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

"O Brother Lakhan, where have you gone?

    O younger brother, where have you gone?"

 

 

Then the Raja heard how he had been separated from his brother,

and he promised to send men in search of Lakhan, and they found

him in the house of a potter; but the potter refused to give him up

until he had been paid for the days that he had entertained him; but

really the Potter had become wealthy, because whenever Lakhan opened

his mouth he spat gold, and he did not wish to lose such a valuable

guest. Then Sit mounted his horse and took five rupees and gave them to

the Potter in payment for his entertainment, and brought Lakhan home

with him. When they found that Lakhan spat gold they were very glad

to keep him and the Raja gave him his second daughter in marriage;

and Lakhan made the whole family rich.

 

Meanwhile Sit and Lakhan's father had fallen into poverty; his country

had been conquered and his army destroyed and he and his wife wandered

about begging; when the boys heard this, they sent for the concubine

who had been good to them, and she came and lived with them, but they

did not forgive their father and step-mother.

 

_Moral_. There is no controlling a second wife and they are hard to

get on with. First wives are the best, they are obedient and agree

with the opinions of their husband.

LXXIX. (The Raja Who Went To Heaven.)

 

Once upon a time there was a Raja, who had many water reservoirs

and tanks, and round the edges he planted trees, mangoes, pipals,

palms and banyans; and the banyan trees were bigger than any. Every

day after bathing the Raja used to walk about and look at his trees,

and one morning, as he did so, he saw a maiden go up to a banyan tree

and climb it, and the tree was then carried up to the sky, but when

he went in the evening he saw the tree in its place again; the same

thing happened three or four days running. The Raja told no one, but

one morning he climbed the banyan tree before the maiden appeared, and

when she came, he was carried up to the sky along with the tree. Then

he saw the maiden descend and go and dance with a crowd of Gupinis

(Divine milk maids) and the Raja also got down and joined in the dance.

 

He was so absorbed in the dance that he took no note of time; so

when at last he tore himself away, he found that the banyan tree had

disappeared. There was nothing to be done, but stay where he was;

so he began to wander about and he soon came to some men building a

palace as hard as they could. He asked them for whom the palace was

being built, and they named his own name. He asked why it was being

built for him, and they said that Thakur intended to bring him there,

because he was a good ruler, who did not oppress his subjects and

gave alms to the poor and to widows and orphans.

 

There was no difference between night and day up in the sky, but

when the Raja came back, he found that the banyan tree was there,

and he climbed up it and was carried back to earth by it. Then

he went home and told his people that he had been on a visit to a

friend. After that the Raja used to visit the banyan tree every day,

and when he found that it did not wither although it had been taken

up by the roots, he concluded that what he had seen was true and he

began to prepare for death. So he distributed all his wealth among

his friends and among the poor; and when his officers remonstrated

he made them no answer. A few days later he died, and was taken to

the palace which he had seen being built.

 

It is said that what you give away in this world, you will get back

in the next; there you will get good wages for what you have done in

this life.

 

LXXX. (Seven-Tricks and Single-Trick.)

 

Seven-Tricks and Single-Trick were great friends, but some one

told Seven-Tricks that Single-Trick was the cleverer man of the

two. Seven-Tricks pondered over this but felt sure that his very name

showed that he was the cleverer; so one day he went to pay a visit

to Single-Trick, and put the matter to the test When Single-Trick saw

him coming, he called a pretty girl and hid her inside the house and

told his wife to put the rice on to boil. Seven-Tricks arrived and was

pressed to stay for the midday meal; he accepted and Single-Trick's

wife brought them water to wash their hands and when they sat down,

helped them to the rice.

 

As they ate, Single-Trick pretended to get very angry and began to

abuse his wife "You lazy slattern, why have you put no salt in the

rice? I will beat you for this, I will beat you into a girl again." So

saying he caught up a club and gave her a blow with it, and pushed her

into the house and pretended to continue the beating inside; and then

came out dragging with him the pretty girl whom he had hidden. When

Seven-Tricks saw this transformation he made up his mind to steal the

club, and try whether he could beat his own wife into a girl again. So

when he went home he secretly took away the club, and the next day when

his wife was giving him his dinner he pretended to get angry with her

for not putting salt in the rice, and snatching up the club gave her

a good pounding with it, and drove her into the house and then pulled

her forth again; but to his dismay she did not look a day younger than

before. Seven-Tricks was puzzled but could only opine that he had not

beaten the woman hard enough, so he beat her till her bones cracked;

but still there was no result and he had to give up in despair.

 

After a time Seven-Tricks paid another visit to Single-Trick, and

Single-Trick invited him to come hunting in the forest; before they

started Single-Trick told his wife to go and buy a hare and keep

it in the house. The two friends set off, and after a time they

put up a hare; Single-Trick had brought with him his dog, which

was a shocking coward and no good at hunting; when they saw the hare

Single-Trick loosed the dog calling "After it, after it, drive it right

home." And the coward of a dog, directly it was free, put its tail

between its legs and ran straight home. "Come along home now; that

is a splendid sporting dog, it is sure to have taken the hare home;"

so saying Single-Trick set off back, and when they arrived he asked

his wife whether the dog had brought home a hare. "Yes", said she,

"I have put it in that room" and promptly produced the hare that she

had bought. Seven-Tricks at once resolved to possess himself of a dog

that brought the game home by itself, and the next night he came and

stole it, and in the morning took it out hunting. He soon started a

hare and loosed the dog after it; the dog ran straight away in the

direction of the house, and Seven-Tricks followed at his leisure,

and asked his wife where the dog had put the hare. "Hare," said she

"there is no hare, the dog came running back alone." "Perhaps I was

too slow and gave him time to eat the hare," thought Seven-Tricks;

so he took it out again and when he loosed it after a hare, he ran

after it as fast as he could to see what it did. Everyone laughed to

see the hunter chasing his dog, instead of his game. When he got to the

house of course there was no hare, and so he gave up trying to hunt.

 

Another day he paid a visit to Single-Trick and Single-Trick asked him

to come out fishing. Before they started Single-Trick told his wife to

buy some live _codgo_ fish and keep them ready in the house. When they

came to a pool, Single-Trick at once let down his line and soon got

a bite from a _codgo_ fish; as he pulled it out he threw it, rod and

all, behind him in the direction of his home and said to Seven-Tricks

"_Come_ along home, I expect that all the fish in the pool will have

reached home by now," Directly they got to the house Single-Trick

asked his wife whether the fish had come. "Yes", said she, "I have

put them all in this basket" and brought out a basket of live _codgo_

fish. Seven-Tricks at once made up his mind to steal the wonderful

fishingrod, so he came back that evening and managed to abstract it,

and next morning went fishing with it. Directly he had caught a _codgo_

fish, he threw it over his shoulder and went off home and asked whether

the fish had arrived, but he only got laughed at for his folly. Then

he was convinced that Single-Trick was more than a match for him,

and he would have nothing more to do with him.

 

LXXXI. (Fuljhari Raja.)

 

There was once a Raja named Fuljhari and he was childless; he and his

wife made pilgrimages to many shrines but all in vain, the wished-for

son never arrived. One day a Jugi came to the palace begging and

the Raja asked the holy man to tell him how he could have a son;

then the Jugi examined the palms of their hands but having done

so remained silent. The Raja urged him to speak but the Jugi said

that he feared that the reply would be distasteful to the Raja and

make him angry. But the Raja and his wife begged for his advice,

and promised to do him no harm whatever he said. At last the Jugi

explained that they could never have a child unless they separated,

and the Raja went right away and the Rani lived with another man;

with this he took his departure.

 

Then the Raja and his wife consulted together and the Raja proposed to

take