Chapter XIV: Part II (2)

In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 117, the Rakshasa Queen, after getting the seven Queens' eyes plucked out, ate up all the people, and no one remained to attend on the King. At last the boy offered his services. He always left before night, the time when the Ogress caught her victims. She sent him to her mother for a melon, with a letter which he tore up. He got back safely, bringing a bird in which was the life of the Ogress Queen; when he killed it she died.

In The Indian Antiquary, vol. i, p. 170, there is a Bengal story by Mr. G. H. Damant. The Ogress or Rakshasa Queen obtained the eyes of the seven Queens from the King, and sent the boy for sea-foam, and afterwards for rice grown in Ceylon, "the home of the Rakshasas," that ripened in one day. A Sannyasi, or Hindu religious mendicant, changed him into a kingfisher on one trip and a parrot on the other, which brought the things, being re-converted into a Prince on the way back. Lastly, he was sent to Ceylon for a cow a cubit long and half a cubit high. The King paid him heavily for getting these things, and for the last one was obliged to sell his kingdom and give the proceeds to the boy. The Sannyasi instructed him to conciliate a Rakshasi by addressing her as "Aunt," and to deliver a pretended message from the Ogress Queen. He was well received, and learnt that the Rakshasas' lives were in a lemon and the Ogress Queen's in a bird. He cut the lemon and thus killed all the Rakshasas, brought back the blind Queens' eyes, and killed the bird, and with it the Ogress Queen.

In Folk-Tales of Hindustan, Allahabad (Shaik Chilli), p. 105, the seven Queens were thrown into a large dry well; it is not stated that their eyes were plucked out. The seventh boy got his grandfather, a carpenter, to make him a wooden flying horse. He was sent for singing-water, magic rice, and news of the Rakshasa Queen's relatives. He met a lion, a wolf, and various other savage animals, which he appeased by addressing them as "Uncle," "Cousin," etc. A kind Yogi changed his letter, and he was welcomed by the Rakshasas, whose lives he learnt were in a number of birds. These he killed, taking back a pea-hen in which lay the life of the Ogress Queen, as well as the magic water and rice. Each of the animals sent a cub with him, and on his return these performed a dance, at the end of which he killed the pea-hen and the Ogress died. The persons who had been eaten by the Ogress revived when the magic water was sprinkled on their bones. The magic rice plant, called Vanaspati, grew into a tree forty yards high, and bore cooked rice.

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 43, the seven Queens' eyes were put out, and they were thrown into a large dry well. The seventh boy was sent for the milk of a tigress, and then to the grandparents of the Ogress Queen. A friendly Fakir having altered the messages, he was well received, got medicine that cured the blind Queens' eyes, and also killed the birds and smashed a spinning-wheel in which were the lives of the Ogress Queen and her relatives.

At p. 446, also, the eyes of a Queen which had been plucked out were replaced and healed.

A variant of the Western Province of Ceylon, in which there were twelve Queens, whose sight was not regained, however, has been given already. See No. 24.

NO. 49

MR. JANEL SIÑÑA

In a certain city there are a King and a Queen, it is said. There are six Princes. The youngest Prince of the six plays with (lit. beats) the ashes on the ash-heap at the corner of the hearth; the other five Princes are doing work, and going on journeys together.

The King said at the hands of the Queen that he must behead the Prince who was [idling] on the ash-heap. Then the Queen said, "What is the use of beheading him? Let us send the Prince whom we do not want to any place where he likes to go."

Having come to the Prince, the Queen says, "Son, the King says that he must behead you; on that account go away to any place you like."

Then the Prince said, "If so, give me a bundle of cooked rice, and a thousand masuran, in order to go and trade."

So the Queen gave him a package of cooked rice and a thousand masuran.

The Prince took the masuran and the package of cooked rice, and having gone on and on, when he was coming to a travellers' shed [saw that] a man was taking a brown Monkey, [97] in order to throw it into the river. This Prince called the man, and the man thereupon brought the Monkey and came to the travellers' shed.

The Prince asked, "Where are you taking that Monkey?"

The man said, "I am taking this to sell."

The Prince asked, "For how much will you give it?"

The man said he would give it for a thousand masuran. The Prince gave the thousand masuran that were in his hands, and got the Monkey, and that man having taken the thousand masuran went away.

The Prince having unfastened the package of cooked rice, and given some to the Monkey also, and the Prince himself having eaten, took the Monkey and came back to the very city of the King. When he came there the King was not at the palace; only the Queen was there. The Queen asked, "What sort of goods have you brought?"

The Prince says, "Mother, having given that thousand masuran I have brought a Monkey."

Then the Queen says, "Ane! Son, should the King and the rest of them get to know that, he will behead you and behead me. As you have taken that Monkey put it away somewhere."

So the Prince took the Monkey and put it in a rock cave in the jungle, and shutting the door came to the palace. While he was there the King saw him, and having seen him, called the Queen and said, "I shall not allow that one to stay in my palace for even a paeya (twenty minutes). I shall behead him to-morrow."

Afterwards the Queen came to the Prince and said, "Son, the King says he must behead you to-morrow, therefore go to any place you like, and do not come back."

The Prince said, "Give me a package of rice, and a thousand masuran."

Afterwards the Queen having cooked a package of rice gave him it, and a thousand masuran. The Prince taking them, and having gone to the rock cave where the Monkey was, took it and went to [another] city. At that city he ate the package of rice at the travellers' shed, and having gone to the hearth the Prince slept on the ash-heap.

The Monkey went away to dance in cities. Having gone and danced, collecting requisite articles, he came back to the place where the Prince was, and the Prince cooked some of the things he brought, and gave him to eat. The Monkey goes every day to dance; and having danced, the Prince and Monkey, both of them, eat the things he brings. In that way the Monkey brings things every day.

One day, the Monkey having gone to a city and danced, fell down at the palace at that city. Then the King came and asked, "What is it, Monkey? Why have you fallen down there?"

The Monkey says, "I have come to beg and take the measure [98] in which masuran are measured."

Afterwards the King gave him the measure for measuring masuran. The monkey having taken it and having been absent for as much as a month, brought the measure back.

Then the King asked, "What is this, Monkey, that having taken the measure thou hast been such a time [in returning it]?"

The Monkey says, "For just so much time I measured masuran."

The King asked, "Having measured them did you finish?"

Then the Monkey said, "Ando! Could it be finished? Not even a quarter was finished."

The King said, "Aha!" and was silent.

The Monkey that day also having danced in that city, the King gave him many presents. Taking them, and stealing a cloth from a field where clothes were spread out [to dry], while he was coming a man having met him in the road asked the Monkey, "Monkey, to whom dost thou give the articles that thou art taking every day?"

The Monkey says, "I give them to our Mr. Janel Siñña. I am supporting that gentleman."

The Monkey having gone to the place where the Prince was, says, "Here is a cloth. It is good for the gentleman, is it not?" and he showed him the cloth which he had stolen.

The Prince threw it aside, and said, "This cloth which I have is enough."

Next day the Monkey having come to that city and danced, lay down on the lawn of the palace. Then the King asked, "What is it, Monkey, that you have fallen down there for?"

Then the Monkey says, "Our Mr. Janel Siñña burnt his cloth while drinking. I have come to ask you to cause the cloth to be woven for him [anew]."

The King said, "If so, bring it."

Afterwards the Monkey having gone to the place where the Prince was, brought a thin cloth and gave it to the King. Afterwards the King caused one to be woven, and gave it to him.

Then the Monkey says at the hand of the King, "You ought to marry your Princess to our Mr. Janel Siñña."

The King said, "Ha. It is very good."

The Monkey, begging two copper pots, [99] went away, and having gone, heated water in the two copper pots, and having made the Prince bathe, said to the Prince, "Do not eat largely of the sorts [of food] after I have cooked and given [the food] to you [at the palace]. I have asked for a [Princess in] marriage for you after I went there."

Afterwards the Monkey, summoning the Prince also, went to the palace of the King of that city. Having gone there, and prepared a seat at the King's table, and made ready the food, after the Prince sat down to the food seven Princesses themselves began to divide [and serve] it.

Then that Prince began to eat very plentifully. The Monkey having come and nudged him with his finger, said, "You have eaten enough." Taking no notice of it, the Prince went on eating. Having eaten that, he shaped his hand [into a cup] and reversing it there [when full], ate in excess.

Then the King asked the Monkey, "What, Monkey, is [the reason of] that?"

The Monkey said, "Our Mr. Janel Siñña having been overheated [by his bath] could not eat. Through that indeed it has befallen that he has lost his senses." That also the King kept in mind.

Then the Prince and the King's eldest daughter were married.

After that, the Monkey said that he wanted a thousand bill-hooks, and a thousand digging-hoes, and a thousand axes, and a thousand people. The King gave him a thousand bill-hooks, and a thousand digging-hoes, and a thousand axes, and a thousand people. [With these the royal party set off to deliver the Princess at the Prince's palace.]

Afterwards, having given the tools to those people, the Monkey goes in front. The King and the Princess and the Prince come after. That Monkey goes [in the trees] jumping and jumping, and changing branches. The thousand people went footing and footing the road.

While going thus they met with a city. Then the King quietly told the Monkey to halt; it stopped. Then the King asked the Monkey, "Whose is that city that is visible?"

The Monkey says, "This city is our Mr. Janel Siñña's. It has been rented out to his work-people." Afterwards the King went on, keeping that also in his mind.

The Monkey again went in front. Then again they met with a city. Again the King having called the Monkey asked, "Whose is that city?"

Then the Monkey says, "It is our Mr. Janel Siñña's. It has been rented out to his work-people. In that way are the cities belonging to our Mr. Janel Siñña [given out]."

Again the Monkey went off in front. Having gone thus, he went to the house of a Rakshasa, and having made the house ready in a second, when he stepped aside the King and the Prince and Princess went in.

The King made the thousand work-people stay there, and having handed over the Princess, next day went back to his city.

Afterwards the Monkey asked at the hand of the Prince, "For the help that you gave me I also am assisting you. What favour besides will you give me?"

Then the Prince says, "When you have died I shall weep abundantly, and having made a coffin, and put you in the coffin, I will bury you."

Then the Monkey said, "So much indeed is the assistance I want."

One day the Monkey lay down, trickishly saying that he was getting fever. The Prince did not even go in that direction. Next day and the next day he stayed there; on those days he did not go.

On the third day the Monkey cunningly shutting his eyes remained as though he had died. The Prince said to a man, "Look if that Monkey is dead."

The man having gone near the Monkey, when he looked it was dead [in appearance]; he said at the hand of the Prince that it was dead. The Prince said, "Having put a creeper round its neck, drag it in the direction of that jungle, and having thrown it there come back."

When the man tried to put the creeper on the Monkey's neck the Monkey got up. "Don't put the creeper on my neck," he said.

Having gone near the Prince he said, "After I was dead [apparently], you were taking me without having put me in a coffin. Why do you [arrange to] drag me, having put a creeper on my neck? Don't take even so much trouble."

Having said this, the Monkey went off to the midst of the forest, and died.

Tom-Tom Beater. North-western Province.

Of course, this is an Eastern form of Puss-in-Boots.

In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 226 ff., there is an account of a clever match-making Jackal which induced a King to marry his daughter to a weaver.

NO. 50

THE NIKINI STORY [100]

In a certain country there are a man and a woman, it is said. There is a girl (daughter) of those two persons.

The girl was asked [in marriage] for a Gamarala of another country who had much wealth in money. The girl having been summoned, and having gone to the Gamarala, and been with him for a long time, he went to chop jungle [for making a chena]. There he met with a fawn, and having returned home said to the girl, "Bolan, there was a fawn in the chena."

The girl said, "Ane! After you have gone to-morrow bring it." On the following day the Gamarala brought it.

When the girl had reared it for a long time, a longing came to her, and she lay down. Afterwards the Gamarala asked the Deer, "What, Deer, is thy elder sister's illness?"

Then the Deer said, "Our elder sister has a longing."

The Gamarala said, "What can she eat for it?"

The Deer replied, "Our elder sister can eat the stars in the sky."

Afterwards the Gamarala, having gone to seek the stars, and to seek for the corner of the sky [where it joined the earth, so as to ascend to them], searched until he became aged, but was unable to find the corner; and the Gamarala died.

Then the girl, having sold the Gamarala's village, took the money that was obtained there, and the wealth that he possessed [and left]. While the girl and the Deer were going on their way they met with a King. He asked the Deer, "Where, Deer, are ye going?"

The Deer said, "Our elder sister on account of thirst is going to seek a little water."

Then the King said, "Wilt thou give thy elder sister to me [in marriage]?"

The Deer said "Ha"; so having placed the Deer and the Deer's elder sister on the back of the King's elephant, they went to the palace.

When a long time had passed, a longing came again to the girl, and she lay down.

The King asked the Deer, "What is thy elder sister's illness?"

The Deer said, "Our elder sister has a longing."

The King asked, "What can she eat for it?"

The Deer said, "Should you bring for our elder sister the sand which is at the bottom of the ocean, if she slept upon it she would be well."

Afterwards, when the King was going to the bottom of the sea to take the sand, he was soaked with the water, and died.

After this, when the Deer and the Deer's elder sister, taking all the King's things, and cooking a bundle of rice, were on their way again, they met with a man. The man asked the Deer, "Where, Deer, are ye going?"

The Deer said, "We are going to seek a man for our elder sister."

The man said, "If so, give thy elder sister to me."

The Deer said "Ha," and the Deer and the Deer's elder sister went to the man's house.

When they had been there a long time, a longing came to the woman, and she lay down. The man asked, "What, Deer, is thy elder sister's illness?"

The Deer said, "Our elder sister has a longing."

The man asked, "What can she eat for it?"

The Deer said, "Our elder sister must eat Nikini. Should she not eat it, it will not only be very difficult for her [to recover]; her life will be lost." Now the sort called "Nikini" is not in any place whatever in the world. That ignorant man, not knowing of its non-existence, on account of the love that he bore for his wife went away on a search for Nikini.

Afterwards, when the foolish man was on his way to seek for Nikini, a man was ploughing. The man who was ploughing asked, "Where are you going?"

This man said, "I am going to seek for a little Nikini."

Then the man said to this man, "If so, come here [and help me to plough]."

Those two having ploughed during the whole of that day, went in the evening to the house of the man who had been ploughing. Both of them having eaten cooked rice, the man who went to seek for Nikini asked that man, "Ane! Now then, tell me the place where there is Nikini."

The man said, "Ane! I don't know. Go you away."

After that, when he had slept there that night, that man gave him a little cooked rice. Having eaten a little, while he was going on his way to seek for Nikini, a man was chopping earthen ridges in a rice field. The man asked, "Where are you going?"

This man said, "I am going to seek for a little Nikini."

Then that man said, "If so, come here [and help me]."

After those two persons had chopped the ridges during the whole day, they went in the evening to the man's house. While they were [there], having eaten cooked rice this man who went to seek for Nikini said, "Ane! Tell me the site where there is Nikini."

The man said, "Ane! I don't know. Go and ask at the hand of another person."

When this man had slept there that day night, on the next day that man gave him a little cooked rice. Having eaten it he set off to go and seek Nikini. Then a man was sowing a rice field. The man asked him, "Where are you going?"

This man said, "I am going to seek for a little Nikini."

The man asked, "What for?"

This man replied, "A longing has come to our house-mistress, so she told me to go and bring a little Nikini."

The man said, "If so, come here and sow."

For the whole of that day those two sowed. In the evening they came to the man's house, and both of them having eaten cooked rice, while they were there this man said, "Now then, tell me the place where there is Nikini."

Then the man said, "Yako, [101] that was not [asked for] through want of Nikini. That was said through wanting to cause you to be killed. Your wife has a paramour."

The man quarrelled with him, saying, "Not in any way. My wife is very good. She has great love for me. If you again say such a thing as that one is there, I shall strike you."

The other man asked, "What will you give me to catch that paramour for you?"

The person who went on the search for Nikini said, "I have a gem which has continued with us from generation to generation. I will give you that gem." [The man accepted this offer].

Then the two persons made a cage called, "The Cage of the God Sivalinga," and tied white cloth in it [as a lining], and trimmed a wooden cudgel and placed it inside. The man [who had gone for Nikini] was also placed inside the cage with a cloth on his shoulders, and closed in with similar cloths. Men having been fetched [and engaged to carry it]--saying that he was bringing the God Sivalinga--took it on their shoulders, and going off with it they went to a Hettirala's shop.

Then that man said [to the person inside the cage], "After I have placed it inside the shop, take the cash-box which is in it, and put it inside the cage."

The Hettirala asked, "What is that cage?"

The man said, "Our deity, the God Sivalinga."

The Hettirala asked, "What is it, then, that is necessary for offering to that deity?"

The man said, "The cooked rice from two quarts of raw rice, and sweet plantains are wanted."

So the Hettirala brought and gave him the cooked rice from two quarts of raw rice, and ripe sweet plantains. After that, the man gave to the man in the cage the cooked rice from a quart of the raw rice, and half the plantains. The other man ate the rice from the other quart, and the remaining plantains.

In the evening the man gave the cage into the hands of the Hettiya, and told him to place it in the house. So the Hettiya put the cage in the house. [During the night the man inside it stole the cash-box.] When it got near midnight the man asked for the cage, saying, "Hetti-elder-brother, give me my cage so that I may go." The Hettirala gave it.

As the man, taking the cage, was going along he met with a city. Then that man said [to the man in the cage], "After I have taken this cage and placed it in the palace, you get the things in it and put them inside the cage." Having said this they went to the palace. The King asked, "What is that?"

The man said, "Our deity, the God Sivalinga. We are able to say sooth and the like."

The King asked, "What do you require for him?"

The man said, "Rice cooked from raw rice, and sweet plantains are necessary."

So the King gave him cooked rice and sweet plantains. The man having given [a share of them] to the man in the cage, said, "It is necessary to place this cage inside the palace [for the night]."

The King having said "Ha," he brought it, and placed it inside the palace. As it was becoming light the man said, "Now then, I want the cage in order to worship the deity." So the King gave him the cage.

Afterwards, as the man was taking the cage near a tank it became light. He remained there until it was night, and then went to the house of the man who went to seek Nikini, and found that the woman had called in another man who was there. That man asked, "What is that?"

The man said, "This is our deity, the God Sivalinga. We are able to tell sooth."

The man said, "Ha. It is good. There is a sooth that we, too, require to ask about."

Then the [pretended] Kapurala, whom the God Sivalinga was [supposed to be] goading [102] to it, became possessed. When he was saying sooth, the wife of the man who went to seek Nikini and the false husband who had joined her, came with their arms interlaced, and saying to the deity that a long time had elapsed since her husband had gone in search of Nikini, they asked, "Has anything happened to him now?"

At that time the God Sivalinga said through the person possessed by Sivalinga, "The man has now become blind. Besides that, he will not be permitted to return to his village. He will die while in that state."

Then because he said this in the manner that was in the mind of the woman, she took the food off the fire, and together with the false husband brought the deity to her house, and gave the rice cooked from two quarts of raw rice, and sweet plantains, in order that the Kapurala might present an offering.

That night, when he had eaten, the Kapurala said, "We must place this our cage inside that [room]."

"You may do it," they said, and they placed it in the house.

Then when the wife of the man who was inside the cage and the false husband were spreading mats [to lie upon], and making ready for sleeping, the Kapurala who remained outside said, "Except that [cage], there is no room for two." Thereupon the man who was inside the cage came out, and beat the false husband even on the cheeks with the cudgel that he had taken. So the man died.

After that, the man, as it was becoming light, went and threw the Deer's elder sister into the river. Having returned, and gone to the village with the Deer, the man who went for Nikini cooked for the other man, and gave him to eat. Then the two divided the money, and he gave the man the gem which he had, as a present for him, and sent that man back to his village.

Afterwards this man, taking another wife, remained there. [According to another version, however, he became a Buddhist monk.]

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

The story is also related in a contracted form in the Western Province.

In a variant by a Tom-tom Beater of the North-western Province, a young Boar takes the place of the Deer, and the woman married first a King, and afterwards a Rakshasa who was sent for the Nikini. At the Boar's suggestion he died by jumping into a fire made by the girl, and the Boar then followed his example, and was burnt up. The girl is represented as "smearing a great deal of gold on herself" before this, apparently becoming gilded.

NO. 51

THE AET-KANDA LENIYA [103]

At a certain city there are the King and the Queen, it is said. They had one son, and while the Prince was living there the Queen bore yet [another] Prince.

One day the two Princes having gone to the river to bathe, a Princess from another city came to bathe [at the same place], and the eldest Prince hid the robes of the Princess. Afterwards, on his inviting the Princess she went with the Prince to his city.

After they had gone there, when the King got to know of it he said, "Should this rascal stay with me the kingdom will be destroyed," and he ordered them to behead the Prince. Then the Queen, the Prince's mother, having cooked a bundle of rice and given it to him, said, "Go away where you like [or the King will behead you]."

The Prince having taken the packet of cooked rice to the river, ate it with the Princess. After eating it the two persons went to the house of a widow woman. The Prince made the Princess stay with her, and having given the Princess's robes into the hands of the widow woman, said, "Mother, put those robes into that box and this box" (that is, here and there, not all in one place, so that the Princess should not be able to find them).

Afterwards, when the Prince had gone to the forge to get a sword made, the Princess said to the widow woman, "Mother, give me my robes to look at."

The widow woman said, "Ane! Daughter, I don't know where they are."

The Princess said, "Why are you telling me lies? Give them to me."

On account of that, the widow woman opened the boxes, and gave the robes to the Princess. The Princess took the robes, and saying, "Should he see me again it will be as [wonderful as] if he should see the young of the Aet-Kanda Leniya, or white where charcoal has been rubbed," went away to the city of the Princess.

When the Prince came after getting the sword made, he asked at the hand of the widow woman, "Where is the Princess?"

The woman said, "On her asking for her robes I gave them. Taking them, she said, 'Should he see me again it will be as [wonderful as] if he should see the young of the Aet-Kanda Leniya, or white where charcoal has been rubbed' [and then she went away]."

The Prince on that account rubbed and rubbed charcoal, and when he looked there was a little white [colour]. Having seen it, he told the widow woman to cook cakes. When they were cooked he took some and ate; and tying up a cloth package of them, and taking it, and the sword, he went off.

As he was passing through the middle of a forest, he saw a cobra beginning to climb a tree in which were the little ones of the Aet-Kanda Leniya, and he cut it in two with the sword. While he was climbing the tree after killing it, the little ones of the Aet-Kanda Leniya came to eat him. Then he said to the little ones, "O unrighteous ones! Why are ye coming to eat me? Look ye on the ground."

When the Aet-Kanda little ones had looked on the ground, and seen the cobra that he had cut in two, they said, "[As you have saved us from the cobra] we will render you any possible assistance."

Then the Prince after going to the nest where they were, unfastened the package of cakes, and having given to them also, ate. After eating, the little ones of the Aet-Kanda Leniya said, "Mother will indeed eat you to-day when she has come."

The Prince said, "Ane! Somehow or other you must save me."

They said "Ha," and made him creep among their wings.

While he was there the Aet-Kanda Leni (the female Rukh, their mother), having pierced with its claws a tusk elephant, came bringing it, after flying round the sea in three circles. After she had come she said, "What is this, children! Here is prey for you; are you delaying to eat? On other days you come screaming for it."

Those young ones said, "Mother, to-day we are not hungry. Food has been given to us."

"Whence?" she asked.

The little ones said, "There is a man with us; [he gave it to us]."

"Show me him," the Aet-Kanda Leni said.

"You will eat him, mother," they replied.

The Aet-Kanda Leni said, "I will not eat him."

"If so, take us and swear," [104] the little ones said.

Then the Aet-Kanda Leni swore, "I will not eat him."

After that, the little ones showed the Aet-Kanda Leni the Prince. The Prince said to the Aet-Kanda Leni, "Look at the foot of the tree; [I have saved your little ones by killing the cobra]."

After having looked, the Aet-Kanda Leni said, "I will give you any possible assistance because you have done this."

Afterwards, the Prince having descended from the tree was unable to cross the river. So the Aet-Kanda Leni broke a stick, and bringing it in her mouth told the Prince to hang from it. While the Prince was hanging, the Aet-Kanda Leni flew to the other side of the river; after [leaving him there] she returned to the nest where the little ones were.

The Prince went on. As he was going along, some men were taking a great many elephants. "What are you taking those elephants for?" he asked.

Those men said, "We are taking them to kill at the city."

The Prince said, "I will give you these hundred masuran; let them go."

Those men, saying "Ha," took the hundred masuran, and let the elephants go.

After that, when he had gone much further still, he saw men taking a great many pigs. The Prince asked, "Where are you taking these pigs?"

"We are taking them to kill at the city," the men replied.

The Prince said, "I will give you these hundred masuran; let them go."

The men said "Ha," and taking the hundred masuran let them go.

When the Prince had gone still a little further, men were taking a great quantity of turtle-doves. "Where are you taking those turtle-doves?" he asked.

"We are taking them to the city to kill," the men replied.

The Prince said, "I will give you these hundred masuran; let the turtle-doves go."

The men said "Ha," and taking the hundred masuran let them go.

When he had gone a little further still, men were taking a great many fire-flies. "Where are you taking them?" the Prince asked.

Those men replied, "We are taking them to the city to fry."

The Prince said, "I will give you these hundred masuran; let them go."

The men said "Ha," and taking the hundred masuran let them go.

When he had gone a little further yet, seven widow women came to the well for water [which they said they wanted in order] to pour water on the head of that Princess, who had become marriageable. A widow woman said to that Prince, "Take hold of this water-pot [and help me to lift it up]." Then the Prince having taken the jewelled ring that was on his hand, put it in the water-pot [unobserved]; after that he took hold of the water-pot [and helped her to lift it].

When they had taken the water, and were pouring it on the head of the Princess, the jewelled ring fell down. Having seen it [and recognised it], the Princess ordered the woman to tell the Prince to come. So the Prince went there.

After he had gone there [and told her that he had made a white mark with charcoal, and had saved the lives of the little ones of the Aet-Kanda Leniya], that Princess said to the Prince, "[Before I will marry you, you must perform the tasks that I shall give you. First you must] cut a chena suitable for sowing one and a half amunas [105] of mun" (a small pulse).

The Prince said "Ha," and having gone and cut a branch or two at the chena, thought, "Ane! Will the elephants that I set free by giving a hundred masuran render an assistance?" Those elephants that he freed, having come at this word, broke down all that jungle and went away.

After that, the Prince went to the Princess, and said, "The chena has been cut."

"Then set fire [to it]," the Princess said. So the Prince went and set fire [to the bushes]. The chena burnt excellently; nothing remained, so well it burnt.

Having gone to the Princess he said, "I set fire to the chena." Then the Princess gave him one and a half amunas of mun, and said, "Sow this and come back."

When the Prince had gone he took the mun and sowed it at the chena. Afterwards the Prince said, "Ane! Will the pigs that I set free by giving a hundred masuran render an assistance?" Then the pigs that he had freed by giving the hundred masuran all came and dug [with their snouts] the whole of the chena.

The Prince went to the Princess, and said, "I have sowed the chena." After that, the Princess told him to collect and bring back the mun that he had sown in the chena.

So the Prince having gone to the chena, and collected a little mun, said, "Ane! Will the turtle-doves that I freed by giving a hundred masuran render an assistance?" Then the turtle-doves that he had set free having all come, picked up the whole.

The Prince, collecting it and taking it to the city said to the Princess, "After collecting the mun that I sowed in the chena I have come back."

"Then measure it," she said. When he was measuring it there was one mun seed less. As she said this a turtle-dove dropped it at the measuring place.

After that, the father of the Princess put that Princess and seven widow women in a dark room. Having put them [there] the King said, "Unless you select and take out the Princess, or if you take out any other person, I shall behead you."

When the Prince had gone into the room [he thought], "Will the fire-flies that I freed by giving a hundred masuran render an assistance?" Then all the fire-flies having come, fastened on the body of the Princess, as a lamp. After that, the Prince took the Princess out into the light.

[As he had performed all the tasks, the Prince was married to the Princess]. Afterwards the Prince, calling the Princess, went to the house of that widow woman.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In a variant of the first part of this story, a youth whose father was dead, and whose mother, finding him in the way, wanted to get rid of him in order to marry another man, was sent by his mother to bring some milk, to be used medicinally for curing a pretended illness of hers.

He was sent first to the Aet-Kanda Lihiniya (Leniya is an alternative spelling), and had the same experiences at its nest, before he got the milk. The young birds told their mother that he was their elder brother, the son of their Puñci-Amma. [106] When he stated that he had come to ask for the milk, the Lihini (the female Rukh) said, "Ando! Son, when did any one get milk from me, and cure a sick person with it? She has done that to kill you, not through want of it. However, since you have come I will give you a little milk." One of the young birds accompanied him to his home. After his mother had drunk the milk she pretended to be still ill, and sent him for the milk of the Demon Hound, [107] which lived in a cave in a forest. I translate this part:--

The woman cooked and gave him a packet of rice. This youth, taking the packet of cooked rice and his sword, and making the little one of the Aet-Kanda Lihini stay at the house, went to the cave where the Demon Hound was. When he arrived, the Demon Hound was not there; only the little ones of the Demon Hound were there.

As the youth was going [to the cave] the little ones came growling to eat him. When this youth unfastened the packet of cooked rice, and showed them it, they stopped. Afterwards, the youth, having divided the packet of cooked rice, gave [part] to the Demon Hound's little ones, and taking some himself, they ate.

After they had eaten, the young dogs said, "When mother has come she will indeed eat you."

Then this youth said, "Ane! To-day you must somehow or other save me. Do not let her eat me."

The young dogs said "Ha," and putting the youth in the hollow of the cave, the young dogs came to this side, [towards the entrance], and remained there lying down.

While they were there the Demon Hound came. After she had come she said, sniffing twice, "Where does this smell of fresh human flesh come from?"

The little ones of the Demon Hound replied, "You eat fresh human flesh, and you bring fresh human flesh; what is this that you are saying?"

The Demon Hound said, "No, children, a fresh human smell is coming to me. Tell me [how it is]. Tell me."

The little ones said, "You will eat him."

The Demon Hound said, "No, children, I will not eat him. Tell me."

The little ones said, "Take us and swear."

After that, the Demon Hound took her little ones and swore, "I will not eat him."

Then the little ones showed her that youth, saying, "Here he is, mother; our little mother's son has come, our elder brother."

The Demon Hound asked at the hand of this youth, "What, son, have you come for?"

This youth replied, "Mother, our mother is ill. On account of it she said, 'Should you go and bring a little milk, when I have drunk it I shall become well.' Because of that I have come to ask for a little milk."

The Demon Hound said, "Ando! Son, when did a sick person get milk from me and become well! To [get] you killed is the explanation of that. However, since you have come, take a little milk and go." So saying she gave him a little milk.

Afterwards, as this youth was preparing to set off with it, a young dog said, "I also want to go with our elder brother," and howling [on account of it was allowed by his mother] to come away with the youth.

Having arrived and given the milk to the woman, after she had drunk it he asked, "Now then, mother, is your illness cured?"

The woman said, "Ando! Son, it is not cured."

The youth asked, "If so, what shall I do?"

The woman replied, "Bring a little milk from the Bear that is in the cave in the forest, and give me it."

He went for it, leaving the young Demon Hound at the house, and his adventures and the conversations were a mere repetition of those at the cave of the Demon Hound. One of the young Bears returned to the house with him.

Lastly, he was sent to bring the milk of the Crocodile that was in the Sea, "the reservoir [108] for the sky, and the reservoir for the earth." He ate his rice on a mound in the sea, after which, as he was descending into the sea, he observed a blue-lotus flower, and found the Crocodile at it. It came to eat him, but he held out his sword in front of him, so it asked him why he had come, and after hearing his explanation, in the very same words as before, gave him a little milk. It warned him, like the other animals, that the sending him for it was only a device to get him killed. He took the milk home, and after drinking it his mother informed him that she was cured. The story is then concluded as follows:--

Having said this, the woman went to the man [whom she wanted to marry], and said, "Now then, there is no means of killing that one. From the places to which he went he has escaped and come back. What, then, shall we do to that one?"

That man said, "Cook to-day after it has become night. I will break something in the lower part of the garden. Then say, 'Son. There! Did you hear something break in the lower part of the garden? Maybe cattle have come in.' He will come to see, and when he has come, I will chop him with the bill-hook, and kill him."

Afterwards, this woman having returned to the house, as she was cooking when it became night, the man came and broke a stick in the lower part of the garden. The woman said, "Ando! Son, maybe cattle have come in. Go quickly [and drive them out]."

Then, as this youth, having gone into the house and taken his sword, was going out, that little one of the Aet-Kanda Lihini, and the little one of the Demon Hound, and the little one of the Bear went with him. The three of them having gone [in front] to the lower part of the garden, bit the man who waited there, and having killed him returned. When this youth went and looked, the man had been killed. Then the youth came back, and having killed his mother stayed quietly there. So that little one of the Aet-Kanda Lihini, and the little one of the Demon Hound, and the young Bear, and the youth remained at the house together.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

There are Indian versions of several of the incidents of these stories.

In Old Deccan Days (Frere), p. 15, a Prince killed a cobra that was about to ascend a tree in order to destroy two eaglets. They assisted him afterwards.

In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 221, the Garudas or Rukhs are described as being "of the nature of vultures." A Brahmana got hid among the back feathers of one while it was asleep, and was carried by it to the Golden City next day. These birds are referred to (vol. i, p. 78) as breeding on a mountain called Swarnamula, in Ceylon. Compare also the account of Bharunda birds in The Kathakosa (Tawney), p. 164. According to Prof. Sayce, the original idea of the Rukh is to be found in Zu, the storm-bird or god of the Sumerians (The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia, p. 353).

A lion-headed eagle with outspread wings, holding a lion by each of its feet, formed the symbol of Lagash or Shirpurla, one of the earliest Sumerian cities. It was the emblem of Ningirsu, the god of the city (A History of Sumer and Akkad, by L. W. King, 1910, pp. 98, 100). According to Mr. King's revised chronology, this takes back the notion of this gigantic eagle, which carried off and devoured the largest quadrupeds, to the fourth millenium B.C. Its Sumerian name was Imgig.

In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 134, a Prince's wife, disguised as a Sannyasi, or Hindu religious mendicant, on her way to join her husband who was ill--poisoned by lying on powdered glass that was spread over his bed--rested under a tree in which a pair of Rukhs (in this story called Bihangama and Bihangami) had their nest, containing two young birds. She cut in two a snake that was about to climb the tree, and that was accustomed to kill the young ones each year. She overheard the conversation of the birds, which was to the effect that some of their droppings would cure the Prince, if reduced to powder and applied with a brush to the Prince's body, after bathing him seven times, with seven jars of water and seven jars of milk. One of the birds carried her on his back to the Prince, with the rapidity of lightning. At p. 219, we learn that the dung of the young of this bird, when applied fresh to the eyeballs, would cure blindness.

At pp. 189 and 192, a puppy and a young hawk joined a Prince on his journey, but apparently owing to the omission of some incident of the tale they were of no service to him. Such omissions are common; they can only be supplied by collecting variants.

In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), pp. 74, 75--Tales of the Punjab, pp. 66, 67--a crow, peacock, and jackal in turn warned a girl against a robber with whom she was going.

At p. 273--Tales of the Punjab, p. 259--Prince Rasalu was given the task of separating a hundred-weight of millet seed from a hundred-weight of sand with which it had been mixed. This was done for him by crickets in return for his saving a cricket from a fire.

In the Jataka story No. 444 (vol. iv, pp. 19, 20), a man laid his hand on the head of a boy who had been bitten by a snake, and then repeated a spell to restore him to health. The boy's father laid his hand on the boy's breast while saying a second spell.

In the Tamil Story of Madana Kama Raja, or "Dravidian Nights" (Natesa Sastri), p. 21 ff., a Prince purchased for a hundred pagodas apiece, a kitten and a snake, which he reared for twelve years. They assisted him afterwards.

At p. 91 ff., a Prince was ordered by a King to bring snake's poison, and afterwards whale's fat.

At p. 109 ff., a Prince who had four heavenly wives lost them through his mother's returning to one of them her celestial garment, which had been concealed. When in search of a way to his wives, he saved an Ant-King, a Frog-King, and a Cricket-King. He went to Indra, who gave him four tasks, of which one was that after an acre of land had been sown with sesame seed and ploughed one hundred times, he was to collect all the seeds. The Ant-King brought his subjects and collected them for him. Another of the tasks, the last one, was the selection of Indra's daughter, who was one of his wives, from the four, who were all given the same appearance. The Cricket-King enabled him to do this, by hopping onto her foot.

NO. 52

THE WIMALI STORY

At a certain city there are a man and a woman, it is said. That woman was about to have a child. She cooked cakes to eat. While she was eating, a crow came, and stayed there looking on. "She will throw me a piece of cake, at least," it thought. The woman did not give it even a bit of the cakes.

Afterwards the crow went to the house of the Rakshasa, and breaking off a mango fruit came to that house, and ate it in front of the woman who ate the cakes. While the crow was eating, the woman thought, "It will throw down a piece of it, at least." The crow did not give her any of it; it ate the whole and flew away.

After the man of the house came, the woman said, "The crow brought a mango fruit, and turned it round and round, and ate the whole of it. [Somehow or other you must get me a mango.]"

After that, the man went to the house of the Rakshasa, and having ascended the mango tree, tried to pluck a mango fruit. As he was plucking it the Rakshasa came home. Seeing the man in the tree, he asked, "Who is that in the tree?"

"Ane! I am in the tree," said the man.

"What are you plucking mangoes for?" he asked.

"For our house-girl to eat. [She is about to have a child, and has asked for one,]" he said.

"Well then, pluck one and descend," the Rakshasa said.

So the man plucked one, and came down. After he had descended the Rakshasa said, "Should she bear a son he is for thee; should she bear a daughter, she is for me."

The man said "Ha," and taking the mango fruit went home.

News afterwards reached the Rakshasa that she had borne a girl. On account of it the Rakshasa went to the house [and took the girl]. As he was returning carrying the girl, he saw two boys going to school, and said, "Boys, boys, say a name for my daughter."

The boys saying, "Wimali, Wimali" (pure or beautiful one), ran away.

So the Rakshasa took the girl to his house, and shared it with her.

Afterwards, when he had gone to eat human flesh, the Rakshasa heard the sound of tom-toms saying, "Wimali," [and thought they were calling the girl]. So he came home, and asked Wimali, "Have you been out?"

"No, I have not been out. I have just got up," Wimali said.

Next day he went again to eat human flesh. After he had gone he heard the sound of tom-toms saying, "Wimali." The Rakshasa came home, and asked Wimali again, "Have you been out?"

"No, I have just put on my cloth," Wimali said.

The Rakshasa having gone to eat human flesh on the following day, again heard the sound of tom-toms saying, "Wimali." He came home and asked Wimali, "Have you been out?"

"No, I have only just combed my hair," Wimali said.