_The Brahman who died because Poison from a Snake in the Claws of a Hawk
fell into a Dish of Food given him by a Charitable Woman. Who is to
blame for his death?_
Then the King went back under the sissoo tree, put the goblin on his
shoulder, and started as before. And as he walked along, the goblin
said to him again: "O King, listen to a very condensed story."
There is a city called Benares. In it lived a Brahman named Devaswami,
whom the king honoured. He was very rich, and he had a son named
Hariswami. This son had a wonderful wife, and her name was Beautiful.
No doubt the Creator put together in her the priceless elements of
charm and loveliness after his practice in making the nymphs of heaven.
One night Hariswami was sleeping on a balcony cooled by the rays of the
moon. And a fairy prince named Love-speed was flying through the air,
and as he passed he saw Beautiful asleep beside her husband. He took
her, still asleep, and carried her off through the air.
Presently Hariswami awoke, and not seeing the mistress of his life, he
rose in anxiety. And he wondered: "Oh, where has my wife gone? Is she
angry with me? Or is she playing hide-and-seek with me, to see how I
will take it?" So he roamed anxiously all over the balcony during the
rest of the night. But he did not find her, though he searched as far
as the garden.
Then he was overcome by his sorrow and sobbed convulsively. "Oh,
Beautiful, my darling! Fair as the moon! White as the moonlight! Was
the night jealous of your beauty; did she carry you away? Your
loveliness shamed the moon who refreshed me with beams cool as sandal;
but now that you are gone, the same beams torment me like blazing
coals, like poisoned arrows!"
And as Hariswami lamented thus, the night came to an end, but his
anguish did not end. The pleasant sun scattered the darkness, but could
not scatter the blind darkness of Hariswami's madness. His pitiful
lamentations increased a hundredfold, when the nightly cries of the
birds ended. His relatives tried to comfort him, but he could not pluck
up courage while his loved one was lost. He went here and there,
sobbing out: "Here she stood. And here she bathed. And here she adorned
herself. And here she played."
His relatives and friends gave him good advice. "She is not dead," they
said. "Why should you make way with yourself? You will surely find her.
Pluck up courage and hunt for her. Nothing is impossible to the brave
and determined man." And when they urged him, Hariswami after some days
plucked up heart.
He thought: "I will give all my fortune to the Brahmans, and then
wander to holy places. Thus I will wear away my sins, and when my sins
are gone, perhaps I shall find my darling in my wanderings." So he
arose and bathed.
On the next day he provided food and drink, and made a great feast for
the Brahmans, and gave them all he had except his piety. Then he
started to wander to holy places, hoping to find his wife.
As he wandered, the summer came on him like a lion, the blazing sun its
mouth, and the sunbeams its mane. And the hot wind blew, made hotter
yet by the sighs of travellers separated from their wives. And the
yellow mud dried and cracked, as if the lakes were broken-hearted at
the loss of their lotuses. And the trees, filled with chirping birds,
seemed to lament the absence of the spring, and their withering leaves
seemed like lips that grow dry in the heat.
At this time Hariswami was distressed by the heat and the loss of his
wife, by hunger, thirst, and weariness. And as he sought for food, he
came to a village. There he saw many Brahmans eating in the house of a
Brahman named Lotus-belly, and he leaned against the doorpost,
speechless and motionless.
Then the good wife of that pious Brahman pitied him, and she thought:
"Hunger is a heavy burden. It makes anyone light. Look at this hungry
man standing with bowed head at the door. He looks like a pious man who
has come from a far country, and he is tired. Therefore he is a proper
person for me to feed."
So the good woman took in her hands a dish filled with excellent rice,
melted butter, and candied sugar, and courteously gave it to him. And
she said: "Go to the edge of our pond, and eat it."
He thanked her, took the dish, went a little way, and set it down under
a fig-tree on the edge of the pond. Then he washed his hands and feet
in the pond, rinsed his mouth, and joyfully drew near to eat the good
food.
At that moment a hawk settled on the tree, carrying a black snake in
his beak and claws. And the snake died in the grasp of the hawk, and
his mouth opened, and a stream of poison came out. This poison fell
into the dish of food.
But Hariswami did not see it. He came up hungry, and ate it all. And
immediately he felt the terrible effects of the poison. He stammered
out: "Oh, when fate goes wrong, everything goes wrong. Even this rice
and the milk and the melted butter and the candied sugar is poison to
me." And he staggered up to the Brahman's wife and said: "Oh, Brahman's
wife, I have been poisoned by the food you gave me. Bring a
poison-doctor at once. Otherwise you will be the murderer of a Brahman."
And the good woman was terribly agitated. But while she was running
about to find a poison-doctor, Hariswami turned up his eyes and died.
Thus, though she was not to blame, though she was really charitable,
the poor wife was reproached by the angry Brahman who thought she had
murdered her guest. She was falsely accused for a really good action.
So she was dejected and went on a pilgrimage.
When he had told this story, the goblin said: "O King, who murdered the
Brahman? the snake, or the hawk, or the woman who gave him the food, or
her husband? This was discussed in the presence of the god of death,
but they could not decide. Therefore, O King, do you say. Who killed
the Brahman? Remember the curse, if you know and do not tell the truth."
Then the king broke silence and said: "Who did the murder? The snake
cannot be blamed, because he was being eaten by his enemy and could not
help himself. The hawk was hungry and saw nothing. He was not to blame.
And how can you blame either or both of the charitable people who gave
food to a guest who arrived unexpectedly? They were quite virtuous, and
cannot be blamed. I should say that the dead man himself was to blame,
for he dared to accuse one of the others."
When the goblin heard this, he jumped from the king's shoulder and
escaped to the sissoo tree. And the king ran after him again,
determined to catch him.