Page 21, line 4. For trades read traders.
Page 27, line 19. For Ratemahatmaya read Ratemahatmaya.
Page 40. Tamalitta. In the Katha Sarit Sagara, vol. i, p. 329, note,
Mr. Tawney stated that the Tamalitta district probably comprised the
tract of country to the westward of the Hughli river, from Bardwan
and Kalna on the north to the Kosai river on the south.
Page 41. Lata. A country of this name is stated in a note in the
same work in vol ii, p. 221, to have comprised Khandesh and part
of Gujarat. It was a seat of the fine arts, and its silk weavers are
mentioned in an inscription of 473-74 A.D., some of them having settled
at Mandasor in the western Malwa (Ind. Ant., vol. xiv, p. 198). The
Lala of Wijaya's father was evidently a different district. It is
probably due to the similarity of the names of these two districts--the
letters t and l being interchangeable--that Wijaya was supposed to have
sailed for Ceylon from a port on the western coast of India, to which
a resident in Lata would naturally proceed on his way to that island.
Page 49. According to the Maha Bharata, the Kali Yuga is followed by
the Krita Yuga.
Page 51. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 401,
the sky was formerly quite close to the earth; but one day when a
woman after a meal threw out her leaf-plate a gust of wind carried
it up to the sky. The supreme deity, the Sun, objected to be pelted
with dirty leaf-plates, so he removed the sky to its present position.
Page 53, note 3. Delete the second sentence.
In Old Deccan Days, p. 169, the Sun, Moon, and Wind went to dine
with Thunder and Lightning. The Sun and Wind forgot their mother, a
star; but the Moon took home food for her under her finger-nails. The
mother cursed the Sun and Wind, but blessed the Moon, her daughter,
and promised that she should be ever cool and bright.
Page 66. After Katha Sarit Sagara in the last note, add vol. i.
In the same work, vol. i, p. 489, a King caused his portrait to
be painted, and sent the artist to show it to another King and his
beautiful daughter, and also to paint a likeness of her and return
with it. She and the King were afterwards married. In vol. ii, p. 371,
a King sent an ambassador to show a portrait of his son, and ask for
a Princess in marriage for him.
In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 251, a Raja with five daughters
determined to marry them to five brothers, and the Princes' father had
a similar intention. Emissaries from both met at a river, the Princes
and girls were seen, and the wedding day fixed. When his brothers went
the eldest Prince gave them his shield and sword, and told them to
perform the ceremony for him by putting the usual vermilion mark of
Indian brides on his bride's forehead with the sword. Unlike the girl
in the Sinhalese story, she at first refused to allow the ceremony to
be performed, but in the end consented. On the return journey sixteen
hundred Rakshasas devoured all the party except the eldest Princess,
who was preserved by the Sun God, Chando. Her husband killed them,
and brought the party to life.
On p. 302, there is another account of a sword marriage, the bridegroom
being a Princess disguised as a Prince.
Page 71. In the Maha Bharata (Vana Parva, cxcii) King Parikshit
married a Frog Princess who must never see water.
In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 49, a Prince received
from a Rakshasi, thanks to a changed letter, a jar of soap that when
dropped became a mountain, a jar of needles that when dropped became
a hill bristling with needles, and a jar of water which when poured
out became a sea. He used these only for conquering other countries.
In Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), pp. 82, 87, the magic obstacles also
occur. In the former instance, some fat which was given was to be put
on a stone; the cannibal pursuers then fought for the stone. In the
latter case, a girl carried an egg, a milk-sack, a pot, and a smooth
stone; her father pursued her. When thrown down, the egg became a
mist, the milk-sack a sheet of water, the pot became darkness, and
the stone a rock over which the man could not climb.
Pages 73, 74, 304, 306, and Index. For tuttu read tuttu.
Page 92. In Chinese Folk-Lore Tales (Rev. Dr. Macgowan), p. 25, a
person called Kwang-jui purchased a fish and set it free in the river
in which it was caught. It proved to be the River God in disguise, who
afterwards saved Kwang-jui when he was stabbed and thrown into a river.
In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 239, two Princes who had saved
some young birds by killing the snake which annually ate those in
the same nest, were given food by their parents, and informed that
he who ate the first piece would marry a Raja's daughter and he who
ate the second piece would spit gold. These results followed.
Page 107. In the same vol., p. 189, a dwarf a span high let a buffalo
hide fall among some thieves who were dividing their booty under the
tree in which he was hidden; they ran off and he took home the gold
they had left, and informed his uncles that he got it by selling his
buffalo skin. They killed all their buffaloes and were laughed at
when they took the hides to sell. They then burned his house down,
after which followed the pretended sale of the ashes, etc., as in
a Bengal variant. In Campbell's Santal Folk Tales, p. 30, the story
is similar, the persons cheated being the father-in-law (a King) and
brothers-in-law, who were drowned when they were put in the river in
bags, in order to find cattle such as the boy obtained from a cow-herd
by changing places with him.
At p. 204 of Folklore of the Santal Parganas, a mungus-boy propped the
dead body of his mother against a tree as a drove of pack-bullocks
was approaching. When she was knocked down he charged the drovers
with causing her death, and got their cattle and goods as compensation.
Page 112. For his vicious tricks the brothers of the same mungus-boy
carried him off in a palankin to drown him. While they were searching
for a deep pool, a shepherd came up with a flock of sheep. The boy
cried out that he was being carried off to be married against his
will, and would change places with anyone. The shepherd, thinking it
a cheap marriage, took his place and was drowned, the boy driving
off his sheep. After some days he reappeared, and said he got the
sheep in the pool into which he was thrown, but in the deeper parts
there were oxen and buffaloes. The brothers in order to get these
took palankins, and were pushed into the water in them by the boy,
and were drowned. At p. 242, there is the incident of the pretended
rejuvenation of the wife by beating her. The man who saw it stole
the club and afterwards beat his own wife severely without success.
In the Kolhan tales (Bompas) appended to the same vol., p. 455,
a jackal got a drum made out of the skin of a goat of his which the
other jackals killed and ate; he stated that he found it in the river,
where there were many more. The other jackals jumped in to get them,
and were drowned.
In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton's ed., vol. 4, p. 367) a woman
was sentenced to be tied on a cross by her hair, with ten men as
guards. While the guards slept, an ignorant Badawi, coming that
way, spoke to himself of his intention to taste honey fritters,
and believed the woman when she informed him that she was to be freed
after eating ten pounds of the fritters, which she detested. He offered
to eat them for her, took her place, and she rode off on his horse,
dressed in his clothes.
Page 128. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 226, a potter's
wife who gave birth to a boy while digging clay, decided to take home
her basket of clay, and leave the child, which was found and reared
by a tiger. On p. 289, a woman who had borne twins in the jungle
while collecting fruit, left them, and took home her basket of fruit
instead. They were found and reared by two vultures, rejoined their
parents, and being discovered by the birds were torn in two during
the struggle for them.
Page 133. In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii,
p. 29, the King of Videha sent to the King of Kasi, as a present,
a casket containing two poisonous snakes. When the King opened it
the venom of the snakes blinded him.
Page 136. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 348, a deaf Santal
who was ploughing at cross roads was asked by a Hindu where the roads
went, and not understanding the language thought he was claiming the
bulls of the plough. After the question had been repeated several
times he began to think the man really had a claim to them, so to
avoid being beaten he unyoked them and handed them over to the man,
who went off with them. The next mistake was about the food brought by
his mother to the field; she complained of it when she returned home,
and scolded her daughter-in-law.
Page 145. In the Maha-Bharata (Adi Parva, cxlii), a Rakshasa called
Vaka protected a country, but required daily one cart-load of rice,
two buffaloes, and a man, as his supply of food. One of the five
Pandava Princes, Bhimasena, at his mother's request took the place
of a Brahmana whose turn had come to be eaten, ate up the food in
front of the Rakshasa, and then threw him down and broke his neck.
Page 159. In the Maha Bharata (Udyoga Parva, cix) it is stated that
the residence of the gods who subsist on smoke is in the south. In
Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), p. 22, it is said that "the hunger of the
spirit is allayed with the smoke" of the burnt offerings of animals.
Page 166. In the Katha Sarit Sagara, vol. i, p. 86, Siva gave two
red-lotus flowers to a man and his wife, saying that if one of them
proved unfaithful the other's lotus would fade. In vol. ii, p. 601,
a man said that his wife had given him a garland which would not fade
if she remained chaste.
In a Khassonka story in Contes Soudanais (C. Monteil), p. 134, a lion
gave a herb to his friend who had become King, telling him that while
it was green and fresh the lion would be alive, but when it withered
and became yellow he would be dead.
In Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), p. 81, a boy who was about to visit
cannibals stuck his assagai in the ground, and said, "If it stands
still, you will know I am safe; if it shakes, you will know I am
running; if it falls down, you will know I am dead."
In Sagas from the Far East, p. 106, six friends separated at a place
where six streams met, and each one planted at his stream a tree that
would wither if evil befel him. When five returned and saw that the
tree of the sixth had withered they went in search of him.
Page 167. In Folk-Tales of Kashmir, 2nd ed., p. 73, the life of a
sorcerer was bound up in an earthen pot which he left with his sister;
when it was broken he died.
In Folk-Tales from Tibet (O'Connor), p. 113, the life of an ogre was
in a boy seated in an underground chamber, holding a crystal goblet of
liquor, each drop of which was the spirit of a person whom the ogre
had killed. At p. 154, the life of an ogre was in a green parrot in
a rock cave.
In the Arabian Nights, vol. 5, p. 20, the soul of a Jinni was in the
crop of a sparrow which was shut up in a box placed in a casket; this
was enclosed in seven others, outside which were seven chests. These
were kept in an alabaster coffer which was buried in the sea, and
only the person wearing Solomon's seal ring could conjure it to the
surface. The Jinni died when the sparrow was strangled.
In a story of Southern Nigeria (The Lower Niger and its Tribes,
Leonard, p. 320) the life of a King was in a small brown bird perched
on the top of a tree. When it was shot by the third arrow discharged
by a sky-born youth the King died.
Page 173, line 4 from bottom. For burnt read rubbed.
Page 177, line 18. For burnt read rubbed.
To the last note, add, A young man lost all he had, and was then made
a prisoner.
Page 178. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 245, a Raja became
blind on kissing his youngest son. He ordered him to be killed, but
his mother persuaded the soldiers to take him to a distant country
instead; there he married the Raja's daughter, and in order to cure
his father went by her advice in search of a Rakshasa, whose daughter
he married. The two returned with a magical flower of hers and a hair
of the Rakshasa's head, calling on the way for his first wife. By
means of the hair a golden palace was created, and when his father's
eyes were touched with the flower they were cured.
Page 185. In the notes, lines 10 and 11, the letters v and h in jivha
should be transposed.
In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 207, the King's money was stolen
by two palace servants. After a soothsayer who was called had eaten
the food they brought, he said, "Find or fail, I have at any rate had
a square meal." The thieves' names being Find and Fail they thought he
knew they were guilty, begged him not to tell the Raja, and disclosed
the place where the money was buried. The soothsayer read a spell over
mustard seed, tapped the ground with a bamboo till he came to the spot,
and dug up and handed the money to the Raja, who gave him half.
In Sagas from the Far East, p. 58, in a Kalmuk tale, an assumed
soothsayer recovered a talisman that he saw a Khan's daughter
drop. Through overhearing the conversation of two Rakshasas he was
able to free the Khan from them, and at last by his wife's cleverness
was appointed to rule half the kingdom.
In Chinese Nights' Entertainment (Fielde), p. 18, a poor man,
overhearing his wife and son's talk about food, pretended that
he could find things by scent, and told his wife what food was in
the cupboard. The news spread, and he was ordered to discover the
Emperor's lost seal. He feared punishment, and remarked, "This is
sharp distress! This is dire calamity!" Hearing this, two courtiers,
Sharp and Dyer, told him they had thrown the seal into a well, and
begged him not to betray them; he recovered the seal. The Empress
then hid a kitten in a basket, and asked what it contained. Expecting
to be beheaded, he said, "The bagged cat dies." When the basket was
opened the kitten was dead.
Page 190. In the Katha Sarit Sagara, vol. i, p. 211, a woman having
told a man that she wished to give her husband who was impaled a
drink of water, he bent down and she stood on his back. On looking
up he saw that she was eating the man's flesh. He seized her by one
foot, but she flew away, leaving her jewelled anklet, which he gave
to the King, who married him to his daughter. When the Queen wanted
a second anklet the man met with the Rakshasi again at the cemetery;
she gave him the anklet and married her daughter to him.
In Folk-Tales of Kashmir, 2nd ed., p. 334, a Prince while keeping
watch over a dead body, cut off the leg of an ogress who came. When
he gave the King her shoe he was rewarded.
Page 196. The escape of the Prince by sending his foster-brother finds
a parallel in a story recorded in the Sinhalese history, the Mahavansa,
chapter x. The uncles of Prince Pandukabhaya had endeavoured to murder
him because of a prophecy that he would kill them in order to gain the
sovereignty, and he had taken refuge among some herdsmen. The account
then continues in Dr. Geiger's translation, p. 69:--"When the uncles
again heard that the boy was alive they charged (their followers)
to kill all the herdsmen. Just on that day the herdsmen had taken a
deer and sent the boy into the village to bring fire. He went home,
but sent his foster-father's son out, saying: 'I am footsore, take
thou fire for the herdsmen; then thou too wilt have some of the
roast to eat.' Hearing these words he took fire to the herdsmen:
and at that moment those (men) despatched to do it surrounded the
herdsmen and killed them all."
In the Katha Sarit Sagara, vol. i, p. 162, a King and Queen ordered
their cook to kill the person who brought a message, and sent a
Brahmana with it. On the way, the King's son told him to get a pair
of ear-rings made, took the message, and was killed by the cook.
In the Kathakoça, p. 172, a merchant who wished to get a youth killed,
sent him with a letter to his son ordering poison (vishan) to be
given to him. While the youth was asleep in the temple of the God
of Love, the merchant's daughter Visha came there, read the letter,
corrected the spelling of her name, and her brother married her to the
youth. Eventually, the merchant's son was killed by mistake in place
of the youth, who became the heir, and the merchant died of grief.
In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes, extracted from the
Chinese Tripitaka), vol. i, p. 165, we find the Indian form of the
whole story. A wealthy childless Brahmana householder adopted an
abandoned infant (the Bodhisattva), but when his wife was about to
be confined he left it in a ditch, where a ewe suckled it till the
shepherd returned it to him. He next left it in a rut in a road,
but when many hundred carts came next morning the bulls refused to
advance until the child was placed in a cart. A widow took charge
of it, the householder regretted what he had done, rewarded her, and
regained it. Finding after some years that the boy was more intelligent
than his own son, he abandoned him among some bamboos, but men seeking
firewood saved him. When the householder heard of him he felt remorse,
paid the men well, and took him back. Again becoming jealous of his
intelligence and popularity, he sent him to a metal founder with a
note in which the man was ordered to throw into his furnace the child
who brought it. On his way the householder's son, who was playing with
others at throwing walnuts, told him to collect his nuts, delivered
the letter, and was thrown into the furnace. The householder feared
some accident, but arrived too late to save him. Determined to kill
the elder boy he sent him with a letter to a distant dependant, who
was ordered to drown him. On the road the youth called at the house
of a Brahmana friend of the householder, where during the night the
host's clever daughter abstracted and read the letter, and replaced
it by one giving instructions for the immediate marriage of the youth
to her, and the presentation of handsome wedding presents; this was
done. When he heard of it the householder became seriously ill; the
couple went to salute him, and on seeing them he died in a fit of fury.
Page 198. In Sagas from the Far East, p. 201, in a Kalmuk tale, a
woman picked up some tufts of wool, said she would weave cloth and
sell it until an ass could be bought for her child, and would have a
foal. When the child said he would ride the foal, his mother ordered
him to be silent and to punish him went after him with a stick;
as he was trying to escape the blow fell on his head and killed him.
In the Arabian Nights, vol. 5, p. 388, there is a story of a Fakir
who hung over his head a pot-ful of ghi which he had saved out of
his allowance. With the money for which he could sell it he thought
he would get a ewe, and gradually breeding sheep and then cattle,
would become rich, get married, and have a son whom he would strike
if he were disobedient. As he thought this he raised his staff, which
struck and smashed the pot of ghi; this fell on him, and spoilt his
clothes and bed.
Page 200. In the Katha Sarit Sagara, vol. ii, p. 60, a foolish King
who wished to make his daughter grow quickly, was told by his doctors
that they must place her in concealment while they were procuring the
necessary medicine from a distant country. After several years they
produced her, saying that she had grown by the power of the medicine,
and the King loaded them with wealth. This story is given in Cinq
Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. ii, p. 166.
Page 206. In Reynard the Fox in Southern Africa (Dr. Bleek), p. 33,
there is a Hottentot variant. The clothes of a tailor had been torn
by a Mouse which denied it and blamed the Cat; the blame was passed
on to the Dog, the Wood, the Fire, the Water, the Elephant, and the
Ant. The tailor got the Baboon to try them; in order to catch the
real culprit it made each one punish the other.
In a Sierra Leone story in Cunnie Rabbit, etc. (Cronise and Ward),
p. 313, a boy killed a bird with a stone and his sister ate it, giving
him in exchange a grain of corn. White ants ate this and gave him a
waterpot. This was swept away by the water, which gave him a fish. A
hawk took it and gave him its own wing, which the wind carried off,
giving him in exchange much fruit. A baboon ate this and gave him
an axe; the Chief took this and satisfied him by presenting him with
money and slaves.
Page 208, line 6 of notes. For crane read egret.
Page 212. In Folktales of the Santal Parganas, p. 338, the hare,
wanting a dinner of rice cooked with milk, lay down while watch
was kept by its friend the jackal. Men taking rice put down their
baskets and chased the hare, the jackal meanwhile removing the
rice. In this way they got also milk, firewood, a cooking-pot, and
some leaf-plates. The jackal brought a fire-brand, cooked the food,
and hurried over his bath, at which the hare spent a long time. While
it was away, the jackal ate as much rice as he wanted, and filled up
the pot with filth over which he placed the remaining rice. When the
hare discovered this he threw the contents over the jackal, and drove
it away.
Page 215. In the same work, p. 339, the animals were a leopard
and a he-goat which occupied its cave and frightened it by saying
"Hum Pakpak." The leopard returned with the jackal, their tails tied
together, but when the goat stood up and the leopard remarked on the
dreadful expressions it used in the morning, they both ran away and
the hair was scraped off the jackal's tail.
In Folk-Tales from Tibet, p. 76, two jackals with three cubs occupied
a tiger's den, frightened it by telling the cubs they would soon be
eating tiger's flesh, and it returned with a baboon which laughed
heartily at the story. The jackal called out to the baboon to bring
up the tiger quickly, and said they had expected two or three at
least. The tiger bolted and bumped the baboon to death, their tails
being twisted together.
In Les Avadanas (Julien), No. cxxii, vol. ii, p. 146, the animals are
a tiger and stag which frightened it in the same way when a monkey
was leading it in search of an animal to kill. It said, "I never
would have believed the monkey was so wicked; it seems he wants to
sacrifice me to pay his old debts."
In Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest (Skeat), p. 45, in order to save
an elephant a mouse-deer frightened a tiger. An ape went back with
the tiger, the mouse-deer said it refused to accept only one tiger
when two had been promised, and the tiger ran away.
In Old Hendrik's Tales (Vaughan), p. 19, in a Hottentot variant a
wolf and baboon, their tails tied together, were about to punish the
jackal. When the female jackal made the cub squall, the male jackal
said he had sent the baboon for wolf-meat and he was now bringing
one. As he moved towards them, the wolf bolted, dragging the baboon,
which got a kink in its tail.
In Reynard the Fox in Southern Africa, p. 24, there is another
Hottentot story, the animals being a leopard and ram. When the
former ran off, a jackal took it back, fastened to it by a leather
thong. As they drew near, the leopard wished to turn back. On the
ram's praising the jackal for bringing the leopard to be eaten when
its child was crying for food, it bolted and dragged the jackal till
it was half-dead.
Page 225, first line. For Crows' read Parrots'.
Page 227. In Sagas from the Far East, p. 309, when a wise parrot saw a
man take a large net to spread over their tree, the parrots roosted on
a rock. Refusing the leader's advice to move again they were netted,
and escaped as in the Sinhalese story, when the bird-catcher counted,
"Seventy-one."
Page 230. Mr. Pieris has pointed out in his recent work, Ceylon,
vol. i, p. 554, that Nayide was formerly an honorific title of the
sons of Chiefs. It is not now so applied.
Page 233. See also The Jataka, No. 546 (vol. vi, p. 167), where one
of the tasks of Mahosadha was to overcome the difficulty said to
have arisen through the royal bull's being in calf; he settled it by
a question.
In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 49, an oilman claimed that his
bull bore a calf that a man left near it. The calf-owner was assisted
by a night-jar and a jackal, which after pretending to sleep related
their dreams; the former had seen one egg sitting on another, the
latter had been eating the fishes burnt when the sea got on fire. When
the jackal explained that they were as probable as the bull's bearing
a calf, the man got it back.
Page 240. In Les Avadanas, No. lvi, vol. i, p. 199. a turtle escaped
when a boy at a man's recommendation threw it into water to drown
it. This is given in Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. ii, p. 230,
in which work also two forms of the earlier part of the Sinhalese
tale appear. In vol. i, p. 404, a single large crane carried away the
turtle in its bill. While passing over a town the turtle continually
asked "What's this? What's that?" At last the crane opened its mouth
to reply, and the turtle fell and was killed and eaten. In vol. ii,
pp. 340 and 430, the birds were two wild-geese, and the turtle let
itself fall when it spoke. It was killed by the fall in one variant,
and by children in the other.
In Sagas from the Far East, p. 215, in a Kalmuk tale, a frog advised
a crow that had caught it to wash it before eating it. When the crow
put it into a streamlet it crept into a hole in the rock and escaped.
Page 244. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 329, the animals
which raced were an elephant and some ants. Whenever the elephant
looked down it saw two ants on the ground, and at last it died of
exhaustion. The challenging ants never ran; ants were so numerous
that some were always to be seen.
In The Fetish Folk of West Africa (Milligan), p. 214, a chameleon
challenged an elephant to race through the forest. After starting
it turned back, having arranged that others should be at the end of
each stage.
Page 240. In Kaffir Folk-Lore, p. 187, when a lion who had been
cheated by a jackal chased it, the jackal took refuge in a hole under
a tree, but the lion seized its tail as it entered. The jackal said,
"That is not my tail you have hold of; it is a root of the tree." The
lion then let go, and the jackal escaped into the hole.
Page 248. The same portion of the tale is found in the Jataka story
No. 321 (vol. iii, p. 48).
Page 251. The incident of the crows on the floating carcase is given
in the Jataka story No. 529 (vol. v, p. 131).
Page 253. In the title, for Kadmbawa read Kadambawa.
Page 259. In Folk-Tales of Kashmir, 2nd ed., p. 322, ten peasants
who counted themselves as only nine, remained weeping until a man
told them to put their skull-caps down and count them.
Page 263. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 352, while three
men were sitting under a tree a stranger came up, placed a bunch
of plantains on the ground before them, bowed, and went away. Each
claimed the obeisance and plantains, and called the others fools;
they related their foolish actions in the matter of their wives,
and at last divided the fruit equally.
Page 275, line 20. For Rakshasi read Rakshasi.
Page 277. In The Kathakoça (Tawney), p. 164, a Prince whose eyes had
been plucked out heard a Bharunda bird tell its young one that if
the juice of a creeper growing at the root of the Banyan tree under
which he sat were sprinkled on the eyes of a blind Princess she would
regain her sight. He first cured himself with it, and afterwards the
Princess, whom he married.
Page 279, line 19. For paeya (twenty minutes) read paeya (twenty-four
minutes).
Page 282, line 4. For footing and footing read clearing and clearing.
Page 283. In Folk-Tales of Kashmir, 2nd ed., p. 186, a jackal whose
life a farmer had spared persuaded a King to marry his daughter to
him. He explained away the man's want of manners, and burned his
house down when the King was on his way to visit it.
Page 299. Add footnote. Large crocodiles that lived in the ocean are
mentioned in the Arabian Nights, vol. 5, p. 14. Sir R. Burton stated
in a note that the crocodile cannot live in sea water, but it is well
known that a large and dangerous species (C. porosus) is found in
the mouths of rivers, where at times of drought the water in some
sites is almost pure sea water. When I resided at Mount Lavinia,
about seven miles south of Colombo, one of these crocodiles found
its way into the sea there during some floods, and lived in it for
a week or ten days. Residents informed me that others had been known
to remain in the sea there for several days.
Page 300, first line. After 15 insert, and in Indian Fairy Tales
(Stokes), p. 182.
Page 301. In a variant by a person of the Cultivating Caste, N.W.P.,
a Queen sent her three sons to bring three turtle doves from the Pearl
Fort (Mutu Kotte). On the way, while the youngest Prince, aged seven
years, was asleep his eldest brother blinded him with two thorns
(timbol katu); but after he had been abandoned he learnt from the
conversation of two Devatawas, who lived in adjoining trees, that by
eating the bark of one of their trees he would be cured. After being
twice again blinded in this way and regaining his sight, he killed
a cobra that each year destroyed and ate the young of two Mainas
(starlings, Saela-lihiniya) which had a nest on a tree. He climbed up
to the nest, had similar experiences to those related in the story,
was carried to the Pearl Fort by a Maina, and brought away three
turtle-doves.
In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 160, a Prince had three tasks
before marrying a Princess; he was to crush the oil out of eighty
pounds of mustard seed, to kill two demons, and to cut a thick tree
trunk with a wax hatchet. Ants did the first task, two tigers killed
the demons, and with a hair from the head of the Princess fixed along
the edge of the hatchet he cut the tree.
In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 45, a girl was given three
tasks by her sisters-in-law. (1) To collect a basket of mustard seed
when sown; pigeons picked it up for her. (2) To bring bear's hair for
an armlet; two bear cubs helped her to get it. (3) To bring tiger's
milk; two tiger cubs got it for her. Three other tasks do not resemble
those of the Sinhalese tale. In Campbell's Santal Folk Tales, p. 119,
a variant occurs in which bear's milk replaces the hair.
In the Kolhan tales (Bompas) appended to the former vol., p. 481, a
Potter was sent by a Raja for tiger's milk, which he obtained by the
aid of the cubs. On p. 469 a girl was ordered by her sisters-in-law
to collect pulse sown in a field; pigeons helped her to do it. She
then went for bear's milk, which a she-bear gave her.
In Folk-Tales from Tibet, p. 98, a boy by killing a dragon saved
three young gryphons that were in a nest on a cliff. When they told
their parents, the gryphons fed him, and the male carried him to the
Fairy King.
In A. von Schiefner's Tibetan Tales (Ralston), p. 72, the Kinnara
King gave Prince Sudhana three tasks to perform before marrying his
daughter. The last was her identification among a thousand Kinnaris;
she assisted him by stepping forward.
Page 307. In Folk-lore of the Telugus (G. R. Subramiah Pantulu),
p. 48, a poor Brahmana who had been presented with a pot of flour,
thought he would buy a kid with the money he would get for it, and
gradually obtain cattle till he was worth three thousand rupees. He
would then marry, and have an affectionate son, and keep his wife
under control by an occasional kick. As he thought this he kicked,
broke the pot, and lost the flour in the dust.
In the Hitopadesa a Brahmana who got a pot containing bread thought
he would get ten cowries for it, buy larger pots, and at last become a
rich dealer in areka-nuts and betel leaves. He would marry four wives,
the youngest being his favourite; and the others being jealous of
her he would beat them with his stick. He struck the blow with his
stick and smashed his pot.
In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 140, a man who was carrying
some pots of oil for two annas, thought he would buy chickens with one
anna and gradually obtain cattle and land, and get married. When his
children told him to wash quickly on his return from work, he would
shake his head, and say, "Not yet." As he said this he shook his head,
and the pots on it fell and were smashed.
In Folk-Tales from Tibet, p. 31, a foolish young Mussalman who
was promised a hen in return for carrying a jar of oil, thought he
would become rich in the same way, and get married. When his child
was naughty he would stamp his foot; he stamped as he thought it,
and the pot fell and was broken.
Page 311. In Sagas from the Far East, p. 92, in a Kalmuk tale, the
wife of a person who usually had the form of a white bird, burned his
feathers, cage, and perch while he was absent in his human form at a
festival. On his return he informed her that his soul was in the cage,
and that he would be taken away by the gods and demons.
At p. 221, also in a Kalmuk tale, a man received from the Serpent-King
a red dog which laid aside its form and became a beautiful maiden
whom he married. Every morning she became a dog, until one day when
she went to bathe he burned her form,--apparently the skin.
At p. 244, in a Mongolian account of Vikramaditya it is stated that
Indra gave his father the form of an ass, which he left outside the
door when he visited his wife. She burned it, and he remained a man.
In Reynard the Fox in Southern Africa, p. 52, a lion who had eaten
a woman preserved her skin whole, and wore it and her ornaments,
"so that he looked quite like a woman." He went to her kraal, and at
last was detected through part of the lion's hair being visible. The
hut was removed and a grass fire made over the sleeping lion.
In Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), p. 38, when a girl who had married
a crocodile licked its face at its request, it cast off its skin,
and became a powerful man.
Page 315. In China it is believed that only wicked persons are struck
by lightning. Doolittle's Social Life of the Chinese (Paxton Hood),
p. 557. In The Kathakoça, p. 159, three persons who expressed evil
thoughts were struck by lightning. In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues,
vol. i, p. 104, a Queen who caused the Bodhisatta, in the form of an
elephant, to be destroyed in order that she might have his tusks,
was killed by a thunderbolt when she looked at them. In vol. iii,
p. 125, a man who was about to kill his mother was similarly destroyed.
Page 318. In the Arabian Nights, vol. 4, p. 383, a girl in Baghdad
pretended that while drawing water for a man her finger-ring fell
into the well; when he threw off his upper clothes and descended she
left him there. As the owner's groom was drawing water afterwards the
man came up in the bucket, the groom thought him a demon, dropped the
cord, and the man fell down again. The well-owner got him exorcised,
but he came up again when the bucket was raised, and sprang out amid
shouts of "Ifrit!"
Page 319, last line. For greul read gruel.
Page 320, line 9. For don't read Don't.
Line 31. For plantains read plantains'.
Page 321. In Les Avadanas, vol. ii, p. 51, and Cinq Cents Contes et
Apologues, vol. ii, p. 183, a man who drank water that was flowing
through a wooden pipe twice ordered the water to stop when he had
finished. He was called a fool, and led away.
In the latter work, vol. ii, p. 269, there is an account of the boy
who killed the mosquito that had settled on his sleeping father's head.
Page 327. Add to second note, In the Katha Sarit Sagara, vol. ii,
p. 497, the assessors at a trial acted as judges, but the sentence was
pronounced by the King,--as in The Little Clay Cart, also. Compare
also the orders of King Mahinda IV (A.D. 1026-1042) regarding the
judicial powers of a court of village assessors, consisting of
headmen and householders. They were required to try even cases of
murder and robbery with violence, and to inflict the death penalty
(Wickremasinghe, Epigraphia Zeylanica, vol. i, p. 249).
Page 329. In The Indian Antiquary, vol. iii, p. 28, in a Maisur story
by V. Narasimmiyengar, the Bharatas' Government took as its share or
tax the upper half of a root crop, and got only leaves and stalks. For
the next year, when the Government announced that the root part of
the crop would be taken, the cultivators sowed paddy, ragi (millet),
wheat, etc., and the tax collector got only straw.
In Campbell's Santal Folk Tales, p. 93, a tiger and crane joined
together, and planted a garden with turmeric. The tiger had the first
choice of his share of the crop, and decided to take the leaves,
leaving the roots for the crane. When the crop was gathered and the
tiger found his share was valueless he quarrelled with the crane,
which pecked his eyes and blinded him.
Page 335. A variant regarding a Maditiya tree (Adenanthera pavonina)
was related by a Tom-tom Beater of the North-Western Province. A man
told the King that he had planted a golden seedling, and was given
food and drink and ordered to take great care of it. When a flood
carried it away he lamented and rolled about in assumed grief before
the King, who after pacifying him ordered him to plant another golden
seed. He made the same cryptic remark to his wife as in the other tale.
Page 338. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 260, the incident
of the sickle that had fever occurs, but the person who left it to
reap the crop was an intelligent man who pretended to be stupid so
as to trick a farmer.
Page 341. In two Sinhalese variants of the North-Western Province,
the animal which the man saved was a crocodile, and the first animals
applied to for their opinions were a lean cow and a Naga raja or
cobra, both of which advised the crocodile to kill the man. When
the jackal was appealed to it sat upon an ant-hill to hear the case,
got the crocodile and man to come there out of the water, and then
told the man to kill it with a stick, after which it ate the flesh.
In Folk-Tales from Tibet, p. 12, a musk-deer that let a tiger out
of a house was seized by it, and appealed to a tree, a buffalo cow,
and a hare. The two former condemned it; the hare induced the tiger
to re-enter the house, shut the door, and left it to die of starvation.
In Reynard the Fox in Southern Africa, p. 11, there is a Hottentot
variant. A white man saved a snake's life by removing a stone that
had fallen on it. When it was about to bite him it agreed to obtain
the opinions of some wise people. A hyæna when asked replied, "What
would it matter?" A jackal when questioned about the matter refused to
believe that the snake would be unable to rise when under the stone,
got the man to replace the stone on it, and then told him to leave
it to escape by itself. On p. 13, in a variant, application was first
made to a hare and afterwards to these other animals.
I am indebted to my friend Mr. McKie, of Castletown, for an Eastern
Bengal variant recently published in an Isle of Man paper. A benevolent
Brahmana saved a tiger that was stuck in the mud of a tank. As the
tiger was then about to eat him he appealed to a Banyan tree and
an old pot, both of which condemned him. When the opinion of the
jackal was asked for, it wished to see the place where the tiger was
stuck fast, got the animal into its original position, and then ran
off accompanied by the man. The tiger sank more deeply in the mud,
and perished. A variant of this story is given in Campbell's Santal
Folk Tales, p. 40, the pot being replaced by a cow, and the Brahmana
by several men, who at last stoned and killed the tiger.
In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 150, the Panjab form of the tale
is given, in which the bride saved the man. In the same vol., p. 313, a
leopard which was about to eat a man who had saved its life, agreed to
make inquiry if this was fair. The water and tree recommended that he
should be eaten, but the jackal induced the leopard to enter the man's
sack as before, and then told the man to smash its head with a stone.
Page 346. In Folk-tales of the Telugus, p. 72, the story is told
of a crane and some fish, to which it stated that it was doing
penance, predicted a twelve years' drought, offered to carry them
to an adjoining lake, and ate them. The crab is not introduced into
this story.
In the Arabian Nights, vol. v, p. 391, no bird is mentioned. The
fishes applied to the crab for advice on account of the drought, and
were recommended to pray to Allah, and wait patiently. They did so,
and in a few days a heavy rain refilled their pond.
Page 349, in last line of Notes. For ka, doer, read eka, one.
Page 354. In A. von Schiefner's Tibetan Tales, p. 344, there is a story
like that in The Jataka, the animals being an old cat that pretended
to be doing penance, and five hundred mice; the cat seized the last
mouse as they returned to their hole. The mouse chief exposed its
false penance.
In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. ii, p. 414, the same story is
given, the animals that were eaten being rats. In vol. iii, p. 139,
a heron suggested that it and other birds should live together; during
their absence it ate their eggs and young ones. They noticed this,
and scolded and left it.
Page 358. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 23, the last incident
regarding the boy and the leopard occurs with little variation.
In Campbell's Santal Folk Tales, p. 42, the daily fights of a tiger and
lizard are described, the latter being victorious each time. When the
tiger was carrying off a man whom it intended to eat it was frightened
away by being told that he had the lizard with him.
Page 363. The jackal's instruction to the lion to eat while seated
is in accordance with the rules given in the Maha Bharata (Anusasana
Parva).
Page 366. There is a variant in the Sierra Leone district, given in
Cunnie Rabbit, etc., p. 265. The surviving wife of two ill-treated
the other's daughter, and sent her to get the devil to wash their
rice stick. She behaved civilly to some hoe handles tied in a bundle
which spoke to her, and to a one-eyed person,--(both being forms
assumed by the demon),--and removed insects from the devil's head; he
washed the rice stick for her, and told her to take four eggs from his
house. She selected small ones, threw them down, one after another,
on her way home, as he told her, and received houses, servants,
soldiers, wealth, goods, and jewellery. She also, as instructed by
him, pounded rice on her dead mother's grave, and sang, calling her
back to life. When the other woman's daughter was sent she behaved
rudely to all, and selected four large eggs, out of which came bees
that stung her, snakes that threatened her, men who flogged her,
and fire which burned up her house, her mother, and herself.
Page 368. In last line of text, for tika read tika.
Page 377. In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. iii, p. 250, a man
was told when buying a demon (Pisaca) that he might be killed by him
if he did not provide continual work for him. He did the work of ten
men, and was employed for some years, his master becoming rich in
consequence. One day when he forgot to provide work for the demon
the latter put his master's son in a pot and cooked him.
Page 379. After the first note, add, See also the Katha Sarit Sagara,
vol. ii, pp. 242, 258.
Page 381. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 341, there is the
story of the jackal who escaped from the crocodile; when he said it
must be a fool to seize a root instead of his leg it released him.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. iii, p. 10, in a Bengal story by
Mr. G. H. Damant, the crocodile seized the jackal's leg, and let go on
being told it was a stick for measuring the height of the water. It
then waited in the jackal's house. He noticed this, and addressed
the house, "O house! O house of earth! What have you to say?" The
crocodile grunted in reply, and the jackal ran off.
In Folk-Tales from Tibet, p. 145, a tortoise [turtle] wishing to punish
a monkey, hid in the cave they both occupied. The monkey, suspecting
it, called out "O great cave! O great cave!" When he repeated it and
remarked on the absence of the usual echo, the tortoise repeated the
words, and the monkey escaped.
In Old Hendrik's Tales, p. 107, there is a Hottentot variant. The wolf,
in order to settle some outstanding scores, got hid in the jackal's
house during his absence; but the jackal, seeing his footprints,
suspected this, and called out, "My ole house! My ole house!" When
no reply came on his repeating it, he said he knew Ou' Wolf must be
inside, or the house would say "Come in," as usual. On the wolf's
repeating the words he laughed, and ordered it out.
Page 384, line 16. For burning read rubbing.
(I have been unable to examine the volumes of The Indian Antiquary
after 1897.)