Told by SHIN SAHÁI, teacher of the village school
of Dayarhi Chakeri, Etah District. Another version
of the _Podnâ_ and the _Podnî_, _N.I.N.Q._ iii.
83. Compare the _Valiant Blackbird_, No. 28 below.
Hen Sparrow tells her husband to go into the jungle and fetch firewood
to cook _khîr_ (rice milk)--A _Chamâr_ kills him--Hen makes carriage of
straw, yokes two rats to it, and drives off to take vengeance--Meets a
Wolf--"Where are you going?"--"To take vengeance on the Chamâr who
killed my husband"--"May I help?"--"It will be kind"--Meets a Snake, who
salutes her with, "Râm! Râm! Whither away?"--Replies as before, and same
thing happens--So with a Scorpion--They arrive at the house of the
Chamâr--Wolf hides near the river--Snake under pile of cow-dung
fuel--Scorpion under the lamp--The Sparrow flies up to the eaves and
twitters--Out comes Chamâr--Says she, "A friend awaits you near the
river." To the river he goes--Wolf seizes him--His wife goes to the heap
for fuel--Snake bites her--She calls to her son, "Bring the
lamp"--Scorpion stings him--They all die--Hen Sparrow gets another mate,
and lives happily ever after.
It is part of the Faithful Animal cycle (Temple, "Wide-awake Stories,"
412; Clouston, "Popular Tales and Fictions," i. 223 _seqq._). This form
of tale, in which the weaker animal gets the better of its more powerful
oppressor, is common in Indian folk-lore. Compare No. 1 of this
collection.