Folklore of the Santal Parganas, Cecil Henry Bompas [sad books to read .TXT] 📗

chowkidar and they searched

and could not find the cow and they advised Kara to keep the cow and

calf as it must be better than his own barren cow; but he refused and

said that he would complain to the magistrate and he made the headman

promise not to let the carters go until he came back. So he went to

a Mahommedan magistrate and it chanced that he was an honest man who

gave just judgments and took no bribes, and made no distinction between

the rich and the poor; he always listened to both sides carefully,

not like some rascally magistrates who always believe the story

that is first told them and pay no attention to what the other side

say. So when Kara made his complaint this magistrate at once sent for

the carters and the carters swore that they had not stolen the cow:

and offered to forfeit all the property they had with them, if the

cow were found in their possession.

 

Then the magistrate sent police to search the encampment and the police

pulled down the pile of packs that had been put round the cow, and

found the cow inside and took it to the magistrate. Then the magistrate

ordered the carters to fulfil their promise and put them all in prison

and gave all their property to Kara. So Kara loaded all the merchandise

on the carts and pack bullocks and went home rejoicing. At first the

villagers did not recognise who it was who had come with so much wealth

but Kara made himself known to them and they were very astonished and

helped him to build a grand house. Then Kara went to the Raja from

whom he had borrowed the money for his parents' funerals and paid back

what he owed. The Raja was so pleased with him that he gave him his

daughter in marriage and afterwards Kara claimed his father-in-law's

kingdom and got possession of it and lived prosperously ever after.

 

And the seven sons of his first master who used to scold him were

excited by his success and thought that if they went to foreign parts

they also could gain great wealth; so they took some money from their

father and went off. But all they did was to squander their capital

and in the end they had to come back penniless to their father.

XXII. (Lita and His Animals.)

 

Once upon a time there was a man who had four sons: two of them were

married and two were unmarried and the youngest was named Lita. One

day Lita went to his father and asked for fifty or sixty rupees that

he might go on a trading expedition and he promised that if he lost

the money he would not ask for any share in the paternal property. As

he was very urgent his father at last gave him sixty rupees and he

set out on his travels. After going some way he came to a village in

which all the inhabitants were chasing a cat; he asked them what was

the matter and they told him that the cat was always stealing their

Raja's milk and the Raja had offered a reward of twenty rupees to

anyone who would kill it. Then Lita said to them "Do not kill the cat;

catch it alive and give it to me and I will pay you twenty rupees for

it; then you can go to the Raja and say that you have killed it and ask

for the reward; and if the Raja asks to see the body tell him that a

stranger came and asked for the body, for he thought that a cat which

had fed on milk should be good eating and so you gave it to him." The

villagers thought that this would be an excellent plan and promised to

bring him the cat alive. They soon managed to catch it hiding under

a heap of firewood and brought it to Lita and he paid them twenty

rupees and then they went to the Raja and got twenty rupees from him.

 

Then Lita went on, and by-and-bye came to a village where the villagers

were hunting an otter in a tank; they had made a cut in the bank and

had let out all the water. Lita went to them and asked what they were

doing; they said that they were hunting for an otter which had been

destroying the Raja's fish and the Raja had promised them a reward if

they killed it, and they had driven it into the tank and were draining

off the water in order to catch it. Then Lita offered to buy it of them

if they brought it to him alive; so when they caught it they brought

it to him and he gave them money for it and continued his journey

with the cat and the otter. Presently he saw a crowd of men and he

went up to them and asked what they were doing: and they told him that

they were hunting a rat which was always gnawing the Raja's pens and

papers and the Raja had offered a reward for it, and they had driven

it out of the palace, but it had taken refuge in a hole and they were

going to dig it out Then Lita offered to buy it from them as he had

bought the other two animals and they dug it out and sold it to him.

 

He went on and in the same way found a crowd of men hunting a snake

which had bitten many people: and he offered to buy it for twenty

rupees and when they had chased it till it was exhausted, they

caught it alive and sold it to Lita. As his money was all spent,

he then set off homewards; and on the way the snake began to speak

and said: "Lita, you have saved my life; had you not come by, those

men would certainly have had my life; come with me to my home, where

my father and mother are, and I will give you anything you ask for;

we have great possessions." But Lita was afraid and said: "When you

get me there you will eat me, or if you don't, your father and mother

will." But the snake protested that it could not be guilty of such

ingratitude and at last Lita agreed to accompany it when he had left

the other animals at his home.

 

This he did and set off alone with the snake, and after some days they

reached the snake's home. The snake told Lita to wait outside while he

went and apprized his parents and he told Lita that when he was asked

to choose his reward he should name nothing but the ring which was on

the father-snake's finger, for the ring had this property that if it

were placed in a _seer_ of milk and then asked to produce anything

whatever, that thing would immediately appear. Then the snake went

on to his home and when the father and mother saw him they fell on

his neck and kissed him and wept over him saying that they had never

expected to see him again; the snake told them how he had gone to

the country of men and how a reward had been set on his head and he

had been hunted, and how Lita had bought him from the men who would

have killed him. The father snake asked why he had not brought Lita

to be rewarded and the snake said that he was afraid that when they

saw him they would eat him.

 

But the father and mother swore that they could not be guilty of

such ingratitude, and when he heard this the snake went and brought

in Lita, and they entertained him handsomely for two days; and on

the third day the father snake asked Lita what he would take as his

reward. Lita looked round at the shining palace in which they lived

and at first was afraid to speak but at last he said: "I do not want

money or anything but the ring on your finger: if you will not give

me that, I will take nothing; I saved your son from peril and that

you will remember all your lives, and if you give me the ring I will

honour you for it as long as I live." Then the father and mother snake

consulted together and the mother said "Give it to him as he asks for

it" so the father snake drew it from his finger and gave it to Lita

and they gave him also some money for his journey back; and he went

home and found the other three animals safe and sound waiting for him.

 

After a time his father said that Lita must marry; so marriage

go-betweens were sent out to look for a bride and they found a very

rich and beautiful girl whose parents were agreeable to the match. But

the girl herself said that she would only marry a man who would build

a covered passage from her house to his, so that she could walk to her

new home in the shade. The go-betweens reported this, and Lita's father

and brothers consulted and agreed that they could never make such a

passage, but Lita said to his father: "Arrange the match; it shall

be my charge to arrange for making the covered passage; I will not

let you be put to shame over it." For Lita had already put the ring

to the test: he had dropped it into a _seer_ of milk and said "Let

five _bharias_ of parched rice and two _bharias_ of curds appear" and

immediately the parched rice and curds were before him; and thereupon

he had called out "The snake has worthily rewarded me for saving his

life;" and the cat and the otter and the rat overheard what he said.

 

So the go-between was told to arrange for the wedding to take place

that very month, as Lita's birthday fell in the next month, which

therefore was not suitable for his wedding. Then the bride's family

sent him back to say that they were prepared to send a string of nine

knots; and the next day the go-between told this to Lita's family

and they said that they were willing to accept it; so the go-between

brought a string of nine knots to signify that the wedding would take

place in nine days. The days passed by and Lita's father and brothers

became very anxious because they saw no sign of the covered passage;

but on the very night before the wedding, Lita took his ring and

ordered a covered passage to be made from the one house to the other

with a good path down the middle; and the next morning they found

it made; and the bridegroom's party passed along it to the bride's

house and the bride was escorted home along it.

 

Now the bride had been deeply in love with another young man who lived

in her village and had much wished to marry him but her wishes of

course were not consulted in the matter. Some time after the marriage

she one day in the course of conversation asked her husband Lita how

much he had spent on making the covered passage to her house and how

he had built it so quickly. He told her that he knew nothing about it;

that his father and mother had arranged for it and no doubt had spent a

large sum of money. So the next day she took an opportunity of asking

her mother-in-law about it, but Lita's mother said that nothing had

been spent at all; somehow the passage had been made in one night,

she knew not how.

 

Then Lita's wife saw that Lita was keeping a secret from her, and

she began to reproach him for having any secrets from his wife: and

at last when she had faithfully promised never to