VILLAGE FOLK-TALES OF CEYLON
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
ANCIENT CEYLON, 1909. 680 pages, 25s. net.
VILLAGE FOLK-TALES OF CEYLON. Vol. I., 1910. 396 pages. 12s. net.
VILLAGE FOLK-TALES OF CEYLON. Vol. III., 1914. 12s. net.
London
LUZAC AND CO.
VILLAGE FOLK-TALES OF CEYLON
Vol. II
Collected and Translated by
H. PARKER
Late of the Irrigation Department, Ceylon
LONDON
LUZAC & CO.
Publishers to the India Office
1914
[All Rights Reserved]
CONTENTS
STORIES OF THE CULTIVATING CASTE
See Additional Notes and Corrections in the Appendix, Vol. III.
STORIES OF THE CULTIVATING CASTE
No. 76
A Legend of Kandy[1]
At a certain place in Lan̥kāwa (Ceylon), there was an extensive forest. In that forest there were elephants, bears, leopards, wan̆durās,[2] and many other jungle animals.
At any time whatever, at the time when any animal springs for seizing an animal that is its prey, it comes running near a rock that is in an open place in the forest. Having arrived near the rock, the animal that ran through fear goes bounding back after the animal that is chasing it. Regarding that rock, it was the custom that it was [known as] “The Rock of the Part where there is Tranquillity” (Sen̥-kaḍa-gala[3]).
One day a Basket-mender for the purpose of cutting bamboos went into this forest. While he was cutting bamboos a certain jackal went driving a hare on the path. At the time when the hare arrived near this rock the jackal began to run back, and the hare ran behind it.
The Basket-mender, having been looking at this, examined the place, and having gone near the King who was ruling at that time, told him of this circumstance. And the King, having thought that it is a good victorious ground, went there, and having built a city makes it his capital (rāja-dhāniya). For that city he made the name Sen̥kaḍagala [Nuwara—that is, Kandy].
[1] The Sinhalese title is, “The Jackal and the Basket-mender,”—at least this is what I take to be the meaning of Kulupottā, a word I do not know, deriving pottā from the Tamil pottu, to mend; compare Kuḷuyara, a basket-maker. [↑]
[2] A large monkey of two species (Semnopithecus). [↑]
[3] Deriving Seṇ from sema. Kandy appears to have been founded at the beginning of the fourteenth century (Ancient Ceylon, p. 354, note). [↑]
No. 77
The Gamarāla’s Daughter
In a certain country there were a Gamarāla and a daughter of the Gamarāla’s, it is said. Well then, for the Gamarāla they brought a Gama-mahagē.[1] The Gama-mahagē’s daughter and that Gamarāla’s daughter stayed in one place. The Gamarāla and the Gama-mahagē cook and eat separately; the Gamarāla’s daughter and the Gama-mahagē’s daughter cook and eat separately.
A King comes every day to the house in which are the two girls. Afterwards, the Gama-mahagē’s daughter, having quarrelled with the Gamarāla’s daughter, went to the Gama-mahagē and told tales: “A King comes every day to the house we are in.”
Then the woman said, “Daughter, you go to that house to-day [and watch if he comes].” Having said “Hā” (Yes), that girl went.
Afterwards the girl came to the house in which was the Mahagē. After having come, she said, “Mother, to-day also the King came.”
Then that girl’s mother, having cut her finger-nails[2] and given them into the hand of the girl, said, “Daughter, take these and place them upon the beam of the threshold.” The girl, having taken them and placed them on the beam of the threshold, came to the Mahagē’s house.
On the following day the girl did not go to the house of the Gamarāla’s daughter. That day, also, came the King. After he came he placed his foot on the beam of the threshold; then the finger-nails pricked him. Immediately the King went to the city on the back of the tusk elephant.
On the following day, when that [Gamarāla’s] girl was weeping and weeping under a tree because he did not come, while some crows were swallowing and swallowing the fruits of the trees a crow said, “Andō! What is that Gamarāla’s daughter crying for?” The other crow said, “What is it to thee! Do thou in silence quickly swallow two or three fruits off that.”
Afterwards, it having become night, part of the crows went to the nests; two still remained over in the tree. One of them said, “Anē! What is that Gamarāla’s daughter crying for?” The other crow said, “What is it to thee! Do thou in silence swallow the fruits off that. All the crows went away; mustn’t we also go? It has become night.”
Then the Gamarāla’s daughter laments, “A light was falling and falling [into my life]; it is not there now.”
The crow said, “Being without a light, what art thou lamenting for?”
The girl said, “A King was coming and coming to our house. Our stepmother having placed some finger-nails on the threshold, they pricked the King’s foot, and having gone to the city he does not come now. On account of that I am lamenting.”
Then the crow said, “What are you lamenting for on that account! Having shot (with bow and arrow) a crow that is flying [in the air] above, and extracted its fat, should you take it to the city in which the King is, when you have rubbed it on the wound in the foot it will heal.”
Afterwards the girl, having shot a crow that was flying above, and extracted its fat, and tied up a packet of it, and dressed in men’s clothes, went to the city, taking the fat.
The girl, having gone to the city, and gone to the palace in which is the King, said, “What will He give me to cure His foot?”[3]
The King replied, “I will give a gold ring.”
Then the girl rubbed the oil [on the wound], and after she drew out the finger-nail the foot became well. After that the King gave the girl the gold ring. The girl, taking it, came home.
The King, taking a sword, on the following day came on the back of the tusk elephant to the house in which is the girl. The girl was asleep. Then the King descended from the tusk elephant, and taking the sword went to the place where the girl was. “Get up, thou,” he said. The girl arose. Then the King prepared to cut her neck.
The girl, having made obeisance, said, “Don’t cut me with the sword; it was I who cured His foot.”
“How didst thou cure it?” he said.
“I went to the city in which He was, and having rubbed fat [on the wound] and drawn out the finger-nail, came back,” the girl said.
Then the King said, “How didst thou go to my palace?”
The girl replied, “I went in men’s clothes, and having rubbed oil on the foot and drawn out the finger-nail, I came back.”
“If thou drewest it out, where is now the gold ring I gave thee?” he said.
Then the girl, saying, “Here is the gold ring He gave me,” showed it to the King.
After that, placing the girl on the back of the tusk elephant, he went to the palace in the city.
North-western Province.
Regarding the poisonous nature of the finger-nails, see vol. i, pp. 124 and 128.
In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 199, a Princess in the disguise of a Yōgī cured a Prince who had married her, and who had been poisoned by means of powdered glass laid on his bed. She applied earth from the foot of a tree, mixed with cold water, and rubbed this over him for three days and nights. When the Prince wished to reward her, she asked for a ring and handkerchief that she gave him on their wedding day. She afterwards informed him that it was she who had cured him, but he would not believe her until she produced these articles.
[1] The title of a Gamarāla’s wife. [↑]
[2] In Sinhalese this expression includes the toe-nails, the toes being termed “fingers of the foot.” [↑]
[3] This query is addressed to the King himself, it being more respectful to use the third person than the second. In the story numbered 106 a Princess addresses a Prince in the third person, and there are several other examples. Compare the first couplet of the conversation of the King and goose in the Jātaka story No. 502 (vol. iv, p. 266). In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. iv, p. 121) a Wazīr employs the third person while speaking to his sovereign. [↑]
No. 78
The Gamarāla’s Girl
In a certain city there was a King, it is said. The King sends letters into various countries to be explained. When they were sent, no one could explain the things that were in the letters. When he sent the letters, on the following day [the recipients] must come near the King. When they come the King asks the meaning in the letter; no one can tell it. Well then, he beheads the man.
Thus, in that manner he sent letters to seven cities. From the seven cities seven men came to hand over the letters. He beheaded the seven persons.
On the eighth day a letter came to the Gamarāla. There is a girl of the Gamarāla’s. When they brought the letter the girl was not at home; she went to the village to pound paddy. Pounding the paddy and taking the rice, when the girl is coming home the Gamarāla is weeping and weeping.
So the girl asked, “What is it, father, you are crying for?”
Then the Gamarāla says, “Daughter, why shouldn’t I cry? The King who beheaded seven men of seven cities has to-day sent a letter to me also. Now then, the letter which the people of seven cities were unable to explain, how can I explain? Well then, mustn’t I take the letter to-morrow? It is I who must take the letter. When I have gone he will behead me. Well then, owing to your being [left] without anyone, indeed, I am weeping.”
Then the girl said, “Where is it, for me to look at, that letter?” Asking for it, and having explained all the things that were in the letter, she said to the Gamarāla, “Father, having gone to-morrow, to what the King asks say thus and thus.”
The Gamarāla on the following day went and handed over the letter. The King, in the very way in which he asked those seven persons, brought up the Gamarāla, and asked him. The Gamarāla replied in the very way the girl said. Then the King asked the Gamarāla, “Who expounded this?” The Gamarāla said, “There is a daughter of mine; that daughter herself explained it.”
After that, the King said, “To-morrow we are coming for the marriage [to your daughter]. You go now, and having built inner sheds and outer sheds, and milked milk from oxen, and caused it to curdle, and expressed oil from sand, place them [ready]; those [previously] unperformed matters,” he said.
When the Gamarāla is coming home the girl is not at home. Having gone to pound paddy, and having pounded the paddy, when she comes, taking the rice, that day, also, the Gamarāla, weeping and weeping, is digging some holes for posts.
So the girl asked, “What, father, are you crying for to-day also?”
Then the Gamarāla says, “Anē! Daughter, the King is coming to-morrow to summon you in marriage, and return. Owing to it, the King said to me, ‘Having built inner sheds and outer sheds, having milked milk from oxen and caused it to curdle, and having expressed oil from sand, place them [ready].’ Now, then, how shall I do those things? It is through being unable that I am weeping.”
Then the girl says, “Father, no matter for that. Simply stay [here]. Please build the [usual] sorts of inner sheds and outer sheds. How are you to milk milk from oxen and curdle it? How are you to express oil from sand?” Afterwards the Gamarāla indeed built the inner sheds and outer sheds.
On the very day on which the King said he is coming, the girl, with another girl, taking a bundle of cloth, went along the road to meet the King. On the road there is a sesame chena. By the chena they met the King.
When coming very far away, the Ministers said at the hand of the King, “That one coming in front is the Gamarāla’s daughter herself.” The Gamarāla’s daughter, too, did go in front.
Then the King asked at the hand of the Gamarāla’s daughter, “Where, girl, art thou going?”
The Gamarāla’s daughter replied, “We are going [because] our father has become of age [in the same manner as women]. On account of it [we are going] to the washermen.”
The King said, “How, girl, are men [affected like women]?”
Then the girl said, “So, indeed! You, Sir, told our father that having built inner sheds and outer sheds, having milked milk from oxen, and caused it to curdle, and having expressed oil from sand, [he is] to place them [ready]. How can these be [possible]? In that way, indeed, is the becoming of age by males [in the same manner as women].”
Then the King, having become pleased with the girl, asked yet a word. He plucked a sesame flower, and taking it in his hand asked the girl, “Girl, in this sesame flower where is the oil?”
Then the girl asked, “When your mother conceived where were you. Sir?”[1]
Immediately (ē pārama) the King descended from the horse’s back; and placing the Gamarāla’s girl upon the horse, and the King also having got on the horse, they went to the palace. The other girl came alone to that girl’s house.
On the second day, the King having sent the Ministers and told the Gamarāla to come, marrying the girl to the King she remained [there]. The Gamarāla also stayed in that very palace.
[1] In the next story, and in the Story of Madana Kāma Rāja (Naṭēśa Sāstrī), p. 246, are given a Prince’s question regarding sesame, and a smart village girl’s reply. [↑]
No. 79
How Gourds were put in Small-Mouthed Pots
At a certain time a man cut a sesame chena. In the sesame chena the sesame flowers blossomed. There was a female child of the man’s.
The child one day having gone to the sesame chena, while she was there the King came, in order to go near the sesame chena. Thereupon the King asked at the hand of the girl, “Girl, the flower that has blossomed, where did it come from in the plant?”
Then the girl asked at the hand of the King, “Before your mother was married where were you?”
At that time, the King having become angry at the word which the girl said, told the girl’s father to come. After he came he said, “Because your girl said such a wicked word, come [to me after] putting a hundred gourd fruits in a hundred [small-mouthed] copper pots.”
Thereupon, the man being afraid at this word went home, and remained a dead dolt (mandā). Then the girl asked, “Why, father, are you without sense?” Then the man told her the word said by the King.
Having heard it, the girl said, “Father, why are you frightened at that? I will tell you a stratagem for that,” and told him to bring a hundred [small-mouthed] copper pots. After he brought them, she told him to bring a hundred gourd-flower fruits (the small fruit at the base of the flower). After he brought them, she told him to put the hundred gourds into those hundred copper pots, and after he put them in, the girl and the man went to the King, and handed them over.
Having given them, as they were coming away, the King said to the girl, “I will cause thee to be in widowhood.”
Then the girl said, “I will get a dirty cloth [set] on your head.”
The King, after that man and girl went away, came and married her. Having married her, and stayed a little time, in order to make her a widow he went on a journey which delayed him six months.
Having waited until the time when he was going, what does this girl do? Having made up her hair-knot on the top of her head, tying it there, tying on a bosom necklace (mālayak) like the Heṭṭiyās, she went to the sewing-shop. Learning sewing for the whole of the six months, she sewed a good hat, putting a dirty cloth at the bottom [inside it], and above it having fastened [precious] stones; it was at the sewing-shop.
At that time, as that King, the six months having been spent, was coming home through the middle of the street, he saw a costly hat in the shop; and having given a thousand masuran, taking the hat and placing it on his head, he went away.
Having gone, he said to the girl, “I caused thee to be in widowhood, didn’t I? I said so.”
Then the girl said, “On your head you got my dirty cloth, didn’t you? I said so.”
The King said, “You are not old enough[1] to get your dirty cloth on my head.”
Thereupon the girl said, “Break up the hat and look.”
Then when the King broke up the hat and looked the dirty cloth was there. After that, having said, “The two persons are equal to each other,” they remained in much trust [in each other].
North-central Province.
In Indian Night’s Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 315, a girl, the daughter of a smith, whom a Prince wanted to marry, in order to show her cleverness made some large earthenware jars, and without burning them painted and enamelled them, and introduced a small water-melon into each. When the melons had grown so as to fill the jars, she sent two of them to the palace, with a request that the melons should be taken out without breaking the jars or melons. No one being able to do it, she obtained permission to visit the palace, wrapped a wet cloth round each jar until it became soft, expanded the mouths, extracted the melons, and remade the jars as before.
The smart village girl is known in China also. There is an account of one in Chinese Nights’ Entertainment (A. M. Fielde), p. 57, the incidents being unlike those of the Sinhalese tale, however.
In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. iii, p. 202) there is a story of a smart village girl and a King of Persia, Kisrā Anūshirwān, in which the King married the girl.
[1] Lit. “Your age is insufficient.” This is a not unusual form of village repartee. [↑]
No. 80
The Royal Prince and the Carpenter’s Son
In a certain country there were a King and a Queen. In the same city there were a Carpenter and his wife. There was a Prince of the King’s. There was a son of the Carpenter’s.
They sent these two near a teacher to learn letters and sciences. After a number of years, one day, in order to look at this Prince’s learning, the King, having gone near the teacher who teaches the sciences, and made inquiry regarding the Prince’s lessons, [ascertained that] the King’s Prince was not able to [understand] any science; the Carpenter’s son was conversant (nipuna) with all sciences.
Thereupon the King, having become grieved, went to the palace, and said to the Queen, “Thy Prince is a decided miserable fool.[1] Because of it, I must behead the Prince,” the King settled.
Then the Queen said to the Prince, “As you have not got any learning he has settled to behead you. Because of it, leave this city, and go somewhere or other.” Having said [this], and, unknown to the King, tied up and given the Prince a package of cooked rice, and given him a horse and a sword and a thousand masuran, she sent him on his journey.
This Prince and the Carpenter’s son were very great confidential friends. Because of it, the Prince, having said that he must go [after] having spoken to his friend, went near his friend, and said, “Our father, because I am unable to [understand] letters and sciences, has settled to behead me. Because of it, I am going to another country.”
Thereupon the Carpenter’s son said, “If you, Sir, are leaving this city and going away, I also must go to the place where you are going.” Having said [this], the Carpenter’s son set out to go with the Prince.
Then the Prince said, “As for me, blame having fallen on me from the King, I am going; there is no reason at all for you to go.” That word the Carpenter’s son would not hear. Both of them having mounted on the horse, entered the jungle, and began to go away.
At the time when they had gone a number of gawuwas (each of four miles), it became night; and having gone upon a high rock, and eaten the packet of cooked rice that was brought, at the time when the two persons were talking the Prince saw that a great light had fallen somewhat far away. Having said, “Friend, get up and look what is that light,” when that one arose and looked, a great Nāgayā, having ejected a stone, is eating food.
The Prince said, “How is the way to take the stone?”
The Carpenter’s son said, “You go, and, taking the stone, come back running, without having looked back. The Cobra will come running; then I will cut it down.”
The Prince said, “I cannot; you go and bring it.”
Thereafter, the Carpenter’s son having gone, at the time when he was coming back [after] taking the stone, the Cobra came after him, crying and crying out. The Prince, taking [the stone] and having waited, cut it down. Instantly, both of them having mounted on the back of the horse, began to run off.
Having gone very far, after they halted they looked at the stone. On the stone was written, “There is a well in this jungle. When one has held the stone to the well, the water will dry up. Having descended into the well, when one has looked there will be a palace; there will also be a Princess in the palace. If there should be a person who has obtained this stone, it is he himself whom this Princess will marry.” [This] was written upon the stone.
Thereafter, after it became light, these two persons began to seek the well. At the time when they were seeking and looking for it they met with the well. When they held the stone to the well the water dried up. Both of them having descended into the well, when they looked about, they met with the palace also; the Princess, too, was there.
Thereupon the royal Prince said to the Carpenter’s son, “Owing to your good luck we met with this gem-treasure[2] and the Princess. Because of that, let the Princess be for you.”
The Carpenter’s son said to the Prince, “You, Sir, are a great fool. You are my royal Prince; it is not right to say this word to me.”
Thereafter, having married the Princess to the Prince, and united the two persons, and set that Nāga gem in a ring, and put it on the Prince’s finger, he said, “On the Princess’s asking for this ring on any day whatever,[3] don’t give it. Women are never to be trusted.” Having taught the Prince [this], having said, “In any difficulty whatever, remember me,” the Carpenter’s son, plunging into the water, came to the surface of the ground, and went [back] to their city.
While this Prince and Princess were [there], one day she begged and got the ring that was on the Prince’s hand, in order to look at it. When she begged and looked at it, this Princess saw that these matters were written in Nāgara letters.
On the following day, begging the ring from the Prince, and having gone noiselessly, when she held it out to the well the water dried up. Thereupon, the Princess, having mounted upon the well mouth, and stayed looking about, came again to the palace. In that manner, several times begging for the ring she stayed on the well mouth, and came back.
One day, at the time when the Vaeddā who goes hunting for the King of that city was going walking [in the forest], the Vaeddā, having heard that this Princess sitting on the mouth of the well is singing, went and peeped, and remained looking at her. Thereafter he went and told the King of that city, “In such and such a jungle there is a well. Sitting on the well mouth, a Princess was singing and singing songs. Having stayed there, she jumped into the well. When I went and looked there is only water. The beauty of her figure is indeed like the sun and moon. In this city there is not a woman of that kind.”
Thereupon the King having become much pleased, on the following day the Vaeddā, and the King, and the Minister, the whole three persons, went to look at the Princess. Having gone, at the time when they were hidden the Princess came that day also, and sitting on the well-mouth sang songs. Thereupon the King, taking the sword, went running to seize the Princess. As soon as the Princess saw them she jumped into the well. The King having gone near the well, when he looked there is only water. The Princess was not to be seen.
Thereafter, the King, having been astonished, came to the city. Having come, he gave public notice by beat of tom-toms that if there should be a person who brought and gave him the Princess who is in the well in such and such a jungle, he will give him goods [amounting] to a tusk-elephant’s load, and a half share from the kingdom. [This] he made public by the notification tom-toms.
At the time when they were going in the street beating the notification tom-toms, a widow woman stopped the notification tom-toms, and asked, “What is it?”
The notification tom-tom beater said, “The King said that to a person who brought and gave him the Princess who is in the well in such and such a jungle, he will give these goods, and a share from the kingdom.”
Thereupon the widow woman said [to the King], “I can.[4] Having constructed a watch-hut near the well in that jungle, you must give it to me,” she said. The King very speedily sent men, and built a watch-hut, and gave it.
This old woman went [there], and at the time when she was in the watch-hut, the Princess came, and sitting down upon the well mouth, sang songs.
Thereupon the widow woman, drawing together the folds of her rags, breaking [loose] her hair and letting it hang down, placing her hand to her head, weeping and weeping, crying and crying out, came to the place where the Princess is.
The Princess asked, “What, mother, are you weeping and weeping for?”
“Anē! Daughter, there is a male child of mine. The child does not give me to eat, and does not give me to wear. Having beaten me he drove me away, to go to any place I like.”
Then the Princess said, “I will give you to eat and to wear. There is not anyone with me.” Calling this old woman she went to her palace. The Prince also having become pleased, amply provided for the old woman.
Very many times calling this old woman, [the Princess] having gone to the well-mouth, and stayed [there] singing songs, returned.
One day this old woman, taking a piece of stone in her hand, unknown (himin) to the Princess, asked at the hand of the Princess, “Anē! Daughter, how does the water dry up in this well? How does it fill?”
The Princess said, “Mother, there is a stone in my hand. By its power the water dries up, and fills it.”
[Saying], “Anē! Daughter, where is it? Please let me, too, look at it,” she begged for and got the stone. Having been looking and looking at it a little time, she dropped that piece of stone which was in her hand, for the Princess to hear. This gem-treasure the woman hid.
[The Princess] having said, “Appoyi! Mother, you dropped the stone!” the two persons, striking and striking themselves, began to cry, saying and saying, “For us, in the midst of this forest, from whom will there be a protection from everything (saw-saranak)?”
At the time when they were weeping and weeping, having said, “It is becoming night,” the old woman said to the Princess, “Now then, daughter, for us two to remain thus, a fine place (hari taenak) is this forest wilderness! There will be elephants, bears, leopards. Because of that, let us go. There is my house; having gone [there], early to-morrow morning let us come again here.” Having said [this], deceiving the Princess, they went away.
The old woman with dishonest secrecy having sent word to the King, the King came, and calling the Princess went [with her] to the palace.
Thereafter, the King published by beat of tom-toms that he has brought the Princess who stayed on the well mouth. He made public that on such and such a day he will marry this Princess.
Thereupon the Princess said, “In that manner I cannot contract marriage. My two parents have told me that the Prince [I am to marry] and I, both of us, having rowed a Wooden Peacock machine[5] in the sky, and having come back, after that must contract marriage, they have ordered.” This word the Princess said as the Princess knows that the first friend of the Prince’s, that is, the Carpenter’s son, can construct the Wooden Peacock machine.
Thereafter, the King of this city employed the notification tom-tom, “Who can construct the Wooden Peacock machine? If there should be a person who can, speedily come summoning him near the King.”
At the time when they were beating the notification tom-tom, that Carpenter’s son, having caused the notification tom-tom to halt, said, “I can construct the Wooden Peacock machine.” Thereupon, summoning the Carpenter’s son, they went to the royal house.
The King ordered that he should receive from the palace many presents. The King commanded that having quickly constructed the Wooden Peacock machine, and also prepared a person to row it, he should bring it.
Thereafter, the Carpenter’s son, ascertaining about the Princess who stayed at the well, quickly having set off, went near the well in the jungle, and diving into the water, and having gone to the palace, when he looked, the Prince having become stupefied through want of sleep,[6] had fallen down unconscious.
Thereupon the Carpenter’s son, having spoken to the Prince, said, “Didn’t I tell you, Sir, ‘Don’t give the ring into the hand of the Princess,’ ascertaining that this danger will happen? But,” he said to the Prince, “don’t you at any time become unhappy.[7] I will again bring the Princess near this palace, and give her to you.” Saying, “Please remain in happiness,” the Carpenter’s son returned to the city, and began to construct the Wooden Peacock machine.
While constructing it, he made inquiry how this widow woman was, [and learnt that] a male child of this widow woman’s was lost while very young (lit., from his small days).
One day, in the night the Carpenter’s son, tying up a bundle of clothes and a packet of cooked rice, went, just as it was becoming night,[8] to the house at which is the widow woman. Having gone [there] he spoke: “Mother, mother!”
Thereupon the woman quickly having arisen and come, asked, “Where, son, where were you for so many days?”
Thereupon the Carpenter’s son said, “Anē! Mother, having tramped through many countries, I have not obtained any means of subsistence. I obtained a few pieces of cloth and a little rice.” Saying “Here,” he gave them into the hand of that woman.
“What are these for, son? Look; I have received from the King much goods, and a part of the kingdom,” she said to the Carpenter’s son.
The old woman thought he was her own son. Having allowed him to press her eyes while she is lying down, the old woman said, “Son, I have still got something.”
Having said, “Anē! Mother, where is it? Please let me look at it,” begging for it, when he looked [it was] that gem-treasure.
Thereafter, having given it [back] into the hand of the old woman, and waited until the time when the woman goes to sleep, stealing that stone the Carpenter’s son came away.
Then, constructing the Wooden Peacock machine, he went near the King. Having gone, he said, “Except myself no one else can row this.”
At that time, the King and the Princess, both of them, having mounted on the Wooden Peacock machine [after] putting on the royal ornaments, these three persons rowed [aloft in] the Wooden Peacock machine.
Having rowed very high above the sea, and stopped the Wooden Peacock machine, the Carpenter’s son, taking the sword in his hand, asked the King whence the King obtained this Princess. Thereupon the King said that a widow woman of this city brought and gave him the Princess who stayed at a well in the midst of the forest.
Then the Carpenter’s son said, “Why do you desire others’ wives? How much [mental] fire will there be for this Princess’s husband! What His Highness (tumā) did is a great fault.”
Having said this, he cut down the King and dropped him into the sea, and, taking the Princess, rowed near that well in the jungle. Having gone [down the well] to the palace, and caused that Prince to put on these royal ornaments, the Prince, and the Princess, and the Carpenter’s son, the whole three persons, having gone on the Wooden Peacock machine to the city, and said that the King and the Princess had contracted the marriage, that day with great festivity ate the [wedding] feast; but any person of the city was unaware of this abduction[9] [of the King] which he effected.
Thereafter, this Prince and Princess having been saluted[10] by that widow woman, having tried her judicially they subjected her to the thirty-two tortures and beheaded her, and hung her at the four gate-ways, it is said.
The Carpenter’s son became the Prince’s Prime Minister. The Prince exercised the sovereignty with the ten [royal] virtues, it is said.
North-western Province.
The ten royal virtues are: Almsgiving, keeping religious precepts, liberality, uprightness, compassion, addiction to religious austerities, even temper, tenderness, patience, and peacefulness (Clough).
Regarding the flying wooden Peacock, see also the [next story] and No. 198 in vol. iii. In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, p. 378, there is also an account of a similar flying-machine called a Peacock, on which a young man, accompanied by the maker, first went to marry a girl, and afterwards, against the advice of its maker, flew aloft to show the people his own skill. He did not know how to make it return, and at last the cords broke, it fell in the sea, and he was drowned.
In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (collected by Rev. Dr. Bodding), pp. 378, 380, etc., there are several accounts of houses under the water; these were the residences of Bongas or deities.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. i, p. 115, Mr. G. H. Damant gave a Bengal story in which a King’s son descends into a well, and finds there a Princess in a house, imprisoned by Rākshasas.
In Folk-Tales of Bengal (L. Behari Day), p. 17 ff., a Prince and a Minister’s son who was his bosom friend, while on their travels obtained a Cobra’s jewel, and by means of it saw a palace under the water of a tank. They dived down to it, found a Princess who had been imprisoned there by the Cobra, which had died on losing its magic jewel, and the Prince married her by exchanging garlands of flowers. After the Minister’s son left them in order to prepare for their return, the Princess, while the Prince was asleep, by means of the magic jewel ascended to the surface of the water, and sat on the bathing steps. On the third occasion when she did this, a Rāja’s son saw and fell in love with her. As soon as she observed him she descended to her palace, and the young man went home apparently mad. The Rāja offered his daughter’s hand and half his kingdom to anyone who could cure his son. An old woman who had seen the Princess offered to do it, and a hut was built for her on the embankment of the tank. When the Princess came to the bank the woman offered to help her to bathe, secured the jewel, and the Princess was captured. When the Minister’s son returned on a day previously arranged, he heard that the Princess was to be married in two days. He personated the widow’s son, who was absent, and was well received by the widow, who handed him the magic jewel. He saw the Princess, managed to escape with her, and they joined the Prince.
In The Kathākoça (Tawney), p. 91, a serpent Prince saved a Queen who had been pushed into a well by her stepmother, and made a palace in the well, in which she lived until she was able to rejoin her husband.
In Folk-Tales of Hindustan (Shaik Chilli), p. 52, a Princess who had been carried off and was about to be married to a Rāja’s son, stated (by pre-arrangement with her husband’s party, who had come to rescue her) that it was “the custom of her family to float round the city in a golden aerial car with the bridegroom and match-maker.” The Rāja sent men to find a car. Two of her husband’s friends, a goldsmith and a carpenter, now produced such a car. When the Rāja, his son, the Princess, and the witch who had abducted her, began to sail above the city in it, at the Princess’s request the car was stopped at a pre-arranged place, the Prince and his four friends sprang into it, took it high in the air, drowned the Rāja, his son, and the witch, and returned with the Princess to their own city.
In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. iii, p. 137 ff.) there is an account of a flying ebony horse, which rose or descended when suitable pegs were turned. When it was brought to a Persian King, his son tried it, was carried away like the Prince in the next story, and at last descended on the roof of a palace, where he saw and fell in love with the royal Princess, and returning afterwards, carried her off.
In the Totā Kahānī (Small), p. 139, a young man made a flying wooden horse, by means of which a merchant’s daughter, who had been abducted by a fairy, was recovered.
In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 57, a young Brāhmaṇa who plunged into the Ganges to rescue a woman who appeared to be drowning found a temple of Śiva, and a palace in which the girl who was a Daitya (an Asura) lived.
In the same volume, p. 392, there is an account of a flying chariot, “with a pneumatic contrivance,” made by a carpenter. A man flew two hundred yōjanas (each some eight miles in length) before descending; he then started it afresh and flew another two hundred. On p. 390 wooden automata made by the same carpenter are mentioned; they “moved as if they were alive, but were recognised as lifeless by their want of speech.” A similar automaton is mentioned in Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii, p. 170; it was able to sing and dance. (This work consists of translations from the Chinese Tripiṭaka; all appear to have been translated from Indian originals, usually in the early centuries after Christ.)
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. x, p. 232 (Tales of the Panjab, p. 42), in the story of Prince Lionheart, by Mrs. F. A. Steel, his carpenter friend went in search of a Princess who had been carried off by a King. He made a flying palankin, and returned in it with her.
[1] Tīndu kālakanni mōdayā. [↑]
[2] Mānikka-ratnē, the jewel of a Cakravarti sovereign or universal monarch. It casts a light for a distance of four miles (Clough). [↑]
[3] Kaemati dawasaka, on any day you like. [↑]
[4] So, also, in the Mahā Bhārata, it was an old woman who, when others were unable to do it, undertook to bring to Lomapada, King of Anga, the horned son of an ascetic whose presence was declared to be indispensable for causing rains to fall. She effected it by the aid of her pretty daughter, who decoyed him. [↑]
[5] Dan̆ḍu monara yantrayak. [↑]
[7] Kalāsan = kalya + a + san̥. [↑]
[10] According to the text, nawalā, bathed, probably intended for namalā. [↑]
No. 81
Concerning a Royal Prince and a Princess[1]
In a certain city there were a King, a Carpenter, and a Washerman. There were three male children of these three persons. They sent these three children to learn letters near a teacher a yōjana distant, or four gawuwas[2] distant. These three having at one time set off from the city when they went for [learning] letters, both that royal Prince and the Washer lad went and said the letters; when they are coming back the Carpenter’s son is even yet going on the road. Those two go with much quickness. Because of it, the Carpenter’s son said at his father’s hand, “We three having set off at one time from the city, when we have gone, those two having got in front and gone, and said their letters, come back. Having gone (started) at one time, on even a single day having said my letters I was unable to come [with them].”
Thereafter, he made for the Carpenter’s son a [flying] Wooden Peacock machine, and gave him it. He having gone rowing it [through the air], and said his letters, when he is coming back those two are still going [on the road], for [their] letters.
One day the royal Prince said to the Carpenter’s son, “Anē! Friend, will you let me row and look at the Wooden Peacock machine?” he asked.
Thereupon the Carpenter’s son, having said, “It is good,” and having told him the manner of treading on the chain, gave him it. Just as the Prince was taking hold of the chain, he went [up] in the Wooden Peacock machine, and was fixed among the clouds in the sky. At that time the King of the city and the multitude were frightened.
Thereafter, having assembled the city soothsayers and astrologers, [the King] asked, “When will this Prince, taking the Wooden Peacock machine, come down?”
Thereupon the soothsayers said, “After he has gone for the space of[3] three years and three months, having come back he will fall in the sea.”
Thereupon the King said to the Ministers, “Having been marking that number of years and number of days, surrounding the sea (i.e., keeping a watch all along the shore), and having been laying nets, as soon as the Prince falls you must take him ashore,” he commanded.
Thereafter, at the time when the Prince was holding the cords of the Wooden Peacock machine, it began to descend lower. At a burial ground at another city the Wooden Peacock machine came down upon a Banyan-tree.
Thereupon the Prince, having placed the Wooden Peacock machine on the tree, and descended from the tree, went to the city, and began to walk about. At the time when the Princess of the King of the city, with yet [other] Princesses, was bathing at a pool, the Princess saw him at the time when this Prince also was going walking.
As soon as she saw him, the Princess thought, “If I marry the Prince it is good.” The Prince also thought, “If I marry this Princess it is good.” Except that the two thought to themselves of each other, there was no means of talking together. Because of it, the Princess, plucking a blue-lotus flower in the pool, placed it on her head after having smelt (kissed) it; and again, having crushed it, threw it down, and trampled on it. The Princess did thus for the Prince to perceive that when he married her she would be submissive and obedient to him. The Prince understood it, and kept it in mind.
Thereafter, at the time when the Prince was going walking in the city, he met with the palace in which is the Princess. At the time when the Prince had been there a little while, the Princess opened a window of the upper story, and when she was looking in the direction of the street, saw that this Prince was [there], and spoke to him. At that time she said to the Prince, “After it has become night I [shall] have opened this window. You come [then].”
Then the Prince having come after all in the palace got to sleep, when he looked the window was opened. Having spoken to the Princess, he entered the palace. The two having conversed, the Prince, before it became light, got out of the palace, and having gone away, and waited until the time when it became night, comes again.
Thereupon the Princess, in order to keep the Prince in the very palace, told a smith of the city to come secretly; and having given him also a thousand masuran, and made the man thoroughly swear [to secrecy], the Princess said, “Having made a large lamp-stand, and made it [large enough] for a man to be inside it, and turned round the screw-key belonging to it, as though bringing it to sell bring it to the palace. When you bring it I will tell the King, and I will take it.”
The smith having gone, and made the lamp-stand in the manner the Princess said, brought it near the King. Then the Princess having come and said, “I want this,” took it, and put it in the palace. To the smith the King gave five hundred masuran.
Thereafter, having put that Prince inside the lamp-stand, he remained [there]. When not many days had gone by, the Princess became pregnant. The King having perceived that the Princess was pregnant, placed a guard round the palace, and having published by beat of tom-toms [that they were] to seize this thief, the King and the guards made all possible effort to seize the thief, but they were unable.
A widow woman said, “I can seize him if you will allow me to go evening and morning to the palace in which is the Princess, to seize the thief.” Thereupon the King gave permission to the woman to go and stay during the whole[4] of both times.
When several days had gone by, this woman, having perceived that a man is inside that lamp-stand, one day having gone taking also a package of fine sand, during the visit, while she stayed talking and talking with the Princess put the sand of the package round the lamp-stand, and having spread it thinly, came away. The Princess was unable to find this out.
When that woman went on the morning of the following day, and looked, the Prince’s foot-prints were in that sand. As soon as she saw it, the woman went and said to the King, “I caught the thief. Let us go to look.” The old woman having gone, said, “There! It is inside that lamp-stand, indeed, that the thief is,” and showed them to the King. At that time, when the King broke the lamp-stand and looked, the thief was [there].
Thereafter the King gave orders that having tortured the thief, and taken him away, they were to behead him, he said to the executioners. Thereupon the executioners [after] pinioning the Prince, beating the execution tom-tom, took him to that burial-ground.
At that time the Prince said to the executioners, “If you kill any person, having given him the things he thinks of to eat and drink—is it not so?—you kill him. Because of it, until the time when I come [after] going into this Banyan-tree and eating two Banyan fruits, remain on guard round this tree. There is no opportunity (taenak) for me to bound off and go elsewhere.”
Thereupon, the executioners having said, “It is good,” the Prince ascended the tree, and having mounted on that Wooden Peacock machine, rowed into the sky. While the executioners were looking the Prince went flying away.
The executioners having said that blame will fall [on them] from the King, caught and cut a lizard (kaṭussā), and having gone [after] rubbing the blood on the sword, showed it to the King, and said that they beheaded the thief.
From that day, the Princess from grief remained without eating and drinking. Several days afterwards, the Prince, having come rowing the Wooden Peacock machine, and caused it to stop on the palace in which is the Princess, and having removed the tiles, dropped the jewelled ring that was on the Prince’s hand at the place where the Princess is. He also dropped a robe of the Prince’s.
Thereupon the Princess, getting to know about the Prince’s [being on the roof], threw up the cloth [again]. Tying the hand-line to descend by, at that time the Prince, having descended, said to the Princess, “To kill me they took me to the burial-ground. I having caused the executioners to be deceived, and climbed up the tree—my Wooden Peacock machine was on the tree—I mounted it and went rowing away.” Thereafter, the Prince and Princess, both of them, went away.
At the time when they were going, ten months were completed for the Princess. While they were going, pains began to seize her. [The Prince] having lowered the Wooden Peacock machine in a great forest jungle, and in a minute having made a house of branches, the Princess bore Thereupon the Prince said, “Remain here until I go and bring a little fire.” Saying [this] to the Princess, the Prince went rowing the Wooden Peacock machine. Having gone, at the time when, taking the fire in a coconut husk, he was coming rowing the Wooden Peacock machine over the midst of the sea, the coconut husk having burnt, the fire seized the Wooden Peacock machine, and it burnt away. The Prince having come [there], fell in the sea. That foretold number of years also had been finished on that day. The person who stayed casting nets in the sea [there], as soon as the Prince fell got him ashore. The Prince, planting a vegetable garden at the city, remained there. While the Princess who bore [the child] in that forest jungle was without any protection from all things (sawu-saranak), this trouble having become visible to an ascetic person who practises austerity in that forest jungle, he came to the place where the Princess was, and spoke to her. Thereupon the Princess, after she saw the ascetic, having a little abandoned the trouble that was in her mind, said to the ascetic, “While I walk into the midst of this forest seeking a little ripe fruit, will you look after this child until I come?” she asked. The ascetic said, “Should I hold the child it is impure (kilutu) for me. Because of it, you having made a stick platform (maessak), and hung it by a creeper, and having tied a creeper to the platform, go after having sent the child to sleep on the platform. At the time when the child cries I will come, and hold the creeper by the end, and shake it; then the child will stop.” Having done in the manner the ascetic said, the Princess, seeking ripe fruits, ate. One day, the Princess having suckled the child, and sent it to sleep on the platform, went to seek ripe fruits. Thereafter, that child having rolled off the stick platform and fallen on the ground, at the time when it was crying the ascetic heard it, and came; when he looked, the child having rolled over had fallen on the ground. Thereupon, because it was impure for the ascetic to hold the child, he plucked a flower, and having performed an Act of Truth for the flower, thought, “May a child be created just like this child.” Thereafter, a child was created just like it. The Princess having come back, and having seen, when she looked, that two children are [there], the Princess asked the ascetic, “What is [the reason of] it? To-day two children!” The ascetic said, “When I was coming, the child, having fallen, was crying and crying. Because it is impure for me to hold the child, I created a child just like it.” The Princess said, “I cannot believe that word. If so, you must create a child again, for me to look at it.” Thereupon the ascetic said, “According to the difficulty there is for you to rear one child, when there are three how much difficulty [will there be]!” “No matter. [Please] create and give me it; I can rear it.” Thereupon, the ascetic plucked a flower, and having performed an Act of Truth, when he put it on the stick platform a child was created just like it. Thereafter, the Princess having been pleased, reared the children. The children having grown up, walked in the midst of the forest, seeking ripe fruits, and having come back the children gave them to their mother, and [then] began to eat. One day, at the time when these three are going walking, they met with a great river. When they looked, on the other bank of the river a great vegetable garden is visible. Thereupon these three having said [to each other], “Can you swim?” swam a considerable distance, and came back, saying, “Let us come to-morrow morning.” Having gone seeking a very few ripe fruits, they gave them to their mother. On the following day, early in the morning, taking bows and arrows, the whole three went to the edge of the river. Having gone [there], and the whole three having gone swimming to the vegetable garden, when they looked many kinds of ripe fruits were [there]. Thereafter, these three having plucked [some], at the time when they are eating them the gardeners who watch the garden saw them, and having come running, prepared (lit., made) to seize them. Thereupon these three, taking their bows, prepared to shoot. The gardeners bounded off, and having gone running, told it at the hand of the King. These three having eaten as much as possible, [after] plucking a great many crossed over [the river], and went away. At that time the King said to the gardeners, “Should these thieves come to-morrow also, let me know very speedily.” The following day, also, those three persons came, and at the time when they are plucking [the fruit], the gardeners went and told him. Thereupon the King, taking bows and arrows, came and shot at them. When he shot, the arrow having gone, when near these Princes turned (lit., looked) back, and fell down. Thereafter, that party shot at the King. Then also, in the very [same] way, the arrow having gone, when near the King turned (looked) back, and fell down. Thereupon, the whole two parties, after having come near [each other], spoke, “This was a great wonder. The circumstance that out of the two parties no one was struck, is a great wonder. Because of it, let us, the whole two parties, go near the paṇḍitayās [for them] to explain this.” Thereupon, the whole of the two parties having gone, told the paṇḍitayās this circumstance that had occurred. Then the paṇḍitayās, having explained it, said to the King, “You, Sir, now above three or four years ago, summoned a Princess [in marriage]. The Princess’s, indeed, are these three, the children born to you, Sir. Because of it, the Gods have caused this to be seen. Go, and summoning the Princess from the place where she is, [be pleased] to come,” the paṇḍitayās said to the King. Thereafter, the King having remembered her, at that moment decorating a ship, with the sound of the five musical instruments he went into the midst of the forest in which is that Princess; and having come back [after] calling the Princess, the Princess, and the three Princes, and the King remained at the garden, it is said. North-western Province. In Indian Nights’ Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 9, a Prince mounted on a magic wooden flying-horse that a friend of his, a carpenter’s son, had brought to the palace, and flew away on it. The carpenter promised that it would return in two months. The Prince alighted by moonlight on a palace roof five hundred leagues away, and fell in love with a Princess whom he saw there. After they had conversed, he flew off, fixed the horse in pieces amid the branches of a large tree, and stayed at a widow’s house, returning each night to the palace. In the end he was arrested and condemned to death. When the executioners were about to hang him he got permission to climb up the tree, put the horse together, sailed back to the palace, and carried off the Princess to his father’s home. In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 158, a Prince who had stolen a magic bed which transported those who sat on it wherever desired, visited a Princess at night by means of it, and afterwards married her. In the same work, p. 208, a Prince and Princess saw each other at a fair. While the Prince watched her from his tent, she took a rose in her hand, put it to her teeth, stuck it behind her ear, and lastly laid it at her feet. The Prince could not understand her meaning, but a friend explained it, and said that she intended him to know that her father’s name was Raja Dānt (King Tooth), her country the Karnātak (karṇa = ear), and her own name Pānwpattī (Foot-leaf). In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 487, it is stated that while Sītā, the wife of Rāma, was dwelling at Vālmīki’s hermitage with her infant son Lava, she took the child with her when she went to bathe one day. The hermit, thinking a wild beast had carried it off, created another child resembling it, from kuśa grass, and placed it in the hut. On her return he explained the matter to her, and she adopted the infant, to which the name Kuśa was given. In the same work, vol. ii, p. 235, a girl who came to bathe gave signals to a Prince by means of a lotus flower, which she put in her ear, and then twisted into the form of an ornament called dantapatra, or tooth-leaf. After this she placed another lotus flower on her head, and laid her hand on her heart. In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 215, a Princess covered her face with lotus petals, and held up an ivory box to be seen by a Prince who was looking at her. By these signals he learnt her name and that of her city. He went to the city, visited her each day in a magic swing, and at length they eloped and were married. In Sagas from the Far East, p. 110, a wood-carver’s son fashioned a hollow flying Garuḍa (possibly in the form of a Brahminy Kite), inside which a friend whose wife had been abducted flew to the Khan’s palace where she was detained, and brought her away. In the same work, p. 316, a Princess made signals to a King’s young Minister as follows: She raised the first finger of her right hand, then passed the other hand round it, clasped and unclasped her hands, and finally laid one finger of each hand beside that of the other hand, and pointed with them towards the palace. In the Mahā Bhārata and Rāmāyana javelins or arrows are sometimes represented as returning to the sender, who in such cases was a being possessing supernatural power. Thus, according to one story of Daksha’s sacrifice, when the energy of a dart thrown by Rudra at Vishṇu was neutralised, it returned to Rudra. In the fight between Karṇa and Arjuna some arrows which the former discharged returned to him (Karṇa Parva, lxxxix.). In performing an Act of Truth such as is mentioned in this story, the person first states a fact and then utters a wish, which in reality is a conjuration, the efficacy of which depends on the truth of the foregoing statement. Thus, in the Jātaka No. 35 (vol. i, p. 90) the Bōdhisatta in the form of a helpless quail nestling[5] extinguished a raging bush fire that was about to destroy it and other birds, by an Act of Truth, which took this form:— “With wings that fly not, feet that walk not, Forsaken by my parents here I lie! Wherefore I conjure thee, dread Lord of Fire, Primæval Jātaveda, turn! go back!” The account then continues: “Even as he performed his Act of Truth, Jātaveda [the Fire Deity] went back a space of sixteen lengths; and in going back the flames did not pass away to the forest, devouring everything in their path. No; they went out there and then, like a torch plunged in water.” There are several other examples in the Jātaka stories, and one in No. 83 in this volume. In the first volume, p. 140, the Prince cut in two the gem through the efficacy of an Act of Truth expressed in a slightly different form: “If so-and-so be true, may so-and-so happen.” This is the usual type of the conjuration; it occurs also in the story numbered 11. See also the Mahāvansa, Professor Geiger’s translation, p. 125, footnote. Other examples are given in the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 330, vol. ii, p. 82; Sagas from the Far East, p. 47; Von Schiefner’s Tibetan Tales (Ralston), p. 284; Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. ii, pp. 358, 396; and in the Mahā Bhārata. In chapter xvii. of the Mahāvansa (Professor Geiger’s translation, p. 118), King Tissa proved the authenticity of the collar-bone relic of Buddha by an asseveration of this kind. In chapter xviii. (p. 125), the Emperor Aśōka severed the branch of the Bō-tree at Gayā, in order to send it to Ceylon, by an Act of Truth, previously drawing a magic line with a pencil of red arsenic round the branch to mark the place where it was to break off. In chapter xxv. (p. 171), King Duṭṭha-Gāmaṇi by similar means is said to have caused the armour of his troops to take the colour of fire, so that they might be discriminated from the Tamils whom he was fighting. With regard to the messages given by signals, the reader may remember Rabelais’ account of the argument by signs between Panurge and Thaumaste (Pantagruel, cap. xix.). Kandian girls make almost imperceptible signals to each other. If without moving the head the eyes be momentarily directed towards the door, the question is asked, “Shall we go out?” An affirmative reply is given by an expressionless gaze, a negative one by closing the eyes for an instant. [1] The text of this story is given at the end of vol. iii. [↑] [2] The gawuwa is usually four miles, but in this instance it is evidently the fourth part of a yōjana of about eight miles; the boys would still have a walk of sixteen miles each day. [↑] [4] Tissē dē wēlē, lit., the thirty of both times—that is, the thirty paeyas into which each day or each night is divided, the paeya being twenty-four minutes. [↑] [5] In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, p. 350, the bird was a pheasant, and the fire avoided a space eight feet in radius around the bird. [↑] At a certain city there is a King, it is said. There are four Princes (sons) of the King, it is said. At the time when he told the four persons to learn the sciences that are [known] in that country, they were unable to learn the sciences. After that, the King, bringing a sword, told them to [go elsewhere and] learn the sciences [or he would kill them]. So all the four Princes, tying up a bundle of cooked rice, went away, and having gone to yet a city and sat down at a halting-place (rūppayak), the eldest Prince said, “At the time when we are coming back we must assemble together at this very halting-place.” After that, the eldest Prince arrived (baehunāya) at a city. At the time when he asked, “What is the science that is [known] in this city?” they said, “In this city there is sooth.” “You must go and send me to the house where they say sooth,” he said. Then they went and sent him. The Prince learnt sooth.
No. 82
The Princes who Learnt the Sciences