Chapter XII: Part I (8)

Having said this, the Jackal quickly came running, and after all the Jackals had collected together, said, "Let nobody of ye go anywhere to-morrow. We must all go to call the Turtles for the wedding, and return."

The Jackal whom the Turtle cheated said, "Somehow or other having sought out the Turtle that cheated me and called it to the wedding, I must torture it and kill it," he said.

After that, all the Jackals having collected together, started to go to call the Turtles for the wedding. Having set off, the Jackal who drank water at the pond having gone in front to invite the Turtles [to be ready], said, "They are coming to summon you to the wedding. All ye having prepared for it be pleased to be quite ready," he said.

Then all the Turtles having come and climbed onto the branches of trees fallen in the pond, were looking out.

The Jackal who came with the message having gone back near the Jackals, said, "All the Turtles having climbed on the trees and the branches, are present looking out till we come."

Well then, all the Jackals having started, while they were going with the tom-tom beaters, the Jackal who drank water at the pond said, "You stay here. I will go and look if the Turtles are coming or what."

Having gone, after he looked [he saw that] all the Turtles in the trees, more than the Jackals, all having climbed onto the branches, were looking out. Having seen [this] the Jackal says, "Haven't you tom-toms, drums, kettle-drums?" the Jackal asked the Turtles. "There! we indeed are coming beating well the tom-toms, kettle-drums, drums, and [blowing] trumpets," he said.

Then the Turtle Chief said, "Beat our tom-toms," he said.

Then all the Turtles began to beat tom-toms by singing, "Gaja, Gaja; Gora, Gora; Baka, Baka," enough to destroy the ears.

Then the Jackal having come running to the front of the Jackals, said, "All the Turtles having climbed completely along the branches of the trees are there. We all having gone near the Turtles must go along the trees that we can mount onto, and seize the Turtles," he said.

Then the Jackal Chief said, "Not so. As we come very near the Turtles beat this tom-tom verse," he said. Then all at a leap having jumped onto the trees where the Turtles are he told them to seize them. The very tom-tom verse that he told the tom-tom beaters to beat on the tom-toms is, "Ehe; Kata, kata, kata. Ehe; Kata, kata, kata."

Then when they were far off, the Turtles having seen the Jackals coming, said, "There they are, Bola. Now then, get ready."

As they were coming near, beating the tom-toms, "Ehe; Kata, kata, kata. Ehe; Kata, kata, kata," the Turtles having heard all this, all the Turtles began to cry out, "Baka, Baka," as they came near.

Then, as they came very near, singing "Baka, Baka," all the Turtles sprang into the pond [and disappeared].

On account of this thing that they did, the Jackals became still more ashamed. "These Cattle-Turtles have cheated us," they said; and having become angry, went away.

The way the Jackal-artificers called the Turtles to the wedding is good.

Village Vaedda of Bintaenna.

The first part of this tale is found in the Jataka story No. 215 (vol. ii, p. 123). In it two Hansas or sacred Geese asked a Turtle to accompany them to their home, a golden cave in the Himalayas. They carried it like the Storks. The Jackal is not introduced at all. Some village children saw the Turtle in the air, and made a simple remark to that effect. The Turtle, wishing to reply, opened its mouth, and was smashed by falling in the King's court-yard.

In the Panchatantra (Dubois), as well as in a variant of the North-western Province of Ceylon, and elsewhere in the island, the story does not end at this point, but with the escape of the Turtle after the Jackal had soaked it in the water.

In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 37, the story ends with the fall of the Turtle, which was being carried to a lake in which there was water. In this case, as in the Jataka story, the point to be illustrated only required the Turtle to fall and be killed.

The variant of the North-western Province is practically identical with the first part of the Vaedda tale, but the drought is stated to have lasted for seven years. The Jackal was about to howl, and on turning his head upward for the purpose saw two Black Storks carrying the Turtle.

He asked, "Where are you taking a present?" (referring to the way in which a considerable load is sometimes carried slung on a stick, the ends of which rest upon the shoulders of two men, one in front and the other behind). The Turtle replied, "For your mother's head." When the Jackal tried to eat it he heard the Turtle laughing inside the shell, and said, "Friend, what are you laughing at?" The Turtle said, "I am laughing at your thinking you can eat me in that way. I have been dried up for seven years, and if you want to eat me you must first soak me in water." The Jackal did this, and the Turtle escaped in the way related by the Vaeddas.

The rest of the story is, I think, found only among the Vaeddas. Although it is clear that it must have been invented by the settled inhabitants of villages, the marriage custom according to which the bride was to be taken to the bridegroom's house to be married is not that of the modern Sinhalese, but is in accordance with the story related in the Mahavansa, i, p. 33, regarding the marriage of a Vaedi Princess at the time of Wijaya's landing in Ceylon. The Sinhalese custom is found in the story of the Glass Princess (No. 4), in which six Princes accompanied by their parents, went to their brides' city to be married, returning home with their brides afterwards.

It is probable that the original story ended with the escape of the Turtle from the Jackal after it was placed in the water. It is a folk-tale, and not a story written to illustrate a maxim. It appears to have been invented to show the folk-lore superiority of the Turtle's intelligence over that of the Jackal. The Turtle is always represented as a very clever animal, not only because of the ease with which he can protect himself by withdrawing his head and legs inside the shell--of which Mr. A. Clark, formerly of the Forest Department of Ceylon, and I once had an amusing illustration at a pool in the Kanakarayan-aru, when his bull-terrier made frantic attempts to kill one, like the Jackal--but possibly also because, as I was told of another amphibious animal in West Africa, "he lives both in the water and on the land, therefore he knows the things of both the land and the water."

In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 134, the story as far as the escape of the Turtle was given by Mr. H. A. Pieris, the animals concerned being wrongly termed Tortoise, Cranes, and Fox; the two latter animals are not found in Ceylon. To this the Editor added the story found in the Hitopadesa, in which the animals were a Turtle and two Geese, which agreed to carry the Turtle to another lake in order that it might not be killed by some fishermen next day. Some herdsmen's boys saw it, and remarked that if it fell they would cook and eat it. The Turtle replied, "You shall eat ashes," fell down, and was killed by the men.

In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 37, the birds were "Swans" (probably Hansas, which are always represented as geese in ancient carvings in Ceylon). Some men made remarks to each other on the strange object that was being carried, and the Turtle, on asking the birds what the chattering was about, fell and was killed by the men.

In Old Deccan Days (Frere), p. 310, a Jackal escaped from an Alligator [Crocodile] in the same manner as the Turtle.

In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 155--Tales of the Punjab, p. 147--an Iguana or Monitor Lizard outwitted a Jackal who had caught him by the tail as he was entering the hole in which he lived. Both pulled for a long time without any result. At last the Lizard said he gave in, and requested the Jackal to allow him to turn round and come out. When released he disappeared into the hole.

NO. 37

THE LION AND THE TURTLE

In a jungle there is a Lion King. While he was there, one day there was no prey for the Lion King when he was walking about seeking it. He obtained nothing as prey that day. As the Lion through fatigue was staying below a great big tree, avoiding the heat, he went to sleep.

While he was sleeping, a Turtle came out [of the bushes], having set off to go away from there. As he was going along, a "sara, sara" sound was heard, having been made by the dry leaves. The Lion King having opened his eyes [90] at the sound of this Turtle's going, after he had looked saw the Turtle, and having become angry sprang at once near the Turtle. Having said, "Bola! What art thou going on a rapid journey in this manner for? Didst thou not see that I am [here]?" the Lion King pushed against the Turtle.

Then the Turtle says, "O Lord who will become a thousand Buddhas [in future existences], I didn't come to cause you alarm, Sir; I am walking to procure my food," the Turtle said to the Lion King.

"What art thou going to seek and eat in this forest?" the Lion asked.

Then the Turtle says, "O Lord, I am walking to obtain and eat any sort of things that I can eat," the Turtle said.

Then anger having gone to the Lion, he sprang to eat the Turtle. Then the Turtle, having brought his head inside, became like a stone. After he became thus, the Lion turning the Turtle to that side and to this side, and having clawed him and bitten him, looked at him, having been unable to do anything to him. After he had been looking the Lion says, "Having been like a what-is-it stone, didn't you preach to me in overbearing words?"

When he had been looking at him a little time, as the Turtle, having put his head outside again, was going off, the Lion says, "Bola, art thou a being who can do anything?"

"O Lord, the things that you, Sir, can do you do. I do the things that I can do," the Turtle said.

"Bola, canst thou, who endest by drawing slowly and slowly what is like a lump of stone, run, jump, roar, swim in rivers that way and this way, equal to me? And what canst thou do to me, who having roared and caused the bottom of the ears to burst, and killed every animal, eats it?" the Lion said.

Then the Turtle says, "You, Sir, frighten and eat even all. You cannot frighten and kill, nor eat, me except on land. In the water, you, Sir, cannot swim that side and this side equal to me," the Turtle said to the Lion.

After the Lion, having become angry, said, "Wilt thou come to swim that side and this side with me? If not, I will put thee under a large stone," the Turtle having become afraid that he would kill him, having given his word to swim with the Lion that side and this side in a river, went near the river.

Having gone [there] the Turtle met with yet a Turtle, and said, "Friend, a great trouble has befallen me to-day." After the friendly Turtle asked, "What is it, friend?" the other Turtle says, "The Lion King has come and wagered with me to swim that side and this side," he said.

Then the Turtle says, "Why are you afraid of that, friend? Say, 'It is good.' I will tell you a good trick; you act in that way. What is it? You place a red flower in your mouth. I will place a red flower in my mouth. You having been on this side with the Lion King, and having sprung into the river and hidden at the bottom of the water very near there, remain [there]. I having hidden near the river bank on that side will be [there]. The Lion King having come swimming, as he is going to land on that side, I being near the river bank and having said, 'Kurmarsha,' [91] taking the flower will land [before him]. You also in that way having been hidden near the bank on this side, as the Lion King is going to land, having said, 'Kurmarsha,' quickly land [before him]." The friendly Turtle having said [this], hid at the bottom of the water near the bank on that side of the river.

The Turtle that spoke with the Lion went near the Lion. Then the Lion asks, "Art thou coming to swim?" he asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty," the Turtle said.

Then [after they had gone to the river] the Lion said to the Turtle, "Thou, having swum in front, be off. I having come slowly shall get in front of thee," he said.

Then the Turtle, also holding a red flower in his mouth, having descended to the river, and having gone a little far, got hid at the bottom of the water. While it was hidden, as the Lion was going swimming near the river bank, the other Turtle which stopped at that side, having got in front before the Lion landed, and said, "Kurmarsha," having placed a red flower also in his mouth, landed on the river bank at once.

The Lion having seen him, again sprang into the river. As he came to this side, the Turtle that remained at the bank at this side, having got in front of the Lion at once, taking the flower also, said, "Kurmarsha," and landed.

Again the Lion swam to the other side. In that very way the Turtle having been there and said, "Kurmarsha," landed [in front of him].

Thus, in that way, when swimming seven or eight times, the Lion, who was without even any prey that day, having become unable to swim, and being without strength in the middle of the river, died.

Village Vaedda of Bintaenna.

In a variant of the North-western Province, the Lion lived in a cave, and met the Turtle when he went to the river to drink. He told the Turtle that it was unable to travel quickly because it always lived in one place. The Turtle shrugged its shoulders, and replied, "Can you travel better than I?" The Lion challenged it to race with him, and the Turtle accepted the challenge, fixing the time eight days later.

The race of the two animals was not across the river, but along it, a series of Turtles having been stationed at various points where it was arranged that the Lion should come to the bank and call out, "Friend." At each place a Turtle rose on hearing this, and said, "What is it, friend?" At the fifth stage, the Lion leapt over two stages as quickly as one, and broke his neck.

The resemblance of the race in this variant to that between Brer Rabbit and Brer Tarrypin in Uncle Remus is striking; it even extends to the number of stages, five in both stories.

In The Orientalist, vol. i, pp. 87, 88, Mr. W. Goonetilleke gave a variant from Siam, by Herr A. Bastian, in which the animals were the Garuda [or Rukh] and the Turtle; and two others by Lord Stanmore, from Fiji, where the animals were a Crane and a Crab in one instance, and a Crane and a Butterfly in the other, the insect being perched on the bird's back during the race.