îñ"ò îøëæ ñéôåøé òí åôåì÷ìåø |
C. F. F |
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ONCE
upon a time there was a King who had no children, and this disappointment
preyed so dreadfully upon his mind that he chose the dirtiest and most broken-down old bed[2] he could find, and lay
down on it in the beautiful palace gardens. There he lay, amid the flowers and
the fruit trees, the butterflies and the birds, quite regardless of the
beauties around him;–that was his way of showing grief.
Now,
as he lay thus, a holy faqîr passed through the garden, and seeing
the King in this pitiful plight, asked him what the sorrow was which drove him
to such a very dirty old bed.
'What
is the use of asking?' returned the King; but when the faqîr asked
for the third time what the sorrow was, the King took heart of grace, and
answered gloomily, 'I have no children.'
'Is
that all?' said the faqîr; 'that is easily remedied. Here! take
this stick of mine, and throw it twice into yonder mango tree. At the first
throw five mangoes will fall, at the second two. So many sons you shall have,
if you give each of your seven Queens a mango apiece.'
Then
the King, greatly delighted, took the faqîr's stick and went off
to the mango tree. Sure enough, at the first throw five mangoes fell, at the
second, two. Still the King was not satisfied, and, determining to make the
most of the opportunity, he threw the stick into the tree a third time, hoping
to get more children. But, to his surprise and consternation, the stick
remained in the tree, and the seven fallen mangoes flew back to their places,
where they hung temptingly just out of reach.
There
was nothing to be done but to go back to the faqîr, and tell him
what had happened.
'That
comes of being greedy!' retorted the faqîr; 'surely seven sons are
enough for anybody, and yet you were not content! However, I will give you one
more chance. Go back to the tree; you will find the stick upon the ground;
throw it as I bade you, and beware of disobedience, for if you do not heed me
this time, you may lie on your dirty old bed till doomsday for all I care.'
Then
the King returned to the mango tree, and when the seven mangoes had fallen–the
first time five, the second time two–he carried them straight into the palace,
and gave them to his Queens, so as to be out of the way of temptation.
Now,
as luck would have it, the youngest Queen was not in the house, so the King put
her mango away in a tiny cupboard in the wall, against her return, and while it
lay there a greedy little mouse came and nibbled away one half of it. Shortly
afterwards, the seventh Queen came in, and seeing the other Queens just wiping
their mouths, asked them what they had been eating.
'The
King gave us each a mango,' they replied, 'and he put yours in the cupboard
yonder.'
But,
lo! when the youngest Queen ran in haste to find her mango, half of it was
gone; nevertheless she ate the remaining half with great relish.
Now
the result of this was, that when, some months afterwards, the six elder Queens
each bore a son, the youngest Queen had only half-a-son–and that was what they
called him at once,–just half-a-son, nothing more: he had one eye, one ear, one
arm, one leg; in fact, looked at sideways, he was as handsome a young prince as
you would wish to see, but frontways it was as plain as a pikestaff that he was
only half-a-prince. Still he throve and grew strong, so that when his brothers
went out shooting he begged to be allowed to go out also.
'How
can you go a-shooting?' wept his mother, who did nothing but fret
because her son was but half-a-son; 'you are only half-a-boy; how can you hold
your crossbow?'
'Then
let me go and play at shooting,' replied the prince, nothing daunted. 'Only
give me some sweets to take with me, dear mother, as the other boys have, and I
shall get on well enough.'
'How
can I make sweets for half-a-son?' wept his mother; 'go and ask the other
Queens to give you some.'
So
he asked the other Queens, and they, to make fun of the poor lad, who was the
butt of the palace, gave him sweets full of ashes.
Then
the six whole princes, and little Half-a-son, set off a-shooting, and when they
grew tired and hungry, they sat down to eat the sweets they had brought with
them. Now when Prince Half-a-son put his into his half-a-mouth, lo and behold!
though they were sweet enough outside, there was nothing but ashes and grit
inside. He was a simple-hearted young prince, and imagining it must be a
mistake, he went to his brothers and asked for some of theirs; but they jeered and
laughed at him.
By
and by they came to a field of melons, so carefully fenced in with thorns that
only one tiny gap remained in one corner, and that was too small for any one to
creep through, except half-a-boy; so while the six whole princes remained
outside, little Half-a-son was feasting on the delicious melons inside, and
though they begged and prayed him to throw a few over the hedge, he only
laughed, saying, 'Remember the sweets!–it is my turn now!'
When
they became very importunate, he threw over a few of the unripe and sour
melons; whereupon his brothers became so enraged that they ran to the owner of
the field and told him that half-a-boy was making sad havoc amongst his fruit.
Then they watched him catch poor Prince Half-a-son, who of course could not run
very fast, and tie him to a tree, after which they went away laughing.
But
Prince Half-a-son had some compensation for being only half-a-boy, in that he
possessed the magical power of making a rope do anything he bade it.Therefore,
when he saw his brothers leaving him in the lurch, he called out, 'Break, rope,
break! my companions have gone on,' and the rope obeyed at once, leaving him
free to join his brothers.
By
and by they came to a plum tree, where the fruit grew far out on slender
branches that would only bear the weight of half-a-boy.
'Throw
us down some!' cried the whole brothers, as they saw Half-a-son with his
half-mouth full.
'Remember
the sweets!' retorted the prince.
This
made his brothers so angry that they ran off to the owner of the tree, and
telling him how half-a-boy was feasting on his plums, watched while he caught
the offender and tied him to the tree. Then they ran away laughing; but Prince
Half-a-son called out, 'Break, rope, break! my companions have gone on,' and
before they had gone out of sight he rejoined his brothers, who could not
understand how this miserable half-a-boy outwitted them.
Being
determined to be revenged on him, they waited until he began to draw water from
a well, where they stopped to drink, and then they pushed him in.
'That
is an end of little Half-a-son!' they said to themselves, and ran away
laughing.
Now
in the well there lived a one-eyed demon, a pigeon, and a serpent, and when it
was dark these three returned home and began to talk amongst themselves, while
Prince Half-a-son, who clung to the wall like a limpet, and took up no room at
all, listened and held his breath.
'What
is your power, my friend?' asked the demon of the serpent. Whereupon the serpent
replied, 'I have the treasures of seven kings underneath me! What is yours, my
friend?'
Then
the demon said conceitedly, 'The King's daughter is possessed of me. She is
always ill; some day I shall kill her.'
'Ah!'
said the pigeon, 'I could cure her, for no matter what the disease is, any one
who eats my droppings will become well instantly.'
When
dawn came, the demon, the serpent, and the pigeon each went off to his own
haunt without noticing Prince Half-a-son.
Soon
afterwards, a camel-driver came to draw water from the well, and let down the
bucket; whereupon Prince Half-a-son caught hold of the rope and held on.
The
camel-driver, feeling a heavy weight, looked down to see what it was, and when
he beheld half-a-boy clinging to the rope he was so frightened that he ran
clean away. But all Half-a-son had to do was to say, 'Pull, rope, pull!' and
the rope wound itself up immediately.
No
sooner had he reached the surface once more than he set off to the neighbouring
city, and proclaimed that he was a physician come to heal the King's daughter
of her dreadful disease.
'Have
a care! have a care!' cried the watchmen at the gate. 'If you fail, your head
will be the forfeit. Many men have tried, and what can you do that are but
half-a-man?'
Nevertheless,
Prince Half-a-son, who had some of the pigeon's droppings in his pocket, was
not in the least afraid, but boldly proclaimed he was ready to accept the
terms; that is to say, if he failed to cure the princess his head was to be cut
off, but if he succeeded, then her hand in marriage and half the kingdom should
be his reward.
'Half
the kingdom will just suit me,' he said, 'seeing that I am but half-a-man!'
And,
sure enough, no sooner had the princess taken her first dose, than she
immediately became quite well–her cheeks grew rosy, her eyes bright and the
King was so delighted that he gave immediate orders for the marriage. Now
amongst the wedding guests were Prince Half-a-son's wicked brothers, who were
ready to die of spite and envy when they discovered that the happy bridegroom
was none other than their despised half-a-boy. So they went to the King, and
said, 'We know this lad: he is a sweeper's son, and quite unfit to be the
husband of so charming a princess!'
The
king at first believed this wicked story, and ordered the poor prince to be
turned out of the kingdom; but Half-a-son asked for a train of mules, and one
day's respite, in order to prove who and what he was. Then he went to the well,
dug up the treasures of seven kings during the serpent's absence, loaded the
mules, and came back glittering with gold and jewels. He laid the treasures at
the King's feet, and told the whole story,–how, through no fault of his own, he
was only half-a-son, and how unkindly his brothers had behaved to him.
Then
the marriage festivities went on, and the wicked brothers crept away in
disgrace.
They
went to the well, full of envy and covetousness. 'Half-a-son got rich by
falling in,' they said; 'let us try if we too cannot find some treasure.' So
they threw themselves into the well.
As
soon as it was dark, the demon, the serpent, and the pigeon came home together.
'Some thief has been here!' cried the pigeon, 'for my droppings are gone! Let
us feel round, and see if he is here still.'
So
they felt round, and when they came upon the six brothers, the demon ate them
up one after another.
So that was an end of
them, and Prince Half-a-son had the best of it, in spite of his only being
half-a-boy.
[1] Adhiâ in the original form; âdhâ,
a half. The natives, however, give the tale the title of 'Sat Bachiân
diân Mâwân,' i.e. the Mothers of Seven Sons.
[2] This, with scratching the ground with the
fore-finger, is a recognised form of expressing grief in the Panjâb. The
object is to attract faqîrs to help the sufferer.