Chapter VII: Part 7

"I am going to the new grave," that Yaka said. Well then, having gone to the burial place, he remains there.

A man, catching a thief, is coming [with him] to the burial place. Having come [there], that man tied the thief to the corpse that was at the burial place, back to back. Then while the thief is [left] at the grave, the man came to his village. When he came he went to the thief's house, and seeing the mother and father he says, "Don't ye open the door; to-day, in the night, a Yaka will come." Having gone to the house, also, of that thief's wife, he says, "Don't thou open the door to-day; a Yaka will come to thy house to-day." Having gone to all the houses and said this, he went away.

After that, taking on his back that dead body which was at the burial place, the thief came to his house. When he came he tells the woman to open the door. The woman is silent through fear. Then the thief says, "I am not a Yaka; you must open the door." The woman at that time, also, is silent through fear.

He went to his father's house, this thief. Having gone, he says, "Mother, open the door." Then the woman through fear is silent. He went to the house of the thief's friends: "O friend, open the door." Having said, "This is a Yaka," the friends did not open the door.

That thief afterwards went by the outside villages. When he was going on the journey the light fell. He went to the jungle in which is that Rakshasa. When going, the thief met with a parrot. Then the parrot says, "Friend, what did you come to this jungle for?"

The thief thought, "Who spoke here?" When he looked up he got to know that the parrot is [there]. After that, he says to the parrot, "What art thou here for?"

The parrot says, "I am sitting in my nest."

The thief says, "If so, how shall I go from this jungle?"

After the parrot descended it cut the tyings of that dead body. Having cut them and finished the parrot says, "Thou canst not go in this jungle."

The thief says, "What is that for?"

Then the parrot says, "In this there is the Rakshasa. Catching thee he will eat thee. Because of it don't thou go." The thief without hearkening to the parrot's word said he must go.

Then the parrot says, "Listen to the word I am saying. The Rakshasa who is in this jungle is my friend. Say thou camest because I told thee to come." Afterwards the man went.

After he went, the Rakshasa, with a great loud evil roar, seized the man on the path. After he seized him, the man says, "What didst thou seize me for?"

Thereupon the Rakshasa says, "To eat thee."

Then the man says, "A parrot told me to come in this manner: 'The Rakshasa is my friend,' [he said]."

The Rakshasa says, "Those are lies thou art saying. Let us go, let us go, us two, near the parrot."

When they came near the parrot, the Rakshasa says to the parrot, "Friend, didst thou send this one to my forest?"

The parrot says, "I sent him."

Then the Rakshasa says, "Am I to eat this one?"

The parrot says, "Seize another man and eat him. Let that man go." Then the Rakshasa let him go; after that the man went away.

Having gone and hidden, he stayed in the midst of the forest. The Rakshasa went to watch the path. After that, that man came to the Rakshasa's house. Having come, the man says to the Rakshasa's boy (son), "O youth (kolloweni), thy Rakshasa died."

The Rakshasa youth is grieved, and says, "You are not my mother, not my father; what man are you?"

Then the man says, "I am thy Rakshasa's elder brother." The man told a lie.

The Rakshasa youth says, "It is good. There is much wealth of my father's," he said.

Then the man went into the Rakshasa's house to take the wealth. Having gone in, there was a golden mat (kalale); he took it. There was a golden cloth; he took it. Taking these, the man went away unknown to the Rakshasa youths. [166]

After he went secretly (himin), the Rakshasa next (dewanu) came to the house. Having finished coming, [167] he says, "Where is my golden mat?" he asked.

Thereupon, the Rakshasa youth said, "Your elder brother came and took away the mat."

Then the Rakshasa says, "Where have I, Bola, an elder brother?"

That thief went near the parrot. "Look here, I met with a golden mat in the midst of this forest," he said. "Parrot, am I to take thee?" he said. Thereupon the parrot came near the thief.

After he came, he seized the parrot by its two legs. Having waited until the time when he is catching it, when he caught it the thief killed the parrot. After that, the thief went away plucking and plucking off the feathers.

The Rakshasa says to that Rakshasa's youth, "Where went this thief?"

"He entered your forest wilderness," he said.

The Rakshasa having gone along the thief's footprints, after he went to the place where the parrot was, the parrot was not [there]. He looked to see who killed this parrot:--"It is the very thief who killed this parrot." Then the Rakshasa fell down and wept through grief that the parrot was not [there].

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In the Maha Bharata (Santi Parva, CLXX) a crane sent a poor Brahmana to a Rakshasa King who was his friend. He was well-received on account of the bird's friendship, was presented with a large quantity of gold, returned to the bird, and killed and ate it. When the Rakshasa King noticed that the bird did not visit him as usual, he sent his son to ascertain the reason, the remains of the bird were found, and the Brahmana was pursued and cut to pieces.

In Santal Folk Tales (Campbell), p. 81, a hero in search of gems possessed by an Apsaras (Indarpuri Kuri) fed, as he went and returned, her three animal guards stationed at her three doors,--an elephant with grass, a tiger with a goat, and a dog with a shoe which it worried.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. i, p. 179, a man killed a monkey that had saved his life. In vol. iii, p. 51, a corpse was tied on a man's back.

NO. 221

KING GAJA-BAHU AND THE CROW

At the time when King Gaja-Bahu [168] was lying in the shade one day in his garden, he said, "There is not a greater King than I." He having said it, a Crow that was in the tree dropped excreta in his mouth. [169]

Then he gave orders for the Crow to be caught alive, and published them by beat of tom-toms on the four sides. All the men said, "We cannot." Then a widow woman went to the King and said, "I can catch that Crow."

The King asked, "What are the things you require for it?"

The woman said, "I want a suckling woman and an [infant] child. How about the maintenance of those two?"

The King said, "Up to the time when you catch the Crow I will give their maintenance."

Afterwards the King caused a suckling woman and an [infant] child to be brought to her. With these two that woman went to her village, and having gone there began to give food to the crows every day. Many crows collected together there for it. She caused that child to be near the crows at the place where the crows were eating the food. During the time while it was there, that little one was playing in the midst of the party of crows, the crows surrounding it. [At last it came to understand their language.]

Afterwards she taught the child, "When the crows are quarrelling, on hearing a crow say, 'It was thou who droppedst excreta in Gaja-Bahu's mouth,' seize that very Crow [which did it]."

When the crows came to eat the food they quarrelled. At the time when they were quarrelling the child stayed in that very party of crows. Then a crow which was quarrelling said to another crow, "Wilt thou be [quiet], without quarrelling with me? It was thou who droppedst excreta in Gaja-Bahu's mouth." As it was saying the words the child seized that Crow. The woman having come, caught the Crow and imprisoned it, without allowing it to go.

On the following day she took the Crow to the King. The King asked at the hand of that woman, "How didst thou recognise this Crow, so as to catch it?" The woman told him the manner in which it was caught.

Then the King asked the Crow, "Why didst thou drop excreta in my mouth?" At the time when he was asking it there was a jewelled ring on his finger.

The Crow replied, "You said, 'There is not a greater King than I.' I saw that there is a greater King than that; on that account I did this."

Then the King asked, "How dost thou know?"

The Crow said, "I have seen the jewelled ring that is on the finger of that King; it is larger than your jewelled ring. Owing to that I know."

The King asked, "Where is that ring?" Then the Crow having said, "I can show you," calling him, went to a city.

At that city there is a very large rock house (cave). Having gone near the rock house, he told him to dig in the bottom of the house, and look. The King caused them to dig, and having dug, a jewelled ring came to light.

King Gaja-Bahu, taking the jewelled ring and the Crow, came back to his city. Having come there he put the jewelled ring on his head, and it fell down his body to the ground. Well then, the King on account of the strange event let the Crow go, and gave employment to the widow woman.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

NO. 222

THE ASSISTANCE WHICH THE SNAKE GAVE

In a certain country the King's elephant every day having descended into a pool, bathes. In the water a Water Snake (Diya naya) stayed.

One day a beggar went to the pool to bathe. As soon as he came the Snake came to bite him. When it came, the man having beseeched it and made obeisance, said, "Ane! O Lord, for me to bathe you must either go to the bottom or come ashore."

"If so, because thou madest obeisance to me I will give thee a good assistance," the Snake said. "The King's tusk elephant every day comes to the pool to bathe. When it is bathing I will creep up its trunk. Having gone to the city from that place, the tusk elephant will fall mad on the days when it rains. [170] Then doctors having come, when they are employing medical treatment they cannot cure it. After that, you, Sir, having gone to the royal palace must say, 'Having employed medical treatment I can cure the tusk elephant.' Having heard it, the King will allow you to practise the medical treatment. Should you ask, 'What is the medical treatment?' [it is this:]--Having brought a large water-pot to the place where the tusk elephant is, and placed the elephant's trunk in the water, and covered and closed yourself and the tusk elephant with cloths, and tapped on the forehead of the elephant, [you must say], 'Ane! O Lord, you must descend into the water-pot; if not, to-day I shall cut my throat (lit., neck).' Then I shall descend into the water."

This was all done as the Snake said. The beggar tapped on the tusk elephant's forehead, and said, "Ane! O Lord, you must descend into the water-pot; if not, to-day I shall cut my throat." Then the Snake came down the tusk elephant's trunk into the water-pot, as he had promised.

The beggar then took the tusk elephant to the King; it was no longer mad. The King rode on it along the four streets, and came back to the palace, and descended.

Then he asked the beggar, "How didst thou cure this sickness?"

The beggar said, "I caused a Water Snake to come down the tusk elephant's trunk into the water-pot, and thus cured him."

Then the King went with the beggar to look at the Snake. When he saw it in the water-pot he ascertained that the man's statement was true. After that he gave offices to the beggar.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

Dr. J. Pearson, Director of the Colombo Museum, has been good enough to inform me that the water-snake termed diya naya in Sinhalese (lit., Water Cobra) is Tropidonotus asperrimus. Though neither large nor venomous, snakes of this species sometimes attacked my men when they were bathing at a pool in a river, or endeavoured to carry off fishes which they had placed in the water after stringing them through the gills on a creeper. They did this even when the man held the other end of the creeper.

NO. 223

THE LEVERET, OR THE STORY OF THE SEVEN WOMEN

At a certain city there were seven women. The seven went into the jungle for firewood. Out of them one woman met with a young female Hare (Ha paetikki). The other six persons brought six bundles of firewood; the woman brought the Leveret.

There were seven Princes (sons) of the woman who brought the Leveret. Out of them, to the youngest Prince she gave the Leveret in marriage.

The above-mentioned seven Princes cut a chena. Having sown millet (kurahan) in the chena it ripened. After that, for cutting the millet the six wives of the above-mentioned six brothers having come out, said to the youngest Prince, "Tell your wife to come."

Thereupon the Prince says, "How are there women for me? My parents gave me a female Leveret in marriage."

Thereupon the Leveret says, "What is it to you? tik; I am proud, tik." [171] Having said it, springing into the house she stayed [there].

Having waited [there] in this way, when it was becoming night she went into the jungle, and collecting the whole of the hares of both sides (m. and f.) went to the chena, and having cut all the millet they carried the whole to the store-room. After that, having allowed all the hares (haho) to go, the Leveret the same night came home.

After it became light, the above-mentioned female Hare's husband went to the chena. At the time when he looked there, ascertaining that the millet is cut and finished, he said thus, "Ane! Elder brothers' wives, with no helper, have finished the millet. Having divided the millet there they brought it [home]."

Not a long time afterwards, while they are [there], people came for giving betel for a wedding at that village. [172] Having given betel there to the seven persons they went away.

On the day for going there to the wedding they came [for them]. After that, the above-mentioned six women came out, and said, "Tell your wife to come out to go."

Thereupon that Prince says, "How are there women for me? My two parents gave me a female Hare in marriage. I am unable to go," he said.

Thereupon the female Hare says, "You go," she said. So the Prince went.

Afterwards the female Hare went there; having taken off her hare jacket on the road, she went to the [wedding] feast.

The Prince [recognised her there, went back, and found and] burned the hare jacket which she had hidden [so that she was unable to resume her hare form again].

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In Folk-Tales of Hindustan (Shaik Chilli), p. 54, the youngest of seven Princes married a female Monkey who in the end proved to be a fairy, and took off her monkey skin.

NO. 224

THE GREEDY PALM-CAT [173]

At a certain city three cultivators cut a chena. Having cut it they spoke [about it]: "Let us plant plantains." Having planted plantains, the flowers that came on the plantains began to fall when the fruits were coming to mature.

When they looked, having seen that except the fresh ones [the trees] were without ripe [fruits], they began to seek [the reason]. Having sought and sought it, they do not perceive whether some one is destroying them [or not]. Owing to it they contrived a device. What was it? Having brought a plantain tree they set it up [? after inserting poison in the fruits that were on it].

The flowers on it having fallen, and [the fruits] having become ripe, after they were emitting a fragrant smell [a female Palm-cat came there with its kitten]. When the [young] Palm-cat looked upward the female Palm-cat says, "Cultivator, that is not good."

When it said it, the [young] Palm-cat says, "What though I looked up, if I didn't go up the tree!" it said.

It went up the tree. Once more the female Palm-cat said again, "Don't."

Thereupon the [young] Palm-cat says, "What if I went up the tree, if I didn't take hold of it!" it said.

Having taken hold of it, it looked at it. When the female Palm-cat said, "What is that [you are doing]?" it said, "What if I took hold of it! If I didn't eat it is there any harm?"

After it removed the rind, when she said, "What is that [you are doing]?" it says, "What if I removed the rind, if I didn't eat it!"

Having set it to its nose it smelt at it. When she said, "What is that [you are doing]?" it said, "What if I put it to my nose, if I didn't eat it!"

It put it in its mouth. "What if I put it in my mouth, if I didn't swallow it!" it said.

It swallowed it; then it fell down. It having fallen down and died, the female Palm-cat went away lamenting.

The thief of the garden was caught.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

STORIES OF THE WESTERN PROVINCE AND SOUTHERN INDIA

NO. 225

THE WAX HORSE [174]

In a certain country a son was born to a certain King, it is said. Having caused Brahmanas to be brought to write this Prince's horoscope, at the time when they handed it over, after they gave information to the King that when the Prince arrived at maturity he was to leave the country and go away, the King, for the Prince to be most thoroughly guarded, caused a room on an upper story to be made [for his occupation], it is said.

This infant Prince having become somewhat big, being suitable for game amusements and the like, during the time while he was passing the days he saw in the street a Wax Horse that [persons] brought to sell; and having told his father the King to take and give him it, at the time when he considered it his father the King paid the price, and taking the horse gave it to his son, it is said. This horse, furnished with two wings, was one possessing the ability to fly in the sky.

After he had got this horse for a little time, when the Prince became big to a certain extent, not concealing it from anyone whatever, by the help of the Wax Horse he went to fly. Well then, the saying, too, of the soothsayer-Brahmana became true.

The Prince having gone flying by the power of the horse, went to the house of an old mother, who having strung [chaplets or garlands of] flowers gives them at the palace of yet [another] King. While here, having hidden the Wax Horse somewhere, when staying at the flower-mother's house he asked the flower-mother [about] the whole of the circumstances of the royal house, and got to know them.

Ascertaining them in this way, and after a little time getting to know the chamber, etc., on the floor of the upper story in which the King's daughter stays, he went during the night time by the Wax Horse to a room in which is the beautiful Princess; and for even several days, without concealing himself having eaten and drunk the food and drink, etc., that had been brought for the Princess, he went away [before she awoke]. And the Princess, perceiving that after she got to sleep some one or other had come to the chamber and gone, on the following day not having slept, remained looking out, it is said.

At that time the Prince having come, when he is partaking of the food and drink, etc., the Princess, taking a sword in one hand and seizing the Prince with one hand, asked, "Who art thou?" [175]

The Prince having informed her that he was a person belonging to a royal family, and while conversing with her having become friendly, he, making a contract to marry her also, began to come during the following days after that.

Well then, there was a custom of weighing this Princess in the morning on all days. [176] During the days after the Prince became [accustomed] to come, the Princess's weight having by degrees gone on increasing, the King, ascertaining that she was pregnant, and having thought that there will be a friendship of the Minister with the Princess, settled to kill the Minister.

And during the time when the Minister was becoming very sorrowful, when the other daughters of the King having come asked the Minister, "Why are you in much grief?" he gave them information of the whole of the circumstances. The Princesses having assembled together, in order to save the Minister contrived a stratagem thus, that is, having thought that without a fault of the Minister's indeed, some one or other, a person from outside, by some stratagem or other will be coming near the Princess, they put poison in the bathing scented-water boat, and placed guards at the pool which is at the royal palace gateway.

The Prince having come, when he bathed in the scented water prior to going to the Princess's chamber the poison burned him, and having gone running, when he sprang into the pool the guards seized him. Having gone [after] causing this Prince to be seized, when they gave the explanation of the affair to the King he freed the Minister, and ordered the Prince to be killed.

At the time when the executioners were taking the Prince, having said "A thing of mine is [there]; I will take it and give it to you," he climbed a tree, and taking the Wax Horse which at first he had placed and hidden there among the leaves, he flew away. [177] Having gone thus a little far, and stopped, during the night time he came again to the royal palace; and calling the Princess, while they were going [on the flying horse] by the middle of a great forest wilderness, when pain in the body was felt by the Princess they alighted on the ground. Having caused her to halt [there] he went to a village near by, in order to bring medicine and other materials that she needed for it; and having set the Wax Horse near a shop and gone to yet [another] shop, when coming he saw that there having been a fire near the shop the Wax Horse having been melted had gone. After the Wax Horse was lost this Prince was unable to go to the place where the Princess stayed.

And the Princess while in the midst of the forest having borne a son, said, "I don't want even the son of the base Prince"; and having put the child down she went into the neighbourhood of villages. During the time when this Princess's father went into the midst of the forest for hunting he met with this child, and having brought it to the royal house he reared it.

The Princess who was this child's mother, having joined a company of girls, [178] during the time while she was dwelling [there] this boy whom [the King] reared having arrived at maturity went and sought a marriage; and having seen his own mother formed the design to marry her. Having thought thus, when on even three days he set off to go for the marriage contract there having been an unlucky omen while on the road, on even three days having turned he came back.

One day, having mounted on horse-back, while he was on the journey going for the marriage contract some young birds having been trampled on by the horse, the hen in this way scolded the Prince, that is, "As it is insufficient that this one is going to take his mother [in marriage], he killed my few young ones." [Thus] she scolded him. Because during this day there was [this] unlucky omen, having turned back and come, he went on the following day.

When going on that [second] day, a young goat having been trampled on by the horse the female goat also scolded him: "As it is insufficient that he is going to take this one's mother [in marriage], he killed our young ones."

When going on the third day also, just as before there was the unlucky omen.

This Prince in this way sought a marriage from the girls' society itself, because he being a foundling [179] no one gives a [daughter in] marriage on that account. Before this, one day while at the playground, when the other boys said, "He is base-born," he having asked the King who reared him where his two parents were, had ascertained that having brought him from the midst of the forest he reared him.

Well then, on the third day, also, there having been the unlucky omen, not heeding it and having gone for the contract, not knowing even a little about his mother, from her bearing him up to the time when she came to the girls' society he asked about the principal occurrences [of her life. Hearing her account of her abandonment of her child], he said, "It was I indeed who was met with in the midst of the forest in such and such a district; because of it this is indeed my mother."

Ascertaining it, and having gone spreading the news, and seeking out even his father and having returned, he was also appointed to the sovereignty in succession to the King his relative, or who was his mother's father; and having married [a Princess] from a royal family, he caused the time to go with glory, it is said.

Western Province.

See the first note after No. 81, vol. ii.

In The Story of Madana Kama Raja (Pandit Natesa Sastri), p. 50, a Prince who had been adopted by a King of Madura, whom he had succeeded on the throne, saw, at the house occupied by dancing-girls, his own mother, from whom he had been separated since his birth, and who had been banished,--and took a fancy for her. When he was about to visit the house in the evening he trod on the tail of a calf and crushed it. In reply to the calf's complaint, the cow exclaimed that such an act might well not be considered a dishonour by one who was about to visit his own mother. The young King, who understood the language of animals, retraced his steps, prosecuted inquiries, learnt from the Goddess Kali the story of his birth, his abandonment, and protection by her, and the history of his mother. He brought his mother to the palace, and thanks to Kali's advice recovered his father, who had been spirited away by the Sapta-kanyas or Seven Divine Maids.

In The Kathakoça (Tawney), p. 49, a Prince, who when an infant had been carried off and adopted by a Vidyadhara, afterwards saw his mother seated at a window, fell in love with her, and by the magical art of the Vidyadharas, which he had acquired, carried her off in an aerial chariot. While he was in a garden with her he heard the conversation of two monkeys, and learnt from it that he was her son. Two hermits confirmed this, and in the end the Prince and his parents became Jain hermits.

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., pp. 177 ff., the son of a woman who had been sent away during her husband's absence, in the belief that she was an ogress, was sold to a Queen soon after birth by the widow with whom his mother lodged, and was brought up as her son, the King believing her false statement that she had borne him. When he grew up, the supposed Prince saw his mother, who still lived with the widow, fell in love with her, and induced the King to agree to his marriage to her. She stated that she was already married, and obtained a postponement of the wedding for six months. In the meantime her husband returned, went in search of his wife, heard that she was to be married to the Prince, sent her his ring, and they were reunited. The Prince ascertained that he was their son, the widow who sold him was executed, and the Queen was banished.

In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 79, a Brahmana who had obtained a young Garuda or Rukh from Vibhisana, the Rakshasa King of Ceylon, visited on it, on three successive nights, a courtesan with whom he had fallen in love, whom he eventually married.

In Old Deccan Days (M. Frere), p. 145, there is an account of a Princess who was weighed every day against five lotus flowers, being no heavier than they were.

In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 1 ff., there is a story of a Princess who was weighed against one flower every day, after her bath. She was married by her parents to a Raja of the same weight as herself.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. i, p. 376, a girl who was reared by a crane in its nest on the top of a tree was weighed daily by it. In this manner it ascertained that she had improper relations with a young man who had climbed up the tree and was concealed there by her.

In Folk-Tales of Hindustan (Shaik Chilli), p. 108, a Prince got his grandfather, who was a carpenter, to make a wonderful wooden horse which could either move on the earth or fly in the air, as it was bidden.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton's ed., vol. iii, p. 137 ff.), an aged Persian sage presented a Persian King with a flying horse made of ebony, which could carry its rider where he wished, and "cover in a single day the space of a year." In return for it the King promised him his daughter in marriage, but her brother objected to this, tried the horse, and was carried far away before he found the pin which controlled the descent. He alighted at night on a palace roof, entered a Princess's room, was discovered, offered to fight all the troops if he had his own horse, and while they awaited his charge rose in the air and returned home. At night he sailed back and brought away the Princess.

In a foot-note, p. 139, Sir R. Burton suggested that the Arabian magic wooden horse may have originated in an Indian story of a wooden Garuda [bird]. The legend of a flying horse, however, is found in the earliest hymns of the Rig Veda. If this period was about 2,000 B.C., the notion may have arisen in the third millennium B.C. In the hymn 163 of Book I, the horse is mentioned as possessing wings--"Limbs of the deer hadst thou, and eagle pinions" (Griffith's translation). In iv, 40, 2, the horse Dadhikras is described as having wings. In i, 85, 6, the wings of the spotted deer (clouds) which draw the cars of the Maruts, the Storm Gods, are referred to; the car of the Asvins was drawn by winged asses (i, 116-117, 2).

At a later date, the account of the treasures produced by the great Churning of the Ocean by the Gods and Asuras includes the winged horse Uccaihsravas.

In the Jataka tale No. 196, the Bodhisatta is described as transforming himself into a flying horse which carried a party of wrecked merchants and sailors from Ceylon to India.

Two or three steps further bring us to the position in the folk-tales:--(1) the creation of a wooden flying horse by a supernatural being, (2) the construction of a similar animal by a human being, by magical art, (3) the construction of one by mechanical art. Thus, if this development occurred in India or Ceylon, the notion of a wooden or wax flying horse, such as the folk-tales describe, is possibly of earlier date than the time of Christ. Arabian traders or travellers may have carried the idea to their own country either by way of Persia or more directly by sea. They may have had a local tradition of flying quadrupeds, however, based on the winged lions and bulls of Assyria, belonging to the eighth and ninth centuries B.C. Winged quadrupeds of a composite character were known to the Babylonians in the time of Gudea, Patesi of Lagash (2450 B.C.), and probably some centuries earlier; [180] the idea may have spread from them to the early Aryans in the first place.

NO. 226

THE THREE-CORNERED HATTER [181]

In a certain country a greatly-poor man dwelt, it is said. The man having prayed to a friend of his [for assistance], received from his friend a calf. In order to sell the calf for himself, having set out from the village at which he stayed, and come and descended to the road, at the time when he was going along driving it he met with three young men of yet [another] village.

At the time when the three young persons saw this poor man, they spoke together in this fashion. The speech indeed was, "Having cheated the man who is going driving this bull, let us seize the bull," they said.

Having spoken to the man, when they asked him, "Will you give us the goat?" the poor man who is going driving the bull, says, "Friends, I am not taking the goat; it is a bull," he said.

Then the men who were cheating him began to say, "Why, O fool, when you have come driving the goat, are you trying to make it a bull? We recognise goats, and we recognise bulls. Don't make fun [of us]. Having given us that goat, and taken a sufficient amount, go away," they said.

Having said and said thus, when these three persons began to make an uproar [about it], the poor man who is driving the bull, having made the bull the goat, and spoken to the three persons, says, "It is good, friends. Taking this goat that I brought, and having fixed a sufficient price, give [me it]," he said.

When he said thus, those three enemies say, "What are you saying? The full value of a goat is five rupees; this one is worth three rupees, but we shall not do in that manner to you. To you we will give four rupees," they said.

Having said thus, and given that poor man four rupees, "Now then, you go away," they said.

When they said thus, that man who went driving the bull having spoken [to himself]: "I will do a good work for these three persons," says, "Ane! Friends, except that I have a thought that I also having joined you three persons [should be] obtaining a livelihood, for what purpose should I go to my village? It is not the fact [that I think of going there]. It is my thought to live joined with you," he said.

When he said this, those thieves say, "It is good. We also are much pleased at your living joined with us," they said.

The two parties speaking thus, the man who came driving the bull stayed near those men who cheated him. Having stayed thus, after about eight days or ten days had gone, he said, "I will do a thing for their having cheated me and taken the bull"; and making a hat which had three corners he put it on his head.

While he is there [after] thus putting the three-cornered hat on his head, those three persons ask, "What is it, friend? Where did you meet with a hat of a kind which is not [elsewhere]? This is the first time we saw such hats," they said.

When they said thus, the man says, "Ane! Friends, if you knew the facts about this hat you will not speak in this way," he said.

"Because of what circumstances are you praising this hat?" they asked.

This poor man says, "By this hat I can obtain food and drink while at any place I like. Moreover, by the power of this hat I can also do anything I think of," he said.

When he said thus, those three persons say, "Ane! Friend, will you give us that hat?"

When they asked him, he says, "Having shown you the power which there is in my hat, I can give you the hat also for a sufficient sum," he said.

They said, "If so, show us the power that is in your hat. We having looked at the power of the hat, we will give you the whole of the goods that there are of ours, and take the hat."

Having said, "It is good. I will show you to-morrow the power of my hat," that day evening he went to the eating-houses that are in that village, and spoke to the persons who are in the eating-houses: "We four persons to-morrow are coming for food. When we have come you must promise to treat us four persons well. Take the money for it to-day."

Having given the money, and also having gone to the place where they eat during the [mid]day, and the place where they drink tea, and the place where they eat at night, speaking in that manner he gave the money.

On the following day he says to those three persons, "I will show you the power of my hat. Come along." [182] Summoning them, and putting on that hat, at the place where he came and gave the money first he went in, together with the three friends.

Having taken off the three-cornered hat, when he lowered his head the men who were in the eating-house say, "It is good. Will you, Sirs, be seated there?" Having placed and given them chairs, and made ready the food, they quickly gave them to eat, and when they had finished, gave them cheroots.

Having been talking and talking very much, the Three-cornered Hatter says, "Now then, we must go, and come [again]."

When he said it, the men of the eating-house say, "It is good; having gone, come [again]. Should you come [this way] don't go away without coming here."

When they said it, the Three-cornered Hatter says, "Yes; should we come, we will not go away without coming here."

Having gone from there, and walked there and here, and at the time for the [mid] day rice having gone to the place where he gave the money, in that very manner they ate and drank. Having also gone to the tea drinking place, and in that very way having drunk, after it became night they went to the place where he gave the money for the night food, and ate.

From the time when they came back to the place where they dwell, those three persons speak [together], "This hat is not a so-so [183] hat. To-day we saw the power there is in the hat. What are the goods for, that we have? Having given the whole of our goods, let us take that hat." Speaking [thus], and having spoken to the Three-cornered Hatter, they say, "Friend, taking any price you will take, give us this hat."

When they said it [he replied], "Ane! Friends, having made the bull the goat, even should you [be willing to] take it, I cannot give this hat. My life is protected by that hat."

When he said [this, they replied], "If so, it is good. Taking the whole of the goods that there are of us three persons, give us the hat."

When they said [this], the Three-cornered Hatter says, "It is good. Because you are saying it very importunately, [184] and because up to this time from the first [I have been] the friend of you three persons, taking the hat give me the goods."

Having said [this], tying all the goods belonging to the three persons in bundles, the Three-cornered Hatter says, "Now then, I am going. I gave you the hat that I had for the protection of my life; you will take good care of that hat." Having said it, the Three-cornered Hatter bounded off and went away.

On the following day after that, those three persons made ready to go in the first manner, for eating. One putting on the hat, they went, and sitting in the eating-house they ate and drank.

Having finished and talked, when they said, "We are going," [185] [the people of the eating-house] ask, "Where is the money?" When they said, "Having given the money, go away," where have these three got money to give?

When they did not give it on the spot, the men who are in the eating-house, seizing them and having beaten them, put them out of the eating-house.

When they put them out, these three persons are quarrelling along the road. [One of them] said, "Because, indeed, they did not see that you went [after] putting on the hat, we two also ate blows. I will see [about it]; I will put it on and go. Give me it here."

This one, taking the hat from that man, and having gone [after] putting it on, to the place where they eat during the [mid] day, they ate and drank in the first manner. Having been there talking and talking for a little time, they say to the men of the eating-house, "Now then, we are going."

When they said it, the men of the eating-house say, "Having gone, no matter if you should come again. For what you ate to-day we want the money. Give the money, and having gone, come [again]."

When they said [this], these three persons, except that they ate in order to look at the power of the hat, whence are they to give the money? While they were there without speaking, they said in the very first manner, "Thrash these three thieves for the money," and there and then also seizing the men, beat them.

When they had put them to the door, having descended to the path on the journey on which they are going, the man who did not put on the hat says, "[The people] not seeing you two [wearing it] and your putting on of that hat, can you go and look at the power of the hat, stupids both? If you want, you can look for yourselves [this] evening. Give me that hat. In the evening, at the place where they eat food I will show you the power of the hat."

Having said [this], the man having gone in the evening [after] putting on the hat, to the place where they eat food, in the very first manner they ate and drank. Having been talking and talking, they say, "Well, we are going."

When they said it, "Having given the money for what you ate, go," they said.

Then these three persons, whence are they to give the money? Many a time (bohoma kalak) having asked for the money, while they were there without speaking, the men having well beaten these three persons put them out of the eating-house.

The three persons that day's day having eaten blows three times, in much distress each one comes to his own house. In not many days, on account of these blows that they ate, and through sorrow at the loss of their goods, the end of the lives of the three persons was reached.

The Three-cornered Hatter having gone away taking the goods of these three persons, and having eaten and drunk in happiness, [at last] he died. For their making the Three-cornered Hatter's bull the goat, taking the goods of these three he also destroyed the lives of the three persons.

Western Province.

In the Hitopadesa, a well-known form of the first incident occurs. Three rogues, seeing a Brahmana carrying home a goat on his shoulder for sacrifice, sat down under three trees at some distance apart on the road. As the man came up, the first rogue said, "O Brahmana, why dost thou carry that dog on thy shoulder?" "It is not a dog," said the Brahmana, "it is a goat for sacrifice," and he went on. When the second rogue asked the same question, the Brahmana put down the goat, looked at it, returned it to his shoulder, and resumed his journey. When the third man inquired in the same way, the Brahmana threw down the goat and went home without it, the rogues of course taking it to eat. This story is given in the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 68, with the difference that first one man spoke to the Brahmana, then two men, and lastly three.

In Indian Nights' Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 106, when a foolish man was passing through a village driving a buffalo that he had bought, some men asked him where he got the ram; and as the whole of them insisted that it was a ram he left it with them through fear of his brother's anger at his buying a ram instead of a buffalo.

In Folk-Tales of the Telugus (G. R. Subramiah Pantulu), p. 61, it is repeated with the variation that the Brahmana had four or five goats which he was leading. Four Sudras (men of low caste) who wished to get them, in turn asked him why he was taking a number of mad dogs. The last Sudra suggested that it was unsafe to release them, so he tied them to a tree, whence the four men removed them when he had gone.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton's ed., vol. iii, p. 200), a thief promised another that he would steal an ass that a man was leading by a halter. He went up to it, quietly took off the halter and placed it on his own head without the ass-owner's observing it, and his friend led away the ass. When he had gone off with it, the haltered man stood still, and on the ass-owner's turning to look at his ass, told him that he was really the ass, and that he had been transformed into it because of his mother's curse when he went home drunk and beat her. She had now relented, and as the result of her prayers he had taken his original form once more. The ass-owner apologised for any bad treatment meted out to him, went home, and told his wife, who gave alms by way of atonement, and prayed to Heaven for pardon. Afterwards, when the owner went to purchase another ass he saw his own in the market, and whispered to it, "Doubtless thou hast been getting drunk again and beating thy mother! But, by Allah, I will never buy thee more."

NO. 227

THE GAMARALA WHO WENT TO THE GOD-WORLD

In a certain country there was a newly-married Gamarala, it is said. For the purpose of the livelihood of these two persons (himself and his wife), he begged and got a piece of chena from the King, to plant it on shares. [186] Near the time when they obtained the chena, having taken great pains and cut the ground and tied the fence, they sowed the millet (kurahan). But during the course of time having completely forgotten about the millet chena, they remained doing house work.

After two or three months passed away in this manner, one day the Gama-Mahage (Gamarala's wife) having remembered the millet chena, spoke to her husband, "Have cattle eaten the millet chena?" and she sent him to look.

The Gamarala, too, having gone hastily at the very time when he heard the word, saw at the time when he looked that rice mortars having gone had trampled the millet, and eaten it, and thrown it down. Having come home, perceiving at the time when he looked that his very own rice mortar had gone, making it fast he tied it to a tree.

On the following day also having gone, and again having seen, at the time when he looked, that the rice mortars had come and had eaten the millet, he walked everywhere in the village, and ordered [the owners] to tie up the rice mortars that were at the whole of the houses. The residents in the village being other fools did in the way he said.

On the third day, also, the Gamarala having come, and having seen at the time when he looked that the rice mortars still had come, he thought, "It is our own rice mortar," and having gone home he split the rice mortar with his axe, and burned it. The ashes he threw into the river.

Nevertheless, on the fourth day having come, and at the time when he looked having seen that rice mortars had come, not being able to bear his anger he came home, and while he is [there] he remains in the house, extremely annoyed.

"Why is it?" his wife asked.

Thereupon the Gamarala replied thus, "The rice mortars having come to cause our millet eating to cease, I am not rich. Art thou clever enough to arrange a contrivance for it?" he asked. And the Gama-Mahage, having considered a little time, ordered the Gamarala to watch in the watch-hut at the chena.

The Gamarala, accepting that word, on the following day went to the chena with a large axe, and during the night-time having been hidden, at the time when he was looking out saw that a tusk elephant, having come from the Divine World and trampled on the millet, and eaten it, and thrown it down, goes away. Having seen this wonderful tusk elephant, and thought that having hung even by his tail he must go to the Divine World, he went home and told the Gama-Mahage to be ready, putting on clothes to-morrow for the purpose of going to the Divine World. At the time when the Gama-Mahage also asked "In what manner is that [to be done]?" he made known to her all the news.

The Gamarala's wife hereupon wanted to know the means to get clothes washed when she went to the Divine World. At that time the Gamarala said that they must perhaps take the washerman-uncle, [so he went to him and told him]. When the washerman-uncle set off to go he wanted his wife also to go, [and he brought her with him].

At last, these very four said persons having become ready and having been in the chena until the tusk elephant comes, after the tusk elephant came, at the very first the Gamarala hung by the tail. The Gamarala's wife hung at his back corner (piti mulla). After that, while the washerman-uncle and his wife were hung in turn behind the others, the tusk elephant, having eaten the millet, began to go to the Divine World.

After these four persons with extreme joy went a little distance, the washerman-uncle's wife spoke to the Gamarala, and asked thus, "For a certainty, Gamarala, in that Divine World how great is the size of the quart measure which measures rice?" she asked.

Thereupon the Gamarala, who was holding the tusk elephant's tail the very first, said, "The quart measure will be this size." Having put out his two hands he showed her the size.

At that time, these very four persons being extremely high in the sky, and from that far-off place having fallen to the earth, each one went into dust.

Western Province.

THE TUSK ELEPHANT OF THE DIVINE WORLD (Variant).

In a certain country a man having worked a rice field, after the paddy became big a tusk elephant comes from the Divine World and eats the paddy.

The man having gone, when he looked (balapuwama) there are no gaps [in the fence] for any animal whatever to come; there are footprints. The man thought, "It is the rice mortars of the men of our village that have eaten this; I must tell the men to tie the rice mortars to the trees." Thinking it, in the evening the man having told it to the whole of the houses, [187] together with the man they tied all the rice mortars to the trees. Having tied them, the man who owned the rice field and the men of that village went to the rice field and remained looking out.