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ANALYSIS OF THE TALES ON
THE PLAN ADOPTED BY THE FOLKLORE SOCIETY OF ENGLAND
I
Number in collection, 1. Reference to
pages, 1 to 12. Specific name, Sir Bumble. Dramatis
personæ: soldier's son, tigress, one-span mannikin, princess weighing
five flowers, one-eyed kotwal, tradesmen, vampire in form of Brâhman. Thread
of story, soldier's widow's only son goes to seek his fortune with two
rupees;1 meets tigress and takes thorn out of her foot; tigress
gives him a box to carry nine miles before opening; carries it five miles and
drops it, because it is heavy. One-span mannikin of prodigious strength appears
from box, he has a beard of a span and a quarter. Mannikin can fly through the
air like a beetle or bumble bee and fetches food by cheating the tradesmen of
the neighbourhood.2 Food is brought in enormous quantities,3
mannikin gobbling up what soldier's son cannot eat. They meet Princess Blossom
who weighs only five flowers. Mannikin brings about meeting between her and the
soldier's son,4 and mounts guard over them. Protects them against
her father the king's people. Is then dismissed as useless any longer, but
warns them of danger, and gives them a hair of his beard which they are to burn
in case of need. They meet a vampire in the form of a Brâhman who
shelters them and gives them the golden key of a cupboard which they are not to
open. Soldier's son out of curiosity opens the cupboard which contains
skeletons of vampire's victims. Vampire returns, but Princess Blossom burns
hair, whereon mannikin appears and pursues and slays vampire.5 Story
ends. Mannikin disappears, and soldier's son and the princess live with his
mother.
Incidental
circumstances: (1) 3 found in the father's coat, starts off to seek his fortune
with 2, leaving the other for his mother's support; (2) he shows them the
soldier's son's Rs. 2 and flies off with the food without paying for it; (3)
two mans of flour and one man of sweets; (4) by flying with the
soldier's son through the air and dropping him on to her bed; (5) through a
series of metamorphoses–(a) vampire changes into rain and mannikin into
a storm-wind beating back the rain; (b) vampire into dove and mannikin
into hawk; (c) vampire to a rose falling into Indra's lap from heaven
and mannikin to a musician who demands and gets the rose; (d) vampire
rose falls to the ground, mannikin picks it up, but one petal escapes and then
vampire petal turns to mouse and mannikin to cat who eats the mouse. Where
published, Indian Antiquary, vol. x. p 40 ff. Nature of collection:
(1) Original or translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's
name, from a Panjâbi Musalmân child, name not given; (3)
II
Number in collection, 2. Reference to
pages, 13 to 22. Specific name, Rat's Wedding.
Dramatis personæ: rat, woodcutter, potter, neatherd, bride,
bride's mother. Thread of story, rat on a wet day finds a dry root and
takes it home; on his way meets a man trying to light a fire with damp wood,
offers him his dry root out of compassion, but takes a morsel of dough in
return; meets a potter trying to pacify some hungry children, gives him the
dough and is given in exchange a pipkin (earthen pot); meets neatherds milking
buffaloes into their shoes for want of a pail, offers pipkin and demands
buffalo in return; 1 gets buffalo given as a joke; meets a bridal
party carrying palanquin; bearers want meat for their food, offers buffalo;
bearers kill buffalo and eat it and run away for fear of consequences; rat
takes possession of bride, sets her to cry wild plums in the streets to sell
for her food; her mother hears her and takes her back; rat claims his bride and
is finally set on a red-hot stool by a trick 2 and so got rid off. 3
Incidental circumstances: (1) rat is now proud and considers himself a
good hand at a bargain; (2) the stool is hollowed out in the centre, a red-hot
stone is placed in the hollow covered over with a saucepan-lid and a cloth
spread over all, (3) his tail is burnt off and half his hair and some of his
skin, so he runs off. Where published, Indian Antiquary, vol. xi. p 226
ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original or translation, original,
collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, Nâmdâr, a boy
at Muzaffargarh, Panjâb, of Purbîâ (i.e. N. W.
Provinces) origin; (3) Other particulars, nil.
III
Number in collection, 3. Reference to
pages, 23 to 34. Specific name, Faithful Prince.
Dramatis personæ: Bahrâmgor, golden deer, demon
Jasdrûl, fairy Shâhpasand, woodman, chief constable, demon
Nânak Chand, demon Safed, Shâhpasand's maid. Thread of story,
hero goes hunting in the west; 1 finds and catches golden deer, who
flies with him to fairy 2 land; mannikin demon Jasdrûl 2a
gives him keys of 100 palaces and gardens; 3 fairy princess finds
him asleep; 4 marries him; 5 hero pines for home and
demon sends him and his wife, but gives them a hair to burn when they want
help; they go to hero's home 6 and live with his former huntsman in
his garret; chief constable sees heroine combing her hair, 7 tries
to seize her, but she escapes to the emerald mountain as a pigeon; hero follows
her 8 by calling Jasdrûl to his help by burning the hair;
seeks princess by aid of magic wand 9 in demon Nânak Chand's
possession, then by aid of surma 10 in demon Safed's
possession, then by aid of invisible cap and the surma he reaches the
emerald mountain and gets access to heroine, 11 discovers himself, 12
and dwells there for ever. Incidental circumstances: (1) in the 4th
direction (west), in which he hunts; (2) 7 days and 7 nights through the air;
(2a) who was the golden deer on earth; (3) 100th palace mere hovel full of
poisonous things in a lovely garden 7 miles square; (4) she is a pigeon in the
air and a girl on the ground; she wakes him by kissing him; (5) marriage is
orthodox; (6) find everything changed, a new king on the throne and a price on
hero's head, so they have to hide; (7) hair is golden and neck fair; (8) finds
out where she is gone by the blind old guardian of the girl saying a voice (the
heroine's) had said, 'I go to the emerald mountain'; prince follows her with
persistence and courage; (9) to protect him from harm; (10) to rub on his eyes;
it brings what is far near; (11) heroine is locked up inside 7 prisons to
prevent her escaping to hero and a maid brings her food every day; hero with
invisible cap on watches maid into a door; follows her on to heroine; (12) hero
still invisible eats out of her dish, whereon she calls out and he takes off
his cap. Where published, Indian Antiquary, vol. xi. p 285 ff. Nature
of collection: (1) Original or translation, original, collected by
F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, Habîb, a Musalmân cooly in
Kashmîr; (3) Other particulars, nil.
IV
Number in collection, 4. Reference to
pages, 35 to 41. Specific name, The Bear's Bad
Bargain. Dramatis personæ: old woodman and wife, bear. Thread
of story, old woodman and wife allowed to have fruit from rich neighbour's
pear tree, provided the fruit fell into their yard. Old wife refuses to cook
savoury dish for her husband unless he will first work for it by cutting a
quantity of firewood. Woodman goes to work, bear comes by and offers to do the
work if he may have a share of the dish. Woodman agrees for a huge quantity of
wood: while bear is working out his dinner woodman and wife eat up all the dish
leaving pot only. In their fear of consequences they hide in the garret; bear
comes, finds food gone and is furious and takes away pot; sees pear tree,
climbs into it and collects the fruit into the pot. Woman sneezes loudly, bear
thinking this is a gun runs off dropping pot of pears into the yard, so the old
couple get them, bear gets nothing but a stomach-ache. Incidental
circumstances: (1) bear eats only the unripe fruit, filling the ripe fruit
into the pot to sell his brother bears at a profit. Where published,
Indian Antiquary, vol. xi. p 340 ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original
or translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name,
Habîb, a Musalmân cooly in Kashmîr; (3) Other particulars,
amid roars of laughter round a camp fire at the Tar Sar Lake in Liderwat, to
the N.E. of Srînagar.
V
Number in collection, 5. Reference to
pages, 42 to 60. Specific name, Prince Lionheart
and his Three Friends. Dramatis personæ: Prince Lionheart;
knifegrinder, blacksmith, carpenter–companions to Prince; mannikin demon,
female malignant ghost, (sleeping) beauty, jinn, witch. Thread of story,
hero is a miraculously born 1 only son, sets off on his travels with
three companions–knifegrinder, blacksmith, and carpenter; they reach a deserted
city, 2 knifegrinder is set to cook, while the others explore;
mannikin demon frightens knifegrinder, 3 and eats up the dinner;
same incident happens to blacksmith and carpenter; demon is finally killed by
hero, 4 inhabitants return to city, and hero makes knifegrinder
king; hero gives knifegrinder a barley plant as his (hero's) life-index; 5
hero with blacksmith and carpenter reach another deserted city; 6
blacksmith set to cook, female malignant ghost frightens blacksmith 7
and then carpenter, is killed at last by hero; 8 inhabitants return
and blacksmith made king as before, and given a barley plant; hero and
carpenter reach a third city, carpenter made king by hero, 9 and
hero goes on alone, sees rubies floating down a river, follows them up stream
and finds a female head hanging in a basket on a tree over the stream; 10
head belongs to (sleeping) beauty lying in the palace near, hero joins head to
body and brings (sleeping) beauty to life. Finds beauty in the power of a jinn,
11 who cut off her head and hung it up whenever he went abroad.
Beauty finds out the jinn's life-index, 12 and then hero kills jinn,
and marries beauty. Beauty afterwards washes her golden hair and some of the
hairs float down the river 13 to a king's palace; king determines to
possess the owner and sends witch 14 to find her; she worms out of
beauty the secret of hero's life-index, 15 kills hero, 16
and carries her off by stratagem. 17 The hero's life-index left with
his companions informs them of his fate 18 they set off after him,
find him and bring him to life again. 19 Carpenter then finds
princess, 20 restores her to hero by means of a flying palanquin; 21
hero and beauty return to hero's father. 22 Incidental
circumstances: (1) father and mother have no children and meet a faqîr
who grants a son by making mother eat a barleycorn; (2) because of the
annoyances caused by a demon; (3) mannikin demands the dinner, on knife
grinder's refusal shoots up into a tall demon, hangs knifegrinder on a tree,
but rope breaks and knifegrinder escapes shivering, hides himself under a
blanket and says he has fever and that a dog carried off the dinner; (4) hero
fights the demon and kills him by inducing him to 'fight fair,' i.e. to
assume size and strength equal to hero's; (5) as long as the plant lived hero
would be well, when it drooped he would be ill, when it died he would be dead;
(6) because of a murderous churel (female malignant ghost); (7) by her
appearance, an old woman, awful and forbidding, with black wrinkled skin and
feet turned backwards; (8) to hero she appears a beautiful girl, but hero
orders her to assume her proper shape, and slays her there and then; even in
this beautiful form she has her feet turned back; (9) simply at carpenter's
request (probably an error on the part of the narrator); (10) the drops of
blood from it floating down the stream were the rubies the hero had seen; (11)
jinn used to cut off her head daily when he went out and put it on again when
he returned; this was from jealousy; she was a human princess; (12) his life
lay in a bumble bee living in the crop of a starling kept in a golden cage on
the top twig of a tree guarded by a savage horse and dog; by changing their
food (i.e. the grass was kept before the dog and the bones before the
horse to make them savage), hero gets at bee, and when he kills it the jinn
dies; (13) she did not like it floating on the water, so she made a cup of a
leaf for it and floated that; (14) he sends for three witches, the first can
find her on the earth, the second can tear open the sky to find her, the third
can patch up the hole in the sky–he chose the third; (15) his life lay in his
sword, as he used to go hunting daily, beauty in her fright, lest anything
should happen to it, changes it and tells witch so; (16) witch gets possession
of the sword and burns it, this throws hero into a fever and, when the rivet of
the handle comes out, hero's head falls off, (17) by inducing beauty to get to
a boat and floating her down stream; (18) the barley plant suddenly snapped in
half and the head fell to the ground; (19) blacksmith fastens the handle on by
forging a new rivet and knifegrinder brightens it up, hero is alive and well
again; (20) beauty had vowed not to marry her new lover for twelve years,
carpenter hawks wood about at an exorbitant price and beauty sends for him and
learns about hero; (21) carpenter makes miraculous flying palanquin and shows
it beauty to try, the new lover's sister and witch get into it also, carpenter
throws them out at a height and kills them, palanquin flies straight to hero,
(22) hero's father at first thinks hero is an enemy. Where published,
Indian Antiquary, vol. x. p 228 ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original
or translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name,
not given; a boy, who sold eggs, born in the North-West Provinces but residing
at Firôzpûr; (3) Other particulars, nil.
VI
Number in collection, 6. Reference to
pages, 61 to 64. Specific name, Lambikin. Dramatis
personæ: lambikin and his granny, jackal, vulture, tiger, wolf, dog,
and eagle. Thread of story, lambikin meets successively jackal, vulture,
tiger, wolf, dog, and eagle, and avoids them all by saying he is not fat yet,
but is going to his granny to be fattened. 1 On his return fattened
he trundles along in a drumikin made of his brother's skin, and avoids all but the
jackal by saying lambikin had fallen into the fire, jackal recognises his
voice, drags him out and eats him. Incidental circumstances: (1) granny
puts him into a bin where he eats for seven days. Where published,
Indian Antiquary, vol. xii. p 175 ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original
or translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name,
not given; (3) Other particulars, it is a common nursery story all over
the Panjâb.
VII
Number in collection, 7. Reference to
pages, 65 to 70. Specific name, Bopolûchî.
Dramatis personæ: heroine, robber, crow, peacock, jackal, robber's
mother. Thread of story, village girls begin boasting about their future
weddings; heroine boasts that her uncle will come with fine dresses, food, and
jewels; robber 1 overhears her; determines to marry her; brings
everything as she had boasted, saying he is her uncle and that she is wanted to
marry his son; carries her off, on the road, a crow, peacock, and jackal all
warn her of her danger; 2 robber reaching home discloses himself;
leaves her in charge of his old mother and goes off to arrange wedding; heroine
kills the mother, 3 and in disguise escapes; 4 robber
follows her home, 5 and finally catches her and carries her off with
the help of three men, heroine kills these 6 and finally kills
robber 7 and possesses herself of all his wealth. Incidental
circumstances: (1) disguised as a pedlar, selling female trinkets; (2) by a
verse of warning which both hear and which robber explains satisfactorily; (3)
by a trick induces the old woman to let her pound her head with a pestle to
make her hair grow; (4) dresses up the corpse in her own bridal clothes and
puts on the old woman's, meets robber outside carrying a stolen millstone, but
he thinking she might be a witness of the theft slinks away; (5) being sure the
robber would follow she lives in her friends' houses till she is no longer
welcome; (6) they carry off her bed, she pretends to be asleep, but has
bill-hook under the clothes which she whips out and cuts off their heads; (7)
he escapes up a tree, but she sets it on fire and burns him. Where published,
Indian Antiquary, vol. ix. p 205 ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original
or translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name,
not given; an old peasant from Kasûr in the Lahore district; (3) Other
particulars, nil.
VIII
Number in collection, 8. Reference to
pages, 71 to 79. Specific name, Princess
Aubergine. Dramatis personæ: poor Brâhman couple, heroine,
wicked queen, king, heroine's son. Thread of story, a poor Brâhman
couple find an aubergine, 1 which contains the heroine; she is
brought up by them as daughter of the house; a queen in the neighbourhood hears
of her, determining to kill her by magic out of jealousy, tries to find out her
life-index, and in doing so kills her own seven sons; 2 finds it
eventually; 3 kills heroine, 4 but she is laid out in the
wilderness and neither buried nor burnt. King goes out hunting to allay his
grief for the loss of his sons; 5 finds heroine's body; 6
watches beside it for days, 7 finds a boy beside the body after a
year; 8 finds out that the heroine is alive at night, but dead in
the day-time, and the life-index; 9 heroine marries him and the
queen is punished. 10 Incidental circumstances: (1) it has
only one fruit on it which is not plucked till the couple are actually
starving; (2) knows heroine to be a fairy, and so her first seven spells do not
elicit a true answer as to the life-index which heroine says lies in the life
of the seven sons successively; (3) the eighth spell is strong enough to elicit
the truth; the life-index is the nine-lakh necklace in a box in a bee in a
green and red fish; (4) by the illness trick curable only by the possession of
the life-index; queen's husband finds it for her; heroine knows she is to die
and warns the Brâhman couple as to how to deal with her corpse, viz. to
dress her in her best and carry her on her bed into the wilderness; (5) goes
hunting to the north, the direction forbidden him by the wicked queen; (6) in
an enclosure surrounded by a high wall heroine appears to be sleeping; (7) it
never decays; (8) the child is heroine's son; (9) as long as the queen is
wearing the necklace heroine dies; queen took it off at night, queen tries to
poison child by offering it sweets, but the child will not take these until it
gets possession of her necklace and it is then restored to the heroine; (10) by
being buried in a ditch filled with scorpions and serpents. Where published,
Indian Antiquary, vol. ix. p 302 ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original
or translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name,
not given; an old woman at Kasûr in the Lahore district; (3) Other
particulars, it is very common in the Panjâb. The narrator was not a
Punjâbi, but of Pûrbiâ origin.
IX
Number in collection, 9. Reference to
pages, 80 to 88. Specific name, Valiant Vicky,
the Brave Weaver. Dramatis personæ: hero, elephant, tiger,
king, king's daughter and hero's wife. Thread of story, hero who is very
vain without reason, kills a mosquito with his shuttle and sets up for being a
great man, sets off to seek his fortune, comes to city where a dreadful
elephant eats up one of the people, offers to kill elephant, does so by
accident, 1 is made commander-in-chief, tiger ravages the country,
hero goes out to kill it, 2 kills it by accident, 3
marries king's daughter, foreign prince comes to ravage the country with his
army, hero sent to oppose him, hero and his wife prepare for flight, and by
accident 4 set the enemy fighting among themselves, and thus destroy
the army, hero becomes a great man, and refusing to fight any more, lives and
dies covered with honour. Incidental circumstances: (1) as he was running
he dropped the poisoned cakes his wife made for him, elephant eats these up as
he follows hero and is poisoned at once; (2) with an army, he runs up a tree as
soon as tiger charges and army deserts him (3) goaded by hunger he tries to
creep down the tree while tiger is asleep, tiger gets up and, as he is swinging
himself back into the tree, his knife falls into tiger's mouth and kills him;
(4) hero and his wife try to slink through the army at night, hero's wife drops
her bag of household utensils which wakes up the army, who, thinking they are
attacked, begin fighting among themselves and destroying each other in the
dark, hero takes advantage of this and returns home victorious Where
published, Indian Antiquary, vol. xi. p 282 ff. Nature of collection:
(1) Original or translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's
name, not given; a Muhammadan at Sopûr in Kashmîr; (3) Other
particulars, nil.
X
Number in collection, 10. Reference to
pages, 89 to 101. Specific name, The Son of Seven
Mothers. Dramatis personæ: king, hero, white-hind witch, her
mother, hero's wife. Thread of story, a king has seven wives and no
children, saint grants them all a son each, 1 king goes hunting in
forbidden direction, 2 and there meets the white hind, 3
which he follows up and recognises as the daughter of the house in cottage on
the road, 4 marries her on his love being tested by first blinding
the seven queens and imprisoning them, she is a witch and gives the eyes to her
mother to wear as a necklace, the seven queens eat up their children from
starvation except the youngest, 5 whose child thus becomes the son
of seven mothers and hero, hero helps them to live, 6 hero shoots
one of the white-hind queen's pigeons, 7 white hind recognises him
and promises to show him where his mothers' eyes are, sends him to her mother
with instructions 8 to kill him, on the road hero is forcibly
married to a princess 9 who reads instructions and alters the
contents into instructions to give him the seven queens' eyes, 10
gets the eyes, again shoots one of the white hind's pigeons who sends him off
to her mother with instructions to kill him on pretence of getting him the
wonderful cow, 11 he gets the cow, 12 shoots a third
pigeon and the white hind sends him a third time to her mother on pretence of
getting him the million-fold rice, gets the rice, 13 brings home his
bride, who informs his father of the doings of the white hind, 14
white hind is killed, 15 and all goes well. Incidental
circumstances: (1) by simple word of mouth; (2) north, the seven queens had
dreams that some evil would come of his hunting to the north; (3) the golden
horns and silver hoof; (4) king follows her up till she disappears, he then
goes into a hovel for a drink, and in the daughter of the house he recognises
the white hind, she is white-skinned and golden-haired; (5) she would not eat
her share and so returned the others her share of their children and saved her
own child; (6) by going out of the prison and procuring sweets, etc.; (7) and
thus becomes introduced to the white hind; (8) written on a potsherd; (9)
princess having power to choose a husband says she will only choose the 'son of
seven mothers,' hero as a stranger is dragged into her presence and is chosen
by her; (10) he finds the old mother wearing the necklace of eyes, but she has
eaten one, so the youngest queen, hero's own mother, gets only one back; (11)
the jôgi's wonderful cow's milk flows all day and makes a pond as
big as a kingdom, it is guarded by 18,000 demons; (12) he goes on the road to
look up his princess, who again alters the instructions, and white hind's
mother shows him how to get the cow, viz. by telling the jôgi that
his skin was wanted for a new drum for the jôgi's master,
Râjâ Indra, and taking the cow as a bribe to let the jôgi
off; he was not to look right or left while going there to the demons; (13) in
the same way the white hind's mother tells him how to get the rice guarded by
18,000,000 demons, he plucks it, and on his way back turns round, whereon he is
reduced to ashes, the old mother finds him, makes them into a paste and the
paste into his image, puts a drop of blood from her little finger into his
mouth, blows on it and so restores him; (14) she gets a palace built on the
plan of the king's and invites king to see her husband, king does so and meets
the seven blind queens and his son, the whole story is thus explained; (15) she
is put to death and her grave ploughed over. Where published, Indian
Antiquary, vol. x. p 147 ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original or
translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name,
not given; a Purbiâ boy living at Firôzpûr (3) Other
particulars, nil.
XI
Number in collection, 11. Reference to
pages, 102 to 106. Specific name, The Sparrow and
the Crow. Dramatis personæ: sparrow, crow, pond, deer, cow,
grass, blacksmith. Thread of story, sparrow makes some khichrî
for herself and the crow, tells crow he is too dirty to eat it without washing.
Crow goes to the pond and asks for water, who sends him to the deer for the use
of his horn to dig a place for the water to flow into, who sends him to the cow
for milk to console him for the pain of losing a horn, who sends him to the
grass to get food in order to make milk, who sends him to the blacksmith for a
sickle to cut the blades with, who tells him to light a fire that he may forge
a sickle, and in doing so the crow falls into the fire and is killed, and the
sparrow gets the khichrî. Where published, Indian
Antiquary, vol. ix. p 207 ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original or
translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name,
not given; (3) Other particulars, very common tale in the
Firôzpûr, Siâlkôt, and Lahore districts.
XII
Number in collection, 12. Reference to
pages, 107 to 110. Specific name, The Tiger, the
Brâhman, and the Jackal. Dramatis personæ: tiger,
Brâhman, pîpal tree, buffalo, the road, jackal. Thread of
story, tiger caught in a trap, gets Brâhman to let him out, proceeds
to eat him on being released, but gives Brâhman leave to ask three things
if the tiger was just, he asks a pîpal tree, 1 a
buffalo, 2 and the road, 3 who tell him that in their own
cases ingratitude is shown in a very strong light, and that he cannot expect
anything else, he then consults a jackal, who, by a trick, 4
releases him and shuts tiger up in the cage again. Incidental circumstances:
(1) pîpal complains that in return for the shelter he gives to
mankind they tear down his branches for food for their cattle; (2) buffalo
complains that while she gave milk she was well fed, but now that she is dry
they yoke her to the oil-press; (3) the road complains that in return for the
ease it gives mankind they do nothing but trample on it, and leave it the
refuse of their pipes and grain; (4) he pretends he cannot comprehend the
Brâhman's story, and the tiger from irritation at his denseness jumps
into the cage to show him how matters were at the commencement, jackal shuts
the door. Where published, Indian Antiquary, vol. xii. p 170 ff. Nature
of collection: (1) Original or translation, original, collected by
F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; a Jatt boy of
Chûhar-khâna in the Gujrânwâlâ district; (3) Other
particulars, nil.
XIII
Number in collection, 13. Reference to
pages, 111 to 117. Specific name, The King of the
Crocodiles. Dramatis personæ: farmer, king of the crocodiles,
farmer's wife and daughter (heroine). Thread of story, crocodiles
destroy a farmer's cornfields, he throws stones at them, whereon they attack
him and release him only on condition that he marries his daughter to the
biggest, he agrees but his wife refuses, various misfortunes ensue in
consequence, 1 so the daughter is married to the king of the
crocodiles in ordinary fashion, and disappears beneath the stream with him, 2
her father after a while follows her, 3 finds her dwelling in
splendour and comfort, and in time induces her mother to join them in their
home beneath the waters. Incidental circumstances: (1) the girl's
suitors die one after another and at last the girl falls and breaks her leg;
(2) as soon as the bride's feet touch the river the waters divide and she walks
to the crocodile's palace dry-shod, her husband gives the father a brick to
throw into the river whenever he wants to visit them and the waters will divide
for him; (3) by the use of the brick he finds that beneath the waters the
crocodiles are in human form, being crocodiles only on shore and out of the
waters. Where published, Indian Antiquary, vol. ix. p 280 ff. Nature
of collection: (1) Original or translation, original, collected by
F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; (3) Other particulars,
common story in the Panjâb among the women.
XIV
Number in collection, 14. Reference to
pages, 118 to 122. Specific name, Little
Anklebone. Dramatis personæ: shepherd boy, wolf, old woman,
king. Thread of story, a small shepherd boy meets a wolf who eats him, 1
and at his request after eating him hangs his anklebone by a thread to a tree
overhanging a pond, three robbers come underneath to divide their spoil when a
jackal howls 2 and at the same moment the anklebone falls on one of
their heads, they run away, whereon anklebone obtains their wealth, buys a pipe
and plays on it to the female animal creation, 3 and he milks them
and makes a pond of milk; an old woman comes for water and discovers it, 4
informs the king of the country who chases anklebone, and when he catches him
finds him to be a mere anklebone and so lets him go; his piping, however, is
still to be heard in the wilds. Incidental circumstances: (1) anklebone
has an aunt, and his aunt decides that the wolf is to eat the shepherd instead
of the sheep, the child always piped while tending the sheep; (2) a bad omen,
and hence the robbers' fright; (3) does, tigresses, and she-wolves come
together to hear him play and he milks them; (4) she asks for water and
anklebone directs her to the milken pond. Where published, Indian
Antiquary, vol. xii. p 103 ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original or
translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name,
not given; told by a small boy of the Bâr (wilds) of the
Gujrânwâlâ district; (3) Other particulars, nil.
XV
Number in collection, 15. Reference to
pages, 123 to 128. Specific name, The Close
Alliance. Dramatis personæ: farmer, tiger, farmer's wife,
jackal. Thread of story, a farmer is ploughing with bullocks, tiger
proposes to eat the bullocks, but agrees to take the farmer's wife's milch cow
instead, she refuses to give her up, and frightens tiger by a trick, 1
and so saves the cow; tiger meets his jackal, 2 who persuades the
tiger to return, as it was only a woman that frightened him, tiger won't go
until they tie their tails together; farmer's wife again frightens tiger, 3
who runs off with the jackal tied to his tail, jackal is bumped to death in the
flight. 4 Incidental circumstances: (1) she dresses herself
up as a horseman and shouts out that she is glad the tiger is there, as she has
not had any food for three days, when she had eaten three tigers; tiger is
frightened and runs off; (2) who used to find him prey and took the leavings as
his wages; jackal is determined not to be done out of his bones by tiger's
cowardice, and so eggs him on to return; (3) she calls out to the jackal that
it was kind of him to bring such a fat tiger for dinner; (4) there is a moral
attached to the story, ' Don't trust cowards.' Where published, Indian
Antiquary, vol. xi. p 319 ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original or
translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name,
Habîb, a Musalmân cooly in Kashmîr; (3) Other particulars,
a common village tale in Kashmîr.
XVI
Number in collection, 16. Reference to
pages, 139 to 143. Specific name, The Two
Brothers. Dramatis personæ: stepmother, her two stepsons, snake-demon,
magician, old woman, scavenger, minister's daughter Thread of story, the
two heroes' stepmother ill-treats them,1 and they run away to seek
fortune riding on one pony, halt under a tree, a starling and a parrot are
talking in the tree, 2 eldest son eats parrot and is thus destined
to be a king, the younger eats the starling and is destined to be a minister.
They journey on but miss their whip, elder goes on on foot, younger goes back
with pony to find whip under the tree, the snake-demon of the tree bites and
kills him, elder reaches city and is proclaimed king, 3 and hearing
nothing of his brother appoints another minister; magician finds younger hero
under the tree and restores him to life, 4 he journeys on but
reaches a different city, finds an old woman herding goats, gives her his pony
for his board and lodging, finds that an ogre devours daily an inhabitant of
the city in turn, offers himself for the old woman when her turn comes, 5
attacks ogre and kills him, cuts off his head and goes to sleep; a scavenger
comes to clean up the place and finding the ogre dead and the hero asleep,
buries the hero alive and takes the head of the ogre to the king, obtains half
the kingdom, but not the princess promised in reward; 6 some potters
find the hero and take him, and finding himself supplanted the hero joins
them:and becomes a very skilful potter; the annual fleet of ships to the city
cannot get away owing to foul winds, so hero is chosen for the human sacrifice
necessary for a fair wind, he however makes the ships sail,7 and
goes off with the merchants, who take him to his brother's kingdom, there he
meets and marries the minister's daughter, 8 and finally is
recognised by his brother who makes him minister; 9 but the
scavenger king is put to death. 10 Incidental circumstances:
(1) she starves and beats them and then tells their father they are peevish and
so he ill-treats them too; (2) they are quarrelling, starling says whoever eats
him will become a minister, and parrot that whoever eats him will become a
king, thereupon the brothers kill and eat them; (3) the king had died and the
sacred elephant is to choose his successor by saluting him, he will choose none
of the inhabitants and so hero as a stranger is dragged before him, elephant
salutes him at once; (4) magician's wife taunts her husband till he agrees to
arrange the boy's restoration to life, he directs her to put her water-pot into
the stream near the tree, whereon all the water flows into the pot and
it dries up, snakes cannot bear the thirst thus created and agree to restore
the boy to life as the price of recovering their water, the water is restored
by emptying the pot back into the stream; (5) the ogre got daily a human being,
a goat, and a cake, he generally ate the human being first, but hero takes a
very fat goat and a very large cake, so demon goes at them first, and while he
is eating, hero attacks him; (6) the marriage is delayed for a year, as the
king was sure the scavenger was not the real hero; (7) by cutting his little
finger; with the third drop of blood the ships float down the wind; (8) he
makes a model of his palace in clay for amusement, the minister's daughter sees
it and swears she will marry no one else; when she marries him her father gets
the merchants to take them out to sea and drop the hero overboard, but he
climbs in by a rope to his wife's cabin, who brings him home disguised as a
maid; (9) he personates the gardener's daughter and makes up a bouquet for his
brother the king in the fashion in vogue in their own country, king recognises
this, goes to see the gardener's daughter and finally is sure of his brother by
the latter's relation of his story; (10) the princess that was to have married
him marries the elder hero, the younger already having a wife. Where published,
Indian Antiquary, vol. xi. p 342 ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original
or translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name,
not given; (3) Other particulars, collected in Kashmîr.
XVII
Number in collection, 17. Reference to
pages, 144 to 147. Specific name, The Jackal and
the Iguana. Dramatis personæ: jackal, iguana. Thread of
story, a half-starved jackal finding a pair of slippers in a gutter wears
them as earrings, builds a mud platform by a tank and sets himself up for
somebody. He insists on all the animals who go there to drink first saluting
him, 1 a tiger out of jest does so and so do others, this makes
jackal very proud; an iguana, however, tricks him, and jeers at him, and
finally escapes him by a trick. 2 Incidental circumstances:
(1) by repeating some verses in his honour; (2) iguana pretends he is so hoarse
that he cannot unless he drinks first, so he is allowed to do so, he then
repeats verses in parody of those insisted on, jackal pursues him, catches his
tail just outside his hole, but iguana induces him to let go by saying if he
will do so he will come out and repeat the verses properly. Where published,
new. Nature of collection: (1) Original or translation, original,
collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; Muhammadan
girl of Muzaffargarh; (3) Other particulars, daughter of a Police
Inspector, native of Chûniân in the Lahore district.
XVIII
Number in collection, 18. Reference to
pages, 148 to 158. Specific name, Death and
Burial of Poor Hen-sparrow. Dramatis personæ: cock-sparrow,
old and young hen-sparrows, pîpal tree, buffalo, cuckoo,
Bhagtû the tradesman, maid, queen, prince, king. Thread of story,
old cock-sparrow marries a young hen, old hen sitting disconsolate on a branch
in the rain is dyed in gay hues by the colours that run from a crow's nest
above her; 1 young sparrow sees it and is informed by the old hen
that the way to be dyed is to pop into the dyer's vat, young hen does so and is
scalded; is found there by her husband who picks her up and takes her home in
his beak, on arrival at the nest old hen jeers and the sparrow in his wrath
opens his mouth to abuse her and so drops the young hen who is drowned in the
stream beneath him, he then mourns her by losing his feathers and is joined in
the mourning in a comic way successively by a pîpal tree, a
buffalo, a cuckoo, a tradesman, a maid, the queen, the prince, and the king. Incidental
circumstances: (1) the crow had used scraps of dyed cloth for his nest. Where
published, Indian Antiquary, vol. xi. p 169 ff. Nature of collection:
(1) Original or translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's
name, Hajjan, a Pathân girl at Muzaffargarh; (3) Other particulars,
nil.
XIX
Number in collection, 19. Reference to
pages, 159 to 166. Specific name, Princess
Pepperina. Dramatis personæ: bulbul and his mate, jinn,
heroine, hero, heroine's enemies, pair of sheldrakes. Thread of story, bulbul
wants a green pepper to eat, her mate goes for it, finds it in jinn's deserted
palace, 1 they eat it, 2 bulbul lays an egg 3
beside it which jinn finds and takes charge of, out of the egg comes heroine, 4
jinn befriends her, she meets hero, 5 and marries him,6
leaves her home for his, 7 her enemies then calumniate her by
ostensibly proving her to be an ogress, 8 so she is turned out of
the palace,9 and becomes a garden and her soul goes into two
sheldrakes,10 here her husband finds her 11 and lives with
her for the rest of their days in happiness.12 Incidental
circumstances: (1) there is no sign of animal life in it, not even birds
and insects; (2) he finds one pepper plant with one green pepper on it, the
jinn is undergoing a twelve years' sleep and while he is waking they eat it and
fly away; (3) of a glittering emerald-green colour; (4) the jinn had carefully
put it away, it turned into a little maiden dressed in emerald green with a
talisman in the shape of an emerald round her neck like a green pepper; (5)
hero (a king) comes hunting, finds heroine and they fall in love; (6) jinn
smells him, but heroine protects and hides him, and as the jinn's time for
sleeping had come again, she persuades him into letting her marry a person as
beautiful as herself and produces hero; (7) jinn follows them as a dove, a
hawk, and an eagle till he is satisfied that she goes to her new home safely
and then goes to his sleep; (8) Pepperina's talisman always speaks the truth on
hearing a lie and while she wears it no one can harm her, one day she left it
at her bathing-place, her enemies tell a lie, and so ascertain she has it off
her neck, go to her, kill her child in bed and put the blood on her lips as she
sleeps, tell her husband that she is therefore an ogress; (9) scourged out;
(10) her body is the marble wall, her eyes the pool, her green mantle the
grass, her hair the creepers, her mouth and teeth the roses and narcissus, her
soul a sheldrake and his mate; (11) her husband arrives out hunting, overhears
sheldrake say that if he will kill them both at one blow he will recover his
wife, he does so, and Pepperina appears in her garden; (12) jinn, having
awakened, joins them, builds them a palace and lives with him, then Pepperina
never leaves the palace again. Where published, Indian Antiquary, vol.
x. p 80 ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original or translation,
original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; a
Muhammadan woman from Kasûr; (3) Other particulars, nil.
XX
Number in collection, 20. Reference to
pages, 167 to 172. Specific name, Peasie and
Beansie. Dramatis personæ: Peasie, Beansie, a plum-tree, a pîpal,
a stream, Peasie's father, brother, and sister-in-law. Thread of story,
the younger sister Peasie is a pleasant girl, the elder Beansie is
disagreeable. Peasie goes to see her father and on her way benefits a
plum-tree, 1 a pîpal, 2 a stream, 3
and a fire, 4 and delights her father. They all reward her, 5
on her way home. Beansie is very jealous, and next day Beansie goes to see what
she can get out of her father, but on the way will help nothing, and so when
she reaches her father she gets a beating from her brother and his wife, 6
and is played tricks by the plum-tree and so on. Incidental circumstances:
(1) she tidies up the plum-tree's thorns for him; (2) binds up a broken branch
for the pîpal; (3) clears the stream's channel; (4) takes away the
ashes that are choking the fire; (5) her father gives her a spinning-wheel, a
buffalo, a brass pot, a bed, and other things, as if she were a bride going to
her husband, the stream gives a fine cloth, the pîpal a string of
pearls, the fire a nice hot cake, the plum-tree ripe yellow fruit; (6) they say
that the day previous Peasie had got great presents out of the father, and that
as Beansie had turned up the next day the sisters evidently were trying to see
what they could get out of him. Where published, new. Nature of
collection: (1) Original or translation, original, collected by F.
A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; a Jatt boy in
Farmânâ, in the Rohtak district; (3) Other particulars,
common all over the Rohtak district.
XXI
Number in collection, 21. Reference to
pages, 173 to 177. Specific name, The Jackal and
the Partridge. Dramatis personæ: jackal, partridge, crocodile.
Thread of story, jackal sets partridge to–(1) make him laugh, (2) make
him cry, (3) give him a dinner, (4) save his life–as proofs of her friendship;
partridge (1) sets two travellers fighting, 1 and so makes him
laugh; (2) sets a hunter and his dogs to worry the jackal, 2 and so
makes him cry; (3) gets some women to chase her, 3 while the jackal
eats the dinner; (4) prevents a crocodile from drowning the jackal, and so
saves his life. 4 Incidental circumstances: one is going in
front of the other, she settles gently on the former's stick over his shoulder,
the hindmost then throws his shoe at her and knocks off the foremost's turban,
and there is a fight; (2) she induces jackal to enter a tree and while there by
fluttering about attracts a hunter and his pack, who spy out the jackal and
worry him; (3) she pretends to be wounded, and so the women drop their food to
chase her; (4) induces a crocodile to carry them across a river and en route
suggests he should upset the jackal, but at last dissuades him by saying that
the jackal had left his life behind him on the other shore. Where published,
new. Nature of collection: (1) Original or translation, original,
collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; (3) Other
particulars, nil.
XXII
Number in collection, 22. Reference to
pages, 178 to 184. Specific name, The Snake-woman
and King Ali Mardan. Dramatis personæ: Ali Mardan,
snake-woman, jôgi. Thread of story, hero goes out hunting
and meets heroine, 1 takes her to live with him, comes across jôgi's
servant with enchanted ointment 2 box, and sends for jôgi,
jôgi comes, and shows him how to prove her to be snake-woman, 3
and finally how to kill her, 4 her ashes contain the philosopher's
stone. 5 Incidental circumstances: (1) she is a lamia,
and says she is a slave of the king of China who has lost herself; (2) it
enables its possessor to annihilate distance, jôgi's servant is on
his way to fetch sacred water for his master and strays into hero's garden; (3)
a serpent being obliged to assume its own form at night, hero gives the
snake-woman some salt food to eat, which obliges her to change her form and go
out for water, hero following her, (4) she is induced to play at cooking food with
hero and while putting bread into the oven is tipped in by hero and burnt; (5)
the essence of the snake-woman is found in her ashes, and is a stone which will
turn anything it touches into gold, hero will not keep it, but throws it into a
river. Where published, Indian Antiquary, vol. xi. p 230 ff. Nature
of collection: (1) Original or translation, original, collected by
F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, Pandit Nânâ Beo, at
Khrû, near Srînagar. (3) Other particulars, nil.
XXIII
Number in collection, 23. Reference to
pages, 185 to 194. Specific name, The Wonderful
Ring. Dramatis personæ: spendthrift hero, cat, parrot, snake,
princess, witch. Thread of story, spendthrift hero starts with four
rupees, 1 spends one each on a cat, a dog, a parrot, and a snake,
and then starves, on this the snake in gratitude 2 obtains for him
the wonderful ring, 3 which will procure whatever is wanted
instantly for its possessor, 4 by means of this ring hero builds a
golden palace in the sea and marries a princess, 5 turns her into
gold at her request, heroine washing by the sea puts her golden hair into a cup
of leaves which are floated to a king's palace, his son sees them and
determines to marry the owner, a witch is sent to find her, 6 does
so, and by a trick gets possession of the ring, 7 takes princess to
her master,8 princess refuses to marry him for six months in hopes
her husband will turn up, meanwhile hero returns, the cat and parrot explain to
him what had happened, and parrot flies off to heroine, 9 parrot and
cat then get possession of the wonderful ring from the witch, and by it she is
restored to the hero. 10 Incidental circumstances: (1)
finding him wasting all the property his brother divides it with him, he soon
wastes his share and at last borrows the four rupees from his wife; (2) having
by the hero been released from the thraldom of his master, a jôgi;
(3) the snake takes him to his father who offers him anything he wishes, hero
chooses by snake's advice the father's enchanted signet ring; (4) food or any
wish whatever: it is to be put into a cooking-place and sprinkled with curds;
(5) the king of a city has issued a proclamation that whoever will build a
golden palace in the sea in a single night shall marry his daughter; (6) she is
rowed in a boat to the palace, when she raises her thumb the men are to row,
when she puts it down they are to stop; (7) persuades heroine to get hero to
leave it with her in case any accidents happened to him when hunting, and
persuades them both that she is heroine's aunt; (8) persuades her to take a
sail in the boat and then rows off with her, recognising her by her golden
hair; (9) the cat and parrot tell the princess to strew some rice about while
the witch sleeps, this brings rats, whereon the cat catches one and puts its
tail up the witch's nose, which makes her sneeze violently and throw the ring
out of her mouth, where she always kept it, on which the parrot seizes it and
takes it to his master. Incidental circumstances: Where published,
Indian Antiquary, vol. x. p 347 ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original
or translation, original, collected by R. C. Temple; (2) Narrator's name,
not given; (3) Other particulars, small boy at Firôzpûr.
XXIV
Number in collection, 24. Reference to
pages, 195 to 197. Specific name, The Jackal and
the Pea-hen. Dramatis personæ: jackal, pea-hen. Thread of
story, jackal and the pea-hen swear friendship, pea-hen eats plums, and
jackal a kid. Pea-hen buries the stones and explains that they will grow into
trees, whereon jackal buries his bones, pea-hen's stones come and jackal's do
not, whereon pea-hen jeers at him and he in anger eats her. Moral, 'Don't be
wiser than your friends.' Incidental circumstances: nil. Where
published, new. Nature of collection: (1) Original or translation,
original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; (3) Other
particulars, common everywhere in the Panjâb.
XXV
Number in collection, 25. Reference to
pages, 198 to 202. Specific name, The Grain of
Corn. Dramatis personæ: farmer's wife, crow. Thread of
story, a crow swoops off with a grain of corn while a farmer's is
winnowing, she throws a stone at the crow and knocks him over, but agrees to
let him off if he will recover the grain. It has fallen into a crack in a tree,
whereon he tries to get a woodman to cut the tree down, he refuses, so he goes
successively to the king, queen, snake, stick, fire, water, ox, rope, mouse,
and lastly, a cat. The cat goes at once for the mouse and so the train is
fired, and the crow gets the grain of corn. Incidental circumstances,
nil. Where published, new. Nature of collection: (1) Original
or translation, original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name,
not given; (3) Other particulars, common every where in the
Panjâb.
XXVI
Number in collection, 26. Reference to
pages, 203 to 206. Specific name, The Farmer and
the Money-lender. Dramatis personæ: farmer, money-lender,
Râm. Thread of story, farmer asks the money-lender how he got so
rich, the money-lender says from Râm (God), and sets the farmer to find
him, the farmer sets out and finds a man who calls himself Râm, who gives
him a conch to blow whenever he wants anything, but he must blow it in a
particular way. The money-lender worms the secret out of him except the way in
which the conch is to be blown, but steals it, and gives it him back on the
understanding that he gets double of whatever it brings the farmer, farmer in
his wrath and mortification wishes he lost an eye, on which the money-lender
loses both, and being blind falls into a well and is killed. Incidental
circumstances: (1) He starts with three cakes, gives one to a jôgi,
and one to a Brâhman, and asks the way to Râm (God), neither helps
him, and then he gives his third and last to the man who says he is Râm. Where
published, new. Nature of collection: (1) Original or translation,
original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; a
Jatt boy in Rohtak; (3) Other particulars, common everywhere.
XXVII
Number in collection, 27. Reference to
pages, 207 to 210. Specific name, The Lord of
Death. Dramatis personæ: old man, Lord of Death in his
metamorphosed forms of scorpion, snake, buffalo, ox, maiden, old man. Thread
of story, every traveller on a certain road dies, an old man travels it,
sees a scorpion changed into a snake and follows it up, watches it kill one
person after another, 1 a river crosses the road, snake changes into
a buffalo, and offers to ferry some travellers over, drops them in the stream,
old man crosses in a boat and finds buffalo has become an ox which a peasant
leads home, in the night it becomes a snake and kills the whole household and
live-stock, another river crosses the road and the snake becomes a beautiful
girl over whom two brothers quarrel and kill each other, 2 the
creature again becomes a snake, then becomes an old man, whom the traveller
seizes and asks who he is, the reply is 'I am the Lord of Death,' on which the
old man demands death, but is told his hour is not yet come. 3 Incidental
circumstances: (1) it kills all the travellers in an inn, then the king in
his house, then goes up the waterspout and takes the king's eldest daughter,
(2) the snake-girl agrees to marry the elder brother, sends him off on the
pretext of making him fetch a glass of water from a well, while he is away she
offers to run off with the younger, who refuses; on the elder's return she
charges the younger with attempt at seduction, on this they fight and kill each
other. Where published, Indian Antiquary, vol. ix. p 209 ff. Nature
of collection: (1) Original or translation, original, collected by
F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; a boy from the North-West
Provinces; (3) Other particulars, nil.
XXVIII
Number in collection, 28. Reference to
pages, 211 to 215. Specific name, The Wrestlers
(a tale of heroes). Dramatis personæ: 1st wrestler, 2nd wrestler's
daughter, 2nd wrestler, an old woman and her daughter. Thread of story,
a wrestler hears of another and comes to test his skill with him, the wrestler
possesses miraculous ways proved by various incidents, 1 finds the
rival out when he reaches his house, shows his strength, but is astonished at
that displayed by the rival's daughter,2 meets rival in the woods
and they try strength,3 meet an old woman whom they ask to be
umpire, she takes them up and they wrestle on her hand, the old woman is after
her daughter who has been stealing her camels, the girl on seeing her walks off
with 160 camels in her blanket and performs other marvellous feats ending in
populating a mudbank with the contents of her blanket.4 Incidental
circumstances: (1) he takes 10,000 lbs. of flour, mixes it in a pond as
gruel, and eats up the result as a meal; an elephant comes to drink, finds no
water and tries to kill the wrestler, but he takes the elephant up by the
trunk, flings him over his shoulder and goes on; (2) he chucks the elephant
over the house wall, but the rival's daughter sweeps it over the wall back
again as a mouse; (3) finds him dragging along 160 carts laden, pulls at the
other end and the party comes to a standstill; (4) her blanket contains
successively 160 camels, two or three trees for them to eat, a farmer who tries
to stop her, and all his fields, oxen, and house, a town bodily, and everything
she met. By a river she stops and eats a water-melon and puts the whole lot
into its rind and floats it down the river, when it lands on a mudbank, upsets,
and thus populates it. Where published, Indian Antiquary, vol. xi. p 229
ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original or translation, original,
collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; a
Musalmân cook at Muzaffargarh;(3) Other particulars, narrator came
from Bândâ.
XXIX
Number in collection, 29. Reference to
pages, 216 to 219. Specific name, The Legend of
Gwâshbrârî, the Glacier-hearted Queen. Dramatis
personæ: Mount Westarwân, Mount Gwâshbrârî. Thread
of story, Mount Westarwân (male) is the tallest mountain in
Kashmîr, and the others are jealous, and induce Mount
Gwâshbrârî (female) to make him fall in love. When the full
beauty of the evening glow falls over her he calls out to her to kiss him, but
she says he is too tall, so he lays his great length across the plains of
Kashmîr in order to reach her, but she makes him lie at her feet for
ever, and that is why he stretches all across the Kashmîr plains. Incidental
circumstances, nil. Where published, Indian Antiquary, vol. xi. p
259 ff. Nature of collection: (1) Original or translation,
original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, Pandit
Nânâ Beo of Khrû, Kashmîr; (3) Other particulars,
nil.
XXX
Number in collection, 30. Reference to
pages, 220 to 229. Specific name, The Barber's
Clever Wife. Dramatis personæ: barber, barber's wife, thieves,
the leading thief. Thread of story, stupid barber loses all his money,
clever wife tells him to beg of the king, who gives him a piece of waste land,1
wife by a trick gets thieves to dig it up for her, 2 she has a fine
harvest which she sells for a crock of gold pieces, thieves attempt several
times to get possession of this, first time get a crock of goats' droppings
instead, 3 second time they are stung by hornets, 4 third
time get their noses cut off, 5 fourth time the chief gets his
tongue bitten off, 6 fifth time lose their suit in court, 7
all by the sharpness of the barber's wife. Incidental circumstances: (1)
the man though starving is such a fool that he accepts anything offered; (2)
she and her husband go looking about the field all day as if something was
there, and she confides to the thieves that a pot of gold is buried somewhere
in it, at night they plough it up to find it; (3) she sees one of the thieves
hiding in the house and says to her husband that the crock is in the niche by
the door loud enough for the thief to hear, he carries off the crock, but it is
full of droppings; (4) another thief hides, she sees him and says to her
husband that she has hung up the gold in a bag to a tree outside, the 'bag' is
a hornets' nest, and when the thieves go for it they are thoroughly stung; (5)
she slices off each man's nose just as it appears through the window as they
try to get in, except the leader's; (6) they carry her off, bed and all, while
asleep and pass under a banyan tree into which she swings herself, they rest
under it, she then pretends to be a fairy in the tree in love with the leading
thief, he climbs into the tree and she tells him the way to catch a fairy is to
touch her tongue with the tip of his, he puts out his tongue and she bites off
the end, which causes him to fall down on the thieves and they all run away,
she goes home again; (7) by sheer force of argument she wins her suit. Where
published,new. Nature of collection: (1) Original or translation,
original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; (3) Other
particulars, a very common tale all over the Panjâb.
XXXI
Number in collection, 31. Reference to
pages, 230 to 233. Specific name, The Jackal and
Crocodile. Dramatis personæ: Mr. Jackal, Miss Crocodile. Thread
of story, jackal makes love to the crocodile, and induces her to swim him
across a stream to some fruit he wants to eat under promise of marriage, and
back again, when he says he thinks it may be a long time before he can
make arrangements for the marriage, crocodile in revenge watches till he comes
to drink and seizes him by the leg, by a trick he escapes, 1
crocodile then goes to his den, but he makes her show involuntarily where she
is, 2 and so escapes her. Incidental circumstances: (1) she
seizes him by the leg, but he cries out that if she will only get hold of his leg
instead of a root it will be all right, she leaves go in order to do so and he
escapes; (2) he says when he finds her there shamming dead that the dead always
wag their tails and she does so, showing her to be alive. Where published,
new. Nature of collection: (1) Original or translation, original,
collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; (3) Other
particulars, a very common story.
XXXII
Number in collection, 32. Reference to
pages, 234 to 237. Specific name, How
Râjâ Rasâlu was born. Dramatis personæ:
Râjâ Sâlbâhan, Rânî Lonân,
Pûran Bhagat, Gurû Gorakhnâth. Thread of story, king
has two wives, has a son by the elder with whom the younger falls in love and
accuses to the father from jealousy, 1 he cuts off his hands and
feet and throws him down a well, a saint sees him and restores his hands and
feet to him and rescues him, the prince turns saint and visits his old home 2
he restores his mother's sight, 3 and procures a son for his
stepmother, 4 who is to be Râjâ Rasâlu, a great
man, but who will desert his mother. 5 Incidental circumstances:
(1) she accuses him of attempt at rape; (2) finds the garden where he was
brought up neglected, makes it green again by sprinkling water over it; (3) she
had gone blind weeping for him; (4) by giving her a grain of rice to eat; (5)
the father is told that he must not see the child's face for twelve years, so
the hero is shut up with a colt born at the same hour as himself in a cellar. Where
published, Legends of the Panjâb, vol. i. p. 1. Nature of
collection: (1) Original or translation, translation by R. C.
Temple; (2) Narrator's name, not given; a village accountant from
Râwal Pindî; (3) Other particulars, translated from original
MSS. in possession of Mr. J. G. Delmerick.
XXXIII
Number in collection, 33. Reference to
pages, 238 to 241. Specific name, How
Râjâ Rasâlu went out into the world. Dramatis
personæ: Râjâ Rasâlu, Râjâ
Sâlbâhan. Thread of story, at eleven years old hero leaves
his home, 1 meets some women drawing water at a well, breaks all
their pitchers, 2 they complain to king, who is afraid to see him,
as twelve years have not expired, so he gives the women iron pitchers, hero
breaks these, 3 still king will not send for him, so he goes to see
him, but king turns his back on him, so hero goes to seek fortune. 4
Incidental circumstances:(1) On his favourite horse; (2) by throwing
stones; (3) by shooting them with arrows; (4) but he first gets his mother's
blessing. Where published, Legends of the Panjâb, vol. i. p. 4. Nature
of collection: (1) Original or translation, translated by R. C.
Temple; (2) Narrator's name, not given; a village accountant from
Râwal Pindî; (3) Other particulars, translated from the
original MSS. in possession of Mr. J. G. Delmerick.
XXXIV
Number in collection, 34. Reference to
pages, 242 to 244. Specific name, How
Râjâ Rasâlu's friends forsook him. Dramatis
personæ: Râjâ Rasâlu, carpenter, goldsmith. Thread
of story, hero starts with two friends to seek fortune, first night he and
his friends keep watch, friends kill serpents, hero kills a horror which so
frightened the friends that they turn back, hero goes on alone. Incidental
circumstances: (1) They are a goldsmith and a carpenter. Where published,
Legends of the Panjâb, vol. i. p. 8. Nature of collection: (1) Original
or translation, translated by R. C. Temple; (2) Narrator's name, not
given; a village accountant from Râwal Pindî; (3) Other
particulars, translated from original MSS. in possession of Mr. J. G.
Delmerick.
XXXV
Number in collection, 35. Reference to
pages, 245 to 249. Specific name, How
Râjâ Rasâlu killed the Giants. Dramatis personæ:
Râjâ Rasâlu, old woman, giants, giantess. Thread of story,
hero comes to a city, finds an old woman,1 whose last son is to be
given up to the giants,2 offers himself in his place,3
goes off to the giants,4 proves himself to be the expected hero,5
kills them all except one giantess whom he imprisons in a cave for ever.6
Incidental circumstances: (1) she is baking and sometimes laughing and
sometimes crying; (2) she explains that a giant takes one inhabitant, a
buffalo, and a loaf a day, six of her sons have gone, the seventh's turn has
come; (3) the city officials try to prevent him; (4) meets one on the road and
cuts off his hand, he runs off and tells the others; (5) proofs, his heel ropes
bind the giants and his sword cuts them into pieces of their own accord, his
arrow pierces seven iron plates and the seven last giants placed one behind the
other; (6) she flies to a cave, and he places a figure of himself in full
armour mounted at the door, which always frightens her back when she tries to
come out. Where published, Legends of the Panjâb, vol. i. p. 17. Nature
of collection: (1) Original or translation, translated by R. C.
Temple; (2) Narrator's name, not given; a village accountant from
Râwal Pindî; (3) Other particulars, translated from original
MSS. in possession of Mr. J. G. Delmerick.
XXXVI
Number in collection, 36. Reference to
pages, 250 to 254. Specific name, How
Râjâ Rasâlu become a jôgi. Dramatis
personæ: Râjâ Rasâlu, Rânî
Sundrân, jôgi. Thread of story, hero finds an old jôgi
sitting outside a Rani's gate trying to see her,1 becomes his
disciple, sees her,2 tells her who he is, she falls in love with
him, he runs away,3 she goes to jôgi to inquire, he
tells her he has eaten the hero,4 so she burns herself to death. Incidental
circumstances: (1) he has been there twenty-two years; (2) she sends maids
out first, but they faint at his beauty, so she goes to see him herself; (3)
for fear he should be found out and killed now that he has told his name; (4)
out of revenge for her showing herself to hero, though she would never see him.
Where published, Legends of the Panjâb, vol. i. p. 31. Nature
of collection: (1) Original or translation, translated by R. C.
Temple; (2) Narrator's name, not given; a village accountant from
Râwal Pindî; (3) Other particulars, translated from original
MSS. in possession of Mr. J. G. Delmerick.
XXXVII
Number in collection, 37. Reference to
pages, 255 to 256. Specific name, How
Râjâ Rasâlu journeyed to the City of King Sarkap. Dramatis
personæ: Râjâ Rasâlu, headless corpse. Thread of
story, hero finds a headless corpse whom he resuscitates, 1
tells him he is going to play the king at dice, corpse tells him his own story,2
and shows him how to circumvent the king.3 Incidental
circumstances: (1) by merely praying to God, (2) he was the king's brother,
king killed a man every day before breakfast, got no convenient victim one day
so he killed his brother, (3) he is to make his dice from the bones in the
graveyard where he finds the corpse. Where published, Legends of the
Panjâb, vol. i. p.39. Nature of collection: (1) Original or
translation, translated by R. C. Temple; (2) Narrator's name, not
given; a village accountant from Râwal Pindî; (3) Other
particulars, translated from original MSS. in possession of Mr. J. G.
Delmerick.
XXXVIII
Number in collection, 38. Reference to
pages, 257 to 261. Specific name, How
Râjâ Rasâlu swung the Seventy Fair Maidens, Daughters of the
King. Dramatis personæ: Râjâ Rasâlu,
cricket, seventy maidens, Râjâ Sarkap. Thread of story, hero
is proceeding to play dice with the king, meets a cricket burning in a forest
fire, saves it, it gives him a hair 1 which he is to burn when he is
in trouble, meets the king's seventy daughters, the youngest falls in love with
him, the others demand impossible tasks of him before he can marry her,
crickets help him;2 next task to swing them all, he swings them all
in one swing and cuts the ropes and all are killed or hurt except his bride,
who runs off to tell her father, meanwhile hero announces his arrival, 3
king tries to poison him, but hero saves himself. 4 Incidental
circumstances: (1) one of its feelers, (2) he is to separate a
hundredweight of millet seed from a hundredweight of sand, he burns the feeler
and crickets come to perform the task; (3) by beating and breaking seventy
gongs for announcing visitors; (4) he gives the food to dogs that die. Where
published, Legends of the Panjâb, vol. i. p. 43. Nature of
collection: (1) Original or translation, translated by R. C. Temple;
(2) Narrator's name, not given; a village accountant from Râwal
Pindî; (3) Other particulars, translated from original MSS. in
possession of Mr. J. G. Delmerick.
XXXIX
Number in collection, 39. Reference to
pages, 262 to 266. Specific name, How
Râjâ Rasâlu played chaupur with Râjâ
Sarkap. Dramatis personæ: Râjâ Rasâlu, cat,
kitten, Râjâ Sarkap. Thread of story, hero on his way to
play dice with the king, meets a cat whose kittens he saves,1 she
gives him one in gratitude to help him in difficulties, hero goes on and plays
his enemy, 2 loses the first two games, 3 but kitten
befriends him, 4 and he wins his enemy's head, 5 and that
moment his enemy has a daughter born whom he wishes to kill, as she was born in
an unlucky time, hero saves the child who is given to him to be his wife when
she grows old enough, 6 he carries off and finally marries her. Incidental
circumstances: (1) the kittens are in an unburnt pot in a kiln about to be
fired, hero buys up the kiln as it stands and saves them (2) stakes are–hero:
first game his arms, second his horse, third his head; enemy: first game his
kingdom, second his wealth, third his head; (3) enemy employs a rat, Dhol
Râjâ , to upset hero's pieces so that enemy always wins; (4) horse
sees this and warns hero who lets loose his kitten, kitten watches over rat's
hole; (5) hero remembers the corpse's advice and changes dice with enemy and so
wins; (6) the child is given him with a mango branch and he is to marry the
girl when the mango tree blossoms, i.e. in 12 years; he meets some
prisoners who ask him to release them and he makes his enemy do so before he
finally goes away. Where published, Legends of the Panjâb, vol. i.
p. 47. Nature of collection: (1) Original or translation,
translated by R. C. Temple; (2) Narrator's name, not given; a village
accountant from Râwal Pindî; (3) Other particulars,
translated from original MSS. in possession of Mr. J. G. Delmerick.
XL
Number in collection, 40. Reference to
pages, 267 to 274. Specific name, The King who
was fried. Dramatis personæ: Râjâ Karan, faqîr,
swans, Râjâ Bikramâjît. Thread of story, king
gives away a hundredweight of gold every day in charity before his breakfast,
procures this supply by allowing himself to be fried and eaten by a faqîr
daily and restored to life, 1 some swans go to the hero's garden,2
he feeds them on pearls, when the pearls fail swans fly home again singing his
praises, king hears them and imprisons them, 3 female swan escapes back
to hero, 4 tells him what has happened, hero comes to king as his
servant, finds out the secret, 5 and gets himself fried, eaten, and
restored, and gets hold of the gold-producing garment, 6 king goes
to faqîr, but it is of no use, as faqîr will not eat
him, having had his meal, king's supply of gold fails, and so he commences to
starve himself to death, but hero eventually gives him gold and saves him. 7
Incidental circumstances: (1) as a reward for this the faqîr
shakes the gold required daily out of his ragged old coat, the restoration to
life is by merely collecting the bones and repeating charms over them; (2) the
swans live at Mansarobar Lake and feed only on unpierced pearls, a famine of
pearls drives them away for food; (3) for singing another man's praises; (4)
she refuses to eat even pearls, because the king has done so wicked a thing as
to imprison a female, so he lets her go; (5) by dogging the king's footsteps
and seeing what he does; (6) he rubs himself all over with spices and the faqîr
is so pleased with the meal that he hands him over the gold-producing coat to
keep, he supplants the king by going before the appointed time to be cooked;
(7) by giving up the coat on condition that the swans are released. Where
published, Calcutta Review, No. cl. p. 270 ff. Nature of collection:
(1) Original or translation, original, collected by R. C. Temple; (2) Narrator's
name, not given; a Brâhman who performed at the shrine commemorating
the events narrated in the tale; (3) Other particulars, told as having
occurred at the hill temple on the top of Pindî Point at Murree.
XLI
Number in collection, 41. Reference to
pages, 275 to 283. Specific name, Prince
Half-a-son. Dramatis personæ: faqîr, hero, his
brothers, princess. Thread of story, faqîr grants hero's
father seven sons, but the youngest (hero) is only half-a-boy, 1
goes shooting with his brothers, is bullied by them, they come to a melon field
into which only hero can get, 2 so he pays them out, 3
they peach on him and he is imprisoned but releases himself, 4 so
with some fruit on a plum tree into which hero only can climb, 5
eventually they push him into a well, there he finds means for making himself
wealthy by curing princess of possession by a devil, 6 he does so and
marries her, 7 proves himself to be a prince, 8 the
brothers go into the well and are all killed.9 Incidental
circumstances: (1) his attention is attracted to the father by his lying on
a dirty bed, he gives each wife a mango to eat, the youngest wife's is half
eaten by a rat, so she has only half-a-boy; (2) only half-a-boy could get
through the thorn hedge round it; (3) so he gorges the melons and throws the
brothers the unripe and sour ones; (4) hero has the miraculous power of making
a rope do as he pleases, so when he is tied up he tells the rope to untie
itself; (5) only hero is light enough to climb into the tree and get the plums;
(6) in the well are a demon, a pigeon, a serpent, hero overhears their
conversation, pigeon's dung will cure the princess of possession by the demon,
and the serpent sits over vast wealth, a camel driver comes to draw water,
whereon hero tells the rope to draw him out of the well; (7) hero proclaims
himself a physician and cures the princess with the pigeon's dung; (8) his
brothers traduce him, but he gets the serpent's wealth and proves himself a
prince; (9) pigeon discovers that her dung has been disturbed, so she and the
serpent and the demon look for the thieves, finding the brothers the demon
kills them. Where published, Indian Antiquary, vol. x. p 151 ff. Nature
of collection: (1) Original or translation, original, collected by
R. C. Temple; (2) Narrator's name, not given; a boy at
Firôzpûr; (3) Other particulars, nil.
XLII
Number in collection, 42. Reference to pages,
284 to 288. Specific name, The Mother and Daughter
who worshipped the Sun. Dramatis personæ: heroine's mother,
heroine, hero, the sun. Thread of story, heroine and her mother worship 1
the sun and lay aside everything for it except their own food, a meal cake
each, heroine has eaten cake and gives half her mother's to a passing beggar,
on which her mother turns her adrift, she wanders in the jungle and meets hero,
a prince hunting in the jungle, 2 he marries her, her mother comes
to visit her, 3 which makes hero determined to visit her home, he
does so and finds it a magnificent palace, but on leaving it he finds it only a
hovel, so he accuses his wife of being a witch, but is pacified on its being
explained that the sun did it all. 4 Incidental circumstances:
(1) they are very poor people living in a hovel; (2) she has climbed into a
tree for safety, and her tears drop on to his face as he sleeps; (3) heroine is
very much afraid of this owing to her lowly birth and appearance, while the
mother is there hero comes up, on which she is instantly turned into a golden
stool, and seeing this makes hero determined to visit heroine's home. Where
published,new. Nature of collection: (1) Original or translation,
original, collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; a
Jatt boy in Ridhânâ, Gohânâ tahsîl, Rohtak
district; (3) Other particulars, common everywhere in the Panjâb
in many versions.
XLIII
Number in collection, 43. Reference to
pages, 289 to 297. Specific name, The Ruby Prince.
Dramatis personæ: Brâhman, king, queen, hero, ogre,
princess, dancing girl. Thread of story, a Brâhman finds a ruby
and takes it to a merchant, who tells him it is valuable, so Brâhman
takes it to the king, who gives him a lakh of rupees for it, and gives it to
his wife to take care of, wife locks it up in a box, in twelve years the box is
opened, and the ruby, being a snake-stone, has turned into hero, king turns him
out and hero saves city from ravages of the ogre infesting it, 1 so
he marries the king's daughter, but her curiosity sends him into snake-land
again, 2 and there he remains until a dancing-girl sees him, 3
princess then recovers him with dancing-girl's help.4 Incidental
circumstances: (1) he meets an old woman, whose son is to be given up to
the ogre that day, offers himself in his place and kills the ogre; (2) she is
piqued by not knowing who her husband is, and insists on her telling him who he
is, on the third time she repeats the question he vanishes into the river into
the power of a jewelled-hooded serpent; (3) she sees the snake-king and his
suite including hero come out of the snake's hole and hold festival, hero has
to dance to the king; (4) princess learns how to dance, and when it comes to
the hero's turn he is too ill to do so, so she dances for him, and in reward
demands 'the man she danced for,' and carries him off. Where published,
new. Nature of collection: (1) Original or translation, original,
collected by F. A. Steel: (2) Narrator's name, not given; a Jatt boy of
Dobuldan in Rhotak district; (3) Other particulars, current in different
forms.