Kara protested and said that he would fetch the person from whom he

had got the cow and take whichever cow he pointed out. Telling them

that they were responsible for his cow while he was away, he hastened

off to the cave where the jackals lived. The jackals somehow knew

that he had been swindled out of the cow, and they met him saying

"Well, man, have you lost your cow?" And he answered that he had

come to fetch them to judge between himself and the villagers: so

the jackals went with him and he went straight to the headman and

told him to collect all the villagers; meanwhile the jackals spread

a mat under a peepul tree and sat on it chewing _pan_ and when the

villagers had assembled the jackal began to speak, and said: "If a

judge takes a bribe his descendants for several generations shall eat

filth, in this world and the next; but if he make public confession,

then he shall escape this punishment. This is what our forefathers have

said; and the man who defrauds another shall be thrust down into hell;

this also they have said. Now all of you make honest enquiry into this

matter; we will swear before God to do justice and the complainant and

the accused shall also take oath and we will decide fairly." Then the

village headman was conscience stricken and admitted that he had taken

a bribe of one hundred rupees, and the villagers also confessed that

they had been bribed; then the jackal asked the accused what he had

to say to this: but he persisted that he had not changed the cow;

the jackal asked him what penalty he would pay if he were proved

guilty and he said that he would pay double. Then the jackal called

the villagers to witness that the man had fixed his punishment, and

he proposed that he and his wife should go to the herd of cattle,

and if they could pick out the cow that Kara claimed it would be

sure proof that it was his. So the jackals went and at once picked

out the cow, and the villagers were astonished and cried. "This is

a just judgment! They have come from a distance and have recognised

the cow at once." The man who had stolen it had no answer to give;

then the jackal said: "You yourself promised to pay double; you gave

a bribe of one hundred rupees to the headman and one hundred rupees

to the villagers and the cow you stole is worth two hundred rupees

that is four hundred rupees, therefore you must pay a fine of eight

hundred rupees;" and the man was made to produce eight hundred rupees

and the jackal gave all the money to the villagers except ten rupees

which he gave to Kara; and he kept nothing for himself.

Then Kara and the jackals went away with the cow, and after getting

outside the village the jackals again warned Kara not to ask the cow

for anything when anyone was by and took their leave of him and went

home. Kara continued his journey and at evening arrived at a large

mango orchard in which a number of carters were camping for the

night. So Kara stopped under a tree at a little distance from the

carters and tied his cow to the root. Soon a storm came up and the

carters all took shelter underneath their carts and Kara asked his

cow for a tent and he and the cow took shelter in it. It rained hard

all night and in the morning the carters saw the tent and wondered

where it came from, and came to the conclusion that the cow must have

produced it; so they resolved to steal the cow.

Kara did not dare to make the cow swallow the tent in the day time

while the carters were about, so he stayed there all the next day and

at night the cow put away the tent. Then when Kara was asleep some

carters came and took away the cow and put in its place a cow with

a calf, and they hid the magic cow within a wall of packs from their

pack bullocks. In the morning Kara at once saw what had happened and

went to the carters and charged them with the theft; they denied all

knowledge of the matter and told him he might look for his cow if he

liked; so he searched the encampment but could not see it.

Then he called the village headman and chowkidar and they searched

and could not find the cow and they advised Kara to keep the cow and

calf as it must be better than his own barren cow; but he refused and

said that he would complain to the magistrate and he made the headman

promise not to let the carters go until he came back. So he went to

a Mahommedan magistrate and it chanced that he was an honest man who

gave just judgments and took no bribes, and made no distinction between

the rich and the poor; he always listened to both sides carefully,

not like some rascally magistrates who always believe the story

that is first told them and pay no attention to what the other side

say. So when Kara made his complaint this magistrate at once sent for

the carters and the carters swore that they had not stolen the cow:

and offered to forfeit all the property they had with them, if the

cow were found in their possession.

Then the magistrate sent police to search the encampment and the police

pulled down the pile of packs that had been put round the cow, and

found the cow inside and took it to the magistrate. Then the magistrate

ordered the carters to fulfil their promise and put them all in prison

and gave all their property to Kara. So Kara loaded all the merchandise

on the carts and pack bullocks and went home rejoicing. At first the

villagers did not recognise who it was who had come with so much wealth

but Kara made himself known to them and they were very astonished and

helped him to build a grand house. Then Kara went to the Raja from

whom he had borrowed the money for his parents' funerals and paid back

what he owed. The Raja was so pleased with him that he gave him his

daughter in marriage and afterwards Kara claimed his father-in-law's

kingdom and got possession of it and lived prosperously ever after.

And the seven sons of his first master who used to scold him were

excited by his success and thought that if they went to foreign parts

they also could gain great wealth; so they took some money from their

father and went off. But all they did was to squander their capital

and in the end they had to come back penniless to their father.

XXII. Lita and His Animals.

Once upon a time there was a man who had four sons: two of them were

married and two were unmarried and the youngest was named Lita. One

day Lita went to his father and asked for fifty or sixty rupees that

he might go on a trading expedition and he promised that if he lost

the money he would not ask for any share in the paternal property. As

he was very urgent his father at last gave him sixty rupees and he

set out on his travels. After going some way he came to a village in

which all the inhabitants were chasing a cat; he asked them what was

the matter and they told him that the cat was always stealing their

Raja's milk and the Raja had offered a reward of twenty rupees to

anyone who would kill it. Then Lita said to them "Do not kill the cat;

catch it alive and give it to me and I will pay you twenty rupees for

it; then you can go to the Raja and say that you have killed it and ask

for the reward; and if the Raja asks to see the body tell him that a

stranger came and asked for the body, for he thought that a cat which

had fed on milk should be good eating and so you gave it to him." The

villagers thought that this would be an excellent plan and promised to

bring him the cat alive. They soon managed to catch it hiding under

a heap of firewood and brought it to Lita and he paid them twenty

rupees and then they went to the Raja and got twenty rupees from him.

Then Lita went on, and by-and-bye came to a village where the villagers

were hunting an otter in a tank; they had made a cut in the bank and

had let out all the water. Lita went to them and asked what they were

doing; they said that they were hunting for an otter which had been

destroying the Raja's fish and the Raja had promised them a reward if

they killed it, and they had driven it into the tank and were draining

off the water in order to catch it. Then Lita offered to buy it of them

if they brought it to him alive; so when they caught it they brought

it to him and he gave them money for it and continued his journey

with the cat and the otter. Presently he saw a crowd of men and he

went up to them and asked what they were doing: and they told him that

they were hunting a rat which was always gnawing the Raja's pens and

papers and the Raja had offered a reward for it, and they had driven

it out of the palace, but it had taken refuge in a hole and they were

going to dig it out Then Lita offered to buy it from them as he had

bought the other two animals and they dug it out and sold it to him.

He went on and in the same way found a crowd of men hunting a snake

which had bitten many people: and he offered to buy it for twenty

rupees and when they had chased it till it was exhausted, they

caught it alive and sold it to Lita. As his money was all spent,

he then set off homewards; and on the way the snake began to speak

and said: "Lita, you have saved my life; had you not come by, those

men would certainly have had my life; come with me to my home, where

my father and mother are, and I will give you anything you ask for;

we have great possessions." But Lita was afraid and said: "When you

get me there you will eat me, or if you don't, your father and mother

will." But the snake protested that it could not be guilty of such

ingratitude and at last Lita agreed to accompany it when he had left

the other animals at his home.

This he did and set off alone with the snake, and after some days they

reached the snake's home. The snake told Lita to wait outside while he

went and apprized his parents and he told Lita that when he was asked

to choose his reward he should name nothing but the ring which was on

the father-snake's finger, for the ring had this property that if it

were placed in a _seer_ of milk and then asked to produce anything

whatever, that thing would immediately appear. Then the snake went

on to his home and when the father and mother saw him they fell on

his neck and kissed him and wept over him saying that they had never

expected to see him again; the snake told them how he had gone to

the country of men and how a reward had been set on his head and he

had been hunted, and how Lita had bought him from the men who would

have killed him. The father snake asked why he had not brought Lita

to be rewarded and the snake said that he was afraid that when they

saw him they would eat him.

But the father and mother swore that they could not be guilty of

such ingratitude, and when he heard this the snake went and brought

in Lita, and they entertained him handsomely for two days; and on

the third day the father snake asked Lita what he would take as his

reward. Lita looked round at the shining palace in which they lived

and at first was afraid to speak but at last he said: "I do not want

money or anything but the ring on your finger: if you will not give

me that, I will take nothing; I saved your son from peril and that

you will remember all your lives, and if you give me the ring I will

honour you for it as long as I live." Then the father and mother snake

consulted together and the mother said "Give it to him as he asks for

it" so the father snake drew it from his finger and gave it to Lita

and they gave him also some money for his journey back; and he went

home and found the other three animals safe and sound waiting for him.

After a time his father said that Lita must marry; so marriage

go-betweens were sent out to look for a bride and they found a very

rich and beautiful girl whose parents were agreeable to the match. But

the girl herself said that she would only marry a man who would build

a covered passage from her house to his, so that she could walk to her

new home in the shade. The go-betweens reported this, and Lita's father

and brothers consulted and agreed that they could never make such a

passage, but Lita said to his father: "Arrange the match; it shall

be my charge to arrange for making the covered passage; I will not

let you be put to shame over it." For Lita had already put the ring

to the test: he had dropped it into a _seer_ of milk and said "Let

five _bharias_ of parched rice and two _bharias_ of curds appear" and

immediately the parched rice and curds were before him; and thereupon

he had called out "The snake has worthily rewarded me for saving his

life;" and the cat and the otter and the rat overheard what he said.

So the go-between was told to arrange for the wedding to take place

that very month, as Lita's birthday fell in the next month, which

therefore was not suitable for his wedding. Then the bride's family

sent him back to say that they were prepared to send a string of nine

knots; and the next day the go-between told this to Lita's family

and they said that they were willing to accept it; so the go-between

brought a string of nine knots to signify that the wedding would take

place in nine days. The days passed by and Lita's father and brothers

became very anxious because they saw no sign of the covered passage;

but on the very night before the wedding, Lita took his ring and

ordered a covered passage to be made from the one house to the other

with a good path down the middle; and the next morning they found

it made; and the bridegroom's party passed along it to the bride's

house and the bride was escorted home along it.

Now the bride had been deeply in love with another young man who lived

in her village and had much wished to marry him but her wishes of

course were not consulted in the matter. Some time after the marriage

she one day in the course of conversation asked her husband Lita how

much he had spent on making the covered passage to her house and how

he had built it so quickly. He told her that he knew nothing about it;

that his father and mother had arranged for it and no doubt had spent a

large sum of money. So the next day she took an opportunity of asking

her mother-in-law about it, but Lita's mother said that nothing had

been spent at all; somehow the passage had been made in one night,

she knew not how.

Then Lita's wife saw that Lita was keeping a secret from her, and

she began to reproach him for having any secrets from his wife: and

at last when she had faithfully promised never to reveal the matter

to anyone, he told her the secret of the ring. Now her former lover

used still to visit her and one day she sent for him and said that she

would no longer live with Lita, but wished to run away with him. The

lover at first objected that they would be pursued and killed while if

they escaped to a distance he would have nothing to support her with;

but the faithless woman said that there need be no anxiety about that

and she told him about the magic ring and how by means of it they

could provide themselves with a house and everything they wanted. So

they fixed a night for the elopement and on that night when Lita

was asleep his wife quietly drew the ring off his finger and went

out to her lover who was waiting outside and told him to get a goat

from the pen; then they beheaded the goat and went inside and poured

all its blood on the ground under the bed on which Lita was sleeping,

and then having hid the body and head of the goat, they ran away.

Towards morning Lita woke up and missed his wife, so he lit a lamp to

look for her and then saw the pool of blood under the bed. At this

sight he was terror stricken. Some enemy had killed and carried off

his wife and he would be charged with the murder. So he lay there

wondering what would happen to him. At last his mother came into the

room to see why he and his wife had not got up as usual and when she

saw the blood she raised a cry; the village headman and chowkidar

were sent for and they questioned Lita, but he could only say that

he knew nothing of what had happened; he did not know what the blood

was, he did not know where his wife was. Thereupon they sent two men

to the house of the wife's parents to see if by any chance she had

run away there and in any case to bring her relations to be present

at the enquiry into her disappearance. When her father and brothers

heard what had happened they at once went to Lita's house in wrath

and abused him as a murderer. They asked why, if his wife had not done

her duty to him, he had not sent her back to them to be chastised and

taught better, instead of murdering her and they went straight to the

magistrate and complained: the magistrate sent police who arrested

Lita and took him before the magistrate.

Meanwhile it had become known that not only was Lita's wife missing

but also her lover; and Lita's father presented a petition to the

magistrate bringing this to notice and asserting that the two must

have run away together. Then the magistrate ordered every search to be

made for the missing couple but said that Lita must remain in custody

till they were found, so he was shut up in prison. From prison he made

an application to the magistrate that his three tame animals, the cat

and the otter and the rat might be brought to the place where he was;

the magistrate kindly consented but the animals were not allowed

into the prison. However at night the rat being small made its way

inside and found out Lita, and asked what was to be done. Lita said

that he wanted the three animals to save him from his great danger

as he had saved them; he wanted them to trace his wife and her lover

and recover the ring; they would doubtless find them living in some

gorgeous palace, the gift of the ring.

The rat went out and gave the other two Lita's message and they

readily undertook to do their best; so the next morning the three

animals set off. In vain they hunted all over the country, till one

day they came to the bank of the Ganges and there on the other side

they saw a palace shining like gold. At this their hopes revived,

for this might be a palace made by the magic ring. But the cat and

the rat objected that they could not cross the river. The otter said

that he would easily manage that and he took the cat on his back and

the rat climbed on to the back of the cat and so the otter ferried

them both across the river; then they consulted and decided that

it would be safest to wait till the evening before they went to the

palace to see who lived in it. When they looked in in the evening,

they at once recognised Lita's wife and her lover; but these two were

in constant terror of being pursued and when they had had their evening

meal they fastened and bolted every entrance so securely that no one

could gain admittance. Then the cat and the otter told the rat that

he must collect all the rats of the neighbourhood and they must burrow

through the wall and find some way of abstracting the magic ring.

So the rat collected a crowd of his friends and in no time they bored

a hole through the wall; then they all began to look for the ring;

they hunted high and low but could not find it; however the cat sat

at the entrance of the hole which they had made and vowed that they

should not come out, unless they got the ring. Then the first rat

climbed on to the bed in which the couple were sleeping and searched

their clothes and examined their fingers and toes but in vain; then

he thought that the woman might have it in her mouth so he climbed

on to her chest and tickled her nose with the tip of his tail; this

made her sneeze and behold she sneezed out the ring which she had

hidden in her mouth. The rat seized it and ran off with it and when

the cat was satisfied that he had really got it, she let him out and

the three friends set off rejoicing on their homeward journey. They

crossed the river in the same way as when they came with the cat

riding on the otter and the rat on the cat: and the rat held the

ring in its mouth. Unfortunately when they were halfway across,

a kite swooped down to try and carry off the rat. Twice it swooped

and missed its grasp but the second time it struck the rat with its

wing and the rat in terror let the ring fall into the river.

When they reached the bank the three friends consulted what they

were to do in this fresh misfortune. As the otter was the only one

who could swim it volunteered to look for the ring, so it plunged

into the water and searched the bottom of the river in vain; then it

guessed that a fish must have swallowed the ring and it set to work

to catch every fish it saw and tore them open; at last in the stomach

of a big fish it found the ring, so it brought the fish to the bank

and while they were all rejoicing and eating a little of the fish a

kite swooped down and carried off the fish, ring and all.

The three animals watched the kite flying away with the fish; but some

women who were gathering firewood ran after the kite and took the fish

from it and putting it in their basket went home. Then the otter and

the rat said to the cat "Now it is your turn: we have both recovered

the ring once, but we cannot go into the house of these humans. They

will let you go near them easily enough; the ring is in the fish's

stomach, you must watch whether they throw away the stomach or clean

it, and find an opportunity for carrying off the ring."

So the cat ran after the women and when they began to cut up the

fish, it kept mewing round them. They threw one or two scraps to it,

but it only sniffed at them and would not eat them; then they began

to wonder what on earth the cat wanted, and at last they threw the

stomach to it. This it seized on gladly and carried it off and tore

it open and found the ring and ran off with it to where the otter

and the rat were waiting. Then the three friends travelled hard for

a day and a night and reached the prison in which Lita was confined.

When Lita got the ring he begged his jailer to get him a _seer_

of milk and when it was brought he dropped the ring in it, and said

"I wish the bed on which my faithless wife and her lover are sleeping

to be brought here with them in it this very night" and before morning

the bed was brought to the prison. Then the magistrate was called and

when he saw that the wife was alive he released Lita, and the lover

who had run away with her had to pay Lita double the expenditure

which had been incurred on his marriage, and was fined beside.

But Lita married another wife and lived happily with her. And some

time afterwards he called the otter and the cat and the rat to him

and said that he purposed to let them go and before they parted he

would give them anything they wished for. They said that he owed them

nothing, and they made Lita promise to let them know if ever he lost

the ring or fell into trouble, and he promised to help them if ever

their lives were in danger, and one morning he took them to a bazar,

near which was a tank full of fish, and he turned the otter into

the tank and left the cat and the rat to support themselves in the

bazar. The next day he went to see them and the otter came out of

the tank and gave him a fish which it had caught, and the cat brought

him some milk it had stolen, and that was the last he saw of them.

XXIII. The Boy Who Found His Father.

There was once a boy who used always to cheat when playing _Kati_

(pitch and toss) and for this the village boys with whom he played used

to quarrel with him, saying "Fatherless orphan, why do you cheat?" So

one day he asked his mother why they called him that name and whether

his father was really dead. "He is alive" said she "but a long time

ago a rhinoceros carried him off on its horn." Then the boy vowed

that he would go in search of his father and made his mother put him

up provisions for the journey; and he started off taking with him an

iron bow and a big bundle of arrows.

He journeyed on all day and at nightfall he came to a village; there he

went up to the house of an old woman to ask for a bed. He stood at the

threshhold and called out to her "Grannie, grannie, open the door." "I

have no son, and no grandchildren to call me grannie," grumbled the

old woman and went to open the door to see who was there, and when she

opened the door and saw him, she said "Ho, you are my grandson." "Yes,"

answered he, "I am your grandchild." So she called him inside and gave

him a bed to sleep on. The old woman was called Hutibudi; and she and

the boy sat up late talking together and then they lay down to sleep;

but in the middle of the night he heard the old woman crunching away

trying to bite his bow to pieces. He asked her what she was eating:

"Some pulse I got from the village headman," "Give me a little to

try" he begged. "I am sorry my child, I have finished it all." But

really she had none to give, however she only hurt her jaws biting

so that she began to groan with pain: "What are you groaning for,

Grannie?" said the boy; "Because I have toothache" she answered: and

in truth her cheeks were badly swollen. Then he told her that a good

cure for toothache was to bite on a white stone and she believed him

and the next morning got a piece of white quartz and began to bite on

it; but this only broke her teeth and made her mouth bleed so that the

pain was worse than before: then the boy jeered at her and said. "Did

you think, Grannie, that you could bite my iron bow and arrows?"

So saying he left her and continued the search for his father and

his road led him to a dense jungle which seemed to have no end, and

in the middle of the jungle he came to a lake and he sat down by it

to eat what was left of the provisions he had brought: as he sat,

he suddenly saw some cow-bison coming down to the lake: at this he

caught up his bow and arrows in a hurry and climbed up a tall _sal_

tree: from the tree he watched the bison go down to the water to drink

and then go back into the jungle. And after them tigers and bears

came down to the water: the sight of them frightened him and he sang:--

"Drink your fill, tiger,

I shall not shoot you.

I shall shoot the giant rhinceros."

and they drank and went away. Then various kinds of birds came and

after them a great herd of rhinceroses and among them was one which

had the dried up body of the boy's father stuck on its horn. The boy

was rather frightened and sang

"Drink your fill, rhinceroses,

I shall not shoot you

I shall shoot the giant rhinceros."

and when the giant rhinceros with the body of his father stooped its

head to drink from the lake, he put an arrow through it and it turned

a somersault and fell over dead: while all the other rhinceroses

turned tail and ran away. Then the boy climbed down from the tree and

pulled the dead body of his father off the horn of the dead animal and

laid it down at the foot of a tree and began to weep over it. As he

wept a man suddenly stood before him and asked what was the matter,

and when he heard, said "Cry no more: take a cloth and wet it in the

lake and cover your father's body with it: and then whip the body

with a _meral_ twig and he will come to life." So saying the stranger

suddenly disappeared; and the boy obeyed his instructions and behold

his father sat up alive and rubbing his eyes said "I must have been

asleep a very long time." Then his son explained to him all that had

happened and gave him some food and took him home.

XXIV. The Oilman's Bullock.

There was once a poor but industrious oilman; he got a log of wood

and carved out an oil mill and, borrowing some money as capital,

he bought mustard and sesame seed and set to work to press it; as he

had no bullock he had to turn the mill himself. He was so industrious

that he soon began to prosper and was able to buy a bullock for his

mill. By and bye he got so rich that he was able to buy some land and

a cart and pair of bullocks and was quite a considerable man in the

village. One day one of his cart bullocks died and this loss was a

sad blow to the oilman. However he tied up the surviving bullock in

the stable along with the old oil mill bullock and fed them well. One

night it chanced that one of the villagers passed by the stable and

hear the two animals talking and this is what he heard.

The young bullock said "You came to this house first, friend; what

sort of treatment does one get here?"

"Why do you ask me?" said the other. "Oh, I see your shoulder is

galled and your neck shows mark of the yoke." The old bullock answered

"Whether my master treats me well or ill I owe him money and have to

stay here until I have paid him off. When I have paid him five hundred

rupees I shall go." "How will you ever pay back such a sum?" "If

my master would only match me to fight the Raja's elephant for five

hundred rupees I should win the fight and my debt would be cleared;

and if he does not do that I shall probably have to work for him all

my life. How long do you intend to stay?" "My debt will be cleared

if I work for him two years" answered the new comer.

The man who overheard this conversation was much astonished and

went off to the oilman and told him all about it. Next day the whole

village had heard of it and they were all anxious for the oilman to

match his bullock against the Raja's elephant; but the oilman was

very frightened, for he feared that if he sent such a challenge, the

Raja would be angry with him and drive him out of the country. But

the leading villagers urged him and undertook to find the money if he

lost, and to persuade the Raja that the oilman was mad, if he became

angry with him. At last the oilman consented, provided that some of

the villagers went to the Raja and proposed the match; he was too

frightened to go himself. So two of the village elders went to the

Raja and asked him to match his elephant against the oilman's bullock

for five hundred rupees; the Raja was very much amused and at once

fixed a day for the fight. So they returned and told the oilman to

be ready and raised a subscription of five hundred rupees.

The evening before the contest the oilman gave the bullock a big feed

of meal and oilcake; and on the eventful morning the villagers all

collected and watched him oiling its horns and tying a bell round its

neck. Then the oilman gave the bullock a slap on its back and said

"Take care: you are going to fight an elephant; if you owe me so much

money you will win, and if not, then you will be defeated." When

he said this the bullock pawed the ground and snorted and put down

its head.

Then they all set out with the five hundred rupees to a level field

near the Raja's palace; a great crowd collected to see the fun and

the Raja went there expecting easily to win five hundred rupees. The

elephant was brought forward with vermilion on its cheeks, and a

pad on its back, and a big bell round its neck, and a mahout riding

it. The crowd called out "Put down the stakes:" so each side produced

the money and publicly announced that the owner of the animal which

should be victorious should take all the stakes. But the oilman

objected to the mahout's riding the elephant; no one was going to ride

his bullock. This was seen to be fair and the mahout had to get off;

then the fight began. The bullock snorted and blew through its nose,

and ran at the elephant with its head lowered. Then the elephant also

rushed forward but the bullock stood its ground and stamped; at this

the elephant turned tail and ran away; the bullock ran after it and

gored it from behind until it trumpeted with pain. The crowd shouted

"The Raja's elephant is beaten." And the oilman took the five hundred

rupees and they all went home. From that day the oilman no longer put

the bullock to work the oil mill but fed it well and left it free to

go where it liked. But the bullock only stayed on with him for one

month and then died.

XXV. How Sabai Grass Grew.

Once upon a time there were seven brothers who had an only

sister. These brothers undertook the excavation of a large tank;

but although they spent large sums and dug very deep they could not

reach water and the tank remained dry.

One day as they were consulting what to do to get the tank to fill,

they saw a Jogi corning towards them with a lota in his hand; they at

once called to him to come and advise them, for they thought that,

as he spent his time wandering from country to country, he might

somewhere have learned some thing which would be of use to them. All

the Jogi said to them was "You have a sister: if you sacrifice her,

the tank will fill with water." The brothers were fond of the girl,

but in their despair at seeing their labour wasted they agreed to give

the advice of the Jogi a trial. So they told their mother the next day

that, when their sister brought them out their midday meal, she was

to be dressed in her best and carry the rice in a new basket and must

bring a new water pot to draw their water in. At midday the girl went

down to her brothers with her best cloth and all her jewellery on; and

when they saw their victim coming they could not keep from tears. She

asked them what they were grieving for; they told her that nothing was

the matter and sent her to draw water in her new water-pot from the

dry tank. Directly the girl drew near to the bank the water began to

bubble up from the bottom; and when she went down to the water's edge

it rose to her instep. She bent down to fill her pot but the pot would

not fill though the water rose higher and higher; then she sang:--

"The water has risen, brother,

And wetted my ankle, brother,

But still the _lota_ in my hand

Will not sink below the surface."

But the water rose to her knees and the pot would not fill, and

she sang:--

"The water has risen, brother,

And wetted my knees, brother,

But still the lota in my hand

Will not sink below the surface."

Then the water rose to her waist and the pot would not fill, and

she sang:--

"The water has risen, brother,

And wetted my waist, brother,

But still the lota in my hand

Will not sink below the surface."

Then the water reached her neck and the pot would not fill; and

she sang:--

The water has risen, brother,

And wetted my neck, brother,

But still the lota in my hand

Will not sink below the surface."

At last it flowed over her head and the water-pot was filled, but the

girl was drowned. The tank however remained brimful of sparkling water.

Now the unhappy girl had been betrothed and her wedding day was just

at hand. On the day fixed the marriage broker came to announce the

approach of the bridegroom; who shortly afterwards arrived at the

outskirts of the village in his palki. The seven brothers met him,

and the usual dancing began.

The bridegroom's party however wished to know why the bride did not

appear. The brothers put them off with various excuses, saying that

the girl had gone with her friends to gather firewood or to the river

to draw water. At last the bridegroom's party got tired of waiting

and turned to go home in great wrath at the way in which they had

been treated. On their way they passed by the tank in which the girl

had been sacrificed and, growing in the middle of it, they saw a most

beautiful flower. The bridegroom at once determined to possess this,

and he told his drummers to pick it for him; but whenever one of them

tried to pick it, the flower moved out of his reach and a voice came

from the flower saying:--

"Take the flower, drummer,

But the branch you must not break."

and when they told him what the flower sang the bridegroom said that

he would try and pick it himself; no sooner had he reached the bank

than the flower of its own accord floated towards him and he pulled it

up by the roots and took it with him into the palki. After they had

gone a little way the palki bearers felt the palki strangely heavy:

and when they looked in they found the bride also sitting in it,

dressed in yellow garments; for the flower was really the girl who

had been drowned.

So they joyfully took the happy couple with drumming and music to

the bridegroom's house.

In a short time misfortune befel the seven brothers; they fell into

the deepest poverty and were forced to earn what they could by selling

leaves and sticks which they gathered in the jungle. As they went about

selling these, they one day came to the village where their sister

was living and as they cried their wares through the streets they were

told to go to the house where the marriage had taken place. They went

there, and as they were selling their leaf plates their sister saw

and recognised them; they had only ragged loincloths on, and their

skins were black and cracked like a crocodile's.

At the sight their sister began to cry. Her friends asked what was

the matter and she said a straw from the thatch had run into her eye,

so they pulled down some of the thatch; she still went on crying and

they again asked what was wrong; she said that she had knocked her

foot against a stone in the ground; so they dug up the stone and threw

it away. But she still went on weeping and at last confessed that the

miserable-looking leaf-sellers were her brothers. Then her husband's

parents told her to be comforted, and they gave the brothers oil and

bade them go and bathe and oil their bodies: but the brothers were

so hungry that when they got to the bathing place they drank the oil

and ate the oil cake that had been given to them; and came back with

their skins as rough as when they went. So then they were given more

oil and some of the household went with them and made them bathe and

oil themselves properly and then brought them to the house and gave

them new clothes and made them a feast of meat and rice. According to

the custom of the country they were made to sit down in order of age

and were helped in that order; when they had all been helped and had

eaten, their sister said to them "Now brothers you come running to

me for food, and yet you sacrificed me in the tank." Then they were

overwhelmed with shame: they looked up at the sky but there was no

escape there; they looked down at the earth; and the earth split open

and they all ran into the chasm. The sister tried to catch the youngest

brother by the hair and pull him out, calling "Come back, brother,

come back brother, you shall carry my baby about for me!" but his

hair came off in her hand and the earth swallowed them all up. Their

sister planted the hair in a corner of the garden and it is said that

from that human hair, _sabai_ grass originated.

XXVI. The Merchant's Son and the Raja's Daughter.

Once a merchant's wife and a Raja's wife were both with child and one

day as they bathed together they fell into conversation, and they

agreed that if they both bore daughters then the girls should be

"flower friends" while if one had a son and one a daughter then the

children should marry: and they committed the agreement to writing. A

month or two later the Raja's wife bore a daughter and the merchant's

wife a son. When the children grew up a bit they were sent to school,

and as they were both very intelligent they soon learnt to read and

write. At the school the boys used to be taught in an upstairs room

and the girls on the ground floor. One day the boy wrote out a copy

of the agreement which their mothers had made and threw It down to

the girl who was below.

She read it and from that day they began to correspond with each other;

love soon followed and they decided to elope. They fixed a day and

they arranged that the boy should wait for the girl under a _turu_

tree outside the town. When the evening came the girl made haste to

cook her parents' supper and then, when they went to bed, she had

as usual to soothe them to sleep by rubbing their limbs; all this

took a long time and the merchant's son soon got tired of waiting,

so he sang to the tree:--

"Be witness be witness for me 'Turu tree'

When the Raja's daughter comes."

and so singing he tied his horse to the roots of the tree and himself

climbed up into the branches, and sitting in the tree he pulled off

and threw down a number of twigs. Late at night the Raja's daughter

came; she saw the horse tied and the twigs scattered on the ground,

but no other sign of her lover. And at last she got tired of waiting

and called the _Turu_ tree to witness, singing:--

"Be witness be witness for me 'Turu tree'

When the merchant's son comes."

As she finished her song the merchant's son threw down a large branch

to her, so she looked up and saw him sitting in the tree. Then she

climbed up to him and began to scold him for putting her to the pain

of waiting so long. He retorted "It was you who made me anxious by

keeping me waiting." "That was not my fault: you know how much work

a woman has to do. I had to cook the supper and put my parents to

bed and rub them to sleep. Climb down and let us be off." So they

climbed down from the tree and mounted the horse and rode off to

a far country. On the road the girl became very thirsty but in the

dense jungle they could find no water, at last the merchant's son

threw a stone at hazard and they heard it splash in a pool; so they

went in the direction of the sound and there they found water but it

was foul and full of worms and the girl refused to drink it. She said

that she would only drink water "which had a father and mother."

So they went on their way, and after a time they came to a number

of crows holding a meeting and in the midst was an owl with its head

nodding drowsily; it was seeing dreams for them; every now and then

a crow would give it a shove and ask what it had dreamt, but the owl

only murmured that it had not finished and went off to sleep again. At

last it said "I have seen a gander and a goose go down into a river

and swim about in it."

The merchant's son and his companion went on and presently came to

a river in full flood, which was quite uncrossable; on the far bank

was a cow lowing to a calf which had been left on the bank where they

were. When she saw them the girl began to sing:--

"The cow lows for its calf

The calf bleats for its mother:

My father and mother

Are weeping for me at home."

When he heard her lament like this the merchant's son exclaimed

"You women are all alike, come let us go back."

"How can we go back now?" answered the girl "You of course can pretend

that you have been hunting; but we women lose our character if we

are hidden by a bush for a minute."

So as they could not cross the river by themselves, a goose and gander

carried them across on their backs. As they went on the merchant's

son asked the girl how far she would like to go, a six days' journey

or a six months' journey. He told her that in the six months' journey

they would only have fruits and roots and such like to eat and water

to drink, but the six days' journey was easy and free from hardship.

The girl chose the six days' journey, so they went on for six days

and came to a stream on the banks of which stood a cottage in which

lived an old woman. Before they went up to it the girl told her lover

not to eat any rice given to him by the old woman but to throw it

to the fowls; then they went and asked to be allowed to cook their

food there; now the old woman had seven unmarried sons, who were away

hunting at the time, and when she saw the Raja's daughter she wished

to detain her and marry her to one of her sons. So in order to delay

them she gave them a damp stove and green firewood to cook with;

she also offered the merchant's son some poisoned rice but he threw

it to the fowls, and when they ate it they fell down dead.

The girl could not make the fire burn with the green wood, so

they hurried away as fast as they could without waiting to cook any

food. Before they started however the old woman managed to tie up some

mustard seed in a cloth and fasten it to their horse's tail, so that

as they rode, the seed was spilt along the road they took. When the

old woman's sons came back from hunting she greeted them by saying:

"Why did you not come back sooner? I have just found a pretty wife

for you; but I have tied mustard seed to their horse's tail and it is

being scattered along the road: in one place it is sprouting in another

it is flowering; in another it is seeding and in another it is ripe;

when you get to the place where it is ripe you will catch them." So

the seven brothers pursued the two lovers and caught them up, but

the merchant's son cut down six of them with his sword; the seventh

however hid under the horse's belly and begged for mercy and offered to

serve them as groom to their horse. This man's name was Damagurguria;

they spared his life and he followed them running behind the horse;

but he watched his opportunity and caught the merchant's son unawares

and killed him with his sword.

Then he told the girl that she belonged to him and she admitted it and

asked that she might ride behind him on the horse, so Damagurguria

mounted and took her up behind him and turned homewards. He could

not see what the girl was doing and they had not gone far when she

drew his sword and killed him with it.

Then she rode back to where the body of her lover lay and began to weep

over it. As she sat there a man in shining white clothing appeared and

asked what was the matter; she told him Damagurguria had killed her

lover. Then he bade her stop crying and go and wet a _gamcha_ he gave

her and come straight back with it without looking behind her and then

pick a _meral_ twig and beat the corpse with it. So the girl took the

_gamcha_ and went and dipped it in a pool but, as she was bringing it

back, she heard a loud roaring behind her and she looked back to see

what it was; so the stranger sent her back again to the pool and this

time she did not look round though she heard the same roaring. Then

the stranger told her to join the severed head to the body and cover

it with the wet _gamcha_; and then, after waiting a little, to beat

the body with the _meral_ twig. So saying he disappeared. The girl

carefully complied with these instructions and to her joy saw the

merchant's son sit up and rub his eyes, remarking that he must have

been asleep for a long time. Great was his astonishment when he heard

how Damagurguria had killed him and how he had been restored to life

by the help of the stranger in white. This was the end of the lovers'

troubles and they lived happily ever after.

XXVII. The Flycatcher's Egg.

One day a herd boy found a flycatcher's egg and he brought it home

and asked his mother to cook it for him, but she put it on a shelf

and forgot about it. His mother was a poor woman and had to go out all

day to work; so before she started she used always to cook her son's

dinner and leave it covered up all ready for him. No sooner had she

gone to work than a _bonga_ girl used to come out of the flycatcher's

egg and first eat up the rice that had been left for the herd boy

and then quickly put water on to boil and cook some rice with pulse;

and, having eaten part of it, cover up the rest, ready for the herd

boy on his return. Then she used to comb and dress her hair and go

back into the egg. This happened every day and at last the boy asked

his mother why she gave him rice cooked with pulse every day, as he

was tired of it. His mother was much astonished and said that some

one must have been changing his food, because she always cooked his

rice with vegetables. At this the boy resolved to watch and see who

was touching his food; so one day he climbed up on to the rafters

and lay in wait. Presently out of the egg came the _bonga_ girl and

cooked the food and combed her hair as usual. Just as she was going

back into the egg, the herd boy sprang down and caught her. "Fi, Fi,"

cried she "is it a _Dome_ or a _Hadi_ who is clasping me?" "No _Dome_

or _Hadi_," said he: "we are husband and wife:" so he took her to

wife and they lived happily together.

He strictly forbade her ever to go outside the house and he said

incantations over some mustard seed and gave it to her, and told

her that, if any beggars came, she was to give them alms through the

window and, if they refused to take them in that way, then she was

to throw the mustard seed at them; but on no account to go outside

the house. One day when her husband was away a jugi came begging;

the _bonga_ girl offered him alms through the window but the jugi

flatly refused to take them; he insisted on her coming out of the

house and giving them. Then she threw the mustard seed at him and he

turned into ashes. By superior magic however he at once recovered his

own form and again insisted on her coming outside to give him alms,

so she went out to him and he saw how beautiful she was.

The jugi went away and one day he went to beg at the Raja's palace and,

talking to the Raja, he told him how he had seen a girl of more than

human beauty. The Raja resolved to possess her, and one day he took

the form of a fly and flew to the house and saw the beautiful _bonga_;

a second day he came back in the same form and suddenly caught her

up and flew off with her on his back to his palace, and in spite of

her weeping shut her up in a beautifully furnished room on the roof

of his palace. There she had to stay and her food was brought to her

there. When the herd boy came home and found that his beautiful wife

was missing he filled the air with lamentations and leaving his home

he put on the garb of a jugi and went about begging. One day he came

to the palace of the Raja who had carried off his wife; as he begged

he heard his wife's voice, so he sang:--

"Give me, oh give me, my flycatcher wife,

Give me my many-coloured wife."

Then they offered him a jar full of money to pacify him, but he threw

the rupees away one by one and continued his lament. Then the Raja

called for his two dogs Rauta and Paika and set them on the man and

they tore him to death. At this his wife wept grievously and begged

them to let her out since there was no one to carry her away, now

that her husband was dead.

They prepared to take away the corpse to burn it and the _bonga_

girl asked to be allowed to go with them as she had never seen the

funeral rites of a jugi: so they let her go.

Before starting she tied a little salt in the corner of her cloth. When

she reached the burning place, she sang to the two dogs:--

"Build the pyre, Rauta and Paika!

Alas! The dogs have bitten the jugi,

Alas! They have chased and killed the jugi."

So the two dogs built the pyre and lay the body on it. Then she

ordered them to split more wood, singing:--

"Cut the wood, Rauta and Paika!

Alas! The dogs have bitten the Jugi,

Alas! They have chased and killed the jugi."

So they split more wood and then she told them to apply the fire,

singing:--

"Light the fire, Rauta and Paika!

Alas! The dogs have bitten the Jugi,

Alas! they have chased and killed the jugi."

When the pyre was in full blaze she suddenly said to the dogs "Look up,

Rauta and Paika, see the stars are shining in the day time." When the

two dogs looked up, she threw the salt into their eyes, and, while

they were blinded, she sprang into the flames and died as a _sati_

on the body of her husband.

XXVIII. The Wife Who Would Not Be Beaten.

There was once a Raja's son who announced that he would marry no woman

who would not allow him to beat her every morning and evening. The

Raja's servants hunted high and low in vain for a bride who would

consent to these terms, at long last, they found a maiden who agreed

to be beaten morning and evening if the prince would marry her. So

the wedding took place and for two or three days the prince hesitated

to begin the beating; but one morning he got up and, taking a stick

from the corner, went to his bride and told her that she must have

her beating. "Wait a minute" said she "there is one thing I want to

point out to you before you beat me. It is only on the strength of

your father's position that you play the fine gentleman like this:

your wealth is all your father's and it is on his wealth that you

are relying. When you have earned something for yourself, and made

a position for yourself, then I am willing that you should beat me

and not before."

The prince saw that what his bride said was true and held his

hand. Then, in order to earn wealth for himself, he set out on a

trading expedition, taking quantities of merchandise loaded in sacks;

and he had a large band of retainers with him, mounted on horses and

elephants, and altogether made a fine show. The princess sent one of

her own servants with the prince and gave him secret instructions

to watch his opportunity and if ever, when the prince was bathing,

he should throw away a loin cloth, to take possession of it without

the prince knowing anything about it and bring it to her. The prince

journeyed on till he came to the country called Lutia.

The Raja of Lutia was walking on the roof of his palace and he saw

the cavalcade approaching, and he sent a _sipahi_ to meet the prince

and ask him this question, "Have you the secret of prosperity for ever

or of prosperity for a day?" When this question was put to the prince

he answered that he had the secret of prosperity for ever. When the

Lutia Raja was told of this answer, he ordered his men to stop the

prince's train; so they surrounded them and seized all the merchandise

and the prince's retainers fled on their horses and elephants and

left him alone and penniless. In his distress the prince was forced

to take service with a rich Hindu, and he had nothing to live on but

what his master chose to give him, and all he had to wear was a loin

cloth like the poorest labourer.

The only man who did not desert him was the servant whom the Princess

had sent; and one day he saw that the prince had thrown away an old

loin cloth while bathing; this he picked up and took home to his

mistress, who put it away. When she heard all that had happened to

her husband, she set out in her turn to the Lutia country and all

she took with her was a mouse and a shawl. When she reached the Lutia

country the Raja as before sent a messenger to ask whether she knew

the secret of prosperity for ever or of prosperity for a day.

She answered "prosperity for a day." Thereupon the Raja had her sent

for and also all the retainers who had deserted the Prince and who

had collected together in the neighbourhood. When they had all come

the Raja said that he would now decide who should have all the wealth

which had been taken from the prince: he produced a cat and said that

the person towards whom the cat jumped should have all the wealth. So

they all sat round the Raja and the Princess had her mouse hidden

under her shawl and every now and then she kept uncovering its head

and covering it up again. The cat soon caught sight of the mouse and,

when the Raja let it go, it jumped straight to the Princess in hopes

of catching the mouse. The Raja at once adjudged all the merchandise

to her, and she loaded it on the horses and elephants and took it

home accompanied by her husband's retainers.

A few days afterwards her husband came home, having got tired of

working as a servant, and, putting a bold face on it, he went up to

her and said that now he was going to beat her; all the retainers who

had accompanied him when he set out to trade and also the servant whom

the princess had sent with him were present. Then, before them all,

the princess took up the old loin cloth and asked him if he knew to

whom it had belonged; at this reminder of his poverty the prince was

dumb with shame. "Ask your retainers" continued the princess "to whom

all the merchandise with which you set out now rightfully belongs,

ask them whether it is yours or mine, and then say whether you will

beat me."

The prince had no answer to give her and after this lesson gave up

all idea of beating his bride.

XXIX. Sahde Goala.

Once a marriage was arranged between Sahde Goala and Princess Chandaini

and on the wedding day when it began to get dusk Sahde Goala ordered

the sun to stand still. "How," said he, "can the people see the

wedding of a mighty man like myself in the dark?" So at his behest

the sun delayed its setting for an hour, and the great crowd which

had assembled saw all the grand ceremonies.

The next day Sahde and his bride set off home and it took them three

days to reach the place where he lived. Before they left they had

invited the princess's father to come and see them; accordingly a day

or two later he set out, but it took him three months to accomplish the

distance which Sahde Goala had traversed in three days. When the old

Raja reached his son-in-law's house they welcomed him and washed his

feet and offered him refreshments; and when he had eaten, he asked his

son-in-law to take him out for a stroll. So they went out, Sahde Goala

in front and the old Raja following behind him and as they walked Sahde

Goala struck his foot against a stone, and the stone was shattered to

pieces. When the Raja saw this proof of his son-in-law's superhuman

strength, he became alarmed for his daughter's safety. If Sahde ever

lost his temper with her he might clearly smash her to atoms, so he

made up his mind that he could not leave her in such keeping. When

he told his daughter what he had seen she was as frightened as her

father and begged him to take her home, so they agreed to escape

together some time when Sahde Goala was out of the way.

One morning Sahde Goala went out to watch his men working in the

fields and the old Raja and his daughter seized this opportunity to

escape. Sahde Goala had a sister named Lorokini and she ran to the

field to tell her brother that his wife was running away. "Let her go"

said Sahde Goala. The old Raja travelled faster than his daughter and

left her behind and as she travelled along alone Sahde Goala made a

flooded river flow across her path. It was quite unfordable so the

Princess stood on the bank and sang:--

"My mother gave me birth,

My father gave me in marriage:

If the water upstream would stand still

And the water downstream would flow away

Then I could go and live in my own home."

But no such thing happened and she had to go back to her husband's

house.

When she arrived her mother-in-law gave her a large basket of cooked

rice and a pot of relish and told her to take them to the labourers

in the field. Her mother-in-law helped her to lift the basket on to

her head and she set off. When she reached the field she called to

her sister-in-law:--

"Come Lorokini,

Lift down from my head

The basket of rice

And the pot of relish."

But Lorokini was angry with her for trying to run

away and refused to help, singing:--

"I will not come

I will not lift down the basket:

Prop it against a _murup_ tree:

I will not lift it down."

Then Chandaini Rani propped it against the trunk of a _murup_ tree,

and so set it on the ground.

Then she sang to her husband:--

"Here, husband, is the lota of water:

Here, husband, is the tooth stick;

Come, and wash your hands:

If you are angry with me

Take me back to my father and mother."

But Sahde Goala was ploughing at the head of his men and paid no

attention to her: then she sang again:--

"Seven hundred labourers

And twenty hundred women labourers,

You are causing to die of thirst."

But still Sahde Goala paid no attention. Then Chandaini Rani got

angry and by leaning the basket against the _murup_ tree managed to

get it on to her head again and carried it home, and from that time

murup trees grow slanting. Directly she had taken the rice and relish

to the house she set off again to run away to her mother. As before

Sahde Goala caused a flooded river to flow across her path and as

before she sang:--

"My mother gave me birth,

My father gave me in marriage:

If the water upstream would stand still

And the water downstream would flow away

Then I could go and live in my own home,"

And this time the water did stand still and the water below all

flowed away and she crossed over. As she crossed she said "If I am

really chaste no one will be able to touch me." And as she reached

the opposite bank she saw a young man sitting waiting for her; his

name was Bosomunda, he had been sitting waiting for her on the bank

for days without moving. When he saw Chandaini Rani mount the bank

he rose and said "Come: I have been waiting for you, you are to be

my mistress." "Fie, fie!" answered she "Am I to belong to any Dome or

Hari?" Bosomunda swore that she should be his. "If so, then follow a

little behind me so as not to tread on my shadow." So they went on, the

Rani in front and Bosomunda behind. Presently they came to a tamarind

tree on which grew two enormous fruits; the Rani pointed to them saying

"If I am to belong to you, you must pick me those fruits." So Bosomunda

began to climb the tree, and as he climbed she prayed that the tree

might grow and touch the sky; and in fact as fast as Bosomunda climbed

so the tree grew and he got no nearer to the fruit.

Then the Chandaini Rani picked up the weapons which he had laid

on the ground and threw them away one to the north and one to the

south, one to the east and one to the west, and ran off as fast as

she could. Bosomunda at first did not see her because his eyes were

fixed on the tamarind fruit, but after she had gone a long way he

caught sight of her and came down as fast as he could and, gathering

up his weapons, went in pursuit. But Chandaini Rani had got a long

start, and as she hurried along she passed a thorn tree standing by

the side of the road and she called to it "Thorn tree, Bosomunda is

coming after me, do your best to detain him for a little." As she

spoke it seemed as if a weight descended on the tree and swayed it

to and fro so that its branches swept the ground, and it answered her

"I will do like this to him." Then she went on and met a goat on the

road, and she asked it to do its best to delay Bosomunda, and the

goat pawed the ground and dug its horns into the earth and said that

it would do the same to Bosomunda. Then she went on and met a ram and

made the same request; the ram charged a tree and butted it right over

and promised to treat Bosomunda in the same way. Afterwards she came

to a bull and the bull drove its horns into a bank and brought down

a quantity of earth and said that that was the way he would treat

Bosomunda. Next she came to a buffalo and the buffalo charged a bank

of earth to show what he would do to Bosomunda. Then she came to an

elephant and the elephant trampled a clod of earth to dust and said

that he would treat Bosomunda so. Then she went on and saw a paddy

bird feeding by the roadside and she asked it to do its best to delay

Bosomunda; the paddy bird drove its bill into the earth and said that

it would treat Bosomunda in the same way.

Meanwhile Bosomunda was in hot pursuit. When he came to the thorn

tree, the tree swayed its branches and caught him with its thorns,

but he cut down the tree and freed himself; he went on a little way

and met the goat which ran at him with its horns, but Bosomunda sang:--

"Do not fight with me, goat,

I will cut off your legs and cut off your head

And take them to the shrine of Mahadeo."

So saying, he killed the goat and cut off its head and tied it to

his waist and went on. Next the ram charged him but he sang:

"Do not fight with me, Ram,

I will cut off your legs and cut off your head

And take them to the shrine of Mahadeo."

So saying he killed the Ram and took its head. Then in succession he

was attacked by the bull and the buffalo and the elephant, but he

killed them all and cut off their heads. Then he came to the paddy

bird, which pretended to be busily engaged in picking up insects

and gradually worked its way nearer and nearer. Bosomunda let it get

quite close and then suddenly seized it and gave its neck a pull which

lengthened it out considerably; "Thank you" said the paddy bird, as

he put it down "now I shall be able to catch all the fish in a pool

without moving." Thereupon Bosomunda caught it again and gave its neck

a jerk and that is why paddy birds have necks shaped like a letter S.

Bosomunda continued his pursuit and caught up Chandaini Rani just

as she was entering her father's house; he seized her by her hair

and managed to cut off the edge of her cloth and pull off one of her

golden anklets, and then had to let her go.

He took up his abode at the _ghat_ of a tank and began to kill every

one who came down to the water. The citizens complained to the Raja

of the destruction he was causing and the Raja ordered some valiant

man to be searched for, fit to do battle with the murderer; so they

sent for a Birbanta (giant) and the Raja promised to give him half his

kingdom and his daughter in marriage if he could slay Bosomunda. So

the Birbanta made ready for the fight and advanced brandishing his

weapons against Bosomunda. Three days and three nights they fought,

and in the end the Birbanta was defeated and killed.

Then the Raja ordered his subjects to find another champion and

a Birburi was found willing to undertake the fight in hope of the

promised reward; and as he was being taken to the field of battle

his mother met him with a ladle full of curds and told him to do a

war dance, and as he was dancing round she threw the curds at him;

he caught the whole of it on his shield except one drop which fell on

his thigh; from this his mother foresaw that he would bleed to death

In the fight, so she took some rice and ran on ahead and again met

her son and told him to do the war dance and show how he was going to

fight; and as he danced his sword shivered to atoms. His mother said,

"Is this the way in which you intended to fight, of a surety you would

have met your death." Then she made him gather together the pieces

of his sword and cover them with a wet cloth, and in a few minutes

the pieces joined together; then she allowed him to go to the fight.

When the battle began the Birburi's mother kept calling out "Well,

Bosomunda, have you killed my son?" This enraged Bosomunda and he

kept running after the old woman to drive her away, and this gave

the opportunity to the Birburi to get in a good blow; in this way

they fought for seven days and nights and at the end Bosomunda was

defeated and killed. Then the Raja gave half his kingdom to the

Birburi and married him to his daughter Chandaini Rani.

After their marriage they set out for their new home and on the

way they met Sahde Goala who had come in search of his missing

wife. "Hulloa" cried Sahde Goala "where are you taking my wife

to?" "I know nothing about your wife" said the Birburi "this is

the Raja's daughter whom I have married as a reward for killing

Bosomunda; he has given me half his kingdom from Sir Sikar to the

field of the cotton tree." Then Sahde Goala told him to go his way,

so the Birburi and the Rani went on and Sahde Goala caused a flooded

river with the water flowing bank high to cross their path. As they

waited on the bank Sahde Goala made the Birburi an offer that, if he

could carry the woman across the river without getting the sole of

her foot wet, then she should belong to him and if not Sahde Goala

should take her. The Birburi agreed and tried and tried again to get

the Rani across without wetting her, but the flood was too strong,

so at last he gave in and Sahde Goala took her back with him to their

former home. There they lived and in the course of time Chandaini

Rani bore a son and she named him Dhonontori, and after the birth of

their son the family became so wealthy (dhon) that the Hindus revered

Dhonontori as a god. And so ends the story.

XXX. The Raja's Son and the Merchant's Son.

Once upon a time the son of a Raja and the son of a merchant were great

friends; they neither of them had any taste for lessons but would play

truant from school and waste their time running about the town. The

Raja was much vexed at his son's behaviour; he wished him to grow up

a worthy successor to himself, and with this object did all he could

to break off his friendship with the merchant's son, as the two boys

only led each other into mischief; but all his efforts failed and at

last he offered a reward of one hundred rupees to any one who could

separate them. One of the Raja's concubines made up her mind to earn

the reward, and one day she met the two boys as they were going out to

bathe. The Raja's son was walking ahead and the merchant's son a little

way behind; the woman ran after the merchant's son and threw her arms

round him and putting her lips to his ear pretended to whisper to him

and then ran away. When they met at the river the Prince asked the

merchant's son what the woman had told him, his friend denied that

she had said anything but for all his protestations the Prince would

not believe this. They quarrelled about it for a long time and at

last the Prince went home in a rage and shut himself up in his room

and refused to eat or be comforted. His father sent to enquire what

was the matter with him and the Prince replied that food should not

pass his lips until the merchant's son had been put to death.

Thereupon the Raja sent for some soldiers and told them to devise

some means of killing the merchant's son. So they bound the youth

and showed him to the Prince and said that they would take him to the

jungle and kill and bury him there. They then led him off, but on the

road they caught a lamb and when they got to the jungle they killed

the lamb and steeped the clothes of the merchant's son in the blood

that they might have something to show to the Prince and then went

back leaving the boy in the jungle. They took the bloody cloth to

the Prince and told him to rise and eat, but when he saw the blood,

all his old friendship revived and he was filled with remorse and

could not eat for sorrow. Then the Raja told his soldiers to find out

some friend to comfort the Prince, and they told him that they would

soon set things straight and going off to the jungle brought back the

merchant's son and took him to the Prince; and the two youths forgot

their differences and were as friendly as before.

Time passed and one day the Prince proposed to his friend that they

should run away and seek their fortunes in the world. So they fixed

a day and stole away without telling anyone, and, as they had not

taken any money, they soon had to look about for employment. They

found work and the arrangement their masters made with them was this:

their wages were to be as much rice each day as would go on a leaf;

and if they threw up their work they were to forfeit one hand and

one ear; on the other hand if their masters discharged them so long

as they were willing to work for this wage the master was to lose one

hand and one ear. The merchant's son was cunning enough to turn this

agreement to his advantage, for every day he brought a large lotus

leaf to be filled with rice; this gave him more than he could eat

and he soon grew fat and flourishing, but the Raja's son only took

an ordinary _sal_ leaf to his master and the rice that he got on this

was not enough to keep him alive, so he soon wasted away and died.

Now the merchant's son had told his master that his name was Ujar:

one day his master said "Ujar, go and hoe that sugar cane and look

sharp about it." So Ujar went and instead of hoeing the ground dug

up all the sugar cane and piled it in a heap. When the master saw

his fine crop destroyed he was very angry and called the villagers

to punish Ujar, but when they questioned him, Ujar protested that

he was bound to obey his master's orders; he had been ordered to

hoe the sugar cane, not the ground, and he had done as he was told,

and so they had to let him off.

Another day a Hindu neighbour came to Ujar's master and asked him to

lend him his servant for a day. So Ujar went to the Hindu's house

and there was told to scrape and spin some hemp, but Ujar did not

understand the Hindu language and when he got the knife to scrape

the hemp with, he proceeded to chop it all up into little pieces;

when the Hindu saw what had happened he was very angry and called in

the neighbours, but Ujar protested that he had been told to cut the

hemp and had done so; and so he got off.

Ujar's master had an only child and one day he told Ujar to take the

child to a tank and give him a good washing, so Ujar took the child

to a tank and there proceeded to dash the child against a stone in

the way that washermen wash clothes; he knocked the child about until

he knocked the life out of him and then carefully washed him in the

tank and brought the body home and put it on the bed. Next morning

the father was surprised not to hear the child running about and,

going to look, found the dead body. The villagers assembled but Ujar

protested that his master had told him to wash the child thoroughly

and he had only obeyed orders; so they had to let him off again.

After this the master made up his mind to get rid of Ujar, but he

was in a fix: he could not dismiss him because of the agreement that

if he did not continue to employ him so long as he was willing to

serve for one leaf full of rice a day he was to lose a hand and an

ear. So he decided to kill him, but he was afraid to do so himself

for fear of being found out; so he decided to send Ujar to his

father-in-law's house and get them to do the job. He wrote a letter

to his father-in-law asking him to kill the bearer directly he arrived

before many people knew of his coming and this letter he gave to Ujar

to deliver.

On the way however Ujar had some misgivings and he opened the letter

and read it; thereupon he tore it in pieces and instead of it wrote a

letter to his master's father-in-law in which his master was made to

say that Ujar was a most valuable servant and they should give him

their youngest daughter in marriage as soon as possible. The fraud

was not found out and directly Ujar arrived he was married to the

youngest daughter of his master's father-in-law. A few days later the

master went to see how his plan had worked and was disgusted to find

Ujar not only alive but happily married.

So he thought that he would entice him into the jungle and kill him

there; with this object he one day invited Ujar to come out hunting

with him, but Ujar suspected what was up and took a hatchet with him;

and directly they got to the jungle he fell behind his master and

cut him down with his hatchet and then went home and told his wife's

relations that his master had got tired of hunting and had gone back

to his own home; no doubts were raised about his story and he lived

on happily with his wife till he died at a ripe old age.

XXXI. The Poor Widow.

Once there was a poor widow who had two children; she lived by daily

labour and if she got no work any day, then that day they had to go

without food. One morning she went out to look for work and a rich

woman called her and asked if she wanted a job; she said "Yes, that

is what I am looking for," then the rich woman said "Stay here and

pick the lice out of my hair, and I will pay you your usual wages and

give you your dinner as well." So the poor widow agreed and spent the

day picking out the lice and at evening the rich woman brought out

a measure of rice to give her as her wages and, as she was measuring

it, she felt her head itch and she put up her hand and scratched and

pulled out a large louse.

Then she got very angry and scolded the widow and said that she would

pay her nothing as she had not done her work properly and she turned

her out. Then the widow was very unhappy for she had nothing to give

her starving children and she wished that she had stuck to her usual

work. When she got home and her children began to cry for food, she

remembered that she had seen some wild _saru_ (vegetable) growing in

a certain place; so she took a basket and a sickle and telling her

children not to cry went out to gather it. It was dark and lonely

and she felt frightened but then she thought of her children and

went on and gathered the _saru_, and returned home crying because

she had nothing better to give her offspring. On the way she met an

old man who asked her why she was crying and she told him all her

story. Then he told her to take the herbs home and chop them all up

and to put some in every basket and pot she had and to cook the rest

for supper. So when she got home she did as she had been directed and

when she came to take the herbs which she had cooked out of the pot,

she found that they had turned into rice, and she and her children

ate it with joy. The next morning she found that every pot and basket

into which she had put the herbs was full of rice; and from that time

she prospered and bought goats and pigs and cattle and lived happily

ever after.

But no one knew where the old man came from, as she had forgotten to

ask him.

XXXII. The Monkey and the Girl.

Once upon a time the boys and girls of a village used to watch the

crops of _but_ growing by a river, and there was a Hanuman monkey who

wished to eat the _but,_ but they drove him away. So he made a plan:

he used to make a garland of flowers and go with it to the field and,

when he was driven away, he would leave the flowers behind; and the

children were pleased with the flowers and ended by making friends with

the monkey and did not drive him away. There was one of the young girls

who was fascinated by the monkey and promised to marry him. Some of

the other children told this in the village and the girl's father and

mother came to hear of it and were angry and the father took some of

the villagers and went and shot the monkey. Then they decided not to

throw away the body, but to burn it like the corpse of a man. So they

made a pyre and put the body on it and set fire to it; just then the

girl came and they told her to go away, but she said that she wished

to see whether they really burned him like a man. So she stood by

and when the pyre was in full blaze, she called out "Oh look, what is

happening to the stars in the sky!" at this every one looked up at the

sky; then she took some sand which she had in the fold of her cloth

and threw it into the air and it fell into their eyes and blinded them.

While they were rubbing the sand out of their eyes the girl leapt on to

the pyre, and was burned along with the monkey and died a _sati_. Her

father and brothers were very angry at this and said that the girl

must have had a monkey's soul and so she was fascinated by him;

and so saying they bathed and went home.

XXXIII. Ramai and the Animals.

Once there was a blacksmith who had five sons and the sons were always

quarrelling. Their father used to scold them, but they paid no heed;

so he got angry and one day he sent for them and said: "You waste

your time quarrelling. I have brought you up and have amassed wealth;

I should like to see what you are worth. I will put it to the test:

I will give you each one hundred rupees, and I will see how you employ

the money; if any of you puts it to profitable use, I will call him

my son; but if any of you squander it, I shall call him a girl." So

they went forth with the money and one bought buffaloes and one bought

horses and another cattle, each according to his judgement, and brought

them home. But the youngest son, who was named Ramai, soon after he

started, found some men killing a cat and he begged them not to kill

the cat, but let him have it and he bought it of them, and going on

he found some men killing a dog which they had caught stealing and

he bought it of them to save its life. By and bye he came to some men

hunting an otter and he asked what they were doing, and they said that

the otter ate the fish in a Raja's tank and so they were going to kill

it; and he asked them to catch it and sell it to him, and promised

to take it away where it could do no harm; and they did so. Then he

went on and came to some men who were killing a young black snake

and he saved that also, and then returned home with his four animals,

and he tethered the cat and the dog and the otter in the yard and he

put the snake into a pot with a lid on and hung it in the cow shed.

When his father saw Ramai's animals, he was very angry and jeered at

him and said that he had no more mind than a woman; and especially

he told him to throw away the snake at once, if he did not want it

killed. So Ramai took down the pot with the snake in it, and the snake

said: "Take me to my father and mother and they will reward you, and

when they ask what you would like, take nothing but the ring which

is on my father's hand: it is a magic ring and has the property that

it will give you whatever you ask."

So Ramai took the young snake to its home and its father and mother

were very grateful and asked what reward he would accept: and he said

he would take nothing but the ring, so they gave it to him. On the way

home he thought that he would test its virtues: so he bathed and spread

out a cloth and then prayed: "Oh ring, give me some luncheon," and

behold he saw a nice lunch heaped up in the middle of the cloth. He ate

it joyfully and went back home, and there he found that his father had

killed the other animals and he reproached him; but his father said:

"They were useless and were only eating their heads off, why should

not I kill them?" Ramai answered: "These were not useless, they were

most valuable animals, much better than those my brothers bought; if

you asked my brothers for a gold palace they could not make you one,

but I could do so at once, thanks to the snake, and I could marry a

princess and get anything else I want."

His father said that he would like to see him try: so Ramai asked

the ring for a gold palace and immediately one appeared in their

garden. Then his father was very repentant about having killed the

other animals. But Ramai's boast that he could marry a princess got

abroad and the Raja heard of it and as he was glad to have so rich

a son-in-law, he gave him his daughter in marriage. And with his

daughter the Raja sent elephants and horses, but Ramai sent them back

again, lest it should be said that he had become rich through the

bounty of the Raja; and by virtue of the ring they lived in wealthy

and prosperity.

XXXIV. The Magic Bedstead.

Once upon a time a carpenter made a bedstead, and when it was ready he

put it in his verandah. At night he heard the four legs of the bedstead

talking together and saying: "We will save the life of anyone who

sleeps on this bedstead and protect him from his enemies." When the

carpenter heard this, he decided not to part with the bed for less

than a hundred rupees. So next day he went out to try and get this

price for the bed, but people laughed at him and said that no one

could pay such a price but the Raja; so he went to the Raja and the

Raja asked why he wanted one hundred rupees for a bedstead that was

apparently worth only five or six annas. The carpenter answered that

the bed would protect its owner from all enemies; the Raja doubted at

first but as the man persisted in his story, he agreed to buy the bed,

but he stipulated that if he found the story about it not to be true,

he should take back his money.

One night the king lay awake on the bed and he heard the legs of the

bed talking, so he lay still and listened: and they said that the

Raja was in danger and that they must try to save him. So one leg

loosened itself from the bed and went away outside and it found a

tiger which had come to eat the Raja, and it beat the tiger to death,

and then came back and fixed itself into its place again. Soon a

second leg said that it would go outside; so it went and that leg met

a leopard and a bear and it beat them to death and returned. Then the

third leg said that it was its turn, and it went outside and it found

four burglars digging a hole through the wall of the palace, and it

set upon them and broke their legs and left them lying there. When

this one returned, the fourth leg went out and it heard a voice in

the sky saying: "The Raja is very cunning, I will send a snake which

shall hide in his shoe and when he puts the shoe on in the morning,

it will bite him and he will die." When this leg came back, each one

told the others what it had seen and done, and the Raja heard them and

lay awake till morning, and at dawn he called his servants and sent

them outside the palace and there they found the tiger and leopard

and bear lying dead, and the four thieves with their legs broken. Then

the Raja believed what the legs had said and he would not get up but

first ordered his servants to make a fire in the courtyard and he

had all his shoes thrown into the fire and then he got up.

After this the Raja ordered that great care was to be taken of the

bedstead and that anyone who sat on it should be put to death; and he

himself used not to sleep in it anymore but he kept it in his bedroom

that it might protect him.

XXXV. The Ghormuhas.

Ghormuhas have heads like horses and bodies and arms like men and

their legs are shaped like men's but they have only one leg each,

and they eat human beings.

One day a young man named Somai was hunting a deer and the deer ran

away to the country of the Ghormuhas and Somai pursued it, and the

Ghormuhas caught him and took him home to eat. First they smoked him

for two or three days so that all the vermin were driven out of his

body and clothes and then they proceeded to fatten him; they fed him

well every day on rice cooked with turmeric.

Somai saw how they dealt with their other victims: they tied them hand

and foot and threw them alive into a pot of boiling oil and when they

were cooked they hung the bodies up in the doorway and would take a

bite as they passed in and out; the liver and heart and brains they

cooked separately. They used to eat their own parents also: for when

a father or mother grew old they would throw them on to the roof of

the house and when they rolled down and were killed they would say to

their friends, "The pumpkin growing on our roof has got ripe and fallen

off and burst, let us come and eat it;" and then they had a feast.

Somai saw all this and was very frightened. The Ghormuhas could run

very fast and they made Somai run a race with them every day and

their plan was that they would eat him when he was strong enough to

beat them in the race. In the course of time he came to beat them in

running on the road; then they said that they would make him run in

the fields and, if he beat them there, they meant to eat him.

Somai found out their plan and he decided to try and run away; if he

stayed he would be eaten, so if they caught him when he tried to run

away he would be no worse off. So the first day they raced in the

fields Somai was winning but he remembered and stopped himself and

let himself be beaten that day. But he resolved to try and escape the

next day and the Ghorarahas had decided to eat him that day whatever

happened. So when the race began, Somai set off towards the lower lands

where the rice fields were embanked and he jumped the embankments, but

the Ghormuhas who pursued him could not jump well and tumbled and fell;

and thus he ran away to his own country and made good his escape. And

it was he who told men what Ghormuhas are like and how they live.

XXXVI. The Boy Who Learnt Magic.

Once upon a time there was a Raja who had seven wives and they were

all childless, and he was very unhappy at having no heir. One day a

Jogi came to the palace begging, and the Raja and his Ranis asked him

whether he could say what should be done in order that they might

have children; the Jogi asked what they would give him if he told

them and they said that they would give him anything that he asked

for and gave him a written bond to this effect. Then the Jogi said

"I will not take elephants or horses or money, but you shall give me

the child which is born first and any born afterwards shall be yours,

do you agree?" And the Ranis consulted together and agreed. "Then,"

said the Jogi, "this is what you must do: you must all go and bathe,

and after bathing you must go to a mango orchard and the Raja must

choose a bunch of seven mangoes and knock it down with his left

hand and catch it in a cloth, without letting it touch the ground;

then you must go home and the Ranis must sit in a row according to

their seniority and the Raja must give them each one of the mangoes

to eat, and he must himself eat the rinds which the Ranis throw away;

and then you will have children." And so saying the Jogi went away

promising to return the next year.

A few days later the Raja decided to give a trial to the Jogi's

prescription and he and the Ranis did as they had been told; but the

Raja did not eat the rind of the youngest Rani's mango; he did not love

her very much. However five or six months after it was seen that the

youngest Rani was with child and then she became the Raja's favourite;

but the other Ranis were jealous of her and reminded the Raja that he

would not be able to keep her child. But when her time was full she

gave birth to twin sons, and the Raja was delighted to think that he

would be able to keep the younger of the two and he loved it much.

When the year was up the Jogi came and saw the boys and he said that

he would return when they could walk; and when they could run about,

he came again, and asked whether the Raja would fulfil his promise.

The Raja said that he would not break his bond. Then the Jogi said

that he would take the two boys and when the Raja objected that he was

only entitled to one, he said that he claimed both as they were born

at the same time; but he promised that if he took both he would teach

them magic and then let one come back; and he promised also that all

the Ranis should have children. So the Raja agreed and sent away the

boys with the Jogi and with them he sent goats and sheep and donkeys

and horses and camels and elephants and furniture of all sorts.

The Jogi was called Sitari Jogi and he was a Raja in his own

country. But before they reached his country all the animals died,

first the goats, then the sheep and the donkeys and the horses and the

camels and the elephants. And when the goats died the boys lamented:

"The goats have died, father,

How far, father,

Is it to the country of the Sitari Jogi?"

and so they sang when the other animals died.

At last they reached the Jogi's palace and every day he taught them

incantations and spells. He bought them each a water pot and sent

them every morning to fill it with dew, but before they collected

enough, the sun came out and dried up the dew; one day they got a

cupful, another day half a cupful, but they never were able to fill

the pots. In the course of time they learnt all the spells the Jogi

knew and one day when they went out to gather dew, the younger boy

secretly took with him a rag and he soaked this in the dew and then

squeezed it into the pot and so he soon filled it; and the elder

boy seeing his brother's pot full, filled his pot at a pool of water

and they took them to the Jogi; but the Jogi was not deceived by the

elder boy and told him that he would never learn magic thoroughly;

but the younger boy having learned all that the Jogi knew, learnt more

still from his friends, for all the people of that country knew magic.

Then one day the Jogi took the two boys back to their home and he told

the Raja that he would leave the elder boy at home. The Raja wanted

to keep the younger one, but the Jogi insisted and the younger boy

whispered to his mother not to mind as he would soon come back by

himself; so they let him go.

The Jogi and the boy used to practise magic: the Jogi would take the

form of a young man and the boy would turn into a bullock and the

Jogi would go to a village and sell the bullock for a good price;

but he would not give up the tethering rope and then he would go away

and do something with the tethering rope and the boy would resume his

shape again and run off to the Jogi and when the purchasers looked

for their bullock they found nothing, and when they went to look for

the seller the Jogi would change his shape again so that he could

not be recognised; and in this way they deceived many people and

amassed wealth.

Then the Jogi taught the boy the spell he used with the rope, and

when he had learnt this, he asked to be taught the spell by which he

could change his own shape without having a second person to work the

spell with the rope. The Jogi said that he would teach him that later

but he must wait. Then the boy reproached the Jogi and said that he

did not love him; and he went away to his friends in the town and

learnt the spell he wanted from them, so that he was able to change

his shape at will.

Two or three days after the boy again went to the Jogi and said

"Teach me the spell about which I spoke to you the other day," and

the Jogi refused. "Then," said the boy, "I shall go back to my father,

for I see that you do not love me."

At this the Jogi grew wrathful and said that if the away he would

kill him, so the boy at this ran away in terror, and the Jogi became

a leopard and pursued him: then the boy turned himself into a pigeon

and the Jogi became a hawk and pursued him; so the boy turned himself

into a fly and the Jogi became a paddy bird and pursued him; the fly

alighted on the plate of a Rani who was eating rice, and the Jogi took

on his natural shape and told the Rani to scatter the rice which she

was eating on the ground and she did so; but the boy turned himself

into a bead of coral on the necklace which the Rani was wearing; and

the Jogi did not notice this but became a pigeon and ate up the rice

which the Rani had thrown down. When he did not find the boy among the

rice he turned himself into a Jogi again and saw him in the necklace;

then he told the Rani to break her necklace and scatter the beads on

the ground and she did so; then the Jogi again became a pigeon and

began to pick up the beads, but the boy turned himself into a cat

and hid under the verandah and when the pigeon came near, he pounced

on it and killed it, and ran outside with it. Then he became a boy

again and twisted off the bird's head and wrapped it in his cloth and

went off home; and looking behind he saw the Jogi's head come rolling

after him, so when he came to a blacksmith's fire by the side of the

road he threw the pigeon's head into it, and then the Jogi's head

also ran into the fire and was consumed.

And the boy went home to his parents.

XXXVII. The Charitable Jogi.

Once there was a very poor man with a large family; and when his eldest

son grew up he tried to arrange a marriage for him. He selected a bride

and arranged matters with her relations but then he found that he had

no money to pay for the performance of the marriage ceremonies. So he

tried to borrow from his friends and from money lenders, but no one

would lend him anything. So he proposed to the bride's relatives to

only have the betrothal that year and the marriage the year after, but

they would not agree and said that the marriage must be then or never.

Just then a Jogi came to his house to beg and he told the Jogi all

about his difficulties and asked for help; the Jogi took pity on

him and gave him twenty rupees which was all that he had collected

by begging.

Now this Jogi had two wives at home and he thought that he would get

a poor reception from them if he returned empty handed, so he picked

up two stones and wrapped them up in two pieces of cloth. And when he

reached home his wives welcomed him and brought out a bed for him to

sit on and asked about his adventures and when they saw the bundles

they wished to know what was inside and they opened them before him

and behold the stones had turned into gold. When the Jogi saw this

he wished that he had picked up three or four stones instead of only

two and he understood that Chando had given him the gold because he

helped the poor man.

This is why no money lender will refuse a loan if one is asked for

for the performance of a marriage and money so borrowed is always

paid back punctually. When the Jogi came back the next year the poor

man paid him the twenty rupees.

XXXVIII. Chote and Mote.

Once upon a time there were two brothers Chote and Mote; they were

poor but very industrious and they got tired of working as hired

labourers in their own village so they decided to try their luck

elsewhere. They went to a distant village and Chote took service

with an oilman and Mote with a potter on a yearly agreement. Chote

had to drive the oil mill in the morning and then after having his

dinner to feed the mill bullock and take it out to graze. But the

bullock having had a good meal of oilcake would not settle down to

graze alone but kept running after all the herds of cattle it saw,

and Chote had to spend his whole time running after it till he was

worn out and he was very soon sorry that he had taken up such hard

service; and was quite resolved not to stay on after his year was up.

Mote was no better off; the potter overworked him, making him carry

water and dig earth from morn to night and for all he did he got

nothing but abuse.

One day the brothers, met and Mote asked Chote how he was getting

on. Chote answered "Oh I have got a capital place; all the morning

I sit at my ease on the oil mill, then I have a good dinner and take

the bullock out to graze and as it has had a good meal of oilcake it

lies down without giving any trouble and I sit in the shade and enjoy

myself." Then Mote said "I am pretty lucky too. I have to fetch three

or four pots of water, then I have my dinner and a rest and then I

have to dig earth and knead it. Still I cannot say that I have so

little work as you; will you change with me for three or four days,

so that I may have a rest?"

Chote gladly agreed and each brother thought that he had got the better

of the other. In the morning while Mote was driving the oil mill he

was very pleased with his new job and when he had to take the bullock

out to graze he took a bedstead with him to lie on. But directly the

bullock got outside the village it rushed off bellowing towards some

other cattle and Mote had to run after it with his bedstead on his

head, and all the afternoon the bullock kept him running about till

he was worn out.

Meanwhile Chote was no better off; his unaccustomed shoulders were

quite bruised with constantly carrying water. At the potter's house

was a custard apple tree and it was believed that there was money

buried at the foot of the tree; so as Chote was a stranger, the

potter told him to water the earth by the tree to soften it, as it

was to be used for pottery. Chote softened the earth and dug it and

as he dug he uncovered pots of rupees; so he covered them up again

and dug the earth elsewhere. And at evening he went and proposed to

Mote to run away with the money. So at midnight, they went and dug it

up and ran off home. As they were not pursued, they felt safe after

a month or two, so they spent the money in buying land and cattle,

and their cultivation prospered, and they became quickly rich.

XXXIX. The Daydreamer.

Once an oil man was going to market with his pots of oil arranged on a

flat basket and he engaged a Santal for two annas to carry the basket;

and as he went along, the Santal thought "With one anna I will buy

food and with the other I will buy chickens, and the chickens will

grow up and multiply and then I will sell some of the fowls and eggs

and with the money I will buy goats; and when the goats increase,

I will sell some and buy cows, and then I will exchange some of the

calves for she-buffaloes, and when the buffaloes breed, I will sell

some and buy land and start cultivation and then I will marry and

have children and I will hurry back from my work in the fields and

my wife will bring me water and I will have a rest and my children

will say to me 'Father, be quick and wash your hands for dinner,' but

I will shake my head and say 'No, no, not yet!'"--and as he thought

about it he really shook his head and the basket fell to the ground

and all the pots of oil were smashed.

Then the oilman abused him and said that he must pay two rupees for

the oil and one anna for the pots: but the Santal said that he had

lost much more than that and the oilman asked him how that could be:

and the Santal explained how with his wages he was going to get fowls

and then goats and then oxen and buffaloes and land and how he came to

spill the basket and at that the oilman roared with laughter and said

"Well I have made up the account and I find that our losses are equal,

so we will cry quits;" and so saying they went their ways laughing.

XL. The Extortionate Sentry.

There was once a sentry outside a Raja's palace who would let no one go

in to sell anything to the Raja until they first promised to give him

half the price they received from the Raja, and the poor traders had

to promise, for their livelihood depended on selling their goods. One

day a fisherman caught an enormous fish and he thought that if he

took it to the Raja he would get a big price for it.

So he went off to the palace, but when he came to the gate the sentry

stopped him and would not let him go in, until he promised to give him

half of what he got, and after some argument he had to promise. So

he was admitted to the Raja's presence and when the Raja asked what

was the price of the fish, the fisherman said "A hundred blows with

a stick."

The Raja was very astonished and asked the meaning of such a

request. Then the fisherman said that the sentry had extorted a

promise that he should get half the price and he wanted him to get

fifty blows. At this the Raja was very angry and he had the sentry

beaten with one hundred stripes and dismissed him.

XLI. The Broken Friendship.

Once upon a time there was a Raja and his Dewan and they each had

one son, and the two boys were great friends, and, when they grew old

enough, they took to hunting and when they became young men they were

so devoted to the sport that they spent their whole time in pursuit of

game; they followed every animal they could find until they killed it,

and they shot every bird in the town.

Their parents were much distressed at this, for they thought that

if their boys spent all their time together hunting they would grow

up unruly and ignorant; so they made up their minds that they must

separate the young men so that they would not be tempted to spend so

much time in sport, but would be able to learn something useful; they

scolded the youths and told them to give up their friendship and their

hunting, but this had no effect. Then the Raja told the villagers

that he would reward any one who would break up the friendship,

and the villagers tried their best but effected nothing.

There was however an old woman in the village who one day said,

"If the Raja gave me ten rupees I would soon put a stop to their

friendship." This came to the ears of the Raja and he exclaimed "What

is ten rupees to me! bring the old woman to me and I will give her

ten rupees, if she can put an end to this friendship." So the old

woman was brought trembling before the Raja and on being questioned

undertook to break up the friendship if she were properly rewarded;

and when this was promised she asked for two men to be given to her

and she took them to her house and there she made them sling a bed

on a pole, such as is used for carrying a man on a journey and she

hung curtains all round it and drew them close and inside, on an old

winnowing fan, they put some rotten manure from a dung hill.

Then she made the two men take up the bed and she fetched a drum

and she paraded all through the bazar beating the drum with the

bed following behind her. She told the two carriers not to answer

any questions as to what was in the bed. Thus they passed out of

the town and went in the direction in which the two young men had

gone hunting. When these heard the sound of the drum and saw the

two men carrying the bed they ran up to see what it was and told

the carriers to put It down that they might look inside; so the bed

was put on the ground and the Raja's son peeped inside the curtain,

but as he caught the smell he jumped back and the Dewan's son asked

what was the matter and he said "it stinks: it is dung." The Dewan's

son would not believe him and also looked to convince himself; then

they both asked what the meaning of this was: the old woman said

that she would explain the meaning of it but only to one of them,

and the one who had heard could tell the other.

So she made the carriers take away the bed and she called the Raja's

son aside saying "Come I will tell you what it means" then she put

her arms round the neck of the Raja's son and put her lips to his

ear and pretended to whisper to him, but really she said nothing;

then she let him go and followed the carriers. The Dewan's son at

once ran to his friend and asked what the old woman had told him; the

Raja's son answered "She told me nothing at all, she only pretended

to whisper." The Dewan's son would not believe this and pressed him

to tell, saying "We have been friends for so long and have had no

secrets from each other, why won't you tell me this? if you refuse

to tell me there is an end of our friendship," but the Raja's son

persisted that he had been told nothing and proposed that they should

go and ask the old woman if it were not so; but the Dewan's son said

that that was no good because the old woman and the Raja's son had

plainly made a plot to keep him in the dark. The quarrel grew hotter

and hotter, till at last they parted in anger and each went to his

own home and from that time their friendship was broken off.

And being separated they gave up hunting and took to useful

pursuits. Thus the old woman earned her reward from the Raja.

XLII. A Story Told by a Hindu.

Once upon a time there was a Raja who had two sons and after their

father's death they divided the kingdom between them. The two brothers

were inveterate gamblers and spent their time playing cards with

each other; for a long time fortune was equal, but one day it turned

against the elder brother and he lost and lost until his money and his

jewellery, his horses and his elephants and every thing that he had,

had been won by his younger brother. Then in desperation he staked

his share in the kingdom and that too he lost.

Then the younger brother sent drummers through the city to proclaim

that the whole kingdom was his; the shame of this was more than the

elder prince could bear, so he resolved to quit the country and he

told his wife of his intention and bade her stay behind. But his

faithful wife refused to be parted from him; she vowed that he had

married her not for one day nor for two but for good and all, and

that where he went, there she would go, and whatever troubles he met,

she would share. So he allowed her to come with him and the two set

off to foreign parts. After sometime their path led them through an

extensive jungle and after travelling through it for two days they

at last lost their way completely; their food gave out, they were

faint with starvation and torn with briars.

The prince urged his wife to return but she would not hear of it, so

they pushed on, supporting life on jungle fruits; sometimes the prince

would go far ahead, for his faithful wife could only travel slowly,

and then he would return and wait for her; at last he got tired of

leading her on and made up his mind to abandon her. At night they lay

down at the foot of a tree and the prince thought "If wild animals

would come and eat us it would be the best that could happen. I cannot

bear to see my wife suffer any more; although her flesh is torn with

thorns, she will not leave me. I will leave her here; may wild beasts

kill both her and me, but I cannot see her die before my eyes." So

thinking he got up quietly and went off as quickly as he could.

When the princess woke and found that she had been abandoned, she began

to weep and wept from dawn to noon without ceasing; at noon a being,

in the guise of an old woman appeared and asked her why she wept,

and comforted her and promised to lead her out of the wood and told

her that Chando had had compassion on her and would allow her to find

her husband again if they both lived.

So saying the old woman led the princess from the forest and showed

her the way to a great city where a Raja lived. The princess went

begging her way through the city to the Raja's palace and there they

engaged her as a servant.

Now her husband had also escaped from the jungle and sought employment

as a labourer but no one would give him work for more than a day

or two, and at last his search for work brought him to the city in

which the princess was; and there he was engaged as a groom in the

palace stables. The prince had changed his name and he had no chance

of knowing that his wife was in the palace, because she was confined

to the women's apartments; so some years passed without their having

news of each other.

At last one day the princess happened to go on to the roof and looking

down at the stables saw and thought she recognised her husband;

then she leaned over and listened till she heard his voice and at

that she was sure that it was he, so she hastened to the Raja and

begged to be allowed to meet her husband, and the Raja sent to call

the syce with the name which the princess had given but no one came,

for the prince would not reveal himself. Then the princess told their

story and how her husband had gambled away his half of the kingdom. The

Raja ordered any one with such a history to come forward, as his wife

was in the palace; but the prince did not reveal himself.

Then the princess said "Let all the syces cook rice and bring me a

bit of each man's cooking to taste." They did so, and when she tasted

the rice cooked by her husband, she at once said that it was his; her

husband was unable to deny it and admitted everything. Then they took

him away from his work in the stables and let him live with his wife.

After a time the Raja wrote to the younger brother asking whether

he would restore the half of the kingdom which he had won; and the

younger brother answered that he would gladly do so, if his brother

would sign an agreement never to gamble any more; it was with this

object in view and to teach him the folly of his ways that he had

dispossessed him. The elder brother gladly gave the required promise

and returned to his kingdom with his faithful wife and lived happily

ever afterwards.

XLIII. The Raibar and the Leopard.

Once upon a time a _Raibar_ was going backwards and forwards between

two families arranging a marriage and part of the road which he used

to travel ran through a forest.

One day as he was going to the bride's house he took a sack with

him intending to try and get the loan of some Indian corn from the

bride's relations; but as he was passing through the piece of jungle

he suddenly met a leopard; he was terribly frightened but collecting

his wits he addressed the animal thus "Leopard; I beg you not to eat

me; I am engaged on a work of great merit, I am making two men out

of one." This address amazed the leopard and he at once asked the

_raibar_ whether he could make him into two, and promised that if

he could his life should be spared. The _raibar_ answered readily

"Seeing that in pursuit of my profession I have made two men out of

one all over the country, of course I can make you into two leopards

if I try; all you have to do is to get into this sack and keep quiet;

if you utter a sound you will spoil the charm."

"Well," said the leopard, "I will try and see; I undertake to keep

quite quiet, and if you are successful I promise to tell the whole race

of leopards to spare the lives of _raibars_." So saying the leopard

jumped into the sack and allowed the man to tie him up tightly in

it. No sooner was this done than the _raibar_ took the sack on his

head and carried it to the bank of a river and having given it two

or three hearty whacks with his stick threw it into the water. The

sack went floating down the stream and it happened that lower down a

leopardess sat watching the water and when she saw the sack coming

along she thought that it was a dead cow floating down. So when it

came near she jumped into the water and pulled it ashore.

She then proceeded to tear open the sack, when out jumped the first

leopard; he soon explained how he came to be in the sack, and declared

that the _raibar's_ promise had been fulfilled and that she was his

destined mate. The leopardess agreed and the two set to work to tell

all the other leopards what had happened and what a kindness the

_raibar_ had done them; and so it came to pass that to the present

day leopards never interfere with _raibars_ when they are going about

arranging a marriage; no one ever heard of one being injured.

Meanwhile the _raibar_ went on his way rejoicing at having rid himself

of the leopard. But the next year, while engaged on the business of

another marriage, the _raibar_ was passing through the same jungle

when he came face to face with the very leopard that he thought he

had safely disposed of; he at once took to his heels, but the leopard

called out to him not to be afraid and to wait, as he had something

to say to him. So the _raibar_ stopped and the leopard asked whether

he did not recognise him; the _raibar_ stoutly denied all knowledge

of him. "Well," said the leopard "I am the leopard of whom you made

two out of one, and to show my gratitude I will give you any reward

you like; would you like a cow or a deer or any other animal? I will

kill you one and bring it to you."

When the _raibar_ saw the turn that things had taken he thought that

he had better take advantage of it, so he asked for a good large

nilgai. The leopard told him to come to a certain tree at noon the

next day and he would find the animal there. So they separated and the

next day at noon the _raibar_ went to the tree and found a fine nilgai

waiting for him, which he and his friends took home and ate with joy.

XLIV. The Ungrateful Snake.

There was once a Raja and his dewan and they each had one son;

these sons were married in infancy but as they grew up they never

heard anything about their having been married. When the boys reached

manhood and found no arrangements being made for their weddings they

began to wonder at the delay and often talked about it, and in the end

they agreed to run away to another country. Soon after this resolve

of theirs some horse dealers came to their home with horses to sell;

the two youths at once saw that if they could each have a horse and

learn to ride it, it would be easy for them to run away from home. So

they hurried to their fathers and begged them to buy them each one of

the beautiful horses which the dealers had brought. The Raja and the

dewan did not like to disappoint their sons so they bought the horses,

to the great delight of the boys, who used to ride them every day.

One day the Raja's son was out riding by himself and he passed by

a tank where a number of women and girls were bathing and drawing

water; as he came galloping along the women ran back in a fright;

and as they could not draw their water while he was there, an old

woman came up to him and told him to go away and not stay making eyes

at the girls as if he had no wife of his own: "What wife have I?",

said the prince, "I know nothing of having been married." "You were

married sure enough when you were an infant," replied the old woman:

"your wife is still in her father's house, but now that you have

grown up they will probably bring her home to you this year."

Then the prince asked where his wife lived and having learnt the name

of the village he galloped off home and at once began to question his

mother about his marriage; his mother told him that they intended to

have the bride brought home that year, but the prince was impatient

and proposed that he should go off at once to his father-in-law's and

see his wife, and try to persuade them to let her come back with him

without any ceremony; his mother made no objection, so he got ready

for the journey and started off on horseback. He had not gone far

when he saw a field of thatching grass on fire, and in the middle,

surrounded by the flames, was a huge poisonous snake, unable to escape.

As the prince rode by, the snake called out to him "Prince, you are

going joyously to bring home your bride, and here am I in danger of

being burned alive; will you not have pity on me and save me? If you do

I will confer a boon on you." "But if I save you," objected the prince,

"you will only eat me: snakes do not know what gratitude is." "I am

not of that kind," answered the snake: "here I am in danger of death,

I beseech you to have pity on me." These pleadings prevailed and the

prince got off his horse and beat out the fire and then spread a cloth

over the embers so that the snake could crawl out. When the snake was

safe the prince asked for the boon that had been promised him: "No boon

will you get" said the snake: "you did a foolhardy thing in saving me,

for now I am going to eat you, and you cannot escape from me."

The prince saw that there was little hope for him but he begged the

snake to allow two or three judges to decide whether it was fair that

he should be killed, after what he had done. The snake agreed to this

provided that the judges were not human beings; he was willing to be

bound by the opinions of any one else.