Told by RÁM SINH, Haidar-Garh, district Barau Banki.
A Washerman has an Ass that brays on hearing a conch-shell, thinks he
must have been a saint in a former life, but something went wrong (kahin
chuk gaya) and he became an Ass--Names him Tulsi Das--Ass dies--"He was
valuable to me," shaves head, performs obsequies, gives feast to
clansmen--Goes to shop of a Banya--"Why are you in mourning?" "Tulsi
Das, who was a great saint, is dead"--Banya shaves, too--Raja's sepoy
asks him why--"Tulsi Das is dead"--Shaves, too--Comrades ask why--Same
thing--Same with the chief of the sepoys--The minister, the raja, all
shave--Queen asks why--Raja tells her--"But who is Tulsi Das?" "A friend
of the minister's"--So the report is traced back to the Washerman, who
says, "He was my Ass."
_N.I.N.Q._, iii. § 104, gives the same tale about an ass named Sobhan
(beautiful): told by Shyam Sundar, village accountant of Dudhi, Mirzápur
district, recorded by Ahmad Ullah. Compare Temple's "Wide-awake
Stories," 'The Death and Burial of poor Hen Sparrow;' Lady Burton's
"Arabian Nights," iii. 228, 'The Unwise Schoolmaster who fell in Love by
Report;' Jacob's "English Fairy Tales," 'Tetty Mouse and Tatty Mouse,'
and _note_, p. 234.