In a certain hill district there lived a householder, to whom, after
his marriage, a daughter was born. He was a tiller of the soil, and
ploughed his corn-field himself.
The orphan son of a householder, who was bringing a load of wood from
the forest, happened to draw near to that corn-field one day. And he
threw down the wood he was carrying, rested awhile, and then said, “O
uncle, why do you plough yourself? You must certainly have village
affairs to look after. Why, then, do you work like a forester in the
forest?”
“O nephew, I have neither sons nor brothers.”
“O uncle, give me the plough. Do you take rest, and I will plough for
you.”
With these words he began to plough.
After a time the householder came bringing rice-soup, and invited him
to eat. When the meal was finished the householder’s son said, “O
uncle, I do not know your house. Go away now, and I will continue
ploughing; but come to meet me in the evening.”
The householder went away, and the youth went on ploughing for a time.
Then he turned out the two oxen to graze by the side of the corn-field.
In the evening he took a load of grass, and set off to go to the
village. The householder came to meet him, and brought him to his
house. The youth took the oxen to their stall, shook down straw, and
placed grass before them. The householder thought that the youth would
be useful to him, and that he would give him his daughter to wife. So
he said to him, “O nephew, do everything satisfactorily, and I will
give you my daughter to wife.”
He began to build a house there. One of his oxen ran into a rice-field,
and he could not drive it out, so he reviled it, and then flung a log
at it, whereby one of its horns was broken off. In consequence of this,
the ox received the name of Hornbreak.
Another time, the ox ran again into the field, and he could not drive
it back, so he reviled it, and then flung a sickle at it, whereby its
tail was cut off; on account of which it received the name of
Stumptail. These two names were afterwards contracted into that of
Breakstump.
After some time the youth said to the householder, “Uncle, fulfil what
you have promised.” The householder said to his wife, “Good wife, make
all the preparations for a wedding. I am going to give my daughter in
marriage.” The wife said, “O lord, as our daughter has not been
promised to any one, how can she be given in marriage?”
He replied, “I shall give her in marriage.”
“To whom?”
“To this householder’s son.”
The wife said, “Shall I give my daughter in marriage to this
fortuneless one, forsooth, who has grown up like white pepper? I shall
marry her there where I find food and clothing.”
The husband rejoined, “Good wife, the youth has done me excellent
service. If he goes away, I shall be obliged to plough my land myself.”
The wife replied, “I cannot give my daughter to this paltry fellow.”
Then the householder said to himself, “If I tell the youth that I am
not going to give him my daughter, he will go away this very day, and I
shall be reduced to great straits.” So he tried putting him off from
time to time. When the youth again called upon him to fulfil his
promise he replied, “O nephew, first of all make an end of the
rice-harvest, for I shall have to prepare rice-soup for a very large
circle of relatives.”
When that was done, the youth called upon him to celebrate the wedding.
The householder replied, “O nephew, as sugar-cane will be wanted, first
of all make an end of the sugar-cane harvest.”
The youth did so, and then renewed his demand. The householder said, “O
nephew, as bread will be needed, first of all make an end of the
wheat-harvest.”
The youth did so, and anew demanded the fulfilment of the promise. The
householder said, “As the early rice has come to an end, make
preparations for one more harvest.”
The youth thought, “As these things cannot be done at that time, and he
is playing with me, I will go into one of the great assemblies of the
people, and compel him to give me an answer. If he will not give me his
daughter, I will bring it about so that I shall receive her in a
friendly way out of the king’s palace.”
So he went into a large assembly of the people, and said, “O uncle,
celebrate the wedding.” The householder reviled him, and said, “O
friends, I certainly will not give my daughter to this man, who works
for me as a day-labourer.” The young man thought, “As I have received
from him neither money nor his daughter, I will do him some small
injury and then go away.”
After ploughing with the oxen all day he beat them with the goad,
fastened them to a dry tree in the sun, and then went away.
Now it was part of the nature of things, not long after the creation of
the world, that even brute beasts could speak. And so the two oxen said
to him, “O man, you have constantly been for us, as it were, a father
and a mother, and have always treated us with kindness. Why have you
now beaten us with the goad, after ploughing with us through the day,
and why are you going away, after fastening us to a dry tree in the
sun? O man, have we wronged you in any way?”
“Ye have not wronged me in the least, but your master has wronged me.”
“In what way?”
“He promised me his daughter, but he has not given her to me.”
“Why do not you go to the palace of the king?”
“I have no witnesses.”
“You just go; we will be witnesses.”
“Will ye speak with the language of men?”
“No. But this is how you must make your asseveration. You must tie us
up in our stalls for seven days, and give us neither grass nor water;
and on the seventh day you must let us go free to a spot where grass
and water are plentiful. And you must appear before the king, and say
to him, ‘If I am speaking the truth, may these oxen neither eat grass
nor drink water.’”
The householder’s son went to the palace of the king, and said, “O
king, that proprietor has promised me his daughter, but he has not yet
given her to me to wife.”
The king said, “Have you any witnesses?”
“Yes, O king.”
“Are they human beings or not?”
“No, they are not human beings, but oxen.”
“Can they speak the language of men?”
“No, but my words will in this way be proved to be true. I will tie up
these oxen in their stalls during seven days, and leave them without
grass or water. But on the seventh day I will let them go free to a
place where grass and water are plentiful. Then the oxen, in order to
prove the truth of my words, will neither eat grass nor drink water so
long as the king refuses to believe me.”
The king said to his ministers, “O honoured ones, let the matter be so
arranged.”
The ministers ordered the oxen to be tied up in their stalls.
Breakstump asked, “Does the sun rise in the West? why are not we set
free?”
The others said, “We have promised the householder’s son, that if he
keeps us tied up in our stall, for seven days without giving us grass
and water, and lets us go free on the seventh day in a spot which is
rich in grass and water, and if he makes asseveration before the king
that if he speaks the truth these oxen will neither eat grass nor drink
water, then we will neither eat grass nor drink water so long as the
king refuses to believe him.”
Breakstump said, “If I were set free I should eat even stones, not to
speak of grass.”
The oxen said, “The householder’s son has always acted towards us like
a father and a mother. So do not behave in that manner.”
Breakstump said, “It is indeed true that he has behaved towards us like
a father and a mother; still, as he has given me the name of
Breakstump, I will not consent, but would much rather that his belly
should burst.”
The householder’s son visited the oxen from time to time, and asked, “O
oxen, how do ye fare?” They replied, “We fare well, but you do not.”
“Why not?”
“Breakstump here has declared that if he be let loose he will devour
the very stones, not to speak of grass.”
“Then ought I to give in?”
“Do not do that, but bore Breakstump’s nose. Then, when he wants to eat
grass or drink water, we will seize his nose with our horns and hold it
up in the air. At the same time you must say, ‘They are pointing to the
sun, because they wish to show that the sun, as the fifth guardian of
the world, is a witness.’”
So the youth set to work to bore the nose of the ox. Breakstump said,
“Honoured ones, see how scandalously he is treating me!” They replied,
“Hold your peace, he wishes to embellish you.”
On the seventh day the king, after calling his ministers together, had
these oxen driven to a spot rich in grass and water. Breakstump was
about to pluck a mouthful of grass, when the other oxen seized his nose
with their horns and looked up towards the sun. The king asked his
ministers, “O honoured ones, wherefore look these oxen towards the
sun?” Then one of the ministers said, “That is done because they wish
to show that not they alone are witnesses, but the sun, the fifth
guardian of the world, is also a witness.” The king wondered and said
to the ministers, “O honoured ones, as the beasts have thus borne
witness, do ye take care that the householder gives his daughter to
this young man.”
Overcome by the householder-son, the householder bestowed upon him his
daughter.