleep. He was close to his own house, and was found by his children
when they went for firewood. When they spoke to him, he denied that he
was their father, and drove them away; but his wife afterwards came,
and by means of her broom-stick convinced him that he was at home.
NO. 41
THE KADAMBAWA MEN AND THE HARES
The Kadambawa men having gone to set nets, a great many hares were
caught in the nets. Afterwards the men, having seized the hares,
doubled up the hind legs of the hares at the joints, and the fore-legs
at the joints, and threw them on the ground, in order to make a heap
of them in one place afterwards. Then all the hares ran away into
the jungle.
After all the hares in the nets had been finished, when they looked
for the dead hares there was not even one hare. Then the men were
astonished at the coming to life of the hares which they had killed,
saying, "How thoroughly we killed the hares!" After having become
fixed like stone [with astonishment] until nightfall, they went in
the evening to their houses.
NO. 42
THE KADAMBAWA MEN AND THE MOUSE-DEER
The Kadambawa men having appointed a wedding-[day], and having caught
a great many Mouse-deer [for eating at it], tied clappers on their
necks like those on goats, and having made an enclosure put them in
it, and came away. The Mouse-deer escaped into the jungle.
Having gone to it on the wedding-day, when they looked there was not
one Mouse-deer left. Then the men, saying, "Ane! The Mouse-deer that
we reared have all gone," came back to the village, much astonished.
NO. 43
THE KADAMBAWA MEN AND THE BUSH
As the Kadambawa men were going away with some drums one night, to
attend a devil-dance, they met with a Wara [93] bush on the path,
which looked like an elephant. The men became afraid, thinking,
"Maybe an elephant has come onto the path." At the shaking of the
leaves of the Wara bush they said, "He is shaking his ears."
Being afraid to go past the elephant, they beat the drums until it
became light, to frighten the Wara bush. When they looked after it
became light, it was not an elephant; it was a Wara tree. After that,
they came back to their village. So they had neither the devil-dance
nor went to sleep.
NO. 44
HOW THE KADAMBAWA MEN COUNTED THEMSELVES
Twelve Kadambawa men having gone to cut fence sticks, and having
cut and tied up twelve bundles of them, set them on end leaning
against each other [before carrying them home]. Then a man said,
"Are our men all right? Have all come? We must count and see."
Afterwards a man counted them. When he was counting he only counted
the other men, omitting himself. "There are only eleven men; there
are twelve bundles of fence sticks," he said.
Then another man saying, "Maybe you made a mistake," counted them
again in the same way. He said, "This time also there are eleven men;
there are indeed twelve bundles of fence sticks."
Thus, in that manner each one of the twelve men counted in the
same way as at first. "There are eleven men and twelve bundles of
fence-sticks. There is a man short," they said, and they went into
the jungle to look for him.
While they were in the chena jungle seeking and seeking, a man of
another village, hearing a loud noise of shouting while he was going
along the road, having come there to see what it was, found these
twelve men quarrelling over it. Then this man asked, "What are you
saying?"
The men said, "Twelve of our men came to cut fence sticks. There are
now twelve bundles of sticks; there are only eleven men. A man is
short yet."
When this man looked there were twelve men. So he said, "All of you
take each one his own bundle of fence sticks." Then the twelve men
having taken the twelve bundles of sticks came to their village.
In Indian Fables (Ramaswami Raju), p. 61, twelve pigs crossed a stream,
and counting themselves in the same way on the opposite bank, thought
that one had been drowned.
In Indian Nights' Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 305, seven Buneyr men
[weavers] counted their number as six, and were so delighted when a
shepherd proved that there were seven that they insisted on doing a
month's free labour for him. Next day, however, one killed his mother
in driving a fly off her face, and another chopped off the heads of
several goats for mocking him by chewing their cud while he was eating,
so he dispensed with the rest of their services.
In the Adventures of the Guru Paramarta (Dubois, 1872) the Guru and
his five foolish disciples, after long delay because of the danger,
crossed a river in which the water was only knee-deep. On reaching
the far bank one of them counted the party several times, omitting
himself, and they concluded that one had been drowned in the river,
which they had heard was a treacherous one. They lamented, and cursed
the river, one after another, until a traveller arrived. When he had
heard their story he offered to restore the missing man to them by
means of magic, for which service they agreed to pay him all the money
they had, forty panams of gold. He said to the Guru, "It is a very
little thing in comparison with the service that I promise to render
you. However, as you say it is all that you possess, and as you are
in other respects a good man who does not intend any malice thereby,
I consent." He set the six persons in a row, and struck each one a
good blow on the back with his stick as he counted him in a loud voice.
In the Laughable Stories, of Bar-Hebraeus (Budge), the counting tale
is No. 569. A man counted his asses and found there were ten, then
having mounted on one he omitted it, and made the number nine. He
dismounted and found there were ten; mounted again and counted only
nine. He got down again, and saw that there were ten. Then saying,
"Verily there is a devil in me, for whenever I mount an ass I lose
one of them," he went on foot for fear of losing one permanently.
The counting incident is found in China also. In A String of Chinese
Peach-Stones, by W. A. Cornaby, p. 276, a stupid Yamun underling
who was taking a rascally monk to prison, kept counting the things
he had with him, "Bundle, umbrella, cangue (the heavy wooden collar
on the prisoner's neck), warrant, monk, myself." On the way he got
drunk and went to sleep. The monk took advantage of the opportunity
to shave his head and place the cangue on his neck, after which
he absconded. When the man awoke, and began to count the things,
he found everything there but himself.
NO. 45
THE KADAMBAWA MEN AND THE DREAM
When some Kadambawa men, having joined together, were going away to
Puttalam, it became night while they were on the road. Having got a
resting-place, and cooked and eaten, while they were sleeping a tusk
elephant appeared to a man in a dream.
On the morning of the following day the man said to the other men,
"Friends, last night I saw an evil dream."
The men asked, "What was in the dream?"
The man said, "I saw a tusk elephant."
Then the men began to interpret the dream. They said, "What is the
meaning? If there is a tusk elephant there will be elephant's dung;
if elephant's dung, paddy [which the elephant has eaten]; if paddy,
uncooked rice; if uncooked rice, cooked rice; if cooked rice, it is
a thing [found only] in the village. Therefore the elephant means
the village. Something must have happened. It is useless for us to
go on. Let us go back to the village." So all, weeping and weeping,
set out to return to the village.
As they came to the rice field of the village, the women and boys of
the village having heard the men coming crying and crying aloud, said,
"Ane! Our men are coming crying and crying. What is it? It will be a
dreadful thing." So the women and boys, having come from the houses to
that side of the field before those men came across, began to cry also.
On seeing them, the man who saw the dream said to those other men,
"Look there! Did I tell you falsely?" Then the men cried the
more. Having seen it, these boys and women, they also cried more
and more. The two parties having come quite near each other still
cried. The women and boys on that side of the stile [at the edge of
the field], these men on the field side of it, except that they cried
said nothing.
While they were crying and crying until it became night, as a man
from another village was going along the path he heard this uproar,
and came to see what it was. He asked at the hand of the men, "What
is it? Who is dead?"
Then the men, crying and crying, said, "Who is dead we don't know."
After that, the man having gone near those women and boys, asked,
"What is it? Who is dead?"
Then those persons also said, crying and crying, "Who is dead we
don't know."
Afterwards the man having stopped the crying of both parties, when he
had asked them about it, there was nothing dreadful. So the man went
away, and these men and women and boys, they also went to their houses.
In Indian Nights' Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 348, a weaver girl
said to herself that it would be a good thing if she married in her own
village, but if she had a son and he were to die, how her relatives
and friends would lament! The thought of it made her cry. When her
aunts and friends observed it they all cried too, and her father and
uncles and brothers coming up and seeing all these people crying,
also cried. When a neighbour asked the men what it was about, who was
dead? they could not tell him, but referred him to the women. He then
learnt that these also did not know, but cried because they saw the
girl crying.
NO. 46
THE FOUR TOM-TOM BEATERS
This story is told in the Southern Province to illustrate the
foolishness of this caste.
Four Tom-tom Beaters when proceeding along a road together,
met a man of lower caste than themselves. Before passing them he
made an obeisance, and (as usual in such cases) said, "Awasara,"
"Permission"--that is, "Have I permission (to pass)?"--and then
walked away.
While the Tom-tom Beaters were going along afterwards a dispute
arose over it, each person claiming that he was the one who had been
addressed, and to whom the obeisance had been made, as being the
superior man of the party. Each maintaining his own view, and being
unable to settle it in any other way, the four persons decided to refer
the matter to the man himself. They therefore turned back and ran after
him, and on overtaking him requested him to state from which of them
he had asked the permission. As the question plainly indicated the sort
of persons they were, he replied, "From the biggest fool among you."
This left matters just where they were, as each one, in order to prove
his claim to the obeisance, then declared himself to be the greatest
fool; and at last they related their foolish actions. These were
pointless, and I did not preserve the details. Each, however, had two
wives, this being one of the grounds on which all based their claims,
and the details they gave consisted of accounts of the ill-treatment
that they received from these women.
In Indian Nights' Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 65, a traveller threw
four pence to four weavers, each of whom claimed all the money. A
second traveller's reasonable suggestion that each should take a
penny was rejected, and they ran after the man, and asked for whom
he had given them. When he inquired which was the wisest they told
stories that only indicated their extreme stupidity, and in the end
he gave them four pence each, all being equal in this respect.
The Abbé Dubois gave a similar story from the Tamil of Southern India,
the men being four Brahmanas to whom a soldier said, "Saranam, eiyar"
("Homage, Sir"). The four replied, "Asirvatam" ("Benediction"),
and the man went off. After disputing about it, they ran after him
for a league, and asked him whom he saluted. He said, "Well, it is
the biggest fool of four whom I intended to salute." Eventually the
matter was referred to the headmen of the next village, who after
hearing their accounts of their silly deeds, decided that each one
might claim superiority over the others. "Thus," said they, "each one
of you has gained his case." The men were satisfied, as each had won.
In Folk-Tales of Hindustan (Shaik Chilli), p. 1, there is a version in
which two men were saluted by an old woman as they passed her. After a
dispute over it, when they ran back and asked her about it, she replied
that she saluted the greater fool of the two. Then they related their
experiences to her, and she adjudged one to be a bigger fool than
the other.
NO. 47
THE GOLDEN TREE
At a certain city there is a King, it is said; there are three Princes
of that King. The King, while sleeping, saw in a dream that a Golden
Tree sprang up, and on that Golden Tree a Silver Flower blossomed. A
Silver Cock that was sitting on the Silver Flower crowed.
Afterwards the King caused the three Princes to be fetched. When the
eldest Prince had been brought he asked him, "Son, can you explain
this dream which I have had?"
The Prince asked, "What appeared in the dream, Father-King?"
The King said, "A Golden Tree having been created, on it a Silver
Flower blossomed, and a Silver Cock crowed while sitting upon the
flower."
The Prince said, "Ane! Father-King, I cannot interpret it; perhaps
my two younger brothers will explain it."
Then the King having caused the next Prince to be fetched, asked him,
"Son, can you explain this dream?"
The Prince asked, "Father-King, what appeared in the dream?"
The King told him the manner in which the things appeared in the dream.
The Prince said, "Father-King, I cannot explain it; perhaps younger
brother will interpret it."
Then the King having caused the youngest Prince to be brought asked
him, "Son, can you explain this dream?"
The Prince asked, "Father-King, what appeared in the dream?"
The King told him the manner in which the things appeared in the dream.
Then the Prince said, "O Lord, Your Majesty, I will interpret that
dream, but I must first go in search of the explanation."
After that, the three Princes obtained leave of absence for three
years. Having got it, the three persons, cooking a bundle of rice,
and taking from their father permission to depart, started to go in
search of the interpretation. Having gone on and on, they came to a
junction of three roads. Having arrived at it, and eaten the bundle
of cooked rice, the eldest Prince said, "I will go along this road;
you go on those two roads." So the eldest Prince went along one road,
the second Prince went along another road, and the youngest Prince
went on the remaining road.
Having gone on and on, the youngest Prince arrived at the house of
a widow woman. The woman said, "Ane! Son, what have you come here
for? We have not even firewood for cooking."
The Prince asked, "Why, mother, is that?"
The widow woman said, "There is a Yaka in the jungle in which is
the firewood. The Yaka has now eaten all the people of this city;
few people are now in it."
The Prince asked, "How does that Yaka seize the men?"
The widow woman said, "When they go to the jungle and are cutting
firewood, he comes saying 'Hu,' and eats them."
Afterwards the Prince, taking his sword, went to the jungle, and
chopped a piece of firewood. The Yaka came, saying "Hu." Then the
Prince chopped at the Yaka with that very sword, and the Yaka died
there. After that, the Prince, taking a bundle of firewood, returned
to the house of the widow woman.
The widow woman asked, "Son, did you meet with the Yaka?"
The Prince said, "I met with him; I killed the Yaka."
Then having cooked with the firewood, she gave the Prince to eat.
On the morning of the following day the King went to the jungle,
and chopped firewood. That day the Yaka did not come, saying
"Hu." Afterwards, through the Yaka's not saying "Hu," the King went
to look for him, and saw that the Yaka was dead. So the King returned
to the city, and saying, "I must find now, in a moment, the man who
killed the Yaka," caused proclamation to be made by beat of tom-toms
to that effect.
Having heard it, this widow woman, summoning the Prince, went to the
palace, and told the King that he had killed the Yaka. After that
the King asked at the hand of the Prince, "How did you kill the Yaka?"
The Prince said, "I went to the jungle, and while I was chopping
firewood the Yaka having come crying "Hu," sprang onto me. Then I
speedily chopped at him and killed him." Having heard this, the King
gave the Prince a district of that kingdom, and an elephant's load
of goods.
Afterwards the Prince gave all those things to the widow woman,
and having gone away to another city, came to the house of a
widow-mother. Having arrived there, the Prince said to her,
"Ane! Mother, you must give me a resting-place to-day."
The widow-mother said, "I can indeed give you a resting-place,
but there is no place to sleep in. You cannot sleep in the veranda;
a light falls there during the night, and any person who sees that
light dies. Nobody can stop the light. In order to stop it, the King
has made public proclamation by beat of tom-toms that to any person
who stops it he will give an elephant's load of goods, and a district
of the kingdom."
The Prince asked her, "Mother, where does the light fall first?"
The widow-mother said, "In an open grass field in the middle of
the city."
The Prince then said, "If so, go and tell the King to fix a raised
platform at the place where the light falls, and having placed there
a winnowing basket made of cow-dung, and a large pot of water, to
come away. I will go there to-night and stop it."
So the widow-mother went and told the King. After that, the King
prepared the things in that very manner, and came away.
In the evening, the Prince, having eaten food, went onto the
platform. Near midnight, while he was there the light fell there. When
the Prince looked, the Naga King of the world of the Nagas, having
come there, had ejected from his mouth the Cobra Stone, and having
gone far away was eating food [as a cobra].
Then this Prince put the cow-dung winnowing basket on the stone,
whereupon the Naga King came crying out to the water-pot, taking it
for the person [who had done it]. The Prince then chopped at him with
his sword, and the Naga King died. After that, taking the Cobra Stone,
the Prince washed it with water from the pot, and put it away in the
waist pocket of his cloth.
While he was there it became light. Then the King came to see if he
had stopped the light. When he looked he saw that the cobra was lying
in a heap. The King asked at the hand of the Prince, "Did you stop
the light?" The Prince said, "Look there! The very one that made the
light has been killed there." Afterwards the King gave the Prince an
elephant's load of goods, and a district of that kingdom.
Afterwards, the Prince having given to the widow woman all the things
that had been given to him, went along the path on which the Naga
King had come, to the world of the Nagas. When he got there, all
the three Princesses of the Naga King whom he had killed were there,
sitting in one spot.
The Princesses said to this Prince, "What have you come for? Should
our father the King return now he will eat you."
The Prince saying, "Your father the King cannot come. I have come
here after killing your father the King," showed them the Cobra Stone.
Then the Princesses asked, "What have you come here for?"
The Prince said, "I have come on account of a sooth-saying, in order
to get it explained."
The Princesses asked, "What is the sooth?"
The Prince said, "At the time when our father the King was sleeping,
a Golden Tree having sprung up, and a Silver Flower having blossomed
on it, a Silver Cock which was sitting upon the flower crowed."
The three Princesses said, "We cannot explain it here. Let us go to
your father the King."
The Prince said "Ha," and the three Princesses and the Prince set
off to come to him.
They came to the junction of the three roads at which at first the
three Princes separated. Having arrived there they went along the
road on which the eldest brother of the Prince had gone, and having
met with him the Prince said, "Let us go back, elder brother, these
three Princesses will explain the dream"; so they returned. Then
they all went along the road on which the next brother had gone,
and having found him the Prince said, "Let us go back."
Having summoned him to go with them, those three Princes and the
three Princesses, six persons, having met together in this manner,
came to the Princes' city. Having arrived there, this youngest Prince
caused their father the King to be called. So the King came to them.
Then these three Princesses who had come from the world of the Nagas
said to this youngest Prince, "Cause us three persons to stand at
the thread" (that is, to toe the line). So this Prince caused them
to stand at the thread.
Then the three Princesses said, "Cut off our three heads at one
stroke." So this youngest Prince cut off their three heads at one
stroke. Thereupon the Golden Tree was created, and the Silver Flower
having blossomed on it, the Silver Cock that was sitting on the top
of the flower crowed.
Then this youngest Prince chopped down the Golden Tree with his sword,
and the three Princesses came to life again. Having come to life,
the three Princesses asked at the hand of the King, the father of
the Princes, "Was it thus in the dream that appeared to you?" The
King said "Yes." Then the three Princesses told him that they were
the Golden Tree, and the Silver Flower, and the Silver Cock.
After that, the three Princesses, having been married to the three
Princes, remained there.
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
The Cobra King with the gem, a diamond, which he laid down while
feeding, and swallowed afterwards, occurs in Old Deccan Days (Frere),
p. 36. A girl, disguised as a Prince, hung in a tree a large iron
trap fitted with knives underneath. Below it she scattered flowers and
sweet scents "such as cobras love," and when the Cobra came at night
she dropped the trap on him, and killed him. When she went to wash the
diamond in the lake, the water on being touched by it rolled aside,
and revealed a path which led to the garden at the Cobra's palace. In
the garden she found a tree with a silver stem, golden leaves, and
clusters of pearls as fruits. In the end, the Cobra's daughter came
away with her.
In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 18, a Cobra rose out of a tank, with
a brilliant gem on its hood, which shone "like a thousand diamonds,"
and lit up everything around. The snake put it down and went in search
of food, and swallowed the two horses of a Prince and his friend, the
son of the Minister, who were belated, and sitting in a tree. While the
snake was at some distance, the Minister's son descended, covered the
gem with horse dung, and climbed back. The snake rushed to the spot,
but could not find the gem, and eventually died. Next morning they
descended, washed the gem in water, and saw by its light a palace under
the water, in which they found a Princess whom the Prince married.
In the Jataka story No. 253 (vol. ii, p. 197) we learn that the Naga
King called Mani-Kantha, "Jewel-throat," appears to have kept the
gem in his throat. He said--
Rich food and drink in plenty I can have
By means of this fine jewel which you crave.
In the story No. 543 (vol. vi, p. 94), the Naga gem is mentioned as
"the jewel which grants all desires." Naga youths are described as
placing it on a hillock of sand, and "playing all night in the water
by its radiance." One on the head of the Naga King is referred to on
p. 97 as being one which, "bright-red like a lady-bird, glows on his
head a diadem."
In the Panchatantra (Dubois), three jogis when killed while eating
became three large copper pots filled with gold and valuable jewels.
In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 176--Tales of the Punjab
(Steel), p. 166--a Princess was brought to life by cutting off,
at one blow of the Sword, the heads of a pair of ducks.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. i., p. 115, in a Bengal story by
Mr. G. H. Damant, a King dreamt of a silver tree, with golden
branches, diamond leaves, and pearl fruits; peacocks were playing in
the branches and eating the fruits. The tree was a girl, imprisoned
by Rakshasas. When a Prince cut her in two she became the tree;
when he dropped the knife she took her own shape again.
NO. 48
THE SEVEN PRINCESSES
In a certain country there are a King and a Queen, it is said; there
are seven Princesses [the daughters] of the King. A Prince younger
than those seven is born.
The King went to a war, and having gone there the King was defeated
in the war. When he returned, the royal food was not made ready for
the King. Having arrived, he asked the Queen, "Why did you not prepare
the royal food for me?"
Then the Queen said, "I cannot bring up your children, and prepare
the royal food for you also."
The King asked, "Why? What have the Princesses done?"
The Queen replied, "They go to the river, and after bathing there
come back and rub oil on their heads, and comb their hair, [instead
of assisting me to prepare the food]."
On account of that the King settled to behead the seven royal
Princesses next day.
The Queen having cooked a bundle of rice and given it to those
seven said, "Go to any place you like, or the King will behead you
to-morrow."
After that, they went off to the river, and after sitting there and
eating the bundle of rice, the seven went away.
Having gone on and on, they went to the house of a Rakshasa. When they
got there the Rakshasa was not at home. The seven persons asked for
and obtained a resting place from the Rakshasi (female Rakshasa). Then
the youngest Princess said, "We have no food; give us something to
cook." So the Rakshasi gave them a little paddy.
The youngest Princess, taking the paddy, said to the other six
Princesses, "Elder sisters, come and pound this small quantity of
paddy." The six persons refused.
After that, the Princess having pounded it, when she went out
to winnow it saw that there was a heap of human bones behind the
house. The Princess bearing that in mind winnowed it, and returned
without speaking about them. Then she called the Princesses to come
and cook it; they did not come.
Afterwards the Princess having cooked, summoned those six persons to
eat the rice. The six persons refused. Thereupon the Princess fed the
six Princesses [by dividing the rice and giving each one her share
of it].
Now, in the evening the seven Princesses went to sleep. There were
seven girls at the house, the daughters of the Rakshasa, and the seven
wore white clothes. The seven Princesses wore blue clothes. Then the
youngest Princess having awoke in the night, took the seven white
cloths of the seven Rakshasa girls, and put them on the Princesses,
placing the dark cloths of the Princesses on the girls.
The Rakshasa having returned during the night, and having learnt from
his wife of the arrival of the Princesses, put one of the girls out
of those who wore the dark cloths, in a large cooking-pot, and having
boiled her the Rakshasa ate his own daughter.
After seeing this, when the Rakshasa had gone to sleep, the little
Princess, awaking those six Princesses, told them about it, and all
the Princesses escaped together during the night. Having come to a
river they remained there lying on a sandbank.
A King having come that way while they were there, asked, "Are you
Yakas or human beings?"
The Princesses asked, "Is it a Yaka or a human being who asks?"
The King replied, "It is indeed a human being who asks, not a Yaka."
Then the Princesses said, "We indeed are human beings, not Yakas,"
[and they told him how they had escaped from the house of the Rakshasa
and had come there].
On hearing this the King said, "Can you go with me?"
The Princesses having said, "We can," went with the King to his palace,
and became his Queens. [94]
On the night of the following day, a daughter of the Rakshasa,
having heard how the King had taken away the Princesses, came there,
and remained lying on the sandbank.
On the next day, also, the King having come that way asked, "Are you
a Yaka or a human being?"
The Rakshasa's daughter said, "Is it a Yaka or a human being who asks?"
The King replied, "It is indeed a human being who asks, not a Yaka."
The Rakshasa's daughter said, "I also am indeed a human being, not
a Yaka."
Then the King said, "If so, can you go with me?"
The Rakshasi having said, "I can," went with the King to the palace,
[and also became his wife.]
After a long time had gone by, all those seven Princesses were about
to have children. One night, when the Princesses were asleep, the
Rakshasi plucked out the eyes of the seven Princesses by magic, without
awaking them, and having done so hid all the eyes. Then when the seven
Princesses, having arisen, tried to go about, they were unable to go;
they found that they could not see, so they lay down again.
Afterwards the King came to awake them. "Why are you sleeping
yet?" he said.
The seven Princesses replied, "We are unable to get up; we have
no eyes."
The King asked, "How have your eyes become displaced?"
The seven Princesses said, "What has happened we do not know; they
have been plucked out while we were asleep."
Afterwards the King having said, "If so, go where you like," drove
them away. The King allowed only the Rakshasi to stay.
The seven Princesses, having gone on and on, and having fallen down
at a pool, gave birth to seven Princes there. Now, there was no food
for the seven, so having cut up the Prince of the eldest Princess, and
divided the body into seven parts, they ate for a day. On the next day,
having cut up the next Princess's Prince and divided the body, they ate
it. Thus, in that manner they ate the six Princes of the six persons.
On the next day they settled to cut up the Prince of the youngest
Princess. Then the youngest Princess, on each of the days having
put away her portions of flesh, said, "You shall not cut up my
Prince. Look, here is your flesh," she said, and gave them the six
portions of flesh. The six persons ate them.
[The narrator did not state how they subsisted after that.]
While this youngest Princess was rearing that Prince there, after the
Prince went to the chena jungle one day, he met with a Vaedda. The
Vaedda said, "Let us go together to the King's city." [95] The
Prince said "Ha," and went with him. There the King saw him, and
being pleased with him gave him food and the like. The Prince having
eaten, after he had come again to the pool the Prince's mother asked,
"Where did you go?"
The Prince said, "I went to the King's city."
His mother asked, "What did you go for?"
The Prince replied, "I went 'simply'" (that is, for no special
purpose).
The Princess having said, "Aha!" while she was still there the Prince
said, "I am going to the forge."
Having gone to the forge he said to the smith, "Make and give me a bow
and an arrow." The smith said, "Cut a stick and come with it." So the
Prince went to the chena jungle to cut a stick. There was no suitable
stick, but a golden shoot had fallen down there, and having taken it
he gave it to the smith. The smith said, "This is not good; bring
another stick," so the Prince went and brought another stick. The
smith made a good bow and arrow out of the stick, and gave them to him.
Then the Prince having taken the bow and arrow, and shot a deer,
carried it to the city. After he had gone there they gave him paddy,
rice, flesh, and cooking-pots, and the like for it. Then the Prince
having taken them to the pool where the Princesses were, gave them to
his mother the Queen. Afterwards he shot a deer every day, and having
taken it to the city carried back to the Princesses the things that
he received for it.
One day having shot a deer, as he was about to take it to the city
the Prince's mother told him to carry it to the palace. While he
was there the Rakshasi saw him, and having made inquiry got to know
that he was the son of the youngest Princess. So she said to him,
"Take a letter to our house for me," and gave it to him.
As the Prince was going that day taking the letter, it became night,
so he went to a city, and asked a widow woman for a resting-place for
the night. The woman of the house said, "Ane! What have you come to
this city for? A Yaka has eaten all who were in this city. To-night
he will be coming for my daughter."
The Prince asked, "How will the Yaka come?"
The woman said, "Four miles away he says, 'Hu'; then a mile away he
says, 'Hu'; and having come from there near the stile at the road,
he says, 'Hu'."
The Prince asked, "Are there Kaekuna [96] seeds here?"
The daughter said, "There are," and she gave him a sackful of them.
Then he told the daughter, whose father had been the King of the
city, not to be afraid. "If the Yaka should come I will kill him," he
said. So the Prince went to sleep, placing a sword that he had brought
at his side, and laying his head on the waist pocket of the Princess.
Afterwards the Yaka cried "Hu," when four miles away, and tears fell
from the eyes of the Princess on the breast of the Prince when she
heard it. Next, the Yaka cried "Hu," when a mile away. The Princess
having spoken words to him on hearing it, he arose. "What is it?" he
asked. The Princess said, "The Yaka is coming." Then the Prince
emptied the sack of Kaekuna seeds at the door, and took up his sword.
As the Yaka, having come, was springing into the doorway, he slipped
on the seeds, and fell. Thereupon the Prince cut and killed the Yaka
with his sword, and having put his body in a well which was there,
covered it up with earth.
After the Prince had told the Princess about himself and the seven
Princesses, he said, "I must go now."
The Princess asked him, "What else is there in your hands?"
The Prince replied, "There is a letter which the Queen has ordered
me to take to her home."
The Princess having said, "Where is it? Let me look at it," took
it, and when she looked at it there was written in it, "Mother,
eat the Prince who brings this letter, and eat the eyes of those
seven persons."
Then the Princess having torn up the letter, wrote another letter,
"Mother, having taken care of the Prince who brings this letter,
send medicine for the eyes of those seven persons." Having written
it she gave it into the hands of the Prince.
The Prince carrying the letter, and having taken a bundle of cooked
rice to eat on the way, went to the house of the Rakshasi. As he was
coming near the house he saw a Rakshasi sitting at the road. When
she saw him she said, "The flesh of that one who is coming is for me."
The Prince asked, "What art thou saying?" and gave the letter to
the Rakshasi, and asked for the medicine for the eyes. After reading
the letter the Rakshasi prepared abundant food for him, and gave him
lodgings that day.
Next day, showing him a tree, she said, "After you have rubbed the
juice of this tree on the eyes of the persons who are blind, their
eyes will become well."
The Prince said, "If so, tie a little of it in a packet and give me
it." So the Rakshasi having tied up a packet of it gave him it.
Then the Prince having taken it back, rubbed it on the eyes of those
seven persons, and their eyes became well.
Afterwards, the Prince having gone with them to the city where he
killed the Yaka, married the Princess, and remained there.
North-western Province.
This story does not appear to have been met with among the people of
Southern India, but variants are well-known in other parts of the
country. In all these forms of the tale the wicked Rakshasa Queen
is killed.
In Indian Fairy Stories (Ganges Valley), by Miss Stokes, there are
two variants, pp. 51 and 176. In both, a demoness or Rakshasi whom the
King married induced him to cause the eyes of his other seven Queens
to be plucked out, and six of the infants whom they bore were eaten,
the seventh being saved as in Ceylon.
In one story the boy was sent for the milk of a tigress, an eagle's
feather, and night-growing rice; in the other he went for rose-water,
flowers, and a dress. A friendly Fakir in one tale, and a Princess in
the other, substituted other letters for those in which the demons
or ogres were instructed to kill him, so that he was well received
and succeeded in his errands. In one case he got the blind Queens'
eyes, and ointment to make them as before; in the other he brought
back magic water that cured them.
In Tales of the Punjab (Steel), p. 89, and Wide-Awake Stories (Steel
and Temple), p. 98, the demoness Queen persuaded the King to give
her the eyes of the seven Queens, which she strung as a necklace
for her mother. The seventh boy, who was shooting game for the blind
Queens' food, was sent for the eyes and got thirteen, one having been
eaten. The written message which requested that he should be killed
was changed by a Princess. On two other journeys he obtained the
Jogi's white cow which gave milk unceasingly, and rice that bore a
million-fold, by the aid of which the seven Queens became the richest
people in the kingdom. After he had married the Princess who assisted
him, the King heard the whole story, and killed the demoness.
In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 117, the Rakshasa Queen, after
getting the seven Queens' eyes plucked out, ate up all the people,
and no one remained to attend on the King. At last the boy offered
his services. He always left before night, the time when the Ogress
caught her victims. She sent him to her mother for a melon, with a
letter which he tore up. He got back safely, bringing a bird in which
was the life of the Ogress Queen; when he killed it she died.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. i, p. 170, there is a Bengal story by
Mr. G. H. Damant. The Ogress or Rakshasa Queen obtained the eyes of
the seven Queens from the King, and sent the boy for sea-foam, and
afterwards for rice grown in Ceylon, "the home of the Rakshasas,"
that ripened in one day. A Sannyasi, or Hindu religious mendicant,
changed him into a kingfisher on one trip and a parrot on the other,
which brought the things, being re-converted into a Prince on the way
back. Lastly, he was sent to Ceylon for a cow a cubit long and half
a cubit high. The King paid him heavily for getting these things, and
for the last one was obliged to sell his kingdom and give the proceeds
to the boy. The Sannyasi instructed him to conciliate a Rakshasi by
addressing her as "Aunt," and to deliver a pretended message from the
Ogress Queen. He was well received, and learnt that the Rakshasas'
lives were in a lemon and the Ogress Queen's in a bird. He cut the
lemon and thus killed all the Rakshasas, brought back the blind Queens'
eyes, and killed the bird, and with it the Ogress Queen.
In Folk-Tales of Hindustan, Allahabad (Shaik Chilli), p. 105,
the seven Queens were thrown into a large dry well; it is not
stated that their eyes were plucked out. The seventh boy got his
grandfather, a carpenter, to make him a wooden flying horse. He was
sent for singing-water, magic rice, and news of the Rakshasa Queen's
relatives. He met a lion, a wolf, and various other savage animals,
which he appeased by addressing them as "Uncle," "Cousin," etc. A
kind Yogi changed his letter, and he was welcomed by the Rakshasas,
whose lives he learnt were in a number of birds. These he killed,
taking back a pea-hen in which lay the life of the Ogress Queen,
as well as the magic water and rice. Each of the animals sent a cub
with him, and on his return these performed a dance, at the end of
which he killed the pea-hen and the Ogress died. The persons who had
been eaten by the Ogress revived when the magic water was sprinkled
on their bones. The magic rice plant, called Vanaspati, grew into a
tree forty yards high, and bore cooked rice.
In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 43, the seven Queens'
eyes were put out, and they were thrown into a large dry well. The
seventh boy was sent for the milk of a tigress, and then to the
grandparents of the Ogress Queen. A friendly Fakir having altered
the messages, he was well received, got medicine that cured the blind
Queens' eyes, and also killed the birds and smashed a spinning-wheel
in which were the lives of the Ogress Queen and her relatives.
At p. 446, also, the eyes of a Queen which had been plucked out were
replaced and healed.
A variant of the Western Province of Ceylon, in which there were
twelve Queens, whose sight was not regained, however, has been given
already. See No. 24.
NO. 49
MR. JANEL SIÑÑA
In a certain city there are a King and a Queen, it is said. There are
six Princes. The youngest Prince of the six plays with (lit. beats)
the ashes on the ash-heap at the corner of the hearth; the other five
Princes are doing work, and going on journeys together.
The King said at the hands of the Queen that he must behead the Prince
who was [idling] on the ash-heap. Then the Queen said, "What is the
use of beheading him? Let us send the Prince whom we do not want to
any place where he likes to go."
Having come to the Prince, the Queen says, "Son, the King says that
he must behead you; on that account go away to any place you like."
Then the Prince said, "If so, give me a bundle of cooked rice, and
a thousand masuran, in order to go and trade."
So the Queen gave him a package of cooked rice and a thousand masuran.
The Prince took the masuran and the package of cooked rice, and having
gone on and on, when he was coming to a travellers' shed [saw that]
a man was taking a brown Monkey, [97] in order to throw it into the
river. This Prince called the man, and the man thereupon brought the
Monkey and came to the travellers' shed.
The Prince asked, "Where are you taking that Monkey?"
The man said, "I am taking this to sell."
The Prince asked, "For how much will you give it?"
The man said he would give it for a thousand masuran. The Prince
gave the thousand masuran that were in his hands, and got the Monkey,
and that man having taken the thousand masuran went away.
The Prince having unfastened the package of cooked rice, and given
some to the Monkey also, and the Prince himself having eaten, took
the Monkey and came back to the very city of the King. When he came
there the King was not at the palace; only the Queen was there. The
Queen asked, "What sort of goods have you brought?"
The Prince says, "Mother, having given that thousand masuran I have
brought a Monkey."
Then the Queen says, "Ane! Son, should the King and the rest of them
get to know that, he will behead you and behead me. As you have taken
that Monkey put it away somewhere."
So the Prince took the Monkey and put it in a rock cave in the
jungle, and shutting the door came to the palace. While he was there
the King saw him, and having seen him, called the Queen and said,
"I shall not allow that one to stay in my palace for even a paeya
(twenty minutes). I shall behead him to-morrow."
Afterwards the Queen came to the Prince and said, "Son, the King says
he must behead you to-morrow, therefore go to any place you like,
and do not come back."
The Prince said, "Give me a package of rice, and a thousand masuran."
Afterwards the Queen having cooked a package of rice gave him it,
and a thousand masuran. The Prince taking them, and having gone to
the rock cave where the Monkey was, took it and went to [another]
city. At that city he ate the package of rice at the travellers'
shed, and having gone to the hearth the Prince slept on the ash-heap.
The Monkey went away to dance in cities. Having gone and danced,
collecting requisite articles, he came back to the place where the
Prince was, and the Prince cooked some of the things he brought, and
gave him to eat. The Monkey goes every day to dance; and having danced,
the Prince and Monkey, both of them, eat the things he brings. In
that way the Monkey brings things every day.
One day, the Monkey having gone to a city and danced, fell down at
the palace at that city. Then the King came and asked, "What is it,
Monkey? Why have you fallen down there?"
The Monkey says, "I have come to beg and take the measure [98] in
which masuran are measured."
Afterwards the King gave him the measure for measuring masuran. The
monkey having taken it and having been absent for as much as a month,
brought the measure back.
Then the King asked, "What is this, Monkey, that having taken the
measure thou hast been such a time [in returning it]?"
The Monkey says, "For just so much time I measured masuran."
The King asked, "Having measured them did you finish?"
Then the Monkey said, "Ando! Could it be finished? Not even a quarter
was finished."
The King said, "Aha!" and was silent.
The Monkey that day also having danced in that city, the King gave
him many presents. Taking them, and stealing a cloth from a field
where clothes were spread out [to dry], while he was coming a man
having met him in the road asked the Monkey, "Monkey, to whom dost
thou give the articles that thou art taking every day?"
The Monkey says, "I give them to our Mr. Janel Siñña. I am supporting
that gentleman."
The Monkey having gone to the place where the Prince was, says,
"Here is a cloth. It is good for the gentleman, is it not?" and he
showed him the cloth which he had stolen.
The Prince threw it aside, and said, "This cloth which I have is
enough."
Next day the Monkey having come to that city and danced, lay down
on the lawn of the palace. Then the King asked, "What is it, Monkey,
that you have fallen down there for?"
Then the Monkey says, "Our Mr. Janel Siñña burnt his cloth while
drinking. I have come to ask you to cause the cloth to be woven for
him [anew]."
The King said, "If so, bring it."
Afterwards the Monkey having gone to the place where the Prince was,
brought a thin cloth and gave it to the King. Afterwards the King
caused one to be woven, and gave it to him.
Then the Monkey says at the hand of the King, "You ought to marry
your Princess to our Mr. Janel Siñña."
The King said, "Ha. It is very good."
The Monkey, begging two copper pots, [99] went away, and having gone,
heated water in the two copper pots, and having made the Prince bathe,
said to the Prince, "Do not eat largely of the sorts [of food] after
I have cooked and given [the food] to you [at the palace]. I have
asked for a [Princess in] marriage for you after I went there."
Afterwards the Monkey, summoning the Prince also, went to the palace
of the King of that city. Having gone there, and prepared a seat at
the King's table, and made ready the food, after the Prince sat down
to the food seven Princesses themselves began to divide [and serve] it.
Then that Prince began to eat very plentifully. The Monkey having come
and nudged him with his finger, said, "You have eaten enough." Taking
no notice of it, the Prince went on eating. Having eaten that, he
shaped his hand [into a cup] and reversing it there [when full],
ate in excess.
Then the King asked the Monkey, "What, Monkey, is [the reason of]
that?"
The Monkey said, "Our Mr. Janel Siñña having been overheated [by his
bath] could not eat. Through that indeed it has befallen that he has
lost his senses." That also the King kept in mind.
Then the Prince and the King's eldest daughter were married.
After that, the Monkey said that he wanted a thousand bill-hooks, and a
thousand digging-hoes, and a thousand axes, and a thousand people. The
King gave him a thousand bill-hooks, and a thousand digging-hoes,
and a thousand axes, and a thousand people. [With these the royal
party set off to deliver the Princess at the Prince's palace.]
Afterwards, having given the tools to those people, the Monkey goes in
front. The King and the Princess and the Prince come after. That Monkey
goes [in the trees] jumping and jumping, and changing branches. The
thousand people went footing and footing the road.
While going thus they met with a city. Then the King quietly told
the Monkey to halt; it stopped. Then the King asked the Monkey,
"Whose is that city that is visible?"
The Monkey says, "This city is our Mr. Janel Siñña's. It has been
rented out to his work-people." Afterwards the King went on, keeping
that also in his mind.
The Monkey again went in front. Then again they met with a city. Again
the King having called the Monkey asked, "Whose is that city?"
Then the Monkey says, "It is our Mr. Janel Siñña's. It has been rented
out to his work-people. In that way are the cities belonging to our
Mr. Janel Siñña [given out]."
Again the Monkey went off in front. Having gone thus, he went to the
house of a Rakshasa, and having made the house ready in a second,
when he stepped aside the King and the Prince and Princess went in.
The King made the thousand work-people stay there, and having handed
over the Princess, next day went back to his city.
Afterwards the Monkey asked at the hand of the Prince, "For the help
that you gave me I also am assisting you. What favour besides will
you give me?"
Then the Prince says, "When you have died I shall weep abundantly,
and having made a coffin, and put you in the coffin, I will bury you."
Then the Monkey said, "So much indeed is the assistance I want."
One day the Monkey lay down, trickishly saying that he was getting
fever. The Prince did not even go in that direction. Next day and
the next day he stayed there; on those days he did not go.
On the third day the Monkey cunningly shutting his eyes remained as
though he had died. The Prince said to a man, "Look if that Monkey
is dead."
The man having gone near the Monkey, when he looked it was dead [in
appearance]; he said at the hand of the Prince that it was dead. The
Prince said, "Having put a creeper round its neck, drag it in the
direction of that jungle, and having thrown it there come back."
When the man tried to put the creeper on the Monkey's neck the Monkey
got up. "Don't put the creeper on my neck," he said.
Having gone near the Prince he said, "After I was dead [apparently],
you were taking me without having put me in a coffin. Why do you
[arrange to] drag me, having put a creeper on my neck? Don't take
even so much trouble."
Having said this, the Monkey went off to the midst of the forest,
and died.
Tom-Tom Beater. North-western Province.
Of course, this is an Eastern form of Puss-in-Boots.
In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 226 ff., there is an account of a
clever match-making Jackal which induced a King to marry his daughter
to a weaver.
NO. 50
THE NIKINI STORY [100]
In a certain country there are a man and a woman, it is said. There
is a girl (daughter) of those two persons.
The girl was asked [in marriage] for a Gamarala of another country who
had much wealth in money. The girl having been summoned, and having
gone to the Gamarala, and been with him for a long time, he went to
chop jungle [for making a chena]. There he met with a fawn, and having
returned home said to the girl, "Bolan, there was a fawn in the chena."
The girl said, "Ane! After you have gone to-morrow bring it." On the
following day the Gamarala brought it.
When the girl had reared it for a long time, a longing came to her,
and she lay down. Afterwards the Gamarala asked the Deer, "What,
Deer, is thy elder sister's illness?"
Then the Deer said, "Our elder sister has a longing."
The Gamarala said, "What can she eat for it?"
The Deer replied, "Our elder sister can eat the stars in the sky."
Afterwards the Gamarala, having gone to seek the stars, and to seek
for the corner of the sky [where it joined the earth, so as to ascend
to them], searched until he became aged, but was unable to find the
corner; and the Gamarala died.
Then the girl, having sold the Gamarala's village, took the money that
was obtained there, and the wealth that he possessed [and left]. While
the girl and the Deer were going on their way they met with a King. He
asked the Deer, "Where, Deer, are ye going?"
The Deer said, "Our elder sister on account of thirst is going to
seek a little water."
Then the King said, "Wilt thou give thy elder sister to me [in
marriage]?"
The Deer said "Ha"; so having placed the Deer and the Deer's elder
sister on the back of the King's elephant, they went to the palace.
When a long time had passed, a longing came again to the girl, and
she lay down.
The King asked the Deer, "What is thy elder sister's illness?"
The Deer said, "Our elder sister has a longing."
The King asked, "What can she eat for it?"
The Deer said, "Should you bring for our elder sister the sand which
is at the bottom of the ocean, if she slept upon it she would be well."
Afterwards, when the King was going to the bottom of the sea to take
the sand, he was soaked with the water, and died.
After this, when the Deer and the Deer's elder sister, taking all
the King's things, and cooking a bundle of rice, were on their way
again, they met with a man. The man asked the Deer, "Where, Deer,
are ye going?"
The Deer said, "We are going to seek a man for our elder sister."
The man said, "If so, give thy elder sister to me."
The Deer said "Ha," and the Deer and the Deer's elder sister went to
the man's house.
When they had been there a long time, a longing came to the woman,
and she lay down. The man asked, "What, Deer, is thy elder sister's
illness?"
The Deer said, "Our elder sister has a longing."
The man asked, "What can she eat for it?"
The Deer said, "Our elder sister must eat Nikini. Should she not
eat it, it will not only be very difficult for her [to recover];
her life will be lost." Now the sort called "Nikini" is not in any
place whatever in the world. That ignorant man, not knowing of its
non-existence, on account of the love that he bore for his wife went
away on a search for Nikini.
Afterwards, when the foolish man was on his way to seek for Nikini,
a man was ploughing. The man who was ploughing asked, "Where are
you going?"
This man said, "I am going to seek for a little Nikini."
Then the man said to this man, "If so, come here [and help me to
plough]."
Those two having ploughed during the whole of that day, went in the
evening to the house of the man who had been ploughing. Both of them
having eaten cooked rice, the man who went to seek for Nikini asked
that man, "Ane! Now then, tell me the place where there is Nikini."
The man said, "Ane! I don't know. Go you away."
After that, when he had slept there that night, that man gave him a
little cooked rice. Having eaten a little, while he was going on his
way to seek for Nikini, a man was chopping earthen ridges in a rice
field. The man asked, "Where are you going?"
This man said, "I am going to seek for a little Nikini."
Then that man said, "If so, come here [and help me]."
After those two persons had chopped the ridges during the whole day,
they went in the evening to the man's house. While they were [there],
having eaten cooked rice this man who went to seek for Nikini said,
"Ane! Tell me the site where there is Nikini."
The man said, "Ane! I don't know. Go and ask at the hand of another
person."
When this man had slept there that day night, on the next day that man
gave him a little cooked rice. Having eaten it he set off to go and
seek Nikini. Then a man was sowing a rice field. The man asked him,
"Where are you going?"
This man said, "I am going to seek for a little Nikini."
The man asked, "What for?"
This man replied, "A longing has come to our house-mistress, so she
told me to go and bring a little Nikini."
The man said, "If so, come here and sow."
For the whole of that day those two sowed. In the evening they came
to the man's house, and both of them having eaten cooked rice, while
they were there this man said, "Now then, tell me the place where
there is Nikini."
Then the man said, "Yako, [101] that was not [asked for] through
want of Nikini. That was said through wanting to cause you to be
killed. Your wife has a paramour."
The man quarrelled with him, saying, "Not in any way. My wife is
very good. She has great love for me. If you again say such a thing
as that one is there, I shall strike you."
The other man asked, "What will you give me to catch that paramour
for you?"
The person who went on the search for Nikini said, "I have a gem which
has continued with us from generation to generation. I will give you
that gem." [The man accepted this offer].
Then the two persons made a cage called, "The Cage of the God
Sivalinga," and tied white cloth in it [as a lining], and trimmed a
wooden cudgel and placed it inside. The man [who had gone for Nikini]
was also placed inside the cage with a cloth on his shoulders, and
closed in with similar cloths. Men having been fetched [and engaged to
carry it]--saying that he was bringing the God Sivalinga--took it on
their shoulders, and going off with it they went to a Hettirala's shop.
Then that man said [to the person inside the cage], "After I have
placed it inside the shop, take the cash-box which is in it, and put
it inside the cage."
The Hettirala asked, "What is that cage?"
The man said, "Our deity, the God Sivalinga."
The Hettirala asked, "What is it, then, that is necessary for offering
to that deity?"
The man said, "The cooked rice from two quarts of raw rice, and sweet
plantains are wanted."
So the Hettirala brought and gave him the cooked rice from two quarts
of raw rice, and ripe sweet plantains. After that, the man gave to
the man in the cage the cooked rice from a quart of the raw rice, and
half the plantains. The other man ate the rice from the other quart,
and the remaining plantains.
In the evening the man gave the cage into the hands of the Hettiya,
and told him to place it in the house. So the Hettiya put the
cage in the house. [During the night the man inside it stole the
cash-box.] When it got near midnight the man asked for the cage,
saying, "Hetti-elder-brother, give me my cage so that I may go." The
Hettirala gave it.
As the man, taking the cage, was going along he met with a city. Then
that man said [to the man in the cage], "After I have taken this cage
and placed it in the palace, you get the things in it and put them
inside the cage." Having said this they went to the palace. The King
asked, "What is that?"
The man said, "Our deity, the God Sivalinga. We are able to say sooth
and the like."
The King asked, "What do you require for him?"
The man said, "Rice cooked from raw rice, and sweet plantains are
necessary."
So the King gave him cooked rice and sweet plantains. The man having
given [a share of them] to the man in the cage, said, "It is necessary
to place this cage inside the palace [for the night]."
The King having said "Ha," he brought it, and placed it inside the
palace. As it was becoming light the man said, "Now then, I want the
cage in order to worship the deity." So the King gave him the cage.
Afterwards, as the man was taking the cage near a tank it became
light. He remained there until it was night, and then went to the
house of the man who went to seek Nikini, and found that the woman had
called in another man who was there. That man asked, "What is that?"
The man said, "This is our deity, the God Sivalinga. We are able to
tell sooth."
The man said, "Ha. It is good. There is a sooth that we, too, require
to ask about."
Then the [pretended] Kapurala, whom the God Sivalinga was [supposed to
be] goading [102] to it, became possessed. When he was saying sooth,
the wife of the man who went to seek Nikini and the false husband
who had joined her, came with their arms interlaced, and saying to
the deity that a long time had elapsed since her husband had gone in
search of Nikini, they asked, "Has anything happened to him now?"
At that time the God Sivalinga said through the person possessed by
Sivalinga, "The man has now become blind. Besides that, he will not be
permitted to return to his village. He will die while in that state."
Then because he said this in the manner that was in the mind of the
woman, she took the food off the fire, and together with the false
husband brought the deity to her house, and gave the rice cooked
from two quarts of raw rice, and sweet plantains, in order that the
Kapurala might present an offering.
That night, when he had eaten, the Kapurala said, "We must place this
our cage inside that [room]."
"You may do it," they said, and they placed it in the house.
Then when the wife of the man who was inside the cage and the
false husband were spreading mats [to lie upon], and making ready
for sleeping, the Kapurala who remained outside said, "Except that
[cage], there is no room for two." Thereupon the man who was inside
the cage came out, and beat the false husband even on the cheeks with
the cudgel that he had taken. So the man died.
After that, the man, as it was becoming light, went and threw the
Deer's elder sister into the river. Having returned, and gone to
the village with the Deer, the man who went for Nikini cooked for
the other man, and gave him to eat. Then the two divided the money,
and he gave the man the gem which he had, as a present for him,
and sent that man back to his village.
Afterwards this man, taking another wife, remained there. [According
to another version, however, he became a Buddhist monk.]
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
The story is also related in a contracted form in the Western Province.
In a variant by a Tom-tom Beater of the North-western Province, a
young Boar takes the place of the Deer, and the woman married first a
King, and afterwards a Rakshasa who was sent for the Nikini. At the
Boar's suggestion he died by jumping into a fire made by the girl,
and the Boar then followed his example, and was burnt up. The girl is
represented as "smearing a great deal of gold on herself" before this,
apparently becoming gilded.
NO. 51
THE AET-KANDA LENIYA [103]
At a certain city there are the King and the Queen, it is said. They
had one son, and while the Prince was living there the Queen bore yet
[another] Prince.
One day the two Princes having gone to the river to bathe, a Princess
from another city came to bathe [at the same place], and the eldest
Prince hid the robes of the Princess. Afterwards, on his inviting
the Princess she went with the Prince to his city.
After they had gone there, when the King got to know of it he said,
"Should this rascal stay with me the kingdom will be destroyed," and
he ordered them to behead the Prince. Then the Queen, the Prince's
mother, having cooked a bundle of rice and given it to him, said,
"Go away where you like [or the King will behead you]."
The Prince having taken the packet of cooked rice to the river, ate
it with the Princess. After eating it the two persons went to the
house of a widow woman. The Prince made the Princess stay with her,
and having given the Princess's robes into the hands of the widow
woman, said, "Mother, put those robes into that box and this box"
(that is, here and there, not all in one place, so that the Princess
should not be able to find them).
Afterwards, when the Prince had gone to the forge to get a sword made,
the Princess said to the widow woman, "Mother, give me my robes to
look at."
The widow woman said, "Ane! Daughter, I don't know where they are."
The Princess said, "Why are you telling me lies? Give them to me."
On account of that, the widow woman opened the boxes, and gave the
robes to the Princess. The Princess took the robes, and saying,
"Should he see me again it will be as [wonderful as] if he should
see the young of the Aet-Kanda Leniya, or white where charcoal has
been rubbed," went away to the city of the Princess.
When the Prince came after getting the sword made, he asked at the
hand of the widow woman, "Where is the Princess?"
The woman said, "On her asking for her robes I gave them. Taking them,
she said, 'Should he see me again it will be as [wonderful as] if he
should see the young of the Aet-Kanda Leniya, or white where charcoal
has been rubbed' [and then she went away]."
The Prince on that account rubbed and rubbed charcoal, and when he
looked there was a little white [colour]. Having seen it, he told the
widow woman to cook cakes. When they were cooked he took some and ate;
and tying up a cloth package of them, and taking it, and the sword,
he went off.
As he was passing through the middle of a forest, he saw a cobra
beginning to climb a tree in which were the little ones of the
Aet-Kanda Leniya, and he cut it in two with the sword. While he was
climbing the tree after killing it, the little ones of the Aet-Kanda
Leniya came to eat him. Then he said to the little ones, "O unrighteous
ones! Why are ye coming to eat me? Look ye on the ground."
When the Aet-Kanda little ones had looked on the ground, and seen the
cobra that he had cut in two, they said, "[As you have saved us from
the cobra] we will render you any possible assistance."
Then the Prince after going to the nest where they were, unfastened the
package of cakes, and having given to them also, ate. After eating,
the little ones of the Aet-Kanda Leniya said, "Mother will indeed
eat you to-day when she has come."
The Prince said, "Ane! Somehow or other you must save me."
They said "Ha," and made him creep among their wings.
While he was there the Aet-Kanda Leni (the female Rukh, their mother),
having pierced with its claws a tusk elephant, came bringing it, after
flying round the sea in three circles. After she had come she said,
"What is this, children! Here is prey for you; are you delaying to
eat? On other days you come screaming for it."
Those young ones said, "Mother, to-day we are not hungry. Food has
been given to us."
"Whence?" she asked.
The little ones said, "There is a man with us; [he gave it to us]."
"Show me him," the Aet-Kanda Leni said.
"You will eat him, mother," they replied.
The Aet-Kanda Leni said, "I will not eat him."
"If so, take us and swear," [104] the little ones said.
Then the Aet-Kanda Leni swore, "I will not eat him."
After that, the little ones showed the Aet-Kanda Leni the Prince. The
Prince said to the Aet-Kanda Leni, "Look at the foot of the tree;
[I have saved your little ones by killing the cobra]."
After having looked, the Aet-Kanda Leni said, "I will give you any
possible assistance because you have done this."
Afterwards, the Prince having descended from the tree was unable to
cross the river. So the Aet-Kanda Leni broke a stick, and bringing
it in her mouth told the Prince to hang from it. While the Prince
was hanging, the Aet-Kanda Leni flew to the other side of the river;
after [leaving him there] she returned to the nest where the little
ones were.
The Prince went on. As he was going along, some men were taking a great
many elephants. "What are you taking those elephants for?" he asked.
Those men said, "We are taking them to kill at the city."
The Prince said, "I will give you these hundred masuran; let them go."
Those men, saying "Ha," took the hundred masuran, and let the
elephants go.
After that, when he had gone much further still, he saw men taking
a great many pigs. The Prince asked, "Where are you taking these pigs?"
"We are taking them to kill at the city," the men replied.
The Prince said, "I will give you these hundred masuran; let them go."
The men said "Ha," and taking the hundred masuran let them go.
When the Prince had gone still a little further, men were taking
a great quantity of turtle-doves. "Where are you taking those
turtle-doves?" he asked.
"We are taking them to the city to kill," the men replied.
The Prince said, "I will give you these hundred masuran; let the
turtle-doves go."
The men said "Ha," and taking the hundred masuran let them go.
When he had gone a little further still, men were taking a great many
fire-flies. "Where are you taking them?" the Prince asked.
Those men replied, "We are taking them to the city to fry."
The Prince said, "I will give you these hundred masuran; let them go."
The men said "Ha," and taking the hundred masuran let them go.
When he had gone a little further yet, seven widow women came to the
well for water [which they said they wanted in order] to pour water
on the head of that Princess, who had become marriageable. A widow
woman said to that Prince, "Take hold of this water-pot [and help me
to lift it up]." Then the Prince having taken the jewelled ring that
was on his hand, put it in the water-pot [unobserved]; after that he
took hold of the water-pot [and helped her to lift it].
When they had taken the water, and were pouring it on the head of the
Princess, the jewelled ring fell down. Having seen it [and recognised
it], the Princess ordered the woman to tell the Prince to come. So
the Prince went there.
After he had gone there [and told her that he had made a white mark
with charcoal, and had saved the lives of the little ones of the
Aet-Kanda Leniya], that Princess said to the Prince, "[Before I will
marry you, you must perform the tasks that I shall give you. First
you must] cut a chena suitable for sowing one and a half amunas [105]
of mun" (a small pulse).
The Prince said "Ha," and having gone and cut a branch or two at the
chena, thought, "Ane! Will the elephants that I set free by giving a
hundred masuran render an assistance?" Those elephants that he freed,
having come at this word, broke down all that jungle and went away.
After that, the Prince went to the Princess, and said, "The chena
has been cut."
"Then set fire [to it]," the Princess said. So the Prince went and set
fire [to the bushes]. The chena burnt excellently; nothing remained,
so well it burnt.
Having gone to the Princess he said, "I set fire to the chena." Then
the Princess gave him one and a half amunas of mun, and said, "Sow
this and come back."
When the Prince had gone he took the mun and sowed it at the
chena. Afterwards the Prince said, "Ane! Will the pigs that I set
free by giving a hundred masuran render an assistance?" Then the
pigs that he had freed by giving the hundred masuran all came and dug
[with their snouts] the whole of the chena.
The Prince went to the Princess, and said, "I have sowed the
chena." After that, the Princess told him to collect and bring back
the mun that he had sown in the chena.
So the Prince having gone to the chena, and collected a little mun,
said, "Ane! Will the turtle-doves that I freed by giving a hundred
masuran render an assistance?" Then the turtle-doves that he had set
free having all come, picked up the whole.
The Prince, collecting it and taking it to the city said to the
Princess, "After collecting the mun that I sowed in the chena I have
come back."
"Then measure it," she said. When he was measuring it there was
one mun seed less. As she said this a turtle-dove dropped it at the
measuring place.
After that, the father of the Princess put that Princess and seven
widow women in a dark room. Having put them [there] the King said,
"Unless you select and take out the Princess, or if you take out any
other person, I shall behead you."
When the Prince had gone into the room [he thought], "Will the
fire-flies that I freed by giving a hundred masuran render an
assistance?" Then all the fire-flies having come, fastened on the body
of the Princess, as a lamp. After that, the Prince took the Princess
out into the light.
[As he had performed all the tasks, the Prince was married to the
Princess]. Afterwards the Prince, calling the Princess, went to the
house of that widow woman.
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
In a variant of the first part of this story, a youth whose father was
dead, and whose mother, finding him in the way, wanted to get rid of
him in order to marry another man, was sent by his mother to bring some
milk, to be used medicinally for curing a pretended illness of hers.
He was sent first to the Aet-Kanda Lihiniya (Leniya is an alternative
spelling), and had the same experiences at its nest, before he got
the milk. The young birds told their mother that he was their elder
brother, the son of their Puñci-Amma. [106] When he stated that he
had come to ask for the milk, the Lihini (the female Rukh) said,
"Ando! Son, when did any one get milk from me, and cure a sick
person with it? She has done that to kill you, not through want of
it. However, since you have come I will give you a little milk." One
of the young birds accompanied him to his home. After his mother had
drunk the milk she pretended to be still ill, and sent him for the
milk of the Demon Hound, [107] which lived in a cave in a forest. I
translate this part:--
The woman cooked and gave him a packet of rice. This youth, taking
the packet of cooked rice and his sword, and making the little one
of the Aet-Kanda Lihini stay at the house, went to the cave where
the Demon Hound was. When he arrived, the Demon Hound was not there;
only the little ones of the Demon Hound were there.
As the youth was going [to the cave] the little ones came growling to
eat him. When this youth unfastened the packet of cooked rice, and
showed them it, they stopped. Afterwards, the youth, having divided
the packet of cooked rice, gave [part] to the Demon Hound's little
ones, and taking some himself, they ate.
After they had eaten, the young dogs said, "When mother has come she
will indeed eat you."
Then this youth said, "Ane! To-day you must somehow or other save
me. Do not let her eat me."
The young dogs said "Ha," and putting the youth in the hollow of
the cave, the young dogs came to this side, [towards the entrance],
and remained there lying down.
While they were there the Demon Hound came. After she had come she
said, sniffing twice, "Where does this smell of fresh human flesh
come from?"
The little ones of the Demon Hound replied, "You eat fresh human flesh,
and you bring fresh human flesh; what is this that you are saying?"
The Demon Hound said, "No, children, a fresh human smell is coming
to me. Tell me [how it is]. Tell me."
The little ones said, "You will eat him."
The Demon Hound said, "No, children, I will not eat him. Tell me."
The little ones said, "Take us and swear."
After that, the Demon Hound took her little ones and swore, "I will
not eat him."
Then the little ones showed her that youth, saying, "Here he is,
mother; our little mother's son has come, our elder brother."
The Demon Hound asked at the hand of this youth, "What, son, have
you come for?"
This youth replied, "Mother, our mother is ill. On account of it
she said, 'Should you go and bring a little milk, when I have drunk
it I shall become well.' Because of that I have come to ask for a
little milk."
The Demon Hound said, "Ando! Son, when did a sick person get milk
from me and become well! To [get] you killed is the explanation of
that. However, since you have come, take a little milk and go." So
saying she gave him a little milk.
Afterwards, as this youth was preparing to set off with it, a young
dog said, "I also want to go with our elder brother," and howling [on
account of it was allowed by his mother] to come away with the youth.
Having arrived and given the milk to the woman, after she had drunk
it he asked, "Now then, mother, is your illness cured?"
The woman said, "Ando! Son, it is not cured."
The youth asked, "If so, what shall I do?"
The woman replied, "Bring a little milk from the Bear that is in the
cave in the forest, and give me it."
He went for it, leaving the young Demon Hound at the house, and his
adventures and the conversations were a mere repetition of those at
the cave of the Demon Hound. One of the young Bears returned to the
house with him.
Lastly, he was sent to bring the milk of the Crocodile that was in
the Sea, "the reservoir [108] for the sky, and the reservoir for the
earth." He ate his rice on a mound in the sea, after which, as he was
descending into the sea, he observed a blue-lotus flower, and found
the Crocodile at it. It came to eat him, but he held out his sword
in front of him, so it asked him why he had come, and after hearing
his explanation, in the very same words as before, gave him a little
milk. It warned him, like the other animals, that the sending him
for it was only a device to get him killed. He took the milk home,
and after drinking it his mother informed him that she was cured. The
story is then concluded as follows:--
Having said this, the woman went to the man [whom she wanted to marry],
and said, "Now then, there is no means of killing that one. From the
places to which he went he has escaped and come back. What, then,
shall we do to that one?"
That man said, "Cook to-day after it has become night. I will break
something in the lower part of the garden. Then say, 'Son. There! Did
you hear something break in the lower part of the garden? Maybe
cattle have come in.' He will come to see, and when he has come,
I will chop him with the bill-hook, and kill him."
Afterwards, this woman having returned to the house, as she was
cooking when it became night, the man came and broke a stick in the
lower part of the garden. The woman said, "Ando! Son, maybe cattle
have come in. Go quickly [and drive them out]."
Then, as this youth, having gone into the house and taken his
sword, was going out, that little one of the Aet-Kanda Lihini,
and the little one of the Demon Hound, and the little one of the
Bear went with him. The three of them having gone [in front] to the
lower part of the garden, bit the man who waited there, and having
killed him returned. When this youth went and looked, the man had
been killed. Then the youth came back, and having killed his mother
stayed quietly there. So that little one of the Aet-Kanda Lihini,
and the little one of the Demon Hound, and the young Bear, and the
youth remained at the house together.
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
There are Indian versions of several of the incidents of these stories.
In Old Deccan Days (Frere), p. 15, a Prince killed a cobra that was
about to ascend a tree in order to destroy two eaglets. They assisted
him afterwards.
In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 221, the Garudas or
Rukhs are described as being "of the nature of vultures." A Brahmana
got hid among the back feathers of one while it was asleep, and was
carried by it to the Golden City next day. These birds are referred
to (vol. i, p. 78) as breeding on a mountain called Swarnamula, in
Ceylon. Compare also the account of Bharunda birds in The Kathakosa
(Tawney), p. 164. According to Prof. Sayce, the original idea of the
Rukh is to be found in Zu, the storm-bird or god of the Sumerians
(The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia, p. 353).
A lion-headed eagle with outspread wings, holding a lion by each
of its feet, formed the symbol of Lagash or Shirpurla, one of the
earliest Sumerian cities. It was the emblem of Ningirsu, the god of
the city (A History of Sumer and Akkad, by L. W. King, 1910, pp. 98,
100). According to Mr. King's revised chronology, this takes back
the notion of this gigantic eagle, which carried off and devoured
the largest quadrupeds, to the fourth millenium B.C. Its Sumerian
name was Imgig.
In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 134, a Prince's wife, disguised
as a Sannyasi, or Hindu religious mendicant, on her way to join her
husband who was ill--poisoned by lying on powdered glass that was
spread over his bed--rested under a tree in which a pair of Rukhs (in
this story called Bihangama and Bihangami) had their nest, containing
two young birds. She cut in two a snake that was about to climb the
tree, and that was accustomed to kill the young ones each year. She
overheard the conversation of the birds, which was to the effect
that some of their droppings would cure the Prince, if reduced to
powder and applied with a brush to the Prince's body, after bathing
him seven times, with seven jars of water and seven jars of milk. One
of the birds carried her on his back to the Prince, with the rapidity
of lightning. At p. 219, we learn that the dung of the young of this
bird, when applied fresh to the eyeballs, would cure blindness.
At pp. 189 and 192, a puppy and a young hawk joined a Prince on his
journey, but apparently owing to the omission of some incident of
the tale they were of no service to him. Such omissions are common;
they can only be supplied by collecting variants.
In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), pp. 74, 75--Tales of the
Punjab, pp. 66, 67--a crow, peacock, and jackal in turn warned a girl
against a robber with whom she was going.
At p. 273--Tales of the Punjab, p. 259--Prince Rasalu was given
the task of separating a hundred-weight of millet seed from a
hundred-weight of sand with which it had been mixed. This was done
for him by crickets in return for his saving a cricket from a fire.
In the Jataka story No. 444 (vol. iv, pp. 19, 20), a man laid his
hand on the head of a boy who had been bitten by a snake, and then
repeated a spell to restore him to health. The boy's father laid his
hand on the boy's breast while saying a second spell.
In the Tamil Story of Madana Kama Raja, or "Dravidian Nights" (Natesa
Sastri), p. 21 ff., a Prince purchased for a hundred pagodas apiece,
a kitten and a snake, which he reared for twelve years. They assisted
him afterwards.
At p. 91 ff., a Prince was ordered by a King to bring snake's poison,
and afterwards whale's fat.
At p. 109 ff., a Prince who had four heavenly wives lost them through
his mother's returning to one of them her celestial garment, which
had been concealed. When in search of a way to his wives, he saved
an Ant-King, a Frog-King, and a Cricket-King. He went to Indra,
who gave him four tasks, of which one was that after an acre of
land had been sown with sesame seed and ploughed one hundred times,
he was to collect all the seeds. The Ant-King brought his subjects
and collected them for him. Another of the tasks, the last one, was
the selection of Indra's daughter, who was one of his wives, from
the four, who were all given the same appearance. The Cricket-King
enabled him to do this, by hopping onto her foot.
NO. 52
THE WIMALI STORY
At a certain city there are a man and a woman, it is said. That woman
was about to have a child. She cooked cakes to eat. While she was
eating, a crow came, and stayed there looking on. "She will throw
me a piece of cake, at least," it thought. The woman did not give it
even a bit of the cakes.
Afterwards the crow went to the house of the Rakshasa, and breaking
off a mango fruit came to that house, and ate it in front of the
woman who ate the cakes. While the crow was eating, the woman thought,
"It will throw down a piece of it, at least." The crow did not give
her any of it; it ate the whole and flew away.
After the man of the house came, the woman said, "The crow brought
a mango fruit, and turned it round and round, and ate the whole of
it. [Somehow or other you must get me a mango.]"
After that, the man went to the house of the Rakshasa, and having
ascended the mango tree, tried to pluck a mango fruit. As he was
plucking it the Rakshasa came home. Seeing the man in the tree,
he asked, "Who is that in the tree?"
"Ane! I am in the tree," said the man.
"What are you plucking mangoes for?" he asked.
"For our house-girl to eat. [She is about to have a child, and has
asked for one,]" he said.
"Well then, pluck one and descend," the Rakshasa said.
So the man plucked one, and came down. After he had descended the
Rakshasa said, "Should she bear a son he is for thee; should she bear
a daughter, she is for me."
The man said "Ha," and taking the mango fruit went home.
News afterwards reached the Rakshasa that she had borne a girl. On
account of it the Rakshasa went to the house [and took the girl]. As
he was returning carrying the girl, he saw two boys going to school,
and said, "Boys, boys, say a name for my daughter."
The boys saying, "Wimali, Wimali" (pure or beautiful one), ran away.
So the Rakshasa took the girl to his house, and shared it with her.
Afterwards, when he had gone to eat human flesh, the Rakshasa heard
the sound of tom-toms saying, "Wimali," [and thought they were calling
the girl]. So he came home, and asked Wimali, "Have you been out?"
"No, I have not been out. I have just got up," Wimali said.
Next day he went again to eat human flesh. After he had gone he
heard the sound of tom-toms saying, "Wimali." The Rakshasa came home,
and asked Wimali again, "Have you been out?"
"No, I have just put on my cloth," Wimali said.
The Rakshasa having gone to eat human flesh on the following day,
again heard the sound of tom-toms saying, "Wimali." He came home and
asked Wimali, "Have you been out?"
"No, I have only just combed my hair," Wimali said.
After that, news reached the King that a girl called Wimali was at
the Rakshasa's house. Having learnt this, the King came to take away
Wimali. When he arrived there [the Rakshasa was out, so] he formed
a figure of Wimali out of rice flour, and after placing that figure
in the Rakshasa's house, took Wimali to the city.
The Rakshasa came to the house and [finding that she was not there]
said, "Wimali will not stay at home." Then he tried to eat her figure,
and ate a great part of the flour figure. After he had eaten this
[his mouth was choked with the flour, so] he said, "May a mouth be
created on the top of my head." When he had said this [the mouth was
created, and] the Rakshasa's head being split in two by it, he died.
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
NO. 53
THE POTS OF OIL
A man having gone to the Lower Twelve Pattus (the name of a district)
to seek for coconuts, and having collected fifty or sixty coconuts at
a shed [where he was lodging, found that] because of their great weight
he was unable to bring them; and so he expressed [the oil from] them.
Having expressed it, on the morning of the following day he asked for
two large pots, and filling them with the oil he tied them as a pingo
(carrying-stick) load (one below each end of the stick), and set off
with them.
During the time while he was coming on his way to his village, he met
a man in the road, and having given him betel, etc., to eat, said,
"Ane! Friend, you must assist me a little. Take this pingo load
somewhat far, and hand it over to me. I will give you four tuttu"
(three halfpence). [The man agreed to help him, and took the load.]
Then the man, as he was going along the road, thought, "With the funds
provided by these four tuttu I shall buy a hen chicken. Having taken
it home, after it has become large and laid twelve eggs I shall [set
them under it and] get twelve chickens. After the twelve chickens
have become big, I shall sell them for sixpence apiece. With that
money I shall get a he-goat and a she-goat, and that she-goat will
bear two kids.
"When the kids have become large I can sell them for five rupees
apiece, and having given the ten rupees I shall get a buffalo
cow. While I am rearing the buffalo cow she will bear a calf. At
that time I shall go to ask about a lucky hour (fixed by astrology)
for taking the [first] milk.
"After I have got to know the lucky hour and gone to take the milk,
the buffalo cow, becoming afraid, will kick at me." Saying this,
he jumped aside in order to avoid it.
As he was coming on the path, at this time he had reached a foot-bridge
formed of a single tree trunk (edanda), and while going along at
the middle of it he made the jump [to escape the cow's kick]. As he
jumped, he fell off the tree trunk, taking the load of oil with him
[and the two pots were smashed].
At his fall, the owner of the oil asked, "Having come so far taking
care of this oil, why did you throw it down and break the pots at
this foot-bridge, friend?"
The man said, "With the funds provided by the four tuttu I thought
of buying a chicken. This happened owing to that."
Afterwards the owner of the oil, saying, "Never mind the spilling of
the oil; you must go with me," invited the man to accompany him, and
they went together. Having arrived at the village, because he was a
capable man [the owner of the oil] gave him his daughter [in marriage].
Not a very long time afterwards, the men of the village said that
they must go to Puttalam to load salt and sun-dried fish, and bring
them back [bartering part of them on the way home]. The man said,
"Father-in-law, I also must go to Puttalam." So the father-in-law made
ready a cart load of goods, and giving them to him told him to go with
the other men, and said, "[When disposing of the goods] the things
which they count you also count and give; the goods which they give
'simply' (that is, without counting), you also give 'simply.'" [109]
Afterwards the men who went from the village, while coming back from
Puttalam, from place to place gave the goods they were bringing, and
took [in exchange] the things they wanted. The man having observed
which goods they counted, counted and gave the same goods, without
[taking] money. The goods which the other men gave without counting,
that man also gave without counting. Thus, in that manner he gave
all the goods loaded into the cart, until at last only the cart and
the yoke of bulls remained over.
Afterwards the men who went in the party gave goods, and each one
got a horse. This man gave the cart and yoke of bulls and got a horse.
While they were coming bringing the horses, the men of the party
gave goods, and each one got a goat of foreign breed. So this man
gave his horse, and got a goat.
While they were bringing the goats, the men of the party, saying,
"We must each one get a dog with a party-coloured body," gave goods,
and got one apiece. So this man gave the foreign goat that he was
bringing, and got one.
Having come to a shop where they were selling foreign pots, the men
of the party gave goods, and each one got a foreign water-pot. This
man giving the parti-coloured dog, also got one.
Afterwards having come very close to their village, each of the
men of the party, saying, "I will give four tuttu and get shaved,"
got shaved. So this man gave that foreign water-pot, and got himself
shaved.
In the end the man returned home without either cart, or yoke of bulls,
or goods.
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
Some Eastern variants have been mentioned above in the story of the
Kitul seeds, No. 26.
In The Orientalist, vol. ii, p. 102, there is a story by
Mr. A. E. R. Corea, in which a man who was going in search of
work gathered some leaves on the road-side, which are eaten as a
vegetable. In another district where there were no vegetables he
exchanged them for fishes, a leaf for a fish. Going on, he bartered
these for digging hoes, and these again for oxen, with which he set
off on his return home. Having nothing to eat, he continued to give
two oxen for two rice cakes, until at last he arrived at his house
empty-handed.
In the Panchatantra (Dubois), a Brahmana who had been at two feasts on
the same day, carried away from the second some pots of ghi--or liquid
butter,--milk, and flour, and began to consider how he would acquire
wealth by means of them. He would sell them, and buy a she-goat, which
would have kids, and in a short time he would possess a flock. He
would then sell the goats and buy a cow and a mare, by selling the
calves and foals from which he would become a rich man. He would get
married and have numerous children, who would be well educated and
well dressed. His wife would become inattentive to her duties at the
house. During her absence the children would run about near the cows,
and the youngest one would be injured by them. For neglecting them he
would beat his wife, and taking up his stick to beat her he smashed
the pots containing his provisions.
NO. 54
THE MOUSE MAIDEN [110]
There are a King and a Queen of a certain city, and there is a daughter
of the Queen.
They asked [permission] to summon the daughter to go [in marriage]
to the Prince of another city. The King said "Ha," so they came
from that city to summon the King's Princess. After coming, they
told the bride to come out [of her chamber] in order to eat the rice
[of the wedding-feast]. The Queen said, "She is eating cooked rice
in the house."
Then they told her to come out in order to dress her in the robes
[sent by the bridegroom (?)]. The Queen said, "She is putting on robes
[in her chamber]."
Then they told her to come out in order to go [to the bridegroom's
city]. So the Queen told two persons to come, and having put a female
Mouseling [110] in an incense box, brought it, and gave it into the
hands of the two persons, and said, "Take ye this, and until seven
days have gone by do not open the mouth of the box." Having taken it
to the city, when they opened the mouth of the box after seven days,
a mouse sprang out, [and hid itself] among the cooking pots.
There was also a (servant) girl at the Prince's house. The girl
apportioned and gave cooked rice and vegetable [curry] to the Prince,
and covered up the cooking pots [containing the rest of the food]. Then
the Mouseling came, and having taken and eaten some of the cooked
rice and vegetables, covered up the cooking pots, and went again
among the pots.
On the following day the same thing occurred. The Prince said to the
girl. "Does the Mouseling eat the cooked rice? Look and come back." The
girl having gone and looked, came back and said, "She has eaten the
cooked rice, and covered the cooking pots, and has gone." The Prince
said, "Go thou also, and eat rice, and come back." So the girl went
and ate rice, and returned.
Next day the Prince said, "I am going to cut paddy (growing
rice). Remain thou at the house, and in the evening place the articles
for cooking near the hearth." Then the Prince went. Afterwards, in
the evening the girl placed the things for cooking near the hearth,
and went out of the way.
The Mouseling came, and cooked and placed [the food ready], and again
went behind the pots. After evening had come, that girl apportioned
and gave the rice to the Prince. The Prince ate, and told the girl,
"Go thou also, and eat rice, and come back." So the girl went and
ate rice, and having covered the cooking pots came to the place where
the Prince was.
Then the Mouseling came and ate rice, and covered up the pots. After
that, she said to the [other] mice, "Let us go and cut the paddy,"
and collecting a great number of mice, cut all the paddy, and again
returned to the house, and stayed among the pots. Next day when the
Prince went to the rice field to cut the paddy, all had been cut.
Afterwards the Prince came back, and saying, "Let us go and collect and
stack [the paddy]," collected the men, and stacked it, and threshed it
by trampling [it with buffaloes]. Then they went and called the women,
and having got rid of the chaff in the wind, brought the paddy home.
After they had brought it, the Prince went near the place where the
cooking pots were stored, at which the Mouseling was hidden, and said,
"Having pounded this paddy [to remove the husk], and cooked rice,
let us go to your village [to present it to your parents, as the
first-fruits]."
The Mouseling said, "I will not. You go." So the Prince told the girl
to pound the paddy and cook rice, and having done this she gave it
to the Prince.
The Prince took the package of cooked rice, and went to the Mouseling's
village, and gave it to the Mouseling's mother.
The Queen asked at the hand of the Prince, "Where is the girl?"
The Prince said, "She refused to come."
The Queen said, "Go back to the city, and having placed the articles
for cooking near the hearth, get hid, and stay in the house."
After the Prince returned to the city, he did as she had told him. The
Mouseling having come out, took off her mouse-jacket, and [assuming
her shape as a girl] put on other clothes. While she was preparing
to cook, the Prince took the mouse-jacket, and burnt it.
Afterwards, when the girl went to the place where the mouse-jacket
had been, and looked for it, it was not there. Then she looked
in the hearth, and saw that there was one sleeve in it. While she
was there weeping and weeping, the Prince [came forward and] said,
"Your mother told me to burn the mouse-jacket." So the Mouseling
became the Princess again, and the Prince and Princess remained there.
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
The notion of a skin dress that could be put off and on, and that
transformed a person into one of the lower animals, is well-known in
folk-tales. It is found in Old Deccan Days (Frere), pp. 183, 193,
where a King had a jackal-skin coat which turned him into a jackal
when he put it on, until it was burnt.
At p. 222, a Princess concealed herself by putting on the skin of an
old beggar woman. She was discovered when she removed it in order to
wash it and herself. In the end it was burnt by the Prince she had
married, and she retained her true form as a Princess.
In Indian Fairy Tales (Stokes), p. 41 ff., there is a Prince who had
a monkey skin, which he could put on and off as he wished.
In Indian Nights' Entertainment, Panjab (Swynnerton), p. 344, four
fairies came in the form of doves, and took off their feather dresses
in order to bathe. A Prince concealed one dress, and the fairy was
unable to resume her bird form and fly away.
In The Story of Madana Kama Raja, or "Dravidian Nights" (Natesa
Sastri), pp. 56, 57, there is an account of a tortoise Prince who
had the power of leaving his shell and assuming his human form. His
mother one day saw the transformation, and smashed the shell, after
which he remained a Prince.
In Folk-Tales of Hindustan, Allahabad (Shaik Chilli), p. 54 ff.,
the daughter of the King of the Peris had the form of a monkey while
she wore a monkey's skin, and her own form at other times. When a
Prince burnt the skin she took fire, and flew away in a blaze to her
father's palace. While she was ill there, the Prince discovered her
and cured her, and she did not resume her monkey form.
The feather-vest of the Dove-maidens--female Jinn--in the Arabian
Nights (Lady Burton's ed.), iii, p. 417 ff., is well known. They
removed it for bathing, and could not fly without it.
NO. 55
SIGIRIS SIÑÑO, THE GIANT
In a country there was a great person called Sigiris Siñño. He was
a very wealthy person; under him ten hired labourers worked.
During the time while he was in this state, Sigiris Siñño having
thought he would drink arrack (spirit distilled from palm juice),
began to drink a very little. In that way he became accustomed to drink
very largely. Afterwards having come [home] drunk he went to beat the
labourers; also he did not give them their wages properly. When he had
acted in this manner for many days, they, after speaking together,
gave Sigiris Siñño a good beating, and on account of their [short]
pay took the goods of Sigiris Siñño, and went away. Then no one would
give work to Sigiris Siñño, so he drank until the goods in his house
were finished.
Then, there being nothing for this one to drink or eat, and having
become like a madman, at the time when he was walking and walking
about he saw a man carrying a young coconut. Begging, "Give me that,"
and taking it, he went to a travellers' resting-shed.
While he was there eating the young coconut after breaking it,
a great number of flies began to settle there. After he had struck
at the flies with his hand, twenty died. Thereupon this one went to
a person who did tin work, and said, "Ane! Friend, do a little work
for me and give me it."
"What is it?" the tin worker asked.
This one said, "Cut on a sheet of tin in Tamil and Sinhalese,
'I killed twenty,' and give me it."
Having said, "It is good," he cut it and gave it.
After he had cut and given it, this one took it, and preparing a
hanging board, and hanging the sheet of tin on it, put the cord on
his neck, and walked along the roads. Men who saw this stepped on
one side through fear, and went away.
Certain Tamils having seen this at a city, said to Sigiris Siñño,
"In our country the King has a giant. Should any one fight with him
and win, the King said he will give him a present of five hundred
masuran, and the post of Prime Minister. This being so, can you go
there with us [and fight him]," they asked.
Then Sigiris Siñño, thinking, "Let me go even should I be struck by
lightning," said, "I am able to fight with the giant," and went to
that city with the Tamils.
Having arrived there, these Tamils handed him over to the King
under whom that giant had a post. The King asked this one, "I have
a giant. Canst thou fight with the giant and win?"
Sigiris Siñño said instantly, "A son who has killed twenty giants
better than that one am I."
So the King said to his giant, "Now then, do what fighting thou
knowest, and conquer that one."
Then the giant said to Sigiris Siñño, "To-day you must come and swim
[against me] in the great sea for eight days. We require from the King
ten rupees in order to get things to eat while we are swimming." Having
said this and got them, the two giants went to the shops, and got
things for the ten rupees.
Then Sigiris the Giant said to that giant, "What are these few
things! For one meal I want six quarts of rice and I want three
bottles of arrack. I can swim for eight or ten months."
After that, this giant thought, "I can't eat as much as this
one, and I can't drink as much, and I can't swim for eight or ten
months. Therefore I am indeed unable to swim with this giant and beat
him." He told the King so.
The King said, "If so, thou wilt lose."
The giant said, "At swimming I shall lose. We must fight each other."
"It is good," said the King. Then the King asked Sigiris Siñño,
"Canst thou fight with this one?"
Sigiris Siñño replied, "I will give that one one blow."
So the King said, "Fight ye each other to-morrow."
Thereupon Sigiris the Giant said, "Not to-morrow. After a month has
gone both giants will fight each other. Having proclaimed it, and
put both of us into two houses under one roof, you must give us to
eat until the month is finished."
The King said, "It is good."
Sigiris the Giant having sought for an iron nail, from that day dug
into the wall of the house in which the giant was [which separated
their two rooms]. Having dug [nearly through] it, when the month
would be finished to-morrow Sigiris the Giant said to that giant,
"Ade! Giant, give me a little tobacco."
That giant said, "How can I give you tobacco there?"
Sigiris the Giant replied, "Knock a hole through that wall with your
hand, and give me it."
"I cannot," that one said.
Then Sigiris the Giant said, "What sort of a giant art thou,
one who can't make a hole through that wall and give me a little
tobacco!" Saying, "Look there! Give me it through there," Sigiris
the Giant struck with his hand at the place which he had previously
bored. When he struck it his hand made a hole through to the other
side. That giant becoming afraid at the blow, began to tremble,
and thought, "I can't win in fighting with this one."
On the following day they made them come out to fight. The place was
filled with people who had come to look on. Sigiris the Giant thinks in
his mind, "To-day is indeed my Fate. How shall I escape?" That giant,
through fear his thoughts were the same.
The King said, "Strike ye each other."
Having said, "It is good," each one being afraid of the other, said,
"Strike thou." Sigiris says to the other, "Thou strike," he says. By
that one and by this one not a blow was struck.
Then the King says to Sigiris the Giant, "Strike thou first."
Sigiris the Giant said, "It is good," and thinking of running away,
and saying to the people, addressing them loudly, "Get to both sides,
and stop there," looked round to run off. At that, the other giant,
rolling the people over, began to run away, and the people who were
there cried "Hu," after him.
Then the King having become pleased with Sigiris Siñño, and having
given him a present of five hundred masuran, established him in the
post of Prime Minister.
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 89--Tales of the Punjab,
p. 80--a weaver who killed a mosquito thought himself a hero, and
eventually became the ruler of half the country.
In Indian Nights' Entertainment, Panjab (Swynnerton), p. 208, a
weaver killed nine flies on his arm, and called himself Nomar Khan,
the Nine-killing Prince. He became Commander-in-Chief.
NO. 56
THE PROUD JACKAL
In the midst of a certain forest a Lion stayed. Having joined with
that very Lion, a Jackal was eating and eating the flesh of animals
killed by the Lion.
After a few days had gone by, the Jackal, becoming arrogant, said to
the Lion, "Don't say 'Jackal' to me."
Thereupon, "What shall I say?" the Lion asked.
Then the Jackal says, "You must call me, saying to me,
'Jackal-artificer' (Nari nayide)."
In this way, when the Lion had said, "Jackal-artificer," for many days,
he said, "Don't say 'Jackal-artificer.'"
"What name am I to say?" the Lion asked.
"Say to me, 'Small Lion'; don't say, 'Jackal-artificer,'" he said.
After the Lion had been saying, "Small Lion," for a few days, "Say
to me, 'Great Lion'; don't say, 'Small Lion,'" he said to the Lion.
Then the Lion says, "For me to say, 'Great Lion,' you must make the
Lion's roar," the Lion said.
Then the Jackal having gone near a tusk elephant, after he had
cried out, as the Lion's roar, "Hokkiye, Hokkiye" (the beginning of
the customary yelping cry of the Jackal), the tusk-elephant kicked
the Jackal.
Thereupon the Jackal died.
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
In the Jataka stories 143 (vol. i, p. 306) and 335 (vol. iii, p. 75),
a Jackal who acted as a Lion's servant induced his master to let him
go out in the latter's place, in order to kill animals. He howled
and sprang at an elephant, but was crushed to death by it.
STORIES OF THE DURAYAS
NO. 57
THE SEVEN ROBBERS
In a country there are seven robbers. Among them, in the same gang,
there is a fool. One day they went to commit robbery. While they
were there, they got a devil-dancer's box, containing his mask and
ornaments. Having brought it, the seven persons went into a rock cave
to sleep.
When they had gone there that foolish man became hungry. After the
others went to sleep that fool took out the devil-dancer's clothes,
and having looked at them put them on.
After he had put them on, one of those men opened his eyes. Then
on account of the noise of the bells [of the devil-dancer] the
others opened their eyes also. When they saw the man dressed in the
devil-dancer's clothes they were frightened, and saying, "Ade! The
Kohomba deity is coming," the other six persons ran away.
As they were running, that man who had the clothes ran after them,
saying, "Stay there, stay there." While they were running those
six persons leaped over a well [in the path]. This one also jumped,
but being held back by the clothes he fell into the mouth of the well.
After he had fallen into the well, a woman came to draw water. Then
he placed his weight in the bucket when she lowered it. After the
woman had got to know of the weight, striving and striving she got
the bucket near the mouth of the well. The man who had fallen, and
was in it, said, "A little more, my mother." Then the woman hearing
this [and seeing what she thought was a demon in the well], let go,
and bounded away.
Duraya. North-western Province.
In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 136, a story is given regarding
twenty-five idiots, in which is a variant of this tale. Some robbers
whom one of them was assisting left him outside a house with a basket
that he had brought out of it. While they were inside searching for
booty, he found in the basket the dress worn in representations of
a demon termed Gara Yaka, and put it on. When the robbers came out
they thought he was the demon himself, and ran off, with the idiot
at their heels. In the end, they jumped into a well, were followed
by him, and all were drowned.
NO. 58
THE STUPID BOY
In a certain city there are a Gamarala, a Gama-gaeni (his wife),
and a son of theirs. The Gamarala went to the chena. The Gama-gaeni
lay down, and told the Gama-puta (the son) to examine her head [for
insects]. While he was looking through the hair she fell asleep, and
a fly settled on her head. "Ade! Fly, do not bite our mother's head,"
he said, "mother will scold me."
The fly having gone flying away, settled again on her head. Saying,
"Now then, this fly is biting mother's head again," he placed his
mother's head gently on the ground. Then having gone and taken a rice
pestle, and come back with it, he said, "Is the fly still biting the
head?" and struck at the fly with the rice pestle, killing his mother
with the blow.