At a certain city two noblemen2 stay in two houses. When they are there, for the two noblemen there are two Queens. One Queen bore seven female children; the other Queen bore six male children and a Turtle.
Then the same two noblemen spoke: “Cousin, not contracting the marriages of your children and my children outside, let us ourselves do giving and taking,” they said.
Having said, “If so, let us marry the eldest children,” they married them. The second two children they also married. The third two children they also married. The fourth two children they also married. The fifth two children they also married. The sixth two children they also married. There was no way to marry the seventh two children.
The matter of their not [marrying] indeed [was this:—the father of the girls] said, “Cousin, my daughter is a daughter possessing much beauty. Because of it, your young child indeed is not good. Should you say, ‘What of the matter of his not being good, indeed!’ Your child is the Turtle; because it is so I cannot [marry my daughter to him],” he said.
Then the other cousin says, “Cousin, you cannot say so. The Turtle who is my young child says, ‘I, father, if there be not that marriage for me, I will jump into the well, and make various quarrels,’ the Turtle says. Because it is so you must marry your very child [to him], he says. If you cannot [do] so, let us cancel the marriages of the whole of the several persons,” says the Turtle’s father.
Then he says, “If so, cousin, no matter about cancelling the marriages; I will give my daughter to the Turtle,” he said. Having thus given her, they contracted the marriage.
Having married them, when they were [there] there was notified by the King of the same city, “Can anyone, having brought it, give me the Fire Cock3 that is at the house of the Rākshasa?”4 he notified. The same King published by beat of tom-toms that to the persons who brought and gave it he will give many offices. Secondly, “I will give my kingdom also,” he notified.
That word the Turtle having ascertained, he said, “Mother, you go, and seeing the King, ‘The Turtle who is my son is able,’ say, ‘to bring and give the Fire Cock.’ ” [She went accordingly.]
Then the King said, “Tell your son to come to-morrow morning,” he said.
The following day morning the same Turtle having gone says, “I can bring and give the Fire Cock in seven days.”
Then the King said, “Not to mention5 the Turtle, should anyone [whatever] bring and give it, I will give him offices and my kingdom also.”
The Turtle having come home said to the Turtle’s wife, “Bolan, having cooked for me a packet6 of rice, bring it,” he said.
Then the Turtle’s wife asked, “What is the packet of cooked rice for you for?” she asked.
“It is arranged by the King for me to bring and give him the Fire Cock that is at the Rākshasa’s house. Because it is so, cook the lump of rice,” he said.
“Having cooked the lump of rice I can give it, indeed. How will you take it and go?” she said.
Then the Turtle said, “Having put the cooked rice in a bag, place it on my back and tie it. I am able to take it and go,” he said.
After having placed it on his back and tied it, the same Turtle, having gone on the journey, while on the road went to a screen formed by Mahamidi [trees].7 Having gone there and unfastened the packet of cooked rice, and removed and put aside the turtle jacket, he ate the lump of cooked rice. Having eaten and finished, he hid the turtle jacket, and went on the journey [in the form of a Prince].
When he was going on the journey, it having become night while he was on the road he went to the house of a widow-mother. Having gone [there], “Mother, you must give me a resting-place,” he said.
Then the widow-mother said, “A resting-place indeed I can give,” she said; “to give to eat [there is] not a thing.”
“If so, no matter for the food; should you give me only the resting-place it will do,” he said.
Then the widow-mother asked, “Where are you, son, going?” she asked.
Then he said, “I am going for the Jewelled Cock at the Rākshasa’s house,” he said.
The widow-mother then said, “Son, go you to [your] village without speaking [about it]. People, many multitudes in number, having stayed in the resting-place here, went for the Fire Cock. Except that they went, they did not bring the Fire Cock. Because it is so don’t you go.”
Then he said, “However much you, mother, should say it, I indeed must really go.”
“Since you are going, not paying heed to my saying, eat this little rice dust that I cooked, and go.”
Then he said, “Except that to-day you cooked rice dust [for me], I shall not be able to cook [even] rice dust again for you,” he said. [“Raw-rice, be created.”] With the same speed [as his saying it] raw-rice8 was created, [and he gave her power to do the same].
“Son, like the power which you gave, I will give you a power. You having gone to the Rākshasa’s house, at the time when you are coming back the Rākshasa will come [for the purpose of] stopping you. Then on account of it having taken this piece of stone and said, ‘Cī! Mountain, be created,’ cast it down; the mountain will be created. The Rākshasa having gone up the mountain, while he is descending below you will be able then to go a considerable distance.”
Taking that [stone and] power from there when he was going away, while he was on the road it became night. After it became night, again he went to the house of a widow woman. The widow woman asked, “Where, son, are you going in this way when it has become night?”
Then he said, “I am going for the Fire Cock at the Rākshasa’s house,” he said.
“Don’t you go on that journey; the people who go for that Fire Cock, except that they go, do not return.”
“Don’t at any rate tell that fact to me indeed; I indeed must really go for the Fire Cock. I came here at the time when I wanted a resting-place.”
“A resting-place indeed I can give. To give to eat [there is] not a thing,” the widow-mother said.
“No matter for the food; should you give me a resting-place it will do,” he said.
While the person of the resting-place was staying looking on, because he could not eat, from what she had cooked of rice dust she gave him a little to eat.
“Mother, being unable to cook again for you, although to-day you cooked rice dust, I will give you a power,” he said. “Raw-rice, be created,” [and he gave her power to do the same].
“If so, son, I will give you a power. Here (Men̥na). Having taken away this bamboo stick, for the Rākshasa’s stopping you on the path when you are coming away, say, ‘Cī! Bamboo, be created,’ and throw down the bamboo stick. Then the bamboo fence will be created. The Rākshasa having gone up it, while he is coming down [on the other side] you will be able to come a considerable distance.”
When he was going away from there on the following day, while he was on the road it became night. It having become night, again he went to the house of a widow woman. Having gone there he asked for a resting-place.
“In this way when night has come, where are you going?” she asked.
Then he said, “I am going to bring the Fire Cock at the Rākshasa’s house,” he said.
“Except that thousands of robbers, thousands of archers9 go, except that the persons who went there went, they did not come back. Because it is so don’t you go.”
“I indeed must really go for the Fire Cock. For me to stay here [to-night] you must give the resting-place.”
Then she said, “I can indeed give it. To give you to eat [there is] not a thing to give.”
“No matter for food for me; should you give me a resting-place it will do.”
The widow-mother having cooked a little rice dust gave him to eat.
“Mother, I shall not again be able to cook [even] rice dust for you. I will give you a good power.” He gave her a power to create raw-rice.
“Better than the power you gave me I will give you a power. Having gone to the Rākshasa’s house, when you are coming, taking the Fire Cock also, the Rākshasa will come running to eat you. When he is thus coming, here, having taken away this piece of charcoal and said, ‘Cī! Fire, be created,’ throw it down; the fire fence will be created. Then the Rākshasa having come will jump into the fire. Without speaking, slowly come home.”
[The Prince went, stole the Fire Cock, and escaped from the pursuit of the Rākshasa by means of the three gifts.10 The Rākshasa was burnt at the fire fence.]
[The Prince] having come there [again], and gone to the place where the turtle jacket is, putting on his body the turtle jacket [and resuming his turtle shape], came to his village. Having come there he handed over the Fire Cock to the King. When he was giving it the King said, “From to-day my country, together with the goods, is in charge for thee.”
“There are goods [belonging] to me which are better than that; I don’t want it,” he said.
The same King, in order to make a [religious] offering of those goods, commanded a Bana (recitation of the Buddhist scriptures).
When the Turtle’s wife and yet [other] women are going to hear the Bana, the other women who are coming to hear the Bana, say, “O Turtle’s wife, come, to go to hear the Bana.” Having gone there, while they are hearing the Bana the Turtle, having taken off the turtle jacket [and become a Prince again], went to hear the Bana.
Then the Turtle’s wife thought, “It is my very husband,11 this.” Having thought it and come home, at the time when she looked she saw that the turtle jacket was there, and taking out the goods that were in it she put the same jacket on the [fire on the] hearth, and went [back] to hear the Bana.
The Turtle’s wife’s husband having come home, when he looked the turtle jacket was not [there]. Having got into the house he remained silent.
The Turtle’s wife came home gaily. Other women asked, “What is [the reason of] so much sportiveness of the Turtle’s wife which there is to-day?”
“You will perceive [the reason of] my playfulness when you have gone to the house.”
The other women, to look at [the meaning of] those words, came to the house of the Turtle’s wife with the Turtle’s wife. Having come, when they looked the husband of the Turtle’s wife is like a King.
This story is the two noblemen’s.
1 The text of this story is given at the end of this volume. ↑
3 Gini kukulā, the fire [coloured] Cock. ↑
5 Tiyā, putting [out of consideration]. ↑
6 Geḍiyak, a round lump, made into a package. ↑
8 Kaekuḷu hāl, rice from which the skin has been removed without first softening it in hot or boiling water. It is used for making milk-rice (kiri-bat), but not usually for rice used with curries, as the grains are apt to coalesce when cooked. ↑
11 Lit., “man,” the word translated “wife” in this story being also literally “woman.” These words are commonly employed with these meanings by the villagers. ↑
In a certain country there are a King and a Queen, it is said; there are seven Princes of these two persons. Out of the seven, the youngest Prince from the day on which he was born is lying down; only those six perform service, go on journeys after journeys (gaman sagaman).
Well then, at the time when this Prince is living thus, the King said at the hand of the Queen, “Should this Prince remain there is no advantage to us; I must behead him.”
The Queen said, “There is no need to behead him. Drive away the Prince whom we do not want to a quarter he likes.” The King said, “It is good.”
The Queen having come near the Prince, said, “Son, he must behead you, says the King. Because of it go to a place you like, to seek a livelihood.”
Then the Prince said, “For me to go for trading give me (dilan) a thousand masuran, and a packet of cooked rice.” After that, the Queen gave him a packet of cooked rice and a thousand masuran.
The Prince having taken the packet of cooked rice and the thousand masuran, arrived (eli-baessā) at a travellers’ shed. At the time when he is sitting in the travellers’ shed a man came, bringing a Cobra.
Then the Prince asked, “For how much will you sell the Cobra?”
The man said, “It is a thousand masuran.”
Afterwards the Prince said, “There are a thousand masuran of mine. Here (in̆dā), take them.” Having given the thousand masuran he got the Cobra.
Taking it, and having unfastened the packet of cooked rice, the Cobra and the Prince ate, and the Prince, taking the Cobra, came back to the Prince’s city.
Then the Queen asked, “Son, what is the merchandise you have brought?”
The Prince said, “Mother, having given those thousand masuran that I took, I brought a Cobra.”
Afterwards the Queen said, “Appā! Son, should that one remain it will bite us. Take it to a forest, and having conducted it a short distance come back.”
The Prince having taken it and put it in a rock house (cave) in the forest, shut the door, and came back. At the time when he was there the Queen said, “Son, should the King come to know that you are [here] he will behead you. Because of it go to any place you like.”
Afterwards the Prince said, “Give me a thousand masuran, and a packet of cooked rice.” The Queen gave them.
After that, the Prince taking them and having gone, while he was in that travellers’ shed a man taking a Parrot came to the travellers’ shed.
The Prince asked, “Will you sell that Parrot?” The man said he would sell it. The Prince asked, “For how much?” The man said, “It is a thousand masuran.” The Prince gave the thousand masuran and got the Parrot. The Prince and the Parrot having eaten the packet of cooked rice, the two came to the Prince’s city.
The Queen asked, “Son, what is the merchandise you have brought to-day?”
The Prince says, “Mother, having given those thousand masuran that I took I have brought a Parrot.”
Afterwards the Queen said, “We don’t want the Parrot. Take it and put it in the forest, and come back.”
The Prince having taken the Parrot and put the Parrot also in the rock house in which is the Cobra, shut the door, and came back.
While he was there the Queen said, “Son, should the King see that you are [here] he will behead you. Because of it go to any place you like.”
The Prince said, “Mother, give me a thousand masuran, and a packet of cooked rice.” The Queen gave him a packet of cooked rice and a thousand masuran. Afterwards, the Prince having taken them, while he was at that travellers’ shed again a man is taking a Cat which eats by stealth, in order to put it into the river.
This Prince asked, “Will you sell that?” The man said he would sell it. The Prince asked, “For how much?” The man [said], “I will sell it for a thousand masuran.”
Afterwards the Prince gave the thousand masuran that were in his hand, and taking the Cat, and the Prince and the Cat having eaten the packet of cooked rice, the two came to the Prince’s city.
Then the Queen asked, “Son, on this journey what have you brought?”
The Prince says, “Mother, having given the thousand masuran that I took I brought a Cat.”
Then the Queen said, “Don’t thou come again. Go to any place thou wantest.”
The Prince said, “Mother, give me a thousand masuran, and a packet of cooked rice.” After that, the Queen gave him a packet of cooked rice and a thousand masuran. The Prince, taking them and taking also the Cat, came to the rock house; and the whole four having eaten the packet of cooked rice started to go away.
Having gone away, and having gone near a large Nā tree,1 while they were there the Cobra said, “You stay2 here until I come back [after] seeking the Nāga King.”
The Cobra having gone, and having returned near the large Nā tree [after] seeking [and bringing] the Nāga King, the Cobra said to the Nāga King, “This Prince has been of very great assistance to me. Because of it you must set me free [by giving a suitable ransom].”
Afterwards the Nāga King gave the Prince a gem-set ring (pēraes-munda), and said, “With this ring you can create anything you want.”3 The Nāga King, taking that Cobra, went away.
As this Prince and the Parrot and the Cat were going away the Prince thought, “Let a palace and a Princess be created here for me.” Putting the gem-set ring on his hand he thought it. Then a palace and a Princess were created.
At the time when they were there, the Princess and Prince went to the sea to bathe. Having gone there, while bathing a lock of hair (isakeyā raelak) from the head of the Princess fell into the sea. Having gone it became fastened in the net of net fishermen. They, taking it, gave it to the King. The King being unable to guess whether it was a hair or a golden thread, sent out the notification tom-toms. A widow stopped the tom-toms. Having stopped them the woman went near the King and said, “This is not a golden thread (kenda), it is indeed hair of the head (isakeyā gahamayi).”
After that the King said, “Can you find the Princess who owns this hair?”
The woman having said, “I can,” came to the very city where the Princess is. When she came there, there was not any work place there. She asked at the hand of the Princess, “How, daughter (putē), do you eat?”
Then the Princess says, “We eat by the power of the gem-set ring.”
Afterwards, the woman that day night having stayed there, after the Prince went to sleep taking the gem-set ring and taking also the Princess [by means of it], gave them to the King.
The Prince having awoke, when he looked there were no Princess and no gem-set ring. The Parrot indeed knows the place where they are. He cannot summon the Princess and come [with her], he cannot get the gem-set ring.
Owing to it he told the Cat to be [lying as though] sleeping at the corn-stack threshing-floor (kola-kamatē):—“While you are there the rats will put their paws into your mouth. Do not seize them. When the King has put his paws in it seize him; do not let him go.”
After that, the Cat having gone [there], while he was [lying as though] sleeping at the corn-stack threshing-floor, the rats put their paws in his mouth. He did not seize them. The Rat King having come, and said, “One with cooking pot’s mouth (appallā-katā), are you asleep?” put his paw there. Then the Cat seized him. [He explained to the Rat King that he wanted a rat to assist him, as the condition on which he would release him.]
The Rat King said, “Seize thou any rat thou wantest.” Having said, “Take this rat chief,” he gave him. Afterwards the Cat let go [the Rat King].
The Parrot, calling that rat [who had been appointed to assist him], went to the palace in which was the Princess. After the rat had cut [his way into] seven boxes, there was a gem-set ring [in the last one].
Taking it, when he gave it to the Parrot, the Parrot said, “This ring is not ours (apaṭa nāe).”
Afterwards the Parrot and the rat having come near the Prince, [the rat] said, “I cut into seven boxes; there was one ring. When I gave it to the Parrot youngster (girā-pōṭakayāṭa) the Parrot said, ‘It is not ours,’ ” he said.
Then the Prince said, “Are there not other boxes?”
The rat said, “There is one more.”
The Prince said, “If so, cut thou [a hole in] it.”
The Parrot and the rat having gone [there], the rat cut into that box. Then the gem-set ring was there. [The rat took it to the Parrot, who handed it over to the Prince. By means of it he recovered the Princess.]
Taking the ring, and having brought back the Princess, they all remained at the palace.
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
In The Jātaka, No. 73 (vol. i, p. 178), a snake, a parrot, and a rat assisted a Brāhmaṇa who had saved their lives.
In The Story of Madana Kāma Rāja (Naṭēśa Sāstrī), p. 20, a Prince whose uncle had usurped the throne received a hundred pagodas from his mother in order that he might trade. He first bought a kitten for the money, and subsequently, when she gave him another hundred, a snake; with these he went about begging for twelve years. The snake took him to visit its father, Ādiśēsha, the Snake King, who in return for it gave him his ring which supplied everything wanted while it was worn. By means of the ring the Prince got a palace and kingdom and a capital; he married a Princess also. While she was bathing in the sea one of the hairs from her head came off and was cast on the shore. The King of Cochin found it, ascertained that it was twenty yards long, and promised rewards for the discovery of its owner. An old woman who was received into the Prince’s palace learnt about the powers of the magic ring, and borrowing it to cure a headache returned to Cochin; by its power the Princess was brought there. She demanded a delay of eight days before marrying the King, in order to fast and make a religious donation to the poor. On the seventh day the Prince and his cat joined those who were fed. When rats came to eat the remnants the cat seized the largest one, who proved to be the Rat King, and offered him his liberty in return for the magic ring. His subjects found it in a box, and brought it to the cat, who gave it to the Prince. By means of it he recovered the Princess and his kingdom, and caused the Cochin kingdom to be destroyed and its King to become insane.
In Folklore of the Santal Pargana (collected by Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 24, a youth set afloat in a leaf some hairs that came out while he was bathing. Two Princesses who were bathing lower down got the packet, found that the hairs were twelve cubits long, and the younger one refused food until their owner was discovered. A parrot met with him in the forest, and a crow enticed him to come by flying off with his flute. He married the Princess and became a Raja. See p. 75 ff., and Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, pp. 16 and 113.
In a variant, p. 88, a youth bought a cat, an otter, a rat, and a snake that were about to be killed. The snake took him to its parents, from whom he received a magic ring which provided everything required if it were placed in a quart of milk. After he got married his wife stole the ring, and eloped with a former lover. The youth was imprisoned on a charge of murdering her, but the animals recovered the ring after the rat made the Prince’s wife sneeze it up by tickling her nose with his tail. By means of it he brought up the absconders and was released. On p. 129 there is an account of the four animals and the ring given by the snake, by the aid of which a palace was made.
On p. 228 ff., a boy who had a caterpillar’s shape took off the skin when bathing in his own form. He set two hairs afloat in a leaf which a Princess bathing lower down the river recovered. She found that the hairs were twelve fathoms long, and refused to eat until their owner was brought. When he came she married him, saw him remove his skin covering at night, burnt it, and he remained in his own form afterwards.
In the Kolhān tales (Bompas) appended to the same volume, p. 458, a man whose hair reached to his knees, while bathing set a hair afloat inside a split fruit. A Princess who found it determined to marry the owner, her father sent men who fetched him, and they were united. There is a similar story on p. 460.
In Indian Fairy Tales (Thornhill), p. 67, a merchant’s son who had saved the brother of the Snake King received from the latter a copper ring which converted into gold everything on which it was rubbed. By means of it he turned a palace into gold and married a Princess, whose hair touched the ring and became golden. A single hair fell into a stream, and was found by a Prince a thousand leagues lower down. A woman who was a magician went in search of the owner in a magic ebony boat smeared with the blood and fat of a tiger, which sailed upstream as she sang. She was engaged by the Princess, induced her to enter the boat to see the fishes, and carried her off. Before saving the snake, her husband had obtained a sea parrot and a white cat which divers brought up out of the sea, and he had left these at home on going away. When these two came in search of him and heard of the loss of the Princess they looked for her, the parrot carrying a letter tied on its leg. They delivered the letter and got a reply from her, the cat stole the ring from the old woman, and they returned and informed the Prince, who took an army and rescued his wife.
In Tales of the Punjab (Mrs. F. A. Steel), p. 185, a Prince bought a cat, a dog, a parrot, and a snake, which he reared. The snake took him to its father, who in return for it gave him a ring which granted everything wished for. By means of it he obtained a Princess in marriage, after making a palace of gold in the sea; he also made her golden. One day she set afloat in a leaf cup two hairs which came out as she was washing. In another country a fisherman found them and gave them to the King, who sent a wise woman in search of their owner in a golden boat. She met with the Princess, stayed at the palace, learnt about the ring, induced the Princess to enter the boat, and took her away. The Princess refused to look at the King’s son for six months. The parrot gave her husband the news, went in search of her with the cat, and learnt that the wise woman kept the ring in her mouth. The cat seized the longest-tailed rat that came to eat rice which the Princess scattered; it thrust its tail up the nose of the sleeping woman, and the sneeze she gave caused the ring to fly out of her mouth. The parrot took it to its master, who recovered the Princess by its aid. The ring was only effective when placed in the centre of a clean square place purified by being smeared with cow-dung, and there sprinkled with butter-milk.4
In Folk-Tales of Bengal (L. Behari Day), p. 86, a Brāhmaṇa’s son married a Princess whom he rescued from Rākshasas. She tied to a floating shell a hair that came off while she bathed; it was found by her husband’s half-brother, who ascertained that it was seven cubits long. The Queen-Mother sent her servant, a Rākshasī, in search of the owner, in a magic boat which flew along the water wherever required when she uttered a spell and thrice snapped her fingers. She went to the palace, one day persuaded the Princess to enter the boat, and carried her away in it. The Princess said she had vowed not to look at a strange man’s face for six months, her husband found her, was recognised by the King, and all ended happily; but the Rākshasī was buried alive, surrounded by thorns.
A golden-haired Princess is often described in folk-tales. See No. 240 in this volume, and Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), pp. 62 and 98. In one of the Santal variants a grateful snake made a man’s hair like gold by breathing on it (op. cit., p. 75).
In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 20, a merchant’s son bought a dog, cat, and snake that were likely to be killed. By means of a ring which the snake’s father gave him he got a mansion and a wife with golden hair. She set afloat some hairs inside a reed; a Prince found them lower down the river, and his father sent his aunt, an ogress, to bring their possessor. She flew to the place in the form of a bee, became an old hag, was received as the girl’s aunt, borrowed the ring, flew off with it, and by its means the Princess was brought away. She demanded a month’s delay before marrying, the cat and dog found her, and secured the ring (which the ogress kept in her stomach) by seizing the Rat King’s eldest son and getting it as his ransom, a rat having made the ogress cough it up by inserting its tail in her throat while she slept. They returned with it, and the Prince recovered his wife by it.
At p. 132, a crow carried off the comb of a Princess whom a Prince had rescued from a Rākshasa and married, and it was discovered at a palace, inside a fish that had swallowed it when it was dropped in the sea. A woman sent to find the owner poisoned the Prince; the King carried off the widow, but she refused to marry him for six months. The Prince’s two friends, a Brāhmaṇa and a Carpenter, found her, and by means of a magic horse of sandal wood which the latter made, that flew where required, they returned with her. By a touch the Brāhmaṇa restored to life the Prince’s corpse which his wife had enclosed in a box.
In Sagas from the Far East, p. 108, in a Kalmuk story, a Khan carried off a youth’s wife who dropped in a stream, while bathing, a gem-set ring, which the Khan got. Her husband was killed and buried by his emissaries. When his life-index tree withered, his five comrades found and revived him, and made a flying bird by means of which he regained his wife.
At p. 222, in a Kalmuk story, a maidservant gave a Khan some wonderful hairs which clung to her water jar, and which a wife whom the Snake King gave to a man had lost when bathing. The Khan’s men captured her; after a year she made her husband dance, dressed in feathers, before her and the Khan. When the Khan to please her exchanged dresses with him, she ordered the Khan to be driven out, the dogs overtook and killed him, and her husband became King. Compare the ending of No. 18, vol. i.
At p. 135, in a Kalmuk tale, a Brāhmaṇa’s son bought and set free a mouse, a young ape and a young bear; when he was afterwards enclosed in a chest and thrown into the river the animals rescued him. He found a talisman as large as a pigeon’s egg, made by its aid a city, palace, etc., exchanged the talisman for a caravan-load of goods, and all vanished. The animals recovered it, the palace was reconstructed, and he got a divine wife.
In Korean Tales (Dr. Allen), p. 43, a man lost an amber talisman that a supernatural caller gave him. His dog and cat found it, and regained it by the aid of the rat-chief, who made a mouse creep into the soap-stone box in which it was hidden, after the rats gnawed a hole through the side.
In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii, p. 258, a King sent a youth for a Nāga girl whose hairs, one hundred feet long, were found in a swallow’s nest. By means of a cap of invisibility and shoes for walking on water, which he stole from two persons who were quarrelling about them, the youth fetched her; but seeing that the King was ugly she threw at him a cake of gold she had brought, the blow killed him, and the youth became King and married her.
In a city a Brāhmaṇa has a small piece of ground; only that belongs to him. He sold that place for three masuran. “Now then, I shall go and earn a living. You remain [at home], getting a livelihood to the extent you can,” he said to his wife.
When the Brāhmaṇa was going along a path, yet [another] Brāhmaṇa was going in front. From the Brāhmaṇa who is going in front this Brāhmaṇa asks, “Embā! Brāhmaṇa, will you say a word [of advice] to me?”
“If you will give me a masurama I will say it,” he said. This one said, “I will give it.”
After he gave it, he says, “When you have gone to a country don’t require honour.” Having said it, the two persons go away [together].
When they had been going a considerable distance, this Brāhmaṇa asked, “Will you still say a word [of advice] to me?”
“If you will give me yet a masurama I will say it,” he said. “I will give it,” he said.
After he gave it, he said, “Don’t do anything without investigation.” He goes on in silence.
When they had gone still a considerable distance, this one spoke, “Embā! Brāhmaṇa.” “What is it?” he asked. “Will you say yet a word [of advice] to me?” he asked.
“Then will you give me still a masurama?” he said. Having said, “I will give it,” he gave him one masurama.
“To one’s own wife don’t tell a secret.”
The Brāhmaṇa [whom he had met], turning to go along a different path, asked at the hand of this one, “Are there still masuran in your hand?”
Then this one said, “I sold a plot of ground, and brought three masuran. For even my expenses there is no other in my hand.”
Having said, “If so, I will say a word without payment (nikan); don’t tell lies to Kings,” he went away.
Thereupon this one being weakened by hunger, at the time when he was going on, a nobleman (siṭānan kenek) of a city near there having died and there being no one to bury him, they gave notice by beat of tom-toms that they will give five hundred masuran to a person who can [do it].
This destitute Brāhmaṇa asked the tom-tom beater, “What is that tom-tom beating for?”
The tom-tom beater says, “A man of this country has died and there is no one to bury him. Because of it I am beating the notice tom-tom,” he said.
This Brāhmaṇa thought, “ ‘When one has gone to a country do not require honours,’ he said.” Having thought, “Because it is so I must bury this nobleman,” this one said, “I can,” and went.
Thereupon this dead nobleman’s son says to the Brāhmaṇa, “Thou having quite alone buried this dead body, come [to me]; I will give thy wages.”
This one having said, “It is good,” and taken away the corpse, and cut the grave, thinks, “A sooth-saying Brāhmaṇa said to-day, ‘Without investigation don’t do a thing.’ ” Having said this he unfastened the cloth round the waist of this dead nobleman, and looked at the body. There was a belt. He unfastened it and looked [at it]; the belt was full of masuran. Having taken them he buried the corpse and came to the nobleman’s house. Well then, the nobleman’s son gave the Brāhmaṇa five hundred masuran.
This one having taken them, came near a goldsmith, and causing him to make for his wife the things that she needed, he went to the Brāhmaṇa’s village. Having gone he spoke to his wife and gave her these articles.
After he gave them this woman asks the Brāhmaṇa, “Whence did you bring these?” in order that he should say the manner in which he brought them.
This one thought, “Yet [another] Brāhmaṇa having taken one masurama from me said, ‘To one’s own wife don’t tell a secret,’ didn’t he?” Thinking this, not telling her the way in which he brought them, he said, “Having become thirsty when I was coming home, when I looked about there was not a place to drink at. Having drunk a great quantity of Euphorbia milk1 because the thirst was excessive, I was lying down upon a rock. Then the rock having split, masuran were thrown out. Collecting as many as I could, I got these things made,” he said to his wife.
As soon as he said it (kīwā wahama), this woman having gone running told it in this manner to a great number of women besides. Thereupon the women having come running to their houses said it to their husbands. Those persons, about twenty-five, taking cooking pots, went to drink Euphorbia milk. Out of the persons who drank it a portion died; the other persons [after] vomiting came back.
Having said to this Brāhmaṇa and his wife, “You told our men to drink Euphorbia milk, and caused them to die,” those women instituted a law-suit before a King.
Thereupon the King caused both parties to be brought. The King asks the Brāhmaṇa, “How did this occur?”
The Brāhmaṇa says, “Your Majesty (Dēvayan wahansē), having given three masuran, I asked for and got three words [of advice] from a Brāhmaṇa. ‘Having gone to a country don’t require honours,’ he said; ‘Without investigation don’t do a thing,’ he said; ‘To one’s own wife don’t tell a secret,’ he said; thereupon, the masuran being finished, he said without masuran, ‘Don’t tell lies to Kings.’ ”
He then repeated to the King the true story (already given) of his adventures and actions, which I omit; and he ended by saying “On account of [the other Brāhmaṇa’s] saying, ‘Don’t tell lies to Kings,’ I told you the fact.”
The King having investigated the law-suit, set free the Brāhmaṇa and the Brāhmaṇa’s wife.
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
With this may be compared the advice given to the Prince in the story No. 250 in this volume.
In Indian Nights’ Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 213 ff., a poor weaver who went away to improve his fortunes after borrowing forty rupees, met with a man who was silent until paid twenty rupees, when he said, “Friend, when four men give you [the same] advice, take it.” When he gave the man his remaining twenty rupees, and said, “Speak again,” the man warned him not to tell his wife what happened to him. After this, the weaver met with four men sitting round a corpse, and consented to carry it to the adjoining river for them, and throw it in. He found diamonds tied round its waist, appropriated them, returned home, repaid his loan, and lived in luxury. The village headmen wished to know how the weaver became rich, and the man’s wife pestered him about it until he stated that while on his travels he was told to drink half a pint of mustard oil early in the morning, and he would then see hidden treasure. The headman’s wife being told this by her, gave her husband and six children the dose at night, and in the morning they were all dead. When the King held an inquiry she charged the weaver’s wife with advising her to do it; but the latter totally denied it, and the headman’s wife was hanged.
In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 32, a Brāhmaṇa’s wife sold to a Prince for a lakh of rupees four pieces of advice written by her husband, and the King banished the Prince for his foolishness in wasting the money thus. The advice was that a person when travelling must be careful at a strange place, and keep awake, (2) a man in need must test his friends, (3) a man who visits a married sister in good style will be well received, but if poor will be disowned, (4) a man must do his own work well. The Prince was saved from murder by keeping awake at night in his lodgings; was nearly executed when he visited his brother-in-law as a poor Yōgī; rid a Princess of two snakes which issued from her nostrils, and was appointed her father’s successor; was then received with humility by his brother-in-law, and cured his father’s blindness by laying his hands on his eyes.
At p. 332, four exiled Princes agreed to keep watch at night over the corpse of a great merchant; the reward was to be four thousand rupees. They had adventures with the corpse and demons.
In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (collected by Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 53, a Prince paid a man his only three gold coins for three pieces of advice, and the man gave him a fourth free of charge. The first was not to sit without moving the stool or mat offered; the second, not to bathe where others bathed; the third, to act according to the opinion of the majority; and, lastly, to restrain his anger, hear an explanation, and weigh it well before acting. The first saved him from being dropped into a well; the second saved his purse when left behind on bathing; the third obtained for him a roll of coin out of the waist cloth of a corpse which he threw into a ravine; and on returning home at night, when he found a pair of slippers and a sword outside his wife’s door, inquiry showed that only her sister was with her.