country for his wife, but he could learn no tidings of her. For
grief and sorrow at losing her he had gone almost distracted, and did
nothing but wander from place to place, crying, "She is gone! she is
gone!" Then, when he had long inquired without avail of all the people
in her native village about her, he one day met a bangle-seller and
said to him, "Whence do you come?" The bangle-seller answered, "I have
just been selling bangles to some people who live in a Cobra's hole
in the river-bank." "People! What people?" asked the Rajah. "Why,"
answered the bangle-seller, "a woman and a child; the child is the
most beautiful I ever saw. He is about three years old, and of course,
running about, is always breaking his bangles and his mother buys him
new ones every day." "Do you know what the child's name is?" said the
Rajah. "Yes," answered the bangle-seller carelessly, "for the lady
always calls him her Muchie Lal." "Ah," thought the Muchie
Rajah, "this must be my wife." Then he said to him again, "Good
bangle-seller, I would see these strange people of whom you speak;
cannot you take me there?" "Not to-night," replied the bangle-seller;
"daylight has gone, and we should only frighten them; but I shall be
going there again to-morrow, and then you may come too. Meanwhile,
come and rest at my house for the night, for you look faint and
weary." The Rajah consented. Next morning, however, very early, he
woke the bangle-seller, saying, "Pray let us go now and see the people
you spoke about yesterday." "Stay," said the bangle-seller; "it is
much too early. I never go till after breakfast." So the Rajah had to
wait till the bangle-seller was ready to go. At last they started off,
and when they reached the Cobra's hole the first thing the Rajah saw
was a fine little boy playing with the young Cobras.
As the bangle-seller came along, jingling his bangles, a gentle voice
from inside the hole called out, "Come here, my Muchie Lal, and try
on your bangles." Then the Muchie Rajah, kneeling down at the mouth
of the hole, said, "Oh, lady, show your beautiful face to me." At the
sound of his voice the Ranee ran out, crying, "Husband, husband! have
you found me again?" And she told him how her sister had tried to
drown her, and how the good Cobra had saved her life and taken care of
her and her child. Then he said, "And will you now come home with me?"
And she told him how the Cobra would never let her go, and said, "I
will first tell him of your coming; for he has been a father to me."
So she called out, "Father Cobra, father Cobra, my husband has come
to fetch me; will you let me go?" "Yes," he said, "if your husband
has come to fetch you, you may go." And his wife said, "Farewell, dear
lady, we are loath to lose you, for we have loved you as a daughter."
And all the little Cobras were very sorrowful to think that they
must lose their playfellow, the young Prince. Then the Cobra gave the
Muchie Rajah and the Muchie Ranee and Muchie Lal all the most costly
gifts he could find in his treasure-house; and so they went home,
where they lived very happy ever after.
HOW THE RAJAH'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABAM
ADAPTED BY JOSEPH JACOBS
In a country there was a Rajah who had an only son who every day went
out to hunt. One day the Ranee his mother, said to him, "You can hunt
wherever you like on these three sides; but you must never go to the
fourth side." This she said because she knew if he went on the fourth
side he would hear of the beautiful Princess Labam, and that then he
would leave his father and mother and seek for the Princess.
The young Prince listened to his mother, and obeyed her for some
time; but one day, when he was hunting on the three sides where he was
allowed to go, he remembered what she had said to him about the fourth
side, and he determined to go and see why she had forbidden him to
hunt on that side. When he got there, he found himself in a jungle,
and nothing in the jungle but a quantity of parrots, who lived in it.
The young Rajah shot at some of them, and at once they all flew away
up to the sky. All, that is, but one, and this was their Rajah, who
was called Hiraman parrot.
When Hiraman parrot found himself left alone, he called out to the
other parrots, "Don't fly away and leave me alone when the Rajah's son
shoots. If you desert me like this, I will tell the Princess Labam."
Then the parrots all flew back to their Rajah, chattering. The Prince
was greatly surprised, and said, "Why, these birds can talk!" Then he
said to the parrots, "Who is the Princess Labam? Where does she live?"
But the parrots would not tell him where she lived. "You can never get
to the Princess Labam's country." That is all they would say.
The Prince grew very sad when they would not tell him anything more;
and he threw his gun away and went home. When he got home, he would
not speak or eat, but lay on his bed for four or five days, and seemed
very ill.
At last he told his father and mother that he wanted to go and see the
Princess Labam. "I must go," he said; "I must see what she is like.
Tell me where her country is."
"We do not know where it is," answered his father and mother.
"Then I must go and look for it," said the Prince.
"No, no," they said, "you must not leave us. You are our only son.
Stay with us. You will never find the Princess Labam."
"I must try and find her," said the Prince. "Perhaps God will show
me the way. If I live and I find her, I will come back to you; but
perhaps I shall die, and then I shall never see you again. Still I
must go."
So they had to let him go, though they cried very much at parting with
him. His father gave him fine clothes to wear, and a fine horse.
And he took his gun, and his bow and arrows, and a great many other
weapons; "for," he said, "I may want them." His father, too, gave him
plenty of rupees.
Then he himself got his horse all ready for the journey, and he said
good-by to his father and mother; and his mother took her handkerchief
and wrapped some sweetmeats in it, and gave it to her son. "My child,"
she said to him, "when you are hungry eat some of these sweetmeats."
He then set out on his journey, and rode on and on till he came to a
jungle in which were a tank and shady trees. He bathed himself and his
horse in the tank, and then sat down under a tree. "Now," he said to
himself, "I will eat some of the sweetmeats my mother gave me, and I
will drink some water, and then I will continue my journey." He opened
his handkerchief and took out a sweetmeat. He found an ant in it. He
took out another. There was an ant in that one too. So he laid the two
sweetmeats on the ground, and he took out another, and another, and
another, until he had taken them all out; but in each he found an ant.
"Never mind," he said, "I won't eat the sweetmeats; the ants shall
eat them." Then the Ant-Rajah came and stood before him and said, "You
have been good to us. If ever you are in trouble, think of me and we
will come to you."
The Rajah's son thanked him, mounted his horse and continued his
journey. He rode on and on until he came to another jungle, and there
he saw a tiger who had a thorn in his foot, and was roaring loudly
from the pain.
"Why do you roar like that?" said the young Rajah. "What is the matter
with you?"
"I have had a thorn in my foot for twelve years," answered the tiger,
"and it hurts me so; that is why I roar."
"Well," said the Rajah's son, "I will take it out for you. But
perhaps, as you are a tiger, when I have made you well, you will eat
me?"
"Oh no," said the tiger, "I won't eat you. Do make me well."
Then the Prince took a little knife from his pocket and cut the thorn
out of the tiger's foot; but when he cut, the tiger roared louder than
ever--so loud that his wife heard him in the next jungle, and came
bounding along to see what was the matter. The tiger saw her coming,
and hid the Prince in the jungle, so that she should not see him.
"What man hurt you that you roared so loud?" said the wife.
"No one hurt me," answered the husband; "but a Rajah's son came and
took the thorn out of my foot."
"Where is he? Show him to me," said his wife.
"If you promise not to kill him, I will call him," said the tiger.
"I won't kill him; only let me see him," answered his wife.
Then the tiger called the Rajah's son, and when he came the tiger
and his wife made him a great many salaams. Then they gave him a good
dinner, and he stayed with them for three days. Every day he looked at
the tiger's foot, and the third day it was quite healed. Then he said
good-by to the tigers, and the tiger said to him, "If ever you are in
trouble, think of me, and we will come to you."
The Rajah's son rode on and on till he came to a third jungle. Here
he found four fakeers whose teacher and master had died, and had left
four things,--a bed, which carried whoever sat on it whithersoever he
wished to go; a bag, that gave its owner whatever he wanted, jewels,
food or clothes; a stone bowl that gave its owner as much water as
he wanted, no matter how far he might be from a tank; and a stick and
rope, to which its owner had only to say, if any one came to make war
on him, "Stick, beat as many men and soldiers as are here," and the
stick would beat them and the rope would tie them up.
The four fakeers were quarreling over these four things. One said, "I
want this;" another said, "You cannot have it, for I want it;" and so
on.
The Rajah's son said to them, "Do not quarrel for these things. I will
shoot four arrows in four different directions. Whichever of you gets
to my first arrow, shall have the first thing--the bed. Whosoever gets
to the second arrow, shall have the second thing--the bag. He who gets
to the third arrow, shall have the third thing--the bowl. And he who
gets to the fourth arrow, shall have the last things--the stick and
rope." To this they agreed. And the Prince shot off his first arrow.
Away raced the fakeers to get it. When they brought it back to him he
shot off the second, and when they had found and brought it to him he
shot off his third, and when they had brought him the third he shot
off the fourth.
While they were away looking for the fourth arrow the Rajah's son let
his horse loose in the jungle and sat on the bed, taking the bowl, the
stick and rope, and the bag with him. Then he said, "Bed, I wish to
go to the Princess Labam's country." The little bed instantly rose up
into the air and began to fly, and it flew and flew till it came to
the Princess Labam's country, where it settled on the ground. The
Rajah's son asked some men he saw, "Whose country is this?"
"The Princess Labam's country," they answered. Then the Prince went on
till he came to a house where he saw an old woman.
"Who are you?" she said. "Where do you come from?"
"I come from a far country," he said; "do let me stay with you
to-night."
"No," she answered, "I cannot let you stay with me; for our King has
ordered that men from other countries may not stay in his country. You
cannot stay in my house."
"You are my aunty," said the Prince; "let me remain with you for this
one night. You see it is evening, and if I go into the jungle, then
the wild beasts will eat me."
"Well," said that old woman, "you may stay here to-night; but
to-morrow morning you must go away, for if the King hears you have
passed the night in my house, he will have me seized and put into
prison."
Then she took him into her house, and the Rajah's son was very glad.
The old woman began preparing dinner, but he stopped her. "Aunty," he
said, "I will give you food." He put his hand into his bag, saying,
"Bag, I want some dinner," and the bag gave him instantly a delicious
dinner, served up on two gold plates. The old woman and the Rajah's
son then dined together.
When they had finished eating, the old woman said, "Now I will fetch
some water."
"Don't go," said the Prince. "You shall have plenty of water
directly." So he took his bowl and said to it, "Bowl, I want some
water," and then it filled with water. When it was full, the Prince
cried out, "Stop, bowl!" and the bowl stopped filling. "See, aunty,"
he said, "with this bowl I can always get as much water as I want."
By this time night had come. "Aunty," said the Rajah's son, "why don't
you light a lamp?"
"There is no need," she said. "Our king has forbidden the people
in his country to light any lamps; for, as soon as it is dark, his
daughter, the Princess Labam, comes and sits on her roof, and she
shines so that she lights up all the country and our houses, and we
can see to do our work as if it were day."
When it was quite black night the Princess got up. She dressed herself
in her rich clothes and jewels, and rolled up her hair, and across her
head she put a band of diamonds and pearls. Then she shone like the
moon and her beauty made night day. She came out of her room and sat
on the roof of her palace. In the daytime she never came out of her
house; she only came out at night. All the people in her father's
country then went about their work and finished it.
The Rajah's son, watched the Princess quietly, and was very happy. He
said to himself, "How lovely she is!"
At midnight, when everybody had gone to bed, the Princess came down
from her roof and went to her room; and when she was in bed and
asleep, the Rajah's son got up softly and sat on his bed. "Bed," he
said to it, "I want to go to the Princess Labam's bed-room." So the
little bed carried him to the room where she lay fast asleep.
The young Rajah took his bag and said, "I want a great deal of
betel-leaf," and it at once gave him quantities of betel-leaf. This he
laid near the Princess's bed, and then his little bed carried him back
to the old woman's house.
Next morning all the Princess's servants found the betel-leaf, and
began to eat it. "Where did you get all that betel-leaf?" asked the
Princess.
"We found it near your bed," answered the servants. Nobody knew the
Prince had come in the night and put it all there.
In the morning the old woman came to the Rajah's son. "Now it is
morning," she said, "and you must go; for if the King finds out all I
have done for you, he will seize me."
"I am ill to-day, dear aunty," said the Prince; "do let me stay till
to-morrow morning."
"Good," said the old woman. So he stayed, and they took their dinner
out of the bag, and the bowl gave them water.
[Illustration: THE PRINCESS LABAM ... SHINES SO THAT SHE LIGHTS UP ALL
THE COUNTRY.]
When night came the Princess got up and sat on her roof, and at twelve
o'clock, when every one was in bed, she went to her bed-room, and was
soon fast asleep. Then the Rajah's son sat on his bed, and it carried
him to the Princess. He took his bag and said, "Bag, I want a most
lovely shawl." It gave him a splendid shawl, and he spread it over the
Princess as she lay asleep. Then he went back to the old woman's house
and slept till morning.
In the morning, when the Princess saw the shawl she was delighted.
"See, mother," she said; "Khuda must have given me this shawl, it is
so beautiful." Her mother was very glad too.
"Yes, my child," she said; "Khuda must have given you this splendid
shawl."
When it was morning the old woman said to the Rajah's son, "Now you
must really go."
"Aunty," he answered, "I am not well enough yet. Let me stay a few
days longer. I will remain hidden in your house, so that no one may
see me." So the old woman let him stay.
When it was black night, the Princess put on her lovely clothes and
jewels and sat on her roof. At midnight she went to her room and
went to sleep. Then the Rajah's son sat on his bed and flew to
her bed-room. There he said to his bag, "Bag, I want a very, very
beautiful ring." The bag gave him a glorious ring. Then he took the
Princess Labam's hand gently to put on the ring, and she started up
very much frightened.
"Who are you?" she said to the Prince. "Where do you come from? Why do
you come to my room?"
"Do not be afraid, Princess," he said; "I am no thief. I am a great
Rajah's son. Hiraman parrot, who lives in the jungle where I went to
hunt, told me your name, and then I left my father and mother and came
to see you."
"Well," said the Princess, "as you are the son of such a great Rajah,
I will not have you killed, and I will tell my father and mother that
I wish to marry you."
The Prince then returned to the old woman's house; and when morning
came the Princess said to her mother, "The son of a great Rajah has
come to this country, and I wish to marry him." Her mother told this
to the King.
"Good," said the King; "but if this Rajah's son wishes to marry my
daughter, he must first do whatever I bid him. If he fails I will kill
him. I will give him eighty pounds weight of mustard seed, and out of
this he must crush the oil in one day. If he cannot do this he shall
die."
In the morning the Rajah's son told the old woman that he intended
to marry the Princess. "Oh," said the old woman, "go away from this
country, and do not think of marrying her. A great many Rajahs and
Rajahs' sons have come here to marry her, and her father has had them
all killed. He says whoever wishes to marry his daughter must first do
whatever he bids him. If he can, then he shall marry the Princess; if
he cannot, the King will have him killed. But no one can do the things
the King tells him to do; so all the Rajahs and Rajahs' sons who have
tried have been put to death. You will be killed too, if you try. Do
go away." But the Prince would not listen to anything she said.
The King sent for the Prince to the old woman's house, and his
servants brought the Rajah's son to the King's court-house to the
King. There the King gave him eighty pounds of mustard seed, and told
him to crush all the oil out of it that day, and bring it next morning
to him to the court-house. "Whoever wishes to marry my daughter," he
said to the Prince, "must first do all I tell him. If he cannot, then
I have him killed. So if you cannot crush all the oil out of this
mustard seed you will die."
The Prince was very sorry when he heard this. "How can I crush the oil
out of all this mustard seed in one day?" he said to himself; "and if
I do not, the King will kill me." He took the mustard seed to the old
woman's house, and did not know what to do. At last he remembered the
Ant-Rajah, and the moment he did so, the Ant-Rajah and his ants came
to him. "Why do you look so sad?" said the Ant-Rajah.
The Prince showed him the mustard seed, and said to him, "How can I
crush the oil out of all this mustard seed in one day? And if I do not
take the oil to the King to-morrow morning, he will kill me."
"Be happy," said the Ant-Rajah; "lie down and sleep; we will crush all
the oil out for you during the day, and to-morrow morning you shall
take it to the King." The Rajah's son lay down and slept, and the ants
crushed out the oil for him. The Prince was very glad when he saw the
oil.
The next morning he took it to the court-house to the King. But the
King said, "You cannot yet marry my daughter. If you wish to do so,
you must fight with my two demons, and kill them." The King a long
time ago had caught two demons, and then, as he did not know what to
do with them, he had shut them up in a cage. He was afraid to let them
loose for fear they would eat up all the people in his country; and he
did not know how to kill them. So all the Rajahs and Rajahs' sons who
wanted to marry the Princess Labam had to fight with these demons;
"for," said the King to himself, "perhaps the demons may be killed,
and then I shall be rid of them."
When he heard of the demons the Rajah's son was very sad. "What can I
do?" he said to himself. "How can I fight with these two demons?" Then
he thought of his tiger: and the tiger and his wife came to him and
said, "Why are you so sad?" The Rajah's son answered, "The King has
ordered me to fight with his two demons and kill them. How can I do
this?" "Do not be frightened," said the tiger. "Be happy. I and my
wife will fight with them for you."
Then the Rajah's son took out of his bag two splendid coats. They were
all gold and silver, and covered with pearls and diamonds. These he
put on the tigers to make them beautiful, and he took them to the
King, and said to him, "May these tigers fight your demons for me?"
"Yes," said the King, who did not care in the least who killed his
demons, provided they were killed. "Then call your demons," said the
Rajah's son, "and these tigers will fight them." The King did so,
and the tigers and the demons fought and fought until the tigers had
killed the demons.
"That is good," said the King. "But you must do something else before
I give you my daughter. Up in the sky I have a kettle-drum. You must
go and beat it. If you cannot do this, I will kill you."
The Rajah's son thought of his little bed; so he went to the old
woman's house and sat on his bed. "Little bed," he said, "up in the
sky is the King's kettle-drum. I want to go to it." The bed flew up
with him, and the Rajah's son beat the drum, and the King heard him.
Still, when he came down, the King would not give him his daughter.
"You have," he said to the Prince, "done the three things I told you
to do; but you must do one thing more." "If I can, I will," said the
Rajah's son.
Then the King showed him the trunk of a tree that was lying near his
court-house. It was a very, very thick trunk. He gave the Prince a wax
hatchet, and said, "To-morrow morning you must cut this trunk in two
with this wax hatchet."
The Rajah's son went back to the old woman's house. He was very sad,
and thought that now the Rajah would certainly kill him. "I had his
oil crushed out by the ants," he said to himself. "I had his demons
killed by the tigers. My bed helped to beat this kettle-drum. But now
what can I do? How can I cut that thick tree-trunk in two with a wax
hatchet?"
At night he went on his bed to see the Princess. "To-morrow," he said
to her, "your father will kill me." "Why?" asked the Princess.
"He has told me to cut a thick tree-trunk in two with a wax hatchet.
How can I ever do that?" said the Rajah's son. "Do not be afraid,"
said the Princess; "do as I bid you, and you will cut it in two quite
easily."
Then she pulled out a hair from her head and gave it to the Prince.
"To-morrow," she said, "when no one is near you, you must say to the
tree-trunk, 'The Princess Labam commands you to let yourself be cut
in two by this hair.' Then stretch the hair down the edge of the wax
hatchet's blade."
The Prince next day did exactly as the Princess had told him; and the
minute the hair that was stretched down the edge of the hatchet blade
touched the tree-trunk it split into two pieces.
The King said, "Now you can marry my daughter." Then the wedding took
place. All the Rajahs and Kings of the countries round were asked
to come to it, and there were great rejoicings. After a few days the
bridegroom said to his bride "Let us go to my father's country." The
Princess Labam's father gave them a quantity of camels and horses and
rupees and servants; and they traveled in great state to the distant
country, where they lived happily.
The prince always kept his bag, bowl, bed, stick and rope; only, as no
one ever came to make war on him, he never needed to use the stick or
rope.
MYTHS OF JAPAN
THE JELLYFISH AND THE MONKEY
ADAPTED BY YEI THEODORA OZAKI
Long, long ago, in old Japan, the Kingdom of the Sea was governed by a
wonderful King. He was called Rin Jin, or the Dragon King of the Sea.
His power was immense, for he was the ruler of all sea creatures both
great and small, and in his keeping were the Jewels of the Ebb and
Flow of the Tide. The Jewel of the Ebbing Tide when thrown into the
ocean caused the sea to recede from the land, and the Jewel of the
Flowing Tide made the waves to rise mountains high and to flow in upon
the shore like a tidal wave.
The palace of Rin Jin was at the bottom of the sea, and was so
beautiful that no one has ever seen anything like it even in dreams.
The walls were of coral, the roof of jadestone and chalcedony, and
the floors were of the finest mother-of-pearl. But the Dragon King, in
spite of his wide-spreading kingdom, his beautiful palace and all its
wonders, and his power, which none disputed throughout the whole sea,
was not at all happy, for he reigned alone. At last he thought that if
he married he would not only be happier, but also more powerful. So
he decided to take a wife. Calling all his fish retainers together,
he chose several of them as ambassadors to go through the sea and seek
for a young Dragon Princess who would be his bride.
At last they returned to the palace bringing with them a lovely young
dragon. Her scales were of a glittering green like the wings of summer
beetles, her eyes threw out glances of fire, and she was dressed in
gorgeous robes. All the jewels of the sea worked in with embroidery
adorned them.
The King fell in love with her at once, and the wedding ceremony was
celebrated with great splendor. Every living thing in the sea, from
the great whales down to the little shrimps, came in shoals to offer
their congratulations to the bride and bridegroom and to wish them a
long and prosperous life. Never had there been such an assemblage or
such gay festivities in the Fish-World before. The train of bearers
who carried the bride's possessions to her new home seemed to reach
across the waves from one end of the sea to the other. Each fish
carried a phosphorescent lantern and was dressed in ceremonial robes,
gleaming blue and pink and silver; and the waves as they rose and fell
and broke that night seemed to be rolling masses of white and green
fire, for the phosphorus shone with double brilliancy in honor of the
event.
Now for a time the Dragon King and his bride lived very happily. They
loved each other dearly, and the bridegroom day after day took delight
in showing his bride all the wonders and treasures of his coral
palace, and she was never tired of wandering with him through its vast
halls and gardens. Life seemed to them both like a long summer's day.
Two months passed in this happy way, and then the Dragon Queen fell
ill and was obliged to stay in bed. The King was sorely troubled when
he saw his precious bride so ill, and at once sent for the fish doctor
to come and give her some medicine. He gave special orders to the
servants to nurse her carefully and to wait upon her with diligence,
but in spite of all the nurses' assiduous care and the medicine that
the doctor prescribed, the young Queen showed no signs of recovery,
but grew daily worse.