so that the princess might not feel that the dog she had married had
no friends in the world. Off they set and when they reached the Raja's
palace they were amazed to find their younger brother and still more
so when they heard the story of all that had happened to him.
They immediately decided to take vengeance on their wives and when
they reached home gave orders for a large well to be dug: when it
was ready they told their wives to join in the consecration ceremony
which was to ensure a pure and plentiful supply of water: so the
six witches went to the well and while their attention was occupied,
their husbands pushed them all into the well and filled it up with
earth and that was the end of the witches.
XCIV. Birluri and Birbanta.
Birluri was of the Goala caste and Birbanta of the oilman's caste. And
this is the story of their fight.
Birluri was very rich, with great herds of cattle and buffaloes but
Birbanta's wealth consisted in tanks and ponds. Birluri used every
day to water his cattle at Birbanta's ponds: and this made Birbanta
very angry: he felt it an injustice that though Birluri was so rich
he would not dig his own ponds: so he sent word that Birluri must
stop watering his cattle or he would be killed. Birluri answered
the messengers that he was quite ready to fight Birbanta: for though
Birbanta had made the tanks, it was God who had made the water in them
and so he considered that his cattle had a perfect right to drink the
water. When Birbanta heard this he fell into a rage and vowed that
he would not let the cattle drink, but would kill every living thing
that went down to the water. From that day he let no one drink from
his tanks: when women went to draw water he used to smash their water
pots and put the rims round their necks like necklaces: all wild birds
and animals he shot: and the cattle and buffaloes he cut down with his
axe: and at last he proceeded to kill any human beings who went there.
When the Raja of the country heard this he was very angry and bade
his _sipahis_ search for some one strong enough to overcome and kill
Birbanta: and he promised as a reward the hand of one of his daughters
and half his kingdom. So the _sipahis_ made proclamation all through
the country and at last Birluri heard of it and volunteered to fight
Birbanta. Then the Raja fixed a day for the fight, so that all the
country might know and Birbanta also have due warning.
Both the combatants made ready for the fray: Birbanta was armed with
a sword and a shield like a cart wheel and was skilful at sword play,
while Birluri's weapon was the quarter-staff. The day arrived and
Birluri girded up his loins and set out, twirling his staff round
his head. Now his father and mother were both dead; but on the road
his mother met him in the guise of an old woman, so that he did not
recognise her. She greeted him and asked where he was going and when
she heard that it was to fight Birbanta she said "My son, you are very
strong: but if he asks for water do not give it him, for if you do,
he will assuredly kill you: but when he throws away his sword, do you
make haste and take it and slay him with it." So saying she went on her
way and when Birluri came within a _kos_ of the fighting place he began
to twirl his staff and he made such a cloud of dust that it became
dark as night and in the darkness the staff gleamed like lightning.
When Birbanta saw this he rose up and shouted "Here comes my enemy:
I will fight my best and we will see who will conquer" and when he saw
Birluri armed only with a quarter-staff he felt sure that he would
not be overcome by such a weapon: so he grasped his sword and took
his shield on his arm and went out to the fight The fray was fast
and furious: Birbanta hacked and hacked with his sword but Birluri
caught all the blows on his quarterstaff and took no injury. At
last the end of the staff was hacked off leaving a sharp point:
then Birluri transfixed Birbanta with the pointed end and Birbanta
faltered: again he thrust him through and Birbanta acknowledged
himself defeated, saying "My life is yours: let me drink some water
at your hands before you kill me." So Birluri agreed to a truce and
they stopped fighting. Then Birluri cut down a palm tree and dipped
it into Birbanta's tank and holding out the end to Birbanta told him
to suck it. Birbanta refused to take it and asked him to give him
water in his hands: but Birluri remembered his mother's warning and
refused. Then Birbanta in despair threw away his sword and shield
and Birluri snatched up the sword and smote off his head: and this
is the song of victory which Birluri sang.--
"Birbanta stopped the _ghat_ for the golden oxen--
The dust is raised up to heaven!
Birbanta sat by the _ghat_ of the oxen--
The lightning is flashing in the sky!
He has made an embankment: he has made a tank:
But the water he collected in it, has become his enemy!"
Then Birluri was taken to the Raja and married to one of the Raja's
daughters and given one half of the Raja's kingdom.
After a time Birluri told his wife that they must go back to his
home to look after the large herds of cattle which he had left behind
him. But his wife laughed at him and would not believe that he owned
so much property: then Birluri said that if she would not go with
him he would call the cattle to come to him: so he called them all by
name and the great herd came running to the Raja's palace and filled
the whole barn yard and as there was no room for them to stay there,
they went away into the jungle and became wild cattle.
XCV. The Killing of the Rakhas.
Once upon a time a certain country was ravaged by a Rakhas to such
an extent that there were only the Raja and a few ryots left. When
things came to this pass, the Raja saw that something must be done:
for he could not be left alone in the land. Ryots need a Raja and a
Raja needs ryots: if he had no ryots where was he to get money for
his support: and he repeated the verse of the poet Kalidas:
"When the jungle is destroyed, the deer are in trouble without jungle:
When the Raja is destroyed, the ryots are in trouble without their Raja:
When the good wife of the house is destroyed, good fortune flees away."
So thinking the Raja made a proclamation throughout all the land that
if any one could kill the Rakhas he would reward him with the hand of
one of his daughters and half his kingdom. This proclamation was read
out by the headman of a certain village to the assembled villagers
and among the crowd was a mischievous youth, named Jhalka, who when
he heard the proclamation called out that he could kill the Rakhas in
ten minutes. The villagers turned on him "Why don't you go and do so:
then you would marry the Raja's daughter and we should all bow down
to you." At the thought of this Jhalka began to skip about crying "I
will finish him off in no time." The headman heard him and took him
at his word and wrote to the Raja that in his village there was a man
who undertook to kill the Rakhas. When Jhalka heard this he hurried
to the headman and explained that he had only been joking. "I cannot
treat such things as a joke" answered the headman: "Don't you know
that this is a Raja's matter: to deal with Rajas is the same as to
deal with _bongas_: you may make a promise to the _bongas_ in jest,
but they will not let you off it on that plea. You are much too fond
of playing the fool."
Ten or twelve days later sipahis came from the Raja to fetch Jhalka:
he told them that he had only spoken in jest and did not want to go
to the Raja, but they took him away all the same.
Before he started he picked out a well-tempered battle axe and begged
his father to propitiate the _bongas_ and pray that he might be
saved from the Rakhas. When he was produced before the Raja, Jhalka
again tried to explain that there had been a mistake, but the Raja
told him that he would be taken at his word and must go and kill the
Rakhas. Then he saw that there was nothing left for him but to put
his trust in God: so he asked that he might be given two mirrors and
a large box and when these were brought he had the box taken to the
foot of a large banyan tree which grew by a ford in the river which
flowed by the hill in which the Rakhas lived: it was at this ford
that the Rakhas used to lie in wait for prey.
Left alone there Jhalka put one of the mirrors into the box and then
tightened his cloth and climbed the banyan tree with his battle axe
and the other mirror. He was not at all happy as he waited for the
Rakhas, thinking of all the people who had been killed as they passed
along the road below the tree: however he was determined to outwit
the Rakhas if he could. All night long he watched in vain but just at
dawn the Rakhas appeared. At the sight of him Jhalka shook so much
with fright that the branches of the tree swayed. The Rakhas smelt
that there was a human being about and looking up into the tree saw
the branches waving. "Ha," said he, "here is my breakfast."' Jhalka
retorted "Ha! here is another Rakhas to match those I have got"
"What are you talking about?" asked the Rakhas: "I am glad to have
met you at last" returned Jhalka. "Why?" asked the Rakhas, "and what
are you trembling for?" "I am trembling with rage: we shall now see
whether I am to eat you or you are to eat me."
"Come down and try."
"No, you come up here and try."
Jhalka would not leave the tree and the Rakhas would not climb it:
so they waited. At last the Rakhas asked "Who are you? I have seen a
thousand men like you" And Jhalka answered "Who are you? I have seen
a thousand like you." At this the Rakhas began to hesitate and wonder
whether Jhalka was really his equal in strength, so he changed the
subject and asked what the big box was. "That is the box into which
I put Rakhases like you when I catch them; I have got plenty more at
home." "How many are there in the box?" "Two or three."
The Rakhas asked to see them, but Jhalka would not leave the tree until
the Rakhas had sworn an oath to do him no harm; then he came down and
opened the box and made the Rakhas look into the mirror inside the box;
and he also held up the second mirror saying that there was another
Rakhas. The Rakhas was fascinated at the sight of his own reflection;
when he grinned or opened his mouth the reflection did the same; and
while he was amusing himself with making different grimaces Jhalka
suddenly cut him down with the battleaxe, and he fell down dead. Then
Jhalka cut off the ears and tongue and toes and hastened with them
to the Raja. When it was found that the Rakhas was really dead the
Raja assembled all his subjects and in their presence married Jhalka
to his daughter and made over to him half the kingdom and gave him
horses and elephants and half of everything in his palace.
XCVI. The Children and the Vultures.
Once upon a time all the women of a village went to the jungle to
gather _karla_ fruit; and one of them was pregnant. In the jungle she
felt that her time was come and she went aside without telling any
of her friends and gave birth to twin boys. The other women went on
gathering fruit and when they had filled their baskets and were on
their way home they noticed that one of their number was missing,
but as it was late they were afraid to go back and look for her,
and besides they felt sure that she must have been devoured by some
wild animal.
Meanwhile the mother of the twins began to call to her friends,
but they were far out of hearing; so she debated whether she should
carry home the two babes or her basket of _karla_ fruit; she did
not feel strong enough to carry both the infants in her arms and so
she decided to take the basket of fruit, especially as she would
probably have plenty more children, while the _karla_ fruit could
not be replaced. She covered the twins with leaves of the Asan tree
and went home.
But when her husband heard what had happened he was very angry,
and scolded her well; she could easily have thrown away the fruit
and carried home the children in the basket instead of taking so
much trouble about the _karla_ fruit, as if no one had ever seen
any before. He wanted to take a few friends and go and look for the
children at once; but his father and mother begged him not to risk his
life in the jungle at night; the woman had been a fool but that could
not be remedied; people must learn by experience; as the Hindu proverb
says "When your caste goes, wisdom comes." They could not allow the
breadwinner of the family to risk his life; though the roof and doors
of the house had gone, the walls remained; as long as the tree stood
new branches would grow; but if the tree fell there was no more hope;
so in the end the children were left where they were.
No sooner had the mother gone than a pair of king vultures swooped down
to make a meal of the children but they cried so pitifully that the
vultures had hot the heart to kill them but instead carried them up
to their nest and brought them food: and nurtured them. And when the
children began to walk they carried them down to the ground and when
they were big enough to take care of themselves they told them to go
into the neighbouring villages and beg; but they forbade them to go
towards the village in which their real parents lived. So every day
the two boys went out begging, and as they went from house to house,
they sang:--
"Our mother took away the _karla_ fruit
She covered us up with Asan leaves.
The pair of King vultures
Reared us.--Give us alms."
And people had pity on them and gave them enough to live on. One day
the two boys thought that they would go and see what the country was
like in the direction which had been forbidden to them; so they set
out singing their usual song, and when they came to the house where
their mother lived she heard them sing and knew that they must be her
children; so she called them and bathed them and oiled their bodies
and told them that she was their mother and they were very glad to
stay with her.
But when the children did not return, the vultures flew in search
of them and circled round and round in the air looking for them. The
mother saw them and knew what they wanted, so she took the children
into the house and hid them under a large basket. But the vultures flew
down to the house and tore a hole in the thatch and entered through it
and overturned the basket and seized the children. Then the father and
mother also caught hold of them and the vultures pulled and the parents
pulled until the children were torn in two and the vultures flew away
with the portions they had secured. The father and mother sorrowfully
burnt on a pyre the remains of the children that were left to them.
The vultures when they reached their nest were unwilling to eat the
flesh of the children they had reared, so they set fire to their nest;
but as the flames rose high, some juice spirted out from the burning
flesh on to the vultures and they tasted it and found it so good
that they pulled the rest of the flesh out of the flames and ate it,
and from that time vultures feed on human bodies.
XCVII. The Ferryman.
There was once a ferryman who plied a ferry across a big river, and he
had two wives. By the elder wife he had five sons and by the younger
only one. When he grew old he gave up work himself and left his sons
to manage the boats; but the step-brothers could not agree and were
always quarrelling. So the father gave one boat to the son of the
younger wife and told him to work it by himself at a separate crossing
higher up the river, while the five other brothers plied to old ferry.
It turned out that most passengers used to cross at the youngest
brother's ferry and as he had no one to share the profits with him,
his earnings were very large. Because of this he used to jeer at his
other brothers who were not so well off. This made them hate him more
than ever, and they resolved to be revenged; so one day when he was
alone in the boat they set it adrift down the river without any oars.
As he drifted helplessly down the river he saw a river snake, as
long as the river was broad, waiting for him with open mouth. He
thought that his last hour had come, but he seized a knife which was
in the boat and waited. When the stream brought him within reach,
the snake swallowed him, boat and all, and swam to the bank. When he
felt the snake climbing up the bank he began to cut his way out of its
stomach with his knife, and soon made a wound which killed the snake
and enabled him to make his way out and pull out the boat. Then he
looked about him and saw a large village near by; so he went towards
it to tell the villagers how he had killed the great snake. But when
he reached it he found it deserted; he went from house to house but
found no one. At last he came to a house in which there was one girl,
who told him that she was the only inhabitant left, as the great river
snake had eaten up all the other people. Then he told her how he had
killed the snake and took her to see its dead body. The village was
full of the wealth left by its former inhabitants; so he and the girl
decided to stay there, and there were such riches that they lived
like a Raja and Rani.
One morning his wife told him that she had had a dream, in which
she was warned that he must on no account go out towards the south
of the village; but he laughed at her, because he had up to that
time moved about wherever he liked without any harm. She begged him
to listen to her advice, because it was by her wisdom that she had
saved her life when every one else in the village had been killed,
so for a few days he obeyed her, but one morning he took a sword and
went off towards the south. He had not gone far when he came to a cow,
which had fallen into a pit, and it called to him. "Oh Brother, I have
fallen into great trouble; help me out and one day I will do the same
to you, if you ask my aid." So he took pity on the cow and pulled it
out. Going on a little further he came to a buffalo which had stuck
fast in a bog and it also called to him for help and promised to do
the like for him in case of need. So he pulled it out of the mud,
and went on his way. Presently he came to a well and from the depths
of the well a man who had fallen into it cried to him for help; so he
went and pulled him up; but no sooner had the man reached the surface
than he turned and pushed his rescuer down the well and ran away.
His wife waited and waited for his return and when he did not come,
she divined that he had gone towards the south in spite of her
warning. So she went to look for him and presently found him at the
bottom of the well. So she let down a rope and pulled him up and gave
him a scolding for his folly.
After this they thought it best to leave that country, so they embarked
on the boat and travelled back to his father's house.
XCVIII. Catching a Thief.
There was once a rich Raja; and in order to frighten away thieves
whenever he woke up at night he used to call out--
"What are you people saying? I know all about it:
You are digging the earth and throwing the earth away:
I know all about it: you are skulking there scraping a hole."
One night a gang of thieves really came and began to dig a hole
through the mud wall of the Raja's house. And while they were at work
the Raja woke up and called out as usual. The thieves thought that
they were discovered and bolted. The next morning the hole they had
been making was found, and the Raja ordered his sipahies to catch the
thieves. The head of all the thieves was a Bhuyan by caste and for
five rupees he would catch any thief you wanted. So the sipahies were
told to bring this Bhuyan and they went to a potter and asked. "Ho,
maker of pots, he who makes whole paddy into _china_: where does he
live?" And the potter answered. "He who heats pewter; his house is
over there." Following this direction they found the Bhuyan and he
caught the thieves for them.
CHAPTER XCIX
XCIX. The Grasping Raja.
There was once a Raja who was very rich. He was a stern man and
overbearing and would brook no contradiction. Not one of his servants
or his subjects dared to question his orders; if they did so they got
nothing but abuse and blows. He was a grasping man too; if a cow or a
goat strayed into his herds he would return the animal if its owner
claimed in the same day; but he would not listen to any claim made
later. He was so proud that he thought that there was no one in the
world wiser than himself.
It happened that a certain man living in the kingdom of this Raja
lost a cow; one evening it did not come back to its stall from
the grazing-ground; so the next day he set out to search for it and
questioned every one he met. He soon got news that a cow like his had
been seen in the Raja's herd. So he went to look, and there, among
the Raja's cattle, he saw his own cow. He asked the cowherd to let him
take it away; but the cowherd refused to do so without a written order
from the Raja. So the owner went off to the Raja and claimed his cow;
but the Raja would not listen and gave him only abuse and turned him
out. Then he went to his friends and asked them to help him but they
were afraid to do anything and advised him to regard the cow as lost
for good.
So the unfortunate man took his way homeward very unhappily; on the way
he sat down by the bank of a stream and began to bewail his loss. As
he cried, Thakur took pity on him and sent a jackal to him. The jackal
came and asked why he was crying, and when it had heard the story of
the loss of the cow, it said "Cheer up! go back to the Raja and tell
him that you want a panchayat to settle the matter about the cow;
and that you intend to call one whether he agrees to abide by its
decision or no. If he agrees, come back quickly to me and I will
arrange to get back your cow for you." So off went the owner of the
cow to the Raja and told him that he wanted to call a panchayat. The
Raja made no objection and bade him call the neighbours together. The
poor man did so and then hurried off to the jackal and told it how
things had turned out. The jackal returned with him to the outskirts
of the city and then sent him to the Raja to say that the panchayat
must be held on the plain outside the city--for the jackal was afraid
of the dogs in the city.
When the Raja received this message it made him very angry, however he
went outside the city and met the panchayat and ordered them to get
to business quickly. Then the owner of the cow stood up and told his
story and the neighbours who had assembled called to him encouragingly,
but the jackal sat in the background and pretended to be asleep. When
the tale was finished, the Raja told the people who had assembled to
give their decision, but they were all so afraid of the Raja that not
one ventured to speak. As they kept silence the Raja turned to the
owner of the cow. "Well, where are the people who are going to judge
the case? No one here will say a word." "That is my judge," said the
man pointing to the jackal. "Why it is fast asleep; what sort of a
judge is that?" But just then the jackal shook itself and said. "I
have had a most remarkable dream." "There, he has been dreaming,
instead of listening to the case." exclaimed the Raja.
"O Raja don't be so scornful" said the jackal, "I am a cleverer judge
than you." "You, who are you? I have grown old in judging cases and
finding out the truth; and you dare to talk to me like that!" "Well,"
retorted the jackal, "if you are so clever guess the meaning of my
dream; and if you cannot, give the man back his cow; if you can say
what it means, I will acknowledge that you are fit to be a Raja. This
is what I dreamt.--I saw three die in one place; one from sleepiness;
one from anger and one from greed. Tell me what were the three and
how did they come to be in one place."
This riddle puzzled every one, but the friends of the man who had
lost his cow saw their opportunity and began to call out to the Raja
to be quick and give the answer. The Raja made several guesses, but
the jackal each time said that he was wrong, and asserted that the
real answer would strike every one present as satisfactory. The Raja
was completely puzzled and then suggested that there was no coherency
in dreams: if the jackal had had some meaningless dream, no one could
guess it. "No," said the jackal, "you just now laughed at the idea that
any one should come to a panchayat and go to sleep; and what you said
was true; I would not really go to sleep on an occasion like this;
and I did not really dream. Now show that you are cleverer than I;
if you can, you keep the cow."
The Raja thought and thought in vain, and at last asked to be told the
answer to the puzzle. First the jackal made him write out a promise
to restore the cow and to pay twenty-five rupees to the panchayat;
and then it began:--"In a forest lived a wild elephant and every
night it wandered about grazing and in the day it returned to its
retreat in a certain hill. One dawn as it was on its way back after
a night's feeding, it felt so sleepy that it lay down where it was;
and it happened that its body blocked the entrance to a hole which
was a poisonous snake. When the snake wanted to come out and found
the way blocked, it got angry and in its rage bit the elephant and the
elephant died then and there. Presently a jackal came prowling by and
saw the elephant lying dead; it could not restrain itself from such a
feast and choosing a place where the skin was soft began to tear at
the flesh. Soon it made such a large hole that it got quite inside
the elephant and still went on eating. But when the sun grew strong,
the elephant's skin shrunk and closed the hole and the jackal could
not get out again and died miserably inside the elephant. The snake
too in its hole soon died from want of food and air. So the elephant
met its death through sleepiness and the snake through anger and the
jackal through greed. This is the answer to the puzzle, but Chando
prevented your guessing it, because you unjustly took the poor man's
cow and as a lesson to you that he is lord of all, of the poor and
weak as well as of Rajas and Princes."
When the jackal concluded all present cried out that the answer was
a perfect one; but the Raja said "I don't think much of that; I know
a lot of stories like that myself." However he had to give back the
cow and pay twenty-five rupees to the panchayat. In gratitude to the
jackal the owner of the cow bought a goat and gave it to the jackal
and then the jackal went away and was seen no more.
C. The Prince Who Would Not Marry.
There was once a Raja who in spite of having many wives was childless;
and his great desire was to have a son. He made many vows and performed
every ceremony that was recommended to him, but in vain. At last a
Jogi came to his kingdom and hearing of his case told him that if he
would pray to Thakur and give away to the poor one-fourth of all his
wealth, he should have a son.
The Raja followed the Jogi's advice, and in due time his youngest wife
bore him a son; a son so fair and so beautiful that there was no one
on earth to match him. When the boy grew up, they began to think about
his marriage and the Raja said that he would only marry him to a bride
as fair and as beautiful as himself. It did not matter whether she were
poor or rich, all that was needful was that she should be a match for
his son in looks. So messengers were sent out to all the surrounding
kingdoms to look for such a bride. They searched for years; nine years,
ten years passed and still no bride was found to match in looks the
Prince. After ten years had passed the Prince heard of this search and
he went to his father and announced that he did not wish to marry; and
that if he ever should wish to do so, he would find a wife for himself.
The Raja was very angry at this and said that the Prince wished to
bring him to shame; every one would say that the Raja was too mean
to arrange a marriage for his only son. But the Prince was obstinate
and persisted that he did not wish the Raja to take any steps in the
matter. At this the Raja grew more and more angry, until at last he
ordered the Prince to be taken to prison and kept there, until he
promised to marry any one whom his father chose.
Every day the warders asked whether he would yield and every day he
refused; and it is impossible to say how long he would have languished
in prison, had not the wife of the Parganna of the Bongas come one
night to the prison with two other bongas. They began to talk about
the Prince's hard case. The warders heard them talking, but could see
no one. The Bonga Parganna's wife proposed that they should provide
a _bonga_ bride for the Prince, for it was certain that no human
bride could be his match for beauty. The two bongas agreed that it
was a good idea but the Prince had declared that he would not marry
and that was a difficulty. "Let him see the bride I offer him and see
what happens" answered the old _Bonga's_ wife. So the next night when
the Prince was asleep a beautiful bonga maiden was brought to the
prison and when he awoke he saw her sitting by his side. He fell in
love with her at first sight and exchanging rings with her promised
that she should be his wife.
Then the warders, who had been watching, ran to the Raja and told him
that the Prince had agreed to marry. The Raja came and took the Prince
and his bride out of the prison, and the wedding was celebrated with
great rejoicings throughout the kingdom.
CI. The Prince Who Found Two Wives.
There was once a Raja who had an only son. When the Prince grew up the
courtiers proposed to the Raja that he should arrange for his son's
marriage; the Raja however wished to postpone it for a time. So the
courtiers used to laugh and say to the Prince "Wait a little and
we will find you a couple of wives;" the young man would answer,
"What is that? I can find them for myself. If you offered to find me
ten or twelve wives there would be something in it." The Raja heard
of his boasting like this and was very angry and said "Well if he is
so sure that he can find a wife for himself, let him do it;" and he
took no further steps to arrange for his son's marriage.
Now the Prince had a most beautiful voice and used also to play on
the one-stringed lute. He used often to sit up half the night singing
and playing to himself. One night as he sat singing, he heard a laugh
and looking round saw a beautiful _bonga_ girl. He asked who she was
and how she had come there, and she told him that she lived close
by and could not help coming to see who it was, who was singing so
beautifully. After that she used to visit the Prince every night,
but always disappeared before dawn. This went on for some weeks
and then the Prince asked her to stay and be his wife. She agreed,
provided he would first go to her home and see her relations. So
the next night he went with her; and found that her father was also
a Raja and very rich. He stayed there three or four days; while his
mysterious disappearance caused the greatest consternation at his own
home. However he returned quietly by night and was found sleeping as
usual in his bed one morning. Then he told his parents all that had
happened and how he had left his wife behind at her father's house.
Two or three days later the Prince fell very ill: every sort of remedy
was tried in vain. As he grew worse and worse, one day a messenger came
from his father-in-law and offered to cure him if he were removed to
his wife's house. So he was carried thither and when he arrived he
found that his wife was also very ill; but directly he was brought
to where she lay, at the mere sight of each other they both became
well again.
After some months the Prince and his wife set out to return to their
own home. They were benighted on the way; so they tied their horses
to a tree and prepared to camp under it. The Prince went to a bazar
to buy provisions and while there, was arrested on a false charge
and was sent to prison. The Princess waited and waited and at last
felt sure that something must have detained him against his will. She
would not leave the spot, and to make it less likely that she should
be molested, she dressed herself as a man.
Some days passed and the Prince did not return; then one morning an
old woman passing by came and asked for a light for her hookah, and
stayed talking for some time. The old woman was struck by the sweet
face and gentle voice of the stranger, and on her return told the
daughter of the Raja of that country that there was a strange young
man, who looked and talked very differently from any of the young men
of that neighbourhood. The Raja's daughter was curious to see him,
and the next morning she went with the old woman and talked with the
disguised Princess. Before she left she was deeply in love with him,
and directly she reached home she sent word to her father that she
had seen the man whom she must marry. "It is of no use to thwart
one's children," said the Raja and at once sent messengers to bring
the stranger to marry his daughter.
When the disguised Princess was brought before the Raja, she said
that she had no objection to being married provided that it was done
according to the custom of her own country, and that was that the
vermilion should be applied to the bride's forehead with a sword. The
Raja made no objection; so the Princess took her husband's sword and
put vermilion on it and then applied it to the bride's forehead; and
so the marriage was complete. But when the Princess was left alone
with her bride, she confessed that she was a woman and told her all
her history and how her husband had disappeared in the bazar.
Then the Raja's daughter went to her father and told him what had
happened and had enquiries made and speedily had the Prince released
from prison. Then the prince himself again put vermilion on the
forehead of the Raja's daughter, and a few days later set off home
with both his wives. This was the way in which he found two wives
for himself, as he had boasted that he would.
CII. The Unfaithful Wife.
Once upon a time there were two brothers and as their wives did not
get on well together, they lived separately. After a time it came
to the ears of the elder brother that the younger brother's wife
was carrying on an intrigue with a certain Jugi; so he made up his
mind to watch her movements. One night he saw a white figure leave
his brother's house and, following it quietly, he saw it go into the
Jugi's house, and creeping nearer, he heard his sister-in-law's voice
talking inside. He was much grieved at what he had seen, but could
not make up his mind to tell his brother.
One day the elder brother found that he had no milk in the house,
as all his cows had run dry; so he sent a servant to his brother's
house to ask for some milk; but the younger brother's wife declined
to give any, and sent word that her brother-in-law was quite rich
enough to buy milk cows if he wanted milk. The elder brother said
nothing at this rebuff, but after a time it happened that the younger
brother's cows all became dry, and he in his turn sent to his elder
brother for milk. The elder brother's wife was not disposed to give
it, but her husband bade her not bear malice and to send the milk.
After this the elder brother sent for the other and advised him to
watch his wife and see where she went to at night. So that night the
younger brother lay awake and watched; and in the middle of the night
saw his wife get up very quietly and leave the house. He followed her;
as the woman passed down the village street, some Mahommedans, who had
been sitting up smoking ganja, saw her and emboldened by the drug set
out to see who it was, who was wandering about so late at night. The
woman took refuge in a clump of bamboos and pulled down one of the
bamboos to conceal herself. The Mahommedans surrounded the clump but
when they saw the one bamboo which the woman held shaking, while all
the rest were still--for it was a windless night--they concluded that
it was an evil spirit that they were pursuing and ran away in a panic.
When they were gone, the woman came out from the bamboos and went on to
the Jugi's house. Her husband who had been watching all that happened
followed her: and having seen her enter the Jugi's house hastened
home and bolted his door from inside. Presently his wife returned
and found the door which she had left ajar, fastened; then she knew
that she was discovered. She was however full of resource; she began
to beg to be let her in, but her husband only showered abuse upon her
and bade her go back to the friend she had left. Then she took a large
stone and heaved it into a pool of water near the house. Her husband
heard the splash and concluded that she was drowning herself. He did
not want to get into trouble with the police, as would surely be the
case if his wife were found drowned, so he ran out of the house to the
pool of water to try and save her. Seizing this opportunity his wife
slipped into the house and in her turn locked the door from inside;
so that her husband had to spend the rest of the night out-of-doors.
He could not be kept out of the house permanently and the next day he
gave his wife a thrashing and turned her out. At evening however she
came back and sat outside in the courtyard, weeping and wailing. The
noise made her husband more angry than ever, and he shouted out to her
that if she did not keep quiet he would come and cut off her nose. She
kept on crying, and the Jugi heard her and sent an old woman to call
her to him. She declared that if she went her husband would know and be
the more angry with her, but she might go if the old woman would sit
in her place and keep on crying, so that her husband might believe
her to be still in the courtyard. The old woman agreed and began
to weep and wail, while the other went off to the Jugi. She wept to
such purpose that the husband at last could not restrain his anger,
and rushing out into the darkness with a knife, cut off the nose,
as he supposed, of his wife.
Presently the wife came back and found the old woman weeping in real
earnest over the loss of her nose. "Never mind, I'll find it and fix it
on for you," so saying she felt about for the nose till she found it,
clapped it on to the old woman's face and told her to hold it tight
and it would soon grow again. Then she sat down where she had sat
before and began to lament the cruelty of her husband in bringing a
false charge against her and challenged him to come out and see the
miracle which had occurred to indicate her innocence. She repeated
this so often that at last her husband began to wonder what she meant,
and took a lamp and went out to see. When he found her sitting on the
ground without a blemish on her face, although he had seen her with
his own eyes go to the Jugi's house, he could not doubt her virtue
and had to receive her back into the house.
Thus by her cunning the faithless wife escaped the punishment which
she deserved.
CIII. The Industrious Bride.
Once upon a time a party of three or four men went to a village to
see if a certain girl would make a suitable bride for the son of one
of their friends; and while they were talking to her, another young
woman came up. The visitors asked the first girl where her father
was and she told them that he had gone to "meet water."
Then they asked where her mother was, and she said that she had gone
"to make two men out of one." These answers puzzled the questioners,
and they did not know what more to say; as they stood silent the other
girl got up and went away remarking, "While I have been waiting here,
I might have carded a seer of cotton." The men who were looking for
a girl who would make a good wife, at once concluded that they had
found what they wanted: "How industrious she must be to talk like
that" thought they--"much better than this other girl who can only
give us incomprehensible answers." And before they left the village
they set everything in train for a match between their friend's son
and the girl who seemed so industrious.
When they got home and told their wives what they had done they
got well laughed at: their wives declared that it was quite easy to
understand what the first girl had meant: of course she meant that
her father had gone to reap thatching grass and her mother had gone
to thresh _dal_. The poor men only gaped with astonishment at this
explanation.
However the marriage they had arranged duly took place, but the fact
was that the bride was entirely ignorant of how to clean and spin
cotton. It was not long before this was found out, for, in the spring,
when there was no work in the fields, her father-in-law set all the
women of the household to spinning cotton; and told them that they
and their husbands should have no new clothes until they had finished
their task. The bride, who had been so carefully chosen, tried to learn
how to spin by watching the others, but all in vain. The other women
laughed at her efforts and she protested that it was the fault of the
spinning wheel: it did not know her; her mother's spinning wheel knew
her well and she could spin capitally with that. They jeered at the
idea of a spinning wheel having eyes and being able to recognise its
owner; however one day the young woman went and fetched her mother's
spinning wheel and tried to spin with that. She got on no better than
before, and could only explain it by saying that the spinning wheel
had forgotten her.
Whatever the reason was, the other women all finished their spinning
and received their new clothes, while she had nothing to show. Then her
father-in-law scolded her and told her that it was too late to make
other arrangements and as she could not get any new clothes the best
thing for her to do would be to smear her body with _Gur_ and stick
raw cotton all over it. A _parrab_ soon came round and all the other
women got out their new clothes and went to see the fun. The clumsy
bride had no new clothes and she took her father-in-law's advice and
smeared her body with _gur_ and covered herself with raw cotton and
so went to the _parrab_.
Her husband was very angry that she should have taken her
father-in-law's jest in earnest, and when she came home he gave her
a good beating and turned her out of the house. And that was the end
of the "industrious" bride.
CIV. The Boy and His Fate.
There was once a Raja and Rani who had had three sons, but they had
all died when only three or four months old. Then a fourth son was
born, a fine handsome child; and he did not die in infancy but grew
up to boyhood. It was however fated that he should die when he was
sixteen years old and his parents knew this and when they saw him
coming happily home from his games of play, their eyes filled with
tears at the thought of the fate that hung over him.
One day the boy asked his father and mother why it was that they were
so sorrowful: and they told him how his three little brothers had died
and how they feared that he had but little longer to live. On hearing
this the boy proposed that he should be allowed to go away into a
far country, as perhaps by this means he might avoid his fate. His
father was glad to catch at the faintest hope and readily gave his
consent: so they supplied him with money and mounted him on a horse,
and off he set.
He travelled far and settled down in a place that pleased him. But
in a short time the messengers of death came to the Raja's palace to
take him away. When they did not find him, they followed in pursuit
along the road which he had taken; they wore the likeness of men and
soon traced out the Raja's son. They presented themselves to him and
said that they had come to take him home again. The prince said that
he was ready to go, but asked them to allow him to cook and eat his
rice before starting. They told him that he might do this if he were
quick about it: he promised to hurry, and set to his cooking: he put
sufficient rice into the pot to feed them all and when it was ready
he offered some to each of the messengers. They consulted together
as to whether they should eat it, but their appetites got the better
of their caution and they agreed to do so, and made a good meal. But
directly they had finished they began to debate what they should do;
they had eaten his rice and could no longer compass his death.
So they told him frankly that Chando had sent them to call him;
he was to die that night and they were to take away his spirit; but
they had made the mistake of eating at his hands and although they
must take him away, they would give him advice as to how he might
save his life: he was to take a thin piece of lamp-wick and when
Chando questioned him, he was to put it up his nose and make himself
sneeze. The prince promised to remember this, and that night they
took his spirit away to Chando, but when Chando began to question
him he made himself sneeze with the lamp-wick; thereupon Chando at
once wrote that he should live for sixty years more and ordered the
messengers to immediately restore his spirit to its body. Then the
prince hastened back to his father and mother, and told them that he
had broken through his fate and had a long life before him; and they
had better make arrangements for his marriage at once. This they did
and he lived to a ripe old age, as he had been promised.
CV. The Messengers of Death.
There was once a Brahman who had four sons born to him, but they
all died young; a fifth son however was born to him, who grew up
to boyhood. But it was fated that he too should die before reaching
manhood. One day while his father was away from home, the messengers of
death came to take him away. The Brahman's wife thought that they were
three friends or relations of her husband, who had come to pay a visit,
and gave them a hearty welcome. And when she asked who they were,
they also told her that they were connections of her husband. Then
she asked them to have some dinner and they said that they would eat,
provided that she used no salt in the cooking. She promised not to
do, but what she did was to scatter some salt over the bottom of the
dish. Then she cooked the rice and turned it into the dish and gave
it to them to eat. They ate but when they came to the bottom of the
dish they tasted the salt which had been underneath. Then the three
messengers said "She has got the better of us; we have eaten her salt
and can no longer deceive her; we must tell her why we have come."
So they told her that her son was to die that night and that Chando
had sent them to take away his spirit: all they could do was to
let her come too, and see the place to which her son's spirit was
going. The mother thought that this would be a consolation to her,
so she went with them. When they arrived in the spirit world they
told the Brahman's wife to wait for them by a certain house in which
dwelt her son's wife; and they took the boy to Chando. Presently they
brought him back to the house in which his wife dwelt and near which
his mother was waiting and she overheard the following conversation
between the boy and his wife. The wife said "Have you come for good
this time, or must you again go back to the world?"
"I have to go back once more."
"And how will you manage to return again here?"
"I shall ask for the dust of April and May and if it is not given
to me I shall cry myself to death; and if that fails, I shall cry
for a toy winnowing fan; and if they give me that, then I will cry
for an elephant and if that fails then on my wedding day there will
be two thorns in the rice they give me to eat and they will stick
in my throat and kill me. And if that does not come to pass, then,
when I return home after the wedding, a leopard will kill a cow and
I shall run out to chase the leopard and I shall run after it, till
I run hither to you."
"When you come back," said his wife, "bring me some of the vermilion
they use in the world" and the boy promised.
The messengers then took the Brahman's wife home, and shortly
afterwards the boy was born again. His mother had carefully guarded
the memory of all that she had heard in the other world; and when
the child asked for the dust and the winnowing fan and the elephant,
she at once gratified his desires. So the boy grew up, and his wedding
day arrived. His mother insisted on accompanying him to the bride's
house, and when the rice was brought for the bride and bridegroom
to eat together, she asked to be allowed to look at it first, and on
examining it pulled out the the two thorns; and then her son ate it
unharmed. But when the wedding party returned home and the ceremony
of introducing the bride to the house was being performed, word
was brought that a leopard had killed one of the cows; at once the
bridegroom ran out in pursuit; but his mother followed him and called
out, "My son, your wife told you to take her some of the vermilion of
this world; here is some that I have brought, take it with you." At
this her son stopped and asked her to explain what she meant; then
she told him all and he went no more in pursuit of the leopard:
so he stayed and grew up and lived to a good old age.
CVI. The Speaking Crab.
There was once a farmer who kept a labourer and a field woman to do
the work of the farm; and they were both very industrious and worked
as if they were working on their own account and not for a master.
Once at the time of transplanting rice, they were so busy that they
stayed in the fields all day and had their meals there and did not
go home till the evening. During this time it happened that the man
had unyoked his plough bullocks and taking his hoe began to dress the
embankment of the field, and as he dug, he dug out a very large crab;
so he plucked some leaves from the bushes and wrapped the crab in
them and fetching the yoke rope from the plough, he tied the bundle
up tightly with it and put it on the stump of a tree, intending to
take it home in the evening; but when he went home he forgot about it.
Now the crab was alive and in the middle of the night it began to
struggle to get out, but could not free itself. It happened that just
then the farmer was walking in the field to see that no one came to
steal his rice seedlings, and the crab began to sing:--
"This servant, this servant, father,
And this maidservant, this maidservant, father,
Caught me while digging the bank:
And in leaves, leaves, father,
With the yoke rope, yoke rope, father
Tied me and left me on the stump."
At this sound the farmer was very frightened, and puzzled also;
for he thought, "If this were a human being crying, every one in
the neighbourhood would have heard and woke up, but it seems that
I alone am able to hear the sound; who can it be who is talking
about my servants?" So he went back to bed and told no one. The next
morning when the labourer looked for his yoke ropes, he missed one;
and then he remembered that he had used it to tie up the crab; so he
went to the place and found his rope. When his master brought them
their breakfast that day and they had finished eating, the labourer
began to tell how he had lost one of the yoke ropes and had found
it again: and how he had used it for tying up the crab which he had
found. The master asked whether the crab was alive or dead; and the
labourer said that it was dead.
Then the master said "My man you have done a very foolish thing;
why did you tie it up alive? Last night I could not sleep for its
crying. Why did you imprison the innocent creature until it died?" And
he told them the song it had sung, and forbade them ever to cause
such pain to living creatures. He said "Kill them outright or you will
bring disgrace on me; when I heard the lament I thought it was a man,
but now I learn from you that it was a crab. I forbid you ever to do
the like again." And at the time of the Sohrai festival the farmer
called together all his household and sang them the song and explained
its meaning to them, and the men who heard it remember it to this day.
CVII. The Leopard Outwitted.
There was once a man-eating leopard, whose depredations became so
serious, that the whole neighbouring population decided to have a
great hunt and kill it. On the day fixed a great crowd of beaters
collected, and their drums made a noise as if the world were being
turned upside down.
When the leopard heard the shouting and the drumming, it started to
escape to another jungle, and as it was crossing a road it came on
a merchant driving a packbullock. The merchant tried to run away,
but the leopard stopped him and said "You must hide me or I will eat
you." The merchant continued to run, thinking that if he helped the
leopard it would surely eat him afterwards, but the leopard swore an
oath not to eat him if he would only hide it. So the merchant stopped
and took one of his sacks off the bullock and emptied it out and tied
up the leopard in it, and put it on the bullock and then drove on.
When they got out of hearing of the hunters the leopard asked to be
let out; but directly the sack was untied it said that it would devour
the merchant. The merchant said "You can of course eat me, but let us
consult an arbitrator as to whether it is fair." The leopard agreed
and as they were near a stream, the man asked the water whether it was
fair that he should be killed, after he had saved the leopard's life;
the water answered "Yes; you men wash all manner of filthy things
in me; let it eat you!" Then the leopard wanted to eat him, but the
merchant asked leave to take two more opinions; so he asked a tree;
but the tree said "Men cut me down; let the leopard eat you."
The merchant was very downcast to find everyone against him and
the leopard said, "Well, whom will you consult next? You have so
many friends;" so they went on and presently met a jackal and the
merchant said that he would appeal to him. The jackal considered for
some time and then said "I don't understand how you hid the leopard;
let me see how it was done; and then I shall be able to decide," The
merchant said "I hid him in this sack." "Really," said the jackal,
"show me exactly how you did it" So the leopard got into the sack
to show how he was hidden; then the jackal asked to be shown how
the leopard was carried out of danger; so the merchant tied up the
sack and put it on the bullock. "Now," said the jackal, "drive on,
and when we come to yonder ravine and I tell you to put the sack down,
do you knock in the head of the leopard with a stone." And the merchant
did so and when he had killed the leopard, he took it out of the sack
and the jackal ate its body.
CVIII. The Wind and the Sun.
Once the Wind and the Sun disputed as to which was the more
powerful. And while they were quarrelling a man came by wrapped
in a shawl and wearing a big _pagri_. And they said "It is no good
quarrelling; let us put our power to the test and see who can deprive
this man of the shawl he has wrapped round him." Then the Wind asked
to be allowed to try first and said "You will see that I will blow
away the blanket in no time," and the Sun said, "All right, you go
first." So the Wind began to blow hard; but the man only wrapped
his shawl more tightly round him to prevent its being blown away and
fastened it round himself with his _pagri_; and though the Wind blew
fit to blow the man away, it could not snatch the shawl from him;
so it gave up and the Sun had a try; he rose in the sky and blazed
with full force and soon the man began to drip with sweat; and he took
off his shawl and hung it on the stick he carried over his shoulder
and the Wind had to admit defeat.
CIX. The Coldest Season.
One winter day a bear and a tiger began to dispute as to which is
the coldest season of the year; the bear said July and August, which
is the rainy season, and the tiger said December and January, which
is the winter season. They argued and argued but could not convince
each other; for the bear with his long coat did not feel the cold of
winter but when he got soaked through in the rain he felt chilly.
At last they saw a man coming that way and called on him to
decide--"but have a care"--said the tiger--"if you give an opinion
favourable to the bear, I will eat you;" and the bear said "If you
side with the tiger, _I_ will eat you." At this the man was terror
stricken but an idea struck him and he made the tiger and the bear
promise not to eat him if he gave a fair decision and then he said
"It is not the winter which is the coldest, nor the rainy season which
is the coldest, but windy weather; if there is no wind no one feels
the cold much either in the winter or in the rainy season." And the
tiger and the bear said "You are right, we never thought of that"
and they let him go.
CHAPTER II
Part II.
To a people living in the jungles the wild animals are much more than
animals are to us. To the man who makes a clearing in the forest,
life is largely a struggle against the beasts of prey and the animals
who graze down the crops. It is but natural that he should credit
them with feelings and intelligence similar to those of human beings,
and that they should seem to him suitable characters around which to
weave stories.
These stories are likely to be particularly current among a people
occupying a forest country, and for this reason are less likely to
appear in collections made among the inhabitants of towns. It is a
strange coincidence and presumably only a coincidence that Story 118,
'The Hyena outwitted' is known in a precisely similar form among the
Kaffirs of South Africa.
CX. The Jackal and the Crow.
Once upon a time a crow and a jackal became bosom friends and they
agreed that the crow should support the jackal in the hot weather
and the jackal support the crow in the rainy season. By-and-bye the
jackal got discontented with the arrangement, and vowed that it would
not go on supporting an animal of another species, but would take
some opportunity of eating it up. But he did not let this appear,
and one day he invited the crow to a feast and gave him as many frogs
and grasshoppers as he could eat and treated him well and they parted
very affectionately.
Then a few days later the crow invited the jackal to dinner in
return; and when the jackal arrived the crow led him to an ant-hill
and showed him a hollow gourd which he had filled with live mice and
said "Here is your dinner." The jackal could not get his nose into
the hole of the gourd so, to get at the mice, he had to break it. And
the mice ran all over the place and the jackal jumped about here and
there trying to catch them. At this sight the crow stood and laughed;
and the jackal said to himself "Very well, my friend, you invited me
here to have a laugh at me; wait till I have finished with the mice;
then it will be your turn."
So when he had caught all the mice he could, he declared that he
had had as much as he could eat and would like to go and sleep off
his meal. As they said farewell and were salaaming to each other,
the jackal pounced on the crow and ate him up; not a bone or a claw
was left. Then the jackal began to skip with joy and sang:--
"I ate a gourdful of mice
And by the side of the ant-hill
I ate the crow: Hurrah!"
And singing thus he went skipping homewards; and on the way he
met a fowl and called to it to get out of the way or he would eat
it,--singing:--
"I ate a gourdful of mice
And by the side of the ant-hill
I ate the crow:--Hurrah!"
And as the fowl did not move he ate it up; then he skipped on and
came to a goat and he sang his verse and told it to get out of the
way and as it did not, he ate it; and in the same way he met and
killed a sheep and a cow and he ate the liver and lungs of the cow;
and then he killed a buffalo and ate its liver and lungs; and by this
time he was as full as he could hold. Then he came to a pool of water
and he called to it to get out of the way or he would drink it up and
as it did not move, he drank it dry. Then he came to a post and said
"Get out of my way or I will jump over you"--
"I ate a gourdful of mice
And by the side of the ant-hill
I ate the crow--Hurrah!"
And so saying he tried to jump over it; but he was so full of what
he had eaten and drunk that he leaped short and fell on the point of
the stake and was transfixed, so that he died.
CXI. The Tiger Cub and the Calf.
A Tigress and a Cow used to graze in a dense jungle, and they were
both with young. They became great friends and agreed that they
would marry their children to each other. In the course of time the
tigress gave birth to a she-cub and the cow to a bull-calf. They kept
the young ones in the same place and used to go and graze together,
and then return at the same time to suckle their young. On their way
back they used to drink at a certain river, the tigress up the stream
and the cow lower down. One day it happened that the cow got first
to the river and drank at the upper drinking place, and the tigress
drank lower down. And the froth from the cow's mouth floated down the
stream and the tigress tasted it and found it nice, and this made her
think that the flesh of the cow must also be good; so she resolved to
eat the cow one day. The cow saw what was in the mind of the tigress
and she left some of her milk in a bowl, and said to her calf:
"The tigress has resolved to eat me; watch this milk and when you
see it turn red like blood, you will know that I have been killed;"
then she went off to graze with the tigress.
The two youngsters always used to play together very happily but
that day the calf would not play but kept going to look at the bowl
of milk; and the tigress cub asked the reason. The calf told her
what his mother had said; then the tigress cub said that if this
happened she would never suck from her mother again and it would
be better for them both to run away. So the two kept going to look
at the bowl of milk, and about midday they saw that it had changed
to blood and they both began to weep. Shortly after, the tigress
came back, and flies were clustered round her mouth because of the
blood on it. The tigress told her daughter to come and suck, but she
said that she would wait till the cow came and then she and the calf
could have their meal together as usual; at this the tigress frowned
terribly and the cub was frightened, so she said, "Very well, mother,
I will suck, but first go and wash your mouth; why are the flies
clustered round it?" So the tigress went off but she did not wash,
she only ate some more of the cow. While she was away, the calf and
the cub ran off to another jungle, and when the tigress came back,
she searched for them with horrid roarings and could not find them,
and if she had found them she would have killed them.
CXII. The Jackal and the Chickens.
Once upon a time a jackal and a hen were great friends and regarded
each other as brother and sister; and they agreed to have a feast to
celebrate their friendship; so they both brewed rice beer and they
first drank at the jackal's house and then went to the hen's house;
and there they drank so much that the hen got blind drunk, and while
she lay intoxicated the jackal ate her up. The jackal found the flesh
so nice that he made up his mind to eat the hen's chickens too; so
the next day he went to their house and found them all crying "Cheep,
cheep," and he asked what was the matter; they said that they had lost
their mother; he told them to cheer up and asked where they slept;
they told him 'on the shelf in the wall'.
Then he went away; but the chickens saw that he meant to come and eat
them at night, so they did not go to sleep on the shelf but filled
it with razors and knives and when the jackal came at night and felt
about the shelf he got badly cut and ran away screaming.
But a few day later he paid another visit to the chickens, and condoled
with them on the loss of their mother and again asked where they slept,
and they told him, 'in the fireplace.' Directly the jackal was gone,
they filled the stove with live embers and covered them up with ashes;
and went to sleep themselves inside a drum. At night the jackal
came and put his paws into the fireplace; but he only scraped the
hot embers up against his belly and got burnt; this made him scream
and the chickens burst out laughing. The jackal heard them and said
"You have got me burnt; now I am going to eat you." They said, "Yes,
uncle, but please eat us outside the house; you did not eat our mother
in her own house; take us to yonder flat rock."
So the jackal took up the drum but when he got to the rock he
accidentally let it fall and it broke and the chickens ran away in
all directions; but the chicken that had been at the bottom of the
drum had got covered with the droppings of the others and could not
fly away; so the jackal thought "Well it is the will of heaven that
I should have only one chicken; it is doubtless for the best!" The
chicken said to the jackal, "I see that you will eat me, but you
cannot eat me in this state; wash me clean first."
So the jackal took the chicken to a pool and washed it; then the
chicken asked to be allowed to get a little dry; but the jackal said
that if it got dry it would fly away. "Then," said the chicken, "rub
me dry with your snout and I will myself tell you when I am ready to
be eaten;" so the jackal rubbed it dry and then proceeded to eat it;
but directly the jackal got it in his mouth it voided there, so the
jackal spat it out and it flew away.
The jackal thought that it had gone into a hole in a white ant-hill,
but really it had hidden elsewhere; however the jackal felt for it
in the hole and then tried in vain to scrape the hole larger; as he
could not get into the hole he determined to sit and wait till hunger
or suffocation forced the chicken to come out. So he sat and watched,
and he sat so long that the white ants ate off his hind quarters;
at last he gave up and went off to the rice fields to look for fish
and crabs. There he saw an old woman catching fish, and he asked
to be allowed to help her. So the old woman sat on the bank and the
jackal jumped and twisted about in the water and presently he caught
a _potha_ fish which he ate; but as the jackal had no hind quarters
the fish passed through him none the worse. Soon the jackal caught the
same fish over again, and he laughed at the old woman because she had
caught none. She told him that he was catching the same fish over and
over again, and when he would not believe her she told him to mark with
a thorn the next one which he caught; he did so and then found that
he really was catching and eating the same fish over and over again.
At this he was much upset and asked what he should do. The old woman
advised him to go to a cobbler and get patched up; so he went and
killed a fowl and took it to a cobbler and offered it to him if he
would put him to rights; so the cobbler sewed on a leather patch
with a long leather tail which rapped on the ground as the jackal
went along. Then the jackal went to a village to steal fowls and he
danced along with his tail tapping, and sang:
"Now the Moghul cavalry are coming
And the Koenda Rajas.
Run away or they will utterly destroy you."
And when the villagers heard this they all ran away and the jackal
entered the village and killed as many fowls as he wanted.
A few days later he went again to the village and frightened away the
villagers as before; but one old woman was too feeble to run away and
she hid in a pig sty, and one fowl that the jackal chased, ran into
this sty and the jackal followed it, and when he saw the old woman,
he told her to catch the fowl for him or he would knock her teeth out;
but she told him to catch it himself; so he caught and ate it. Then
he said to the old woman. Say "Toyo" (jackal) and she said "Toyo;"
then he took a currypounder and knocked all her teeth out and told
her again to say "Toyo;" but as she had no teeth she said "Hoyo;"
this amused the jackal immensely and he went away laughing.
When the villagers returned, the old woman told them that it was only
a jackal who had attacked the village, so they decided to kill him;
but one man said "You won't be able to catch him; let us make an image
of this old woman and cover it with birdlime and set it up at the end
of the village street; he will stop and abuse her, and we shall know
where he is." So they did this, and the next morning, when the jackal
came singing along the road, they hid inside their houses. When the
jackal reached the village, he saw the figure of the old woman with
its arms stretched out, and he said to it, "What are you blocking
my road for? get out of the way; I knocked your teeth out yesterday:
arn't you afraid? Get out of the way or I will kick you out."
As the figure did not move he gave it a kick and his leg was caught
in the birdlime; then he said, "Let me go, you old hag, or I will
give you a slap." Then he gave it a slap and his front paw was stuck
fast; then he slapped at it with his other paw and that stuck; then
he tried to bite the figure and his jaws got caught also; and when
he was thus helpless the villagers came out and beat him to death
and that was the end of the jackal.
CXIII. The Jackal Punished.
Once a hen and a jackal were great friends, and they decided to
have a feast and each brewed beer for the occasion; the hen brewed
with rice, and maize and millet and the jackal brewed with lizards,
locusts, frogs and fish. And when the brew was ready, they first
went to the jackal's house, but the hen could not touch his beer,
it smelt so bad and the jackal drank it all; then they went to the
hen's house and her beer was very nice and they both drank till the
hen got very drunk and began to stagger about; and the jackal made
up his mind that the hen must be very nice to eat, as her beer was
so good to drink and when he saw her drunk he was delighted and sang:
"Fowl, do not graze in the field!
The jackal laughs to see you.
Paddy bird, do not fish in the pond!
You pecked a piece of sedge thinking it was a frog's leg!
Do not drink rice beer, O fowl!
The jackal laughs to see you.
And so saying he gobbled her up; and her chickens cried at the
sight. Then the jackal resolved to eat the chickens also, so he came
back the next day, and asked them where they slept and they said
"In the hearth." But when the jackal had gone, the chickens planned
how they should save their lives.
Their mother had laid an egg and as there was no one to hatch it now,
they said, "Egg, you must lie in the fireplace and blind the jackal;"
and they said to the paddy husker, "You must stand by the door and
when the jackal runs out you must knock him down;" and they told the
paddy mortar to wait on the roof over the door and fall and crush
the jackal. So they put the egg among the hot ashes in the fireplace
and they themselves sat in a cupboard with axes ready; and when the
jackal came he went to the fireplace and scratched out the ashes;
and the egg burst and spirted into his eyes and blinded him and as
he ran out of the door the paddy husker knocked him over; and as he
crawled away the paddy mortar fell on him from the roof and crushed
him; then the chickens ran out and chopped him to pieces with their
axes and revenged the death of their mother.
CXIV. The Tigers and the Cat.
In former days tigers and cats were friends and used to hunt together
and share the game they caught; and they did not eat the game raw
but used to cook it as men do.
One day some tigers and a cat had killed a deer and they had no fire
with which to cook it; then the tigers said to the cat "You are small,
go and beg a light from yonder village." But the cat said that he was
afraid to go; however they urged him saying "You have a thin tail and
plump feet; you can bring it in a trice." So, as they all insisted on
his going, he at last consented; and said "Well, I will go; but don't
expect me to be very quick; if I get a good opportunity for fetching
the fire, I will come back soon." They said "All right, go and run
off with a small fire-brand and we will meet you outside the village."
So the cat went off and coming to a house, went inside to pull a
firebrand from the hearth. On the fire some milk was boiling; and
the cat thought "This smells very nice, I will have a taste of it"
and he found it so nice that he made up his mind to drink it all,
before he took away the fire-brand. But in order to lap the milk
he had to put his feet on the fireplace, and it was so hot that he
burnt his feet and had to get down; so then he sat down and waited
till the fire went out and the hearth grew cool, and then he lapped
up the milk and ran off with a piece of smouldering wood.
Meanwhile the tigers had got tired of waiting and had eaten the deer
raw; and they were very angry at being made to eat raw flesh and swore
that they would eat the cat too. When they saw the cat bringing the
fire they ran to meet him and abused him and cried out "You have made
us eat raw flesh; we will eat you too, dung and all" On hearing this
threat the cat ran back to the village in fear of his life; and the
tigers followed in pursuit; but when they got near the village, the
village dogs all ran out barking and the tigers were frightened and
turned back and the cat was saved. From that day tigers and leopards
have eaten raw flesh; and cats bury their excrement, because of what
the tigers had said.
Every day the tigers went to the village in search of the cat; but when
the dogs barked they slunk away; for the tigers were very frightened
at the sight of the dogs' curly tails; they thought that the tails
were nooses and that they would be strangled by them. One day one
of the tigers met a jackal and called to him "Nephew, listen to me;
a cat made us eat raw flesh and has escaped into this village and I
want to catch it, but the dogs come barking at me. I don't mind that,
but I am very frightened of their nooses. Now, you are very like a
dog, cannot you go and tell them not to use their nooses." The jackal
answered, "Uncle, you are quite mistaken; what you see are their tails,
not nooses; they will not strangle you with them." So the tiger took
courage and the next day went to the village to hunt for the cat,
but he could not find it. And when the dogs barked he got angry and
caught and killed one of them; and from that time tigers and leopards
eat dogs.
CXV. The Elephant and the Ants.
In the days of old there was a great deal more jungle than there is
now, and wild elephants were very numerous; once upon a time a red ant
and a black ant were burrowing in the ground, when a wild elephant
appeared and said "Why are you burrowing here; I will trample all
your work to pieces;" the ants answered "Why do you talk like this;
do not despise us because we are small; perhaps we are better than
you in some ways;" The elephant said "Do not talk nonsense: there is
nothing at which you could beat me; I am in all ways the largest and
most powerful animal on the face of the earth." Then the ants said
"Well, let us run a race and see who will win, unless you win we
will not admit that you are supreme." At this the elephant got into
a rage and shouted; "Well, come we will start at once," and it set
off to run with all its might and when it got tired it looked down
at the ground and there were two ants. So it started off again and
when it stopped and looked down, there on the ground were two ants;
so it ran on again, but wherever it stopped it saw the ants, and at
last it ran so far that it dropped down dead from exhaustion.
Now it is a saying that ants are more numerous in this world than
any other kind of living creature; and what happened was that the
two ants never ran at all, but stayed where they were; but whenever
the elephant looked at the ground, it saw some ants running about
and thought that they were the first two, and so ran itself to death.
This story teaches us not to despise the poor man, because one day
he may have an opportunity to put us to shame.
From this story of the elephant we should learn this lesson; the
Creator knows why He made some animals big and some small and why
He made some men fools; so we should neither bully nor cheat men who
happen to be born stupid.
CXVI. A Fox and His Wife.
Once upon a time there were a fox and his wife who lived in a hole with
their five little ones. Every evening the two foxes used to make their
way to a bazar to feed on the scraps thrown away by the bazar people;
and every night on their way home the following conversation passed
between them. The fox would say to his wife, "Come tell me how much
wit you have," and she would answer him by, "Only so much as would
fill a small vegetable basket." Then she in her turn would ask "And
how much wit have you?" "As much as would load twelve buffaloes."
One night as they were on their way home as usual, the two suddenly
found themselves face to face with a tiger, who greeted them by saying
"At last my friends, I have got you."
At this the fox for all his wit, could not utter a word but crouched
down and shook with fright. Mrs Fox however was not at all inclined
to give way to despair. She saluted the tiger and said "Ah, uncle,
do not eat us up just now; I and my husband have a dispute and we want
you to settle it for us." The tiger was mollified by being addressed by
so respectful a name as uncle, and answered in a gentler voice "Well,
my niece, tell me what is the point and I will decide it for you."
"It is this," went on Mrs. Fox, "we have five children and we wish
to divide them between us but we cannot decide how to do so; I say
that I will take three and leave him two; while he wants to take
three and leave me two. We came out to look for some man to settle
the dispute but have not met one: and now providentially you have
appeared before us like a god; no doubt you will be able to make the
division for us." The tiger reflected that if he managed things well,
he would be able to eat not only the two foxes but their young ones
as well, so he graciously agreed to make the division.
The foxes then invited him to come back with them to the hole in which
they lived, and when they reached it, Mr. Fox bolted into it saying
that he was going to bring out the children. As however he did not come
out again, Mrs. Fox said that it was clear that he could not manage the
children by himself, and she would go and help; and thereupon proceeded
to back into the hole, keeping her face turned towards the tiger.
Seeing her disappearing the tiger thought to seize her, but as she kept
her eyes on him he could only say "Hullo, what is the matter? Why are
you going in backwards?" "Oh, uncle," replied Mrs. Fox, "how could
I turn my back on so great a personage as you?" and with that she
disappeared. Presently the tiger heard the two foxes calling out from
inside "Goodbye, uncle, you can go away now; we have arranged how to
divide the children ourselves." Then he saw how he had been fooled
and flew into a terrible rage and tried to squeeze his way into the
hole; but it was much too small and at last he had to go away baffled:
and so the foxes were saved by Mrs. Fox's wit.
CXVII. The Jackal and the Crocodiles.
Once upon a time there was a Raja who had an only son. As the boy grew
up his father sent him to a school to learn to read and write. One
day on his way back from school, the boy sat down by the road side to
rest, and placed his school books on the ground by his side. Suddenly
a jackal came along and snatched up the bundle of books and ran away
with it; and though the boy ran after it, he failed to catch the jackal
and had to go and tell his father how he had lost his school books. The
Raja told him not to mind, as it was a very good omen and meant that
he would grow up as clever as a jackal; and so the matter ended as far
as the boy was concerned; and his father bought him a new set of books.
But the jackal ran off to the side of a tank and taking a book from
the bundle sat down and began to read it aloud. He kept on saying over
and over again "Ibor, obor, iakoro sotro" "Ibor obor iakoro sotro."
Hearing the noise a crocodile who lived in the tank poked his head
out of the water and began "Well, nephew, what is that you are
repeating?" "I am only reading a book, uncle."
"What, nephew, do you know how to read and write?"
"Yes, certainly I do," answered the jackal.
"In that case," returned the crocodile "would you mind teaching my
five children?" The jackal was quite willing to be their master, but
a difficulty struck the crocodile; the jackal lived on high land, and
the little crocodiles could not go so far from the water. The jackal
at once suggested a way out of the difficulty: "Let the crocodile
dig a little pool near where the jackal lived and put the children
into it. Then the jackal could take the little crocodiles out of it
when he was giving them their lessons and put them back again when
they had finished." So it was arranged, and in two or three days the
crocodile dug the pool and the jackal began the lessons.
Each morning the jackal took the five little crocodiles out of the
water and told them to repeat after him what he said, and then he began
"Ibor obor iakoro sotro" "Ibor obor iakoro sotro." But try as they
might the little crocodiles could not pronounce the words properly;
then the jackal lost his temper and cuffed them soundly. In spite of
this they still showed no signs of improvement, till at last the jackal
made up his mind that he could not go on with such unsatisfactory
pupils, and that the best thing he could do would be to eat them up
one at a time. So the next morning he addressed the little crocodiles,
"I see that you can't learn, when I take you in class all together: in
future I will have you up one at a time and teach you like that." So
he took one out of the water and began to teach it; but the little
crocodile could not pronounce its words properly, so in a very short
time the jackal got angry and gobbled it up. The next day he took out
another, which soon met the same fate as its brother; and so things
went on till the jackal had eaten four out of the five.
When there was only one left, the crocodile came to see how the lessons
were getting on. The sight of him put the jackal in a terrible fright;
but he answered the crocodile that the children were making very fair
progress. "Well, I want to see them. Come along and let us have a
look at them."
This was awkward for the jackal, but his wits did not desert him;
he ran on ahead to the pool and going into the water, caught the one
little crocodile which remained, and held it up, saying "See here is
one." Then he popped it under the water and brought it up again and
said "See, here's another" and this he did five times and persuaded
the crocodile that he had seen his five children.
The crocodile pretended to be satisfied but he was not quite easy in
his mind and would have preferred to see all the five little ones
at once. However, he said nothing, but made up his mind to watch
the jackal; so the next day he hid himself and waited to see what
happened. He saw the jackal take the little crocodile out of the water
and begin the lesson--"Ibor obor iakoro." Then when the unfortunate
pupil still failed to pronounce the words, the jackal began to give
it cuffs and blows. At this sight the crocodile ran forward and
caught the jackal, crying out "Show me my other four little ones;
is this the way you treat my children?" The jackal had no answer to
give and the crocodile soon put an end to his life and took back his
one remaining child to the tank where he lived.
CXVIII. The Bullfrog and the Crab.
There was a Raja who had no head and there was a Tiger who had no
tail. One day they met in a nullah. "Here's a fine dinner for me"
said the Tiger. "Here's a fine dinner for me!" said the Raja. At
this retort the Tiger's courage oozed away; and he did not dare to go
any nearer; but he called out "Well, if I am to be your dinner, come
and catch me:" and the Raja called out "If I am to be your dinner,
come and catch me." So they stood challenging each other, but neither
took a step forward. Then the Tiger became abusive and called out,
"What have you done with your head?" The Raja retorted "What is a tiger
without a tail? You also are short of a member. I may have no head
but I have more legs than you." The Tiger could think of no retort
to make to this and so said "Come, don't let us quarrel any more;
let us be friends; I live near here, where do you live?"
"My home is also near here."
"Then we are neighbours: there is no reason why we should be enemies."
"Who knows what you are at?" answered the Raja: "for you are
pretending that you cannot see aright, but it is quite true that we
are neighbours." "You are right," said the other, "I admit that I
did wrong, and I bow down before you." So they saluted each other and
the Tiger said "Let's have a song to show what good friends we are:
and he sang (to the rice planting tune):
"The Frog King and the Frog Queen
Sat at their front door.
The Frog King's marriage is going on:
Look, my master!
The Frog King and the Frog Queen!
The Frog King's marriage is going on."
CXIX. The Hyaena Outwitted.
Once upon a time there was a great tiger who lived in a forest;
and all the other animals that lived in the forest treated him as
their Raja, down to the very birds. They all felt safe under his
protection, because he was so much feared that no men dared hunt in
that forest. One day it happened that this Raja tiger killed a man
and made such a enormous meal on the flesh, that he got very bad
indigestion. The pain grew worse and worse, till he felt sure that
his last hour was come.
In his agony he sent for a hyaena and offered to make him his _dewan_,
if only he would call all the other animals of the forest to come
and pay a farewell visit to their lord. The hyaena readily agreed
but thought it would be better to send another messenger, while
he stayed by the tiger to see that all the animals duly presented
themselves. Just then a crow flew overhead; so they called him and
deputed him to summon all the animals.
The crow flew off and in a short time all the animals assembled before
the tiger and paid their respects to him and expressed wishes for his
speedy recovery;--all except the jackals. They had been summoned along
with the others; but somehow they paid no attention and only remembered
about it in the afternoon. Then they were very frightened as to what
would be the consequence of their remissness; but one chief jackal
stood up and told them not to fear, as he would contrive a way of
getting the better of the hyaena. There was nothing else to be done,
so they had to put what trust they could in their chief and follow
him to the Tiger.
On his way the chief jackal picked up a few roots, and took them with
him. When they reached the place where the suffering monarch lay,
the hyaena at once began to abuse them for being late, and the Tiger
also angrily asked why they had not come before; then the chief jackal
began humbly "O Maharaja, we were duly summoned; your messenger is not
to blame; but we reflected that it was useless merely to go and look at
you when you were so ill: that could do you no good; so we bestirred
ourselves to try and find some medicine that would cure you. We have
searched the length and breadth of the jungle and have found all that
is necessary, except one thing and that we have failed to find." "Tell
me what it is," said the hyaena, "and I will at once despatch all
these animals to look for it and it will surely be found." "Yes,"
echoed the tiger, "what is it?" "Maharaja," said the jackal, "when you
take these medicines, you must lie down on the fresh skin of a hyaena,
which has been flayed alive; but the only hyaena we can find in the
forest is your _dewan_" "The world can well bear the loss of one
hyaena," said the Tiger: "take him and skin him." At these words all
the animals set upon the hyaena and flayed him alive; and the tiger
lay down on the skin and took the medicines brought by the jackal;
and as he was not seriously ill, his pain soon began to pass away.
"That is a lesson to the hyaena not to scold us and get us into
trouble," said the jackal, as he went home.
CXX. The Crow and the Egret.
A crow and a white egret once made their nests in the same tree,
and when the nestlings began to grow up the crow saw how pretty and
white the young egrets were, and thought them much nicer than her
own black young ones. So one day when the egret was away, the crow
changed the nestlings and brought the little white egrets, to her
own nest. When the mother egret returned and found the ugly little
black crows in her own nest, it did not take her long to see what
had happened and she at once taxed the crow with the theft. The crow
denied all knowledge of the matter and a fine quarrel ensued.
Quarrelling led to nothing and they agreed to refer the dispute
to the decision of a money-lender, whose house stood by the tree
in which the two nests were. The crow, as the less shy of the two,
flew down and asked the money-lender to come out and settle their
dispute. The first question the money-lender asked was what they were
going to give him. The egret promised to catch him a fine _rohu_ fish,
which was what she was accustomed to eat, but the crow said that she
would give him a golden necklace. The money-lender said that the fees
must be brought first before he heard the case, so the egret flew off
and caught a big fish, but the crow went to where a Raja was bathing
and carried off the gold chain which the Raja had left on the bank
of the river. The money-lender then gave his decision, which was in
favour of the party who had given him the most valuable present;
he decided that the young birds must stay where they were. "But,"
protested the egret "how have my white nestlings become black?" "That
is quite natural" answered the money-lender, "a white cow may have a
black or brown calf: why should not you have black young ones?" And
so saying he drove them away.
The poor egret was not at all content with this unjust decision,
and was about to renew the quarrel, when a jackal came racing by;
it had just made its escape from some hunters. "Where are you off to
so fast, uncle?" called out the egret. "I am in arrears with my rent
and am hurrying to pay it to the Raja," answered the jackal. "Stay and
listen to my grievance," begged the egret, and she told the jackal all
that had happened and how the money-lender had let himself be bribed
by the gold necklace. The jackal was very indignant, "A man who could
give a decision like that would call a buffalo, a bullock or a pig,
a sheep. It is no decision at all; I cannot stop now, but I will come
back to-morrow and decide the matter for you and before doing so,
I will stuff the mouth of that unjust judge with filth." So saying
the jackal hurried off.
The money-lender heard all that passed and was filled with shame at
having earned the contempt of the jackal; he feared more disgrace on
the morrow, so he at once called the crow and made her return the
egret's nestlings, and the next morning when the jackal came back
it found that everything had been settled to the satisfaction of
the egret.
CXXI. The Jackal and the Hare.
A jackal and a hare were sworn friends. One day they planned to have
a dinner of rice cooked with milk. So the hare crouched down under a
bush which grew by the side of a road leading to a busy market; and
the jackal stayed watching a little way off. Presently some men came
along, taking rice to sell at the market. When they saw the hare by
the side of the road, they put down their baskets of rice and ran to
catch the hare. He led them a long chase, and then escaped. Meanwhile
the jackal carried off as much of the unguarded rice as he wanted. By
the same trick they got hold of milk, and firewood, and a cooking pot,
and some leaf plates; Thus they had everything necessary for the meal
except fire.
So the jackal ran off to a village and went to the house of a poor old
woman who was pounding dried plum fruit into meal, and asked her for
a light "Go into the house and take a brand from the fire yourself"
said the old woman: "No" said the jackal "you go and get it; and I
will pound your meal for you, while you are away." So the old woman
went into the house; and while she was away the jackal put filth into
the mortar and covered it up with meal. Then he took away the lighted
brand, and after he had gone the old woman found that all her meal
was spoilt.
Then the jackal cooked their rice and milk and when it was ready,
they began to discuss which should first go and bathe, before they
began to eat. At last the jackal went off; he hurried over his bath
and came back as quickly as possible. Then the hare went, and he
spent a long time having a thorough bath. While the hare was away,
the jackal ate as much of the rice as he wanted and then filled the
pot with filth and covered it over with rice. When the hare came
back, they debated which should help the rice. At last they agreed
that the hare should do so; but when the hare had taken out a little
rice he found the pot full of filth. "So it is for this that I took
all the trouble to get the provisions for our meal" cried the hare;
and threw the contents of the pot over the jackal and drove him away.
The jackal went off and made a drum, and every day he sat in the sun
beneath a bank and played the drum. The hare heard the sound and one
day he went to the jackal and asked to be allowed to play the drum. The
jackal handed it over but the hare beat it and shook it so vigorously
that at last it was smashed to pieces. Then the hare ran away.
CXXII. The Brave Jackal.
Once upon a time a he-goat ran away for fear of being slaughtered and
took refuge in a leopard's cave. When the leopard came back to the
cave the goat called out "Hum Pakpak," and the leopard ran away in
a fright. Presently it met a jackal and called out "Ah! my sister's
son, some fearful animal has occupied my house!" "What is it like,
uncle?" asked the jackal "It has a wisp of hemp tied to its chin,"
answered the leopard: "I am not afraid, uncle," boasted the jackal,
"I have eaten many animals like that, bones and all." So they tied
their tails together and went back to the leopard's cave. When the
two drew near the goat stood up: and the leopard said "This morning
he called out something dreadful at me." At this they both fled,
and in their struggles to separate all the hair on the jackal's
tail was scraped off and the jackal called out "Alas, alas! Uncle,
you have scraped off all my skin!"
CXXIII. The Jackal and the Leopards.
Once upon a time a leopard and a leopardess were living with their
cubs; and when the parents were away a jackal used to go to the cubs
and say "If you won't pay up the paddy you owe, give me something on
account." And the cubs gave him all the meat which their parents had
brought; and as this happened every day the cubs began to starve. The
leopard asked why they looked so thin although he brought them lots of
game and the cubs explained that they had to give up all their food to
the jackal from whom he had borrowed paddy. So the leopard lay in wait
and when the jackal came again to beg of the cubs he chased him. The
jackal ran away and hid in a crack in the ground; the leopard tried
to follow and got stuck in the crack and was squeezed to death. The
jackal came out and kicked the dead body, crying "I see you lying in
wait for me."
Now the jackal wore silk shoes and a silk dhoti and he went back to
the leopard's family and asked who would look after them now the
leopard was dead. They said that they would live with him; so the
jackal stayed there and they all went hunting deer. The jackal lay in
wait and the leopards drove the game to him. But when the deer came
out, the jackal was too frightened to attack them and climbed to the
top of an ant-hill to be out of the way. So when the leopards came
up they found that the jackal had killed nothing. But the jackal only
complained that they had not driven the deer in the right direction. So
the next day the leopardess lay in wait and the jackal and the cubs
beat the jungle; when they came up they found that the leopardess
had killed a fine deer. "Now," said the jackal "let me first offer
the game as a sacrifice to the spirit of our dead leopard;" so saying
he tried to bite a hole in the deer but the skin was too tough. So
he made the leopardess tear the skin and then he pushed inside the
carcase and ate up all the entrails. When he had had as much as he
could eat he came out and let the leopards begin their meal.
Another day they wished to cross a flooded river. The young leopards
offered to carry the jackal over on their shoulders but the jackal was
too proud to allow this. So the leopards all jumped across the stream
safely but when the jackal tried he fell into the middle of the water
and was carried away down stream. Lower down a crocodile was lying on
the bank sunning itself "Pull me out, pull me out!" called the jackal
"and I will bring you some fat venison." So the crocodile pulled him
out. "Now open your mouth and shut your eyes" said the jackal and when
the crocodile obeyed he popped a large stone into its jaws and ran
away. This made the crocodile very angry and it vowed to be revenged.
The jackal used to go every day to a certain tank to drink: and to
reach the water he used to sit on the root of an _arjun_ tree which
projected from the bank. The crocodile observed this habit and one
day lay in wait under the water by the _arjun_ tree and when the
jackal came to drink caught him by the leg. The jackal did not lose
his presence of mind but called out "What a fool of a crocodile to
catch hold of the root of the tree instead of my leg." On hearing
this the crocodile let go its hold and the jackal laughed and ran away.
Every day the jackal used to lie in the sun on the top of a stack of
straw. The crocodile found this out and buried itself in the straw
and waited for the jackal. That day it happened that the jackal found
a sheep-bell and tied it round his neck so that it tinkled as he
ran. When it heard the bell the crocodile said "What a bother! I am
waiting for the jackal and here comes a sheep tinkling its bell." The
jackal heard the crocodile's exclamation and so detected the trick;
he at once went and fetched a light and set fire to the heap of straw
and the crocodile was burnt to death.
CXXIV. The Fool and His Dinner.
A man once went to visit his mother-in-law and for dinner they gave
him rice with a relish made of young bamboo shoots. The man liked it
extremely and thought that it was meat, but he saw no pieces of meat;
so he asked his mother-in-law what it was made of; and behind him was
a door made of bamboos: so the mother-in-law said, "I have cooked
that which is behind you;" and he looked round and saw the door;
so he resolved to carry off the door, as it made such good eating,
and in the middle of the night he took it off the hinges and ran away
with it. In the morning the door was missed and the mother-in-law
guessed what had happened and had a hearty laugh.
Meanwhile the man went home with the door and chopped it up and gave
the pieces to his wife to cook; the wife said that it was useless
to cook dry chips but he insisted and said that her mother had made
a beautiful dish of them. So they were cooked and the man sat down
to eat; but they were all hard and tasteless; then he scolded his
wife and she told him to cook them himself if he was not pleased;
so he cooked some himself and the result was the same; and his wife
laughed at him and when the villagers heard of it they nicknamed him
"Silly", and used to call the name after him when they met him.
CXXV. The Stingy Daughter.
Once a man went to visit his married daughter: he intended to arrive
in time for dinner; so though he passed some edible herbs on the way
he did not stop to eat them.
When he arrived he was duly welcomed and after some conversation he
told his daughter that he must return the same day; she said "All
right, but wait till it gets hot." (The father understood this to be
a metaphorical way of saying "Wait till the dinner is cooked.") But
the daughter was determined not to cook the rice while her father was
there: so they sat talking and when the sun was high the daughter
went into the yard and felt the ground with her foot and finding
it scorching she said "Now father, it is time for you to be going:
it has got hot" Then the old man understood that she was not going
to give him his dinner. So he took his stick and got up to go.
Now the son-in-law was a great hunter and that day he had killed
and brought home a peacock; as he was leaving, the father said "My
daughter, if your husband ever brings home a peacock I advise you
to cook it with mowah oil cake; that makes it taste very nice." So
directly her father had gone, the woman set to work and cooked
the peacock with mowah oil cake; but when her husband and children
began to eat it they found it horribly bitter and she herself tasted
it and found it uneatable; then she told them that her father had
made fun of her and made her spoil all the meat. Her husband asked
whether she had cooked rice for her father; and when she said "No"
he said that this was the way in which he had punished her; he had
had nothing to eat and so he had prevented their having any either;
she should entertain all visitors and especially her father. So they
threw away the meat and had no dinner.
CXXVI. The Backwards and Forwards Dance.
There was once a Santal who owed money to a money-lender: the lender
went to dun him every day but as he had nothing to pay with he used
to hide in the jungle and as he had no warm clothes he used to light a
fire to warm himself by; and when the fire was low he would sit near it
and when it blazed up he would move back from it. When the money-lender
asked the man's wife where he was, she always replied "He is dancing
the 'Backwards and Forwards' dance." The money-lender got curious
about this; and said that he would like to learn the dance. So one
evening the Santal met him and offered to teach him the dance but,
he said he must be paid and what would the money-lender give? The
money-lender said that he would give any thing that was asked; so the
Santal called two witnesses and before them the money-lender promised
that if the Santal taught him the dance he would let him off his debt.
The next morning the Santal took the money-lender to the jungle and
told him to take off his clothes as they would dance with only loin
cloths on; then he lit a heap of straw and they sat by it warming
themselves; and he purposely made only a small fire at first. Then
the money-lender asked when they were going to begin to dance but the
Santal said "Let us warm ourselves first, I am very cold," so saying he
piled on more straw and as the fire blazed up they moved away from it;
and when it sank they drew nearer again. While this was going on the
two witnesses came up and the money-lender began to object that he was
not being taught to dance; but the Santal said, "What more do you want;
don't you keep moving backwards and forwards in front of the fire? This
is the 'Backwards and Forwards' dance." Seeing how he had been tricked
the money-lender was much upset and he appealed to the witnesses, but
they decided against him; and he went home crying and lost his money.
CXXVII. The Deaf Family.
Formerly Santals were very stupid and much afraid of Hindus; and once
a Santal was ploughing at a place where two roads met and a Hindu
came along and asked him, in Hindi, where the two roads went to; now
the Santal did not understand Hindi and was also deaf and he thought
that the Hindu said "These two bullocks are mine,"--and he answered
"When did I take your bullocks?" The Hindu sat down and repeated his
question; but the Santal did not understand and continued to assert
that the bullocks were his and were named Rice eater and Jaituk[2]
and had formed part of his wife's dowry; the Hindu kept on asking
about the roads and at last the Santal got frightened and thought
"perhaps my father-in-law took the bullocks from this man and at
any rate he will beat me and take them by force"; so he unyoked his
bullocks and handed them over to the stranger; and the Hindu when he
found out what was meant went off with them as fast as he could.
Soon after the Santal's mother brought him out his dinner and he
told her what had happened about the bullocks! And she also was deaf
and thought that he was complaining that the rice had no salt in
it; so she answered, "Your wife gave it to me like this; I cannot
say whether she put salt into it; come, eat it up." After he had
eaten his dinner the old woman took the dishes home; and she found
her husband cutting out a rice pounder; and she told him how their
son had scolded her because there was no salt in the rice; and the
husband was also deaf and he thought that she wanted to know what
he was making and he answered crossly "It may be a rice pounder and
it may be a rice mortar." And as often as she repeated her story he
made this answer and told her not to worry him. Then she went to her
daughter-in-law who was also deaf and sat spinning in the verandah;
and she scolded her for not putting salt in the rice; and she answered
"Who knows what I am spinning; the thread may be all knotty, but
still I reel it up." And this is the end of the story. Thus the man
lost his bullocks through cross questions and crooked answers; and
as the whole family talked like that they soon became poor.
CXXVIII. The Father-in-Law's Visit.
A man once went to visit his married daughter in the month of October
and he went round the fields with his son-in-law to see how his crop
was growing. At each rice field they came to, the father-in-law said
"You have not dammed up the outlets" and the son-in-law said "Yes,
I have; the water is standing in the fields all right," and could not
understand what the old man meant. The next day they both set off to
visit some friends at a distance; and the son-in-law carried his shoes
in his hand except when they came to a river when he always put them
on; and when they were going along in the sun he carried his umbrella
under his arm, but when they came to any shady trees he put it up;
and he did the same on the way back. The old man was very astounded
at this but made no remark. On reaching the house however he told his
daughter that he was sorry that her husband was a mad man and told
her what had happened. His daughter said, "No, father, he is not mad:
he has a very good reason; he does not wear his shoes on dry ground
because he can see where he is going; but in a river you cannot see
what is under-foot; there may be sharp stones or thorns and so he
puts on his shoes then; and he puts up his umbrella under trees lest
falling branches should hit him or the droppings of birds fall on him,
but in the open he can see that there is nothing to hurt him."
Her father admitted that these were good reasons and he had been
foolish not to understand them; he then took his leave.
And in the following January he visited them again; and when he saw
their stock of rice he asked how much they had, and the son-in-law
said that there was only what he saw. "But," said the old man, "When
I saw your fields you had a very fine crop coming on." "The crop was
good," answered the son-in-law "but I owed rice to the money-lender
and I have had to pay that back and I have had to pay my rent and
this is all that I have left." "Ah!" said the father-in-law, "when
I saw your fields I told you that you had not dammed up the outlets;
by outlets I meant these drains; as water flows away through an outlet
so has your wealth flowed away to money-lenders and landlords; is not
this so?" And the son-in-law admitted that he was right and that his
words had had a meaning.
CXXIX. Ramai and Somai.
Once two poor men named Ramai and Somai came to a village and took
some waste land from the headman, and ploughed it and sowed millet;
and their plough was only drawn by cows and their ploughshare was
very small, what is called a "stumpy share;" and when they had sowed
a little the rains came on; and Somai gave up cultivation and took
to fishing and for a time he made very good profits by catching and
selling fish; and he did not trouble even to reap the millet he had
sown; he laughed at Ramai who was toiling away clearing more land
and sowing maize and rice. He used to go and look at him and tell
him that he would never get a crop while he had nothing better than a
"stumpy" plough; it would probably break to pieces one day and then he
would be helpless; he had much better take to fishing which gave quick
and easy returns. Ramai made no answer, but when the rains were over
there was no more fishing to be done; and Somai was left to starve
and had to go from village to village begging. But Ramai reaped his
millet and lived on that till his maize was ripe and then his maize
supported him until his rice was ripe and he always had plenty to eat;
and to show his despite for Somai, after he had had a good dinner,
he would come out in front of his house and call out "What of the
stumpy share now?" Every day after eating he would come out and say
"At first I worked hard and suffered hunger but now I am eating in
happiness; and you were happy then but now you are starving."
CXXX. The Two Brothers.
There were once two brothers who were constantly quarrelling and
one afternoon after a heated quarrel the younger brother asked the
villagers to come and judge between them. The villagers agreed to meet
the next morning. At cockcrow the next day the elder brother went to
the other's house and woke him up and said "Brother, this is a bad
business; you have called in the villagers and they will certainly
fine us both for quarrelling; it would be much better for us to save
the money and spend it on a pig; then we and our families could have
a feast." "I quite agree," said the younger brother, "but now I have
summoned the villagers, what can be done? If I merely tell them to
go away, they will never come again when I summon them."
The elder brother said, "I have a plan; when they come they will ask
how the quarrel began and what abusive words I used; and then you
must tell them that that is a point which they have to decide; and
then they will be able to do nothing and will go away." The younger
brother agreed to this and when the villagers came and asked what the
quarrel was about he said, "Don't you know what the quarrel was? That
was the very matter I wanted you to decide; if you don't know, how
can you judge about it?" And this answer he repeated to all their
questioning; then they got angry and said that he was mocking them;
and they declined to give any decision, but said that the brothers
must give them dinner as they had detained them so long; but the
brothers flatly declined to do so as no decision had been given,
and the villagers went away grumbling, while the brothers bought a
pig with the money they had saved and had a jolly feast and as they
ate the elder brother said: "See what a good plan mine was; but for
it we should now have been feasting others at our expense."
CXXXI. The Three Fools.
Once upon a time three men were sitting at the foot of a tamarind
tree and a stranger came up to them with a bunch of plantains on his
shoulder and he put the plantains on the ground in front of them and
bowed and went away. Thereupon the three men began to quarrel as to
who was to have the plantains; each said that they were his because
it was to him that the man had bowed. So they started calling each
other "Fool" and after quarrelling for some time one said "Well, yes,
I admit that I am a great fool" and the other two asked why he thought
himself a fool and he said "Well one day my wife went to the jungle
with the other village women to get firewood and left our baby in my
charge; as she was a long time coming back the child became hungry
and began to cry; I walked him about but he would not stop crying;
I tried to feed him with rice and with rice water and with _Gur_
and with cow's milk but he would not eat or stop crying; I was in
despair when his mother came back and took him up and gave him the
breast and the child was quiet at once.
Seeing this I said to my wife "Human milk must be sweeter than
anything else." My wife said "Who can say whether it is nice; we
all drink it when we are infants; but when we grow up we cannot say
what it is like." Then I said that I would try what it was like and I
sucked her breast and found that it was much sweeter than cow's milk;
after that I formed the habit and used to drink her milk every day;
and as I left none for the child it died soon afterwards of starvation;
this shows what a fool I am."
Then one of the other men said "But I am a bigger fool than you." And
they asked him in what way; and he said "I was married and was very
much in love with my wife; once when she had gone on a visit to her
father's I went to fetch her home; and she was got up in all her
finery, with her hair well dressed and vermilion on her forehead
and red _arta_ on her feet. On our way home it began to rain and we
took shelter in a village; and when the shower was over we went on;
and we came to a river which was in flood from the rain; the water
was up to a man's armpits and I decided to carry my wife across so
that the _arta_ on her feet might not get washed off. So I took her
on my shoulder and to prevent her feet getting wet I held her feet
uppermost and as her head was under water when I got across I found
that she had been drowned; and if I had not been such a fool she
would not have been killed."
Then the third man said "And I also am a fool. I had quarrelled with
my own family so I lived with my wife in a house alone at the end of
the village and we had no children. Now I was very fond of smoking;
and one night I wanted a light for my hookah but there was none in the
house; so I started to go and ask for a light from some neighbour;
but as it was very dark I did not like to leave my wife all alone:
nor did I like to send her out alone to ask for the light; so at last
I took my hookah in my hand and set my wife astride on my shoulder
and went round from house to house like that, asking for a light;
and all the villagers laughed like anything; so I am a fool." Then
they agreed that they were all three fools and had better divide the
plantains equally among them and go home; and that is what they did.
CXXXII. The Cure for Laziness.