Part 11

The Parrot said, "I have no more cakes, but if you are still hungry, you may eat me."

The Cat was still hungry, and ate the Parrot, bones and beak and feathers. Thus the tables were turned; for if the Parrot had the best of it before, the Cat had the best of it now.

An old woman happened to be near, and saw this. So she picked up a stone, and said--

"Shoo! shoo! get away, or I'll kill you with this stone."

Now the Cat thought to herself, "I ate a basketful of cakes, I ate my friend the Parrot, and shall I blush to eat this old hag?"

No, surely not. The Cat devoured the old Woman.

The Cat went along the road and perceived a Washerman with a donkey. He said, "O Cat, get away, or my donkey shall kick you to death!"

Thought the Cat, "I ate a basketful of cakes, I ate my friend the Parrot, I ate the abusive old Woman, and shall I blush to eat a Washerman?"

No, surely not. The Cat devoured the Washerman.

The Cat next met the wedding procession of a King: a column of soldiers, and a row of fine elephants two and two. The King said, "O Cat, get away, or my elephants will trample you to death."

[Illustration]

Thought the Cat, "I ate a basketful of cakes, I ate my friend the Parrot, I ate the abusive old Woman, I ate the Washerman and his donkey, and shall I blush to eat a beggarly King?"

No, surely not. The Cat devoured the King, and his procession, and his elephants too.

Then the Cat went on until she met a pair of Landcrabs. "Run away, run away, Pussycat!" said the Landcrabs, "or we will nip you!"

"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the Cat, shaking her sides (fat enough they were by this time), "I ate a basketful of cakes, I ate my friend the Parrot, I ate an abusive old Woman, I ate the Washerman and his donkey, I ate the King and all his elephants, and shall I run away from a Landcrab? Not so, but I will eat the Landcrab too!" So saying, she pounced upon the Landcrabs. Gobble, gobble, slip, slop: in two swallows the Landcrabs went down the Cat's gullet.

But although the Landcrabs slid down the Cat's gullet easily enough, you must know that they are hard creatures, too hard for a Cat to bite; so they took no harm at all. They found themselves amongst a crowd of creatures. There was the King, sitting with his head on his hands, very unhappy; there was the King's newly-wed bride in a dead faint; there was a company of soldiers, trying to form fours, but rather muddled in mind; there was a herd of elephants, trumpeting loudly; there was a donkey braying and the Washerman beating the donkey with a stick; there was the Parrot, whetting his beak on his own claws; then there was the old Woman abusing them all roundly; and last of all, five hundred cakes neatly piled in a corner. The Landcrabs ran round to see what they could find; and they found that the inside of the Cat was quite soft. They could not see anything at all, except by flashes, when the Cat opened her mouth, but they could feel. So they opened their claws, and nip! nip! nip!

"Miaw!" squealed the Cat.

Then came another nip, and another great Miaw! The Landcrabs went on nipping, until they had nipped a big round hole in the side of the Cat. By this time the Cat was lying down, in great pain; and as the hole was very big, out walked the Landcrabs, and scuttled away. Then out walked the King, carrying his bride; and out walked the elephants, two and two; out walked the soldiers, who had succeeded in forming fours-right, by your left, quick march! out walked the donkey, with the Washerman driving him along; out walked the old Woman, giving the Cat a piece of her mind; and last of all, out walked the Parrot, with a cake in each claw. Then they all went about their business, as if nothing had happened; and the Parrot flew back to whet his beak on the branch of the mango-tree.

[Illustration]

Notes

Notes

1.--The Talking Thrush

Told by KÁSHI PRASÁD, village school, Bhingá, district Bahráich, Oudh.

Man sows cotton-seeds in garden--Phudki bird sees him--Makes her nest of the cotton--Goes to a Behana, and says, "If I bring you cotton, will you card it, and give me half, keeping half yourself?"--He does so--"Now make it into balls" (Piuni)--Does so on the same terms--A Kori spins thread on the same terms--And weaves it into cloth--Similarly a tailor makes it into clothes--She flies to court and sits on a peg--Says the King, "Give me your suit"--She does so, and says, "The King covets my suit"--"Come here, and I will return it"--She comes, and he catches her--"I will cut you in pieces"--"The King will cut me in pieces to-day"--He cuts her up and tells his servant to wash them--"To-day the King is washing and cleaning"--Puts her in a pan of oil--"To-day the King is frying me in oil"--Eats her--"I shall go into the King's stomach"--The Bird puts out its head--Two soldiers attempt to cut it off and mutilate the King so that he dies.

The _motif_ is much the same as in No. 2 of the collection. The pieces of the Thrush speak like the fish in the tale of the "Fisherman and the Jinni" (Burton, "Arabian Nights," Library Edition, I. 59).

2.--The Rabbit and the Monkey

Told by DANKHAH RABHA, in the Bhutan Hills. Taken without essential change from _North Indian Notes and Queries_, iv. § 465.

3.--The Sparrow's Revenge

Told by SHIN SAHÁI, teacher of the village school of Dayarhi Chakeri, Etah District. Another version of the _Podnâ_ and the _Podnî_, _N.I.N.Q._ iii. 83. Compare the _Valiant Blackbird_, No. 28 below.

Hen Sparrow tells her husband to go into the jungle and fetch firewood to cook _khîr_ (rice milk)--A _Chamâr_ kills him--Hen makes carriage of straw, yokes two rats to it, and drives off to take vengeance--Meets a Wolf--"Where are you going?"--"To take vengeance on the Chamâr who killed my husband"--"May I help?"--"It will be kind"--Meets a Snake, who salutes her with, "Râm! Râm! Whither away?"--Replies as before, and same thing happens--So with a Scorpion--They arrive at the house of the Chamâr--Wolf hides near the river--Snake under pile of cow-dung fuel--Scorpion under the lamp--The Sparrow flies up to the eaves and twitters--Out comes Chamâr--Says she, "A friend awaits you near the river." To the river he goes--Wolf seizes him--His wife goes to the heap for fuel--Snake bites her--She calls to her son, "Bring the lamp"--Scorpion stings him--They all die--Hen Sparrow gets another mate, and lives happily ever after.

It is part of the Faithful Animal cycle (Temple, "Wide-awake Stories," 412; Clouston, "Popular Tales and Fictions," i. 223 _seqq._). This form of tale, in which the weaker animal gets the better of its more powerful oppressor, is common in Indian folk-lore. Compare No. 1 of this collection.

4.--The Judgment of the Jackal

Told by SHIUDAN CHAMAR, of Chaukiya, Mirzápur. _N.I.N.Q._ iii. 101.

Merchant puts up at house of Oilman--Oilman ties the horse to his mill--Next morning Merchant asks for it--He replies, "It has run away!"--"But what is that horse?"--"My mill gave birth to it in the night"--Appeal to Siyar Panre, the Jackal--"Go back and I will come"--He bathes in a tank--Delay--They seek him, and find him sitting by the tank--"Why did you delay?"--"Too busy; the tank caught fire, and I have just put it out"--"You are mad; who ever heard of a tank on fire?"--"Who ever heard of a mill bearing a foal?"--Oilman returns horse.

A parallel may be found in the Buddhist _J[=a]taka_, No. 219 (Cambridge translation, ii. 129), another Version from the Frontier in Swynnerton's "Indian Nights' Entertainment," p. 142. Compare Stumme, _Tunisische Märchen_, vol. ii., Story of an Oilman.

5.--How the Mouse got into his Hole

Told by BISRAM BANYA and recorded by MAHARAJ SINH, teacher of the school at Akbarpur, Faizabad district.

6.--King Solomon and the Owl

Told by MUNSHÍ CHHOTÉ KHÁN, teacher of the village school at Ant, District Sitápur, Oudh.

[A new legend of the Fall.]

Solomon hunts alone--An Owl asks him to receive him--Solomon asks, "Why do you hoot all night?"--"To wake men and women early for prayer: travelling is difficult, for treasure is dearer than life"--"Why do you shake your head?"--"To remind mankind that the world is but a fleeting show, and to show my disapproval of their delight in worldly things"--"Why do you eat no grain?"--"_Adam ate wheat in heaven, and was turned out of it on that account._ Adam prayed, and God sent him into the world, and blessed him to be the father of mankind. If I eat one grain I expect to be cast into hell"--"Why do you drink no water in the world at night?"--"Because Noah's race was drowned in this world in water. If I drink, it would be hard for me to live"--Solomon is pleased, and asks the Owl to remain with him, and advise him on all points.

There is no verse in the original.

All through the eastern world the owl, from its association with graveyards and old ruins, is regarded as a mystic bird, invested with powers of prophecy and wisdom (Crooke, "Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India," i. 279).

7.--The Camel's Neck

Told by BACHÁÚ, a Kasera, or brassfounder, of Mirzápur, North-West Provinces.

Camel practises austerities--Bhagwán is pleased, and appears to him--"Who are you?"--"Lord of the Three Regions"--"Show me your proper form"--Bhagwán appears in his four-handed form (Chaturbhuji)--Camel does reverence--"Ask a boon"--"Let my neck be a _yojan_ long"--"Be it so"--The neck becomes eight miles long--He can now graze within a radius of four miles (sic)--It rains--He puts his neck in a cave--A pair of Jackals eat his flesh--The Camel dies--A wise man says--

"Álas dókh mahán dekhyo phal kaisá bhayá; Yátén únt aján, maran lagyo nij karm se."

"Idleness is a great fault: see what was the result of idleness. By this the foolish Camel died, simply owing to his own deeds."

This is one of the very common cycle of tales where the fool comes to ruin in consequence of a stupid wish. In the "Book of Sindibad," it appears as the "Peri and the Religious Man" (Clouston, "Book of Sindibad," 71); La Fontaine has adopted it as the "Three Wishes," and Prior as "The Ladle." The Italian version will be found in Crane, "Italian Popular Tales," 221. The four-hand god is Vishnu in his form as Chaturbhuja.

8.--The Quail and the Fowler

Told by RAMESWAR-PURI, a wandering religious beggar of Kharwá, District Mirzápur.

Fowler catches a Quail--"I'll teach you three things, and if you free me I'll teach you a fourth: (1) Never set free what you have caught; (2) What seems to you untrue you need not believe; (3) What is past you should not trouble about"--He sets the Quail free--Says the Quail, "I have in my stomach a gem weighing 1 1/4 seers, and worth lakhs of rupees; had you not let me go you would have that gem"--Fowler falls on the ground in misery--Says the Quail, "You forget my teaching: (1) You set me free; (2) You did not ask how a body so light could contain such a gem; (3) You are troubled about what is past"--Flies away--Fowler returns home a wiser man.

Compare the "Laughable Stories of Bar-Hebraeus," E. A. W. Budge (Luzac, 1897), No. 382, where a Sparrow acts as this Quail does. See also the "Three Counsels worth Money" in No. 485.

9.--The King of the Kites

Told by RÁM DÉO, Brahman, of Mirzápur.

Frog and Mouse dispute, each saying he is King of the Kites--The dispute lasts for several years--They refer it to a _Panch_ (Committee of Five)--The other three are Bat, Squirrel, Parrot--They cannot decide--A small Kite appears--Carries off both Frog and Mouse, and eats them--The rest depart--The dispute does not arise again.

The belief that each species of bird and beast has a king of its own is common. Thus, we have a king of the serpents, of mice, of flies, locusts, ants, foxes, cats, and so on (Frazer, "Pausanias," iii. 559). Also see No. 27 of this collection.

10.--The Jackal and the Camel

Told by HAR PRASÁD, Brahman, of Saráya Aghat, District Etah, N.W.P.

Camel grazing, entangles nose-string in a tree--Confused in mind, appeals to Jackal--"Brother, I will free you for one _seer_ of flesh"--He agrees--Jackal asks the tongue--"Have you a witness?"--Jackal tries all the beasts, offering half of all he gets--Wolf refuses--Jackal explains that the Camel will die, and they will get all his body--He then agrees, and swears it--Camel opens his mouth, curls back tongue--Jackal cannot catch the tongue--Wolf tries--When the head is well in, Camel closes his jaws--"O _Dâdâ_ (father), what is this?"--Says Jackal, "The result of lying," and runs away--Wolf dies.

In Oriental folk-lore the jackal takes the place which the fox occupies in the Western world, and numerous tales are told of his cunning. This fact has formed the base of an argument to prove that the European Beast tales originated from the East (Tawney, "Katha Sarit Ságara," ii. 28).

11.--The Wise Old Shepherd

Told by MUNSHI FAZL KARÍM of Mirzápur.

A Nága (Snake) goes out of his hole to take an airing--Enters the Raja's court--All flee in terror--Raja orders the Snake to be killed--The Prince kills it--Snake's wife goes in search--Enters the court and learns his fate--Vows to make his wife also a widow--Coils round the Prince's neck in the night--He dares not stir--Queen-mother goes to see what is the matter--Sees the Snake--Raja sends archers--They prepare to shoot--Snake pleads fair reprisals, and asks that the matter be decided by Panch--They find five Shepherds holding a Panchayat--They all go thither--The men all agree that the Snake is right except one--He asks how many sons has the Snake--"Seven"--"Then you must wait till the Princess has three more, and then you may kill him."

There is a universal taboo in India against killing a snake. When a cobra is slain it is supposed that its mate always avenges its death (Crooke, "Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India," i. 226).

12.--Beware of Bad Company

Told by JAGAT KISHOR, master at the Government School, Gondá, Oudh.

A Swan made friends with a Crow--They fly away from Mánsarowar to find some sport--Perch on a pipal tree under which a pious Raja is worshipping his Thákurji (idol of Rám or Krishna)--Crow drops filth on his head and flies away--He sees the Swan and shoots it--Swan says:--

"Kák náhin, ham hans hain, Mán karat ham bás; Dhrisht kág ké mél són, Bhayo hamaró nás."

("I am no Crow but a Swan, dwelling in Mán Sarówar; being friend of an ignoble Crow I am destroyed.")

The Crow, as in several tales in this collection, is in Oriental folk-lore the representative of all that is thievish and mischievous.

13.--The Foolish Wolf

Told by MAHÁDEVA PRASÁD, pupil of branch school, Nau Shaharah, District Gonda, Oudh.

Wolf and Ass were friends--Played as described in text--Boy sees Wolf running away from Ass, and says, "What a timid Wolf"--Says the Wolf, "You shall rue it, I'll carry you off to-day"--Boy tells his mother--"Never mind, he won't hurt you"--Hides stone in loin-cloth--Wolf comes for him--Leaves him in his den for the morrow--Goes to play with the Ass--Boy climbs a tree--Wolf finds no Boy--Stands gaping with perplexity--Boy throws stone into his mouth and kills him.

14.--Reflected Glory

Told by MÁTÁ DÍN, assistant teacher, Pili-Bhít district, N.W.P.

A Shepherd had a lame Goat which he beat--It ran away--Fearing the wild beasts, it sat down beside a cave where were footsteps of a Lion--A Jackal comes up--"Rám, Rám, grandfather! I have found food after many days." "Rám, Rám, grandson, I was told to sit here by the owner of these footprints."--"A Lion! if I eat you, he will eat my cubs"--He goes--A Wolf comes, and the same thing happens--The Lion comes--Says the Goat, "By the influence of your footprints I have been safe; beasts came to devour me, and I became your man: they fled." "If you have called yourself my man I will not eat you"--Lion finds an Elephant: "I have a lame Goat; let him go on your back and eat the young leaves as you graze"--He agrees, and the Goat says, "Khoj pakar liyo baran ko hasti mili hai ái gaj mastak achchhi charhi ajayá kopal khâya" ("By betaking myself to the footprints of the great, I have got an Elephant")--Mounting on the Elephant's head, the Goat feeds well on new leaves.

15.--The Cat and the Sparrows

Told by TULSI RÁM, Brahman, of Sadabad, Mathura district. For the _motif_, compare _J[=a]taka_, No. 333 (translation, vol. iii. p. 71).

16.--The Foolish Fish

Told by HARI CHAND or HEM CHANDI, teacher of a village school, Mirzápur district. A variant of the same, told by SHEO-DÁN, Chamár, Chankiyá, Mirzápur district.

Banya sees Tiger sunk in the mud--Tiger tries him to release him--Swears he will not hurt him or his family--Banya saves him--Says Tiger, "Shall I eat you or your ox?"--Banya protests--Tiger: "It is the way of my family"--Banya says, "Let the Jackal arbitrate"--Jackal asks to see the place the Tiger was in--Then to be shown exactly how he was--The Tiger goes in again, and the Jackal advises the man to go home and leave him.

17.--The Clever Goat

Recorded by MÁTÁ DÍN, assistant teacher, Pili-Bhít district.

18.--A Crow is a Crow for Ever

Told and recorded by SÁHIB RÁM, Brahman, of Nardauli, Etah district.

The verse is:--

Kág parháe pinjra: parhi gaye cháron Ved: Jab sudhi ai kutum ki rahe dhed ke dhed.

"I kept my crow in a cage, and taught him all four Vedas; When he thought of his family, he became filthy as ever."

19.--The Grateful Goat

Told by BIKKÚ MISRA, Brahman, Achhnérá village, Agra district.

Butcher buys a Goat--"Spare my life, and I will repay you"--He spares him--The Goat goes into the forest and meets a Jackal--"I am going to eat you." "Wait till I get fat in the forest." "Good: look out for me when you come back"--Meets a Wolf--Same thing happens--Finds a temple of Mahádeva--In it are gold coins--Swallows them--Goes to a flower-seller--"Cover me with flowers"--He does so, and the Goat voids two mohurs--Sets out to return--Meets the Wolf--"Have you seen a Goat?" "No"--Meets the Jackal--"Have you seen a Goat?" "Yes, some distance back"--Proceeds to the Butcher, and voids the rest of the coins--The Butcher is grateful, and never kills him as long as he lives.

Agra district. Tales of animals spitting gold are common, as in Grimm's "Three Little Men in the Wood" ("Household Tales," i. 56) and in Oriental Folk-lore (Tawney, "Katha Sarit Ságara," ii. 8, 453, 637; Knowles, "Folk-tales of Kashmir," p. 443).

20.--The Cunning Jackal

Told by BAL BÍR PRASÁD, teacher of the school at Sultánpur, Oudh.

A Jackal sees melons on the other side of a river--Sees a Tortoise--"How are you and your family?" "I am well, but I have no wife." "Why did you not tell me? some people on the other side have asked me to find a match for their daughter." "If you mean it I will take you across"--Takes him across on his back--When the melons are over the Jackal dresses up a jhau-tree as a bride--"There is your bride, but she is too modest to speak till I am gone"--Tortoise carries him back--Calls to the stump--No answer--Goes up and touches it--Finds it is a tree--Vows revenge--As Jackal drinks, catches his leg--"You fool, you have got hold of a stump by mistake; see, here is my leg," pointing to a stump--Tortoise leaves hold--Jackal escapes--Tortoise goes to Jackal's den--Jackal returns and sees the footprints leading into the den--Piles dry leaves at the mouth, and fires them--Tortoise expires.

This is an unpublished variant of the "Jackal and the Crocodile" (Temple, "Wide-awake Stories," 243).

21.--The Farmer's Ass

Told by RÁM SINH, Haidar-Garh, district Barau Banki.

A Washerman has an Ass that brays on hearing a conch-shell, thinks he must have been a saint in a former life, but something went wrong (kahin chuk gaya) and he became an Ass--Names him Tulsi Das--Ass dies--"He was valuable to me," shaves head, performs obsequies, gives feast to clansmen--Goes to shop of a Banya--"Why are you in mourning?" "Tulsi Das, who was a great saint, is dead"--Banya shaves, too--Raja's sepoy asks him why--"Tulsi Das is dead"--Shaves, too--Comrades ask why--Same thing--Same with the chief of the sepoys--The minister, the raja, all shave--Queen asks why--Raja tells her--"But who is Tulsi Das?" "A friend of the minister's"--So the report is traced back to the Washerman, who says, "He was my Ass."

_N.I.N.Q._, iii. § 104, gives the same tale about an ass named Sobhan (beautiful): told by Shyam Sundar, village accountant of Dudhi, Mirzápur district, recorded by Ahmad Ullah. Compare Temple's "Wide-awake Stories," 'The Death and Burial of poor Hen Sparrow;' Lady Burton's "Arabian Nights," iii. 228, 'The Unwise Schoolmaster who fell in Love by Report;' Jacob's "English Fairy Tales," 'Tetty Mouse and Tatty Mouse,' and _note_, p. 234.

22.--The Parrot Judge

Told by MAKUND LÁL, Mirzápur.

A Bird-catcher had a Parrot which knew only two words, Beshak (undoubtedly) and Cheshak (what doubt)--Took it to market, and gave out that it knew Persian, price 5 lakhs of rupees--Nobleman asks it, "Do you know Persian?"--"Cheshak"--Buys it--Puts it in a gold cage, and gives it good food--King one day began to talk to the Parrot in Persian--It could say nothing but these two words--The owner threw it on the ground and killed it.

23.--The Frog and the Snake

Told by AKBAR SHÁH, Mánjhi, one of the jungle-folk of Manbasa, Dudhi, Mirzápur, and recorded by Pandit Ramgharíb Chaubé. _N.I.N.Q._, iii. § 101.

No change. The King of the Snakes is Vásuki Nága.

24.--Little Miss Mouse

Told by AKBAR SHÁH, Mánjhi, of Manbasa, Dudhi, Mirzápur. _N.I.N.Q._, iv. § 19.

No change in first part. The music-shop is in the original the house of the Chamâr (a caste of labourers and leather-workers), who gives a drum, which is broken by a woman husking rice, who strikes it with a pestle. The crop in the last scene is rice.

25.--The Jackal that Lost his Tail

Told by PARMANAND TIWÁRI, student, Anglo-Sanskrit School, Mirzápur. _N.I.N.Q._, iv. § 17.

A Kurmi (one of the agricultural tribes) used to go to his field--At noon his wife brought the dinner--Meets Jackal, and all falls out as in tale till the tail is cut off--Jackal returns and finds wife gathering cow-dung--"Your son (_sic_) has cut off my tail, and I must bite you." "He is dead, come to the funeral feast?"--He and his friends come--"To prevent you squabbling, let me tie you up"--Ties them to the cattle pegs, tailless Jackal with specially strong chain--Kurmi comes out with bludgeon--They break their ropes and flee, all but tailless Jackal, which Kurmi kills.

This is connected with the Æsopian fable of "The Fox who Lost his Tail."

26.--The Wily Tortoise

Told by BRIJ MOHAN LÁL, second master, High School, Manipuri, N.W.P. The bird is a _Hansa_. _N.I.N.Q._, iii. § 295.

27.--The King of the Mice

Told and recorded by BABU GANDHARAB SINH, of Etah.