Part VI

CLXXIV. Witchcraft

CLXXV. Of Dains and Ojhas

CLXXVI. Initiation Into Witchcraft

CLXXVII. Witch Craft

CLXXVIII. Witch Stories

CLXXIX. Witch Stories

CLXXX. Witch Stories

CLXXXI. The Two Witches

CLXXXII. The Sister-in-Law Who Was a Witch

CLXXXIII. Ramjit Bonga

CLXXXIV. The Herd Boy and the Witches

CLXXXV. The Man-Tiger

Glossary

Appendix

Folklore of the Kolhan

Part I.

In these stories there are many incidents which appear in stories

collected in other parts of India, though it is rather surprising

that so few of them appear elsewhere in their entirety. We have

however, instances of the husk myth, the youngest son who surpasses

his brother, the life of the ogre placed in some external object, the

jealous stepmother, the selection of a king by an elephant, the queen

whose husband is invariably killed on his wedding night, etc. etc.

Few of the old Indian stories found in the Kathâ Sarit Sâgara or the

Buddhist Birth stories appear in recognizable form in the present

collection.

I. Bajun and Jhore.

Once upon a time there were two brothers named Bajun and Jhore. Bajun

was married and one day his wife fell ill of fever. So, as he was

going ploughing, Bajun told Jhore to stay at home and cook the dinner

and he bade him put into the pot three measures of rice. Jhore stayed

at home and filled the pot with water and put it on to boil; then he

went to look for rice measures; there was only one in the house and

Jhore thought "My brother told me to put in three measures and if I

only put in one I shall get into trouble." So he went to a neighbour's

house and borrowed two more measures, and put them into the pot and

left them to boil. At noon Bajun came back from ploughing and found

Jhore stirring the pot and asked him whether the rice was ready. Jhore

made no answer, so Bajun took the spoon from him, saying "Let me feel

how it is getting on", but when he stirred with the spoon he heard a

rattling noise and when he looked into the pot he found no rice but

only three wooden measures floating about; then he turned and abused

Jhore for his folly, but Jhore said "You yourself told me to put in

three measures and I have done so." So Bajun had to set to work and

cook the rice himself and got his dinner very late.

Next day Bajun said to Jhore, "You don't know how to cook the dinner;

I will stay at home to-day, you go to plough, and take a hatchet

with you and if the plough catches in a root or anything, give a

cut with the hatchet." So Jhore went ploughing and when the plough

caught in anything and stopped, he gave a cut with his hatchet at

the legs of the bullocks; they backed and plunged with the pain and

then he only chopped at them the more until he lamed them both. At

noon Bajun saw the bullocks come limping back and asked what was

the matter with them. "O," said Jhore, "that is because I cut at

them as you told me." "You idiot," said Bajun, "I meant you to give

a cut at the roots in which the plough got caught, not at the legs

of the bullocks; how will you live if you do such silly things? You

cannot plough, you must stay at home and cook the rice. I will show

you this evening how it is done." So after that Jhore stayed at home

and cooked. Bajun's wife grew no better, so one day Bajun, before he

went to the fields, told Jhore to warm some water in order that his

wife might wash with it. But Jhore made the water boiling hot and

then took it and began to pour it over his sister-in-law as she lay

on her bed; she was scalded and shrieked out "Don't pour it over me,"

but Jhore only laughed and went on pouring until he had scalded her

to death. Then he wrapped her up in a cloth and brought her dinner to

her and offered it her to eat, but she was dead and made no answer to

him, so he left it by her and went and ate his own rice. When Bajun

came back and found his wife scalded to death he was very angry and

went to get an axe to kill Jhore with; thereupon Jhore ran away into

the jungle and Bajun pursued him with the axe.

In the jungle Jhore found a dead sheep and he took out its stomach and

called out "Where are you, brother, I have found some meat." But Bajun

answered, "I will not leave you till I have killed you." So Jhore ran

on and climbed up inside a hollow tree, where Bajun could not follow,

Bajun got a long stick and poked at him with it and as he poked, Jhore

let fall the sheep's stomach, and when Bajun saw it he concluded that

he had killed his brother. So he went home and burned the body of

his wife and a few days later he performed the funeral ceremonies to

the memory of his wife and brother; he smeared the floor of the house

with cowdung and sacrificed goats and fowls. Now Jhore had come back

that day and climbed up on to the rafters of the house, and he sat

there watching all that his brother did. Bajun cooked a great basket

of rice and stewed the flesh of the animals he had sacrificed and

offered it to the spirits of the dead and he recited the dedication

"My wife I offer this rice, this food, for your purification," and

so saying he scattered some rice on the ground; and he also offered

to Jhore, saying, "Jhore, my brother, I offer this rice, this food,

for your purification," and then Jhore called out from the roof "Well,

as you offer it to me I will take it." Bajun had not bargained to get

any answer, so he was astounded and went to ask the villagers whether

their spirits made answer when sacrificed to: and the villagers told

him that they had never heard of such a thing. While Bajun was away

on this errand, Jhore took up the unguarded basket of rice and ran

away with it; after going some way he sat down by the road and ate

as much as he wanted, then he sat and called out "Is there anyone on

the road or in the jungle who wants a feast?" A gang of thieves who

were on a thieving expedition heard him and went to see what he meant;

he offered to let them eat the rice if they would admit him to their

company; they agreed and he went on with them to steal; they broke

into a rich man's house and the thieves began to collect the pots

and pans but Jhore felt about in the dark and got hold of a drum and

began to beat on it. This woke up the people of the house and they

drove away the thieves. Then the thieves abused Jhore and said that

they could not let him stay with them: "Very well", said he, "then

give me back the rice you ate." Of course they could not do this. So

they had to let him stay with them. Then they went to the house of a

rich Hindu who had a stable full of horses and they planned to steal

the horses and ride away with them; so each thief picked out a horse,

but Jhore got hold of a tiger which had come to the back of the stable

to kill one of the horses; and when the thieves mounted their horses,

Jhore mounted on the tiger, and the tiger ran off with him towards the

jungle. Jhore kept on calling out "Keep to the road, you Hindu horse,

keep to the road, you Hindu horse." But it dragged him through the

briars and bushes till he was dead and that was the end of Jhore.

II. Anuwa and His Mother.

Once there was a young fellow named Anuwa who lived with his old

mother, and when he was out ploughing his mother used to take him

his breakfast. One day a jackal met her on her way to the field with

her son's breakfast and told her to put down the food which she was

carrying or he would knock her down and bite her; so she put it down

in a fright and the jackal ate most of it and then went away and

the old woman took what was left to her son and told him nothing

about what had happened. This happened several days in succession;

at last one day Anuwa asked her why she brought so little rice and

that so untidily arranged; so she told him how she was attacked every

day by the jackal. Then they made a plan that the next day the mother

should take the plough afield, while Anuwa should dress up as an old

woman and carry the breakfast. This they did and the jackal met Anuwa

as usual and made him put down the breakfast basket, but while the

jackal was eating, Anuwa knocked him head over heels with his stick;

and the jackal got up and fled, threatening and cursing Anuwa. Among

other things the jackal as he ran away, had threatened to eat Anuwa's

_malhan_ plants, so Anuwa put a fence of thorns round them and when

the jackal came at night and tried to eat the pods he only got his

nose pricked.

Foiled in this the jackal called out "Well, I will eat your fowls

to-morrow;" but Anuwa the next night sat by the fowl house with a

sickle and when the jackal came and poked in his head, Anuwa gave him a

rap on the snout with the sickle, so the jackal made off crying "Well,

Anuwa, your fowls have pecked me on the head, you shall die." So the

next day Anuwa pretended to be dead and his mother went about crying;

she took her way to the jungle and there she met the jackal and she

told him that Anuwa had died in consequence of his curse and she

invited him to the funeral feast, saying that he used to eat the

rice which she had cooked and he had become like a son to her. The

jackal gladly promised to attend, and he collected a number of his

friends and at evening they went to Anuwa's house and sat down in

the courtyard. Then the old woman came out and began to bewail her

son: but the jackal said "Stop crying, grannie, you cannot get back

the dead: let us get on to the feast." So she said that she would

fry some cakes first, as it would take some time before the rice was

ready. The jackals approved of this but they asked her to tie them up

with a rope first lest they should get to fighting over the food, so

the old woman brought a thick rope and tied them all up and tightest

of all she tied up the jackal which had cursed Anuwa; then she went

inside and put an iron pan on the fire and from time to time she

sprinkled water on it and when the jackals heard the water hissing

they thought that it was the cakes frying and jumped about with

joy. Suddenly Anuwa came out with a thick stick and set to beating

the jackals till they bit through the ropes and ran away howling;

but the first jackal was tied so tightly that he could not escape,

and Anuwa beat him till he was senseless and lay without moving all

night. The next morning Anuwa took the jackal and tied him to a stake

near the place where the village women drew water and he put a thick

stick beside it and every woman who went for water would give the

jackal one blow with the stick. After a few days beating the body

of the jackal became all swollen and one night some other jackals

came there and asked him what he ate that he had got so fat and he

said that every one who came to draw water gave him a handful of rice

and that was why he was so fat; and if they did not believe him they

could take his place and try for themselves.

So one jackal agreed to try and untied the first jackal and let himself

be tied in his place, but in the morning five women came down and

each gave him a blow with the stick till he jumped about for pain,

and seeing him jumping other women came and beat him till he died.

III. Ledha and the Leopard.

Once upon a time a boy named Ledha was tending cattle with other

boys at the foot of a hill, and these boys in fun used to call out

"Ho, leopard: Ho, leopard," and the echo used to answer from the hill

"Ho, leopard." Now there really was a leopard who lived in the hill

and one day he was playing hide and seek with a lizard which also

lived there. The lizard hid and the leopard looked every where for

it in vain. At last the leopard sat down to rest and it chanced that

he sat right on top of the lizard which was hiding in a hole. The

lizard thought that the leopard meant to hurt it and in revenge bit

him and fastened on to his rump so that he could not get it off,

so that day when the boys came calling out "Ho, leopard," he ran

towards them to get their help: but when they saw the leopard they

all fled for their lives. Ledha however could not run fast because

he was lame, and the leopard headed him off and begged him to remove

the lizard. This he did after the leopard had sworn not to eat him,

and before they parted the leopard made him promise to tell no one

that the lizard had bitten him, and said that if he told then he would

be carried off and eaten. So Ledha rejoined his companions and told

them nothing of what had passed between him and the leopard. But that

night when they had all gone to bed, Ledha's sister-in-law began to

worry him to tell her what the leopard had said to him, when it had

caught him. He told her that the leopard would eat him if he told,

but she coaxed him and said that no one could hear them inside the

house; so at last he told her that he had taken off a lizard which

was hanging on to its rump. Then they went to sleep; but the leopard

was hiding at the back of the house and heard all that they said;

and when they were all asleep, he crept in and carried off Ledha's bed

with Ledha in it on his head. When Ledha woke up towards morning, he

found himself being carried through dense jungle and he quietly pulled

himself up into one of the trees which overhung the path. Thus when

the leopard put down the bed and was going to eat Ledha, he found it

empty. So he went back on his track and by and bye came to the tree

in which Ledha was hiding. The leopard begged Ledha to come down,

as he had something to say to him, and promised not to eat him; but

directly Ledha reached the ground the leopard said "Now I am going to

eat you." Ledha was powerless, so he only asked to be allowed to have

one chew of tobacco before he died; the leopard assented and Ledha

felt in his cloth for his tobacco, but the tobacco did not come out

easily and as Ledha felt about for it the dry tobacco leaves crackled;

the leopard asked what the crackling sound was, and Ledha said "That

is the lizard which bit you yesterday;" then the leopard got into a

terrible fright and ran away as hard as he could, calling out "Don't

let it loose: Don't let it loose."

So Ledha was saved from the leopard, but he did not know his way out

of the jungle. He wandered about, till he came to the place where the

wild buffaloes used to sleep at night, and he swept up the place and

made it clean and then took refuge in a hollow tree; he stayed there

some days, sweeping up the place daily and supporting himself on the

fruit of a fig-tree. At last one day the buffaloes left one cow behind

to watch and see who it was who swept up their sleeping place. The cow

pretended to be too ill to rise, and Ledha after watching for some

time came out and swept the ground as usual, and then tried to pull

the sick cow up by the tail; but she would not move so he went back to

his hollow tree. When the buffaloes returned they heard that it was a

kindhearted man who cleaned their sleeping place; so they called Ledha

out and said that they would keep him as their servant to clean their

sleeping place and to scrub them when they bathed in the river; they

made him taste the milk of all the cows and appointed the cow whose

milk he liked best to supply him. Thenceforward he used to wander

about with the buffaloes and he made a flute and used to play on it.

One day after scrubbing the buffaloes he washed his head in the river

and some of his hairs came out; so he wrapped them up in a leaf and

set the packet to float down the stream. Lower down the stream two

princesses were bathing with their attendants, and when they saw

the packet they tried who could fish it out and it was the younger

princess who caught it. Then they measured the hairs and found them

twelve cubits long. The princess who had taken the packet from the

water went home and took to her bed and said that she would not

eat until the man was found to whom the hairs belonged. Her father,

the Raja, sent messengers in all directions to search for the man

but they could not find him. Then he sent a parrot and the parrot

flew up high and looking down saw Ledha with the buffaloes in the

forest; but it did not dare to go near, so the parrot returned and

told the Raja that the man was in the forest but that no messenger

could approach for fear of the wild buffaloes. However a crow said,

"I can bring him if any one can," so they sent the crow and it went

and perched on the backs of the buffaloes and began to peck them;

then Ledha threw stones at it, but it would not go away; then he threw

a stick at it and last of all he threw his flute. The crow caught up

the flute and flew up to a tree with it. Ledha ran after it, but the

crow kept flying on a short distance and Ledha still pursued until he

came to the Raja's city. The crow flew on till it entered the room

where the princess lay, and dropped the flute into the hands of the

princess. Ledha followed right into the room and they shut him in

and the princess gave him his flute after he had promised to marry her.

So he stayed there a long time, but meanwhile the buffaloes all got

weak and ill for want of some one to look after them. One day Ledha

set off to the jungle with his wife to see them and when he saw how

ill the buffaloes were, he decided to build a house in the jungle

and live there. And the Raja sent them money and horses and cattle

and elephants and servants and they built a palace and Ledha subdued

all the jungle and became a great Raja; and he made a highway to his

father-in-law's home and used to go to and fro on it.

IV. The Cruel Stepmother.

There was once a Raja whose wife died leaving him with one young

child. He reared it with great care and when it could toddle about

it took a great fancy to a cat; the child was always playing with it

and carrying it about.

All his friends begged the Raja to marry again, but he said that he

was sure that a stepmother would be cruel to his child; at last they

persuaded him to promise to marry again, if a bride could be found

who would promise to care for the child as her own, so his friends

looked out for a bride; but though they found plenty of girls who

were anxious to marry the Raja, not one would promise to care for

his child as her own. There was a young widow in a certain village

who heard of what was going on, and one day she asked whether a

bride had been found for the Raja and she was told that no one was

willing to take charge of the child. "Why don't they agree," said she,

"I would agree fast enough. If I were Rani I should have nothing to

do but look after the child and I would care for it more than its own

mother could." This came to the ears of the Raja and he sent for the

widow and was pleased with her looks, and when she promised to love

his child as her own, he married her.

At first no one could be kinder to the child than she was, but in the

course of time she had a child of her own and then she began to be

jealous of the elder child; and she thought daily how she could get

rid of him. He was still devoted to his cat and one day when he came

back to the house, he asked his stepmother where the cat was. She

answered angrily, "The cat has bewitched the boy! It is 'cat, cat,'

all day long." At this the child began to cry; so she found the cat

and threw it to him, saying, "Here is your cat: you are mad about

your cat." But the boy hugged it in his arms and kept on crying at his

stepmother's cross words. As he would not keep quiet his stepmother got

more angry still; and catching hold of the cat she scratched her own

arms and legs with the cat's claws until the blood flowed; then she

began to cry and scold and when the neighbours came to see what was

the matter, she told them that the boy had let his cat scratch her;

and the neighbours saw that she was not loving the boy as she promised.

Presently the Raja came in and asked what was the matter; she turned

and scolded him saying: "You have reared the accursed cat and it has

scratched me finely; look, it has taken all the skin off; this is the

way the boy repays me for all my trouble. I will not stay with you; if

I stay the boy will injure me like this again." The Raja said, "Don't

cry like a baby; how can a simple child like that know better? when

he grows up I will scold him." But the woman persisted and declared

that she would go away with her own child unless the Raja promised

to kill his elder son. The Raja refused to do this, so the Rani took

up her baby and went out of the house with it in a rage. Now the Raja

was deeply in love with her and he followed and stopped her, and said

that he could not let her take away his younger child; she answered,

"Why trouble about the child? it is mine; I have left you your boy,

if you don't kill him, when he grows up, he will tell you some lie

about me and make you have me beaten to death." At last the Raja

said "Well, come back and if the boy does you any harm I will kill

him." But the Rani said. "Either kill him now or let me go." So at

last the Raja promised and brought her back to the palace. Then the

Raja called the boy and gave him his dinner and told him that they

were going on a visit to his uncle's: and the child was delighted

and fetched his shoes and umbrella, and off they set, and a dog came

running after them. When they came to a jungle the Raja told his son

to sit under a tree and wait for him, and he went away and killed the

dog that had followed them and smeared the blood on his axe and went

home, leaving the child.

When his father did not return, the child began to cry, and Thakur

heard him and came down, and to frighten the boy and make him leave

the jungle he came in the guise of a leopard; but the child would not

move from where he was; then Thakur appeared as a bear, and as a snake

and an elephant and in many other forms but the child would not move;

so at last Thakur took the form of an old woman, who lifted him in

her arms and soothed him and carried him to the edge of the jungle

and left him on the outskirts of a village.

In the morning a rich Brahman found him and took him home, and as no

one claimed the child he brought him up and made him his goat-herd,

and they gave him the name of Lela. The Brahman's sons and daughters

used to go school, and before he took his goats out to graze Lela

used to carry their books to the school. And going to the school every

day Lela got to know one or two letters and used to draw them in the

sand while minding his goats; later he got the children to give him

an old book saying that he wanted to pretend to the other boys that

he could read and out of this book he taught himself to read: and as

he grew up he became quite a scholar. One day he picked up a letter

and found that it was from one of the village girls arranging to elope

that very evening with a young man. At the appointed time Lela went to

the rendez-vous and hid himself in a tree; soon he saw the Brahman's

daughter come to the place, but as her letter had not been delivered

her lover did not appear. The girl got tired of waiting and then she

began to call to her lover, thinking that perhaps he was hiding for

a joke. When she called, Lela answered from the tree and she thought

that it was her lover and said "Come down and let us be off." So

Lela came down and they started off together; when day dawned she saw

that it was Lela who was with her and she sat down and upbraided him

for deceiving her. Lela said that they had met by chance; he had not

enticed her away, no harm had been done and she could go home if she

liked or come away with him if she liked. The girl considered but she

saw that if she went home now she would be disgraced and her family

would be outcasted, so in the end she agreed to run away with Lela.

They went on and after travelling some days they came to a great

city, where they took up their quarters in a tumble-down house and

the next morning Lela went into the city to look for work. He went to

the cutcherry and enrolled himself as a _muktear_ (attorney) and soon

the litigants and the magistrates found out how clever he was and he

acquired a big practice. One day the Raja said, "This fellow is very

handsome, I wonder what his wife is like?" And he sent an old woman

to see; so the old woman went and got into conversation with Lela's

wife and returned to the Raja and told him that none of his wives was

so beautiful as Lela's wife; so the Raja determined to go and see

her himself, and as the old woman said that she would hide herself

in the house if she saw the Raja coming, he disguised himself as a

poor man and went and saw her; he found that the old woman had not

exaggerated and he determined to possess himself of Lela's wife. He

had first to get Lela out of the way, so he sent for him and said,

"You are a fine fellow and have given me satisfaction. I have one

more commission for you, if you perform it I will give you half my

kingdom and my sister in marriage." Lela said that he must hear what

it was before he made any promise. The Raja said "It is this: in a

certain mountain grows the Chandmoni Kusum flower; bring it to me

and I will give you what I have promised:"--but the Raja felt sure

that if Lela went to the mountain he would be eaten by the Rakhas

(ogress) who dwelt there. Lela said that he would go if the Raja

gave him a written bond In the presence of witnesses; and this the

Raja willingly did. Then Lela went and told his wife and she said,

"This is excellent: I have a younger sister in the mountain, her name

is Chandmoni and it was she who planted the Chandmoni Kusum flower;

when you get there call her by her name and she will certainly give

you the flower."

So Lela started off and when he was gone his wife fell ill, and

her body became a mass of sores. Directly Lela was out of the way,

the Raja sent the old woman to see what his wife was doing and she

brought back word that she was afflicted with illness; so the Raja

sent medicines and told the old woman to nurse her. Lela went off and

came to the cave in the mountain where Chandmoni lived with the Rakhas;

and the Rakhas was away hunting men, so Lela called out Chandmoni and

told her who he was and begged her to hide him; then they planned how

they should kill the Rakhas, and she hid him in the cave; presently

the Rakhas returned and said to Chandmoni "I smell a man: where is

he?" But Chandmoni said that there was no one there but herself;

and that the smell was probably due to the Rakhas having been eating

human flesh and recommended her to anoint herself with hot ghee. The

Rakhas agreed: so Chandmoni put a great iron pan of ghee on to boil,

and when it was boiling she called the Rakhas, and as the Rakhas was

leaning over the pan, Lela ran out and pushed her into the boiling

ghee and she died. Then Chandmoni asked Lela why he had come, and

he told her, "to fetch the flower." She promised to give it to him

but asked what was to become of her now that the ogress with whom she

lived was dead. Lela promised to take her with him, so they cut off the

tongue and ears and claws of the Rakhas and returned to the city. And

directly Lela returned, his first wife recovered from her illness.

Then the Raja saw that it was useless to contend with Lela, and he

gave him half his kingdom and married him to his sister according

to his bond. So Lela lived with his three Ranis and they bore him

children and after some years he told them that he was the son of a

Raja and he wished to visit his own country and see whether his father

was alive. So they set out in great style with horses and elephants

and came to the town where Lela's father lived. Now five or six days

after abandoning Lela, his father had become blind and, he made over

the management of his kingdom to a Dewan, and the Dewan and the Rani

managed everything. When the Dewan heard that Lela had come with a

great force he thought that he would loot the country and he ran away

in fear. Then Lela sent word to his father to come to him, as he was

the son who had been abandoned in the jungle, so the Raja set forth

joyfully and after he had gone a few paces he began to see dimly,

and by the time that he came to Lela's camp he had quite recovered

his eyesight. When they met, father and son embraced and wept over

each other; and Lela ordered a feast to be prepared and while this

was being done a maidservant came running to say that the wicked

Rani had hanged herself, so they went and burned the body and then

returned and enjoyed the feast. Then the Raja resigned his kingdom

to Lela and the ryots begged him to stay and rule over them; so he

remained there and lived happily ever after.

V. Karmu and Dharmu.

There were once two brothers Karmu and Dharmu. Karmu was a farmer and

Dharmu was a trader; once when Dharmu was away from home Karmu gave

a religious feast and did not invite Dharmu's household; when Dharmu

returned and learnt this, he told his wife that he also would perform

the ceremonies in his house, so they set to work and were employed

in cooking rice and vegetables far into the night; and Karam Gosain

came down to see what preparations Dharmu was making in his honour,

and he watched from the back of the house.

Just then Dharmu strained off the water from the cooked rice and threw

it out of the window, and it fell on Karam Gosain and scalded him, and

as the flies and insects worried the wound, Karam Gosain went off to

the Ganges and buried himself in the middle of the stream. As he had

thus offended Karam Gosain, all Dharmu's undertakings failed and he

fell into deep poverty, and had not even enough to eat, so he had to

take service with his brother Karmu. When the time for transplanting

the rice came, Dharmu used to plough and dig the ditches and mend the

gaps along with the day labourers. Karmu told him not to work himself

but act as overseer of the other labourers, and the labourers also told

him that it was not suitable for him to work as a labourer himself,

but Dharmu said that he must earn his wages and insisted on working;

and in the same way Dharmu's wife might have acted as overseer of

the women, but she was ashamed not to work too.

One day they were transplanting the rice and Karmu brought out

breakfast for the labourers; he told Dharmu and his wife to wash their

hands and come and eat; but they answered that they belonged to the

household and that the hired labourers should be fed first, so the

labourers ate and they ate up all the rice and there was nothing left

for Dharmu and his wife. When the midday meal was brought the same

thing happened, Dharmu and his wife got nothing; but they hoped that

it would be made up to them when the wages were paid, and worked

on fasting. At evening when they came to pay the wages in kind,

Dharmu's name was called out first, but he told his brother to pay

the labourers first, and in doing this the paddy was all used up and

there was nothing left for Dharmu and his wife; so they went home

sorrowfully and their children cried for food and they had nothing

to give them. In the night Dharmu's wife said "They promised to pay

us for merely looking after the work and instead, we worked hard

and have still got nothing. We will not work for them anymore; come,

let us undo the work we did to-day, you cut down the embankments you

repaired, and I will uproot the seedlings which I planted." So they

went out into the night to do this. But whenever Dharmu raised his

spade a voice called out "Hold, hold!" And whenever his wife put out

her hand to pull up the rice a voice called out "Hold, hold!" Then they

said "Who are you who stop us?" And the voice answered "You have done

evil and offended Karam Gosain by scalding him; this is why you have

become poor and to-day have worked without food and without wages;

he has gone to the Ganges and you must go and propitiate him." And

they asked how they should propitiate him, and the voice said "Grind

turmeric and put it on a plate, and buy new cloth and dye it with

turmeric and make ready oil and take these things to the Ganges and

call on Karam Gosain." And they believed the voice and the next day

did as it commanded, and set off, leaving their children in charge

of Karmu. On the way they came to a fig-tree full of figs and they

went to eat the fruit; but when they got near they found that all

the figs were full of grubs, and they sang:--

"Exhausted by hunger we came to a fig-tree,

And found it full of grubs,

O Karam Gosain, how far off are you?"

Then they came to a mango tree and the same thing happened. And they

went on and saw a cow with a calf; and they thought that they would

milk the cow and drink the milk, but when they went to catch it it

ran away from them and would not let itself be caught; and they sang:--

"We go to catch the cow and it runs away,

We go to catch the calf and it runs away,

O Karam Gosain how far off are you?"

But the cow said to them--"Go to the banks of the Ganges." Then

they came to a buffalo and went to milk it, but it lowered its head

and charged them; and Dharam cried but his wife said "Don't cry"

and sang:--

"If you go to catch the buffalo, Dharmu,

It will kill you.

How shall we drink milk? How shall we drink milk?

How far off are you, O our Karam Gosain?"

And the buffalo said "Go on to the bank of the Ganges." Then they came

to a horse and they thought that they would catch it and mount it,

but it kicked and snorted; and they sang:--

"Dharmu tries to catch the horse:

But it kicks and runs away.

How shall we reach the Ganges?

O Karam Gosain, how far off are you?"

And the horse said "Go to the banks of the Ganges." Then they saw an

elephant but it would not let them approach, so they decided to push

on straight for the river; and they saw under a banyan tree a large

pot full of rupees, but they were so disheartened that they made no

attempt to touch it; then they met a woman who asked where they were

going and when she heard, she said "For twelve years I have had a _pai_

measure stuck on my throat; ask Karam Gosain for me how I am to get

rid of it," and they promised; and going on they met a woman with a

bundle of thatching grass stuck to her head; and she made them promise

to ask Karam Gosain how she could be freed; then they met a woman with

both her feet burning in a fire and another with a stool stuck fast

to her back and they promised to enquire how these might be delivered.

So at last they came to the Ganges and they stood on the bank and

called to Karam Gosain; and when he came they caught hold of him and

he said "Fie, what low caste person is touching me?" But they said. "It

is no low caste person, but Dharmu." Then they bathed him and anointed

him with oil and turmeric and wrapped him in the new cloth which they

had brought, and thus they persuaded him to return; so they rose up

to go back, and Dharmu asked about the women whom they had met, and

Karam Gosain said: "The woman has a stool stuck to her back because

when visitors came she never offered them a seat; let her do so in

future, and she will be freed; and the woman has her feet burning in

the fire because she pushed the fuel into the fire with her foot; let

her not do so in future, and she will be freed; and the woman has the

thatching grass stuck to her head because when she saw a friend with

straw sticking in her hair she did not tell her about it; let her do

so in future and she will be freed; and the woman has the pai measure

stuck to her throat because, when her neighbour wanted to borrow her

measure, she would not lend it; let her do so in future and she will

be freed." And Karam Gosain asked whether they had seen an elephant

and a horse and a buffalo and a cow and money and mangoes and figs and

Dharmu said "Yes," but that he had not been able to catch the animals

and the fruit was bad. Karam Gosain promised them that on their way

back they should take possession of all; and they did so and mounted

on the elephant and returned to their home with great wealth. On their

way they met the four women and told them how they could be saved from

their troubles. The villagers welcomed Dharmu and he arranged a great

feast and gave paddy to all the villagers to husk; but when they had

boiled it the weather became cloudy so that they could not dry it,

so they prayed to the sun and he at once shone out and dried the paddy.

Then a day was fixed and they prepared rice beer, and worshipped

Karam Gosain and they danced all night and got very drunk and enjoyed

themselves.

VI. The Jealous Stepmother.

There was once a man whose wife died leaving him with one son and

after a year he married again. The second wife was very jealous of the

son and she told her husband that she would not stay with him unless

he killed the boy; at first he refused but she insisted and then he

said that he was frightened to do the deed, but she might kill the

boy herself if she liked. She said, "No: he is your son and you must

kill him; if he were mine I would do it. You need not be frightened;

when you take him out ploughing make him drive the front plough, and

you sharpen your plough pole to a point and drive it into him from

behind and kill him and then it will seem to be an accident." So the

man promised and made a sharp point to his plough pole but whenever

they ploughed, the son drove his plough so fast that the father could

not catch him up and so the boy was not killed; then the woman abused

her husband and said that he was deceiving her. So he promised to

finish the business the next day and told her to give the boy a good

hot breakfast before they started, so that he might receive one last

kindness, and he said that they must find some other way of killing

him because all the ploughing was finished; but his wife told him he

could plough down their crop of _goondli_, the bullocks would stop

to eat the _goondli_ as they went along and so he would easily catch

up his son. Accordingly the next morning father and son took out the

ploughs and the boy asked where they should plough, and the father said

that they would plough down the field of _goondli_. But the boy said

"Why should we do that? it is a good crop and will be ripe in a day

or two; it is too late to sow again, we shall lose this crop and who

knows whether we shall get anything in its place?"

And the father thought 'What the boy says is true; the first crop

is like the first child, if I kill him who will support me in my

old age? Who knows whether my second wife will have children. I will

not kill him however angry she be;' so they unyoked their ploughs and

went home. He told his wife that he would not kill the boy and scolded

her and ended by giving her a beating. Then she ran away in a passion

but he did not trouble to go and look for her and in a few days her

father and brothers brought her back, and her husband told them what

had happened and they also scolded her and told her to mend her ways.

VII. The Pious Woman.

There was once a very pious woman and her special virtue was that she

would not eat or drink on any day until she had first given alms to a

beggar. One day no beggar came to her house, so by noon she got tired

of waiting, and, tying in her cloth some parched rice, she went to the

place where the women drew water. When she got there she saw a Jugi

coming towards her, she greeted him and said that she had brought

dried rice for him. He said that omens had bidden him come to her

and that he came to grant her a boon: she might ask one favour and

it would be given her. The woman said: "Grant me this boon--to know

where our souls go after death, and to see at the time of death how

they escape, whether through the nose or the mouth, and where they

go to; and tell me when I shall die and where my soul will go to;

this I ask and no more." Then the Jugi answered, "Your prayer is

granted, but you must tell no one; if you do, the power will depart

from you." So saying he took from his bag something like a feather and

brushed her eyes with it and washed them with water. Then the woman's

eyes were opened and she saw spirits--_bongas, bhuts, dains, churins_,

and the souls of dead men; and the Jugi told her not to be afraid,

but not to speak to them lest men should think her mad; then he took

his leave, and she returned home. Now in the village lived a poor man

and his wife and they were much liked because they were industrious

and obedient; shortly afterwards this poor man died and the pious

woman saw men come with a palankin and take away the poor man's soul

with great ceremony. She was pleased at the sight and thought that

the souls of all men were taken away like this. But shortly afterwards

her father-in-law died. He had been a rich man, but harsh, and while

the family were mourning the pious woman saw four sipahis armed with

iron-shod staves and of fierce countenance come to the house and two

entered and took the father-in-law by the neck and thrust him forth;

they bound him and beat him, they knocked him down and as he could

not walk they dragged him away by his legs. The woman followed him to

the end of the garden and when she saw him being dragged away, she

screamed. When her husband's relatives saw her screaming and crying

they were angry and said that she must have killed her father-in-law

by witchcraft, for she did not sit by the corpse and cry but went to

the end of the garden. So after the body had been burnt they held

a council and questioned her and told her that they would hold her

to be a witch, if she could not explain. So she told them of the

power which the Jugi had conferred on her and of what she had seen,

and they believed her and acquitted her of the charge of witchcraft;

but from that time she lost her power and saw no more spirits.

VIII. The Wise Daughter-in-Law.

There was once a rich man who had seven sons, but one day his wife

died and after this the family fell into poverty. All their property

was sold and they lived by selling firewood in the bazar. At last the

wife of the eldest son said to her father-in-law. "I have a proposal

to make: Do you choose one of us to be head of the family whom all

shall obey; we cannot all be our own masters as at present." The old

man said "Well, I choose you," and he assembled the whole family and

made them promise to obey the wife of his eldest son.

Thereupon she told them that they must all go out into the fields

and bring her whatever they found. So the next day they went out

in different directions and the old man found some human excrement

and he thought "Well, my daughter-in-law told me to bring whatever

I found" so he wrapped it up in leaves and took it home; and his

daughter-in-law told him that he had done well and bade him hang

up the packet at the back of the house. A few days later he found

the slough of a snake and he took that home and his daughter-in-law

told to tie a clod of earth to it to prevent its being blown away,

and to throw it on to the roof of the house.

Some years after the Raja of the country was ill with cancer of the

face and none of the _ojhas_ could cure him. At last one _ojha_ said

that there was only one medicine which could effect a cure, but he

saw no chance of obtaining it and that was human excrement 12 years

old. Then the Raja sent messengers throughout the kingdom offering a

reward of 200 Rupees to any one who could supply excrement twelve years

old; and when a messenger came to the village where this family lived

the daughter-in-law produced the packet which the old man had brought

home and received the reward of 200 Rupees; and they were all delighted

at making so much money by what the old man had brought home in jest.

And again it happened that the son of a Raja was bathing and he left

his gold belt on the bank and a kite thought it was a snake and flew

off with it. The prince was much distressed at the loss but the Raja

told him not to grieve as the kite must have dropped it somewhere and

he would offer a reward of a thousand rupees for it. Now the kite had

soon found that the belt was not good to eat and seeing the snake's

skin which the old man had thrown on to the roof of the house, it

dropped the belt and flew off with the skin; and the daughter-in-law

picked up the belt and when criers came round offering a reward she

produced it and received the money. And they praised her wisdom and

by this means the family became rich again.

IX. The Oilman and His Sons.

There was once an oilman with five sons and they were all married

and lived jointly with their father. But the daughters-in-law were

discontented with this arrangement and urged their husbands to ask

their father to divide the family property. At first the old man

refused, but when his sons persisted, he told them to bring him a

log two cubits long and so thick that two hands could just span it,

and he said that if they could break the log in two, he would divide

the property; so they brought the log and then asked for axes, but he

told them that they must break it themselves by snapping it or twisting

it or standing on it; so they tried and failed. Then the old man said,

"You are five and I make six; split the log into six," So they split it

and he gave each a piece and told them to break them, and each easily

snapped his stick; then the old man said "We are like the whole log: we

have plenty of property and are strong and can overcome attack; but if

we separate we shall be like the split sticks and easily broken." They

admitted that this was true and proposed that the property should not

be divided but that they should all become separate in mess. But the

father would not agree to this for he thought that people would call

him a miser if he let his sons live separately without his giving

them their share in the property as their own, So as they persisted

in their folly he partitioned the property.

But in a few years they all fell into poverty and had not enough to

eat nor clothes to wear, and the father and mother were no better off;

then the old man called all his sons and their wives and said "You see

what trouble you have fallen into; I have a riddle for you, explain

it to me. There are four wells, three empty and one full of water;

if you draw water from the full one and pour it into the three empty

ones they will become full; but when they are full and the first one

is empty, if you pour water from the three full ones into the empty

one it will not be filled; what does this mean?" And they could not

answer and he said, "The four wells mean that a man had three sons,

and while they were little he filled their stomachs as the wells were

filled with water; but when they separated they would not fill the

old man's stomach."

And it was true, that the sons had done nothing to help their father

and they were filled with shame and they agreed that as long as their

father lived they would be joint with him and would not separate

again until he died.

X. The Girl Who Found Helpers.

Once upon a time there were seven brothers, and they were all married,

and they had one sister who was not married. The brothers went away

to a far country for a whole year, leaving their wives at home. Now

the wives hated their sister-in-law and did their best to torment

her. So one day they gave her a pot full of holes and told her to

bring it back full of water; and threatened that if she failed she

should have no food. So she took the pot to the spring and there sat

down and cried and sang:--

"I am fetching water in a pot full of holes,

I am fetching water in a pot full of holes,

How far away have my brothers gone to trade."

After she had cried a long time, a number of frogs came up out of

the water and asked her what was the matter, and she told them that

she must fill the pot with water, and was not allowed to stop the

holes with clay or lac. Then they told her not to cry, and said, that

they would sit on the holes and then the water would not run out;

they did this and the girl dried her eyes and filled the pot with

water and took it home. Her sisters-in-law were much disappointed at

her success, but the next day they told her to go to the jungle and

bring back a bundle of leaves, but she was to use no rope for tying

them up. So she went to the jungle and collected the leaves and then

sat down and cried and sang:--

"I am to fetch leaves without a rope

I am to fetch leaves without a rope

How far have my brothers gone to trade?"

and as she cried a _buka sobo_ snake came out and asked why she was

crying, and when she told it, it said that it would coil itself round

the leaves in place of a rope. So it stretched itself out straight

and she piled the leaves on the top of it and the snake coiled itself

tightly round them and so she was able to carry the bundle home on her

head. Her sisters-in-law ran to see how she managed it, but she put

the bundle down gently and the snake slipped away unperceived. Still

they resolved to try again; so the next day they sent her to fetch

a bundle of fire wood, but told her that she was to use no rope to

tie it with. So she went to the jungle and collected the sticks and

then sat down and cried:--

"I am to bring wood without tying it,

I am to bring wood without tying it,

How far have my brothers gone to trade?"

and as she cried a python came out and asked what was the matter,

and when it heard, it told her not to cry and said that it would act

as a rope to bind up the sticks; so it stretched itself out and she

laid the sticks on it and then it coiled itself round them and she

carried the bundle home.

As the sisters-in-law had been baffled thus, they resolved on another

plan and proposed that they should all go and gather sticks in the

jungle; and on the way they came to a _machunda_ tree in full flower

and they wanted to pick some of the flowers. The wicked sisters-in-law

at first began to climb the tree, but they pretended that they could

not and kept slipping down; then they hoisted their sister-in-law into

the branches and told her to throw down the flowers to them. But while

she was in the tree, they tied thorns round the trunk so that she could

not descend and then left her to starve. After she had been in the tree

a long time, her brothers passed that way on their return journey,

and sat down under the tree to rest; the girl was too weak to speak

but she cried and her tears fell on the back of her eldest brother,

and he looked up and saw her; then they rescued her and revived her

and listened to her story; and they were very angry and vowed to

have revenge. So they gave their sister some needles and put her in a

sack and put the sack on one of the pack-bullocks. And when they got

home, they took the sack off gently and told their wives to carry it

carefully inside the house, and on no account to put it down. But when

the wives took it up, the girl inside pricked them with the needles so

that they screamed and let the sack fall. Their husbands scolded them

and made them take it up again, and they had to carry it in, though

they were pricked till the blood ran down. Then the brothers enquired

about all that had happened in their absence, and at last asked after

their sister, and their wives said that she had gone to the jungle

with some friends to get firewood. But the brothers turned on them and

told how they had found her in the _machunda_ tree and had brought her

home in the sack, and their wives were dumbfounded. Then the brothers

said that they had made a vow to dig a well and consecrate it; so they

set to work to dig a well two fathoms across and three fathoms deep;

and when they reached water, they fixed a day for the consecration;

and they told their wives to put on their best clothes and do the

_cumaura_ (betrothal) ceremony at the well. So the wives went to the

well, escorted by drummers, and as they stood in a row round the well,

each man pushed his own wife into it and then they covered the well

with a wooden grating and kept them in it for a whole year and at

the end of the year they pulled them out again.

* * * * *

Another version of this story gives three other tasks preliminary to

those given above and begins as follows:--

Once upon a time there was a girl named Hira who had seven

brothers. The brothers went away to a far country to trade leaving

her alone in the house with their wives; these seven sisters-in-law

hated Hira and did what they could to torment her; one day they sowed

a basketful of mustard seed in a field and then told her to go and

pick it all up; she went to the field and began to lament, singing:--

"They have sown a basket of mustard seed!

Oh, how far away have my brothers gone to trade."

As she cried a flock of pigeons came rustling down and asked her what

was the matter, and when they heard, they told her to be comforted;

they at once set to work picking up the mustard grain by grain and

putting it into her basket; soon the basket was quite full and she

joyfully took it home and showed it to her sisters-in-law. Then they

set her another task and told her to bring them some bear's hair that

they might weave it into a hair armlet for her wedding. So she went off

to the jungle and sat down to cry; as she wept two bear cubs came up

and asked what was the matter; when she told her story they bade her

be of good cheer and took her into their cave and hid her. Presently

the mother bear came back and suckled her cubs, and when they had

finished they asked their mother to leave them some of her hair that

they might amuse themselves by plaiting it while she was away. She

did so and directly she had gone off to look for food, the cubs gave

the girl the hair and sent her home rejoicing. The sisters-in-law

were only made more angry by her success and plotted how to kill her,

so they ordered her to bring them some tiger's milk that they might

make it into curds for her wedding. Then she went off to the jungle

and began to weep, singing:--

"I brought the hair of a bear:

How far away have my brothers gone to trade."

At the sound two tiger cubs came running up and asked what was the

matter; they told her to be comforted and they would manage to give

her what she wanted; and they took her and hid her near where they

were lying. Presently the tigress came back and suckled her cubs and

as she did so she declared that she smelt a human being, but the

cubs laughed at her and said that it must be they whom she smelt;

so she was satisfied, and as she was leaving them they asked her to

leave some of her milk in an earthern pot so that they might have

something to drink if she were long in coming back. The tigress did

so and directly she was gone the cubs gave the milk to the girl who

took it home.--The story then continues as before.

XI. How to Grow Rich.

Once upon a time there was a woman whose husband died while she was

pregnant, and she was very unhappy and used to pray daily to Singh

Chando to give her a man child in place of her husband; she was left

well off and among her property were three gold coins, and as she was

afraid of these being stolen she decided to place them in the care

of the village headman. So she took them to him and asked him to keep

them till her child was born; and no one was present at the time but

the headman's wife. In due time her child was born and by the mercy

of Singh Chando it was a son; and when the boy had grown a bit and

could run alone his mother decided to take back the gold coins, so she

went to the headman and asked him for them; but he and his wife said:

"We do not understand what you are talking about? We know of no gold

coins: where are your witnesses? You must have had witnesses in such

a business." And they drove her out. She went away crying and called

the villagers together and asked them to decide the matter. So they

questioned her and the headman but as it was word against word they

could come to no decision; so they settled to put the parties on

oath, but the headman and the woman both swore that they had spoken

the truth, saying, "May we die if we have spoken falsely." Then

the villagers made them swear by their children and the woman and

the headman laid their hands on the heads of their sons and swore;

and when the woman swore her son fell down dead and she took up the

dead body in her arms and ran away with it.

The villagers were very sorry for what had happened but the headman

and his wife abused them for not having believed their word. The

woman had not gone very far before she met a stranger who asked why

she was crying and when she told him, he said: "Do not cry: you told

one falsehood and so your son has died. Take your child back to the

villagers and tell them that it was five gold coins and not three

that you gave to the headman and if you do this the child will come

to life again."

So the woman hastened back and found the villagers still assembled

and she told them as the stranger had directed; and she agreed to be

sworn again on the body of the child, and the headman promised to pay

five gold pieces if the child were restored to life. So the woman

laid her hands on the dead child and swore, and it was restored to

life. Then the headman was dumbfounded and reluctantly brought out

five gold pieces and gave them to the woman. She gave five rupees

to the villagers and they made the headman give them ten rupees for

having deceived them, and they bought pigs and had a feast.

In the course of time the boy grew up and his mother urged him to

marry. He asked her if she knew how to choose a wife and also what

sort of cattle to buy, and she said that she did not know; her husband

had not told her this. So the youth said that he would go to Singh

Chando and ask.

His mother washed his clothes for him and gave him food for the

journey and he set out. On the way he met a man who asked him where

he was going and he answered that he was going to make a petition to

Singh Chando. "Then," said the man, "make a petition for me also. I

have so much wealth that I cannot look after it all; ask him to take

away half from me." The youth promised and went on and he met another

man who said that he had so many cattle that he could not build enough

cow-houses for them and asked him to petition Singh Chando to diminish

their number; and he promised, and went on and came to Singh Chando,

and there he asked how to choose a wife and how to buy cattle. And

Singh Chando said, "When you buy a bullock first put your hand on

its quarter and if it shrinks and tries to get free, buy it; and when

you want a wife enquire first as to the character of her father and

mother; good parents make good children." Then the youth asked about

the two men he had met; Singh Chando said;--"Tell the first man when

he is ploughing to plough two or three furrows beyond the boundary

of his field and his wealth will diminish and tell the second man to

drive away three or four of his cattle every day and their number

will decrease." So the youth returned and met the man who had too

many cattle and told him what Chando had said, and the man thought

"If I drive away three or four head of cattle every day I shall soon

become poor" so from that time he looked out for any straying cattle

and would drive them home with his own; if the owner claimed them,

he gave them up, but if no claimant appeared, he kept them and so

he became richer than ever. And the youth went on and met the man

who was too rich, and when he heard what Chando had said he thought

"If I plough over the boundary on to my neighbour's land it will

be a great sin and I shall soon become poor;" and he went to his

ploughmen and told them never to plough right up to the edge of the

field but to leave two of three furrows space, and they obeyed and

from that time he grew richer than ever. And the youth returned to

his mother and told her all that had happened and they understood

the meaning of the advice which Chando had given to the two men and

acted accordingly. And it is true that we see that avaricious men

who trespass across boundaries become poor.

XII. The Changed Calf.

There was once a cowherd named Sona who saved a few rupees and he

decided to buy a calf so as to have something to show for his labours;

and he went to a distant village and bought a bull calf and on the way

home he was benighted. So he turned into a Hindu village and went to an

oilman's house and asked to be allowed to sleep there. When the oilman

saw such a fine calf he coveted it and he told Sona to put it in the

stable along with his own bullock and he gave him some supper and let

him sleep in the verandah. But in the middle of the night the oilman

got up and moistened some oil cake and plastered it over the calf;

he then untied his own bullock and made it lick the oil cake off the

calf, and as the bullock was accustomed to eat oil cake it licked it

greedily; then the oilman raised a cry, "The bullock that turns the

oil mill has given birth to a calf." And all the villagers collected,

and saw the bullock licking the calf and they believed the oilman. Sona

did not wake up and knew nothing of all this, the next morning he

got up and went to untie his calf and drive it away, but the oilman

would not let him and claimed the calf as his own. Then Sona called

the villagers to come and decide the matter: but they said that they

had seen him bring no calf to the village and he had not called any of

them to witness it, but they _had_ seen the bullock licking the calf;

why should the bullock lick any but its own calf? No one ever saw a

bullock lick a strange bullock or cow and so they awarded the calf

to the oilman. Then Sona said that he would call someone to argue the

matter and he went away meaning to get some men from the next village:

but he lost his way in the jungle and as he went along a night-jar

flew up from under his feet; he called out to it to stay as he was in

great distress, and the bird alighted and asked what was the matter,

and Sona told it his trouble. Then the night-jar said that it would

argue the matter for him but it must have a colleague and it told Sona

to go on and ask the first living being he met to help; so he went on

and met a jackal and the jackal agreed to help the night-jar, and they

told him to call the villagers to the edge of the jungle and not to

let them bring any dogs with them. So Sona brought all the villagers

to the jungle and the night-jar and jackal sat side by side on a stone.

Then Sona asked the villagers whether they would let him take away

the calf or no, and they persisted in their previous opinion. At last

one man said, "What are your advocates doing? it seems to me that they

are asleep." And at this the two woke up with a start and looked about

them, and the night-jar said "I have been asleep and dreamed a dream:

will you men please hear it and explain its meaning?"

And the jackal said, "I too have had a dream, please explain it for

me. If you can explain the meaning you shall keep the calf and, if

not, the boy shall have it." The villagers told them to speak and the

night-jar said, "I saw two night-jar's eggs and one egg was sitting

on the other; no mother bird was sitting on them, tell me what this

means." And the jackal said, "I saw that the sea was on fire and the

fishes were all being burnt up, and I was busy eating them and that

was why I did not wake up, what is the meaning of this dream?" And

the villagers said. "The two dreams are both alike: neither has

any meaning; an egg cannot sit on an egg, and the sea cannot catch

fire." The jackal said, "Why cannot it be? If you won't believe that

water can catch fire why do you say that a bullock gave birth to

a calf? Have you ever seen such a thing? Speak," And they admitted

that they had never seen a bullock have a calf, but only cows. "Then,"

said the jackal, "explain why you have given the oilman a decree." And

they admitted that they were wrong and awarded the calf to Sona and

fined the oilman five rupees for having deceived them.

XIII. The Koeri and the Barber.

There was a well-to-do man of the Koeri (cultivating) caste and

opposite his house lived a barber who was very poor; and the barber

thought that if he carried on his cultivation just as the Koeri did he

might get better results; so every day he made some pretext to visit

the Koeri's house and hear what work he was going to do the next day,

and with the same object he would listen outside his house at night;

and he exactly imitated the Koeri: he yoked his cattle and unyoked

them, he ploughed and sowed and transplanted just when the Koeri did

and the result was good, for that year he got a very fine crop. But he

was not content with this and resolved to continue to copy the Koeri;

the Koeri suspected what the barber was doing and did not like it. So

he resolved to put the matter to the test and at the same time teach

the barber to mind his own business. In January they both planted

sugar cane, and one day when the crop was half grown the barber

was sitting at the Koeri's house and the Koeri gave orders to his

servants to put the leveller over the crop the next day and break it

down; this was only a pretence of the Koeri's, but the barber went

away and the next day crushed his sugar cane crop with the leveller,

the whole village laughed to see what he had done; but it turned out

that each root of the barber's sugar cane sent up a number of shoots

and in the end he had a much heavier crop than the Koeri.

Another day the Koeri announced that he was going to sow _but_ (pulse)

and therefore ordered his servants to bring out the seed and roast

it well, that it might germinate quickly; and the barber hearing this

went off and had his seed _but_ roasted and the next day he sowed it,

but only a very few seeds germinated, while the crop of the Koeri

which had not really been roasted sprouted finely. The barber asked

the Koeri why his crop had not come up well, and the Koeri told him

that it must be because he had not roasted the seed enough; the few

seeds that had come up must have been those which had been roasted

most. But in the end the laugh was against the Koeri, for the few

seeds of the barber's which germinated, produced such fine plants

that when he came to thresh them out he had more grain than the Koeri,

and so in 3 or 4 years the barber became the richer man of the two.

XIV. The Prince Who Acquired Wisdom.

There was once a Raja who had an only son and the Raja was always

urging his son to learn to read and write in order that when he came

to his kingdom he might manage well and be able to decide disputes

that were brought to him for judgment; but the boy paid no heed to

his father's advice and continued to neglect his lessons. At last

when he was grown up, the Prince saw that his father was right and

he resolved to go away to foreign countries to acquire wisdom; so he

set off without telling anyone but his wife, and he took with him

a purse of money and three pieces of gold. After travelling a long

time, he one day saw a man ploughing in a field and he went and got

some tobacco from him and asked him whether there were any wise men

living in that neighbourhood. "What do you want with wise men?",

asked the ploughman. The Prince said that he was travelling to get

wisdom. The ploughman said that he would give him instruction if

he were paid. Then the Prince promised to give him one gold piece

for each piece of wisdom. The ploughman agreed and said. "Listen

attentively! My first maxim is this: You are the son of a Raja;

whenever you go to visit a friend or one of your subjects and they

offer you a bedstead, or stool, or mat to sit on, do not sit down

at once but move the stool or mat a little to one side; this is

one maxim: give me my gold coin." So the Prince paid him. Then the

ploughman said. "The second maxim is this: You are the son of a Raja;

whenever you go to bathe, do not bathe at the common bathing place,

but at a place by yourself; give me my coin," and the Prince did

so. Then he continued, "My third maxim is this: You are the son of a

Raja; when men come to you for advice or to have a dispute decided,

listen to what the majority of those present say and do not follow

your own fancy, now pay me;" and the Prince gave him his last gold

coin, and said that he had no more. "Well," said the ploughman, "your

lesson is finished but still I will give you one more piece of advice

free and it is this: You are the son of a Raja; Restrain your anger,

if anything you see or hear makes you angry, still do not at once take

action; hear the explanation and weigh it well, then if you find cause

you can give rein to your anger and if not, let the offender off."

After this the prince set his face homewards as he had spent all

his money; and he began to repent of having spent his gold pieces

on advice that seemed worthless. However on his way he turned into

a bazar to buy some food and the shopkeepers on all sides called out

"Buy, buy," so he went to a shop and the shopkeeper invited him to sit

on a rug; he was just about to do so when he remembered the maxim of

his instructor and pulled the rug to one side; and when he did so he

saw that it had been spread over the mouth of a well and that if he

had sat on it he would have been killed[1]; so he began to believe

in the wisdom of his teacher. Then he went on his way and on the

road he turned aside to a tank to bathe, and remembering the maxim

of his teacher he did not bathe at the common place but went to a

place apart; then having eaten his lunch he continued his journey,

but he had not gone far when he found that he had left his purse

behind, so he turned back and found it lying at the place where he

had put down his things when he bathed; thereupon he applauded the

wisdom of his teacher, for if he had bathed at the common bathing

place someone would have seen the purse and have taken it away. When

evening came on he turned into a village and asked the headman to let

him sleep in his verandah, and there was already one other traveller

sleeping there and in the morning it was found that the traveller had

died in his sleep. Then the headman consulted the villagers and they

decided that there was nothing to be done but to throw away the body,

and that as the Prince was also a traveller he should do it. At first

he refused to touch the corpse as he was the son of a Raja, but the

villagers insisted and then he bethought himself of the maxim that

he should not act contrary to the general opinion; so he yielded and

dragged away the body, and threw it into a ravine.

Before leaving it he remembered that it was proper to remove the

clothes, and when he began to do so he found round the waist of the

body a roll of coin; so he took this and was glad that he had followed

the advice of his teacher.

That evening he reached the boundary of his own territory and decided

to press on home although it was dark; at midnight he reached the

palace and without arousing anyone went to the door of his wife's

room. Outside the door he saw a pair of shoes and a sword; at the

sight he became wild with rage and drawing the sword he called out:

"Who is in my room?"

As a matter of fact the Prince's wife had got the Prince's little

sister to sleep with her, and when the girl heard the Prince's voice

she got up to leave; but when she opened the door and saw the Prince

standing with the drawn sword she drew back in fear; she told him

who she was and explained that they had put the shoes and sword at

the door to prevent anyone else from entering; but in his wrath the

Prince would not listen and called to her to come out and be killed.

Then she took off her cloth and showed it to him through the crack of

the door and at the sight of this he was convinced; then he reflected

on the advice of his teacher and repented, because he had nearly

killed his sister through not restraining his wrath.

XV. The Monkey Boy.

There was once a man who had six sons and two daughters and he died

leaving his wife pregnant of a ninth child.

And when the child was born it proved to be a monkey.

The villagers and relations advised the mother to make away with it,

but she refused saying "Chando knows why he has given me such a child,

but as he has done so I will rear it."

All her relations said that if she chose to rear a monkey they would

turn her out of the family. However she persisted that she would do

so at all costs. So they sent her to live with her child in a hut

outside the village, and the monkey boy grew up and learned to talk

like a human being.

One day his elder brothers began to clear the jungle for cultivation

and the monkey boy took a hatchet and went with them; he asked where

he could clear land for himself and in fun they showed him the place

where the jungle was thickest. So he went there and drove his hatchet

into the trunk of a tree and then returned and watched his brothers

working hard clearing the scrub, and when they had finished their work

he went and fetched his hatchet and returned home with them. Every

day he did the same--and one day his brothers asked why he spent all

his time with them, but he said that he only came to them when he was

tired of cutting down trees; they laughed at this and said that they

would like to see his clearing, so he took them to the place and to

their astonishment they saw a large clearing, bigger than they had

been able to make for themselves. Then the brothers burnt the jungle

they had cut down and began to plough the land.

But the monkey boy's mother had no plough or cattle nor any seed rice;

the only thing in the house was a pumpkin, so he took the seed out

of the pumpkin and sowed it in his clearing. His brothers asked what

he had sown and he told them--Rice.

The brothers ploughed and sowed and used to go daily to watch the

growing crop, and one day they went to have a look at the monkey boy's

crop and they saw that it was pumpkins and not rice and they laughed

at him. When their crop was ripe the brothers prepared to offer the

first fruits and the monkey boy watched them that he might observe the

same ceremonies as they. One day they brought home the first fruits

and offered them to the _bongas_, and they invited the monkey boy

and his mother to come to the feast which followed the offering.

They both went and enjoyed themselves; and two or three days later

the monkey boy said that he would also have a feast of first fruits,

so he told his mother to clear the courtyard and invited his brothers

and he purified himself and went to his clearing and brought home the

biggest pumpkin that had grown there; this he offered to the spirits;

he sliced off the top of it as if it were the head of a fowl, and

as he did so he saw that the inside was full of rice; he called his

mother and they filled a winnowing fan with the rice and there was

enough besides to nearly fill a basket; they were delighted at this

windfall but kept the matter secret lest they should be robbed. The

monkey boy told his mother to be sure and cook enough rice so that

his brothers and their wives might have as much as ever they could

eat, and not merely a small helping such as they had given him,

and if necessary he would go and fetch another pumpkin; so his

mother boiled the rice. When the time fixed for the feast came,

nothing was to be seen of the brothers because they did not expect

that there would really be anything for them to eat; so the monkey

boy went and fetched them, and when they came to the feast they

were astonished to have as much rice as they could eat. When the

crop was quite ripe the monkey boy gathered all the pumpkins and

got sufficient rice from them to last for the whole year. After

this the brothers went out to buy horses, and the monkey boy went

with them and as he had no money he took nothing but a coil of rope;

his brothers were ashamed to have him with them and drove him away,

so he went on ahead and got first to the place where the horsedealer

lived. The brothers arrived late in the evening and decided to make

their purchases the following morning and ride their horses home, so

they camped for the night. The monkey boy spent the night hiding on

the rafters of the stable; and in the night the horses began to talk

to each other and discussed which could gallop farthest, and one mare

said "I can gallop twelve _kos_ on the ground and then twelve _kos_

in the air." When the monkey boy heard this he got down and lamed

the mare by running a splinter into her hoof. The next morning the

brothers bought the horses which pleased them and rode off. Then the

monkey boy went to the horsedealer and asked why the mare was lame

and advised him to apply remedies. But the dealer said that that

was useless: when horses got ill they always died; then the monkey

boy asked if he would sell the mare and offered to give the coil of

rope in exchange; the dealer, thinking that the animal was useless,

agreed, so the monkey boy led it away, but when he was out of sight

he took out the splinter and the lameness at once ceased. Then he

mounted the mare and rode after his brothers, and when he had nearly

overtaken them he rose into the air and flew past his brothers and

arrived first at home. There he tied up the mare outside his house

and went and bathed and had his dinner and waited for his brothers.

They did not arrive for a full hour afterwards and when they saw

the monkey boy and his mount they wanted to know how he had got home

first. He boasted of how swift his mare was and so they arranged to

have a race and match their horses against his. The race took place

two or three days later and the monkey boy's mare easily beat all the

other horses, she gallopped twelve _kos_ on the ground and twelve

_kos_ in the air. Then they wanted to change their horses for his,

but he said they had had first choice and he was not going to change.

In two or three years the monkey boy became rich and then he announced

that he wanted to marry; this puzzled his mother for she thought that

no human girl would marry him while a monkey would not be able to talk;

so she told him that he must find a bride for himself. One day he set

off to look for a wife and came to a tank in which some girls were

bathing, and he took up the cloth belonging to one of them and ran

up a tree with it, and when the girl missed it and saw it hanging

down from the tree she borrowed a cloth from her friends and went

and asked the monkey boy for her own; he told her that she could only

have it back if she consented to marry him; she was surprised to find

that he could talk and as he conversed she was bewitched by him and

let him pull her up into the tree by her hair, and she called out to

her friends to go home and leave her where she was. Then he took her

on his back and ran off home with her.

The girl's father and relations turned out with bows and arrows to

look for the monkey who had carried her off but he had gone so far

away that they never found him. When the monkey boy appeared with his

bride all the villagers were astonished that he had found anyone to

marry him, but everything was made ready for the marriage as quickly

as possible and all the relations were invited and the wedding took

place and the monkey boy and his wife lived happily ever after.

XVI. The Miser's Servant.

Once there was a rich man who was a miser. Although he kept farm

servants they would never stay out the year with him; but ran away in

the middle. When the villagers asked why they ran away and so lost

their year's wages the servants answered. "You would do the same in

our place: at the busy time of the year he speaks us fair and feeds

us well, but directly the crops are gathered he begins to starve us;

this year we have had nothing to eat since September."

And the villagers said "Well, that is a good reason, a man can

stand scolding but not starvation; we all work to fill our bellies,

hunger is the worst disease of all." The news that the miser made his

servants work for nothing spread throughout the neighbourhood so he

could get no servants near by and when he brought them from a distance

they soon heard of his character and ran away. Men would only work

for him on daily wages and because of his miserliness they demanded

higher wages than usual from him and would not work without. Now

there was a young fellow named Kora who heard all this and he said

"If I were that man's servant I would not run away. I would get the

better of him; ask him if he wants a servant and if he says, yes,

take me to him." The man to whom Kora told this went to the miser

and informed him that Kora was willing to engage himself to him;

so Kora was fetched and they had a drink of rice beer and then the

miser asked Kora whether he would work for the full year and not run

away in the middle. Kora said that he would stay if he were satisfied

with the wages. The master said "I will fix your wages when I see

your work; if you are handy at every thing I will give you 12 _Kats_

of rice and if you are only a moderate worker then 9 or 10 _Kats_

besides your clothes. How much do you ask for?"

And Kora said "Well, listen to me: I hear that your servants run away

in the middle of the year because you give them so little to eat, all

I ask for my wages is that you give me once a year one grain of rice

and I will sow it and you must give me low land to plant all the seed

that I get from it; and give me one seed of maize and I will sow it for

seed, and you must give me upland to sow all the seed I get from it;

and give me the customary quantity of clothes, and for food give me

one leaf full of rice three times a day. I only want what will go on a

single leaf, you need not sew several leaves together into a plate. I

will ask for no second helping but if you do not fill the leaf full

I shall have the right to abuse you, and if I do not do all the work

you give me properly, then you can abuse me and beat me. If I run away

from fear of hard work you may cut off the little finger of my right

hand, and if you do not give me the wages we have agreed upon then I

shall have the right to cut off the little finger of your hand. What

do you say to this proposal: consult your friends and give me your

answer." Then the miser answered "I engage you on these terms and if

I turn you off without reason you may cut off my little finger." Then

Kora turned to the man who had fetched him and said "Listen to all

this: if there is any dispute hereafter you will be my witness."

So Kora began to work and the first day they gave him rice on a

single _sal_ leaf and he ate it up in one mouthful: but the next

day he brought a plantain leaf (_which is some three feet long_)

and said "Give me my rice on this and mind you fill it full." And

they refused: but he said "Why not? it is only a single leaf" and

they had to give in because he was within his rights; so he ate as

much as he wanted, and every day he brought a plantain leaf till his

master's wife got tired and said to her husband "Why have you got a

servant like this--he takes a whole pot of rice to himself every day,"

but he answered "Never mind: his wages are nothing, he is working for

his keep alone;" so the whole year Kora got his plantain leaf filled

and he was never lazy over his work so they could find no fault with

him on that score, and when the year was up they gave him one grain

of rice and one seed of maize for his wages for the year. Kora kept

them carefully, and his master's sons laughed at him and said "Mind

you don't drop them or let a mouse eat them."

Kora said nothing but when the time for sowing maize came he took his

grain of maize and sowed it by the dung heap, and he called them to

see where he sowed it; and at the time of sowing rice he sowed his

grain separately, and when the time for transplanting came he planted

his rice seedling in a hollow and bade them note it. When the maize

ripened it was found that his plant had two big cobs and one small

one on it, and his rice seedling sent up a number of ears; and when

it ripened he cut it and threshed it and got one _pai_ of rice, and he

kept the maize and rice for seed. And the next year also he sowed this

seed separately and it produced a big basket of rice and another one

of maize, and he kept this also for seed; and in the course of five

or six years he had taken all their high lands to sow his seed in

and in a few years more he had taken all their rice lands too. Then

his master was very miserable but he saw that it was useless to make

any complaint and the master became so poor that he had to work as

a servant to Kora. At last the miser called the heads of the village

together and wept before them, and they had pity on him and interceded

for him; but Kora said "It is God who has punished him and not I; he

made poor men work for nothing for so long and now he has to suffer;"

but they asked him to be merciful and give him some land, and he agreed

and said "Cut off his little finger and I will let him off his bargain;

and call all the servants whom he has defrauded and I will pay them"

but the miser would not have his finger cut off; then Kora said "Let

him keep his finger and I will give him back half his land." The miser

agreed to this and promised to treat his servants well in future,

and in order to lessen his shame he married his daughter to Kora;

and he had to admit that it was by his own folly that this trouble

had befallen him.

XVII. Kuwar and the Raja's Daughter.

There was once a rich merchant who lived in a Raja's city; and the

Raja founded a school in order that his own children might have some

education, and the boys and the girls of the town used to go to the

school as well as the Raja's sons and daughters and among them the

rich merchant's son, whose name Was Kuwar. In the course of time the

children all learned to read and write. In the evenings all the boys

used to mount their horses and go for a ride.

Now it happened that Kuwar and the Raja's daughter fell in love with

each other and she wrote him a letter saying that if he did not marry

her she would forcibly install herself in his house. He wrote back

and begged her not to come to his house as this would be the ruin of

his family; but he said that he would willingly run away with her to

a distant country, and spend his whole life with her, if she would

overlook the fact that they were of different castes; and if she

agreed to this they must settle to what country to go. Somehow news

of their intention got about, and the Raja was told that his daughter

was in love with the merchant's son. Then the Raja gave orders that

his daughter was not to be allowed to go outside the palace, and the

merchant spoke severely to Kuwar and neither of them was allowed to

go to the school any more. But one day the princess went to the place

where the Raja's horses were tied up and among them was a mare named

Piyari and she went up to the mare and said "You have eaten our salt

for a long time, will you now requite me?" And Piyari said "Certainly

I will!". Then the princess asked "If I mount you, will you jump

over all these horses and this wall and escape?" And the mare said

"Yes, but you will have to hold on very tight." The princess said

"That is my look-out: it is settled that on the day I want you you

will jump over the wall and escape." Then she wrote a letter to Kuwar

and gave it to her maid-servant to deliver into Kuwar's own hands,

without letting anyone know: and in the letter she fixed a day for

their elopement and told Kuwar to wait for her by a certain tree. So

on the day fixed after everyone was asleep Kuwar went to the tree and

almost at once the princess came to him riding on Piyari; he asked

her how she had escaped and whether she had been seen and she told

him how the mare had jumped over the wall without anyone knowing;

then they both mounted Piyari and drove her like the wind and in one

night they passed through the territory of two or three Rajas and in

the morning were in a far country.

Then they dismounted to cook their rice, and went to the house of an

old woman to ask for a light with which to light their fire. Now this

old woman had seven sons and they were all robbers and murderers;

and six of them had killed travellers and carried off their wives

and married them. When Kuwar and the princess came asking for a

light the seven sons were away hunting and when the old woman saw

the princess she resolved to marry her to her youngest son, and made

a plan to delay them; so she asked them to cook their rice at her

house and offered them cooking pots and water pots and firewood and

everything necessary; they did not know that she meant to kill Kuwar

and unsuspiciously accepted her offer. When they had finished cooking

Kuwar asked the old woman whether she lived alone and she told him

that she was a widow but had seven sons and they were all away on a

trading expedition. The old woman kept on looking out to see if her

sons were returning, and she had made an arrangement with them that if

she ever wanted them she would set fire to a small hut and they would

come home at once when they saw the smoke rising. But before her sons

came back Kuwar and the princess finished their meal and paid the old

woman and mounted Piyari and gallopped off. Then the old woman set fire

to the hut and her sons, seeing the smoke hurried home. She told them

that a beautiful girl had just left who would make a suitable wife for

the youngest of the brothers. Then the brothers tied on their swords

and mounted their horses and went in pursuit. Kuwar and the princess

knew nothing of their danger and rode on happily, but presently they

heard horses neighing behind them and looking round, saw men riding

after them with drawn swords. Then the princess said to Kuwar "Our

enemies are upon us; do you sit in front and let me sit behind you,

then they will kill us both together. If I am in front they may kill

you alone and carry me off alive." But while they were thinking of

this the seven brothers caught them up, and began to abuse them and

charge them with having set fire to the house in which they had eaten

their rice, and told them to come back with them at once. Kuwar and

the princess were too frightened to answer and they had no sword with

which to defend themselves. Then the robbers surrounded them and killed

Kuwar, and they said to the princess "You cannot stay here all alone;

we will take you back and you shall marry one of us." The princess

answered "Kill me here at once, never will I go with you." They said

"We shall take away your horse and all your food, will not that make

you go?" But the princess threw herself on the dead body of Kuwar

and for all they could do they could not drag her off it. Then the

murderers said to the youngest brother "She is to be your wife: you

must pull her away." But he refused saying "No, if I take her away she

will not stay with me, she will probably hang herself or drown herself;

I do not want a wife like that, if any of you want her, you can have

her." But they said that it would not be right for one of them to take

a second wife while their youngest brother was unmarried, and that

their mother intended him to marry this girl; if he would not they

would kill her there and then. But the youngest brother had pity on

her and asked them to spare her life, so they took away her horse and

her food and everything that she had and went away and left her there.

For a day and a night the princess lay there weeping and lamenting

her dead Kuwar and never ceased for a moment. Then Chando said "who

is this who is weeping and what has happened to her?" And he sent

Bidhi and Bidha to see what was the matter; they came and told him

that a princess was weeping over the body of her dead husband and

would not leave him though she had been robbed of everything she had.

Then Chando told them to go and frighten her, and if they could

frighten her away from her husband's dead body he would do nothing, but

if she would not leave him then they were to restore him to life. So

they went and found her holding the dead body of her husband In her

lap and weeping; and they first assumed the form of tigers and began

to circle round her roaring, but she only went on weeping and sang--

"You have come roaring, tigress:

First eat me, tigress:

Then only will I let you eat the body of my lord."

She would not quit the body nor run away from fear of the tigers,

so they slunk away and came back in the form of two leopards, and

prowled round her growling; but she only sang

"You have come roaring, leopardess

First eat me, leopardess

Then only will I let you eat the body of my lord."

and as she would not fly from them they slunk away and came back

in the form of two bears, but the princess only sang the same song;

then they appeared as two elephants; and then as two huge snakes which

hissed terribly but still she only wept; and in many forms they tried

to frighten her away but she would not move nor leave the corpse of

Kuwar, so in the end they saw that all the heart of the princess was

with Kuwar and that even in death they could not be separated, so at

last they drew near to her in the form of human beings and asked her

why she was crying, as they had heard her weeping from a long way off,

and had been filled with pity for her lamentations. Then the princess

said "Alas, this youth and I are from such and such a country and

as we loved and our lives were bound up in each other we ran away

together hither, and here on the road he has been killed and the

murderers have left me without my horse or food; and this is why I

weep." Then Bidhi and Bidha said "Daughter, rise up and we will take

you to your home, or we will find you another husband; this one is

dead and cannot be restored to you; you will find another; come arise,

you have but one life," But the princess answered "No I will not go

and leave him here. I will not leave him while my life lasts; but I

pray you if you know of any medicine that might restore him to life,

to try it." Then they answered "We know something of medicine and

if you wish we will try to cure him;" so saying, they ground up some

simples and told the princess to spread out a cloth and lay the dead

body on it and to put the head which had been cut off into position,

and then to cover it with the cloth and hold the head in position;

so she did as they bade, and they rubbed the medicine on the body

and then they suddenly disappeared from her sight.

Then in a few moments she saw Kuwar's chest heave as if he were

breathing; thereupon she shook him violently and he rose up and said

"Oh, what a long time I have slept," but the princess said "Do not

talk of sleep; you were killed and two men appeared from somewhere

and applied medicine and brought you to life again;" then Kuwar asked

where they were and she told him how they had disappeared without

her knowledge.

Then they rose up and went in search of food to a village where

there was a bazar, and they tried to get employment as servants;

but the people advised them to go to the capital city where the Raja

lived, and there if no one would take them as servants they could get

employment as coolies on a big tank which the Raja was excavating. So

they went there, and as they could not get employment as servants they

went to work at the tank with the common coolies and were paid their

wages at the end of the week and so managed to live. Kuwar's desire

was to somehow save five or six rupees and then build a little house

for themselves.

Now although the tank had been dug very deep there were no signs of

any water. Then the Raja ordered the centre post to be planted in

hopes that this would make the water rise; and he told the coolies

not to run away as he would make a feast to celebrate the making of

the tank and would distribute presents among them, and at this the

labourers were very pleased.

Now Kuwar's wife was very fair to see and the Raja saw her and fell

in love with her and made a plot to get possession of her. So when

the centre post had been planted and still no water came he said

"We must see what sacrifice is required to make the water come. I

have animals of all kinds; one by one they shall be offered and you

shall sing and dedicate them." So first an elephant was led down into

the bed of the tank and the people sang

"Tank, we will sacrifice to you an elephant

Let clear water bubble up, O tank,"

but no water came.

Then they led down a horse and sang a similar song, but no water came;

and then in succession a camel, a donkey, a cow, a buffalo, a goat and

a sheep were offered but no water came; and so they stopped. Then

the Raja asked why they stopped and they said that they had no

more animals. Then the Raja bade them sing a song dedicating a man,

to see if that would bring the water; so they sang and as they sang

water bubbled up everywhere from the bottom of the tank and then the

coolies were stricken with fear for they did not know which of them

would be sacrificed.

But the Raja sent his soldiers and they seized Kuwar and bound him

to the post in the middle of the tank; and then a song was sung

dedicating him to the tank and as the water rose around him the

princess wept bitterly; but the Raja said "Do not cry I will arrange

for your support and will give you part of my kingdom and you shall

live in my palace." The princess said "Yes: hereafter I may stay with

you, but let me now watch Kuwar till he is drowned;" so Kuwar fixed

his eyes on the princess and tears streamed down his face until the

waters rose and covered him; and the princess also gazed at him till

he was drowned. Then the Raja's soldiers told her to come with them

and she said "Yes, I am coming, but let me first offer a libation

of water to my dead husband;" and on this pretext she went into the

water and then she darted to the place where Kuwar had been bound and

sank beneath the surface. The Raja bade men rescue her but all were

afraid to enter the water and she was seen no more. Then the Raja

gave all the coolies a feast and scattered money among the crowd and

dismissed them. And this is the end of the story.

XVIII. The Laughing Fish.

There was once a merchant who prospered in his business and in the

course of time became very rich. He had five sons but none of them

was married. In the village where he lived was an old tank which was

half silted up and he resolved to clean it out and deepen it, if the

Raja would give it to him; so he went to the Raja and the Raja said

that he could have the tank if he paid forty rupees. The merchant paid

the money and then went home and called his family together and said

that they would first improve the tank and then find wives for all

his sons. The sons agreed and they collected coolies and drained

off the water and began to dig out the silt. When they had drained

off the water they found in the bed of the tank a number of big fish

of unknown age: which they caught and two of them they sent to the

Raja as a present. When the fish were carried into the presence of the

Raja they both began to laugh: then the Raja said "What is the meaning

of this? Here are two dead fish, why are they laughing?" And he told

the men who brought the fish to explain what was the matter or else

to take them away again. But they could give no explanation. Then the

Raja called all his officers and astrologers and asked them what they

thought it meant: but no one could give him any answer. Then the Raja

told the men to take the fish away again, and to tell the merchant

that, if he could not explain why the fish laughed, he would kill him

and all his descendants; and he wrote a letter to the same effect,

and fixed a day by which the merchant was to explain the matter. When

the merchant read the letter he fell into the greatest distress and

for two or three days he could not make up his mind whether to go on

with the work on the tank or no; but in the end he resolved to finish

it so that his name might be held in remembrance. So they finished the

work and then the merchant said to his sons: "My sons I cannot arrange

for your marriages, for the Raja has threatened to kill us all, if I

cannot explain why the fish laughed; you must all escape from here so

that our family may not die out;" but the younger sons all answered

"We are not able to take care of ourselves, either you come with us

to protect us or we will stay here." Then the merchant told his eldest

son to escape alone so that their family might not become extinct.

So the eldest son took a supply of money and went away into a far

country. After travelling a long time he came to a town where a

Raja lived and decided to stay there; so he first went to a tank and

bathed and sat down on the bank to eat some refreshment; and as he

sat the daughter of the Raja came down to the tank to bathe and she

saw the merchant's son and their eyes met. Then the princess sent

her maid-servants to ask him where he came from; and he told them

where he came from and that he meant to make a stay in that town,

and he promised them a rupee if they could persuade the princess to

uncover her face. They went and told their mistress all this and she

answered "Go and get your rupee from him, I will uncover my face;

and ask him what he wants." And when they went, she drew aside the

cloth from her face; then he gave them the rupee, and they asked him

whether he had seen her and what his intention was; then he said that

his wish was to marry the princess and live with her in her father's

house! When the princess heard this she said "Yes, my heart has gone

out to him also;" so then she bathed and went home and lay down in

her room and would not get up, and when her father asked her what

was the matter, she made no answer. Then they asked her maidens what

was the matter and they said that she had seen a stranger by the

tank and wished to marry him. The Rani asked whether the stranger

was still there and they said that they had left him by the tank. So

two men were sent to fetch the stranger or to find out where he had

gone. The two servants went and found the merchant's son just ready

to continue his journey, and they asked him who he was and what he

wanted. He said that he was looking for employment but would like

best to marry and live in the house of his father-in-law. Then they

told him not go away and they would arrange such a marriage for him,

so they took him to a house in the town and left him there and went

back to the Raja. They told the Raja that the stranger had gone away

but that they could follow him and bring him back if he gave them some

money for their journey. So the Raja gave them two rupees; then they

went off but only ate their dinner at home, and then they brought

the merchant's son to the Raja, pretending that they had overtaken

him a long way off. He was questioned about himself and he told his

whole history except that the Raja had threatened to cut off his

family, and his account being satisfactory it was arranged that he

should marry the princess. Musicians were sent for and the marriage

took place at once. After his marriage the merchant's son was much

depressed at the thought of his brothers' fate and in the middle of

the night he used to rise up and weep till the bed was soaked with

his tears; the princess noticed this and one night she pretended to

go to sleep but really lay awake and watched her husband; and in the

middle of the night saw him rise quietly and begin to sob. She was

filled with sympathy and went to him and begged him to tell her what

was the matter and whether he was sorry that he had married her; and

he answered "I cry because I am in despair; in the daytime I restrain

my tears before others with difficulty but in the night they cannot

be kept back; but I am ashamed for you to see me and I wait till you

are asleep before I give way to my feelings."

Then she asked what was the cause of his sorrow and he answered "My

father and mother and brothers and sisters are all doomed to die;

for our Raja has sworn to kill them by a certain day if he is not

told why two fish, which my father sent to him as a present, laughed

when they were brought before him. In consequence of this threat

my father sent me from home that one of the family might survive

and although I may be safe here the thought of them and their fate

makes me weep." The princess asked him what was the day fixed for

the mystery to be explained; and he told her that it was at the

full moon of a certain month. Then the princess said "Come take me

to your father's house: I shall be able to explain why the fishes

laughed." The merchant's son joyfully agreed to start off the next

day; so in the morning they told the Raja why they wished to go, and

he said to his daughter "Go and do not be afraid; go in confidence,

I promise you that you will be able to explain why the fishes laughed."

So they made ready and journeyed to the merchant's house; and when

they arrived they told the merchant to go to the Raja and ask him

to collect all the citizens on a certain day to hear the reason why

the fishes laughed. The merchant went to the Raja and the Raja gave

him a letter fixing the day and all the citizens were assembled in

an open plain; and the princess dressed herself as a man and went to

the assembly and stood before the Raja.

Then the Raja bade her explain why the fishes laughed, and the princess

answered "If you wish to know the reason order all your Ranis to be

brought here;" so the Ranis were summoned; then the princess said

"The reason why the fishes laughed was because among all your wives

it is only the eldest Rani who is a woman and all the others are

men. What will you give me if this is not proved to be true?" Then

the Raja wrote a bond promising to give the merchant half his kingdom

if this were proved to be true. When enquiry was made it was found

that the wives had really become men, and the Raja was put to shame

before all his people. Then the assembly broke up and the merchant

received half the Raja's kingdom.

XIX. How the Cowherd Found a Bride.

There was once a Goala who was in charge of a herd of cattle and

every day he used to bring the herd for their midday rest to the

foot of a peepul tree. One day the peepul tree spoke and said to him

"If you pour milk every day at my roots I will grant you a boon." So

thenceforward the Goala every day poured milk at the roots of the tree

and after some days he saw a crack in the ground; he thought that

the roots of the tree were cracking the earth but the fact was that

a snake was buried there, and as it increased in size from drinking

the milk it cracked the ground and one day it issued forth; at the

sight of it the Goala was filled with fear and made sure that the

snake would devour him. But the snake said "Do not fear: I was shut

up in the nether world, and you by your kindness have rescued me,

I wish to show gratitude to you and will confer on you any boon for

which you ask." The Goala answered that the snake should choose what

he would give him; then the snake called him near, and breathed on

his hair which was very long and it became glistening as gold, and the

snake said that his hair would obtain for him a wife and that he would

be very powerful; and that whatever he said would come to pass. The

Goala asked what sort of things would come to pass. The snake answered

"If you say a man shall die he will die and if you say he shall come

to life, he will come to life. But you must not tell this to anyone;

not even to your wife when you marry; if you do the power will vanish."

Some time afterwards it happened that the Goala was bathing in the

river; and as he bathed one of his hairs came out and the fancy took

him to wrap it in a leaf and set it to float down the stream. Lower

down the river a princess was bathing with her attendants and they

saw the packet come floating down and tried to stop it but it floated

straight to the princess and she caught it and opened it and found

the hair inside. It shone like gold and when they measured it, it was

twelve fathoms long. So the princess tied it up in her cloth and went

home and shut herself up in her room, and would neither eat nor drink

nor speak. Her mother sent two of her companions to question her,

and at last she told them that she would not rise and eat until they

found the person to whom the golden hair belonged; if it were the

hair of a man he should be her husband and if it came from a girl

she would have that girl come and live with her.

When the Raja and Rani heard this and that the hair had come floating

down the river they went to their daughter and told her that they

would at once send messengers up the stream to find the owner of the

hair. Then she was comforted and rose up and ate her rice. That very

day the Raja ordered messengers to follow up the banks of the stream

and enquire in all the villages and question every one they met to

find trace of the owner of the golden hair; so the messengers set out

on both banks of the stream and followed it to its source but their

search was vain and they returned without news; then holy mendicants

were sent out to search and they also returned unsuccessful. Then the

princess said "If you cannot find the owner of the golden hair I will

hang myself!" At this a tame crow and a parrot which were chained to

a perch, said "You will never be able to find the man with the golden

hair; he is in the depths of the forest; if he had lived in a village

you would have found him, but as it is we alone can fetch him; unfasten

our chains and we will go in search of him." So the Raja ordered them

to be unfastened and gave them a good meal before starting, for they

could not carry a bag of provisions with them like a man. Then the

crow and the parrot mounted into the air and flew away up the river,

and after long search they spied the Goala in the jungle resting his

cattle under the peepul tree; so they flew down and perched on the

peepul tree and consulted how they could lure him away. The parrot

said that he was afraid to go near the cattle and proposed that the

crow should fly down and carry off the Goala's flute, from where it

was lying with his stick and wrapper at the foot of the tree. So the

crow went flitting from one cow to another till it suddenly pounced

on the flute and carried it off in its beak; when the Goala saw this

he ran after the crow to recover his flute and the crow tempted him

on by just fluttering from tree to tree and the Goala kept following;

and when the crow was tired the parrot took the flute from him and

so between them they drew the Goala on right to the Raja's city,

and they flew into the palace and the Goala followed them in, and

they flew to the room in which the princess was and dropped the

flute into the hand of the princess and the Goala followed and the

door was shut upon him. The Goala asked the princess to give him the

flute and she said that she would give it to him if he promised to

marry her and not otherwise. He asked how he could marry her all of

a sudden when they had never been betrothed; but the princess said

"We have been betrothed for a long time; do you remember one day

tying a hair up in a leaf and setting it to float downstream; well

that hair has been the go-between which arranged our betrothal." Then

the Goala remembered how the snake had told him that his hair would

find him a wife and he asked to see the hair which the princess had

found, so she brought it out and they found that it was like his,

as long and as bright; then he said "We belong to each other" and

the princess called for the door to be opened and brought the Goala

to her father and mother and told them that her heart's desire was

fulfilled and that if they did not allow the wedding to take place in

the palace she would run away with the Goala. So a day was fixed for

the wedding and invitations were issued and it duly took place. The

Goala soon became so much in love with his bride that he forgot all

about his herd of cattle which he had left behind, without any one

to look after them; but after some time he bethought himself of them

and he told his bride that he must return to his cattle, whether

she came with him or no. She said that she would take leave of her

parents and go with him; then the Raja gave them a farewell feast and

he made over to the Goala half his kingdom, and gave him a son's share

of his elephants and horses and flocks and herds and said to him "You

are free to do as you like: you can stay here or go to your own home;

but if you elect to stay here, I shall never turn you out." The Goala

considered and said that he would live with his father-in-law but that

he must anyhow go and see the cattle which he had abandoned without

any one to look after them. So the next day he and his wife set off

and when they got to the jungle they found that all the cattle were

lying dead. At this the Goala was filled with grief and began to weep;

then he remembered the promise of the snake that he should be able

to restore the dead to life and he resolved to put it to the test.

So he told his wife that he would give the dead cows medicine and he

got some jungle roots as a blind and held them to the noses of the dead

animals and as he did so, he said "Come to life" and, behold, one by

one the cows all got up and began lowing to their calves. Having thus

proved the promises of the snake the Goala was loud in his gratitude

and he filled a large vessel with milk and poured it all out at the

foot of the peepul tree and the snake came and breathed on the hair

of the princess and it too became bright as gold.

The next day they collected all the cows and drove them back to the

princess' home and there the Goala and his wife lived happily, ruling

half the kingdom. And some years after the Goala reflected that the

snake was to him as his father and mother and yet he had come away in

a hurry without taking a proper farewell, so he went to see whether

it was still there; but he could not find it and he asked the peepul

tree and no answer came so he had to return home disappointed.

XX. Kara and Guja.

Once upon a time there were two brothers named Kara and Guja who

were first class shots with the bow and arrow. In the country

where they lived, a pair of kites were doing great damage: they

had young ones in a nest in a tree and used to carry off children

to feed their nestlings until the whole country was desolated. So

the whole population went in a body to the Raja and told him that

they would have to leave the country if he could not have the kites

killed. Then the Raja made proclamation that any one who could kill

the two kites should receive a large tract of land as a reward, and

thereupon many men tried to kill them; but the kites had made their

nest of ploughs and clod-crushers so that the arrows could not hit

them, and the shooters had to give up the attempt. At last Kara and

Guja thought that they would try, so they made an ambush and waited

till the birds came to the nest to feed their young and then shot them

both through the hole in a clod-crusher into which the pole fits, and

the two kites fell down dead, at the source of the Ganges and Jumna,

and where they fell they made a great depression in the ground. Then

Kara and Guja carried the bodies to the Raja and he gave them a grant

of land; and their grateful neighbours made a large rice field of the

depression which the kites had made in the earth and this was given

to Kara and Guja as service land to their great delight.

Kara and Guja used to spend their time in the forest, living on what

they could find there; they slept in a cave and at evening would

cook their rice there or roast jungle roots. One day a tiger spied

them out as they were roasting tubers and came up to them suddenly

and said. "What are you cooking? Give me some or I will eat you." So

while they went on eating the roasted tubers, they threw the coals

from the fire to the tiger at the mouth of the cave and he crunched

them up and every now and then they threw him a bit of something good

to eat; the tiger would not go away but lay there expecting to be fed,

and Kara and Guja debated how to get rid of him. Then Guja suddenly

jumped up and dashed at the tiger and caught him by the tail and began

to twist the tail and he went on twisting until he twisted it right

off and the tiger ran roaring away. Kara and Guja roasted the tail

and ate it, and they found it so nice that they decided to hunt the

tiger and eat the rest of him. So the two brothers searched for him

everywhere and when they found him they chased him until they ran

him down and killed him; then they lit a fire and singed the hair

off and roasted the flesh and made a grand meal: but they did not

eat the paunch. Kara wanted to eat it but Guja would not let him,

so Kara carried it away on his shoulder.

Presently they sat down in the shade of a banyan tree by the side of a

road and along the road came a Raja's wedding procession; when Kara and

Guja saw this they climbed into the tree and took the tiger's paunch up

with them. The wedding party came to a halt at the foot of the tree and

some of them lay down to eat and the Raja got out of his palki and lay

down to sleep in the shade. After a time Kara got tired of holding the

tiger's paunch in his arms and whispered to Guja that he could hold it

no longer, Guja told him on no account to let it go but at last Kara

got so tired that he let it fall right on the top of the Raja; then

all the Raja's attendants raised a shout that the Raja's stomach had

burst and all ran away in a panic leaving everything they had under

the tree; but after they had gone a little distance they thought of

the goods they had left behind and how they could not continue the

journey without them, so they made their way back to the banyan tree.

But meanwhile Kara and Guja had climbed down and gathered together all

the fine clothes and everything valuable and taken them up into the

tree. And Kara took up a large drum which he found and in one end of

the drum he made a number of little holes: and he caught a number of

wild bees which had a nest in the tree and put them one by one into

the drum. When the Raja's attendants came back and saw that there

were two men in the tree, they called out: "Why have you dishonoured

our Raja? We will kill you." Kara and Guja answered "Come and see who

will do the killing." So they began to fight and the Raja's men fired

their guns at Kara and Guja till they were tired of shooting, and had

used up all their powder and shot, but they never hit them. Then Kara

and Guja called out "Now it is our turn!" And when the Raja's men saw

that Kara and Guja had nothing but a drum they said "Yes, it is your

turn." So Kara and Guja beat the drum and called "At them, my dears:

at them my dears." And the wild bees flew out of the drum and stung

the Raja's men and drove them right away. Then Kara and Guja took

all their belongings and went home and ever after were esteemed as

great Rajas because of the wealth which they had acquired.

XXI. The Magic Cow.

There was once a Raja who had an only son named Kara and in the

course of time the Raja fell into poverty and was little better than

a beggar. One day when Kara was old enough to work as a cowherd his

father called him and said "My son, I am now poor but once I was

rich. I had a fine estate and herds of cattle and fine clothes; now

that is all gone and you have scarcely enough to eat. I am old and

like to die and before I leave you I wish to give you this advice:

there are many Rajas in the world, Raja above Raja; when I am dead

do you seek the protection of some powerful Raja." As there was not

enough to eat at home Kara had to take service as goat-herd under a

neighbouring Raja; by which he earned his food and clothes and two

rupees a year. Some time afterwards his father died and Kara went

to his master and asked for a loan of money with which to perform

his father's funeral ceremonies, and promised to continue in his

service until he had worked off the loan. So the Raja advanced him

five rupees and five rupees worth of rice, and with this money Kara

gave the funeral feast. Five or six days later his mother died, and

he again went to the Raja and asked for ten rupees more; at first the

Raja refused but Kara besought him and promised to serve him for his

whole life if he could not repay the loan. So at last the Raja lent

him ten rupees more, and he gave the funeral feast. But the Raja's

seven sons were very angry with their father because he had lent twenty

rupees to a man who had no chance of paying, and they used to threaten

and worry Kara because he had taken the money. Then Kara remembered

how his father had said that there were many Rajas in the world,

Raja above Raja, and he resolved to run away and seek service with

the greatest Raja in the world. So he ran away and after travelling

some distance he met a Raja being carried in a palki and going with a

large party to fetch a bride for his son; and when he heard who it was

he decided to follow the Raja; so he went along behind the palki and

at one place a she-jackal ran across the road; then the Raja got out

of his palki and made a salaam to the jackal. When Kara saw this he

thought "This cannot be the greatest Raja in the world or why should

he salaam to the jackal. The jackal must be more powerful than the

Raja; I will follow the jackal." So he left the wedding party and

went after the jackal; now the jackal was hunting for food for her

young ones, and as Kara followed her wherever she went she could

find no opportunity of killing a goat or sheep; so at last she went

back to the cave in which she lived. Then her cubs came whining to

meet her and she told her husband that she had been able to catch

nothing that day because a man had followed her wherever she went,

and had come right up to their cave and was waiting outside.

Then the he-jackal told her to ask what the man wanted. So she went

out to Kara and asked him and Kara said "I have come to place myself

under your protection;" then she called the he-jackal and they said

to him, "We are jackals and you are a man. How can you stay with us;

what could we give you to eat and what work could we find for you to

do?" Kara said that he would not leave them as all his hopes lay in

them; and at last the jackals took pity on him and consulted together

and agreed to make him a gift as he had come to them so full of

hope; so they gave him a cow which was in the cave, and said to him:

"As you have believed in us we have made up our minds to benefit

you; take this cow, she will supply you with everything you want;

if you address her as mother she will give you whatever you ask,

but do not ask her before people for they would take her from you;

and do not give her away whatever inducements are offered you."

Then Kara thanked them and called down blessings on their heads

and took the cow and led it away homewards. When he came to a tank

he thought he would bathe and eat; while he bathed he saw a woman

washing clothes at the other side of the tank but he thought that

she would not notice him, so he went up to the cow and said "Mother,

give me a change of clothes." Thereupon the cow vomited up some nice

new clothes and he put them on and looked very fine. Then he asked

the cow for some plates and dishes and she gave them; then he asked

for some bread and some dried rice, and he ate all he wanted and

then asked the cow to keep the plates and dishes for him; and the

cow swallowed them up again.

Now the woman by the tank had seen all that had happened and ran

home and told her husband what she had seen and begged him to get

hold of the wonderful cow by some means or other. Her husband could

not believe her but agreed to put it to the test, so they both went

to Kara and asked where he was going and offered to give him supper,

and put him up for the night and give grass for his cow. He accepted

this invitation and went with them to their house and they gave him

the guest-room to sleep in and asked what he would have to eat, but he

said that he did not want any supper,--for he intended to get a meal

from the cow after every one was asleep. Then the man and his wife

made a plot and pretended to have a violent quarrel and after abusing

each other for some time the man flung out of the house in a passion

and pretended to run away; but after going a short distance he crept

back quietly to the guest-room. Hanging from the roof was the body of a

cart and he climbed up into that and hid himself, without Kara knowing

anything about it. When Kara thought that every one was asleep, he

asked his cow for some food and having made a good meal went to sleep.

The man watching up above saw everything and found that his wife had

spoken the truth; so in the middle of the night he climbed down and

led away Kara's magic cow and put in its place one of his own cows of

the same colour. Early the next morning Kara got up and unfastened the

cow and began to lead it away, but the cow would not follow him; then

he saw that it had been changed and he called his host and charged him

with the theft. The man denied it and told him to call any villagers

who had seen him bring his cow the day before; now no one had seen

him come but Kara insisted that the cow had been changed and went to

summon the village headman and the villagers to decide the matter:

but the thief managed to give a bribe of one hundred rupees to the

headman and one hundred rupees to the villagers and made them promise

to decide in his favour; so when they met together they told Kara

that he must take the cow which he had found tied up in the morning.