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

Karam Gosain." And they believed the voice and the next day

did as it commanded, and set off, leaving their children in charge

of Karmu. On the way they came to a fig-tree full of figs and they

went to eat the fruit; but when they got near they found that all

the figs were full of grubs, and they sang:--

 

 

    "Exhausted by hunger we came to a fig-tree,

    And found it full of grubs,

    O Karam Gosain, how far off are you?"

 

 

Then they came to a mango tree and the same thing happened. And they

went on and saw a cow with a calf; and they thought that they would

milk the cow and drink the milk, but when they went to catch it it

ran away from them and would not let itself be caught; and they sang:--

 

 

    "We go to catch the cow and it runs away,

    We go to catch the calf and it runs away,

    O Karam Gosain how far off are you?"

 

 

But the cow said to them--"Go to the banks of the Ganges." Then

they came to a buffalo and went to milk it, but it lowered its head

and charged them; and Dharam cried but his wife said "Don't cry"

and sang:--

 

 

    "If you go to catch the buffalo, Dharmu,

    It will kill you.

    How shall we drink milk? How shall we drink milk?

    How far off are you, O our Karam Gosain?"

 

 

And the buffalo said "Go on to the bank of the Ganges." Then they came

to a horse and they thought that they would catch it and mount it,

but it kicked and snorted; and they sang:--

 

 

    "Dharmu tries to catch the horse:

    But it kicks and runs away.

    How shall we reach the Ganges?

    O Karam Gosain, how far off are you?"

 

 

And the horse said "Go to the banks of the Ganges." Then they saw an

elephant but it would not let them approach, so they decided to push

on straight for the river; and they saw under a banyan tree a large

pot full of rupees, but they were so disheartened that they made no

attempt to touch it; then they met a woman who asked where they were

going and when she heard, she said "For twelve years I have had a _pai_

measure stuck on my throat; ask Karam Gosain for me how I am to get

rid of it," and they promised; and going on they met a woman with a

bundle of thatching grass stuck to her head; and she made them promise

to ask Karam Gosain how she could be freed; then they met a woman with

both her feet burning in a fire and another with a stool stuck fast

to her back and they promised to enquire how these might be delivered.

 

So at last they came to the Ganges and they stood on the bank and

called to Karam Gosain; and when he came they caught hold of him and

he said "Fie, what low caste person is touching me?" But they said. "It

is no low caste person, but Dharmu." Then they bathed him and anointed

him with oil and turmeric and wrapped him in the new cloth which they

had brought, and thus they persuaded him to return; so they rose up

to go back, and Dharmu asked about the women whom they had met, and

Karam Gosain said: "The woman has a stool stuck to her back because

when visitors came she never offered them a seat; let her do so in

future, and she will be freed; and the woman has her feet burning in

the fire because she pushed the fuel into the fire with her foot; let

her not do so in future, and she will be freed; and the woman has the

thatching grass stuck to her head because when she saw a friend with

straw sticking in her hair she did not tell her about it; let her do

so in future and she will be freed; and the woman has the pai measure

stuck to her throat because, when her neighbour wanted to borrow her

measure, she would not lend it; let her do so in future and she will

be freed." And Karam Gosain asked whether they had seen an elephant

and a horse and a buffalo and a cow and money and mangoes and figs and

Dharmu said "Yes," but that he had not been able to catch the animals

and the fruit was bad. Karam Gosain promised them that on their way

back they should take possession of all; and they did so and mounted

on the elephant and returned to their home with great wealth. On their

way they met the four women and told them how they could be saved from

their troubles. The villagers welcomed Dharmu and he arranged a great

feast and gave paddy to all the villagers to husk; but when they had

boiled it the weather became cloudy so that they could not dry it,

so they prayed to the sun and he at once shone out and dried the paddy.

 

Then a day was fixed and they prepared rice beer, and worshipped

Karam Gosain and they danced all night and got very drunk and enjoyed

themselves.

VI. (The Jealous Stepmother.)

 

There was once a man whose wife died leaving him with one son and

after a year he married again. The second wife was very jealous of the

son and she told her husband that she would not stay with him unless

he killed the boy; at first he refused but she insisted and then he

said that he was frightened to do the deed, but she might kill the

boy herself if she liked. She said, "No: he is your son and you must

kill him; if he were mine I would do it. You need not be frightened;

when you take him out ploughing make him drive the front plough, and

you sharpen your plough pole to a point and drive it into him from

behind and kill him and then it will seem to be an accident." So the

man promised and made a sharp point to his plough pole but whenever

they ploughed, the son drove his plough so fast that the father could

not catch him up and so the boy was not killed; then the woman abused

her husband and said that he was deceiving her. So he promised to

finish the business the next day and told her to give the boy a good

hot breakfast before they started, so that he might receive one last

kindness, and he said that they must find some other way of killing

him because all the ploughing was finished; but his wife told him he

could plough down their crop of _goondli_, the bullocks would stop

to eat the _goondli_ as they went along and so he would easily catch

up his son. Accordingly the next morning father and son took out the

ploughs and the boy asked where they should plough, and the father said

that they would plough down the field of _goondli_. But the boy said

"Why should we do that? it is a good crop and will be ripe in a day

or two; it is too late to sow again, we shall lose this crop and who

knows whether we shall get anything in its place?"

 

And the father thought 'What the boy says is true; the first crop

is like the first child, if I kill him who will support me in my

old age? Who knows whether my second wife will have children. I will

not kill him however angry she be;' so they unyoked their ploughs and

went home. He told his wife that he would not kill the boy and scolded

her and ended by giving her a beating. Then she ran away in a passion

but he did not trouble to go and look for her and in a few days her

father and brothers brought her back, and her husband told them what

had happened and they also scolded her and told her to mend her ways.

 

 

VII. (The Pious Woman.)

 

There was once a very pious woman and her special virtue was that she

would not eat or drink on any day until she had first given alms to a

beggar. One day no beggar came to her house, so by noon she got tired

of waiting, and, tying in her cloth some parched rice, she went to the

place where the women drew water. When she got there she saw a Jugi

coming towards her, she greeted him and said that she had brought

dried rice for him. He said that omens had bidden him come to her

and that he came to grant her a boon: she might ask one favour and

it would be given her. The woman said: "Grant me this boon--to know

where our souls go after death, and to see at the time of death how

they escape, whether through the nose or the mouth, and where they

go to; and tell me when I shall die and where my soul will go to;

this I ask and no more." Then the Jugi answered, "Your prayer is

granted, but you must tell no one; if you do, the power will depart

from you." So saying he took from his bag something like a feather and

brushed her eyes with it and washed them with water. Then the woman's

eyes were opened and she saw spirits--_bongas, bhuts, dains, churins_,

and the souls of dead men; and the Jugi told her not to be afraid,

but not to speak to them lest men should think her mad; then he took

his leave, and she returned home. Now in the village lived a poor man

and his wife and they were much liked because they were industrious

and obedient; shortly afterwards this poor man died and the pious

woman saw men come with a palankin and take away the poor man's soul

with great ceremony. She was pleased at the sight and thought that

the souls of all men were taken away like this. But shortly afterwards

her father-in-law died. He had been a rich man, but harsh, and while

the family were mourning the pious woman saw four sipahis armed with

iron-shod staves and of fierce countenance come to the house and two

entered and took the father-in-law by the neck and thrust him forth;

they bound him and beat him, they knocked him down and as he could

not walk they dragged him away by his legs. The woman followed him to

the end of the garden and when she saw him being dragged away, she

screamed. When her husband's relatives saw her screaming and crying

they were angry and said that she must have killed her father-in-law

by witchcraft, for she did not sit by the corpse and cry but went to

the end of the garden. So after the body had been burnt they held

a council and questioned her and told her that they would hold her

to be a witch, if she could not explain. So