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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31209-0.txt b/31209-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..44eb62b --- /dev/null +++ b/31209-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11694 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Indian Fairy Tales, by Anonymous + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Indian Fairy Tales + +Author: Anonymous + +Commentator: Mary Stokes + W. R. S. Ralston + +Editor: Maive Stokes + +Release Date: February 7, 2010 [EBook #31209] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +There are some less common characters with an underdot or an acute +accent (ḍ ṇ ṭ Ś) in this text. If they do not display properly, you +may need to adjust your font settings. + + + + + INDIAN FAIRY TALES + + COLLECTED AND TRANSLATED + + BY + + MAIVE STOKES. + + + _WITH NOTES BY MARY STOKES,_ + + _AND AN INTRODUCTION BY W. R. S. RALSTON, M.A._ + + + London: + ELLIS & WHITE, NEW BOND STREET. + 1880. + + [_All Rights reserved._] + + + + + To my dear Grannie, Susan Bazely. + + + + +[Decoration] + +PREFACE. + + +The first twenty-five stories in this book were told me at Calcutta +and Simla by two Ayahs, Dunkní and Múniyá, and by Karím, a Khidmatgar. +The last five were told Mother by Múniyá. At first the servants would +only tell their stories to me, because I was a child and would not +laugh at them, but afterwards the Ayahs lost their shyness and told +almost all their stories over again to Mother when they were passing +through the press. Karím would never tell his to her or before her. +The stories were all told in Hindústání, which is the only language +that these servants know. + +Dunkní is a young woman, and was born and brought up in Calcutta. She +got the stories, she told me, from her husband, Mochí, who was born in +Calcutta and brought up at Benares. + +Múniyá is a very old, white-haired woman. She has +great-grandchildren. She was born at Patna, but when she was seven +years old she was taken to Calcutta, where she was brought up and +married. She and Dunkní are both Hindús. + +Karím is a Muhammadan and was born at Lucknow. He says that "The +Mouse" and "The Wonderful Story" are both Lucknow tales. + +The notes to this book were written by Mother, and Father helped her +to spell the Native names and words. He also made the Index. + +Dr. George King helped us in the Botany; Mr. Tawney and Mr. Campbell +of Islay, who saw many of the stories in manuscript, have given us +several remarks. So has my uncle, John Boxwell. + + M. S. H. STOKES. + + CALCUTTA, + _March 24th, 1879_. + + + + +[Decoration] + +INTRODUCTION. + + +In almost every part of Europe the tales current among the common +people have been of late years diligently sought out, and carefully +collected. Variants of them pour in profusely every year. But it does +not seem probable that any entirely new stories will be discovered in +any European land. Nor is it likely that in fresh variants of the +longer and apparently more artificial tales, any quite new incidents, +or even any unquestionably novel features, will be found. The harvest +has been abundant, its chief fruits are now stored, and the work which +is still going on among the gleaners, although in itself good and +praiseworthy, may be regarded without the excitement of eager hope. +The task of the present seems to be, not so much the garnering of +European folk-tales, as their comparison and elucidation, and, so far +as possible, their explanation. But in many cases they do not appear +to contain in themselves the ingredients which are necessary for their +resolution into their primary elements. Nor do the records of the +lands in which they exist always supply what is wanted. The "fairy +tales" of Europe throw very little light upon, are but slightly +illuminated by, the histories of the widely differing lands in which +they so closely resemble each other. And the most interesting among +them, those which appear most clearly to bear witness to their being +embodiments of mythological ideas, or expansions of moral precepts, +seem to be but little in keeping with what we know of the sentiments +and beliefs of the heathen ancestors of the villagers in whose +memories they have been for so many centuries retained. Among such +tales of this kind, for instance, as linger on in our own islands, +there is but little to be found which can be looked upon as a +specially characteristic deposit left by the waves of Iberian, Celtic, +and Teutonic population which have successively passed over the face +of the land. This statement does not, of course, hold good in the case +of such legends about national heroes as Mr. J. F. Campbell has found +thriving in Ireland and the West Highlands of Scotland, and which he +justly believes to be "bardic recitations, fast disappearing, and +changing into prose." They belong to a different section of popular +fiction from that to which reference is now made. It is often +difficult to draw the line between these two classes of folk-tales. +But there is a striking difference between the typical representatives +of the two divisions, between cosmopolitan novelettes like Cinderella +or the Sleeping Beauty, on the one hand, and pseudo-historic legends +about local heroes on the other. It is unfortunate that we do not +possess a sufficiency of accurate designations for the numerous +species of the genus folk-tale. Their existence would prevent much +misapprehension. But in their absence, a discusser of popular tales +should take pains to define precisely to what tribe, family, or group +of stories his remarks are intended to apply. + +There are to be found, in all European lands, certain tales which are +of a more complex structure than the rest, which appear to have been +constructed by a skilled workman, to be artificial productions rather +than natural growths. It is only with such stories as these that we +have at present to deal. These novelettes or comediettas, as they may +be called, of the European common people, differ but little in their +essential parts, whether they are recited in the cold north or the +balmy south, the rude east or the cultured west. Their openings, it is +true, vary with their localities; but in the main body of the tale, +not only does the same leading idea pervade all the variants, but also +the same sequence of events leads up in almost every case to the same +termination. To this class of stories belong nearly all the tales +which, under considerably modified forms, have naturalized themselves +in the nurseries of Europe. In it are comprised many popular fictions, +on the obscurer parts of which a quite insufficient light is thrown by +researches among the manners and mythologies of old European +heathenism. + +It is upon such stories as these that a kindly light beams with the +greatest advantage from Asia. Very similar stories have been preserved +in the memories of the common people in many parts of Asia, but +especially in India. And their leading ideas are perfectly in +accordance with the mythology or the moral teaching of the Asiatics +who, age after age, have delighted in telling or hearing them. In such +cases as these it seems to be not very unreasonable to suppose that +the story was originally, if not created, at all events shaped and +trimmed in Asia, and thence was afterwards conveyed from lip to lip +into Europe. Such universal favourites as Beauty and the Beast and +Puss in Boots may be confidently cited as oriental fictions which have +taken possession of European minds. There is a rich store of other +popular fictions, which may be left to be accounted for according to +the two principal methods of interpretation in vogue. They may be +explained as independent developments of mythological germs common to +the ancestors of the various Aryan peoples of Europe. Or they may be +regarded as embodiments of certain ideas common to savages of all +races. It will be sufficient to deal at present with the more +limited, but better known class, to which special attention has been +called. + +Among the Asiatic folk-tales which seem likely to assist in their +explanation, none are more copious or more useful than those of India. +There the old religion has maintained itself with which so many of +these stories are linked, and there the moral teaching still prevails +which made its voice heard in other tales of the far-off time when +they first became current. Any collection of genuine Indian Fairy +Tales is therefore certain to be, not only of interest to the general +reader, but also of real value to the specialist who devotes himself +to the comparison of folk-tales. The collection now before us has +great merits of its own. The stories have been told in Hindústání to +the very young collector by two ayahs, who are both Hindús, and by a +Muhammadan man-servant. In this respect Miss Stokes's contribution to +our knowledge of India differs from the very similar, and very +charming, work by Miss Frere, "Old Deccan Days," the stories in which +were told by an ayah who was, as her father and grandfather had been, +a native Christian. The two books ought to be compared with each +other. No possessor of the one ought to be without the other. All the +stories contained in the present volume, as we learn from the notes, +have been read back by the young collector to the tellers in +Hindústání after they were told, and a second time by the annotator +before they were printed. "I never saw people more anxious to have +their tales retold exactly, than are Dunkní and Múniyá," the two +story-telling ayahs. Not till each tale was pronounced by them to be +exact was it sent to the press. The stories may be taken then as +faithful transcripts of Indian thought. The merits of the copious +Notes contributed by the late Mrs. Whitley Stokes, bearing witness to +a very wide range of reading, and to a most intelligent use of the +authorities referred to, will be fully acknowledged by all who have +had occasion to explore the regions from which she has gathered so +much valuable information. Throughout the whole of the work thus +conscientiously compiled and intelligently annotated, there will be +found scattered, in addition to its other merits, many a parallel with +our own popular tales, many an illustration or explanation of their +meaning--a ray of light shot here or there which illumines their dark +places, and may enable the explorers of their mystic domains to avoid +stumbles which are often somewhat mortifying. It remains only to point +out a few of the most important passages. + + * * * * * + +Some of the stories in this volume are so thoroughly oriental, so +little in accordance with western thought or feeling, that they have +not found an echo among ourselves; their counterparts are not to be +found naturalized in European lands. Of such a kind are the legends, +taken from literary sources, of "The Upright King," and of "Rájá +Harichand's Punishment," in which the patience of a religious monarch +is tried as was that of Job, and comes out from the trial equally +victorious. The sorrows of Patient Grissel have met with sympathy in +many lands, for meekness has ever been considered a womanly virtue. +But the heroism of a husband and father who sells his wife to a +merchant, and his son to a cowherd, in order that he may be able to +keep his promise to a holy mendicant, and bestow upon him two pounds +and a half of gold, can scarcely be expected to invest itself, to +western eyes, with the air of a manly virtue. In the same way, the +great sitting powers displayed by King Burtal, who never once moves +from his seat in the jungle for twelve whole years, during which space +of time he neither eats nor drinks, and thereby elevates himself to +the dignity of a fakír, are not of a kind to elicit the sympathies or +command the admiration of nations addicted to active exercise. + +The explanation of Nánaksá's thrice repeated laugh, also, could +retain its vitality only in an atmosphere pervaded by a belief in the +transmigration of souls. Buddhistic apologues have sometimes passed +into legends of Christian Saints. But it would be difficult to perform +the operation in the case of an account of how a woman, who had +tormented to death her husband's sister, was justly punished by the +reappearance in the world of the ill-used sister-in-law, in the form +of that unkind woman's exceedingly peevish baby daughter. Numerous, +also, as are European stories about ogres, vampires, and other +demoniacal cannibals, we shall not readily find a western counterpart +of the terrible tale, in No. 24, of the "Rakshas" which sometimes +appears as a goat, and sometimes as a most beautiful young girl, +dressed in grand clothes and rich jewels, but at midnight turns into a +devouring demon with a craving for human flesh. + +Just as some of the themes of these stories do not seem to have +European counterparts, so portions of their machinery appear to be +without exact western equivalents. The stupendous transformations +which now and then take place (see pp. 5, 148, 244) can reconcile +themselves only to an oriental imagination. However much the +occidental mind may attempt to "make believe," it cannot credit such a +statement as that when the Bél-Princess died, her eyes turned into two +birds, her heart into "a great tank," and her body into "a splendid +palace and garden," her arms and legs becoming "the pillars that +supported the verandah roof," and her head "the dome on the top of the +palace." In almost all countries, when a fairy hero has been slain by +a demoniacal or otherwise villainous personage, he is recalled to life +by magic means. In European folk-lore the resuscitating remedy is +usually a Water of Life, or a Balsam, or some similar fluid. In these +Indian tales, it is blood streaming from the resuscitator's little +finger. Thus when Loving Lailí (p. 83) found her husband dead and +headless, she put his head back on his shoulders, and smeared his neck +with the blood which flowed "like healing medicine," when "she cut +her little finger inside her hand straight down from the top of her +nail to her palm." A power of becoming at will invisible is everywhere +often attributed to heroes of romance. But it is generally connected +with "a cap of darkness," or some similar magic article. But the +Prince of No. 21, when he seeks the Bél-Princess, becomes invisible to +the "demons and fairies" who surround her, when he blows from the palm +of his hand, "all along his fingers," the earth which a friendly fakír +has given him for that purpose. A "sleep-thorn," or other somniferous +piece of wood, is commonly employed in our fairy tales, in order to +throw a hero or heroine into a magic slumber. In these Indian stories +a state of catalepsy, or of death, is produced or relieved by a +peculiar application of a magic stick. Thus the Princess who was +called the Golden Rání, "because her teeth and her hair were made of +gold," and who was stolen by a demon, informed the Prince who found +her, motionless but not sleeping, that "the Rakshas who had carried +her off, and whom she called papa, had a great thick stick, and when +he laid this stick at her feet she could not stir, but when he laid it +at her head she could move again." In "The Demon and the King's Son" +(No. 24), the hero opens a "forbidden chamber," and there finds the +demon's daughter lying on a bed, apparently lifeless; for "every day, +before her father went out he used to make the girl lie on her bed, +and cover her with a sheet, and he placed a thick stick at her head, +and another at her feet; then she died, till he came home in the +evening and changed the sticks, putting the one at her head at her +feet, and the one at her feet at her head. This brought her to life +again." An interesting parallel to the "sleep-thorn" is afforded by +the pin which, while it remains in the head of the bird which had been +the wife of the Pomegranate King (No. 2), prevents her from resuming +her human shape. When the Rájá pulled out the pin, "his own dear +wife, the Pomegranate Rání, stood before him." Magic boxes are common +in fairy land. But there is something new in at least the name of the +"sun-jewel box," which was sent by the "Red Fairy," who lived at the +bottom of the well, to "The Princess who loved her father like salt" +(No. 23), and which contained "seven little dolls, who were all little +fairies." + + * * * * * + +Of more general interest than the few peculiarities of these tales are +the many points in which they resemble and illustrate some of the +familiar features of European folk-lore. As an example of the latter +may be taken a "husk-myth," which is a valuable contribution to the +literature of the "Beauty and the Beast" cycle. In all the stories +belonging to that group, the action turns upon the union of the human +hero or heroine with a spouse who is really or apparently an inferior +animal. In the modified version of the story with which our nurseries +have become acquainted through a French literary medium, the species +of Beast to which the Beauty is wedded is not stated, and its +transformation into a princely husband is attributed to her unaided +love. But in by far the greater part of the variants of the folk-tale +on which it seems to have been founded, as well as of the other +stories in which a similar transformation is the principal +feature--variants which have been gathered in abundance from all parts +of Europe, not to speak of Asia--the animal nature of the mysterious +spouse is clearly defined. In them the husband whom the Beauty is +induced by filial affection, fear, or compassion to wed, is an +unmistakable Beast--a pig in Sicily, a bear in Norway, a hedgehog in +Germany, a goat in Russia. Sometimes he is even of a lower type, often +a frog or a snake. And once, in Wallachia, he has been transferred +from the animal to the vegetable world, and figures as a pumpkin. In +every instance he is represented as being able to change at times his +repulsive appearance for one of beauty, and this he generally does by +doffing a kind of husk which when donned conceals his real form, and +invests him with that of an inferior being. If this husk be destroyed +during the temporary absence of its owner, he loses his transforming +power. The destruction of the husk is generally the work of the wife, +who is sometimes rewarded, her husband remaining with her constant to +his true nature; at other times she is punished, he being lost to her +for a time or for ever. These stories about a monster husband have +their exact counterparts in tales about a monster wife, the leading +idea being the same in both groups; the only difference being that it +is the wife who appears at times as a frog or other inferior creature, +and who continues to do so until her transforming power terminates +with the destruction of her disguising husk. + +Now these temporary transformations, though common to the folk-tales +of all parts of Europe, are not in accordance with the European +superstitions of the present day, nor with those, so far as we are +acquainted with them, of old European heathenism. The nearest approach +to them is afforded by the wehr-wolf superstition, but that is an +isolated belief, and appears to be based upon altogether different +ideas. As to the metamorphoses of classical literature, they are of a +nature quite alien to that of the voluntary eclipse, under a degrading +form, of a Frog Princess or a Pig Prince. It may be said with +confidence that European "husk-myths" do not explain themselves; the +peasants among whom they are current, cannot explain them; and the +knowledge we have of ancient European paganism throws no light on +their meaning. But in India, where countless variants of such tales +exist--many of them preserved in ancient as well as in modern +literature, but by far the greater part still current among the +common people--the transformations in question are frequently, if not +generally, explained in the stories themselves, and explained in a +manner perfectly in accordance with the Indian thought of the present +as well as of the past. To Indian minds there is nothing monstrous in +the belief that a celestial being may have been condemned, in +consequence of the wrath of a superior divinity, or even of the magic +words pronounced by an offended sage, to assume for a time the +inferior form of a mere man or woman, or even to wear the shape of an +inferior animal--a monkey or a frog; and that this transformation is +to continue chronic, though not constant, until the destruction of the +disguising skin or husk, by the donning of which it is from time to +time brought about, deprives the curse of its power, and enables +earth's celestial visitor to return to heaven. The whole story is +closely connected with Indian religious beliefs, and may fairly be +looked upon, when found in India, as an expansion of a Hindu myth. Its +existence in other parts of Asia may, at least frequently, be +attributed to the natural spread of Hindu tales among the various +tribes and nations which accepted Buddhism from India. + +If all this be true, and the "husk-myth" stories which are current all +over Europe may justly be supposed to have drifted westwards from +India, then all Indian variants of these tales naturally become +invested with special importance. The specimen in the present volume, +the "Monkey Prince" (No. 10), belongs to a remarkably interesting +class--that in which the story-teller gives an explanation of the +hero's transformation. A childless king is told by a fakír to give +some mangoes to his seven wives. Six of them eat up the fruit, and +each of the six gives birth to a prince of the usual kind. But the +seventh wife, who has been able to obtain as her share only the stone +of one of the mangoes, "had a monkey, who was called in consequence +Bandarsábásá, or Prince Monkey." In reality, the story-teller goes on +to explain, "he was a boy, but no one knew it, for he had a +monkey-skin covering him." And this monkey-skin he takes off when he +wishes to appear in true princely form, as when he woos and wins the +Princess Jahúran. Finding out what his real nature is, she insists +upon marrying him, in spite of her vexed father's natural question: +"Who ever heard of any one marrying a nasty monkey?" When he is alone +with his wife he takes off his monkey-skin, and reveals himself in all +his beauty, replying to her questions as to its use, "I wear it as a +protection, because my brothers are naughty, and would kill me if they +knew what I really am." On one occasion, when he has gone in state to +a nautch, after taking off his monkey skin, folding it up, and laying +it under his wife's pillow, she reveals her husband's secret to his +mother, who, "though she was very glad her monkey-son had such a wife, +could never understand how it was that her daughter-in-law was so +happy with him." Taking the monkey-skin from under her pillow, "See," +she says, "when your son puts this on, then he is a monkey; when he +takes it off he is a beautiful man. And now I think I will burn this +skin, and then he must always be a man." So she throws it into the +fire. Prince Monkey's heart instantly tells him his wife has burnt his +skin, and he returns home in a rage. It passes off, however, and all +goes well. He now appears always as a beautiful prince, "with his hair +all gold." "Why did you wear that monkey-skin?" naturally asks his +father. "Because," he replies, "my mother ate the mango-stone instead +of eating the mango, and so I was born with this skin, and God ordered +me to wear it till I had found a wife." The story has evidently been +considerably altered in the course of time from its original form, but +it still keeps true to its ancient lines. In it, as in many other +specimens of the same class, the idea of the degradation of a divine +or semi-divine being has been lost, and the sufferer is merely a human +being cased in a disfiguring hide. It is noteworthy that, as we are +informed at p. 259, Dunkní, the narrator of the tale, "in telling this +husk-story, just as often called the monkey-skin a husk, as she called +it a skin." + +Another of the apparently mythological European folk-tales, +instructive parallels to which are contained in the present volume, is +that which may be designated as the Golden-locks myth. It relates the +fortunes of a brilliant being, usually a radiant prince, who, often +without any apparent reason, submits himself to a voluntary eclipse, +hides from sight his grandeur and his good looks, and assumes an +appearance of squalor and misery. Like Cinderella, whose male +counterpart he is, he at times arises from his low estate, becomes +again a brilliant prince, but always capriciously eludes those who +wish to retain him in that shape. At last he is always detected, and +then he has to remain constant to his true and magnificent form. His +temporary eclipse is somewhat similar to that of the hero of a +husk-myth; but no special power is attached to the wrappings under +which his brilliance is concealed, nor is his change of form imposed +upon him against his will. The meaning of the Golden-locks story, in +its original form, still remains to be discovered, as also does that +of the sister tale of Cinderella. That they both refer to the +temporary eclipse, seclusion, or obscuration of a brilliant being, is +evident. But what that brilliant being represents is a problem of +which several solutions have been confidently offered, but which does +not seem to have been as yet certainly solved. In the story of "The +Boy who had a Moon on his forehead and a Star on his chin" (No. 20), +the self-eclipsing process is brought about by a twist of his right +ear; "when the boy had twisted it, he was no longer a handsome prince, +but a poor, common-looking, ugly man; and his moon and star were +hidden." And so, after he has been chosen out of a number of suitors +by a princess whose heart he has won by the beauty of his singing, he +restores himself to his true form by twisting his left ear; after +which operation "he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but a +grand young prince, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his +chin." + +A third class of stories for which an Asiatic origin may fairly be +claimed, contains those in which figures a monster or demon who cannot +be killed until some external object with which his life is +mysteriously linked has been destroyed. Such a being occurs at times +in European folk-tales, especially in those of the east and north of +Europe. The most familiar instance is that of "The Giant who had no +Heart in his body" of the "Tales from the Norse." Some of the best +specimens of this kind of monster are to be found in the Russian tales +about Koshchei the Deathless. But these remarkably abnormal beings +scarcely seem at home in western folk-lore. They are but little in +keeping with their European surroundings, and never seem to divest +themselves of their alien air. In oriental stories, on the other hand, +they figure frequently, and they seem to occupy a familiar and an +appropriate place. The oldest of the world's tales of wonder, the +Egyptian story of the Two Brothers, contains an heroic being whose +life comes to an end when his heart falls to the ground from the tree +upon which he has hung it. And in the modern folk-tales of India, +demons of this kind play their part without exciting any more than +usual surprise. Miss Frere's Deccan stories make us well acquainted +with one of these personages, "a wicked magician named Punchkin," +whose name serves as a convenient designation for the long-lived +monsters in question. The present collection contains several +specimens. In "Brave Hírálálbásá" (No. 11) we meet with a Rakshas, who +is induced, as usual by female wiles, to reveal the secret of his +life. "Sixteen miles away from this place," he says, "is a tree. Round +the tree are tigers, and bears, and scorpions, and snakes; on the top +of the tree is a very great flat snake; on his head is a little cage; +in the cage is a bird; and my soul is in that bird." When the bird is +seized by the hero of the story, the Rakshas feels that something +terrible has occurred. When the bird's legs and wings are pulled off, +the Rakshas becomes a mere head and torso; and when the bird's neck is +wrung, down falls the Rakshas dead. In like manner, in the tale of +"The Demon and the King's Son" (No. 24), the demon dies when the +prince has killed a certain bird, the lives of the bird and of the +demon being conterminable. According to the narrator Dunkní, "all +Rakshases keep their souls in birds;" but another authority asserts +(p. 261) that "a whole tribe of Rakshases, dwelling in Ceylon, kept +theirs in one and the same lemon." + +The tale of "The Voracious Frog" (No. 6) is a valuable contribution to +the store we already possess of what appear to be myths relating to +apparent destruction, but ultimate resuscitation. To this class seem +to belong the stories on which Little Red Riding Hood was probably +based, describing how a wolf or other monster swallowed various +innocent beings, but was at last forced to restore them uninjured to +the light of day. In its original form the tale may have been a nature +myth, illustrating the apparent annihilation brought about by the +darkness of night or the cold of winter, and the revival which +accompanies the return of the day or of spring; or, perhaps, a moral +apologue, intended to suggest that death may not be a lasting +annihilation. In its modern forms, whether in the east or the west, it +often assumes a grotesque air. A good illustration of this fact is +afforded by the well-known Norse tale of "The Greedy Cat," of which +"The Voracious Frog" (No. 6) is an Indian counterpart. The cat, after +devouring all that comes in its way, is at last split in half by a +goat, whereupon all its victims come forth unhurt. The frog, after +similar feats of gluttony, is cut open by a barber, who, while shaving +it, thinks that it looks very fat; and its victims also emerge +uninjured. + +There are many tales now current in different parts of Europe, but +chiefly in the south and east, which turn upon the relations existing +between human beings and their fates: each person being supposed to +have a special fate or fortune, a species of guardian demon, upon +whose good will all his or her success in life depends. It is very +doubtful whether such stories are products of European fancy, their +leading ideas seeming to be little in keeping with the religious +beliefs--whether of classic times, or of Teutonic, Slavic, or Celtic +antiquity--respecting either an overruling destiny, or a triad of +Fates or Norns. But in India a belief in a personal "luck" has +prevailed from very early times; and such stories as "The Man who went +to seek his Fate" (No. 12), appear there to be as indigenous as in +Europe they seem to be exotic. The Servian story, for instance, of the +man who sets out to look for his fate, and the Sicilian account of how +the unfortunate Caterina is persecuted by hers until she discovers its +hiding-place, and propitiates it by cakes (see Notes, p. 263), have a +foreign air about them, which does not manifest itself in the Indian +tale. The likeness between the Servian and the Indian variants of the +narrative, especially as regards the questions which the fate-seeker +is requested by the beings he meets on the way to ask when he arrives +at his destination, is too great to allow it to be supposed that they +have been independently developed from a common germ. They are +manifestly, so far as the journey is concerned, copies of the same +model, differing but slightly from each other. But the embodiment of +the wayfarer's destiny is quite differently represented in the two +stories. The Servian pilgrim first discovers his fortune, or rather +misfortune, in the person of a hag, who tells him she has been given +to him as his luck by Fate. Then he seeks out Fate, who appears in +human form. But in the Indian tale, "the fates are stones, some +standing, and others lying on the ground." One of the prostrate +stones, the traveller felt sure, must belong to him. "This must be +mine," he said; "it is lying on the ground, that's why I am so poor." +Whereupon he took to beating it, and continued to do so all day. When +night came, "God sent a soul into the poor man's fate, and it became a +man," who satisfied the wanderer's own wishes, and also answered the +questions which he had been requested to ask. Then "God withdrew the +soul, and the fate became a stone again, which stood up on the +ground." + +There are two stories which enjoy a world-wide popularity in peasant +circles, but which have not been made familiar by modern literature to +cultured children. One of them may for the sake of convenience be +known by the name of the Substituted Bride, and the other by that of +the Calumniated Wife. The first relates the sorrows of a maiden who is +compelled to see an impostor seated in the place which she was +intended to fill, by the side of the princely husband whom she was +meant to wed. The second describes the sufferings long undergone by a +faithful wife and tender mother, who is falsely accused of some crime +by an envious rival, and is hastily punished by her angry lord. In +both of them the supernatural usually plays a part, but their main +interests are always human, and it is easier to sympathize with their +heroines than with most of the similar characters of popular fiction. +Yet those ill-used but patient princesses are but little known to the +thousands of story-readers who are familiar with the adventures of +Cinderella and the Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and the +wives of Bluebeard and of the Beast. They have at various times +entered into literature, but not into that section of it which has +supplied our nursery fiction. They figure in most of the now so +numerous collections of folk-tales, but they have not been introduced +into society by the novelists or playwrights who have made their +sister-sufferers undying favourites. They are essentially moral tales, +their good characters bearing their unmerited misfortunes with +unvarying meekness and patience, and being ultimately rewarded, while +the envious and malicious rivals who have supplanted or slandered them +are punished in the end. But they have not taken a firm hold on the +west, where they are probably destined to become forgotten when the +progress of education has replaced folk-lore by literature, while they +are likely to go on living for ages in the east, which seems to have +been their original home. + +In the present collection the story of the Substituted Princess occurs +several times. In "Phúlmati Rání" the heroine is a wife instead of a +bride, which makes the substitution more than usually improbable. As +she and her husband are resting beside a tank, a shoemaker's wife +comes up, and pushes her into the water, in which she is drowned. The +shoemaker's wife takes her place, though she is "very black and ugly," +one-eyed, and exceedingly wicked. It may be remarked that the +substitution in question generally takes place by the side of water. +In the "Bél-Princess," the beautiful maiden who has come out of the +fruit which the prince opened by the side of a well, is pushed into +the water, while the prince is asleep, by a wicked woman, very ugly, +and with "something wrong with one of her eyes," who then assumes her +place. In tales like the story of "The Princess who loved her Father +like Salt," the transformation scene is of a different nature, though +the leading idea of the change is the same. It is not an ordinary +bride or wife who is supplanted, and the substitution need not take +place beside water. The heroine is a stranger who, generally after +long wanderings, finds a prince really or apparently dead, by patient +watching all but effects his cure, but is at the last moment +supplanted by a servant, who gives the final touch to the work, claims +its entire merit, and is made the wife of the grateful patient. In the +Indian tale the prince lies motionless, his body "stuck full of +needles." The heroine sits down by the side of his couch, and there +remains for a whole week "without eating, or drinking, or sleeping, +pulling out the needles." At the end of two weeks more the needles are +all extracted, except those in the eyes. She then goes away to bathe; +and while she is absent, a servant maid whom she has left in charge of +the body pulls out the remaining needles. The prince opens his eyes, +thanks God for bringing him to life again, and makes the servant maid +his wife. The substitution is similar to that which takes place in +such stories as the Norse "Bushy Bride;" but closer parallels are +supplied by some of the stories of southern Europe. Mrs. Stokes refers +in her Notes to the dead prince in one of Gonzenbach's Sicilian tales, +who is brought to life by a wandering princess, who for more than +seven years rubs his body with grass from Mount Calvary. Pitre's great +collection of Sicilian _Fiabe_ also offers several variants of the +substitution story, in some of which occurs the singular incident, +known also to Swedish and Finnish folk-tales, of the imprisonment of +the heroine, after she has been flung into the sea, by a submarine +supernatural being. In some instances it is not water which the +heroine has to dread, but light. The true bride must be conveyed to +the bridegroom's palace in a darkened vehicle. Her supplanter draws +aside a curtain. The sunlight shines in. The princess turns into a +lizard or some other animal, and the false bride takes her place. + +The Calumniated Wife story which occurs in No. 20 of the present +collection, closely resembles many European variants. A king hears a +girl say that when she is married she will have a son with a moon on +his forehead and a star on his chin. So he marries her. She gives +birth to a boy who really is thus decorated. But the king's other +wives, naturally jealous of her, put a stone in her bed, and pretend +that it is the object which she has brought into the world, upon which +she is disgraced and turned into a servant maid. In other variants of +the story she is often accused of having murdered her children, and +even eaten them. In one instance her mortified husband is represented +as twice forgiving her, after remonstrating with her on her inordinate +appetite, but as thinking it necessary to take some precautions when +the possibility of her committing the crime for the third time makes +itself manifest. Sometimes all the innocent wives of a king are +accused of murderous habits by a guilty wife, who is in reality a +destroying and devouring demon. Such is the case in No. 20 of the +present collection, which ends with the restoration of the seven +calumniated wives, and the death by burning of the demon spouse. + + * * * * * + +Besides illustrating the themes or leading ideas of many groups of +European tales, these Indian stories frequently serve to throw light +upon some of their obscurer features, or at least to offer such +parallels to them as are useful contributions to our stock of +materials for a systematic classification. Among the strange +characters who figure in European folk tales, there are few more +puzzling than the fair maidens who are at times discovered inside +fruits, and who must be provided with water to drink the moment they +emerge into the light, or else they will die. They seem properly to +belong to the south and east of Europe, to such countries, for +instance, as Greece, Sicily, and Wallachia. When they are found +elsewhere, as in the Norse tale of "The Three Lemons," the very name +of which speaks of the sunny south, they seem out of keeping with +their surroundings. In these Indian stories, the enclosure of a +heroine in a fruit is an incident which does not appear to be more +than usually amazing. The need of immediate water drinking is not +referred to. But the hero is warned (p. 81) that he must not open the +fruit in public, because the enclosed maiden will be quite destitute +of clothes. In another story which is widely spread over Europe--but +which we know best in the form of the tale of "The Blue Bird," founded +upon the theme of "The Lay of Ywonec," by Marie de France--the +murderous means by which the bird-lover is all but done to death by +jealous hands, which set sharp knives in the narrow opening through +which he has to fly, or beset his path with some other instruments of +ill, find their counterpart in the powdered glass employed to injure +the hero of the "The Fan Prince" (No. 25). His wife's six sisters, who +"were angry at their youngest sister being married, while they who +were older were not married," insist upon making his bed, and cover +the spot on which he is to lie with the powder into which they have +ground a glass bottle. Whereupon the prince becomes very ill, from the +glass powder going into his flesh. + +The ordinary opening of many familiar folk-tales, including the +"Beauty and the Beast" story, finds a parallel in the same Indian tale +(p. 195). In all of them a man, when starting on a journey, promises +his youngest daughter that he will bring her back some object. This he +forgets to obtain. On his homeward journey, his ship refuses to move +until he has acquired the object in question. The Indian parent +promised to bring home Sabr to his daughter, having no idea what Sabr +meant. Not having obtained it, he set out on his homeward journey. +"But the boat would not move, because he had forgotten one thing--the +thing his youngest daughter had asked for." Sabr turns out to be a +fairy prince. It is a common incident in Indian tales for a hero or +heroine to demand a spouse, generally of a more or less supernatural +nature, whose name is known but nothing more. Just as the Fan Prince +was demanded, under the apparently meaningless name of Sabr, so is the +hand of the Princess Labám longed for by the Rájá's son in No. 22, +although her existence was unknown to him till he heard a parrot +pronounce her name one day; and so is the acquisition of a +Bél-Princess resolved upon by the prince in No. 21, because his +sisters-in-law say to him, in a disagreeable manner, "We think that +you will marry a Bél-Princess." Múniyá, the narrator of the story, +"says that telling the prince he would marry a Bél-Princess was +equivalent to saying he would not marry at all; for these brothers' +wives knew she lived in the fairy country, and that it would be very +difficult, if not impossible, for the prince to find her, and take her +from it." But this seems to be merely a rationalistic view of the +matter. Some mystery seems to underlie these suggestions of, or +desires for, unions with unfamiliar beings. They occur not +unfrequently in Russian tales. In one of Afanasief's skazkas (vol. +vii., No. 6) a baby prince cries, and refuses to go to sleep, till his +royal father rocks his cradle, crooning the while, "Sleep, beloved +one! When you grow up you shall marry Never-enough-to-be-gazed-at +Beauty, daughter of three mothers, sister of nine brothers." Having +slept vigorously, the baby awakes, asks for the king's blessing, and +sets out in search of the unknown Beauty in question. In another (vol. +i., No. 14), Prince Ivan, having married his three sisters to the +Wind, the Hail, and the Thunder, wanders forth in search of a bride. +Finding the remains of two slaughtered armies, and discovering that +their slaughterer was named Anastasia the Fair, he resolves, though +knowing nothing else about her, to make her his wife. Among the +numerous minor incidents which are common to eastern and western +folk-tales, may be mentioned the aid lent to heroes in difficulties by +Magic Instruments, as in No. 22, or by Grateful Beasts, as in No. 24. +A belief in magic is of course world-wide, but the particular +instruments referred to seem to have good reasons for claiming an +oriental extraction. The stories in which stress is laid upon the +gratitude of the inferior animals are almost always derivable from the +east; especially if, as in the correct versions of the tale on which +Puss in Boots is founded, their gratitude is contrasted with the +ingratitude of that superior animal, man. When we meet with so close a +resemblance as exists between the miracle wrought by Shekh Faríd (p. +97), who turns the lying carter's sugar into ashes, and that +attributed to St. Brigit, who turns the liar's salt into stones, we +need have little scruple about referring both stories to the same +source and, considering how much monastic legend-writers were indebted +to oriental fancy, in locating that source in the east. + +The comic elements of eastern and western folk-lore are closely akin, +and the Lie-stories, or _Lügenmärchen_, in Nos. 4, 8, and 17 of these +Indian Tales find their parallels in most European collections. As an +example of the close kinship which prevails among the jests which make +merry the hearts of men far apart from each other, we may take the +Indian story of "Foolish Sachúlí," and compare it with the Russian +tale of "The Fool and the Birch Tree" (Afanasief, vol. v., No. 22). +Sachúlí kills a woman; his Russian counterpart kills a man. The corpse +of the woman is hidden away in a well, that of the man in a cellar. In +each case the fool's sensible relatives, knowing that he will be sure +to tell the truth if he is asked, withdraw the body during his +absence, and substitute for it that of an animal killed for the +purpose. When the seekers after the victim arrive at Sachúlí's home, +he at once conducts them to the well. Being let down into it, he asks, +"Has she got eyes?" "Of course, every one has eyes," is the reply. +"Has she a nose?" "Yes, she has a nose." But at last he inquires if +she has four feet; and the seekers after the dead woman find that the +body in the well is that of a sheep. In the same way, when the Russian +fool has confessed his guilt, and has gone into the cellar to look for +his victim's remains, he finds there the body of a goat. So he calls +out to the anxious inquirers, "Was your man dark-haired?" "He was." +"And had he a beard?" "Yes, he had a beard." "And had he horns?" "What +horns are you talking about, fool?" they reply. So he hands up the +goat's head, and the Russian tale comes to the same conclusion as the +Indian. The likeness here is too strong to be attributed to an +accidental coincidence. + + * * * * * + +It does not, of course, follow that, because a story is found both in +Europe and Asia, therefore the western version has been borrowed from +the east. Europe has, doubtless, sometimes lent a fancy to Asia. Greek +fables are supposed to have exercised an influence upon the Indian +mind. European missionaries may have sometimes rendered a Christian +legend current among Hindus. Professor Monier Williams was assured by +an intelligent native that the spread of railways had materially +diminished the number of malignant ghosts in India. Still, as a +general rule, the east is stubbornly conservative. The Japanese, it is +true, are abandoning their own costume and art for ours, not entirely +to their advantage. But the various peoples of India have never shown +any such tendencies towards change. In their popular fiction, at all +events, they have never shown an inclination to import foreign +manufactures in order to replace their home products. In their +thoughts and feelings they are now very much what they have been for +periods of time which it would be difficult to define. When we find +stories now current in all parts of India, which we know from their +occurrence in Sanskrit literature must have existed there very long +ago, and we see that the mythological element in those stories is in +accordance with religious ideas that have prevailed there for +countless centuries, we can have no doubt that these stories were +framed there at a very early period. Then if we find almost identical +stories current in all parts of Europe, many of their at least +apparently mythological features offering difficulties which cannot be +removed by a reference to the mythologies of the heathen ancestors of +the peasants who now repeat them, it seems not unreasonable to come to +the conclusion that such stories have been borrowed by the west from +the east. From mythological germs common to European and Asiatic +Aryans, it is quite true that legends might arise in Europe and in +Asia, independent of each other, but similar in their general tenor. +But it is not likely that out of any common germ could be +independently developed in several different countries as many +variants of the same tale, in each of which there is a similar +sequence of scenes or acts, and the dramatic action is brought to a +close by a termination that scarcely ever varies. Far more difficult +is it to believe in such a triumph of independent development, than to +place reliance upon a statement to the effect that the wave of +story-telling, as well as of empire, has wended its way westward. + + W. R. S. RALSTON. + + + + +[Decoration] + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + I. PHÚLMATI RÁNÍ, OR THE FLOWER LADY 1 + + II. THE POMEGRANATE KING 7 + + III. THE CAT AND THE DOG 15 + + IV. THE CAT WHICH COULD NOT BE KILLED 18 + + V. THE JACKAL AND THE KITE 21 + + VI. THE VORACIOUS FROG 24 + + VII. THE STORY OF FOOLISH SACHÚLÍ 27 + + VIII. BARBER HÍM AND THE TIGERS 35 + + IX. THE BULBUL AND THE COTTON-TREE 39 + + X. THE MONKEY PRINCE 41 + + XI. BRAVE HÍRÁLÁLBÁSÁ 51 + + XII. THE MAN WHO WENT TO SEEK HIS FATE 63 + + XIII. THE UPRIGHT KING 68 + + XIV. LOVING LAILÍ 73 + + XV. HOW KING BURTAL BECAME A FAKÍR 85 + + XVI. SOME OF THE DOINGS OF SHEKH FARÍD 95 + + XVII. THE MOUSE 101 + + XVIII. A WONDERFUL STORY 108 + + XIX. THE FAKÍR NÁNAKSÁ SAVES THE MERCHANT'S LIFE 114 + + XX. THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR + ON HIS CHIN 119 + + XXI. THE BÉL-PRINCESS 138 + + XXII. HOW THE RÁJÁ'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABÁM 153 + + XXIII. THE PRINCESS WHO LOVED HER FATHER LIKE SALT 164 + + XXIV. THE DEMON IS AT LAST CONQUERED BY THE KING'S SON 173 + + XXV. THE FAN PRINCE 193 + + XXVI. THE BED 201 + + XXVII. PÁNWPATTÍ RÁNÍ 208 + + XXVIII. THE CLEVER WIFE 216 + + XXIX. RÁJÁ HARICHAND'S PUNISHMENT 224 + + XXX. THE KING'S SON AND THE WAZÍR'S DAUGHTER 234 + + NOTES 237 + + GLOSSARY 295 + + LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO 297 + + INDEX 299 + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +INDIAN FAIRY TALES. + +I. + +PHÚLMATI RÁNÍ. + + +There were once a Rájá and a Rání who had an only daughter called the +Phúlmati Rání, or the Pink-rose Queen. She was so beautiful that if +she went into a very dark room it was all lighted up by her beauty. On +her head was the sun; on her hands, moons; and her face was covered +with stars. She had hair that reached to the ground, and it was made +of pure gold. + +Every day after she had had her bath, her father and mother used to +weigh her in a pair of scales. She only weighed one flower. She ate +very, very little food. This made her father most unhappy, and he +said, "I cannot let my daughter marry any one who weighs more than one +flower." Now, God loved this girl dearly, so he went down under the +ground to see if any of the fairy Rájás was fit to be the Phúlmati +Rání's husband, and he thought none of them good enough. So he went in +the form of a Fakír to see the great Indrásan Rájá who ruled over all +the other fairy Rájás. This Rájá was exceedingly beautiful. On his +head was the sun; and on his hands, moons; and on his face, stars. God +made him weigh very little. Then he said to the Rájá, "Come up with +me, and we will go to the palace of the Phúlmati Rání." God had told +the Rájá that he was God and not a Fakír, for he loved the Indrásan +Rájá. "Very well," said the Indrásan Rájá. So they travelled on until +they came to the Phúlmati Rání's palace. When they arrived there they +pitched a tent in her compound, and they used to walk about, and +whenever they saw the Phúlmati Rání they looked at her. One day they +saw her having her hair combed, so God said to the Indrásan Rájá, "Get +a horse and ride where the Phúlmati Rání can see you, and if any one +asks you who you are, say, 'Oh, it's only a poor Fakír, and I am his +son. We have come to stay here a little while just to see the country. +We will go away very soon.'" Well, he got a horse and rode about, and +Phúlmati Rání, who was having her hair combed in the verandah, said, +"I am sure that must be some Rájá; only see how beautiful he is." And +she sent one of her servants to ask him who he was. So the servant +said to the Indrásan Rájá, "Who are you? why are you here? what do you +want?" "Oh, it's only a poor Fakír, and I am his son. We have just +come here for a little while to see the country. We will go away very +soon." So the servants returned to the Phúlmati Rání and told her what +the Indrásan Rájá had said. The Phúlmati Rání told her father about +this. The next day, when the Phúlmati Rání and her father were +standing in the verandah, God took a pair of scales and weighed the +Indrásan Rájá in them. His weight was only that of one flower! "Oh," +said the Rájá, when he saw that, "here is the husband for the Phúlmati +Rání!" The next day, after the Phúlmati Rání had had her bath, her +father took her and weighed her, and he also weighed the Indrásan +Rájá. And they were each the same weight. Each weighed one flower, +although the Indrásan Rájá was fat and the Phúlmati Rání thin. The +next day they were married, and there was a grand wedding. God said he +was too poor-looking to appear, so he bought a quantity of elephants, +and camels, and horses, and cows, and sheep, and goats, and made a +procession, and came to the wedding. Then he went back to heaven, but +before he went he said to the Indrásan Rájá "You must stay here one +whole year; then go back to your father and to your kingdom. As long +as you put flowers on your ears no danger will come near you." (This +was in order that the fairies might know that he was a very great Rájá +and not hurt him.) "All right," said the Indrásan Rájá. And God went +back to heaven. + +So the Indrásan Rájá stayed for a whole year. Then he told the Rájá, +the Phúlmati Rání's father, that he wished to go back to his own +kingdom. "All right," said the Rájá, and he wanted to give him horses, +and camels, and elephants. But the Indrásan Rájá and the Phúlmati Rání +said they wanted nothing but a tent and a cooly. Well, they set out; +but the Indrásan Rájá forgot to put flowers on his ears, and after +some days the Indrásan Rájá was very, very tired, so he said, "We will +sit down under these big trees and rest awhile. Our baggage will soon +be here; it is only a little way behind." So they sat down, and the +Rájá said he felt so tired he must sleep. "Very well," said the Rání; +"lay your head in my lap and sleep." After a while a shoemaker's wife +came by to get some water from a tank which was close to the spot +where the Rájá and Rání were resting. Now, the shoemaker's wife was +very black and ugly, and she had only one eye, and she was exceedingly +wicked. The Rání was very thirsty and she said to the woman, "Please +give me some water, I am so thirsty." "If you want any," said the +shoemaker's wife, "come to the tank and get it yourself." "But I +cannot," said the Rání, "for the Rájá is sleeping in my lap." At last +the poor Rání got so very, very thirsty, she said she must have some +water; so laying the Rájá's head very gently on the ground she went to +the tank. Then the wicked shoemaker's wife, instead of giving her to +drink, gave her a push and sent the beautiful Rání into the water, +where she was drowned. The shoemaker's wife then went back to the +Rájá, and, taking his head on her knee, sat still until he woke. When +the Rájá woke he was much frightened, and he said, "This is not my +wife. My wife was not black, and she had two eyes." The poor Rájá felt +very unhappy. He said, "I am sure something has happened to my wife." +He went to the tank, and he saw flowers floating on the water and he +caught them, and as he caught them his own true wife stood before him. + +They travelled on till they came to a little house. The shoemaker's +wife went with them. They went into the house and laid themselves down +to sleep, and the Rájá laid beside him the flowers he had found +floating in the tank. The Rání's life was in the flowers. As soon as +the Rájá and Rání were asleep, the shoemaker's wife took the flowers, +broke them into little bits, and burnt them. The Rání died +immediately, for the second time. Then the poor Rájá, feeling very +lonely and unhappy, travelled on to his kingdom, and the shoemaker's +wife went after him. God brought the Phúlmati Rání to life a second +time, and led her to the Indrásan Rájá's gardener. + +One day as the Indrásan Rájá was going out hunting, he passed by the +gardener's house, and saw a beautiful girl sitting in it. He thought +she looked very like his wife, the Phúlmati Rání. So he went home to +his father and said, "Father, I should like to be married to the girl +who lives in our gardener's house." "All right," said the father; "you +can be married at once." So they were married the next day. + +One night the shoemaker's wife took a ram, killed it, and put some of +its blood on the Phúlmati Rání's mouth while the Rání slept. The next +morning she went to the Indrásan Rájá and said, "Whom have you +married? You have married a Rakshas. Just see. She has been eating +cows, and sheep, and chickens. Just come and see." The Rájá went, and +when he saw the blood on his wife's mouth he was frightened, and he +thought she was really a Rakshas. The shoemaker's wife said to him, +"If you do not cut this woman in pieces, some harm will happen to +you." So the Rájá took a knife and cut his beautiful wife into pieces. +He then went away very sorrowful. The Phúlmati Rání's arms and legs +grew into four houses; her chest became a tank, and her head a house +in the middle of the tank; her eyes turned into two little doves; and +these five houses, the tank and the doves, were transported to the +jungle. No one knew this. The little doves lived in the house that +stood in the middle of the tank. The other four houses stood round the +tank. + +One day when the Indrásan Rájá was hunting by himself in the jungle he +was very tired, and he saw the house in the tank. So he said, "I will +go into that house to rest a little while, and to-morrow I will return +home to my father." So, tying his horse outside, he went into the +house and lay down to sleep. By and by, the two little birds came and +perched on the roof above his head. They began to talk, and the Rájá +listened. The little husband-dove said to his wife, "This is the man +who cut his wife to pieces." And then he told her how the Indrásan +Rájá had married the beautiful Phúlmati Rání, who weighed only one +flower, and how the shoemaker's wife had drowned her; how God had +brought her to life again; how the shoemaker's wife had burned her; +and last of all, how the Rájá himself had cut her to pieces. "And +cannot the Rájá find her again?" said the little wife-dove. "Oh, yes, +he can," said her husband, "but he does not know how to do so." "But +do tell me how he can find her," said the little wife-dove. "Well," +said her husband, "every night, at twelve o'clock, the Rání and her +servants come to bathe in the tank. Her servants wear yellow dresses, +but she wears a red one. Now, if the Rájá could get all their dresses, +every one, when they lay them down and go into the tank to bathe, and +throw away all the yellow dresses one by one, keeping only the red +one, he would recover his wife." + +The Rájá heard all these things, and at midnight the Rání and her +servants came to bathe. The Rájá lay very quiet, and after they all +had taken off their dresses and gone into the tank, he jumped up and +seized every one of the dresses,--he did not leave one of them,--and +ran away as hard as he could. Then each of the servants, who were only +fairies, screamed out, "Give me my dress! What are you doing? why do +you take it away?" Then the Rájá dropped one by one the yellow dresses +and kept the red one. The fairy servants picked up the dresses, and +forsook the Phúlmati Rání and ran away. The Rájá came back to her with +her dress in his hand, and she said, "Oh, give me back my dress. If +you keep it I shall die. Three times has God brought me to life, but +he will bring me to life no more." The Rájá fell at her feet and +begged her pardon, and they were reconciled. And he gave her back her +dress. Then they went home, and Indrásan Rájá had the shoemaker's wife +cut to pieces, and buried in the jungle. And they lived happily ever +after. + + Told by Dunkní at Simla, July 25th, 1876. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +II. + +THE POMEGRANATE KING. + + +There was once a Mahárájá, called the Anárbásá, or Pomegranate King; +and a Mahárání called the Gulíanár, or Pomegranate-flower. The +Mahárání died leaving two children: a little girl of four or five +years old, and a little boy of three. The Mahárájá was very sorry when +she died, for he loved her dearly. He was exceedingly fond of his two +children, and got for them two servants: a man to cook their dinner, +and an ayah to take care of them. He also had them taught to read and +write. Soon after his wife's death the neighbouring Rájá's daughter's +husband died, and she said if any other Rájá would marry her, she +would be quite willing to marry him, and she also said she would like +very much to marry the Pomegranate Rájá. So her father went to see the +Pomegranate Rájá, and told him that his daughter wished to marry him. +"Oh," said the Pomegranate Rájá, "I do not want to marry again, for if +I do, the woman I marry will be sure to be unkind to my two children. +She will not take care of them. She will not pet them and comfort them +when they are unhappy." "Oh," said the other Rájá, "my daughter will +be very good to them, I assure you." "Very well," said the Mahárájá, +"I will marry her." So they were married. + +For two or three months everything went on well, but then the new +Rání, who was called the Sunkásí Mahárání, began to beat the poor +children, and to scold their servants. One day she gave the boy such +a hard blow on his cheek that it swelled. When the Mahárájá came out +of his office to get his tiffin, he saw the boy's swollen face, and, +calling the two servants, he said, "Who did this? how did my boy get +hurt?" They said, "The Rání gave him such a hard blow on his cheek +that it swelled, and she gets very angry with us if we say anything +about her ill-treatment of the children, or how she scolds us." The +Mahárájá was exceedingly angry with his wife for this, and said to +her, "I never beat my children. Why should you beat them? If you beat +them I will send you away." And he went off to his office in a great +rage. The Rání was very angry. So she told the little girl to go with +the ayah to the bazar. The ayah and the little girl set off, never +suspecting any evil. As soon as they had gone, the Rání took the +little boy and told him she would kill him. The boy went down on his +knees and begged her to spare his life. But she said, "No; your father +is always quarrelling with me, beating me, and scolding me, all +through your fault." The boy begged and prayed again, saying he would +never be naughty any more. The Rání shook her head, and taking a large +knife she cut off his head. She then cut him up and made him into a +curry. She then buried his head, and his nails, and his feet in the +ground, and she covered them well with earth, and stamped the ground +well down so that no one should notice it had been disturbed. When the +Pomegranate Rájá came home to his dinner, she put the curry and some +rice on the table before him; but the Rájá, seeing his boy was not +there, would not eat. He went and looked everywhere for his son, +crying very much, and the little girl cried very much too, for she +loved her brother dearly. After they had hunted for him for some time, +the little boy appeared. His father embraced him. "Where have you +been?" said he. "I cannot eat my dinner without you." The little boy +said, "Oh, I was in the jungle playing with other boys." They then +sat down to dinner, and the curry changed into a kid curry. The Rání +was greatly astonished when she saw the boy. She said to herself, "I +cut his head off; I cut him into little pieces, and I made him into a +curry, and yet he is alive!" She then went into the garden to see if +his head, and nails, and feet were in the hole where she had buried +them. But they were not there; it was quite empty. She then called a +sepoy, and said to him, "If you will take two children into the jungle +and kill them, I will give you as much money as you like." "All +right," said the sepoy. She then brought the children, and told him to +take them to the jungle. So he took them away to the jungle, but he +had not the heart to kill them, for they were exceedingly beautiful, +and he left them in the jungle near their dead mother's grave. Then he +returned to the Rání, saying he had done as she wished, and she gave +him as much money as he wanted. + +The poor Pomegranate Rájá was very unhappy when he saw his children +were not in the palace, and that they could not be found. He asked his +Rání where they were, but she said she did not know; they had gone out +to play and had never returned. From the day he lost his children the +Pomegranate Rájá became melancholy. He did not love the Rání any more; +he hated her. + +Meanwhile the children lived in a little house built close to their +mother's grave. God had given her life again that she might take care +of them. But they did not know she was their mother; they thought she +was another woman sent to take care of them. God sent also a man to +teach them. Somehow or other the Rání Sunkásí heard they were still +alive in the jungle. She did not know how she could kill them. So at +last she pretended she was very ill, and she said to the Rájá, "The +doctor says that in the jungle there are two children, and he says if +you will have them killed, and will bring their livers for me to +stand on when I bathe, then I shall get well." The Rájá sent a second +sepoy to kill the children, and this man killed them and brought their +livers to the Rání. She stood on them while bathing, and then said she +was quite well. She then threw the livers into the garden, and during +the night a tree grew up there with two large beautiful flowers on it. +Next morning the Rání looked out and said, "I will gather those +flowers to-day." Every day she said she would gather them, and every +day she forgot. At last one day she said, "Every day I forget to +gather those flowers, but to-day I really will do so," and she sent +her servant to pluck them. So he went out, and, just as he was going +to gather them, the flowers flew up just out of his reach. Then the +Rání went down, and when she was going to pick them they flew up so +high that they could not be seen. Every day she tried to gather them, +and every day they went high up, and came back again to the tree as +soon as she had gone. Then the flowers disappeared and two large +fruits came in their stead. The Rání looked out of her window: "Oh, +what delicious fruits! I'll eat them all myself. I won't give a bit to +anybody, and I'll eat them by myself quite quietly." She went down to +the garden, but they flew high up into the sky, and then they came +down again. So this went on, day after day, until she got so cross she +ordered the tree to be cut down. But it was of no use. The tree was +cut down, but the fruits flew high up into the sky, and in the night +the tree grew up again and the fruits came back again to it. And so +this went on for many days. Every day she cut down the tree, and every +night it grew up again, but she could never get the fruits. At last +she became very angry, and had the tree hewn into tiny bits and all +the bits thrown away, but still the tree grew again in the night, and +in the morning the fruits were hanging on it. So she went to the Rájá +and told him that in the garden was a tree with two fruits, and every +time she tried to get them, the fruits went up into the air. She had +had the tree cut down ever so many times, and it always grew up again +in the night and the fruits returned to it. "Why cannot you leave the +tree alone?" said the Rájá. "But I should like to see if what you say +is true." So the Rájá and the Rání went down to the garden, and the +Rání tried to get the fruits, but she could not, for they went right +up into the air. + +That evening the Rájá went alone to the garden to gather the fruits, +and the fruits of themselves fell into his hand. He took them into his +room, and putting them on a little table close to his bed, he lay down +to sleep. As soon as he was in bed a little voice inside one of the +fruits said, "Brother;" and a little voice in the other fruit said, +"Sister, speak more gently. To-morrow the Rájá will break open the +fruits, and if the Rání finds us she will kill us. Three times has God +made us alive again, but if we die a fourth time he will bring us to +life no more." The Rájá listened and said, "I will break them open in +a little while." Then he went to sleep, and after a little he woke and +said, "A little while longer," and went to sleep again. Several times +he woke up and said, "I will break the fruits open in a little while," +and went to sleep. At last he took a knife and began cutting the +fruits open very fast, and the little boy cried, "Gently, gently, +father; you hurt us!" So then the Rájá cut more gently, and he stopped +to ask, "Are you hurt?" and they said, "No." And then he cut again and +asked, "Are you hurt?" and they said, "No." And a third time he asked, +"Are you hurt?" and they answered, "No." Then the fruits broke open +and his two children jumped out. They rushed into their father's arms, +and he clasped them tight, and they cried softly, that the Rání might +not hear. + +He shut his room up close, and fed and dressed his children, and then +went out of the room, locking the door behind him. He had a little +wooden house built that could easily catch fire, and as soon as it was +ready he went to the Rání and said, "Will you go into a little house I +have made ready for you while your room is getting repaired?" "All +right," said the Rání; so she went into the little house, and that +night a man set it on fire, and the Rání and everything in it was +burnt up. Then the Pomegranate Rájá took her bones, put them into a +tin box, and sent them as a present to her mother. "Oh," said the +mother, "my daughter has married the Pomegranate Mahárájá, and so she +sends me some delicious food." When she opened the box, to her horror +she found only bones! Then she wrote to the Mahárájá, "Of what use are +bones?" The Mahárájá wrote back, "They are your bones; they belong to +you, for they are your daughter's bones. She ill-treated and killed my +children, and so I had her burnt." + +The Pomegranate Rájá and his children lived very happily for some +time, and their dead mother, the Gulíanár Rání, having a wish to see +her husband and her children, prayed to God to let her go and visit +them. God said she could go, but not in her human shape, so he changed +her into a beautiful bird, and put a pin in her head, and said, "As +soon as the pin is pulled out you will become a woman again." She flew +to the palace where the Mahárájá lived, and there were great trees +about the palace. On one of these she perched at night. The doorkeeper +was lying near it. She called out, "Doorkeeper! doorkeeper!" and he +answered, "What is it? Who is it?" And she asked, "Is the Rájá well?" +and the doorkeeper said, "Yes." "Are the children well?" and he said, +"Yes." "And all the servants, and camels, and horses?" "Yes." "Are you +well?" "Yes." "Have you had plenty of food?" "Yes." "What a great +donkey your Mahárájá is!" And then she began to cry very much, and +pearls fell from her eyes as she cried. Then she began to laugh very +much, and great big rubies fell from her beak as she laughed. The next +morning the doorkeeper got up and felt about, and said, "What is all +this?" meaning the pearls and the rubies, for he did not know what +they were. "I will keep them." So he picked them all up and put them +into a corner of his house. Every night the bird came and asked after +the Mahárájá and the children and the servants, and left a great many +pearls and rubies behind her. At last the doorkeeper had a whole heap +of pearls and rubies. + +One day a Fakír came and begged, and as the doorkeeper had no pice, or +flour, or rice to give, he gave him a handful of pearls and rubies. +"Well," said the Fakír to himself, "I am sure these are pearls and +rubies." So he tied them up in his cloth. Then he went to the Rájá to +beg, and the Rájá gave him a handful of rice. "What!" said the Fakír, +"the great Mahárájá only gives me a handful of rice when his +doorkeeper gives me pearls and rubies!" and he turned to walk away. +But the Mahárájá stopped him. "What did you say?" said he, "that my +doorkeeper gave you pearls and rubies?" "Yes," said the Fakír, "your +doorkeeper gave me pearls and rubies." So the Mahárájá went to the +doorkeeper's house, and when he saw all the pearls and rubies that +were there, he thought the man had stolen them from his treasury. The +Mahárájá had not as many pearls and rubies as his doorkeeper had. Then +turning to the doorkeeper he asked him to tell him truly where and how +he had got them. "Yes, I will," said the doorkeeper. "Every night a +beautiful bird comes and asks after you, after your children, after +all your elephants, horses, and servants; and then it cries, and when +it cries pearls drop from its eyes; and then it laughs, and rubies +fall from its beak. If you come to-night I dare say you will see it." +"All right," said the Pomegranate Rájá. + +So that night the Mahárájá pulled his bed out under the tree on which +the bird always perched. At night the bird came and called out, +"Doorkeeper! doorkeeper!" and the doorkeeper answered, "Yes, lord." +And the bird said, "Is your Mahárájá well?" "Yes." "Are the children +well?" "Yes." "And all his servants, horses, and camels and +elephants--are they well?" "Yes." "Are you well?" "Yes." "Have you had +plenty of food?" "Yes." "What a fool your Mahárájá is!" And then she +cried, and the pearls came tumbling down on the Mahárájá's eyes, and +the Mahárájá opened one eye and saw what a beautiful bird it was. And +then it laughed, and rubies fell from its beak on to the Mahárájá. + +Next morning the Mahárájá said he would give any one who would catch +the bird as much money as he wanted. So he called a fisherman, and +asked him to bring his net and catch the bird when it came that night. +The fisherman said he would for one thousand rupees. That night the +fisherman, the Mahárájá, and the doorkeeper, all waited under the +tree. Soon the bird came, and asked after the Mahárájá, after his +children, and all his servants and elephants, and camels and horses, +and then after the doorkeeper, and then it called the Mahárájá a fool. +Then it cried, and then it laughed, and just as it laughed the +fisherman threw the net over the bird and caught it. Then they shut it +up in an iron cage, and the next morning the Mahárájá took it out and +stroked it, and said, "What a sweet little bird! what a lovely little +bird!" And the Mahárájá felt something like a pin in its head, and he +gave a pull, and out came the pin, and then his own dear wife, the +Pomegranate-flower Rání, stood before him. The Rájá was exceedingly +glad, and so were his two children. And there were great rejoicings, +and they lived happily ever after. + + Told by Dunkní at Simla, 26th July, 1876. + + + + +[Decoration] + +III. + +THE CAT AND THE DOG. + + +_Introduction._ + +Now all cats are aunts to the tigers, and the cat in this story was +the aunt of the tiger in this story. She was his mother's sister. When +the tiger's mother was dying, she called the cat to her, and taking +her paw she said, "When I am dead you must take care of my child." The +cat answered, "Very well," and then the tiger's mother died. The tiger +said to the cat, "Aunt, I am very hungry. Go and fetch some fire. When +I go to ask men for fire they are afraid of me, and run away from me, +and won't give me any. But you are such a little creature that men are +not afraid of you, and so they will give you fire, and then you must +bring it to me." So the cat said, "Very good," and off she started, +and went into a house where some men were eating their dinner: they +had thrown away the bones, and the cat began to eat them. This house +was very near the place where the tiger lived, and on peeping round +the corner he saw his aunt eating the bones. "Oh," said he, "I sent my +aunt to fetch fire that I might cook my dinner as I am very hungry, +and there she sits eating the bones, and never thinks of me." So the +tiger called out, "Aunt, I sent you to fetch fire, and there you sit +eating bones and leave me hungry! If ever you come near me again, I +will kill you at once." So the cat ran away screaming, "I will never +go near the tiger again, for he will kill me!" This is why all cats +are so afraid of tigers, or of anything like a tiger. And this is why, +when the cat in the story saw the tiger, her nephew, fighting with the +man, she ran away as hard as she could. + + +_The Story._ + +There were once a dog and a cat. It was a very rainy day, and some men +were eating their dinner inside their house. The cat sat inside too, +eating her dinner, and the dog sat on the door-step. The cat called +out to the dog, "I am a high-caste person, and you are a very +low-caste person." "Oh," said the dog, "not at all. I am the +high-caste person and you are of very low caste. You eat all the men's +dinner up, and snatch the food from their hands just as they are +putting it into their mouths. And you scratch them, and they beat you; +while I sit away from them, and so they don't beat me. And if they +_give_ me any dinner I'll eat it; but if they don't, I won't." "Oh," +says the cat, "not a bit of it. I eat nice clean food; but you eat +nasty, dirty food, which the men have thrown away." "No," said the +dog, "I am high caste and you are very low caste, for if I gave you a +slap you would tumble down directly." "No, no!" said the cat. And they +went on disputing and began to fight, till the dog said, "Very well, +let us go to the wise jackal and ask him which of us is the better." +"Good," said the cat. So they went to the jackal and asked him. Said +the cat, "I am of the higher caste, and the dog is of the lower +caste." "No," said the jackal, "the dog is of the higher caste." The +cat said, "No," and the jackal said, "Yes," and they began to fight. +Then the jackal and the dog proposed to go and ask a great big beast +who lived in the jungle and was like a tiger. But the cat said, "I +cannot go near a tiger or anything like one." So then they said, "When +we come near the beast, you can remain behind, and we will go on and +speak to him." So they ran into the jungle, where there was a tiger +who had been lying on the ground with a great thorn sticking in his +foot. When his aunt, the cat, saw him, she scampered off, for she was +dreadfully frightened. + +The thorn had given the tiger great pain; for a long while he could +get no one to take it out, so had lain there for days. At last he had +seen a man passing by, to whom he called and said, "Take out this +thorn, and I promise I won't eat you." But the man refused through +fear, saying, "No, I won't, for you will eat me." Three times the +tiger had promised not to eat him; so at last the man took out the +thorn. Then the tiger sprang up and said, "Now I will eat you, for I +am very hungry." "Oh, no, no!" said the man. "What a liar you are! You +promised not to eat me if I would take the thorn out of your foot, and +now that I have done so you say you will eat me." And they began to +fight, and the man said, "If you won't eat me, I will bring you a cow +and a goat." But the tiger refused, saying, "No, I won't eat them; I +will eat you." + +At this moment the jackal and the dog came up. And the jackal asked, +"What is the matter? why are you fighting?" So then the man told him +why they were fighting; and the jackal said to the tiger, "I will tell +you a good way of eating the man. Go and fetch a big bag." So the +tiger went and fetched the bag, and brought it to the jackal. Then the +jackal said, "Get inside the bag, and leave its mouth open and I'll +throw the man in to you." So the tiger got inside the bag, and the +jackal, the dog and the man quickly tied it up as tight as they could. +Then they began to beat the tiger with all their might until at last +they killed him. Then the man went home, and the jackal went home, and +the dog went home. + + + + +[Decoration] + +IV. + +THE CAT WHICH COULD NOT BE KILLED. + + +There were once a dog and a cat, who were always quarrelling. The dog +used to beat the cat, but he never could hurt her. She would only +dance about and cry, "You never hurt me, you never hurt me! I _had_ a +pain in my shoulder, but now it is all gone away." So the dog went to +a _mainá_[1] and said, "What shall I do to hurt this cat? I beat her +and I bite her, and yet I can't hurt her. I am such a big dog and she +is rather a big cat, yet if I beat her I don't hurt her, but if she +beats me she hurts me so much." The _mainá_ said, "Bite her mouth +very, very hard, and then you'll hurt her." "Oh, no," said the cat, +who had just come up, laughing; "you won't hurt me at all." The dog +bit her mouth as hard as he could. "Oh, you don't hurt me," said the +cat, dancing about. So the dog went again to the _mainá_ and said, +"What shall I do?" "Bite her ears," said the _mainá_. So the dog bit +the cat's ears, but she danced about and said, "Oh, you did not hurt +me; now I can put earrings in my ears." So she put in earrings. + +The dog went to the elephant. "Can you kill this cat? she worries me +so every day." "Oh, yes," said the elephant, "of course I can kill +her. She is so little and I am so big." Then the elephant came and +took her up with his trunk, and threw her a long way. Up she jumped at +once and danced about, saying, "You did not hurt me one bit. I _had_ +a pain, but now I am quite well." Then the elephant got cross and +said, "I'll teach you to dance in another way than that," and he took +the cat and laid her on the ground and put his great foot on her. But +she was not hurt at all. She danced about and said, "You did not hurt +me one bit, not one bit," and she dug her claws into the elephant's +trunk. The elephant ran away screaming, and he told the dog, "You had +better beware of that cat. She belongs to the tiger tribe." The dog +felt very angry with the cat. "What shall I do," said he, "to kill +this cat?" And he bit her nose so hard that it bled. But she laughed +at him. "Now I can put a ring in my nose," said she. He got furious. +"I'll bite her tail in half," said he. So he bit her tail in half, and +yet he did not hurt her. + +He then went to a leopard. "If you can kill this cat I will give you +anything you want." "Very well, I'll kill her," said the leopard. And +they went together to the cat. "Stop," said the cat to the leopard; "I +want to speak to you first. I'll give you something to eat, and then +I'll tell you what I want to say." And then she ran off ever so far, +and after she had run a mile she stopped and danced, calling out, "Oh! +I'll give you nothing to eat; you could not kill me." The leopard went +away very cross, and saying, "What a clever cat that is." + +The dog next went to a man, and said, "Can you kill this cat, she +worries me so?" "Of course I can," said the man; "I'll stick this +knife into her stomach." And he stuck his knife into the cat's +stomach, but the cat jumped up, and her stomach closed, and the man +went home. + +And the dog went to a bear. "Can _you_ kill this cat? I can't." "I'll +kill her," said the bear; so he stuck all his claws into the cat, but +he didn't hurt her; and she stuck her claws into the bear's nose so +deep that he died immediately. + +Then the poor dog felt very unhappy, and went and threw himself into a +hole, and there he died, while the cat went away to her friends. + + Told by Dunkní at Simla, July 26th, 1876. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [1] A kind of starling. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +V. + +THE JACKAL AND THE KITE. + + +There was once a she-jackal and a she-kite. They lived in the same +tree; the jackal at the bottom of the tree, and the kite at the top. +Neither had any children. One day the kite said to the jackal, "Let us +go and worship God, and fast, and then he will give us children." So +the jackal said, "Very good." That day the kite ate nothing, nor that +night; but the jackal at night brought a dead animal, and was sitting +eating it quietly under the tree. By-and-by the kite heard her +crunching the bones, instead of fasting. "What have you got there," +said the kite, "that you are making such a noise?" "Nothing," said the +jackal; "it is only my own bones that rattle inside my body whenever I +move." The kite went to sleep again, and took no more notice of the +jackal. Next morning the kite ate some food in the name of God. That +night again the jackal brought a dead animal. The kite called out, +"What are you crunching there? Why are you making that noise? I am +sure you have something to eat." The jackal said, "Oh, no! It is only +my own bones rattling in my body." So the kite went to sleep again. + +Some time after, the kite had seven little boys--real little boys--but +the jackal had none, because she had not fasted. A year after that the +kite went and worshipped God, asking Him to take care of her children. +One day--it was their great day--the kite set out seven plates. On one +she put cocoa-nuts, on another cucumbers, on a third rice, on a +fourth plantains, and so on. Then she gave a plate to each of her +seven sons, and told them to take the plates to their aunt the jackal. +So they took the seven plates, and carried them to their aunt, crying +out, "Aunty, aunty, look here! Mamma has sent you these things." The +jackal took the plates, and cut off the heads of the seven boys, and +their hands, and their feet, and their noses, and their ears, and took +out their eyes. Then she laid their heads in one plate, and their eyes +in another, and their noses in a third, and their ears in a fourth, +and their hands in a fifth, and their feet in a sixth, and their +trunks in the seventh, and then she covered all the plates over. Then +she took the plates to the kite, and called out, "Here! I have brought +you something in return. You sent me a present, and I bring you a +present." Now the poor kite thought the jackal had killed all her +seven children, so she cried out, "Oh, it's too dark now to see what +you have brought. Put the plates down in my tree." The jackal put the +plates down and went home. Then God made the boys alive again, and +they came running to their mother, quite well. And instead of the +heads and eyes, and noses and ears, and hands and feet, and trunks, +there were again on the plates cocoa-nuts and cucumbers, and plantains +and rice, and so on. + +Now the jackal got hold of the boys again. And this time she killed +them, and cooked them and ate them; and again God brought them to +life. Well, the jackal was very much astonished to see the boys alive, +and she got angry, and said to the kite, "I will take your seven sons +and throw them into the water, and they will be drowned." "Very well," +said the kite, "take them. I don't mind. God will take care of them." +The jackal took them and threw them into the water, and left them to +die, while the kite looked on without crying. And again God made them +alive, and the jackal was so surprised. "Why," said she, "I put these +children into the water, and left them to drown. And here they are +alive!" Then God got very angry with the jackal, and said to her, "Go +out of this village. And wherever you go, men will try to shoot you, +and you shall always be afraid of them." So the jackal had to go away; +and the kite and her children lived very happily ever afterwards. + + Told by Dunkní. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +VI. + +THE VORACIOUS FROG. + + +There were a rat and a frog. And the rat said to the frog, "Go and get +me some sticks, while I go and get some flour and milk." So the frog +went out far into the jungle and brought home plenty of sticks, and +the rat went out and brought home flour and milk for their dinner. +Then she cooked the dinner, and when it was cooked she said to the +frog, "Now, you sit here while I go to bathe, and take care of the +food so that no one may come and eat it up." Then the rat went to take +her bath, and as soon as she had gone the frog made haste and ate up +the dinner quickly, and went away. + +When the rat came back she found no dinner, and she could not find the +frog. So she went out to look for him, calling to him as loudly as she +could, and she saw him in the distance, and overtook him. "Why have +you eaten my dinner? Why did you go away?" said the rat. Said the +frog, "Oh, dear! it was not I that ate your dinner, but a huge dog +that came; and I was only a tiny, tiny thing, and he was a great big +dog, and so he frightened me, and I ran away." "Very well," said the +rat; "go and fetch me more sticks while I go for flour and milk." So +the frog went out far into the jungle and brought back plenty of +sticks. And the rat went to fetch flour and milk. Then she lit the +fire and cooked the dinner, and told the frog to take care of the +dinner while she went to bathe. As soon as she had gone, the frog ate +up all the dinner, and went away and hid himself. When the rat came +back she saw no frog, no dinner. She went away into the jungle and +called to him, and the frog answered from behind a tree, "Here I am, +here I am." The rat went to him and said, "Why did you eat my dinner?" +"I didn't," said the frog. "It was a great big dog ate the dinner, and +he wanted to eat me too, and so I ran away." The rat said, "Very well. +Go and fetch me some more sticks, and I will go for flour and milk." +Then she cooked the dinner again and went to bathe. The frog ate up +all the dinner, and went away and hid himself. When the rat returned +she saw no dinner, no frog. So she went far into the jungle, found the +frog, and told him that it was he that had eaten the dinner. And the +frog said, "No," and the rat said, "Yes." And the frog said, "If you +say that again, I will eat you up." "All right," says the rat, "eat me +up." So he ate her up and sat behind a tree, and the baker came past. +The frog called out, "Baker, come here! come here! Give me some +bread." The baker looked about everywhere, could not see anybody, +could not think who was calling him. At last he saw the frog sitting +behind a tree. "Give me some bread," says the frog. The man said, "No, +I won't give you any bread. I am a great big man, and you are only a +little frog, and you have no money." "Yes, I have money. I will give +you some pice, and you will give me some bread." But the man said, +"No, I won't." "Well," said the frog, "if you won't give me bread, I +will eat you up first, and then I will eat up your bread." So he ate +up the man, and then ate up his bread. Presently a man with oranges +and lemons passed by. The frog called to him, "Come here! come here!" +The man was very much afraid. He didn't know who had called him. Then +he saw the frog, and the frog said, "Give me some lemons." The man +wouldn't, and said, "No." "Very well," says the frog, "if you won't, +I'll eat you up." So he ate up the man with his lemons and oranges. +Presently a horse and his groom went by. The frog says, "Please give +me a ride, and I will give you some money." "No," said the horse, "I +won't let you ride on me. You are like a monkey,--very little--I won't +let you ride on my back." The frog said, "If you won't, I'll eat you +up." Then the frog ate him up, and his groom too. Then a barber passed +by. "Come and shave me," says the frog. "Good," says the barber, "I'll +come and shave you." So he shaved him, and he thought the frog looked +_very_ fat, and so as he was shaving him he suddenly made a cut in his +stomach. Out jumped the rat with her flour and milk--the baker with +his bread--the lemon-seller with his oranges and lemons--the horse and +his groom. And the barber ran away home. And the frog died. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +VII. + +THE STORY OF FOOLISH SACHÚLÍ. + + +There once lived a poor old widow woman named Hungní, who had a little +idiot son called Sachúlí. She used to beg every day. One day when the +son had grown up, he said to his mother. "What makes women laugh?" "If +you throw a tiny stone at them," answered she, "they will laugh." So +one day Sachúlí went and sat by a well, and three women came to it to +fill their water-jars. "Now," said Sachúlí "I will make one of these +women laugh." Two of the women filled their water-jars and went away +home, and he threw no stones at them; but as the last, who also had on +the most jewels, passed him, he threw a great big stone at her, and +she fell down dead, with her mouth set as if she were smiling. "Oh, +look! look! how she is laughing!" said Sachúlí, and he ran off to call +his mother. + +"Come, come, mother," said he, "and see how I have made this woman +laugh." + +His mother came, and when she saw the woman lying dead, she was much +frightened, for the dead woman belonged to a great and very rich +family, and she wore jewels worth a thousand rupees. Hungní took off +all her jewels, and threw her body into the well. + +After some days the dead woman's father and mother and all her people +sent round a crier with a drum to try and find her. "Whoever brings +back a young woman who wears a great many gold necklaces and bracelets +and rings shall get a great deal of money," cried the crier. Sachúlí +heard him. "I know where she is," said he. "My mother took off all her +jewels, and threw her into the well." + +The crier said, "Can you go down into the well and bring her up?" + +"If you will tie a rope round my waist and let me down the well, I +shall be able to bring her up." + +So they set off towards the well, which was near Hungní's house; and +when she saw them coming, she guessed what they came for, and she ran +out and killed a sheep, threw it into the well, and took out the dead +woman and hid her. + +The crier got some men to come with him, and they let Sachúlí down the +well. "Has she got eyes?" said Sachúlí. "Of course, every one has +eyes," answered the men. "Has she a nose?" asked Sachúlí. "Yes, she +has a nose," said the men. "Has she got a mouth?" asked Sachúlí. +"Yes," said the men. "Has she a long face?" + +"What does he mean?" said the men, who were getting cross. "No one has +a long face; perhaps she has, though. Yes, she has a long face," cried +the men. + +"Has she a tail?" + +"A tail! Why no one has a tail. Perhaps, though, she has long hair. No +doubt that is what he calls a tail. Yes, she has a tail." + +"Has she ears?" + +"Of course, every one has ears." + +"Has she four feet?" + +"Four feet!" said the men. "Why, no one has four feet. Perhaps you +call her hands feet. Yes, she has four feet. Bring her up quickly." + +Then Sachúlí brought up the sheep. + +The men were very angry when they saw the sheep, and they beat +Sachúlí, and called him a very stupid fellow and a great liar, and +they went away feeling very cross. + +Sachúlí went home to his mother, who, as soon as she saw him coming, +ran out and put the woman's body back in the well, and when he got +home she beat him. "Mother," said he, "give me some bread, and I will +go away and die." His mother cooked him some bread, and he went away. + +He walked on, and on, and on, a long way. + +Now, some Rájá's ten camels had been travelling along the road on +which Sachúlí went, each carrying sacks of gold mohurs and rupees, and +one of these camels broke loose from the string and strayed away, and +the camel-drivers could not find it again. But Sachúlí met it, and +caught it and took it home. + +"See, mother! see what a quantity of money I have brought you!" cried +Sachúlí. Hungní rushed out, and was delighted to see so much money. +She took off the sacks at once and sent the camel away. Then she hid +the rupees and the gold with the jewels she had taken from the dead +woman. And, as she was a cunning woman, she went and bought a great +many comfits and scattered them all about her house, when Sachúlí was +out of the way. "Oh, look! look!" cried Sachúlí, "at all these +comfits." "God has rained them from heaven," said his mother. Sachúlí +began to pick them up and eat them, and he told all the people in the +village how God had rained down comfits from heaven on his mother's +house. "What nonsense!" cried they. "Yes, he has," said Sachúlí, "and +I have been eating them." "No comfits have fallen on our houses," said +they. "Yes, yes," cried he, "the day my mother got all those rupees, +God rained comfits on our house." "What lies!" cried the people; "as +if it ever rained comfits. Why did not the comfits rain down on our +houses? Why did they fall only on your house? And what's all this +about rupees?" And then they came to see if there were any rupees or +comfits in Hungní's house, and they found none at all, for Hungní had +hidden the rupees and thrown away the comfits. "There," said they to +Sachúlí, "where are your rupees? where are your comfits? What a liar +you are! as if it ever rained comfits. How can you tell such stories?" +And they beat him. "But it did rain comfits," said Sachúlí, "for I ate +them. It rained comfits the day my mother got the rupees." + +Now the Rájá who had lost his camel sent round the crier with his drum +to find his camel and his money-bags. "Whoever has found a camel +carrying money-bags and brings it and the money back to the Rájá, will +get a great many rupees," cried the crier. "Oh!" says Sachúlí, "I know +where the money is. One day I went out and I found a stray camel, and +he had sacks of rupees on his back, and I took him home to my mother, +and she took the sacks off his back and sent the camel away." So the +crier went to find the rupees, and the people in the bazar went with +him. But Hungní had hidden the rupees so carefully that, though they +hunted all over her house, they could find none, and they beat +Sachúlí, and told him he was a liar. "I am not telling lies," said +Sachúlí. "My mother took the rupees the day it rained comfits on our +house." So they beat him again, and they went away. Then Hungní beat +Sachúlí, and said, "What a bad boy you are! trying to get me beaten +and put into prison, telling every one about the rupees. Go away; I +don't want you any more, such a bad boy as you are! go away and die." +He said, "Very well, mother; give me some bread, and I'll go." + +Sachúlí set off and took an axe with him. "How shall I kill myself?" +said he. So he climbed up a tree and sat out on a long branch, and +began cutting off the branch between himself and the tree on which he +was sitting. "What are you doing up there?" said a man who came by. +"You'll die if you cut that branch off." "What do you say?" cries +Sachúlí, jumping down on the man, and seizing his hand. "When shall I +die?" "How can I tell? Let me go." "I won't let you go till you tell +me when I shall die." And at last the man said, "When you find a +scarlet thread on your jacket, then you will die." + +Sachúlí went off to the bazar, and sat down by some tailors, and one +of the tailors, in throwing away their shreds of cloth, threw a +scarlet thread on Sachúlí's coat. "Oh," said Sachúlí, when he saw the +thread, "now I shall die!" "How do you know that?" said the tailors. +"A man told me that when I found a scarlet thread on my jacket, I +should die," said Sachúlí; and the tailors all laughed at him and made +fun of him, but he went off into the jungle and dug his grave with his +axe, and lay down in it. In the night a sepoy came by with a large jar +of ghee on his head. "How heavy this jar is," said the sepoy. "Is +there no cooly that will come and carry my ghee home for me? I would +give him four pice for his trouble." Up jumped Sachúlí out of his +grave. "I'll carry it for you," said he. "Who are you?" said the +sepoy, much frightened. "Oh, I am a man who is dead," said Sachúlí, +"and I am tired of lying here. I can't lie here any more." "Well," +said the sepoy, very much frightened, "you may carry my ghee." So +Sachúlí put the jar on his head, and he went on, with the sepoy +following. "Now," said Sachúlí, "with these four pice I will buy a +hen, and I will sell the hen and her eggs, and with the money I get +for them I will buy a goat; and then I will sell the goat and her milk +and her hide and buy a cow, and I will sell her milk; and then I will +marry a wife, and then I shall have some children, and they will say +to me, 'Father, will you have some rice?' and I will say, 'No, I won't +have any rice.'" And as he said, "No, I won't have any rice," he shook +his head, and down came the jar of ghee, and the jar was smashed, and +the ghee spilled. "Oh, dear! what have you done?" cried the sepoy. +"Why did you shake your head?" "Because my children asked me to have +some rice, and I did not want any, so I shook my head," said Sachúlí. +"Oh," said the sepoy, "he is an utter idiot." And the sepoy went home, +and Sachúlí went back to his mother. "Why have you come back?" said +she. "I have been dead twelve years," said Sachúlí. "What lies you +tell!" said she. "You have only been away a few days. Be off! I don't +want any liars here." + +Sachúlí asked her to give him two flour-cakes, which she did, and he +went off to the jungle, and it was night. Five fairies lived in this +jungle, and as Sachúlí went along, he broke his flour-cakes into five +pieces, and said, "Now I'll eat one, then the second, then the third, +then the fourth, and then the fifth." And the fairies heard him and +were afraid, and said to each other, "What shall we do? Here is this +man, and he is going to eat us all up. What shall we do to save +ourselves? We will give him something." So they went out all five, and +said to Sachúlí, "If only you won't eat us, we will give you a +present." Now Sachúlí did not know there were fairies in this jungle. +"What will you give me?" said Sachúlí. "We will give you a +cooking-pot. When you want anything to eat, all you have to do is to +ask the pot for it, and you will get it." Sachúlí took the pot and +went off to the bazar. He stopped at a cook-shop, and asked for some +pilau. "Pilau? There's no pilau here," said the shopman. "Well," said +Sachúlí, "I have a cooking-pot here, and I have only to ask it for any +dish I want, and I get it at once." "What nonsense!" said the man. +"Just see," said Sachúlí; and he said to the cooking-pot, "I want some +pilau," and immediately the pot was full of pilau, and all the people +in the shop set to work to help him to eat it up, it was so good. +"Oh," thought the cook, "I must have that pot," so he gave Sachúlí a +sleepy drink. Then Sachúlí went to sleep, and while he slept the cook +stole the fairy cooking-pot, and put a common cooking-pot in its +place. Sachúlí went home with the cook's pot, and said, "Mother, I +have brought home a cooking-pot. If you ask it for any food you want, +you will get it." "Nonsense," said Hungní; "what lies you are +telling!" "It is quite true, mother; only see," and he asked the pot +for different dishes, but none came. Hungní was furious. "Go away," +she said. "Why do you come back to me? I want no liars here." "Give me +five flour-cakes and I will go," said her son. So she baked the bread +for him, and he set off for the jungle where he had met the five +fairies, and as he went along he said, "I will eat one, and I will eat +two, and I will eat three, and I will eat four, and I will eat five." +The five fairies heard him, and were terrified. "Here is this bad man +again," said they, "and he will eat us all five. Oh, what shall we do? +Let us give him a present." So they went to Sachúlí, and said, "Here +is a box for you. Whenever you want any clothes you have only to tell +this box, and it will give them to you; take it, and don't eat us." So +he took the box and went to the bazar, and he stopped at the cook-shop +again, and asked the cook for a red silk dress, and a pair of long +black silk trousers, and a blue silk turban, and a pair of red shoes, +and the cook laughed and asked how he should have such beautiful +things. "Well," said Sachúlí, "here is a box; when I ask it for the +dress and trousers, and turban and shoes, I shall get them." So the +cook laughed at him. "Just see," said Sachúlí, and he said, "Box, give +me a red silk dress and a pair of long black silk trousers, and a blue +silk turban, and red shoes," and there they were at once. And the cook +was delighted, and said to himself, "I will have that box," and he +gave Sachúlí a good dinner and a sleepy drink, and Sachúlí fell fast +asleep. While he slept the cook came and stole the fairy box, and put +a common box in its place. In the morning Sachúlí went home to his +mother and said, "Mother, I've brought you a box. You have only to ask +it for any clothes you may want, and you will get them." "Nonsense," +said his mother, "don't tell me such lies." "Only see, mother; I am +telling you truth," said he. He asked the box for coats and all sorts +of things--no; he got nothing. His mother was very angry, and said, +"You liar! you naughty boy! Go away and don't come back any more." And +she broke the box to pieces, and threw the bits away. "Well, mother, +bake me some flour-cakes." So she baked him the cakes and gave them to +him, and sent him away. He went off to the fairies' jungle, and as he +went he said, "Now I'll eat one, then two, then three, then four, then +five." The five fairies were very frightened. "Here is this man come +back to eat us all five. Let us give him a present." So they went to +him and gave him a rope and stick, and said, "Only say to this rope, +'Bind that man,' and he will be tied up at once; and to this stick, +'Beat that man,' and the stick will beat him." Sachúlí was very glad +to get these things, for he guessed what had happened to his +cooking-pot and box. So he went to the bazar, and at the cook-shop he +said, "Rope, bind all these men that are here!" and the cook and every +one in the shop were tied up instantly. Then Sachúlí said, "Stick, +beat these men!" and the stick began to beat them. "Oh, stop, stop +beating us, and untie, and I'll give you your pot and your box!" cried +the cook. "No, I won't stop beating you, and I won't untie you till I +have my pot and my box." And the cook gave them both to him, and he +untied the rope. Then Sachúlí went home, and when his mother saw him, +she was very angry, but he showed her the box and the cooking-pot, and +she saw he had told her the truth. So she sent for the doctor, and he +declared Sachúlí was wise and not silly, and he and Hungní found a +wife for Sachúlí, and made a grand wedding for him, and they lived +happily ever after. + + Told by Dunkní. + + + + +[Decoration] + +VIII. + +BARBER HÍM AND THE TIGERS. + + +Once there lived a barber called Hím, who was very poor indeed. He had +a wife and twelve children, five boys and seven girls: now and then he +got a few pice. One day he went away from his home feeling very cross, +and left his wife and children to get on as best they could. "What can +I do?" said he. "I have not enough money to buy food for my family, +and they are crying for it." And so he walked on till he came to a +jungle. It was night when he got there. This jungle was called the +"tigers' jungle," because only tigers lived in it; no birds, no +insects, no other animals, and there were four hundred tigers in it +altogether. As soon as Barber Hím reached the jungle he saw a great +tiger walking about. "What shall I do?" cried he. "This tiger is sure +to eat me." And he took his razor and his razor-strap, and began to +sharpen his razor. Then he went close up to the tiger, still +sharpening his razor. The tiger was much frightened. "What shall I +do?" said the tiger; "this man will certainly gash me." "I have come," +said the barber, "to catch twenty tigers by order of Mahárájá Káns. +You are one, and I want nineteen more." The tiger, greatly alarmed, +answered, "If you won't catch us, I will give you as much gold and as +many jewels as you can carry." For these tigers used to go out and +carry off the men and women from the villages, and some of these +people had rupees, and some had jewels, all of which the tigers used +to collect together. "Good," said Hím, "then I won't catch you." The +tiger led him to the spot where all the tigers used to eat their +dinners, and the barber took as much gold and as many jewels as he +could carry, and set off home with them. + +Then he built a house, and bought his children pretty clothes and good +food, and necklaces, and they all lived very happily for some time. +But at last he wanted more rupees, so he set off to the tigers' +jungle. There he met the tiger as he did before, and he told him the +Mahárájá Káns had sent him to catch twenty tigers. The tiger was +terrified and said, "If you will only not catch us, I will give you +more gold and jewels." To this the barber agreed, and the tiger led +him to the old spot, and the barber took as many jewels and rupees as +he could carry. Then he returned home. + +One day a very poor man, a fakír, said to him, "How did you manage to +become so rich? In old days you were so poor you could hardly support +your family." + +"I will tell you," said Hím. And he told him all about his visits to +the tigers' jungle. "But don't you go there for gold to-night," +continued the barber. "Let me go and listen to the tigers talking. If +you like, you can come with me. Only you must not be frightened if the +tigers roar." + +"I'll not be frightened," said the fakír. + +So that evening at eight o'clock they went to the tigers' jungle. +There the barber and the fakír climbed into a tall thick tree, and its +leaves came all about them and sheltered them as if they were in a +house. The tigers used to hold their councils under this tree. Very +soon all the tigers in the jungle assembled together under it, and +their Rájá--a great, huge beast, with only one eye--came too. +"Brothers," said the tiger who had given the barber the rupees and +jewels, "a man has come here twice to catch twenty of us for the +Mahárájá Káns; now we are only four hundred in number, and if twenty +of us were taken away we should be only a small number, so I gave him +each time as many rupees and jewels as he could carry and he went away +again. What shall we do if he returns?" The tigers said they would +meet again on the morrow, and then they would settle the matter. Then +the tigers went off, and the barber and the fakír came down from the +tree. They took a quantity of rupees and jewels and returned to their +homes. + +"To-morrow," said they, "we will come again and hear what the tigers +say." + +The next day the barber went alone to the tigers' jungle, and there he +met his tiger again. "This time," said he, "I am come to cut off the +ears of all the four hundred tigers who live in this jungle; for +Mahárájá Káns wants them to make into medicine." + +The tiger was greatly frightened, much more so than at the other +times. "Don't cut off our ears; pray don't," said he, "for then we +could not hear, and it would hurt so horribly. Go and cut off all the +dogs' ears instead, and I will give you rupees and jewels as much as +two men can carry." "Good," said the barber, and he made two journeys +with the rupees and jewels from the jungle to the borders of his +village, and there he got a cooly to help him to carry them to his +house. + +At night he and the fakír went again to the great tree under which the +tigers held their councils. Now the tiger who had given the barber so +many rupees and jewels had made ready a great quantity of meat, fowls, +chickens, geese, men the tigers had killed--everything he had been +able to get hold of--and he made them into a heap under the tree, for +he said that after the tigers had settled the matter they would dine. +Soon the tigers arrived with their Rájá, and the barber's tiger said, +"Brothers, what are we to do? This man came again to-day to cut off +all our ears to make medicine for Mahárájá Káns. I told him this +would be a bad business for us, and that he must go and cut off all +the dogs' ears instead; and I gave him as much money and jewels as two +men could carry. So he went home. Now what shall we do? We must leave +this jungle, and where shall we go?" The other tigers said, "We will +not leave the jungle. If this man comes again we will eat him up." So +they dined and went away, saying they would meet again to-morrow. + +After the tigers had gone, the barber and fakír came down from the +tree and went off to their homes, without taking any rupees or jewels +with them. They agreed to return the next evening. + +Next evening back they came and climbed into the great tree. The +tigers came too, and the barber's tiger told his story all over again. +The tiger Rájá sat up and said, fiercely, "We will not leave this +jungle. Should the man come again, I will eat him myself." When the +fakír heard this he was so frightened that he tumbled down out of the +tree into the midst of the tigers. The barber instantly cried out with +a loud voice, "Now cut off their ears! cut off their ears!" and the +tigers, terrified, ran away as fast as they could. Then the barber +took the fakír home, but the poor man was so much hurt by his fall +that he died. + +The barber lived happily ever after, but he took good care never to go +to the tigers' jungle again. + + Told by Dunkní. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +IX. + +THE BULBUL AND THE COTTON-TREE. + + +There was once a bulbul, and one day as he was flying about, he saw a +tree on which was a little fruit. The bulbul was much pleased and +said, "I will sit here till this fruit is ripe, and then I will eat +it." So he deserted his nest and his wife, and sat there for twelve +years without eating anything, and every day he said, "To-morrow I +will eat this fruit." During these twelve years a great many birds +tried to sit on the tree, and wished to build their nests in it, but +whenever they came the bulbul sent them away, saying, "This fruit is +not good. Don't come here." One day a cuckoo came and said, "Why do +you send us away? Why should we not come and sit here too? All the +trees here are not yours." "Never mind," said the bulbul, "I am going +to sit here, and when this fruit is ripe, I shall eat it." Now the +cuckoo knew that this tree was the cotton-tree, but the bulbul did +not. First comes the bud, which the bulbul thought a fruit, then the +flower, and the flower becomes a big pod, and the pod bursts and all +the cotton flies away. The bulbul was delighted when he saw the +beautiful red flower, which he still thought a fruit, and said, "When +it is ripe, it will be a delicious fruit." The flower became a pod, +and the pod burst. "What is all this that is flying about?" said the +bulbul. "The fruit must be ripe now." So he looked into the pod, and +it was empty; all the cotton had fallen out. Then the cuckoo came and +said to the angry bulbul, "You see if you had allowed us to come and +sit on the tree, you would have had something good to eat; but as you +were selfish, and would not let any one share with you, God is angry +and has punished you by giving you a hollow fruit." Then the cuckoo +called all the other birds, and they came and mocked the bulbul. "Ah! +you see God has punished you for your selfishness," they said. The +bulbul got very angry and all the birds went away. After they had +gone, the bulbul said to the tree, "You are a bad tree. You are of use +to no one. You give food to no one." The tree said, "You are mistaken. +God made me what I am. My flower is given to sheep to eat. My cotton +makes pillows and mattresses for man." + +Since that day no bulbul goes near a cotton-tree. + + Told by Dunkní. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +X. + +THE MONKEY PRINCE. + + +Once upon a time there was a Rájá called Jabhú Rájá, and he had a +great many wives; at least he had seven wives, but he had no children. +Although he had married seven wives, not one of them had given him a +child. At this he was greatly vexed and said, "I have married seven +wives, and not one of them has given me a child." And he got very +angry with God: he said, "Why does not God give me any children? I +will go into the jungle and die by myself." The Ránís coaxed him to +stay, but he wouldn't; he would go out into the jungle. + +So he went out into the jungle very far, and God sent him an old fakír +leaning on a stick. The Rájá met him, and the fakír said, "Why do you +come into the jungle? If you go far into the jungle you will meet +plenty of tigers, and they will eat you. Tell me what you want. +Whatever you want I will give you." "No, I won't tell you," said the +Rájá. But at last the Rájá told him, "I have seven wives, and none of +them has given me any children, and so here I will die by myself." +Then the fakír said, "Take this stick, and a little way off you will +find a mango-tree with some mangoes on it. Throw the stick at the +mangoes with one hand, and catch them as they fall with the other, and +when you have caught them all, take them home and give one to each of +your seven wives." So the Rájá went and knocked the mangoes off the +tree and caught them as the fakír had told him. Then he looked about +for the fakír, but he could not find him, for he had gone away into +another part of the jungle. So he went home and gave the seven mangoes +to his wives. But the fruit was so good that six of the wives ate it +up, and would not give the youngest wife any. She cried very much, and +went into the compound and picked up one of the mango stones which one +of the six wives had thrown away, and ate it. By and by each of the +six wives had a son; but the one who had eaten the stone had a monkey, +who was called in consequence Bandarsábásá, or Prince Monkey. He was +really a boy, but no one knew it, for he had a monkey-skin covering +him. His six brothers hated him. They went to school every day; and +the monkey went under the ground, and was taught by the fairies. His +mother did not know this; she thought, as he was a monkey, he went to +the jungle and swung in the trees. He was the best and the cleverest +of all the boys. + +Now, in a kingdom a three months' journey off by land from Jabhú +Rájá's country, there lived a king called King Jamársá. He had a very +beautiful daughter whose name was Princess Jahúran, and as her father +wanted a very strong son-in-law, he had a large heavy iron ball made, +and he sent letters to all the Rájás and Rájás' sons far and near to +say that whoever wished to marry his daughter, the Princess Jahúran, +must be able to throw this heavy ball at her and hit her. So many +Rájás went to try, but none of them could even lift the ball. Now, one +of these letters had come to Jabhú Rájá, and his six elder sons +determined they would go to King Jamársá's country, for each of them +was sure he could throw the ball, and win the princess. + +Prince Monkey laughed softly and said to himself, "I will go and try +too. I know I shall succeed." + +Off, therefore, the six brothers set on their long journey, and the +monkey followed them; but before he did so, he went into the jungle +and took off his monkey-skin, and God sent him a beautiful horse and +beautiful clothes. Then he followed his brothers and overtook them, +and gave them betel-leaf and lovely flowers. "What a beautiful boy!" +they said. "Who is it owns such a beautiful boy? He must be some +Rájá's son." Then he galloped quickly away, took off his grand clothes +and put them on his horse, and the horse rose into the air. He put on +his monkey-skin and followed his brothers. + +When they reached King Jamársá's palace they pitched their tents in +his compound, which was very big. Every evening the princess used to +stand in her verandah and let down her long golden hair so that it +fell all round her, and then the Rájás who wished to marry her had to +try to hit her with the great heavy ball that lay on the ground just +in front of where she stood. + +King Jamársá's house had more than one storey, and you had to go +upstairs to get to the Princess Jahúran's rooms which led into the +verandah in which she used to stand. + +Well, Prince Monkey's six elder brothers all got ready to go up to the +palace and throw the ball. They were quite sure they would throw it +without any trouble. Before they went they told their monkey brother +to take care of their tents, and to have a good dinner ready for them +when they returned. "If the dinner is not ready, we will beat you." + +As soon as they were gone, Prince Monkey took some gold mohurs he had, +and he went to a traveller's resting-house, which was a little way +outside King Jamársá's compound, and gave them to the man who owned +it, and bade him give him a grand dinner for his six brothers. Then he +took the dinner to the tents, went into the jungle, and took off his +monkey-skin. And God sent him a grand horse from heaven, and splendid +clothes. These he put on, mounted his horse, and rode to King +Jamársá's compound. There he took no notice of either the king, or +his daughter, or of the ball, or of the Rájás who were there to try +and lift it. He spoke only to his brothers, and gave them lovely +flowers and betel-leaf. Meanwhile, everybody was looking at him and +talking about him. "Who can he be? Did you ever see any one so lovely? +Where does he come from? Just look at his clothes! In our countries we +cannot get any like them!" As for the Princess Jahúran she thought to +herself, "That Rájá shall be my husband, whether he lifts the ball or +not." When he had given his brothers the flowers and betel-leaf, +Prince Monkey rode straight to the jungle, took off his clothes, laid +them on his horse (which instantly went up to heaven), put on his +monkey-skin, went back to the tents, and lay down to sleep. + +When his brothers came home they were talking eagerly about the +unknown beautiful Rájá. All the time they were eating their dinner +they could speak of nothing else. + +Well, every evening for about ten evenings it was just the same story. +Only every evening Prince Monkey appeared in a different dress. The +princess always thought, "That is the man I will marry, whether he can +throw the ball or not." Then about the eleventh evening, after he had +given his brothers the flowers and betel-leaf, he said to all the +Rájás who were standing there, and to King Jamársá and to all the +servants, "Now every one of you go and stand far away, for I am going +to throw the ball." "No, no!" they all cried, "we will stand here and +see you." "You must go far away. You can look on at a distance," said +the Monkey Prince; "the ball might fall back among you and hurt you." +So they all went off and stood round him at a distance. + +"Now," said Prince Monkey to himself, "I won't hit the princess this +time; but I will hit the verandah railing." Then he took up the ball +with one hand, just as if it were quite light, and threw it on the +verandah railing, and then he rode off fast to the jungle. + +The next evening it was the same thing over again, only this time he +threw the ball into the Princess Jahúran's clothes. + +The next evening the ball fell on one of her feet, and hurt her little +toe-nail. Now, Princess Jahúran was very angry that this unknown +beautiful prince should have thrown the ball three times, and hit her +twice, and hurt her the third time, and yet had never spoken to her +father, or let any one know who he was, and had always, on the +contrary, ridden away as hard as he could, no one knew where. She was +very much in love with him, and was very anxious to find this Rájá who +had hit her twice, so she ordered a bow and arrow to be brought to +her, and said she would shoot the Rájá the next time he hit her. She +would not kill him; she would only shoot the arrow at him. Well, the +next evening Prince Monkey threw the ball, and it fell on her other +foot and hurt her great toe-nail. When he saw she was hurt, he was +very sorry in his heart, and said, "Did I hurt you?" "Yes," she said, +"very much." "Oh, I am so sorry," said the prince. "I would not have +thrown the ball so hard had I thought it would hurt you." Then she +shot the arrow, and hit him in the leg, and a great deal of blood came +out of the wound; but he rode hard away to the jungle all the same, +only this time he did not take off his fine clothes, but he drew the +monkey-skin over them, and his horse went up to heaven, and he went +back to the tents. Then the princess sent a servant into the town, and +said, whoever or whatever he should hear crying with pain, he should +bring to her--were it a man, or a jackal, or a dog, or a wild beast. +So the servant went round the town. The six brothers had gone to +sleep, but the poor monkey brother could not sleep, but sat up crying +from pain. He could not help it, do what he would, and the servant, as +he went round the town, heard him crying. So he took him and brought +him to the princess, and the princess said she would marry him. + +"What!" cried her father, "marry that monkey? Never! Who ever heard +of any one marrying a monkey, a nasty monkey?" But in spite of all the +king said, the princess declared marry that monkey she would. "I like +that monkey very, very much," she said. "I will marry him. It is my +pleasure to marry him." "Well," said the Rájá at last, "if it is your +pleasure to marry him, you must marry him; but who ever heard of any +one marrying a nasty monkey?" + +So they were married at once; and the Monkey Prince wore his +monkey-skin for a wedding garment. + +That night when they went to bed, the young prince drew off his skin +and lay down by Jahúran, and when she saw her beautiful husband she +was so glad, so glad. "Why do you wear a monkey-skin?" she asked. He +answered, "I wear it as a protection, because my brothers are naughty, +and would kill me if they knew what I really am." + +They lived very happily with King Jamársá for six months, and the six +elder brothers went on living there too, and hating him more and more +for having such a beautiful wife. + +But one night Prince Monkey thought of his mother, and he said to his +wife, "My mother perhaps is crying for me. Let us go to my father's +kingdom, and see her." Princess Jahúran agreed; so next morning they +spoke to King Jamársá, who said they might go. + +The six brothers at once said, "We will go with you;" and they also +said, "Let us get two big boats, one for you and the princess, and one +for ourselves, and let us go by water, and not by land." Now by water +it took only six days to get to Jabhú Rájá's kingdom, by land it took +three months. The Monkey Prince agreed to all his brothers said. + +Princess Jahúran heard them planning to throw the monkey into the +water on the journey, and then to take her home to their father as the +wife of one of them; so as she was very wise she went to her father +and begged him to have six large beautiful mattresses, well stuffed +with cotton, made for her. + +"What can you want with six mattresses?" said the king. "I want my +bed to be very comfortable on board the boat," said his daughter. Her +father loved her dearly, so he had her mattresses made, beautiful +mattresses and well stuffed with cotton. The princess had them all +carried to her boat. + +When everything was ready they went on board the boats with the +monkey's six brothers. Now, the princess had warned her husband of his +brothers' wicked plans, and she said to him, "Never go near your +brothers; never speak to your brothers; for they want to kill you." +The first day the six brothers said to the monkey, "Please bring us a +little salt." But the monkey said, "No; my wife will take you some." +"No," said the brothers, "your wife cannot bring us any. She is a +princess. Do you bring us some." So they threw a rope from one boat to +another, and the monkey went on the rope, and the brothers untied it, +and the monkey fell into the water. Then the princess cried out, "My +husband will be drowned! My husband will be drowned!" And she threw +out one of the mattresses; the monkey sat on it; it floated back to +his boat, and the crew drew him up. + +The next day the six brothers begged Prince Monkey to bring them +water, and they threw a plank from their boat to his for him to cross +on. The prince set off with the water, in spite of all his wife's +entreaties, and his brothers tilted the plank into the water. The +prince would have been drowned had not the Princess Jahúran thrown him +a mattress. And the same thing happened during the next four days. The +brothers wanted something to eat or drink, and their monkey-brother +brought it them across a rope or plank, which they cut or dropped into +the water, and he would have died but for the mattresses which his +wife threw to him one by one. + +When they reached Jabhú Rájá's kingdom, the eldest son went on shore +up to his father's palace. Each of the Rájá's seven wives had a house +to herself in his compound. He went to his mother's house and said, +"Give me your palanquin, mother, for I have brought home a most lovely +wife, and want to bring her to the palace." + +At this news his mother was delighted, and she told it to the other +Ránís, and said, "My son has brought home such a lovely wife! I am so +glad! oh, I am so glad!" The youngest Rání began to cry bitterly. "My +son," she said, "is nothing but a monkey; he will never be married; he +will never have a wife at all." + +Then the palanquin was got ready, and the seven Ránís and the prince +went with it to the boat. The Princess Jahúran came on land with her +monkey, and when the Ránís saw her, they all cried, "How lovely she +is! how beautiful!" And the eldest Rání was gladder than ever, and the +youngest cried still more. The princess got into the palanquin with +her monkey. "What are you doing with that horrid monkey?" said the +eldest prince. "Put him out of the palanquin directly." "Indeed I will +not," said the princess. "He is my husband, and I love him." "What!" +cried all the Ránís, "are you married to that monkey?" "Yes," said the +princess. "Then get out of my palanquin at once," said the eldest +Rání. "You shall not ride in my palanquin with that nasty monkey." The +youngest Rání was very glad her son had such a beautiful wife. So the +princess got out, and took her monkey in her arms and walked with him +to the youngest Rání's house, and there they all lived for some time. +Now the little Rání did not know her son was really a beautiful man, +for the princess never told her, as her husband had forbidden her to +tell any one. + +One evening Jabhú Rájá's servants had a grand nautch in the Rájá's +compound, and the Rájá and his sons and the neighbouring Rájás all +came to see it. Prince Monkey said to his wife, "I, too, will go and +see this nautch." So he took off his monkey-skin, folded it up and +laid it under her pillow. Then he put on the clothes God had sent him +from heaven the last time he threw the ball, and which he had not +laid on his horse's back when he put his monkey-skin on again, and +when he came among all the Rájás and people who were looking on at the +nautch, they all exclaimed, "Who is that? Who can it be?" He was very +handsome, and he had beautiful hair all gold. When he had stayed some +time, Prince Monkey went quickly back to his wife, and in the morning +he put on his monkey-skin again. + +Now the little Rání, his mother, though she was very glad her monkey +son had such a wife, could never understand how it was that her +daughter-in-law was so happy with him. "How could you marry him?" she +used to say to her. "Because it pleased me to marry him," the princess +used to answer. "How can you be so happy with him?" said the mother. +"I love him," said the princess; and the poor Rání used to wonder at +this more and more. + +Well, one day there was another nautch, and Prince Monkey went to it; +but he left his skin under his wife's pillow. As soon as he had gone, +she called the little Rání, and said, "See, you think my husband is a +monkey; he is no monkey, but a very handsome man. There is no one like +him, he is so beautiful." The Rání did not believe her. Then the +princess took the skin from under her pillow. "See," she said, "when +your son puts this on, then he is a monkey; when he takes it off he is +a beautiful man. And now, I think I will burn this skin, and then he +must always be a man. What do you say?" "Are you sure it won't hurt +him if you burn his skin?" said his mother. "Perhaps he may die if it +is burnt." "Oh, no, he won't die," said the princess. "Shall I burn +it?" "Burn it," said the little Rání. Then the princess threw the skin +on the fire and burnt it quite up. + +Prince Monkey was sitting looking on at the nautch when suddenly his +heart told him his wife had burnt his skin. He jumped up directly and +went home, and when he found his heart had told him true, he was so +angry with his wife, that he would say nothing to her but "Why did you +burn my skin?" and he was in such a rage that he went straight to bed +and went to sleep. + +In the morning, while he slept, the princess went to the little Rání, +and said, "Come and see your beautiful son." "I am ashamed to do so," +said the Rání. "Ashamed to look at your own son? What nonsense! Come +directly," said Princess Jahúran. Then the little Rání went with her, +and when she saw her beautiful son she was indeed glad, and the prince +opened his eyes and saw her, and then he kissed her, and they were +very happy. + +The news spread through the compound, and Jabhú Rájá and his sons and +everybody came at once to see if it were true. When they saw the +beautiful young prince, with his hair all gold, they could not stand, +but fell down. Prince Monkey lifted his father and loved him, and put +his arms round him, and said, "I am your son, your own son; you must +not fall down before me." "Why did you wear that monkey-skin?" asked +his father. "Because," he said, "my mother ate the mango stone instead +of eating the mango, and so I was born with this skin, and God ordered +me to wear it till I had found a wife." His brothers said, "Who could +have guessed there was such a beautiful man inside that monkey-skin? +God's decrees are good!" And they left off hating their brother, +Prince Monkey. + +There were great rejoicings and feasts now, and all were very happy. +The six elder brothers lived always with their father and Prince +Monkey, but none of them ever married. + + Told by Dunkní. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XI. + +BRAVE HÍRÁLÁLBÁSÁ. + + +Once there was a Rájá called Mánikbásá Rájá, or the Ruby King, who had +seven wives and seven children. One day he told his wives he would go +out hunting, and he rode on and on, a long, long way from his palace. +A Rakshas was sitting by the wayside, who, seeing the Rájá coming, +quickly turned herself into a beautiful Rání, and sat there crying. +The Rájá asked her, "Why do you cry?" And the Rakshas answered, "My +husband has gone away. He has been away many days, and I think he will +never come back again. If some Rájá will take me to his house and +marry me, I shall be very glad." So the Rájá said, "Will you come with +me?" And the Rakshas answered, "Very well, I will come." And then the +Rájá took the pretended Rání home with him and married her. He gave +her a room to live in. Every night at twelve o'clock the Rakshas got +up and devoured an elephant, or a horse, or some other animal. The +Rájá said, "What can become of my elephants and horses? Every day +either an elephant or a horse disappears. Who can take them away?" The +Rakshas-Rání said to him, "Your seven Ránís are Rakshases, and every +night at twelve o'clock they devour a horse, or an elephant, or some +other creature." + +So the Rájá believed her, and had a great hole dug just outside his +kingdom, into which he put the seven Ránís with their children, and +then he sent a sepoy to them and bade him take out all the Ránís' +eyes, and bring them to him. This the sepoy did. After a time the +poor Ránís grew so hungry that six of them ate their children, but the +seventh Rání, who was the youngest of them all, declared she would +never eat her child though she might die of hunger, "for," she said, +"I love him a great deal too much." God was very pleased with the +seventh Rání for this, and so every day he sent her a little food, +which she divided with the other Ránís. And every day her little boy +grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until he had become a strong lad, +when, as he thought it was very dark in the hole, he climbed out of it +and looked all about. Then he came back to his mothers (for he called +all the seven Ránís "Mother" now), who told him he was not to clamber +up out of the hole any more, for if he did, some one might kill him. +"Still, if you will go," they added, "do not go to your father's +kingdom, but stay near this place." The boy said, "Very well," and +every day he climbed out of the hole and only went where his seven +mothers told him he might go, and he used to beg the people about to +give him a little rice, and flour and bread, which they did. + +One day he said to his mothers, "If you let me go now to my father's +kingdom, I will go." "Well, you may go," they said; "but come back +again soon." This he promised to do, and he went to his father's +kingdom. For some time he stood daily at the door of his father's +palace and then returned to the hole. One day the Rakshas-Rání was +standing in the verandah, and she thought, "I am sure that is the +Rájá's son." The servants every day asked the boy, "Why do you always +stand at the door of the palace?" "I want service with the Rájá," he +would reply. "If the Rájá has any place he can give me, I will take +it." + +The Rakshas-Rání said to the Rájá, "The boy standing out there wants +service. May I take him into mine?" The Rájá answered, "Very well, +send for him." So all the servants ran and fetched the boy. The +Rakshas-Rání asked him, "Are you willing to do anything I tell you?" +The boy said, "Yes." "Then you shall be my servant," she said, and +first she told him he must go to the Rakshas country to fetch some +rose-water for her. "I will give you a letter," she said, "so that no +harm may happen to you." The lad answered, "Very well, only you must +give me three shields full of money." She gave him the three shields +full of money, and he took them and went home to his mothers. Then he +got two servants for them, one to take care of them, and one to go to +the bazar. His mothers gave him food for the journey, and he left them +the remainder of his money, telling them to take great care of it. He +then returned to the Rakshas-Rání for his letter. She told the Rájá +she was feeling ill, and would not be quite well until she got some +rose-water from the Rakshas country. The Rájá said, "Then you had +better send this boy for it." So she gave him a letter, in which she +had written, "When this boy arrives among you, kill him and eat him +instantly," and he set out at once. + +He went on and on till he came to a great river in which lived a huge +water-snake. When the water-snake saw him it began to weep very much, +and cried out to the boy, "If you go to the Rakshas country you will +be eaten up." The lad, whose name was Hírálálbásá, said, "I cannot +help it; I am the Rání's servant, so I must do what she tells me." +"Well," said the water-snake, "get on my back, and I will take you +across this river." So he got on the water-snake's back, and it took +him over the river. Then Hírálálbásá went on and on until he came to a +house in which a Rakshas lived. A Rání lived there too that the +Rakshas had carried off from her father and mother when she was a +little girl. She was playing in her father the Sondarbásá Rájá's +garden, which was full of delicious fruits, which the Rakshas came to +eat, and when he saw Sonahrí Rání he seized her in his mouth and ran +off with her. Only she was so beautiful he could never find it in his +heart to eat her, but brought her up as his own child. Her name was +Sonahrí Rání, that is, the Golden Rání, because her teeth and her hair +were made of gold. Now the Rakshas who had carried her off, and whom +she called Papa, had a great thick stick, and when he laid this stick +at her feet she could not stir, but when he laid it at her head, she +could move again. + +When the Rájá's son came up, Sonahrí Rání was lying on her bed with +the thick stick at her feet, and as soon as she saw the Rájá's son she +began to cry very much. "Oh, why have you come here? You will surely +be killed," she said. The Rájá's son answered, "I cannot help that. I +am the Rání's servant, so I must do what she tells me." "Of course," +said Sonahrí Rání; "but put this stick at my head, and then I shall be +able to move." The Rájá's son laid the stick at her head, and she got +up and gave him some food, and then asked him if he had a letter. +"Yes," he answered. "Let me see it," said the Sonahrí Rání. So he gave +her the letter, and when she had read it she cried, "Oh, this is a +very wicked letter. It will bring you no good; for if the Rakshases +see it, they will kill you." "Indeed," said Hírálálbásá. And the +Sonahrí Rání tore up the letter and wrote another in which she said, +"Make much of this boy. Send him home quickly, and give him a jug of +rose-water to bring back with him, and see that he gets no hurt." Then +the Rájá's son set out again for the Rakshas-Rání's mother's house. He +had not gone very far when he met a very big Rakshas, and he cried out +to him, "Uncle." "Who is this boy," said the Rakshas, "who calls me +uncle?" And he was just going to kill him when Hírálálbásá showed his +letter, and the Rakshas let him pass on. He went a little further +until he met another Rakshas, bigger than the first, and the Rakshas +screamed at him and was just going to fall on him and kill him, but +the Rájá's son showed the letter, and the Rakshas let him pass +unhurt. When Hírálálbásá came to the Rakshas-Rání's mother he showed +her the letter, and she gave him the rose-water at once and sent him +off. All the Rakshases were very good to him, and some carried him +part of the way home. When he came to Sonahrí Rání's house she was +lying on her bed with the stick at her feet, and as soon as she saw +Hírálálbásá she laughed and said, "Oh, you have come back again? Put +this stick at my head." "Yes," said the Rájá's son, "I've come back +again, but I was dreadfully frightened very often." Then he put the +stick at her head, and she gave him some food to eat. After he had +eaten it he went on again, and when he came to the river the +water-snake carried him across to the other side, and he travelled to +his father's kingdom. There he went to the Rakshas-Rání and gave her +the rose-water. She was very angry at seeing him, and said, "I'm sure +my father and my mother, my brothers and my sisters, don't love me one +bit." + +And she said to Hírálálbásá, "You must go to-morrow to the Rakshas +kingdom to fetch me flowers." "I will go," said Hírálál, "but this +time I must have four shields full of rupees." The Rakshas-Rání gave +him the four shields full of rupees; and the Rájá's son went to his +mother's hole and bought a quantity of food for them, enough to last +them all the time he should be away, and he hired two servants for +them, and said good-bye to his seven mothers and returned to +Mánikbásá's palace for his letter. This the Rakshas-Rání gave him, and +in it she wrote, "Kill him and eat him at once. If you do not, and you +send him back to me, I will never see your faces again." Hírálál took +his letters and went on his way. When he reached the river the +water-snake took him across to the other side, and he walked on till +he came to Sonahrí Rání's house. She was lying on the bed with the +stick at her feet. "Oh, why have you come here again?" she said. "How +can I help coming?" said the Rájá's son. "I must do what my mistress +bids me." "So you must," said the Sonahrí Rání; "but put this stick at +my head." This he did, and she got up and gave him food, and asked him +to let her see his letter, and when she had read it she cried, "This +is a very wicked letter. If you take it with you, you will surely +die." Then she tore up the letter and burnt it, and wrote another in +which she said, "You must all be very good to this boy. Show him all +the gardens and see that he is not hurt in any way." She gave it to +Hírálál, and he begged her to ask the Rakshas, her father, where he +kept his soul. Sonahrí Rání promised she would. She then turned +Hírálál into a little fly, and put him into a tiny box, and put the +box under her pillow. When the Rakshas came home he began sniffing +about and said, "Surely there is a man here." "Oh, no," said Sonahrí +Rání; "no one is here but me." The Rakshas was satisfied. When Sonahrí +Rání and her father were in bed she asked, "Papa, where is your soul?" +"Why do you want to know?" said the Rakshas. "I will tell you another +day." + +The next day at nine in the morning the Rakshas went away, and Sonahrí +Rání took Hírálál and restored him to his human shape, and gave him +some food, and he travelled on till he reached the Rakshas-Rání's +mother, whom he called Grannie. She welcomed him very kindly and +showed him the garden, which was very large. The Rájá's son noticed a +number of jugs and water-jars. So he said, "Grannie, what is there in +all these jars and jugs?" She answered, showing them to him one by +one, "In this is such and such a thing," and so on, telling him the +contents of each, till she came to the water-jar in which were his +mothers' eyes. "In this jar," said the Rakshas, "are your seven +mothers' eyes." "Oh, grannie dear!" said Hírálál, "give me my mothers' +eyes." "Very well, dear boy," said the old Rakshas, "you shall have +them." She gave him, too, some ointment, and told him to rub the eyes +with it when he put them into his mothers' heads, and that then they +would see quite well; and he took the eyes and tied them up in a +corner of his cloth. His grannie gave him the flowers, and he went +back to Sonahrí Rání. She was lying on her bed with the stick at her +feet, and when she saw him she laughed and said, "Oh, so you have come +back again?" "Yes, I have," said Hírálál; "and I have got the flowers, +and my seven mothers' eyes too." "Have you indeed?" said Sonahrí Rání. +"Put this stick at my head." He did so, and she got up and gave him +some food, and he told her to ask her father the Rakshas where his +soul was. She promised she would, and she changed him into a little +fly, and shut him up in a tiny box, and put the tiny box under her +pillow. By and by home came the Rakshas, and began to sniff about +crying, "A man is here!" "Oh, no," said Sonahrí Rání; and she gave him +some dinner, and when they were in bed she asked him, "Papa, where is +your soul?" "I'll tell you another day," said the Rakshas. The next +day, when he had gone out to find food, Sonahrí Rání took the little +fly, Hírálál, and restored him to his human shape, and gave him some +food and sent him on his way. When he reached the river, the +water-snake took him over to the other side, and he journeyed on till +he came to his father's kingdom. First he went to his mothers' hole +and gave them their fourteen eyes, and he put them into their heads +with the ointment which the Rakshas-grannie had given him. Then he +went to Mánikbásá Rájá's palace, and when the Rakshas-Rání saw him she +was furious. "I am sure my father and my mother, my sisters and my +brothers, do not love me one bit. I will never see their faces again. +But I'll send him to them once more." + +This is what she thought, but she took the flowers and said, "You must +go a third time to the Rakshas country." + +"I will," said the boy: "only I'll not go till the fourth day from +to-day, for I am very tired. And you must give me four shields full of +rupees." "Good," said the Rakshas-Rání. "This time you must get me a +sárí."[2] And she gave him the four shields full of money. Then he +went to his mothers, and bought them a house and got food for them, +and stayed with them four days. + +At the end of the four days he went to the Rakshas-Rání, who gave him +a letter in which she had written, "If you do not kill and eat this +boy as soon as he arrives, I will never see your faces again." The +Rájá's son took the letter and set out on his journey. + +When he came to the river, the water-snake took him across; and when +he arrived at Sonahrí Rání's house, there she was lying on her bed +with the thick stick at her feet. She said, "Oh, you have come here +again, have you?" "Yes," he said, "I have come for the last time." +"Put the stick at my head," said she. So he laid the stick at her +head. Then she gave him some food, and just before the Rakshas came +home, he bade her ask him where he kept his soul. When she saw him +coming, Sonahrí Rání turned Hírálálbásá into a little fly, put him in +a tiny box, and put the box under her pillow. As soon as she and the +Rakshas had gone to bed, she asked him, "Papa, where do you keep your +soul?" "Sixteen miles away from this place," said he, "is a tree. +Round the tree are tigers, and bears, and scorpions, and snakes; on +the top of the tree is a very great fat snake; on his head is a little +cage; in the cage is a bird; and my soul is in that bird." The little +fly listened all the time. The next morning, when the Rakshas had +gone, Sonahrí Rání took the fly and gave him back his human form, gave +him some food, and then asked to see his letter. When she had read it +she screamed and said, "Oh! if you go with this letter you will +surely die." So she tore it up into little bits and threw it into the +fire. And she wrote another in which she said, "Make a great deal of +this boy; see that he gets no hurt; give him the sárí for me; show him +the garden; and be very kind to him." She then gave Hírálál the +letter, and he journeyed on in safety till he reached his +Rakshas-grannie's house. + +The Rakshas-grannie was very good to him; showed him the garden, and +gave him the sárí; and he then said his mother, the Rakshas-Rání, was +in great trouble about her soul, and wanted very much to have it. So +the Rakshas-grannie gave him a bird in which was the Rakshas-Rání's +soul, charging him to take the greatest care of it. Then he said, "My +mother, the Rakshas-Rání, also wants a stone such that, if you lay it +on the ground, or if you put it in your clothes, it will become gold, +and also your long heavy gold necklace that hangs down to the waist." +Both these things the Rakshas-grannie gave to Hírálál. Then he +returned to Sonahrí Rání's house, where he found her lying on her bed +with the thick stick at her feet. "Oh, there you are," said Sonahrí +Rání, laughing. "Yes," he said, "I have come." And he put the stick at +her head, and she got up and gave him some food. + +He told her he was going to fetch her Rakshas-father's soul, but that +he did not quite know how to pass through the tigers and bears, and +scorpions and snakes, that guarded it. So she gave him a feather, and +said, "As long as you hold this feather straight, you can come to no +harm, for you will be invisible. You will see everything, but nothing +will see you." + +He carried the feather straight as she had bidden him and reached the +tree in safety. Then he climbed up it, took the little cage, and came +down again. Though the Rakshas was far off, he knew at once something +had happened to his bird. Hírálál pulled off the bird's right leg, and +the Rakshas' right leg fell off, but on he hopped on one leg. Then +the Rájá's son pulled off the bird's left leg, and off fell the +Rakshas' left leg, but still he went on towards his house on his +hands. Then Hírálál pulled off the bird's wings, and the Rakshas' two +arms fell off. And then, just as the Rakshas reached the door of his +house, Hírálál wrung the bird's neck, and the Rakshas fell dead. +Sonahrí Rání was greatly frightened when she heard such a heavy thing +fall thump on the ground so close to the house, but she could not +move, for the thick stick lay at her feet. Hírálál ran as fast as he +could to Sonahrí Rání. When he arrived at the door of her house he saw +the Rakshas lying dead, and he went in and told Sonahrí Rání that her +Rakshas-father was killed. "Nonsense," she said. "It is true," said +Hírálál; "come and see." So he put the stick at her head. "I am sure +you are telling a lie," said Sonahrí Rání. "I should be very glad if +he were dead, for I do not like living with him, I am so afraid of +him." "Indeed he's dead. Do come and see," said Hírálál. Then they +went outside, and when Sonahrí Rání saw her Rakshas-father lying there +dead, she was exceedingly happy, and said to Hírálál, "I will go home +with you, and be your wife." So they were married, and then they went +into Sonahrí Rání's Rakshas-father's house and took all the money and +jewels they could find. And Hírálál gave the sárí, the stone, and the +necklace to Sonahrí Rání, and he took some flowers for the +Rakshas-Rání. + +When they came to the river, the water-snake carried them across to +the other side, and they travelled on till they came to Mánikbásá +Rájá's kingdom. There Hírálál went first of all to his mothers, and +when they saw Sonahrí Rání they wondered who the beautiful woman could +be that their son had brought home. He said to them, "This is Sonahrí +Rání, my wife. But for her I should have died." Then he bought a grand +house for Sonahrí Rání and his seven mothers to live in, and he got +four servants for Sonahrí Rání, two to cook, and two to wait on her. +The seven mothers and Sonahrí used all to sit on a beautiful, clean +quilted cushion, as big as a carpet, Sonahrí Rání in the middle and +the seven mothers round her, while they sewed, or wrote, and talked. +Hírálál then went to the Rakshas-Rání and said, "I could not get the +sárí you sent me for, so I brought you these flowers instead." When +she saw the flowers she was frantic. She said, "My father, my mother, +my sisters, my brothers, don't care for me, not one bit! not one +scrap! I will never see their faces again--never! never! I will send +some other messenger to them." + +One day the Rájá's son came to Mánikbásá and said, "Would you like to +see a grand sight?" Mánikbásá Rájá said, "What sight?" Hírálál said, +"If you would like to see a really grand sight you must do what I tell +you." "Good," answered Mánikbásá, "I will do whatever you tell me." +"Well, then," said his son, "you must build a very strong iron house, +and round it you must lay heaps of wood. In that house you must put +your present Rání." So Mánikbásá Rájá had a very strong iron house +built, round which he set walls of wood. Then he went to his +Rakshas-Rání and said, "Will you go inside that iron house, and see +what it is like?" "Yes, I will," answered she. The Rájá had had great +venetians made for the house, and only one door. As soon as the +Rakshas-Rání had gone in, he locked the door. Then Hírálál took the +little bird, a cockatoo, in which was the Rakshas-Rání's soul, and +showed it to the Rakshas-Rání from afar off. When she saw it she +turned herself into a huge Rakshas as big as a house. She could not +turn in the iron house because she was so huge. Mánikbásá was +dreadfully frightened when he saw his Rání was a horrible Rakshas. +Then Hírálál pulled off the bird's legs, and as the Rakshas was +breaking through the iron house to seize Hírálál, he wrung the +cockatoo's neck, and the Rakshas died instantly. They set fire to the +walls of wood, and the body of the wicked Rakshas was burnt to fine +ashes. + +The Rájá's Wazír turned to the Rájá and said, "What a fool you were to +marry this Rakshas, and at her bidding to send your seven wives and +your seven sons away into the jungle, taking out your seven wives' +eyes, and being altogether so cruel to them! You are a great, great +fool!" The poor Rájá wept, and then the Wazír, pointing to Hírálál, +said, "This is your seventh and youngest Rání's son." The Rájá then +embraced Hírálálbásá and asked his forgiveness. And Hírálál told him +his story, how he and his mothers had lived a long, long time in the +hole; how six of the Ránís had eaten their children; how his mother +had not had the heart to eat him; how he had got his seven mothers' +eyes from the Rakshas-grannie; and lastly, how he had married Sonahrí +Rání. Then the Rájá ordered seven litters for his seven Ránís, and a +beautiful litter with rich cloth for Sonahrí Rání. The Rájá and his +Wazír and his attendants, and his son, all went with the litters to +Hírálál's house; and when the Rájá saw Sonahrí Rání he fell flat on +his face, he was so struck by her beauty. For she had a fair, fair +skin, rosy cheeks, blue eyes, rosy lips, golden eyelashes, and golden +eyebrows, and golden hair. When she combed her hair, she used to put +the hair she combed out in paper and to lay the paper on the river, +and it floated down to where the poor people caught it, and sold it, +and got heaps of money for it. Her sárí was of gold, her shoes were of +gold, for God loved her dearly. Then the Rájá rose and embraced all +his wives and Sonahrí Rání, and the seven Ránís walked into the seven +litters; but Sonahrí Rání was carried to hers, for fear she should +soil her feet, or get hurt. Then Mánikbásá Rájá gave Hírálál's house +to his Wazír, while his seven Ránís and Hírálál and Sonahrí Rání lived +with him in his palace. And they lived happily for ever after. + + Told by Dunkní at Simla, 26th July and 1st August, 1876. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [2] A long piece of stuff which Hindú women wind round the body + as a petticoat, passing one end over the head, like a veil. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XII. + +THE MAN WHO WENT TO SEEK HIS FATE. + + +Once there was a very poor man who had a wife and twelve children, and +not a single rupee. The poor children used to cry with hunger, and the +man and his wife did not know what to do. At last he got furious with +God and said, "How wicked God is! He gives me a great many children, +but no money." So he set out to find his fate. In the jungle he met a +camel with two heavy sacks of gold on its back. This camel belonged to +a Rájá, and once it was travelling with other camels and with the +Rájá's servants to another country, and carrying the sacks of gold. +Every night they encamped and started again early in the morning; but +one morning the servants forgot to take this camel with them, and the +camel forgot the road home, and the sacks were too tightly strapped +for it to get rid of them. So it wandered about the jungle with the +sacks on its back for twelve years. The camel asked the poor man where +he was going. "I am going to seek my fate, to ask it why I am so +poor," he answered. The camel said, "Ask it, too, why for twelve years +I have had to carry these two sacks of gold. All this time I have not +been able to lie down, or to eat, or to drink." "Very well," said the +man, and he went on. + +Then he came to a river in which he saw an alligator. The alligator +took him across, and when he got to the other side it asked him where +he was going. The man said, "I am going to seek my fate, to ask it +why I am so poor." "Then," said the alligator, "ask it also why for +twelve years I have a great burning in my stomach." "I will," said the +man. + +Then he went on and on till he came to a tiger, who was lying on the +ground with a great thorn sticking in his foot. This tiger had gone +out one day to hunt for food, and not looking where he was going, he +put his foot on the thorn, and the thorn ran into his foot. And so God +grew very angry and said, "Because you are such a careless, stupid +fellow, and don't look where you are going, for twelve years this +thorn shall remain in your foot." "Where are you going?" the tiger +asked the man. "I am going to seek my fate, to ask it why I am so +poor. Some one told me that my fate was far, far away, a twelve years' +journey from my own country, and that it was lying down, and that I +must take a thick stick and beat it with all my might." "Ask it, too," +said the tiger, "why for twelve years I have had this thorn in my foot +and cannot get it out, though I have tried hard to do so." "Yes, I +will," said the man. + +Then he came to the place where every one's fate lives. The fates are +stones, some standing and others lying on the ground. "This must be +mine," he said; "it is lying on the ground, that's why I am so poor." +So he took the thick stick he had in his hand, and beat it, and beat +it, and beat it, but still it would not stir. As night was approaching +he left off beating it, and God sent a soul into the poor man's fate, +and it became a man, who stood looking at the poor man and said, "Why +have you beaten me so much?" "Because you were lying down, and I am +very poor, and at home my wife and my children are starving." "Oh, +things will go well with you now," said the fate, and the man was +satisfied. He said to his fate, "While coming here I met a camel who +for twelve years has had to wander about with two heavy sacks of gold +on its back, and it wants to know why it must carry them." "Oh," said +the fate, "just take the sacks off its back and then it will be free." +"I will," said the poor man. "Then I met an alligator who for twelve +years has had a great burning in its stomach." The fate said, "In its +stomach is a very large ruby, as big as your hand. If the alligator +will only throw up the ruby, it will be quite well." "Next I met a +tiger who has had for twelve years a great thorn in his foot which he +cannot take out." "Pull it out with your teeth," said the fate; and +then God withdrew the soul, and the fate became a stone again which +stood up on the ground. + +Then the man set out on his journey home, and he came to the tiger. +"What did your fate say?" said the tiger. "Give me your foot and I +will take out the thorn," said the poor man. The tiger stretched out +the foot with the thorn in it, and the man pulled out the thorn with +his teeth. It was a very large thorn, as big as the man's hand. The +tiger felt grateful to the poor man, and as he was very rich, for he +had eaten a great many Rájás and people, and had all their money, he +said to the man, "I will give you some gold in return for your +kindness." "You have no money," said the man. "I have," said the +tiger, and he went into his den, and the poor man followed. "Give me +your cloth," said the tiger. The man laid it on the ground. Then the +tiger took quantities of gold and jewels and filled the cloth with +them. And the poor man took up his cloth, thanked the tiger, and went +his way. Then he met the alligator who took him across the river. The +alligator said, "Did you ask your fate why there is such burning in my +stomach?" "I did," said the man. "It is because you have a very large +ruby in your stomach. If you will only throw it up, you will be quite +well." Then the alligator threw the ruby up out of its mouth, and that +very instant the burning in its stomach ceased. "Ah," said the +alligator, looking at the ruby, "I swallowed that one day when I was +drinking." And he gave the ruby to the man, saying, "In return for +your kindness I will give you this ruby. It is a very precious stone." +(In old days every Rájá possessed such a ruby; now very few Rájás, if +any, have one.) The poor man thanked the alligator, put the ruby into +his cloth, and went on his way till he came to the camel, who said, +"Did you ask your fate why I have to carry these two sacks of gold?" +"I did," said the man, and he took the sacks off the camel's back. How +happy and grateful the camel felt! "How kind of you," he said to the +man, "to take the sacks off. Now I can eat, now I can drink, and now I +can lie down. Because you have been so kind to me, I give you the two +sacks of gold, and I will carry them and your bundle home to your +house for you, and then I will come back and live here in the jungle." +Then the poor man put the two sacks of gold and his bundle on the +camel, who carried them to his house. When he got there, he took the +sacks and his bundle off the camel, who thanked him again for his +kindness and went back to his jungle, feeling very glad at having got +rid of his heavy burthen. + +When the poor man's wife and children saw the gold and jewels and the +ruby, they cried, "Where did you get these?" And the man told them his +whole story. And he bought food for his wife and children, and gave +them a beautiful house, and got them clothes, for now he was very +rich. + +Another poor man who was not quite, but nearly, as poor as this man +had been, asked him where he had got his riches. "I got them out of a +river," answered the man. "I drew the water with a bucket, and in +every bucketful there was gold." The other man started off to the +river and began drawing up water in a bucket. "Stop, stop!" cried an +alligator, who was the king of the fishes; "you are taking all the +water out of the river and my fishes will die." "I want money," said +the man, "and I can find none, so I am taking the water out of the +river in order to get some." "You shall have some in a minute," said +the alligator, "only do stop drawing the water." Then a great wave of +water dashed on to the land and dashed back into the river, leaving +behind it a great heap of gold, which the man picked up joyfully. The +next day he came again, and night and day he drew water out of the +river. At last the alligator got very angry, and said, "My fishes will +all die for want of water. Once I gave the man a heap of gold, and yet +he wants more. I won't give him any," and the alligator thrust up his +head out of the river, and swallowed the man whole. For four days and +four nights the man lived in the alligator's stomach. At the end of +the fourth night the king of the fishes said to him, "I will let you +get out of my stomach on condition that you tell no man what has +happened to you. If you do, you will die instantly." The man jumped +out of the alligator's mouth and walked towards his house. On his way +he met some men and told them what had happened to him, and as soon as +he got home he told his wife and children, and the moment he had done +so he became mad and dumb and blood came out of his mouth, and he fell +down dead. + + Told by Dunkní. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XIII. + +THE UPRIGHT KING. + + +There was a great Mahárájá whose name was Harchand Rájá, and he had an +only son called Mánikchand. He was very rich and had a great deal of +money, and he also had a very large garden full of lovely flowers and +fruits which he prized greatly. Every morning before he bathed he used +to give some poor fakír two pounds and a half of gold. Now Harchand +Mahárájá used to pray a great deal to God, and God was very fond of +him, so he said one day, "To see if Harchand Mahárájá really loves me, +I will make him very poor for twelve years." And at night God came +down in the shape of a great boar, and ate up everything that was in +Harchand Mahárájá's garden. The boar then ran away into the jungle. +Next morning the gardener got up and looked out into the garden, and +what was his astonishment when he saw it was all spoilt. Nothing was +left in it; it was not a garden any more. He went quickly to the +Mahárájá and said, "Oh, master! oh, Mahárájá! your garden is quite +spoilt. Last night a boar came and ate up everything in it." +"Nonsense," said the Mahárájá, who would not believe him. "It is quite +true," said the gardener; "you can come and see for yourself." So the +Rájá got up at once and put on his clothes, and went into the garden, +and found it all empty. He went back to the house very melancholy. +Then as usual he gave a fakír his two pounds and a half of gold. After +breakfast he went out hunting. The boar which had run away into the +wood changed himself into a very old fakír, who shook from old age. As +Harchand Mahárájá passed, the old fakír held out his hand, saying, +"Please give me a few pice, I am so poor and hungry." The Mahárájá +said, "Come to my palace and I will give you two pounds and a half of +gold." "Oh, no," said the fakír, "surely you would never give me so +much as that." "Yes, I will," said the Mahárájá. "Every morning before +I bathe I give a fakír two pounds and a half of gold." "Nonsense," +said the fakír, "you don't give away your money in that way." "Really, +I do," said the Mahárájá, "and I promise to give you two pounds and a +half of gold." So the fakír followed Harchand Mahárájá home, and when +they reached the palace, the Mahárájá told his treasurer to give the +old fakír two pounds and a half of gold. The treasurer went into the +treasury, but all the Mahárájá's gold and silver and jewels had become +charcoal! The treasurer came out again to the Mahárájá saying, "Oh, +Mahárájá, all your gold and silver and jewels are turned into +charcoal!" "Oh, nonsense," said the Mahárájá. "Come and see, +Mahárájá," said the treasurer, who was in a great fright. The Mahárájá +went into his treasury, and was quite sad at the sight of the +charcoal. "Alas!" he said, "God has made me very poor, but still I +must give this fakír his money." So he went to the fakír and said, +"All my gold and silver and jewels are turned into charcoal; but I +will sell my wife, and my boy, and myself, and then I will give you +the money I promised you." And he went and fetched his wife and son, +and left his palace, his houses, servants, and possessions. + +He then went to a merchant, who bought from him his Mahárání, who was +called Hírálí, that is, the diamond lady, for she was very beautiful, +and her face shone like a diamond. Her hands were very small, and so +were her feet. The merchant gave the Mahárájá a pound of gold for the +Mahárání. Next, Harchand Mahárájá went to a cowherd and sold him his +son Mánikchand. The cowherd gave him for the boy half a pound of gold. +Then he went to a dom, that is, a man of a very low caste, who kept a +tank into which it was his business to throw the bodies of those who +died. If it was a dead man or woman, the dom took one rupee, if it was +a dead child he was only paid eight annas. To this dom Harchand sold +himself for a pound of gold, and he gave the two pounds and a half of +gold to the fakír, who then went home. The dom said, "Will you stay by +the tank for a few days while I go home and do my other work, which is +weaving baskets? If any one brings you a dead body you must throw it +into the water. If it is the body of a man or woman, take one rupee in +payment; if it is a dead child, take eight annas; and if the bearers +have got no money, take a bit of cloth. Don't forget." And the dom +went away, leaving Harchand sitting by the tank. + +Well, Harchand Mahárájá sat for some days by the tank, and when any +one brought him dead bodies he threw them into it. For a dead man or +woman he took one rupee, for a dead child eight annas, and if the +bearers had no money to give him, he took some cloth. Some time had +passed, and Mánikchand, the Mahárájá's son, died; so Hírálí Rání went +to the cowherd to ask him for her dead child. The cowherd gave him to +her, and she took him to the tank. Harchand Mahárájá was sitting by +the tank, and when Hírálí Mahárání saw him she said, "I know that man +is my husband, so he will not take any money for throwing his child +into the water." So she went up to him and said, "Will you throw this +child into the tank for me?" "Yes, I will," said Harchand Mahárájá; +"only first give me eight annas." "You surely won't take any money for +throwing your own son into the tank?" said the Mahárání. "You must pay +me," said Harchand Mahárájá, "for I must obey the dom's orders. If you +have no money, give me a piece of cloth." So the Mahárání tore off a +great piece of her sárí and gave it him, and the Mahárájá took his son +and threw him into the tank. As he threw him in he cried out to the +king of the fishes, who was an alligator, "Take great care of this +body." The king of fishes said, "I will." Then the Mahárání went back +to the merchant. + +And the Mahárájá caught a fish, and cooked it, and laid it by the +tank, saying, "I will go and bathe and then I will eat it." So he took +off his clothes and went into the tank to bathe, and when he had +bathed he put on fresh clothes, and as he took hold of his fish to eat +it, it slipped back alive into the water, although it had been dead +and cooked. The Mahárájá sat down by the tank again, very sad. He +said, "For twelve years I have found it hard to get anything to eat; +how long will God keep me without food?" God was very pleased with +Harchand for being so patient, for he had never complained. + +Some days later God came down to earth in the shape of a man, and with +him he took an angel to be his Wazír. The Wazír said to God, "Come +this way and let us see who it is sitting by the tank." "No," said +God, "I am too tired, I can go no further." "Do come," said the Wazír; +"I want so much to go." God said, "Well, let us go." Then they walked +on till they came to the place where Harchand Mahárájá was sitting, +and God said to him, "Would you like to have your wife, and your son, +and your kingdom back again?" "Yes, I should," said the Mahárájá; "but +how can I get them?" "Tell me truly," said God, "would you like to +have your kingdom back again?" "Indeed I should," said the Mahárájá. +Then Mánikchand's body, which had never sunk to the bottom of the tank +like the other bodies, but had always floated on the water, rose up +out of the water, and Mánikchand was alive once more. The father and +son embraced each other. "Now," said God, "let us go to the dom." +Harchand Mahárájá agreed, and they went to the dom and asked him how +much he would take for Harchand Mahárájá. The dom said, "I gave one +pound of gold for him, and I will take two pounds." So they paid down +the two pounds of gold. Then they went to the merchant and said to +him, "How much will you take for Hírálí Rání?" The merchant said, "I +gave a pound of gold for her; I will take four pounds." So they paid +down the four pounds of gold, took Hírálí Rání, and went to the +cowherd. "How much will you take for Mánikchand?" said they to him. "I +gave half a pound of gold for him," answered the cowherd; "I will take +one pound." So they paid down the pound of gold, and Harchand Mahárájá +went home to his palace, taking with him Hírálí Rání and Mánikchand, +after thanking the strange man for his goodness to them. When they +reached the palace, the garden was in splendid beauty; the charcoal +was turned back into gold, and silver, and jewels; the servants were +in waiting as usual, and they went into the palace and lived happily +for evermore. + + Told by Dunkní. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XIV. + +LOVING LAILÍ. + + +Once there was a king called King Dantál, who had a great many rupees +and soldiers and horses. He had also an only son called Prince Majnún, +who was a handsome boy with white teeth, red lips, blue eyes, red +cheeks, red hair, and a white skin. This boy was very fond of playing +with the Wazír's son, Husain Mahámat, in King Dantál's garden, which +was very large and full of delicious fruits, and flowers, and trees. +They used to take their little knives there and cut the fruits and eat +them. King Dantál had a teacher for them to teach them to read and +write. + +One day, when they were grown two fine young men, Prince Majnún said +to his father, "Husain Mahámat and I should like to go and hunt." His +father said they might go, so they got ready their horses and all else +they wanted for their hunting, and went to the Phaláná country, +hunting all the way, but they only found jackals and birds. + +The Rájá of the Phaláná country was called Múnsúk Rájá, and he had a +daughter named Lailí, who was very beautiful; she had brown eyes and +black hair. + +One night, some time before Prince Majnún came to her father's +kingdom, as she slept, God sent to her an angel in the form of a man +who told her that she should marry Prince Majnún and no one else, and +that this was God's command to her. When Lailí woke she told her +father of the angel's visit to her as she slept; but her father paid +no attention to her story. From that time she began repeating, +"Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún," and would say nothing else. Even as +she sat and ate her food she kept saying, "Majnún, Majnún; I want +Majnún." Her father used to get quite vexed with her. "Who is this +Majnún? who ever heard of this Majnún?" he would say. "He is the man I +am to marry," said Lailí. "God has ordered me to marry no one but +Majnún." And she was half mad. Meanwhile, Majnún and Husain Mahámat +came to hunt in the Phaláná country; and as they were riding about, +Lailí came out on her horse to eat the air, and rode behind them. All +the time she kept saying, "Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún." The prince +heard her, and turned round. "Who is calling me?" he asked. At this +Lailí looked at him, and the moment she saw him she fell deeply in +love with him, and she said to herself, "I am sure that is the Prince +Majnún that God says I am to marry." And she went home to her father +and said, "Father, I wish to marry the prince who has come to your +kingdom; for I know he is the Prince Majnún I am to marry." "Very +well, you shall have him for your husband," said Múnsúk Rájá. "We will +ask him to-morrow." Lailí consented to wait, although she was very +impatient. As it happened, the prince left the Phaláná kingdom that +night, and when Lailí heard he was gone, she went quite mad. She would +not listen to a word her father, or her mother, or her servants said +to her, but went off into the jungle, and wandered from jungle to +jungle, till she got farther and farther away from her own country. +All the time she kept saying, "Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún;" and so +she wandered about for twelve years. + +At the end of the twelve years she met a fakír--he was really an +angel, but she did not know this--who asked her, "Why do you always +say, 'Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún'?" She answered, "I am the +daughter of the king of the Phaláná country, and I want to find Prince +Majnún; tell me where his kingdom is." "I think you will never get +there," said the fakír, "for it is very far from hence, and you have +to cross many rivers to reach it." But Lailí said she did not care; +she must see Prince Majnún. "Well," said the fakír, "when you come to +the Bhágírathí river you will see a big fish, a Rohú; and you must get +him to carry you to Prince Majnún's country, or you will never reach +it." + +She went on and on, and at last she came to the Bhágírathí river. +There there was a great big fish called the Rohú fish. It was yawning +just as she got up to it, and she instantly jumped down its throat +into its stomach. All the time she kept saying, "Majnún, Majnún." At +this the Rohú fish was greatly alarmed and swam down the river as fast +as he could. By degrees he got tired and went slower, and a crow came +and perched on his back, and said, "Caw, caw." "Oh, Mr. Crow," said +the poor fish, "do see what is in my stomach that makes such a noise." +"Very well," said the crow, "open your mouth wide, and I'll fly down +and see." So the Rohú opened his jaws and the crow flew down, but he +came up again very quickly. "You have a Rakshas in your stomach," said +the crow, and he flew away. This news did not comfort the poor Rohú, +and he swam on and on till he came to Prince Majnún's country. There +he stopped. And a jackal came down to the river to drink. "Oh, +jackal," said the Rohú, "do tell me what I have inside me." "How can I +tell?" said the jackal. "I cannot see unless I go inside you." So the +Rohú opened his mouth wide, and the jackal jumped down his throat; but +he came up very quickly, looking much frightened and saying, "You have +a Rakshas in your stomach, and if I don't run away quickly, I am +afraid it will eat me." So off he ran. After the jackal came an +enormous snake. "Oh," says the fish, "do tell me what I have in my +stomach, for it rattles about so, and keeps saying, 'Majnún, Majnún; I +want Majnún.'" The snake said, "Open your mouth wide, and I'll go +down and see what it is." The snake went down: when he returned he +said, "You have a Rakshas in your stomach; but if you will let me cut +you open, it will come out of you." "If you do that, I shall die," +said the Rohú. "Oh, no," said the snake, "you will not, for I will +give you a medicine that will make you quite well again." So the fish +agreed, and the snake got a knife and cut him open, and out jumped +Lailí. + +She was now very old. Twelve years she had wandered about the jungle, +and for twelve years she had lived inside her Rohú; and she was no +longer beautiful, and had lost her teeth. The snake took her on his +back and carried her into the country, and there he put her down, and +she wandered on and on till she got to Majnún's court-house, where +King Majnún was sitting. There some men heard her crying, "Majnún, +Majnún; I want Majnún," and they asked her what she wanted. "I want +King Majnún," she said. So they went in and said to Prince Majnún, "An +old woman outside says she wants you." "I cannot leave this place," +said he; "send her in here." They brought her in and the prince asked +her what she wanted. "I want to marry you," she answered. "Twenty-four +years ago you came to my father the Phaláná Rájá's country, and I +wanted to marry you then; but you went away without marrying me. Then +I went mad, and I have wandered about all these years looking for +you." Prince Majnún said, "Very good." "Pray to God," said Lailí, "to +make us both young again, and then we shall be married." So the prince +prayed to God, and God said to him, "Touch Lailí's clothes and they +will catch fire, and when they are on fire, she and you will become +young again." When he touched Lailí's clothes they caught fire, and +she and he became young again. And there were great feasts, and they +were married, and travelled to the Phaláná country to see her father +and mother. + +Now Lailí's father and mother had wept so much for their daughter +that they had become quite blind, and her father kept always +repeating, "Lailí, Lailí, Lailí." When Lailí saw their blindness, she +prayed to God to restore their sight to them, which he did. As soon as +the father and mother saw Lailí, they hugged her and kissed her, and +then they had the wedding all over again amid great rejoicings. Prince +Majnún and Lailí stayed with Múnsúk Rájá and his wife for three years, +and then they returned to King Dantál, and lived happily for some time +with him. + +They used to go out hunting, and they often went from country to +country to eat the air and amuse themselves. + +One day Prince Majnún said to Lailí, "Let us go through this jungle." +"No, no," said Lailí; "if we go through this jungle, some harm will +happen to me." But Prince Majnún laughed, and went into the jungle. +And as they were going through it, God thought, "I should like to know +how much Prince Majnún loves his wife. Would he be very sorry if she +died? And would he marry another wife? I will see." So he sent one of +his angels in the form of a fakír into the jungle; and the angel went +up to Lailí, and threw some powder in her face, and instantly she fell +to the ground a heap of ashes. + +Prince Majnún was in great sorrow and grief when he saw his dear Lailí +turn into a little heap of ashes; and he went straight home to his +father, and for a long, long time he would not be comforted. After a +great many years he grew more cheerful and happy, and began to go +again into his father's beautiful garden with Husain Mahámat. King +Dantál wished his son to marry again. "I will only have Lailí for my +wife; I will not marry any other woman," said Prince Majnún. "How can +you marry Lailí? Lailí is dead. She will never come back to you," said +the father. "Then I'll not have any wife at all," said Prince Majnún. + +Meanwhile Lailí was living in the jungle where her husband had left +her a little heap of ashes. As soon as Majnún had gone, the fakír had +taken her ashes and made them quite clean, and then he had mixed clay +and water with the ashes, and made the figure of a woman with them, +and so Lailí regained her human form, and God sent life into it. But +Lailí had become once more a hideous old woman, with a long, long +nose, and teeth like tusks; just such an old woman, excepting her +teeth, as she had been when she came out of the Rohú fish; and she +lived in the jungle, and neither ate nor drank, and she kept on +saying, "Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún." + +At last the angel who had come as a fakír and thrown the powder at +her, said to God, "Of what use is it that this woman should sit in the +jungle crying, crying for ever, 'Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún,' and +eating and drinking nothing? Let me take her to Prince Majnún." +"Well," said God, "you may do so; but tell her that she must not speak +to Majnún if he is afraid of her when he sees her; and that if he is +afraid when he sees her, she will become a little white dog the next +day. Then she must go to the palace, and she will only regain her +human shape when Prince Majnún loves her, feeds her with his own food, +and lets her sleep in his bed." So the angel came to Lailí again as a +fakír and carried her to King Dantál's garden. "Now," he said, "it is +God's command that you stay here till Prince Majnún comes to walk in +the garden, and then you may show yourself to him. But you must not +speak to him, if he is afraid of you; and should he be afraid of you, +you will the next day become a little white dog." He then told her +what she must do as a little dog to regain her human form. + +Lailí stayed in the garden, hidden in the tall grass, till Prince +Majnún and Husain Mahámat came to walk in the garden. King Dantál was +now a very old man, and Husain Mahámat, though he was really only as +old as Prince Majnún, looked a great deal older than the prince, who +had been made quite young again when he married Lailí. + +As Prince Majnún and the Wazír's son walked in the garden, they +gathered the fruit as they had done as little children, only they bit +the fruit with their teeth; they did not cut it. While Majnún was busy +eating a fruit in this way, and was talking to Husain Mahámat, he +turned towards him and saw Lailí walking behind the Wazír's son. "Oh, +look, look!" he cried, "see what is following you; it is a Rakshas or +a demon, and I am sure it is going to eat us." Lailí looked at him +beseechingly with all her eyes, and trembled with age and eagerness; +but this only frightened Majnún the more. "It is a Rakshas, a +Rakshas!" he cried, and he ran quickly to the palace with the Wazír's +son; and as they ran away, Lailí disappeared into the jungle. They ran +to King Dantál, and Majnún told him there was a Rakshas or a demon in +the garden that had come to eat them. "What nonsense," said his +father. "Fancy two grown men being so frightened by an old ayah or a +fakír! And if it had been a Rakshas, it would not have eaten you." +Indeed King Dantál did not believe Majnún had seen anything at all, +till Husain Mahámat said the prince was speaking the exact truth. They +had the garden searched for the terrible old woman, but found nothing, +and King Dantál told his son he was very silly to be so much +frightened. However, Prince Majnún would not walk in the garden any +more. + +The next day Lailí turned into a pretty little dog; and in this shape +she came into the palace, where Prince Majnún soon became very fond of +her. She followed him everywhere, went with him when he was out +hunting, and helped him to catch his game, and Prince Majnún fed her +with milk, or bread, or anything else he was eating, and at night the +little dog slept in his bed. + +But one night the little dog disappeared, and in its stead there lay +the little old woman who had frightened him so much in the garden; and +now Prince Majnún was quite sure she was a Rakshas, or a demon, or +some such horrible thing come to eat him; and in his terror he cried +out, "What do you want? Oh, do not eat me; do not eat me!" Poor Lailí +answered, "Don't you know me? I am your wife Lailí, and I want to +marry you. Don't you remember how you would go through that jungle, +though I begged and begged you not to go, for I told you that harm +would happen to me, and then a fakír came and threw powder in my face, +and I became a heap of ashes. But God gave me my life again, and +brought me here, after I had stayed a long, long while in the jungle +crying for you, and now I am obliged to be a little dog; but if you +will marry me, I shall not be a little dog any more." Majnún, however, +said "How can I marry an old woman like you? how can you be Lailí? I +am sure you are a Rakshas or a demon come to eat me," and he was in +great terror. + +In the morning the old woman had turned into the little dog, and the +prince went to his father and told him all that had happened. "An old +woman! an old woman! always an old woman!" said his father. "You do +nothing but think of old women. How can a strong man like you be so +easily frightened?" However, when he saw that his son was really in +great terror, and that he really believed the old woman would come +back at night, he advised him to say to her, "I will marry you if you +can make yourself a young girl again. How can I marry such an old +woman as you are?" + +That night as he lay trembling in bed the little old woman lay there +in place of the dog, crying, "Majnún, Majnún, I want to marry you. I +have loved you all these long, long years. When I was in my father's +kingdom a young girl, I knew of you, though you knew nothing of me, +and we should have been married then if you had not gone away so +suddenly, and for long, long years I followed you." "Well," said +Majnún, "if you can make yourself a young girl again, I will marry +you." + +Lailí said, "Oh, that is quite easy. God will make me a young girl +again. In two days' time you must go into the garden, and there you +will see a beautiful fruit. You must gather it and bring it into your +room and cut it open yourself very gently, and you must not open it +when your father or anybody else is with you, but when you are quite +alone; for I shall be in the fruit quite naked, without any clothes at +all on." In the morning Lailí took her little dog's form, and +disappeared in the garden. + +Prince Majnún told all this to his father, who told him to do all the +old woman had bidden him. In two days' time he and the Wazír's son +walked in the garden, and there they saw a large, lovely red fruit. +"Oh!" said the Prince, "I wonder shall I find my wife in that fruit." +Husain Mahámat wanted him to gather it and see, but he would not till +he had told his father, who said, "That must be the fruit; go and +gather it." So Majnún went back and broke the fruit off its stalk; and +he said to his father, "Come with me to my room while I open it; I am +afraid to open it alone, for perhaps I shall find a Rakshas in it that +will eat me." "No," said King Dantál; "remember, Lailí will be naked; +you must go alone, and do not be afraid if, after all, a Rakshas is in +the fruit, for I will stay outside the door, and you have only to call +me with a loud voice, and I will come to you, so the Rakshas will not +be able to eat you." + +Then Majnún took the fruit and began to cut it open tremblingly, for +he shook with fear; and when he had cut it, out stepped Lailí, young +and far more beautiful than she had ever been. At the sight of her +extreme beauty, Majnún fell backwards fainting on the floor. + +Lailí took off his turban and wound it all round herself like a sárí +(for she had no clothes at all on), and then she called King Dantál, +and said to him sadly, "Why has Majnún fallen down like this? Why will +he not speak to me? He never used to be afraid of me; and he has seen +me so many, many times." King Dantál answered, "It is because you are +so beautiful. You are far, far more beautiful than you ever were. But +he will be very happy directly." Then the King got some water, and +they bathed Majnún's face and gave him some to drink, and he sat up +again. Then Lailí said, "Why did you faint? Did you not see I am +Lailí?" "Oh!" said Prince Majnún, "I see you are Lailí come back to +me, but your eyes have grown so wonderfully beautiful, that I fainted +when I saw them." Then they were all very happy, and King Dantál had +all the drums in the place beaten, and had all the musical instruments +played on, and they made a grand wedding-feast, and gave presents to +the servants, and rice and quantities of rupees to the fakírs. + +After some time had passed very happily, Prince Majnún and his wife +went out to eat the air. They rode on the same horse, and had only a +groom with them. They came to another kingdom, to a beautiful garden. +"We must go into that garden and see it," said Majnún. "No, no," said +Lailí; "it belongs to a bad Rájá, Chumman Básá, a very wicked man." +But Majnún insisted on going in, and in spite of all Lailí could say, +he got off the horse to look at the flowers. Now, as he was looking at +the flowers, Lailí saw Chumman Básá coming towards them, and she read +in his eyes that he meant to kill her husband and seize her. So she +said to Majnún, "Come, come, let us go; do not go near that bad man. I +see in his eyes, and I feel in my heart, that he will kill you to +seize me." "What nonsense," said Majnún. "I believe he is a very good +Rájá. Anyhow, I am so near to him that I could not get away." "Well," +said Lailí, "it is better that you should be killed than I, for if I +were to be killed a second time, God would not give me my life again; +but I can bring you to life if you are killed." Now Chumman Básá had +come quite near, and seemed very pleasant, so thought Prince Majnún; +but when he was speaking to Majnún, he drew his scimitar and cut off +the prince's head at one blow. + +Lailí sat quite still on her horse, and as the Rájá came towards her +she said, "Why did you kill my husband?" "Because I want to take you," +he answered. "You cannot," said Lailí. "Yes, I can," said the Rájá. +"Take me, then," said Lailí to Chumman Básá; so he came quite close +and put out his hand to take hers to lift her off her horse. But she +put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a tiny knife, only as long +as her hand was broad, and this knife unfolded itself in one instant +till it was such a length! and then Lailí made a great sweep with her +arm and her long, long knife, and off came Chumman Básá's head at one +touch. + +Then Lailí slipped down off her horse, and she went to Majnún's dead +body, and she cut her little finger inside her hand straight down from +the top of her nail to her palm, and out of this gushed blood like +healing medicine. Then she put Majnún's head on his shoulders, and +smeared her healing blood all over the wound, and Majnún woke up and +said, "What a delightful sleep I have had! Why, I feel as if I had +slept for years!" Then he got up and saw the Rájá's dead body by +Lailí's horse. "What's that?" said Majnún. "That is the wicked Rájá +who killed you to seize me, just as I said he would." "Who killed +him?" asked Majnún. "I did," answered Lailí, "and it was I who brought +you to life." "Do bring the poor man to life if you know how to do +so," said Majnún. "No," said Lailí, "for he is a wicked man, and will +try to do you harm." But Majnún asked her for such a long time, and so +earnestly to bring the wicked Rájá to life, that at last she said, +"Jump up on the horse, then, and go far away with the groom." "What +will you do," said Majnún, "if I leave you? I cannot leave you." "I +will take care of myself," said Lailí; "but this man is so wicked, he +may kill you again if you are near him." So Majnún got up on the +horse, and he and the groom went a long way off and waited for Lailí. +Then she set the wicked Rájá's head straight on his shoulders, and she +squeezed the wound in her finger till a little blood-medicine came out +of it. Then she smeared this over the place where her knife had +passed, and just as she saw the Rájá opening his eyes, she began to +run, and she ran, and ran so fast, that she outran the Rájá, who tried +to catch her; and she sprang up on the horse behind her husband, and +they rode so fast, so fast, till they reached King Dantál's palace. + +There Prince Majnún told everything to his father, who was horrified +and angry. "How lucky for you that you have such a wife," he said. +"Why did you not do what she told you? But for her, you would be now +dead." Then he made a great feast out of gratitude for his son's +safety, and gave many, many rupees to the fakírs. And he made so much +of Lailí. He loved her dearly; he could not do enough for her. Then he +built a splendid palace for her and his son, with a great deal of +ground about it, and lovely gardens, and gave them great wealth, and +heaps of servants to wait on them. But he would not allow any but +their servants to enter their gardens and palace, and he would not +allow Majnún to go out of them, nor Lailí; "for," said King Dantál, +"Lailí is so beautiful, that perhaps some one may kill my son to take +her away." + + Told by Dunkní. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XV. + +HOW KING BURTAL BECAME A FAKÍR. + + +Once there was a great king called Burtal, and he had a hundred and +sixty wives, but he had no children, which made him sad. One day he +said to his wives, "I am going to a very distant jungle which is full +of antelopes, to hunt them." "Very well," they answered, "go." So he +went. In that jungle lived neither tigers nor men, but only antelopes. +When King Burtal reached the jungle, some of the antelopes came to him +and said, "Pray don't kill the black antelope, for he is our Rájá, and +we have no other antelope like him among us; but try to kill any of +the others--the brown or the yellow antelopes--that you choose." Now, +the king was not a kind man, and he said, "I will kill your black +antelope, and no other." So he shot him dead. When the other antelopes +saw this they began to scream and cry with sorrow. But the dead +antelope's wife said to them, "There is a holy man, a fakír, in the +jungle. Let us take the dead body to him and ask him to bring our Rájá +to life." And King Burtal laughed at them and said, "How can any man +bring a dead antelope to life?" But the antelopes took the body of +their dead Rájá on their backs, and the dead antelope's wife went at +their head; and King Burtal went too; and they carried it to the +fakír, who was called Goraknáth, and who was resting in the jungle, +and they said to him, "Bring our Rájá to life again, for what can we +do without a Rájá? and he has left no son to succeed him." And the +queen antelope said, "I have no other husband. I had only this one +husband. Do bring him to life for me." King Burtal laughed and mocked +them, and said to the fakír, "I never heard of any man being able to +bring a dead antelope to life. I don't believe you can do it." At this +Goraknáth got angry, and he knelt down and asked God to bring the +antelope to life; and God told him to take a wand and beat the dead +antelope with it, and then the antelope would be alive again. So +Goraknáth took a wand and beat the dead antelope, and it was alive +once more, and then it instantly sprang up into heaven. The antelopes +were delighted to see their Rájá alive again, and they said, "We do +not mind his going up to heaven, for he will come down again to us." + +King Burtal had stood by all the time, and he said to Goraknáth, "Make +me a fakír like yourself," for he thought it would be fine to do such +wonderful things. But Goraknáth would not, and King Burtal stayed in +the jungle with Goraknáth for twelve years, and all that time he never +ceased begging and praying to be made a fakír, till at last Goraknáth +said, "I cannot make you a fakír unless you go home and address your +wives as 'Mamma,' and ask them to give you money and food." Now, it is +a very shameful thing to call one's wife 'Mamma,' for if a wife is +called 'Mamma' she has to leave her husband. Then Goraknáth took off +the king's clothes, and dressed him only in a cloth and a tiger's +skin; and the king went to his palace and began begging for rice and +food, and he would not take any from the palace servants: he said he +must and would see the Ránís, and that they themselves should give him +food. The servants told the Ránís about this fakír who said he must +and would see them himself, and that they should give him food and +rice with their own hands, and one of their ayahs, who had recognized +King Burtal, told them the fakír was their husband who had been away +twelve years. The Ránís cried out, "Do not talk nonsense. That fakír +can never be our husband." "Go and see for yourselves," answered the +ayah. They went, and the fakír said to them, "Mamma, give me rice." +"Why do you call us 'Mamma'?" they said. "We have no sons. You are not +our son." But at last they saw he was indeed their husband, and they +wrung their hands and wept bitterly, and threw themselves on the +ground before him and said, "Why have you called us 'Mamma'? Why do +you ask for bread? We must now leave you." "Don't go away," said the +king. "Take my kingdom, my money, my houses, and stay here till I +return. I am going to be a fakír." His wives gave him some rice and +some money, and he went back to Goraknáth. + +In old days men who intended to become fakírs had to do three tasks +set them by one who was already a fakír; so Goraknáth said to the +king, "Now you must go to a jungle that I will show you, and stay +there for twelve years." Then King Burtal took the flat pan and the +rolling-pin which he used in making his flour cakes, and was quite +ready to start for the jungle, but the fakír stopped him. "You must +leave your pan and your rolling-pin behind," he said; "and all these +twelve years you must neither eat nor drink, or you can never be a +fakír. You must sit quite still on the same spot and never move." "I +shall die if I don't eat," said the king; "but I don't care if I do +die, so I will do all you tell me." Then the fakír took him to a +jungle, and made him sit down on the grass, and instantly all the +grass round him grew up so tall and thick that King Burtal was quite +hidden by it, and no one could see him. Here he lived for twelve +years, and never moved, and he ate nothing, and drank nothing, and +nobody knew he was there. + +At the end of that time Goraknáth came and took him away and said, +"Now go home to your wives." "Why should I go to my wives? I do not +wish to see my wives, for they have given me no children," said King +Burtal. But Goraknáth said, "Go and see them." So King Burtal went; +and he begged for rice from them; and they entreated him to stay with +them, but he would not. "I will return to the fakír Goraknáth," he +said. "Why should I stay with you? You have never given me a child. +What use is all my wealth to me? I have no son to take it when I am +dead. I will become a fakír." And they threw themselves on the ground +and wrung their hands, and said, "Oh, why will you leave us?" He +answered, "Because it pleases me to do so." And he called them all +"Mamma," and told them to stay in his palace and take all he possessed +for their own use. Then he returned to Goraknáth. + +"Now," said Goraknáth, "you must learn to be sweeper to all the beasts +of the jungle, and you must serve them for twelve years." So for +twelve years King Burtal cleared the grass and kept the jungle clean +for all the creatures in it--cows, sheep, goats, tigers, cats, bears. +Sometimes he stayed in one part of the jungle, and sometimes in +another. + +When the twelve years were over he went to Goraknáth, who said to him, +"Good; you have learnt to serve the wild beasts; now you must learn to +serve men." Then the fakír took the king to a village, and bade him +sweep it and keep it clean for twelve years. Here King Burtal stayed +for another twelve years, and all that time he was the village-sweeper +and kept the village clean, and he swept all the dust and dirt into a +great heap till the heap was as high and as big as a hut. + +When the twelve years were over he returned to Goraknáth and stood +before him, and as he stood there came a man who was an angel sent by +God, and he threw some dirt on King Burtal's head; but the king never +moved nor spoke. "Now," cried Goraknáth, "I see you are a true fakír: +go and cleanse yourself by bathing in the river." + +The river in which he was sent to bathe was the Jamná. In this river +lived water-nymphs, and the nymph Gangá was playing in it when her +sister Jamná[3] came to her and said, "Come quickly; our father is +dying and wants to see you;" and off Jamná went to her father. Gangá +was hurrying after her when King Burtal saw her, and stopped her, and +asked her where she was going so fast. "To my father, who is very ill +and dying," said Gangá; "let me go." "I will not let you go," said +King Burtal. Then Gangá began to run, and said, "You cannot keep me, +you cannot catch me; no man can catch me, no man can keep me." This +provoked King Burtal, and he said, "I can catch you, and I can keep +you." "No, no," she answered; "no one can catch me, no one can hold +me." Then King Burtal got quite vexed, and he ran till he caught her, +and then he said, "Now, I will not let you go; I will keep you." Then +he held her in his hands and rubbed her between his palms, and when he +opened his hands she had turned into a little round ball. He tried to +hide the ball in his hair, but could not, for his hair was too short, +and he found he could not hold Gangá, as she was too strong for him; +so he thought he would take her to Mahádeo,[4] who had long thick +hair, and make him keep her, for King Burtal was dreadfully frightened +and did not dare let the ball go, for fear Gangá, who he knew was very +angry, should take her own form and bring a great flood to drown him. +So he went quickly to Mahádeo, and gave the ball to him. Mahádeo said, +"Why not keep her yourself?" "I cannot," said King Burtal, "for my +hair is too short to tie her into; and I cannot hold her, for she is +too strong for me; but your hair is long, and so you can hide her in +it." Then Mahádeo had a round box made of bamboo, and in this box was +a hole into which he dropped the ball. And he let down his long hair, +and it reached to the ground, and was thick--so thick; he put the box +in his hair on the top of his head, and rolled his long hair all round +his head and over the box just like a turban. + +Jamná finding her sister did not follow her, came up from the bottom +of the river to look for her, and she asked whether any one had seen +her, and at last some one said, "King Burtal has taken her away." +Jamná set off to King Burtal and said, "Give me my sister Gangá, for +our father is dying and wants to see her." "It is true that I took her +away," said King Burtal, "but I have not got her now; she is with +Mahádeo." So Jamná went to Mahádeo,--"Give me my sister quickly, for +our father is dying and wants to see her." (Now Gangá was in a great +passion inside her box.) "I cannot give you Gangá," said Mahádeo, "for +she is so angry that if I let her loose she will flood the country +with water." "No, she will not; indeed, she will not," said Jamná. "If +I give her to you, you will not be able to keep her," said Mahádeo. +"Yes, yes, I shall," said Jamná. "I do not think you will," said +Mahádeo; "but here is the box in which said is. Hold it tight, and be +careful that neither you nor any one else mentions her name on the +journey." Jamná said she would be very careful, and took the box; but +she had to pass through a jungle in which were a number of cowherds +and holy men, one of whom was called Gangá. Just as Jamná passed by, +one of these men called to this man by his name, Gangá, and instantly +Gangá burst the box and flooded the country with water. The holy men +and the cowherd called to her to have pity on them, and so did Jamná; +but Gangá was too angry to listen to them or speak to them, so she +drowned all the holy men and the cowherds, and when she got to her +father's house and found he was dead, she was in such a rage that she +declared she would send a still greater flood to ruin the country; and +so she did. + +After this, King Burtal went to Goraknáth and stayed with him some +years, till Goraknáth said, "Now go to your own kingdom." But King +Burtal refused, saying, "I wish to stay with you; my wives have never +given me a child. I have no son. I do not care to return to my +kingdom." However, Goraknáth would not allow him to stay. "Go to your +own kingdom," he said again; "but first tell me how many wives you +have." "A hundred and sixty," answered the King. "Here are a hundred +and sixty líchí fruits for you," said the fakír. "Give one to each of +your wives to eat, and they will each have a son, and I will go with +you." So King Burtal obeyed, and Goraknáth went with him. + +Seventy years had passed since King Burtal had left his kingdom. When +he and Goraknáth reached it, they went to an open plain and made a +fire and sat down beside it. Everybody who passed them said, "Who are +these fakírs?" Some servants of King Burtal's Ránís passed too, and +when they got home they told the Ránís that their husband had returned +to his kingdom. But the Ránís said, "What nonsense you talk! King +Burtal went away with the fakír Goraknáth." The servants answered, "We +are quite sure that King Burtal is here, for Goraknáth is here, and +with him is another man, and we are sure this man is King Burtal." So +all the Ránís went to see for themselves, and when they saw the fakír +that was with Goraknáth they knew he was their husband. Then the first +Rání, who was very angry with him for having left them, said a spell +over him: "God is very angry with you for leaving us, and he will send +you a bad illness." But King Burtal answered, "Do not be angry with +me. I am your husband, and have come back to you after an absence of +seventy years." At this the youngest Rání was very glad, and she +ordered drums to be beaten and she beat a drum herself, and they sang +songs, and all went to the palace together, and Goraknáth with them. + +Then Goraknáth said he must now go away, but first he asked King +Burtal to show him a grand feat as a proof of his skill. So King +Burtal sent to the smith for a great iron chain. Then he lit a big +fire. This alarmed the palace servants, who wondered if he were going +to burn his palace and his wives. King Burtal next sent for some ghee. +"What is he going to do with the ghee?" said the palace servants. Then +he drove a nail into the wall, rubbed his hands with the ghee, put the +iron chain into the fire and drew it out red-hot; flames came from the +iron. Then King Burtal hung it on the nail and pulled and pulled at +the chain till he drew it off the nail, and his hands were not in the +least burnt. The Ránís and palace servants were greatly astonished and +Goraknáth much pleased. "You know how to do your work well," said he +to the king. Then Goraknáth bade him good bye, telling him to look +after his kingdom and his wives; but they all said he must not leave +them, and they built him a grand house in the compound, and gave him a +great many servants to wait on him, and plenty of money; so Goraknáth +agreed to live in this house; only, as he was a fakír, he often went +away by himself to spend some time in his jungle, always returning to +his house in King Burtal's compound. Meanwhile King Burtal gave each +of his wives a líchí to eat, and after a little while each wife had a +little son. They were all such beautiful children; but the biggest and +handsomest of all was the eldest Rání's little son. His name was +Sazádá, and his father and mother loved him dearly. + +When Prince Sazádá was about six or seven years old, the fakír +Goraknáth came to King Burtal and said, "Now you must give me your +son Sazádá, for I want to take him away with me for some years." The +Rání, his mother, refused to let him go, but at last she had to do so, +and then she became mad and very sick for grief. + +Goraknáth took the little prince to Indrásan to be taught by the +fairies, and on arriving he married him to Jahúr Rání, who was the +daughter of the greatest of the fairy queens. Goraknáth made a grand +wedding for the little prince, and all the fairies were delighted that +he should be the little Jahúr Rání's husband, for he was such a +beautiful child they all fell in love with him the moment they saw +him, and they taught him to play on all kinds of instruments, and to +sing beautifully, and to read and write, and he grew handsomer and +handsomer every day in the fairy kingdom. Goraknáth came often to see +him, and the fairies took great care of him. + +When Prince Sazádá had grown a fine strong young man, Goraknáth took +him and his wife, the Jahúr Rání, and brought them in great state to +King Burtal's kingdom. First he took the young prince and presented +him to his father and said, "See, here is your son. Now he can read +and write, sing and play on all kinds of instruments, for I have had +him taught all these things." But they, when they saw him, fell on +their faces, for they could not look at him on account of his great +beauty. He had grown so handsome in Indrásan, and his cheeks were red. +"How can this beautiful boy be our son?" they said, and they did not +recognize him. "Stand up," said Goraknáth. "This is your son Sazádá; +do not fall down before your son." So they stood up, and the fakír +said, "I have married your son to the fairy princess Jahúr Rání, and I +will bring her to you." So then he brought the little Rání, and when +they saw her they fell down again, for they could not look at her +beauty. Her hair was like red gold, her eyes were dark, and her +eyelashes black. But Goraknáth made them stand up; and when they +really understood it was their son and his wife that he had brought +them, they took Prince Sazádá into their arms, and kissed him and +loved him, and his Rání too. Goraknáth made a grand wedding-feast for +them all, and they were all very happy. + + Told by Dunkní. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [3] Yamuná. + + [4] Mahadeva, _i.e._ Siva. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XVI. + +SOME OF THE DOINGS OF SHEKH FARÍD. + + +Once there was a Rájá called Hámánsá Rájá. He had a son, named Gursan +Rájá, who married Kheláparí Rání, the daughter of Gulábsá Rájá. After +the wedding Gursan Rájá brought her home to his father's house. + +One day Gursan Rájá came home from hunting, very very tired and +thirsty. It was about twelve or one o'clock in the day. He asked +Kheláparí Rání to fetch him some water, and while she went for it he +fell asleep. When she came back she found him still sleeping, and +because he was so tired he slept all the afternoon and all night, and +never woke till the next morning. His wife stood by him all the time +holding the water in a brass cup. When he woke and found she had stood +there all the afternoon and all night he was very sorry, and asked God +to forgive him, and to give his wife whatever she wished for, no +matter what it might be. So Kheláparí wished that whatever happened in +any country, she might know of it at once of herself without any one +telling her, no matter how far away the country might be. + +One day Kheláparí Rání went to draw water from the tank, and by the +tank sat an old man, the fakír Shekh Faríd. He said to the Rání, "Give +me a little water to drink." "I will," she said, "only drink it +quickly, for my father's house is on fire, and I am going to put it +out." "How far off is your father's country?" asked Shekh Faríd. +"About twenty miles," answered Kheláparí. "Then how can you know his +house is on fire!" said Shekh Faríd; "I have been a fakír for twelve +years, and for twelve years neither ate nor drank, and yet I do not +know what happens twenty miles away." "But I know," she answered. +"Leave your water-jar here," he said, "and go and see if the house +really is on fire, and I will not drink till you return to me." + +So off went Kheláparí Rání to her father's country, and when she got +there his house was burning, and she stayed till the fire was put out, +and then returned to the tank where she left the fakír. "Is it true," +he asked, "that your father's house was on fire?" "Quite true," she +answered. The fakír wondered. "How could she know it when the fire was +twenty miles off?" he said to himself, and he determined to go to +Gulábsá Rájá's country to see if the Rání had told him the truth. + +He went by a roundabout road, as he did not know the way, so it took +him three or four days to get there. When he did, he asked some +villagers if there had been a fire at their Rájá's house. "Yes, a few +days ago there was," they answered. So the fakír, still more +astonished, decided he would go back to Hámánsá Rájá's palace and ask +Kheláparí Rání how it came to pass that she was wiser than Shekh +Faríd. + +As he was returning, he met a bullock-cart laden with bags of sugar, +and he asked the driver what the bags contained. The driver was put +out because his bullocks would not go on quickly, and he was tired +with beating and goading them, so he said crossly, "It's ashes." +"Good," said Shekh Faríd, "let it be ashes." When the cartman got to +the bazar, and went to make over the sugar to the merchant who had +sent him for it, he found all his bags full of ashes, nothing but +ashes. He was in a great state of mind, for a good deal of money had +been paid for the sugar, and he was a poor man. So he went back to +Shekh Faríd and fell down at his feet, saying, "I am a poor, poor +man. My sugar is turned to ashes. Do make the ashes sugar again." +"Good," said the fakír; "go home, and you will find sugar, and next +time you are asked what you have in your cart, tell the truth and not +lies." The cartman went home, and when he saw his sugar was sugar once +more, and no longer ashes, he was very, very glad. + +One of his brother-villagers thought, "How pleasant it would be to +become a fakír and do such things myself! I will go to this fakír and +learn from him to be a fakír too." So he went after Shekh Faríd and +found him walking along the road, and he followed him. Now Shekh Faríd +knew at once what this man wanted, so as they passed a heap of clay +bricks, he said, "O God, let it be thy pleasure to give me power to +turn these clay bricks into gold." Instantly they became gold, and +Shekh Faríd walked on; but the villager took up two of the bricks and +put one under each arm, and then followed the fakír. Suddenly Shekh +Faríd turned round, and said to him, "You have two clay bricks under +your arms." The man looked, saw it was true, and threw them away. Then +Shekh Faríd said to him, "You steal bricks, and yet wish to be a +fakír?" The man was ashamed, and went back to his village. + +Shekh Faríd continued his journey and got to Hámánsá Rájá's country; +but when he got there he found Kheláparí had gone to another country +for a little while, so he never saw her, nor found out how it was that +she knew what happened twenty miles off. + +In a jungle in Hámánsá Rájá's country he met a man, called +Fakír-achand, and his wife, who were very poor. They were going to +bury their only son, and were crying bitterly. Shekh Faríd asked them, +"Would you like your son to be alive again?" "Yes," they said. "Will +you give him to me, and I will bring him to life, and then he shall +return to you?" said Shekh Faríd. "Yes," they answered, and gave him +their dead son, and went to their home. + +The fakír carried the dead boy, who was called Mohandás, a little +further on, and then laid him on the ground, and struck him with a +long thin bamboo wand he carried in his hand. The boy stood up. Shekh +Faríd asked him, "Would you like to go home to your father and mother, +or to stay with me?" "To stay with you," said Mohandás. (Had he wished +to go home, the fakír would have been very angry.) "Then," said Shekh +Faríd, "I will call your mother here." He did so, and when she came, +he said to her, "See, here is your son alive. Will you give him to me +for twelve years?" The woman said, "Yes," and went home. The fakír +gave her and her husband a quantity of rupees and built them a +beautiful house. Then he and Mohandás set out on their travels, and +wandered about the jungles for one whole year, till they came to a +country full of large splendid gardens belonging to a very rich Rájá, +called Dumkás Rájá. + +This Rájá had a beautiful daughter, Champákálí Rání. She had lovely +golden hair, golden eyebrows, golden eyelashes, blue eyes, and her +skin was transparent. In Dumkás Rájá's country they had never seen a +fakír, so when Shekh Faríd and Mohandás arrived, the Rájá sent to +them, and asked Shekh Faríd to come to talk to him. "No," said the +fakír, "I will not go to the Rájá: if the Rájá wants me, he must come +to me." + +Dumkás Rájá was very angry when his messengers returned with this +answer, and he ordered Shekh Faríd to leave his country immediately; +but the fakír said he would not go until he had married his adopted +son, Mohandás, to Champákálí Rání. The people all laughed at him for +saying this, and declared such a marriage would never take place. +However, the fakír and Mohandás walked about and saw the town, and +looked at everything, and everybody stared at them. Then they went to +live on the border of Dumkás Rájá's country, and lived there for some +time. + +One day Shekh Faríd bought Mohandás a beautiful horse and fine clothes +such as Rájás wear, and told the boy to ride about the fields and high +roads. He also told him not to speak to any one unless they spoke to +him. Mohandás promised to do as he was bid. As he was riding along, he +met the Princess Champákálí, who was also riding. She asked him who he +was. "A Rájá's son," he said. "What Rájá?" asked Champákálí. "Never +mind what Rájá," said Mohandás. The princess then went home, and so +did Mohandás; but every day after this they met and talked together, +and the princess fell very much in love with Mohandás. + +At last she said to her father, "I wish to marry a young man who rides +about on the border-land every day, and is very handsome." The Rájá +consented, for it was time his daughter was married, and now no Rájá +from another country would come to marry her, as the demons who +guarded the princess swallowed all her suitors at one gulp, and had +already swallowed many Rájás who had come on this errand. + +Shekh Faríd said to Mohandás, "Now go up to the palace, and claim the +princess for your wife." "If I do," said Mohandás, "the demons will +swallow me." "I will not let them swallow you," said Shekh Faríd. So +Mohandás consented and set off for the palace, Shekh Faríd following +him. When Mohandás came to the demons, they were going to swallow him; +but the fakír, who had his sword in his hand, killed them all, and as +he did so, the Rájás and princes who had come as suitors to the +Princess Champákálí, and had therefore been swallowed by the demons, +all came jumping out of the demons' stomachs and ran off in all +directions as hard as they could, from fear not knowing where they +went. + +Mohandás was greatly frightened at all this; but Shekh Faríd explained +everything to him, so he went on to the palace, and the fakír went +too. There Mohandás asked Dumkás Rájá to give him his daughter as his +wife, and the Rájá consented. So he was married to Champákálí Rání, +and her father gave them a great many elephants, and horses, and +camels, and a great deal of money and many jewels. And Mohandás and +his wife set off with the fakír to his father Fakír-achand's house, +and they took all the elephants, camels, horses, money and jewels with +them. On the way Mohandás told Champákálí Rání that he was not a great +Rájá's son, but the son of poor people. Champákálí's heart was very +sad at this; however, she was not angry, only sorry. + +When they reached Hámánsá Rájá's country, and had come to +Fakír-achand's house, the fakír said to Mohandás's mother, "See, you +lent me one child, and I have brought you back two children. Does this +please you?" "Indeed it does please me," she answered; "I am very +happy." + +They built a beautiful palace and all lived in it together. The mother +begged Shekh Faríd to stay with them, saying, "Only stay with us; I +will give you a bungalow, and you shall have everything you want." But +Shekh Faríd said, "I am a fakír, and so cannot stay with you, as I may +never stay in one place, and must, instead, wander from country to +country and from jungle to jungle." So he said good-bye to them and +went on his wanderings, and never returned to them. + +Mohandás, his wife, and his father and mother, all lived happily +together. + + Told by Dunkní. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XVII. + +THE MOUSE. + + +There was a mouse who wanted something to eat; so he went to a garden, +where many kinds of grain, and fruit, and cabbages, and other +vegetables were growing. All round the garden the people to whom it +belonged had planted a hedge of thorns, that nothing might get in. The +mouse scrambled through the hedge, but great thorns pierced his tail, +and he began to cry. He came out of the garden again through the +hedge, and on his way home he met a barber. + +"You must take out these thorns," said he to the barber. + +"I cannot," said the barber, "without cutting off your tail with my +razor." + +"Never mind cutting off my tail," said the mouse. + +The barber cut off the mouse's tail. But the mouse was in a rage. He +seized the razor and ran away with it. At this the poor barber was +very unhappy and began to cry, for he had no pice wherewith to buy +another. + +The mouse ran on and on until at last he came to another country, in +which there were no knives or sickles to cut the grass with. There the +mouse saw a man pulling the grass out of the ground with his hands. + +"You will cut your hands," said the mouse. + +"There are no knives here," said the man, "so I must pull up the grass +in this way." + +"You must take my razor then," said the mouse. + +"Suppose your razor should break? I could not buy you another," said +the man. + +"Never mind if it does break," said the mouse, "I give it to you as a +present." + +So the man took the razor and began cutting the grass, and as he was +cutting, the razor broke. + +"Oh, why have you broken my razor?" exclaimed the mouse. + +"Did not I tell you it would break?" answered the man. + +The mouse snatched up the man's blanket and ran off with it. The +grass-cutter began to cry. "What shall I do?" said he. "The mouse has +carried away my blanket, and I have not money wherewith to buy +another." And he went home very sad. + +Meanwhile the mouse ran on and on until he arrived at another country, +where he saw a grain merchant chopping up sugar-canes; only as he had +no blanket or cloth to lay the canes on, he chopped them up on the +ground, and so they got dirty. + +"Why do you chop up your canes on the ground?" said the mouse; "they +all get dirty." + +"What can I do?" answered the man. "I have no pice wherewith to buy a +blanket to chop them on." + +"Then why don't you take mine?" said the mouse. + +"If I took yours it would get cut, and I have no money to buy you +another," said the grain merchant. + +"Never mind; I don't want another," said the mouse. + +So the man took the blanket, and of course he cut it. When he had +finished chopping up his sugar-canes, he gave it back to the mouse. + +When the mouse saw the blanket was full of holes, he was very angry +indeed with the man, and seizing all the sugar-canes he ran away with +them as fast as he could. The grain merchant began to cry. "What shall +I do?" said he; "I have no more sugar-canes." And he went home very +sorrowful. + +Then the mouse ran on and on till he came to another country, where he +stopped at a sweetmeat-seller's shop. Now in this country there was no +salt and no sugar. And the sweetmeat-seller made his sweetmeats of +flour and ghee without either sugar or salt, so that they were very +nasty. + +"Will you give me some sweetmeats for a pice?" said the mouse to the +sweetmeat-seller. "Yes," answered the man, and he gave one. The mouse +began to eat it and thought it very nasty indeed. + +"Why, there is no sugar in it!" exclaimed the mouse. + +"No," said the man; "we have no sugar in this country. The few +sugar-canes we have are so dear, that poor people like myself cannot +buy them." + +"Then take my sugar-canes," cried the mouse. + +"No," said the man. "Where should I find the money to pay you for +them? They would be all used in making sweetmeats." + +"Take them," said the mouse; "I give them to you." + +The sweetmeat-seller took them and began making sweetmeats of all +kinds, so that he used all the sugar-canes. + +"Why have you used all my sugar-canes?" cried the mouse. + +"Did not I tell you I should do so?" said the man. + +"You are a thief!" cried the mouse, and he knocked down the +sweetmeat-seller, seized all his sweetmeats, and ran off with them. + +"What shall I do now?" cried the sweetmeat-seller. "I have no money to +buy flour and ghee to make more sweetmeats with; and if I quarrel with +the mouse, he will doubtless kill me." + +Meanwhile the mouse ran on and on till he reached a country, the Rájá +of which had a great many cows--hundreds of cows. The mouse stopped at +the pasture-ground of these cows. Now, the cowherds were so poor they +could not buy bread every day, and sometimes they ate bread which was +twelve days old. When the mouse arrived, the cowherds were eating +their bread, and it was very stale and mouldy. + +"Why do you eat that stale bread?" said the mouse. + +"Because we have no money to buy any other with," answered the +cowherds. + +"Look at all these sweetmeats," said the mouse. "Take them and eat +them instead of that stale bread." + +"But if we eat them, we must pay you for them, and where shall we get +the money?" said the cowherds. + +"Oh, never mind the money," said the mouse. + +So the cowherds took the sweetmeats and ate them all up. At this the +mouse was furious. He stuck a pole into the ground, and ran and +fetched ropes, and tied the cowherds hand and foot to the pole. Then +he took all the cows and ran off with them. + +He ran on and on till he got to a country where there were no fowls, +no cows, no buffaloes, no meat of any kind; and the people in it did +not even know what milk and meat were. The day the mouse arrived was +the day the Rájá's daughter was to be married, and a great many people +were assembled together. The Rájá's cooks were cooking, but they had +neither meat nor ghee. + +"Why are all these people assembled together?" said the mouse. + +"To-day is our Rájá's daughter's wedding-day, and we are cooking the +dinner," answered the cooks. + +"But you have no meat," said the mouse. + +"No," said the cooks. "There is no meat of any kind in our country." + +"Take my cows," said the mouse. + +"No," said the cooks; "our Rájá could not pay for them; he is too +poor." (He was only a petty Rájá.) + +"It does not matter," said the mouse. "I don't want money." + +So the cooks took the cows and the sheep and killed them, and dressed +their flesh in different ways; made pilaus and curries; they roasted +some and boiled some, and gave it to the people to eat. In this way +they made an end of all the cows. + +"Why have you made an end of all my cows?" cried the mouse. + +"Did not we tell you we should make use of them all?" said the cooks. + +"Give me my cows," said the mouse. + +"We can't. The people have eaten them all up," said the cooks. + +The mouse was in a great rage. He ran off to the bridegroom, who was +walking near the kitchen, saying to himself, "Now I will go and fetch +my bride." + +"Give me the money for my cows," cried the mouse to him. "Your people +have eaten them all up, and your cooks won't pay me, so you must." + +"What have I to do with your cows?" said the bridegroom. "I won't pay +you for them." + +"Then if you won't pay me, your wife's father must," said the mouse. + +"Oh, _he_ is too poor to pay for your cows," said the bridegroom, "and +I won't." + +"Then if I am not paid, I will take away your bride," said the mouse; +and he ran off and carried away the bride. + +The Rájá was very angry at this; but the mouse ran on and on with his +wife (so he called the Rájá's daughter) till he came to another +country. + +Now, on the day he arrived in it there were going to be grand sights +and fun to please its Rájá. Some jugglers and rope-dancers were going +to perform. + +"Take my wife and let her walk on the rope; she is young, and your +wives are old," said the mouse to the rope-dancers. + +"No," they answered, "for she does not know how to walk on a rope and +carry at the same time a wooden plate on her head. She would fall and +break her neck." + +"But you must take my wife," said the mouse. "She won't fall; she is +young, and your wives are old. You really must take her." + +So the rope-dancers took her, much against their will, and when she +began to walk on the rope with the wooden plate on her head, she fell +and died. + +"Oh, why have you killed my wife?" cried the mouse. + +"Did we not tell you she would fall and kill herself?" answered the +rope-dancers. + +The mouse seized all the jugglers' and rope-dancers' wives, and the +things they used in dancing and juggling, and ran off with them. Then +the rope-dancers and jugglers began to cry, and said, "What shall we +do? Our wives and our property are all gone!" + +Meanwhile the mouse ran on and on until he came to another country, +where he got a house to live in. And he ate a great deal, and grew so +fat that he could not get through the door of his house. + +"Send for a carpenter," said he to the rope-dancers' and jugglers' +wives, "and tell him to cut off some of my flesh. Then I shall be able +to get into my house." + +The women sent for a carpenter, and when he came the mouse said to +him, "cut off some of my flesh, then I shall be able to go into my +house." + +"If I do," said the carpenter, "you will die." + +"No, I shan't die," said the mouse. "Do as I bid you." + +So the carpenter took his knife, and cut off some of the mouse's +flesh. + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear!" cried the mouse; "how it does hurt! What can I +do to make it stop paining me?" + +"You must go to a certain place, where a particular kind of grain +grows, and rub the grain on your wounds. Then they will get quite +well," said the carpenter. + +So the mouse ran off to the place to which the carpenter had told him +to go, and rubbed his wounds with the grain. This gave him such pain +that he fell down and died. + +The rope-dancers' and jugglers' wives went home to their husbands with +all the things the mouse had carried away, and they all lived happily +ever after. + + Told by Karím. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XVIII. + +A WONDERFUL STORY. + + +Once there lived two wrestlers, who were both very very strong. The +stronger of the two had a daughter called Ajít; the other had no +daughter at all. These wrestlers did not live in the same country, but +their two villages were not far apart. + +One day the wrestler that had no daughter heard of the wrestler that +had a daughter, and he determined to go and find him and wrestle with +him, to see who was the stronger. He went therefore to Ajít's father's +country, and when he arrived at his house, he knocked at the door and +said, "Is any one here?" Ajít answered, "Yes, I am here;" and she came +out. "Where is the wrestler who lives in this house?" he asked. "My +father," answered Ajít, "has taken three hundred carts to the jungle, +and he is drawing them himself, as he could not get enough bullocks +and horses to pull them along. He is gone to get wood." This +astonished the wrestler very much. "Your father must indeed be very +strong," he said. + +Then he set off to the jungle, and in the jungle he found two dead +elephants. He tied them to the two ends of a pole, took the pole on +his shoulder, and returned to Ajít's house. There he knocked at the +door, crying, "Is any one here?" "Yes, I am here," said Ajít. "Has +your father come back?" asked the wrestler. "Not yet," said Ajít, who +was busy sweeping the room. Now, her father had twelve elephants. +Eleven were in the stables, but one was lying dead in the room Ajít +was sweeping; and as she swept, she swept the dead elephant without +any trouble out of the door. This frightened the wrestler. "What a +strong girl this is!" he said to himself. When Ajít had swept all the +dust out of the room, she came and gathered it and the dead elephant +up, and threw dust and elephant away. The wrestler was more and more +astonished. + +He set off again to find Ajít's father, and met him pulling the three +hundred carts along. At this he was still more alarmed, but he said to +him, "Will you wrestle with me now?" "No," said Ajít's father, "I +won't; for here there is no one to see us." The other again begged him +to wrestle at once, and at that moment an old woman bent with age came +by. She was carrying bread to her son, who had taken his mother's +three or four thousand camels to browse. + +The first wrestler called to her at once, "Come and see us wrestle." +"No," said the old woman, "for I must take my son his dinner. He is +very hungry." "No, no; you must stay and see us wrestle," cried both +the wrestlers. "I cannot stay," she said; "but do one of you stand on +one of my hands, and the other on the other, and then you can wrestle +as we go along." "You carry us!" cried the men. "You are so old, you +will never be able to carry us." "Indeed I shall," said the old woman. +So they got up on her hands, and she rested her hands, with the +wrestlers standing on them, on her shoulders; and her son's +flour-cakes she put on her head. Thus they went on their way, and the +men wrestled as they went. + +Now the old woman had told her son that if he did not do his work +well, she would bring men to kill him; so he was dreadfully frightened +when he saw his mother coming with the wrestlers. "Here is my mother +coming to kill me," he said: and he tied up the three or four +thousand camels in his cloth, put them all on his head, and ran off +with them as fast as he could. "Stop, stop!" cried his mother, when +she saw him running away. But he only ran on still faster, and the old +woman and the wrestlers ran after him. + +Just then a kite was flying about, and the kite said to itself, "There +must be some meat in that man's cloth," so it swept down and carried +off the bundle of camels. The old woman's son at this sat down and +cried. + +The wrestlers soon came up to him and said, "What are you crying for?" +"Oh," answered the boy, "my mother said that if I did not do my work, +she would bring men to kill me. So, when I saw you coming with her, I +tied all the camels up in my cloth, put them on my head, and ran off. +A kite came down and carried them all away. That is why I am crying." +The wrestlers were much astonished at the boy's strength and at the +kite's strength, and they all three set off in the direction in which +the kite had flown. + +Meanwhile the kite had flown on and on till it had reached another +country, and the daughter of the Rájá of this country was sitting on +the roof of the palace, combing her long black hair. The princess +looked up at the kite and the bundle, and said, "There must be meat in +that bundle." At that moment the kite let the bundle of camels fall, +and it fell into the princess's eye, and went deep into it; but her +eye was so large that it did not hurt her much. "Oh, mother! mother!" +she cried, "something has fallen into my eye! come and take it out." +Her mother rushed up, took the bundle of camels out of the princess's +eye, and shoved the bundle into her pocket. + +The wrestlers and the old woman's son now came up, having seen all +that had happened. "Where is the bundle of camels?" said they, "and +why do you cry?" they asked the princess. "Oh," said her mother, "she +is crying because something fell into her eye." "It was the bundle of +camels that fell into her eye, and the bundle is in your pocket," said +the old woman's son to the Rání: and he put his hand into her pocket +and pulled out the bundle. Then he and the wrestlers went back to +Ajít's father's house, and on the way they met his old mother, who +went with them. + +They invited a great many people to dinner, and Ajít took a large +quantity of flour and made it into flat cakes. Then she handed a cake +to the wrestler who had come to see her father, and gave one to +everybody else. "I can't eat such a big cake as this," said the +wrestler. "Can't you?" said Ajít. "I can't indeed," he answered; "it +is much too big." "Then I will eat it myself," said Ajít, and taking +it and all the other cakes she popped them into her mouth together. +"That is not half enough for me," she said. Then she offered him a can +of water. "I cannot drink all that water," he said. "Can't you?" said +Ajít; "I can drink much more than that." So she filled a large tub +with water, lifted it to her mouth, and drank it all up at a draught. + +The wrestler was very much astonished, and said to her, "Will you come +to my house? I will give you a dinner." "You will never be able to +give me enough to eat and drink," said Ajít. "Yes, I shall," he said. +"You will not be able to give me enough, I am sure," said Ajít; "I +cannot come." "Do come," he said. "Very well," she answered, "I will +come; but I know you will never be able to give me enough food." + +So they set off to his house. But when they had gone a little way, she +said, "I must have my house with me." "I cannot carry your house," +said the wrestler. "You must," said Ajít, "if you don't, I cannot go +with you." "But I cannot carry your house," said the wrestler. "Well, +then," said Ajít, "I will carry it myself." So she went back, dug up +her house, and hoisted it on her head. This frightened the wrestler. +"What a strong woman she must be!" he thought. "I will not wrestle +with her father; for if I do, he will kill me." + +Then they all went on till they came to his house. When they got to +it, Ajít set her house down on the ground, and the wrestler went to +get the dinner he had promised her. He brought quantities of +things--all sorts of things--everything he could think of. Three kinds +of flour, milk, dhall, rice, curries, and meat. Then he showed them +all to Ajít. "That is not enough for my dinner," she said. "Why, that +would be hardly enough for my mice!" + +The wrestler wondered very much at this, and asked, "Are your mice so +very big?" "Yes, they are very big," she answered; "come and see." So +he took up all the food he had brought, and laid it on the floor of +Ajít's house. Then at once all the mice came and ate it up every bit. +The wrestler was greatly surprised; and Ajít said, "Did I not tell you +true? and did I not tell you, you would never be able to get me enough +to eat?" "Come to the Nabha Rájá's country," said the wrestler. "There +you will surely get enough to eat." + +To this she agreed; so she, her father, and the wrestler went off to +the Nabha Rájá's country. "I have brought a very strong girl," said +the wrestler to the Nabha Rájá. "I will try her strength," said the +Rájá. "Give me three elephants," said Ajít, "and I will carry them for +you." Then the Rájá sent for three elephants, and said to her, "Now, +carry these." "Give me a rope," said Ajít. So they gave her a rope, +and she tied the three elephants together, and flung them over her +shoulder. "Now, where shall I throw them?" she said to the astonished +Rájá. "Shall I throw them on to the roof of your palace? or on to the +ground? or away out there?" "I don't know," said the Rájá. "Throw them +upon my roof." She threw the elephants up on to the roof with such +force that it broke, and the elephants fell through into the palace. + +"What have you done?" cried the Rájá. "It is not my fault," answered +Ajít. "You told me to throw the elephants on to your roof, and so I +did." Then the Rájá sent for a great many men and bullocks and horses +to pull the elephants out of his palace. But they could not the first +time they pulled; then they tried a second time and succeeded, and +they threw the elephants away. + +Then Ajít went home. "What shall I do with this dreadful woman?" said +the Nabha Rájá. "She is sure to kill me, and take all my country. I +will try to kill her." So he got his sepoys and guns into order, and +went out to kill Ajít. She was looking out of her window, and saw them +coming. "Oh," she said, "here is the Nabha Rájá coming to kill me." +Then she went out of her house and asked him why he had come. "To kill +you," said the Rájá. "Is that what you want to do?" she said; and with +one hand she took up the Rájá, his guns, and his sepoys, and put them +all under her arm: and she carried them all off to the Nabha Rájá's +country. There she put the Rájá into prison, and made herself Rání of +his kingdom. She was very much pleased at being Rání of the Nabha +country; for it was a rich country, and there were quantities of +fruits and of corn in it. And she lived happily for a long, long time. + + Told by Karím, 13th January, 1877. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XIX. + +THE FAKÍR NÁNAKSÁ SAVES THE MERCHANT'S LIFE. + + +In a country there was a grain merchant who was a very good man. Now a +fakír named Nánaksá, who was also a very good man, came constantly to +talk with him. + +One day he came as usual, and the merchant and his wife were very glad +to see him. As they were all sitting together, they saw a goat led +away to be killed. The goat escaped from the man who was leading him +and hid behind the merchant, but he was caught and marched off to +death. + +At this the merchant said nothing, but the fakír laughed. + +A little later they saw an old woman who had done something wrong, +and, therefore, the king had ordered her to be taken to the jungle and +there put to death. The old woman escaped from the men who were +leading her and took refuge behind the merchant, but she was seized +and led away to die. + +The merchant said nothing; the fakír laughed, and the merchant's wife +saw him laugh. + +At this moment the merchant's little daughter woke and began to +scream. Her mother took her in her arms; the child was cross and +pulled her mother's clothes all awry. + +The fakír laughed. + +The mother put her dress straight and held her child in her arms and +stopped her crying. She then took a knife and went up to the fakír, +saying, "Why did you laugh three times? Tell me the truth. What made +you laugh three times?" Nánaksá answered, "What does it signify +whether I cry or laugh? Ask me no questions, for I am a fakír, and it +does not matter in the least whether I laugh or cry." However, the +merchant's wife insisted on knowing why he laughed, and she said, "If +you do not tell me, I will kill you with my knife." "Good," said +Nánaksá; "if you really do wish to know, I will tell you." "I really +do wish to know," she answered. + +"Well," said Nánaksá, "you remember the goat took refuge behind your +husband? That goat in his former life was your husband's father, and +your husband would have saved him from death had he given the man who +was taking him to be killed four rupees, for the man would then have +gone away contentedly without the goat." + +"Good," said the woman. "Why did you laugh the second time?" + +"Well," said Nánaksá, "that old woman who hid herself behind your +husband was his grandmother in her former life. Had your husband given +the men who were taking her to the jungle twenty rupees, they would +have given her up to him, and he would have saved her from death. +Should a wild beast or a man ever take refuge behind us, it is our +duty to save his life." + +"Well," said the merchant's wife, "you have told me why you laughed +the first two times. Now tell me why you laughed the third time." + +"Listen," said Nánaksá. "You remember your husband's sister whom you +tormented so much? She died, but then God caused her to be born again +as your daughter, that she might torment you and punish you for having +been so unkind to her in her former life when she was your +sister-in-law." + +"Is that true?" said the woman. + +"Quite true," answered the fakír, "and that is why I laughed the third +time. But now would you like to hear something I wish to tell you? If +you promise not to cry, I will tell it you." + +"I promise not to cry, so tell me," she said. + +"Then listen," said Nánaksá. "God has decreed that your husband shall +die to-morrow morning at ten o'clock. He will send four angels to +fetch him." + +At this the poor woman began to cry bitterly. + +"Do not cry," said the fakír. "I will tell you something more. Listen +to me. To-morrow morning at four o'clock you must get up, and make +your house quite clean and neat. Then buy new dishes and make all the +nicest and most delicious sweetmeats you can." + +"I will do so," she answered. + +When it was yet night she rose, and did all the fakír had bidden her. +Then she went to him and said, "The sweetmeats are ready." "Now," said +Nánaksá, "go and get a fine, clean cloth; take it and the sweetmeats +with you, and set out and walk on and on till you come to a plain +which is a long way from this. But you must go on till you reach it, +and on it you will see a tank and a tree. By the tank and the tree you +must spread your cloth and lay out your sweetmeats on it. At nine +o'clock you will see four men, who will come and bathe in the tank. +When they have bathed they will come towards you, and you must say to +them, 'See! you are four angels, therefore you must eat some of my +sweetmeats.'" + +The woman set out for the plain and did all Nánaksá had told her to +do; and everything happened as he had foretold. When the four men had +bathed, they came towards the woman, and she said to them, "See! you +are four angels, and therefore you must eat some of my sweetmeats." +The chief of the four angels, who was called Jabrá'íl, and the three +other angels answered, "We have no money, wherewith to buy your +sweetmeats, so how can we eat any of them?" "Never mind the money," +said the woman; "you can pay me another day. Come now and eat some." +So the four angels sat down and ate a great many of her sweetmeats. + +When they had finished they stood up and said to each other, "Now we +must go to the village and fetch the merchant." Then the woman made +them a great many salaams and said, "That merchant is my husband. +Still, if it is your pleasure to take him away, take him away." + +At this the angels were sad, and said to her, "How can we take your +husband's life now that we have eaten your food? But stay under this +tree till we return, and then we will pay you for your sweetmeats." + +So the angels left her, and the wife waited under the tree. She was +very sad; and after some time she thought, "Now I will go home: +perhaps these angels are gone to take his life;" and then she cried +bitterly and remained under the tree. + +Meanwhile the four angels had gone back to God, who asked them, "Have +you brought the merchant?" They were sorry not to have brought him, +and told God all that had happened. And God was very angry; but he +said to them. "Never mind. I know the fakír Nánaksá is with the +merchant and his wife just now, and it is he who has played you this +trick." + +Then God wrote a letter in which he promised the merchant twenty years +more life, only at the end of the twenty years he was really to die +and not to be allowed to live any longer. This letter he gave to the +angels, and bade them take it to the merchant's wife and tell her to +have a silver box made, into which she was to put the letter, and +then hang it round her husband's neck, so that he should live for +twenty years more. + +The four angels came down to earth again, and went to the tree under +which they had left the woman. They found her waiting for them, and +gave her the letter saying, "You must get a silver box made and put +this letter in it; then hang it round your husband's neck, so that he +may live for twenty years more." + +The woman thanked them, and was very happy. She took the letter and +went home. There she found her husband quite well, and with him was +Nánaksá. She gave Nánaksá the letter and told him what the angels had +bidden her do with it. Nánaksá read the letter, and was very much +pleased. Then he said to her, "Call a silversmith here, and let him +make you the silver box. Then you must get a great dinner ready, and +ask all your friends, rich and poor, to come and eat it." + +All this she did, and when the dinner was ready and all their friends +had come, the fakír said, "None who are here, men, women, or children, +must eat, till they have put their hands before their faces and +worshipped God." Everybody hid his face in his hands at once and +worshipped God: while they did this the fakír stole away from them, so +when they uncovered their faces he was nowhere to be seen. No one knew +where he had gone, and no one had seen him go. Some of the men went to +look for him, but they could not find him, and none of them ever saw +him again. + +But the merchant and his wife lived happily together. + + Told by Múniyá. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XX. + +THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN. + + +In a country were seven daughters of poor parents, who used to come +daily to play under the shady trees in the King's garden with the +gardener's daughter; and daily she used to say to them, "When I am +married I shall have a son. Such a beautiful boy as he will be has +never been seen. He will have a moon on his forehead, and a star on +his chin." Then her playfellows used to laugh at her and mock her. + +But one day the King heard her telling them about the beautiful boy +she would have when she was married, and he said to himself he should +like very much to have such a son; the more so that though he had +already four wives he had no child. He went, therefore, to the +gardener and told him he wished to marry his daughter. This delighted +the gardener and his wife, who thought it would indeed be grand for +their daughter to become a princess. So they said "Yes" to the King, +and invited all their friends to the wedding. The King invited all +his, and he gave the gardener as much money as he wanted. Then the +wedding was held with great feasting and rejoicing. + +A year later the day drew near on which the gardener's daughter was to +have her son; and the King's four other wives came constantly to see +her. One day they said to her, "The King hunts every day; and the time +is soon coming when you will have your child. Suppose you fell ill +whilst he was out hunting and could therefore know nothing of your +illness, what would you do then?" + +When the King came home that evening, the gardener's daughter said to +him, "Every day you go out hunting. Should I ever be in trouble or +sick while you are away, how could I send for you?" The King gave her +a kettle-drum which he placed near the door for her, and he said to +her, "Whenever you want me, beat this kettle-drum. No matter how far +away I may be, I shall hear it, and will come at once to you." + +Next morning, when the King had gone out to hunt, his four other wives +came to see the gardener's daughter. She told them all about her +kettle-drum. "Oh," they said, "do drum on it just to see if the King +really will come to you." "No, I will not," she said; "for why should +I call him from his hunting when I do not want him?" "Don't mind +interrupting his hunting," they answered. "Do try if he really will +come to you when you beat your kettle-drum." So at last, just to +please them, she beat it, and the King stood before her. + +"Why have you called me?" he said. "See, I have left my hunting to +come to you." "I want nothing," she answered; "I only wished to know +if you really would come to me when I beat my drum." "Very well," +answered the King; "but do not call me again unless you really need +me." Then he returned to his hunting. + +The next day, when the King had gone out hunting as usual, the four +wives again came to see the gardener's daughter. They begged and +begged her to beat her drum once more, "just to see if the King will +really come to see you this time." At first she refused, but at last +she consented. So she beat her drum, and the King came to her. But +when he found she was neither ill nor in trouble, he was angry, and +said to her, "Twice I have left my hunting and lost my game to come +to you when you did not need me. Now you may call me as much as you +like, but I will not come to you," and then he went away in a rage. + +The third day the gardener's daughter fell ill, and she beat and beat +her kettle-drum; but the King never came. He heard her kettle-drum, +but he thought, "She does not really want me; she is only trying to +see if I will go to her." + +Meanwhile the four other wives came to her, and they said, "Here it is +the custom before a child is born to bind its mother's eyes with a +handkerchief that she may not see it just at first. So let us bind +your eyes." She answered, "Very well, bind my eyes." The four wives +then tied a handkerchief over them. + +Soon after, the gardener's daughter had a beautiful little son, with a +moon on his forehead and a star on his chin; and before the poor +mother had seen him, the four wicked wives took the boy to the nurse +and said to her, "Now you must not let this child make the least sound +for fear his mother should hear him; and in the night you must either +kill him, or else take him away, so that his mother may never see him. +If you obey our orders, we will give you a great many rupees." All +this they did out of spite. The nurse took the little child and put +him into a box, and the four wives went back to the gardener's +daughter. + +First they put a stone into her boy's little bed, and then they took +the handkerchief off her eyes and showed it her, saying, "Look! this +is your son!" The poor girl cried bitterly, and thought, "What will +the King say when he finds no child?" But she could do nothing. + +When the King came home, he was furious at hearing his youngest wife, +the gardener's daughter, had given him a stone instead of the +beautiful little son she had promised him. He made her one of the +palace servants, and never spoke to her. + +In the middle of the night the nurse took the box in which was the +beautiful little prince, and went out to a broad plain in the jungle. +There she dug a hole, made the fastenings of the box sure, and put the +box into the hole, although the child in it was still alive. The +King's dog, whose name was Shankar, had followed her to see what she +did with the box. As soon as she had gone back to the four wives (who +gave her a great many rupees), the dog went to the hole in which she +had put the box, took the box out, and opened it. When he saw the +beautiful little boy, he was very much delighted and said, "If it +pleases God that this child should live, I will not hurt him; I will +not eat him, but I will swallow him whole and hide him in my stomach." +This he did. + +After six months had passed, the dog went by night to the jungle, and +thought, "I wonder whether the boy is alive or dead." Then he brought +the child out of his stomach and rejoiced over his beauty. The boy was +now six months old. When Shankar had caressed and loved him, he +swallowed him again for another six months. At the end of that time he +went once more by night to the broad jungle-plain. There he brought up +the child out of his stomach (the child was now a year old), and +caressed and petted him a great deal, and was made very happy by his +great beauty. + +But this time the dog's keeper had followed and watched the dog; and +he saw all that Shankar did, and the beautiful little child, so he ran +to the four wives and said to them, "Inside the King's dog there is a +child! the loveliest child! He has a moon on his forehead and a star +on his chin. Such a child has never been seen!" At this the four wives +were very much frightened, and as soon as the King came home from +hunting they said to him, "While you were away your dog came to our +rooms, and tore our clothes and knocked about all our things. We are +afraid he will kill us." "Do not be afraid," said the King. "Eat your +dinner and be happy. I will have the dog shot to-morrow morning." + +Then he ordered his servants to shoot the dog at dawn, but the dog +heard him, and said to himself, "What shall I do? The King intends to +kill me. I don't care about that, but what will become of the child if +I am killed? He will die. But I will see if I cannot save him." + +So when it was night, the dog ran to the King's cow, who was called +Surí, and said to her, "Surí, I want to give you something, for the +King has ordered me to be shot to-morrow. Will you take great care of +whatever I give you?" "Let me see what it is," said Surí; "I will take +care of it if I can." Then they both went together to the wide plain, +and there the dog brought up the boy. Surí was enchanted with him. "I +never saw such a beautiful child in this country," she said. "See, he +has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. I will take the +greatest care of him." So saying she swallowed the little prince. The +dog made her a great many salaams, and said, "To-morrow I shall die;" +and the cow then went back to her stable. + +Next morning at dawn the dog was taken to the jungle and shot. + +The child now lived in Surí's stomach; and when one whole year had +passed, and he was two years old, the cow went out to the plain, and +said to herself, "I do not know whether the child is alive or dead. +But I have never hurt it, so I will see." Then she brought up the boy; +and he played about, and Surí was delighted; she loved him and +caressed him, and talked to him. Then she swallowed him, and returned +to her stable. + +At the end of another year she went again to the plain and brought up +the child. He played and ran about for an hour to her great delight, +and she talked to him and caressed him. His great beauty made her very +happy. Then she swallowed him once more and returned to her stable. +The child was now three years old. + +But this time the cowherd had followed Surí, and had seen the +wonderful child and all she did to it. So he ran and told the four +wives, "The King's cow has a beautiful boy inside her. He has a moon +on his forehead and a star on his chin. Such a child has never been +seen before!" + +At this the wives were terrified. They tore their clothes and their +hair and cried. When the King came home at evening, he asked them why +they were so agitated. "Oh," they said, "your cow came and tried to +kill us; but we ran away. She tore our hair and our clothes." "Never +mind," said the King. "Eat your dinner and be happy. The cow shall be +killed to-morrow morning." + +Now Surí heard the King give this order to the servants, so she said +to herself, "What shall I do to save the child?" When it was midnight, +she went to the King's horse called Katar, who was very wicked, and +quite untameable. No one had ever been able to ride him; indeed no one +could go near him with safety, he was so savage. Surí said to this +horse, "Katar, will you take care of something that I want to give +you, because the King has ordered me to be killed to-morrow?" "Good," +said Katar; "show me what it is." Then Surí brought up the child, and +the horse was delighted with him. "Yes," he said, "I will take the +greatest care of him. Till now no one has been able to ride me, but +this child shall ride me." Then he swallowed the boy, and when he had +done so, the cow made him many salaams, saying, "It is for this boy's +sake that I am to die." The next morning she was taken to the jungle +and there killed. + +The beautiful boy now lived in the horse's stomach, and he stayed in +it for one whole year. At the end of that time the horse thought, "I +will see if this child is alive or dead." So he brought him up; and +then he loved him, and petted him, and the little prince played all +about the stable, out of which the horse was never allowed to go. +Katar was very glad to see the child, who was now four years old. +After he had played for some time, the horse swallowed him again. At +the end of another year, when the boy was five years old, Katar +brought him up again, caressed him, loved him, and let him play about +the stable as he had done a year before. Then the horse swallowed him +again. + +But this time the groom had seen all that happened, and when it was +morning, and the King had gone away to his hunting, he went to the +four wicked wives, and told them all he had seen, and all about the +wonderful, beautiful child that lived inside the King's horse Katar. +On hearing the groom's story the four wives cried, and tore their hair +and clothes, and refused to eat. When the King returned at evening and +asked them why they were so miserable, they said, "Your horse Katar +came and tore our clothes, and upset all our things, and we ran away +for fear he should kill us." "Never mind," said the King. "Only eat +your dinner and be happy. I will have Katar shot to-morrow." Then he +thought that two men unaided could not kill such a wicked horse, so he +ordered his servants to bid his troop of sepoys shoot him. + +So the next day the King placed his sepoys all round the stable, and +he took up his stand with them; and he said he would himself shoot any +one who let his horse escape. + +Meanwhile the horse had overheard all these orders. So he brought up +the child and said to him, "Go into that little room that leads out of +the stable, and you will find in it a saddle and bridle which you must +put on me. Then you will find in the room some beautiful clothes such +as princes wear; these you must put on yourself; and you must take the +sword and gun you will find there too. Then you must mount on my +back." Now Katar was a fairy-horse, and came from the fairies' +country, so he could get anything he wanted; but neither the King nor +any of his people knew this. When all was ready, Katar burst out of +his stable, with the prince on his back, rushed past the King himself +before the King had time to shoot him, galloped away to the great +jungle-plain, and galloped about all over it. The King saw his horse +had a boy on his back, though he could not see the boy distinctly. The +sepoys tried in vain to shoot the horse; he galloped much too fast; +and at last they were all scattered over the plain. Then the King had +to give it up and go home; and his sepoys went to their homes. The +King could not shoot any of his sepoys for letting his horse escape, +for he himself had let him do so. + +Then Katar galloped away, on, and on, and on; and when night came they +stayed under a tree, he and the King's son. The horse ate grass, and +the boy wild fruits which he found in the jungle. Next morning they +started afresh, and went far, and far, till they came to a jungle in +another country, which did not belong to the little prince's father, +but to another king. Here Katar said to the boy, "Now get off my +back." Off jumped the prince. "Unsaddle me and take off my bridle; +take off your beautiful clothes and tie them all up in a bundle with +your sword and gun." This the boy did. Then the horse gave him some +poor, common clothes, which he told him to put on. As soon as he was +dressed in them the horse said, "Hide your bundle in this grass, and I +will take care of it for you. I will always stay in this jungle-plain, +so that when you want me you will always find me. You must now go away +and find service with some one in this country." This made the boy +very sad. "I know nothing about anything," he said. "What shall I do +all alone in this country?" "Do not be afraid," answered Katar. "You +will find service, and I will always stay here to help you when you +want me. So go, only before you go, twist my right ear." The boy did +so, and his horse instantly became a donkey. "Now twist your right +ear," said Katar. And when the boy had twisted it, he was no longer a +handsome prince, but a poor, common-looking, ugly man; and his moon +and star were hidden. + +Then he went away further into the country, until he came to a grain +merchant of the country, who asked him who he was. "I am a poor man," +answered the boy, "and I want service." "Good," said the grain +merchant, "you shall be my servant." + +Now the grain merchant lived near the King's palace, and one night at +twelve o'clock the boy was very hot; so he went out into the King's +cool garden, and began to sing a lovely song. The seventh and youngest +daughter of the King heard him, and she wondered who it was who could +sing so deliciously. Then she put on her clothes, rolled up her hair, +and came down to where the seemingly poor common man was lying +singing. "Who are you? where do you come from?" she asked. But he +answered nothing. "Who is this man who does not answer when I speak to +him?" thought the little princess, and she went away. On the second +night the same thing happened, and on the third night too. But on the +third night, when she found she could not make him answer her, she +said to him, "What a strange man you are not to answer me when I speak +to you." But still he remained silent, so she went away. + +The next day when he had finished his work, the young prince went to +the jungle to see his horse, who asked him, "Are you quite well and +happy?" "Yes, I am," answered the boy. "I am servant to a grain +merchant. The last three nights I have gone into the King's garden and +sung a song. And each night the youngest princess has come to me and +asked me who I am, and whence I came, and I have answered nothing. +What shall I do now?" The horse said, "Next time she asks you who you +are, tell her you are a very poor man, and came from your own country +to find service here." + +The boy then went home to the grain merchant, and at night, when +every one had gone to bed, he went to the King's garden and sang his +sweet song again. The youngest princess heard him, got up, dressed, +and came to him. "Who are you? Whence do you come?" she asked. "I am a +very poor man," he answered. "I came from my own country to seek +service here, and I am now one of the grain merchant's servants." Then +she went away. For three more nights the boy sang in the King's +garden, and each night the princess came and asked him the same +questions as before, and the boy gave her the same answers. + +Then she went to her father, and said to him, "Father, I wish to be +married; but I must choose my husband myself." Her father consented to +this, and he wrote and invited all the Kings and Rájás in the land, +saying, "My youngest daughter wishes to be married, but she insists on +choosing her husband herself. As I do not know who it is she wishes to +marry, I beg you will all come on a certain day, for her to see you +and make her choice." + +A great many Kings, Rájás, and their sons accepted this invitation and +came. When they had all arrived, the little princess's father said to +them, "To-morrow morning you must all sit together in my garden" (the +King's garden was very large), "for then my youngest daughter will +come and see you all, and choose her husband. I do not know whom she +will choose." + +The youngest princess ordered a grand elephant to be ready for her the +next morning, and when the morning came, and all was ready, she +dressed herself in the most lovely clothes, and put on her beautiful +jewels; then she mounted her elephant, which was painted blue. In her +hand she took a gold necklace. + +Then she went into the garden where the Kings, Rájás, and their sons +were seated. The boy, the grain merchant's servant, was also in the +garden: not as a suitor, but looking on with the other servants. + +The princess rode all round the garden, and looked at all the Kings +and Rájás and princes, and then she hung the gold necklace round the +neck of the boy, the grain merchant's servant. At this everybody +laughed, and the Kings were greatly astonished. But then they and the +Rájás said, "What fooling is this?" and they pushed the pretended poor +man away, and took the necklace off his neck, and said to him, "Get +out of the way, you poor, dirty man. Your clothes are far too dirty +for you to come near us!" The boy went far away from them, and stood a +long way off to see what would happen. + +Then the King's youngest daughter went all round the garden again, +holding her gold necklace in her hand, and once more she hung it round +the boy's neck. Every one laughed at her and said, "How can the King's +daughter think of marrying this poor, common man!" and the Kings and +the Rájás, who had come as suitors, all wanted to turn him out of the +garden. But the princess said, "Take care! take care! You must not +turn him out. Leave him alone." Then she put him on her elephant, and +took him to the palace. + +The Kings and Rájás and their sons were very much astonished, and +said, "What does this mean? The princess does not care to marry one of +us, but chooses that very poor man!" Her father then stood up, and +said to them all, "I promised my daughter she should marry any one she +pleased, and as she has twice chosen that poor, common man, she shall +marry him." And so the princess and the boy were married with great +pomp and splendour: her father and mother were quite content with her +choice; and the Kings, the Rájás and their sons, all returned to their +homes. + +Now the princess's six sisters had all married rich princes--and they +laughed at her for choosing such a poor ugly husband as hers seemed +to be, and said to each other, mockingly, "See! our sister has married +this poor, common man!" Their six husbands used to go out hunting +every day, and every evening they brought home quantities of all kinds +of game to their wives, and the game was cooked for their dinner and +for the King's; but the husband of the youngest princess always stayed +at home in the palace, and never went out hunting at all. This made +her very sad, and she said to herself, "My sisters' husbands hunt +every day, but my husband never hunts at all." + +At last she said to him, "Why do you never go out hunting as my +sisters' husbands do every day, and every day they bring home +quantities of all kinds of game? Why do you always stay at home, +instead of doing as they do?" + +One day he said to her, "I am going out to-day to eat the air." "Very +good," she answered; "go, and take one of the horses." "No," said the +young prince, "I will not ride, I will walk." Then he went to the +jungle-plain where he had left Katar, who all this time had seemed to +be a donkey, and he told Katar everything. "Listen," he said; "I have +married the youngest princess; and when we were married everybody +laughed at her for choosing me, and said, 'What a very poor, common +man our princess has chosen for her husband!' Besides, my wife is very +sad, for her six sisters' husbands all hunt every day, and bring home +quantities of game, and their wives therefore are very proud of them. +But I stay at home all day, and never hunt. To-day I should like to +hunt very much." + +"Well," said Katar, "then twist my left ear;" and as soon as the boy +had twisted it, Katar was a horse again, and not a donkey any longer. +"Now," said Katar, "twist your left ear, and you will see what a +beautiful young prince you will become." So the boy twisted his own +left ear, and there he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but +a grand young prince with a moon on his forehead and a star on his +chin. Then he put on his splendid clothes, saddled and bridled Katar, +got on his back with his sword and gun, and rode off to hunt. + +He rode very far, and shot a great many birds and a quantity of deer. +That day his six brothers-in-law could find no game, for the beautiful +young prince had shot it all. Nearly all the day long these six +princes wandered about looking in vain for game; till at last they +grew hungry and thirsty, and could find no water, and they had no food +with them. Meanwhile the beautiful young prince had sat down under a +tree, to dine and rest, and there his six brothers-in-law found him. +By his side was some delicious water, and also some roast meat. + +When they saw him the six princes said to each other, "Look at that +handsome prince. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. +We have never seen such a prince in this jungle before; he must come +from another country." Then they came up to him, and made him many +salaams, and begged him to give them some food and water. "Who are +you?" said the young prince. "We are the husbands of the six elder +daughters of the King of this country," they answered; "and we have +hunted all day, and are very hungry and thirsty." They did not +recognize their brother-in-law in the least. + +"Well," said the young prince, "I will give you something to eat and +drink if you will do as I bid you." "We will do all you tell us to +do," they answered, "for if we do not get water to drink, we shall +die." "Very good," said the young prince. "Now you must let me put a +red-hot pice on the back of each of you, and then I will give you food +and water. Do you agree to this?" The six princes consented, for they +thought, "No one will ever see the mark of the pice, as it will be +covered by our clothes; and we shall die if we have no water to +drink." Then the young prince took six pice, and made them red-hot in +the fire; he laid one on the back of each of the six princes, and gave +them good food and water. They ate and drank; and when they had +finished they made him many salaams and went home. + +The young prince stayed under the tree till it was evening; then he +mounted his horse and rode off to the King's palace. All the people +looked at him as he came riding along, saying, "What a splendid young +prince that is! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin." +But no one recognized him. When he came near the King's palace, all +the King's servants asked him who he was; and as none of them knew +him, the gate-keepers would not let him pass in. They all wondered who +he could be, and all thought him the most beautiful prince that had +ever been seen. + +At last they asked him who he was. "I am the husband of your youngest +princess," he answered. "No, no, indeed you are not," they said; "for +he is a poor, common-looking, and ugly man." "But I am he," answered +the prince; only no one would believe him. "Tell us the truth," said +the servants; "who are you?" "Perhaps you cannot recognize me," said +the young prince, "but call the youngest princess here. I wish to +speak to her." The servants called her, and she came. "That man is not +my husband," she said at once. "My husband is not nearly as handsome +as that man. This must be a prince from another country." + +Then she said to him, "Who are you? Why do you say you are my +husband?" "Because I am your husband. I am telling you the truth," +answered the young prince. "No you are not, you are not telling me the +truth," said the little princess. "My husband is not a handsome man +like you. I married a very poor, common-looking man." "That is true," +he answered, "but nevertheless I am your husband. I was the grain +merchant's servant; and one hot night I went into your father's garden +and sang, and you heard me, and came and asked me who I was and where +I came from, and I would not answer you. And the same thing happened +the next night, and the next, and on the fourth I told you I was a +very poor man, and had come from my country to seek service in yours, +and that I was the grain merchant's servant. Then you told your father +you wished to marry, but must choose your own husband; and when all +the Kings and Rájás were seated in your father's garden, you sat on an +elephant and went round and looked at them all; and then twice hung +your gold necklace round my neck, and chose me. See, here is your +necklace, and here are the ring and the handkerchief you gave me on +our wedding day." + +Then she believed him, and was very glad that her husband was such a +beautiful young prince. "What a strange man you are!" she said to him. +"Till now you have been poor, and ugly, and common-looking. Now you +are beautiful and look like a prince; I never saw such a handsome man +as you are before; and yet I know you must be my husband." Then she +worshipped God and thanked him for letting her have such a husband. "I +have," she said, "a beautiful husband. There is no one like him in +this country. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin." +Then she took him into the palace, and showed him to her father and +mother and to every one. They all said they had never seen any one +like him, and were all very happy. And the young prince lived as +before in the King's palace with his wife, and Katar lived in the +King's stables. + +One day, when the King and his seven sons-in-law were in his +court-house, and it was full of people, the young prince said to him, +"There are six thieves here in your court-house." "Six thieves!" said +the King. "Where are they? Show them to me." "There they are," said +the young prince, pointing to his six brothers-in-law. The King and +every one else in the court-house were very much astonished, and would +not believe the young prince. "Take off their coats," he said, "and +then you will see for yourselves that each of them has the mark of a +thief on his back." So their coats were taken off the six princes, and +the King and everybody in the court-house saw the marks of the red-hot +pice. The six princes were very much ashamed, but the young prince was +very glad. He had not forgotten how his brothers-in-law had laughed at +him and mocked him when he seemed a poor, common man. + +Now when Katar was still in the jungle, before the prince was married, +he had told the boy the whole story of his birth, and all that had +happened to him and his mother. "When you are married," he said to +him, "I will take you back to your father's country." So two months +after the young prince had revenged himself on his brothers-in-law, +Katar said to him, "It is time for you to return to your father. Get +the King to let you go to your own country, and I will tell you what +to do when we get there." + +The prince always did what his horse told him to do; so he went to his +wife and said to her, "I wish very much to go to my own country to see +my father and mother." "Very well," said his wife; "I will tell my +father and mother, and ask them to let us go." Then she went to them, +and told them, and they consented to let her and her husband leave +them. The King gave his daughter and the young prince a great many +horses, and elephants, and all sorts of presents, and also a great +many sepoys to guard them. In this grand state they travelled to the +prince's country, which was not a great many miles off. When they +reached it they pitched their tents on the same plain in which the +prince had been left in his box by the nurse, where Shankar and Surí +had swallowed him so often. + +When the King, his father, the gardener's daughter's husband, saw the +prince's camp, he was very much alarmed, and thought a great King had +come to make war on him. He sent one of his servants, therefore, to +ask whose camp it was. The young prince then wrote him a letter, in +which he said, "You are a great King. Do not fear me. I am not come to +make war on you. I am as if I were your son. I am a prince who has +come to see your country and to speak with you. I wish to give you a +grand feast, to which everyone in your country must come--men and +women, old and young, rich and poor, of all castes; all the children, +fakírs, and sepoys. You must bring them all here to me for a week, and +I will feast them all." + +The King was delighted with this letter, and ordered all the men, +women, and children of all castes, fakírs and sepoys, in his country +to go to the prince's camp to a grand feast the prince would give +them. So they all came, and the King brought his four wives too. All +came, at least all but the gardener's daughter. No one had told her to +go to the feast, for no one had thought of her. + +When all the people were assembled, the prince saw his mother was not +there, and he asked the King, "Has every one in your country come to +my feast?" "Yes, everyone," said the King. "Are you sure of that?" +asked the prince. + +"Quite sure," answered the King. "I am sure one woman has not come," +said the prince. "She is your gardener's daughter, who was once your +wife and is now a servant in your palace." "True," said the King, "I +had forgotten her." Then the prince told his servants to take his +finest palanquin and to fetch the gardener's daughter. They were to +bathe her, dress her in beautiful clothes and handsome jewels, and +then bring her to him in the palanquin. + +While the servants were bringing the gardener's daughter, the King +thought how handsome the young prince was; and he noticed +particularly the moon on his forehead and the star on his chin, and he +wondered in what country the young prince was born. + +And now the palanquin arrived bringing the gardener's daughter, and +the young prince went himself and took her out of it, and brought her +into the tent. He made her a great many salaams. The four wicked wives +looked on and were very much surprised and very angry. They remembered +that, when they arrived, the prince had made them no salaams, and +since then had not taken the least notice of them; whereas he could +not do enough for the gardener's daughter, and seemed very glad to see +her. + +When they were all at dinner, the prince again made the gardener's +daughter a great many salaams, and gave her food from all the nicest +dishes. She wondered at his kindness to her, and thought, "Who is this +handsome prince, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin? I +never saw any one so beautiful. What country does he come from?" + +Two or three days were thus passed in feasting, and all that time the +King and his people were talking about the prince's beauty, and +wondering who he was. + +One day the prince asked the King if he had any children. "None," he +answered. "Do you know who I am?" asked the prince. "No," said the +King. "Tell me who you are." "I am your son," answered the prince, +"and the gardener's daughter is my mother." The King shook his head +sadly. "How can you be my son," he said, "when I have never had any +children?" "But I am your son," answered the prince. "Your four wicked +wives told you the gardener's daughter had given you a stone and not a +son; but it was they who put the stone in my little bed, and then they +tried to kill me." The King did not believe him. "I wish you were my +son," he said; "but as I never had a child, you cannot be my son." +"Do you remember your dog Shankar, and how you had him killed? And do +you remember your cow Surí, and how you had her killed too? Your wives +made you kill them because of me. And," he said, taking the King to +Katar, "do you know whose horse that is?" + +The King looked at Katar, and then said, "That is my horse Katar." +"Yes," said the Prince. "Do you not remember how he rushed past you +out of his stable with me on his back?" Then Katar told the King the +prince was really his son, and told him all the story of his birth, +and of his life up to that moment; and when the King found the +beautiful prince was indeed his son, he was so glad, so glad. He put +his arms round him and kissed him and cried for joy. + +"Now," said the King, "you must come with me to my palace, and live +with me always." "No," said the prince, "that I cannot do. I cannot go +to your palace. I only came here to fetch my mother; and now that I +have found her, I will take her with me to my father-in-law's palace. +I have married a King's daughter, and we live with her father." "But +now that I have found you, I cannot let you go," said his father. "You +and your wife must come and live with your mother and me in my +palace." "That we will never do," said the prince, "unless you will +kill your four wicked wives with your own hand. If you will do that, +we will come and live with you." + +So the King killed his wives, and then he and his wife, the gardener's +daughter, and the prince and his wife, all went to live in the King's +palace, and lived there happily together for ever after; and the King +thanked God for giving him such a beautiful son, and for ridding him +of his four wicked wives. + +Katar did not return to the fairies' country, but stayed always with +the young prince, and never left him. + + Told by Múniyá. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXI. + +THE BÉL-PRINCESS. + + +In a country lived a King who had seven sons. Six of these sons +married, but the seventh and youngest son would not marry; and, +moreover, he disliked his six sisters-in-law, and could not bear to +take food from their hands. One day, they got very angry with him for +disliking them, and they said to him, taunting him, "We think that you +will marry a Bél-Princess." + +"A Bél-Princess," said the young prince to himself. "What is a +Bél-Princess? and where is one to be found? I will go and look for +one." But the next day he thought, "How can I find a Bél-Princess? I +don't know where to seek for her." + +At last one day he saddled and bridled one of his father's beautiful +horses. Then he put on his grand clothes, took his sword and gun, and +said good-bye to his father and mother, and set out on his search. +They cried very much at parting with him. + +He rode from his father's country for a long, long way. At length, +when he had journeyed for six months, he found himself in a great +jungle, through which he went for many nights and days, until he at +last came to where a fakír lay sleeping. The young prince thought, "I +will watch by this fakír till he wakes. Perhaps he can help me." So he +stayed with the fakír for one whole month; and all that time he took +care of him and watched by him, and kept his hut clean. + +This fakír used to sleep for six whole months at a time, and then he +would remain awake for six months. + +When the prince had watched over him for one month the fakír woke, for +his six months' sleep had come to an end; and when he saw what care +the young prince had taken of him, and how clean his hut was, he was +very much pleased with the King's son, and said to him, "How have you +been able to reach this jungle, to which no man can come? and who are +you? and whence do you come?" + +"I am a King's son," answered the prince. "My father's country is a +six months' journey away from this; and I am come to look for a +Bél-Princess. I hear there is a Bél-Princess, and I want to find her. +Can you tell me where she is?" + +"It is true that there is one," answered the fakír, "and I know where +she is. She is in the fairies' country, whither no man can go." + +This made the young prince very sad. "What shall I do?" he said. "I +have left my father and mother, and have travelled a long, long way to +find the Bél-Princess. And now you tell me I cannot go where she +lives." + +"I will help you," said the fakír, "and if you do exactly what I tell +you, you will find her. But, first, stay here with me for a little +while." + +So the King's son stayed for another month with the fakír, and took +care of him, and did everything for him, as he did for his own father. + +At the end of the month, the fakír gave him his stick, and said to +him, "Now you must go to the fairies' country. It is one week's +journey distant from this jungle. When you get there, you will see a +number of demons and fairies who live in it." Then the fakír took a +little earth from the ground, and put it in the prince's hand. "When +you have come to the fairies' country, in order that they and the +demons may not see you, you must blow all this earth away from the +palm of your hand, and then you will be invisible. You must ride on +till you come to a great plain in the middle of their garden, and on +this plain you will see a large bél-tree and on it one big bél-fruit. +In this fruit is the Bél-Princess. You must throw my stick at it, and +it will fall; but you must take care to catch the fruit in your shawl, +and not let it fall to the ground. Then ride quickly back to me, for +as soon as the fruit falls you will cease to be invisible, and the +fairies and demons who guard the fruit will all come running after +you, and they will all call to you. But take care, take care not to +look behind you when they call you. Ride straight on to me with the +fruit, and do not look behind you. If you do, you will become stone, +and your horse too, and they will take the bél-fruit back to its +tree." + +The prince promised to do all the fakír bade him. He rode for a week, +and then he came to the fairies' country. He blew the earth the fakír +had given him away from his palm all along his fingers, just as he had +been told, and then he became invisible. He rode through the great +garden to the plain. There he saw the bél-tree, and the one fruit +hanging all alone. He threw the fakír's stick at it, and caught it in +a corner of his shawl as it fell, but then he was no longer invisible. +All the fairies and demons could see him, and they came running after +him as he rode quickly away, and called to him. He looked behind at +them, and instantly he and his horse became stone; and the bél-fruit +went back to its tree and hung itself up. + +For one week the fakír sat in his jungle, waiting for the King's son. +But the moment he was turned into stone, the fakír knew of it, and he +set off at once for the fairies' country. He walked all through it, +but neither the fairies nor demons could touch him. He went straight +to the great plain, and there he saw the King's son sitting on his +horse, and both he and the horse were stone. + +This made the fakír very sad; and he said to God, "What will the +father and mother do, now that their son is changed into a stone?" And +he prayed to God and said, "If it be God's pleasure, may this King's +son be alive once more." Then he cut his little finger on the inside +from the tip to the palm, and smeared the prince's forehead with the +blood that came from it. He rubbed some blood on the horse too, all +the time praying to God to give the prince his life again. The King's +son and his horse were alive once more. The fakír took the prince back +to his jungle, and said to him, "Listen. I told you not to look behind +you, and you disobeyed me and so were turned to stone. Had I not come +to save you, you would always have remained stone." + +The fakír kept the prince with him in the jungle for one whole week. +Then he gave him his stick and some earth he picked up from the ground +on which they were standing, and said, "Now you must go to the +fairies' country again, and throw my stick at the bél-fruit, and catch +it in a corner of your shawl as you did before. But mind, mind you do +not look behind you this time. If you do you will be turned to stone, +and you will for ever remain stone. Ride straight back to me with the +fruit, and take care never to look behind you once till you get to +me." + +So the King's son went again to the fairies' country, and all happened +as before, till he had caught the fruit in his shawl. But then he rode +straight back to the fakír without looking behind him, although the +fairies and demons ran after him and called to him the whole way. + +He rode so fast they could not catch him, and when he came to the +fakír, the fakír turned him into a fly and thus hid him. Up came all +the fairies and demons and said to the fakír, "There is a thief in +your hut." "A thief! Where is the thief?" said the fakír. "Look +everywhere for him, and take him away if you can find him." Then they +searched and searched everywhere, but could not find the prince; so at +last they went away. + +When they had all gone, the fakír took the little fly and turned it +back into a King's son. A few days afterwards he said to the prince, +"Now you have found what you wanted; you have the Bél-Princess you +came to seek. So go back to your father and mother." "Very well," said +the prince. Then he got his horse all ready for the journey, took the +bél-fruit, and made many salaams to the fakír, who said to him, "Now, +listen. Take care not to open the fruit on the road. Wait till you are +in your father's house with your father and mother, and then open it. +If you do not do exactly as I tell you, evil will happen to you; so +mind you only open the fruit in your father's house. Out of it will +come the Bél-Princess." + +The prince set out on his journey, and rode on and on for six months +till he came to his father's country, and then to his father's garden. +There he sat down to rest by a well under a clump of great trees. He +said to himself, "Now that I am in my father's country, and in my +father's garden, I will sit and rest in this cool shade; and when I am +rested I will go up to the palace." He bathed his face and his hands +in the well, and drank some of its water. Then he thought, "Surely, +now that I am in my father's country and in his garden, I need not +wait till I get to his palace to open my bél-fruit. What harm can +happen if I do open it here?" + +So he broke it open, in spite of all the fakír had told him, and out +of it came such a beautiful girl. She was more beautiful than any +princess that ever was seen--so beautiful that the King's son fainted +when he saw her. The princess fanned him, and poured water on his +face, and presently he recovered, and said to her, "Princess, I should +like to sleep for a little while, for I have travelled for six months, +and am very tired. After I have slept we will go together to my +father's palace." So he went to sleep, and the princess sat by him. + +Presently a woman came to the well for water, and she said to herself, +"See, here is the King's youngest son. What a lovely princess that is +sitting by him! What fine clothes and jewels she has on!" And the +wicked woman determined to kill the princess and to take her place. +Then she came up to the beautiful girl, and sat down beside her, and +talked to her. "Listen to me, princess," she said at last. "Let us +change clothes with each other. Give me yours, and I will give you +mine." The princess, thinking no harm, did as the woman suggested. +"And now," said the woman, "let me put on your beautiful jewels." The +princess gave them to her, and then the wicked, wicked woman, said to +her, "Let us walk about this pretty garden, and look at the flowers, +and amuse ourselves." By and by she said, "Princess, let us go and +look at ourselves in the well, and see what we look like, you in my +clothes, and I in yours." The young girl consented, and they went to +the well. As they bent over the side to look in, the wicked woman gave +the princess a push, and pushed her straight over the edge into the +water. + +Then she went and sat down by the sleeping prince, just as the +princess had done. When he awoke and saw this ugly, wicked woman, +instead of his Bél-Princess, he was very much surprised, and said to +himself, "A little while ago I had a beautiful girl by me, and now +there is such an ugly woman. It is true she has on the clothes and +jewels my Bél-Princess wore; but she is so ugly, and there is +something wrong with one of her eyes. What has happened to her?" Then +he said to this wicked woman, whom he took for his Bél-Princess, +"What is the matter with you? Has anything happened to you? Why have +you become so ugly?" She answered, "Till now I have always lived in a +bél-fruit. It is the bad air of your country that has made me ugly, +and hurt one of my eyes." + +The prince was ashamed of her, and very, very sorry. "How shall I take +her to my father's palace now?" he thought. "My mother and all my +brothers' wives will see her, and what will they say? However, never +mind; I must take her to my house, and marry her. I cannot think what +can have happened to her." Then he got a palanquin, and took her up to +the palace. + +His father and mother were very glad that their youngest son had come +back to them; but when they saw the wicked woman, and heard she was +his Bél-Princess, they, and every one else in the palace, said, "Can +she be a Bél-Princess? She is not at all pretty, and she is not at all +pleasant." "She was lovely when she came out of the fruit," said the +prince. "No one ever saw such a beautiful girl before. I cannot think +what has happened to her. It must be the bad air of this country that +has made her so ugly." Then he told them all about his journey to the +jungle where he had met the fakír, and how, with the fakír's help, he +had found his Bél-Princess, and how he had opened the fruit in his +father's garden, and then fallen asleep. + +The King made a great wedding-feast for his son, and he and the wicked +woman were married, and all the time the King's youngest son thought +he was marrying the Bél-Princess. + +Meanwhile, the beautiful girl had not been drowned in the well, but +had changed into a most lovely pink lotus-flower. This flower was +first seen by a man from the village who came to the well for water. +"What a lovely lotus-flower!" said the man; "I must gather it." But +when he tried to reach it the flower floated away from him. Then he +went and told all the people in the village of the beautiful flower, +and then the palace servants heard of it. They all tried to gather it, +but could not, for the flower always went just out of their reach. +Then the King and his six elder sons heard of it, and they came to the +well; but the King tried in vain to gather it, and his six sons too. +The lotus-flower always floated away from them. + +Last of all, the youngest prince heard of the lotus, and he grew very +curious to see it, and said, "I will try if I cannot gather this +wonderful flower that no one can touch." So he, too, came to the well, +and stooped, and stretched out his hand, and the minute he did so the +flower floated of itself into his hand. + +Then he was very happy and proud, and he took the flower up to his +wife and showed it to her. "Just see," he said, "every one in the +village and the palace were talking of this lotus-flower; and every +one tried to gather it; and no one could, for the flower would not let +any one touch it. My father tried, and my brothers all tried, and +they, too, could not gather it; but as soon as I stretched out my hand +the flower floated into it of itself." + +When his wicked wife saw the flower, she said nothing; but her heart +told her it was the beautiful girl she had pushed into the well. The +prince laid the flower on his pillow, and was very glad and happy. As +soon as he had gone out, his wife seized the lotus-flower, tore it to +bits, and threw them far away into the garden. + +In a few days a bél-tree was growing on the spot where she had thrown +the pieces of the lotus-flower. On it grew one big bél-fruit, and it +was so fine and large that every one in the village and the palace +tried to gather it; but no one could touch it, for the fruit always +went just out of reach. The King and his six elder sons also tried, +but they could not touch it. The youngest prince heard of this fruit, +so he said to his wife, "I will go and see if I can gather this +bél-fruit that no one can even touch." The wicked woman's heart said +to her, "In the bél-fruit is the Bél-Princess;" but she said nothing. + +The prince went to the bél-tree; the bél-fruit came into his hand, and +he broke it off the tree, and brought it home to his wife. "See," he +said, "here is the bél-fruit; it let me gather it at once." And he was +very proud and happy. Then he laid the fruit on a table in his room. + +When he had gone out the wicked wife came, and took the fruit, and +flung it away in the garden. In the night the fruit burst in two, and +in it lay a lovely, tiny girl baby. The gardener, as he went round the +garden early in the morning, found the little baby; and he wondered +who had thrown away the beautiful fruit, and who the lovely baby girl +could be. She was so tiny and so pretty, and the gardener was +delighted when he saw her, for he had no children, and thought God had +sent him a little child at last. + +He took her in his arms and carried her to his wife. + +"See," he said, "we have never had any children, and now God has sent +us this beautiful little girl." His wife looked at the child, and she +was as delighted with her as her husband was. "Yes," she said, "God +has sent us this child, and she is certainly most beautiful. I am very +happy. But I have no milk for her; if only I had milk for her, I could +nurse her and she would live." And the gardener's wife was very sad to +think she had no milk in her breasts for the little child. + +Then her husband said, "Let us ask God to send you milk for her." So +they prayed to God and worshipped him. And God was pleased with them +both, and sent the gardener's wife a great deal of milk. + +The little girl now lived in the gardener's house, and he and his wife +took the greatest care of her, and were very happy to think they had +now a child. She grew very fast, and became lovelier every day. She +was more beautiful than any girl that had ever been seen, and all the +people in the King's country used to say, "How lovely the gardener's +daughter is! She is more beautiful than any princess." + +The King's youngest son's wicked wife heard of the child, and her +heart told her, "She is the Bél-Princess." She said nothing, but she +often thought of how she could contrive to have her killed. + +One day, when the gardener's daughter was seven years old, she was out +in her father's garden, making a little garden of her own near the +house-door. While she was busy over her flowers, the wicked woman's +cow strayed into the garden and began eating the plants in it. The +little girl would not let it make its dinner off her father's flowers +and grass, but pushed it out of the garden. + +The wicked woman was told how the gardener's daughter had treated her +cow; so she cried all day long, and pretended to be ill. When her +husband asked her what was the matter, she answered, "I am sick +because the gardener's daughter has ill-treated my cow. She beat it, +and turned it out of her father's garden, and said many wicked things. +If you will have the girl killed, I shall live; but if you do not kill +her, I shall die." The prince at once ordered his servants to take the +gardener's daughter the next morning to the jungle, and there kill +her. + +So the next morning early the servants went to the gardener's house to +take away his daughter. He and his wife cried bitterly, and begged the +servants to leave the girl with them. They offered them a great many +rupees, saying, "Take these rupees, and leave us our daughter." "How +can we leave you your daughter," said the servants, "when the King's +youngest son has ordered us to take her to the jungle and kill her, +that his wife may get well?" + +So they led the girl away; and as they went to the jungle, they said +to each other, "How beautiful this girl is!" They found her so +beautiful that they grew very sorrowful at the thought of killing her. + +They took the girl to a great plain, which was about ten miles distant +from the King's country; but when they got there they said they could +not kill her. She was so beautiful that they really could not kill +her. She said to them, "You were ordered to kill me, so kill me." +"No," they answered, "we cannot kill you, we cannot kill you." + +Then the girl took the knife in her own hand and cut out her two eyes; +and one eye became a parrot, and the other a _mainá_. Then she cut out +her heart and it became a great tank. Her body became a splendid +palace and garden--a far grander palace than was the King's palace; +her arms and legs became the pillars that supported the verandah roof; +and her head the dome on the top of the palace. + +The prince's servants looked on all the time these changes were taking +place, and they were so frightened by them, that when they got home +they would not tell the prince or any one else what they had seen. No +one lived in this wonderful house. It stood empty in its garden by its +tank, and the parrot and _mainá_ lived in the garden trees. + +Some time afterwards the youngest prince went out hunting, and towards +evening he found himself on the great plain where stood the wonderful +palace. He rode up to it and said to himself, "I never saw any house +here before. I wonder who lives here?" He went through the great gate +into the garden, and then he saw the large tank, and how beautiful the +garden was. He went all through the garden and was delighted with it, +and he saw that it was beautifully kept, and was in perfect order. +Then he went into the palace, and went through all the rooms, and +wondered more and more to whom this beautiful house could belong. He +was very much surprised, too, at finding no one in the palace, though +the rooms were all splendidly furnished, and very clean and neat. + +"My father is a great king," he said to himself, "and yet he has not +got a palace like this." It was now deep night, so the prince knew he +could not go home till the next day. "Never mind," he said, "I will +sleep in the verandah. I am not afraid, though I shall be quite +alone." + +So he lay down to sleep in the verandah, and while he lay there, the +parrot and _mainá_ flew in, and they perched near him, for they knew +he was there, and they wanted him to hear what they said to each +other. Then they began chattering together; and the parrot told the +_mainá_ how the prince's father was king of the neighbouring country, +and how he had seven sons, and how six of the sons had married six +princesses, "but this prince, who was the youngest son, would not +marry; and what is more, he did not like his brother's wives at all." +Then the birds stopped talking and did not chatter any more that +night. The prince was very much surprised at the birds knowing who he +was, and all about his dislike to his brothers' wives. + +The next morning he rode home; and there he stayed all day, and would +not talk. His wife asked him, "What is the matter with you? Why are +you so silent?" "My head aches," he answered: "I am ill." But towards +evening he felt he must go back to the empty palace on the great +plain, so he said to his wife, "I am going out to eat the air for a +little while." Then he got on his horse and rode off to the palace. + +As soon as he had laid himself down in the verandah, the parrot and +the _mainá_ perched near him; and the parrot told the _mainá_ how the +prince had heard of the Bél-Princess; and all about his long journey +in search of her, and how he found the bél-fruit, and how he was +turned to stone. Then he stopped chattering, and the birds said +nothing more to each other that night. + +In the morning the King's son rode home, and was as silent and grave +as he had been before. He told his wife his head ached when she asked +him whether he was ill. + +That night he again slept in the verandah of the strange palace, and +heard a little more of his story from the birds. + +The next day he was still silent and grave, and his wife was very +uneasy. "I am sure the Bél-Princess is alive," she said to herself, +"and that he goes every night to see her." Then she asked him, "Why do +you go out every evening? Why do you not stay at home?" "I am not +well," he answered, "so I go to my mother's house" (the prince had a +little house of his own in his father's compound). "I will not sleep +at home again till I am well." + +That night he lay down to sleep again in the verandah of the great +empty palace, and heard the parrot tell the _mainá_ all that happened +to the prince up to the time that he fell asleep in his father's +garden with the beautiful Bél-Princess sitting beside him. + +On the fifth night the prince lay down to sleep again in the verandah +of the palace on the great plain, and watched eagerly for the little +birds to begin their talk. This night the parrot told how the wicked +woman had come and taken the Bél-Princess's clothes, and thrown her +down the well; how the princess became a lotus-flower which the wicked +wife broke to bits; how the bits of the lotus-flower turned into a +bél-fruit which she threw away; how out of the fruit came a tiny +girl-baby that the gardener adopted; how the wicked woman persuaded +the prince to have this girl killed when she was seven years old; how +he and the _mainá_ had once been this girl's eyes; how the tank was +once her heart, and how her body had changed into this palace and +garden, while her head became the dome on the top of the palace. + +Then the _mainá_ asked the parrot where the Bél-Princess was. "Cannot +she be found?" said the _mainá_. "Yes," said the parrot, "she can be +found; but the King's youngest son alone can find her, and he is so +foolish! He believes that his ugly, wicked wife is the beautiful +Bél-Princess!" "And where is the princess?" asked the _mainá_. "She is +here," said the parrot. "If the prince would come one day and go +through all the rooms of this palace till he came to the centre room, +he would see a trap-door in the middle of that room. If he lifted the +trap-door he would see a staircase which leads to an underground +palace, and in this palace is the Bél-princess." "And can no one but +the prince lift the trap-door?" asked the _mainá_. "No one," answered +the parrot. "It is God's order that only the King's youngest son can +lift the trap-door and find the Bél-Princess." + +The next day the young prince went through all the rooms of the +palace, instead of going home. When he came to the centre room, he +looked for the trap-door, and when he had lifted it he saw the +staircase. He went down it, and found himself in the under-ground +palace, which was far more beautiful than the one above-ground. It was +full of servants; and in one room a grand dinner was standing ready. +In another room he saw a gold bed, all covered with pearls and +diamonds, and on the bed lay the Bél-Princess. + +Day and night she prayed to God and read a holy book. She did nothing +else. + +When the prince went into her room and she saw him, she was very sad, +not happy, for she thought, "He is so foolish; he knows nothing of +what has happened to me." Then she said to him, "Why did you come +here? Go home again to your father's palace." + +The prince burst out crying. "See, princess," he said, "I knew nothing +of your palace. I only found it by chance five nights ago. I have +slept here in the verandah for the last five nights, and only last +night did I learn what had happened to you, and how to find you." "I +know it is true," she said, "that you knew nothing of what happened to +me. But now that you have found me, what will you do?" + +"I will go home to my father's palace," he answered, "and make +everything ready for you, and then I will come and marry you and take +you home." + +So it was all settled, and he ate some food, and returned to his +father. He told his father and mother all that had happened to the +Bél-Princess, and how her body had turned into the beautiful garden +and palace that stood on the big plain; and of the little birds; and +of the underground palace in which she now lived. So his father said +that he and the prince's mother, and his six brothers and their wives, +would all take him in great state to the palace and marry him to the +beautiful Bél-Princess; and that then they would all return to their +own palace, and all live together. "But first the wicked woman must be +killed," said the King. + +So he ordered his servants to take her to the jungle and kill her, and +throw her body away. So they took her away at four o'clock in the +afternoon and killed her. + +One morning two or three days later, the prince and his father and +mother, and brothers and sisters-in-law, went to the great palace on +the wide plain; and there, in the evening, the king's youngest son was +married to the Bél-Princess. And when his father and mother and +brothers, and his brothers' wives, saw her, they all said, "It is +quite true. She is indeed a Bél-Princess!" + +After the wedding they all returned to the King's palace, and there +they lived together. But the King and his sons used often to go to the +palace on the great plain to eat the air; and they used to lend it +sometimes to other rájás and kings. + + Told by Múniyá. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXII. + +HOW THE RÁJÁ'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABÁM. + + +In a country there was a Rájá who had an only son who every day went +out to hunt. One day the Rání, his mother, said to him, "You can hunt +wherever you like on these three sides; but you must never go to the +fourth side." This she said because she knew if he went on the fourth +side he would hear of the beautiful Princess Labám, and that then he +would leave his father and mother and seek for the princess. + +The young prince listened to his mother, and obeyed her for some time; +but one day, when he was hunting on the three sides where he was +allowed to go, he remembered what she had said to him about the fourth +side, and he determined to go and see why she had forbidden him to +hunt on that side. When he got there, he found himself in a jungle, +and nothing in the jungle but a quantity of parrots, who lived in it. +The young Rájá shot at some of them, and at once they all flew away up +to the sky. All, that is, but one, and this was their Rájá, who was +called Híráman parrot. + +When Híráman parrot found himself left alone, he called out to the +other parrots, "Don't fly away and leave me alone when the Rájá's son +shoots. If you desert me like this, I will tell the Princess Labám." + +Then the parrots all flew back to their Rájá, chattering. The prince +was greatly surprised, and said, "Why, these birds can talk!" Then he +said to the parrots, "Who is the Princess Labám? Where does she live?" +But the parrots would not tell him where she lived. "You can never +get to the Princess Labám's country." That is all they would say. + +The prince grew very sad when they would not tell him anything more; +and he threw his gun away, and went home. When he got home, he would +not speak or eat, but lay on his bed for four or five days, and seemed +very ill. + +At last he told his father and mother that he wanted to go and see the +Princess Labám. "I must go," he said; "I must see what she is like. +Tell me where her country is." "We do not know where it is," answered +his father and mother. "Then I must go and look for it," said the +prince. "No, no," they said, "you must not leave us. You are our only +son. Stay with us. You will never find the Princess Labám." "I must +try and find her," said the prince. "Perhaps God will show me the way. +If I live and I find her, I will come back to you; but perhaps I shall +die, and then I shall never see you again. Still I must go." + +So they had to let him go, though they cried very much at parting with +him. His father gave him fine clothes to wear, and a fine horse. And +he took his gun, and his bow and arrows, and a great many other +weapons, "for," he said, "I may want them." His father, too, gave him +plenty of rupees. + +Then he himself got his horse all ready for the journey, and he said +good-bye to his father and mother; and his mother took her +handkerchief and wrapped some sweetmeats in it, and gave it to her +son. "My child," she said to him, "when you are hungry eat some of +these sweetmeats." + +He then set out on his journey, and rode on and on till he came to a +jungle in which were a tank and shady trees. He bathed himself and his +horse in the tank, and then sat down under a tree. "Now," he said to +himself, "I will eat some of the sweetmeats my mother gave me, and I +will drink some water, and then I will continue my journey." He +opened his handkerchief, and took out a sweetmeat. He found an ant in +it. He took out another. There was an ant in that one too. So he laid +the two sweetmeats on the ground, and he took out another, and +another, and another, until he had taken them all out; but in each he +found an ant. "Never mind," he said, "I won't eat the sweetmeats; the +ants shall eat them." Then the Ant-Rájá came and stood before him and +said, "You have been good to us. If ever you are in trouble, think of +me and we will come to you." + +The Rájá's son thanked him, mounted his horse and continued his +journey. He rode on and on till he came to another jungle, and there +he saw a tiger who had a thorn in his foot, and was roaring loudly +from the pain. + +"Why do you roar like that?" said the young Rájá. "What is the matter +with you?" "I have had a thorn in my foot for twelve years," answered +the tiger, "and it hurts me so; that is why I roar." "Well," said the +Rájá's son, "I will take it out for you. But, perhaps, as you are a +tiger, when I have made you well, you will eat me?" "Oh, no," said the +tiger, "I won't eat you. Do make me well." + +Then the prince took a little knife from his pocket, and cut the thorn +out of the tiger's foot; but when he cut, the tiger roared louder than +ever, so loud that his wife heard him in the next jungle, and came +bounding along to see what was the matter. The tiger saw her coming, +and hid the prince in the jungle, so that she should not see him. + +"What man hurt you that you roared so loud?" said the wife. "No one +hurt me," answered her husband; "but a Rájá's son came and took the +thorn out of my foot." "Where is he? Show him to me," said his wife. +"If you promise not to kill him, I will call him," said the tiger. "I +won't kill him; only let me see him," answered his wife. + +Then the tiger called the Rájá's son, and when he came the tiger and +his wife made him a great many salaams. Then they gave him a good +dinner, and he stayed with them for three days. Every day he looked at +the tiger's foot, and the third day it was quite healed. Then he said +good-bye to the tigers, and the tiger said to him, "If ever you are in +trouble, think of me, and we will come to you." + +The Rájá's son rode on and on till he came to a third jungle. Here he +found four fakírs whose teacher and master had died, and had left four +things,--a bed, which carried whoever sat on it whithersoever he +wished to go; a bag, that gave its owner whatever he wanted, jewels, +food, or clothes; a stone bowl that gave its owner as much water as he +wanted, no matter how far he might be from a tank; and a stick and +rope, to which its owner had only to say, if any one came to make war +on him, "Stick, beat as many men and soldiers as are here," and the +stick would beat them and the rope would tie them up. + +The four fakírs were quarrelling over these four things. One said, "I +want this;" another said, "You cannot have it, for I want it;" and so +on. + +The Rájá's son said to them, "Do not quarrel for these things. I will +shoot four arrows in four different directions. Whichever of you gets +to my first arrow, shall have the first thing--the bed. Whosoever gets +to the second arrow, shall have the second thing--the bag. He who gets +to the third arrow, shall have the third thing--the bowl. And he who +gets to the fourth arrow, shall have the last things--the stick and +rope." To this they agreed, and the prince shot off his first arrow. +Away raced the fakírs to get it. When they brought it back to him he +shot off the second, and when they had found and brought it to him he +shot off his third, and when they had brought him the third he shot +off the fourth. + +While they were away looking for the fourth arrow, the Rájá's son let +his horse loose in the jungle, and sat on the bed, taking the bowl, +the stick and rope, and the bag with him. Then he said, "Bed, I wish +to go to the Princess Labám's country." The little bed instantly rose +up into the air and began to fly, and it flew and flew till it came to +the Princess Labám's country, where it settled on the ground. The +Rájá's son asked some men he saw, "Whose country is this?" "The +Princess Labám's country," they answered. Then the prince went on till +he came to a house where he saw an old woman. "Who are you?" she said. +"Where do you come from?" "I come from a far country," he said; "do +let me stay with you to-night." "No," she answered, "I cannot let you +stay with me; for our king has ordered that men from other countries +may not stay in his country. You cannot stay in my house." "You are my +aunty," said the prince; "let me remain with you for this one night. +You see it is evening, and if I go into the jungle, then the wild +beasts will eat me." "Well," said the old woman, "you may stay here +to-night; but to-morrow morning you must go away, for if the king +hears you have passed the night in my house, he will have me seized +and put into prison." + +Then she took him into her house, and the Rájá's son was very glad. +The old woman began preparing dinner, but he stopped her. "Aunty," he +said, "I will give you food." He put his hand into his bag, saying, +"Bag, I want some dinner," and the bag gave him instantly a delicious +dinner, served upon two gold plates. The old woman and the Rájá's son +then dined together. + +When they had finished eating, the old woman said, "Now I will fetch +some water." "Don't go," said the prince. "You shall have plenty of +water directly." So he took his bowl and said to it, "Bowl, I want +some water," and then it filled with water. When it was full, the +prince cried out, "Stop, bowl," and the bowl stopped filling. "See, +aunty," he said, "with this bowl I can always get as much water as I +want." + +By this time night had come. "Aunty," said the Rájá's son, "why don't +you light a lamp?" "There is no need," she said. "Our king has +forbidden the people in his country to light any lamps; for, as soon +as it is dark, his daughter, the Princess Labám, comes and sits on her +roof, and she shines so, that she lights up all the country and our +houses, and we can see to do our work as if it were day." + +When it was quite black night, the princess got up. She dressed +herself in her rich clothes and jewels, and rolled up her hair, and +across her head she put a band of diamonds and pearls. Then she shone +like the moon, and her beauty made night day. She came out of her +room, and sat on the roof of her palace. In the daytime she never came +out of her house; she only came out at night. All the people in her +father's country then went about their work and finished it. + +The Rájá's son watched the princess quietly, and was very happy. He +said to himself, "How lovely she is!" + +At midnight, when everybody had gone to bed, the princess came down +from her roof, and went to her room; and when she was in bed and +asleep, the Rájá's son got up softly, and sat on his bed. "Bed," he +said to it, "I want to go to the Princess Labám's bed-room." So the +little bed carried him to the room where she lay fast asleep. + +The young Rájá took his bag and said, "I want a great deal of +betel-leaf," and it at once gave him quantities of betel-leaf. This he +laid near the princess's bed, and then his little bed carried him back +to the old woman's house. + +Next morning all the princess's servants found the betel-leaf, and +began to eat it. "Where did you get all that betel-leaf?" asked the +princess. "We found it near your bed," answered the servants. Nobody +knew the prince had come in the night and put it all there. + +In the morning the old woman came to the Rájá's son. "Now it is +morning," she said, "and you must go; for if the king finds out all I +have done for you, he will seize me." "I am ill to-day, dear aunty," +said the prince; "do let me stay till to-morrow morning." "Good," said +the old woman. So he stayed, and they took their dinner out of the +bag, and the bowl gave them water. + +When night came the princess got up and sat on her roof, and at twelve +o'clock, when every one was in bed, she went to her bed-room, and was +soon fast asleep. Then the Rájá's son sat on his bed, and it carried +him to the princess. He took his bag and said, "Bag, I want a most +lovely shawl." It gave him a splendid shawl, and he spread it over the +princess as she lay asleep. Then he went back to the old woman's house +and slept till morning. + +In the morning, when the princess saw the shawl, she was delighted. +"See, mother," she said; "God must have given me this shawl, it is so +beautiful." Her mother was very glad too. "Yes, my child," she said; +"God must have given you this splendid shawl." + +When it was morning the old woman said to the Rájá's son, "Now you +must really go." "Aunty," he answered, "I am not well enough yet. Let +me stay a few days longer. I will remain hidden in your house, so that +no one may see me." So the old woman let him stay. + +When it was black night, the princess put on her lovely clothes and +jewels, and sat on her roof. At midnight she went to her room and went +to sleep. Then the Rájá's son sat on his bed and flew to her bed-room. +There he said to his bag, "Bag, I want a very, very beautiful ring." +The bag gave him a glorious ring. Then he took the Princess Labám's +hand gently to put on the ring, and she started up very much +frightened. + +"Who are you?" she said to the prince. "Where do you come from? Why do +you come to my room?" "Do not be afraid, princess," he said; "I am no +thief. I am a great Rájá's son. Híráman parrot, who lives in the +jungle where I went to hunt, told me your name, and then I left my +father and mother, and came to see you." + +"Well," said the princess, "as you are the son of such a great Rájá, I +will not have you killed, and I will tell my father and mother that I +wish to marry you." + +The prince then returned to the old woman's house; and when morning +came, the princess said to her mother, "The son of a great Rájá has +come to this country, and I wish to marry him." Her mother told this +to the king. "Good," said the king; "but if this Rájá's son wishes to +marry my daughter, he must first do whatever I bid him. If he fails I +will kill him. I will give him eighty pounds weight of mustard seed, +and out of this he must crush the oil in one day. If he cannot do this +he shall die." + +In the morning the Rájá's son told the old woman that he intended to +marry the princess. "Oh," said the old woman, "go away from this +country, and do not think of marrying her. A great many Rájás and +Rájás' sons have come here to marry her, and her father has had them +all killed. He says whoever wishes to marry his daughter must first do +whatever he bids him. If he can, then he shall marry the princess; if +he cannot, the king will have him killed. But no one can do the things +the king tells him to do; so all the Rájás and Rájás' sons who have +tried have been put to death. You will be killed too, if you try. Do +go away." But the prince would not listen to anything she said. + +The king sent for the prince to the old woman's house, and his +servants brought the Rájá's son to the king's court-house to the king. +There the king gave him eighty pounds of mustard seed, and told him to +crush all the oil out of it that day, and bring it next morning to him +to the court-house. "Whoever wishes to marry my daughter," he said to +the prince, "must first do all I tell him. If he cannot, then I have +him killed. So if you cannot crush all the oil out of this mustard +seed, you will die." + +The prince was very sorry when he heard this. "How can I crush the oil +out of all this mustard seed in one day?" he said to himself; "and if +I do not, the king will kill me." He took the mustard seed to the old +woman's house, and did not know what to do. At last he remembered the +Ant-Rájá, and the moment he did so, the Ant-Rájá and his ants came to +him. "Why do you look so sad?" said the Ant-Rájá. The prince showed +him the mustard seed, and said to him, "How can I crush the oil out of +all this mustard seed in one day? And if I do not take the oil to the +king to-morrow morning, he will kill me." "Be happy," said the +Ant-Rájá; "lie down and sleep: we will crush all the oil out for you +during the day, and to-morrow morning you shall take it to the king." +The Rájá's son lay down and slept, and the ants crushed out the oil +for him. The prince was very glad when he saw the oil. + +The next morning he took it to the court-house to the king. But the +king said, "You cannot yet marry my daughter. If you wish to do so, +you must first fight with my two demons and kill them." The king a +long time ago had caught two demons, and then, as he did not know what +to do with them, he had shut them up in a cage. He was afraid to let +them loose for fear they would eat up all the people in his country; +and he did not know how to kill them. So all the kings and kings' sons +who wanted to marry the Princess Labám had to fight with these demons; +"for," said the king to himself, "perhaps the demons may be killed, +and then I shall be rid of them." + +When he heard of the demons the Rájá's son was very sad. "What can I +do?" he said to himself. "How can I fight with these two demons?" Then +he thought of his tiger: and the tiger and his wife came to him and +said, "Why are you so sad?" The Rájá's son answered, "The king has +ordered me to fight with his two demons and kill them. How can I do +this?" "Do not be frightened," said the tiger. "Be happy. I and my +wife will fight with them for you." + +Then the Rájá's son took out of his bag two splendid coats. They were +all gold and silver, and covered with pearls and diamonds. These he +put on the tigers to make them beautiful, and he took them to the +king, and said to him, "May these tigers fight your demons for me?" +"Yes," said the king, who did not care in the least who killed his +demons, provided they were killed. "Then call your demons," said the +Rájá's son, "and these tigers will fight them." The king did so, and +the tigers and the demons fought and fought until the tigers had +killed the demons. + +"That is good," said the king. "But you must do something else before +I give you my daughter. Up in the sky I have a kettle-drum. You must +go and beat it. If you cannot do this, I will kill you." + +The Rájá's son thought of his little bed; so he went to the old +woman's house and sat on his bed. "Little bed," he said, "up in the +sky is the king's kettle-drum. I want to go to it." The bed flew up +with him, and the Rájá's son beat the drum, and the king heard him. +Still, when he came down, the king would not give him his daughter. +"You have," he said to the prince, "done the three things I told you +to do; but you must do one thing more." "If I can, I will," said the +Rájá's son. + +Then the king showed him the trunk of a tree that was lying near his +court-house. It was a very, very thick trunk. He gave the prince a wax +hatchet, and said, "To-morrow morning you must cut this trunk in two +with this wax hatchet." + +The Rájá's son went back to the old woman's house. He was very sad, +and thought that now the Rájá would certainly kill him. "I had his +oil crushed out by the ants," he said to himself. "I had his demons +killed by the tigers. My bed helped me to beat his kettle-drum. But +now what can I do? How can I cut that thick tree trunk in two with a +wax hatchet?" + +At night he went on his bed to see the princess. "To-morrow," he said +to her, "your father will kill me." "Why?" asked the princess. + +"He has told me to cut a thick tree-trunk in two with a wax hatchet. +How can I ever do that?" said the Rájá's son. "Do not be afraid," said +the princess; "do as I bid you, and you will cut it in two quite +easily." + +Then she pulled out a hair from her head, and gave it to the prince. +"To-morrow," she said, "when no one is near you, you must say to the +tree-trunk, 'The Princess Labám commands you to let yourself be cut in +two by this hair.' Then stretch the hair down the edge of the wax +hatchet's blade." + +The prince next day did exactly as the princess had told him; and the +minute the hair that was stretched down the edge of the hatchet-blade +touched the tree-trunk, it split into two pieces. + +The king said, "Now you can marry my daughter." Then the wedding took +place. All the Rájás and kings of the countries round were asked to +come to it, and there were great rejoicings. After a few days the +prince's son said to his wife, "Let us go to my father's country." The +Princess Labám's father gave them a quantity of camels and horses and +rupees and servants; and they travelled in great state to the prince's +country, where they lived happily. + +The prince always kept his bag, bowl, bed, and stick; only as no one +ever came to make war on him, he never needed to use the stick. + + Told by Múniyá. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXIII. + +THE PRINCESS WHO LOVED HER FATHER LIKE SALT. + + +In a country there lived a king who had seven daughters. One day he +called them all to him and said to them, "My daughters, how much do +you love me?" The six eldest answered, "Father, we love you as much as +sweetmeats and sugar;" but the seventh and youngest daughter said, +"Father, I love you as much as salt." The king was much pleased with +his six eldest daughters, but very angry with his youngest daughter. +"What is this?" he said; "my daughter only loves me as much as she +does salt!" Then he called some of his servants, and said to them, +"Get a palanquin ready, and carry my youngest daughter away to the +jungle." + +The servants did as they were bid; and when they got to the jungle, +they put the palanquin down under a tree and went away. The princess +called to them, "Where are you going? Stay here; my father did not +tell you to leave me alone in the jungle." "We will come back," said +the servants; "we are only going to drink some water." But they +returned to her father's palace. + +The princess waited in the palanquin under the tree, and it was now +evening, and the servants had not come back. She was very much +frightened and cried bitterly. "The tigers and wild beasts will eat +me," she said to herself. At last she went to sleep, and slept for a +little while. When she awoke she found in her palanquin some food on a +plate, and a little water, that God had sent her while she slept. She +ate the food and drank the water, and then she felt happier, for she +thought, "God must have sent me this food and water." She decided that +as it was now night she had better stay in her palanquin, and go to +sleep. "Perhaps the tigers and wild beasts will come and eat me," she +thought; "but if they don't, I will try to-morrow to get out of this +jungle, and go to another country." + +The next morning she left her palanquin and set out. She walked on, +till, deep in the jungle, she came to a beautiful palace, which did +not belong to her father, but to another king. The gate was shut, but +she opened it, and went in. She looked all about, and thought, "What a +beautiful house this is, and what a pretty garden and tank!" + +Everything was beautiful, only there were no servants nor anybody else +to be seen. She went into the house, and through all the rooms. In one +room she saw a dinner ready to be eaten, but there was no one to eat +it. At last she came to a room in which was a splendid bed, and on it +lay a king's son covered with a shawl. She took the shawl off, and +then she saw he was very beautiful, and that he was dead. His body was +stuck full of needles. + +She sat down on the bed, and there she sat for one week, without +eating, or drinking, or sleeping, pulling out the needles. Then a man +came by who said to her, "I have here a girl I wish to sell." "I have +no rupees," said the princess; "but if you will sell her to me for my +gold bangles, I will buy her." The man took the bangles, and left the +girl with the princess, who was very glad to have her. "Now," she +thought, "I shall be no longer alone." + +All day and all night long the princess sat and pulled out the +needles, while the girl went about the palace doing other work. At +the end of other two weeks the princess had pulled out all the needles +from the king's body, except those in his eyes. + +Then the king's daughter said to her servant-girl, "For three weeks I +have not bathed. Get a bath ready for me, and while I am bathing sit +by the king, but do not take the needles out of his eyes. I will pull +them out myself." The servant-girl promised not to pull out the +needles. Then she got the bath ready; but when the king's daughter had +gone to bathe, she sat down on the bed, and pulled the needles out of +the king's eyes. + +As soon as she had done so, he opened his eyes, and sat up. He thanked +God for bringing him to life again. Then he looked about, and saw the +servant-girl, and said to her, "Who has made me well and pulled all +the needles out of my body?" "I have," she answered. Then he thanked +her and said she should be his wife. + +When the princess came from her bath, she found the king alive, and +sitting on his bed talking to her servant. When she saw this she was +very sad, but she said nothing. The king said to the servant-maid, +"Who is this girl?" She answered, "She is one of my servants." And +from that moment the princess became a servant-girl, and her +servant-girl married the king. Every day the king said, "Can this +lovely girl be really a servant? She is far more beautiful than my +wife." + +One day the king thought, "I will go to another country to eat the +air." So he called the pretended princess, his wife, and told her he +was going to eat the air in another country. "What would you like me +to bring you when I come back?" She answered, "I should like beautiful +sárís and clothes, and gold and silver jewels." Then the king said, +"Call the servant-girl, and ask her what she would like me to bring +her." The real princess came, and the king said to her, "See, I am +going to another country to eat the air. What would you like me to +bring for you when I return?" + +"King," she answered, "if you can bring me what I want I will tell you +what it is; but if you cannot get it, I will not tell you." "Tell me +what it is," said the king. "Whatever it may be I will bring it you." +"Good," said the princess. "I want a sun-jewel box." Now the princess +knew all about the sun-jewel boxes, and that only fairies had such +boxes. And she knew, too, what would be in hers if the king could get +one for her, although these boxes contain sometimes one thing and +sometimes another. + +The king had never heard of such a box, and did not know what it was +like; so he went to every country asking all the people he met what +sort of box was a sun-jewel box, and where he could get it. At last +one day, after a fruitless search, he was very sad, for he thought, "I +have promised the servant to bring her a sun-jewel box, and now I +cannot get one for her; what shall I do?" + +Then he went to sleep, and had a dream. In it he saw a jungle, and in +the jungle a fakír who, when he slept, slept for twelve years, and +then was awake for twelve years. The king felt sure this man could +give him what he wanted, so when he woke he said to his sepoys and +servants, "Stay here in this spot till I return to you; then we will +go back to my country." + +He mounted his horse and set out for the jungle he had seen in his +dream. He went on and on till he came to it, and there he saw the +fakír lying asleep. He had been asleep for twelve years all but two +weeks: over him were a quantity of leaves, and grass, and a great deal +of mud. The king began taking off all the grass, and leaves, and mud, +and every day for a fortnight when he got up he cleared them all away +from off the fakír. When the fakír awoke at the end of the two weeks, +and saw that no mud, or grass, or leaves were upon him, but that he +was quite clean, he was very much pleased, and said to the king, "I +have slept for twelve years, and yet I am as clean as I was when I +went to sleep. When I awoke after my last sleep, I was all covered +with dirt and mud, grass and leaves; but this time I am quite clean." + +The king stayed with the fakír for a week, and waited on him and did +everything for him. The fakír was very much pleased with the king, and +he told this to him: "You are a very good man." He added, "Why did you +come to this jungle? You are such a great king, what can you want from +me?" "I want a sun-jewel box," answered the king. "You are such a good +man," said the fakír, "that I will give you one." + +Then the fakír went to a beautiful well, down which he went right to +the bottom. There, there was a house in which lived the red fairy. She +was called the red fairy not because her skin was red, for it was +quite white, but because everything about her was red--her house, her +clothes, and her country. She was very glad to see the fakír, and +asked him why he had come to see her. "I want you to give me a +sun-jewel box," he answered. "Very good," said the fairy, and she +brought him one in which were seven small dolls and a little flute. +"No one but she who wants this box must open it," said the fairy to +the fakír. "She must open it when she is quite alone and at night." +Then she told him what was in the box. + +The fakír thanked her, and took the box to the king, who was delighted +and made many salaams to the fakír. The fakír told him none but the +person who wished for the box was to open it; but he did not tell him +what more the fairy had said. + +The king set off on his journey now, and when he came to his servants +and sepoys, he said to them he would now return to his country, as he +had found the box he wanted. When he reached his palace he called the +false princess, his wife, and gave her her silks and shawls, and sárís, +and gold and silver jewels. Then he called the servant-girl--the true +princess--and gave her her sun-jewel box. She took it, and was +delighted to have it. She made him many salaams and went away with her +box, but did not open it then, for she knew what was in it, and that +she must open it at night and alone. + +That night she took her box and went out all by herself to a wide +plain in the jungle, and there opened it. She took the little flute, +put it to her lips, and began to play, and instantly out flew the +seven little dolls, who were all little fairies, and they took chairs +and carpets from the box, and arranged them all in a large tent which +appeared at that moment. Then the fairies bathed her, combed and +rolled up her hair, put on her grand clothes and lovely slippers. But +all the time the princess did nothing but cry. They brought a chair +and placed it before the tent, and made her sit in it. One of them +took the flute and played on it, and all the others danced before the +princess, and they sang songs for her. Still she cried and cried. At +last, at four o'clock in the morning, one of the fairies said, +"Princess, why do you cry?" "I took all the needles out of the king, +all but those in his eyes," said the princess, "and while I was +bathing, my servant-girl, whom I had bought with my gold bangles, +pulled these out. She told the king it was she who had pulled out all +the other needles and brought him to life, and that I was her servant, +and she has taken my place and is treated as the princess, and the +king has married her, while I am made to do a servant's work and +treated as the servant." "Do not cry," said the fairies. "Everything +will be well for you by and by." + +When it was close on morning, the princess played on the flute, and +all the chairs, sofas, and fairies became quite tiny, and went into +the box, and the tent disappeared. She shut it up, and took it back to +the king's palace. The next night she again went out to the +jungle-plain, and all happened as on the night before. + +A wood-cutter was coming home late from his work, and had to pass by +the plain. He wondered when he saw the tent. "I went by some time +ago," he said to himself, "and I saw no tent here." He climbed up a +big tree to see what was going on, and saw the fairies dancing before +the princess, who sat outside the tent, and he saw how she cried +though the fairies did all they could to amuse her. Then he heard the +fairies say, "Princess, why do you cry?" And he heard her tell them +how she had cured the king, and how her servant-girl had taken her +place and made her a servant. "Never mind, don't cry," said the +fairies. "All will be well by and by." Near morning the princess +played on her flute, and the fairies went into the box, and the tent +disappeared, and the princess went back to the palace. + +The third night passed as the other two had done. The wood-cutter came +to look on, and climbed into the tree to see the fairies and the +princess. Again the fairies asked her why she cried, and she gave the +same answer. + +The next day the wood-cutter went to the king. "Last night and the +night before," he said, "as I came home from work, I saw a large tent +in the jungle, and before the tent there sat a princess who did +nothing but cry, while seven fairies danced before her, or played on +different instruments, and sang songs to her." The king was very much +astonished, and said to the wood-cutter, "To-night I will go with you, +and see the tent, and the princess, and the fairies." + +When it was night the princess went out softly and opened her box on +the plain. The wood-cutter fetched the king, and the two men climbed +into a tree, and watched the fairies as they danced and sang. The king +saw that the princess who sat and cried was his own servant-girl. He +heard her tell the fairies all she had done for him, and all that had +happened to her; so he came suddenly down from the tree, and went up +to her, and took her hand. "I always thought you were a princess, and +no servant-girl," he said. "Will you marry me?" + +She left off crying, and said, "Yes, I will marry you." She played on +her flute, and the tent disappeared, and all the fairies, and sofas, +and chairs went into the box. She put her flute in it, as she always +did before shutting down the lid, and went home with the king. + +The servant-girl was very vexed and angry when she found the king knew +all that had happened. However, the princess was most good to her, and +never treated her unkindly. + +The princess then sent a letter to her mother, in which she wrote, "I +am going to be married to a great king. You and my father must come to +my wedding, and must bring my sisters with you." + +They all came, and her father and mother liked the king very much, and +were glad their daughter should marry him. The wedding took place, and +they stayed with her for some time. For a whole week she gave their +servants and sepoys nice food cooked with salt, but to her father and +mother and sisters she only gave food cooked with sugar. At last they +got so tired of this sweet food that they could eat it no longer. At +the end of the week she gave them a dinner cooked with salt. Then her +father said, "My daughter is wise though she is so young, and is the +youngest of my daughters. I know now how much she loved me when she +said she loved me like salt. People cannot eat their food without +salt. If their food is cooked with sugar one day, it must be cooked +with salt the next, or they cannot eat it." + +After this her father and mother and sisters went home, but they +often came to see their little daughter and her husband. + +The princess, the king, and the servant-maid all lived happily +together. + + Told by Múniyá. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXIV. + +THE DEMON IS AT LAST CONQUERED BY THE KING'S SON. + + +In a country there were seven men, no two of whom belonged to the same +family, or were of the same trade. One was a grain merchant's son, one +a baker's, and so on; each had a different trade. + +These seven men determined they would go to seek for service in +another country. They said good-bye to their fathers and mothers, and +set off. + +They travelled every day, and walked through many jungles. At last, a +long way from their homes, they came to a wide plain in the midst of a +jungle, and on it they saw a goat which seemed to be a very good +milch-goat. The seven men said to each other, "If this goat belonged +to any one, it would not be left all alone in the jungle. Let us take +it with us." They did so, and no one they met asked them any questions +about the goat. + +In the evening they arrived at a village where they stayed for the +night. They cooked and ate their dinners, and gave the goat grass and +grain. At midnight, when they were all asleep, the goat became a great +she-demon, with a great mouth, and swallowed one of the seven men. +Then she became a goat again, and went back to the place where she had +been stabled. + +The men got up in the morning, and were very much surprised to find +they were only six, not seven. "Where is the seventh gone?" they +said. "Well, when he returns we will all go on together." They sat +waiting and waiting for him, till, as it was getting late and he had +not come, they all thought they had better start without him. So they +continued their journey, taking the goat with them. Before they went +they said to the villagers, "If our seventh man comes back to you, +send him after us." + +At evening they came to another village, where they stayed for the +night. They cooked and ate their dinners, and gave grain and grass to +the goat. At midnight, when they were fast asleep, the goat became a +demon and swallowed another man, and then took her goat's shape again. + +In this way she ate five men. The two that were left were very sad at +finding themselves alone. "We were seven men," they said, "now we are +but two." The grain merchant's son was one of the two, and he was very +quick and sharp. He determined he would not say anything to his +companion, but that he would watch by him that night, and find out, if +he could, what had happened to his other friends. To keep himself +awake he cut a piece out of his finger, and rubbed a little salt into +the wound, so that when his companion went to sleep, he should not be +able to sleep because of the pain. At midnight the goat came and +turned into a huge demon. She went quickly up to the sleeping man to +swallow him; but the merchant's son rushed at her, beat her, and +snatched his companion from her mouth. The demon turned instantly into +a goat, and went back to the place where it had been stabled. + +The two men next morning set out from the village where they had +passed the night. They would have killed the goat had they been able. +As they could not do so, they took it with them till they came to a +plain in the jungle, where they tied it up to a tree, and left it. +Then they continued their journey, and were very sorry they had not +known how wicked the goat was before it had swallowed their five +companions. + +The goat meanwhile turned itself into a most beautiful young girl, +dressed in grand clothes and rich jewels, and she sat down in the +jungle and began to cry. Just then the king of another country was +hunting in this jungle; and when he heard the noise of the crying, he +called his servants and told them to go and see who was crying. The +servants looked about until they saw the beautiful girl. They asked +her a great many questions, but she only cried, and would not answer. +The servants returned to the king, and told him it was a most +beautiful young girl who was crying; but she would do nothing but cry, +and would not speak. + +The king left his hunting and went himself to the girl, and asked her +why she cried. "My husband married me," she said, "and was taking me +to his home. He went to get some water to drink, and left me here. He +has never come back, and I don't know where he is; perhaps some tiger +has killed him, and now I am all alone, and do not know where to go. +This is why I cry." The king was so delighted with her beauty, that he +asked her to go with him. He sent his servants for a fine palanquin, +and when it came he put the girl into it, and took her to his palace, +and there she stayed. + +At midnight she turned into a demon, and went to the place where the +king's sheep and goats were kept. She tore open all their stomachs, +and ate all their hearts. Then she dipped seven knives in their blood, +and laid the knives on the beds of the seven queens. + +Next morning the king heard that all his sheep and goats were lying +dead; and when his seven wives woke, they saw that their clothes were +all bloody, and that bloody knives lay on their beds. They wondered +who had done this wicked thing to them. + +The next night at twelve o'clock the beautiful girl turned into a +demon again, and went to the cow-house. There she tore open the cows +and ate their hearts. Then she smeared the queens' clothes, and laid +knives dipped in blood on their beds; but she washed her own hands and +clothes, so that no blood should show on them. For a long time the +same thing happened every night, till she had eaten all the elephants, +horses, camels,--every animal, indeed, belonging to the king. The king +wondered very much at his animals all being killed in this way, and he +could not understand either why every morning his wives' clothes were +bloody, and bloody knives found on their beds. + +When she had eaten all the animals, the demon said to the king, "I am +afraid your wives are very wicked women. They must have killed all +your cows and sheep, goats, horses, elephants, and camels. I am afraid +one day they will eat me up." "I have been married to them for many +years," answered the king, "and anything like this has never happened +before." "I am very much afraid of them," said the demon, who all this +time looked a most beautiful girl. "I am very much afraid; but if you +cut out their eyes, then they cannot kill me." + +The king called his servants and said to them, "Get ready seven +palanquins, and carry my seven wives into the jungle. There you must +leave them; only first take out their eyes, which you must bring to +me." The servants took the queens to a jungle a long way from the +king's country. There they took out their eyes, and left them, and +brought the eyes to the king, who gave them into the demon's hands. +She pounded them to bits with a stone, and threw the bits away. + +The seven queens in the jungle did not know which way to go; so they +walked straight on, and fell into a dry well which lay just before +them. In this well they stayed; and the day when they thought they +must die of hunger and thirst was drawing near. But before it came the +eldest queen had a little son. She and the five next wives were so +hungry, that they agreed to kill the child, and divide it into seven +pieces. They each ate a piece, and gave one to the seventh and +youngest wife. She said nothing, and hid the piece. These five wives +each had a son one after the other, and they killed and divided their +children as the eldest wife had done with hers. But the youngest wife +hid all the six pieces that were given her, and would eat none. Her +son was born last of all. Then the six eldest wives said, "Let us kill +and divide your child." "No," she said, "I will never kill or divide +my boy; I would rather die of hunger. Here are the six pieces you gave +me. I would not eat them. Take them and eat them, but you must not +touch my son." God was so pleased with her for not killing her child, +that he made the boy grow bigger and bigger every day; and the little +queen was very happy. + +They all lived in the dry well without any food till the little prince +was five years old. By that time he was very quick and clever. One day +he said to his mother, "Why have we lived all this while in the well?" +His mother and all the other wives told him about the wicked demon who +lived in his father's palace, and how the king believed her to be a +beautiful girl and had married her, and of all the evil things that +she had done to them, and how she had made the king send them to the +jungle and have their eyes cut out and given to her, and how from not +being able to see they had fallen into this well, and how they had +eaten all his brothers, because they were so very hungry they thought +they should die--all but his mother at least, for she would not eat +the other wives' children and would not kill her own little son. "Let +me climb out of this well," said the boy, who determined in his heart +that he would kill this wicked demon one day. His mother said, "No, +stay here; you are too young to leave the well." + +The boy did not listen to her, but scrambled out. Then he saw they +were in a wide plain in the jungle. He ran after a few birds, caught +and killed them. Then he roasted the birds and brought them with some +water to his seven mothers in the well. When they had eaten them and +drunk the water, they were happy and worshipped God. The six mothers +who had eaten their children were full of sorrow, and said, "If our +six sons were now living, how good it would be for us: how happy we +should be." The young prince went out hunting for little birds every +day, and in the evening he cooked those he caught and brought them, +with water, to his mothers. + +Now the demon, because she was a demon and was therefore wiser than +men and women, knew that the seven queens lived in the well, and that +the son of the youngest queen was still alive. She determined to kill +him; so she pretended her eyes hurt her, and began crying, and making +a great to-do. The king asked her, "What is the matter?" "See, king, +see my eyes," she said. "They ache and hurt me so much." "What +medicine will make them well again?" said the king. "If I could only +bathe them with a tigress's milk, they would be well," she answered. + +The king called two of his servants and said to them, "Can either of +you get me a tigress's milk? Here are two thousand rupees for +whichever of you brings me the milk." Then he gave them the rupees, +and told them to get it at once. + +The servants took the rupees, and said nothing to the king, but they +said to each other, "How can we get a tigress's milk?" And they were +very sad. They left the king's country, and wandered on till they came +to the jungle-plain, where lived the young prince and his mothers. +There they saw him sitting by a dry well and roasting birds. "Do you +live in this jungle?" they said to him. "Yes," answered the boy. Then +the servants talked together. "See," they said, "this boy lives in the +jungle, so he will surely be able to get us the milk. Let us tell him +to get it, and give him the two thousand rupees." + +So they came back to the boy, who asked them where they were going. +"Our queen is very ill with pain in her eyes, and our king has sent us +for some tigress's milk for her to bathe them with, that they may get +well. He has given us two thousand rupees, for whichever of us to keep +who gets the milk. But we do not know where or how to get it." + +"Good," said the boy; "give me the two thousand rupees and I will get +it for you. Come here for it in a week's time." + +The king's servants were very much pleased at not having to try and +get it themselves, so they gave him the rupees and went home. The +demon knew quite well when she asked for the milk that none of the +king's servants would dare to go for it, but that his son would be +brave enough to go. This is why she asked for it, for she meant the +tigers to kill him. + +The little prince now took his seven mothers out of the well, and they +all went together to his father's country. There he got a small house +for them, and good clothes and food. He got a servant, too, for them, +to cook their dinner and take care of them. "Be very tender to them," +he said to the servant, "for they cannot see." For himself he bought a +little horse, and good clothes, and a gun, and a sword. Then he made +his mothers many salaams, and told them he was going to get a +tigress's milk. They all cried and begged him not to go. + +But he set off and rode for three or four days through the jungles. +Then he came to a large jungle which was in a great blaze, and two +tiger-cubs were running about in the jungle trying to get out of the +fire. He jumped off his horse, and took them in his hands; then he +mounted his horse again and rode out of the jungle. He rode on till +he came to another which was not on fire. He let the cubs loose in it +that they might run away; but they placed themselves in front of his +horse, and said, "We will not let you go till you have seen our father +and mother." + +Meanwhile the tiger and tigress saw the boy coming with their cubs, +and they came running to meet them. Till then they had thought their +cubs were burned in the jungle-fire. Now they knew at once this boy +had saved them. The cubs said to their father and mother, "We should +have died had it not been for this boy. Give him food; and when he has +eaten some food, we will drink milk." The tigers were very happy at +having their children safe. They went to a garden and got food and +good water for the boy, who ate and drank. Then the little cubs drank +their mother's milk. + +The tiger said to the prince, "You are such a little child, how is it +your mother let you come alone to this jungle?" + +"My mother's eyes are sore and pain her; and the doctor says that if +she bathes them in a tigress's milk they will get well. So I came to +see if I could get a little for her." + +"I will give you some," said the tigress, and she gave him a little +jar full of her milk. The cubs said, "One of us will go with you, and +the other will stay with our father and mother." "No," said the little +prince, "do you both stay with your father and mother. I will not take +either of you away. What should I do with you?" "No," said one of the +cubs; "I will go with you. I will do all you tell me. Wherever you bid +me stay, there I will stay; and I will eat any food you give me." +"Take him with you," said the old tiger; "one day you will find him of +use." So the boy took the cub and the milk, and made his salaam to the +old tigers and went home. His mothers were delighted at his return, +though, as they had no eyes, they could not see him. + +He tied up the tiger's cub and fed him. Then he took a little of the +milk, and went to the dry well in the jungle and sat down by it. The +king's servants came when the week had passed, and the boy gave them +the milk. The servants took it to the king, who gave it to the demon. +She was very angry when she found the tigers had not eaten the boy; +but she bathed her eyes with the milk, and said nothing. + +At the end of another week she would not eat or drink, and did nothing +but cry. "What is the matter?" said the king. "See how my eyes pain +me," she answered. "If I could only get an eagle's feather to lay on +them they would be well. Oh, how they hurt me!" + +The king called his servants and gave them four thousand rupees. "Go +and get me an eagle's feather," he said, "and he who gets it is to +take the four thousand rupees." "Let us go to the jungle well," they +said, "and find the boy who got us the tigress's milk. We could never +get an eagle's feather, but this child certainly can get one for us." + +So they went to the well where they found the boy. The little prince +was very wise, though he was such a little child; and he knew the +demon would try to send him on some other errand that she might get +rid of him. He was quite willing to go on her errands, for he thought +he might thus learn how to kill her. He was not a bit afraid of being +killed himself, for he knew that God loved him, and that no one but +God could kill him. + +He at once asked the king's servants, "What do you want now?" "Our +king has sent us for an eagle's feather to lay on the queen's eyes, +which pain her again. Here are four thousand rupees for you if you +will get it for us." "Give me the rupees," said the king's son. "Come +here in two weeks, and I will give you the feather." + +He took the rupees to his mothers, and told them he was going to fetch +an eagle's feather. "Where will you find one?" they said. "I don't +know," he answered, "but I am going to look for one." He hired some +more servants, and told them to take care of his mothers and the +tiger-cub. + +He rode straight on for two or three days, and at last came to a very +dense jungle, through which he rode for another three or four days. +When he got out of it he found himself on a beautiful smooth plain in +which was a tank. There, too, was a large fig-tree, and under the tree +cool shade, and cool, thick grass. He was very much pleased when he +saw the tank and the tree. He got off his horse, bathed in the tank, +and sat down under the fig-tree, thinking, "Here I will sleep a little +while before I go further." + +While he lay asleep in the grass, a great snake crawled up the tree, +at the top of which were two young eagles. They began screaming very +loud. Their cries awakened the little prince. He looked about and saw +the great snake in the tree. Then he took his gun and fired at it, and +the snake fell dead to the ground. He cut it into five pieces, and hid +them in the long grass. Then he lay down again and went to sleep. + +The baby eagles were alone in the tree, as their father and mother had +gone to another country. But now the old birds came home, and found +the king's son sleeping in the grass. "See," they said, "here is the +thief who every year robs us of our children! But now he cannot get +away. We will kill him." However, they thought it better to go and +look first at their children, to see if they were safe or not. They +flew up to the top of the tree, and when they found their children +safe, they wished to give them food. All the time they kept saying, +"Eat; then we will kill the thief who steals away our children every +year." The young eagles thought, "Oh, if God would only give us the +power to speak, then we would tell our father and mother that this +boy is no thief." Then God gave them the power to speak, and they said +to the old eagles, "Listen; if that boy had not been here, we should +have died, for he killed a huge snake that was going to swallow us: +only go and look, and you will see it dead and cut into pieces." And +the eaglets refused to eat till the boy had been fed. + +The big eagles flew down and found the bits of the snake: so they flew +away to a beautiful garden, where they got delicious fruits and water. +These they brought to the boy, and awoke him and fed him. Then they +said to him, "It is indeed good to find our children alive. Hitherto +our children have always been eaten by that snake. How are your father +and mother? Why did they let you come to this jungle? What have you +come here for?" The little prince said, "My mother's eyes are very +sore; but they would be cured if she could have an eagle's feather to +lay on them. So I came to look for one." Then the mother gave him one +of her feathers. + +When the boy was going home, the eaglets said they would go with him. +"No," he said, "I will not take you with me." But the old birds said, +"Take one of them, it will help you one day." The little prince made +his salaam to the big eagles, and took one of their young ones, +mounted his horse, and rode off. The eaglet flew over his head to +shade him from the sun. + +When he got home to his seven mothers, he took the feather and went +and sat by the dry well. The king's servants came there to him, and he +gave them the feather, and said, "Take it to your king." This they +did, and the king gave it to the demon, who flew into a great rage. +She said to herself, "The tigers did not kill him, and now the eagles +have not killed him." + +At the end of two weeks she began to cry and would not eat. The king +asked her, "What is the matter with you? what has happened to you?" +"My eyes pain me so much," she said. "What will cure them?" said the +king. "If I had only some night-growing rice," she said, "I would boil +it, and make rice-water, which I would drink. Then I should get well." +Now this night-growing rice was a wonderful rice that no men, and only +one demon, possessed. This was the demon-queen's brother. He used to +put a grain of this rice into his huge cavern of a mouth at night when +he went to sleep, and when he woke in the morning this grain would +have become a tree. Then the demon used to take the rice-tree out of +his mouth. + +The demon, who seemed such a lovely girl, now wrote a letter to her +brother, in which she said, "The bearer of this letter goes to you for +some night-growing rice. You must kill him at once; you must not let +him live." The king gave this letter to his servants, with six +thousand rupees. "Take this letter," he said, "and fetch some of the +night-growing rice. Here are six thousand rupees for whichever of you +finds it." The king had no idea that it was not these men who had gone +for the tigress's milk and the eagle's feather. + +The servants said, "Let us go to the well, to the boy who has helped +us before. We don't know where to get this night-growing rice, but +that boy is sure to know." + +The boy was sitting by the well, and asked what they wanted. They +answered, "See, the king has given us six thousand rupees and a +letter, and told us to fetch him some night-growing rice." "Very +good," said the king's son. "Come here in three weeks' time, and I +will give you some." The servants gave him the rupees and returned +home. + +He took the rupees to his mothers, and told them he was going on a +fresh errand, and they were to keep the money. Then he made them +salaams, took his letter, and rode off. The eaglet went too, and flew +above his head. The tiger's cub he left at home. + +He rode on and on through a very large jungle, and he rode a long, +long way: at last in a jungle he saw a fakír, who was living in it. He +made him salaams, and the fakír was delighted to see him, "because," +he said, "for many years I have been in this country, and all that +time have never seen any man." The prince sat down by the fakír, and +the fakír was very much pleased. He asked the boy who had sent him to +the jungle, and why he had come to it. "My mother has sore eyes," he +answered, "and wants some night-growing rice. She has given me a +letter to the man who owns it." + +The fakír took and read the letter, and was very sorry. He tore it up +and threw it away. Then he wrote another, in which he said, "Your +sister is very ill, and her son has come for some night-growing rice +for her." This he gave to the boy, and told him to continue his +journey. He also told him that the man who had the rice was a huge +demon, and that he lived in the country by the great sea. Then he told +him the way. + +The boy rode on and on, and after a week's journeying he came to the +demon's country. There he saw the huge demon sitting on the ground, +with his great, big mouth, that was just like a cavern. As soon as the +demon saw him he stood up and said, "It is many days since a man came +here. Now I will eat this one." He went towards the prince to seize +him, and a great rushing wind came blowing from the demon, as it +always did when he was angry. But the boy, who had begun to walk +towards him when he stood up, threw the letter to him with all his +might, so that it fell on him; at the same time he made many salaams. +The demon read the letter, and found his sister was very ill, and this +was her son; so he stopped the wind, and came up to the boy, who he +thought was his sister's son. "You have come for the rice for my +sister who is ill," he said to him; "you shall have it." + +The demon had a splendid house full of beautiful things, and a great +many servants. He took the little prince home with him, and told his +servants to get water ready and gave the child a bath. They were also +to cook a good dinner for him. Then the demon showed the boy all his +gardens, and all his beautiful things, and took him through all the +rooms of his house. One room he did not show to the prince. He told +him he was never to go into it, though he might go everywhere else +that he liked. In this room lived the demon's daughter, who was very +beautiful, just like a fairy. She was ten years old. Every day before +her father went out, he used to make the girl lie on her bed, and +cover her with a sheet, and he placed a thick stick at her head, and +another at her feet; then she died till he came home in the evening +and changed the sticks, putting the one at her head at her feet, and +the one at her feet at her head. This brought her to life again. + +The next day, when the demon had gone out, the boy went to this room, +and opened the door, for he wanted to see what was in it. He went in, +and saw the beautiful girl lying on the bed. "How lovely she is!" he +said; "but she is dead." Then he saw the sticks, and, to amuse +himself, he put the one at her head at her feet, and the one at her +feet at her head, just as the demon did every evening. The girl at +once came to life, and opened her eyes and got up. "Who is this?" she +said to herself, when she saw the king's son. "This is not my father." +She asked him, "Who are you? Why do you come here? If my father sees +you he will eat you." "No, he won't," said the prince, "for I am your +aunt's son, and your father himself brought me to his house. But why +is it that you are dead all day, and alive all night?" The girl had +told him that her father brought her to life every evening, and made +her dead every morning. "Such is my father's pleasure," she answered. + +So they talked together all day, and he said to her, "Suppose one day +your father made you dead as usual, and that he was killed before he +had brought you to life, what would you do? You would always be dead +then." "Listen," she said; "no one can kill my father." "Why not?" +said the boy. "Listen," she answered; "on the other side of the sea +there is a great tree, in that tree is a nest, in the nest is a +_mainá_. If any one kills that _mainá_, then only will my father die. +And if, when the _mainá_ is killed, its blood falls to the ground, a +hundred demons would be born from the blood. This is why my father +cannot be killed." + +At evening, before the demon came home, the prince made the girl dead. +Then he went softly into another room. + +The fakír had said to the boy, when they were in the jungle together, +"If ever you are in trouble, come to me and I will help you. It will +take you now one week to ride to the demon's country; but if ever you +need me, you shall be able to come to me here in this jungle, and to +return to the demon's house in one day." The fakír was such a holy man +that everything he said should happen did happen. So now the prince +determined he would go to the fakír and ask him what he should do to +kill this _mainá_. In the morning, therefore, as soon as the demon had +gone out, he set off for the fakír's jungle, and, thanks to the holy +man's power, he got there very quickly. He told him everything, and +the fakír made a paper boat which he gave him. "This boat will take +you over the sea," he said to the prince. "This paper boat!" said the +boy. "How can a paper boat go over the sea? It will get soaked and +sink." "No, it will not," said the fakír. "Launch it on the sea, and +get into it. The boat will of itself carry you to the tree where the +_mainá's_ nest is." + +The prince took the boat, and went back to the demon's house. He got +there before the demon came home, so that he did not know the boy had +been to the fakír. When the demon returned that evening, the king's +son said, "To-morrow I will go home, as my mother is very ill. Will +you give me the rice?" "Good," said the demon, "you shall have it +to-morrow." Next morning he gave the rice, and went off to the jungle. + +Then the boy took his paper boat down to the sea, launched it, and got +into it; and of itself the boat went straight over the sea to the +opposite shore. The eaglet flew above his head; but he left his horse +on land. When he got to the other side, he saw the great tree, with +the nest and the _mainá_. He climbed the tree, and took down the nest, +and the demon, who was far away, knew it at once, and said to himself, +"Some one has come to catch and kill me." He set out at once for the +tree. The prince saw him coming, so he wrapped the _mainá_ up in his +handkerchief, that no blood should fall to the ground. Then he broke +off one of its legs, and one of the demon's legs fell off. Still the +demon came on. Then he broke off the other leg, but the demon walked +on his hands. The boy saw him coming nearer and nearer, so he wrung +the bird's head off, and the demon fell dead. + +The prince jumped into his paper boat, and of itself the boat went +straight back to the other shore, to the demon's country. Then he went +up to the demon's house, and made his daughter alive. + +She was frightened, and said to him, "Oh, take care. If my father +comes back, and finds us together, he will eat us both." "He will not +come back," said the prince. "I have killed him." + +Then he dressed her in boy's clothes, that no one might know she was a +girl, and he found a horse, and had it made ready for her. Her father +had collected a quantity of rupees. Some of these the prince gave to +the servants as a present, and said to them, "Stay here and be happy; +do not be afraid, for there is no demon now to come and eat you." + +Then he took the rice and mounted his horse, and made the girl mount +also, and went off to the fakír. The paper boat he left, as he did not +want it any more. He and the demon's daughter made the fakír many +salaams, and they stayed with him for a day before they rode to the +prince's country. Here they went to his seven mothers, who were very, +very glad to see them, and thanked God that their son had come back +safe. + +He took a little of the rice, and went and sat by the well till the +king's two servants came. Then he gave them the rice for their king, +and the king gave it to the demon. She said nothing while the king was +with her; but when she was alone she cried, for she knew the boy must +have killed her brother, as he had brought her the rice. + +She waited a week, and then she began to cry again, and would not eat. +The king was very sorry, and thought, "What can I do to make her well +and happy?" Then he said, "What will cure your eyes?" "See, king," she +answered, "if I could only bathe my eyes with water from the +Glittering Well, they would not pain me any more." This well was in +the fairies' country, and was guarded by the demon's sister, whose +name was Jangkatar. She lived in the well; and when any one came to +draw water from it, she used to drag him down and eat him. + +The king called his servants, gave them eight thousand rupees, and +said, "Go and fetch me water from the Glittering Well." The servants +went at once to the dry well in the jungle. There they found the +prince, who asked them what they wanted. "Here are eight thousand +rupees," they said; "and the king has ordered us to bring him water +from the Glittering Well." "Come in three weeks, and I will give it +to you," said the king's son. He took to his mothers the eight +thousand rupees which the servants had given him, and said to them, +"Take care of these rupees, for I am going away for a little while." +Then he got his horse ready and mounted it, and made many salaams to +his mothers. The tiger-cub said to him, "Take me with you this time. +Last time you only took the eagle. Now we will both go with you." + +So he rode off; and the eaglet flew above his head and the young tiger +ran by his side. It took him a week to get to the fairies' country, +and then he came to a beautiful smooth plain, in which was a garden, +but no house. In the middle of this garden was the Glittering Well. It +was a deep well, and the water sprang up out of it like a fountain, +and then fell back into the well, and the water shone and sparkled as +if it were gold, and silver, and diamonds. This is why it was called +the Glittering Well. + +The prince dipped his jar in the well, and Jangkatar put up her hand +and caught him. She dragged him into the water and swallowed him +whole. Then the young eagle flew down into the well, seized Jangkatar +in his talons, and took her out and threw her on the ground. The +tiger-cub rushed at her instantly, tore her open, and pulled the +king's son out of her. But he was half dead. The cub and the eaglet +lay down on him to warm him, and when they had warmed him, he was +better. + +"We have saved you," they said to him. "But for us you would have +died." The young prince thanked them and caressed them. "It is quite +true," he said; "without you I should have died." Then he filled his +jar with water, and mounted his horse and rode home. He made salaams +to his seven mothers, with whom all this time the demon's daughter had +stayed. He bathed his mothers' eyes with the water from the Glittering +Well, and then they saw perfectly once more. + +He took a little of the water, and went to wait for the king's +servants by the dry jungle well, and he was very happy thinking that +now his mothers could see. He gave the water to the king's servants, +who took it to the king, and the king gave it to his demon-wife, and +she was very sad and angry, for she knew the boy must have killed her +sister, the guardian of the Glittering Well. + +When a whole month had passed, and he had not been sent on any more +errands, the king's son said to himself, "Good; now nothing more is +going to happen to me. I am not to be sent anywhere else." So he +bought a fine horse and grand clothes, and rode to the king's +court-house. He went in, and seated himself at the king's right hand; +but he made no salaam to the king, and spoke to no one. This he did +every day for three days. Everybody was wondering who this boy was, +and why he never made any salaam to the king. + +On the fourth day, as he sat at the king's right hand, the king asked +him, "Whose child are you? Where do you come from? Where are you +going?" The young prince answered, "See, king, I am a merchant's son; +my ship has been wrecked, and I want to find service with some one." +"What can you do?" asked the king. "I don't know any trade," said his +son; "but I can tell you a story." "What wages do you want?" said the +king. "One thousand rupees a day," answered the boy. "I shall only +stay a short time in your country." "Good," said the king; "I will +give you one thousand rupees a day, and a servant to wait on you +besides. So come every day to my court-house, and tell me your story." + +The prince told the king his own story. He began from where the king +found the beautiful demon-girl crying in the jungle, and ended it +where his demon-wife cried and cried for her sister Jangkatar. It took +him three weeks to tell the story; and when he had finished it, the +king knew that he himself was the king in the story, and that this boy +was his own son. "How can I find my seven queens again?" he said. "If +you will kill this wicked demon-woman they will come back to you," +said his son. The king was very sad, and thought, "My seven wives and +my boy must have suffered very much." Then he loved his son, and was +very happy that he had found him. He ordered his servants to dig a +deep pit in the jungle, so deep that should his demon-wife take her +demon form when put into it, only her head would be above it. He +thought that if her body were buried in the ground she would not be +able to do them much harm while they were shooting her. Then he, and +his son, and his servants took their guns and bows and arrows, and +took the demon with them to the deep pit. She went quite quietly, +though she knew they were going to kill her. Since Jangkatar's death +she had been very quiet and sad. And now she thought, "That boy will +most certainly kill me as he has killed my sister and brother. He is +stronger than I am. I have no one else to send him to; and if I had, +he could not be killed. What is the use of my trying to save myself?" +So she went along quite quietly, looking like a beautiful girl. She +let them put her into the pit, and shoot her to death with their guns +and bows and arrows. Then they filled the pit up with earth. + +The king went to his seven wives, and begged them to forgive him. He +brought them, his son, and the demon's daughter home to his palace. +Later the king married his son to the demon's daughter, and every one +was glad. + +But the king grieved that his six other sons were dead. + + Told by Múniyá. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXV. + +THE FAN PRINCE. + + +In a country there lived a king who had a wife and seven daughters. +One day he called all his daughters to him, and said to them, "My +children, who gives you food? and by whose permission do you eat it?" +Six of them answered, "Father, you give us food; and by your +permission we eat it." But the seventh and youngest said, "Father, God +gives me my food; and by my own permission I eat it." This answer made +her father and mother very angry with their youngest daughter. They +said, "We will not let our youngest child stay with us any longer." +And her father called some servants and said to them, "Get a palanquin +ready, and put my youngest daughter into it; then carry her away to +the jungle, and there leave her." + +The servants got the palanquin ready, put the youngest princess into +it, and carried her into the jungle. There they put the palanquin down +and said to her, "We are going to drink some water." "Go home now," +said the girl, "as my father ordered you to do." They left her, +therefore, in the jungle alone, and went back to the king's palace. + +The girl prayed to God and worshipped him; then she went to sleep for +a little while in her palanquin. When she awoke, it was evening, and +she found in her palanquin a jar of water and some food on a plate +which God had sent her while she slept. She knew that God had sent her +this nice dinner, and thanked him and worshipped him. Then she bathed +her face and hands in a little of the water, and ate and drank, and +went to sleep quietly in her palanquin as night had come. + +This little princess had always been a very gentle girl, and had +always done what was right, and been very good, so God loved her +dearly. While she slept, therefore, he made a beautiful palace for her +on the jungle-plain where she was lying in her palanquin. God made a +garden and tank for her, too. When the princess woke in the morning, +and got out of her palanquin, she saw the palace standing by its tank +in a beautiful garden. "I never saw that palace before," she said. "It +was not here last night." She went into the garden, and servants met +her and made her salaams. The palace was far finer than her father's; +and when she went into it she found it full of servants. "To whom does +this palace belong?" she asked. "To you," they answered. "God made all +this for you last night, and he sent us to wait on you and be your +servants." (Now, they were all men, not angels, that God had sent to +take care of her.) The princess thanked God, and worshipped him. + +A few days later, her father heard that in the jungle to which he had +sent her a beautiful palace and garden and tank had suddenly appeared, +and that in this palace she was living; and he said, "Yes; my daughter +told me the truth: it is God who gives us everything. I know it is he +who gave her this beautiful house." So some time passed, and the +princess lived in her palace in the jungle; but her father did not go +to see her. + +One day he said to himself, "To-day I will go and eat the air in +another country, and I will go by water." So he ordered a boat to be +got ready, and he went to his six daughters, and told them he was +going away for a little while. "What would you like me to bring you +from this other country?" he said. "I will bring you anything you +would like to have." Some of them wanted jewels, a necklace, a pair of +earrings, and so on; and some wanted silk stuffs for sárís and other +clothes. Then the king remembered his youngest child, and thought, "I +must send to her, and see what she would like." He called one of his +servants, and told him to go to the jungle to his youngest daughter +and say, "Your father is going to eat the air of another country. He +wishes to know what you would like him to bring back for you." + +The servant found the little princess reading her prayer-book. He gave +her the king's message. She said, "Sabr" (that is _wait_), for she +meant him to wait for her answer till she had finished reading her +prayers. The servant, however, did not understand, but went away at +once to the king and told him, "Your daughter wants you to bring her +Sabr." "Sabr?" said the king; "what is Sabr? Never, mind, I will see +if I can find any Sabr; and if I do, I will bring it for her." + +The king then went in his boat to another country. There he stayed for +a little while and bought the jewels and silks for his six elder +daughters. When he thought he should like to go home again, he went +down to his boat and got into it. But the boat would not move, because +he had forgotten one thing; the thing his youngest daughter had asked +for. + +Suddenly he remembered he had not got any Sabr. So he gave one of his +servants four thousand rupees, and told him to go on shore, and go +through the bazar, and try and find the Sabr, and he was to give the +four thousand rupees for it. + +The man went to the bazar and asked every one if they had Sabr to +sell. Then he asked if they could tell him what it was. "No," they +said, "but our king's son is called Sabr; you had better speak to +him." + +The servant went to Prince Sabr. "Our king's youngest daughter," he +said, "has asked her father to bring her Sabr, and the king has given +me four thousand rupees to buy it for her; but I cannot get any, and +no one knows what it is." The prince said, "Very good. Give this +little box to your king, and tell him to give it to his youngest +daughter. But it is only the princess who has asked for Sabr who is to +open the box." Then he told the man to keep the four thousand rupees +as a present from him. + +The servant went back to the boat to the king and gave him the box, +saying, "In this is the Sabr," and he told him Prince Sabr said no one +but the youngest princess was to open it. And now the boat moved quite +easily, and the king journeyed home safely. + +He gave his six eldest daughters the presents he had brought for them, +and sent the little box to his youngest daughter. She said, "My father +has sent me this. I will look at it by and by." Then she put it away +and forgot it. At the end of a month she found the little box, and +thought, "I will see what my father has sent me," and opened the box. +In it was a most lovely little fan. She was very much pleased, and +fanned herself with it, and at once a beautiful prince stood before +her. + +The princess was delighted. "Who are you? Where did you come from?" +she said. "My name is Prince Sabr," he answered. "Your father came to +my father's country, and he said you had asked him to bring you Sabr, +so I gave him this little fan for you. I am obliged to come to whoever +uses this little fan with the right side turned outwards. And when you +want me to go away, you must turn the right side of the fan towards +you and then fan yourself with it." The little princess said, "Very +good. And so your name is Prince Sabr?" They talked together for some +time. Then she turned her fan, so that the wrong side was outside, +and fanned herself with it, and the prince disappeared. + +This went on for a month. The princess used to fan herself with the +right side turned outwards, and then Prince Sabr came to her. When she +turned her fan wrong side outwards and fanned herself, then he +vanished. + +One day the prince said to her, "I should like to marry you. Will you +marry me?" "Yes," she answered. Then she wrote a letter to her father +and mother and six sisters, in which she said, "Come to my wedding. I +am going to marry Prince Sabr." They all came. Her father was very +glad that she married Prince Sabr, and said, "I see it is true that +God loves my youngest daughter." + +The day of the wedding her six sisters said to her, "To-day we will +not let the servants make your bed. We will make it ourselves for +you." "I have plenty of servants to make it," she said; "but you can +do so if you like." Her sisters went to make the bed. They took a +glass bottle and ground it into a powder, and they spread the powder +all over the side where Prince Sabr was to lie. This they did because +they were angry at their youngest sister being married, while they, +who were older, were not married, and they thought, being her elders, +they should have married first, especially as they had lived in their +father's palace, and been cared for, while she was cast out in the +jungle. + +When the wedding was over, and Prince Sabr and his wife had gone to +bed, the prince became very ill, from the glass powder going into his +flesh. "Turn your fan the wrong way and fan yourself quickly, that I +may go home to my father's country," he said to her, "for I am very +ill, and dare not remain here." So she fanned herself at once with the +fan turned the wrong way. Then he went home to his father, and was +very ill for a long while. The poor princess knew nothing of the glass +powder. + +Her father and mother and sisters went home after the wedding, and +left the princess alone in her palace. Every day she turned her fan +the right side outwards and fanned and fanned herself; but Prince Sabr +never came. He was far too ill. One day she cried a great deal, and +was very, very sad. "Why does my prince not come to me?" she said. "I +don't know where he is, or what has become of him." That night she had +a dream, and in her dream she saw Prince Sabr lying very ill on his +bed. + +When she got up in the morning she thought she must go and try to find +her prince. So she took off all her beautiful clothes and jewels, and +put on a yogí's dress. Then she mounted a horse and set out in the +jungle. No one knew she was a woman, or that she was a king's +daughter; every one thought she was a man. + +She rode on till night, and then she had come to another jungle. Here +she got off her horse, and took it under a tree. She lay down under +the tree and went to sleep. At midnight she was awakened by the +chattering of a parrot and a _mainá_, who came and sat on the tree +knowing she was lying underneath. + +The _mainá_ said to the parrot, "Parrot, tell me something." The +parrot said, "Prince Sabr is very, very ill in his own country. The +day he was married, the bride's six sisters took a glass bottle and +ground it to powder. Then they spread the powder all over the prince's +bed, so that when he lay down it got into his flesh. The glass powder +has made him very ill." "What will make him well?" said the _mainá_; +"what will cure him?" "No doctors can cure him," said the parrot; "no +medicine will do him any good: but if any one slept under this tree, +and took some of the earth from under it, and mixed it with cold +water, and rubbed it all over Prince Sabr, he would get well." + +All this the princess heard. She got up and longed for morning to +come. When it was day she took some of the earth, mounted her horse, +and rode off. She went on till she came to Prince Sabr's country. Then +she asked to whom the country belonged; she was told it was Prince +Sabr's father's country, "but Prince Sabr is very ill." + +"I am a yogí," said the princess, "and I can cure him." This was told +to the king, Prince Sabr's father. "That is very good," he said. "Send +the yogí to me." So the little princess went to the king, who said to +her, "My son is very, very ill; make him well." "Yes," she said, "I +will make him well. Bring me some cold water." + +They brought her the cold water, and she mixed it with the earth she +had got from under the tree. This she rubbed all over the prince. For +three days and nights she rubbed him with it. After that he got +better, and in a week he was quite well. He was able to talk, and +could walk about as usual. + +Then the yogí said, "Now I will go back to my own country." But the +king said to her, "First you must let me give you a present. You shall +have anything that you like. As many horses, or sepoys, or rupees as +you want you shall have; for you have made my son well." "I want +nothing at all," said the princess, "but Prince Sabr's ring, and the +handkerchief he has with his name worked on it." She had given him +both these things on their wedding day. Prince Sabr's father and +mother went to their son and begged him to give the handkerchief and +ring to the yogí; and he did so quite willingly. "For," he thought, +"were it not for that yogí, I should never see my dear princess +again." + +The yogí took the ring and handkerchief and went home. When she got +there, she took off her yogí's dress and put on her own beautiful +clothes. Then she turned her fan right side outwards, and fanned +herself with it, and immediately her Prince Sabr stood by her. "Why +did you not come to me before?" she said. "I have been fanning and +fanning myself." "I was very ill, and could not come," said Prince +Sabr. "At last a yogí came and made me well, and as a reward I gave +him my ring and handkerchief." "It was no yogí," said the princess. +"It was I who came to you and made you well." "You!" said the prince. +"Oh, no; it was a yogí. You were sitting here in your palace while the +yogí came and cured me." "No, indeed," she said; "I was the yogí. See, +is not this your ring? is not this your handkerchief with your name +worked on it?" Then he believed her, and she told him of her dream, +and her journey in the yogí's dress, and the birds' talk, and all that +had happened. + +And Prince Sabr was very happy that his wife had done so much for him, +and they lived happily together. + + Told by Múniyá. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXVI. + +THE BED. + + +In a country there was a grain merchant's son, whose father and mother +loved him so dearly that they did not let him do anything but play and +amuse himself while they worked for him. They never taught him any +trade, or anything at all; for they never reflected that they might +die, and that then he would have to work for himself. When he was old +enough to be married, they found a wife for him, and married him to +her. Then they all lived happily together for some years till the +father and mother both died. + +Their son and his wife lived for a while on the pice his father and +mother had left him. But the wife grew sadder and sadder every day, +for the pice grew fewer and fewer. She thought, "What shall we do when +they are all gone? My husband knows no trade, and can do no work." One +day when she was looking very sorrowful, her husband asked her, "What +is the matter? Why are you so unhappy?" "We have hardly any pice +left," she answered, "and what shall we do when we have eaten the few +we have? You know no trade, and can do no work." "Never mind," said +her husband, "I can do some work." + +So one day when there were hardly any pice left, he took an axe, and +said to his wife, "I am going out to-day to work. Give me my dinner to +take with me, and I will eat it out of doors." She gave him some +food, wondering what work he had; but she did not ask him. + +He went to a jungle, where he stayed all day, and where he ate his +dinner. All day long he wandered from tree to tree, saying to each, +"May I cut you down?" But not a tree in the jungle gave him any +answer: so he cut none down, and went home in the evening. His wife +did not ask where he had been, or what he had done, and he said +nothing to her. + +The next day he again asked her for food to take with him to eat out +of doors, "for," he said, "I am going to work all day." She did not +like to ask him any questions, but gave him the food. And he took his +axe, and went out to a jungle which was on a different side to the one +he had been to yesterday. In this jungle also he went to every tree, +and said to it, "May I cut you down?" No tree answered him; so he ate +his dinner and came home. + +The next day he went to a third jungle on the third side. There, too, +he asked each tree, "May I cut you down?" But none gave him any +answer. He came home therefore very sorrowful. + +On the fourth day he went to a jungle on the fourth side. All day long +he went from tree to tree, asking each, "May I cut you down?" None +answered. At last, towards evening, he went and stood under a +mango-tree. "May I cut you down?" he said to it. "Yes, cut me down," +answered the tree. God loved the merchant's son and wished him to grow +a great man, so he ordered the mango-tree to let itself be cut down. + +Now the grain merchant's son was happy, for he was quite sure he could +make a bed, if he only had some wood; so he hewed down the mango-tree, +put it on his head, and carried it home. His wife saw him coming, and +said to herself, "He is bringing home a tree! What can he be going to +do with a tree?" + +Next morning he took the tree into one of the rooms of his house. He +told his wife to put food and water to last him for a week in this +room, and to make a fire in it. Then he went up to the room, and said +to her, "You are not to come in here for a whole week. You are not to +come near me till I call you." Then he went into the room and shut the +door. The whole week long his wife wondered what he could be doing all +alone in that room. "I cannot see into it," she said to herself, "and +I dare not open the door. I wonder what he is about." + +By the end of the week the grain merchant's son had carved a most +beautiful bed out of the mango-tree. Such a beautiful bed had never +been seen. Then he called his wife, and when she came he told her to +open the door, and when she opened it he said, "See what a beautiful +bed I have made." "Did _you_ make that bed?" she said. "Oh, what a +beautiful bed it is! I never saw such a lovely bed!" + +He rested that day, and on the day following he took the bed to the +king's palace, and sat down with it before the palace gate. The king's +servants all came to look at the bed. "What a bed it is!" they said. +"Did any one ever see such a bed! It is a beautiful bed. Is it yours?" +they asked the merchant's son. "Is it for sale? Who made it? Did you +make it?" But he said, "I will not answer any of your questions. I +will not speak to any of you. I will only speak to the king." So the +servants went to the king and said to him, "There is a man at your +gate with a most beautiful bed. But he will not speak to any of us, +and says he will only speak to you." "Very good," said the king; +"bring him to me." + +When the grain merchant's son came before the king with his bed, the +king asked him, "Is your bed for sale?" "Yes," he said. "What a +beautiful bed it is!" said the king. "Who made it?" "I did," he said. +"I made it myself." "How much do you want for it?" said the king. +"One thousand rupees," answered the merchant's son. "That is a great +deal for the bed," said the king. "I will not take less," said the +merchant's son. "Good," said the king, "I will give you the thousand +rupees." So he took the bed, and the merchant's son said to him, "The +first night you pass on it, do not go to sleep. Take care to keep +awake, and you will hear and see something." Then he took the rupees +home to his wife, who was frightened when she saw them. "Are those +your rupees?" she said. "Where did you find such a quantity of +rupees?" "The king gave them to me for my bed," he said. "I am not a +thief; I did not steal them." Then she was happy. + +That night the king lay down on his bed, and at ten o'clock he heard +one of the bed's legs say to the other legs, "Listen, you three. I am +going out to see the king's country. Do you all stand firm while I am +away, and take care not to let the king fall." "Good," the three legs +answered; "go and eat the air, and we will all stand fast, so that the +king does not fall while you are away." + +Then the king saw the leg leave the bed, and go out of his room door. +The leg went out to a great plain, and there it saw two snakes +quarrelling together. One snake said, "I will bite the king." The +other said, "I will bite him." The first said, "No, you won't; I will +climb on to his bed and bite him." "That you will never do," said the +second. "You cannot climb on to his bed; but I will get into his shoe, +and then when he puts it on to-morrow morning, I will bite his foot." + +The bed-leg came back and told the other legs what it had seen and +heard. "If the king will shake his shoe before he puts it on to-morrow +morning," it said, "he will see a snake drop out of it." The king +heard all that was said. + +"Now," said the second bed-leg, "I will go out and eat the air of the +king's country. Do you all stand firm while I am away." "Go," the +others answered; "we will take care the king does not fall." The +second bed-leg then went out, and went to another plain on which stood +a very old palace belonging to the king, and the wind told it the +palace was so ruinous that it would fall and kill the king the first +time he went into it: the king had never once had it repaired. So it +came back and told the three other legs all about the palace and what +the wind had said. "If I were the king," said the second bed-leg, "I +would have that palace pulled down. It is quite ready to fall; and the +first time the king goes into it, it will fall on him and kill him." +The king lay, and listened to everything. As it happened, he had +forgotten all about his old palace, and had not gone near it for a +long time. + +Then the third bed-leg said, "Now I will go out and see all the fun I +can. Stand firm, you three, while I am away." He went to a +jungle-plain on which lived a yogí. Now there was a sarai[5] not far +off in which lived a woman, the wife of a sepoy, whose husband had +gone a year ago to another country, leaving her in the sarai. She was +so fond of the yogí, that she used to come and talk to him every +night. That very day her husband came back to her, and therefore it +was later than usual when she got to the yogí; so he was very vexed +with her. "How late you are to-night," he said. "It is not my fault," +she answered. "My husband came home to-day after having been away a +year, and he kept me." "Which of us do you love best?" asked the yogí; +"your husband or me?" "I love you best," said the woman. "Then," said +the yogí, "go home and cut off your husband's head, and bring it here +for me to see." The sepoy's wife went straight to the sarai, cut off +her husband's head, and brought it to the yogí. "What a wicked woman +you are to do such a thing at my bidding!" he said. "Go away at once. +You are a wicked woman, and I do not want to see you." She took the +head home, set it again on the body and began to cry. All the people +in the sarai came to see what was the matter. "Thieves have been +here," she said, "and have killed my husband, and cut off his head," +and then she cried again. The third bed-leg now went back to the +palace, and told the others all it had seen and heard. The king lay +still and listened. + +The fourth bed-leg next went out to see all it could, and it came to a +plain on which were seven thieves, who had just been into the king's +palace, and had carried off his daughter on her bed fast asleep; and +there she lay still sleeping. They had, too, been into the king's +treasury and had taken all his rupees. The fourth bed-leg came quickly +back to the palace, and said to the other three legs, "Now, if the +king were wise he would get up instantly and go to the plain. For some +thieves are there with his daughter and all his rupees which they have +just stolen out of his palace. If he only made haste and went at once, +he would get them again." + +The king got up that minute, and called his servants and some sepoys, +and set off to the plain. He shook his shoe before he put it on, and +out tumbled the snake (the other had quietly gone into the jungle, and +not come to the palace); so he saw that the first bed-leg had spoken +the truth. + +When he reached the plain he found his daughter and his rupees, and +brought them back to his palace. The princess slept all the time, and +did not know what had happened to her. The king saw the fourth leg had +told the truth. The thieves he could not catch, for they all ran away +when they saw him coming with his sepoys. + +The king sent men to the old palace to pull it down. They found it +was just going to fall, and would have fallen on any one who had +entered it, and crushed him. So the second bed-leg had told the truth. + +When the king was sitting in his court-house he heard how during the +night thieves had gone into the sarai and killed a sepoy there and cut +off his head. Then he sent for the sepoy's wife, and asked her who had +killed her husband. "Thieves," she said. The king was very angry, for +he was sure the third bed-leg had told the truth as the other three +legs had done. So he ordered the man to be buried; and bade his +servants make a great wooden pile on the plain, and take the woman and +burn her on it. They were not to leave her as long as she was alive, +but to wait till she was dead. + +He next sent for the grain merchant's son, and said to him, "Had it +not been for your bed, I should this morning have been bitten by a +snake; and, perhaps, killed by my old palace falling on me, as I did +not know it was ready to fall, and so might have gone into it. My +daughter would certainly have been stolen from me; and a wicked woman +been still alive. So now, to-morrow, bring as many carts as you like, +and I will give you as a present as many rupees as you can take away +on them in half a day." + +Early the next morning the merchant's son brought his cart and took +away on them as many rupees as he could in half a day. His wife was +delighted when she saw the money, and said, "My husband only worked +for one week, and yet he earned all these rupees!" And they lived +always happily. + + Told by Múniyá, February 23rd, 1879. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [5] That is, a resting-place for travellers, composed of a number + of small houses in a walled enclosure. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXVII. + +PÁNWPATTÍ RÁNÍ. + + +In a country a big fair was held, to which came a great many people +and Rájás from all the countries round. Among them was a Rájá who +brought his daughter with him. Opposite their tent another tent was +pitched, in which lived a Rájá's son. He was very beautiful; so was +the little Rání, the other Rájá's daughter. + +Now, the Rájá's son and the Rájá's daughter did not even know each +other's names, but they looked at each other a great deal, and each +thought the other very beautiful. "How lovely the Rájá's daughter is!" +thought the prince. "How beautiful the Rájá's son is!" thought the +princess. + +They lived opposite each other for a whole month, and all that time +they never spoke to each other nor did they speak of each other to any +one. But they thought of each other a great deal. + +When the month was over, the little Rání's father said he would go +back to his own country. The Rájá's son sat in his tent and watched +the servants getting ready the little Rání's palanquin. As soon as the +princess herself was dressed and ready for the journey, she came out +of her tent, and took a rose in her hand. She first put the rose to +her teeth; then she stuck it behind her ear; and lastly, she laid it +at her feet. All this time the Rájá's son sat in his tent and looked +at her. Then she got into her palanquin and was carried away. + +The Rájá's son was now very sad. "How lovely the princess is!" he +thought. "And I do not know her name, or her father's name, or the +name of her country. So how can I ever find her? I shall never see her +again." He was very sorrowful, and determined he would go home to his +country. When he got home he laid himself down on his bed, and night +and day he lay there. He would not eat, or drink, or bathe, or change +his clothes. This made his father and mother very unhappy. They went +to him often, and asked him, "What is the matter with you? Are you +ill?" "I want nothing," he would answer. "I don't want any doctor, or +any medicine." Not one word did he say to them, or to any one else, +about the lovely little Rání. + +The son of the Rájá's kotwál[6] was the prince's great friend. The two +had always gone to school together, and had there read in the same +book; they had always bathed, eaten, and played together. So when the +prince had been at home for two days, and yet had not been to school +or seen his friend, the kotwál's son grew very anxious. "Why does the +prince not come to school?" he said to himself. "He has been here for +two days, and yet I have not seen him. I will go and find out if +anything is the matter. Perhaps he is ill." + +He went, therefore, to see the prince, who was lying very miserable on +his bed. "Why do you not come to school? Are you ill?" asked his +friend. "Oh, it is nothing," said the prince. "Tell me what is the +matter," said the kotwál's son; but the Rájá's son would not answer. +"Have you told any one what is the matter with you?" said the kotwál's +son. "No," answered the prince. "Then tell me," said his friend; "tell +me the truth: what is it that troubles you?" + +"Well," said the prince, "at the fair there was a Rájá who had a most +beautiful daughter. They lived in a tent opposite mine, and I used to +see her every day. She is so beautiful! But I do not know her name, or +her father's name, or her country's name; so how can I ever find her?" +"I will take you to her," said his friend; "only get up and bathe, and +eat." "How can you take me to her?" said the prince. "You do not even +know where she is; so how can you take me to her?" "Did she never +speak to you?" said the kotwál's son. "Never," said the prince. "But +when she was going away, just before she got into her palanquin, she +took a rose in her hand; and first she put this rose to her teeth; +then she stuck it behind her ear; and then she laid it at her feet." +"Now I know all about her," said his friend. "When she put the rose to +her teeth, she meant to tell you her father's name was Rájá Dánt [Rájá +Tooth]; when she put it behind her ear she meant you to know her +country's name was Karnátak [on the ear]; and when she laid the rose +at her feet, she meant that her name was Pánwpattí [Foot-leaf]. Get +up; bathe and dress, eat and drink, and we will go and find her." + +The prince got up directly, and told his father and mother he was +going for a few days to eat the air of another country. At first they +forbad his going; but then they reflected that he had been very ill, +and that perhaps the air of another country might make him well; so at +last they consented. The prince and his friend had two horses saddled +and bridled, and set off together. + +At the end of a month they arrived in a country where they asked (as +they had asked in every other country through which they had ridden), +"What is the name of this country?" "Karnátak" [the Carnatic]. "What +is your Rájá's name?" "Rájá Dánt." Then the two friends were glad. +They stopped at an old woman's house, and said to her, "Let us stay +with you for a few days. We are men from another country and do not +know where to go in this place." The old woman said, "You may stay +with me if you like. I live all alone, and there is plenty of room for +you." + +After two or three days the kotwál's son said to the old woman, "Has +your Rájá a daughter?" "Yes," she answered; "he has a daughter; her +name is Pánwpattí Rání." "Can you go to see her?" asked the kotwál's +son. "Yes," she said, "I can go to see her. I was her nurse, and she +drank my milk. It is the Rájá who gives me my house, and my food, and +clothes--everything that I have." "Then go and see her," said the +kotwál's son, "and tell her that the prince whom she called to her at +the fair has come." + +The old woman went up to the palace, and saw the princess. After they +had talked together for some time, she said to the little Rání, "The +prince you called to you at the fair is come." "Good," she said; "tell +him to come to see me to-night at twelve o'clock. He is not to come in +through the door, but through the window." (This she said because she +did not want her father to know that the prince had come, until she +had made up her mind whether she would marry him.) + +The old woman went home and told the kotwál's son what the Princess +Pánwpattí said. That night the prince went to see her, and every night +for three or four nights he went to talk with her for an hour. Then +she told her mother she wished to be married, and her mother told her +father. Her father asked whom she wished to marry, and she said, "The +Rájá's son who lives in my nurse's house." Her father said she might +marry him if she liked; so the wedding was held. The kotwál's son went +to the wedding, and then returned to the old woman's house; but the +prince lived in the Rájá's palace. + +Here he stayed for a month, and all that time he never saw his friend. +At last he began to fret for him, and was very unhappy. "What makes +you so sad?" said Pánwpattí Rání. "I am sad because I have not seen +my friend for a whole month," answered her husband. "I must go and see +him." "Yes, go and see him," said his wife. The Rájá's son went to the +old woman's house, and there he stayed a week, for he was so glad to +see the kotwál's son. Then he returned to his wife. Now she thought he +would only have been away a day, and was very angry at his having +stayed so long from her. "How could you leave me for a whole week?" +she said to him. "I had not seen my friend for a month," he answered. +Pánwpattí Rání did not let her husband see how angry she was; but in +her heart she thought, "I am sure he loves his friend best." + +The prince remained with her for a month. Then he said, "I must go and +see my friend." This made her very angry indeed. However, she said, +"Good; go and see your friend, and I will make you some delicious +sweetmeats to take him from me." She set to work, and made the most +tempting sweetmeats she could; only in each she put a strong poison. +Then she wrapped them in a beautiful handkerchief, and her husband +took them to the kotwál's son. "My Rání has made you these herself," +he said to his friend, "and she sends you a great many salaams." The +Rájá's son knew nothing of the poison. + +The kotwál's son put the sweetmeats on one side, and said, "Let us +talk, and I will eat them by and by." So they sat and talked for a +long time. Then the kotwál's son said, "Your Rání herself made these +sweetmeats for me?" "Yes," said the Rájá's son. His friend was very +wise, and he thought, "Pánwpattí Rání does not like me. Of that I am +sure." So he took some of the sweetmeats, and broke them into bits and +threw them to the crows. The crows came flying down, and all the crows +who ate the sweetmeats died instantly. Then the kotwál's son threw a +sweetmeat to a dog that was passing. The dog devoured it and fell +dead. This put the Rájá's son into great rage. "I will never see my +Rání again!" he exclaimed. "What a wicked woman she is to try and +poison my friend--my friend whom I love so dearly; but for whom I +should never have married her!" He would not go back to his wife, and +stayed in the old woman's house. The kotwál's son often told him he +ought to return to his wife, but the prince would not do so. "No," he +said, "she is a wicked woman. You never did her any evil or hurt; yet +she has tried to poison you. I will never see her again." + +When a month had passed, the kotwál's son said to the prince, "You +really must go back to Pánwpattí Rání; she is your wife, and you must +go to her, and take her away to your own country." Still the Rájá's +son declared he would never see her again. "If you would like to see +something that will please you," said his friend, "go back to your +wife for one day; and to-night 'when she is asleep' you must take off +all her jewels, and tie them up in a handkerchief, and bring them to +me. But before you leave her you must wound her in the leg with this +trident." So saying, he gave him a small iron trident. + +The prince went back to the palace. His wife was very angry with him, +though she did not show her anger. At night 'when she was fast asleep' +he took off all her jewels and tied them in a handkerchief, and he +gave her a thrust in the leg with his trident. Then he went quickly +back to his friend. The princess awoke and found herself badly hurt +and alone; and she saw that her jewels were all gone. In the morning +she told her father and mother that her jewels had been stolen; but +she said nothing about the wound in her leg. The king called his +servants, and told them a thief had come in the night and stolen his +daughter's jewels, and he sent them to look for the thief and seize +him. + +That morning the kotwál's son got up and dressed himself like a yogí. +He made the prince put on common clothes such as every one wears, so +that he could not be recognized, and sent him to the bazar to sell his +wife's jewels. He told him, too, all he was to say. The pretended yogí +went to the river and sat down by it, and the Rájá's son went through +the bazar and tried to sell the jewels. The Rájá's servants seized him +immediately. "You thief!" they said to him, "what made you steal our +Rájá's daughter's jewels?" "I know nothing about the jewels," said the +prince. "I am no thief; I did not steal them. The holy man, who is my +teacher, gave them to me to sell in the bazar for him. If you want to +know anything more about them, you must ask him." "Where is this holy +man?" said the servants. "He is sitting by the river," said the Rájá's +son. "Let us go to him. I will show you where he is." + +They all went down to the river, and there sat the yogí. "What is all +this?" said the servants to him. "Are you a yogí, and yet a thief? Why +did you steal the little Rání's jewels?" "Are those the little Rání's +jewels?" said the yogí. "I did not steal them; I did not know to whom +they belonged. Listen, and I will tell you. Last night at twelve +o'clock I was sitting by this river when a woman came down to it--a +woman I did not know. She took a dead body out of the river, and began +to eat it. This made me so angry, that I took all her jewels from her, +and she ran away. I ran after her and wounded her in the leg with my +trident. I don't know if she were your Rájá's daughter, or who she +was; but whoever she may be, she has the mark of the trident's teeth +in her leg." + +The servants took the jewels up to the palace, and told the Rájá all +the yogí had said. The Rájá asked his wife whether the Princess +Pánwpattí had any hurt in her leg, and told her all the yogí's story. +The Rání went to see her daughter, and found her lying on her bed and +unable to get up from the pain she was in, and when she looked at her +leg she saw the wound. She returned to the Rájá and said to him, "Our +daughter has the mark of the trident's teeth in her leg." + +The Rájá got very angry, and called his servants and said to them, +"Bring a palanquin, and take my daughter at once to the jungle, and +there leave her. She is a wicked woman, who goes to the river at night +to eat dead people. I will not have her in my house any more. Cast her +out in the jungle." The servants did as they were bid, and left +Pánwpattí Rání, crying and sobbing in the jungle, partly from the pain +in her leg, and partly because she did not know where to go, and had +no food or water. + +Meanwhile her husband and the kotwál's son heard of her being sent +into the jungle, so they returned to the old woman's house and put on +their own clothes. Then they went to the jungle to find her. She was +still crying, and her husband asked her why she cried. She told him, +and he said, "Why did you try to poison my friend? You were very +wicked to do so." "Yes," said the kotwál's son; "Why did you try to +kill me? I have never done you any wrong or hurt you. It was I who +told your husband what you meant by putting the rose to your teeth, +behind your ear, and at your feet. Without me he would never have +found you, never have married you." Then she knew at once who had +brought all this trouble to her, and she was very sorry she had tried +to kill her husband's friend. + +They all three now went home to her husband's country; and his father +and mother were very glad indeed that their son had married a Rájá's +daughter, and the Rájá gave the kotwál's son a very grand present. + +The young Rájá and his wife lived with his father and mother, and were +always very happy together. + + Told by Múniyá, February, 1879. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [6] The chief police officer in a town. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXVIII. + +THE CLEVER WIFE. + + +In a country there was a merchant who traded in all kinds of +merchandise, and used to make journeys from country to country in his +boat to buy and sell his goods. He one day said to his wife, "I cannot +stay at home any more, for I must go on a year's journey to carry on +my business." And he added, laughing, "When I return I expect to find +you have built me a grand well; and also, as you are such a clever +wife, to see a little son." Then he got into his boat and went away. + +When he was gone his wife set to work, and she spun four hanks of +beautiful thread with her own hands. Then she dressed herself in her +prettiest clothes, and put on her finest jewels. "I am going to the +bazar," she said to her ayahs, "to sell this thread." "That is not +right," said one of the ayahs. "You must not sell your thread +yourself, but let me sell it for you. What will your husband say if he +hears you have been selling thread in the bazar?" "I will sell my +thread myself," answered the merchant's wife. "You could never sell it +for me." + +So off she set to the bazar, and every one in it said, "What a +beautiful woman that is!" At last the kotwál saw her, and came to her +at once. + +"What beautiful thread!" he said. "Is it for sale?" "Yes," she said. +"How much a hank?" said the kotwál. "Fifty rupees," she answered. +"Fifty rupees! Who will ever give you fifty rupees for it?" "I will +not sell it for less," said the woman. "I shall get fifty rupees for +it." "Well," said the kotwál, "I will give you the fifty rupees. Can I +dine with you at your house?" "Yes," she answered, "to-night at ten +o'clock." Then he took the thread and gave her fifty rupees. + +Then she went away to another bazar, and there the king's wazír saw +her trying to sell her thread. "What lovely thread! Is it for sale?" +he said. "Yes, at one hundred rupees the hank," she answered. "Well, I +will give you one hundred rupees. Can I dine with you at your house?" +said the wazír. "Yes," she answered, "to-night at eleven o'clock." +"Good," said the wazír; "here are the hundred rupees." And he took the +thread and went away. + +The merchant's wife now went to a third bazar, and there the king's +kází saw her. "Is that beautiful thread for sale?" he asked. "Yes," +she answered, "for one hundred and fifty rupees." "I will give you the +hundred and fifty rupees. Can I dine with you at your house?" "Yes," +she said, "to-night at twelve o'clock." "I will come," said the kází. +"Here are one hundred and fifty rupees." So she took the rupees and +gave him the thread. + +She set off with the fourth hank to the fourth bazar, and in this +bazar was the king's palace. The king saw her, and asked if the thread +was for sale. "Yes," she said, "for five hundred rupees." "Give me the +thread," said the king; "here are your five hundred rupees. Can I dine +with you at your house?" "Yes," she said, "to-night at two o'clock." + +Then she went home and sent one of her servants to the bazar to buy +her four large chests; and she told her other servants that they were +to get ready four very good dinners for her. Each dinner was to be +served in a different room; and one was to be ready at ten o'clock +that night, one at eleven, one at twelve, and one at two in the +morning. The servant brought her four large chests, and she had them +placed in four different rooms. + +At ten o'clock the kotwál arrived. The merchant's wife greeted him +graciously, and they sat down and dined. After dinner she said to him, +"Can you play at cards?" "Yes," he answered. She brought some cards, +and they sat and played till the clock struck eleven, when the +doorkeeper came in to say, "The wazír is here, and wishes to see you." +The kotwál was in a dreadful fright. "Do hide me somewhere," he said +to her. "I have no place where you can hide in this room," she +answered; "but in another room I have a big chest. I will shut you up +in that if you like, and when the wazír is gone, I will let you out of +it." So she took him into the next room, and he got into one of the +four big chests, and she shut down the lid and locked it. + +Then she bade the doorkeeper bring in the wazír, and they dined +together. After dinner she said, "Can you play at cards?" "Yes," said +the wazír. She took out the cards, and they played till twelve +o'clock, when the doorkeeper came to say the kází had come to see her. +"Oh, hide me! hide me!" cried the wazír in a great fright. "If you +come to another room," she said, "I will hide you in a big chest I +have. I can let you out when he is gone." So she locked the wazír up +in the second chest. + +She and the kází now dined. Then she said, "Can you play at cards?" +"Yes," said the kází. So they sat playing at cards till two o'clock, +when the doorkeeper said the king had come to see her. "Oh, what shall +I do?" said the kází, terribly frightened. "Do hide me. Do not let me +be seen by the king." "You can hide in a big chest I have in another +room, if you like," she answered, "till he is gone." And she locked up +the kází in her third chest. + +The king now came in, and they dined. "Will you play a little game at +cards?" she asked. "Yes," said the king. So they played till three +o'clock, when the doorkeeper came running in (just as she had told him +to do) to say, "My master's boat has arrived, and he is coming up to +the house. He will be here directly." "Now what shall I do?" said the +king, who was as frightened as the others had been. "Here is your +husband. He must not see me. You must hide me somewhere." "I have no +place to hide you in," she said, "but a big chest. You can get into +that if you like, and I will let you out to-morrow morning." So she +shut the lid of the fourth chest down on the king and locked him up. +Then she went to bed, and to sleep, and slept till morning. + +The next day, after she had bathed and dressed, and eaten her +breakfast, and done all her household work, she said to her servants, +"I want four coolies." So the servants went for the coolies; and when +they came she showed them the four chests, and said, "Each of you must +take one of these chests on your head and come with me." Then they set +out with her, each carrying a chest. + +Meanwhile the kotwál's son, the wazír's son, the kází's son, and the +king's son, had been roaming about looking everywhere for their +fathers, and asking every one if they had seen them, but no one knew +anything about them. + +The merchant's wife went first to the kotwál's house, and there she +saw the kotwál's son. She had the kotwál's chest set down on the +ground before his door. "Will you buy this chest?" she said to his +son. "What is in it?" he asked. "A most precious thing," she answered. +"How much do you want for it?" said his son. "One thousand rupees," +she said; "and when you open the chest, you will see the contents are +worth two thousand. But you must not open it till you are in your +father's house." "Well," said the kotwál's son, "here are a thousand +rupees." The woman and the other three chests went on their way, while +he took his into the house. "What a heavy chest!" he said. "What can +be inside?" Then he lifted the lid. "Why, there's my father!" he +cried. "Father, how came you to be in this chest?" The kotwál was very +much ashamed of himself. "I never thought she was the woman to play me +such a trick," he said; and then he had to tell his son the whole +story. + +The merchant's wife next stopped at the wazír's house, and there she +saw the wazír's son. The wazír's chest was put down before his door, +and she said to his son, "Will you buy this chest?" "What is inside of +it?" he asked. "A most precious thing," she answered. "Will you buy +it?" "How much do you want for it?" asked the son. "Only two thousand +rupees, and it is worth three thousand." So the wazír's son bought his +father, without knowing it, for two thousand rupees. "You must not +open the chest till you are in the house," said the merchant's wife. +The wazír's son opened the chest in the house at once, wondering what +could be in it; and the wazír's wife stood by all the time. When they +saw the wazír himself, looking very much ashamed, they were greatly +astonished. "How came you there?" they cried. "Where have you been?" +said his wife. "Oh," said the wazír, "I never thought she was a woman +to treat me like this;" and he, too, had to tell all his story. + +Now the merchant's wife stopped at the kází's door, and there stood +the kází's son. "Will you buy this chest?" she said to him, and had +the kází's chest put on the ground. "What is in it?" said the kází's +son. "Silver and gold," she answered. "You shall have it for three +thousand rupees. The contents are worth four." "Well, I will take it," +said the son. "Don't open it till you are in your house," she said, +and took her three thousand rupees and went away. Great was the +excitement when the kází stepped out of the chest. "Oh!" he groaned, +"I never thought she could behave like this to me." + +The merchant's wife now went to the palace, and set the king's chest +down at the palace gates. There she saw the king's son. "Will you buy +this chest?" she said. "What is in it?" asked the prince. "Diamonds, +pearls, and all kinds of precious stones," said the merchant's wife. +"You shall have the chest for five thousand rupees, but its contents +are worth a great deal more." "Well," said the king's son, "here are +your five thousand rupees; give me the chest." "Don't open it out +here," she said. "Take it into the palace and open it there." And away +she went home. + +The king's son opened the chest, and there was his father. "What's all +this?" cried the prince. "How came _you_ to be in the chest?" The king +was very much ashamed, and did not tell much about his adventure; but +when he was sitting in his court-house, he had the merchant's wife +brought to him, and gave her a quantity of rupees, saying, "You are a +wise and clever woman." + +Now the kotwál knew the wazír had gone to see the merchant's wife; and +the wazír knew the kází had gone; and the kází, that the king had +gone; but this was all that any of them knew. + +The merchant's wife had now plenty of rupees, so she had a most +beautiful well built and roofed over. Then she locked the door of the +well, and told the servants no one was to drink any of its water, or +bathe in it, till her husband came home: he was to be the first to +drink its water, and bathe in the well. + +Then she sent her ayah to the bazar to buy her clothes and ornaments +such as cowherd's wives and daughter's wear; and when the ayah had +brought her these, she packed them up in a box. Then she dressed +herself in men's clothes, so that no one could tell she was a woman, +and ordered a horse to be got ready for her. "I am going to eat the +air of another country for a little while," she said. "You must all +take great care of the house while I am away." The servants did not +like her going away at all; they were afraid her husband might return +during her absence, and that he would be angry with them for having +let her go. "Don't be afraid," she said. "There is nothing to be +frightened about. I shall come back all right." + +So she set out, taking the key of the well, the box with the clothes +her ayah had bought for her in the bazar, and plenty of rupees. She +also took two of her servants. She travelled a long, long way, asking +everywhere for her husband's boat. At last at the end of a month she +came to where it was. Here she hired a little house, and dressed +herself like a cowherd's daughter. Then she got some very good milk, +and went down to the banks of the river to sell it. Everybody said, +"Do look what a beautiful woman that is selling milk!" She sold her +milk very quickly, it was so good. This she did for several days, till +her husband, the merchant, saw her. He thought her so beautiful, that +he asked her to bring him some milk to his boat. So every day for a +little while she sold him milk. One day he said to her, "Will you +marry me?" "How can I marry you?" she said. "You are a merchant, and I +am a cowherd's daughter. Soon you will be leaving this country, and +will travel to another in your boat; you will want me to go with you. +Then I shall have to leave my father and mother, and who will take +care of them?" "Let us be married," said the merchant. "I am going to +stay here for three months. When I go, you shall return to your father +and mother, and later I will come back to you." To this she agreed, +and they were married, and she went to live in the boat. At the end +of three months, the merchant said to her, "My business here is done, +and I must go to another country. Would you like to go home to your +father and mother while I am away?" "Yes," she said. "Here are some +rupees for you to live on in my absence," he said. "I do not want any +rupees," said his wife. "I only want you to give me two things: your +old cap, and your picture." These he gave her, and then he went to his +boat, and she went back to her own home. + +Some time afterwards she had a little son. The servants were greatly +frightened, for they thought their master would not be pleased when he +came home; and he was not pleased when he did come two months later. +He was so cross that he would not look at the baby-boy, and he would +hardly look at his beautiful well. + +One night he lay awake thinking, and he thought he would kill his wife +and her little son. But the next day she came to him: "Tell me the +truth," she said; "you are angry with me? Don't be angry, for I want +to show you a picture I like very much--the picture of my boy's +father." Then she showed him his own picture, and the old cap he had +given her on board his boat; and she told him how she had been the +cowherd's daughter; and also how she had gained the money to build his +well. "You see," she said, "I have done all you bade me. Here is your +well, and here is your son." Then the merchant was very happy. He +kissed and loved his little son, and thought his well was beautiful; +and he said to his wife, "What a clever woman you are!" + + Told by Múniyá, Calcutta, March 3rd, 1879. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXIX. + +RÁJÁ HARICHAND'S PUNISHMENT. + + +There was once a great Rájá, Rájá Harichand, who every morning before +he bathed and breakfasted used to give away one hundred pounds weight +of gold to the fakírs, his poor ryots, and other poor people. This he +did in the name of God, "For," he said, "God loves me and gives me +everything that I have; so daily I will give him this gold." + +Now God heard what a good man Rájá Harichand was, and how much the +Rájá loved him, and he thought he would go and see for himself if all +that was said of the Rájá were true. He therefore went as a fakír to +Rájá Harichand's palace and stood at his gate. The Rájá had already +given away his hundred pounds' weight of gold, and gone into his +palace and bathed and breakfasted; so when his servants came to tell +him that another fakír stood at his gate, the Rájá said, "Bid him come +to-morrow, for I have bathed, and have eaten my breakfast, and +therefore cannot attend to him now." The servants returned to the +fakír, and told him, "The Rájá says you must come to-morrow, for he +cannot see you now, as he has bathed and breakfasted." God went away, +and the next day he again came, after all the fakírs and poor people +had received their gold and the Rájá had gone into his palace. So the +Rájá told his servants, "Bid the fakír come to-morrow. He has again +come too late for me to see him now." + +On the third day God was once more too late, for the Rájá had gone +into his palace. The Rájá was vexed with him for being a third time +too late, and said to his servants, "What sort of a fakír is this that +he always comes too late? Go and ask him what he wants." So the +servants went to the fakír and said, "Rájá Harichand says, 'What do +you want from him?'" "I want no rupees," answered God, "nor anything +else; but I want him to give me his wife." The servants told this to +the Rájá, and it made him very angry. He went to his wife, the Rání +Báhan, and said to her, "There is a fakír at the gate who asks me to +give you to him! As if I should ever do such a thing! Fancy my giving +him my wife!" + +The Rání was very wise and clever, for she had a book, which she read +continually, called the kop shástra; and this book told her +everything. So she knew that the fakír at the gate was no fakír, but +God himself. (In old days about two people in a thousand, though not +more, could read this book; now-a-days hardly any one can read it, for +it is far too difficult.) So the Rání said to the Rájá, "Go to this +fakír, and say to him, 'You shall have my wife.' You need not really +give me to him; only give me to him in your thoughts." "I will do no +such thing," said the Rájá in a rage; and in spite of all her +entreaties, he would not say to the fakír, "I will give you my wife." +He ordered his servants to beat the fakír, and send him away; and so +they did. + +God returned to his place, and called to him two angels. "Take the +form of men," he said to them, "and go to Rájá Harichand. Say to him, +'God has sent us to you. He says, Which will you have--a twelve years' +famine throughout your land during which no rain will fall? or a great +rain for twelve hours?'" + +The angels came to the Rájá and said as God had bidden them. The Rájá +thought for a long while which he should choose. "If a great rain +pours down for twelve hours," he said to himself, "my whole country +will be washed away. But I have a great quantity of gold. I have +enough to send to other countries and buy food for myself and my ryots +during the twelve years' famine." So he said to the angels, "I will +choose the famine." Then the angels came into his palace; and the +moment they entered it, all the Rájá's servants that were in the +palace, and all his cows, horses, elephants, and other animals became +stone. So did every single thing in the palace, excepting his gold and +silver, and these turned to charcoal. The Rájá and Rání did not become +stone. + +The angels said to them, "For three weeks you will not be able to eat +anything; you will not be able to eat any food you may find or may +have given you. But you will not die, you will live." Then the angels +went away. + +The Rájá was very sad when he looked round his palace and saw +everything in it, and all the people in it, stone, and saw all his +gold and silver turned to charcoal. He said to his wife, "I cannot +stay here. I must go to some other country. I was a great Rájá; how +can I ask my ryots to give me food? We will dress ourselves like +fakírs, and go to another country." + +They put on fakírs' clothes and went out of their palace. They +wandered in the jungle till they saw a plum-tree covered with fruit. +"Do gather some of those plums for me," said the Rání, who was very +hungry. The Rájá went to the tree and put out his hand to gather the +plums; but when he did this, they at once all left the tree and went a +little way up into the air. When he drew back his hand, the plums +returned to the tree. The Rájá tried three times to gather the plums, +but never could do so. + +He and the Rání then went on till they came to a plain in another +country, where was a large tank in which men were fishing. The Rání +said to her husband, "Go and ask those men to give us a little of +their fish, for I am very hungry." The Rájá went to the men and said, +"I am a fakír, and have no pice. Will you give me some of your fish, +for I have not eaten for four days and am hungry?" The men gave him +some fish, and he and his wife carried it to a tank on another plain. +The Rání cleaned and prepared the fish for cooking, and said to her +husband, "I have nothing in which to cook this fish. Go up to the town +(there was a town close by) and ask some one to give you an earthen +pot with a lid, and some salt." + +The Rájá went up to the town, and some one in the bazar gave him the +earthen pot, and a grain merchant put a little salt into it. Then he +returned to the Rání, and they made a fire under a tree, put the fish +into the pot, and set the pot on the fire. "I have not bathed for some +days," said the Rájá. "I will go and bathe while you cook the fish, +and when I come back we will eat it." So he went to bathe, and the +Rání sat watching the fish. Presently she thought, "If I leave the lid +on the pot, the fish will dry up and burn." Then she took off the lid, +and the fish instantly jumped out of the pot into the tank and swam +away. This made the Rání sad; but she sat there quiet and silent. When +the Rájá had bathed, he returned to his wife, and said, "Now we will +eat our fish." The Rání answered, "I had not eaten for four days, and +was very hungry, so I ate all the fish." "Never mind," said the Rájá, +"it does not matter." + +They wandered on, and the next day came to another jungle where they +saw two pigeons. The Rájá took some grass and sticks, and made a bow +and arrow. He shot the pigeons with these, and the Rání plucked and +cleaned them. Her husband and she made a little fire, put the pigeons +in their pot, and set them on it. There was a tank near. "Now I will +go and bathe," said the Rání; "I have not bathed for some days. When I +come back, we will eat the pigeons." So she went to bathe, and the +Rájá sat down to watch the pigeons. Presently he thought, "If I leave +the pot shut, the birds will dry up and burn." So he took off the lid, +and instantly away flew the pigeons out of the pot. He guessed at once +what the fish had done yesterday, and sat still and silent till the +Rání came back. "I have eaten the pigeons in the same way that you ate +the fish yesterday," he said to her. The Rání understood what had +happened, and saw the Rájá knew how the fish had escaped. + +So they wandered on; and as they went the Rání remembered an oil +merchant, called Gangá Télí, a friend of theirs, and a great man, just +like a Rájá. "Let us go to Gangá Télí, if we can walk as far as his +house," she said. "He will be good to us." He lived a long way off. +When they got to him, Gangá Télí knew them at once. "What has +happened?" he said. "You were a great Rájá; why are you and the Rání +so poor and dressed like fakírs?" "It is God's will," they answered. +Gangá Télí did not think it worth while to notice them much now they +were poor; so, though he did not send them away, he gave them a +wretched room to live in, a wretched bed to lie on, and such bad food +to eat that, hungry as they were, they could not touch it. "When we +were rich," they said to each other, "and came to stay with Gangá +Télí, he received us like friends; he gave us beautiful rooms to live +in, beautiful beds to lie on, and delicious food to eat. We cannot +stay here." + +So they went away very sorrowful, and wandered for a whole week, and +all the time they had no food, till they came to another country whose +Rájá, Rájá Bhoj, was one of their friends. Rájá Bhoj received them +very kindly. "What has brought you to this state? How is it you are so +poor?" he said. "What has happened to you?" "It is God's will," they +answered. Rájá Bhoj gave them a beautiful room to live in, and told +his servants to cook for them the very nicest dinner they could. This +the servants did, and they brought the dinner into Rájá Harichand's +room, and set it before him and left him. Then he and the Rání put +some of the food on their plates; but before they could eat anything, +the food both in the dishes and on their plates became full of +maggots. So they could not eat it. They felt greatly humbled. However, +they said nothing, but worshipped God; and they buried all the food in +a hole they dug in the floor of their room. + +Now the daughter of Rájá Bhoj had left her gold necklace hanging on +the wall of the room in which were Rájá Harichand and the Rání Báhan. +At night when Rájá Harichand was asleep, the Rání saw a crack come in +the wall and the necklace go of itself into the crack; then the wall +joined together as before. She at once woke her husband, and told him +what she had seen. "We had better go away quickly," she said. "The +necklace will not be found to-morrow, and Rájá Bhoj will think we are +thieves. It will be useless breaking the wall open to find it." The +Rájá got up at once, and they set out again. Rájá Bhoj, when the +necklace was not found, thought Rájá Harichand and the Rání Báhan had +stolen it. + +They wandered on till they came to a country belonging to another +friend, called Rájá Nal, but they were ashamed to go to his palace. +The three weeks were now nearly over, only two more days were left. So +the Rání said, "In two days we shall be able to eat. Go into the +jungle and cut grass, and sell it in the bazar. We shall thus get a +few pice and be able to buy a little food." The Rájá went out to the +jungle, but he had to break and pull up the grass with his hands. He +worked half the day, and then sold the grass in the bazar for a few +pice. They were able to buy food, and worshipped God and cooked it; +and as the three weeks were now over they were allowed to eat it. + +They stayed in Rájá Nal's country, and lived in a little house they +hired in the bazar. Rájá Harichand went out every day to the jungle +for grass, which he pulled up or broke off with his hands, and then +sold in the bazar for a few pice. The Rání saved a pice or two +whenever she could, and at the end of two years they were rich enough +to buy a hook such as grass-cutters use. The Rájá could now cut more +grass, and soon the Rání was able to buy some pretty-coloured silks in +the bazar. + +Her husband went daily to cut grass, and she sat at home making +head-collars with the silks for horses. Four years after they had +bought the hook, she had four of these head-collars ready, and she +took them up to Rájá Nal's palace to sell. It was the first time she +had gone there, for she and her husband were ashamed to see Rájá Nal. +Their fakírs' dresses had become rags, and they had only been able to +get wretched common clothes in their place, for they were miserably +poor. + +"What beautiful head-collars these are!" said Rájá Nal's coachmen and +grooms; and they took them to show to their Rájá. As soon as he saw +them he said, "Where did you get these head-collars? Who is it that +wishes to sell them?" for he knew that only one woman could make such +head-collars, and that woman was the Rání Báhan. "A very poor woman +brought them here just now," they answered. "Bring her to me," said +Rájá Nal. So the servants brought him Rání Báhan, and when she saw the +Rájá she burst into tears. "What has brought you to this state? Why +are you so poor?" said Rájá Nal. "It is God's will," she answered. +"Where is your husband?" he asked. "He is cutting grass in the +jungle," she said. Rájá Nal called his servants and said, "Go into the +jungle, and there you will see a man cutting grass. Bring him to me." +When Rájá Harichand saw Rájá Nal's servants coming to him, he was very +much frightened; but the servants took him and brought him to the +palace. As soon as Rájá Nal saw his old friend, he seized his hands, +and burst out crying. "Rájá," he said, "what has brought you to this +state?" "It is God's will," said Rájá Harichand. + +Rájá Nal was very good to them. He gave them a palace to live in, and +servants to wait on them; beautiful clothes to wear, and good food to +eat. He went with them to the palace to see that everything was as it +should be for them. "To-day," he said to the Rání, "I shall dine with +your husband, and you must give me a dinner cooked just as you used to +cook one for me when I went to see you in your own country." "Good, I +will give it you," said the Rání; but she was quite frightened, for +she thought, "The Rájá is so kind, and everything is so comfortable +for us, that I am sure something dreadful will happen." However, she +prepared the dinner, and told the servants how to cook it and serve +it; but first she worshipped God, and entreated him to have mercy on +her and her husband. The dinner was very good, and nothing evil +happened to any one. They lived in the palace Rájá Nal gave them for +four and a half years. + +Meanwhile the farmers in Rájá Harichand's country had all these years +gone on ploughing and turning up the land, although not a drop of rain +had fallen all that time, and the earth was hard and dry. Now just +when the Rájá and Rání had lived in Rájá Nal's palace for four and a +half years Mahádeo was walking through Rájá Harichand's country. He +saw the farmers digging up the ground, and said, "What is the good of +your digging and turning up the ground? Not a drop of rain is going to +fall." "No," said the farmers, "but if we did not go on ploughing and +digging, we should forget how to do our work." They did not know they +were talking to Mahádeo, for he looked like a man. "That is true," +said Mahádeo, and he thought, "The farmers speak the truth; and if I +go on neglecting to blow on my horn, I shall forget how to blow on it +at all." So he took his deer's horn, which was just like those some +yogís use, and blew on it. Now when Rájá Harichand had chosen the +twelve years' famine, God had said, "Rain shall not fall on Rájá +Harichand's country till Mahádeo blows his horn in it." Mahádeo had +quite forgotten this decree; so he blew on his horn, although only ten +and a half years' famine had gone by. The moment he blew, down came +the rain, and the whole country at once became as it had been before +the famine began; and moreover, the moment it rained, everything in +Rájá Harichand's palace became what it was before the angels entered +it. All the men and women came to life again; so did all the animals; +and the gold and silver were no longer charcoal, but once more gold +and silver. God was not angry with Mahádeo for forgetting that he said +the famine should last for twelve years, and that the rain should fall +when Mahádeo blew on his horn in Rájá Harichand's country. "If it +pleased Mahádeo to blow on his horn," said God, "it does not matter +that eighteen months of famine were still to last." As soon as they +heard the rain had fallen, all the ryots who had gone to other +countries on account of the famine returned to Rájá Harichand's +country. + +Among the Rájá's servants was the kotwál, and very anxious he was, +when he came to life again, to find the Rájá and Rání; only he did not +know how to do so, and wondered where he had best seek for them. + +Meanwhile the Rání Báhan had a dream that God sent her, in which an +angel said to her, "It is good that you and your husband should return +to your country." She told this dream to her husband; and Rájá Nal +gave them horses, elephants, and camels, that they might travel like +Rájás to their home, and he went with them. They found everything in +order in their own palace and all through their country, and after +this lived very happily in it. But the Rání said to Rájá Harichand, +"If you had only done what I told you, and said you would give me to +the fakír, all this misery would not have come on us." + +Later they went to stay again with Rájá Bhoj, and slept in the same +room as they had had when they came to him poor and wretched. In the +night they saw the wall open, and the necklace came out of the crack +and hung itself up as before, and the wall closed again. The next day +they showed the necklace to Rájá Bhoj, saying, "It was on account of +this necklace that we ran away from you the last time we were here," +and they told him all that had happened to it. + +As for Gangá Télí, they never went near him again. + + Told by Múniyá, March 4th, 1879. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXX. + +THE KING'S SON AND THE WAZÍR'S DAUGHTER. + + +In a country there was a great king who had a wazír. One day he +thought he should like to play at cards with this wazír, and he told +him to go and get some for him, and then play a game with him. So the +wazír brought the cards, and he and the king sat down to play. Now +neither the king nor the wazír had any children; and as they were +playing, the king said, "Wazír, if I have a son and you have a +daughter, or if I have a daughter and you have a son, let us marry our +children to each other." To this the wazír agreed. A year after the +king had a son; and when the boy was two years old, the wazír had a +daughter. Some years passed, and the king's son was twelve years old, +and the wazír's daughter ten. Then the king said to the wazír, "Do you +remember how one day, when we were playing at cards, we agreed to +marry our children to each other?" "I remember," said the wazír. "Let +us marry them now," said the king. So they held the wedding feast; but +the wazír's little daughter remained in her father's house because she +was still so young. + +As the king's son grew older he became very wicked, and took to +gambling and drinking till his father and mother died of grief. After +their death he went on in the same way, gambling and drinking, until +he had no money left, and had to leave the palace, and live anywhere +he could in the town, wandering from house to house in a fakír's +dress, begging his bread, and sleeping wherever he found a spot on +which to lie down. + +Meanwhile the wazír's daughter was living alone, for her husband had +never come to fetch her as he should have done when she was old +enough. Her father and mother were dead too. She had given half of the +money they left her to the poor, and she lived on the other half. She +spent her days in praying to God, and in reading in a holy book; and +though she was so young, she was very wise and good. + +One day, as the prince was roaming about in his fakír's rags, not +knowing where to find food or shelter, he remembered his wife, and +thought he would go and see her. She ordered her servants to give him +good food, a bath, and good clothes; "for," she said, "we were married +when we were children, though he never fetched me to his palace." The +servants did as she bade them. The prince bathed and dressed, and ate +food, and he wished to stay with his wife. But she said, "No; before +you stay with me you must see four sights. Go out in the jungle and +walk for a whole week. Then you will come to a plain where you will +see them." So the next day he set out for the plain, and reached it in +one week. + +There he saw a large tank. At one corner of the tank he saw a man and +a woman who had good clothes, good food, good beds, and servants to +wait on them, and seemed very happy. At the second corner he saw a +wretchedly poor man and his wife, who did nothing but cry and sob +because they had no food to eat, no water to drink, no bed to lie on, +no one to take care of them. At the third corner he saw two little +fishes that were always going up and down in the air. They would shoot +down close to the water, but they could not go into it or stay in it; +then they would make a salaam to God, and would shoot up again into +the air, but before they got very high, they had to drop down again. +At the fourth corner he saw a huge demon who was heating sand in an +enormous iron pot, under which he kept up a big fire. + +The prince returned to his wife, and told her all he had seen. "Do you +know who the happy man and woman are?" she said. "No," he answered. +"They are my father and mother," she said. "When they were alive, I +was good to them, and since their death I gave half their money to the +poor; and on the other half I have lived quietly, and tried to be +good. So God is pleased with them, and makes them happy." "Is that +true?" said her husband. "Quite true," she said. "And the miserable +man and woman who did nothing but cry, do you know who they are?" +"No," said the prince. "They are your father and mother. When they +were alive, you gambled and drank; and they died of grief. Then you +went on gambling and drinking till you had spent all their money. So +now God is angry with them, and will not make them happy." "Is that +true?" said the prince. "Quite true," she said. "And the fishes you +saw were the two little children we should have had if you had taken +me to your home as your wife. Now they cannot be born, for they can +find no bodies in which to be born; so God has ordered them to rise +and sink in the air in these fishes' forms." "Is that true?" asked the +prince. "Quite true," she answered. "And by God's order the demon you +saw is heating that sand in the big iron pot for you, because you are +such a wicked man." + +The moment she had told all this to her husband, she died. But he did +not get any better. He gambled and drank all her money away, and lived +a wretched life, wandering about like a fakír till his death. + + Told by Múniyá, March 8th, 1879. + + + + +[Decoration] + +NOTES. + + +INTRODUCTORY. + +In these stories the word translated God, is _Khudá_. Excepting in +"How king Burtal became a Fakír" (p. 85), and in "Rájá Harichand's +Punishment" (p. 224), in which Mahádeo plays a part, the tellers of +these tales would never specify by name the god they spoke of. He was +always _Khudá_, "the great _Khudá_ who lives up there in the sky." In +this they differed from the narrator of the _Old Deccan Days_ stories, +who almost always gives her gods and goddesses their Hindú +names--probably because, from being a Christian, she had no religious +scruples to deter her from so doing. + +When the heroes of these stories are called Rájás, the word Rájá has +been kept: when they are called Bádsháhs, we have called them kings. +The Ayahs say, "A Bádsháh is a much greater man than a Rájá." When +_bádsháh_ (the Persian _pádisháh_) in its corrupted form of _básá_ is +tacked on to a proper name, such as _Anár_ (_Anárbásá_), _Hírálál_ +(_Hírálálbásá_), the _básá_ has been preserved, because, Dunkní says, +in these cases _básá_ is no longer a title, but part of the proper +name. + +Old Múniyá tells her stories with the solemn, authoritative air of a +professor. She sits quite still on the floor, and uses no gestures. +Dunkní gets thoroughly excited over her tales, marches up and down the +room, acting her stories, as it were. For instance, in describing the +thickness of Mahádeo's hair in King Burtal's story, she put her two +thumbs to her ears, and spread out all her fingers from her head +saying, "His hair stood out like this," and in "Loving Lailí," after +moving her hand as if she were pulling the magic knife from her pocket +and unfolding it, she swung her arm out at full length with great +energy, and then she said, "Lailí made one 'touch'" (here she brought +back the edge of her hand to her own throat), "and the head fell off." +Dunkní sometimes used an English word, such as the "touch" in the +present case. + +All these stories were read back in Hindústání by my little girl to +the tellers at the time of telling, and nearly all a second time by me +this winter before printing. I never saw people more anxious to have +their tales retold exactly than are Dunkní and Múniyá. Not till each +tale was pronounced by them to be _thík_ (exact) was it sent to the +press. + +It is strange in these Indian tales to meet golden-haired, +fair-complexioned heroes and heroines. Mr. Thornton tells me that in +the Panjáb when one native speaks of another with contempt, he says, +"he is a black man," _ek kálá ádmí hai_. Sir Neville Chamberlain tells +me that if you wish to praise a native for his valour and brave +conduct, you say to him, "Your countenance is red," or "your cheeks +are red," and that nothing is worse than to tell him his "face is +black." And this is what Mr. Boxwell says about the expression "kálá +ádmí" and our fairy tales:-- + + "The stories are of the Aryan conquerors from beyond the + Indus; distinguished by their fair skin from the dark + aborigines of India. In Vedic times Varṇa, 'colour,' + is used for stock or blood, as the Latins used Nomen. It + is in India 'Yas Dásam varṇam adharam guhákar.' 'Who + sank in darkness the Barbarian colour.' R. V. II. 4. + + "Indra, again, 'Hatvé Dasyún pra Áryam varṇam ávat.' + 'Having slain the Barbarians, helped the Aryan colour.' + R. V. III. 34. + + "Again, in K. V. I. 104. They pray-- + + "'Te nas ávaksa suvitáya varṇam.' 'May they bring our + colour to success.' + + "In later times 'varṇa' is the regular word for + caste; and the Brahmins and the rest of the twice-born + who still represent the Aryan varṇa are much fairer + than the Çúdras and Hill people. + + "In the Ikhwán ussafa the black skin is one of the + results of the Fall to Adam and Hawa. + + "'Áftáb ki garmí se rang mutaghaiyar aur siáh ho gayá.' + 'From the heat of the sun their colour became changed + and black.'" + +But I think the fact that the conquering races that invaded India from +the north were fair and ruddier than the aborigines, and that their +descendants, the high-caste natives, are to this day fairer than the +aborigines, though it explains the phrases, "he is only a black man," +and "your cheeks are red," does not account for the golden hair and +fair skin of so many of our princes and princesses. I believe that +they all owe their characteristics to the fact that such are the +characteristics of the solar hero, although they cannot all lay claim +to a solar origin for themselves. For this golden hair and white skin, +at first the property of the shining sun-hero alone, would naturally +in the course of time be given to other Indian folk-lore heroes on +whose beauty and brightness it was necessary to lay a stress. Prince +Majnún, for instance, certainly has nothing solar about him, yet his +hair is described as red. Dunkní, in answer to a half incredulous, +half inquiring exclamation of mine when I heard this, asserted, "Red! +yes, it was red: red like gold." + +The black-haired Maoris give their sea-nymphs yellow hair (_Old New +Zealand_, p. 19); and Sir George Grey in his _Polynesian Mythology_, +p. 295, writes thus of the Maori fairies: "Their appearance is that of +human beings, nearly resembling an European's; their hair being very +fair, and so is their skin. They are very different from the Maoris, +and do not resemble them at all." But as the Maoris do not seem to +have any myths of golden-haired solar heroes, these peculiarities of +hair and complexion cannot be referred to the same cause as those of +my little daughter's Indian princes and princesses. + + +I.--PHÚLMATI RÁNÍ. + +1. Phúlmati is a garden rose, not a wild rose. It must be a local name +for the flower. I can find it in no dictionary. Dunkní says her +heroine was named after a pink rose. + +2. She has hair of pure gold. Compare in this book: Princess Jahúran, +p. 43, the Monkey Prince, p. 50, Sonahrí Rání, p. 54, Jahúr Rání, p. +93, Prince Dímá-ahmad and Princess Atása, Notes, p. 253. Also, Híra +Bai, the cobra's daughter in _Old Deccan Days_, p. 35. So many +princely heroes and heroines in European fairy tales are noteworthy +for their dazzling golden hair that I will only mention one of them, +Princess Golden-Hair, one of whose hairs rings if it falls to the +ground--see Naake's _Slavonic Fairy Tales_, p. 100. And devils being +fallen heroes or angels, the following references may be made to them. +In Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, p. 171, in "Die beiden +Fleischhauer in der Hoelle," the devil's grandmother gives the good +brother a hair that had fallen from the devil's head while he slept. +The man carries it home and the hair suddenly becomes as big as a +"Heubaum" and is "of pure gold." Also in one of Grimm's stories the +hero is sent to fetch three golden hairs from the devil's head--see +_Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, vol. I. p. 175, "Der Teufel mit den drei +goldenen Haaren." + +3. Her beauty lights up a dark room. In this shining quality she +resembles many Asiatic and European fairy-tale heroes and heroines. +See in this book Hírálí, whose face shone like a diamond, p. 69; and +the Princess Labám, who shone like the moon, and her beauty made night +day, p. 158. In _Old Deccan Days_, p. 156, the prince's dead body on +the hedge of spears dazzles those who look at it till they can hardly +see. Pánch Phúl Rání, p. 140, shines in the dark jungle like a star. +So does the princess in Chundun Rájá's dark tomb, p. 229. In a +Dinájpur story published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ +for February 1875, vol. IV. p. 54, the dream-nymph, Tillottama, +whenever she appears, lights up the whole place with her beauty. "At +every breath she drew when she slept, a flame like a flower issued +from her nostril, and when she drew in her breath the flower of flame +was again withdrawn." Her beauty lit up her house "as if by +lightning." See Appendix _A_. In Naake's _Slavonic Fairy Tales_, p. +96, is the Bohemian tale quoted above of Princess Golden-Hair. "Every +morning at break of day she [the princess] combs her golden locks; its +brightness is reflected in the sea, and up among the clouds," p. 102. +When she let it down "it was bright as the rising sun," and almost +blinded Irik with its radiance, p. 107. The golden children (Schott's +_Wallachische Maerchen_, p. 125) shine in the darkened room "like the +morning sun in May." Gubernatis in the 2nd vol. of his _Zoological +Mythology_, mentions at p. 31 a golden boy who figures in one of +Afanassieff's stories; when this child's body is uncovered on his +restoration to his father, "all the room shines with light." And at p. +57 of the same volume he quotes another of Afanassieff's stories, in +which the persecuted princess has three sons "who light up whatever is +near them with their splendour." Of Gerd in Jötunheim, the beautiful +giant maiden with the bright shining arms, Thorpe says (_Northern +Mythology_, vol. I. p. 47), when she raised "her arms to open the +door, both air and water gave such a reflection that the whole world +was illumined." The boar Trwyth (who was once a king, but because of +his sons was turned into a boar) after his fall preserves some of his +old kingly splendour; for "his bristles were like silver wire, and +whether he went through the wood or through the plain he was to be +traced by the glittering of his bristles" (_Mabinogion_, vol. II. p. +310). In the same work (vol. III. p. 279), in "The Dream of Maxen +Wledig," is a maiden, of whom it is told: "Not more easy than to gaze +upon the sun when brightest was it to look upon her by reason of her +beauty." And in "Goldhaar" (Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, +p. 61) when the hero's cap fell off he stood there "in all splendour +and his golden locks fell round his head, and he shone like the sun." + +In a Santhali tale published by the Rev. F. T. Cole in the _Indian +Antiquary_ for January 1875, p. 10, called "Toria the Goatherd and the +Daughter of the Sun," a beggar's eyes are as dazzled by the Sun's +daughter's beauty "as if he had stared at the sun." + +4. Phúlmati Rání has on her head the sun, on her hands moons, and her +face is covered with stars. Compare in these stories "The Indrásan +Rájá," p. 1, "The boy who had a moon on his forehead and a star on his +chin," p. 119, and "Prince Dímá-ahmad and Princess Atása," Notes, p. +253. In Fräulein Gonzenbach's _Sicilian Fairy Tales_, No. 5 (vol. I. +p. 21), the king's son's children are born, the boy with a golden +apple in his hand, the girl with a star on her forehead. In the Notes +to this story (vol. II. p. 207) Herr Köhler mentions a Tyrolean fairy +tale, "Zingerle, II. p. 112," where the king's son's daughter has a +golden apple in her hand, and her brother a golden star on his +forehead. In Milenowsky's _Bohemian Fairy Tales_, p. 1, is the story +"Von den Sternprinzen" in which the king's son by the queen has a gold +star on his forehead, and his son by the old woman has a silver star, +p. 2. These princes' children also are born with gold and silver stars +on their foreheads, p. 30. In a Hungarian tale, "Die verwandelten +Kinder," the old man's youngest daughter promises, and keeps her +promise, to give the king, if he marries her, twin sons, who will be +most beautiful, will have golden hair, and each a golden ring on his +arm; further, one is to have a planet, the other a sun on his +forehead--Stier's _Ungarische Volksmaerchen_, p. 57. Also in the same +author's _Ungarische Sagen und Maerchen_ in "Die beiden juengsten +Koenigskinder," the hero wins a bride (p. 77) who has a sun on her +forehead, a moon on her right, and three stars on her left, breast. In +"Eisenlaci" in the same collection the snake-king's daughter has a +star on her forehead (p. 109). Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, +vol. I. p. 412) says, "In the seventh story of the third book of +Afanassieff, the queen bears two sons; one has a moon on his forehead +and the other a star on the nape of his neck. Her wicked sister +buries them; a golden and a silver sprout spring up which a sheep eats +and then has two lambs, one with a moon on its head, the other with a +star on its neck. The wicked sister who has married the king orders +them to be torn in pieces, and their intestines to be thrown into the +road. The good, lawful queen eats them and again gives birth to her +sons." Gubernatis in the 2nd volume of the same work, p. 31, quotes +another of Afanassieff's stories, the thirteenth of the third book, in +which a merchant's wife has a son "whose body is all of gold, effigies +of stars, moon, and sun covered it." This is the gold boy mentioned in +the preceding paragraph as lighting up the room when his body was +uncovered. In "Das Schwarze Lamm," the empress bears a son with a +golden star on his forehead (Karadschitsch, _Volksmaerchen der +Serben_, p. 177). + +5. Phúlmati Rání weighs but one flower: compare Pánch Phúl Rání in +_Old Deccan Days_, p. 133. + +6. Indrásan (= Indra + Ásana, Indra's throne or home), says Dunkní, is +the name of the underground fairy country. Its inhabitants, the +fairies (parí) are called the Indrásan people; they delight in all +lovely things; everything about them is beautiful; they play +exquisitely on all kinds of musical instruments; they dance and sing a +great deal; they have wings and can fly. They taught the little Monkey +Prince (p. 42), and King Burtal's eldest son was taken to them as a +pupil by the fakír Goraknáth, p. 93. In Indrásan grows a tree of which +no man can ever see the flowers or fruit, as the fairies gather them +in the night and take them away. The Irish "good people" who live in +clefts of rocks, caves, and mounds, and the Irish fairies who live in +the beautiful land of youth under the sea, have many points in common +with the Indian fairies. They, too, dance beautifully, are wonderful +musicians, and have everything about them lovely and splendid. The +"good people" also sometimes impart their knowledge to mortals. See +pp. x, xii, and xviii of the Introduction to the _Irische +Elfenmaerchen_ translated into German by the brothers Grimm. Some of +the Cornish fairies, the Small People, like the Indrásan people, live +underground (Hunt's _Romances and Drolls of the West of England_, pp. +116, 118, 125), aid those to whom they take a fancy and are very +playful among themselves (_ib._ p. 81); they have the most ravishing +music (_ib._ pp. 86, 98); their singing is clear and delicate as +silver bells (_ib._ p. 100); everything about them is joyous and +beautiful (_ib._ pp. 86, 99, 100); they are a tiny race (_ib._ p. 81), +but can at pleasure take the size of human beings (_ib._ pp. 115, 122, +123); and their queen has hair "like gold threads" (_ib._ p. 102). The +fair-haired New Zealand fairies are, too, a kindly happy race. See +Grey's _Polynesian Mythology_, pp. 287 to 295. Nothing is said about +their dancing, but they are described as "merry, cheerful, and always +singing like a cricket" (_ib._ p. 295), and from one of their +fishing-nets left on the sea shore, when its fairy owners were +surprised by the rising of the sun, the Maoris learnt the stitch for +netting a net. Like the Indian fairies they appear to be as big as +human beings. + +7. Phúlmati Rání is drowned in a tank and becomes a flower; she is +killed and brought to life several times: compare in this collection +the story of the "Pomegranate Children" and note to that story. In one +of Ralston's _Russian Folk-Tales_, "The Fiend," p. 15, the heroine is +killed through witchcraft: from her grave springs a flower which is +herself transformed: she afterwards regains her human shape. + +8. With Phúlmati's last transformation compare the last that the +Bél-Princess goes through (p. 148 of this collection), and that of a +woman, who figures in a Dinájpur story published by Mr. G. H. Damant +in the _Indian Antiquary_ of April 5th, 1872, vol. I. p. 115. She, +though living in the Rakshas country, is not a Rakshas, but does not +appear to be an ordinary mortal, and when cut to bits by a certain +magic knife becomes a tree. "Her feet became a silver stem, her two +hands golden branches, her head ornaments were diamond leaves, all her +bracelets and bangles were pearly fruits, and her head was a peacock +dancing and playing in the branches." As soon as the magic knife is +thrown to the ground she regains her human form. + +Eisenlaci in Stier's _Ungarische Sagen und Maerchen_ (pp. 107-109) +comes in the form of a horse to the twelve-headed dragon's house. He +is killed; the first two drops of his blood are thrown into the garden +and from them springs a tree with golden apples: the tree is cut +down, but the first two chips (which are flung into the pond) become a +gold fish: the gold fish turns into Eisenlaci himself in human form. + +9. Winning a wife by seizing her dress while she bathes is an incident +common to fairy tales of many countries. + + +II.--THE POMEGRANATE KING. + +1. Such is the story as told by Dunkní in 1876; at that time, when it +was read over to her, she said it was correct. On my asking her in +1878, when the story was going through the press, to explain some +points in it, such as why the children said they had been brought to +life _three_ times, the boy having only died twice, and the girl once, +she told me the following variation: After the attempt to get rid of +the boy by making him into a curry had failed, the Rání Sunkásí sent +for a sepoy and bade him carry the two children to the jungle and +there kill them; and as a proof of their death he was to bring her +their livers. Once in the jungle with the children, the sepoy had not +the heart to kill them; so he left them in it, and brought the livers +of two goats to Sunkásí Rání. She buried the livers in the garden and +was content; but some months later as she was walking (literally +"eating the air") in the jungle she saw her step-children playing +about; she returned to the palace, sent for the sepoy, and asked him +why he had not killed the children. "I did kill them," said the sepoy, +"and brought you their livers." "Those livers were not the children's +livers," answered the Rání; "I have just seen the children alive and +playing in the jungle." "They must have been other people's children +that you saw," said the sepoy, "yours I killed." "Do not tell me +lies," said the Rání. "Now you must at once go to the jungle, kill the +children, and bring me their eyes." The sepoy went to find the +children, but when he found them he could not kill them, so he took +them to some people who lived in a hut, and said to these people, +"Take great care of the two children. Be very kind to them." He then +killed two goats and took their eyes to the Rání, who was now +satisfied for some time. But one day another of the Pomegranate +Rájá's sepoys passed near the hut, and saw the children playing about. +So he went to Sunkásí Rání and told her the children were alive and +well. At this the Rání was very angry, and she thought, "It is of no +use my sending the first sepoy again to kill them. I will send this +man." She said, therefore, to the second sepoy, "If you will kill +these children for me, you shall have a great reward." The sepoy +agreed, went to the little hut, and seized the children. The poor +people who took care of the children begged and prayed him to have +pity on them; but the sepoy said, "No." He had the Rání's orders to +kill them, and they must and should be killed. And so he killed them +and brought their livers to the Rání as she had bidden him. Sunkásí +Rání was very happy when she saw the livers, and she buried them close +to a large tank that was in her garden. + +Some three months later her servants came to her and told her a +beautiful large bél-fruit was floating on the water of the tank. +Sunkásí Rání went at once with them to the tank, and when she saw the +fruit she was seized with a great longing to have it. So she sent all +her servants, one after the other, into the tank to fetch it; but all +to no purpose, for as soon as any one of them got close to the fruit +it floated away from him. Then the Rání herself went into the tank. +She, however, was not a whit more able to get it: when she thought she +had only to put out her hand to take it, the fruit rose up into the +air, and fell into the water again as soon as she had come up out of +the tank. She went to the Mahárájá and told him of this lovely +bél-fruit, and then went to her room while he came down to the tank. +He said, "I should like to catch the fruit: I wonder if I can do so. +What a lovely fruit!" As soon as he put his hand into the water the +fruit came floating towards him, and floated into it. "I think this +fruit is quite ripe," said the Mahárájá. "Quite ripe," said the +servants, and they struck it with a stone to break it open. "Oh, you +hurt us! you hurt us!" cried little voices from inside the bél-fruit. +"Gently, gently; don't hurt us." The Mahárájá and all the servants +were greatly surprised, and the Mahárájá went to Sunkásí Rání, and +told her all about the little voices. She at once guessed her +step-children were in the fruit, so she said to the Mahárájá, "You +had better take the fruit to the jungle and there break it open with a +big stone, so that anything inside it may be crushed to bits." "I will +not do that," said the Mahárájá. Then he went back to his servants and +made them cut the fruit's rind very carefully cross-ways and the fruit +broke into halves: in one half sat his little son, in the other his +little daughter. As soon as the halves were laid on the ground the +children stepped out, and at once grew to their natural size. Their +father was very angry when he saw them. "Why, I thought you were at +school," said he. "The Mahárání told me you were at school. Why are +you not there? What funny (Dunkní's own word) children you are to get +into this bél-fruit! What made you like to live in a fruit?" But to +all his questionings and scoldings the children said not one word. At +last he sent them up to the palace, and there they stayed with him for +some three months. But the Mahárání said to him, "These are not your +children. Yours are at school." "They _are_ my children," he answered. + +All this time the Mahárání hated them more and more, and at last she +went to them and said, "Now I really will kill you." "Just as you +please," answered the children; "we don't mind being killed. You may +kill us three times, four times, as often as you like: it does not +matter in the least; for God will always bring us to life again." + +At this Sunkásí Rání flew into a rage and she called her servants and +said, "Kill these children, cut them into mince-meat and throw them to +the crows and kites. When the crows and kites have eaten them, they +cannot come to life any more." So the servants killed the children, +and chopped them up very fine and fed the crows and kites with their +flesh; and now the Mahárání was very happy. + +Some months later, as she was walking in her garden, she saw two +beautiful flower-buds on a large bél-tree that grew in it. She showed +them to the gardener, and asked if he had seen them before. "Never," +said the man. "On this tree there have never been either flowers or +fruit till now." "Gather the flowers for me," said the Rání, "I do so +wish to have them." The gardener said to her, "Wait till the buds are +fully blown and then I will gather them for you." At the end of three +or four days the Rání Sunkásí asked if the buds had grown into large +flowers, and the gardener said, "Yes, to-day I will gather them for +you." He got a long, long bamboo cane, and tied a piece of wood +cross-ways on one of its ends so as to make a sort of hook wherewith +to catch hold of and break off the flowers. He tried and tried to get +them, but all in vain. Then he made all the servants try. It was of no +use, no one could make the hook touch the flowers. They always bent +themselves just out of its reach. Then Sunkásí Rání tried, but with no +better success. She told the Mahárájá, who said, "I will try to-morrow +to gather these wonderful flowers." + +That night as the Rání lay in her bed she suddenly thought, "Those +children are in the flowers," and she determined to be with her +husband when he gathered them, to get them into her own hands some way +or other. + +The next morning Anárbásá Mahárájá and his wife went to the bél-tree, +and as soon as he held out his hand towards the flowers, they dropped +into it. "What lovely flowers! What beautiful flowers! Do give them to +me," said Sunkásí Rání. "No," said the Mahárájá, "I will keep them +myself." Then he carried them to his room and laid them on the table +while he shut the door and the venetians. Then he came and sat down +before them: he took them in his hand, and looked at them and laid +them again on the table; then he took them and smelt them, and they +smelt, oh! so sweet. This he did many times. At last he held them to +his ears, for the adventure of the bél-fruit had made him wise +(_hushyár_), and he heard little tiny voices, saying, "Papa" (Dunkní's +own word), "we want to stay with you; we should like to be with you." +The Mahárájá looked very carefully at the flowers, and at last, in one +of them he saw a little splinter of wood like a thorn sticking: he +pulled this out, and his own little son stood before him. Then he +looked at the other flower, and in that, too, was a little splinter of +wood sticking. When he pulled it out his little girl stood there. + +The Mahárájá was vexed with his children, and asked them why they were +so naughty, and why they liked to live in fruits and flowers instead +of staying in the palace or going to school. The children answered, +"We go to school sometimes, and then we come back and live in our +flowers, and then we return to school, and then we come back to our +flower-homes again." "This is a lie you are telling me," said their +father. "You know quite well you have not been at school at all." The +Mahárání came in to hear what all this talking meant, and when she saw +the children she said to Anárbásá Mahárájá, "These are not your +children, yours are at school." "They are my children," he answered, +"and they have never been at school at all, and they are very +naughty." He then sent them away to play, and the Rání returned to her +room. But he sat alone in his room, for he was angry and cross. As he +sat there one of his chaprásís came to him and said, "Maháráj, you do +not know how ill the Mahárání treats your children, or you would not +be angry with them. She has killed them several times, and sent them +away into the jungle; and after they came out of the bél-fruit she +killed them and chopped them into small pieces, and fed the kites and +crows with their flesh." When the Mahárájá heard all this, he said to +the chaprásí, "You must have a beautiful little house built for me; +you must take care that it is chiefly made of wood; the flooring must +be very thin and of wood; and the hollow place under the flooring must +be filled with dry wood. Then you must put plenty of flowers inside +the house, and plenty outside so as to make it very pretty." + +As soon as the house was ready the Mahárájá went to his wife and asked +her if she would go out with him to eat the air. "I should like to +show you a new house I have had built for you," he said. So she went +with him and thought her new house lovely. While she was inside +looking at the pretty flowers in the rooms, the Mahárájá slipped out, +and bolted the door so that she could not escape, and he told his +servants to set fire to the wood under the flooring. When the flames +began to rise the Rání got very frightened. She rushed to the window +and called to the Mahárájá and his servants, who were standing there +looking on, to save her. No one said anything to her. "Save me," she +cried, "or I shall be burnt to death." "If you are burnt, what does it +matter?" said the Mahárájá. "You ill-treated my children; you killed +them; so, now burn." + +As soon as she was burnt to death the Mahárájá had all her bones +collected and put into four dishes, and he gave them to one of his +servants to take to Sunkásí Rání's mother. When her mother uncovered +dish after dish and found nothing but bones, she asked the servant, +"Of what use are bones?" "These are your daughter's bones," said he: +"therefore Anárbásá Mahárájá sent them to you. Sunkásí Rání +ill-treated and killed his children, and so he burnt her." + +The rest of the story she pronounced exact (_thík_). + +2. The bél-tree is the _Ægle Marmelos_ of botanists. + +3. With the different deaths and transformations of the children +compare in this book: Phúlmati Rání, pp. 3 and 4: the Kite's Children, +p. 22: the Bél-Princess, pp. 144, 145, 148: and in _Old Deccan Days_ +Surya Bai, pp. 85, 86. In "Die goldenen Kinder" (Schott's +_Wallachische Maerchen_) the golden children are killed and buried (p. +122). From their hearts spring two apple-trees having golden leaves +and apples. The trees are destroyed; but a sheep has eaten an apple +and then has two golden lambs. The step-mother kills them at once and +sends the maid to wash the entrails in the stream, intending to cook +them for her husband to eat (compare the curry in the "Pomegranate +King," p. 8; the broth (_Suhr_) in Grimm's "von dem Machandelboom," +_Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, vol. I. p. 271; and the stew in the +Devonshire story, "The Rose-Tree," told in Henderson's _Folk-lore of +the Northern Counties of England_, p. 314). A piece of the entrail +escapes, and as it floats away it swells and swells. On reaching the +opposite bank it bursts, and out of it step the golden children. In a +Hungarian story the children, one with a planet and one with a sun on +his forehead, and each with a ring on his arm, are killed by a wicked +woman who wants her daughter to take their mother's place as queen. +They turn first into two golden pear-trees. These are destroyed by +fire, but one glowing coal from the fire is eaten by an old she-goat. +The old goat then has two little golden-fleeced kids. They are killed, +an old crow swallows a piece of the entrails as they are being washed +in the brook; she flies to the seventy-seventh island in the ocean, +builds a nest and lays two golden eggs. Out of the eggs come the +golden-haired children with their planet, sun and golden rings. The +old crow sends them for seven years to school to a hermit (here is the +holy man again, see p. 283 of these notes), and then flies home with +them to their father. The pillar of salt, into which their mother was +changed, answers all the king's questions. It is not said that she +regained her human form ("Die verwandelten Kinder," Stier's +_Ungarische Volksmaerchen_, p. 58). In a Siebenburg story, "Die beiden +goldenen Kinder," the children are killed by an envious woman who +becomes queen in their mother's place. From their remains spring two +golden pine-trees which are burnt; a sheep eats two of the sparks and +has two golden lambs that are killed; from two pieces of the entrails +step forth the golden-haired children (Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische +Maerchen_, pp. 2, 3). In this tale the children are restored to their +father, the king, by the intervention of God himself (p. 4), who in +these _Siebenbuergische Maerchen_ plays a part just as often as +"Khudá" does in the Indian tales, taking for the purpose the form of a +"good old man," and often wearing a grey mantle that reminds one of +Odin. In the Netherlandish story of "The knight with the swan" +(Thorpe's _Northern Mythology_, vol. III. p. 302), King Oriant's +mother persuades the king his wife gave him seven puppies instead of +seven children (each born with a silver chain round its neck in "proof +of their mother's nobility"). She sends the children to the forest to +be destroyed. They are left there alive, and are fostered by an old +man. When the queen-mother learns this, she sends servants to kill +them. These are content with depriving six of the children of their +silver chains, on which the children instantly become swans. (The +seventh child is absent and so is saved.) A goldsmith makes two +beakers out of one of the chains, and keeps the others intact. When +the chains are hung again round the five swans' necks, and the beaker +shown to the sixth, they regain their human forms. See also paragraph +8 of the notes to Phúlmati Rání. + +4. With the children in the fruit and flowers compare in these +stories, Phúlmati Rání, p. 3: Loving Lailí, p. 81: the Bél-Princess, +p. 146, and paragraph 5 of the notes to that story, p. 283: and in +_Old Deccan Days_, "Surya Bai," p. 86: and "Anár Rání and her two +maids," p. 95. With these may be compared the Polish Madey (Naake's +_Slavonic Fairy Tales_, p. 220). Madey is a robber who commits fearful +crimes; he repents, and sticks his "murderous club" upright in the +ground, swearing to kneel before it till the boy who has caused his +repentance returns as a bishop. Years go by: the boy, now a bishop, +passes through Madey's forest. The club has become an apple-tree full +of apples and he discovers Madey through their sweet odour. At Madey's +request the bishop confesses him; and as Madey confesses his crimes, +the apples on the tree, one after another, become white doves and fly +to heaven. They were the souls of those he had murdered. + +In an unpublished story told by Dunkní, the incidents of the children +being in the fruit, and the fruit not letting itself be gathered by +any but the rightful owner of its contents (as is the case also with +the Bél-Princess), again occur. In this story there is a prince called +Aisab, who, as he wished very much to have children, married. At the +same time he took an oath that if his child, when he had one, cried, +he would kill it, and then if his wife cried he would kill her too. +His first wife gave him a child who died; she cried and was killed by +her husband. The same thing happened to the second wife. He then +married a third wife, called Gulíanár. She had a little son, +Dímá-ahmad, and two or three years later another son, called Karámat. +The first boy died, but Gulíanár did not cry--she only grieved for him +in her heart. Karámat was unhappy from seeing other children playing +with their brothers and sisters, and asked his mother "why he had no +brother or sister to play with?" She said, "Once you had a little +brother and he died." Then Karámat began to cry, and his father killed +him immediately with his sword because of his oath, though he loved +Karámat dearly. The "mother was still sadder than before, but she +never wept." Then God took pity on her and sent down into Prince +Aisab's garden a big bél-tree, and on this bél-tree was a fruit. Every +one tried to gather this fruit, even Prince Aisab tried, but each time +their hands approached it the fruit rose into the air and returned +again when the hands were withdrawn. Then Gulíanár stretched out her +hand "and the fruit fell into it." She took it into the house and +tried to break it open with a stone, and a voice called out, "Mother, +mother, not so hard; you hurt us." She was very much frightened, +thinking a Rakshas or a demon was in the fruit. Prince Aisab was +equally alarmed, but his wazír, Mamatsa, broke the fruit open gently +in obedience to the little voice that called out, "Don't knock so +hard, Mamatsa; you hurt us;" and out of it stepped the two little +children Dímá-ahmad and Karámat. Dímá-ahmad was very beautiful. On his +head was the sun, on his face the moon, and on his hands stars, and he +had long golden hair. He married a princess, Atása, who also had the +sun on her head, the moon on her face, stars on her hands, and "her +hair was of pure gold and reached down to the ground." The idea that +none but the rightful owner can catch the child is found too in Grey's +_Polynesian Mythology_ at pp. 116, 117, in the story of Whakatau, who +was fashioned in the sea from his mother Apakura's apron by the god +Rongota-kawiu. This child lived at the bottom of the sea; but one day +he came on shore after his kite, and all who saw him tried in vain to +catch him. Then said Whakatau, "You had better go and bring Apakura +here; she is the only person who can catch me and hold me fast." His +mother then comes and catches him. + +5. Sunkásí's bones are sent to her mother. In the _Sicilianische +Maerchen_ collected by Laura Gonzenbach, it is a common practice for +husbands to punish their second wives' treachery with death, and then +to send their remains to their mothers, who feast on them, thinking +they are eating tunny-fish, and die of grief on learning what they +have really swallowed. + +6. With Gulíanár's change into a bird compare Laura Gonzenbach's 13th +_Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. I. p. 82, where the real bride is +transformed into a dove by a black-headed pin being driven into her +head, and regains her human form when the pin is pulled out. Schott +has a similar incident in his _Wallachische Maerchen_, p. 251. So has +Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. II. p. 242) in a story from +near Leghorn, where the woman is changed into a swallow (in all these +stories it is the husband who pulls out the pin); and he says similar +stories with a transformation into a dove are told in Piedmont, in +other parts of Tuscany, in Calabria, and are to be found in the +_Tutiname_. Ralston's Princess Mariya (_Russian Folk Tales_, p. 183), +and Thorpe's second story of "The Princess that came out of the water" +(_Yule Tide Stories_, p. 41), may also be compared. + +7. The golden bird in the Siebenburg story drops pearls from its beak +whenever it sings ("Der goldne Vogel," Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische +Maerchen_, pp. 31, 35). The princess, its mistress, wears (p. 39) a +golden mantle "adorned with _carbuncles_ and pearls from the golden +bird." + + +III.--THE CAT AND THE DOG. + +1. The Tiger promises not to eat the man who helps him and then tries +to break his promise. Compare "The Brahman, the Tiger, and the six +Judges," _Old Deccan Days_, p. 159; and "Ananzi and the Lion" in +Dasent's _Ananzi Stories_, p. 490. + +2. In a Slavonic story mentioned by Gubernatis (_Zoological +Mythology_, vol. II. p. 111), a bear is about to kill a peasant in +revenge. A fox appears, "shakes its tail and says to the peasant, +'Man, thou hast ingenuity in thy head and a stick in thy hand.' The +peasant immediately understands the stratagem," and persuades the bear +to get into a sack he has with him that he may carry the bear three +times round the field instead of doing penance, after which the bear +is to do what he likes with him. The bear gets into the sack, the man +"binds it strongly" together, and then beats the bear to death with +his stick. Gubernatis at p. 132 of the same volume tells a similar +story from Russia in which a wolf plays the part of the bear and of +our tiger. + + +IV.--THE CAT THAT COULD NOT BE KILLED. + +1. In an unpublished story told us by Gangiyá, a hill-man from near +Simla, a cat saves herself from being eaten by a jackal very much in +the same way that this cat saved herself from the leopard. The jackal +(in Gangiyá's story) ate anything it came across, whether it were dead +or alive. One day he met a tiger and said to him, "I will eat you. I +will not let you go." "Very good," said the tiger, "eat me." So the +jackal ate him up. He went a little further and met a leopard; he said +to the leopard, "I will eat you." "Very good," said the leopard. So he +ate the leopard. He went a little further and met a tiny mouse. +"Mouse," he said, "I have eaten a tiger and a leopard, and now I will +eat you." "Very good," said the mouse. He ate the mouse. He went a +little further and met a cat. "I will eat you," said the jackal. The +cat answered, "What will it profit you to eat me, who am so small? A +little further on you will see a dead buffalo: eat that." So the +jackal left the cat and went to eat the buffalo. He walked on and on, +but could find no buffalo; and the cat, meanwhile ran away. The jackal +was very angry, and set off to seek the cat, but could not find her. +He was furious. + + +VI.--THE RAT AND THE FROG. + +Compare the Bohemian "Long-desired child," Naake's _Slavonic Fairy +Tales_, p. 226. This child is carved out of a tree-root by a woodman, +who brings him home to his wife. They delight in having a child at +last. The child eats all the food in the house; his father and mother; +a girl with a wheelbarrow full of clover; a peasant, his hay-laden +cart, and his cart-horses; a man and his pigs; a shepherd, his flock +and dog; lastly, cabbages belonging to an old woman who cuts him in +two with her mattock just as he tries to eat her. Out of him jump +unhurt every thing and every one he has swallowed. In a story from the +south of Siberia (Gubernatis' _Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 140) +the hero vanquishes a demon, who tells him that in his stomach he will +find a silver casket. He cuts the monster open and out of him come +"innumerable animals, men, treasures, and other objects. Some of the +men say, 'What noble youth has delivered us from the black night?'" +In two of the caskets the hero finds the eyes of an old woman who has +befriended him, and money, "and from the last casket came forth more +men, animals, and valuables of every kind." In a Russian story quoted +by Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. pp. 406, 407) the wolf +eats the kids all but one. The mother goat persuades him to jump over +a fire. The fire splits his belly open, out tumble all the little +kids, lively as ever. There is a very similar story with fox, goat, +and kid for actors in Campbell's _Popular Tales of the West +Highlands_, vol. III. p. 93; and Grimm has one also, "Der Wolf und die +sieben jungen Geislein," in his _Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, vol. I. p. +29. In the notes to this story, vol. III. p. 15, Grimm says, "In +Pomerania this is told of a child who when his mother had gone out was +swallowed by the child-spectre, resembling the varlet Ruprecht. But +the stones which he swallows with the child make the spectre so heavy +that he falls to the earth, and the child unhurt springs out of him." +See, too, the demons at p. 99 of these stories, who swallow the +Princess Champákálí's suitors. + + * * * * * + +Tylor in his _Primitive Culture_, vol. I. p. 341, classes Little Red +Riding Hood among these Day and Night myths. It is, he says, +"mutilated in the English Nursery version, but known more perfectly by +old wives in Germany, who can tell that the lovely little maid in her +shining red satin cloak was swallowed with her grandmother by the +wolf, but they both came out safe and sound when the hunter cut open +the sleeping beast." He also quotes among these myths (_ib._ p. 338) a +story of the Ojibwas in which the hero is swallowed by a great fish +and cut out again by his sister; and another belonging to the Basutos +in which all mankind save the hero and his mother were devoured by a +monster. The hero "attacked the creature and was swallowed whole, but +cutting his way out he set free all the inhabitants of the world." At +the same page is the story of the Zulu Princess Untombinde who was +carried off by a dreadful beast. "The king gathered his army and +attacked it, but it swallowed up men, and dogs, and cattle, all but +one warrior; he slew the monster, and there came out cattle, and +horses, and men, and last of all the princess herself." Mr. Tylor +quotes, too (_ib._ p. 336), in connexion with this class of myths, the +story of the death of the New Zealand sun-hero, Maui, which he tells +more fully than does Sir George Grey in his _Polynesian Mythology_; +and he goes on at pp. 338, 339, 340, to connect these myths with those +of Perseus and Andromeda; Heracles and Hesione; the story of Jonah and +his fish; the Greenland angakok swallowed by bear and walrus and +thrown up again; and the legend of Hades. + +Besides the angakok mentioned by Mr. Tylor, Dr. Rink, in his _Tales +and Traditions of the Eskimo_, has two other stories of escapes from +the stomach of a dead animal when it is cut open. In the first, at p. +260, the boy is devoured by a gull; his sister kills the bird, takes +her brother's bones from its pouch and carries them home: on the way +the boy comes to life again. The other tale, p. 438, tells how +Nakasungnak jumped out of the hole his friends had made in the dead +"ice-covered" bear's side; but his hair as well as the skin of his +face had come off, and he shivered from cold and ague. And in +Ralston's _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 177, is a story of a snake +who steals "the luminaries of the night. A hero cuts off his head, and +out of the slain monster issue the Bright Moon and the Morning Star." + + +VII.--FOOLISH SACHÚLÍ. + +1. Foolish Sachúlí lives in many lands. In his Russian dress he +figures in "The Fool and the Birch-tree," Ralston's _Russian Folk +Tales_, p. 52. In the Sicilian "Giufá" we find him again (Gonzenbach's +_Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. I. p. 249). In England he appears in an +out-of-the-way village in the south (see _Pall Mall Budget_, July 12, +1878, p. 11, _Wild Life in a Southern Country_, No. XIV.) with, to use +his mother's words, "no more sense than God had given him." She +wishing to have his testimony discredited when he bears witness +against her, as she knows he will, goes upstairs and rains raisins on +him from the window. So when asked to specify the time he speaks of, +he says, "When it rained raisins," and is of course disbelieved. + +Note by Mr. J. F. Campbell: "This story of a stupid boy has a parallel +in a Gaelic tale in my collection, where the boy dated an event which +was true by a fall of pancakes or something of the kind which was not +true, and was not believed though he told the truth." [At p. 385, vol. +II. of the _Tales of the West Highlands_ a "half booby" is inveigled +by his mother into dating his theft of some planks by a "shower of +milk-porridge."] + +2. The magic gifts given by the fairies are a common incident in fairy +tales: so is the adventure with the jar of ghee. + + +VIII.--BARBER HÍM AND THE TIGERS. + +1. Forbes in his Hindústání Dictionary says _Kans_ or _Kansa_ was the +name of a wicked tyrant whom Krishṇa was born to destroy, and that +the word now means a wicked tyrant. But Rájá Káns is an historical +character. All that is known of him is told by the late Professor +Blochmann in the Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal for 1873, Pt. I. p. +264. + +2. In the note (p. 380) to the XIXth Tale in the _Sagas from the Far +East_, is a story in which Barber Hím's part is played by a he-goat, +and that of his tigers by a lion. See, too, "How the three clever men +outwitted the demons" in _Old Deccan Days_, pp. 273-278. In a Santálí +tale, "Kanran and Guja," sent by the Rev. F. T. Cole to the _Indian +Antiquary_, vol. IV. September 1875, p. 257, two brothers, Kanran and +Guja, climb into a tál tree. Here they are discovered by a tiger whom +they have deprived of his tail, and who has brought a number of his +friends to help him revenge himself on the brothers. The tailless +tiger proposes they shall all stand one the top of the other, to reach +the men in the tree. His friends agree provided he takes his stand at +the bottom, and they climb as proposed till they almost reach the +brothers. Then Kanran calls out to Guja, "Give me your axe. I will +kill the tailless tiger." The tigers in terror all tumble to the +ground, crushing their tailless friend in their fall, and flee to +their homes. In "The Leopard and the Ram" (Bleek's _Hottentot Fables +and Tales_, p. 24) the ram and the leopard play the parts of the +barber and his tigers. See, too, "The Lion and the Bushman," p. 59 of +the same collection. + +Note by Mr. J. F. Campbell: "Compare the Irish story of two hunchbacks +in Keightley. A version is in Mitford's Japanese book; and far better +versions are common in Japan." + + +IX.--THE BULBUL AND THE COTTON-TREE. + +1. Cotton-tree, in Hindústání _Semal_. + +2. Koel, Indian cuckoo. + + +X.--THE MONKEY PRINCE. + +1. Bandarsá means like a monkey; Dunkní in telling this husk-story +just as often called the monkey-skin a husk (_chhilka_) as she called +it a skin (_chamrá_). + +2. Princess Jahúran throws mattresses to her drowning husband. In a +Manípúrí tale published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_, +vol. IV. September 1875, p. 260, Basanta's wife throws him a pillow +that he may save himself when the envious merchant, on board whose +boat they are, pitches the prince into the river that he may secure +the princess for himself. + + +XI.--BRAVE HÍRÁLÁLBÁSÁ. + +1. With this story all through compare "The Demon is at last conquered +by the King's Son," p. 173 of this collection. + +2. Rakshas means protector, and is, probably, an euphemistic term. The +chapter on Mystic Animals in Swedish traditions (Thorpe's _Northern +Mythology_, vol. II. p. 83) gives a list of certain creatures that are +not to be mentioned by their own but by euphemistic names for fear of +incurring their wrath. This belief, Thorpe in the same chapter, p. 84, +says, extends to certain inanimate things: water used for brewing, for +instance, must not be called _vatn_ (water) or the beer will not be so +good; and fire occasionally is to be spoken of as _hetta_ (heat). The +girl in an Esthonian tale quoted by Gubernatis at p. 151 of the 1st +vol. of his _Zoological Mythology_ addresses a crow whose help she +needs as "Bird of light." Fiske says (_Myths and Mythmakers_, p. 223), +"A Dayak will not allude by name to the small-pox, but will call it +'The chief' or 'Jungle leaves;' the Laplander speaks of the bear as +'the old man with the fur coat;' in Annam the tiger is called +'Grandfather,' or 'Lord.' The Finnish hunters called the bear 'the +Apple of the Forest, the beautiful Honey-claw, the Pride of the +thicket'" ("The Mythology of Finnland," _Fraser's Magazine_, May +1857). The Furies, as every one knows, were called the Eumenides, or +the gracious ones. + +The Rakshases are a kind of huge demons who delight in devouring men +and beasts. They can take any shape they please. The female Rakshas +often assumes that of a beautiful woman. Compare the demon Mara as +described by Fiske at p. 93 of his book above quoted. + +The Rakshases do not travel in the way mortals do. See a Dinájpur +story told by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ (February +1875, vol. IV. p. 54), where the hero, who has married both the +Rakshas-king's daughter and his niece, asks his father-in-law's leave +to return home with his Rakshas-wives. The King consents (p. 58), but +says, "We Rakshases do not travel in pálkís (palanquins), but in the +air." Accordingly the prince, his two Rakshas wives and his mortal +wife, all travel towards his father's country through the air "along +the sky." One kind of jinn travel in the same way (Lane's _Arabian +Nights_, vol. I., "Notes to Introduction," p. 29). So do the drakes +and kobolds in Northern Germany. The drake is as big as a cauldron, "a +person may sit in him," and travel with him to any spot he pleases. +Both drakes and kobolds look like fiery stripes. The kobolds appear +sometimes as a blue, sometimes as a red, stripe passing through the +air (Thorpe's _Northern Mythology_, vol. III. pp. 155, 156). + +3. Dunkní says, "All Rakshases keep their souls in birds." Those that +do so resemble in this respect some of the Indian demons, and the +giants, trolls, and such like noxious actors in the Norse, Scotch, and +other popular tales. + +Tylor (_Primitive Culture_, vol. II. pp. 152, 153) mentions the Tatar +story of the giant who could not be killed till the twelve-headed +snake in which he kept his soul was destroyed. This tale, he says, +"illustrates the idea of soul-embodiment," and "very likely" indicates +the sense of the myths where giants, &c., keep their souls out of +their own bodies. The civilized notion of soul-embodiment, he adds +(quoting from "Grose's bantering description of the art of laying +ghosts in the last century,") is that of conjuring ghosts into +different objects: "one of the many good instances of articles of +savage belief serving as jests among civilized men." Possibly these +giants, trolls, rakshases, demons, once belonged to that class of +spirits who could, in popular belief, enter at pleasure into stocks +and stones and other objects of idolatrous veneration. + +But all Rakshases do not keep their souls in birds. Some have their +souls in bees (see a Dinájpur tale published by Mr. G. H. Damant in +the _Indian Antiquary_ for April 6, 1872, p. 115): and in another +Dinájpur story printed by Mr. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ for +June 7, 1872, p. 120, a whole tribe of Rakshases dwelling in Ceylon +kept theirs in one and the same lemon. + +4. In the first quoted of these stories collected by Mr. Damant, that +where the Rakshases keep their life in bees, the hero is a prince who +starts in search of the wonderful tree mentioned in paragraph 8 of the +note to Phúlmati Rání (p. 244). In his wanderings he finds himself in +the Rakshas country. There he meets with the woman who when cut up +turns into the tree he seeks. When he first sees her she lies dead on +a bed with a golden wand on one side of her, and a silver wand on the +other. He accidentally touches her with the golden wand and she +wakes. She tells him the Rakshases, every morning when they go out in +search of food, make her dead by touching her with the silver wand, +and wake her with the golden wand when they return at night. Mr. +Damant has another story in the _Indian Antiquary_ (July 5, 1872, vol. +I. p. 219), from Dinájpur, in which there is a prince Dalim who dies +and is laid in a tomb above ground, not buried. Daily the Apsarases, +the dancing-girls in the court of Indra, wake him from death by +touching his face with a golden wand, and make him dead again by +touching him with a silver wand. These wands they always leave lying +beside him. His wife comes one day to mourn over him and accidentally +discovers the secret of bringing him to life. He is, finally, restored +to her by the Apsarases. + +5. According to Gubernatis, "three and seven are sacred numbers in +Aryan faith" (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 6). + +6. Hírálálbásá addresses the Rakshas as "uncle." The two brothers +Kanran and Guja (in a Santálí fairy tale bearing their name printed by +the Rev. F. T. Cole in the _Indian Antiquary_, September 1875, vol. +IV. p. 257), address a tiger by the same propitiatory title. The tiger +in return addresses them as nephews, and gives them the fire they +want. + +"Uncle" and "aunt" are used in a propitiatory sense over a great part +of the world. Hunt at p. 6 of his introduction to the _Romances and +Drolls of the West of England_ says, "Uncle is a term of respect, +which was very commonly applied to aged men by their juniors in +Cornwall. Aunt ... was used in the same manner when addressing aged +women." "Mon oncle" and "ma tante" are sometimes used in the same way +in France. Fiske in his _Myths and Mythmakers_, pp. 166, 167, tells +how the Zulu solar hero Uthlakanyana outwits a cannibal: in this story +the hero addresses the cannibal as "uncle," and the cannibal in return +calls him "child of my sister." Fiske, quoting from Dr. Callaway, at +p. 166, says, "It is perfectly clear that the cannibals of the Zulu +legends are not common men; they are magnified into giants and +magicians; they are remarkably swift and enduring; fierce and terrible +warriors." In the Hottentot story of the "Lion who took a woman's +shape," the lion and the woman address each other as "my aunt," and +"my uncle" (Bleek's _Hottentot Fables and Tales_, pp. 51, 52). In +Siberia the Yakuts worship the bear under the name of their "beloved +uncle" (Tylor's _Primitive Culture_, vol. II. p. 231); and when the +Russian peasant calls on the dreaded Lyeshy to appear he cries, "Uncle +Lyeshy" (Ralston's _Songs of the Russian people_, p. 159). + +"Grannie" is the word used by Dunkní herself. + +7. The Rakshas queen is tricked to her death in the same way as the +wicked step-mother in the "Pomegranate King," p. 12 of this +collection. + + +XII.--THE MAN WHO WENT TO SEEK HIS FATE. + +1. Compare a Servian story, "Das Schicksal" (Karadschitsch, +_Volksmaerchen der Serben_, p. 106), in which a man sets out to seek +his fate, and on the road is commissioned by a rich householder to ask +the fate why, though he gives abundance of food to his servants, he +can never satisfy their hunger, and why his aged, miserable father and +mother do not die: by another man, to ask why his cattle diminish +instead of thriving: and, thirdly, by a river whose waters bear him +safely across it, to ask why no living thing lives in it. His fate +answers all these questions, and instructs him how to thrive himself. +In Fräulein Gonzenbach's _Sicilian Fairy Tales_, "Die Geschichte von +Caterina und ihrem Schicksal," vol. I. p. 130, Caterina is persecuted +by her fate, who wears the form of a lovely woman. At last she begs +her mistress's fate, to whom she daily carries a propitiatory +offering, to intercede for her with her own fate. She is told in +answer that her own fate is wrapped in seven veils and so cannot hear +her prayer. Finally her mistress's fate leads her to her own. In the +same collection, in "Feledico und Epomata" (vol. I. p. 350), +Feledico's fate plays a personal part. + +This Indian story looks like a relic of stock and stone worship (see +Tylor's _Primitive Culture_, vol. II. chapters XIV. and XV.). Compare +the man's beating his fate-stone with the treatment the Ostyak gives +his puppet. If it is good to him he clothes and feeds it with broth; +"if it brings him no sport he will try the effect of a good thrashing +on it, after which he will clothe and feed it again" (_ib._ p. 170). +Other examples are given at the same page. These spirits and gods, for +whose dwelling-place stocks and stones and other objects had been +supplied, were not supposed always to inhabit these abodes; but they +did so at pleasure. Compare Elijah's address to the priests of Baal, +"Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, +or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth" (1 Kings xviii. +27), with Caterina's seven-veiled fate, and the prostrate fate-stone +in our story whose spirit-owner was evidently absent on some +expedition. These fates may be compared with the patron or guardian +spirits of whom Mr. Tylor speaks at pp. 199-203 of the same volume. He +says (p. 202), "The Egyptian astrologer warned Antonius to keep far +from the young Octavius, 'for thy demon,' said he, 'is in fear of +his.'" If one man's demon or genius were at enmity with that of +another man, it would probably be friendly to that of a third man, and +would therefore be acquainted with its secrets and with its motives of +behaviour to the man it guarded. Hence the advice given by her +mistress to Caterina to inquire of her own fate from her mistress's +fate, and the questions to be put to their fates when found given to +the men in the Indian and Servian stories. These questions remind one +of those entrusted to the youths in European tales as they journey to +the dragon or devil to whom they are sent for destruction. Like the +fates in the Indian and Servian stories, these dragons and devils live +at the end of a long and difficult journey. Caterina has to climb a +mountain to visit her mistress's fate. + +2. Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 22), speaking of the +three _Ribhavas_, says, "During the twelve days (the twelve hours of +the night or the twelve months in the year) in which they are the +guests of Agohyas," &c. So possibly the twelve years in this and other +stories in this collection may be the twelve hours of the night. In an +unpublished story told by Dunkní, "Prince Húsainsá's journey," the +prince journeys for twelve years. When he returns home he finds his +parents as he had left them--fast asleep in bed. To them the twelve +years had only been as one night. + + +XIII.--THE UPRIGHT KING. + +1. The Boar is an avatár of Vishṇu. + +2. A ḍom (the d is lingual) is a Hindú of a very low caste. + +3. Possibly this king is the same as the king Harichand in the last +story but one in the collection, p. 224, and he may also be the +Hariçchandra of the following letter from Mr. C. H. Tawney:-- + +"I have been looking up the story of 'Hariçchandra.' It is to be found +in Muir, vol. I. He gives a summary of it from the _Markaṇḍeya +Puráṇa_. It is also found in the 'Chanda Kauçikam,' and in Mutu +Coomara Swamy's 'Martyr of Truth.' The following is Muir's summary +summarized. Hariçchandra was a king who lived in the Tretá age, and +was renowned for his virtue, and for the universal prosperity, moral +and physical, which prevailed during his reign. One day he heard a +sound of female lamentation which proceeded from the Sciences who were +becoming mastered by the austere Sage, Viçvamitra, in a way they had +never been before. He rushed to their assistance as a Kshatriya bound +to succour the oppressed. By a haughty speech he provoked Viçvamitra, +and in consequence of his wrath the Sciences instantly perished. (In +the 'Chanda Kauçikam,' as far as I remember, we are told that the +anger of Viçvamitra interfered with the success of his austerity.) The +king says he had only done his duty as a king, which involves the +bestowal of gifts on Bráhmans and the succour of the weak. Viçvamitra +thereupon demands from the king as a gift the whole earth, everything +but himself, his son, and his wife. The king gives it him. Then +Viçvamitra demands his sacrificial fee; the king goes to Benares, +followed by the relentless Sage, the ruler of Çiva, and is compelled +to sell his wife. She is bought by a rich old Bráhman. The son cries +and the Bráhman buys him too. But Hariçchandra has not enough, even +now, to satisfy Viçvamitra, so he sells himself to a Cháṇḍála, +who is really Dharma, the god of righteousness. The Cháṇḍála +(man of the lowest caste), carries off the king, bound, beaten, and +confused. The Cháṇḍála sends him to steal clothes in a cemetery. +There he lives twelve months. His wife comes to the cemetery to +perform the obsequies of her son, who had died from the bite of a +serpent. The two determine to burn themselves with the corpse of their +son. When Hariçchandra, after placing his son on the funeral pyre, is +meditating on the Supreme Spirit, the lord Hari Náráyaṇa +Krishṇa, all the gods arrive headed by Dharma (righteousness) and +accompanied by Viçvamitra. Dharma entreats the king to desist from his +rash enterprise, and Indra announces to him that he, his wife, and his +son have gained heaven by their good works. Ambrosia and flowers are +rained by the god from the sky, and the king's son is restored to the +bloom of youth. The king, adorned with celestial clothing and +garments, and the queen, embrace their son. Hariçchandra, however, +declares that he cannot go to heaven till he has received his master +the Cháṇḍála's permission, and paid him a ransom. Dharma, the +god of righteousness, then says that he had miraculously assumed the +form of a Cháṇḍála. The king requests that his subjects may +accompany him to heaven, at least for one day. This request is granted +by Indra; and after Viçvamitra has inaugurated the king's son, +Rohitaçva, as his successor, Hariçchandra, his friends and followers, +all ascend to heaven." + + +XIV.--LOVING LAILÍ. + +1. Majnún is a celebrated lover, whose love for Lailí or Lailá is the +subject of many Eastern poems. In this story he does not play a +brilliant part. + +2. Lailí's knife is like the sun-hero's weapon (the sun's ray), which +lengthens at its owner's pleasure (Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, +vol. II. p. 147). + +3. She cuts her little finger. See "the Bél Princess," p. 141, and +paragraph 2 of the note to "Shekh Faríd." "The little finger, though +the smallest, is the most privileged of the five. It is the one that +knows everything." A Piedmontese mother says, "My little finger tells +me everything" (Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 166). +We have a somewhat similar saying in England. In a Russian story +quoted by the same author in the same work (vol. II. p. 151), an old +woman while baking a cake, cuts off her little finger and throws it +into the fire. From the little finger in the fire is born a strong +dwarf who afterwards does many wonderful things. In the tale of the +five fingers ("Die Maehr von den fuenf Fingern," Haltrich's +_Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, p. 325), where each finger decides what +it will do, the little one says, "I will help with wise counsel." In +consequence of this assistance, to this day, "when any one has a wise +idea (Einfall), he says 'that his little finger told him that'" (p. +327). In Finnish mythology we again find the little finger. "The Para, +also originated in the Swedish Bjaeren or Bare, a magical three-legged +being, manufactured in various ways, and which, says Castrén, attained +life and motion when its possessor, cutting the little finger of his +left hand, let three drops of blood fall on it, at the same time +pronouncing the proper spell." ("The Mythology of Finnland," _Fraser's +Magazine_ for May 1857, p. 532.) + +In Rink's _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 441, there is an +account of Kanak's visit to the man of the moon, where he meets a +woman who, he is warned, will take out his entrails if she can only +make him laugh. He follows the moon-man's advice, which is to rub his +leg with the nail of his little finger when he can no longer keep from +smiling, and so saves himself from the old hag. Rishya Śriñga (to +return to the land of our fairy tales) threw a drop of water from the +nail of his little finger on a Rakshas who, in the form of a tiger, +was rushing to devour him. The demon instantly quitted the tiger's +body, and asked the Rishi what he should do. He followed the holy +man's instructions and obtained môksha (salvation)--see _Indian +Antiquary_ for May 1873, p. 142, "The Legend of Rishya Śriñga," +told by V. N. Narasimmiyengar of Bangalor. + + +XV.--HOW KING BURTAL BECAME A FAKÍR. + +1. The Fakír strikes the dead antelope with his wand (_chábuk_), as in +"Shekh Faríd," p. 98. In both cases Dunkní says the wand used was a +long, slender piece of bamboo. I do not know whether the bamboo is a +lightning-plant. Possibly it is, being a grass (some grasses are +lightning-plants, see Fiske's _Myths and Mythmakers_, pp. 56, 61), and +also because its long slender stems are lance-shaped. If it does +belong to this class, naturally a blow from a bamboo (or lightning) +wand would give life, for, says Fiske (_ib._ p. 60), "the association +of the thunder-storm with the approach of summer has produced many +myths in which the lightning is symbolized as the life-renewing wand +of the victorious sun-god." + +2. The king tries to hide the ball in his hair. The wonderful power +and strength of hair appears in tales from all lands: Signor de +Gubernatis suggests that, in the case of solar heroes, their hair is +the sun's rays (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 117, vol. II. p. +154); and it seems to me possible that, just as the _colour_ of the +solar hero's hair has been appropriated by Indian fairy-tale princes +who are not solar, the _qualities_ of his hair may have been +attributed to that of folk-lore heroes who are not solar, and may also +have been the origin of some of the strange superstitions prevalent +about human hair. This theory, if correct, would account for most of +the strange things that I have hitherto met about hair. It must be +remembered that the sun's rays are also his weapons; they turn to +thunderbolts when the sun is hidden in the rain-clouds (Gubernatis, +_ib._ vol. I. pp. 9, 17), and also to lightning (see _ib._ vol. II. p. +10, where the sun under the form of a bull is spoken of as the fire +which sends forth lightning). + +First there is Samson, whose name, according to Gesenius, means +"solar," "like the sun." Of the hero Firud, it is told "that a single +hair of his head has more strength in it than many warriors" +(Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 117). Conan was the +weakest man of the Féinn, because they used to keep him cropped. "He +had but the strength of a man; but if the hair should get leave to +grow, there was the strength of a man in him for every hair that was +in his head; but he was so cross that if the hair should grow he would +kill them all" (Campbell's _Popular Tales of the West Highlands_, vol. +III. p. 396). At p. 91 of Schmidt's _Griechische Maerchen, Sagen und +Volkslieder_, is the story of a king, "Der Capitän Dreizehn," who is +"the strongest of his time," and who has three long hairs, so long +that they could be twisted twice round the hand on his breast. When +these are cut off he becomes the weakest of men. When these grow again +he regains his strength. The sun's rays have most power when they are +longest, _i.e._ when the sun is in apogee. + +Possibly from this old forgotten myth about the solar hero's hair came +some superstition to which was due the Merovingian decree that only +princes of the blood-royal should wear their hair long; cutting their +long hair made them incapable of becoming kings. Their slaves were +shaved. The barbarians ruled that only their free men should wear long +hair, and that the slaves should be shaved. Professor Monier Williams, +in the _Contemporary Review_ for January 1879, p. 265, says that +Govind, the 10th Guru and founder of the Sikh nationality, ordered the +Sikhs to wear their hair long to distinguish themselves from other +nations. + +In the Slavonic story, "Leben, Abenteuer und Schwaenke des kleinen +Kerza," is a dwarf magician with a long white beard. With a hair from +this beard Kerza binds the magician's wicked wife, who has taken the +form of a wooden pillar the better to carry out her evil ends. From +that moment it was impossible for her to take again her own shape or +to use her former magic powers (Vogl's _Volksmaerchen_, p. 227). One +of the tasks set by Yspaddaden Penkawr to Kilhwch before he will give +him his daughter Olwen to wife, is to get him "a leash made from the +beard of Dissull Varvawc, for that is the only one that can hold the +two cubs. And the leash will be of no avail unless it be plucked from +his beard while he is alive, and twitched out with wooden tweezers ... +and the leash will be of no use should he be dead because it will be +brittle,"--that is, when the sun is set (dead) his rays have no power +(_Mabinogion_, vol. II. p. 288). The same idea lies at the bottom of +the English superstition that "if a person's hair burn brightly when +thrown into the fire, it is a sign of longevity; the brighter the +flame, the longer the life. On the other hand, if it smoulder away, +and refuse to burn, it is a sign of approaching death" (Henderson's +_Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England_, p. 84). + +The Malays have a story of a woman, called Utahigi, in whose head grew +a single white hair endowed with magic power. When her husband pulled +it out a great storm arose and Utahigi went up to heaven. She was a +bird (or cloud) maiden, and this hair must have been the lightning +drawn from the cloud. The Servian Atalanta, when nearly overtaken by +her lover, takes a hair from the top of her head and throws it behind +her. It becomes a mighty wood (clouds are the forests and mountains of +the sky, Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 11), +Karadschitsch, _Volksmaerchen der Serben_, p. 25, in the story "von +dem Maedchen das behender als das Pferd ist." In Schmidt's +_Griechische Maerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder_, p. 79, the king's +daughter as she flies with her lover from the Lamnissa throws some of +her own hairs behind her, and they become a great lake (thunderbolts +and lightning bring rain). At p. 98 of the same work is the story "Der +Riese vom Berge." When this giant wishes to enter his great high +mountain, he takes a hair from his head and touches the mountain with +it. The mountain at once splits in two (p. 101). The king's daughter +in her encounter with the Efreet, "plucked a hair from her head and +muttered with her lips, whereupon the hair became converted into a +piercing sword with which she struck the lion [the Efreet], and he was +cleft in twain by her blow; but his head became changed into a +scorpion" (Lane's _Arabian Nights_, vol. I. p. 156). A Baba Yaga, in +Ralston's _Russian Folk Tales_, p. 147, plucks one of her hairs, ties +three knots in it, and blows, and thus petrifies her victims. She is a +personification of the spirit of the storm, _ib._ p. 164. In _Old +Deccan Days_, at p. 62, the old Rakshas says to Ramchundra, "You must +not touch my hair;" "the least fragment of my hair thrown in the +direction of the jungle would instantly set it in a blaze." Ramchundra +steals two or three of the hairs, and when escaping from the Rakshas, +flings them to the winds and fires the jungle. Chandra (p. 266 of the +same book) avenges the death of her husband by tearing her hair, which +burns and instantly sets fire to the land; all the people in it but +herself and a few who had been kind to her and are therefore saved, +were burnt in this great fire. + +In these tales a single hair from the head of the Princess Labám (the +lunar ray can pierce the cloud as well as a solar ray) cuts a thick +tree-trunk in two, p. 163. + +Hair has another property; it can tell things to its owners. See the +three hairs the Queen gives Coachman Toms, saying, "They will always +tell you the truth when you question them." (Stier's _Ungarische +Volksmaerchen_, p. 176), and which, later in the story (p. 186) +adjudge the king worthy of death. (See Grimm's story _Kinder und +Hausmaerchen_, vol. II. p. 174, "The clear sun brings day.") Also "Das +wunderbare Haar" (Karadschitsch _Volksmaerchen der Serben_, p. 180), +which is blood-red, and in which when split open were found written a +multitude of noteworthy events from the beginning of the world. (The +sun's rays have existed since the early ages of the world.) The girl +from whose head the hair is taken threads a needle with the sun's rays +and embroiders a net made of the hair of heroes. + +See, too, the Eskimo account of the removal of Disco Island in Rink's +_Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 464, where one old man vainly +tries to keep back the island by means of a seal-skin thong which +snaps, while two other old men haul it away triumphantly by the hair +from the head of a little child, chanting their spells all the time. +Their success was, perhaps, due to the spells, not to the hair. In the +notes to Der Capitän Dreizehn in Schmidt's _Griechische Maerchen, +Sagen und Volkslieder_, there are some instances of the strength given +by hair to those on whom it grows. + +2. The líchí is Nephelium Litchi. + +3. King Burtal's eldest son's name _Sazádá_ is perhaps the boy's title +Shahzádá (born of a king), prince. Dunkní says it is his name. + + +XVI.--SOME OF THE DOINGS OF SHEKH FARÍD. + +1. Kheláparí means "playful fairy:" Gulábsá, "like a rose." + +2. In another version told to me this year by Dunkní, when Gursan Rájá +wakes and learns how long his wife has stood by him, he is horrified, +and refuses the water, saying he does not want it. He tells her that +as a reward for her patience and goodness, she shall know of herself +everything that happens in other countries--floods, fires, and other +troubles; that she shall be able to bring help; and should any one die +from having his throat cut she shall be able to restore him to life, +by smearing the wound with some blood taken from an incision in her +little finger. Kheláparí's acquaintance with Shekh Faríd begins in +this version as follows:--She was standing at the door of her house +looking down the road, when she saw coming towards her Shekh Faríd, +the cartman, and the bullock-cart laden with what once was sugar, but +now, thanks to the fakír, is ashes. Through her gift Kheláparí knows +all that has happened, though the miracle was not performed in her +sight; and Shekh Faríd being a fakír, though his all-knowing talent +does not equal hers, knows that she knows. The cartman is in despair +when he discovers the ashes, and implores Shekh Faríd to help him. The +fakír sends him to Kheláparí, saying he must appeal to her as her +power of doing good excels his (the fakír's); that though he could +turn sugar to ashes, he could not turn the ashes to sugar. Kheláparí +at the cartman's prayer performs this miracle. Their next encounter is +by a tank in the jungle by which the holy man is resting. She is +hurrying along to put out the fire at her father's palace. The Shekh +cannot understand how it is possible for any woman to know of herself +what is happening twenty miles off, when he, a fakír, can only know +what passes at a short distance, so he follows the Rání to test her +truthfulness, and arrives in time to see her helping to put out the +fire. The rest of the story is the same as the version printed in this +collection. + +3. This Shekh Faríd was a famous Súfí saint. He was a contemporary of +Nának, and many of his sayings are embodied in the Granth. In Central +India, there is a holy hill of his called Girur. The Gazetteer of the +Central Provinces edited by C. Grant, 2nd edition, Nágpur, 1870, says +that articles of merchandise belonging to two travelling traders who +mocked the saint passed before him, on which he turned the whole +stock-in-trade into stones as a punishment. They implored his pardon, +and he created a fresh stock for them from dry leaves, on which they +were so struck by his power that they attached themselves permanently +to his service, and two graves on the hill are said to be theirs. In +the _Pioneer_ for 5th August 1878, Pekin has a poem on a similar +legend about the saint. Standing on his holy hill, one day Shekh Faríd +saw a packman pass and he begged for alms. The packman mocked him. +Then the saint asked what his sacks contained. "Stones," was the +answer. The Shekh said, "Sooth--they are but worthless stones." +Whereupon all the sacks burst, and the contents, at one time different +kinds of spices, fell stones to the ground. The owner implored the +saint's mercy. Shekh Faríd told him to fill his sacks with leaves from +the trees, which was done, and then the leaves became gold mohurs. The +packman turned saint too and left his bones on Girur. A similar +miracle is told of the Irish Saint, Brigit. "Once upon a time Brigit +beheld a man with salt on his back. 'What is that on thy back?' saith +Brigit; 'Stones,' saith the man. 'They shall be stones then,' saith +Brigit, and of the salt stones were made. The same man again cometh to +(or past) Brigit. 'What is that on thy back?' saith Brigit. 'Salt,' +saith the man. 'It shall be salt then,' saith Brigit. Salt was made +again thereof through Brigit's word." (_Three Middle Irish Homilies_, +p. 81.) + +4. Fakírchand means the moon of fakírs. Mohandás, the servant of the +Mohan (Krishṇa). Champákálí is a necklace made in imitation of the +closed buds of the champa or champak flowers. + +5. The demons, in Hindústání _dew_ (pronounced deo), god, are +something like the Rakshases. They have wings, and have exceedingly +long lips, one of which sticks up in the air, while the other hangs +down. One of King Arthur's warriors, "Gwevyl, the son of Gwestad, on +the day that he was sad, he would let one of his lips drop below his +waist while he turned up the other like a cap upon his head" +(_Mabinogion_, vol. II. p. 266, "Kilhwch and Olwen"). + + +XVII.--THE MOUSE. + +1. Unluckily, when Karím was with us, I neglected to write down the +name of the grain that kills the mouse, and all the wonderful things +he told us of the properties of this grain. His explanations were a +kind of note given after he had finished the story. + +2. The only parallel I can find to this story is one in Bleek's +_Hottentot Fables and Tales_, p. 90, called "The unreasonable child to +whom the dog gave its deserts; or a receipt for putting any one to +sleep," in which the child indulges in the uncalled for generosity and +unreasonable rage of the mouse. + + +XVIII.--A WONDERFUL STORY. + +1. Ajít means unsubdued, invincible. + +2. The wrestler's mode of announcing his arrival at Ajít's house is, +probably, the solitary result of many efforts to induce Karím himself +to knock at the nursery door before he marched into the nursery. I +never heard of natives knocking at each other's house-doors. + +3. With these wrestlers compare Grimm's "Der junge Riese," _Kinder und +Hausmaerchen_, vol. II. p. 23, and "Eisenhans" in Haltrich's +_Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, p. 77. + +4. Ajít carries her house. Note by Mr. J. F. Campbell: "Compare an +Irish story about Fionn and a giant who was told that the hero turned +the house when the wind blew open the door." [See, too, Campbell's +_Tales of the Western Highlands_, vol. III. p. 184] + +5. When Karím was here I forgot to ask him how big were Ajít's cakes, +can, and mice. Mr. Campbell of Islay, who read this story in +manuscript, wrote in the margin where the mice were mentioned: "The +fleas in the island of Java are so big that they come out from under +the bed and steal potatoes. They do many such things. Compare [with +Ajít's can] a Gaelic story about a man who found the Fenians in an +island, and was offered a drink in a can so large that he could not +move it." + +6. Mr. G. H. Damant, in the _Indian Antiquary_ for September 1873, +vol. II. p. 271, has a Dinájpur story called "Two gánja-eaters" which +is very like our Wonderful Story. In it a gánja-eater who can eat six +maunds of gánja[7] hears of another gánja-eater who can eat nine +maunds; so he takes his six maunds of gánja, and sets off for his +rival's country with the intention of fighting him. On the road he is +thirsty and drinks a whole pond dry, but this fails to quench his +thirst. Arrived at the nine-maund gánja-eater's house, he learns from +the wife that her husband has gone to cut sugar-cane, and decides to +go and meet him. He finds him in the jungle, and wishes to fight there +and then; but his rival does not agree to this, saying he has eaten +nothing for seven days. The other answers he has eaten nothing for +nine; whereupon the nine-maund gánja-eater suggests they shall wait +till they get back to his country, as in the jungle they will have no +spectators. The six-maund gánja-eater consents. So the nine-maund +gánja-eater takes up all the sugar-cane he has cut during the last +seven days and sets off for his country with his rival. On the way +they meet a fish-wife, and call her to stop and see them fight; she +answers she must carry her fish without delay to market, being already +late, and proposes they should stand on her arm and fight, and that +then she could see them as they go along. While they are fighting on +her arm, down sweeps a kite which carries off "the gánja-eaters; fish +and all." They are thrown by a storm in front of a Rájá's daughter, +who has them swept away thinking they are bits of straw. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [7] An intoxicating preparation of the hemp-plant (_Cannabis + sativa_ or _C. indica_). + + +XIX.--THE FAKÍR NÁNAKSÁ SAVES THE MERCHANT'S LIFE. + +1. Nánaksá, _i.e._ Nának Sháh, is doubtless the first guru of the +Sikhs (about A.D. 1460-1530). + +2. With the transmigration of the souls of the merchant's father, +grandmother, and sister into the goat, the old woman and his little +daughter, compare a Dinájpur story published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the +_Indian Antiquary_ for June 7, 1872, vol. I. p. 172, in which a king +threatens to kill a Bráhman if he does not explain what he means by +saying to the king every day, "As thy liberality, so thy virtue." By +his new-born daughter's advice the Bráhman tells the king this child +would explain it to him. Accordingly the king comes to the Bráhman's +house and is received smilingly "by the two-and-a-half-days-old +daughter. She sends the king for the desired information to a certain +red ox, who in his turn" sends him to a clump of Shahara (_Trophis +aspera_) trees. The trees tell him he has been made king in this state +of existence, because in a former state of existence he was liberal and +full of charity; that in this former state the child just born as the +Bráhman's daughter was his wife: that the red ox was then his son, and +that this son's wife, as a punishment for her hardness and +uncharitableness, had "become the genius of this grove of trees." + +3. Jabrá'íl is the Archangel Gabriel. + + +XX.--THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN. + +1. For these marks see paragraph 4 of the notes to Phúlmati Rání. I +think the silver chains with which King Oriant's children are born +(see the Netherlandish story, the Knight of the Swan, quoted in +paragraph 3 of the notes to the Pomegranate King) are identical with +the suns, moons, and stars that the hero in this and in many other +tales possesses. They are his princely insignia and proofs of his +royalty. When the boy in this tale twists his right ear his insignia +are hidden, and so long as they remain concealed no one can guess he +is a king's son, unless he chooses to reveal himself, as he does, +partially, through his sweet singing to the youngest princess. With +this partial revelation compare the Sicilian "Stupid Peppe" revealing +himself in part by means of the ring he gave to his youngest princess. +This ring has the property of flashing brightly whenever he is near. +(See the story "Von dem muthigen Königssohn, der viele Abenteuer +erlebte" quoted in paragraph 6 of the notes to this story, p. 280.) +The shape of the insignia may have been destroyed, as in the case of +the sixth swan's chain, in the Netherlandish story, but its substance +remains, and as soon as it reappears the hero clothes himself with his +own royal form. Chundun Rájá's necklace (_Old Deccan Days_, p. 230) +and Sodewa Bai's necklace (_ib._ p. 236), in which lay their life, +belong, perhaps, to these insignia. Their princely owners' existence +depends on their keeping these proofs of their royalty in their own +possession, and is suspended whenever the proofs pass into the hands +of others. + +2. The gardener's daughter promises to bear her husband a son with the +moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. Compare "Die verstossene +Königin und ihre beiden ausgesetzten Kinder," Gonzenbach's +_Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. I. p. 19, where the girl (p. 21) +promises to give the king, if he marries her, a son with a golden +apple in his hand, and a daughter with a silver star on her forehead. +Also compare with our story "Truth's Triumph" in _Old Deccan Days_, p. +50. In Indian stories, as in European tales, the gardener and his +family often play an important part, the hero being frequently the son +of the gardener's daughter, or else protected by the gardener and his +wife. + +3. With the kettle-drum compare the golden bell given by the Rájá to +Guzra Bai in "Truth's Triumph" (_Old Deccan Days_, p. 53); and the +flute given by the nymph Tillottama to her husband in the "Finding of +the Dream," a Dinájpur story published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the +_Indian Antiquary_, February 1875, vol. IV. p. 54. See also paragraph +7, p. 287, of notes to "How the Rájá's son won the Princess Labám." + +4. _Kaṭar_ (the _t_ is lingual) means cruel, relentless. With this +fairy-horse compare the Russian hero-horses in Dietrich's collection +of Russian tales, who remain shut up behind twelve iron doors, and +often loaded with chains as well, till the advent of heroes great +enough to ride them. They generally speak with human voices, are their +masters' devoted servants, fight for him, often slaughtering more of +his enemies than he does himself, and when turned loose in the free +fields, as Kaṭar was in his jungle, till they are needed, always +staying in them and coming at once to their master when he calls. See +in the collection by Dietrich (_Russische Volksmaerchen_) No. 1, "Von +Ljubim Zarewitch," &c., p. 3; No. 2, "Von der selbstspielenden Harfe," +p. 17; No. 4, "Von Ritter Iwan, dem Bauersohne," p. 43; No. 10, "Von +Bulat dem braven Burschen," p. 133; Jeruslan Lasarewitsch in the story +that bears his name (No. 17, p. 208) catches and tames a wonderful +horse near which even lions and eagles do not dare to go, p. 214. And +the Hungarian fairy horses (Zauberpferde) who, like the Servian +hero-horses, become ugly and lame at pleasure, and speak with human +voice, must also be compared to Kaṭar. One in particular plays a +leading part in the story of "Weissnittle" (Stier's _Ungarische +Volksmaerchen_, p. 61). He saves the king's son twice from death and +then flies with him to another land. He speaks with human voice, +advises him in all his doings, and marries him to a king's daughter; +Weissnittle obeying his horse as implicitly as our hero does Kaṭar. +The heroes' horses in Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische Maerchen_ also +speak with human voice and give their masters good counsel. See p. 35 +of "Der goldne Vogel;" p. 49 of "Der Zauberross;" p. 101 of "Der Knabe +und der Schlange." These last two horses have more than four legs: +like Odin's Sleipnir, they each have eight. See, too, the dragon's +horse and this horse's brother in "Der goldne Apfelbaum und die neun +Pfauinnen" (Karadschitsch, _Volksmaerchen der Serben_, pp. 33-40). The +"steed" in the "Rider of Grianaig," pp. 14 and 15 of vol. III. of +Campbell's _Tales of the Western Highlands_, and the "Shaggy dun +filly" in "The young king of Easaidh Ruadh," at p. 4 of vol. I. of the +same work, may also be compared; and, lastly, in a list of hero-horses +Cúchulainn's Gray of Macha deserves a place. On the morning of the day +which was to see his last fight, Cúchulainn ordered his charioteer, +Loeg, to harness the Gray to his chariot. "'I swear to God what my +people swears,' said Loeg, 'though the men of Conchobar's fifth +(Ulster) were around the Gray of Macha, they could not bring him to +the chariot.... If thou wilt, come thou, and speak with the Gray +himself.' Cúchulainn went to him. And thrice did the horse turn his +left side to his master.... Then Cúchulainn reproached his horse, +saying that he was not wont to deal thus with his master. Thereat the +Gray of Macha came and let his big round tears of blood fall on +Cúchulainn's feet." The hero then leaps into his chariot, and goes to +battle. At last the Gray is sore wounded, and he and Cúchulainn bid +each other farewell. The Gray leaves his master; but when Cúchulainn, +wounded to death, has tied himself to a stone pillar to die standing, +"then came the Gray of Macha to Cúchulainn to protect him so long as +his soul abode in him, and the 'hero's light' out of his forehead +remained. Then the Gray of Macha wrought the three red routs all +around him. And fifty fell by his teeth and thirty by each of his +hooves. This is what he slew of the host. And hence is (the saying) +'Not keener were the victorious courses of the Gray of Macha after +Cúchulainn's slaughter.'" Then Lugaid and his men cut off the hero's +head and right hand and set off, driving the Gray before them. They +met Conall the Victorious, who knew what had happened when he saw his +friend's horse. "And he and the Gray of Macha sought Cúchulainn's +body. They saw Cúchulainn at the pillar-stone. Then went the Gray of +Macha and laid his head on Cúchulainn's breast. And Conall said, 'A +heavy care to the Gray of Macha is that corpse.'" Conall himself, in +the fight he has with Lugaid, to avenge his friend's slaughter, is +helped by his own horse, the Dewy-Red. "When Conall found that he +prevailed not, he saw his steed, the Dewy-Red, by Lugaid. And the +steed came to Lugaid and tore a piece out of his side." ("Cúchulainn's +Death, abridged from the Book of Leinster," _Revue celtique_, Juin +1877, pp. 175, 176, 180, 182, 183, 185.) + +5. The prince makes his escape at five years old. Jeruslan +Jeruslanowitsch at the same age sets out in search of his father, +Jeruslan Lasarewitsch, equipped as a knight, at p. 250 of the 17th +Russian Maerchen in the collection by Dietrich quoted above. He meets +and fights bravely with his father, proving himself worthy of him (p. +251). Sohrab, Rustam's famous son, gives proof of a lion's courage at +five, and at ten years old vanquishes all his companions (Gubernatis, +_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 115). + +6. The princess chooses the ugly common-looking man. In _Old Deccan +Days_, p. 119, so does the Princess Buccoulee. In the episode of Nala +and Damayantí we have the assemblage of suitors, and the public choice +of a husband by a princess (_svayamvara_). Damayantí recognizes the +mortal Nala among the gods, (each of whom has made himself resemble +Nala) from the fact that the flowers of which Nala's garlands were +composed had faded while the garlands of the gods were blooming +freshly. In a story from Manípúrí told by Mr. G. H. Damant in the +_Indian Antiquary_, September 1875, vol. IV. p. 260, Prince Basanta, +effectually disguised by misery, and travel-stained, arrives with the +merchant at a certain place where the king's daughter that day is to +choose her husband. The merchant takes his seat among the princely +suitors; Basanta a little way off. There is a general storm of +scoffings when the princess hangs her garland of flowers round +Basanta's neck. In one of Laura Gonzenbach's Sicilian stories, "Von +einem muthigen Königssohn, der viele Abenteuer erlebte," vol. II. p. +21, we have three kings' sons (brothers) and three princesses +(sisters.) The two elder brothers marry the two elder sisters. At a +tournament held on purpose that she may choose her husband, the +youngest sister, to the general disgust, chooses the youngest prince +(disguised as the dirty, ill-dressed servant of the court tailor), and +who is not even present as a suitor. Her suitors, princes, have passed +before her for three days. After the marriage the prince keeps up the +disguise. His brothers by way of amusing themselves at his expense +take "Stupid Peppe," as they call him, to the wood to shoot birds; he +shoots a great number, while they run here and there and cannot find +one. They agree to let him brand them with black spots on their +shoulders, on condition he gives them his birds. In the notes to this +story, vol. II. p. 240. Herr Köhler gives Spanish, Russian, South +Siberian, and others parallels. And in Stier's _Ungarische +Volksmaerchen_, p. 61, in the story of "Weissnittle," we have not only +the hero-horse mentioned in paragraph 4 of these notes, but also the +assemblage of suitors for the princess to choose her husband: her +choice of a seemingly stupid gardener's boy, who has partially +revealed himself to her; the prince retaining his disguise, after his +marriage, towards every one, even his wife: two brothers-in-law, who +are kings' sons and the wife's elder sisters' husbands; their hunting +on three different days, each time meeting a handsome prince in whom +they do not recognize their despised brother-in-law, Weissnittle, who +sells them his game the first day for their wedding-rings, the second +for leave to brand them with these rings on their foreheads, the third +for permission to brand them with a gallows on their backs: lastly, we +have Weissnittle, as a splendid young prince, publicly shaming his +brothers-in-law by exposing their branding marks. In India this +branding with red-hot pice was the punishment for stealing. Compare in +Taylor's _Confessions of a Thug_, p. 411, Amír Ali's horror at being +so branded by the Rájá of Jhalone. It was, he says years later, a +punishment worse than death, as the world would think him a thief, and +he would carry to his grave "a mark only set on the vile and the +outcasts from society." + +7. Múniyá tells me that, in a variation of this story, the dog, cow, +and horse each swallow the child three times, but for shorter periods, +as he is only five years old when he escapes on Kaṭar. Then when +the princess chooses her husband she rides three times round the +assemblage of Rájá's, who all sit on a great plain, and each time she +chooses the pretended _old_ man; for in this version the boy loses his +youth as well as his good looks. Instead of taking service with the +grain merchant, the boy is told by his horse to go boldly to the +king's palace and ask for service there. The shaming of the +brothers-in-law happens thus. The boy invites these princes, the king, +all the king's servants, and all the people in the king's country, to +a grand entertainment in the king's court-house. When they are all +assembled he has the six princes stripped and every one mocks at the +pice-marks on their backs. These are the only variations in the other +version. + +Sir George Grey, in his _Polynesian Mythology_, p. 73, tells how the +hero Tawhaki when he climbed into heaven in search of his lost wife +"disguised himself, and changed his handsome and noble appearance, and +assumed the likeness of a very ugly old man." If fact, he looks such a +thoroughly common old man that in the heavens he is taken for a slave +instead of a great chief, and treated as such. + + +XXI.--THE BÉL-PRINCESS. + +1. Múniyá says that telling the prince he would marry a Bél-Princess +was equivalent to saying he would not marry at all, for these +brothers' wives knew she lived in the fairy-country, and that it would +be very difficult, if not impossible, for the prince to find her, and +take her from it. + +2. With the fakír's sleep compare that of the dragon who sleeps for a +year at a time in the Transylvanian story "Das Rosenmaerchen" +(_Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, pp. 124, 126). + +3. In a Greek story, "Das Schloss des Helios" (Schmidt's _Griechische +Maerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder_, p. 106), the heroine is warned by a +monk that as she approaches the magic castle voices like her brothers' +voices will call her; but if, consequently, she looks behind she will +become stone. Her two elder brothers go to seek her, and, as they meet +no monk to warn them, they become stone. The third brother meets the +monk, obeys his warning, and thus, like his sister, escapes the evil +fate. To save him from Helios, the sister turns him into a thimble +till she has Helios's promise to do him no harm. (Compare the Tiger +and Tigress, p. 155 of this collection.) Helios gives him some water +in a flask with which he sprinkles the stone brothers, whereupon they +and all the other stone princes come to life. In these Indian tales +the healing blood from the little finger plays the part of the waters +of life and death, found in so many Russian and other European +stories. + +When reading of the fate of all these princes, it is impossible not +to think of Lot's wife. + +The danger of looking back, when engaged on any dealings with +supernatural powers, is insisted on in the tales and practices of the +Russians, Eskimos, Zulus, and the Khonds of Orissa. In Russia the +watcher for the golden fern-flower must seize it the instant it +blossoms and run home, taking care not to look behind him: whether +through fear of giving the demons, who also watch for it, power over +him, or whether through a dread of the flower losing its magic powers +if this precaution is neglected, Mr. Ralston does not say (_Songs of +the Russian People_, p. 99). When "the Revived who came to the +under-world people" (Dr. Rink tells us in his _Tales and Traditions of +the Eskimo_, p. 299) took the old couple to visit the ingnersuit +(supernatural beings "who have their abodes beneath the surface of the +earth, in the cliffs along the sea-shore, where the ordinarily +invisible entrances to them are found" _ib._ p. 46), he warned "them +not to look back when they approached the rock which enclosed the +abode of the ingnersuit, lest the entrance should remain shut for +them.... When they had reached the cliff, and were rowing up to it, it +forthwith opened; and inside was seen a beautiful country, with many +houses, and a beach covered with pebbles and large heaps of fish and +matak (edible skin). Perceiving this the old people for joy forgot the +warning and turned round, and instantly all disappeared: the prow of +the boat knocked right against the steep rock and was smashed in, so +that they all were thrown down by the shock. The son [the revived] +said, 'Now we must remain apart for ever.'" Mr. Tylor, in the 2nd +volume of his _Primitive Culture_, at p. 147 mentions a Zulu remedy +for preventing a dead man from tormenting his widow in her dreams; the +sorcerer goes with her to lay the ghost, and when this is done +"charges her not to look back till she gets home:" and he says the +Khonds of Orissa, when offering human sacrifices to the earth-goddess +bury their portions of the offering in holes in the ground behind +their backs without looking round (_ib._ p. 377). + +4. In most of the stories of this kind the command is to open the +fruit or casket only near water, for if the beautiful maiden inside +cannot get water immediately she dies. Such is the case in the "Drei +Pomeranzen" (Stier's _Ungarische Maerchen und Sagen_, p. 83), in "Die +Schoene mit dem sieben Schleier" (_Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. I. p. +73), and in "Die drei Citronen" (Schmidt's _Griechische Maerchen, +Sagen und Volkslieder_, p. 71). "Die Ungeborene Niegesehene" (Schott's +_Wallachische Maerchen_, p. 248) must be compared with these, though +the beautiful maiden does not come out of the golden fairy-apple. She +appears suddenly and the prince must give her water to drink and the +apple to eat, before he can take her and keep her. In all these +stories the hero has a long journey, and encounters many dangers, in +seeking his bride. In the Sicilian story he is helped by hermits; in +the Greek story, by a monk--monks in Greek and hermits in Sicilian and +Servian stories playing the part of the fakírs in these Indian tales. +In all these stories, too, the maiden is killed or transformed by a +wicked woman who takes her place. In the Wallachian and Sicilian fairy +tales the rightful bride becomes a dove only. But in the Hungarian +tale she is drowned in a well and becomes a gold fish; the wicked +gipsy has no rest till she has eaten the fish's liver: from one of its +scales springs a tree; she has the tree cut down and burnt. The +wood-cutter who hews down the tree makes a cover for his wife's +milk-pot from a piece of the wood, and they find their house kept in +beautiful order from this moment. So to discover the secret, they peep +through the keyhole one day and see a lovely fairy come out of the +milk-jar. Then they enter their house suddenly and the girl tells her +story: the wood-cutter's wife burns the wooden lid to force her to +keep her own form, and goes to the king's son to tell him where he +will find his Pomegranate-bride again. In the Greek story a Lamnissa +eats the citron-girl, but a tiny bone falls unnoticed into the water +and becomes a gold-fish. The prince not only takes the Lamnissa home +with him, but he takes the gold-fish too, and keeps it in his room, +"for he loved it dearly." The Lamnissa never rests till he gives her +the fish to eat. Its bones are thrown into a garden and from them +springs a rose bush on which blooms a rose which the king's old +washerwoman wishes to break off to sell it at the castle. From out of +the bush springs the beautiful citron-maiden, and tells the old woman +her story. She also gives her the rose for the king's son, and in the +basket with the rose she lays a ring he had given her, but charges the +old woman to say nothing about her to him. The next day he comes to +the old woman's cottage and finds his real bride. + +5. The youngest prince alone can gather the lotus-flower and +bél-fruit. Compare the Pomegranate-king, pp. 10 and 11, and paragraphs +1 and 4, pp. 245, 252, of the notes to that story. In his _Northern +Mythology_, vol. I., in the footnotes at p. 290, Thorpe mentions a +maiden's grave from which spring "three lilies which no one save her +lover may gather." I think he must quote from a Danish ballad. + +6. The princess after drowning is first in a lotus-flower; then in a +bél-fruit again; and, lastly, her body is changed to a garden and +palace. Signor de Gubernatis at p. 152 of the 1st volume of his +_Zoological Mythology_ mentions an Esthonian story where a girl (she +who addressed the crow as "bird of light"--see paragraph 2, p. 259 of +the notes to "Brave Hírálálbásá") while fleeing with her lover is +thrown into the water by a magic ball sent after them by the old +witch, and there becomes "a pond-rose (lotus-flower)." Her lover eats +hogs'-flesh and thus learns the language of birds, and then sends +swallows to a magician in Finnland to ask what he must do to free his +bride. The answer is brought by an eagle; and the prince following the +magician's instructions helps the girl to recover her human form. And +just as Surya Bai is born again in her mango (_Old Deccan Days_, p. +87) and the Bél-Princess in her bél-fruit, so is the girl in the +Hottentot tale of "The Lion who took a woman's shape" born from her +heart in the calabash full of milk in which her mother has put it. The +lion had eaten the girl; but her mother burns the lion and persuades +the fire in which she burns him to give her her daughter's heart +(Bleek's _Hottentot Fables and Tales_, pp. 55 and 56). With the change +into the garden and palace compare the Russian story of a maiden whose +servant-girl blinds her and takes her place as the king's wife. After +some time the false queen learns her mistress is still living; so she +has her murdered and cut to pieces. "Where the maiden is buried a +garden arises, and a boy shows himself. The boy goes to the palace and +runs after the queen, making such a din that she is obliged, in order +to silence him, to give him the girl's heart which she had kept +hidden. The boy then runs off contented, the king follows him, and +finds himself before the resuscitated maiden" (Gubernatis, _Zoological +Mythology_, vol. I. pp. 218, 219). See paragraphs 7 and 8 of the notes +to "Phúlmati Rání," p. 244, and 1, 3 and 4, pp. 245, 250, 252, of +those to "The Pomegranate-king." + +7. The commonplace fate of the wonderful palace is deplorable. + + +XXII.--HOW THE RÁJÁ'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABÁM. + +1. The "four sides" in this story (p. 153), the "four directions" (p. +156) which ought to have been translated four sides and the four sides +in "The Bed," p. 202, are the four points of the compass. They appear +in a Dinájpur story told by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian +Antiquary_, 5th April 1872, p. 115. In the first Russian fairy tale +published by Dietrich, the hero's parents give their elder sons +permission "to go on the four sides" when they start on their journeys +(_Russische Volksmaerchen_, p. 1). In another fairy tale in the same +collection (No. 11, p. 144) the Prince Malandrach, when he has lost +his way flying in the air and is over the sea, raises himself by a +last effort and looks on all the "four sides" in search of a +resting-place for his foot, p. 147. Of course, too, like orthodox +Russians, the Russian heroes generally bow to all the "four sides," +before attempting their journeys and adventures. + +2. Híráman is the name of a kind of parroquet. Irik in the Bohemian +tale "Princess Golden-Hair" (Naake's _Slavonic Fairy Tales_, p. 99) +first hears of the princess's existence from the chattering of birds. + +3. "Aunty" was the word used in English by old Múniyá. + +4. With the stone bowl compare the pot in Grimm's "Der suesse Brei," +_Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, vol. II. p. 104. + +5. With the tigers' coats compare the robes of honour wherewith the +knights in the Mabinogion clothe themselves when they go to combat. +"And he (Gwalchmai) went forth to meet the knight (Owain), having over +himself and his horse a satin robe of honour sent him by the daughter +of the Earl of Rhangyw; and in this dress he was not known by any of +the host" ("The Lady of the Fountain," _Mabinogion_, vol. I. p. 67). +Peredur wears "a bright scarlet robe of honour over his armour" given +him by the king's daughter (_ib._ p. 363 of "Peredur the son of +Evrawc"). And in "The Dream of Rhonabwy" a knight and his horse wear a +robe of honour (_ib._ vol. II. p. 413). + +6. With the tigers' fight with the demons compare the combat of the +grateful lion with the giant, in which the lion bears the brunt of the +battle. On the giant's saying, "Truly, I should find no difficulty in +fighting with thee were it not for the animal that is with thee," +Owain shuts the lion up in the castle. "The lion in the castle roared +very loud, for he heard that it went hard with Owain," so he climbed +to the top of the castle, sprang down and "joined Owain. And the lion +gave the giant a stroke with his paw, which tore him from his shoulder +to his hip, and his heart was laid bare. And the giant fell down dead" +("The Lady of the Fountain," _Mabinogion_, vol. I. pp. 79, 80). + +7. Gubernatis in vol. I. p. 160, of his _Zoological Mythology_, says, +"The drum or kettle-drum thunder is a familiar image in Hindu poetry, +and the gandharvas, the musician warriors of the Hindu Olympus, have +no other instrument than the thunder." "The magic flute is a variation +of the same celestial instrument," _ib._ p. 161. + +8. For the hair, see note to "How King Burtal became a Fakír," +paragraph 2, p. 268. + + +XXIII.--THE PRINCESS WHO LOVED HER FATHER LIKE SALT. + +1. With the task of pulling out the needles, the purchase of the +maid-servant, the sleep of the princess, the usurping of her place by +the maid who makes the prince believe the princess is her +servant-girl, compare "Der böse Schulmeister und die wandernde +Königstochter," in Laura Gonzenbach's _Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. +I. p. 59. Here, too, the princess is driven forth from her home; she +finds a prince lying dead with a tablet by him on which is written, +"If a maiden will rub me seven years, seven months and seven days long +with grass from Mount Calvary, I shall return to life, and she shall +become my wife" (p. 61). + +2. Sun-jewel box. The word thus translated is Rav-ratan-ke-pitárá. +_Raví_, sun; _ratan_, jewel; _pitárá_, a kind of box. + +3. In one of Grimm's stories, "Die Gänsehirtin am Brunnen," _Kinder +und Hausmaerchen_, vol. II. p. 419, a king asks his three daughters +how much they love him (p. 425). The eldest loves him as much as the +"sweetest sugar," the second as much as her "finest dress," and the +third as much as salt. So her father in a rage has a sack of salt +bound on her back, and makes two of his servants take her away to the +forest. See also Auerbach's _Barfüssele_, Stuttgart, 1873, ss. 236, +237. + + +XXIV.--THE DEMON IS AT LAST CONQUERED BY THE KING'S SON. + +1. The leading idea of this story is the same as that in "Brave +Hírálálbásá." + +2. With this demon as a goat, compare the Rakshas in the Pig's Head +Soothsayer in _Sagas from the Far East_, p. 63, and the Rakshas in a +Bengáli story printed by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_, +7th June, 1872, p. 120. This last story opens with seven labourers, +brothers, six of whom go down to the water to drink and never return. +The seventh goes to see what has happened to them, and finds, instead +of his brothers, a goat which is really a Rakshas. This goat then +turns into a beautiful woman who marries the king, first making him +give into her hands the eyes of his queen, who is sent blind into the +forest, where she bears a little son. The Rakshas wife learns this, +and when the boy later takes service with the king she sends him three +times to her people in Ceylon, with orders to them to kill him. He has +to bring her foam from the sea, a wonderful rice which is sown, +ripens, and can be boiled in one day, and a singular cow. With the +help of a Sannyásí (a Bráhman of the fourth order, a religious +mendicant), he does these errands safely. The Rakshases in Ceylon +receive him as their sister's son, show him his own mother's eyes and +the clay with which they can be set again in any human sockets, a +lemon which contains the life of the tribe, and a bird in which is +that of the Rakshas-queen. The boy cuts up the lemon, and thereby +kills them all, carries her eyes to his mother, and kills the +Rakshas-queen by killing the bird. In this story, as in "Brave +Hírálálbásá," the Rakshas-queen takes her own fearful form on seeing +her danger. + +3. The _Bargat_, fig-tree, is the _Ficus Bengalensis_ of Linnæus. + +4. Múniyá sends her hero for a _Garpank's_ feather; _Garpank_ I can +find in no dictionary, but have ventured to translate it by eagle, as +she says it is like a kite, only very much bigger; she sent us to see +a statue of a garpank that stood over a gateway in a street in +Calcutta, which might be that of an eagle or of a huge hawk. She said +such birds did not exist in Bengal, and that it was not the Garuḍa +(the sovran of the feathered race and vehicle of Vishṇu, Benfey). +Gubernatis, in the 2nd volume of his _Zoological Mythology_, p. 189, +tells a story from Monferrat where a king is blind, and can only be +cured by "bathing his eyes in oil with a feather" of a griffin that +lives on a high mountain. His third and youngest son catches and +brings him one of the griffins and the king regains his sight. + +5. Winning the gratitude of a bird by killing the snake or dragon that +year after year devours its young birds is such a common incident in +fairy tales, that I will only mention two instances. One occurs in a +Dinájpur tale published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ +for 5th April, 1872, p. 145, where the hero saves the young birds from +the snake. They tell the old birds. He lies under the tree and listens +to the old birds relating how he will find the tree with the silver +stem and golden branches he has come to seek. The other occurs at pp. +119, 110, of a story collected by Vogl (_Volksmaerchen_ [Slavonic], p. +79) called Schön-Jela. In this tale the hero is sheltered in the +dreadful underground wilderness by a hermit. Here there is the +gigantic bird, Einja, who every third year has a brood of four young +birds which a dragon as regularly devours. The hero, Prince Milan, +watches by the nest for the dragon and kills him. The young birds, +overjoyed, fly out of the nest and cover the hero with their wings +till the old bird on her return asks who has saved them. Then they +unfold their wings and she sees Prince Milan. In return she carries +him to the upper world. + +6. The word translated "night-growing rice" is Rát-vashá-ke-dhán; and +the ayah's description of this rice is given in the story. In this +description she spoke of it as cháwal, the common word for uncooked +rice, and said the Rakshas wished to drink its kánjí-pání +(rice-water). As it is a fairy plant I am afraid it is hopeless trying +to find its botanical name. Unluckily, Dr. George King says _vashá_ is +not rice at all. This is what he wrote to me on the subject: "_Vashá_ +is, I suppose, the same as _vasaka_, and in that case is _Justitia +Adhatoda_, a straggling shrub common over the whole of India [very +unlike the Rát-vashá-ke-dhán] and which was in the Sanscrit as it is +in the native pharmacopœias. It is not a kind of rice, but belongs +to the natural order of Acanthaceæ (the family to which Acanthus and +Thunbergia belong)." This night-growing rice may be compared to the +day-growing rice in paragraph 2, p. 288, of the notes to this story. + +7. Compare with the paper boat the rolled-up burdock leaf given to the +hero by the dwarf in the seventh Esthonian tale quoted by Gubernatis +(_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 155): whenever this hero wishes to +cross water he unrolls his burdock-leaf. Gubernatis compares this leaf +to the lotus-leaf on which the Hindús represented their god as +floating in the midst of the waters (_ibid._). + +8. With the great wind that comes from the demon, compare the +following Swedish account of a giant in Thorpe's _Northern Mythology_, +vol. II. p. 85. He asks his road of a lad, who directs him: then "he +went off as in a whirlwind, and the lad now discovered, to his no +small astonishment, that his forefinger with which he had pointed out +the way had followed along with the giant." In the old Scandinavian +belief the Giant Hræsvelgr sat at the end of heaven in an eagle's garb +(arna ham). From the motion of his wings came the wind which passed +over men (_ib._ vol. I. p. 8). It must be mentioned also that "in the +German popular tales the devil is frequently made to step into the +place of the giants" (_ib._ vol. I. p. 234), and that Stöpke or Stepke +is in Lower Saxony an appellation of the devil or of the whirlwind, +from which proceed the fogs which spread over the land (_ib._ p. 235). +The devil sits in the whirlwind and rushes howling and raging through +the air (Mark Sagen, _ib._ p. 377). The whirlwind is also ascribed to +witches. If a knife be cast into it, the witch will be wounded and +become visible (Schreiber's Taschenbuch, 1839, p. 323; _ib._ vol. I. +p. 235). Mr. Ralston, in his _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 382, +says the Russian peasant attributes whirlwinds to the mad dances in +which the devil celebrates his marriage with a witch, and at p. 155 of +the same book tells us how the malicious demon Lyeshy not only makes +use of the whirlwind as a travelling conveyance for himself and a +means of turning intruders out of quarters he had selected for his own +refuge, but sends home in it people to whom he is grateful. In Ireland +we find a wind blowing from hell. King Loegaire tells Patrick, "I +perceived the wind cold, icy, like a two-ridged spear, which almost +took our hair from our heads and passed through us to the ground. I +questioned Benén as to this wind. Said Benén to me, 'This is the wind +of hell which has opened before Cúchulainn.'" _Lebar na huidre_, p. +113 a. This "wind of hell" makes one think of the sweet-scented wind +from the mid-day regions, and the evil-scented wind from the north, +which in old Persian religious belief blew to meet pure and wicked +souls after death (Tylor's _Primitive Culture_, vol. II. pp. 98, 99). +Mr. Tylor mentions also the Fanti negroes' belief that the men and +animals they sacrifice to the local fetish are carried away in a +whirlwind imperceptibly to the worshippers (_ib._ p. 378). + +8. Ábjhamjham-ke pání is what has been translated by "water from the +glittering well." + +9. The king had a great pit dug in the jungle. This is how Kai and +Bedwyr plucked out the beard of Dillus Varvawc, which had to be +plucked out during life. They made him eat meat till he slept. "Then +Kai made a pit under his feet, the largest in the world, and he struck +him a violent blow, and squeezed him into the pit. And there they +twitched out his beard completely with the wooden tweezers; and after +that they slew him altogether" ("Kilhwch and Olwen," _Mabinogion_, +vol. II. p. 304). + + +XXV.--THE FAN PRINCE. + +1. The boat would not move because the king had forgotten to get the +thing his youngest daughter had asked him to bring her. Signor de +Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. II. p. 382) mentions an +unpublished story from near Leghorn in which a sailor promises to +bring his youngest daughter a rose. The eldest daughter is to have a +shawl, and the second a hat. "When the voyage is over, he is about to +return, but having forgotten the rose, the ship refuses to move; he is +compelled to go back to look for a rose in a garden; a magician hands +the rose with a little box to the father to give it to one of his +daughters, whom the magician is to marry. At midnight, the father, +having returned home, relates to his third daughter all that had +happened. The little box is opened; it carries off the third daughter +to the magician, who happens to be King Pietraverde, and is now a +handsome young man." + +2. The princess's ring recalls Portia and Nerissa. + +3. A yogí is a Hindú religious mendicant. + + +XXVI.--THE BED. + +The merchant's son possibly was afraid of incurring the wrath either +of an original spirit residing in the tree, or of some human soul who +had been born again as its genius (see paragraph 1, p. 276, of note +to "The fakír Nánaksá saves the merchant's life"). Múniyá could give +no reason for his asking each tree's permission to cut it down. + + +XXVII.--PÁNWPATTÍ RÁNÍ. + +See another version of this tale in the Baital Pachísi, No. 1. There +the heroine is called Padmávatí, and her father King Dantavát. + + +XXVIII.--THE CLEVER WIFE. + +1. The merchant's wife tricks the four men into chests. Upakosá makes +the like appointments, and plays a similar trick: compare her story +translated from the Kathápítha by Dr. G. Bühler in the _Indian +Antiquary_ for 4th October, 1872, pp. 305, 306: and in "The +Touchstone," a Dinájpur legend told by Mr. G. H. Damant at p. 337 of +the _Indian Antiquary_ for December, 1873, the hero-prince's second +wife, Pránnásiní, in order to regain the touchstone for her husband +(like Upakosá and the Clever Wife) makes appointments with, and then +tricks, the kotwál, the king's councillor, the prime minister, and +lastly the king himself. + +2. She plays cards (_tás_). Forbes in his Hindústání and English +Dictionary p. 543, says _tás_ is the word used for _Indian_ playing +cards. The Indian pack, he says, contains eight suits, each suit +consisting of a king, wazír, and ten cards having various figures +represented on them from one to ten in number. + +[A close parallel to this tale is _Adi's Wife_, a Bengáli legend from +Dinagepore, told by the late Mr. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ for +January, 1880, p. 2.] + + +XXIX.--RÁJÁ HARICHAND'S PUNISHMENT. + +1. This king is probably the same as "The Upright King," Harchand +Rájá, p. 68 of this collection. + +2. The Kop Shástra. Múniyá says _kop_ is a Hindústání, not a Bengáli +word, and has nothing whatever to do with demons. This is what Mr. +Tawney writes on the subject: "It might mean _kapi_, or _kapila_ if +the woman is a Bengáli. _Kapi_ is a name of Vishṇu, possibly it +might be the Rámáyana as treating of monkeys, but I really do not +know. I see Monier Williams says that there are certain demons called +_kapa_. But of course _kópa_ is anger. I suppose you know that the +natives of Bengal pronounce the short _a_ as _o_ in the English word +_hop_." Múniyá pronounces _kop_ like the English word _cope_. This +Shástra seems as hopelessly mythical as the _Rát-vashá-ke-dhán_. + + +XXX.--THE KING'S SON AND THE WAZÍR'S DAUGHTER. + +In a Servian story, "Des Vaters letzter Wille," pp. 134, 135, 136, of +the _Volksmaerchen der Serben_ collected by Karadschitsch, the +youngest brother has to take his brother-in-law's horse over a bridge +under which he sees an immense kettle full of boiling water in which +men's heads are cooking while eagles peck at them. He then passes +through a village where all is song and joyfulness because, so the +inhabitants tell him, each year is fruitful with them and they live, +therefore, in the midst of plenty. Then he sees two dogs quarrelling +which he cannot succeed in separating. He next passes through a +village where all is sorrow and tears because each year comes hail, so +the inhabitants "have nothing." Next he sees two boars fighting +together and cannot separate them any more than he could part the +dogs. Lastly, he reaches a beautiful meadow. In the evening his +brother-in-law expounds the meaning of all he has seen. The heads in +the boiling vessel represent the everlasting torment in the next +world. The happy villagers are good, charitable men, with whom God is +well pleased. The dogs are his elder brothers' wives. The sorrowing +villagers are men who know neither righteousness, concord, nor God. +The boars are his two wicked elder brothers. The meadow is paradise. + + + + +[Decoration] + +GLOSSARY. + + +Bél, a fruit; _Ægle marmelos_. + +Bulbul, a kind of nightingale. + +Chaprásí, a messenger wearing a badge (_chaprás_). + +Cooly (Tamil _kúli_), a labourer in the fields; also a porter. + +Dál, a kind of pulse; _Phaseolus aureus_, according to Wilson; +_Paspalum frumentaceum_, according to Forbes. + +Dom (the d is lingual), a low-caste Hindú. + +Fakír, a Muhammadan religious mendicant. + +Ghee (_ghí_), butter boiled and then set to cool. + +Kází, a Muhammadan Judge. + +Kotwál, the chief police officer in a town. + +Líchí, a fruit; _Scytalia litchi_, Roxb. + +Mahárájá (properly Maháráj), literally great king. + +Mahárání, literally great queen. + +Mainá, a kind of starling. + +Maund (_man_), a measure of weight, about 87 lb. + +Mohur (_muhar_), a gold coin worth 16 rupees. + +Nautch (_nátya_), a union of song, dance, and instrumental music. + +Pálkí, a palanquin. + +Pice (_paisa_), a small copper coin. + +Pilau, a dish made of either chicken or mutton, and rice. + +Rájá, a king. + +Rakshas, a kind of demon that eats men and beasts. + +Rání, a queen. + +Rohú, a kind of big fish. + +Rupee (_rúpíya_), a silver coin, now worth about twenty pence. + +Ryot (_ràíyat_), a cultivator. + +Sarai, a walled enclosure containing small houses for the use of +travellers. + +Sárí, a long piece of stuff which Hindú women wind round the body as a +petticoat, passing one end over the head. + +Sepoy (_sipáhí_), a soldier. + +Wazír, prime minister. + +Yogí, a Hindú religious mendicant. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO. + + +Bleek. _Hottentot Fables and Tales_, London, 1864. + +Campbell, J. F. _Popular Tales of the West Highlands_, 4 vols. + Edinburgh, 1860. + +Dasent, G. _Norse Tales_, Edinburgh, 1859. + +Dietrich, Anton. _Russische Volksmaerchen_, Leipzig, 1831. + +Fiske. _Myth and Mythmakers_, London, 1873. + +Frere, Miss. _Old Deccan Days_, 2nd edition, London, 1870. + +Gonzenbach, Laura. _Sicilianische Maerchen_, Leipzig, 1870. + +Grant, C. _Gazetteer of India for the Central Provinces_, edited by, + 2nd edition, Nágpur, 1870. + +Grey. _Polynesian Mythology_, London, 1855. + +Grimm. _Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, 3 vols., Gœttingen, first 2 vols. + 1850, 3rd vol. 1856. + +Grimm. _Irische Elfenmaerchen, uebersetzt von den Bruedern Grimm_, + Leipzig, 1826. + +Gubernatis, Angelo de. _Zoological Mythology_, 2 vols., London, 1870. + +Guest, Lady Charlotte. _The Mabinogion_, translated by, 3 vols. + Llandovery, 1849. + +Haltrich, Joseph. _Deutsche Volksmaerchen aus dem Sachsenlande in + Siebenbuergen_, Berlin, 1856. + +Henderson. _Folklore of the Northern Counties of England and the + Border_, London, 1866. + +Hunt. _Romances and Drolls of the West of England_, 2nd edition, + London, 1871. + +_Indian Antiquary_, vols. I. (1872), II. (1873), and IV. (1875), + Bombay. + +Karadschitsch, W. S. _Volksmaerchen der Serben_, Berlin, 1854. + +Lane. _Arabian Nights_, 3 vols., London, 1859. + +_Lebar na Huidre._ Lithographic facsimile, Dublin, 1870. + +Milenowsky. _Maerchen aus Boehmen_, Breslau, 1853. + +Naake. _Slavonic Fairy Tales_, London, 1874. + +_Old New Zealand_, 1876. + +Ralston. _Songs of the Russian People_, London, 1872. _Russian Folk + Tales_, London, 1873. + +Rink. _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, Edinburgh and London, + 1875. + +_Sagas from the Far East_, London, 1873. + +Schmidt, G. _Griechische Volksmaerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder_, + Leipzig, 1877. + +Schott. _Wallachische Maerchen_, Stuttgart und Tuebingen, 1845. + +Stier, G. _Ungarische Maerchen und Sagen_, Berlin, 1850. _Ungarische + Volksmaerchen_, Pesth (preface is dated 1857). + +Taylor, Meadows. _Confessions of a Thug_, London, 1873. + +Thorpe. _Yule Tide Stories_, London, 1853. + +_Three Middle Irish Homilies_, Calcutta, 1877. + +Tylor. _Primitive Culture_, 2nd edition, London, 1873. + +Vogl, Johann, N. _Volksmaerchen_ [Slavonic], Wien, 1837. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +INDEX. + + + Adam and Eve, blackened after the Fall, 239 + + Alligator, 63 + King of the Fishes, 66, 71 + + Angels, 77, 88, 116, 225 + + Antelopes, 85 + + Ants, grateful, 155, 161 + + Apsarases, 262 + + Ashes, Lailí becomes, 77 + sugar turned into, 96 + + "Aunt," used to propitiate, 157, 262 + + Avatár, 265 + + + Bádsháh, 237 + + Bag, magic, 156 + + Bamboo wand, 86, 98, 268 + + Barber outwits tigers, 35 + + Bear, 254 + tries to kill cat, 19 + + Beauty, effects of, 62, 93, 142 + radiance of, 1, 240, 241, 242 + + Bed, 201 + magic, 156 + + Bees, Rakshases keeping their souls in, 261 + + Bél Princess, 138, 282 + + Bhágírathí river, 75 + + Birds, souls in, 58, 59, 61, 261 + conversing, 149, 150, 198 + + Birth-marks, 1, 119, 242, 243, 253, 276 + + Blindness cured, 77 + + Blood of little finger, 83, 84, 141, 272 + + Boar, God in shape of, 68 + + Boar Trwyth, the, 241 + + Boat refusing to move, 195, 292 + + Body, star on, 243 + sun on, 243 + + Bones of daughter sent to mother, 12, 250, 253 + + Bowl, magic, 156 + + Branch, cutting, 30 + + Branding, 131, 134, 281 + + Bricks turned into gold, 97 + + Bulbul, 39 + + Burning alive, 12, 61, 207, 249, 250 + + + Camel, strayed, 29, 63 + + Card-playing, 218, 219, 234 + + Cards, 293 + + Cat, 255 + aunt to tiger, 15 + cheats jackal, 19 + leopard, 19 + which could not be killed, 18 + + Cháṇḍála, 266 + + Charcoal, gold and silver turned into, 69, 226 + + Chests, concealment in, 218 + + Child, all-devouring, 255 + + Children eaten, 52, 177 + + Chin, star on, 119 + + Clothes-box, magic, 33 + + Cloud-myth, 257 + + Cockatoo, Rakshas Rání's soul in, 61 + + Colour, 93 + + Comfits, rain of, 29 + + Cooking-pot, magic, 32 + + Cotton-tree, 39 + + Cow swallows child alive, 123 + + Crow, 75 + + Cuckoo, 39 + + + Daughter, _see Former life_. + + Day and night Myths, 256, 257 + + Dead sheep mistaken for woman, 28 + + Deer's horn, Mahádeo's, 232 + + Demon, 173 + as a goat, 173, 288 + heating sand, 236 + swallowing suitors, 99 + tigers fighting with, 162 + + _Dew_ (Demon), 273 + + Dharma, 265 + + Diamond, face shining like, 69 + + Dog disputes with cat, 16 + Lailí becomes, 78, 79 + swallows child alive, 122 + + Dolls, 168, 169 + + Dom, 70 + + Doves, eyes changed into, 5 + + Dream, 232 + + Dresses, seizure of, 6 + + + Eagle's feather, 181 + + Eaglets, speaking, 183 + + Earth blown away, 140 + cure with, 198, 199 + + Ear, twisting, 130 + + Elephant tries to kill cat, 18, 19 + + Errands, 53, 55, 58, 179, 181, 184, 189, 288 + + Euphemisms, 259 + + Eve, _see Adam_. + + Eyes become birds, 5, 148 + pounded to bits, 176 + torn out of Rání's head 51, 176, 289 + + + Face, star on, 1, 242, _see Powder_. + + Fainting at beauty, 82 + + Fairies in jungle, 32 + teach monkey prince, 42 + and Prince Sazádá, 93 + Indian, 243 + Irish and Cornish, 243 + of Maoris, 239, 244 + + Fairy Rájás, 1 + red, 168 + + Fakír's feats, 92 + gifts to, 68, 224 + God in form of, 224 + helpful, 41, 185 + sleep of, 139, 167 + tasks to be performed by intending, 87 + + Fan, 196, 197 + + Fan Prince, 193 + + Faríd, Shekh, 272 + + Fasting, _see Jackal_, _Kite_. + + Fate, 263 + seeking one's, 63 + + Feather, causing invisibility, 59 + + Feats of Fakírs, 92 + + Figure of clay, water and ashes 78 + + Fish, cooked, becomes alive, 71, 227, _see Rohú_. + + Fishes, king of, 66, 71 + souls of unborn children in, 235, 236 + + Fire, _see Rejuvenescence_. + + Flower, children in, 10, 247, 248, 252 + hero weighing, 2 + heroine weighing, 1 + + Flowers, life in, 4, 10, 144, 244, 247, 248, 252, 284 + on ears, 3 + + Flute, 168, 169, 171, 287 + + Fly, change into, 56, 57, 141 + + Fools, 257 + + Former life, 115, 276 + + Four sides, 153, 156, 285, 286 + + Fox, 254 + + Frog, the voracious, 24 + slit open, 26 + + Fruits, children, born from eating, 42, 91 + children in, 11, 246, 247, 252 + heroine in, 81, 142, 146, 246 + + + Gambling, 234 + + Gangá, 89, 90 + + Gardener, 277 + + Garpank, 289 + + Gesture language, 208, 210 + + Glass powder, 197 + + Glittering well, 189, 190 + + Goat, demon in form of, 173, 288, _see Former life_. + + Gold, stones becoming, 59 + bricks turned into, 97 + in river, 66 + + Golden wand, 262 + + Grateful animals, 155, 161, 162 + + + Hair, power of, 268, 271 + of Mahádeo, 89, 90 + of gold, 1, 49, 62, 238, 240 + tree split with, 163 + + Hand, star on, 253 + + Handkerchief, 199 + + Harchand Rájá, 68 + + Harichand Rájá, 224 + + Hariçchandra, 265, 266 + + Head, sun on, 1, 242, 253 + becomes a dome, 148 + a house, 5 + a peacock, 244 + + Head-collars, 230 + + Heart becomes tank, 148 + + Horse, hero's, 124, 125, 126, 277, 278 + swallows child alive, 124, 125 + + House, arm or leg changed into, 5 + + Husband, public choice of, 128, 280 + + Husk story, 259 + + + Ikhwán Ussafa cited, 239 + + Indrásan, 93, 243 + + Invisibility caused by feather, 59 + by blowing earth from palm, 140 + + + Jackal, 75, 255 + arbitrates, 16 + cheats the tiger, 17 + its fear of men, 23 + kills kite's sons, 22 + will not fast, 21 + + Jamná, 89, 90 + + + Kettle-drum, 120, 121, 162, 287 + + Khudá, 237 + + Kite worships and fasts, 21 + + Knife, magic, 83, 266 + dipped in blood, 175, 176 + + Knowledge of far-off events, 95, 272 + + Kop Shástra, 225 + + + Lailí, 73 + + Lamnissa, 284 + + Leg becomes pillar, 148 + + Lemon, Rakshases keeping their souls in, 261 + + Leopard tries to kill cat, 19 + + Líchí, 91 + + Life, restoration to, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 22, 26, 71, 78, 83, 84, + 86, 98, 141, 146, 151, 166, 227, 228, 232, 245, 247, 248, 250, + 251, 253, 255, 256, 257, 282, 284, 285 + + Life, former, 115, 276 + + Lips of demons long, 273 + + Little finger, 83, 141, 266, 267, 272 + + Livers, standing on, 10 + + Looking back, prohibited, 141 + danger of, 282 + + Lotus-flower, heroine changed into, 144, 285 + + + Magic gifts, 32, 33, 34 + + Mahádeo, 89, 90, 231, 232 + + Mainá, 148 + advises dog, 18 + demon's soul in, 187, 188 + + Majnún, 73, 266 + + Mangoes, 41 + mango-tree, 202 + mango-stone, consequence of eating, 50 + + Mattresses thrown to save drowning prince, 47 + + Milk sent by God, 146 + of tigress, 178 + + Monkey, 42 + + Moon on hand, 1 + on forehead, 119, 242 + princess shines like, 158 + + Mothers eating sons, 52, 177 + + Mouth, demon's, 185 + + Mouse, 101 + + Music, 93, 243, 287 + + Mustard-seed, oil crushed out of, 160 + + + Nabha, 113 + + Nának, 276 + + Neck, star on, 242 + + Necklace disappears into wall, 229 + reappears, 233 + + Needles, body stuck full of, 165, 287 + + Numbers, sacred, 262 + + + Ointment restoring sight, 56 + + Old woman, _see Former life_. + + + Paper boat, 187, 188, 290 + + Parrot, 148, 153 + + Peacock, head becomes, 244 + + Pearls drop from bird's eyes, 12 + from bird's beak, 254 + + Phaláná country, 73, 74 + + Phúlmati, 240 + + Pigeons, cooked, come to life, 228 + + Pin, in bird's head, 12, 14 + transformation caused by, 254 + + Pit dug for demon's execution, 192 + for Dillus Varvawc, 292 + + Poison, 212 + + Portrait, 223 + + Powder flung in face, 77 + + + Rakshas, 5, 260 + as a goat, 288 + turned into Rání, 51 + + Rat and frog, 24 + + Red cheeks, 93 + + Rejuvenescence by fire, 76 + + Revival of murdered heroines, 244, _see Life_. + + Rice, 289 + night-growing, 184 + + Rig Veda cited, 238, 239 + + Ring, 199, 292 + + Robes of honour, 287 + + Rohú fish, 75 + + Rope and stick-magic, 34, 156 + + Ruby, 65, 66 + falling from beak, 13, 14 + + + Salt, 171, 288 + Princess who loved her father like, 164 + + Sárí, 58 + + Seven children, 51 + queens, 175 + small dolls, 168 + sons, 177 + wives, 41, 51 + + Shahzádá, 271 + + Shekh Faríd, 95, 268, 272 + + Shield full of money, 53, 55, 58 + + Sight restored, 57, 190, 289 + + Silver, _see Charcoal_, _Wand_. + + Singing, hero, 127, 128 + + Skin of monkey, 42 + burnt, 49 + + Sleep, fakír's, 139, 167 + dragon's, 282 + + Snake, 75 + conversing, 204 + + Son-in-law how chosen, 42 + + Soul embodiment 261, _see Birds_, _Cockatoo_, _Lemon_, _Mainá_. + + Soul or life of Rakshas, 56, 57, 261 + + Spell, 91 + + Star on body, 243 + on chin, 119 + on face, 1, 242 + on hands, 253 + on neck, 242 + + Stepmother, 7 + + Stick and rope, magic, 156 + + Stick suspends and restores life, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 186 + + Stones becoming gold, 59 + fates are, 64 + transformation into, 140, 226, 282 + substituted for baby, 121 + + Strength, feats of, 108 + + Strong woman, 108 + + Sugar, _see Ashes_. + + Summer and winter myth, 257 + + Sun on head, 1, 242, 253 + on body, 243 + + Sun jewel-box, 167 + + Sun's rays, 266, 268, 271 + + Svayamvara 280 + + Sweeper, 88 + + + Tank, heart becomes, 148 + + Thorn in tiger's foot, 17, 64, 155 + + Three, 87 + + Tiger, 254, 258 + grateful, 65, 155, 162, 180 + outwitted by barber, 35 + nephew of cat, 15 + stores of, 35, 36, 65, _see Thorn_. + + Transformations, 244, 250, 251, 284, 285 + + Transmigration of souls, 276 + + Tree split with hair, 163 + + Trees, 292 + + Twelve hours, 225 + twelve years, 32, 63, 64, 87, 88, 98, 167, 225, 264 + + + "Uncle" used to propitiate, 54, 262 + + Underground palace, 151 + + + Varṇa, 238 + + Viçvamitra, 265 + + Vishṇu, 265 + + + Wand, bamboo, 86, 98, 268 + golden, reviving by, 261 + silver, death caused by touching with, 261 + + Water, opening fruit or casket containing maiden near, 284 + + Water-nymphs, 89 + + Water-snake, 53 + + Wax hatchet, 162 + + Weight of heroine, 243 + + Well, fairy living at bottom of, 168 + glittering, 189, 190 + + Wind blowing from demon, 185, 290 + foretelling fall of palace, 205 + + Wishes, 95 + + Wives called Mamma, 86, 87 + + Worship, _see Kite_. + + Wrestlers, 108 + + + Yogí, personating, 198, 214 + + + + LONDON: + GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, + ST. JOHN'S SQUARE. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +Printer errors (for example, omitted or transposed characters) have +been repaired, as have punctuation errors. + +Variable spelling, hyphenation and use of accents are preserved as +printed in quoted material, but have otherwise been made consistent +where there was a clear prevalence of one form over the other. + +Some of the spelling of Hindi words vary from modern spelling, and +these have been preserved as printed. There is also some variation +within the text--for example, dhall is used in the text while the +glossary shows Dál. These are also preserved as printed. + +There are some discrepancies between the title of stories as given in +the index and main text, and in the notes at the end. These have been +preserved as printed. + +Errors in page references in the index have been repaired. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Indian Fairy Tales, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES *** + +***** This file should be named 31209-0.txt or 31209-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/0/31209/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/31209-0.zip b/31209-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c1eea90 --- /dev/null +++ b/31209-0.zip diff --git a/31209-8.txt b/31209-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1543bd0 --- /dev/null +++ b/31209-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11699 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Indian Fairy Tales, by Anonymous + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Indian Fairy Tales + +Author: Anonymous + +Commentator: Mary Stokes + W. R. S. Ralston + +Editor: Maive Stokes + +Release Date: February 7, 2010 [EBook #31209] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +There are some characters with diacritical marks in this text, which +are represented as follows: + +Characters with an underdot are shown as [x.], where x is the letter +concerned. + +Characters with an acute accent above, which are not available in this +character set, are shown as ['x]. + + + + + INDIAN FAIRY TALES + + COLLECTED AND TRANSLATED + + BY + + MAIVE STOKES. + + + _WITH NOTES BY MARY STOKES,_ + + _AND AN INTRODUCTION BY W. R. S. RALSTON, M.A._ + + + London: + ELLIS & WHITE, NEW BOND STREET. + 1880. + + [_All Rights reserved._] + + + + + To my dear Grannie, Susan Bazely. + + + + +[Decoration] + +PREFACE. + + +The first twenty-five stories in this book were told me at Calcutta +and Simla by two Ayahs, Dunkn and Mniy, and by Karm, a Khidmatgar. +The last five were told Mother by Mniy. At first the servants would +only tell their stories to me, because I was a child and would not +laugh at them, but afterwards the Ayahs lost their shyness and told +almost all their stories over again to Mother when they were passing +through the press. Karm would never tell his to her or before her. +The stories were all told in Hindstn, which is the only language +that these servants know. + +Dunkn is a young woman, and was born and brought up in Calcutta. She +got the stories, she told me, from her husband, Moch, who was born in +Calcutta and brought up at Benares. + +Mniy is a very old, white-haired woman. She has +great-grandchildren. She was born at Patna, but when she was seven +years old she was taken to Calcutta, where she was brought up and +married. She and Dunkn are both Hinds. + +Karm is a Muhammadan and was born at Lucknow. He says that "The +Mouse" and "The Wonderful Story" are both Lucknow tales. + +The notes to this book were written by Mother, and Father helped her +to spell the Native names and words. He also made the Index. + +Dr. George King helped us in the Botany; Mr. Tawney and Mr. Campbell +of Islay, who saw many of the stories in manuscript, have given us +several remarks. So has my uncle, John Boxwell. + + M. S. H. STOKES. + + CALCUTTA, + _March 24th, 1879_. + + + + +[Decoration] + +INTRODUCTION. + + +In almost every part of Europe the tales current among the common +people have been of late years diligently sought out, and carefully +collected. Variants of them pour in profusely every year. But it does +not seem probable that any entirely new stories will be discovered in +any European land. Nor is it likely that in fresh variants of the +longer and apparently more artificial tales, any quite new incidents, +or even any unquestionably novel features, will be found. The harvest +has been abundant, its chief fruits are now stored, and the work which +is still going on among the gleaners, although in itself good and +praiseworthy, may be regarded without the excitement of eager hope. +The task of the present seems to be, not so much the garnering of +European folk-tales, as their comparison and elucidation, and, so far +as possible, their explanation. But in many cases they do not appear +to contain in themselves the ingredients which are necessary for their +resolution into their primary elements. Nor do the records of the +lands in which they exist always supply what is wanted. The "fairy +tales" of Europe throw very little light upon, are but slightly +illuminated by, the histories of the widely differing lands in which +they so closely resemble each other. And the most interesting among +them, those which appear most clearly to bear witness to their being +embodiments of mythological ideas, or expansions of moral precepts, +seem to be but little in keeping with what we know of the sentiments +and beliefs of the heathen ancestors of the villagers in whose +memories they have been for so many centuries retained. Among such +tales of this kind, for instance, as linger on in our own islands, +there is but little to be found which can be looked upon as a +specially characteristic deposit left by the waves of Iberian, Celtic, +and Teutonic population which have successively passed over the face +of the land. This statement does not, of course, hold good in the case +of such legends about national heroes as Mr. J. F. Campbell has found +thriving in Ireland and the West Highlands of Scotland, and which he +justly believes to be "bardic recitations, fast disappearing, and +changing into prose." They belong to a different section of popular +fiction from that to which reference is now made. It is often +difficult to draw the line between these two classes of folk-tales. +But there is a striking difference between the typical representatives +of the two divisions, between cosmopolitan novelettes like Cinderella +or the Sleeping Beauty, on the one hand, and pseudo-historic legends +about local heroes on the other. It is unfortunate that we do not +possess a sufficiency of accurate designations for the numerous +species of the genus folk-tale. Their existence would prevent much +misapprehension. But in their absence, a discusser of popular tales +should take pains to define precisely to what tribe, family, or group +of stories his remarks are intended to apply. + +There are to be found, in all European lands, certain tales which are +of a more complex structure than the rest, which appear to have been +constructed by a skilled workman, to be artificial productions rather +than natural growths. It is only with such stories as these that we +have at present to deal. These novelettes or comediettas, as they may +be called, of the European common people, differ but little in their +essential parts, whether they are recited in the cold north or the +balmy south, the rude east or the cultured west. Their openings, it is +true, vary with their localities; but in the main body of the tale, +not only does the same leading idea pervade all the variants, but also +the same sequence of events leads up in almost every case to the same +termination. To this class of stories belong nearly all the tales +which, under considerably modified forms, have naturalized themselves +in the nurseries of Europe. In it are comprised many popular fictions, +on the obscurer parts of which a quite insufficient light is thrown by +researches among the manners and mythologies of old European +heathenism. + +It is upon such stories as these that a kindly light beams with the +greatest advantage from Asia. Very similar stories have been preserved +in the memories of the common people in many parts of Asia, but +especially in India. And their leading ideas are perfectly in +accordance with the mythology or the moral teaching of the Asiatics +who, age after age, have delighted in telling or hearing them. In such +cases as these it seems to be not very unreasonable to suppose that +the story was originally, if not created, at all events shaped and +trimmed in Asia, and thence was afterwards conveyed from lip to lip +into Europe. Such universal favourites as Beauty and the Beast and +Puss in Boots may be confidently cited as oriental fictions which have +taken possession of European minds. There is a rich store of other +popular fictions, which may be left to be accounted for according to +the two principal methods of interpretation in vogue. They may be +explained as independent developments of mythological germs common to +the ancestors of the various Aryan peoples of Europe. Or they may be +regarded as embodiments of certain ideas common to savages of all +races. It will be sufficient to deal at present with the more +limited, but better known class, to which special attention has been +called. + +Among the Asiatic folk-tales which seem likely to assist in their +explanation, none are more copious or more useful than those of India. +There the old religion has maintained itself with which so many of +these stories are linked, and there the moral teaching still prevails +which made its voice heard in other tales of the far-off time when +they first became current. Any collection of genuine Indian Fairy +Tales is therefore certain to be, not only of interest to the general +reader, but also of real value to the specialist who devotes himself +to the comparison of folk-tales. The collection now before us has +great merits of its own. The stories have been told in Hindstn to +the very young collector by two ayahs, who are both Hinds, and by a +Muhammadan man-servant. In this respect Miss Stokes's contribution to +our knowledge of India differs from the very similar, and very +charming, work by Miss Frere, "Old Deccan Days," the stories in which +were told by an ayah who was, as her father and grandfather had been, +a native Christian. The two books ought to be compared with each +other. No possessor of the one ought to be without the other. All the +stories contained in the present volume, as we learn from the notes, +have been read back by the young collector to the tellers in +Hindstn after they were told, and a second time by the annotator +before they were printed. "I never saw people more anxious to have +their tales retold exactly, than are Dunkn and Mniy," the two +story-telling ayahs. Not till each tale was pronounced by them to be +exact was it sent to the press. The stories may be taken then as +faithful transcripts of Indian thought. The merits of the copious +Notes contributed by the late Mrs. Whitley Stokes, bearing witness to +a very wide range of reading, and to a most intelligent use of the +authorities referred to, will be fully acknowledged by all who have +had occasion to explore the regions from which she has gathered so +much valuable information. Throughout the whole of the work thus +conscientiously compiled and intelligently annotated, there will be +found scattered, in addition to its other merits, many a parallel with +our own popular tales, many an illustration or explanation of their +meaning--a ray of light shot here or there which illumines their dark +places, and may enable the explorers of their mystic domains to avoid +stumbles which are often somewhat mortifying. It remains only to point +out a few of the most important passages. + + * * * * * + +Some of the stories in this volume are so thoroughly oriental, so +little in accordance with western thought or feeling, that they have +not found an echo among ourselves; their counterparts are not to be +found naturalized in European lands. Of such a kind are the legends, +taken from literary sources, of "The Upright King," and of "Rj +Harichand's Punishment," in which the patience of a religious monarch +is tried as was that of Job, and comes out from the trial equally +victorious. The sorrows of Patient Grissel have met with sympathy in +many lands, for meekness has ever been considered a womanly virtue. +But the heroism of a husband and father who sells his wife to a +merchant, and his son to a cowherd, in order that he may be able to +keep his promise to a holy mendicant, and bestow upon him two pounds +and a half of gold, can scarcely be expected to invest itself, to +western eyes, with the air of a manly virtue. In the same way, the +great sitting powers displayed by King Burtal, who never once moves +from his seat in the jungle for twelve whole years, during which space +of time he neither eats nor drinks, and thereby elevates himself to +the dignity of a fakr, are not of a kind to elicit the sympathies or +command the admiration of nations addicted to active exercise. + +The explanation of Nnaks's thrice repeated laugh, also, could +retain its vitality only in an atmosphere pervaded by a belief in the +transmigration of souls. Buddhistic apologues have sometimes passed +into legends of Christian Saints. But it would be difficult to perform +the operation in the case of an account of how a woman, who had +tormented to death her husband's sister, was justly punished by the +reappearance in the world of the ill-used sister-in-law, in the form +of that unkind woman's exceedingly peevish baby daughter. Numerous, +also, as are European stories about ogres, vampires, and other +demoniacal cannibals, we shall not readily find a western counterpart +of the terrible tale, in No. 24, of the "Rakshas" which sometimes +appears as a goat, and sometimes as a most beautiful young girl, +dressed in grand clothes and rich jewels, but at midnight turns into a +devouring demon with a craving for human flesh. + +Just as some of the themes of these stories do not seem to have +European counterparts, so portions of their machinery appear to be +without exact western equivalents. The stupendous transformations +which now and then take place (see pp. 5, 148, 244) can reconcile +themselves only to an oriental imagination. However much the +occidental mind may attempt to "make believe," it cannot credit such a +statement as that when the Bl-Princess died, her eyes turned into two +birds, her heart into "a great tank," and her body into "a splendid +palace and garden," her arms and legs becoming "the pillars that +supported the verandah roof," and her head "the dome on the top of the +palace." In almost all countries, when a fairy hero has been slain by +a demoniacal or otherwise villainous personage, he is recalled to life +by magic means. In European folk-lore the resuscitating remedy is +usually a Water of Life, or a Balsam, or some similar fluid. In these +Indian tales, it is blood streaming from the resuscitator's little +finger. Thus when Loving Lail (p. 83) found her husband dead and +headless, she put his head back on his shoulders, and smeared his neck +with the blood which flowed "like healing medicine," when "she cut +her little finger inside her hand straight down from the top of her +nail to her palm." A power of becoming at will invisible is everywhere +often attributed to heroes of romance. But it is generally connected +with "a cap of darkness," or some similar magic article. But the +Prince of No. 21, when he seeks the Bl-Princess, becomes invisible to +the "demons and fairies" who surround her, when he blows from the palm +of his hand, "all along his fingers," the earth which a friendly fakr +has given him for that purpose. A "sleep-thorn," or other somniferous +piece of wood, is commonly employed in our fairy tales, in order to +throw a hero or heroine into a magic slumber. In these Indian stories +a state of catalepsy, or of death, is produced or relieved by a +peculiar application of a magic stick. Thus the Princess who was +called the Golden Rn, "because her teeth and her hair were made of +gold," and who was stolen by a demon, informed the Prince who found +her, motionless but not sleeping, that "the Rakshas who had carried +her off, and whom she called papa, had a great thick stick, and when +he laid this stick at her feet she could not stir, but when he laid it +at her head she could move again." In "The Demon and the King's Son" +(No. 24), the hero opens a "forbidden chamber," and there finds the +demon's daughter lying on a bed, apparently lifeless; for "every day, +before her father went out he used to make the girl lie on her bed, +and cover her with a sheet, and he placed a thick stick at her head, +and another at her feet; then she died, till he came home in the +evening and changed the sticks, putting the one at her head at her +feet, and the one at her feet at her head. This brought her to life +again." An interesting parallel to the "sleep-thorn" is afforded by +the pin which, while it remains in the head of the bird which had been +the wife of the Pomegranate King (No. 2), prevents her from resuming +her human shape. When the Rj pulled out the pin, "his own dear +wife, the Pomegranate Rn, stood before him." Magic boxes are common +in fairy land. But there is something new in at least the name of the +"sun-jewel box," which was sent by the "Red Fairy," who lived at the +bottom of the well, to "The Princess who loved her father like salt" +(No. 23), and which contained "seven little dolls, who were all little +fairies." + + * * * * * + +Of more general interest than the few peculiarities of these tales are +the many points in which they resemble and illustrate some of the +familiar features of European folk-lore. As an example of the latter +may be taken a "husk-myth," which is a valuable contribution to the +literature of the "Beauty and the Beast" cycle. In all the stories +belonging to that group, the action turns upon the union of the human +hero or heroine with a spouse who is really or apparently an inferior +animal. In the modified version of the story with which our nurseries +have become acquainted through a French literary medium, the species +of Beast to which the Beauty is wedded is not stated, and its +transformation into a princely husband is attributed to her unaided +love. But in by far the greater part of the variants of the folk-tale +on which it seems to have been founded, as well as of the other +stories in which a similar transformation is the principal +feature--variants which have been gathered in abundance from all parts +of Europe, not to speak of Asia--the animal nature of the mysterious +spouse is clearly defined. In them the husband whom the Beauty is +induced by filial affection, fear, or compassion to wed, is an +unmistakable Beast--a pig in Sicily, a bear in Norway, a hedgehog in +Germany, a goat in Russia. Sometimes he is even of a lower type, often +a frog or a snake. And once, in Wallachia, he has been transferred +from the animal to the vegetable world, and figures as a pumpkin. In +every instance he is represented as being able to change at times his +repulsive appearance for one of beauty, and this he generally does by +doffing a kind of husk which when donned conceals his real form, and +invests him with that of an inferior being. If this husk be destroyed +during the temporary absence of its owner, he loses his transforming +power. The destruction of the husk is generally the work of the wife, +who is sometimes rewarded, her husband remaining with her constant to +his true nature; at other times she is punished, he being lost to her +for a time or for ever. These stories about a monster husband have +their exact counterparts in tales about a monster wife, the leading +idea being the same in both groups; the only difference being that it +is the wife who appears at times as a frog or other inferior creature, +and who continues to do so until her transforming power terminates +with the destruction of her disguising husk. + +Now these temporary transformations, though common to the folk-tales +of all parts of Europe, are not in accordance with the European +superstitions of the present day, nor with those, so far as we are +acquainted with them, of old European heathenism. The nearest approach +to them is afforded by the wehr-wolf superstition, but that is an +isolated belief, and appears to be based upon altogether different +ideas. As to the metamorphoses of classical literature, they are of a +nature quite alien to that of the voluntary eclipse, under a degrading +form, of a Frog Princess or a Pig Prince. It may be said with +confidence that European "husk-myths" do not explain themselves; the +peasants among whom they are current, cannot explain them; and the +knowledge we have of ancient European paganism throws no light on +their meaning. But in India, where countless variants of such tales +exist--many of them preserved in ancient as well as in modern +literature, but by far the greater part still current among the +common people--the transformations in question are frequently, if not +generally, explained in the stories themselves, and explained in a +manner perfectly in accordance with the Indian thought of the present +as well as of the past. To Indian minds there is nothing monstrous in +the belief that a celestial being may have been condemned, in +consequence of the wrath of a superior divinity, or even of the magic +words pronounced by an offended sage, to assume for a time the +inferior form of a mere man or woman, or even to wear the shape of an +inferior animal--a monkey or a frog; and that this transformation is +to continue chronic, though not constant, until the destruction of the +disguising skin or husk, by the donning of which it is from time to +time brought about, deprives the curse of its power, and enables +earth's celestial visitor to return to heaven. The whole story is +closely connected with Indian religious beliefs, and may fairly be +looked upon, when found in India, as an expansion of a Hindu myth. Its +existence in other parts of Asia may, at least frequently, be +attributed to the natural spread of Hindu tales among the various +tribes and nations which accepted Buddhism from India. + +If all this be true, and the "husk-myth" stories which are current all +over Europe may justly be supposed to have drifted westwards from +India, then all Indian variants of these tales naturally become +invested with special importance. The specimen in the present volume, +the "Monkey Prince" (No. 10), belongs to a remarkably interesting +class--that in which the story-teller gives an explanation of the +hero's transformation. A childless king is told by a fakr to give +some mangoes to his seven wives. Six of them eat up the fruit, and +each of the six gives birth to a prince of the usual kind. But the +seventh wife, who has been able to obtain as her share only the stone +of one of the mangoes, "had a monkey, who was called in consequence +Bandarsbs, or Prince Monkey." In reality, the story-teller goes on +to explain, "he was a boy, but no one knew it, for he had a +monkey-skin covering him." And this monkey-skin he takes off when he +wishes to appear in true princely form, as when he woos and wins the +Princess Jahran. Finding out what his real nature is, she insists +upon marrying him, in spite of her vexed father's natural question: +"Who ever heard of any one marrying a nasty monkey?" When he is alone +with his wife he takes off his monkey-skin, and reveals himself in all +his beauty, replying to her questions as to its use, "I wear it as a +protection, because my brothers are naughty, and would kill me if they +knew what I really am." On one occasion, when he has gone in state to +a nautch, after taking off his monkey skin, folding it up, and laying +it under his wife's pillow, she reveals her husband's secret to his +mother, who, "though she was very glad her monkey-son had such a wife, +could never understand how it was that her daughter-in-law was so +happy with him." Taking the monkey-skin from under her pillow, "See," +she says, "when your son puts this on, then he is a monkey; when he +takes it off he is a beautiful man. And now I think I will burn this +skin, and then he must always be a man." So she throws it into the +fire. Prince Monkey's heart instantly tells him his wife has burnt his +skin, and he returns home in a rage. It passes off, however, and all +goes well. He now appears always as a beautiful prince, "with his hair +all gold." "Why did you wear that monkey-skin?" naturally asks his +father. "Because," he replies, "my mother ate the mango-stone instead +of eating the mango, and so I was born with this skin, and God ordered +me to wear it till I had found a wife." The story has evidently been +considerably altered in the course of time from its original form, but +it still keeps true to its ancient lines. In it, as in many other +specimens of the same class, the idea of the degradation of a divine +or semi-divine being has been lost, and the sufferer is merely a human +being cased in a disfiguring hide. It is noteworthy that, as we are +informed at p. 259, Dunkn, the narrator of the tale, "in telling this +husk-story, just as often called the monkey-skin a husk, as she called +it a skin." + +Another of the apparently mythological European folk-tales, +instructive parallels to which are contained in the present volume, is +that which may be designated as the Golden-locks myth. It relates the +fortunes of a brilliant being, usually a radiant prince, who, often +without any apparent reason, submits himself to a voluntary eclipse, +hides from sight his grandeur and his good looks, and assumes an +appearance of squalor and misery. Like Cinderella, whose male +counterpart he is, he at times arises from his low estate, becomes +again a brilliant prince, but always capriciously eludes those who +wish to retain him in that shape. At last he is always detected, and +then he has to remain constant to his true and magnificent form. His +temporary eclipse is somewhat similar to that of the hero of a +husk-myth; but no special power is attached to the wrappings under +which his brilliance is concealed, nor is his change of form imposed +upon him against his will. The meaning of the Golden-locks story, in +its original form, still remains to be discovered, as also does that +of the sister tale of Cinderella. That they both refer to the +temporary eclipse, seclusion, or obscuration of a brilliant being, is +evident. But what that brilliant being represents is a problem of +which several solutions have been confidently offered, but which does +not seem to have been as yet certainly solved. In the story of "The +Boy who had a Moon on his forehead and a Star on his chin" (No. 20), +the self-eclipsing process is brought about by a twist of his right +ear; "when the boy had twisted it, he was no longer a handsome prince, +but a poor, common-looking, ugly man; and his moon and star were +hidden." And so, after he has been chosen out of a number of suitors +by a princess whose heart he has won by the beauty of his singing, he +restores himself to his true form by twisting his left ear; after +which operation "he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but a +grand young prince, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his +chin." + +A third class of stories for which an Asiatic origin may fairly be +claimed, contains those in which figures a monster or demon who cannot +be killed until some external object with which his life is +mysteriously linked has been destroyed. Such a being occurs at times +in European folk-tales, especially in those of the east and north of +Europe. The most familiar instance is that of "The Giant who had no +Heart in his body" of the "Tales from the Norse." Some of the best +specimens of this kind of monster are to be found in the Russian tales +about Koshchei the Deathless. But these remarkably abnormal beings +scarcely seem at home in western folk-lore. They are but little in +keeping with their European surroundings, and never seem to divest +themselves of their alien air. In oriental stories, on the other hand, +they figure frequently, and they seem to occupy a familiar and an +appropriate place. The oldest of the world's tales of wonder, the +Egyptian story of the Two Brothers, contains an heroic being whose +life comes to an end when his heart falls to the ground from the tree +upon which he has hung it. And in the modern folk-tales of India, +demons of this kind play their part without exciting any more than +usual surprise. Miss Frere's Deccan stories make us well acquainted +with one of these personages, "a wicked magician named Punchkin," +whose name serves as a convenient designation for the long-lived +monsters in question. The present collection contains several +specimens. In "Brave Hrllbs" (No. 11) we meet with a Rakshas, who +is induced, as usual by female wiles, to reveal the secret of his +life. "Sixteen miles away from this place," he says, "is a tree. Round +the tree are tigers, and bears, and scorpions, and snakes; on the top +of the tree is a very great flat snake; on his head is a little cage; +in the cage is a bird; and my soul is in that bird." When the bird is +seized by the hero of the story, the Rakshas feels that something +terrible has occurred. When the bird's legs and wings are pulled off, +the Rakshas becomes a mere head and torso; and when the bird's neck is +wrung, down falls the Rakshas dead. In like manner, in the tale of +"The Demon and the King's Son" (No. 24), the demon dies when the +prince has killed a certain bird, the lives of the bird and of the +demon being conterminable. According to the narrator Dunkn, "all +Rakshases keep their souls in birds;" but another authority asserts +(p. 261) that "a whole tribe of Rakshases, dwelling in Ceylon, kept +theirs in one and the same lemon." + +The tale of "The Voracious Frog" (No. 6) is a valuable contribution to +the store we already possess of what appear to be myths relating to +apparent destruction, but ultimate resuscitation. To this class seem +to belong the stories on which Little Red Riding Hood was probably +based, describing how a wolf or other monster swallowed various +innocent beings, but was at last forced to restore them uninjured to +the light of day. In its original form the tale may have been a nature +myth, illustrating the apparent annihilation brought about by the +darkness of night or the cold of winter, and the revival which +accompanies the return of the day or of spring; or, perhaps, a moral +apologue, intended to suggest that death may not be a lasting +annihilation. In its modern forms, whether in the east or the west, it +often assumes a grotesque air. A good illustration of this fact is +afforded by the well-known Norse tale of "The Greedy Cat," of which +"The Voracious Frog" (No. 6) is an Indian counterpart. The cat, after +devouring all that comes in its way, is at last split in half by a +goat, whereupon all its victims come forth unhurt. The frog, after +similar feats of gluttony, is cut open by a barber, who, while shaving +it, thinks that it looks very fat; and its victims also emerge +uninjured. + +There are many tales now current in different parts of Europe, but +chiefly in the south and east, which turn upon the relations existing +between human beings and their fates: each person being supposed to +have a special fate or fortune, a species of guardian demon, upon +whose good will all his or her success in life depends. It is very +doubtful whether such stories are products of European fancy, their +leading ideas seeming to be little in keeping with the religious +beliefs--whether of classic times, or of Teutonic, Slavic, or Celtic +antiquity--respecting either an overruling destiny, or a triad of +Fates or Norns. But in India a belief in a personal "luck" has +prevailed from very early times; and such stories as "The Man who went +to seek his Fate" (No. 12), appear there to be as indigenous as in +Europe they seem to be exotic. The Servian story, for instance, of the +man who sets out to look for his fate, and the Sicilian account of how +the unfortunate Caterina is persecuted by hers until she discovers its +hiding-place, and propitiates it by cakes (see Notes, p. 263), have a +foreign air about them, which does not manifest itself in the Indian +tale. The likeness between the Servian and the Indian variants of the +narrative, especially as regards the questions which the fate-seeker +is requested by the beings he meets on the way to ask when he arrives +at his destination, is too great to allow it to be supposed that they +have been independently developed from a common germ. They are +manifestly, so far as the journey is concerned, copies of the same +model, differing but slightly from each other. But the embodiment of +the wayfarer's destiny is quite differently represented in the two +stories. The Servian pilgrim first discovers his fortune, or rather +misfortune, in the person of a hag, who tells him she has been given +to him as his luck by Fate. Then he seeks out Fate, who appears in +human form. But in the Indian tale, "the fates are stones, some +standing, and others lying on the ground." One of the prostrate +stones, the traveller felt sure, must belong to him. "This must be +mine," he said; "it is lying on the ground, that's why I am so poor." +Whereupon he took to beating it, and continued to do so all day. When +night came, "God sent a soul into the poor man's fate, and it became a +man," who satisfied the wanderer's own wishes, and also answered the +questions which he had been requested to ask. Then "God withdrew the +soul, and the fate became a stone again, which stood up on the +ground." + +There are two stories which enjoy a world-wide popularity in peasant +circles, but which have not been made familiar by modern literature to +cultured children. One of them may for the sake of convenience be +known by the name of the Substituted Bride, and the other by that of +the Calumniated Wife. The first relates the sorrows of a maiden who is +compelled to see an impostor seated in the place which she was +intended to fill, by the side of the princely husband whom she was +meant to wed. The second describes the sufferings long undergone by a +faithful wife and tender mother, who is falsely accused of some crime +by an envious rival, and is hastily punished by her angry lord. In +both of them the supernatural usually plays a part, but their main +interests are always human, and it is easier to sympathize with their +heroines than with most of the similar characters of popular fiction. +Yet those ill-used but patient princesses are but little known to the +thousands of story-readers who are familiar with the adventures of +Cinderella and the Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and the +wives of Bluebeard and of the Beast. They have at various times +entered into literature, but not into that section of it which has +supplied our nursery fiction. They figure in most of the now so +numerous collections of folk-tales, but they have not been introduced +into society by the novelists or playwrights who have made their +sister-sufferers undying favourites. They are essentially moral tales, +their good characters bearing their unmerited misfortunes with +unvarying meekness and patience, and being ultimately rewarded, while +the envious and malicious rivals who have supplanted or slandered them +are punished in the end. But they have not taken a firm hold on the +west, where they are probably destined to become forgotten when the +progress of education has replaced folk-lore by literature, while they +are likely to go on living for ages in the east, which seems to have +been their original home. + +In the present collection the story of the Substituted Princess occurs +several times. In "Phlmati Rn" the heroine is a wife instead of a +bride, which makes the substitution more than usually improbable. As +she and her husband are resting beside a tank, a shoemaker's wife +comes up, and pushes her into the water, in which she is drowned. The +shoemaker's wife takes her place, though she is "very black and ugly," +one-eyed, and exceedingly wicked. It may be remarked that the +substitution in question generally takes place by the side of water. +In the "Bl-Princess," the beautiful maiden who has come out of the +fruit which the prince opened by the side of a well, is pushed into +the water, while the prince is asleep, by a wicked woman, very ugly, +and with "something wrong with one of her eyes," who then assumes her +place. In tales like the story of "The Princess who loved her Father +like Salt," the transformation scene is of a different nature, though +the leading idea of the change is the same. It is not an ordinary +bride or wife who is supplanted, and the substitution need not take +place beside water. The heroine is a stranger who, generally after +long wanderings, finds a prince really or apparently dead, by patient +watching all but effects his cure, but is at the last moment +supplanted by a servant, who gives the final touch to the work, claims +its entire merit, and is made the wife of the grateful patient. In the +Indian tale the prince lies motionless, his body "stuck full of +needles." The heroine sits down by the side of his couch, and there +remains for a whole week "without eating, or drinking, or sleeping, +pulling out the needles." At the end of two weeks more the needles are +all extracted, except those in the eyes. She then goes away to bathe; +and while she is absent, a servant maid whom she has left in charge of +the body pulls out the remaining needles. The prince opens his eyes, +thanks God for bringing him to life again, and makes the servant maid +his wife. The substitution is similar to that which takes place in +such stories as the Norse "Bushy Bride;" but closer parallels are +supplied by some of the stories of southern Europe. Mrs. Stokes refers +in her Notes to the dead prince in one of Gonzenbach's Sicilian tales, +who is brought to life by a wandering princess, who for more than +seven years rubs his body with grass from Mount Calvary. Pitre's great +collection of Sicilian _Fiabe_ also offers several variants of the +substitution story, in some of which occurs the singular incident, +known also to Swedish and Finnish folk-tales, of the imprisonment of +the heroine, after she has been flung into the sea, by a submarine +supernatural being. In some instances it is not water which the +heroine has to dread, but light. The true bride must be conveyed to +the bridegroom's palace in a darkened vehicle. Her supplanter draws +aside a curtain. The sunlight shines in. The princess turns into a +lizard or some other animal, and the false bride takes her place. + +The Calumniated Wife story which occurs in No. 20 of the present +collection, closely resembles many European variants. A king hears a +girl say that when she is married she will have a son with a moon on +his forehead and a star on his chin. So he marries her. She gives +birth to a boy who really is thus decorated. But the king's other +wives, naturally jealous of her, put a stone in her bed, and pretend +that it is the object which she has brought into the world, upon which +she is disgraced and turned into a servant maid. In other variants of +the story she is often accused of having murdered her children, and +even eaten them. In one instance her mortified husband is represented +as twice forgiving her, after remonstrating with her on her inordinate +appetite, but as thinking it necessary to take some precautions when +the possibility of her committing the crime for the third time makes +itself manifest. Sometimes all the innocent wives of a king are +accused of murderous habits by a guilty wife, who is in reality a +destroying and devouring demon. Such is the case in No. 20 of the +present collection, which ends with the restoration of the seven +calumniated wives, and the death by burning of the demon spouse. + + * * * * * + +Besides illustrating the themes or leading ideas of many groups of +European tales, these Indian stories frequently serve to throw light +upon some of their obscurer features, or at least to offer such +parallels to them as are useful contributions to our stock of +materials for a systematic classification. Among the strange +characters who figure in European folk tales, there are few more +puzzling than the fair maidens who are at times discovered inside +fruits, and who must be provided with water to drink the moment they +emerge into the light, or else they will die. They seem properly to +belong to the south and east of Europe, to such countries, for +instance, as Greece, Sicily, and Wallachia. When they are found +elsewhere, as in the Norse tale of "The Three Lemons," the very name +of which speaks of the sunny south, they seem out of keeping with +their surroundings. In these Indian stories, the enclosure of a +heroine in a fruit is an incident which does not appear to be more +than usually amazing. The need of immediate water drinking is not +referred to. But the hero is warned (p. 81) that he must not open the +fruit in public, because the enclosed maiden will be quite destitute +of clothes. In another story which is widely spread over Europe--but +which we know best in the form of the tale of "The Blue Bird," founded +upon the theme of "The Lay of Ywonec," by Marie de France--the +murderous means by which the bird-lover is all but done to death by +jealous hands, which set sharp knives in the narrow opening through +which he has to fly, or beset his path with some other instruments of +ill, find their counterpart in the powdered glass employed to injure +the hero of the "The Fan Prince" (No. 25). His wife's six sisters, who +"were angry at their youngest sister being married, while they who +were older were not married," insist upon making his bed, and cover +the spot on which he is to lie with the powder into which they have +ground a glass bottle. Whereupon the prince becomes very ill, from the +glass powder going into his flesh. + +The ordinary opening of many familiar folk-tales, including the +"Beauty and the Beast" story, finds a parallel in the same Indian tale +(p. 195). In all of them a man, when starting on a journey, promises +his youngest daughter that he will bring her back some object. This he +forgets to obtain. On his homeward journey, his ship refuses to move +until he has acquired the object in question. The Indian parent +promised to bring home Sabr to his daughter, having no idea what Sabr +meant. Not having obtained it, he set out on his homeward journey. +"But the boat would not move, because he had forgotten one thing--the +thing his youngest daughter had asked for." Sabr turns out to be a +fairy prince. It is a common incident in Indian tales for a hero or +heroine to demand a spouse, generally of a more or less supernatural +nature, whose name is known but nothing more. Just as the Fan Prince +was demanded, under the apparently meaningless name of Sabr, so is the +hand of the Princess Labm longed for by the Rj's son in No. 22, +although her existence was unknown to him till he heard a parrot +pronounce her name one day; and so is the acquisition of a +Bl-Princess resolved upon by the prince in No. 21, because his +sisters-in-law say to him, in a disagreeable manner, "We think that +you will marry a Bl-Princess." Mniy, the narrator of the story, +"says that telling the prince he would marry a Bl-Princess was +equivalent to saying he would not marry at all; for these brothers' +wives knew she lived in the fairy country, and that it would be very +difficult, if not impossible, for the prince to find her, and take her +from it." But this seems to be merely a rationalistic view of the +matter. Some mystery seems to underlie these suggestions of, or +desires for, unions with unfamiliar beings. They occur not +unfrequently in Russian tales. In one of Afanasief's skazkas (vol. +vii., No. 6) a baby prince cries, and refuses to go to sleep, till his +royal father rocks his cradle, crooning the while, "Sleep, beloved +one! When you grow up you shall marry Never-enough-to-be-gazed-at +Beauty, daughter of three mothers, sister of nine brothers." Having +slept vigorously, the baby awakes, asks for the king's blessing, and +sets out in search of the unknown Beauty in question. In another (vol. +i., No. 14), Prince Ivan, having married his three sisters to the +Wind, the Hail, and the Thunder, wanders forth in search of a bride. +Finding the remains of two slaughtered armies, and discovering that +their slaughterer was named Anastasia the Fair, he resolves, though +knowing nothing else about her, to make her his wife. Among the +numerous minor incidents which are common to eastern and western +folk-tales, may be mentioned the aid lent to heroes in difficulties by +Magic Instruments, as in No. 22, or by Grateful Beasts, as in No. 24. +A belief in magic is of course world-wide, but the particular +instruments referred to seem to have good reasons for claiming an +oriental extraction. The stories in which stress is laid upon the +gratitude of the inferior animals are almost always derivable from the +east; especially if, as in the correct versions of the tale on which +Puss in Boots is founded, their gratitude is contrasted with the +ingratitude of that superior animal, man. When we meet with so close a +resemblance as exists between the miracle wrought by Shekh Fard (p. +97), who turns the lying carter's sugar into ashes, and that +attributed to St. Brigit, who turns the liar's salt into stones, we +need have little scruple about referring both stories to the same +source and, considering how much monastic legend-writers were indebted +to oriental fancy, in locating that source in the east. + +The comic elements of eastern and western folk-lore are closely akin, +and the Lie-stories, or _Lgenmrchen_, in Nos. 4, 8, and 17 of these +Indian Tales find their parallels in most European collections. As an +example of the close kinship which prevails among the jests which make +merry the hearts of men far apart from each other, we may take the +Indian story of "Foolish Sachl," and compare it with the Russian +tale of "The Fool and the Birch Tree" (Afanasief, vol. v., No. 22). +Sachl kills a woman; his Russian counterpart kills a man. The corpse +of the woman is hidden away in a well, that of the man in a cellar. In +each case the fool's sensible relatives, knowing that he will be sure +to tell the truth if he is asked, withdraw the body during his +absence, and substitute for it that of an animal killed for the +purpose. When the seekers after the victim arrive at Sachl's home, +he at once conducts them to the well. Being let down into it, he asks, +"Has she got eyes?" "Of course, every one has eyes," is the reply. +"Has she a nose?" "Yes, she has a nose." But at last he inquires if +she has four feet; and the seekers after the dead woman find that the +body in the well is that of a sheep. In the same way, when the Russian +fool has confessed his guilt, and has gone into the cellar to look for +his victim's remains, he finds there the body of a goat. So he calls +out to the anxious inquirers, "Was your man dark-haired?" "He was." +"And had he a beard?" "Yes, he had a beard." "And had he horns?" "What +horns are you talking about, fool?" they reply. So he hands up the +goat's head, and the Russian tale comes to the same conclusion as the +Indian. The likeness here is too strong to be attributed to an +accidental coincidence. + + * * * * * + +It does not, of course, follow that, because a story is found both in +Europe and Asia, therefore the western version has been borrowed from +the east. Europe has, doubtless, sometimes lent a fancy to Asia. Greek +fables are supposed to have exercised an influence upon the Indian +mind. European missionaries may have sometimes rendered a Christian +legend current among Hindus. Professor Monier Williams was assured by +an intelligent native that the spread of railways had materially +diminished the number of malignant ghosts in India. Still, as a +general rule, the east is stubbornly conservative. The Japanese, it is +true, are abandoning their own costume and art for ours, not entirely +to their advantage. But the various peoples of India have never shown +any such tendencies towards change. In their popular fiction, at all +events, they have never shown an inclination to import foreign +manufactures in order to replace their home products. In their +thoughts and feelings they are now very much what they have been for +periods of time which it would be difficult to define. When we find +stories now current in all parts of India, which we know from their +occurrence in Sanskrit literature must have existed there very long +ago, and we see that the mythological element in those stories is in +accordance with religious ideas that have prevailed there for +countless centuries, we can have no doubt that these stories were +framed there at a very early period. Then if we find almost identical +stories current in all parts of Europe, many of their at least +apparently mythological features offering difficulties which cannot be +removed by a reference to the mythologies of the heathen ancestors of +the peasants who now repeat them, it seems not unreasonable to come to +the conclusion that such stories have been borrowed by the west from +the east. From mythological germs common to European and Asiatic +Aryans, it is quite true that legends might arise in Europe and in +Asia, independent of each other, but similar in their general tenor. +But it is not likely that out of any common germ could be +independently developed in several different countries as many +variants of the same tale, in each of which there is a similar +sequence of scenes or acts, and the dramatic action is brought to a +close by a termination that scarcely ever varies. Far more difficult +is it to believe in such a triumph of independent development, than to +place reliance upon a statement to the effect that the wave of +story-telling, as well as of empire, has wended its way westward. + + W. R. S. RALSTON. + + + + +[Decoration] + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + I. PHLMATI RN, OR THE FLOWER LADY 1 + + II. THE POMEGRANATE KING 7 + + III. THE CAT AND THE DOG 15 + + IV. THE CAT WHICH COULD NOT BE KILLED 18 + + V. THE JACKAL AND THE KITE 21 + + VI. THE VORACIOUS FROG 24 + + VII. THE STORY OF FOOLISH SACHL 27 + + VIII. BARBER HM AND THE TIGERS 35 + + IX. THE BULBUL AND THE COTTON-TREE 39 + + X. THE MONKEY PRINCE 41 + + XI. BRAVE HRLLBS 51 + + XII. THE MAN WHO WENT TO SEEK HIS FATE 63 + + XIII. THE UPRIGHT KING 68 + + XIV. LOVING LAIL 73 + + XV. HOW KING BURTAL BECAME A FAKR 85 + + XVI. SOME OF THE DOINGS OF SHEKH FARD 95 + + XVII. THE MOUSE 101 + + XVIII. A WONDERFUL STORY 108 + + XIX. THE FAKR NNAKS SAVES THE MERCHANT'S LIFE 114 + + XX. THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR + ON HIS CHIN 119 + + XXI. THE BL-PRINCESS 138 + + XXII. HOW THE RJ'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABM 153 + + XXIII. THE PRINCESS WHO LOVED HER FATHER LIKE SALT 164 + + XXIV. THE DEMON IS AT LAST CONQUERED BY THE KING'S SON 173 + + XXV. THE FAN PRINCE 193 + + XXVI. THE BED 201 + + XXVII. PNWPATT RN 208 + + XXVIII. THE CLEVER WIFE 216 + + XXIX. RJ HARICHAND'S PUNISHMENT 224 + + XXX. THE KING'S SON AND THE WAZR'S DAUGHTER 234 + + NOTES 237 + + GLOSSARY 295 + + LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO 297 + + INDEX 299 + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +INDIAN FAIRY TALES. + +I. + +PHLMATI RN. + + +There were once a Rj and a Rn who had an only daughter called the +Phlmati Rn, or the Pink-rose Queen. She was so beautiful that if +she went into a very dark room it was all lighted up by her beauty. On +her head was the sun; on her hands, moons; and her face was covered +with stars. She had hair that reached to the ground, and it was made +of pure gold. + +Every day after she had had her bath, her father and mother used to +weigh her in a pair of scales. She only weighed one flower. She ate +very, very little food. This made her father most unhappy, and he +said, "I cannot let my daughter marry any one who weighs more than one +flower." Now, God loved this girl dearly, so he went down under the +ground to see if any of the fairy Rjs was fit to be the Phlmati +Rn's husband, and he thought none of them good enough. So he went in +the form of a Fakr to see the great Indrsan Rj who ruled over all +the other fairy Rjs. This Rj was exceedingly beautiful. On his +head was the sun; and on his hands, moons; and on his face, stars. God +made him weigh very little. Then he said to the Rj, "Come up with +me, and we will go to the palace of the Phlmati Rn." God had told +the Rj that he was God and not a Fakr, for he loved the Indrsan +Rj. "Very well," said the Indrsan Rj. So they travelled on until +they came to the Phlmati Rn's palace. When they arrived there they +pitched a tent in her compound, and they used to walk about, and +whenever they saw the Phlmati Rn they looked at her. One day they +saw her having her hair combed, so God said to the Indrsan Rj, "Get +a horse and ride where the Phlmati Rn can see you, and if any one +asks you who you are, say, 'Oh, it's only a poor Fakr, and I am his +son. We have come to stay here a little while just to see the country. +We will go away very soon.'" Well, he got a horse and rode about, and +Phlmati Rn, who was having her hair combed in the verandah, said, +"I am sure that must be some Rj; only see how beautiful he is." And +she sent one of her servants to ask him who he was. So the servant +said to the Indrsan Rj, "Who are you? why are you here? what do you +want?" "Oh, it's only a poor Fakr, and I am his son. We have just +come here for a little while to see the country. We will go away very +soon." So the servants returned to the Phlmati Rn and told her what +the Indrsan Rj had said. The Phlmati Rn told her father about +this. The next day, when the Phlmati Rn and her father were +standing in the verandah, God took a pair of scales and weighed the +Indrsan Rj in them. His weight was only that of one flower! "Oh," +said the Rj, when he saw that, "here is the husband for the Phlmati +Rn!" The next day, after the Phlmati Rn had had her bath, her +father took her and weighed her, and he also weighed the Indrsan +Rj. And they were each the same weight. Each weighed one flower, +although the Indrsan Rj was fat and the Phlmati Rn thin. The +next day they were married, and there was a grand wedding. God said he +was too poor-looking to appear, so he bought a quantity of elephants, +and camels, and horses, and cows, and sheep, and goats, and made a +procession, and came to the wedding. Then he went back to heaven, but +before he went he said to the Indrsan Rj "You must stay here one +whole year; then go back to your father and to your kingdom. As long +as you put flowers on your ears no danger will come near you." (This +was in order that the fairies might know that he was a very great Rj +and not hurt him.) "All right," said the Indrsan Rj. And God went +back to heaven. + +So the Indrsan Rj stayed for a whole year. Then he told the Rj, +the Phlmati Rn's father, that he wished to go back to his own +kingdom. "All right," said the Rj, and he wanted to give him horses, +and camels, and elephants. But the Indrsan Rj and the Phlmati Rn +said they wanted nothing but a tent and a cooly. Well, they set out; +but the Indrsan Rj forgot to put flowers on his ears, and after +some days the Indrsan Rj was very, very tired, so he said, "We will +sit down under these big trees and rest awhile. Our baggage will soon +be here; it is only a little way behind." So they sat down, and the +Rj said he felt so tired he must sleep. "Very well," said the Rn; +"lay your head in my lap and sleep." After a while a shoemaker's wife +came by to get some water from a tank which was close to the spot +where the Rj and Rn were resting. Now, the shoemaker's wife was +very black and ugly, and she had only one eye, and she was exceedingly +wicked. The Rn was very thirsty and she said to the woman, "Please +give me some water, I am so thirsty." "If you want any," said the +shoemaker's wife, "come to the tank and get it yourself." "But I +cannot," said the Rn, "for the Rj is sleeping in my lap." At last +the poor Rn got so very, very thirsty, she said she must have some +water; so laying the Rj's head very gently on the ground she went to +the tank. Then the wicked shoemaker's wife, instead of giving her to +drink, gave her a push and sent the beautiful Rn into the water, +where she was drowned. The shoemaker's wife then went back to the +Rj, and, taking his head on her knee, sat still until he woke. When +the Rj woke he was much frightened, and he said, "This is not my +wife. My wife was not black, and she had two eyes." The poor Rj felt +very unhappy. He said, "I am sure something has happened to my wife." +He went to the tank, and he saw flowers floating on the water and he +caught them, and as he caught them his own true wife stood before him. + +They travelled on till they came to a little house. The shoemaker's +wife went with them. They went into the house and laid themselves down +to sleep, and the Rj laid beside him the flowers he had found +floating in the tank. The Rn's life was in the flowers. As soon as +the Rj and Rn were asleep, the shoemaker's wife took the flowers, +broke them into little bits, and burnt them. The Rn died +immediately, for the second time. Then the poor Rj, feeling very +lonely and unhappy, travelled on to his kingdom, and the shoemaker's +wife went after him. God brought the Phlmati Rn to life a second +time, and led her to the Indrsan Rj's gardener. + +One day as the Indrsan Rj was going out hunting, he passed by the +gardener's house, and saw a beautiful girl sitting in it. He thought +she looked very like his wife, the Phlmati Rn. So he went home to +his father and said, "Father, I should like to be married to the girl +who lives in our gardener's house." "All right," said the father; "you +can be married at once." So they were married the next day. + +One night the shoemaker's wife took a ram, killed it, and put some of +its blood on the Phlmati Rn's mouth while the Rn slept. The next +morning she went to the Indrsan Rj and said, "Whom have you +married? You have married a Rakshas. Just see. She has been eating +cows, and sheep, and chickens. Just come and see." The Rj went, and +when he saw the blood on his wife's mouth he was frightened, and he +thought she was really a Rakshas. The shoemaker's wife said to him, +"If you do not cut this woman in pieces, some harm will happen to +you." So the Rj took a knife and cut his beautiful wife into pieces. +He then went away very sorrowful. The Phlmati Rn's arms and legs +grew into four houses; her chest became a tank, and her head a house +in the middle of the tank; her eyes turned into two little doves; and +these five houses, the tank and the doves, were transported to the +jungle. No one knew this. The little doves lived in the house that +stood in the middle of the tank. The other four houses stood round the +tank. + +One day when the Indrsan Rj was hunting by himself in the jungle he +was very tired, and he saw the house in the tank. So he said, "I will +go into that house to rest a little while, and to-morrow I will return +home to my father." So, tying his horse outside, he went into the +house and lay down to sleep. By and by, the two little birds came and +perched on the roof above his head. They began to talk, and the Rj +listened. The little husband-dove said to his wife, "This is the man +who cut his wife to pieces." And then he told her how the Indrsan +Rj had married the beautiful Phlmati Rn, who weighed only one +flower, and how the shoemaker's wife had drowned her; how God had +brought her to life again; how the shoemaker's wife had burned her; +and last of all, how the Rj himself had cut her to pieces. "And +cannot the Rj find her again?" said the little wife-dove. "Oh, yes, +he can," said her husband, "but he does not know how to do so." "But +do tell me how he can find her," said the little wife-dove. "Well," +said her husband, "every night, at twelve o'clock, the Rn and her +servants come to bathe in the tank. Her servants wear yellow dresses, +but she wears a red one. Now, if the Rj could get all their dresses, +every one, when they lay them down and go into the tank to bathe, and +throw away all the yellow dresses one by one, keeping only the red +one, he would recover his wife." + +The Rj heard all these things, and at midnight the Rn and her +servants came to bathe. The Rj lay very quiet, and after they all +had taken off their dresses and gone into the tank, he jumped up and +seized every one of the dresses,--he did not leave one of them,--and +ran away as hard as he could. Then each of the servants, who were only +fairies, screamed out, "Give me my dress! What are you doing? why do +you take it away?" Then the Rj dropped one by one the yellow dresses +and kept the red one. The fairy servants picked up the dresses, and +forsook the Phlmati Rn and ran away. The Rj came back to her with +her dress in his hand, and she said, "Oh, give me back my dress. If +you keep it I shall die. Three times has God brought me to life, but +he will bring me to life no more." The Rj fell at her feet and +begged her pardon, and they were reconciled. And he gave her back her +dress. Then they went home, and Indrsan Rj had the shoemaker's wife +cut to pieces, and buried in the jungle. And they lived happily ever +after. + + Told by Dunkn at Simla, July 25th, 1876. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +II. + +THE POMEGRANATE KING. + + +There was once a Mahrj, called the Anrbs, or Pomegranate King; +and a Mahrn called the Gulanr, or Pomegranate-flower. The +Mahrn died leaving two children: a little girl of four or five +years old, and a little boy of three. The Mahrj was very sorry when +she died, for he loved her dearly. He was exceedingly fond of his two +children, and got for them two servants: a man to cook their dinner, +and an ayah to take care of them. He also had them taught to read and +write. Soon after his wife's death the neighbouring Rj's daughter's +husband died, and she said if any other Rj would marry her, she +would be quite willing to marry him, and she also said she would like +very much to marry the Pomegranate Rj. So her father went to see the +Pomegranate Rj, and told him that his daughter wished to marry him. +"Oh," said the Pomegranate Rj, "I do not want to marry again, for if +I do, the woman I marry will be sure to be unkind to my two children. +She will not take care of them. She will not pet them and comfort them +when they are unhappy." "Oh," said the other Rj, "my daughter will +be very good to them, I assure you." "Very well," said the Mahrj, +"I will marry her." So they were married. + +For two or three months everything went on well, but then the new +Rn, who was called the Sunks Mahrn, began to beat the poor +children, and to scold their servants. One day she gave the boy such +a hard blow on his cheek that it swelled. When the Mahrj came out +of his office to get his tiffin, he saw the boy's swollen face, and, +calling the two servants, he said, "Who did this? how did my boy get +hurt?" They said, "The Rn gave him such a hard blow on his cheek +that it swelled, and she gets very angry with us if we say anything +about her ill-treatment of the children, or how she scolds us." The +Mahrj was exceedingly angry with his wife for this, and said to +her, "I never beat my children. Why should you beat them? If you beat +them I will send you away." And he went off to his office in a great +rage. The Rn was very angry. So she told the little girl to go with +the ayah to the bazar. The ayah and the little girl set off, never +suspecting any evil. As soon as they had gone, the Rn took the +little boy and told him she would kill him. The boy went down on his +knees and begged her to spare his life. But she said, "No; your father +is always quarrelling with me, beating me, and scolding me, all +through your fault." The boy begged and prayed again, saying he would +never be naughty any more. The Rn shook her head, and taking a large +knife she cut off his head. She then cut him up and made him into a +curry. She then buried his head, and his nails, and his feet in the +ground, and she covered them well with earth, and stamped the ground +well down so that no one should notice it had been disturbed. When the +Pomegranate Rj came home to his dinner, she put the curry and some +rice on the table before him; but the Rj, seeing his boy was not +there, would not eat. He went and looked everywhere for his son, +crying very much, and the little girl cried very much too, for she +loved her brother dearly. After they had hunted for him for some time, +the little boy appeared. His father embraced him. "Where have you +been?" said he. "I cannot eat my dinner without you." The little boy +said, "Oh, I was in the jungle playing with other boys." They then +sat down to dinner, and the curry changed into a kid curry. The Rn +was greatly astonished when she saw the boy. She said to herself, "I +cut his head off; I cut him into little pieces, and I made him into a +curry, and yet he is alive!" She then went into the garden to see if +his head, and nails, and feet were in the hole where she had buried +them. But they were not there; it was quite empty. She then called a +sepoy, and said to him, "If you will take two children into the jungle +and kill them, I will give you as much money as you like." "All +right," said the sepoy. She then brought the children, and told him to +take them to the jungle. So he took them away to the jungle, but he +had not the heart to kill them, for they were exceedingly beautiful, +and he left them in the jungle near their dead mother's grave. Then he +returned to the Rn, saying he had done as she wished, and she gave +him as much money as he wanted. + +The poor Pomegranate Rj was very unhappy when he saw his children +were not in the palace, and that they could not be found. He asked his +Rn where they were, but she said she did not know; they had gone out +to play and had never returned. From the day he lost his children the +Pomegranate Rj became melancholy. He did not love the Rn any more; +he hated her. + +Meanwhile the children lived in a little house built close to their +mother's grave. God had given her life again that she might take care +of them. But they did not know she was their mother; they thought she +was another woman sent to take care of them. God sent also a man to +teach them. Somehow or other the Rn Sunks heard they were still +alive in the jungle. She did not know how she could kill them. So at +last she pretended she was very ill, and she said to the Rj, "The +doctor says that in the jungle there are two children, and he says if +you will have them killed, and will bring their livers for me to +stand on when I bathe, then I shall get well." The Rj sent a second +sepoy to kill the children, and this man killed them and brought their +livers to the Rn. She stood on them while bathing, and then said she +was quite well. She then threw the livers into the garden, and during +the night a tree grew up there with two large beautiful flowers on it. +Next morning the Rn looked out and said, "I will gather those +flowers to-day." Every day she said she would gather them, and every +day she forgot. At last one day she said, "Every day I forget to +gather those flowers, but to-day I really will do so," and she sent +her servant to pluck them. So he went out, and, just as he was going +to gather them, the flowers flew up just out of his reach. Then the +Rn went down, and when she was going to pick them they flew up so +high that they could not be seen. Every day she tried to gather them, +and every day they went high up, and came back again to the tree as +soon as she had gone. Then the flowers disappeared and two large +fruits came in their stead. The Rn looked out of her window: "Oh, +what delicious fruits! I'll eat them all myself. I won't give a bit to +anybody, and I'll eat them by myself quite quietly." She went down to +the garden, but they flew high up into the sky, and then they came +down again. So this went on, day after day, until she got so cross she +ordered the tree to be cut down. But it was of no use. The tree was +cut down, but the fruits flew high up into the sky, and in the night +the tree grew up again and the fruits came back again to it. And so +this went on for many days. Every day she cut down the tree, and every +night it grew up again, but she could never get the fruits. At last +she became very angry, and had the tree hewn into tiny bits and all +the bits thrown away, but still the tree grew again in the night, and +in the morning the fruits were hanging on it. So she went to the Rj +and told him that in the garden was a tree with two fruits, and every +time she tried to get them, the fruits went up into the air. She had +had the tree cut down ever so many times, and it always grew up again +in the night and the fruits returned to it. "Why cannot you leave the +tree alone?" said the Rj. "But I should like to see if what you say +is true." So the Rj and the Rn went down to the garden, and the +Rn tried to get the fruits, but she could not, for they went right +up into the air. + +That evening the Rj went alone to the garden to gather the fruits, +and the fruits of themselves fell into his hand. He took them into his +room, and putting them on a little table close to his bed, he lay down +to sleep. As soon as he was in bed a little voice inside one of the +fruits said, "Brother;" and a little voice in the other fruit said, +"Sister, speak more gently. To-morrow the Rj will break open the +fruits, and if the Rn finds us she will kill us. Three times has God +made us alive again, but if we die a fourth time he will bring us to +life no more." The Rj listened and said, "I will break them open in +a little while." Then he went to sleep, and after a little he woke and +said, "A little while longer," and went to sleep again. Several times +he woke up and said, "I will break the fruits open in a little while," +and went to sleep. At last he took a knife and began cutting the +fruits open very fast, and the little boy cried, "Gently, gently, +father; you hurt us!" So then the Rj cut more gently, and he stopped +to ask, "Are you hurt?" and they said, "No." And then he cut again and +asked, "Are you hurt?" and they said, "No." And a third time he asked, +"Are you hurt?" and they answered, "No." Then the fruits broke open +and his two children jumped out. They rushed into their father's arms, +and he clasped them tight, and they cried softly, that the Rn might +not hear. + +He shut his room up close, and fed and dressed his children, and then +went out of the room, locking the door behind him. He had a little +wooden house built that could easily catch fire, and as soon as it was +ready he went to the Rn and said, "Will you go into a little house I +have made ready for you while your room is getting repaired?" "All +right," said the Rn; so she went into the little house, and that +night a man set it on fire, and the Rn and everything in it was +burnt up. Then the Pomegranate Rj took her bones, put them into a +tin box, and sent them as a present to her mother. "Oh," said the +mother, "my daughter has married the Pomegranate Mahrj, and so she +sends me some delicious food." When she opened the box, to her horror +she found only bones! Then she wrote to the Mahrj, "Of what use are +bones?" The Mahrj wrote back, "They are your bones; they belong to +you, for they are your daughter's bones. She ill-treated and killed my +children, and so I had her burnt." + +The Pomegranate Rj and his children lived very happily for some +time, and their dead mother, the Gulanr Rn, having a wish to see +her husband and her children, prayed to God to let her go and visit +them. God said she could go, but not in her human shape, so he changed +her into a beautiful bird, and put a pin in her head, and said, "As +soon as the pin is pulled out you will become a woman again." She flew +to the palace where the Mahrj lived, and there were great trees +about the palace. On one of these she perched at night. The doorkeeper +was lying near it. She called out, "Doorkeeper! doorkeeper!" and he +answered, "What is it? Who is it?" And she asked, "Is the Rj well?" +and the doorkeeper said, "Yes." "Are the children well?" and he said, +"Yes." "And all the servants, and camels, and horses?" "Yes." "Are you +well?" "Yes." "Have you had plenty of food?" "Yes." "What a great +donkey your Mahrj is!" And then she began to cry very much, and +pearls fell from her eyes as she cried. Then she began to laugh very +much, and great big rubies fell from her beak as she laughed. The next +morning the doorkeeper got up and felt about, and said, "What is all +this?" meaning the pearls and the rubies, for he did not know what +they were. "I will keep them." So he picked them all up and put them +into a corner of his house. Every night the bird came and asked after +the Mahrj and the children and the servants, and left a great many +pearls and rubies behind her. At last the doorkeeper had a whole heap +of pearls and rubies. + +One day a Fakr came and begged, and as the doorkeeper had no pice, or +flour, or rice to give, he gave him a handful of pearls and rubies. +"Well," said the Fakr to himself, "I am sure these are pearls and +rubies." So he tied them up in his cloth. Then he went to the Rj to +beg, and the Rj gave him a handful of rice. "What!" said the Fakr, +"the great Mahrj only gives me a handful of rice when his +doorkeeper gives me pearls and rubies!" and he turned to walk away. +But the Mahrj stopped him. "What did you say?" said he, "that my +doorkeeper gave you pearls and rubies?" "Yes," said the Fakr, "your +doorkeeper gave me pearls and rubies." So the Mahrj went to the +doorkeeper's house, and when he saw all the pearls and rubies that +were there, he thought the man had stolen them from his treasury. The +Mahrj had not as many pearls and rubies as his doorkeeper had. Then +turning to the doorkeeper he asked him to tell him truly where and how +he had got them. "Yes, I will," said the doorkeeper. "Every night a +beautiful bird comes and asks after you, after your children, after +all your elephants, horses, and servants; and then it cries, and when +it cries pearls drop from its eyes; and then it laughs, and rubies +fall from its beak. If you come to-night I dare say you will see it." +"All right," said the Pomegranate Rj. + +So that night the Mahrj pulled his bed out under the tree on which +the bird always perched. At night the bird came and called out, +"Doorkeeper! doorkeeper!" and the doorkeeper answered, "Yes, lord." +And the bird said, "Is your Mahrj well?" "Yes." "Are the children +well?" "Yes." "And all his servants, horses, and camels and +elephants--are they well?" "Yes." "Are you well?" "Yes." "Have you had +plenty of food?" "Yes." "What a fool your Mahrj is!" And then she +cried, and the pearls came tumbling down on the Mahrj's eyes, and +the Mahrj opened one eye and saw what a beautiful bird it was. And +then it laughed, and rubies fell from its beak on to the Mahrj. + +Next morning the Mahrj said he would give any one who would catch +the bird as much money as he wanted. So he called a fisherman, and +asked him to bring his net and catch the bird when it came that night. +The fisherman said he would for one thousand rupees. That night the +fisherman, the Mahrj, and the doorkeeper, all waited under the +tree. Soon the bird came, and asked after the Mahrj, after his +children, and all his servants and elephants, and camels and horses, +and then after the doorkeeper, and then it called the Mahrj a fool. +Then it cried, and then it laughed, and just as it laughed the +fisherman threw the net over the bird and caught it. Then they shut it +up in an iron cage, and the next morning the Mahrj took it out and +stroked it, and said, "What a sweet little bird! what a lovely little +bird!" And the Mahrj felt something like a pin in its head, and he +gave a pull, and out came the pin, and then his own dear wife, the +Pomegranate-flower Rn, stood before him. The Rj was exceedingly +glad, and so were his two children. And there were great rejoicings, +and they lived happily ever after. + + Told by Dunkn at Simla, 26th July, 1876. + + + + +[Decoration] + +III. + +THE CAT AND THE DOG. + + +_Introduction._ + +Now all cats are aunts to the tigers, and the cat in this story was +the aunt of the tiger in this story. She was his mother's sister. When +the tiger's mother was dying, she called the cat to her, and taking +her paw she said, "When I am dead you must take care of my child." The +cat answered, "Very well," and then the tiger's mother died. The tiger +said to the cat, "Aunt, I am very hungry. Go and fetch some fire. When +I go to ask men for fire they are afraid of me, and run away from me, +and won't give me any. But you are such a little creature that men are +not afraid of you, and so they will give you fire, and then you must +bring it to me." So the cat said, "Very good," and off she started, +and went into a house where some men were eating their dinner: they +had thrown away the bones, and the cat began to eat them. This house +was very near the place where the tiger lived, and on peeping round +the corner he saw his aunt eating the bones. "Oh," said he, "I sent my +aunt to fetch fire that I might cook my dinner as I am very hungry, +and there she sits eating the bones, and never thinks of me." So the +tiger called out, "Aunt, I sent you to fetch fire, and there you sit +eating bones and leave me hungry! If ever you come near me again, I +will kill you at once." So the cat ran away screaming, "I will never +go near the tiger again, for he will kill me!" This is why all cats +are so afraid of tigers, or of anything like a tiger. And this is why, +when the cat in the story saw the tiger, her nephew, fighting with the +man, she ran away as hard as she could. + + +_The Story._ + +There were once a dog and a cat. It was a very rainy day, and some men +were eating their dinner inside their house. The cat sat inside too, +eating her dinner, and the dog sat on the door-step. The cat called +out to the dog, "I am a high-caste person, and you are a very +low-caste person." "Oh," said the dog, "not at all. I am the +high-caste person and you are of very low caste. You eat all the men's +dinner up, and snatch the food from their hands just as they are +putting it into their mouths. And you scratch them, and they beat you; +while I sit away from them, and so they don't beat me. And if they +_give_ me any dinner I'll eat it; but if they don't, I won't." "Oh," +says the cat, "not a bit of it. I eat nice clean food; but you eat +nasty, dirty food, which the men have thrown away." "No," said the +dog, "I am high caste and you are very low caste, for if I gave you a +slap you would tumble down directly." "No, no!" said the cat. And they +went on disputing and began to fight, till the dog said, "Very well, +let us go to the wise jackal and ask him which of us is the better." +"Good," said the cat. So they went to the jackal and asked him. Said +the cat, "I am of the higher caste, and the dog is of the lower +caste." "No," said the jackal, "the dog is of the higher caste." The +cat said, "No," and the jackal said, "Yes," and they began to fight. +Then the jackal and the dog proposed to go and ask a great big beast +who lived in the jungle and was like a tiger. But the cat said, "I +cannot go near a tiger or anything like one." So then they said, "When +we come near the beast, you can remain behind, and we will go on and +speak to him." So they ran into the jungle, where there was a tiger +who had been lying on the ground with a great thorn sticking in his +foot. When his aunt, the cat, saw him, she scampered off, for she was +dreadfully frightened. + +The thorn had given the tiger great pain; for a long while he could +get no one to take it out, so had lain there for days. At last he had +seen a man passing by, to whom he called and said, "Take out this +thorn, and I promise I won't eat you." But the man refused through +fear, saying, "No, I won't, for you will eat me." Three times the +tiger had promised not to eat him; so at last the man took out the +thorn. Then the tiger sprang up and said, "Now I will eat you, for I +am very hungry." "Oh, no, no!" said the man. "What a liar you are! You +promised not to eat me if I would take the thorn out of your foot, and +now that I have done so you say you will eat me." And they began to +fight, and the man said, "If you won't eat me, I will bring you a cow +and a goat." But the tiger refused, saying, "No, I won't eat them; I +will eat you." + +At this moment the jackal and the dog came up. And the jackal asked, +"What is the matter? why are you fighting?" So then the man told him +why they were fighting; and the jackal said to the tiger, "I will tell +you a good way of eating the man. Go and fetch a big bag." So the +tiger went and fetched the bag, and brought it to the jackal. Then the +jackal said, "Get inside the bag, and leave its mouth open and I'll +throw the man in to you." So the tiger got inside the bag, and the +jackal, the dog and the man quickly tied it up as tight as they could. +Then they began to beat the tiger with all their might until at last +they killed him. Then the man went home, and the jackal went home, and +the dog went home. + + + + +[Decoration] + +IV. + +THE CAT WHICH COULD NOT BE KILLED. + + +There were once a dog and a cat, who were always quarrelling. The dog +used to beat the cat, but he never could hurt her. She would only +dance about and cry, "You never hurt me, you never hurt me! I _had_ a +pain in my shoulder, but now it is all gone away." So the dog went to +a _main_[1] and said, "What shall I do to hurt this cat? I beat her +and I bite her, and yet I can't hurt her. I am such a big dog and she +is rather a big cat, yet if I beat her I don't hurt her, but if she +beats me she hurts me so much." The _main_ said, "Bite her mouth +very, very hard, and then you'll hurt her." "Oh, no," said the cat, +who had just come up, laughing; "you won't hurt me at all." The dog +bit her mouth as hard as he could. "Oh, you don't hurt me," said the +cat, dancing about. So the dog went again to the _main_ and said, +"What shall I do?" "Bite her ears," said the _main_. So the dog bit +the cat's ears, but she danced about and said, "Oh, you did not hurt +me; now I can put earrings in my ears." So she put in earrings. + +The dog went to the elephant. "Can you kill this cat? she worries me +so every day." "Oh, yes," said the elephant, "of course I can kill +her. She is so little and I am so big." Then the elephant came and +took her up with his trunk, and threw her a long way. Up she jumped at +once and danced about, saying, "You did not hurt me one bit. I _had_ +a pain, but now I am quite well." Then the elephant got cross and +said, "I'll teach you to dance in another way than that," and he took +the cat and laid her on the ground and put his great foot on her. But +she was not hurt at all. She danced about and said, "You did not hurt +me one bit, not one bit," and she dug her claws into the elephant's +trunk. The elephant ran away screaming, and he told the dog, "You had +better beware of that cat. She belongs to the tiger tribe." The dog +felt very angry with the cat. "What shall I do," said he, "to kill +this cat?" And he bit her nose so hard that it bled. But she laughed +at him. "Now I can put a ring in my nose," said she. He got furious. +"I'll bite her tail in half," said he. So he bit her tail in half, and +yet he did not hurt her. + +He then went to a leopard. "If you can kill this cat I will give you +anything you want." "Very well, I'll kill her," said the leopard. And +they went together to the cat. "Stop," said the cat to the leopard; "I +want to speak to you first. I'll give you something to eat, and then +I'll tell you what I want to say." And then she ran off ever so far, +and after she had run a mile she stopped and danced, calling out, "Oh! +I'll give you nothing to eat; you could not kill me." The leopard went +away very cross, and saying, "What a clever cat that is." + +The dog next went to a man, and said, "Can you kill this cat, she +worries me so?" "Of course I can," said the man; "I'll stick this +knife into her stomach." And he stuck his knife into the cat's +stomach, but the cat jumped up, and her stomach closed, and the man +went home. + +And the dog went to a bear. "Can _you_ kill this cat? I can't." "I'll +kill her," said the bear; so he stuck all his claws into the cat, but +he didn't hurt her; and she stuck her claws into the bear's nose so +deep that he died immediately. + +Then the poor dog felt very unhappy, and went and threw himself into a +hole, and there he died, while the cat went away to her friends. + + Told by Dunkn at Simla, July 26th, 1876. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [1] A kind of starling. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +V. + +THE JACKAL AND THE KITE. + + +There was once a she-jackal and a she-kite. They lived in the same +tree; the jackal at the bottom of the tree, and the kite at the top. +Neither had any children. One day the kite said to the jackal, "Let us +go and worship God, and fast, and then he will give us children." So +the jackal said, "Very good." That day the kite ate nothing, nor that +night; but the jackal at night brought a dead animal, and was sitting +eating it quietly under the tree. By-and-by the kite heard her +crunching the bones, instead of fasting. "What have you got there," +said the kite, "that you are making such a noise?" "Nothing," said the +jackal; "it is only my own bones that rattle inside my body whenever I +move." The kite went to sleep again, and took no more notice of the +jackal. Next morning the kite ate some food in the name of God. That +night again the jackal brought a dead animal. The kite called out, +"What are you crunching there? Why are you making that noise? I am +sure you have something to eat." The jackal said, "Oh, no! It is only +my own bones rattling in my body." So the kite went to sleep again. + +Some time after, the kite had seven little boys--real little boys--but +the jackal had none, because she had not fasted. A year after that the +kite went and worshipped God, asking Him to take care of her children. +One day--it was their great day--the kite set out seven plates. On one +she put cocoa-nuts, on another cucumbers, on a third rice, on a +fourth plantains, and so on. Then she gave a plate to each of her +seven sons, and told them to take the plates to their aunt the jackal. +So they took the seven plates, and carried them to their aunt, crying +out, "Aunty, aunty, look here! Mamma has sent you these things." The +jackal took the plates, and cut off the heads of the seven boys, and +their hands, and their feet, and their noses, and their ears, and took +out their eyes. Then she laid their heads in one plate, and their eyes +in another, and their noses in a third, and their ears in a fourth, +and their hands in a fifth, and their feet in a sixth, and their +trunks in the seventh, and then she covered all the plates over. Then +she took the plates to the kite, and called out, "Here! I have brought +you something in return. You sent me a present, and I bring you a +present." Now the poor kite thought the jackal had killed all her +seven children, so she cried out, "Oh, it's too dark now to see what +you have brought. Put the plates down in my tree." The jackal put the +plates down and went home. Then God made the boys alive again, and +they came running to their mother, quite well. And instead of the +heads and eyes, and noses and ears, and hands and feet, and trunks, +there were again on the plates cocoa-nuts and cucumbers, and plantains +and rice, and so on. + +Now the jackal got hold of the boys again. And this time she killed +them, and cooked them and ate them; and again God brought them to +life. Well, the jackal was very much astonished to see the boys alive, +and she got angry, and said to the kite, "I will take your seven sons +and throw them into the water, and they will be drowned." "Very well," +said the kite, "take them. I don't mind. God will take care of them." +The jackal took them and threw them into the water, and left them to +die, while the kite looked on without crying. And again God made them +alive, and the jackal was so surprised. "Why," said she, "I put these +children into the water, and left them to drown. And here they are +alive!" Then God got very angry with the jackal, and said to her, "Go +out of this village. And wherever you go, men will try to shoot you, +and you shall always be afraid of them." So the jackal had to go away; +and the kite and her children lived very happily ever afterwards. + + Told by Dunkn. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +VI. + +THE VORACIOUS FROG. + + +There were a rat and a frog. And the rat said to the frog, "Go and get +me some sticks, while I go and get some flour and milk." So the frog +went out far into the jungle and brought home plenty of sticks, and +the rat went out and brought home flour and milk for their dinner. +Then she cooked the dinner, and when it was cooked she said to the +frog, "Now, you sit here while I go to bathe, and take care of the +food so that no one may come and eat it up." Then the rat went to take +her bath, and as soon as she had gone the frog made haste and ate up +the dinner quickly, and went away. + +When the rat came back she found no dinner, and she could not find the +frog. So she went out to look for him, calling to him as loudly as she +could, and she saw him in the distance, and overtook him. "Why have +you eaten my dinner? Why did you go away?" said the rat. Said the +frog, "Oh, dear! it was not I that ate your dinner, but a huge dog +that came; and I was only a tiny, tiny thing, and he was a great big +dog, and so he frightened me, and I ran away." "Very well," said the +rat; "go and fetch me more sticks while I go for flour and milk." So +the frog went out far into the jungle and brought back plenty of +sticks. And the rat went to fetch flour and milk. Then she lit the +fire and cooked the dinner, and told the frog to take care of the +dinner while she went to bathe. As soon as she had gone, the frog ate +up all the dinner, and went away and hid himself. When the rat came +back she saw no frog, no dinner. She went away into the jungle and +called to him, and the frog answered from behind a tree, "Here I am, +here I am." The rat went to him and said, "Why did you eat my dinner?" +"I didn't," said the frog. "It was a great big dog ate the dinner, and +he wanted to eat me too, and so I ran away." The rat said, "Very well. +Go and fetch me some more sticks, and I will go for flour and milk." +Then she cooked the dinner again and went to bathe. The frog ate up +all the dinner, and went away and hid himself. When the rat returned +she saw no dinner, no frog. So she went far into the jungle, found the +frog, and told him that it was he that had eaten the dinner. And the +frog said, "No," and the rat said, "Yes." And the frog said, "If you +say that again, I will eat you up." "All right," says the rat, "eat me +up." So he ate her up and sat behind a tree, and the baker came past. +The frog called out, "Baker, come here! come here! Give me some +bread." The baker looked about everywhere, could not see anybody, +could not think who was calling him. At last he saw the frog sitting +behind a tree. "Give me some bread," says the frog. The man said, "No, +I won't give you any bread. I am a great big man, and you are only a +little frog, and you have no money." "Yes, I have money. I will give +you some pice, and you will give me some bread." But the man said, +"No, I won't." "Well," said the frog, "if you won't give me bread, I +will eat you up first, and then I will eat up your bread." So he ate +up the man, and then ate up his bread. Presently a man with oranges +and lemons passed by. The frog called to him, "Come here! come here!" +The man was very much afraid. He didn't know who had called him. Then +he saw the frog, and the frog said, "Give me some lemons." The man +wouldn't, and said, "No." "Very well," says the frog, "if you won't, +I'll eat you up." So he ate up the man with his lemons and oranges. +Presently a horse and his groom went by. The frog says, "Please give +me a ride, and I will give you some money." "No," said the horse, "I +won't let you ride on me. You are like a monkey,--very little--I won't +let you ride on my back." The frog said, "If you won't, I'll eat you +up." Then the frog ate him up, and his groom too. Then a barber passed +by. "Come and shave me," says the frog. "Good," says the barber, "I'll +come and shave you." So he shaved him, and he thought the frog looked +_very_ fat, and so as he was shaving him he suddenly made a cut in his +stomach. Out jumped the rat with her flour and milk--the baker with +his bread--the lemon-seller with his oranges and lemons--the horse and +his groom. And the barber ran away home. And the frog died. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +VII. + +THE STORY OF FOOLISH SACHL. + + +There once lived a poor old widow woman named Hungn, who had a little +idiot son called Sachl. She used to beg every day. One day when the +son had grown up, he said to his mother. "What makes women laugh?" "If +you throw a tiny stone at them," answered she, "they will laugh." So +one day Sachl went and sat by a well, and three women came to it to +fill their water-jars. "Now," said Sachl "I will make one of these +women laugh." Two of the women filled their water-jars and went away +home, and he threw no stones at them; but as the last, who also had on +the most jewels, passed him, he threw a great big stone at her, and +she fell down dead, with her mouth set as if she were smiling. "Oh, +look! look! how she is laughing!" said Sachl, and he ran off to call +his mother. + +"Come, come, mother," said he, "and see how I have made this woman +laugh." + +His mother came, and when she saw the woman lying dead, she was much +frightened, for the dead woman belonged to a great and very rich +family, and she wore jewels worth a thousand rupees. Hungn took off +all her jewels, and threw her body into the well. + +After some days the dead woman's father and mother and all her people +sent round a crier with a drum to try and find her. "Whoever brings +back a young woman who wears a great many gold necklaces and bracelets +and rings shall get a great deal of money," cried the crier. Sachl +heard him. "I know where she is," said he. "My mother took off all her +jewels, and threw her into the well." + +The crier said, "Can you go down into the well and bring her up?" + +"If you will tie a rope round my waist and let me down the well, I +shall be able to bring her up." + +So they set off towards the well, which was near Hungn's house; and +when she saw them coming, she guessed what they came for, and she ran +out and killed a sheep, threw it into the well, and took out the dead +woman and hid her. + +The crier got some men to come with him, and they let Sachl down the +well. "Has she got eyes?" said Sachl. "Of course, every one has +eyes," answered the men. "Has she a nose?" asked Sachl. "Yes, she +has a nose," said the men. "Has she got a mouth?" asked Sachl. +"Yes," said the men. "Has she a long face?" + +"What does he mean?" said the men, who were getting cross. "No one has +a long face; perhaps she has, though. Yes, she has a long face," cried +the men. + +"Has she a tail?" + +"A tail! Why no one has a tail. Perhaps, though, she has long hair. No +doubt that is what he calls a tail. Yes, she has a tail." + +"Has she ears?" + +"Of course, every one has ears." + +"Has she four feet?" + +"Four feet!" said the men. "Why, no one has four feet. Perhaps you +call her hands feet. Yes, she has four feet. Bring her up quickly." + +Then Sachl brought up the sheep. + +The men were very angry when they saw the sheep, and they beat +Sachl, and called him a very stupid fellow and a great liar, and +they went away feeling very cross. + +Sachl went home to his mother, who, as soon as she saw him coming, +ran out and put the woman's body back in the well, and when he got +home she beat him. "Mother," said he, "give me some bread, and I will +go away and die." His mother cooked him some bread, and he went away. + +He walked on, and on, and on, a long way. + +Now, some Rj's ten camels had been travelling along the road on +which Sachl went, each carrying sacks of gold mohurs and rupees, and +one of these camels broke loose from the string and strayed away, and +the camel-drivers could not find it again. But Sachl met it, and +caught it and took it home. + +"See, mother! see what a quantity of money I have brought you!" cried +Sachl. Hungn rushed out, and was delighted to see so much money. +She took off the sacks at once and sent the camel away. Then she hid +the rupees and the gold with the jewels she had taken from the dead +woman. And, as she was a cunning woman, she went and bought a great +many comfits and scattered them all about her house, when Sachl was +out of the way. "Oh, look! look!" cried Sachl, "at all these +comfits." "God has rained them from heaven," said his mother. Sachl +began to pick them up and eat them, and he told all the people in the +village how God had rained down comfits from heaven on his mother's +house. "What nonsense!" cried they. "Yes, he has," said Sachl, "and +I have been eating them." "No comfits have fallen on our houses," said +they. "Yes, yes," cried he, "the day my mother got all those rupees, +God rained comfits on our house." "What lies!" cried the people; "as +if it ever rained comfits. Why did not the comfits rain down on our +houses? Why did they fall only on your house? And what's all this +about rupees?" And then they came to see if there were any rupees or +comfits in Hungn's house, and they found none at all, for Hungn had +hidden the rupees and thrown away the comfits. "There," said they to +Sachl, "where are your rupees? where are your comfits? What a liar +you are! as if it ever rained comfits. How can you tell such stories?" +And they beat him. "But it did rain comfits," said Sachl, "for I ate +them. It rained comfits the day my mother got the rupees." + +Now the Rj who had lost his camel sent round the crier with his drum +to find his camel and his money-bags. "Whoever has found a camel +carrying money-bags and brings it and the money back to the Rj, will +get a great many rupees," cried the crier. "Oh!" says Sachl, "I know +where the money is. One day I went out and I found a stray camel, and +he had sacks of rupees on his back, and I took him home to my mother, +and she took the sacks off his back and sent the camel away." So the +crier went to find the rupees, and the people in the bazar went with +him. But Hungn had hidden the rupees so carefully that, though they +hunted all over her house, they could find none, and they beat +Sachl, and told him he was a liar. "I am not telling lies," said +Sachl. "My mother took the rupees the day it rained comfits on our +house." So they beat him again, and they went away. Then Hungn beat +Sachl, and said, "What a bad boy you are! trying to get me beaten +and put into prison, telling every one about the rupees. Go away; I +don't want you any more, such a bad boy as you are! go away and die." +He said, "Very well, mother; give me some bread, and I'll go." + +Sachl set off and took an axe with him. "How shall I kill myself?" +said he. So he climbed up a tree and sat out on a long branch, and +began cutting off the branch between himself and the tree on which he +was sitting. "What are you doing up there?" said a man who came by. +"You'll die if you cut that branch off." "What do you say?" cries +Sachl, jumping down on the man, and seizing his hand. "When shall I +die?" "How can I tell? Let me go." "I won't let you go till you tell +me when I shall die." And at last the man said, "When you find a +scarlet thread on your jacket, then you will die." + +Sachl went off to the bazar, and sat down by some tailors, and one +of the tailors, in throwing away their shreds of cloth, threw a +scarlet thread on Sachl's coat. "Oh," said Sachl, when he saw the +thread, "now I shall die!" "How do you know that?" said the tailors. +"A man told me that when I found a scarlet thread on my jacket, I +should die," said Sachl; and the tailors all laughed at him and made +fun of him, but he went off into the jungle and dug his grave with his +axe, and lay down in it. In the night a sepoy came by with a large jar +of ghee on his head. "How heavy this jar is," said the sepoy. "Is +there no cooly that will come and carry my ghee home for me? I would +give him four pice for his trouble." Up jumped Sachl out of his +grave. "I'll carry it for you," said he. "Who are you?" said the +sepoy, much frightened. "Oh, I am a man who is dead," said Sachl, +"and I am tired of lying here. I can't lie here any more." "Well," +said the sepoy, very much frightened, "you may carry my ghee." So +Sachl put the jar on his head, and he went on, with the sepoy +following. "Now," said Sachl, "with these four pice I will buy a +hen, and I will sell the hen and her eggs, and with the money I get +for them I will buy a goat; and then I will sell the goat and her milk +and her hide and buy a cow, and I will sell her milk; and then I will +marry a wife, and then I shall have some children, and they will say +to me, 'Father, will you have some rice?' and I will say, 'No, I won't +have any rice.'" And as he said, "No, I won't have any rice," he shook +his head, and down came the jar of ghee, and the jar was smashed, and +the ghee spilled. "Oh, dear! what have you done?" cried the sepoy. +"Why did you shake your head?" "Because my children asked me to have +some rice, and I did not want any, so I shook my head," said Sachl. +"Oh," said the sepoy, "he is an utter idiot." And the sepoy went home, +and Sachl went back to his mother. "Why have you come back?" said +she. "I have been dead twelve years," said Sachl. "What lies you +tell!" said she. "You have only been away a few days. Be off! I don't +want any liars here." + +Sachl asked her to give him two flour-cakes, which she did, and he +went off to the jungle, and it was night. Five fairies lived in this +jungle, and as Sachl went along, he broke his flour-cakes into five +pieces, and said, "Now I'll eat one, then the second, then the third, +then the fourth, and then the fifth." And the fairies heard him and +were afraid, and said to each other, "What shall we do? Here is this +man, and he is going to eat us all up. What shall we do to save +ourselves? We will give him something." So they went out all five, and +said to Sachl, "If only you won't eat us, we will give you a +present." Now Sachl did not know there were fairies in this jungle. +"What will you give me?" said Sachl. "We will give you a +cooking-pot. When you want anything to eat, all you have to do is to +ask the pot for it, and you will get it." Sachl took the pot and +went off to the bazar. He stopped at a cook-shop, and asked for some +pilau. "Pilau? There's no pilau here," said the shopman. "Well," said +Sachl, "I have a cooking-pot here, and I have only to ask it for any +dish I want, and I get it at once." "What nonsense!" said the man. +"Just see," said Sachl; and he said to the cooking-pot, "I want some +pilau," and immediately the pot was full of pilau, and all the people +in the shop set to work to help him to eat it up, it was so good. +"Oh," thought the cook, "I must have that pot," so he gave Sachl a +sleepy drink. Then Sachl went to sleep, and while he slept the cook +stole the fairy cooking-pot, and put a common cooking-pot in its +place. Sachl went home with the cook's pot, and said, "Mother, I +have brought home a cooking-pot. If you ask it for any food you want, +you will get it." "Nonsense," said Hungn; "what lies you are +telling!" "It is quite true, mother; only see," and he asked the pot +for different dishes, but none came. Hungn was furious. "Go away," +she said. "Why do you come back to me? I want no liars here." "Give me +five flour-cakes and I will go," said her son. So she baked the bread +for him, and he set off for the jungle where he had met the five +fairies, and as he went along he said, "I will eat one, and I will eat +two, and I will eat three, and I will eat four, and I will eat five." +The five fairies heard him, and were terrified. "Here is this bad man +again," said they, "and he will eat us all five. Oh, what shall we do? +Let us give him a present." So they went to Sachl, and said, "Here +is a box for you. Whenever you want any clothes you have only to tell +this box, and it will give them to you; take it, and don't eat us." So +he took the box and went to the bazar, and he stopped at the cook-shop +again, and asked the cook for a red silk dress, and a pair of long +black silk trousers, and a blue silk turban, and a pair of red shoes, +and the cook laughed and asked how he should have such beautiful +things. "Well," said Sachl, "here is a box; when I ask it for the +dress and trousers, and turban and shoes, I shall get them." So the +cook laughed at him. "Just see," said Sachl, and he said, "Box, give +me a red silk dress and a pair of long black silk trousers, and a blue +silk turban, and red shoes," and there they were at once. And the cook +was delighted, and said to himself, "I will have that box," and he +gave Sachl a good dinner and a sleepy drink, and Sachl fell fast +asleep. While he slept the cook came and stole the fairy box, and put +a common box in its place. In the morning Sachl went home to his +mother and said, "Mother, I've brought you a box. You have only to ask +it for any clothes you may want, and you will get them." "Nonsense," +said his mother, "don't tell me such lies." "Only see, mother; I am +telling you truth," said he. He asked the box for coats and all sorts +of things--no; he got nothing. His mother was very angry, and said, +"You liar! you naughty boy! Go away and don't come back any more." And +she broke the box to pieces, and threw the bits away. "Well, mother, +bake me some flour-cakes." So she baked him the cakes and gave them to +him, and sent him away. He went off to the fairies' jungle, and as he +went he said, "Now I'll eat one, then two, then three, then four, then +five." The five fairies were very frightened. "Here is this man come +back to eat us all five. Let us give him a present." So they went to +him and gave him a rope and stick, and said, "Only say to this rope, +'Bind that man,' and he will be tied up at once; and to this stick, +'Beat that man,' and the stick will beat him." Sachl was very glad +to get these things, for he guessed what had happened to his +cooking-pot and box. So he went to the bazar, and at the cook-shop he +said, "Rope, bind all these men that are here!" and the cook and every +one in the shop were tied up instantly. Then Sachl said, "Stick, +beat these men!" and the stick began to beat them. "Oh, stop, stop +beating us, and untie, and I'll give you your pot and your box!" cried +the cook. "No, I won't stop beating you, and I won't untie you till I +have my pot and my box." And the cook gave them both to him, and he +untied the rope. Then Sachl went home, and when his mother saw him, +she was very angry, but he showed her the box and the cooking-pot, and +she saw he had told her the truth. So she sent for the doctor, and he +declared Sachl was wise and not silly, and he and Hungn found a +wife for Sachl, and made a grand wedding for him, and they lived +happily ever after. + + Told by Dunkn. + + + + +[Decoration] + +VIII. + +BARBER HM AND THE TIGERS. + + +Once there lived a barber called Hm, who was very poor indeed. He had +a wife and twelve children, five boys and seven girls: now and then he +got a few pice. One day he went away from his home feeling very cross, +and left his wife and children to get on as best they could. "What can +I do?" said he. "I have not enough money to buy food for my family, +and they are crying for it." And so he walked on till he came to a +jungle. It was night when he got there. This jungle was called the +"tigers' jungle," because only tigers lived in it; no birds, no +insects, no other animals, and there were four hundred tigers in it +altogether. As soon as Barber Hm reached the jungle he saw a great +tiger walking about. "What shall I do?" cried he. "This tiger is sure +to eat me." And he took his razor and his razor-strap, and began to +sharpen his razor. Then he went close up to the tiger, still +sharpening his razor. The tiger was much frightened. "What shall I +do?" said the tiger; "this man will certainly gash me." "I have come," +said the barber, "to catch twenty tigers by order of Mahrj Kns. +You are one, and I want nineteen more." The tiger, greatly alarmed, +answered, "If you won't catch us, I will give you as much gold and as +many jewels as you can carry." For these tigers used to go out and +carry off the men and women from the villages, and some of these +people had rupees, and some had jewels, all of which the tigers used +to collect together. "Good," said Hm, "then I won't catch you." The +tiger led him to the spot where all the tigers used to eat their +dinners, and the barber took as much gold and as many jewels as he +could carry, and set off home with them. + +Then he built a house, and bought his children pretty clothes and good +food, and necklaces, and they all lived very happily for some time. +But at last he wanted more rupees, so he set off to the tigers' +jungle. There he met the tiger as he did before, and he told him the +Mahrj Kns had sent him to catch twenty tigers. The tiger was +terrified and said, "If you will only not catch us, I will give you +more gold and jewels." To this the barber agreed, and the tiger led +him to the old spot, and the barber took as many jewels and rupees as +he could carry. Then he returned home. + +One day a very poor man, a fakr, said to him, "How did you manage to +become so rich? In old days you were so poor you could hardly support +your family." + +"I will tell you," said Hm. And he told him all about his visits to +the tigers' jungle. "But don't you go there for gold to-night," +continued the barber. "Let me go and listen to the tigers talking. If +you like, you can come with me. Only you must not be frightened if the +tigers roar." + +"I'll not be frightened," said the fakr. + +So that evening at eight o'clock they went to the tigers' jungle. +There the barber and the fakr climbed into a tall thick tree, and its +leaves came all about them and sheltered them as if they were in a +house. The tigers used to hold their councils under this tree. Very +soon all the tigers in the jungle assembled together under it, and +their Rj--a great, huge beast, with only one eye--came too. +"Brothers," said the tiger who had given the barber the rupees and +jewels, "a man has come here twice to catch twenty of us for the +Mahrj Kns; now we are only four hundred in number, and if twenty +of us were taken away we should be only a small number, so I gave him +each time as many rupees and jewels as he could carry and he went away +again. What shall we do if he returns?" The tigers said they would +meet again on the morrow, and then they would settle the matter. Then +the tigers went off, and the barber and the fakr came down from the +tree. They took a quantity of rupees and jewels and returned to their +homes. + +"To-morrow," said they, "we will come again and hear what the tigers +say." + +The next day the barber went alone to the tigers' jungle, and there he +met his tiger again. "This time," said he, "I am come to cut off the +ears of all the four hundred tigers who live in this jungle; for +Mahrj Kns wants them to make into medicine." + +The tiger was greatly frightened, much more so than at the other +times. "Don't cut off our ears; pray don't," said he, "for then we +could not hear, and it would hurt so horribly. Go and cut off all the +dogs' ears instead, and I will give you rupees and jewels as much as +two men can carry." "Good," said the barber, and he made two journeys +with the rupees and jewels from the jungle to the borders of his +village, and there he got a cooly to help him to carry them to his +house. + +At night he and the fakr went again to the great tree under which the +tigers held their councils. Now the tiger who had given the barber so +many rupees and jewels had made ready a great quantity of meat, fowls, +chickens, geese, men the tigers had killed--everything he had been +able to get hold of--and he made them into a heap under the tree, for +he said that after the tigers had settled the matter they would dine. +Soon the tigers arrived with their Rj, and the barber's tiger said, +"Brothers, what are we to do? This man came again to-day to cut off +all our ears to make medicine for Mahrj Kns. I told him this +would be a bad business for us, and that he must go and cut off all +the dogs' ears instead; and I gave him as much money and jewels as two +men could carry. So he went home. Now what shall we do? We must leave +this jungle, and where shall we go?" The other tigers said, "We will +not leave the jungle. If this man comes again we will eat him up." So +they dined and went away, saying they would meet again to-morrow. + +After the tigers had gone, the barber and fakr came down from the +tree and went off to their homes, without taking any rupees or jewels +with them. They agreed to return the next evening. + +Next evening back they came and climbed into the great tree. The +tigers came too, and the barber's tiger told his story all over again. +The tiger Rj sat up and said, fiercely, "We will not leave this +jungle. Should the man come again, I will eat him myself." When the +fakr heard this he was so frightened that he tumbled down out of the +tree into the midst of the tigers. The barber instantly cried out with +a loud voice, "Now cut off their ears! cut off their ears!" and the +tigers, terrified, ran away as fast as they could. Then the barber +took the fakr home, but the poor man was so much hurt by his fall +that he died. + +The barber lived happily ever after, but he took good care never to go +to the tigers' jungle again. + + Told by Dunkn. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +IX. + +THE BULBUL AND THE COTTON-TREE. + + +There was once a bulbul, and one day as he was flying about, he saw a +tree on which was a little fruit. The bulbul was much pleased and +said, "I will sit here till this fruit is ripe, and then I will eat +it." So he deserted his nest and his wife, and sat there for twelve +years without eating anything, and every day he said, "To-morrow I +will eat this fruit." During these twelve years a great many birds +tried to sit on the tree, and wished to build their nests in it, but +whenever they came the bulbul sent them away, saying, "This fruit is +not good. Don't come here." One day a cuckoo came and said, "Why do +you send us away? Why should we not come and sit here too? All the +trees here are not yours." "Never mind," said the bulbul, "I am going +to sit here, and when this fruit is ripe, I shall eat it." Now the +cuckoo knew that this tree was the cotton-tree, but the bulbul did +not. First comes the bud, which the bulbul thought a fruit, then the +flower, and the flower becomes a big pod, and the pod bursts and all +the cotton flies away. The bulbul was delighted when he saw the +beautiful red flower, which he still thought a fruit, and said, "When +it is ripe, it will be a delicious fruit." The flower became a pod, +and the pod burst. "What is all this that is flying about?" said the +bulbul. "The fruit must be ripe now." So he looked into the pod, and +it was empty; all the cotton had fallen out. Then the cuckoo came and +said to the angry bulbul, "You see if you had allowed us to come and +sit on the tree, you would have had something good to eat; but as you +were selfish, and would not let any one share with you, God is angry +and has punished you by giving you a hollow fruit." Then the cuckoo +called all the other birds, and they came and mocked the bulbul. "Ah! +you see God has punished you for your selfishness," they said. The +bulbul got very angry and all the birds went away. After they had +gone, the bulbul said to the tree, "You are a bad tree. You are of use +to no one. You give food to no one." The tree said, "You are mistaken. +God made me what I am. My flower is given to sheep to eat. My cotton +makes pillows and mattresses for man." + +Since that day no bulbul goes near a cotton-tree. + + Told by Dunkn. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +X. + +THE MONKEY PRINCE. + + +Once upon a time there was a Rj called Jabh Rj, and he had a +great many wives; at least he had seven wives, but he had no children. +Although he had married seven wives, not one of them had given him a +child. At this he was greatly vexed and said, "I have married seven +wives, and not one of them has given me a child." And he got very +angry with God: he said, "Why does not God give me any children? I +will go into the jungle and die by myself." The Rns coaxed him to +stay, but he wouldn't; he would go out into the jungle. + +So he went out into the jungle very far, and God sent him an old fakr +leaning on a stick. The Rj met him, and the fakr said, "Why do you +come into the jungle? If you go far into the jungle you will meet +plenty of tigers, and they will eat you. Tell me what you want. +Whatever you want I will give you." "No, I won't tell you," said the +Rj. But at last the Rj told him, "I have seven wives, and none of +them has given me any children, and so here I will die by myself." +Then the fakr said, "Take this stick, and a little way off you will +find a mango-tree with some mangoes on it. Throw the stick at the +mangoes with one hand, and catch them as they fall with the other, and +when you have caught them all, take them home and give one to each of +your seven wives." So the Rj went and knocked the mangoes off the +tree and caught them as the fakr had told him. Then he looked about +for the fakr, but he could not find him, for he had gone away into +another part of the jungle. So he went home and gave the seven mangoes +to his wives. But the fruit was so good that six of the wives ate it +up, and would not give the youngest wife any. She cried very much, and +went into the compound and picked up one of the mango stones which one +of the six wives had thrown away, and ate it. By and by each of the +six wives had a son; but the one who had eaten the stone had a monkey, +who was called in consequence Bandarsbs, or Prince Monkey. He was +really a boy, but no one knew it, for he had a monkey-skin covering +him. His six brothers hated him. They went to school every day; and +the monkey went under the ground, and was taught by the fairies. His +mother did not know this; she thought, as he was a monkey, he went to +the jungle and swung in the trees. He was the best and the cleverest +of all the boys. + +Now, in a kingdom a three months' journey off by land from Jabh +Rj's country, there lived a king called King Jamrs. He had a very +beautiful daughter whose name was Princess Jahran, and as her father +wanted a very strong son-in-law, he had a large heavy iron ball made, +and he sent letters to all the Rjs and Rjs' sons far and near to +say that whoever wished to marry his daughter, the Princess Jahran, +must be able to throw this heavy ball at her and hit her. So many +Rjs went to try, but none of them could even lift the ball. Now, one +of these letters had come to Jabh Rj, and his six elder sons +determined they would go to King Jamrs's country, for each of them +was sure he could throw the ball, and win the princess. + +Prince Monkey laughed softly and said to himself, "I will go and try +too. I know I shall succeed." + +Off, therefore, the six brothers set on their long journey, and the +monkey followed them; but before he did so, he went into the jungle +and took off his monkey-skin, and God sent him a beautiful horse and +beautiful clothes. Then he followed his brothers and overtook them, +and gave them betel-leaf and lovely flowers. "What a beautiful boy!" +they said. "Who is it owns such a beautiful boy? He must be some +Rj's son." Then he galloped quickly away, took off his grand clothes +and put them on his horse, and the horse rose into the air. He put on +his monkey-skin and followed his brothers. + +When they reached King Jamrs's palace they pitched their tents in +his compound, which was very big. Every evening the princess used to +stand in her verandah and let down her long golden hair so that it +fell all round her, and then the Rjs who wished to marry her had to +try to hit her with the great heavy ball that lay on the ground just +in front of where she stood. + +King Jamrs's house had more than one storey, and you had to go +upstairs to get to the Princess Jahran's rooms which led into the +verandah in which she used to stand. + +Well, Prince Monkey's six elder brothers all got ready to go up to the +palace and throw the ball. They were quite sure they would throw it +without any trouble. Before they went they told their monkey brother +to take care of their tents, and to have a good dinner ready for them +when they returned. "If the dinner is not ready, we will beat you." + +As soon as they were gone, Prince Monkey took some gold mohurs he had, +and he went to a traveller's resting-house, which was a little way +outside King Jamrs's compound, and gave them to the man who owned +it, and bade him give him a grand dinner for his six brothers. Then he +took the dinner to the tents, went into the jungle, and took off his +monkey-skin. And God sent him a grand horse from heaven, and splendid +clothes. These he put on, mounted his horse, and rode to King +Jamrs's compound. There he took no notice of either the king, or +his daughter, or of the ball, or of the Rjs who were there to try +and lift it. He spoke only to his brothers, and gave them lovely +flowers and betel-leaf. Meanwhile, everybody was looking at him and +talking about him. "Who can he be? Did you ever see any one so lovely? +Where does he come from? Just look at his clothes! In our countries we +cannot get any like them!" As for the Princess Jahran she thought to +herself, "That Rj shall be my husband, whether he lifts the ball or +not." When he had given his brothers the flowers and betel-leaf, +Prince Monkey rode straight to the jungle, took off his clothes, laid +them on his horse (which instantly went up to heaven), put on his +monkey-skin, went back to the tents, and lay down to sleep. + +When his brothers came home they were talking eagerly about the +unknown beautiful Rj. All the time they were eating their dinner +they could speak of nothing else. + +Well, every evening for about ten evenings it was just the same story. +Only every evening Prince Monkey appeared in a different dress. The +princess always thought, "That is the man I will marry, whether he can +throw the ball or not." Then about the eleventh evening, after he had +given his brothers the flowers and betel-leaf, he said to all the +Rjs who were standing there, and to King Jamrs and to all the +servants, "Now every one of you go and stand far away, for I am going +to throw the ball." "No, no!" they all cried, "we will stand here and +see you." "You must go far away. You can look on at a distance," said +the Monkey Prince; "the ball might fall back among you and hurt you." +So they all went off and stood round him at a distance. + +"Now," said Prince Monkey to himself, "I won't hit the princess this +time; but I will hit the verandah railing." Then he took up the ball +with one hand, just as if it were quite light, and threw it on the +verandah railing, and then he rode off fast to the jungle. + +The next evening it was the same thing over again, only this time he +threw the ball into the Princess Jahran's clothes. + +The next evening the ball fell on one of her feet, and hurt her little +toe-nail. Now, Princess Jahran was very angry that this unknown +beautiful prince should have thrown the ball three times, and hit her +twice, and hurt her the third time, and yet had never spoken to her +father, or let any one know who he was, and had always, on the +contrary, ridden away as hard as he could, no one knew where. She was +very much in love with him, and was very anxious to find this Rj who +had hit her twice, so she ordered a bow and arrow to be brought to +her, and said she would shoot the Rj the next time he hit her. She +would not kill him; she would only shoot the arrow at him. Well, the +next evening Prince Monkey threw the ball, and it fell on her other +foot and hurt her great toe-nail. When he saw she was hurt, he was +very sorry in his heart, and said, "Did I hurt you?" "Yes," she said, +"very much." "Oh, I am so sorry," said the prince. "I would not have +thrown the ball so hard had I thought it would hurt you." Then she +shot the arrow, and hit him in the leg, and a great deal of blood came +out of the wound; but he rode hard away to the jungle all the same, +only this time he did not take off his fine clothes, but he drew the +monkey-skin over them, and his horse went up to heaven, and he went +back to the tents. Then the princess sent a servant into the town, and +said, whoever or whatever he should hear crying with pain, he should +bring to her--were it a man, or a jackal, or a dog, or a wild beast. +So the servant went round the town. The six brothers had gone to +sleep, but the poor monkey brother could not sleep, but sat up crying +from pain. He could not help it, do what he would, and the servant, as +he went round the town, heard him crying. So he took him and brought +him to the princess, and the princess said she would marry him. + +"What!" cried her father, "marry that monkey? Never! Who ever heard +of any one marrying a monkey, a nasty monkey?" But in spite of all the +king said, the princess declared marry that monkey she would. "I like +that monkey very, very much," she said. "I will marry him. It is my +pleasure to marry him." "Well," said the Rj at last, "if it is your +pleasure to marry him, you must marry him; but who ever heard of any +one marrying a nasty monkey?" + +So they were married at once; and the Monkey Prince wore his +monkey-skin for a wedding garment. + +That night when they went to bed, the young prince drew off his skin +and lay down by Jahran, and when she saw her beautiful husband she +was so glad, so glad. "Why do you wear a monkey-skin?" she asked. He +answered, "I wear it as a protection, because my brothers are naughty, +and would kill me if they knew what I really am." + +They lived very happily with King Jamrs for six months, and the six +elder brothers went on living there too, and hating him more and more +for having such a beautiful wife. + +But one night Prince Monkey thought of his mother, and he said to his +wife, "My mother perhaps is crying for me. Let us go to my father's +kingdom, and see her." Princess Jahran agreed; so next morning they +spoke to King Jamrs, who said they might go. + +The six brothers at once said, "We will go with you;" and they also +said, "Let us get two big boats, one for you and the princess, and one +for ourselves, and let us go by water, and not by land." Now by water +it took only six days to get to Jabh Rj's kingdom, by land it took +three months. The Monkey Prince agreed to all his brothers said. + +Princess Jahran heard them planning to throw the monkey into the +water on the journey, and then to take her home to their father as the +wife of one of them; so as she was very wise she went to her father +and begged him to have six large beautiful mattresses, well stuffed +with cotton, made for her. + +"What can you want with six mattresses?" said the king. "I want my +bed to be very comfortable on board the boat," said his daughter. Her +father loved her dearly, so he had her mattresses made, beautiful +mattresses and well stuffed with cotton. The princess had them all +carried to her boat. + +When everything was ready they went on board the boats with the +monkey's six brothers. Now, the princess had warned her husband of his +brothers' wicked plans, and she said to him, "Never go near your +brothers; never speak to your brothers; for they want to kill you." +The first day the six brothers said to the monkey, "Please bring us a +little salt." But the monkey said, "No; my wife will take you some." +"No," said the brothers, "your wife cannot bring us any. She is a +princess. Do you bring us some." So they threw a rope from one boat to +another, and the monkey went on the rope, and the brothers untied it, +and the monkey fell into the water. Then the princess cried out, "My +husband will be drowned! My husband will be drowned!" And she threw +out one of the mattresses; the monkey sat on it; it floated back to +his boat, and the crew drew him up. + +The next day the six brothers begged Prince Monkey to bring them +water, and they threw a plank from their boat to his for him to cross +on. The prince set off with the water, in spite of all his wife's +entreaties, and his brothers tilted the plank into the water. The +prince would have been drowned had not the Princess Jahran thrown him +a mattress. And the same thing happened during the next four days. The +brothers wanted something to eat or drink, and their monkey-brother +brought it them across a rope or plank, which they cut or dropped into +the water, and he would have died but for the mattresses which his +wife threw to him one by one. + +When they reached Jabh Rj's kingdom, the eldest son went on shore +up to his father's palace. Each of the Rj's seven wives had a house +to herself in his compound. He went to his mother's house and said, +"Give me your palanquin, mother, for I have brought home a most lovely +wife, and want to bring her to the palace." + +At this news his mother was delighted, and she told it to the other +Rns, and said, "My son has brought home such a lovely wife! I am so +glad! oh, I am so glad!" The youngest Rn began to cry bitterly. "My +son," she said, "is nothing but a monkey; he will never be married; he +will never have a wife at all." + +Then the palanquin was got ready, and the seven Rns and the prince +went with it to the boat. The Princess Jahran came on land with her +monkey, and when the Rns saw her, they all cried, "How lovely she +is! how beautiful!" And the eldest Rn was gladder than ever, and the +youngest cried still more. The princess got into the palanquin with +her monkey. "What are you doing with that horrid monkey?" said the +eldest prince. "Put him out of the palanquin directly." "Indeed I will +not," said the princess. "He is my husband, and I love him." "What!" +cried all the Rns, "are you married to that monkey?" "Yes," said the +princess. "Then get out of my palanquin at once," said the eldest +Rn. "You shall not ride in my palanquin with that nasty monkey." The +youngest Rn was very glad her son had such a beautiful wife. So the +princess got out, and took her monkey in her arms and walked with him +to the youngest Rn's house, and there they all lived for some time. +Now the little Rn did not know her son was really a beautiful man, +for the princess never told her, as her husband had forbidden her to +tell any one. + +One evening Jabh Rj's servants had a grand nautch in the Rj's +compound, and the Rj and his sons and the neighbouring Rjs all +came to see it. Prince Monkey said to his wife, "I, too, will go and +see this nautch." So he took off his monkey-skin, folded it up and +laid it under her pillow. Then he put on the clothes God had sent him +from heaven the last time he threw the ball, and which he had not +laid on his horse's back when he put his monkey-skin on again, and +when he came among all the Rjs and people who were looking on at the +nautch, they all exclaimed, "Who is that? Who can it be?" He was very +handsome, and he had beautiful hair all gold. When he had stayed some +time, Prince Monkey went quickly back to his wife, and in the morning +he put on his monkey-skin again. + +Now the little Rn, his mother, though she was very glad her monkey +son had such a wife, could never understand how it was that her +daughter-in-law was so happy with him. "How could you marry him?" she +used to say to her. "Because it pleased me to marry him," the princess +used to answer. "How can you be so happy with him?" said the mother. +"I love him," said the princess; and the poor Rn used to wonder at +this more and more. + +Well, one day there was another nautch, and Prince Monkey went to it; +but he left his skin under his wife's pillow. As soon as he had gone, +she called the little Rn, and said, "See, you think my husband is a +monkey; he is no monkey, but a very handsome man. There is no one like +him, he is so beautiful." The Rn did not believe her. Then the +princess took the skin from under her pillow. "See," she said, "when +your son puts this on, then he is a monkey; when he takes it off he is +a beautiful man. And now, I think I will burn this skin, and then he +must always be a man. What do you say?" "Are you sure it won't hurt +him if you burn his skin?" said his mother. "Perhaps he may die if it +is burnt." "Oh, no, he won't die," said the princess. "Shall I burn +it?" "Burn it," said the little Rn. Then the princess threw the skin +on the fire and burnt it quite up. + +Prince Monkey was sitting looking on at the nautch when suddenly his +heart told him his wife had burnt his skin. He jumped up directly and +went home, and when he found his heart had told him true, he was so +angry with his wife, that he would say nothing to her but "Why did you +burn my skin?" and he was in such a rage that he went straight to bed +and went to sleep. + +In the morning, while he slept, the princess went to the little Rn, +and said, "Come and see your beautiful son." "I am ashamed to do so," +said the Rn. "Ashamed to look at your own son? What nonsense! Come +directly," said Princess Jahran. Then the little Rn went with her, +and when she saw her beautiful son she was indeed glad, and the prince +opened his eyes and saw her, and then he kissed her, and they were +very happy. + +The news spread through the compound, and Jabh Rj and his sons and +everybody came at once to see if it were true. When they saw the +beautiful young prince, with his hair all gold, they could not stand, +but fell down. Prince Monkey lifted his father and loved him, and put +his arms round him, and said, "I am your son, your own son; you must +not fall down before me." "Why did you wear that monkey-skin?" asked +his father. "Because," he said, "my mother ate the mango stone instead +of eating the mango, and so I was born with this skin, and God ordered +me to wear it till I had found a wife." His brothers said, "Who could +have guessed there was such a beautiful man inside that monkey-skin? +God's decrees are good!" And they left off hating their brother, +Prince Monkey. + +There were great rejoicings and feasts now, and all were very happy. +The six elder brothers lived always with their father and Prince +Monkey, but none of them ever married. + + Told by Dunkn. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XI. + +BRAVE HRLLBS. + + +Once there was a Rj called Mnikbs Rj, or the Ruby King, who had +seven wives and seven children. One day he told his wives he would go +out hunting, and he rode on and on, a long, long way from his palace. +A Rakshas was sitting by the wayside, who, seeing the Rj coming, +quickly turned herself into a beautiful Rn, and sat there crying. +The Rj asked her, "Why do you cry?" And the Rakshas answered, "My +husband has gone away. He has been away many days, and I think he will +never come back again. If some Rj will take me to his house and +marry me, I shall be very glad." So the Rj said, "Will you come with +me?" And the Rakshas answered, "Very well, I will come." And then the +Rj took the pretended Rn home with him and married her. He gave +her a room to live in. Every night at twelve o'clock the Rakshas got +up and devoured an elephant, or a horse, or some other animal. The +Rj said, "What can become of my elephants and horses? Every day +either an elephant or a horse disappears. Who can take them away?" The +Rakshas-Rn said to him, "Your seven Rns are Rakshases, and every +night at twelve o'clock they devour a horse, or an elephant, or some +other creature." + +So the Rj believed her, and had a great hole dug just outside his +kingdom, into which he put the seven Rns with their children, and +then he sent a sepoy to them and bade him take out all the Rns' +eyes, and bring them to him. This the sepoy did. After a time the +poor Rns grew so hungry that six of them ate their children, but the +seventh Rn, who was the youngest of them all, declared she would +never eat her child though she might die of hunger, "for," she said, +"I love him a great deal too much." God was very pleased with the +seventh Rn for this, and so every day he sent her a little food, +which she divided with the other Rns. And every day her little boy +grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until he had become a strong lad, +when, as he thought it was very dark in the hole, he climbed out of it +and looked all about. Then he came back to his mothers (for he called +all the seven Rns "Mother" now), who told him he was not to clamber +up out of the hole any more, for if he did, some one might kill him. +"Still, if you will go," they added, "do not go to your father's +kingdom, but stay near this place." The boy said, "Very well," and +every day he climbed out of the hole and only went where his seven +mothers told him he might go, and he used to beg the people about to +give him a little rice, and flour and bread, which they did. + +One day he said to his mothers, "If you let me go now to my father's +kingdom, I will go." "Well, you may go," they said; "but come back +again soon." This he promised to do, and he went to his father's +kingdom. For some time he stood daily at the door of his father's +palace and then returned to the hole. One day the Rakshas-Rn was +standing in the verandah, and she thought, "I am sure that is the +Rj's son." The servants every day asked the boy, "Why do you always +stand at the door of the palace?" "I want service with the Rj," he +would reply. "If the Rj has any place he can give me, I will take +it." + +The Rakshas-Rn said to the Rj, "The boy standing out there wants +service. May I take him into mine?" The Rj answered, "Very well, +send for him." So all the servants ran and fetched the boy. The +Rakshas-Rn asked him, "Are you willing to do anything I tell you?" +The boy said, "Yes." "Then you shall be my servant," she said, and +first she told him he must go to the Rakshas country to fetch some +rose-water for her. "I will give you a letter," she said, "so that no +harm may happen to you." The lad answered, "Very well, only you must +give me three shields full of money." She gave him the three shields +full of money, and he took them and went home to his mothers. Then he +got two servants for them, one to take care of them, and one to go to +the bazar. His mothers gave him food for the journey, and he left them +the remainder of his money, telling them to take great care of it. He +then returned to the Rakshas-Rn for his letter. She told the Rj +she was feeling ill, and would not be quite well until she got some +rose-water from the Rakshas country. The Rj said, "Then you had +better send this boy for it." So she gave him a letter, in which she +had written, "When this boy arrives among you, kill him and eat him +instantly," and he set out at once. + +He went on and on till he came to a great river in which lived a huge +water-snake. When the water-snake saw him it began to weep very much, +and cried out to the boy, "If you go to the Rakshas country you will +be eaten up." The lad, whose name was Hrllbs, said, "I cannot +help it; I am the Rn's servant, so I must do what she tells me." +"Well," said the water-snake, "get on my back, and I will take you +across this river." So he got on the water-snake's back, and it took +him over the river. Then Hrllbs went on and on until he came to a +house in which a Rakshas lived. A Rn lived there too that the +Rakshas had carried off from her father and mother when she was a +little girl. She was playing in her father the Sondarbs Rj's +garden, which was full of delicious fruits, which the Rakshas came to +eat, and when he saw Sonahr Rn he seized her in his mouth and ran +off with her. Only she was so beautiful he could never find it in his +heart to eat her, but brought her up as his own child. Her name was +Sonahr Rn, that is, the Golden Rn, because her teeth and her hair +were made of gold. Now the Rakshas who had carried her off, and whom +she called Papa, had a great thick stick, and when he laid this stick +at her feet she could not stir, but when he laid it at her head, she +could move again. + +When the Rj's son came up, Sonahr Rn was lying on her bed with +the thick stick at her feet, and as soon as she saw the Rj's son she +began to cry very much. "Oh, why have you come here? You will surely +be killed," she said. The Rj's son answered, "I cannot help that. I +am the Rn's servant, so I must do what she tells me." "Of course," +said Sonahr Rn; "but put this stick at my head, and then I shall be +able to move." The Rj's son laid the stick at her head, and she got +up and gave him some food, and then asked him if he had a letter. +"Yes," he answered. "Let me see it," said the Sonahr Rn. So he gave +her the letter, and when she had read it she cried, "Oh, this is a +very wicked letter. It will bring you no good; for if the Rakshases +see it, they will kill you." "Indeed," said Hrllbs. And the +Sonahr Rn tore up the letter and wrote another in which she said, +"Make much of this boy. Send him home quickly, and give him a jug of +rose-water to bring back with him, and see that he gets no hurt." Then +the Rj's son set out again for the Rakshas-Rn's mother's house. He +had not gone very far when he met a very big Rakshas, and he cried out +to him, "Uncle." "Who is this boy," said the Rakshas, "who calls me +uncle?" And he was just going to kill him when Hrllbs showed his +letter, and the Rakshas let him pass on. He went a little further +until he met another Rakshas, bigger than the first, and the Rakshas +screamed at him and was just going to fall on him and kill him, but +the Rj's son showed the letter, and the Rakshas let him pass +unhurt. When Hrllbs came to the Rakshas-Rn's mother he showed +her the letter, and she gave him the rose-water at once and sent him +off. All the Rakshases were very good to him, and some carried him +part of the way home. When he came to Sonahr Rn's house she was +lying on her bed with the stick at her feet, and as soon as she saw +Hrllbs she laughed and said, "Oh, you have come back again? Put +this stick at my head." "Yes," said the Rj's son, "I've come back +again, but I was dreadfully frightened very often." Then he put the +stick at her head, and she gave him some food to eat. After he had +eaten it he went on again, and when he came to the river the +water-snake carried him across to the other side, and he travelled to +his father's kingdom. There he went to the Rakshas-Rn and gave her +the rose-water. She was very angry at seeing him, and said, "I'm sure +my father and my mother, my brothers and my sisters, don't love me one +bit." + +And she said to Hrllbs, "You must go to-morrow to the Rakshas +kingdom to fetch me flowers." "I will go," said Hrll, "but this +time I must have four shields full of rupees." The Rakshas-Rn gave +him the four shields full of rupees; and the Rj's son went to his +mother's hole and bought a quantity of food for them, enough to last +them all the time he should be away, and he hired two servants for +them, and said good-bye to his seven mothers and returned to +Mnikbs's palace for his letter. This the Rakshas-Rn gave him, and +in it she wrote, "Kill him and eat him at once. If you do not, and you +send him back to me, I will never see your faces again." Hrll took +his letters and went on his way. When he reached the river the +water-snake took him across to the other side, and he walked on till +he came to Sonahr Rn's house. She was lying on the bed with the +stick at her feet. "Oh, why have you come here again?" she said. "How +can I help coming?" said the Rj's son. "I must do what my mistress +bids me." "So you must," said the Sonahr Rn; "but put this stick at +my head." This he did, and she got up and gave him food, and asked him +to let her see his letter, and when she had read it she cried, "This +is a very wicked letter. If you take it with you, you will surely +die." Then she tore up the letter and burnt it, and wrote another in +which she said, "You must all be very good to this boy. Show him all +the gardens and see that he is not hurt in any way." She gave it to +Hrll, and he begged her to ask the Rakshas, her father, where he +kept his soul. Sonahr Rn promised she would. She then turned +Hrll into a little fly, and put him into a tiny box, and put the +box under her pillow. When the Rakshas came home he began sniffing +about and said, "Surely there is a man here." "Oh, no," said Sonahr +Rn; "no one is here but me." The Rakshas was satisfied. When Sonahr +Rn and her father were in bed she asked, "Papa, where is your soul?" +"Why do you want to know?" said the Rakshas. "I will tell you another +day." + +The next day at nine in the morning the Rakshas went away, and Sonahr +Rn took Hrll and restored him to his human shape, and gave him +some food, and he travelled on till he reached the Rakshas-Rn's +mother, whom he called Grannie. She welcomed him very kindly and +showed him the garden, which was very large. The Rj's son noticed a +number of jugs and water-jars. So he said, "Grannie, what is there in +all these jars and jugs?" She answered, showing them to him one by +one, "In this is such and such a thing," and so on, telling him the +contents of each, till she came to the water-jar in which were his +mothers' eyes. "In this jar," said the Rakshas, "are your seven +mothers' eyes." "Oh, grannie dear!" said Hrll, "give me my mothers' +eyes." "Very well, dear boy," said the old Rakshas, "you shall have +them." She gave him, too, some ointment, and told him to rub the eyes +with it when he put them into his mothers' heads, and that then they +would see quite well; and he took the eyes and tied them up in a +corner of his cloth. His grannie gave him the flowers, and he went +back to Sonahr Rn. She was lying on her bed with the stick at her +feet, and when she saw him she laughed and said, "Oh, so you have come +back again?" "Yes, I have," said Hrll; "and I have got the flowers, +and my seven mothers' eyes too." "Have you indeed?" said Sonahr Rn. +"Put this stick at my head." He did so, and she got up and gave him +some food, and he told her to ask her father the Rakshas where his +soul was. She promised she would, and she changed him into a little +fly, and shut him up in a tiny box, and put the tiny box under her +pillow. By and by home came the Rakshas, and began to sniff about +crying, "A man is here!" "Oh, no," said Sonahr Rn; and she gave him +some dinner, and when they were in bed she asked him, "Papa, where is +your soul?" "I'll tell you another day," said the Rakshas. The next +day, when he had gone out to find food, Sonahr Rn took the little +fly, Hrll, and restored him to his human shape, and gave him some +food and sent him on his way. When he reached the river, the +water-snake took him over to the other side, and he journeyed on till +he came to his father's kingdom. First he went to his mothers' hole +and gave them their fourteen eyes, and he put them into their heads +with the ointment which the Rakshas-grannie had given him. Then he +went to Mnikbs Rj's palace, and when the Rakshas-Rn saw him she +was furious. "I am sure my father and my mother, my sisters and my +brothers, do not love me one bit. I will never see their faces again. +But I'll send him to them once more." + +This is what she thought, but she took the flowers and said, "You must +go a third time to the Rakshas country." + +"I will," said the boy: "only I'll not go till the fourth day from +to-day, for I am very tired. And you must give me four shields full of +rupees." "Good," said the Rakshas-Rn. "This time you must get me a +sr."[2] And she gave him the four shields full of money. Then he +went to his mothers, and bought them a house and got food for them, +and stayed with them four days. + +At the end of the four days he went to the Rakshas-Rn, who gave him +a letter in which she had written, "If you do not kill and eat this +boy as soon as he arrives, I will never see your faces again." The +Rj's son took the letter and set out on his journey. + +When he came to the river, the water-snake took him across; and when +he arrived at Sonahr Rn's house, there she was lying on her bed +with the thick stick at her feet. She said, "Oh, you have come here +again, have you?" "Yes," he said, "I have come for the last time." +"Put the stick at my head," said she. So he laid the stick at her +head. Then she gave him some food, and just before the Rakshas came +home, he bade her ask him where he kept his soul. When she saw him +coming, Sonahr Rn turned Hrllbs into a little fly, put him in +a tiny box, and put the box under her pillow. As soon as she and the +Rakshas had gone to bed, she asked him, "Papa, where do you keep your +soul?" "Sixteen miles away from this place," said he, "is a tree. +Round the tree are tigers, and bears, and scorpions, and snakes; on +the top of the tree is a very great fat snake; on his head is a little +cage; in the cage is a bird; and my soul is in that bird." The little +fly listened all the time. The next morning, when the Rakshas had +gone, Sonahr Rn took the fly and gave him back his human form, gave +him some food, and then asked to see his letter. When she had read it +she screamed and said, "Oh! if you go with this letter you will +surely die." So she tore it up into little bits and threw it into the +fire. And she wrote another in which she said, "Make a great deal of +this boy; see that he gets no hurt; give him the sr for me; show him +the garden; and be very kind to him." She then gave Hrll the +letter, and he journeyed on in safety till he reached his +Rakshas-grannie's house. + +The Rakshas-grannie was very good to him; showed him the garden, and +gave him the sr; and he then said his mother, the Rakshas-Rn, was +in great trouble about her soul, and wanted very much to have it. So +the Rakshas-grannie gave him a bird in which was the Rakshas-Rn's +soul, charging him to take the greatest care of it. Then he said, "My +mother, the Rakshas-Rn, also wants a stone such that, if you lay it +on the ground, or if you put it in your clothes, it will become gold, +and also your long heavy gold necklace that hangs down to the waist." +Both these things the Rakshas-grannie gave to Hrll. Then he +returned to Sonahr Rn's house, where he found her lying on her bed +with the thick stick at her feet. "Oh, there you are," said Sonahr +Rn, laughing. "Yes," he said, "I have come." And he put the stick at +her head, and she got up and gave him some food. + +He told her he was going to fetch her Rakshas-father's soul, but that +he did not quite know how to pass through the tigers and bears, and +scorpions and snakes, that guarded it. So she gave him a feather, and +said, "As long as you hold this feather straight, you can come to no +harm, for you will be invisible. You will see everything, but nothing +will see you." + +He carried the feather straight as she had bidden him and reached the +tree in safety. Then he climbed up it, took the little cage, and came +down again. Though the Rakshas was far off, he knew at once something +had happened to his bird. Hrll pulled off the bird's right leg, and +the Rakshas' right leg fell off, but on he hopped on one leg. Then +the Rj's son pulled off the bird's left leg, and off fell the +Rakshas' left leg, but still he went on towards his house on his +hands. Then Hrll pulled off the bird's wings, and the Rakshas' two +arms fell off. And then, just as the Rakshas reached the door of his +house, Hrll wrung the bird's neck, and the Rakshas fell dead. +Sonahr Rn was greatly frightened when she heard such a heavy thing +fall thump on the ground so close to the house, but she could not +move, for the thick stick lay at her feet. Hrll ran as fast as he +could to Sonahr Rn. When he arrived at the door of her house he saw +the Rakshas lying dead, and he went in and told Sonahr Rn that her +Rakshas-father was killed. "Nonsense," she said. "It is true," said +Hrll; "come and see." So he put the stick at her head. "I am sure +you are telling a lie," said Sonahr Rn. "I should be very glad if +he were dead, for I do not like living with him, I am so afraid of +him." "Indeed he's dead. Do come and see," said Hrll. Then they +went outside, and when Sonahr Rn saw her Rakshas-father lying there +dead, she was exceedingly happy, and said to Hrll, "I will go home +with you, and be your wife." So they were married, and then they went +into Sonahr Rn's Rakshas-father's house and took all the money and +jewels they could find. And Hrll gave the sr, the stone, and the +necklace to Sonahr Rn, and he took some flowers for the +Rakshas-Rn. + +When they came to the river, the water-snake carried them across to +the other side, and they travelled on till they came to Mnikbs +Rj's kingdom. There Hrll went first of all to his mothers, and +when they saw Sonahr Rn they wondered who the beautiful woman could +be that their son had brought home. He said to them, "This is Sonahr +Rn, my wife. But for her I should have died." Then he bought a grand +house for Sonahr Rn and his seven mothers to live in, and he got +four servants for Sonahr Rn, two to cook, and two to wait on her. +The seven mothers and Sonahr used all to sit on a beautiful, clean +quilted cushion, as big as a carpet, Sonahr Rn in the middle and +the seven mothers round her, while they sewed, or wrote, and talked. +Hrll then went to the Rakshas-Rn and said, "I could not get the +sr you sent me for, so I brought you these flowers instead." When +she saw the flowers she was frantic. She said, "My father, my mother, +my sisters, my brothers, don't care for me, not one bit! not one +scrap! I will never see their faces again--never! never! I will send +some other messenger to them." + +One day the Rj's son came to Mnikbs and said, "Would you like to +see a grand sight?" Mnikbs Rj said, "What sight?" Hrll said, +"If you would like to see a really grand sight you must do what I tell +you." "Good," answered Mnikbs, "I will do whatever you tell me." +"Well, then," said his son, "you must build a very strong iron house, +and round it you must lay heaps of wood. In that house you must put +your present Rn." So Mnikbs Rj had a very strong iron house +built, round which he set walls of wood. Then he went to his +Rakshas-Rn and said, "Will you go inside that iron house, and see +what it is like?" "Yes, I will," answered she. The Rj had had great +venetians made for the house, and only one door. As soon as the +Rakshas-Rn had gone in, he locked the door. Then Hrll took the +little bird, a cockatoo, in which was the Rakshas-Rn's soul, and +showed it to the Rakshas-Rn from afar off. When she saw it she +turned herself into a huge Rakshas as big as a house. She could not +turn in the iron house because she was so huge. Mnikbs was +dreadfully frightened when he saw his Rn was a horrible Rakshas. +Then Hrll pulled off the bird's legs, and as the Rakshas was +breaking through the iron house to seize Hrll, he wrung the +cockatoo's neck, and the Rakshas died instantly. They set fire to the +walls of wood, and the body of the wicked Rakshas was burnt to fine +ashes. + +The Rj's Wazr turned to the Rj and said, "What a fool you were to +marry this Rakshas, and at her bidding to send your seven wives and +your seven sons away into the jungle, taking out your seven wives' +eyes, and being altogether so cruel to them! You are a great, great +fool!" The poor Rj wept, and then the Wazr, pointing to Hrll, +said, "This is your seventh and youngest Rn's son." The Rj then +embraced Hrllbs and asked his forgiveness. And Hrll told him +his story, how he and his mothers had lived a long, long time in the +hole; how six of the Rns had eaten their children; how his mother +had not had the heart to eat him; how he had got his seven mothers' +eyes from the Rakshas-grannie; and lastly, how he had married Sonahr +Rn. Then the Rj ordered seven litters for his seven Rns, and a +beautiful litter with rich cloth for Sonahr Rn. The Rj and his +Wazr and his attendants, and his son, all went with the litters to +Hrll's house; and when the Rj saw Sonahr Rn he fell flat on +his face, he was so struck by her beauty. For she had a fair, fair +skin, rosy cheeks, blue eyes, rosy lips, golden eyelashes, and golden +eyebrows, and golden hair. When she combed her hair, she used to put +the hair she combed out in paper and to lay the paper on the river, +and it floated down to where the poor people caught it, and sold it, +and got heaps of money for it. Her sr was of gold, her shoes were of +gold, for God loved her dearly. Then the Rj rose and embraced all +his wives and Sonahr Rn, and the seven Rns walked into the seven +litters; but Sonahr Rn was carried to hers, for fear she should +soil her feet, or get hurt. Then Mnikbs Rj gave Hrll's house +to his Wazr, while his seven Rns and Hrll and Sonahr Rn lived +with him in his palace. And they lived happily for ever after. + + Told by Dunkn at Simla, 26th July and 1st August, 1876. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [2] A long piece of stuff which Hind women wind round the body + as a petticoat, passing one end over the head, like a veil. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XII. + +THE MAN WHO WENT TO SEEK HIS FATE. + + +Once there was a very poor man who had a wife and twelve children, and +not a single rupee. The poor children used to cry with hunger, and the +man and his wife did not know what to do. At last he got furious with +God and said, "How wicked God is! He gives me a great many children, +but no money." So he set out to find his fate. In the jungle he met a +camel with two heavy sacks of gold on its back. This camel belonged to +a Rj, and once it was travelling with other camels and with the +Rj's servants to another country, and carrying the sacks of gold. +Every night they encamped and started again early in the morning; but +one morning the servants forgot to take this camel with them, and the +camel forgot the road home, and the sacks were too tightly strapped +for it to get rid of them. So it wandered about the jungle with the +sacks on its back for twelve years. The camel asked the poor man where +he was going. "I am going to seek my fate, to ask it why I am so +poor," he answered. The camel said, "Ask it, too, why for twelve years +I have had to carry these two sacks of gold. All this time I have not +been able to lie down, or to eat, or to drink." "Very well," said the +man, and he went on. + +Then he came to a river in which he saw an alligator. The alligator +took him across, and when he got to the other side it asked him where +he was going. The man said, "I am going to seek my fate, to ask it +why I am so poor." "Then," said the alligator, "ask it also why for +twelve years I have a great burning in my stomach." "I will," said the +man. + +Then he went on and on till he came to a tiger, who was lying on the +ground with a great thorn sticking in his foot. This tiger had gone +out one day to hunt for food, and not looking where he was going, he +put his foot on the thorn, and the thorn ran into his foot. And so God +grew very angry and said, "Because you are such a careless, stupid +fellow, and don't look where you are going, for twelve years this +thorn shall remain in your foot." "Where are you going?" the tiger +asked the man. "I am going to seek my fate, to ask it why I am so +poor. Some one told me that my fate was far, far away, a twelve years' +journey from my own country, and that it was lying down, and that I +must take a thick stick and beat it with all my might." "Ask it, too," +said the tiger, "why for twelve years I have had this thorn in my foot +and cannot get it out, though I have tried hard to do so." "Yes, I +will," said the man. + +Then he came to the place where every one's fate lives. The fates are +stones, some standing and others lying on the ground. "This must be +mine," he said; "it is lying on the ground, that's why I am so poor." +So he took the thick stick he had in his hand, and beat it, and beat +it, and beat it, but still it would not stir. As night was approaching +he left off beating it, and God sent a soul into the poor man's fate, +and it became a man, who stood looking at the poor man and said, "Why +have you beaten me so much?" "Because you were lying down, and I am +very poor, and at home my wife and my children are starving." "Oh, +things will go well with you now," said the fate, and the man was +satisfied. He said to his fate, "While coming here I met a camel who +for twelve years has had to wander about with two heavy sacks of gold +on its back, and it wants to know why it must carry them." "Oh," said +the fate, "just take the sacks off its back and then it will be free." +"I will," said the poor man. "Then I met an alligator who for twelve +years has had a great burning in its stomach." The fate said, "In its +stomach is a very large ruby, as big as your hand. If the alligator +will only throw up the ruby, it will be quite well." "Next I met a +tiger who has had for twelve years a great thorn in his foot which he +cannot take out." "Pull it out with your teeth," said the fate; and +then God withdrew the soul, and the fate became a stone again which +stood up on the ground. + +Then the man set out on his journey home, and he came to the tiger. +"What did your fate say?" said the tiger. "Give me your foot and I +will take out the thorn," said the poor man. The tiger stretched out +the foot with the thorn in it, and the man pulled out the thorn with +his teeth. It was a very large thorn, as big as the man's hand. The +tiger felt grateful to the poor man, and as he was very rich, for he +had eaten a great many Rjs and people, and had all their money, he +said to the man, "I will give you some gold in return for your +kindness." "You have no money," said the man. "I have," said the +tiger, and he went into his den, and the poor man followed. "Give me +your cloth," said the tiger. The man laid it on the ground. Then the +tiger took quantities of gold and jewels and filled the cloth with +them. And the poor man took up his cloth, thanked the tiger, and went +his way. Then he met the alligator who took him across the river. The +alligator said, "Did you ask your fate why there is such burning in my +stomach?" "I did," said the man. "It is because you have a very large +ruby in your stomach. If you will only throw it up, you will be quite +well." Then the alligator threw the ruby up out of its mouth, and that +very instant the burning in its stomach ceased. "Ah," said the +alligator, looking at the ruby, "I swallowed that one day when I was +drinking." And he gave the ruby to the man, saying, "In return for +your kindness I will give you this ruby. It is a very precious stone." +(In old days every Rj possessed such a ruby; now very few Rjs, if +any, have one.) The poor man thanked the alligator, put the ruby into +his cloth, and went on his way till he came to the camel, who said, +"Did you ask your fate why I have to carry these two sacks of gold?" +"I did," said the man, and he took the sacks off the camel's back. How +happy and grateful the camel felt! "How kind of you," he said to the +man, "to take the sacks off. Now I can eat, now I can drink, and now I +can lie down. Because you have been so kind to me, I give you the two +sacks of gold, and I will carry them and your bundle home to your +house for you, and then I will come back and live here in the jungle." +Then the poor man put the two sacks of gold and his bundle on the +camel, who carried them to his house. When he got there, he took the +sacks and his bundle off the camel, who thanked him again for his +kindness and went back to his jungle, feeling very glad at having got +rid of his heavy burthen. + +When the poor man's wife and children saw the gold and jewels and the +ruby, they cried, "Where did you get these?" And the man told them his +whole story. And he bought food for his wife and children, and gave +them a beautiful house, and got them clothes, for now he was very +rich. + +Another poor man who was not quite, but nearly, as poor as this man +had been, asked him where he had got his riches. "I got them out of a +river," answered the man. "I drew the water with a bucket, and in +every bucketful there was gold." The other man started off to the +river and began drawing up water in a bucket. "Stop, stop!" cried an +alligator, who was the king of the fishes; "you are taking all the +water out of the river and my fishes will die." "I want money," said +the man, "and I can find none, so I am taking the water out of the +river in order to get some." "You shall have some in a minute," said +the alligator, "only do stop drawing the water." Then a great wave of +water dashed on to the land and dashed back into the river, leaving +behind it a great heap of gold, which the man picked up joyfully. The +next day he came again, and night and day he drew water out of the +river. At last the alligator got very angry, and said, "My fishes will +all die for want of water. Once I gave the man a heap of gold, and yet +he wants more. I won't give him any," and the alligator thrust up his +head out of the river, and swallowed the man whole. For four days and +four nights the man lived in the alligator's stomach. At the end of +the fourth night the king of the fishes said to him, "I will let you +get out of my stomach on condition that you tell no man what has +happened to you. If you do, you will die instantly." The man jumped +out of the alligator's mouth and walked towards his house. On his way +he met some men and told them what had happened to him, and as soon as +he got home he told his wife and children, and the moment he had done +so he became mad and dumb and blood came out of his mouth, and he fell +down dead. + + Told by Dunkn. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XIII. + +THE UPRIGHT KING. + + +There was a great Mahrj whose name was Harchand Rj, and he had an +only son called Mnikchand. He was very rich and had a great deal of +money, and he also had a very large garden full of lovely flowers and +fruits which he prized greatly. Every morning before he bathed he used +to give some poor fakr two pounds and a half of gold. Now Harchand +Mahrj used to pray a great deal to God, and God was very fond of +him, so he said one day, "To see if Harchand Mahrj really loves me, +I will make him very poor for twelve years." And at night God came +down in the shape of a great boar, and ate up everything that was in +Harchand Mahrj's garden. The boar then ran away into the jungle. +Next morning the gardener got up and looked out into the garden, and +what was his astonishment when he saw it was all spoilt. Nothing was +left in it; it was not a garden any more. He went quickly to the +Mahrj and said, "Oh, master! oh, Mahrj! your garden is quite +spoilt. Last night a boar came and ate up everything in it." +"Nonsense," said the Mahrj, who would not believe him. "It is quite +true," said the gardener; "you can come and see for yourself." So the +Rj got up at once and put on his clothes, and went into the garden, +and found it all empty. He went back to the house very melancholy. +Then as usual he gave a fakr his two pounds and a half of gold. After +breakfast he went out hunting. The boar which had run away into the +wood changed himself into a very old fakr, who shook from old age. As +Harchand Mahrj passed, the old fakr held out his hand, saying, +"Please give me a few pice, I am so poor and hungry." The Mahrj +said, "Come to my palace and I will give you two pounds and a half of +gold." "Oh, no," said the fakr, "surely you would never give me so +much as that." "Yes, I will," said the Mahrj. "Every morning before +I bathe I give a fakr two pounds and a half of gold." "Nonsense," +said the fakr, "you don't give away your money in that way." "Really, +I do," said the Mahrj, "and I promise to give you two pounds and a +half of gold." So the fakr followed Harchand Mahrj home, and when +they reached the palace, the Mahrj told his treasurer to give the +old fakr two pounds and a half of gold. The treasurer went into the +treasury, but all the Mahrj's gold and silver and jewels had become +charcoal! The treasurer came out again to the Mahrj saying, "Oh, +Mahrj, all your gold and silver and jewels are turned into +charcoal!" "Oh, nonsense," said the Mahrj. "Come and see, +Mahrj," said the treasurer, who was in a great fright. The Mahrj +went into his treasury, and was quite sad at the sight of the +charcoal. "Alas!" he said, "God has made me very poor, but still I +must give this fakr his money." So he went to the fakr and said, +"All my gold and silver and jewels are turned into charcoal; but I +will sell my wife, and my boy, and myself, and then I will give you +the money I promised you." And he went and fetched his wife and son, +and left his palace, his houses, servants, and possessions. + +He then went to a merchant, who bought from him his Mahrn, who was +called Hrl, that is, the diamond lady, for she was very beautiful, +and her face shone like a diamond. Her hands were very small, and so +were her feet. The merchant gave the Mahrj a pound of gold for the +Mahrn. Next, Harchand Mahrj went to a cowherd and sold him his +son Mnikchand. The cowherd gave him for the boy half a pound of gold. +Then he went to a dom, that is, a man of a very low caste, who kept a +tank into which it was his business to throw the bodies of those who +died. If it was a dead man or woman, the dom took one rupee, if it was +a dead child he was only paid eight annas. To this dom Harchand sold +himself for a pound of gold, and he gave the two pounds and a half of +gold to the fakr, who then went home. The dom said, "Will you stay by +the tank for a few days while I go home and do my other work, which is +weaving baskets? If any one brings you a dead body you must throw it +into the water. If it is the body of a man or woman, take one rupee in +payment; if it is a dead child, take eight annas; and if the bearers +have got no money, take a bit of cloth. Don't forget." And the dom +went away, leaving Harchand sitting by the tank. + +Well, Harchand Mahrj sat for some days by the tank, and when any +one brought him dead bodies he threw them into it. For a dead man or +woman he took one rupee, for a dead child eight annas, and if the +bearers had no money to give him, he took some cloth. Some time had +passed, and Mnikchand, the Mahrj's son, died; so Hrl Rn went +to the cowherd to ask him for her dead child. The cowherd gave him to +her, and she took him to the tank. Harchand Mahrj was sitting by +the tank, and when Hrl Mahrn saw him she said, "I know that man +is my husband, so he will not take any money for throwing his child +into the water." So she went up to him and said, "Will you throw this +child into the tank for me?" "Yes, I will," said Harchand Mahrj; +"only first give me eight annas." "You surely won't take any money for +throwing your own son into the tank?" said the Mahrn. "You must pay +me," said Harchand Mahrj, "for I must obey the dom's orders. If you +have no money, give me a piece of cloth." So the Mahrn tore off a +great piece of her sr and gave it him, and the Mahrj took his son +and threw him into the tank. As he threw him in he cried out to the +king of the fishes, who was an alligator, "Take great care of this +body." The king of fishes said, "I will." Then the Mahrn went back +to the merchant. + +And the Mahrj caught a fish, and cooked it, and laid it by the +tank, saying, "I will go and bathe and then I will eat it." So he took +off his clothes and went into the tank to bathe, and when he had +bathed he put on fresh clothes, and as he took hold of his fish to eat +it, it slipped back alive into the water, although it had been dead +and cooked. The Mahrj sat down by the tank again, very sad. He +said, "For twelve years I have found it hard to get anything to eat; +how long will God keep me without food?" God was very pleased with +Harchand for being so patient, for he had never complained. + +Some days later God came down to earth in the shape of a man, and with +him he took an angel to be his Wazr. The Wazr said to God, "Come +this way and let us see who it is sitting by the tank." "No," said +God, "I am too tired, I can go no further." "Do come," said the Wazr; +"I want so much to go." God said, "Well, let us go." Then they walked +on till they came to the place where Harchand Mahrj was sitting, +and God said to him, "Would you like to have your wife, and your son, +and your kingdom back again?" "Yes, I should," said the Mahrj; "but +how can I get them?" "Tell me truly," said God, "would you like to +have your kingdom back again?" "Indeed I should," said the Mahrj. +Then Mnikchand's body, which had never sunk to the bottom of the tank +like the other bodies, but had always floated on the water, rose up +out of the water, and Mnikchand was alive once more. The father and +son embraced each other. "Now," said God, "let us go to the dom." +Harchand Mahrj agreed, and they went to the dom and asked him how +much he would take for Harchand Mahrj. The dom said, "I gave one +pound of gold for him, and I will take two pounds." So they paid down +the two pounds of gold. Then they went to the merchant and said to +him, "How much will you take for Hrl Rn?" The merchant said, "I +gave a pound of gold for her; I will take four pounds." So they paid +down the four pounds of gold, took Hrl Rn, and went to the +cowherd. "How much will you take for Mnikchand?" said they to him. "I +gave half a pound of gold for him," answered the cowherd; "I will take +one pound." So they paid down the pound of gold, and Harchand Mahrj +went home to his palace, taking with him Hrl Rn and Mnikchand, +after thanking the strange man for his goodness to them. When they +reached the palace, the garden was in splendid beauty; the charcoal +was turned back into gold, and silver, and jewels; the servants were +in waiting as usual, and they went into the palace and lived happily +for evermore. + + Told by Dunkn. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XIV. + +LOVING LAIL. + + +Once there was a king called King Dantl, who had a great many rupees +and soldiers and horses. He had also an only son called Prince Majnn, +who was a handsome boy with white teeth, red lips, blue eyes, red +cheeks, red hair, and a white skin. This boy was very fond of playing +with the Wazr's son, Husain Mahmat, in King Dantl's garden, which +was very large and full of delicious fruits, and flowers, and trees. +They used to take their little knives there and cut the fruits and eat +them. King Dantl had a teacher for them to teach them to read and +write. + +One day, when they were grown two fine young men, Prince Majnn said +to his father, "Husain Mahmat and I should like to go and hunt." His +father said they might go, so they got ready their horses and all else +they wanted for their hunting, and went to the Phaln country, +hunting all the way, but they only found jackals and birds. + +The Rj of the Phaln country was called Mnsk Rj, and he had a +daughter named Lail, who was very beautiful; she had brown eyes and +black hair. + +One night, some time before Prince Majnn came to her father's +kingdom, as she slept, God sent to her an angel in the form of a man +who told her that she should marry Prince Majnn and no one else, and +that this was God's command to her. When Lail woke she told her +father of the angel's visit to her as she slept; but her father paid +no attention to her story. From that time she began repeating, +"Majnn, Majnn; I want Majnn," and would say nothing else. Even as +she sat and ate her food she kept saying, "Majnn, Majnn; I want +Majnn." Her father used to get quite vexed with her. "Who is this +Majnn? who ever heard of this Majnn?" he would say. "He is the man I +am to marry," said Lail. "God has ordered me to marry no one but +Majnn." And she was half mad. Meanwhile, Majnn and Husain Mahmat +came to hunt in the Phaln country; and as they were riding about, +Lail came out on her horse to eat the air, and rode behind them. All +the time she kept saying, "Majnn, Majnn; I want Majnn." The prince +heard her, and turned round. "Who is calling me?" he asked. At this +Lail looked at him, and the moment she saw him she fell deeply in +love with him, and she said to herself, "I am sure that is the Prince +Majnn that God says I am to marry." And she went home to her father +and said, "Father, I wish to marry the prince who has come to your +kingdom; for I know he is the Prince Majnn I am to marry." "Very +well, you shall have him for your husband," said Mnsk Rj. "We will +ask him to-morrow." Lail consented to wait, although she was very +impatient. As it happened, the prince left the Phaln kingdom that +night, and when Lail heard he was gone, she went quite mad. She would +not listen to a word her father, or her mother, or her servants said +to her, but went off into the jungle, and wandered from jungle to +jungle, till she got farther and farther away from her own country. +All the time she kept saying, "Majnn, Majnn; I want Majnn;" and so +she wandered about for twelve years. + +At the end of the twelve years she met a fakr--he was really an +angel, but she did not know this--who asked her, "Why do you always +say, 'Majnn, Majnn; I want Majnn'?" She answered, "I am the +daughter of the king of the Phaln country, and I want to find Prince +Majnn; tell me where his kingdom is." "I think you will never get +there," said the fakr, "for it is very far from hence, and you have +to cross many rivers to reach it." But Lail said she did not care; +she must see Prince Majnn. "Well," said the fakr, "when you come to +the Bhgrath river you will see a big fish, a Roh; and you must get +him to carry you to Prince Majnn's country, or you will never reach +it." + +She went on and on, and at last she came to the Bhgrath river. +There there was a great big fish called the Roh fish. It was yawning +just as she got up to it, and she instantly jumped down its throat +into its stomach. All the time she kept saying, "Majnn, Majnn." At +this the Roh fish was greatly alarmed and swam down the river as fast +as he could. By degrees he got tired and went slower, and a crow came +and perched on his back, and said, "Caw, caw." "Oh, Mr. Crow," said +the poor fish, "do see what is in my stomach that makes such a noise." +"Very well," said the crow, "open your mouth wide, and I'll fly down +and see." So the Roh opened his jaws and the crow flew down, but he +came up again very quickly. "You have a Rakshas in your stomach," said +the crow, and he flew away. This news did not comfort the poor Roh, +and he swam on and on till he came to Prince Majnn's country. There +he stopped. And a jackal came down to the river to drink. "Oh, +jackal," said the Roh, "do tell me what I have inside me." "How can I +tell?" said the jackal. "I cannot see unless I go inside you." So the +Roh opened his mouth wide, and the jackal jumped down his throat; but +he came up very quickly, looking much frightened and saying, "You have +a Rakshas in your stomach, and if I don't run away quickly, I am +afraid it will eat me." So off he ran. After the jackal came an +enormous snake. "Oh," says the fish, "do tell me what I have in my +stomach, for it rattles about so, and keeps saying, 'Majnn, Majnn; I +want Majnn.'" The snake said, "Open your mouth wide, and I'll go +down and see what it is." The snake went down: when he returned he +said, "You have a Rakshas in your stomach; but if you will let me cut +you open, it will come out of you." "If you do that, I shall die," +said the Roh. "Oh, no," said the snake, "you will not, for I will +give you a medicine that will make you quite well again." So the fish +agreed, and the snake got a knife and cut him open, and out jumped +Lail. + +She was now very old. Twelve years she had wandered about the jungle, +and for twelve years she had lived inside her Roh; and she was no +longer beautiful, and had lost her teeth. The snake took her on his +back and carried her into the country, and there he put her down, and +she wandered on and on till she got to Majnn's court-house, where +King Majnn was sitting. There some men heard her crying, "Majnn, +Majnn; I want Majnn," and they asked her what she wanted. "I want +King Majnn," she said. So they went in and said to Prince Majnn, "An +old woman outside says she wants you." "I cannot leave this place," +said he; "send her in here." They brought her in and the prince asked +her what she wanted. "I want to marry you," she answered. "Twenty-four +years ago you came to my father the Phaln Rj's country, and I +wanted to marry you then; but you went away without marrying me. Then +I went mad, and I have wandered about all these years looking for +you." Prince Majnn said, "Very good." "Pray to God," said Lail, "to +make us both young again, and then we shall be married." So the prince +prayed to God, and God said to him, "Touch Lail's clothes and they +will catch fire, and when they are on fire, she and you will become +young again." When he touched Lail's clothes they caught fire, and +she and he became young again. And there were great feasts, and they +were married, and travelled to the Phaln country to see her father +and mother. + +Now Lail's father and mother had wept so much for their daughter +that they had become quite blind, and her father kept always +repeating, "Lail, Lail, Lail." When Lail saw their blindness, she +prayed to God to restore their sight to them, which he did. As soon as +the father and mother saw Lail, they hugged her and kissed her, and +then they had the wedding all over again amid great rejoicings. Prince +Majnn and Lail stayed with Mnsk Rj and his wife for three years, +and then they returned to King Dantl, and lived happily for some time +with him. + +They used to go out hunting, and they often went from country to +country to eat the air and amuse themselves. + +One day Prince Majnn said to Lail, "Let us go through this jungle." +"No, no," said Lail; "if we go through this jungle, some harm will +happen to me." But Prince Majnn laughed, and went into the jungle. +And as they were going through it, God thought, "I should like to know +how much Prince Majnn loves his wife. Would he be very sorry if she +died? And would he marry another wife? I will see." So he sent one of +his angels in the form of a fakr into the jungle; and the angel went +up to Lail, and threw some powder in her face, and instantly she fell +to the ground a heap of ashes. + +Prince Majnn was in great sorrow and grief when he saw his dear Lail +turn into a little heap of ashes; and he went straight home to his +father, and for a long, long time he would not be comforted. After a +great many years he grew more cheerful and happy, and began to go +again into his father's beautiful garden with Husain Mahmat. King +Dantl wished his son to marry again. "I will only have Lail for my +wife; I will not marry any other woman," said Prince Majnn. "How can +you marry Lail? Lail is dead. She will never come back to you," said +the father. "Then I'll not have any wife at all," said Prince Majnn. + +Meanwhile Lail was living in the jungle where her husband had left +her a little heap of ashes. As soon as Majnn had gone, the fakr had +taken her ashes and made them quite clean, and then he had mixed clay +and water with the ashes, and made the figure of a woman with them, +and so Lail regained her human form, and God sent life into it. But +Lail had become once more a hideous old woman, with a long, long +nose, and teeth like tusks; just such an old woman, excepting her +teeth, as she had been when she came out of the Roh fish; and she +lived in the jungle, and neither ate nor drank, and she kept on +saying, "Majnn, Majnn; I want Majnn." + +At last the angel who had come as a fakr and thrown the powder at +her, said to God, "Of what use is it that this woman should sit in the +jungle crying, crying for ever, 'Majnn, Majnn; I want Majnn,' and +eating and drinking nothing? Let me take her to Prince Majnn." +"Well," said God, "you may do so; but tell her that she must not speak +to Majnn if he is afraid of her when he sees her; and that if he is +afraid when he sees her, she will become a little white dog the next +day. Then she must go to the palace, and she will only regain her +human shape when Prince Majnn loves her, feeds her with his own food, +and lets her sleep in his bed." So the angel came to Lail again as a +fakr and carried her to King Dantl's garden. "Now," he said, "it is +God's command that you stay here till Prince Majnn comes to walk in +the garden, and then you may show yourself to him. But you must not +speak to him, if he is afraid of you; and should he be afraid of you, +you will the next day become a little white dog." He then told her +what she must do as a little dog to regain her human form. + +Lail stayed in the garden, hidden in the tall grass, till Prince +Majnn and Husain Mahmat came to walk in the garden. King Dantl was +now a very old man, and Husain Mahmat, though he was really only as +old as Prince Majnn, looked a great deal older than the prince, who +had been made quite young again when he married Lail. + +As Prince Majnn and the Wazr's son walked in the garden, they +gathered the fruit as they had done as little children, only they bit +the fruit with their teeth; they did not cut it. While Majnn was busy +eating a fruit in this way, and was talking to Husain Mahmat, he +turned towards him and saw Lail walking behind the Wazr's son. "Oh, +look, look!" he cried, "see what is following you; it is a Rakshas or +a demon, and I am sure it is going to eat us." Lail looked at him +beseechingly with all her eyes, and trembled with age and eagerness; +but this only frightened Majnn the more. "It is a Rakshas, a +Rakshas!" he cried, and he ran quickly to the palace with the Wazr's +son; and as they ran away, Lail disappeared into the jungle. They ran +to King Dantl, and Majnn told him there was a Rakshas or a demon in +the garden that had come to eat them. "What nonsense," said his +father. "Fancy two grown men being so frightened by an old ayah or a +fakr! And if it had been a Rakshas, it would not have eaten you." +Indeed King Dantl did not believe Majnn had seen anything at all, +till Husain Mahmat said the prince was speaking the exact truth. They +had the garden searched for the terrible old woman, but found nothing, +and King Dantl told his son he was very silly to be so much +frightened. However, Prince Majnn would not walk in the garden any +more. + +The next day Lail turned into a pretty little dog; and in this shape +she came into the palace, where Prince Majnn soon became very fond of +her. She followed him everywhere, went with him when he was out +hunting, and helped him to catch his game, and Prince Majnn fed her +with milk, or bread, or anything else he was eating, and at night the +little dog slept in his bed. + +But one night the little dog disappeared, and in its stead there lay +the little old woman who had frightened him so much in the garden; and +now Prince Majnn was quite sure she was a Rakshas, or a demon, or +some such horrible thing come to eat him; and in his terror he cried +out, "What do you want? Oh, do not eat me; do not eat me!" Poor Lail +answered, "Don't you know me? I am your wife Lail, and I want to +marry you. Don't you remember how you would go through that jungle, +though I begged and begged you not to go, for I told you that harm +would happen to me, and then a fakr came and threw powder in my face, +and I became a heap of ashes. But God gave me my life again, and +brought me here, after I had stayed a long, long while in the jungle +crying for you, and now I am obliged to be a little dog; but if you +will marry me, I shall not be a little dog any more." Majnn, however, +said "How can I marry an old woman like you? how can you be Lail? I +am sure you are a Rakshas or a demon come to eat me," and he was in +great terror. + +In the morning the old woman had turned into the little dog, and the +prince went to his father and told him all that had happened. "An old +woman! an old woman! always an old woman!" said his father. "You do +nothing but think of old women. How can a strong man like you be so +easily frightened?" However, when he saw that his son was really in +great terror, and that he really believed the old woman would come +back at night, he advised him to say to her, "I will marry you if you +can make yourself a young girl again. How can I marry such an old +woman as you are?" + +That night as he lay trembling in bed the little old woman lay there +in place of the dog, crying, "Majnn, Majnn, I want to marry you. I +have loved you all these long, long years. When I was in my father's +kingdom a young girl, I knew of you, though you knew nothing of me, +and we should have been married then if you had not gone away so +suddenly, and for long, long years I followed you." "Well," said +Majnn, "if you can make yourself a young girl again, I will marry +you." + +Lail said, "Oh, that is quite easy. God will make me a young girl +again. In two days' time you must go into the garden, and there you +will see a beautiful fruit. You must gather it and bring it into your +room and cut it open yourself very gently, and you must not open it +when your father or anybody else is with you, but when you are quite +alone; for I shall be in the fruit quite naked, without any clothes at +all on." In the morning Lail took her little dog's form, and +disappeared in the garden. + +Prince Majnn told all this to his father, who told him to do all the +old woman had bidden him. In two days' time he and the Wazr's son +walked in the garden, and there they saw a large, lovely red fruit. +"Oh!" said the Prince, "I wonder shall I find my wife in that fruit." +Husain Mahmat wanted him to gather it and see, but he would not till +he had told his father, who said, "That must be the fruit; go and +gather it." So Majnn went back and broke the fruit off its stalk; and +he said to his father, "Come with me to my room while I open it; I am +afraid to open it alone, for perhaps I shall find a Rakshas in it that +will eat me." "No," said King Dantl; "remember, Lail will be naked; +you must go alone, and do not be afraid if, after all, a Rakshas is in +the fruit, for I will stay outside the door, and you have only to call +me with a loud voice, and I will come to you, so the Rakshas will not +be able to eat you." + +Then Majnn took the fruit and began to cut it open tremblingly, for +he shook with fear; and when he had cut it, out stepped Lail, young +and far more beautiful than she had ever been. At the sight of her +extreme beauty, Majnn fell backwards fainting on the floor. + +Lail took off his turban and wound it all round herself like a sr +(for she had no clothes at all on), and then she called King Dantl, +and said to him sadly, "Why has Majnn fallen down like this? Why will +he not speak to me? He never used to be afraid of me; and he has seen +me so many, many times." King Dantl answered, "It is because you are +so beautiful. You are far, far more beautiful than you ever were. But +he will be very happy directly." Then the King got some water, and +they bathed Majnn's face and gave him some to drink, and he sat up +again. Then Lail said, "Why did you faint? Did you not see I am +Lail?" "Oh!" said Prince Majnn, "I see you are Lail come back to +me, but your eyes have grown so wonderfully beautiful, that I fainted +when I saw them." Then they were all very happy, and King Dantl had +all the drums in the place beaten, and had all the musical instruments +played on, and they made a grand wedding-feast, and gave presents to +the servants, and rice and quantities of rupees to the fakrs. + +After some time had passed very happily, Prince Majnn and his wife +went out to eat the air. They rode on the same horse, and had only a +groom with them. They came to another kingdom, to a beautiful garden. +"We must go into that garden and see it," said Majnn. "No, no," said +Lail; "it belongs to a bad Rj, Chumman Bs, a very wicked man." +But Majnn insisted on going in, and in spite of all Lail could say, +he got off the horse to look at the flowers. Now, as he was looking at +the flowers, Lail saw Chumman Bs coming towards them, and she read +in his eyes that he meant to kill her husband and seize her. So she +said to Majnn, "Come, come, let us go; do not go near that bad man. I +see in his eyes, and I feel in my heart, that he will kill you to +seize me." "What nonsense," said Majnn. "I believe he is a very good +Rj. Anyhow, I am so near to him that I could not get away." "Well," +said Lail, "it is better that you should be killed than I, for if I +were to be killed a second time, God would not give me my life again; +but I can bring you to life if you are killed." Now Chumman Bs had +come quite near, and seemed very pleasant, so thought Prince Majnn; +but when he was speaking to Majnn, he drew his scimitar and cut off +the prince's head at one blow. + +Lail sat quite still on her horse, and as the Rj came towards her +she said, "Why did you kill my husband?" "Because I want to take you," +he answered. "You cannot," said Lail. "Yes, I can," said the Rj. +"Take me, then," said Lail to Chumman Bs; so he came quite close +and put out his hand to take hers to lift her off her horse. But she +put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a tiny knife, only as long +as her hand was broad, and this knife unfolded itself in one instant +till it was such a length! and then Lail made a great sweep with her +arm and her long, long knife, and off came Chumman Bs's head at one +touch. + +Then Lail slipped down off her horse, and she went to Majnn's dead +body, and she cut her little finger inside her hand straight down from +the top of her nail to her palm, and out of this gushed blood like +healing medicine. Then she put Majnn's head on his shoulders, and +smeared her healing blood all over the wound, and Majnn woke up and +said, "What a delightful sleep I have had! Why, I feel as if I had +slept for years!" Then he got up and saw the Rj's dead body by +Lail's horse. "What's that?" said Majnn. "That is the wicked Rj +who killed you to seize me, just as I said he would." "Who killed +him?" asked Majnn. "I did," answered Lail, "and it was I who brought +you to life." "Do bring the poor man to life if you know how to do +so," said Majnn. "No," said Lail, "for he is a wicked man, and will +try to do you harm." But Majnn asked her for such a long time, and so +earnestly to bring the wicked Rj to life, that at last she said, +"Jump up on the horse, then, and go far away with the groom." "What +will you do," said Majnn, "if I leave you? I cannot leave you." "I +will take care of myself," said Lail; "but this man is so wicked, he +may kill you again if you are near him." So Majnn got up on the +horse, and he and the groom went a long way off and waited for Lail. +Then she set the wicked Rj's head straight on his shoulders, and she +squeezed the wound in her finger till a little blood-medicine came out +of it. Then she smeared this over the place where her knife had +passed, and just as she saw the Rj opening his eyes, she began to +run, and she ran, and ran so fast, that she outran the Rj, who tried +to catch her; and she sprang up on the horse behind her husband, and +they rode so fast, so fast, till they reached King Dantl's palace. + +There Prince Majnn told everything to his father, who was horrified +and angry. "How lucky for you that you have such a wife," he said. +"Why did you not do what she told you? But for her, you would be now +dead." Then he made a great feast out of gratitude for his son's +safety, and gave many, many rupees to the fakrs. And he made so much +of Lail. He loved her dearly; he could not do enough for her. Then he +built a splendid palace for her and his son, with a great deal of +ground about it, and lovely gardens, and gave them great wealth, and +heaps of servants to wait on them. But he would not allow any but +their servants to enter their gardens and palace, and he would not +allow Majnn to go out of them, nor Lail; "for," said King Dantl, +"Lail is so beautiful, that perhaps some one may kill my son to take +her away." + + Told by Dunkn. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XV. + +HOW KING BURTAL BECAME A FAKR. + + +Once there was a great king called Burtal, and he had a hundred and +sixty wives, but he had no children, which made him sad. One day he +said to his wives, "I am going to a very distant jungle which is full +of antelopes, to hunt them." "Very well," they answered, "go." So he +went. In that jungle lived neither tigers nor men, but only antelopes. +When King Burtal reached the jungle, some of the antelopes came to him +and said, "Pray don't kill the black antelope, for he is our Rj, and +we have no other antelope like him among us; but try to kill any of +the others--the brown or the yellow antelopes--that you choose." Now, +the king was not a kind man, and he said, "I will kill your black +antelope, and no other." So he shot him dead. When the other antelopes +saw this they began to scream and cry with sorrow. But the dead +antelope's wife said to them, "There is a holy man, a fakr, in the +jungle. Let us take the dead body to him and ask him to bring our Rj +to life." And King Burtal laughed at them and said, "How can any man +bring a dead antelope to life?" But the antelopes took the body of +their dead Rj on their backs, and the dead antelope's wife went at +their head; and King Burtal went too; and they carried it to the +fakr, who was called Goraknth, and who was resting in the jungle, +and they said to him, "Bring our Rj to life again, for what can we +do without a Rj? and he has left no son to succeed him." And the +queen antelope said, "I have no other husband. I had only this one +husband. Do bring him to life for me." King Burtal laughed and mocked +them, and said to the fakr, "I never heard of any man being able to +bring a dead antelope to life. I don't believe you can do it." At this +Goraknth got angry, and he knelt down and asked God to bring the +antelope to life; and God told him to take a wand and beat the dead +antelope with it, and then the antelope would be alive again. So +Goraknth took a wand and beat the dead antelope, and it was alive +once more, and then it instantly sprang up into heaven. The antelopes +were delighted to see their Rj alive again, and they said, "We do +not mind his going up to heaven, for he will come down again to us." + +King Burtal had stood by all the time, and he said to Goraknth, "Make +me a fakr like yourself," for he thought it would be fine to do such +wonderful things. But Goraknth would not, and King Burtal stayed in +the jungle with Goraknth for twelve years, and all that time he never +ceased begging and praying to be made a fakr, till at last Goraknth +said, "I cannot make you a fakr unless you go home and address your +wives as 'Mamma,' and ask them to give you money and food." Now, it is +a very shameful thing to call one's wife 'Mamma,' for if a wife is +called 'Mamma' she has to leave her husband. Then Goraknth took off +the king's clothes, and dressed him only in a cloth and a tiger's +skin; and the king went to his palace and began begging for rice and +food, and he would not take any from the palace servants: he said he +must and would see the Rns, and that they themselves should give him +food. The servants told the Rns about this fakr who said he must +and would see them himself, and that they should give him food and +rice with their own hands, and one of their ayahs, who had recognized +King Burtal, told them the fakr was their husband who had been away +twelve years. The Rns cried out, "Do not talk nonsense. That fakr +can never be our husband." "Go and see for yourselves," answered the +ayah. They went, and the fakr said to them, "Mamma, give me rice." +"Why do you call us 'Mamma'?" they said. "We have no sons. You are not +our son." But at last they saw he was indeed their husband, and they +wrung their hands and wept bitterly, and threw themselves on the +ground before him and said, "Why have you called us 'Mamma'? Why do +you ask for bread? We must now leave you." "Don't go away," said the +king. "Take my kingdom, my money, my houses, and stay here till I +return. I am going to be a fakr." His wives gave him some rice and +some money, and he went back to Goraknth. + +In old days men who intended to become fakrs had to do three tasks +set them by one who was already a fakr; so Goraknth said to the +king, "Now you must go to a jungle that I will show you, and stay +there for twelve years." Then King Burtal took the flat pan and the +rolling-pin which he used in making his flour cakes, and was quite +ready to start for the jungle, but the fakr stopped him. "You must +leave your pan and your rolling-pin behind," he said; "and all these +twelve years you must neither eat nor drink, or you can never be a +fakr. You must sit quite still on the same spot and never move." "I +shall die if I don't eat," said the king; "but I don't care if I do +die, so I will do all you tell me." Then the fakr took him to a +jungle, and made him sit down on the grass, and instantly all the +grass round him grew up so tall and thick that King Burtal was quite +hidden by it, and no one could see him. Here he lived for twelve +years, and never moved, and he ate nothing, and drank nothing, and +nobody knew he was there. + +At the end of that time Goraknth came and took him away and said, +"Now go home to your wives." "Why should I go to my wives? I do not +wish to see my wives, for they have given me no children," said King +Burtal. But Goraknth said, "Go and see them." So King Burtal went; +and he begged for rice from them; and they entreated him to stay with +them, but he would not. "I will return to the fakr Goraknth," he +said. "Why should I stay with you? You have never given me a child. +What use is all my wealth to me? I have no son to take it when I am +dead. I will become a fakr." And they threw themselves on the ground +and wrung their hands, and said, "Oh, why will you leave us?" He +answered, "Because it pleases me to do so." And he called them all +"Mamma," and told them to stay in his palace and take all he possessed +for their own use. Then he returned to Goraknth. + +"Now," said Goraknth, "you must learn to be sweeper to all the beasts +of the jungle, and you must serve them for twelve years." So for +twelve years King Burtal cleared the grass and kept the jungle clean +for all the creatures in it--cows, sheep, goats, tigers, cats, bears. +Sometimes he stayed in one part of the jungle, and sometimes in +another. + +When the twelve years were over he went to Goraknth, who said to him, +"Good; you have learnt to serve the wild beasts; now you must learn to +serve men." Then the fakr took the king to a village, and bade him +sweep it and keep it clean for twelve years. Here King Burtal stayed +for another twelve years, and all that time he was the village-sweeper +and kept the village clean, and he swept all the dust and dirt into a +great heap till the heap was as high and as big as a hut. + +When the twelve years were over he returned to Goraknth and stood +before him, and as he stood there came a man who was an angel sent by +God, and he threw some dirt on King Burtal's head; but the king never +moved nor spoke. "Now," cried Goraknth, "I see you are a true fakr: +go and cleanse yourself by bathing in the river." + +The river in which he was sent to bathe was the Jamn. In this river +lived water-nymphs, and the nymph Gang was playing in it when her +sister Jamn[3] came to her and said, "Come quickly; our father is +dying and wants to see you;" and off Jamn went to her father. Gang +was hurrying after her when King Burtal saw her, and stopped her, and +asked her where she was going so fast. "To my father, who is very ill +and dying," said Gang; "let me go." "I will not let you go," said +King Burtal. Then Gang began to run, and said, "You cannot keep me, +you cannot catch me; no man can catch me, no man can keep me." This +provoked King Burtal, and he said, "I can catch you, and I can keep +you." "No, no," she answered; "no one can catch me, no one can hold +me." Then King Burtal got quite vexed, and he ran till he caught her, +and then he said, "Now, I will not let you go; I will keep you." Then +he held her in his hands and rubbed her between his palms, and when he +opened his hands she had turned into a little round ball. He tried to +hide the ball in his hair, but could not, for his hair was too short, +and he found he could not hold Gang, as she was too strong for him; +so he thought he would take her to Mahdeo,[4] who had long thick +hair, and make him keep her, for King Burtal was dreadfully frightened +and did not dare let the ball go, for fear Gang, who he knew was very +angry, should take her own form and bring a great flood to drown him. +So he went quickly to Mahdeo, and gave the ball to him. Mahdeo said, +"Why not keep her yourself?" "I cannot," said King Burtal, "for my +hair is too short to tie her into; and I cannot hold her, for she is +too strong for me; but your hair is long, and so you can hide her in +it." Then Mahdeo had a round box made of bamboo, and in this box was +a hole into which he dropped the ball. And he let down his long hair, +and it reached to the ground, and was thick--so thick; he put the box +in his hair on the top of his head, and rolled his long hair all round +his head and over the box just like a turban. + +Jamn finding her sister did not follow her, came up from the bottom +of the river to look for her, and she asked whether any one had seen +her, and at last some one said, "King Burtal has taken her away." +Jamn set off to King Burtal and said, "Give me my sister Gang, for +our father is dying and wants to see her." "It is true that I took her +away," said King Burtal, "but I have not got her now; she is with +Mahdeo." So Jamn went to Mahdeo,--"Give me my sister quickly, for +our father is dying and wants to see her." (Now Gang was in a great +passion inside her box.) "I cannot give you Gang," said Mahdeo, "for +she is so angry that if I let her loose she will flood the country +with water." "No, she will not; indeed, she will not," said Jamn. "If +I give her to you, you will not be able to keep her," said Mahdeo. +"Yes, yes, I shall," said Jamn. "I do not think you will," said +Mahdeo; "but here is the box in which said is. Hold it tight, and be +careful that neither you nor any one else mentions her name on the +journey." Jamn said she would be very careful, and took the box; but +she had to pass through a jungle in which were a number of cowherds +and holy men, one of whom was called Gang. Just as Jamn passed by, +one of these men called to this man by his name, Gang, and instantly +Gang burst the box and flooded the country with water. The holy men +and the cowherd called to her to have pity on them, and so did Jamn; +but Gang was too angry to listen to them or speak to them, so she +drowned all the holy men and the cowherds, and when she got to her +father's house and found he was dead, she was in such a rage that she +declared she would send a still greater flood to ruin the country; and +so she did. + +After this, King Burtal went to Goraknth and stayed with him some +years, till Goraknth said, "Now go to your own kingdom." But King +Burtal refused, saying, "I wish to stay with you; my wives have never +given me a child. I have no son. I do not care to return to my +kingdom." However, Goraknth would not allow him to stay. "Go to your +own kingdom," he said again; "but first tell me how many wives you +have." "A hundred and sixty," answered the King. "Here are a hundred +and sixty lch fruits for you," said the fakr. "Give one to each of +your wives to eat, and they will each have a son, and I will go with +you." So King Burtal obeyed, and Goraknth went with him. + +Seventy years had passed since King Burtal had left his kingdom. When +he and Goraknth reached it, they went to an open plain and made a +fire and sat down beside it. Everybody who passed them said, "Who are +these fakrs?" Some servants of King Burtal's Rns passed too, and +when they got home they told the Rns that their husband had returned +to his kingdom. But the Rns said, "What nonsense you talk! King +Burtal went away with the fakr Goraknth." The servants answered, "We +are quite sure that King Burtal is here, for Goraknth is here, and +with him is another man, and we are sure this man is King Burtal." So +all the Rns went to see for themselves, and when they saw the fakr +that was with Goraknth they knew he was their husband. Then the first +Rn, who was very angry with him for having left them, said a spell +over him: "God is very angry with you for leaving us, and he will send +you a bad illness." But King Burtal answered, "Do not be angry with +me. I am your husband, and have come back to you after an absence of +seventy years." At this the youngest Rn was very glad, and she +ordered drums to be beaten and she beat a drum herself, and they sang +songs, and all went to the palace together, and Goraknth with them. + +Then Goraknth said he must now go away, but first he asked King +Burtal to show him a grand feat as a proof of his skill. So King +Burtal sent to the smith for a great iron chain. Then he lit a big +fire. This alarmed the palace servants, who wondered if he were going +to burn his palace and his wives. King Burtal next sent for some ghee. +"What is he going to do with the ghee?" said the palace servants. Then +he drove a nail into the wall, rubbed his hands with the ghee, put the +iron chain into the fire and drew it out red-hot; flames came from the +iron. Then King Burtal hung it on the nail and pulled and pulled at +the chain till he drew it off the nail, and his hands were not in the +least burnt. The Rns and palace servants were greatly astonished and +Goraknth much pleased. "You know how to do your work well," said he +to the king. Then Goraknth bade him good bye, telling him to look +after his kingdom and his wives; but they all said he must not leave +them, and they built him a grand house in the compound, and gave him a +great many servants to wait on him, and plenty of money; so Goraknth +agreed to live in this house; only, as he was a fakr, he often went +away by himself to spend some time in his jungle, always returning to +his house in King Burtal's compound. Meanwhile King Burtal gave each +of his wives a lch to eat, and after a little while each wife had a +little son. They were all such beautiful children; but the biggest and +handsomest of all was the eldest Rn's little son. His name was +Sazd, and his father and mother loved him dearly. + +When Prince Sazd was about six or seven years old, the fakr +Goraknth came to King Burtal and said, "Now you must give me your +son Sazd, for I want to take him away with me for some years." The +Rn, his mother, refused to let him go, but at last she had to do so, +and then she became mad and very sick for grief. + +Goraknth took the little prince to Indrsan to be taught by the +fairies, and on arriving he married him to Jahr Rn, who was the +daughter of the greatest of the fairy queens. Goraknth made a grand +wedding for the little prince, and all the fairies were delighted that +he should be the little Jahr Rn's husband, for he was such a +beautiful child they all fell in love with him the moment they saw +him, and they taught him to play on all kinds of instruments, and to +sing beautifully, and to read and write, and he grew handsomer and +handsomer every day in the fairy kingdom. Goraknth came often to see +him, and the fairies took great care of him. + +When Prince Sazd had grown a fine strong young man, Goraknth took +him and his wife, the Jahr Rn, and brought them in great state to +King Burtal's kingdom. First he took the young prince and presented +him to his father and said, "See, here is your son. Now he can read +and write, sing and play on all kinds of instruments, for I have had +him taught all these things." But they, when they saw him, fell on +their faces, for they could not look at him on account of his great +beauty. He had grown so handsome in Indrsan, and his cheeks were red. +"How can this beautiful boy be our son?" they said, and they did not +recognize him. "Stand up," said Goraknth. "This is your son Sazd; +do not fall down before your son." So they stood up, and the fakr +said, "I have married your son to the fairy princess Jahr Rn, and I +will bring her to you." So then he brought the little Rn, and when +they saw her they fell down again, for they could not look at her +beauty. Her hair was like red gold, her eyes were dark, and her +eyelashes black. But Goraknth made them stand up; and when they +really understood it was their son and his wife that he had brought +them, they took Prince Sazd into their arms, and kissed him and +loved him, and his Rn too. Goraknth made a grand wedding-feast for +them all, and they were all very happy. + + Told by Dunkn. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [3] Yamun. + + [4] Mahadeva, _i.e._ Siva. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XVI. + +SOME OF THE DOINGS OF SHEKH FARD. + + +Once there was a Rj called Hmns Rj. He had a son, named Gursan +Rj, who married Khelpar Rn, the daughter of Gulbs Rj. After +the wedding Gursan Rj brought her home to his father's house. + +One day Gursan Rj came home from hunting, very very tired and +thirsty. It was about twelve or one o'clock in the day. He asked +Khelpar Rn to fetch him some water, and while she went for it he +fell asleep. When she came back she found him still sleeping, and +because he was so tired he slept all the afternoon and all night, and +never woke till the next morning. His wife stood by him all the time +holding the water in a brass cup. When he woke and found she had stood +there all the afternoon and all night he was very sorry, and asked God +to forgive him, and to give his wife whatever she wished for, no +matter what it might be. So Khelpar wished that whatever happened in +any country, she might know of it at once of herself without any one +telling her, no matter how far away the country might be. + +One day Khelpar Rn went to draw water from the tank, and by the +tank sat an old man, the fakr Shekh Fard. He said to the Rn, "Give +me a little water to drink." "I will," she said, "only drink it +quickly, for my father's house is on fire, and I am going to put it +out." "How far off is your father's country?" asked Shekh Fard. +"About twenty miles," answered Khelpar. "Then how can you know his +house is on fire!" said Shekh Fard; "I have been a fakr for twelve +years, and for twelve years neither ate nor drank, and yet I do not +know what happens twenty miles away." "But I know," she answered. +"Leave your water-jar here," he said, "and go and see if the house +really is on fire, and I will not drink till you return to me." + +So off went Khelpar Rn to her father's country, and when she got +there his house was burning, and she stayed till the fire was put out, +and then returned to the tank where she left the fakr. "Is it true," +he asked, "that your father's house was on fire?" "Quite true," she +answered. The fakr wondered. "How could she know it when the fire was +twenty miles off?" he said to himself, and he determined to go to +Gulbs Rj's country to see if the Rn had told him the truth. + +He went by a roundabout road, as he did not know the way, so it took +him three or four days to get there. When he did, he asked some +villagers if there had been a fire at their Rj's house. "Yes, a few +days ago there was," they answered. So the fakr, still more +astonished, decided he would go back to Hmns Rj's palace and ask +Khelpar Rn how it came to pass that she was wiser than Shekh +Fard. + +As he was returning, he met a bullock-cart laden with bags of sugar, +and he asked the driver what the bags contained. The driver was put +out because his bullocks would not go on quickly, and he was tired +with beating and goading them, so he said crossly, "It's ashes." +"Good," said Shekh Fard, "let it be ashes." When the cartman got to +the bazar, and went to make over the sugar to the merchant who had +sent him for it, he found all his bags full of ashes, nothing but +ashes. He was in a great state of mind, for a good deal of money had +been paid for the sugar, and he was a poor man. So he went back to +Shekh Fard and fell down at his feet, saying, "I am a poor, poor +man. My sugar is turned to ashes. Do make the ashes sugar again." +"Good," said the fakr; "go home, and you will find sugar, and next +time you are asked what you have in your cart, tell the truth and not +lies." The cartman went home, and when he saw his sugar was sugar once +more, and no longer ashes, he was very, very glad. + +One of his brother-villagers thought, "How pleasant it would be to +become a fakr and do such things myself! I will go to this fakr and +learn from him to be a fakr too." So he went after Shekh Fard and +found him walking along the road, and he followed him. Now Shekh Fard +knew at once what this man wanted, so as they passed a heap of clay +bricks, he said, "O God, let it be thy pleasure to give me power to +turn these clay bricks into gold." Instantly they became gold, and +Shekh Fard walked on; but the villager took up two of the bricks and +put one under each arm, and then followed the fakr. Suddenly Shekh +Fard turned round, and said to him, "You have two clay bricks under +your arms." The man looked, saw it was true, and threw them away. Then +Shekh Fard said to him, "You steal bricks, and yet wish to be a +fakr?" The man was ashamed, and went back to his village. + +Shekh Fard continued his journey and got to Hmns Rj's country; +but when he got there he found Khelpar had gone to another country +for a little while, so he never saw her, nor found out how it was that +she knew what happened twenty miles off. + +In a jungle in Hmns Rj's country he met a man, called +Fakr-achand, and his wife, who were very poor. They were going to +bury their only son, and were crying bitterly. Shekh Fard asked them, +"Would you like your son to be alive again?" "Yes," they said. "Will +you give him to me, and I will bring him to life, and then he shall +return to you?" said Shekh Fard. "Yes," they answered, and gave him +their dead son, and went to their home. + +The fakr carried the dead boy, who was called Mohands, a little +further on, and then laid him on the ground, and struck him with a +long thin bamboo wand he carried in his hand. The boy stood up. Shekh +Fard asked him, "Would you like to go home to your father and mother, +or to stay with me?" "To stay with you," said Mohands. (Had he wished +to go home, the fakr would have been very angry.) "Then," said Shekh +Fard, "I will call your mother here." He did so, and when she came, +he said to her, "See, here is your son alive. Will you give him to me +for twelve years?" The woman said, "Yes," and went home. The fakr +gave her and her husband a quantity of rupees and built them a +beautiful house. Then he and Mohands set out on their travels, and +wandered about the jungles for one whole year, till they came to a +country full of large splendid gardens belonging to a very rich Rj, +called Dumks Rj. + +This Rj had a beautiful daughter, Champkl Rn. She had lovely +golden hair, golden eyebrows, golden eyelashes, blue eyes, and her +skin was transparent. In Dumks Rj's country they had never seen a +fakr, so when Shekh Fard and Mohands arrived, the Rj sent to +them, and asked Shekh Fard to come to talk to him. "No," said the +fakr, "I will not go to the Rj: if the Rj wants me, he must come +to me." + +Dumks Rj was very angry when his messengers returned with this +answer, and he ordered Shekh Fard to leave his country immediately; +but the fakr said he would not go until he had married his adopted +son, Mohands, to Champkl Rn. The people all laughed at him for +saying this, and declared such a marriage would never take place. +However, the fakr and Mohands walked about and saw the town, and +looked at everything, and everybody stared at them. Then they went to +live on the border of Dumks Rj's country, and lived there for some +time. + +One day Shekh Fard bought Mohands a beautiful horse and fine clothes +such as Rjs wear, and told the boy to ride about the fields and high +roads. He also told him not to speak to any one unless they spoke to +him. Mohands promised to do as he was bid. As he was riding along, he +met the Princess Champkl, who was also riding. She asked him who he +was. "A Rj's son," he said. "What Rj?" asked Champkl. "Never +mind what Rj," said Mohands. The princess then went home, and so +did Mohands; but every day after this they met and talked together, +and the princess fell very much in love with Mohands. + +At last she said to her father, "I wish to marry a young man who rides +about on the border-land every day, and is very handsome." The Rj +consented, for it was time his daughter was married, and now no Rj +from another country would come to marry her, as the demons who +guarded the princess swallowed all her suitors at one gulp, and had +already swallowed many Rjs who had come on this errand. + +Shekh Fard said to Mohands, "Now go up to the palace, and claim the +princess for your wife." "If I do," said Mohands, "the demons will +swallow me." "I will not let them swallow you," said Shekh Fard. So +Mohands consented and set off for the palace, Shekh Fard following +him. When Mohands came to the demons, they were going to swallow him; +but the fakr, who had his sword in his hand, killed them all, and as +he did so, the Rjs and princes who had come as suitors to the +Princess Champkl, and had therefore been swallowed by the demons, +all came jumping out of the demons' stomachs and ran off in all +directions as hard as they could, from fear not knowing where they +went. + +Mohands was greatly frightened at all this; but Shekh Fard explained +everything to him, so he went on to the palace, and the fakr went +too. There Mohands asked Dumks Rj to give him his daughter as his +wife, and the Rj consented. So he was married to Champkl Rn, +and her father gave them a great many elephants, and horses, and +camels, and a great deal of money and many jewels. And Mohands and +his wife set off with the fakr to his father Fakr-achand's house, +and they took all the elephants, camels, horses, money and jewels with +them. On the way Mohands told Champkl Rn that he was not a great +Rj's son, but the son of poor people. Champkl's heart was very +sad at this; however, she was not angry, only sorry. + +When they reached Hmns Rj's country, and had come to +Fakr-achand's house, the fakr said to Mohands's mother, "See, you +lent me one child, and I have brought you back two children. Does this +please you?" "Indeed it does please me," she answered; "I am very +happy." + +They built a beautiful palace and all lived in it together. The mother +begged Shekh Fard to stay with them, saying, "Only stay with us; I +will give you a bungalow, and you shall have everything you want." But +Shekh Fard said, "I am a fakr, and so cannot stay with you, as I may +never stay in one place, and must, instead, wander from country to +country and from jungle to jungle." So he said good-bye to them and +went on his wanderings, and never returned to them. + +Mohands, his wife, and his father and mother, all lived happily +together. + + Told by Dunkn. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XVII. + +THE MOUSE. + + +There was a mouse who wanted something to eat; so he went to a garden, +where many kinds of grain, and fruit, and cabbages, and other +vegetables were growing. All round the garden the people to whom it +belonged had planted a hedge of thorns, that nothing might get in. The +mouse scrambled through the hedge, but great thorns pierced his tail, +and he began to cry. He came out of the garden again through the +hedge, and on his way home he met a barber. + +"You must take out these thorns," said he to the barber. + +"I cannot," said the barber, "without cutting off your tail with my +razor." + +"Never mind cutting off my tail," said the mouse. + +The barber cut off the mouse's tail. But the mouse was in a rage. He +seized the razor and ran away with it. At this the poor barber was +very unhappy and began to cry, for he had no pice wherewith to buy +another. + +The mouse ran on and on until at last he came to another country, in +which there were no knives or sickles to cut the grass with. There the +mouse saw a man pulling the grass out of the ground with his hands. + +"You will cut your hands," said the mouse. + +"There are no knives here," said the man, "so I must pull up the grass +in this way." + +"You must take my razor then," said the mouse. + +"Suppose your razor should break? I could not buy you another," said +the man. + +"Never mind if it does break," said the mouse, "I give it to you as a +present." + +So the man took the razor and began cutting the grass, and as he was +cutting, the razor broke. + +"Oh, why have you broken my razor?" exclaimed the mouse. + +"Did not I tell you it would break?" answered the man. + +The mouse snatched up the man's blanket and ran off with it. The +grass-cutter began to cry. "What shall I do?" said he. "The mouse has +carried away my blanket, and I have not money wherewith to buy +another." And he went home very sad. + +Meanwhile the mouse ran on and on until he arrived at another country, +where he saw a grain merchant chopping up sugar-canes; only as he had +no blanket or cloth to lay the canes on, he chopped them up on the +ground, and so they got dirty. + +"Why do you chop up your canes on the ground?" said the mouse; "they +all get dirty." + +"What can I do?" answered the man. "I have no pice wherewith to buy a +blanket to chop them on." + +"Then why don't you take mine?" said the mouse. + +"If I took yours it would get cut, and I have no money to buy you +another," said the grain merchant. + +"Never mind; I don't want another," said the mouse. + +So the man took the blanket, and of course he cut it. When he had +finished chopping up his sugar-canes, he gave it back to the mouse. + +When the mouse saw the blanket was full of holes, he was very angry +indeed with the man, and seizing all the sugar-canes he ran away with +them as fast as he could. The grain merchant began to cry. "What shall +I do?" said he; "I have no more sugar-canes." And he went home very +sorrowful. + +Then the mouse ran on and on till he came to another country, where he +stopped at a sweetmeat-seller's shop. Now in this country there was no +salt and no sugar. And the sweetmeat-seller made his sweetmeats of +flour and ghee without either sugar or salt, so that they were very +nasty. + +"Will you give me some sweetmeats for a pice?" said the mouse to the +sweetmeat-seller. "Yes," answered the man, and he gave one. The mouse +began to eat it and thought it very nasty indeed. + +"Why, there is no sugar in it!" exclaimed the mouse. + +"No," said the man; "we have no sugar in this country. The few +sugar-canes we have are so dear, that poor people like myself cannot +buy them." + +"Then take my sugar-canes," cried the mouse. + +"No," said the man. "Where should I find the money to pay you for +them? They would be all used in making sweetmeats." + +"Take them," said the mouse; "I give them to you." + +The sweetmeat-seller took them and began making sweetmeats of all +kinds, so that he used all the sugar-canes. + +"Why have you used all my sugar-canes?" cried the mouse. + +"Did not I tell you I should do so?" said the man. + +"You are a thief!" cried the mouse, and he knocked down the +sweetmeat-seller, seized all his sweetmeats, and ran off with them. + +"What shall I do now?" cried the sweetmeat-seller. "I have no money to +buy flour and ghee to make more sweetmeats with; and if I quarrel with +the mouse, he will doubtless kill me." + +Meanwhile the mouse ran on and on till he reached a country, the Rj +of which had a great many cows--hundreds of cows. The mouse stopped at +the pasture-ground of these cows. Now, the cowherds were so poor they +could not buy bread every day, and sometimes they ate bread which was +twelve days old. When the mouse arrived, the cowherds were eating +their bread, and it was very stale and mouldy. + +"Why do you eat that stale bread?" said the mouse. + +"Because we have no money to buy any other with," answered the +cowherds. + +"Look at all these sweetmeats," said the mouse. "Take them and eat +them instead of that stale bread." + +"But if we eat them, we must pay you for them, and where shall we get +the money?" said the cowherds. + +"Oh, never mind the money," said the mouse. + +So the cowherds took the sweetmeats and ate them all up. At this the +mouse was furious. He stuck a pole into the ground, and ran and +fetched ropes, and tied the cowherds hand and foot to the pole. Then +he took all the cows and ran off with them. + +He ran on and on till he got to a country where there were no fowls, +no cows, no buffaloes, no meat of any kind; and the people in it did +not even know what milk and meat were. The day the mouse arrived was +the day the Rj's daughter was to be married, and a great many people +were assembled together. The Rj's cooks were cooking, but they had +neither meat nor ghee. + +"Why are all these people assembled together?" said the mouse. + +"To-day is our Rj's daughter's wedding-day, and we are cooking the +dinner," answered the cooks. + +"But you have no meat," said the mouse. + +"No," said the cooks. "There is no meat of any kind in our country." + +"Take my cows," said the mouse. + +"No," said the cooks; "our Rj could not pay for them; he is too +poor." (He was only a petty Rj.) + +"It does not matter," said the mouse. "I don't want money." + +So the cooks took the cows and the sheep and killed them, and dressed +their flesh in different ways; made pilaus and curries; they roasted +some and boiled some, and gave it to the people to eat. In this way +they made an end of all the cows. + +"Why have you made an end of all my cows?" cried the mouse. + +"Did not we tell you we should make use of them all?" said the cooks. + +"Give me my cows," said the mouse. + +"We can't. The people have eaten them all up," said the cooks. + +The mouse was in a great rage. He ran off to the bridegroom, who was +walking near the kitchen, saying to himself, "Now I will go and fetch +my bride." + +"Give me the money for my cows," cried the mouse to him. "Your people +have eaten them all up, and your cooks won't pay me, so you must." + +"What have I to do with your cows?" said the bridegroom. "I won't pay +you for them." + +"Then if you won't pay me, your wife's father must," said the mouse. + +"Oh, _he_ is too poor to pay for your cows," said the bridegroom, "and +I won't." + +"Then if I am not paid, I will take away your bride," said the mouse; +and he ran off and carried away the bride. + +The Rj was very angry at this; but the mouse ran on and on with his +wife (so he called the Rj's daughter) till he came to another +country. + +Now, on the day he arrived in it there were going to be grand sights +and fun to please its Rj. Some jugglers and rope-dancers were going +to perform. + +"Take my wife and let her walk on the rope; she is young, and your +wives are old," said the mouse to the rope-dancers. + +"No," they answered, "for she does not know how to walk on a rope and +carry at the same time a wooden plate on her head. She would fall and +break her neck." + +"But you must take my wife," said the mouse. "She won't fall; she is +young, and your wives are old. You really must take her." + +So the rope-dancers took her, much against their will, and when she +began to walk on the rope with the wooden plate on her head, she fell +and died. + +"Oh, why have you killed my wife?" cried the mouse. + +"Did we not tell you she would fall and kill herself?" answered the +rope-dancers. + +The mouse seized all the jugglers' and rope-dancers' wives, and the +things they used in dancing and juggling, and ran off with them. Then +the rope-dancers and jugglers began to cry, and said, "What shall we +do? Our wives and our property are all gone!" + +Meanwhile the mouse ran on and on until he came to another country, +where he got a house to live in. And he ate a great deal, and grew so +fat that he could not get through the door of his house. + +"Send for a carpenter," said he to the rope-dancers' and jugglers' +wives, "and tell him to cut off some of my flesh. Then I shall be able +to get into my house." + +The women sent for a carpenter, and when he came the mouse said to +him, "cut off some of my flesh, then I shall be able to go into my +house." + +"If I do," said the carpenter, "you will die." + +"No, I shan't die," said the mouse. "Do as I bid you." + +So the carpenter took his knife, and cut off some of the mouse's +flesh. + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear!" cried the mouse; "how it does hurt! What can I +do to make it stop paining me?" + +"You must go to a certain place, where a particular kind of grain +grows, and rub the grain on your wounds. Then they will get quite +well," said the carpenter. + +So the mouse ran off to the place to which the carpenter had told him +to go, and rubbed his wounds with the grain. This gave him such pain +that he fell down and died. + +The rope-dancers' and jugglers' wives went home to their husbands with +all the things the mouse had carried away, and they all lived happily +ever after. + + Told by Karm. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XVIII. + +A WONDERFUL STORY. + + +Once there lived two wrestlers, who were both very very strong. The +stronger of the two had a daughter called Ajt; the other had no +daughter at all. These wrestlers did not live in the same country, but +their two villages were not far apart. + +One day the wrestler that had no daughter heard of the wrestler that +had a daughter, and he determined to go and find him and wrestle with +him, to see who was the stronger. He went therefore to Ajt's father's +country, and when he arrived at his house, he knocked at the door and +said, "Is any one here?" Ajt answered, "Yes, I am here;" and she came +out. "Where is the wrestler who lives in this house?" he asked. "My +father," answered Ajt, "has taken three hundred carts to the jungle, +and he is drawing them himself, as he could not get enough bullocks +and horses to pull them along. He is gone to get wood." This +astonished the wrestler very much. "Your father must indeed be very +strong," he said. + +Then he set off to the jungle, and in the jungle he found two dead +elephants. He tied them to the two ends of a pole, took the pole on +his shoulder, and returned to Ajt's house. There he knocked at the +door, crying, "Is any one here?" "Yes, I am here," said Ajt. "Has +your father come back?" asked the wrestler. "Not yet," said Ajt, who +was busy sweeping the room. Now, her father had twelve elephants. +Eleven were in the stables, but one was lying dead in the room Ajt +was sweeping; and as she swept, she swept the dead elephant without +any trouble out of the door. This frightened the wrestler. "What a +strong girl this is!" he said to himself. When Ajt had swept all the +dust out of the room, she came and gathered it and the dead elephant +up, and threw dust and elephant away. The wrestler was more and more +astonished. + +He set off again to find Ajt's father, and met him pulling the three +hundred carts along. At this he was still more alarmed, but he said to +him, "Will you wrestle with me now?" "No," said Ajt's father, "I +won't; for here there is no one to see us." The other again begged him +to wrestle at once, and at that moment an old woman bent with age came +by. She was carrying bread to her son, who had taken his mother's +three or four thousand camels to browse. + +The first wrestler called to her at once, "Come and see us wrestle." +"No," said the old woman, "for I must take my son his dinner. He is +very hungry." "No, no; you must stay and see us wrestle," cried both +the wrestlers. "I cannot stay," she said; "but do one of you stand on +one of my hands, and the other on the other, and then you can wrestle +as we go along." "You carry us!" cried the men. "You are so old, you +will never be able to carry us." "Indeed I shall," said the old woman. +So they got up on her hands, and she rested her hands, with the +wrestlers standing on them, on her shoulders; and her son's +flour-cakes she put on her head. Thus they went on their way, and the +men wrestled as they went. + +Now the old woman had told her son that if he did not do his work +well, she would bring men to kill him; so he was dreadfully frightened +when he saw his mother coming with the wrestlers. "Here is my mother +coming to kill me," he said: and he tied up the three or four +thousand camels in his cloth, put them all on his head, and ran off +with them as fast as he could. "Stop, stop!" cried his mother, when +she saw him running away. But he only ran on still faster, and the old +woman and the wrestlers ran after him. + +Just then a kite was flying about, and the kite said to itself, "There +must be some meat in that man's cloth," so it swept down and carried +off the bundle of camels. The old woman's son at this sat down and +cried. + +The wrestlers soon came up to him and said, "What are you crying for?" +"Oh," answered the boy, "my mother said that if I did not do my work, +she would bring men to kill me. So, when I saw you coming with her, I +tied all the camels up in my cloth, put them on my head, and ran off. +A kite came down and carried them all away. That is why I am crying." +The wrestlers were much astonished at the boy's strength and at the +kite's strength, and they all three set off in the direction in which +the kite had flown. + +Meanwhile the kite had flown on and on till it had reached another +country, and the daughter of the Rj of this country was sitting on +the roof of the palace, combing her long black hair. The princess +looked up at the kite and the bundle, and said, "There must be meat in +that bundle." At that moment the kite let the bundle of camels fall, +and it fell into the princess's eye, and went deep into it; but her +eye was so large that it did not hurt her much. "Oh, mother! mother!" +she cried, "something has fallen into my eye! come and take it out." +Her mother rushed up, took the bundle of camels out of the princess's +eye, and shoved the bundle into her pocket. + +The wrestlers and the old woman's son now came up, having seen all +that had happened. "Where is the bundle of camels?" said they, "and +why do you cry?" they asked the princess. "Oh," said her mother, "she +is crying because something fell into her eye." "It was the bundle of +camels that fell into her eye, and the bundle is in your pocket," said +the old woman's son to the Rn: and he put his hand into her pocket +and pulled out the bundle. Then he and the wrestlers went back to +Ajt's father's house, and on the way they met his old mother, who +went with them. + +They invited a great many people to dinner, and Ajt took a large +quantity of flour and made it into flat cakes. Then she handed a cake +to the wrestler who had come to see her father, and gave one to +everybody else. "I can't eat such a big cake as this," said the +wrestler. "Can't you?" said Ajt. "I can't indeed," he answered; "it +is much too big." "Then I will eat it myself," said Ajt, and taking +it and all the other cakes she popped them into her mouth together. +"That is not half enough for me," she said. Then she offered him a can +of water. "I cannot drink all that water," he said. "Can't you?" said +Ajt; "I can drink much more than that." So she filled a large tub +with water, lifted it to her mouth, and drank it all up at a draught. + +The wrestler was very much astonished, and said to her, "Will you come +to my house? I will give you a dinner." "You will never be able to +give me enough to eat and drink," said Ajt. "Yes, I shall," he said. +"You will not be able to give me enough, I am sure," said Ajt; "I +cannot come." "Do come," he said. "Very well," she answered, "I will +come; but I know you will never be able to give me enough food." + +So they set off to his house. But when they had gone a little way, she +said, "I must have my house with me." "I cannot carry your house," +said the wrestler. "You must," said Ajt, "if you don't, I cannot go +with you." "But I cannot carry your house," said the wrestler. "Well, +then," said Ajt, "I will carry it myself." So she went back, dug up +her house, and hoisted it on her head. This frightened the wrestler. +"What a strong woman she must be!" he thought. "I will not wrestle +with her father; for if I do, he will kill me." + +Then they all went on till they came to his house. When they got to +it, Ajt set her house down on the ground, and the wrestler went to +get the dinner he had promised her. He brought quantities of +things--all sorts of things--everything he could think of. Three kinds +of flour, milk, dhall, rice, curries, and meat. Then he showed them +all to Ajt. "That is not enough for my dinner," she said. "Why, that +would be hardly enough for my mice!" + +The wrestler wondered very much at this, and asked, "Are your mice so +very big?" "Yes, they are very big," she answered; "come and see." So +he took up all the food he had brought, and laid it on the floor of +Ajt's house. Then at once all the mice came and ate it up every bit. +The wrestler was greatly surprised; and Ajt said, "Did I not tell you +true? and did I not tell you, you would never be able to get me enough +to eat?" "Come to the Nabha Rj's country," said the wrestler. "There +you will surely get enough to eat." + +To this she agreed; so she, her father, and the wrestler went off to +the Nabha Rj's country. "I have brought a very strong girl," said +the wrestler to the Nabha Rj. "I will try her strength," said the +Rj. "Give me three elephants," said Ajt, "and I will carry them for +you." Then the Rj sent for three elephants, and said to her, "Now, +carry these." "Give me a rope," said Ajt. So they gave her a rope, +and she tied the three elephants together, and flung them over her +shoulder. "Now, where shall I throw them?" she said to the astonished +Rj. "Shall I throw them on to the roof of your palace? or on to the +ground? or away out there?" "I don't know," said the Rj. "Throw them +upon my roof." She threw the elephants up on to the roof with such +force that it broke, and the elephants fell through into the palace. + +"What have you done?" cried the Rj. "It is not my fault," answered +Ajt. "You told me to throw the elephants on to your roof, and so I +did." Then the Rj sent for a great many men and bullocks and horses +to pull the elephants out of his palace. But they could not the first +time they pulled; then they tried a second time and succeeded, and +they threw the elephants away. + +Then Ajt went home. "What shall I do with this dreadful woman?" said +the Nabha Rj. "She is sure to kill me, and take all my country. I +will try to kill her." So he got his sepoys and guns into order, and +went out to kill Ajt. She was looking out of her window, and saw them +coming. "Oh," she said, "here is the Nabha Rj coming to kill me." +Then she went out of her house and asked him why he had come. "To kill +you," said the Rj. "Is that what you want to do?" she said; and with +one hand she took up the Rj, his guns, and his sepoys, and put them +all under her arm: and she carried them all off to the Nabha Rj's +country. There she put the Rj into prison, and made herself Rn of +his kingdom. She was very much pleased at being Rn of the Nabha +country; for it was a rich country, and there were quantities of +fruits and of corn in it. And she lived happily for a long, long time. + + Told by Karm, 13th January, 1877. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XIX. + +THE FAKR NNAKS SAVES THE MERCHANT'S LIFE. + + +In a country there was a grain merchant who was a very good man. Now a +fakr named Nnaks, who was also a very good man, came constantly to +talk with him. + +One day he came as usual, and the merchant and his wife were very glad +to see him. As they were all sitting together, they saw a goat led +away to be killed. The goat escaped from the man who was leading him +and hid behind the merchant, but he was caught and marched off to +death. + +At this the merchant said nothing, but the fakr laughed. + +A little later they saw an old woman who had done something wrong, +and, therefore, the king had ordered her to be taken to the jungle and +there put to death. The old woman escaped from the men who were +leading her and took refuge behind the merchant, but she was seized +and led away to die. + +The merchant said nothing; the fakr laughed, and the merchant's wife +saw him laugh. + +At this moment the merchant's little daughter woke and began to +scream. Her mother took her in her arms; the child was cross and +pulled her mother's clothes all awry. + +The fakr laughed. + +The mother put her dress straight and held her child in her arms and +stopped her crying. She then took a knife and went up to the fakr, +saying, "Why did you laugh three times? Tell me the truth. What made +you laugh three times?" Nnaks answered, "What does it signify +whether I cry or laugh? Ask me no questions, for I am a fakr, and it +does not matter in the least whether I laugh or cry." However, the +merchant's wife insisted on knowing why he laughed, and she said, "If +you do not tell me, I will kill you with my knife." "Good," said +Nnaks; "if you really do wish to know, I will tell you." "I really +do wish to know," she answered. + +"Well," said Nnaks, "you remember the goat took refuge behind your +husband? That goat in his former life was your husband's father, and +your husband would have saved him from death had he given the man who +was taking him to be killed four rupees, for the man would then have +gone away contentedly without the goat." + +"Good," said the woman. "Why did you laugh the second time?" + +"Well," said Nnaks, "that old woman who hid herself behind your +husband was his grandmother in her former life. Had your husband given +the men who were taking her to the jungle twenty rupees, they would +have given her up to him, and he would have saved her from death. +Should a wild beast or a man ever take refuge behind us, it is our +duty to save his life." + +"Well," said the merchant's wife, "you have told me why you laughed +the first two times. Now tell me why you laughed the third time." + +"Listen," said Nnaks. "You remember your husband's sister whom you +tormented so much? She died, but then God caused her to be born again +as your daughter, that she might torment you and punish you for having +been so unkind to her in her former life when she was your +sister-in-law." + +"Is that true?" said the woman. + +"Quite true," answered the fakr, "and that is why I laughed the third +time. But now would you like to hear something I wish to tell you? If +you promise not to cry, I will tell it you." + +"I promise not to cry, so tell me," she said. + +"Then listen," said Nnaks. "God has decreed that your husband shall +die to-morrow morning at ten o'clock. He will send four angels to +fetch him." + +At this the poor woman began to cry bitterly. + +"Do not cry," said the fakr. "I will tell you something more. Listen +to me. To-morrow morning at four o'clock you must get up, and make +your house quite clean and neat. Then buy new dishes and make all the +nicest and most delicious sweetmeats you can." + +"I will do so," she answered. + +When it was yet night she rose, and did all the fakr had bidden her. +Then she went to him and said, "The sweetmeats are ready." "Now," said +Nnaks, "go and get a fine, clean cloth; take it and the sweetmeats +with you, and set out and walk on and on till you come to a plain +which is a long way from this. But you must go on till you reach it, +and on it you will see a tank and a tree. By the tank and the tree you +must spread your cloth and lay out your sweetmeats on it. At nine +o'clock you will see four men, who will come and bathe in the tank. +When they have bathed they will come towards you, and you must say to +them, 'See! you are four angels, therefore you must eat some of my +sweetmeats.'" + +The woman set out for the plain and did all Nnaks had told her to +do; and everything happened as he had foretold. When the four men had +bathed, they came towards the woman, and she said to them, "See! you +are four angels, and therefore you must eat some of my sweetmeats." +The chief of the four angels, who was called Jabr'l, and the three +other angels answered, "We have no money, wherewith to buy your +sweetmeats, so how can we eat any of them?" "Never mind the money," +said the woman; "you can pay me another day. Come now and eat some." +So the four angels sat down and ate a great many of her sweetmeats. + +When they had finished they stood up and said to each other, "Now we +must go to the village and fetch the merchant." Then the woman made +them a great many salaams and said, "That merchant is my husband. +Still, if it is your pleasure to take him away, take him away." + +At this the angels were sad, and said to her, "How can we take your +husband's life now that we have eaten your food? But stay under this +tree till we return, and then we will pay you for your sweetmeats." + +So the angels left her, and the wife waited under the tree. She was +very sad; and after some time she thought, "Now I will go home: +perhaps these angels are gone to take his life;" and then she cried +bitterly and remained under the tree. + +Meanwhile the four angels had gone back to God, who asked them, "Have +you brought the merchant?" They were sorry not to have brought him, +and told God all that had happened. And God was very angry; but he +said to them. "Never mind. I know the fakr Nnaks is with the +merchant and his wife just now, and it is he who has played you this +trick." + +Then God wrote a letter in which he promised the merchant twenty years +more life, only at the end of the twenty years he was really to die +and not to be allowed to live any longer. This letter he gave to the +angels, and bade them take it to the merchant's wife and tell her to +have a silver box made, into which she was to put the letter, and +then hang it round her husband's neck, so that he should live for +twenty years more. + +The four angels came down to earth again, and went to the tree under +which they had left the woman. They found her waiting for them, and +gave her the letter saying, "You must get a silver box made and put +this letter in it; then hang it round your husband's neck, so that he +may live for twenty years more." + +The woman thanked them, and was very happy. She took the letter and +went home. There she found her husband quite well, and with him was +Nnaks. She gave Nnaks the letter and told him what the angels had +bidden her do with it. Nnaks read the letter, and was very much +pleased. Then he said to her, "Call a silversmith here, and let him +make you the silver box. Then you must get a great dinner ready, and +ask all your friends, rich and poor, to come and eat it." + +All this she did, and when the dinner was ready and all their friends +had come, the fakr said, "None who are here, men, women, or children, +must eat, till they have put their hands before their faces and +worshipped God." Everybody hid his face in his hands at once and +worshipped God: while they did this the fakr stole away from them, so +when they uncovered their faces he was nowhere to be seen. No one knew +where he had gone, and no one had seen him go. Some of the men went to +look for him, but they could not find him, and none of them ever saw +him again. + +But the merchant and his wife lived happily together. + + Told by Mniy. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XX. + +THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN. + + +In a country were seven daughters of poor parents, who used to come +daily to play under the shady trees in the King's garden with the +gardener's daughter; and daily she used to say to them, "When I am +married I shall have a son. Such a beautiful boy as he will be has +never been seen. He will have a moon on his forehead, and a star on +his chin." Then her playfellows used to laugh at her and mock her. + +But one day the King heard her telling them about the beautiful boy +she would have when she was married, and he said to himself he should +like very much to have such a son; the more so that though he had +already four wives he had no child. He went, therefore, to the +gardener and told him he wished to marry his daughter. This delighted +the gardener and his wife, who thought it would indeed be grand for +their daughter to become a princess. So they said "Yes" to the King, +and invited all their friends to the wedding. The King invited all +his, and he gave the gardener as much money as he wanted. Then the +wedding was held with great feasting and rejoicing. + +A year later the day drew near on which the gardener's daughter was to +have her son; and the King's four other wives came constantly to see +her. One day they said to her, "The King hunts every day; and the time +is soon coming when you will have your child. Suppose you fell ill +whilst he was out hunting and could therefore know nothing of your +illness, what would you do then?" + +When the King came home that evening, the gardener's daughter said to +him, "Every day you go out hunting. Should I ever be in trouble or +sick while you are away, how could I send for you?" The King gave her +a kettle-drum which he placed near the door for her, and he said to +her, "Whenever you want me, beat this kettle-drum. No matter how far +away I may be, I shall hear it, and will come at once to you." + +Next morning, when the King had gone out to hunt, his four other wives +came to see the gardener's daughter. She told them all about her +kettle-drum. "Oh," they said, "do drum on it just to see if the King +really will come to you." "No, I will not," she said; "for why should +I call him from his hunting when I do not want him?" "Don't mind +interrupting his hunting," they answered. "Do try if he really will +come to you when you beat your kettle-drum." So at last, just to +please them, she beat it, and the King stood before her. + +"Why have you called me?" he said. "See, I have left my hunting to +come to you." "I want nothing," she answered; "I only wished to know +if you really would come to me when I beat my drum." "Very well," +answered the King; "but do not call me again unless you really need +me." Then he returned to his hunting. + +The next day, when the King had gone out hunting as usual, the four +wives again came to see the gardener's daughter. They begged and +begged her to beat her drum once more, "just to see if the King will +really come to see you this time." At first she refused, but at last +she consented. So she beat her drum, and the King came to her. But +when he found she was neither ill nor in trouble, he was angry, and +said to her, "Twice I have left my hunting and lost my game to come +to you when you did not need me. Now you may call me as much as you +like, but I will not come to you," and then he went away in a rage. + +The third day the gardener's daughter fell ill, and she beat and beat +her kettle-drum; but the King never came. He heard her kettle-drum, +but he thought, "She does not really want me; she is only trying to +see if I will go to her." + +Meanwhile the four other wives came to her, and they said, "Here it is +the custom before a child is born to bind its mother's eyes with a +handkerchief that she may not see it just at first. So let us bind +your eyes." She answered, "Very well, bind my eyes." The four wives +then tied a handkerchief over them. + +Soon after, the gardener's daughter had a beautiful little son, with a +moon on his forehead and a star on his chin; and before the poor +mother had seen him, the four wicked wives took the boy to the nurse +and said to her, "Now you must not let this child make the least sound +for fear his mother should hear him; and in the night you must either +kill him, or else take him away, so that his mother may never see him. +If you obey our orders, we will give you a great many rupees." All +this they did out of spite. The nurse took the little child and put +him into a box, and the four wives went back to the gardener's +daughter. + +First they put a stone into her boy's little bed, and then they took +the handkerchief off her eyes and showed it her, saying, "Look! this +is your son!" The poor girl cried bitterly, and thought, "What will +the King say when he finds no child?" But she could do nothing. + +When the King came home, he was furious at hearing his youngest wife, +the gardener's daughter, had given him a stone instead of the +beautiful little son she had promised him. He made her one of the +palace servants, and never spoke to her. + +In the middle of the night the nurse took the box in which was the +beautiful little prince, and went out to a broad plain in the jungle. +There she dug a hole, made the fastenings of the box sure, and put the +box into the hole, although the child in it was still alive. The +King's dog, whose name was Shankar, had followed her to see what she +did with the box. As soon as she had gone back to the four wives (who +gave her a great many rupees), the dog went to the hole in which she +had put the box, took the box out, and opened it. When he saw the +beautiful little boy, he was very much delighted and said, "If it +pleases God that this child should live, I will not hurt him; I will +not eat him, but I will swallow him whole and hide him in my stomach." +This he did. + +After six months had passed, the dog went by night to the jungle, and +thought, "I wonder whether the boy is alive or dead." Then he brought +the child out of his stomach and rejoiced over his beauty. The boy was +now six months old. When Shankar had caressed and loved him, he +swallowed him again for another six months. At the end of that time he +went once more by night to the broad jungle-plain. There he brought up +the child out of his stomach (the child was now a year old), and +caressed and petted him a great deal, and was made very happy by his +great beauty. + +But this time the dog's keeper had followed and watched the dog; and +he saw all that Shankar did, and the beautiful little child, so he ran +to the four wives and said to them, "Inside the King's dog there is a +child! the loveliest child! He has a moon on his forehead and a star +on his chin. Such a child has never been seen!" At this the four wives +were very much frightened, and as soon as the King came home from +hunting they said to him, "While you were away your dog came to our +rooms, and tore our clothes and knocked about all our things. We are +afraid he will kill us." "Do not be afraid," said the King. "Eat your +dinner and be happy. I will have the dog shot to-morrow morning." + +Then he ordered his servants to shoot the dog at dawn, but the dog +heard him, and said to himself, "What shall I do? The King intends to +kill me. I don't care about that, but what will become of the child if +I am killed? He will die. But I will see if I cannot save him." + +So when it was night, the dog ran to the King's cow, who was called +Sur, and said to her, "Sur, I want to give you something, for the +King has ordered me to be shot to-morrow. Will you take great care of +whatever I give you?" "Let me see what it is," said Sur; "I will take +care of it if I can." Then they both went together to the wide plain, +and there the dog brought up the boy. Sur was enchanted with him. "I +never saw such a beautiful child in this country," she said. "See, he +has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. I will take the +greatest care of him." So saying she swallowed the little prince. The +dog made her a great many salaams, and said, "To-morrow I shall die;" +and the cow then went back to her stable. + +Next morning at dawn the dog was taken to the jungle and shot. + +The child now lived in Sur's stomach; and when one whole year had +passed, and he was two years old, the cow went out to the plain, and +said to herself, "I do not know whether the child is alive or dead. +But I have never hurt it, so I will see." Then she brought up the boy; +and he played about, and Sur was delighted; she loved him and +caressed him, and talked to him. Then she swallowed him, and returned +to her stable. + +At the end of another year she went again to the plain and brought up +the child. He played and ran about for an hour to her great delight, +and she talked to him and caressed him. His great beauty made her very +happy. Then she swallowed him once more and returned to her stable. +The child was now three years old. + +But this time the cowherd had followed Sur, and had seen the +wonderful child and all she did to it. So he ran and told the four +wives, "The King's cow has a beautiful boy inside her. He has a moon +on his forehead and a star on his chin. Such a child has never been +seen before!" + +At this the wives were terrified. They tore their clothes and their +hair and cried. When the King came home at evening, he asked them why +they were so agitated. "Oh," they said, "your cow came and tried to +kill us; but we ran away. She tore our hair and our clothes." "Never +mind," said the King. "Eat your dinner and be happy. The cow shall be +killed to-morrow morning." + +Now Sur heard the King give this order to the servants, so she said +to herself, "What shall I do to save the child?" When it was midnight, +she went to the King's horse called Katar, who was very wicked, and +quite untameable. No one had ever been able to ride him; indeed no one +could go near him with safety, he was so savage. Sur said to this +horse, "Katar, will you take care of something that I want to give +you, because the King has ordered me to be killed to-morrow?" "Good," +said Katar; "show me what it is." Then Sur brought up the child, and +the horse was delighted with him. "Yes," he said, "I will take the +greatest care of him. Till now no one has been able to ride me, but +this child shall ride me." Then he swallowed the boy, and when he had +done so, the cow made him many salaams, saying, "It is for this boy's +sake that I am to die." The next morning she was taken to the jungle +and there killed. + +The beautiful boy now lived in the horse's stomach, and he stayed in +it for one whole year. At the end of that time the horse thought, "I +will see if this child is alive or dead." So he brought him up; and +then he loved him, and petted him, and the little prince played all +about the stable, out of which the horse was never allowed to go. +Katar was very glad to see the child, who was now four years old. +After he had played for some time, the horse swallowed him again. At +the end of another year, when the boy was five years old, Katar +brought him up again, caressed him, loved him, and let him play about +the stable as he had done a year before. Then the horse swallowed him +again. + +But this time the groom had seen all that happened, and when it was +morning, and the King had gone away to his hunting, he went to the +four wicked wives, and told them all he had seen, and all about the +wonderful, beautiful child that lived inside the King's horse Katar. +On hearing the groom's story the four wives cried, and tore their hair +and clothes, and refused to eat. When the King returned at evening and +asked them why they were so miserable, they said, "Your horse Katar +came and tore our clothes, and upset all our things, and we ran away +for fear he should kill us." "Never mind," said the King. "Only eat +your dinner and be happy. I will have Katar shot to-morrow." Then he +thought that two men unaided could not kill such a wicked horse, so he +ordered his servants to bid his troop of sepoys shoot him. + +So the next day the King placed his sepoys all round the stable, and +he took up his stand with them; and he said he would himself shoot any +one who let his horse escape. + +Meanwhile the horse had overheard all these orders. So he brought up +the child and said to him, "Go into that little room that leads out of +the stable, and you will find in it a saddle and bridle which you must +put on me. Then you will find in the room some beautiful clothes such +as princes wear; these you must put on yourself; and you must take the +sword and gun you will find there too. Then you must mount on my +back." Now Katar was a fairy-horse, and came from the fairies' +country, so he could get anything he wanted; but neither the King nor +any of his people knew this. When all was ready, Katar burst out of +his stable, with the prince on his back, rushed past the King himself +before the King had time to shoot him, galloped away to the great +jungle-plain, and galloped about all over it. The King saw his horse +had a boy on his back, though he could not see the boy distinctly. The +sepoys tried in vain to shoot the horse; he galloped much too fast; +and at last they were all scattered over the plain. Then the King had +to give it up and go home; and his sepoys went to their homes. The +King could not shoot any of his sepoys for letting his horse escape, +for he himself had let him do so. + +Then Katar galloped away, on, and on, and on; and when night came they +stayed under a tree, he and the King's son. The horse ate grass, and +the boy wild fruits which he found in the jungle. Next morning they +started afresh, and went far, and far, till they came to a jungle in +another country, which did not belong to the little prince's father, +but to another king. Here Katar said to the boy, "Now get off my +back." Off jumped the prince. "Unsaddle me and take off my bridle; +take off your beautiful clothes and tie them all up in a bundle with +your sword and gun." This the boy did. Then the horse gave him some +poor, common clothes, which he told him to put on. As soon as he was +dressed in them the horse said, "Hide your bundle in this grass, and I +will take care of it for you. I will always stay in this jungle-plain, +so that when you want me you will always find me. You must now go away +and find service with some one in this country." This made the boy +very sad. "I know nothing about anything," he said. "What shall I do +all alone in this country?" "Do not be afraid," answered Katar. "You +will find service, and I will always stay here to help you when you +want me. So go, only before you go, twist my right ear." The boy did +so, and his horse instantly became a donkey. "Now twist your right +ear," said Katar. And when the boy had twisted it, he was no longer a +handsome prince, but a poor, common-looking, ugly man; and his moon +and star were hidden. + +Then he went away further into the country, until he came to a grain +merchant of the country, who asked him who he was. "I am a poor man," +answered the boy, "and I want service." "Good," said the grain +merchant, "you shall be my servant." + +Now the grain merchant lived near the King's palace, and one night at +twelve o'clock the boy was very hot; so he went out into the King's +cool garden, and began to sing a lovely song. The seventh and youngest +daughter of the King heard him, and she wondered who it was who could +sing so deliciously. Then she put on her clothes, rolled up her hair, +and came down to where the seemingly poor common man was lying +singing. "Who are you? where do you come from?" she asked. But he +answered nothing. "Who is this man who does not answer when I speak to +him?" thought the little princess, and she went away. On the second +night the same thing happened, and on the third night too. But on the +third night, when she found she could not make him answer her, she +said to him, "What a strange man you are not to answer me when I speak +to you." But still he remained silent, so she went away. + +The next day when he had finished his work, the young prince went to +the jungle to see his horse, who asked him, "Are you quite well and +happy?" "Yes, I am," answered the boy. "I am servant to a grain +merchant. The last three nights I have gone into the King's garden and +sung a song. And each night the youngest princess has come to me and +asked me who I am, and whence I came, and I have answered nothing. +What shall I do now?" The horse said, "Next time she asks you who you +are, tell her you are a very poor man, and came from your own country +to find service here." + +The boy then went home to the grain merchant, and at night, when +every one had gone to bed, he went to the King's garden and sang his +sweet song again. The youngest princess heard him, got up, dressed, +and came to him. "Who are you? Whence do you come?" she asked. "I am a +very poor man," he answered. "I came from my own country to seek +service here, and I am now one of the grain merchant's servants." Then +she went away. For three more nights the boy sang in the King's +garden, and each night the princess came and asked him the same +questions as before, and the boy gave her the same answers. + +Then she went to her father, and said to him, "Father, I wish to be +married; but I must choose my husband myself." Her father consented to +this, and he wrote and invited all the Kings and Rjs in the land, +saying, "My youngest daughter wishes to be married, but she insists on +choosing her husband herself. As I do not know who it is she wishes to +marry, I beg you will all come on a certain day, for her to see you +and make her choice." + +A great many Kings, Rjs, and their sons accepted this invitation and +came. When they had all arrived, the little princess's father said to +them, "To-morrow morning you must all sit together in my garden" (the +King's garden was very large), "for then my youngest daughter will +come and see you all, and choose her husband. I do not know whom she +will choose." + +The youngest princess ordered a grand elephant to be ready for her the +next morning, and when the morning came, and all was ready, she +dressed herself in the most lovely clothes, and put on her beautiful +jewels; then she mounted her elephant, which was painted blue. In her +hand she took a gold necklace. + +Then she went into the garden where the Kings, Rjs, and their sons +were seated. The boy, the grain merchant's servant, was also in the +garden: not as a suitor, but looking on with the other servants. + +The princess rode all round the garden, and looked at all the Kings +and Rjs and princes, and then she hung the gold necklace round the +neck of the boy, the grain merchant's servant. At this everybody +laughed, and the Kings were greatly astonished. But then they and the +Rjs said, "What fooling is this?" and they pushed the pretended poor +man away, and took the necklace off his neck, and said to him, "Get +out of the way, you poor, dirty man. Your clothes are far too dirty +for you to come near us!" The boy went far away from them, and stood a +long way off to see what would happen. + +Then the King's youngest daughter went all round the garden again, +holding her gold necklace in her hand, and once more she hung it round +the boy's neck. Every one laughed at her and said, "How can the King's +daughter think of marrying this poor, common man!" and the Kings and +the Rjs, who had come as suitors, all wanted to turn him out of the +garden. But the princess said, "Take care! take care! You must not +turn him out. Leave him alone." Then she put him on her elephant, and +took him to the palace. + +The Kings and Rjs and their sons were very much astonished, and +said, "What does this mean? The princess does not care to marry one of +us, but chooses that very poor man!" Her father then stood up, and +said to them all, "I promised my daughter she should marry any one she +pleased, and as she has twice chosen that poor, common man, she shall +marry him." And so the princess and the boy were married with great +pomp and splendour: her father and mother were quite content with her +choice; and the Kings, the Rjs and their sons, all returned to their +homes. + +Now the princess's six sisters had all married rich princes--and they +laughed at her for choosing such a poor ugly husband as hers seemed +to be, and said to each other, mockingly, "See! our sister has married +this poor, common man!" Their six husbands used to go out hunting +every day, and every evening they brought home quantities of all kinds +of game to their wives, and the game was cooked for their dinner and +for the King's; but the husband of the youngest princess always stayed +at home in the palace, and never went out hunting at all. This made +her very sad, and she said to herself, "My sisters' husbands hunt +every day, but my husband never hunts at all." + +At last she said to him, "Why do you never go out hunting as my +sisters' husbands do every day, and every day they bring home +quantities of all kinds of game? Why do you always stay at home, +instead of doing as they do?" + +One day he said to her, "I am going out to-day to eat the air." "Very +good," she answered; "go, and take one of the horses." "No," said the +young prince, "I will not ride, I will walk." Then he went to the +jungle-plain where he had left Katar, who all this time had seemed to +be a donkey, and he told Katar everything. "Listen," he said; "I have +married the youngest princess; and when we were married everybody +laughed at her for choosing me, and said, 'What a very poor, common +man our princess has chosen for her husband!' Besides, my wife is very +sad, for her six sisters' husbands all hunt every day, and bring home +quantities of game, and their wives therefore are very proud of them. +But I stay at home all day, and never hunt. To-day I should like to +hunt very much." + +"Well," said Katar, "then twist my left ear;" and as soon as the boy +had twisted it, Katar was a horse again, and not a donkey any longer. +"Now," said Katar, "twist your left ear, and you will see what a +beautiful young prince you will become." So the boy twisted his own +left ear, and there he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but +a grand young prince with a moon on his forehead and a star on his +chin. Then he put on his splendid clothes, saddled and bridled Katar, +got on his back with his sword and gun, and rode off to hunt. + +He rode very far, and shot a great many birds and a quantity of deer. +That day his six brothers-in-law could find no game, for the beautiful +young prince had shot it all. Nearly all the day long these six +princes wandered about looking in vain for game; till at last they +grew hungry and thirsty, and could find no water, and they had no food +with them. Meanwhile the beautiful young prince had sat down under a +tree, to dine and rest, and there his six brothers-in-law found him. +By his side was some delicious water, and also some roast meat. + +When they saw him the six princes said to each other, "Look at that +handsome prince. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. +We have never seen such a prince in this jungle before; he must come +from another country." Then they came up to him, and made him many +salaams, and begged him to give them some food and water. "Who are +you?" said the young prince. "We are the husbands of the six elder +daughters of the King of this country," they answered; "and we have +hunted all day, and are very hungry and thirsty." They did not +recognize their brother-in-law in the least. + +"Well," said the young prince, "I will give you something to eat and +drink if you will do as I bid you." "We will do all you tell us to +do," they answered, "for if we do not get water to drink, we shall +die." "Very good," said the young prince. "Now you must let me put a +red-hot pice on the back of each of you, and then I will give you food +and water. Do you agree to this?" The six princes consented, for they +thought, "No one will ever see the mark of the pice, as it will be +covered by our clothes; and we shall die if we have no water to +drink." Then the young prince took six pice, and made them red-hot in +the fire; he laid one on the back of each of the six princes, and gave +them good food and water. They ate and drank; and when they had +finished they made him many salaams and went home. + +The young prince stayed under the tree till it was evening; then he +mounted his horse and rode off to the King's palace. All the people +looked at him as he came riding along, saying, "What a splendid young +prince that is! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin." +But no one recognized him. When he came near the King's palace, all +the King's servants asked him who he was; and as none of them knew +him, the gate-keepers would not let him pass in. They all wondered who +he could be, and all thought him the most beautiful prince that had +ever been seen. + +At last they asked him who he was. "I am the husband of your youngest +princess," he answered. "No, no, indeed you are not," they said; "for +he is a poor, common-looking, and ugly man." "But I am he," answered +the prince; only no one would believe him. "Tell us the truth," said +the servants; "who are you?" "Perhaps you cannot recognize me," said +the young prince, "but call the youngest princess here. I wish to +speak to her." The servants called her, and she came. "That man is not +my husband," she said at once. "My husband is not nearly as handsome +as that man. This must be a prince from another country." + +Then she said to him, "Who are you? Why do you say you are my +husband?" "Because I am your husband. I am telling you the truth," +answered the young prince. "No you are not, you are not telling me the +truth," said the little princess. "My husband is not a handsome man +like you. I married a very poor, common-looking man." "That is true," +he answered, "but nevertheless I am your husband. I was the grain +merchant's servant; and one hot night I went into your father's garden +and sang, and you heard me, and came and asked me who I was and where +I came from, and I would not answer you. And the same thing happened +the next night, and the next, and on the fourth I told you I was a +very poor man, and had come from my country to seek service in yours, +and that I was the grain merchant's servant. Then you told your father +you wished to marry, but must choose your own husband; and when all +the Kings and Rjs were seated in your father's garden, you sat on an +elephant and went round and looked at them all; and then twice hung +your gold necklace round my neck, and chose me. See, here is your +necklace, and here are the ring and the handkerchief you gave me on +our wedding day." + +Then she believed him, and was very glad that her husband was such a +beautiful young prince. "What a strange man you are!" she said to him. +"Till now you have been poor, and ugly, and common-looking. Now you +are beautiful and look like a prince; I never saw such a handsome man +as you are before; and yet I know you must be my husband." Then she +worshipped God and thanked him for letting her have such a husband. "I +have," she said, "a beautiful husband. There is no one like him in +this country. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin." +Then she took him into the palace, and showed him to her father and +mother and to every one. They all said they had never seen any one +like him, and were all very happy. And the young prince lived as +before in the King's palace with his wife, and Katar lived in the +King's stables. + +One day, when the King and his seven sons-in-law were in his +court-house, and it was full of people, the young prince said to him, +"There are six thieves here in your court-house." "Six thieves!" said +the King. "Where are they? Show them to me." "There they are," said +the young prince, pointing to his six brothers-in-law. The King and +every one else in the court-house were very much astonished, and would +not believe the young prince. "Take off their coats," he said, "and +then you will see for yourselves that each of them has the mark of a +thief on his back." So their coats were taken off the six princes, and +the King and everybody in the court-house saw the marks of the red-hot +pice. The six princes were very much ashamed, but the young prince was +very glad. He had not forgotten how his brothers-in-law had laughed at +him and mocked him when he seemed a poor, common man. + +Now when Katar was still in the jungle, before the prince was married, +he had told the boy the whole story of his birth, and all that had +happened to him and his mother. "When you are married," he said to +him, "I will take you back to your father's country." So two months +after the young prince had revenged himself on his brothers-in-law, +Katar said to him, "It is time for you to return to your father. Get +the King to let you go to your own country, and I will tell you what +to do when we get there." + +The prince always did what his horse told him to do; so he went to his +wife and said to her, "I wish very much to go to my own country to see +my father and mother." "Very well," said his wife; "I will tell my +father and mother, and ask them to let us go." Then she went to them, +and told them, and they consented to let her and her husband leave +them. The King gave his daughter and the young prince a great many +horses, and elephants, and all sorts of presents, and also a great +many sepoys to guard them. In this grand state they travelled to the +prince's country, which was not a great many miles off. When they +reached it they pitched their tents on the same plain in which the +prince had been left in his box by the nurse, where Shankar and Sur +had swallowed him so often. + +When the King, his father, the gardener's daughter's husband, saw the +prince's camp, he was very much alarmed, and thought a great King had +come to make war on him. He sent one of his servants, therefore, to +ask whose camp it was. The young prince then wrote him a letter, in +which he said, "You are a great King. Do not fear me. I am not come to +make war on you. I am as if I were your son. I am a prince who has +come to see your country and to speak with you. I wish to give you a +grand feast, to which everyone in your country must come--men and +women, old and young, rich and poor, of all castes; all the children, +fakrs, and sepoys. You must bring them all here to me for a week, and +I will feast them all." + +The King was delighted with this letter, and ordered all the men, +women, and children of all castes, fakrs and sepoys, in his country +to go to the prince's camp to a grand feast the prince would give +them. So they all came, and the King brought his four wives too. All +came, at least all but the gardener's daughter. No one had told her to +go to the feast, for no one had thought of her. + +When all the people were assembled, the prince saw his mother was not +there, and he asked the King, "Has every one in your country come to +my feast?" "Yes, everyone," said the King. "Are you sure of that?" +asked the prince. + +"Quite sure," answered the King. "I am sure one woman has not come," +said the prince. "She is your gardener's daughter, who was once your +wife and is now a servant in your palace." "True," said the King, "I +had forgotten her." Then the prince told his servants to take his +finest palanquin and to fetch the gardener's daughter. They were to +bathe her, dress her in beautiful clothes and handsome jewels, and +then bring her to him in the palanquin. + +While the servants were bringing the gardener's daughter, the King +thought how handsome the young prince was; and he noticed +particularly the moon on his forehead and the star on his chin, and he +wondered in what country the young prince was born. + +And now the palanquin arrived bringing the gardener's daughter, and +the young prince went himself and took her out of it, and brought her +into the tent. He made her a great many salaams. The four wicked wives +looked on and were very much surprised and very angry. They remembered +that, when they arrived, the prince had made them no salaams, and +since then had not taken the least notice of them; whereas he could +not do enough for the gardener's daughter, and seemed very glad to see +her. + +When they were all at dinner, the prince again made the gardener's +daughter a great many salaams, and gave her food from all the nicest +dishes. She wondered at his kindness to her, and thought, "Who is this +handsome prince, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin? I +never saw any one so beautiful. What country does he come from?" + +Two or three days were thus passed in feasting, and all that time the +King and his people were talking about the prince's beauty, and +wondering who he was. + +One day the prince asked the King if he had any children. "None," he +answered. "Do you know who I am?" asked the prince. "No," said the +King. "Tell me who you are." "I am your son," answered the prince, +"and the gardener's daughter is my mother." The King shook his head +sadly. "How can you be my son," he said, "when I have never had any +children?" "But I am your son," answered the prince. "Your four wicked +wives told you the gardener's daughter had given you a stone and not a +son; but it was they who put the stone in my little bed, and then they +tried to kill me." The King did not believe him. "I wish you were my +son," he said; "but as I never had a child, you cannot be my son." +"Do you remember your dog Shankar, and how you had him killed? And do +you remember your cow Sur, and how you had her killed too? Your wives +made you kill them because of me. And," he said, taking the King to +Katar, "do you know whose horse that is?" + +The King looked at Katar, and then said, "That is my horse Katar." +"Yes," said the Prince. "Do you not remember how he rushed past you +out of his stable with me on his back?" Then Katar told the King the +prince was really his son, and told him all the story of his birth, +and of his life up to that moment; and when the King found the +beautiful prince was indeed his son, he was so glad, so glad. He put +his arms round him and kissed him and cried for joy. + +"Now," said the King, "you must come with me to my palace, and live +with me always." "No," said the prince, "that I cannot do. I cannot go +to your palace. I only came here to fetch my mother; and now that I +have found her, I will take her with me to my father-in-law's palace. +I have married a King's daughter, and we live with her father." "But +now that I have found you, I cannot let you go," said his father. "You +and your wife must come and live with your mother and me in my +palace." "That we will never do," said the prince, "unless you will +kill your four wicked wives with your own hand. If you will do that, +we will come and live with you." + +So the King killed his wives, and then he and his wife, the gardener's +daughter, and the prince and his wife, all went to live in the King's +palace, and lived there happily together for ever after; and the King +thanked God for giving him such a beautiful son, and for ridding him +of his four wicked wives. + +Katar did not return to the fairies' country, but stayed always with +the young prince, and never left him. + + Told by Mniy. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXI. + +THE BL-PRINCESS. + + +In a country lived a King who had seven sons. Six of these sons +married, but the seventh and youngest son would not marry; and, +moreover, he disliked his six sisters-in-law, and could not bear to +take food from their hands. One day, they got very angry with him for +disliking them, and they said to him, taunting him, "We think that you +will marry a Bl-Princess." + +"A Bl-Princess," said the young prince to himself. "What is a +Bl-Princess? and where is one to be found? I will go and look for +one." But the next day he thought, "How can I find a Bl-Princess? I +don't know where to seek for her." + +At last one day he saddled and bridled one of his father's beautiful +horses. Then he put on his grand clothes, took his sword and gun, and +said good-bye to his father and mother, and set out on his search. +They cried very much at parting with him. + +He rode from his father's country for a long, long way. At length, +when he had journeyed for six months, he found himself in a great +jungle, through which he went for many nights and days, until he at +last came to where a fakr lay sleeping. The young prince thought, "I +will watch by this fakr till he wakes. Perhaps he can help me." So he +stayed with the fakr for one whole month; and all that time he took +care of him and watched by him, and kept his hut clean. + +This fakr used to sleep for six whole months at a time, and then he +would remain awake for six months. + +When the prince had watched over him for one month the fakr woke, for +his six months' sleep had come to an end; and when he saw what care +the young prince had taken of him, and how clean his hut was, he was +very much pleased with the King's son, and said to him, "How have you +been able to reach this jungle, to which no man can come? and who are +you? and whence do you come?" + +"I am a King's son," answered the prince. "My father's country is a +six months' journey away from this; and I am come to look for a +Bl-Princess. I hear there is a Bl-Princess, and I want to find her. +Can you tell me where she is?" + +"It is true that there is one," answered the fakr, "and I know where +she is. She is in the fairies' country, whither no man can go." + +This made the young prince very sad. "What shall I do?" he said. "I +have left my father and mother, and have travelled a long, long way to +find the Bl-Princess. And now you tell me I cannot go where she +lives." + +"I will help you," said the fakr, "and if you do exactly what I tell +you, you will find her. But, first, stay here with me for a little +while." + +So the King's son stayed for another month with the fakr, and took +care of him, and did everything for him, as he did for his own father. + +At the end of the month, the fakr gave him his stick, and said to +him, "Now you must go to the fairies' country. It is one week's +journey distant from this jungle. When you get there, you will see a +number of demons and fairies who live in it." Then the fakr took a +little earth from the ground, and put it in the prince's hand. "When +you have come to the fairies' country, in order that they and the +demons may not see you, you must blow all this earth away from the +palm of your hand, and then you will be invisible. You must ride on +till you come to a great plain in the middle of their garden, and on +this plain you will see a large bl-tree and on it one big bl-fruit. +In this fruit is the Bl-Princess. You must throw my stick at it, and +it will fall; but you must take care to catch the fruit in your shawl, +and not let it fall to the ground. Then ride quickly back to me, for +as soon as the fruit falls you will cease to be invisible, and the +fairies and demons who guard the fruit will all come running after +you, and they will all call to you. But take care, take care not to +look behind you when they call you. Ride straight on to me with the +fruit, and do not look behind you. If you do, you will become stone, +and your horse too, and they will take the bl-fruit back to its +tree." + +The prince promised to do all the fakr bade him. He rode for a week, +and then he came to the fairies' country. He blew the earth the fakr +had given him away from his palm all along his fingers, just as he had +been told, and then he became invisible. He rode through the great +garden to the plain. There he saw the bl-tree, and the one fruit +hanging all alone. He threw the fakr's stick at it, and caught it in +a corner of his shawl as it fell, but then he was no longer invisible. +All the fairies and demons could see him, and they came running after +him as he rode quickly away, and called to him. He looked behind at +them, and instantly he and his horse became stone; and the bl-fruit +went back to its tree and hung itself up. + +For one week the fakr sat in his jungle, waiting for the King's son. +But the moment he was turned into stone, the fakr knew of it, and he +set off at once for the fairies' country. He walked all through it, +but neither the fairies nor demons could touch him. He went straight +to the great plain, and there he saw the King's son sitting on his +horse, and both he and the horse were stone. + +This made the fakr very sad; and he said to God, "What will the +father and mother do, now that their son is changed into a stone?" And +he prayed to God and said, "If it be God's pleasure, may this King's +son be alive once more." Then he cut his little finger on the inside +from the tip to the palm, and smeared the prince's forehead with the +blood that came from it. He rubbed some blood on the horse too, all +the time praying to God to give the prince his life again. The King's +son and his horse were alive once more. The fakr took the prince back +to his jungle, and said to him, "Listen. I told you not to look behind +you, and you disobeyed me and so were turned to stone. Had I not come +to save you, you would always have remained stone." + +The fakr kept the prince with him in the jungle for one whole week. +Then he gave him his stick and some earth he picked up from the ground +on which they were standing, and said, "Now you must go to the +fairies' country again, and throw my stick at the bl-fruit, and catch +it in a corner of your shawl as you did before. But mind, mind you do +not look behind you this time. If you do you will be turned to stone, +and you will for ever remain stone. Ride straight back to me with the +fruit, and take care never to look behind you once till you get to +me." + +So the King's son went again to the fairies' country, and all happened +as before, till he had caught the fruit in his shawl. But then he rode +straight back to the fakr without looking behind him, although the +fairies and demons ran after him and called to him the whole way. + +He rode so fast they could not catch him, and when he came to the +fakr, the fakr turned him into a fly and thus hid him. Up came all +the fairies and demons and said to the fakr, "There is a thief in +your hut." "A thief! Where is the thief?" said the fakr. "Look +everywhere for him, and take him away if you can find him." Then they +searched and searched everywhere, but could not find the prince; so at +last they went away. + +When they had all gone, the fakr took the little fly and turned it +back into a King's son. A few days afterwards he said to the prince, +"Now you have found what you wanted; you have the Bl-Princess you +came to seek. So go back to your father and mother." "Very well," said +the prince. Then he got his horse all ready for the journey, took the +bl-fruit, and made many salaams to the fakr, who said to him, "Now, +listen. Take care not to open the fruit on the road. Wait till you are +in your father's house with your father and mother, and then open it. +If you do not do exactly as I tell you, evil will happen to you; so +mind you only open the fruit in your father's house. Out of it will +come the Bl-Princess." + +The prince set out on his journey, and rode on and on for six months +till he came to his father's country, and then to his father's garden. +There he sat down to rest by a well under a clump of great trees. He +said to himself, "Now that I am in my father's country, and in my +father's garden, I will sit and rest in this cool shade; and when I am +rested I will go up to the palace." He bathed his face and his hands +in the well, and drank some of its water. Then he thought, "Surely, +now that I am in my father's country and in his garden, I need not +wait till I get to his palace to open my bl-fruit. What harm can +happen if I do open it here?" + +So he broke it open, in spite of all the fakr had told him, and out +of it came such a beautiful girl. She was more beautiful than any +princess that ever was seen--so beautiful that the King's son fainted +when he saw her. The princess fanned him, and poured water on his +face, and presently he recovered, and said to her, "Princess, I should +like to sleep for a little while, for I have travelled for six months, +and am very tired. After I have slept we will go together to my +father's palace." So he went to sleep, and the princess sat by him. + +Presently a woman came to the well for water, and she said to herself, +"See, here is the King's youngest son. What a lovely princess that is +sitting by him! What fine clothes and jewels she has on!" And the +wicked woman determined to kill the princess and to take her place. +Then she came up to the beautiful girl, and sat down beside her, and +talked to her. "Listen to me, princess," she said at last. "Let us +change clothes with each other. Give me yours, and I will give you +mine." The princess, thinking no harm, did as the woman suggested. +"And now," said the woman, "let me put on your beautiful jewels." The +princess gave them to her, and then the wicked, wicked woman, said to +her, "Let us walk about this pretty garden, and look at the flowers, +and amuse ourselves." By and by she said, "Princess, let us go and +look at ourselves in the well, and see what we look like, you in my +clothes, and I in yours." The young girl consented, and they went to +the well. As they bent over the side to look in, the wicked woman gave +the princess a push, and pushed her straight over the edge into the +water. + +Then she went and sat down by the sleeping prince, just as the +princess had done. When he awoke and saw this ugly, wicked woman, +instead of his Bl-Princess, he was very much surprised, and said to +himself, "A little while ago I had a beautiful girl by me, and now +there is such an ugly woman. It is true she has on the clothes and +jewels my Bl-Princess wore; but she is so ugly, and there is +something wrong with one of her eyes. What has happened to her?" Then +he said to this wicked woman, whom he took for his Bl-Princess, +"What is the matter with you? Has anything happened to you? Why have +you become so ugly?" She answered, "Till now I have always lived in a +bl-fruit. It is the bad air of your country that has made me ugly, +and hurt one of my eyes." + +The prince was ashamed of her, and very, very sorry. "How shall I take +her to my father's palace now?" he thought. "My mother and all my +brothers' wives will see her, and what will they say? However, never +mind; I must take her to my house, and marry her. I cannot think what +can have happened to her." Then he got a palanquin, and took her up to +the palace. + +His father and mother were very glad that their youngest son had come +back to them; but when they saw the wicked woman, and heard she was +his Bl-Princess, they, and every one else in the palace, said, "Can +she be a Bl-Princess? She is not at all pretty, and she is not at all +pleasant." "She was lovely when she came out of the fruit," said the +prince. "No one ever saw such a beautiful girl before. I cannot think +what has happened to her. It must be the bad air of this country that +has made her so ugly." Then he told them all about his journey to the +jungle where he had met the fakr, and how, with the fakr's help, he +had found his Bl-Princess, and how he had opened the fruit in his +father's garden, and then fallen asleep. + +The King made a great wedding-feast for his son, and he and the wicked +woman were married, and all the time the King's youngest son thought +he was marrying the Bl-Princess. + +Meanwhile, the beautiful girl had not been drowned in the well, but +had changed into a most lovely pink lotus-flower. This flower was +first seen by a man from the village who came to the well for water. +"What a lovely lotus-flower!" said the man; "I must gather it." But +when he tried to reach it the flower floated away from him. Then he +went and told all the people in the village of the beautiful flower, +and then the palace servants heard of it. They all tried to gather it, +but could not, for the flower always went just out of their reach. +Then the King and his six elder sons heard of it, and they came to the +well; but the King tried in vain to gather it, and his six sons too. +The lotus-flower always floated away from them. + +Last of all, the youngest prince heard of the lotus, and he grew very +curious to see it, and said, "I will try if I cannot gather this +wonderful flower that no one can touch." So he, too, came to the well, +and stooped, and stretched out his hand, and the minute he did so the +flower floated of itself into his hand. + +Then he was very happy and proud, and he took the flower up to his +wife and showed it to her. "Just see," he said, "every one in the +village and the palace were talking of this lotus-flower; and every +one tried to gather it; and no one could, for the flower would not let +any one touch it. My father tried, and my brothers all tried, and +they, too, could not gather it; but as soon as I stretched out my hand +the flower floated into it of itself." + +When his wicked wife saw the flower, she said nothing; but her heart +told her it was the beautiful girl she had pushed into the well. The +prince laid the flower on his pillow, and was very glad and happy. As +soon as he had gone out, his wife seized the lotus-flower, tore it to +bits, and threw them far away into the garden. + +In a few days a bl-tree was growing on the spot where she had thrown +the pieces of the lotus-flower. On it grew one big bl-fruit, and it +was so fine and large that every one in the village and the palace +tried to gather it; but no one could touch it, for the fruit always +went just out of reach. The King and his six elder sons also tried, +but they could not touch it. The youngest prince heard of this fruit, +so he said to his wife, "I will go and see if I can gather this +bl-fruit that no one can even touch." The wicked woman's heart said +to her, "In the bl-fruit is the Bl-Princess;" but she said nothing. + +The prince went to the bl-tree; the bl-fruit came into his hand, and +he broke it off the tree, and brought it home to his wife. "See," he +said, "here is the bl-fruit; it let me gather it at once." And he was +very proud and happy. Then he laid the fruit on a table in his room. + +When he had gone out the wicked wife came, and took the fruit, and +flung it away in the garden. In the night the fruit burst in two, and +in it lay a lovely, tiny girl baby. The gardener, as he went round the +garden early in the morning, found the little baby; and he wondered +who had thrown away the beautiful fruit, and who the lovely baby girl +could be. She was so tiny and so pretty, and the gardener was +delighted when he saw her, for he had no children, and thought God had +sent him a little child at last. + +He took her in his arms and carried her to his wife. + +"See," he said, "we have never had any children, and now God has sent +us this beautiful little girl." His wife looked at the child, and she +was as delighted with her as her husband was. "Yes," she said, "God +has sent us this child, and she is certainly most beautiful. I am very +happy. But I have no milk for her; if only I had milk for her, I could +nurse her and she would live." And the gardener's wife was very sad to +think she had no milk in her breasts for the little child. + +Then her husband said, "Let us ask God to send you milk for her." So +they prayed to God and worshipped him. And God was pleased with them +both, and sent the gardener's wife a great deal of milk. + +The little girl now lived in the gardener's house, and he and his wife +took the greatest care of her, and were very happy to think they had +now a child. She grew very fast, and became lovelier every day. She +was more beautiful than any girl that had ever been seen, and all the +people in the King's country used to say, "How lovely the gardener's +daughter is! She is more beautiful than any princess." + +The King's youngest son's wicked wife heard of the child, and her +heart told her, "She is the Bl-Princess." She said nothing, but she +often thought of how she could contrive to have her killed. + +One day, when the gardener's daughter was seven years old, she was out +in her father's garden, making a little garden of her own near the +house-door. While she was busy over her flowers, the wicked woman's +cow strayed into the garden and began eating the plants in it. The +little girl would not let it make its dinner off her father's flowers +and grass, but pushed it out of the garden. + +The wicked woman was told how the gardener's daughter had treated her +cow; so she cried all day long, and pretended to be ill. When her +husband asked her what was the matter, she answered, "I am sick +because the gardener's daughter has ill-treated my cow. She beat it, +and turned it out of her father's garden, and said many wicked things. +If you will have the girl killed, I shall live; but if you do not kill +her, I shall die." The prince at once ordered his servants to take the +gardener's daughter the next morning to the jungle, and there kill +her. + +So the next morning early the servants went to the gardener's house to +take away his daughter. He and his wife cried bitterly, and begged the +servants to leave the girl with them. They offered them a great many +rupees, saying, "Take these rupees, and leave us our daughter." "How +can we leave you your daughter," said the servants, "when the King's +youngest son has ordered us to take her to the jungle and kill her, +that his wife may get well?" + +So they led the girl away; and as they went to the jungle, they said +to each other, "How beautiful this girl is!" They found her so +beautiful that they grew very sorrowful at the thought of killing her. + +They took the girl to a great plain, which was about ten miles distant +from the King's country; but when they got there they said they could +not kill her. She was so beautiful that they really could not kill +her. She said to them, "You were ordered to kill me, so kill me." +"No," they answered, "we cannot kill you, we cannot kill you." + +Then the girl took the knife in her own hand and cut out her two eyes; +and one eye became a parrot, and the other a _main_. Then she cut out +her heart and it became a great tank. Her body became a splendid +palace and garden--a far grander palace than was the King's palace; +her arms and legs became the pillars that supported the verandah roof; +and her head the dome on the top of the palace. + +The prince's servants looked on all the time these changes were taking +place, and they were so frightened by them, that when they got home +they would not tell the prince or any one else what they had seen. No +one lived in this wonderful house. It stood empty in its garden by its +tank, and the parrot and _main_ lived in the garden trees. + +Some time afterwards the youngest prince went out hunting, and towards +evening he found himself on the great plain where stood the wonderful +palace. He rode up to it and said to himself, "I never saw any house +here before. I wonder who lives here?" He went through the great gate +into the garden, and then he saw the large tank, and how beautiful the +garden was. He went all through the garden and was delighted with it, +and he saw that it was beautifully kept, and was in perfect order. +Then he went into the palace, and went through all the rooms, and +wondered more and more to whom this beautiful house could belong. He +was very much surprised, too, at finding no one in the palace, though +the rooms were all splendidly furnished, and very clean and neat. + +"My father is a great king," he said to himself, "and yet he has not +got a palace like this." It was now deep night, so the prince knew he +could not go home till the next day. "Never mind," he said, "I will +sleep in the verandah. I am not afraid, though I shall be quite +alone." + +So he lay down to sleep in the verandah, and while he lay there, the +parrot and _main_ flew in, and they perched near him, for they knew +he was there, and they wanted him to hear what they said to each +other. Then they began chattering together; and the parrot told the +_main_ how the prince's father was king of the neighbouring country, +and how he had seven sons, and how six of the sons had married six +princesses, "but this prince, who was the youngest son, would not +marry; and what is more, he did not like his brother's wives at all." +Then the birds stopped talking and did not chatter any more that +night. The prince was very much surprised at the birds knowing who he +was, and all about his dislike to his brothers' wives. + +The next morning he rode home; and there he stayed all day, and would +not talk. His wife asked him, "What is the matter with you? Why are +you so silent?" "My head aches," he answered: "I am ill." But towards +evening he felt he must go back to the empty palace on the great +plain, so he said to his wife, "I am going out to eat the air for a +little while." Then he got on his horse and rode off to the palace. + +As soon as he had laid himself down in the verandah, the parrot and +the _main_ perched near him; and the parrot told the _main_ how the +prince had heard of the Bl-Princess; and all about his long journey +in search of her, and how he found the bl-fruit, and how he was +turned to stone. Then he stopped chattering, and the birds said +nothing more to each other that night. + +In the morning the King's son rode home, and was as silent and grave +as he had been before. He told his wife his head ached when she asked +him whether he was ill. + +That night he again slept in the verandah of the strange palace, and +heard a little more of his story from the birds. + +The next day he was still silent and grave, and his wife was very +uneasy. "I am sure the Bl-Princess is alive," she said to herself, +"and that he goes every night to see her." Then she asked him, "Why do +you go out every evening? Why do you not stay at home?" "I am not +well," he answered, "so I go to my mother's house" (the prince had a +little house of his own in his father's compound). "I will not sleep +at home again till I am well." + +That night he lay down to sleep again in the verandah of the great +empty palace, and heard the parrot tell the _main_ all that happened +to the prince up to the time that he fell asleep in his father's +garden with the beautiful Bl-Princess sitting beside him. + +On the fifth night the prince lay down to sleep again in the verandah +of the palace on the great plain, and watched eagerly for the little +birds to begin their talk. This night the parrot told how the wicked +woman had come and taken the Bl-Princess's clothes, and thrown her +down the well; how the princess became a lotus-flower which the wicked +wife broke to bits; how the bits of the lotus-flower turned into a +bl-fruit which she threw away; how out of the fruit came a tiny +girl-baby that the gardener adopted; how the wicked woman persuaded +the prince to have this girl killed when she was seven years old; how +he and the _main_ had once been this girl's eyes; how the tank was +once her heart, and how her body had changed into this palace and +garden, while her head became the dome on the top of the palace. + +Then the _main_ asked the parrot where the Bl-Princess was. "Cannot +she be found?" said the _main_. "Yes," said the parrot, "she can be +found; but the King's youngest son alone can find her, and he is so +foolish! He believes that his ugly, wicked wife is the beautiful +Bl-Princess!" "And where is the princess?" asked the _main_. "She is +here," said the parrot. "If the prince would come one day and go +through all the rooms of this palace till he came to the centre room, +he would see a trap-door in the middle of that room. If he lifted the +trap-door he would see a staircase which leads to an underground +palace, and in this palace is the Bl-princess." "And can no one but +the prince lift the trap-door?" asked the _main_. "No one," answered +the parrot. "It is God's order that only the King's youngest son can +lift the trap-door and find the Bl-Princess." + +The next day the young prince went through all the rooms of the +palace, instead of going home. When he came to the centre room, he +looked for the trap-door, and when he had lifted it he saw the +staircase. He went down it, and found himself in the under-ground +palace, which was far more beautiful than the one above-ground. It was +full of servants; and in one room a grand dinner was standing ready. +In another room he saw a gold bed, all covered with pearls and +diamonds, and on the bed lay the Bl-Princess. + +Day and night she prayed to God and read a holy book. She did nothing +else. + +When the prince went into her room and she saw him, she was very sad, +not happy, for she thought, "He is so foolish; he knows nothing of +what has happened to me." Then she said to him, "Why did you come +here? Go home again to your father's palace." + +The prince burst out crying. "See, princess," he said, "I knew nothing +of your palace. I only found it by chance five nights ago. I have +slept here in the verandah for the last five nights, and only last +night did I learn what had happened to you, and how to find you." "I +know it is true," she said, "that you knew nothing of what happened to +me. But now that you have found me, what will you do?" + +"I will go home to my father's palace," he answered, "and make +everything ready for you, and then I will come and marry you and take +you home." + +So it was all settled, and he ate some food, and returned to his +father. He told his father and mother all that had happened to the +Bl-Princess, and how her body had turned into the beautiful garden +and palace that stood on the big plain; and of the little birds; and +of the underground palace in which she now lived. So his father said +that he and the prince's mother, and his six brothers and their wives, +would all take him in great state to the palace and marry him to the +beautiful Bl-Princess; and that then they would all return to their +own palace, and all live together. "But first the wicked woman must be +killed," said the King. + +So he ordered his servants to take her to the jungle and kill her, and +throw her body away. So they took her away at four o'clock in the +afternoon and killed her. + +One morning two or three days later, the prince and his father and +mother, and brothers and sisters-in-law, went to the great palace on +the wide plain; and there, in the evening, the king's youngest son was +married to the Bl-Princess. And when his father and mother and +brothers, and his brothers' wives, saw her, they all said, "It is +quite true. She is indeed a Bl-Princess!" + +After the wedding they all returned to the King's palace, and there +they lived together. But the King and his sons used often to go to the +palace on the great plain to eat the air; and they used to lend it +sometimes to other rjs and kings. + + Told by Mniy. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXII. + +HOW THE RJ'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABM. + + +In a country there was a Rj who had an only son who every day went +out to hunt. One day the Rn, his mother, said to him, "You can hunt +wherever you like on these three sides; but you must never go to the +fourth side." This she said because she knew if he went on the fourth +side he would hear of the beautiful Princess Labm, and that then he +would leave his father and mother and seek for the princess. + +The young prince listened to his mother, and obeyed her for some time; +but one day, when he was hunting on the three sides where he was +allowed to go, he remembered what she had said to him about the fourth +side, and he determined to go and see why she had forbidden him to +hunt on that side. When he got there, he found himself in a jungle, +and nothing in the jungle but a quantity of parrots, who lived in it. +The young Rj shot at some of them, and at once they all flew away up +to the sky. All, that is, but one, and this was their Rj, who was +called Hrman parrot. + +When Hrman parrot found himself left alone, he called out to the +other parrots, "Don't fly away and leave me alone when the Rj's son +shoots. If you desert me like this, I will tell the Princess Labm." + +Then the parrots all flew back to their Rj, chattering. The prince +was greatly surprised, and said, "Why, these birds can talk!" Then he +said to the parrots, "Who is the Princess Labm? Where does she live?" +But the parrots would not tell him where she lived. "You can never +get to the Princess Labm's country." That is all they would say. + +The prince grew very sad when they would not tell him anything more; +and he threw his gun away, and went home. When he got home, he would +not speak or eat, but lay on his bed for four or five days, and seemed +very ill. + +At last he told his father and mother that he wanted to go and see the +Princess Labm. "I must go," he said; "I must see what she is like. +Tell me where her country is." "We do not know where it is," answered +his father and mother. "Then I must go and look for it," said the +prince. "No, no," they said, "you must not leave us. You are our only +son. Stay with us. You will never find the Princess Labm." "I must +try and find her," said the prince. "Perhaps God will show me the way. +If I live and I find her, I will come back to you; but perhaps I shall +die, and then I shall never see you again. Still I must go." + +So they had to let him go, though they cried very much at parting with +him. His father gave him fine clothes to wear, and a fine horse. And +he took his gun, and his bow and arrows, and a great many other +weapons, "for," he said, "I may want them." His father, too, gave him +plenty of rupees. + +Then he himself got his horse all ready for the journey, and he said +good-bye to his father and mother; and his mother took her +handkerchief and wrapped some sweetmeats in it, and gave it to her +son. "My child," she said to him, "when you are hungry eat some of +these sweetmeats." + +He then set out on his journey, and rode on and on till he came to a +jungle in which were a tank and shady trees. He bathed himself and his +horse in the tank, and then sat down under a tree. "Now," he said to +himself, "I will eat some of the sweetmeats my mother gave me, and I +will drink some water, and then I will continue my journey." He +opened his handkerchief, and took out a sweetmeat. He found an ant in +it. He took out another. There was an ant in that one too. So he laid +the two sweetmeats on the ground, and he took out another, and +another, and another, until he had taken them all out; but in each he +found an ant. "Never mind," he said, "I won't eat the sweetmeats; the +ants shall eat them." Then the Ant-Rj came and stood before him and +said, "You have been good to us. If ever you are in trouble, think of +me and we will come to you." + +The Rj's son thanked him, mounted his horse and continued his +journey. He rode on and on till he came to another jungle, and there +he saw a tiger who had a thorn in his foot, and was roaring loudly +from the pain. + +"Why do you roar like that?" said the young Rj. "What is the matter +with you?" "I have had a thorn in my foot for twelve years," answered +the tiger, "and it hurts me so; that is why I roar." "Well," said the +Rj's son, "I will take it out for you. But, perhaps, as you are a +tiger, when I have made you well, you will eat me?" "Oh, no," said the +tiger, "I won't eat you. Do make me well." + +Then the prince took a little knife from his pocket, and cut the thorn +out of the tiger's foot; but when he cut, the tiger roared louder than +ever, so loud that his wife heard him in the next jungle, and came +bounding along to see what was the matter. The tiger saw her coming, +and hid the prince in the jungle, so that she should not see him. + +"What man hurt you that you roared so loud?" said the wife. "No one +hurt me," answered her husband; "but a Rj's son came and took the +thorn out of my foot." "Where is he? Show him to me," said his wife. +"If you promise not to kill him, I will call him," said the tiger. "I +won't kill him; only let me see him," answered his wife. + +Then the tiger called the Rj's son, and when he came the tiger and +his wife made him a great many salaams. Then they gave him a good +dinner, and he stayed with them for three days. Every day he looked at +the tiger's foot, and the third day it was quite healed. Then he said +good-bye to the tigers, and the tiger said to him, "If ever you are in +trouble, think of me, and we will come to you." + +The Rj's son rode on and on till he came to a third jungle. Here he +found four fakrs whose teacher and master had died, and had left four +things,--a bed, which carried whoever sat on it whithersoever he +wished to go; a bag, that gave its owner whatever he wanted, jewels, +food, or clothes; a stone bowl that gave its owner as much water as he +wanted, no matter how far he might be from a tank; and a stick and +rope, to which its owner had only to say, if any one came to make war +on him, "Stick, beat as many men and soldiers as are here," and the +stick would beat them and the rope would tie them up. + +The four fakrs were quarrelling over these four things. One said, "I +want this;" another said, "You cannot have it, for I want it;" and so +on. + +The Rj's son said to them, "Do not quarrel for these things. I will +shoot four arrows in four different directions. Whichever of you gets +to my first arrow, shall have the first thing--the bed. Whosoever gets +to the second arrow, shall have the second thing--the bag. He who gets +to the third arrow, shall have the third thing--the bowl. And he who +gets to the fourth arrow, shall have the last things--the stick and +rope." To this they agreed, and the prince shot off his first arrow. +Away raced the fakrs to get it. When they brought it back to him he +shot off the second, and when they had found and brought it to him he +shot off his third, and when they had brought him the third he shot +off the fourth. + +While they were away looking for the fourth arrow, the Rj's son let +his horse loose in the jungle, and sat on the bed, taking the bowl, +the stick and rope, and the bag with him. Then he said, "Bed, I wish +to go to the Princess Labm's country." The little bed instantly rose +up into the air and began to fly, and it flew and flew till it came to +the Princess Labm's country, where it settled on the ground. The +Rj's son asked some men he saw, "Whose country is this?" "The +Princess Labm's country," they answered. Then the prince went on till +he came to a house where he saw an old woman. "Who are you?" she said. +"Where do you come from?" "I come from a far country," he said; "do +let me stay with you to-night." "No," she answered, "I cannot let you +stay with me; for our king has ordered that men from other countries +may not stay in his country. You cannot stay in my house." "You are my +aunty," said the prince; "let me remain with you for this one night. +You see it is evening, and if I go into the jungle, then the wild +beasts will eat me." "Well," said the old woman, "you may stay here +to-night; but to-morrow morning you must go away, for if the king +hears you have passed the night in my house, he will have me seized +and put into prison." + +Then she took him into her house, and the Rj's son was very glad. +The old woman began preparing dinner, but he stopped her. "Aunty," he +said, "I will give you food." He put his hand into his bag, saying, +"Bag, I want some dinner," and the bag gave him instantly a delicious +dinner, served upon two gold plates. The old woman and the Rj's son +then dined together. + +When they had finished eating, the old woman said, "Now I will fetch +some water." "Don't go," said the prince. "You shall have plenty of +water directly." So he took his bowl and said to it, "Bowl, I want +some water," and then it filled with water. When it was full, the +prince cried out, "Stop, bowl," and the bowl stopped filling. "See, +aunty," he said, "with this bowl I can always get as much water as I +want." + +By this time night had come. "Aunty," said the Rj's son, "why don't +you light a lamp?" "There is no need," she said. "Our king has +forbidden the people in his country to light any lamps; for, as soon +as it is dark, his daughter, the Princess Labm, comes and sits on her +roof, and she shines so, that she lights up all the country and our +houses, and we can see to do our work as if it were day." + +When it was quite black night, the princess got up. She dressed +herself in her rich clothes and jewels, and rolled up her hair, and +across her head she put a band of diamonds and pearls. Then she shone +like the moon, and her beauty made night day. She came out of her +room, and sat on the roof of her palace. In the daytime she never came +out of her house; she only came out at night. All the people in her +father's country then went about their work and finished it. + +The Rj's son watched the princess quietly, and was very happy. He +said to himself, "How lovely she is!" + +At midnight, when everybody had gone to bed, the princess came down +from her roof, and went to her room; and when she was in bed and +asleep, the Rj's son got up softly, and sat on his bed. "Bed," he +said to it, "I want to go to the Princess Labm's bed-room." So the +little bed carried him to the room where she lay fast asleep. + +The young Rj took his bag and said, "I want a great deal of +betel-leaf," and it at once gave him quantities of betel-leaf. This he +laid near the princess's bed, and then his little bed carried him back +to the old woman's house. + +Next morning all the princess's servants found the betel-leaf, and +began to eat it. "Where did you get all that betel-leaf?" asked the +princess. "We found it near your bed," answered the servants. Nobody +knew the prince had come in the night and put it all there. + +In the morning the old woman came to the Rj's son. "Now it is +morning," she said, "and you must go; for if the king finds out all I +have done for you, he will seize me." "I am ill to-day, dear aunty," +said the prince; "do let me stay till to-morrow morning." "Good," said +the old woman. So he stayed, and they took their dinner out of the +bag, and the bowl gave them water. + +When night came the princess got up and sat on her roof, and at twelve +o'clock, when every one was in bed, she went to her bed-room, and was +soon fast asleep. Then the Rj's son sat on his bed, and it carried +him to the princess. He took his bag and said, "Bag, I want a most +lovely shawl." It gave him a splendid shawl, and he spread it over the +princess as she lay asleep. Then he went back to the old woman's house +and slept till morning. + +In the morning, when the princess saw the shawl, she was delighted. +"See, mother," she said; "God must have given me this shawl, it is so +beautiful." Her mother was very glad too. "Yes, my child," she said; +"God must have given you this splendid shawl." + +When it was morning the old woman said to the Rj's son, "Now you +must really go." "Aunty," he answered, "I am not well enough yet. Let +me stay a few days longer. I will remain hidden in your house, so that +no one may see me." So the old woman let him stay. + +When it was black night, the princess put on her lovely clothes and +jewels, and sat on her roof. At midnight she went to her room and went +to sleep. Then the Rj's son sat on his bed and flew to her bed-room. +There he said to his bag, "Bag, I want a very, very beautiful ring." +The bag gave him a glorious ring. Then he took the Princess Labm's +hand gently to put on the ring, and she started up very much +frightened. + +"Who are you?" she said to the prince. "Where do you come from? Why do +you come to my room?" "Do not be afraid, princess," he said; "I am no +thief. I am a great Rj's son. Hrman parrot, who lives in the +jungle where I went to hunt, told me your name, and then I left my +father and mother, and came to see you." + +"Well," said the princess, "as you are the son of such a great Rj, I +will not have you killed, and I will tell my father and mother that I +wish to marry you." + +The prince then returned to the old woman's house; and when morning +came, the princess said to her mother, "The son of a great Rj has +come to this country, and I wish to marry him." Her mother told this +to the king. "Good," said the king; "but if this Rj's son wishes to +marry my daughter, he must first do whatever I bid him. If he fails I +will kill him. I will give him eighty pounds weight of mustard seed, +and out of this he must crush the oil in one day. If he cannot do this +he shall die." + +In the morning the Rj's son told the old woman that he intended to +marry the princess. "Oh," said the old woman, "go away from this +country, and do not think of marrying her. A great many Rjs and +Rjs' sons have come here to marry her, and her father has had them +all killed. He says whoever wishes to marry his daughter must first do +whatever he bids him. If he can, then he shall marry the princess; if +he cannot, the king will have him killed. But no one can do the things +the king tells him to do; so all the Rjs and Rjs' sons who have +tried have been put to death. You will be killed too, if you try. Do +go away." But the prince would not listen to anything she said. + +The king sent for the prince to the old woman's house, and his +servants brought the Rj's son to the king's court-house to the king. +There the king gave him eighty pounds of mustard seed, and told him to +crush all the oil out of it that day, and bring it next morning to him +to the court-house. "Whoever wishes to marry my daughter," he said to +the prince, "must first do all I tell him. If he cannot, then I have +him killed. So if you cannot crush all the oil out of this mustard +seed, you will die." + +The prince was very sorry when he heard this. "How can I crush the oil +out of all this mustard seed in one day?" he said to himself; "and if +I do not, the king will kill me." He took the mustard seed to the old +woman's house, and did not know what to do. At last he remembered the +Ant-Rj, and the moment he did so, the Ant-Rj and his ants came to +him. "Why do you look so sad?" said the Ant-Rj. The prince showed +him the mustard seed, and said to him, "How can I crush the oil out of +all this mustard seed in one day? And if I do not take the oil to the +king to-morrow morning, he will kill me." "Be happy," said the +Ant-Rj; "lie down and sleep: we will crush all the oil out for you +during the day, and to-morrow morning you shall take it to the king." +The Rj's son lay down and slept, and the ants crushed out the oil +for him. The prince was very glad when he saw the oil. + +The next morning he took it to the court-house to the king. But the +king said, "You cannot yet marry my daughter. If you wish to do so, +you must first fight with my two demons and kill them." The king a +long time ago had caught two demons, and then, as he did not know what +to do with them, he had shut them up in a cage. He was afraid to let +them loose for fear they would eat up all the people in his country; +and he did not know how to kill them. So all the kings and kings' sons +who wanted to marry the Princess Labm had to fight with these demons; +"for," said the king to himself, "perhaps the demons may be killed, +and then I shall be rid of them." + +When he heard of the demons the Rj's son was very sad. "What can I +do?" he said to himself. "How can I fight with these two demons?" Then +he thought of his tiger: and the tiger and his wife came to him and +said, "Why are you so sad?" The Rj's son answered, "The king has +ordered me to fight with his two demons and kill them. How can I do +this?" "Do not be frightened," said the tiger. "Be happy. I and my +wife will fight with them for you." + +Then the Rj's son took out of his bag two splendid coats. They were +all gold and silver, and covered with pearls and diamonds. These he +put on the tigers to make them beautiful, and he took them to the +king, and said to him, "May these tigers fight your demons for me?" +"Yes," said the king, who did not care in the least who killed his +demons, provided they were killed. "Then call your demons," said the +Rj's son, "and these tigers will fight them." The king did so, and +the tigers and the demons fought and fought until the tigers had +killed the demons. + +"That is good," said the king. "But you must do something else before +I give you my daughter. Up in the sky I have a kettle-drum. You must +go and beat it. If you cannot do this, I will kill you." + +The Rj's son thought of his little bed; so he went to the old +woman's house and sat on his bed. "Little bed," he said, "up in the +sky is the king's kettle-drum. I want to go to it." The bed flew up +with him, and the Rj's son beat the drum, and the king heard him. +Still, when he came down, the king would not give him his daughter. +"You have," he said to the prince, "done the three things I told you +to do; but you must do one thing more." "If I can, I will," said the +Rj's son. + +Then the king showed him the trunk of a tree that was lying near his +court-house. It was a very, very thick trunk. He gave the prince a wax +hatchet, and said, "To-morrow morning you must cut this trunk in two +with this wax hatchet." + +The Rj's son went back to the old woman's house. He was very sad, +and thought that now the Rj would certainly kill him. "I had his +oil crushed out by the ants," he said to himself. "I had his demons +killed by the tigers. My bed helped me to beat his kettle-drum. But +now what can I do? How can I cut that thick tree trunk in two with a +wax hatchet?" + +At night he went on his bed to see the princess. "To-morrow," he said +to her, "your father will kill me." "Why?" asked the princess. + +"He has told me to cut a thick tree-trunk in two with a wax hatchet. +How can I ever do that?" said the Rj's son. "Do not be afraid," said +the princess; "do as I bid you, and you will cut it in two quite +easily." + +Then she pulled out a hair from her head, and gave it to the prince. +"To-morrow," she said, "when no one is near you, you must say to the +tree-trunk, 'The Princess Labm commands you to let yourself be cut in +two by this hair.' Then stretch the hair down the edge of the wax +hatchet's blade." + +The prince next day did exactly as the princess had told him; and the +minute the hair that was stretched down the edge of the hatchet-blade +touched the tree-trunk, it split into two pieces. + +The king said, "Now you can marry my daughter." Then the wedding took +place. All the Rjs and kings of the countries round were asked to +come to it, and there were great rejoicings. After a few days the +prince's son said to his wife, "Let us go to my father's country." The +Princess Labm's father gave them a quantity of camels and horses and +rupees and servants; and they travelled in great state to the prince's +country, where they lived happily. + +The prince always kept his bag, bowl, bed, and stick; only as no one +ever came to make war on him, he never needed to use the stick. + + Told by Mniy. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXIII. + +THE PRINCESS WHO LOVED HER FATHER LIKE SALT. + + +In a country there lived a king who had seven daughters. One day he +called them all to him and said to them, "My daughters, how much do +you love me?" The six eldest answered, "Father, we love you as much as +sweetmeats and sugar;" but the seventh and youngest daughter said, +"Father, I love you as much as salt." The king was much pleased with +his six eldest daughters, but very angry with his youngest daughter. +"What is this?" he said; "my daughter only loves me as much as she +does salt!" Then he called some of his servants, and said to them, +"Get a palanquin ready, and carry my youngest daughter away to the +jungle." + +The servants did as they were bid; and when they got to the jungle, +they put the palanquin down under a tree and went away. The princess +called to them, "Where are you going? Stay here; my father did not +tell you to leave me alone in the jungle." "We will come back," said +the servants; "we are only going to drink some water." But they +returned to her father's palace. + +The princess waited in the palanquin under the tree, and it was now +evening, and the servants had not come back. She was very much +frightened and cried bitterly. "The tigers and wild beasts will eat +me," she said to herself. At last she went to sleep, and slept for a +little while. When she awoke she found in her palanquin some food on a +plate, and a little water, that God had sent her while she slept. She +ate the food and drank the water, and then she felt happier, for she +thought, "God must have sent me this food and water." She decided that +as it was now night she had better stay in her palanquin, and go to +sleep. "Perhaps the tigers and wild beasts will come and eat me," she +thought; "but if they don't, I will try to-morrow to get out of this +jungle, and go to another country." + +The next morning she left her palanquin and set out. She walked on, +till, deep in the jungle, she came to a beautiful palace, which did +not belong to her father, but to another king. The gate was shut, but +she opened it, and went in. She looked all about, and thought, "What a +beautiful house this is, and what a pretty garden and tank!" + +Everything was beautiful, only there were no servants nor anybody else +to be seen. She went into the house, and through all the rooms. In one +room she saw a dinner ready to be eaten, but there was no one to eat +it. At last she came to a room in which was a splendid bed, and on it +lay a king's son covered with a shawl. She took the shawl off, and +then she saw he was very beautiful, and that he was dead. His body was +stuck full of needles. + +She sat down on the bed, and there she sat for one week, without +eating, or drinking, or sleeping, pulling out the needles. Then a man +came by who said to her, "I have here a girl I wish to sell." "I have +no rupees," said the princess; "but if you will sell her to me for my +gold bangles, I will buy her." The man took the bangles, and left the +girl with the princess, who was very glad to have her. "Now," she +thought, "I shall be no longer alone." + +All day and all night long the princess sat and pulled out the +needles, while the girl went about the palace doing other work. At +the end of other two weeks the princess had pulled out all the needles +from the king's body, except those in his eyes. + +Then the king's daughter said to her servant-girl, "For three weeks I +have not bathed. Get a bath ready for me, and while I am bathing sit +by the king, but do not take the needles out of his eyes. I will pull +them out myself." The servant-girl promised not to pull out the +needles. Then she got the bath ready; but when the king's daughter had +gone to bathe, she sat down on the bed, and pulled the needles out of +the king's eyes. + +As soon as she had done so, he opened his eyes, and sat up. He thanked +God for bringing him to life again. Then he looked about, and saw the +servant-girl, and said to her, "Who has made me well and pulled all +the needles out of my body?" "I have," she answered. Then he thanked +her and said she should be his wife. + +When the princess came from her bath, she found the king alive, and +sitting on his bed talking to her servant. When she saw this she was +very sad, but she said nothing. The king said to the servant-maid, +"Who is this girl?" She answered, "She is one of my servants." And +from that moment the princess became a servant-girl, and her +servant-girl married the king. Every day the king said, "Can this +lovely girl be really a servant? She is far more beautiful than my +wife." + +One day the king thought, "I will go to another country to eat the +air." So he called the pretended princess, his wife, and told her he +was going to eat the air in another country. "What would you like me +to bring you when I come back?" She answered, "I should like beautiful +srs and clothes, and gold and silver jewels." Then the king said, +"Call the servant-girl, and ask her what she would like me to bring +her." The real princess came, and the king said to her, "See, I am +going to another country to eat the air. What would you like me to +bring for you when I return?" + +"King," she answered, "if you can bring me what I want I will tell you +what it is; but if you cannot get it, I will not tell you." "Tell me +what it is," said the king. "Whatever it may be I will bring it you." +"Good," said the princess. "I want a sun-jewel box." Now the princess +knew all about the sun-jewel boxes, and that only fairies had such +boxes. And she knew, too, what would be in hers if the king could get +one for her, although these boxes contain sometimes one thing and +sometimes another. + +The king had never heard of such a box, and did not know what it was +like; so he went to every country asking all the people he met what +sort of box was a sun-jewel box, and where he could get it. At last +one day, after a fruitless search, he was very sad, for he thought, "I +have promised the servant to bring her a sun-jewel box, and now I +cannot get one for her; what shall I do?" + +Then he went to sleep, and had a dream. In it he saw a jungle, and in +the jungle a fakr who, when he slept, slept for twelve years, and +then was awake for twelve years. The king felt sure this man could +give him what he wanted, so when he woke he said to his sepoys and +servants, "Stay here in this spot till I return to you; then we will +go back to my country." + +He mounted his horse and set out for the jungle he had seen in his +dream. He went on and on till he came to it, and there he saw the +fakr lying asleep. He had been asleep for twelve years all but two +weeks: over him were a quantity of leaves, and grass, and a great deal +of mud. The king began taking off all the grass, and leaves, and mud, +and every day for a fortnight when he got up he cleared them all away +from off the fakr. When the fakr awoke at the end of the two weeks, +and saw that no mud, or grass, or leaves were upon him, but that he +was quite clean, he was very much pleased, and said to the king, "I +have slept for twelve years, and yet I am as clean as I was when I +went to sleep. When I awoke after my last sleep, I was all covered +with dirt and mud, grass and leaves; but this time I am quite clean." + +The king stayed with the fakr for a week, and waited on him and did +everything for him. The fakr was very much pleased with the king, and +he told this to him: "You are a very good man." He added, "Why did you +come to this jungle? You are such a great king, what can you want from +me?" "I want a sun-jewel box," answered the king. "You are such a good +man," said the fakr, "that I will give you one." + +Then the fakr went to a beautiful well, down which he went right to +the bottom. There, there was a house in which lived the red fairy. She +was called the red fairy not because her skin was red, for it was +quite white, but because everything about her was red--her house, her +clothes, and her country. She was very glad to see the fakr, and +asked him why he had come to see her. "I want you to give me a +sun-jewel box," he answered. "Very good," said the fairy, and she +brought him one in which were seven small dolls and a little flute. +"No one but she who wants this box must open it," said the fairy to +the fakr. "She must open it when she is quite alone and at night." +Then she told him what was in the box. + +The fakr thanked her, and took the box to the king, who was delighted +and made many salaams to the fakr. The fakr told him none but the +person who wished for the box was to open it; but he did not tell him +what more the fairy had said. + +The king set off on his journey now, and when he came to his servants +and sepoys, he said to them he would now return to his country, as he +had found the box he wanted. When he reached his palace he called the +false princess, his wife, and gave her her silks and shawls, and srs, +and gold and silver jewels. Then he called the servant-girl--the true +princess--and gave her her sun-jewel box. She took it, and was +delighted to have it. She made him many salaams and went away with her +box, but did not open it then, for she knew what was in it, and that +she must open it at night and alone. + +That night she took her box and went out all by herself to a wide +plain in the jungle, and there opened it. She took the little flute, +put it to her lips, and began to play, and instantly out flew the +seven little dolls, who were all little fairies, and they took chairs +and carpets from the box, and arranged them all in a large tent which +appeared at that moment. Then the fairies bathed her, combed and +rolled up her hair, put on her grand clothes and lovely slippers. But +all the time the princess did nothing but cry. They brought a chair +and placed it before the tent, and made her sit in it. One of them +took the flute and played on it, and all the others danced before the +princess, and they sang songs for her. Still she cried and cried. At +last, at four o'clock in the morning, one of the fairies said, +"Princess, why do you cry?" "I took all the needles out of the king, +all but those in his eyes," said the princess, "and while I was +bathing, my servant-girl, whom I had bought with my gold bangles, +pulled these out. She told the king it was she who had pulled out all +the other needles and brought him to life, and that I was her servant, +and she has taken my place and is treated as the princess, and the +king has married her, while I am made to do a servant's work and +treated as the servant." "Do not cry," said the fairies. "Everything +will be well for you by and by." + +When it was close on morning, the princess played on the flute, and +all the chairs, sofas, and fairies became quite tiny, and went into +the box, and the tent disappeared. She shut it up, and took it back to +the king's palace. The next night she again went out to the +jungle-plain, and all happened as on the night before. + +A wood-cutter was coming home late from his work, and had to pass by +the plain. He wondered when he saw the tent. "I went by some time +ago," he said to himself, "and I saw no tent here." He climbed up a +big tree to see what was going on, and saw the fairies dancing before +the princess, who sat outside the tent, and he saw how she cried +though the fairies did all they could to amuse her. Then he heard the +fairies say, "Princess, why do you cry?" And he heard her tell them +how she had cured the king, and how her servant-girl had taken her +place and made her a servant. "Never mind, don't cry," said the +fairies. "All will be well by and by." Near morning the princess +played on her flute, and the fairies went into the box, and the tent +disappeared, and the princess went back to the palace. + +The third night passed as the other two had done. The wood-cutter came +to look on, and climbed into the tree to see the fairies and the +princess. Again the fairies asked her why she cried, and she gave the +same answer. + +The next day the wood-cutter went to the king. "Last night and the +night before," he said, "as I came home from work, I saw a large tent +in the jungle, and before the tent there sat a princess who did +nothing but cry, while seven fairies danced before her, or played on +different instruments, and sang songs to her." The king was very much +astonished, and said to the wood-cutter, "To-night I will go with you, +and see the tent, and the princess, and the fairies." + +When it was night the princess went out softly and opened her box on +the plain. The wood-cutter fetched the king, and the two men climbed +into a tree, and watched the fairies as they danced and sang. The king +saw that the princess who sat and cried was his own servant-girl. He +heard her tell the fairies all she had done for him, and all that had +happened to her; so he came suddenly down from the tree, and went up +to her, and took her hand. "I always thought you were a princess, and +no servant-girl," he said. "Will you marry me?" + +She left off crying, and said, "Yes, I will marry you." She played on +her flute, and the tent disappeared, and all the fairies, and sofas, +and chairs went into the box. She put her flute in it, as she always +did before shutting down the lid, and went home with the king. + +The servant-girl was very vexed and angry when she found the king knew +all that had happened. However, the princess was most good to her, and +never treated her unkindly. + +The princess then sent a letter to her mother, in which she wrote, "I +am going to be married to a great king. You and my father must come to +my wedding, and must bring my sisters with you." + +They all came, and her father and mother liked the king very much, and +were glad their daughter should marry him. The wedding took place, and +they stayed with her for some time. For a whole week she gave their +servants and sepoys nice food cooked with salt, but to her father and +mother and sisters she only gave food cooked with sugar. At last they +got so tired of this sweet food that they could eat it no longer. At +the end of the week she gave them a dinner cooked with salt. Then her +father said, "My daughter is wise though she is so young, and is the +youngest of my daughters. I know now how much she loved me when she +said she loved me like salt. People cannot eat their food without +salt. If their food is cooked with sugar one day, it must be cooked +with salt the next, or they cannot eat it." + +After this her father and mother and sisters went home, but they +often came to see their little daughter and her husband. + +The princess, the king, and the servant-maid all lived happily +together. + + Told by Mniy. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXIV. + +THE DEMON IS AT LAST CONQUERED BY THE KING'S SON. + + +In a country there were seven men, no two of whom belonged to the same +family, or were of the same trade. One was a grain merchant's son, one +a baker's, and so on; each had a different trade. + +These seven men determined they would go to seek for service in +another country. They said good-bye to their fathers and mothers, and +set off. + +They travelled every day, and walked through many jungles. At last, a +long way from their homes, they came to a wide plain in the midst of a +jungle, and on it they saw a goat which seemed to be a very good +milch-goat. The seven men said to each other, "If this goat belonged +to any one, it would not be left all alone in the jungle. Let us take +it with us." They did so, and no one they met asked them any questions +about the goat. + +In the evening they arrived at a village where they stayed for the +night. They cooked and ate their dinners, and gave the goat grass and +grain. At midnight, when they were all asleep, the goat became a great +she-demon, with a great mouth, and swallowed one of the seven men. +Then she became a goat again, and went back to the place where she had +been stabled. + +The men got up in the morning, and were very much surprised to find +they were only six, not seven. "Where is the seventh gone?" they +said. "Well, when he returns we will all go on together." They sat +waiting and waiting for him, till, as it was getting late and he had +not come, they all thought they had better start without him. So they +continued their journey, taking the goat with them. Before they went +they said to the villagers, "If our seventh man comes back to you, +send him after us." + +At evening they came to another village, where they stayed for the +night. They cooked and ate their dinners, and gave grain and grass to +the goat. At midnight, when they were fast asleep, the goat became a +demon and swallowed another man, and then took her goat's shape again. + +In this way she ate five men. The two that were left were very sad at +finding themselves alone. "We were seven men," they said, "now we are +but two." The grain merchant's son was one of the two, and he was very +quick and sharp. He determined he would not say anything to his +companion, but that he would watch by him that night, and find out, if +he could, what had happened to his other friends. To keep himself +awake he cut a piece out of his finger, and rubbed a little salt into +the wound, so that when his companion went to sleep, he should not be +able to sleep because of the pain. At midnight the goat came and +turned into a huge demon. She went quickly up to the sleeping man to +swallow him; but the merchant's son rushed at her, beat her, and +snatched his companion from her mouth. The demon turned instantly into +a goat, and went back to the place where it had been stabled. + +The two men next morning set out from the village where they had +passed the night. They would have killed the goat had they been able. +As they could not do so, they took it with them till they came to a +plain in the jungle, where they tied it up to a tree, and left it. +Then they continued their journey, and were very sorry they had not +known how wicked the goat was before it had swallowed their five +companions. + +The goat meanwhile turned itself into a most beautiful young girl, +dressed in grand clothes and rich jewels, and she sat down in the +jungle and began to cry. Just then the king of another country was +hunting in this jungle; and when he heard the noise of the crying, he +called his servants and told them to go and see who was crying. The +servants looked about until they saw the beautiful girl. They asked +her a great many questions, but she only cried, and would not answer. +The servants returned to the king, and told him it was a most +beautiful young girl who was crying; but she would do nothing but cry, +and would not speak. + +The king left his hunting and went himself to the girl, and asked her +why she cried. "My husband married me," she said, "and was taking me +to his home. He went to get some water to drink, and left me here. He +has never come back, and I don't know where he is; perhaps some tiger +has killed him, and now I am all alone, and do not know where to go. +This is why I cry." The king was so delighted with her beauty, that he +asked her to go with him. He sent his servants for a fine palanquin, +and when it came he put the girl into it, and took her to his palace, +and there she stayed. + +At midnight she turned into a demon, and went to the place where the +king's sheep and goats were kept. She tore open all their stomachs, +and ate all their hearts. Then she dipped seven knives in their blood, +and laid the knives on the beds of the seven queens. + +Next morning the king heard that all his sheep and goats were lying +dead; and when his seven wives woke, they saw that their clothes were +all bloody, and that bloody knives lay on their beds. They wondered +who had done this wicked thing to them. + +The next night at twelve o'clock the beautiful girl turned into a +demon again, and went to the cow-house. There she tore open the cows +and ate their hearts. Then she smeared the queens' clothes, and laid +knives dipped in blood on their beds; but she washed her own hands and +clothes, so that no blood should show on them. For a long time the +same thing happened every night, till she had eaten all the elephants, +horses, camels,--every animal, indeed, belonging to the king. The king +wondered very much at his animals all being killed in this way, and he +could not understand either why every morning his wives' clothes were +bloody, and bloody knives found on their beds. + +When she had eaten all the animals, the demon said to the king, "I am +afraid your wives are very wicked women. They must have killed all +your cows and sheep, goats, horses, elephants, and camels. I am afraid +one day they will eat me up." "I have been married to them for many +years," answered the king, "and anything like this has never happened +before." "I am very much afraid of them," said the demon, who all this +time looked a most beautiful girl. "I am very much afraid; but if you +cut out their eyes, then they cannot kill me." + +The king called his servants and said to them, "Get ready seven +palanquins, and carry my seven wives into the jungle. There you must +leave them; only first take out their eyes, which you must bring to +me." The servants took the queens to a jungle a long way from the +king's country. There they took out their eyes, and left them, and +brought the eyes to the king, who gave them into the demon's hands. +She pounded them to bits with a stone, and threw the bits away. + +The seven queens in the jungle did not know which way to go; so they +walked straight on, and fell into a dry well which lay just before +them. In this well they stayed; and the day when they thought they +must die of hunger and thirst was drawing near. But before it came the +eldest queen had a little son. She and the five next wives were so +hungry, that they agreed to kill the child, and divide it into seven +pieces. They each ate a piece, and gave one to the seventh and +youngest wife. She said nothing, and hid the piece. These five wives +each had a son one after the other, and they killed and divided their +children as the eldest wife had done with hers. But the youngest wife +hid all the six pieces that were given her, and would eat none. Her +son was born last of all. Then the six eldest wives said, "Let us kill +and divide your child." "No," she said, "I will never kill or divide +my boy; I would rather die of hunger. Here are the six pieces you gave +me. I would not eat them. Take them and eat them, but you must not +touch my son." God was so pleased with her for not killing her child, +that he made the boy grow bigger and bigger every day; and the little +queen was very happy. + +They all lived in the dry well without any food till the little prince +was five years old. By that time he was very quick and clever. One day +he said to his mother, "Why have we lived all this while in the well?" +His mother and all the other wives told him about the wicked demon who +lived in his father's palace, and how the king believed her to be a +beautiful girl and had married her, and of all the evil things that +she had done to them, and how she had made the king send them to the +jungle and have their eyes cut out and given to her, and how from not +being able to see they had fallen into this well, and how they had +eaten all his brothers, because they were so very hungry they thought +they should die--all but his mother at least, for she would not eat +the other wives' children and would not kill her own little son. "Let +me climb out of this well," said the boy, who determined in his heart +that he would kill this wicked demon one day. His mother said, "No, +stay here; you are too young to leave the well." + +The boy did not listen to her, but scrambled out. Then he saw they +were in a wide plain in the jungle. He ran after a few birds, caught +and killed them. Then he roasted the birds and brought them with some +water to his seven mothers in the well. When they had eaten them and +drunk the water, they were happy and worshipped God. The six mothers +who had eaten their children were full of sorrow, and said, "If our +six sons were now living, how good it would be for us: how happy we +should be." The young prince went out hunting for little birds every +day, and in the evening he cooked those he caught and brought them, +with water, to his mothers. + +Now the demon, because she was a demon and was therefore wiser than +men and women, knew that the seven queens lived in the well, and that +the son of the youngest queen was still alive. She determined to kill +him; so she pretended her eyes hurt her, and began crying, and making +a great to-do. The king asked her, "What is the matter?" "See, king, +see my eyes," she said. "They ache and hurt me so much." "What +medicine will make them well again?" said the king. "If I could only +bathe them with a tigress's milk, they would be well," she answered. + +The king called two of his servants and said to them, "Can either of +you get me a tigress's milk? Here are two thousand rupees for +whichever of you brings me the milk." Then he gave them the rupees, +and told them to get it at once. + +The servants took the rupees, and said nothing to the king, but they +said to each other, "How can we get a tigress's milk?" And they were +very sad. They left the king's country, and wandered on till they came +to the jungle-plain, where lived the young prince and his mothers. +There they saw him sitting by a dry well and roasting birds. "Do you +live in this jungle?" they said to him. "Yes," answered the boy. Then +the servants talked together. "See," they said, "this boy lives in the +jungle, so he will surely be able to get us the milk. Let us tell him +to get it, and give him the two thousand rupees." + +So they came back to the boy, who asked them where they were going. +"Our queen is very ill with pain in her eyes, and our king has sent us +for some tigress's milk for her to bathe them with, that they may get +well. He has given us two thousand rupees, for whichever of us to keep +who gets the milk. But we do not know where or how to get it." + +"Good," said the boy; "give me the two thousand rupees and I will get +it for you. Come here for it in a week's time." + +The king's servants were very much pleased at not having to try and +get it themselves, so they gave him the rupees and went home. The +demon knew quite well when she asked for the milk that none of the +king's servants would dare to go for it, but that his son would be +brave enough to go. This is why she asked for it, for she meant the +tigers to kill him. + +The little prince now took his seven mothers out of the well, and they +all went together to his father's country. There he got a small house +for them, and good clothes and food. He got a servant, too, for them, +to cook their dinner and take care of them. "Be very tender to them," +he said to the servant, "for they cannot see." For himself he bought a +little horse, and good clothes, and a gun, and a sword. Then he made +his mothers many salaams, and told them he was going to get a +tigress's milk. They all cried and begged him not to go. + +But he set off and rode for three or four days through the jungles. +Then he came to a large jungle which was in a great blaze, and two +tiger-cubs were running about in the jungle trying to get out of the +fire. He jumped off his horse, and took them in his hands; then he +mounted his horse again and rode out of the jungle. He rode on till +he came to another which was not on fire. He let the cubs loose in it +that they might run away; but they placed themselves in front of his +horse, and said, "We will not let you go till you have seen our father +and mother." + +Meanwhile the tiger and tigress saw the boy coming with their cubs, +and they came running to meet them. Till then they had thought their +cubs were burned in the jungle-fire. Now they knew at once this boy +had saved them. The cubs said to their father and mother, "We should +have died had it not been for this boy. Give him food; and when he has +eaten some food, we will drink milk." The tigers were very happy at +having their children safe. They went to a garden and got food and +good water for the boy, who ate and drank. Then the little cubs drank +their mother's milk. + +The tiger said to the prince, "You are such a little child, how is it +your mother let you come alone to this jungle?" + +"My mother's eyes are sore and pain her; and the doctor says that if +she bathes them in a tigress's milk they will get well. So I came to +see if I could get a little for her." + +"I will give you some," said the tigress, and she gave him a little +jar full of her milk. The cubs said, "One of us will go with you, and +the other will stay with our father and mother." "No," said the little +prince, "do you both stay with your father and mother. I will not take +either of you away. What should I do with you?" "No," said one of the +cubs; "I will go with you. I will do all you tell me. Wherever you bid +me stay, there I will stay; and I will eat any food you give me." +"Take him with you," said the old tiger; "one day you will find him of +use." So the boy took the cub and the milk, and made his salaam to the +old tigers and went home. His mothers were delighted at his return, +though, as they had no eyes, they could not see him. + +He tied up the tiger's cub and fed him. Then he took a little of the +milk, and went to the dry well in the jungle and sat down by it. The +king's servants came when the week had passed, and the boy gave them +the milk. The servants took it to the king, who gave it to the demon. +She was very angry when she found the tigers had not eaten the boy; +but she bathed her eyes with the milk, and said nothing. + +At the end of another week she would not eat or drink, and did nothing +but cry. "What is the matter?" said the king. "See how my eyes pain +me," she answered. "If I could only get an eagle's feather to lay on +them they would be well. Oh, how they hurt me!" + +The king called his servants and gave them four thousand rupees. "Go +and get me an eagle's feather," he said, "and he who gets it is to +take the four thousand rupees." "Let us go to the jungle well," they +said, "and find the boy who got us the tigress's milk. We could never +get an eagle's feather, but this child certainly can get one for us." + +So they went to the well where they found the boy. The little prince +was very wise, though he was such a little child; and he knew the +demon would try to send him on some other errand that she might get +rid of him. He was quite willing to go on her errands, for he thought +he might thus learn how to kill her. He was not a bit afraid of being +killed himself, for he knew that God loved him, and that no one but +God could kill him. + +He at once asked the king's servants, "What do you want now?" "Our +king has sent us for an eagle's feather to lay on the queen's eyes, +which pain her again. Here are four thousand rupees for you if you +will get it for us." "Give me the rupees," said the king's son. "Come +here in two weeks, and I will give you the feather." + +He took the rupees to his mothers, and told them he was going to fetch +an eagle's feather. "Where will you find one?" they said. "I don't +know," he answered, "but I am going to look for one." He hired some +more servants, and told them to take care of his mothers and the +tiger-cub. + +He rode straight on for two or three days, and at last came to a very +dense jungle, through which he rode for another three or four days. +When he got out of it he found himself on a beautiful smooth plain in +which was a tank. There, too, was a large fig-tree, and under the tree +cool shade, and cool, thick grass. He was very much pleased when he +saw the tank and the tree. He got off his horse, bathed in the tank, +and sat down under the fig-tree, thinking, "Here I will sleep a little +while before I go further." + +While he lay asleep in the grass, a great snake crawled up the tree, +at the top of which were two young eagles. They began screaming very +loud. Their cries awakened the little prince. He looked about and saw +the great snake in the tree. Then he took his gun and fired at it, and +the snake fell dead to the ground. He cut it into five pieces, and hid +them in the long grass. Then he lay down again and went to sleep. + +The baby eagles were alone in the tree, as their father and mother had +gone to another country. But now the old birds came home, and found +the king's son sleeping in the grass. "See," they said, "here is the +thief who every year robs us of our children! But now he cannot get +away. We will kill him." However, they thought it better to go and +look first at their children, to see if they were safe or not. They +flew up to the top of the tree, and when they found their children +safe, they wished to give them food. All the time they kept saying, +"Eat; then we will kill the thief who steals away our children every +year." The young eagles thought, "Oh, if God would only give us the +power to speak, then we would tell our father and mother that this +boy is no thief." Then God gave them the power to speak, and they said +to the old eagles, "Listen; if that boy had not been here, we should +have died, for he killed a huge snake that was going to swallow us: +only go and look, and you will see it dead and cut into pieces." And +the eaglets refused to eat till the boy had been fed. + +The big eagles flew down and found the bits of the snake: so they flew +away to a beautiful garden, where they got delicious fruits and water. +These they brought to the boy, and awoke him and fed him. Then they +said to him, "It is indeed good to find our children alive. Hitherto +our children have always been eaten by that snake. How are your father +and mother? Why did they let you come to this jungle? What have you +come here for?" The little prince said, "My mother's eyes are very +sore; but they would be cured if she could have an eagle's feather to +lay on them. So I came to look for one." Then the mother gave him one +of her feathers. + +When the boy was going home, the eaglets said they would go with him. +"No," he said, "I will not take you with me." But the old birds said, +"Take one of them, it will help you one day." The little prince made +his salaam to the big eagles, and took one of their young ones, +mounted his horse, and rode off. The eaglet flew over his head to +shade him from the sun. + +When he got home to his seven mothers, he took the feather and went +and sat by the dry well. The king's servants came there to him, and he +gave them the feather, and said, "Take it to your king." This they +did, and the king gave it to the demon, who flew into a great rage. +She said to herself, "The tigers did not kill him, and now the eagles +have not killed him." + +At the end of two weeks she began to cry and would not eat. The king +asked her, "What is the matter with you? what has happened to you?" +"My eyes pain me so much," she said. "What will cure them?" said the +king. "If I had only some night-growing rice," she said, "I would boil +it, and make rice-water, which I would drink. Then I should get well." +Now this night-growing rice was a wonderful rice that no men, and only +one demon, possessed. This was the demon-queen's brother. He used to +put a grain of this rice into his huge cavern of a mouth at night when +he went to sleep, and when he woke in the morning this grain would +have become a tree. Then the demon used to take the rice-tree out of +his mouth. + +The demon, who seemed such a lovely girl, now wrote a letter to her +brother, in which she said, "The bearer of this letter goes to you for +some night-growing rice. You must kill him at once; you must not let +him live." The king gave this letter to his servants, with six +thousand rupees. "Take this letter," he said, "and fetch some of the +night-growing rice. Here are six thousand rupees for whichever of you +finds it." The king had no idea that it was not these men who had gone +for the tigress's milk and the eagle's feather. + +The servants said, "Let us go to the well, to the boy who has helped +us before. We don't know where to get this night-growing rice, but +that boy is sure to know." + +The boy was sitting by the well, and asked what they wanted. They +answered, "See, the king has given us six thousand rupees and a +letter, and told us to fetch him some night-growing rice." "Very +good," said the king's son. "Come here in three weeks' time, and I +will give you some." The servants gave him the rupees and returned +home. + +He took the rupees to his mothers, and told them he was going on a +fresh errand, and they were to keep the money. Then he made them +salaams, took his letter, and rode off. The eaglet went too, and flew +above his head. The tiger's cub he left at home. + +He rode on and on through a very large jungle, and he rode a long, +long way: at last in a jungle he saw a fakr, who was living in it. He +made him salaams, and the fakr was delighted to see him, "because," +he said, "for many years I have been in this country, and all that +time have never seen any man." The prince sat down by the fakr, and +the fakr was very much pleased. He asked the boy who had sent him to +the jungle, and why he had come to it. "My mother has sore eyes," he +answered, "and wants some night-growing rice. She has given me a +letter to the man who owns it." + +The fakr took and read the letter, and was very sorry. He tore it up +and threw it away. Then he wrote another, in which he said, "Your +sister is very ill, and her son has come for some night-growing rice +for her." This he gave to the boy, and told him to continue his +journey. He also told him that the man who had the rice was a huge +demon, and that he lived in the country by the great sea. Then he told +him the way. + +The boy rode on and on, and after a week's journeying he came to the +demon's country. There he saw the huge demon sitting on the ground, +with his great, big mouth, that was just like a cavern. As soon as the +demon saw him he stood up and said, "It is many days since a man came +here. Now I will eat this one." He went towards the prince to seize +him, and a great rushing wind came blowing from the demon, as it +always did when he was angry. But the boy, who had begun to walk +towards him when he stood up, threw the letter to him with all his +might, so that it fell on him; at the same time he made many salaams. +The demon read the letter, and found his sister was very ill, and this +was her son; so he stopped the wind, and came up to the boy, who he +thought was his sister's son. "You have come for the rice for my +sister who is ill," he said to him; "you shall have it." + +The demon had a splendid house full of beautiful things, and a great +many servants. He took the little prince home with him, and told his +servants to get water ready and gave the child a bath. They were also +to cook a good dinner for him. Then the demon showed the boy all his +gardens, and all his beautiful things, and took him through all the +rooms of his house. One room he did not show to the prince. He told +him he was never to go into it, though he might go everywhere else +that he liked. In this room lived the demon's daughter, who was very +beautiful, just like a fairy. She was ten years old. Every day before +her father went out, he used to make the girl lie on her bed, and +cover her with a sheet, and he placed a thick stick at her head, and +another at her feet; then she died till he came home in the evening +and changed the sticks, putting the one at her head at her feet, and +the one at her feet at her head. This brought her to life again. + +The next day, when the demon had gone out, the boy went to this room, +and opened the door, for he wanted to see what was in it. He went in, +and saw the beautiful girl lying on the bed. "How lovely she is!" he +said; "but she is dead." Then he saw the sticks, and, to amuse +himself, he put the one at her head at her feet, and the one at her +feet at her head, just as the demon did every evening. The girl at +once came to life, and opened her eyes and got up. "Who is this?" she +said to herself, when she saw the king's son. "This is not my father." +She asked him, "Who are you? Why do you come here? If my father sees +you he will eat you." "No, he won't," said the prince, "for I am your +aunt's son, and your father himself brought me to his house. But why +is it that you are dead all day, and alive all night?" The girl had +told him that her father brought her to life every evening, and made +her dead every morning. "Such is my father's pleasure," she answered. + +So they talked together all day, and he said to her, "Suppose one day +your father made you dead as usual, and that he was killed before he +had brought you to life, what would you do? You would always be dead +then." "Listen," she said; "no one can kill my father." "Why not?" +said the boy. "Listen," she answered; "on the other side of the sea +there is a great tree, in that tree is a nest, in the nest is a +_main_. If any one kills that _main_, then only will my father die. +And if, when the _main_ is killed, its blood falls to the ground, a +hundred demons would be born from the blood. This is why my father +cannot be killed." + +At evening, before the demon came home, the prince made the girl dead. +Then he went softly into another room. + +The fakr had said to the boy, when they were in the jungle together, +"If ever you are in trouble, come to me and I will help you. It will +take you now one week to ride to the demon's country; but if ever you +need me, you shall be able to come to me here in this jungle, and to +return to the demon's house in one day." The fakr was such a holy man +that everything he said should happen did happen. So now the prince +determined he would go to the fakr and ask him what he should do to +kill this _main_. In the morning, therefore, as soon as the demon had +gone out, he set off for the fakr's jungle, and, thanks to the holy +man's power, he got there very quickly. He told him everything, and +the fakr made a paper boat which he gave him. "This boat will take +you over the sea," he said to the prince. "This paper boat!" said the +boy. "How can a paper boat go over the sea? It will get soaked and +sink." "No, it will not," said the fakr. "Launch it on the sea, and +get into it. The boat will of itself carry you to the tree where the +_main's_ nest is." + +The prince took the boat, and went back to the demon's house. He got +there before the demon came home, so that he did not know the boy had +been to the fakr. When the demon returned that evening, the king's +son said, "To-morrow I will go home, as my mother is very ill. Will +you give me the rice?" "Good," said the demon, "you shall have it +to-morrow." Next morning he gave the rice, and went off to the jungle. + +Then the boy took his paper boat down to the sea, launched it, and got +into it; and of itself the boat went straight over the sea to the +opposite shore. The eaglet flew above his head; but he left his horse +on land. When he got to the other side, he saw the great tree, with +the nest and the _main_. He climbed the tree, and took down the nest, +and the demon, who was far away, knew it at once, and said to himself, +"Some one has come to catch and kill me." He set out at once for the +tree. The prince saw him coming, so he wrapped the _main_ up in his +handkerchief, that no blood should fall to the ground. Then he broke +off one of its legs, and one of the demon's legs fell off. Still the +demon came on. Then he broke off the other leg, but the demon walked +on his hands. The boy saw him coming nearer and nearer, so he wrung +the bird's head off, and the demon fell dead. + +The prince jumped into his paper boat, and of itself the boat went +straight back to the other shore, to the demon's country. Then he went +up to the demon's house, and made his daughter alive. + +She was frightened, and said to him, "Oh, take care. If my father +comes back, and finds us together, he will eat us both." "He will not +come back," said the prince. "I have killed him." + +Then he dressed her in boy's clothes, that no one might know she was a +girl, and he found a horse, and had it made ready for her. Her father +had collected a quantity of rupees. Some of these the prince gave to +the servants as a present, and said to them, "Stay here and be happy; +do not be afraid, for there is no demon now to come and eat you." + +Then he took the rice and mounted his horse, and made the girl mount +also, and went off to the fakr. The paper boat he left, as he did not +want it any more. He and the demon's daughter made the fakr many +salaams, and they stayed with him for a day before they rode to the +prince's country. Here they went to his seven mothers, who were very, +very glad to see them, and thanked God that their son had come back +safe. + +He took a little of the rice, and went and sat by the well till the +king's two servants came. Then he gave them the rice for their king, +and the king gave it to the demon. She said nothing while the king was +with her; but when she was alone she cried, for she knew the boy must +have killed her brother, as he had brought her the rice. + +She waited a week, and then she began to cry again, and would not eat. +The king was very sorry, and thought, "What can I do to make her well +and happy?" Then he said, "What will cure your eyes?" "See, king," she +answered, "if I could only bathe my eyes with water from the +Glittering Well, they would not pain me any more." This well was in +the fairies' country, and was guarded by the demon's sister, whose +name was Jangkatar. She lived in the well; and when any one came to +draw water from it, she used to drag him down and eat him. + +The king called his servants, gave them eight thousand rupees, and +said, "Go and fetch me water from the Glittering Well." The servants +went at once to the dry well in the jungle. There they found the +prince, who asked them what they wanted. "Here are eight thousand +rupees," they said; "and the king has ordered us to bring him water +from the Glittering Well." "Come in three weeks, and I will give it +to you," said the king's son. He took to his mothers the eight +thousand rupees which the servants had given him, and said to them, +"Take care of these rupees, for I am going away for a little while." +Then he got his horse ready and mounted it, and made many salaams to +his mothers. The tiger-cub said to him, "Take me with you this time. +Last time you only took the eagle. Now we will both go with you." + +So he rode off; and the eaglet flew above his head and the young tiger +ran by his side. It took him a week to get to the fairies' country, +and then he came to a beautiful smooth plain, in which was a garden, +but no house. In the middle of this garden was the Glittering Well. It +was a deep well, and the water sprang up out of it like a fountain, +and then fell back into the well, and the water shone and sparkled as +if it were gold, and silver, and diamonds. This is why it was called +the Glittering Well. + +The prince dipped his jar in the well, and Jangkatar put up her hand +and caught him. She dragged him into the water and swallowed him +whole. Then the young eagle flew down into the well, seized Jangkatar +in his talons, and took her out and threw her on the ground. The +tiger-cub rushed at her instantly, tore her open, and pulled the +king's son out of her. But he was half dead. The cub and the eaglet +lay down on him to warm him, and when they had warmed him, he was +better. + +"We have saved you," they said to him. "But for us you would have +died." The young prince thanked them and caressed them. "It is quite +true," he said; "without you I should have died." Then he filled his +jar with water, and mounted his horse and rode home. He made salaams +to his seven mothers, with whom all this time the demon's daughter had +stayed. He bathed his mothers' eyes with the water from the Glittering +Well, and then they saw perfectly once more. + +He took a little of the water, and went to wait for the king's +servants by the dry jungle well, and he was very happy thinking that +now his mothers could see. He gave the water to the king's servants, +who took it to the king, and the king gave it to his demon-wife, and +she was very sad and angry, for she knew the boy must have killed her +sister, the guardian of the Glittering Well. + +When a whole month had passed, and he had not been sent on any more +errands, the king's son said to himself, "Good; now nothing more is +going to happen to me. I am not to be sent anywhere else." So he +bought a fine horse and grand clothes, and rode to the king's +court-house. He went in, and seated himself at the king's right hand; +but he made no salaam to the king, and spoke to no one. This he did +every day for three days. Everybody was wondering who this boy was, +and why he never made any salaam to the king. + +On the fourth day, as he sat at the king's right hand, the king asked +him, "Whose child are you? Where do you come from? Where are you +going?" The young prince answered, "See, king, I am a merchant's son; +my ship has been wrecked, and I want to find service with some one." +"What can you do?" asked the king. "I don't know any trade," said his +son; "but I can tell you a story." "What wages do you want?" said the +king. "One thousand rupees a day," answered the boy. "I shall only +stay a short time in your country." "Good," said the king; "I will +give you one thousand rupees a day, and a servant to wait on you +besides. So come every day to my court-house, and tell me your story." + +The prince told the king his own story. He began from where the king +found the beautiful demon-girl crying in the jungle, and ended it +where his demon-wife cried and cried for her sister Jangkatar. It took +him three weeks to tell the story; and when he had finished it, the +king knew that he himself was the king in the story, and that this boy +was his own son. "How can I find my seven queens again?" he said. "If +you will kill this wicked demon-woman they will come back to you," +said his son. The king was very sad, and thought, "My seven wives and +my boy must have suffered very much." Then he loved his son, and was +very happy that he had found him. He ordered his servants to dig a +deep pit in the jungle, so deep that should his demon-wife take her +demon form when put into it, only her head would be above it. He +thought that if her body were buried in the ground she would not be +able to do them much harm while they were shooting her. Then he, and +his son, and his servants took their guns and bows and arrows, and +took the demon with them to the deep pit. She went quite quietly, +though she knew they were going to kill her. Since Jangkatar's death +she had been very quiet and sad. And now she thought, "That boy will +most certainly kill me as he has killed my sister and brother. He is +stronger than I am. I have no one else to send him to; and if I had, +he could not be killed. What is the use of my trying to save myself?" +So she went along quite quietly, looking like a beautiful girl. She +let them put her into the pit, and shoot her to death with their guns +and bows and arrows. Then they filled the pit up with earth. + +The king went to his seven wives, and begged them to forgive him. He +brought them, his son, and the demon's daughter home to his palace. +Later the king married his son to the demon's daughter, and every one +was glad. + +But the king grieved that his six other sons were dead. + + Told by Mniy. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXV. + +THE FAN PRINCE. + + +In a country there lived a king who had a wife and seven daughters. +One day he called all his daughters to him, and said to them, "My +children, who gives you food? and by whose permission do you eat it?" +Six of them answered, "Father, you give us food; and by your +permission we eat it." But the seventh and youngest said, "Father, God +gives me my food; and by my own permission I eat it." This answer made +her father and mother very angry with their youngest daughter. They +said, "We will not let our youngest child stay with us any longer." +And her father called some servants and said to them, "Get a palanquin +ready, and put my youngest daughter into it; then carry her away to +the jungle, and there leave her." + +The servants got the palanquin ready, put the youngest princess into +it, and carried her into the jungle. There they put the palanquin down +and said to her, "We are going to drink some water." "Go home now," +said the girl, "as my father ordered you to do." They left her, +therefore, in the jungle alone, and went back to the king's palace. + +The girl prayed to God and worshipped him; then she went to sleep for +a little while in her palanquin. When she awoke, it was evening, and +she found in her palanquin a jar of water and some food on a plate +which God had sent her while she slept. She knew that God had sent her +this nice dinner, and thanked him and worshipped him. Then she bathed +her face and hands in a little of the water, and ate and drank, and +went to sleep quietly in her palanquin as night had come. + +This little princess had always been a very gentle girl, and had +always done what was right, and been very good, so God loved her +dearly. While she slept, therefore, he made a beautiful palace for her +on the jungle-plain where she was lying in her palanquin. God made a +garden and tank for her, too. When the princess woke in the morning, +and got out of her palanquin, she saw the palace standing by its tank +in a beautiful garden. "I never saw that palace before," she said. "It +was not here last night." She went into the garden, and servants met +her and made her salaams. The palace was far finer than her father's; +and when she went into it she found it full of servants. "To whom does +this palace belong?" she asked. "To you," they answered. "God made all +this for you last night, and he sent us to wait on you and be your +servants." (Now, they were all men, not angels, that God had sent to +take care of her.) The princess thanked God, and worshipped him. + +A few days later, her father heard that in the jungle to which he had +sent her a beautiful palace and garden and tank had suddenly appeared, +and that in this palace she was living; and he said, "Yes; my daughter +told me the truth: it is God who gives us everything. I know it is he +who gave her this beautiful house." So some time passed, and the +princess lived in her palace in the jungle; but her father did not go +to see her. + +One day he said to himself, "To-day I will go and eat the air in +another country, and I will go by water." So he ordered a boat to be +got ready, and he went to his six daughters, and told them he was +going away for a little while. "What would you like me to bring you +from this other country?" he said. "I will bring you anything you +would like to have." Some of them wanted jewels, a necklace, a pair of +earrings, and so on; and some wanted silk stuffs for srs and other +clothes. Then the king remembered his youngest child, and thought, "I +must send to her, and see what she would like." He called one of his +servants, and told him to go to the jungle to his youngest daughter +and say, "Your father is going to eat the air of another country. He +wishes to know what you would like him to bring back for you." + +The servant found the little princess reading her prayer-book. He gave +her the king's message. She said, "Sabr" (that is _wait_), for she +meant him to wait for her answer till she had finished reading her +prayers. The servant, however, did not understand, but went away at +once to the king and told him, "Your daughter wants you to bring her +Sabr." "Sabr?" said the king; "what is Sabr? Never, mind, I will see +if I can find any Sabr; and if I do, I will bring it for her." + +The king then went in his boat to another country. There he stayed for +a little while and bought the jewels and silks for his six elder +daughters. When he thought he should like to go home again, he went +down to his boat and got into it. But the boat would not move, because +he had forgotten one thing; the thing his youngest daughter had asked +for. + +Suddenly he remembered he had not got any Sabr. So he gave one of his +servants four thousand rupees, and told him to go on shore, and go +through the bazar, and try and find the Sabr, and he was to give the +four thousand rupees for it. + +The man went to the bazar and asked every one if they had Sabr to +sell. Then he asked if they could tell him what it was. "No," they +said, "but our king's son is called Sabr; you had better speak to +him." + +The servant went to Prince Sabr. "Our king's youngest daughter," he +said, "has asked her father to bring her Sabr, and the king has given +me four thousand rupees to buy it for her; but I cannot get any, and +no one knows what it is." The prince said, "Very good. Give this +little box to your king, and tell him to give it to his youngest +daughter. But it is only the princess who has asked for Sabr who is to +open the box." Then he told the man to keep the four thousand rupees +as a present from him. + +The servant went back to the boat to the king and gave him the box, +saying, "In this is the Sabr," and he told him Prince Sabr said no one +but the youngest princess was to open it. And now the boat moved quite +easily, and the king journeyed home safely. + +He gave his six eldest daughters the presents he had brought for them, +and sent the little box to his youngest daughter. She said, "My father +has sent me this. I will look at it by and by." Then she put it away +and forgot it. At the end of a month she found the little box, and +thought, "I will see what my father has sent me," and opened the box. +In it was a most lovely little fan. She was very much pleased, and +fanned herself with it, and at once a beautiful prince stood before +her. + +The princess was delighted. "Who are you? Where did you come from?" +she said. "My name is Prince Sabr," he answered. "Your father came to +my father's country, and he said you had asked him to bring you Sabr, +so I gave him this little fan for you. I am obliged to come to whoever +uses this little fan with the right side turned outwards. And when you +want me to go away, you must turn the right side of the fan towards +you and then fan yourself with it." The little princess said, "Very +good. And so your name is Prince Sabr?" They talked together for some +time. Then she turned her fan, so that the wrong side was outside, +and fanned herself with it, and the prince disappeared. + +This went on for a month. The princess used to fan herself with the +right side turned outwards, and then Prince Sabr came to her. When she +turned her fan wrong side outwards and fanned herself, then he +vanished. + +One day the prince said to her, "I should like to marry you. Will you +marry me?" "Yes," she answered. Then she wrote a letter to her father +and mother and six sisters, in which she said, "Come to my wedding. I +am going to marry Prince Sabr." They all came. Her father was very +glad that she married Prince Sabr, and said, "I see it is true that +God loves my youngest daughter." + +The day of the wedding her six sisters said to her, "To-day we will +not let the servants make your bed. We will make it ourselves for +you." "I have plenty of servants to make it," she said; "but you can +do so if you like." Her sisters went to make the bed. They took a +glass bottle and ground it into a powder, and they spread the powder +all over the side where Prince Sabr was to lie. This they did because +they were angry at their youngest sister being married, while they, +who were older, were not married, and they thought, being her elders, +they should have married first, especially as they had lived in their +father's palace, and been cared for, while she was cast out in the +jungle. + +When the wedding was over, and Prince Sabr and his wife had gone to +bed, the prince became very ill, from the glass powder going into his +flesh. "Turn your fan the wrong way and fan yourself quickly, that I +may go home to my father's country," he said to her, "for I am very +ill, and dare not remain here." So she fanned herself at once with the +fan turned the wrong way. Then he went home to his father, and was +very ill for a long while. The poor princess knew nothing of the glass +powder. + +Her father and mother and sisters went home after the wedding, and +left the princess alone in her palace. Every day she turned her fan +the right side outwards and fanned and fanned herself; but Prince Sabr +never came. He was far too ill. One day she cried a great deal, and +was very, very sad. "Why does my prince not come to me?" she said. "I +don't know where he is, or what has become of him." That night she had +a dream, and in her dream she saw Prince Sabr lying very ill on his +bed. + +When she got up in the morning she thought she must go and try to find +her prince. So she took off all her beautiful clothes and jewels, and +put on a yog's dress. Then she mounted a horse and set out in the +jungle. No one knew she was a woman, or that she was a king's +daughter; every one thought she was a man. + +She rode on till night, and then she had come to another jungle. Here +she got off her horse, and took it under a tree. She lay down under +the tree and went to sleep. At midnight she was awakened by the +chattering of a parrot and a _main_, who came and sat on the tree +knowing she was lying underneath. + +The _main_ said to the parrot, "Parrot, tell me something." The +parrot said, "Prince Sabr is very, very ill in his own country. The +day he was married, the bride's six sisters took a glass bottle and +ground it to powder. Then they spread the powder all over the prince's +bed, so that when he lay down it got into his flesh. The glass powder +has made him very ill." "What will make him well?" said the _main_; +"what will cure him?" "No doctors can cure him," said the parrot; "no +medicine will do him any good: but if any one slept under this tree, +and took some of the earth from under it, and mixed it with cold +water, and rubbed it all over Prince Sabr, he would get well." + +All this the princess heard. She got up and longed for morning to +come. When it was day she took some of the earth, mounted her horse, +and rode off. She went on till she came to Prince Sabr's country. Then +she asked to whom the country belonged; she was told it was Prince +Sabr's father's country, "but Prince Sabr is very ill." + +"I am a yog," said the princess, "and I can cure him." This was told +to the king, Prince Sabr's father. "That is very good," he said. "Send +the yog to me." So the little princess went to the king, who said to +her, "My son is very, very ill; make him well." "Yes," she said, "I +will make him well. Bring me some cold water." + +They brought her the cold water, and she mixed it with the earth she +had got from under the tree. This she rubbed all over the prince. For +three days and nights she rubbed him with it. After that he got +better, and in a week he was quite well. He was able to talk, and +could walk about as usual. + +Then the yog said, "Now I will go back to my own country." But the +king said to her, "First you must let me give you a present. You shall +have anything that you like. As many horses, or sepoys, or rupees as +you want you shall have; for you have made my son well." "I want +nothing at all," said the princess, "but Prince Sabr's ring, and the +handkerchief he has with his name worked on it." She had given him +both these things on their wedding day. Prince Sabr's father and +mother went to their son and begged him to give the handkerchief and +ring to the yog; and he did so quite willingly. "For," he thought, +"were it not for that yog, I should never see my dear princess +again." + +The yog took the ring and handkerchief and went home. When she got +there, she took off her yog's dress and put on her own beautiful +clothes. Then she turned her fan right side outwards, and fanned +herself with it, and immediately her Prince Sabr stood by her. "Why +did you not come to me before?" she said. "I have been fanning and +fanning myself." "I was very ill, and could not come," said Prince +Sabr. "At last a yog came and made me well, and as a reward I gave +him my ring and handkerchief." "It was no yog," said the princess. +"It was I who came to you and made you well." "You!" said the prince. +"Oh, no; it was a yog. You were sitting here in your palace while the +yog came and cured me." "No, indeed," she said; "I was the yog. See, +is not this your ring? is not this your handkerchief with your name +worked on it?" Then he believed her, and she told him of her dream, +and her journey in the yog's dress, and the birds' talk, and all that +had happened. + +And Prince Sabr was very happy that his wife had done so much for him, +and they lived happily together. + + Told by Mniy. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXVI. + +THE BED. + + +In a country there was a grain merchant's son, whose father and mother +loved him so dearly that they did not let him do anything but play and +amuse himself while they worked for him. They never taught him any +trade, or anything at all; for they never reflected that they might +die, and that then he would have to work for himself. When he was old +enough to be married, they found a wife for him, and married him to +her. Then they all lived happily together for some years till the +father and mother both died. + +Their son and his wife lived for a while on the pice his father and +mother had left him. But the wife grew sadder and sadder every day, +for the pice grew fewer and fewer. She thought, "What shall we do when +they are all gone? My husband knows no trade, and can do no work." One +day when she was looking very sorrowful, her husband asked her, "What +is the matter? Why are you so unhappy?" "We have hardly any pice +left," she answered, "and what shall we do when we have eaten the few +we have? You know no trade, and can do no work." "Never mind," said +her husband, "I can do some work." + +So one day when there were hardly any pice left, he took an axe, and +said to his wife, "I am going out to-day to work. Give me my dinner to +take with me, and I will eat it out of doors." She gave him some +food, wondering what work he had; but she did not ask him. + +He went to a jungle, where he stayed all day, and where he ate his +dinner. All day long he wandered from tree to tree, saying to each, +"May I cut you down?" But not a tree in the jungle gave him any +answer: so he cut none down, and went home in the evening. His wife +did not ask where he had been, or what he had done, and he said +nothing to her. + +The next day he again asked her for food to take with him to eat out +of doors, "for," he said, "I am going to work all day." She did not +like to ask him any questions, but gave him the food. And he took his +axe, and went out to a jungle which was on a different side to the one +he had been to yesterday. In this jungle also he went to every tree, +and said to it, "May I cut you down?" No tree answered him; so he ate +his dinner and came home. + +The next day he went to a third jungle on the third side. There, too, +he asked each tree, "May I cut you down?" But none gave him any +answer. He came home therefore very sorrowful. + +On the fourth day he went to a jungle on the fourth side. All day long +he went from tree to tree, asking each, "May I cut you down?" None +answered. At last, towards evening, he went and stood under a +mango-tree. "May I cut you down?" he said to it. "Yes, cut me down," +answered the tree. God loved the merchant's son and wished him to grow +a great man, so he ordered the mango-tree to let itself be cut down. + +Now the grain merchant's son was happy, for he was quite sure he could +make a bed, if he only had some wood; so he hewed down the mango-tree, +put it on his head, and carried it home. His wife saw him coming, and +said to herself, "He is bringing home a tree! What can he be going to +do with a tree?" + +Next morning he took the tree into one of the rooms of his house. He +told his wife to put food and water to last him for a week in this +room, and to make a fire in it. Then he went up to the room, and said +to her, "You are not to come in here for a whole week. You are not to +come near me till I call you." Then he went into the room and shut the +door. The whole week long his wife wondered what he could be doing all +alone in that room. "I cannot see into it," she said to herself, "and +I dare not open the door. I wonder what he is about." + +By the end of the week the grain merchant's son had carved a most +beautiful bed out of the mango-tree. Such a beautiful bed had never +been seen. Then he called his wife, and when she came he told her to +open the door, and when she opened it he said, "See what a beautiful +bed I have made." "Did _you_ make that bed?" she said. "Oh, what a +beautiful bed it is! I never saw such a lovely bed!" + +He rested that day, and on the day following he took the bed to the +king's palace, and sat down with it before the palace gate. The king's +servants all came to look at the bed. "What a bed it is!" they said. +"Did any one ever see such a bed! It is a beautiful bed. Is it yours?" +they asked the merchant's son. "Is it for sale? Who made it? Did you +make it?" But he said, "I will not answer any of your questions. I +will not speak to any of you. I will only speak to the king." So the +servants went to the king and said to him, "There is a man at your +gate with a most beautiful bed. But he will not speak to any of us, +and says he will only speak to you." "Very good," said the king; +"bring him to me." + +When the grain merchant's son came before the king with his bed, the +king asked him, "Is your bed for sale?" "Yes," he said. "What a +beautiful bed it is!" said the king. "Who made it?" "I did," he said. +"I made it myself." "How much do you want for it?" said the king. +"One thousand rupees," answered the merchant's son. "That is a great +deal for the bed," said the king. "I will not take less," said the +merchant's son. "Good," said the king, "I will give you the thousand +rupees." So he took the bed, and the merchant's son said to him, "The +first night you pass on it, do not go to sleep. Take care to keep +awake, and you will hear and see something." Then he took the rupees +home to his wife, who was frightened when she saw them. "Are those +your rupees?" she said. "Where did you find such a quantity of +rupees?" "The king gave them to me for my bed," he said. "I am not a +thief; I did not steal them." Then she was happy. + +That night the king lay down on his bed, and at ten o'clock he heard +one of the bed's legs say to the other legs, "Listen, you three. I am +going out to see the king's country. Do you all stand firm while I am +away, and take care not to let the king fall." "Good," the three legs +answered; "go and eat the air, and we will all stand fast, so that the +king does not fall while you are away." + +Then the king saw the leg leave the bed, and go out of his room door. +The leg went out to a great plain, and there it saw two snakes +quarrelling together. One snake said, "I will bite the king." The +other said, "I will bite him." The first said, "No, you won't; I will +climb on to his bed and bite him." "That you will never do," said the +second. "You cannot climb on to his bed; but I will get into his shoe, +and then when he puts it on to-morrow morning, I will bite his foot." + +The bed-leg came back and told the other legs what it had seen and +heard. "If the king will shake his shoe before he puts it on to-morrow +morning," it said, "he will see a snake drop out of it." The king +heard all that was said. + +"Now," said the second bed-leg, "I will go out and eat the air of the +king's country. Do you all stand firm while I am away." "Go," the +others answered; "we will take care the king does not fall." The +second bed-leg then went out, and went to another plain on which stood +a very old palace belonging to the king, and the wind told it the +palace was so ruinous that it would fall and kill the king the first +time he went into it: the king had never once had it repaired. So it +came back and told the three other legs all about the palace and what +the wind had said. "If I were the king," said the second bed-leg, "I +would have that palace pulled down. It is quite ready to fall; and the +first time the king goes into it, it will fall on him and kill him." +The king lay, and listened to everything. As it happened, he had +forgotten all about his old palace, and had not gone near it for a +long time. + +Then the third bed-leg said, "Now I will go out and see all the fun I +can. Stand firm, you three, while I am away." He went to a +jungle-plain on which lived a yog. Now there was a sarai[5] not far +off in which lived a woman, the wife of a sepoy, whose husband had +gone a year ago to another country, leaving her in the sarai. She was +so fond of the yog, that she used to come and talk to him every +night. That very day her husband came back to her, and therefore it +was later than usual when she got to the yog; so he was very vexed +with her. "How late you are to-night," he said. "It is not my fault," +she answered. "My husband came home to-day after having been away a +year, and he kept me." "Which of us do you love best?" asked the yog; +"your husband or me?" "I love you best," said the woman. "Then," said +the yog, "go home and cut off your husband's head, and bring it here +for me to see." The sepoy's wife went straight to the sarai, cut off +her husband's head, and brought it to the yog. "What a wicked woman +you are to do such a thing at my bidding!" he said. "Go away at once. +You are a wicked woman, and I do not want to see you." She took the +head home, set it again on the body and began to cry. All the people +in the sarai came to see what was the matter. "Thieves have been +here," she said, "and have killed my husband, and cut off his head," +and then she cried again. The third bed-leg now went back to the +palace, and told the others all it had seen and heard. The king lay +still and listened. + +The fourth bed-leg next went out to see all it could, and it came to a +plain on which were seven thieves, who had just been into the king's +palace, and had carried off his daughter on her bed fast asleep; and +there she lay still sleeping. They had, too, been into the king's +treasury and had taken all his rupees. The fourth bed-leg came quickly +back to the palace, and said to the other three legs, "Now, if the +king were wise he would get up instantly and go to the plain. For some +thieves are there with his daughter and all his rupees which they have +just stolen out of his palace. If he only made haste and went at once, +he would get them again." + +The king got up that minute, and called his servants and some sepoys, +and set off to the plain. He shook his shoe before he put it on, and +out tumbled the snake (the other had quietly gone into the jungle, and +not come to the palace); so he saw that the first bed-leg had spoken +the truth. + +When he reached the plain he found his daughter and his rupees, and +brought them back to his palace. The princess slept all the time, and +did not know what had happened to her. The king saw the fourth leg had +told the truth. The thieves he could not catch, for they all ran away +when they saw him coming with his sepoys. + +The king sent men to the old palace to pull it down. They found it +was just going to fall, and would have fallen on any one who had +entered it, and crushed him. So the second bed-leg had told the truth. + +When the king was sitting in his court-house he heard how during the +night thieves had gone into the sarai and killed a sepoy there and cut +off his head. Then he sent for the sepoy's wife, and asked her who had +killed her husband. "Thieves," she said. The king was very angry, for +he was sure the third bed-leg had told the truth as the other three +legs had done. So he ordered the man to be buried; and bade his +servants make a great wooden pile on the plain, and take the woman and +burn her on it. They were not to leave her as long as she was alive, +but to wait till she was dead. + +He next sent for the grain merchant's son, and said to him, "Had it +not been for your bed, I should this morning have been bitten by a +snake; and, perhaps, killed by my old palace falling on me, as I did +not know it was ready to fall, and so might have gone into it. My +daughter would certainly have been stolen from me; and a wicked woman +been still alive. So now, to-morrow, bring as many carts as you like, +and I will give you as a present as many rupees as you can take away +on them in half a day." + +Early the next morning the merchant's son brought his cart and took +away on them as many rupees as he could in half a day. His wife was +delighted when she saw the money, and said, "My husband only worked +for one week, and yet he earned all these rupees!" And they lived +always happily. + + Told by Mniy, February 23rd, 1879. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [5] That is, a resting-place for travellers, composed of a number + of small houses in a walled enclosure. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXVII. + +PNWPATT RN. + + +In a country a big fair was held, to which came a great many people +and Rjs from all the countries round. Among them was a Rj who +brought his daughter with him. Opposite their tent another tent was +pitched, in which lived a Rj's son. He was very beautiful; so was +the little Rn, the other Rj's daughter. + +Now, the Rj's son and the Rj's daughter did not even know each +other's names, but they looked at each other a great deal, and each +thought the other very beautiful. "How lovely the Rj's daughter is!" +thought the prince. "How beautiful the Rj's son is!" thought the +princess. + +They lived opposite each other for a whole month, and all that time +they never spoke to each other nor did they speak of each other to any +one. But they thought of each other a great deal. + +When the month was over, the little Rn's father said he would go +back to his own country. The Rj's son sat in his tent and watched +the servants getting ready the little Rn's palanquin. As soon as the +princess herself was dressed and ready for the journey, she came out +of her tent, and took a rose in her hand. She first put the rose to +her teeth; then she stuck it behind her ear; and lastly, she laid it +at her feet. All this time the Rj's son sat in his tent and looked +at her. Then she got into her palanquin and was carried away. + +The Rj's son was now very sad. "How lovely the princess is!" he +thought. "And I do not know her name, or her father's name, or the +name of her country. So how can I ever find her? I shall never see her +again." He was very sorrowful, and determined he would go home to his +country. When he got home he laid himself down on his bed, and night +and day he lay there. He would not eat, or drink, or bathe, or change +his clothes. This made his father and mother very unhappy. They went +to him often, and asked him, "What is the matter with you? Are you +ill?" "I want nothing," he would answer. "I don't want any doctor, or +any medicine." Not one word did he say to them, or to any one else, +about the lovely little Rn. + +The son of the Rj's kotwl[6] was the prince's great friend. The two +had always gone to school together, and had there read in the same +book; they had always bathed, eaten, and played together. So when the +prince had been at home for two days, and yet had not been to school +or seen his friend, the kotwl's son grew very anxious. "Why does the +prince not come to school?" he said to himself. "He has been here for +two days, and yet I have not seen him. I will go and find out if +anything is the matter. Perhaps he is ill." + +He went, therefore, to see the prince, who was lying very miserable on +his bed. "Why do you not come to school? Are you ill?" asked his +friend. "Oh, it is nothing," said the prince. "Tell me what is the +matter," said the kotwl's son; but the Rj's son would not answer. +"Have you told any one what is the matter with you?" said the kotwl's +son. "No," answered the prince. "Then tell me," said his friend; "tell +me the truth: what is it that troubles you?" + +"Well," said the prince, "at the fair there was a Rj who had a most +beautiful daughter. They lived in a tent opposite mine, and I used to +see her every day. She is so beautiful! But I do not know her name, or +her father's name, or her country's name; so how can I ever find her?" +"I will take you to her," said his friend; "only get up and bathe, and +eat." "How can you take me to her?" said the prince. "You do not even +know where she is; so how can you take me to her?" "Did she never +speak to you?" said the kotwl's son. "Never," said the prince. "But +when she was going away, just before she got into her palanquin, she +took a rose in her hand; and first she put this rose to her teeth; +then she stuck it behind her ear; and then she laid it at her feet." +"Now I know all about her," said his friend. "When she put the rose to +her teeth, she meant to tell you her father's name was Rj Dnt [Rj +Tooth]; when she put it behind her ear she meant you to know her +country's name was Karntak [on the ear]; and when she laid the rose +at her feet, she meant that her name was Pnwpatt [Foot-leaf]. Get +up; bathe and dress, eat and drink, and we will go and find her." + +The prince got up directly, and told his father and mother he was +going for a few days to eat the air of another country. At first they +forbad his going; but then they reflected that he had been very ill, +and that perhaps the air of another country might make him well; so at +last they consented. The prince and his friend had two horses saddled +and bridled, and set off together. + +At the end of a month they arrived in a country where they asked (as +they had asked in every other country through which they had ridden), +"What is the name of this country?" "Karntak" [the Carnatic]. "What +is your Rj's name?" "Rj Dnt." Then the two friends were glad. +They stopped at an old woman's house, and said to her, "Let us stay +with you for a few days. We are men from another country and do not +know where to go in this place." The old woman said, "You may stay +with me if you like. I live all alone, and there is plenty of room for +you." + +After two or three days the kotwl's son said to the old woman, "Has +your Rj a daughter?" "Yes," she answered; "he has a daughter; her +name is Pnwpatt Rn." "Can you go to see her?" asked the kotwl's +son. "Yes," she said, "I can go to see her. I was her nurse, and she +drank my milk. It is the Rj who gives me my house, and my food, and +clothes--everything that I have." "Then go and see her," said the +kotwl's son, "and tell her that the prince whom she called to her at +the fair has come." + +The old woman went up to the palace, and saw the princess. After they +had talked together for some time, she said to the little Rn, "The +prince you called to you at the fair is come." "Good," she said; "tell +him to come to see me to-night at twelve o'clock. He is not to come in +through the door, but through the window." (This she said because she +did not want her father to know that the prince had come, until she +had made up her mind whether she would marry him.) + +The old woman went home and told the kotwl's son what the Princess +Pnwpatt said. That night the prince went to see her, and every night +for three or four nights he went to talk with her for an hour. Then +she told her mother she wished to be married, and her mother told her +father. Her father asked whom she wished to marry, and she said, "The +Rj's son who lives in my nurse's house." Her father said she might +marry him if she liked; so the wedding was held. The kotwl's son went +to the wedding, and then returned to the old woman's house; but the +prince lived in the Rj's palace. + +Here he stayed for a month, and all that time he never saw his friend. +At last he began to fret for him, and was very unhappy. "What makes +you so sad?" said Pnwpatt Rn. "I am sad because I have not seen +my friend for a whole month," answered her husband. "I must go and see +him." "Yes, go and see him," said his wife. The Rj's son went to the +old woman's house, and there he stayed a week, for he was so glad to +see the kotwl's son. Then he returned to his wife. Now she thought he +would only have been away a day, and was very angry at his having +stayed so long from her. "How could you leave me for a whole week?" +she said to him. "I had not seen my friend for a month," he answered. +Pnwpatt Rn did not let her husband see how angry she was; but in +her heart she thought, "I am sure he loves his friend best." + +The prince remained with her for a month. Then he said, "I must go and +see my friend." This made her very angry indeed. However, she said, +"Good; go and see your friend, and I will make you some delicious +sweetmeats to take him from me." She set to work, and made the most +tempting sweetmeats she could; only in each she put a strong poison. +Then she wrapped them in a beautiful handkerchief, and her husband +took them to the kotwl's son. "My Rn has made you these herself," +he said to his friend, "and she sends you a great many salaams." The +Rj's son knew nothing of the poison. + +The kotwl's son put the sweetmeats on one side, and said, "Let us +talk, and I will eat them by and by." So they sat and talked for a +long time. Then the kotwl's son said, "Your Rn herself made these +sweetmeats for me?" "Yes," said the Rj's son. His friend was very +wise, and he thought, "Pnwpatt Rn does not like me. Of that I am +sure." So he took some of the sweetmeats, and broke them into bits and +threw them to the crows. The crows came flying down, and all the crows +who ate the sweetmeats died instantly. Then the kotwl's son threw a +sweetmeat to a dog that was passing. The dog devoured it and fell +dead. This put the Rj's son into great rage. "I will never see my +Rn again!" he exclaimed. "What a wicked woman she is to try and +poison my friend--my friend whom I love so dearly; but for whom I +should never have married her!" He would not go back to his wife, and +stayed in the old woman's house. The kotwl's son often told him he +ought to return to his wife, but the prince would not do so. "No," he +said, "she is a wicked woman. You never did her any evil or hurt; yet +she has tried to poison you. I will never see her again." + +When a month had passed, the kotwl's son said to the prince, "You +really must go back to Pnwpatt Rn; she is your wife, and you must +go to her, and take her away to your own country." Still the Rj's +son declared he would never see her again. "If you would like to see +something that will please you," said his friend, "go back to your +wife for one day; and to-night 'when she is asleep' you must take off +all her jewels, and tie them up in a handkerchief, and bring them to +me. But before you leave her you must wound her in the leg with this +trident." So saying, he gave him a small iron trident. + +The prince went back to the palace. His wife was very angry with him, +though she did not show her anger. At night 'when she was fast asleep' +he took off all her jewels and tied them in a handkerchief, and he +gave her a thrust in the leg with his trident. Then he went quickly +back to his friend. The princess awoke and found herself badly hurt +and alone; and she saw that her jewels were all gone. In the morning +she told her father and mother that her jewels had been stolen; but +she said nothing about the wound in her leg. The king called his +servants, and told them a thief had come in the night and stolen his +daughter's jewels, and he sent them to look for the thief and seize +him. + +That morning the kotwl's son got up and dressed himself like a yog. +He made the prince put on common clothes such as every one wears, so +that he could not be recognized, and sent him to the bazar to sell his +wife's jewels. He told him, too, all he was to say. The pretended yog +went to the river and sat down by it, and the Rj's son went through +the bazar and tried to sell the jewels. The Rj's servants seized him +immediately. "You thief!" they said to him, "what made you steal our +Rj's daughter's jewels?" "I know nothing about the jewels," said the +prince. "I am no thief; I did not steal them. The holy man, who is my +teacher, gave them to me to sell in the bazar for him. If you want to +know anything more about them, you must ask him." "Where is this holy +man?" said the servants. "He is sitting by the river," said the Rj's +son. "Let us go to him. I will show you where he is." + +They all went down to the river, and there sat the yog. "What is all +this?" said the servants to him. "Are you a yog, and yet a thief? Why +did you steal the little Rn's jewels?" "Are those the little Rn's +jewels?" said the yog. "I did not steal them; I did not know to whom +they belonged. Listen, and I will tell you. Last night at twelve +o'clock I was sitting by this river when a woman came down to it--a +woman I did not know. She took a dead body out of the river, and began +to eat it. This made me so angry, that I took all her jewels from her, +and she ran away. I ran after her and wounded her in the leg with my +trident. I don't know if she were your Rj's daughter, or who she +was; but whoever she may be, she has the mark of the trident's teeth +in her leg." + +The servants took the jewels up to the palace, and told the Rj all +the yog had said. The Rj asked his wife whether the Princess +Pnwpatt had any hurt in her leg, and told her all the yog's story. +The Rn went to see her daughter, and found her lying on her bed and +unable to get up from the pain she was in, and when she looked at her +leg she saw the wound. She returned to the Rj and said to him, "Our +daughter has the mark of the trident's teeth in her leg." + +The Rj got very angry, and called his servants and said to them, +"Bring a palanquin, and take my daughter at once to the jungle, and +there leave her. She is a wicked woman, who goes to the river at night +to eat dead people. I will not have her in my house any more. Cast her +out in the jungle." The servants did as they were bid, and left +Pnwpatt Rn, crying and sobbing in the jungle, partly from the pain +in her leg, and partly because she did not know where to go, and had +no food or water. + +Meanwhile her husband and the kotwl's son heard of her being sent +into the jungle, so they returned to the old woman's house and put on +their own clothes. Then they went to the jungle to find her. She was +still crying, and her husband asked her why she cried. She told him, +and he said, "Why did you try to poison my friend? You were very +wicked to do so." "Yes," said the kotwl's son; "Why did you try to +kill me? I have never done you any wrong or hurt you. It was I who +told your husband what you meant by putting the rose to your teeth, +behind your ear, and at your feet. Without me he would never have +found you, never have married you." Then she knew at once who had +brought all this trouble to her, and she was very sorry she had tried +to kill her husband's friend. + +They all three now went home to her husband's country; and his father +and mother were very glad indeed that their son had married a Rj's +daughter, and the Rj gave the kotwl's son a very grand present. + +The young Rj and his wife lived with his father and mother, and were +always very happy together. + + Told by Mniy, February, 1879. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [6] The chief police officer in a town. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXVIII. + +THE CLEVER WIFE. + + +In a country there was a merchant who traded in all kinds of +merchandise, and used to make journeys from country to country in his +boat to buy and sell his goods. He one day said to his wife, "I cannot +stay at home any more, for I must go on a year's journey to carry on +my business." And he added, laughing, "When I return I expect to find +you have built me a grand well; and also, as you are such a clever +wife, to see a little son." Then he got into his boat and went away. + +When he was gone his wife set to work, and she spun four hanks of +beautiful thread with her own hands. Then she dressed herself in her +prettiest clothes, and put on her finest jewels. "I am going to the +bazar," she said to her ayahs, "to sell this thread." "That is not +right," said one of the ayahs. "You must not sell your thread +yourself, but let me sell it for you. What will your husband say if he +hears you have been selling thread in the bazar?" "I will sell my +thread myself," answered the merchant's wife. "You could never sell it +for me." + +So off she set to the bazar, and every one in it said, "What a +beautiful woman that is!" At last the kotwl saw her, and came to her +at once. + +"What beautiful thread!" he said. "Is it for sale?" "Yes," she said. +"How much a hank?" said the kotwl. "Fifty rupees," she answered. +"Fifty rupees! Who will ever give you fifty rupees for it?" "I will +not sell it for less," said the woman. "I shall get fifty rupees for +it." "Well," said the kotwl, "I will give you the fifty rupees. Can I +dine with you at your house?" "Yes," she answered, "to-night at ten +o'clock." Then he took the thread and gave her fifty rupees. + +Then she went away to another bazar, and there the king's wazr saw +her trying to sell her thread. "What lovely thread! Is it for sale?" +he said. "Yes, at one hundred rupees the hank," she answered. "Well, I +will give you one hundred rupees. Can I dine with you at your house?" +said the wazr. "Yes," she answered, "to-night at eleven o'clock." +"Good," said the wazr; "here are the hundred rupees." And he took the +thread and went away. + +The merchant's wife now went to a third bazar, and there the king's +kz saw her. "Is that beautiful thread for sale?" he asked. "Yes," +she answered, "for one hundred and fifty rupees." "I will give you the +hundred and fifty rupees. Can I dine with you at your house?" "Yes," +she said, "to-night at twelve o'clock." "I will come," said the kz. +"Here are one hundred and fifty rupees." So she took the rupees and +gave him the thread. + +She set off with the fourth hank to the fourth bazar, and in this +bazar was the king's palace. The king saw her, and asked if the thread +was for sale. "Yes," she said, "for five hundred rupees." "Give me the +thread," said the king; "here are your five hundred rupees. Can I dine +with you at your house?" "Yes," she said, "to-night at two o'clock." + +Then she went home and sent one of her servants to the bazar to buy +her four large chests; and she told her other servants that they were +to get ready four very good dinners for her. Each dinner was to be +served in a different room; and one was to be ready at ten o'clock +that night, one at eleven, one at twelve, and one at two in the +morning. The servant brought her four large chests, and she had them +placed in four different rooms. + +At ten o'clock the kotwl arrived. The merchant's wife greeted him +graciously, and they sat down and dined. After dinner she said to him, +"Can you play at cards?" "Yes," he answered. She brought some cards, +and they sat and played till the clock struck eleven, when the +doorkeeper came in to say, "The wazr is here, and wishes to see you." +The kotwl was in a dreadful fright. "Do hide me somewhere," he said +to her. "I have no place where you can hide in this room," she +answered; "but in another room I have a big chest. I will shut you up +in that if you like, and when the wazr is gone, I will let you out of +it." So she took him into the next room, and he got into one of the +four big chests, and she shut down the lid and locked it. + +Then she bade the doorkeeper bring in the wazr, and they dined +together. After dinner she said, "Can you play at cards?" "Yes," said +the wazr. She took out the cards, and they played till twelve +o'clock, when the doorkeeper came to say the kz had come to see her. +"Oh, hide me! hide me!" cried the wazr in a great fright. "If you +come to another room," she said, "I will hide you in a big chest I +have. I can let you out when he is gone." So she locked the wazr up +in the second chest. + +She and the kz now dined. Then she said, "Can you play at cards?" +"Yes," said the kz. So they sat playing at cards till two o'clock, +when the doorkeeper said the king had come to see her. "Oh, what shall +I do?" said the kz, terribly frightened. "Do hide me. Do not let me +be seen by the king." "You can hide in a big chest I have in another +room, if you like," she answered, "till he is gone." And she locked up +the kz in her third chest. + +The king now came in, and they dined. "Will you play a little game at +cards?" she asked. "Yes," said the king. So they played till three +o'clock, when the doorkeeper came running in (just as she had told him +to do) to say, "My master's boat has arrived, and he is coming up to +the house. He will be here directly." "Now what shall I do?" said the +king, who was as frightened as the others had been. "Here is your +husband. He must not see me. You must hide me somewhere." "I have no +place to hide you in," she said, "but a big chest. You can get into +that if you like, and I will let you out to-morrow morning." So she +shut the lid of the fourth chest down on the king and locked him up. +Then she went to bed, and to sleep, and slept till morning. + +The next day, after she had bathed and dressed, and eaten her +breakfast, and done all her household work, she said to her servants, +"I want four coolies." So the servants went for the coolies; and when +they came she showed them the four chests, and said, "Each of you must +take one of these chests on your head and come with me." Then they set +out with her, each carrying a chest. + +Meanwhile the kotwl's son, the wazr's son, the kz's son, and the +king's son, had been roaming about looking everywhere for their +fathers, and asking every one if they had seen them, but no one knew +anything about them. + +The merchant's wife went first to the kotwl's house, and there she +saw the kotwl's son. She had the kotwl's chest set down on the +ground before his door. "Will you buy this chest?" she said to his +son. "What is in it?" he asked. "A most precious thing," she answered. +"How much do you want for it?" said his son. "One thousand rupees," +she said; "and when you open the chest, you will see the contents are +worth two thousand. But you must not open it till you are in your +father's house." "Well," said the kotwl's son, "here are a thousand +rupees." The woman and the other three chests went on their way, while +he took his into the house. "What a heavy chest!" he said. "What can +be inside?" Then he lifted the lid. "Why, there's my father!" he +cried. "Father, how came you to be in this chest?" The kotwl was very +much ashamed of himself. "I never thought she was the woman to play me +such a trick," he said; and then he had to tell his son the whole +story. + +The merchant's wife next stopped at the wazr's house, and there she +saw the wazr's son. The wazr's chest was put down before his door, +and she said to his son, "Will you buy this chest?" "What is inside of +it?" he asked. "A most precious thing," she answered. "Will you buy +it?" "How much do you want for it?" asked the son. "Only two thousand +rupees, and it is worth three thousand." So the wazr's son bought his +father, without knowing it, for two thousand rupees. "You must not +open the chest till you are in the house," said the merchant's wife. +The wazr's son opened the chest in the house at once, wondering what +could be in it; and the wazr's wife stood by all the time. When they +saw the wazr himself, looking very much ashamed, they were greatly +astonished. "How came you there?" they cried. "Where have you been?" +said his wife. "Oh," said the wazr, "I never thought she was a woman +to treat me like this;" and he, too, had to tell all his story. + +Now the merchant's wife stopped at the kz's door, and there stood +the kz's son. "Will you buy this chest?" she said to him, and had +the kz's chest put on the ground. "What is in it?" said the kz's +son. "Silver and gold," she answered. "You shall have it for three +thousand rupees. The contents are worth four." "Well, I will take it," +said the son. "Don't open it till you are in your house," she said, +and took her three thousand rupees and went away. Great was the +excitement when the kz stepped out of the chest. "Oh!" he groaned, +"I never thought she could behave like this to me." + +The merchant's wife now went to the palace, and set the king's chest +down at the palace gates. There she saw the king's son. "Will you buy +this chest?" she said. "What is in it?" asked the prince. "Diamonds, +pearls, and all kinds of precious stones," said the merchant's wife. +"You shall have the chest for five thousand rupees, but its contents +are worth a great deal more." "Well," said the king's son, "here are +your five thousand rupees; give me the chest." "Don't open it out +here," she said. "Take it into the palace and open it there." And away +she went home. + +The king's son opened the chest, and there was his father. "What's all +this?" cried the prince. "How came _you_ to be in the chest?" The king +was very much ashamed, and did not tell much about his adventure; but +when he was sitting in his court-house, he had the merchant's wife +brought to him, and gave her a quantity of rupees, saying, "You are a +wise and clever woman." + +Now the kotwl knew the wazr had gone to see the merchant's wife; and +the wazr knew the kz had gone; and the kz, that the king had +gone; but this was all that any of them knew. + +The merchant's wife had now plenty of rupees, so she had a most +beautiful well built and roofed over. Then she locked the door of the +well, and told the servants no one was to drink any of its water, or +bathe in it, till her husband came home: he was to be the first to +drink its water, and bathe in the well. + +Then she sent her ayah to the bazar to buy her clothes and ornaments +such as cowherd's wives and daughter's wear; and when the ayah had +brought her these, she packed them up in a box. Then she dressed +herself in men's clothes, so that no one could tell she was a woman, +and ordered a horse to be got ready for her. "I am going to eat the +air of another country for a little while," she said. "You must all +take great care of the house while I am away." The servants did not +like her going away at all; they were afraid her husband might return +during her absence, and that he would be angry with them for having +let her go. "Don't be afraid," she said. "There is nothing to be +frightened about. I shall come back all right." + +So she set out, taking the key of the well, the box with the clothes +her ayah had bought for her in the bazar, and plenty of rupees. She +also took two of her servants. She travelled a long, long way, asking +everywhere for her husband's boat. At last at the end of a month she +came to where it was. Here she hired a little house, and dressed +herself like a cowherd's daughter. Then she got some very good milk, +and went down to the banks of the river to sell it. Everybody said, +"Do look what a beautiful woman that is selling milk!" She sold her +milk very quickly, it was so good. This she did for several days, till +her husband, the merchant, saw her. He thought her so beautiful, that +he asked her to bring him some milk to his boat. So every day for a +little while she sold him milk. One day he said to her, "Will you +marry me?" "How can I marry you?" she said. "You are a merchant, and I +am a cowherd's daughter. Soon you will be leaving this country, and +will travel to another in your boat; you will want me to go with you. +Then I shall have to leave my father and mother, and who will take +care of them?" "Let us be married," said the merchant. "I am going to +stay here for three months. When I go, you shall return to your father +and mother, and later I will come back to you." To this she agreed, +and they were married, and she went to live in the boat. At the end +of three months, the merchant said to her, "My business here is done, +and I must go to another country. Would you like to go home to your +father and mother while I am away?" "Yes," she said. "Here are some +rupees for you to live on in my absence," he said. "I do not want any +rupees," said his wife. "I only want you to give me two things: your +old cap, and your picture." These he gave her, and then he went to his +boat, and she went back to her own home. + +Some time afterwards she had a little son. The servants were greatly +frightened, for they thought their master would not be pleased when he +came home; and he was not pleased when he did come two months later. +He was so cross that he would not look at the baby-boy, and he would +hardly look at his beautiful well. + +One night he lay awake thinking, and he thought he would kill his wife +and her little son. But the next day she came to him: "Tell me the +truth," she said; "you are angry with me? Don't be angry, for I want +to show you a picture I like very much--the picture of my boy's +father." Then she showed him his own picture, and the old cap he had +given her on board his boat; and she told him how she had been the +cowherd's daughter; and also how she had gained the money to build his +well. "You see," she said, "I have done all you bade me. Here is your +well, and here is your son." Then the merchant was very happy. He +kissed and loved his little son, and thought his well was beautiful; +and he said to his wife, "What a clever woman you are!" + + Told by Mniy, Calcutta, March 3rd, 1879. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXIX. + +RJ HARICHAND'S PUNISHMENT. + + +There was once a great Rj, Rj Harichand, who every morning before +he bathed and breakfasted used to give away one hundred pounds weight +of gold to the fakrs, his poor ryots, and other poor people. This he +did in the name of God, "For," he said, "God loves me and gives me +everything that I have; so daily I will give him this gold." + +Now God heard what a good man Rj Harichand was, and how much the +Rj loved him, and he thought he would go and see for himself if all +that was said of the Rj were true. He therefore went as a fakr to +Rj Harichand's palace and stood at his gate. The Rj had already +given away his hundred pounds' weight of gold, and gone into his +palace and bathed and breakfasted; so when his servants came to tell +him that another fakr stood at his gate, the Rj said, "Bid him come +to-morrow, for I have bathed, and have eaten my breakfast, and +therefore cannot attend to him now." The servants returned to the +fakr, and told him, "The Rj says you must come to-morrow, for he +cannot see you now, as he has bathed and breakfasted." God went away, +and the next day he again came, after all the fakrs and poor people +had received their gold and the Rj had gone into his palace. So the +Rj told his servants, "Bid the fakr come to-morrow. He has again +come too late for me to see him now." + +On the third day God was once more too late, for the Rj had gone +into his palace. The Rj was vexed with him for being a third time +too late, and said to his servants, "What sort of a fakr is this that +he always comes too late? Go and ask him what he wants." So the +servants went to the fakr and said, "Rj Harichand says, 'What do +you want from him?'" "I want no rupees," answered God, "nor anything +else; but I want him to give me his wife." The servants told this to +the Rj, and it made him very angry. He went to his wife, the Rn +Bhan, and said to her, "There is a fakr at the gate who asks me to +give you to him! As if I should ever do such a thing! Fancy my giving +him my wife!" + +The Rn was very wise and clever, for she had a book, which she read +continually, called the kop shstra; and this book told her +everything. So she knew that the fakr at the gate was no fakr, but +God himself. (In old days about two people in a thousand, though not +more, could read this book; now-a-days hardly any one can read it, for +it is far too difficult.) So the Rn said to the Rj, "Go to this +fakr, and say to him, 'You shall have my wife.' You need not really +give me to him; only give me to him in your thoughts." "I will do no +such thing," said the Rj in a rage; and in spite of all her +entreaties, he would not say to the fakr, "I will give you my wife." +He ordered his servants to beat the fakr, and send him away; and so +they did. + +God returned to his place, and called to him two angels. "Take the +form of men," he said to them, "and go to Rj Harichand. Say to him, +'God has sent us to you. He says, Which will you have--a twelve years' +famine throughout your land during which no rain will fall? or a great +rain for twelve hours?'" + +The angels came to the Rj and said as God had bidden them. The Rj +thought for a long while which he should choose. "If a great rain +pours down for twelve hours," he said to himself, "my whole country +will be washed away. But I have a great quantity of gold. I have +enough to send to other countries and buy food for myself and my ryots +during the twelve years' famine." So he said to the angels, "I will +choose the famine." Then the angels came into his palace; and the +moment they entered it, all the Rj's servants that were in the +palace, and all his cows, horses, elephants, and other animals became +stone. So did every single thing in the palace, excepting his gold and +silver, and these turned to charcoal. The Rj and Rn did not become +stone. + +The angels said to them, "For three weeks you will not be able to eat +anything; you will not be able to eat any food you may find or may +have given you. But you will not die, you will live." Then the angels +went away. + +The Rj was very sad when he looked round his palace and saw +everything in it, and all the people in it, stone, and saw all his +gold and silver turned to charcoal. He said to his wife, "I cannot +stay here. I must go to some other country. I was a great Rj; how +can I ask my ryots to give me food? We will dress ourselves like +fakrs, and go to another country." + +They put on fakrs' clothes and went out of their palace. They +wandered in the jungle till they saw a plum-tree covered with fruit. +"Do gather some of those plums for me," said the Rn, who was very +hungry. The Rj went to the tree and put out his hand to gather the +plums; but when he did this, they at once all left the tree and went a +little way up into the air. When he drew back his hand, the plums +returned to the tree. The Rj tried three times to gather the plums, +but never could do so. + +He and the Rn then went on till they came to a plain in another +country, where was a large tank in which men were fishing. The Rn +said to her husband, "Go and ask those men to give us a little of +their fish, for I am very hungry." The Rj went to the men and said, +"I am a fakr, and have no pice. Will you give me some of your fish, +for I have not eaten for four days and am hungry?" The men gave him +some fish, and he and his wife carried it to a tank on another plain. +The Rn cleaned and prepared the fish for cooking, and said to her +husband, "I have nothing in which to cook this fish. Go up to the town +(there was a town close by) and ask some one to give you an earthen +pot with a lid, and some salt." + +The Rj went up to the town, and some one in the bazar gave him the +earthen pot, and a grain merchant put a little salt into it. Then he +returned to the Rn, and they made a fire under a tree, put the fish +into the pot, and set the pot on the fire. "I have not bathed for some +days," said the Rj. "I will go and bathe while you cook the fish, +and when I come back we will eat it." So he went to bathe, and the +Rn sat watching the fish. Presently she thought, "If I leave the lid +on the pot, the fish will dry up and burn." Then she took off the lid, +and the fish instantly jumped out of the pot into the tank and swam +away. This made the Rn sad; but she sat there quiet and silent. When +the Rj had bathed, he returned to his wife, and said, "Now we will +eat our fish." The Rn answered, "I had not eaten for four days, and +was very hungry, so I ate all the fish." "Never mind," said the Rj, +"it does not matter." + +They wandered on, and the next day came to another jungle where they +saw two pigeons. The Rj took some grass and sticks, and made a bow +and arrow. He shot the pigeons with these, and the Rn plucked and +cleaned them. Her husband and she made a little fire, put the pigeons +in their pot, and set them on it. There was a tank near. "Now I will +go and bathe," said the Rn; "I have not bathed for some days. When I +come back, we will eat the pigeons." So she went to bathe, and the +Rj sat down to watch the pigeons. Presently he thought, "If I leave +the pot shut, the birds will dry up and burn." So he took off the lid, +and instantly away flew the pigeons out of the pot. He guessed at once +what the fish had done yesterday, and sat still and silent till the +Rn came back. "I have eaten the pigeons in the same way that you ate +the fish yesterday," he said to her. The Rn understood what had +happened, and saw the Rj knew how the fish had escaped. + +So they wandered on; and as they went the Rn remembered an oil +merchant, called Gang Tl, a friend of theirs, and a great man, just +like a Rj. "Let us go to Gang Tl, if we can walk as far as his +house," she said. "He will be good to us." He lived a long way off. +When they got to him, Gang Tl knew them at once. "What has +happened?" he said. "You were a great Rj; why are you and the Rn +so poor and dressed like fakrs?" "It is God's will," they answered. +Gang Tl did not think it worth while to notice them much now they +were poor; so, though he did not send them away, he gave them a +wretched room to live in, a wretched bed to lie on, and such bad food +to eat that, hungry as they were, they could not touch it. "When we +were rich," they said to each other, "and came to stay with Gang +Tl, he received us like friends; he gave us beautiful rooms to live +in, beautiful beds to lie on, and delicious food to eat. We cannot +stay here." + +So they went away very sorrowful, and wandered for a whole week, and +all the time they had no food, till they came to another country whose +Rj, Rj Bhoj, was one of their friends. Rj Bhoj received them +very kindly. "What has brought you to this state? How is it you are so +poor?" he said. "What has happened to you?" "It is God's will," they +answered. Rj Bhoj gave them a beautiful room to live in, and told +his servants to cook for them the very nicest dinner they could. This +the servants did, and they brought the dinner into Rj Harichand's +room, and set it before him and left him. Then he and the Rn put +some of the food on their plates; but before they could eat anything, +the food both in the dishes and on their plates became full of +maggots. So they could not eat it. They felt greatly humbled. However, +they said nothing, but worshipped God; and they buried all the food in +a hole they dug in the floor of their room. + +Now the daughter of Rj Bhoj had left her gold necklace hanging on +the wall of the room in which were Rj Harichand and the Rn Bhan. +At night when Rj Harichand was asleep, the Rn saw a crack come in +the wall and the necklace go of itself into the crack; then the wall +joined together as before. She at once woke her husband, and told him +what she had seen. "We had better go away quickly," she said. "The +necklace will not be found to-morrow, and Rj Bhoj will think we are +thieves. It will be useless breaking the wall open to find it." The +Rj got up at once, and they set out again. Rj Bhoj, when the +necklace was not found, thought Rj Harichand and the Rn Bhan had +stolen it. + +They wandered on till they came to a country belonging to another +friend, called Rj Nal, but they were ashamed to go to his palace. +The three weeks were now nearly over, only two more days were left. So +the Rn said, "In two days we shall be able to eat. Go into the +jungle and cut grass, and sell it in the bazar. We shall thus get a +few pice and be able to buy a little food." The Rj went out to the +jungle, but he had to break and pull up the grass with his hands. He +worked half the day, and then sold the grass in the bazar for a few +pice. They were able to buy food, and worshipped God and cooked it; +and as the three weeks were now over they were allowed to eat it. + +They stayed in Rj Nal's country, and lived in a little house they +hired in the bazar. Rj Harichand went out every day to the jungle +for grass, which he pulled up or broke off with his hands, and then +sold in the bazar for a few pice. The Rn saved a pice or two +whenever she could, and at the end of two years they were rich enough +to buy a hook such as grass-cutters use. The Rj could now cut more +grass, and soon the Rn was able to buy some pretty-coloured silks in +the bazar. + +Her husband went daily to cut grass, and she sat at home making +head-collars with the silks for horses. Four years after they had +bought the hook, she had four of these head-collars ready, and she +took them up to Rj Nal's palace to sell. It was the first time she +had gone there, for she and her husband were ashamed to see Rj Nal. +Their fakrs' dresses had become rags, and they had only been able to +get wretched common clothes in their place, for they were miserably +poor. + +"What beautiful head-collars these are!" said Rj Nal's coachmen and +grooms; and they took them to show to their Rj. As soon as he saw +them he said, "Where did you get these head-collars? Who is it that +wishes to sell them?" for he knew that only one woman could make such +head-collars, and that woman was the Rn Bhan. "A very poor woman +brought them here just now," they answered. "Bring her to me," said +Rj Nal. So the servants brought him Rn Bhan, and when she saw the +Rj she burst into tears. "What has brought you to this state? Why +are you so poor?" said Rj Nal. "It is God's will," she answered. +"Where is your husband?" he asked. "He is cutting grass in the +jungle," she said. Rj Nal called his servants and said, "Go into the +jungle, and there you will see a man cutting grass. Bring him to me." +When Rj Harichand saw Rj Nal's servants coming to him, he was very +much frightened; but the servants took him and brought him to the +palace. As soon as Rj Nal saw his old friend, he seized his hands, +and burst out crying. "Rj," he said, "what has brought you to this +state?" "It is God's will," said Rj Harichand. + +Rj Nal was very good to them. He gave them a palace to live in, and +servants to wait on them; beautiful clothes to wear, and good food to +eat. He went with them to the palace to see that everything was as it +should be for them. "To-day," he said to the Rn, "I shall dine with +your husband, and you must give me a dinner cooked just as you used to +cook one for me when I went to see you in your own country." "Good, I +will give it you," said the Rn; but she was quite frightened, for +she thought, "The Rj is so kind, and everything is so comfortable +for us, that I am sure something dreadful will happen." However, she +prepared the dinner, and told the servants how to cook it and serve +it; but first she worshipped God, and entreated him to have mercy on +her and her husband. The dinner was very good, and nothing evil +happened to any one. They lived in the palace Rj Nal gave them for +four and a half years. + +Meanwhile the farmers in Rj Harichand's country had all these years +gone on ploughing and turning up the land, although not a drop of rain +had fallen all that time, and the earth was hard and dry. Now just +when the Rj and Rn had lived in Rj Nal's palace for four and a +half years Mahdeo was walking through Rj Harichand's country. He +saw the farmers digging up the ground, and said, "What is the good of +your digging and turning up the ground? Not a drop of rain is going to +fall." "No," said the farmers, "but if we did not go on ploughing and +digging, we should forget how to do our work." They did not know they +were talking to Mahdeo, for he looked like a man. "That is true," +said Mahdeo, and he thought, "The farmers speak the truth; and if I +go on neglecting to blow on my horn, I shall forget how to blow on it +at all." So he took his deer's horn, which was just like those some +yogs use, and blew on it. Now when Rj Harichand had chosen the +twelve years' famine, God had said, "Rain shall not fall on Rj +Harichand's country till Mahdeo blows his horn in it." Mahdeo had +quite forgotten this decree; so he blew on his horn, although only ten +and a half years' famine had gone by. The moment he blew, down came +the rain, and the whole country at once became as it had been before +the famine began; and moreover, the moment it rained, everything in +Rj Harichand's palace became what it was before the angels entered +it. All the men and women came to life again; so did all the animals; +and the gold and silver were no longer charcoal, but once more gold +and silver. God was not angry with Mahdeo for forgetting that he said +the famine should last for twelve years, and that the rain should fall +when Mahdeo blew on his horn in Rj Harichand's country. "If it +pleased Mahdeo to blow on his horn," said God, "it does not matter +that eighteen months of famine were still to last." As soon as they +heard the rain had fallen, all the ryots who had gone to other +countries on account of the famine returned to Rj Harichand's +country. + +Among the Rj's servants was the kotwl, and very anxious he was, +when he came to life again, to find the Rj and Rn; only he did not +know how to do so, and wondered where he had best seek for them. + +Meanwhile the Rn Bhan had a dream that God sent her, in which an +angel said to her, "It is good that you and your husband should return +to your country." She told this dream to her husband; and Rj Nal +gave them horses, elephants, and camels, that they might travel like +Rjs to their home, and he went with them. They found everything in +order in their own palace and all through their country, and after +this lived very happily in it. But the Rn said to Rj Harichand, +"If you had only done what I told you, and said you would give me to +the fakr, all this misery would not have come on us." + +Later they went to stay again with Rj Bhoj, and slept in the same +room as they had had when they came to him poor and wretched. In the +night they saw the wall open, and the necklace came out of the crack +and hung itself up as before, and the wall closed again. The next day +they showed the necklace to Rj Bhoj, saying, "It was on account of +this necklace that we ran away from you the last time we were here," +and they told him all that had happened to it. + +As for Gang Tl, they never went near him again. + + Told by Mniy, March 4th, 1879. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXX. + +THE KING'S SON AND THE WAZR'S DAUGHTER. + + +In a country there was a great king who had a wazr. One day he +thought he should like to play at cards with this wazr, and he told +him to go and get some for him, and then play a game with him. So the +wazr brought the cards, and he and the king sat down to play. Now +neither the king nor the wazr had any children; and as they were +playing, the king said, "Wazr, if I have a son and you have a +daughter, or if I have a daughter and you have a son, let us marry our +children to each other." To this the wazr agreed. A year after the +king had a son; and when the boy was two years old, the wazr had a +daughter. Some years passed, and the king's son was twelve years old, +and the wazr's daughter ten. Then the king said to the wazr, "Do you +remember how one day, when we were playing at cards, we agreed to +marry our children to each other?" "I remember," said the wazr. "Let +us marry them now," said the king. So they held the wedding feast; but +the wazr's little daughter remained in her father's house because she +was still so young. + +As the king's son grew older he became very wicked, and took to +gambling and drinking till his father and mother died of grief. After +their death he went on in the same way, gambling and drinking, until +he had no money left, and had to leave the palace, and live anywhere +he could in the town, wandering from house to house in a fakr's +dress, begging his bread, and sleeping wherever he found a spot on +which to lie down. + +Meanwhile the wazr's daughter was living alone, for her husband had +never come to fetch her as he should have done when she was old +enough. Her father and mother were dead too. She had given half of the +money they left her to the poor, and she lived on the other half. She +spent her days in praying to God, and in reading in a holy book; and +though she was so young, she was very wise and good. + +One day, as the prince was roaming about in his fakr's rags, not +knowing where to find food or shelter, he remembered his wife, and +thought he would go and see her. She ordered her servants to give him +good food, a bath, and good clothes; "for," she said, "we were married +when we were children, though he never fetched me to his palace." The +servants did as she bade them. The prince bathed and dressed, and ate +food, and he wished to stay with his wife. But she said, "No; before +you stay with me you must see four sights. Go out in the jungle and +walk for a whole week. Then you will come to a plain where you will +see them." So the next day he set out for the plain, and reached it in +one week. + +There he saw a large tank. At one corner of the tank he saw a man and +a woman who had good clothes, good food, good beds, and servants to +wait on them, and seemed very happy. At the second corner he saw a +wretchedly poor man and his wife, who did nothing but cry and sob +because they had no food to eat, no water to drink, no bed to lie on, +no one to take care of them. At the third corner he saw two little +fishes that were always going up and down in the air. They would shoot +down close to the water, but they could not go into it or stay in it; +then they would make a salaam to God, and would shoot up again into +the air, but before they got very high, they had to drop down again. +At the fourth corner he saw a huge demon who was heating sand in an +enormous iron pot, under which he kept up a big fire. + +The prince returned to his wife, and told her all he had seen. "Do you +know who the happy man and woman are?" she said. "No," he answered. +"They are my father and mother," she said. "When they were alive, I +was good to them, and since their death I gave half their money to the +poor; and on the other half I have lived quietly, and tried to be +good. So God is pleased with them, and makes them happy." "Is that +true?" said her husband. "Quite true," she said. "And the miserable +man and woman who did nothing but cry, do you know who they are?" +"No," said the prince. "They are your father and mother. When they +were alive, you gambled and drank; and they died of grief. Then you +went on gambling and drinking till you had spent all their money. So +now God is angry with them, and will not make them happy." "Is that +true?" said the prince. "Quite true," she said. "And the fishes you +saw were the two little children we should have had if you had taken +me to your home as your wife. Now they cannot be born, for they can +find no bodies in which to be born; so God has ordered them to rise +and sink in the air in these fishes' forms." "Is that true?" asked the +prince. "Quite true," she answered. "And by God's order the demon you +saw is heating that sand in the big iron pot for you, because you are +such a wicked man." + +The moment she had told all this to her husband, she died. But he did +not get any better. He gambled and drank all her money away, and lived +a wretched life, wandering about like a fakr till his death. + + Told by Mniy, March 8th, 1879. + + + + +[Decoration] + +NOTES. + + +INTRODUCTORY. + +In these stories the word translated God, is _Khud_. Excepting in +"How king Burtal became a Fakr" (p. 85), and in "Rj Harichand's +Punishment" (p. 224), in which Mahdeo plays a part, the tellers of +these tales would never specify by name the god they spoke of. He was +always _Khud_, "the great _Khud_ who lives up there in the sky." In +this they differed from the narrator of the _Old Deccan Days_ stories, +who almost always gives her gods and goddesses their Hind +names--probably because, from being a Christian, she had no religious +scruples to deter her from so doing. + +When the heroes of these stories are called Rjs, the word Rj has +been kept: when they are called Bdshhs, we have called them kings. +The Ayahs say, "A Bdshh is a much greater man than a Rj." When +_bdshh_ (the Persian _pdishh_) in its corrupted form of _bs_ is +tacked on to a proper name, such as _Anr_ (_Anrbs_), _Hrll_ +(_Hrllbs_), the _bs_ has been preserved, because, Dunkn says, +in these cases _bs_ is no longer a title, but part of the proper +name. + +Old Mniy tells her stories with the solemn, authoritative air of a +professor. She sits quite still on the floor, and uses no gestures. +Dunkn gets thoroughly excited over her tales, marches up and down the +room, acting her stories, as it were. For instance, in describing the +thickness of Mahdeo's hair in King Burtal's story, she put her two +thumbs to her ears, and spread out all her fingers from her head +saying, "His hair stood out like this," and in "Loving Lail," after +moving her hand as if she were pulling the magic knife from her pocket +and unfolding it, she swung her arm out at full length with great +energy, and then she said, "Lail made one 'touch'" (here she brought +back the edge of her hand to her own throat), "and the head fell off." +Dunkn sometimes used an English word, such as the "touch" in the +present case. + +All these stories were read back in Hindstn by my little girl to +the tellers at the time of telling, and nearly all a second time by me +this winter before printing. I never saw people more anxious to have +their tales retold exactly than are Dunkn and Mniy. Not till each +tale was pronounced by them to be _thk_ (exact) was it sent to the +press. + +It is strange in these Indian tales to meet golden-haired, +fair-complexioned heroes and heroines. Mr. Thornton tells me that in +the Panjb when one native speaks of another with contempt, he says, +"he is a black man," _ek kl dm hai_. Sir Neville Chamberlain tells +me that if you wish to praise a native for his valour and brave +conduct, you say to him, "Your countenance is red," or "your cheeks +are red," and that nothing is worse than to tell him his "face is +black." And this is what Mr. Boxwell says about the expression "kl +dm" and our fairy tales:-- + + "The stories are of the Aryan conquerors from beyond the + Indus; distinguished by their fair skin from the dark + aborigines of India. In Vedic times Var[n.]a, 'colour,' + is used for stock or blood, as the Latins used Nomen. It + is in India 'Yas Dsam var[n.]am adharam guhkar.' 'Who + sank in darkness the Barbarian colour.' R. V. II. 4. + + "Indra, again, 'Hatv Dasyn pra ryam var[n.]am vat.' + 'Having slain the Barbarians, helped the Aryan colour.' + R. V. III. 34. + + "Again, in K. V. I. 104. They pray-- + + "'Te nas vaksa suvitya var[n.]am.' 'May they bring our + colour to success.' + + "In later times 'var[n.]a' is the regular word for + caste; and the Brahmins and the rest of the twice-born + who still represent the Aryan var[n.]a are much fairer + than the dras and Hill people. + + "In the Ikhwn ussafa the black skin is one of the + results of the Fall to Adam and Hawa. + + "'ftb ki garm se rang mutaghaiyar aur sih ho gay.' + 'From the heat of the sun their colour became changed + and black.'" + +But I think the fact that the conquering races that invaded India from +the north were fair and ruddier than the aborigines, and that their +descendants, the high-caste natives, are to this day fairer than the +aborigines, though it explains the phrases, "he is only a black man," +and "your cheeks are red," does not account for the golden hair and +fair skin of so many of our princes and princesses. I believe that +they all owe their characteristics to the fact that such are the +characteristics of the solar hero, although they cannot all lay claim +to a solar origin for themselves. For this golden hair and white skin, +at first the property of the shining sun-hero alone, would naturally +in the course of time be given to other Indian folk-lore heroes on +whose beauty and brightness it was necessary to lay a stress. Prince +Majnn, for instance, certainly has nothing solar about him, yet his +hair is described as red. Dunkn, in answer to a half incredulous, +half inquiring exclamation of mine when I heard this, asserted, "Red! +yes, it was red: red like gold." + +The black-haired Maoris give their sea-nymphs yellow hair (_Old New +Zealand_, p. 19); and Sir George Grey in his _Polynesian Mythology_, +p. 295, writes thus of the Maori fairies: "Their appearance is that of +human beings, nearly resembling an European's; their hair being very +fair, and so is their skin. They are very different from the Maoris, +and do not resemble them at all." But as the Maoris do not seem to +have any myths of golden-haired solar heroes, these peculiarities of +hair and complexion cannot be referred to the same cause as those of +my little daughter's Indian princes and princesses. + + +I.--PHLMATI RN. + +1. Phlmati is a garden rose, not a wild rose. It must be a local name +for the flower. I can find it in no dictionary. Dunkn says her +heroine was named after a pink rose. + +2. She has hair of pure gold. Compare in this book: Princess Jahran, +p. 43, the Monkey Prince, p. 50, Sonahr Rn, p. 54, Jahr Rn, p. +93, Prince Dm-ahmad and Princess Atsa, Notes, p. 253. Also, Hra +Bai, the cobra's daughter in _Old Deccan Days_, p. 35. So many +princely heroes and heroines in European fairy tales are noteworthy +for their dazzling golden hair that I will only mention one of them, +Princess Golden-Hair, one of whose hairs rings if it falls to the +ground--see Naake's _Slavonic Fairy Tales_, p. 100. And devils being +fallen heroes or angels, the following references may be made to them. +In Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, p. 171, in "Die beiden +Fleischhauer in der Hoelle," the devil's grandmother gives the good +brother a hair that had fallen from the devil's head while he slept. +The man carries it home and the hair suddenly becomes as big as a +"Heubaum" and is "of pure gold." Also in one of Grimm's stories the +hero is sent to fetch three golden hairs from the devil's head--see +_Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, vol. I. p. 175, "Der Teufel mit den drei +goldenen Haaren." + +3. Her beauty lights up a dark room. In this shining quality she +resembles many Asiatic and European fairy-tale heroes and heroines. +See in this book Hrl, whose face shone like a diamond, p. 69; and +the Princess Labm, who shone like the moon, and her beauty made night +day, p. 158. In _Old Deccan Days_, p. 156, the prince's dead body on +the hedge of spears dazzles those who look at it till they can hardly +see. Pnch Phl Rn, p. 140, shines in the dark jungle like a star. +So does the princess in Chundun Rj's dark tomb, p. 229. In a +Dinjpur story published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ +for February 1875, vol. IV. p. 54, the dream-nymph, Tillottama, +whenever she appears, lights up the whole place with her beauty. "At +every breath she drew when she slept, a flame like a flower issued +from her nostril, and when she drew in her breath the flower of flame +was again withdrawn." Her beauty lit up her house "as if by +lightning." See Appendix _A_. In Naake's _Slavonic Fairy Tales_, p. +96, is the Bohemian tale quoted above of Princess Golden-Hair. "Every +morning at break of day she [the princess] combs her golden locks; its +brightness is reflected in the sea, and up among the clouds," p. 102. +When she let it down "it was bright as the rising sun," and almost +blinded Irik with its radiance, p. 107. The golden children (Schott's +_Wallachische Maerchen_, p. 125) shine in the darkened room "like the +morning sun in May." Gubernatis in the 2nd vol. of his _Zoological +Mythology_, mentions at p. 31 a golden boy who figures in one of +Afanassieff's stories; when this child's body is uncovered on his +restoration to his father, "all the room shines with light." And at p. +57 of the same volume he quotes another of Afanassieff's stories, in +which the persecuted princess has three sons "who light up whatever is +near them with their splendour." Of Gerd in Jtunheim, the beautiful +giant maiden with the bright shining arms, Thorpe says (_Northern +Mythology_, vol. I. p. 47), when she raised "her arms to open the +door, both air and water gave such a reflection that the whole world +was illumined." The boar Trwyth (who was once a king, but because of +his sons was turned into a boar) after his fall preserves some of his +old kingly splendour; for "his bristles were like silver wire, and +whether he went through the wood or through the plain he was to be +traced by the glittering of his bristles" (_Mabinogion_, vol. II. p. +310). In the same work (vol. III. p. 279), in "The Dream of Maxen +Wledig," is a maiden, of whom it is told: "Not more easy than to gaze +upon the sun when brightest was it to look upon her by reason of her +beauty." And in "Goldhaar" (Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, +p. 61) when the hero's cap fell off he stood there "in all splendour +and his golden locks fell round his head, and he shone like the sun." + +In a Santhali tale published by the Rev. F. T. Cole in the _Indian +Antiquary_ for January 1875, p. 10, called "Toria the Goatherd and the +Daughter of the Sun," a beggar's eyes are as dazzled by the Sun's +daughter's beauty "as if he had stared at the sun." + +4. Phlmati Rn has on her head the sun, on her hands moons, and her +face is covered with stars. Compare in these stories "The Indrsan +Rj," p. 1, "The boy who had a moon on his forehead and a star on his +chin," p. 119, and "Prince Dm-ahmad and Princess Atsa," Notes, p. +253. In Frulein Gonzenbach's _Sicilian Fairy Tales_, No. 5 (vol. I. +p. 21), the king's son's children are born, the boy with a golden +apple in his hand, the girl with a star on her forehead. In the Notes +to this story (vol. II. p. 207) Herr Khler mentions a Tyrolean fairy +tale, "Zingerle, II. p. 112," where the king's son's daughter has a +golden apple in her hand, and her brother a golden star on his +forehead. In Milenowsky's _Bohemian Fairy Tales_, p. 1, is the story +"Von den Sternprinzen" in which the king's son by the queen has a gold +star on his forehead, and his son by the old woman has a silver star, +p. 2. These princes' children also are born with gold and silver stars +on their foreheads, p. 30. In a Hungarian tale, "Die verwandelten +Kinder," the old man's youngest daughter promises, and keeps her +promise, to give the king, if he marries her, twin sons, who will be +most beautiful, will have golden hair, and each a golden ring on his +arm; further, one is to have a planet, the other a sun on his +forehead--Stier's _Ungarische Volksmaerchen_, p. 57. Also in the same +author's _Ungarische Sagen und Maerchen_ in "Die beiden juengsten +Koenigskinder," the hero wins a bride (p. 77) who has a sun on her +forehead, a moon on her right, and three stars on her left, breast. In +"Eisenlaci" in the same collection the snake-king's daughter has a +star on her forehead (p. 109). Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, +vol. I. p. 412) says, "In the seventh story of the third book of +Afanassieff, the queen bears two sons; one has a moon on his forehead +and the other a star on the nape of his neck. Her wicked sister +buries them; a golden and a silver sprout spring up which a sheep eats +and then has two lambs, one with a moon on its head, the other with a +star on its neck. The wicked sister who has married the king orders +them to be torn in pieces, and their intestines to be thrown into the +road. The good, lawful queen eats them and again gives birth to her +sons." Gubernatis in the 2nd volume of the same work, p. 31, quotes +another of Afanassieff's stories, the thirteenth of the third book, in +which a merchant's wife has a son "whose body is all of gold, effigies +of stars, moon, and sun covered it." This is the gold boy mentioned in +the preceding paragraph as lighting up the room when his body was +uncovered. In "Das Schwarze Lamm," the empress bears a son with a +golden star on his forehead (Karadschitsch, _Volksmaerchen der +Serben_, p. 177). + +5. Phlmati Rn weighs but one flower: compare Pnch Phl Rn in +_Old Deccan Days_, p. 133. + +6. Indrsan (= Indra + sana, Indra's throne or home), says Dunkn, is +the name of the underground fairy country. Its inhabitants, the +fairies (par) are called the Indrsan people; they delight in all +lovely things; everything about them is beautiful; they play +exquisitely on all kinds of musical instruments; they dance and sing a +great deal; they have wings and can fly. They taught the little Monkey +Prince (p. 42), and King Burtal's eldest son was taken to them as a +pupil by the fakr Goraknth, p. 93. In Indrsan grows a tree of which +no man can ever see the flowers or fruit, as the fairies gather them +in the night and take them away. The Irish "good people" who live in +clefts of rocks, caves, and mounds, and the Irish fairies who live in +the beautiful land of youth under the sea, have many points in common +with the Indian fairies. They, too, dance beautifully, are wonderful +musicians, and have everything about them lovely and splendid. The +"good people" also sometimes impart their knowledge to mortals. See +pp. x, xii, and xviii of the Introduction to the _Irische +Elfenmaerchen_ translated into German by the brothers Grimm. Some of +the Cornish fairies, the Small People, like the Indrsan people, live +underground (Hunt's _Romances and Drolls of the West of England_, pp. +116, 118, 125), aid those to whom they take a fancy and are very +playful among themselves (_ib._ p. 81); they have the most ravishing +music (_ib._ pp. 86, 98); their singing is clear and delicate as +silver bells (_ib._ p. 100); everything about them is joyous and +beautiful (_ib._ pp. 86, 99, 100); they are a tiny race (_ib._ p. 81), +but can at pleasure take the size of human beings (_ib._ pp. 115, 122, +123); and their queen has hair "like gold threads" (_ib._ p. 102). The +fair-haired New Zealand fairies are, too, a kindly happy race. See +Grey's _Polynesian Mythology_, pp. 287 to 295. Nothing is said about +their dancing, but they are described as "merry, cheerful, and always +singing like a cricket" (_ib._ p. 295), and from one of their +fishing-nets left on the sea shore, when its fairy owners were +surprised by the rising of the sun, the Maoris learnt the stitch for +netting a net. Like the Indian fairies they appear to be as big as +human beings. + +7. Phlmati Rn is drowned in a tank and becomes a flower; she is +killed and brought to life several times: compare in this collection +the story of the "Pomegranate Children" and note to that story. In one +of Ralston's _Russian Folk-Tales_, "The Fiend," p. 15, the heroine is +killed through witchcraft: from her grave springs a flower which is +herself transformed: she afterwards regains her human shape. + +8. With Phlmati's last transformation compare the last that the +Bl-Princess goes through (p. 148 of this collection), and that of a +woman, who figures in a Dinjpur story published by Mr. G. H. Damant +in the _Indian Antiquary_ of April 5th, 1872, vol. I. p. 115. She, +though living in the Rakshas country, is not a Rakshas, but does not +appear to be an ordinary mortal, and when cut to bits by a certain +magic knife becomes a tree. "Her feet became a silver stem, her two +hands golden branches, her head ornaments were diamond leaves, all her +bracelets and bangles were pearly fruits, and her head was a peacock +dancing and playing in the branches." As soon as the magic knife is +thrown to the ground she regains her human form. + +Eisenlaci in Stier's _Ungarische Sagen und Maerchen_ (pp. 107-109) +comes in the form of a horse to the twelve-headed dragon's house. He +is killed; the first two drops of his blood are thrown into the garden +and from them springs a tree with golden apples: the tree is cut +down, but the first two chips (which are flung into the pond) become a +gold fish: the gold fish turns into Eisenlaci himself in human form. + +9. Winning a wife by seizing her dress while she bathes is an incident +common to fairy tales of many countries. + + +II.--THE POMEGRANATE KING. + +1. Such is the story as told by Dunkn in 1876; at that time, when it +was read over to her, she said it was correct. On my asking her in +1878, when the story was going through the press, to explain some +points in it, such as why the children said they had been brought to +life _three_ times, the boy having only died twice, and the girl once, +she told me the following variation: After the attempt to get rid of +the boy by making him into a curry had failed, the Rn Sunks sent +for a sepoy and bade him carry the two children to the jungle and +there kill them; and as a proof of their death he was to bring her +their livers. Once in the jungle with the children, the sepoy had not +the heart to kill them; so he left them in it, and brought the livers +of two goats to Sunks Rn. She buried the livers in the garden and +was content; but some months later as she was walking (literally +"eating the air") in the jungle she saw her step-children playing +about; she returned to the palace, sent for the sepoy, and asked him +why he had not killed the children. "I did kill them," said the sepoy, +"and brought you their livers." "Those livers were not the children's +livers," answered the Rn; "I have just seen the children alive and +playing in the jungle." "They must have been other people's children +that you saw," said the sepoy, "yours I killed." "Do not tell me +lies," said the Rn. "Now you must at once go to the jungle, kill the +children, and bring me their eyes." The sepoy went to find the +children, but when he found them he could not kill them, so he took +them to some people who lived in a hut, and said to these people, +"Take great care of the two children. Be very kind to them." He then +killed two goats and took their eyes to the Rn, who was now +satisfied for some time. But one day another of the Pomegranate +Rj's sepoys passed near the hut, and saw the children playing about. +So he went to Sunks Rn and told her the children were alive and +well. At this the Rn was very angry, and she thought, "It is of no +use my sending the first sepoy again to kill them. I will send this +man." She said, therefore, to the second sepoy, "If you will kill +these children for me, you shall have a great reward." The sepoy +agreed, went to the little hut, and seized the children. The poor +people who took care of the children begged and prayed him to have +pity on them; but the sepoy said, "No." He had the Rn's orders to +kill them, and they must and should be killed. And so he killed them +and brought their livers to the Rn as she had bidden him. Sunks +Rn was very happy when she saw the livers, and she buried them close +to a large tank that was in her garden. + +Some three months later her servants came to her and told her a +beautiful large bl-fruit was floating on the water of the tank. +Sunks Rn went at once with them to the tank, and when she saw the +fruit she was seized with a great longing to have it. So she sent all +her servants, one after the other, into the tank to fetch it; but all +to no purpose, for as soon as any one of them got close to the fruit +it floated away from him. Then the Rn herself went into the tank. +She, however, was not a whit more able to get it: when she thought she +had only to put out her hand to take it, the fruit rose up into the +air, and fell into the water again as soon as she had come up out of +the tank. She went to the Mahrj and told him of this lovely +bl-fruit, and then went to her room while he came down to the tank. +He said, "I should like to catch the fruit: I wonder if I can do so. +What a lovely fruit!" As soon as he put his hand into the water the +fruit came floating towards him, and floated into it. "I think this +fruit is quite ripe," said the Mahrj. "Quite ripe," said the +servants, and they struck it with a stone to break it open. "Oh, you +hurt us! you hurt us!" cried little voices from inside the bl-fruit. +"Gently, gently; don't hurt us." The Mahrj and all the servants +were greatly surprised, and the Mahrj went to Sunks Rn, and +told her all about the little voices. She at once guessed her +step-children were in the fruit, so she said to the Mahrj, "You +had better take the fruit to the jungle and there break it open with a +big stone, so that anything inside it may be crushed to bits." "I will +not do that," said the Mahrj. Then he went back to his servants and +made them cut the fruit's rind very carefully cross-ways and the fruit +broke into halves: in one half sat his little son, in the other his +little daughter. As soon as the halves were laid on the ground the +children stepped out, and at once grew to their natural size. Their +father was very angry when he saw them. "Why, I thought you were at +school," said he. "The Mahrn told me you were at school. Why are +you not there? What funny (Dunkn's own word) children you are to get +into this bl-fruit! What made you like to live in a fruit?" But to +all his questionings and scoldings the children said not one word. At +last he sent them up to the palace, and there they stayed with him for +some three months. But the Mahrn said to him, "These are not your +children. Yours are at school." "They _are_ my children," he answered. + +All this time the Mahrn hated them more and more, and at last she +went to them and said, "Now I really will kill you." "Just as you +please," answered the children; "we don't mind being killed. You may +kill us three times, four times, as often as you like: it does not +matter in the least; for God will always bring us to life again." + +At this Sunks Rn flew into a rage and she called her servants and +said, "Kill these children, cut them into mince-meat and throw them to +the crows and kites. When the crows and kites have eaten them, they +cannot come to life any more." So the servants killed the children, +and chopped them up very fine and fed the crows and kites with their +flesh; and now the Mahrn was very happy. + +Some months later, as she was walking in her garden, she saw two +beautiful flower-buds on a large bl-tree that grew in it. She showed +them to the gardener, and asked if he had seen them before. "Never," +said the man. "On this tree there have never been either flowers or +fruit till now." "Gather the flowers for me," said the Rn, "I do so +wish to have them." The gardener said to her, "Wait till the buds are +fully blown and then I will gather them for you." At the end of three +or four days the Rn Sunks asked if the buds had grown into large +flowers, and the gardener said, "Yes, to-day I will gather them for +you." He got a long, long bamboo cane, and tied a piece of wood +cross-ways on one of its ends so as to make a sort of hook wherewith +to catch hold of and break off the flowers. He tried and tried to get +them, but all in vain. Then he made all the servants try. It was of no +use, no one could make the hook touch the flowers. They always bent +themselves just out of its reach. Then Sunks Rn tried, but with no +better success. She told the Mahrj, who said, "I will try to-morrow +to gather these wonderful flowers." + +That night as the Rn lay in her bed she suddenly thought, "Those +children are in the flowers," and she determined to be with her +husband when he gathered them, to get them into her own hands some way +or other. + +The next morning Anrbs Mahrj and his wife went to the bl-tree, +and as soon as he held out his hand towards the flowers, they dropped +into it. "What lovely flowers! What beautiful flowers! Do give them to +me," said Sunks Rn. "No," said the Mahrj, "I will keep them +myself." Then he carried them to his room and laid them on the table +while he shut the door and the venetians. Then he came and sat down +before them: he took them in his hand, and looked at them and laid +them again on the table; then he took them and smelt them, and they +smelt, oh! so sweet. This he did many times. At last he held them to +his ears, for the adventure of the bl-fruit had made him wise +(_hushyr_), and he heard little tiny voices, saying, "Papa" (Dunkn's +own word), "we want to stay with you; we should like to be with you." +The Mahrj looked very carefully at the flowers, and at last, in one +of them he saw a little splinter of wood like a thorn sticking: he +pulled this out, and his own little son stood before him. Then he +looked at the other flower, and in that, too, was a little splinter of +wood sticking. When he pulled it out his little girl stood there. + +The Mahrj was vexed with his children, and asked them why they were +so naughty, and why they liked to live in fruits and flowers instead +of staying in the palace or going to school. The children answered, +"We go to school sometimes, and then we come back and live in our +flowers, and then we return to school, and then we come back to our +flower-homes again." "This is a lie you are telling me," said their +father. "You know quite well you have not been at school at all." The +Mahrn came in to hear what all this talking meant, and when she saw +the children she said to Anrbs Mahrj, "These are not your +children, yours are at school." "They are my children," he answered, +"and they have never been at school at all, and they are very +naughty." He then sent them away to play, and the Rn returned to her +room. But he sat alone in his room, for he was angry and cross. As he +sat there one of his chaprss came to him and said, "Mahrj, you do +not know how ill the Mahrn treats your children, or you would not +be angry with them. She has killed them several times, and sent them +away into the jungle; and after they came out of the bl-fruit she +killed them and chopped them into small pieces, and fed the kites and +crows with their flesh." When the Mahrj heard all this, he said to +the chaprs, "You must have a beautiful little house built for me; +you must take care that it is chiefly made of wood; the flooring must +be very thin and of wood; and the hollow place under the flooring must +be filled with dry wood. Then you must put plenty of flowers inside +the house, and plenty outside so as to make it very pretty." + +As soon as the house was ready the Mahrj went to his wife and asked +her if she would go out with him to eat the air. "I should like to +show you a new house I have had built for you," he said. So she went +with him and thought her new house lovely. While she was inside +looking at the pretty flowers in the rooms, the Mahrj slipped out, +and bolted the door so that she could not escape, and he told his +servants to set fire to the wood under the flooring. When the flames +began to rise the Rn got very frightened. She rushed to the window +and called to the Mahrj and his servants, who were standing there +looking on, to save her. No one said anything to her. "Save me," she +cried, "or I shall be burnt to death." "If you are burnt, what does it +matter?" said the Mahrj. "You ill-treated my children; you killed +them; so, now burn." + +As soon as she was burnt to death the Mahrj had all her bones +collected and put into four dishes, and he gave them to one of his +servants to take to Sunks Rn's mother. When her mother uncovered +dish after dish and found nothing but bones, she asked the servant, +"Of what use are bones?" "These are your daughter's bones," said he: +"therefore Anrbs Mahrj sent them to you. Sunks Rn +ill-treated and killed his children, and so he burnt her." + +The rest of the story she pronounced exact (_thk_). + +2. The bl-tree is the _gle Marmelos_ of botanists. + +3. With the different deaths and transformations of the children +compare in this book: Phlmati Rn, pp. 3 and 4: the Kite's Children, +p. 22: the Bl-Princess, pp. 144, 145, 148: and in _Old Deccan Days_ +Surya Bai, pp. 85, 86. In "Die goldenen Kinder" (Schott's +_Wallachische Maerchen_) the golden children are killed and buried (p. +122). From their hearts spring two apple-trees having golden leaves +and apples. The trees are destroyed; but a sheep has eaten an apple +and then has two golden lambs. The step-mother kills them at once and +sends the maid to wash the entrails in the stream, intending to cook +them for her husband to eat (compare the curry in the "Pomegranate +King," p. 8; the broth (_Suhr_) in Grimm's "von dem Machandelboom," +_Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, vol. I. p. 271; and the stew in the +Devonshire story, "The Rose-Tree," told in Henderson's _Folk-lore of +the Northern Counties of England_, p. 314). A piece of the entrail +escapes, and as it floats away it swells and swells. On reaching the +opposite bank it bursts, and out of it step the golden children. In a +Hungarian story the children, one with a planet and one with a sun on +his forehead, and each with a ring on his arm, are killed by a wicked +woman who wants her daughter to take their mother's place as queen. +They turn first into two golden pear-trees. These are destroyed by +fire, but one glowing coal from the fire is eaten by an old she-goat. +The old goat then has two little golden-fleeced kids. They are killed, +an old crow swallows a piece of the entrails as they are being washed +in the brook; she flies to the seventy-seventh island in the ocean, +builds a nest and lays two golden eggs. Out of the eggs come the +golden-haired children with their planet, sun and golden rings. The +old crow sends them for seven years to school to a hermit (here is the +holy man again, see p. 283 of these notes), and then flies home with +them to their father. The pillar of salt, into which their mother was +changed, answers all the king's questions. It is not said that she +regained her human form ("Die verwandelten Kinder," Stier's +_Ungarische Volksmaerchen_, p. 58). In a Siebenburg story, "Die beiden +goldenen Kinder," the children are killed by an envious woman who +becomes queen in their mother's place. From their remains spring two +golden pine-trees which are burnt; a sheep eats two of the sparks and +has two golden lambs that are killed; from two pieces of the entrails +step forth the golden-haired children (Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische +Maerchen_, pp. 2, 3). In this tale the children are restored to their +father, the king, by the intervention of God himself (p. 4), who in +these _Siebenbuergische Maerchen_ plays a part just as often as +"Khud" does in the Indian tales, taking for the purpose the form of a +"good old man," and often wearing a grey mantle that reminds one of +Odin. In the Netherlandish story of "The knight with the swan" +(Thorpe's _Northern Mythology_, vol. III. p. 302), King Oriant's +mother persuades the king his wife gave him seven puppies instead of +seven children (each born with a silver chain round its neck in "proof +of their mother's nobility"). She sends the children to the forest to +be destroyed. They are left there alive, and are fostered by an old +man. When the queen-mother learns this, she sends servants to kill +them. These are content with depriving six of the children of their +silver chains, on which the children instantly become swans. (The +seventh child is absent and so is saved.) A goldsmith makes two +beakers out of one of the chains, and keeps the others intact. When +the chains are hung again round the five swans' necks, and the beaker +shown to the sixth, they regain their human forms. See also paragraph +8 of the notes to Phlmati Rn. + +4. With the children in the fruit and flowers compare in these +stories, Phlmati Rn, p. 3: Loving Lail, p. 81: the Bl-Princess, +p. 146, and paragraph 5 of the notes to that story, p. 283: and in +_Old Deccan Days_, "Surya Bai," p. 86: and "Anr Rn and her two +maids," p. 95. With these may be compared the Polish Madey (Naake's +_Slavonic Fairy Tales_, p. 220). Madey is a robber who commits fearful +crimes; he repents, and sticks his "murderous club" upright in the +ground, swearing to kneel before it till the boy who has caused his +repentance returns as a bishop. Years go by: the boy, now a bishop, +passes through Madey's forest. The club has become an apple-tree full +of apples and he discovers Madey through their sweet odour. At Madey's +request the bishop confesses him; and as Madey confesses his crimes, +the apples on the tree, one after another, become white doves and fly +to heaven. They were the souls of those he had murdered. + +In an unpublished story told by Dunkn, the incidents of the children +being in the fruit, and the fruit not letting itself be gathered by +any but the rightful owner of its contents (as is the case also with +the Bl-Princess), again occur. In this story there is a prince called +Aisab, who, as he wished very much to have children, married. At the +same time he took an oath that if his child, when he had one, cried, +he would kill it, and then if his wife cried he would kill her too. +His first wife gave him a child who died; she cried and was killed by +her husband. The same thing happened to the second wife. He then +married a third wife, called Gulanr. She had a little son, +Dm-ahmad, and two or three years later another son, called Karmat. +The first boy died, but Gulanr did not cry--she only grieved for him +in her heart. Karmat was unhappy from seeing other children playing +with their brothers and sisters, and asked his mother "why he had no +brother or sister to play with?" She said, "Once you had a little +brother and he died." Then Karmat began to cry, and his father killed +him immediately with his sword because of his oath, though he loved +Karmat dearly. The "mother was still sadder than before, but she +never wept." Then God took pity on her and sent down into Prince +Aisab's garden a big bl-tree, and on this bl-tree was a fruit. Every +one tried to gather this fruit, even Prince Aisab tried, but each time +their hands approached it the fruit rose into the air and returned +again when the hands were withdrawn. Then Gulanr stretched out her +hand "and the fruit fell into it." She took it into the house and +tried to break it open with a stone, and a voice called out, "Mother, +mother, not so hard; you hurt us." She was very much frightened, +thinking a Rakshas or a demon was in the fruit. Prince Aisab was +equally alarmed, but his wazr, Mamatsa, broke the fruit open gently +in obedience to the little voice that called out, "Don't knock so +hard, Mamatsa; you hurt us;" and out of it stepped the two little +children Dm-ahmad and Karmat. Dm-ahmad was very beautiful. On his +head was the sun, on his face the moon, and on his hands stars, and he +had long golden hair. He married a princess, Atsa, who also had the +sun on her head, the moon on her face, stars on her hands, and "her +hair was of pure gold and reached down to the ground." The idea that +none but the rightful owner can catch the child is found too in Grey's +_Polynesian Mythology_ at pp. 116, 117, in the story of Whakatau, who +was fashioned in the sea from his mother Apakura's apron by the god +Rongota-kawiu. This child lived at the bottom of the sea; but one day +he came on shore after his kite, and all who saw him tried in vain to +catch him. Then said Whakatau, "You had better go and bring Apakura +here; she is the only person who can catch me and hold me fast." His +mother then comes and catches him. + +5. Sunks's bones are sent to her mother. In the _Sicilianische +Maerchen_ collected by Laura Gonzenbach, it is a common practice for +husbands to punish their second wives' treachery with death, and then +to send their remains to their mothers, who feast on them, thinking +they are eating tunny-fish, and die of grief on learning what they +have really swallowed. + +6. With Gulanr's change into a bird compare Laura Gonzenbach's 13th +_Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. I. p. 82, where the real bride is +transformed into a dove by a black-headed pin being driven into her +head, and regains her human form when the pin is pulled out. Schott +has a similar incident in his _Wallachische Maerchen_, p. 251. So has +Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. II. p. 242) in a story from +near Leghorn, where the woman is changed into a swallow (in all these +stories it is the husband who pulls out the pin); and he says similar +stories with a transformation into a dove are told in Piedmont, in +other parts of Tuscany, in Calabria, and are to be found in the +_Tutiname_. Ralston's Princess Mariya (_Russian Folk Tales_, p. 183), +and Thorpe's second story of "The Princess that came out of the water" +(_Yule Tide Stories_, p. 41), may also be compared. + +7. The golden bird in the Siebenburg story drops pearls from its beak +whenever it sings ("Der goldne Vogel," Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische +Maerchen_, pp. 31, 35). The princess, its mistress, wears (p. 39) a +golden mantle "adorned with _carbuncles_ and pearls from the golden +bird." + + +III.--THE CAT AND THE DOG. + +1. The Tiger promises not to eat the man who helps him and then tries +to break his promise. Compare "The Brahman, the Tiger, and the six +Judges," _Old Deccan Days_, p. 159; and "Ananzi and the Lion" in +Dasent's _Ananzi Stories_, p. 490. + +2. In a Slavonic story mentioned by Gubernatis (_Zoological +Mythology_, vol. II. p. 111), a bear is about to kill a peasant in +revenge. A fox appears, "shakes its tail and says to the peasant, +'Man, thou hast ingenuity in thy head and a stick in thy hand.' The +peasant immediately understands the stratagem," and persuades the bear +to get into a sack he has with him that he may carry the bear three +times round the field instead of doing penance, after which the bear +is to do what he likes with him. The bear gets into the sack, the man +"binds it strongly" together, and then beats the bear to death with +his stick. Gubernatis at p. 132 of the same volume tells a similar +story from Russia in which a wolf plays the part of the bear and of +our tiger. + + +IV.--THE CAT THAT COULD NOT BE KILLED. + +1. In an unpublished story told us by Gangiy, a hill-man from near +Simla, a cat saves herself from being eaten by a jackal very much in +the same way that this cat saved herself from the leopard. The jackal +(in Gangiy's story) ate anything it came across, whether it were dead +or alive. One day he met a tiger and said to him, "I will eat you. I +will not let you go." "Very good," said the tiger, "eat me." So the +jackal ate him up. He went a little further and met a leopard; he said +to the leopard, "I will eat you." "Very good," said the leopard. So he +ate the leopard. He went a little further and met a tiny mouse. +"Mouse," he said, "I have eaten a tiger and a leopard, and now I will +eat you." "Very good," said the mouse. He ate the mouse. He went a +little further and met a cat. "I will eat you," said the jackal. The +cat answered, "What will it profit you to eat me, who am so small? A +little further on you will see a dead buffalo: eat that." So the +jackal left the cat and went to eat the buffalo. He walked on and on, +but could find no buffalo; and the cat, meanwhile ran away. The jackal +was very angry, and set off to seek the cat, but could not find her. +He was furious. + + +VI.--THE RAT AND THE FROG. + +Compare the Bohemian "Long-desired child," Naake's _Slavonic Fairy +Tales_, p. 226. This child is carved out of a tree-root by a woodman, +who brings him home to his wife. They delight in having a child at +last. The child eats all the food in the house; his father and mother; +a girl with a wheelbarrow full of clover; a peasant, his hay-laden +cart, and his cart-horses; a man and his pigs; a shepherd, his flock +and dog; lastly, cabbages belonging to an old woman who cuts him in +two with her mattock just as he tries to eat her. Out of him jump +unhurt every thing and every one he has swallowed. In a story from the +south of Siberia (Gubernatis' _Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 140) +the hero vanquishes a demon, who tells him that in his stomach he will +find a silver casket. He cuts the monster open and out of him come +"innumerable animals, men, treasures, and other objects. Some of the +men say, 'What noble youth has delivered us from the black night?'" +In two of the caskets the hero finds the eyes of an old woman who has +befriended him, and money, "and from the last casket came forth more +men, animals, and valuables of every kind." In a Russian story quoted +by Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. pp. 406, 407) the wolf +eats the kids all but one. The mother goat persuades him to jump over +a fire. The fire splits his belly open, out tumble all the little +kids, lively as ever. There is a very similar story with fox, goat, +and kid for actors in Campbell's _Popular Tales of the West +Highlands_, vol. III. p. 93; and Grimm has one also, "Der Wolf und die +sieben jungen Geislein," in his _Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, vol. I. p. +29. In the notes to this story, vol. III. p. 15, Grimm says, "In +Pomerania this is told of a child who when his mother had gone out was +swallowed by the child-spectre, resembling the varlet Ruprecht. But +the stones which he swallows with the child make the spectre so heavy +that he falls to the earth, and the child unhurt springs out of him." +See, too, the demons at p. 99 of these stories, who swallow the +Princess Champkl's suitors. + + * * * * * + +Tylor in his _Primitive Culture_, vol. I. p. 341, classes Little Red +Riding Hood among these Day and Night myths. It is, he says, +"mutilated in the English Nursery version, but known more perfectly by +old wives in Germany, who can tell that the lovely little maid in her +shining red satin cloak was swallowed with her grandmother by the +wolf, but they both came out safe and sound when the hunter cut open +the sleeping beast." He also quotes among these myths (_ib._ p. 338) a +story of the Ojibwas in which the hero is swallowed by a great fish +and cut out again by his sister; and another belonging to the Basutos +in which all mankind save the hero and his mother were devoured by a +monster. The hero "attacked the creature and was swallowed whole, but +cutting his way out he set free all the inhabitants of the world." At +the same page is the story of the Zulu Princess Untombinde who was +carried off by a dreadful beast. "The king gathered his army and +attacked it, but it swallowed up men, and dogs, and cattle, all but +one warrior; he slew the monster, and there came out cattle, and +horses, and men, and last of all the princess herself." Mr. Tylor +quotes, too (_ib._ p. 336), in connexion with this class of myths, the +story of the death of the New Zealand sun-hero, Maui, which he tells +more fully than does Sir George Grey in his _Polynesian Mythology_; +and he goes on at pp. 338, 339, 340, to connect these myths with those +of Perseus and Andromeda; Heracles and Hesione; the story of Jonah and +his fish; the Greenland angakok swallowed by bear and walrus and +thrown up again; and the legend of Hades. + +Besides the angakok mentioned by Mr. Tylor, Dr. Rink, in his _Tales +and Traditions of the Eskimo_, has two other stories of escapes from +the stomach of a dead animal when it is cut open. In the first, at p. +260, the boy is devoured by a gull; his sister kills the bird, takes +her brother's bones from its pouch and carries them home: on the way +the boy comes to life again. The other tale, p. 438, tells how +Nakasungnak jumped out of the hole his friends had made in the dead +"ice-covered" bear's side; but his hair as well as the skin of his +face had come off, and he shivered from cold and ague. And in +Ralston's _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 177, is a story of a snake +who steals "the luminaries of the night. A hero cuts off his head, and +out of the slain monster issue the Bright Moon and the Morning Star." + + +VII.--FOOLISH SACHL. + +1. Foolish Sachl lives in many lands. In his Russian dress he +figures in "The Fool and the Birch-tree," Ralston's _Russian Folk +Tales_, p. 52. In the Sicilian "Giuf" we find him again (Gonzenbach's +_Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. I. p. 249). In England he appears in an +out-of-the-way village in the south (see _Pall Mall Budget_, July 12, +1878, p. 11, _Wild Life in a Southern Country_, No. XIV.) with, to use +his mother's words, "no more sense than God had given him." She +wishing to have his testimony discredited when he bears witness +against her, as she knows he will, goes upstairs and rains raisins on +him from the window. So when asked to specify the time he speaks of, +he says, "When it rained raisins," and is of course disbelieved. + +Note by Mr. J. F. Campbell: "This story of a stupid boy has a parallel +in a Gaelic tale in my collection, where the boy dated an event which +was true by a fall of pancakes or something of the kind which was not +true, and was not believed though he told the truth." [At p. 385, vol. +II. of the _Tales of the West Highlands_ a "half booby" is inveigled +by his mother into dating his theft of some planks by a "shower of +milk-porridge."] + +2. The magic gifts given by the fairies are a common incident in fairy +tales: so is the adventure with the jar of ghee. + + +VIII.--BARBER HM AND THE TIGERS. + +1. Forbes in his Hindstn Dictionary says _Kans_ or _Kansa_ was the +name of a wicked tyrant whom Krish[n.]a was born to destroy, and that +the word now means a wicked tyrant. But Rj Kns is an historical +character. All that is known of him is told by the late Professor +Blochmann in the Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal for 1873, Pt. I. p. +264. + +2. In the note (p. 380) to the XIXth Tale in the _Sagas from the Far +East_, is a story in which Barber Hm's part is played by a he-goat, +and that of his tigers by a lion. See, too, "How the three clever men +outwitted the demons" in _Old Deccan Days_, pp. 273-278. In a Santl +tale, "Kanran and Guja," sent by the Rev. F. T. Cole to the _Indian +Antiquary_, vol. IV. September 1875, p. 257, two brothers, Kanran and +Guja, climb into a tl tree. Here they are discovered by a tiger whom +they have deprived of his tail, and who has brought a number of his +friends to help him revenge himself on the brothers. The tailless +tiger proposes they shall all stand one the top of the other, to reach +the men in the tree. His friends agree provided he takes his stand at +the bottom, and they climb as proposed till they almost reach the +brothers. Then Kanran calls out to Guja, "Give me your axe. I will +kill the tailless tiger." The tigers in terror all tumble to the +ground, crushing their tailless friend in their fall, and flee to +their homes. In "The Leopard and the Ram" (Bleek's _Hottentot Fables +and Tales_, p. 24) the ram and the leopard play the parts of the +barber and his tigers. See, too, "The Lion and the Bushman," p. 59 of +the same collection. + +Note by Mr. J. F. Campbell: "Compare the Irish story of two hunchbacks +in Keightley. A version is in Mitford's Japanese book; and far better +versions are common in Japan." + + +IX.--THE BULBUL AND THE COTTON-TREE. + +1. Cotton-tree, in Hindstn _Semal_. + +2. Koel, Indian cuckoo. + + +X.--THE MONKEY PRINCE. + +1. Bandars means like a monkey; Dunkn in telling this husk-story +just as often called the monkey-skin a husk (_chhilka_) as she called +it a skin (_chamr_). + +2. Princess Jahran throws mattresses to her drowning husband. In a +Manpr tale published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_, +vol. IV. September 1875, p. 260, Basanta's wife throws him a pillow +that he may save himself when the envious merchant, on board whose +boat they are, pitches the prince into the river that he may secure +the princess for himself. + + +XI.--BRAVE HRLLBS. + +1. With this story all through compare "The Demon is at last conquered +by the King's Son," p. 173 of this collection. + +2. Rakshas means protector, and is, probably, an euphemistic term. The +chapter on Mystic Animals in Swedish traditions (Thorpe's _Northern +Mythology_, vol. II. p. 83) gives a list of certain creatures that are +not to be mentioned by their own but by euphemistic names for fear of +incurring their wrath. This belief, Thorpe in the same chapter, p. 84, +says, extends to certain inanimate things: water used for brewing, for +instance, must not be called _vatn_ (water) or the beer will not be so +good; and fire occasionally is to be spoken of as _hetta_ (heat). The +girl in an Esthonian tale quoted by Gubernatis at p. 151 of the 1st +vol. of his _Zoological Mythology_ addresses a crow whose help she +needs as "Bird of light." Fiske says (_Myths and Mythmakers_, p. 223), +"A Dayak will not allude by name to the small-pox, but will call it +'The chief' or 'Jungle leaves;' the Laplander speaks of the bear as +'the old man with the fur coat;' in Annam the tiger is called +'Grandfather,' or 'Lord.' The Finnish hunters called the bear 'the +Apple of the Forest, the beautiful Honey-claw, the Pride of the +thicket'" ("The Mythology of Finnland," _Fraser's Magazine_, May +1857). The Furies, as every one knows, were called the Eumenides, or +the gracious ones. + +The Rakshases are a kind of huge demons who delight in devouring men +and beasts. They can take any shape they please. The female Rakshas +often assumes that of a beautiful woman. Compare the demon Mara as +described by Fiske at p. 93 of his book above quoted. + +The Rakshases do not travel in the way mortals do. See a Dinjpur +story told by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ (February +1875, vol. IV. p. 54), where the hero, who has married both the +Rakshas-king's daughter and his niece, asks his father-in-law's leave +to return home with his Rakshas-wives. The King consents (p. 58), but +says, "We Rakshases do not travel in plks (palanquins), but in the +air." Accordingly the prince, his two Rakshas wives and his mortal +wife, all travel towards his father's country through the air "along +the sky." One kind of jinn travel in the same way (Lane's _Arabian +Nights_, vol. I., "Notes to Introduction," p. 29). So do the drakes +and kobolds in Northern Germany. The drake is as big as a cauldron, "a +person may sit in him," and travel with him to any spot he pleases. +Both drakes and kobolds look like fiery stripes. The kobolds appear +sometimes as a blue, sometimes as a red, stripe passing through the +air (Thorpe's _Northern Mythology_, vol. III. pp. 155, 156). + +3. Dunkn says, "All Rakshases keep their souls in birds." Those that +do so resemble in this respect some of the Indian demons, and the +giants, trolls, and such like noxious actors in the Norse, Scotch, and +other popular tales. + +Tylor (_Primitive Culture_, vol. II. pp. 152, 153) mentions the Tatar +story of the giant who could not be killed till the twelve-headed +snake in which he kept his soul was destroyed. This tale, he says, +"illustrates the idea of soul-embodiment," and "very likely" indicates +the sense of the myths where giants, &c., keep their souls out of +their own bodies. The civilized notion of soul-embodiment, he adds +(quoting from "Grose's bantering description of the art of laying +ghosts in the last century,") is that of conjuring ghosts into +different objects: "one of the many good instances of articles of +savage belief serving as jests among civilized men." Possibly these +giants, trolls, rakshases, demons, once belonged to that class of +spirits who could, in popular belief, enter at pleasure into stocks +and stones and other objects of idolatrous veneration. + +But all Rakshases do not keep their souls in birds. Some have their +souls in bees (see a Dinjpur tale published by Mr. G. H. Damant in +the _Indian Antiquary_ for April 6, 1872, p. 115): and in another +Dinjpur story printed by Mr. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ for +June 7, 1872, p. 120, a whole tribe of Rakshases dwelling in Ceylon +kept theirs in one and the same lemon. + +4. In the first quoted of these stories collected by Mr. Damant, that +where the Rakshases keep their life in bees, the hero is a prince who +starts in search of the wonderful tree mentioned in paragraph 8 of the +note to Phlmati Rn (p. 244). In his wanderings he finds himself in +the Rakshas country. There he meets with the woman who when cut up +turns into the tree he seeks. When he first sees her she lies dead on +a bed with a golden wand on one side of her, and a silver wand on the +other. He accidentally touches her with the golden wand and she +wakes. She tells him the Rakshases, every morning when they go out in +search of food, make her dead by touching her with the silver wand, +and wake her with the golden wand when they return at night. Mr. +Damant has another story in the _Indian Antiquary_ (July 5, 1872, vol. +I. p. 219), from Dinjpur, in which there is a prince Dalim who dies +and is laid in a tomb above ground, not buried. Daily the Apsarases, +the dancing-girls in the court of Indra, wake him from death by +touching his face with a golden wand, and make him dead again by +touching him with a silver wand. These wands they always leave lying +beside him. His wife comes one day to mourn over him and accidentally +discovers the secret of bringing him to life. He is, finally, restored +to her by the Apsarases. + +5. According to Gubernatis, "three and seven are sacred numbers in +Aryan faith" (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 6). + +6. Hrllbs addresses the Rakshas as "uncle." The two brothers +Kanran and Guja (in a Santl fairy tale bearing their name printed by +the Rev. F. T. Cole in the _Indian Antiquary_, September 1875, vol. +IV. p. 257), address a tiger by the same propitiatory title. The tiger +in return addresses them as nephews, and gives them the fire they +want. + +"Uncle" and "aunt" are used in a propitiatory sense over a great part +of the world. Hunt at p. 6 of his introduction to the _Romances and +Drolls of the West of England_ says, "Uncle is a term of respect, +which was very commonly applied to aged men by their juniors in +Cornwall. Aunt ... was used in the same manner when addressing aged +women." "Mon oncle" and "ma tante" are sometimes used in the same way +in France. Fiske in his _Myths and Mythmakers_, pp. 166, 167, tells +how the Zulu solar hero Uthlakanyana outwits a cannibal: in this story +the hero addresses the cannibal as "uncle," and the cannibal in return +calls him "child of my sister." Fiske, quoting from Dr. Callaway, at +p. 166, says, "It is perfectly clear that the cannibals of the Zulu +legends are not common men; they are magnified into giants and +magicians; they are remarkably swift and enduring; fierce and terrible +warriors." In the Hottentot story of the "Lion who took a woman's +shape," the lion and the woman address each other as "my aunt," and +"my uncle" (Bleek's _Hottentot Fables and Tales_, pp. 51, 52). In +Siberia the Yakuts worship the bear under the name of their "beloved +uncle" (Tylor's _Primitive Culture_, vol. II. p. 231); and when the +Russian peasant calls on the dreaded Lyeshy to appear he cries, "Uncle +Lyeshy" (Ralston's _Songs of the Russian people_, p. 159). + +"Grannie" is the word used by Dunkn herself. + +7. The Rakshas queen is tricked to her death in the same way as the +wicked step-mother in the "Pomegranate King," p. 12 of this +collection. + + +XII.--THE MAN WHO WENT TO SEEK HIS FATE. + +1. Compare a Servian story, "Das Schicksal" (Karadschitsch, +_Volksmaerchen der Serben_, p. 106), in which a man sets out to seek +his fate, and on the road is commissioned by a rich householder to ask +the fate why, though he gives abundance of food to his servants, he +can never satisfy their hunger, and why his aged, miserable father and +mother do not die: by another man, to ask why his cattle diminish +instead of thriving: and, thirdly, by a river whose waters bear him +safely across it, to ask why no living thing lives in it. His fate +answers all these questions, and instructs him how to thrive himself. +In Frulein Gonzenbach's _Sicilian Fairy Tales_, "Die Geschichte von +Caterina und ihrem Schicksal," vol. I. p. 130, Caterina is persecuted +by her fate, who wears the form of a lovely woman. At last she begs +her mistress's fate, to whom she daily carries a propitiatory +offering, to intercede for her with her own fate. She is told in +answer that her own fate is wrapped in seven veils and so cannot hear +her prayer. Finally her mistress's fate leads her to her own. In the +same collection, in "Feledico und Epomata" (vol. I. p. 350), +Feledico's fate plays a personal part. + +This Indian story looks like a relic of stock and stone worship (see +Tylor's _Primitive Culture_, vol. II. chapters XIV. and XV.). Compare +the man's beating his fate-stone with the treatment the Ostyak gives +his puppet. If it is good to him he clothes and feeds it with broth; +"if it brings him no sport he will try the effect of a good thrashing +on it, after which he will clothe and feed it again" (_ib._ p. 170). +Other examples are given at the same page. These spirits and gods, for +whose dwelling-place stocks and stones and other objects had been +supplied, were not supposed always to inhabit these abodes; but they +did so at pleasure. Compare Elijah's address to the priests of Baal, +"Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, +or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth" (1 Kings xviii. +27), with Caterina's seven-veiled fate, and the prostrate fate-stone +in our story whose spirit-owner was evidently absent on some +expedition. These fates may be compared with the patron or guardian +spirits of whom Mr. Tylor speaks at pp. 199-203 of the same volume. He +says (p. 202), "The Egyptian astrologer warned Antonius to keep far +from the young Octavius, 'for thy demon,' said he, 'is in fear of +his.'" If one man's demon or genius were at enmity with that of +another man, it would probably be friendly to that of a third man, and +would therefore be acquainted with its secrets and with its motives of +behaviour to the man it guarded. Hence the advice given by her +mistress to Caterina to inquire of her own fate from her mistress's +fate, and the questions to be put to their fates when found given to +the men in the Indian and Servian stories. These questions remind one +of those entrusted to the youths in European tales as they journey to +the dragon or devil to whom they are sent for destruction. Like the +fates in the Indian and Servian stories, these dragons and devils live +at the end of a long and difficult journey. Caterina has to climb a +mountain to visit her mistress's fate. + +2. Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 22), speaking of the +three _Ribhavas_, says, "During the twelve days (the twelve hours of +the night or the twelve months in the year) in which they are the +guests of Agohyas," &c. So possibly the twelve years in this and other +stories in this collection may be the twelve hours of the night. In an +unpublished story told by Dunkn, "Prince Hsains's journey," the +prince journeys for twelve years. When he returns home he finds his +parents as he had left them--fast asleep in bed. To them the twelve +years had only been as one night. + + +XIII.--THE UPRIGHT KING. + +1. The Boar is an avatr of Vish[n.]u. + +2. A [d.]om (the d is lingual) is a Hind of a very low caste. + +3. Possibly this king is the same as the king Harichand in the last +story but one in the collection, p. 224, and he may also be the +Harichandra of the following letter from Mr. C. H. Tawney:-- + +"I have been looking up the story of 'Harichandra.' It is to be found +in Muir, vol. I. He gives a summary of it from the _Marka[n.][d.]eya +Pur[n.]a_. It is also found in the 'Chanda Kauikam,' and in Mutu +Coomara Swamy's 'Martyr of Truth.' The following is Muir's summary +summarized. Harichandra was a king who lived in the Tret age, and +was renowned for his virtue, and for the universal prosperity, moral +and physical, which prevailed during his reign. One day he heard a +sound of female lamentation which proceeded from the Sciences who were +becoming mastered by the austere Sage, Vivamitra, in a way they had +never been before. He rushed to their assistance as a Kshatriya bound +to succour the oppressed. By a haughty speech he provoked Vivamitra, +and in consequence of his wrath the Sciences instantly perished. (In +the 'Chanda Kauikam,' as far as I remember, we are told that the +anger of Vivamitra interfered with the success of his austerity.) The +king says he had only done his duty as a king, which involves the +bestowal of gifts on Brhmans and the succour of the weak. Vivamitra +thereupon demands from the king as a gift the whole earth, everything +but himself, his son, and his wife. The king gives it him. Then +Vivamitra demands his sacrificial fee; the king goes to Benares, +followed by the relentless Sage, the ruler of iva, and is compelled +to sell his wife. She is bought by a rich old Brhman. The son cries +and the Brhman buys him too. But Harichandra has not enough, even +now, to satisfy Vivamitra, so he sells himself to a Ch[n.][d.]la, +who is really Dharma, the god of righteousness. The Ch[n.][d.]la +(man of the lowest caste), carries off the king, bound, beaten, and +confused. The Ch[n.][d.]la sends him to steal clothes in a cemetery. +There he lives twelve months. His wife comes to the cemetery to +perform the obsequies of her son, who had died from the bite of a +serpent. The two determine to burn themselves with the corpse of their +son. When Harichandra, after placing his son on the funeral pyre, is +meditating on the Supreme Spirit, the lord Hari Nrya[n.]a +Krish[n.]a, all the gods arrive headed by Dharma (righteousness) and +accompanied by Vivamitra. Dharma entreats the king to desist from his +rash enterprise, and Indra announces to him that he, his wife, and his +son have gained heaven by their good works. Ambrosia and flowers are +rained by the god from the sky, and the king's son is restored to the +bloom of youth. The king, adorned with celestial clothing and +garments, and the queen, embrace their son. Harichandra, however, +declares that he cannot go to heaven till he has received his master +the Ch[n.][d.]la's permission, and paid him a ransom. Dharma, the +god of righteousness, then says that he had miraculously assumed the +form of a Ch[n.][d.]la. The king requests that his subjects may +accompany him to heaven, at least for one day. This request is granted +by Indra; and after Vivamitra has inaugurated the king's son, +Rohitava, as his successor, Harichandra, his friends and followers, +all ascend to heaven." + + +XIV.--LOVING LAIL. + +1. Majnn is a celebrated lover, whose love for Lail or Lail is the +subject of many Eastern poems. In this story he does not play a +brilliant part. + +2. Lail's knife is like the sun-hero's weapon (the sun's ray), which +lengthens at its owner's pleasure (Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, +vol. II. p. 147). + +3. She cuts her little finger. See "the Bl Princess," p. 141, and +paragraph 2 of the note to "Shekh Fard." "The little finger, though +the smallest, is the most privileged of the five. It is the one that +knows everything." A Piedmontese mother says, "My little finger tells +me everything" (Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 166). +We have a somewhat similar saying in England. In a Russian story +quoted by the same author in the same work (vol. II. p. 151), an old +woman while baking a cake, cuts off her little finger and throws it +into the fire. From the little finger in the fire is born a strong +dwarf who afterwards does many wonderful things. In the tale of the +five fingers ("Die Maehr von den fuenf Fingern," Haltrich's +_Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, p. 325), where each finger decides what +it will do, the little one says, "I will help with wise counsel." In +consequence of this assistance, to this day, "when any one has a wise +idea (Einfall), he says 'that his little finger told him that'" (p. +327). In Finnish mythology we again find the little finger. "The Para, +also originated in the Swedish Bjaeren or Bare, a magical three-legged +being, manufactured in various ways, and which, says Castrn, attained +life and motion when its possessor, cutting the little finger of his +left hand, let three drops of blood fall on it, at the same time +pronouncing the proper spell." ("The Mythology of Finnland," _Fraser's +Magazine_ for May 1857, p. 532.) + +In Rink's _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 441, there is an +account of Kanak's visit to the man of the moon, where he meets a +woman who, he is warned, will take out his entrails if she can only +make him laugh. He follows the moon-man's advice, which is to rub his +leg with the nail of his little finger when he can no longer keep from +smiling, and so saves himself from the old hag. Rishya ['S]riga (to +return to the land of our fairy tales) threw a drop of water from the +nail of his little finger on a Rakshas who, in the form of a tiger, +was rushing to devour him. The demon instantly quitted the tiger's +body, and asked the Rishi what he should do. He followed the holy +man's instructions and obtained mksha (salvation)--see _Indian +Antiquary_ for May 1873, p. 142, "The Legend of Rishya ['S]riga," +told by V. N. Narasimmiyengar of Bangalor. + + +XV.--HOW KING BURTAL BECAME A FAKR. + +1. The Fakr strikes the dead antelope with his wand (_chbuk_), as in +"Shekh Fard," p. 98. In both cases Dunkn says the wand used was a +long, slender piece of bamboo. I do not know whether the bamboo is a +lightning-plant. Possibly it is, being a grass (some grasses are +lightning-plants, see Fiske's _Myths and Mythmakers_, pp. 56, 61), and +also because its long slender stems are lance-shaped. If it does +belong to this class, naturally a blow from a bamboo (or lightning) +wand would give life, for, says Fiske (_ib._ p. 60), "the association +of the thunder-storm with the approach of summer has produced many +myths in which the lightning is symbolized as the life-renewing wand +of the victorious sun-god." + +2. The king tries to hide the ball in his hair. The wonderful power +and strength of hair appears in tales from all lands: Signor de +Gubernatis suggests that, in the case of solar heroes, their hair is +the sun's rays (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 117, vol. II. p. +154); and it seems to me possible that, just as the _colour_ of the +solar hero's hair has been appropriated by Indian fairy-tale princes +who are not solar, the _qualities_ of his hair may have been +attributed to that of folk-lore heroes who are not solar, and may also +have been the origin of some of the strange superstitions prevalent +about human hair. This theory, if correct, would account for most of +the strange things that I have hitherto met about hair. It must be +remembered that the sun's rays are also his weapons; they turn to +thunderbolts when the sun is hidden in the rain-clouds (Gubernatis, +_ib._ vol. I. pp. 9, 17), and also to lightning (see _ib._ vol. II. p. +10, where the sun under the form of a bull is spoken of as the fire +which sends forth lightning). + +First there is Samson, whose name, according to Gesenius, means +"solar," "like the sun." Of the hero Firud, it is told "that a single +hair of his head has more strength in it than many warriors" +(Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 117). Conan was the +weakest man of the Finn, because they used to keep him cropped. "He +had but the strength of a man; but if the hair should get leave to +grow, there was the strength of a man in him for every hair that was +in his head; but he was so cross that if the hair should grow he would +kill them all" (Campbell's _Popular Tales of the West Highlands_, vol. +III. p. 396). At p. 91 of Schmidt's _Griechische Maerchen, Sagen und +Volkslieder_, is the story of a king, "Der Capitn Dreizehn," who is +"the strongest of his time," and who has three long hairs, so long +that they could be twisted twice round the hand on his breast. When +these are cut off he becomes the weakest of men. When these grow again +he regains his strength. The sun's rays have most power when they are +longest, _i.e._ when the sun is in apogee. + +Possibly from this old forgotten myth about the solar hero's hair came +some superstition to which was due the Merovingian decree that only +princes of the blood-royal should wear their hair long; cutting their +long hair made them incapable of becoming kings. Their slaves were +shaved. The barbarians ruled that only their free men should wear long +hair, and that the slaves should be shaved. Professor Monier Williams, +in the _Contemporary Review_ for January 1879, p. 265, says that +Govind, the 10th Guru and founder of the Sikh nationality, ordered the +Sikhs to wear their hair long to distinguish themselves from other +nations. + +In the Slavonic story, "Leben, Abenteuer und Schwaenke des kleinen +Kerza," is a dwarf magician with a long white beard. With a hair from +this beard Kerza binds the magician's wicked wife, who has taken the +form of a wooden pillar the better to carry out her evil ends. From +that moment it was impossible for her to take again her own shape or +to use her former magic powers (Vogl's _Volksmaerchen_, p. 227). One +of the tasks set by Yspaddaden Penkawr to Kilhwch before he will give +him his daughter Olwen to wife, is to get him "a leash made from the +beard of Dissull Varvawc, for that is the only one that can hold the +two cubs. And the leash will be of no avail unless it be plucked from +his beard while he is alive, and twitched out with wooden tweezers ... +and the leash will be of no use should he be dead because it will be +brittle,"--that is, when the sun is set (dead) his rays have no power +(_Mabinogion_, vol. II. p. 288). The same idea lies at the bottom of +the English superstition that "if a person's hair burn brightly when +thrown into the fire, it is a sign of longevity; the brighter the +flame, the longer the life. On the other hand, if it smoulder away, +and refuse to burn, it is a sign of approaching death" (Henderson's +_Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England_, p. 84). + +The Malays have a story of a woman, called Utahigi, in whose head grew +a single white hair endowed with magic power. When her husband pulled +it out a great storm arose and Utahigi went up to heaven. She was a +bird (or cloud) maiden, and this hair must have been the lightning +drawn from the cloud. The Servian Atalanta, when nearly overtaken by +her lover, takes a hair from the top of her head and throws it behind +her. It becomes a mighty wood (clouds are the forests and mountains of +the sky, Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 11), +Karadschitsch, _Volksmaerchen der Serben_, p. 25, in the story "von +dem Maedchen das behender als das Pferd ist." In Schmidt's +_Griechische Maerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder_, p. 79, the king's +daughter as she flies with her lover from the Lamnissa throws some of +her own hairs behind her, and they become a great lake (thunderbolts +and lightning bring rain). At p. 98 of the same work is the story "Der +Riese vom Berge." When this giant wishes to enter his great high +mountain, he takes a hair from his head and touches the mountain with +it. The mountain at once splits in two (p. 101). The king's daughter +in her encounter with the Efreet, "plucked a hair from her head and +muttered with her lips, whereupon the hair became converted into a +piercing sword with which she struck the lion [the Efreet], and he was +cleft in twain by her blow; but his head became changed into a +scorpion" (Lane's _Arabian Nights_, vol. I. p. 156). A Baba Yaga, in +Ralston's _Russian Folk Tales_, p. 147, plucks one of her hairs, ties +three knots in it, and blows, and thus petrifies her victims. She is a +personification of the spirit of the storm, _ib._ p. 164. In _Old +Deccan Days_, at p. 62, the old Rakshas says to Ramchundra, "You must +not touch my hair;" "the least fragment of my hair thrown in the +direction of the jungle would instantly set it in a blaze." Ramchundra +steals two or three of the hairs, and when escaping from the Rakshas, +flings them to the winds and fires the jungle. Chandra (p. 266 of the +same book) avenges the death of her husband by tearing her hair, which +burns and instantly sets fire to the land; all the people in it but +herself and a few who had been kind to her and are therefore saved, +were burnt in this great fire. + +In these tales a single hair from the head of the Princess Labm (the +lunar ray can pierce the cloud as well as a solar ray) cuts a thick +tree-trunk in two, p. 163. + +Hair has another property; it can tell things to its owners. See the +three hairs the Queen gives Coachman Toms, saying, "They will always +tell you the truth when you question them." (Stier's _Ungarische +Volksmaerchen_, p. 176), and which, later in the story (p. 186) +adjudge the king worthy of death. (See Grimm's story _Kinder und +Hausmaerchen_, vol. II. p. 174, "The clear sun brings day.") Also "Das +wunderbare Haar" (Karadschitsch _Volksmaerchen der Serben_, p. 180), +which is blood-red, and in which when split open were found written a +multitude of noteworthy events from the beginning of the world. (The +sun's rays have existed since the early ages of the world.) The girl +from whose head the hair is taken threads a needle with the sun's rays +and embroiders a net made of the hair of heroes. + +See, too, the Eskimo account of the removal of Disco Island in Rink's +_Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 464, where one old man vainly +tries to keep back the island by means of a seal-skin thong which +snaps, while two other old men haul it away triumphantly by the hair +from the head of a little child, chanting their spells all the time. +Their success was, perhaps, due to the spells, not to the hair. In the +notes to Der Capitn Dreizehn in Schmidt's _Griechische Maerchen, +Sagen und Volkslieder_, there are some instances of the strength given +by hair to those on whom it grows. + +2. The lch is Nephelium Litchi. + +3. King Burtal's eldest son's name _Sazd_ is perhaps the boy's title +Shahzd (born of a king), prince. Dunkn says it is his name. + + +XVI.--SOME OF THE DOINGS OF SHEKH FARD. + +1. Khelpar means "playful fairy:" Gulbs, "like a rose." + +2. In another version told to me this year by Dunkn, when Gursan Rj +wakes and learns how long his wife has stood by him, he is horrified, +and refuses the water, saying he does not want it. He tells her that +as a reward for her patience and goodness, she shall know of herself +everything that happens in other countries--floods, fires, and other +troubles; that she shall be able to bring help; and should any one die +from having his throat cut she shall be able to restore him to life, +by smearing the wound with some blood taken from an incision in her +little finger. Khelpar's acquaintance with Shekh Fard begins in +this version as follows:--She was standing at the door of her house +looking down the road, when she saw coming towards her Shekh Fard, +the cartman, and the bullock-cart laden with what once was sugar, but +now, thanks to the fakr, is ashes. Through her gift Khelpar knows +all that has happened, though the miracle was not performed in her +sight; and Shekh Fard being a fakr, though his all-knowing talent +does not equal hers, knows that she knows. The cartman is in despair +when he discovers the ashes, and implores Shekh Fard to help him. The +fakr sends him to Khelpar, saying he must appeal to her as her +power of doing good excels his (the fakr's); that though he could +turn sugar to ashes, he could not turn the ashes to sugar. Khelpar +at the cartman's prayer performs this miracle. Their next encounter is +by a tank in the jungle by which the holy man is resting. She is +hurrying along to put out the fire at her father's palace. The Shekh +cannot understand how it is possible for any woman to know of herself +what is happening twenty miles off, when he, a fakr, can only know +what passes at a short distance, so he follows the Rn to test her +truthfulness, and arrives in time to see her helping to put out the +fire. The rest of the story is the same as the version printed in this +collection. + +3. This Shekh Fard was a famous Sf saint. He was a contemporary of +Nnak, and many of his sayings are embodied in the Granth. In Central +India, there is a holy hill of his called Girur. The Gazetteer of the +Central Provinces edited by C. Grant, 2nd edition, Ngpur, 1870, says +that articles of merchandise belonging to two travelling traders who +mocked the saint passed before him, on which he turned the whole +stock-in-trade into stones as a punishment. They implored his pardon, +and he created a fresh stock for them from dry leaves, on which they +were so struck by his power that they attached themselves permanently +to his service, and two graves on the hill are said to be theirs. In +the _Pioneer_ for 5th August 1878, Pekin has a poem on a similar +legend about the saint. Standing on his holy hill, one day Shekh Fard +saw a packman pass and he begged for alms. The packman mocked him. +Then the saint asked what his sacks contained. "Stones," was the +answer. The Shekh said, "Sooth--they are but worthless stones." +Whereupon all the sacks burst, and the contents, at one time different +kinds of spices, fell stones to the ground. The owner implored the +saint's mercy. Shekh Fard told him to fill his sacks with leaves from +the trees, which was done, and then the leaves became gold mohurs. The +packman turned saint too and left his bones on Girur. A similar +miracle is told of the Irish Saint, Brigit. "Once upon a time Brigit +beheld a man with salt on his back. 'What is that on thy back?' saith +Brigit; 'Stones,' saith the man. 'They shall be stones then,' saith +Brigit, and of the salt stones were made. The same man again cometh to +(or past) Brigit. 'What is that on thy back?' saith Brigit. 'Salt,' +saith the man. 'It shall be salt then,' saith Brigit. Salt was made +again thereof through Brigit's word." (_Three Middle Irish Homilies_, +p. 81.) + +4. Fakrchand means the moon of fakrs. Mohands, the servant of the +Mohan (Krish[n.]a). Champkl is a necklace made in imitation of the +closed buds of the champa or champak flowers. + +5. The demons, in Hindstn _dew_ (pronounced deo), god, are +something like the Rakshases. They have wings, and have exceedingly +long lips, one of which sticks up in the air, while the other hangs +down. One of King Arthur's warriors, "Gwevyl, the son of Gwestad, on +the day that he was sad, he would let one of his lips drop below his +waist while he turned up the other like a cap upon his head" +(_Mabinogion_, vol. II. p. 266, "Kilhwch and Olwen"). + + +XVII.--THE MOUSE. + +1. Unluckily, when Karm was with us, I neglected to write down the +name of the grain that kills the mouse, and all the wonderful things +he told us of the properties of this grain. His explanations were a +kind of note given after he had finished the story. + +2. The only parallel I can find to this story is one in Bleek's +_Hottentot Fables and Tales_, p. 90, called "The unreasonable child to +whom the dog gave its deserts; or a receipt for putting any one to +sleep," in which the child indulges in the uncalled for generosity and +unreasonable rage of the mouse. + + +XVIII.--A WONDERFUL STORY. + +1. Ajt means unsubdued, invincible. + +2. The wrestler's mode of announcing his arrival at Ajt's house is, +probably, the solitary result of many efforts to induce Karm himself +to knock at the nursery door before he marched into the nursery. I +never heard of natives knocking at each other's house-doors. + +3. With these wrestlers compare Grimm's "Der junge Riese," _Kinder und +Hausmaerchen_, vol. II. p. 23, and "Eisenhans" in Haltrich's +_Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, p. 77. + +4. Ajt carries her house. Note by Mr. J. F. Campbell: "Compare an +Irish story about Fionn and a giant who was told that the hero turned +the house when the wind blew open the door." [See, too, Campbell's +_Tales of the Western Highlands_, vol. III. p. 184] + +5. When Karm was here I forgot to ask him how big were Ajt's cakes, +can, and mice. Mr. Campbell of Islay, who read this story in +manuscript, wrote in the margin where the mice were mentioned: "The +fleas in the island of Java are so big that they come out from under +the bed and steal potatoes. They do many such things. Compare [with +Ajt's can] a Gaelic story about a man who found the Fenians in an +island, and was offered a drink in a can so large that he could not +move it." + +6. Mr. G. H. Damant, in the _Indian Antiquary_ for September 1873, +vol. II. p. 271, has a Dinjpur story called "Two gnja-eaters" which +is very like our Wonderful Story. In it a gnja-eater who can eat six +maunds of gnja[7] hears of another gnja-eater who can eat nine +maunds; so he takes his six maunds of gnja, and sets off for his +rival's country with the intention of fighting him. On the road he is +thirsty and drinks a whole pond dry, but this fails to quench his +thirst. Arrived at the nine-maund gnja-eater's house, he learns from +the wife that her husband has gone to cut sugar-cane, and decides to +go and meet him. He finds him in the jungle, and wishes to fight there +and then; but his rival does not agree to this, saying he has eaten +nothing for seven days. The other answers he has eaten nothing for +nine; whereupon the nine-maund gnja-eater suggests they shall wait +till they get back to his country, as in the jungle they will have no +spectators. The six-maund gnja-eater consents. So the nine-maund +gnja-eater takes up all the sugar-cane he has cut during the last +seven days and sets off for his country with his rival. On the way +they meet a fish-wife, and call her to stop and see them fight; she +answers she must carry her fish without delay to market, being already +late, and proposes they should stand on her arm and fight, and that +then she could see them as they go along. While they are fighting on +her arm, down sweeps a kite which carries off "the gnja-eaters; fish +and all." They are thrown by a storm in front of a Rj's daughter, +who has them swept away thinking they are bits of straw. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [7] An intoxicating preparation of the hemp-plant (_Cannabis + sativa_ or _C. indica_). + + +XIX.--THE FAKR NNAKS SAVES THE MERCHANT'S LIFE. + +1. Nnaks, _i.e._ Nnak Shh, is doubtless the first guru of the +Sikhs (about A.D. 1460-1530). + +2. With the transmigration of the souls of the merchant's father, +grandmother, and sister into the goat, the old woman and his little +daughter, compare a Dinjpur story published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the +_Indian Antiquary_ for June 7, 1872, vol. I. p. 172, in which a king +threatens to kill a Brhman if he does not explain what he means by +saying to the king every day, "As thy liberality, so thy virtue." By +his new-born daughter's advice the Brhman tells the king this child +would explain it to him. Accordingly the king comes to the Brhman's +house and is received smilingly "by the two-and-a-half-days-old +daughter. She sends the king for the desired information to a certain +red ox, who in his turn" sends him to a clump of Shahara (_Trophis +aspera_) trees. The trees tell him he has been made king in this state +of existence, because in a former state of existence he was liberal and +full of charity; that in this former state the child just born as the +Brhman's daughter was his wife: that the red ox was then his son, and +that this son's wife, as a punishment for her hardness and +uncharitableness, had "become the genius of this grove of trees." + +3. Jabr'l is the Archangel Gabriel. + + +XX.--THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN. + +1. For these marks see paragraph 4 of the notes to Phlmati Rn. I +think the silver chains with which King Oriant's children are born +(see the Netherlandish story, the Knight of the Swan, quoted in +paragraph 3 of the notes to the Pomegranate King) are identical with +the suns, moons, and stars that the hero in this and in many other +tales possesses. They are his princely insignia and proofs of his +royalty. When the boy in this tale twists his right ear his insignia +are hidden, and so long as they remain concealed no one can guess he +is a king's son, unless he chooses to reveal himself, as he does, +partially, through his sweet singing to the youngest princess. With +this partial revelation compare the Sicilian "Stupid Peppe" revealing +himself in part by means of the ring he gave to his youngest princess. +This ring has the property of flashing brightly whenever he is near. +(See the story "Von dem muthigen Knigssohn, der viele Abenteuer +erlebte" quoted in paragraph 6 of the notes to this story, p. 280.) +The shape of the insignia may have been destroyed, as in the case of +the sixth swan's chain, in the Netherlandish story, but its substance +remains, and as soon as it reappears the hero clothes himself with his +own royal form. Chundun Rj's necklace (_Old Deccan Days_, p. 230) +and Sodewa Bai's necklace (_ib._ p. 236), in which lay their life, +belong, perhaps, to these insignia. Their princely owners' existence +depends on their keeping these proofs of their royalty in their own +possession, and is suspended whenever the proofs pass into the hands +of others. + +2. The gardener's daughter promises to bear her husband a son with the +moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. Compare "Die verstossene +Knigin und ihre beiden ausgesetzten Kinder," Gonzenbach's +_Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. I. p. 19, where the girl (p. 21) +promises to give the king, if he marries her, a son with a golden +apple in his hand, and a daughter with a silver star on her forehead. +Also compare with our story "Truth's Triumph" in _Old Deccan Days_, p. +50. In Indian stories, as in European tales, the gardener and his +family often play an important part, the hero being frequently the son +of the gardener's daughter, or else protected by the gardener and his +wife. + +3. With the kettle-drum compare the golden bell given by the Rj to +Guzra Bai in "Truth's Triumph" (_Old Deccan Days_, p. 53); and the +flute given by the nymph Tillottama to her husband in the "Finding of +the Dream," a Dinjpur story published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the +_Indian Antiquary_, February 1875, vol. IV. p. 54. See also paragraph +7, p. 287, of notes to "How the Rj's son won the Princess Labm." + +4. _Ka[t.]ar_ (the _t_ is lingual) means cruel, relentless. With this +fairy-horse compare the Russian hero-horses in Dietrich's collection +of Russian tales, who remain shut up behind twelve iron doors, and +often loaded with chains as well, till the advent of heroes great +enough to ride them. They generally speak with human voices, are their +masters' devoted servants, fight for him, often slaughtering more of +his enemies than he does himself, and when turned loose in the free +fields, as Ka[t.]ar was in his jungle, till they are needed, always +staying in them and coming at once to their master when he calls. See +in the collection by Dietrich (_Russische Volksmaerchen_) No. 1, "Von +Ljubim Zarewitch," &c., p. 3; No. 2, "Von der selbstspielenden Harfe," +p. 17; No. 4, "Von Ritter Iwan, dem Bauersohne," p. 43; No. 10, "Von +Bulat dem braven Burschen," p. 133; Jeruslan Lasarewitsch in the story +that bears his name (No. 17, p. 208) catches and tames a wonderful +horse near which even lions and eagles do not dare to go, p. 214. And +the Hungarian fairy horses (Zauberpferde) who, like the Servian +hero-horses, become ugly and lame at pleasure, and speak with human +voice, must also be compared to Ka[t.]ar. One in particular plays a +leading part in the story of "Weissnittle" (Stier's _Ungarische +Volksmaerchen_, p. 61). He saves the king's son twice from death and +then flies with him to another land. He speaks with human voice, +advises him in all his doings, and marries him to a king's daughter; +Weissnittle obeying his horse as implicitly as our hero does Ka[t.]ar. +The heroes' horses in Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische Maerchen_ also +speak with human voice and give their masters good counsel. See p. 35 +of "Der goldne Vogel;" p. 49 of "Der Zauberross;" p. 101 of "Der Knabe +und der Schlange." These last two horses have more than four legs: +like Odin's Sleipnir, they each have eight. See, too, the dragon's +horse and this horse's brother in "Der goldne Apfelbaum und die neun +Pfauinnen" (Karadschitsch, _Volksmaerchen der Serben_, pp. 33-40). The +"steed" in the "Rider of Grianaig," pp. 14 and 15 of vol. III. of +Campbell's _Tales of the Western Highlands_, and the "Shaggy dun +filly" in "The young king of Easaidh Ruadh," at p. 4 of vol. I. of the +same work, may also be compared; and, lastly, in a list of hero-horses +Cchulainn's Gray of Macha deserves a place. On the morning of the day +which was to see his last fight, Cchulainn ordered his charioteer, +Loeg, to harness the Gray to his chariot. "'I swear to God what my +people swears,' said Loeg, 'though the men of Conchobar's fifth +(Ulster) were around the Gray of Macha, they could not bring him to +the chariot.... If thou wilt, come thou, and speak with the Gray +himself.' Cchulainn went to him. And thrice did the horse turn his +left side to his master.... Then Cchulainn reproached his horse, +saying that he was not wont to deal thus with his master. Thereat the +Gray of Macha came and let his big round tears of blood fall on +Cchulainn's feet." The hero then leaps into his chariot, and goes to +battle. At last the Gray is sore wounded, and he and Cchulainn bid +each other farewell. The Gray leaves his master; but when Cchulainn, +wounded to death, has tied himself to a stone pillar to die standing, +"then came the Gray of Macha to Cchulainn to protect him so long as +his soul abode in him, and the 'hero's light' out of his forehead +remained. Then the Gray of Macha wrought the three red routs all +around him. And fifty fell by his teeth and thirty by each of his +hooves. This is what he slew of the host. And hence is (the saying) +'Not keener were the victorious courses of the Gray of Macha after +Cchulainn's slaughter.'" Then Lugaid and his men cut off the hero's +head and right hand and set off, driving the Gray before them. They +met Conall the Victorious, who knew what had happened when he saw his +friend's horse. "And he and the Gray of Macha sought Cchulainn's +body. They saw Cchulainn at the pillar-stone. Then went the Gray of +Macha and laid his head on Cchulainn's breast. And Conall said, 'A +heavy care to the Gray of Macha is that corpse.'" Conall himself, in +the fight he has with Lugaid, to avenge his friend's slaughter, is +helped by his own horse, the Dewy-Red. "When Conall found that he +prevailed not, he saw his steed, the Dewy-Red, by Lugaid. And the +steed came to Lugaid and tore a piece out of his side." ("Cchulainn's +Death, abridged from the Book of Leinster," _Revue celtique_, Juin +1877, pp. 175, 176, 180, 182, 183, 185.) + +5. The prince makes his escape at five years old. Jeruslan +Jeruslanowitsch at the same age sets out in search of his father, +Jeruslan Lasarewitsch, equipped as a knight, at p. 250 of the 17th +Russian Maerchen in the collection by Dietrich quoted above. He meets +and fights bravely with his father, proving himself worthy of him (p. +251). Sohrab, Rustam's famous son, gives proof of a lion's courage at +five, and at ten years old vanquishes all his companions (Gubernatis, +_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 115). + +6. The princess chooses the ugly common-looking man. In _Old Deccan +Days_, p. 119, so does the Princess Buccoulee. In the episode of Nala +and Damayant we have the assemblage of suitors, and the public choice +of a husband by a princess (_svayamvara_). Damayant recognizes the +mortal Nala among the gods, (each of whom has made himself resemble +Nala) from the fact that the flowers of which Nala's garlands were +composed had faded while the garlands of the gods were blooming +freshly. In a story from Manpr told by Mr. G. H. Damant in the +_Indian Antiquary_, September 1875, vol. IV. p. 260, Prince Basanta, +effectually disguised by misery, and travel-stained, arrives with the +merchant at a certain place where the king's daughter that day is to +choose her husband. The merchant takes his seat among the princely +suitors; Basanta a little way off. There is a general storm of +scoffings when the princess hangs her garland of flowers round +Basanta's neck. In one of Laura Gonzenbach's Sicilian stories, "Von +einem muthigen Knigssohn, der viele Abenteuer erlebte," vol. II. p. +21, we have three kings' sons (brothers) and three princesses +(sisters.) The two elder brothers marry the two elder sisters. At a +tournament held on purpose that she may choose her husband, the +youngest sister, to the general disgust, chooses the youngest prince +(disguised as the dirty, ill-dressed servant of the court tailor), and +who is not even present as a suitor. Her suitors, princes, have passed +before her for three days. After the marriage the prince keeps up the +disguise. His brothers by way of amusing themselves at his expense +take "Stupid Peppe," as they call him, to the wood to shoot birds; he +shoots a great number, while they run here and there and cannot find +one. They agree to let him brand them with black spots on their +shoulders, on condition he gives them his birds. In the notes to this +story, vol. II. p. 240. Herr Khler gives Spanish, Russian, South +Siberian, and others parallels. And in Stier's _Ungarische +Volksmaerchen_, p. 61, in the story of "Weissnittle," we have not only +the hero-horse mentioned in paragraph 4 of these notes, but also the +assemblage of suitors for the princess to choose her husband: her +choice of a seemingly stupid gardener's boy, who has partially +revealed himself to her; the prince retaining his disguise, after his +marriage, towards every one, even his wife: two brothers-in-law, who +are kings' sons and the wife's elder sisters' husbands; their hunting +on three different days, each time meeting a handsome prince in whom +they do not recognize their despised brother-in-law, Weissnittle, who +sells them his game the first day for their wedding-rings, the second +for leave to brand them with these rings on their foreheads, the third +for permission to brand them with a gallows on their backs: lastly, we +have Weissnittle, as a splendid young prince, publicly shaming his +brothers-in-law by exposing their branding marks. In India this +branding with red-hot pice was the punishment for stealing. Compare in +Taylor's _Confessions of a Thug_, p. 411, Amr Ali's horror at being +so branded by the Rj of Jhalone. It was, he says years later, a +punishment worse than death, as the world would think him a thief, and +he would carry to his grave "a mark only set on the vile and the +outcasts from society." + +7. Mniy tells me that, in a variation of this story, the dog, cow, +and horse each swallow the child three times, but for shorter periods, +as he is only five years old when he escapes on Ka[t.]ar. Then when +the princess chooses her husband she rides three times round the +assemblage of Rj's, who all sit on a great plain, and each time she +chooses the pretended _old_ man; for in this version the boy loses his +youth as well as his good looks. Instead of taking service with the +grain merchant, the boy is told by his horse to go boldly to the +king's palace and ask for service there. The shaming of the +brothers-in-law happens thus. The boy invites these princes, the king, +all the king's servants, and all the people in the king's country, to +a grand entertainment in the king's court-house. When they are all +assembled he has the six princes stripped and every one mocks at the +pice-marks on their backs. These are the only variations in the other +version. + +Sir George Grey, in his _Polynesian Mythology_, p. 73, tells how the +hero Tawhaki when he climbed into heaven in search of his lost wife +"disguised himself, and changed his handsome and noble appearance, and +assumed the likeness of a very ugly old man." If fact, he looks such a +thoroughly common old man that in the heavens he is taken for a slave +instead of a great chief, and treated as such. + + +XXI.--THE BL-PRINCESS. + +1. Mniy says that telling the prince he would marry a Bl-Princess +was equivalent to saying he would not marry at all, for these +brothers' wives knew she lived in the fairy-country, and that it would +be very difficult, if not impossible, for the prince to find her, and +take her from it. + +2. With the fakr's sleep compare that of the dragon who sleeps for a +year at a time in the Transylvanian story "Das Rosenmaerchen" +(_Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, pp. 124, 126). + +3. In a Greek story, "Das Schloss des Helios" (Schmidt's _Griechische +Maerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder_, p. 106), the heroine is warned by a +monk that as she approaches the magic castle voices like her brothers' +voices will call her; but if, consequently, she looks behind she will +become stone. Her two elder brothers go to seek her, and, as they meet +no monk to warn them, they become stone. The third brother meets the +monk, obeys his warning, and thus, like his sister, escapes the evil +fate. To save him from Helios, the sister turns him into a thimble +till she has Helios's promise to do him no harm. (Compare the Tiger +and Tigress, p. 155 of this collection.) Helios gives him some water +in a flask with which he sprinkles the stone brothers, whereupon they +and all the other stone princes come to life. In these Indian tales +the healing blood from the little finger plays the part of the waters +of life and death, found in so many Russian and other European +stories. + +When reading of the fate of all these princes, it is impossible not +to think of Lot's wife. + +The danger of looking back, when engaged on any dealings with +supernatural powers, is insisted on in the tales and practices of the +Russians, Eskimos, Zulus, and the Khonds of Orissa. In Russia the +watcher for the golden fern-flower must seize it the instant it +blossoms and run home, taking care not to look behind him: whether +through fear of giving the demons, who also watch for it, power over +him, or whether through a dread of the flower losing its magic powers +if this precaution is neglected, Mr. Ralston does not say (_Songs of +the Russian People_, p. 99). When "the Revived who came to the +under-world people" (Dr. Rink tells us in his _Tales and Traditions of +the Eskimo_, p. 299) took the old couple to visit the ingnersuit +(supernatural beings "who have their abodes beneath the surface of the +earth, in the cliffs along the sea-shore, where the ordinarily +invisible entrances to them are found" _ib._ p. 46), he warned "them +not to look back when they approached the rock which enclosed the +abode of the ingnersuit, lest the entrance should remain shut for +them.... When they had reached the cliff, and were rowing up to it, it +forthwith opened; and inside was seen a beautiful country, with many +houses, and a beach covered with pebbles and large heaps of fish and +matak (edible skin). Perceiving this the old people for joy forgot the +warning and turned round, and instantly all disappeared: the prow of +the boat knocked right against the steep rock and was smashed in, so +that they all were thrown down by the shock. The son [the revived] +said, 'Now we must remain apart for ever.'" Mr. Tylor, in the 2nd +volume of his _Primitive Culture_, at p. 147 mentions a Zulu remedy +for preventing a dead man from tormenting his widow in her dreams; the +sorcerer goes with her to lay the ghost, and when this is done +"charges her not to look back till she gets home:" and he says the +Khonds of Orissa, when offering human sacrifices to the earth-goddess +bury their portions of the offering in holes in the ground behind +their backs without looking round (_ib._ p. 377). + +4. In most of the stories of this kind the command is to open the +fruit or casket only near water, for if the beautiful maiden inside +cannot get water immediately she dies. Such is the case in the "Drei +Pomeranzen" (Stier's _Ungarische Maerchen und Sagen_, p. 83), in "Die +Schoene mit dem sieben Schleier" (_Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. I. p. +73), and in "Die drei Citronen" (Schmidt's _Griechische Maerchen, +Sagen und Volkslieder_, p. 71). "Die Ungeborene Niegesehene" (Schott's +_Wallachische Maerchen_, p. 248) must be compared with these, though +the beautiful maiden does not come out of the golden fairy-apple. She +appears suddenly and the prince must give her water to drink and the +apple to eat, before he can take her and keep her. In all these +stories the hero has a long journey, and encounters many dangers, in +seeking his bride. In the Sicilian story he is helped by hermits; in +the Greek story, by a monk--monks in Greek and hermits in Sicilian and +Servian stories playing the part of the fakrs in these Indian tales. +In all these stories, too, the maiden is killed or transformed by a +wicked woman who takes her place. In the Wallachian and Sicilian fairy +tales the rightful bride becomes a dove only. But in the Hungarian +tale she is drowned in a well and becomes a gold fish; the wicked +gipsy has no rest till she has eaten the fish's liver: from one of its +scales springs a tree; she has the tree cut down and burnt. The +wood-cutter who hews down the tree makes a cover for his wife's +milk-pot from a piece of the wood, and they find their house kept in +beautiful order from this moment. So to discover the secret, they peep +through the keyhole one day and see a lovely fairy come out of the +milk-jar. Then they enter their house suddenly and the girl tells her +story: the wood-cutter's wife burns the wooden lid to force her to +keep her own form, and goes to the king's son to tell him where he +will find his Pomegranate-bride again. In the Greek story a Lamnissa +eats the citron-girl, but a tiny bone falls unnoticed into the water +and becomes a gold-fish. The prince not only takes the Lamnissa home +with him, but he takes the gold-fish too, and keeps it in his room, +"for he loved it dearly." The Lamnissa never rests till he gives her +the fish to eat. Its bones are thrown into a garden and from them +springs a rose bush on which blooms a rose which the king's old +washerwoman wishes to break off to sell it at the castle. From out of +the bush springs the beautiful citron-maiden, and tells the old woman +her story. She also gives her the rose for the king's son, and in the +basket with the rose she lays a ring he had given her, but charges the +old woman to say nothing about her to him. The next day he comes to +the old woman's cottage and finds his real bride. + +5. The youngest prince alone can gather the lotus-flower and +bl-fruit. Compare the Pomegranate-king, pp. 10 and 11, and paragraphs +1 and 4, pp. 245, 252, of the notes to that story. In his _Northern +Mythology_, vol. I., in the footnotes at p. 290, Thorpe mentions a +maiden's grave from which spring "three lilies which no one save her +lover may gather." I think he must quote from a Danish ballad. + +6. The princess after drowning is first in a lotus-flower; then in a +bl-fruit again; and, lastly, her body is changed to a garden and +palace. Signor de Gubernatis at p. 152 of the 1st volume of his +_Zoological Mythology_ mentions an Esthonian story where a girl (she +who addressed the crow as "bird of light"--see paragraph 2, p. 259 of +the notes to "Brave Hrllbs") while fleeing with her lover is +thrown into the water by a magic ball sent after them by the old +witch, and there becomes "a pond-rose (lotus-flower)." Her lover eats +hogs'-flesh and thus learns the language of birds, and then sends +swallows to a magician in Finnland to ask what he must do to free his +bride. The answer is brought by an eagle; and the prince following the +magician's instructions helps the girl to recover her human form. And +just as Surya Bai is born again in her mango (_Old Deccan Days_, p. +87) and the Bl-Princess in her bl-fruit, so is the girl in the +Hottentot tale of "The Lion who took a woman's shape" born from her +heart in the calabash full of milk in which her mother has put it. The +lion had eaten the girl; but her mother burns the lion and persuades +the fire in which she burns him to give her her daughter's heart +(Bleek's _Hottentot Fables and Tales_, pp. 55 and 56). With the change +into the garden and palace compare the Russian story of a maiden whose +servant-girl blinds her and takes her place as the king's wife. After +some time the false queen learns her mistress is still living; so she +has her murdered and cut to pieces. "Where the maiden is buried a +garden arises, and a boy shows himself. The boy goes to the palace and +runs after the queen, making such a din that she is obliged, in order +to silence him, to give him the girl's heart which she had kept +hidden. The boy then runs off contented, the king follows him, and +finds himself before the resuscitated maiden" (Gubernatis, _Zoological +Mythology_, vol. I. pp. 218, 219). See paragraphs 7 and 8 of the notes +to "Phlmati Rn," p. 244, and 1, 3 and 4, pp. 245, 250, 252, of +those to "The Pomegranate-king." + +7. The commonplace fate of the wonderful palace is deplorable. + + +XXII.--HOW THE RJ'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABM. + +1. The "four sides" in this story (p. 153), the "four directions" (p. +156) which ought to have been translated four sides and the four sides +in "The Bed," p. 202, are the four points of the compass. They appear +in a Dinjpur story told by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian +Antiquary_, 5th April 1872, p. 115. In the first Russian fairy tale +published by Dietrich, the hero's parents give their elder sons +permission "to go on the four sides" when they start on their journeys +(_Russische Volksmaerchen_, p. 1). In another fairy tale in the same +collection (No. 11, p. 144) the Prince Malandrach, when he has lost +his way flying in the air and is over the sea, raises himself by a +last effort and looks on all the "four sides" in search of a +resting-place for his foot, p. 147. Of course, too, like orthodox +Russians, the Russian heroes generally bow to all the "four sides," +before attempting their journeys and adventures. + +2. Hrman is the name of a kind of parroquet. Irik in the Bohemian +tale "Princess Golden-Hair" (Naake's _Slavonic Fairy Tales_, p. 99) +first hears of the princess's existence from the chattering of birds. + +3. "Aunty" was the word used in English by old Mniy. + +4. With the stone bowl compare the pot in Grimm's "Der suesse Brei," +_Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, vol. II. p. 104. + +5. With the tigers' coats compare the robes of honour wherewith the +knights in the Mabinogion clothe themselves when they go to combat. +"And he (Gwalchmai) went forth to meet the knight (Owain), having over +himself and his horse a satin robe of honour sent him by the daughter +of the Earl of Rhangyw; and in this dress he was not known by any of +the host" ("The Lady of the Fountain," _Mabinogion_, vol. I. p. 67). +Peredur wears "a bright scarlet robe of honour over his armour" given +him by the king's daughter (_ib._ p. 363 of "Peredur the son of +Evrawc"). And in "The Dream of Rhonabwy" a knight and his horse wear a +robe of honour (_ib._ vol. II. p. 413). + +6. With the tigers' fight with the demons compare the combat of the +grateful lion with the giant, in which the lion bears the brunt of the +battle. On the giant's saying, "Truly, I should find no difficulty in +fighting with thee were it not for the animal that is with thee," +Owain shuts the lion up in the castle. "The lion in the castle roared +very loud, for he heard that it went hard with Owain," so he climbed +to the top of the castle, sprang down and "joined Owain. And the lion +gave the giant a stroke with his paw, which tore him from his shoulder +to his hip, and his heart was laid bare. And the giant fell down dead" +("The Lady of the Fountain," _Mabinogion_, vol. I. pp. 79, 80). + +7. Gubernatis in vol. I. p. 160, of his _Zoological Mythology_, says, +"The drum or kettle-drum thunder is a familiar image in Hindu poetry, +and the gandharvas, the musician warriors of the Hindu Olympus, have +no other instrument than the thunder." "The magic flute is a variation +of the same celestial instrument," _ib._ p. 161. + +8. For the hair, see note to "How King Burtal became a Fakr," +paragraph 2, p. 268. + + +XXIII.--THE PRINCESS WHO LOVED HER FATHER LIKE SALT. + +1. With the task of pulling out the needles, the purchase of the +maid-servant, the sleep of the princess, the usurping of her place by +the maid who makes the prince believe the princess is her +servant-girl, compare "Der bse Schulmeister und die wandernde +Knigstochter," in Laura Gonzenbach's _Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. +I. p. 59. Here, too, the princess is driven forth from her home; she +finds a prince lying dead with a tablet by him on which is written, +"If a maiden will rub me seven years, seven months and seven days long +with grass from Mount Calvary, I shall return to life, and she shall +become my wife" (p. 61). + +2. Sun-jewel box. The word thus translated is Rav-ratan-ke-pitr. +_Rav_, sun; _ratan_, jewel; _pitr_, a kind of box. + +3. In one of Grimm's stories, "Die Gnsehirtin am Brunnen," _Kinder +und Hausmaerchen_, vol. II. p. 419, a king asks his three daughters +how much they love him (p. 425). The eldest loves him as much as the +"sweetest sugar," the second as much as her "finest dress," and the +third as much as salt. So her father in a rage has a sack of salt +bound on her back, and makes two of his servants take her away to the +forest. See also Auerbach's _Barfssele_, Stuttgart, 1873, ss. 236, +237. + + +XXIV.--THE DEMON IS AT LAST CONQUERED BY THE KING'S SON. + +1. The leading idea of this story is the same as that in "Brave +Hrllbs." + +2. With this demon as a goat, compare the Rakshas in the Pig's Head +Soothsayer in _Sagas from the Far East_, p. 63, and the Rakshas in a +Bengli story printed by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_, +7th June, 1872, p. 120. This last story opens with seven labourers, +brothers, six of whom go down to the water to drink and never return. +The seventh goes to see what has happened to them, and finds, instead +of his brothers, a goat which is really a Rakshas. This goat then +turns into a beautiful woman who marries the king, first making him +give into her hands the eyes of his queen, who is sent blind into the +forest, where she bears a little son. The Rakshas wife learns this, +and when the boy later takes service with the king she sends him three +times to her people in Ceylon, with orders to them to kill him. He has +to bring her foam from the sea, a wonderful rice which is sown, +ripens, and can be boiled in one day, and a singular cow. With the +help of a Sannys (a Brhman of the fourth order, a religious +mendicant), he does these errands safely. The Rakshases in Ceylon +receive him as their sister's son, show him his own mother's eyes and +the clay with which they can be set again in any human sockets, a +lemon which contains the life of the tribe, and a bird in which is +that of the Rakshas-queen. The boy cuts up the lemon, and thereby +kills them all, carries her eyes to his mother, and kills the +Rakshas-queen by killing the bird. In this story, as in "Brave +Hrllbs," the Rakshas-queen takes her own fearful form on seeing +her danger. + +3. The _Bargat_, fig-tree, is the _Ficus Bengalensis_ of Linnus. + +4. Mniy sends her hero for a _Garpank's_ feather; _Garpank_ I can +find in no dictionary, but have ventured to translate it by eagle, as +she says it is like a kite, only very much bigger; she sent us to see +a statue of a garpank that stood over a gateway in a street in +Calcutta, which might be that of an eagle or of a huge hawk. She said +such birds did not exist in Bengal, and that it was not the Garu[d.]a +(the sovran of the feathered race and vehicle of Vish[n.]u, Benfey). +Gubernatis, in the 2nd volume of his _Zoological Mythology_, p. 189, +tells a story from Monferrat where a king is blind, and can only be +cured by "bathing his eyes in oil with a feather" of a griffin that +lives on a high mountain. His third and youngest son catches and +brings him one of the griffins and the king regains his sight. + +5. Winning the gratitude of a bird by killing the snake or dragon that +year after year devours its young birds is such a common incident in +fairy tales, that I will only mention two instances. One occurs in a +Dinjpur tale published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ +for 5th April, 1872, p. 145, where the hero saves the young birds from +the snake. They tell the old birds. He lies under the tree and listens +to the old birds relating how he will find the tree with the silver +stem and golden branches he has come to seek. The other occurs at pp. +119, 110, of a story collected by Vogl (_Volksmaerchen_ [Slavonic], p. +79) called Schn-Jela. In this tale the hero is sheltered in the +dreadful underground wilderness by a hermit. Here there is the +gigantic bird, Einja, who every third year has a brood of four young +birds which a dragon as regularly devours. The hero, Prince Milan, +watches by the nest for the dragon and kills him. The young birds, +overjoyed, fly out of the nest and cover the hero with their wings +till the old bird on her return asks who has saved them. Then they +unfold their wings and she sees Prince Milan. In return she carries +him to the upper world. + +6. The word translated "night-growing rice" is Rt-vash-ke-dhn; and +the ayah's description of this rice is given in the story. In this +description she spoke of it as chwal, the common word for uncooked +rice, and said the Rakshas wished to drink its knj-pn +(rice-water). As it is a fairy plant I am afraid it is hopeless trying +to find its botanical name. Unluckily, Dr. George King says _vash_ is +not rice at all. This is what he wrote to me on the subject: "_Vash_ +is, I suppose, the same as _vasaka_, and in that case is _Justitia +Adhatoda_, a straggling shrub common over the whole of India [very +unlike the Rt-vash-ke-dhn] and which was in the Sanscrit as it is +in the native pharmacopoeias. It is not a kind of rice, but belongs +to the natural order of Acanthace (the family to which Acanthus and +Thunbergia belong)." This night-growing rice may be compared to the +day-growing rice in paragraph 2, p. 288, of the notes to this story. + +7. Compare with the paper boat the rolled-up burdock leaf given to the +hero by the dwarf in the seventh Esthonian tale quoted by Gubernatis +(_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 155): whenever this hero wishes to +cross water he unrolls his burdock-leaf. Gubernatis compares this leaf +to the lotus-leaf on which the Hinds represented their god as +floating in the midst of the waters (_ibid._). + +8. With the great wind that comes from the demon, compare the +following Swedish account of a giant in Thorpe's _Northern Mythology_, +vol. II. p. 85. He asks his road of a lad, who directs him: then "he +went off as in a whirlwind, and the lad now discovered, to his no +small astonishment, that his forefinger with which he had pointed out +the way had followed along with the giant." In the old Scandinavian +belief the Giant Hrsvelgr sat at the end of heaven in an eagle's garb +(arna ham). From the motion of his wings came the wind which passed +over men (_ib._ vol. I. p. 8). It must be mentioned also that "in the +German popular tales the devil is frequently made to step into the +place of the giants" (_ib._ vol. I. p. 234), and that Stpke or Stepke +is in Lower Saxony an appellation of the devil or of the whirlwind, +from which proceed the fogs which spread over the land (_ib._ p. 235). +The devil sits in the whirlwind and rushes howling and raging through +the air (Mark Sagen, _ib._ p. 377). The whirlwind is also ascribed to +witches. If a knife be cast into it, the witch will be wounded and +become visible (Schreiber's Taschenbuch, 1839, p. 323; _ib._ vol. I. +p. 235). Mr. Ralston, in his _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 382, +says the Russian peasant attributes whirlwinds to the mad dances in +which the devil celebrates his marriage with a witch, and at p. 155 of +the same book tells us how the malicious demon Lyeshy not only makes +use of the whirlwind as a travelling conveyance for himself and a +means of turning intruders out of quarters he had selected for his own +refuge, but sends home in it people to whom he is grateful. In Ireland +we find a wind blowing from hell. King Loegaire tells Patrick, "I +perceived the wind cold, icy, like a two-ridged spear, which almost +took our hair from our heads and passed through us to the ground. I +questioned Benn as to this wind. Said Benn to me, 'This is the wind +of hell which has opened before Cchulainn.'" _Lebar na huidre_, p. +113 a. This "wind of hell" makes one think of the sweet-scented wind +from the mid-day regions, and the evil-scented wind from the north, +which in old Persian religious belief blew to meet pure and wicked +souls after death (Tylor's _Primitive Culture_, vol. II. pp. 98, 99). +Mr. Tylor mentions also the Fanti negroes' belief that the men and +animals they sacrifice to the local fetish are carried away in a +whirlwind imperceptibly to the worshippers (_ib._ p. 378). + +8. bjhamjham-ke pn is what has been translated by "water from the +glittering well." + +9. The king had a great pit dug in the jungle. This is how Kai and +Bedwyr plucked out the beard of Dillus Varvawc, which had to be +plucked out during life. They made him eat meat till he slept. "Then +Kai made a pit under his feet, the largest in the world, and he struck +him a violent blow, and squeezed him into the pit. And there they +twitched out his beard completely with the wooden tweezers; and after +that they slew him altogether" ("Kilhwch and Olwen," _Mabinogion_, +vol. II. p. 304). + + +XXV.--THE FAN PRINCE. + +1. The boat would not move because the king had forgotten to get the +thing his youngest daughter had asked him to bring her. Signor de +Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. II. p. 382) mentions an +unpublished story from near Leghorn in which a sailor promises to +bring his youngest daughter a rose. The eldest daughter is to have a +shawl, and the second a hat. "When the voyage is over, he is about to +return, but having forgotten the rose, the ship refuses to move; he is +compelled to go back to look for a rose in a garden; a magician hands +the rose with a little box to the father to give it to one of his +daughters, whom the magician is to marry. At midnight, the father, +having returned home, relates to his third daughter all that had +happened. The little box is opened; it carries off the third daughter +to the magician, who happens to be King Pietraverde, and is now a +handsome young man." + +2. The princess's ring recalls Portia and Nerissa. + +3. A yog is a Hind religious mendicant. + + +XXVI.--THE BED. + +The merchant's son possibly was afraid of incurring the wrath either +of an original spirit residing in the tree, or of some human soul who +had been born again as its genius (see paragraph 1, p. 276, of note +to "The fakr Nnaks saves the merchant's life"). Mniy could give +no reason for his asking each tree's permission to cut it down. + + +XXVII.--PNWPATT RN. + +See another version of this tale in the Baital Pachsi, No. 1. There +the heroine is called Padmvat, and her father King Dantavt. + + +XXVIII.--THE CLEVER WIFE. + +1. The merchant's wife tricks the four men into chests. Upakos makes +the like appointments, and plays a similar trick: compare her story +translated from the Kathptha by Dr. G. Bhler in the _Indian +Antiquary_ for 4th October, 1872, pp. 305, 306: and in "The +Touchstone," a Dinjpur legend told by Mr. G. H. Damant at p. 337 of +the _Indian Antiquary_ for December, 1873, the hero-prince's second +wife, Prnnsin, in order to regain the touchstone for her husband +(like Upakos and the Clever Wife) makes appointments with, and then +tricks, the kotwl, the king's councillor, the prime minister, and +lastly the king himself. + +2. She plays cards (_ts_). Forbes in his Hindstn and English +Dictionary p. 543, says _ts_ is the word used for _Indian_ playing +cards. The Indian pack, he says, contains eight suits, each suit +consisting of a king, wazr, and ten cards having various figures +represented on them from one to ten in number. + +[A close parallel to this tale is _Adi's Wife_, a Bengli legend from +Dinagepore, told by the late Mr. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ for +January, 1880, p. 2.] + + +XXIX.--RJ HARICHAND'S PUNISHMENT. + +1. This king is probably the same as "The Upright King," Harchand +Rj, p. 68 of this collection. + +2. The Kop Shstra. Mniy says _kop_ is a Hindstn, not a Bengli +word, and has nothing whatever to do with demons. This is what Mr. +Tawney writes on the subject: "It might mean _kapi_, or _kapila_ if +the woman is a Bengli. _Kapi_ is a name of Vish[n.]u, possibly it +might be the Rmyana as treating of monkeys, but I really do not +know. I see Monier Williams says that there are certain demons called +_kapa_. But of course _kpa_ is anger. I suppose you know that the +natives of Bengal pronounce the short _a_ as _o_ in the English word +_hop_." Mniy pronounces _kop_ like the English word _cope_. This +Shstra seems as hopelessly mythical as the _Rt-vash-ke-dhn_. + + +XXX.--THE KING'S SON AND THE WAZR'S DAUGHTER. + +In a Servian story, "Des Vaters letzter Wille," pp. 134, 135, 136, of +the _Volksmaerchen der Serben_ collected by Karadschitsch, the +youngest brother has to take his brother-in-law's horse over a bridge +under which he sees an immense kettle full of boiling water in which +men's heads are cooking while eagles peck at them. He then passes +through a village where all is song and joyfulness because, so the +inhabitants tell him, each year is fruitful with them and they live, +therefore, in the midst of plenty. Then he sees two dogs quarrelling +which he cannot succeed in separating. He next passes through a +village where all is sorrow and tears because each year comes hail, so +the inhabitants "have nothing." Next he sees two boars fighting +together and cannot separate them any more than he could part the +dogs. Lastly, he reaches a beautiful meadow. In the evening his +brother-in-law expounds the meaning of all he has seen. The heads in +the boiling vessel represent the everlasting torment in the next +world. The happy villagers are good, charitable men, with whom God is +well pleased. The dogs are his elder brothers' wives. The sorrowing +villagers are men who know neither righteousness, concord, nor God. +The boars are his two wicked elder brothers. The meadow is paradise. + + + + +[Decoration] + +GLOSSARY. + + +Bl, a fruit; _gle marmelos_. + +Bulbul, a kind of nightingale. + +Chaprs, a messenger wearing a badge (_chaprs_). + +Cooly (Tamil _kli_), a labourer in the fields; also a porter. + +Dl, a kind of pulse; _Phaseolus aureus_, according to Wilson; +_Paspalum frumentaceum_, according to Forbes. + +Dom (the d is lingual), a low-caste Hind. + +Fakr, a Muhammadan religious mendicant. + +Ghee (_gh_), butter boiled and then set to cool. + +Kz, a Muhammadan Judge. + +Kotwl, the chief police officer in a town. + +Lch, a fruit; _Scytalia litchi_, Roxb. + +Mahrj (properly Mahrj), literally great king. + +Mahrn, literally great queen. + +Main, a kind of starling. + +Maund (_man_), a measure of weight, about 87 lb. + +Mohur (_muhar_), a gold coin worth 16 rupees. + +Nautch (_ntya_), a union of song, dance, and instrumental music. + +Plk, a palanquin. + +Pice (_paisa_), a small copper coin. + +Pilau, a dish made of either chicken or mutton, and rice. + +Rj, a king. + +Rakshas, a kind of demon that eats men and beasts. + +Rn, a queen. + +Roh, a kind of big fish. + +Rupee (_rpya_), a silver coin, now worth about twenty pence. + +Ryot (_ryat_), a cultivator. + +Sarai, a walled enclosure containing small houses for the use of +travellers. + +Sr, a long piece of stuff which Hind women wind round the body as a +petticoat, passing one end over the head. + +Sepoy (_siph_), a soldier. + +Wazr, prime minister. + +Yog, a Hind religious mendicant. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO. + + +Bleek. _Hottentot Fables and Tales_, London, 1864. + +Campbell, J. F. _Popular Tales of the West Highlands_, 4 vols. + Edinburgh, 1860. + +Dasent, G. _Norse Tales_, Edinburgh, 1859. + +Dietrich, Anton. _Russische Volksmaerchen_, Leipzig, 1831. + +Fiske. _Myth and Mythmakers_, London, 1873. + +Frere, Miss. _Old Deccan Days_, 2nd edition, London, 1870. + +Gonzenbach, Laura. _Sicilianische Maerchen_, Leipzig, 1870. + +Grant, C. _Gazetteer of India for the Central Provinces_, edited by, + 2nd edition, Ngpur, 1870. + +Grey. _Polynesian Mythology_, London, 1855. + +Grimm. _Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, 3 vols., Goettingen, first 2 vols. + 1850, 3rd vol. 1856. + +Grimm. _Irische Elfenmaerchen, uebersetzt von den Bruedern Grimm_, + Leipzig, 1826. + +Gubernatis, Angelo de. _Zoological Mythology_, 2 vols., London, 1870. + +Guest, Lady Charlotte. _The Mabinogion_, translated by, 3 vols. + Llandovery, 1849. + +Haltrich, Joseph. _Deutsche Volksmaerchen aus dem Sachsenlande in + Siebenbuergen_, Berlin, 1856. + +Henderson. _Folklore of the Northern Counties of England and the + Border_, London, 1866. + +Hunt. _Romances and Drolls of the West of England_, 2nd edition, + London, 1871. + +_Indian Antiquary_, vols. I. (1872), II. (1873), and IV. (1875), + Bombay. + +Karadschitsch, W. S. _Volksmaerchen der Serben_, Berlin, 1854. + +Lane. _Arabian Nights_, 3 vols., London, 1859. + +_Lebar na Huidre._ Lithographic facsimile, Dublin, 1870. + +Milenowsky. _Maerchen aus Boehmen_, Breslau, 1853. + +Naake. _Slavonic Fairy Tales_, London, 1874. + +_Old New Zealand_, 1876. + +Ralston. _Songs of the Russian People_, London, 1872. _Russian Folk + Tales_, London, 1873. + +Rink. _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, Edinburgh and London, + 1875. + +_Sagas from the Far East_, London, 1873. + +Schmidt, G. _Griechische Volksmaerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder_, + Leipzig, 1877. + +Schott. _Wallachische Maerchen_, Stuttgart und Tuebingen, 1845. + +Stier, G. _Ungarische Maerchen und Sagen_, Berlin, 1850. _Ungarische + Volksmaerchen_, Pesth (preface is dated 1857). + +Taylor, Meadows. _Confessions of a Thug_, London, 1873. + +Thorpe. _Yule Tide Stories_, London, 1853. + +_Three Middle Irish Homilies_, Calcutta, 1877. + +Tylor. _Primitive Culture_, 2nd edition, London, 1873. + +Vogl, Johann, N. _Volksmaerchen_ [Slavonic], Wien, 1837. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +INDEX. + + + Adam and Eve, blackened after the Fall, 239 + + Alligator, 63 + King of the Fishes, 66, 71 + + Angels, 77, 88, 116, 225 + + Antelopes, 85 + + Ants, grateful, 155, 161 + + Apsarases, 262 + + Ashes, Lail becomes, 77 + sugar turned into, 96 + + "Aunt," used to propitiate, 157, 262 + + Avatr, 265 + + + Bdshh, 237 + + Bag, magic, 156 + + Bamboo wand, 86, 98, 268 + + Barber outwits tigers, 35 + + Bear, 254 + tries to kill cat, 19 + + Beauty, effects of, 62, 93, 142 + radiance of, 1, 240, 241, 242 + + Bed, 201 + magic, 156 + + Bees, Rakshases keeping their souls in, 261 + + Bl Princess, 138, 282 + + Bhgrath river, 75 + + Birds, souls in, 58, 59, 61, 261 + conversing, 149, 150, 198 + + Birth-marks, 1, 119, 242, 243, 253, 276 + + Blindness cured, 77 + + Blood of little finger, 83, 84, 141, 272 + + Boar, God in shape of, 68 + + Boar Trwyth, the, 241 + + Boat refusing to move, 195, 292 + + Body, star on, 243 + sun on, 243 + + Bones of daughter sent to mother, 12, 250, 253 + + Bowl, magic, 156 + + Branch, cutting, 30 + + Branding, 131, 134, 281 + + Bricks turned into gold, 97 + + Bulbul, 39 + + Burning alive, 12, 61, 207, 249, 250 + + + Camel, strayed, 29, 63 + + Card-playing, 218, 219, 234 + + Cards, 293 + + Cat, 255 + aunt to tiger, 15 + cheats jackal, 19 + leopard, 19 + which could not be killed, 18 + + Ch[n.][d.]la, 266 + + Charcoal, gold and silver turned into, 69, 226 + + Chests, concealment in, 218 + + Child, all-devouring, 255 + + Children eaten, 52, 177 + + Chin, star on, 119 + + Clothes-box, magic, 33 + + Cloud-myth, 257 + + Cockatoo, Rakshas Rn's soul in, 61 + + Colour, 93 + + Comfits, rain of, 29 + + Cooking-pot, magic, 32 + + Cotton-tree, 39 + + Cow swallows child alive, 123 + + Crow, 75 + + Cuckoo, 39 + + + Daughter, _see Former life_. + + Day and night Myths, 256, 257 + + Dead sheep mistaken for woman, 28 + + Deer's horn, Mahdeo's, 232 + + Demon, 173 + as a goat, 173, 288 + heating sand, 236 + swallowing suitors, 99 + tigers fighting with, 162 + + _Dew_ (Demon), 273 + + Dharma, 265 + + Diamond, face shining like, 69 + + Dog disputes with cat, 16 + Lail becomes, 78, 79 + swallows child alive, 122 + + Dolls, 168, 169 + + Dom, 70 + + Doves, eyes changed into, 5 + + Dream, 232 + + Dresses, seizure of, 6 + + + Eagle's feather, 181 + + Eaglets, speaking, 183 + + Earth blown away, 140 + cure with, 198, 199 + + Ear, twisting, 130 + + Elephant tries to kill cat, 18, 19 + + Errands, 53, 55, 58, 179, 181, 184, 189, 288 + + Euphemisms, 259 + + Eve, _see Adam_. + + Eyes become birds, 5, 148 + pounded to bits, 176 + torn out of Rn's head 51, 176, 289 + + + Face, star on, 1, 242, _see Powder_. + + Fainting at beauty, 82 + + Fairies in jungle, 32 + teach monkey prince, 42 + and Prince Sazd, 93 + Indian, 243 + Irish and Cornish, 243 + of Maoris, 239, 244 + + Fairy Rjs, 1 + red, 168 + + Fakr's feats, 92 + gifts to, 68, 224 + God in form of, 224 + helpful, 41, 185 + sleep of, 139, 167 + tasks to be performed by intending, 87 + + Fan, 196, 197 + + Fan Prince, 193 + + Fard, Shekh, 272 + + Fasting, _see Jackal_, _Kite_. + + Fate, 263 + seeking one's, 63 + + Feather, causing invisibility, 59 + + Feats of Fakrs, 92 + + Figure of clay, water and ashes 78 + + Fish, cooked, becomes alive, 71, 227, _see Roh_. + + Fishes, king of, 66, 71 + souls of unborn children in, 235, 236 + + Fire, _see Rejuvenescence_. + + Flower, children in, 10, 247, 248, 252 + hero weighing, 2 + heroine weighing, 1 + + Flowers, life in, 4, 10, 144, 244, 247, 248, 252, 284 + on ears, 3 + + Flute, 168, 169, 171, 287 + + Fly, change into, 56, 57, 141 + + Fools, 257 + + Former life, 115, 276 + + Four sides, 153, 156, 285, 286 + + Fox, 254 + + Frog, the voracious, 24 + slit open, 26 + + Fruits, children, born from eating, 42, 91 + children in, 11, 246, 247, 252 + heroine in, 81, 142, 146, 246 + + + Gambling, 234 + + Gang, 89, 90 + + Gardener, 277 + + Garpank, 289 + + Gesture language, 208, 210 + + Glass powder, 197 + + Glittering well, 189, 190 + + Goat, demon in form of, 173, 288, _see Former life_. + + Gold, stones becoming, 59 + bricks turned into, 97 + in river, 66 + + Golden wand, 262 + + Grateful animals, 155, 161, 162 + + + Hair, power of, 268, 271 + of Mahdeo, 89, 90 + of gold, 1, 49, 62, 238, 240 + tree split with, 163 + + Hand, star on, 253 + + Handkerchief, 199 + + Harchand Rj, 68 + + Harichand Rj, 224 + + Harichandra, 265, 266 + + Head, sun on, 1, 242, 253 + becomes a dome, 148 + a house, 5 + a peacock, 244 + + Head-collars, 230 + + Heart becomes tank, 148 + + Horse, hero's, 124, 125, 126, 277, 278 + swallows child alive, 124, 125 + + House, arm or leg changed into, 5 + + Husband, public choice of, 128, 280 + + Husk story, 259 + + + Ikhwn Ussafa cited, 239 + + Indrsan, 93, 243 + + Invisibility caused by feather, 59 + by blowing earth from palm, 140 + + + Jackal, 75, 255 + arbitrates, 16 + cheats the tiger, 17 + its fear of men, 23 + kills kite's sons, 22 + will not fast, 21 + + Jamn, 89, 90 + + + Kettle-drum, 120, 121, 162, 287 + + Khud, 237 + + Kite worships and fasts, 21 + + Knife, magic, 83, 266 + dipped in blood, 175, 176 + + Knowledge of far-off events, 95, 272 + + Kop Shstra, 225 + + + Lail, 73 + + Lamnissa, 284 + + Leg becomes pillar, 148 + + Lemon, Rakshases keeping their souls in, 261 + + Leopard tries to kill cat, 19 + + Lch, 91 + + Life, restoration to, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 22, 26, 71, 78, 83, 84, + 86, 98, 141, 146, 151, 166, 227, 228, 232, 245, 247, 248, 250, + 251, 253, 255, 256, 257, 282, 284, 285 + + Life, former, 115, 276 + + Lips of demons long, 273 + + Little finger, 83, 141, 266, 267, 272 + + Livers, standing on, 10 + + Looking back, prohibited, 141 + danger of, 282 + + Lotus-flower, heroine changed into, 144, 285 + + + Magic gifts, 32, 33, 34 + + Mahdeo, 89, 90, 231, 232 + + Main, 148 + advises dog, 18 + demon's soul in, 187, 188 + + Majnn, 73, 266 + + Mangoes, 41 + mango-tree, 202 + mango-stone, consequence of eating, 50 + + Mattresses thrown to save drowning prince, 47 + + Milk sent by God, 146 + of tigress, 178 + + Monkey, 42 + + Moon on hand, 1 + on forehead, 119, 242 + princess shines like, 158 + + Mothers eating sons, 52, 177 + + Mouth, demon's, 185 + + Mouse, 101 + + Music, 93, 243, 287 + + Mustard-seed, oil crushed out of, 160 + + + Nabha, 113 + + Nnak, 276 + + Neck, star on, 242 + + Necklace disappears into wall, 229 + reappears, 233 + + Needles, body stuck full of, 165, 287 + + Numbers, sacred, 262 + + + Ointment restoring sight, 56 + + Old woman, _see Former life_. + + + Paper boat, 187, 188, 290 + + Parrot, 148, 153 + + Peacock, head becomes, 244 + + Pearls drop from bird's eyes, 12 + from bird's beak, 254 + + Phaln country, 73, 74 + + Phlmati, 240 + + Pigeons, cooked, come to life, 228 + + Pin, in bird's head, 12, 14 + transformation caused by, 254 + + Pit dug for demon's execution, 192 + for Dillus Varvawc, 292 + + Poison, 212 + + Portrait, 223 + + Powder flung in face, 77 + + + Rakshas, 5, 260 + as a goat, 288 + turned into Rn, 51 + + Rat and frog, 24 + + Red cheeks, 93 + + Rejuvenescence by fire, 76 + + Revival of murdered heroines, 244, _see Life_. + + Rice, 289 + night-growing, 184 + + Rig Veda cited, 238, 239 + + Ring, 199, 292 + + Robes of honour, 287 + + Roh fish, 75 + + Rope and stick-magic, 34, 156 + + Ruby, 65, 66 + falling from beak, 13, 14 + + + Salt, 171, 288 + Princess who loved her father like, 164 + + Sr, 58 + + Seven children, 51 + queens, 175 + small dolls, 168 + sons, 177 + wives, 41, 51 + + Shahzd, 271 + + Shekh Fard, 95, 268, 272 + + Shield full of money, 53, 55, 58 + + Sight restored, 57, 190, 289 + + Silver, _see Charcoal_, _Wand_. + + Singing, hero, 127, 128 + + Skin of monkey, 42 + burnt, 49 + + Sleep, fakr's, 139, 167 + dragon's, 282 + + Snake, 75 + conversing, 204 + + Son-in-law how chosen, 42 + + Soul embodiment 261, _see Birds_, _Cockatoo_, _Lemon_, _Main_. + + Soul or life of Rakshas, 56, 57, 261 + + Spell, 91 + + Star on body, 243 + on chin, 119 + on face, 1, 242 + on hands, 253 + on neck, 242 + + Stepmother, 7 + + Stick and rope, magic, 156 + + Stick suspends and restores life, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 186 + + Stones becoming gold, 59 + fates are, 64 + transformation into, 140, 226, 282 + substituted for baby, 121 + + Strength, feats of, 108 + + Strong woman, 108 + + Sugar, _see Ashes_. + + Summer and winter myth, 257 + + Sun on head, 1, 242, 253 + on body, 243 + + Sun jewel-box, 167 + + Sun's rays, 266, 268, 271 + + Svayamvara 280 + + Sweeper, 88 + + + Tank, heart becomes, 148 + + Thorn in tiger's foot, 17, 64, 155 + + Three, 87 + + Tiger, 254, 258 + grateful, 65, 155, 162, 180 + outwitted by barber, 35 + nephew of cat, 15 + stores of, 35, 36, 65, _see Thorn_. + + Transformations, 244, 250, 251, 284, 285 + + Transmigration of souls, 276 + + Tree split with hair, 163 + + Trees, 292 + + Twelve hours, 225 + twelve years, 32, 63, 64, 87, 88, 98, 167, 225, 264 + + + "Uncle" used to propitiate, 54, 262 + + Underground palace, 151 + + + Var[n.]a, 238 + + Vivamitra, 265 + + Vish[n.]u, 265 + + + Wand, bamboo, 86, 98, 268 + golden, reviving by, 261 + silver, death caused by touching with, 261 + + Water, opening fruit or casket containing maiden near, 284 + + Water-nymphs, 89 + + Water-snake, 53 + + Wax hatchet, 162 + + Weight of heroine, 243 + + Well, fairy living at bottom of, 168 + glittering, 189, 190 + + Wind blowing from demon, 185, 290 + foretelling fall of palace, 205 + + Wishes, 95 + + Wives called Mamma, 86, 87 + + Worship, _see Kite_. + + Wrestlers, 108 + + + Yog, personating, 198, 214 + + + + LONDON: + GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, + ST. JOHN'S SQUARE. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +Printer errors (for example, omitted or transposed characters) have +been repaired, as have punctuation errors. + +Variable spelling, hyphenation and use of accents are preserved as +printed in quoted material, but have otherwise been made consistent +where there was a clear prevalence of one form over the other. + +Some of the spelling of Hindi words vary from modern spelling, and +these have been preserved as printed. There is also some variation +within the text--for example, dhall is used in the text while the +glossary shows Dl. These are also preserved as printed. + +There are some discrepancies between the title of stories as given in +the index and main text, and in the notes at the end. These have been +preserved as printed. + +Errors in page references in the index have been repaired. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Indian Fairy Tales, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES *** + +***** This file should be named 31209-8.txt or 31209-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/0/31209/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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+ text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + a {text-decoration: none;} + + img {border: none;} + + em {font-style: italic;} + + .hidden {display: none;} + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-style: normal; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .link { position: absolute; + left: 2%; + font-style: normal; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: left; + } /* note and story links */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px; padding: 1em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .dropcap {float: left; 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vertical-align: top; padding-top: 2em;} /* left top align cell, larger top padding for index */ + + .sig {text-align: right; margin-right: 4em;} /* author signature aligned right */ + .address {margin-left: 5%; text-indent: 1.5em;} /* address, move 2nd line left */ + + .lrgfont {font-size: 150%;} + .smlfont {font-size: 80%;} + + .attrib {text-align: center; font-size: 90%; padding-top: 1.5em;} /* story attributions */ + + .padtop {padding-top: 3em;} + .padbase {padding-bottom: 3em;} + .smlpadt {padding-top: 1.5em;} + .hrpad {padding-top: 2em;} /* for white space thought breaks */ + .tpad {padding-top: 1em;} /* to handle padding in index */ + + .index {padding-top: 2em;} /* spacing for individual letters */ + .in1 {margin-left: 1em;} /* first level indent for index */ + +span.dcap { display: none; } /* this goes around the first letter of the first word */ + +/* You need a unique span like this for each of your drop cap images */ +span.dcapi { float: left; + height: 101px; width: 100px; /* adjust for your image */ + margin: 0 .5em .5em 0; + background: url("images/dcapi.jpg") no-repeat top left; } +span.dcapn { float: left; + height: 99px; width: 100px; /* adjust for your image */ + margin: 0 .5em .5em 0; + background: url("images/dcapn.jpg") no-repeat top left; } +span.dcapo { float: left; + height: 100px; width: 100px; /* adjust for your image */ + margin: 0 .5em .5em 0; + background: url("images/dcapo.jpg") no-repeat top left; } +span.dcapt { float: left; + height: 101px; width: 100px; /* adjust for your image */ + margin: 0 .5em .5em 0; + background: url("images/dcapt.jpg") no-repeat top left; } + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Indian Fairy Tales, by Anonymous + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Indian Fairy Tales + +Author: Anonymous + +Commentator: Mary Stokes + W. R. S. Ralston + +Editor: Maive Stokes + +Release Date: February 7, 2010 [EBook #31209] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="bbox"> +<p><b>Transcriber's Note</b></p> + +<p>There are some less common characters with an underdot or an acute +accent (ḍ ṇ ṭ Ś) in this text. If they do not +display properly, you may need to adjust your font settings.</p> +</div> + + + + +<h1 class="padtop">INDIAN FAIRY TALES</h1> + +<p class="center smlfont padtop">COLLECTED AND TRANSLATED</p> + +<p class="center smlfont padtop">BY</p> + +<p class="center lrgfont padbase">MAIVE STOKES.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>WITH NOTES BY MARY STOKES,</i></p> + +<p class="center padbase smlpadt"><i>AND AN INTRODUCTION BY W. R. S. RALSTON, M.A.</i></p> + +<p class="center">London:<br /> +ELLIS & WHITE, NEW BOND STREET.<br /> +1880.</p> + +<p class="center padbase">[<i>All Rights reserved.</i>]</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center padtop padbase lrgfont">To my dear Grannie, Susan Bazely.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>v]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head01.jpg" width="600" height="126" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p><span class="dcapt"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HE first twenty-five stories in this book were +told me at Calcutta and Simla by two Ayahs, +Dunkní and Múniyá, and by Karím, a +Khidmatgar. The last five were told Mother by +Múniyá. At first the servants would only tell their +stories to me, because I was a child and would not +laugh at them, but afterwards the Ayahs lost their +shyness and told almost all their stories over again to +Mother when they were passing through the press. +Karím would never tell his to her or before her. +The stories were all told in Hindústání, which is the +only language that these servants know.</p> + +<p>Dunkní is a young woman, and was born and +brought up in Calcutta. She got the stories, she told +me, from her husband, Mochí, who was born in +Calcutta and brought up at Benares.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>vi]</a></span> +Múniyá is a very old, white-haired woman. She +has great-grandchildren. She was born at Patna, +but when she was seven years old she was taken to +Calcutta, where she was brought up and married. +She and Dunkní are both Hindús.</p> + +<p>Karím is a Muhammadan and was born at Lucknow. +He says that “The Mouse” and “The Wonderful +Story” are both Lucknow tales.</p> + +<p>The notes to this book were written by Mother, +and Father helped her to spell the Native names and +words. He also made the Index.</p> + +<p>Dr. George King helped us in the Botany; Mr. +Tawney and Mr. Campbell of Islay, who saw many +of the stories in manuscript, have given us several +remarks. So has my uncle, John Boxwell.</p> + +<p class="sig smcap">M. S. H. Stokes.</p> + +<p class="address"><span class="smcap">Calcutta,</span><br /> +<i>March 24th, 1879</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>vii]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head02.jpg" width="600" height="107" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> + + +<p><span class="dcapi"><span class="dcap">I</span></span>N almost every part of Europe the tales current +among the common people have been of late +years diligently sought out, and carefully collected. +Variants of them pour in profusely every year. But it does +not seem probable that any entirely new stories will be discovered +in any European land. Nor is it likely that in +fresh variants of the longer and apparently more artificial +tales, any quite new incidents, or even any unquestionably +novel features, will be found. The harvest has been abundant, +its chief fruits are now stored, and the work which is +still going on among the gleaners, although in itself good and +praiseworthy, may be regarded without the excitement of +eager hope. The task of the present seems to be, not so +much the garnering of European folk-tales, as their comparison +and elucidation, and, so far as possible, their explanation. +But in many cases they do not appear to contain in themselves +the ingredients which are necessary for their resolution +into their primary elements. Nor do the records of the +lands in which they exist always supply what is wanted. +The “fairy tales” of Europe throw very little light upon, +are but slightly illuminated by, the histories of the widely +differing lands in which they so closely resemble each other. +And the most interesting among them, those which appear +most clearly to bear witness to their being embodiments of +mythological ideas, or expansions of moral precepts, seem +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>viii]</a></span> +to be but little in keeping with what we know of the sentiments +and beliefs of the heathen ancestors of the villagers +in whose memories they have been for so many centuries +retained. Among such tales of this kind, for instance, as +linger on in our own islands, there is but little to be found +which can be looked upon as a specially characteristic +deposit left by the waves of Iberian, Celtic, and Teutonic +population which have successively passed over the face of +the land. This statement does not, of course, hold good in +the case of such legends about national heroes as Mr. J. F. +Campbell has found thriving in Ireland and the West Highlands +of Scotland, and which he justly believes to be “bardic +recitations, fast disappearing, and changing into prose.” +They belong to a different section of popular fiction from +that to which reference is now made. It is often difficult +to draw the line between these two classes of folk-tales. +But there is a striking difference between the typical representatives +of the two divisions, between cosmopolitan +novelettes like Cinderella or the Sleeping Beauty, on the +one hand, and pseudo-historic legends about local heroes +on the other. It is unfortunate that we do not possess a +sufficiency of accurate designations for the numerous species +of the genus folk-tale. Their existence would prevent much +misapprehension. But in their absence, a discusser of +popular tales should take pains to define precisely to what +tribe, family, or group of stories his remarks are intended to +apply.</p> + +<p>There are to be found, in all European lands, certain tales +which are of a more complex structure than the rest, which +appear to have been constructed by a skilled workman, to +be artificial productions rather than natural growths. It is +only with such stories as these that we have at present to +deal. These novelettes or comediettas, as they may be +called, of the European common people, differ but little in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>ix]</a></span> +their essential parts, whether they are recited in the cold +north or the balmy south, the rude east or the cultured +west. Their openings, it is true, vary with their localities; +but in the main body of the tale, not only does the same +leading idea pervade all the variants, but also the same +sequence of events leads up in almost every case to the +same termination. To this class of stories belong nearly all +the tales which, under considerably modified forms, have +naturalized themselves in the nurseries of Europe. In it +are comprised many popular fictions, on the obscurer parts +of which a quite insufficient light is thrown by researches +among the manners and mythologies of old European +heathenism.</p> + +<p>It is upon such stories as these that a kindly light beams +with the greatest advantage from Asia. Very similar stories +have been preserved in the memories of the common people +in many parts of Asia, but especially in India. And their +leading ideas are perfectly in accordance with the mythology +or the moral teaching of the Asiatics who, age after age, +have delighted in telling or hearing them. In such cases +as these it seems to be not very unreasonable to suppose +that the story was originally, if not created, at all events +shaped and trimmed in Asia, and thence was afterwards +conveyed from lip to lip into Europe. Such universal +favourites as Beauty and the Beast and Puss in Boots may +be confidently cited as oriental fictions which have taken +possession of European minds. There is a rich store of +other popular fictions, which may be left to be accounted +for according to the two principal methods of interpretation +in vogue. They may be explained as independent developments +of mythological germs common to the ancestors of +the various Aryan peoples of Europe. Or they may be +regarded as embodiments of certain ideas common to +savages of all races. It will be sufficient to deal at present +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>x]</a></span> +with the more limited, but better known class, to which +special attention has been called.</p> + +<p>Among the Asiatic folk-tales which seem likely to assist +in their explanation, none are more copious or more useful +than those of India. There the old religion has maintained +itself with which so many of these stories are linked, and +there the moral teaching still prevails which made its voice +heard in other tales of the far-off time when they first became +current. Any collection of genuine Indian Fairy Tales is +therefore certain to be, not only of interest to the general +reader, but also of real value to the specialist who devotes +himself to the comparison of folk-tales. The collection +now before us has great merits of its own. The stories +have been told in Hindústání to the very young collector +by two ayahs, who are both Hindús, and by a Muhammadan +man-servant. In this respect Miss Stokes’s contribution +to our knowledge of India differs from the very similar, +and very charming, work by Miss Frere, “Old Deccan +Days,” the stories in which were told by an ayah who was, +as her father and grandfather had been, a native Christian. +The two books ought to be compared with each other. No +possessor of the one ought to be without the other. All the +stories contained in the present volume, as we learn from the +notes, have been read back by the young collector to the +tellers in Hindústání after they were told, and a second time +by the annotator before they were printed. “I never saw +people more anxious to have their tales retold exactly, than +are Dunkní and Múniyá,” the two story-telling ayahs. Not +till each tale was pronounced by them to be exact was it sent +to the press. The stories may be taken then as faithful transcripts +of Indian thought. The merits of the copious Notes +contributed by the late Mrs. Whitley Stokes, bearing witness +to a very wide range of reading, and to a most intelligent +use of the authorities referred to, will be fully acknowledged +by all who have had occasion to explore the regions from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xi]</a></span> +which she has gathered so much valuable information. +Throughout the whole of the work thus conscientiously +compiled and intelligently annotated, there will be found +scattered, in addition to its other merits, many a parallel +with our own popular tales, many an illustration or explanation +of their meaning—a ray of light shot here or there +which illumines their dark places, and may enable the explorers +of their mystic domains to avoid stumbles which +are often somewhat mortifying. It remains only to point +out a few of the most important passages.</p> + + +<p class="hrpad">Some of the stories in this volume are so thoroughly +oriental, so little in accordance with western thought or feeling, +that they have not found an echo among ourselves; their +counterparts are not to be found naturalized in European +lands. Of such a kind are the legends, taken from literary +sources, of “The Upright King,” and of “Rájá Harichand’s +Punishment,” in which the patience of a religious monarch +is tried as was that of Job, and comes out from the trial +equally victorious. The sorrows of Patient Grissel have met +with sympathy in many lands, for meekness has ever been +considered a womanly virtue. But the heroism of a husband +and father who sells his wife to a merchant, and his +son to a cowherd, in order that he may be able to keep his +promise to a holy mendicant, and bestow upon him two +pounds and a half of gold, can scarcely be expected to invest +itself, to western eyes, with the air of a manly virtue. In +the same way, the great sitting powers displayed by King +Burtal, who never once moves from his seat in the jungle +for twelve whole years, during which space of time he +neither eats nor drinks, and thereby elevates himself to the +dignity of a fakír, are not of a kind to elicit the sympathies +or command the admiration of nations addicted to active +exercise.</p> + +<p>The explanation of Nánaksá’s thrice repeated laugh, also, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xii]</a></span> +could retain its vitality only in an atmosphere pervaded by +a belief in the transmigration of souls. Buddhistic apologues +have sometimes passed into legends of Christian Saints. +But it would be difficult to perform the operation in the +case of an account of how a woman, who had tormented +to death her husband’s sister, was justly punished by the +reappearance in the world of the ill-used sister-in-law, in +the form of that unkind woman’s exceedingly peevish baby +daughter. Numerous, also, as are European stories about +ogres, vampires, and other demoniacal cannibals, we shall +not readily find a western counterpart of the terrible tale, +in No. <a href="#Page_173">24</a>, of the “Rakshas” which sometimes appears as a +goat, and sometimes as a most beautiful young girl, dressed +in grand clothes and rich jewels, but at midnight turns into +a devouring demon with a craving for human flesh.</p> + +<p>Just as some of the themes of these stories do not +seem to have European counterparts, so portions of their +machinery appear to be without exact western equivalents. +The stupendous transformations which now and then take +place (see pp. <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>) can reconcile themselves only to +an oriental imagination. However much the occidental mind +may attempt to “make believe,” it cannot credit such a statement +as that when the Bél-Princess died, her eyes turned into +two birds, her heart into “a great tank,” and her body into “a +splendid palace and garden,” her arms and legs becoming +“the pillars that supported the verandah roof,” and her head +“the dome on the top of the palace.” In almost all countries, +when a fairy hero has been slain by a demoniacal or otherwise +villainous personage, he is recalled to life by magic means. +In European folk-lore the resuscitating remedy is usually a +Water of Life, or a Balsam, or some similar fluid. In these +Indian tales, it is blood streaming from the resuscitator’s +little finger. Thus when Loving Lailí (p. <a href="#Page_83">83</a>) found her +husband dead and headless, she put his head back on his +shoulders, and smeared his neck with the blood which flowed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xiii]</a></span> +“like healing medicine,” when “she cut her little finger +inside her hand straight down from the top of her nail to +her palm.” A power of becoming at will invisible is everywhere +often attributed to heroes of romance. But it is +generally connected with “a cap of darkness,” or some +similar magic article. But the Prince of No. <a href="#Page_138">21</a>, when he +seeks the Bél-Princess, becomes invisible to the “demons +and fairies” who surround her, when he blows from the +palm of his hand, “all along his fingers,” the earth which +a friendly fakír has given him for that purpose. A “sleep-thorn,” +or other somniferous piece of wood, is commonly +employed in our fairy tales, in order to throw a hero or +heroine into a magic slumber. In these Indian stories a +state of catalepsy, or of death, is produced or relieved by a +peculiar application of a magic stick. Thus the Princess +who was called the Golden Rání, “because her teeth and +her hair were made of gold,” and who was stolen by a +demon, informed the Prince who found her, motionless but +not sleeping, that “the Rakshas who had carried her off, +and whom she called papa, had a great thick stick, and +when he laid this stick at her feet she could not stir, but +when he laid it at her head she could move again.” In “The +Demon and the King’s Son” (No. <a href="#Page_173">24</a>), the hero opens a +“forbidden chamber,” and there finds the demon’s +daughter lying on a bed, apparently lifeless; for “every +day, before her father went out he used to make the girl lie +on her bed, and cover her with a sheet, and he placed a +thick stick at her head, and another at her feet; then +she died, till he came home in the evening and changed +the sticks, putting the one at her head at her feet, and +the one at her feet at her head. This brought her to life +again.” An interesting parallel to the “sleep-thorn” is +afforded by the pin which, while it remains in the head +of the bird which had been the wife of the Pomegranate +King (No. <a href="#Page_7">2</a>), prevents her from resuming her human shape. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xiv]</a></span> +When the Rájá pulled out the pin, “his own dear wife, the +Pomegranate Rání, stood before him.” Magic boxes are +common in fairy land. But there is something new in at least +the name of the “sun-jewel box,” which was sent by the +“Red Fairy,” who lived at the bottom of the well, to “The +Princess who loved her father like salt” (No. <a href="#Page_164">23</a>), and +which contained “seven little dolls, who were all little +fairies.”</p> + + +<p class="hrpad">Of more general interest than the few peculiarities of +these tales are the many points in which they resemble and +illustrate some of the familiar features of European folk-lore. +As an example of the latter may be taken a “husk-myth,” +which is a valuable contribution to the literature of +the “Beauty and the Beast” cycle. In all the stories belonging +to that group, the action turns upon the union of +the human hero or heroine with a spouse who is really or +apparently an inferior animal. In the modified version of +the story with which our nurseries have become acquainted +through a French literary medium, the species of Beast to +which the Beauty is wedded is not stated, and its transformation +into a princely husband is attributed to her unaided +love. But in by far the greater part of the variants of the +folk-tale on which it seems to have been founded, as well as +of the other stories in which a similar transformation is +the principal feature—variants which have been gathered in +abundance from all parts of Europe, not to speak of Asia—the +animal nature of the mysterious spouse is clearly +defined. In them the husband whom the Beauty is induced +by filial affection, fear, or compassion to wed, is an +unmistakable Beast—a pig in Sicily, a bear in Norway, a +hedgehog in Germany, a goat in Russia. Sometimes he is +even of a lower type, often a frog or a snake. And once, in +Wallachia, he has been transferred from the animal to the +vegetable world, and figures as a pumpkin. In every +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xv]</a></span> +instance he is represented as being able to change at times +his repulsive appearance for one of beauty, and this he +generally does by doffing a kind of husk which when donned +conceals his real form, and invests him with that of an +inferior being. If this husk be destroyed during the +temporary absence of its owner, he loses his transforming +power. The destruction of the husk is generally the work +of the wife, who is sometimes rewarded, her husband remaining +with her constant to his true nature; at other times +she is punished, he being lost to her for a time or for ever. +These stories about a monster husband have their exact +counterparts in tales about a monster wife, the leading idea +being the same in both groups; the only difference being +that it is the wife who appears at times as a frog or other +inferior creature, and who continues to do so until her +transforming power terminates with the destruction of her +disguising husk.</p> + +<p>Now these temporary transformations, though common +to the folk-tales of all parts of Europe, are not in accordance +with the European superstitions of the present +day, nor with those, so far as we are acquainted with them, +of old European heathenism. The nearest approach to +them is afforded by the wehr-wolf superstition, but that is an +isolated belief, and appears to be based upon altogether different +ideas. As to the metamorphoses of classical literature, +they are of a nature quite alien to that of the voluntary +eclipse, under a degrading form, of a Frog Princess or a Pig +Prince. It may be said with confidence that European +“husk-myths” do not explain themselves; the peasants +among whom they are current, cannot explain them; and +the knowledge we have of ancient European paganism +throws no light on their meaning. But in India, where +countless variants of such tales exist—many of them +preserved in ancient as well as in modern literature, but +by far the greater part still current among the common +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xvi]</a></span> +people—the transformations in question are frequently, if +not generally, explained in the stories themselves, and explained +in a manner perfectly in accordance with the Indian +thought of the present as well as of the past. To Indian +minds there is nothing monstrous in the belief that a +celestial being may have been condemned, in consequence +of the wrath of a superior divinity, or even of the magic +words pronounced by an offended sage, to assume for a +time the inferior form of a mere man or woman, or even +to wear the shape of an inferior animal—a monkey or a +frog; and that this transformation is to continue chronic, +though not constant, until the destruction of the disguising +skin or husk, by the donning of which it is from time to +time brought about, deprives the curse of its power, +and enables earth’s celestial visitor to return to heaven. +The whole story is closely connected with Indian religious +beliefs, and may fairly be looked upon, when found +in India, as an expansion of a Hindu myth. Its existence in +other parts of Asia may, at least frequently, be attributed to +the natural spread of Hindu tales among the various tribes +and nations which accepted Buddhism from India.</p> + +<p>If all this be true, and the “husk-myth” stories which +are current all over Europe may justly be supposed to have +drifted westwards from India, then all Indian variants of +these tales naturally become invested with special importance. +The specimen in the present volume, the +“Monkey Prince” (No. <a href="#Page_41">10</a>), belongs to a remarkably interesting +class—that in which the story-teller gives an +explanation of the hero’s transformation. A childless +king is told by a fakír to give some mangoes to his seven +wives. Six of them eat up the fruit, and each of the six +gives birth to a prince of the usual kind. But the seventh +wife, who has been able to obtain as her share only the +stone of one of the mangoes, “had a monkey, who was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xvii]</a></span> +called in consequence Bandarsábásá, or Prince Monkey.” +In reality, the story-teller goes on to explain, “he was a boy, +but no one knew it, for he had a monkey-skin covering him.” +And this monkey-skin he takes off when he wishes to appear +in true princely form, as when he woos and wins the Princess +Jahúran. Finding out what his real nature is, she insists +upon marrying him, in spite of her vexed father’s natural +question: “Who ever heard of any one marrying a nasty +monkey?” When he is alone with his wife he takes off his +monkey-skin, and reveals himself in all his beauty, replying +to her questions as to its use, “I wear it as a protection, +because my brothers are naughty, and would kill +me if they knew what I really am.” On one occasion, when +he has gone in state to a nautch, after taking off his monkey +skin, folding it up, and laying it under his wife’s pillow, +she reveals her husband’s secret to his mother, who, +“though she was very glad her monkey-son had such a +wife, could never understand how it was that her daughter-in-law +was so happy with him.” Taking the monkey-skin +from under her pillow, “See,” she says, “when your son +puts this on, then he is a monkey; when he takes it off he +is a beautiful man. And now I think I will burn this +skin, and then he must always be a man.” So she throws it +into the fire. Prince Monkey’s heart instantly tells him his +wife has burnt his skin, and he returns home in a rage. +It passes off, however, and all goes well. He now appears +always as a beautiful prince, “with his hair all gold.” “Why +did you wear that monkey-skin?” naturally asks his father. +“Because,” he replies, “my mother ate the mango-stone +instead of eating the mango, and so I was born with this +skin, and God ordered me to wear it till I had found a +wife.” The story has evidently been considerably altered in the +course of time from its original form, but it still keeps true +to its ancient lines. In it, as in many other specimens of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xviii]</a></span> +same class, the idea of the degradation of a divine or +semi-divine being has been lost, and the sufferer is merely +a human being cased in a disfiguring hide. It is noteworthy +that, as we are informed at p. <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, Dunkní, the +narrator of the tale, “in telling this husk-story, just as +often called the monkey-skin a husk, as she called it a +skin.”</p> + +<p>Another of the apparently mythological European folk-tales, +instructive parallels to which are contained in the +present volume, is that which may be designated as the +Golden-locks myth. It relates the fortunes of a brilliant +being, usually a radiant prince, who, often without any apparent +reason, submits himself to a voluntary eclipse, hides +from sight his grandeur and his good looks, and assumes +an appearance of squalor and misery. Like Cinderella, +whose male counterpart he is, he at times arises from his +low estate, becomes again a brilliant prince, but always +capriciously eludes those who wish to retain him in that +shape. At last he is always detected, and then he has to +remain constant to his true and magnificent form. His +temporary eclipse is somewhat similar to that of the +hero of a husk-myth; but no special power is attached +to the wrappings under which his brilliance is concealed, +nor is his change of form imposed upon him against +his will. The meaning of the Golden-locks story, in +its original form, still remains to be discovered, as also +does that of the sister tale of Cinderella. That they both +refer to the temporary eclipse, seclusion, or obscuration of +a brilliant being, is evident. But what that brilliant being +represents is a problem of which several solutions have +been confidently offered, but which does not seem to +have been as yet certainly solved. In the story of “The +Boy who had a Moon on his forehead and a Star on his +chin” (No. <a href="#Page_119">20</a>), the self-eclipsing process is brought about +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xix]</a></span> +by a twist of his right ear; “when the boy had twisted it, +he was no longer a handsome prince, but a poor, common-looking, +ugly man; and his moon and star were hidden.” +And so, after he has been chosen out of a number of +suitors by a princess whose heart he has won by the beauty +of his singing, he restores himself to his true form by twisting +his left ear; after which operation “he stood no longer +a poor, common, ugly man, but a grand young prince, with +a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.”</p> + +<p>A third class of stories for which an Asiatic origin may +fairly be claimed, contains those in which figures a monster +or demon who cannot be killed until some external object +with which his life is mysteriously linked has been destroyed. +Such a being occurs at times in European folk-tales, especially +in those of the east and north of Europe. The +most familiar instance is that of “The Giant who had no +Heart in his body” of the “Tales from the Norse.” Some +of the best specimens of this kind of monster are to be found +in the Russian tales about Koshchei the Deathless. But +these remarkably abnormal beings scarcely seem at home +in western folk-lore. They are but little in keeping with +their European surroundings, and never seem to divest +themselves of their alien air. In oriental stories, on the +other hand, they figure frequently, and they seem to occupy a +familiar and an appropriate place. The oldest of the world’s +tales of wonder, the Egyptian story of the Two Brothers, +contains an heroic being whose life comes to an end when +his heart falls to the ground from the tree upon which he +has hung it. And in the modern folk-tales of India, demons +of this kind play their part without exciting any more than +usual surprise. Miss Frere’s Deccan stories make us +well acquainted with one of these personages, “a wicked +magician named Punchkin,” whose name serves as a convenient +designation for the long-lived monsters in question. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xx]</a></span> +The present collection contains several specimens. In +“Brave Hírálálbásá” (No. <a href="#Page_51">11</a>) we meet with a Rakshas, +who is induced, as usual by female wiles, to reveal the +secret of his life. “Sixteen miles away from this place,” he +says, “is a tree. Round the tree are tigers, and bears, and +scorpions, and snakes; on the top of the tree is a very +great flat snake; on his head is a little cage; in the cage is +a bird; and my soul is in that bird.” When the bird is +seized by the hero of the story, the Rakshas feels that something +terrible has occurred. When the bird’s legs and wings +are pulled off, the Rakshas becomes a mere head and torso; +and when the bird’s neck is wrung, down falls the Rakshas +dead. In like manner, in the tale of “The Demon and the +King’s Son” (No. <a href="#Page_173">24</a>), the demon dies when the prince has +killed a certain bird, the lives of the bird and of the demon +being conterminable. According to the narrator Dunkní, “all +Rakshases keep their souls in birds;” but another authority +asserts (p. <a href="#Page_261">261</a>) that “a whole tribe of Rakshases, dwelling +in Ceylon, kept theirs in one and the same lemon.”</p> + +<p>The tale of “The Voracious Frog” (No. <a href="#Page_24">6</a>) is a valuable +contribution to the store we already possess of what appear to +be myths relating to apparent destruction, but ultimate +resuscitation. To this class seem to belong the stories on +which Little Red Riding Hood was probably based, +describing how a wolf or other monster swallowed various +innocent beings, but was at last forced to restore them +uninjured to the light of day. In its original form the tale +may have been a nature myth, illustrating the apparent +annihilation brought about by the darkness of night or the +cold of winter, and the revival which accompanies the return +of the day or of spring; or, perhaps, a moral apologue, +intended to suggest that death may not be a lasting annihilation. +In its modern forms, whether in the east or the +west, it often assumes a grotesque air. A good illustration +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xxi]</a></span> +of this fact is afforded by the well-known Norse tale of +“The Greedy Cat,” of which “The Voracious Frog” (No. <a href="#Page_24">6</a>) +is an Indian counterpart. The cat, after devouring all that +comes in its way, is at last split in half by a goat, whereupon +all its victims come forth unhurt. The frog, after similar +feats of gluttony, is cut open by a barber, who, while shaving +it, thinks that it looks very fat; and its victims also emerge +uninjured.</p> + +<p>There are many tales now current in different parts of +Europe, but chiefly in the south and east, which turn upon +the relations existing between human beings and their fates: +each person being supposed to have a special fate or fortune, +a species of guardian demon, upon whose good will all his +or her success in life depends. It is very doubtful whether +such stories are products of European fancy, their leading +ideas seeming to be little in keeping with the religious +beliefs—whether of classic times, or of Teutonic, Slavic, or +Celtic antiquity—respecting either an overruling destiny, or +a triad of Fates or Norns. But in India a belief in a +personal “luck” has prevailed from very early times; and +such stories as “The Man who went to seek his Fate” +(No. <a href="#Page_63">12</a>), appear there to be as indigenous as in Europe +they seem to be exotic. The Servian story, for instance, of +the man who sets out to look for his fate, and the Sicilian +account of how the unfortunate Caterina is persecuted by hers +until she discovers its hiding-place, and propitiates it by cakes +(see Notes, p. <a href="#Page_263">263</a>), have a foreign air about them, which +does not manifest itself in the Indian tale. The likeness +between the Servian and the Indian variants of the narrative, +especially as regards the questions which the fate-seeker is +requested by the beings he meets on the way to ask when +he arrives at his destination, is too great to allow it to be +supposed that they have been independently developed +from a common germ. They are manifestly, so far as the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxii" id="Page_xxii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xxii]</a></span> +journey is concerned, copies of the same model, differing +but slightly from each other. But the embodiment of the +wayfarer’s destiny is quite differently represented in the two +stories. The Servian pilgrim first discovers his fortune, or +rather misfortune, in the person of a hag, who tells him she +has been given to him as his luck by Fate. Then he seeks +out Fate, who appears in human form. But in the Indian +tale, “the fates are stones, some standing, and others lying +on the ground.” One of the prostrate stones, the traveller +felt sure, must belong to him. “This must be mine,” he +said; “it is lying on the ground, that’s why I am so poor.” +Whereupon he took to beating it, and continued to do so +all day. When night came, “God sent a soul into the poor +man’s fate, and it became a man,” who satisfied the wanderer’s +own wishes, and also answered the questions which he +had been requested to ask. Then “God withdrew the soul, +and the fate became a stone again, which stood up on the +ground.”</p> + +<p>There are two stories which enjoy a world-wide popularity +in peasant circles, but which have not been made familiar +by modern literature to cultured children. One of them +may for the sake of convenience be known by the name of +the Substituted Bride, and the other by that of the Calumniated +Wife. The first relates the sorrows of a maiden who +is compelled to see an impostor seated in the place which +she was intended to fill, by the side of the princely husband +whom she was meant to wed. The second describes the +sufferings long undergone by a faithful wife and tender +mother, who is falsely accused of some crime by an envious +rival, and is hastily punished by her angry lord. In both +of them the supernatural usually plays a part, but their main +interests are always human, and it is easier to sympathize +with their heroines than with most of the similar characters of +popular fiction. Yet those ill-used but patient princesses +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiii" id="Page_xxiii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xxiii]</a></span> +are but little known to the thousands of story-readers who +are familiar with the adventures of Cinderella and the +Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and the wives of +Bluebeard and of the Beast. They have at various times +entered into literature, but not into that section of it which +has supplied our nursery fiction. They figure in most of the +now so numerous collections of folk-tales, but they have not +been introduced into society by the novelists or playwrights +who have made their sister-sufferers undying favourites. +They are essentially moral tales, their good characters bearing +their unmerited misfortunes with unvarying meekness +and patience, and being ultimately rewarded, while the +envious and malicious rivals who have supplanted or slandered +them are punished in the end. But they have not +taken a firm hold on the west, where they are probably +destined to become forgotten when the progress of education +has replaced folk-lore by literature, while they are likely to +go on living for ages in the east, which seems to have been +their original home.</p> + +<p>In the present collection the story of the Substituted +Princess occurs several times. In “Phúlmati Rání” the +heroine is a wife instead of a bride, which makes the substitution +more than usually improbable. As she and her husband +are resting beside a tank, a shoemaker’s wife comes +up, and pushes her into the water, in which she is drowned. +The shoemaker’s wife takes her place, though she is “very +black and ugly,” one-eyed, and exceedingly wicked. It may +be remarked that the substitution in question generally +takes place by the side of water. In the “Bél-Princess,” the +beautiful maiden who has come out of the fruit which the +prince opened by the side of a well, is pushed into the +water, while the prince is asleep, by a wicked woman, very +ugly, and with “something wrong with one of her eyes,” +who then assumes her place. In tales like the story of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiv" id="Page_xxiv">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xxiv]</a></span> +“The Princess who loved her Father like Salt,” the transformation +scene is of a different nature, though the leading +idea of the change is the same. It is not an ordinary bride +or wife who is supplanted, and the substitution need not take +place beside water. The heroine is a stranger who, generally +after long wanderings, finds a prince really or apparently +dead, by patient watching all but effects his cure, but is at +the last moment supplanted by a servant, who gives the +final touch to the work, claims its entire merit, and is made +the wife of the grateful patient. In the Indian tale the +prince lies motionless, his body “stuck full of needles.” +The heroine sits down by the side of his couch, and there +remains for a whole week “without eating, or drinking, or +sleeping, pulling out the needles.” At the end of two weeks +more the needles are all extracted, except those in the eyes. +She then goes away to bathe; and while she is absent, +a servant maid whom she has left in charge of the body pulls +out the remaining needles. The prince opens his eyes, +thanks God for bringing him to life again, and makes the +servant maid his wife. The substitution is similar to that +which takes place in such stories as the Norse “Bushy +Bride;” but closer parallels are supplied by some of the +stories of southern Europe. Mrs. Stokes refers in her Notes +to the dead prince in one of Gonzenbach’s Sicilian tales, +who is brought to life by a wandering princess, who for +more than seven years rubs his body with grass from Mount +Calvary. Pitre’s great collection of Sicilian <i>Fiabe</i> also offers +several variants of the substitution story, in some of which +occurs the singular incident, known also to Swedish and +Finnish folk-tales, of the imprisonment of the heroine, after +she has been flung into the sea, by a submarine supernatural +being. In some instances it is not water which the heroine +has to dread, but light. The true bride must be conveyed +to the bridegroom’s palace in a darkened vehicle. Her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxv" id="Page_xxv">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xxv]</a></span> +supplanter draws aside a curtain. The sunlight shines in. +The princess turns into a lizard or some other animal, and +the false bride takes her place.</p> + +<p>The Calumniated Wife story which occurs in No. <a href="#Page_119">20</a> of +the present collection, closely resembles many European +variants. A king hears a girl say that when she is married +she will have a son with a moon on his forehead and a star +on his chin. So he marries her. She gives birth to a boy +who really is thus decorated. But the king’s other wives, +naturally jealous of her, put a stone in her bed, and pretend +that it is the object which she has brought into the world, +upon which she is disgraced and turned into a servant maid. +In other variants of the story she is often accused of having +murdered her children, and even eaten them. In one +instance her mortified husband is represented as twice forgiving +her, after remonstrating with her on her inordinate +appetite, but as thinking it necessary to take some precautions +when the possibility of her committing the crime +for the third time makes itself manifest. Sometimes all +the innocent wives of a king are accused of murderous +habits by a guilty wife, who is in reality a destroying and +devouring demon. Such is the case in No. <a href="#Page_119">20</a> of the +present collection, which ends with the restoration of the +seven calumniated wives, and the death by burning of the +demon spouse.</p> + + +<p class="hrpad">Besides illustrating the themes or leading ideas of many +groups of European tales, these Indian stories frequently +serve to throw light upon some of their obscurer features, or +at least to offer such parallels to them as are useful contributions +to our stock of materials for a systematic classification. +Among the strange characters who figure in European +folk tales, there are few more puzzling than the fair maidens +who are at times discovered inside fruits, and who must be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxvi" id="Page_xxvi">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xxvi]</a></span> +provided with water to drink the moment they emerge into +the light, or else they will die. They seem properly to +belong to the south and east of Europe, to such countries, +for instance, as Greece, Sicily, and Wallachia. When they +are found elsewhere, as in the Norse tale of “The Three +Lemons,” the very name of which speaks of the sunny south, +they seem out of keeping with their surroundings. In these +Indian stories, the enclosure of a heroine in a fruit is an incident +which does not appear to be more than usually amazing. +The need of immediate water drinking is not referred to. +But the hero is warned (p. <a href="#Page_81">81</a>) that he must not open the fruit +in public, because the enclosed maiden will be quite +destitute of clothes. In another story which is widely spread +over Europe—but which we know best in the form of the +tale of “The Blue Bird,” founded upon the theme of “The +Lay of Ywonec,” by Marie de France—the murderous +means by which the bird-lover is all but done to death +by jealous hands, which set sharp knives in the narrow +opening through which he has to fly, or beset his path with +some other instruments of ill, find their counterpart in the +powdered glass employed to injure the hero of the “The +Fan Prince” (No. <a href="#Page_193">25</a>). His wife’s six sisters, who “were +angry at their youngest sister being married, while they who +were older were not married,” insist upon making his +bed, and cover the spot on which he is to lie with the +powder into which they have ground a glass bottle. Whereupon +the prince becomes very ill, from the glass powder +going into his flesh.</p> + +<p>The ordinary opening of many familiar folk-tales, including +the “Beauty and the Beast” story, finds a parallel +in the same Indian tale (p. <a href="#Page_195">195</a>). In all of them a +man, when starting on a journey, promises his youngest +daughter that he will bring her back some object. This he +forgets to obtain. On his homeward journey, his ship refuses +to move until he has acquired the object in question. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxvii" id="Page_xxvii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xxvii]</a></span> +The Indian parent promised to bring home Sabr to his +daughter, having no idea what Sabr meant. Not having +obtained it, he set out on his homeward journey. “But the +boat would not move, because he had forgotten one thing—the +thing his youngest daughter had asked for.” Sabr +turns out to be a fairy prince. It is a common incident in +Indian tales for a hero or heroine to demand a spouse, +generally of a more or less supernatural nature, whose +name is known but nothing more. Just as the Fan +Prince was demanded, under the apparently meaningless +name of Sabr, so is the hand of the Princess Labám longed +for by the Rájá’s son in No. <a href="#Page_153">22</a>, although her existence +was unknown to him till he heard a parrot pronounce her +name one day; and so is the acquisition of a Bél-Princess +resolved upon by the prince in No. <a href="#Page_138">21</a>, because his sisters-in-law +say to him, in a disagreeable manner, “We think +that you will marry a Bél-Princess.” Múniyá, the narrator +of the story, “says that telling the prince he would marry +a Bél-Princess was equivalent to saying he would not +marry at all; for these brothers’ wives knew she lived in +the fairy country, and that it would be very difficult, if not +impossible, for the prince to find her, and take her from +it.” But this seems to be merely a rationalistic view of the +matter. Some mystery seems to underlie these suggestions of, +or desires for, unions with unfamiliar beings. They occur not +unfrequently in Russian tales. In one of Afanasief’s skazkas +(vol. vii., No. 6) a baby prince cries, and refuses to go to +sleep, till his royal father rocks his cradle, crooning the +while, “Sleep, beloved one! When you grow up you shall +marry Never-enough-to-be-gazed-at Beauty, daughter of +three mothers, sister of nine brothers.” Having slept +vigorously, the baby awakes, asks for the king’s blessing, +and sets out in search of the unknown Beauty in question. +In another (vol. i., No. 14), Prince Ivan, having married his +three sisters to the Wind, the Hail, and the Thunder, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxviii" id="Page_xxviii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xxviii]</a></span> +wanders forth in search of a bride. Finding the remains of +two slaughtered armies, and discovering that their slaughterer +was named Anastasia the Fair, he resolves, though +knowing nothing else about her, to make her his wife. +Among the numerous minor incidents which are common +to eastern and western folk-tales, may be mentioned the +aid lent to heroes in difficulties by Magic Instruments, as +in No. <a href="#Page_153">22</a>, or by Grateful Beasts, as in No. <a href="#Page_173">24</a>. A belief in +magic is of course world-wide, but the particular instruments +referred to seem to have good reasons for claiming an +oriental extraction. The stories in which stress is laid +upon the gratitude of the inferior animals are almost always +derivable from the east; especially if, as in the correct +versions of the tale on which Puss in Boots is founded, their +gratitude is contrasted with the ingratitude of that superior +animal, man. When we meet with so close a resemblance +as exists between the miracle wrought by Shekh Faríd +(p. <a href="#Page_97">97</a>), who turns the lying carter’s sugar into ashes, and that +attributed to St. Brigit, who turns the liar’s salt into stones, +we need have little scruple about referring both stories to +the same source and, considering how much monastic +legend-writers were indebted to oriental fancy, in locating +that source in the east.</p> + +<p>The comic elements of eastern and western folk-lore are +closely akin, and the Lie-stories, or <i>Lügenmärchen</i>, in Nos. +<a href="#Page_18">4</a>, <a href="#Page_35">8</a>, and <a href="#Page_101">17</a> of these Indian Tales find their parallels in most +European collections. As an example of the close kinship +which prevails among the jests which make merry the hearts +of men far apart from each other, we may take the Indian +story of “Foolish Sachúlí,” and compare it with the Russian +tale of “The Fool and the Birch Tree” (Afanasief, vol. v., +No. 22). Sachúlí kills a woman; his Russian counterpart kills +a man. The corpse of the woman is hidden away in a well, +that of the man in a cellar. In each case the fool’s sensible +relatives, knowing that he will be sure to tell the truth if +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxix" id="Page_xxix">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xxix]</a></span> +he is asked, withdraw the body during his absence, and +substitute for it that of an animal killed for the purpose. +When the seekers after the victim arrive at Sachúlí’s home, +he at once conducts them to the well. Being let down into +it, he asks, “Has she got eyes?” “Of course, every one +has eyes,” is the reply. “Has she a nose?” “Yes, she +has a nose.” But at last he inquires if she has four feet; +and the seekers after the dead woman find that the body +in the well is that of a sheep. In the same way, when the +Russian fool has confessed his guilt, and has gone into the +cellar to look for his victim’s remains, he finds there the +body of a goat. So he calls out to the anxious inquirers, +“Was your man dark-haired?” “He was.” “And had +he a beard?” “Yes, he had a beard.” “And had he +horns?” “What horns are you talking about, fool?” they +reply. So he hands up the goat’s head, and the Russian +tale comes to the same conclusion as the Indian. The likeness +here is too strong to be attributed to an accidental +coincidence.</p> + + +<p class="hrpad">It does not, of course, follow that, because a story is +found both in Europe and Asia, therefore the western +version has been borrowed from the east. Europe has, +doubtless, sometimes lent a fancy to Asia. Greek fables +are supposed to have exercised an influence upon the Indian +mind. European missionaries may have sometimes +rendered a Christian legend current among Hindus. Professor +Monier Williams was assured by an intelligent native +that the spread of railways had materially diminished the +number of malignant ghosts in India. Still, as a general +rule, the east is stubbornly conservative. The Japanese, it is +true, are abandoning their own costume and art for ours, not +entirely to their advantage. But the various peoples of +India have never shown any such tendencies towards +change. In their popular fiction, at all events, they have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxx" id="Page_xxx">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xxx]</a></span> +never shown an inclination to import foreign manufactures +in order to replace their home products. In their thoughts +and feelings they are now very much what they have been for +periods of time which it would be difficult to define. When +we find stories now current in all parts of India, which we +know from their occurrence in Sanskrit literature must have +existed there very long ago, and we see that the mythological +element in those stories is in accordance with religious +ideas that have prevailed there for countless centuries, +we can have no doubt that these stories were framed there +at a very early period. Then if we find almost identical +stories current in all parts of Europe, many of their at least +apparently mythological features offering difficulties which +cannot be removed by a reference to the mythologies of the +heathen ancestors of the peasants who now repeat them, it +seems not unreasonable to come to the conclusion that +such stories have been borrowed by the west from the east. +From mythological germs common to European and Asiatic +Aryans, it is quite true that legends might arise in Europe +and in Asia, independent of each other, but similar in +their general tenor. But it is not likely that out of any +common germ could be independently developed in several +different countries as many variants of the same tale, in +each of which there is a similar sequence of scenes or acts, +and the dramatic action is brought to a close by a termination +that scarcely ever varies. Far more difficult is it to believe +in such a triumph of independent development, than to place +reliance upon a statement to the effect that the wave of +story-telling, as well as of empire, has wended its way westward.</p> + +<p class="sig smcap">W. R. S. Ralston.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxxi" id="Page_xxxi">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xxxi]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head03.jpg" width="600" height="123" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt"> </td> + <td class="tdlsc"> </td> + <td class="tdrb"><small>PAGE</small></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">I.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">Phúlmati Rání, or the Flower Lady</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">II.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Pomegranate King</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">III.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Cat and the Dog</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">IV.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Cat which could not be killed</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">V.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Jackal and the Kite</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">VI.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Voracious Frog</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">VII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Story of Foolish Sachúlí</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">VIII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">Barber Hím and the Tigers</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">IX.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Bulbul and the Cotton-tree</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">X.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Monkey Prince</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XI.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">Brave Hírálálbásá</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Man who went to seek his Fate</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XIII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Upright King</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XIV.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">Loving Lailí</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XV.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">How King Burtal became a Fakír</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XVI.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">Some of the Doings of Shekh Faríd</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XVII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Mouse</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XVIII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">A Wonderful Story</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XIX.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Fakír Nánaksá saves the Merchant’s Life</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxxii" id="Page_xxxii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xxxii]</a></span>XX.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Boy who had a Moon on his Forehead and a Star on his Chin</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XXI.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Bél-Princess</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XXII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">How the Rájá’s Son won the Princess Labám</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XXIII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Princess who loved her Father like Salt</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XXIV.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Demon is at last conquered by the King’s Son</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XXV.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Fan Prince</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XXVI.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Bed</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XXVII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">Pánwpattí Rání</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_208">208</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XXVIII.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The Clever Wife</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_216">216</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XXIX.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">Rájá Harichand’s Punishment</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">XXX.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">The King’s Son and the Wazír’s Daughter</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt"> </td> + <td class="tdlsc">Notes</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt"> </td> + <td class="tdlsc">Glossary</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt"> </td> + <td class="tdlsc">List of Books referred to</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_297">297</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt"> </td> + <td class="tdlsc">Index</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 175px;"> +<img src="images/tail01.jpg" width="175" height="119" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>1]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head04.jpg" width="600" height="140" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h1>INDIAN FAIRY TALES.</h1> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/bar.png" width="200" height="23" +alt="Decorative bar" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="si" id="si"></a>I.<br /> +<br /> +PHÚLMATI RÁNÍ.</h2> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#ni">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapt"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HERE were once a Rájá and a Rání who had an +only daughter called the Phúlmati Rání, or the +Pink-rose Queen. She was so beautiful that if +she went into a very dark room it was all lighted up by her +beauty. On her head was the sun; on her hands, moons; +and her face was covered with stars. She had hair that +reached to the ground, and it was made of pure gold.</p> + +<p>Every day after she had had her bath, her father and +mother used to weigh her in a pair of scales. She only +weighed one flower. She ate very, very little food. This +made her father most unhappy, and he said, “I cannot let +my daughter marry any one who weighs more than one +flower.” Now, God loved this girl dearly, so he went down +under the ground to see if any of the fairy Rájás was fit to +be the Phúlmati Rání’s husband, and he thought none of +them good enough. So he went in the form of a Fakír to +see the great Indrásan Rájá who ruled over all the other +fairy Rájás. This Rájá was exceedingly beautiful. On his +head was the sun; and on his hands, moons; and on his +face, stars. God made him weigh very little. Then he said +to the Rájá, “Come up with me, and we will go to the palace +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>2]</a></span> +of the Phúlmati Rání.” God had told the Rájá that he +was God and not a Fakír, for he loved the Indrásan Rájá. +“Very well,” said the Indrásan Rájá. So they travelled on +until they came to the Phúlmati Rání’s palace. When they +arrived there they pitched a tent in her compound, and they +used to walk about, and whenever they saw the Phúlmati +Rání they looked at her. One day they saw her having +her hair combed, so God said to the Indrásan Rájá, “Get a +horse and ride where the Phúlmati Rání can see you, and +if any one asks you who you are, say, ‘Oh, it’s only a poor +Fakír, and I am his son. We have come to stay here a +little while just to see the country. We will go away very +soon.’” Well, he got a horse and rode about, and Phúlmati +Rání, who was having her hair combed in the verandah, +said, “I am sure that must be some Rájá; only see how +beautiful he is.” And she sent one of her servants to ask +him who he was. So the servant said to the Indrásan Rájá, +“Who are you? why are you here? what do you want?” +“Oh, it’s only a poor Fakír, and I am his son. We have +just come here for a little while to see the country. We will +go away very soon.” So the servants returned to the Phúlmati +Rání and told her what the Indrásan Rájá had said. +The Phúlmati Rání told her father about this. The next +day, when the Phúlmati Rání and her father were standing +in the verandah, God took a pair of scales and weighed the +Indrásan Rájá in them. His weight was only that of one +flower! “Oh,” said the Rájá, when he saw that, “here is +the husband for the Phúlmati Rání!” The next day, after +the Phúlmati Rání had had her bath, her father took her +and weighed her, and he also weighed the Indrásan Rájá. +And they were each the same weight. Each weighed one +flower, although the Indrásan Rájá was fat and the Phúlmati +Rání thin. The next day they were married, and there +was a grand wedding. God said he was too poor-looking +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>3]</a></span> +to appear, so he bought a quantity of elephants, and camels, +and horses, and cows, and sheep, and goats, and made a +procession, and came to the wedding. Then he went back +to heaven, but before he went he said to the Indrásan Rájá +“You must stay here one whole year; then go back to your +father and to your kingdom. As long as you put flowers +on your ears no danger will come near you.” (This was in +order that the fairies might know that he was a very great +Rájá and not hurt him.) “All right,” said the Indrásan +Rájá. And God went back to heaven.</p> + +<p>So the Indrásan Rájá stayed for a whole year. Then he +told the Rájá, the Phúlmati Rání’s father, that he wished to +go back to his own kingdom. “All right,” said the Rájá, +and he wanted to give him horses, and camels, and elephants. +But the Indrásan Rájá and the Phúlmati Rání said they +wanted nothing but a tent and a cooly. Well, they set out; +but the Indrásan Rájá forgot to put flowers on his ears, and +after some days the Indrásan Rájá was very, very tired, so +he said, “We will sit down under these big trees and rest +awhile. Our baggage will soon be here; it is only a little +way behind.” So they sat down, and the Rájá said he felt +so tired he must sleep. “Very well,” said the Rání; “lay +your head in my lap and sleep.” After a while a shoemaker’s +wife came by to get some water from a tank which was close +to the spot where the Rájá and Rání were resting. Now, the +shoemaker’s wife was very black and ugly, and she had only +one eye, and she was exceedingly wicked. The Rání was +very thirsty and she said to the woman, “Please give me +some water, I am so thirsty.” “If you want any,” said the +shoemaker’s wife, “come to the tank and get it yourself.” +“But I cannot,” said the Rání, “for the Rájá is sleeping +in my lap.” At last the poor Rání got so very, very thirsty, +she said she must have some water; so laying the Rájá’s +head very gently on the ground she went to the tank. Then +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>4]</a></span> +the wicked shoemaker’s wife, instead of giving her to drink, +gave her a push and sent the beautiful Rání into the water, +where she was drowned. The shoemaker’s wife then went +back to the Rájá, and, taking his head on her knee, sat still +until he woke. When the Rájá woke he was much frightened, +and he said, “This is not my wife. My wife was not +black, and she had two eyes.” The poor Rájá felt very +unhappy. He said, “I am sure something has happened to +my wife.” He went to the tank, and he saw flowers floating +on the water and he caught them, and as he caught them his +own true wife stood before him.</p> + +<p>They travelled on till they came to a little house. The +shoemaker’s wife went with them. They went into the house +and laid themselves down to sleep, and the Rájá laid beside +him the flowers he had found floating in the tank. The +Rání’s life was in the flowers. As soon as the Rájá and Rání +were asleep, the shoemaker’s wife took the flowers, broke +them into little bits, and burnt them. The Rání died immediately, +for the second time. Then the poor Rájá, feeling +very lonely and unhappy, travelled on to his kingdom, +and the shoemaker’s wife went after him. God brought the +Phúlmati Rání to life a second time, and led her to the +Indrásan Rájá’s gardener.</p> + +<p>One day as the Indrásan Rájá was going out hunting, he +passed by the gardener’s house, and saw a beautiful girl sitting +in it. He thought she looked very like his wife, the Phúlmati +Rání. So he went home to his father and said, +“Father, I should like to be married to the girl who lives in +our gardener’s house.” “All right,” said the father; “you can +be married at once.” So they were married the next day.</p> + +<p>One night the shoemaker’s wife took a ram, killed it, and +put some of its blood on the Phúlmati Rání’s mouth while +the Rání slept. The next morning she went to the Indrásan +Rájá and said, “Whom have you married? You have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>5]</a></span> +married a Rakshas. Just see. She has been eating cows, and +sheep, and chickens. Just come and see.” The Rájá went, +and when he saw the blood on his wife’s mouth he was +frightened, and he thought she was really a Rakshas. The +shoemaker’s wife said to him, “If you do not cut this +woman in pieces, some harm will happen to you.” So the +Rájá took a knife and cut his beautiful wife into pieces. +He then went away very sorrowful. The Phúlmati Rání’s +arms and legs grew into four houses; her chest became a +tank, and her head a house in the middle of the tank; her +eyes turned into two little doves; and these five houses, the +tank and the doves, were transported to the jungle. No one +knew this. The little doves lived in the house that stood in +the middle of the tank. The other four houses stood round +the tank.</p> + +<p>One day when the Indrásan Rájá was hunting by himself +in the jungle he was very tired, and he saw the house in the +tank. So he said, “I will go into that house to rest a little +while, and to-morrow I will return home to my father.” So, +tying his horse outside, he went into the house and lay down +to sleep. By and by, the two little birds came and perched +on the roof above his head. They began to talk, and the +Rájá listened. The little husband-dove said to his wife, +“This is the man who cut his wife to pieces.” And then he +told her how the Indrásan Rájá had married the beautiful +Phúlmati Rání, who weighed only one flower, and how the +shoemaker’s wife had drowned her; how God had brought +her to life again; how the shoemaker’s wife had burned her; +and last of all, how the Rájá himself had cut her to pieces. +“And cannot the Rájá find her again?” said the little wife-dove. +“Oh, yes, he can,” said her husband, “but he does +not know how to do so.” “But do tell me how he can find +her,” said the little wife-dove. “Well,” said her husband, +“every night, at twelve o’clock, the Rání and her servants +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>6]</a></span> +come to bathe in the tank. Her servants wear yellow +dresses, but she wears a red one. Now, if the Rájá could +get all their dresses, every one, when they lay them down +and go into the tank to bathe, and throw away all the +yellow dresses one by one, keeping only the red one, he +would recover his wife.”</p> + +<p>The Rájá heard all these things, and at midnight the Rání +and her servants came to bathe. The Rájá lay very quiet, +and after they all had taken off their dresses and gone into +the tank, he jumped up and seized every one of the dresses,—he +did not leave one of them,—and ran away as hard as he +could. Then each of the servants, who were only fairies, +screamed out, “Give me my dress! What are you doing? +why do you take it away?” Then the Rájá dropped one by +one the yellow dresses and kept the red one. The fairy +servants picked up the dresses, and forsook the Phúlmati +Rání and ran away. The Rájá came back to her with her +dress in his hand, and she said, “Oh, give me back my +dress. If you keep it I shall die. Three times has God +brought me to life, but he will bring me to life no more.” +The Rájá fell at her feet and begged her pardon, and they +were reconciled. And he gave her back her dress. Then +they went home, and Indrásan Rájá had the shoemaker’s +wife cut to pieces, and buried in the jungle. And they lived +happily ever after.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní at Simla, July 25th, 1876.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/tail02.jpg" width="200" height="103" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>7]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head05.jpg" width="600" height="76" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sii" id="sii"></a>II.<br /> +<br /> +THE POMEGRANATE KING.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nii">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapt"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HERE was once a Mahárájá, called the Anárbásá, +or Pomegranate King; and a Mahárání called the +Gulíanár, or Pomegranate-flower. The Mahárání +died leaving two children: a little girl of four or five years +old, and a little boy of three. The Mahárájá was very +sorry when she died, for he loved her dearly. He was +exceedingly fond of his two children, and got for them two +servants: a man to cook their dinner, and an ayah to take +care of them. He also had them taught to read and write. +Soon after his wife’s death the neighbouring Rájá’s +daughter’s husband died, and she said if any other Rájá +would marry her, she would be quite willing to marry him, +and she also said she would like very much to marry the +Pomegranate Rájá. So her father went to see the Pomegranate +Rájá, and told him that his daughter wished to +marry him. “Oh,” said the Pomegranate Rájá, “I do not +want to marry again, for if I do, the woman I marry will be +sure to be unkind to my two children. She will not take +care of them. She will not pet them and comfort them +when they are unhappy.” “Oh,” said the other Rájá, +“my daughter will be very good to them, I assure you.” +“Very well,” said the Mahárájá, “I will marry her.” So +they were married.</p> + +<p>For two or three months everything went on well, but +then the new Rání, who was called the Sunkásí Mahárání, +began to beat the poor children, and to scold their servants. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>8]</a></span> +One day she gave the boy such a hard blow on his cheek +that it swelled. When the Mahárájá came out of his office +to get his tiffin, he saw the boy’s swollen face, and, calling +the two servants, he said, “Who did this? how did my +boy get hurt?” They said, “The Rání gave him such a +hard blow on his cheek that it swelled, and she gets very +angry with us if we say anything about her ill-treatment of +the children, or how she scolds us.” The Mahárájá was +exceedingly angry with his wife for this, and said to her, +“I never beat my children. Why should you beat them? +If you beat them I will send you away.” And he went off +to his office in a great rage. The Rání was very angry. +So she told the little girl to go with the ayah to the bazar. +The ayah and the little girl set off, never suspecting any +evil. As soon as they had gone, the Rání took the little +boy and told him she would kill him. The boy went down +on his knees and begged her to spare his life. But she +said, “No; your father is always quarrelling with me, beating +me, and scolding me, all through your fault.” The +boy begged and prayed again, saying he would never be +naughty any more. The Rání shook her head, and taking +a large knife she cut off his head. She then cut him up +and made him into a curry. She then buried his head, +and his nails, and his feet in the ground, and she covered +them well with earth, and stamped the ground well down so +that no one should notice it had been disturbed. When +the Pomegranate Rájá came home to his dinner, she put +the curry and some rice on the table before him; but the +Rájá, seeing his boy was not there, would not eat. He +went and looked everywhere for his son, crying very much, +and the little girl cried very much too, for she loved her +brother dearly. After they had hunted for him for some +time, the little boy appeared. His father embraced him. +“Where have you been?” said he. “I cannot eat my +dinner without you.” The little boy said, “Oh, I was in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>9]</a></span> +the jungle playing with other boys.” They then sat down +to dinner, and the curry changed into a kid curry. The +Rání was greatly astonished when she saw the boy. She +said to herself, “I cut his head off; I cut him into little +pieces, and I made him into a curry, and yet he is alive!” +She then went into the garden to see if his head, and nails, +and feet were in the hole where she had buried them. +But they were not there; it was quite empty. She then +called a sepoy, and said to him, “If you will take two children +into the jungle and kill them, I will give you as much +money as you like.” “All right,” said the sepoy. She +then brought the children, and told him to take them to +the jungle. So he took them away to the jungle, but he +had not the heart to kill them, for they were exceedingly +beautiful, and he left them in the jungle near their dead +mother’s grave. Then he returned to the Rání, saying he +had done as she wished, and she gave him as much money +as he wanted.</p> + +<p>The poor Pomegranate Rájá was very unhappy when he +saw his children were not in the palace, and that they could +not be found. He asked his Rání where they were, but +she said she did not know; they had gone out to play and +had never returned. From the day he lost his children the +Pomegranate Rájá became melancholy. He did not love +the Rání any more; he hated her.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the children lived in a little house built close +to their mother’s grave. God had given her life again that +she might take care of them. But they did not know she +was their mother; they thought she was another woman +sent to take care of them. God sent also a man to teach +them. Somehow or other the Rání Sunkásí heard they +were still alive in the jungle. She did not know how she +could kill them. So at last she pretended she was very ill, +and she said to the Rájá, “The doctor says that in the +jungle there are two children, and he says if you will have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>10]</a></span> +them killed, and will bring their livers for me to stand on +when I bathe, then I shall get well.” The Rájá sent a +second sepoy to kill the children, and this man killed them +and brought their livers to the Rání. She stood on them +while bathing, and then said she was quite well. She then +threw the livers into the garden, and during the night a +tree grew up there with two large beautiful flowers on it. +Next morning the Rání looked out and said, “I will gather +those flowers to-day.” Every day she said she would +gather them, and every day she forgot. At last one day +she said, “Every day I forget to gather those flowers, but +to-day I really will do so,” and she sent her servant to +pluck them. So he went out, and, just as he was going to +gather them, the flowers flew up just out of his reach. +Then the Rání went down, and when she was going to pick +them they flew up so high that they could not be seen. +Every day she tried to gather them, and every day they +went high up, and came back again to the tree as soon as +she had gone. Then the flowers disappeared and two +large fruits came in their stead. The Rání looked out of +her window: “Oh, what delicious fruits! I’ll eat them all +myself. I won’t give a bit to anybody, and I’ll eat them +by myself quite quietly.” She went down to the garden, +but they flew high up into the sky, and then they came +down again. So this went on, day after day, until she got +so cross she ordered the tree to be cut down. But it was +of no use. The tree was cut down, but the fruits flew high +up into the sky, and in the night the tree grew up again +and the fruits came back again to it. And so this went on +for many days. Every day she cut down the tree, and every +night it grew up again, but she could never get the fruits. +At last she became very angry, and had the tree hewn into +tiny bits and all the bits thrown away, but still the tree +grew again in the night, and in the morning the fruits were +hanging on it. So she went to the Rájá and told him that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>11]</a></span> +in the garden was a tree with two fruits, and every time +she tried to get them, the fruits went up into the air. She +had had the tree cut down ever so many times, and it +always grew up again in the night and the fruits returned +to it. “Why cannot you leave the tree alone?” said the +Rájá. “But I should like to see if what you say is true.” +So the Rájá and the Rání went down to the garden, and +the Rání tried to get the fruits, but she could not, for they +went right up into the air.</p> + +<p>That evening the Rájá went alone to the garden to gather +the fruits, and the fruits of themselves fell into his hand. +He took them into his room, and putting them on a little +table close to his bed, he lay down to sleep. As soon as +he was in bed a little voice inside one of the fruits said, +“Brother;” and a little voice in the other fruit said, +“Sister, speak more gently. To-morrow the Rájá will +break open the fruits, and if the Rání finds us she will kill +us. Three times has God made us alive again, but if we +die a fourth time he will bring us to life no more.” The +Rájá listened and said, “I will break them open in a little +while.” Then he went to sleep, and after a little he woke +and said, “A little while longer,” and went to sleep again. +Several times he woke up and said, “I will break the +fruits open in a little while,” and went to sleep. At last he +took a knife and began cutting the fruits open very fast, +and the little boy cried, “Gently, gently, father; you hurt +us!” So then the Rájá cut more gently, and he stopped +to ask, “Are you hurt?” and they said, “No.” And then +he cut again and asked, “Are you hurt?” and they said, +“No.” And a third time he asked, “Are you hurt?” and +they answered, “No.” Then the fruits broke open and +his two children jumped out. They rushed into their +father’s arms, and he clasped them tight, and they cried +softly, that the Rání might not hear.</p> + +<p>He shut his room up close, and fed and dressed his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>12]</a></span> +children, and then went out of the room, locking the door +behind him. He had a little wooden house built that could +easily catch fire, and as soon as it was ready he went to the +Rání and said, “Will you go into a little house I have +made ready for you while your room is getting repaired?” +“All right,” said the Rání; so she went into the little +house, and that night a man set it on fire, and the Rání +and everything in it was burnt up. Then the Pomegranate +Rájá took her bones, put them into a tin box, and sent +them as a present to her mother. “Oh,” said the mother, +“my daughter has married the Pomegranate Mahárájá, +and so she sends me some delicious food.” When she +opened the box, to her horror she found only bones! +Then she wrote to the Mahárájá, “Of what use are bones?” +The Mahárájá wrote back, “They are your bones; they +belong to you, for they are your daughter’s bones. She +ill-treated and killed my children, and so I had her burnt.”</p> + +<p>The Pomegranate Rájá and his children lived very happily +for some time, and their dead mother, the Gulíanár Rání, +having a wish to see her husband and her children, prayed +to God to let her go and visit them. God said she could +go, but not in her human shape, so he changed her into a +beautiful bird, and put a pin in her head, and said, “As +soon as the pin is pulled out you will become a woman again.” +She flew to the palace where the Mahárájá lived, and there +were great trees about the palace. On one of these she +perched at night. The doorkeeper was lying near it. She +called out, “Doorkeeper! doorkeeper!” and he answered, +“What is it? Who is it?” And she asked, “Is the Rájá +well?” and the doorkeeper said, “Yes.” “Are the children +well?” and he said, “Yes.” “And all the servants, and +camels, and horses?” “Yes.” “Are you well?” “Yes.” +“Have you had plenty of food?” “Yes.” “What a great +donkey your Mahárájá is!” And then she began to cry very +much, and pearls fell from her eyes as she cried. Then she +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>13]</a></span> +began to laugh very much, and great big rubies fell from +her beak as she laughed. The next morning the doorkeeper +got up and felt about, and said, “What is all this?” +meaning the pearls and the rubies, for he did not know what +they were. “I will keep them.” So he picked them all up +and put them into a corner of his house. Every night the +bird came and asked after the Mahárájá and the children +and the servants, and left a great many pearls and rubies +behind her. At last the doorkeeper had a whole heap of +pearls and rubies.</p> + +<p>One day a Fakír came and begged, and as the doorkeeper +had no pice, or flour, or rice to give, he gave him a handful +of pearls and rubies. “Well,” said the Fakír to himself, +“I am sure these are pearls and rubies.” So he tied them +up in his cloth. Then he went to the Rájá to beg, and +the Rájá gave him a handful of rice. “What!” said the +Fakír, “the great Mahárájá only gives me a handful of rice +when his doorkeeper gives me pearls and rubies!” and +he turned to walk away. But the Mahárájá stopped him. +“What did you say?” said he, “that my doorkeeper gave +you pearls and rubies?” “Yes,” said the Fakír, “your doorkeeper +gave me pearls and rubies.” So the Mahárájá went +to the doorkeeper’s house, and when he saw all the pearls +and rubies that were there, he thought the man had stolen +them from his treasury. The Mahárájá had not as many +pearls and rubies as his doorkeeper had. Then turning to +the doorkeeper he asked him to tell him truly where and how +he had got them. “Yes, I will,” said the doorkeeper. +“Every night a beautiful bird comes and asks after you, +after your children, after all your elephants, horses, and +servants; and then it cries, and when it cries pearls drop +from its eyes; and then it laughs, and rubies fall from its +beak. If you come to-night I dare say you will see it.” +“All right,” said the Pomegranate Rájá.</p> + +<p>So that night the Mahárájá pulled his bed out under the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>14]</a></span> +tree on which the bird always perched. At night the bird +came and called out, “Doorkeeper! doorkeeper!” and the +doorkeeper answered, “Yes, lord.” And the bird said, “Is +your Mahárájá well?” “Yes.” “Are the children well?” +“Yes.” “And all his servants, horses, and camels and +elephants—are they well?” “Yes.” “Are you well?” +“Yes.” “Have you had plenty of food?” “Yes.” +“What a fool your Mahárájá is!” And then she cried, and +the pearls came tumbling down on the Mahárájá’s eyes, and +the Mahárájá opened one eye and saw what a beautiful +bird it was. And then it laughed, and rubies fell from its +beak on to the Mahárájá.</p> + +<p>Next morning the Mahárájá said he would give any one +who would catch the bird as much money as he wanted. So +he called a fisherman, and asked him to bring his net and +catch the bird when it came that night. The fisherman said +he would for one thousand rupees. That night the fisherman, +the Mahárájá, and the doorkeeper, all waited under +the tree. Soon the bird came, and asked after the Mahárájá, +after his children, and all his servants and elephants, and +camels and horses, and then after the doorkeeper, and then +it called the Mahárájá a fool. Then it cried, and then it +laughed, and just as it laughed the fisherman threw the net +over the bird and caught it. Then they shut it up in an +iron cage, and the next morning the Mahárájá took it out +and stroked it, and said, “What a sweet little bird! what a +lovely little bird!” And the Mahárájá felt something like a +pin in its head, and he gave a pull, and out came the pin, +and then his own dear wife, the Pomegranate-flower Rání, +stood before him. The Rájá was exceedingly glad, and so +were his two children. And there were great rejoicings, +and they lived happily ever after.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní at Simla, 26th July, 1876.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>15]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head06.jpg" width="600" height="116" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="siii" id="siii"></a>III.<br /> +<br /> +THE CAT AND THE DOG.</h2> + + +<h3><i>Introduction.</i></h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#niii">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapn"><span class="dcap">N</span></span>OW all cats are aunts to the tigers, and the cat in +this story was the aunt of the tiger in this story. +She was his mother’s sister. When the tiger’s +mother was dying, she called the cat to her, and taking her +paw she said, “When I am dead you must take care of my +child.” The cat answered, “Very well,” and then the tiger’s +mother died. The tiger said to the cat, “Aunt, I am very +hungry. Go and fetch some fire. When I go to ask men +for fire they are afraid of me, and run away from me, and +won’t give me any. But you are such a little creature that +men are not afraid of you, and so they will give you fire, +and then you must bring it to me.” So the cat said, “Very +good,” and off she started, and went into a house where +some men were eating their dinner: they had thrown away +the bones, and the cat began to eat them. This house was +very near the place where the tiger lived, and on peeping +round the corner he saw his aunt eating the bones. “Oh,” +said he, “I sent my aunt to fetch fire that I might cook my +dinner as I am very hungry, and there she sits eating the +bones, and never thinks of me.” So the tiger called out, +“Aunt, I sent you to fetch fire, and there you sit eating +bones and leave me hungry! If ever you come near me +again, I will kill you at once.” So the cat ran away screaming, +“I will never go near the tiger again, for he will kill +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>16]</a></span> +me!” This is why all cats are so afraid of tigers, or of anything +like a tiger. And this is why, when the cat in the +story saw the tiger, her nephew, fighting with the man, she +ran away as hard as she could.</p> + + +<h3><i>The Story.</i></h3> + +<p>There were once a dog and a cat. It was a very rainy day, +and some men were eating their dinner inside their house. +The cat sat inside too, eating her dinner, and the dog sat on +the door-step. The cat called out to the dog, “I am a high-caste +person, and you are a very low-caste person.” “Oh,” +said the dog, “not at all. I am the high-caste person and +you are of very low caste. You eat all the men’s dinner up, +and snatch the food from their hands just as they are putting +it into their mouths. And you scratch them, and they +beat you; while I sit away from them, and so they don’t +beat me. And if they <em>give</em> me any dinner I’ll eat it; but if +they don’t, I won’t.” “Oh,” says the cat, “not a bit of it. +I eat nice clean food; but you eat nasty, dirty food, which +the men have thrown away.” “No,” said the dog, “I am +high caste and you are very low caste, for if I gave you a +slap you would tumble down directly.” “No, no!” said +the cat. And they went on disputing and began to fight, till +the dog said, “Very well, let us go to the wise jackal and +ask him which of us is the better.” “Good,” said the cat. +So they went to the jackal and asked him. Said the cat, “I +am of the higher caste, and the dog is of the lower caste.” +“No,” said the jackal, “the dog is of the higher caste.” +The cat said, “No,” and the jackal said, “Yes,” and they +began to fight. Then the jackal and the dog proposed to +go and ask a great big beast who lived in the jungle and +was like a tiger. But the cat said, “I cannot go near a +tiger or anything like one.” So then they said, “When we +come near the beast, you can remain behind, and we will go +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>17]</a></span> +on and speak to him.” So they ran into the jungle, where +there was a tiger who had been lying on the ground with a +great thorn sticking in his foot. When his aunt, the cat, +saw him, she scampered off, for she was dreadfully +frightened.</p> + +<p>The thorn had given the tiger great pain; for a long while +he could get no one to take it out, so had lain there for +days. At last he had seen a man passing by, to whom he +called and said, “Take out this thorn, and I promise I +won’t eat you.” But the man refused through fear, saying, +“No, I won’t, for you will eat me.” Three times the tiger +had promised not to eat him; so at last the man took out +the thorn. Then the tiger sprang up and said, “Now I will +eat you, for I am very hungry.” “Oh, no, no!” said the +man. “What a liar you are! You promised not to eat me +if I would take the thorn out of your foot, and now that I +have done so you say you will eat me.” And they began to +fight, and the man said, “If you won’t eat me, I will bring +you a cow and a goat.” But the tiger refused, saying, “No, +I won’t eat them; I will eat you.”</p> + +<p>At this moment the jackal and the dog came up. And +the jackal asked, “What is the matter? why are you fighting?” +So then the man told him why they were fighting; +and the jackal said to the tiger, “I will tell you a good way +of eating the man. Go and fetch a big bag.” So the tiger +went and fetched the bag, and brought it to the jackal. +Then the jackal said, “Get inside the bag, and leave its +mouth open and I’ll throw the man in to you.” So the tiger +got inside the bag, and the jackal, the dog and the man +quickly tied it up as tight as they could. Then they began +to beat the tiger with all their might until at last they killed +him. Then the man went home, and the jackal went home, +and the dog went home.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>18]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head07.jpg" width="600" height="117" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="siv" id="siv"></a>IV.<br /> +<br /> +THE CAT WHICH COULD NOT BE KILLED.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#niv">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapt"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HERE were once a dog and a cat, who were always +quarrelling. The dog used to beat the cat, but he +never could hurt her. She would only dance about +and cry, “You never hurt me, you never hurt me! I <em>had</em> +a pain in my shoulder, but now it is all gone away.” So the +dog went to a <i>mainá</i><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and said, “What shall I do to hurt +this cat? I beat her and I bite her, and yet I can’t hurt her. +I am such a big dog and she is rather a big cat, yet if I +beat her I don’t hurt her, but if she beats me she hurts me +so much.” The <i>mainá</i> said, “Bite her mouth very, very +hard, and then you’ll hurt her.” “Oh, no,” said the cat, +who had just come up, laughing; “you won’t hurt me at +all.” The dog bit her mouth as hard as he could. “Oh, +you don’t hurt me,” said the cat, dancing about. So the +dog went again to the <i>mainá</i> and said, “What shall I do?” +“Bite her ears,” said the <i>mainá</i>. So the dog bit the cat’s +ears, but she danced about and said, “Oh, you did not hurt +me; now I can put earrings in my ears.” So she put in +earrings.</p> + +<p>The dog went to the elephant. “Can you kill this cat? +she worries me so every day.” “Oh, yes,” said the elephant, +“of course I can kill her. She is so little and I am so big.” +Then the elephant came and took her up with his trunk, and +threw her a long way. Up she jumped at once and danced +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>19]</a></span> +about, saying, “You did not hurt me one bit. I <em>had</em> a pain, +but now I am quite well.” Then the elephant got cross and +said, “I’ll teach you to dance in another way than that,” +and he took the cat and laid her on the ground and put his +great foot on her. But she was not hurt at all. She danced +about and said, “You did not hurt me one bit, not one +bit,” and she dug her claws into the elephant’s trunk. The +elephant ran away screaming, and he told the dog, “You +had better beware of that cat. She belongs to the tiger +tribe.” The dog felt very angry with the cat. “What shall +I do,” said he, “to kill this cat?” And he bit her nose so +hard that it bled. But she laughed at him. “Now I can +put a ring in my nose,” said she. He got furious. “I’ll +bite her tail in half,” said he. So he bit her tail in half, +and yet he did not hurt her.</p> + +<p>He then went to a leopard. “If you can kill this cat I +will give you anything you want.” “Very well, I’ll kill +her,” said the leopard. And they went together to the cat. +“Stop,” said the cat to the leopard; “I want to speak to +you first. I’ll give you something to eat, and then I’ll tell +you what I want to say.” And then she ran off ever so far, +and after she had run a mile she stopped and danced, calling +out, “Oh! I’ll give you nothing to eat; you could not +kill me.” The leopard went away very cross, and saying, +“What a clever cat that is.”</p> + +<p>The dog next went to a man, and said, “Can you kill this +cat, she worries me so?” “Of course I can,” said the man; +“I’ll stick this knife into her stomach.” And he stuck his +knife into the cat’s stomach, but the cat jumped up, and her +stomach closed, and the man went home.</p> + +<p>And the dog went to a bear. “Can <em>you</em> kill this cat? I +can’t.” “I’ll kill her,” said the bear; so he stuck all his +claws into the cat, but he didn’t hurt her; and she stuck her +claws into the bear’s nose so deep that he died immediately.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>20]</a></span> +Then the poor dog felt very unhappy, and went and threw +himself into a hole, and there he died, while the cat went +away to her friends.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní at Simla, July 26th, 1876.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTE:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> +A kind of starling.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/tail03.jpg" width="200" height="117" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>21]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head01.jpg" width="600" height="126" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2>V.<br /> +<br /> +THE JACKAL AND THE KITE.</h2> + + +<p><span class="dcapt"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HERE was once a she-jackal and a she-kite. They +lived in the same tree; the jackal at the bottom of +the tree, and the kite at the top. Neither had +any children. One day the kite said to the jackal, “Let us +go and worship God, and fast, and then he will give us +children.” So the jackal said, “Very good.” That day the +kite ate nothing, nor that night; but the jackal at night +brought a dead animal, and was sitting eating it quietly +under the tree. By-and-by the kite heard her crunching +the bones, instead of fasting. “What have you got there,” +said the kite, “that you are making such a noise?” “Nothing,” +said the jackal; “it is only my own bones that +rattle inside my body whenever I move.” The kite went to +sleep again, and took no more notice of the jackal. Next +morning the kite ate some food in the name of God. That +night again the jackal brought a dead animal. The kite +called out, “What are you crunching there? Why are you +making that noise? I am sure you have something to eat.” +The jackal said, “Oh, no! It is only my own bones rattling +in my body.” So the kite went to sleep again.</p> + +<p>Some time after, the kite had seven little boys—real little +boys—but the jackal had none, because she had not fasted. +A year after that the kite went and worshipped God, asking +Him to take care of her children. One day—it was their +great day—the kite set out seven plates. On one she put +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>22]</a></span> +cocoa-nuts, on another cucumbers, on a third rice, on a fourth +plantains, and so on. Then she gave a plate to each of her +seven sons, and told them to take the plates to their aunt the +jackal. So they took the seven plates, and carried them to +their aunt, crying out, “Aunty, aunty, look here! Mamma +has sent you these things.” The jackal took the plates, and +cut off the heads of the seven boys, and their hands, and +their feet, and their noses, and their ears, and took out their +eyes. Then she laid their heads in one plate, and their eyes +in another, and their noses in a third, and their ears in a +fourth, and their hands in a fifth, and their feet in a sixth, +and their trunks in the seventh, and then she covered all the +plates over. Then she took the plates to the kite, and called +out, “Here! I have brought you something in return. You +sent me a present, and I bring you a present.” Now the +poor kite thought the jackal had killed all her seven children, +so she cried out, “Oh, it’s too dark now to see what you +have brought. Put the plates down in my tree.” The +jackal put the plates down and went home. Then God +made the boys alive again, and they came running to their +mother, quite well. And instead of the heads and eyes, and +noses and ears, and hands and feet, and trunks, there were +again on the plates cocoa-nuts and cucumbers, and plantains +and rice, and so on.</p> + +<p>Now the jackal got hold of the boys again. And this +time she killed them, and cooked them and ate them; and +again God brought them to life. Well, the jackal was very +much astonished to see the boys alive, and she got angry, +and said to the kite, “I will take your seven sons and throw +them into the water, and they will be drowned.” “Very +well,” said the kite, “take them. I don’t mind. God will +take care of them.” The jackal took them and threw them +into the water, and left them to die, while the kite looked +on without crying. And again God made them alive, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>23]</a></span> +the jackal was so surprised. “Why,” said she, “I put +these children into the water, and left them to drown. And +here they are alive!” Then God got very angry with the +jackal, and said to her, “Go out of this village. And wherever +you go, men will try to shoot you, and you shall always +be afraid of them.” So the jackal had to go away; and the +kite and her children lived very happily ever afterwards.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/tail04.jpg" width="300" height="197" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>24]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head08.jpg" width="600" height="94" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="svi" id="svi"></a>VI.<br /> +<br /> +THE VORACIOUS FROG.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nvi">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapt"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HERE were a rat and a frog. And the rat said to +the frog, “Go and get me some sticks, while I go +and get some flour and milk.” So the frog went +out far into the jungle and brought home plenty of sticks, +and the rat went out and brought home flour and milk for +their dinner. Then she cooked the dinner, and when it was +cooked she said to the frog, “Now, you sit here while I go +to bathe, and take care of the food so that no one may come +and eat it up.” Then the rat went to take her bath, and as +soon as she had gone the frog made haste and ate up the +dinner quickly, and went away.</p> + +<p>When the rat came back she found no dinner, and she +could not find the frog. So she went out to look for him, +calling to him as loudly as she could, and she saw him in +the distance, and overtook him. “Why have you eaten my +dinner? Why did you go away?” said the rat. Said the +frog, “Oh, dear! it was not I that ate your dinner, but a +huge dog that came; and I was only a tiny, tiny thing, and +he was a great big dog, and so he frightened me, and I ran +away.” “Very well,” said the rat; “go and fetch me more +sticks while I go for flour and milk.” So the frog went out +far into the jungle and brought back plenty of sticks. And +the rat went to fetch flour and milk. Then she lit the +fire and cooked the dinner, and told the frog to take care of +the dinner while she went to bathe. As soon as she had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>25]</a></span> +gone, the frog ate up all the dinner, and went away and hid +himself. When the rat came back she saw no frog, no dinner. +She went away into the jungle and called to him, and the +frog answered from behind a tree, “Here I am, here I am.” +The rat went to him and said, “Why did you eat my dinner?” +“I didn’t,” said the frog. “It was a great big dog +ate the dinner, and he wanted to eat me too, and so I ran +away.” The rat said, “Very well. Go and fetch me some +more sticks, and I will go for flour and milk.” Then she +cooked the dinner again and went to bathe. The frog ate +up all the dinner, and went away and hid himself. When +the rat returned she saw no dinner, no frog. So she went +far into the jungle, found the frog, and told him that it was +he that had eaten the dinner. And the frog said, “No,” +and the rat said, “Yes.” And the frog said, “If you say +that again, I will eat you up.” “All right,” says the rat, +“eat me up.” So he ate her up and sat behind a tree, and +the baker came past. The frog called out, “Baker, come +here! come here! Give me some bread.” The baker looked +about everywhere, could not see anybody, could not think +who was calling him. At last he saw the frog sitting behind +a tree. “Give me some bread,” says the frog. The man +said, “No, I won’t give you any bread. I am a great big +man, and you are only a little frog, and you have no money.” +“Yes, I have money. I will give you some pice, and you +will give me some bread.” But the man said, “No, I +won’t.” “Well,” said the frog, “if you won’t give me bread, +I will eat you up first, and then I will eat up your bread.” +So he ate up the man, and then ate up his bread. Presently +a man with oranges and lemons passed by. The frog called +to him, “Come here! come here!” The man was very +much afraid. He didn’t know who had called him. Then +he saw the frog, and the frog said, “Give me some lemons.” +The man wouldn’t, and said, “No.” “Very well,” says the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>26]</a></span> +frog, “if you won’t, I’ll eat you up.” So he ate up the man +with his lemons and oranges. Presently a horse and his +groom went by. The frog says, “Please give me a ride, and +I will give you some money.” “No,” said the horse, “I +won’t let you ride on me. You are like a monkey,—very +little—I won’t let you ride on my back.” The frog said, +“If you won’t, I’ll eat you up.” Then the frog ate him up, +and his groom too. Then a barber passed by. “Come +and shave me,” says the frog. “Good,” says the barber, +“I’ll come and shave you.” So he shaved him, and he +thought the frog looked <em>very</em> fat, and so as he was shaving +him he suddenly made a cut in his stomach. Out jumped +the rat with her flour and milk—the baker with his bread—the +lemon-seller with his oranges and lemons—the horse and +his groom. And the barber ran away home. And the frog +died.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/tail05.jpg" width="200" height="226" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>27]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head09.jpg" width="600" height="97" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="svii" id="svii"></a>VII.<br /> +<br /> +THE STORY OF FOOLISH SACHÚLÍ.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nvii">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapt"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HERE once lived a poor old widow woman named +Hungní, who had a little idiot son called Sachúlí. +She used to beg every day. One day when the +son had grown up, he said to his mother. “What makes +women laugh?” “If you throw a tiny stone at them,” +answered she, “they will laugh.” So one day Sachúlí went +and sat by a well, and three women came to it to fill their +water-jars. “Now,” said Sachúlí “I will make one of these +women laugh.” Two of the women filled their water-jars +and went away home, and he threw no stones at them; but +as the last, who also had on the most jewels, passed him, +he threw a great big stone at her, and she fell down dead, +with her mouth set as if she were smiling. “Oh, look! +look! how she is laughing!” said Sachúlí, and he ran off to +call his mother.</p> + +<p>“Come, come, mother,” said he, “and see how I have +made this woman laugh.”</p> + +<p>His mother came, and when she saw the woman lying +dead, she was much frightened, for the dead woman belonged +to a great and very rich family, and she wore jewels worth a +thousand rupees. Hungní took off all her jewels, and threw +her body into the well.</p> + +<p>After some days the dead woman’s father and mother and +all her people sent round a crier with a drum to try and +find her. “Whoever brings back a young woman who +wears a great many gold necklaces and bracelets and rings +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>28]</a></span> +shall get a great deal of money,” cried the crier. Sachúlí +heard him. “I know where she is,” said he. “My mother +took off all her jewels, and threw her into the well.”</p> + +<p>The crier said, “Can you go down into the well and bring +her up?”</p> + +<p>“If you will tie a rope round my waist and let me down +the well, I shall be able to bring her up.”</p> + +<p>So they set off towards the well, which was near Hungní’s +house; and when she saw them coming, she guessed what +they came for, and she ran out and killed a sheep, threw it +into the well, and took out the dead woman and hid her.</p> + +<p>The crier got some men to come with him, and they let +Sachúlí down the well. “Has she got eyes?” said Sachúlí. +“Of course, every one has eyes,” answered the men. “Has +she a nose?” asked Sachúlí. “Yes, she has a nose,” said +the men. “Has she got a mouth?” asked Sachúlí. “Yes,” +said the men. “Has she a long face?”</p> + +<p>“What does he mean?” said the men, who were getting +cross. “No one has a long face; perhaps she has, though. +Yes, she has a long face,” cried the men.</p> + +<p>“Has she a tail?”</p> + +<p>“A tail! Why no one has a tail. Perhaps, though, she +has long hair. No doubt that is what he calls a tail. Yes, +she has a tail.”</p> + +<p>“Has she ears?”</p> + +<p>“Of course, every one has ears.”</p> + +<p>“Has she four feet?”</p> + +<p>“Four feet!” said the men. “Why, no one has four feet. +Perhaps you call her hands feet. Yes, she has four feet. +Bring her up quickly.”</p> + +<p>Then Sachúlí brought up the sheep.</p> + +<p>The men were very angry when they saw the sheep, and +they beat Sachúlí, and called him a very stupid fellow and a +great liar, and they went away feeling very cross.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>29]</a></span> +Sachúlí went home to his mother, who, as soon as she saw +him coming, ran out and put the woman’s body back in the +well, and when he got home she beat him. “Mother,” said +he, “give me some bread, and I will go away and die.” His +mother cooked him some bread, and he went away.</p> + +<p>He walked on, and on, and on, a long way.</p> + +<p>Now, some Rájá’s ten camels had been travelling along +the road on which Sachúlí went, each carrying sacks of gold +mohurs and rupees, and one of these camels broke loose +from the string and strayed away, and the camel-drivers +could not find it again. But Sachúlí met it, and caught it +and took it home.</p> + +<p>“See, mother! see what a quantity of money I have brought +you!” cried Sachúlí. Hungní rushed out, and was delighted +to see so much money. She took off the sacks at once and +sent the camel away. Then she hid the rupees and the gold +with the jewels she had taken from the dead woman. And, +as she was a cunning woman, she went and bought a great +many comfits and scattered them all about her house, when +Sachúlí was out of the way. “Oh, look! look!” cried +Sachúlí, “at all these comfits.” “God has rained them from +heaven,” said his mother. Sachúlí began to pick them up +and eat them, and he told all the people in the village how +God had rained down comfits from heaven on his mother’s +house. “What nonsense!” cried they. “Yes, he has,” said +Sachúlí, “and I have been eating them.” “No comfits have +fallen on our houses,” said they. “Yes, yes,” cried he, “the +day my mother got all those rupees, God rained comfits on +our house.” “What lies!” cried the people; “as if it ever +rained comfits. Why did not the comfits rain down on our +houses? Why did they fall only on your house? And what’s +all this about rupees?” And then they came to see if there +were any rupees or comfits in Hungní’s house, and they found +none at all, for Hungní had hidden the rupees and thrown +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>30]</a></span> +away the comfits. “There,” said they to Sachúlí, “where +are your rupees? where are your comfits? What a liar you +are! as if it ever rained comfits. How can you tell such +stories?” And they beat him. “But it did rain comfits,” +said Sachúlí, “for I ate them. It rained comfits the day +my mother got the rupees.”</p> + +<p>Now the Rájá who had lost his camel sent round the crier +with his drum to find his camel and his money-bags. “Whoever +has found a camel carrying money-bags and brings it +and the money back to the Rájá, will get a great many rupees,” +cried the crier. “Oh!” says Sachúlí, “I know where the +money is. One day I went out and I found a stray camel, +and he had sacks of rupees on his back, and I took him +home to my mother, and she took the sacks off his back and +sent the camel away.” So the crier went to find the rupees, +and the people in the bazar went with him. But Hungní +had hidden the rupees so carefully that, though they hunted +all over her house, they could find none, and they beat +Sachúlí, and told him he was a liar. “I am not telling lies,” +said Sachúlí. “My mother took the rupees the day it rained +comfits on our house.” So they beat him again, and they +went away. Then Hungní beat Sachúlí, and said, “What +a bad boy you are! trying to get me beaten and put into +prison, telling every one about the rupees. Go away; I +don’t want you any more, such a bad boy as you are! go +away and die.” He said, “Very well, mother; give me +some bread, and I’ll go.”</p> + +<p>Sachúlí set off and took an axe with him. “How shall +I kill myself?” said he. So he climbed up a tree and sat +out on a long branch, and began cutting off the branch between +himself and the tree on which he was sitting. “What +are you doing up there?” said a man who came by. “You’ll +die if you cut that branch off.” “What do you say?” cries +Sachúlí, jumping down on the man, and seizing his hand. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>31]</a></span> +“When shall I die?” “How can I tell? Let me go.” “I +won’t let you go till you tell me when I shall die.” And at +last the man said, “When you find a scarlet thread on your +jacket, then you will die.”</p> + +<p>Sachúlí went off to the bazar, and sat down by some +tailors, and one of the tailors, in throwing away their shreds +of cloth, threw a scarlet thread on Sachúlí’s coat. “Oh,” +said Sachúlí, when he saw the thread, “now I shall die!” +“How do you know that?” said the tailors. “A man +told me that when I found a scarlet thread on my jacket, +I should die,” said Sachúlí; and the tailors all laughed +at him and made fun of him, but he went off into the jungle +and dug his grave with his axe, and lay down in it. In +the night a sepoy came by with a large jar of ghee on his +head. “How heavy this jar is,” said the sepoy. “Is there +no cooly that will come and carry my ghee home for me? +I would give him four pice for his trouble.” Up jumped +Sachúlí out of his grave. “I’ll carry it for you,” said he. +“Who are you?” said the sepoy, much frightened. “Oh, I am +a man who is dead,” said Sachúlí, “and I am tired of lying +here. I can’t lie here any more.” “Well,” said the sepoy, +very much frightened, “you may carry my ghee.” So Sachúlí +put the jar on his head, and he went on, with the sepoy +following. “Now,” said Sachúlí, “with these four pice I will +buy a hen, and I will sell the hen and her eggs, and with the +money I get for them I will buy a goat; and then I will sell +the goat and her milk and her hide and buy a cow, and I will +sell her milk; and then I will marry a wife, and then I shall +have some children, and they will say to me, ‘Father, will +you have some rice?’ and I will say, ‘No, I won’t have any +rice.’” And as he said, “No, I won’t have any rice,” he shook +his head, and down came the jar of ghee, and the jar was +smashed, and the ghee spilled. “Oh, dear! what have you +done?” cried the sepoy. “Why did you shake your head?” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>32]</a></span> +“Because my children asked me to have some rice, and I +did not want any, so I shook my head,” said Sachúlí. “Oh,” +said the sepoy, “he is an utter idiot.” And the sepoy went +home, and Sachúlí went back to his mother. “Why have +you come back?” said she. “I have been dead twelve years,” +said Sachúlí. “What lies you tell!” said she. “You have only +been away a few days. Be off! I don’t want any liars here.”</p> + +<p>Sachúlí asked her to give him two flour-cakes, which she +did, and he went off to the jungle, and it was night. Five +fairies lived in this jungle, and as Sachúlí went along, he +broke his flour-cakes into five pieces, and said, “Now I’ll eat +one, then the second, then the third, then the fourth, and then +the fifth.” And the fairies heard him and were afraid, and +said to each other, “What shall we do? Here is this man, +and he is going to eat us all up. What shall we do to save +ourselves? We will give him something.” So they went out +all five, and said to Sachúlí, “If only you won’t eat us, we +will give you a present.” Now Sachúlí did not know there +were fairies in this jungle. “What will you give me?” said +Sachúlí. “We will give you a cooking-pot. When you want +anything to eat, all you have to do is to ask the pot for it, +and you will get it.” Sachúlí took the pot and went off to +the bazar. He stopped at a cook-shop, and asked for some +pilau. “Pilau? There’s no pilau here,” said the shopman. +“Well,” said Sachúlí, “I have a cooking-pot here, and I +have only to ask it for any dish I want, and I get it at once.” +“What nonsense!” said the man. “Just see,” said Sachúlí; +and he said to the cooking-pot, “I want some pilau,” and +immediately the pot was full of pilau, and all the people in +the shop set to work to help him to eat it up, it was so good. +“Oh,” thought the cook, “I must have that pot,” so he gave +Sachúlí a sleepy drink. Then Sachúlí went to sleep, and +while he slept the cook stole the fairy cooking-pot, and put +a common cooking-pot in its place. Sachúlí went home +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>33]</a></span> +with the cook’s pot, and said, “Mother, I have brought +home a cooking-pot. If you ask it for any food you want, +you will get it.” “Nonsense,” said Hungní; “what lies you +are telling!” “It is quite true, mother; only see,” and he +asked the pot for different dishes, but none came. Hungní +was furious. “Go away,” she said. “Why do you come +back to me? I want no liars here.” “Give me five flour-cakes +and I will go,” said her son. So she baked the bread +for him, and he set off for the jungle where he had met the +five fairies, and as he went along he said, “I will eat one, +and I will eat two, and I will eat three, and I will eat four, +and I will eat five.” The five fairies heard him, and were +terrified. “Here is this bad man again,” said they, “and he +will eat us all five. Oh, what shall we do? Let us give +him a present.” So they went to Sachúlí, and said, “Here is +a box for you. Whenever you want any clothes you have +only to tell this box, and it will give them to you; take it, +and don’t eat us.” So he took the box and went to the bazar, +and he stopped at the cook-shop again, and asked the cook +for a red silk dress, and a pair of long black silk trousers, +and a blue silk turban, and a pair of red shoes, and the +cook laughed and asked how he should have such beautiful +things. “Well,” said Sachúlí, “here is a box; when I ask +it for the dress and trousers, and turban and shoes, I shall +get them.” So the cook laughed at him. “Just see,” said +Sachúlí, and he said, “Box, give me a red silk dress and a +pair of long black silk trousers, and a blue silk turban, and +red shoes,” and there they were at once. And the cook was +delighted, and said to himself, “I will have that box,” and he +gave Sachúlí a good dinner and a sleepy drink, and Sachúlí +fell fast asleep. While he slept the cook came and stole the +fairy box, and put a common box in its place. In the morning +Sachúlí went home to his mother and said, “Mother, I’ve +brought you a box. You have only to ask it for any clothes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>34]</a></span> +you may want, and you will get them.” “Nonsense,” said +his mother, “don’t tell me such lies.” “Only see, mother; +I am telling you truth,” said he. He asked the box for coats +and all sorts of things—no; he got nothing. His mother +was very angry, and said, “You liar! you naughty boy! Go +away and don’t come back any more.” And she broke the +box to pieces, and threw the bits away. “Well, mother, bake +me some flour-cakes.” So she baked him the cakes and +gave them to him, and sent him away. He went off to the +fairies’ jungle, and as he went he said, “Now I’ll eat one, +then two, then three, then four, then five.” The five fairies +were very frightened. “Here is this man come back to eat +us all five. Let us give him a present.” So they went to +him and gave him a rope and stick, and said, “Only say to +this rope, ‘Bind that man,’ and he will be tied up at once; +and to this stick, ‘Beat that man,’ and the stick will beat +him.” Sachúlí was very glad to get these things, for he +guessed what had happened to his cooking-pot and box. +So he went to the bazar, and at the cook-shop he said, “Rope, +bind all these men that are here!” and the cook and every +one in the shop were tied up instantly. Then Sachúlí said, +“Stick, beat these men!” and the stick began to beat them. +“Oh, stop, stop beating us, and untie, and I’ll give you +your pot and your box!” cried the cook. “No, I won’t +stop beating you, and I won’t untie you till I have my pot +and my box.” And the cook gave them both to him, and he +untied the rope. Then Sachúlí went home, and when his +mother saw him, she was very angry, but he showed her the +box and the cooking-pot, and she saw he had told her the +truth. So she sent for the doctor, and he declared Sachúlí +was wise and not silly, and he and Hungní found a wife for +Sachúlí, and made a grand wedding for him, and they lived +happily ever after.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>35]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head10.jpg" width="600" height="93" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sviii" id="sviii"></a>VIII.<br /> +<br /> +BARBER HÍM AND THE TIGERS.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nviii">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapo"><span class="dcap">O</span></span>NCE there lived a barber called Hím, who was very +poor indeed. He had a wife and twelve children, +five boys and seven girls: now and then he got a +few pice. One day he went away from his home feeling very +cross, and left his wife and children to get on as best they +could. “What can I do?” said he. “I have not enough +money to buy food for my family, and they are crying for it.” +And so he walked on till he came to a jungle. It was night +when he got there. This jungle was called the “tigers’ +jungle,” because only tigers lived in it; no birds, no insects, +no other animals, and there were four hundred tigers in it +altogether. As soon as Barber Hím reached the jungle he +saw a great tiger walking about. “What shall I do?” cried +he. “This tiger is sure to eat me.” And he took his razor +and his razor-strap, and began to sharpen his razor. Then +he went close up to the tiger, still sharpening his razor. The +tiger was much frightened. “What shall I do?” said the +tiger; “this man will certainly gash me.” “I have come,” +said the barber, “to catch twenty tigers by order of Mahárájá +Káns. You are one, and I want nineteen more.” The tiger, +greatly alarmed, answered, “If you won’t catch us, I will give +you as much gold and as many jewels as you can carry.” +For these tigers used to go out and carry off the men and +women from the villages, and some of these people had +rupees, and some had jewels, all of which the tigers used to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>36]</a></span> +collect together. “Good,” said Hím, “then I won’t catch +you.” The tiger led him to the spot where all the tigers +used to eat their dinners, and the barber took as much gold +and as many jewels as he could carry, and set off home +with them.</p> + +<p>Then he built a house, and bought his children pretty +clothes and good food, and necklaces, and they all lived very +happily for some time. But at last he wanted more rupees, +so he set off to the tigers’ jungle. There he met the tiger as +he did before, and he told him the Mahárájá Káns had sent +him to catch twenty tigers. The tiger was terrified and said, +“If you will only not catch us, I will give you more gold +and jewels.” To this the barber agreed, and the tiger led +him to the old spot, and the barber took as many jewels and +rupees as he could carry. Then he returned home.</p> + +<p>One day a very poor man, a fakír, said to him, “How did +you manage to become so rich? In old days you were so +poor you could hardly support your family.”</p> + +<p>“I will tell you,” said Hím. And he told him all about +his visits to the tigers’ jungle. “But don’t you go there for +gold to-night,” continued the barber. “Let me go and listen +to the tigers talking. If you like, you can come with me. +Only you must not be frightened if the tigers roar.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll not be frightened,” said the fakír.</p> + +<p>So that evening at eight o’clock they went to the tigers’ +jungle. There the barber and the fakír climbed into a tall +thick tree, and its leaves came all about them and sheltered +them as if they were in a house. The tigers used to hold +their councils under this tree. Very soon all the tigers in +the jungle assembled together under it, and their Rájá—a +great, huge beast, with only one eye—came too. “Brothers,” +said the tiger who had given the barber the rupees and +jewels, “a man has come here twice to catch twenty of us for +the Mahárájá Káns; now we are only four hundred in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>37]</a></span> +number, and if twenty of us were taken away we should be only +a small number, so I gave him each time as many rupees +and jewels as he could carry and he went away again. What +shall we do if he returns?” The tigers said they would meet +again on the morrow, and then they would settle the matter. +Then the tigers went off, and the barber and the fakír came +down from the tree. They took a quantity of rupees and +jewels and returned to their homes.</p> + +<p>“To-morrow,” said they, “we will come again and hear +what the tigers say.”</p> + +<p>The next day the barber went alone to the tigers’ jungle, +and there he met his tiger again. “This time,” said he, “I +am come to cut off the ears of all the four hundred tigers +who live in this jungle; for Mahárájá Káns wants them to +make into medicine.”</p> + +<p>The tiger was greatly frightened, much more so than at the +other times. “Don’t cut off our ears; pray don’t,” said he, +“for then we could not hear, and it would hurt so horribly. +Go and cut off all the dogs’ ears instead, and I will give +you rupees and jewels as much as two men can carry.” +“Good,” said the barber, and he made two journeys with +the rupees and jewels from the jungle to the borders of his +village, and there he got a cooly to help him to carry them +to his house.</p> + +<p>At night he and the fakír went again to the great tree under +which the tigers held their councils. Now the tiger who had +given the barber so many rupees and jewels had made ready +a great quantity of meat, fowls, chickens, geese, men the tigers +had killed—everything he had been able to get hold of—and +he made them into a heap under the tree, for he said that +after the tigers had settled the matter they would dine. Soon +the tigers arrived with their Rájá, and the barber’s tiger said, +“Brothers, what are we to do? This man came again to-day +to cut off all our ears to make medicine for Mahárájá Káns. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>38]</a></span> +I told him this would be a bad business for us, and that he +must go and cut off all the dogs’ ears instead; and I gave +him as much money and jewels as two men could carry. +So he went home. Now what shall we do? We must leave +this jungle, and where shall we go?” The other tigers said, +“We will not leave the jungle. If this man comes again we +will eat him up.” So they dined and went away, saying they +would meet again to-morrow.</p> + +<p>After the tigers had gone, the barber and fakír came down +from the tree and went off to their homes, without taking +any rupees or jewels with them. They agreed to return the +next evening.</p> + +<p>Next evening back they came and climbed into the great +tree. The tigers came too, and the barber’s tiger told his +story all over again. The tiger Rájá sat up and said, fiercely, +“We will not leave this jungle. Should the man come again, +I will eat him myself.” When the fakír heard this he was +so frightened that he tumbled down out of the tree into the +midst of the tigers. The barber instantly cried out with a +loud voice, “Now cut off their ears! cut off their ears!” and +the tigers, terrified, ran away as fast as they could. Then +the barber took the fakír home, but the poor man was so +much hurt by his fall that he died.</p> + +<p>The barber lived happily ever after, but he took good care +never to go to the tigers’ jungle again.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/tail06.jpg" width="200" height="82" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>39]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head11.jpg" width="600" height="130" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="six" id="six"></a>IX.<br /> +<br /> +THE BULBUL AND THE COTTON-TREE.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nix">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapt"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HERE was once a bulbul, and one day as he was +flying about, he saw a tree on which was a little +fruit. The bulbul was much pleased and said, “I +will sit here till this fruit is ripe, and then I will eat it.” So +he deserted his nest and his wife, and sat there for twelve +years without eating anything, and every day he said, “To-morrow +I will eat this fruit.” During these twelve years a +great many birds tried to sit on the tree, and wished to build +their nests in it, but whenever they came the bulbul sent them +away, saying, “This fruit is not good. Don’t come here.” +One day a cuckoo came and said, “Why do you send us +away? Why should we not come and sit here too? All +the trees here are not yours.” “Never mind,” said the bulbul, +“I am going to sit here, and when this fruit is ripe, I +shall eat it.” Now the cuckoo knew that this tree was the +cotton-tree, but the bulbul did not. First comes the bud, +which the bulbul thought a fruit, then the flower, and the +flower becomes a big pod, and the pod bursts and all the +cotton flies away. The bulbul was delighted when he saw +the beautiful red flower, which he still thought a fruit, and +said, “When it is ripe, it will be a delicious fruit.” The flower +became a pod, and the pod burst. “What is all this that is +flying about?” said the bulbul. “The fruit must be ripe +now.” So he looked into the pod, and it was empty; all +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>40]</a></span> +the cotton had fallen out. Then the cuckoo came and said +to the angry bulbul, “You see if you had allowed us to +come and sit on the tree, you would have had something +good to eat; but as you were selfish, and would not let any +one share with you, God is angry and has punished you by +giving you a hollow fruit.” Then the cuckoo called all the +other birds, and they came and mocked the bulbul. “Ah! +you see God has punished you for your selfishness,” they +said. The bulbul got very angry and all the birds went away. +After they had gone, the bulbul said to the tree, “You are +a bad tree. You are of use to no one. You give food to +no one.” The tree said, “You are mistaken. God made +me what I am. My flower is given to sheep to eat. My +cotton makes pillows and mattresses for man.”</p> + +<p>Since that day no bulbul goes near a cotton-tree.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/tail07.jpg" width="200" height="117" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>41]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head12.jpg" width="600" height="133" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sx" id="sx"></a>X.<br /> +<br /> +THE MONKEY PRINCE.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nx">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapo"><span class="dcap">O</span></span>NCE upon a time there was a Rájá called Jabhú +Rájá, and he had a great many wives; at least he +had seven wives, but he had no children. Although +he had married seven wives, not one of them had given him a +child. At this he was greatly vexed and said, “I have married +seven wives, and not one of them has given me a child.” +And he got very angry with God: he said, “Why does not +God give me any children? I will go into the jungle and +die by myself.” The Ránís coaxed him to stay, but he +wouldn’t; he would go out into the jungle.</p> + +<p>So he went out into the jungle very far, and God sent him +an old fakír leaning on a stick. The Rájá met him, and the +fakír said, “Why do you come into the jungle? If you go +far into the jungle you will meet plenty of tigers, and they +will eat you. Tell me what you want. Whatever you want +I will give you.” “No, I won’t tell you,” said the Rájá. But +at last the Rájá told him, “I have seven wives, and none of +them has given me any children, and so here I will die by +myself.” Then the fakír said, “Take this stick, and a little +way off you will find a mango-tree with some mangoes on it. +Throw the stick at the mangoes with one hand, and catch +them as they fall with the other, and when you have caught +them all, take them home and give one to each of your seven +wives.” So the Rájá went and knocked the mangoes off the +tree and caught them as the fakír had told him. Then he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>42]</a></span> +looked about for the fakír, but he could not find him, for +he had gone away into another part of the jungle. So he +went home and gave the seven mangoes to his wives. But +the fruit was so good that six of the wives ate it up, and +would not give the youngest wife any. She cried very much, +and went into the compound and picked up one of the mango +stones which one of the six wives had thrown away, and ate +it. By and by each of the six wives had a son; but the one +who had eaten the stone had a monkey, who was called in +consequence Bandarsábásá, or Prince Monkey. He was really +a boy, but no one knew it, for he had a monkey-skin covering +him. His six brothers hated him. They went to school every +day; and the monkey went under the ground, and was taught +by the fairies. His mother did not know this; she thought, +as he was a monkey, he went to the jungle and swung in the +trees. He was the best and the cleverest of all the boys.</p> + +<p>Now, in a kingdom a three months’ journey off by land +from Jabhú Rájá’s country, there lived a king called King +Jamársá. He had a very beautiful daughter whose name +was Princess Jahúran, and as her father wanted a very strong +son-in-law, he had a large heavy iron ball made, and he sent +letters to all the Rájás and Rájás’ sons far and near to say that +whoever wished to marry his daughter, the Princess Jahúran, +must be able to throw this heavy ball at her and hit her. +So many Rájás went to try, but none of them could even +lift the ball. Now, one of these letters had come to Jabhú +Rájá, and his six elder sons determined they would go to +King Jamársá’s country, for each of them was sure he could +throw the ball, and win the princess.</p> + +<p>Prince Monkey laughed softly and said to himself, “I will +go and try too. I know I shall succeed.”</p> + +<p>Off, therefore, the six brothers set on their long journey, +and the monkey followed them; but before he did so, he +went into the jungle and took off his monkey-skin, and God +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>43]</a></span> +sent him a beautiful horse and beautiful clothes. Then he +followed his brothers and overtook them, and gave them +betel-leaf and lovely flowers. “What a beautiful boy!” +they said. “Who is it owns such a beautiful boy? He +must be some Rájá’s son.” Then he galloped quickly away, +took off his grand clothes and put them on his horse, and +the horse rose into the air. He put on his monkey-skin and +followed his brothers.</p> + +<p>When they reached King Jamársá’s palace they pitched +their tents in his compound, which was very big. Every +evening the princess used to stand in her verandah and let +down her long golden hair so that it fell all round her, and +then the Rájás who wished to marry her had to try to hit her +with the great heavy ball that lay on the ground just in front +of where she stood.</p> + +<p>King Jamársá’s house had more than one storey, and +you had to go upstairs to get to the Princess Jahúran’s +rooms which led into the verandah in which she used to +stand.</p> + +<p>Well, Prince Monkey’s six elder brothers all got ready to +go up to the palace and throw the ball. They were quite +sure they would throw it without any trouble. Before they +went they told their monkey brother to take care of their +tents, and to have a good dinner ready for them when they +returned. “If the dinner is not ready, we will beat you.”</p> + +<p>As soon as they were gone, Prince Monkey took some +gold mohurs he had, and he went to a traveller’s resting-house, +which was a little way outside King Jamársá’s compound, +and gave them to the man who owned it, and bade +him give him a grand dinner for his six brothers. Then he +took the dinner to the tents, went into the jungle, and took +off his monkey-skin. And God sent him a grand horse from +heaven, and splendid clothes. These he put on, mounted +his horse, and rode to King Jamársá’s compound. There he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>44]</a></span> +took no notice of either the king, or his daughter, or of the +ball, or of the Rájás who were there to try and lift it. He +spoke only to his brothers, and gave them lovely flowers and +betel-leaf. Meanwhile, everybody was looking at him and +talking about him. “Who can he be? Did you ever see +any one so lovely? Where does he come from? Just look +at his clothes! In our countries we cannot get any like +them!” As for the Princess Jahúran she thought to herself, +“That Rájá shall be my husband, whether he lifts the ball +or not.” When he had given his brothers the flowers and +betel-leaf, Prince Monkey rode straight to the jungle, took +off his clothes, laid them on his horse (which instantly went +up to heaven), put on his monkey-skin, went back to the +tents, and lay down to sleep.</p> + +<p>When his brothers came home they were talking eagerly +about the unknown beautiful Rájá. All the time they were +eating their dinner they could speak of nothing else.</p> + +<p>Well, every evening for about ten evenings it was just the +same story. Only every evening Prince Monkey appeared +in a different dress. The princess always thought, “That is +the man I will marry, whether he can throw the ball or not.” +Then about the eleventh evening, after he had given his +brothers the flowers and betel-leaf, he said to all the Rájás +who were standing there, and to King Jamársá and to all +the servants, “Now every one of you go and stand far away, +for I am going to throw the ball.” “No, no!” they all cried, +“we will stand here and see you.” “You must go far away. +You can look on at a distance,” said the Monkey Prince; +“the ball might fall back among you and hurt you.” So +they all went off and stood round him at a distance.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said Prince Monkey to himself, “I won’t hit the +princess this time; but I will hit the verandah railing.” +Then he took up the ball with one hand, just as if it were +quite light, and threw it on the verandah railing, and then +he rode off fast to the jungle.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>45]</a></span> +The next evening it was the same thing over again, only +this time he threw the ball into the Princess Jahúran’s clothes.</p> + +<p>The next evening the ball fell on one of her feet, and +hurt her little toe-nail. Now, Princess Jahúran was very +angry that this unknown beautiful prince should have thrown +the ball three times, and hit her twice, and hurt her the third +time, and yet had never spoken to her father, or let any one +know who he was, and had always, on the contrary, ridden +away as hard as he could, no one knew where. She was +very much in love with him, and was very anxious to find +this Rájá who had hit her twice, so she ordered a bow and +arrow to be brought to her, and said she would shoot the Rájá +the next time he hit her. She would not kill him; she would +only shoot the arrow at him. Well, the next evening Prince +Monkey threw the ball, and it fell on her other foot and hurt +her great toe-nail. When he saw she was hurt, he was very +sorry in his heart, and said, “Did I hurt you?” “Yes,” she +said, “very much.” “Oh, I am so sorry,” said the prince. +“I would not have thrown the ball so hard had I thought it +would hurt you.” Then she shot the arrow, and hit him in +the leg, and a great deal of blood came out of the wound; +but he rode hard away to the jungle all the same, only this +time he did not take off his fine clothes, but he drew the +monkey-skin over them, and his horse went up to heaven, +and he went back to the tents. Then the princess sent a +servant into the town, and said, whoever or whatever he should +hear crying with pain, he should bring to her—were it a man, +or a jackal, or a dog, or a wild beast. So the servant went +round the town. The six brothers had gone to sleep, but +the poor monkey brother could not sleep, but sat up crying +from pain. He could not help it, do what he would, and +the servant, as he went round the town, heard him crying. +So he took him and brought him to the princess, and the +princess said she would marry him.</p> + +<p>“What!” cried her father, “marry that monkey? Never! +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>46]</a></span> +Who ever heard of any one marrying a monkey, a nasty +monkey?” But in spite of all the king said, the princess +declared marry that monkey she would. “I like that monkey +very, very much,” she said. “I will marry him. It is my +pleasure to marry him.” “Well,” said the Rájá at last, “if +it is your pleasure to marry him, you must marry him; but +who ever heard of any one marrying a nasty monkey?”</p> + +<p>So they were married at once; and the Monkey Prince +wore his monkey-skin for a wedding garment.</p> + +<p>That night when they went to bed, the young prince drew +off his skin and lay down by Jahúran, and when she saw +her beautiful husband she was so glad, so glad. “Why do +you wear a monkey-skin?” she asked. He answered, “I +wear it as a protection, because my brothers are naughty, +and would kill me if they knew what I really am.”</p> + +<p>They lived very happily with King Jamársá for six months, +and the six elder brothers went on living there too, and hating +him more and more for having such a beautiful wife.</p> + +<p>But one night Prince Monkey thought of his mother, and +he said to his wife, “My mother perhaps is crying for me. +Let us go to my father’s kingdom, and see her.” Princess +Jahúran agreed; so next morning they spoke to King +Jamársá, who said they might go.</p> + +<p>The six brothers at once said, “We will go with you;” +and they also said, “Let us get two big boats, one for you +and the princess, and one for ourselves, and let us go by +water, and not by land.” Now by water it took only six +days to get to Jabhú Rájá’s kingdom, by land it took three +months. The Monkey Prince agreed to all his brothers +said.</p> + +<p>Princess Jahúran heard them planning to throw the monkey +into the water on the journey, and then to take her home +to their father as the wife of one of them; so as she was very +wise she went to her father and begged him to have six large +beautiful mattresses, well stuffed with cotton, made for her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>47]</a></span> +“What can you want with six mattresses?” said the king. +“I want my bed to be very comfortable on board the boat,” +said his daughter. Her father loved her dearly, so he had +her mattresses made, beautiful mattresses and well stuffed +with cotton. The princess had them all carried to her +boat.</p> + +<p>When everything was ready they went on board the boats +with the monkey’s six brothers. Now, the princess had +warned her husband of his brothers’ wicked plans, and she +said to him, “Never go near your brothers; never speak to +your brothers; for they want to kill you.” The first day the +six brothers said to the monkey, “Please bring us a little +salt.” But the monkey said, “No; my wife will take you +some.” “No,” said the brothers, “your wife cannot bring us +any. She is a princess. Do you bring us some.” So they +threw a rope from one boat to another, and the monkey went +on the rope, and the brothers untied it, and the monkey fell +into the water. Then the princess cried out, “My husband +will be drowned! My husband will be drowned!” And +she threw out one of the mattresses; the monkey sat on it; +it floated back to his boat, and the crew drew him up.</p> + +<p>The next day the six brothers begged Prince Monkey to +bring them water, and they threw a plank from their boat to +his for him to cross on. The prince set off with the water, in +spite of all his wife’s entreaties, and his brothers tilted the +plank into the water. The prince would have been drowned +had not the Princess Jahúran thrown him a mattress. And +the same thing happened during the next four days. The +brothers wanted something to eat or drink, and their monkey-brother +brought it them across a rope or plank, which they +cut or dropped into the water, and he would have died but +for the mattresses which his wife threw to him one by one.</p> + +<p>When they reached Jabhú Rájá’s kingdom, the eldest son +went on shore up to his father’s palace. Each of the Rájá’s +seven wives had a house to herself in his compound. He +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>48]</a></span> +went to his mother’s house and said, “Give me your palanquin, +mother, for I have brought home a most lovely wife, +and want to bring her to the palace.”</p> + +<p>At this news his mother was delighted, and she told it to +the other Ránís, and said, “My son has brought home such +a lovely wife! I am so glad! oh, I am so glad!” The +youngest Rání began to cry bitterly. “My son,” she said, +“is nothing but a monkey; he will never be married; he +will never have a wife at all.”</p> + +<p>Then the palanquin was got ready, and the seven Ránís and +the prince went with it to the boat. The Princess Jahúran came +on land with her monkey, and when the Ránís saw her, they +all cried, “How lovely she is! how beautiful!” And the eldest +Rání was gladder than ever, and the youngest cried still more. +The princess got into the palanquin with her monkey. +“What are you doing with that horrid monkey?” said the +eldest prince. “Put him out of the palanquin directly.” “Indeed +I will not,” said the princess. “He is my husband, and +I love him.” “What!” cried all the Ránís, “are you married +to that monkey?” “Yes,” said the princess. “Then get out +of my palanquin at once,” said the eldest Rání. “You shall +not ride in my palanquin with that nasty monkey.” The +youngest Rání was very glad her son had such a beautiful wife. +So the princess got out, and took her monkey in her arms and +walked with him to the youngest Rání’s house, and there they +all lived for some time. Now the little Rání did not know +her son was really a beautiful man, for the princess never +told her, as her husband had forbidden her to tell any one.</p> + +<p>One evening Jabhú Rájá’s servants had a grand nautch in +the Rájá’s compound, and the Rájá and his sons and the +neighbouring Rájás all came to see it. Prince Monkey said +to his wife, “I, too, will go and see this nautch.” So he took +off his monkey-skin, folded it up and laid it under her pillow. +Then he put on the clothes God had sent him from heaven +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>49]</a></span> +the last time he threw the ball, and which he had not laid on +his horse’s back when he put his monkey-skin on again, and +when he came among all the Rájás and people who were +looking on at the nautch, they all exclaimed, “Who is that? +Who can it be?” He was very handsome, and he had beautiful +hair all gold. When he had stayed some time, Prince +Monkey went quickly back to his wife, and in the morning +he put on his monkey-skin again.</p> + +<p>Now the little Rání, his mother, though she was very +glad her monkey son had such a wife, could never understand +how it was that her daughter-in-law was so happy with +him. “How could you marry him?” she used to say to +her. “Because it pleased me to marry him,” the princess +used to answer. “How can you be so happy with him?” +said the mother. “I love him,” said the princess; and the +poor Rání used to wonder at this more and more.</p> + +<p>Well, one day there was another nautch, and Prince Monkey +went to it; but he left his skin under his wife’s pillow. +As soon as he had gone, she called the little Rání, and said, +“See, you think my husband is a monkey; he is no monkey, +but a very handsome man. There is no one like him, he is +so beautiful.” The Rání did not believe her. Then the +princess took the skin from under her pillow. “See,” she +said, “when your son puts this on, then he is a monkey; +when he takes it off he is a beautiful man. And now, I think +I will burn this skin, and then he must always be a man. +What do you say?” “Are you sure it won’t hurt him if you +burn his skin?” said his mother. “Perhaps he may die if it +is burnt.” “Oh, no, he won’t die,” said the princess. “Shall +I burn it?” “Burn it,” said the little Rání. Then the +princess threw the skin on the fire and burnt it quite up.</p> + +<p>Prince Monkey was sitting looking on at the nautch when +suddenly his heart told him his wife had burnt his skin. +He jumped up directly and went home, and when he found +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>50]</a></span> +his heart had told him true, he was so angry with his wife, +that he would say nothing to her but “Why did you burn +my skin?” and he was in such a rage that he went straight +to bed and went to sleep.</p> + +<p>In the morning, while he slept, the princess went to the +little Rání, and said, “Come and see your beautiful son.” +“I am ashamed to do so,” said the Rání. “Ashamed to +look at your own son? What nonsense! Come directly,” +said Princess Jahúran. Then the little Rání went with her, +and when she saw her beautiful son she was indeed glad, +and the prince opened his eyes and saw her, and then he +kissed her, and they were very happy.</p> + +<p>The news spread through the compound, and Jabhú Rájá +and his sons and everybody came at once to see if it were +true. When they saw the beautiful young prince, with his +hair all gold, they could not stand, but fell down. Prince +Monkey lifted his father and loved him, and put his arms +round him, and said, “I am your son, your own son; you +must not fall down before me.” “Why did you wear that +monkey-skin?” asked his father. “Because,” he said, “my +mother ate the mango stone instead of eating the mango, +and so I was born with this skin, and God ordered me to +wear it till I had found a wife.” His brothers said, “Who +could have guessed there was such a beautiful man inside +that monkey-skin? God’s decrees are good!” And they left +off hating their brother, Prince Monkey.</p> + +<p>There were great rejoicings and feasts now, and all were +very happy. The six elder brothers lived always with their +father and Prince Monkey, but none of them ever married.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/tail08.png" width="150" height="40" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>51]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head01.jpg" width="600" height="126" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxi" id="sxi"></a>XI.<br /> +<br /> +BRAVE HÍRÁLÁLBÁSÁ.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxi">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapo"><span class="dcap">O</span></span>NCE there was a Rájá called Mánikbásá Rájá, or the +Ruby King, who had seven wives and seven children. +One day he told his wives he would go out +hunting, and he rode on and on, a long, long way from his +palace. A Rakshas was sitting by the wayside, who, seeing the +Rájá coming, quickly turned herself into a beautiful Rání, +and sat there crying. The Rájá asked her, “Why do you +cry?” And the Rakshas answered, “My husband has gone +away. He has been away many days, and I think he will +never come back again. If some Rájá will take me to his +house and marry me, I shall be very glad.” So the Rájá +said, “Will you come with me?” And the Rakshas +answered, “Very well, I will come.” And then the Rájá +took the pretended Rání home with him and married her. +He gave her a room to live in. Every night at twelve +o’clock the Rakshas got up and devoured an elephant, or a +horse, or some other animal. The Rájá said, “What can +become of my elephants and horses? Every day either an +elephant or a horse disappears. Who can take them away?” +The Rakshas-Rání said to him, “Your seven Ránís are +Rakshases, and every night at twelve o’clock they devour a +horse, or an elephant, or some other creature.”</p> + +<p>So the Rájá believed her, and had a great hole dug just +outside his kingdom, into which he put the seven Ránís with +their children, and then he sent a sepoy to them and bade +him take out all the Ránís’ eyes, and bring them to him. This +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>52]</a></span> +the sepoy did. After a time the poor Ránís grew so hungry +that six of them ate their children, but the seventh Rání, who +was the youngest of them all, declared she would never eat +her child though she might die of hunger, “for,” she said, “I +love him a great deal too much.” God was very pleased with +the seventh Rání for this, and so every day he sent her a little +food, which she divided with the other Ránís. And every +day her little boy grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until +he had become a strong lad, when, as he thought it was very +dark in the hole, he climbed out of it and looked all about. +Then he came back to his mothers (for he called all the +seven Ránís “Mother” now), who told him he was not to +clamber up out of the hole any more, for if he did, some +one might kill him. “Still, if you will go,” they added, +“do not go to your father’s kingdom, but stay near this +place.” The boy said, “Very well,” and every day he climbed +out of the hole and only went where his seven mothers told +him he might go, and he used to beg the people about to +give him a little rice, and flour and bread, which they did.</p> + +<p>One day he said to his mothers, “If you let me go now to +my father’s kingdom, I will go.” “Well, you may go,” they +said; “but come back again soon.” This he promised to do, +and he went to his father’s kingdom. For some time he stood +daily at the door of his father’s palace and then returned to +the hole. One day the Rakshas-Rání was standing in the +verandah, and she thought, “I am sure that is the Rájá’s +son.” The servants every day asked the boy, “Why do you +always stand at the door of the palace?” “I want service +with the Rájá,” he would reply. “If the Rájá has any place +he can give me, I will take it.”</p> + +<p>The Rakshas-Rání said to the Rájá, “The boy standing +out there wants service. May I take him into mine?” +The Rájá answered, “Very well, send for him.” So all the +servants ran and fetched the boy. The Rakshas-Rání asked +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>53]</a></span> +him, “Are you willing to do anything I tell you?” The +boy said, “Yes.” “Then you shall be my servant,” she +said, and first she told him he must go to the Rakshas +country to fetch some rose-water for her. “I will give you +a letter,” she said, “so that no harm may happen to you.” +The lad answered, “Very well, only you must give me three +shields full of money.” She gave him the three shields full +of money, and he took them and went home to his mothers. +Then he got two servants for them, one to take care of them, +and one to go to the bazar. His mothers gave him food for +the journey, and he left them the remainder of his money, +telling them to take great care of it. He then returned to +the Rakshas-Rání for his letter. She told the Rájá she was +feeling ill, and would not be quite well until she got some +rose-water from the Rakshas country. The Rájá said, “Then +you had better send this boy for it.” So she gave him a letter, +in which she had written, “When this boy arrives among +you, kill him and eat him instantly,” and he set out at once.</p> + +<p>He went on and on till he came to a great river in which +lived a huge water-snake. When the water-snake saw him +it began to weep very much, and cried out to the boy, “If +you go to the Rakshas country you will be eaten up.” The +lad, whose name was Hírálálbásá, said, “I cannot help it; +I am the Rání’s servant, so I must do what she tells me.” +“Well,” said the water-snake, “get on my back, and I will +take you across this river.” So he got on the water-snake’s +back, and it took him over the river. Then Hírálálbásá +went on and on until he came to a house in which a Rakshas +lived. A Rání lived there too that the Rakshas had carried +off from her father and mother when she was a little girl. +She was playing in her father the Sondarbásá Rájá’s garden, +which was full of delicious fruits, which the Rakshas came +to eat, and when he saw Sonahrí Rání he seized her in his +mouth and ran off with her. Only she was so beautiful he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>54]</a></span> +could never find it in his heart to eat her, but brought her up +as his own child. Her name was Sonahrí Rání, that is, the +Golden Rání, because her teeth and her hair were made of +gold. Now the Rakshas who had carried her off, and whom +she called Papa, had a great thick stick, and when he laid +this stick at her feet she could not stir, but when he laid it +at her head, she could move again.</p> + +<p>When the Rájá’s son came up, Sonahrí Rání was lying on +her bed with the thick stick at her feet, and as soon as she +saw the Rájá’s son she began to cry very much. “Oh, why +have you come here? You will surely be killed,” she said. The +Rájá’s son answered, “I cannot help that. I am the Rání’s +servant, so I must do what she tells me.” “Of course,” said +Sonahrí Rání; “but put this stick at my head, and then I +shall be able to move.” The Rájá’s son laid the stick at her +head, and she got up and gave him some food, and then +asked him if he had a letter. “Yes,” he answered. “Let +me see it,” said the Sonahrí Rání. So he gave her the letter, +and when she had read it she cried, “Oh, this is a very +wicked letter. It will bring you no good; for if the Rakshases +see it, they will kill you.” “Indeed,” said Hírálálbásá. +And the Sonahrí Rání tore up the letter and wrote another +in which she said, “Make much of this boy. Send him +home quickly, and give him a jug of rose-water to bring back +with him, and see that he gets no hurt.” Then the Rájá’s +son set out again for the Rakshas-Rání’s mother’s house. +He had not gone very far when he met a very big Rakshas, +and he cried out to him, “Uncle.” “Who is this boy,” said +the Rakshas, “who calls me uncle?” And he was just going to +kill him when Hírálálbásá showed his letter, and the Rakshas +let him pass on. He went a little further until he met another +Rakshas, bigger than the first, and the Rakshas screamed +at him and was just going to fall on him and kill him, +but the Rájá’s son showed the letter, and the Rakshas let +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>55]</a></span> +him pass unhurt. When Hírálálbásá came to the Rakshas-Rání’s +mother he showed her the letter, and she gave +him the rose-water at once and sent him off. All the Rakshases +were very good to him, and some carried him part of +the way home. When he came to Sonahrí Rání’s house she +was lying on her bed with the stick at her feet, and as soon +as she saw Hírálálbásá she laughed and said, “Oh, you have +come back again? Put this stick at my head.” “Yes,” said +the Rájá’s son, “I’ve come back again, but I was dreadfully +frightened very often.” Then he put the stick at her head, +and she gave him some food to eat. After he had eaten it +he went on again, and when he came to the river the water-snake +carried him across to the other side, and he travelled +to his father’s kingdom. There he went to the Rakshas-Rání +and gave her the rose-water. She was very angry at +seeing him, and said, “I’m sure my father and my mother, +my brothers and my sisters, don’t love me one bit.”</p> + +<p>And she said to Hírálálbásá, “You must go to-morrow to +the Rakshas kingdom to fetch me flowers.” “I will go,” +said Hírálál, “but this time I must have four shields full of +rupees.” The Rakshas-Rání gave him the four shields full +of rupees; and the Rájá’s son went to his mother’s hole and +bought a quantity of food for them, enough to last them all +the time he should be away, and he hired two servants for +them, and said good-bye to his seven mothers and returned +to Mánikbásá’s palace for his letter. This the Rakshas-Rání +gave him, and in it she wrote, “Kill him and eat him at once. +If you do not, and you send him back to me, I will never +see your faces again.” Hírálál took his letters and went on +his way. When he reached the river the water-snake took +him across to the other side, and he walked on till he came +to Sonahrí Rání’s house. She was lying on the bed with +the stick at her feet. “Oh, why have you come here again?” +she said. “How can I help coming?” said the Rájá’s son. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>56]</a></span> +“I must do what my mistress bids me.” “So you must,” +said the Sonahrí Rání; “but put this stick at my head.” +This he did, and she got up and gave him food, and asked +him to let her see his letter, and when she had read it she +cried, “This is a very wicked letter. If you take it with you, +you will surely die.” Then she tore up the letter and burnt +it, and wrote another in which she said, “You must all be +very good to this boy. Show him all the gardens and see +that he is not hurt in any way.” She gave it to Hírálál, and +he begged her to ask the Rakshas, her father, where he kept +his soul. Sonahrí Rání promised she would. She then +turned Hírálál into a little fly, and put him into a tiny box, +and put the box under her pillow. When the Rakshas came +home he began sniffing about and said, “Surely there is a +man here.” “Oh, no,” said Sonahrí Rání; “no one is here +but me.” The Rakshas was satisfied. When Sonahrí Rání +and her father were in bed she asked, “Papa, where is your +soul?” “Why do you want to know?” said the Rakshas. “I +will tell you another day.”</p> + +<p>The next day at nine in the morning the Rakshas went +away, and Sonahrí Rání took Hírálál and restored him to his +human shape, and gave him some food, and he travelled on +till he reached the Rakshas-Rání’s mother, whom he called +Grannie. She welcomed him very kindly and showed him +the garden, which was very large. The Rájá’s son noticed +a number of jugs and water-jars. So he said, “Grannie, +what is there in all these jars and jugs?” She answered, +showing them to him one by one, “In this is such and such +a thing,” and so on, telling him the contents of each, +till she came to the water-jar in which were his mothers’ +eyes. “In this jar,” said the Rakshas, “are your seven +mothers’ eyes.” “Oh, grannie dear!” said Hírálál, “give +me my mothers’ eyes.” “Very well, dear boy,” said the +old Rakshas, “you shall have them.” She gave him, too, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>57]</a></span> +some ointment, and told him to rub the eyes with it when +he put them into his mothers’ heads, and that then they +would see quite well; and he took the eyes and tied them +up in a corner of his cloth. His grannie gave him the +flowers, and he went back to Sonahrí Rání. She was lying +on her bed with the stick at her feet, and when she saw +him she laughed and said, “Oh, so you have come back +again?” “Yes, I have,” said Hírálál; “and I have got +the flowers, and my seven mothers’ eyes too.” “Have you +indeed?” said Sonahrí Rání. “Put this stick at my head.” +He did so, and she got up and gave him some food, and he +told her to ask her father the Rakshas where his soul was. +She promised she would, and she changed him into a little +fly, and shut him up in a tiny box, and put the tiny box +under her pillow. By and by home came the Rakshas, and +began to sniff about crying, “A man is here!” “Oh, no,” +said Sonahrí Rání; and she gave him some dinner, and when +they were in bed she asked him, “Papa, where is your soul?” +“I’ll tell you another day,” said the Rakshas. The next day, +when he had gone out to find food, Sonahrí Rání took the +little fly, Hírálál, and restored him to his human shape, and +gave him some food and sent him on his way. When he +reached the river, the water-snake took him over to the other +side, and he journeyed on till he came to his father’s kingdom. +First he went to his mothers’ hole and gave them their +fourteen eyes, and he put them into their heads with the +ointment which the Rakshas-grannie had given him. Then +he went to Mánikbásá Rájá’s palace, and when the Rakshas-Rání +saw him she was furious. “I am sure my father and +my mother, my sisters and my brothers, do not love me one +bit. I will never see their faces again. But I’ll send him to +them once more.”</p> + +<p>This is what she thought, but she took the flowers and +said, “You must go a third time to the Rakshas country.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>58]</a></span> +“I will,” said the boy: “only I’ll not go till the fourth day +from to-day, for I am very tired. And you must give me +four shields full of rupees.” “Good,” said the Rakshas-Rání. +“This time you must get me a sárí.”<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> And she gave +him the four shields full of money. Then he went to his +mothers, and bought them a house and got food for them, +and stayed with them four days.</p> + +<p>At the end of the four days he went to the Rakshas-Rání, +who gave him a letter in which she had written, “If you do +not kill and eat this boy as soon as he arrives, I will never +see your faces again.” The Rájá’s son took the letter and +set out on his journey.</p> + +<p>When he came to the river, the water-snake took him +across; and when he arrived at Sonahrí Rání’s house, there +she was lying on her bed with the thick stick at her feet. She +said, “Oh, you have come here again, have you?” “Yes,” +he said, “I have come for the last time.” “Put the stick at +my head,” said she. So he laid the stick at her head. Then +she gave him some food, and just before the Rakshas came +home, he bade her ask him where he kept his soul. When +she saw him coming, Sonahrí Rání turned Hírálálbásá into a +little fly, put him in a tiny box, and put the box under her +pillow. As soon as she and the Rakshas had gone to bed, +she asked him, “Papa, where do you keep your soul?” +“Sixteen miles away from this place,” said he, “is a tree. +Round the tree are tigers, and bears, and scorpions, and +snakes; on the top of the tree is a very great fat snake; on +his head is a little cage; in the cage is a bird; and my soul is +in that bird.” The little fly listened all the time. The next +morning, when the Rakshas had gone, Sonahrí Rání took the +fly and gave him back his human form, gave him some food, +and then asked to see his letter. When she had read it she +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>59]</a></span> +screamed and said, “Oh! if you go with this letter you will +surely die.” So she tore it up into little bits and threw it into +the fire. And she wrote another in which she said, “Make +a great deal of this boy; see that he gets no hurt; give him +the sárí for me; show him the garden; and be very kind to +him.” She then gave Hírálál the letter, and he journeyed +on in safety till he reached his Rakshas-grannie’s house.</p> + +<p>The Rakshas-grannie was very good to him; showed him +the garden, and gave him the sárí; and he then said his +mother, the Rakshas-Rání, was in great trouble about her +soul, and wanted very much to have it. So the Rakshas-grannie +gave him a bird in which was the Rakshas-Rání’s +soul, charging him to take the greatest care of it. Then he +said, “My mother, the Rakshas-Rání, also wants a stone +such that, if you lay it on the ground, or if you put it in your +clothes, it will become gold, and also your long heavy gold +necklace that hangs down to the waist.” Both these things the +Rakshas-grannie gave to Hírálál. Then he returned to Sonahrí +Rání’s house, where he found her lying on her bed with the +thick stick at her feet. “Oh, there you are,” said Sonahrí Rání, +laughing. “Yes,” he said, “I have come.” And he put the +stick at her head, and she got up and gave him some food.</p> + +<p>He told her he was going to fetch her Rakshas-father’s +soul, but that he did not quite know how to pass through the +tigers and bears, and scorpions and snakes, that guarded it. +So she gave him a feather, and said, “As long as you hold this +feather straight, you can come to no harm, for you will be +invisible. You will see everything, but nothing will see you.”</p> + +<p>He carried the feather straight as she had bidden him and +reached the tree in safety. Then he climbed up it, took the +little cage, and came down again. Though the Rakshas +was far off, he knew at once something had happened to his +bird. Hírálál pulled off the bird’s right leg, and the Rakshas’ +right leg fell off, but on he hopped on one leg. Then the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>60]</a></span> +Rájá’s son pulled off the bird’s left leg, and off fell the +Rakshas’ left leg, but still he went on towards his house on +his hands. Then Hírálál pulled off the bird’s wings, and the +Rakshas’ two arms fell off. And then, just as the Rakshas +reached the door of his house, Hírálál wrung the bird’s neck, +and the Rakshas fell dead. Sonahrí Rání was greatly frightened +when she heard such a heavy thing fall thump on the +ground so close to the house, but she could not move, for +the thick stick lay at her feet. Hírálál ran as fast as he could +to Sonahrí Rání. When he arrived at the door of her house +he saw the Rakshas lying dead, and he went in and told +Sonahrí Rání that her Rakshas-father was killed. “Nonsense,” +she said. “It is true,” said Hírálál; “come and +see.” So he put the stick at her head. “I am sure you are +telling a lie,” said Sonahrí Rání. “I should be very glad if +he were dead, for I do not like living with him, I am so +afraid of him.” “Indeed he’s dead. Do come and see,” +said Hírálál. Then they went outside, and when Sonahrí +Rání saw her Rakshas-father lying there dead, she was +exceedingly happy, and said to Hírálál, “I will go home +with you, and be your wife.” So they were married, and +then they went into Sonahrí Rání’s Rakshas-father’s house +and took all the money and jewels they could find. And +Hírálál gave the sárí, the stone, and the necklace to Sonahrí +Rání, and he took some flowers for the Rakshas-Rání.</p> + +<p>When they came to the river, the water-snake carried them +across to the other side, and they travelled on till they came +to Mánikbásá Rájá’s kingdom. There Hírálál went first of +all to his mothers, and when they saw Sonahrí Rání they +wondered who the beautiful woman could be that their son +had brought home. He said to them, “This is Sonahrí +Rání, my wife. But for her I should have died.” Then he +bought a grand house for Sonahrí Rání and his seven mothers +to live in, and he got four servants for Sonahrí Rání, two +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>61]</a></span> +to cook, and two to wait on her. The seven mothers and +Sonahrí used all to sit on a beautiful, clean quilted cushion, +as big as a carpet, Sonahrí Rání in the middle and the seven +mothers round her, while they sewed, or wrote, and talked. +Hírálál then went to the Rakshas-Rání and said, “I could +not get the sárí you sent me for, so I brought you these +flowers instead.” When she saw the flowers she was frantic. +She said, “My father, my mother, my sisters, my brothers, +don’t care for me, not one bit! not one scrap! I will never +see their faces again—never! never! I will send some +other messenger to them.”</p> + +<p>One day the Rájá’s son came to Mánikbásá and said, +“Would you like to see a grand sight?” Mánikbásá Rájá +said, “What sight?” Hírálál said, “If you would like to see +a really grand sight you must do what I tell you.” “Good,” +answered Mánikbásá, “I will do whatever you tell me.” +“Well, then,” said his son, “you must build a very strong +iron house, and round it you must lay heaps of wood. In that +house you must put your present Rání.” So Mánikbásá Rájá +had a very strong iron house built, round which he set walls +of wood. Then he went to his Rakshas-Rání and said, +“Will you go inside that iron house, and see what it is like?” +“Yes, I will,” answered she. The Rájá had had great venetians +made for the house, and only one door. As soon as +the Rakshas-Rání had gone in, he locked the door. Then +Hírálál took the little bird, a cockatoo, in which was the +Rakshas-Rání’s soul, and showed it to the Rakshas-Rání +from afar off. When she saw it she turned herself into a +huge Rakshas as big as a house. She could not turn in the +iron house because she was so huge. Mánikbásá was dreadfully +frightened when he saw his Rání was a horrible Rakshas. +Then Hírálál pulled off the bird’s legs, and as the +Rakshas was breaking through the iron house to seize +Hírálál, he wrung the cockatoo’s neck, and the Rakshas +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>62]</a></span> +died instantly. They set fire to the walls of wood, and the +body of the wicked Rakshas was burnt to fine ashes.</p> + +<p>The Rájá’s Wazír turned to the Rájá and said, “What a +fool you were to marry this Rakshas, and at her bidding to +send your seven wives and your seven sons away into the +jungle, taking out your seven wives’ eyes, and being altogether +so cruel to them! You are a great, great fool!” The +poor Rájá wept, and then the Wazír, pointing to Hírálál, +said, “This is your seventh and youngest Rání’s son.” The +Rájá then embraced Hírálálbásá and asked his forgiveness. +And Hírálál told him his story, how he and his mothers had +lived a long, long time in the hole; how six of the Ránís +had eaten their children; how his mother had not had the +heart to eat him; how he had got his seven mothers’ eyes +from the Rakshas-grannie; and lastly, how he had married +Sonahrí Rání. Then the Rájá ordered seven litters for his +seven Ránís, and a beautiful litter with rich cloth for Sonahrí +Rání. The Rájá and his Wazír and his attendants, and his +son, all went with the litters to Hírálál’s house; and when the +Rájá saw Sonahrí Rání he fell flat on his face, he was so struck +by her beauty. For she had a fair, fair skin, rosy cheeks, blue +eyes, rosy lips, golden eyelashes, and golden eyebrows, and +golden hair. When she combed her hair, she used to put the +hair she combed out in paper and to lay the paper on the river, +and it floated down to where the poor people caught it, and +sold it, and got heaps of money for it. Her sárí was of gold, +her shoes were of gold, for God loved her dearly. Then the +Rájá rose and embraced all his wives and Sonahrí Rání, and +the seven Ránís walked into the seven litters; but Sonahrí Rání +was carried to hers, for fear she should soil her feet, or get +hurt. Then Mánikbásá Rájá gave Hírálál’s house to his Wazír, +while his seven Ránís and Hírálál and Sonahrí Rání lived +with him in his palace. And they lived happily for ever after.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní at Simla, 26th July and 1st August, 1876.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTE:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> +A long piece of stuff which Hindú women wind round the body as +a petticoat, passing one end over the head, like a veil.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>63]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head03.jpg" width="600" height="123" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxii" id="sxii"></a>XII.<br /> +<br /> +THE MAN WHO WENT TO SEEK HIS FATE.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxii">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapo"><span class="dcap">O</span></span>NCE there was a very poor man who had a wife and +twelve children, and not a single rupee. The poor +children used to cry with hunger, and the man and +his wife did not know what to do. At last he got furious with +God and said, “How wicked God is! He gives me a great +many children, but no money.” So he set out to find his fate. +In the jungle he met a camel with two heavy sacks of gold on +its back. This camel belonged to a Rájá, and once it was +travelling with other camels and with the Rájá’s servants to +another country, and carrying the sacks of gold. Every +night they encamped and started again early in the morning; +but one morning the servants forgot to take this camel with +them, and the camel forgot the road home, and the sacks +were too tightly strapped for it to get rid of them. So it +wandered about the jungle with the sacks on its back for +twelve years. The camel asked the poor man where he was +going. “I am going to seek my fate, to ask it why I am so +poor,” he answered. The camel said, “Ask it, too, why for +twelve years I have had to carry these two sacks of gold. +All this time I have not been able to lie down, or to eat, +or to drink.” “Very well,” said the man, and he went on.</p> + +<p>Then he came to a river in which he saw an alligator. +The alligator took him across, and when he got to the other +side it asked him where he was going. The man said, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>64]</a></span> +“I am going to seek my fate, to ask it why I am so poor.” +“Then,” said the alligator, “ask it also why for twelve years +I have a great burning in my stomach.” “I will,” said the +man.</p> + +<p>Then he went on and on till he came to a tiger, who was +lying on the ground with a great thorn sticking in his foot. +This tiger had gone out one day to hunt for food, and not +looking where he was going, he put his foot on the thorn, +and the thorn ran into his foot. And so God grew very +angry and said, “Because you are such a careless, stupid +fellow, and don’t look where you are going, for twelve years +this thorn shall remain in your foot.” “Where are you +going?” the tiger asked the man. “I am going to seek my +fate, to ask it why I am so poor. Some one told me that my +fate was far, far away, a twelve years’ journey from my own +country, and that it was lying down, and that I must take a +thick stick and beat it with all my might.” “Ask it, too,” +said the tiger, “why for twelve years I have had this thorn in +my foot and cannot get it out, though I have tried hard to +do so.” “Yes, I will,” said the man.</p> + +<p>Then he came to the place where every one’s fate lives. +The fates are stones, some standing and others lying on the +ground. “This must be mine,” he said; “it is lying on the +ground, that’s why I am so poor.” So he took the thick +stick he had in his hand, and beat it, and beat it, and beat +it, but still it would not stir. As night was approaching he +left off beating it, and God sent a soul into the poor man’s +fate, and it became a man, who stood looking at the poor +man and said, “Why have you beaten me so much?” +“Because you were lying down, and I am very poor, and +at home my wife and my children are starving.” “Oh, things +will go well with you now,” said the fate, and the man was +satisfied. He said to his fate, “While coming here I met a +camel who for twelve years has had to wander about with two +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>65]</a></span> +heavy sacks of gold on its back, and it wants to know why it +must carry them.” “Oh,” said the fate, “just take the sacks +off its back and then it will be free.” “I will,” said the poor +man. “Then I met an alligator who for twelve years has +had a great burning in its stomach.” The fate said, “In its +stomach is a very large ruby, as big as your hand. If the +alligator will only throw up the ruby, it will be quite well.” +“Next I met a tiger who has had for twelve years a great +thorn in his foot which he cannot take out.” “Pull it out +with your teeth,” said the fate; and then God withdrew the +soul, and the fate became a stone again which stood up on +the ground.</p> + +<p>Then the man set out on his journey home, and he came to +the tiger. “What did your fate say?” said the tiger. “Give +me your foot and I will take out the thorn,” said the poor +man. The tiger stretched out the foot with the thorn in it, +and the man pulled out the thorn with his teeth. It was a +very large thorn, as big as the man’s hand. The tiger felt +grateful to the poor man, and as he was very rich, for he +had eaten a great many Rájás and people, and had all their +money, he said to the man, “I will give you some gold in +return for your kindness.” “You have no money,” said the +man. “I have,” said the tiger, and he went into his den, and +the poor man followed. “Give me your cloth,” said the tiger. +The man laid it on the ground. Then the tiger took quantities +of gold and jewels and filled the cloth with them. +And the poor man took up his cloth, thanked the tiger, +and went his way. Then he met the alligator who took +him across the river. The alligator said, “Did you ask +your fate why there is such burning in my stomach?” “I +did,” said the man. “It is because you have a very large +ruby in your stomach. If you will only throw it up, you will +be quite well.” Then the alligator threw the ruby up out of +its mouth, and that very instant the burning in its stomach +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>66]</a></span> +ceased. “Ah,” said the alligator, looking at the ruby, “I +swallowed that one day when I was drinking.” And he gave +the ruby to the man, saying, “In return for your kindness I +will give you this ruby. It is a very precious stone.” (In +old days every Rájá possessed such a ruby; now very few +Rájás, if any, have one.) The poor man thanked the alligator, +put the ruby into his cloth, and went on his way till he +came to the camel, who said, “Did you ask your fate why +I have to carry these two sacks of gold?” “I did,” said the +man, and he took the sacks off the camel’s back. How happy +and grateful the camel felt! “How kind of you,” he said +to the man, “to take the sacks off. Now I can eat, now I +can drink, and now I can lie down. Because you have been +so kind to me, I give you the two sacks of gold, and I will +carry them and your bundle home to your house for you, +and then I will come back and live here in the jungle.” +Then the poor man put the two sacks of gold and his bundle +on the camel, who carried them to his house. When he got +there, he took the sacks and his bundle off the camel, who +thanked him again for his kindness and went back to his +jungle, feeling very glad at having got rid of his heavy burthen.</p> + +<p>When the poor man’s wife and children saw the gold and +jewels and the ruby, they cried, “Where did you get these?” +And the man told them his whole story. And he bought +food for his wife and children, and gave them a beautiful +house, and got them clothes, for now he was very rich.</p> + +<p>Another poor man who was not quite, but nearly, as poor +as this man had been, asked him where he had got his riches. +“I got them out of a river,” answered the man. “I drew +the water with a bucket, and in every bucketful there was +gold.” The other man started off to the river and began +drawing up water in a bucket. “Stop, stop!” cried an alligator, +who was the king of the fishes; “you are taking all the +water out of the river and my fishes will die.” “I want +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>67]</a></span> +money,” said the man, “and I can find none, so I am taking +the water out of the river in order to get some.” “You +shall have some in a minute,” said the alligator, “only do +stop drawing the water.” Then a great wave of water dashed +on to the land and dashed back into the river, leaving behind +it a great heap of gold, which the man picked up joyfully. +The next day he came again, and night and day he +drew water out of the river. At last the alligator got very +angry, and said, “My fishes will all die for want of water. +Once I gave the man a heap of gold, and yet he wants more. +I won’t give him any,” and the alligator thrust up his head +out of the river, and swallowed the man whole. For four +days and four nights the man lived in the alligator’s stomach. +At the end of the fourth night the king of the fishes said to +him, “I will let you get out of my stomach on condition +that you tell no man what has happened to you. If you do, +you will die instantly.” The man jumped out of the alligator’s +mouth and walked towards his house. On his way +he met some men and told them what had happened to him, +and as soon as he got home he told his wife and children, +and the moment he had done so he became mad and dumb +and blood came out of his mouth, and he fell down dead.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/tail09.jpg" width="300" height="157" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>68]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head13.jpg" width="600" height="134" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxiii" id="sxiii"></a>XIII.<br /> +<br /> +THE UPRIGHT KING.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxiii">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapt"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HERE was a great Mahárájá whose name was Harchand +Rájá, and he had an only son called Mánikchand. +He was very rich and had a great deal of +money, and he also had a very large garden full of lovely +flowers and fruits which he prized greatly. Every morning +before he bathed he used to give some poor fakír two pounds +and a half of gold. Now Harchand Mahárájá used to pray +a great deal to God, and God was very fond of him, so he +said one day, “To see if Harchand Mahárájá really loves me, +I will make him very poor for twelve years.” And at night +God came down in the shape of a great boar, and ate up +everything that was in Harchand Mahárájá’s garden. The +boar then ran away into the jungle. Next morning the gardener +got up and looked out into the garden, and what was +his astonishment when he saw it was all spoilt. Nothing was +left in it; it was not a garden any more. He went quickly +to the Mahárájá and said, “Oh, master! oh, Mahárájá! your +garden is quite spoilt. Last night a boar came and ate +up everything in it.” “Nonsense,” said the Mahárájá, who +would not believe him. “It is quite true,” said the gardener; +“you can come and see for yourself.” So the Rájá +got up at once and put on his clothes, and went into +the garden, and found it all empty. He went back to +the house very melancholy. Then as usual he gave a fakír +his two pounds and a half of gold. After breakfast he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>69]</a></span> +went out hunting. The boar which had run away into +the wood changed himself into a very old fakír, who shook +from old age. As Harchand Mahárájá passed, the old fakír +held out his hand, saying, “Please give me a few pice, I +am so poor and hungry.” The Mahárájá said, “Come to +my palace and I will give you two pounds and a half of +gold.” “Oh, no,” said the fakír, “surely you would never +give me so much as that.” “Yes, I will,” said the Mahárájá. +“Every morning before I bathe I give a fakír two pounds and +a half of gold.” “Nonsense,” said the fakír, “you don’t +give away your money in that way.” “Really, I do,” said +the Mahárájá, “and I promise to give you two pounds and +a half of gold.” So the fakír followed Harchand Mahárájá +home, and when they reached the palace, the Mahárájá told +his treasurer to give the old fakír two pounds and a half +of gold. The treasurer went into the treasury, but all the +Mahárájá’s gold and silver and jewels had become charcoal! +The treasurer came out again to the Mahárájá saying, “Oh, +Mahárájá, all your gold and silver and jewels are turned +into charcoal!” “Oh, nonsense,” said the Mahárájá. “Come +and see, Mahárájá,” said the treasurer, who was in a great +fright. The Mahárájá went into his treasury, and was quite +sad at the sight of the charcoal. “Alas!” he said, “God +has made me very poor, but still I must give this fakír his +money.” So he went to the fakír and said, “All my gold +and silver and jewels are turned into charcoal; but I will +sell my wife, and my boy, and myself, and then I will give +you the money I promised you.” And he went and fetched +his wife and son, and left his palace, his houses, servants, +and possessions.</p> + +<p>He then went to a merchant, who bought from him his +Mahárání, who was called Hírálí, that is, the diamond lady, +for she was very beautiful, and her face shone like a diamond. +Her hands were very small, and so were her feet. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>70]</a></span> +merchant gave the Mahárájá a pound of gold for the Mahárání. +Next, Harchand Mahárájá went to a cowherd and sold him his +son Mánikchand. The cowherd gave him for the boy half a +pound of gold. Then he went to a dom, that is, a man of a +very low caste, who kept a tank into which it was his business +to throw the bodies of those who died. If it was a dead man or +woman, the dom took one rupee, if it was a dead child he was +only paid eight annas. To this dom Harchand sold himself for +a pound of gold, and he gave the two pounds and a half of gold +to the fakír, who then went home. The dom said, “Will +you stay by the tank for a few days while I go home and do +my other work, which is weaving baskets? If any one brings +you a dead body you must throw it into the water. If it +is the body of a man or woman, take one rupee in payment; +if it is a dead child, take eight annas; and if the bearers have +got no money, take a bit of cloth. Don’t forget.” And the +dom went away, leaving Harchand sitting by the tank.</p> + +<p>Well, Harchand Mahárájá sat for some days by the tank, +and when any one brought him dead bodies he threw them +into it. For a dead man or woman he took one rupee, for +a dead child eight annas, and if the bearers had no money +to give him, he took some cloth. Some time had passed, and +Mánikchand, the Mahárájá’s son, died; so Hírálí Rání went +to the cowherd to ask him for her dead child. The cowherd +gave him to her, and she took him to the tank. Harchand +Mahárájá was sitting by the tank, and when Hírálí Mahárání +saw him she said, “I know that man is my husband, so he +will not take any money for throwing his child into the water.” +So she went up to him and said, “Will you throw this child +into the tank for me?” “Yes, I will,” said Harchand Mahárájá; +“only first give me eight annas.” “You surely won’t +take any money for throwing your own son into the tank?” +said the Mahárání. “You must pay me,” said Harchand +Mahárájá, “for I must obey the dom’s orders. If you have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>71]</a></span> +no money, give me a piece of cloth.” So the Mahárání +tore off a great piece of her sárí and gave it him, and the +Mahárájá took his son and threw him into the tank. As he +threw him in he cried out to the king of the fishes, who was +an alligator, “Take great care of this body.” The king of +fishes said, “I will.” Then the Mahárání went back to +the merchant.</p> + +<p>And the Mahárájá caught a fish, and cooked it, and laid +it by the tank, saying, “I will go and bathe and then I will +eat it.” So he took off his clothes and went into the tank to +bathe, and when he had bathed he put on fresh clothes, and +as he took hold of his fish to eat it, it slipped back alive +into the water, although it had been dead and cooked. The +Mahárájá sat down by the tank again, very sad. He said, +“For twelve years I have found it hard to get anything to +eat; how long will God keep me without food?” God was +very pleased with Harchand for being so patient, for he had +never complained.</p> + +<p>Some days later God came down to earth in the shape +of a man, and with him he took an angel to be his +Wazír. The Wazír said to God, “Come this way and let +us see who it is sitting by the tank.” “No,” said God, “I +am too tired, I can go no further.” “Do come,” said the +Wazír; “I want so much to go.” God said, “Well, let us +go.” Then they walked on till they came to the place where +Harchand Mahárájá was sitting, and God said to him, +“Would you like to have your wife, and your son, and your +kingdom back again?” “Yes, I should,” said the Mahárájá; +“but how can I get them?” “Tell me truly,” said God, +“would you like to have your kingdom back again?” “Indeed +I should,” said the Mahárájá. Then Mánikchand’s +body, which had never sunk to the bottom of the tank like +the other bodies, but had always floated on the water, rose +up out of the water, and Mánikchand was alive once more. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>72]</a></span> +The father and son embraced each other. “Now,” said +God, “let us go to the dom.” Harchand Mahárájá agreed, +and they went to the dom and asked him how much he +would take for Harchand Mahárájá. The dom said, “I +gave one pound of gold for him, and I will take two +pounds.” So they paid down the two pounds of gold. Then +they went to the merchant and said to him, “How much will +you take for Hírálí Rání?” The merchant said, “I gave a +pound of gold for her; I will take four pounds.” So they paid +down the four pounds of gold, took Hírálí Rání, and went to +the cowherd. “How much will you take for Mánikchand?” +said they to him. “I gave half a pound of gold for him,” +answered the cowherd; “I will take one pound.” So they +paid down the pound of gold, and Harchand Mahárájá went +home to his palace, taking with him Hírálí Rání and Mánikchand, +after thanking the strange man for his goodness to +them. When they reached the palace, the garden was in +splendid beauty; the charcoal was turned back into gold, +and silver, and jewels; the servants were in waiting as usual, +and they went into the palace and lived happily for evermore.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 175px;"> +<img src="images/tail10.jpg" width="175" height="142" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>73]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head14.jpg" width="600" height="106" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxiv" id="sxiv"></a>XIV.<br /> +<br /> +LOVING LAILÍ.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxiv">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapo"><span class="dcap">O</span></span>NCE there was a king called King Dantál, who had a +great many rupees and soldiers and horses. He +had also an only son called Prince Majnún, who +was a handsome boy with white teeth, red lips, blue eyes, red +cheeks, red hair, and a white skin. This boy was very fond +of playing with the Wazír’s son, Husain Mahámat, in King +Dantál’s garden, which was very large and full of delicious +fruits, and flowers, and trees. They used to take their little +knives there and cut the fruits and eat them. King Dantál +had a teacher for them to teach them to read and write.</p> + +<p>One day, when they were grown two fine young men, +Prince Majnún said to his father, “Husain Mahámat and I +should like to go and hunt.” His father said they might go, +so they got ready their horses and all else they wanted for +their hunting, and went to the Phaláná country, hunting all +the way, but they only found jackals and birds.</p> + +<p>The Rájá of the Phaláná country was called Múnsúk +Rájá, and he had a daughter named Lailí, who was very +beautiful; she had brown eyes and black hair.</p> + +<p>One night, some time before Prince Majnún came to her +father’s kingdom, as she slept, God sent to her an angel in +the form of a man who told her that she should marry Prince +Majnún and no one else, and that this was God’s command +to her. When Lailí woke she told her father of the angel’s +visit to her as she slept; but her father paid no attention to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>74]</a></span> +her story. From that time she began repeating, “Majnún, +Majnún; I want Majnún,” and would say nothing else. Even +as she sat and ate her food she kept saying, “Majnún, Majnún; +I want Majnún.” Her father used to get quite vexed with +her. “Who is this Majnún? who ever heard of this Majnún?” +he would say. “He is the man I am to marry,” +said Lailí. “God has ordered me to marry no one but +Majnún.” And she was half mad. Meanwhile, Majnún and +Husain Mahámat came to hunt in the Phaláná country; and +as they were riding about, Lailí came out on her horse to +eat the air, and rode behind them. All the time she kept +saying, “Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún.” The prince +heard her, and turned round. “Who is calling me?” he +asked. At this Lailí looked at him, and the moment she +saw him she fell deeply in love with him, and she said to +herself, “I am sure that is the Prince Majnún that God says +I am to marry.” And she went home to her father and said, +“Father, I wish to marry the prince who has come to your +kingdom; for I know he is the Prince Majnún I am to marry.” +“Very well, you shall have him for your husband,” said Múnsúk +Rájá. “We will ask him to-morrow.” Lailí consented to wait, +although she was very impatient. As it happened, the prince +left the Phaláná kingdom that night, and when Lailí heard he +was gone, she went quite mad. She would not listen to a word +her father, or her mother, or her servants said to her, but +went off into the jungle, and wandered from jungle to jungle, +till she got farther and farther away from her own country. +All the time she kept saying, “Majnún, Majnún; I want +Majnún;” and so she wandered about for twelve years.</p> + +<p>At the end of the twelve years she met a fakír—he was +really an angel, but she did not know this—who asked her, +“Why do you always say, ‘Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún’?” +She answered, “I am the daughter of the king of +the Phaláná country, and I want to find Prince Majnún; tell +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>75]</a></span> +me where his kingdom is.” “I think you will never get +there,” said the fakír, “for it is very far from hence, and you +have to cross many rivers to reach it.” But Lailí said she did +not care; she must see Prince Majnún. “Well,” said the +fakír, “when you come to the Bhágírathí river you will see a +big fish, a Rohú; and you must get him to carry you to +Prince Majnún’s country, or you will never reach it.”</p> + +<p>She went on and on, and at last she came to the Bhágírathí +river. There there was a great big fish called the Rohú fish. +It was yawning just as she got up to it, and she instantly +jumped down its throat into its stomach. All the time she +kept saying, “Majnún, Majnún.” At this the Rohú fish +was greatly alarmed and swam down the river as fast as he +could. By degrees he got tired and went slower, and a +crow came and perched on his back, and said, “Caw, caw.” +“Oh, Mr. Crow,” said the poor fish, “do see what is in my +stomach that makes such a noise.” “Very well,” said the +crow, “open your mouth wide, and I’ll fly down and see.” +So the Rohú opened his jaws and the crow flew down, but +he came up again very quickly. “You have a Rakshas in +your stomach,” said the crow, and he flew away. This news +did not comfort the poor Rohú, and he swam on and on +till he came to Prince Majnún’s country. There he stopped. +And a jackal came down to the river to drink. “Oh, jackal,” +said the Rohú, “do tell me what I have inside me.” “How +can I tell?” said the jackal. “I cannot see unless I go inside +you.” So the Rohú opened his mouth wide, and the jackal +jumped down his throat; but he came up very quickly, +looking much frightened and saying, “You have a Rakshas +in your stomach, and if I don’t run away quickly, I am +afraid it will eat me.” So off he ran. After the jackal +came an enormous snake. “Oh,” says the fish, “do tell me +what I have in my stomach, for it rattles about so, and keeps +saying, ‘Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún.’” The snake said, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>76]</a></span> +“Open your mouth wide, and I’ll go down and see what it +is.” The snake went down: when he returned he said, +“You have a Rakshas in your stomach; but if you will let +me cut you open, it will come out of you.” “If you do that, +I shall die,” said the Rohú. “Oh, no,” said the snake, +“you will not, for I will give you a medicine that will make +you quite well again.” So the fish agreed, and the snake +got a knife and cut him open, and out jumped Lailí.</p> + +<p>She was now very old. Twelve years she had wandered +about the jungle, and for twelve years she had lived inside +her Rohú; and she was no longer beautiful, and had lost +her teeth. The snake took her on his back and carried her +into the country, and there he put her down, and she wandered +on and on till she got to Majnún’s court-house, where +King Majnún was sitting. There some men heard her crying, +“Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún,” and they asked her +what she wanted. “I want King Majnún,” she said. So they +went in and said to Prince Majnún, “An old woman outside +says she wants you.” “I cannot leave this place,” said he; +“send her in here.” They brought her in and the prince +asked her what she wanted. “I want to marry you,” she +answered. “Twenty-four years ago you came to my father +the Phaláná Rájá’s country, and I wanted to marry you then; +but you went away without marrying me. Then I went +mad, and I have wandered about all these years looking for +you.” Prince Majnún said, “Very good.” “Pray to God,” +said Lailí, “to make us both young again, and then we shall +be married.” So the prince prayed to God, and God said +to him, “Touch Lailí’s clothes and they will catch fire, and +when they are on fire, she and you will become young again.” +When he touched Lailí’s clothes they caught fire, and she +and he became young again. And there were great feasts, +and they were married, and travelled to the Phaláná country +to see her father and mother.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>77]</a></span> +Now Lailí’s father and mother had wept so much for +their daughter that they had become quite blind, and her +father kept always repeating, “Lailí, Lailí, Lailí.” When +Lailí saw their blindness, she prayed to God to restore their +sight to them, which he did. As soon as the father and +mother saw Lailí, they hugged her and kissed her, and then +they had the wedding all over again amid great rejoicings. +Prince Majnún and Lailí stayed with Múnsúk Rájá and his +wife for three years, and then they returned to King +Dantál, and lived happily for some time with him.</p> + +<p>They used to go out hunting, and they often went from +country to country to eat the air and amuse themselves.</p> + +<p>One day Prince Majnún said to Lailí, “Let us go through +this jungle.” “No, no,” said Lailí; “if we go through this +jungle, some harm will happen to me.” But Prince Majnún +laughed, and went into the jungle. And as they were going +through it, God thought, “I should like to know how much +Prince Majnún loves his wife. Would he be very sorry if +she died? And would he marry another wife? I will see.” +So he sent one of his angels in the form of a fakír into the +jungle; and the angel went up to Lailí, and threw some powder +in her face, and instantly she fell to the ground a heap +of ashes.</p> + +<p>Prince Majnún was in great sorrow and grief when he +saw his dear Lailí turn into a little heap of ashes; and he +went straight home to his father, and for a long, long time +he would not be comforted. After a great many years he +grew more cheerful and happy, and began to go again into +his father’s beautiful garden with Husain Mahámat. King +Dantál wished his son to marry again. “I will only have +Lailí for my wife; I will not marry any other woman,” said +Prince Majnún. “How can you marry Lailí? Lailí is +dead. She will never come back to you,” said the father. +“Then I’ll not have any wife at all,” said Prince Majnún.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>78]</a></span> +Meanwhile Lailí was living in the jungle where her husband +had left her a little heap of ashes. As soon as Majnún +had gone, the fakír had taken her ashes and made them +quite clean, and then he had mixed clay and water with the +ashes, and made the figure of a woman with them, and so +Lailí regained her human form, and God sent life into it. +But Lailí had become once more a hideous old woman, with +a long, long nose, and teeth like tusks; just such an old +woman, excepting her teeth, as she had been when she came +out of the Rohú fish; and she lived in the jungle, and neither +ate nor drank, and she kept on saying, “Majnún, Majnún; +I want Majnún.”</p> + +<p>At last the angel who had come as a fakír and thrown the +powder at her, said to God, “Of what use is it that this +woman should sit in the jungle crying, crying for ever, +‘Majnún, Majnún; I want Majnún,’ and eating and drinking +nothing? Let me take her to Prince Majnún.” “Well,” said +God, “you may do so; but tell her that she must not +speak to Majnún if he is afraid of her when he sees her; +and that if he is afraid when he sees her, she will become a +little white dog the next day. Then she must go to the palace, +and she will only regain her human shape when Prince +Majnún loves her, feeds her with his own food, and lets her +sleep in his bed.” So the angel came to Lailí again as a +fakír and carried her to King Dantál’s garden. “Now,” he +said, “it is God’s command that you stay here till Prince +Majnún comes to walk in the garden, and then you may +show yourself to him. But you must not speak to him, if he +is afraid of you; and should he be afraid of you, you will +the next day become a little white dog.” He then told her +what she must do as a little dog to regain her human form.</p> + +<p>Lailí stayed in the garden, hidden in the tall grass, till +Prince Majnún and Husain Mahámat came to walk in the +garden. King Dantál was now a very old man, and Husain +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>79]</a></span> +Mahámat, though he was really only as old as Prince Majnún, +looked a great deal older than the prince, who had been +made quite young again when he married Lailí.</p> + +<p>As Prince Majnún and the Wazír’s son walked in the +garden, they gathered the fruit as they had done as little +children, only they bit the fruit with their teeth; they did not +cut it. While Majnún was busy eating a fruit in this way, +and was talking to Husain Mahámat, he turned towards him +and saw Lailí walking behind the Wazír’s son. “Oh, look, +look!” he cried, “see what is following you; it is a Rakshas +or a demon, and I am sure it is going to eat us.” Lailí looked +at him beseechingly with all her eyes, and trembled with age +and eagerness; but this only frightened Majnún the more. +“It is a Rakshas, a Rakshas!” he cried, and he ran quickly +to the palace with the Wazír’s son; and as they ran away, +Lailí disappeared into the jungle. They ran to King Dantál, +and Majnún told him there was a Rakshas or a demon in the +garden that had come to eat them. “What nonsense,” said +his father. “Fancy two grown men being so frightened by +an old ayah or a fakír! And if it had been a Rakshas, it +would not have eaten you.” Indeed King Dantál did not +believe Majnún had seen anything at all, till Husain Mahámat +said the prince was speaking the exact truth. They +had the garden searched for the terrible old woman, but +found nothing, and King Dantál told his son he was very +silly to be so much frightened. However, Prince Majnún +would not walk in the garden any more.</p> + +<p>The next day Lailí turned into a pretty little dog; and in +this shape she came into the palace, where Prince Majnún +soon became very fond of her. She followed him everywhere, +went with him when he was out hunting, and helped +him to catch his game, and Prince Majnún fed her with +milk, or bread, or anything else he was eating, and at night +the little dog slept in his bed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>80]</a></span> +But one night the little dog disappeared, and in its stead +there lay the little old woman who had frightened him so +much in the garden; and now Prince Majnún was quite sure +she was a Rakshas, or a demon, or some such horrible thing +come to eat him; and in his terror he cried out, “What do +you want? Oh, do not eat me; do not eat me!” Poor +Lailí answered, “Don’t you know me? I am your wife +Lailí, and I want to marry you. Don’t you remember how +you would go through that jungle, though I begged and +begged you not to go, for I told you that harm would happen +to me, and then a fakír came and threw powder in my +face, and I became a heap of ashes. But God gave me my +life again, and brought me here, after I had stayed a long, +long while in the jungle crying for you, and now I am +obliged to be a little dog; but if you will marry me, I shall +not be a little dog any more.” Majnún, however, said +“How can I marry an old woman like you? how can you +be Lailí? I am sure you are a Rakshas or a demon come +to eat me,” and he was in great terror.</p> + +<p>In the morning the old woman had turned into the little +dog, and the prince went to his father and told him all that +had happened. “An old woman! an old woman! always +an old woman!” said his father. “You do nothing but +think of old women. How can a strong man like you be +so easily frightened?” However, when he saw that his son +was really in great terror, and that he really believed the +old woman would come back at night, he advised him to +say to her, “I will marry you if you can make yourself a +young girl again. How can I marry such an old woman as +you are?”</p> + +<p>That night as he lay trembling in bed the little old woman +lay there in place of the dog, crying, “Majnún, Majnún, I +want to marry you. I have loved you all these long, long +years. When I was in my father’s kingdom a young girl, I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>81]</a></span> +knew of you, though you knew nothing of me, and we +should have been married then if you had not gone away +so suddenly, and for long, long years I followed you.” +“Well,” said Majnún, “if you can make yourself a young +girl again, I will marry you.”</p> + +<p>Lailí said, “Oh, that is quite easy. God will make me a +young girl again. In two days’ time you must go into the +garden, and there you will see a beautiful fruit. You must +gather it and bring it into your room and cut it open yourself +very gently, and you must not open it when your father +or anybody else is with you, but when you are quite alone; +for I shall be in the fruit quite naked, without any clothes at +all on.” In the morning Lailí took her little dog’s form, and +disappeared in the garden.</p> + +<p>Prince Majnún told all this to his father, who told him to +do all the old woman had bidden him. In two days’ time +he and the Wazír’s son walked in the garden, and there +they saw a large, lovely red fruit. “Oh!” said the Prince, +“I wonder shall I find my wife in that fruit.” Husain +Mahámat wanted him to gather it and see, but he would +not till he had told his father, who said, “That must be +the fruit; go and gather it.” So Majnún went back and +broke the fruit off its stalk; and he said to his father, +“Come with me to my room while I open it; I am +afraid to open it alone, for perhaps I shall find a Rakshas +in it that will eat me.” “No,” said King Dantál; “remember, +Lailí will be naked; you must go alone, and do not be +afraid if, after all, a Rakshas is in the fruit, for I will stay +outside the door, and you have only to call me with a loud +voice, and I will come to you, so the Rakshas will not be +able to eat you.”</p> + +<p>Then Majnún took the fruit and began to cut it open +tremblingly, for he shook with fear; and when he had cut +it, out stepped Lailí, young and far more beautiful than she +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>82]</a></span> +had ever been. At the sight of her extreme beauty, Majnún +fell backwards fainting on the floor.</p> + +<p>Lailí took off his turban and wound it all round herself +like a sárí (for she had no clothes at all on), and then she +called King Dantál, and said to him sadly, “Why has Majnún +fallen down like this? Why will he not speak to me? +He never used to be afraid of me; and he has seen me so +many, many times.” King Dantál answered, “It is because +you are so beautiful. You are far, far more beautiful than +you ever were. But he will be very happy directly.” Then +the King got some water, and they bathed Majnún’s face +and gave him some to drink, and he sat up again. Then +Lailí said, “Why did you faint? Did you not see I am +Lailí?” “Oh!” said Prince Majnún, “I see you are Lailí +come back to me, but your eyes have grown so wonderfully +beautiful, that I fainted when I saw them.” Then they were +all very happy, and King Dantál had all the drums in the +place beaten, and had all the musical instruments played on, +and they made a grand wedding-feast, and gave presents to +the servants, and rice and quantities of rupees to the fakírs.</p> + +<p>After some time had passed very happily, Prince Majnún +and his wife went out to eat the air. They rode on the +same horse, and had only a groom with them. They came +to another kingdom, to a beautiful garden. “We must go +into that garden and see it,” said Majnún. “No, no,” said +Lailí; “it belongs to a bad Rájá, Chumman Básá, a very +wicked man.” But Majnún insisted on going in, and in +spite of all Lailí could say, he got off the horse to look at +the flowers. Now, as he was looking at the flowers, Lailí saw +Chumman Básá coming towards them, and she read in his +eyes that he meant to kill her husband and seize her. So +she said to Majnún, “Come, come, let us go; do not go near +that bad man. I see in his eyes, and I feel in my heart, +that he will kill you to seize me.” “What nonsense,” said +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>83]</a></span> +Majnún. “I believe he is a very good Rájá. Anyhow, I +am so near to him that I could not get away.” “Well,” said +Lailí, “it is better that you should be killed than I, for if I +were to be killed a second time, God would not give me my +life again; but I can bring you to life if you are killed.” +Now Chumman Básá had come quite near, and seemed very +pleasant, so thought Prince Majnún; but when he was +speaking to Majnún, he drew his scimitar and cut off the +prince’s head at one blow.</p> + +<p>Lailí sat quite still on her horse, and as the Rájá came +towards her she said, “Why did you kill my husband?” +“Because I want to take you,” he answered. “You cannot,” +said Lailí. “Yes, I can,” said the Rájá. “Take me, then,” +said Lailí to Chumman Básá; so he came quite close and +put out his hand to take hers to lift her off her horse. But +she put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a tiny knife, +only as long as her hand was broad, and this knife unfolded +itself in one instant till it was such a length! and then Lailí +made a great sweep with her arm and her long, long knife, +and off came Chumman Básá’s head at one touch.</p> + +<p>Then Lailí slipped down off her horse, and she went to +Majnún’s dead body, and she cut her little finger inside her +hand straight down from the top of her nail to her palm, +and out of this gushed blood like healing medicine. Then +she put Majnún’s head on his shoulders, and smeared her +healing blood all over the wound, and Majnún woke up and +said, “What a delightful sleep I have had! Why, I feel as +if I had slept for years!” Then he got up and saw the Rájá’s +dead body by Lailí’s horse. “What’s that?” said Majnún. +“That is the wicked Rájá who killed you to seize me, just as I +said he would.” “Who killed him?” asked Majnún. “I did,” +answered Lailí, “and it was I who brought you to life.” “Do +bring the poor man to life if you know how to do so,” said +Majnún. “No,” said Lailí, “for he is a wicked man, and will +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>84]</a></span> +try to do you harm.” But Majnún asked her for such a long +time, and so earnestly to bring the wicked Rájá to life, that +at last she said, “Jump up on the horse, then, and go far +away with the groom.” “What will you do,” said Majnún, +“if I leave you? I cannot leave you.” “I will take care +of myself,” said Lailí; “but this man is so wicked, he may +kill you again if you are near him.” So Majnún got up on the +horse, and he and the groom went a long way off and waited +for Lailí. Then she set the wicked Rájá’s head straight on +his shoulders, and she squeezed the wound in her finger till +a little blood-medicine came out of it. Then she smeared +this over the place where her knife had passed, and just as +she saw the Rájá opening his eyes, she began to run, and +she ran, and ran so fast, that she outran the Rájá, who tried +to catch her; and she sprang up on the horse behind her +husband, and they rode so fast, so fast, till they reached +King Dantál’s palace.</p> + +<p>There Prince Majnún told everything to his father, who +was horrified and angry. “How lucky for you that you +have such a wife,” he said. “Why did you not do what she +told you? But for her, you would be now dead.” Then he +made a great feast out of gratitude for his son’s safety, and +gave many, many rupees to the fakírs. And he made so much +of Lailí. He loved her dearly; he could not do enough for +her. Then he built a splendid palace for her and his son, +with a great deal of ground about it, and lovely gardens, +and gave them great wealth, and heaps of servants to wait +on them. But he would not allow any but their servants to +enter their gardens and palace, and he would not allow +Majnún to go out of them, nor Lailí; “for,” said King +Dantál, “Lailí is so beautiful, that perhaps some one may +kill my son to take her away.”</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>85]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head15.jpg" width="600" height="97" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxv" id="sxv"></a>XV.<br /> +<br /> +HOW KING BURTAL BECAME A FAKÍR.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxv">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapo"><span class="dcap">O</span></span>NCE there was a great king called Burtal, and he +had a hundred and sixty wives, but he had no +children, which made him sad. One day he said +to his wives, “I am going to a very distant jungle which is +full of antelopes, to hunt them.” “Very well,” they answered, +“go.” So he went. In that jungle lived neither tigers nor +men, but only antelopes. When King Burtal reached the +jungle, some of the antelopes came to him and said, “Pray +don’t kill the black antelope, for he is our Rájá, and we have +no other antelope like him among us; but try to kill any of +the others—the brown or the yellow antelopes—that you +choose.” Now, the king was not a kind man, and he said, +“I will kill your black antelope, and no other.” So he shot +him dead. When the other antelopes saw this they began +to scream and cry with sorrow. But the dead antelope’s +wife said to them, “There is a holy man, a fakír, in the +jungle. Let us take the dead body to him and ask him to +bring our Rájá to life.” And King Burtal laughed at them +and said, “How can any man bring a dead antelope to +life?” But the antelopes took the body of their dead Rájá +on their backs, and the dead antelope’s wife went at their +head; and King Burtal went too; and they carried it to the +fakír, who was called Goraknáth, and who was resting in the +jungle, and they said to him, “Bring our Rájá to life again, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>86]</a></span> +for what can we do without a Rájá? and he has left no son +to succeed him.” And the queen antelope said, “I have +no other husband. I had only this one husband. Do bring +him to life for me.” King Burtal laughed and mocked them, +and said to the fakír, “I never heard of any man being able +to bring a dead antelope to life. I don’t believe you can +do it.” At this Goraknáth got angry, and he knelt down +and asked God to bring the antelope to life; and God told +him to take a wand and beat the dead antelope with it, and +then the antelope would be alive again. So Goraknáth took +a wand and beat the dead antelope, and it was alive once +more, and then it instantly sprang up into heaven. The +antelopes were delighted to see their Rájá alive again, and +they said, “We do not mind his going up to heaven, for he +will come down again to us.”</p> + +<p>King Burtal had stood by all the time, and he said to +Goraknáth, “Make me a fakír like yourself,” for he thought +it would be fine to do such wonderful things. But Goraknáth +would not, and King Burtal stayed in the jungle with +Goraknáth for twelve years, and all that time he never ceased +begging and praying to be made a fakír, till at last Goraknáth +said, “I cannot make you a fakír unless you go home +and address your wives as ‘Mamma,’ and ask them to give +you money and food.” Now, it is a very shameful thing +to call one’s wife ‘Mamma,’ for if a wife is called ‘Mamma’ +she has to leave her husband. Then Goraknáth took off +the king’s clothes, and dressed him only in a cloth and a +tiger’s skin; and the king went to his palace and began +begging for rice and food, and he would not take any from +the palace servants: he said he must and would see the +Ránís, and that they themselves should give him food. The +servants told the Ránís about this fakír who said he must +and would see them himself, and that they should give him +food and rice with their own hands, and one of their ayahs, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>87]</a></span> +who had recognized King Burtal, told them the fakír was +their husband who had been away twelve years. The Ránís +cried out, “Do not talk nonsense. That fakír can never be +our husband.” “Go and see for yourselves,” answered the +ayah. They went, and the fakír said to them, “Mamma, +give me rice.” “Why do you call us ‘Mamma’?” they said. +“We have no sons. You are not our son.” But at last they +saw he was indeed their husband, and they wrung their hands +and wept bitterly, and threw themselves on the ground before +him and said, “Why have you called us ‘Mamma’? +Why do you ask for bread? We must now leave you.” +“Don’t go away,” said the king. “Take my kingdom, my +money, my houses, and stay here till I return. I am going +to be a fakír.” His wives gave him some rice and some +money, and he went back to Goraknáth.</p> + +<p>In old days men who intended to become fakírs had to +do three tasks set them by one who was already a fakír; so +Goraknáth said to the king, “Now you must go to a jungle +that I will show you, and stay there for twelve years.” Then +King Burtal took the flat pan and the rolling-pin which he +used in making his flour cakes, and was quite ready to start +for the jungle, but the fakír stopped him. “You must leave +your pan and your rolling-pin behind,” he said; “and all +these twelve years you must neither eat nor drink, or you +can never be a fakír. You must sit quite still on the same +spot and never move.” “I shall die if I don’t eat,” said +the king; “but I don’t care if I do die, so I will do all you +tell me.” Then the fakír took him to a jungle, and made +him sit down on the grass, and instantly all the grass round +him grew up so tall and thick that King Burtal was quite +hidden by it, and no one could see him. Here he lived for +twelve years, and never moved, and he ate nothing, and +drank nothing, and nobody knew he was there.</p> + +<p>At the end of that time Goraknáth came and took him +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>88]</a></span> +away and said, “Now go home to your wives.” “Why should +I go to my wives? I do not wish to see my wives, for they +have given me no children,” said King Burtal. But Goraknáth +said, “Go and see them.” So King Burtal went; and +he begged for rice from them; and they entreated him to +stay with them, but he would not. “I will return to the +fakír Goraknáth,” he said. “Why should I stay with you? +You have never given me a child. What use is all my wealth +to me? I have no son to take it when I am dead. I will +become a fakír.” And they threw themselves on the ground +and wrung their hands, and said, “Oh, why will you leave +us?” He answered, “Because it pleases me to do so.” +And he called them all “Mamma,” and told them to stay +in his palace and take all he possessed for their own use. +Then he returned to Goraknáth.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said Goraknáth, “you must learn to be sweeper +to all the beasts of the jungle, and you must serve them for +twelve years.” So for twelve years King Burtal cleared the +grass and kept the jungle clean for all the creatures in it—cows, +sheep, goats, tigers, cats, bears. Sometimes he stayed +in one part of the jungle, and sometimes in another.</p> + +<p>When the twelve years were over he went to Goraknáth, +who said to him, “Good; you have learnt to serve the wild +beasts; now you must learn to serve men.” Then the fakír +took the king to a village, and bade him sweep it and keep +it clean for twelve years. Here King Burtal stayed for another +twelve years, and all that time he was the village-sweeper +and kept the village clean, and he swept all the +dust and dirt into a great heap till the heap was as high and +as big as a hut.</p> + +<p>When the twelve years were over he returned to Goraknáth +and stood before him, and as he stood there came a +man who was an angel sent by God, and he threw some +dirt on King Burtal’s head; but the king never moved +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>89]</a></span> +nor spoke. “Now,” cried Goraknáth, “I see you are a +true fakír: go and cleanse yourself by bathing in the +river.”</p> + +<p>The river in which he was sent to bathe was the Jamná. +In this river lived water-nymphs, and the nymph Gangá was +playing in it when her sister Jamná<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> came to her and said, +“Come quickly; our father is dying and wants to see you;” +and off Jamná went to her father. Gangá was hurrying +after her when King Burtal saw her, and stopped her, and +asked her where she was going so fast. “To my father, who +is very ill and dying,” said Gangá; “let me go.” “I will +not let you go,” said King Burtal. Then Gangá began to run, +and said, “You cannot keep me, you cannot catch me; no +man can catch me, no man can keep me.” This provoked +King Burtal, and he said, “I can catch you, and I can keep +you.” “No, no,” she answered; “no one can catch me, no +one can hold me.” Then King Burtal got quite vexed, and +he ran till he caught her, and then he said, “Now, I will not +let you go; I will keep you.” Then he held her in his hands +and rubbed her between his palms, and when he opened his +hands she had turned into a little round ball. He tried to +hide the ball in his hair, but could not, for his hair was too +short, and he found he could not hold Gangá, as she was +too strong for him; so he thought he would take her to +Mahádeo,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> who had long thick hair, and make him keep her, +for King Burtal was dreadfully frightened and did not dare +let the ball go, for fear Gangá, who he knew was very angry, +should take her own form and bring a great flood to drown +him. So he went quickly to Mahádeo, and gave the ball to +him. Mahádeo said, “Why not keep her yourself?” “I +cannot,” said King Burtal, “for my hair is too short to tie +her into; and I cannot hold her, for she is too strong for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>90]</a></span> +me; but your hair is long, and so you can hide her in it.” +Then Mahádeo had a round box made of bamboo, and in +this box was a hole into which he dropped the ball. And +he let down his long hair, and it reached to the ground, and +was thick—so thick; he put the box in his hair on the top +of his head, and rolled his long hair all round his head and +over the box just like a turban.</p> + +<p>Jamná finding her sister did not follow her, came up from +the bottom of the river to look for her, and she asked +whether any one had seen her, and at last some one said, +“King Burtal has taken her away.” Jamná set off to King +Burtal and said, “Give me my sister Gangá, for our father +is dying and wants to see her.” “It is true that I took her +away,” said King Burtal, “but I have not got her now; she +is with Mahádeo.” So Jamná went to Mahádeo,—“Give +me my sister quickly, for our father is dying and wants to see +her.” (Now Gangá was in a great passion inside her box.) +“I cannot give you Gangá,” said Mahádeo, “for she is so +angry that if I let her loose she will flood the country with +water.” “No, she will not; indeed, she will not,” said Jamná. +“If I give her to you, you will not be able to keep her,” said +Mahádeo. “Yes, yes, I shall,” said Jamná. “I do not +think you will,” said Mahádeo; “but here is the box in which +said is. Hold it tight, and be careful that neither you nor +any one else mentions her name on the journey.” Jamná +said she would be very careful, and took the box; but she +had to pass through a jungle in which were a number of +cowherds and holy men, one of whom was called Gangá. +Just as Jamná passed by, one of these men called to this +man by his name, Gangá, and instantly Gangá burst the box +and flooded the country with water. The holy men and the +cowherd called to her to have pity on them, and so did +Jamná; but Gangá was too angry to listen to them or speak +to them, so she drowned all the holy men and the cowherds, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>91]</a></span> +and when she got to her father’s house and found he was +dead, she was in such a rage that she declared she would +send a still greater flood to ruin the country; and so she +did.</p> + +<p>After this, King Burtal went to Goraknáth and stayed +with him some years, till Goraknáth said, “Now go to your +own kingdom.” But King Burtal refused, saying, “I wish +to stay with you; my wives have never given me a child. I +have no son. I do not care to return to my kingdom.” +However, Goraknáth would not allow him to stay. “Go +to your own kingdom,” he said again; “but first tell me how +many wives you have.” “A hundred and sixty,” answered +the King. “Here are a hundred and sixty líchí fruits for +you,” said the fakír. “Give one to each of your wives to +eat, and they will each have a son, and I will go with +you.” So King Burtal obeyed, and Goraknáth went with +him.</p> + +<p>Seventy years had passed since King Burtal had left his +kingdom. When he and Goraknáth reached it, they went +to an open plain and made a fire and sat down beside it. +Everybody who passed them said, “Who are these fakírs?” +Some servants of King Burtal’s Ránís passed too, and when +they got home they told the Ránís that their husband had +returned to his kingdom. But the Ránís said, “What nonsense +you talk! King Burtal went away with the fakír +Goraknáth.” The servants answered, “We are quite sure +that King Burtal is here, for Goraknáth is here, and with him +is another man, and we are sure this man is King Burtal.” +So all the Ránís went to see for themselves, and when they +saw the fakír that was with Goraknáth they knew he was their +husband. Then the first Rání, who was very angry with him +for having left them, said a spell over him: “God is very +angry with you for leaving us, and he will send you a bad +illness.” But King Burtal answered, “Do not be angry with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>92]</a></span> +me. I am your husband, and have come back to you after +an absence of seventy years.” At this the youngest Rání +was very glad, and she ordered drums to be beaten and she +beat a drum herself, and they sang songs, and all went to +the palace together, and Goraknáth with them.</p> + +<p>Then Goraknáth said he must now go away, but first he +asked King Burtal to show him a grand feat as a proof of his +skill. So King Burtal sent to the smith for a great iron +chain. Then he lit a big fire. This alarmed the palace +servants, who wondered if he were going to burn his palace +and his wives. King Burtal next sent for some ghee. “What +is he going to do with the ghee?” said the palace servants. +Then he drove a nail into the wall, rubbed his hands with the +ghee, put the iron chain into the fire and drew it out red-hot; +flames came from the iron. Then King Burtal hung it on +the nail and pulled and pulled at the chain till he drew it off +the nail, and his hands were not in the least burnt. The +Ránís and palace servants were greatly astonished and Goraknáth +much pleased. “You know how to do your work well,” +said he to the king. Then Goraknáth bade him good bye, +telling him to look after his kingdom and his wives; but +they all said he must not leave them, and they built him a +grand house in the compound, and gave him a great many +servants to wait on him, and plenty of money; so Goraknáth +agreed to live in this house; only, as he was a fakír, he often +went away by himself to spend some time in his jungle, +always returning to his house in King Burtal’s compound. +Meanwhile King Burtal gave each of his wives a líchí to eat, +and after a little while each wife had a little son. They +were all such beautiful children; but the biggest and handsomest +of all was the eldest Rání’s little son. His name was +Sazádá, and his father and mother loved him dearly.</p> + +<p>When Prince Sazádá was about six or seven years old, the +fakír Goraknáth came to King Burtal and said, “Now +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>93]</a></span> +you must give me your son Sazádá, for I want to take +him away with me for some years.” The Rání, his mother, +refused to let him go, but at last she had to do so, and then +she became mad and very sick for grief.</p> + +<p>Goraknáth took the little prince to Indrásan to be taught +by the fairies, and on arriving he married him to Jahúr +Rání, who was the daughter of the greatest of the fairy queens. +Goraknáth made a grand wedding for the little prince, and +all the fairies were delighted that he should be the little +Jahúr Rání’s husband, for he was such a beautiful child they +all fell in love with him the moment they saw him, and they +taught him to play on all kinds of instruments, and to sing +beautifully, and to read and write, and he grew handsomer +and handsomer every day in the fairy kingdom. Goraknáth +came often to see him, and the fairies took great care of him.</p> + +<p>When Prince Sazádá had grown a fine strong young man, +Goraknáth took him and his wife, the Jahúr Rání, and brought +them in great state to King Burtal’s kingdom. First he took +the young prince and presented him to his father and said, +“See, here is your son. Now he can read and write, sing and +play on all kinds of instruments, for I have had him taught +all these things.” But they, when they saw him, fell on their +faces, for they could not look at him on account of his great +beauty. He had grown so handsome in Indrásan, and his +cheeks were red. “How can this beautiful boy be our son?” +they said, and they did not recognize him. “Stand up,” +said Goraknáth. “This is your son Sazádá; do not fall +down before your son.” So they stood up, and the fakír +said, “I have married your son to the fairy princess Jahúr +Rání, and I will bring her to you.” So then he brought +the little Rání, and when they saw her they fell down again, +for they could not look at her beauty. Her hair was like +red gold, her eyes were dark, and her eyelashes black. But +Goraknáth made them stand up; and when they really +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>94]</a></span> +understood it was their son and his wife that he had brought +them, they took Prince Sazádá into their arms, and kissed +him and loved him, and his Rání too. Goraknáth made a +grand wedding-feast for them all, and they were all very +happy.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> +Yamuná.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> +Mahadeva, <i>i.e.</i> Siva.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 175px;"> +<img src="images/tail11.jpg" width="175" height="154" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>95]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head16.jpg" width="600" height="115" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxvi" id="sxvi"></a>XVI.<br /> +<br /> +SOME OF THE DOINGS OF SHEKH FARÍD.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxvi">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapo"><span class="dcap">O</span></span>NCE there was a Rájá called Hámánsá Rájá. He +had a son, named Gursan Rájá, who married +Kheláparí Rání, the daughter of Gulábsá Rájá. +After the wedding Gursan Rájá brought her home to his +father’s house.</p> + +<p>One day Gursan Rájá came home from hunting, very very +tired and thirsty. It was about twelve or one o’clock in the +day. He asked Kheláparí Rání to fetch him some water, +and while she went for it he fell asleep. When she came +back she found him still sleeping, and because he was so +tired he slept all the afternoon and all night, and never woke +till the next morning. His wife stood by him all the time +holding the water in a brass cup. When he woke and +found she had stood there all the afternoon and all night he +was very sorry, and asked God to forgive him, and to give his +wife whatever she wished for, no matter what it might be. +So Kheláparí wished that whatever happened in any country, +she might know of it at once of herself without any one +telling her, no matter how far away the country might be.</p> + +<p>One day Kheláparí Rání went to draw water from the +tank, and by the tank sat an old man, the fakír Shekh Faríd. +He said to the Rání, “Give me a little water to drink.” +“I will,” she said, “only drink it quickly, for my father’s +house is on fire, and I am going to put it out.” “How far +off is your father’s country?” asked Shekh Faríd. “About +twenty miles,” answered Kheláparí. “Then how can you +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>96]</a></span> +know his house is on fire!” said Shekh Faríd; “I have been +a fakír for twelve years, and for twelve years neither ate nor +drank, and yet I do not know what happens twenty miles +away.” “But I know,” she answered. “Leave your water-jar +here,” he said, “and go and see if the house really is on +fire, and I will not drink till you return to me.”</p> + +<p>So off went Kheláparí Rání to her father’s country, and +when she got there his house was burning, and she stayed +till the fire was put out, and then returned to the tank where +she left the fakír. “Is it true,” he asked, “that your +father’s house was on fire?” “Quite true,” she answered. +The fakír wondered. “How could she know it when the +fire was twenty miles off?” he said to himself, and he determined +to go to Gulábsá Rájá’s country to see if the Rání +had told him the truth.</p> + +<p>He went by a roundabout road, as he did not know the +way, so it took him three or four days to get there. When +he did, he asked some villagers if there had been a fire at +their Rájá’s house. “Yes, a few days ago there was,” they +answered. So the fakír, still more astonished, decided he +would go back to Hámánsá Rájá’s palace and ask Kheláparí +Rání how it came to pass that she was wiser than Shekh +Faríd.</p> + +<p>As he was returning, he met a bullock-cart laden with bags +of sugar, and he asked the driver what the bags contained. +The driver was put out because his bullocks would not go +on quickly, and he was tired with beating and goading them, +so he said crossly, “It’s ashes.” “Good,” said Shekh Faríd, +“let it be ashes.” When the cartman got to the bazar, and +went to make over the sugar to the merchant who had sent +him for it, he found all his bags full of ashes, nothing but +ashes. He was in a great state of mind, for a good deal +of money had been paid for the sugar, and he was a poor +man. So he went back to Shekh Faríd and fell down at his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>97]</a></span> +feet, saying, “I am a poor, poor man. My sugar is turned +to ashes. Do make the ashes sugar again.” “Good,” said +the fakír; “go home, and you will find sugar, and next time +you are asked what you have in your cart, tell the truth and +not lies.” The cartman went home, and when he saw his +sugar was sugar once more, and no longer ashes, he was +very, very glad.</p> + +<p>One of his brother-villagers thought, “How pleasant it +would be to become a fakír and do such things myself! I +will go to this fakír and learn from him to be a fakír too.” +So he went after Shekh Faríd and found him walking along +the road, and he followed him. Now Shekh Faríd knew at +once what this man wanted, so as they passed a heap of +clay bricks, he said, “O God, let it be thy pleasure to give +me power to turn these clay bricks into gold.” Instantly +they became gold, and Shekh Faríd walked on; but the +villager took up two of the bricks and put one under each +arm, and then followed the fakír. Suddenly Shekh Faríd +turned round, and said to him, “You have two clay bricks +under your arms.” The man looked, saw it was true, and +threw them away. Then Shekh Faríd said to him, “You +steal bricks, and yet wish to be a fakír?” The man was +ashamed, and went back to his village.</p> + +<p>Shekh Faríd continued his journey and got to Hámánsá +Rájá’s country; but when he got there he found Kheláparí +had gone to another country for a little while, so he never +saw her, nor found out how it was that she knew what happened +twenty miles off.</p> + +<p>In a jungle in Hámánsá Rájá’s country he met a man, +called Fakír-achand, and his wife, who were very poor. +They were going to bury their only son, and were crying +bitterly. Shekh Faríd asked them, “Would you like your +son to be alive again?” “Yes,” they said. “Will you give +him to me, and I will bring him to life, and then he shall +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>98]</a></span> +return to you?” said Shekh Faríd. “Yes,” they answered, +and gave him their dead son, and went to their home.</p> + +<p>The fakír carried the dead boy, who was called Mohandás, +a little further on, and then laid him on the ground, and +struck him with a long thin bamboo wand he carried in +his hand. The boy stood up. Shekh Faríd asked him, +“Would you like to go home to your father and mother, or +to stay with me?” “To stay with you,” said Mohandás. +(Had he wished to go home, the fakír would have been very +angry.) “Then,” said Shekh Faríd, “I will call your mother +here.” He did so, and when she came, he said to her, +“See, here is your son alive. Will you give him to me for +twelve years?” The woman said, “Yes,” and went home. +The fakír gave her and her husband a quantity of rupees and +built them a beautiful house. Then he and Mohandás set +out on their travels, and wandered about the jungles for +one whole year, till they came to a country full of large +splendid gardens belonging to a very rich Rájá, called +Dumkás Rájá.</p> + +<p>This Rájá had a beautiful daughter, Champákálí Rání. +She had lovely golden hair, golden eyebrows, golden eyelashes, +blue eyes, and her skin was transparent. In Dumkás +Rájá’s country they had never seen a fakír, so when Shekh +Faríd and Mohandás arrived, the Rájá sent to them, and +asked Shekh Faríd to come to talk to him. “No,” said the +fakír, “I will not go to the Rájá: if the Rájá wants me, he +must come to me.”</p> + +<p>Dumkás Rájá was very angry when his messengers returned +with this answer, and he ordered Shekh Faríd to leave +his country immediately; but the fakír said he would not go +until he had married his adopted son, Mohandás, to Champákálí +Rání. The people all laughed at him for saying this, +and declared such a marriage would never take place. +However, the fakír and Mohandás walked about and saw the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>99]</a></span> +town, and looked at everything, and everybody stared at +them. Then they went to live on the border of Dumkás +Rájá’s country, and lived there for some time.</p> + +<p>One day Shekh Faríd bought Mohandás a beautiful horse +and fine clothes such as Rájás wear, and told the boy to +ride about the fields and high roads. He also told him not +to speak to any one unless they spoke to him. Mohandás +promised to do as he was bid. As he was riding along, he +met the Princess Champákálí, who was also riding. She +asked him who he was. “A Rájá’s son,” he said. “What +Rájá?” asked Champákálí. “Never mind what Rájá,” said +Mohandás. The princess then went home, and so did +Mohandás; but every day after this they met and talked +together, and the princess fell very much in love with +Mohandás.</p> + +<p>At last she said to her father, “I wish to marry a young +man who rides about on the border-land every day, and is +very handsome.” The Rájá consented, for it was time his +daughter was married, and now no Rájá from another +country would come to marry her, as the demons who +guarded the princess swallowed all her suitors at one gulp, +and had already swallowed many Rájás who had come on +this errand.</p> + +<p>Shekh Faríd said to Mohandás, “Now go up to the palace, +and claim the princess for your wife.” “If I do,” said +Mohandás, “the demons will swallow me.” “I will not let +them swallow you,” said Shekh Faríd. So Mohandás consented +and set off for the palace, Shekh Faríd following him. +When Mohandás came to the demons, they were going to +swallow him; but the fakír, who had his sword in his hand, +killed them all, and as he did so, the Rájás and princes who +had come as suitors to the Princess Champákálí, and had +therefore been swallowed by the demons, all came jumping +out of the demons’ stomachs and ran off in all directions as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>100]</a></span> +hard as they could, from fear not knowing where they +went.</p> + +<p>Mohandás was greatly frightened at all this; but Shekh +Faríd explained everything to him, so he went on to the +palace, and the fakír went too. There Mohandás asked +Dumkás Rájá to give him his daughter as his wife, and the +Rájá consented. So he was married to Champákálí Rání, +and her father gave them a great many elephants, and horses, +and camels, and a great deal of money and many jewels. +And Mohandás and his wife set off with the fakír to his +father Fakír-achand’s house, and they took all the elephants, +camels, horses, money and jewels with them. On the way +Mohandás told Champákálí Rání that he was not a great +Rájá’s son, but the son of poor people. Champákálí’s heart +was very sad at this; however, she was not angry, only +sorry.</p> + +<p>When they reached Hámánsá Rájá’s country, and had +come to Fakír-achand’s house, the fakír said to Mohandás’s +mother, “See, you lent me one child, and I have brought +you back two children. Does this please you?” “Indeed +it does please me,” she answered; “I am very happy.”</p> + +<p>They built a beautiful palace and all lived in it together. +The mother begged Shekh Faríd to stay with them, saying, +“Only stay with us; I will give you a bungalow, and you +shall have everything you want.” But Shekh Faríd said, “I +am a fakír, and so cannot stay with you, as I may never stay +in one place, and must, instead, wander from country to +country and from jungle to jungle.” So he said good-bye to +them and went on his wanderings, and never returned to +them.</p> + +<p>Mohandás, his wife, and his father and mother, all lived +happily together.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Dunkní.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>101]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head17.jpg" width="600" height="133" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxvii" id="sxvii"></a>XVII.<br /> +<br /> +THE MOUSE.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxvii">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapt"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HERE was a mouse who wanted something to eat; +so he went to a garden, where many kinds of +grain, and fruit, and cabbages, and other vegetables +were growing. All round the garden the people to whom it +belonged had planted a hedge of thorns, that nothing might +get in. The mouse scrambled through the hedge, but great +thorns pierced his tail, and he began to cry. He came out +of the garden again through the hedge, and on his way +home he met a barber.</p> + +<p>“You must take out these thorns,” said he to the barber.</p> + +<p>“I cannot,” said the barber, “without cutting off your tail +with my razor.”</p> + +<p>“Never mind cutting off my tail,” said the mouse.</p> + +<p>The barber cut off the mouse’s tail. But the mouse was +in a rage. He seized the razor and ran away with it. At +this the poor barber was very unhappy and began to cry, for +he had no pice wherewith to buy another.</p> + +<p>The mouse ran on and on until at last he came to another +country, in which there were no knives or sickles to cut the +grass with. There the mouse saw a man pulling the grass +out of the ground with his hands.</p> + +<p>“You will cut your hands,” said the mouse.</p> + +<p>“There are no knives here,” said the man, “so I must +pull up the grass in this way.”</p> + +<p>“You must take my razor then,” said the mouse.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>102]</a></span> +“Suppose your razor should break? I could not buy you +another,” said the man.</p> + +<p>“Never mind if it does break,” said the mouse, “I give +it to you as a present.”</p> + +<p>So the man took the razor and began cutting the grass, +and as he was cutting, the razor broke.</p> + +<p>“Oh, why have you broken my razor?” exclaimed the +mouse.</p> + +<p>“Did not I tell you it would break?” answered the man.</p> + +<p>The mouse snatched up the man’s blanket and ran off +with it. The grass-cutter began to cry. “What shall I do?” +said he. “The mouse has carried away my blanket, and I +have not money wherewith to buy another.” And he went +home very sad.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the mouse ran on and on until he arrived at +another country, where he saw a grain merchant chopping up +sugar-canes; only as he had no blanket or cloth to lay the +canes on, he chopped them up on the ground, and so they +got dirty.</p> + +<p>“Why do you chop up your canes on the ground?” said +the mouse; “they all get dirty.”</p> + +<p>“What can I do?” answered the man. “I have no pice +wherewith to buy a blanket to chop them on.”</p> + +<p>“Then why don’t you take mine?” said the mouse.</p> + +<p>“If I took yours it would get cut, and I have no money +to buy you another,” said the grain merchant.</p> + +<p>“Never mind; I don’t want another,” said the mouse.</p> + +<p>So the man took the blanket, and of course he cut it. +When he had finished chopping up his sugar-canes, he gave +it back to the mouse.</p> + +<p>When the mouse saw the blanket was full of holes, he was +very angry indeed with the man, and seizing all the sugar-canes +he ran away with them as fast as he could. The grain +merchant began to cry. “What shall I do?” said he; “I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>103]</a></span> +have no more sugar-canes.” And he went home very +sorrowful.</p> + +<p>Then the mouse ran on and on till he came to another +country, where he stopped at a sweetmeat-seller’s shop. +Now in this country there was no salt and no sugar. And +the sweetmeat-seller made his sweetmeats of flour and ghee +without either sugar or salt, so that they were very nasty.</p> + +<p>“Will you give me some sweetmeats for a pice?” said +the mouse to the sweetmeat-seller. “Yes,” answered the +man, and he gave one. The mouse began to eat it and +thought it very nasty indeed.</p> + +<p>“Why, there is no sugar in it!” exclaimed the mouse.</p> + +<p>“No,” said the man; “we have no sugar in this country. +The few sugar-canes we have are so dear, that poor people +like myself cannot buy them.”</p> + +<p>“Then take my sugar-canes,” cried the mouse.</p> + +<p>“No,” said the man. “Where should I find the money +to pay you for them? They would be all used in making +sweetmeats.”</p> + +<p>“Take them,” said the mouse; “I give them to you.”</p> + +<p>The sweetmeat-seller took them and began making sweetmeats +of all kinds, so that he used all the sugar-canes.</p> + +<p>“Why have you used all my sugar-canes?” cried the mouse.</p> + +<p>“Did not I tell you I should do so?” said the man.</p> + +<p>“You are a thief!” cried the mouse, and he knocked +down the sweetmeat-seller, seized all his sweetmeats, and ran +off with them.</p> + +<p>“What shall I do now?” cried the sweetmeat-seller. “I +have no money to buy flour and ghee to make more sweetmeats +with; and if I quarrel with the mouse, he will doubtless +kill me.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the mouse ran on and on till he reached a +country, the Rájá of which had a great many cows—hundreds +of cows. The mouse stopped at the pasture-ground +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>104]</a></span> +of these cows. Now, the cowherds were so poor they could +not buy bread every day, and sometimes they ate bread which +was twelve days old. When the mouse arrived, the cowherds +were eating their bread, and it was very stale and mouldy.</p> + +<p>“Why do you eat that stale bread?” said the mouse.</p> + +<p>“Because we have no money to buy any other with,” +answered the cowherds.</p> + +<p>“Look at all these sweetmeats,” said the mouse. “Take +them and eat them instead of that stale bread.”</p> + +<p>“But if we eat them, we must pay you for them, and +where shall we get the money?” said the cowherds.</p> + +<p>“Oh, never mind the money,” said the mouse.</p> + +<p>So the cowherds took the sweetmeats and ate them all +up. At this the mouse was furious. He stuck a pole into +the ground, and ran and fetched ropes, and tied the cowherds +hand and foot to the pole. Then he took all the cows +and ran off with them.</p> + +<p>He ran on and on till he got to a country where there +were no fowls, no cows, no buffaloes, no meat of any kind; +and the people in it did not even know what milk and +meat were. The day the mouse arrived was the day the +Rájá’s daughter was to be married, and a great many people +were assembled together. The Rájá’s cooks were cooking, +but they had neither meat nor ghee.</p> + +<p>“Why are all these people assembled together?” said the +mouse.</p> + +<p>“To-day is our Rájá’s daughter’s wedding-day, and we are +cooking the dinner,” answered the cooks.</p> + +<p>“But you have no meat,” said the mouse.</p> + +<p>“No,” said the cooks. “There is no meat of any kind +in our country.”</p> + +<p>“Take my cows,” said the mouse.</p> + +<p>“No,” said the cooks; “our Rájá could not pay for them; +he is too poor.” (He was only a petty Rájá.)</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>105]</a></span> +“It does not matter,” said the mouse. “I don’t want +money.”</p> + +<p>So the cooks took the cows and the sheep and killed them, +and dressed their flesh in different ways; made pilaus +and curries; they roasted some and boiled some, and gave +it to the people to eat. In this way they made an end of all +the cows.</p> + +<p>“Why have you made an end of all my cows?” cried the +mouse.</p> + +<p>“Did not we tell you we should make use of them all?” +said the cooks.</p> + +<p>“Give me my cows,” said the mouse.</p> + +<p>“We can’t. The people have eaten them all up,” said +the cooks.</p> + +<p>The mouse was in a great rage. He ran off to the bridegroom, +who was walking near the kitchen, saying to himself, +“Now I will go and fetch my bride.”</p> + +<p>“Give me the money for my cows,” cried the mouse to +him. “Your people have eaten them all up, and your cooks +won’t pay me, so you must.”</p> + +<p>“What have I to do with your cows?” said the bridegroom. +“I won’t pay you for them.”</p> + +<p>“Then if you won’t pay me, your wife’s father must,” said +the mouse.</p> + +<p>“Oh, <em>he</em> is too poor to pay for your cows,” said the bridegroom, +“and I won’t.”</p> + +<p>“Then if I am not paid, I will take away your bride,” said +the mouse; and he ran off and carried away the bride.</p> + +<p>The Rájá was very angry at this; but the mouse ran on +and on with his wife (so he called the Rájá’s daughter) till +he came to another country.</p> + +<p>Now, on the day he arrived in it there were going to be +grand sights and fun to please its Rájá. Some jugglers and +rope-dancers were going to perform.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>106]</a></span> +“Take my wife and let her walk on the rope; she is young, +and your wives are old,” said the mouse to the rope-dancers.</p> + +<p>“No,” they answered, “for she does not know how to +walk on a rope and carry at the same time a wooden plate +on her head. She would fall and break her neck.”</p> + +<p>“But you must take my wife,” said the mouse. “She +won’t fall; she is young, and your wives are old. You really +must take her.”</p> + +<p>So the rope-dancers took her, much against their will, and +when she began to walk on the rope with the wooden plate +on her head, she fell and died.</p> + +<p>“Oh, why have you killed my wife?” cried the mouse.</p> + +<p>“Did we not tell you she would fall and kill herself?” +answered the rope-dancers.</p> + +<p>The mouse seized all the jugglers’ and rope-dancers’ wives, +and the things they used in dancing and juggling, and ran +off with them. Then the rope-dancers and jugglers began +to cry, and said, “What shall we do? Our wives and our +property are all gone!”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the mouse ran on and on until he came to +another country, where he got a house to live in. And he +ate a great deal, and grew so fat that he could not get through +the door of his house.</p> + +<p>“Send for a carpenter,” said he to the rope-dancers’ and +jugglers’ wives, “and tell him to cut off some of my flesh. +Then I shall be able to get into my house.”</p> + +<p>The women sent for a carpenter, and when he came the +mouse said to him, “cut off some of my flesh, then I shall +be able to go into my house.”</p> + +<p>“If I do,” said the carpenter, “you will die.”</p> + +<p>“No, I shan’t die,” said the mouse. “Do as I bid +you.”</p> + +<p>So the carpenter took his knife, and cut off some of the +mouse’s flesh.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>107]</a></span> +“Oh, dear! oh, dear!” cried the mouse; “how it does +hurt! What can I do to make it stop paining me?”</p> + +<p>“You must go to a certain place, where a particular kind +of grain grows, and rub the grain on your wounds. Then +they will get quite well,” said the carpenter.</p> + +<p>So the mouse ran off to the place to which the carpenter +had told him to go, and rubbed his wounds with the grain. +This gave him such pain that he fell down and died.</p> + +<p>The rope-dancers’ and jugglers’ wives went home to their +husbands with all the things the mouse had carried away, +and they all lived happily ever after.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Karím.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/tail07.jpg" width="200" height="117" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>108]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head01.jpg" width="600" height="126" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxviii" id="sxviii"></a>XVIII.<br /> +<br /> +A WONDERFUL STORY.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxviii">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapo"><span class="dcap">O</span></span>NCE there lived two wrestlers, who were both very +very strong. The stronger of the two had a daughter +called Ajít; the other had no daughter at all. +These wrestlers did not live in the same country, but their +two villages were not far apart.</p> + +<p>One day the wrestler that had no daughter heard of the +wrestler that had a daughter, and he determined to go and +find him and wrestle with him, to see who was the stronger. +He went therefore to Ajít’s father’s country, and when he +arrived at his house, he knocked at the door and said, “Is +any one here?” Ajít answered, “Yes, I am here;” and +she came out. “Where is the wrestler who lives in this +house?” he asked. “My father,” answered Ajít, “has +taken three hundred carts to the jungle, and he is drawing +them himself, as he could not get enough bullocks and +horses to pull them along. He is gone to get wood.” This +astonished the wrestler very much. “Your father must +indeed be very strong,” he said.</p> + +<p>Then he set off to the jungle, and in the jungle he found +two dead elephants. He tied them to the two ends of a +pole, took the pole on his shoulder, and returned to Ajít’s +house. There he knocked at the door, crying, “Is any one +here?” “Yes, I am here,” said Ajít. “Has your father come +back?” asked the wrestler. “Not yet,” said Ajít, who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>109]</a></span> +was busy sweeping the room. Now, her father had twelve +elephants. Eleven were in the stables, but one was lying +dead in the room Ajít was sweeping; and as she swept, she +swept the dead elephant without any trouble out of the +door. This frightened the wrestler. “What a strong girl +this is!” he said to himself. When Ajít had swept all the +dust out of the room, she came and gathered it and the +dead elephant up, and threw dust and elephant away. The +wrestler was more and more astonished.</p> + +<p>He set off again to find Ajít’s father, and met him pulling +the three hundred carts along. At this he was still more +alarmed, but he said to him, “Will you wrestle with me +now?” “No,” said Ajít’s father, “I won’t; for here there is +no one to see us.” The other again begged him to wrestle +at once, and at that moment an old woman bent with age +came by. She was carrying bread to her son, who had taken +his mother’s three or four thousand camels to browse.</p> + +<p>The first wrestler called to her at once, “Come and see us +wrestle.” “No,” said the old woman, “for I must take my +son his dinner. He is very hungry.” “No, no; you must +stay and see us wrestle,” cried both the wrestlers. “I cannot +stay,” she said; “but do one of you stand on one of my +hands, and the other on the other, and then you can wrestle +as we go along.” “You carry us!” cried the men. “You +are so old, you will never be able to carry us.” “Indeed I +shall,” said the old woman. So they got up on her hands, +and she rested her hands, with the wrestlers standing on them, +on her shoulders; and her son’s flour-cakes she put on her +head. Thus they went on their way, and the men wrestled +as they went.</p> + +<p>Now the old woman had told her son that if he did not +do his work well, she would bring men to kill him; so he +was dreadfully frightened when he saw his mother coming +with the wrestlers. “Here is my mother coming to kill me,” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>110]</a></span> +he said: and he tied up the three or four thousand camels in +his cloth, put them all on his head, and ran off with them as +fast as he could. “Stop, stop!” cried his mother, when she +saw him running away. But he only ran on still faster, and +the old woman and the wrestlers ran after him.</p> + +<p>Just then a kite was flying about, and the kite said to itself, +“There must be some meat in that man’s cloth,” so it swept +down and carried off the bundle of camels. The old +woman’s son at this sat down and cried.</p> + +<p>The wrestlers soon came up to him and said, “What are +you crying for?” “Oh,” answered the boy, “my mother +said that if I did not do my work, she would bring men to +kill me. So, when I saw you coming with her, I tied all the +camels up in my cloth, put them on my head, and ran off. +A kite came down and carried them all away. That is why +I am crying.” The wrestlers were much astonished at the +boy’s strength and at the kite’s strength, and they all three +set off in the direction in which the kite had flown.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the kite had flown on and on till it had reached +another country, and the daughter of the Rájá of this country +was sitting on the roof of the palace, combing her long +black hair. The princess looked up at the kite and the +bundle, and said, “There must be meat in that bundle.” At +that moment the kite let the bundle of camels fall, and it fell +into the princess’s eye, and went deep into it; but her eye was +so large that it did not hurt her much. “Oh, mother! +mother!” she cried, “something has fallen into my eye! come +and take it out.” Her mother rushed up, took the bundle +of camels out of the princess’s eye, and shoved the bundle +into her pocket.</p> + +<p>The wrestlers and the old woman’s son now came up, +having seen all that had happened. “Where is the bundle +of camels?” said they, “and why do you cry?” they asked +the princess. “Oh,” said her mother, “she is crying because +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>111]</a></span> +something fell into her eye.” “It was the bundle of camels +that fell into her eye, and the bundle is in your pocket,” said +the old woman’s son to the Rání: and he put his hand into +her pocket and pulled out the bundle. Then he and the +wrestlers went back to Ajít’s father’s house, and on the +way they met his old mother, who went with them.</p> + +<p>They invited a great many people to dinner, and Ajít took +a large quantity of flour and made it into flat cakes. Then +she handed a cake to the wrestler who had come to see her +father, and gave one to everybody else. “I can’t eat such +a big cake as this,” said the wrestler. “Can’t you?” said +Ajít. “I can’t indeed,” he answered; “it is much too +big.” “Then I will eat it myself,” said Ajít, and taking it +and all the other cakes she popped them into her mouth together. +“That is not half enough for me,” she said. Then +she offered him a can of water. “I cannot drink all that +water,” he said. “Can’t you?” said Ajít; “I can drink +much more than that.” So she filled a large tub with water, +lifted it to her mouth, and drank it all up at a draught.</p> + +<p>The wrestler was very much astonished, and said to her, +“Will you come to my house? I will give you a dinner.” +“You will never be able to give me enough to eat and drink,” +said Ajít. “Yes, I shall,” he said. “You will not be able +to give me enough, I am sure,” said Ajít; “I cannot come.” +“Do come,” he said. “Very well,” she answered, “I will +come; but I know you will never be able to give me enough +food.”</p> + +<p>So they set off to his house. But when they had gone a +little way, she said, “I must have my house with me.” +“I cannot carry your house,” said the wrestler. “You must,” +said Ajít, “if you don’t, I cannot go with you.” “But I +cannot carry your house,” said the wrestler. “Well, then,” +said Ajít, “I will carry it myself.” So she went back, dug +up her house, and hoisted it on her head. This frightened +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>112]</a></span> +the wrestler. “What a strong woman she must be!” he +thought. “I will not wrestle with her father; for if I do, he +will kill me.”</p> + +<p>Then they all went on till they came to his house. When +they got to it, Ajít set her house down on the ground, and +the wrestler went to get the dinner he had promised her. He +brought quantities of things—all sorts of things—everything +he could think of. Three kinds of flour, milk, dhall, rice, +curries, and meat. Then he showed them all to Ajít. “That +is not enough for my dinner,” she said. “Why, that would +be hardly enough for my mice!”</p> + +<p>The wrestler wondered very much at this, and asked, “Are +your mice so very big?” “Yes, they are very big,” she +answered; “come and see.” So he took up all the food he +had brought, and laid it on the floor of Ajít’s house. Then +at once all the mice came and ate it up every bit. The +wrestler was greatly surprised; and Ajít said, “Did I not +tell you true? and did I not tell you, you would never be able +to get me enough to eat?” “Come to the Nabha Rájá’s +country,” said the wrestler. “There you will surely get +enough to eat.”</p> + +<p>To this she agreed; so she, her father, and the wrestler +went off to the Nabha Rájá’s country. “I have brought a +very strong girl,” said the wrestler to the Nabha Rájá. “I +will try her strength,” said the Rájá. “Give me three +elephants,” said Ajít, “and I will carry them for you.” Then +the Rájá sent for three elephants, and said to her, “Now, +carry these.” “Give me a rope,” said Ajít. So they gave +her a rope, and she tied the three elephants together, and +flung them over her shoulder. “Now, where shall I throw +them?” she said to the astonished Rájá. “Shall I throw +them on to the roof of your palace? or on to the ground? +or away out there?” “I don’t know,” said the Rájá. +“Throw them upon my roof.” She threw the elephants up +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>113]</a></span> +on to the roof with such force that it broke, and the elephants +fell through into the palace.</p> + +<p>“What have you done?” cried the Rájá. “It is not my +fault,” answered Ajít. “You told me to throw the elephants +on to your roof, and so I did.” Then the Rájá sent for a +great many men and bullocks and horses to pull the elephants +out of his palace. But they could not the first time +they pulled; then they tried a second time and succeeded, +and they threw the elephants away.</p> + +<p>Then Ajít went home. “What shall I do with this dreadful +woman?” said the Nabha Rájá. “She is sure to kill +me, and take all my country. I will try to kill her.” So he +got his sepoys and guns into order, and went out to kill Ajít. +She was looking out of her window, and saw them coming. +“Oh,” she said, “here is the Nabha Rájá coming to kill me.” +Then she went out of her house and asked him why he had +come. “To kill you,” said the Rájá. “Is that what you +want to do?” she said; and with one hand she took up the +Rájá, his guns, and his sepoys, and put them all under her +arm: and she carried them all off to the Nabha Rájá’s +country. There she put the Rájá into prison, and made herself +Rání of his kingdom. She was very much pleased at +being Rání of the Nabha country; for it was a rich country, +and there were quantities of fruits and of corn in it. And +she lived happily for a long, long time.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Karím, 13th January, 1877.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/tail12.jpg" width="300" height="100" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>114]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head18.jpg" width="600" height="141" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxix" id="sxix"></a>XIX.<br /> +<br /> +THE FAKÍR NÁNAKSÁ SAVES THE +MERCHANT’S LIFE.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxix">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapi"><span class="dcap">I</span></span>N a country there was a grain merchant who was a +very good man. Now a fakír named Nánaksá, +who was also a very good man, came constantly +to talk with him.</p> + +<p>One day he came as usual, and the merchant and his +wife were very glad to see him. As they were all sitting +together, they saw a goat led away to be killed. The goat +escaped from the man who was leading him and hid behind +the merchant, but he was caught and marched off to death.</p> + +<p>At this the merchant said nothing, but the fakír laughed.</p> + +<p>A little later they saw an old woman who had done something +wrong, and, therefore, the king had ordered her to be +taken to the jungle and there put to death. The old woman +escaped from the men who were leading her and took refuge +behind the merchant, but she was seized and led away to +die.</p> + +<p>The merchant said nothing; the fakír laughed, and the +merchant’s wife saw him laugh.</p> + +<p>At this moment the merchant’s little daughter woke and +began to scream. Her mother took her in her arms; the +child was cross and pulled her mother’s clothes all awry.</p> + +<p>The fakír laughed.</p> + +<p>The mother put her dress straight and held her child in +her arms and stopped her crying. She then took a knife +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>115]</a></span> +and went up to the fakír, saying, “Why did you laugh three +times? Tell me the truth. What made you laugh three +times?” Nánaksá answered, “What does it signify whether +I cry or laugh? Ask me no questions, for I am a fakír, +and it does not matter in the least whether I laugh or cry.” +However, the merchant’s wife insisted on knowing why he +laughed, and she said, “If you do not tell me, I will kill +you with my knife.” “Good,” said Nánaksá; “if you really +do wish to know, I will tell you.” “I really do wish to +know,” she answered.</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Nánaksá, “you remember the goat took refuge +behind your husband? That goat in his former life was +your husband’s father, and your husband would have saved +him from death had he given the man who was taking him +to be killed four rupees, for the man would then have gone +away contentedly without the goat.”</p> + +<p>“Good,” said the woman. “Why did you laugh the +second time?”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Nánaksá, “that old woman who hid herself +behind your husband was his grandmother in her former life. +Had your husband given the men who were taking her to the +jungle twenty rupees, they would have given her up to him, +and he would have saved her from death. Should a wild +beast or a man ever take refuge behind us, it is our duty to +save his life.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said the merchant’s wife, “you have told me why +you laughed the first two times. Now tell me why you +laughed the third time.”</p> + +<p>“Listen,” said Nánaksá. “You remember your husband’s +sister whom you tormented so much? She died, but then +God caused her to be born again as your daughter, that she +might torment you and punish you for having been so +unkind to her in her former life when she was your sister-in-law.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>116]</a></span> +“Is that true?” said the woman.</p> + +<p>“Quite true,” answered the fakír, “and that is why I +laughed the third time. But now would you like to hear +something I wish to tell you? If you promise not to cry, I +will tell it you.”</p> + +<p>“I promise not to cry, so tell me,” she said.</p> + +<p>“Then listen,” said Nánaksá. “God has decreed that +your husband shall die to-morrow morning at ten o’clock. +He will send four angels to fetch him.”</p> + +<p>At this the poor woman began to cry bitterly.</p> + +<p>“Do not cry,” said the fakír. “I will tell you something +more. Listen to me. To-morrow morning at four o’clock +you must get up, and make your house quite clean and neat. +Then buy new dishes and make all the nicest and most +delicious sweetmeats you can.”</p> + +<p>“I will do so,” she answered.</p> + +<p>When it was yet night she rose, and did all the fakír had +bidden her. Then she went to him and said, “The sweetmeats +are ready.” “Now,” said Nánaksá, “go and get a +fine, clean cloth; take it and the sweetmeats with you, and +set out and walk on and on till you come to a plain which +is a long way from this. But you must go on till you reach +it, and on it you will see a tank and a tree. By the tank and +the tree you must spread your cloth and lay out your sweetmeats +on it. At nine o’clock you will see four men, who +will come and bathe in the tank. When they have bathed +they will come towards you, and you must say to them, +‘See! you are four angels, therefore you must eat some of +my sweetmeats.’”</p> + +<p>The woman set out for the plain and did all Nánaksá had +told her to do; and everything happened as he had foretold. +When the four men had bathed, they came towards the +woman, and she said to them, “See! you are four angels, +and therefore you must eat some of my sweetmeats.” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>117]</a></span> +The chief of the four angels, who was called Jabrá’íl, and +the three other angels answered, “We have no money, +wherewith to buy your sweetmeats, so how can we eat +any of them?” “Never mind the money,” said the woman; +“you can pay me another day. Come now and eat some.” +So the four angels sat down and ate a great many of her +sweetmeats.</p> + +<p>When they had finished they stood up and said to each +other, “Now we must go to the village and fetch the +merchant.” Then the woman made them a great many +salaams and said, “That merchant is my husband. +Still, if it is your pleasure to take him away, take him +away.”</p> + +<p>At this the angels were sad, and said to her, “How can +we take your husband’s life now that we have eaten your +food? But stay under this tree till we return, and then we +will pay you for your sweetmeats.”</p> + +<p>So the angels left her, and the wife waited under the tree. +She was very sad; and after some time she thought, “Now +I will go home: perhaps these angels are gone to take his +life;” and then she cried bitterly and remained under the +tree.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the four angels had gone back to God, who +asked them, “Have you brought the merchant?” They +were sorry not to have brought him, and told God all that +had happened. And God was very angry; but he said to +them. “Never mind. I know the fakír Nánaksá is with the +merchant and his wife just now, and it is he who has played +you this trick.”</p> + +<p>Then God wrote a letter in which he promised the merchant +twenty years more life, only at the end of the twenty +years he was really to die and not to be allowed to live any +longer. This letter he gave to the angels, and bade them +take it to the merchant’s wife and tell her to have a silver +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>118]</a></span> +box made, into which she was to put the letter, and then +hang it round her husband’s neck, so that he should live +for twenty years more.</p> + +<p>The four angels came down to earth again, and went to +the tree under which they had left the woman. They found +her waiting for them, and gave her the letter saying, “You +must get a silver box made and put this letter in it; then +hang it round your husband’s neck, so that he may live for +twenty years more.”</p> + +<p>The woman thanked them, and was very happy. She +took the letter and went home. There she found her husband +quite well, and with him was Nánaksá. She gave +Nánaksá the letter and told him what the angels had bidden +her do with it. Nánaksá read the letter, and was very much +pleased. Then he said to her, “Call a silversmith here, +and let him make you the silver box. Then you must get +a great dinner ready, and ask all your friends, rich and +poor, to come and eat it.”</p> + +<p>All this she did, and when the dinner was ready and all +their friends had come, the fakír said, “None who are here, +men, women, or children, must eat, till they have put their +hands before their faces and worshipped God.” Everybody +hid his face in his hands at once and worshipped God: +while they did this the fakír stole away from them, so when +they uncovered their faces he was nowhere to be seen. No +one knew where he had gone, and no one had seen him go. +Some of the men went to look for him, but they could not +find him, and none of them ever saw him again.</p> + +<p>But the merchant and his wife lived happily together.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Múniyá.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px;"> +<img src="images/tail13.jpg" width="250" height="66" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>119]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head19.jpg" width="600" height="107" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxx" id="sxx"></a>XX.<br /> +<br /> +THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD +AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxx">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapi"><span class="dcap">I</span></span>N a country were seven daughters of poor parents, +who used to come daily to play under the shady +trees in the King’s garden with the gardener’s +daughter; and daily she used to say to them, “When I am +married I shall have a son. Such a beautiful boy as he will +be has never been seen. He will have a moon on his forehead, +and a star on his chin.” Then her playfellows used +to laugh at her and mock her.</p> + +<p>But one day the King heard her telling them about the +beautiful boy she would have when she was married, and he +said to himself he should like very much to have such a son; +the more so that though he had already four wives he had +no child. He went, therefore, to the gardener and told him +he wished to marry his daughter. This delighted the gardener +and his wife, who thought it would indeed be grand for their +daughter to become a princess. So they said “Yes” to the +King, and invited all their friends to the wedding. The +King invited all his, and he gave the gardener as much +money as he wanted. Then the wedding was held with +great feasting and rejoicing.</p> + +<p>A year later the day drew near on which the gardener’s +daughter was to have her son; and the King’s four other +wives came constantly to see her. One day they said to her, +“The King hunts every day; and the time is soon coming +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>120]</a></span> +when you will have your child. Suppose you fell ill whilst +he was out hunting and could therefore know nothing of +your illness, what would you do then?”</p> + +<p>When the King came home that evening, the gardener’s +daughter said to him, “Every day you go out hunting. +Should I ever be in trouble or sick while you are away, how +could I send for you?” The King gave her a kettle-drum +which he placed near the door for her, and he said to her, +“Whenever you want me, beat this kettle-drum. No matter +how far away I may be, I shall hear it, and will come at once +to you.”</p> + +<p>Next morning, when the King had gone out to hunt, his +four other wives came to see the gardener’s daughter. She +told them all about her kettle-drum. “Oh,” they said, “do +drum on it just to see if the King really will come to you.” +“No, I will not,” she said; “for why should I call him from +his hunting when I do not want him?” “Don’t mind interrupting +his hunting,” they answered. “Do try if he really +will come to you when you beat your kettle-drum.” So at last, +just to please them, she beat it, and the King stood before her.</p> + +<p>“Why have you called me?” he said. “See, I have left +my hunting to come to you.” “I want nothing,” she +answered; “I only wished to know if you really would come +to me when I beat my drum.” “Very well,” answered the +King; “but do not call me again unless you really need +me.” Then he returned to his hunting.</p> + +<p>The next day, when the King had gone out hunting as +usual, the four wives again came to see the gardener’s daughter. +They begged and begged her to beat her drum once +more, “just to see if the King will really come to see you +this time.” At first she refused, but at last she consented. +So she beat her drum, and the King came to her. But when +he found she was neither ill nor in trouble, he was angry, +and said to her, “Twice I have left my hunting and lost +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>121]</a></span> +my game to come to you when you did not need me. Now +you may call me as much as you like, but I will not come +to you,” and then he went away in a rage.</p> + +<p>The third day the gardener’s daughter fell ill, and she beat +and beat her kettle-drum; but the King never came. He +heard her kettle-drum, but he thought, “She does not really +want me; she is only trying to see if I will go to her.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the four other wives came to her, and they +said, “Here it is the custom before a child is born to bind +its mother’s eyes with a handkerchief that she may not see +it just at first. So let us bind your eyes.” She answered, +“Very well, bind my eyes.” The four wives then tied a +handkerchief over them.</p> + +<p>Soon after, the gardener’s daughter had a beautiful little +son, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin; +and before the poor mother had seen him, the four wicked +wives took the boy to the nurse and said to her, “Now you +must not let this child make the least sound for fear his +mother should hear him; and in the night you must either +kill him, or else take him away, so that his mother may +never see him. If you obey our orders, we will give you a +great many rupees.” All this they did out of spite. The +nurse took the little child and put him into a box, and the +four wives went back to the gardener’s daughter.</p> + +<p>First they put a stone into her boy’s little bed, and then +they took the handkerchief off her eyes and showed it her, +saying, “Look! this is your son!” The poor girl cried +bitterly, and thought, “What will the King say when he +finds no child?” But she could do nothing.</p> + +<p>When the King came home, he was furious at hearing his +youngest wife, the gardener’s daughter, had given him a +stone instead of the beautiful little son she had promised +him. He made her one of the palace servants, and never +spoke to her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>122]</a></span> +In the middle of the night the nurse took the box in +which was the beautiful little prince, and went out to a broad +plain in the jungle. There she dug a hole, made the fastenings +of the box sure, and put the box into the hole, although +the child in it was still alive. The King’s dog, whose name +was Shankar, had followed her to see what she did with the +box. As soon as she had gone back to the four wives (who +gave her a great many rupees), the dog went to the hole in +which she had put the box, took the box out, and opened it. +When he saw the beautiful little boy, he was very much delighted +and said, “If it pleases God that this child should +live, I will not hurt him; I will not eat him, but I will swallow +him whole and hide him in my stomach.” This he did.</p> + +<p>After six months had passed, the dog went by night to the +jungle, and thought, “I wonder whether the boy is alive or +dead.” Then he brought the child out of his stomach and +rejoiced over his beauty. The boy was now six months old. +When Shankar had caressed and loved him, he swallowed +him again for another six months. At the end of that time +he went once more by night to the broad jungle-plain. There +he brought up the child out of his stomach (the child was +now a year old), and caressed and petted him a great deal, +and was made very happy by his great beauty.</p> + +<p>But this time the dog’s keeper had followed and watched +the dog; and he saw all that Shankar did, and the beautiful +little child, so he ran to the four wives and said to them, +“Inside the King’s dog there is a child! the loveliest child! +He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. +Such a child has never been seen!” At this the four wives +were very much frightened, and as soon as the King came +home from hunting they said to him, “While you were +away your dog came to our rooms, and tore our clothes +and knocked about all our things. We are afraid he will +kill us.” “Do not be afraid,” said the King. “Eat your +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>123]</a></span> +dinner and be happy. I will have the dog shot to-morrow +morning.”</p> + +<p>Then he ordered his servants to shoot the dog at dawn, +but the dog heard him, and said to himself, “What shall I +do? The King intends to kill me. I don’t care about that, +but what will become of the child if I am killed? He will +die. But I will see if I cannot save him.”</p> + +<p>So when it was night, the dog ran to the King’s cow, who +was called Surí, and said to her, “Surí, I want to give you +something, for the King has ordered me to be shot to-morrow. +Will you take great care of whatever I give you?” +“Let me see what it is,” said Surí; “I will take care of it if +I can.” Then they both went together to the wide plain, +and there the dog brought up the boy. Surí was enchanted +with him. “I never saw such a beautiful child in this +country,” she said. “See, he has a moon on his forehead +and a star on his chin. I will take the greatest care of him.” +So saying she swallowed the little prince. The dog made +her a great many salaams, and said, “To-morrow I shall +die;” and the cow then went back to her stable.</p> + +<p>Next morning at dawn the dog was taken to the jungle +and shot.</p> + +<p>The child now lived in Surí’s stomach; and when one +whole year had passed, and he was two years old, the cow +went out to the plain, and said to herself, “I do not know +whether the child is alive or dead. But I have never hurt +it, so I will see.” Then she brought up the boy; and he +played about, and Surí was delighted; she loved him and +caressed him, and talked to him. Then she swallowed him, +and returned to her stable.</p> + +<p>At the end of another year she went again to the plain +and brought up the child. He played and ran about for an +hour to her great delight, and she talked to him and caressed +him. His great beauty made her very happy. Then she +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>124]</a></span> +swallowed him once more and returned to her stable. The +child was now three years old.</p> + +<p>But this time the cowherd had followed Surí, and had seen +the wonderful child and all she did to it. So he ran and +told the four wives, “The King’s cow has a beautiful boy +inside her. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on +his chin. Such a child has never been seen before!”</p> + +<p>At this the wives were terrified. They tore their clothes +and their hair and cried. When the King came home at +evening, he asked them why they were so agitated. “Oh,” +they said, “your cow came and tried to kill us; but we ran +away. She tore our hair and our clothes.” “Never mind,” +said the King. “Eat your dinner and be happy. The cow +shall be killed to-morrow morning.”</p> + +<p>Now Surí heard the King give this order to the servants, +so she said to herself, “What shall I do to save the child?” +When it was midnight, she went to the King’s horse called +Katar, who was very wicked, and quite untameable. No one +had ever been able to ride him; indeed no one could go +near him with safety, he was so savage. Surí said to this +horse, “Katar, will you take care of something that I want +to give you, because the King has ordered me to be killed +to-morrow?” “Good,” said Katar; “show me what it is.” +Then Surí brought up the child, and the horse was delighted +with him. “Yes,” he said, “I will take the greatest care of +him. Till now no one has been able to ride me, but this +child shall ride me.” Then he swallowed the boy, and when +he had done so, the cow made him many salaams, saying, +“It is for this boy’s sake that I am to die.” The next +morning she was taken to the jungle and there killed.</p> + +<p>The beautiful boy now lived in the horse’s stomach, and +he stayed in it for one whole year. At the end of that +time the horse thought, “I will see if this child is alive or +dead.” So he brought him up; and then he loved him, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>125]</a></span> +and petted him, and the little prince played all about the +stable, out of which the horse was never allowed to go. +Katar was very glad to see the child, who was now four years +old. After he had played for some time, the horse swallowed +him again. At the end of another year, when the boy was +five years old, Katar brought him up again, caressed him, +loved him, and let him play about the stable as he had done +a year before. Then the horse swallowed him again.</p> + +<p>But this time the groom had seen all that happened, and +when it was morning, and the King had gone away to his +hunting, he went to the four wicked wives, and told them all +he had seen, and all about the wonderful, beautiful child that +lived inside the King’s horse Katar. On hearing the groom’s +story the four wives cried, and tore their hair and clothes, and +refused to eat. When the King returned at evening and +asked them why they were so miserable, they said, “Your +horse Katar came and tore our clothes, and upset all our +things, and we ran away for fear he should kill us.” “Never +mind,” said the King. “Only eat your dinner and be happy. +I will have Katar shot to-morrow.” Then he thought that +two men unaided could not kill such a wicked horse, so he +ordered his servants to bid his troop of sepoys shoot him.</p> + +<p>So the next day the King placed his sepoys all round the +stable, and he took up his stand with them; and he said he +would himself shoot any one who let his horse escape.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the horse had overheard all these orders. So +he brought up the child and said to him, “Go into that little +room that leads out of the stable, and you will find in it a +saddle and bridle which you must put on me. Then you +will find in the room some beautiful clothes such as princes +wear; these you must put on yourself; and you must take +the sword and gun you will find there too. Then you must +mount on my back.” Now Katar was a fairy-horse, and +came from the fairies’ country, so he could get anything he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>126]</a></span> +wanted; but neither the King nor any of his people knew this. +When all was ready, Katar burst out of his stable, with the +prince on his back, rushed past the King himself before the +King had time to shoot him, galloped away to the great +jungle-plain, and galloped about all over it. The King saw +his horse had a boy on his back, though he could not see +the boy distinctly. The sepoys tried in vain to shoot the +horse; he galloped much too fast; and at last they were all +scattered over the plain. Then the King had to give it up +and go home; and his sepoys went to their homes. The +King could not shoot any of his sepoys for letting his horse +escape, for he himself had let him do so.</p> + +<p>Then Katar galloped away, on, and on, and on; and when +night came they stayed under a tree, he and the King’s son. +The horse ate grass, and the boy wild fruits which he found +in the jungle. Next morning they started afresh, and went +far, and far, till they came to a jungle in another country, +which did not belong to the little prince’s father, but to another +king. Here Katar said to the boy, “Now get off my back.” +Off jumped the prince. “Unsaddle me and take off my +bridle; take off your beautiful clothes and tie them all up +in a bundle with your sword and gun.” This the boy did. +Then the horse gave him some poor, common clothes, which +he told him to put on. As soon as he was dressed in them +the horse said, “Hide your bundle in this grass, and I will +take care of it for you. I will always stay in this jungle-plain, +so that when you want me you will always find me. You +must now go away and find service with some one in this +country.” This made the boy very sad. “I know nothing +about anything,” he said. “What shall I do all alone in this +country?” “Do not be afraid,” answered Katar. “You +will find service, and I will always stay here to help you when +you want me. So go, only before you go, twist my right ear.” +The boy did so, and his horse instantly became a donkey. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>127]</a></span> +“Now twist your right ear,” said Katar. And when the boy +had twisted it, he was no longer a handsome prince, but a +poor, common-looking, ugly man; and his moon and star +were hidden.</p> + +<p>Then he went away further into the country, until he came +to a grain merchant of the country, who asked him who he was. +“I am a poor man,” answered the boy, “and I want service.” +“Good,” said the grain merchant, “you shall be my servant.”</p> + +<p>Now the grain merchant lived near the King’s palace, and +one night at twelve o’clock the boy was very hot; so he +went out into the King’s cool garden, and began to sing a +lovely song. The seventh and youngest daughter of the +King heard him, and she wondered who it was who could +sing so deliciously. Then she put on her clothes, rolled up +her hair, and came down to where the seemingly poor common +man was lying singing. “Who are you? where do you +come from?” she asked. But he answered nothing. “Who +is this man who does not answer when I speak to him?” +thought the little princess, and she went away. On the +second night the same thing happened, and on the third +night too. But on the third night, when she found she could +not make him answer her, she said to him, “What a strange +man you are not to answer me when I speak to you.” But +still he remained silent, so she went away.</p> + +<p>The next day when he had finished his work, the young +prince went to the jungle to see his horse, who asked him, +“Are you quite well and happy?” “Yes, I am,” answered +the boy. “I am servant to a grain merchant. The last three +nights I have gone into the King’s garden and sung a song. +And each night the youngest princess has come to me and +asked me who I am, and whence I came, and I have answered +nothing. What shall I do now?” The horse said, “Next +time she asks you who you are, tell her you are a very poor +man, and came from your own country to find service here.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>128]</a></span> +The boy then went home to the grain merchant, and at +night, when every one had gone to bed, he went to the King’s +garden and sang his sweet song again. The youngest princess +heard him, got up, dressed, and came to him. “Who +are you? Whence do you come?” she asked. “I am a +very poor man,” he answered. “I came from my own +country to seek service here, and I am now one of the grain +merchant’s servants.” Then she went away. For three +more nights the boy sang in the King’s garden, and each +night the princess came and asked him the same questions +as before, and the boy gave her the same answers.</p> + +<p>Then she went to her father, and said to him, “Father, +I wish to be married; but I must choose my husband myself.” +Her father consented to this, and he wrote and invited +all the Kings and Rájás in the land, saying, “My +youngest daughter wishes to be married, but she insists on +choosing her husband herself. As I do not know who it is +she wishes to marry, I beg you will all come on a certain +day, for her to see you and make her choice.”</p> + +<p>A great many Kings, Rájás, and their sons accepted this +invitation and came. When they had all arrived, the little +princess’s father said to them, “To-morrow morning you +must all sit together in my garden” (the King’s garden was +very large), “for then my youngest daughter will come and +see you all, and choose her husband. I do not know whom +she will choose.”</p> + +<p>The youngest princess ordered a grand elephant to be +ready for her the next morning, and when the morning +came, and all was ready, she dressed herself in the most +lovely clothes, and put on her beautiful jewels; then she +mounted her elephant, which was painted blue. In her +hand she took a gold necklace.</p> + +<p>Then she went into the garden where the Kings, Rájás, +and their sons were seated. The boy, the grain merchant’s +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>129]</a></span> +servant, was also in the garden: not as a suitor, but looking +on with the other servants.</p> + +<p>The princess rode all round the garden, and looked at +all the Kings and Rájás and princes, and then she hung +the gold necklace round the neck of the boy, the grain merchant’s +servant. At this everybody laughed, and the Kings +were greatly astonished. But then they and the Rájás said, +“What fooling is this?” and they pushed the pretended +poor man away, and took the necklace off his neck, and said +to him, “Get out of the way, you poor, dirty man. Your +clothes are far too dirty for you to come near us!” The boy +went far away from them, and stood a long way off to see +what would happen.</p> + +<p>Then the King’s youngest daughter went all round the garden +again, holding her gold necklace in her hand, and once +more she hung it round the boy’s neck. Every one laughed +at her and said, “How can the King’s daughter think of +marrying this poor, common man!” and the Kings and the +Rájás, who had come as suitors, all wanted to turn him out +of the garden. But the princess said, “Take care! take +care! You must not turn him out. Leave him alone.” +Then she put him on her elephant, and took him to the palace.</p> + +<p>The Kings and Rájás and their sons were very much +astonished, and said, “What does this mean? The princess +does not care to marry one of us, but chooses that very poor +man!” Her father then stood up, and said to them all, +“I promised my daughter she should marry any one she +pleased, and as she has twice chosen that poor, common +man, she shall marry him.” And so the princess and the +boy were married with great pomp and splendour: her father +and mother were quite content with her choice; and the +Kings, the Rájás and their sons, all returned to their homes.</p> + +<p>Now the princess’s six sisters had all married rich princes—and +they laughed at her for choosing such a poor ugly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>130]</a></span> +husband as hers seemed to be, and said to each other, mockingly, +“See! our sister has married this poor, common man!” +Their six husbands used to go out hunting every day, and +every evening they brought home quantities of all kinds of +game to their wives, and the game was cooked for their +dinner and for the King’s; but the husband of the youngest +princess always stayed at home in the palace, and never +went out hunting at all. This made her very sad, and she +said to herself, “My sisters’ husbands hunt every day, but +my husband never hunts at all.”</p> + +<p>At last she said to him, “Why do you never go out hunting +as my sisters’ husbands do every day, and every day they +bring home quantities of all kinds of game? Why do you +always stay at home, instead of doing as they do?”</p> + +<p>One day he said to her, “I am going out to-day to eat +the air.” “Very good,” she answered; “go, and take one +of the horses.” “No,” said the young prince, “I will not +ride, I will walk.” Then he went to the jungle-plain where +he had left Katar, who all this time had seemed to be a +donkey, and he told Katar everything. “Listen,” he said; +“I have married the youngest princess; and when we were +married everybody laughed at her for choosing me, and said, +‘What a very poor, common man our princess has chosen +for her husband!’ Besides, my wife is very sad, for her six +sisters’ husbands all hunt every day, and bring home quantities +of game, and their wives therefore are very proud of +them. But I stay at home all day, and never hunt. To-day +I should like to hunt very much.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Katar, “then twist my left ear;” and as soon +as the boy had twisted it, Katar was a horse again, and +not a donkey any longer. “Now,” said Katar, “twist your +left ear, and you will see what a beautiful young prince +you will become.” So the boy twisted his own left ear, and +there he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>131]</a></span> +grand young prince with a moon on his forehead and a +star on his chin. Then he put on his splendid clothes, saddled +and bridled Katar, got on his back with his sword and +gun, and rode off to hunt.</p> + +<p>He rode very far, and shot a great many birds and a +quantity of deer. That day his six brothers-in-law could +find no game, for the beautiful young prince had shot it all. +Nearly all the day long these six princes wandered about +looking in vain for game; till at last they grew hungry and +thirsty, and could find no water, and they had no food with +them. Meanwhile the beautiful young prince had sat down +under a tree, to dine and rest, and there his six brothers-in-law +found him. By his side was some delicious water, and +also some roast meat.</p> + +<p>When they saw him the six princes said to each other, +“Look at that handsome prince. He has a moon on his +forehead and a star on his chin. We have never seen such +a prince in this jungle before; he must come from another +country.” Then they came up to him, and made him +many salaams, and begged him to give them some food and +water. “Who are you?” said the young prince. “We +are the husbands of the six elder daughters of the King of +this country,” they answered; “and we have hunted all day, +and are very hungry and thirsty.” They did not recognize +their brother-in-law in the least.</p> + +<p>“Well,” said the young prince, “I will give you something +to eat and drink if you will do as I bid you.” “We +will do all you tell us to do,” they answered, “for if we do +not get water to drink, we shall die.” “Very good,” said +the young prince. “Now you must let me put a red-hot +pice on the back of each of you, and then I will give you +food and water. Do you agree to this?” The six princes +consented, for they thought, “No one will ever see the +mark of the pice, as it will be covered by our clothes; and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>132]</a></span> +we shall die if we have no water to drink.” Then the young +prince took six pice, and made them red-hot in the fire; he +laid one on the back of each of the six princes, and gave +them good food and water. They ate and drank; and when +they had finished they made him many salaams and went +home.</p> + +<p>The young prince stayed under the tree till it was evening; +then he mounted his horse and rode off to the King’s +palace. All the people looked at him as he came riding +along, saying, “What a splendid young prince that is! He +has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.” But no +one recognized him. When he came near the King’s palace, +all the King’s servants asked him who he was; and as none +of them knew him, the gate-keepers would not let him pass +in. They all wondered who he could be, and all thought +him the most beautiful prince that had ever been seen.</p> + +<p>At last they asked him who he was. “I am the husband +of your youngest princess,” he answered. “No, no, indeed +you are not,” they said; “for he is a poor, common-looking, +and ugly man.” “But I am he,” answered the prince; +only no one would believe him. “Tell us the truth,” said +the servants; “who are you?” “Perhaps you cannot recognize +me,” said the young prince, “but call the youngest +princess here. I wish to speak to her.” The servants called +her, and she came. “That man is not my husband,” she +said at once. “My husband is not nearly as handsome as +that man. This must be a prince from another country.”</p> + +<p>Then she said to him, “Who are you? Why do you say +you are my husband?” “Because I am your husband. I +am telling you the truth,” answered the young prince. “No +you are not, you are not telling me the truth,” said the little +princess. “My husband is not a handsome man like you. +I married a very poor, common-looking man.” “That is +true,” he answered, “but nevertheless I am your husband. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>133]</a></span> +I was the grain merchant’s servant; and one hot night I +went into your father’s garden and sang, and you heard me, +and came and asked me who I was and where I came from, +and I would not answer you. And the same thing happened +the next night, and the next, and on the fourth I told you +I was a very poor man, and had come from my country to +seek service in yours, and that I was the grain merchant’s +servant. Then you told your father you wished to marry, +but must choose your own husband; and when all the Kings +and Rájás were seated in your father’s garden, you sat on +an elephant and went round and looked at them all; and +then twice hung your gold necklace round my neck, and +chose me. See, here is your necklace, and here are the ring +and the handkerchief you gave me on our wedding day.”</p> + +<p>Then she believed him, and was very glad that her husband +was such a beautiful young prince. “What a strange +man you are!” she said to him. “Till now you have been +poor, and ugly, and common-looking. Now you are beautiful +and look like a prince; I never saw such a handsome +man as you are before; and yet I know you must be my husband.” +Then she worshipped God and thanked him for +letting her have such a husband. “I have,” she said, “a +beautiful husband. There is no one like him in this country. +He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.” +Then she took him into the palace, and showed him to her +father and mother and to every one. They all said they had +never seen any one like him, and were all very happy. And +the young prince lived as before in the King’s palace with his +wife, and Katar lived in the King’s stables.</p> + +<p>One day, when the King and his seven sons-in-law were +in his court-house, and it was full of people, the young prince +said to him, “There are six thieves here in your court-house.” +“Six thieves!” said the King. “Where are they? Show +them to me.” “There they are,” said the young prince, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>134]</a></span> +pointing to his six brothers-in-law. The King and every +one else in the court-house were very much astonished, and +would not believe the young prince. “Take off their coats,” +he said, “and then you will see for yourselves that each of +them has the mark of a thief on his back.” So their coats +were taken off the six princes, and the King and everybody +in the court-house saw the marks of the red-hot pice. The +six princes were very much ashamed, but the young prince +was very glad. He had not forgotten how his brothers-in-law +had laughed at him and mocked him when he seemed +a poor, common man.</p> + +<p>Now when Katar was still in the jungle, before the prince +was married, he had told the boy the whole story of his +birth, and all that had happened to him and his mother. +“When you are married,” he said to him, “I will take you +back to your father’s country.” So two months after the +young prince had revenged himself on his brothers-in-law, +Katar said to him, “It is time for you to return to your father. +Get the King to let you go to your own country, and I will +tell you what to do when we get there.”</p> + +<p>The prince always did what his horse told him to do; so +he went to his wife and said to her, “I wish very much to +go to my own country to see my father and mother.” “Very +well,” said his wife; “I will tell my father and mother, and +ask them to let us go.” Then she went to them, and told +them, and they consented to let her and her husband leave +them. The King gave his daughter and the young prince +a great many horses, and elephants, and all sorts of presents, +and also a great many sepoys to guard them. In this grand +state they travelled to the prince’s country, which was not a +great many miles off. When they reached it they pitched +their tents on the same plain in which the prince had been +left in his box by the nurse, where Shankar and Surí had +swallowed him so often.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>135]</a></span> +When the King, his father, the gardener’s daughter’s husband, +saw the prince’s camp, he was very much alarmed, +and thought a great King had come to make war on him. +He sent one of his servants, therefore, to ask whose camp +it was. The young prince then wrote him a letter, in which +he said, “You are a great King. Do not fear me. I am +not come to make war on you. I am as if I were your son. +I am a prince who has come to see your country and to +speak with you. I wish to give you a grand feast, to which +everyone in your country must come—men and women, old +and young, rich and poor, of all castes; all the children, +fakírs, and sepoys. You must bring them all here to me +for a week, and I will feast them all.”</p> + +<p>The King was delighted with this letter, and ordered all +the men, women, and children of all castes, fakírs and sepoys, +in his country to go to the prince’s camp to a grand feast the +prince would give them. So they all came, and the King +brought his four wives too. All came, at least all but the +gardener’s daughter. No one had told her to go to the +feast, for no one had thought of her.</p> + +<p>When all the people were assembled, the prince saw his +mother was not there, and he asked the King, “Has every +one in your country come to my feast?” “Yes, everyone,” +said the King. “Are you sure of that?” asked the prince.</p> + +<p>“Quite sure,” answered the King. “I am sure one woman +has not come,” said the prince. “She is your gardener’s +daughter, who was once your wife and is now a servant in +your palace.” “True,” said the King, “I had forgotten +her.” Then the prince told his servants to take his finest +palanquin and to fetch the gardener’s daughter. They were +to bathe her, dress her in beautiful clothes and handsome +jewels, and then bring her to him in the palanquin.</p> + +<p>While the servants were bringing the gardener’s daughter, +the King thought how handsome the young prince was; and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>136]</a></span> +he noticed particularly the moon on his forehead and the +star on his chin, and he wondered in what country the young +prince was born.</p> + +<p>And now the palanquin arrived bringing the gardener’s +daughter, and the young prince went himself and took her +out of it, and brought her into the tent. He made her a +great many salaams. The four wicked wives looked on and +were very much surprised and very angry. They remembered +that, when they arrived, the prince had made them +no salaams, and since then had not taken the least notice of +them; whereas he could not do enough for the gardener’s +daughter, and seemed very glad to see her.</p> + +<p>When they were all at dinner, the prince again made the +gardener’s daughter a great many salaams, and gave her +food from all the nicest dishes. She wondered at his kindness +to her, and thought, “Who is this handsome prince, +with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin? I +never saw any one so beautiful. What country does he come +from?”</p> + +<p>Two or three days were thus passed in feasting, and all +that time the King and his people were talking about the +prince’s beauty, and wondering who he was.</p> + +<p>One day the prince asked the King if he had any children. +“None,” he answered. “Do you know who I am?” +asked the prince. “No,” said the King. “Tell me who you +are.” “I am your son,” answered the prince, “and the gardener’s +daughter is my mother.” The King shook his head +sadly. “How can you be my son,” he said, “when I have +never had any children?” “But I am your son,” answered the +prince. “Your four wicked wives told you the gardener’s +daughter had given you a stone and not a son; but it was they +who put the stone in my little bed, and then they tried to kill +me.” The King did not believe him. “I wish you were my +son,” he said; “but as I never had a child, you cannot be my +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>137]</a></span> +son.” “Do you remember your dog Shankar, and how you +had him killed? And do you remember your cow Surí, and +how you had her killed too? Your wives made you kill +them because of me. And,” he said, taking the King to +Katar, “do you know whose horse that is?”</p> + +<p>The King looked at Katar, and then said, “That is my +horse Katar.” “Yes,” said the Prince. “Do you not +remember how he rushed past you out of his stable with me +on his back?” Then Katar told the King the prince was +really his son, and told him all the story of his birth, and of +his life up to that moment; and when the King found the +beautiful prince was indeed his son, he was so glad, so glad. +He put his arms round him and kissed him and cried for joy.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said the King, “you must come with me to my +palace, and live with me always.” “No,” said the prince, +“that I cannot do. I cannot go to your palace. I only came +here to fetch my mother; and now that I have found her, I +will take her with me to my father-in-law’s palace. I have +married a King’s daughter, and we live with her father.” +“But now that I have found you, I cannot let you go,” said +his father. “You and your wife must come and live with +your mother and me in my palace.” “That we will never +do,” said the prince, “unless you will kill your four wicked +wives with your own hand. If you will do that, we will +come and live with you.”</p> + +<p>So the King killed his wives, and then he and his wife, +the gardener’s daughter, and the prince and his wife, all +went to live in the King’s palace, and lived there happily +together for ever after; and the King thanked God for giving +him such a beautiful son, and for ridding him of his four +wicked wives.</p> + +<p>Katar did not return to the fairies’ country, but stayed +always with the young prince, and never left him.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Múniyá.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>138]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head03.jpg" width="600" height="123" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxxi" id="sxxi"></a>XXI.<br /> +<br /> +THE BÉL-PRINCESS.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxxi">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapi"><span class="dcap">I</span></span>N a country lived a King who had seven sons. Six +of these sons married, but the seventh and youngest +son would not marry; and, moreover, he disliked +his six sisters-in-law, and could not bear to take food from +their hands. One day, they got very angry with him for +disliking them, and they said to him, taunting him, “We +think that you will marry a Bél-Princess.”</p> + +<p>“A Bél-Princess,” said the young prince to himself. +“What is a Bél-Princess? and where is one to be found? +I will go and look for one.” But the next day he thought, +“How can I find a Bél-Princess? I don’t know where to +seek for her.”</p> + +<p>At last one day he saddled and bridled one of his father’s +beautiful horses. Then he put on his grand clothes, took +his sword and gun, and said good-bye to his father and +mother, and set out on his search. They cried very much +at parting with him.</p> + +<p>He rode from his father’s country for a long, long way. +At length, when he had journeyed for six months, he found +himself in a great jungle, through which he went for many +nights and days, until he at last came to where a fakír lay +sleeping. The young prince thought, “I will watch by this +fakír till he wakes. Perhaps he can help me.” So he stayed +with the fakír for one whole month; and all that time he took +care of him and watched by him, and kept his hut clean.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>139]</a></span> +This fakír used to sleep for six whole months at a time, and +then he would remain awake for six months.</p> + +<p>When the prince had watched over him for one month +the fakír woke, for his six months’ sleep had come to an end; +and when he saw what care the young prince had taken of +him, and how clean his hut was, he was very much pleased +with the King’s son, and said to him, “How have you +been able to reach this jungle, to which no man can come? +and who are you? and whence do you come?”</p> + +<p>“I am a King’s son,” answered the prince. “My father’s +country is a six months’ journey away from this; and I am +come to look for a Bél-Princess. I hear there is a Bél-Princess, +and I want to find her. Can you tell me where +she is?”</p> + +<p>“It is true that there is one,” answered the fakír, “and I +know where she is. She is in the fairies’ country, whither +no man can go.”</p> + +<p>This made the young prince very sad. “What shall I +do?” he said. “I have left my father and mother, and +have travelled a long, long way to find the Bél-Princess. +And now you tell me I cannot go where she lives.”</p> + +<p>“I will help you,” said the fakír, “and if you do exactly +what I tell you, you will find her. But, first, stay here with +me for a little while.”</p> + +<p>So the King’s son stayed for another month with the fakír, +and took care of him, and did everything for him, as he did +for his own father.</p> + +<p>At the end of the month, the fakír gave him his stick, and +said to him, “Now you must go to the fairies’ country. It +is one week’s journey distant from this jungle. When you +get there, you will see a number of demons and fairies who +live in it.” Then the fakír took a little earth from the +ground, and put it in the prince’s hand. “When you have +come to the fairies’ country, in order that they and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>140]</a></span> +demons may not see you, you must blow all this earth away +from the palm of your hand, and then you will be invisible. +You must ride on till you come to a great plain in the +middle of their garden, and on this plain you will see a +large bél-tree and on it one big bél-fruit. In this fruit is the +Bél-Princess. You must throw my stick at it, and it will +fall; but you must take care to catch the fruit in your +shawl, and not let it fall to the ground. Then ride quickly +back to me, for as soon as the fruit falls you will cease to +be invisible, and the fairies and demons who guard the fruit +will all come running after you, and they will all call to you. +But take care, take care not to look behind you when they +call you. Ride straight on to me with the fruit, and do +not look behind you. If you do, you will become stone, and +your horse too, and they will take the bél-fruit back to its +tree.”</p> + +<p>The prince promised to do all the fakír bade him. He +rode for a week, and then he came to the fairies’ country. +He blew the earth the fakír had given him away from +his palm all along his fingers, just as he had been told, +and then he became invisible. He rode through the great +garden to the plain. There he saw the bél-tree, and the +one fruit hanging all alone. He threw the fakír’s stick at +it, and caught it in a corner of his shawl as it fell, but +then he was no longer invisible. All the fairies and demons +could see him, and they came running after him as +he rode quickly away, and called to him. He looked +behind at them, and instantly he and his horse became +stone; and the bél-fruit went back to its tree and hung itself +up.</p> + +<p>For one week the fakír sat in his jungle, waiting for the +King’s son. But the moment he was turned into stone, the +fakír knew of it, and he set off at once for the fairies’ country. +He walked all through it, but neither the fairies nor +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>141]</a></span> +demons could touch him. He went straight to the great +plain, and there he saw the King’s son sitting on his horse, +and both he and the horse were stone.</p> + +<p>This made the fakír very sad; and he said to God, +“What will the father and mother do, now that their son is +changed into a stone?” And he prayed to God and said, +“If it be God’s pleasure, may this King’s son be alive once +more.” Then he cut his little finger on the inside from the tip +to the palm, and smeared the prince’s forehead with the blood +that came from it. He rubbed some blood on the horse too, +all the time praying to God to give the prince his life again. +The King’s son and his horse were alive once more. The +fakír took the prince back to his jungle, and said to him, +“Listen. I told you not to look behind you, and you disobeyed +me and so were turned to stone. Had I not come +to save you, you would always have remained stone.”</p> + +<p>The fakír kept the prince with him in the jungle for one +whole week. Then he gave him his stick and some earth +he picked up from the ground on which they were standing, +and said, “Now you must go to the fairies’ country again, +and throw my stick at the bél-fruit, and catch it in a corner +of your shawl as you did before. But mind, mind you do +not look behind you this time. If you do you will be +turned to stone, and you will for ever remain stone. Ride +straight back to me with the fruit, and take care never to +look behind you once till you get to me.”</p> + +<p>So the King’s son went again to the fairies’ country, and +all happened as before, till he had caught the fruit in his +shawl. But then he rode straight back to the fakír without +looking behind him, although the fairies and demons ran +after him and called to him the whole way.</p> + +<p>He rode so fast they could not catch him, and when he +came to the fakír, the fakír turned him into a fly and thus +hid him. Up came all the fairies and demons and said to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>142]</a></span> +the fakír, “There is a thief in your hut.” “A thief! Where +is the thief?” said the fakír. “Look everywhere for him, and +take him away if you can find him.” Then they searched +and searched everywhere, but could not find the prince; so +at last they went away.</p> + +<p>When they had all gone, the fakír took the little fly and +turned it back into a King’s son. A few days afterwards +he said to the prince, “Now you have found what you +wanted; you have the Bél-Princess you came to seek. So +go back to your father and mother.” “Very well,” said the +prince. Then he got his horse all ready for the journey, +took the bél-fruit, and made many salaams to the fakír, who +said to him, “Now, listen. Take care not to open the fruit +on the road. Wait till you are in your father’s house with +your father and mother, and then open it. If you do not do +exactly as I tell you, evil will happen to you; so mind you +only open the fruit in your father’s house. Out of it will +come the Bél-Princess.”</p> + +<p>The prince set out on his journey, and rode on and on +for six months till he came to his father’s country, and then +to his father’s garden. There he sat down to rest by a well +under a clump of great trees. He said to himself, “Now +that I am in my father’s country, and in my father’s garden, +I will sit and rest in this cool shade; and when I am rested +I will go up to the palace.” He bathed his face and his +hands in the well, and drank some of its water. Then he +thought, “Surely, now that I am in my father’s country and +in his garden, I need not wait till I get to his palace to open +my bél-fruit. What harm can happen if I do open it +here?”</p> + +<p>So he broke it open, in spite of all the fakír had told him, +and out of it came such a beautiful girl. She was more +beautiful than any princess that ever was seen—so beautiful +that the King’s son fainted when he saw her. The princess +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>143]</a></span> +fanned him, and poured water on his face, and presently +he recovered, and said to her, “Princess, I should like to +sleep for a little while, for I have travelled for six months, +and am very tired. After I have slept we will go together to +my father’s palace.” So he went to sleep, and the princess +sat by him.</p> + +<p>Presently a woman came to the well for water, and she +said to herself, “See, here is the King’s youngest son. What +a lovely princess that is sitting by him! What fine clothes +and jewels she has on!” And the wicked woman determined +to kill the princess and to take her place. Then she +came up to the beautiful girl, and sat down beside her, and +talked to her. “Listen to me, princess,” she said at last. +“Let us change clothes with each other. Give me yours, +and I will give you mine.” The princess, thinking no harm, +did as the woman suggested. “And now,” said the woman, +“let me put on your beautiful jewels.” The princess gave +them to her, and then the wicked, wicked woman, said to +her, “Let us walk about this pretty garden, and look at the +flowers, and amuse ourselves.” By and by she said, “Princess, +let us go and look at ourselves in the well, and see what +we look like, you in my clothes, and I in yours.” The young +girl consented, and they went to the well. As they bent over +the side to look in, the wicked woman gave the princess a +push, and pushed her straight over the edge into the water.</p> + +<p>Then she went and sat down by the sleeping prince, just +as the princess had done. When he awoke and saw this +ugly, wicked woman, instead of his Bél-Princess, he was +very much surprised, and said to himself, “A little while ago +I had a beautiful girl by me, and now there is such an ugly +woman. It is true she has on the clothes and jewels my +Bél-Princess wore; but she is so ugly, and there is something +wrong with one of her eyes. What has happened to +her?” Then he said to this wicked woman, whom he took +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>144]</a></span> +for his Bél-Princess, “What is the matter with you? Has +anything happened to you? Why have you become so +ugly?” She answered, “Till now I have always lived in a +bél-fruit. It is the bad air of your country that has made +me ugly, and hurt one of my eyes.”</p> + +<p>The prince was ashamed of her, and very, very sorry. +“How shall I take her to my father’s palace now?” he +thought. “My mother and all my brothers’ wives will see +her, and what will they say? However, never mind; I +must take her to my house, and marry her. I cannot think +what can have happened to her.” Then he got a palanquin, +and took her up to the palace.</p> + +<p>His father and mother were very glad that their youngest +son had come back to them; but when they saw the wicked +woman, and heard she was his Bél-Princess, they, and every +one else in the palace, said, “Can she be a Bél-Princess? +She is not at all pretty, and she is not at all pleasant.” “She +was lovely when she came out of the fruit,” said the prince. +“No one ever saw such a beautiful girl before. I cannot +think what has happened to her. It must be the bad air +of this country that has made her so ugly.” Then he told +them all about his journey to the jungle where he had met +the fakír, and how, with the fakír’s help, he had found his +Bél-Princess, and how he had opened the fruit in his father’s +garden, and then fallen asleep.</p> + +<p>The King made a great wedding-feast for his son, and +he and the wicked woman were married, and all the time +the King’s youngest son thought he was marrying the Bél-Princess.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the beautiful girl had not been drowned in the +well, but had changed into a most lovely pink lotus-flower. +This flower was first seen by a man from the village who +came to the well for water. “What a lovely lotus-flower!” +said the man; “I must gather it.” But when he tried to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>145]</a></span> +reach it the flower floated away from him. Then he went +and told all the people in the village of the beautiful flower, +and then the palace servants heard of it. They all tried to +gather it, but could not, for the flower always went just out +of their reach. Then the King and his six elder sons heard +of it, and they came to the well; but the King tried in vain +to gather it, and his six sons too. The lotus-flower always +floated away from them.</p> + +<p>Last of all, the youngest prince heard of the lotus, and he +grew very curious to see it, and said, “I will try if I cannot +gather this wonderful flower that no one can touch.” So he, +too, came to the well, and stooped, and stretched out his +hand, and the minute he did so the flower floated of itself +into his hand.</p> + +<p>Then he was very happy and proud, and he took the +flower up to his wife and showed it to her. “Just see,” he +said, “every one in the village and the palace were talking +of this lotus-flower; and every one tried to gather it; and no +one could, for the flower would not let any one touch it. +My father tried, and my brothers all tried, and they, too, could +not gather it; but as soon as I stretched out my hand the +flower floated into it of itself.”</p> + +<p>When his wicked wife saw the flower, she said nothing; +but her heart told her it was the beautiful girl she had pushed +into the well. The prince laid the flower on his pillow, and +was very glad and happy. As soon as he had gone out, his +wife seized the lotus-flower, tore it to bits, and threw them +far away into the garden.</p> + +<p>In a few days a bél-tree was growing on the spot where +she had thrown the pieces of the lotus-flower. On it grew +one big bél-fruit, and it was so fine and large that every +one in the village and the palace tried to gather it; but no +one could touch it, for the fruit always went just out of +reach. The King and his six elder sons also tried, but they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>146]</a></span> +could not touch it. The youngest prince heard of this fruit, +so he said to his wife, “I will go and see if I can gather +this bél-fruit that no one can even touch.” The wicked +woman’s heart said to her, “In the bél-fruit is the Bél-Princess;” +but she said nothing.</p> + +<p>The prince went to the bél-tree; the bél-fruit came into +his hand, and he broke it off the tree, and brought it home +to his wife. “See,” he said, “here is the bél-fruit; it let +me gather it at once.” And he was very proud and happy. +Then he laid the fruit on a table in his room.</p> + +<p>When he had gone out the wicked wife came, and took +the fruit, and flung it away in the garden. In the night the +fruit burst in two, and in it lay a lovely, tiny girl baby. The +gardener, as he went round the garden early in the morning, +found the little baby; and he wondered who had thrown +away the beautiful fruit, and who the lovely baby girl could +be. She was so tiny and so pretty, and the gardener was +delighted when he saw her, for he had no children, and +thought God had sent him a little child at last.</p> + +<p>He took her in his arms and carried her to his wife.</p> + +<p>“See,” he said, “we have never had any children, and +now God has sent us this beautiful little girl.” His wife +looked at the child, and she was as delighted with her as her +husband was. “Yes,” she said, “God has sent us this child, +and she is certainly most beautiful. I am very happy. But I +have no milk for her; if only I had milk for her, I could nurse +her and she would live.” And the gardener’s wife was very sad +to think she had no milk in her breasts for the little child.</p> + +<p>Then her husband said, “Let us ask God to send you milk +for her.” So they prayed to God and worshipped him. And +God was pleased with them both, and sent the gardener’s +wife a great deal of milk.</p> + +<p>The little girl now lived in the gardener’s house, and he +and his wife took the greatest care of her, and were very +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>147]</a></span> +happy to think they had now a child. She grew very fast, +and became lovelier every day. She was more beautiful +than any girl that had ever been seen, and all the people in +the King’s country used to say, “How lovely the gardener’s +daughter is! She is more beautiful than any princess.”</p> + +<p>The King’s youngest son’s wicked wife heard of the child, +and her heart told her, “She is the Bél-Princess.” She said +nothing, but she often thought of how she could contrive to +have her killed.</p> + +<p>One day, when the gardener’s daughter was seven years +old, she was out in her father’s garden, making a little garden +of her own near the house-door. While she was busy over +her flowers, the wicked woman’s cow strayed into the garden +and began eating the plants in it. The little girl would not +let it make its dinner off her father’s flowers and grass, but +pushed it out of the garden.</p> + +<p>The wicked woman was told how the gardener’s daughter +had treated her cow; so she cried all day long, and pretended +to be ill. When her husband asked her what was the +matter, she answered, “I am sick because the gardener’s +daughter has ill-treated my cow. She beat it, and turned it +out of her father’s garden, and said many wicked things. +If you will have the girl killed, I shall live; but if you do +not kill her, I shall die.” The prince at once ordered his +servants to take the gardener’s daughter the next morning to +the jungle, and there kill her.</p> + +<p>So the next morning early the servants went to the +gardener’s house to take away his daughter. He and his wife +cried bitterly, and begged the servants to leave the girl with +them. They offered them a great many rupees, saying, +“Take these rupees, and leave us our daughter.” “How +can we leave you your daughter,” said the servants, “when +the King’s youngest son has ordered us to take her to the +jungle and kill her, that his wife may get well?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>148]</a></span> +So they led the girl away; and as they went to the jungle, +they said to each other, “How beautiful this girl is!” They +found her so beautiful that they grew very sorrowful at the +thought of killing her.</p> + +<p>They took the girl to a great plain, which was about ten +miles distant from the King’s country; but when they got +there they said they could not kill her. She was so beautiful +that they really could not kill her. She said to them, +“You were ordered to kill me, so kill me.” “No,” they +answered, “we cannot kill you, we cannot kill you.”</p> + +<p>Then the girl took the knife in her own hand and cut out +her two eyes; and one eye became a parrot, and the other +a <i>mainá</i>. Then she cut out her heart and it became a great +tank. Her body became a splendid palace and garden—a +far grander palace than was the King’s palace; her arms and +legs became the pillars that supported the verandah roof; +and her head the dome on the top of the palace.</p> + +<p>The prince’s servants looked on all the time these changes +were taking place, and they were so frightened by them, that +when they got home they would not tell the prince or any +one else what they had seen. No one lived in this wonderful +house. It stood empty in its garden by its tank, and +the parrot and <i>mainá</i> lived in the garden trees.</p> + +<p>Some time afterwards the youngest prince went out hunting, +and towards evening he found himself on the great plain +where stood the wonderful palace. He rode up to it and +said to himself, “I never saw any house here before. I wonder +who lives here?” He went through the great gate into the +garden, and then he saw the large tank, and how beautiful +the garden was. He went all through the garden and was +delighted with it, and he saw that it was beautifully kept, and +was in perfect order. Then he went into the palace, and went +through all the rooms, and wondered more and more to +whom this beautiful house could belong. He was very much +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>149]</a></span> +surprised, too, at finding no one in the palace, though the +rooms were all splendidly furnished, and very clean and neat.</p> + +<p>“My father is a great king,” he said to himself, “and yet +he has not got a palace like this.” It was now deep night, +so the prince knew he could not go home till the next day. +“Never mind,” he said, “I will sleep in the verandah. I +am not afraid, though I shall be quite alone.”</p> + +<p>So he lay down to sleep in the verandah, and while he +lay there, the parrot and <i>mainá</i> flew in, and they perched +near him, for they knew he was there, and they wanted him +to hear what they said to each other. Then they began +chattering together; and the parrot told the <i>mainá</i> how the +prince’s father was king of the neighbouring country, and +how he had seven sons, and how six of the sons had married +six princesses, “but this prince, who was the youngest son, +would not marry; and what is more, he did not like his +brother’s wives at all.” Then the birds stopped talking and +did not chatter any more that night. The prince was very +much surprised at the birds knowing who he was, and all +about his dislike to his brothers’ wives.</p> + +<p>The next morning he rode home; and there he stayed all +day, and would not talk. His wife asked him, “What is the +matter with you? Why are you so silent?” “My head aches,” +he answered: “I am ill.” But towards evening he felt he +must go back to the empty palace on the great plain, so he +said to his wife, “I am going out to eat the air for a little +while.” Then he got on his horse and rode off to the palace.</p> + +<p>As soon as he had laid himself down in the verandah, the +parrot and the <i>mainá</i> perched near him; and the parrot +told the <i>mainá</i> how the prince had heard of the Bél-Princess; +and all about his long journey in search of her, and +how he found the bél-fruit, and how he was turned to stone. +Then he stopped chattering, and the birds said nothing +more to each other that night.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>150]</a></span> +In the morning the King’s son rode home, and was as +silent and grave as he had been before. He told his wife +his head ached when she asked him whether he was ill.</p> + +<p>That night he again slept in the verandah of the strange +palace, and heard a little more of his story from the birds.</p> + +<p>The next day he was still silent and grave, and his wife +was very uneasy. “I am sure the Bél-Princess is alive,” she +said to herself, “and that he goes every night to see her.” +Then she asked him, “Why do you go out every evening? +Why do you not stay at home?” “I am not well,” he +answered, “so I go to my mother’s house” (the prince had +a little house of his own in his father’s compound). “I will +not sleep at home again till I am well.”</p> + +<p>That night he lay down to sleep again in the verandah of +the great empty palace, and heard the parrot tell the <i>mainá</i> +all that happened to the prince up to the time that he fell +asleep in his father’s garden with the beautiful Bél-Princess +sitting beside him.</p> + +<p>On the fifth night the prince lay down to sleep again in the +verandah of the palace on the great plain, and watched eagerly +for the little birds to begin their talk. This night the parrot +told how the wicked woman had come and taken the Bél-Princess’s +clothes, and thrown her down the well; how the +princess became a lotus-flower which the wicked wife broke +to bits; how the bits of the lotus-flower turned into a bél-fruit +which she threw away; how out of the fruit came a tiny +girl-baby that the gardener adopted; how the wicked woman +persuaded the prince to have this girl killed when she was +seven years old; how he and the <i>mainá</i> had once been this +girl’s eyes; how the tank was once her heart, and how her +body had changed into this palace and garden, while her +head became the dome on the top of the palace.</p> + +<p>Then the <i>mainá</i> asked the parrot where the Bél-Princess +was. “Cannot she be found?” said the <i>mainá</i>. “Yes,” said +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>151]</a></span> +the parrot, “she can be found; but the King’s youngest son +alone can find her, and he is so foolish! He believes that +his ugly, wicked wife is the beautiful Bél-Princess!” “And +where is the princess?” asked the <i>mainá</i>. “She is here,” +said the parrot. “If the prince would come one day and go +through all the rooms of this palace till he came to the centre +room, he would see a trap-door in the middle of that room. +If he lifted the trap-door he would see a staircase which +leads to an underground palace, and in this palace is the +Bél-princess.” “And can no one but the prince lift the +trap-door?” asked the <i>mainá</i>. “No one,” answered the +parrot. “It is God’s order that only the King’s youngest son +can lift the trap-door and find the Bél-Princess.”</p> + +<p>The next day the young prince went through all the rooms +of the palace, instead of going home. When he came to +the centre room, he looked for the trap-door, and when he +had lifted it he saw the staircase. He went down it, and +found himself in the under-ground palace, which was far +more beautiful than the one above-ground. It was full of +servants; and in one room a grand dinner was standing +ready. In another room he saw a gold bed, all covered +with pearls and diamonds, and on the bed lay the Bél-Princess.</p> + +<p>Day and night she prayed to God and read a holy book. +She did nothing else.</p> + +<p>When the prince went into her room and she saw him, +she was very sad, not happy, for she thought, “He is so +foolish; he knows nothing of what has happened to me.” +Then she said to him, “Why did you come here? Go home +again to your father’s palace.”</p> + +<p>The prince burst out crying. “See, princess,” he said, +“I knew nothing of your palace. I only found it by chance +five nights ago. I have slept here in the verandah for the +last five nights, and only last night did I learn what had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>152]</a></span> +happened to you, and how to find you.” “I know it is true,” +she said, “that you knew nothing of what happened to me. +But now that you have found me, what will you do?”</p> + +<p>“I will go home to my father’s palace,” he answered, +“and make everything ready for you, and then I will come +and marry you and take you home.”</p> + +<p>So it was all settled, and he ate some food, and returned +to his father. He told his father and mother all that had +happened to the Bél-Princess, and how her body had turned +into the beautiful garden and palace that stood on the big +plain; and of the little birds; and of the underground +palace in which she now lived. So his father said that he +and the prince’s mother, and his six brothers and their wives, +would all take him in great state to the palace and marry +him to the beautiful Bél-Princess; and that then they would +all return to their own palace, and all live together. “But +first the wicked woman must be killed,” said the King.</p> + +<p>So he ordered his servants to take her to the jungle and +kill her, and throw her body away. So they took her away +at four o’clock in the afternoon and killed her.</p> + +<p>One morning two or three days later, the prince and his +father and mother, and brothers and sisters-in-law, went +to the great palace on the wide plain; and there, in the +evening, the king’s youngest son was married to the Bél-Princess. +And when his father and mother and brothers, +and his brothers’ wives, saw her, they all said, “It is quite +true. She is indeed a Bél-Princess!”</p> + +<p>After the wedding they all returned to the King’s palace, +and there they lived together. But the King and his sons +used often to go to the palace on the great plain to eat the +air; and they used to lend it sometimes to other rájás and +kings.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Múniyá.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>153]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head05.jpg" width="600" height="76" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxxii" id="sxxii"></a>XXII.<br /> +<br /> +HOW THE RÁJÁ’S SON WON THE PRINCESS +LABÁM.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxxii">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapi"><span class="dcap">I</span></span>N a country there was a Rájá who had an only son +who every day went out to hunt. One day the +Rání, his mother, said to him, “You can hunt +wherever you like on these three sides; but you must never +go to the fourth side.” This she said because she knew if +he went on the fourth side he would hear of the beautiful +Princess Labám, and that then he would leave his father and +mother and seek for the princess.</p> + +<p>The young prince listened to his mother, and obeyed her +for some time; but one day, when he was hunting on the +three sides where he was allowed to go, he remembered what +she had said to him about the fourth side, and he determined +to go and see why she had forbidden him to hunt on that +side. When he got there, he found himself in a jungle, and +nothing in the jungle but a quantity of parrots, who lived in +it. The young Rájá shot at some of them, and at once they +all flew away up to the sky. All, that is, but one, and this +was their Rájá, who was called Híráman parrot.</p> + +<p>When Híráman parrot found himself left alone, he called +out to the other parrots, “Don’t fly away and leave me alone +when the Rájá’s son shoots. If you desert me like this, I will +tell the Princess Labám.”</p> + +<p>Then the parrots all flew back to their Rájá, chattering. +The prince was greatly surprised, and said, “Why, these birds +can talk!” Then he said to the parrots, “Who is the +Princess Labám? Where does she live?” But the parrots +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>154]</a></span> +would not tell him where she lived. “You can never get to +the Princess Labám’s country.” That is all they would say.</p> + +<p>The prince grew very sad when they would not tell him +anything more; and he threw his gun away, and went home. +When he got home, he would not speak or eat, but lay on +his bed for four or five days, and seemed very ill.</p> + +<p>At last he told his father and mother that he wanted to go +and see the Princess Labám. “I must go,” he said; “I +must see what she is like. Tell me where her country is.” +“We do not know where it is,” answered his father and +mother. “Then I must go and look for it,” said the prince. +“No, no,” they said, “you must not leave us. You are our +only son. Stay with us. You will never find the Princess +Labám.” “I must try and find her,” said the prince. “Perhaps +God will show me the way. If I live and I find her, +I will come back to you; but perhaps I shall die, and then +I shall never see you again. Still I must go.”</p> + +<p>So they had to let him go, though they cried very much +at parting with him. His father gave him fine clothes to +wear, and a fine horse. And he took his gun, and his +bow and arrows, and a great many other weapons, “for,” he +said, “I may want them.” His father, too, gave him plenty +of rupees.</p> + +<p>Then he himself got his horse all ready for the journey, +and he said good-bye to his father and mother; and his +mother took her handkerchief and wrapped some sweetmeats +in it, and gave it to her son. “My child,” she said to him, +“when you are hungry eat some of these sweetmeats.”</p> + +<p>He then set out on his journey, and rode on and on till he +came to a jungle in which were a tank and shady trees. He +bathed himself and his horse in the tank, and then sat down +under a tree. “Now,” he said to himself, “I will eat some +of the sweetmeats my mother gave me, and I will drink +some water, and then I will continue my journey.” He opened +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>155]</a></span> +his handkerchief, and took out a sweetmeat. He found an +ant in it. He took out another. There was an ant in that +one too. So he laid the two sweetmeats on the ground, and +he took out another, and another, and another, until he had +taken them all out; but in each he found an ant. “Never +mind,” he said, “I won’t eat the sweetmeats; the ants shall +eat them.” Then the Ant-Rájá came and stood before him +and said, “You have been good to us. If ever you are in +trouble, think of me and we will come to you.”</p> + +<p>The Rájá’s son thanked him, mounted his horse and continued +his journey. He rode on and on till he came to +another jungle, and there he saw a tiger who had a thorn in +his foot, and was roaring loudly from the pain.</p> + +<p>“Why do you roar like that?” said the young Rájá. +“What is the matter with you?” “I have had a thorn in my +foot for twelve years,” answered the tiger, “and it hurts me +so; that is why I roar.” “Well,” said the Rájá’s son, “I will +take it out for you. But, perhaps, as you are a tiger, when +I have made you well, you will eat me?” “Oh, no,” said +the tiger, “I won’t eat you. Do make me well.”</p> + +<p>Then the prince took a little knife from his pocket, and +cut the thorn out of the tiger’s foot; but when he cut, the +tiger roared louder than ever, so loud that his wife heard +him in the next jungle, and came bounding along to see +what was the matter. The tiger saw her coming, and hid +the prince in the jungle, so that she should not see him.</p> + +<p>“What man hurt you that you roared so loud?” said the +wife. “No one hurt me,” answered her husband; “but a +Rájá’s son came and took the thorn out of my foot.” +“Where is he? Show him to me,” said his wife. “If you +promise not to kill him, I will call him,” said the tiger. “I +won’t kill him; only let me see him,” answered his wife.</p> + +<p>Then the tiger called the Rájá’s son, and when he came +the tiger and his wife made him a great many salaams. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>156]</a></span> +Then they gave him a good dinner, and he stayed with them +for three days. Every day he looked at the tiger’s foot, and +the third day it was quite healed. Then he said good-bye +to the tigers, and the tiger said to him, “If ever you are in +trouble, think of me, and we will come to you.”</p> + +<p>The Rájá’s son rode on and on till he came to a third +jungle. Here he found four fakírs whose teacher and master +had died, and had left four things,—a bed, which carried +whoever sat on it whithersoever he wished to go; a bag, that +gave its owner whatever he wanted, jewels, food, or clothes; +a stone bowl that gave its owner as much water as he wanted, +no matter how far he might be from a tank; and a stick and +rope, to which its owner had only to say, if any one came to +make war on him, “Stick, beat as many men and soldiers +as are here,” and the stick would beat them and the rope +would tie them up.</p> + +<p>The four fakírs were quarrelling over these four things. +One said, “I want this;” another said, “You cannot have +it, for I want it;” and so on.</p> + +<p>The Rájá’s son said to them, “Do not quarrel for these +things. I will shoot four arrows in four different directions. +Whichever of you gets to my first arrow, shall have the first +thing—the bed. Whosoever gets to the second arrow, shall +have the second thing—the bag. He who gets to the third +arrow, shall have the third thing—the bowl. And he who +gets to the fourth arrow, shall have the last things—the stick +and rope.” To this they agreed, and the prince shot off his +first arrow. Away raced the fakírs to get it. When they +brought it back to him he shot off the second, and when they +had found and brought it to him he shot off his third, and +when they had brought him the third he shot off the fourth.</p> + +<p>While they were away looking for the fourth arrow, the +Rájá’s son let his horse loose in the jungle, and sat on the +bed, taking the bowl, the stick and rope, and the bag with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>157]</a></span> +him. Then he said, “Bed, I wish to go to the Princess +Labám’s country.” The little bed instantly rose up into the +air and began to fly, and it flew and flew till it came to the +Princess Labám’s country, where it settled on the ground. +The Rájá’s son asked some men he saw, “Whose country +is this?” “The Princess Labám’s country,” they answered. +Then the prince went on till he came to a house where he +saw an old woman. “Who are you?” she said. “Where +do you come from?” “I come from a far country,” he said; +“do let me stay with you to-night.” “No,” she answered, +“I cannot let you stay with me; for our king has ordered +that men from other countries may not stay in his country. +You cannot stay in my house.” “You are my aunty,” said the +prince; “let me remain with you for this one night. You +see it is evening, and if I go into the jungle, then the wild +beasts will eat me.” “Well,” said the old woman, “you +may stay here to-night; but to-morrow morning you must +go away, for if the king hears you have passed the night in +my house, he will have me seized and put into prison.”</p> + +<p>Then she took him into her house, and the Rájá’s son was +very glad. The old woman began preparing dinner, but he +stopped her. “Aunty,” he said, “I will give you food.” +He put his hand into his bag, saying, “Bag, I want some +dinner,” and the bag gave him instantly a delicious dinner, +served upon two gold plates. The old woman and the +Rájá’s son then dined together.</p> + +<p>When they had finished eating, the old woman said, +“Now I will fetch some water.” “Don’t go,” said the +prince. “You shall have plenty of water directly.” So he +took his bowl and said to it, “Bowl, I want some water,” +and then it filled with water. When it was full, the prince +cried out, “Stop, bowl,” and the bowl stopped filling. “See, +aunty,” he said, “with this bowl I can always get as much +water as I want.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>158]</a></span> +By this time night had come. “Aunty,” said the Rájá’s +son, “why don’t you light a lamp?” “There is no need,” +she said. “Our king has forbidden the people in his country +to light any lamps; for, as soon as it is dark, his daughter, +the Princess Labám, comes and sits on her roof, and she +shines so, that she lights up all the country and our houses, +and we can see to do our work as if it were day.”</p> + +<p>When it was quite black night, the princess got up. She +dressed herself in her rich clothes and jewels, and rolled up +her hair, and across her head she put a band of diamonds +and pearls. Then she shone like the moon, and her beauty +made night day. She came out of her room, and sat on the +roof of her palace. In the daytime she never came out of +her house; she only came out at night. All the people in +her father’s country then went about their work and finished +it.</p> + +<p>The Rájá’s son watched the princess quietly, and was +very happy. He said to himself, “How lovely she is!”</p> + +<p>At midnight, when everybody had gone to bed, the princess +came down from her roof, and went to her room; and +when she was in bed and asleep, the Rájá’s son got up softly, +and sat on his bed. “Bed,” he said to it, “I want to go to +the Princess Labám’s bed-room.” So the little bed carried +him to the room where she lay fast asleep.</p> + +<p>The young Rájá took his bag and said, “I want a +great deal of betel-leaf,” and it at once gave him quantities +of betel-leaf. This he laid near the princess’s bed, and +then his little bed carried him back to the old woman’s +house.</p> + +<p>Next morning all the princess’s servants found the betel-leaf, +and began to eat it. “Where did you get all that betel-leaf?” +asked the princess. “We found it near your bed,” +answered the servants. Nobody knew the prince had come +in the night and put it all there.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>159]</a></span> +In the morning the old woman came to the Rájá’s son. +“Now it is morning,” she said, “and you must go; for if +the king finds out all I have done for you, he will seize me.” +“I am ill to-day, dear aunty,” said the prince; “do let me +stay till to-morrow morning.” “Good,” said the old woman. +So he stayed, and they took their dinner out of the bag, and +the bowl gave them water.</p> + +<p>When night came the princess got up and sat on her roof, +and at twelve o’clock, when every one was in bed, she went +to her bed-room, and was soon fast asleep. Then the Rájá’s +son sat on his bed, and it carried him to the princess. He +took his bag and said, “Bag, I want a most lovely shawl.” +It gave him a splendid shawl, and he spread it over the +princess as she lay asleep. Then he went back to the old +woman’s house and slept till morning.</p> + +<p>In the morning, when the princess saw the shawl, she was +delighted. “See, mother,” she said; “God must have +given me this shawl, it is so beautiful.” Her mother was +very glad too. “Yes, my child,” she said; “God must +have given you this splendid shawl.”</p> + +<p>When it was morning the old woman said to the Rájá’s +son, “Now you must really go.” “Aunty,” he answered, +“I am not well enough yet. Let me stay a few days longer. +I will remain hidden in your house, so that no one may see +me.” So the old woman let him stay.</p> + +<p>When it was black night, the princess put on her lovely +clothes and jewels, and sat on her roof. At midnight she went +to her room and went to sleep. Then the Rájá’s son sat on +his bed and flew to her bed-room. There he said to his bag, +“Bag, I want a very, very beautiful ring.” The bag gave him a +glorious ring. Then he took the Princess Labám’s hand gently +to put on the ring, and she started up very much frightened.</p> + +<p>“Who are you?” she said to the prince. “Where do you +come from? Why do you come to my room?” “Do not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>160]</a></span> +be afraid, princess,” he said; “I am no thief. I am a great +Rájá’s son. Híráman parrot, who lives in the jungle where +I went to hunt, told me your name, and then I left my +father and mother, and came to see you.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said the princess, “as you are the son of such a +great Rájá, I will not have you killed, and I will tell my +father and mother that I wish to marry you.”</p> + +<p>The prince then returned to the old woman’s house; and +when morning came, the princess said to her mother, “The +son of a great Rájá has come to this country, and I wish to +marry him.” Her mother told this to the king. “Good,” +said the king; “but if this Rájá’s son wishes to marry my +daughter, he must first do whatever I bid him. If he fails +I will kill him. I will give him eighty pounds weight of +mustard seed, and out of this he must crush the oil in one +day. If he cannot do this he shall die.”</p> + +<p>In the morning the Rájá’s son told the old woman that he +intended to marry the princess. “Oh,” said the old woman, +“go away from this country, and do not think of marrying +her. A great many Rájás and Rájás’ sons have come here +to marry her, and her father has had them all killed. He +says whoever wishes to marry his daughter must first do +whatever he bids him. If he can, then he shall marry the +princess; if he cannot, the king will have him killed. But +no one can do the things the king tells him to do; so all +the Rájás and Rájás’ sons who have tried have been put to +death. You will be killed too, if you try. Do go away.” +But the prince would not listen to anything she said.</p> + +<p>The king sent for the prince to the old woman’s house, +and his servants brought the Rájá’s son to the king’s court-house +to the king. There the king gave him eighty pounds +of mustard seed, and told him to crush all the oil out of it +that day, and bring it next morning to him to the court-house. +“Whoever wishes to marry my daughter,” he said +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>161]</a></span> +to the prince, “must first do all I tell him. If he cannot, +then I have him killed. So if you cannot crush all the oil +out of this mustard seed, you will die.”</p> + +<p>The prince was very sorry when he heard this. “How +can I crush the oil out of all this mustard seed in one day?” +he said to himself; “and if I do not, the king will kill me.” +He took the mustard seed to the old woman’s house, and +did not know what to do. At last he remembered the Ant-Rájá, +and the moment he did so, the Ant-Rájá and his ants +came to him. “Why do you look so sad?” said the Ant-Rájá. +The prince showed him the mustard seed, and said +to him, “How can I crush the oil out of all this mustard +seed in one day? And if I do not take the oil to the king +to-morrow morning, he will kill me.” “Be happy,” said the +Ant-Rájá; “lie down and sleep: we will crush all the oil +out for you during the day, and to-morrow morning you shall +take it to the king.” The Rájá’s son lay down and slept, and +the ants crushed out the oil for him. The prince was very +glad when he saw the oil.</p> + +<p>The next morning he took it to the court-house to the +king. But the king said, “You cannot yet marry my +daughter. If you wish to do so, you must first fight with my +two demons and kill them.” The king a long time ago had +caught two demons, and then, as he did not know what to do +with them, he had shut them up in a cage. He was afraid +to let them loose for fear they would eat up all the people +in his country; and he did not know how to kill them. So +all the kings and kings’ sons who wanted to marry the +Princess Labám had to fight with these demons; “for,” said +the king to himself, “perhaps the demons may be killed, +and then I shall be rid of them.”</p> + +<p>When he heard of the demons the Rájá’s son was very +sad. “What can I do?” he said to himself. “How can I +fight with these two demons?” Then he thought of his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>162]</a></span> +tiger: and the tiger and his wife came to him and said, +“Why are you so sad?” The Rájá’s son answered, “The +king has ordered me to fight with his two demons and kill +them. How can I do this?” “Do not be frightened,” said +the tiger. “Be happy. I and my wife will fight with them +for you.”</p> + +<p>Then the Rájá’s son took out of his bag two splendid +coats. They were all gold and silver, and covered with +pearls and diamonds. These he put on the tigers to make +them beautiful, and he took them to the king, and said to +him, “May these tigers fight your demons for me?” “Yes,” +said the king, who did not care in the least who killed his +demons, provided they were killed. “Then call your demons,” +said the Rájá’s son, “and these tigers will fight them.” The +king did so, and the tigers and the demons fought and fought +until the tigers had killed the demons.</p> + +<p>“That is good,” said the king. “But you must do something +else before I give you my daughter. Up in the sky +I have a kettle-drum. You must go and beat it. If you +cannot do this, I will kill you.”</p> + +<p>The Rájá’s son thought of his little bed; so he went to +the old woman’s house and sat on his bed. “Little bed,” +he said, “up in the sky is the king’s kettle-drum. I want +to go to it.” The bed flew up with him, and the Rájá’s son +beat the drum, and the king heard him. Still, when he +came down, the king would not give him his daughter. +“You have,” he said to the prince, “done the three things +I told you to do; but you must do one thing more.” “If +I can, I will,” said the Rájá’s son.</p> + +<p>Then the king showed him the trunk of a tree that was +lying near his court-house. It was a very, very thick trunk. +He gave the prince a wax hatchet, and said, “To-morrow +morning you must cut this trunk in two with this wax hatchet.”</p> + +<p>The Rájá’s son went back to the old woman’s house. He +was very sad, and thought that now the Rájá would certainly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>163]</a></span> +kill him. “I had his oil crushed out by the ants,” he said +to himself. “I had his demons killed by the tigers. My +bed helped me to beat his kettle-drum. But now what can +I do? How can I cut that thick tree trunk in two with a +wax hatchet?”</p> + +<p>At night he went on his bed to see the princess. “To-morrow,” +he said to her, “your father will kill me.” “Why?” +asked the princess.</p> + +<p>“He has told me to cut a thick tree-trunk in two with a +wax hatchet. How can I ever do that?” said the Rájá’s son. +“Do not be afraid,” said the princess; “do as I bid you, and +you will cut it in two quite easily.”</p> + +<p>Then she pulled out a hair from her head, and gave it to +the prince. “To-morrow,” she said, “when no one is near +you, you must say to the tree-trunk, ‘The Princess Labám +commands you to let yourself be cut in two by this hair.’ +Then stretch the hair down the edge of the wax hatchet’s +blade.”</p> + +<p>The prince next day did exactly as the princess had told +him; and the minute the hair that was stretched down the +edge of the hatchet-blade touched the tree-trunk, it split into +two pieces.</p> + +<p>The king said, “Now you can marry my daughter.” Then +the wedding took place. All the Rájás and kings of the +countries round were asked to come to it, and there were +great rejoicings. After a few days the prince’s son said to +his wife, “Let us go to my father’s country.” The Princess +Labám’s father gave them a quantity of camels and horses +and rupees and servants; and they travelled in great state to +the prince’s country, where they lived happily.</p> + +<p>The prince always kept his bag, bowl, bed, and stick; only +as no one ever came to make war on him, he never needed +to use the stick.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Múniyá.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>164]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head01.jpg" width="600" height="126" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxxiii" id="sxxiii"></a>XXIII.<br /> +<br /> +THE PRINCESS WHO LOVED HER FATHER +LIKE SALT.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxxiii">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapi"><span class="dcap">I</span></span>N a country there lived a king who had seven daughters. +One day he called them all to him and said to them, +“My daughters, how much do you love me?” The +six eldest answered, “Father, we love you as much as sweetmeats +and sugar;” but the seventh and youngest daughter +said, “Father, I love you as much as salt.” The king was +much pleased with his six eldest daughters, but very angry +with his youngest daughter. “What is this?” he said; “my +daughter only loves me as much as she does salt!” Then +he called some of his servants, and said to them, “Get a +palanquin ready, and carry my youngest daughter away to +the jungle.”</p> + +<p>The servants did as they were bid; and when they got to +the jungle, they put the palanquin down under a tree and +went away. The princess called to them, “Where are you +going? Stay here; my father did not tell you to leave me +alone in the jungle.” “We will come back,” said the servants; +“we are only going to drink some water.” But they returned +to her father’s palace.</p> + +<p>The princess waited in the palanquin under the tree, and +it was now evening, and the servants had not come back. +She was very much frightened and cried bitterly. “The +tigers and wild beasts will eat me,” she said to herself. At +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>165]</a></span> +last she went to sleep, and slept for a little while. When she +awoke she found in her palanquin some food on a plate, +and a little water, that God had sent her while she slept. +She ate the food and drank the water, and then she felt +happier, for she thought, “God must have sent me this food +and water.” She decided that as it was now night she had +better stay in her palanquin, and go to sleep. “Perhaps the +tigers and wild beasts will come and eat me,” she thought; +“but if they don’t, I will try to-morrow to get out of this +jungle, and go to another country.”</p> + +<p>The next morning she left her palanquin and set out. She +walked on, till, deep in the jungle, she came to a beautiful +palace, which did not belong to her father, but to another +king. The gate was shut, but she opened it, and went in. +She looked all about, and thought, “What a beautiful house +this is, and what a pretty garden and tank!”</p> + +<p>Everything was beautiful, only there were no servants nor +anybody else to be seen. She went into the house, and +through all the rooms. In one room she saw a dinner ready +to be eaten, but there was no one to eat it. At last she +came to a room in which was a splendid bed, and on it lay +a king’s son covered with a shawl. She took the shawl off, +and then she saw he was very beautiful, and that he was +dead. His body was stuck full of needles.</p> + +<p>She sat down on the bed, and there she sat for one week, +without eating, or drinking, or sleeping, pulling out the +needles. Then a man came by who said to her, “I have +here a girl I wish to sell.” “I have no rupees,” said the +princess; “but if you will sell her to me for my gold bangles, +I will buy her.” The man took the bangles, and left the +girl with the princess, who was very glad to have her. “Now,” +she thought, “I shall be no longer alone.”</p> + +<p>All day and all night long the princess sat and pulled out +the needles, while the girl went about the palace doing other +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>166]</a></span> +work. At the end of other two weeks the princess had +pulled out all the needles from the king’s body, except those +in his eyes.</p> + +<p>Then the king’s daughter said to her servant-girl, “For +three weeks I have not bathed. Get a bath ready for me, +and while I am bathing sit by the king, but do not take the +needles out of his eyes. I will pull them out myself.” The +servant-girl promised not to pull out the needles. Then she +got the bath ready; but when the king’s daughter had gone +to bathe, she sat down on the bed, and pulled the needles +out of the king’s eyes.</p> + +<p>As soon as she had done so, he opened his eyes, and sat +up. He thanked God for bringing him to life again. Then +he looked about, and saw the servant-girl, and said to her, +“Who has made me well and pulled all the needles out of +my body?” “I have,” she answered. Then he thanked +her and said she should be his wife.</p> + +<p>When the princess came from her bath, she found the +king alive, and sitting on his bed talking to her servant. +When she saw this she was very sad, but she said nothing. +The king said to the servant-maid, “Who is this girl?” She +answered, “She is one of my servants.” And from that +moment the princess became a servant-girl, and her servant-girl +married the king. Every day the king said, “Can this +lovely girl be really a servant? She is far more beautiful +than my wife.”</p> + +<p>One day the king thought, “I will go to another country +to eat the air.” So he called the pretended princess, his wife, +and told her he was going to eat the air in another country. +“What would you like me to bring you when I come back?” +She answered, “I should like beautiful sárís and clothes, and +gold and silver jewels.” Then the king said, “Call the +servant-girl, and ask her what she would like me to bring +her.” The real princess came, and the king said to her, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>167]</a></span> +“See, I am going to another country to eat the air. What +would you like me to bring for you when I return?”</p> + +<p>“King,” she answered, “if you can bring me what I want +I will tell you what it is; but if you cannot get it, I will not +tell you.” “Tell me what it is,” said the king. “Whatever +it may be I will bring it you.” “Good,” said the princess. +“I want a sun-jewel box.” Now the princess knew all about +the sun-jewel boxes, and that only fairies had such boxes. +And she knew, too, what would be in hers if the king could +get one for her, although these boxes contain sometimes one +thing and sometimes another.</p> + +<p>The king had never heard of such a box, and did not +know what it was like; so he went to every country asking +all the people he met what sort of box was a sun-jewel box, +and where he could get it. At last one day, after a fruitless +search, he was very sad, for he thought, “I have promised +the servant to bring her a sun-jewel box, and now I cannot +get one for her; what shall I do?”</p> + +<p>Then he went to sleep, and had a dream. In it he saw a +jungle, and in the jungle a fakír who, when he slept, slept for +twelve years, and then was awake for twelve years. The +king felt sure this man could give him what he wanted, so +when he woke he said to his sepoys and servants, “Stay +here in this spot till I return to you; then we will go back +to my country.”</p> + +<p>He mounted his horse and set out for the jungle he had +seen in his dream. He went on and on till he came to it, +and there he saw the fakír lying asleep. He had been asleep +for twelve years all but two weeks: over him were a quantity +of leaves, and grass, and a great deal of mud. The king +began taking off all the grass, and leaves, and mud, and +every day for a fortnight when he got up he cleared them all +away from off the fakír. When the fakír awoke at the end +of the two weeks, and saw that no mud, or grass, or leaves +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>168]</a></span> +were upon him, but that he was quite clean, he was very +much pleased, and said to the king, “I have slept for twelve +years, and yet I am as clean as I was when I went to sleep. +When I awoke after my last sleep, I was all covered with dirt +and mud, grass and leaves; but this time I am quite clean.”</p> + +<p>The king stayed with the fakír for a week, and waited on +him and did everything for him. The fakír was very much +pleased with the king, and he told this to him: “You are +a very good man.” He added, “Why did you come to this +jungle? You are such a great king, what can you want +from me?” “I want a sun-jewel box,” answered the king. +“You are such a good man,” said the fakír, “that I will +give you one.”</p> + +<p>Then the fakír went to a beautiful well, down which he +went right to the bottom. There, there was a house in which +lived the red fairy. She was called the red fairy not because +her skin was red, for it was quite white, but because everything +about her was red—her house, her clothes, and her +country. She was very glad to see the fakír, and asked him +why he had come to see her. “I want you to give me a +sun-jewel box,” he answered. “Very good,” said the fairy, +and she brought him one in which were seven small dolls +and a little flute. “No one but she who wants this box must +open it,” said the fairy to the fakír. “She must open it +when she is quite alone and at night.” Then she told him +what was in the box.</p> + +<p>The fakír thanked her, and took the box to the king, who +was delighted and made many salaams to the fakír. The fakír +told him none but the person who wished for the box was to +open it; but he did not tell him what more the fairy had +said.</p> + +<p>The king set off on his journey now, and when he came +to his servants and sepoys, he said to them he would now +return to his country, as he had found the box he wanted. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>169]</a></span> +When he reached his palace he called the false princess, his +wife, and gave her her silks and shawls, and sárís, and gold +and silver jewels. Then he called the servant-girl—the true +princess—and gave her her sun-jewel box. She took it, and +was delighted to have it. She made him many salaams and +went away with her box, but did not open it then, for she +knew what was in it, and that she must open it at night and +alone.</p> + +<p>That night she took her box and went out all by herself +to a wide plain in the jungle, and there opened it. She took +the little flute, put it to her lips, and began to play, and +instantly out flew the seven little dolls, who were all little +fairies, and they took chairs and carpets from the box, and +arranged them all in a large tent which appeared at that +moment. Then the fairies bathed her, combed and rolled +up her hair, put on her grand clothes and lovely slippers. +But all the time the princess did nothing but cry. They +brought a chair and placed it before the tent, and made her +sit in it. One of them took the flute and played on it, and +all the others danced before the princess, and they sang +songs for her. Still she cried and cried. At last, at four +o’clock in the morning, one of the fairies said, “Princess, +why do you cry?” “I took all the needles out of the king, +all but those in his eyes,” said the princess, “and while I +was bathing, my servant-girl, whom I had bought with my +gold bangles, pulled these out. She told the king it was she +who had pulled out all the other needles and brought him to +life, and that I was her servant, and she has taken my place +and is treated as the princess, and the king has married her, +while I am made to do a servant’s work and treated as the +servant.” “Do not cry,” said the fairies. “Everything +will be well for you by and by.”</p> + +<p>When it was close on morning, the princess played on the +flute, and all the chairs, sofas, and fairies became quite tiny, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>170]</a></span> +and went into the box, and the tent disappeared. She shut +it up, and took it back to the king’s palace. The next night +she again went out to the jungle-plain, and all happened as +on the night before.</p> + +<p>A wood-cutter was coming home late from his work, and +had to pass by the plain. He wondered when he saw the +tent. “I went by some time ago,” he said to himself, “and +I saw no tent here.” He climbed up a big tree to see what +was going on, and saw the fairies dancing before the princess, +who sat outside the tent, and he saw how she cried +though the fairies did all they could to amuse her. Then +he heard the fairies say, “Princess, why do you cry?” And +he heard her tell them how she had cured the king, and +how her servant-girl had taken her place and made her a +servant. “Never mind, don’t cry,” said the fairies. “All +will be well by and by.” Near morning the princess played +on her flute, and the fairies went into the box, and the tent +disappeared, and the princess went back to the palace.</p> + +<p>The third night passed as the other two had done. The +wood-cutter came to look on, and climbed into the tree to +see the fairies and the princess. Again the fairies asked her +why she cried, and she gave the same answer.</p> + +<p>The next day the wood-cutter went to the king. “Last +night and the night before,” he said, “as I came home from +work, I saw a large tent in the jungle, and before the tent +there sat a princess who did nothing but cry, while seven +fairies danced before her, or played on different instruments, +and sang songs to her.” The king was very much astonished, +and said to the wood-cutter, “To-night I will go with +you, and see the tent, and the princess, and the fairies.”</p> + +<p>When it was night the princess went out softly and opened +her box on the plain. The wood-cutter fetched the king, +and the two men climbed into a tree, and watched the fairies +as they danced and sang. The king saw that the princess +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>171]</a></span> +who sat and cried was his own servant-girl. He heard her +tell the fairies all she had done for him, and all that had +happened to her; so he came suddenly down from the tree, +and went up to her, and took her hand. “I always thought +you were a princess, and no servant-girl,” he said. “Will +you marry me?”</p> + +<p>She left off crying, and said, “Yes, I will marry you.” +She played on her flute, and the tent disappeared, and all +the fairies, and sofas, and chairs went into the box. She put +her flute in it, as she always did before shutting down the +lid, and went home with the king.</p> + +<p>The servant-girl was very vexed and angry when she +found the king knew all that had happened. However, the +princess was most good to her, and never treated her +unkindly.</p> + +<p>The princess then sent a letter to her mother, in which +she wrote, “I am going to be married to a great king. You +and my father must come to my wedding, and must bring +my sisters with you.”</p> + +<p>They all came, and her father and mother liked the king +very much, and were glad their daughter should marry him. +The wedding took place, and they stayed with her for some +time. For a whole week she gave their servants and sepoys +nice food cooked with salt, but to her father and mother +and sisters she only gave food cooked with sugar. At last +they got so tired of this sweet food that they could eat it no +longer. At the end of the week she gave them a dinner +cooked with salt. Then her father said, “My daughter is +wise though she is so young, and is the youngest of my +daughters. I know now how much she loved me when she +said she loved me like salt. People cannot eat their food +without salt. If their food is cooked with sugar one +day, it must be cooked with salt the next, or they cannot +eat it.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>172]</a></span> +After this her father and mother and sisters went home, +but they often came to see their little daughter and her +husband.</p> + +<p>The princess, the king, and the servant-maid all lived +happily together.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Múniyá.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/tail14.jpg" width="300" height="97" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>173]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head08.jpg" width="600" height="94" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxxiv" id="sxxiv"></a>XXIV.<br /> +<br /> +THE DEMON IS AT LAST CONQUERED BY THE +KING’S SON.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxxiv">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapi"><span class="dcap">I</span></span>N a country there were seven men, no two of whom +belonged to the same family, or were of the same +trade. One was a grain merchant’s son, one a +baker’s, and so on; each had a different trade.</p> + +<p>These seven men determined they would go to seek for +service in another country. They said good-bye to their +fathers and mothers, and set off.</p> + +<p>They travelled every day, and walked through many +jungles. At last, a long way from their homes, they came +to a wide plain in the midst of a jungle, and on it they saw +a goat which seemed to be a very good milch-goat. The +seven men said to each other, “If this goat belonged to any +one, it would not be left all alone in the jungle. Let us +take it with us.” They did so, and no one they met asked +them any questions about the goat.</p> + +<p>In the evening they arrived at a village where they stayed +for the night. They cooked and ate their dinners, and gave +the goat grass and grain. At midnight, when they were all +asleep, the goat became a great she-demon, with a great +mouth, and swallowed one of the seven men. Then she +became a goat again, and went back to the place where she +had been stabled.</p> + +<p>The men got up in the morning, and were very much +surprised to find they were only six, not seven. “Where is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>174]</a></span> +the seventh gone?” they said. “Well, when he returns we +will all go on together.” They sat waiting and waiting for +him, till, as it was getting late and he had not come, they +all thought they had better start without him. So they continued +their journey, taking the goat with them. Before they +went they said to the villagers, “If our seventh man comes +back to you, send him after us.”</p> + +<p>At evening they came to another village, where they stayed +for the night. They cooked and ate their dinners, and gave +grain and grass to the goat. At midnight, when they were +fast asleep, the goat became a demon and swallowed another +man, and then took her goat’s shape again.</p> + +<p>In this way she ate five men. The two that were left were +very sad at finding themselves alone. “We were seven +men,” they said, “now we are but two.” The grain merchant’s +son was one of the two, and he was very quick and +sharp. He determined he would not say anything to his +companion, but that he would watch by him that night, and +find out, if he could, what had happened to his other friends. +To keep himself awake he cut a piece out of his finger, and +rubbed a little salt into the wound, so that when his companion +went to sleep, he should not be able to sleep because +of the pain. At midnight the goat came and turned into a +huge demon. She went quickly up to the sleeping man to +swallow him; but the merchant’s son rushed at her, beat +her, and snatched his companion from her mouth. The +demon turned instantly into a goat, and went back to the +place where it had been stabled.</p> + +<p>The two men next morning set out from the village where +they had passed the night. They would have killed the goat +had they been able. As they could not do so, they took +it with them till they came to a plain in the jungle, where +they tied it up to a tree, and left it. Then they continued +their journey, and were very sorry they had not known how +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>175]</a></span> +wicked the goat was before it had swallowed their five companions.</p> + +<p>The goat meanwhile turned itself into a most beautiful +young girl, dressed in grand clothes and rich jewels, and +she sat down in the jungle and began to cry. Just then +the king of another country was hunting in this jungle; and +when he heard the noise of the crying, he called his servants +and told them to go and see who was crying. The servants +looked about until they saw the beautiful girl. They asked +her a great many questions, but she only cried, and would +not answer. The servants returned to the king, and told +him it was a most beautiful young girl who was crying; but +she would do nothing but cry, and would not speak.</p> + +<p>The king left his hunting and went himself to the girl, +and asked her why she cried. “My husband married me,” +she said, “and was taking me to his home. He went to +get some water to drink, and left me here. He has never +come back, and I don’t know where he is; perhaps some +tiger has killed him, and now I am all alone, and do not +know where to go. This is why I cry.” The king was so +delighted with her beauty, that he asked her to go with him. +He sent his servants for a fine palanquin, and when it came +he put the girl into it, and took her to his palace, and there +she stayed.</p> + +<p>At midnight she turned into a demon, and went to the +place where the king’s sheep and goats were kept. She +tore open all their stomachs, and ate all their hearts. Then +she dipped seven knives in their blood, and laid the knives +on the beds of the seven queens.</p> + +<p>Next morning the king heard that all his sheep and +goats were lying dead; and when his seven wives woke, +they saw that their clothes were all bloody, and that bloody +knives lay on their beds. They wondered who had done +this wicked thing to them.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>176]</a></span> +The next night at twelve o’clock the beautiful girl turned +into a demon again, and went to the cow-house. There she +tore open the cows and ate their hearts. Then she smeared +the queens’ clothes, and laid knives dipped in blood on their +beds; but she washed her own hands and clothes, so that +no blood should show on them. For a long time the same +thing happened every night, till she had eaten all the elephants, +horses, camels,—every animal, indeed, belonging to +the king. The king wondered very much at his animals all +being killed in this way, and he could not understand either +why every morning his wives’ clothes were bloody, and +bloody knives found on their beds.</p> + +<p>When she had eaten all the animals, the demon said to +the king, “I am afraid your wives are very wicked women. +They must have killed all your cows and sheep, goats, +horses, elephants, and camels. I am afraid one day they +will eat me up.” “I have been married to them for many +years,” answered the king, “and anything like this has never +happened before.” “I am very much afraid of them,” said +the demon, who all this time looked a most beautiful girl. +“I am very much afraid; but if you cut out their eyes, then +they cannot kill me.”</p> + +<p>The king called his servants and said to them, “Get +ready seven palanquins, and carry my seven wives into the +jungle. There you must leave them; only first take out +their eyes, which you must bring to me.” The servants took +the queens to a jungle a long way from the king’s country. +There they took out their eyes, and left them, and brought +the eyes to the king, who gave them into the demon’s +hands. She pounded them to bits with a stone, and threw +the bits away.</p> + +<p>The seven queens in the jungle did not know which way +to go; so they walked straight on, and fell into a dry well +which lay just before them. In this well they stayed; and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>177]</a></span> +the day when they thought they must die of hunger and +thirst was drawing near. But before it came the eldest queen +had a little son. She and the five next wives were so hungry, +that they agreed to kill the child, and divide it into seven +pieces. They each ate a piece, and gave one to the seventh +and youngest wife. She said nothing, and hid the piece. +These five wives each had a son one after the other, and +they killed and divided their children as the eldest wife had +done with hers. But the youngest wife hid all the six pieces +that were given her, and would eat none. Her son was born +last of all. Then the six eldest wives said, “Let us kill and +divide your child.” “No,” she said, “I will never kill or +divide my boy; I would rather die of hunger. Here are the +six pieces you gave me. I would not eat them. Take them +and eat them, but you must not touch my son.” God was +so pleased with her for not killing her child, that he made +the boy grow bigger and bigger every day; and the little +queen was very happy.</p> + +<p>They all lived in the dry well without any food till the +little prince was five years old. By that time he was very +quick and clever. One day he said to his mother, “Why +have we lived all this while in the well?” His mother and all +the other wives told him about the wicked demon who lived +in his father’s palace, and how the king believed her to be +a beautiful girl and had married her, and of all the evil +things that she had done to them, and how she had made +the king send them to the jungle and have their eyes cut +out and given to her, and how from not being able to see +they had fallen into this well, and how they had eaten all +his brothers, because they were so very hungry they thought +they should die—all but his mother at least, for she would +not eat the other wives’ children and would not kill her own +little son. “Let me climb out of this well,” said the boy, +who determined in his heart that he would kill this wicked +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>178]</a></span> +demon one day. His mother said, “No, stay here; you +are too young to leave the well.”</p> + +<p>The boy did not listen to her, but scrambled out. Then he +saw they were in a wide plain in the jungle. He ran after a +few birds, caught and killed them. Then he roasted the +birds and brought them with some water to his seven mothers +in the well. When they had eaten them and drunk the +water, they were happy and worshipped God. The six +mothers who had eaten their children were full of sorrow, +and said, “If our six sons were now living, how good it +would be for us: how happy we should be.” The young +prince went out hunting for little birds every day, and in the +evening he cooked those he caught and brought them, with +water, to his mothers.</p> + +<p>Now the demon, because she was a demon and was therefore +wiser than men and women, knew that the seven queens +lived in the well, and that the son of the youngest queen was +still alive. She determined to kill him; so she pretended her +eyes hurt her, and began crying, and making a great to-do. +The king asked her, “What is the matter?” “See, king, +see my eyes,” she said. “They ache and hurt me so much.” +“What medicine will make them well again?” said the king. +“If I could only bathe them with a tigress’s milk, they would +be well,” she answered.</p> + +<p>The king called two of his servants and said to them, “Can +either of you get me a tigress’s milk? Here are two thousand +rupees for whichever of you brings me the milk.” Then he +gave them the rupees, and told them to get it at once.</p> + +<p>The servants took the rupees, and said nothing to the +king, but they said to each other, “How can we get a +tigress’s milk?” And they were very sad. They left the king’s +country, and wandered on till they came to the jungle-plain, +where lived the young prince and his mothers. There they +saw him sitting by a dry well and roasting birds. “Do you +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>179]</a></span> +live in this jungle?” they said to him. “Yes,” answered the +boy. Then the servants talked together. “See,” they said, +“this boy lives in the jungle, so he will surely be able to get +us the milk. Let us tell him to get it, and give him the two +thousand rupees.”</p> + +<p>So they came back to the boy, who asked them where they +were going. “Our queen is very ill with pain in her eyes, +and our king has sent us for some tigress’s milk for her to +bathe them with, that they may get well. He has given us +two thousand rupees, for whichever of us to keep who gets +the milk. But we do not know where or how to get it.”</p> + +<p>“Good,” said the boy; “give me the two thousand rupees +and I will get it for you. Come here for it in a week’s time.”</p> + +<p>The king’s servants were very much pleased at not having +to try and get it themselves, so they gave him the rupees and +went home. The demon knew quite well when she asked for +the milk that none of the king’s servants would dare to go for +it, but that his son would be brave enough to go. This is +why she asked for it, for she meant the tigers to kill him.</p> + +<p>The little prince now took his seven mothers out of the +well, and they all went together to his father’s country. +There he got a small house for them, and good clothes and +food. He got a servant, too, for them, to cook their dinner +and take care of them. “Be very tender to them,” he said +to the servant, “for they cannot see.” For himself he bought +a little horse, and good clothes, and a gun, and a sword. +Then he made his mothers many salaams, and told them he +was going to get a tigress’s milk. They all cried and begged +him not to go.</p> + +<p>But he set off and rode for three or four days through +the jungles. Then he came to a large jungle which was in +a great blaze, and two tiger-cubs were running about in the +jungle trying to get out of the fire. He jumped off his horse, +and took them in his hands; then he mounted his horse +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>180]</a></span> +again and rode out of the jungle. He rode on till he came +to another which was not on fire. He let the cubs loose in +it that they might run away; but they placed themselves in +front of his horse, and said, “We will not let you go till you +have seen our father and mother.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the tiger and tigress saw the boy coming with +their cubs, and they came running to meet them. Till then +they had thought their cubs were burned in the jungle-fire. +Now they knew at once this boy had saved them. The +cubs said to their father and mother, “We should have died +had it not been for this boy. Give him food; and when he +has eaten some food, we will drink milk.” The tigers were +very happy at having their children safe. They went to a +garden and got food and good water for the boy, who ate +and drank. Then the little cubs drank their mother’s +milk.</p> + +<p>The tiger said to the prince, “You are such a little child, +how is it your mother let you come alone to this jungle?”</p> + +<p>“My mother’s eyes are sore and pain her; and the doctor +says that if she bathes them in a tigress’s milk they will get +well. So I came to see if I could get a little for her.”</p> + +<p>“I will give you some,” said the tigress, and she gave him +a little jar full of her milk. The cubs said, “One of us will go +with you, and the other will stay with our father and mother.” +“No,” said the little prince, “do you both stay with your +father and mother. I will not take either of you away. +What should I do with you?” “No,” said one of the cubs; +“I will go with you. I will do all you tell me. Wherever +you bid me stay, there I will stay; and I will eat any food +you give me.” “Take him with you,” said the old tiger; +“one day you will find him of use.” So the boy took the +cub and the milk, and made his salaam to the old tigers +and went home. His mothers were delighted at his return, +though, as they had no eyes, they could not see him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>181]</a></span> +He tied up the tiger’s cub and fed him. Then he took a +little of the milk, and went to the dry well in the jungle and +sat down by it. The king’s servants came when the week +had passed, and the boy gave them the milk. The servants +took it to the king, who gave it to the demon. She was +very angry when she found the tigers had not eaten the boy; +but she bathed her eyes with the milk, and said nothing.</p> + +<p>At the end of another week she would not eat or drink, +and did nothing but cry. “What is the matter?” said the +king. “See how my eyes pain me,” she answered. “If I +could only get an eagle’s feather to lay on them they would +be well. Oh, how they hurt me!”</p> + +<p>The king called his servants and gave them four thousand +rupees. “Go and get me an eagle’s feather,” he said, “and +he who gets it is to take the four thousand rupees.” “Let +us go to the jungle well,” they said, “and find the boy who +got us the tigress’s milk. We could never get an eagle’s +feather, but this child certainly can get one for us.”</p> + +<p>So they went to the well where they found the boy. The +little prince was very wise, though he was such a little child; +and he knew the demon would try to send him on some +other errand that she might get rid of him. He was quite +willing to go on her errands, for he thought he might thus +learn how to kill her. He was not a bit afraid of being +killed himself, for he knew that God loved him, and that +no one but God could kill him.</p> + +<p>He at once asked the king’s servants, “What do you want +now?” “Our king has sent us for an eagle’s feather to lay +on the queen’s eyes, which pain her again. Here are four +thousand rupees for you if you will get it for us.” “Give +me the rupees,” said the king’s son. “Come here in two +weeks, and I will give you the feather.”</p> + +<p>He took the rupees to his mothers, and told them he was +going to fetch an eagle’s feather. “Where will you find one?” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>182]</a></span> +they said. “I don’t know,” he answered, “but I am going +to look for one.” He hired some more servants, and told +them to take care of his mothers and the tiger-cub.</p> + +<p>He rode straight on for two or three days, and at last +came to a very dense jungle, through which he rode for +another three or four days. When he got out of it he +found himself on a beautiful smooth plain in which was +a tank. There, too, was a large fig-tree, and under the tree +cool shade, and cool, thick grass. He was very much +pleased when he saw the tank and the tree. He got off his +horse, bathed in the tank, and sat down under the fig-tree, +thinking, “Here I will sleep a little while before I go +further.”</p> + +<p>While he lay asleep in the grass, a great snake crawled up +the tree, at the top of which were two young eagles. They +began screaming very loud. Their cries awakened the little +prince. He looked about and saw the great snake in the +tree. Then he took his gun and fired at it, and the snake +fell dead to the ground. He cut it into five pieces, and hid +them in the long grass. Then he lay down again and went +to sleep.</p> + +<p>The baby eagles were alone in the tree, as their father and +mother had gone to another country. But now the old +birds came home, and found the king’s son sleeping in the +grass. “See,” they said, “here is the thief who every year +robs us of our children! But now he cannot get away. +We will kill him.” However, they thought it better to go +and look first at their children, to see if they were safe or not. +They flew up to the top of the tree, and when they found +their children safe, they wished to give them food. All the +time they kept saying, “Eat; then we will kill the thief +who steals away our children every year.” The young eagles +thought, “Oh, if God would only give us the power to +speak, then we would tell our father and mother that this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>183]</a></span> +boy is no thief.” Then God gave them the power to speak, +and they said to the old eagles, “Listen; if that boy had +not been here, we should have died, for he killed a huge +snake that was going to swallow us: only go and look, and +you will see it dead and cut into pieces.” And the eaglets +refused to eat till the boy had been fed.</p> + +<p>The big eagles flew down and found the bits of the snake: +so they flew away to a beautiful garden, where they got +delicious fruits and water. These they brought to the boy, +and awoke him and fed him. Then they said to him, “It +is indeed good to find our children alive. Hitherto our +children have always been eaten by that snake. How are +your father and mother? Why did they let you come to +this jungle? What have you come here for?” The little +prince said, “My mother’s eyes are very sore; but they +would be cured if she could have an eagle’s feather to lay +on them. So I came to look for one.” Then the mother +gave him one of her feathers.</p> + +<p>When the boy was going home, the eaglets said they +would go with him. “No,” he said, “I will not take you +with me.” But the old birds said, “Take one of them, it +will help you one day.” The little prince made his salaam +to the big eagles, and took one of their young ones, mounted +his horse, and rode off. The eaglet flew over his head to +shade him from the sun.</p> + +<p>When he got home to his seven mothers, he took the +feather and went and sat by the dry well. The king’s +servants came there to him, and he gave them the feather, +and said, “Take it to your king.” This they did, and the +king gave it to the demon, who flew into a great rage. She +said to herself, “The tigers did not kill him, and now the +eagles have not killed him.”</p> + +<p>At the end of two weeks she began to cry and would not +eat. The king asked her, “What is the matter with you? +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>184]</a></span> +what has happened to you?” “My eyes pain me so much,” +she said. “What will cure them?” said the king. “If +I had only some night-growing rice,” she said, “I would boil +it, and make rice-water, which I would drink. Then I should +get well.” Now this night-growing rice was a wonderful +rice that no men, and only one demon, possessed. This was +the demon-queen’s brother. He used to put a grain of this +rice into his huge cavern of a mouth at night when he went +to sleep, and when he woke in the morning this grain would +have become a tree. Then the demon used to take the +rice-tree out of his mouth.</p> + +<p>The demon, who seemed such a lovely girl, now wrote a +letter to her brother, in which she said, “The bearer of this +letter goes to you for some night-growing rice. You must +kill him at once; you must not let him live.” The king gave +this letter to his servants, with six thousand rupees. “Take +this letter,” he said, “and fetch some of the night-growing +rice. Here are six thousand rupees for whichever of you +finds it.” The king had no idea that it was not these men +who had gone for the tigress’s milk and the eagle’s feather.</p> + +<p>The servants said, “Let us go to the well, to the boy who +has helped us before. We don’t know where to get this +night-growing rice, but that boy is sure to know.”</p> + +<p>The boy was sitting by the well, and asked what they +wanted. They answered, “See, the king has given us six +thousand rupees and a letter, and told us to fetch him some +night-growing rice.” “Very good,” said the king’s son. +“Come here in three weeks’ time, and I will give you some.” +The servants gave him the rupees and returned home.</p> + +<p>He took the rupees to his mothers, and told them he was +going on a fresh errand, and they were to keep the money. +Then he made them salaams, took his letter, and rode off. +The eaglet went too, and flew above his head. The tiger’s +cub he left at home.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>185]</a></span> +He rode on and on through a very large jungle, and he +rode a long, long way: at last in a jungle he saw a fakír, +who was living in it. He made him salaams, and the fakír +was delighted to see him, “because,” he said, “for many years +I have been in this country, and all that time have never seen +any man.” The prince sat down by the fakír, and the fakír +was very much pleased. He asked the boy who had sent +him to the jungle, and why he had come to it. “My mother +has sore eyes,” he answered, “and wants some night-growing +rice. She has given me a letter to the man who owns it.”</p> + +<p>The fakír took and read the letter, and was very sorry. +He tore it up and threw it away. Then he wrote another, in +which he said, “Your sister is very ill, and her son has +come for some night-growing rice for her.” This he gave +to the boy, and told him to continue his journey. He also +told him that the man who had the rice was a huge demon, +and that he lived in the country by the great sea. Then he +told him the way.</p> + +<p>The boy rode on and on, and after a week’s journeying he +came to the demon’s country. There he saw the huge demon +sitting on the ground, with his great, big mouth, that was +just like a cavern. As soon as the demon saw him he stood +up and said, “It is many days since a man came here. Now +I will eat this one.” He went towards the prince to seize +him, and a great rushing wind came blowing from the +demon, as it always did when he was angry. But the boy, +who had begun to walk towards him when he stood up, +threw the letter to him with all his might, so that it fell +on him; at the same time he made many salaams. The +demon read the letter, and found his sister was very ill, and +this was her son; so he stopped the wind, and came up to +the boy, who he thought was his sister’s son. “You have +come for the rice for my sister who is ill,” he said to him; +“you shall have it.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>186]</a></span> +The demon had a splendid house full of beautiful things, +and a great many servants. He took the little prince home +with him, and told his servants to get water ready and gave +the child a bath. They were also to cook a good dinner +for him. Then the demon showed the boy all his gardens, +and all his beautiful things, and took him through all the +rooms of his house. One room he did not show to the +prince. He told him he was never to go into it, though he +might go everywhere else that he liked. In this room lived +the demon’s daughter, who was very beautiful, just like a +fairy. She was ten years old. Every day before her father +went out, he used to make the girl lie on her bed, and cover +her with a sheet, and he placed a thick stick at her head, and +another at her feet; then she died till he came home in the +evening and changed the sticks, putting the one at her head +at her feet, and the one at her feet at her head. This brought +her to life again.</p> + +<p>The next day, when the demon had gone out, the boy +went to this room, and opened the door, for he wanted to +see what was in it. He went in, and saw the beautiful girl +lying on the bed. “How lovely she is!” he said; “but she +is dead.” Then he saw the sticks, and, to amuse himself, +he put the one at her head at her feet, and the one at her +feet at her head, just as the demon did every evening. The +girl at once came to life, and opened her eyes and got up. +“Who is this?” she said to herself, when she saw the king’s +son. “This is not my father.” She asked him, “Who +are you? Why do you come here? If my father sees you +he will eat you.” “No, he won’t,” said the prince, “for I +am your aunt’s son, and your father himself brought me to +his house. But why is it that you are dead all day, and +alive all night?” The girl had told him that her father +brought her to life every evening, and made her dead every +morning. “Such is my father’s pleasure,” she answered.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>187]</a></span> +So they talked together all day, and he said to her, “Suppose +one day your father made you dead as usual, and that +he was killed before he had brought you to life, what would +you do? You would always be dead then.” “Listen,” she +said; “no one can kill my father.” “Why not?” said the +boy. “Listen,” she answered; “on the other side of the +sea there is a great tree, in that tree is a nest, in the nest +is a <i>mainá</i>. If any one kills that <i>mainá</i>, then only will my +father die. And if, when the <i>mainá</i> is killed, its blood falls +to the ground, a hundred demons would be born from the +blood. This is why my father cannot be killed.”</p> + +<p>At evening, before the demon came home, the prince +made the girl dead. Then he went softly into another room.</p> + +<p>The fakír had said to the boy, when they were in the +jungle together, “If ever you are in trouble, come to me +and I will help you. It will take you now one week to ride +to the demon’s country; but if ever you need me, you shall +be able to come to me here in this jungle, and to return to +the demon’s house in one day.” The fakír was such a holy +man that everything he said should happen did happen. So +now the prince determined he would go to the fakír and +ask him what he should do to kill this <i>mainá</i>. In the morning, +therefore, as soon as the demon had gone out, he set +off for the fakír’s jungle, and, thanks to the holy man’s +power, he got there very quickly. He told him everything, +and the fakír made a paper boat which he gave him. “This +boat will take you over the sea,” he said to the prince. “This +paper boat!” said the boy. “How can a paper boat go over +the sea? It will get soaked and sink.” “No, it will not,” +said the fakír. “Launch it on the sea, and get into it. The +boat will of itself carry you to the tree where the <i>mainá’s</i> +nest is.”</p> + +<p>The prince took the boat, and went back to the demon’s +house. He got there before the demon came home, so that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>188]</a></span> +he did not know the boy had been to the fakír. When the +demon returned that evening, the king’s son said, “To-morrow +I will go home, as my mother is very ill. Will +you give me the rice?” “Good,” said the demon, “you +shall have it to-morrow.” Next morning he gave the rice, +and went off to the jungle.</p> + +<p>Then the boy took his paper boat down to the sea, +launched it, and got into it; and of itself the boat went +straight over the sea to the opposite shore. The eaglet flew +above his head; but he left his horse on land. When he +got to the other side, he saw the great tree, with the nest +and the <i>mainá</i>. He climbed the tree, and took down the +nest, and the demon, who was far away, knew it at once, +and said to himself, “Some one has come to catch and kill +me.” He set out at once for the tree. The prince saw him +coming, so he wrapped the <i>mainá</i> up in his handkerchief, +that no blood should fall to the ground. Then he broke off +one of its legs, and one of the demon’s legs fell off. Still the +demon came on. Then he broke off the other leg, but the +demon walked on his hands. The boy saw him coming +nearer and nearer, so he wrung the bird’s head off, and the +demon fell dead.</p> + +<p>The prince jumped into his paper boat, and of itself the +boat went straight back to the other shore, to the demon’s +country. Then he went up to the demon’s house, and made +his daughter alive.</p> + +<p>She was frightened, and said to him, “Oh, take care. If +my father comes back, and finds us together, he will eat us +both.” “He will not come back,” said the prince. “I +have killed him.”</p> + +<p>Then he dressed her in boy’s clothes, that no one might +know she was a girl, and he found a horse, and had it made +ready for her. Her father had collected a quantity of +rupees. Some of these the prince gave to the servants as a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>189]</a></span> +present, and said to them, “Stay here and be happy; do +not be afraid, for there is no demon now to come and eat +you.”</p> + +<p>Then he took the rice and mounted his horse, and made +the girl mount also, and went off to the fakír. The paper +boat he left, as he did not want it any more. He and the +demon’s daughter made the fakír many salaams, and they +stayed with him for a day before they rode to the prince’s +country. Here they went to his seven mothers, who were +very, very glad to see them, and thanked God that their son +had come back safe.</p> + +<p>He took a little of the rice, and went and sat by the well +till the king’s two servants came. Then he gave them the +rice for their king, and the king gave it to the demon. She +said nothing while the king was with her; but when she was +alone she cried, for she knew the boy must have killed her +brother, as he had brought her the rice.</p> + +<p>She waited a week, and then she began to cry again, and +would not eat. The king was very sorry, and thought, +“What can I do to make her well and happy?” Then he +said, “What will cure your eyes?” “See, king,” she answered, +“if I could only bathe my eyes with water from the +Glittering Well, they would not pain me any more.” This +well was in the fairies’ country, and was guarded by the +demon’s sister, whose name was Jangkatar. She lived in +the well; and when any one came to draw water from it, +she used to drag him down and eat him.</p> + +<p>The king called his servants, gave them eight thousand +rupees, and said, “Go and fetch me water from the Glittering +Well.” The servants went at once to the dry well in the +jungle. There they found the prince, who asked them what +they wanted. “Here are eight thousand rupees,” they said; +“and the king has ordered us to bring him water from the +Glittering Well.” “Come in three weeks, and I will give it to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>190]</a></span> +you,” said the king’s son. He took to his mothers the eight +thousand rupees which the servants had given him, and said +to them, “Take care of these rupees, for I am going away +for a little while.” Then he got his horse ready and mounted +it, and made many salaams to his mothers. The tiger-cub +said to him, “Take me with you this time. Last time you +only took the eagle. Now we will both go with you.”</p> + +<p>So he rode off; and the eaglet flew above his head and +the young tiger ran by his side. It took him a week to get +to the fairies’ country, and then he came to a beautiful +smooth plain, in which was a garden, but no house. In +the middle of this garden was the Glittering Well. It was +a deep well, and the water sprang up out of it like a fountain, +and then fell back into the well, and the water shone and +sparkled as if it were gold, and silver, and diamonds. This +is why it was called the Glittering Well.</p> + +<p>The prince dipped his jar in the well, and Jangkatar put +up her hand and caught him. She dragged him into the +water and swallowed him whole. Then the young eagle +flew down into the well, seized Jangkatar in his talons, and +took her out and threw her on the ground. The tiger-cub +rushed at her instantly, tore her open, and pulled the king’s +son out of her. But he was half dead. The cub and the +eaglet lay down on him to warm him, and when they had +warmed him, he was better.</p> + +<p>“We have saved you,” they said to him. “But for us +you would have died.” The young prince thanked them +and caressed them. “It is quite true,” he said; “without +you I should have died.” Then he filled his jar with water, +and mounted his horse and rode home. He made salaams +to his seven mothers, with whom all this time the demon’s +daughter had stayed. He bathed his mothers’ eyes with the +water from the Glittering Well, and then they saw perfectly +once more.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>191]</a></span> +He took a little of the water, and went to wait for the +king’s servants by the dry jungle well, and he was very +happy thinking that now his mothers could see. He gave +the water to the king’s servants, who took it to the king, and +the king gave it to his demon-wife, and she was very sad and +angry, for she knew the boy must have killed her sister, the +guardian of the Glittering Well.</p> + +<p>When a whole month had passed, and he had not been +sent on any more errands, the king’s son said to himself, +“Good; now nothing more is going to happen to me. I am +not to be sent anywhere else.” So he bought a fine horse +and grand clothes, and rode to the king’s court-house. He +went in, and seated himself at the king’s right hand; but he +made no salaam to the king, and spoke to no one. This +he did every day for three days. Everybody was wondering +who this boy was, and why he never made any salaam to +the king.</p> + +<p>On the fourth day, as he sat at the king’s right hand, the +king asked him, “Whose child are you? Where do you +come from? Where are you going?” The young prince +answered, “See, king, I am a merchant’s son; my ship has +been wrecked, and I want to find service with some one.” +“What can you do?” asked the king. “I don’t know any +trade,” said his son; “but I can tell you a story.” “What +wages do you want?” said the king. “One thousand rupees +a day,” answered the boy. “I shall only stay a short time +in your country.” “Good,” said the king; “I will give you +one thousand rupees a day, and a servant to wait on you +besides. So come every day to my court-house, and tell +me your story.”</p> + +<p>The prince told the king his own story. He began from +where the king found the beautiful demon-girl crying in the +jungle, and ended it where his demon-wife cried and cried +for her sister Jangkatar. It took him three weeks to tell the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>192]</a></span> +story; and when he had finished it, the king knew that he +himself was the king in the story, and that this boy was his +own son. “How can I find my seven queens again?” he +said. “If you will kill this wicked demon-woman they will +come back to you,” said his son. The king was very sad, +and thought, “My seven wives and my boy must have suffered +very much.” Then he loved his son, and was very +happy that he had found him. He ordered his servants to +dig a deep pit in the jungle, so deep that should his demon-wife +take her demon form when put into it, only her head +would be above it. He thought that if her body were buried +in the ground she would not be able to do them much harm +while they were shooting her. Then he, and his son, and +his servants took their guns and bows and arrows, and took +the demon with them to the deep pit. She went quite +quietly, though she knew they were going to kill her. Since +Jangkatar’s death she had been very quiet and sad. And +now she thought, “That boy will most certainly kill me as he +has killed my sister and brother. He is stronger than I +am. I have no one else to send him to; and if I had, he +could not be killed. What is the use of my trying to save +myself?” So she went along quite quietly, looking like a +beautiful girl. She let them put her into the pit, and shoot +her to death with their guns and bows and arrows. Then +they filled the pit up with earth.</p> + +<p>The king went to his seven wives, and begged them to +forgive him. He brought them, his son, and the demon’s +daughter home to his palace. Later the king married his +son to the demon’s daughter, and every one was glad.</p> + +<p>But the king grieved that his six other sons were dead.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Múniyá.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>193]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head16.jpg" width="600" height="115" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxxv" id="sxxv"></a>XXV.<br /> +<br /> +THE FAN PRINCE.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxxv">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapi"><span class="dcap">I</span></span>N a country there lived a king who had a wife and +seven daughters. One day he called all his +daughters to him, and said to them, “My children, +who gives you food? and by whose permission do you eat +it?” Six of them answered, “Father, you give us food; +and by your permission we eat it.” But the seventh and +youngest said, “Father, God gives me my food; and by +my own permission I eat it.” This answer made her father +and mother very angry with their youngest daughter. +They said, “We will not let our youngest child stay with us +any longer.” And her father called some servants and said +to them, “Get a palanquin ready, and put my youngest +daughter into it; then carry her away to the jungle, and there +leave her.”</p> + +<p>The servants got the palanquin ready, put the youngest +princess into it, and carried her into the jungle. There +they put the palanquin down and said to her, “We are +going to drink some water.” “Go home now,” said the girl, +“as my father ordered you to do.” They left her, therefore, +in the jungle alone, and went back to the king’s palace.</p> + +<p>The girl prayed to God and worshipped him; then she +went to sleep for a little while in her palanquin. When she +awoke, it was evening, and she found in her palanquin a +jar of water and some food on a plate which God had sent +her while she slept. She knew that God had sent her this +nice dinner, and thanked him and worshipped him. Then +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>194]</a></span> +she bathed her face and hands in a little of the water, and +ate and drank, and went to sleep quietly in her palanquin as +night had come.</p> + +<p>This little princess had always been a very gentle girl, and +had always done what was right, and been very good, so +God loved her dearly. While she slept, therefore, he made +a beautiful palace for her on the jungle-plain where she +was lying in her palanquin. God made a garden and tank +for her, too. When the princess woke in the morning, and +got out of her palanquin, she saw the palace standing by +its tank in a beautiful garden. “I never saw that palace +before,” she said. “It was not here last night.” She went +into the garden, and servants met her and made her salaams. +The palace was far finer than her father’s; and when she +went into it she found it full of servants. “To whom does +this palace belong?” she asked. “To you,” they answered. +“God made all this for you last night, and he sent us to +wait on you and be your servants.” (Now, they were all +men, not angels, that God had sent to take care of her.) +The princess thanked God, and worshipped him.</p> + +<p>A few days later, her father heard that in the jungle to +which he had sent her a beautiful palace and garden and +tank had suddenly appeared, and that in this palace she +was living; and he said, “Yes; my daughter told me the +truth: it is God who gives us everything. I know it is he +who gave her this beautiful house.” So some time passed, +and the princess lived in her palace in the jungle; but her +father did not go to see her.</p> + +<p>One day he said to himself, “To-day I will go and eat +the air in another country, and I will go by water.” So he +ordered a boat to be got ready, and he went to his six +daughters, and told them he was going away for a little +while. “What would you like me to bring you from this +other country?” he said. “I will bring you anything you +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>195]</a></span> +would like to have.” Some of them wanted jewels, a +necklace, a pair of earrings, and so on; and some wanted +silk stuffs for sárís and other clothes. Then the king +remembered his youngest child, and thought, “I must send +to her, and see what she would like.” He called one of +his servants, and told him to go to the jungle to his youngest +daughter and say, “Your father is going to eat the air of +another country. He wishes to know what you would like +him to bring back for you.”</p> + +<p>The servant found the little princess reading her prayer-book. +He gave her the king’s message. She said, “Sabr” +(that is <i>wait</i>), for she meant him to wait for her answer till +she had finished reading her prayers. The servant, however, +did not understand, but went away at once to the king and +told him, “Your daughter wants you to bring her Sabr.” +“Sabr?” said the king; “what is Sabr? Never, mind, I +will see if I can find any Sabr; and if I do, I will bring it +for her.”</p> + +<p>The king then went in his boat to another country. +There he stayed for a little while and bought the jewels +and silks for his six elder daughters. When he thought he +should like to go home again, he went down to his boat +and got into it. But the boat would not move, because he +had forgotten one thing; the thing his youngest daughter +had asked for.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he remembered he had not got any Sabr. So +he gave one of his servants four thousand rupees, and told +him to go on shore, and go through the bazar, and try and +find the Sabr, and he was to give the four thousand rupees +for it.</p> + +<p>The man went to the bazar and asked every one if they +had Sabr to sell. Then he asked if they could tell him +what it was. “No,” they said, “but our king’s son is called +Sabr; you had better speak to him.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>196]</a></span> +The servant went to Prince Sabr. “Our king’s youngest +daughter,” he said, “has asked her father to bring her +Sabr, and the king has given me four thousand rupees to +buy it for her; but I cannot get any, and no one knows +what it is.” The prince said, “Very good. Give this little +box to your king, and tell him to give it to his youngest +daughter. But it is only the princess who has asked for +Sabr who is to open the box.” Then he told the man to +keep the four thousand rupees as a present from him.</p> + +<p>The servant went back to the boat to the king and gave +him the box, saying, “In this is the Sabr,” and he told him +Prince Sabr said no one but the youngest princess was to +open it. And now the boat moved quite easily, and the +king journeyed home safely.</p> + +<p>He gave his six eldest daughters the presents he had +brought for them, and sent the little box to his youngest +daughter. She said, “My father has sent me this. I will +look at it by and by.” Then she put it away and forgot it. +At the end of a month she found the little box, and thought, +“I will see what my father has sent me,” and opened the +box. In it was a most lovely little fan. She was very +much pleased, and fanned herself with it, and at once a +beautiful prince stood before her.</p> + +<p>The princess was delighted. “Who are you? Where +did you come from?” she said. “My name is Prince +Sabr,” he answered. “Your father came to my father’s +country, and he said you had asked him to bring you Sabr, +so I gave him this little fan for you. I am obliged to come +to whoever uses this little fan with the right side turned outwards. +And when you want me to go away, you must turn +the right side of the fan towards you and then fan yourself +with it.” The little princess said, “Very good. And so +your name is Prince Sabr?” They talked together for +some time. Then she turned her fan, so that the wrong +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>197]</a></span> +side was outside, and fanned herself with it, and the prince +disappeared.</p> + +<p>This went on for a month. The princess used to fan herself +with the right side turned outwards, and then Prince +Sabr came to her. When she turned her fan wrong side +outwards and fanned herself, then he vanished.</p> + +<p>One day the prince said to her, “I should like to marry +you. Will you marry me?” “Yes,” she answered. Then +she wrote a letter to her father and mother and six sisters, +in which she said, “Come to my wedding. I am going to +marry Prince Sabr.” They all came. Her father was very +glad that she married Prince Sabr, and said, “I see it is true +that God loves my youngest daughter.”</p> + +<p>The day of the wedding her six sisters said to her, “To-day +we will not let the servants make your bed. We will +make it ourselves for you.” “I have plenty of servants to +make it,” she said; “but you can do so if you like.” Her +sisters went to make the bed. They took a glass bottle and +ground it into a powder, and they spread the powder all over +the side where Prince Sabr was to lie. This they did because +they were angry at their youngest sister being married, +while they, who were older, were not married, and they +thought, being her elders, they should have married first, +especially as they had lived in their father’s palace, and been +cared for, while she was cast out in the jungle.</p> + +<p>When the wedding was over, and Prince Sabr and his +wife had gone to bed, the prince became very ill, from the +glass powder going into his flesh. “Turn your fan the +wrong way and fan yourself quickly, that I may go home +to my father’s country,” he said to her, “for I am very ill, +and dare not remain here.” So she fanned herself at once +with the fan turned the wrong way. Then he went home +to his father, and was very ill for a long while. The poor +princess knew nothing of the glass powder.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>198]</a></span> +Her father and mother and sisters went home after the +wedding, and left the princess alone in her palace. Every +day she turned her fan the right side outwards and fanned +and fanned herself; but Prince Sabr never came. He was +far too ill. One day she cried a great deal, and was very, +very sad. “Why does my prince not come to me?” she +said. “I don’t know where he is, or what has become of +him.” That night she had a dream, and in her dream she +saw Prince Sabr lying very ill on his bed.</p> + +<p>When she got up in the morning she thought she must go +and try to find her prince. So she took off all her beautiful +clothes and jewels, and put on a yogí’s dress. Then she +mounted a horse and set out in the jungle. No one knew +she was a woman, or that she was a king’s daughter; every +one thought she was a man.</p> + +<p>She rode on till night, and then she had come to another +jungle. Here she got off her horse, and took it under a tree. +She lay down under the tree and went to sleep. At midnight +she was awakened by the chattering of a parrot and a <i>mainá</i>, who +came and sat on the tree knowing she was lying underneath.</p> + +<p>The <i>mainá</i> said to the parrot, “Parrot, tell me something.” +The parrot said, “Prince Sabr is very, very ill in his own +country. The day he was married, the bride’s six sisters +took a glass bottle and ground it to powder. Then they +spread the powder all over the prince’s bed, so that when +he lay down it got into his flesh. The glass powder has made +him very ill.” “What will make him well?” said the <i>mainá</i>; +“what will cure him?” “No doctors can cure him,” said the +parrot; “no medicine will do him any good: but if any one +slept under this tree, and took some of the earth from under +it, and mixed it with cold water, and rubbed it all over Prince +Sabr, he would get well.”</p> + +<p>All this the princess heard. She got up and longed for +morning to come. When it was day she took some of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>199]</a></span> +earth, mounted her horse, and rode off. She went on till she +came to Prince Sabr’s country. Then she asked to whom +the country belonged; she was told it was Prince Sabr’s +father’s country, “but Prince Sabr is very ill.”</p> + +<p>“I am a yogí,” said the princess, “and I can cure him.” +This was told to the king, Prince Sabr’s father. “That +is very good,” he said. “Send the yogí to me.” So the +little princess went to the king, who said to her, “My son +is very, very ill; make him well.” “Yes,” she said, “I will +make him well. Bring me some cold water.”</p> + +<p>They brought her the cold water, and she mixed it with +the earth she had got from under the tree. This she rubbed +all over the prince. For three days and nights she rubbed +him with it. After that he got better, and in a week he +was quite well. He was able to talk, and could walk about +as usual.</p> + +<p>Then the yogí said, “Now I will go back to my own +country.” But the king said to her, “First you must let me +give you a present. You shall have anything that you like. +As many horses, or sepoys, or rupees as you want you shall +have; for you have made my son well.” “I want nothing +at all,” said the princess, “but Prince Sabr’s ring, and the +handkerchief he has with his name worked on it.” She +had given him both these things on their wedding day. +Prince Sabr’s father and mother went to their son and begged +him to give the handkerchief and ring to the yogí; and he +did so quite willingly. “For,” he thought, “were it not for +that yogí, I should never see my dear princess again.”</p> + +<p>The yogí took the ring and handkerchief and went home. +When she got there, she took off her yogí’s dress and put +on her own beautiful clothes. Then she turned her fan +right side outwards, and fanned herself with it, and immediately +her Prince Sabr stood by her. “Why did you not +come to me before?” she said. “I have been fanning and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>200]</a></span> +fanning myself.” “I was very ill, and could not come,” +said Prince Sabr. “At last a yogí came and made me well, +and as a reward I gave him my ring and handkerchief.” +“It was no yogí,” said the princess. “It was I who came +to you and made you well.” “You!” said the prince. “Oh, +no; it was a yogí. You were sitting here in your palace +while the yogí came and cured me.” “No, indeed,” she +said; “I was the yogí. See, is not this your ring? is not +this your handkerchief with your name worked on it?” +Then he believed her, and she told him of her dream, and +her journey in the yogí’s dress, and the birds’ talk, and all +that had happened.</p> + +<p>And Prince Sabr was very happy that his wife had done +so much for him, and they lived happily together.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Múniyá.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/tail04.jpg" width="300" height="197" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>201]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head11.jpg" width="600" height="130" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxxvi" id="sxxvi"></a>XXVI.<br /> +<br /> +THE BED.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxxvi">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapi"><span class="dcap">I</span></span>N a country there was a grain merchant’s son, whose +father and mother loved him so dearly that they +did not let him do anything but play and amuse +himself while they worked for him. They never taught him +any trade, or anything at all; for they never reflected that +they might die, and that then he would have to work for +himself. When he was old enough to be married, they +found a wife for him, and married him to her. Then they +all lived happily together for some years till the father and +mother both died.</p> + +<p>Their son and his wife lived for a while on the pice his +father and mother had left him. But the wife grew sadder +and sadder every day, for the pice grew fewer and fewer. +She thought, “What shall we do when they are all gone? +My husband knows no trade, and can do no work.” One +day when she was looking very sorrowful, her husband asked +her, “What is the matter? Why are you so unhappy?” +“We have hardly any pice left,” she answered, “and what +shall we do when we have eaten the few we have? You +know no trade, and can do no work.” “Never mind,” said +her husband, “I can do some work.”</p> + +<p>So one day when there were hardly any pice left, he took +an axe, and said to his wife, “I am going out to-day to +work. Give me my dinner to take with me, and I will eat +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>202]</a></span> +it out of doors.” She gave him some food, wondering what +work he had; but she did not ask him.</p> + +<p>He went to a jungle, where he stayed all day, and where he +ate his dinner. All day long he wandered from tree to tree, +saying to each, “May I cut you down?” But not a tree +in the jungle gave him any answer: so he cut none down, +and went home in the evening. His wife did not ask where +he had been, or what he had done, and he said nothing to her.</p> + +<p>The next day he again asked her for food to take with +him to eat out of doors, “for,” he said, “I am going to work +all day.” She did not like to ask him any questions, but +gave him the food. And he took his axe, and went out to +a jungle which was on a different side to the one he had +been to yesterday. In this jungle also he went to every tree, +and said to it, “May I cut you down?” No tree answered +him; so he ate his dinner and came home.</p> + +<p>The next day he went to a third jungle on the third side. +There, too, he asked each tree, “May I cut you down?” +But none gave him any answer. He came home therefore +very sorrowful.</p> + +<p>On the fourth day he went to a jungle on the fourth side. +All day long he went from tree to tree, asking each, “May +I cut you down?” None answered. At last, towards evening, +he went and stood under a mango-tree. “May I cut +you down?” he said to it. “Yes, cut me down,” answered +the tree. God loved the merchant’s son and wished him to +grow a great man, so he ordered the mango-tree to let itself +be cut down.</p> + +<p>Now the grain merchant’s son was happy, for he was quite +sure he could make a bed, if he only had some wood; so he +hewed down the mango-tree, put it on his head, and carried +it home. His wife saw him coming, and said to herself, +“He is bringing home a tree! What can he be going to +do with a tree?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>203]</a></span> +Next morning he took the tree into one of the rooms of +his house. He told his wife to put food and water to last him +for a week in this room, and to make a fire in it. Then he +went up to the room, and said to her, “You are not to come +in here for a whole week. You are not to come near me till +I call you.” Then he went into the room and shut the door. +The whole week long his wife wondered what he could be +doing all alone in that room. “I cannot see into it,” she said +to herself, “and I dare not open the door. I wonder what +he is about.”</p> + +<p>By the end of the week the grain merchant’s son had carved +a most beautiful bed out of the mango-tree. Such a beautiful +bed had never been seen. Then he called his wife, and +when she came he told her to open the door, and when she +opened it he said, “See what a beautiful bed I have made.” +“Did <em>you</em> make that bed?” she said. “Oh, what a beautiful +bed it is! I never saw such a lovely bed!”</p> + +<p>He rested that day, and on the day following he took the +bed to the king’s palace, and sat down with it before the +palace gate. The king’s servants all came to look at the bed. +“What a bed it is!” they said. “Did any one ever see such +a bed! It is a beautiful bed. Is it yours?” they asked the +merchant’s son. “Is it for sale? Who made it? Did you +make it?” But he said, “I will not answer any of your +questions. I will not speak to any of you. I will only +speak to the king.” So the servants went to the king and +said to him, “There is a man at your gate with a most +beautiful bed. But he will not speak to any of us, and says +he will only speak to you.” “Very good,” said the king; +“bring him to me.”</p> + +<p>When the grain merchant’s son came before the king with +his bed, the king asked him, “Is your bed for sale?” “Yes,” +he said. “What a beautiful bed it is!” said the king. “Who +made it?” “I did,” he said. “I made it myself.” “How +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>204]</a></span> +much do you want for it?” said the king. “One thousand +rupees,” answered the merchant’s son. “That is a great +deal for the bed,” said the king. “I will not take less,” said +the merchant’s son. “Good,” said the king, “I will give you +the thousand rupees.” So he took the bed, and the merchant’s +son said to him, “The first night you pass on it, do not go to +sleep. Take care to keep awake, and you will hear and see +something.” Then he took the rupees home to his wife, +who was frightened when she saw them. “Are those your +rupees?” she said. “Where did you find such a quantity +of rupees?” “The king gave them to me for my bed,” he +said. “I am not a thief; I did not steal them.” Then she +was happy.</p> + +<p>That night the king lay down on his bed, and at ten +o’clock he heard one of the bed’s legs say to the other legs, +“Listen, you three. I am going out to see the king’s country. +Do you all stand firm while I am away, and take care not to +let the king fall.” “Good,” the three legs answered; “go +and eat the air, and we will all stand fast, so that the king +does not fall while you are away.”</p> + +<p>Then the king saw the leg leave the bed, and go out of +his room door. The leg went out to a great plain, and there +it saw two snakes quarrelling together. One snake said, +“I will bite the king.” The other said, “I will bite him.” +The first said, “No, you won’t; I will climb on to his bed +and bite him.” “That you will never do,” said the second. +“You cannot climb on to his bed; but I will get into his +shoe, and then when he puts it on to-morrow morning, I +will bite his foot.”</p> + +<p>The bed-leg came back and told the other legs what it +had seen and heard. “If the king will shake his shoe +before he puts it on to-morrow morning,” it said, “he will +see a snake drop out of it.” The king heard all that was +said.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>205]</a></span> +“Now,” said the second bed-leg, “I will go out and eat +the air of the king’s country. Do you all stand firm while +I am away.” “Go,” the others answered; “we will take +care the king does not fall.” The second bed-leg then went +out, and went to another plain on which stood a very old +palace belonging to the king, and the wind told it the palace +was so ruinous that it would fall and kill the king the first +time he went into it: the king had never once had it repaired. +So it came back and told the three other legs all about the +palace and what the wind had said. “If I were the king,” +said the second bed-leg, “I would have that palace pulled +down. It is quite ready to fall; and the first time the king +goes into it, it will fall on him and kill him.” The king +lay, and listened to everything. As it happened, he had +forgotten all about his old palace, and had not gone near it +for a long time.</p> + +<p>Then the third bed-leg said, “Now I will go out and +see all the fun I can. Stand firm, you three, while I am +away.” He went to a jungle-plain on which lived a yogí. +Now there was a sarai<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> not far off in which lived a woman, +the wife of a sepoy, whose husband had gone a year ago to +another country, leaving her in the sarai. She was so fond +of the yogí, that she used to come and talk to him every +night. That very day her husband came back to her, and +therefore it was later than usual when she got to the yogí; +so he was very vexed with her. “How late you are to-night,” +he said. “It is not my fault,” she answered. “My husband +came home to-day after having been away a year, and he +kept me.” “Which of us do you love best?” asked the +yogí; “your husband or me?” “I love you best,” said +the woman. “Then,” said the yogí, “go home and cut +off your husband’s head, and bring it here for me to see.” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>206]</a></span> +The sepoy’s wife went straight to the sarai, cut off her +husband’s head, and brought it to the yogí. “What a +wicked woman you are to do such a thing at my bidding!” +he said. “Go away at once. You are a wicked woman, +and I do not want to see you.” She took the head home, +set it again on the body and began to cry. All the people +in the sarai came to see what was the matter. “Thieves +have been here,” she said, “and have killed my husband, +and cut off his head,” and then she cried again. The third +bed-leg now went back to the palace, and told the others all +it had seen and heard. The king lay still and listened.</p> + +<p>The fourth bed-leg next went out to see all it could, and +it came to a plain on which were seven thieves, who had +just been into the king’s palace, and had carried off his +daughter on her bed fast asleep; and there she lay still +sleeping. They had, too, been into the king’s treasury and +had taken all his rupees. The fourth bed-leg came quickly +back to the palace, and said to the other three legs, “Now, +if the king were wise he would get up instantly and go to +the plain. For some thieves are there with his daughter +and all his rupees which they have just stolen out of his +palace. If he only made haste and went at once, he would +get them again.”</p> + +<p>The king got up that minute, and called his servants and +some sepoys, and set off to the plain. He shook his shoe +before he put it on, and out tumbled the snake (the other +had quietly gone into the jungle, and not come to the palace); +so he saw that the first bed-leg had spoken the truth.</p> + +<p>When he reached the plain he found his daughter and his +rupees, and brought them back to his palace. The princess +slept all the time, and did not know what had happened to +her. The king saw the fourth leg had told the truth. The +thieves he could not catch, for they all ran away when they +saw him coming with his sepoys.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>207]</a></span> +The king sent men to the old palace to pull it down. +They found it was just going to fall, and would have fallen +on any one who had entered it, and crushed him. So the +second bed-leg had told the truth.</p> + +<p>When the king was sitting in his court-house he heard +how during the night thieves had gone into the sarai and +killed a sepoy there and cut off his head. Then he sent for +the sepoy’s wife, and asked her who had killed her husband. +“Thieves,” she said. The king was very angry, for he was +sure the third bed-leg had told the truth as the other three +legs had done. So he ordered the man to be buried; and +bade his servants make a great wooden pile on the plain, +and take the woman and burn her on it. They were not to +leave her as long as she was alive, but to wait till she was +dead.</p> + +<p>He next sent for the grain merchant’s son, and said to +him, “Had it not been for your bed, I should this morning +have been bitten by a snake; and, perhaps, killed by my +old palace falling on me, as I did not know it was ready to +fall, and so might have gone into it. My daughter would +certainly have been stolen from me; and a wicked woman +been still alive. So now, to-morrow, bring as many carts as +you like, and I will give you as a present as many rupees +as you can take away on them in half a day.”</p> + +<p>Early the next morning the merchant’s son brought his +cart and took away on them as many rupees as he could in +half a day. His wife was delighted when she saw the money, +and said, “My husband only worked for one week, and +yet he earned all these rupees!” And they lived always +happily.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Múniyá, February 23rd, 1879.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTE:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> +That is, a resting-place for travellers, composed of a number of +small houses in a walled enclosure.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/tail08.png" width="150" height="40" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>208]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head09.jpg" width="600" height="97" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxxvii" id="sxxvii"></a>XXVII.<br /> +<br /> +PÁNWPATTÍ RÁNÍ.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxxvii">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapi"><span class="dcap">I</span></span>N a country a big fair was held, to which came a great +many people and Rájás from all the countries +round. Among them was a Rájá who brought his +daughter with him. Opposite their tent another tent was +pitched, in which lived a Rájá’s son. He was very beautiful; +so was the little Rání, the other Rájá’s daughter.</p> + +<p>Now, the Rájá’s son and the Rájá’s daughter did not even +know each other’s names, but they looked at each other a +great deal, and each thought the other very beautiful. +“How lovely the Rájá’s daughter is!” thought the prince. +“How beautiful the Rájá’s son is!” thought the princess.</p> + +<p>They lived opposite each other for a whole month, and all +that time they never spoke to each other nor did they speak +of each other to any one. But they thought of each other +a great deal.</p> + +<p>When the month was over, the little Rání’s father said he +would go back to his own country. The Rájá’s son sat in +his tent and watched the servants getting ready the little +Rání’s palanquin. As soon as the princess herself was +dressed and ready for the journey, she came out of her tent, +and took a rose in her hand. She first put the rose to her +teeth; then she stuck it behind her ear; and lastly, she laid +it at her feet. All this time the Rájá’s son sat in his tent +and looked at her. Then she got into her palanquin and +was carried away.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>209]</a></span> +The Rájá’s son was now very sad. “How lovely the +princess is!” he thought. “And I do not know her name, +or her father’s name, or the name of her country. So how +can I ever find her? I shall never see her again.” He +was very sorrowful, and determined he would go home to +his country. When he got home he laid himself down on +his bed, and night and day he lay there. He would not eat, +or drink, or bathe, or change his clothes. This made his +father and mother very unhappy. They went to him often, +and asked him, “What is the matter with you? Are you +ill?” “I want nothing,” he would answer. “I don’t want +any doctor, or any medicine.” Not one word did he say to +them, or to any one else, about the lovely little Rání.</p> + +<p>The son of the Rájá’s kotwál<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> was the prince’s great +friend. The two had always gone to school together, and +had there read in the same book; they had always bathed, +eaten, and played together. So when the prince had been +at home for two days, and yet had not been to school or +seen his friend, the kotwál’s son grew very anxious. “Why +does the prince not come to school?” he said to himself. +“He has been here for two days, and yet I have not seen +him. I will go and find out if anything is the matter. +Perhaps he is ill.”</p> + +<p>He went, therefore, to see the prince, who was lying very +miserable on his bed. “Why do you not come to school? +Are you ill?” asked his friend. “Oh, it is nothing,” said the +prince. “Tell me what is the matter,” said the kotwál’s son; +but the Rájá’s son would not answer. “Have you told any +one what is the matter with you?” said the kotwál’s son. +“No,” answered the prince. “Then tell me,” said his +friend; “tell me the truth: what is it that troubles you?”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said the prince, “at the fair there was a Rájá who +had a most beautiful daughter. They lived in a tent opposite +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>210]</a></span> +mine, and I used to see her every day. She is so beautiful! +But I do not know her name, or her father’s name, or her +country’s name; so how can I ever find her?” “I will take +you to her,” said his friend; “only get up and bathe, and +eat.” “How can you take me to her?” said the prince. +“You do not even know where she is; so how can you +take me to her?” “Did she never speak to you?” said the +kotwál’s son. “Never,” said the prince. “But when she +was going away, just before she got into her palanquin, +she took a rose in her hand; and first she put this rose to +her teeth; then she stuck it behind her ear; and then she +laid it at her feet.” “Now I know all about her,” said his +friend. “When she put the rose to her teeth, she meant to +tell you her father’s name was Rájá Dánt [Rájá Tooth]; +when she put it behind her ear she meant you to know her +country’s name was Karnátak [on the ear]; and when she +laid the rose at her feet, she meant that her name was +Pánwpattí [Foot-leaf]. Get up; bathe and dress, eat and +drink, and we will go and find her.”</p> + +<p>The prince got up directly, and told his father and mother +he was going for a few days to eat the air of another country. +At first they forbad his going; but then they reflected that +he had been very ill, and that perhaps the air of another +country might make him well; so at last they consented. +The prince and his friend had two horses saddled and +bridled, and set off together.</p> + +<p>At the end of a month they arrived in a country where +they asked (as they had asked in every other country through +which they had ridden), “What is the name of this country?” +“Karnátak” [the Carnatic]. “What is your Rájá’s name?” +“Rájá Dánt.” Then the two friends were glad. They +stopped at an old woman’s house, and said to her, “Let us +stay with you for a few days. We are men from another +country and do not know where to go in this place.” The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>211]</a></span> +old woman said, “You may stay with me if you like. I +live all alone, and there is plenty of room for you.”</p> + +<p>After two or three days the kotwál’s son said to the old +woman, “Has your Rájá a daughter?” “Yes,” she answered; +“he has a daughter; her name is Pánwpattí Rání.” “Can +you go to see her?” asked the kotwál’s son. “Yes,” +she said, “I can go to see her. I was her nurse, and she +drank my milk. It is the Rájá who gives me my house, and +my food, and clothes—everything that I have.” “Then go +and see her,” said the kotwál’s son, “and tell her that the +prince whom she called to her at the fair has come.”</p> + +<p>The old woman went up to the palace, and saw the +princess. After they had talked together for some time, she +said to the little Rání, “The prince you called to you at the +fair is come.” “Good,” she said; “tell him to come to see +me to-night at twelve o’clock. He is not to come in through +the door, but through the window.” (This she said because +she did not want her father to know that the prince had +come, until she had made up her mind whether she would +marry him.)</p> + +<p>The old woman went home and told the kotwál’s son +what the Princess Pánwpattí said. That night the prince +went to see her, and every night for three or four nights +he went to talk with her for an hour. Then she told her +mother she wished to be married, and her mother told her +father. Her father asked whom she wished to marry, and she +said, “The Rájá’s son who lives in my nurse’s house.” Her +father said she might marry him if she liked; so the wedding +was held. The kotwál’s son went to the wedding, and +then returned to the old woman’s house; but the prince +lived in the Rájá’s palace.</p> + +<p>Here he stayed for a month, and all that time he never saw +his friend. At last he began to fret for him, and was very +unhappy. “What makes you so sad?” said Pánwpattí Rání. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>212]</a></span> +“I am sad because I have not seen my friend for a whole +month,” answered her husband. “I must go and see him.” +“Yes, go and see him,” said his wife. The Rájá’s son went +to the old woman’s house, and there he stayed a week, for he +was so glad to see the kotwál’s son. Then he returned to +his wife. Now she thought he would only have been away +a day, and was very angry at his having stayed so long from +her. “How could you leave me for a whole week?” she said +to him. “I had not seen my friend for a month,” he +answered. Pánwpattí Rání did not let her husband see how +angry she was; but in her heart she thought, “I am sure +he loves his friend best.”</p> + +<p>The prince remained with her for a month. Then he +said, “I must go and see my friend.” This made her +very angry indeed. However, she said, “Good; go and +see your friend, and I will make you some delicious sweetmeats +to take him from me.” She set to work, and made +the most tempting sweetmeats she could; only in each she +put a strong poison. Then she wrapped them in a beautiful +handkerchief, and her husband took them to the kotwál’s +son. “My Rání has made you these herself,” he said +to his friend, “and she sends you a great many salaams.” +The Rájá’s son knew nothing of the poison.</p> + +<p>The kotwál’s son put the sweetmeats on one side, and +said, “Let us talk, and I will eat them by and by.” So +they sat and talked for a long time. Then the kotwál’s son +said, “Your Rání herself made these sweetmeats for me?” +“Yes,” said the Rájá’s son. His friend was very wise, and +he thought, “Pánwpattí Rání does not like me. Of that I +am sure.” So he took some of the sweetmeats, and broke +them into bits and threw them to the crows. The crows +came flying down, and all the crows who ate the sweetmeats +died instantly. Then the kotwál’s son threw a sweetmeat +to a dog that was passing. The dog devoured it and fell +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>213]</a></span> +dead. This put the Rájá’s son into great rage. “I will +never see my Rání again!” he exclaimed. “What a wicked +woman she is to try and poison my friend—my friend +whom I love so dearly; but for whom I should never have +married her!” He would not go back to his wife, and stayed +in the old woman’s house. The kotwál’s son often told +him he ought to return to his wife, but the prince would +not do so. “No,” he said, “she is a wicked woman. You +never did her any evil or hurt; yet she has tried to poison +you. I will never see her again.”</p> + +<p>When a month had passed, the kotwál’s son said to the +prince, “You really must go back to Pánwpattí Rání; she +is your wife, and you must go to her, and take her away to +your own country.” Still the Rájá’s son declared he would +never see her again. “If you would like to see something +that will please you,” said his friend, “go back to your wife +for one day; and to-night ‘when she is asleep’ you must take +off all her jewels, and tie them up in a handkerchief, and +bring them to me. But before you leave her you must wound +her in the leg with this trident.” So saying, he gave him a +small iron trident.</p> + +<p>The prince went back to the palace. His wife was very +angry with him, though she did not show her anger. At +night ‘when she was fast asleep’ he took off all her jewels and +tied them in a handkerchief, and he gave her a thrust in the +leg with his trident. Then he went quickly back to his +friend. The princess awoke and found herself badly hurt +and alone; and she saw that her jewels were all gone. In +the morning she told her father and mother that her jewels +had been stolen; but she said nothing about the wound +in her leg. The king called his servants, and told them +a thief had come in the night and stolen his daughter’s +jewels, and he sent them to look for the thief and seize +him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>214]</a></span> +That morning the kotwál’s son got up and dressed himself +like a yogí. He made the prince put on common +clothes such as every one wears, so that he could not be +recognized, and sent him to the bazar to sell his wife’s +jewels. He told him, too, all he was to say. The pretended +yogí went to the river and sat down by it, and the +Rájá’s son went through the bazar and tried to sell the +jewels. The Rájá’s servants seized him immediately. “You +thief!” they said to him, “what made you steal our Rájá’s +daughter’s jewels?” “I know nothing about the jewels,” said +the prince. “I am no thief; I did not steal them. The +holy man, who is my teacher, gave them to me to sell in the +bazar for him. If you want to know anything more about +them, you must ask him.” “Where is this holy man?” said +the servants. “He is sitting by the river,” said the Rájá’s +son. “Let us go to him. I will show you where he is.”</p> + +<p>They all went down to the river, and there sat the yogí. +“What is all this?” said the servants to him. “Are you a +yogí, and yet a thief? Why did you steal the little Rání’s +jewels?” “Are those the little Rání’s jewels?” said the +yogí. “I did not steal them; I did not know to whom they +belonged. Listen, and I will tell you. Last night at twelve +o’clock I was sitting by this river when a woman came down +to it—a woman I did not know. She took a dead body out +of the river, and began to eat it. This made me so angry, +that I took all her jewels from her, and she ran away. I ran +after her and wounded her in the leg with my trident. I +don’t know if she were your Rájá’s daughter, or who she was; +but whoever she may be, she has the mark of the trident’s +teeth in her leg.”</p> + +<p>The servants took the jewels up to the palace, and told the +Rájá all the yogí had said. The Rájá asked his wife whether +the Princess Pánwpattí had any hurt in her leg, and told her +all the yogí’s story. The Rání went to see her daughter, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>215]</a></span> +and found her lying on her bed and unable to get up from +the pain she was in, and when she looked at her leg she saw +the wound. She returned to the Rájá and said to him, “Our +daughter has the mark of the trident’s teeth in her leg.”</p> + +<p>The Rájá got very angry, and called his servants and said +to them, “Bring a palanquin, and take my daughter at once +to the jungle, and there leave her. She is a wicked woman, +who goes to the river at night to eat dead people. I will +not have her in my house any more. Cast her out in the +jungle.” The servants did as they were bid, and left +Pánwpattí Rání, crying and sobbing in the jungle, partly +from the pain in her leg, and partly because she did not +know where to go, and had no food or water.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile her husband and the kotwál’s son heard of +her being sent into the jungle, so they returned to the old +woman’s house and put on their own clothes. Then they +went to the jungle to find her. She was still crying, and her +husband asked her why she cried. She told him, and he +said, “Why did you try to poison my friend? You were +very wicked to do so.” “Yes,” said the kotwál’s son; “Why +did you try to kill me? I have never done you any wrong +or hurt you. It was I who told your husband what you +meant by putting the rose to your teeth, behind your ear, +and at your feet. Without me he would never have found +you, never have married you.” Then she knew at once who +had brought all this trouble to her, and she was very sorry she +had tried to kill her husband’s friend.</p> + +<p>They all three now went home to her husband’s country; +and his father and mother were very glad indeed that their +son had married a Rájá’s daughter, and the Rájá gave the +kotwál’s son a very grand present.</p> + +<p>The young Rájá and his wife lived with his father and +mother, and were always very happy together.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Múniyá, February, 1879.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTE:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> +The chief police officer in a town.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>216]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head07.jpg" width="600" height="117" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxxviii" id="sxxviii"></a>XXVIII.<br /> +<br /> +THE CLEVER WIFE.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxxviii">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapi"><span class="dcap">I</span></span>N a country there was a merchant who traded in all +kinds of merchandise, and used to make journeys +from country to country in his boat to buy and sell +his goods. He one day said to his wife, “I cannot stay at +home any more, for I must go on a year’s journey to carry +on my business.” And he added, laughing, “When I return +I expect to find you have built me a grand well; and also, +as you are such a clever wife, to see a little son.” Then he +got into his boat and went away.</p> + +<p>When he was gone his wife set to work, and she spun +four hanks of beautiful thread with her own hands. Then +she dressed herself in her prettiest clothes, and put on her +finest jewels. “I am going to the bazar,” she said to her +ayahs, “to sell this thread.” “That is not right,” said one +of the ayahs. “You must not sell your thread yourself, but +let me sell it for you. What will your husband say if he +hears you have been selling thread in the bazar?” “I will +sell my thread myself,” answered the merchant’s wife. “You +could never sell it for me.”</p> + +<p>So off she set to the bazar, and every one in it said, +“What a beautiful woman that is!” At last the kotwál saw +her, and came to her at once.</p> + +<p>“What beautiful thread!” he said. “Is it for sale?” +“Yes,” she said. “How much a hank?” said the kotwál. +“Fifty rupees,” she answered. “Fifty rupees! Who will +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>217]</a></span> +ever give you fifty rupees for it?” “I will not sell it for +less,” said the woman. “I shall get fifty rupees for it.” +“Well,” said the kotwál, “I will give you the fifty rupees. +Can I dine with you at your house?” “Yes,” she answered, +“to-night at ten o’clock.” Then he took the thread and +gave her fifty rupees.</p> + +<p>Then she went away to another bazar, and there the king’s +wazír saw her trying to sell her thread. “What lovely +thread! Is it for sale?” he said. “Yes, at one hundred +rupees the hank,” she answered. “Well, I will give you +one hundred rupees. Can I dine with you at your house?” +said the wazír. “Yes,” she answered, “to-night at +eleven o’clock.” “Good,” said the wazír; “here are the +hundred rupees.” And he took the thread and went +away.</p> + +<p>The merchant’s wife now went to a third bazar, and there +the king’s kází saw her. “Is that beautiful thread for +sale?” he asked. “Yes,” she answered, “for one hundred +and fifty rupees.” “I will give you the hundred and fifty +rupees. Can I dine with you at your house?” “Yes,” she +said, “to-night at twelve o’clock.” “I will come,” said the +kází. “Here are one hundred and fifty rupees.” So she +took the rupees and gave him the thread.</p> + +<p>She set off with the fourth hank to the fourth bazar, and +in this bazar was the king’s palace. The king saw her, and +asked if the thread was for sale. “Yes,” she said, “for five +hundred rupees.” “Give me the thread,” said the king; +“here are your five hundred rupees. Can I dine with +you at your house?” “Yes,” she said, “to-night at two +o’clock.”</p> + +<p>Then she went home and sent one of her servants to the +bazar to buy her four large chests; and she told her other +servants that they were to get ready four very good dinners +for her. Each dinner was to be served in a different room; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>218]</a></span> +and one was to be ready at ten o’clock that night, one at +eleven, one at twelve, and one at two in the morning. The +servant brought her four large chests, and she had them +placed in four different rooms.</p> + +<p>At ten o’clock the kotwál arrived. The merchant’s wife +greeted him graciously, and they sat down and dined. After +dinner she said to him, “Can you play at cards?” “Yes,” +he answered. She brought some cards, and they sat and +played till the clock struck eleven, when the doorkeeper +came in to say, “The wazír is here, and wishes to see you.” +The kotwál was in a dreadful fright. “Do hide me somewhere,” +he said to her. “I have no place where you can +hide in this room,” she answered; “but in another room I +have a big chest. I will shut you up in that if you like, and +when the wazír is gone, I will let you out of it.” So she +took him into the next room, and he got into one of the four +big chests, and she shut down the lid and locked it.</p> + +<p>Then she bade the doorkeeper bring in the wazír, and +they dined together. After dinner she said, “Can you play +at cards?” “Yes,” said the wazír. She took out the cards, +and they played till twelve o’clock, when the doorkeeper +came to say the kází had come to see her. “Oh, hide me! +hide me!” cried the wazír in a great fright. “If you come +to another room,” she said, “I will hide you in a big chest +I have. I can let you out when he is gone.” So she +locked the wazír up in the second chest.</p> + +<p>She and the kází now dined. Then she said, “Can you +play at cards?” “Yes,” said the kází. So they sat playing +at cards till two o’clock, when the doorkeeper said the king +had come to see her. “Oh, what shall I do?” said the +kází, terribly frightened. “Do hide me. Do not let me be +seen by the king.” “You can hide in a big chest I have in +another room, if you like,” she answered, “till he is gone.” +And she locked up the kází in her third chest.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>219]</a></span> +The king now came in, and they dined. “Will you play +a little game at cards?” she asked. “Yes,” said the king. +So they played till three o’clock, when the doorkeeper came +running in (just as she had told him to do) to say, “My +master’s boat has arrived, and he is coming up to the house. +He will be here directly.” “Now what shall I do?” +said the king, who was as frightened as the others had +been. “Here is your husband. He must not see me. +You must hide me somewhere.” “I have no place to +hide you in,” she said, “but a big chest. You can get into +that if you like, and I will let you out to-morrow morning.” +So she shut the lid of the fourth chest down on the king +and locked him up. Then she went to bed, and to sleep, +and slept till morning.</p> + +<p>The next day, after she had bathed and dressed, and +eaten her breakfast, and done all her household work, she +said to her servants, “I want four coolies.” So the servants +went for the coolies; and when they came she showed them +the four chests, and said, “Each of you must take one of +these chests on your head and come with me.” Then they +set out with her, each carrying a chest.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the kotwál’s son, the wazír’s son, the kází’s +son, and the king’s son, had been roaming about looking +everywhere for their fathers, and asking every one if they +had seen them, but no one knew anything about them.</p> + +<p>The merchant’s wife went first to the kotwál’s house, and +there she saw the kotwál’s son. She had the kotwál’s chest +set down on the ground before his door. “Will you buy +this chest?” she said to his son. “What is in it?” he asked. +“A most precious thing,” she answered. “How much do +you want for it?” said his son. “One thousand rupees,” +she said; “and when you open the chest, you will see the +contents are worth two thousand. But you must not open +it till you are in your father’s house.” “Well,” said the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>220]</a></span> +kotwál’s son, “here are a thousand rupees.” The woman +and the other three chests went on their way, while he took +his into the house. “What a heavy chest!” he said. +“What can be inside?” Then he lifted the lid. “Why, +there’s my father!” he cried. “Father, how came you to +be in this chest?” The kotwál was very much ashamed of +himself. “I never thought she was the woman to play me +such a trick,” he said; and then he had to tell his son the +whole story.</p> + +<p>The merchant’s wife next stopped at the wazír’s house, +and there she saw the wazír’s son. The wazír’s chest was +put down before his door, and she said to his son, “Will +you buy this chest?” “What is inside of it?” he asked. +“A most precious thing,” she answered. “Will you buy +it?” “How much do you want for it?” asked the son. +“Only two thousand rupees, and it is worth three thousand.” +So the wazír’s son bought his father, without knowing it, for +two thousand rupees. “You must not open the chest till +you are in the house,” said the merchant’s wife. The wazír’s +son opened the chest in the house at once, wondering what +could be in it; and the wazír’s wife stood by all the time. +When they saw the wazír himself, looking very much +ashamed, they were greatly astonished. “How came you +there?” they cried. “Where have you been?” said his +wife. “Oh,” said the wazír, “I never thought she was a +woman to treat me like this;” and he, too, had to tell all +his story.</p> + +<p>Now the merchant’s wife stopped at the kází’s door, and +there stood the kází’s son. “Will you buy this chest?” +she said to him, and had the kází’s chest put on the ground. +“What is in it?” said the kází’s son. “Silver and gold,” +she answered. “You shall have it for three thousand +rupees. The contents are worth four.” “Well, I will take +it,” said the son. “Don’t open it till you are in your house,” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>221]</a></span> +she said, and took her three thousand rupees and went +away. Great was the excitement when the kází stepped +out of the chest. “Oh!” he groaned, “I never thought +she could behave like this to me.”</p> + +<p>The merchant’s wife now went to the palace, and set the +king’s chest down at the palace gates. There she saw the +king’s son. “Will you buy this chest?” she said. “What +is in it?” asked the prince. “Diamonds, pearls, and all +kinds of precious stones,” said the merchant’s wife. “You +shall have the chest for five thousand rupees, but its contents +are worth a great deal more.” “Well,” said the king’s son, +“here are your five thousand rupees; give me the chest.” +“Don’t open it out here,” she said. “Take it into the +palace and open it there.” And away she went home.</p> + +<p>The king’s son opened the chest, and there was his father. +“What’s all this?” cried the prince. “How came <em>you</em> to +be in the chest?” The king was very much ashamed, and +did not tell much about his adventure; but when he was +sitting in his court-house, he had the merchant’s wife brought +to him, and gave her a quantity of rupees, saying, “You are +a wise and clever woman.”</p> + +<p>Now the kotwál knew the wazír had gone to see the merchant’s +wife; and the wazír knew the kází had gone; and +the kází, that the king had gone; but this was all that any +of them knew.</p> + +<p>The merchant’s wife had now plenty of rupees, so she +had a most beautiful well built and roofed over. Then she +locked the door of the well, and told the servants no one +was to drink any of its water, or bathe in it, till her husband +came home: he was to be the first to drink its water, and +bathe in the well.</p> + +<p>Then she sent her ayah to the bazar to buy her clothes +and ornaments such as cowherd’s wives and daughter’s +wear; and when the ayah had brought her these, she +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>222]</a></span> +packed them up in a box. Then she dressed herself in +men’s clothes, so that no one could tell she was a woman, +and ordered a horse to be got ready for her. “I am going +to eat the air of another country for a little while,” she said. +“You must all take great care of the house while I am away.” +The servants did not like her going away at all; they were +afraid her husband might return during her absence, and +that he would be angry with them for having let her go. +“Don’t be afraid,” she said. “There is nothing to be +frightened about. I shall come back all right.”</p> + +<p>So she set out, taking the key of the well, the box with +the clothes her ayah had bought for her in the bazar, and +plenty of rupees. She also took two of her servants. She +travelled a long, long way, asking everywhere for her husband’s +boat. At last at the end of a month she came to where +it was. Here she hired a little house, and dressed herself +like a cowherd’s daughter. Then she got some very good +milk, and went down to the banks of the river to sell it. +Everybody said, “Do look what a beautiful woman that is +selling milk!” She sold her milk very quickly, it was so +good. This she did for several days, till her husband, the +merchant, saw her. He thought her so beautiful, that he +asked her to bring him some milk to his boat. So every day +for a little while she sold him milk. One day he said to her, +“Will you marry me?” “How can I marry you?” she said. +“You are a merchant, and I am a cowherd’s daughter. Soon +you will be leaving this country, and will travel to another +in your boat; you will want me to go with you. Then I +shall have to leave my father and mother, and who will take +care of them?” “Let us be married,” said the merchant. +“I am going to stay here for three months. When I go, +you shall return to your father and mother, and later I will +come back to you.” To this she agreed, and they were +married, and she went to live in the boat. At the end of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>223]</a></span> +three months, the merchant said to her, “My business here +is done, and I must go to another country. Would you +like to go home to your father and mother while I am away?” +“Yes,” she said. “Here are some rupees for you to live +on in my absence,” he said. “I do not want any rupees,” +said his wife. “I only want you to give me two things: your +old cap, and your picture.” These he gave her, and then +he went to his boat, and she went back to her own home.</p> + +<p>Some time afterwards she had a little son. The servants +were greatly frightened, for they thought their master would +not be pleased when he came home; and he was not pleased +when he did come two months later. He was so cross that +he would not look at the baby-boy, and he would hardly +look at his beautiful well.</p> + +<p>One night he lay awake thinking, and he thought he would +kill his wife and her little son. But the next day she came to +him: “Tell me the truth,” she said; “you are angry with me? +Don’t be angry, for I want to show you a picture I like very +much—the picture of my boy’s father.” Then she showed him +his own picture, and the old cap he had given her on board +his boat; and she told him how she had been the cowherd’s +daughter; and also how she had gained the money to build +his well. “You see,” she said, “I have done all you bade +me. Here is your well, and here is your son.” Then the +merchant was very happy. He kissed and loved his little +son, and thought his well was beautiful; and he said to his +wife, “What a clever woman you are!”</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Múniyá, Calcutta, March 3rd, 1879.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/tail02.jpg" width="200" height="103" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>224]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head13.jpg" width="600" height="134" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxxix" id="sxxix"></a>XXIX.<br /> +<br /> +RÁJÁ HARICHAND’S PUNISHMENT.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxxix">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapt"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HERE was once a great Rájá, Rájá Harichand, who +every morning before he bathed and breakfasted +used to give away one hundred pounds weight of +gold to the fakírs, his poor ryots, and other poor people. +This he did in the name of God, “For,” he said, “God +loves me and gives me everything that I have; so daily I +will give him this gold.”</p> + +<p>Now God heard what a good man Rájá Harichand was, +and how much the Rájá loved him, and he thought he +would go and see for himself if all that was said of the Rájá +were true. He therefore went as a fakír to Rájá Harichand’s +palace and stood at his gate. The Rájá had already given +away his hundred pounds’ weight of gold, and gone into his +palace and bathed and breakfasted; so when his servants +came to tell him that another fakír stood at his gate, the +Rájá said, “Bid him come to-morrow, for I have bathed, +and have eaten my breakfast, and therefore cannot attend to +him now.” The servants returned to the fakír, and told him, +“The Rájá says you must come to-morrow, for he cannot +see you now, as he has bathed and breakfasted.” God went +away, and the next day he again came, after all the fakírs +and poor people had received their gold and the Rájá had +gone into his palace. So the Rájá told his servants, “Bid +the fakír come to-morrow. He has again come too late for +me to see him now.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>225]</a></span> +On the third day God was once more too late, for the +Rájá had gone into his palace. The Rájá was vexed with +him for being a third time too late, and said to his servants, +“What sort of a fakír is this that he always comes too late? +Go and ask him what he wants.” So the servants went to +the fakír and said, “Rájá Harichand says, ‘What do you +want from him?’” “I want no rupees,” answered God, “nor +anything else; but I want him to give me his wife.” The +servants told this to the Rájá, and it made him very angry. +He went to his wife, the Rání Báhan, and said to her, +“There is a fakír at the gate who asks me to give you to +him! As if I should ever do such a thing! Fancy my +giving him my wife!”</p> + +<p>The Rání was very wise and clever, for she had a book, +which she read continually, called the kop shástra; and this +book told her everything. So she knew that the fakír at the +gate was no fakír, but God himself. (In old days about two +people in a thousand, though not more, could read this +book; now-a-days hardly any one can read it, for it is far +too difficult.) So the Rání said to the Rájá, “Go to this +fakír, and say to him, ‘You shall have my wife.’ You need +not really give me to him; only give me to him in your +thoughts.” “I will do no such thing,” said the Rájá in a +rage; and in spite of all her entreaties, he would not say to +the fakír, “I will give you my wife.” He ordered his servants +to beat the fakír, and send him away; and so they did.</p> + +<p>God returned to his place, and called to him two angels. +“Take the form of men,” he said to them, “and go to Rájá +Harichand. Say to him, ‘God has sent us to you. He +says, Which will you have—a twelve years’ famine throughout +your land during which no rain will fall? or a great +rain for twelve hours?’”</p> + +<p>The angels came to the Rájá and said as God had bidden +them. The Rájá thought for a long while which he should +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>226]</a></span> +choose. “If a great rain pours down for twelve hours,” +he said to himself, “my whole country will be washed away. +But I have a great quantity of gold. I have enough to +send to other countries and buy food for myself and my +ryots during the twelve years’ famine.” So he said to the +angels, “I will choose the famine.” Then the angels came +into his palace; and the moment they entered it, all the +Rájá’s servants that were in the palace, and all his cows, +horses, elephants, and other animals became stone. So did +every single thing in the palace, excepting his gold and silver, +and these turned to charcoal. The Rájá and Rání did not +become stone.</p> + +<p>The angels said to them, “For three weeks you will not +be able to eat anything; you will not be able to eat any +food you may find or may have given you. But you will +not die, you will live.” Then the angels went away.</p> + +<p>The Rájá was very sad when he looked round his palace and +saw everything in it, and all the people in it, stone, and saw all +his gold and silver turned to charcoal. He said to his wife, +“I cannot stay here. I must go to some other country. I was +a great Rájá; how can I ask my ryots to give me food? We +will dress ourselves like fakírs, and go to another country.”</p> + +<p>They put on fakírs’ clothes and went out of their palace. +They wandered in the jungle till they saw a plum-tree +covered with fruit. “Do gather some of those plums for me,” +said the Rání, who was very hungry. The Rájá went to the +tree and put out his hand to gather the plums; but when +he did this, they at once all left the tree and went a little way +up into the air. When he drew back his hand, the plums +returned to the tree. The Rájá tried three times to gather +the plums, but never could do so.</p> + +<p>He and the Rání then went on till they came to a plain +in another country, where was a large tank in which men +were fishing. The Rání said to her husband, “Go and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>227]</a></span> +ask those men to give us a little of their fish, for I am very +hungry.” The Rájá went to the men and said, “I am a fakír, +and have no pice. Will you give me some of your fish, +for I have not eaten for four days and am hungry?” The +men gave him some fish, and he and his wife carried it to a +tank on another plain. The Rání cleaned and prepared the +fish for cooking, and said to her husband, “I have nothing +in which to cook this fish. Go up to the town (there was a +town close by) and ask some one to give you an earthen pot +with a lid, and some salt.”</p> + +<p>The Rájá went up to the town, and some one in the bazar +gave him the earthen pot, and a grain merchant put a little +salt into it. Then he returned to the Rání, and they made a +fire under a tree, put the fish into the pot, and set the pot on +the fire. “I have not bathed for some days,” said the Rájá. +“I will go and bathe while you cook the fish, and when I +come back we will eat it.” So he went to bathe, and the Rání +sat watching the fish. Presently she thought, “If I leave +the lid on the pot, the fish will dry up and burn.” Then she +took off the lid, and the fish instantly jumped out of the pot +into the tank and swam away. This made the Rání sad; but +she sat there quiet and silent. When the Rájá had bathed, +he returned to his wife, and said, “Now we will eat our fish.” +The Rání answered, “I had not eaten for four days, and +was very hungry, so I ate all the fish.” “Never mind,” said +the Rájá, “it does not matter.”</p> + +<p>They wandered on, and the next day came to another +jungle where they saw two pigeons. The Rájá took some +grass and sticks, and made a bow and arrow. He shot the +pigeons with these, and the Rání plucked and cleaned +them. Her husband and she made a little fire, put the +pigeons in their pot, and set them on it. There was a tank +near. “Now I will go and bathe,” said the Rání; “I have +not bathed for some days. When I come back, we will eat +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>228]</a></span> +the pigeons.” So she went to bathe, and the Rájá sat down +to watch the pigeons. Presently he thought, “If I leave the +pot shut, the birds will dry up and burn.” So he took off the +lid, and instantly away flew the pigeons out of the pot. He +guessed at once what the fish had done yesterday, and sat +still and silent till the Rání came back. “I have eaten the +pigeons in the same way that you ate the fish yesterday,” +he said to her. The Rání understood what had happened, +and saw the Rájá knew how the fish had escaped.</p> + +<p>So they wandered on; and as they went the Rání remembered +an oil merchant, called Gangá Télí, a friend of theirs, +and a great man, just like a Rájá. “Let us go to Gangá +Télí, if we can walk as far as his house,” she said. “He will +be good to us.” He lived a long way off. When they got +to him, Gangá Télí knew them at once. “What has happened?” +he said. “You were a great Rájá; why are you +and the Rání so poor and dressed like fakírs?” “It is God’s +will,” they answered. Gangá Télí did not think it worth +while to notice them much now they were poor; so, though +he did not send them away, he gave them a wretched room +to live in, a wretched bed to lie on, and such bad food to eat +that, hungry as they were, they could not touch it. “When +we were rich,” they said to each other, “and came to stay +with Gangá Télí, he received us like friends; he gave us +beautiful rooms to live in, beautiful beds to lie on, and delicious +food to eat. We cannot stay here.”</p> + +<p>So they went away very sorrowful, and wandered for a +whole week, and all the time they had no food, till they came +to another country whose Rájá, Rájá Bhoj, was one of their +friends. Rájá Bhoj received them very kindly. “What has +brought you to this state? How is it you are so poor?” he +said. “What has happened to you?” “It is God’s will,” they +answered. Rájá Bhoj gave them a beautiful room to live +in, and told his servants to cook for them the very nicest +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>229]</a></span> +dinner they could. This the servants did, and they brought +the dinner into Rájá Harichand’s room, and set it before +him and left him. Then he and the Rání put some of the +food on their plates; but before they could eat anything, the +food both in the dishes and on their plates became full of +maggots. So they could not eat it. They felt greatly +humbled. However, they said nothing, but worshipped God; +and they buried all the food in a hole they dug in the floor +of their room.</p> + +<p>Now the daughter of Rájá Bhoj had left her gold necklace +hanging on the wall of the room in which were Rájá +Harichand and the Rání Báhan. At night when Rájá Harichand +was asleep, the Rání saw a crack come in the wall +and the necklace go of itself into the crack; then the wall +joined together as before. She at once woke her husband, +and told him what she had seen. “We had better go away +quickly,” she said. “The necklace will not be found to-morrow, +and Rájá Bhoj will think we are thieves. It will be +useless breaking the wall open to find it.” The Rájá got up +at once, and they set out again. Rájá Bhoj, when the necklace +was not found, thought Rájá Harichand and the Rání +Báhan had stolen it.</p> + +<p>They wandered on till they came to a country belonging +to another friend, called Rájá Nal, but they were +ashamed to go to his palace. The three weeks were now +nearly over, only two more days were left. So the Rání +said, “In two days we shall be able to eat. Go into the +jungle and cut grass, and sell it in the bazar. We shall +thus get a few pice and be able to buy a little food.” The +Rájá went out to the jungle, but he had to break and pull +up the grass with his hands. He worked half the day, and +then sold the grass in the bazar for a few pice. They were +able to buy food, and worshipped God and cooked it; and +as the three weeks were now over they were allowed to eat it.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>230]</a></span> +They stayed in Rájá Nal’s country, and lived in a little +house they hired in the bazar. Rájá Harichand went out +every day to the jungle for grass, which he pulled up or +broke off with his hands, and then sold in the bazar for a +few pice. The Rání saved a pice or two whenever she +could, and at the end of two years they were rich enough +to buy a hook such as grass-cutters use. The Rájá could +now cut more grass, and soon the Rání was able to buy +some pretty-coloured silks in the bazar.</p> + +<p>Her husband went daily to cut grass, and she sat at home +making head-collars with the silks for horses. Four years +after they had bought the hook, she had four of these head-collars +ready, and she took them up to Rájá Nal’s palace to +sell. It was the first time she had gone there, for she and +her husband were ashamed to see Rájá Nal. Their fakírs’ +dresses had become rags, and they had only been able to get +wretched common clothes in their place, for they were +miserably poor.</p> + +<p>“What beautiful head-collars these are!” said Rájá Nal’s +coachmen and grooms; and they took them to show to their +Rájá. As soon as he saw them he said, “Where did you get +these head-collars? Who is it that wishes to sell them?” +for he knew that only one woman could make such head-collars, +and that woman was the Rání Báhan. “A very +poor woman brought them here just now,” they answered. +“Bring her to me,” said Rájá Nal. So the servants brought +him Rání Báhan, and when she saw the Rájá she burst into +tears. “What has brought you to this state? Why are you +so poor?” said Rájá Nal. “It is God’s will,” she answered. +“Where is your husband?” he asked. “He is cutting grass +in the jungle,” she said. Rájá Nal called his servants and +said, “Go into the jungle, and there you will see a man +cutting grass. Bring him to me.” When Rájá Harichand +saw Rájá Nal’s servants coming to him, he was very much +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>231]</a></span> +frightened; but the servants took him and brought him to +the palace. As soon as Rájá Nal saw his old friend, he +seized his hands, and burst out crying. “Rájá,” he said, +“what has brought you to this state?” “It is God’s will,” +said Rájá Harichand.</p> + +<p>Rájá Nal was very good to them. He gave them a palace +to live in, and servants to wait on them; beautiful clothes +to wear, and good food to eat. He went with them to the +palace to see that everything was as it should be for them. +“To-day,” he said to the Rání, “I shall dine with your +husband, and you must give me a dinner cooked just as +you used to cook one for me when I went to see you in +your own country.” “Good, I will give it you,” said the +Rání; but she was quite frightened, for she thought, “The +Rájá is so kind, and everything is so comfortable for us, that +I am sure something dreadful will happen.” However, she +prepared the dinner, and told the servants how to cook it +and serve it; but first she worshipped God, and entreated +him to have mercy on her and her husband. The dinner +was very good, and nothing evil happened to any one. +They lived in the palace Rájá Nal gave them for four and a +half years.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the farmers in Rájá Harichand’s country had +all these years gone on ploughing and turning up the land, +although not a drop of rain had fallen all that time, and +the earth was hard and dry. Now just when the Rájá and +Rání had lived in Rájá Nal’s palace for four and a half years +Mahádeo was walking through Rájá Harichand’s country. +He saw the farmers digging up the ground, and said, +“What is the good of your digging and turning up the +ground? Not a drop of rain is going to fall.” “No,” said +the farmers, “but if we did not go on ploughing and +digging, we should forget how to do our work.” They did +not know they were talking to Mahádeo, for he looked like +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>232]</a></span> +a man. “That is true,” said Mahádeo, and he thought, “The +farmers speak the truth; and if I go on neglecting to +blow on my horn, I shall forget how to blow on it at +all.” So he took his deer’s horn, which was just like those +some yogís use, and blew on it. Now when Rájá Harichand +had chosen the twelve years’ famine, God had said, “Rain +shall not fall on Rájá Harichand’s country till Mahádeo +blows his horn in it.” Mahádeo had quite forgotten this +decree; so he blew on his horn, although only ten and a +half years’ famine had gone by. The moment he blew, +down came the rain, and the whole country at once became +as it had been before the famine began; and moreover, the +moment it rained, everything in Rájá Harichand’s palace +became what it was before the angels entered it. All the +men and women came to life again; so did all the animals; +and the gold and silver were no longer charcoal, but once +more gold and silver. God was not angry with Mahádeo for +forgetting that he said the famine should last for twelve years, +and that the rain should fall when Mahádeo blew on his +horn in Rájá Harichand’s country. “If it pleased Mahádeo +to blow on his horn,” said God, “it does not matter that +eighteen months of famine were still to last.” As soon as +they heard the rain had fallen, all the ryots who had gone +to other countries on account of the famine returned to Rájá +Harichand’s country.</p> + +<p>Among the Rájá’s servants was the kotwál, and very +anxious he was, when he came to life again, to find the +Rájá and Rání; only he did not know how to do so, and +wondered where he had best seek for them.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Rání Báhan had a dream that God sent +her, in which an angel said to her, “It is good that you +and your husband should return to your country.” She told +this dream to her husband; and Rájá Nal gave them horses, +elephants, and camels, that they might travel like Rájás +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>233]</a></span> +to their home, and he went with them. They found everything +in order in their own palace and all through their +country, and after this lived very happily in it. But the +Rání said to Rájá Harichand, “If you had only done what I +told you, and said you would give me to the fakír, all this +misery would not have come on us.”</p> + +<p>Later they went to stay again with Rájá Bhoj, and slept +in the same room as they had had when they came to him +poor and wretched. In the night they saw the wall open, +and the necklace came out of the crack and hung itself up +as before, and the wall closed again. The next day they +showed the necklace to Rájá Bhoj, saying, “It was on +account of this necklace that we ran away from you the +last time we were here,” and they told him all that had +happened to it.</p> + +<p>As for Gangá Télí, they never went near him again.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Múniyá, March 4th, 1879.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/tail06.jpg" width="200" height="82" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>234]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head14.jpg" width="600" height="106" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="sxxx" id="sxxx"></a>XXX.<br /> +<br /> +THE KING’S SON AND THE WAZÍR’S +DAUGHTER.</h2> + + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#nxxx">To notes</a></span><span class="dcapi"><span class="dcap">I</span></span>N a country there was a great king who had a wazír. +One day he thought he should like to play at cards +with this wazír, and he told him to go and get some +for him, and then play a game with him. So the wazír brought +the cards, and he and the king sat down to play. Now +neither the king nor the wazír had any children; and as +they were playing, the king said, “Wazír, if I have a son +and you have a daughter, or if I have a daughter and you have +a son, let us marry our children to each other.” To this +the wazír agreed. A year after the king had a son; and +when the boy was two years old, the wazír had a daughter. +Some years passed, and the king’s son was twelve years old, +and the wazír’s daughter ten. Then the king said to the +wazír, “Do you remember how one day, when we were +playing at cards, we agreed to marry our children to each +other?” “I remember,” said the wazír. “Let us marry +them now,” said the king. So they held the wedding feast; +but the wazír’s little daughter remained in her father’s house +because she was still so young.</p> + +<p>As the king’s son grew older he became very wicked, +and took to gambling and drinking till his father and +mother died of grief. After their death he went on in the +same way, gambling and drinking, until he had no money +left, and had to leave the palace, and live anywhere he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>235]</a></span> +could in the town, wandering from house to house in a +fakír’s dress, begging his bread, and sleeping wherever he +found a spot on which to lie down.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the wazír’s daughter was living alone, for her +husband had never come to fetch her as he should have done +when she was old enough. Her father and mother were +dead too. She had given half of the money they left her +to the poor, and she lived on the other half. She spent +her days in praying to God, and in reading in a holy book; +and though she was so young, she was very wise and good.</p> + +<p>One day, as the prince was roaming about in his fakír’s +rags, not knowing where to find food or shelter, he remembered +his wife, and thought he would go and see her. She +ordered her servants to give him good food, a bath, and +good clothes; “for,” she said, “we were married when we +were children, though he never fetched me to his palace.” +The servants did as she bade them. The prince bathed and +dressed, and ate food, and he wished to stay with his wife. +But she said, “No; before you stay with me you must +see four sights. Go out in the jungle and walk for a whole +week. Then you will come to a plain where you will see +them.” So the next day he set out for the plain, and reached +it in one week.</p> + +<p>There he saw a large tank. At one corner of the tank he +saw a man and a woman who had good clothes, good food, +good beds, and servants to wait on them, and seemed very +happy. At the second corner he saw a wretchedly poor +man and his wife, who did nothing but cry and sob because +they had no food to eat, no water to drink, no bed to lie on, +no one to take care of them. At the third corner he saw +two little fishes that were always going up and down in the +air. They would shoot down close to the water, but they +could not go into it or stay in it; then they would make +a salaam to God, and would shoot up again into the air, but +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>236]</a></span> +before they got very high, they had to drop down again. +At the fourth corner he saw a huge demon who was heating +sand in an enormous iron pot, under which he kept up a +big fire.</p> + +<p>The prince returned to his wife, and told her all he had +seen. “Do you know who the happy man and woman +are?” she said. “No,” he answered. “They are my father +and mother,” she said. “When they were alive, I was good +to them, and since their death I gave half their money to +the poor; and on the other half I have lived quietly, and +tried to be good. So God is pleased with them, and +makes them happy.” “Is that true?” said her husband. +“Quite true,” she said. “And the miserable man and +woman who did nothing but cry, do you know who they +are?” “No,” said the prince. “They are your father and +mother. When they were alive, you gambled and drank; +and they died of grief. Then you went on gambling and +drinking till you had spent all their money. So now God is +angry with them, and will not make them happy.” “Is that +true?” said the prince. “Quite true,” she said. “And the +fishes you saw were the two little children we should have had +if you had taken me to your home as your wife. Now they +cannot be born, for they can find no bodies in which to be +born; so God has ordered them to rise and sink in the air +in these fishes’ forms.” “Is that true?” asked the prince. +“Quite true,” she answered. “And by God’s order the +demon you saw is heating that sand in the big iron pot for +you, because you are such a wicked man.”</p> + +<p>The moment she had told all this to her husband, she +died. But he did not get any better. He gambled and +drank all her money away, and lived a wretched life, +wandering about like a fakír till his death.</p> + +<p class="attrib">Told by Múniyá, March 8th, 1879.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>237]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head15.jpg" width="600" height="97" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2>NOTES.</h2> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt">INTRODUCTORY.</h3> + +<p><span class="dcapi"><span class="dcap">I</span></span>N these stories the word translated God, is <i>Khudá</i>. +Excepting in “How king Burtal became a Fakír” +(p. <a href="#Page_85">85</a>), and in “Rájá Harichand’s Punishment” +(p. <a href="#Page_224">224</a>), in which Mahádeo plays a part, the tellers of these +tales would never specify by name the god they spoke of. +He was always <i>Khudá</i>, “the great <i>Khudá</i> who lives up there +in the sky.” In this they differed from the narrator of the +<i>Old Deccan Days</i> stories, who almost always gives her gods +and goddesses their Hindú names—probably because, from +being a Christian, she had no religious scruples to deter her +from so doing.</p> + +<p>When the heroes of these stories are called Rájás, the +word Rájá has been kept: when they are called Bádsháhs, +we have called them kings. The Ayahs say, “A Bádsháh is a +much greater man than a Rájá.” When <i>bádsháh</i> (the Persian +<i>pádisháh</i>) in its corrupted form of <i>básá</i> is tacked on to a proper +name, such as <i>Anár</i> (<i>Anárbásá</i>), <i>Hírálál</i> (<i>Hírálálbásá</i>), +the <i>básá</i> has been preserved, because, Dunkní says, in these +cases <i>básá</i> is no longer a title, but part of the proper name.</p> + +<p>Old Múniyá tells her stories with the solemn, authoritative +air of a professor. She sits quite still on the floor, and uses +no gestures. Dunkní gets thoroughly excited over her tales, +marches up and down the room, acting her stories, as it were. +For instance, in describing the thickness of Mahádeo’s hair +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>238]</a></span> +in King Burtal’s story, she put her two thumbs to her ears, +and spread out all her fingers from her head saying, “His +hair stood out like this,” and in “Loving Lailí,” after moving +her hand as if she were pulling the magic knife from her +pocket and unfolding it, she swung her arm out at full length +with great energy, and then she said, “Lailí made one +‘touch’” (here she brought back the edge of her hand to her +own throat), “and the head fell off.” Dunkní sometimes used +an English word, such as the “touch” in the present case.</p> + +<p>All these stories were read back in Hindústání by my little +girl to the tellers at the time of telling, and nearly all a +second time by me this winter before printing. I never saw +people more anxious to have their tales retold exactly than +are Dunkní and Múniyá. Not till each tale was pronounced +by them to be <i>thík</i> (exact) was it sent to the press.</p> + +<p>It is strange in these Indian tales to meet golden-haired, +fair-complexioned heroes and heroines. Mr. Thornton tells +me that in the Panjáb when one native speaks of another +with contempt, he says, “he is a black man,” <i>ek kálá ádmí +hai</i>. Sir Neville Chamberlain tells me that if you wish to +praise a native for his valour and brave conduct, you say to +him, “Your countenance is red,” or “your cheeks are red,” +and that nothing is worse than to tell him his “face is black.” +And this is what Mr. Boxwell says about the expression +“kálá ádmí” and our fairy tales:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“The stories are of the Aryan conquerors from beyond the +Indus; distinguished by their fair skin from the dark aborigines +of India. In Vedic times Varṇa, ‘colour,’ is used for stock +or blood, as the Latins used Nomen. It is in India ‘Yas +Dásam varṇam adharam guhákar.’ ‘Who sank in darkness the +Barbarian colour.’ R. V. II. 4.</p> + +<p>“Indra, again, ‘Hatvé Dasyún pra Áryam varṇam ávat.’ +‘Having slain the Barbarians, helped the Aryan colour.’ R. V. +III. 34.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>239]</a></span> +“Again, in K. V. I. 104. They pray—</p> + +<p>“‘Te nas ávaksa suvitáya varṇam.’ ‘May they bring our +colour to success.’</p> + +<p>“In later times ‘varṇa’ is the regular word for caste; and +the Brahmins and the rest of the twice-born who still represent +the Aryan varṇa are much fairer than the Çúdras and Hill +people.</p> + +<p>“In the Ikhwán ussafa the black skin is one of the results of +the Fall to Adam and Hawa.</p> + +<p>“‘Áftáb ki garmí se rang mutaghaiyar aur siáh ho gayá.’ +‘From the heat of the sun their colour became changed and +black.’”</p> +</div> + +<p>But I think the fact that the conquering races that invaded +India from the north were fair and ruddier than the aborigines, +and that their descendants, the high-caste natives, are +to this day fairer than the aborigines, though it explains the +phrases, “he is only a black man,” and “your cheeks are +red,” does not account for the golden hair and fair skin of +so many of our princes and princesses. I believe that they +all owe their characteristics to the fact that such are the +characteristics of the solar hero, although they cannot all lay +claim to a solar origin for themselves. For this golden hair +and white skin, at first the property of the shining sun-hero +alone, would naturally in the course of time be given to +other Indian folk-lore heroes on whose beauty and brightness +it was necessary to lay a stress. Prince Majnún, for instance, +certainly has nothing solar about him, yet his hair is described +as red. Dunkní, in answer to a half incredulous, +half inquiring exclamation of mine when I heard this, +asserted, “Red! yes, it was red: red like gold.”</p> + +<p>The black-haired Maoris give their sea-nymphs yellow hair +(<i>Old New Zealand</i>, p. 19); and Sir George Grey in his +<i>Polynesian Mythology</i>, p. 295, writes thus of the Maori +fairies: “Their appearance is that of human beings, nearly +resembling an European’s; their hair being very fair, and so +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>240]</a></span> +is their skin. They are very different from the Maoris, and +do not resemble them at all.” But as the Maoris do not +seem to have any myths of golden-haired solar heroes, these +peculiarities of hair and complexion cannot be referred to +the same cause as those of my little daughter’s Indian +princes and princesses.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="ni" id="ni"></a>I.—PHÚLMATI RÁNÍ.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#si">To story</a></span>1. Phúlmati is a garden rose, not a wild rose. It must be +a local name for the flower. I can find it in no dictionary. +Dunkní says her heroine was named after a pink rose.</p> + +<p>2. She has hair of pure gold. Compare in this book: Princess +Jahúran, p. <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, the Monkey Prince, p. <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, Sonahrí Rání, p. <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, +Jahúr Rání, p. <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, Prince Dímá-ahmad and Princess Atása, +Notes, p. <a href="#Page_253">253</a>. Also, Híra Bai, the cobra’s daughter in <i>Old Deccan +Days</i>, p. 35. So many princely heroes and heroines in European +fairy tales are noteworthy for their dazzling golden hair that I +will only mention one of them, Princess Golden-Hair, one of +whose hairs rings if it falls to the ground—see Naake’s <i>Slavonic +Fairy Tales</i>, p. 100. And devils being fallen heroes or angels, the +following references may be made to them. In Haltrich’s <i>Siebenbuergische +Maerchen</i>, p. 171, in “Die beiden Fleischhauer in der +Hoelle,” the devil’s grandmother gives the good brother a hair +that had fallen from the devil’s head while he slept. The man +carries it home and the hair suddenly becomes as big as a +“Heubaum” and is “of pure gold.” Also in one of Grimm’s +stories the hero is sent to fetch three golden hairs from the devil’s +head—see <i>Kinder und Hausmaerchen</i>, vol. I. p. 175, “Der +Teufel mit den drei goldenen Haaren.”</p> + +<p>3. Her beauty lights up a dark room. In this shining quality +she resembles many Asiatic and European fairy-tale heroes +and heroines. See in this book Hírálí, whose face shone like a +diamond, p. <a href="#Page_69">69</a>; and the Princess Labám, who shone like the +moon, and her beauty made night day, p. <a href="#Page_158">158</a>. In <i>Old Deccan +Days</i>, p. 156, the prince’s dead body on the hedge of spears +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>241]</a></span> +dazzles those who look at it till they can hardly see. Pánch Phúl +Rání, p. 140, shines in the dark jungle like a star. So does the +princess in Chundun Rájá’s dark tomb, p. 229. In a Dinájpur +story published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the <i>Indian Antiquary</i> +for February 1875, vol. IV. p. 54, the dream-nymph, +Tillottama, whenever she appears, lights up the whole place +with her beauty. “At every breath she drew when she slept, a +flame like a flower issued from her nostril, and when she drew in +her breath the flower of flame was again withdrawn.” Her +beauty lit up her house “as if by lightning.” See Appendix +<i>A</i>. In Naake’s <i>Slavonic Fairy Tales</i>, p. 96, is the Bohemian +tale quoted above of Princess Golden-Hair. “Every morning +at break of day she [the princess] combs her golden locks; +its brightness is reflected in the sea, and up among the +clouds,” p. 102. When she let it down “it was bright as +the rising sun,” and almost blinded Irik with its radiance, +p. 107. The golden children (Schott’s <i>Wallachische Maerchen</i>, +p. 125) shine in the darkened room “like the morning sun in +May.” Gubernatis in the 2nd vol. of his <i>Zoological Mythology</i>, +mentions at p. 31 a golden boy who figures in one of +Afanassieff’s stories; when this child’s body is uncovered on his +restoration to his father, “all the room shines with light.” And +at p. 57 of the same volume he quotes another of Afanassieff’s +stories, in which the persecuted princess has three sons “who +light up whatever is near them with their splendour.” Of Gerd +in Jötunheim, the beautiful giant maiden with the bright shining +arms, Thorpe says (<i>Northern Mythology</i>, vol. I. p. 47), when +she raised “her arms to open the door, both air and water gave +such a reflection that the whole world was illumined.” The +boar Trwyth (who was once a king, but because of his sons was +turned into a boar) after his fall preserves some of his old kingly +splendour; for “his bristles were like silver wire, and whether he +went through the wood or through the plain he was to be traced +by the glittering of his bristles” (<i>Mabinogion</i>, vol. II. p. 310). In +the same work (vol. III. p. 279), in “The Dream of Maxen +Wledig,” is a maiden, of whom it is told: “Not more easy than +to gaze upon the sun when brightest was it to look upon her by +reason of her beauty.” And in “Goldhaar” (Haltrich’s +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>242]</a></span> +<i>Siebenbuergische Maerchen</i>, p. 61) when the hero’s cap fell off he stood +there “in all splendour and his golden locks fell round his head, +and he shone like the sun.”</p> + +<p>In a Santhali tale published by the Rev. F. T. Cole in the +<i>Indian Antiquary</i> for January 1875, p. 10, called “Toria the +Goatherd and the Daughter of the Sun,” a beggar’s eyes are as +dazzled by the Sun’s daughter’s beauty “as if he had stared at +the sun.”</p> + +<p>4. Phúlmati Rání has on her head the sun, on her hands +moons, and her face is covered with stars. Compare in these +stories “The Indrásan Rájá,” p. <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, “The boy who had a moon +on his forehead and a star on his chin,” p. <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, and “Prince +Dímá-ahmad and Princess Atása,” Notes, p. <a href="#Page_253">253</a>. In Fräulein +Gonzenbach’s <i>Sicilian Fairy Tales</i>, No. 5 (vol. I. p. 21), the +king’s son’s children are born, the boy with a golden apple in his +hand, the girl with a star on her forehead. In the Notes to this +story (vol. II. p. 207) Herr Köhler mentions a Tyrolean fairy +tale, “Zingerle, II. p. 112,” where the king’s son’s daughter has +a golden apple in her hand, and her brother a golden star on +his forehead. In Milenowsky’s <i>Bohemian Fairy Tales</i>, p. 1, is +the story “Von den Sternprinzen” in which the king’s son by the +queen has a gold star on his forehead, and his son by the old +woman has a silver star, p. 2. These princes’ children also are +born with gold and silver stars on their foreheads, p. 30. In a +Hungarian tale, “Die verwandelten Kinder,” the old man’s +youngest daughter promises, and keeps her promise, to give the +king, if he marries her, twin sons, who will be most beautiful, +will have golden hair, and each a golden ring on his arm; further, +one is to have a planet, the other a sun on his forehead—Stier’s +<i>Ungarische Volksmaerchen</i>, p. 57. Also in the same +author’s <i>Ungarische Sagen und Maerchen</i> in “Die beiden +juengsten Koenigskinder,” the hero wins a bride (p. 77) who has +a sun on her forehead, a moon on her right, and three stars on +her left, breast. In “Eisenlaci” in the same collection the +snake-king’s daughter has a star on her forehead (p. 109). +Gubernatis (<i>Zoological Mythology</i>, vol. I. p. 412) says, “In the +seventh story of the third book of Afanassieff, the queen bears +two sons; one has a moon on his forehead and the other a star +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>243]</a></span> +on the nape of his neck. Her wicked sister buries them; a +golden and a silver sprout spring up which a sheep eats and then +has two lambs, one with a moon on its head, the other with a +star on its neck. The wicked sister who has married the king +orders them to be torn in pieces, and their intestines to be thrown +into the road. The good, lawful queen eats them and again +gives birth to her sons.” Gubernatis in the 2nd volume of the +same work, p. 31, quotes another of Afanassieff’s stories, the +thirteenth of the third book, in which a merchant’s wife has a +son “whose body is all of gold, effigies of stars, moon, and sun +covered it.” This is the gold boy mentioned in the preceding +paragraph as lighting up the room when his body was uncovered. +In “Das Schwarze Lamm,” the empress bears a son with a +golden star on his forehead (Karadschitsch, <i>Volksmaerchen der +Serben</i>, p. 177).</p> + +<p>5. Phúlmati Rání weighs but one flower: compare Pánch +Phúl Rání in <i>Old Deccan Days</i>, p. 133.</p> + +<p>6. Indrásan (= Indra + Ásana, Indra’s throne or home), says +Dunkní, is the name of the underground fairy country. Its +inhabitants, the fairies (parí) are called the Indrásan people; +they delight in all lovely things; everything about them is +beautiful; they play exquisitely on all kinds of musical instruments; +they dance and sing a great deal; they have wings and +can fly. They taught the little Monkey Prince (p. <a href="#Page_42">42</a>), and +King Burtal’s eldest son was taken to them as a pupil by the +fakír Goraknáth, p. <a href="#Page_93">93</a>. In Indrásan grows a tree of which no +man can ever see the flowers or fruit, as the fairies gather them +in the night and take them away. The Irish “good people” +who live in clefts of rocks, caves, and mounds, and the Irish +fairies who live in the beautiful land of youth under the sea, +have many points in common with the Indian fairies. They, +too, dance beautifully, are wonderful musicians, and have everything +about them lovely and splendid. The “good people” +also sometimes impart their knowledge to mortals. See pp. x, +xii, and xviii of the Introduction to the <i>Irische Elfenmaerchen</i> +translated into German by the brothers Grimm. Some of the +Cornish fairies, the Small People, like the Indrásan people, live +underground (Hunt’s <i>Romances and Drolls of the West of England</i>, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>244]</a></span> +pp. 116, 118, 125), aid those to whom they take a fancy +and are very playful among themselves (<i>ib.</i> p. 81); they have +the most ravishing music (<i>ib.</i> pp. 86, 98); their singing is clear +and delicate as silver bells (<i>ib.</i> p. 100); everything about them +is joyous and beautiful (<i>ib.</i> pp. 86, 99, 100); they are a tiny race +(<i>ib.</i> p. 81), but can at pleasure take the size of human beings (<i>ib.</i> +pp. 115, 122, 123); and their queen has hair “like gold threads” +(<i>ib.</i> p. 102). The fair-haired New Zealand fairies are, too, a +kindly happy race. See Grey’s <i>Polynesian Mythology</i>, pp. 287 +to 295. Nothing is said about their dancing, but they are described +as “merry, cheerful, and always singing like a cricket” +(<i>ib.</i> p. 295), and from one of their fishing-nets left on the sea +shore, when its fairy owners were surprised by the rising of the +sun, the Maoris learnt the stitch for netting a net. Like the +Indian fairies they appear to be as big as human beings.</p> + +<p>7. Phúlmati Rání is drowned in a tank and becomes a flower; +she is killed and brought to life several times: compare in this +collection the story of the “Pomegranate Children” and note +to that story. In one of Ralston’s <i>Russian Folk-Tales</i>, “The +Fiend,” p. 15, the heroine is killed through witchcraft: from her +grave springs a flower which is herself transformed: she afterwards +regains her human shape.</p> + +<p>8. With Phúlmati’s last transformation compare the last that +the Bél-Princess goes through (p. <a href="#Page_148">148</a> of this collection), and +that of a woman, who figures in a Dinájpur story published by +Mr. G. H. Damant in the <i>Indian Antiquary</i> of April 5th, 1872, +vol. I. p. 115. She, though living in the Rakshas country, is +not a Rakshas, but does not appear to be an ordinary mortal, +and when cut to bits by a certain magic knife becomes a tree. +“Her feet became a silver stem, her two hands golden branches, +her head ornaments were diamond leaves, all her bracelets and +bangles were pearly fruits, and her head was a peacock dancing +and playing in the branches.” As soon as the magic knife is +thrown to the ground she regains her human form.</p> + +<p>Eisenlaci in Stier’s <i>Ungarische Sagen und Maerchen</i> (pp. +107-109) comes in the form of a horse to the twelve-headed +dragon’s house. He is killed; the first two drops of his blood +are thrown into the garden and from them springs a tree with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>245]</a></span> +golden apples: the tree is cut down, but the first two chips +(which are flung into the pond) become a gold fish: the gold +fish turns into Eisenlaci himself in human form.</p> + +<p>9. Winning a wife by seizing her dress while she bathes is an +incident common to fairy tales of many countries.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nii" id="nii"></a>II.—THE POMEGRANATE KING.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sii">To story</a></span>1. Such is the story as told by Dunkní in 1876; at that time, +when it was read over to her, she said it was correct. On my +asking her in 1878, when the story was going through the press, +to explain some points in it, such as why the children said they +had been brought to life <em>three</em> times, the boy having only died +twice, and the girl once, she told me the following variation: +After the attempt to get rid of the boy by making him into a +curry had failed, the Rání Sunkásí sent for a sepoy and bade +him carry the two children to the jungle and there kill them; +and as a proof of their death he was to bring her their livers. +Once in the jungle with the children, the sepoy had not the +heart to kill them; so he left them in it, and brought the livers +of two goats to Sunkásí Rání. She buried the livers in the +garden and was content; but some months later as she was +walking (literally “eating the air”) in the jungle she saw her +step-children playing about; she returned to the palace, sent +for the sepoy, and asked him why he had not killed the children. +“I did kill them,” said the sepoy, “and brought you their +livers.” “Those livers were not the children’s livers,” answered +the Rání; “I have just seen the children alive and playing in +the jungle.” “They must have been other people’s children +that you saw,” said the sepoy, “yours I killed.” “Do not tell +me lies,” said the Rání. “Now you must at once go to the +jungle, kill the children, and bring me their eyes.” The sepoy +went to find the children, but when he found them he could not +kill them, so he took them to some people who lived in a hut, +and said to these people, “Take great care of the two children. +Be very kind to them.” He then killed two goats and took their +eyes to the Rání, who was now satisfied for some time. But +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>246]</a></span> +one day another of the Pomegranate Rájá’s sepoys passed near +the hut, and saw the children playing about. So he went to +Sunkásí Rání and told her the children were alive and well. At +this the Rání was very angry, and she thought, “It is of no use +my sending the first sepoy again to kill them. I will send this +man.” She said, therefore, to the second sepoy, “If you will +kill these children for me, you shall have a great reward.” The +sepoy agreed, went to the little hut, and seized the children. +The poor people who took care of the children begged and +prayed him to have pity on them; but the sepoy said, “No.” +He had the Rání’s orders to kill them, and they must and should +be killed. And so he killed them and brought their livers to the +Rání as she had bidden him. Sunkásí Rání was very happy +when she saw the livers, and she buried them close to a large +tank that was in her garden.</p> + +<p>Some three months later her servants came to her and told her +a beautiful large bél-fruit was floating on the water of the tank. +Sunkásí Rání went at once with them to the tank, and when she +saw the fruit she was seized with a great longing to have it. So +she sent all her servants, one after the other, into the tank to +fetch it; but all to no purpose, for as soon as any one of them +got close to the fruit it floated away from him. Then the Rání +herself went into the tank. She, however, was not a whit more +able to get it: when she thought she had only to put out her +hand to take it, the fruit rose up into the air, and fell into the +water again as soon as she had come up out of the tank. She +went to the Mahárájá and told him of this lovely bél-fruit, and +then went to her room while he came down to the tank. He said, +“I should like to catch the fruit: I wonder if I can do so. +What a lovely fruit!” As soon as he put his hand into the +water the fruit came floating towards him, and floated into it. +“I think this fruit is quite ripe,” said the Mahárájá. “Quite +ripe,” said the servants, and they struck it with a stone to break +it open. “Oh, you hurt us! you hurt us!” cried little voices +from inside the bél-fruit. “Gently, gently; don’t hurt us.” The +Mahárájá and all the servants were greatly surprised, and the +Mahárájá went to Sunkásí Rání, and told her all about the little +voices. She at once guessed her step-children were in the fruit, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>247]</a></span> +so she said to the Mahárájá, “You had better take the fruit to +the jungle and there break it open with a big stone, so that anything +inside it may be crushed to bits.” “I will not do that,” +said the Mahárájá. Then he went back to his servants and +made them cut the fruit’s rind very carefully cross-ways and +the fruit broke into halves: in one half sat his little son, in +the other his little daughter. As soon as the halves were laid +on the ground the children stepped out, and at once grew to +their natural size. Their father was very angry when he saw +them. “Why, I thought you were at school,” said he. “The +Mahárání told me you were at school. Why are you not there? +What funny (Dunkní’s own word) children you are to get into +this bél-fruit! What made you like to live in a fruit?” But to +all his questionings and scoldings the children said not one word. +At last he sent them up to the palace, and there they stayed +with him for some three months. But the Mahárání said to +him, “These are not your children. Yours are at school.” +“They <em>are</em> my children,” he answered.</p> + +<p>All this time the Mahárání hated them more and more, and +at last she went to them and said, “Now I really will kill you.” +“Just as you please,” answered the children; “we don’t mind +being killed. You may kill us three times, four times, as often +as you like: it does not matter in the least; for God will always +bring us to life again.”</p> + +<p>At this Sunkásí Rání flew into a rage and she called her servants +and said, “Kill these children, cut them into mince-meat +and throw them to the crows and kites. When the crows and +kites have eaten them, they cannot come to life any more.” So +the servants killed the children, and chopped them up very fine +and fed the crows and kites with their flesh; and now the Mahárání +was very happy.</p> + +<p>Some months later, as she was walking in her garden, she +saw two beautiful flower-buds on a large bél-tree that grew in it. +She showed them to the gardener, and asked if he had seen +them before. “Never,” said the man. “On this tree there +have never been either flowers or fruit till now.” “Gather the +flowers for me,” said the Rání, “I do so wish to have them.” +The gardener said to her, “Wait till the buds are fully blown +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>248]</a></span> +and then I will gather them for you.” At the end of three or +four days the Rání Sunkásí asked if the buds had grown into +large flowers, and the gardener said, “Yes, to-day I will gather +them for you.” He got a long, long bamboo cane, and tied a +piece of wood cross-ways on one of its ends so as to make a sort +of hook wherewith to catch hold of and break off the flowers. +He tried and tried to get them, but all in vain. Then he made +all the servants try. It was of no use, no one could make the +hook touch the flowers. They always bent themselves just out +of its reach. Then Sunkásí Rání tried, but with no better success. +She told the Mahárájá, who said, “I will try to-morrow to +gather these wonderful flowers.”</p> + +<p>That night as the Rání lay in her bed she suddenly thought, +“Those children are in the flowers,” and she determined to be +with her husband when he gathered them, to get them into her +own hands some way or other.</p> + +<p>The next morning Anárbásá Mahárájá and his wife went to +the bél-tree, and as soon as he held out his hand towards the +flowers, they dropped into it. “What lovely flowers! What +beautiful flowers! Do give them to me,” said Sunkásí Rání. +“No,” said the Mahárájá, “I will keep them myself.” Then he +carried them to his room and laid them on the table while he +shut the door and the venetians. Then he came and sat down +before them: he took them in his hand, and looked at them +and laid them again on the table; then he took them and smelt +them, and they smelt, oh! so sweet. This he did many times. +At last he held them to his ears, for the adventure of the bél-fruit +had made him wise (<i>hushyár</i>), and he heard little tiny voices, +saying, “Papa” (Dunkní’s own word), “we want to stay with +you; we should like to be with you.” The Mahárájá looked +very carefully at the flowers, and at last, in one of them he saw +a little splinter of wood like a thorn sticking: he pulled this out, +and his own little son stood before him. Then he looked at the +other flower, and in that, too, was a little splinter of wood sticking. +When he pulled it out his little girl stood there.</p> + +<p>The Mahárájá was vexed with his children, and asked them +why they were so naughty, and why they liked to live in fruits +and flowers instead of staying in the palace or going to school. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>249]</a></span> +The children answered, “We go to school sometimes, and then +we come back and live in our flowers, and then we return to +school, and then we come back to our flower-homes again.” +“This is a lie you are telling me,” said their father. “You +know quite well you have not been at school at all.” The +Mahárání came in to hear what all this talking meant, and when +she saw the children she said to Anárbásá Mahárájá, “These +are not your children, yours are at school.” “They are my +children,” he answered, “and they have never been at school at +all, and they are very naughty.” He then sent them away to +play, and the Rání returned to her room. But he sat alone in +his room, for he was angry and cross. As he sat there one of +his chaprásís came to him and said, “Maháráj, you do not +know how ill the Mahárání treats your children, or you would +not be angry with them. She has killed them several times, +and sent them away into the jungle; and after they came out +of the bél-fruit she killed them and chopped them into small +pieces, and fed the kites and crows with their flesh.” When the +Mahárájá heard all this, he said to the chaprásí, “You must +have a beautiful little house built for me; you must take care +that it is chiefly made of wood; the flooring must be very thin +and of wood; and the hollow place under the flooring must be +filled with dry wood. Then you must put plenty of flowers +inside the house, and plenty outside so as to make it very +pretty.”</p> + +<p>As soon as the house was ready the Mahárájá went to his +wife and asked her if she would go out with him to eat the air. +“I should like to show you a new house I have had built for +you,” he said. So she went with him and thought her new +house lovely. While she was inside looking at the pretty +flowers in the rooms, the Mahárájá slipped out, and bolted the +door so that she could not escape, and he told his servants to +set fire to the wood under the flooring. When the flames began +to rise the Rání got very frightened. She rushed to the window +and called to the Mahárájá and his servants, who were +standing there looking on, to save her. No one said anything +to her. “Save me,” she cried, “or I shall be burnt to death.” +“If you are burnt, what does it matter?” said the Mahárájá. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>250]</a></span> +“You ill-treated my children; you killed them; so, now +burn.”</p> + +<p>As soon as she was burnt to death the Mahárájá had all her +bones collected and put into four dishes, and he gave them to +one of his servants to take to Sunkásí Rání’s mother. When +her mother uncovered dish after dish and found nothing but +bones, she asked the servant, “Of what use are bones?” “These +are your daughter’s bones,” said he: “therefore Anárbásá +Mahárájá sent them to you. Sunkásí Rání ill-treated and killed +his children, and so he burnt her.”</p> + +<p>The rest of the story she pronounced exact (<i>thík</i>).</p> + +<p>2. The bél-tree is the <i>Ægle Marmelos</i> of botanists.</p> + +<p>3. With the different deaths and transformations of the children +compare in this book: Phúlmati Rání, pp. <a href="#Page_3">3</a> and <a href="#Page_4">4</a>: the +Kite’s Children, p. <a href="#Page_22">22</a>: the Bél-Princess, pp. <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>: and +in <i>Old Deccan Days</i> Surya Bai, pp. 85, 86. In “Die goldenen +Kinder” (Schott’s <i>Wallachische Maerchen</i>) the golden children +are killed and buried (p. 122). From their hearts spring two +apple-trees having golden leaves and apples. The trees are destroyed; +but a sheep has eaten an apple and then has two golden +lambs. The step-mother kills them at once and sends the maid +to wash the entrails in the stream, intending to cook them for +her husband to eat (compare the curry in the “Pomegranate +King,” p. <a href="#Page_8">8</a>; the broth (<i>Suhr</i>) in Grimm’s “von dem Machandelboom,” +<i>Kinder und Hausmaerchen</i>, vol. I. p. 271; and the stew +in the Devonshire story, “The Rose-Tree,” told in Henderson’s +<i>Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England</i>, p. 314). A piece +of the entrail escapes, and as it floats away it swells and swells. +On reaching the opposite bank it bursts, and out of it step the +golden children. In a Hungarian story the children, one with +a planet and one with a sun on his forehead, and each with a +ring on his arm, are killed by a wicked woman who wants her +daughter to take their mother’s place as queen. They turn first +into two golden pear-trees. These are destroyed by fire, but +one glowing coal from the fire is eaten by an old she-goat. The +old goat then has two little golden-fleeced kids. They are +killed, an old crow swallows a piece of the entrails as they are +being washed in the brook; she flies to the seventy-seventh +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>251]</a></span> +island in the ocean, builds a nest and lays two golden eggs. Out +of the eggs come the golden-haired children with their planet, +sun and golden rings. The old crow sends them for seven years +to school to a hermit (here is the holy man again, see p. <a href="#Page_283">283</a> of +these notes), and then flies home with them to their father. The +pillar of salt, into which their mother was changed, answers all +the king’s questions. It is not said that she regained her human +form (“Die verwandelten Kinder,” Stier’s <i>Ungarische Volksmaerchen</i>, +p. 58). In a Siebenburg story, “Die beiden goldenen +Kinder,” the children are killed by an envious woman who becomes +queen in their mother’s place. From their remains +spring two golden pine-trees which are burnt; a sheep eats two +of the sparks and has two golden lambs that are killed; from +two pieces of the entrails step forth the golden-haired children +(Haltrich’s <i>Siebenbuergische Maerchen</i>, pp. 2, 3). In this tale +the children are restored to their father, the king, by the intervention +of God himself (p. 4), who in these <i>Siebenbuergische +Maerchen</i> plays a part just as often as “Khudá” does in the +Indian tales, taking for the purpose the form of a “good old +man,” and often wearing a grey mantle that reminds one of +Odin. In the Netherlandish story of “The knight with the +swan” (Thorpe’s <i>Northern Mythology</i>, vol. III. p. 302), King +Oriant’s mother persuades the king his wife gave him seven +puppies instead of seven children (each born with a silver chain +round its neck in “proof of their mother’s nobility”). She sends +the children to the forest to be destroyed. They are left there +alive, and are fostered by an old man. When the queen-mother +learns this, she sends servants to kill them. These are +content with depriving six of the children of their silver chains, +on which the children instantly become swans. (The seventh +child is absent and so is saved.) A goldsmith makes two beakers +out of one of the chains, and keeps the others intact. When +the chains are hung again round the five swans’ necks, and the +beaker shown to the sixth, they regain their human forms. See +also paragraph 8 of the notes to Phúlmati Rání.</p> + +<p>4. With the children in the fruit and flowers compare in these +stories, Phúlmati Rání, p. <a href="#Page_3">3</a>: Loving Lailí, p. <a href="#Page_81">81</a>: the Bél-Princess, +p. <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, and paragraph 5 of the notes to that story, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>252]</a></span> +p. <a href="#Page_283">283</a>: and in <i>Old Deccan Days</i>, “Surya Bai,” p. 86: and “Anár +Rání and her two maids,” p. 95. With these may be compared +the Polish Madey (Naake’s <i>Slavonic Fairy Tales</i>, p. 220). +Madey is a robber who commits fearful crimes; he repents, +and sticks his “murderous club” upright in the ground, swearing +to kneel before it till the boy who has caused his repentance +returns as a bishop. Years go by: the boy, now a bishop, +passes through Madey’s forest. The club has become an apple-tree +full of apples and he discovers Madey through their sweet +odour. At Madey’s request the bishop confesses him; and as +Madey confesses his crimes, the apples on the tree, one after +another, become white doves and fly to heaven. They were the +souls of those he had murdered.</p> + +<p>In an unpublished story told by Dunkní, the incidents of the +children being in the fruit, and the fruit not letting itself be +gathered by any but the rightful owner of its contents (as is the +case also with the Bél-Princess), again occur. In this story +there is a prince called Aisab, who, as he wished very much to +have children, married. At the same time he took an oath that +if his child, when he had one, cried, he would kill it, and then +if his wife cried he would kill her too. His first wife gave him +a child who died; she cried and was killed by her husband. +The same thing happened to the second wife. He then married +a third wife, called Gulíanár. She had a little son, Dímá-ahmad, +and two or three years later another son, called Karámat. +The first boy died, but Gulíanár did not cry—she only +grieved for him in her heart. Karámat was unhappy from seeing +other children playing with their brothers and sisters, and +asked his mother “why he had no brother or sister to play with?” +She said, “Once you had a little brother and he died.” Then +Karámat began to cry, and his father killed him immediately with +his sword because of his oath, though he loved Karámat dearly. +The “mother was still sadder than before, but she never wept.” +Then God took pity on her and sent down into Prince Aisab’s +garden a big bél-tree, and on this bél-tree was a fruit. Every one +tried to gather this fruit, even Prince Aisab tried, but each time +their hands approached it the fruit rose into the air and returned +again when the hands were withdrawn. Then Gulíanár stretched +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>253]</a></span> +out her hand “and the fruit fell into it.” She took it into the +house and tried to break it open with a stone, and a voice called +out, “Mother, mother, not so hard; you hurt us.” She was +very much frightened, thinking a Rakshas or a demon was in +the fruit. Prince Aisab was equally alarmed, but his wazír, +Mamatsa, broke the fruit open gently in obedience to the little +voice that called out, “Don’t knock so hard, Mamatsa; you +hurt us;” and out of it stepped the two little children Dímá-ahmad +and Karámat. Dímá-ahmad was very beautiful. On +his head was the sun, on his face the moon, and on his hands +stars, and he had long golden hair. He married a princess, +Atása, who also had the sun on her head, the moon on her face, +stars on her hands, and “her hair was of pure gold and reached +down to the ground.” The idea that none but the rightful owner +can catch the child is found too in Grey’s <i>Polynesian Mythology</i> +at pp. 116, 117, in the story of Whakatau, who was fashioned in +the sea from his mother Apakura’s apron by the god Rongota-kawiu. +This child lived at the bottom of the sea; but one day +he came on shore after his kite, and all who saw him tried in +vain to catch him. Then said Whakatau, “You had better go +and bring Apakura here; she is the only person who can catch +me and hold me fast.” His mother then comes and catches him.</p> + +<p>5. Sunkásí’s bones are sent to her mother. In the <i>Sicilianische +Maerchen</i> collected by Laura Gonzenbach, it is a +common practice for husbands to punish their second wives’ +treachery with death, and then to send their remains to their +mothers, who feast on them, thinking they are eating tunny-fish, +and die of grief on learning what they have really +swallowed.</p> + +<p>6. With Gulíanár’s change into a bird compare Laura Gonzenbach’s +13th <i>Sicilianische Maerchen</i>, vol. I. p. 82, where the +real bride is transformed into a dove by a black-headed pin +being driven into her head, and regains her human form when +the pin is pulled out. Schott has a similar incident in his <i>Wallachische +Maerchen</i>, p. 251. So has Gubernatis (<i>Zoological Mythology</i>, +vol. II. p. 242) in a story from near Leghorn, where +the woman is changed into a swallow (in all these stories it is +the husband who pulls out the pin); and he says similar stories +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>254]</a></span> +with a transformation into a dove are told in Piedmont, in other +parts of Tuscany, in Calabria, and are to be found in the <i>Tutiname</i>. +Ralston’s Princess Mariya (<i>Russian Folk Tales</i>, p. 183), +and Thorpe’s second story of “The Princess that came out of +the water” (<i>Yule Tide Stories</i>, p. 41), may also be compared.</p> + +<p>7. The golden bird in the Siebenburg story drops pearls from +its beak whenever it sings (“Der goldne Vogel,” Haltrich’s +<i>Siebenbuergische Maerchen</i>, pp. 31, 35). The princess, its mistress, +wears (p. 39) a golden mantle “adorned with <em>carbuncles</em> +and pearls from the golden bird.”</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="niii" id="niii"></a>III.—THE CAT AND THE DOG.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#siii">To story</a></span>1. The Tiger promises not to eat the man who helps him and +then tries to break his promise. Compare “The Brahman, the +Tiger, and the six Judges,” <i>Old Deccan Days</i>, p. 159; and +“Ananzi and the Lion” in Dasent’s <i>Ananzi Stories</i>, p. 490.</p> + +<p>2. In a Slavonic story mentioned by Gubernatis (<i>Zoological +Mythology</i>, vol. II. p. 111), a bear is about to kill a peasant in revenge. +A fox appears, “shakes its tail and says to the peasant, +‘Man, thou hast ingenuity in thy head and a stick in thy +hand.’ The peasant immediately understands the stratagem,” +and persuades the bear to get into a sack he has with him that +he may carry the bear three times round the field instead of +doing penance, after which the bear is to do what he likes with +him. The bear gets into the sack, the man “binds it strongly” +together, and then beats the bear to death with his stick. +Gubernatis at p. 132 of the same volume tells a similar story +from Russia in which a wolf plays the part of the bear and of +our tiger.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="niv" id="niv"></a>IV.—THE CAT THAT COULD NOT BE KILLED.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#siv">To story</a></span>1. In an unpublished story told us by Gangiyá, a hill-man +from near Simla, a cat saves herself from being eaten by a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>255]</a></span> +jackal very much in the same way that this cat saved herself +from the leopard. The jackal (in Gangiyá’s story) ate anything +it came across, whether it were dead or alive. One day he met +a tiger and said to him, “I will eat you. I will not let you go.” +“Very good,” said the tiger, “eat me.” So the jackal ate him +up. He went a little further and met a leopard; he said to the +leopard, “I will eat you.” “Very good,” said the leopard. +So he ate the leopard. He went a little further and met a tiny +mouse. “Mouse,” he said, “I have eaten a tiger and a leopard, +and now I will eat you.” “Very good,” said the mouse. He +ate the mouse. He went a little further and met a cat. “I will +eat you,” said the jackal. The cat answered, “What will it +profit you to eat me, who am so small? A little further on you +will see a dead buffalo: eat that.” So the jackal left the cat and +went to eat the buffalo. He walked on and on, but could find +no buffalo; and the cat, meanwhile ran away. The jackal was +very angry, and set off to seek the cat, but could not find her. +He was furious.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nvi" id="nvi"></a>VI.—THE RAT AND THE FROG.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#svi">To story</a></span>Compare the Bohemian “Long-desired child,” Naake’s +<i>Slavonic Fairy Tales</i>, p. 226. This child is carved out of a +tree-root by a woodman, who brings him home to his wife. They +delight in having a child at last. The child eats all the food in +the house; his father and mother; a girl with a wheelbarrow +full of clover; a peasant, his hay-laden cart, and his cart-horses; +a man and his pigs; a shepherd, his flock and dog; lastly, cabbages +belonging to an old woman who cuts him in two with her +mattock just as he tries to eat her. Out of him jump unhurt +every thing and every one he has swallowed. In a story from +the south of Siberia (Gubernatis’ <i>Zoological Mythology</i>, vol. I. +p. 140) the hero vanquishes a demon, who tells him that in his +stomach he will find a silver casket. He cuts the monster open +and out of him come “innumerable animals, men, treasures, and +other objects. Some of the men say, ‘What noble youth has +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>256]</a></span> +delivered us from the black night?’” In two of the caskets the +hero finds the eyes of an old woman who has befriended him, +and money, “and from the last casket came forth more men, +animals, and valuables of every kind.” In a Russian story +quoted by Gubernatis (<i>Zoological Mythology</i>, vol. I. pp. 406, +407) the wolf eats the kids all but one. The mother goat persuades +him to jump over a fire. The fire splits his belly open, +out tumble all the little kids, lively as ever. There is a very +similar story with fox, goat, and kid for actors in Campbell’s +<i>Popular Tales of the West Highlands</i>, vol. III. p. 93; and +Grimm has one also, “Der Wolf und die sieben jungen Geislein,” +in his <i>Kinder und Hausmaerchen</i>, vol. I. p. 29. In the +notes to this story, vol. III. p. 15, Grimm says, “In Pomerania +this is told of a child who when his mother had gone out was +swallowed by the child-spectre, resembling the varlet Ruprecht. +But the stones which he swallows with the child make the spectre +so heavy that he falls to the earth, and the child unhurt springs +out of him.” See, too, the demons at p. <a href="#Page_99">99</a> of these stories, who +swallow the Princess Champákálí’s suitors.</p> + + +<p class="hrpad">Tylor in his <i>Primitive Culture</i>, vol. I. p. 341, classes Little +Red Riding Hood among these Day and Night myths. It is, he +says, “mutilated in the English Nursery version, but known +more perfectly by old wives in Germany, who can tell that the +lovely little maid in her shining red satin cloak was swallowed +with her grandmother by the wolf, but they both came out safe +and sound when the hunter cut open the sleeping beast.” He +also quotes among these myths (<i>ib.</i> p. 338) a story of the Ojibwas +in which the hero is swallowed by a great fish and cut out +again by his sister; and another belonging to the Basutos in +which all mankind save the hero and his mother were devoured +by a monster. The hero “attacked the creature and was +swallowed whole, but cutting his way out he set free all the inhabitants +of the world.” At the same page is the story of the +Zulu Princess Untombinde who was carried off by a dreadful +beast. “The king gathered his army and attacked it, but it +swallowed up men, and dogs, and cattle, all but one warrior; +he slew the monster, and there came out cattle, and horses, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>257]</a></span> +men, and last of all the princess herself.” Mr. Tylor quotes, too +(<i>ib.</i> p. 336), in connexion with this class of myths, the story of +the death of the New Zealand sun-hero, Maui, which he tells +more fully than does Sir George Grey in his <i>Polynesian Mythology</i>; +and he goes on at pp. 338, 339, 340, to connect these myths +with those of Perseus and Andromeda; Heracles and Hesione; +the story of Jonah and his fish; the Greenland angakok +swallowed by bear and walrus and thrown up again; and the +legend of Hades.</p> + +<p>Besides the angakok mentioned by Mr. Tylor, Dr. Rink, in his +<i>Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo</i>, has two other stories of +escapes from the stomach of a dead animal when it is cut open. +In the first, at p. 260, the boy is devoured by a gull; his sister +kills the bird, takes her brother’s bones from its pouch and +carries them home: on the way the boy comes to life again. +The other tale, p. 438, tells how Nakasungnak jumped out of the +hole his friends had made in the dead “ice-covered” bear’s side; +but his hair as well as the skin of his face had come off, and he +shivered from cold and ague. And in Ralston’s <i>Songs of the +Russian People</i>, p. 177, is a story of a snake who steals “the +luminaries of the night. A hero cuts off his head, and out +of the slain monster issue the Bright Moon and the Morning +Star.”</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nvii" id="nvii"></a>VII.—FOOLISH SACHÚLÍ.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#svii">To story</a></span>1. Foolish Sachúlí lives in many lands. In his Russian dress +he figures in “The Fool and the Birch-tree,” Ralston’s <i>Russian +Folk Tales</i>, p. 52. In the Sicilian “Giufá” we find him again +(Gonzenbach’s <i>Sicilianische Maerchen</i>, vol. I. p. 249). In +England he appears in an out-of-the-way village in the south +(see <i>Pall Mall Budget</i>, July 12, 1878, p. 11, <i>Wild Life in a +Southern Country</i>, No. XIV.) with, to use his mother’s words, +“no more sense than God had given him.” She wishing to +have his testimony discredited when he bears witness against +her, as she knows he will, goes upstairs and rains raisins on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>258]</a></span> +him from the window. So when asked to specify the time he +speaks of, he says, “When it rained raisins,” and is of course +disbelieved.</p> + +<p>Note by Mr. J. F. Campbell: “This story of a stupid boy +has a parallel in a Gaelic tale in my collection, where the boy +dated an event which was true by a fall of pancakes or something +of the kind which was not true, and was not believed +though he told the truth.” [At p. 385, vol. II. of the <i>Tales of +the West Highlands</i> a “half booby” is inveigled by his mother +into dating his theft of some planks by a “shower of milk-porridge.”]</p> + +<p>2. The magic gifts given by the fairies are a common incident +in fairy tales: so is the adventure with the jar of ghee.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nviii" id="nviii"></a>VIII.—BARBER HÍM AND THE TIGERS.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sviii">To story</a></span>1. Forbes in his Hindústání Dictionary says <i>Kans</i> or <i>Kansa</i> +was the name of a wicked tyrant whom Krishṇa was born to +destroy, and that the word now means a wicked tyrant. But +Rájá Káns is an historical character. All that is known of him +is told by the late Professor Blochmann in the Bengal Asiatic +Society’s Journal for 1873, Pt. I. p. 264.</p> + +<p>2. In the note (p. 380) to the XIXth Tale in the <i>Sagas from +the Far East</i>, is a story in which Barber Hím’s part is played +by a he-goat, and that of his tigers by a lion. See, too, “How +the three clever men outwitted the demons” in <i>Old Deccan +Days</i>, pp. 273-278. In a Santálí tale, “Kanran and Guja,” +sent by the Rev. F. T. Cole to the <i>Indian Antiquary</i>, vol. IV. +September 1875, p. 257, two brothers, Kanran and Guja, climb +into a tál tree. Here they are discovered by a tiger whom +they have deprived of his tail, and who has brought a number +of his friends to help him revenge himself on the brothers. The +tailless tiger proposes they shall all stand one the top of the +other, to reach the men in the tree. His friends agree provided +he takes his stand at the bottom, and they climb as proposed +till they almost reach the brothers. Then Kanran calls out to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>259]</a></span> +Guja, “Give me your axe. I will kill the tailless tiger.” The +tigers in terror all tumble to the ground, crushing their tailless +friend in their fall, and flee to their homes. In “The Leopard +and the Ram” (Bleek’s <i>Hottentot Fables and Tales</i>, p. 24) the +ram and the leopard play the parts of the barber and his tigers. +See, too, “The Lion and the Bushman,” p. 59 of the same collection.</p> + +<p>Note by Mr. J. F. Campbell: “Compare the Irish story of +two hunchbacks in Keightley. A version is in Mitford’s Japanese +book; and far better versions are common in Japan.”</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nix" id="nix"></a>IX.—THE BULBUL AND THE COTTON-TREE.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#six">To story</a></span>1. Cotton-tree, in Hindústání <i>Semal</i>.</p> + +<p>2. Koel, Indian cuckoo.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nx" id="nx"></a>X.—THE MONKEY PRINCE.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sx">To story</a></span>1. Bandarsá means like a monkey; Dunkní in telling this +husk-story just as often called the monkey-skin a husk (<i>chhilka</i>) +as she called it a skin (<i>chamrá</i>).</p> + +<p>2. Princess Jahúran throws mattresses to her drowning husband. +In a Manípúrí tale published by Mr. G. H. Damant in +the <i>Indian Antiquary</i>, vol. IV. September 1875, p. 260, Basanta’s +wife throws him a pillow that he may save himself when the +envious merchant, on board whose boat they are, pitches the +prince into the river that he may secure the princess for himself.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxi" id="nxi"></a>XI.—BRAVE HÍRÁLÁLBÁSÁ.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxi">To story</a></span>1. With this story all through compare “The Demon is at +last conquered by the King’s Son,” p. <a href="#Page_173">173</a> of this collection.</p> + +<p>2. Rakshas means protector, and is, probably, an euphemistic +term. The chapter on Mystic Animals in Swedish traditions +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>260]</a></span> +(Thorpe’s <i>Northern Mythology</i>, vol. II. p. 83) gives a list +of certain creatures that are not to be mentioned by their +own but by euphemistic names for fear of incurring their wrath. +This belief, Thorpe in the same chapter, p. 84, says, extends +to certain inanimate things: water used for brewing, for instance, +must not be called <i>vatn</i> (water) or the beer will not be +so good; and fire occasionally is to be spoken of as <i>hetta</i> (heat). +The girl in an Esthonian tale quoted by Gubernatis at p. 151 of +the 1st vol. of his <i>Zoological Mythology</i> addresses a crow whose +help she needs as “Bird of light.” Fiske says (<i>Myths and +Mythmakers</i>, p. 223), “A Dayak will not allude by name to +the small-pox, but will call it ‘The chief’ or ‘Jungle leaves;’ +the Laplander speaks of the bear as ‘the old man with the +fur coat;’ in Annam the tiger is called ‘Grandfather,’ or +‘Lord.’ The Finnish hunters called the bear ‘the Apple of +the Forest, the beautiful Honey-claw, the Pride of the thicket’” +(“The Mythology of Finnland,” <i>Fraser’s Magazine</i>, May 1857). +The Furies, as every one knows, were called the Eumenides, or +the gracious ones.</p> + +<p>The Rakshases are a kind of huge demons who delight in +devouring men and beasts. They can take any shape they +please. The female Rakshas often assumes that of a beautiful +woman. Compare the demon Mara as described by Fiske at +p. 93 of his book above quoted.</p> + +<p>The Rakshases do not travel in the way mortals do. See a +Dinájpur story told by Mr. G. H. Damant in the <i>Indian +Antiquary</i> (February 1875, vol. IV. p. 54), where the hero, +who has married both the Rakshas-king’s daughter and +his niece, asks his father-in-law’s leave to return home with +his Rakshas-wives. The King consents (p. 58), but says, +“We Rakshases do not travel in pálkís (palanquins), but in +the air.” Accordingly the prince, his two Rakshas wives +and his mortal wife, all travel towards his father’s country +through the air “along the sky.” One kind of jinn travel +in the same way (Lane’s <i>Arabian Nights</i>, vol. I., “Notes +to Introduction,” p. 29). So do the drakes and kobolds in +Northern Germany. The drake is as big as a cauldron, “a +person may sit in him,” and travel with him to any spot he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>261]</a></span> +pleases. Both drakes and kobolds look like fiery stripes. The +kobolds appear sometimes as a blue, sometimes as a red, stripe +passing through the air (Thorpe’s <i>Northern Mythology</i>, vol. III. +pp. 155, 156).</p> + +<p>3. Dunkní says, “All Rakshases keep their souls in birds.” +Those that do so resemble in this respect some of the Indian +demons, and the giants, trolls, and such like noxious actors in +the Norse, Scotch, and other popular tales.</p> + +<p>Tylor (<i>Primitive Culture</i>, vol. II. pp. 152, 153) mentions the +Tatar story of the giant who could not be killed till the twelve-headed +snake in which he kept his soul was destroyed. This +tale, he says, “illustrates the idea of soul-embodiment,” and +“very likely” indicates the sense of the myths where giants, &c., +keep their souls out of their own bodies. The civilized notion +of soul-embodiment, he adds (quoting from “Grose’s bantering +description of the art of laying ghosts in the last century,”) +is that of conjuring ghosts into different objects: “one of the +many good instances of articles of savage belief serving as jests +among civilized men.” Possibly these giants, trolls, rakshases, +demons, once belonged to that class of spirits who could, in +popular belief, enter at pleasure into stocks and stones and +other objects of idolatrous veneration.</p> + +<p>But all Rakshases do not keep their souls in birds. Some +have their souls in bees (see a Dinájpur tale published by +Mr. G. H. Damant in the <i>Indian Antiquary</i> for April 6, 1872, +p. 115): and in another Dinájpur story printed by Mr. Damant +in the <i>Indian Antiquary</i> for June 7, 1872, p. 120, a whole tribe +of Rakshases dwelling in Ceylon kept theirs in one and the +same lemon.</p> + +<p>4. In the first quoted of these stories collected by Mr. +Damant, that where the Rakshases keep their life in bees, the +hero is a prince who starts in search of the wonderful tree mentioned +in paragraph 8 of the note to Phúlmati Rání (p. <a href="#Page_244">244</a>). +In his wanderings he finds himself in the Rakshas country. +There he meets with the woman who when cut up turns into the +tree he seeks. When he first sees her she lies dead on a bed +with a golden wand on one side of her, and a silver wand on the +other. He accidentally touches her with the golden wand and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>262]</a></span> +she wakes. She tells him the Rakshases, every morning when +they go out in search of food, make her dead by touching her +with the silver wand, and wake her with the golden wand when +they return at night. Mr. Damant has another story in the +<i>Indian Antiquary</i> (July 5, 1872, vol. I. p. 219), from Dinájpur, +in which there is a prince Dalim who dies and is laid in a +tomb above ground, not buried. Daily the Apsarases, the +dancing-girls in the court of Indra, wake him from death by +touching his face with a golden wand, and make him dead +again by touching him with a silver wand. These wands they +always leave lying beside him. His wife comes one day to +mourn over him and accidentally discovers the secret of bringing +him to life. He is, finally, restored to her by the Apsarases.</p> + +<p>5. According to Gubernatis, “three and seven are sacred +numbers in Aryan faith” (<i>Zoological Mythology</i>, vol. I. p. 6).</p> + +<p>6. Hírálálbásá addresses the Rakshas as “uncle.” The two +brothers Kanran and Guja (in a Santálí fairy tale bearing +their name printed by the Rev. F. T. Cole in the <i>Indian Antiquary</i>, +September 1875, vol. IV. p. 257), address a tiger by the +same propitiatory title. The tiger in return addresses them +as nephews, and gives them the fire they want.</p> + +<p>“Uncle” and “aunt” are used in a propitiatory sense over a +great part of the world. Hunt at p. 6 of his introduction to the +<i>Romances and Drolls of the West of England</i> says, “Uncle is +a term of respect, which was very commonly applied to aged +men by their juniors in Cornwall. Aunt ... was used in the +same manner when addressing aged women.” “Mon oncle” +and “ma tante” are sometimes used in the same way in France. +Fiske in his <i>Myths and Mythmakers</i>, pp. 166, 167, tells how +the Zulu solar hero Uthlakanyana outwits a cannibal: in this +story the hero addresses the cannibal as “uncle,” and the +cannibal in return calls him “child of my sister.” Fiske, quoting +from Dr. Callaway, at p. 166, says, “It is perfectly clear +that the cannibals of the Zulu legends are not common men; +they are magnified into giants and magicians; they are remarkably +swift and enduring; fierce and terrible warriors.” In the +Hottentot story of the “Lion who took a woman’s shape,” the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>263]</a></span> +lion and the woman address each other as “my aunt,” and “my +uncle” (Bleek’s <i>Hottentot Fables and Tales</i>, pp. 51, 52). In +Siberia the Yakuts worship the bear under the name of their +“beloved uncle” (Tylor’s <i>Primitive Culture</i>, vol. II. p. 231); +and when the Russian peasant calls on the dreaded Lyeshy to +appear he cries, “Uncle Lyeshy” (Ralston’s <i>Songs of the Russian +people</i>, p. 159).</p> + +<p>“Grannie” is the word used by Dunkní herself.</p> + +<p>7. The Rakshas queen is tricked to her death in the same +way as the wicked step-mother in the “Pomegranate King,” p. <a href="#Page_12">12</a> +of this collection.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxii" id="nxii"></a>XII.—THE MAN WHO WENT TO SEEK HIS FATE.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxii">To story</a></span>1. Compare a Servian story, “Das Schicksal” (Karadschitsch, +<i>Volksmaerchen der Serben</i>, p. 106), in which a man +sets out to seek his fate, and on the road is commissioned +by a rich householder to ask the fate why, though he gives +abundance of food to his servants, he can never satisfy their +hunger, and why his aged, miserable father and mother do not +die: by another man, to ask why his cattle diminish instead +of thriving: and, thirdly, by a river whose waters bear him +safely across it, to ask why no living thing lives in it. His +fate answers all these questions, and instructs him how to thrive +himself. In Fräulein Gonzenbach’s <i>Sicilian Fairy Tales</i>, “Die +Geschichte von Caterina und ihrem Schicksal,” vol. I. p. 130, +Caterina is persecuted by her fate, who wears the form of a +lovely woman. At last she begs her mistress’s fate, to whom +she daily carries a propitiatory offering, to intercede for her with +her own fate. She is told in answer that her own fate is wrapped +in seven veils and so cannot hear her prayer. Finally her mistress’s +fate leads her to her own. In the same collection, in +“Feledico und Epomata” (vol. I. p. 350), Feledico’s fate plays a +personal part.</p> + +<p>This Indian story looks like a relic of stock and stone +worship (see Tylor’s <i>Primitive Culture</i>, vol. II. chapters XIV. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>264]</a></span> +and XV.). Compare the man’s beating his fate-stone with +the treatment the Ostyak gives his puppet. If it is good to +him he clothes and feeds it with broth; “if it brings him no +sport he will try the effect of a good thrashing on it, after +which he will clothe and feed it again” (<i>ib.</i> p. 170). Other +examples are given at the same page. These spirits and gods, +for whose dwelling-place stocks and stones and other objects +had been supplied, were not supposed always to inhabit these +abodes; but they did so at pleasure. Compare Elijah’s address +to the priests of Baal, “Cry aloud: for he is a god; either +he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure +he sleepeth” (1 Kings xviii. 27), with Caterina’s +seven-veiled fate, and the prostrate fate-stone in our story +whose spirit-owner was evidently absent on some expedition. +These fates may be compared with the patron or guardian +spirits of whom Mr. Tylor speaks at pp. 199-203 of the same +volume. He says (p. 202), “The Egyptian astrologer warned +Antonius to keep far from the young Octavius, ‘for thy demon,’ +said he, ‘is in fear of his.’” If one man’s demon or genius were +at enmity with that of another man, it would probably be +friendly to that of a third man, and would therefore be acquainted +with its secrets and with its motives of behaviour to the +man it guarded. Hence the advice given by her mistress to +Caterina to inquire of her own fate from her mistress’s fate, and +the questions to be put to their fates when found given to the +men in the Indian and Servian stories. These questions remind +one of those entrusted to the youths in European tales as they +journey to the dragon or devil to whom they are sent for destruction. +Like the fates in the Indian and Servian stories, these +dragons and devils live at the end of a long and difficult journey. +Caterina has to climb a mountain to visit her mistress’s fate.</p> + +<p>2. Gubernatis (<i>Zoological Mythology</i>, vol. I. p. 22), speaking +of the three <i>Ribhavas</i>, says, “During the twelve days (the twelve +hours of the night or the twelve months in the year) in which +they are the guests of Agohyas,” &c. So possibly the twelve +years in this and other stories in this collection may be the +twelve hours of the night. In an unpublished story told by +Dunkní, “Prince Húsainsá’s journey,” the prince journeys for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>265]</a></span> +twelve years. When he returns home he finds his parents as +he had left them—fast asleep in bed. To them the twelve years +had only been as one night.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxiii" id="nxiii"></a>XIII.—THE UPRIGHT KING.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxiii">To story</a></span>1. The Boar is an avatár of Vishṇu.</p> + +<p>2. A ḍom (the d is lingual) is a Hindú of a very low caste.</p> + +<p>3. Possibly this king is the same as the king Harichand in +the last story but one in the collection, p. <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, and he may also +be the Hariçchandra of the following letter from Mr. C. H. +Tawney:—</p> + +<p>“I have been looking up the story of ‘Hariçchandra.’ It is +to be found in Muir, vol. I. He gives a summary of it from the +<i>Markaṇḍeya Puráṇa</i>. It is also found in the ‘Chanda Kauçikam,’ +and in Mutu Coomara Swamy’s ‘Martyr of Truth.’ The following +is Muir’s summary summarized. Hariçchandra was a king +who lived in the Tretá age, and was renowned for his virtue, and +for the universal prosperity, moral and physical, which prevailed +during his reign. One day he heard a sound of female lamentation +which proceeded from the Sciences who were becoming +mastered by the austere Sage, Viçvamitra, in a way they had +never been before. He rushed to their assistance as a Kshatriya +bound to succour the oppressed. By a haughty speech he provoked +Viçvamitra, and in consequence of his wrath the Sciences +instantly perished. (In the ‘Chanda Kauçikam,’ as far as I +remember, we are told that the anger of Viçvamitra interfered +with the success of his austerity.) The king says he had only +done his duty as a king, which involves the bestowal of gifts on +Bráhmans and the succour of the weak. Viçvamitra thereupon +demands from the king as a gift the whole earth, everything +but himself, his son, and his wife. The king gives it him. +Then Viçvamitra demands his sacrificial fee; the king goes to +Benares, followed by the relentless Sage, the ruler of Çiva, +and is compelled to sell his wife. She is bought by a rich old +Bráhman. The son cries and the Bráhman buys him too. +But Hariçchandra has not enough, even now, to satisfy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>266]</a></span> +Viçvamitra, so he sells himself to a Cháṇḍála, who is really Dharma, +the god of righteousness. The Cháṇḍála (man of the lowest +caste), carries off the king, bound, beaten, and confused. The +Cháṇḍála sends him to steal clothes in a cemetery. There he +lives twelve months. His wife comes to the cemetery to perform +the obsequies of her son, who had died from the bite of a +serpent. The two determine to burn themselves with the +corpse of their son. When Hariçchandra, after placing his son +on the funeral pyre, is meditating on the Supreme Spirit, the lord +Hari Náráyaṇa Krishṇa, all the gods arrive headed by Dharma +(righteousness) and accompanied by Viçvamitra. Dharma entreats +the king to desist from his rash enterprise, and Indra +announces to him that he, his wife, and his son have gained +heaven by their good works. Ambrosia and flowers are rained +by the god from the sky, and the king’s son is restored to the +bloom of youth. The king, adorned with celestial clothing and +garments, and the queen, embrace their son. Hariçchandra, +however, declares that he cannot go to heaven till he has received +his master the Cháṇḍála’s permission, and paid him a +ransom. Dharma, the god of righteousness, then says that +he had miraculously assumed the form of a Cháṇḍála. The +king requests that his subjects may accompany him to heaven, +at least for one day. This request is granted by Indra; and +after Viçvamitra has inaugurated the king’s son, Rohitaçva, as +his successor, Hariçchandra, his friends and followers, all ascend +to heaven.”</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxiv" id="nxiv"></a>XIV.—LOVING LAILÍ.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxiv">To story</a></span>1. Majnún is a celebrated lover, whose love for Lailí or Lailá +is the subject of many Eastern poems. In this story he does +not play a brilliant part.</p> + +<p>2. Lailí’s knife is like the sun-hero’s weapon (the sun’s ray), +which lengthens at its owner’s pleasure (Gubernatis, <i>Zoological +Mythology</i>, vol. II. p. 147).</p> + +<p>3. She cuts her little finger. See “the Bél Princess,” p. <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, +and paragraph <a href="#Page_272">2</a> of the note to “Shekh Faríd.” “The little +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>267]</a></span> +finger, though the smallest, is the most privileged of the five. It +is the one that knows everything.” A Piedmontese mother says, +“My little finger tells me everything” (Gubernatis, <i>Zoological +Mythology</i>, vol. I. p. 166). We have a somewhat similar saying +in England. In a Russian story quoted by the same author in +the same work (vol. II. p. 151), an old woman while baking a +cake, cuts off her little finger and throws it into the fire. From +the little finger in the fire is born a strong dwarf who afterwards +does many wonderful things. In the tale of the five fingers +(“Die Maehr von den fuenf Fingern,” Haltrich’s <i>Siebenbuergische +Maerchen</i>, p. 325), where each finger decides what it will do, +the little one says, “I will help with wise counsel.” In consequence +of this assistance, to this day, “when any one has a +wise idea (Einfall), he says ‘that his little finger told him that’” +(p. 327). In Finnish mythology we again find the little finger. +“The Para, also originated in the Swedish Bjaeren or Bare, +a magical three-legged being, manufactured in various ways, +and which, says Castrén, attained life and motion when its +possessor, cutting the little finger of his left hand, let three drops +of blood fall on it, at the same time pronouncing the proper +spell.” (“The Mythology of Finnland,” <i>Fraser’s Magazine</i> for +May 1857, p. 532.)</p> + +<p>In Rink’s <i>Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo</i>, p. 441, there is +an account of Kanak’s visit to the man of the moon, where he +meets a woman who, he is warned, will take out his entrails if +she can only make him laugh. He follows the moon-man’s +advice, which is to rub his leg with the nail of his little finger +when he can no longer keep from smiling, and so saves himself +from the old hag. Rishya Śriñga (to return to the land of our +fairy tales) threw a drop of water from the nail of his little finger +on a Rakshas who, in the form of a tiger, was rushing to devour +him. The demon instantly quitted the tiger’s body, and asked +the Rishi what he should do. He followed the holy man’s instructions +and obtained môksha (salvation)—see <i>Indian Antiquary</i> +for May 1873, p. 142, “The Legend of Rishya Śriñga,” told +by V. N. Narasimmiyengar of Bangalor.</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>268]</a></span></p> + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxv" id="nxv"></a>XV.—HOW KING BURTAL BECAME A FAKÍR.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxv">To story</a></span>1. The Fakír strikes the dead antelope with his wand (<i>chábuk</i>), +as in “Shekh Faríd,” p. <a href="#Page_98">98</a>. In both cases Dunkní says the +wand used was a long, slender piece of bamboo. I do not know +whether the bamboo is a lightning-plant. Possibly it is, being +a grass (some grasses are lightning-plants, see Fiske’s <i>Myths +and Mythmakers</i>, pp. 56, 61), and also because its long slender +stems are lance-shaped. If it does belong to this class, naturally +a blow from a bamboo (or lightning) wand would give life, for, +says Fiske (<i>ib.</i> p. 60), “the association of the thunder-storm +with the approach of summer has produced many myths in +which the lightning is symbolized as the life-renewing wand +of the victorious sun-god.”</p> + +<p>2. The king tries to hide the ball in his hair. The wonderful +power and strength of hair appears in tales from all lands: +Signor de Gubernatis suggests that, in the case of solar heroes, +their hair is the sun’s rays (<i>Zoological Mythology</i>, vol. I. p. 117, +vol. II. p. 154); and it seems to me possible that, just as the +<em>colour</em> of the solar hero’s hair has been appropriated by Indian +fairy-tale princes who are not solar, the <em>qualities</em> of his hair +may have been attributed to that of folk-lore heroes who are not +solar, and may also have been the origin of some of the strange +superstitions prevalent about human hair. This theory, if +correct, would account for most of the strange things that I have +hitherto met about hair. It must be remembered that the sun’s +rays are also his weapons; they turn to thunderbolts when the +sun is hidden in the rain-clouds (Gubernatis, <i>ib.</i> vol. I. pp. 9, +17), and also to lightning (see <i>ib.</i> vol. II. p. 10, where the sun +under the form of a bull is spoken of as the fire which sends +forth lightning).</p> + +<p>First there is Samson, whose name, according to Gesenius, +means “solar,” “like the sun.” Of the hero Firud, it is told +“that a single hair of his head has more strength in it than +many warriors” (Gubernatis, <i>Zoological Mythology</i>, vol. I. +p. 117). Conan was the weakest man of the Féinn, because +they used to keep him cropped. “He had but the strength of a +man; but if the hair should get leave to grow, there was the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>269]</a></span> +strength of a man in him for every hair that was in his head; +but he was so cross that if the hair should grow he would kill +them all” (Campbell’s <i>Popular Tales of the West Highlands</i>, +vol. III. p. 396). At p. 91 of Schmidt’s <i>Griechische Maerchen, +Sagen und Volkslieder</i>, is the story of a king, “Der Capitän +Dreizehn,” who is “the strongest of his time,” and who has +three long hairs, so long that they could be twisted twice round +the hand on his breast. When these are cut off he becomes the +weakest of men. When these grow again he regains his +strength. The sun’s rays have most power when they are +longest, <i>i.e.</i> when the sun is in apogee.</p> + +<p>Possibly from this old forgotten myth about the solar hero’s +hair came some superstition to which was due the Merovingian +decree that only princes of the blood-royal should wear their +hair long; cutting their long hair made them incapable of becoming +kings. Their slaves were shaved. The barbarians +ruled that only their free men should wear long hair, and that +the slaves should be shaved. Professor Monier Williams, in the +<i>Contemporary Review</i> for January 1879, p. 265, says that Govind, +the 10th Guru and founder of the Sikh nationality, ordered the +Sikhs to wear their hair long to distinguish themselves from +other nations.</p> + +<p>In the Slavonic story, “Leben, Abenteuer und Schwaenke des +kleinen Kerza,” is a dwarf magician with a long white beard. +With a hair from this beard Kerza binds the magician’s wicked +wife, who has taken the form of a wooden pillar the better to carry +out her evil ends. From that moment it was impossible for her +to take again her own shape or to use her former magic powers +(Vogl’s <i>Volksmaerchen</i>, p. 227). One of the tasks set by Yspaddaden +Penkawr to Kilhwch before he will give him his daughter +Olwen to wife, is to get him “a leash made from the beard +of Dissull Varvawc, for that is the only one that can hold +the two cubs. And the leash will be of no avail unless it be +plucked from his beard while he is alive, and twitched out +with wooden tweezers ... and the leash will be of no use +should he be dead because it will be brittle,”—that is, when the +sun is set (dead) his rays have no power (<i>Mabinogion</i>, +vol. II. p. 288). The same idea lies at the bottom of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>270]</a></span> +English superstition that “if a person’s hair burn brightly +when thrown into the fire, it is a sign of longevity; the brighter +the flame, the longer the life. On the other hand, if it smoulder +away, and refuse to burn, it is a sign of approaching death” +(Henderson’s <i>Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England</i>, +p. 84).</p> + +<p>The Malays have a story of a woman, called Utahigi, in +whose head grew a single white hair endowed with magic power. +When her husband pulled it out a great storm arose and Utahigi +went up to heaven. She was a bird (or cloud) maiden, and this +hair must have been the lightning drawn from the cloud. The +Servian Atalanta, when nearly overtaken by her lover, takes a +hair from the top of her head and throws it behind her. It +becomes a mighty wood (clouds are the forests and mountains +of the sky, Gubernatis, <i>Zoological Mythology</i>, vol. I. p. 11), +Karadschitsch, <i>Volksmaerchen der Serben</i>, p. 25, in the story +“von dem Maedchen das behender als das Pferd ist.” In +Schmidt’s <i>Griechische Maerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder</i>, p. 79, +the king’s daughter as she flies with her lover from the Lamnissa +throws some of her own hairs behind her, and they become a +great lake (thunderbolts and lightning bring rain). At p. 98 of +the same work is the story “Der Riese vom Berge.” When +this giant wishes to enter his great high mountain, he takes a +hair from his head and touches the mountain with it. The +mountain at once splits in two (p. 101). The king’s daughter in +her encounter with the Efreet, “plucked a hair from her head +and muttered with her lips, whereupon the hair became converted +into a piercing sword with which she struck the lion [the +Efreet], and he was cleft in twain by her blow; but his head +became changed into a scorpion” (Lane’s <i>Arabian Nights</i>, vol. +I. p. 156). A Baba Yaga, in Ralston’s <i>Russian Folk Tales</i>, +p. 147, plucks one of her hairs, ties three knots in it, and blows, +and thus petrifies her victims. She is a personification of the +spirit of the storm, <i>ib.</i> p. 164. In <i>Old Deccan Days</i>, at p. 62, the +old Rakshas says to Ramchundra, “You must not touch my +hair;” “the least fragment of my hair thrown in the direction +of the jungle would instantly set it in a blaze.” Ramchundra +steals two or three of the hairs, and when escaping from the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>271]</a></span> +Rakshas, flings them to the winds and fires the jungle. Chandra +(p. 266 of the same book) avenges the death of her husband +by tearing her hair, which burns and instantly sets fire +to the land; all the people in it but herself and a few who had +been kind to her and are therefore saved, were burnt in this great +fire.</p> + +<p>In these tales a single hair from the head of the Princess +Labám (the lunar ray can pierce the cloud as well as a solar +ray) cuts a thick tree-trunk in two, p. <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</p> + +<p>Hair has another property; it can tell things to its owners. +See the three hairs the Queen gives Coachman Toms, saying, +“They will always tell you the truth when you question them.” +(Stier’s <i>Ungarische Volksmaerchen</i>, p. 176), and which, later in +the story (p. 186) adjudge the king worthy of death. (See +Grimm’s story <i>Kinder und Hausmaerchen</i>, vol. II. p. 174, “The +clear sun brings day.”) Also “Das wunderbare Haar” +(Karadschitsch <i>Volksmaerchen der Serben</i>, p. 180), which is +blood-red, and in which when split open were found written a +multitude of noteworthy events from the beginning of the world. +(The sun’s rays have existed since the early ages of the world.) +The girl from whose head the hair is taken threads a needle +with the sun’s rays and embroiders a net made of the hair of +heroes.</p> + +<p>See, too, the Eskimo account of the removal of Disco Island +in Rink’s <i>Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo</i>, p. 464, where one +old man vainly tries to keep back the island by means of a +seal-skin thong which snaps, while two other old men haul it +away triumphantly by the hair from the head of a little child, +chanting their spells all the time. Their success was, perhaps, +due to the spells, not to the hair. In the notes to Der Capitän +Dreizehn in Schmidt’s <i>Griechische Maerchen, Sagen und +Volkslieder</i>, there are some instances of the strength given by +hair to those on whom it grows.</p> + +<p>2. The líchí is Nephelium Litchi.</p> + +<p>3. King Burtal’s eldest son’s name <i>Sazádá</i> is perhaps the +boy’s title Shahzádá (born of a king), prince. Dunkní says it is +his name.</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>272]</a></span></p> + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxvi" id="nxvi"></a>XVI.—SOME OF THE DOINGS OF SHEKH FARÍD.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxvi">To story</a></span>1. Kheláparí means “playful fairy:” Gulábsá, “like a rose.”</p> + +<p>2. In another version told to me this year by Dunkní, when +Gursan Rájá wakes and learns how long his wife has stood by +him, he is horrified, and refuses the water, saying he does not +want it. He tells her that as a reward for her patience and +goodness, she shall know of herself everything that happens in +other countries—floods, fires, and other troubles; that she shall +be able to bring help; and should any one die from having his +throat cut she shall be able to restore him to life, by smearing +the wound with some blood taken from an incision in her little +finger. Kheláparí’s acquaintance with Shekh Faríd begins in this +version as follows:—She was standing at the door of her house +looking down the road, when she saw coming towards her +Shekh Faríd, the cartman, and the bullock-cart laden with what +once was sugar, but now, thanks to the fakír, is ashes. Through +her gift Kheláparí knows all that has happened, though the +miracle was not performed in her sight; and Shekh Faríd being +a fakír, though his all-knowing talent does not equal hers, +knows that she knows. The cartman is in despair when he discovers +the ashes, and implores Shekh Faríd to help him. The +fakír sends him to Kheláparí, saying he must appeal to her as +her power of doing good excels his (the fakír’s); that though he +could turn sugar to ashes, he could not turn the ashes to sugar. +Kheláparí at the cartman’s prayer performs this miracle. Their +next encounter is by a tank in the jungle by which the holy +man is resting. She is hurrying along to put out the fire at +her father’s palace. The Shekh cannot understand how it is +possible for any woman to know of herself what is happening +twenty miles off, when he, a fakír, can only know what passes +at a short distance, so he follows the Rání to test her truthfulness, +and arrives in time to see her helping to put out the fire. +The rest of the story is the same as the version printed in this +collection.</p> + +<p>3. This Shekh Faríd was a famous Súfí saint. He was a contemporary +of Nának, and many of his sayings are embodied +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>273]</a></span> +in the Granth. In Central India, there is a holy hill of his called +Girur. The Gazetteer of the Central Provinces edited by C. +Grant, 2nd edition, Nágpur, 1870, says that articles of merchandise +belonging to two travelling traders who mocked the saint +passed before him, on which he turned the whole stock-in-trade +into stones as a punishment. They implored his pardon, and +he created a fresh stock for them from dry leaves, on which they +were so struck by his power that they attached themselves permanently +to his service, and two graves on the hill are said to +be theirs. In the <i>Pioneer</i> for 5th August 1878, Pekin has a +poem on a similar legend about the saint. Standing on his +holy hill, one day Shekh Faríd saw a packman pass and he +begged for alms. The packman mocked him. Then the saint +asked what his sacks contained. “Stones,” was the answer. +The Shekh said, “Sooth—they are but worthless stones.” +Whereupon all the sacks burst, and the contents, at one time +different kinds of spices, fell stones to the ground. The owner +implored the saint’s mercy. Shekh Faríd told him to fill his +sacks with leaves from the trees, which was done, and then +the leaves became gold mohurs. The packman turned saint +too and left his bones on Girur. A similar miracle is told of +the Irish Saint, Brigit. “Once upon a time Brigit beheld a man +with salt on his back. ‘What is that on thy back?’ saith +Brigit; ‘Stones,’ saith the man. ‘They shall be stones then,’ +saith Brigit, and of the salt stones were made. The same +man again cometh to (or past) Brigit. ‘What is that on thy +back?’ saith Brigit. ‘Salt,’ saith the man. ‘It shall be salt +then,’ saith Brigit. Salt was made again thereof through Brigit’s +word.” (<i>Three Middle Irish Homilies</i>, p. 81.)</p> + +<p>4. Fakírchand means the moon of fakírs. Mohandás, the +servant of the Mohan (Krishṇa). Champákálí is a necklace +made in imitation of the closed buds of the champa or champak +flowers.</p> + +<p>5. The demons, in Hindústání <i>dew</i> (pronounced deo), god, +are something like the Rakshases. They have wings, and +have exceedingly long lips, one of which sticks up in the air, +while the other hangs down. One of King Arthur’s warriors, +“Gwevyl, the son of Gwestad, on the day that he was sad, he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>274]</a></span> +would let one of his lips drop below his waist while he turned +up the other like a cap upon his head” (<i>Mabinogion</i>, +vol. II. p. 266, “Kilhwch and Olwen”).</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxvii" id="nxvii"></a>XVII.—THE MOUSE.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxvii">To story</a></span>1. Unluckily, when Karím was with us, I neglected to write +down the name of the grain that kills the mouse, and all the +wonderful things he told us of the properties of this grain. His +explanations were a kind of note given after he had finished the +story.</p> + +<p>2. The only parallel I can find to this story is one in Bleek’s +<i>Hottentot Fables and Tales</i>, p. 90, called “The unreasonable +child to whom the dog gave its deserts; or a receipt for putting +any one to sleep,” in which the child indulges in the uncalled +for generosity and unreasonable rage of the mouse.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxviii" id="nxviii"></a>XVIII.—A WONDERFUL STORY.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxviii">To story</a></span>1. Ajít means unsubdued, invincible.</p> + +<p>2. The wrestler’s mode of announcing his arrival at Ajít’s house +is, probably, the solitary result of many efforts to induce Karím +himself to knock at the nursery door before he marched into +the nursery. I never heard of natives knocking at each other’s +house-doors.</p> + +<p>3. With these wrestlers compare Grimm’s “Der junge Riese,” +<i>Kinder und Hausmaerchen</i>, vol. II. p. 23, and “Eisenhans” in +Haltrich’s <i>Siebenbuergische Maerchen</i>, p. 77.</p> + +<p>4. Ajít carries her house. Note by Mr. J. F. Campbell: +“Compare an Irish story about Fionn and a giant who was +told that the hero turned the house when the wind blew open +the door.” [See, too, Campbell’s <i>Tales of the Western Highlands</i>, +vol. III. p. 184]</p> + +<p>5. When Karím was here I forgot to ask him how big were +Ajít’s cakes, can, and mice. Mr. Campbell of Islay, who read +this story in manuscript, wrote in the margin where the mice +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>275]</a></span> +were mentioned: “The fleas in the island of Java are so big +that they come out from under the bed and steal potatoes. They +do many such things. Compare [with Ajít’s can] a Gaelic story +about a man who found the Fenians in an island, and was +offered a drink in a can so large that he could not move it.”</p> + +<p>6. Mr. G. H. Damant, in the <i>Indian Antiquary</i> for September +1873, vol. II. p. 271, has a Dinájpur story called “Two gánja-eaters” +which is very like our Wonderful Story. In it a gánja-eater +who can eat six maunds of gánja<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> hears of another +gánja-eater who can eat nine maunds; so he takes his six +maunds of gánja, and sets off for his rival’s country with the +intention of fighting him. On the road he is thirsty and drinks +a whole pond dry, but this fails to quench his thirst. Arrived +at the nine-maund gánja-eater’s house, he learns from the wife +that her husband has gone to cut sugar-cane, and decides to +go and meet him. He finds him in the jungle, and wishes to +fight there and then; but his rival does not agree to this, saying +he has eaten nothing for seven days. The other answers he +has eaten nothing for nine; whereupon the nine-maund gánja-eater +suggests they shall wait till they get back to his country, +as in the jungle they will have no spectators. The six-maund +gánja-eater consents. So the nine-maund gánja-eater takes up +all the sugar-cane he has cut during the last seven days and +sets off for his country with his rival. On the way they meet a +fish-wife, and call her to stop and see them fight; she answers +she must carry her fish without delay to market, being already +late, and proposes they should stand on her arm and fight, and +that then she could see them as they go along. While they +are fighting on her arm, down sweeps a kite which carries off +“the gánja-eaters; fish and all.” They are thrown by a storm +in front of a Rájá’s daughter, who has them swept away thinking +they are bits of straw.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h4>FOOTNOTE:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> +An intoxicating preparation of the hemp-plant (<i>Cannabis sativa</i> or +<i>C. indica</i>).</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>276]</a></span></p> + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxix" id="nxix"></a>XIX.—THE FAKÍR NÁNAKSÁ SAVES THE +MERCHANT’S LIFE.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxix">To story</a></span>1. Nánaksá, <i>i.e.</i> Nának Sháh, is doubtless the first guru of the +Sikhs (about <small>A.D.</small> 1460-1530).</p> + +<p>2. With the transmigration of the souls of the merchant’s +father, grandmother, and sister into the goat, the old woman +and his little daughter, compare a Dinájpur story published by +Mr. G. H. Damant in the <i>Indian Antiquary</i> for June 7, 1872, +vol. I. p. 172, in which a king threatens to kill a Bráhman if he +does not explain what he means by saying to the king every day, +“As thy liberality, so thy virtue.” By his new-born daughter’s +advice the Bráhman tells the king this child would explain it to +him. Accordingly the king comes to the Bráhman’s house and +is received smilingly “by the two-and-a-half-days-old daughter. +She sends the king for the desired information to a certain red +ox, who in his turn” sends him to a clump of Shahara (<i>Trophis +aspera</i>) trees. The trees tell him he has been made king in this +state of existence, because in a former state of existence he was +liberal and full of charity; that in this former state the child just +born as the Bráhman’s daughter was his wife: that the red ox +was then his son, and that this son’s wife, as a punishment for +her hardness and uncharitableness, had “become the genius of +this grove of trees.”</p> + +<p>3. Jabrá’íl is the Archangel Gabriel.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxx" id="nxx"></a>XX.—THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD +AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxx">To story</a></span>1. For these marks see paragraph 4 of the notes to Phúlmati +Rání. I think the silver chains with which King Oriant’s children +are born (see the Netherlandish story, the Knight of the +Swan, quoted in paragraph 3 of the notes to the Pomegranate +King) are identical with the suns, moons, and stars that the hero +in this and in many other tales possesses. They are his princely +insignia and proofs of his royalty. When the boy in this tale +twists his right ear his insignia are hidden, and so long as they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>277]</a></span> +remain concealed no one can guess he is a king’s son, unless +he chooses to reveal himself, as he does, partially, through his +sweet singing to the youngest princess. With this partial revelation +compare the Sicilian “Stupid Peppe” revealing himself +in part by means of the ring he gave to his youngest princess. +This ring has the property of flashing brightly whenever he is +near. (See the story “Von dem muthigen Königssohn, der viele +Abenteuer erlebte” quoted in paragraph 6 of the notes to this +story, p. <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.) The shape of the insignia may have been +destroyed, as in the case of the sixth swan’s chain, in the Netherlandish +story, but its substance remains, and as soon as it reappears +the hero clothes himself with his own royal form. +Chundun Rájá’s necklace (<i>Old Deccan Days</i>, p. 230) and +Sodewa Bai’s necklace (<i>ib.</i> p. 236), in which lay their life, belong, +perhaps, to these insignia. Their princely owners’ existence +depends on their keeping these proofs of their royalty in their +own possession, and is suspended whenever the proofs pass into +the hands of others.</p> + +<p>2. The gardener’s daughter promises to bear her husband a +son with the moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. +Compare “Die verstossene Königin und ihre beiden ausgesetzten +Kinder,” Gonzenbach’s <i>Sicilianische Maerchen</i>, vol. I. +p. 19, where the girl (p. 21) promises to give the king, if he +marries her, a son with a golden apple in his hand, and a +daughter with a silver star on her forehead. Also compare with +our story “Truth’s Triumph” in <i>Old Deccan Days</i>, p. 50. In +Indian stories, as in European tales, the gardener and his family +often play an important part, the hero being frequently the son +of the gardener’s daughter, or else protected by the gardener +and his wife.</p> + +<p>3. With the kettle-drum compare the golden bell given by the +Rájá to Guzra Bai in “Truth’s Triumph” (<i>Old Deccan Days</i>, +p. 53); and the flute given by the nymph Tillottama to her +husband in the “Finding of the Dream,” a Dinájpur story +published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the <i>Indian Antiquary</i>, +February 1875, vol. IV. p. 54. See also paragraph 7, p. <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, of +notes to “How the Rájá’s son won the Princess Labám.”</p> + +<p>4. <i>Kaṭar</i> (the <i>t</i> is lingual) means cruel, relentless. With this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>278]</a></span> +fairy-horse compare the Russian hero-horses in Dietrich’s collection +of Russian tales, who remain shut up behind twelve iron +doors, and often loaded with chains as well, till the advent of +heroes great enough to ride them. They generally speak with +human voices, are their masters’ devoted servants, fight for him, +often slaughtering more of his enemies than he does himself, and +when turned loose in the free fields, as Kaṭar was in his jungle, +till they are needed, always staying in them and coming at once +to their master when he calls. See in the collection by Dietrich +(<i>Russische Volksmaerchen</i>) No. 1, “Von Ljubim Zarewitch,” +&c., p. 3; No. 2, “Von der selbstspielenden Harfe,” p. 17; +No. 4, “Von Ritter Iwan, dem Bauersohne,” p. 43; No. 10, +“Von Bulat dem braven Burschen,” p. 133; Jeruslan Lasarewitsch +in the story that bears his name (No. 17, p. 208) catches +and tames a wonderful horse near which even lions and eagles +do not dare to go, p. 214. And the Hungarian fairy horses +(Zauberpferde) who, like the Servian hero-horses, become ugly +and lame at pleasure, and speak with human voice, must also +be compared to Kaṭar. One in particular plays a leading part +in the story of “Weissnittle” (Stier’s <i>Ungarische Volksmaerchen</i>, +p. 61). He saves the king’s son twice from death and then flies +with him to another land. He speaks with human voice, advises +him in all his doings, and marries him to a king’s daughter; +Weissnittle obeying his horse as implicitly as our hero does +Kaṭar. The heroes’ horses in Haltrich’s <i>Siebenbuergische Maerchen</i> +also speak with human voice and give their masters good +counsel. See p. 35 of “Der goldne Vogel;” p. 49 of “Der +Zauberross;” p. 101 of “Der Knabe und der Schlange.” These +last two horses have more than four legs: like Odin’s Sleipnir, +they each have eight. See, too, the dragon’s horse and this +horse’s brother in “Der goldne Apfelbaum und die neun +Pfauinnen” (Karadschitsch, <i>Volksmaerchen der Serben</i>, pp. 33-40). +The “steed” in the “Rider of Grianaig,” pp. 14 and +15 of vol. III. of Campbell’s <i>Tales of the Western Highlands</i>, +and the “Shaggy dun filly” in “The young king of Easaidh +Ruadh,” at p. 4 of vol. I. of the same work, may also be compared; +and, lastly, in a list of hero-horses Cúchulainn’s Gray +of Macha deserves a place. On the morning of the day which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>279]</a></span> +was to see his last fight, Cúchulainn ordered his charioteer, Loeg, +to harness the Gray to his chariot. “‘I swear to God what my +people swears,’ said Loeg, ‘though the men of Conchobar’s +fifth (Ulster) were around the Gray of Macha, they could not +bring him to the chariot.... If thou wilt, come thou, and speak +with the Gray himself.’ Cúchulainn went to him. And thrice +did the horse turn his left side to his master.... Then Cúchulainn +reproached his horse, saying that he was not wont to deal +thus with his master. Thereat the Gray of Macha came and +let his big round tears of blood fall on Cúchulainn’s feet.” The +hero then leaps into his chariot, and goes to battle. At last the +Gray is sore wounded, and he and Cúchulainn bid each other +farewell. The Gray leaves his master; but when Cúchulainn, +wounded to death, has tied himself to a stone pillar to die +standing, “then came the Gray of Macha to Cúchulainn to protect +him so long as his soul abode in him, and the ‘hero’s light’ +out of his forehead remained. Then the Gray of Macha wrought +the three red routs all around him. And fifty fell by his teeth +and thirty by each of his hooves. This is what he slew of the +host. And hence is (the saying) ‘Not keener were the victorious +courses of the Gray of Macha after Cúchulainn’s +slaughter.’” Then Lugaid and his men cut off the hero’s head +and right hand and set off, driving the Gray before them. They +met Conall the Victorious, who knew what had happened when +he saw his friend’s horse. “And he and the Gray of Macha +sought Cúchulainn’s body. They saw Cúchulainn at the pillar-stone. +Then went the Gray of Macha and laid his head on +Cúchulainn’s breast. And Conall said, ‘A heavy care to the +Gray of Macha is that corpse.’” Conall himself, in the fight he +has with Lugaid, to avenge his friend’s slaughter, is helped by +his own horse, the Dewy-Red. “When Conall found that he +prevailed not, he saw his steed, the Dewy-Red, by Lugaid. +And the steed came to Lugaid and tore a piece out of his +side.” (“Cúchulainn’s Death, abridged from the Book of +Leinster,” <i>Revue celtique</i>, Juin 1877, pp. 175, 176, 180, 182, 183, +185.)</p> + +<p>5. The prince makes his escape at five years old. Jeruslan +Jeruslanowitsch at the same age sets out in search of his father, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>280]</a></span> +Jeruslan Lasarewitsch, equipped as a knight, at p. 250 of the +17th Russian Maerchen in the collection by Dietrich quoted +above. He meets and fights bravely with his father, proving +himself worthy of him (p. 251). Sohrab, Rustam’s famous +son, gives proof of a lion’s courage at five, and at ten years +old vanquishes all his companions (Gubernatis, <i>Zoological +Mythology</i>, vol. I. p. 115).</p> + +<p>6. The princess chooses the ugly common-looking man. In +<i>Old Deccan Days</i>, p. 119, so does the Princess Buccoulee. In +the episode of Nala and Damayantí we have the assemblage of +suitors, and the public choice of a husband by a princess (<i>svayamvara</i>). +Damayantí recognizes the mortal Nala among the gods, +(each of whom has made himself resemble Nala) from the fact +that the flowers of which Nala’s garlands were composed had +faded while the garlands of the gods were blooming freshly. +In a story from Manípúrí told by Mr. G. H. Damant in the +<i>Indian Antiquary</i>, September 1875, vol. IV. p. 260, Prince +Basanta, effectually disguised by misery, and travel-stained, +arrives with the merchant at a certain place where the king’s +daughter that day is to choose her husband. The merchant +takes his seat among the princely suitors; Basanta a little way +off. There is a general storm of scoffings when the princess +hangs her garland of flowers round Basanta’s neck. In one +of Laura Gonzenbach’s Sicilian stories, “Von einem muthigen +Königssohn, der viele Abenteuer erlebte,” vol. II. p. 21, we have +three kings’ sons (brothers) and three princesses (sisters.) The +two elder brothers marry the two elder sisters. At a tournament +held on purpose that she may choose her husband, the youngest +sister, to the general disgust, chooses the youngest prince (disguised +as the dirty, ill-dressed servant of the court tailor), and +who is not even present as a suitor. Her suitors, princes, have +passed before her for three days. After the marriage the +prince keeps up the disguise. His brothers by way of amusing +themselves at his expense take “Stupid Peppe,” as they call him, +to the wood to shoot birds; he shoots a great number, while +they run here and there and cannot find one. They agree to +let him brand them with black spots on their shoulders, on +condition he gives them his birds. In the notes to this story, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>281]</a></span> +vol. II. p. 240. Herr Köhler gives Spanish, Russian, South +Siberian, and others parallels. And in Stier’s <i>Ungarische +Volksmaerchen</i>, p. 61, in the story of “Weissnittle,” we have not +only the hero-horse mentioned in paragraph 4 of these notes, +but also the assemblage of suitors for the princess to choose her +husband: her choice of a seemingly stupid gardener’s boy, who +has partially revealed himself to her; the prince retaining his +disguise, after his marriage, towards every one, even his wife: +two brothers-in-law, who are kings’ sons and the wife’s elder +sisters’ husbands; their hunting on three different days, each +time meeting a handsome prince in whom they do not recognize +their despised brother-in-law, Weissnittle, who sells them his +game the first day for their wedding-rings, the second for leave +to brand them with these rings on their foreheads, the third +for permission to brand them with a gallows on their backs: +lastly, we have Weissnittle, as a splendid young prince, publicly +shaming his brothers-in-law by exposing their branding +marks. In India this branding with red-hot pice was the punishment +for stealing. Compare in Taylor’s <i>Confessions of a +Thug</i>, p. 411, Amír Ali’s horror at being so branded by the +Rájá of Jhalone. It was, he says years later, a punishment +worse than death, as the world would think him a thief, and he +would carry to his grave “a mark only set on the vile and the +outcasts from society.”</p> + +<p>7. Múniyá tells me that, in a variation of this story, the dog, +cow, and horse each swallow the child three times, but for +shorter periods, as he is only five years old when he escapes +on Kaṭar. Then when the princess chooses her husband she +rides three times round the assemblage of Rájá’s, who all sit +on a great plain, and each time she chooses the pretended <em>old</em> +man; for in this version the boy loses his youth as well as his +good looks. Instead of taking service with the grain merchant, +the boy is told by his horse to go boldly to the king’s palace +and ask for service there. The shaming of the brothers-in-law +happens thus. The boy invites these princes, the king, all +the king’s servants, and all the people in the king’s country, to +a grand entertainment in the king’s court-house. When they +are all assembled he has the six princes stripped and every one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>282]</a></span> +mocks at the pice-marks on their backs. These are the only +variations in the other version.</p> + +<p>Sir George Grey, in his <i>Polynesian Mythology</i>, p. 73, tells how +the hero Tawhaki when he climbed into heaven in search of his +lost wife “disguised himself, and changed his handsome and +noble appearance, and assumed the likeness of a very ugly old +man.” If fact, he looks such a thoroughly common old man +that in the heavens he is taken for a slave instead of a great +chief, and treated as such.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxxi" id="nxxi"></a>XXI.—THE BÉL-PRINCESS.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxxi">To story</a></span>1. Múniyá says that telling the prince he would marry a Bél-Princess +was equivalent to saying he would not marry at all, for +these brothers’ wives knew she lived in the fairy-country, and +that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for the prince to +find her, and take her from it.</p> + +<p>2. With the fakír’s sleep compare that of the dragon who +sleeps for a year at a time in the Transylvanian story “Das +Rosenmaerchen” (<i>Siebenbuergische Maerchen</i>, pp. 124, 126).</p> + +<p>3. In a Greek story, “Das Schloss des Helios” (Schmidt’s +<i>Griechische Maerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder</i>, p. 106), the heroine +is warned by a monk that as she approaches the magic +castle voices like her brothers’ voices will call her; but if, consequently, +she looks behind she will become stone. Her two elder +brothers go to seek her, and, as they meet no monk to warn +them, they become stone. The third brother meets the monk, +obeys his warning, and thus, like his sister, escapes the evil fate. +To save him from Helios, the sister turns him into a thimble +till she has Helios’s promise to do him no harm. (Compare the +Tiger and Tigress, p. <a href="#Page_155">155</a> of this collection.) Helios gives him +some water in a flask with which he sprinkles the stone brothers, +whereupon they and all the other stone princes come to life. +In these Indian tales the healing blood from the little finger +plays the part of the waters of life and death, found in so many +Russian and other European stories.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>283]</a></span> +When reading of the fate of all these princes, it is impossible +not to think of Lot’s wife.</p> + +<p>The danger of looking back, when engaged on any +dealings with supernatural powers, is insisted on in the tales +and practices of the Russians, Eskimos, Zulus, and the +Khonds of Orissa. In Russia the watcher for the golden fern-flower +must seize it the instant it blossoms and run home, +taking care not to look behind him: whether through fear of +giving the demons, who also watch for it, power over him, or +whether through a dread of the flower losing its magic powers +if this precaution is neglected, Mr. Ralston does not say +(<i>Songs of the Russian People</i>, p. 99). When “the Revived +who came to the under-world people” (Dr. Rink tells us in his +<i>Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo</i>, p. 299) took the old couple +to visit the ingnersuit (supernatural beings “who have their +abodes beneath the surface of the earth, in the cliffs along the +sea-shore, where the ordinarily invisible entrances to them are +found” <i>ib.</i> p. 46), he warned “them not to look back when +they approached the rock which enclosed the abode of the +ingnersuit, lest the entrance should remain shut for them.... +When they had reached the cliff, and were rowing up to it, +it forthwith opened; and inside was seen a beautiful country, +with many houses, and a beach covered with pebbles and large +heaps of fish and matak (edible skin). Perceiving this the old +people for joy forgot the warning and turned round, and +instantly all disappeared: the prow of the boat knocked right +against the steep rock and was smashed in, so that they all +were thrown down by the shock. The son [the revived] said, +‘Now we must remain apart for ever.’” Mr. Tylor, in the 2nd +volume of his <i>Primitive Culture</i>, at p. 147 mentions a Zulu +remedy for preventing a dead man from tormenting his widow +in her dreams; the sorcerer goes with her to lay the ghost, +and when this is done “charges her not to look back till she gets +home:” and he says the Khonds of Orissa, when offering human +sacrifices to the earth-goddess bury their portions of the offering +in holes in the ground behind their backs without looking round +(<i>ib.</i> p. 377).</p> + +<p>4. In most of the stories of this kind the command is to open +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>284]</a></span> +the fruit or casket only near water, for if the beautiful maiden +inside cannot get water immediately she dies. Such is the case +in the “Drei Pomeranzen” (Stier’s <i>Ungarische Maerchen und +Sagen</i>, p. 83), in “Die Schoene mit dem sieben Schleier” (<i>Sicilianische +Maerchen</i>, vol. I. p. 73), and in “Die drei Citronen” +(Schmidt’s <i>Griechische Maerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder</i>, p. 71). +“Die Ungeborene Niegesehene” (Schott’s <i>Wallachische Maerchen</i>, +p. 248) must be compared with these, though the beautiful +maiden does not come out of the golden fairy-apple. She appears +suddenly and the prince must give her water to drink and +the apple to eat, before he can take her and keep her. In all +these stories the hero has a long journey, and encounters many +dangers, in seeking his bride. In the Sicilian story he is helped +by hermits; in the Greek story, by a monk—monks in Greek and +hermits in Sicilian and Servian stories playing the part of the +fakírs in these Indian tales. In all these stories, too, the maiden +is killed or transformed by a wicked woman who takes her place. +In the Wallachian and Sicilian fairy tales the rightful bride +becomes a dove only. But in the Hungarian tale she is drowned +in a well and becomes a gold fish; the wicked gipsy has no rest +till she has eaten the fish’s liver: from one of its scales springs +a tree; she has the tree cut down and burnt. The wood-cutter +who hews down the tree makes a cover for his wife’s +milk-pot from a piece of the wood, and they find their house +kept in beautiful order from this moment. So to discover +the secret, they peep through the keyhole one day and see +a lovely fairy come out of the milk-jar. Then they enter +their house suddenly and the girl tells her story: the wood-cutter’s +wife burns the wooden lid to force her to keep +her own form, and goes to the king’s son to tell him where +he will find his Pomegranate-bride again. In the Greek story +a Lamnissa eats the citron-girl, but a tiny bone falls unnoticed +into the water and becomes a gold-fish. The prince not only +takes the Lamnissa home with him, but he takes the gold-fish +too, and keeps it in his room, “for he loved it dearly.” The +Lamnissa never rests till he gives her the fish to eat. Its bones +are thrown into a garden and from them springs a rose bush on +which blooms a rose which the king’s old washerwoman wishes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>285]</a></span> +to break off to sell it at the castle. From out of the bush +springs the beautiful citron-maiden, and tells the old woman +her story. She also gives her the rose for the king’s son, and +in the basket with the rose she lays a ring he had given her, but +charges the old woman to say nothing about her to him. The +next day he comes to the old woman’s cottage and finds his real +bride.</p> + +<p>5. The youngest prince alone can gather the lotus-flower and +bél-fruit. Compare the Pomegranate-king, pp. <a href="#Page_10">10</a> and <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, and +paragraphs 1 and 4, pp. <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, of the notes to that story. In +his <i>Northern Mythology</i>, vol. I., in the footnotes at p. 290, +Thorpe mentions a maiden’s grave from which spring “three +lilies which no one save her lover may gather.” I think he +must quote from a Danish ballad.</p> + +<p>6. The princess after drowning is first in a lotus-flower; then +in a bél-fruit again; and, lastly, her body is changed to a garden +and palace. Signor de Gubernatis at p. 152 of the 1st volume of +his <i>Zoological Mythology</i> mentions an Esthonian story where a +girl (she who addressed the crow as “bird of light”—see paragraph +2, p. 259 of the notes to “Brave Hírálálbásá”) while +fleeing with her lover is thrown into the water by a magic ball +sent after them by the old witch, and there becomes “a pond-rose +(lotus-flower).” Her lover eats hogs’-flesh and thus learns the +language of birds, and then sends swallows to a magician in +Finnland to ask what he must do to free his bride. The answer +is brought by an eagle; and the prince following the magician’s +instructions helps the girl to recover her human form. And just +as Surya Bai is born again in her mango (<i>Old Deccan Days</i>, +p. 87) and the Bél-Princess in her bél-fruit, so is the girl in the +Hottentot tale of “The Lion who took a woman’s shape” born +from her heart in the calabash full of milk in which her mother +has put it. The lion had eaten the girl; but her mother burns +the lion and persuades the fire in which she burns him to give +her her daughter’s heart (Bleek’s <i>Hottentot Fables and Tales</i>, +pp. 55 and 56). With the change into the garden and palace +compare the Russian story of a maiden whose servant-girl blinds +her and takes her place as the king’s wife. After some time +the false queen learns her mistress is still living; so she has her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>286]</a></span> +murdered and cut to pieces. “Where the maiden is buried a +garden arises, and a boy shows himself. The boy goes to the +palace and runs after the queen, making such a din that she is +obliged, in order to silence him, to give him the girl’s heart +which she had kept hidden. The boy then runs off contented, +the king follows him, and finds himself before the resuscitated +maiden” (Gubernatis, <i>Zoological Mythology</i>, vol. I. pp. 218, +219). See paragraphs 7 and 8 of the notes to “Phúlmati +Rání,” p. <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, and 1, 3 and 4, pp. <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, of those to +“The Pomegranate-king.”</p> + +<p>7. The commonplace fate of the wonderful palace is deplorable.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxxii" id="nxxii"></a>XXII.—HOW THE RÁJÁ’S SON WON THE +PRINCESS LABÁM.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxxii">To story</a></span>1. The “four sides” in this story (p. <a href="#Page_153">153</a>), the “four directions” +(p. <a href="#Page_156">156</a>) which ought to have been translated four sides +and the four sides in “The Bed,” p. <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, are the four points of +the compass. They appear in a Dinájpur story told by Mr. G. H. +Damant in the <i>Indian Antiquary</i>, 5th April 1872, p. 115. +In the first Russian fairy tale published by Dietrich, the +hero’s parents give their elder sons permission “to go on the +four sides” when they start on their journeys (<i>Russische Volksmaerchen</i>, +p. 1). In another fairy tale in the same collection +(No. 11, p. 144) the Prince Malandrach, when he has lost his +way flying in the air and is over the sea, raises himself by a +last effort and looks on all the “four sides” in search of a +resting-place for his foot, p. 147. Of course, too, like orthodox +Russians, the Russian heroes generally bow to all the “four +sides,” before attempting their journeys and adventures.</p> + +<p>2. Híráman is the name of a kind of parroquet. Irik in the +Bohemian tale “Princess Golden-Hair” (Naake’s <i>Slavonic +Fairy Tales</i>, p. 99) first hears of the princess’s existence from +the chattering of birds.</p> + +<p>3. “Aunty” was the word used in English by old Múniyá.</p> + +<p>4. With the stone bowl compare the pot in Grimm’s “Der +suesse Brei,” <i>Kinder und Hausmaerchen</i>, vol. II. p. 104.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>287]</a></span> +5. With the tigers’ coats compare the robes of honour wherewith +the knights in the Mabinogion clothe themselves when they +go to combat. “And he (Gwalchmai) went forth to meet the +knight (Owain), having over himself and his horse a satin robe +of honour sent him by the daughter of the Earl of Rhangyw; +and in this dress he was not known by any of the host” +(“The Lady of the Fountain,” <i>Mabinogion</i>, vol. I. p. 67). +Peredur wears “a bright scarlet robe of honour over his armour” +given him by the king’s daughter (<i>ib.</i> p. 363 of “Peredur the son +of Evrawc”). And in “The Dream of Rhonabwy” a knight +and his horse wear a robe of honour (<i>ib.</i> vol. II. p. 413).</p> + +<p>6. With the tigers’ fight with the demons compare the combat +of the grateful lion with the giant, in which the lion bears +the brunt of the battle. On the giant’s saying, “Truly, I should +find no difficulty in fighting with thee were it not for the animal +that is with thee,” Owain shuts the lion up in the castle. “The +lion in the castle roared very loud, for he heard that it went +hard with Owain,” so he climbed to the top of the castle, sprang +down and “joined Owain. And the lion gave the giant a +stroke with his paw, which tore him from his shoulder to his +hip, and his heart was laid bare. And the giant fell down +dead” (“The Lady of the Fountain,” <i>Mabinogion</i>, vol. I. +pp. 79, 80).</p> + +<p>7. Gubernatis in vol. I. p. 160, of his <i>Zoological Mythology</i>, +says, “The drum or kettle-drum thunder is a familiar image in +Hindu poetry, and the gandharvas, the musician warriors of the +Hindu Olympus, have no other instrument than the thunder.” +“The magic flute is a variation of the same celestial instrument,” +<i>ib.</i> p. 161.</p> + +<p>8. For the hair, see note to “How King Burtal became a +Fakír,” paragraph 2, p. <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxxiii" id="nxxiii"></a>XXIII.—THE PRINCESS WHO LOVED HER FATHER +LIKE SALT.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxxiii">To story</a></span>1. With the task of pulling out the needles, the purchase of +the maid-servant, the sleep of the princess, the usurping of her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>288]</a></span> +place by the maid who makes the prince believe the princess +is her servant-girl, compare “Der böse Schulmeister und die +wandernde Königstochter,” in Laura Gonzenbach’s <i>Sicilianische +Maerchen</i>, vol. I. p. 59. Here, too, the princess is driven +forth from her home; she finds a prince lying dead with a tablet +by him on which is written, “If a maiden will rub me seven +years, seven months and seven days long with grass from +Mount Calvary, I shall return to life, and she shall become my +wife” (p. 61).</p> + +<p>2. Sun-jewel box. The word thus translated is Rav-ratan-ke-pitárá. +<i>Raví</i>, sun; <i>ratan</i>, jewel; <i>pitárá</i>, a kind of box.</p> + +<p>3. In one of Grimm’s stories, “Die Gänsehirtin am Brunnen,” +<i>Kinder und Hausmaerchen</i>, vol. II. p. 419, a king asks his three +daughters how much they love him (p. 425). The eldest loves +him as much as the “sweetest sugar,” the second as much as +her “finest dress,” and the third as much as salt. So her father +in a rage has a sack of salt bound on her back, and makes two +of his servants take her away to the forest. See also Auerbach’s +<i>Barfüssele</i>, Stuttgart, 1873, ss. 236, 237.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxxiv" id="nxxiv"></a>XXIV.—THE DEMON IS AT LAST CONQUERED BY +THE KING’S SON.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxxiv">To story</a></span>1. The leading idea of this story is the same as that in “Brave +Hírálálbásá.”</p> + +<p>2. With this demon as a goat, compare the Rakshas in the +Pig’s Head Soothsayer in <i>Sagas from the Far East</i>, p. 63, and +the Rakshas in a Bengáli story printed by Mr. G. H. Damant +in the <i>Indian Antiquary</i>, 7th June, 1872, p. 120. This last +story opens with seven labourers, brothers, six of whom go +down to the water to drink and never return. The seventh goes +to see what has happened to them, and finds, instead of his +brothers, a goat which is really a Rakshas. This goat then turns +into a beautiful woman who marries the king, first making him +give into her hands the eyes of his queen, who is sent blind into +the forest, where she bears a little son. The Rakshas wife learns +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>289]</a></span> +this, and when the boy later takes service with the king she sends +him three times to her people in Ceylon, with orders to them to +kill him. He has to bring her foam from the sea, a wonderful +rice which is sown, ripens, and can be boiled in one day, and a +singular cow. With the help of a Sannyásí (a Bráhman of the +fourth order, a religious mendicant), he does these errands safely. +The Rakshases in Ceylon receive him as their sister’s son, show +him his own mother’s eyes and the clay with which they can be +set again in any human sockets, a lemon which contains the +life of the tribe, and a bird in which is that of the Rakshas-queen. +The boy cuts up the lemon, and thereby kills them +all, carries her eyes to his mother, and kills the Rakshas-queen +by killing the bird. In this story, as in “Brave Hírálálbásá,” +the Rakshas-queen takes her own fearful form on seeing her +danger.</p> + +<p>3. The <i>Bargat</i>, fig-tree, is the <i>Ficus Bengalensis</i> of Linnæus.</p> + +<p>4. Múniyá sends her hero for a <i>Garpank’s</i> feather; <i>Garpank</i> +I can find in no dictionary, but have ventured to translate it +by eagle, as she says it is like a kite, only very much bigger; +she sent us to see a statue of a garpank that stood over a gateway +in a street in Calcutta, which might be that of an eagle or +of a huge hawk. She said such birds did not exist in Bengal, +and that it was not the Garuḍa (the sovran of the feathered +race and vehicle of Vishṇu, Benfey). Gubernatis, in the 2nd +volume of his <i>Zoological Mythology</i>, p. 189, tells a story from +Monferrat where a king is blind, and can only be cured by +“bathing his eyes in oil with a feather” of a griffin that lives +on a high mountain. His third and youngest son catches and +brings him one of the griffins and the king regains his sight.</p> + +<p>5. Winning the gratitude of a bird by killing the snake or +dragon that year after year devours its young birds is such +a common incident in fairy tales, that I will only mention +two instances. One occurs in a Dinájpur tale published by +Mr. G. H. Damant in the <i>Indian Antiquary</i> for 5th April, +1872, p. 145, where the hero saves the young birds from the +snake. They tell the old birds. He lies under the tree and +listens to the old birds relating how he will find the tree with +the silver stem and golden branches he has come to seek. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>290]</a></span> +other occurs at pp. 119, 110, of a story collected by Vogl +(<i>Volksmaerchen</i> [Slavonic], p. 79) called Schön-Jela. In this +tale the hero is sheltered in the dreadful underground wilderness +by a hermit. Here there is the gigantic bird, Einja, +who every third year has a brood of four young birds which a +dragon as regularly devours. The hero, Prince Milan, watches +by the nest for the dragon and kills him. The young birds, +overjoyed, fly out of the nest and cover the hero with their wings +till the old bird on her return asks who has saved them. Then +they unfold their wings and she sees Prince Milan. In return +she carries him to the upper world.</p> + +<p>6. The word translated “night-growing rice” is Rát-vashá-ke-dhán; +and the ayah’s description of this rice is given in the +story. In this description she spoke of it as cháwal, the common +word for uncooked rice, and said the Rakshas wished to drink +its kánjí-pání (rice-water). As it is a fairy plant I am afraid +it is hopeless trying to find its botanical name. Unluckily, Dr. +George King says <i>vashá</i> is not rice at all. This is what he +wrote to me on the subject: “<i>Vashá</i> is, I suppose, the same as +<i>vasaka</i>, and in that case is <i>Justitia Adhatoda</i>, a straggling +shrub common over the whole of India [very unlike the Rát-vashá-ke-dhán] +and which was in the Sanscrit as it is in the native +pharmacopœias. It is not a kind of rice, but belongs to the +natural order of Acanthaceæ (the family to which Acanthus and +Thunbergia belong).” This night-growing rice may be compared +to the day-growing rice in paragraph 2, p. <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, of the notes to +this story.</p> + +<p>7. Compare with the paper boat the rolled-up burdock leaf +given to the hero by the dwarf in the seventh Esthonian tale +quoted by Gubernatis (<i>Zoological Mythology</i>, vol. I. p. 155): +whenever this hero wishes to cross water he unrolls his burdock-leaf. +Gubernatis compares this leaf to the lotus-leaf on which +the Hindús represented their god as floating in the midst of the +waters (<i>ibid.</i>).</p> + +<p>8. With the great wind that comes from the demon, compare +the following Swedish account of a giant in Thorpe’s <i>Northern +Mythology</i>, vol. II. p. 85. He asks his road of a lad, who directs +him: then “he went off as in a whirlwind, and the lad now +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>291]</a></span> +discovered, to his no small astonishment, that his forefinger with +which he had pointed out the way had followed along with the +giant.” In the old Scandinavian belief the Giant Hræsvelgr +sat at the end of heaven in an eagle’s garb (arna ham). From +the motion of his wings came the wind which passed over men +(<i>ib.</i> vol. I. p. 8). It must be mentioned also that “in the German +popular tales the devil is frequently made to step into the +place of the giants” (<i>ib.</i> vol. I. p. 234), and that Stöpke or +Stepke is in Lower Saxony an appellation of the devil or of the +whirlwind, from which proceed the fogs which spread over the +land (<i>ib.</i> p. 235). The devil sits in the whirlwind and rushes +howling and raging through the air (Mark Sagen, <i>ib.</i> p. 377). +The whirlwind is also ascribed to witches. If a knife be cast +into it, the witch will be wounded and become visible (Schreiber’s +Taschenbuch, 1839, p. 323; <i>ib.</i> vol. I. p. 235). Mr. +Ralston, in his <i>Songs of the Russian People</i>, p. 382, says the +Russian peasant attributes whirlwinds to the mad dances in +which the devil celebrates his marriage with a witch, and at +p. 155 of the same book tells us how the malicious demon Lyeshy +not only makes use of the whirlwind as a travelling conveyance +for himself and a means of turning intruders out of quarters he +had selected for his own refuge, but sends home in it people +to whom he is grateful. In Ireland we find a wind blowing +from hell. King Loegaire tells Patrick, “I perceived the wind +cold, icy, like a two-ridged spear, which almost took our hair +from our heads and passed through us to the ground. I questioned +Benén as to this wind. Said Benén to me, ‘This is the +wind of hell which has opened before Cúchulainn.’” <i>Lebar na +huidre</i>, p. 113 a. This “wind of hell” makes one think of the +sweet-scented wind from the mid-day regions, and the evil-scented +wind from the north, which in old Persian religious +belief blew to meet pure and wicked souls after death (Tylor’s +<i>Primitive Culture</i>, vol. II. pp. 98, 99). Mr. Tylor mentions also +the Fanti negroes’ belief that the men and animals they sacrifice +to the local fetish are carried away in a whirlwind imperceptibly +to the worshippers (<i>ib.</i> p. 378).</p> + +<p>8. Ábjhamjham-ke pání is what has been translated by +“water from the glittering well.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>292]</a></span> +9. The king had a great pit dug in the jungle. This is how +Kai and Bedwyr plucked out the beard of Dillus Varvawc, +which had to be plucked out during life. They made him eat +meat till he slept. “Then Kai made a pit under his feet, the +largest in the world, and he struck him a violent blow, and +squeezed him into the pit. And there they twitched out his +beard completely with the wooden tweezers; and after that +they slew him altogether” (“Kilhwch and Olwen,” <i>Mabinogion</i>, +vol. II. p. 304).</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxxv" id="nxxv"></a>XXV.—THE FAN PRINCE.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxxv">To story</a></span>1. The boat would not move because the king had forgotten +to get the thing his youngest daughter had asked him to bring +her. Signor de Gubernatis (<i>Zoological Mythology</i>, vol. II. p. 382) +mentions an unpublished story from near Leghorn in which +a sailor promises to bring his youngest daughter a rose. The +eldest daughter is to have a shawl, and the second a hat. +“When the voyage is over, he is about to return, but having forgotten +the rose, the ship refuses to move; he is compelled to go +back to look for a rose in a garden; a magician hands the rose +with a little box to the father to give it to one of his daughters, +whom the magician is to marry. At midnight, the father, having +returned home, relates to his third daughter all that had happened. +The little box is opened; it carries off the third daughter +to the magician, who happens to be King Pietraverde, and is +now a handsome young man.”</p> + +<p>2. The princess’s ring recalls Portia and Nerissa.</p> + +<p>3. A yogí is a Hindú religious mendicant.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxxvi" id="nxxvi"></a>XXVI.—THE BED.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxxvi">To story</a></span>The merchant’s son possibly was afraid of incurring the +wrath either of an original spirit residing in the tree, or of some +human soul who had been born again as its genius (see +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>293]</a></span> +paragraph 1, p. <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, of note to “The fakír Nánaksá saves the +merchant’s life”). Múniyá could give no reason for his asking +each tree’s permission to cut it down.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxxvii" id="nxxvii"></a>XXVII.—PÁNWPATTÍ RÁNÍ.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxxvii">To story</a></span>See another version of this tale in the Baital Pachísi, No. 1. +There the heroine is called Padmávatí, and her father King +Dantavát.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxxviii" id="nxxviii"></a>XXVIII.—THE CLEVER WIFE.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxxviii">To story</a></span>1. The merchant’s wife tricks the four men into chests. Upakosá +makes the like appointments, and plays a similar trick: +compare her story translated from the Kathápítha by Dr. G. +Bühler in the <i>Indian Antiquary</i> for 4th October, 1872, pp. 305, +306: and in “The Touchstone,” a Dinájpur legend told by Mr. +G. H. Damant at p. 337 of the <i>Indian Antiquary</i> for December, +1873, the hero-prince’s second wife, Pránnásiní, in order to +regain the touchstone for her husband (like Upakosá and the +Clever Wife) makes appointments with, and then tricks, the +kotwál, the king’s councillor, the prime minister, and lastly the +king himself.</p> + +<p>2. She plays cards (<i>tás</i>). Forbes in his Hindústání and English +Dictionary p. 543, says <i>tás</i> is the word used for <em>Indian</em> +playing cards. The Indian pack, he says, contains eight suits, +each suit consisting of a king, wazír, and ten cards having +various figures represented on them from one to ten in number.</p> + +<p>[A close parallel to this tale is <i>Adi’s Wife</i>, a Bengáli legend +from Dinagepore, told by the late Mr. Damant in the <i>Indian +Antiquary</i> for January, 1880, p. 2.]</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>294]</a></span></p> + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxxix" id="nxxix"></a>XXIX.—RÁJÁ HARICHAND’S PUNISHMENT.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxxix">To story</a></span>1. This king is probably the same as “The Upright King,” +Harchand Rájá, p. <a href="#Page_68">68</a> of this collection.</p> + +<p>2. The Kop Shástra. Múniyá says <i>kop</i> is a Hindústání, not +a Bengáli word, and has nothing whatever to do with demons. +This is what Mr. Tawney writes on the subject: “It might +mean <i>kapi</i>, or <i>kapila</i> if the woman is a Bengáli. <i>Kapi</i> is a +name of Vishṇu, possibly it might be the Rámáyana as treating +of monkeys, but I really do not know. I see Monier Williams +says that there are certain demons called <i>kapa</i>. But of course +<i>kópa</i> is anger. I suppose you know that the natives of Bengal +pronounce the short <i>a</i> as <i>o</i> in the English word <i>hop</i>.” Múniyá +pronounces <i>kop</i> like the English word <i>cope</i>. This Shástra seems +as hopelessly mythical as the <i>Rát-vashá-ke-dhán</i>.</p> + + +<h3 class="smlpadt"><a name="nxxx" id="nxxx"></a>XXX.—THE KING’S SON AND THE WAZÍR’S +DAUGHTER.</h3> + +<p><span class="link"><a href="#sxxx">To story</a></span>In a Servian story, “Des Vaters letzter Wille,” pp. 134, 135, +136, of the <i>Volksmaerchen der Serben</i> collected by Karadschitsch, +the youngest brother has to take his brother-in-law’s horse over +a bridge under which he sees an immense kettle full of boiling +water in which men’s heads are cooking while eagles peck at +them. He then passes through a village where all is song and +joyfulness because, so the inhabitants tell him, each year is +fruitful with them and they live, therefore, in the midst of plenty. +Then he sees two dogs quarrelling which he cannot succeed +in separating. He next passes through a village where all is +sorrow and tears because each year comes hail, so the inhabitants +“have nothing.” Next he sees two boars fighting together +and cannot separate them any more than he could part the +dogs. Lastly, he reaches a beautiful meadow. In the evening +his brother-in-law expounds the meaning of all he has seen. +The heads in the boiling vessel represent the everlasting torment +in the next world. The happy villagers are good, charitable +men, with whom God is well pleased. The dogs are his elder +brothers’ wives. The sorrowing villagers are men who know +neither righteousness, concord, nor God. The boars are his +two wicked elder brothers. The meadow is paradise.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>295]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head10.jpg" width="600" height="93" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2>GLOSSARY.</h2> + + +<p>Bél, a fruit; <i>Ægle marmelos</i>.</p> + +<p>Bulbul, a kind of nightingale.</p> + +<p>Chaprásí, a messenger wearing a badge (<i>chaprás</i>).</p> + +<p>Cooly (Tamil <i>kúli</i>), a labourer in the fields; also a porter.</p> + +<p>Dál, a kind of pulse; <i>Phaseolus aureus</i>, according to Wilson; <i>Paspalum +frumentaceum</i>, according to Forbes.</p> + +<p>Dom (the d is lingual), a low-caste Hindú.</p> + +<p>Fakír, a Muhammadan religious mendicant.</p> + +<p>Ghee (<i>ghí</i>), butter boiled and then set to cool.</p> + +<p>Kází, a Muhammadan Judge.</p> + +<p>Kotwál, the chief police officer in a town.</p> + +<p>Líchí, a fruit; <i>Scytalia litchi</i>, Roxb.</p> + +<p>Mahárájá (properly Maháráj), literally great king.</p> + +<p>Mahárání, literally great queen.</p> + +<p>Mainá, a kind of starling.</p> + +<p>Maund (<i>man</i>), a measure of weight, about 87 lb.</p> + +<p>Mohur (<i>muhar</i>), a gold coin worth 16 rupees.</p> + +<p>Nautch (<i>nátya</i>), a union of song, dance, and instrumental music.</p> + +<p>Pálkí, a palanquin.</p> + +<p>Pice (<i>paisa</i>), a small copper coin.</p> + +<p>Pilau, a dish made of either chicken or mutton, and rice.</p> + +<p>Rájá, a king.</p> + +<p>Rakshas, a kind of demon that eats men and beasts.</p> + +<p>Rání, a queen.</p> + +<p>Rohú, a kind of big fish.</p> + +<p>Rupee (<i>rúpíya</i>), a silver coin, now worth about twenty pence.</p> + +<p>Ryot (<i>ràíyat</i>), a cultivator.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>296]</a></span> +Sarai, a walled enclosure containing small houses for the use of +travellers.</p> + +<p>Sárí, a long piece of stuff which Hindú women wind round the body +as a petticoat, passing one end over the head.</p> + +<p>Sepoy (<i>sipáhí</i>), a soldier.</p> + +<p>Wazír, prime minister.</p> + +<p>Yogí, a Hindú religious mendicant.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/tail07.jpg" width="200" height="117" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>297]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head06.jpg" width="600" height="116" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2>LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO.</h2> + + +<p>Bleek. <i>Hottentot Fables and Tales</i>, London, 1864.</p> + +<p>Campbell, J. F. <i>Popular Tales of the West Highlands</i>, 4 vols. +Edinburgh, 1860.</p> + +<p>Dasent, G. <i>Norse Tales</i>, Edinburgh, 1859.</p> + +<p>Dietrich, Anton. <i>Russische Volksmaerchen</i>, Leipzig, 1831.</p> + +<p>Fiske. <i>Myth and Mythmakers</i>, London, 1873.</p> + +<p>Frere, Miss. <i>Old Deccan Days</i>, 2nd edition, London, 1870.</p> + +<p>Gonzenbach, Laura. <i>Sicilianische Maerchen</i>, Leipzig, 1870.</p> + +<p>Grant, C. <i>Gazetteer of India for the Central Provinces</i>, edited by, 2nd +edition, Nágpur, 1870.</p> + +<p>Grey. <i>Polynesian Mythology</i>, London, 1855.</p> + +<p>Grimm. <i>Kinder und Hausmaerchen</i>, 3 vols., Gœttingen, first 2 +vols. 1850, 3rd vol. 1856.</p> + +<p>Grimm. <i>Irische Elfenmaerchen, uebersetzt von den Bruedern Grimm</i>, +Leipzig, 1826.</p> + +<p>Gubernatis, Angelo de. <i>Zoological Mythology</i>, 2 vols., London, 1870.</p> + +<p>Guest, Lady Charlotte. <i>The Mabinogion</i>, translated by, 3 vols. +Llandovery, 1849.</p> + +<p>Haltrich, Joseph. <i>Deutsche Volksmaerchen aus dem Sachsenlande in +Siebenbuergen</i>, Berlin, 1856.</p> + +<p>Henderson. <i>Folklore of the Northern Counties of England and the +Border</i>, London, 1866.</p> + +<p>Hunt. <i>Romances and Drolls of the West of England</i>, 2nd edition, +London, 1871.</p> + +<p><i>Indian Antiquary</i>, vols. I. (1872), II. (1873), and IV. (1875), Bombay.</p> + +<p>Karadschitsch, W. S. <i>Volksmaerchen der Serben</i>, Berlin, 1854.</p> + +<p>Lane. <i>Arabian Nights</i>, 3 vols., London, 1859.</p> + +<p><i>Lebar na Huidre.</i> Lithographic facsimile, Dublin, 1870.</p> + +<p>Milenowsky. <i>Maerchen aus Boehmen</i>, Breslau, 1853.</p> + +<p>Naake. <i>Slavonic Fairy Tales</i>, London, 1874.</p> + +<p><i>Old New Zealand</i>, 1876.</p> + +<p>Ralston. <i>Songs of the Russian People</i>, London, 1872. <i>Russian Folk +Tales</i>, London, 1873.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>298]</a></span> +Rink. <i>Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo</i>, Edinburgh and London, +1875.</p> + +<p><i>Sagas from the Far East</i>, London, 1873.</p> + +<p>Schmidt, G. <i>Griechische Volksmaerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder</i>, Leipzig, 1877.</p> + +<p>Schott. <i>Wallachische Maerchen</i>, Stuttgart und Tuebingen, 1845.</p> + +<p>Stier, G. <i>Ungarische Maerchen und Sagen</i>, Berlin, 1850. <i>Ungarische +Volksmaerchen</i>, Pesth (preface is dated 1857).</p> + +<p>Taylor, Meadows. <i>Confessions of a Thug</i>, London, 1873.</p> + +<p>Thorpe. <i>Yule Tide Stories</i>, London, 1853.</p> + +<p><i>Three Middle Irish Homilies</i>, Calcutta, 1877.</p> + +<p>Tylor. <i>Primitive Culture</i>, 2nd edition, London, 1873.</p> + +<p>Vogl, Johann, N. <i>Volksmaerchen</i> [Slavonic], Wien, 1837.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/tail15.jpg" width="200" height="121" +alt="Decorative tail-piece" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>299]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/head19.jpg" width="600" height="107" +alt="Decorative head-piece" /> +</div> + +<h2>INDEX.</h2> + + +<p class="center"> +<a href="#A">A</a> <a href="#B">B</a> <a href="#C">C</a> +<a href="#D">D</a> <a href="#E">E</a> <a href="#F">F</a> +<a href="#G">G</a> <a href="#H">H</a> <a href="#I">I</a> +<a href="#J">J</a> <a href="#K">K</a> <a href="#L">L</a> +<a href="#M">M</a> <a href="#N">N</a> <a href="#O">O</a> +<a href="#P">P</a> <a href="#R">R</a> <a href="#S">S</a> +<a href="#T">T</a> <a href="#U">U</a> <a href="#V">V</a> +<a href="#W">W</a> <a href="#Y">Y</a></p> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="80%" summary="Index"> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="A" id="A"></a><a name="adam" id="adam"></a>Adam and Eve, blackened after the Fall</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Alligator</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">King of the Fishes</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Angels</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, +<a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Antelopes</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Ants, grateful</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Apsarases</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a name="ashes" id="ashes"></a>Ashes, Lailí becomes</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">sugar turned into</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">“Aunt,” used to propitiate</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Avatár</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="B" id="B"></a>Bádsháh</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bag, magic</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bamboo wand</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Barber outwits tigers</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bear</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">tries to kill cat</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Beauty, effects of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, +<a href="#Page_142">142</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">radiance of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, +<a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bed</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">magic</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bees, Rakshases keeping their souls in</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bél Princess</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bhágírathí river</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a name="birds" id="birds"></a>Birds, souls in</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, +<a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">conversing</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, +<a href="#Page_198">198</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Birth-marks</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, +<a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, +<a href="#Page_276">276</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Blindness cured</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Blood of little finger</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, +<a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boar, God in shape of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boar Trwyth, the</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boat refusing to move</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Body, star on</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">sun on</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bones of daughter sent to mother</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, +<a href="#Page_253">253</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bowl, magic</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Branch, cutting</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Branding</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, +<a href="#Page_281">281</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bricks turned into gold</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bulbul</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Burning alive</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, +<a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="C" id="C"></a>Camel, strayed</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Card-playing</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cards</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cat</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">aunt to tiger</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">cheats jackal</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">leopard</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">which could not be killed</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cháṇḍála</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a name="charcoal" id="charcoal"></a>Charcoal, gold and silver turned into</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chests, concealment in</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Child, all-devouring</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Children eaten</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chin, star on</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Clothes-box, magic</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cloud-myth</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a name="cockatoo" id="cockatoo"></a>Cockatoo, Rakshas Rání’s soul in</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Colour</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Comfits, rain of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>300]</a></span>Cooking-pot, magic</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cotton-tree</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cow swallows child alive</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Crow</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cuckoo</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="D" id="D"></a>Daughter, <i>see <a href="#former_life">Former life</a></i>.</td> + <td class="tdrb"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Day and night Myths</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dead sheep mistaken for woman</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Deer’s horn, Mahádeo’s</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Demon</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">as a goat</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">heating sand</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">swallowing suitors</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">tigers fighting with</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><i>Dew</i> (Demon)</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dharma</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Diamond, face shining like</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dog disputes with cat</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">Lailí becomes</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">swallows child alive</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dolls</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dom</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Doves, eyes changed into</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dream</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dresses, seizure of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_6">6</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="E" id="E"></a>Eagle’s feather</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Eaglets, speaking</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Earth blown away</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">cure with</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Ear, twisting</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Elephant tries to kill cat</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Errands</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, +<a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, +<a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Euphemisms</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Eve, <i>see <a href="#adam">Adam</a></i>.</td> + <td class="tdrb"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Eyes become birds</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">pounded to bits</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">torn out of Rání’s head</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="F" id="F"></a>Face, star on</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <i>see <a href="#powder">Powder</a></i>.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fainting at beauty</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fairies in jungle</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">teach monkey prince</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">and Prince Sazádá</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">Indian</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">Irish and Cornish</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">of Maoris</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fairy Rájás</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">red</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fakír’s feats</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">gifts to</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">God in form of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">helpful</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">sleep of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">tasks to be performed by intending</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fan</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fan Prince</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Faríd, Shekh</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fasting, <i>see <a href="#jackal">Jackal</a></i>, <i><a href="#kite">Kite</a></i>.</td> + <td class="tdrb"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fate</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_263">263</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">seeking one’s</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Feather, causing invisibility</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Feats of Fakírs</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Figure of clay, water and ashes</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fish, cooked, becomes alive</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <i>see <a href="#rohu">Rohú</a></i>.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fishes, king of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">souls of unborn children in</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fire, <i>see <a href="#Rejuvenescence">Rejuvenescence</a></i>.</td> + <td class="tdrb"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Flower, children in</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, +<a href="#Page_252">252</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">hero weighing</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_2">2</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">heroine weighing</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Flowers, life in</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, +<a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, +<a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">on ears</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Flute</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, +<a href="#Page_287">287</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fly, change into</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fools</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a name="former_life" id="former_life"></a>Former life</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Four sides</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, +<a href="#Page_286">286</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Fox</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Frog, the voracious</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">slit open</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>301]</a></span>Fruits, children, born from eating</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">children in</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, +<a href="#Page_252">252</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">heroine in</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, +<a href="#Page_246">246</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="G" id="G"></a>Gambling</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Gangá</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Gardener</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_277">277</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Garpank</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Gesture language</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Glass powder</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Glittering well</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Goat, demon in form of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, +<i>see <a href="#former_life">Former life</a></i>.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Gold, stones becoming</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">bricks turned into</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">in river</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Golden wand</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Grateful animals</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="H" id="H"></a>Hair, power of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">of Mahádeo</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">of gold</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, +<a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">tree split with</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hand, star on</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Handkerchief</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_199">199</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Harchand Rájá</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Harichand Rájá</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hariçchandra</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Head, sun on</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">becomes a dome</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">a house</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">a peacock</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Head-collars</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_230">230</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Heart becomes tank</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Horse, hero’s</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, +<a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">swallows child alive</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">House, arm or leg changed into</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Husband, public choice of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Husk story</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="I" id="I"></a>Ikhwán Ussafa cited</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Indrásan</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Invisibility caused by feather</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">by blowing earth from palm</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="J" id="J"></a><a name="jackal" id="jackal"></a>Jackal</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">arbitrates</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">cheats the tiger</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">its fear of men</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">kills kite’s sons</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">will not fast</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Jamná</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="K" id="K"></a>Kettle-drum</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, +<a href="#Page_287">287</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Khudá</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a name="kite" id="kite"></a>Kite worships and fasts</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Knife, magic</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">dipped in blood</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Knowledge of far-off events</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Kop Shástra</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="L" id="L"></a>Lailí</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Lamnissa</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_284">284</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Leg becomes pillar</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a name="lemon" id="lemon"></a>Lemon, Rakshases keeping their souls in</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Leopard tries to kill cat</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Líchí</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a name="life" id="life"></a>Life, restoration to</td> + <td class="tdrb tpad"><a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, +<a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, +<a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, +<a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, +<a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, +<a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, +<a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, +<a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, +<a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, +<a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, +<a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Life, former</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Lips of demons long</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Little finger</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, +<a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Livers, standing on</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Looking back, prohibited</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">danger of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Lotus-flower, heroine changed into</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>302]</a></span><a name="M" id="M"></a>Magic gifts</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mahádeo</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, +<a href="#Page_232">232</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a name="maina" id="maina"></a>Mainá</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">advises dog</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">demon’s soul in</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Majnún</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mangoes</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">mango-tree</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">mango-stone, consequence of eating</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mattresses thrown to save drowning prince</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Milk sent by God</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">of tigress</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Monkey</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Moon on hand</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">on forehead</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">princess shines like</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mothers eating sons</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mouth, demon’s</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mouse</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Music</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mustard-seed, oil crushed out of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="N" id="N"></a>Nabha</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Nának</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Neck, star on</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Necklace disappears into wall</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">reappears</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Needles, body stuck full of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Numbers, sacred</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="O" id="O"></a>Ointment restoring sight</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Old woman, <i>see <a href="#former_life">Former life</a></i>.</td> + <td class="tdrb"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="P" id="P"></a>Paper boat</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Parrot</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Peacock, head becomes</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pearls drop from bird’s eyes</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">from bird’s beak</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Phaláná country</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Phúlmati</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pigeons, cooked, come to life</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pin, in bird’s head</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">transformation caused by</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pit dug for demon’s execution</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">for Dillus Varvawc</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_292">292</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Poison</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Portrait</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a name="powder" id="powder"></a>Powder flung in face</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="R" id="R"></a>Rakshas</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">as a goat</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">turned into Rání</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Rat and frog</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Red cheeks</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a name="Rejuvenescence" id="Rejuvenescence"></a>Rejuvenescence by fire</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Revival of murdered heroines</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <i>see <a href="#life">Life</a></i>.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Rice</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">night-growing</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Rig Veda cited</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Ring</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Robes of honour</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_287">287</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a name="rohu" id="rohu"></a>Rohú fish</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Rope and stick-magic</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Ruby</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">falling from beak</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="S" id="S"></a>Salt</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">Princess who loved her father like</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sárí</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Seven children</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">queens</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_175">175</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">small dolls</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">sons</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">wives</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Shahzádá</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Shekh Faríd</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Shield full of money</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sight restored</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Silver, <i>see <a href="#charcoal">Charcoal</a></i>, <i><a href="#wand">Wand</a></i>.</td> + <td class="tdrb"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Singing, hero</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Skin of monkey</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">burnt</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sleep, fakír’s</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">dragon’s</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Snake</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">conversing</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Son-in-law how chosen</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>303]</a></span>Soul embodiment</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <i>see <a href="#birds">Birds</a></i>, +<i><a href="#cockatoo">Cockatoo</a></i>, <i><a href="#lemon">Lemon</a></i>, <i><a href="#maina">Mainá</a></i>.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Soul or life of Rakshas</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Spell</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Star on body</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">on chin</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">on face</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">on hands</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">on neck</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Stepmother</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Stick and rope, magic</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Stick suspends and restores life</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, +<a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, +<a href="#Page_186">186</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Stones becoming gold</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">fates are</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">transformation into</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">substituted for baby</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Strength, feats of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Strong woman</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sugar, <i>see <a href="#ashes">Ashes</a></i>.</td> + <td class="tdrb"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Summer and winter myth</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sun on head</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">on body</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sun jewel-box</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sun’s rays</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Svayamvara</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_280">280</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sweeper</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="T" id="T"></a>Tank, heart becomes</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a name="thorn" id="thorn"></a>Thorn in tiger’s foot</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Three</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Tiger</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">grateful</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, +<a href="#Page_180">180</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">outwitted by barber</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">nephew of cat</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">stores of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, +<i>see <a href="#thorn">Thorn</a></i>.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Transformations</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, +<a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Transmigration of souls</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Tree split with hair</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Trees</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_292">292</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Twelve hours</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">twelve years</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, +<a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, +<a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="U" id="U"></a>“Uncle” used to propitiate</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Underground palace</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="V" id="V"></a>Varṇa</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_238">238</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Viçvamitra</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vishṇu</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="W" id="W"></a><a name="wand" id="wand"></a>Wand, bamboo</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">golden, reviving by</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">silver, death caused by touching with</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water, opening fruit or casket containing maiden near</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_284">284</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water-nymphs</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Water-snake</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wax hatchet</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Weight of heroine</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Well, fairy living at bottom of</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">glittering</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wind blowing from demon</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdind">foretelling fall of palace</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wishes</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wives called Mamma</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Worship, <i>see <a href="#kite">Kite</a></i>.</td> + <td class="tdrb"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wrestlers</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlindex"><a name="Y" id="Y"></a>Yogí, personating</td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + + +<p class="center padtop padbase"><small>LONDON:<br /> +GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,<br /> +ST. JOHN’S SQUARE.</small></p> + + + +<div class="bbox"> +<p><b>Transcriber's Note</b></p> + +<p>Printer errors (for example, omitted or transposed characters) have been +repaired, as have punctuation errors.</p> + +<p>Variable spelling, hyphenation and use of accents are preserved as printed +in quoted material, but have otherwise been made consistent where there was +a clear prevalence of one form over the other.</p> + +<p>Some of the spelling of Hindi words vary from modern spelling, and +these have been preserved as printed. There is also some variation +within the text—for example, dhall is used in the text while the +glossary shows Dál. These are also preserved as printed.</p> + +<p>There are some discrepancies between the title of stories as given in the +index and main text, and in the notes at the end. These have been preserved +as printed.</p> + +<p>Alphabetic links have been added at the beginning of the index, for ease +of navigation. Errors in page references in the index have been repaired.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Indian Fairy Tales, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES *** + +***** This file should be named 31209-h.htm or 31209-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/0/31209/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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--- /dev/null +++ b/31209-h/images/tail13.jpg diff --git a/31209-h/images/tail14.jpg b/31209-h/images/tail14.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f168b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/31209-h/images/tail14.jpg diff --git a/31209-h/images/tail15.jpg b/31209-h/images/tail15.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..644625b --- /dev/null +++ b/31209-h/images/tail15.jpg diff --git a/31209.txt b/31209.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d756838 --- /dev/null +++ b/31209.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11699 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Indian Fairy Tales, by Anonymous + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Indian Fairy Tales + +Author: Anonymous + +Commentator: Mary Stokes + W. R. S. Ralston + +Editor: Maive Stokes + +Release Date: February 7, 2010 [EBook #31209] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN FAIRY TALES *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +There are some characters with diacritical marks in this text, which +are represented as follows: + +Characters with an underdot are shown as [x.], where x is the letter +concerned. + +Characters with an acute accent above, which are not available in this +character set, are shown as ['x]. + + + + + INDIAN FAIRY TALES + + COLLECTED AND TRANSLATED + + BY + + MAIVE STOKES. + + + _WITH NOTES BY MARY STOKES,_ + + _AND AN INTRODUCTION BY W. R. S. RALSTON, M.A._ + + + London: + ELLIS & WHITE, NEW BOND STREET. + 1880. + + [_All Rights reserved._] + + + + + To my dear Grannie, Susan Bazely. + + + + +[Decoration] + +PREFACE. + + +The first twenty-five stories in this book were told me at Calcutta +and Simla by two Ayahs, Dunkni and Muniya, and by Karim, a Khidmatgar. +The last five were told Mother by Muniya. At first the servants would +only tell their stories to me, because I was a child and would not +laugh at them, but afterwards the Ayahs lost their shyness and told +almost all their stories over again to Mother when they were passing +through the press. Karim would never tell his to her or before her. +The stories were all told in Hindustani, which is the only language +that these servants know. + +Dunkni is a young woman, and was born and brought up in Calcutta. She +got the stories, she told me, from her husband, Mochi, who was born in +Calcutta and brought up at Benares. + +Muniya is a very old, white-haired woman. She has +great-grandchildren. She was born at Patna, but when she was seven +years old she was taken to Calcutta, where she was brought up and +married. She and Dunkni are both Hindus. + +Karim is a Muhammadan and was born at Lucknow. He says that "The +Mouse" and "The Wonderful Story" are both Lucknow tales. + +The notes to this book were written by Mother, and Father helped her +to spell the Native names and words. He also made the Index. + +Dr. George King helped us in the Botany; Mr. Tawney and Mr. Campbell +of Islay, who saw many of the stories in manuscript, have given us +several remarks. So has my uncle, John Boxwell. + + M. S. H. STOKES. + + CALCUTTA, + _March 24th, 1879_. + + + + +[Decoration] + +INTRODUCTION. + + +In almost every part of Europe the tales current among the common +people have been of late years diligently sought out, and carefully +collected. Variants of them pour in profusely every year. But it does +not seem probable that any entirely new stories will be discovered in +any European land. Nor is it likely that in fresh variants of the +longer and apparently more artificial tales, any quite new incidents, +or even any unquestionably novel features, will be found. The harvest +has been abundant, its chief fruits are now stored, and the work which +is still going on among the gleaners, although in itself good and +praiseworthy, may be regarded without the excitement of eager hope. +The task of the present seems to be, not so much the garnering of +European folk-tales, as their comparison and elucidation, and, so far +as possible, their explanation. But in many cases they do not appear +to contain in themselves the ingredients which are necessary for their +resolution into their primary elements. Nor do the records of the +lands in which they exist always supply what is wanted. The "fairy +tales" of Europe throw very little light upon, are but slightly +illuminated by, the histories of the widely differing lands in which +they so closely resemble each other. And the most interesting among +them, those which appear most clearly to bear witness to their being +embodiments of mythological ideas, or expansions of moral precepts, +seem to be but little in keeping with what we know of the sentiments +and beliefs of the heathen ancestors of the villagers in whose +memories they have been for so many centuries retained. Among such +tales of this kind, for instance, as linger on in our own islands, +there is but little to be found which can be looked upon as a +specially characteristic deposit left by the waves of Iberian, Celtic, +and Teutonic population which have successively passed over the face +of the land. This statement does not, of course, hold good in the case +of such legends about national heroes as Mr. J. F. Campbell has found +thriving in Ireland and the West Highlands of Scotland, and which he +justly believes to be "bardic recitations, fast disappearing, and +changing into prose." They belong to a different section of popular +fiction from that to which reference is now made. It is often +difficult to draw the line between these two classes of folk-tales. +But there is a striking difference between the typical representatives +of the two divisions, between cosmopolitan novelettes like Cinderella +or the Sleeping Beauty, on the one hand, and pseudo-historic legends +about local heroes on the other. It is unfortunate that we do not +possess a sufficiency of accurate designations for the numerous +species of the genus folk-tale. Their existence would prevent much +misapprehension. But in their absence, a discusser of popular tales +should take pains to define precisely to what tribe, family, or group +of stories his remarks are intended to apply. + +There are to be found, in all European lands, certain tales which are +of a more complex structure than the rest, which appear to have been +constructed by a skilled workman, to be artificial productions rather +than natural growths. It is only with such stories as these that we +have at present to deal. These novelettes or comediettas, as they may +be called, of the European common people, differ but little in their +essential parts, whether they are recited in the cold north or the +balmy south, the rude east or the cultured west. Their openings, it is +true, vary with their localities; but in the main body of the tale, +not only does the same leading idea pervade all the variants, but also +the same sequence of events leads up in almost every case to the same +termination. To this class of stories belong nearly all the tales +which, under considerably modified forms, have naturalized themselves +in the nurseries of Europe. In it are comprised many popular fictions, +on the obscurer parts of which a quite insufficient light is thrown by +researches among the manners and mythologies of old European +heathenism. + +It is upon such stories as these that a kindly light beams with the +greatest advantage from Asia. Very similar stories have been preserved +in the memories of the common people in many parts of Asia, but +especially in India. And their leading ideas are perfectly in +accordance with the mythology or the moral teaching of the Asiatics +who, age after age, have delighted in telling or hearing them. In such +cases as these it seems to be not very unreasonable to suppose that +the story was originally, if not created, at all events shaped and +trimmed in Asia, and thence was afterwards conveyed from lip to lip +into Europe. Such universal favourites as Beauty and the Beast and +Puss in Boots may be confidently cited as oriental fictions which have +taken possession of European minds. There is a rich store of other +popular fictions, which may be left to be accounted for according to +the two principal methods of interpretation in vogue. They may be +explained as independent developments of mythological germs common to +the ancestors of the various Aryan peoples of Europe. Or they may be +regarded as embodiments of certain ideas common to savages of all +races. It will be sufficient to deal at present with the more +limited, but better known class, to which special attention has been +called. + +Among the Asiatic folk-tales which seem likely to assist in their +explanation, none are more copious or more useful than those of India. +There the old religion has maintained itself with which so many of +these stories are linked, and there the moral teaching still prevails +which made its voice heard in other tales of the far-off time when +they first became current. Any collection of genuine Indian Fairy +Tales is therefore certain to be, not only of interest to the general +reader, but also of real value to the specialist who devotes himself +to the comparison of folk-tales. The collection now before us has +great merits of its own. The stories have been told in Hindustani to +the very young collector by two ayahs, who are both Hindus, and by a +Muhammadan man-servant. In this respect Miss Stokes's contribution to +our knowledge of India differs from the very similar, and very +charming, work by Miss Frere, "Old Deccan Days," the stories in which +were told by an ayah who was, as her father and grandfather had been, +a native Christian. The two books ought to be compared with each +other. No possessor of the one ought to be without the other. All the +stories contained in the present volume, as we learn from the notes, +have been read back by the young collector to the tellers in +Hindustani after they were told, and a second time by the annotator +before they were printed. "I never saw people more anxious to have +their tales retold exactly, than are Dunkni and Muniya," the two +story-telling ayahs. Not till each tale was pronounced by them to be +exact was it sent to the press. The stories may be taken then as +faithful transcripts of Indian thought. The merits of the copious +Notes contributed by the late Mrs. Whitley Stokes, bearing witness to +a very wide range of reading, and to a most intelligent use of the +authorities referred to, will be fully acknowledged by all who have +had occasion to explore the regions from which she has gathered so +much valuable information. Throughout the whole of the work thus +conscientiously compiled and intelligently annotated, there will be +found scattered, in addition to its other merits, many a parallel with +our own popular tales, many an illustration or explanation of their +meaning--a ray of light shot here or there which illumines their dark +places, and may enable the explorers of their mystic domains to avoid +stumbles which are often somewhat mortifying. It remains only to point +out a few of the most important passages. + + * * * * * + +Some of the stories in this volume are so thoroughly oriental, so +little in accordance with western thought or feeling, that they have +not found an echo among ourselves; their counterparts are not to be +found naturalized in European lands. Of such a kind are the legends, +taken from literary sources, of "The Upright King," and of "Raja +Harichand's Punishment," in which the patience of a religious monarch +is tried as was that of Job, and comes out from the trial equally +victorious. The sorrows of Patient Grissel have met with sympathy in +many lands, for meekness has ever been considered a womanly virtue. +But the heroism of a husband and father who sells his wife to a +merchant, and his son to a cowherd, in order that he may be able to +keep his promise to a holy mendicant, and bestow upon him two pounds +and a half of gold, can scarcely be expected to invest itself, to +western eyes, with the air of a manly virtue. In the same way, the +great sitting powers displayed by King Burtal, who never once moves +from his seat in the jungle for twelve whole years, during which space +of time he neither eats nor drinks, and thereby elevates himself to +the dignity of a fakir, are not of a kind to elicit the sympathies or +command the admiration of nations addicted to active exercise. + +The explanation of Nanaksa's thrice repeated laugh, also, could +retain its vitality only in an atmosphere pervaded by a belief in the +transmigration of souls. Buddhistic apologues have sometimes passed +into legends of Christian Saints. But it would be difficult to perform +the operation in the case of an account of how a woman, who had +tormented to death her husband's sister, was justly punished by the +reappearance in the world of the ill-used sister-in-law, in the form +of that unkind woman's exceedingly peevish baby daughter. Numerous, +also, as are European stories about ogres, vampires, and other +demoniacal cannibals, we shall not readily find a western counterpart +of the terrible tale, in No. 24, of the "Rakshas" which sometimes +appears as a goat, and sometimes as a most beautiful young girl, +dressed in grand clothes and rich jewels, but at midnight turns into a +devouring demon with a craving for human flesh. + +Just as some of the themes of these stories do not seem to have +European counterparts, so portions of their machinery appear to be +without exact western equivalents. The stupendous transformations +which now and then take place (see pp. 5, 148, 244) can reconcile +themselves only to an oriental imagination. However much the +occidental mind may attempt to "make believe," it cannot credit such a +statement as that when the Bel-Princess died, her eyes turned into two +birds, her heart into "a great tank," and her body into "a splendid +palace and garden," her arms and legs becoming "the pillars that +supported the verandah roof," and her head "the dome on the top of the +palace." In almost all countries, when a fairy hero has been slain by +a demoniacal or otherwise villainous personage, he is recalled to life +by magic means. In European folk-lore the resuscitating remedy is +usually a Water of Life, or a Balsam, or some similar fluid. In these +Indian tales, it is blood streaming from the resuscitator's little +finger. Thus when Loving Laili (p. 83) found her husband dead and +headless, she put his head back on his shoulders, and smeared his neck +with the blood which flowed "like healing medicine," when "she cut +her little finger inside her hand straight down from the top of her +nail to her palm." A power of becoming at will invisible is everywhere +often attributed to heroes of romance. But it is generally connected +with "a cap of darkness," or some similar magic article. But the +Prince of No. 21, when he seeks the Bel-Princess, becomes invisible to +the "demons and fairies" who surround her, when he blows from the palm +of his hand, "all along his fingers," the earth which a friendly fakir +has given him for that purpose. A "sleep-thorn," or other somniferous +piece of wood, is commonly employed in our fairy tales, in order to +throw a hero or heroine into a magic slumber. In these Indian stories +a state of catalepsy, or of death, is produced or relieved by a +peculiar application of a magic stick. Thus the Princess who was +called the Golden Rani, "because her teeth and her hair were made of +gold," and who was stolen by a demon, informed the Prince who found +her, motionless but not sleeping, that "the Rakshas who had carried +her off, and whom she called papa, had a great thick stick, and when +he laid this stick at her feet she could not stir, but when he laid it +at her head she could move again." In "The Demon and the King's Son" +(No. 24), the hero opens a "forbidden chamber," and there finds the +demon's daughter lying on a bed, apparently lifeless; for "every day, +before her father went out he used to make the girl lie on her bed, +and cover her with a sheet, and he placed a thick stick at her head, +and another at her feet; then she died, till he came home in the +evening and changed the sticks, putting the one at her head at her +feet, and the one at her feet at her head. This brought her to life +again." An interesting parallel to the "sleep-thorn" is afforded by +the pin which, while it remains in the head of the bird which had been +the wife of the Pomegranate King (No. 2), prevents her from resuming +her human shape. When the Raja pulled out the pin, "his own dear +wife, the Pomegranate Rani, stood before him." Magic boxes are common +in fairy land. But there is something new in at least the name of the +"sun-jewel box," which was sent by the "Red Fairy," who lived at the +bottom of the well, to "The Princess who loved her father like salt" +(No. 23), and which contained "seven little dolls, who were all little +fairies." + + * * * * * + +Of more general interest than the few peculiarities of these tales are +the many points in which they resemble and illustrate some of the +familiar features of European folk-lore. As an example of the latter +may be taken a "husk-myth," which is a valuable contribution to the +literature of the "Beauty and the Beast" cycle. In all the stories +belonging to that group, the action turns upon the union of the human +hero or heroine with a spouse who is really or apparently an inferior +animal. In the modified version of the story with which our nurseries +have become acquainted through a French literary medium, the species +of Beast to which the Beauty is wedded is not stated, and its +transformation into a princely husband is attributed to her unaided +love. But in by far the greater part of the variants of the folk-tale +on which it seems to have been founded, as well as of the other +stories in which a similar transformation is the principal +feature--variants which have been gathered in abundance from all parts +of Europe, not to speak of Asia--the animal nature of the mysterious +spouse is clearly defined. In them the husband whom the Beauty is +induced by filial affection, fear, or compassion to wed, is an +unmistakable Beast--a pig in Sicily, a bear in Norway, a hedgehog in +Germany, a goat in Russia. Sometimes he is even of a lower type, often +a frog or a snake. And once, in Wallachia, he has been transferred +from the animal to the vegetable world, and figures as a pumpkin. In +every instance he is represented as being able to change at times his +repulsive appearance for one of beauty, and this he generally does by +doffing a kind of husk which when donned conceals his real form, and +invests him with that of an inferior being. If this husk be destroyed +during the temporary absence of its owner, he loses his transforming +power. The destruction of the husk is generally the work of the wife, +who is sometimes rewarded, her husband remaining with her constant to +his true nature; at other times she is punished, he being lost to her +for a time or for ever. These stories about a monster husband have +their exact counterparts in tales about a monster wife, the leading +idea being the same in both groups; the only difference being that it +is the wife who appears at times as a frog or other inferior creature, +and who continues to do so until her transforming power terminates +with the destruction of her disguising husk. + +Now these temporary transformations, though common to the folk-tales +of all parts of Europe, are not in accordance with the European +superstitions of the present day, nor with those, so far as we are +acquainted with them, of old European heathenism. The nearest approach +to them is afforded by the wehr-wolf superstition, but that is an +isolated belief, and appears to be based upon altogether different +ideas. As to the metamorphoses of classical literature, they are of a +nature quite alien to that of the voluntary eclipse, under a degrading +form, of a Frog Princess or a Pig Prince. It may be said with +confidence that European "husk-myths" do not explain themselves; the +peasants among whom they are current, cannot explain them; and the +knowledge we have of ancient European paganism throws no light on +their meaning. But in India, where countless variants of such tales +exist--many of them preserved in ancient as well as in modern +literature, but by far the greater part still current among the +common people--the transformations in question are frequently, if not +generally, explained in the stories themselves, and explained in a +manner perfectly in accordance with the Indian thought of the present +as well as of the past. To Indian minds there is nothing monstrous in +the belief that a celestial being may have been condemned, in +consequence of the wrath of a superior divinity, or even of the magic +words pronounced by an offended sage, to assume for a time the +inferior form of a mere man or woman, or even to wear the shape of an +inferior animal--a monkey or a frog; and that this transformation is +to continue chronic, though not constant, until the destruction of the +disguising skin or husk, by the donning of which it is from time to +time brought about, deprives the curse of its power, and enables +earth's celestial visitor to return to heaven. The whole story is +closely connected with Indian religious beliefs, and may fairly be +looked upon, when found in India, as an expansion of a Hindu myth. Its +existence in other parts of Asia may, at least frequently, be +attributed to the natural spread of Hindu tales among the various +tribes and nations which accepted Buddhism from India. + +If all this be true, and the "husk-myth" stories which are current all +over Europe may justly be supposed to have drifted westwards from +India, then all Indian variants of these tales naturally become +invested with special importance. The specimen in the present volume, +the "Monkey Prince" (No. 10), belongs to a remarkably interesting +class--that in which the story-teller gives an explanation of the +hero's transformation. A childless king is told by a fakir to give +some mangoes to his seven wives. Six of them eat up the fruit, and +each of the six gives birth to a prince of the usual kind. But the +seventh wife, who has been able to obtain as her share only the stone +of one of the mangoes, "had a monkey, who was called in consequence +Bandarsabasa, or Prince Monkey." In reality, the story-teller goes on +to explain, "he was a boy, but no one knew it, for he had a +monkey-skin covering him." And this monkey-skin he takes off when he +wishes to appear in true princely form, as when he woos and wins the +Princess Jahuran. Finding out what his real nature is, she insists +upon marrying him, in spite of her vexed father's natural question: +"Who ever heard of any one marrying a nasty monkey?" When he is alone +with his wife he takes off his monkey-skin, and reveals himself in all +his beauty, replying to her questions as to its use, "I wear it as a +protection, because my brothers are naughty, and would kill me if they +knew what I really am." On one occasion, when he has gone in state to +a nautch, after taking off his monkey skin, folding it up, and laying +it under his wife's pillow, she reveals her husband's secret to his +mother, who, "though she was very glad her monkey-son had such a wife, +could never understand how it was that her daughter-in-law was so +happy with him." Taking the monkey-skin from under her pillow, "See," +she says, "when your son puts this on, then he is a monkey; when he +takes it off he is a beautiful man. And now I think I will burn this +skin, and then he must always be a man." So she throws it into the +fire. Prince Monkey's heart instantly tells him his wife has burnt his +skin, and he returns home in a rage. It passes off, however, and all +goes well. He now appears always as a beautiful prince, "with his hair +all gold." "Why did you wear that monkey-skin?" naturally asks his +father. "Because," he replies, "my mother ate the mango-stone instead +of eating the mango, and so I was born with this skin, and God ordered +me to wear it till I had found a wife." The story has evidently been +considerably altered in the course of time from its original form, but +it still keeps true to its ancient lines. In it, as in many other +specimens of the same class, the idea of the degradation of a divine +or semi-divine being has been lost, and the sufferer is merely a human +being cased in a disfiguring hide. It is noteworthy that, as we are +informed at p. 259, Dunkni, the narrator of the tale, "in telling this +husk-story, just as often called the monkey-skin a husk, as she called +it a skin." + +Another of the apparently mythological European folk-tales, +instructive parallels to which are contained in the present volume, is +that which may be designated as the Golden-locks myth. It relates the +fortunes of a brilliant being, usually a radiant prince, who, often +without any apparent reason, submits himself to a voluntary eclipse, +hides from sight his grandeur and his good looks, and assumes an +appearance of squalor and misery. Like Cinderella, whose male +counterpart he is, he at times arises from his low estate, becomes +again a brilliant prince, but always capriciously eludes those who +wish to retain him in that shape. At last he is always detected, and +then he has to remain constant to his true and magnificent form. His +temporary eclipse is somewhat similar to that of the hero of a +husk-myth; but no special power is attached to the wrappings under +which his brilliance is concealed, nor is his change of form imposed +upon him against his will. The meaning of the Golden-locks story, in +its original form, still remains to be discovered, as also does that +of the sister tale of Cinderella. That they both refer to the +temporary eclipse, seclusion, or obscuration of a brilliant being, is +evident. But what that brilliant being represents is a problem of +which several solutions have been confidently offered, but which does +not seem to have been as yet certainly solved. In the story of "The +Boy who had a Moon on his forehead and a Star on his chin" (No. 20), +the self-eclipsing process is brought about by a twist of his right +ear; "when the boy had twisted it, he was no longer a handsome prince, +but a poor, common-looking, ugly man; and his moon and star were +hidden." And so, after he has been chosen out of a number of suitors +by a princess whose heart he has won by the beauty of his singing, he +restores himself to his true form by twisting his left ear; after +which operation "he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but a +grand young prince, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his +chin." + +A third class of stories for which an Asiatic origin may fairly be +claimed, contains those in which figures a monster or demon who cannot +be killed until some external object with which his life is +mysteriously linked has been destroyed. Such a being occurs at times +in European folk-tales, especially in those of the east and north of +Europe. The most familiar instance is that of "The Giant who had no +Heart in his body" of the "Tales from the Norse." Some of the best +specimens of this kind of monster are to be found in the Russian tales +about Koshchei the Deathless. But these remarkably abnormal beings +scarcely seem at home in western folk-lore. They are but little in +keeping with their European surroundings, and never seem to divest +themselves of their alien air. In oriental stories, on the other hand, +they figure frequently, and they seem to occupy a familiar and an +appropriate place. The oldest of the world's tales of wonder, the +Egyptian story of the Two Brothers, contains an heroic being whose +life comes to an end when his heart falls to the ground from the tree +upon which he has hung it. And in the modern folk-tales of India, +demons of this kind play their part without exciting any more than +usual surprise. Miss Frere's Deccan stories make us well acquainted +with one of these personages, "a wicked magician named Punchkin," +whose name serves as a convenient designation for the long-lived +monsters in question. The present collection contains several +specimens. In "Brave Hiralalbasa" (No. 11) we meet with a Rakshas, who +is induced, as usual by female wiles, to reveal the secret of his +life. "Sixteen miles away from this place," he says, "is a tree. Round +the tree are tigers, and bears, and scorpions, and snakes; on the top +of the tree is a very great flat snake; on his head is a little cage; +in the cage is a bird; and my soul is in that bird." When the bird is +seized by the hero of the story, the Rakshas feels that something +terrible has occurred. When the bird's legs and wings are pulled off, +the Rakshas becomes a mere head and torso; and when the bird's neck is +wrung, down falls the Rakshas dead. In like manner, in the tale of +"The Demon and the King's Son" (No. 24), the demon dies when the +prince has killed a certain bird, the lives of the bird and of the +demon being conterminable. According to the narrator Dunkni, "all +Rakshases keep their souls in birds;" but another authority asserts +(p. 261) that "a whole tribe of Rakshases, dwelling in Ceylon, kept +theirs in one and the same lemon." + +The tale of "The Voracious Frog" (No. 6) is a valuable contribution to +the store we already possess of what appear to be myths relating to +apparent destruction, but ultimate resuscitation. To this class seem +to belong the stories on which Little Red Riding Hood was probably +based, describing how a wolf or other monster swallowed various +innocent beings, but was at last forced to restore them uninjured to +the light of day. In its original form the tale may have been a nature +myth, illustrating the apparent annihilation brought about by the +darkness of night or the cold of winter, and the revival which +accompanies the return of the day or of spring; or, perhaps, a moral +apologue, intended to suggest that death may not be a lasting +annihilation. In its modern forms, whether in the east or the west, it +often assumes a grotesque air. A good illustration of this fact is +afforded by the well-known Norse tale of "The Greedy Cat," of which +"The Voracious Frog" (No. 6) is an Indian counterpart. The cat, after +devouring all that comes in its way, is at last split in half by a +goat, whereupon all its victims come forth unhurt. The frog, after +similar feats of gluttony, is cut open by a barber, who, while shaving +it, thinks that it looks very fat; and its victims also emerge +uninjured. + +There are many tales now current in different parts of Europe, but +chiefly in the south and east, which turn upon the relations existing +between human beings and their fates: each person being supposed to +have a special fate or fortune, a species of guardian demon, upon +whose good will all his or her success in life depends. It is very +doubtful whether such stories are products of European fancy, their +leading ideas seeming to be little in keeping with the religious +beliefs--whether of classic times, or of Teutonic, Slavic, or Celtic +antiquity--respecting either an overruling destiny, or a triad of +Fates or Norns. But in India a belief in a personal "luck" has +prevailed from very early times; and such stories as "The Man who went +to seek his Fate" (No. 12), appear there to be as indigenous as in +Europe they seem to be exotic. The Servian story, for instance, of the +man who sets out to look for his fate, and the Sicilian account of how +the unfortunate Caterina is persecuted by hers until she discovers its +hiding-place, and propitiates it by cakes (see Notes, p. 263), have a +foreign air about them, which does not manifest itself in the Indian +tale. The likeness between the Servian and the Indian variants of the +narrative, especially as regards the questions which the fate-seeker +is requested by the beings he meets on the way to ask when he arrives +at his destination, is too great to allow it to be supposed that they +have been independently developed from a common germ. They are +manifestly, so far as the journey is concerned, copies of the same +model, differing but slightly from each other. But the embodiment of +the wayfarer's destiny is quite differently represented in the two +stories. The Servian pilgrim first discovers his fortune, or rather +misfortune, in the person of a hag, who tells him she has been given +to him as his luck by Fate. Then he seeks out Fate, who appears in +human form. But in the Indian tale, "the fates are stones, some +standing, and others lying on the ground." One of the prostrate +stones, the traveller felt sure, must belong to him. "This must be +mine," he said; "it is lying on the ground, that's why I am so poor." +Whereupon he took to beating it, and continued to do so all day. When +night came, "God sent a soul into the poor man's fate, and it became a +man," who satisfied the wanderer's own wishes, and also answered the +questions which he had been requested to ask. Then "God withdrew the +soul, and the fate became a stone again, which stood up on the +ground." + +There are two stories which enjoy a world-wide popularity in peasant +circles, but which have not been made familiar by modern literature to +cultured children. One of them may for the sake of convenience be +known by the name of the Substituted Bride, and the other by that of +the Calumniated Wife. The first relates the sorrows of a maiden who is +compelled to see an impostor seated in the place which she was +intended to fill, by the side of the princely husband whom she was +meant to wed. The second describes the sufferings long undergone by a +faithful wife and tender mother, who is falsely accused of some crime +by an envious rival, and is hastily punished by her angry lord. In +both of them the supernatural usually plays a part, but their main +interests are always human, and it is easier to sympathize with their +heroines than with most of the similar characters of popular fiction. +Yet those ill-used but patient princesses are but little known to the +thousands of story-readers who are familiar with the adventures of +Cinderella and the Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and the +wives of Bluebeard and of the Beast. They have at various times +entered into literature, but not into that section of it which has +supplied our nursery fiction. They figure in most of the now so +numerous collections of folk-tales, but they have not been introduced +into society by the novelists or playwrights who have made their +sister-sufferers undying favourites. They are essentially moral tales, +their good characters bearing their unmerited misfortunes with +unvarying meekness and patience, and being ultimately rewarded, while +the envious and malicious rivals who have supplanted or slandered them +are punished in the end. But they have not taken a firm hold on the +west, where they are probably destined to become forgotten when the +progress of education has replaced folk-lore by literature, while they +are likely to go on living for ages in the east, which seems to have +been their original home. + +In the present collection the story of the Substituted Princess occurs +several times. In "Phulmati Rani" the heroine is a wife instead of a +bride, which makes the substitution more than usually improbable. As +she and her husband are resting beside a tank, a shoemaker's wife +comes up, and pushes her into the water, in which she is drowned. The +shoemaker's wife takes her place, though she is "very black and ugly," +one-eyed, and exceedingly wicked. It may be remarked that the +substitution in question generally takes place by the side of water. +In the "Bel-Princess," the beautiful maiden who has come out of the +fruit which the prince opened by the side of a well, is pushed into +the water, while the prince is asleep, by a wicked woman, very ugly, +and with "something wrong with one of her eyes," who then assumes her +place. In tales like the story of "The Princess who loved her Father +like Salt," the transformation scene is of a different nature, though +the leading idea of the change is the same. It is not an ordinary +bride or wife who is supplanted, and the substitution need not take +place beside water. The heroine is a stranger who, generally after +long wanderings, finds a prince really or apparently dead, by patient +watching all but effects his cure, but is at the last moment +supplanted by a servant, who gives the final touch to the work, claims +its entire merit, and is made the wife of the grateful patient. In the +Indian tale the prince lies motionless, his body "stuck full of +needles." The heroine sits down by the side of his couch, and there +remains for a whole week "without eating, or drinking, or sleeping, +pulling out the needles." At the end of two weeks more the needles are +all extracted, except those in the eyes. She then goes away to bathe; +and while she is absent, a servant maid whom she has left in charge of +the body pulls out the remaining needles. The prince opens his eyes, +thanks God for bringing him to life again, and makes the servant maid +his wife. The substitution is similar to that which takes place in +such stories as the Norse "Bushy Bride;" but closer parallels are +supplied by some of the stories of southern Europe. Mrs. Stokes refers +in her Notes to the dead prince in one of Gonzenbach's Sicilian tales, +who is brought to life by a wandering princess, who for more than +seven years rubs his body with grass from Mount Calvary. Pitre's great +collection of Sicilian _Fiabe_ also offers several variants of the +substitution story, in some of which occurs the singular incident, +known also to Swedish and Finnish folk-tales, of the imprisonment of +the heroine, after she has been flung into the sea, by a submarine +supernatural being. In some instances it is not water which the +heroine has to dread, but light. The true bride must be conveyed to +the bridegroom's palace in a darkened vehicle. Her supplanter draws +aside a curtain. The sunlight shines in. The princess turns into a +lizard or some other animal, and the false bride takes her place. + +The Calumniated Wife story which occurs in No. 20 of the present +collection, closely resembles many European variants. A king hears a +girl say that when she is married she will have a son with a moon on +his forehead and a star on his chin. So he marries her. She gives +birth to a boy who really is thus decorated. But the king's other +wives, naturally jealous of her, put a stone in her bed, and pretend +that it is the object which she has brought into the world, upon which +she is disgraced and turned into a servant maid. In other variants of +the story she is often accused of having murdered her children, and +even eaten them. In one instance her mortified husband is represented +as twice forgiving her, after remonstrating with her on her inordinate +appetite, but as thinking it necessary to take some precautions when +the possibility of her committing the crime for the third time makes +itself manifest. Sometimes all the innocent wives of a king are +accused of murderous habits by a guilty wife, who is in reality a +destroying and devouring demon. Such is the case in No. 20 of the +present collection, which ends with the restoration of the seven +calumniated wives, and the death by burning of the demon spouse. + + * * * * * + +Besides illustrating the themes or leading ideas of many groups of +European tales, these Indian stories frequently serve to throw light +upon some of their obscurer features, or at least to offer such +parallels to them as are useful contributions to our stock of +materials for a systematic classification. Among the strange +characters who figure in European folk tales, there are few more +puzzling than the fair maidens who are at times discovered inside +fruits, and who must be provided with water to drink the moment they +emerge into the light, or else they will die. They seem properly to +belong to the south and east of Europe, to such countries, for +instance, as Greece, Sicily, and Wallachia. When they are found +elsewhere, as in the Norse tale of "The Three Lemons," the very name +of which speaks of the sunny south, they seem out of keeping with +their surroundings. In these Indian stories, the enclosure of a +heroine in a fruit is an incident which does not appear to be more +than usually amazing. The need of immediate water drinking is not +referred to. But the hero is warned (p. 81) that he must not open the +fruit in public, because the enclosed maiden will be quite destitute +of clothes. In another story which is widely spread over Europe--but +which we know best in the form of the tale of "The Blue Bird," founded +upon the theme of "The Lay of Ywonec," by Marie de France--the +murderous means by which the bird-lover is all but done to death by +jealous hands, which set sharp knives in the narrow opening through +which he has to fly, or beset his path with some other instruments of +ill, find their counterpart in the powdered glass employed to injure +the hero of the "The Fan Prince" (No. 25). His wife's six sisters, who +"were angry at their youngest sister being married, while they who +were older were not married," insist upon making his bed, and cover +the spot on which he is to lie with the powder into which they have +ground a glass bottle. Whereupon the prince becomes very ill, from the +glass powder going into his flesh. + +The ordinary opening of many familiar folk-tales, including the +"Beauty and the Beast" story, finds a parallel in the same Indian tale +(p. 195). In all of them a man, when starting on a journey, promises +his youngest daughter that he will bring her back some object. This he +forgets to obtain. On his homeward journey, his ship refuses to move +until he has acquired the object in question. The Indian parent +promised to bring home Sabr to his daughter, having no idea what Sabr +meant. Not having obtained it, he set out on his homeward journey. +"But the boat would not move, because he had forgotten one thing--the +thing his youngest daughter had asked for." Sabr turns out to be a +fairy prince. It is a common incident in Indian tales for a hero or +heroine to demand a spouse, generally of a more or less supernatural +nature, whose name is known but nothing more. Just as the Fan Prince +was demanded, under the apparently meaningless name of Sabr, so is the +hand of the Princess Labam longed for by the Raja's son in No. 22, +although her existence was unknown to him till he heard a parrot +pronounce her name one day; and so is the acquisition of a +Bel-Princess resolved upon by the prince in No. 21, because his +sisters-in-law say to him, in a disagreeable manner, "We think that +you will marry a Bel-Princess." Muniya, the narrator of the story, +"says that telling the prince he would marry a Bel-Princess was +equivalent to saying he would not marry at all; for these brothers' +wives knew she lived in the fairy country, and that it would be very +difficult, if not impossible, for the prince to find her, and take her +from it." But this seems to be merely a rationalistic view of the +matter. Some mystery seems to underlie these suggestions of, or +desires for, unions with unfamiliar beings. They occur not +unfrequently in Russian tales. In one of Afanasief's skazkas (vol. +vii., No. 6) a baby prince cries, and refuses to go to sleep, till his +royal father rocks his cradle, crooning the while, "Sleep, beloved +one! When you grow up you shall marry Never-enough-to-be-gazed-at +Beauty, daughter of three mothers, sister of nine brothers." Having +slept vigorously, the baby awakes, asks for the king's blessing, and +sets out in search of the unknown Beauty in question. In another (vol. +i., No. 14), Prince Ivan, having married his three sisters to the +Wind, the Hail, and the Thunder, wanders forth in search of a bride. +Finding the remains of two slaughtered armies, and discovering that +their slaughterer was named Anastasia the Fair, he resolves, though +knowing nothing else about her, to make her his wife. Among the +numerous minor incidents which are common to eastern and western +folk-tales, may be mentioned the aid lent to heroes in difficulties by +Magic Instruments, as in No. 22, or by Grateful Beasts, as in No. 24. +A belief in magic is of course world-wide, but the particular +instruments referred to seem to have good reasons for claiming an +oriental extraction. The stories in which stress is laid upon the +gratitude of the inferior animals are almost always derivable from the +east; especially if, as in the correct versions of the tale on which +Puss in Boots is founded, their gratitude is contrasted with the +ingratitude of that superior animal, man. When we meet with so close a +resemblance as exists between the miracle wrought by Shekh Farid (p. +97), who turns the lying carter's sugar into ashes, and that +attributed to St. Brigit, who turns the liar's salt into stones, we +need have little scruple about referring both stories to the same +source and, considering how much monastic legend-writers were indebted +to oriental fancy, in locating that source in the east. + +The comic elements of eastern and western folk-lore are closely akin, +and the Lie-stories, or _Luegenmaerchen_, in Nos. 4, 8, and 17 of these +Indian Tales find their parallels in most European collections. As an +example of the close kinship which prevails among the jests which make +merry the hearts of men far apart from each other, we may take the +Indian story of "Foolish Sachuli," and compare it with the Russian +tale of "The Fool and the Birch Tree" (Afanasief, vol. v., No. 22). +Sachuli kills a woman; his Russian counterpart kills a man. The corpse +of the woman is hidden away in a well, that of the man in a cellar. In +each case the fool's sensible relatives, knowing that he will be sure +to tell the truth if he is asked, withdraw the body during his +absence, and substitute for it that of an animal killed for the +purpose. When the seekers after the victim arrive at Sachuli's home, +he at once conducts them to the well. Being let down into it, he asks, +"Has she got eyes?" "Of course, every one has eyes," is the reply. +"Has she a nose?" "Yes, she has a nose." But at last he inquires if +she has four feet; and the seekers after the dead woman find that the +body in the well is that of a sheep. In the same way, when the Russian +fool has confessed his guilt, and has gone into the cellar to look for +his victim's remains, he finds there the body of a goat. So he calls +out to the anxious inquirers, "Was your man dark-haired?" "He was." +"And had he a beard?" "Yes, he had a beard." "And had he horns?" "What +horns are you talking about, fool?" they reply. So he hands up the +goat's head, and the Russian tale comes to the same conclusion as the +Indian. The likeness here is too strong to be attributed to an +accidental coincidence. + + * * * * * + +It does not, of course, follow that, because a story is found both in +Europe and Asia, therefore the western version has been borrowed from +the east. Europe has, doubtless, sometimes lent a fancy to Asia. Greek +fables are supposed to have exercised an influence upon the Indian +mind. European missionaries may have sometimes rendered a Christian +legend current among Hindus. Professor Monier Williams was assured by +an intelligent native that the spread of railways had materially +diminished the number of malignant ghosts in India. Still, as a +general rule, the east is stubbornly conservative. The Japanese, it is +true, are abandoning their own costume and art for ours, not entirely +to their advantage. But the various peoples of India have never shown +any such tendencies towards change. In their popular fiction, at all +events, they have never shown an inclination to import foreign +manufactures in order to replace their home products. In their +thoughts and feelings they are now very much what they have been for +periods of time which it would be difficult to define. When we find +stories now current in all parts of India, which we know from their +occurrence in Sanskrit literature must have existed there very long +ago, and we see that the mythological element in those stories is in +accordance with religious ideas that have prevailed there for +countless centuries, we can have no doubt that these stories were +framed there at a very early period. Then if we find almost identical +stories current in all parts of Europe, many of their at least +apparently mythological features offering difficulties which cannot be +removed by a reference to the mythologies of the heathen ancestors of +the peasants who now repeat them, it seems not unreasonable to come to +the conclusion that such stories have been borrowed by the west from +the east. From mythological germs common to European and Asiatic +Aryans, it is quite true that legends might arise in Europe and in +Asia, independent of each other, but similar in their general tenor. +But it is not likely that out of any common germ could be +independently developed in several different countries as many +variants of the same tale, in each of which there is a similar +sequence of scenes or acts, and the dramatic action is brought to a +close by a termination that scarcely ever varies. Far more difficult +is it to believe in such a triumph of independent development, than to +place reliance upon a statement to the effect that the wave of +story-telling, as well as of empire, has wended its way westward. + + W. R. S. RALSTON. + + + + +[Decoration] + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + I. PHULMATI RANI, OR THE FLOWER LADY 1 + + II. THE POMEGRANATE KING 7 + + III. THE CAT AND THE DOG 15 + + IV. THE CAT WHICH COULD NOT BE KILLED 18 + + V. THE JACKAL AND THE KITE 21 + + VI. THE VORACIOUS FROG 24 + + VII. THE STORY OF FOOLISH SACHULI 27 + + VIII. BARBER HIM AND THE TIGERS 35 + + IX. THE BULBUL AND THE COTTON-TREE 39 + + X. THE MONKEY PRINCE 41 + + XI. BRAVE HIRALALBASA 51 + + XII. THE MAN WHO WENT TO SEEK HIS FATE 63 + + XIII. THE UPRIGHT KING 68 + + XIV. LOVING LAILI 73 + + XV. HOW KING BURTAL BECAME A FAKIR 85 + + XVI. SOME OF THE DOINGS OF SHEKH FARID 95 + + XVII. THE MOUSE 101 + + XVIII. A WONDERFUL STORY 108 + + XIX. THE FAKIR NANAKSA SAVES THE MERCHANT'S LIFE 114 + + XX. THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR + ON HIS CHIN 119 + + XXI. THE BEL-PRINCESS 138 + + XXII. HOW THE RAJA'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABAM 153 + + XXIII. THE PRINCESS WHO LOVED HER FATHER LIKE SALT 164 + + XXIV. THE DEMON IS AT LAST CONQUERED BY THE KING'S SON 173 + + XXV. THE FAN PRINCE 193 + + XXVI. THE BED 201 + + XXVII. PANWPATTI RANI 208 + + XXVIII. THE CLEVER WIFE 216 + + XXIX. RAJA HARICHAND'S PUNISHMENT 224 + + XXX. THE KING'S SON AND THE WAZIR'S DAUGHTER 234 + + NOTES 237 + + GLOSSARY 295 + + LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO 297 + + INDEX 299 + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +INDIAN FAIRY TALES. + +I. + +PHULMATI RANI. + + +There were once a Raja and a Rani who had an only daughter called the +Phulmati Rani, or the Pink-rose Queen. She was so beautiful that if +she went into a very dark room it was all lighted up by her beauty. On +her head was the sun; on her hands, moons; and her face was covered +with stars. She had hair that reached to the ground, and it was made +of pure gold. + +Every day after she had had her bath, her father and mother used to +weigh her in a pair of scales. She only weighed one flower. She ate +very, very little food. This made her father most unhappy, and he +said, "I cannot let my daughter marry any one who weighs more than one +flower." Now, God loved this girl dearly, so he went down under the +ground to see if any of the fairy Rajas was fit to be the Phulmati +Rani's husband, and he thought none of them good enough. So he went in +the form of a Fakir to see the great Indrasan Raja who ruled over all +the other fairy Rajas. This Raja was exceedingly beautiful. On his +head was the sun; and on his hands, moons; and on his face, stars. God +made him weigh very little. Then he said to the Raja, "Come up with +me, and we will go to the palace of the Phulmati Rani." God had told +the Raja that he was God and not a Fakir, for he loved the Indrasan +Raja. "Very well," said the Indrasan Raja. So they travelled on until +they came to the Phulmati Rani's palace. When they arrived there they +pitched a tent in her compound, and they used to walk about, and +whenever they saw the Phulmati Rani they looked at her. One day they +saw her having her hair combed, so God said to the Indrasan Raja, "Get +a horse and ride where the Phulmati Rani can see you, and if any one +asks you who you are, say, 'Oh, it's only a poor Fakir, and I am his +son. We have come to stay here a little while just to see the country. +We will go away very soon.'" Well, he got a horse and rode about, and +Phulmati Rani, who was having her hair combed in the verandah, said, +"I am sure that must be some Raja; only see how beautiful he is." And +she sent one of her servants to ask him who he was. So the servant +said to the Indrasan Raja, "Who are you? why are you here? what do you +want?" "Oh, it's only a poor Fakir, and I am his son. We have just +come here for a little while to see the country. We will go away very +soon." So the servants returned to the Phulmati Rani and told her what +the Indrasan Raja had said. The Phulmati Rani told her father about +this. The next day, when the Phulmati Rani and her father were +standing in the verandah, God took a pair of scales and weighed the +Indrasan Raja in them. His weight was only that of one flower! "Oh," +said the Raja, when he saw that, "here is the husband for the Phulmati +Rani!" The next day, after the Phulmati Rani had had her bath, her +father took her and weighed her, and he also weighed the Indrasan +Raja. And they were each the same weight. Each weighed one flower, +although the Indrasan Raja was fat and the Phulmati Rani thin. The +next day they were married, and there was a grand wedding. God said he +was too poor-looking to appear, so he bought a quantity of elephants, +and camels, and horses, and cows, and sheep, and goats, and made a +procession, and came to the wedding. Then he went back to heaven, but +before he went he said to the Indrasan Raja "You must stay here one +whole year; then go back to your father and to your kingdom. As long +as you put flowers on your ears no danger will come near you." (This +was in order that the fairies might know that he was a very great Raja +and not hurt him.) "All right," said the Indrasan Raja. And God went +back to heaven. + +So the Indrasan Raja stayed for a whole year. Then he told the Raja, +the Phulmati Rani's father, that he wished to go back to his own +kingdom. "All right," said the Raja, and he wanted to give him horses, +and camels, and elephants. But the Indrasan Raja and the Phulmati Rani +said they wanted nothing but a tent and a cooly. Well, they set out; +but the Indrasan Raja forgot to put flowers on his ears, and after +some days the Indrasan Raja was very, very tired, so he said, "We will +sit down under these big trees and rest awhile. Our baggage will soon +be here; it is only a little way behind." So they sat down, and the +Raja said he felt so tired he must sleep. "Very well," said the Rani; +"lay your head in my lap and sleep." After a while a shoemaker's wife +came by to get some water from a tank which was close to the spot +where the Raja and Rani were resting. Now, the shoemaker's wife was +very black and ugly, and she had only one eye, and she was exceedingly +wicked. The Rani was very thirsty and she said to the woman, "Please +give me some water, I am so thirsty." "If you want any," said the +shoemaker's wife, "come to the tank and get it yourself." "But I +cannot," said the Rani, "for the Raja is sleeping in my lap." At last +the poor Rani got so very, very thirsty, she said she must have some +water; so laying the Raja's head very gently on the ground she went to +the tank. Then the wicked shoemaker's wife, instead of giving her to +drink, gave her a push and sent the beautiful Rani into the water, +where she was drowned. The shoemaker's wife then went back to the +Raja, and, taking his head on her knee, sat still until he woke. When +the Raja woke he was much frightened, and he said, "This is not my +wife. My wife was not black, and she had two eyes." The poor Raja felt +very unhappy. He said, "I am sure something has happened to my wife." +He went to the tank, and he saw flowers floating on the water and he +caught them, and as he caught them his own true wife stood before him. + +They travelled on till they came to a little house. The shoemaker's +wife went with them. They went into the house and laid themselves down +to sleep, and the Raja laid beside him the flowers he had found +floating in the tank. The Rani's life was in the flowers. As soon as +the Raja and Rani were asleep, the shoemaker's wife took the flowers, +broke them into little bits, and burnt them. The Rani died +immediately, for the second time. Then the poor Raja, feeling very +lonely and unhappy, travelled on to his kingdom, and the shoemaker's +wife went after him. God brought the Phulmati Rani to life a second +time, and led her to the Indrasan Raja's gardener. + +One day as the Indrasan Raja was going out hunting, he passed by the +gardener's house, and saw a beautiful girl sitting in it. He thought +she looked very like his wife, the Phulmati Rani. So he went home to +his father and said, "Father, I should like to be married to the girl +who lives in our gardener's house." "All right," said the father; "you +can be married at once." So they were married the next day. + +One night the shoemaker's wife took a ram, killed it, and put some of +its blood on the Phulmati Rani's mouth while the Rani slept. The next +morning she went to the Indrasan Raja and said, "Whom have you +married? You have married a Rakshas. Just see. She has been eating +cows, and sheep, and chickens. Just come and see." The Raja went, and +when he saw the blood on his wife's mouth he was frightened, and he +thought she was really a Rakshas. The shoemaker's wife said to him, +"If you do not cut this woman in pieces, some harm will happen to +you." So the Raja took a knife and cut his beautiful wife into pieces. +He then went away very sorrowful. The Phulmati Rani's arms and legs +grew into four houses; her chest became a tank, and her head a house +in the middle of the tank; her eyes turned into two little doves; and +these five houses, the tank and the doves, were transported to the +jungle. No one knew this. The little doves lived in the house that +stood in the middle of the tank. The other four houses stood round the +tank. + +One day when the Indrasan Raja was hunting by himself in the jungle he +was very tired, and he saw the house in the tank. So he said, "I will +go into that house to rest a little while, and to-morrow I will return +home to my father." So, tying his horse outside, he went into the +house and lay down to sleep. By and by, the two little birds came and +perched on the roof above his head. They began to talk, and the Raja +listened. The little husband-dove said to his wife, "This is the man +who cut his wife to pieces." And then he told her how the Indrasan +Raja had married the beautiful Phulmati Rani, who weighed only one +flower, and how the shoemaker's wife had drowned her; how God had +brought her to life again; how the shoemaker's wife had burned her; +and last of all, how the Raja himself had cut her to pieces. "And +cannot the Raja find her again?" said the little wife-dove. "Oh, yes, +he can," said her husband, "but he does not know how to do so." "But +do tell me how he can find her," said the little wife-dove. "Well," +said her husband, "every night, at twelve o'clock, the Rani and her +servants come to bathe in the tank. Her servants wear yellow dresses, +but she wears a red one. Now, if the Raja could get all their dresses, +every one, when they lay them down and go into the tank to bathe, and +throw away all the yellow dresses one by one, keeping only the red +one, he would recover his wife." + +The Raja heard all these things, and at midnight the Rani and her +servants came to bathe. The Raja lay very quiet, and after they all +had taken off their dresses and gone into the tank, he jumped up and +seized every one of the dresses,--he did not leave one of them,--and +ran away as hard as he could. Then each of the servants, who were only +fairies, screamed out, "Give me my dress! What are you doing? why do +you take it away?" Then the Raja dropped one by one the yellow dresses +and kept the red one. The fairy servants picked up the dresses, and +forsook the Phulmati Rani and ran away. The Raja came back to her with +her dress in his hand, and she said, "Oh, give me back my dress. If +you keep it I shall die. Three times has God brought me to life, but +he will bring me to life no more." The Raja fell at her feet and +begged her pardon, and they were reconciled. And he gave her back her +dress. Then they went home, and Indrasan Raja had the shoemaker's wife +cut to pieces, and buried in the jungle. And they lived happily ever +after. + + Told by Dunkni at Simla, July 25th, 1876. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +II. + +THE POMEGRANATE KING. + + +There was once a Maharaja, called the Anarbasa, or Pomegranate King; +and a Maharani called the Gulianar, or Pomegranate-flower. The +Maharani died leaving two children: a little girl of four or five +years old, and a little boy of three. The Maharaja was very sorry when +she died, for he loved her dearly. He was exceedingly fond of his two +children, and got for them two servants: a man to cook their dinner, +and an ayah to take care of them. He also had them taught to read and +write. Soon after his wife's death the neighbouring Raja's daughter's +husband died, and she said if any other Raja would marry her, she +would be quite willing to marry him, and she also said she would like +very much to marry the Pomegranate Raja. So her father went to see the +Pomegranate Raja, and told him that his daughter wished to marry him. +"Oh," said the Pomegranate Raja, "I do not want to marry again, for if +I do, the woman I marry will be sure to be unkind to my two children. +She will not take care of them. She will not pet them and comfort them +when they are unhappy." "Oh," said the other Raja, "my daughter will +be very good to them, I assure you." "Very well," said the Maharaja, +"I will marry her." So they were married. + +For two or three months everything went on well, but then the new +Rani, who was called the Sunkasi Maharani, began to beat the poor +children, and to scold their servants. One day she gave the boy such +a hard blow on his cheek that it swelled. When the Maharaja came out +of his office to get his tiffin, he saw the boy's swollen face, and, +calling the two servants, he said, "Who did this? how did my boy get +hurt?" They said, "The Rani gave him such a hard blow on his cheek +that it swelled, and she gets very angry with us if we say anything +about her ill-treatment of the children, or how she scolds us." The +Maharaja was exceedingly angry with his wife for this, and said to +her, "I never beat my children. Why should you beat them? If you beat +them I will send you away." And he went off to his office in a great +rage. The Rani was very angry. So she told the little girl to go with +the ayah to the bazar. The ayah and the little girl set off, never +suspecting any evil. As soon as they had gone, the Rani took the +little boy and told him she would kill him. The boy went down on his +knees and begged her to spare his life. But she said, "No; your father +is always quarrelling with me, beating me, and scolding me, all +through your fault." The boy begged and prayed again, saying he would +never be naughty any more. The Rani shook her head, and taking a large +knife she cut off his head. She then cut him up and made him into a +curry. She then buried his head, and his nails, and his feet in the +ground, and she covered them well with earth, and stamped the ground +well down so that no one should notice it had been disturbed. When the +Pomegranate Raja came home to his dinner, she put the curry and some +rice on the table before him; but the Raja, seeing his boy was not +there, would not eat. He went and looked everywhere for his son, +crying very much, and the little girl cried very much too, for she +loved her brother dearly. After they had hunted for him for some time, +the little boy appeared. His father embraced him. "Where have you +been?" said he. "I cannot eat my dinner without you." The little boy +said, "Oh, I was in the jungle playing with other boys." They then +sat down to dinner, and the curry changed into a kid curry. The Rani +was greatly astonished when she saw the boy. She said to herself, "I +cut his head off; I cut him into little pieces, and I made him into a +curry, and yet he is alive!" She then went into the garden to see if +his head, and nails, and feet were in the hole where she had buried +them. But they were not there; it was quite empty. She then called a +sepoy, and said to him, "If you will take two children into the jungle +and kill them, I will give you as much money as you like." "All +right," said the sepoy. She then brought the children, and told him to +take them to the jungle. So he took them away to the jungle, but he +had not the heart to kill them, for they were exceedingly beautiful, +and he left them in the jungle near their dead mother's grave. Then he +returned to the Rani, saying he had done as she wished, and she gave +him as much money as he wanted. + +The poor Pomegranate Raja was very unhappy when he saw his children +were not in the palace, and that they could not be found. He asked his +Rani where they were, but she said she did not know; they had gone out +to play and had never returned. From the day he lost his children the +Pomegranate Raja became melancholy. He did not love the Rani any more; +he hated her. + +Meanwhile the children lived in a little house built close to their +mother's grave. God had given her life again that she might take care +of them. But they did not know she was their mother; they thought she +was another woman sent to take care of them. God sent also a man to +teach them. Somehow or other the Rani Sunkasi heard they were still +alive in the jungle. She did not know how she could kill them. So at +last she pretended she was very ill, and she said to the Raja, "The +doctor says that in the jungle there are two children, and he says if +you will have them killed, and will bring their livers for me to +stand on when I bathe, then I shall get well." The Raja sent a second +sepoy to kill the children, and this man killed them and brought their +livers to the Rani. She stood on them while bathing, and then said she +was quite well. She then threw the livers into the garden, and during +the night a tree grew up there with two large beautiful flowers on it. +Next morning the Rani looked out and said, "I will gather those +flowers to-day." Every day she said she would gather them, and every +day she forgot. At last one day she said, "Every day I forget to +gather those flowers, but to-day I really will do so," and she sent +her servant to pluck them. So he went out, and, just as he was going +to gather them, the flowers flew up just out of his reach. Then the +Rani went down, and when she was going to pick them they flew up so +high that they could not be seen. Every day she tried to gather them, +and every day they went high up, and came back again to the tree as +soon as she had gone. Then the flowers disappeared and two large +fruits came in their stead. The Rani looked out of her window: "Oh, +what delicious fruits! I'll eat them all myself. I won't give a bit to +anybody, and I'll eat them by myself quite quietly." She went down to +the garden, but they flew high up into the sky, and then they came +down again. So this went on, day after day, until she got so cross she +ordered the tree to be cut down. But it was of no use. The tree was +cut down, but the fruits flew high up into the sky, and in the night +the tree grew up again and the fruits came back again to it. And so +this went on for many days. Every day she cut down the tree, and every +night it grew up again, but she could never get the fruits. At last +she became very angry, and had the tree hewn into tiny bits and all +the bits thrown away, but still the tree grew again in the night, and +in the morning the fruits were hanging on it. So she went to the Raja +and told him that in the garden was a tree with two fruits, and every +time she tried to get them, the fruits went up into the air. She had +had the tree cut down ever so many times, and it always grew up again +in the night and the fruits returned to it. "Why cannot you leave the +tree alone?" said the Raja. "But I should like to see if what you say +is true." So the Raja and the Rani went down to the garden, and the +Rani tried to get the fruits, but she could not, for they went right +up into the air. + +That evening the Raja went alone to the garden to gather the fruits, +and the fruits of themselves fell into his hand. He took them into his +room, and putting them on a little table close to his bed, he lay down +to sleep. As soon as he was in bed a little voice inside one of the +fruits said, "Brother;" and a little voice in the other fruit said, +"Sister, speak more gently. To-morrow the Raja will break open the +fruits, and if the Rani finds us she will kill us. Three times has God +made us alive again, but if we die a fourth time he will bring us to +life no more." The Raja listened and said, "I will break them open in +a little while." Then he went to sleep, and after a little he woke and +said, "A little while longer," and went to sleep again. Several times +he woke up and said, "I will break the fruits open in a little while," +and went to sleep. At last he took a knife and began cutting the +fruits open very fast, and the little boy cried, "Gently, gently, +father; you hurt us!" So then the Raja cut more gently, and he stopped +to ask, "Are you hurt?" and they said, "No." And then he cut again and +asked, "Are you hurt?" and they said, "No." And a third time he asked, +"Are you hurt?" and they answered, "No." Then the fruits broke open +and his two children jumped out. They rushed into their father's arms, +and he clasped them tight, and they cried softly, that the Rani might +not hear. + +He shut his room up close, and fed and dressed his children, and then +went out of the room, locking the door behind him. He had a little +wooden house built that could easily catch fire, and as soon as it was +ready he went to the Rani and said, "Will you go into a little house I +have made ready for you while your room is getting repaired?" "All +right," said the Rani; so she went into the little house, and that +night a man set it on fire, and the Rani and everything in it was +burnt up. Then the Pomegranate Raja took her bones, put them into a +tin box, and sent them as a present to her mother. "Oh," said the +mother, "my daughter has married the Pomegranate Maharaja, and so she +sends me some delicious food." When she opened the box, to her horror +she found only bones! Then she wrote to the Maharaja, "Of what use are +bones?" The Maharaja wrote back, "They are your bones; they belong to +you, for they are your daughter's bones. She ill-treated and killed my +children, and so I had her burnt." + +The Pomegranate Raja and his children lived very happily for some +time, and their dead mother, the Gulianar Rani, having a wish to see +her husband and her children, prayed to God to let her go and visit +them. God said she could go, but not in her human shape, so he changed +her into a beautiful bird, and put a pin in her head, and said, "As +soon as the pin is pulled out you will become a woman again." She flew +to the palace where the Maharaja lived, and there were great trees +about the palace. On one of these she perched at night. The doorkeeper +was lying near it. She called out, "Doorkeeper! doorkeeper!" and he +answered, "What is it? Who is it?" And she asked, "Is the Raja well?" +and the doorkeeper said, "Yes." "Are the children well?" and he said, +"Yes." "And all the servants, and camels, and horses?" "Yes." "Are you +well?" "Yes." "Have you had plenty of food?" "Yes." "What a great +donkey your Maharaja is!" And then she began to cry very much, and +pearls fell from her eyes as she cried. Then she began to laugh very +much, and great big rubies fell from her beak as she laughed. The next +morning the doorkeeper got up and felt about, and said, "What is all +this?" meaning the pearls and the rubies, for he did not know what +they were. "I will keep them." So he picked them all up and put them +into a corner of his house. Every night the bird came and asked after +the Maharaja and the children and the servants, and left a great many +pearls and rubies behind her. At last the doorkeeper had a whole heap +of pearls and rubies. + +One day a Fakir came and begged, and as the doorkeeper had no pice, or +flour, or rice to give, he gave him a handful of pearls and rubies. +"Well," said the Fakir to himself, "I am sure these are pearls and +rubies." So he tied them up in his cloth. Then he went to the Raja to +beg, and the Raja gave him a handful of rice. "What!" said the Fakir, +"the great Maharaja only gives me a handful of rice when his +doorkeeper gives me pearls and rubies!" and he turned to walk away. +But the Maharaja stopped him. "What did you say?" said he, "that my +doorkeeper gave you pearls and rubies?" "Yes," said the Fakir, "your +doorkeeper gave me pearls and rubies." So the Maharaja went to the +doorkeeper's house, and when he saw all the pearls and rubies that +were there, he thought the man had stolen them from his treasury. The +Maharaja had not as many pearls and rubies as his doorkeeper had. Then +turning to the doorkeeper he asked him to tell him truly where and how +he had got them. "Yes, I will," said the doorkeeper. "Every night a +beautiful bird comes and asks after you, after your children, after +all your elephants, horses, and servants; and then it cries, and when +it cries pearls drop from its eyes; and then it laughs, and rubies +fall from its beak. If you come to-night I dare say you will see it." +"All right," said the Pomegranate Raja. + +So that night the Maharaja pulled his bed out under the tree on which +the bird always perched. At night the bird came and called out, +"Doorkeeper! doorkeeper!" and the doorkeeper answered, "Yes, lord." +And the bird said, "Is your Maharaja well?" "Yes." "Are the children +well?" "Yes." "And all his servants, horses, and camels and +elephants--are they well?" "Yes." "Are you well?" "Yes." "Have you had +plenty of food?" "Yes." "What a fool your Maharaja is!" And then she +cried, and the pearls came tumbling down on the Maharaja's eyes, and +the Maharaja opened one eye and saw what a beautiful bird it was. And +then it laughed, and rubies fell from its beak on to the Maharaja. + +Next morning the Maharaja said he would give any one who would catch +the bird as much money as he wanted. So he called a fisherman, and +asked him to bring his net and catch the bird when it came that night. +The fisherman said he would for one thousand rupees. That night the +fisherman, the Maharaja, and the doorkeeper, all waited under the +tree. Soon the bird came, and asked after the Maharaja, after his +children, and all his servants and elephants, and camels and horses, +and then after the doorkeeper, and then it called the Maharaja a fool. +Then it cried, and then it laughed, and just as it laughed the +fisherman threw the net over the bird and caught it. Then they shut it +up in an iron cage, and the next morning the Maharaja took it out and +stroked it, and said, "What a sweet little bird! what a lovely little +bird!" And the Maharaja felt something like a pin in its head, and he +gave a pull, and out came the pin, and then his own dear wife, the +Pomegranate-flower Rani, stood before him. The Raja was exceedingly +glad, and so were his two children. And there were great rejoicings, +and they lived happily ever after. + + Told by Dunkni at Simla, 26th July, 1876. + + + + +[Decoration] + +III. + +THE CAT AND THE DOG. + + +_Introduction._ + +Now all cats are aunts to the tigers, and the cat in this story was +the aunt of the tiger in this story. She was his mother's sister. When +the tiger's mother was dying, she called the cat to her, and taking +her paw she said, "When I am dead you must take care of my child." The +cat answered, "Very well," and then the tiger's mother died. The tiger +said to the cat, "Aunt, I am very hungry. Go and fetch some fire. When +I go to ask men for fire they are afraid of me, and run away from me, +and won't give me any. But you are such a little creature that men are +not afraid of you, and so they will give you fire, and then you must +bring it to me." So the cat said, "Very good," and off she started, +and went into a house where some men were eating their dinner: they +had thrown away the bones, and the cat began to eat them. This house +was very near the place where the tiger lived, and on peeping round +the corner he saw his aunt eating the bones. "Oh," said he, "I sent my +aunt to fetch fire that I might cook my dinner as I am very hungry, +and there she sits eating the bones, and never thinks of me." So the +tiger called out, "Aunt, I sent you to fetch fire, and there you sit +eating bones and leave me hungry! If ever you come near me again, I +will kill you at once." So the cat ran away screaming, "I will never +go near the tiger again, for he will kill me!" This is why all cats +are so afraid of tigers, or of anything like a tiger. And this is why, +when the cat in the story saw the tiger, her nephew, fighting with the +man, she ran away as hard as she could. + + +_The Story._ + +There were once a dog and a cat. It was a very rainy day, and some men +were eating their dinner inside their house. The cat sat inside too, +eating her dinner, and the dog sat on the door-step. The cat called +out to the dog, "I am a high-caste person, and you are a very +low-caste person." "Oh," said the dog, "not at all. I am the +high-caste person and you are of very low caste. You eat all the men's +dinner up, and snatch the food from their hands just as they are +putting it into their mouths. And you scratch them, and they beat you; +while I sit away from them, and so they don't beat me. And if they +_give_ me any dinner I'll eat it; but if they don't, I won't." "Oh," +says the cat, "not a bit of it. I eat nice clean food; but you eat +nasty, dirty food, which the men have thrown away." "No," said the +dog, "I am high caste and you are very low caste, for if I gave you a +slap you would tumble down directly." "No, no!" said the cat. And they +went on disputing and began to fight, till the dog said, "Very well, +let us go to the wise jackal and ask him which of us is the better." +"Good," said the cat. So they went to the jackal and asked him. Said +the cat, "I am of the higher caste, and the dog is of the lower +caste." "No," said the jackal, "the dog is of the higher caste." The +cat said, "No," and the jackal said, "Yes," and they began to fight. +Then the jackal and the dog proposed to go and ask a great big beast +who lived in the jungle and was like a tiger. But the cat said, "I +cannot go near a tiger or anything like one." So then they said, "When +we come near the beast, you can remain behind, and we will go on and +speak to him." So they ran into the jungle, where there was a tiger +who had been lying on the ground with a great thorn sticking in his +foot. When his aunt, the cat, saw him, she scampered off, for she was +dreadfully frightened. + +The thorn had given the tiger great pain; for a long while he could +get no one to take it out, so had lain there for days. At last he had +seen a man passing by, to whom he called and said, "Take out this +thorn, and I promise I won't eat you." But the man refused through +fear, saying, "No, I won't, for you will eat me." Three times the +tiger had promised not to eat him; so at last the man took out the +thorn. Then the tiger sprang up and said, "Now I will eat you, for I +am very hungry." "Oh, no, no!" said the man. "What a liar you are! You +promised not to eat me if I would take the thorn out of your foot, and +now that I have done so you say you will eat me." And they began to +fight, and the man said, "If you won't eat me, I will bring you a cow +and a goat." But the tiger refused, saying, "No, I won't eat them; I +will eat you." + +At this moment the jackal and the dog came up. And the jackal asked, +"What is the matter? why are you fighting?" So then the man told him +why they were fighting; and the jackal said to the tiger, "I will tell +you a good way of eating the man. Go and fetch a big bag." So the +tiger went and fetched the bag, and brought it to the jackal. Then the +jackal said, "Get inside the bag, and leave its mouth open and I'll +throw the man in to you." So the tiger got inside the bag, and the +jackal, the dog and the man quickly tied it up as tight as they could. +Then they began to beat the tiger with all their might until at last +they killed him. Then the man went home, and the jackal went home, and +the dog went home. + + + + +[Decoration] + +IV. + +THE CAT WHICH COULD NOT BE KILLED. + + +There were once a dog and a cat, who were always quarrelling. The dog +used to beat the cat, but he never could hurt her. She would only +dance about and cry, "You never hurt me, you never hurt me! I _had_ a +pain in my shoulder, but now it is all gone away." So the dog went to +a _maina_[1] and said, "What shall I do to hurt this cat? I beat her +and I bite her, and yet I can't hurt her. I am such a big dog and she +is rather a big cat, yet if I beat her I don't hurt her, but if she +beats me she hurts me so much." The _maina_ said, "Bite her mouth +very, very hard, and then you'll hurt her." "Oh, no," said the cat, +who had just come up, laughing; "you won't hurt me at all." The dog +bit her mouth as hard as he could. "Oh, you don't hurt me," said the +cat, dancing about. So the dog went again to the _maina_ and said, +"What shall I do?" "Bite her ears," said the _maina_. So the dog bit +the cat's ears, but she danced about and said, "Oh, you did not hurt +me; now I can put earrings in my ears." So she put in earrings. + +The dog went to the elephant. "Can you kill this cat? she worries me +so every day." "Oh, yes," said the elephant, "of course I can kill +her. She is so little and I am so big." Then the elephant came and +took her up with his trunk, and threw her a long way. Up she jumped at +once and danced about, saying, "You did not hurt me one bit. I _had_ +a pain, but now I am quite well." Then the elephant got cross and +said, "I'll teach you to dance in another way than that," and he took +the cat and laid her on the ground and put his great foot on her. But +she was not hurt at all. She danced about and said, "You did not hurt +me one bit, not one bit," and she dug her claws into the elephant's +trunk. The elephant ran away screaming, and he told the dog, "You had +better beware of that cat. She belongs to the tiger tribe." The dog +felt very angry with the cat. "What shall I do," said he, "to kill +this cat?" And he bit her nose so hard that it bled. But she laughed +at him. "Now I can put a ring in my nose," said she. He got furious. +"I'll bite her tail in half," said he. So he bit her tail in half, and +yet he did not hurt her. + +He then went to a leopard. "If you can kill this cat I will give you +anything you want." "Very well, I'll kill her," said the leopard. And +they went together to the cat. "Stop," said the cat to the leopard; "I +want to speak to you first. I'll give you something to eat, and then +I'll tell you what I want to say." And then she ran off ever so far, +and after she had run a mile she stopped and danced, calling out, "Oh! +I'll give you nothing to eat; you could not kill me." The leopard went +away very cross, and saying, "What a clever cat that is." + +The dog next went to a man, and said, "Can you kill this cat, she +worries me so?" "Of course I can," said the man; "I'll stick this +knife into her stomach." And he stuck his knife into the cat's +stomach, but the cat jumped up, and her stomach closed, and the man +went home. + +And the dog went to a bear. "Can _you_ kill this cat? I can't." "I'll +kill her," said the bear; so he stuck all his claws into the cat, but +he didn't hurt her; and she stuck her claws into the bear's nose so +deep that he died immediately. + +Then the poor dog felt very unhappy, and went and threw himself into a +hole, and there he died, while the cat went away to her friends. + + Told by Dunkni at Simla, July 26th, 1876. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [1] A kind of starling. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +V. + +THE JACKAL AND THE KITE. + + +There was once a she-jackal and a she-kite. They lived in the same +tree; the jackal at the bottom of the tree, and the kite at the top. +Neither had any children. One day the kite said to the jackal, "Let us +go and worship God, and fast, and then he will give us children." So +the jackal said, "Very good." That day the kite ate nothing, nor that +night; but the jackal at night brought a dead animal, and was sitting +eating it quietly under the tree. By-and-by the kite heard her +crunching the bones, instead of fasting. "What have you got there," +said the kite, "that you are making such a noise?" "Nothing," said the +jackal; "it is only my own bones that rattle inside my body whenever I +move." The kite went to sleep again, and took no more notice of the +jackal. Next morning the kite ate some food in the name of God. That +night again the jackal brought a dead animal. The kite called out, +"What are you crunching there? Why are you making that noise? I am +sure you have something to eat." The jackal said, "Oh, no! It is only +my own bones rattling in my body." So the kite went to sleep again. + +Some time after, the kite had seven little boys--real little boys--but +the jackal had none, because she had not fasted. A year after that the +kite went and worshipped God, asking Him to take care of her children. +One day--it was their great day--the kite set out seven plates. On one +she put cocoa-nuts, on another cucumbers, on a third rice, on a +fourth plantains, and so on. Then she gave a plate to each of her +seven sons, and told them to take the plates to their aunt the jackal. +So they took the seven plates, and carried them to their aunt, crying +out, "Aunty, aunty, look here! Mamma has sent you these things." The +jackal took the plates, and cut off the heads of the seven boys, and +their hands, and their feet, and their noses, and their ears, and took +out their eyes. Then she laid their heads in one plate, and their eyes +in another, and their noses in a third, and their ears in a fourth, +and their hands in a fifth, and their feet in a sixth, and their +trunks in the seventh, and then she covered all the plates over. Then +she took the plates to the kite, and called out, "Here! I have brought +you something in return. You sent me a present, and I bring you a +present." Now the poor kite thought the jackal had killed all her +seven children, so she cried out, "Oh, it's too dark now to see what +you have brought. Put the plates down in my tree." The jackal put the +plates down and went home. Then God made the boys alive again, and +they came running to their mother, quite well. And instead of the +heads and eyes, and noses and ears, and hands and feet, and trunks, +there were again on the plates cocoa-nuts and cucumbers, and plantains +and rice, and so on. + +Now the jackal got hold of the boys again. And this time she killed +them, and cooked them and ate them; and again God brought them to +life. Well, the jackal was very much astonished to see the boys alive, +and she got angry, and said to the kite, "I will take your seven sons +and throw them into the water, and they will be drowned." "Very well," +said the kite, "take them. I don't mind. God will take care of them." +The jackal took them and threw them into the water, and left them to +die, while the kite looked on without crying. And again God made them +alive, and the jackal was so surprised. "Why," said she, "I put these +children into the water, and left them to drown. And here they are +alive!" Then God got very angry with the jackal, and said to her, "Go +out of this village. And wherever you go, men will try to shoot you, +and you shall always be afraid of them." So the jackal had to go away; +and the kite and her children lived very happily ever afterwards. + + Told by Dunkni. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +VI. + +THE VORACIOUS FROG. + + +There were a rat and a frog. And the rat said to the frog, "Go and get +me some sticks, while I go and get some flour and milk." So the frog +went out far into the jungle and brought home plenty of sticks, and +the rat went out and brought home flour and milk for their dinner. +Then she cooked the dinner, and when it was cooked she said to the +frog, "Now, you sit here while I go to bathe, and take care of the +food so that no one may come and eat it up." Then the rat went to take +her bath, and as soon as she had gone the frog made haste and ate up +the dinner quickly, and went away. + +When the rat came back she found no dinner, and she could not find the +frog. So she went out to look for him, calling to him as loudly as she +could, and she saw him in the distance, and overtook him. "Why have +you eaten my dinner? Why did you go away?" said the rat. Said the +frog, "Oh, dear! it was not I that ate your dinner, but a huge dog +that came; and I was only a tiny, tiny thing, and he was a great big +dog, and so he frightened me, and I ran away." "Very well," said the +rat; "go and fetch me more sticks while I go for flour and milk." So +the frog went out far into the jungle and brought back plenty of +sticks. And the rat went to fetch flour and milk. Then she lit the +fire and cooked the dinner, and told the frog to take care of the +dinner while she went to bathe. As soon as she had gone, the frog ate +up all the dinner, and went away and hid himself. When the rat came +back she saw no frog, no dinner. She went away into the jungle and +called to him, and the frog answered from behind a tree, "Here I am, +here I am." The rat went to him and said, "Why did you eat my dinner?" +"I didn't," said the frog. "It was a great big dog ate the dinner, and +he wanted to eat me too, and so I ran away." The rat said, "Very well. +Go and fetch me some more sticks, and I will go for flour and milk." +Then she cooked the dinner again and went to bathe. The frog ate up +all the dinner, and went away and hid himself. When the rat returned +she saw no dinner, no frog. So she went far into the jungle, found the +frog, and told him that it was he that had eaten the dinner. And the +frog said, "No," and the rat said, "Yes." And the frog said, "If you +say that again, I will eat you up." "All right," says the rat, "eat me +up." So he ate her up and sat behind a tree, and the baker came past. +The frog called out, "Baker, come here! come here! Give me some +bread." The baker looked about everywhere, could not see anybody, +could not think who was calling him. At last he saw the frog sitting +behind a tree. "Give me some bread," says the frog. The man said, "No, +I won't give you any bread. I am a great big man, and you are only a +little frog, and you have no money." "Yes, I have money. I will give +you some pice, and you will give me some bread." But the man said, +"No, I won't." "Well," said the frog, "if you won't give me bread, I +will eat you up first, and then I will eat up your bread." So he ate +up the man, and then ate up his bread. Presently a man with oranges +and lemons passed by. The frog called to him, "Come here! come here!" +The man was very much afraid. He didn't know who had called him. Then +he saw the frog, and the frog said, "Give me some lemons." The man +wouldn't, and said, "No." "Very well," says the frog, "if you won't, +I'll eat you up." So he ate up the man with his lemons and oranges. +Presently a horse and his groom went by. The frog says, "Please give +me a ride, and I will give you some money." "No," said the horse, "I +won't let you ride on me. You are like a monkey,--very little--I won't +let you ride on my back." The frog said, "If you won't, I'll eat you +up." Then the frog ate him up, and his groom too. Then a barber passed +by. "Come and shave me," says the frog. "Good," says the barber, "I'll +come and shave you." So he shaved him, and he thought the frog looked +_very_ fat, and so as he was shaving him he suddenly made a cut in his +stomach. Out jumped the rat with her flour and milk--the baker with +his bread--the lemon-seller with his oranges and lemons--the horse and +his groom. And the barber ran away home. And the frog died. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +VII. + +THE STORY OF FOOLISH SACHULI. + + +There once lived a poor old widow woman named Hungni, who had a little +idiot son called Sachuli. She used to beg every day. One day when the +son had grown up, he said to his mother. "What makes women laugh?" "If +you throw a tiny stone at them," answered she, "they will laugh." So +one day Sachuli went and sat by a well, and three women came to it to +fill their water-jars. "Now," said Sachuli "I will make one of these +women laugh." Two of the women filled their water-jars and went away +home, and he threw no stones at them; but as the last, who also had on +the most jewels, passed him, he threw a great big stone at her, and +she fell down dead, with her mouth set as if she were smiling. "Oh, +look! look! how she is laughing!" said Sachuli, and he ran off to call +his mother. + +"Come, come, mother," said he, "and see how I have made this woman +laugh." + +His mother came, and when she saw the woman lying dead, she was much +frightened, for the dead woman belonged to a great and very rich +family, and she wore jewels worth a thousand rupees. Hungni took off +all her jewels, and threw her body into the well. + +After some days the dead woman's father and mother and all her people +sent round a crier with a drum to try and find her. "Whoever brings +back a young woman who wears a great many gold necklaces and bracelets +and rings shall get a great deal of money," cried the crier. Sachuli +heard him. "I know where she is," said he. "My mother took off all her +jewels, and threw her into the well." + +The crier said, "Can you go down into the well and bring her up?" + +"If you will tie a rope round my waist and let me down the well, I +shall be able to bring her up." + +So they set off towards the well, which was near Hungni's house; and +when she saw them coming, she guessed what they came for, and she ran +out and killed a sheep, threw it into the well, and took out the dead +woman and hid her. + +The crier got some men to come with him, and they let Sachuli down the +well. "Has she got eyes?" said Sachuli. "Of course, every one has +eyes," answered the men. "Has she a nose?" asked Sachuli. "Yes, she +has a nose," said the men. "Has she got a mouth?" asked Sachuli. +"Yes," said the men. "Has she a long face?" + +"What does he mean?" said the men, who were getting cross. "No one has +a long face; perhaps she has, though. Yes, she has a long face," cried +the men. + +"Has she a tail?" + +"A tail! Why no one has a tail. Perhaps, though, she has long hair. No +doubt that is what he calls a tail. Yes, she has a tail." + +"Has she ears?" + +"Of course, every one has ears." + +"Has she four feet?" + +"Four feet!" said the men. "Why, no one has four feet. Perhaps you +call her hands feet. Yes, she has four feet. Bring her up quickly." + +Then Sachuli brought up the sheep. + +The men were very angry when they saw the sheep, and they beat +Sachuli, and called him a very stupid fellow and a great liar, and +they went away feeling very cross. + +Sachuli went home to his mother, who, as soon as she saw him coming, +ran out and put the woman's body back in the well, and when he got +home she beat him. "Mother," said he, "give me some bread, and I will +go away and die." His mother cooked him some bread, and he went away. + +He walked on, and on, and on, a long way. + +Now, some Raja's ten camels had been travelling along the road on +which Sachuli went, each carrying sacks of gold mohurs and rupees, and +one of these camels broke loose from the string and strayed away, and +the camel-drivers could not find it again. But Sachuli met it, and +caught it and took it home. + +"See, mother! see what a quantity of money I have brought you!" cried +Sachuli. Hungni rushed out, and was delighted to see so much money. +She took off the sacks at once and sent the camel away. Then she hid +the rupees and the gold with the jewels she had taken from the dead +woman. And, as she was a cunning woman, she went and bought a great +many comfits and scattered them all about her house, when Sachuli was +out of the way. "Oh, look! look!" cried Sachuli, "at all these +comfits." "God has rained them from heaven," said his mother. Sachuli +began to pick them up and eat them, and he told all the people in the +village how God had rained down comfits from heaven on his mother's +house. "What nonsense!" cried they. "Yes, he has," said Sachuli, "and +I have been eating them." "No comfits have fallen on our houses," said +they. "Yes, yes," cried he, "the day my mother got all those rupees, +God rained comfits on our house." "What lies!" cried the people; "as +if it ever rained comfits. Why did not the comfits rain down on our +houses? Why did they fall only on your house? And what's all this +about rupees?" And then they came to see if there were any rupees or +comfits in Hungni's house, and they found none at all, for Hungni had +hidden the rupees and thrown away the comfits. "There," said they to +Sachuli, "where are your rupees? where are your comfits? What a liar +you are! as if it ever rained comfits. How can you tell such stories?" +And they beat him. "But it did rain comfits," said Sachuli, "for I ate +them. It rained comfits the day my mother got the rupees." + +Now the Raja who had lost his camel sent round the crier with his drum +to find his camel and his money-bags. "Whoever has found a camel +carrying money-bags and brings it and the money back to the Raja, will +get a great many rupees," cried the crier. "Oh!" says Sachuli, "I know +where the money is. One day I went out and I found a stray camel, and +he had sacks of rupees on his back, and I took him home to my mother, +and she took the sacks off his back and sent the camel away." So the +crier went to find the rupees, and the people in the bazar went with +him. But Hungni had hidden the rupees so carefully that, though they +hunted all over her house, they could find none, and they beat +Sachuli, and told him he was a liar. "I am not telling lies," said +Sachuli. "My mother took the rupees the day it rained comfits on our +house." So they beat him again, and they went away. Then Hungni beat +Sachuli, and said, "What a bad boy you are! trying to get me beaten +and put into prison, telling every one about the rupees. Go away; I +don't want you any more, such a bad boy as you are! go away and die." +He said, "Very well, mother; give me some bread, and I'll go." + +Sachuli set off and took an axe with him. "How shall I kill myself?" +said he. So he climbed up a tree and sat out on a long branch, and +began cutting off the branch between himself and the tree on which he +was sitting. "What are you doing up there?" said a man who came by. +"You'll die if you cut that branch off." "What do you say?" cries +Sachuli, jumping down on the man, and seizing his hand. "When shall I +die?" "How can I tell? Let me go." "I won't let you go till you tell +me when I shall die." And at last the man said, "When you find a +scarlet thread on your jacket, then you will die." + +Sachuli went off to the bazar, and sat down by some tailors, and one +of the tailors, in throwing away their shreds of cloth, threw a +scarlet thread on Sachuli's coat. "Oh," said Sachuli, when he saw the +thread, "now I shall die!" "How do you know that?" said the tailors. +"A man told me that when I found a scarlet thread on my jacket, I +should die," said Sachuli; and the tailors all laughed at him and made +fun of him, but he went off into the jungle and dug his grave with his +axe, and lay down in it. In the night a sepoy came by with a large jar +of ghee on his head. "How heavy this jar is," said the sepoy. "Is +there no cooly that will come and carry my ghee home for me? I would +give him four pice for his trouble." Up jumped Sachuli out of his +grave. "I'll carry it for you," said he. "Who are you?" said the +sepoy, much frightened. "Oh, I am a man who is dead," said Sachuli, +"and I am tired of lying here. I can't lie here any more." "Well," +said the sepoy, very much frightened, "you may carry my ghee." So +Sachuli put the jar on his head, and he went on, with the sepoy +following. "Now," said Sachuli, "with these four pice I will buy a +hen, and I will sell the hen and her eggs, and with the money I get +for them I will buy a goat; and then I will sell the goat and her milk +and her hide and buy a cow, and I will sell her milk; and then I will +marry a wife, and then I shall have some children, and they will say +to me, 'Father, will you have some rice?' and I will say, 'No, I won't +have any rice.'" And as he said, "No, I won't have any rice," he shook +his head, and down came the jar of ghee, and the jar was smashed, and +the ghee spilled. "Oh, dear! what have you done?" cried the sepoy. +"Why did you shake your head?" "Because my children asked me to have +some rice, and I did not want any, so I shook my head," said Sachuli. +"Oh," said the sepoy, "he is an utter idiot." And the sepoy went home, +and Sachuli went back to his mother. "Why have you come back?" said +she. "I have been dead twelve years," said Sachuli. "What lies you +tell!" said she. "You have only been away a few days. Be off! I don't +want any liars here." + +Sachuli asked her to give him two flour-cakes, which she did, and he +went off to the jungle, and it was night. Five fairies lived in this +jungle, and as Sachuli went along, he broke his flour-cakes into five +pieces, and said, "Now I'll eat one, then the second, then the third, +then the fourth, and then the fifth." And the fairies heard him and +were afraid, and said to each other, "What shall we do? Here is this +man, and he is going to eat us all up. What shall we do to save +ourselves? We will give him something." So they went out all five, and +said to Sachuli, "If only you won't eat us, we will give you a +present." Now Sachuli did not know there were fairies in this jungle. +"What will you give me?" said Sachuli. "We will give you a +cooking-pot. When you want anything to eat, all you have to do is to +ask the pot for it, and you will get it." Sachuli took the pot and +went off to the bazar. He stopped at a cook-shop, and asked for some +pilau. "Pilau? There's no pilau here," said the shopman. "Well," said +Sachuli, "I have a cooking-pot here, and I have only to ask it for any +dish I want, and I get it at once." "What nonsense!" said the man. +"Just see," said Sachuli; and he said to the cooking-pot, "I want some +pilau," and immediately the pot was full of pilau, and all the people +in the shop set to work to help him to eat it up, it was so good. +"Oh," thought the cook, "I must have that pot," so he gave Sachuli a +sleepy drink. Then Sachuli went to sleep, and while he slept the cook +stole the fairy cooking-pot, and put a common cooking-pot in its +place. Sachuli went home with the cook's pot, and said, "Mother, I +have brought home a cooking-pot. If you ask it for any food you want, +you will get it." "Nonsense," said Hungni; "what lies you are +telling!" "It is quite true, mother; only see," and he asked the pot +for different dishes, but none came. Hungni was furious. "Go away," +she said. "Why do you come back to me? I want no liars here." "Give me +five flour-cakes and I will go," said her son. So she baked the bread +for him, and he set off for the jungle where he had met the five +fairies, and as he went along he said, "I will eat one, and I will eat +two, and I will eat three, and I will eat four, and I will eat five." +The five fairies heard him, and were terrified. "Here is this bad man +again," said they, "and he will eat us all five. Oh, what shall we do? +Let us give him a present." So they went to Sachuli, and said, "Here +is a box for you. Whenever you want any clothes you have only to tell +this box, and it will give them to you; take it, and don't eat us." So +he took the box and went to the bazar, and he stopped at the cook-shop +again, and asked the cook for a red silk dress, and a pair of long +black silk trousers, and a blue silk turban, and a pair of red shoes, +and the cook laughed and asked how he should have such beautiful +things. "Well," said Sachuli, "here is a box; when I ask it for the +dress and trousers, and turban and shoes, I shall get them." So the +cook laughed at him. "Just see," said Sachuli, and he said, "Box, give +me a red silk dress and a pair of long black silk trousers, and a blue +silk turban, and red shoes," and there they were at once. And the cook +was delighted, and said to himself, "I will have that box," and he +gave Sachuli a good dinner and a sleepy drink, and Sachuli fell fast +asleep. While he slept the cook came and stole the fairy box, and put +a common box in its place. In the morning Sachuli went home to his +mother and said, "Mother, I've brought you a box. You have only to ask +it for any clothes you may want, and you will get them." "Nonsense," +said his mother, "don't tell me such lies." "Only see, mother; I am +telling you truth," said he. He asked the box for coats and all sorts +of things--no; he got nothing. His mother was very angry, and said, +"You liar! you naughty boy! Go away and don't come back any more." And +she broke the box to pieces, and threw the bits away. "Well, mother, +bake me some flour-cakes." So she baked him the cakes and gave them to +him, and sent him away. He went off to the fairies' jungle, and as he +went he said, "Now I'll eat one, then two, then three, then four, then +five." The five fairies were very frightened. "Here is this man come +back to eat us all five. Let us give him a present." So they went to +him and gave him a rope and stick, and said, "Only say to this rope, +'Bind that man,' and he will be tied up at once; and to this stick, +'Beat that man,' and the stick will beat him." Sachuli was very glad +to get these things, for he guessed what had happened to his +cooking-pot and box. So he went to the bazar, and at the cook-shop he +said, "Rope, bind all these men that are here!" and the cook and every +one in the shop were tied up instantly. Then Sachuli said, "Stick, +beat these men!" and the stick began to beat them. "Oh, stop, stop +beating us, and untie, and I'll give you your pot and your box!" cried +the cook. "No, I won't stop beating you, and I won't untie you till I +have my pot and my box." And the cook gave them both to him, and he +untied the rope. Then Sachuli went home, and when his mother saw him, +she was very angry, but he showed her the box and the cooking-pot, and +she saw he had told her the truth. So she sent for the doctor, and he +declared Sachuli was wise and not silly, and he and Hungni found a +wife for Sachuli, and made a grand wedding for him, and they lived +happily ever after. + + Told by Dunkni. + + + + +[Decoration] + +VIII. + +BARBER HIM AND THE TIGERS. + + +Once there lived a barber called Him, who was very poor indeed. He had +a wife and twelve children, five boys and seven girls: now and then he +got a few pice. One day he went away from his home feeling very cross, +and left his wife and children to get on as best they could. "What can +I do?" said he. "I have not enough money to buy food for my family, +and they are crying for it." And so he walked on till he came to a +jungle. It was night when he got there. This jungle was called the +"tigers' jungle," because only tigers lived in it; no birds, no +insects, no other animals, and there were four hundred tigers in it +altogether. As soon as Barber Him reached the jungle he saw a great +tiger walking about. "What shall I do?" cried he. "This tiger is sure +to eat me." And he took his razor and his razor-strap, and began to +sharpen his razor. Then he went close up to the tiger, still +sharpening his razor. The tiger was much frightened. "What shall I +do?" said the tiger; "this man will certainly gash me." "I have come," +said the barber, "to catch twenty tigers by order of Maharaja Kans. +You are one, and I want nineteen more." The tiger, greatly alarmed, +answered, "If you won't catch us, I will give you as much gold and as +many jewels as you can carry." For these tigers used to go out and +carry off the men and women from the villages, and some of these +people had rupees, and some had jewels, all of which the tigers used +to collect together. "Good," said Him, "then I won't catch you." The +tiger led him to the spot where all the tigers used to eat their +dinners, and the barber took as much gold and as many jewels as he +could carry, and set off home with them. + +Then he built a house, and bought his children pretty clothes and good +food, and necklaces, and they all lived very happily for some time. +But at last he wanted more rupees, so he set off to the tigers' +jungle. There he met the tiger as he did before, and he told him the +Maharaja Kans had sent him to catch twenty tigers. The tiger was +terrified and said, "If you will only not catch us, I will give you +more gold and jewels." To this the barber agreed, and the tiger led +him to the old spot, and the barber took as many jewels and rupees as +he could carry. Then he returned home. + +One day a very poor man, a fakir, said to him, "How did you manage to +become so rich? In old days you were so poor you could hardly support +your family." + +"I will tell you," said Him. And he told him all about his visits to +the tigers' jungle. "But don't you go there for gold to-night," +continued the barber. "Let me go and listen to the tigers talking. If +you like, you can come with me. Only you must not be frightened if the +tigers roar." + +"I'll not be frightened," said the fakir. + +So that evening at eight o'clock they went to the tigers' jungle. +There the barber and the fakir climbed into a tall thick tree, and its +leaves came all about them and sheltered them as if they were in a +house. The tigers used to hold their councils under this tree. Very +soon all the tigers in the jungle assembled together under it, and +their Raja--a great, huge beast, with only one eye--came too. +"Brothers," said the tiger who had given the barber the rupees and +jewels, "a man has come here twice to catch twenty of us for the +Maharaja Kans; now we are only four hundred in number, and if twenty +of us were taken away we should be only a small number, so I gave him +each time as many rupees and jewels as he could carry and he went away +again. What shall we do if he returns?" The tigers said they would +meet again on the morrow, and then they would settle the matter. Then +the tigers went off, and the barber and the fakir came down from the +tree. They took a quantity of rupees and jewels and returned to their +homes. + +"To-morrow," said they, "we will come again and hear what the tigers +say." + +The next day the barber went alone to the tigers' jungle, and there he +met his tiger again. "This time," said he, "I am come to cut off the +ears of all the four hundred tigers who live in this jungle; for +Maharaja Kans wants them to make into medicine." + +The tiger was greatly frightened, much more so than at the other +times. "Don't cut off our ears; pray don't," said he, "for then we +could not hear, and it would hurt so horribly. Go and cut off all the +dogs' ears instead, and I will give you rupees and jewels as much as +two men can carry." "Good," said the barber, and he made two journeys +with the rupees and jewels from the jungle to the borders of his +village, and there he got a cooly to help him to carry them to his +house. + +At night he and the fakir went again to the great tree under which the +tigers held their councils. Now the tiger who had given the barber so +many rupees and jewels had made ready a great quantity of meat, fowls, +chickens, geese, men the tigers had killed--everything he had been +able to get hold of--and he made them into a heap under the tree, for +he said that after the tigers had settled the matter they would dine. +Soon the tigers arrived with their Raja, and the barber's tiger said, +"Brothers, what are we to do? This man came again to-day to cut off +all our ears to make medicine for Maharaja Kans. I told him this +would be a bad business for us, and that he must go and cut off all +the dogs' ears instead; and I gave him as much money and jewels as two +men could carry. So he went home. Now what shall we do? We must leave +this jungle, and where shall we go?" The other tigers said, "We will +not leave the jungle. If this man comes again we will eat him up." So +they dined and went away, saying they would meet again to-morrow. + +After the tigers had gone, the barber and fakir came down from the +tree and went off to their homes, without taking any rupees or jewels +with them. They agreed to return the next evening. + +Next evening back they came and climbed into the great tree. The +tigers came too, and the barber's tiger told his story all over again. +The tiger Raja sat up and said, fiercely, "We will not leave this +jungle. Should the man come again, I will eat him myself." When the +fakir heard this he was so frightened that he tumbled down out of the +tree into the midst of the tigers. The barber instantly cried out with +a loud voice, "Now cut off their ears! cut off their ears!" and the +tigers, terrified, ran away as fast as they could. Then the barber +took the fakir home, but the poor man was so much hurt by his fall +that he died. + +The barber lived happily ever after, but he took good care never to go +to the tigers' jungle again. + + Told by Dunkni. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +IX. + +THE BULBUL AND THE COTTON-TREE. + + +There was once a bulbul, and one day as he was flying about, he saw a +tree on which was a little fruit. The bulbul was much pleased and +said, "I will sit here till this fruit is ripe, and then I will eat +it." So he deserted his nest and his wife, and sat there for twelve +years without eating anything, and every day he said, "To-morrow I +will eat this fruit." During these twelve years a great many birds +tried to sit on the tree, and wished to build their nests in it, but +whenever they came the bulbul sent them away, saying, "This fruit is +not good. Don't come here." One day a cuckoo came and said, "Why do +you send us away? Why should we not come and sit here too? All the +trees here are not yours." "Never mind," said the bulbul, "I am going +to sit here, and when this fruit is ripe, I shall eat it." Now the +cuckoo knew that this tree was the cotton-tree, but the bulbul did +not. First comes the bud, which the bulbul thought a fruit, then the +flower, and the flower becomes a big pod, and the pod bursts and all +the cotton flies away. The bulbul was delighted when he saw the +beautiful red flower, which he still thought a fruit, and said, "When +it is ripe, it will be a delicious fruit." The flower became a pod, +and the pod burst. "What is all this that is flying about?" said the +bulbul. "The fruit must be ripe now." So he looked into the pod, and +it was empty; all the cotton had fallen out. Then the cuckoo came and +said to the angry bulbul, "You see if you had allowed us to come and +sit on the tree, you would have had something good to eat; but as you +were selfish, and would not let any one share with you, God is angry +and has punished you by giving you a hollow fruit." Then the cuckoo +called all the other birds, and they came and mocked the bulbul. "Ah! +you see God has punished you for your selfishness," they said. The +bulbul got very angry and all the birds went away. After they had +gone, the bulbul said to the tree, "You are a bad tree. You are of use +to no one. You give food to no one." The tree said, "You are mistaken. +God made me what I am. My flower is given to sheep to eat. My cotton +makes pillows and mattresses for man." + +Since that day no bulbul goes near a cotton-tree. + + Told by Dunkni. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +X. + +THE MONKEY PRINCE. + + +Once upon a time there was a Raja called Jabhu Raja, and he had a +great many wives; at least he had seven wives, but he had no children. +Although he had married seven wives, not one of them had given him a +child. At this he was greatly vexed and said, "I have married seven +wives, and not one of them has given me a child." And he got very +angry with God: he said, "Why does not God give me any children? I +will go into the jungle and die by myself." The Ranis coaxed him to +stay, but he wouldn't; he would go out into the jungle. + +So he went out into the jungle very far, and God sent him an old fakir +leaning on a stick. The Raja met him, and the fakir said, "Why do you +come into the jungle? If you go far into the jungle you will meet +plenty of tigers, and they will eat you. Tell me what you want. +Whatever you want I will give you." "No, I won't tell you," said the +Raja. But at last the Raja told him, "I have seven wives, and none of +them has given me any children, and so here I will die by myself." +Then the fakir said, "Take this stick, and a little way off you will +find a mango-tree with some mangoes on it. Throw the stick at the +mangoes with one hand, and catch them as they fall with the other, and +when you have caught them all, take them home and give one to each of +your seven wives." So the Raja went and knocked the mangoes off the +tree and caught them as the fakir had told him. Then he looked about +for the fakir, but he could not find him, for he had gone away into +another part of the jungle. So he went home and gave the seven mangoes +to his wives. But the fruit was so good that six of the wives ate it +up, and would not give the youngest wife any. She cried very much, and +went into the compound and picked up one of the mango stones which one +of the six wives had thrown away, and ate it. By and by each of the +six wives had a son; but the one who had eaten the stone had a monkey, +who was called in consequence Bandarsabasa, or Prince Monkey. He was +really a boy, but no one knew it, for he had a monkey-skin covering +him. His six brothers hated him. They went to school every day; and +the monkey went under the ground, and was taught by the fairies. His +mother did not know this; she thought, as he was a monkey, he went to +the jungle and swung in the trees. He was the best and the cleverest +of all the boys. + +Now, in a kingdom a three months' journey off by land from Jabhu +Raja's country, there lived a king called King Jamarsa. He had a very +beautiful daughter whose name was Princess Jahuran, and as her father +wanted a very strong son-in-law, he had a large heavy iron ball made, +and he sent letters to all the Rajas and Rajas' sons far and near to +say that whoever wished to marry his daughter, the Princess Jahuran, +must be able to throw this heavy ball at her and hit her. So many +Rajas went to try, but none of them could even lift the ball. Now, one +of these letters had come to Jabhu Raja, and his six elder sons +determined they would go to King Jamarsa's country, for each of them +was sure he could throw the ball, and win the princess. + +Prince Monkey laughed softly and said to himself, "I will go and try +too. I know I shall succeed." + +Off, therefore, the six brothers set on their long journey, and the +monkey followed them; but before he did so, he went into the jungle +and took off his monkey-skin, and God sent him a beautiful horse and +beautiful clothes. Then he followed his brothers and overtook them, +and gave them betel-leaf and lovely flowers. "What a beautiful boy!" +they said. "Who is it owns such a beautiful boy? He must be some +Raja's son." Then he galloped quickly away, took off his grand clothes +and put them on his horse, and the horse rose into the air. He put on +his monkey-skin and followed his brothers. + +When they reached King Jamarsa's palace they pitched their tents in +his compound, which was very big. Every evening the princess used to +stand in her verandah and let down her long golden hair so that it +fell all round her, and then the Rajas who wished to marry her had to +try to hit her with the great heavy ball that lay on the ground just +in front of where she stood. + +King Jamarsa's house had more than one storey, and you had to go +upstairs to get to the Princess Jahuran's rooms which led into the +verandah in which she used to stand. + +Well, Prince Monkey's six elder brothers all got ready to go up to the +palace and throw the ball. They were quite sure they would throw it +without any trouble. Before they went they told their monkey brother +to take care of their tents, and to have a good dinner ready for them +when they returned. "If the dinner is not ready, we will beat you." + +As soon as they were gone, Prince Monkey took some gold mohurs he had, +and he went to a traveller's resting-house, which was a little way +outside King Jamarsa's compound, and gave them to the man who owned +it, and bade him give him a grand dinner for his six brothers. Then he +took the dinner to the tents, went into the jungle, and took off his +monkey-skin. And God sent him a grand horse from heaven, and splendid +clothes. These he put on, mounted his horse, and rode to King +Jamarsa's compound. There he took no notice of either the king, or +his daughter, or of the ball, or of the Rajas who were there to try +and lift it. He spoke only to his brothers, and gave them lovely +flowers and betel-leaf. Meanwhile, everybody was looking at him and +talking about him. "Who can he be? Did you ever see any one so lovely? +Where does he come from? Just look at his clothes! In our countries we +cannot get any like them!" As for the Princess Jahuran she thought to +herself, "That Raja shall be my husband, whether he lifts the ball or +not." When he had given his brothers the flowers and betel-leaf, +Prince Monkey rode straight to the jungle, took off his clothes, laid +them on his horse (which instantly went up to heaven), put on his +monkey-skin, went back to the tents, and lay down to sleep. + +When his brothers came home they were talking eagerly about the +unknown beautiful Raja. All the time they were eating their dinner +they could speak of nothing else. + +Well, every evening for about ten evenings it was just the same story. +Only every evening Prince Monkey appeared in a different dress. The +princess always thought, "That is the man I will marry, whether he can +throw the ball or not." Then about the eleventh evening, after he had +given his brothers the flowers and betel-leaf, he said to all the +Rajas who were standing there, and to King Jamarsa and to all the +servants, "Now every one of you go and stand far away, for I am going +to throw the ball." "No, no!" they all cried, "we will stand here and +see you." "You must go far away. You can look on at a distance," said +the Monkey Prince; "the ball might fall back among you and hurt you." +So they all went off and stood round him at a distance. + +"Now," said Prince Monkey to himself, "I won't hit the princess this +time; but I will hit the verandah railing." Then he took up the ball +with one hand, just as if it were quite light, and threw it on the +verandah railing, and then he rode off fast to the jungle. + +The next evening it was the same thing over again, only this time he +threw the ball into the Princess Jahuran's clothes. + +The next evening the ball fell on one of her feet, and hurt her little +toe-nail. Now, Princess Jahuran was very angry that this unknown +beautiful prince should have thrown the ball three times, and hit her +twice, and hurt her the third time, and yet had never spoken to her +father, or let any one know who he was, and had always, on the +contrary, ridden away as hard as he could, no one knew where. She was +very much in love with him, and was very anxious to find this Raja who +had hit her twice, so she ordered a bow and arrow to be brought to +her, and said she would shoot the Raja the next time he hit her. She +would not kill him; she would only shoot the arrow at him. Well, the +next evening Prince Monkey threw the ball, and it fell on her other +foot and hurt her great toe-nail. When he saw she was hurt, he was +very sorry in his heart, and said, "Did I hurt you?" "Yes," she said, +"very much." "Oh, I am so sorry," said the prince. "I would not have +thrown the ball so hard had I thought it would hurt you." Then she +shot the arrow, and hit him in the leg, and a great deal of blood came +out of the wound; but he rode hard away to the jungle all the same, +only this time he did not take off his fine clothes, but he drew the +monkey-skin over them, and his horse went up to heaven, and he went +back to the tents. Then the princess sent a servant into the town, and +said, whoever or whatever he should hear crying with pain, he should +bring to her--were it a man, or a jackal, or a dog, or a wild beast. +So the servant went round the town. The six brothers had gone to +sleep, but the poor monkey brother could not sleep, but sat up crying +from pain. He could not help it, do what he would, and the servant, as +he went round the town, heard him crying. So he took him and brought +him to the princess, and the princess said she would marry him. + +"What!" cried her father, "marry that monkey? Never! Who ever heard +of any one marrying a monkey, a nasty monkey?" But in spite of all the +king said, the princess declared marry that monkey she would. "I like +that monkey very, very much," she said. "I will marry him. It is my +pleasure to marry him." "Well," said the Raja at last, "if it is your +pleasure to marry him, you must marry him; but who ever heard of any +one marrying a nasty monkey?" + +So they were married at once; and the Monkey Prince wore his +monkey-skin for a wedding garment. + +That night when they went to bed, the young prince drew off his skin +and lay down by Jahuran, and when she saw her beautiful husband she +was so glad, so glad. "Why do you wear a monkey-skin?" she asked. He +answered, "I wear it as a protection, because my brothers are naughty, +and would kill me if they knew what I really am." + +They lived very happily with King Jamarsa for six months, and the six +elder brothers went on living there too, and hating him more and more +for having such a beautiful wife. + +But one night Prince Monkey thought of his mother, and he said to his +wife, "My mother perhaps is crying for me. Let us go to my father's +kingdom, and see her." Princess Jahuran agreed; so next morning they +spoke to King Jamarsa, who said they might go. + +The six brothers at once said, "We will go with you;" and they also +said, "Let us get two big boats, one for you and the princess, and one +for ourselves, and let us go by water, and not by land." Now by water +it took only six days to get to Jabhu Raja's kingdom, by land it took +three months. The Monkey Prince agreed to all his brothers said. + +Princess Jahuran heard them planning to throw the monkey into the +water on the journey, and then to take her home to their father as the +wife of one of them; so as she was very wise she went to her father +and begged him to have six large beautiful mattresses, well stuffed +with cotton, made for her. + +"What can you want with six mattresses?" said the king. "I want my +bed to be very comfortable on board the boat," said his daughter. Her +father loved her dearly, so he had her mattresses made, beautiful +mattresses and well stuffed with cotton. The princess had them all +carried to her boat. + +When everything was ready they went on board the boats with the +monkey's six brothers. Now, the princess had warned her husband of his +brothers' wicked plans, and she said to him, "Never go near your +brothers; never speak to your brothers; for they want to kill you." +The first day the six brothers said to the monkey, "Please bring us a +little salt." But the monkey said, "No; my wife will take you some." +"No," said the brothers, "your wife cannot bring us any. She is a +princess. Do you bring us some." So they threw a rope from one boat to +another, and the monkey went on the rope, and the brothers untied it, +and the monkey fell into the water. Then the princess cried out, "My +husband will be drowned! My husband will be drowned!" And she threw +out one of the mattresses; the monkey sat on it; it floated back to +his boat, and the crew drew him up. + +The next day the six brothers begged Prince Monkey to bring them +water, and they threw a plank from their boat to his for him to cross +on. The prince set off with the water, in spite of all his wife's +entreaties, and his brothers tilted the plank into the water. The +prince would have been drowned had not the Princess Jahuran thrown him +a mattress. And the same thing happened during the next four days. The +brothers wanted something to eat or drink, and their monkey-brother +brought it them across a rope or plank, which they cut or dropped into +the water, and he would have died but for the mattresses which his +wife threw to him one by one. + +When they reached Jabhu Raja's kingdom, the eldest son went on shore +up to his father's palace. Each of the Raja's seven wives had a house +to herself in his compound. He went to his mother's house and said, +"Give me your palanquin, mother, for I have brought home a most lovely +wife, and want to bring her to the palace." + +At this news his mother was delighted, and she told it to the other +Ranis, and said, "My son has brought home such a lovely wife! I am so +glad! oh, I am so glad!" The youngest Rani began to cry bitterly. "My +son," she said, "is nothing but a monkey; he will never be married; he +will never have a wife at all." + +Then the palanquin was got ready, and the seven Ranis and the prince +went with it to the boat. The Princess Jahuran came on land with her +monkey, and when the Ranis saw her, they all cried, "How lovely she +is! how beautiful!" And the eldest Rani was gladder than ever, and the +youngest cried still more. The princess got into the palanquin with +her monkey. "What are you doing with that horrid monkey?" said the +eldest prince. "Put him out of the palanquin directly." "Indeed I will +not," said the princess. "He is my husband, and I love him." "What!" +cried all the Ranis, "are you married to that monkey?" "Yes," said the +princess. "Then get out of my palanquin at once," said the eldest +Rani. "You shall not ride in my palanquin with that nasty monkey." The +youngest Rani was very glad her son had such a beautiful wife. So the +princess got out, and took her monkey in her arms and walked with him +to the youngest Rani's house, and there they all lived for some time. +Now the little Rani did not know her son was really a beautiful man, +for the princess never told her, as her husband had forbidden her to +tell any one. + +One evening Jabhu Raja's servants had a grand nautch in the Raja's +compound, and the Raja and his sons and the neighbouring Rajas all +came to see it. Prince Monkey said to his wife, "I, too, will go and +see this nautch." So he took off his monkey-skin, folded it up and +laid it under her pillow. Then he put on the clothes God had sent him +from heaven the last time he threw the ball, and which he had not +laid on his horse's back when he put his monkey-skin on again, and +when he came among all the Rajas and people who were looking on at the +nautch, they all exclaimed, "Who is that? Who can it be?" He was very +handsome, and he had beautiful hair all gold. When he had stayed some +time, Prince Monkey went quickly back to his wife, and in the morning +he put on his monkey-skin again. + +Now the little Rani, his mother, though she was very glad her monkey +son had such a wife, could never understand how it was that her +daughter-in-law was so happy with him. "How could you marry him?" she +used to say to her. "Because it pleased me to marry him," the princess +used to answer. "How can you be so happy with him?" said the mother. +"I love him," said the princess; and the poor Rani used to wonder at +this more and more. + +Well, one day there was another nautch, and Prince Monkey went to it; +but he left his skin under his wife's pillow. As soon as he had gone, +she called the little Rani, and said, "See, you think my husband is a +monkey; he is no monkey, but a very handsome man. There is no one like +him, he is so beautiful." The Rani did not believe her. Then the +princess took the skin from under her pillow. "See," she said, "when +your son puts this on, then he is a monkey; when he takes it off he is +a beautiful man. And now, I think I will burn this skin, and then he +must always be a man. What do you say?" "Are you sure it won't hurt +him if you burn his skin?" said his mother. "Perhaps he may die if it +is burnt." "Oh, no, he won't die," said the princess. "Shall I burn +it?" "Burn it," said the little Rani. Then the princess threw the skin +on the fire and burnt it quite up. + +Prince Monkey was sitting looking on at the nautch when suddenly his +heart told him his wife had burnt his skin. He jumped up directly and +went home, and when he found his heart had told him true, he was so +angry with his wife, that he would say nothing to her but "Why did you +burn my skin?" and he was in such a rage that he went straight to bed +and went to sleep. + +In the morning, while he slept, the princess went to the little Rani, +and said, "Come and see your beautiful son." "I am ashamed to do so," +said the Rani. "Ashamed to look at your own son? What nonsense! Come +directly," said Princess Jahuran. Then the little Rani went with her, +and when she saw her beautiful son she was indeed glad, and the prince +opened his eyes and saw her, and then he kissed her, and they were +very happy. + +The news spread through the compound, and Jabhu Raja and his sons and +everybody came at once to see if it were true. When they saw the +beautiful young prince, with his hair all gold, they could not stand, +but fell down. Prince Monkey lifted his father and loved him, and put +his arms round him, and said, "I am your son, your own son; you must +not fall down before me." "Why did you wear that monkey-skin?" asked +his father. "Because," he said, "my mother ate the mango stone instead +of eating the mango, and so I was born with this skin, and God ordered +me to wear it till I had found a wife." His brothers said, "Who could +have guessed there was such a beautiful man inside that monkey-skin? +God's decrees are good!" And they left off hating their brother, +Prince Monkey. + +There were great rejoicings and feasts now, and all were very happy. +The six elder brothers lived always with their father and Prince +Monkey, but none of them ever married. + + Told by Dunkni. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XI. + +BRAVE HIRALALBASA. + + +Once there was a Raja called Manikbasa Raja, or the Ruby King, who had +seven wives and seven children. One day he told his wives he would go +out hunting, and he rode on and on, a long, long way from his palace. +A Rakshas was sitting by the wayside, who, seeing the Raja coming, +quickly turned herself into a beautiful Rani, and sat there crying. +The Raja asked her, "Why do you cry?" And the Rakshas answered, "My +husband has gone away. He has been away many days, and I think he will +never come back again. If some Raja will take me to his house and +marry me, I shall be very glad." So the Raja said, "Will you come with +me?" And the Rakshas answered, "Very well, I will come." And then the +Raja took the pretended Rani home with him and married her. He gave +her a room to live in. Every night at twelve o'clock the Rakshas got +up and devoured an elephant, or a horse, or some other animal. The +Raja said, "What can become of my elephants and horses? Every day +either an elephant or a horse disappears. Who can take them away?" The +Rakshas-Rani said to him, "Your seven Ranis are Rakshases, and every +night at twelve o'clock they devour a horse, or an elephant, or some +other creature." + +So the Raja believed her, and had a great hole dug just outside his +kingdom, into which he put the seven Ranis with their children, and +then he sent a sepoy to them and bade him take out all the Ranis' +eyes, and bring them to him. This the sepoy did. After a time the +poor Ranis grew so hungry that six of them ate their children, but the +seventh Rani, who was the youngest of them all, declared she would +never eat her child though she might die of hunger, "for," she said, +"I love him a great deal too much." God was very pleased with the +seventh Rani for this, and so every day he sent her a little food, +which she divided with the other Ranis. And every day her little boy +grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until he had become a strong lad, +when, as he thought it was very dark in the hole, he climbed out of it +and looked all about. Then he came back to his mothers (for he called +all the seven Ranis "Mother" now), who told him he was not to clamber +up out of the hole any more, for if he did, some one might kill him. +"Still, if you will go," they added, "do not go to your father's +kingdom, but stay near this place." The boy said, "Very well," and +every day he climbed out of the hole and only went where his seven +mothers told him he might go, and he used to beg the people about to +give him a little rice, and flour and bread, which they did. + +One day he said to his mothers, "If you let me go now to my father's +kingdom, I will go." "Well, you may go," they said; "but come back +again soon." This he promised to do, and he went to his father's +kingdom. For some time he stood daily at the door of his father's +palace and then returned to the hole. One day the Rakshas-Rani was +standing in the verandah, and she thought, "I am sure that is the +Raja's son." The servants every day asked the boy, "Why do you always +stand at the door of the palace?" "I want service with the Raja," he +would reply. "If the Raja has any place he can give me, I will take +it." + +The Rakshas-Rani said to the Raja, "The boy standing out there wants +service. May I take him into mine?" The Raja answered, "Very well, +send for him." So all the servants ran and fetched the boy. The +Rakshas-Rani asked him, "Are you willing to do anything I tell you?" +The boy said, "Yes." "Then you shall be my servant," she said, and +first she told him he must go to the Rakshas country to fetch some +rose-water for her. "I will give you a letter," she said, "so that no +harm may happen to you." The lad answered, "Very well, only you must +give me three shields full of money." She gave him the three shields +full of money, and he took them and went home to his mothers. Then he +got two servants for them, one to take care of them, and one to go to +the bazar. His mothers gave him food for the journey, and he left them +the remainder of his money, telling them to take great care of it. He +then returned to the Rakshas-Rani for his letter. She told the Raja +she was feeling ill, and would not be quite well until she got some +rose-water from the Rakshas country. The Raja said, "Then you had +better send this boy for it." So she gave him a letter, in which she +had written, "When this boy arrives among you, kill him and eat him +instantly," and he set out at once. + +He went on and on till he came to a great river in which lived a huge +water-snake. When the water-snake saw him it began to weep very much, +and cried out to the boy, "If you go to the Rakshas country you will +be eaten up." The lad, whose name was Hiralalbasa, said, "I cannot +help it; I am the Rani's servant, so I must do what she tells me." +"Well," said the water-snake, "get on my back, and I will take you +across this river." So he got on the water-snake's back, and it took +him over the river. Then Hiralalbasa went on and on until he came to a +house in which a Rakshas lived. A Rani lived there too that the +Rakshas had carried off from her father and mother when she was a +little girl. She was playing in her father the Sondarbasa Raja's +garden, which was full of delicious fruits, which the Rakshas came to +eat, and when he saw Sonahri Rani he seized her in his mouth and ran +off with her. Only she was so beautiful he could never find it in his +heart to eat her, but brought her up as his own child. Her name was +Sonahri Rani, that is, the Golden Rani, because her teeth and her hair +were made of gold. Now the Rakshas who had carried her off, and whom +she called Papa, had a great thick stick, and when he laid this stick +at her feet she could not stir, but when he laid it at her head, she +could move again. + +When the Raja's son came up, Sonahri Rani was lying on her bed with +the thick stick at her feet, and as soon as she saw the Raja's son she +began to cry very much. "Oh, why have you come here? You will surely +be killed," she said. The Raja's son answered, "I cannot help that. I +am the Rani's servant, so I must do what she tells me." "Of course," +said Sonahri Rani; "but put this stick at my head, and then I shall be +able to move." The Raja's son laid the stick at her head, and she got +up and gave him some food, and then asked him if he had a letter. +"Yes," he answered. "Let me see it," said the Sonahri Rani. So he gave +her the letter, and when she had read it she cried, "Oh, this is a +very wicked letter. It will bring you no good; for if the Rakshases +see it, they will kill you." "Indeed," said Hiralalbasa. And the +Sonahri Rani tore up the letter and wrote another in which she said, +"Make much of this boy. Send him home quickly, and give him a jug of +rose-water to bring back with him, and see that he gets no hurt." Then +the Raja's son set out again for the Rakshas-Rani's mother's house. He +had not gone very far when he met a very big Rakshas, and he cried out +to him, "Uncle." "Who is this boy," said the Rakshas, "who calls me +uncle?" And he was just going to kill him when Hiralalbasa showed his +letter, and the Rakshas let him pass on. He went a little further +until he met another Rakshas, bigger than the first, and the Rakshas +screamed at him and was just going to fall on him and kill him, but +the Raja's son showed the letter, and the Rakshas let him pass +unhurt. When Hiralalbasa came to the Rakshas-Rani's mother he showed +her the letter, and she gave him the rose-water at once and sent him +off. All the Rakshases were very good to him, and some carried him +part of the way home. When he came to Sonahri Rani's house she was +lying on her bed with the stick at her feet, and as soon as she saw +Hiralalbasa she laughed and said, "Oh, you have come back again? Put +this stick at my head." "Yes," said the Raja's son, "I've come back +again, but I was dreadfully frightened very often." Then he put the +stick at her head, and she gave him some food to eat. After he had +eaten it he went on again, and when he came to the river the +water-snake carried him across to the other side, and he travelled to +his father's kingdom. There he went to the Rakshas-Rani and gave her +the rose-water. She was very angry at seeing him, and said, "I'm sure +my father and my mother, my brothers and my sisters, don't love me one +bit." + +And she said to Hiralalbasa, "You must go to-morrow to the Rakshas +kingdom to fetch me flowers." "I will go," said Hiralal, "but this +time I must have four shields full of rupees." The Rakshas-Rani gave +him the four shields full of rupees; and the Raja's son went to his +mother's hole and bought a quantity of food for them, enough to last +them all the time he should be away, and he hired two servants for +them, and said good-bye to his seven mothers and returned to +Manikbasa's palace for his letter. This the Rakshas-Rani gave him, and +in it she wrote, "Kill him and eat him at once. If you do not, and you +send him back to me, I will never see your faces again." Hiralal took +his letters and went on his way. When he reached the river the +water-snake took him across to the other side, and he walked on till +he came to Sonahri Rani's house. She was lying on the bed with the +stick at her feet. "Oh, why have you come here again?" she said. "How +can I help coming?" said the Raja's son. "I must do what my mistress +bids me." "So you must," said the Sonahri Rani; "but put this stick at +my head." This he did, and she got up and gave him food, and asked him +to let her see his letter, and when she had read it she cried, "This +is a very wicked letter. If you take it with you, you will surely +die." Then she tore up the letter and burnt it, and wrote another in +which she said, "You must all be very good to this boy. Show him all +the gardens and see that he is not hurt in any way." She gave it to +Hiralal, and he begged her to ask the Rakshas, her father, where he +kept his soul. Sonahri Rani promised she would. She then turned +Hiralal into a little fly, and put him into a tiny box, and put the +box under her pillow. When the Rakshas came home he began sniffing +about and said, "Surely there is a man here." "Oh, no," said Sonahri +Rani; "no one is here but me." The Rakshas was satisfied. When Sonahri +Rani and her father were in bed she asked, "Papa, where is your soul?" +"Why do you want to know?" said the Rakshas. "I will tell you another +day." + +The next day at nine in the morning the Rakshas went away, and Sonahri +Rani took Hiralal and restored him to his human shape, and gave him +some food, and he travelled on till he reached the Rakshas-Rani's +mother, whom he called Grannie. She welcomed him very kindly and +showed him the garden, which was very large. The Raja's son noticed a +number of jugs and water-jars. So he said, "Grannie, what is there in +all these jars and jugs?" She answered, showing them to him one by +one, "In this is such and such a thing," and so on, telling him the +contents of each, till she came to the water-jar in which were his +mothers' eyes. "In this jar," said the Rakshas, "are your seven +mothers' eyes." "Oh, grannie dear!" said Hiralal, "give me my mothers' +eyes." "Very well, dear boy," said the old Rakshas, "you shall have +them." She gave him, too, some ointment, and told him to rub the eyes +with it when he put them into his mothers' heads, and that then they +would see quite well; and he took the eyes and tied them up in a +corner of his cloth. His grannie gave him the flowers, and he went +back to Sonahri Rani. She was lying on her bed with the stick at her +feet, and when she saw him she laughed and said, "Oh, so you have come +back again?" "Yes, I have," said Hiralal; "and I have got the flowers, +and my seven mothers' eyes too." "Have you indeed?" said Sonahri Rani. +"Put this stick at my head." He did so, and she got up and gave him +some food, and he told her to ask her father the Rakshas where his +soul was. She promised she would, and she changed him into a little +fly, and shut him up in a tiny box, and put the tiny box under her +pillow. By and by home came the Rakshas, and began to sniff about +crying, "A man is here!" "Oh, no," said Sonahri Rani; and she gave him +some dinner, and when they were in bed she asked him, "Papa, where is +your soul?" "I'll tell you another day," said the Rakshas. The next +day, when he had gone out to find food, Sonahri Rani took the little +fly, Hiralal, and restored him to his human shape, and gave him some +food and sent him on his way. When he reached the river, the +water-snake took him over to the other side, and he journeyed on till +he came to his father's kingdom. First he went to his mothers' hole +and gave them their fourteen eyes, and he put them into their heads +with the ointment which the Rakshas-grannie had given him. Then he +went to Manikbasa Raja's palace, and when the Rakshas-Rani saw him she +was furious. "I am sure my father and my mother, my sisters and my +brothers, do not love me one bit. I will never see their faces again. +But I'll send him to them once more." + +This is what she thought, but she took the flowers and said, "You must +go a third time to the Rakshas country." + +"I will," said the boy: "only I'll not go till the fourth day from +to-day, for I am very tired. And you must give me four shields full of +rupees." "Good," said the Rakshas-Rani. "This time you must get me a +sari."[2] And she gave him the four shields full of money. Then he +went to his mothers, and bought them a house and got food for them, +and stayed with them four days. + +At the end of the four days he went to the Rakshas-Rani, who gave him +a letter in which she had written, "If you do not kill and eat this +boy as soon as he arrives, I will never see your faces again." The +Raja's son took the letter and set out on his journey. + +When he came to the river, the water-snake took him across; and when +he arrived at Sonahri Rani's house, there she was lying on her bed +with the thick stick at her feet. She said, "Oh, you have come here +again, have you?" "Yes," he said, "I have come for the last time." +"Put the stick at my head," said she. So he laid the stick at her +head. Then she gave him some food, and just before the Rakshas came +home, he bade her ask him where he kept his soul. When she saw him +coming, Sonahri Rani turned Hiralalbasa into a little fly, put him in +a tiny box, and put the box under her pillow. As soon as she and the +Rakshas had gone to bed, she asked him, "Papa, where do you keep your +soul?" "Sixteen miles away from this place," said he, "is a tree. +Round the tree are tigers, and bears, and scorpions, and snakes; on +the top of the tree is a very great fat snake; on his head is a little +cage; in the cage is a bird; and my soul is in that bird." The little +fly listened all the time. The next morning, when the Rakshas had +gone, Sonahri Rani took the fly and gave him back his human form, gave +him some food, and then asked to see his letter. When she had read it +she screamed and said, "Oh! if you go with this letter you will +surely die." So she tore it up into little bits and threw it into the +fire. And she wrote another in which she said, "Make a great deal of +this boy; see that he gets no hurt; give him the sari for me; show him +the garden; and be very kind to him." She then gave Hiralal the +letter, and he journeyed on in safety till he reached his +Rakshas-grannie's house. + +The Rakshas-grannie was very good to him; showed him the garden, and +gave him the sari; and he then said his mother, the Rakshas-Rani, was +in great trouble about her soul, and wanted very much to have it. So +the Rakshas-grannie gave him a bird in which was the Rakshas-Rani's +soul, charging him to take the greatest care of it. Then he said, "My +mother, the Rakshas-Rani, also wants a stone such that, if you lay it +on the ground, or if you put it in your clothes, it will become gold, +and also your long heavy gold necklace that hangs down to the waist." +Both these things the Rakshas-grannie gave to Hiralal. Then he +returned to Sonahri Rani's house, where he found her lying on her bed +with the thick stick at her feet. "Oh, there you are," said Sonahri +Rani, laughing. "Yes," he said, "I have come." And he put the stick at +her head, and she got up and gave him some food. + +He told her he was going to fetch her Rakshas-father's soul, but that +he did not quite know how to pass through the tigers and bears, and +scorpions and snakes, that guarded it. So she gave him a feather, and +said, "As long as you hold this feather straight, you can come to no +harm, for you will be invisible. You will see everything, but nothing +will see you." + +He carried the feather straight as she had bidden him and reached the +tree in safety. Then he climbed up it, took the little cage, and came +down again. Though the Rakshas was far off, he knew at once something +had happened to his bird. Hiralal pulled off the bird's right leg, and +the Rakshas' right leg fell off, but on he hopped on one leg. Then +the Raja's son pulled off the bird's left leg, and off fell the +Rakshas' left leg, but still he went on towards his house on his +hands. Then Hiralal pulled off the bird's wings, and the Rakshas' two +arms fell off. And then, just as the Rakshas reached the door of his +house, Hiralal wrung the bird's neck, and the Rakshas fell dead. +Sonahri Rani was greatly frightened when she heard such a heavy thing +fall thump on the ground so close to the house, but she could not +move, for the thick stick lay at her feet. Hiralal ran as fast as he +could to Sonahri Rani. When he arrived at the door of her house he saw +the Rakshas lying dead, and he went in and told Sonahri Rani that her +Rakshas-father was killed. "Nonsense," she said. "It is true," said +Hiralal; "come and see." So he put the stick at her head. "I am sure +you are telling a lie," said Sonahri Rani. "I should be very glad if +he were dead, for I do not like living with him, I am so afraid of +him." "Indeed he's dead. Do come and see," said Hiralal. Then they +went outside, and when Sonahri Rani saw her Rakshas-father lying there +dead, she was exceedingly happy, and said to Hiralal, "I will go home +with you, and be your wife." So they were married, and then they went +into Sonahri Rani's Rakshas-father's house and took all the money and +jewels they could find. And Hiralal gave the sari, the stone, and the +necklace to Sonahri Rani, and he took some flowers for the +Rakshas-Rani. + +When they came to the river, the water-snake carried them across to +the other side, and they travelled on till they came to Manikbasa +Raja's kingdom. There Hiralal went first of all to his mothers, and +when they saw Sonahri Rani they wondered who the beautiful woman could +be that their son had brought home. He said to them, "This is Sonahri +Rani, my wife. But for her I should have died." Then he bought a grand +house for Sonahri Rani and his seven mothers to live in, and he got +four servants for Sonahri Rani, two to cook, and two to wait on her. +The seven mothers and Sonahri used all to sit on a beautiful, clean +quilted cushion, as big as a carpet, Sonahri Rani in the middle and +the seven mothers round her, while they sewed, or wrote, and talked. +Hiralal then went to the Rakshas-Rani and said, "I could not get the +sari you sent me for, so I brought you these flowers instead." When +she saw the flowers she was frantic. She said, "My father, my mother, +my sisters, my brothers, don't care for me, not one bit! not one +scrap! I will never see their faces again--never! never! I will send +some other messenger to them." + +One day the Raja's son came to Manikbasa and said, "Would you like to +see a grand sight?" Manikbasa Raja said, "What sight?" Hiralal said, +"If you would like to see a really grand sight you must do what I tell +you." "Good," answered Manikbasa, "I will do whatever you tell me." +"Well, then," said his son, "you must build a very strong iron house, +and round it you must lay heaps of wood. In that house you must put +your present Rani." So Manikbasa Raja had a very strong iron house +built, round which he set walls of wood. Then he went to his +Rakshas-Rani and said, "Will you go inside that iron house, and see +what it is like?" "Yes, I will," answered she. The Raja had had great +venetians made for the house, and only one door. As soon as the +Rakshas-Rani had gone in, he locked the door. Then Hiralal took the +little bird, a cockatoo, in which was the Rakshas-Rani's soul, and +showed it to the Rakshas-Rani from afar off. When she saw it she +turned herself into a huge Rakshas as big as a house. She could not +turn in the iron house because she was so huge. Manikbasa was +dreadfully frightened when he saw his Rani was a horrible Rakshas. +Then Hiralal pulled off the bird's legs, and as the Rakshas was +breaking through the iron house to seize Hiralal, he wrung the +cockatoo's neck, and the Rakshas died instantly. They set fire to the +walls of wood, and the body of the wicked Rakshas was burnt to fine +ashes. + +The Raja's Wazir turned to the Raja and said, "What a fool you were to +marry this Rakshas, and at her bidding to send your seven wives and +your seven sons away into the jungle, taking out your seven wives' +eyes, and being altogether so cruel to them! You are a great, great +fool!" The poor Raja wept, and then the Wazir, pointing to Hiralal, +said, "This is your seventh and youngest Rani's son." The Raja then +embraced Hiralalbasa and asked his forgiveness. And Hiralal told him +his story, how he and his mothers had lived a long, long time in the +hole; how six of the Ranis had eaten their children; how his mother +had not had the heart to eat him; how he had got his seven mothers' +eyes from the Rakshas-grannie; and lastly, how he had married Sonahri +Rani. Then the Raja ordered seven litters for his seven Ranis, and a +beautiful litter with rich cloth for Sonahri Rani. The Raja and his +Wazir and his attendants, and his son, all went with the litters to +Hiralal's house; and when the Raja saw Sonahri Rani he fell flat on +his face, he was so struck by her beauty. For she had a fair, fair +skin, rosy cheeks, blue eyes, rosy lips, golden eyelashes, and golden +eyebrows, and golden hair. When she combed her hair, she used to put +the hair she combed out in paper and to lay the paper on the river, +and it floated down to where the poor people caught it, and sold it, +and got heaps of money for it. Her sari was of gold, her shoes were of +gold, for God loved her dearly. Then the Raja rose and embraced all +his wives and Sonahri Rani, and the seven Ranis walked into the seven +litters; but Sonahri Rani was carried to hers, for fear she should +soil her feet, or get hurt. Then Manikbasa Raja gave Hiralal's house +to his Wazir, while his seven Ranis and Hiralal and Sonahri Rani lived +with him in his palace. And they lived happily for ever after. + + Told by Dunkni at Simla, 26th July and 1st August, 1876. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [2] A long piece of stuff which Hindu women wind round the body + as a petticoat, passing one end over the head, like a veil. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XII. + +THE MAN WHO WENT TO SEEK HIS FATE. + + +Once there was a very poor man who had a wife and twelve children, and +not a single rupee. The poor children used to cry with hunger, and the +man and his wife did not know what to do. At last he got furious with +God and said, "How wicked God is! He gives me a great many children, +but no money." So he set out to find his fate. In the jungle he met a +camel with two heavy sacks of gold on its back. This camel belonged to +a Raja, and once it was travelling with other camels and with the +Raja's servants to another country, and carrying the sacks of gold. +Every night they encamped and started again early in the morning; but +one morning the servants forgot to take this camel with them, and the +camel forgot the road home, and the sacks were too tightly strapped +for it to get rid of them. So it wandered about the jungle with the +sacks on its back for twelve years. The camel asked the poor man where +he was going. "I am going to seek my fate, to ask it why I am so +poor," he answered. The camel said, "Ask it, too, why for twelve years +I have had to carry these two sacks of gold. All this time I have not +been able to lie down, or to eat, or to drink." "Very well," said the +man, and he went on. + +Then he came to a river in which he saw an alligator. The alligator +took him across, and when he got to the other side it asked him where +he was going. The man said, "I am going to seek my fate, to ask it +why I am so poor." "Then," said the alligator, "ask it also why for +twelve years I have a great burning in my stomach." "I will," said the +man. + +Then he went on and on till he came to a tiger, who was lying on the +ground with a great thorn sticking in his foot. This tiger had gone +out one day to hunt for food, and not looking where he was going, he +put his foot on the thorn, and the thorn ran into his foot. And so God +grew very angry and said, "Because you are such a careless, stupid +fellow, and don't look where you are going, for twelve years this +thorn shall remain in your foot." "Where are you going?" the tiger +asked the man. "I am going to seek my fate, to ask it why I am so +poor. Some one told me that my fate was far, far away, a twelve years' +journey from my own country, and that it was lying down, and that I +must take a thick stick and beat it with all my might." "Ask it, too," +said the tiger, "why for twelve years I have had this thorn in my foot +and cannot get it out, though I have tried hard to do so." "Yes, I +will," said the man. + +Then he came to the place where every one's fate lives. The fates are +stones, some standing and others lying on the ground. "This must be +mine," he said; "it is lying on the ground, that's why I am so poor." +So he took the thick stick he had in his hand, and beat it, and beat +it, and beat it, but still it would not stir. As night was approaching +he left off beating it, and God sent a soul into the poor man's fate, +and it became a man, who stood looking at the poor man and said, "Why +have you beaten me so much?" "Because you were lying down, and I am +very poor, and at home my wife and my children are starving." "Oh, +things will go well with you now," said the fate, and the man was +satisfied. He said to his fate, "While coming here I met a camel who +for twelve years has had to wander about with two heavy sacks of gold +on its back, and it wants to know why it must carry them." "Oh," said +the fate, "just take the sacks off its back and then it will be free." +"I will," said the poor man. "Then I met an alligator who for twelve +years has had a great burning in its stomach." The fate said, "In its +stomach is a very large ruby, as big as your hand. If the alligator +will only throw up the ruby, it will be quite well." "Next I met a +tiger who has had for twelve years a great thorn in his foot which he +cannot take out." "Pull it out with your teeth," said the fate; and +then God withdrew the soul, and the fate became a stone again which +stood up on the ground. + +Then the man set out on his journey home, and he came to the tiger. +"What did your fate say?" said the tiger. "Give me your foot and I +will take out the thorn," said the poor man. The tiger stretched out +the foot with the thorn in it, and the man pulled out the thorn with +his teeth. It was a very large thorn, as big as the man's hand. The +tiger felt grateful to the poor man, and as he was very rich, for he +had eaten a great many Rajas and people, and had all their money, he +said to the man, "I will give you some gold in return for your +kindness." "You have no money," said the man. "I have," said the +tiger, and he went into his den, and the poor man followed. "Give me +your cloth," said the tiger. The man laid it on the ground. Then the +tiger took quantities of gold and jewels and filled the cloth with +them. And the poor man took up his cloth, thanked the tiger, and went +his way. Then he met the alligator who took him across the river. The +alligator said, "Did you ask your fate why there is such burning in my +stomach?" "I did," said the man. "It is because you have a very large +ruby in your stomach. If you will only throw it up, you will be quite +well." Then the alligator threw the ruby up out of its mouth, and that +very instant the burning in its stomach ceased. "Ah," said the +alligator, looking at the ruby, "I swallowed that one day when I was +drinking." And he gave the ruby to the man, saying, "In return for +your kindness I will give you this ruby. It is a very precious stone." +(In old days every Raja possessed such a ruby; now very few Rajas, if +any, have one.) The poor man thanked the alligator, put the ruby into +his cloth, and went on his way till he came to the camel, who said, +"Did you ask your fate why I have to carry these two sacks of gold?" +"I did," said the man, and he took the sacks off the camel's back. How +happy and grateful the camel felt! "How kind of you," he said to the +man, "to take the sacks off. Now I can eat, now I can drink, and now I +can lie down. Because you have been so kind to me, I give you the two +sacks of gold, and I will carry them and your bundle home to your +house for you, and then I will come back and live here in the jungle." +Then the poor man put the two sacks of gold and his bundle on the +camel, who carried them to his house. When he got there, he took the +sacks and his bundle off the camel, who thanked him again for his +kindness and went back to his jungle, feeling very glad at having got +rid of his heavy burthen. + +When the poor man's wife and children saw the gold and jewels and the +ruby, they cried, "Where did you get these?" And the man told them his +whole story. And he bought food for his wife and children, and gave +them a beautiful house, and got them clothes, for now he was very +rich. + +Another poor man who was not quite, but nearly, as poor as this man +had been, asked him where he had got his riches. "I got them out of a +river," answered the man. "I drew the water with a bucket, and in +every bucketful there was gold." The other man started off to the +river and began drawing up water in a bucket. "Stop, stop!" cried an +alligator, who was the king of the fishes; "you are taking all the +water out of the river and my fishes will die." "I want money," said +the man, "and I can find none, so I am taking the water out of the +river in order to get some." "You shall have some in a minute," said +the alligator, "only do stop drawing the water." Then a great wave of +water dashed on to the land and dashed back into the river, leaving +behind it a great heap of gold, which the man picked up joyfully. The +next day he came again, and night and day he drew water out of the +river. At last the alligator got very angry, and said, "My fishes will +all die for want of water. Once I gave the man a heap of gold, and yet +he wants more. I won't give him any," and the alligator thrust up his +head out of the river, and swallowed the man whole. For four days and +four nights the man lived in the alligator's stomach. At the end of +the fourth night the king of the fishes said to him, "I will let you +get out of my stomach on condition that you tell no man what has +happened to you. If you do, you will die instantly." The man jumped +out of the alligator's mouth and walked towards his house. On his way +he met some men and told them what had happened to him, and as soon as +he got home he told his wife and children, and the moment he had done +so he became mad and dumb and blood came out of his mouth, and he fell +down dead. + + Told by Dunkni. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XIII. + +THE UPRIGHT KING. + + +There was a great Maharaja whose name was Harchand Raja, and he had an +only son called Manikchand. He was very rich and had a great deal of +money, and he also had a very large garden full of lovely flowers and +fruits which he prized greatly. Every morning before he bathed he used +to give some poor fakir two pounds and a half of gold. Now Harchand +Maharaja used to pray a great deal to God, and God was very fond of +him, so he said one day, "To see if Harchand Maharaja really loves me, +I will make him very poor for twelve years." And at night God came +down in the shape of a great boar, and ate up everything that was in +Harchand Maharaja's garden. The boar then ran away into the jungle. +Next morning the gardener got up and looked out into the garden, and +what was his astonishment when he saw it was all spoilt. Nothing was +left in it; it was not a garden any more. He went quickly to the +Maharaja and said, "Oh, master! oh, Maharaja! your garden is quite +spoilt. Last night a boar came and ate up everything in it." +"Nonsense," said the Maharaja, who would not believe him. "It is quite +true," said the gardener; "you can come and see for yourself." So the +Raja got up at once and put on his clothes, and went into the garden, +and found it all empty. He went back to the house very melancholy. +Then as usual he gave a fakir his two pounds and a half of gold. After +breakfast he went out hunting. The boar which had run away into the +wood changed himself into a very old fakir, who shook from old age. As +Harchand Maharaja passed, the old fakir held out his hand, saying, +"Please give me a few pice, I am so poor and hungry." The Maharaja +said, "Come to my palace and I will give you two pounds and a half of +gold." "Oh, no," said the fakir, "surely you would never give me so +much as that." "Yes, I will," said the Maharaja. "Every morning before +I bathe I give a fakir two pounds and a half of gold." "Nonsense," +said the fakir, "you don't give away your money in that way." "Really, +I do," said the Maharaja, "and I promise to give you two pounds and a +half of gold." So the fakir followed Harchand Maharaja home, and when +they reached the palace, the Maharaja told his treasurer to give the +old fakir two pounds and a half of gold. The treasurer went into the +treasury, but all the Maharaja's gold and silver and jewels had become +charcoal! The treasurer came out again to the Maharaja saying, "Oh, +Maharaja, all your gold and silver and jewels are turned into +charcoal!" "Oh, nonsense," said the Maharaja. "Come and see, +Maharaja," said the treasurer, who was in a great fright. The Maharaja +went into his treasury, and was quite sad at the sight of the +charcoal. "Alas!" he said, "God has made me very poor, but still I +must give this fakir his money." So he went to the fakir and said, +"All my gold and silver and jewels are turned into charcoal; but I +will sell my wife, and my boy, and myself, and then I will give you +the money I promised you." And he went and fetched his wife and son, +and left his palace, his houses, servants, and possessions. + +He then went to a merchant, who bought from him his Maharani, who was +called Hirali, that is, the diamond lady, for she was very beautiful, +and her face shone like a diamond. Her hands were very small, and so +were her feet. The merchant gave the Maharaja a pound of gold for the +Maharani. Next, Harchand Maharaja went to a cowherd and sold him his +son Manikchand. The cowherd gave him for the boy half a pound of gold. +Then he went to a dom, that is, a man of a very low caste, who kept a +tank into which it was his business to throw the bodies of those who +died. If it was a dead man or woman, the dom took one rupee, if it was +a dead child he was only paid eight annas. To this dom Harchand sold +himself for a pound of gold, and he gave the two pounds and a half of +gold to the fakir, who then went home. The dom said, "Will you stay by +the tank for a few days while I go home and do my other work, which is +weaving baskets? If any one brings you a dead body you must throw it +into the water. If it is the body of a man or woman, take one rupee in +payment; if it is a dead child, take eight annas; and if the bearers +have got no money, take a bit of cloth. Don't forget." And the dom +went away, leaving Harchand sitting by the tank. + +Well, Harchand Maharaja sat for some days by the tank, and when any +one brought him dead bodies he threw them into it. For a dead man or +woman he took one rupee, for a dead child eight annas, and if the +bearers had no money to give him, he took some cloth. Some time had +passed, and Manikchand, the Maharaja's son, died; so Hirali Rani went +to the cowherd to ask him for her dead child. The cowherd gave him to +her, and she took him to the tank. Harchand Maharaja was sitting by +the tank, and when Hirali Maharani saw him she said, "I know that man +is my husband, so he will not take any money for throwing his child +into the water." So she went up to him and said, "Will you throw this +child into the tank for me?" "Yes, I will," said Harchand Maharaja; +"only first give me eight annas." "You surely won't take any money for +throwing your own son into the tank?" said the Maharani. "You must pay +me," said Harchand Maharaja, "for I must obey the dom's orders. If you +have no money, give me a piece of cloth." So the Maharani tore off a +great piece of her sari and gave it him, and the Maharaja took his son +and threw him into the tank. As he threw him in he cried out to the +king of the fishes, who was an alligator, "Take great care of this +body." The king of fishes said, "I will." Then the Maharani went back +to the merchant. + +And the Maharaja caught a fish, and cooked it, and laid it by the +tank, saying, "I will go and bathe and then I will eat it." So he took +off his clothes and went into the tank to bathe, and when he had +bathed he put on fresh clothes, and as he took hold of his fish to eat +it, it slipped back alive into the water, although it had been dead +and cooked. The Maharaja sat down by the tank again, very sad. He +said, "For twelve years I have found it hard to get anything to eat; +how long will God keep me without food?" God was very pleased with +Harchand for being so patient, for he had never complained. + +Some days later God came down to earth in the shape of a man, and with +him he took an angel to be his Wazir. The Wazir said to God, "Come +this way and let us see who it is sitting by the tank." "No," said +God, "I am too tired, I can go no further." "Do come," said the Wazir; +"I want so much to go." God said, "Well, let us go." Then they walked +on till they came to the place where Harchand Maharaja was sitting, +and God said to him, "Would you like to have your wife, and your son, +and your kingdom back again?" "Yes, I should," said the Maharaja; "but +how can I get them?" "Tell me truly," said God, "would you like to +have your kingdom back again?" "Indeed I should," said the Maharaja. +Then Manikchand's body, which had never sunk to the bottom of the tank +like the other bodies, but had always floated on the water, rose up +out of the water, and Manikchand was alive once more. The father and +son embraced each other. "Now," said God, "let us go to the dom." +Harchand Maharaja agreed, and they went to the dom and asked him how +much he would take for Harchand Maharaja. The dom said, "I gave one +pound of gold for him, and I will take two pounds." So they paid down +the two pounds of gold. Then they went to the merchant and said to +him, "How much will you take for Hirali Rani?" The merchant said, "I +gave a pound of gold for her; I will take four pounds." So they paid +down the four pounds of gold, took Hirali Rani, and went to the +cowherd. "How much will you take for Manikchand?" said they to him. "I +gave half a pound of gold for him," answered the cowherd; "I will take +one pound." So they paid down the pound of gold, and Harchand Maharaja +went home to his palace, taking with him Hirali Rani and Manikchand, +after thanking the strange man for his goodness to them. When they +reached the palace, the garden was in splendid beauty; the charcoal +was turned back into gold, and silver, and jewels; the servants were +in waiting as usual, and they went into the palace and lived happily +for evermore. + + Told by Dunkni. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XIV. + +LOVING LAILI. + + +Once there was a king called King Dantal, who had a great many rupees +and soldiers and horses. He had also an only son called Prince Majnun, +who was a handsome boy with white teeth, red lips, blue eyes, red +cheeks, red hair, and a white skin. This boy was very fond of playing +with the Wazir's son, Husain Mahamat, in King Dantal's garden, which +was very large and full of delicious fruits, and flowers, and trees. +They used to take their little knives there and cut the fruits and eat +them. King Dantal had a teacher for them to teach them to read and +write. + +One day, when they were grown two fine young men, Prince Majnun said +to his father, "Husain Mahamat and I should like to go and hunt." His +father said they might go, so they got ready their horses and all else +they wanted for their hunting, and went to the Phalana country, +hunting all the way, but they only found jackals and birds. + +The Raja of the Phalana country was called Munsuk Raja, and he had a +daughter named Laili, who was very beautiful; she had brown eyes and +black hair. + +One night, some time before Prince Majnun came to her father's +kingdom, as she slept, God sent to her an angel in the form of a man +who told her that she should marry Prince Majnun and no one else, and +that this was God's command to her. When Laili woke she told her +father of the angel's visit to her as she slept; but her father paid +no attention to her story. From that time she began repeating, +"Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun," and would say nothing else. Even as +she sat and ate her food she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want +Majnun." Her father used to get quite vexed with her. "Who is this +Majnun? who ever heard of this Majnun?" he would say. "He is the man I +am to marry," said Laili. "God has ordered me to marry no one but +Majnun." And she was half mad. Meanwhile, Majnun and Husain Mahamat +came to hunt in the Phalana country; and as they were riding about, +Laili came out on her horse to eat the air, and rode behind them. All +the time she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun." The prince +heard her, and turned round. "Who is calling me?" he asked. At this +Laili looked at him, and the moment she saw him she fell deeply in +love with him, and she said to herself, "I am sure that is the Prince +Majnun that God says I am to marry." And she went home to her father +and said, "Father, I wish to marry the prince who has come to your +kingdom; for I know he is the Prince Majnun I am to marry." "Very +well, you shall have him for your husband," said Munsuk Raja. "We will +ask him to-morrow." Laili consented to wait, although she was very +impatient. As it happened, the prince left the Phalana kingdom that +night, and when Laili heard he was gone, she went quite mad. She would +not listen to a word her father, or her mother, or her servants said +to her, but went off into the jungle, and wandered from jungle to +jungle, till she got farther and farther away from her own country. +All the time she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun;" and so +she wandered about for twelve years. + +At the end of the twelve years she met a fakir--he was really an +angel, but she did not know this--who asked her, "Why do you always +say, 'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun'?" She answered, "I am the +daughter of the king of the Phalana country, and I want to find Prince +Majnun; tell me where his kingdom is." "I think you will never get +there," said the fakir, "for it is very far from hence, and you have +to cross many rivers to reach it." But Laili said she did not care; +she must see Prince Majnun. "Well," said the fakir, "when you come to +the Bhagirathi river you will see a big fish, a Rohu; and you must get +him to carry you to Prince Majnun's country, or you will never reach +it." + +She went on and on, and at last she came to the Bhagirathi river. +There there was a great big fish called the Rohu fish. It was yawning +just as she got up to it, and she instantly jumped down its throat +into its stomach. All the time she kept saying, "Majnun, Majnun." At +this the Rohu fish was greatly alarmed and swam down the river as fast +as he could. By degrees he got tired and went slower, and a crow came +and perched on his back, and said, "Caw, caw." "Oh, Mr. Crow," said +the poor fish, "do see what is in my stomach that makes such a noise." +"Very well," said the crow, "open your mouth wide, and I'll fly down +and see." So the Rohu opened his jaws and the crow flew down, but he +came up again very quickly. "You have a Rakshas in your stomach," said +the crow, and he flew away. This news did not comfort the poor Rohu, +and he swam on and on till he came to Prince Majnun's country. There +he stopped. And a jackal came down to the river to drink. "Oh, +jackal," said the Rohu, "do tell me what I have inside me." "How can I +tell?" said the jackal. "I cannot see unless I go inside you." So the +Rohu opened his mouth wide, and the jackal jumped down his throat; but +he came up very quickly, looking much frightened and saying, "You have +a Rakshas in your stomach, and if I don't run away quickly, I am +afraid it will eat me." So off he ran. After the jackal came an +enormous snake. "Oh," says the fish, "do tell me what I have in my +stomach, for it rattles about so, and keeps saying, 'Majnun, Majnun; I +want Majnun.'" The snake said, "Open your mouth wide, and I'll go +down and see what it is." The snake went down: when he returned he +said, "You have a Rakshas in your stomach; but if you will let me cut +you open, it will come out of you." "If you do that, I shall die," +said the Rohu. "Oh, no," said the snake, "you will not, for I will +give you a medicine that will make you quite well again." So the fish +agreed, and the snake got a knife and cut him open, and out jumped +Laili. + +She was now very old. Twelve years she had wandered about the jungle, +and for twelve years she had lived inside her Rohu; and she was no +longer beautiful, and had lost her teeth. The snake took her on his +back and carried her into the country, and there he put her down, and +she wandered on and on till she got to Majnun's court-house, where +King Majnun was sitting. There some men heard her crying, "Majnun, +Majnun; I want Majnun," and they asked her what she wanted. "I want +King Majnun," she said. So they went in and said to Prince Majnun, "An +old woman outside says she wants you." "I cannot leave this place," +said he; "send her in here." They brought her in and the prince asked +her what she wanted. "I want to marry you," she answered. "Twenty-four +years ago you came to my father the Phalana Raja's country, and I +wanted to marry you then; but you went away without marrying me. Then +I went mad, and I have wandered about all these years looking for +you." Prince Majnun said, "Very good." "Pray to God," said Laili, "to +make us both young again, and then we shall be married." So the prince +prayed to God, and God said to him, "Touch Laili's clothes and they +will catch fire, and when they are on fire, she and you will become +young again." When he touched Laili's clothes they caught fire, and +she and he became young again. And there were great feasts, and they +were married, and travelled to the Phalana country to see her father +and mother. + +Now Laili's father and mother had wept so much for their daughter +that they had become quite blind, and her father kept always +repeating, "Laili, Laili, Laili." When Laili saw their blindness, she +prayed to God to restore their sight to them, which he did. As soon as +the father and mother saw Laili, they hugged her and kissed her, and +then they had the wedding all over again amid great rejoicings. Prince +Majnun and Laili stayed with Munsuk Raja and his wife for three years, +and then they returned to King Dantal, and lived happily for some time +with him. + +They used to go out hunting, and they often went from country to +country to eat the air and amuse themselves. + +One day Prince Majnun said to Laili, "Let us go through this jungle." +"No, no," said Laili; "if we go through this jungle, some harm will +happen to me." But Prince Majnun laughed, and went into the jungle. +And as they were going through it, God thought, "I should like to know +how much Prince Majnun loves his wife. Would he be very sorry if she +died? And would he marry another wife? I will see." So he sent one of +his angels in the form of a fakir into the jungle; and the angel went +up to Laili, and threw some powder in her face, and instantly she fell +to the ground a heap of ashes. + +Prince Majnun was in great sorrow and grief when he saw his dear Laili +turn into a little heap of ashes; and he went straight home to his +father, and for a long, long time he would not be comforted. After a +great many years he grew more cheerful and happy, and began to go +again into his father's beautiful garden with Husain Mahamat. King +Dantal wished his son to marry again. "I will only have Laili for my +wife; I will not marry any other woman," said Prince Majnun. "How can +you marry Laili? Laili is dead. She will never come back to you," said +the father. "Then I'll not have any wife at all," said Prince Majnun. + +Meanwhile Laili was living in the jungle where her husband had left +her a little heap of ashes. As soon as Majnun had gone, the fakir had +taken her ashes and made them quite clean, and then he had mixed clay +and water with the ashes, and made the figure of a woman with them, +and so Laili regained her human form, and God sent life into it. But +Laili had become once more a hideous old woman, with a long, long +nose, and teeth like tusks; just such an old woman, excepting her +teeth, as she had been when she came out of the Rohu fish; and she +lived in the jungle, and neither ate nor drank, and she kept on +saying, "Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun." + +At last the angel who had come as a fakir and thrown the powder at +her, said to God, "Of what use is it that this woman should sit in the +jungle crying, crying for ever, 'Majnun, Majnun; I want Majnun,' and +eating and drinking nothing? Let me take her to Prince Majnun." +"Well," said God, "you may do so; but tell her that she must not speak +to Majnun if he is afraid of her when he sees her; and that if he is +afraid when he sees her, she will become a little white dog the next +day. Then she must go to the palace, and she will only regain her +human shape when Prince Majnun loves her, feeds her with his own food, +and lets her sleep in his bed." So the angel came to Laili again as a +fakir and carried her to King Dantal's garden. "Now," he said, "it is +God's command that you stay here till Prince Majnun comes to walk in +the garden, and then you may show yourself to him. But you must not +speak to him, if he is afraid of you; and should he be afraid of you, +you will the next day become a little white dog." He then told her +what she must do as a little dog to regain her human form. + +Laili stayed in the garden, hidden in the tall grass, till Prince +Majnun and Husain Mahamat came to walk in the garden. King Dantal was +now a very old man, and Husain Mahamat, though he was really only as +old as Prince Majnun, looked a great deal older than the prince, who +had been made quite young again when he married Laili. + +As Prince Majnun and the Wazir's son walked in the garden, they +gathered the fruit as they had done as little children, only they bit +the fruit with their teeth; they did not cut it. While Majnun was busy +eating a fruit in this way, and was talking to Husain Mahamat, he +turned towards him and saw Laili walking behind the Wazir's son. "Oh, +look, look!" he cried, "see what is following you; it is a Rakshas or +a demon, and I am sure it is going to eat us." Laili looked at him +beseechingly with all her eyes, and trembled with age and eagerness; +but this only frightened Majnun the more. "It is a Rakshas, a +Rakshas!" he cried, and he ran quickly to the palace with the Wazir's +son; and as they ran away, Laili disappeared into the jungle. They ran +to King Dantal, and Majnun told him there was a Rakshas or a demon in +the garden that had come to eat them. "What nonsense," said his +father. "Fancy two grown men being so frightened by an old ayah or a +fakir! And if it had been a Rakshas, it would not have eaten you." +Indeed King Dantal did not believe Majnun had seen anything at all, +till Husain Mahamat said the prince was speaking the exact truth. They +had the garden searched for the terrible old woman, but found nothing, +and King Dantal told his son he was very silly to be so much +frightened. However, Prince Majnun would not walk in the garden any +more. + +The next day Laili turned into a pretty little dog; and in this shape +she came into the palace, where Prince Majnun soon became very fond of +her. She followed him everywhere, went with him when he was out +hunting, and helped him to catch his game, and Prince Majnun fed her +with milk, or bread, or anything else he was eating, and at night the +little dog slept in his bed. + +But one night the little dog disappeared, and in its stead there lay +the little old woman who had frightened him so much in the garden; and +now Prince Majnun was quite sure she was a Rakshas, or a demon, or +some such horrible thing come to eat him; and in his terror he cried +out, "What do you want? Oh, do not eat me; do not eat me!" Poor Laili +answered, "Don't you know me? I am your wife Laili, and I want to +marry you. Don't you remember how you would go through that jungle, +though I begged and begged you not to go, for I told you that harm +would happen to me, and then a fakir came and threw powder in my face, +and I became a heap of ashes. But God gave me my life again, and +brought me here, after I had stayed a long, long while in the jungle +crying for you, and now I am obliged to be a little dog; but if you +will marry me, I shall not be a little dog any more." Majnun, however, +said "How can I marry an old woman like you? how can you be Laili? I +am sure you are a Rakshas or a demon come to eat me," and he was in +great terror. + +In the morning the old woman had turned into the little dog, and the +prince went to his father and told him all that had happened. "An old +woman! an old woman! always an old woman!" said his father. "You do +nothing but think of old women. How can a strong man like you be so +easily frightened?" However, when he saw that his son was really in +great terror, and that he really believed the old woman would come +back at night, he advised him to say to her, "I will marry you if you +can make yourself a young girl again. How can I marry such an old +woman as you are?" + +That night as he lay trembling in bed the little old woman lay there +in place of the dog, crying, "Majnun, Majnun, I want to marry you. I +have loved you all these long, long years. When I was in my father's +kingdom a young girl, I knew of you, though you knew nothing of me, +and we should have been married then if you had not gone away so +suddenly, and for long, long years I followed you." "Well," said +Majnun, "if you can make yourself a young girl again, I will marry +you." + +Laili said, "Oh, that is quite easy. God will make me a young girl +again. In two days' time you must go into the garden, and there you +will see a beautiful fruit. You must gather it and bring it into your +room and cut it open yourself very gently, and you must not open it +when your father or anybody else is with you, but when you are quite +alone; for I shall be in the fruit quite naked, without any clothes at +all on." In the morning Laili took her little dog's form, and +disappeared in the garden. + +Prince Majnun told all this to his father, who told him to do all the +old woman had bidden him. In two days' time he and the Wazir's son +walked in the garden, and there they saw a large, lovely red fruit. +"Oh!" said the Prince, "I wonder shall I find my wife in that fruit." +Husain Mahamat wanted him to gather it and see, but he would not till +he had told his father, who said, "That must be the fruit; go and +gather it." So Majnun went back and broke the fruit off its stalk; and +he said to his father, "Come with me to my room while I open it; I am +afraid to open it alone, for perhaps I shall find a Rakshas in it that +will eat me." "No," said King Dantal; "remember, Laili will be naked; +you must go alone, and do not be afraid if, after all, a Rakshas is in +the fruit, for I will stay outside the door, and you have only to call +me with a loud voice, and I will come to you, so the Rakshas will not +be able to eat you." + +Then Majnun took the fruit and began to cut it open tremblingly, for +he shook with fear; and when he had cut it, out stepped Laili, young +and far more beautiful than she had ever been. At the sight of her +extreme beauty, Majnun fell backwards fainting on the floor. + +Laili took off his turban and wound it all round herself like a sari +(for she had no clothes at all on), and then she called King Dantal, +and said to him sadly, "Why has Majnun fallen down like this? Why will +he not speak to me? He never used to be afraid of me; and he has seen +me so many, many times." King Dantal answered, "It is because you are +so beautiful. You are far, far more beautiful than you ever were. But +he will be very happy directly." Then the King got some water, and +they bathed Majnun's face and gave him some to drink, and he sat up +again. Then Laili said, "Why did you faint? Did you not see I am +Laili?" "Oh!" said Prince Majnun, "I see you are Laili come back to +me, but your eyes have grown so wonderfully beautiful, that I fainted +when I saw them." Then they were all very happy, and King Dantal had +all the drums in the place beaten, and had all the musical instruments +played on, and they made a grand wedding-feast, and gave presents to +the servants, and rice and quantities of rupees to the fakirs. + +After some time had passed very happily, Prince Majnun and his wife +went out to eat the air. They rode on the same horse, and had only a +groom with them. They came to another kingdom, to a beautiful garden. +"We must go into that garden and see it," said Majnun. "No, no," said +Laili; "it belongs to a bad Raja, Chumman Basa, a very wicked man." +But Majnun insisted on going in, and in spite of all Laili could say, +he got off the horse to look at the flowers. Now, as he was looking at +the flowers, Laili saw Chumman Basa coming towards them, and she read +in his eyes that he meant to kill her husband and seize her. So she +said to Majnun, "Come, come, let us go; do not go near that bad man. I +see in his eyes, and I feel in my heart, that he will kill you to +seize me." "What nonsense," said Majnun. "I believe he is a very good +Raja. Anyhow, I am so near to him that I could not get away." "Well," +said Laili, "it is better that you should be killed than I, for if I +were to be killed a second time, God would not give me my life again; +but I can bring you to life if you are killed." Now Chumman Basa had +come quite near, and seemed very pleasant, so thought Prince Majnun; +but when he was speaking to Majnun, he drew his scimitar and cut off +the prince's head at one blow. + +Laili sat quite still on her horse, and as the Raja came towards her +she said, "Why did you kill my husband?" "Because I want to take you," +he answered. "You cannot," said Laili. "Yes, I can," said the Raja. +"Take me, then," said Laili to Chumman Basa; so he came quite close +and put out his hand to take hers to lift her off her horse. But she +put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a tiny knife, only as long +as her hand was broad, and this knife unfolded itself in one instant +till it was such a length! and then Laili made a great sweep with her +arm and her long, long knife, and off came Chumman Basa's head at one +touch. + +Then Laili slipped down off her horse, and she went to Majnun's dead +body, and she cut her little finger inside her hand straight down from +the top of her nail to her palm, and out of this gushed blood like +healing medicine. Then she put Majnun's head on his shoulders, and +smeared her healing blood all over the wound, and Majnun woke up and +said, "What a delightful sleep I have had! Why, I feel as if I had +slept for years!" Then he got up and saw the Raja's dead body by +Laili's horse. "What's that?" said Majnun. "That is the wicked Raja +who killed you to seize me, just as I said he would." "Who killed +him?" asked Majnun. "I did," answered Laili, "and it was I who brought +you to life." "Do bring the poor man to life if you know how to do +so," said Majnun. "No," said Laili, "for he is a wicked man, and will +try to do you harm." But Majnun asked her for such a long time, and so +earnestly to bring the wicked Raja to life, that at last she said, +"Jump up on the horse, then, and go far away with the groom." "What +will you do," said Majnun, "if I leave you? I cannot leave you." "I +will take care of myself," said Laili; "but this man is so wicked, he +may kill you again if you are near him." So Majnun got up on the +horse, and he and the groom went a long way off and waited for Laili. +Then she set the wicked Raja's head straight on his shoulders, and she +squeezed the wound in her finger till a little blood-medicine came out +of it. Then she smeared this over the place where her knife had +passed, and just as she saw the Raja opening his eyes, she began to +run, and she ran, and ran so fast, that she outran the Raja, who tried +to catch her; and she sprang up on the horse behind her husband, and +they rode so fast, so fast, till they reached King Dantal's palace. + +There Prince Majnun told everything to his father, who was horrified +and angry. "How lucky for you that you have such a wife," he said. +"Why did you not do what she told you? But for her, you would be now +dead." Then he made a great feast out of gratitude for his son's +safety, and gave many, many rupees to the fakirs. And he made so much +of Laili. He loved her dearly; he could not do enough for her. Then he +built a splendid palace for her and his son, with a great deal of +ground about it, and lovely gardens, and gave them great wealth, and +heaps of servants to wait on them. But he would not allow any but +their servants to enter their gardens and palace, and he would not +allow Majnun to go out of them, nor Laili; "for," said King Dantal, +"Laili is so beautiful, that perhaps some one may kill my son to take +her away." + + Told by Dunkni. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XV. + +HOW KING BURTAL BECAME A FAKIR. + + +Once there was a great king called Burtal, and he had a hundred and +sixty wives, but he had no children, which made him sad. One day he +said to his wives, "I am going to a very distant jungle which is full +of antelopes, to hunt them." "Very well," they answered, "go." So he +went. In that jungle lived neither tigers nor men, but only antelopes. +When King Burtal reached the jungle, some of the antelopes came to him +and said, "Pray don't kill the black antelope, for he is our Raja, and +we have no other antelope like him among us; but try to kill any of +the others--the brown or the yellow antelopes--that you choose." Now, +the king was not a kind man, and he said, "I will kill your black +antelope, and no other." So he shot him dead. When the other antelopes +saw this they began to scream and cry with sorrow. But the dead +antelope's wife said to them, "There is a holy man, a fakir, in the +jungle. Let us take the dead body to him and ask him to bring our Raja +to life." And King Burtal laughed at them and said, "How can any man +bring a dead antelope to life?" But the antelopes took the body of +their dead Raja on their backs, and the dead antelope's wife went at +their head; and King Burtal went too; and they carried it to the +fakir, who was called Goraknath, and who was resting in the jungle, +and they said to him, "Bring our Raja to life again, for what can we +do without a Raja? and he has left no son to succeed him." And the +queen antelope said, "I have no other husband. I had only this one +husband. Do bring him to life for me." King Burtal laughed and mocked +them, and said to the fakir, "I never heard of any man being able to +bring a dead antelope to life. I don't believe you can do it." At this +Goraknath got angry, and he knelt down and asked God to bring the +antelope to life; and God told him to take a wand and beat the dead +antelope with it, and then the antelope would be alive again. So +Goraknath took a wand and beat the dead antelope, and it was alive +once more, and then it instantly sprang up into heaven. The antelopes +were delighted to see their Raja alive again, and they said, "We do +not mind his going up to heaven, for he will come down again to us." + +King Burtal had stood by all the time, and he said to Goraknath, "Make +me a fakir like yourself," for he thought it would be fine to do such +wonderful things. But Goraknath would not, and King Burtal stayed in +the jungle with Goraknath for twelve years, and all that time he never +ceased begging and praying to be made a fakir, till at last Goraknath +said, "I cannot make you a fakir unless you go home and address your +wives as 'Mamma,' and ask them to give you money and food." Now, it is +a very shameful thing to call one's wife 'Mamma,' for if a wife is +called 'Mamma' she has to leave her husband. Then Goraknath took off +the king's clothes, and dressed him only in a cloth and a tiger's +skin; and the king went to his palace and began begging for rice and +food, and he would not take any from the palace servants: he said he +must and would see the Ranis, and that they themselves should give him +food. The servants told the Ranis about this fakir who said he must +and would see them himself, and that they should give him food and +rice with their own hands, and one of their ayahs, who had recognized +King Burtal, told them the fakir was their husband who had been away +twelve years. The Ranis cried out, "Do not talk nonsense. That fakir +can never be our husband." "Go and see for yourselves," answered the +ayah. They went, and the fakir said to them, "Mamma, give me rice." +"Why do you call us 'Mamma'?" they said. "We have no sons. You are not +our son." But at last they saw he was indeed their husband, and they +wrung their hands and wept bitterly, and threw themselves on the +ground before him and said, "Why have you called us 'Mamma'? Why do +you ask for bread? We must now leave you." "Don't go away," said the +king. "Take my kingdom, my money, my houses, and stay here till I +return. I am going to be a fakir." His wives gave him some rice and +some money, and he went back to Goraknath. + +In old days men who intended to become fakirs had to do three tasks +set them by one who was already a fakir; so Goraknath said to the +king, "Now you must go to a jungle that I will show you, and stay +there for twelve years." Then King Burtal took the flat pan and the +rolling-pin which he used in making his flour cakes, and was quite +ready to start for the jungle, but the fakir stopped him. "You must +leave your pan and your rolling-pin behind," he said; "and all these +twelve years you must neither eat nor drink, or you can never be a +fakir. You must sit quite still on the same spot and never move." "I +shall die if I don't eat," said the king; "but I don't care if I do +die, so I will do all you tell me." Then the fakir took him to a +jungle, and made him sit down on the grass, and instantly all the +grass round him grew up so tall and thick that King Burtal was quite +hidden by it, and no one could see him. Here he lived for twelve +years, and never moved, and he ate nothing, and drank nothing, and +nobody knew he was there. + +At the end of that time Goraknath came and took him away and said, +"Now go home to your wives." "Why should I go to my wives? I do not +wish to see my wives, for they have given me no children," said King +Burtal. But Goraknath said, "Go and see them." So King Burtal went; +and he begged for rice from them; and they entreated him to stay with +them, but he would not. "I will return to the fakir Goraknath," he +said. "Why should I stay with you? You have never given me a child. +What use is all my wealth to me? I have no son to take it when I am +dead. I will become a fakir." And they threw themselves on the ground +and wrung their hands, and said, "Oh, why will you leave us?" He +answered, "Because it pleases me to do so." And he called them all +"Mamma," and told them to stay in his palace and take all he possessed +for their own use. Then he returned to Goraknath. + +"Now," said Goraknath, "you must learn to be sweeper to all the beasts +of the jungle, and you must serve them for twelve years." So for +twelve years King Burtal cleared the grass and kept the jungle clean +for all the creatures in it--cows, sheep, goats, tigers, cats, bears. +Sometimes he stayed in one part of the jungle, and sometimes in +another. + +When the twelve years were over he went to Goraknath, who said to him, +"Good; you have learnt to serve the wild beasts; now you must learn to +serve men." Then the fakir took the king to a village, and bade him +sweep it and keep it clean for twelve years. Here King Burtal stayed +for another twelve years, and all that time he was the village-sweeper +and kept the village clean, and he swept all the dust and dirt into a +great heap till the heap was as high and as big as a hut. + +When the twelve years were over he returned to Goraknath and stood +before him, and as he stood there came a man who was an angel sent by +God, and he threw some dirt on King Burtal's head; but the king never +moved nor spoke. "Now," cried Goraknath, "I see you are a true fakir: +go and cleanse yourself by bathing in the river." + +The river in which he was sent to bathe was the Jamna. In this river +lived water-nymphs, and the nymph Ganga was playing in it when her +sister Jamna[3] came to her and said, "Come quickly; our father is +dying and wants to see you;" and off Jamna went to her father. Ganga +was hurrying after her when King Burtal saw her, and stopped her, and +asked her where she was going so fast. "To my father, who is very ill +and dying," said Ganga; "let me go." "I will not let you go," said +King Burtal. Then Ganga began to run, and said, "You cannot keep me, +you cannot catch me; no man can catch me, no man can keep me." This +provoked King Burtal, and he said, "I can catch you, and I can keep +you." "No, no," she answered; "no one can catch me, no one can hold +me." Then King Burtal got quite vexed, and he ran till he caught her, +and then he said, "Now, I will not let you go; I will keep you." Then +he held her in his hands and rubbed her between his palms, and when he +opened his hands she had turned into a little round ball. He tried to +hide the ball in his hair, but could not, for his hair was too short, +and he found he could not hold Ganga, as she was too strong for him; +so he thought he would take her to Mahadeo,[4] who had long thick +hair, and make him keep her, for King Burtal was dreadfully frightened +and did not dare let the ball go, for fear Ganga, who he knew was very +angry, should take her own form and bring a great flood to drown him. +So he went quickly to Mahadeo, and gave the ball to him. Mahadeo said, +"Why not keep her yourself?" "I cannot," said King Burtal, "for my +hair is too short to tie her into; and I cannot hold her, for she is +too strong for me; but your hair is long, and so you can hide her in +it." Then Mahadeo had a round box made of bamboo, and in this box was +a hole into which he dropped the ball. And he let down his long hair, +and it reached to the ground, and was thick--so thick; he put the box +in his hair on the top of his head, and rolled his long hair all round +his head and over the box just like a turban. + +Jamna finding her sister did not follow her, came up from the bottom +of the river to look for her, and she asked whether any one had seen +her, and at last some one said, "King Burtal has taken her away." +Jamna set off to King Burtal and said, "Give me my sister Ganga, for +our father is dying and wants to see her." "It is true that I took her +away," said King Burtal, "but I have not got her now; she is with +Mahadeo." So Jamna went to Mahadeo,--"Give me my sister quickly, for +our father is dying and wants to see her." (Now Ganga was in a great +passion inside her box.) "I cannot give you Ganga," said Mahadeo, "for +she is so angry that if I let her loose she will flood the country +with water." "No, she will not; indeed, she will not," said Jamna. "If +I give her to you, you will not be able to keep her," said Mahadeo. +"Yes, yes, I shall," said Jamna. "I do not think you will," said +Mahadeo; "but here is the box in which said is. Hold it tight, and be +careful that neither you nor any one else mentions her name on the +journey." Jamna said she would be very careful, and took the box; but +she had to pass through a jungle in which were a number of cowherds +and holy men, one of whom was called Ganga. Just as Jamna passed by, +one of these men called to this man by his name, Ganga, and instantly +Ganga burst the box and flooded the country with water. The holy men +and the cowherd called to her to have pity on them, and so did Jamna; +but Ganga was too angry to listen to them or speak to them, so she +drowned all the holy men and the cowherds, and when she got to her +father's house and found he was dead, she was in such a rage that she +declared she would send a still greater flood to ruin the country; and +so she did. + +After this, King Burtal went to Goraknath and stayed with him some +years, till Goraknath said, "Now go to your own kingdom." But King +Burtal refused, saying, "I wish to stay with you; my wives have never +given me a child. I have no son. I do not care to return to my +kingdom." However, Goraknath would not allow him to stay. "Go to your +own kingdom," he said again; "but first tell me how many wives you +have." "A hundred and sixty," answered the King. "Here are a hundred +and sixty lichi fruits for you," said the fakir. "Give one to each of +your wives to eat, and they will each have a son, and I will go with +you." So King Burtal obeyed, and Goraknath went with him. + +Seventy years had passed since King Burtal had left his kingdom. When +he and Goraknath reached it, they went to an open plain and made a +fire and sat down beside it. Everybody who passed them said, "Who are +these fakirs?" Some servants of King Burtal's Ranis passed too, and +when they got home they told the Ranis that their husband had returned +to his kingdom. But the Ranis said, "What nonsense you talk! King +Burtal went away with the fakir Goraknath." The servants answered, "We +are quite sure that King Burtal is here, for Goraknath is here, and +with him is another man, and we are sure this man is King Burtal." So +all the Ranis went to see for themselves, and when they saw the fakir +that was with Goraknath they knew he was their husband. Then the first +Rani, who was very angry with him for having left them, said a spell +over him: "God is very angry with you for leaving us, and he will send +you a bad illness." But King Burtal answered, "Do not be angry with +me. I am your husband, and have come back to you after an absence of +seventy years." At this the youngest Rani was very glad, and she +ordered drums to be beaten and she beat a drum herself, and they sang +songs, and all went to the palace together, and Goraknath with them. + +Then Goraknath said he must now go away, but first he asked King +Burtal to show him a grand feat as a proof of his skill. So King +Burtal sent to the smith for a great iron chain. Then he lit a big +fire. This alarmed the palace servants, who wondered if he were going +to burn his palace and his wives. King Burtal next sent for some ghee. +"What is he going to do with the ghee?" said the palace servants. Then +he drove a nail into the wall, rubbed his hands with the ghee, put the +iron chain into the fire and drew it out red-hot; flames came from the +iron. Then King Burtal hung it on the nail and pulled and pulled at +the chain till he drew it off the nail, and his hands were not in the +least burnt. The Ranis and palace servants were greatly astonished and +Goraknath much pleased. "You know how to do your work well," said he +to the king. Then Goraknath bade him good bye, telling him to look +after his kingdom and his wives; but they all said he must not leave +them, and they built him a grand house in the compound, and gave him a +great many servants to wait on him, and plenty of money; so Goraknath +agreed to live in this house; only, as he was a fakir, he often went +away by himself to spend some time in his jungle, always returning to +his house in King Burtal's compound. Meanwhile King Burtal gave each +of his wives a lichi to eat, and after a little while each wife had a +little son. They were all such beautiful children; but the biggest and +handsomest of all was the eldest Rani's little son. His name was +Sazada, and his father and mother loved him dearly. + +When Prince Sazada was about six or seven years old, the fakir +Goraknath came to King Burtal and said, "Now you must give me your +son Sazada, for I want to take him away with me for some years." The +Rani, his mother, refused to let him go, but at last she had to do so, +and then she became mad and very sick for grief. + +Goraknath took the little prince to Indrasan to be taught by the +fairies, and on arriving he married him to Jahur Rani, who was the +daughter of the greatest of the fairy queens. Goraknath made a grand +wedding for the little prince, and all the fairies were delighted that +he should be the little Jahur Rani's husband, for he was such a +beautiful child they all fell in love with him the moment they saw +him, and they taught him to play on all kinds of instruments, and to +sing beautifully, and to read and write, and he grew handsomer and +handsomer every day in the fairy kingdom. Goraknath came often to see +him, and the fairies took great care of him. + +When Prince Sazada had grown a fine strong young man, Goraknath took +him and his wife, the Jahur Rani, and brought them in great state to +King Burtal's kingdom. First he took the young prince and presented +him to his father and said, "See, here is your son. Now he can read +and write, sing and play on all kinds of instruments, for I have had +him taught all these things." But they, when they saw him, fell on +their faces, for they could not look at him on account of his great +beauty. He had grown so handsome in Indrasan, and his cheeks were red. +"How can this beautiful boy be our son?" they said, and they did not +recognize him. "Stand up," said Goraknath. "This is your son Sazada; +do not fall down before your son." So they stood up, and the fakir +said, "I have married your son to the fairy princess Jahur Rani, and I +will bring her to you." So then he brought the little Rani, and when +they saw her they fell down again, for they could not look at her +beauty. Her hair was like red gold, her eyes were dark, and her +eyelashes black. But Goraknath made them stand up; and when they +really understood it was their son and his wife that he had brought +them, they took Prince Sazada into their arms, and kissed him and +loved him, and his Rani too. Goraknath made a grand wedding-feast for +them all, and they were all very happy. + + Told by Dunkni. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [3] Yamuna. + + [4] Mahadeva, _i.e._ Siva. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XVI. + +SOME OF THE DOINGS OF SHEKH FARID. + + +Once there was a Raja called Hamansa Raja. He had a son, named Gursan +Raja, who married Khelapari Rani, the daughter of Gulabsa Raja. After +the wedding Gursan Raja brought her home to his father's house. + +One day Gursan Raja came home from hunting, very very tired and +thirsty. It was about twelve or one o'clock in the day. He asked +Khelapari Rani to fetch him some water, and while she went for it he +fell asleep. When she came back she found him still sleeping, and +because he was so tired he slept all the afternoon and all night, and +never woke till the next morning. His wife stood by him all the time +holding the water in a brass cup. When he woke and found she had stood +there all the afternoon and all night he was very sorry, and asked God +to forgive him, and to give his wife whatever she wished for, no +matter what it might be. So Khelapari wished that whatever happened in +any country, she might know of it at once of herself without any one +telling her, no matter how far away the country might be. + +One day Khelapari Rani went to draw water from the tank, and by the +tank sat an old man, the fakir Shekh Farid. He said to the Rani, "Give +me a little water to drink." "I will," she said, "only drink it +quickly, for my father's house is on fire, and I am going to put it +out." "How far off is your father's country?" asked Shekh Farid. +"About twenty miles," answered Khelapari. "Then how can you know his +house is on fire!" said Shekh Farid; "I have been a fakir for twelve +years, and for twelve years neither ate nor drank, and yet I do not +know what happens twenty miles away." "But I know," she answered. +"Leave your water-jar here," he said, "and go and see if the house +really is on fire, and I will not drink till you return to me." + +So off went Khelapari Rani to her father's country, and when she got +there his house was burning, and she stayed till the fire was put out, +and then returned to the tank where she left the fakir. "Is it true," +he asked, "that your father's house was on fire?" "Quite true," she +answered. The fakir wondered. "How could she know it when the fire was +twenty miles off?" he said to himself, and he determined to go to +Gulabsa Raja's country to see if the Rani had told him the truth. + +He went by a roundabout road, as he did not know the way, so it took +him three or four days to get there. When he did, he asked some +villagers if there had been a fire at their Raja's house. "Yes, a few +days ago there was," they answered. So the fakir, still more +astonished, decided he would go back to Hamansa Raja's palace and ask +Khelapari Rani how it came to pass that she was wiser than Shekh +Farid. + +As he was returning, he met a bullock-cart laden with bags of sugar, +and he asked the driver what the bags contained. The driver was put +out because his bullocks would not go on quickly, and he was tired +with beating and goading them, so he said crossly, "It's ashes." +"Good," said Shekh Farid, "let it be ashes." When the cartman got to +the bazar, and went to make over the sugar to the merchant who had +sent him for it, he found all his bags full of ashes, nothing but +ashes. He was in a great state of mind, for a good deal of money had +been paid for the sugar, and he was a poor man. So he went back to +Shekh Farid and fell down at his feet, saying, "I am a poor, poor +man. My sugar is turned to ashes. Do make the ashes sugar again." +"Good," said the fakir; "go home, and you will find sugar, and next +time you are asked what you have in your cart, tell the truth and not +lies." The cartman went home, and when he saw his sugar was sugar once +more, and no longer ashes, he was very, very glad. + +One of his brother-villagers thought, "How pleasant it would be to +become a fakir and do such things myself! I will go to this fakir and +learn from him to be a fakir too." So he went after Shekh Farid and +found him walking along the road, and he followed him. Now Shekh Farid +knew at once what this man wanted, so as they passed a heap of clay +bricks, he said, "O God, let it be thy pleasure to give me power to +turn these clay bricks into gold." Instantly they became gold, and +Shekh Farid walked on; but the villager took up two of the bricks and +put one under each arm, and then followed the fakir. Suddenly Shekh +Farid turned round, and said to him, "You have two clay bricks under +your arms." The man looked, saw it was true, and threw them away. Then +Shekh Farid said to him, "You steal bricks, and yet wish to be a +fakir?" The man was ashamed, and went back to his village. + +Shekh Farid continued his journey and got to Hamansa Raja's country; +but when he got there he found Khelapari had gone to another country +for a little while, so he never saw her, nor found out how it was that +she knew what happened twenty miles off. + +In a jungle in Hamansa Raja's country he met a man, called +Fakir-achand, and his wife, who were very poor. They were going to +bury their only son, and were crying bitterly. Shekh Farid asked them, +"Would you like your son to be alive again?" "Yes," they said. "Will +you give him to me, and I will bring him to life, and then he shall +return to you?" said Shekh Farid. "Yes," they answered, and gave him +their dead son, and went to their home. + +The fakir carried the dead boy, who was called Mohandas, a little +further on, and then laid him on the ground, and struck him with a +long thin bamboo wand he carried in his hand. The boy stood up. Shekh +Farid asked him, "Would you like to go home to your father and mother, +or to stay with me?" "To stay with you," said Mohandas. (Had he wished +to go home, the fakir would have been very angry.) "Then," said Shekh +Farid, "I will call your mother here." He did so, and when she came, +he said to her, "See, here is your son alive. Will you give him to me +for twelve years?" The woman said, "Yes," and went home. The fakir +gave her and her husband a quantity of rupees and built them a +beautiful house. Then he and Mohandas set out on their travels, and +wandered about the jungles for one whole year, till they came to a +country full of large splendid gardens belonging to a very rich Raja, +called Dumkas Raja. + +This Raja had a beautiful daughter, Champakali Rani. She had lovely +golden hair, golden eyebrows, golden eyelashes, blue eyes, and her +skin was transparent. In Dumkas Raja's country they had never seen a +fakir, so when Shekh Farid and Mohandas arrived, the Raja sent to +them, and asked Shekh Farid to come to talk to him. "No," said the +fakir, "I will not go to the Raja: if the Raja wants me, he must come +to me." + +Dumkas Raja was very angry when his messengers returned with this +answer, and he ordered Shekh Farid to leave his country immediately; +but the fakir said he would not go until he had married his adopted +son, Mohandas, to Champakali Rani. The people all laughed at him for +saying this, and declared such a marriage would never take place. +However, the fakir and Mohandas walked about and saw the town, and +looked at everything, and everybody stared at them. Then they went to +live on the border of Dumkas Raja's country, and lived there for some +time. + +One day Shekh Farid bought Mohandas a beautiful horse and fine clothes +such as Rajas wear, and told the boy to ride about the fields and high +roads. He also told him not to speak to any one unless they spoke to +him. Mohandas promised to do as he was bid. As he was riding along, he +met the Princess Champakali, who was also riding. She asked him who he +was. "A Raja's son," he said. "What Raja?" asked Champakali. "Never +mind what Raja," said Mohandas. The princess then went home, and so +did Mohandas; but every day after this they met and talked together, +and the princess fell very much in love with Mohandas. + +At last she said to her father, "I wish to marry a young man who rides +about on the border-land every day, and is very handsome." The Raja +consented, for it was time his daughter was married, and now no Raja +from another country would come to marry her, as the demons who +guarded the princess swallowed all her suitors at one gulp, and had +already swallowed many Rajas who had come on this errand. + +Shekh Farid said to Mohandas, "Now go up to the palace, and claim the +princess for your wife." "If I do," said Mohandas, "the demons will +swallow me." "I will not let them swallow you," said Shekh Farid. So +Mohandas consented and set off for the palace, Shekh Farid following +him. When Mohandas came to the demons, they were going to swallow him; +but the fakir, who had his sword in his hand, killed them all, and as +he did so, the Rajas and princes who had come as suitors to the +Princess Champakali, and had therefore been swallowed by the demons, +all came jumping out of the demons' stomachs and ran off in all +directions as hard as they could, from fear not knowing where they +went. + +Mohandas was greatly frightened at all this; but Shekh Farid explained +everything to him, so he went on to the palace, and the fakir went +too. There Mohandas asked Dumkas Raja to give him his daughter as his +wife, and the Raja consented. So he was married to Champakali Rani, +and her father gave them a great many elephants, and horses, and +camels, and a great deal of money and many jewels. And Mohandas and +his wife set off with the fakir to his father Fakir-achand's house, +and they took all the elephants, camels, horses, money and jewels with +them. On the way Mohandas told Champakali Rani that he was not a great +Raja's son, but the son of poor people. Champakali's heart was very +sad at this; however, she was not angry, only sorry. + +When they reached Hamansa Raja's country, and had come to +Fakir-achand's house, the fakir said to Mohandas's mother, "See, you +lent me one child, and I have brought you back two children. Does this +please you?" "Indeed it does please me," she answered; "I am very +happy." + +They built a beautiful palace and all lived in it together. The mother +begged Shekh Farid to stay with them, saying, "Only stay with us; I +will give you a bungalow, and you shall have everything you want." But +Shekh Farid said, "I am a fakir, and so cannot stay with you, as I may +never stay in one place, and must, instead, wander from country to +country and from jungle to jungle." So he said good-bye to them and +went on his wanderings, and never returned to them. + +Mohandas, his wife, and his father and mother, all lived happily +together. + + Told by Dunkni. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XVII. + +THE MOUSE. + + +There was a mouse who wanted something to eat; so he went to a garden, +where many kinds of grain, and fruit, and cabbages, and other +vegetables were growing. All round the garden the people to whom it +belonged had planted a hedge of thorns, that nothing might get in. The +mouse scrambled through the hedge, but great thorns pierced his tail, +and he began to cry. He came out of the garden again through the +hedge, and on his way home he met a barber. + +"You must take out these thorns," said he to the barber. + +"I cannot," said the barber, "without cutting off your tail with my +razor." + +"Never mind cutting off my tail," said the mouse. + +The barber cut off the mouse's tail. But the mouse was in a rage. He +seized the razor and ran away with it. At this the poor barber was +very unhappy and began to cry, for he had no pice wherewith to buy +another. + +The mouse ran on and on until at last he came to another country, in +which there were no knives or sickles to cut the grass with. There the +mouse saw a man pulling the grass out of the ground with his hands. + +"You will cut your hands," said the mouse. + +"There are no knives here," said the man, "so I must pull up the grass +in this way." + +"You must take my razor then," said the mouse. + +"Suppose your razor should break? I could not buy you another," said +the man. + +"Never mind if it does break," said the mouse, "I give it to you as a +present." + +So the man took the razor and began cutting the grass, and as he was +cutting, the razor broke. + +"Oh, why have you broken my razor?" exclaimed the mouse. + +"Did not I tell you it would break?" answered the man. + +The mouse snatched up the man's blanket and ran off with it. The +grass-cutter began to cry. "What shall I do?" said he. "The mouse has +carried away my blanket, and I have not money wherewith to buy +another." And he went home very sad. + +Meanwhile the mouse ran on and on until he arrived at another country, +where he saw a grain merchant chopping up sugar-canes; only as he had +no blanket or cloth to lay the canes on, he chopped them up on the +ground, and so they got dirty. + +"Why do you chop up your canes on the ground?" said the mouse; "they +all get dirty." + +"What can I do?" answered the man. "I have no pice wherewith to buy a +blanket to chop them on." + +"Then why don't you take mine?" said the mouse. + +"If I took yours it would get cut, and I have no money to buy you +another," said the grain merchant. + +"Never mind; I don't want another," said the mouse. + +So the man took the blanket, and of course he cut it. When he had +finished chopping up his sugar-canes, he gave it back to the mouse. + +When the mouse saw the blanket was full of holes, he was very angry +indeed with the man, and seizing all the sugar-canes he ran away with +them as fast as he could. The grain merchant began to cry. "What shall +I do?" said he; "I have no more sugar-canes." And he went home very +sorrowful. + +Then the mouse ran on and on till he came to another country, where he +stopped at a sweetmeat-seller's shop. Now in this country there was no +salt and no sugar. And the sweetmeat-seller made his sweetmeats of +flour and ghee without either sugar or salt, so that they were very +nasty. + +"Will you give me some sweetmeats for a pice?" said the mouse to the +sweetmeat-seller. "Yes," answered the man, and he gave one. The mouse +began to eat it and thought it very nasty indeed. + +"Why, there is no sugar in it!" exclaimed the mouse. + +"No," said the man; "we have no sugar in this country. The few +sugar-canes we have are so dear, that poor people like myself cannot +buy them." + +"Then take my sugar-canes," cried the mouse. + +"No," said the man. "Where should I find the money to pay you for +them? They would be all used in making sweetmeats." + +"Take them," said the mouse; "I give them to you." + +The sweetmeat-seller took them and began making sweetmeats of all +kinds, so that he used all the sugar-canes. + +"Why have you used all my sugar-canes?" cried the mouse. + +"Did not I tell you I should do so?" said the man. + +"You are a thief!" cried the mouse, and he knocked down the +sweetmeat-seller, seized all his sweetmeats, and ran off with them. + +"What shall I do now?" cried the sweetmeat-seller. "I have no money to +buy flour and ghee to make more sweetmeats with; and if I quarrel with +the mouse, he will doubtless kill me." + +Meanwhile the mouse ran on and on till he reached a country, the Raja +of which had a great many cows--hundreds of cows. The mouse stopped at +the pasture-ground of these cows. Now, the cowherds were so poor they +could not buy bread every day, and sometimes they ate bread which was +twelve days old. When the mouse arrived, the cowherds were eating +their bread, and it was very stale and mouldy. + +"Why do you eat that stale bread?" said the mouse. + +"Because we have no money to buy any other with," answered the +cowherds. + +"Look at all these sweetmeats," said the mouse. "Take them and eat +them instead of that stale bread." + +"But if we eat them, we must pay you for them, and where shall we get +the money?" said the cowherds. + +"Oh, never mind the money," said the mouse. + +So the cowherds took the sweetmeats and ate them all up. At this the +mouse was furious. He stuck a pole into the ground, and ran and +fetched ropes, and tied the cowherds hand and foot to the pole. Then +he took all the cows and ran off with them. + +He ran on and on till he got to a country where there were no fowls, +no cows, no buffaloes, no meat of any kind; and the people in it did +not even know what milk and meat were. The day the mouse arrived was +the day the Raja's daughter was to be married, and a great many people +were assembled together. The Raja's cooks were cooking, but they had +neither meat nor ghee. + +"Why are all these people assembled together?" said the mouse. + +"To-day is our Raja's daughter's wedding-day, and we are cooking the +dinner," answered the cooks. + +"But you have no meat," said the mouse. + +"No," said the cooks. "There is no meat of any kind in our country." + +"Take my cows," said the mouse. + +"No," said the cooks; "our Raja could not pay for them; he is too +poor." (He was only a petty Raja.) + +"It does not matter," said the mouse. "I don't want money." + +So the cooks took the cows and the sheep and killed them, and dressed +their flesh in different ways; made pilaus and curries; they roasted +some and boiled some, and gave it to the people to eat. In this way +they made an end of all the cows. + +"Why have you made an end of all my cows?" cried the mouse. + +"Did not we tell you we should make use of them all?" said the cooks. + +"Give me my cows," said the mouse. + +"We can't. The people have eaten them all up," said the cooks. + +The mouse was in a great rage. He ran off to the bridegroom, who was +walking near the kitchen, saying to himself, "Now I will go and fetch +my bride." + +"Give me the money for my cows," cried the mouse to him. "Your people +have eaten them all up, and your cooks won't pay me, so you must." + +"What have I to do with your cows?" said the bridegroom. "I won't pay +you for them." + +"Then if you won't pay me, your wife's father must," said the mouse. + +"Oh, _he_ is too poor to pay for your cows," said the bridegroom, "and +I won't." + +"Then if I am not paid, I will take away your bride," said the mouse; +and he ran off and carried away the bride. + +The Raja was very angry at this; but the mouse ran on and on with his +wife (so he called the Raja's daughter) till he came to another +country. + +Now, on the day he arrived in it there were going to be grand sights +and fun to please its Raja. Some jugglers and rope-dancers were going +to perform. + +"Take my wife and let her walk on the rope; she is young, and your +wives are old," said the mouse to the rope-dancers. + +"No," they answered, "for she does not know how to walk on a rope and +carry at the same time a wooden plate on her head. She would fall and +break her neck." + +"But you must take my wife," said the mouse. "She won't fall; she is +young, and your wives are old. You really must take her." + +So the rope-dancers took her, much against their will, and when she +began to walk on the rope with the wooden plate on her head, she fell +and died. + +"Oh, why have you killed my wife?" cried the mouse. + +"Did we not tell you she would fall and kill herself?" answered the +rope-dancers. + +The mouse seized all the jugglers' and rope-dancers' wives, and the +things they used in dancing and juggling, and ran off with them. Then +the rope-dancers and jugglers began to cry, and said, "What shall we +do? Our wives and our property are all gone!" + +Meanwhile the mouse ran on and on until he came to another country, +where he got a house to live in. And he ate a great deal, and grew so +fat that he could not get through the door of his house. + +"Send for a carpenter," said he to the rope-dancers' and jugglers' +wives, "and tell him to cut off some of my flesh. Then I shall be able +to get into my house." + +The women sent for a carpenter, and when he came the mouse said to +him, "cut off some of my flesh, then I shall be able to go into my +house." + +"If I do," said the carpenter, "you will die." + +"No, I shan't die," said the mouse. "Do as I bid you." + +So the carpenter took his knife, and cut off some of the mouse's +flesh. + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear!" cried the mouse; "how it does hurt! What can I +do to make it stop paining me?" + +"You must go to a certain place, where a particular kind of grain +grows, and rub the grain on your wounds. Then they will get quite +well," said the carpenter. + +So the mouse ran off to the place to which the carpenter had told him +to go, and rubbed his wounds with the grain. This gave him such pain +that he fell down and died. + +The rope-dancers' and jugglers' wives went home to their husbands with +all the things the mouse had carried away, and they all lived happily +ever after. + + Told by Karim. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XVIII. + +A WONDERFUL STORY. + + +Once there lived two wrestlers, who were both very very strong. The +stronger of the two had a daughter called Ajit; the other had no +daughter at all. These wrestlers did not live in the same country, but +their two villages were not far apart. + +One day the wrestler that had no daughter heard of the wrestler that +had a daughter, and he determined to go and find him and wrestle with +him, to see who was the stronger. He went therefore to Ajit's father's +country, and when he arrived at his house, he knocked at the door and +said, "Is any one here?" Ajit answered, "Yes, I am here;" and she came +out. "Where is the wrestler who lives in this house?" he asked. "My +father," answered Ajit, "has taken three hundred carts to the jungle, +and he is drawing them himself, as he could not get enough bullocks +and horses to pull them along. He is gone to get wood." This +astonished the wrestler very much. "Your father must indeed be very +strong," he said. + +Then he set off to the jungle, and in the jungle he found two dead +elephants. He tied them to the two ends of a pole, took the pole on +his shoulder, and returned to Ajit's house. There he knocked at the +door, crying, "Is any one here?" "Yes, I am here," said Ajit. "Has +your father come back?" asked the wrestler. "Not yet," said Ajit, who +was busy sweeping the room. Now, her father had twelve elephants. +Eleven were in the stables, but one was lying dead in the room Ajit +was sweeping; and as she swept, she swept the dead elephant without +any trouble out of the door. This frightened the wrestler. "What a +strong girl this is!" he said to himself. When Ajit had swept all the +dust out of the room, she came and gathered it and the dead elephant +up, and threw dust and elephant away. The wrestler was more and more +astonished. + +He set off again to find Ajit's father, and met him pulling the three +hundred carts along. At this he was still more alarmed, but he said to +him, "Will you wrestle with me now?" "No," said Ajit's father, "I +won't; for here there is no one to see us." The other again begged him +to wrestle at once, and at that moment an old woman bent with age came +by. She was carrying bread to her son, who had taken his mother's +three or four thousand camels to browse. + +The first wrestler called to her at once, "Come and see us wrestle." +"No," said the old woman, "for I must take my son his dinner. He is +very hungry." "No, no; you must stay and see us wrestle," cried both +the wrestlers. "I cannot stay," she said; "but do one of you stand on +one of my hands, and the other on the other, and then you can wrestle +as we go along." "You carry us!" cried the men. "You are so old, you +will never be able to carry us." "Indeed I shall," said the old woman. +So they got up on her hands, and she rested her hands, with the +wrestlers standing on them, on her shoulders; and her son's +flour-cakes she put on her head. Thus they went on their way, and the +men wrestled as they went. + +Now the old woman had told her son that if he did not do his work +well, she would bring men to kill him; so he was dreadfully frightened +when he saw his mother coming with the wrestlers. "Here is my mother +coming to kill me," he said: and he tied up the three or four +thousand camels in his cloth, put them all on his head, and ran off +with them as fast as he could. "Stop, stop!" cried his mother, when +she saw him running away. But he only ran on still faster, and the old +woman and the wrestlers ran after him. + +Just then a kite was flying about, and the kite said to itself, "There +must be some meat in that man's cloth," so it swept down and carried +off the bundle of camels. The old woman's son at this sat down and +cried. + +The wrestlers soon came up to him and said, "What are you crying for?" +"Oh," answered the boy, "my mother said that if I did not do my work, +she would bring men to kill me. So, when I saw you coming with her, I +tied all the camels up in my cloth, put them on my head, and ran off. +A kite came down and carried them all away. That is why I am crying." +The wrestlers were much astonished at the boy's strength and at the +kite's strength, and they all three set off in the direction in which +the kite had flown. + +Meanwhile the kite had flown on and on till it had reached another +country, and the daughter of the Raja of this country was sitting on +the roof of the palace, combing her long black hair. The princess +looked up at the kite and the bundle, and said, "There must be meat in +that bundle." At that moment the kite let the bundle of camels fall, +and it fell into the princess's eye, and went deep into it; but her +eye was so large that it did not hurt her much. "Oh, mother! mother!" +she cried, "something has fallen into my eye! come and take it out." +Her mother rushed up, took the bundle of camels out of the princess's +eye, and shoved the bundle into her pocket. + +The wrestlers and the old woman's son now came up, having seen all +that had happened. "Where is the bundle of camels?" said they, "and +why do you cry?" they asked the princess. "Oh," said her mother, "she +is crying because something fell into her eye." "It was the bundle of +camels that fell into her eye, and the bundle is in your pocket," said +the old woman's son to the Rani: and he put his hand into her pocket +and pulled out the bundle. Then he and the wrestlers went back to +Ajit's father's house, and on the way they met his old mother, who +went with them. + +They invited a great many people to dinner, and Ajit took a large +quantity of flour and made it into flat cakes. Then she handed a cake +to the wrestler who had come to see her father, and gave one to +everybody else. "I can't eat such a big cake as this," said the +wrestler. "Can't you?" said Ajit. "I can't indeed," he answered; "it +is much too big." "Then I will eat it myself," said Ajit, and taking +it and all the other cakes she popped them into her mouth together. +"That is not half enough for me," she said. Then she offered him a can +of water. "I cannot drink all that water," he said. "Can't you?" said +Ajit; "I can drink much more than that." So she filled a large tub +with water, lifted it to her mouth, and drank it all up at a draught. + +The wrestler was very much astonished, and said to her, "Will you come +to my house? I will give you a dinner." "You will never be able to +give me enough to eat and drink," said Ajit. "Yes, I shall," he said. +"You will not be able to give me enough, I am sure," said Ajit; "I +cannot come." "Do come," he said. "Very well," she answered, "I will +come; but I know you will never be able to give me enough food." + +So they set off to his house. But when they had gone a little way, she +said, "I must have my house with me." "I cannot carry your house," +said the wrestler. "You must," said Ajit, "if you don't, I cannot go +with you." "But I cannot carry your house," said the wrestler. "Well, +then," said Ajit, "I will carry it myself." So she went back, dug up +her house, and hoisted it on her head. This frightened the wrestler. +"What a strong woman she must be!" he thought. "I will not wrestle +with her father; for if I do, he will kill me." + +Then they all went on till they came to his house. When they got to +it, Ajit set her house down on the ground, and the wrestler went to +get the dinner he had promised her. He brought quantities of +things--all sorts of things--everything he could think of. Three kinds +of flour, milk, dhall, rice, curries, and meat. Then he showed them +all to Ajit. "That is not enough for my dinner," she said. "Why, that +would be hardly enough for my mice!" + +The wrestler wondered very much at this, and asked, "Are your mice so +very big?" "Yes, they are very big," she answered; "come and see." So +he took up all the food he had brought, and laid it on the floor of +Ajit's house. Then at once all the mice came and ate it up every bit. +The wrestler was greatly surprised; and Ajit said, "Did I not tell you +true? and did I not tell you, you would never be able to get me enough +to eat?" "Come to the Nabha Raja's country," said the wrestler. "There +you will surely get enough to eat." + +To this she agreed; so she, her father, and the wrestler went off to +the Nabha Raja's country. "I have brought a very strong girl," said +the wrestler to the Nabha Raja. "I will try her strength," said the +Raja. "Give me three elephants," said Ajit, "and I will carry them for +you." Then the Raja sent for three elephants, and said to her, "Now, +carry these." "Give me a rope," said Ajit. So they gave her a rope, +and she tied the three elephants together, and flung them over her +shoulder. "Now, where shall I throw them?" she said to the astonished +Raja. "Shall I throw them on to the roof of your palace? or on to the +ground? or away out there?" "I don't know," said the Raja. "Throw them +upon my roof." She threw the elephants up on to the roof with such +force that it broke, and the elephants fell through into the palace. + +"What have you done?" cried the Raja. "It is not my fault," answered +Ajit. "You told me to throw the elephants on to your roof, and so I +did." Then the Raja sent for a great many men and bullocks and horses +to pull the elephants out of his palace. But they could not the first +time they pulled; then they tried a second time and succeeded, and +they threw the elephants away. + +Then Ajit went home. "What shall I do with this dreadful woman?" said +the Nabha Raja. "She is sure to kill me, and take all my country. I +will try to kill her." So he got his sepoys and guns into order, and +went out to kill Ajit. She was looking out of her window, and saw them +coming. "Oh," she said, "here is the Nabha Raja coming to kill me." +Then she went out of her house and asked him why he had come. "To kill +you," said the Raja. "Is that what you want to do?" she said; and with +one hand she took up the Raja, his guns, and his sepoys, and put them +all under her arm: and she carried them all off to the Nabha Raja's +country. There she put the Raja into prison, and made herself Rani of +his kingdom. She was very much pleased at being Rani of the Nabha +country; for it was a rich country, and there were quantities of +fruits and of corn in it. And she lived happily for a long, long time. + + Told by Karim, 13th January, 1877. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XIX. + +THE FAKIR NANAKSA SAVES THE MERCHANT'S LIFE. + + +In a country there was a grain merchant who was a very good man. Now a +fakir named Nanaksa, who was also a very good man, came constantly to +talk with him. + +One day he came as usual, and the merchant and his wife were very glad +to see him. As they were all sitting together, they saw a goat led +away to be killed. The goat escaped from the man who was leading him +and hid behind the merchant, but he was caught and marched off to +death. + +At this the merchant said nothing, but the fakir laughed. + +A little later they saw an old woman who had done something wrong, +and, therefore, the king had ordered her to be taken to the jungle and +there put to death. The old woman escaped from the men who were +leading her and took refuge behind the merchant, but she was seized +and led away to die. + +The merchant said nothing; the fakir laughed, and the merchant's wife +saw him laugh. + +At this moment the merchant's little daughter woke and began to +scream. Her mother took her in her arms; the child was cross and +pulled her mother's clothes all awry. + +The fakir laughed. + +The mother put her dress straight and held her child in her arms and +stopped her crying. She then took a knife and went up to the fakir, +saying, "Why did you laugh three times? Tell me the truth. What made +you laugh three times?" Nanaksa answered, "What does it signify +whether I cry or laugh? Ask me no questions, for I am a fakir, and it +does not matter in the least whether I laugh or cry." However, the +merchant's wife insisted on knowing why he laughed, and she said, "If +you do not tell me, I will kill you with my knife." "Good," said +Nanaksa; "if you really do wish to know, I will tell you." "I really +do wish to know," she answered. + +"Well," said Nanaksa, "you remember the goat took refuge behind your +husband? That goat in his former life was your husband's father, and +your husband would have saved him from death had he given the man who +was taking him to be killed four rupees, for the man would then have +gone away contentedly without the goat." + +"Good," said the woman. "Why did you laugh the second time?" + +"Well," said Nanaksa, "that old woman who hid herself behind your +husband was his grandmother in her former life. Had your husband given +the men who were taking her to the jungle twenty rupees, they would +have given her up to him, and he would have saved her from death. +Should a wild beast or a man ever take refuge behind us, it is our +duty to save his life." + +"Well," said the merchant's wife, "you have told me why you laughed +the first two times. Now tell me why you laughed the third time." + +"Listen," said Nanaksa. "You remember your husband's sister whom you +tormented so much? She died, but then God caused her to be born again +as your daughter, that she might torment you and punish you for having +been so unkind to her in her former life when she was your +sister-in-law." + +"Is that true?" said the woman. + +"Quite true," answered the fakir, "and that is why I laughed the third +time. But now would you like to hear something I wish to tell you? If +you promise not to cry, I will tell it you." + +"I promise not to cry, so tell me," she said. + +"Then listen," said Nanaksa. "God has decreed that your husband shall +die to-morrow morning at ten o'clock. He will send four angels to +fetch him." + +At this the poor woman began to cry bitterly. + +"Do not cry," said the fakir. "I will tell you something more. Listen +to me. To-morrow morning at four o'clock you must get up, and make +your house quite clean and neat. Then buy new dishes and make all the +nicest and most delicious sweetmeats you can." + +"I will do so," she answered. + +When it was yet night she rose, and did all the fakir had bidden her. +Then she went to him and said, "The sweetmeats are ready." "Now," said +Nanaksa, "go and get a fine, clean cloth; take it and the sweetmeats +with you, and set out and walk on and on till you come to a plain +which is a long way from this. But you must go on till you reach it, +and on it you will see a tank and a tree. By the tank and the tree you +must spread your cloth and lay out your sweetmeats on it. At nine +o'clock you will see four men, who will come and bathe in the tank. +When they have bathed they will come towards you, and you must say to +them, 'See! you are four angels, therefore you must eat some of my +sweetmeats.'" + +The woman set out for the plain and did all Nanaksa had told her to +do; and everything happened as he had foretold. When the four men had +bathed, they came towards the woman, and she said to them, "See! you +are four angels, and therefore you must eat some of my sweetmeats." +The chief of the four angels, who was called Jabra'il, and the three +other angels answered, "We have no money, wherewith to buy your +sweetmeats, so how can we eat any of them?" "Never mind the money," +said the woman; "you can pay me another day. Come now and eat some." +So the four angels sat down and ate a great many of her sweetmeats. + +When they had finished they stood up and said to each other, "Now we +must go to the village and fetch the merchant." Then the woman made +them a great many salaams and said, "That merchant is my husband. +Still, if it is your pleasure to take him away, take him away." + +At this the angels were sad, and said to her, "How can we take your +husband's life now that we have eaten your food? But stay under this +tree till we return, and then we will pay you for your sweetmeats." + +So the angels left her, and the wife waited under the tree. She was +very sad; and after some time she thought, "Now I will go home: +perhaps these angels are gone to take his life;" and then she cried +bitterly and remained under the tree. + +Meanwhile the four angels had gone back to God, who asked them, "Have +you brought the merchant?" They were sorry not to have brought him, +and told God all that had happened. And God was very angry; but he +said to them. "Never mind. I know the fakir Nanaksa is with the +merchant and his wife just now, and it is he who has played you this +trick." + +Then God wrote a letter in which he promised the merchant twenty years +more life, only at the end of the twenty years he was really to die +and not to be allowed to live any longer. This letter he gave to the +angels, and bade them take it to the merchant's wife and tell her to +have a silver box made, into which she was to put the letter, and +then hang it round her husband's neck, so that he should live for +twenty years more. + +The four angels came down to earth again, and went to the tree under +which they had left the woman. They found her waiting for them, and +gave her the letter saying, "You must get a silver box made and put +this letter in it; then hang it round your husband's neck, so that he +may live for twenty years more." + +The woman thanked them, and was very happy. She took the letter and +went home. There she found her husband quite well, and with him was +Nanaksa. She gave Nanaksa the letter and told him what the angels had +bidden her do with it. Nanaksa read the letter, and was very much +pleased. Then he said to her, "Call a silversmith here, and let him +make you the silver box. Then you must get a great dinner ready, and +ask all your friends, rich and poor, to come and eat it." + +All this she did, and when the dinner was ready and all their friends +had come, the fakir said, "None who are here, men, women, or children, +must eat, till they have put their hands before their faces and +worshipped God." Everybody hid his face in his hands at once and +worshipped God: while they did this the fakir stole away from them, so +when they uncovered their faces he was nowhere to be seen. No one knew +where he had gone, and no one had seen him go. Some of the men went to +look for him, but they could not find him, and none of them ever saw +him again. + +But the merchant and his wife lived happily together. + + Told by Muniya. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XX. + +THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN. + + +In a country were seven daughters of poor parents, who used to come +daily to play under the shady trees in the King's garden with the +gardener's daughter; and daily she used to say to them, "When I am +married I shall have a son. Such a beautiful boy as he will be has +never been seen. He will have a moon on his forehead, and a star on +his chin." Then her playfellows used to laugh at her and mock her. + +But one day the King heard her telling them about the beautiful boy +she would have when she was married, and he said to himself he should +like very much to have such a son; the more so that though he had +already four wives he had no child. He went, therefore, to the +gardener and told him he wished to marry his daughter. This delighted +the gardener and his wife, who thought it would indeed be grand for +their daughter to become a princess. So they said "Yes" to the King, +and invited all their friends to the wedding. The King invited all +his, and he gave the gardener as much money as he wanted. Then the +wedding was held with great feasting and rejoicing. + +A year later the day drew near on which the gardener's daughter was to +have her son; and the King's four other wives came constantly to see +her. One day they said to her, "The King hunts every day; and the time +is soon coming when you will have your child. Suppose you fell ill +whilst he was out hunting and could therefore know nothing of your +illness, what would you do then?" + +When the King came home that evening, the gardener's daughter said to +him, "Every day you go out hunting. Should I ever be in trouble or +sick while you are away, how could I send for you?" The King gave her +a kettle-drum which he placed near the door for her, and he said to +her, "Whenever you want me, beat this kettle-drum. No matter how far +away I may be, I shall hear it, and will come at once to you." + +Next morning, when the King had gone out to hunt, his four other wives +came to see the gardener's daughter. She told them all about her +kettle-drum. "Oh," they said, "do drum on it just to see if the King +really will come to you." "No, I will not," she said; "for why should +I call him from his hunting when I do not want him?" "Don't mind +interrupting his hunting," they answered. "Do try if he really will +come to you when you beat your kettle-drum." So at last, just to +please them, she beat it, and the King stood before her. + +"Why have you called me?" he said. "See, I have left my hunting to +come to you." "I want nothing," she answered; "I only wished to know +if you really would come to me when I beat my drum." "Very well," +answered the King; "but do not call me again unless you really need +me." Then he returned to his hunting. + +The next day, when the King had gone out hunting as usual, the four +wives again came to see the gardener's daughter. They begged and +begged her to beat her drum once more, "just to see if the King will +really come to see you this time." At first she refused, but at last +she consented. So she beat her drum, and the King came to her. But +when he found she was neither ill nor in trouble, he was angry, and +said to her, "Twice I have left my hunting and lost my game to come +to you when you did not need me. Now you may call me as much as you +like, but I will not come to you," and then he went away in a rage. + +The third day the gardener's daughter fell ill, and she beat and beat +her kettle-drum; but the King never came. He heard her kettle-drum, +but he thought, "She does not really want me; she is only trying to +see if I will go to her." + +Meanwhile the four other wives came to her, and they said, "Here it is +the custom before a child is born to bind its mother's eyes with a +handkerchief that she may not see it just at first. So let us bind +your eyes." She answered, "Very well, bind my eyes." The four wives +then tied a handkerchief over them. + +Soon after, the gardener's daughter had a beautiful little son, with a +moon on his forehead and a star on his chin; and before the poor +mother had seen him, the four wicked wives took the boy to the nurse +and said to her, "Now you must not let this child make the least sound +for fear his mother should hear him; and in the night you must either +kill him, or else take him away, so that his mother may never see him. +If you obey our orders, we will give you a great many rupees." All +this they did out of spite. The nurse took the little child and put +him into a box, and the four wives went back to the gardener's +daughter. + +First they put a stone into her boy's little bed, and then they took +the handkerchief off her eyes and showed it her, saying, "Look! this +is your son!" The poor girl cried bitterly, and thought, "What will +the King say when he finds no child?" But she could do nothing. + +When the King came home, he was furious at hearing his youngest wife, +the gardener's daughter, had given him a stone instead of the +beautiful little son she had promised him. He made her one of the +palace servants, and never spoke to her. + +In the middle of the night the nurse took the box in which was the +beautiful little prince, and went out to a broad plain in the jungle. +There she dug a hole, made the fastenings of the box sure, and put the +box into the hole, although the child in it was still alive. The +King's dog, whose name was Shankar, had followed her to see what she +did with the box. As soon as she had gone back to the four wives (who +gave her a great many rupees), the dog went to the hole in which she +had put the box, took the box out, and opened it. When he saw the +beautiful little boy, he was very much delighted and said, "If it +pleases God that this child should live, I will not hurt him; I will +not eat him, but I will swallow him whole and hide him in my stomach." +This he did. + +After six months had passed, the dog went by night to the jungle, and +thought, "I wonder whether the boy is alive or dead." Then he brought +the child out of his stomach and rejoiced over his beauty. The boy was +now six months old. When Shankar had caressed and loved him, he +swallowed him again for another six months. At the end of that time he +went once more by night to the broad jungle-plain. There he brought up +the child out of his stomach (the child was now a year old), and +caressed and petted him a great deal, and was made very happy by his +great beauty. + +But this time the dog's keeper had followed and watched the dog; and +he saw all that Shankar did, and the beautiful little child, so he ran +to the four wives and said to them, "Inside the King's dog there is a +child! the loveliest child! He has a moon on his forehead and a star +on his chin. Such a child has never been seen!" At this the four wives +were very much frightened, and as soon as the King came home from +hunting they said to him, "While you were away your dog came to our +rooms, and tore our clothes and knocked about all our things. We are +afraid he will kill us." "Do not be afraid," said the King. "Eat your +dinner and be happy. I will have the dog shot to-morrow morning." + +Then he ordered his servants to shoot the dog at dawn, but the dog +heard him, and said to himself, "What shall I do? The King intends to +kill me. I don't care about that, but what will become of the child if +I am killed? He will die. But I will see if I cannot save him." + +So when it was night, the dog ran to the King's cow, who was called +Suri, and said to her, "Suri, I want to give you something, for the +King has ordered me to be shot to-morrow. Will you take great care of +whatever I give you?" "Let me see what it is," said Suri; "I will take +care of it if I can." Then they both went together to the wide plain, +and there the dog brought up the boy. Suri was enchanted with him. "I +never saw such a beautiful child in this country," she said. "See, he +has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. I will take the +greatest care of him." So saying she swallowed the little prince. The +dog made her a great many salaams, and said, "To-morrow I shall die;" +and the cow then went back to her stable. + +Next morning at dawn the dog was taken to the jungle and shot. + +The child now lived in Suri's stomach; and when one whole year had +passed, and he was two years old, the cow went out to the plain, and +said to herself, "I do not know whether the child is alive or dead. +But I have never hurt it, so I will see." Then she brought up the boy; +and he played about, and Suri was delighted; she loved him and +caressed him, and talked to him. Then she swallowed him, and returned +to her stable. + +At the end of another year she went again to the plain and brought up +the child. He played and ran about for an hour to her great delight, +and she talked to him and caressed him. His great beauty made her very +happy. Then she swallowed him once more and returned to her stable. +The child was now three years old. + +But this time the cowherd had followed Suri, and had seen the +wonderful child and all she did to it. So he ran and told the four +wives, "The King's cow has a beautiful boy inside her. He has a moon +on his forehead and a star on his chin. Such a child has never been +seen before!" + +At this the wives were terrified. They tore their clothes and their +hair and cried. When the King came home at evening, he asked them why +they were so agitated. "Oh," they said, "your cow came and tried to +kill us; but we ran away. She tore our hair and our clothes." "Never +mind," said the King. "Eat your dinner and be happy. The cow shall be +killed to-morrow morning." + +Now Suri heard the King give this order to the servants, so she said +to herself, "What shall I do to save the child?" When it was midnight, +she went to the King's horse called Katar, who was very wicked, and +quite untameable. No one had ever been able to ride him; indeed no one +could go near him with safety, he was so savage. Suri said to this +horse, "Katar, will you take care of something that I want to give +you, because the King has ordered me to be killed to-morrow?" "Good," +said Katar; "show me what it is." Then Suri brought up the child, and +the horse was delighted with him. "Yes," he said, "I will take the +greatest care of him. Till now no one has been able to ride me, but +this child shall ride me." Then he swallowed the boy, and when he had +done so, the cow made him many salaams, saying, "It is for this boy's +sake that I am to die." The next morning she was taken to the jungle +and there killed. + +The beautiful boy now lived in the horse's stomach, and he stayed in +it for one whole year. At the end of that time the horse thought, "I +will see if this child is alive or dead." So he brought him up; and +then he loved him, and petted him, and the little prince played all +about the stable, out of which the horse was never allowed to go. +Katar was very glad to see the child, who was now four years old. +After he had played for some time, the horse swallowed him again. At +the end of another year, when the boy was five years old, Katar +brought him up again, caressed him, loved him, and let him play about +the stable as he had done a year before. Then the horse swallowed him +again. + +But this time the groom had seen all that happened, and when it was +morning, and the King had gone away to his hunting, he went to the +four wicked wives, and told them all he had seen, and all about the +wonderful, beautiful child that lived inside the King's horse Katar. +On hearing the groom's story the four wives cried, and tore their hair +and clothes, and refused to eat. When the King returned at evening and +asked them why they were so miserable, they said, "Your horse Katar +came and tore our clothes, and upset all our things, and we ran away +for fear he should kill us." "Never mind," said the King. "Only eat +your dinner and be happy. I will have Katar shot to-morrow." Then he +thought that two men unaided could not kill such a wicked horse, so he +ordered his servants to bid his troop of sepoys shoot him. + +So the next day the King placed his sepoys all round the stable, and +he took up his stand with them; and he said he would himself shoot any +one who let his horse escape. + +Meanwhile the horse had overheard all these orders. So he brought up +the child and said to him, "Go into that little room that leads out of +the stable, and you will find in it a saddle and bridle which you must +put on me. Then you will find in the room some beautiful clothes such +as princes wear; these you must put on yourself; and you must take the +sword and gun you will find there too. Then you must mount on my +back." Now Katar was a fairy-horse, and came from the fairies' +country, so he could get anything he wanted; but neither the King nor +any of his people knew this. When all was ready, Katar burst out of +his stable, with the prince on his back, rushed past the King himself +before the King had time to shoot him, galloped away to the great +jungle-plain, and galloped about all over it. The King saw his horse +had a boy on his back, though he could not see the boy distinctly. The +sepoys tried in vain to shoot the horse; he galloped much too fast; +and at last they were all scattered over the plain. Then the King had +to give it up and go home; and his sepoys went to their homes. The +King could not shoot any of his sepoys for letting his horse escape, +for he himself had let him do so. + +Then Katar galloped away, on, and on, and on; and when night came they +stayed under a tree, he and the King's son. The horse ate grass, and +the boy wild fruits which he found in the jungle. Next morning they +started afresh, and went far, and far, till they came to a jungle in +another country, which did not belong to the little prince's father, +but to another king. Here Katar said to the boy, "Now get off my +back." Off jumped the prince. "Unsaddle me and take off my bridle; +take off your beautiful clothes and tie them all up in a bundle with +your sword and gun." This the boy did. Then the horse gave him some +poor, common clothes, which he told him to put on. As soon as he was +dressed in them the horse said, "Hide your bundle in this grass, and I +will take care of it for you. I will always stay in this jungle-plain, +so that when you want me you will always find me. You must now go away +and find service with some one in this country." This made the boy +very sad. "I know nothing about anything," he said. "What shall I do +all alone in this country?" "Do not be afraid," answered Katar. "You +will find service, and I will always stay here to help you when you +want me. So go, only before you go, twist my right ear." The boy did +so, and his horse instantly became a donkey. "Now twist your right +ear," said Katar. And when the boy had twisted it, he was no longer a +handsome prince, but a poor, common-looking, ugly man; and his moon +and star were hidden. + +Then he went away further into the country, until he came to a grain +merchant of the country, who asked him who he was. "I am a poor man," +answered the boy, "and I want service." "Good," said the grain +merchant, "you shall be my servant." + +Now the grain merchant lived near the King's palace, and one night at +twelve o'clock the boy was very hot; so he went out into the King's +cool garden, and began to sing a lovely song. The seventh and youngest +daughter of the King heard him, and she wondered who it was who could +sing so deliciously. Then she put on her clothes, rolled up her hair, +and came down to where the seemingly poor common man was lying +singing. "Who are you? where do you come from?" she asked. But he +answered nothing. "Who is this man who does not answer when I speak to +him?" thought the little princess, and she went away. On the second +night the same thing happened, and on the third night too. But on the +third night, when she found she could not make him answer her, she +said to him, "What a strange man you are not to answer me when I speak +to you." But still he remained silent, so she went away. + +The next day when he had finished his work, the young prince went to +the jungle to see his horse, who asked him, "Are you quite well and +happy?" "Yes, I am," answered the boy. "I am servant to a grain +merchant. The last three nights I have gone into the King's garden and +sung a song. And each night the youngest princess has come to me and +asked me who I am, and whence I came, and I have answered nothing. +What shall I do now?" The horse said, "Next time she asks you who you +are, tell her you are a very poor man, and came from your own country +to find service here." + +The boy then went home to the grain merchant, and at night, when +every one had gone to bed, he went to the King's garden and sang his +sweet song again. The youngest princess heard him, got up, dressed, +and came to him. "Who are you? Whence do you come?" she asked. "I am a +very poor man," he answered. "I came from my own country to seek +service here, and I am now one of the grain merchant's servants." Then +she went away. For three more nights the boy sang in the King's +garden, and each night the princess came and asked him the same +questions as before, and the boy gave her the same answers. + +Then she went to her father, and said to him, "Father, I wish to be +married; but I must choose my husband myself." Her father consented to +this, and he wrote and invited all the Kings and Rajas in the land, +saying, "My youngest daughter wishes to be married, but she insists on +choosing her husband herself. As I do not know who it is she wishes to +marry, I beg you will all come on a certain day, for her to see you +and make her choice." + +A great many Kings, Rajas, and their sons accepted this invitation and +came. When they had all arrived, the little princess's father said to +them, "To-morrow morning you must all sit together in my garden" (the +King's garden was very large), "for then my youngest daughter will +come and see you all, and choose her husband. I do not know whom she +will choose." + +The youngest princess ordered a grand elephant to be ready for her the +next morning, and when the morning came, and all was ready, she +dressed herself in the most lovely clothes, and put on her beautiful +jewels; then she mounted her elephant, which was painted blue. In her +hand she took a gold necklace. + +Then she went into the garden where the Kings, Rajas, and their sons +were seated. The boy, the grain merchant's servant, was also in the +garden: not as a suitor, but looking on with the other servants. + +The princess rode all round the garden, and looked at all the Kings +and Rajas and princes, and then she hung the gold necklace round the +neck of the boy, the grain merchant's servant. At this everybody +laughed, and the Kings were greatly astonished. But then they and the +Rajas said, "What fooling is this?" and they pushed the pretended poor +man away, and took the necklace off his neck, and said to him, "Get +out of the way, you poor, dirty man. Your clothes are far too dirty +for you to come near us!" The boy went far away from them, and stood a +long way off to see what would happen. + +Then the King's youngest daughter went all round the garden again, +holding her gold necklace in her hand, and once more she hung it round +the boy's neck. Every one laughed at her and said, "How can the King's +daughter think of marrying this poor, common man!" and the Kings and +the Rajas, who had come as suitors, all wanted to turn him out of the +garden. But the princess said, "Take care! take care! You must not +turn him out. Leave him alone." Then she put him on her elephant, and +took him to the palace. + +The Kings and Rajas and their sons were very much astonished, and +said, "What does this mean? The princess does not care to marry one of +us, but chooses that very poor man!" Her father then stood up, and +said to them all, "I promised my daughter she should marry any one she +pleased, and as she has twice chosen that poor, common man, she shall +marry him." And so the princess and the boy were married with great +pomp and splendour: her father and mother were quite content with her +choice; and the Kings, the Rajas and their sons, all returned to their +homes. + +Now the princess's six sisters had all married rich princes--and they +laughed at her for choosing such a poor ugly husband as hers seemed +to be, and said to each other, mockingly, "See! our sister has married +this poor, common man!" Their six husbands used to go out hunting +every day, and every evening they brought home quantities of all kinds +of game to their wives, and the game was cooked for their dinner and +for the King's; but the husband of the youngest princess always stayed +at home in the palace, and never went out hunting at all. This made +her very sad, and she said to herself, "My sisters' husbands hunt +every day, but my husband never hunts at all." + +At last she said to him, "Why do you never go out hunting as my +sisters' husbands do every day, and every day they bring home +quantities of all kinds of game? Why do you always stay at home, +instead of doing as they do?" + +One day he said to her, "I am going out to-day to eat the air." "Very +good," she answered; "go, and take one of the horses." "No," said the +young prince, "I will not ride, I will walk." Then he went to the +jungle-plain where he had left Katar, who all this time had seemed to +be a donkey, and he told Katar everything. "Listen," he said; "I have +married the youngest princess; and when we were married everybody +laughed at her for choosing me, and said, 'What a very poor, common +man our princess has chosen for her husband!' Besides, my wife is very +sad, for her six sisters' husbands all hunt every day, and bring home +quantities of game, and their wives therefore are very proud of them. +But I stay at home all day, and never hunt. To-day I should like to +hunt very much." + +"Well," said Katar, "then twist my left ear;" and as soon as the boy +had twisted it, Katar was a horse again, and not a donkey any longer. +"Now," said Katar, "twist your left ear, and you will see what a +beautiful young prince you will become." So the boy twisted his own +left ear, and there he stood no longer a poor, common, ugly man, but +a grand young prince with a moon on his forehead and a star on his +chin. Then he put on his splendid clothes, saddled and bridled Katar, +got on his back with his sword and gun, and rode off to hunt. + +He rode very far, and shot a great many birds and a quantity of deer. +That day his six brothers-in-law could find no game, for the beautiful +young prince had shot it all. Nearly all the day long these six +princes wandered about looking in vain for game; till at last they +grew hungry and thirsty, and could find no water, and they had no food +with them. Meanwhile the beautiful young prince had sat down under a +tree, to dine and rest, and there his six brothers-in-law found him. +By his side was some delicious water, and also some roast meat. + +When they saw him the six princes said to each other, "Look at that +handsome prince. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. +We have never seen such a prince in this jungle before; he must come +from another country." Then they came up to him, and made him many +salaams, and begged him to give them some food and water. "Who are +you?" said the young prince. "We are the husbands of the six elder +daughters of the King of this country," they answered; "and we have +hunted all day, and are very hungry and thirsty." They did not +recognize their brother-in-law in the least. + +"Well," said the young prince, "I will give you something to eat and +drink if you will do as I bid you." "We will do all you tell us to +do," they answered, "for if we do not get water to drink, we shall +die." "Very good," said the young prince. "Now you must let me put a +red-hot pice on the back of each of you, and then I will give you food +and water. Do you agree to this?" The six princes consented, for they +thought, "No one will ever see the mark of the pice, as it will be +covered by our clothes; and we shall die if we have no water to +drink." Then the young prince took six pice, and made them red-hot in +the fire; he laid one on the back of each of the six princes, and gave +them good food and water. They ate and drank; and when they had +finished they made him many salaams and went home. + +The young prince stayed under the tree till it was evening; then he +mounted his horse and rode off to the King's palace. All the people +looked at him as he came riding along, saying, "What a splendid young +prince that is! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin." +But no one recognized him. When he came near the King's palace, all +the King's servants asked him who he was; and as none of them knew +him, the gate-keepers would not let him pass in. They all wondered who +he could be, and all thought him the most beautiful prince that had +ever been seen. + +At last they asked him who he was. "I am the husband of your youngest +princess," he answered. "No, no, indeed you are not," they said; "for +he is a poor, common-looking, and ugly man." "But I am he," answered +the prince; only no one would believe him. "Tell us the truth," said +the servants; "who are you?" "Perhaps you cannot recognize me," said +the young prince, "but call the youngest princess here. I wish to +speak to her." The servants called her, and she came. "That man is not +my husband," she said at once. "My husband is not nearly as handsome +as that man. This must be a prince from another country." + +Then she said to him, "Who are you? Why do you say you are my +husband?" "Because I am your husband. I am telling you the truth," +answered the young prince. "No you are not, you are not telling me the +truth," said the little princess. "My husband is not a handsome man +like you. I married a very poor, common-looking man." "That is true," +he answered, "but nevertheless I am your husband. I was the grain +merchant's servant; and one hot night I went into your father's garden +and sang, and you heard me, and came and asked me who I was and where +I came from, and I would not answer you. And the same thing happened +the next night, and the next, and on the fourth I told you I was a +very poor man, and had come from my country to seek service in yours, +and that I was the grain merchant's servant. Then you told your father +you wished to marry, but must choose your own husband; and when all +the Kings and Rajas were seated in your father's garden, you sat on an +elephant and went round and looked at them all; and then twice hung +your gold necklace round my neck, and chose me. See, here is your +necklace, and here are the ring and the handkerchief you gave me on +our wedding day." + +Then she believed him, and was very glad that her husband was such a +beautiful young prince. "What a strange man you are!" she said to him. +"Till now you have been poor, and ugly, and common-looking. Now you +are beautiful and look like a prince; I never saw such a handsome man +as you are before; and yet I know you must be my husband." Then she +worshipped God and thanked him for letting her have such a husband. "I +have," she said, "a beautiful husband. There is no one like him in +this country. He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin." +Then she took him into the palace, and showed him to her father and +mother and to every one. They all said they had never seen any one +like him, and were all very happy. And the young prince lived as +before in the King's palace with his wife, and Katar lived in the +King's stables. + +One day, when the King and his seven sons-in-law were in his +court-house, and it was full of people, the young prince said to him, +"There are six thieves here in your court-house." "Six thieves!" said +the King. "Where are they? Show them to me." "There they are," said +the young prince, pointing to his six brothers-in-law. The King and +every one else in the court-house were very much astonished, and would +not believe the young prince. "Take off their coats," he said, "and +then you will see for yourselves that each of them has the mark of a +thief on his back." So their coats were taken off the six princes, and +the King and everybody in the court-house saw the marks of the red-hot +pice. The six princes were very much ashamed, but the young prince was +very glad. He had not forgotten how his brothers-in-law had laughed at +him and mocked him when he seemed a poor, common man. + +Now when Katar was still in the jungle, before the prince was married, +he had told the boy the whole story of his birth, and all that had +happened to him and his mother. "When you are married," he said to +him, "I will take you back to your father's country." So two months +after the young prince had revenged himself on his brothers-in-law, +Katar said to him, "It is time for you to return to your father. Get +the King to let you go to your own country, and I will tell you what +to do when we get there." + +The prince always did what his horse told him to do; so he went to his +wife and said to her, "I wish very much to go to my own country to see +my father and mother." "Very well," said his wife; "I will tell my +father and mother, and ask them to let us go." Then she went to them, +and told them, and they consented to let her and her husband leave +them. The King gave his daughter and the young prince a great many +horses, and elephants, and all sorts of presents, and also a great +many sepoys to guard them. In this grand state they travelled to the +prince's country, which was not a great many miles off. When they +reached it they pitched their tents on the same plain in which the +prince had been left in his box by the nurse, where Shankar and Suri +had swallowed him so often. + +When the King, his father, the gardener's daughter's husband, saw the +prince's camp, he was very much alarmed, and thought a great King had +come to make war on him. He sent one of his servants, therefore, to +ask whose camp it was. The young prince then wrote him a letter, in +which he said, "You are a great King. Do not fear me. I am not come to +make war on you. I am as if I were your son. I am a prince who has +come to see your country and to speak with you. I wish to give you a +grand feast, to which everyone in your country must come--men and +women, old and young, rich and poor, of all castes; all the children, +fakirs, and sepoys. You must bring them all here to me for a week, and +I will feast them all." + +The King was delighted with this letter, and ordered all the men, +women, and children of all castes, fakirs and sepoys, in his country +to go to the prince's camp to a grand feast the prince would give +them. So they all came, and the King brought his four wives too. All +came, at least all but the gardener's daughter. No one had told her to +go to the feast, for no one had thought of her. + +When all the people were assembled, the prince saw his mother was not +there, and he asked the King, "Has every one in your country come to +my feast?" "Yes, everyone," said the King. "Are you sure of that?" +asked the prince. + +"Quite sure," answered the King. "I am sure one woman has not come," +said the prince. "She is your gardener's daughter, who was once your +wife and is now a servant in your palace." "True," said the King, "I +had forgotten her." Then the prince told his servants to take his +finest palanquin and to fetch the gardener's daughter. They were to +bathe her, dress her in beautiful clothes and handsome jewels, and +then bring her to him in the palanquin. + +While the servants were bringing the gardener's daughter, the King +thought how handsome the young prince was; and he noticed +particularly the moon on his forehead and the star on his chin, and he +wondered in what country the young prince was born. + +And now the palanquin arrived bringing the gardener's daughter, and +the young prince went himself and took her out of it, and brought her +into the tent. He made her a great many salaams. The four wicked wives +looked on and were very much surprised and very angry. They remembered +that, when they arrived, the prince had made them no salaams, and +since then had not taken the least notice of them; whereas he could +not do enough for the gardener's daughter, and seemed very glad to see +her. + +When they were all at dinner, the prince again made the gardener's +daughter a great many salaams, and gave her food from all the nicest +dishes. She wondered at his kindness to her, and thought, "Who is this +handsome prince, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin? I +never saw any one so beautiful. What country does he come from?" + +Two or three days were thus passed in feasting, and all that time the +King and his people were talking about the prince's beauty, and +wondering who he was. + +One day the prince asked the King if he had any children. "None," he +answered. "Do you know who I am?" asked the prince. "No," said the +King. "Tell me who you are." "I am your son," answered the prince, +"and the gardener's daughter is my mother." The King shook his head +sadly. "How can you be my son," he said, "when I have never had any +children?" "But I am your son," answered the prince. "Your four wicked +wives told you the gardener's daughter had given you a stone and not a +son; but it was they who put the stone in my little bed, and then they +tried to kill me." The King did not believe him. "I wish you were my +son," he said; "but as I never had a child, you cannot be my son." +"Do you remember your dog Shankar, and how you had him killed? And do +you remember your cow Suri, and how you had her killed too? Your wives +made you kill them because of me. And," he said, taking the King to +Katar, "do you know whose horse that is?" + +The King looked at Katar, and then said, "That is my horse Katar." +"Yes," said the Prince. "Do you not remember how he rushed past you +out of his stable with me on his back?" Then Katar told the King the +prince was really his son, and told him all the story of his birth, +and of his life up to that moment; and when the King found the +beautiful prince was indeed his son, he was so glad, so glad. He put +his arms round him and kissed him and cried for joy. + +"Now," said the King, "you must come with me to my palace, and live +with me always." "No," said the prince, "that I cannot do. I cannot go +to your palace. I only came here to fetch my mother; and now that I +have found her, I will take her with me to my father-in-law's palace. +I have married a King's daughter, and we live with her father." "But +now that I have found you, I cannot let you go," said his father. "You +and your wife must come and live with your mother and me in my +palace." "That we will never do," said the prince, "unless you will +kill your four wicked wives with your own hand. If you will do that, +we will come and live with you." + +So the King killed his wives, and then he and his wife, the gardener's +daughter, and the prince and his wife, all went to live in the King's +palace, and lived there happily together for ever after; and the King +thanked God for giving him such a beautiful son, and for ridding him +of his four wicked wives. + +Katar did not return to the fairies' country, but stayed always with +the young prince, and never left him. + + Told by Muniya. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXI. + +THE BEL-PRINCESS. + + +In a country lived a King who had seven sons. Six of these sons +married, but the seventh and youngest son would not marry; and, +moreover, he disliked his six sisters-in-law, and could not bear to +take food from their hands. One day, they got very angry with him for +disliking them, and they said to him, taunting him, "We think that you +will marry a Bel-Princess." + +"A Bel-Princess," said the young prince to himself. "What is a +Bel-Princess? and where is one to be found? I will go and look for +one." But the next day he thought, "How can I find a Bel-Princess? I +don't know where to seek for her." + +At last one day he saddled and bridled one of his father's beautiful +horses. Then he put on his grand clothes, took his sword and gun, and +said good-bye to his father and mother, and set out on his search. +They cried very much at parting with him. + +He rode from his father's country for a long, long way. At length, +when he had journeyed for six months, he found himself in a great +jungle, through which he went for many nights and days, until he at +last came to where a fakir lay sleeping. The young prince thought, "I +will watch by this fakir till he wakes. Perhaps he can help me." So he +stayed with the fakir for one whole month; and all that time he took +care of him and watched by him, and kept his hut clean. + +This fakir used to sleep for six whole months at a time, and then he +would remain awake for six months. + +When the prince had watched over him for one month the fakir woke, for +his six months' sleep had come to an end; and when he saw what care +the young prince had taken of him, and how clean his hut was, he was +very much pleased with the King's son, and said to him, "How have you +been able to reach this jungle, to which no man can come? and who are +you? and whence do you come?" + +"I am a King's son," answered the prince. "My father's country is a +six months' journey away from this; and I am come to look for a +Bel-Princess. I hear there is a Bel-Princess, and I want to find her. +Can you tell me where she is?" + +"It is true that there is one," answered the fakir, "and I know where +she is. She is in the fairies' country, whither no man can go." + +This made the young prince very sad. "What shall I do?" he said. "I +have left my father and mother, and have travelled a long, long way to +find the Bel-Princess. And now you tell me I cannot go where she +lives." + +"I will help you," said the fakir, "and if you do exactly what I tell +you, you will find her. But, first, stay here with me for a little +while." + +So the King's son stayed for another month with the fakir, and took +care of him, and did everything for him, as he did for his own father. + +At the end of the month, the fakir gave him his stick, and said to +him, "Now you must go to the fairies' country. It is one week's +journey distant from this jungle. When you get there, you will see a +number of demons and fairies who live in it." Then the fakir took a +little earth from the ground, and put it in the prince's hand. "When +you have come to the fairies' country, in order that they and the +demons may not see you, you must blow all this earth away from the +palm of your hand, and then you will be invisible. You must ride on +till you come to a great plain in the middle of their garden, and on +this plain you will see a large bel-tree and on it one big bel-fruit. +In this fruit is the Bel-Princess. You must throw my stick at it, and +it will fall; but you must take care to catch the fruit in your shawl, +and not let it fall to the ground. Then ride quickly back to me, for +as soon as the fruit falls you will cease to be invisible, and the +fairies and demons who guard the fruit will all come running after +you, and they will all call to you. But take care, take care not to +look behind you when they call you. Ride straight on to me with the +fruit, and do not look behind you. If you do, you will become stone, +and your horse too, and they will take the bel-fruit back to its +tree." + +The prince promised to do all the fakir bade him. He rode for a week, +and then he came to the fairies' country. He blew the earth the fakir +had given him away from his palm all along his fingers, just as he had +been told, and then he became invisible. He rode through the great +garden to the plain. There he saw the bel-tree, and the one fruit +hanging all alone. He threw the fakir's stick at it, and caught it in +a corner of his shawl as it fell, but then he was no longer invisible. +All the fairies and demons could see him, and they came running after +him as he rode quickly away, and called to him. He looked behind at +them, and instantly he and his horse became stone; and the bel-fruit +went back to its tree and hung itself up. + +For one week the fakir sat in his jungle, waiting for the King's son. +But the moment he was turned into stone, the fakir knew of it, and he +set off at once for the fairies' country. He walked all through it, +but neither the fairies nor demons could touch him. He went straight +to the great plain, and there he saw the King's son sitting on his +horse, and both he and the horse were stone. + +This made the fakir very sad; and he said to God, "What will the +father and mother do, now that their son is changed into a stone?" And +he prayed to God and said, "If it be God's pleasure, may this King's +son be alive once more." Then he cut his little finger on the inside +from the tip to the palm, and smeared the prince's forehead with the +blood that came from it. He rubbed some blood on the horse too, all +the time praying to God to give the prince his life again. The King's +son and his horse were alive once more. The fakir took the prince back +to his jungle, and said to him, "Listen. I told you not to look behind +you, and you disobeyed me and so were turned to stone. Had I not come +to save you, you would always have remained stone." + +The fakir kept the prince with him in the jungle for one whole week. +Then he gave him his stick and some earth he picked up from the ground +on which they were standing, and said, "Now you must go to the +fairies' country again, and throw my stick at the bel-fruit, and catch +it in a corner of your shawl as you did before. But mind, mind you do +not look behind you this time. If you do you will be turned to stone, +and you will for ever remain stone. Ride straight back to me with the +fruit, and take care never to look behind you once till you get to +me." + +So the King's son went again to the fairies' country, and all happened +as before, till he had caught the fruit in his shawl. But then he rode +straight back to the fakir without looking behind him, although the +fairies and demons ran after him and called to him the whole way. + +He rode so fast they could not catch him, and when he came to the +fakir, the fakir turned him into a fly and thus hid him. Up came all +the fairies and demons and said to the fakir, "There is a thief in +your hut." "A thief! Where is the thief?" said the fakir. "Look +everywhere for him, and take him away if you can find him." Then they +searched and searched everywhere, but could not find the prince; so at +last they went away. + +When they had all gone, the fakir took the little fly and turned it +back into a King's son. A few days afterwards he said to the prince, +"Now you have found what you wanted; you have the Bel-Princess you +came to seek. So go back to your father and mother." "Very well," said +the prince. Then he got his horse all ready for the journey, took the +bel-fruit, and made many salaams to the fakir, who said to him, "Now, +listen. Take care not to open the fruit on the road. Wait till you are +in your father's house with your father and mother, and then open it. +If you do not do exactly as I tell you, evil will happen to you; so +mind you only open the fruit in your father's house. Out of it will +come the Bel-Princess." + +The prince set out on his journey, and rode on and on for six months +till he came to his father's country, and then to his father's garden. +There he sat down to rest by a well under a clump of great trees. He +said to himself, "Now that I am in my father's country, and in my +father's garden, I will sit and rest in this cool shade; and when I am +rested I will go up to the palace." He bathed his face and his hands +in the well, and drank some of its water. Then he thought, "Surely, +now that I am in my father's country and in his garden, I need not +wait till I get to his palace to open my bel-fruit. What harm can +happen if I do open it here?" + +So he broke it open, in spite of all the fakir had told him, and out +of it came such a beautiful girl. She was more beautiful than any +princess that ever was seen--so beautiful that the King's son fainted +when he saw her. The princess fanned him, and poured water on his +face, and presently he recovered, and said to her, "Princess, I should +like to sleep for a little while, for I have travelled for six months, +and am very tired. After I have slept we will go together to my +father's palace." So he went to sleep, and the princess sat by him. + +Presently a woman came to the well for water, and she said to herself, +"See, here is the King's youngest son. What a lovely princess that is +sitting by him! What fine clothes and jewels she has on!" And the +wicked woman determined to kill the princess and to take her place. +Then she came up to the beautiful girl, and sat down beside her, and +talked to her. "Listen to me, princess," she said at last. "Let us +change clothes with each other. Give me yours, and I will give you +mine." The princess, thinking no harm, did as the woman suggested. +"And now," said the woman, "let me put on your beautiful jewels." The +princess gave them to her, and then the wicked, wicked woman, said to +her, "Let us walk about this pretty garden, and look at the flowers, +and amuse ourselves." By and by she said, "Princess, let us go and +look at ourselves in the well, and see what we look like, you in my +clothes, and I in yours." The young girl consented, and they went to +the well. As they bent over the side to look in, the wicked woman gave +the princess a push, and pushed her straight over the edge into the +water. + +Then she went and sat down by the sleeping prince, just as the +princess had done. When he awoke and saw this ugly, wicked woman, +instead of his Bel-Princess, he was very much surprised, and said to +himself, "A little while ago I had a beautiful girl by me, and now +there is such an ugly woman. It is true she has on the clothes and +jewels my Bel-Princess wore; but she is so ugly, and there is +something wrong with one of her eyes. What has happened to her?" Then +he said to this wicked woman, whom he took for his Bel-Princess, +"What is the matter with you? Has anything happened to you? Why have +you become so ugly?" She answered, "Till now I have always lived in a +bel-fruit. It is the bad air of your country that has made me ugly, +and hurt one of my eyes." + +The prince was ashamed of her, and very, very sorry. "How shall I take +her to my father's palace now?" he thought. "My mother and all my +brothers' wives will see her, and what will they say? However, never +mind; I must take her to my house, and marry her. I cannot think what +can have happened to her." Then he got a palanquin, and took her up to +the palace. + +His father and mother were very glad that their youngest son had come +back to them; but when they saw the wicked woman, and heard she was +his Bel-Princess, they, and every one else in the palace, said, "Can +she be a Bel-Princess? She is not at all pretty, and she is not at all +pleasant." "She was lovely when she came out of the fruit," said the +prince. "No one ever saw such a beautiful girl before. I cannot think +what has happened to her. It must be the bad air of this country that +has made her so ugly." Then he told them all about his journey to the +jungle where he had met the fakir, and how, with the fakir's help, he +had found his Bel-Princess, and how he had opened the fruit in his +father's garden, and then fallen asleep. + +The King made a great wedding-feast for his son, and he and the wicked +woman were married, and all the time the King's youngest son thought +he was marrying the Bel-Princess. + +Meanwhile, the beautiful girl had not been drowned in the well, but +had changed into a most lovely pink lotus-flower. This flower was +first seen by a man from the village who came to the well for water. +"What a lovely lotus-flower!" said the man; "I must gather it." But +when he tried to reach it the flower floated away from him. Then he +went and told all the people in the village of the beautiful flower, +and then the palace servants heard of it. They all tried to gather it, +but could not, for the flower always went just out of their reach. +Then the King and his six elder sons heard of it, and they came to the +well; but the King tried in vain to gather it, and his six sons too. +The lotus-flower always floated away from them. + +Last of all, the youngest prince heard of the lotus, and he grew very +curious to see it, and said, "I will try if I cannot gather this +wonderful flower that no one can touch." So he, too, came to the well, +and stooped, and stretched out his hand, and the minute he did so the +flower floated of itself into his hand. + +Then he was very happy and proud, and he took the flower up to his +wife and showed it to her. "Just see," he said, "every one in the +village and the palace were talking of this lotus-flower; and every +one tried to gather it; and no one could, for the flower would not let +any one touch it. My father tried, and my brothers all tried, and +they, too, could not gather it; but as soon as I stretched out my hand +the flower floated into it of itself." + +When his wicked wife saw the flower, she said nothing; but her heart +told her it was the beautiful girl she had pushed into the well. The +prince laid the flower on his pillow, and was very glad and happy. As +soon as he had gone out, his wife seized the lotus-flower, tore it to +bits, and threw them far away into the garden. + +In a few days a bel-tree was growing on the spot where she had thrown +the pieces of the lotus-flower. On it grew one big bel-fruit, and it +was so fine and large that every one in the village and the palace +tried to gather it; but no one could touch it, for the fruit always +went just out of reach. The King and his six elder sons also tried, +but they could not touch it. The youngest prince heard of this fruit, +so he said to his wife, "I will go and see if I can gather this +bel-fruit that no one can even touch." The wicked woman's heart said +to her, "In the bel-fruit is the Bel-Princess;" but she said nothing. + +The prince went to the bel-tree; the bel-fruit came into his hand, and +he broke it off the tree, and brought it home to his wife. "See," he +said, "here is the bel-fruit; it let me gather it at once." And he was +very proud and happy. Then he laid the fruit on a table in his room. + +When he had gone out the wicked wife came, and took the fruit, and +flung it away in the garden. In the night the fruit burst in two, and +in it lay a lovely, tiny girl baby. The gardener, as he went round the +garden early in the morning, found the little baby; and he wondered +who had thrown away the beautiful fruit, and who the lovely baby girl +could be. She was so tiny and so pretty, and the gardener was +delighted when he saw her, for he had no children, and thought God had +sent him a little child at last. + +He took her in his arms and carried her to his wife. + +"See," he said, "we have never had any children, and now God has sent +us this beautiful little girl." His wife looked at the child, and she +was as delighted with her as her husband was. "Yes," she said, "God +has sent us this child, and she is certainly most beautiful. I am very +happy. But I have no milk for her; if only I had milk for her, I could +nurse her and she would live." And the gardener's wife was very sad to +think she had no milk in her breasts for the little child. + +Then her husband said, "Let us ask God to send you milk for her." So +they prayed to God and worshipped him. And God was pleased with them +both, and sent the gardener's wife a great deal of milk. + +The little girl now lived in the gardener's house, and he and his wife +took the greatest care of her, and were very happy to think they had +now a child. She grew very fast, and became lovelier every day. She +was more beautiful than any girl that had ever been seen, and all the +people in the King's country used to say, "How lovely the gardener's +daughter is! She is more beautiful than any princess." + +The King's youngest son's wicked wife heard of the child, and her +heart told her, "She is the Bel-Princess." She said nothing, but she +often thought of how she could contrive to have her killed. + +One day, when the gardener's daughter was seven years old, she was out +in her father's garden, making a little garden of her own near the +house-door. While she was busy over her flowers, the wicked woman's +cow strayed into the garden and began eating the plants in it. The +little girl would not let it make its dinner off her father's flowers +and grass, but pushed it out of the garden. + +The wicked woman was told how the gardener's daughter had treated her +cow; so she cried all day long, and pretended to be ill. When her +husband asked her what was the matter, she answered, "I am sick +because the gardener's daughter has ill-treated my cow. She beat it, +and turned it out of her father's garden, and said many wicked things. +If you will have the girl killed, I shall live; but if you do not kill +her, I shall die." The prince at once ordered his servants to take the +gardener's daughter the next morning to the jungle, and there kill +her. + +So the next morning early the servants went to the gardener's house to +take away his daughter. He and his wife cried bitterly, and begged the +servants to leave the girl with them. They offered them a great many +rupees, saying, "Take these rupees, and leave us our daughter." "How +can we leave you your daughter," said the servants, "when the King's +youngest son has ordered us to take her to the jungle and kill her, +that his wife may get well?" + +So they led the girl away; and as they went to the jungle, they said +to each other, "How beautiful this girl is!" They found her so +beautiful that they grew very sorrowful at the thought of killing her. + +They took the girl to a great plain, which was about ten miles distant +from the King's country; but when they got there they said they could +not kill her. She was so beautiful that they really could not kill +her. She said to them, "You were ordered to kill me, so kill me." +"No," they answered, "we cannot kill you, we cannot kill you." + +Then the girl took the knife in her own hand and cut out her two eyes; +and one eye became a parrot, and the other a _maina_. Then she cut out +her heart and it became a great tank. Her body became a splendid +palace and garden--a far grander palace than was the King's palace; +her arms and legs became the pillars that supported the verandah roof; +and her head the dome on the top of the palace. + +The prince's servants looked on all the time these changes were taking +place, and they were so frightened by them, that when they got home +they would not tell the prince or any one else what they had seen. No +one lived in this wonderful house. It stood empty in its garden by its +tank, and the parrot and _maina_ lived in the garden trees. + +Some time afterwards the youngest prince went out hunting, and towards +evening he found himself on the great plain where stood the wonderful +palace. He rode up to it and said to himself, "I never saw any house +here before. I wonder who lives here?" He went through the great gate +into the garden, and then he saw the large tank, and how beautiful the +garden was. He went all through the garden and was delighted with it, +and he saw that it was beautifully kept, and was in perfect order. +Then he went into the palace, and went through all the rooms, and +wondered more and more to whom this beautiful house could belong. He +was very much surprised, too, at finding no one in the palace, though +the rooms were all splendidly furnished, and very clean and neat. + +"My father is a great king," he said to himself, "and yet he has not +got a palace like this." It was now deep night, so the prince knew he +could not go home till the next day. "Never mind," he said, "I will +sleep in the verandah. I am not afraid, though I shall be quite +alone." + +So he lay down to sleep in the verandah, and while he lay there, the +parrot and _maina_ flew in, and they perched near him, for they knew +he was there, and they wanted him to hear what they said to each +other. Then they began chattering together; and the parrot told the +_maina_ how the prince's father was king of the neighbouring country, +and how he had seven sons, and how six of the sons had married six +princesses, "but this prince, who was the youngest son, would not +marry; and what is more, he did not like his brother's wives at all." +Then the birds stopped talking and did not chatter any more that +night. The prince was very much surprised at the birds knowing who he +was, and all about his dislike to his brothers' wives. + +The next morning he rode home; and there he stayed all day, and would +not talk. His wife asked him, "What is the matter with you? Why are +you so silent?" "My head aches," he answered: "I am ill." But towards +evening he felt he must go back to the empty palace on the great +plain, so he said to his wife, "I am going out to eat the air for a +little while." Then he got on his horse and rode off to the palace. + +As soon as he had laid himself down in the verandah, the parrot and +the _maina_ perched near him; and the parrot told the _maina_ how the +prince had heard of the Bel-Princess; and all about his long journey +in search of her, and how he found the bel-fruit, and how he was +turned to stone. Then he stopped chattering, and the birds said +nothing more to each other that night. + +In the morning the King's son rode home, and was as silent and grave +as he had been before. He told his wife his head ached when she asked +him whether he was ill. + +That night he again slept in the verandah of the strange palace, and +heard a little more of his story from the birds. + +The next day he was still silent and grave, and his wife was very +uneasy. "I am sure the Bel-Princess is alive," she said to herself, +"and that he goes every night to see her." Then she asked him, "Why do +you go out every evening? Why do you not stay at home?" "I am not +well," he answered, "so I go to my mother's house" (the prince had a +little house of his own in his father's compound). "I will not sleep +at home again till I am well." + +That night he lay down to sleep again in the verandah of the great +empty palace, and heard the parrot tell the _maina_ all that happened +to the prince up to the time that he fell asleep in his father's +garden with the beautiful Bel-Princess sitting beside him. + +On the fifth night the prince lay down to sleep again in the verandah +of the palace on the great plain, and watched eagerly for the little +birds to begin their talk. This night the parrot told how the wicked +woman had come and taken the Bel-Princess's clothes, and thrown her +down the well; how the princess became a lotus-flower which the wicked +wife broke to bits; how the bits of the lotus-flower turned into a +bel-fruit which she threw away; how out of the fruit came a tiny +girl-baby that the gardener adopted; how the wicked woman persuaded +the prince to have this girl killed when she was seven years old; how +he and the _maina_ had once been this girl's eyes; how the tank was +once her heart, and how her body had changed into this palace and +garden, while her head became the dome on the top of the palace. + +Then the _maina_ asked the parrot where the Bel-Princess was. "Cannot +she be found?" said the _maina_. "Yes," said the parrot, "she can be +found; but the King's youngest son alone can find her, and he is so +foolish! He believes that his ugly, wicked wife is the beautiful +Bel-Princess!" "And where is the princess?" asked the _maina_. "She is +here," said the parrot. "If the prince would come one day and go +through all the rooms of this palace till he came to the centre room, +he would see a trap-door in the middle of that room. If he lifted the +trap-door he would see a staircase which leads to an underground +palace, and in this palace is the Bel-princess." "And can no one but +the prince lift the trap-door?" asked the _maina_. "No one," answered +the parrot. "It is God's order that only the King's youngest son can +lift the trap-door and find the Bel-Princess." + +The next day the young prince went through all the rooms of the +palace, instead of going home. When he came to the centre room, he +looked for the trap-door, and when he had lifted it he saw the +staircase. He went down it, and found himself in the under-ground +palace, which was far more beautiful than the one above-ground. It was +full of servants; and in one room a grand dinner was standing ready. +In another room he saw a gold bed, all covered with pearls and +diamonds, and on the bed lay the Bel-Princess. + +Day and night she prayed to God and read a holy book. She did nothing +else. + +When the prince went into her room and she saw him, she was very sad, +not happy, for she thought, "He is so foolish; he knows nothing of +what has happened to me." Then she said to him, "Why did you come +here? Go home again to your father's palace." + +The prince burst out crying. "See, princess," he said, "I knew nothing +of your palace. I only found it by chance five nights ago. I have +slept here in the verandah for the last five nights, and only last +night did I learn what had happened to you, and how to find you." "I +know it is true," she said, "that you knew nothing of what happened to +me. But now that you have found me, what will you do?" + +"I will go home to my father's palace," he answered, "and make +everything ready for you, and then I will come and marry you and take +you home." + +So it was all settled, and he ate some food, and returned to his +father. He told his father and mother all that had happened to the +Bel-Princess, and how her body had turned into the beautiful garden +and palace that stood on the big plain; and of the little birds; and +of the underground palace in which she now lived. So his father said +that he and the prince's mother, and his six brothers and their wives, +would all take him in great state to the palace and marry him to the +beautiful Bel-Princess; and that then they would all return to their +own palace, and all live together. "But first the wicked woman must be +killed," said the King. + +So he ordered his servants to take her to the jungle and kill her, and +throw her body away. So they took her away at four o'clock in the +afternoon and killed her. + +One morning two or three days later, the prince and his father and +mother, and brothers and sisters-in-law, went to the great palace on +the wide plain; and there, in the evening, the king's youngest son was +married to the Bel-Princess. And when his father and mother and +brothers, and his brothers' wives, saw her, they all said, "It is +quite true. She is indeed a Bel-Princess!" + +After the wedding they all returned to the King's palace, and there +they lived together. But the King and his sons used often to go to the +palace on the great plain to eat the air; and they used to lend it +sometimes to other rajas and kings. + + Told by Muniya. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXII. + +HOW THE RAJA'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABAM. + + +In a country there was a Raja who had an only son who every day went +out to hunt. One day the Rani, his mother, said to him, "You can hunt +wherever you like on these three sides; but you must never go to the +fourth side." This she said because she knew if he went on the fourth +side he would hear of the beautiful Princess Labam, and that then he +would leave his father and mother and seek for the princess. + +The young prince listened to his mother, and obeyed her for some time; +but one day, when he was hunting on the three sides where he was +allowed to go, he remembered what she had said to him about the fourth +side, and he determined to go and see why she had forbidden him to +hunt on that side. When he got there, he found himself in a jungle, +and nothing in the jungle but a quantity of parrots, who lived in it. +The young Raja shot at some of them, and at once they all flew away up +to the sky. All, that is, but one, and this was their Raja, who was +called Hiraman parrot. + +When Hiraman parrot found himself left alone, he called out to the +other parrots, "Don't fly away and leave me alone when the Raja's son +shoots. If you desert me like this, I will tell the Princess Labam." + +Then the parrots all flew back to their Raja, chattering. The prince +was greatly surprised, and said, "Why, these birds can talk!" Then he +said to the parrots, "Who is the Princess Labam? Where does she live?" +But the parrots would not tell him where she lived. "You can never +get to the Princess Labam's country." That is all they would say. + +The prince grew very sad when they would not tell him anything more; +and he threw his gun away, and went home. When he got home, he would +not speak or eat, but lay on his bed for four or five days, and seemed +very ill. + +At last he told his father and mother that he wanted to go and see the +Princess Labam. "I must go," he said; "I must see what she is like. +Tell me where her country is." "We do not know where it is," answered +his father and mother. "Then I must go and look for it," said the +prince. "No, no," they said, "you must not leave us. You are our only +son. Stay with us. You will never find the Princess Labam." "I must +try and find her," said the prince. "Perhaps God will show me the way. +If I live and I find her, I will come back to you; but perhaps I shall +die, and then I shall never see you again. Still I must go." + +So they had to let him go, though they cried very much at parting with +him. His father gave him fine clothes to wear, and a fine horse. And +he took his gun, and his bow and arrows, and a great many other +weapons, "for," he said, "I may want them." His father, too, gave him +plenty of rupees. + +Then he himself got his horse all ready for the journey, and he said +good-bye to his father and mother; and his mother took her +handkerchief and wrapped some sweetmeats in it, and gave it to her +son. "My child," she said to him, "when you are hungry eat some of +these sweetmeats." + +He then set out on his journey, and rode on and on till he came to a +jungle in which were a tank and shady trees. He bathed himself and his +horse in the tank, and then sat down under a tree. "Now," he said to +himself, "I will eat some of the sweetmeats my mother gave me, and I +will drink some water, and then I will continue my journey." He +opened his handkerchief, and took out a sweetmeat. He found an ant in +it. He took out another. There was an ant in that one too. So he laid +the two sweetmeats on the ground, and he took out another, and +another, and another, until he had taken them all out; but in each he +found an ant. "Never mind," he said, "I won't eat the sweetmeats; the +ants shall eat them." Then the Ant-Raja came and stood before him and +said, "You have been good to us. If ever you are in trouble, think of +me and we will come to you." + +The Raja's son thanked him, mounted his horse and continued his +journey. He rode on and on till he came to another jungle, and there +he saw a tiger who had a thorn in his foot, and was roaring loudly +from the pain. + +"Why do you roar like that?" said the young Raja. "What is the matter +with you?" "I have had a thorn in my foot for twelve years," answered +the tiger, "and it hurts me so; that is why I roar." "Well," said the +Raja's son, "I will take it out for you. But, perhaps, as you are a +tiger, when I have made you well, you will eat me?" "Oh, no," said the +tiger, "I won't eat you. Do make me well." + +Then the prince took a little knife from his pocket, and cut the thorn +out of the tiger's foot; but when he cut, the tiger roared louder than +ever, so loud that his wife heard him in the next jungle, and came +bounding along to see what was the matter. The tiger saw her coming, +and hid the prince in the jungle, so that she should not see him. + +"What man hurt you that you roared so loud?" said the wife. "No one +hurt me," answered her husband; "but a Raja's son came and took the +thorn out of my foot." "Where is he? Show him to me," said his wife. +"If you promise not to kill him, I will call him," said the tiger. "I +won't kill him; only let me see him," answered his wife. + +Then the tiger called the Raja's son, and when he came the tiger and +his wife made him a great many salaams. Then they gave him a good +dinner, and he stayed with them for three days. Every day he looked at +the tiger's foot, and the third day it was quite healed. Then he said +good-bye to the tigers, and the tiger said to him, "If ever you are in +trouble, think of me, and we will come to you." + +The Raja's son rode on and on till he came to a third jungle. Here he +found four fakirs whose teacher and master had died, and had left four +things,--a bed, which carried whoever sat on it whithersoever he +wished to go; a bag, that gave its owner whatever he wanted, jewels, +food, or clothes; a stone bowl that gave its owner as much water as he +wanted, no matter how far he might be from a tank; and a stick and +rope, to which its owner had only to say, if any one came to make war +on him, "Stick, beat as many men and soldiers as are here," and the +stick would beat them and the rope would tie them up. + +The four fakirs were quarrelling over these four things. One said, "I +want this;" another said, "You cannot have it, for I want it;" and so +on. + +The Raja's son said to them, "Do not quarrel for these things. I will +shoot four arrows in four different directions. Whichever of you gets +to my first arrow, shall have the first thing--the bed. Whosoever gets +to the second arrow, shall have the second thing--the bag. He who gets +to the third arrow, shall have the third thing--the bowl. And he who +gets to the fourth arrow, shall have the last things--the stick and +rope." To this they agreed, and the prince shot off his first arrow. +Away raced the fakirs to get it. When they brought it back to him he +shot off the second, and when they had found and brought it to him he +shot off his third, and when they had brought him the third he shot +off the fourth. + +While they were away looking for the fourth arrow, the Raja's son let +his horse loose in the jungle, and sat on the bed, taking the bowl, +the stick and rope, and the bag with him. Then he said, "Bed, I wish +to go to the Princess Labam's country." The little bed instantly rose +up into the air and began to fly, and it flew and flew till it came to +the Princess Labam's country, where it settled on the ground. The +Raja's son asked some men he saw, "Whose country is this?" "The +Princess Labam's country," they answered. Then the prince went on till +he came to a house where he saw an old woman. "Who are you?" she said. +"Where do you come from?" "I come from a far country," he said; "do +let me stay with you to-night." "No," she answered, "I cannot let you +stay with me; for our king has ordered that men from other countries +may not stay in his country. You cannot stay in my house." "You are my +aunty," said the prince; "let me remain with you for this one night. +You see it is evening, and if I go into the jungle, then the wild +beasts will eat me." "Well," said the old woman, "you may stay here +to-night; but to-morrow morning you must go away, for if the king +hears you have passed the night in my house, he will have me seized +and put into prison." + +Then she took him into her house, and the Raja's son was very glad. +The old woman began preparing dinner, but he stopped her. "Aunty," he +said, "I will give you food." He put his hand into his bag, saying, +"Bag, I want some dinner," and the bag gave him instantly a delicious +dinner, served upon two gold plates. The old woman and the Raja's son +then dined together. + +When they had finished eating, the old woman said, "Now I will fetch +some water." "Don't go," said the prince. "You shall have plenty of +water directly." So he took his bowl and said to it, "Bowl, I want +some water," and then it filled with water. When it was full, the +prince cried out, "Stop, bowl," and the bowl stopped filling. "See, +aunty," he said, "with this bowl I can always get as much water as I +want." + +By this time night had come. "Aunty," said the Raja's son, "why don't +you light a lamp?" "There is no need," she said. "Our king has +forbidden the people in his country to light any lamps; for, as soon +as it is dark, his daughter, the Princess Labam, comes and sits on her +roof, and she shines so, that she lights up all the country and our +houses, and we can see to do our work as if it were day." + +When it was quite black night, the princess got up. She dressed +herself in her rich clothes and jewels, and rolled up her hair, and +across her head she put a band of diamonds and pearls. Then she shone +like the moon, and her beauty made night day. She came out of her +room, and sat on the roof of her palace. In the daytime she never came +out of her house; she only came out at night. All the people in her +father's country then went about their work and finished it. + +The Raja's son watched the princess quietly, and was very happy. He +said to himself, "How lovely she is!" + +At midnight, when everybody had gone to bed, the princess came down +from her roof, and went to her room; and when she was in bed and +asleep, the Raja's son got up softly, and sat on his bed. "Bed," he +said to it, "I want to go to the Princess Labam's bed-room." So the +little bed carried him to the room where she lay fast asleep. + +The young Raja took his bag and said, "I want a great deal of +betel-leaf," and it at once gave him quantities of betel-leaf. This he +laid near the princess's bed, and then his little bed carried him back +to the old woman's house. + +Next morning all the princess's servants found the betel-leaf, and +began to eat it. "Where did you get all that betel-leaf?" asked the +princess. "We found it near your bed," answered the servants. Nobody +knew the prince had come in the night and put it all there. + +In the morning the old woman came to the Raja's son. "Now it is +morning," she said, "and you must go; for if the king finds out all I +have done for you, he will seize me." "I am ill to-day, dear aunty," +said the prince; "do let me stay till to-morrow morning." "Good," said +the old woman. So he stayed, and they took their dinner out of the +bag, and the bowl gave them water. + +When night came the princess got up and sat on her roof, and at twelve +o'clock, when every one was in bed, she went to her bed-room, and was +soon fast asleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed, and it carried +him to the princess. He took his bag and said, "Bag, I want a most +lovely shawl." It gave him a splendid shawl, and he spread it over the +princess as she lay asleep. Then he went back to the old woman's house +and slept till morning. + +In the morning, when the princess saw the shawl, she was delighted. +"See, mother," she said; "God must have given me this shawl, it is so +beautiful." Her mother was very glad too. "Yes, my child," she said; +"God must have given you this splendid shawl." + +When it was morning the old woman said to the Raja's son, "Now you +must really go." "Aunty," he answered, "I am not well enough yet. Let +me stay a few days longer. I will remain hidden in your house, so that +no one may see me." So the old woman let him stay. + +When it was black night, the princess put on her lovely clothes and +jewels, and sat on her roof. At midnight she went to her room and went +to sleep. Then the Raja's son sat on his bed and flew to her bed-room. +There he said to his bag, "Bag, I want a very, very beautiful ring." +The bag gave him a glorious ring. Then he took the Princess Labam's +hand gently to put on the ring, and she started up very much +frightened. + +"Who are you?" she said to the prince. "Where do you come from? Why do +you come to my room?" "Do not be afraid, princess," he said; "I am no +thief. I am a great Raja's son. Hiraman parrot, who lives in the +jungle where I went to hunt, told me your name, and then I left my +father and mother, and came to see you." + +"Well," said the princess, "as you are the son of such a great Raja, I +will not have you killed, and I will tell my father and mother that I +wish to marry you." + +The prince then returned to the old woman's house; and when morning +came, the princess said to her mother, "The son of a great Raja has +come to this country, and I wish to marry him." Her mother told this +to the king. "Good," said the king; "but if this Raja's son wishes to +marry my daughter, he must first do whatever I bid him. If he fails I +will kill him. I will give him eighty pounds weight of mustard seed, +and out of this he must crush the oil in one day. If he cannot do this +he shall die." + +In the morning the Raja's son told the old woman that he intended to +marry the princess. "Oh," said the old woman, "go away from this +country, and do not think of marrying her. A great many Rajas and +Rajas' sons have come here to marry her, and her father has had them +all killed. He says whoever wishes to marry his daughter must first do +whatever he bids him. If he can, then he shall marry the princess; if +he cannot, the king will have him killed. But no one can do the things +the king tells him to do; so all the Rajas and Rajas' sons who have +tried have been put to death. You will be killed too, if you try. Do +go away." But the prince would not listen to anything she said. + +The king sent for the prince to the old woman's house, and his +servants brought the Raja's son to the king's court-house to the king. +There the king gave him eighty pounds of mustard seed, and told him to +crush all the oil out of it that day, and bring it next morning to him +to the court-house. "Whoever wishes to marry my daughter," he said to +the prince, "must first do all I tell him. If he cannot, then I have +him killed. So if you cannot crush all the oil out of this mustard +seed, you will die." + +The prince was very sorry when he heard this. "How can I crush the oil +out of all this mustard seed in one day?" he said to himself; "and if +I do not, the king will kill me." He took the mustard seed to the old +woman's house, and did not know what to do. At last he remembered the +Ant-Raja, and the moment he did so, the Ant-Raja and his ants came to +him. "Why do you look so sad?" said the Ant-Raja. The prince showed +him the mustard seed, and said to him, "How can I crush the oil out of +all this mustard seed in one day? And if I do not take the oil to the +king to-morrow morning, he will kill me." "Be happy," said the +Ant-Raja; "lie down and sleep: we will crush all the oil out for you +during the day, and to-morrow morning you shall take it to the king." +The Raja's son lay down and slept, and the ants crushed out the oil +for him. The prince was very glad when he saw the oil. + +The next morning he took it to the court-house to the king. But the +king said, "You cannot yet marry my daughter. If you wish to do so, +you must first fight with my two demons and kill them." The king a +long time ago had caught two demons, and then, as he did not know what +to do with them, he had shut them up in a cage. He was afraid to let +them loose for fear they would eat up all the people in his country; +and he did not know how to kill them. So all the kings and kings' sons +who wanted to marry the Princess Labam had to fight with these demons; +"for," said the king to himself, "perhaps the demons may be killed, +and then I shall be rid of them." + +When he heard of the demons the Raja's son was very sad. "What can I +do?" he said to himself. "How can I fight with these two demons?" Then +he thought of his tiger: and the tiger and his wife came to him and +said, "Why are you so sad?" The Raja's son answered, "The king has +ordered me to fight with his two demons and kill them. How can I do +this?" "Do not be frightened," said the tiger. "Be happy. I and my +wife will fight with them for you." + +Then the Raja's son took out of his bag two splendid coats. They were +all gold and silver, and covered with pearls and diamonds. These he +put on the tigers to make them beautiful, and he took them to the +king, and said to him, "May these tigers fight your demons for me?" +"Yes," said the king, who did not care in the least who killed his +demons, provided they were killed. "Then call your demons," said the +Raja's son, "and these tigers will fight them." The king did so, and +the tigers and the demons fought and fought until the tigers had +killed the demons. + +"That is good," said the king. "But you must do something else before +I give you my daughter. Up in the sky I have a kettle-drum. You must +go and beat it. If you cannot do this, I will kill you." + +The Raja's son thought of his little bed; so he went to the old +woman's house and sat on his bed. "Little bed," he said, "up in the +sky is the king's kettle-drum. I want to go to it." The bed flew up +with him, and the Raja's son beat the drum, and the king heard him. +Still, when he came down, the king would not give him his daughter. +"You have," he said to the prince, "done the three things I told you +to do; but you must do one thing more." "If I can, I will," said the +Raja's son. + +Then the king showed him the trunk of a tree that was lying near his +court-house. It was a very, very thick trunk. He gave the prince a wax +hatchet, and said, "To-morrow morning you must cut this trunk in two +with this wax hatchet." + +The Raja's son went back to the old woman's house. He was very sad, +and thought that now the Raja would certainly kill him. "I had his +oil crushed out by the ants," he said to himself. "I had his demons +killed by the tigers. My bed helped me to beat his kettle-drum. But +now what can I do? How can I cut that thick tree trunk in two with a +wax hatchet?" + +At night he went on his bed to see the princess. "To-morrow," he said +to her, "your father will kill me." "Why?" asked the princess. + +"He has told me to cut a thick tree-trunk in two with a wax hatchet. +How can I ever do that?" said the Raja's son. "Do not be afraid," said +the princess; "do as I bid you, and you will cut it in two quite +easily." + +Then she pulled out a hair from her head, and gave it to the prince. +"To-morrow," she said, "when no one is near you, you must say to the +tree-trunk, 'The Princess Labam commands you to let yourself be cut in +two by this hair.' Then stretch the hair down the edge of the wax +hatchet's blade." + +The prince next day did exactly as the princess had told him; and the +minute the hair that was stretched down the edge of the hatchet-blade +touched the tree-trunk, it split into two pieces. + +The king said, "Now you can marry my daughter." Then the wedding took +place. All the Rajas and kings of the countries round were asked to +come to it, and there were great rejoicings. After a few days the +prince's son said to his wife, "Let us go to my father's country." The +Princess Labam's father gave them a quantity of camels and horses and +rupees and servants; and they travelled in great state to the prince's +country, where they lived happily. + +The prince always kept his bag, bowl, bed, and stick; only as no one +ever came to make war on him, he never needed to use the stick. + + Told by Muniya. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXIII. + +THE PRINCESS WHO LOVED HER FATHER LIKE SALT. + + +In a country there lived a king who had seven daughters. One day he +called them all to him and said to them, "My daughters, how much do +you love me?" The six eldest answered, "Father, we love you as much as +sweetmeats and sugar;" but the seventh and youngest daughter said, +"Father, I love you as much as salt." The king was much pleased with +his six eldest daughters, but very angry with his youngest daughter. +"What is this?" he said; "my daughter only loves me as much as she +does salt!" Then he called some of his servants, and said to them, +"Get a palanquin ready, and carry my youngest daughter away to the +jungle." + +The servants did as they were bid; and when they got to the jungle, +they put the palanquin down under a tree and went away. The princess +called to them, "Where are you going? Stay here; my father did not +tell you to leave me alone in the jungle." "We will come back," said +the servants; "we are only going to drink some water." But they +returned to her father's palace. + +The princess waited in the palanquin under the tree, and it was now +evening, and the servants had not come back. She was very much +frightened and cried bitterly. "The tigers and wild beasts will eat +me," she said to herself. At last she went to sleep, and slept for a +little while. When she awoke she found in her palanquin some food on a +plate, and a little water, that God had sent her while she slept. She +ate the food and drank the water, and then she felt happier, for she +thought, "God must have sent me this food and water." She decided that +as it was now night she had better stay in her palanquin, and go to +sleep. "Perhaps the tigers and wild beasts will come and eat me," she +thought; "but if they don't, I will try to-morrow to get out of this +jungle, and go to another country." + +The next morning she left her palanquin and set out. She walked on, +till, deep in the jungle, she came to a beautiful palace, which did +not belong to her father, but to another king. The gate was shut, but +she opened it, and went in. She looked all about, and thought, "What a +beautiful house this is, and what a pretty garden and tank!" + +Everything was beautiful, only there were no servants nor anybody else +to be seen. She went into the house, and through all the rooms. In one +room she saw a dinner ready to be eaten, but there was no one to eat +it. At last she came to a room in which was a splendid bed, and on it +lay a king's son covered with a shawl. She took the shawl off, and +then she saw he was very beautiful, and that he was dead. His body was +stuck full of needles. + +She sat down on the bed, and there she sat for one week, without +eating, or drinking, or sleeping, pulling out the needles. Then a man +came by who said to her, "I have here a girl I wish to sell." "I have +no rupees," said the princess; "but if you will sell her to me for my +gold bangles, I will buy her." The man took the bangles, and left the +girl with the princess, who was very glad to have her. "Now," she +thought, "I shall be no longer alone." + +All day and all night long the princess sat and pulled out the +needles, while the girl went about the palace doing other work. At +the end of other two weeks the princess had pulled out all the needles +from the king's body, except those in his eyes. + +Then the king's daughter said to her servant-girl, "For three weeks I +have not bathed. Get a bath ready for me, and while I am bathing sit +by the king, but do not take the needles out of his eyes. I will pull +them out myself." The servant-girl promised not to pull out the +needles. Then she got the bath ready; but when the king's daughter had +gone to bathe, she sat down on the bed, and pulled the needles out of +the king's eyes. + +As soon as she had done so, he opened his eyes, and sat up. He thanked +God for bringing him to life again. Then he looked about, and saw the +servant-girl, and said to her, "Who has made me well and pulled all +the needles out of my body?" "I have," she answered. Then he thanked +her and said she should be his wife. + +When the princess came from her bath, she found the king alive, and +sitting on his bed talking to her servant. When she saw this she was +very sad, but she said nothing. The king said to the servant-maid, +"Who is this girl?" She answered, "She is one of my servants." And +from that moment the princess became a servant-girl, and her +servant-girl married the king. Every day the king said, "Can this +lovely girl be really a servant? She is far more beautiful than my +wife." + +One day the king thought, "I will go to another country to eat the +air." So he called the pretended princess, his wife, and told her he +was going to eat the air in another country. "What would you like me +to bring you when I come back?" She answered, "I should like beautiful +saris and clothes, and gold and silver jewels." Then the king said, +"Call the servant-girl, and ask her what she would like me to bring +her." The real princess came, and the king said to her, "See, I am +going to another country to eat the air. What would you like me to +bring for you when I return?" + +"King," she answered, "if you can bring me what I want I will tell you +what it is; but if you cannot get it, I will not tell you." "Tell me +what it is," said the king. "Whatever it may be I will bring it you." +"Good," said the princess. "I want a sun-jewel box." Now the princess +knew all about the sun-jewel boxes, and that only fairies had such +boxes. And she knew, too, what would be in hers if the king could get +one for her, although these boxes contain sometimes one thing and +sometimes another. + +The king had never heard of such a box, and did not know what it was +like; so he went to every country asking all the people he met what +sort of box was a sun-jewel box, and where he could get it. At last +one day, after a fruitless search, he was very sad, for he thought, "I +have promised the servant to bring her a sun-jewel box, and now I +cannot get one for her; what shall I do?" + +Then he went to sleep, and had a dream. In it he saw a jungle, and in +the jungle a fakir who, when he slept, slept for twelve years, and +then was awake for twelve years. The king felt sure this man could +give him what he wanted, so when he woke he said to his sepoys and +servants, "Stay here in this spot till I return to you; then we will +go back to my country." + +He mounted his horse and set out for the jungle he had seen in his +dream. He went on and on till he came to it, and there he saw the +fakir lying asleep. He had been asleep for twelve years all but two +weeks: over him were a quantity of leaves, and grass, and a great deal +of mud. The king began taking off all the grass, and leaves, and mud, +and every day for a fortnight when he got up he cleared them all away +from off the fakir. When the fakir awoke at the end of the two weeks, +and saw that no mud, or grass, or leaves were upon him, but that he +was quite clean, he was very much pleased, and said to the king, "I +have slept for twelve years, and yet I am as clean as I was when I +went to sleep. When I awoke after my last sleep, I was all covered +with dirt and mud, grass and leaves; but this time I am quite clean." + +The king stayed with the fakir for a week, and waited on him and did +everything for him. The fakir was very much pleased with the king, and +he told this to him: "You are a very good man." He added, "Why did you +come to this jungle? You are such a great king, what can you want from +me?" "I want a sun-jewel box," answered the king. "You are such a good +man," said the fakir, "that I will give you one." + +Then the fakir went to a beautiful well, down which he went right to +the bottom. There, there was a house in which lived the red fairy. She +was called the red fairy not because her skin was red, for it was +quite white, but because everything about her was red--her house, her +clothes, and her country. She was very glad to see the fakir, and +asked him why he had come to see her. "I want you to give me a +sun-jewel box," he answered. "Very good," said the fairy, and she +brought him one in which were seven small dolls and a little flute. +"No one but she who wants this box must open it," said the fairy to +the fakir. "She must open it when she is quite alone and at night." +Then she told him what was in the box. + +The fakir thanked her, and took the box to the king, who was delighted +and made many salaams to the fakir. The fakir told him none but the +person who wished for the box was to open it; but he did not tell him +what more the fairy had said. + +The king set off on his journey now, and when he came to his servants +and sepoys, he said to them he would now return to his country, as he +had found the box he wanted. When he reached his palace he called the +false princess, his wife, and gave her her silks and shawls, and saris, +and gold and silver jewels. Then he called the servant-girl--the true +princess--and gave her her sun-jewel box. She took it, and was +delighted to have it. She made him many salaams and went away with her +box, but did not open it then, for she knew what was in it, and that +she must open it at night and alone. + +That night she took her box and went out all by herself to a wide +plain in the jungle, and there opened it. She took the little flute, +put it to her lips, and began to play, and instantly out flew the +seven little dolls, who were all little fairies, and they took chairs +and carpets from the box, and arranged them all in a large tent which +appeared at that moment. Then the fairies bathed her, combed and +rolled up her hair, put on her grand clothes and lovely slippers. But +all the time the princess did nothing but cry. They brought a chair +and placed it before the tent, and made her sit in it. One of them +took the flute and played on it, and all the others danced before the +princess, and they sang songs for her. Still she cried and cried. At +last, at four o'clock in the morning, one of the fairies said, +"Princess, why do you cry?" "I took all the needles out of the king, +all but those in his eyes," said the princess, "and while I was +bathing, my servant-girl, whom I had bought with my gold bangles, +pulled these out. She told the king it was she who had pulled out all +the other needles and brought him to life, and that I was her servant, +and she has taken my place and is treated as the princess, and the +king has married her, while I am made to do a servant's work and +treated as the servant." "Do not cry," said the fairies. "Everything +will be well for you by and by." + +When it was close on morning, the princess played on the flute, and +all the chairs, sofas, and fairies became quite tiny, and went into +the box, and the tent disappeared. She shut it up, and took it back to +the king's palace. The next night she again went out to the +jungle-plain, and all happened as on the night before. + +A wood-cutter was coming home late from his work, and had to pass by +the plain. He wondered when he saw the tent. "I went by some time +ago," he said to himself, "and I saw no tent here." He climbed up a +big tree to see what was going on, and saw the fairies dancing before +the princess, who sat outside the tent, and he saw how she cried +though the fairies did all they could to amuse her. Then he heard the +fairies say, "Princess, why do you cry?" And he heard her tell them +how she had cured the king, and how her servant-girl had taken her +place and made her a servant. "Never mind, don't cry," said the +fairies. "All will be well by and by." Near morning the princess +played on her flute, and the fairies went into the box, and the tent +disappeared, and the princess went back to the palace. + +The third night passed as the other two had done. The wood-cutter came +to look on, and climbed into the tree to see the fairies and the +princess. Again the fairies asked her why she cried, and she gave the +same answer. + +The next day the wood-cutter went to the king. "Last night and the +night before," he said, "as I came home from work, I saw a large tent +in the jungle, and before the tent there sat a princess who did +nothing but cry, while seven fairies danced before her, or played on +different instruments, and sang songs to her." The king was very much +astonished, and said to the wood-cutter, "To-night I will go with you, +and see the tent, and the princess, and the fairies." + +When it was night the princess went out softly and opened her box on +the plain. The wood-cutter fetched the king, and the two men climbed +into a tree, and watched the fairies as they danced and sang. The king +saw that the princess who sat and cried was his own servant-girl. He +heard her tell the fairies all she had done for him, and all that had +happened to her; so he came suddenly down from the tree, and went up +to her, and took her hand. "I always thought you were a princess, and +no servant-girl," he said. "Will you marry me?" + +She left off crying, and said, "Yes, I will marry you." She played on +her flute, and the tent disappeared, and all the fairies, and sofas, +and chairs went into the box. She put her flute in it, as she always +did before shutting down the lid, and went home with the king. + +The servant-girl was very vexed and angry when she found the king knew +all that had happened. However, the princess was most good to her, and +never treated her unkindly. + +The princess then sent a letter to her mother, in which she wrote, "I +am going to be married to a great king. You and my father must come to +my wedding, and must bring my sisters with you." + +They all came, and her father and mother liked the king very much, and +were glad their daughter should marry him. The wedding took place, and +they stayed with her for some time. For a whole week she gave their +servants and sepoys nice food cooked with salt, but to her father and +mother and sisters she only gave food cooked with sugar. At last they +got so tired of this sweet food that they could eat it no longer. At +the end of the week she gave them a dinner cooked with salt. Then her +father said, "My daughter is wise though she is so young, and is the +youngest of my daughters. I know now how much she loved me when she +said she loved me like salt. People cannot eat their food without +salt. If their food is cooked with sugar one day, it must be cooked +with salt the next, or they cannot eat it." + +After this her father and mother and sisters went home, but they +often came to see their little daughter and her husband. + +The princess, the king, and the servant-maid all lived happily +together. + + Told by Muniya. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXIV. + +THE DEMON IS AT LAST CONQUERED BY THE KING'S SON. + + +In a country there were seven men, no two of whom belonged to the same +family, or were of the same trade. One was a grain merchant's son, one +a baker's, and so on; each had a different trade. + +These seven men determined they would go to seek for service in +another country. They said good-bye to their fathers and mothers, and +set off. + +They travelled every day, and walked through many jungles. At last, a +long way from their homes, they came to a wide plain in the midst of a +jungle, and on it they saw a goat which seemed to be a very good +milch-goat. The seven men said to each other, "If this goat belonged +to any one, it would not be left all alone in the jungle. Let us take +it with us." They did so, and no one they met asked them any questions +about the goat. + +In the evening they arrived at a village where they stayed for the +night. They cooked and ate their dinners, and gave the goat grass and +grain. At midnight, when they were all asleep, the goat became a great +she-demon, with a great mouth, and swallowed one of the seven men. +Then she became a goat again, and went back to the place where she had +been stabled. + +The men got up in the morning, and were very much surprised to find +they were only six, not seven. "Where is the seventh gone?" they +said. "Well, when he returns we will all go on together." They sat +waiting and waiting for him, till, as it was getting late and he had +not come, they all thought they had better start without him. So they +continued their journey, taking the goat with them. Before they went +they said to the villagers, "If our seventh man comes back to you, +send him after us." + +At evening they came to another village, where they stayed for the +night. They cooked and ate their dinners, and gave grain and grass to +the goat. At midnight, when they were fast asleep, the goat became a +demon and swallowed another man, and then took her goat's shape again. + +In this way she ate five men. The two that were left were very sad at +finding themselves alone. "We were seven men," they said, "now we are +but two." The grain merchant's son was one of the two, and he was very +quick and sharp. He determined he would not say anything to his +companion, but that he would watch by him that night, and find out, if +he could, what had happened to his other friends. To keep himself +awake he cut a piece out of his finger, and rubbed a little salt into +the wound, so that when his companion went to sleep, he should not be +able to sleep because of the pain. At midnight the goat came and +turned into a huge demon. She went quickly up to the sleeping man to +swallow him; but the merchant's son rushed at her, beat her, and +snatched his companion from her mouth. The demon turned instantly into +a goat, and went back to the place where it had been stabled. + +The two men next morning set out from the village where they had +passed the night. They would have killed the goat had they been able. +As they could not do so, they took it with them till they came to a +plain in the jungle, where they tied it up to a tree, and left it. +Then they continued their journey, and were very sorry they had not +known how wicked the goat was before it had swallowed their five +companions. + +The goat meanwhile turned itself into a most beautiful young girl, +dressed in grand clothes and rich jewels, and she sat down in the +jungle and began to cry. Just then the king of another country was +hunting in this jungle; and when he heard the noise of the crying, he +called his servants and told them to go and see who was crying. The +servants looked about until they saw the beautiful girl. They asked +her a great many questions, but she only cried, and would not answer. +The servants returned to the king, and told him it was a most +beautiful young girl who was crying; but she would do nothing but cry, +and would not speak. + +The king left his hunting and went himself to the girl, and asked her +why she cried. "My husband married me," she said, "and was taking me +to his home. He went to get some water to drink, and left me here. He +has never come back, and I don't know where he is; perhaps some tiger +has killed him, and now I am all alone, and do not know where to go. +This is why I cry." The king was so delighted with her beauty, that he +asked her to go with him. He sent his servants for a fine palanquin, +and when it came he put the girl into it, and took her to his palace, +and there she stayed. + +At midnight she turned into a demon, and went to the place where the +king's sheep and goats were kept. She tore open all their stomachs, +and ate all their hearts. Then she dipped seven knives in their blood, +and laid the knives on the beds of the seven queens. + +Next morning the king heard that all his sheep and goats were lying +dead; and when his seven wives woke, they saw that their clothes were +all bloody, and that bloody knives lay on their beds. They wondered +who had done this wicked thing to them. + +The next night at twelve o'clock the beautiful girl turned into a +demon again, and went to the cow-house. There she tore open the cows +and ate their hearts. Then she smeared the queens' clothes, and laid +knives dipped in blood on their beds; but she washed her own hands and +clothes, so that no blood should show on them. For a long time the +same thing happened every night, till she had eaten all the elephants, +horses, camels,--every animal, indeed, belonging to the king. The king +wondered very much at his animals all being killed in this way, and he +could not understand either why every morning his wives' clothes were +bloody, and bloody knives found on their beds. + +When she had eaten all the animals, the demon said to the king, "I am +afraid your wives are very wicked women. They must have killed all +your cows and sheep, goats, horses, elephants, and camels. I am afraid +one day they will eat me up." "I have been married to them for many +years," answered the king, "and anything like this has never happened +before." "I am very much afraid of them," said the demon, who all this +time looked a most beautiful girl. "I am very much afraid; but if you +cut out their eyes, then they cannot kill me." + +The king called his servants and said to them, "Get ready seven +palanquins, and carry my seven wives into the jungle. There you must +leave them; only first take out their eyes, which you must bring to +me." The servants took the queens to a jungle a long way from the +king's country. There they took out their eyes, and left them, and +brought the eyes to the king, who gave them into the demon's hands. +She pounded them to bits with a stone, and threw the bits away. + +The seven queens in the jungle did not know which way to go; so they +walked straight on, and fell into a dry well which lay just before +them. In this well they stayed; and the day when they thought they +must die of hunger and thirst was drawing near. But before it came the +eldest queen had a little son. She and the five next wives were so +hungry, that they agreed to kill the child, and divide it into seven +pieces. They each ate a piece, and gave one to the seventh and +youngest wife. She said nothing, and hid the piece. These five wives +each had a son one after the other, and they killed and divided their +children as the eldest wife had done with hers. But the youngest wife +hid all the six pieces that were given her, and would eat none. Her +son was born last of all. Then the six eldest wives said, "Let us kill +and divide your child." "No," she said, "I will never kill or divide +my boy; I would rather die of hunger. Here are the six pieces you gave +me. I would not eat them. Take them and eat them, but you must not +touch my son." God was so pleased with her for not killing her child, +that he made the boy grow bigger and bigger every day; and the little +queen was very happy. + +They all lived in the dry well without any food till the little prince +was five years old. By that time he was very quick and clever. One day +he said to his mother, "Why have we lived all this while in the well?" +His mother and all the other wives told him about the wicked demon who +lived in his father's palace, and how the king believed her to be a +beautiful girl and had married her, and of all the evil things that +she had done to them, and how she had made the king send them to the +jungle and have their eyes cut out and given to her, and how from not +being able to see they had fallen into this well, and how they had +eaten all his brothers, because they were so very hungry they thought +they should die--all but his mother at least, for she would not eat +the other wives' children and would not kill her own little son. "Let +me climb out of this well," said the boy, who determined in his heart +that he would kill this wicked demon one day. His mother said, "No, +stay here; you are too young to leave the well." + +The boy did not listen to her, but scrambled out. Then he saw they +were in a wide plain in the jungle. He ran after a few birds, caught +and killed them. Then he roasted the birds and brought them with some +water to his seven mothers in the well. When they had eaten them and +drunk the water, they were happy and worshipped God. The six mothers +who had eaten their children were full of sorrow, and said, "If our +six sons were now living, how good it would be for us: how happy we +should be." The young prince went out hunting for little birds every +day, and in the evening he cooked those he caught and brought them, +with water, to his mothers. + +Now the demon, because she was a demon and was therefore wiser than +men and women, knew that the seven queens lived in the well, and that +the son of the youngest queen was still alive. She determined to kill +him; so she pretended her eyes hurt her, and began crying, and making +a great to-do. The king asked her, "What is the matter?" "See, king, +see my eyes," she said. "They ache and hurt me so much." "What +medicine will make them well again?" said the king. "If I could only +bathe them with a tigress's milk, they would be well," she answered. + +The king called two of his servants and said to them, "Can either of +you get me a tigress's milk? Here are two thousand rupees for +whichever of you brings me the milk." Then he gave them the rupees, +and told them to get it at once. + +The servants took the rupees, and said nothing to the king, but they +said to each other, "How can we get a tigress's milk?" And they were +very sad. They left the king's country, and wandered on till they came +to the jungle-plain, where lived the young prince and his mothers. +There they saw him sitting by a dry well and roasting birds. "Do you +live in this jungle?" they said to him. "Yes," answered the boy. Then +the servants talked together. "See," they said, "this boy lives in the +jungle, so he will surely be able to get us the milk. Let us tell him +to get it, and give him the two thousand rupees." + +So they came back to the boy, who asked them where they were going. +"Our queen is very ill with pain in her eyes, and our king has sent us +for some tigress's milk for her to bathe them with, that they may get +well. He has given us two thousand rupees, for whichever of us to keep +who gets the milk. But we do not know where or how to get it." + +"Good," said the boy; "give me the two thousand rupees and I will get +it for you. Come here for it in a week's time." + +The king's servants were very much pleased at not having to try and +get it themselves, so they gave him the rupees and went home. The +demon knew quite well when she asked for the milk that none of the +king's servants would dare to go for it, but that his son would be +brave enough to go. This is why she asked for it, for she meant the +tigers to kill him. + +The little prince now took his seven mothers out of the well, and they +all went together to his father's country. There he got a small house +for them, and good clothes and food. He got a servant, too, for them, +to cook their dinner and take care of them. "Be very tender to them," +he said to the servant, "for they cannot see." For himself he bought a +little horse, and good clothes, and a gun, and a sword. Then he made +his mothers many salaams, and told them he was going to get a +tigress's milk. They all cried and begged him not to go. + +But he set off and rode for three or four days through the jungles. +Then he came to a large jungle which was in a great blaze, and two +tiger-cubs were running about in the jungle trying to get out of the +fire. He jumped off his horse, and took them in his hands; then he +mounted his horse again and rode out of the jungle. He rode on till +he came to another which was not on fire. He let the cubs loose in it +that they might run away; but they placed themselves in front of his +horse, and said, "We will not let you go till you have seen our father +and mother." + +Meanwhile the tiger and tigress saw the boy coming with their cubs, +and they came running to meet them. Till then they had thought their +cubs were burned in the jungle-fire. Now they knew at once this boy +had saved them. The cubs said to their father and mother, "We should +have died had it not been for this boy. Give him food; and when he has +eaten some food, we will drink milk." The tigers were very happy at +having their children safe. They went to a garden and got food and +good water for the boy, who ate and drank. Then the little cubs drank +their mother's milk. + +The tiger said to the prince, "You are such a little child, how is it +your mother let you come alone to this jungle?" + +"My mother's eyes are sore and pain her; and the doctor says that if +she bathes them in a tigress's milk they will get well. So I came to +see if I could get a little for her." + +"I will give you some," said the tigress, and she gave him a little +jar full of her milk. The cubs said, "One of us will go with you, and +the other will stay with our father and mother." "No," said the little +prince, "do you both stay with your father and mother. I will not take +either of you away. What should I do with you?" "No," said one of the +cubs; "I will go with you. I will do all you tell me. Wherever you bid +me stay, there I will stay; and I will eat any food you give me." +"Take him with you," said the old tiger; "one day you will find him of +use." So the boy took the cub and the milk, and made his salaam to the +old tigers and went home. His mothers were delighted at his return, +though, as they had no eyes, they could not see him. + +He tied up the tiger's cub and fed him. Then he took a little of the +milk, and went to the dry well in the jungle and sat down by it. The +king's servants came when the week had passed, and the boy gave them +the milk. The servants took it to the king, who gave it to the demon. +She was very angry when she found the tigers had not eaten the boy; +but she bathed her eyes with the milk, and said nothing. + +At the end of another week she would not eat or drink, and did nothing +but cry. "What is the matter?" said the king. "See how my eyes pain +me," she answered. "If I could only get an eagle's feather to lay on +them they would be well. Oh, how they hurt me!" + +The king called his servants and gave them four thousand rupees. "Go +and get me an eagle's feather," he said, "and he who gets it is to +take the four thousand rupees." "Let us go to the jungle well," they +said, "and find the boy who got us the tigress's milk. We could never +get an eagle's feather, but this child certainly can get one for us." + +So they went to the well where they found the boy. The little prince +was very wise, though he was such a little child; and he knew the +demon would try to send him on some other errand that she might get +rid of him. He was quite willing to go on her errands, for he thought +he might thus learn how to kill her. He was not a bit afraid of being +killed himself, for he knew that God loved him, and that no one but +God could kill him. + +He at once asked the king's servants, "What do you want now?" "Our +king has sent us for an eagle's feather to lay on the queen's eyes, +which pain her again. Here are four thousand rupees for you if you +will get it for us." "Give me the rupees," said the king's son. "Come +here in two weeks, and I will give you the feather." + +He took the rupees to his mothers, and told them he was going to fetch +an eagle's feather. "Where will you find one?" they said. "I don't +know," he answered, "but I am going to look for one." He hired some +more servants, and told them to take care of his mothers and the +tiger-cub. + +He rode straight on for two or three days, and at last came to a very +dense jungle, through which he rode for another three or four days. +When he got out of it he found himself on a beautiful smooth plain in +which was a tank. There, too, was a large fig-tree, and under the tree +cool shade, and cool, thick grass. He was very much pleased when he +saw the tank and the tree. He got off his horse, bathed in the tank, +and sat down under the fig-tree, thinking, "Here I will sleep a little +while before I go further." + +While he lay asleep in the grass, a great snake crawled up the tree, +at the top of which were two young eagles. They began screaming very +loud. Their cries awakened the little prince. He looked about and saw +the great snake in the tree. Then he took his gun and fired at it, and +the snake fell dead to the ground. He cut it into five pieces, and hid +them in the long grass. Then he lay down again and went to sleep. + +The baby eagles were alone in the tree, as their father and mother had +gone to another country. But now the old birds came home, and found +the king's son sleeping in the grass. "See," they said, "here is the +thief who every year robs us of our children! But now he cannot get +away. We will kill him." However, they thought it better to go and +look first at their children, to see if they were safe or not. They +flew up to the top of the tree, and when they found their children +safe, they wished to give them food. All the time they kept saying, +"Eat; then we will kill the thief who steals away our children every +year." The young eagles thought, "Oh, if God would only give us the +power to speak, then we would tell our father and mother that this +boy is no thief." Then God gave them the power to speak, and they said +to the old eagles, "Listen; if that boy had not been here, we should +have died, for he killed a huge snake that was going to swallow us: +only go and look, and you will see it dead and cut into pieces." And +the eaglets refused to eat till the boy had been fed. + +The big eagles flew down and found the bits of the snake: so they flew +away to a beautiful garden, where they got delicious fruits and water. +These they brought to the boy, and awoke him and fed him. Then they +said to him, "It is indeed good to find our children alive. Hitherto +our children have always been eaten by that snake. How are your father +and mother? Why did they let you come to this jungle? What have you +come here for?" The little prince said, "My mother's eyes are very +sore; but they would be cured if she could have an eagle's feather to +lay on them. So I came to look for one." Then the mother gave him one +of her feathers. + +When the boy was going home, the eaglets said they would go with him. +"No," he said, "I will not take you with me." But the old birds said, +"Take one of them, it will help you one day." The little prince made +his salaam to the big eagles, and took one of their young ones, +mounted his horse, and rode off. The eaglet flew over his head to +shade him from the sun. + +When he got home to his seven mothers, he took the feather and went +and sat by the dry well. The king's servants came there to him, and he +gave them the feather, and said, "Take it to your king." This they +did, and the king gave it to the demon, who flew into a great rage. +She said to herself, "The tigers did not kill him, and now the eagles +have not killed him." + +At the end of two weeks she began to cry and would not eat. The king +asked her, "What is the matter with you? what has happened to you?" +"My eyes pain me so much," she said. "What will cure them?" said the +king. "If I had only some night-growing rice," she said, "I would boil +it, and make rice-water, which I would drink. Then I should get well." +Now this night-growing rice was a wonderful rice that no men, and only +one demon, possessed. This was the demon-queen's brother. He used to +put a grain of this rice into his huge cavern of a mouth at night when +he went to sleep, and when he woke in the morning this grain would +have become a tree. Then the demon used to take the rice-tree out of +his mouth. + +The demon, who seemed such a lovely girl, now wrote a letter to her +brother, in which she said, "The bearer of this letter goes to you for +some night-growing rice. You must kill him at once; you must not let +him live." The king gave this letter to his servants, with six +thousand rupees. "Take this letter," he said, "and fetch some of the +night-growing rice. Here are six thousand rupees for whichever of you +finds it." The king had no idea that it was not these men who had gone +for the tigress's milk and the eagle's feather. + +The servants said, "Let us go to the well, to the boy who has helped +us before. We don't know where to get this night-growing rice, but +that boy is sure to know." + +The boy was sitting by the well, and asked what they wanted. They +answered, "See, the king has given us six thousand rupees and a +letter, and told us to fetch him some night-growing rice." "Very +good," said the king's son. "Come here in three weeks' time, and I +will give you some." The servants gave him the rupees and returned +home. + +He took the rupees to his mothers, and told them he was going on a +fresh errand, and they were to keep the money. Then he made them +salaams, took his letter, and rode off. The eaglet went too, and flew +above his head. The tiger's cub he left at home. + +He rode on and on through a very large jungle, and he rode a long, +long way: at last in a jungle he saw a fakir, who was living in it. He +made him salaams, and the fakir was delighted to see him, "because," +he said, "for many years I have been in this country, and all that +time have never seen any man." The prince sat down by the fakir, and +the fakir was very much pleased. He asked the boy who had sent him to +the jungle, and why he had come to it. "My mother has sore eyes," he +answered, "and wants some night-growing rice. She has given me a +letter to the man who owns it." + +The fakir took and read the letter, and was very sorry. He tore it up +and threw it away. Then he wrote another, in which he said, "Your +sister is very ill, and her son has come for some night-growing rice +for her." This he gave to the boy, and told him to continue his +journey. He also told him that the man who had the rice was a huge +demon, and that he lived in the country by the great sea. Then he told +him the way. + +The boy rode on and on, and after a week's journeying he came to the +demon's country. There he saw the huge demon sitting on the ground, +with his great, big mouth, that was just like a cavern. As soon as the +demon saw him he stood up and said, "It is many days since a man came +here. Now I will eat this one." He went towards the prince to seize +him, and a great rushing wind came blowing from the demon, as it +always did when he was angry. But the boy, who had begun to walk +towards him when he stood up, threw the letter to him with all his +might, so that it fell on him; at the same time he made many salaams. +The demon read the letter, and found his sister was very ill, and this +was her son; so he stopped the wind, and came up to the boy, who he +thought was his sister's son. "You have come for the rice for my +sister who is ill," he said to him; "you shall have it." + +The demon had a splendid house full of beautiful things, and a great +many servants. He took the little prince home with him, and told his +servants to get water ready and gave the child a bath. They were also +to cook a good dinner for him. Then the demon showed the boy all his +gardens, and all his beautiful things, and took him through all the +rooms of his house. One room he did not show to the prince. He told +him he was never to go into it, though he might go everywhere else +that he liked. In this room lived the demon's daughter, who was very +beautiful, just like a fairy. She was ten years old. Every day before +her father went out, he used to make the girl lie on her bed, and +cover her with a sheet, and he placed a thick stick at her head, and +another at her feet; then she died till he came home in the evening +and changed the sticks, putting the one at her head at her feet, and +the one at her feet at her head. This brought her to life again. + +The next day, when the demon had gone out, the boy went to this room, +and opened the door, for he wanted to see what was in it. He went in, +and saw the beautiful girl lying on the bed. "How lovely she is!" he +said; "but she is dead." Then he saw the sticks, and, to amuse +himself, he put the one at her head at her feet, and the one at her +feet at her head, just as the demon did every evening. The girl at +once came to life, and opened her eyes and got up. "Who is this?" she +said to herself, when she saw the king's son. "This is not my father." +She asked him, "Who are you? Why do you come here? If my father sees +you he will eat you." "No, he won't," said the prince, "for I am your +aunt's son, and your father himself brought me to his house. But why +is it that you are dead all day, and alive all night?" The girl had +told him that her father brought her to life every evening, and made +her dead every morning. "Such is my father's pleasure," she answered. + +So they talked together all day, and he said to her, "Suppose one day +your father made you dead as usual, and that he was killed before he +had brought you to life, what would you do? You would always be dead +then." "Listen," she said; "no one can kill my father." "Why not?" +said the boy. "Listen," she answered; "on the other side of the sea +there is a great tree, in that tree is a nest, in the nest is a +_maina_. If any one kills that _maina_, then only will my father die. +And if, when the _maina_ is killed, its blood falls to the ground, a +hundred demons would be born from the blood. This is why my father +cannot be killed." + +At evening, before the demon came home, the prince made the girl dead. +Then he went softly into another room. + +The fakir had said to the boy, when they were in the jungle together, +"If ever you are in trouble, come to me and I will help you. It will +take you now one week to ride to the demon's country; but if ever you +need me, you shall be able to come to me here in this jungle, and to +return to the demon's house in one day." The fakir was such a holy man +that everything he said should happen did happen. So now the prince +determined he would go to the fakir and ask him what he should do to +kill this _maina_. In the morning, therefore, as soon as the demon had +gone out, he set off for the fakir's jungle, and, thanks to the holy +man's power, he got there very quickly. He told him everything, and +the fakir made a paper boat which he gave him. "This boat will take +you over the sea," he said to the prince. "This paper boat!" said the +boy. "How can a paper boat go over the sea? It will get soaked and +sink." "No, it will not," said the fakir. "Launch it on the sea, and +get into it. The boat will of itself carry you to the tree where the +_maina's_ nest is." + +The prince took the boat, and went back to the demon's house. He got +there before the demon came home, so that he did not know the boy had +been to the fakir. When the demon returned that evening, the king's +son said, "To-morrow I will go home, as my mother is very ill. Will +you give me the rice?" "Good," said the demon, "you shall have it +to-morrow." Next morning he gave the rice, and went off to the jungle. + +Then the boy took his paper boat down to the sea, launched it, and got +into it; and of itself the boat went straight over the sea to the +opposite shore. The eaglet flew above his head; but he left his horse +on land. When he got to the other side, he saw the great tree, with +the nest and the _maina_. He climbed the tree, and took down the nest, +and the demon, who was far away, knew it at once, and said to himself, +"Some one has come to catch and kill me." He set out at once for the +tree. The prince saw him coming, so he wrapped the _maina_ up in his +handkerchief, that no blood should fall to the ground. Then he broke +off one of its legs, and one of the demon's legs fell off. Still the +demon came on. Then he broke off the other leg, but the demon walked +on his hands. The boy saw him coming nearer and nearer, so he wrung +the bird's head off, and the demon fell dead. + +The prince jumped into his paper boat, and of itself the boat went +straight back to the other shore, to the demon's country. Then he went +up to the demon's house, and made his daughter alive. + +She was frightened, and said to him, "Oh, take care. If my father +comes back, and finds us together, he will eat us both." "He will not +come back," said the prince. "I have killed him." + +Then he dressed her in boy's clothes, that no one might know she was a +girl, and he found a horse, and had it made ready for her. Her father +had collected a quantity of rupees. Some of these the prince gave to +the servants as a present, and said to them, "Stay here and be happy; +do not be afraid, for there is no demon now to come and eat you." + +Then he took the rice and mounted his horse, and made the girl mount +also, and went off to the fakir. The paper boat he left, as he did not +want it any more. He and the demon's daughter made the fakir many +salaams, and they stayed with him for a day before they rode to the +prince's country. Here they went to his seven mothers, who were very, +very glad to see them, and thanked God that their son had come back +safe. + +He took a little of the rice, and went and sat by the well till the +king's two servants came. Then he gave them the rice for their king, +and the king gave it to the demon. She said nothing while the king was +with her; but when she was alone she cried, for she knew the boy must +have killed her brother, as he had brought her the rice. + +She waited a week, and then she began to cry again, and would not eat. +The king was very sorry, and thought, "What can I do to make her well +and happy?" Then he said, "What will cure your eyes?" "See, king," she +answered, "if I could only bathe my eyes with water from the +Glittering Well, they would not pain me any more." This well was in +the fairies' country, and was guarded by the demon's sister, whose +name was Jangkatar. She lived in the well; and when any one came to +draw water from it, she used to drag him down and eat him. + +The king called his servants, gave them eight thousand rupees, and +said, "Go and fetch me water from the Glittering Well." The servants +went at once to the dry well in the jungle. There they found the +prince, who asked them what they wanted. "Here are eight thousand +rupees," they said; "and the king has ordered us to bring him water +from the Glittering Well." "Come in three weeks, and I will give it +to you," said the king's son. He took to his mothers the eight +thousand rupees which the servants had given him, and said to them, +"Take care of these rupees, for I am going away for a little while." +Then he got his horse ready and mounted it, and made many salaams to +his mothers. The tiger-cub said to him, "Take me with you this time. +Last time you only took the eagle. Now we will both go with you." + +So he rode off; and the eaglet flew above his head and the young tiger +ran by his side. It took him a week to get to the fairies' country, +and then he came to a beautiful smooth plain, in which was a garden, +but no house. In the middle of this garden was the Glittering Well. It +was a deep well, and the water sprang up out of it like a fountain, +and then fell back into the well, and the water shone and sparkled as +if it were gold, and silver, and diamonds. This is why it was called +the Glittering Well. + +The prince dipped his jar in the well, and Jangkatar put up her hand +and caught him. She dragged him into the water and swallowed him +whole. Then the young eagle flew down into the well, seized Jangkatar +in his talons, and took her out and threw her on the ground. The +tiger-cub rushed at her instantly, tore her open, and pulled the +king's son out of her. But he was half dead. The cub and the eaglet +lay down on him to warm him, and when they had warmed him, he was +better. + +"We have saved you," they said to him. "But for us you would have +died." The young prince thanked them and caressed them. "It is quite +true," he said; "without you I should have died." Then he filled his +jar with water, and mounted his horse and rode home. He made salaams +to his seven mothers, with whom all this time the demon's daughter had +stayed. He bathed his mothers' eyes with the water from the Glittering +Well, and then they saw perfectly once more. + +He took a little of the water, and went to wait for the king's +servants by the dry jungle well, and he was very happy thinking that +now his mothers could see. He gave the water to the king's servants, +who took it to the king, and the king gave it to his demon-wife, and +she was very sad and angry, for she knew the boy must have killed her +sister, the guardian of the Glittering Well. + +When a whole month had passed, and he had not been sent on any more +errands, the king's son said to himself, "Good; now nothing more is +going to happen to me. I am not to be sent anywhere else." So he +bought a fine horse and grand clothes, and rode to the king's +court-house. He went in, and seated himself at the king's right hand; +but he made no salaam to the king, and spoke to no one. This he did +every day for three days. Everybody was wondering who this boy was, +and why he never made any salaam to the king. + +On the fourth day, as he sat at the king's right hand, the king asked +him, "Whose child are you? Where do you come from? Where are you +going?" The young prince answered, "See, king, I am a merchant's son; +my ship has been wrecked, and I want to find service with some one." +"What can you do?" asked the king. "I don't know any trade," said his +son; "but I can tell you a story." "What wages do you want?" said the +king. "One thousand rupees a day," answered the boy. "I shall only +stay a short time in your country." "Good," said the king; "I will +give you one thousand rupees a day, and a servant to wait on you +besides. So come every day to my court-house, and tell me your story." + +The prince told the king his own story. He began from where the king +found the beautiful demon-girl crying in the jungle, and ended it +where his demon-wife cried and cried for her sister Jangkatar. It took +him three weeks to tell the story; and when he had finished it, the +king knew that he himself was the king in the story, and that this boy +was his own son. "How can I find my seven queens again?" he said. "If +you will kill this wicked demon-woman they will come back to you," +said his son. The king was very sad, and thought, "My seven wives and +my boy must have suffered very much." Then he loved his son, and was +very happy that he had found him. He ordered his servants to dig a +deep pit in the jungle, so deep that should his demon-wife take her +demon form when put into it, only her head would be above it. He +thought that if her body were buried in the ground she would not be +able to do them much harm while they were shooting her. Then he, and +his son, and his servants took their guns and bows and arrows, and +took the demon with them to the deep pit. She went quite quietly, +though she knew they were going to kill her. Since Jangkatar's death +she had been very quiet and sad. And now she thought, "That boy will +most certainly kill me as he has killed my sister and brother. He is +stronger than I am. I have no one else to send him to; and if I had, +he could not be killed. What is the use of my trying to save myself?" +So she went along quite quietly, looking like a beautiful girl. She +let them put her into the pit, and shoot her to death with their guns +and bows and arrows. Then they filled the pit up with earth. + +The king went to his seven wives, and begged them to forgive him. He +brought them, his son, and the demon's daughter home to his palace. +Later the king married his son to the demon's daughter, and every one +was glad. + +But the king grieved that his six other sons were dead. + + Told by Muniya. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXV. + +THE FAN PRINCE. + + +In a country there lived a king who had a wife and seven daughters. +One day he called all his daughters to him, and said to them, "My +children, who gives you food? and by whose permission do you eat it?" +Six of them answered, "Father, you give us food; and by your +permission we eat it." But the seventh and youngest said, "Father, God +gives me my food; and by my own permission I eat it." This answer made +her father and mother very angry with their youngest daughter. They +said, "We will not let our youngest child stay with us any longer." +And her father called some servants and said to them, "Get a palanquin +ready, and put my youngest daughter into it; then carry her away to +the jungle, and there leave her." + +The servants got the palanquin ready, put the youngest princess into +it, and carried her into the jungle. There they put the palanquin down +and said to her, "We are going to drink some water." "Go home now," +said the girl, "as my father ordered you to do." They left her, +therefore, in the jungle alone, and went back to the king's palace. + +The girl prayed to God and worshipped him; then she went to sleep for +a little while in her palanquin. When she awoke, it was evening, and +she found in her palanquin a jar of water and some food on a plate +which God had sent her while she slept. She knew that God had sent her +this nice dinner, and thanked him and worshipped him. Then she bathed +her face and hands in a little of the water, and ate and drank, and +went to sleep quietly in her palanquin as night had come. + +This little princess had always been a very gentle girl, and had +always done what was right, and been very good, so God loved her +dearly. While she slept, therefore, he made a beautiful palace for her +on the jungle-plain where she was lying in her palanquin. God made a +garden and tank for her, too. When the princess woke in the morning, +and got out of her palanquin, she saw the palace standing by its tank +in a beautiful garden. "I never saw that palace before," she said. "It +was not here last night." She went into the garden, and servants met +her and made her salaams. The palace was far finer than her father's; +and when she went into it she found it full of servants. "To whom does +this palace belong?" she asked. "To you," they answered. "God made all +this for you last night, and he sent us to wait on you and be your +servants." (Now, they were all men, not angels, that God had sent to +take care of her.) The princess thanked God, and worshipped him. + +A few days later, her father heard that in the jungle to which he had +sent her a beautiful palace and garden and tank had suddenly appeared, +and that in this palace she was living; and he said, "Yes; my daughter +told me the truth: it is God who gives us everything. I know it is he +who gave her this beautiful house." So some time passed, and the +princess lived in her palace in the jungle; but her father did not go +to see her. + +One day he said to himself, "To-day I will go and eat the air in +another country, and I will go by water." So he ordered a boat to be +got ready, and he went to his six daughters, and told them he was +going away for a little while. "What would you like me to bring you +from this other country?" he said. "I will bring you anything you +would like to have." Some of them wanted jewels, a necklace, a pair of +earrings, and so on; and some wanted silk stuffs for saris and other +clothes. Then the king remembered his youngest child, and thought, "I +must send to her, and see what she would like." He called one of his +servants, and told him to go to the jungle to his youngest daughter +and say, "Your father is going to eat the air of another country. He +wishes to know what you would like him to bring back for you." + +The servant found the little princess reading her prayer-book. He gave +her the king's message. She said, "Sabr" (that is _wait_), for she +meant him to wait for her answer till she had finished reading her +prayers. The servant, however, did not understand, but went away at +once to the king and told him, "Your daughter wants you to bring her +Sabr." "Sabr?" said the king; "what is Sabr? Never, mind, I will see +if I can find any Sabr; and if I do, I will bring it for her." + +The king then went in his boat to another country. There he stayed for +a little while and bought the jewels and silks for his six elder +daughters. When he thought he should like to go home again, he went +down to his boat and got into it. But the boat would not move, because +he had forgotten one thing; the thing his youngest daughter had asked +for. + +Suddenly he remembered he had not got any Sabr. So he gave one of his +servants four thousand rupees, and told him to go on shore, and go +through the bazar, and try and find the Sabr, and he was to give the +four thousand rupees for it. + +The man went to the bazar and asked every one if they had Sabr to +sell. Then he asked if they could tell him what it was. "No," they +said, "but our king's son is called Sabr; you had better speak to +him." + +The servant went to Prince Sabr. "Our king's youngest daughter," he +said, "has asked her father to bring her Sabr, and the king has given +me four thousand rupees to buy it for her; but I cannot get any, and +no one knows what it is." The prince said, "Very good. Give this +little box to your king, and tell him to give it to his youngest +daughter. But it is only the princess who has asked for Sabr who is to +open the box." Then he told the man to keep the four thousand rupees +as a present from him. + +The servant went back to the boat to the king and gave him the box, +saying, "In this is the Sabr," and he told him Prince Sabr said no one +but the youngest princess was to open it. And now the boat moved quite +easily, and the king journeyed home safely. + +He gave his six eldest daughters the presents he had brought for them, +and sent the little box to his youngest daughter. She said, "My father +has sent me this. I will look at it by and by." Then she put it away +and forgot it. At the end of a month she found the little box, and +thought, "I will see what my father has sent me," and opened the box. +In it was a most lovely little fan. She was very much pleased, and +fanned herself with it, and at once a beautiful prince stood before +her. + +The princess was delighted. "Who are you? Where did you come from?" +she said. "My name is Prince Sabr," he answered. "Your father came to +my father's country, and he said you had asked him to bring you Sabr, +so I gave him this little fan for you. I am obliged to come to whoever +uses this little fan with the right side turned outwards. And when you +want me to go away, you must turn the right side of the fan towards +you and then fan yourself with it." The little princess said, "Very +good. And so your name is Prince Sabr?" They talked together for some +time. Then she turned her fan, so that the wrong side was outside, +and fanned herself with it, and the prince disappeared. + +This went on for a month. The princess used to fan herself with the +right side turned outwards, and then Prince Sabr came to her. When she +turned her fan wrong side outwards and fanned herself, then he +vanished. + +One day the prince said to her, "I should like to marry you. Will you +marry me?" "Yes," she answered. Then she wrote a letter to her father +and mother and six sisters, in which she said, "Come to my wedding. I +am going to marry Prince Sabr." They all came. Her father was very +glad that she married Prince Sabr, and said, "I see it is true that +God loves my youngest daughter." + +The day of the wedding her six sisters said to her, "To-day we will +not let the servants make your bed. We will make it ourselves for +you." "I have plenty of servants to make it," she said; "but you can +do so if you like." Her sisters went to make the bed. They took a +glass bottle and ground it into a powder, and they spread the powder +all over the side where Prince Sabr was to lie. This they did because +they were angry at their youngest sister being married, while they, +who were older, were not married, and they thought, being her elders, +they should have married first, especially as they had lived in their +father's palace, and been cared for, while she was cast out in the +jungle. + +When the wedding was over, and Prince Sabr and his wife had gone to +bed, the prince became very ill, from the glass powder going into his +flesh. "Turn your fan the wrong way and fan yourself quickly, that I +may go home to my father's country," he said to her, "for I am very +ill, and dare not remain here." So she fanned herself at once with the +fan turned the wrong way. Then he went home to his father, and was +very ill for a long while. The poor princess knew nothing of the glass +powder. + +Her father and mother and sisters went home after the wedding, and +left the princess alone in her palace. Every day she turned her fan +the right side outwards and fanned and fanned herself; but Prince Sabr +never came. He was far too ill. One day she cried a great deal, and +was very, very sad. "Why does my prince not come to me?" she said. "I +don't know where he is, or what has become of him." That night she had +a dream, and in her dream she saw Prince Sabr lying very ill on his +bed. + +When she got up in the morning she thought she must go and try to find +her prince. So she took off all her beautiful clothes and jewels, and +put on a yogi's dress. Then she mounted a horse and set out in the +jungle. No one knew she was a woman, or that she was a king's +daughter; every one thought she was a man. + +She rode on till night, and then she had come to another jungle. Here +she got off her horse, and took it under a tree. She lay down under +the tree and went to sleep. At midnight she was awakened by the +chattering of a parrot and a _maina_, who came and sat on the tree +knowing she was lying underneath. + +The _maina_ said to the parrot, "Parrot, tell me something." The +parrot said, "Prince Sabr is very, very ill in his own country. The +day he was married, the bride's six sisters took a glass bottle and +ground it to powder. Then they spread the powder all over the prince's +bed, so that when he lay down it got into his flesh. The glass powder +has made him very ill." "What will make him well?" said the _maina_; +"what will cure him?" "No doctors can cure him," said the parrot; "no +medicine will do him any good: but if any one slept under this tree, +and took some of the earth from under it, and mixed it with cold +water, and rubbed it all over Prince Sabr, he would get well." + +All this the princess heard. She got up and longed for morning to +come. When it was day she took some of the earth, mounted her horse, +and rode off. She went on till she came to Prince Sabr's country. Then +she asked to whom the country belonged; she was told it was Prince +Sabr's father's country, "but Prince Sabr is very ill." + +"I am a yogi," said the princess, "and I can cure him." This was told +to the king, Prince Sabr's father. "That is very good," he said. "Send +the yogi to me." So the little princess went to the king, who said to +her, "My son is very, very ill; make him well." "Yes," she said, "I +will make him well. Bring me some cold water." + +They brought her the cold water, and she mixed it with the earth she +had got from under the tree. This she rubbed all over the prince. For +three days and nights she rubbed him with it. After that he got +better, and in a week he was quite well. He was able to talk, and +could walk about as usual. + +Then the yogi said, "Now I will go back to my own country." But the +king said to her, "First you must let me give you a present. You shall +have anything that you like. As many horses, or sepoys, or rupees as +you want you shall have; for you have made my son well." "I want +nothing at all," said the princess, "but Prince Sabr's ring, and the +handkerchief he has with his name worked on it." She had given him +both these things on their wedding day. Prince Sabr's father and +mother went to their son and begged him to give the handkerchief and +ring to the yogi; and he did so quite willingly. "For," he thought, +"were it not for that yogi, I should never see my dear princess +again." + +The yogi took the ring and handkerchief and went home. When she got +there, she took off her yogi's dress and put on her own beautiful +clothes. Then she turned her fan right side outwards, and fanned +herself with it, and immediately her Prince Sabr stood by her. "Why +did you not come to me before?" she said. "I have been fanning and +fanning myself." "I was very ill, and could not come," said Prince +Sabr. "At last a yogi came and made me well, and as a reward I gave +him my ring and handkerchief." "It was no yogi," said the princess. +"It was I who came to you and made you well." "You!" said the prince. +"Oh, no; it was a yogi. You were sitting here in your palace while the +yogi came and cured me." "No, indeed," she said; "I was the yogi. See, +is not this your ring? is not this your handkerchief with your name +worked on it?" Then he believed her, and she told him of her dream, +and her journey in the yogi's dress, and the birds' talk, and all that +had happened. + +And Prince Sabr was very happy that his wife had done so much for him, +and they lived happily together. + + Told by Muniya. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXVI. + +THE BED. + + +In a country there was a grain merchant's son, whose father and mother +loved him so dearly that they did not let him do anything but play and +amuse himself while they worked for him. They never taught him any +trade, or anything at all; for they never reflected that they might +die, and that then he would have to work for himself. When he was old +enough to be married, they found a wife for him, and married him to +her. Then they all lived happily together for some years till the +father and mother both died. + +Their son and his wife lived for a while on the pice his father and +mother had left him. But the wife grew sadder and sadder every day, +for the pice grew fewer and fewer. She thought, "What shall we do when +they are all gone? My husband knows no trade, and can do no work." One +day when she was looking very sorrowful, her husband asked her, "What +is the matter? Why are you so unhappy?" "We have hardly any pice +left," she answered, "and what shall we do when we have eaten the few +we have? You know no trade, and can do no work." "Never mind," said +her husband, "I can do some work." + +So one day when there were hardly any pice left, he took an axe, and +said to his wife, "I am going out to-day to work. Give me my dinner to +take with me, and I will eat it out of doors." She gave him some +food, wondering what work he had; but she did not ask him. + +He went to a jungle, where he stayed all day, and where he ate his +dinner. All day long he wandered from tree to tree, saying to each, +"May I cut you down?" But not a tree in the jungle gave him any +answer: so he cut none down, and went home in the evening. His wife +did not ask where he had been, or what he had done, and he said +nothing to her. + +The next day he again asked her for food to take with him to eat out +of doors, "for," he said, "I am going to work all day." She did not +like to ask him any questions, but gave him the food. And he took his +axe, and went out to a jungle which was on a different side to the one +he had been to yesterday. In this jungle also he went to every tree, +and said to it, "May I cut you down?" No tree answered him; so he ate +his dinner and came home. + +The next day he went to a third jungle on the third side. There, too, +he asked each tree, "May I cut you down?" But none gave him any +answer. He came home therefore very sorrowful. + +On the fourth day he went to a jungle on the fourth side. All day long +he went from tree to tree, asking each, "May I cut you down?" None +answered. At last, towards evening, he went and stood under a +mango-tree. "May I cut you down?" he said to it. "Yes, cut me down," +answered the tree. God loved the merchant's son and wished him to grow +a great man, so he ordered the mango-tree to let itself be cut down. + +Now the grain merchant's son was happy, for he was quite sure he could +make a bed, if he only had some wood; so he hewed down the mango-tree, +put it on his head, and carried it home. His wife saw him coming, and +said to herself, "He is bringing home a tree! What can he be going to +do with a tree?" + +Next morning he took the tree into one of the rooms of his house. He +told his wife to put food and water to last him for a week in this +room, and to make a fire in it. Then he went up to the room, and said +to her, "You are not to come in here for a whole week. You are not to +come near me till I call you." Then he went into the room and shut the +door. The whole week long his wife wondered what he could be doing all +alone in that room. "I cannot see into it," she said to herself, "and +I dare not open the door. I wonder what he is about." + +By the end of the week the grain merchant's son had carved a most +beautiful bed out of the mango-tree. Such a beautiful bed had never +been seen. Then he called his wife, and when she came he told her to +open the door, and when she opened it he said, "See what a beautiful +bed I have made." "Did _you_ make that bed?" she said. "Oh, what a +beautiful bed it is! I never saw such a lovely bed!" + +He rested that day, and on the day following he took the bed to the +king's palace, and sat down with it before the palace gate. The king's +servants all came to look at the bed. "What a bed it is!" they said. +"Did any one ever see such a bed! It is a beautiful bed. Is it yours?" +they asked the merchant's son. "Is it for sale? Who made it? Did you +make it?" But he said, "I will not answer any of your questions. I +will not speak to any of you. I will only speak to the king." So the +servants went to the king and said to him, "There is a man at your +gate with a most beautiful bed. But he will not speak to any of us, +and says he will only speak to you." "Very good," said the king; +"bring him to me." + +When the grain merchant's son came before the king with his bed, the +king asked him, "Is your bed for sale?" "Yes," he said. "What a +beautiful bed it is!" said the king. "Who made it?" "I did," he said. +"I made it myself." "How much do you want for it?" said the king. +"One thousand rupees," answered the merchant's son. "That is a great +deal for the bed," said the king. "I will not take less," said the +merchant's son. "Good," said the king, "I will give you the thousand +rupees." So he took the bed, and the merchant's son said to him, "The +first night you pass on it, do not go to sleep. Take care to keep +awake, and you will hear and see something." Then he took the rupees +home to his wife, who was frightened when she saw them. "Are those +your rupees?" she said. "Where did you find such a quantity of +rupees?" "The king gave them to me for my bed," he said. "I am not a +thief; I did not steal them." Then she was happy. + +That night the king lay down on his bed, and at ten o'clock he heard +one of the bed's legs say to the other legs, "Listen, you three. I am +going out to see the king's country. Do you all stand firm while I am +away, and take care not to let the king fall." "Good," the three legs +answered; "go and eat the air, and we will all stand fast, so that the +king does not fall while you are away." + +Then the king saw the leg leave the bed, and go out of his room door. +The leg went out to a great plain, and there it saw two snakes +quarrelling together. One snake said, "I will bite the king." The +other said, "I will bite him." The first said, "No, you won't; I will +climb on to his bed and bite him." "That you will never do," said the +second. "You cannot climb on to his bed; but I will get into his shoe, +and then when he puts it on to-morrow morning, I will bite his foot." + +The bed-leg came back and told the other legs what it had seen and +heard. "If the king will shake his shoe before he puts it on to-morrow +morning," it said, "he will see a snake drop out of it." The king +heard all that was said. + +"Now," said the second bed-leg, "I will go out and eat the air of the +king's country. Do you all stand firm while I am away." "Go," the +others answered; "we will take care the king does not fall." The +second bed-leg then went out, and went to another plain on which stood +a very old palace belonging to the king, and the wind told it the +palace was so ruinous that it would fall and kill the king the first +time he went into it: the king had never once had it repaired. So it +came back and told the three other legs all about the palace and what +the wind had said. "If I were the king," said the second bed-leg, "I +would have that palace pulled down. It is quite ready to fall; and the +first time the king goes into it, it will fall on him and kill him." +The king lay, and listened to everything. As it happened, he had +forgotten all about his old palace, and had not gone near it for a +long time. + +Then the third bed-leg said, "Now I will go out and see all the fun I +can. Stand firm, you three, while I am away." He went to a +jungle-plain on which lived a yogi. Now there was a sarai[5] not far +off in which lived a woman, the wife of a sepoy, whose husband had +gone a year ago to another country, leaving her in the sarai. She was +so fond of the yogi, that she used to come and talk to him every +night. That very day her husband came back to her, and therefore it +was later than usual when she got to the yogi; so he was very vexed +with her. "How late you are to-night," he said. "It is not my fault," +she answered. "My husband came home to-day after having been away a +year, and he kept me." "Which of us do you love best?" asked the yogi; +"your husband or me?" "I love you best," said the woman. "Then," said +the yogi, "go home and cut off your husband's head, and bring it here +for me to see." The sepoy's wife went straight to the sarai, cut off +her husband's head, and brought it to the yogi. "What a wicked woman +you are to do such a thing at my bidding!" he said. "Go away at once. +You are a wicked woman, and I do not want to see you." She took the +head home, set it again on the body and began to cry. All the people +in the sarai came to see what was the matter. "Thieves have been +here," she said, "and have killed my husband, and cut off his head," +and then she cried again. The third bed-leg now went back to the +palace, and told the others all it had seen and heard. The king lay +still and listened. + +The fourth bed-leg next went out to see all it could, and it came to a +plain on which were seven thieves, who had just been into the king's +palace, and had carried off his daughter on her bed fast asleep; and +there she lay still sleeping. They had, too, been into the king's +treasury and had taken all his rupees. The fourth bed-leg came quickly +back to the palace, and said to the other three legs, "Now, if the +king were wise he would get up instantly and go to the plain. For some +thieves are there with his daughter and all his rupees which they have +just stolen out of his palace. If he only made haste and went at once, +he would get them again." + +The king got up that minute, and called his servants and some sepoys, +and set off to the plain. He shook his shoe before he put it on, and +out tumbled the snake (the other had quietly gone into the jungle, and +not come to the palace); so he saw that the first bed-leg had spoken +the truth. + +When he reached the plain he found his daughter and his rupees, and +brought them back to his palace. The princess slept all the time, and +did not know what had happened to her. The king saw the fourth leg had +told the truth. The thieves he could not catch, for they all ran away +when they saw him coming with his sepoys. + +The king sent men to the old palace to pull it down. They found it +was just going to fall, and would have fallen on any one who had +entered it, and crushed him. So the second bed-leg had told the truth. + +When the king was sitting in his court-house he heard how during the +night thieves had gone into the sarai and killed a sepoy there and cut +off his head. Then he sent for the sepoy's wife, and asked her who had +killed her husband. "Thieves," she said. The king was very angry, for +he was sure the third bed-leg had told the truth as the other three +legs had done. So he ordered the man to be buried; and bade his +servants make a great wooden pile on the plain, and take the woman and +burn her on it. They were not to leave her as long as she was alive, +but to wait till she was dead. + +He next sent for the grain merchant's son, and said to him, "Had it +not been for your bed, I should this morning have been bitten by a +snake; and, perhaps, killed by my old palace falling on me, as I did +not know it was ready to fall, and so might have gone into it. My +daughter would certainly have been stolen from me; and a wicked woman +been still alive. So now, to-morrow, bring as many carts as you like, +and I will give you as a present as many rupees as you can take away +on them in half a day." + +Early the next morning the merchant's son brought his cart and took +away on them as many rupees as he could in half a day. His wife was +delighted when she saw the money, and said, "My husband only worked +for one week, and yet he earned all these rupees!" And they lived +always happily. + + Told by Muniya, February 23rd, 1879. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [5] That is, a resting-place for travellers, composed of a number + of small houses in a walled enclosure. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXVII. + +PANWPATTI RANI. + + +In a country a big fair was held, to which came a great many people +and Rajas from all the countries round. Among them was a Raja who +brought his daughter with him. Opposite their tent another tent was +pitched, in which lived a Raja's son. He was very beautiful; so was +the little Rani, the other Raja's daughter. + +Now, the Raja's son and the Raja's daughter did not even know each +other's names, but they looked at each other a great deal, and each +thought the other very beautiful. "How lovely the Raja's daughter is!" +thought the prince. "How beautiful the Raja's son is!" thought the +princess. + +They lived opposite each other for a whole month, and all that time +they never spoke to each other nor did they speak of each other to any +one. But they thought of each other a great deal. + +When the month was over, the little Rani's father said he would go +back to his own country. The Raja's son sat in his tent and watched +the servants getting ready the little Rani's palanquin. As soon as the +princess herself was dressed and ready for the journey, she came out +of her tent, and took a rose in her hand. She first put the rose to +her teeth; then she stuck it behind her ear; and lastly, she laid it +at her feet. All this time the Raja's son sat in his tent and looked +at her. Then she got into her palanquin and was carried away. + +The Raja's son was now very sad. "How lovely the princess is!" he +thought. "And I do not know her name, or her father's name, or the +name of her country. So how can I ever find her? I shall never see her +again." He was very sorrowful, and determined he would go home to his +country. When he got home he laid himself down on his bed, and night +and day he lay there. He would not eat, or drink, or bathe, or change +his clothes. This made his father and mother very unhappy. They went +to him often, and asked him, "What is the matter with you? Are you +ill?" "I want nothing," he would answer. "I don't want any doctor, or +any medicine." Not one word did he say to them, or to any one else, +about the lovely little Rani. + +The son of the Raja's kotwal[6] was the prince's great friend. The two +had always gone to school together, and had there read in the same +book; they had always bathed, eaten, and played together. So when the +prince had been at home for two days, and yet had not been to school +or seen his friend, the kotwal's son grew very anxious. "Why does the +prince not come to school?" he said to himself. "He has been here for +two days, and yet I have not seen him. I will go and find out if +anything is the matter. Perhaps he is ill." + +He went, therefore, to see the prince, who was lying very miserable on +his bed. "Why do you not come to school? Are you ill?" asked his +friend. "Oh, it is nothing," said the prince. "Tell me what is the +matter," said the kotwal's son; but the Raja's son would not answer. +"Have you told any one what is the matter with you?" said the kotwal's +son. "No," answered the prince. "Then tell me," said his friend; "tell +me the truth: what is it that troubles you?" + +"Well," said the prince, "at the fair there was a Raja who had a most +beautiful daughter. They lived in a tent opposite mine, and I used to +see her every day. She is so beautiful! But I do not know her name, or +her father's name, or her country's name; so how can I ever find her?" +"I will take you to her," said his friend; "only get up and bathe, and +eat." "How can you take me to her?" said the prince. "You do not even +know where she is; so how can you take me to her?" "Did she never +speak to you?" said the kotwal's son. "Never," said the prince. "But +when she was going away, just before she got into her palanquin, she +took a rose in her hand; and first she put this rose to her teeth; +then she stuck it behind her ear; and then she laid it at her feet." +"Now I know all about her," said his friend. "When she put the rose to +her teeth, she meant to tell you her father's name was Raja Dant [Raja +Tooth]; when she put it behind her ear she meant you to know her +country's name was Karnatak [on the ear]; and when she laid the rose +at her feet, she meant that her name was Panwpatti [Foot-leaf]. Get +up; bathe and dress, eat and drink, and we will go and find her." + +The prince got up directly, and told his father and mother he was +going for a few days to eat the air of another country. At first they +forbad his going; but then they reflected that he had been very ill, +and that perhaps the air of another country might make him well; so at +last they consented. The prince and his friend had two horses saddled +and bridled, and set off together. + +At the end of a month they arrived in a country where they asked (as +they had asked in every other country through which they had ridden), +"What is the name of this country?" "Karnatak" [the Carnatic]. "What +is your Raja's name?" "Raja Dant." Then the two friends were glad. +They stopped at an old woman's house, and said to her, "Let us stay +with you for a few days. We are men from another country and do not +know where to go in this place." The old woman said, "You may stay +with me if you like. I live all alone, and there is plenty of room for +you." + +After two or three days the kotwal's son said to the old woman, "Has +your Raja a daughter?" "Yes," she answered; "he has a daughter; her +name is Panwpatti Rani." "Can you go to see her?" asked the kotwal's +son. "Yes," she said, "I can go to see her. I was her nurse, and she +drank my milk. It is the Raja who gives me my house, and my food, and +clothes--everything that I have." "Then go and see her," said the +kotwal's son, "and tell her that the prince whom she called to her at +the fair has come." + +The old woman went up to the palace, and saw the princess. After they +had talked together for some time, she said to the little Rani, "The +prince you called to you at the fair is come." "Good," she said; "tell +him to come to see me to-night at twelve o'clock. He is not to come in +through the door, but through the window." (This she said because she +did not want her father to know that the prince had come, until she +had made up her mind whether she would marry him.) + +The old woman went home and told the kotwal's son what the Princess +Panwpatti said. That night the prince went to see her, and every night +for three or four nights he went to talk with her for an hour. Then +she told her mother she wished to be married, and her mother told her +father. Her father asked whom she wished to marry, and she said, "The +Raja's son who lives in my nurse's house." Her father said she might +marry him if she liked; so the wedding was held. The kotwal's son went +to the wedding, and then returned to the old woman's house; but the +prince lived in the Raja's palace. + +Here he stayed for a month, and all that time he never saw his friend. +At last he began to fret for him, and was very unhappy. "What makes +you so sad?" said Panwpatti Rani. "I am sad because I have not seen +my friend for a whole month," answered her husband. "I must go and see +him." "Yes, go and see him," said his wife. The Raja's son went to the +old woman's house, and there he stayed a week, for he was so glad to +see the kotwal's son. Then he returned to his wife. Now she thought he +would only have been away a day, and was very angry at his having +stayed so long from her. "How could you leave me for a whole week?" +she said to him. "I had not seen my friend for a month," he answered. +Panwpatti Rani did not let her husband see how angry she was; but in +her heart she thought, "I am sure he loves his friend best." + +The prince remained with her for a month. Then he said, "I must go and +see my friend." This made her very angry indeed. However, she said, +"Good; go and see your friend, and I will make you some delicious +sweetmeats to take him from me." She set to work, and made the most +tempting sweetmeats she could; only in each she put a strong poison. +Then she wrapped them in a beautiful handkerchief, and her husband +took them to the kotwal's son. "My Rani has made you these herself," +he said to his friend, "and she sends you a great many salaams." The +Raja's son knew nothing of the poison. + +The kotwal's son put the sweetmeats on one side, and said, "Let us +talk, and I will eat them by and by." So they sat and talked for a +long time. Then the kotwal's son said, "Your Rani herself made these +sweetmeats for me?" "Yes," said the Raja's son. His friend was very +wise, and he thought, "Panwpatti Rani does not like me. Of that I am +sure." So he took some of the sweetmeats, and broke them into bits and +threw them to the crows. The crows came flying down, and all the crows +who ate the sweetmeats died instantly. Then the kotwal's son threw a +sweetmeat to a dog that was passing. The dog devoured it and fell +dead. This put the Raja's son into great rage. "I will never see my +Rani again!" he exclaimed. "What a wicked woman she is to try and +poison my friend--my friend whom I love so dearly; but for whom I +should never have married her!" He would not go back to his wife, and +stayed in the old woman's house. The kotwal's son often told him he +ought to return to his wife, but the prince would not do so. "No," he +said, "she is a wicked woman. You never did her any evil or hurt; yet +she has tried to poison you. I will never see her again." + +When a month had passed, the kotwal's son said to the prince, "You +really must go back to Panwpatti Rani; she is your wife, and you must +go to her, and take her away to your own country." Still the Raja's +son declared he would never see her again. "If you would like to see +something that will please you," said his friend, "go back to your +wife for one day; and to-night 'when she is asleep' you must take off +all her jewels, and tie them up in a handkerchief, and bring them to +me. But before you leave her you must wound her in the leg with this +trident." So saying, he gave him a small iron trident. + +The prince went back to the palace. His wife was very angry with him, +though she did not show her anger. At night 'when she was fast asleep' +he took off all her jewels and tied them in a handkerchief, and he +gave her a thrust in the leg with his trident. Then he went quickly +back to his friend. The princess awoke and found herself badly hurt +and alone; and she saw that her jewels were all gone. In the morning +she told her father and mother that her jewels had been stolen; but +she said nothing about the wound in her leg. The king called his +servants, and told them a thief had come in the night and stolen his +daughter's jewels, and he sent them to look for the thief and seize +him. + +That morning the kotwal's son got up and dressed himself like a yogi. +He made the prince put on common clothes such as every one wears, so +that he could not be recognized, and sent him to the bazar to sell his +wife's jewels. He told him, too, all he was to say. The pretended yogi +went to the river and sat down by it, and the Raja's son went through +the bazar and tried to sell the jewels. The Raja's servants seized him +immediately. "You thief!" they said to him, "what made you steal our +Raja's daughter's jewels?" "I know nothing about the jewels," said the +prince. "I am no thief; I did not steal them. The holy man, who is my +teacher, gave them to me to sell in the bazar for him. If you want to +know anything more about them, you must ask him." "Where is this holy +man?" said the servants. "He is sitting by the river," said the Raja's +son. "Let us go to him. I will show you where he is." + +They all went down to the river, and there sat the yogi. "What is all +this?" said the servants to him. "Are you a yogi, and yet a thief? Why +did you steal the little Rani's jewels?" "Are those the little Rani's +jewels?" said the yogi. "I did not steal them; I did not know to whom +they belonged. Listen, and I will tell you. Last night at twelve +o'clock I was sitting by this river when a woman came down to it--a +woman I did not know. She took a dead body out of the river, and began +to eat it. This made me so angry, that I took all her jewels from her, +and she ran away. I ran after her and wounded her in the leg with my +trident. I don't know if she were your Raja's daughter, or who she +was; but whoever she may be, she has the mark of the trident's teeth +in her leg." + +The servants took the jewels up to the palace, and told the Raja all +the yogi had said. The Raja asked his wife whether the Princess +Panwpatti had any hurt in her leg, and told her all the yogi's story. +The Rani went to see her daughter, and found her lying on her bed and +unable to get up from the pain she was in, and when she looked at her +leg she saw the wound. She returned to the Raja and said to him, "Our +daughter has the mark of the trident's teeth in her leg." + +The Raja got very angry, and called his servants and said to them, +"Bring a palanquin, and take my daughter at once to the jungle, and +there leave her. She is a wicked woman, who goes to the river at night +to eat dead people. I will not have her in my house any more. Cast her +out in the jungle." The servants did as they were bid, and left +Panwpatti Rani, crying and sobbing in the jungle, partly from the pain +in her leg, and partly because she did not know where to go, and had +no food or water. + +Meanwhile her husband and the kotwal's son heard of her being sent +into the jungle, so they returned to the old woman's house and put on +their own clothes. Then they went to the jungle to find her. She was +still crying, and her husband asked her why she cried. She told him, +and he said, "Why did you try to poison my friend? You were very +wicked to do so." "Yes," said the kotwal's son; "Why did you try to +kill me? I have never done you any wrong or hurt you. It was I who +told your husband what you meant by putting the rose to your teeth, +behind your ear, and at your feet. Without me he would never have +found you, never have married you." Then she knew at once who had +brought all this trouble to her, and she was very sorry she had tried +to kill her husband's friend. + +They all three now went home to her husband's country; and his father +and mother were very glad indeed that their son had married a Raja's +daughter, and the Raja gave the kotwal's son a very grand present. + +The young Raja and his wife lived with his father and mother, and were +always very happy together. + + Told by Muniya, February, 1879. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [6] The chief police officer in a town. + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXVIII. + +THE CLEVER WIFE. + + +In a country there was a merchant who traded in all kinds of +merchandise, and used to make journeys from country to country in his +boat to buy and sell his goods. He one day said to his wife, "I cannot +stay at home any more, for I must go on a year's journey to carry on +my business." And he added, laughing, "When I return I expect to find +you have built me a grand well; and also, as you are such a clever +wife, to see a little son." Then he got into his boat and went away. + +When he was gone his wife set to work, and she spun four hanks of +beautiful thread with her own hands. Then she dressed herself in her +prettiest clothes, and put on her finest jewels. "I am going to the +bazar," she said to her ayahs, "to sell this thread." "That is not +right," said one of the ayahs. "You must not sell your thread +yourself, but let me sell it for you. What will your husband say if he +hears you have been selling thread in the bazar?" "I will sell my +thread myself," answered the merchant's wife. "You could never sell it +for me." + +So off she set to the bazar, and every one in it said, "What a +beautiful woman that is!" At last the kotwal saw her, and came to her +at once. + +"What beautiful thread!" he said. "Is it for sale?" "Yes," she said. +"How much a hank?" said the kotwal. "Fifty rupees," she answered. +"Fifty rupees! Who will ever give you fifty rupees for it?" "I will +not sell it for less," said the woman. "I shall get fifty rupees for +it." "Well," said the kotwal, "I will give you the fifty rupees. Can I +dine with you at your house?" "Yes," she answered, "to-night at ten +o'clock." Then he took the thread and gave her fifty rupees. + +Then she went away to another bazar, and there the king's wazir saw +her trying to sell her thread. "What lovely thread! Is it for sale?" +he said. "Yes, at one hundred rupees the hank," she answered. "Well, I +will give you one hundred rupees. Can I dine with you at your house?" +said the wazir. "Yes," she answered, "to-night at eleven o'clock." +"Good," said the wazir; "here are the hundred rupees." And he took the +thread and went away. + +The merchant's wife now went to a third bazar, and there the king's +kazi saw her. "Is that beautiful thread for sale?" he asked. "Yes," +she answered, "for one hundred and fifty rupees." "I will give you the +hundred and fifty rupees. Can I dine with you at your house?" "Yes," +she said, "to-night at twelve o'clock." "I will come," said the kazi. +"Here are one hundred and fifty rupees." So she took the rupees and +gave him the thread. + +She set off with the fourth hank to the fourth bazar, and in this +bazar was the king's palace. The king saw her, and asked if the thread +was for sale. "Yes," she said, "for five hundred rupees." "Give me the +thread," said the king; "here are your five hundred rupees. Can I dine +with you at your house?" "Yes," she said, "to-night at two o'clock." + +Then she went home and sent one of her servants to the bazar to buy +her four large chests; and she told her other servants that they were +to get ready four very good dinners for her. Each dinner was to be +served in a different room; and one was to be ready at ten o'clock +that night, one at eleven, one at twelve, and one at two in the +morning. The servant brought her four large chests, and she had them +placed in four different rooms. + +At ten o'clock the kotwal arrived. The merchant's wife greeted him +graciously, and they sat down and dined. After dinner she said to him, +"Can you play at cards?" "Yes," he answered. She brought some cards, +and they sat and played till the clock struck eleven, when the +doorkeeper came in to say, "The wazir is here, and wishes to see you." +The kotwal was in a dreadful fright. "Do hide me somewhere," he said +to her. "I have no place where you can hide in this room," she +answered; "but in another room I have a big chest. I will shut you up +in that if you like, and when the wazir is gone, I will let you out of +it." So she took him into the next room, and he got into one of the +four big chests, and she shut down the lid and locked it. + +Then she bade the doorkeeper bring in the wazir, and they dined +together. After dinner she said, "Can you play at cards?" "Yes," said +the wazir. She took out the cards, and they played till twelve +o'clock, when the doorkeeper came to say the kazi had come to see her. +"Oh, hide me! hide me!" cried the wazir in a great fright. "If you +come to another room," she said, "I will hide you in a big chest I +have. I can let you out when he is gone." So she locked the wazir up +in the second chest. + +She and the kazi now dined. Then she said, "Can you play at cards?" +"Yes," said the kazi. So they sat playing at cards till two o'clock, +when the doorkeeper said the king had come to see her. "Oh, what shall +I do?" said the kazi, terribly frightened. "Do hide me. Do not let me +be seen by the king." "You can hide in a big chest I have in another +room, if you like," she answered, "till he is gone." And she locked up +the kazi in her third chest. + +The king now came in, and they dined. "Will you play a little game at +cards?" she asked. "Yes," said the king. So they played till three +o'clock, when the doorkeeper came running in (just as she had told him +to do) to say, "My master's boat has arrived, and he is coming up to +the house. He will be here directly." "Now what shall I do?" said the +king, who was as frightened as the others had been. "Here is your +husband. He must not see me. You must hide me somewhere." "I have no +place to hide you in," she said, "but a big chest. You can get into +that if you like, and I will let you out to-morrow morning." So she +shut the lid of the fourth chest down on the king and locked him up. +Then she went to bed, and to sleep, and slept till morning. + +The next day, after she had bathed and dressed, and eaten her +breakfast, and done all her household work, she said to her servants, +"I want four coolies." So the servants went for the coolies; and when +they came she showed them the four chests, and said, "Each of you must +take one of these chests on your head and come with me." Then they set +out with her, each carrying a chest. + +Meanwhile the kotwal's son, the wazir's son, the kazi's son, and the +king's son, had been roaming about looking everywhere for their +fathers, and asking every one if they had seen them, but no one knew +anything about them. + +The merchant's wife went first to the kotwal's house, and there she +saw the kotwal's son. She had the kotwal's chest set down on the +ground before his door. "Will you buy this chest?" she said to his +son. "What is in it?" he asked. "A most precious thing," she answered. +"How much do you want for it?" said his son. "One thousand rupees," +she said; "and when you open the chest, you will see the contents are +worth two thousand. But you must not open it till you are in your +father's house." "Well," said the kotwal's son, "here are a thousand +rupees." The woman and the other three chests went on their way, while +he took his into the house. "What a heavy chest!" he said. "What can +be inside?" Then he lifted the lid. "Why, there's my father!" he +cried. "Father, how came you to be in this chest?" The kotwal was very +much ashamed of himself. "I never thought she was the woman to play me +such a trick," he said; and then he had to tell his son the whole +story. + +The merchant's wife next stopped at the wazir's house, and there she +saw the wazir's son. The wazir's chest was put down before his door, +and she said to his son, "Will you buy this chest?" "What is inside of +it?" he asked. "A most precious thing," she answered. "Will you buy +it?" "How much do you want for it?" asked the son. "Only two thousand +rupees, and it is worth three thousand." So the wazir's son bought his +father, without knowing it, for two thousand rupees. "You must not +open the chest till you are in the house," said the merchant's wife. +The wazir's son opened the chest in the house at once, wondering what +could be in it; and the wazir's wife stood by all the time. When they +saw the wazir himself, looking very much ashamed, they were greatly +astonished. "How came you there?" they cried. "Where have you been?" +said his wife. "Oh," said the wazir, "I never thought she was a woman +to treat me like this;" and he, too, had to tell all his story. + +Now the merchant's wife stopped at the kazi's door, and there stood +the kazi's son. "Will you buy this chest?" she said to him, and had +the kazi's chest put on the ground. "What is in it?" said the kazi's +son. "Silver and gold," she answered. "You shall have it for three +thousand rupees. The contents are worth four." "Well, I will take it," +said the son. "Don't open it till you are in your house," she said, +and took her three thousand rupees and went away. Great was the +excitement when the kazi stepped out of the chest. "Oh!" he groaned, +"I never thought she could behave like this to me." + +The merchant's wife now went to the palace, and set the king's chest +down at the palace gates. There she saw the king's son. "Will you buy +this chest?" she said. "What is in it?" asked the prince. "Diamonds, +pearls, and all kinds of precious stones," said the merchant's wife. +"You shall have the chest for five thousand rupees, but its contents +are worth a great deal more." "Well," said the king's son, "here are +your five thousand rupees; give me the chest." "Don't open it out +here," she said. "Take it into the palace and open it there." And away +she went home. + +The king's son opened the chest, and there was his father. "What's all +this?" cried the prince. "How came _you_ to be in the chest?" The king +was very much ashamed, and did not tell much about his adventure; but +when he was sitting in his court-house, he had the merchant's wife +brought to him, and gave her a quantity of rupees, saying, "You are a +wise and clever woman." + +Now the kotwal knew the wazir had gone to see the merchant's wife; and +the wazir knew the kazi had gone; and the kazi, that the king had +gone; but this was all that any of them knew. + +The merchant's wife had now plenty of rupees, so she had a most +beautiful well built and roofed over. Then she locked the door of the +well, and told the servants no one was to drink any of its water, or +bathe in it, till her husband came home: he was to be the first to +drink its water, and bathe in the well. + +Then she sent her ayah to the bazar to buy her clothes and ornaments +such as cowherd's wives and daughter's wear; and when the ayah had +brought her these, she packed them up in a box. Then she dressed +herself in men's clothes, so that no one could tell she was a woman, +and ordered a horse to be got ready for her. "I am going to eat the +air of another country for a little while," she said. "You must all +take great care of the house while I am away." The servants did not +like her going away at all; they were afraid her husband might return +during her absence, and that he would be angry with them for having +let her go. "Don't be afraid," she said. "There is nothing to be +frightened about. I shall come back all right." + +So she set out, taking the key of the well, the box with the clothes +her ayah had bought for her in the bazar, and plenty of rupees. She +also took two of her servants. She travelled a long, long way, asking +everywhere for her husband's boat. At last at the end of a month she +came to where it was. Here she hired a little house, and dressed +herself like a cowherd's daughter. Then she got some very good milk, +and went down to the banks of the river to sell it. Everybody said, +"Do look what a beautiful woman that is selling milk!" She sold her +milk very quickly, it was so good. This she did for several days, till +her husband, the merchant, saw her. He thought her so beautiful, that +he asked her to bring him some milk to his boat. So every day for a +little while she sold him milk. One day he said to her, "Will you +marry me?" "How can I marry you?" she said. "You are a merchant, and I +am a cowherd's daughter. Soon you will be leaving this country, and +will travel to another in your boat; you will want me to go with you. +Then I shall have to leave my father and mother, and who will take +care of them?" "Let us be married," said the merchant. "I am going to +stay here for three months. When I go, you shall return to your father +and mother, and later I will come back to you." To this she agreed, +and they were married, and she went to live in the boat. At the end +of three months, the merchant said to her, "My business here is done, +and I must go to another country. Would you like to go home to your +father and mother while I am away?" "Yes," she said. "Here are some +rupees for you to live on in my absence," he said. "I do not want any +rupees," said his wife. "I only want you to give me two things: your +old cap, and your picture." These he gave her, and then he went to his +boat, and she went back to her own home. + +Some time afterwards she had a little son. The servants were greatly +frightened, for they thought their master would not be pleased when he +came home; and he was not pleased when he did come two months later. +He was so cross that he would not look at the baby-boy, and he would +hardly look at his beautiful well. + +One night he lay awake thinking, and he thought he would kill his wife +and her little son. But the next day she came to him: "Tell me the +truth," she said; "you are angry with me? Don't be angry, for I want +to show you a picture I like very much--the picture of my boy's +father." Then she showed him his own picture, and the old cap he had +given her on board his boat; and she told him how she had been the +cowherd's daughter; and also how she had gained the money to build his +well. "You see," she said, "I have done all you bade me. Here is your +well, and here is your son." Then the merchant was very happy. He +kissed and loved his little son, and thought his well was beautiful; +and he said to his wife, "What a clever woman you are!" + + Told by Muniya, Calcutta, March 3rd, 1879. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXIX. + +RAJA HARICHAND'S PUNISHMENT. + + +There was once a great Raja, Raja Harichand, who every morning before +he bathed and breakfasted used to give away one hundred pounds weight +of gold to the fakirs, his poor ryots, and other poor people. This he +did in the name of God, "For," he said, "God loves me and gives me +everything that I have; so daily I will give him this gold." + +Now God heard what a good man Raja Harichand was, and how much the +Raja loved him, and he thought he would go and see for himself if all +that was said of the Raja were true. He therefore went as a fakir to +Raja Harichand's palace and stood at his gate. The Raja had already +given away his hundred pounds' weight of gold, and gone into his +palace and bathed and breakfasted; so when his servants came to tell +him that another fakir stood at his gate, the Raja said, "Bid him come +to-morrow, for I have bathed, and have eaten my breakfast, and +therefore cannot attend to him now." The servants returned to the +fakir, and told him, "The Raja says you must come to-morrow, for he +cannot see you now, as he has bathed and breakfasted." God went away, +and the next day he again came, after all the fakirs and poor people +had received their gold and the Raja had gone into his palace. So the +Raja told his servants, "Bid the fakir come to-morrow. He has again +come too late for me to see him now." + +On the third day God was once more too late, for the Raja had gone +into his palace. The Raja was vexed with him for being a third time +too late, and said to his servants, "What sort of a fakir is this that +he always comes too late? Go and ask him what he wants." So the +servants went to the fakir and said, "Raja Harichand says, 'What do +you want from him?'" "I want no rupees," answered God, "nor anything +else; but I want him to give me his wife." The servants told this to +the Raja, and it made him very angry. He went to his wife, the Rani +Bahan, and said to her, "There is a fakir at the gate who asks me to +give you to him! As if I should ever do such a thing! Fancy my giving +him my wife!" + +The Rani was very wise and clever, for she had a book, which she read +continually, called the kop shastra; and this book told her +everything. So she knew that the fakir at the gate was no fakir, but +God himself. (In old days about two people in a thousand, though not +more, could read this book; now-a-days hardly any one can read it, for +it is far too difficult.) So the Rani said to the Raja, "Go to this +fakir, and say to him, 'You shall have my wife.' You need not really +give me to him; only give me to him in your thoughts." "I will do no +such thing," said the Raja in a rage; and in spite of all her +entreaties, he would not say to the fakir, "I will give you my wife." +He ordered his servants to beat the fakir, and send him away; and so +they did. + +God returned to his place, and called to him two angels. "Take the +form of men," he said to them, "and go to Raja Harichand. Say to him, +'God has sent us to you. He says, Which will you have--a twelve years' +famine throughout your land during which no rain will fall? or a great +rain for twelve hours?'" + +The angels came to the Raja and said as God had bidden them. The Raja +thought for a long while which he should choose. "If a great rain +pours down for twelve hours," he said to himself, "my whole country +will be washed away. But I have a great quantity of gold. I have +enough to send to other countries and buy food for myself and my ryots +during the twelve years' famine." So he said to the angels, "I will +choose the famine." Then the angels came into his palace; and the +moment they entered it, all the Raja's servants that were in the +palace, and all his cows, horses, elephants, and other animals became +stone. So did every single thing in the palace, excepting his gold and +silver, and these turned to charcoal. The Raja and Rani did not become +stone. + +The angels said to them, "For three weeks you will not be able to eat +anything; you will not be able to eat any food you may find or may +have given you. But you will not die, you will live." Then the angels +went away. + +The Raja was very sad when he looked round his palace and saw +everything in it, and all the people in it, stone, and saw all his +gold and silver turned to charcoal. He said to his wife, "I cannot +stay here. I must go to some other country. I was a great Raja; how +can I ask my ryots to give me food? We will dress ourselves like +fakirs, and go to another country." + +They put on fakirs' clothes and went out of their palace. They +wandered in the jungle till they saw a plum-tree covered with fruit. +"Do gather some of those plums for me," said the Rani, who was very +hungry. The Raja went to the tree and put out his hand to gather the +plums; but when he did this, they at once all left the tree and went a +little way up into the air. When he drew back his hand, the plums +returned to the tree. The Raja tried three times to gather the plums, +but never could do so. + +He and the Rani then went on till they came to a plain in another +country, where was a large tank in which men were fishing. The Rani +said to her husband, "Go and ask those men to give us a little of +their fish, for I am very hungry." The Raja went to the men and said, +"I am a fakir, and have no pice. Will you give me some of your fish, +for I have not eaten for four days and am hungry?" The men gave him +some fish, and he and his wife carried it to a tank on another plain. +The Rani cleaned and prepared the fish for cooking, and said to her +husband, "I have nothing in which to cook this fish. Go up to the town +(there was a town close by) and ask some one to give you an earthen +pot with a lid, and some salt." + +The Raja went up to the town, and some one in the bazar gave him the +earthen pot, and a grain merchant put a little salt into it. Then he +returned to the Rani, and they made a fire under a tree, put the fish +into the pot, and set the pot on the fire. "I have not bathed for some +days," said the Raja. "I will go and bathe while you cook the fish, +and when I come back we will eat it." So he went to bathe, and the +Rani sat watching the fish. Presently she thought, "If I leave the lid +on the pot, the fish will dry up and burn." Then she took off the lid, +and the fish instantly jumped out of the pot into the tank and swam +away. This made the Rani sad; but she sat there quiet and silent. When +the Raja had bathed, he returned to his wife, and said, "Now we will +eat our fish." The Rani answered, "I had not eaten for four days, and +was very hungry, so I ate all the fish." "Never mind," said the Raja, +"it does not matter." + +They wandered on, and the next day came to another jungle where they +saw two pigeons. The Raja took some grass and sticks, and made a bow +and arrow. He shot the pigeons with these, and the Rani plucked and +cleaned them. Her husband and she made a little fire, put the pigeons +in their pot, and set them on it. There was a tank near. "Now I will +go and bathe," said the Rani; "I have not bathed for some days. When I +come back, we will eat the pigeons." So she went to bathe, and the +Raja sat down to watch the pigeons. Presently he thought, "If I leave +the pot shut, the birds will dry up and burn." So he took off the lid, +and instantly away flew the pigeons out of the pot. He guessed at once +what the fish had done yesterday, and sat still and silent till the +Rani came back. "I have eaten the pigeons in the same way that you ate +the fish yesterday," he said to her. The Rani understood what had +happened, and saw the Raja knew how the fish had escaped. + +So they wandered on; and as they went the Rani remembered an oil +merchant, called Ganga Teli, a friend of theirs, and a great man, just +like a Raja. "Let us go to Ganga Teli, if we can walk as far as his +house," she said. "He will be good to us." He lived a long way off. +When they got to him, Ganga Teli knew them at once. "What has +happened?" he said. "You were a great Raja; why are you and the Rani +so poor and dressed like fakirs?" "It is God's will," they answered. +Ganga Teli did not think it worth while to notice them much now they +were poor; so, though he did not send them away, he gave them a +wretched room to live in, a wretched bed to lie on, and such bad food +to eat that, hungry as they were, they could not touch it. "When we +were rich," they said to each other, "and came to stay with Ganga +Teli, he received us like friends; he gave us beautiful rooms to live +in, beautiful beds to lie on, and delicious food to eat. We cannot +stay here." + +So they went away very sorrowful, and wandered for a whole week, and +all the time they had no food, till they came to another country whose +Raja, Raja Bhoj, was one of their friends. Raja Bhoj received them +very kindly. "What has brought you to this state? How is it you are so +poor?" he said. "What has happened to you?" "It is God's will," they +answered. Raja Bhoj gave them a beautiful room to live in, and told +his servants to cook for them the very nicest dinner they could. This +the servants did, and they brought the dinner into Raja Harichand's +room, and set it before him and left him. Then he and the Rani put +some of the food on their plates; but before they could eat anything, +the food both in the dishes and on their plates became full of +maggots. So they could not eat it. They felt greatly humbled. However, +they said nothing, but worshipped God; and they buried all the food in +a hole they dug in the floor of their room. + +Now the daughter of Raja Bhoj had left her gold necklace hanging on +the wall of the room in which were Raja Harichand and the Rani Bahan. +At night when Raja Harichand was asleep, the Rani saw a crack come in +the wall and the necklace go of itself into the crack; then the wall +joined together as before. She at once woke her husband, and told him +what she had seen. "We had better go away quickly," she said. "The +necklace will not be found to-morrow, and Raja Bhoj will think we are +thieves. It will be useless breaking the wall open to find it." The +Raja got up at once, and they set out again. Raja Bhoj, when the +necklace was not found, thought Raja Harichand and the Rani Bahan had +stolen it. + +They wandered on till they came to a country belonging to another +friend, called Raja Nal, but they were ashamed to go to his palace. +The three weeks were now nearly over, only two more days were left. So +the Rani said, "In two days we shall be able to eat. Go into the +jungle and cut grass, and sell it in the bazar. We shall thus get a +few pice and be able to buy a little food." The Raja went out to the +jungle, but he had to break and pull up the grass with his hands. He +worked half the day, and then sold the grass in the bazar for a few +pice. They were able to buy food, and worshipped God and cooked it; +and as the three weeks were now over they were allowed to eat it. + +They stayed in Raja Nal's country, and lived in a little house they +hired in the bazar. Raja Harichand went out every day to the jungle +for grass, which he pulled up or broke off with his hands, and then +sold in the bazar for a few pice. The Rani saved a pice or two +whenever she could, and at the end of two years they were rich enough +to buy a hook such as grass-cutters use. The Raja could now cut more +grass, and soon the Rani was able to buy some pretty-coloured silks in +the bazar. + +Her husband went daily to cut grass, and she sat at home making +head-collars with the silks for horses. Four years after they had +bought the hook, she had four of these head-collars ready, and she +took them up to Raja Nal's palace to sell. It was the first time she +had gone there, for she and her husband were ashamed to see Raja Nal. +Their fakirs' dresses had become rags, and they had only been able to +get wretched common clothes in their place, for they were miserably +poor. + +"What beautiful head-collars these are!" said Raja Nal's coachmen and +grooms; and they took them to show to their Raja. As soon as he saw +them he said, "Where did you get these head-collars? Who is it that +wishes to sell them?" for he knew that only one woman could make such +head-collars, and that woman was the Rani Bahan. "A very poor woman +brought them here just now," they answered. "Bring her to me," said +Raja Nal. So the servants brought him Rani Bahan, and when she saw the +Raja she burst into tears. "What has brought you to this state? Why +are you so poor?" said Raja Nal. "It is God's will," she answered. +"Where is your husband?" he asked. "He is cutting grass in the +jungle," she said. Raja Nal called his servants and said, "Go into the +jungle, and there you will see a man cutting grass. Bring him to me." +When Raja Harichand saw Raja Nal's servants coming to him, he was very +much frightened; but the servants took him and brought him to the +palace. As soon as Raja Nal saw his old friend, he seized his hands, +and burst out crying. "Raja," he said, "what has brought you to this +state?" "It is God's will," said Raja Harichand. + +Raja Nal was very good to them. He gave them a palace to live in, and +servants to wait on them; beautiful clothes to wear, and good food to +eat. He went with them to the palace to see that everything was as it +should be for them. "To-day," he said to the Rani, "I shall dine with +your husband, and you must give me a dinner cooked just as you used to +cook one for me when I went to see you in your own country." "Good, I +will give it you," said the Rani; but she was quite frightened, for +she thought, "The Raja is so kind, and everything is so comfortable +for us, that I am sure something dreadful will happen." However, she +prepared the dinner, and told the servants how to cook it and serve +it; but first she worshipped God, and entreated him to have mercy on +her and her husband. The dinner was very good, and nothing evil +happened to any one. They lived in the palace Raja Nal gave them for +four and a half years. + +Meanwhile the farmers in Raja Harichand's country had all these years +gone on ploughing and turning up the land, although not a drop of rain +had fallen all that time, and the earth was hard and dry. Now just +when the Raja and Rani had lived in Raja Nal's palace for four and a +half years Mahadeo was walking through Raja Harichand's country. He +saw the farmers digging up the ground, and said, "What is the good of +your digging and turning up the ground? Not a drop of rain is going to +fall." "No," said the farmers, "but if we did not go on ploughing and +digging, we should forget how to do our work." They did not know they +were talking to Mahadeo, for he looked like a man. "That is true," +said Mahadeo, and he thought, "The farmers speak the truth; and if I +go on neglecting to blow on my horn, I shall forget how to blow on it +at all." So he took his deer's horn, which was just like those some +yogis use, and blew on it. Now when Raja Harichand had chosen the +twelve years' famine, God had said, "Rain shall not fall on Raja +Harichand's country till Mahadeo blows his horn in it." Mahadeo had +quite forgotten this decree; so he blew on his horn, although only ten +and a half years' famine had gone by. The moment he blew, down came +the rain, and the whole country at once became as it had been before +the famine began; and moreover, the moment it rained, everything in +Raja Harichand's palace became what it was before the angels entered +it. All the men and women came to life again; so did all the animals; +and the gold and silver were no longer charcoal, but once more gold +and silver. God was not angry with Mahadeo for forgetting that he said +the famine should last for twelve years, and that the rain should fall +when Mahadeo blew on his horn in Raja Harichand's country. "If it +pleased Mahadeo to blow on his horn," said God, "it does not matter +that eighteen months of famine were still to last." As soon as they +heard the rain had fallen, all the ryots who had gone to other +countries on account of the famine returned to Raja Harichand's +country. + +Among the Raja's servants was the kotwal, and very anxious he was, +when he came to life again, to find the Raja and Rani; only he did not +know how to do so, and wondered where he had best seek for them. + +Meanwhile the Rani Bahan had a dream that God sent her, in which an +angel said to her, "It is good that you and your husband should return +to your country." She told this dream to her husband; and Raja Nal +gave them horses, elephants, and camels, that they might travel like +Rajas to their home, and he went with them. They found everything in +order in their own palace and all through their country, and after +this lived very happily in it. But the Rani said to Raja Harichand, +"If you had only done what I told you, and said you would give me to +the fakir, all this misery would not have come on us." + +Later they went to stay again with Raja Bhoj, and slept in the same +room as they had had when they came to him poor and wretched. In the +night they saw the wall open, and the necklace came out of the crack +and hung itself up as before, and the wall closed again. The next day +they showed the necklace to Raja Bhoj, saying, "It was on account of +this necklace that we ran away from you the last time we were here," +and they told him all that had happened to it. + +As for Ganga Teli, they never went near him again. + + Told by Muniya, March 4th, 1879. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +XXX. + +THE KING'S SON AND THE WAZIR'S DAUGHTER. + + +In a country there was a great king who had a wazir. One day he +thought he should like to play at cards with this wazir, and he told +him to go and get some for him, and then play a game with him. So the +wazir brought the cards, and he and the king sat down to play. Now +neither the king nor the wazir had any children; and as they were +playing, the king said, "Wazir, if I have a son and you have a +daughter, or if I have a daughter and you have a son, let us marry our +children to each other." To this the wazir agreed. A year after the +king had a son; and when the boy was two years old, the wazir had a +daughter. Some years passed, and the king's son was twelve years old, +and the wazir's daughter ten. Then the king said to the wazir, "Do you +remember how one day, when we were playing at cards, we agreed to +marry our children to each other?" "I remember," said the wazir. "Let +us marry them now," said the king. So they held the wedding feast; but +the wazir's little daughter remained in her father's house because she +was still so young. + +As the king's son grew older he became very wicked, and took to +gambling and drinking till his father and mother died of grief. After +their death he went on in the same way, gambling and drinking, until +he had no money left, and had to leave the palace, and live anywhere +he could in the town, wandering from house to house in a fakir's +dress, begging his bread, and sleeping wherever he found a spot on +which to lie down. + +Meanwhile the wazir's daughter was living alone, for her husband had +never come to fetch her as he should have done when she was old +enough. Her father and mother were dead too. She had given half of the +money they left her to the poor, and she lived on the other half. She +spent her days in praying to God, and in reading in a holy book; and +though she was so young, she was very wise and good. + +One day, as the prince was roaming about in his fakir's rags, not +knowing where to find food or shelter, he remembered his wife, and +thought he would go and see her. She ordered her servants to give him +good food, a bath, and good clothes; "for," she said, "we were married +when we were children, though he never fetched me to his palace." The +servants did as she bade them. The prince bathed and dressed, and ate +food, and he wished to stay with his wife. But she said, "No; before +you stay with me you must see four sights. Go out in the jungle and +walk for a whole week. Then you will come to a plain where you will +see them." So the next day he set out for the plain, and reached it in +one week. + +There he saw a large tank. At one corner of the tank he saw a man and +a woman who had good clothes, good food, good beds, and servants to +wait on them, and seemed very happy. At the second corner he saw a +wretchedly poor man and his wife, who did nothing but cry and sob +because they had no food to eat, no water to drink, no bed to lie on, +no one to take care of them. At the third corner he saw two little +fishes that were always going up and down in the air. They would shoot +down close to the water, but they could not go into it or stay in it; +then they would make a salaam to God, and would shoot up again into +the air, but before they got very high, they had to drop down again. +At the fourth corner he saw a huge demon who was heating sand in an +enormous iron pot, under which he kept up a big fire. + +The prince returned to his wife, and told her all he had seen. "Do you +know who the happy man and woman are?" she said. "No," he answered. +"They are my father and mother," she said. "When they were alive, I +was good to them, and since their death I gave half their money to the +poor; and on the other half I have lived quietly, and tried to be +good. So God is pleased with them, and makes them happy." "Is that +true?" said her husband. "Quite true," she said. "And the miserable +man and woman who did nothing but cry, do you know who they are?" +"No," said the prince. "They are your father and mother. When they +were alive, you gambled and drank; and they died of grief. Then you +went on gambling and drinking till you had spent all their money. So +now God is angry with them, and will not make them happy." "Is that +true?" said the prince. "Quite true," she said. "And the fishes you +saw were the two little children we should have had if you had taken +me to your home as your wife. Now they cannot be born, for they can +find no bodies in which to be born; so God has ordered them to rise +and sink in the air in these fishes' forms." "Is that true?" asked the +prince. "Quite true," she answered. "And by God's order the demon you +saw is heating that sand in the big iron pot for you, because you are +such a wicked man." + +The moment she had told all this to her husband, she died. But he did +not get any better. He gambled and drank all her money away, and lived +a wretched life, wandering about like a fakir till his death. + + Told by Muniya, March 8th, 1879. + + + + +[Decoration] + +NOTES. + + +INTRODUCTORY. + +In these stories the word translated God, is _Khuda_. Excepting in +"How king Burtal became a Fakir" (p. 85), and in "Raja Harichand's +Punishment" (p. 224), in which Mahadeo plays a part, the tellers of +these tales would never specify by name the god they spoke of. He was +always _Khuda_, "the great _Khuda_ who lives up there in the sky." In +this they differed from the narrator of the _Old Deccan Days_ stories, +who almost always gives her gods and goddesses their Hindu +names--probably because, from being a Christian, she had no religious +scruples to deter her from so doing. + +When the heroes of these stories are called Rajas, the word Raja has +been kept: when they are called Badshahs, we have called them kings. +The Ayahs say, "A Badshah is a much greater man than a Raja." When +_badshah_ (the Persian _padishah_) in its corrupted form of _basa_ is +tacked on to a proper name, such as _Anar_ (_Anarbasa_), _Hiralal_ +(_Hiralalbasa_), the _basa_ has been preserved, because, Dunkni says, +in these cases _basa_ is no longer a title, but part of the proper +name. + +Old Muniya tells her stories with the solemn, authoritative air of a +professor. She sits quite still on the floor, and uses no gestures. +Dunkni gets thoroughly excited over her tales, marches up and down the +room, acting her stories, as it were. For instance, in describing the +thickness of Mahadeo's hair in King Burtal's story, she put her two +thumbs to her ears, and spread out all her fingers from her head +saying, "His hair stood out like this," and in "Loving Laili," after +moving her hand as if she were pulling the magic knife from her pocket +and unfolding it, she swung her arm out at full length with great +energy, and then she said, "Laili made one 'touch'" (here she brought +back the edge of her hand to her own throat), "and the head fell off." +Dunkni sometimes used an English word, such as the "touch" in the +present case. + +All these stories were read back in Hindustani by my little girl to +the tellers at the time of telling, and nearly all a second time by me +this winter before printing. I never saw people more anxious to have +their tales retold exactly than are Dunkni and Muniya. Not till each +tale was pronounced by them to be _thik_ (exact) was it sent to the +press. + +It is strange in these Indian tales to meet golden-haired, +fair-complexioned heroes and heroines. Mr. Thornton tells me that in +the Panjab when one native speaks of another with contempt, he says, +"he is a black man," _ek kala admi hai_. Sir Neville Chamberlain tells +me that if you wish to praise a native for his valour and brave +conduct, you say to him, "Your countenance is red," or "your cheeks +are red," and that nothing is worse than to tell him his "face is +black." And this is what Mr. Boxwell says about the expression "kala +admi" and our fairy tales:-- + + "The stories are of the Aryan conquerors from beyond the + Indus; distinguished by their fair skin from the dark + aborigines of India. In Vedic times Var[n.]a, 'colour,' + is used for stock or blood, as the Latins used Nomen. It + is in India 'Yas Dasam var[n.]am adharam guhakar.' 'Who + sank in darkness the Barbarian colour.' R. V. II. 4. + + "Indra, again, 'Hatve Dasyun pra Aryam var[n.]am avat.' + 'Having slain the Barbarians, helped the Aryan colour.' + R. V. III. 34. + + "Again, in K. V. I. 104. They pray-- + + "'Te nas avaksa suvitaya var[n.]am.' 'May they bring our + colour to success.' + + "In later times 'var[n.]a' is the regular word for + caste; and the Brahmins and the rest of the twice-born + who still represent the Aryan var[n.]a are much fairer + than the Cudras and Hill people. + + "In the Ikhwan ussafa the black skin is one of the + results of the Fall to Adam and Hawa. + + "'Aftab ki garmi se rang mutaghaiyar aur siah ho gaya.' + 'From the heat of the sun their colour became changed + and black.'" + +But I think the fact that the conquering races that invaded India from +the north were fair and ruddier than the aborigines, and that their +descendants, the high-caste natives, are to this day fairer than the +aborigines, though it explains the phrases, "he is only a black man," +and "your cheeks are red," does not account for the golden hair and +fair skin of so many of our princes and princesses. I believe that +they all owe their characteristics to the fact that such are the +characteristics of the solar hero, although they cannot all lay claim +to a solar origin for themselves. For this golden hair and white skin, +at first the property of the shining sun-hero alone, would naturally +in the course of time be given to other Indian folk-lore heroes on +whose beauty and brightness it was necessary to lay a stress. Prince +Majnun, for instance, certainly has nothing solar about him, yet his +hair is described as red. Dunkni, in answer to a half incredulous, +half inquiring exclamation of mine when I heard this, asserted, "Red! +yes, it was red: red like gold." + +The black-haired Maoris give their sea-nymphs yellow hair (_Old New +Zealand_, p. 19); and Sir George Grey in his _Polynesian Mythology_, +p. 295, writes thus of the Maori fairies: "Their appearance is that of +human beings, nearly resembling an European's; their hair being very +fair, and so is their skin. They are very different from the Maoris, +and do not resemble them at all." But as the Maoris do not seem to +have any myths of golden-haired solar heroes, these peculiarities of +hair and complexion cannot be referred to the same cause as those of +my little daughter's Indian princes and princesses. + + +I.--PHULMATI RANI. + +1. Phulmati is a garden rose, not a wild rose. It must be a local name +for the flower. I can find it in no dictionary. Dunkni says her +heroine was named after a pink rose. + +2. She has hair of pure gold. Compare in this book: Princess Jahuran, +p. 43, the Monkey Prince, p. 50, Sonahri Rani, p. 54, Jahur Rani, p. +93, Prince Dima-ahmad and Princess Atasa, Notes, p. 253. Also, Hira +Bai, the cobra's daughter in _Old Deccan Days_, p. 35. So many +princely heroes and heroines in European fairy tales are noteworthy +for their dazzling golden hair that I will only mention one of them, +Princess Golden-Hair, one of whose hairs rings if it falls to the +ground--see Naake's _Slavonic Fairy Tales_, p. 100. And devils being +fallen heroes or angels, the following references may be made to them. +In Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, p. 171, in "Die beiden +Fleischhauer in der Hoelle," the devil's grandmother gives the good +brother a hair that had fallen from the devil's head while he slept. +The man carries it home and the hair suddenly becomes as big as a +"Heubaum" and is "of pure gold." Also in one of Grimm's stories the +hero is sent to fetch three golden hairs from the devil's head--see +_Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, vol. I. p. 175, "Der Teufel mit den drei +goldenen Haaren." + +3. Her beauty lights up a dark room. In this shining quality she +resembles many Asiatic and European fairy-tale heroes and heroines. +See in this book Hirali, whose face shone like a diamond, p. 69; and +the Princess Labam, who shone like the moon, and her beauty made night +day, p. 158. In _Old Deccan Days_, p. 156, the prince's dead body on +the hedge of spears dazzles those who look at it till they can hardly +see. Panch Phul Rani, p. 140, shines in the dark jungle like a star. +So does the princess in Chundun Raja's dark tomb, p. 229. In a +Dinajpur story published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ +for February 1875, vol. IV. p. 54, the dream-nymph, Tillottama, +whenever she appears, lights up the whole place with her beauty. "At +every breath she drew when she slept, a flame like a flower issued +from her nostril, and when she drew in her breath the flower of flame +was again withdrawn." Her beauty lit up her house "as if by +lightning." See Appendix _A_. In Naake's _Slavonic Fairy Tales_, p. +96, is the Bohemian tale quoted above of Princess Golden-Hair. "Every +morning at break of day she [the princess] combs her golden locks; its +brightness is reflected in the sea, and up among the clouds," p. 102. +When she let it down "it was bright as the rising sun," and almost +blinded Irik with its radiance, p. 107. The golden children (Schott's +_Wallachische Maerchen_, p. 125) shine in the darkened room "like the +morning sun in May." Gubernatis in the 2nd vol. of his _Zoological +Mythology_, mentions at p. 31 a golden boy who figures in one of +Afanassieff's stories; when this child's body is uncovered on his +restoration to his father, "all the room shines with light." And at p. +57 of the same volume he quotes another of Afanassieff's stories, in +which the persecuted princess has three sons "who light up whatever is +near them with their splendour." Of Gerd in Joetunheim, the beautiful +giant maiden with the bright shining arms, Thorpe says (_Northern +Mythology_, vol. I. p. 47), when she raised "her arms to open the +door, both air and water gave such a reflection that the whole world +was illumined." The boar Trwyth (who was once a king, but because of +his sons was turned into a boar) after his fall preserves some of his +old kingly splendour; for "his bristles were like silver wire, and +whether he went through the wood or through the plain he was to be +traced by the glittering of his bristles" (_Mabinogion_, vol. II. p. +310). In the same work (vol. III. p. 279), in "The Dream of Maxen +Wledig," is a maiden, of whom it is told: "Not more easy than to gaze +upon the sun when brightest was it to look upon her by reason of her +beauty." And in "Goldhaar" (Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, +p. 61) when the hero's cap fell off he stood there "in all splendour +and his golden locks fell round his head, and he shone like the sun." + +In a Santhali tale published by the Rev. F. T. Cole in the _Indian +Antiquary_ for January 1875, p. 10, called "Toria the Goatherd and the +Daughter of the Sun," a beggar's eyes are as dazzled by the Sun's +daughter's beauty "as if he had stared at the sun." + +4. Phulmati Rani has on her head the sun, on her hands moons, and her +face is covered with stars. Compare in these stories "The Indrasan +Raja," p. 1, "The boy who had a moon on his forehead and a star on his +chin," p. 119, and "Prince Dima-ahmad and Princess Atasa," Notes, p. +253. In Fraeulein Gonzenbach's _Sicilian Fairy Tales_, No. 5 (vol. I. +p. 21), the king's son's children are born, the boy with a golden +apple in his hand, the girl with a star on her forehead. In the Notes +to this story (vol. II. p. 207) Herr Koehler mentions a Tyrolean fairy +tale, "Zingerle, II. p. 112," where the king's son's daughter has a +golden apple in her hand, and her brother a golden star on his +forehead. In Milenowsky's _Bohemian Fairy Tales_, p. 1, is the story +"Von den Sternprinzen" in which the king's son by the queen has a gold +star on his forehead, and his son by the old woman has a silver star, +p. 2. These princes' children also are born with gold and silver stars +on their foreheads, p. 30. In a Hungarian tale, "Die verwandelten +Kinder," the old man's youngest daughter promises, and keeps her +promise, to give the king, if he marries her, twin sons, who will be +most beautiful, will have golden hair, and each a golden ring on his +arm; further, one is to have a planet, the other a sun on his +forehead--Stier's _Ungarische Volksmaerchen_, p. 57. Also in the same +author's _Ungarische Sagen und Maerchen_ in "Die beiden juengsten +Koenigskinder," the hero wins a bride (p. 77) who has a sun on her +forehead, a moon on her right, and three stars on her left, breast. In +"Eisenlaci" in the same collection the snake-king's daughter has a +star on her forehead (p. 109). Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, +vol. I. p. 412) says, "In the seventh story of the third book of +Afanassieff, the queen bears two sons; one has a moon on his forehead +and the other a star on the nape of his neck. Her wicked sister +buries them; a golden and a silver sprout spring up which a sheep eats +and then has two lambs, one with a moon on its head, the other with a +star on its neck. The wicked sister who has married the king orders +them to be torn in pieces, and their intestines to be thrown into the +road. The good, lawful queen eats them and again gives birth to her +sons." Gubernatis in the 2nd volume of the same work, p. 31, quotes +another of Afanassieff's stories, the thirteenth of the third book, in +which a merchant's wife has a son "whose body is all of gold, effigies +of stars, moon, and sun covered it." This is the gold boy mentioned in +the preceding paragraph as lighting up the room when his body was +uncovered. In "Das Schwarze Lamm," the empress bears a son with a +golden star on his forehead (Karadschitsch, _Volksmaerchen der +Serben_, p. 177). + +5. Phulmati Rani weighs but one flower: compare Panch Phul Rani in +_Old Deccan Days_, p. 133. + +6. Indrasan (= Indra + Asana, Indra's throne or home), says Dunkni, is +the name of the underground fairy country. Its inhabitants, the +fairies (pari) are called the Indrasan people; they delight in all +lovely things; everything about them is beautiful; they play +exquisitely on all kinds of musical instruments; they dance and sing a +great deal; they have wings and can fly. They taught the little Monkey +Prince (p. 42), and King Burtal's eldest son was taken to them as a +pupil by the fakir Goraknath, p. 93. In Indrasan grows a tree of which +no man can ever see the flowers or fruit, as the fairies gather them +in the night and take them away. The Irish "good people" who live in +clefts of rocks, caves, and mounds, and the Irish fairies who live in +the beautiful land of youth under the sea, have many points in common +with the Indian fairies. They, too, dance beautifully, are wonderful +musicians, and have everything about them lovely and splendid. The +"good people" also sometimes impart their knowledge to mortals. See +pp. x, xii, and xviii of the Introduction to the _Irische +Elfenmaerchen_ translated into German by the brothers Grimm. Some of +the Cornish fairies, the Small People, like the Indrasan people, live +underground (Hunt's _Romances and Drolls of the West of England_, pp. +116, 118, 125), aid those to whom they take a fancy and are very +playful among themselves (_ib._ p. 81); they have the most ravishing +music (_ib._ pp. 86, 98); their singing is clear and delicate as +silver bells (_ib._ p. 100); everything about them is joyous and +beautiful (_ib._ pp. 86, 99, 100); they are a tiny race (_ib._ p. 81), +but can at pleasure take the size of human beings (_ib._ pp. 115, 122, +123); and their queen has hair "like gold threads" (_ib._ p. 102). The +fair-haired New Zealand fairies are, too, a kindly happy race. See +Grey's _Polynesian Mythology_, pp. 287 to 295. Nothing is said about +their dancing, but they are described as "merry, cheerful, and always +singing like a cricket" (_ib._ p. 295), and from one of their +fishing-nets left on the sea shore, when its fairy owners were +surprised by the rising of the sun, the Maoris learnt the stitch for +netting a net. Like the Indian fairies they appear to be as big as +human beings. + +7. Phulmati Rani is drowned in a tank and becomes a flower; she is +killed and brought to life several times: compare in this collection +the story of the "Pomegranate Children" and note to that story. In one +of Ralston's _Russian Folk-Tales_, "The Fiend," p. 15, the heroine is +killed through witchcraft: from her grave springs a flower which is +herself transformed: she afterwards regains her human shape. + +8. With Phulmati's last transformation compare the last that the +Bel-Princess goes through (p. 148 of this collection), and that of a +woman, who figures in a Dinajpur story published by Mr. G. H. Damant +in the _Indian Antiquary_ of April 5th, 1872, vol. I. p. 115. She, +though living in the Rakshas country, is not a Rakshas, but does not +appear to be an ordinary mortal, and when cut to bits by a certain +magic knife becomes a tree. "Her feet became a silver stem, her two +hands golden branches, her head ornaments were diamond leaves, all her +bracelets and bangles were pearly fruits, and her head was a peacock +dancing and playing in the branches." As soon as the magic knife is +thrown to the ground she regains her human form. + +Eisenlaci in Stier's _Ungarische Sagen und Maerchen_ (pp. 107-109) +comes in the form of a horse to the twelve-headed dragon's house. He +is killed; the first two drops of his blood are thrown into the garden +and from them springs a tree with golden apples: the tree is cut +down, but the first two chips (which are flung into the pond) become a +gold fish: the gold fish turns into Eisenlaci himself in human form. + +9. Winning a wife by seizing her dress while she bathes is an incident +common to fairy tales of many countries. + + +II.--THE POMEGRANATE KING. + +1. Such is the story as told by Dunkni in 1876; at that time, when it +was read over to her, she said it was correct. On my asking her in +1878, when the story was going through the press, to explain some +points in it, such as why the children said they had been brought to +life _three_ times, the boy having only died twice, and the girl once, +she told me the following variation: After the attempt to get rid of +the boy by making him into a curry had failed, the Rani Sunkasi sent +for a sepoy and bade him carry the two children to the jungle and +there kill them; and as a proof of their death he was to bring her +their livers. Once in the jungle with the children, the sepoy had not +the heart to kill them; so he left them in it, and brought the livers +of two goats to Sunkasi Rani. She buried the livers in the garden and +was content; but some months later as she was walking (literally +"eating the air") in the jungle she saw her step-children playing +about; she returned to the palace, sent for the sepoy, and asked him +why he had not killed the children. "I did kill them," said the sepoy, +"and brought you their livers." "Those livers were not the children's +livers," answered the Rani; "I have just seen the children alive and +playing in the jungle." "They must have been other people's children +that you saw," said the sepoy, "yours I killed." "Do not tell me +lies," said the Rani. "Now you must at once go to the jungle, kill the +children, and bring me their eyes." The sepoy went to find the +children, but when he found them he could not kill them, so he took +them to some people who lived in a hut, and said to these people, +"Take great care of the two children. Be very kind to them." He then +killed two goats and took their eyes to the Rani, who was now +satisfied for some time. But one day another of the Pomegranate +Raja's sepoys passed near the hut, and saw the children playing about. +So he went to Sunkasi Rani and told her the children were alive and +well. At this the Rani was very angry, and she thought, "It is of no +use my sending the first sepoy again to kill them. I will send this +man." She said, therefore, to the second sepoy, "If you will kill +these children for me, you shall have a great reward." The sepoy +agreed, went to the little hut, and seized the children. The poor +people who took care of the children begged and prayed him to have +pity on them; but the sepoy said, "No." He had the Rani's orders to +kill them, and they must and should be killed. And so he killed them +and brought their livers to the Rani as she had bidden him. Sunkasi +Rani was very happy when she saw the livers, and she buried them close +to a large tank that was in her garden. + +Some three months later her servants came to her and told her a +beautiful large bel-fruit was floating on the water of the tank. +Sunkasi Rani went at once with them to the tank, and when she saw the +fruit she was seized with a great longing to have it. So she sent all +her servants, one after the other, into the tank to fetch it; but all +to no purpose, for as soon as any one of them got close to the fruit +it floated away from him. Then the Rani herself went into the tank. +She, however, was not a whit more able to get it: when she thought she +had only to put out her hand to take it, the fruit rose up into the +air, and fell into the water again as soon as she had come up out of +the tank. She went to the Maharaja and told him of this lovely +bel-fruit, and then went to her room while he came down to the tank. +He said, "I should like to catch the fruit: I wonder if I can do so. +What a lovely fruit!" As soon as he put his hand into the water the +fruit came floating towards him, and floated into it. "I think this +fruit is quite ripe," said the Maharaja. "Quite ripe," said the +servants, and they struck it with a stone to break it open. "Oh, you +hurt us! you hurt us!" cried little voices from inside the bel-fruit. +"Gently, gently; don't hurt us." The Maharaja and all the servants +were greatly surprised, and the Maharaja went to Sunkasi Rani, and +told her all about the little voices. She at once guessed her +step-children were in the fruit, so she said to the Maharaja, "You +had better take the fruit to the jungle and there break it open with a +big stone, so that anything inside it may be crushed to bits." "I will +not do that," said the Maharaja. Then he went back to his servants and +made them cut the fruit's rind very carefully cross-ways and the fruit +broke into halves: in one half sat his little son, in the other his +little daughter. As soon as the halves were laid on the ground the +children stepped out, and at once grew to their natural size. Their +father was very angry when he saw them. "Why, I thought you were at +school," said he. "The Maharani told me you were at school. Why are +you not there? What funny (Dunkni's own word) children you are to get +into this bel-fruit! What made you like to live in a fruit?" But to +all his questionings and scoldings the children said not one word. At +last he sent them up to the palace, and there they stayed with him for +some three months. But the Maharani said to him, "These are not your +children. Yours are at school." "They _are_ my children," he answered. + +All this time the Maharani hated them more and more, and at last she +went to them and said, "Now I really will kill you." "Just as you +please," answered the children; "we don't mind being killed. You may +kill us three times, four times, as often as you like: it does not +matter in the least; for God will always bring us to life again." + +At this Sunkasi Rani flew into a rage and she called her servants and +said, "Kill these children, cut them into mince-meat and throw them to +the crows and kites. When the crows and kites have eaten them, they +cannot come to life any more." So the servants killed the children, +and chopped them up very fine and fed the crows and kites with their +flesh; and now the Maharani was very happy. + +Some months later, as she was walking in her garden, she saw two +beautiful flower-buds on a large bel-tree that grew in it. She showed +them to the gardener, and asked if he had seen them before. "Never," +said the man. "On this tree there have never been either flowers or +fruit till now." "Gather the flowers for me," said the Rani, "I do so +wish to have them." The gardener said to her, "Wait till the buds are +fully blown and then I will gather them for you." At the end of three +or four days the Rani Sunkasi asked if the buds had grown into large +flowers, and the gardener said, "Yes, to-day I will gather them for +you." He got a long, long bamboo cane, and tied a piece of wood +cross-ways on one of its ends so as to make a sort of hook wherewith +to catch hold of and break off the flowers. He tried and tried to get +them, but all in vain. Then he made all the servants try. It was of no +use, no one could make the hook touch the flowers. They always bent +themselves just out of its reach. Then Sunkasi Rani tried, but with no +better success. She told the Maharaja, who said, "I will try to-morrow +to gather these wonderful flowers." + +That night as the Rani lay in her bed she suddenly thought, "Those +children are in the flowers," and she determined to be with her +husband when he gathered them, to get them into her own hands some way +or other. + +The next morning Anarbasa Maharaja and his wife went to the bel-tree, +and as soon as he held out his hand towards the flowers, they dropped +into it. "What lovely flowers! What beautiful flowers! Do give them to +me," said Sunkasi Rani. "No," said the Maharaja, "I will keep them +myself." Then he carried them to his room and laid them on the table +while he shut the door and the venetians. Then he came and sat down +before them: he took them in his hand, and looked at them and laid +them again on the table; then he took them and smelt them, and they +smelt, oh! so sweet. This he did many times. At last he held them to +his ears, for the adventure of the bel-fruit had made him wise +(_hushyar_), and he heard little tiny voices, saying, "Papa" (Dunkni's +own word), "we want to stay with you; we should like to be with you." +The Maharaja looked very carefully at the flowers, and at last, in one +of them he saw a little splinter of wood like a thorn sticking: he +pulled this out, and his own little son stood before him. Then he +looked at the other flower, and in that, too, was a little splinter of +wood sticking. When he pulled it out his little girl stood there. + +The Maharaja was vexed with his children, and asked them why they were +so naughty, and why they liked to live in fruits and flowers instead +of staying in the palace or going to school. The children answered, +"We go to school sometimes, and then we come back and live in our +flowers, and then we return to school, and then we come back to our +flower-homes again." "This is a lie you are telling me," said their +father. "You know quite well you have not been at school at all." The +Maharani came in to hear what all this talking meant, and when she saw +the children she said to Anarbasa Maharaja, "These are not your +children, yours are at school." "They are my children," he answered, +"and they have never been at school at all, and they are very +naughty." He then sent them away to play, and the Rani returned to her +room. But he sat alone in his room, for he was angry and cross. As he +sat there one of his chaprasis came to him and said, "Maharaj, you do +not know how ill the Maharani treats your children, or you would not +be angry with them. She has killed them several times, and sent them +away into the jungle; and after they came out of the bel-fruit she +killed them and chopped them into small pieces, and fed the kites and +crows with their flesh." When the Maharaja heard all this, he said to +the chaprasi, "You must have a beautiful little house built for me; +you must take care that it is chiefly made of wood; the flooring must +be very thin and of wood; and the hollow place under the flooring must +be filled with dry wood. Then you must put plenty of flowers inside +the house, and plenty outside so as to make it very pretty." + +As soon as the house was ready the Maharaja went to his wife and asked +her if she would go out with him to eat the air. "I should like to +show you a new house I have had built for you," he said. So she went +with him and thought her new house lovely. While she was inside +looking at the pretty flowers in the rooms, the Maharaja slipped out, +and bolted the door so that she could not escape, and he told his +servants to set fire to the wood under the flooring. When the flames +began to rise the Rani got very frightened. She rushed to the window +and called to the Maharaja and his servants, who were standing there +looking on, to save her. No one said anything to her. "Save me," she +cried, "or I shall be burnt to death." "If you are burnt, what does it +matter?" said the Maharaja. "You ill-treated my children; you killed +them; so, now burn." + +As soon as she was burnt to death the Maharaja had all her bones +collected and put into four dishes, and he gave them to one of his +servants to take to Sunkasi Rani's mother. When her mother uncovered +dish after dish and found nothing but bones, she asked the servant, +"Of what use are bones?" "These are your daughter's bones," said he: +"therefore Anarbasa Maharaja sent them to you. Sunkasi Rani +ill-treated and killed his children, and so he burnt her." + +The rest of the story she pronounced exact (_thik_). + +2. The bel-tree is the _AEgle Marmelos_ of botanists. + +3. With the different deaths and transformations of the children +compare in this book: Phulmati Rani, pp. 3 and 4: the Kite's Children, +p. 22: the Bel-Princess, pp. 144, 145, 148: and in _Old Deccan Days_ +Surya Bai, pp. 85, 86. In "Die goldenen Kinder" (Schott's +_Wallachische Maerchen_) the golden children are killed and buried (p. +122). From their hearts spring two apple-trees having golden leaves +and apples. The trees are destroyed; but a sheep has eaten an apple +and then has two golden lambs. The step-mother kills them at once and +sends the maid to wash the entrails in the stream, intending to cook +them for her husband to eat (compare the curry in the "Pomegranate +King," p. 8; the broth (_Suhr_) in Grimm's "von dem Machandelboom," +_Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, vol. I. p. 271; and the stew in the +Devonshire story, "The Rose-Tree," told in Henderson's _Folk-lore of +the Northern Counties of England_, p. 314). A piece of the entrail +escapes, and as it floats away it swells and swells. On reaching the +opposite bank it bursts, and out of it step the golden children. In a +Hungarian story the children, one with a planet and one with a sun on +his forehead, and each with a ring on his arm, are killed by a wicked +woman who wants her daughter to take their mother's place as queen. +They turn first into two golden pear-trees. These are destroyed by +fire, but one glowing coal from the fire is eaten by an old she-goat. +The old goat then has two little golden-fleeced kids. They are killed, +an old crow swallows a piece of the entrails as they are being washed +in the brook; she flies to the seventy-seventh island in the ocean, +builds a nest and lays two golden eggs. Out of the eggs come the +golden-haired children with their planet, sun and golden rings. The +old crow sends them for seven years to school to a hermit (here is the +holy man again, see p. 283 of these notes), and then flies home with +them to their father. The pillar of salt, into which their mother was +changed, answers all the king's questions. It is not said that she +regained her human form ("Die verwandelten Kinder," Stier's +_Ungarische Volksmaerchen_, p. 58). In a Siebenburg story, "Die beiden +goldenen Kinder," the children are killed by an envious woman who +becomes queen in their mother's place. From their remains spring two +golden pine-trees which are burnt; a sheep eats two of the sparks and +has two golden lambs that are killed; from two pieces of the entrails +step forth the golden-haired children (Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische +Maerchen_, pp. 2, 3). In this tale the children are restored to their +father, the king, by the intervention of God himself (p. 4), who in +these _Siebenbuergische Maerchen_ plays a part just as often as +"Khuda" does in the Indian tales, taking for the purpose the form of a +"good old man," and often wearing a grey mantle that reminds one of +Odin. In the Netherlandish story of "The knight with the swan" +(Thorpe's _Northern Mythology_, vol. III. p. 302), King Oriant's +mother persuades the king his wife gave him seven puppies instead of +seven children (each born with a silver chain round its neck in "proof +of their mother's nobility"). She sends the children to the forest to +be destroyed. They are left there alive, and are fostered by an old +man. When the queen-mother learns this, she sends servants to kill +them. These are content with depriving six of the children of their +silver chains, on which the children instantly become swans. (The +seventh child is absent and so is saved.) A goldsmith makes two +beakers out of one of the chains, and keeps the others intact. When +the chains are hung again round the five swans' necks, and the beaker +shown to the sixth, they regain their human forms. See also paragraph +8 of the notes to Phulmati Rani. + +4. With the children in the fruit and flowers compare in these +stories, Phulmati Rani, p. 3: Loving Laili, p. 81: the Bel-Princess, +p. 146, and paragraph 5 of the notes to that story, p. 283: and in +_Old Deccan Days_, "Surya Bai," p. 86: and "Anar Rani and her two +maids," p. 95. With these may be compared the Polish Madey (Naake's +_Slavonic Fairy Tales_, p. 220). Madey is a robber who commits fearful +crimes; he repents, and sticks his "murderous club" upright in the +ground, swearing to kneel before it till the boy who has caused his +repentance returns as a bishop. Years go by: the boy, now a bishop, +passes through Madey's forest. The club has become an apple-tree full +of apples and he discovers Madey through their sweet odour. At Madey's +request the bishop confesses him; and as Madey confesses his crimes, +the apples on the tree, one after another, become white doves and fly +to heaven. They were the souls of those he had murdered. + +In an unpublished story told by Dunkni, the incidents of the children +being in the fruit, and the fruit not letting itself be gathered by +any but the rightful owner of its contents (as is the case also with +the Bel-Princess), again occur. In this story there is a prince called +Aisab, who, as he wished very much to have children, married. At the +same time he took an oath that if his child, when he had one, cried, +he would kill it, and then if his wife cried he would kill her too. +His first wife gave him a child who died; she cried and was killed by +her husband. The same thing happened to the second wife. He then +married a third wife, called Gulianar. She had a little son, +Dima-ahmad, and two or three years later another son, called Karamat. +The first boy died, but Gulianar did not cry--she only grieved for him +in her heart. Karamat was unhappy from seeing other children playing +with their brothers and sisters, and asked his mother "why he had no +brother or sister to play with?" She said, "Once you had a little +brother and he died." Then Karamat began to cry, and his father killed +him immediately with his sword because of his oath, though he loved +Karamat dearly. The "mother was still sadder than before, but she +never wept." Then God took pity on her and sent down into Prince +Aisab's garden a big bel-tree, and on this bel-tree was a fruit. Every +one tried to gather this fruit, even Prince Aisab tried, but each time +their hands approached it the fruit rose into the air and returned +again when the hands were withdrawn. Then Gulianar stretched out her +hand "and the fruit fell into it." She took it into the house and +tried to break it open with a stone, and a voice called out, "Mother, +mother, not so hard; you hurt us." She was very much frightened, +thinking a Rakshas or a demon was in the fruit. Prince Aisab was +equally alarmed, but his wazir, Mamatsa, broke the fruit open gently +in obedience to the little voice that called out, "Don't knock so +hard, Mamatsa; you hurt us;" and out of it stepped the two little +children Dima-ahmad and Karamat. Dima-ahmad was very beautiful. On his +head was the sun, on his face the moon, and on his hands stars, and he +had long golden hair. He married a princess, Atasa, who also had the +sun on her head, the moon on her face, stars on her hands, and "her +hair was of pure gold and reached down to the ground." The idea that +none but the rightful owner can catch the child is found too in Grey's +_Polynesian Mythology_ at pp. 116, 117, in the story of Whakatau, who +was fashioned in the sea from his mother Apakura's apron by the god +Rongota-kawiu. This child lived at the bottom of the sea; but one day +he came on shore after his kite, and all who saw him tried in vain to +catch him. Then said Whakatau, "You had better go and bring Apakura +here; she is the only person who can catch me and hold me fast." His +mother then comes and catches him. + +5. Sunkasi's bones are sent to her mother. In the _Sicilianische +Maerchen_ collected by Laura Gonzenbach, it is a common practice for +husbands to punish their second wives' treachery with death, and then +to send their remains to their mothers, who feast on them, thinking +they are eating tunny-fish, and die of grief on learning what they +have really swallowed. + +6. With Gulianar's change into a bird compare Laura Gonzenbach's 13th +_Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. I. p. 82, where the real bride is +transformed into a dove by a black-headed pin being driven into her +head, and regains her human form when the pin is pulled out. Schott +has a similar incident in his _Wallachische Maerchen_, p. 251. So has +Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. II. p. 242) in a story from +near Leghorn, where the woman is changed into a swallow (in all these +stories it is the husband who pulls out the pin); and he says similar +stories with a transformation into a dove are told in Piedmont, in +other parts of Tuscany, in Calabria, and are to be found in the +_Tutiname_. Ralston's Princess Mariya (_Russian Folk Tales_, p. 183), +and Thorpe's second story of "The Princess that came out of the water" +(_Yule Tide Stories_, p. 41), may also be compared. + +7. The golden bird in the Siebenburg story drops pearls from its beak +whenever it sings ("Der goldne Vogel," Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische +Maerchen_, pp. 31, 35). The princess, its mistress, wears (p. 39) a +golden mantle "adorned with _carbuncles_ and pearls from the golden +bird." + + +III.--THE CAT AND THE DOG. + +1. The Tiger promises not to eat the man who helps him and then tries +to break his promise. Compare "The Brahman, the Tiger, and the six +Judges," _Old Deccan Days_, p. 159; and "Ananzi and the Lion" in +Dasent's _Ananzi Stories_, p. 490. + +2. In a Slavonic story mentioned by Gubernatis (_Zoological +Mythology_, vol. II. p. 111), a bear is about to kill a peasant in +revenge. A fox appears, "shakes its tail and says to the peasant, +'Man, thou hast ingenuity in thy head and a stick in thy hand.' The +peasant immediately understands the stratagem," and persuades the bear +to get into a sack he has with him that he may carry the bear three +times round the field instead of doing penance, after which the bear +is to do what he likes with him. The bear gets into the sack, the man +"binds it strongly" together, and then beats the bear to death with +his stick. Gubernatis at p. 132 of the same volume tells a similar +story from Russia in which a wolf plays the part of the bear and of +our tiger. + + +IV.--THE CAT THAT COULD NOT BE KILLED. + +1. In an unpublished story told us by Gangiya, a hill-man from near +Simla, a cat saves herself from being eaten by a jackal very much in +the same way that this cat saved herself from the leopard. The jackal +(in Gangiya's story) ate anything it came across, whether it were dead +or alive. One day he met a tiger and said to him, "I will eat you. I +will not let you go." "Very good," said the tiger, "eat me." So the +jackal ate him up. He went a little further and met a leopard; he said +to the leopard, "I will eat you." "Very good," said the leopard. So he +ate the leopard. He went a little further and met a tiny mouse. +"Mouse," he said, "I have eaten a tiger and a leopard, and now I will +eat you." "Very good," said the mouse. He ate the mouse. He went a +little further and met a cat. "I will eat you," said the jackal. The +cat answered, "What will it profit you to eat me, who am so small? A +little further on you will see a dead buffalo: eat that." So the +jackal left the cat and went to eat the buffalo. He walked on and on, +but could find no buffalo; and the cat, meanwhile ran away. The jackal +was very angry, and set off to seek the cat, but could not find her. +He was furious. + + +VI.--THE RAT AND THE FROG. + +Compare the Bohemian "Long-desired child," Naake's _Slavonic Fairy +Tales_, p. 226. This child is carved out of a tree-root by a woodman, +who brings him home to his wife. They delight in having a child at +last. The child eats all the food in the house; his father and mother; +a girl with a wheelbarrow full of clover; a peasant, his hay-laden +cart, and his cart-horses; a man and his pigs; a shepherd, his flock +and dog; lastly, cabbages belonging to an old woman who cuts him in +two with her mattock just as he tries to eat her. Out of him jump +unhurt every thing and every one he has swallowed. In a story from the +south of Siberia (Gubernatis' _Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 140) +the hero vanquishes a demon, who tells him that in his stomach he will +find a silver casket. He cuts the monster open and out of him come +"innumerable animals, men, treasures, and other objects. Some of the +men say, 'What noble youth has delivered us from the black night?'" +In two of the caskets the hero finds the eyes of an old woman who has +befriended him, and money, "and from the last casket came forth more +men, animals, and valuables of every kind." In a Russian story quoted +by Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. pp. 406, 407) the wolf +eats the kids all but one. The mother goat persuades him to jump over +a fire. The fire splits his belly open, out tumble all the little +kids, lively as ever. There is a very similar story with fox, goat, +and kid for actors in Campbell's _Popular Tales of the West +Highlands_, vol. III. p. 93; and Grimm has one also, "Der Wolf und die +sieben jungen Geislein," in his _Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, vol. I. p. +29. In the notes to this story, vol. III. p. 15, Grimm says, "In +Pomerania this is told of a child who when his mother had gone out was +swallowed by the child-spectre, resembling the varlet Ruprecht. But +the stones which he swallows with the child make the spectre so heavy +that he falls to the earth, and the child unhurt springs out of him." +See, too, the demons at p. 99 of these stories, who swallow the +Princess Champakali's suitors. + + * * * * * + +Tylor in his _Primitive Culture_, vol. I. p. 341, classes Little Red +Riding Hood among these Day and Night myths. It is, he says, +"mutilated in the English Nursery version, but known more perfectly by +old wives in Germany, who can tell that the lovely little maid in her +shining red satin cloak was swallowed with her grandmother by the +wolf, but they both came out safe and sound when the hunter cut open +the sleeping beast." He also quotes among these myths (_ib._ p. 338) a +story of the Ojibwas in which the hero is swallowed by a great fish +and cut out again by his sister; and another belonging to the Basutos +in which all mankind save the hero and his mother were devoured by a +monster. The hero "attacked the creature and was swallowed whole, but +cutting his way out he set free all the inhabitants of the world." At +the same page is the story of the Zulu Princess Untombinde who was +carried off by a dreadful beast. "The king gathered his army and +attacked it, but it swallowed up men, and dogs, and cattle, all but +one warrior; he slew the monster, and there came out cattle, and +horses, and men, and last of all the princess herself." Mr. Tylor +quotes, too (_ib._ p. 336), in connexion with this class of myths, the +story of the death of the New Zealand sun-hero, Maui, which he tells +more fully than does Sir George Grey in his _Polynesian Mythology_; +and he goes on at pp. 338, 339, 340, to connect these myths with those +of Perseus and Andromeda; Heracles and Hesione; the story of Jonah and +his fish; the Greenland angakok swallowed by bear and walrus and +thrown up again; and the legend of Hades. + +Besides the angakok mentioned by Mr. Tylor, Dr. Rink, in his _Tales +and Traditions of the Eskimo_, has two other stories of escapes from +the stomach of a dead animal when it is cut open. In the first, at p. +260, the boy is devoured by a gull; his sister kills the bird, takes +her brother's bones from its pouch and carries them home: on the way +the boy comes to life again. The other tale, p. 438, tells how +Nakasungnak jumped out of the hole his friends had made in the dead +"ice-covered" bear's side; but his hair as well as the skin of his +face had come off, and he shivered from cold and ague. And in +Ralston's _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 177, is a story of a snake +who steals "the luminaries of the night. A hero cuts off his head, and +out of the slain monster issue the Bright Moon and the Morning Star." + + +VII.--FOOLISH SACHULI. + +1. Foolish Sachuli lives in many lands. In his Russian dress he +figures in "The Fool and the Birch-tree," Ralston's _Russian Folk +Tales_, p. 52. In the Sicilian "Giufa" we find him again (Gonzenbach's +_Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. I. p. 249). In England he appears in an +out-of-the-way village in the south (see _Pall Mall Budget_, July 12, +1878, p. 11, _Wild Life in a Southern Country_, No. XIV.) with, to use +his mother's words, "no more sense than God had given him." She +wishing to have his testimony discredited when he bears witness +against her, as she knows he will, goes upstairs and rains raisins on +him from the window. So when asked to specify the time he speaks of, +he says, "When it rained raisins," and is of course disbelieved. + +Note by Mr. J. F. Campbell: "This story of a stupid boy has a parallel +in a Gaelic tale in my collection, where the boy dated an event which +was true by a fall of pancakes or something of the kind which was not +true, and was not believed though he told the truth." [At p. 385, vol. +II. of the _Tales of the West Highlands_ a "half booby" is inveigled +by his mother into dating his theft of some planks by a "shower of +milk-porridge."] + +2. The magic gifts given by the fairies are a common incident in fairy +tales: so is the adventure with the jar of ghee. + + +VIII.--BARBER HIM AND THE TIGERS. + +1. Forbes in his Hindustani Dictionary says _Kans_ or _Kansa_ was the +name of a wicked tyrant whom Krish[n.]a was born to destroy, and that +the word now means a wicked tyrant. But Raja Kans is an historical +character. All that is known of him is told by the late Professor +Blochmann in the Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal for 1873, Pt. I. p. +264. + +2. In the note (p. 380) to the XIXth Tale in the _Sagas from the Far +East_, is a story in which Barber Him's part is played by a he-goat, +and that of his tigers by a lion. See, too, "How the three clever men +outwitted the demons" in _Old Deccan Days_, pp. 273-278. In a Santali +tale, "Kanran and Guja," sent by the Rev. F. T. Cole to the _Indian +Antiquary_, vol. IV. September 1875, p. 257, two brothers, Kanran and +Guja, climb into a tal tree. Here they are discovered by a tiger whom +they have deprived of his tail, and who has brought a number of his +friends to help him revenge himself on the brothers. The tailless +tiger proposes they shall all stand one the top of the other, to reach +the men in the tree. His friends agree provided he takes his stand at +the bottom, and they climb as proposed till they almost reach the +brothers. Then Kanran calls out to Guja, "Give me your axe. I will +kill the tailless tiger." The tigers in terror all tumble to the +ground, crushing their tailless friend in their fall, and flee to +their homes. In "The Leopard and the Ram" (Bleek's _Hottentot Fables +and Tales_, p. 24) the ram and the leopard play the parts of the +barber and his tigers. See, too, "The Lion and the Bushman," p. 59 of +the same collection. + +Note by Mr. J. F. Campbell: "Compare the Irish story of two hunchbacks +in Keightley. A version is in Mitford's Japanese book; and far better +versions are common in Japan." + + +IX.--THE BULBUL AND THE COTTON-TREE. + +1. Cotton-tree, in Hindustani _Semal_. + +2. Koel, Indian cuckoo. + + +X.--THE MONKEY PRINCE. + +1. Bandarsa means like a monkey; Dunkni in telling this husk-story +just as often called the monkey-skin a husk (_chhilka_) as she called +it a skin (_chamra_). + +2. Princess Jahuran throws mattresses to her drowning husband. In a +Manipuri tale published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_, +vol. IV. September 1875, p. 260, Basanta's wife throws him a pillow +that he may save himself when the envious merchant, on board whose +boat they are, pitches the prince into the river that he may secure +the princess for himself. + + +XI.--BRAVE HIRALALBASA. + +1. With this story all through compare "The Demon is at last conquered +by the King's Son," p. 173 of this collection. + +2. Rakshas means protector, and is, probably, an euphemistic term. The +chapter on Mystic Animals in Swedish traditions (Thorpe's _Northern +Mythology_, vol. II. p. 83) gives a list of certain creatures that are +not to be mentioned by their own but by euphemistic names for fear of +incurring their wrath. This belief, Thorpe in the same chapter, p. 84, +says, extends to certain inanimate things: water used for brewing, for +instance, must not be called _vatn_ (water) or the beer will not be so +good; and fire occasionally is to be spoken of as _hetta_ (heat). The +girl in an Esthonian tale quoted by Gubernatis at p. 151 of the 1st +vol. of his _Zoological Mythology_ addresses a crow whose help she +needs as "Bird of light." Fiske says (_Myths and Mythmakers_, p. 223), +"A Dayak will not allude by name to the small-pox, but will call it +'The chief' or 'Jungle leaves;' the Laplander speaks of the bear as +'the old man with the fur coat;' in Annam the tiger is called +'Grandfather,' or 'Lord.' The Finnish hunters called the bear 'the +Apple of the Forest, the beautiful Honey-claw, the Pride of the +thicket'" ("The Mythology of Finnland," _Fraser's Magazine_, May +1857). The Furies, as every one knows, were called the Eumenides, or +the gracious ones. + +The Rakshases are a kind of huge demons who delight in devouring men +and beasts. They can take any shape they please. The female Rakshas +often assumes that of a beautiful woman. Compare the demon Mara as +described by Fiske at p. 93 of his book above quoted. + +The Rakshases do not travel in the way mortals do. See a Dinajpur +story told by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ (February +1875, vol. IV. p. 54), where the hero, who has married both the +Rakshas-king's daughter and his niece, asks his father-in-law's leave +to return home with his Rakshas-wives. The King consents (p. 58), but +says, "We Rakshases do not travel in palkis (palanquins), but in the +air." Accordingly the prince, his two Rakshas wives and his mortal +wife, all travel towards his father's country through the air "along +the sky." One kind of jinn travel in the same way (Lane's _Arabian +Nights_, vol. I., "Notes to Introduction," p. 29). So do the drakes +and kobolds in Northern Germany. The drake is as big as a cauldron, "a +person may sit in him," and travel with him to any spot he pleases. +Both drakes and kobolds look like fiery stripes. The kobolds appear +sometimes as a blue, sometimes as a red, stripe passing through the +air (Thorpe's _Northern Mythology_, vol. III. pp. 155, 156). + +3. Dunkni says, "All Rakshases keep their souls in birds." Those that +do so resemble in this respect some of the Indian demons, and the +giants, trolls, and such like noxious actors in the Norse, Scotch, and +other popular tales. + +Tylor (_Primitive Culture_, vol. II. pp. 152, 153) mentions the Tatar +story of the giant who could not be killed till the twelve-headed +snake in which he kept his soul was destroyed. This tale, he says, +"illustrates the idea of soul-embodiment," and "very likely" indicates +the sense of the myths where giants, &c., keep their souls out of +their own bodies. The civilized notion of soul-embodiment, he adds +(quoting from "Grose's bantering description of the art of laying +ghosts in the last century,") is that of conjuring ghosts into +different objects: "one of the many good instances of articles of +savage belief serving as jests among civilized men." Possibly these +giants, trolls, rakshases, demons, once belonged to that class of +spirits who could, in popular belief, enter at pleasure into stocks +and stones and other objects of idolatrous veneration. + +But all Rakshases do not keep their souls in birds. Some have their +souls in bees (see a Dinajpur tale published by Mr. G. H. Damant in +the _Indian Antiquary_ for April 6, 1872, p. 115): and in another +Dinajpur story printed by Mr. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ for +June 7, 1872, p. 120, a whole tribe of Rakshases dwelling in Ceylon +kept theirs in one and the same lemon. + +4. In the first quoted of these stories collected by Mr. Damant, that +where the Rakshases keep their life in bees, the hero is a prince who +starts in search of the wonderful tree mentioned in paragraph 8 of the +note to Phulmati Rani (p. 244). In his wanderings he finds himself in +the Rakshas country. There he meets with the woman who when cut up +turns into the tree he seeks. When he first sees her she lies dead on +a bed with a golden wand on one side of her, and a silver wand on the +other. He accidentally touches her with the golden wand and she +wakes. She tells him the Rakshases, every morning when they go out in +search of food, make her dead by touching her with the silver wand, +and wake her with the golden wand when they return at night. Mr. +Damant has another story in the _Indian Antiquary_ (July 5, 1872, vol. +I. p. 219), from Dinajpur, in which there is a prince Dalim who dies +and is laid in a tomb above ground, not buried. Daily the Apsarases, +the dancing-girls in the court of Indra, wake him from death by +touching his face with a golden wand, and make him dead again by +touching him with a silver wand. These wands they always leave lying +beside him. His wife comes one day to mourn over him and accidentally +discovers the secret of bringing him to life. He is, finally, restored +to her by the Apsarases. + +5. According to Gubernatis, "three and seven are sacred numbers in +Aryan faith" (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 6). + +6. Hiralalbasa addresses the Rakshas as "uncle." The two brothers +Kanran and Guja (in a Santali fairy tale bearing their name printed by +the Rev. F. T. Cole in the _Indian Antiquary_, September 1875, vol. +IV. p. 257), address a tiger by the same propitiatory title. The tiger +in return addresses them as nephews, and gives them the fire they +want. + +"Uncle" and "aunt" are used in a propitiatory sense over a great part +of the world. Hunt at p. 6 of his introduction to the _Romances and +Drolls of the West of England_ says, "Uncle is a term of respect, +which was very commonly applied to aged men by their juniors in +Cornwall. Aunt ... was used in the same manner when addressing aged +women." "Mon oncle" and "ma tante" are sometimes used in the same way +in France. Fiske in his _Myths and Mythmakers_, pp. 166, 167, tells +how the Zulu solar hero Uthlakanyana outwits a cannibal: in this story +the hero addresses the cannibal as "uncle," and the cannibal in return +calls him "child of my sister." Fiske, quoting from Dr. Callaway, at +p. 166, says, "It is perfectly clear that the cannibals of the Zulu +legends are not common men; they are magnified into giants and +magicians; they are remarkably swift and enduring; fierce and terrible +warriors." In the Hottentot story of the "Lion who took a woman's +shape," the lion and the woman address each other as "my aunt," and +"my uncle" (Bleek's _Hottentot Fables and Tales_, pp. 51, 52). In +Siberia the Yakuts worship the bear under the name of their "beloved +uncle" (Tylor's _Primitive Culture_, vol. II. p. 231); and when the +Russian peasant calls on the dreaded Lyeshy to appear he cries, "Uncle +Lyeshy" (Ralston's _Songs of the Russian people_, p. 159). + +"Grannie" is the word used by Dunkni herself. + +7. The Rakshas queen is tricked to her death in the same way as the +wicked step-mother in the "Pomegranate King," p. 12 of this +collection. + + +XII.--THE MAN WHO WENT TO SEEK HIS FATE. + +1. Compare a Servian story, "Das Schicksal" (Karadschitsch, +_Volksmaerchen der Serben_, p. 106), in which a man sets out to seek +his fate, and on the road is commissioned by a rich householder to ask +the fate why, though he gives abundance of food to his servants, he +can never satisfy their hunger, and why his aged, miserable father and +mother do not die: by another man, to ask why his cattle diminish +instead of thriving: and, thirdly, by a river whose waters bear him +safely across it, to ask why no living thing lives in it. His fate +answers all these questions, and instructs him how to thrive himself. +In Fraeulein Gonzenbach's _Sicilian Fairy Tales_, "Die Geschichte von +Caterina und ihrem Schicksal," vol. I. p. 130, Caterina is persecuted +by her fate, who wears the form of a lovely woman. At last she begs +her mistress's fate, to whom she daily carries a propitiatory +offering, to intercede for her with her own fate. She is told in +answer that her own fate is wrapped in seven veils and so cannot hear +her prayer. Finally her mistress's fate leads her to her own. In the +same collection, in "Feledico und Epomata" (vol. I. p. 350), +Feledico's fate plays a personal part. + +This Indian story looks like a relic of stock and stone worship (see +Tylor's _Primitive Culture_, vol. II. chapters XIV. and XV.). Compare +the man's beating his fate-stone with the treatment the Ostyak gives +his puppet. If it is good to him he clothes and feeds it with broth; +"if it brings him no sport he will try the effect of a good thrashing +on it, after which he will clothe and feed it again" (_ib._ p. 170). +Other examples are given at the same page. These spirits and gods, for +whose dwelling-place stocks and stones and other objects had been +supplied, were not supposed always to inhabit these abodes; but they +did so at pleasure. Compare Elijah's address to the priests of Baal, +"Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, +or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth" (1 Kings xviii. +27), with Caterina's seven-veiled fate, and the prostrate fate-stone +in our story whose spirit-owner was evidently absent on some +expedition. These fates may be compared with the patron or guardian +spirits of whom Mr. Tylor speaks at pp. 199-203 of the same volume. He +says (p. 202), "The Egyptian astrologer warned Antonius to keep far +from the young Octavius, 'for thy demon,' said he, 'is in fear of +his.'" If one man's demon or genius were at enmity with that of +another man, it would probably be friendly to that of a third man, and +would therefore be acquainted with its secrets and with its motives of +behaviour to the man it guarded. Hence the advice given by her +mistress to Caterina to inquire of her own fate from her mistress's +fate, and the questions to be put to their fates when found given to +the men in the Indian and Servian stories. These questions remind one +of those entrusted to the youths in European tales as they journey to +the dragon or devil to whom they are sent for destruction. Like the +fates in the Indian and Servian stories, these dragons and devils live +at the end of a long and difficult journey. Caterina has to climb a +mountain to visit her mistress's fate. + +2. Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 22), speaking of the +three _Ribhavas_, says, "During the twelve days (the twelve hours of +the night or the twelve months in the year) in which they are the +guests of Agohyas," &c. So possibly the twelve years in this and other +stories in this collection may be the twelve hours of the night. In an +unpublished story told by Dunkni, "Prince Husainsa's journey," the +prince journeys for twelve years. When he returns home he finds his +parents as he had left them--fast asleep in bed. To them the twelve +years had only been as one night. + + +XIII.--THE UPRIGHT KING. + +1. The Boar is an avatar of Vish[n.]u. + +2. A [d.]om (the d is lingual) is a Hindu of a very low caste. + +3. Possibly this king is the same as the king Harichand in the last +story but one in the collection, p. 224, and he may also be the +Haricchandra of the following letter from Mr. C. H. Tawney:-- + +"I have been looking up the story of 'Haricchandra.' It is to be found +in Muir, vol. I. He gives a summary of it from the _Marka[n.][d.]eya +Pura[n.]a_. It is also found in the 'Chanda Kaucikam,' and in Mutu +Coomara Swamy's 'Martyr of Truth.' The following is Muir's summary +summarized. Haricchandra was a king who lived in the Treta age, and +was renowned for his virtue, and for the universal prosperity, moral +and physical, which prevailed during his reign. One day he heard a +sound of female lamentation which proceeded from the Sciences who were +becoming mastered by the austere Sage, Vicvamitra, in a way they had +never been before. He rushed to their assistance as a Kshatriya bound +to succour the oppressed. By a haughty speech he provoked Vicvamitra, +and in consequence of his wrath the Sciences instantly perished. (In +the 'Chanda Kaucikam,' as far as I remember, we are told that the +anger of Vicvamitra interfered with the success of his austerity.) The +king says he had only done his duty as a king, which involves the +bestowal of gifts on Brahmans and the succour of the weak. Vicvamitra +thereupon demands from the king as a gift the whole earth, everything +but himself, his son, and his wife. The king gives it him. Then +Vicvamitra demands his sacrificial fee; the king goes to Benares, +followed by the relentless Sage, the ruler of Civa, and is compelled +to sell his wife. She is bought by a rich old Brahman. The son cries +and the Brahman buys him too. But Haricchandra has not enough, even +now, to satisfy Vicvamitra, so he sells himself to a Cha[n.][d.]ala, +who is really Dharma, the god of righteousness. The Cha[n.][d.]ala +(man of the lowest caste), carries off the king, bound, beaten, and +confused. The Cha[n.][d.]ala sends him to steal clothes in a cemetery. +There he lives twelve months. His wife comes to the cemetery to +perform the obsequies of her son, who had died from the bite of a +serpent. The two determine to burn themselves with the corpse of their +son. When Haricchandra, after placing his son on the funeral pyre, is +meditating on the Supreme Spirit, the lord Hari Naraya[n.]a +Krish[n.]a, all the gods arrive headed by Dharma (righteousness) and +accompanied by Vicvamitra. Dharma entreats the king to desist from his +rash enterprise, and Indra announces to him that he, his wife, and his +son have gained heaven by their good works. Ambrosia and flowers are +rained by the god from the sky, and the king's son is restored to the +bloom of youth. The king, adorned with celestial clothing and +garments, and the queen, embrace their son. Haricchandra, however, +declares that he cannot go to heaven till he has received his master +the Cha[n.][d.]ala's permission, and paid him a ransom. Dharma, the +god of righteousness, then says that he had miraculously assumed the +form of a Cha[n.][d.]ala. The king requests that his subjects may +accompany him to heaven, at least for one day. This request is granted +by Indra; and after Vicvamitra has inaugurated the king's son, +Rohitacva, as his successor, Haricchandra, his friends and followers, +all ascend to heaven." + + +XIV.--LOVING LAILI. + +1. Majnun is a celebrated lover, whose love for Laili or Laila is the +subject of many Eastern poems. In this story he does not play a +brilliant part. + +2. Laili's knife is like the sun-hero's weapon (the sun's ray), which +lengthens at its owner's pleasure (Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, +vol. II. p. 147). + +3. She cuts her little finger. See "the Bel Princess," p. 141, and +paragraph 2 of the note to "Shekh Farid." "The little finger, though +the smallest, is the most privileged of the five. It is the one that +knows everything." A Piedmontese mother says, "My little finger tells +me everything" (Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 166). +We have a somewhat similar saying in England. In a Russian story +quoted by the same author in the same work (vol. II. p. 151), an old +woman while baking a cake, cuts off her little finger and throws it +into the fire. From the little finger in the fire is born a strong +dwarf who afterwards does many wonderful things. In the tale of the +five fingers ("Die Maehr von den fuenf Fingern," Haltrich's +_Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, p. 325), where each finger decides what +it will do, the little one says, "I will help with wise counsel." In +consequence of this assistance, to this day, "when any one has a wise +idea (Einfall), he says 'that his little finger told him that'" (p. +327). In Finnish mythology we again find the little finger. "The Para, +also originated in the Swedish Bjaeren or Bare, a magical three-legged +being, manufactured in various ways, and which, says Castren, attained +life and motion when its possessor, cutting the little finger of his +left hand, let three drops of blood fall on it, at the same time +pronouncing the proper spell." ("The Mythology of Finnland," _Fraser's +Magazine_ for May 1857, p. 532.) + +In Rink's _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 441, there is an +account of Kanak's visit to the man of the moon, where he meets a +woman who, he is warned, will take out his entrails if she can only +make him laugh. He follows the moon-man's advice, which is to rub his +leg with the nail of his little finger when he can no longer keep from +smiling, and so saves himself from the old hag. Rishya ['S]ringa (to +return to the land of our fairy tales) threw a drop of water from the +nail of his little finger on a Rakshas who, in the form of a tiger, +was rushing to devour him. The demon instantly quitted the tiger's +body, and asked the Rishi what he should do. He followed the holy +man's instructions and obtained moksha (salvation)--see _Indian +Antiquary_ for May 1873, p. 142, "The Legend of Rishya ['S]ringa," +told by V. N. Narasimmiyengar of Bangalor. + + +XV.--HOW KING BURTAL BECAME A FAKIR. + +1. The Fakir strikes the dead antelope with his wand (_chabuk_), as in +"Shekh Farid," p. 98. In both cases Dunkni says the wand used was a +long, slender piece of bamboo. I do not know whether the bamboo is a +lightning-plant. Possibly it is, being a grass (some grasses are +lightning-plants, see Fiske's _Myths and Mythmakers_, pp. 56, 61), and +also because its long slender stems are lance-shaped. If it does +belong to this class, naturally a blow from a bamboo (or lightning) +wand would give life, for, says Fiske (_ib._ p. 60), "the association +of the thunder-storm with the approach of summer has produced many +myths in which the lightning is symbolized as the life-renewing wand +of the victorious sun-god." + +2. The king tries to hide the ball in his hair. The wonderful power +and strength of hair appears in tales from all lands: Signor de +Gubernatis suggests that, in the case of solar heroes, their hair is +the sun's rays (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 117, vol. II. p. +154); and it seems to me possible that, just as the _colour_ of the +solar hero's hair has been appropriated by Indian fairy-tale princes +who are not solar, the _qualities_ of his hair may have been +attributed to that of folk-lore heroes who are not solar, and may also +have been the origin of some of the strange superstitions prevalent +about human hair. This theory, if correct, would account for most of +the strange things that I have hitherto met about hair. It must be +remembered that the sun's rays are also his weapons; they turn to +thunderbolts when the sun is hidden in the rain-clouds (Gubernatis, +_ib._ vol. I. pp. 9, 17), and also to lightning (see _ib._ vol. II. p. +10, where the sun under the form of a bull is spoken of as the fire +which sends forth lightning). + +First there is Samson, whose name, according to Gesenius, means +"solar," "like the sun." Of the hero Firud, it is told "that a single +hair of his head has more strength in it than many warriors" +(Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 117). Conan was the +weakest man of the Feinn, because they used to keep him cropped. "He +had but the strength of a man; but if the hair should get leave to +grow, there was the strength of a man in him for every hair that was +in his head; but he was so cross that if the hair should grow he would +kill them all" (Campbell's _Popular Tales of the West Highlands_, vol. +III. p. 396). At p. 91 of Schmidt's _Griechische Maerchen, Sagen und +Volkslieder_, is the story of a king, "Der Capitaen Dreizehn," who is +"the strongest of his time," and who has three long hairs, so long +that they could be twisted twice round the hand on his breast. When +these are cut off he becomes the weakest of men. When these grow again +he regains his strength. The sun's rays have most power when they are +longest, _i.e._ when the sun is in apogee. + +Possibly from this old forgotten myth about the solar hero's hair came +some superstition to which was due the Merovingian decree that only +princes of the blood-royal should wear their hair long; cutting their +long hair made them incapable of becoming kings. Their slaves were +shaved. The barbarians ruled that only their free men should wear long +hair, and that the slaves should be shaved. Professor Monier Williams, +in the _Contemporary Review_ for January 1879, p. 265, says that +Govind, the 10th Guru and founder of the Sikh nationality, ordered the +Sikhs to wear their hair long to distinguish themselves from other +nations. + +In the Slavonic story, "Leben, Abenteuer und Schwaenke des kleinen +Kerza," is a dwarf magician with a long white beard. With a hair from +this beard Kerza binds the magician's wicked wife, who has taken the +form of a wooden pillar the better to carry out her evil ends. From +that moment it was impossible for her to take again her own shape or +to use her former magic powers (Vogl's _Volksmaerchen_, p. 227). One +of the tasks set by Yspaddaden Penkawr to Kilhwch before he will give +him his daughter Olwen to wife, is to get him "a leash made from the +beard of Dissull Varvawc, for that is the only one that can hold the +two cubs. And the leash will be of no avail unless it be plucked from +his beard while he is alive, and twitched out with wooden tweezers ... +and the leash will be of no use should he be dead because it will be +brittle,"--that is, when the sun is set (dead) his rays have no power +(_Mabinogion_, vol. II. p. 288). The same idea lies at the bottom of +the English superstition that "if a person's hair burn brightly when +thrown into the fire, it is a sign of longevity; the brighter the +flame, the longer the life. On the other hand, if it smoulder away, +and refuse to burn, it is a sign of approaching death" (Henderson's +_Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England_, p. 84). + +The Malays have a story of a woman, called Utahigi, in whose head grew +a single white hair endowed with magic power. When her husband pulled +it out a great storm arose and Utahigi went up to heaven. She was a +bird (or cloud) maiden, and this hair must have been the lightning +drawn from the cloud. The Servian Atalanta, when nearly overtaken by +her lover, takes a hair from the top of her head and throws it behind +her. It becomes a mighty wood (clouds are the forests and mountains of +the sky, Gubernatis, _Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 11), +Karadschitsch, _Volksmaerchen der Serben_, p. 25, in the story "von +dem Maedchen das behender als das Pferd ist." In Schmidt's +_Griechische Maerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder_, p. 79, the king's +daughter as she flies with her lover from the Lamnissa throws some of +her own hairs behind her, and they become a great lake (thunderbolts +and lightning bring rain). At p. 98 of the same work is the story "Der +Riese vom Berge." When this giant wishes to enter his great high +mountain, he takes a hair from his head and touches the mountain with +it. The mountain at once splits in two (p. 101). The king's daughter +in her encounter with the Efreet, "plucked a hair from her head and +muttered with her lips, whereupon the hair became converted into a +piercing sword with which she struck the lion [the Efreet], and he was +cleft in twain by her blow; but his head became changed into a +scorpion" (Lane's _Arabian Nights_, vol. I. p. 156). A Baba Yaga, in +Ralston's _Russian Folk Tales_, p. 147, plucks one of her hairs, ties +three knots in it, and blows, and thus petrifies her victims. She is a +personification of the spirit of the storm, _ib._ p. 164. In _Old +Deccan Days_, at p. 62, the old Rakshas says to Ramchundra, "You must +not touch my hair;" "the least fragment of my hair thrown in the +direction of the jungle would instantly set it in a blaze." Ramchundra +steals two or three of the hairs, and when escaping from the Rakshas, +flings them to the winds and fires the jungle. Chandra (p. 266 of the +same book) avenges the death of her husband by tearing her hair, which +burns and instantly sets fire to the land; all the people in it but +herself and a few who had been kind to her and are therefore saved, +were burnt in this great fire. + +In these tales a single hair from the head of the Princess Labam (the +lunar ray can pierce the cloud as well as a solar ray) cuts a thick +tree-trunk in two, p. 163. + +Hair has another property; it can tell things to its owners. See the +three hairs the Queen gives Coachman Toms, saying, "They will always +tell you the truth when you question them." (Stier's _Ungarische +Volksmaerchen_, p. 176), and which, later in the story (p. 186) +adjudge the king worthy of death. (See Grimm's story _Kinder und +Hausmaerchen_, vol. II. p. 174, "The clear sun brings day.") Also "Das +wunderbare Haar" (Karadschitsch _Volksmaerchen der Serben_, p. 180), +which is blood-red, and in which when split open were found written a +multitude of noteworthy events from the beginning of the world. (The +sun's rays have existed since the early ages of the world.) The girl +from whose head the hair is taken threads a needle with the sun's rays +and embroiders a net made of the hair of heroes. + +See, too, the Eskimo account of the removal of Disco Island in Rink's +_Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 464, where one old man vainly +tries to keep back the island by means of a seal-skin thong which +snaps, while two other old men haul it away triumphantly by the hair +from the head of a little child, chanting their spells all the time. +Their success was, perhaps, due to the spells, not to the hair. In the +notes to Der Capitaen Dreizehn in Schmidt's _Griechische Maerchen, +Sagen und Volkslieder_, there are some instances of the strength given +by hair to those on whom it grows. + +2. The lichi is Nephelium Litchi. + +3. King Burtal's eldest son's name _Sazada_ is perhaps the boy's title +Shahzada (born of a king), prince. Dunkni says it is his name. + + +XVI.--SOME OF THE DOINGS OF SHEKH FARID. + +1. Khelapari means "playful fairy:" Gulabsa, "like a rose." + +2. In another version told to me this year by Dunkni, when Gursan Raja +wakes and learns how long his wife has stood by him, he is horrified, +and refuses the water, saying he does not want it. He tells her that +as a reward for her patience and goodness, she shall know of herself +everything that happens in other countries--floods, fires, and other +troubles; that she shall be able to bring help; and should any one die +from having his throat cut she shall be able to restore him to life, +by smearing the wound with some blood taken from an incision in her +little finger. Khelapari's acquaintance with Shekh Farid begins in +this version as follows:--She was standing at the door of her house +looking down the road, when she saw coming towards her Shekh Farid, +the cartman, and the bullock-cart laden with what once was sugar, but +now, thanks to the fakir, is ashes. Through her gift Khelapari knows +all that has happened, though the miracle was not performed in her +sight; and Shekh Farid being a fakir, though his all-knowing talent +does not equal hers, knows that she knows. The cartman is in despair +when he discovers the ashes, and implores Shekh Farid to help him. The +fakir sends him to Khelapari, saying he must appeal to her as her +power of doing good excels his (the fakir's); that though he could +turn sugar to ashes, he could not turn the ashes to sugar. Khelapari +at the cartman's prayer performs this miracle. Their next encounter is +by a tank in the jungle by which the holy man is resting. She is +hurrying along to put out the fire at her father's palace. The Shekh +cannot understand how it is possible for any woman to know of herself +what is happening twenty miles off, when he, a fakir, can only know +what passes at a short distance, so he follows the Rani to test her +truthfulness, and arrives in time to see her helping to put out the +fire. The rest of the story is the same as the version printed in this +collection. + +3. This Shekh Farid was a famous Sufi saint. He was a contemporary of +Nanak, and many of his sayings are embodied in the Granth. In Central +India, there is a holy hill of his called Girur. The Gazetteer of the +Central Provinces edited by C. Grant, 2nd edition, Nagpur, 1870, says +that articles of merchandise belonging to two travelling traders who +mocked the saint passed before him, on which he turned the whole +stock-in-trade into stones as a punishment. They implored his pardon, +and he created a fresh stock for them from dry leaves, on which they +were so struck by his power that they attached themselves permanently +to his service, and two graves on the hill are said to be theirs. In +the _Pioneer_ for 5th August 1878, Pekin has a poem on a similar +legend about the saint. Standing on his holy hill, one day Shekh Farid +saw a packman pass and he begged for alms. The packman mocked him. +Then the saint asked what his sacks contained. "Stones," was the +answer. The Shekh said, "Sooth--they are but worthless stones." +Whereupon all the sacks burst, and the contents, at one time different +kinds of spices, fell stones to the ground. The owner implored the +saint's mercy. Shekh Farid told him to fill his sacks with leaves from +the trees, which was done, and then the leaves became gold mohurs. The +packman turned saint too and left his bones on Girur. A similar +miracle is told of the Irish Saint, Brigit. "Once upon a time Brigit +beheld a man with salt on his back. 'What is that on thy back?' saith +Brigit; 'Stones,' saith the man. 'They shall be stones then,' saith +Brigit, and of the salt stones were made. The same man again cometh to +(or past) Brigit. 'What is that on thy back?' saith Brigit. 'Salt,' +saith the man. 'It shall be salt then,' saith Brigit. Salt was made +again thereof through Brigit's word." (_Three Middle Irish Homilies_, +p. 81.) + +4. Fakirchand means the moon of fakirs. Mohandas, the servant of the +Mohan (Krish[n.]a). Champakali is a necklace made in imitation of the +closed buds of the champa or champak flowers. + +5. The demons, in Hindustani _dew_ (pronounced deo), god, are +something like the Rakshases. They have wings, and have exceedingly +long lips, one of which sticks up in the air, while the other hangs +down. One of King Arthur's warriors, "Gwevyl, the son of Gwestad, on +the day that he was sad, he would let one of his lips drop below his +waist while he turned up the other like a cap upon his head" +(_Mabinogion_, vol. II. p. 266, "Kilhwch and Olwen"). + + +XVII.--THE MOUSE. + +1. Unluckily, when Karim was with us, I neglected to write down the +name of the grain that kills the mouse, and all the wonderful things +he told us of the properties of this grain. His explanations were a +kind of note given after he had finished the story. + +2. The only parallel I can find to this story is one in Bleek's +_Hottentot Fables and Tales_, p. 90, called "The unreasonable child to +whom the dog gave its deserts; or a receipt for putting any one to +sleep," in which the child indulges in the uncalled for generosity and +unreasonable rage of the mouse. + + +XVIII.--A WONDERFUL STORY. + +1. Ajit means unsubdued, invincible. + +2. The wrestler's mode of announcing his arrival at Ajit's house is, +probably, the solitary result of many efforts to induce Karim himself +to knock at the nursery door before he marched into the nursery. I +never heard of natives knocking at each other's house-doors. + +3. With these wrestlers compare Grimm's "Der junge Riese," _Kinder und +Hausmaerchen_, vol. II. p. 23, and "Eisenhans" in Haltrich's +_Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, p. 77. + +4. Ajit carries her house. Note by Mr. J. F. Campbell: "Compare an +Irish story about Fionn and a giant who was told that the hero turned +the house when the wind blew open the door." [See, too, Campbell's +_Tales of the Western Highlands_, vol. III. p. 184] + +5. When Karim was here I forgot to ask him how big were Ajit's cakes, +can, and mice. Mr. Campbell of Islay, who read this story in +manuscript, wrote in the margin where the mice were mentioned: "The +fleas in the island of Java are so big that they come out from under +the bed and steal potatoes. They do many such things. Compare [with +Ajit's can] a Gaelic story about a man who found the Fenians in an +island, and was offered a drink in a can so large that he could not +move it." + +6. Mr. G. H. Damant, in the _Indian Antiquary_ for September 1873, +vol. II. p. 271, has a Dinajpur story called "Two ganja-eaters" which +is very like our Wonderful Story. In it a ganja-eater who can eat six +maunds of ganja[7] hears of another ganja-eater who can eat nine +maunds; so he takes his six maunds of ganja, and sets off for his +rival's country with the intention of fighting him. On the road he is +thirsty and drinks a whole pond dry, but this fails to quench his +thirst. Arrived at the nine-maund ganja-eater's house, he learns from +the wife that her husband has gone to cut sugar-cane, and decides to +go and meet him. He finds him in the jungle, and wishes to fight there +and then; but his rival does not agree to this, saying he has eaten +nothing for seven days. The other answers he has eaten nothing for +nine; whereupon the nine-maund ganja-eater suggests they shall wait +till they get back to his country, as in the jungle they will have no +spectators. The six-maund ganja-eater consents. So the nine-maund +ganja-eater takes up all the sugar-cane he has cut during the last +seven days and sets off for his country with his rival. On the way +they meet a fish-wife, and call her to stop and see them fight; she +answers she must carry her fish without delay to market, being already +late, and proposes they should stand on her arm and fight, and that +then she could see them as they go along. While they are fighting on +her arm, down sweeps a kite which carries off "the ganja-eaters; fish +and all." They are thrown by a storm in front of a Raja's daughter, +who has them swept away thinking they are bits of straw. + +FOOTNOTE: + + [7] An intoxicating preparation of the hemp-plant (_Cannabis + sativa_ or _C. indica_). + + +XIX.--THE FAKIR NANAKSA SAVES THE MERCHANT'S LIFE. + +1. Nanaksa, _i.e._ Nanak Shah, is doubtless the first guru of the +Sikhs (about A.D. 1460-1530). + +2. With the transmigration of the souls of the merchant's father, +grandmother, and sister into the goat, the old woman and his little +daughter, compare a Dinajpur story published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the +_Indian Antiquary_ for June 7, 1872, vol. I. p. 172, in which a king +threatens to kill a Brahman if he does not explain what he means by +saying to the king every day, "As thy liberality, so thy virtue." By +his new-born daughter's advice the Brahman tells the king this child +would explain it to him. Accordingly the king comes to the Brahman's +house and is received smilingly "by the two-and-a-half-days-old +daughter. She sends the king for the desired information to a certain +red ox, who in his turn" sends him to a clump of Shahara (_Trophis +aspera_) trees. The trees tell him he has been made king in this state +of existence, because in a former state of existence he was liberal and +full of charity; that in this former state the child just born as the +Brahman's daughter was his wife: that the red ox was then his son, and +that this son's wife, as a punishment for her hardness and +uncharitableness, had "become the genius of this grove of trees." + +3. Jabra'il is the Archangel Gabriel. + + +XX.--THE BOY WHO HAD A MOON ON HIS FOREHEAD AND A STAR ON HIS CHIN. + +1. For these marks see paragraph 4 of the notes to Phulmati Rani. I +think the silver chains with which King Oriant's children are born +(see the Netherlandish story, the Knight of the Swan, quoted in +paragraph 3 of the notes to the Pomegranate King) are identical with +the suns, moons, and stars that the hero in this and in many other +tales possesses. They are his princely insignia and proofs of his +royalty. When the boy in this tale twists his right ear his insignia +are hidden, and so long as they remain concealed no one can guess he +is a king's son, unless he chooses to reveal himself, as he does, +partially, through his sweet singing to the youngest princess. With +this partial revelation compare the Sicilian "Stupid Peppe" revealing +himself in part by means of the ring he gave to his youngest princess. +This ring has the property of flashing brightly whenever he is near. +(See the story "Von dem muthigen Koenigssohn, der viele Abenteuer +erlebte" quoted in paragraph 6 of the notes to this story, p. 280.) +The shape of the insignia may have been destroyed, as in the case of +the sixth swan's chain, in the Netherlandish story, but its substance +remains, and as soon as it reappears the hero clothes himself with his +own royal form. Chundun Raja's necklace (_Old Deccan Days_, p. 230) +and Sodewa Bai's necklace (_ib._ p. 236), in which lay their life, +belong, perhaps, to these insignia. Their princely owners' existence +depends on their keeping these proofs of their royalty in their own +possession, and is suspended whenever the proofs pass into the hands +of others. + +2. The gardener's daughter promises to bear her husband a son with the +moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. Compare "Die verstossene +Koenigin und ihre beiden ausgesetzten Kinder," Gonzenbach's +_Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. I. p. 19, where the girl (p. 21) +promises to give the king, if he marries her, a son with a golden +apple in his hand, and a daughter with a silver star on her forehead. +Also compare with our story "Truth's Triumph" in _Old Deccan Days_, p. +50. In Indian stories, as in European tales, the gardener and his +family often play an important part, the hero being frequently the son +of the gardener's daughter, or else protected by the gardener and his +wife. + +3. With the kettle-drum compare the golden bell given by the Raja to +Guzra Bai in "Truth's Triumph" (_Old Deccan Days_, p. 53); and the +flute given by the nymph Tillottama to her husband in the "Finding of +the Dream," a Dinajpur story published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the +_Indian Antiquary_, February 1875, vol. IV. p. 54. See also paragraph +7, p. 287, of notes to "How the Raja's son won the Princess Labam." + +4. _Ka[t.]ar_ (the _t_ is lingual) means cruel, relentless. With this +fairy-horse compare the Russian hero-horses in Dietrich's collection +of Russian tales, who remain shut up behind twelve iron doors, and +often loaded with chains as well, till the advent of heroes great +enough to ride them. They generally speak with human voices, are their +masters' devoted servants, fight for him, often slaughtering more of +his enemies than he does himself, and when turned loose in the free +fields, as Ka[t.]ar was in his jungle, till they are needed, always +staying in them and coming at once to their master when he calls. See +in the collection by Dietrich (_Russische Volksmaerchen_) No. 1, "Von +Ljubim Zarewitch," &c., p. 3; No. 2, "Von der selbstspielenden Harfe," +p. 17; No. 4, "Von Ritter Iwan, dem Bauersohne," p. 43; No. 10, "Von +Bulat dem braven Burschen," p. 133; Jeruslan Lasarewitsch in the story +that bears his name (No. 17, p. 208) catches and tames a wonderful +horse near which even lions and eagles do not dare to go, p. 214. And +the Hungarian fairy horses (Zauberpferde) who, like the Servian +hero-horses, become ugly and lame at pleasure, and speak with human +voice, must also be compared to Ka[t.]ar. One in particular plays a +leading part in the story of "Weissnittle" (Stier's _Ungarische +Volksmaerchen_, p. 61). He saves the king's son twice from death and +then flies with him to another land. He speaks with human voice, +advises him in all his doings, and marries him to a king's daughter; +Weissnittle obeying his horse as implicitly as our hero does Ka[t.]ar. +The heroes' horses in Haltrich's _Siebenbuergische Maerchen_ also +speak with human voice and give their masters good counsel. See p. 35 +of "Der goldne Vogel;" p. 49 of "Der Zauberross;" p. 101 of "Der Knabe +und der Schlange." These last two horses have more than four legs: +like Odin's Sleipnir, they each have eight. See, too, the dragon's +horse and this horse's brother in "Der goldne Apfelbaum und die neun +Pfauinnen" (Karadschitsch, _Volksmaerchen der Serben_, pp. 33-40). The +"steed" in the "Rider of Grianaig," pp. 14 and 15 of vol. III. of +Campbell's _Tales of the Western Highlands_, and the "Shaggy dun +filly" in "The young king of Easaidh Ruadh," at p. 4 of vol. I. of the +same work, may also be compared; and, lastly, in a list of hero-horses +Cuchulainn's Gray of Macha deserves a place. On the morning of the day +which was to see his last fight, Cuchulainn ordered his charioteer, +Loeg, to harness the Gray to his chariot. "'I swear to God what my +people swears,' said Loeg, 'though the men of Conchobar's fifth +(Ulster) were around the Gray of Macha, they could not bring him to +the chariot.... If thou wilt, come thou, and speak with the Gray +himself.' Cuchulainn went to him. And thrice did the horse turn his +left side to his master.... Then Cuchulainn reproached his horse, +saying that he was not wont to deal thus with his master. Thereat the +Gray of Macha came and let his big round tears of blood fall on +Cuchulainn's feet." The hero then leaps into his chariot, and goes to +battle. At last the Gray is sore wounded, and he and Cuchulainn bid +each other farewell. The Gray leaves his master; but when Cuchulainn, +wounded to death, has tied himself to a stone pillar to die standing, +"then came the Gray of Macha to Cuchulainn to protect him so long as +his soul abode in him, and the 'hero's light' out of his forehead +remained. Then the Gray of Macha wrought the three red routs all +around him. And fifty fell by his teeth and thirty by each of his +hooves. This is what he slew of the host. And hence is (the saying) +'Not keener were the victorious courses of the Gray of Macha after +Cuchulainn's slaughter.'" Then Lugaid and his men cut off the hero's +head and right hand and set off, driving the Gray before them. They +met Conall the Victorious, who knew what had happened when he saw his +friend's horse. "And he and the Gray of Macha sought Cuchulainn's +body. They saw Cuchulainn at the pillar-stone. Then went the Gray of +Macha and laid his head on Cuchulainn's breast. And Conall said, 'A +heavy care to the Gray of Macha is that corpse.'" Conall himself, in +the fight he has with Lugaid, to avenge his friend's slaughter, is +helped by his own horse, the Dewy-Red. "When Conall found that he +prevailed not, he saw his steed, the Dewy-Red, by Lugaid. And the +steed came to Lugaid and tore a piece out of his side." ("Cuchulainn's +Death, abridged from the Book of Leinster," _Revue celtique_, Juin +1877, pp. 175, 176, 180, 182, 183, 185.) + +5. The prince makes his escape at five years old. Jeruslan +Jeruslanowitsch at the same age sets out in search of his father, +Jeruslan Lasarewitsch, equipped as a knight, at p. 250 of the 17th +Russian Maerchen in the collection by Dietrich quoted above. He meets +and fights bravely with his father, proving himself worthy of him (p. +251). Sohrab, Rustam's famous son, gives proof of a lion's courage at +five, and at ten years old vanquishes all his companions (Gubernatis, +_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 115). + +6. The princess chooses the ugly common-looking man. In _Old Deccan +Days_, p. 119, so does the Princess Buccoulee. In the episode of Nala +and Damayanti we have the assemblage of suitors, and the public choice +of a husband by a princess (_svayamvara_). Damayanti recognizes the +mortal Nala among the gods, (each of whom has made himself resemble +Nala) from the fact that the flowers of which Nala's garlands were +composed had faded while the garlands of the gods were blooming +freshly. In a story from Manipuri told by Mr. G. H. Damant in the +_Indian Antiquary_, September 1875, vol. IV. p. 260, Prince Basanta, +effectually disguised by misery, and travel-stained, arrives with the +merchant at a certain place where the king's daughter that day is to +choose her husband. The merchant takes his seat among the princely +suitors; Basanta a little way off. There is a general storm of +scoffings when the princess hangs her garland of flowers round +Basanta's neck. In one of Laura Gonzenbach's Sicilian stories, "Von +einem muthigen Koenigssohn, der viele Abenteuer erlebte," vol. II. p. +21, we have three kings' sons (brothers) and three princesses +(sisters.) The two elder brothers marry the two elder sisters. At a +tournament held on purpose that she may choose her husband, the +youngest sister, to the general disgust, chooses the youngest prince +(disguised as the dirty, ill-dressed servant of the court tailor), and +who is not even present as a suitor. Her suitors, princes, have passed +before her for three days. After the marriage the prince keeps up the +disguise. His brothers by way of amusing themselves at his expense +take "Stupid Peppe," as they call him, to the wood to shoot birds; he +shoots a great number, while they run here and there and cannot find +one. They agree to let him brand them with black spots on their +shoulders, on condition he gives them his birds. In the notes to this +story, vol. II. p. 240. Herr Koehler gives Spanish, Russian, South +Siberian, and others parallels. And in Stier's _Ungarische +Volksmaerchen_, p. 61, in the story of "Weissnittle," we have not only +the hero-horse mentioned in paragraph 4 of these notes, but also the +assemblage of suitors for the princess to choose her husband: her +choice of a seemingly stupid gardener's boy, who has partially +revealed himself to her; the prince retaining his disguise, after his +marriage, towards every one, even his wife: two brothers-in-law, who +are kings' sons and the wife's elder sisters' husbands; their hunting +on three different days, each time meeting a handsome prince in whom +they do not recognize their despised brother-in-law, Weissnittle, who +sells them his game the first day for their wedding-rings, the second +for leave to brand them with these rings on their foreheads, the third +for permission to brand them with a gallows on their backs: lastly, we +have Weissnittle, as a splendid young prince, publicly shaming his +brothers-in-law by exposing their branding marks. In India this +branding with red-hot pice was the punishment for stealing. Compare in +Taylor's _Confessions of a Thug_, p. 411, Amir Ali's horror at being +so branded by the Raja of Jhalone. It was, he says years later, a +punishment worse than death, as the world would think him a thief, and +he would carry to his grave "a mark only set on the vile and the +outcasts from society." + +7. Muniya tells me that, in a variation of this story, the dog, cow, +and horse each swallow the child three times, but for shorter periods, +as he is only five years old when he escapes on Ka[t.]ar. Then when +the princess chooses her husband she rides three times round the +assemblage of Raja's, who all sit on a great plain, and each time she +chooses the pretended _old_ man; for in this version the boy loses his +youth as well as his good looks. Instead of taking service with the +grain merchant, the boy is told by his horse to go boldly to the +king's palace and ask for service there. The shaming of the +brothers-in-law happens thus. The boy invites these princes, the king, +all the king's servants, and all the people in the king's country, to +a grand entertainment in the king's court-house. When they are all +assembled he has the six princes stripped and every one mocks at the +pice-marks on their backs. These are the only variations in the other +version. + +Sir George Grey, in his _Polynesian Mythology_, p. 73, tells how the +hero Tawhaki when he climbed into heaven in search of his lost wife +"disguised himself, and changed his handsome and noble appearance, and +assumed the likeness of a very ugly old man." If fact, he looks such a +thoroughly common old man that in the heavens he is taken for a slave +instead of a great chief, and treated as such. + + +XXI.--THE BEL-PRINCESS. + +1. Muniya says that telling the prince he would marry a Bel-Princess +was equivalent to saying he would not marry at all, for these +brothers' wives knew she lived in the fairy-country, and that it would +be very difficult, if not impossible, for the prince to find her, and +take her from it. + +2. With the fakir's sleep compare that of the dragon who sleeps for a +year at a time in the Transylvanian story "Das Rosenmaerchen" +(_Siebenbuergische Maerchen_, pp. 124, 126). + +3. In a Greek story, "Das Schloss des Helios" (Schmidt's _Griechische +Maerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder_, p. 106), the heroine is warned by a +monk that as she approaches the magic castle voices like her brothers' +voices will call her; but if, consequently, she looks behind she will +become stone. Her two elder brothers go to seek her, and, as they meet +no monk to warn them, they become stone. The third brother meets the +monk, obeys his warning, and thus, like his sister, escapes the evil +fate. To save him from Helios, the sister turns him into a thimble +till she has Helios's promise to do him no harm. (Compare the Tiger +and Tigress, p. 155 of this collection.) Helios gives him some water +in a flask with which he sprinkles the stone brothers, whereupon they +and all the other stone princes come to life. In these Indian tales +the healing blood from the little finger plays the part of the waters +of life and death, found in so many Russian and other European +stories. + +When reading of the fate of all these princes, it is impossible not +to think of Lot's wife. + +The danger of looking back, when engaged on any dealings with +supernatural powers, is insisted on in the tales and practices of the +Russians, Eskimos, Zulus, and the Khonds of Orissa. In Russia the +watcher for the golden fern-flower must seize it the instant it +blossoms and run home, taking care not to look behind him: whether +through fear of giving the demons, who also watch for it, power over +him, or whether through a dread of the flower losing its magic powers +if this precaution is neglected, Mr. Ralston does not say (_Songs of +the Russian People_, p. 99). When "the Revived who came to the +under-world people" (Dr. Rink tells us in his _Tales and Traditions of +the Eskimo_, p. 299) took the old couple to visit the ingnersuit +(supernatural beings "who have their abodes beneath the surface of the +earth, in the cliffs along the sea-shore, where the ordinarily +invisible entrances to them are found" _ib._ p. 46), he warned "them +not to look back when they approached the rock which enclosed the +abode of the ingnersuit, lest the entrance should remain shut for +them.... When they had reached the cliff, and were rowing up to it, it +forthwith opened; and inside was seen a beautiful country, with many +houses, and a beach covered with pebbles and large heaps of fish and +matak (edible skin). Perceiving this the old people for joy forgot the +warning and turned round, and instantly all disappeared: the prow of +the boat knocked right against the steep rock and was smashed in, so +that they all were thrown down by the shock. The son [the revived] +said, 'Now we must remain apart for ever.'" Mr. Tylor, in the 2nd +volume of his _Primitive Culture_, at p. 147 mentions a Zulu remedy +for preventing a dead man from tormenting his widow in her dreams; the +sorcerer goes with her to lay the ghost, and when this is done +"charges her not to look back till she gets home:" and he says the +Khonds of Orissa, when offering human sacrifices to the earth-goddess +bury their portions of the offering in holes in the ground behind +their backs without looking round (_ib._ p. 377). + +4. In most of the stories of this kind the command is to open the +fruit or casket only near water, for if the beautiful maiden inside +cannot get water immediately she dies. Such is the case in the "Drei +Pomeranzen" (Stier's _Ungarische Maerchen und Sagen_, p. 83), in "Die +Schoene mit dem sieben Schleier" (_Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. I. p. +73), and in "Die drei Citronen" (Schmidt's _Griechische Maerchen, +Sagen und Volkslieder_, p. 71). "Die Ungeborene Niegesehene" (Schott's +_Wallachische Maerchen_, p. 248) must be compared with these, though +the beautiful maiden does not come out of the golden fairy-apple. She +appears suddenly and the prince must give her water to drink and the +apple to eat, before he can take her and keep her. In all these +stories the hero has a long journey, and encounters many dangers, in +seeking his bride. In the Sicilian story he is helped by hermits; in +the Greek story, by a monk--monks in Greek and hermits in Sicilian and +Servian stories playing the part of the fakirs in these Indian tales. +In all these stories, too, the maiden is killed or transformed by a +wicked woman who takes her place. In the Wallachian and Sicilian fairy +tales the rightful bride becomes a dove only. But in the Hungarian +tale she is drowned in a well and becomes a gold fish; the wicked +gipsy has no rest till she has eaten the fish's liver: from one of its +scales springs a tree; she has the tree cut down and burnt. The +wood-cutter who hews down the tree makes a cover for his wife's +milk-pot from a piece of the wood, and they find their house kept in +beautiful order from this moment. So to discover the secret, they peep +through the keyhole one day and see a lovely fairy come out of the +milk-jar. Then they enter their house suddenly and the girl tells her +story: the wood-cutter's wife burns the wooden lid to force her to +keep her own form, and goes to the king's son to tell him where he +will find his Pomegranate-bride again. In the Greek story a Lamnissa +eats the citron-girl, but a tiny bone falls unnoticed into the water +and becomes a gold-fish. The prince not only takes the Lamnissa home +with him, but he takes the gold-fish too, and keeps it in his room, +"for he loved it dearly." The Lamnissa never rests till he gives her +the fish to eat. Its bones are thrown into a garden and from them +springs a rose bush on which blooms a rose which the king's old +washerwoman wishes to break off to sell it at the castle. From out of +the bush springs the beautiful citron-maiden, and tells the old woman +her story. She also gives her the rose for the king's son, and in the +basket with the rose she lays a ring he had given her, but charges the +old woman to say nothing about her to him. The next day he comes to +the old woman's cottage and finds his real bride. + +5. The youngest prince alone can gather the lotus-flower and +bel-fruit. Compare the Pomegranate-king, pp. 10 and 11, and paragraphs +1 and 4, pp. 245, 252, of the notes to that story. In his _Northern +Mythology_, vol. I., in the footnotes at p. 290, Thorpe mentions a +maiden's grave from which spring "three lilies which no one save her +lover may gather." I think he must quote from a Danish ballad. + +6. The princess after drowning is first in a lotus-flower; then in a +bel-fruit again; and, lastly, her body is changed to a garden and +palace. Signor de Gubernatis at p. 152 of the 1st volume of his +_Zoological Mythology_ mentions an Esthonian story where a girl (she +who addressed the crow as "bird of light"--see paragraph 2, p. 259 of +the notes to "Brave Hiralalbasa") while fleeing with her lover is +thrown into the water by a magic ball sent after them by the old +witch, and there becomes "a pond-rose (lotus-flower)." Her lover eats +hogs'-flesh and thus learns the language of birds, and then sends +swallows to a magician in Finnland to ask what he must do to free his +bride. The answer is brought by an eagle; and the prince following the +magician's instructions helps the girl to recover her human form. And +just as Surya Bai is born again in her mango (_Old Deccan Days_, p. +87) and the Bel-Princess in her bel-fruit, so is the girl in the +Hottentot tale of "The Lion who took a woman's shape" born from her +heart in the calabash full of milk in which her mother has put it. The +lion had eaten the girl; but her mother burns the lion and persuades +the fire in which she burns him to give her her daughter's heart +(Bleek's _Hottentot Fables and Tales_, pp. 55 and 56). With the change +into the garden and palace compare the Russian story of a maiden whose +servant-girl blinds her and takes her place as the king's wife. After +some time the false queen learns her mistress is still living; so she +has her murdered and cut to pieces. "Where the maiden is buried a +garden arises, and a boy shows himself. The boy goes to the palace and +runs after the queen, making such a din that she is obliged, in order +to silence him, to give him the girl's heart which she had kept +hidden. The boy then runs off contented, the king follows him, and +finds himself before the resuscitated maiden" (Gubernatis, _Zoological +Mythology_, vol. I. pp. 218, 219). See paragraphs 7 and 8 of the notes +to "Phulmati Rani," p. 244, and 1, 3 and 4, pp. 245, 250, 252, of +those to "The Pomegranate-king." + +7. The commonplace fate of the wonderful palace is deplorable. + + +XXII.--HOW THE RAJA'S SON WON THE PRINCESS LABAM. + +1. The "four sides" in this story (p. 153), the "four directions" (p. +156) which ought to have been translated four sides and the four sides +in "The Bed," p. 202, are the four points of the compass. They appear +in a Dinajpur story told by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian +Antiquary_, 5th April 1872, p. 115. In the first Russian fairy tale +published by Dietrich, the hero's parents give their elder sons +permission "to go on the four sides" when they start on their journeys +(_Russische Volksmaerchen_, p. 1). In another fairy tale in the same +collection (No. 11, p. 144) the Prince Malandrach, when he has lost +his way flying in the air and is over the sea, raises himself by a +last effort and looks on all the "four sides" in search of a +resting-place for his foot, p. 147. Of course, too, like orthodox +Russians, the Russian heroes generally bow to all the "four sides," +before attempting their journeys and adventures. + +2. Hiraman is the name of a kind of parroquet. Irik in the Bohemian +tale "Princess Golden-Hair" (Naake's _Slavonic Fairy Tales_, p. 99) +first hears of the princess's existence from the chattering of birds. + +3. "Aunty" was the word used in English by old Muniya. + +4. With the stone bowl compare the pot in Grimm's "Der suesse Brei," +_Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, vol. II. p. 104. + +5. With the tigers' coats compare the robes of honour wherewith the +knights in the Mabinogion clothe themselves when they go to combat. +"And he (Gwalchmai) went forth to meet the knight (Owain), having over +himself and his horse a satin robe of honour sent him by the daughter +of the Earl of Rhangyw; and in this dress he was not known by any of +the host" ("The Lady of the Fountain," _Mabinogion_, vol. I. p. 67). +Peredur wears "a bright scarlet robe of honour over his armour" given +him by the king's daughter (_ib._ p. 363 of "Peredur the son of +Evrawc"). And in "The Dream of Rhonabwy" a knight and his horse wear a +robe of honour (_ib._ vol. II. p. 413). + +6. With the tigers' fight with the demons compare the combat of the +grateful lion with the giant, in which the lion bears the brunt of the +battle. On the giant's saying, "Truly, I should find no difficulty in +fighting with thee were it not for the animal that is with thee," +Owain shuts the lion up in the castle. "The lion in the castle roared +very loud, for he heard that it went hard with Owain," so he climbed +to the top of the castle, sprang down and "joined Owain. And the lion +gave the giant a stroke with his paw, which tore him from his shoulder +to his hip, and his heart was laid bare. And the giant fell down dead" +("The Lady of the Fountain," _Mabinogion_, vol. I. pp. 79, 80). + +7. Gubernatis in vol. I. p. 160, of his _Zoological Mythology_, says, +"The drum or kettle-drum thunder is a familiar image in Hindu poetry, +and the gandharvas, the musician warriors of the Hindu Olympus, have +no other instrument than the thunder." "The magic flute is a variation +of the same celestial instrument," _ib._ p. 161. + +8. For the hair, see note to "How King Burtal became a Fakir," +paragraph 2, p. 268. + + +XXIII.--THE PRINCESS WHO LOVED HER FATHER LIKE SALT. + +1. With the task of pulling out the needles, the purchase of the +maid-servant, the sleep of the princess, the usurping of her place by +the maid who makes the prince believe the princess is her +servant-girl, compare "Der boese Schulmeister und die wandernde +Koenigstochter," in Laura Gonzenbach's _Sicilianische Maerchen_, vol. +I. p. 59. Here, too, the princess is driven forth from her home; she +finds a prince lying dead with a tablet by him on which is written, +"If a maiden will rub me seven years, seven months and seven days long +with grass from Mount Calvary, I shall return to life, and she shall +become my wife" (p. 61). + +2. Sun-jewel box. The word thus translated is Rav-ratan-ke-pitara. +_Ravi_, sun; _ratan_, jewel; _pitara_, a kind of box. + +3. In one of Grimm's stories, "Die Gaensehirtin am Brunnen," _Kinder +und Hausmaerchen_, vol. II. p. 419, a king asks his three daughters +how much they love him (p. 425). The eldest loves him as much as the +"sweetest sugar," the second as much as her "finest dress," and the +third as much as salt. So her father in a rage has a sack of salt +bound on her back, and makes two of his servants take her away to the +forest. See also Auerbach's _Barfuessele_, Stuttgart, 1873, ss. 236, +237. + + +XXIV.--THE DEMON IS AT LAST CONQUERED BY THE KING'S SON. + +1. The leading idea of this story is the same as that in "Brave +Hiralalbasa." + +2. With this demon as a goat, compare the Rakshas in the Pig's Head +Soothsayer in _Sagas from the Far East_, p. 63, and the Rakshas in a +Bengali story printed by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_, +7th June, 1872, p. 120. This last story opens with seven labourers, +brothers, six of whom go down to the water to drink and never return. +The seventh goes to see what has happened to them, and finds, instead +of his brothers, a goat which is really a Rakshas. This goat then +turns into a beautiful woman who marries the king, first making him +give into her hands the eyes of his queen, who is sent blind into the +forest, where she bears a little son. The Rakshas wife learns this, +and when the boy later takes service with the king she sends him three +times to her people in Ceylon, with orders to them to kill him. He has +to bring her foam from the sea, a wonderful rice which is sown, +ripens, and can be boiled in one day, and a singular cow. With the +help of a Sannyasi (a Brahman of the fourth order, a religious +mendicant), he does these errands safely. The Rakshases in Ceylon +receive him as their sister's son, show him his own mother's eyes and +the clay with which they can be set again in any human sockets, a +lemon which contains the life of the tribe, and a bird in which is +that of the Rakshas-queen. The boy cuts up the lemon, and thereby +kills them all, carries her eyes to his mother, and kills the +Rakshas-queen by killing the bird. In this story, as in "Brave +Hiralalbasa," the Rakshas-queen takes her own fearful form on seeing +her danger. + +3. The _Bargat_, fig-tree, is the _Ficus Bengalensis_ of Linnaeus. + +4. Muniya sends her hero for a _Garpank's_ feather; _Garpank_ I can +find in no dictionary, but have ventured to translate it by eagle, as +she says it is like a kite, only very much bigger; she sent us to see +a statue of a garpank that stood over a gateway in a street in +Calcutta, which might be that of an eagle or of a huge hawk. She said +such birds did not exist in Bengal, and that it was not the Garu[d.]a +(the sovran of the feathered race and vehicle of Vish[n.]u, Benfey). +Gubernatis, in the 2nd volume of his _Zoological Mythology_, p. 189, +tells a story from Monferrat where a king is blind, and can only be +cured by "bathing his eyes in oil with a feather" of a griffin that +lives on a high mountain. His third and youngest son catches and +brings him one of the griffins and the king regains his sight. + +5. Winning the gratitude of a bird by killing the snake or dragon that +year after year devours its young birds is such a common incident in +fairy tales, that I will only mention two instances. One occurs in a +Dinajpur tale published by Mr. G. H. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ +for 5th April, 1872, p. 145, where the hero saves the young birds from +the snake. They tell the old birds. He lies under the tree and listens +to the old birds relating how he will find the tree with the silver +stem and golden branches he has come to seek. The other occurs at pp. +119, 110, of a story collected by Vogl (_Volksmaerchen_ [Slavonic], p. +79) called Schoen-Jela. In this tale the hero is sheltered in the +dreadful underground wilderness by a hermit. Here there is the +gigantic bird, Einja, who every third year has a brood of four young +birds which a dragon as regularly devours. The hero, Prince Milan, +watches by the nest for the dragon and kills him. The young birds, +overjoyed, fly out of the nest and cover the hero with their wings +till the old bird on her return asks who has saved them. Then they +unfold their wings and she sees Prince Milan. In return she carries +him to the upper world. + +6. The word translated "night-growing rice" is Rat-vasha-ke-dhan; and +the ayah's description of this rice is given in the story. In this +description she spoke of it as chawal, the common word for uncooked +rice, and said the Rakshas wished to drink its kanji-pani +(rice-water). As it is a fairy plant I am afraid it is hopeless trying +to find its botanical name. Unluckily, Dr. George King says _vasha_ is +not rice at all. This is what he wrote to me on the subject: "_Vasha_ +is, I suppose, the same as _vasaka_, and in that case is _Justitia +Adhatoda_, a straggling shrub common over the whole of India [very +unlike the Rat-vasha-ke-dhan] and which was in the Sanscrit as it is +in the native pharmacopoeias. It is not a kind of rice, but belongs +to the natural order of Acanthaceae (the family to which Acanthus and +Thunbergia belong)." This night-growing rice may be compared to the +day-growing rice in paragraph 2, p. 288, of the notes to this story. + +7. Compare with the paper boat the rolled-up burdock leaf given to the +hero by the dwarf in the seventh Esthonian tale quoted by Gubernatis +(_Zoological Mythology_, vol. I. p. 155): whenever this hero wishes to +cross water he unrolls his burdock-leaf. Gubernatis compares this leaf +to the lotus-leaf on which the Hindus represented their god as +floating in the midst of the waters (_ibid._). + +8. With the great wind that comes from the demon, compare the +following Swedish account of a giant in Thorpe's _Northern Mythology_, +vol. II. p. 85. He asks his road of a lad, who directs him: then "he +went off as in a whirlwind, and the lad now discovered, to his no +small astonishment, that his forefinger with which he had pointed out +the way had followed along with the giant." In the old Scandinavian +belief the Giant Hraesvelgr sat at the end of heaven in an eagle's garb +(arna ham). From the motion of his wings came the wind which passed +over men (_ib._ vol. I. p. 8). It must be mentioned also that "in the +German popular tales the devil is frequently made to step into the +place of the giants" (_ib._ vol. I. p. 234), and that Stoepke or Stepke +is in Lower Saxony an appellation of the devil or of the whirlwind, +from which proceed the fogs which spread over the land (_ib._ p. 235). +The devil sits in the whirlwind and rushes howling and raging through +the air (Mark Sagen, _ib._ p. 377). The whirlwind is also ascribed to +witches. If a knife be cast into it, the witch will be wounded and +become visible (Schreiber's Taschenbuch, 1839, p. 323; _ib._ vol. I. +p. 235). Mr. Ralston, in his _Songs of the Russian People_, p. 382, +says the Russian peasant attributes whirlwinds to the mad dances in +which the devil celebrates his marriage with a witch, and at p. 155 of +the same book tells us how the malicious demon Lyeshy not only makes +use of the whirlwind as a travelling conveyance for himself and a +means of turning intruders out of quarters he had selected for his own +refuge, but sends home in it people to whom he is grateful. In Ireland +we find a wind blowing from hell. King Loegaire tells Patrick, "I +perceived the wind cold, icy, like a two-ridged spear, which almost +took our hair from our heads and passed through us to the ground. I +questioned Benen as to this wind. Said Benen to me, 'This is the wind +of hell which has opened before Cuchulainn.'" _Lebar na huidre_, p. +113 a. This "wind of hell" makes one think of the sweet-scented wind +from the mid-day regions, and the evil-scented wind from the north, +which in old Persian religious belief blew to meet pure and wicked +souls after death (Tylor's _Primitive Culture_, vol. II. pp. 98, 99). +Mr. Tylor mentions also the Fanti negroes' belief that the men and +animals they sacrifice to the local fetish are carried away in a +whirlwind imperceptibly to the worshippers (_ib._ p. 378). + +8. Abjhamjham-ke pani is what has been translated by "water from the +glittering well." + +9. The king had a great pit dug in the jungle. This is how Kai and +Bedwyr plucked out the beard of Dillus Varvawc, which had to be +plucked out during life. They made him eat meat till he slept. "Then +Kai made a pit under his feet, the largest in the world, and he struck +him a violent blow, and squeezed him into the pit. And there they +twitched out his beard completely with the wooden tweezers; and after +that they slew him altogether" ("Kilhwch and Olwen," _Mabinogion_, +vol. II. p. 304). + + +XXV.--THE FAN PRINCE. + +1. The boat would not move because the king had forgotten to get the +thing his youngest daughter had asked him to bring her. Signor de +Gubernatis (_Zoological Mythology_, vol. II. p. 382) mentions an +unpublished story from near Leghorn in which a sailor promises to +bring his youngest daughter a rose. The eldest daughter is to have a +shawl, and the second a hat. "When the voyage is over, he is about to +return, but having forgotten the rose, the ship refuses to move; he is +compelled to go back to look for a rose in a garden; a magician hands +the rose with a little box to the father to give it to one of his +daughters, whom the magician is to marry. At midnight, the father, +having returned home, relates to his third daughter all that had +happened. The little box is opened; it carries off the third daughter +to the magician, who happens to be King Pietraverde, and is now a +handsome young man." + +2. The princess's ring recalls Portia and Nerissa. + +3. A yogi is a Hindu religious mendicant. + + +XXVI.--THE BED. + +The merchant's son possibly was afraid of incurring the wrath either +of an original spirit residing in the tree, or of some human soul who +had been born again as its genius (see paragraph 1, p. 276, of note +to "The fakir Nanaksa saves the merchant's life"). Muniya could give +no reason for his asking each tree's permission to cut it down. + + +XXVII.--PANWPATTI RANI. + +See another version of this tale in the Baital Pachisi, No. 1. There +the heroine is called Padmavati, and her father King Dantavat. + + +XXVIII.--THE CLEVER WIFE. + +1. The merchant's wife tricks the four men into chests. Upakosa makes +the like appointments, and plays a similar trick: compare her story +translated from the Kathapitha by Dr. G. Buehler in the _Indian +Antiquary_ for 4th October, 1872, pp. 305, 306: and in "The +Touchstone," a Dinajpur legend told by Mr. G. H. Damant at p. 337 of +the _Indian Antiquary_ for December, 1873, the hero-prince's second +wife, Prannasini, in order to regain the touchstone for her husband +(like Upakosa and the Clever Wife) makes appointments with, and then +tricks, the kotwal, the king's councillor, the prime minister, and +lastly the king himself. + +2. She plays cards (_tas_). Forbes in his Hindustani and English +Dictionary p. 543, says _tas_ is the word used for _Indian_ playing +cards. The Indian pack, he says, contains eight suits, each suit +consisting of a king, wazir, and ten cards having various figures +represented on them from one to ten in number. + +[A close parallel to this tale is _Adi's Wife_, a Bengali legend from +Dinagepore, told by the late Mr. Damant in the _Indian Antiquary_ for +January, 1880, p. 2.] + + +XXIX.--RAJA HARICHAND'S PUNISHMENT. + +1. This king is probably the same as "The Upright King," Harchand +Raja, p. 68 of this collection. + +2. The Kop Shastra. Muniya says _kop_ is a Hindustani, not a Bengali +word, and has nothing whatever to do with demons. This is what Mr. +Tawney writes on the subject: "It might mean _kapi_, or _kapila_ if +the woman is a Bengali. _Kapi_ is a name of Vish[n.]u, possibly it +might be the Ramayana as treating of monkeys, but I really do not +know. I see Monier Williams says that there are certain demons called +_kapa_. But of course _kopa_ is anger. I suppose you know that the +natives of Bengal pronounce the short _a_ as _o_ in the English word +_hop_." Muniya pronounces _kop_ like the English word _cope_. This +Shastra seems as hopelessly mythical as the _Rat-vasha-ke-dhan_. + + +XXX.--THE KING'S SON AND THE WAZIR'S DAUGHTER. + +In a Servian story, "Des Vaters letzter Wille," pp. 134, 135, 136, of +the _Volksmaerchen der Serben_ collected by Karadschitsch, the +youngest brother has to take his brother-in-law's horse over a bridge +under which he sees an immense kettle full of boiling water in which +men's heads are cooking while eagles peck at them. He then passes +through a village where all is song and joyfulness because, so the +inhabitants tell him, each year is fruitful with them and they live, +therefore, in the midst of plenty. Then he sees two dogs quarrelling +which he cannot succeed in separating. He next passes through a +village where all is sorrow and tears because each year comes hail, so +the inhabitants "have nothing." Next he sees two boars fighting +together and cannot separate them any more than he could part the +dogs. Lastly, he reaches a beautiful meadow. In the evening his +brother-in-law expounds the meaning of all he has seen. The heads in +the boiling vessel represent the everlasting torment in the next +world. The happy villagers are good, charitable men, with whom God is +well pleased. The dogs are his elder brothers' wives. The sorrowing +villagers are men who know neither righteousness, concord, nor God. +The boars are his two wicked elder brothers. The meadow is paradise. + + + + +[Decoration] + +GLOSSARY. + + +Bel, a fruit; _AEgle marmelos_. + +Bulbul, a kind of nightingale. + +Chaprasi, a messenger wearing a badge (_chapras_). + +Cooly (Tamil _kuli_), a labourer in the fields; also a porter. + +Dal, a kind of pulse; _Phaseolus aureus_, according to Wilson; +_Paspalum frumentaceum_, according to Forbes. + +Dom (the d is lingual), a low-caste Hindu. + +Fakir, a Muhammadan religious mendicant. + +Ghee (_ghi_), butter boiled and then set to cool. + +Kazi, a Muhammadan Judge. + +Kotwal, the chief police officer in a town. + +Lichi, a fruit; _Scytalia litchi_, Roxb. + +Maharaja (properly Maharaj), literally great king. + +Maharani, literally great queen. + +Maina, a kind of starling. + +Maund (_man_), a measure of weight, about 87 lb. + +Mohur (_muhar_), a gold coin worth 16 rupees. + +Nautch (_natya_), a union of song, dance, and instrumental music. + +Palki, a palanquin. + +Pice (_paisa_), a small copper coin. + +Pilau, a dish made of either chicken or mutton, and rice. + +Raja, a king. + +Rakshas, a kind of demon that eats men and beasts. + +Rani, a queen. + +Rohu, a kind of big fish. + +Rupee (_rupiya_), a silver coin, now worth about twenty pence. + +Ryot (_raiyat_), a cultivator. + +Sarai, a walled enclosure containing small houses for the use of +travellers. + +Sari, a long piece of stuff which Hindu women wind round the body as a +petticoat, passing one end over the head. + +Sepoy (_sipahi_), a soldier. + +Wazir, prime minister. + +Yogi, a Hindu religious mendicant. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO. + + +Bleek. _Hottentot Fables and Tales_, London, 1864. + +Campbell, J. F. _Popular Tales of the West Highlands_, 4 vols. + Edinburgh, 1860. + +Dasent, G. _Norse Tales_, Edinburgh, 1859. + +Dietrich, Anton. _Russische Volksmaerchen_, Leipzig, 1831. + +Fiske. _Myth and Mythmakers_, London, 1873. + +Frere, Miss. _Old Deccan Days_, 2nd edition, London, 1870. + +Gonzenbach, Laura. _Sicilianische Maerchen_, Leipzig, 1870. + +Grant, C. _Gazetteer of India for the Central Provinces_, edited by, + 2nd edition, Nagpur, 1870. + +Grey. _Polynesian Mythology_, London, 1855. + +Grimm. _Kinder und Hausmaerchen_, 3 vols., Goettingen, first 2 vols. + 1850, 3rd vol. 1856. + +Grimm. _Irische Elfenmaerchen, uebersetzt von den Bruedern Grimm_, + Leipzig, 1826. + +Gubernatis, Angelo de. _Zoological Mythology_, 2 vols., London, 1870. + +Guest, Lady Charlotte. _The Mabinogion_, translated by, 3 vols. + Llandovery, 1849. + +Haltrich, Joseph. _Deutsche Volksmaerchen aus dem Sachsenlande in + Siebenbuergen_, Berlin, 1856. + +Henderson. _Folklore of the Northern Counties of England and the + Border_, London, 1866. + +Hunt. _Romances and Drolls of the West of England_, 2nd edition, + London, 1871. + +_Indian Antiquary_, vols. I. (1872), II. (1873), and IV. (1875), + Bombay. + +Karadschitsch, W. S. _Volksmaerchen der Serben_, Berlin, 1854. + +Lane. _Arabian Nights_, 3 vols., London, 1859. + +_Lebar na Huidre._ Lithographic facsimile, Dublin, 1870. + +Milenowsky. _Maerchen aus Boehmen_, Breslau, 1853. + +Naake. _Slavonic Fairy Tales_, London, 1874. + +_Old New Zealand_, 1876. + +Ralston. _Songs of the Russian People_, London, 1872. _Russian Folk + Tales_, London, 1873. + +Rink. _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, Edinburgh and London, + 1875. + +_Sagas from the Far East_, London, 1873. + +Schmidt, G. _Griechische Volksmaerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder_, + Leipzig, 1877. + +Schott. _Wallachische Maerchen_, Stuttgart und Tuebingen, 1845. + +Stier, G. _Ungarische Maerchen und Sagen_, Berlin, 1850. _Ungarische + Volksmaerchen_, Pesth (preface is dated 1857). + +Taylor, Meadows. _Confessions of a Thug_, London, 1873. + +Thorpe. _Yule Tide Stories_, London, 1853. + +_Three Middle Irish Homilies_, Calcutta, 1877. + +Tylor. _Primitive Culture_, 2nd edition, London, 1873. + +Vogl, Johann, N. _Volksmaerchen_ [Slavonic], Wien, 1837. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +INDEX. + + + Adam and Eve, blackened after the Fall, 239 + + Alligator, 63 + King of the Fishes, 66, 71 + + Angels, 77, 88, 116, 225 + + Antelopes, 85 + + Ants, grateful, 155, 161 + + Apsarases, 262 + + Ashes, Laili becomes, 77 + sugar turned into, 96 + + "Aunt," used to propitiate, 157, 262 + + Avatar, 265 + + + Badshah, 237 + + Bag, magic, 156 + + Bamboo wand, 86, 98, 268 + + Barber outwits tigers, 35 + + Bear, 254 + tries to kill cat, 19 + + Beauty, effects of, 62, 93, 142 + radiance of, 1, 240, 241, 242 + + Bed, 201 + magic, 156 + + Bees, Rakshases keeping their souls in, 261 + + Bel Princess, 138, 282 + + Bhagirathi river, 75 + + Birds, souls in, 58, 59, 61, 261 + conversing, 149, 150, 198 + + Birth-marks, 1, 119, 242, 243, 253, 276 + + Blindness cured, 77 + + Blood of little finger, 83, 84, 141, 272 + + Boar, God in shape of, 68 + + Boar Trwyth, the, 241 + + Boat refusing to move, 195, 292 + + Body, star on, 243 + sun on, 243 + + Bones of daughter sent to mother, 12, 250, 253 + + Bowl, magic, 156 + + Branch, cutting, 30 + + Branding, 131, 134, 281 + + Bricks turned into gold, 97 + + Bulbul, 39 + + Burning alive, 12, 61, 207, 249, 250 + + + Camel, strayed, 29, 63 + + Card-playing, 218, 219, 234 + + Cards, 293 + + Cat, 255 + aunt to tiger, 15 + cheats jackal, 19 + leopard, 19 + which could not be killed, 18 + + Cha[n.][d.]ala, 266 + + Charcoal, gold and silver turned into, 69, 226 + + Chests, concealment in, 218 + + Child, all-devouring, 255 + + Children eaten, 52, 177 + + Chin, star on, 119 + + Clothes-box, magic, 33 + + Cloud-myth, 257 + + Cockatoo, Rakshas Rani's soul in, 61 + + Colour, 93 + + Comfits, rain of, 29 + + Cooking-pot, magic, 32 + + Cotton-tree, 39 + + Cow swallows child alive, 123 + + Crow, 75 + + Cuckoo, 39 + + + Daughter, _see Former life_. + + Day and night Myths, 256, 257 + + Dead sheep mistaken for woman, 28 + + Deer's horn, Mahadeo's, 232 + + Demon, 173 + as a goat, 173, 288 + heating sand, 236 + swallowing suitors, 99 + tigers fighting with, 162 + + _Dew_ (Demon), 273 + + Dharma, 265 + + Diamond, face shining like, 69 + + Dog disputes with cat, 16 + Laili becomes, 78, 79 + swallows child alive, 122 + + Dolls, 168, 169 + + Dom, 70 + + Doves, eyes changed into, 5 + + Dream, 232 + + Dresses, seizure of, 6 + + + Eagle's feather, 181 + + Eaglets, speaking, 183 + + Earth blown away, 140 + cure with, 198, 199 + + Ear, twisting, 130 + + Elephant tries to kill cat, 18, 19 + + Errands, 53, 55, 58, 179, 181, 184, 189, 288 + + Euphemisms, 259 + + Eve, _see Adam_. + + Eyes become birds, 5, 148 + pounded to bits, 176 + torn out of Rani's head 51, 176, 289 + + + Face, star on, 1, 242, _see Powder_. + + Fainting at beauty, 82 + + Fairies in jungle, 32 + teach monkey prince, 42 + and Prince Sazada, 93 + Indian, 243 + Irish and Cornish, 243 + of Maoris, 239, 244 + + Fairy Rajas, 1 + red, 168 + + Fakir's feats, 92 + gifts to, 68, 224 + God in form of, 224 + helpful, 41, 185 + sleep of, 139, 167 + tasks to be performed by intending, 87 + + Fan, 196, 197 + + Fan Prince, 193 + + Farid, Shekh, 272 + + Fasting, _see Jackal_, _Kite_. + + Fate, 263 + seeking one's, 63 + + Feather, causing invisibility, 59 + + Feats of Fakirs, 92 + + Figure of clay, water and ashes 78 + + Fish, cooked, becomes alive, 71, 227, _see Rohu_. + + Fishes, king of, 66, 71 + souls of unborn children in, 235, 236 + + Fire, _see Rejuvenescence_. + + Flower, children in, 10, 247, 248, 252 + hero weighing, 2 + heroine weighing, 1 + + Flowers, life in, 4, 10, 144, 244, 247, 248, 252, 284 + on ears, 3 + + Flute, 168, 169, 171, 287 + + Fly, change into, 56, 57, 141 + + Fools, 257 + + Former life, 115, 276 + + Four sides, 153, 156, 285, 286 + + Fox, 254 + + Frog, the voracious, 24 + slit open, 26 + + Fruits, children, born from eating, 42, 91 + children in, 11, 246, 247, 252 + heroine in, 81, 142, 146, 246 + + + Gambling, 234 + + Ganga, 89, 90 + + Gardener, 277 + + Garpank, 289 + + Gesture language, 208, 210 + + Glass powder, 197 + + Glittering well, 189, 190 + + Goat, demon in form of, 173, 288, _see Former life_. + + Gold, stones becoming, 59 + bricks turned into, 97 + in river, 66 + + Golden wand, 262 + + Grateful animals, 155, 161, 162 + + + Hair, power of, 268, 271 + of Mahadeo, 89, 90 + of gold, 1, 49, 62, 238, 240 + tree split with, 163 + + Hand, star on, 253 + + Handkerchief, 199 + + Harchand Raja, 68 + + Harichand Raja, 224 + + Haricchandra, 265, 266 + + Head, sun on, 1, 242, 253 + becomes a dome, 148 + a house, 5 + a peacock, 244 + + Head-collars, 230 + + Heart becomes tank, 148 + + Horse, hero's, 124, 125, 126, 277, 278 + swallows child alive, 124, 125 + + House, arm or leg changed into, 5 + + Husband, public choice of, 128, 280 + + Husk story, 259 + + + Ikhwan Ussafa cited, 239 + + Indrasan, 93, 243 + + Invisibility caused by feather, 59 + by blowing earth from palm, 140 + + + Jackal, 75, 255 + arbitrates, 16 + cheats the tiger, 17 + its fear of men, 23 + kills kite's sons, 22 + will not fast, 21 + + Jamna, 89, 90 + + + Kettle-drum, 120, 121, 162, 287 + + Khuda, 237 + + Kite worships and fasts, 21 + + Knife, magic, 83, 266 + dipped in blood, 175, 176 + + Knowledge of far-off events, 95, 272 + + Kop Shastra, 225 + + + Laili, 73 + + Lamnissa, 284 + + Leg becomes pillar, 148 + + Lemon, Rakshases keeping their souls in, 261 + + Leopard tries to kill cat, 19 + + Lichi, 91 + + Life, restoration to, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 22, 26, 71, 78, 83, 84, + 86, 98, 141, 146, 151, 166, 227, 228, 232, 245, 247, 248, 250, + 251, 253, 255, 256, 257, 282, 284, 285 + + Life, former, 115, 276 + + Lips of demons long, 273 + + Little finger, 83, 141, 266, 267, 272 + + Livers, standing on, 10 + + Looking back, prohibited, 141 + danger of, 282 + + Lotus-flower, heroine changed into, 144, 285 + + + Magic gifts, 32, 33, 34 + + Mahadeo, 89, 90, 231, 232 + + Maina, 148 + advises dog, 18 + demon's soul in, 187, 188 + + Majnun, 73, 266 + + Mangoes, 41 + mango-tree, 202 + mango-stone, consequence of eating, 50 + + Mattresses thrown to save drowning prince, 47 + + Milk sent by God, 146 + of tigress, 178 + + Monkey, 42 + + Moon on hand, 1 + on forehead, 119, 242 + princess shines like, 158 + + Mothers eating sons, 52, 177 + + Mouth, demon's, 185 + + Mouse, 101 + + Music, 93, 243, 287 + + Mustard-seed, oil crushed out of, 160 + + + Nabha, 113 + + Nanak, 276 + + Neck, star on, 242 + + Necklace disappears into wall, 229 + reappears, 233 + + Needles, body stuck full of, 165, 287 + + Numbers, sacred, 262 + + + Ointment restoring sight, 56 + + Old woman, _see Former life_. + + + Paper boat, 187, 188, 290 + + Parrot, 148, 153 + + Peacock, head becomes, 244 + + Pearls drop from bird's eyes, 12 + from bird's beak, 254 + + Phalana country, 73, 74 + + Phulmati, 240 + + Pigeons, cooked, come to life, 228 + + Pin, in bird's head, 12, 14 + transformation caused by, 254 + + Pit dug for demon's execution, 192 + for Dillus Varvawc, 292 + + Poison, 212 + + Portrait, 223 + + Powder flung in face, 77 + + + Rakshas, 5, 260 + as a goat, 288 + turned into Rani, 51 + + Rat and frog, 24 + + Red cheeks, 93 + + Rejuvenescence by fire, 76 + + Revival of murdered heroines, 244, _see Life_. + + Rice, 289 + night-growing, 184 + + Rig Veda cited, 238, 239 + + Ring, 199, 292 + + Robes of honour, 287 + + Rohu fish, 75 + + Rope and stick-magic, 34, 156 + + Ruby, 65, 66 + falling from beak, 13, 14 + + + Salt, 171, 288 + Princess who loved her father like, 164 + + Sari, 58 + + Seven children, 51 + queens, 175 + small dolls, 168 + sons, 177 + wives, 41, 51 + + Shahzada, 271 + + Shekh Farid, 95, 268, 272 + + Shield full of money, 53, 55, 58 + + Sight restored, 57, 190, 289 + + Silver, _see Charcoal_, _Wand_. + + Singing, hero, 127, 128 + + Skin of monkey, 42 + burnt, 49 + + Sleep, fakir's, 139, 167 + dragon's, 282 + + Snake, 75 + conversing, 204 + + Son-in-law how chosen, 42 + + Soul embodiment 261, _see Birds_, _Cockatoo_, _Lemon_, _Maina_. + + Soul or life of Rakshas, 56, 57, 261 + + Spell, 91 + + Star on body, 243 + on chin, 119 + on face, 1, 242 + on hands, 253 + on neck, 242 + + Stepmother, 7 + + Stick and rope, magic, 156 + + Stick suspends and restores life, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 186 + + Stones becoming gold, 59 + fates are, 64 + transformation into, 140, 226, 282 + substituted for baby, 121 + + Strength, feats of, 108 + + Strong woman, 108 + + Sugar, _see Ashes_. + + Summer and winter myth, 257 + + Sun on head, 1, 242, 253 + on body, 243 + + Sun jewel-box, 167 + + Sun's rays, 266, 268, 271 + + Svayamvara 280 + + Sweeper, 88 + + + Tank, heart becomes, 148 + + Thorn in tiger's foot, 17, 64, 155 + + Three, 87 + + Tiger, 254, 258 + grateful, 65, 155, 162, 180 + outwitted by barber, 35 + nephew of cat, 15 + stores of, 35, 36, 65, _see Thorn_. + + Transformations, 244, 250, 251, 284, 285 + + Transmigration of souls, 276 + + Tree split with hair, 163 + + Trees, 292 + + Twelve hours, 225 + twelve years, 32, 63, 64, 87, 88, 98, 167, 225, 264 + + + "Uncle" used to propitiate, 54, 262 + + Underground palace, 151 + + + Var[n.]a, 238 + + Vicvamitra, 265 + + Vish[n.]u, 265 + + + Wand, bamboo, 86, 98, 268 + golden, reviving by, 261 + silver, death caused by touching with, 261 + + Water, opening fruit or casket containing maiden near, 284 + + Water-nymphs, 89 + + Water-snake, 53 + + Wax hatchet, 162 + + Weight of heroine, 243 + + Well, fairy living at bottom of, 168 + glittering, 189, 190 + + Wind blowing from demon, 185, 290 + foretelling fall of palace, 205 + + Wishes, 95 + + Wives called Mamma, 86, 87 + + Worship, _see Kite_. + + Wrestlers, 108 + + + Yogi, personating, 198, 214 + + + + LONDON: + GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, + ST. JOHN'S SQUARE. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +Printer errors (for example, omitted or transposed characters) have +been repaired, as have punctuation errors. + +Variable spelling, hyphenation and use of accents are preserved as +printed in quoted material, but have otherwise been made consistent +where there was a clear prevalence of one form over the other. + +Some of the spelling of Hindi words vary from modern spelling, and +these have been preserved as printed. There is also some variation +within the text--for example, dhall is used in the text while the +glossary shows Dal. These are also preserved as printed. + +There are some discrepancies between the title of stories as given in +the index and main text, and in the notes at the end. 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