3. The story affords no data on which to decide whether this cynical
speech is supposed to be a serious utterance representing the actual
motives on which the mendicant life was actually adopted under the
teaching of Buddhism, affording a strong contrast from those which
have prompted to it under Christianity, or whether it is intended as
a satire on the Bhixu. (For Bhixu, see pp. 330, 332.)
4. I know not how the tufts of wool could have got caught off
the sheeps' backs on to ant-heaps, unless it be that the marmots
being as we have already seen (note 3, Tale IV.) called ants, the
tale-repeater takes it for granted there are marmot-holes in Nepaul
like those familiar to him in Mongolia, which Abbé Huc thus describes
(vol. i. ch. ii.), "These animals construct over the opening of their
little dens a sort of miniature dome composed of grass artistically
twisted, designed as a shelter from wind and rain. These little heaps
of dried grass are of the size and shape of mole-hills. Cold made us
cruel, and we proceeded to level the house-domes of these poor little
animals, which retreated into their holes below, as we approached. By
means of this Vandalism we managed to collect a sackful of efficient
fuel, and so warmed the water which was our only aliment that day."
5. "Though there is so much gold and silver there is great destitution
in Tibet. At Lha-Ssa, for instance, the number of mendicants is
enormous. They go from door to door soliciting a handful of tsamba
(barley-meal), and enter any one's house without ceremony. The
manner of asking alms is to hold out the closed hand with the thumb
raised. We must add in commendation of the Tibetians that they are
generally very kind and compassionate, rarely sending the mendicant
away unassisted." (Abbé Huc, vol. ii. ch. v.)
6. Indian tales often remind one of the frequent web of a dream in
which one imagines oneself starting in pursuit of a particular object,
but another and another fancy intervenes and the first purpose becomes
altogether lost sight of. This was particularly observable in the tale
entitled "How the Schimnu-Khan was slain," in which, after many times
intending it, Massang never goes back to thank his master at last. The
present is a still more striking instance, in its consequence and
repeated change of purport. In pursuing the mendicant's life, the
search for the man's parents is forgotten; and the man and his wife
are themselves lost sight of in the episode of the lamb.
7. Concerning the combination of the Moon and the hare, see Liebrecht,
in Lazarus and Steinthal, Zeitschrift, vol. i. pt. 1. The Mongols
see in the spots in the moon the figure of a hare, and imagine it
was placed there in memory of Shâkjamuni having once transformed
himself into a hare out of self-sacrifice, that he might serve a
hungry wayfarer for a meal. (Bergman, Nomadische Streifereien unter
den Kalmüken, in 1802-3, quoted by Jülg.)