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

on Caste.)

 

There was once a village inhabited only by Musahars. Among them was

one girl who was so beautiful that she seemed more than human. Her

father and mother were so proud of her looks that they determined

not to marry her to a man of their own caste. They were constantly

discussing whom they should choose as a son-in-law; one day they began

to consider who were the greatest persons in the world. The old woman

was of opinion that there was no one greater than Chando, the Sun God,

and suggested that they should marry the girl to him. Her husband

agreed and off they set and presented themselves before Chando. Chando

asked why they had come. "O Chando, we understand that you are the

greatest being in the world and we have come to marry our daughter

to you," Chando answered "I fancy there is some one greater than I,"

"Who is he?" asked the parents. "The cloud is greater than I, for it

can hide my face and quench my rays."

 

At this the father and mother hurried off with their daughter in search

of the Cloud, and when they found him, told him that they had brought

their daughter to give him to wife, as he was the greatest being in

the world. "I may be great," said the Cloud, "but there is a greater

than I, the Wind. The Wind rises and blows me away in a minute." So

they went in search of the Wind and when they found him, explained

to him why they had brought him their daughter. The Wind said "I am

strong but there are stronger than I: the Mountains are stronger. I can

blow things down or whirl them away, but I cannot move the mountains."

 

So on they went to the Mountain and explained their errand. The

Mountain said "I am great but there are more powerful than I. The

ground-rat is more powerful, for however high I may be the ground-rats

burrow holes in me and I cannot resist them."

 

The poor parents by this time began to feel rather discouraged,

but still they made up their minds to persevere and went on to look

for the ground-rat. They found him and offered him their daughter in

marriage, but the ground-rat denied that he was the most powerful

being on earth, the Musahars were more powerful for they lived by

digging out ground-rats and eating them.

 

The hapless couple went home very dejectedly, reflecting that they

had begun by despising their own caste and had gone in search of

something greater and had ended where they begun. So they arranged

to marry their daughter to a man of their own caste after all.

 

_Moral_ You should not despise your own caste or race; you cannot

help what caste you are born into. A Santal may learn to read and

write and associate with men of good position and thereby his mind

may be perverted. He may wish to change his caste become a Sadhu, or

a Kherwar, or a Boistab, or a Mussulman, or a Christian or anything

else; but people will still know him for a beef-eating Santal. If he

becomes a Christian, no one will think him the equal of a Saheb or

a Brahman; no Saheb will marry his daughter or give him his daughter

in marriage. Remember what happened to the Musahar, who despised his

own caste. God caused you to be born in a certain caste. He and not

we made the different castes and He knows what is good and bad for us.

LII. (Tipi and Tepa.)

 

 

Tipi and Tepa dwelt together and lived on baked cakes. One day they

met a bear in the jungle. "Now I will eat you" growled the bear. "Spare

us," said Tipi and Tepa "and to-morrow we will beg some food and bake

it into cakes and give it to you," So the bear let them go away to beg;

but when they came back they ate the food which they had procured and

then hid themselves inside a hollow gourd. The bear came and looked

about for them but could not find them and went away.

 

The next day Tipi and Tepa again went out begging and as luck would

have it again met the bear. "Now I will eat you" said the bear. "No"

said they "let us go and beg some food for you." So they went off

begging and came back and baked cakes and ate them and then hid

inside the gourd. The bear came and carried off the gourd on its

shoulder and began to pick plums and other fruit and put them into

the gourd. As fast as the fruit was put in Tipi and Tepa ate it

"It is a very funny thing that the gourd does not become full"

thought the bear. But Tepa ate so much that at last he burst, with

such a noise that the bear threw down the gourd and ran away.

 

LIII. (The Child with the Ears of an Ox.)

 

Once upon a time a son was born to a certain Raja and the child had

the ears of an ox. The Raja was very much ashamed and let no one

know. But the secret could not be kept from the barber who had to

perform the ceremony of shaving the child's head. However the Raja

made the barber vow not to tell anyone of what he had seen.

 

So the barber went away, but the secret which he might not tell had an

unfortunate effect; it made his stomach swell to an enormous size. As

the barber went along in this unhappy condition he met a Dom who asked

why his stomach was so swollen. The barber said that it was because

he had shaved the Raja's child and had seen that it had the ears of

an ox. Directly he had broken his vow and blurted out the secret,

his stomach returned to its usual size.

 

The Dom went his way and cut down a tree and made a drum out of the

wood, and went about playing on the drum and begging. He came to the

Raja's palace and there he drummed and sang:--

 

 

    "The son of the Raja

    Has the ears of an ox."

 

 

When the Raja heard this, he was very angry, and swore to punish the

barber who must have broken his vow. But the Dom assured the Raja

that he knew nothing about the matter; that it was the drum that sang

the words and not he and that he had no idea what they meant. So the

Raja was pacified and gave the Dom a present and sent him away and

the barber was not punished.

 

LIV. (The Child Who Knew His Father.)

 

Once upon a time there was a girl whose parents took the greatest

care that she should not be familiar with any of the young men of

the village. But in spite of their precautions she formed an intimacy

with a young man and was presently found to be with child. When this

became known the villagers held a panchayat to enquire into the matter,

but the girl flatly declined to give any information and her father

and brothers were unable to point out the offender. So the village

elders decided to let the matter stand over till the child was born.

 

When the birth took place the question arose in whose name its head

should be shaved; as its father was still unknown, the villagers

decided that this should be settled when the child was old enough to

talk. So when the child was two or three years old and could prattle

a little, the girl's father went to the headman and _paranic_ and

asked them what was to be done. They said that he must pay a fine to

them and another to the villagers, because he had made the village

unclean for so long, and give a feast to the villagers and then they

would find out the father of the child and make him marry the girl;

and if he refused to do this, he would be outcasted. The unfortunate

man agreed and then the _jog manjhi_ and _godet_ were sent to call

all the men of the neighbourhood to a meeting.

 

They assembled in their best clothes and pagris and sat down in rows,

and in the middle a circle was drawn on the ground; then prayers were

offered to Chando and the child was set in the circle and told to find

its father. The child began to walk slowly along the lines of men but

it did not stop till it came to its real father, who was sitting a

little apart, and then it threw itself into his arms. Thus the truth

was discovered and the man married the girl and, as he was very poor,

went to live in his father-in-law's house.

 

LV. (Jogeshwar's Marriage.)

 

Once upon a time there was a young man of the weaver caste, named

Jogeshwar. He was an orphan and lived all alone. One summer he planted

a field of pumpkins on the sandy bed of a river. The plants grew well

and bore plenty of fruit: but when the pumpkins were ripe, a jackal

found them out and went every night and feasted on them. Jogeshwar

soon found out from the foot-marks who was doing the damage; so he set

a snare and a few