I n d i an F o l k l o r e .

Being a co llection of tales ulustrating the

customs and manners of the Indian

people.

GANESHJI JETHABHA I,£ 1.1 1H IA ‘VA I2 A GENCY P LEADER, Jr. EDITOR AND I C BLISB BB

LAW Bneon'

rs, &c., 843.

FIRST EDITION .

L I M B D I

PRINTED BY H. S. DUBAL

AT l m: JASWArsgmgqmmma PRESS.

$963.

Al i mgkts inut

’

admg r ight of translation rescu ed.

B IS H IGHNESS

s JASVANTS INHJ X , K . c . 1. EL,THAKORE SAHEB OF LIMBDI ,

WHO IS 0m: 0 3 THE Ewo unD RULING (mums or

w A AND WHO HAs V ISITEDEUROPE AN D AMERICA ,

THIS BOOK ,

WH ICH INTENDED TO om ; AN msmm:

wssr mro THE onerous AND m amas

0 1? THE EAST,

m m c an nons PERMISSION DEDICATEDTOK EN o r m s TRAV ELS OV ER THE

TWO CON TINEN TS ,

AND m s H AV INGTHE PROUD PRIVILEGE

ov BEING WELL- K NOWN TO m oss

MIGHTY NATION3,

BY HIS HIGHNHss’

s

Hoar FA ITHFUL AND LOYAL SUBJECT,

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

I r is hardly necessary to say that fromvery early times India has been well knownfor the r ichness and var iety of al l the branches

o f its li terature. Its legendary lore is particularly wide and var ied and presents us witha vivid picture of the actions

,projects

,thoughts,

fol lies and virtues o f the human race.

In o lden days the means of imparting instruction were very lim ited. The ar t of pr inting was unknown and there were no schoolso f the modern type ; hence var ious ways wereinvented for educating ch ildren by word of

m outh,and th is is the or igin of all those

traditions wh ich are at once interesting and

instructive.It is but natural that legends, thus tra

v e l ling from lip to l ip, should be apt to growinaccurate day by day, and van ish altogetherin course o f time ; and fear ing that they m igh tbe totally lost, I have tr ied to co llect such

legends scattered through our literature, and

have worked the rude mater ial thus gatheredinto ,

I hepe, a readable form and presented i t

to the publ ic in the shape of a handy m t nual

called‘ K autak mala and Bodhvachan . The

sources of the max ims,form ing the heading s

o f the stor ies, have been carefully traced, and

hence i t is hoped they wi ll prov e useful for

practical purposes.The book was first published in 1885 A. D .

in Gujarati and warm ly welcom ed by the

Press and the public and was a lso sanctioned as

a pr ize and l ibrary book by the D irector o f

Publ ic I nstruction . S ince th en it has been

th r ice repr inted and almost a ll the cop.c<

h av e been sold. Ganeshj i , says th e

Indian Spectator ,“ has shown considerable sk il l

in sift ing and arrang ing the rude m ater ia l scol lected from many sources and in inv estigatin

h al f forgotten local chron ic les o f wit and humour with an interest wh ich wi ll g ive them a

permanent place in the l iterature o f the p ro

The late M r . J. W.A . Weir, Co l lec tor o f

Surat and other Eng l ishmen o f my acquain tance who hav e read my book ,

adv ised m e to

publi sh an Eng l ish translation of the same.

Acting upon their adv ice, I got a fewstor ies

translated into English and sent them roundfor opinions wh ich were,without any exceptions

,

very favourable. I would certainly encourageyou,

says the Hon. M r. Justice Crowe of

the BombayHigh Court, to get the book trans~lated into Engl ish as i t m ay prove of use to

students o f Gujarati and wil l give an insightinto the m e thods o f thoughts c f the people.

I t is hoped, therefore, that th is Eng l ish edi

tio n o f the book wi ll promo te a larger acquaintance wi th ,

and a heartier appreciation o f, the

native thoughts and native customs, the prao l ical wisdom and ripe exper ience depicted in

the fo l lowing pages . Th is is , I th ink, the

fi rst Guj arati book o f its type , translated intoEng l ish ,

and,if

,as such , it forms an interesting

and amusing reading for the Eng lish knowingpeop le

,I shal l feel mysel f amply rewarded.

The Hindi edition o f the book is in the

Press , and I hope to publ ish Marath i and

Bengali trans lations o f the same very soon.

The work o f trans lation was entrusted to

my fr iend M r . Nagardas Mulp Dhruva of

the Gondal Gras ia College,to whom my g rate s

ful thanks are due for h is hearty co- operation.

I must not also forg et to express my sense o f

o bl igation to M r. John F. Hartin , Pr inc ipal o fthe said College, for kindly looking over the

m anuscript and making valuable suggestions.

1

30 3 GA N ESHJ I JETHABHA I .

INDEX .

Turn down your mustache , you Ban ia; yes,Si r , seven times and a half.

A Bufl’

alo in the Bazar and aquarre l at home .

I’

i l l dip it and eat it.

Make 50 cakes out of 4 lbs. of flour and

g iv e one between the two . They may eat

as much of it as they can,and are welcome

to take home what is left.D ragg ing the wel l .Who says it is a Rampi out ?A hundred snakes in a bush .

Sluggards who prefer death to work .

Too lazy to p ick up ber r ies.K ank odi is cleared off by worms, Soap isrotten

,Iron is eaten up by m ice and Hurbal

is carr ied away by a k ite.

The long and short of a. thing .

To be very liberal with other people’

s money.

Why do they go to Malwa? They m ightas well stay at home and eat K haj a and

sugar .

Al l the people of the town eat r ice and m i lk .

Allah has already taken His due .

Gabha in place of Gambhu.

A Fool’

s bolt is soon shot.

18 Happen what may, I won’

t add to i t

another grain.

Even a snake laid by may have its use.

You are not blind though the spear is.

I wi ll have her if I can ; i f not, what doI lose 6 2

150 for the beard, whereas 4-00 for the Choti . 67

P late th is c lub with go ld. 6 8

N o , by my grand father , I am not hungry . 6 9

I g ive you all the buffaloes of the town . 71

Law l icks up a l l . 7 2

Someth ing , i f you could but tel l wh i t.

A sequel to the above .

The dog of Hadala.

T idings of the wel l - being of the Thrik o re’

s

fam i ly .

To do as Bhagi‘

t did .

Foo l’

s haste is no speed .

Dhcdf‘

rs as arbitrators.It is a. Mia'

s field , not a. widowPutting one off does not necessar i ly implyrefusal .

One good head is b etter than a. hundred

strong hands. 97

There is no going back . 100

Foolish boasting . 10 2

N o shift and one too many. 104»

Rej ecting a br ibe of a hundred thousand rupees 10 5

To strain at a. gnat and swal lowa came l . 107

A ll Saint without, a l l dev i l with in . 10 9

He that is won with a nut may be lostwi than apple .

A fig to the doctor when cured

Can’

t help i t, m y fr iend : for,

I haw the

m isfor tune to be a Pitt-idar .

The bov “ho bi t his m other .

Where have vou been,Rahzi. Gadhm i 7 On

a wi ld goose chase .

N o thing wnture,nothing ga

'

n .

B l) a turn - coat.

The beggar is nev er out of h is u a v .

Ewry l'

ogue is at leng th out - n ittm l .

There is differ e n c

e betwe en m an an d m an

says Annnd to Permanand,for

,one can

'

t he

had for m onev,W ll i lO anotln r i s no t wor th

a p ie .

A c ro s s and per verse M id.

You are fed wi th ghe e and inu la=s es,and

we t. you won

’

t wa lk we l l .'

l he re was Rama and the re “as R'

u ana.

l l zi vana carr ied away Rama’

s wife and the

la tter took il lS life and k ingdom . That’s the

sum and subs tance o f Rzim z-i y ana.

A \ arice is the root o f al l e v i l *

Ca ll m e an ass .

A l l the gods wi ll s lowlv dis appear , leav ing

behind them the idols of wood and stone.

Jack would wipe. his nose if he had one.

The handle of the axe is the destruction of

its progen i tor .A n iche i n the wal l.

S tick ing fast to a th ing .

So got, so gene .

A been asked by a b l ind man.

The t tts of Mesana dine to morrow.

Who is the wiser of the two 7

\Vag°

;ng war against the sun .

Who can spin so much cotton.

It is your mace that commands respect, no t you.

He that shows his purse longs to be r id of it.

A learned fool.

Hal f the Ji’

iwé r belongs to M i d .

A Shepherd a lways dreams of open fie lds.

15 6

15 8

160

16 2

16 5

16 6

16 9

171

176

179

18 2

A negro thinks h is own ch i ld the handsomest. 184

Come and stay in mans if you are afraid

of Al lah.

Presence of m ind is the best weapon .

I would d ie,i f i t were only to make you a

widow.

Where shal l we graze the cattle ?

To go for wool and come home shorn.

She is no g ift ; for , I have paid for her .If the cap fi ts , wear it.The greatest c lerks are not always the wisestmen.

A little learning is a dangerous thing.Borrowing rupees on a sing le hair .Weak threads un ited form a strong rope.

Vain glory blossoms but never bears.

A knife in the box.

Seeta Harana.

Robbing the robbers.

The Ban ia and the Burg lars.

A thief and the scorpion.N ever m ind the goods ; the invoice is sti l lwith meI wil l please you.

Al l for the best.

The people’

s voice the voice of God we cal l ;

And what are proverbs but the people’s voice ?Coined first, and current made by common choice ?Then sure they must have weight and truth withal .

Howel l.

The genius, wit, and spirit of a are dis

covered ia its proverbs - Bacon.

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2 " rsnu u sem inar .

the P athau. At once losing h is temper , hec r ied out, You Bania, what do you mean .by

that ? Howdare you turn up your mustachein my presence ? You shall soon repent of theinsult you have wantonly offered me th ismorning.”

Chhabildas could not or would not understand h im and went on do ing the same th ingagain. When once more warned by the Pathan ,

he said, “Well,Khan Séheb , why do you

g ive yourself unnecessary airs ? A re you the

supreme ruler here that you can injure me byhard

.words ? Who are you, sir, to talk to me

in that strain ? ”

0

“At any rate I can not put up with the

insult ; said the Pathan,

“ down on yourk nees, or I shall collec t men and have yourhouse plundered.”

“A s if you could col lec t men and otherscould not ! Do your worst.

All r ight. Take care of yourself. Cal lme an ass if I don’t cause you to turn down

After the altercation the Pathan at once

began to collect a band of hirelings with a V leW

mews rem nant . 3

to vanquish his foe. TheBah ia, however , wasnot to be beaten so easily. He was heardg iving instructions to h is clerks every morningto write to h is agents at several places to hirewar lik e bands and hold them in readiness.These orders were all countermanded in pr ivate,and in fact he did not enl ist a s ingle soul.But the show he made had the desired effectupon the though tless Pathan. Hear ing thatthe Ban ia was co llecting a large force, he

mortgaged his house and ornaments, and spentall he had in hir ing more men.

At the end of a month, the Pathfin, beingunable to meet the da ily expenses of h is band,sent word to the Bania either to turn downhis mustache or to get ready for a fight. The

Ban ia, at once, ran to h im,and with folded

arms exc laimed, Oh ! Khan Shheb, I have atlast seen my m istake. I cannot compete w ithyou. Again, as neighbours we are brethren,and ought not to dream of coming to blows fornothing. You are a big Sardar , while whoam I - a poor Rania- that I should raise myarm against you !

”The P athi n

’

s vanity wasgratified by the suppliant attitude the au ra

1 151mm FOLKLORE.

assumed. He, therefore, asked him to turndown h is mustache as a s ign of defeat. The

Bania, wh ile do ing so,exclaimed , N ot once,

but seven times and a hal f, sir

Men u —Envy shoots at another but

wounds itsel f.Envious persons are always jealous .of

other people’s good for tune. They cannot becured of the disease but by their utter ruin or

death. A bat cannot see dur ing the daytimeis that any fault of the sun ? ( Gdlz

’

stdn ofS heikh Saudi

STORY II .

b j‘A Buffalo in the Bazar and aquarrel

at home.”

IN one of the villages of Kathiawar l iveda cultivator named Pancho. The name of h is

wife was Fulan. One day, when she went outto fetch water , she sawa herd of buffaloes at

the vil lage gate , and the villagers buying themand driving them home. Fulan alsowantedt o

ismm Fam ous. 5

buy one,and on reaching home she said to

.

her husband, Do you hear? Splendid buffaloes

are being sold dirt cheap at the gate. Go and

buy me one th is instant. Don’t you know that

we h ave long been do ing without good m ilkor whey ?

”

Why, woman,

said the husband,

I am

not blind to it. I will at once go and bringone home ; but you will have to give my s isterdaily as much whey as she requires, and thattoo without m ix ing much water with i t. Do

you see

That I won’t. I have to work hardfrom morn til l n ight, feed ing the buffalo and

c lean ing the yard ; and then to give away wheyto your brothers and s isters ! why shouldn’t Igive it to mine ? Why should they have

precedence ? ”“ You termagant, angri ly exclaimed

P ei ncho, dare to do that and I wil l knock out

your bra ins.”“ Let me see you do it. It is easier said

than done.”

Th is was too much for Pancho. Takinga thick bamboo - stick that was lying by ,

m

6 men u Penm an.

made a free use of it on the back of h is spouse.The loud lamentations of

“slain attracted the

who le neighbourhood to the scene of action .

It was soon found out that the couple had

agreed to buy a buffalo , but had disagreed as

to the distr ibution ofwhey among their relativesafter they had bought i t, and that was whythey had come to blows l A. shrewd Bah ia.named Chaturdas , who was a silent witness o fall that had happened, nowcame forward and

thus addressed the couple,

I say , your buffalohas damaged the wall of my house ; get itrepaired th is instant and then there wi ll betime enough to settle the question of whey ! ”

S imul taneously they exc laimed, “We don’town any buffalo ; how is it poss ible then for

her to have damaged your wall “When youhave no bufi

'

alo ,

”

replied the Bah ia, “what isthis fuss about Th is witty remark broughtthem to their senses and they retired to the irhouse am id the jeers of the vi llagers.

M onan z—Were it not for the fo lly and

thoughtlessness of human nature, the wor ld

would go on very smoothly and half the causes

of complaint would disappear .

moms FOLKLORE. 7

STORY III .

I‘il l dip it and eat it ! ”

A M AHOMEDAN named Sheikh Husain was“

one day go ing to a neighbour ing vi llage. A t

m idday he reached a pond,and as itwas very

hot, he spread a c loth beneath a bunyan treethat was standing on the bank

,and lay down

with the intention o f taking a fewhours’ rest.By chance, another Musalman came that wayand seated h imsel f beside the Sheikh .

M ahomedans as a c lass are great goss ips.They were encouraged to exerc ise th is tra i t oftheirs by the cool breeze and the refresh ingshade of the tree overhead. After mutualsalam ing and inquiry about each other

’

s health ,the She ikh excla imed, “ A llah is all - power ful.To H im noth ing is imposs ible. He can reducea king to poverty and raise a fakeer to a th eme

in the twinkling of an eye ! He can turn a

moleh il l into a m ountain immediately. I f He

would be pleased to transform th e leaves of

th is tree into l rotees , and the water of the

3 INDIAN FOLK LORE.

p ond into Tghee, I would at once pick up

rotees,dip them into the ghee and eat themwith

g reat pleasure ” The o ther on hear ing th isc r ied out

, Sheikh saheb, we are b oth s ittingu nder the sam e tree

,and have therefore equal

r igh t to the rotses and the ghee ! By al l

m eans,

”

replied the She ik h .“ I am g lad

you have adm itted i t,

said the other,

“ but I

donot in the least approve O f the extravagent

process o f dipping. That would soon exhaustour stock of ghee. I can

’

t allowm ore than a

spoonful for every cake. Y ou seem to m e a g reats pendthr ift !” "But i t won’t cost us a pie ,

retorted the Sheik h ,

“why m t then use it

freely.

” At th is the o ther lost temper andexclaimed, Take care what you are do ing ; donot triflewith me.

”

I don’t care a fig for you,

you m iser ; I am m ore than a m atch for you,

do you see ?”

F rom words they came to blows . A few

travellers who were go ing that way wereattracted to the place by the no ise, and on

l earning the cause of the ir quarrel , one of themsaid, L et the transformation tak e place fi rst,

7“ Ghee = c larified butter.

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10 INDIAN FOLKLORE.

nor could they find an Obliging Marwar i whowould accomodate them even at exorbitantinterest. All their fr iends and relations

, to

the number of about one hundred,must be

inv ited to dinner on the occas ion , yet theyhad noth ing in the house o f any v alue

,or

they would have g ladly disposed Of it or

mo rtgaged it. On ran- sacking thewho le house,

however, they found about 4 lb s. O f wheatwh ich they resolved to sacr ifice for th is g randoccas ion.

“ You gr ind the wh eat, said the M oslemto his wife , “

and m ake 5 0 cakes of the flour .In the meantime I ‘ ill go and inv ite our fr iendsand relatives. When they come and s it downto dinner, you serve one cake between twoand tell them plainly that they m ay eat as much

of i t as they can,and are welcome to carry

home what is left I never heard Of guestsbeing allowed to take the food hom e ; it is

enough if we feed them. Even isahuk ars dono more !

”suggested the TB ibi thoughtful ly .

“ Such is the custom in our fam ily. I don ’

t

I Sahukars=Rich peop le .TBibi ==A Mahomecian lady.

mums FOLKLORE. l l

care what others do and how much theyspend. I can afford to be l iberal on an occasionl ike th is wh ich does not occur very often. Imust, and will k eep up the prestige of my

worthy ancestors !”

The cak es were accordingly prepared, andthe guests began to pour in. When theywere seated and served with half a cake each

( weigh ing about half an ounce), they were ata loss to dec ide howm uch of it to eat and

howmuch to tak e home for children ! N ot

to g ive offence to the.

ho st and to showh imthat the food was m ore than enough , they cut

the bread into two pieces, ate one and carr iedhome the other !When all had departed except a fewselect

friends,Daulatkhan asked h is wife to br ing

some food for himse lf and ch ildren. When hewas told, however, that there was not a morselof food in the house

,he cried out

,

“What lhad not these fel lows had s ense enough to

leave some food even for the chi ldren ? Itis fortunate that my fr iends are here, and theywi ll gladly resign their share to the children,

I am sure !”

The friends appealed to, had to

12 INDIAN rOLxLORB.

surrender the bread, go home and make what

ar rangements they could for their d inner !BJORAL

Of all the causes wh ich conspire to blindMan

’

s erring judgment and m isguided m indWhat the weak head with strongest bias rulesI s pr ide the never fail ing vice O f fools.’

STORY V.

Dragging -!

the well . ’

A waAnrnr barber of Wadhwan invitedall h is caste- fel lows, l iv ing with in a radius O f

twelve m iles from the town,to a caste~dinncr .

The assemblage was so great that everywhere,

inside and outs ide the town,none but barbers

were to be found. A group o f these v i llagesurgeonswas comfortably seated on the stepsleading down to a wel l

,and gossiping on

indifferent topics, when a happy and quitenovel idea struck one o f them . Addressingh is fellows he exclaimed

,

“ There is no well

INDIAN rOLRLORr . 13

in our village. I fwe can , therefore, contriveto carry th is one there, we should confer a

great been on the villagers.”

That is a happy idea ,sa id another

barber. “With our un ited force i t would beeasy enough to carry i t with us. WhenIHanfiman could carry a big mountain in the

palm of h is hand, there is no reason why we,who are so many , should not drag a wel l afterus.

”

Mere words won’t do, said another .

DO you suggest any means Of ach ieving thefeat ? You can

’t shave before you have wettedthe hair, you know.

”

TO th is the second barberreplied , Let us buy sufii cient ropes to dragit with ; but another interposed with “Whereis the money to buy them with ? I f you can

do it without spending a p ie, do it ; not

otherwise. A barber who appeared to be

thinking deeply, then made the fo llowingsuggestion Listen to me. We have withus razors and scissors. Let us cut off our hair,

and weave it into a rope.” To this the

originator,of the scheme repl ied, You are an

I Hanuman z The monk ey god.

14 INDI AN FOLKLORE.

ass. It would tak e a long time to weave thehair into a rope. I prOpOee that all presentshould give up their turbans for the purposewhich when tied together would form a longrope. Tie one end o f it to one O f the pil larso f the

.

well and pull at the other with all yourstrength .

”

The last proposal seemed the most feasibleand the least expens ive. All present took off

their turbans wh ich were soon formed into a

long rope. Then they fastened one end of i tto a pillar o f the well and began to pul l atthe other with all their m igh t ; but the turbanscould not stand the strain and with a creakingnoise, wh ich the s illy fellows interpreted as

due to the motion of the.

well, they weretorn asunder and down came the barbers witha crash , some breaking their bones whi le

'

othersescaped with sl igh t injury ! Thorough ly ashamed Of their folly

,they at once took the nearest

road to their v i llage, bare-headed and smeared

M ORALz—Attempt not impossibilities.

INDIAN FOLKLORE. 15

Cfi—The Viper and the file Fables.

STORY VI.

Who says it is a“Rampi cut ?

A T one end o fa street in Jamusgar ,stood

the shop of a cobbler named P rem la. The

cattle of half the town passed and repassedby h is shop twice a day

—once in the ear lymorn ing when they went out to graze, and once

in the even ing when they were dr iven home

for the n igh t. Among the cattle there was a

fat and m isch ievous bufialo . Shewas a greatnuisance to the ch i ldren of the street, as no

sooner did she catch sight of them ,than she

rushed at them with raised tai l and loweredhead. She was always ready for a fight, and

failing to fi nd a combatant,she would rub

her back against every wal l in the street, andthrust her horns in every door-way by whichshe passed. She would real ly have made a

16 INDIAN FOLKLORE.

name and won a pr ize if she were allowed to

take part in a Bull- figh t in Spain o r an

Elephant- fight in Baroda.N owth is wi lful buffalo had made it a

rule to rub her back against P remla’

s wallevery time she passed by h is shop

, and in so

do ing she Often damaged i t, and put poor P rem lato the expense of getting it repaired.

One morn ing when P rem lawas at work .the buffalo passed by h is shop and rubbedher back against the newly repaired wall , as

was her habit,and brough t i t down with a

crash . P rem lawas hearti ly tired Of her m is

ch ievous pranks, and with the fixed intentiono f teaching her a lesson, be seized a Rampithatwas lying by and ran after her . Beforethe buffalo had gone very far , he infl icted a

deep wound on her neck, and returned to hisshop well pleased with the result, the more

so,as none had Observed h im wh ile he struck

the blow.

A short time after , when the people beganto stir out of their houses , they found the

bufl’alo lying in the street and .weiter ing in

the blood that had flowed copiously from the

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18 INDIAN rOLK LORx.

save our cattle from further molestation.

I quite agree with you,” said an o ilman.“The murder will out, as does a drop of Oil

from the bottom Of a bucket full of water .”

0

Ten to one,

”

remarked a woodcutter , i tis the work Of some one l iv ing in th is street.We had

,therefore

,better enquire in the neigh

bourhood ; for , you al l know that the handlei

of an

.

axe is the destruc tion of its progenitor.”“ I am not sure of that , doubtfully

exclaimed a ta ilor ; why do not the ne ighbourscome forward and give out the truth . They all

seem to be in league against the poor buffalo.

There is no patch ing Of the sk y if it is evertorn .

” TO th is a carpenter agreed and added,“ They require a bor ing. We had better handthem all over to the Pol ice and then the realculpr it would surely be detected.” I am

of the same Opin ion,

”

put in a Mian. K ickand then question is my po licy which if

followedwould surely br ing out theThat str ikes me as an excel lent sugges

tion,” said a goldsmith . Test.pure gold.

in

whatever way you l ike, it would never black eu.Likewise, those who are innocent will come

INIiIAN E‘OLK LOBB. 19

out unhurt.” “ If you have made up yourm inds,

”

remark ed a widow, why waste time ?

Long a widow weds with “ You

all know,”

said a prosti tute , that what belongsto the public belongs to nobody. I , therefore , propose that you form a comm ittee and

authorize them to !take necessary steps. A.

bastard is the son of no man !”

The last bed is watered ,” impat iently

exclaimed a gardener, that is the buffalo is

dead DO what you wil l , but do i t soon.

”

Th is is sa i l ing over smoo th waters. Iwonder howyou would manage if you had tosail over rough seas testily remarked a sa i lor.A V ohorawho had some exper ience o f lawcourts said

,You people don’t know what

going to lawmeans. You wil l be ask ed when,

where and by whom the buffalo was seen alivelas t , why did you not report the matter at

once and whom do you suspec t. Then you w illhave to give your evidence on oath and undergoa search ing cross- exam ination. Why take al l

th is responsibil i ty upon your heads for

noth ing ? Think before you act.”

“ I don’t quite understand, said ii

2 0 m u n murmur .

shepherd , what you al l mean. God has given

you two hands and strength enough to use them .

Why not find out the murderer and dispatchhim at once ? That is the way to end the

matter.”

The shepherd’s advice was disregarded andi t was dec ided by an overwhelm ing major i tyto report the matter to the Po l ice , when a

tr io cons isting o f an old Arab pensioner, a

Rajput and a Habsh i arr ived on the spot.They were several ly asked to exam ine the woundand say with what instrument it was infl icted.After carefully exam inning the wound the

Arab said, In as much as i t is not stra igh t,i t seems to have been infl icted by a sc imi tarand must therefore be the work o f an Arabsuch as generally wear that weapon.” I beg

your pardon,”

exclaimed the Habshi , “ the

wound is quite straigh t and deep. She musthave fallen a vict im to the long knife of a

Habshi beggar who may have some privategrudge against her owner . “ I am a betterauthor ity in such cases

,

”said the Rajput

“ It is dec idedly a wound infl icted by a battleaxe which Rajputs alone know howto wield.”

mmm Form at . 2 1

This difference of opin ion as regards thenature of the wound led to further discussionon t he subject. A n old gardener , who had

not uttered a word till now, came forward,and after exam in ing the wound , he sa id

,

“ Iam prepared to declare it on oath

,if need be,

that th is wound is infl icted by a scraper.”

Some of the bystanders did not understandwhat he meant by a scraper . They askedh im what it was like, to wh ich he repl iedthat it resembled a cobbler’s knife or Bampi

as they call i t.P rem la, who had joined the group and

was attentively listening to their discussion,

was startled at the words Cobbler Rampi,

’

and h is guilty conscience led h im to bel ievethat the truth had at last come out and thath e would soon be arrested and dragged to theDurban He, therefore , put on a bold face

wh ich was , however , belied by h is chatter ingteeth and trembling body. He bounded forwardand seiz ing the gardener by the wr ist, heexclaimed, “Who says it is a Rfimp i cut ?

Who sawme doing it and when ?Th is voluntary though inadvertent cou

2 2 m u n FOLKLORI .

fession convinced the spectators that P rem lzlwas the guilty person. The matter was , however , am icably settled, the cobbler agreeingto pay a suffic ient compensation to the ownerof the buffalo .

BJORAL :

Truth crushed to earth shal l r ise againThe eternal years of God are hers.

’

STORY VII.

A hundred Snak es in a bush.

THE v illagers were s itting one even ing on

the i Chora, when Faskuwho had been out

for awalk came runn ing towards them breathless, and sank down by their s ide without uttering a word. After allowing h im to rest for awh ile, one of h is friends asked h im what hadmade h im run so hard. Thank God !” saidFask fi, Were it not for Him ,

I should havebeen a dead man long ago. Really !

I Chora=Public place in a v illage.

i snu n rom an . 2 3

excla imed h is fr iends simul taneously. “ Tel l uswhat itwas.” I had wear ied mysel f to deathwith a brisk walk of several m iles, when on

seeing Madha Patel’s farm at hand, I enteredit and stretched my l imbs under the cool shadeof the n im - tree. I had hardly done so whenI heard a rustling no ise in the neighbour ingbush. On looking round I sawsomething lik ea hundred snakes wi th their mouths wide open.They would have bitten m e to death and eatenm e all up ,

had I not made the best use of my

legs . I f it were one of you instead of me,

you would have been fr igh tened to death , I

am sure ! but I am no coward, you know !

“We have seen the place and all the

bushy places around i t ,” said one of h is fr iends.There is not a s ingle bush large enough to

hold a hundred snakes . We can’t bel ieve you,

my fr iend. There must be some m istake as

regards the number.”“Well

,

” said Fask fi, “ if you th ink a

hundred are too many,I am sure they were

not less than fifty or sixty .

”

“ Too small a place to contain so many ,repl ied his fr iend. Try to form as correct

INDIAN FOLKLORE.

an estimate as you can and then let us knowit.” They were crowded together ,” rejo inedFask fi ,

“so it was not easy to count them all .

However they were not less than twenty-five

I can assure you .

”

Th is distr ict,

”said h is fr iend

,

“ does not

abound in snakes . Aga in snakes are not verys oc ial creatures and so they donot move incompan ies. We seldom find them together.Donot exaggerate facts , my friend

,but tel l

us the plain truth .

”

A s you say they donot l ive much

together ,” replied Fashn, the number must beless. What if I say there were five or six

o f them .

”

“ Still we can’t bel ieve you. Take out

the percentage you may have added,and give

us the net result.”“ There must have been one at least.

There is no doubt about that.”“Must have been or must have not been

is not the question. Tel l us howmany you

sawwi th your own eyes.Being thus hard pressed

,Faskugaveway

and said, “ To tel l you the truth, I did not

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INDIAN FOLKLORE.

thought to h imself that if he left them to

their fate , they would succumb to a pa inful andl ingering death , and so he ordered h is V iz ierto take them to a Government building and

look after them . They were accordinglyplaced on a bullock car t and conduc ted to a

building wh ich was set apart for them , and

wh ich was styled The Castle of Indo lence.’

A number of attendance was then employedto look after them and help them in everyway. Then a Royal proclamation was issuedto the effect that sluggards of every descriptionwould be freely adm itted to the castle and

supplied with free board and lodging.Fortunately for the poor i t happened to

be the year of a disastrous fam ine , and many

a beggar contr ived to get adm iss ion to the

castle by feign ing indolence. I n a short timethe castle was overcrowded wi th occupants

,

and so cal led sluggards were everyday pour ingin from all parts of the Empire. The dailyexpenses of keeping up such an inst itutionwerevery h igh , and the Emperor was at a loss tofind away out of the difficulty. He summonedh is V izier who was a shrewd man ,

and asked

moms ronxt onn. 2 7

h im to devise some means of getting r id of the

false sluggards.The V izier according ly repaired to the

castle and ordered the super intendent to havea hedge of dry thorns made all round the

bui lding ,leav ing space fo r a small foot- path in

front of the castle. When the hedge was ready,the V iz ier ordered h is m en to set i t on fi re.

Th e ao-called sluggards seeing the who le com

pound ablaze were th rown into confus ion,and

to save their lives they fled pell-mel l leavingthe who le of the bui lding vacant !

The Emperor and the V iz ier then entered

the castle to see if any of its former inmateswere left with in. To the ir surpr ise they found .

a ll the ro om s deserted except one in wh ichwere lying those three sluggards for whom the

castle was or iginally opened. When the

Emperor and the V izier entered the room,they

heard one of the sluggards saying to h is com

pan ions, Look there, my friends , the fire is

rapidly progressing towards our room . It hasbeen long burning and does not seem to be

exhausted as yet." “ I am no t go ing to put

myself to the unnecessary trouble of opening.

2 8 INDIAN ronxtonn.

my eyes !” leisurely replied the second.Can’t you both be quiet 2 angr i ly exc laimedthe th ird.

The Emperor was surpr ised to find thatthere were persons on the face

.

of the Earthwho would not exert themselves a little to savetheir l ives he was so much disgusted by theirconduct, that he asked them what they livedfor if l ife was such a burden to them . To

thi s they replied, Even death would cost ussome exertion wh ich we are not prepared toundergo. That is why we l ive !

MORAL - The curse of sloth makes a mana burden to h imself and to others, and h is lifeis simply m iserable.

STORY IX.

Too lazy to pick up berries.

A SLUGGARD was one day quietly ly ingunder a bore- tree ( jujube tree). At a l ittledistance from h im

,but quite within h is reach ,

11mm : FOLKLORE. 2 9

lay a fewr ipe berr ies. The sluggard longedto have them , but he did not l ike to put h im

self to the trouble of extending his hand for

the purpose. He therefore made up h is m indto apply for help to the first passer by.After waiting thus for about half an hour

,

he sawa traveller , m ounted on a camel go ingat full speed

,pass by the tree . The sluggard

asked him to stop for a while and reach him

the berr ies. The travel ler , greatly surpr isedat the odd request, said, “ My friend, you donot seem to have though t what inconvenienceand waste of time i t would cause me to stopthe cam el

, make it sit down, get down from

i t, collect the berr ies , put them into yourmouth and then remount the camel ! The

berries are lying qui te within your reach, and

you have only to stretch out your h and to getthem . Why don’t you do i t ?

” “You are a

great slug g ard ,”

said the lazy fellow.“You

are no good. Go your ownway. I w il l applyto some other person less lazy than yourself.

The traveller left the place greatly amused.MORAL —N o one is willing to help a

person who does not help himself. To do sis

moms mutt on .

would be lost labour—a wr iting upon water , asowing upon sand.

STORY X.

‘K ank odi s is cleared off by worms,Soap is rotten, Iron is eaten up by mice

and Burhai is carried away by a k ite.

Turns was once a g reat merchant named

Adamj i Mullah l iv ing in Cambay who dealtin a var iety of goods both on his own accountand also in the capac i ty of a comm iss ionagent. A s Cambay was a thr iving seaportat the time, and th ings from different par tsof the country were imported for sale

,Adamj i

soon made a fortune and es tablished a soundreputation as an honest dealer.One day,

a Bah ia residing in a far off co rner

of India, arr i ved at h is sh op,bringing with

him bags of K ank odi,boxes of soap and

car t- loads of iron. Adamj i accorded h im a

Kan k odi- A k ind of white powder.

mnum sou rces. 31

cordial reception and assured h im that hewould do what he could to diapose of the

commodities at prices that would br ing h ima large profit. The sam ples were shown to

intending buyers, but the rates they offeredwere too low to be accepted. The Ennis,

therefore, instructed the Mullah to sel l theth ings when pr ices were higher and leavingthe goods with him

,he went to h is native

After a.

fewmonths the rates of all the

three articles left by the Ban ia rose very h igh.The Mullah ,

c onsequently ,sold off the goods,

and collected and kept the cash to be paidto the Bama at some future da te. On

account of some unavo idable circumstances theBenin could not call for the money for a

very long time. Th is neglect on his partinduced the wily Mullah to m isappropr iate thesum. Adamj i debited the sum to the Bania’saccount as if it were paid 0 3

, and squared

After a fewyears had elapsed, the Baniacame to Cambay and wen t direc tly to

o

Adamj i's

shcp and said,“Well, Mullah Sdheb ! hav e

82 moms m txtosr.

you have disposed of the articles I left withyou. Let us settle the account if you have.

"

Adamj i knowing well that if he showed the

account books the false entry would be detected ,began to beat about the bush that he m ightgain time to find out a plaus ible excuse bywhich the Ban iamigh t be deceived. He, therefore, said

,

“ I wish you had come earlier. Iam sorry the idea of cal ling you in time didnot str ike me. I am very sorry, indeed !"“Why , replied the Benin, “

should you be

sorry, my fr iend ? Have you sold them at a

loss ? Or do any of the buyers refuse to pay ?

That is not it. I am extremely sorryit should have so happened.”

“Then what is it ? I can’t understand a

word of what you say.

Adamj i then said , Your things wouldhave fetched a very good pr ice, and left youa big marg in ; ‘ but the vhare spr ings out whenone least expects it.’ Under your own eye,

the things were heaped in my warehouse. Six

months ago, when I went there to showsamples thereof to a customer, I found theK ank odi eaten up by worms, the soap rotten

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84 mom : mat ron .

I t began to growdark and the girl'

did

not return home. The parents grew'

anxious,and Adamj i inquired at every house she wasin the habit o f frequenting , but she was no

where to be found. Q ui te overcome by fatigue,h e was returning home at m idn igh t, When the

unusual had happened. The Mullah relatedthe myster ious disappearance o f h is daughterand asked him if he had seen her in the

'

ev en

ing . To this the Bah ia replied, “ I am sorry

to inform you that I saw her being carried

by a kite ! The poor gir l was cry ing piteously,and I tried al l I could to free her from its

grasp, but in vain !” “ It is absurd,” m id theM ul lah .

“Why do you make fun of me !”

Upon my word, I tell you tha t I saw her

with my own eyes replied the Banifi.A s n thief is ev er fancying the moon is

up , so did the Mullah at once guess that it

napped the girl to serve h is own purpoee.

a complaint against the Benin. The j udgesummoned the accueed and aslted him if h e

wnu x rot oas. 3 5

seen A damj i’s gir l. The Bania replied,

your worsh ip, I sawher being carr iedaway by a kite last evening ; and I said so

to my friend in reply to h is inquiry.”“Absurd !” sa id the Kaz i I can

’t bel ieve you.

” Why, your worsh ip , retortedthe Ban ia, “

you can ask my friend and he

will tell you that more absurd th ings havehappened before now. To quote an instanceI left a fewbags of K ank odi, several boxesof soap and a quantity o f iron with Adamj ifor disposal a fewyears ago. When I askedh im for payment, he told me that the firstwascleared off by worms

, the second was petr ifiedand the th ird was eaten up by m ice ! In a

place where worms and m ice are so giganticas to eat up K ank odi and iron and digestthem , i t is not to be wondered at if the kitescarry away young ch ildren ! There is nothingabsurd in it !”

The judge asked Adamj i whether the Baania’s statement was true and on learning thatit was, he ordered the M ullfih ’

s books to be

and e xamined, and the

86 moms rot xnonx.

paid down there and then. Hurbai was thenhanded over to her loving father who quietlywent home.

Manna—Deceit deserves to be !deceivedThe lesson taug h t is the necessity of keepingwithin the prescr ibed bounds o f moral ity.

Of. The dog and the wolf.The Eagle and the fox.

!ESOP 3 fl ue"

STORY XI .‘The long and short of a thing .

’

A M AucunnAN and a Bania, who weregreat friends, passed much o f their timetogether, and had no secrets fr om eachother. It happened that both were orphans,and one day when they were s itting together.the Ban ia asked h is fr iend how his fatherhad died. “ My father went to a garden, one

day,”said the M ussalm i n,

“and c l imbed a tree.

A s he was swinging to and fro,from the top

most branch , it suddenly gave way, and my

father fell downdead on the ground. N owtell me of what did your father die ?

worm rom ean. 37

My father , replied the.

Bania,

“wascarr ied off in pr ime o f life. On the even ingo f his 3 0 th birthday, he ate too many sweetmeats wh ich caused indigestion and that in.

its turn brough t on fever. The temperaturewas so h igh that he became quite unconsc ious,and would ne ither take food nor talk to any

body. There was a burning sensation all overthe body , and h is tongue clove to the roof of

h is mouth . Th is gave h im a sore throat, andmade us al l very anxious about h im. We had

to sit by h is bed day and n ight,and had.he

s ides,to attend to all our relatives and fr iends

who came from distant places to see“ Howdid i t all end ?

” impatientlydemanded h is fr iend. “ I am c om ing to thatpresently,

”said the Bania. We tried var ious

m edicines, but they did h im no good. \Ve

then called in V ithlaBarber who ,as you know,

is reputed to be the best physician in our town,

but he too could do nothing. We then though tthat perhaps a ghost was troubling h im

, so

the persons who could repeat charms and

dr ive away the evil spir i ts were summoned ;but they too gave up the case as hopeless.

88 m m : murmur.

M edicines and M antrasi were a like useless.M y fr iend," interrupted the M ahomedan,

“you are becom ing more and more tedious.When wi ll your father die ? Let me knowthat. “Everyth ing,” replied the Bania, wi llcome in its proper place. Be patient. I havenot yet done with the symptom s. The tem

parature rose h igher and h igher and at last itrose to Consciousness then forsook h im ,

and he began to rave like a mad man . We

had h is head bathed in rose-water , but thatdid not allay the fever a bit. We then gaveh im a cold bath , wh ich instead of do ing himany good, brought on Pneumon ia. Everymoment the symptoms grew worse and more

alarm ing. A. fewhours had thus elapsed whenh is strength began to give way. H is handsand feet grew icy cold. He could not hear

what we said and h is eye- s igh t began to fai l .

The end,i t seemed, was speedily approach ing,

and we thought it was h igh time to read to

h im rel igious Shlokasfi" and give what wecould in char ities that m igh t stand h im in

I Mantras Charms.

Shlok as Verses.

m u s rom an . 39

good stead in the next world, and entitle himto a place in the Swarga i Then

The M ahomedan who was quite tired of

listening to the story which he though t wouldnever end

, exclaimed,“Why don’t you cut

it short and say that the fever killed him 2!

That,I th ink

,is the long and shor t of it.

“ Y ou asked me,

”said the Ban ia, “ how

my father died, and I was tel ling you whathad actually happened. I f you are in a hurry,we wi ll talk about it some other time.

Mou n t—Avo id always the round aboutway of telling a story. h t your answers beshort and to the po int.

STORY XII .

To be very liberal with other

people’s money.

Ta t ar l ived a V ohora named MnsAbhAi

in S iddhapur , who belonged to a good fam i lyand had once been very r ich ; but a great

1 Swarga Heaven.

40, INDIAN ronxt oar .

loss in trade had greatly impoverished h im.

He was, with great diffi culty, l iv ing from hand

to month,when h is father died, on wh ich

occas ion h is caste fellows had to be fed, Whe

ther he could afford i t or not. M fisabhai wasa sensible man ,

and he,therefore, did not th ink

it safe to incur a debt that would cr ipple h imfor l ife

,in order to feed people who would

speak well o f h im for a fewdays , and thenleave h im to take care of h imself as best as

he could. When h is relatives and the leadingpersons o f the Jamat" came to knowof h is

resolve, they went to h im and said,

A.

father’s death and a wife’s first pregnancy donot occur twice in one

’

s l ifetime. Both the

occasions must,therefore, be duly celebrated.

Aga in, you come of a fam i ly who are wel lk nown for their generosity

,and you should

not tarnish their fair name by fal ling short ofyour duty 0 11 the present occas ion ,

M fisabhai though t to h imself that the

fellows ought to be taugh t a lesson,and with

th is object in view,he expressed h is willing

ness to follow their advice,

and a day wasJamat=Mussalman Community.

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42 m m rom an.

in the reply, and ascr i bed it to M hsdbhfii’s .modesty and good breeding. After dinner all

went home, much pleased wi th the entertainment.Many days passed but M asabhai did not

return the vessels he had borrowed. Whenthe person in whose charge they were keptwent to him and asked for the vessels, Masabhai cooly replied, “ I told the Jamat to the irvery faces that what they were eating wastheir own and not m ine. I spoke the truthwhen I said so, for , i t was with the moneythat their vessels fetched

,that I purchased

ar ticles of food and fed them . I have not,

h owever, sold them , but simply mortgagedthem . I f the Jamat want them ,

they are

welcome to pay the thousand rupees with interest to banker so and so , and take back thevessels. The Jamat had to raise fund to paythe banker, and from that time they gave upmeddling with other people’

s business

M oaan z—It is a custom and a very ruinous one am ong the natives of Ind ia to spendextravagantly on death and marr iage occasions.N ot only do they no t provide for their ch ildren,

mmm roam “ . 43

but o ften leave them heavy debts to pay.It is a suicidal pol icy to waste what little

we have ; for , requirements of old age and

need of rest, are th ings inevitable, and oughtto be provided for.

STORY XI II.

Why do they go to name Theymight as wel l stay at home and eat

K haja"and sugar.

In times gene by a disastrous fam ine overtook the province o f Gujarat. Owing to the

fai lure of crops, the ryots prepared to em igrateto Malwa in the hOpe o f procur ing food forthemse lves and fodder for their cattle. One

morn ing, a number o f ryo ts 0 11 their way to

Malwapassed by the royal palace, when the eyeso f the crown pr ince

,who was making m erry

with h is fr iends and feasting on Khaja and

other sweetmeats , fell upon them . He ask edone of the attendants where they were going.

K hfij aa A k ind of sweetmeat.

449 mmas romances .

They are emig rating to Mama, ” replie l the

man, owing to the scarc ity of food and fodderhere. Why do they do so ? excla imedthe pr ince. They m ight as well stay at

'

home and eat Khaja and sugar .Th is ‘

made them al l laugh. One of h is

friends said, You are born in gold and purpleand do not

,therefore, know wh at hardsh ips

these poor people have to undergo in timeshk e these. Persons ro ll ing in wealth and

y e

'

hy luxur ies cannot realise the

miser ies o f the poor . Why talk o fo

K hdjaand

sugar, when they cannot even get Bajr it breadand an on ion ? ” The pr ince could not under

stand h im ,so he remark ed that if Baj ri was

scarce, they m igh t eatwheat instead ! Bajrior wheat, ” remarked h is fr iend

,

“ does not makeany difference. The th ing is they have not

money to buy e ither. These people are ch ieflydependent on the ir crops, and when they fail ,they are reduced to helplessness. U nfortu

h ately, we have not opened any Relief works ’

that they migh t earn enough to keep bodyand soul together . There is , therefo re, no other

1 Baj r i=Mi llet ; s sort of food grain.

mnms rou t e“ . 45

help for them but to leave this land and go to

Matwa wh ich is free from fam ine th is year.You m ay have heard the proverb wh ich says,Ra in is the m ightiest of monarchs who sup

-1

ports the whole world, and mother 's is the bestand most wholesome m ilk. ’

Mow z—Secure ourselves , we too oftenv iew with indi fference the dangers of others,for, none knows the weight of another’s burden.

STORY XIV.

Al l the people of the town eat

rice and milk .

Tn: Emperor Ak abar had in h is court ajester namedLahfiwawhowas well- known for h iswit and humour. One day when the Emperorwas in good humour the jester said

,There

are a good many cows and buffaloes in yourdurbar , while most of the people of the towndo not even get good m i lk. Rice of goodquality is to be had abundantly, but withoutfresh and pure milk it is of no use. The Em

INDIAN FOLKLORE

paror divining the jes ter’s meaning asked himwhether he was making a persona l complaintor one on behal f of the whole town. I don'tlive outs ide the town,

repl ied the jester ,and am therefore inc luded therein I can’t,”

said the Emperor, supply the whole townwith buffaloes, but if you want one

, you can

have it.” The jester thankfully accepted theodor and drove one of the finest buffaloesto his house.

After a few days the Emperor againasked Lahuwa howthe people were gettingon ; to wh ich the jester reph

f

ed They are

all getting on n icely, your Maj esty. Theyare al l eating r ice and m ilk and are qui tehappy and contente l .

” The other day ,

responded A k abar , you were compla iningthat good m ilk was not

‘

to be had. I didnot supply them all wi th cows and buffaloes.You were the only pers in who profited bythe complaint. Howdoes it happen then, thatthey are a ll having good milk ?" It is thewor ld’s way, not m ine alone

, your M aj estyfor, he who is warm th ink s everyone else is."

arm s 110mm“ . 47

STORY XV.

A. Fanning :who l ived on public charityand made a Musj id 5 h is home, once prayed toAl lah to befr iend h im

,as he was unable to

support the pangs of poverty any longer ; and

vowed that if he got a rupee he would spenda quarter o f i t in char ity and keep threequarters for h imself.

A s he was one day walking along the

streets, he aeoidentally found a rupee. He wasmuch pleased with his good fortune, but whenhe remembered his vow,

he began to regretthat he had made it. On consideration, he badegood- bye to the vow, as h is object was attained.With a view . to buy some food, he went to aBania, to get the rupee changed. The Ban ia,after carefully examin ing the coin

,said,

the rupee is defaced and of short weight itwill therefore fetch four annas less ! The

Fak eer took the rupee to several places, but

1 Fakeer.Si i==A religious mendicant.

5 Musj id=A mosque.

'

48 m ean m os t .

everywhere he met wi th the same reply ; at

last he grew. weary and exclaimed, “Al lahknew that I was not honest, and He seems ,

therefore, to have taken His due, instead of

trusting me to pay i t !”

Mora n —Selfish persons bid good-bye to

the basket when grapes are gathered, and thinkthey will have no further occasion for it. But

the ways of Providence are inscrutable.

STORY X V I.

‘ csbhsr in place of Gambhfif t

Truss are chang ing and landed propertiestoo change hands every nowand then. Therewas a time when the little village of d bhfi

in Kathiawar belonged to tailors, and that iswhy they are known by

.the n ick - name of

I Gambhn=name of aO

v i llagg.1 GrAsiA=Gr£s or land holder.

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l . Simon a. rem ot e.

thought that he would be the first man to fal l‘

into the hands of the enemy in case o f a sur

prise dur ing th e nigh t. He,therefore , rose

from his place, p assed along the line and lay

d own at the other extrem ity , th inking h imselfqui te safe ' there. H is neighbour, the secondin order, who was watch ing h is movements, didthe same. He was fo llowed by the th ird andso on. Thus they al l kept on moving th roughout the n ight.

°

By the time the sun rose

next morn ing, they had receded more than tenm iles from the v il lage !

A s was arranged, they prepared for the

a ttack, but nei ther the village nor its gate wereto be seen ! F inding themselves in a forest ;

some of them exclaimed, What has takenp lace dur ing the n ight i We remember to haveg one to sleep near the gate of Gambhu! Scme

'

Devat or Rak shasa§ must have carr ied us to

this place ! At th is an old and experiencedtailor , who had witnessed the nocturnal marchof his brethren, retorted, My friends, wehad better go home and m ind our own busi-i

I Deva=A God.

5 Rak shasa z A demon.

warm renam es.

116 88 . We are al l cowards and that is whathas moved us all so far from the v illage.

Being ashamed of their conduct, theyquietly went home

,and began to ply their

needles as was their wont ? This has g ivenr ise to the proverb, ‘ Gabha in place of Gam

bhfi ;’ which if repeated in the presence of a

tailor,at once rouses h is anger even at the

present day.MORAL z—Vain pretenders give them selves

hector ing a irs and assume to be braver thanthey rea lly are. Such persons are ever in

danger of being d iscovered and then they are

exposed to the r idicule and hum iliation of the

Of. ‘The A ss in the

L ion’

s skin.

’

STORY XVII.

A Fool’

s bolt is soon shot.

A K ora had marr ied a gir l whose parents

52 m a m ma l .

never sent her to his house. Wheneverthe .poor fellow went to bring her home withhim

,he was flatly told that the gi r l was nu

aMe to walk a step, for, that would take thepaint off her feet which were always keptcoloured with the Mandi- juice}

Failing to gain the consent of her parentseither hy threats or persuasion

,the husband

at last though t of carrying her away secretly.

With this intention, he went to the townwhere h is father- ia- lawresided

,and before exe

cuting h is project, he informed the leadingpersons of his caste o f his in tention. Theywent with him to the br ide's house and per

suaded her father to send h is daugh ter withher husband, saying, “ I t is not safe for

a grown up gir l to l ive with her parents .

She must either go to her husband’s house or

to the burning ground . There is no otheralternative. I f you won

't hand her over to

her husband at once, we wi ll excommunicate

trouble."Thefirmof excommnnicationbroughtthe obstinate father to h is senses, and he

I Mendi z Lawsonia Inermis.

m u n roam “ . 5 3

agreed to send her on condition thati

on no

account should the paint on her feet be al

lowed towear cd’

. The poor husband agreedand bought a pair of sl ippers to keep the

colour wear ing ofi'

.

Next morning the couple left the town.At noon they reached the bank of a r iver.The r iver must be crossed and that too without wash ing the paint off her feet ! That wasa great problem and not an easy one. The

fertile brain of the husband, however, founda way out of i t. He lifted his br ide on h is

shoulders,and loaded with a weigh t of about

10 stone he began to cross the r iver. The

water grew deeper and deeper , and by the time hereached the m iddle of the stream ,

i t touched herfeet. The poor fellowwas again in a fix. A ny

howthe paint must be preserved and the onlyway to do itwas to hold her head downwards lThe woman began to cry piteously, but her

husband was m indful only of the stipulationwhich he made up his m ind to fulfi l even at

the risk of h is wife’s lifie l Water began to

get into the woman’s mouth , ears and nostrils,

and she was soon strang led.

INDIAN FOLKLORI .

When he reached the opposite bank, some

people who had watched this"

strange proceeding , began to reproach the man for his cruelconduct, to wh ich the Ko l i repl ied

,

“You

speak thus because you don’t know the fac ts.

I had to preserve the paint on her feet at

any cost and I have done i t. I am not to

blame for the result. I have kept my prom iseto h er parents and that is all I care for l

”

M oaan z—Obstinacy tends to make us

neg ligent of approach ing per i l. L et us be

ware °when engrossed by obstinacy that we:db not come to grief.

Of. ‘Fools rush in where angels fear totread . ’

STORY XVIII.

Happen what may , I won’t add

Two M emone” ofMorvi—unc le andnephewwith . tin boxes containing . false pear ls, combs,

Mamon=A class of Mahom‘

edans.‘

rum gronxtou . 55“

essences and other small wares, went padlingabout the country. When they were . r e- r

turn ing home after disposing of the ir ) : goods ,they came to a Juwari fieldi at the s ight of

wh ich the nephew exc laimed,“This is

,t he

most fer tile so il I ever saw. The ears are

bending down under the weigh t of grain. I t

will br ing in a n ice crop to its lucky owner,won’t i t

That it wi ll,

replied his uncle. Howmuch Jfi

lwari do you th ink the field will pro -r

duce N ot less than 12 0 maunds, I am

sure.

”

You don’t mean what you say, do

you 2 For myse lf, I estimate it at 6 0 maundsand not a grain more.

”

“ Y ou do injustice to the po s r owner byform ing too lowan estimate of the product.

The uncle getting rather exc ited, retorted,Look at my heard, my boy. It has not

grown wh ite without br ing ing to its owneran adequate amount o f exper ience of the wor ldto guide m isguided youths l ike you.

” “ The

bra ins do not lie in the heard, my gocd sir ,"

repl ied his nephew You are talkingI Jfiwari é A kind 0 f~food grain.

5 6 m m 1 0 1.8 l

nonsense , and no wonder ; for, old age is

Wretc shouted the’

uncle, I can'

t

put up with your impudence any longer. Out

of my s igh t, you id iot.”“ Take care ! Never show your teeth

unless you can bite, you o ld dog . Keep quietor I shal l knock out your bra ins.

“ Y ou urchin,

”roared the old man ;

“ let

me see you do it.”

The boy at once took the box of? h is

shoulders, put i t on the ground , and giving a.

twist to h is mustache, he seized h i s uncle, whowas too weak to withstand the attack, by thebeard, and brough t h im to the ground. The

old man tr ied to free h imself from the vice- l ikegr ip of his nephew, but in repeated attemptsto do so , the hair of h is beard came out in

handfuls. The boy refused to let go h is holdunless he adm itted that the field would pro

duce not less than 12 0 maunds of juwari.Regardless of the result, and al though in imminent danger of losing his venerable heard,the old man exclaimed, Happen what may,I won’t add another grain to it.

”

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58 minu s m xnou .

’

laid by is without its use at some proper time.I have noth ing to do with the opin ion

.

of

others, and I care not for what they say.

”

Y ou may be r igh t, father,” said the son,

but for myself, I don’t quite see the use of

a snake laid by.

"I wi ll explain i t to you

when the time comes , replied the father.One day,

the dead'

body of a snake happened to be lying on the road. The boyspicked it up , brought it to their father, and

asked him to explain to them the use - of it.“ Throw it on the roof of the house and

wait for a fewdays, said the father.N ow it so happened that the king

’

s wife,one day,

went to take a bath on the terracecf the palace ; and putting off her c lothes and

ornaments placed them on a divan ly ing by;A ki te flying overhead happened to catch sightof her neck- lace set with lustrous diamonds, and .

taking it fo r a suitable p rey, pounced upon '

it and carr ied it away. She soon f ound out

her m istake and was in sear ch of something

eatabIe, when ‘her eyes fell on the d ead body .

of the snake lying on the Ban ia’

s roof. She

laid down the neck- lace on the roof' a'

nd snatcho v

m u POLKBORI . 59

ing the snak e i nstead, fl ew‘away wi th it.

The Rani ,t who had seén the kite flyaway with her neck- lace, hastily put on her

c lothes, ran immediate ly to the king , and ia

formed h im of what had happened. The kingat once proclaimed i t throughout the town and

reward of R s

"

to

anyonewho brough t hack the neck- lace. When

Somchand heard th is he asked h is eldest son

to see if the kite had left i t on h is roof.

For ,”said he, “jewe ls

,howeve r costly, are

of no earth ly use to a kite,and she is snre to

hav e dropped it somewhere . She m ay haveexchanged it for the snake lying on our roof.

”

The boy . at once c limbed up on the roof,

and with the neck lace in hands,ran down

again, evidently pleased with h is father’s

wisdom and foresigh t.The Bania took it to the king and claimed

the wh ich was readily gran ted. On

hi s return home,he said to h is ch i ldren

,

“I

6 0 e

nemas r oam “ .

M oan .—Trifies mak e per fection and pfaction is no tr ifle.

STORY XX.

44y ou are nOt blind though the 8p

A M saoum uu named M ek hmark ha , wholived in Dholka, owned several acrm of d

that brough t h im in good crops ; so that hehad no anx iety as to h is bm d. From ear lymorning til l late at night he sat i n the Chorafisurrounded by the idlore and gossips of

p lace. Thr ice a day they indulged in a copious dr ink of opium and wine, and u

hemp and tobacco all day long.One evening the who le set of opium-eat

ers

went out for a walk. They were highlyinn

toxicated and staggered as they ..s:

the road. M ek hmark hhn wrr ied with h iin 8

r,which remained perpendicular as long

u assumed a hor iaontal posi tion, and several

I Chor6 =A public place in a village.

man s 101m m. 61

persons passing along the road were hurt by itbut the , poor m ple could n ot ra ise their voiceagainst their landlord and had to subm it. A.

leading banker, belong ing to the place , wascom ing from the opposi te direction, and he

was struck by the spear. Blood began to

flowcopiously from the wound. The bankerhumn requested the M ien ei ther to leave h isspear at h ome or hold it proper ly , to whichthe Moslem indignantly replied

,

“We land.owners can not go out without a spear or a

sword as to holding it proper ly, it is throughyour own negligence that you are hurt for ,

you. are not blind though the spear is.The banker was enraged at the Jagirdar

’s §

indifference and inso lence. He cal led a meetingof the leading citizens at wh ich i t was reso lvedthat as it was not safe to reside in the townany longer, they should all leave it m a body.When the K éai hem'd this, he went to

the Jég irdar, r ebuked h im for his m isconductand said, you know that fine feathers makefine birds ; so

, when your people, on whom youdepend entirely for your daily bread, have left

Jagirdti r=A landholder.

6 2 mum ! FOLKLORI .

you,what will you do

,a nd how can you

manage to get on without them ? You exi stfor your people

’

s benefit, not they for yours ,that you should use th em as you please. Go

to them th is instant and ask their pardon forthe harm you may have done them , and pro

m ise never to repeat i t."

M ek hmark han did as he was advised,and

the people, satisfied with his prom ise, returnedhome and lived in peace.Momma—I h the world examples of petty

tyrann ies , ar ising out o f a sense o f superior '

might, constantly abound. Migh t o ften over o

comes r ight and the weakest have to go to

the wall. But

Reason and r igh t are themse lves most strong;N o kingdom got by cunning can stand long.”

STORY X X I.

I wil l have her if I can ; if not.what do I lose?

A Pu mas" named M athurdas, who livedPatidar=A land- holder.

mm . rom oan. a6 3

in a town o f"Guj arat, had no ch ilderen ; s o,

both he and his w ife determ ined to go on a

pilgrimage to Dakore, and started in theirown bullock car t. On reaching Dakore, theybathed in the sacred waters of the Gom ti, andperformed the P flj aj of Shr i DAk ore- N athaJafter receiving the impress of the shell

,Disc,

M acs and Lotus—the symbols of Kr ishnaon their arms, they left the place.

Half way between Dakore and their nativetown, a blind beggar was s itting by the road?side, with a rosary in his hand and utter ingthe name ofRama every moment. The womanfelt p ity for the poor man and asked him

where he was going, to t ch the beggar re

plied , ‘ Mai,§ I am blind and have lost my

way. I f you will kindly take me with you

as far as N aritd, Ranchhodj i

" wil l bless you’

with seven children a nd inexhaustible r ichesfoiv

'

helping a poor blind man. The womanI

h a The Load of M ore 6. a.

64 men : mnn ou

appealed to her husband who was anythingbut pleased with the physiognomy and bearingof the ‘ Sadhu.’ Never trust to appearances ,my dear

,

”sa id the husband , “ for, all that

gl itters .is not gold. Again he is a strangerand may bring us into trouble. We had bettershowhim the .way and then leave himwh im ,

self.” The Patidar was, however, prevailedupon by the entreaties of his wife and the

importunities of the begger. They took h im

sigug with them and proceeded on their journey.In the evening they reac N ariAd where

the P i tidar ask ed the Surdasx to get down.

Whom do you ask to get down ? ” asked

Sdrdam,

“.You, my good friend,

”said,

the

Pdtidar,“ I promised to tak e you as far as

Nariad, and here.we are at its gates, We havestill a long way to go, ,

and you had better

makehaste.” To this Surdas answered.“ I have

nowyou ask us to get down before we havereached our destination 1be it so. Iwon’

t pay

you a pie. A sk my wife to help me down !Slidhu=A re lig ious mendicant.

I Surdtis=A blind man.

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m u s FOLKLORI .

which he though t would bring out the fact.

He ordered all the three persons to be lock edi n asparate rooms for the n ight, and instructedthe guards to keep awake the whole n igh t tol isten attentively to what they said, and to

report it to h im next morn ing.Naturally

,the Fetider and his wife passed

the whole n ight in loud lamentations and in

reproach ing themselves for having helped an

undeserving wretch ; wh ile on the other hand,St

‘

n‘dAs was heard to say,

“ If the woman is

handed over to m e, so much the better. I f

not, what do I lose ?”

The facts were duly reported to the judge,next morn ing, who handed over the woman toher lawful husband, and sen t SfirdAs on a

pilgr image to TurangAbad ( prison).Mosam—Howoften do men br ing the

calam ities of l ife upon themselves and incurunca lled for l iabilities on the assurances of

persons whose later conduct proves them to

beunworthy of eonfidence. Sudden trust bring isudden repentance.

“ If you trust before you try,

you may repent before you die."

moms FOLKLORI . 67

Cf. The Kite and P igeOns—E sop

’

s Fables.

STORY XXII .

150 for the beard, whereas 400 forthe

IN K apadvanj a there once l ived a Vobora.named Ismalj i, who , as he was return ing homefrom his shop one dark n igh t, , was confrontedby a th ief, who caugh t hold of the V ohora

’

s

beard and would not let i t go unless and unti lhe paid Rs . 15 0 . This happened just in frontof the V ohora

’

s house. A s if he were addressing his wife, the Mullah exclaimed “ Do you

hear ! the th ief here demands 150 rupees as

the price of my beard. Br ing the money hereat once

,for , if he lets it go and catches ho ld

o f the Choti , which is of greater importanceand consequently . of greater value, and thendemands 400 rupees for it, we shall have topay it ! why not then pay 150 and mak e a

1 Choti or Ohots li a Hair on the head.

68 m an ronxwu .

saving of The greedy thief releasedh is hold on the beard and at once made forthe hair on the head, for he knew not thatthe V ohoras as a c lass do not wear Choti .Th is presence of m ind stood the Vobora

in good stead ; for, as soon as he found him

self free, he ran into h is house and shut the

door against the unwelcome visitor who wentaway bemoan ing h is own folly and covetousness .

Mortar s—Catch not at the shadow and

lose the substance. The s tory contains a cau

t ion against excessive greed wh ich oftentimemisses what it aims at.

C f. ‘The Dog and£ 3 0173 Fables.

the shadow

STORY XXIII.Plate this club with gold !

A al so“; was begging alms in the Bazar,with a th ick c lub in h is hand. Passing fromshop to shop

,he arrived at a golds—m ith

’s who

was hammering a piece of gold into leaf. The

mum romances. 69

tempting yel low metal attracted the beggar’

s

eye, and no wonder ; for, nothing can withstand the power of gold. He was a beggarby profession and avar ice had blinded h is eyes.W ithout cons idering, therefore, the reasonableness or otherwise of the demand

,he asked the

goldsm ith to plate his club with gold ! The

go ldsm ith looked up and stared at the beggar,

for some time,in surpr ise, at wh ich the latter

exc la im ed,“Wel l my boy, don

’t you hear

me ? Plate th is c lub wi th go ld,and God w ill

bless you.

” Gold is not to be had fo r ask

ing ,”said the goldsm ith. You seem to have

lost your head or you would not make suchan unreasonable demand.” Asking for it hnacost me nothing ; had you met my demand, youwould have been the loser and not I l so

saying he left the place.M onan z—Gold is the dust that blinds

all eyes.

STORY XXIV .

No, by my g randfather , I am not hungry. ,

70 13mm rom an .

A Comrraruax once vis ited the city of

Ahmedabad, and put up with a distant relativeof h iswho l ived there. The prosperous citizen set

before h is country guest a good supply of del icious food and pressed h im to do full justiceto i t. After dinner he served h im with PanSupari as desser t. The villager, th inking it tobe another dish , said, I have had enoughfood. I won’t take any more.

” I t w il l helpdigestion,

”

said his host, and do you good.”

But I tell you I am not hungry. Y ou have

not eaten much , so you m igh t take it.”

Hospital ity forbids m e to taste i t unlessyou take some.

By my grandfather , exc laimed the vis itor,

I am not hung ry. I f I were, I wouldn’t haveleft that leaf —mean ing the plantain leaf onwhich the food was served !

Out o f regard to the feel ings of h is ignorant guest, the host refrained from explainingto him that P anS upari was no food, but a

sort of desse rt to be tak en after each meal.

mum : n am es. 71

STORY XXV.

I g ive you all the bufialoes of the town."

A COMPANY of itinerant actors were onceplaying in a street o f Dhrangadhra. Aftergo ing through several performances

,they

brought in a dancer who played h is part ex

quis itely and faultlessly. Gi fts began to pourin from the audience. A Ban ia named L a~

poddas, who was g reatly charmed wi th the

per formance,

ofl'

ered a buffalo in a momen to f excitement ; but the next instant he wassorry for what he had done, and wished to

recal l the offer i f he could do so by any m eans.

Next came two actors in the charactersof an ill- assorted couple. Se iz ing the opportu

nity , the Ban ia, as though g reatly pleased,offered two buffaloes m ore. A little later he

offered ten. Towards the end of the play, he

got up from h is seat and cr ied out,

“ I giveyou al l the buffaloes of the town ! ”

The bystanders and the actors thought theBania had lost his senses, or he would not havemade such an absurd offer ; for

, he had no

7 2 mmm ronxron .

r igh t to give away the buffaloes belonging too ther people. By fe igning insan ity, the Ba

nia thus eas ily recalled the or iginal offer , and

congratulated h imself on his ingenuity.M ons t z—A prom ise breaker is never at

a loss for an evasion .

STORY XXVI.‘ Lawl ick s up al l .

’

A Bas ra named Oghad once in a

v illag e o f Kath iawar . In the same compounds tood the house of ano ther Ban ia li dmfi . Bothhad a common c laim on the unbui lt land constituting the compound. Wi th the intentionof adding a room to his house , Oghad measured

the space between the two houses and drovea peg therein.

Rama,instead of proceeding to a lawcour t,

went before the Mahajana§ and lodged a com

5 Mahdjana z Leading persons of the Banid Com»

munity.

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74 mom m m“ .

Mahajana are my Ma-bapi , but I am sorry

I can't remove the peg for them ; was the

final answer of Oghad.

The Mahajana did all they could to ( lie.

suede Oghad from do ing an injustice to his

neighbour, but when they found that nothingwould make h im change his m ind, they adv isedthe aggr ieved party to fi le a sui t against himin a law- court.

Rama did as he was advised, and he summened the Mahajana as witnesses who dec

lered on oath that the land in question wascommon property. The judge ordered Oghad

to remove the peg at once and pay the ex

penses of the suit. Moreover , Oghad had toengage pleaders and shut up h is shop for

several days, wh ich entailed a heavy drainupon his smal l resources. He came to his

senses at last, but not till al l was consumed,and repentance was too late .

M osan z—Avo id law- sui ts above all th ingsthey affect your consc ience , impair your healthand dissipate your property.

m amm al .

‘ Fooh and obstinate personslav yen ,

’

says an Italian Provet h

STORY icxvu.

“ Something. if you could but tel l what."

0 8 0 8 upon a time, the Emperor Ahabarasked his favour i te jester Lahuwa wh ich wasthe most prudent and circumspect communi ty.to wh ich Lahnwareplied that the Banids were.

Nonsense ! said A k abar. “ They are

most clumsy fellows.” “ They look clumsy,no doubt ; but all the same, they are verythoughtful responded Lah l‘lwa. Whereuponthe Emperor ordered h im to prove i t to h im.

Lahuwaat once ordered a maund o f Maga"

from the royal granary, and summoning a fewBan ias from the Bazar

,he ask ed them what

it was. The Banias thought to themselvesthat it must be out of po l icy or for some secret

purposo that the question was ask ed. TheyMaz a A k ind of pulse.

16 ram s rom an .

r eso lved, therefore, not to name the thing, and

when questioned aga in by Lahuwa, one of themsaid, “ I t is a sort of food grain.

”You are

quite r igh t, sa id another Bania. Besideswhen we pound i t into m eal and take off the

husks, i t tastes delic ious !”

Q uite so ! as

sented a th ird Ban ia. I l ik e '

it very much.”

But what do you call it i ”. demanded

the Emperor.“ I s n

’t i t A dadI Cl asked one Bania to

another. No replied h is compan ion.

“ Adad is black whereas this is green.

” “ I tcan

‘t be pepper e ither,

”added the th ird ; for

,

that is also black.”

At th is the Emperor became v ery angry,

and losing patience, he exclaimed, you are a

pack of idiots. Don’t you see i t is M ega i

”

8 0 i t is ! ” c ried out the Benita s imultane~onely. The name had escaped our memories.

”

Lahhwa then asked them to repeat thename to wh ich the sly Banias replied

,

‘fH is

h Iaj esty is qui te r ight. We too call it bythe same name.

” Then turn ing to the Emperor

I Adad z A kind of pulse.

man s m u ons . 77

they ask ed,

5"what do you call it, Your

The Emperor was convinced that if notwise

,the Banias were at least the most c ircum

spect community he had ever seen.

STORY XXVIII.

A sequel to the above.

Bur after th is the Emperor A k abar wishedto take in the Ban ias by some means or other,and he asked Lahuwa to show h im a trick bywhich he could do so. The jester advised himto go a hunting, kill a wild boar , drag it to

tile gates of De lhi , hang it there and then ask

the Ban ias what it was. If they said ,boar

,your Majesty they were liable to

°

be

pun ished for abusing their sovereign.

t t day, the Emperor did as Lahuwahad suggested , and summoning the leader! 0?

A boar , Your Maj esty’=Means in GujatttiYour Maj ewy is a hour.

INDIAN FOLKLORE

the Ban ia commun ity h e asked them what thean imal was. The Ban ias at once perceived thatit was a tr ick o f L ahuwa’

s to entrap them.

They reso lved therefore, to refra in from cal lingthe beast by its proper name

,and to try the

Emperor's patience by beating about the bush.When, therefore, asked again by the Em peror,one of them said, “ I t looks like an elephantk ept without food and water for a long timeand consequently much reduced ! A secondBan ia after consideration replied, “ It is too

small for an elephant. I th ink it is a largewild cat ! “ Don

’

t you see it has a tusk ,while cats have none ? Said another . Itis a rh inoceros

,without doubt !

Th is was too much for the Emperor. He

seized one of the Banifis by the col lar , and

pointing to the boar, he angr i ly exc laimed,Look at it again, you bl ind fellows, and tell me ;is n

’

t it a wild boar ? ” “ It is ! so it is !"

cried out the wise sons o f silly mothers.Mom —It is wise to consider a course

of conduct in all its bearings, before we de

termine on it. Before ventur ing out an opi

nion, we should weigh well the consequences.

men u ronxnoss. 79

Th is story as well as the preceding one teachus prudence, p atience and fores igh t.

STORY XXIXThe dog of Racism.

HADALA is a small village situated on the

borders of the Bhal, a fresh water Runn,in

a country without b ills or forests and almosta level plain. There l ived outside the villagea dog who was in the habit of barking at

every passer by,wh enever she caugh t sight

of one till he disappeared from view. Thismeant a good deal in a level country, and she

had to attend to her unpleasant duty from

early morning till late at n ight . This processof bark ing all day long had strengthened herjaws and made her proof against cold, heatand fatigue. The fi lm knew her natureand often teased her which gave them great

rule, the tributary chiefs of K s thiawad paid

80 runn er roam

tribute to the Gaek war of Baroda, but not. as

regularly and as they do now. The

Gaek war had to send troops on the M ulak g ir i

expedition.” Once such a punitive force, on

its way to a native state, by Hadhlfi,

and the indefatigable dog took to her pro fessionat eight of the gers. The sepoys were

marching on the plain of Bhal from early

fi l l"

JQg late In the aftera i.“

”w:0 Q in. Ih Wo Q u l/

m Q uite equal to e m and k ept on

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82 INDIAN rom an .

Well,my fr iend

,began the Thak ore,

are al l at home do ing well. i ”

Al l, except our poor dog Bazia.

I t gr ieves me very much to hear thatmy poor old dog is no more. O f what didhe die 7 ”

Our mare Hardi died. replied the ser

vant. The dog ate her flesh and fol lowedher to the grave.

”

What happened to my dear mare 7 I

am very sorry to have lost both my pets.She died for want of hay and gram .

When I left home,therewas a large stock

o f both. Where did i t all go iA part of it was destroyed by fire and

the remainder was disposed of in order to defray the expenses of feeding the Brahm ins on

the 13th day after your mother’s death.”

Shocked at this last blow theM oreexclaimed,My mother Is she also no more ? Of what

did she die

The loss of your only son told heav ilyupon her health and she succumbed to the blow.

This utterly overwhelmed the Thsk ore.

m u s rou t e“ . 83

cr ied. I don’t know what to believe and whatnot to believe. What happened to my dar l ing

He died for want o f proper nourishment.D o you mean to say that my wife did not nour ishher own ch ild T hat is absurd l

She did suck le h im and took great careof him as long as she was al ive ; but afterher decease, the tender child was too helplessto l ive without a mother ’s care.

So my wife is also dead I sobbed the

Thak ore. “ Whom have I left then in the

world 7 Let us go home where I can lay my

self down in a quiet corner and weep over mym isfortu nes.

Even that last conso lation is denied you ;replied the servant sadly . “Before I left, a greatfi re broke out in the vic inity of our house and

utter ly destroye dit together with other houses.”

The Thak ore gave up the idea of returning home and finished h is m iserable l ife abroad.

84 worm sonanou .

STORY XXXITo do as Bhaga did

Tunas formerly l ived in Kaira a Ban ianamed Bhagwandfis whom everybody calledBhaga, a contracted form of his long nam e.

H is father died when Bhagawas only a ch i ld,

and so,being the only chi ld o f a widowed

m other , he was never sent to schoo l and

was spo ilt th rough fondness and indulgence.Bes ides, hewas marr ied at the early age of 12

,

and had never stirred out from home till hewas twenty years of age. I t then happenedthat Bhaga and his wife were invited by hisfather- ih - lawto be present on the occasion of a

marr iage. His wife was too il l to go, so i twas dec ided that Bhaga should go alone.

.When he came to take leave of his mother ,she said

, My boy, you are still a ch ild and

ignorant of the ways of the wor ld. I am very

sorry to have to send you,but i t can’t be

helped. Conduct yourself well and speak as

l ittle as possible wh en you are once there .

Don’

t utter two words where you can do

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8 6 INDIAN ronxnoss .

I hope there wasn’t anyth ing very seriouswhen you left was thereBhaga who was greatly bored by th is

series of questions put on a gloomy face and

replied, “ Yes !” Why did you not wr ite

to us then 7 Eager ly exclaimed the m other ‘

ih - law. I hope she is still al ive. I s she ?"

Bhaga who thought that the cross- eb

amination would never come to an end,replied

with a dejected look, N o i”

Is my daughter dead then Askedthe woman wi th tears in her eyes : Yes

replied Bhaga.Th is was fo llowed by loud lamentations ,

when Bhaga’

s father- in - lawaccompan ied by a

guest from Kaira cam e in to find h is wifeand daughters beating their breasts and

weeping piteously. On inquiry , he was to ldthat h is eldest daughter that is Bhaga’

s wifewas dead The new- comer who had seen her

a l ive just b efore he left Kai ra, interposed ,

“ Who says she is dead ? I saw her only

this morn ing and that too not ih'

a very badstate of healt

My son- ia - law here says that she is

moms som e“ . 87

dead I” said the mother - in- law. Bhaga wasfurther exam ined and the truth came out at

last !The ignorance and though tlessness of

Bhaga have become proverbial , so that anybody who does a foolish th ing has the nickname cf Bhaga bestowed upon him , and he

is said to have done as Bhaga did.

STORY XXXII.

Fool’s haste is no speed.

”

IN Bhavnagar there once l ived a Banianamed K amalsh iwho had a servant named Hiroa stupid boy,

who was therefo1c only employedin runn ing errands for h is master .

Having some business at Ghogha Gogo)K amalshi thought of despatch ing Hiro the nextmorn ing. The s illy boy, who was informedof his master’s intention by one of h is fellowservan ts , though t to himself

, t Sheth cal ls

1 Sheth =Master.

88 INDIAN ronxLoan.

me a fool. Th is is an excellent opportunityof showing h im that I am not so stupid as

h e supposes . I f,in th is case

,I act in antic i

pation o f h is orders,i t wi ll open h is eyes and

conv ince h im that I am no fool l ”

Next m orning, he got up very early and

left for Ghogh ti , wh ence he returned in the

even ing. With h igh hopes of h is services beingproper ly apprec iated h e ran to his master and

said, Sheth Saheb, I come directly from

Ghogha where I went th is m orning Whoasked you to go there and for what i askedthe master. Why, said H ire

,I was told

that you though t of sending me there th ismorn ing , and I have antic ipated your wishes !as to business , I was told noth ing or I wouldhave done it 1”

The master laughed at h is folly and dis

m issed h im with instructions never to repeat i t.Menu s—Persons of Hira’

s type are not

rare in th is wo rld. They over- rate their abil ities and expose themselves to the r idicule of

others.

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INDIAN POLKLOBI .

dozen states in the course of a decade, expressed his will ingness to take up the responsiblepost, on condition that i f ever he fell into disgrace, he should not be fined by the king.

“ If you comm it a fault, ” replied the

R aja, you are l iable to punishment ; and

who can punish the first Officer of my Statebut myself ? ” But in that case

, repliedthe K arbhari, we become par tisans, and one

party cannot impartially deal with the faultof the other. I wish , therefore, that I may

be tr ied by arbitrators. A ndwhom would

you suggest as arbitrators Demanded the

The Dhedas men of the lowest caste lannounced the K arbhari. “ They are neithermy relatives nor connected with me in any

way, and capable, therefore, o f deciding mycase impartially. ”

Greatly astonished , the king said, Dhedas

sit in judgment upon my Officer ! that isr idiculous ! you don

’t mean that i do you i

I do, my lord. I would rather be tried byDhedas than expose myself to the tendermerc ies of my brother offi cers and self- styled

mow mu tt on 91

fr iends ! I am prepared to accept the postonly on that condition.

The king granted h is request, bestowedupon h im a dress of honour

,and installed h im

him on the ‘Diwan’

s gadi.N o sooner was the newK arbhari establish

ed ia h is office, than he began to dev ise means—fair and foul - to extrac t the max imum of

l‘icheB in the m in imum o f time. A numberof unjust taxes were impo sed upon the people,and justice was so ld to the highest bidder.

The people at last grew so tired of tho

Oppressive measures put in force by the newm in ister , that they subm itted a petit ion to theK ing representing all their gr ievances. The

anti - k arbhari party, avail ing themselves of theOpportun ity induced the K ing to try the

m in ister for m is appropriation o f public money.The K ing at once summoned the li arbhar i

and angrily exclaimed, Many charges againstyou have come to my k nowledge, and I don'tsee why . you should not be fined first andthen dism issed

I f I have fallen into disgrace, answeredD iwan’

s M i a - Minister'

s seat.

9 2 m u n 101.a

the m inister,

“ I don’twish to serve any longeras regards the tr ial, I must be tr ied by Bheddaas was agreed upon.

The K ing called the leaders of the Dhedacommun ity and instructed them to impar tiallyconduct the tr ial without the least fear

,as

the K arbhar i was no longer in power and

could therefore do them no harm. The Dhedas

then arranged them selves in a c ircle under a

a im - tree standing in front of the palace, and

began to consider what fine to impose uponthe K arbhari.

Brethren,

said a leading Dheda,

“ the

case is a ser ious one, and cannot, therefore ,be disposed of off hand.

”

The wily K arbhar i has made quite a

fortune , remarked another. Of howmuch

do you th ink he has robbed the State and

the peopleN ot less than five score of rupees, I

am sure I” said a th ird. But we will mak eh im refund the whole sum

That’s too heavy a fine , I th ink ; re.

pl ied the first speak er . .We should n’t be

too str ict. Let us impose a fine of two score

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IN DIAN FOLKLORE.

ever, their eyes fel l on the owner of the fieldcoming towards them from the other side of

the field, stick in hand. At the sight of h im,

the sepoys re-mounted their horses and hurr iedlyleft the plA l ittle further on,

they came upon anotherfield wh ich belonged to an old Brahm in widow.

The M ahomadens leisurely got down from

their horses and let them loose in the fieldwh ich was not their own. When the poorwidow sawthe horses trampling the tendercrop under their feet and do ing a lot of h arm

she came before the ir owners,and with folded

arms exc la imed,

“ I am a helpless widow and

solely dependent upon the crop of th is field.God will bless you, if you leave it unmo lested.

”

The sepoys instead of listening to her eu

treaties, mounted their horses and rode r ight,

across the field trampling down the stalks andears of corn that came in their way.

Adjo in ing the w idow’

s field there wasanother field belonging to a M ahomaden. The

horsemen thought that that too belonged to

the widow, so they entered it fearlessly. Whenthe owner of the field saw them,

he came

m u s rom an). 95

running towards them accompanied by three

or four labourers. Wi thout uttering a word ,they pulled them down and beat them severely.When they had chastised them to their hearts‘

conten t, the owner of the field ordered themto re-mount the horses. When they had doneso

,he said

, you ough t to have known thatth is was a Mia’

s field, and not a widow'

s.

The horsemen meekly left the place. The

M id had taught them a lesson which lastedthem their l ifetime and they never again entered a field that belonged to a M ahomaden.

M om n z—In this world superior m ightg enerally prevails and the weakest have to goto the wall.

STORY XXXVPutting one of does not necessarily

n

'

A Mussalman was in the habit ofbuyingeverything on credit and putting 0 6 the payment from day to day. Thus he had lost bl.

96 mman roLxLoar .

credit and nobody advanced h im anythingexcept on cash paym ent. He owed some

money to a Ban iawho pressed him everyday

Once when the M ia was in a cheerfulframe of m ind, the Bania asked him to settlethe long- standing account. The debtwas settledat 6 0 rupees , and forty rupees were added asinterest, making up a total of 10 0 rupees.The Mia showed h is unw illingness to pay the

interest wh ich he declared unlawful accordingto the tenets of II slam , and asked the creditorto take off a part of the principal also ; to

this the Bania replied, Business is business ,my fr iend. In account matters we count likejews and agree l ike brothers. Trade knowsneither fr iends nor kindred.

The M id got wild and angrily exclaimed,

The intrest is out of question, for , my relig ious principles forbid me to pay or receive i tthat leaves sixty ; you must forego half thatsum ; out of the remain ing

.

thirty , I shal l

pay you ten in a day or two , another ten

will be paid later on ,and for the remaining

1 Islas he Mahomaden relig ion.

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INDIAN ” LX I -OI L

or a buffalo at home. I f, therefore, I ask for

one, the King will be sure to give it to me,

and I shall be ever so happy ” He thereforeprayed the K ing to bes tow upon h im a stoutbuffa lo , a request wh ich was readily granted.

The other Kunbi,who was a lad of fi fteen

said to himself, I am not going to havea cow or a buffalo ; for, it

’

s no permanentgood. Even if he g rants me a I jagh ir , and

ra ises me to the rank of a i f jaghirdar, I won’taccept it ; for, I am i ll iterate, and can not

manage it. 1“ Laxm i is restless and volatile ,

wh i le her siste r ll Sarswati is steady and re

l iable. I would rather have her than her

fickle sister ; because, weal th is worth li ttlewithout wisdom, and it is skil l and wisdom ,

and not weal th and r iches, that govern the

world. I would rath er have a grain of sense

than a pound of gold.” When ask ed, therefore,by the King, what he wanted, he thoughtfullyreplied, May i t please your Majesty

,I would

I Jaghir r - Landed property.Jaghirdar -

z -A landed propr ietor.1 Laxmi=The Godesa of r iches.1l Sarawati z The Godesa of learning.

rather have a l iberal education bestowed uponme, than the most costly things of th is wor ld ;for , learning is an acquisition that can ne itherbe smleu by thieves , burnt by fire, nor dividedamong brothers.

”

The K ing took them both with h im to

his Capital, and on reaching the royal palacehe at once ordered a bufi

'

alo to be given to

the lad who had asked for it. He then sum

m oned a §Pundit and entrusted the other boyto his care, with instructions to teach h im

with great care and promptitude.The lad with the buffa lo was made much

o f and praised for his practical wisdom by the

villagers,wh ile the younger boy was made fun

o f and laughed at, for having prefered learning to a buffalo which yielded 10 seers of milkevery day.

But the boy entrusted to the P unditshowed great capac ity, and made amazing pro

g ress in all the branches of sanskrit l iterature.In five years he had learnt everything thatwas worth learning

, and had the responsiblepost of a Revenue Commissioner bestowed upon

5 Pundit n A rel igious preceptor.

I'

NDIAN "rotatesn.

h im. The K ing was so pleased with his workthat he conferred upon h im a handsome jagh irand raised h im to the rank of a jagh irdar .

Thus he made a fortune and did a lot of goodto other people, wh ile the man with the buffaloremained in the same abject condition , and

finished h is days in obscur ity. Ere long hediscovered h is m istake andwas often heard to

say, One good head is better than a hundred

strong hands.

STORY X XXVII.

There is no going back .

A MAHOMEDAN went to a Bama s shopand ask ed the rates of flour , ghee, sugar ,

pulse, and r ice. After much h iggl ing they

came to terms and the pr ices agreed upon

were much lower than the mark et rates of

those artic les.The M id thought all the wh ilethat he had secured v ery lowrates, wh i le theBania thought of recov er ing by false weigh ts

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10 2 mom : roam “ .

depr ived him of the weights in his possessionthey let h im go to do what he liked. The

M ia complained against them all in a law- cour t

but he could not prove the charge, for the placewhere he was beaten was al l inhabited byBan ias

,and none therefore came forward to

corroborate h is statem ent. Again there wereno perceptible marks on his body to prove theassault.This story has g iven r ise to the following

proverbTease not a M ahomedan in Kasba, play

not with fire in summer Don’t find fault with

a robber in the forest or a Bania in the Bazar .’

STORY XXXVIII.‘ Fooli sh boasting .

’

Tes sa l ived in Delhi a M ahomedan and

a Rajput named Fak k ad K han and Randheersinh respectively. They were great fr iendsand passed much of their time in each other’s

warm m u ons. 10 9

ny. Once when they were si tting to:and talking about

,

the go lden past,1 said, T imes are altered. My fatherI Risaldar in the Imper ial cavalry.were so many horses in h is stable thatdays to count them al l and the stable ?

id of it was in the extreme North and

h er reached the extreme South 1”

fhe Rajput, in order to show h is fr iendt was a cock and bull story, put on a

8 look and said , you are quite r ightiend. My father was as fond of swords

and lances as was your father of fine horses.

He had a lance, one end of wh ich touchedthe earth and the o ther reached the sk y !

That can’t be. Where,on earth , did he

keep it ? " asked the M id.In your father 's stable. replied the

Rajput.Moan . z—Foolish boasting exposes us to

mer ited r idicule.f.C The fo

ile.and the £ 3017 3 fables.

I Bisélddr=A Commanding ofi ocr in a caval ry,

104 i smu s ronxtou . 4

STORY XXXIX

‘ No

i

shift and one

A HARE,a snake and a fox wer e fr iends

and l ived together.

in a haystack. One n igh tit caugh t fi re , and the .three fr iends began to

look for a safe means o f escape. Don’t trouble

about me said the hare. I have a hun

dred tr icks to resort to.” So saying she en

tered her form wh ich was underneath the haystack. Be easy on my accouat ; said thesnak e. “For I have a thousand and one wayso f escape. I can enter the bowels of the earthl ike our fr iend. the bare, as wel l as I can climba tree. A tree would be the best resort underthe circumstances. So saying he c limbed a

tree thatqverhung the haystack. The fox whohad but one sh ift—that of runn ing away fromthe proximity ofdanger

—m ade good her escapein the woods.

Q

The haystackwas soon reduced to

The poor hare,w$ had sought refm under

i t, was baked alive, andfl the flames rose so h igh

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106 m um roam “ .

With the object of winning over the Magistrateto his side, one of the parties went one nightto Ambashank er and offered him the sum of

rupees , if he dec ided the case in hisfavour . Th is handSOme offer of 6 2 maunds of

s i lver or 12 5 lbs o f go ld would have blinded anyother man, but Ambashank er had too high an

ideal of justice and honesty to be tempted bygold or si lver. He , therefore , disdainfully re

j ected the bribe and asked the man to go away.Why are you angry said the man.

The service of your whole life wil l not bringyou as much money as I mean to place inyour hands to night. Seize the opportunity,my dear Sir, and take advan tage of the sm ilesof fortune. Again, your secret w il l be safe

with me and nobody will ever know it. Fortuneknocks at your door

, and i f you don’t let her

in, she will pass away.Parekh , said the Magistrate , I thank

you for your advice and would cer tainly havefollowed it ; but I am not my own master ,for I am responsible to the higher tr ibunalof duty presided over by Justice Conscience 1who is very keen about such matters and

112mm ! ronxt oar. 107

cannot put up with the slightest infringement of the pr inc iples laid down by h im. You

say that nobody would refuse such a handsome

ch'

er , but there are persons who consider dutyabove all things. Y ou wi ll, therefore, do wel lto leave me alone.”

STORY XLI

strain at a gnat and swallowa

Te xas lived in Ca lcutta a M ahomedan

named Neki- khan, who , notwithstanding h isextreme poverty

,had established a reputation

as an honest man. Whenever he found a thinglying on the road or elsewhere , he 1nvarrablyreturned 1t to its 0 er and never

day, asNeki-khanwas passing tlwongb

ti lying in the m iddle of the road. He

108 INDIAN rotatonl .

picked them up and went home directly. On

opening the parcel , a priceless treasure con

s isting o f a pear l neck- lace and a pa ir of

go ld bangles,set with diamonds , met h is eyes.

H is first impulse was to find out their lawfulowner and hand them over to h im , but on

second though ts , he came to the conclusionthat he would appropr iate them for h imself.Pitying my poor condi tion and helpless o ld

age, God may have sent it to me as a reward.Again

,I am getting o ld and shal l have to re

t ire from service in a year or two ,so this wil l

serve as a provis ion against rainy days to come.

‘ Spontaneous bounty ,

’says Gorak hnath , is

l ike m i lk, that wh ich is begged is l ike waterand that wh ich is snatched away is like bloodI have neither begged nor sto len i t. It is a

god- send and as such is most acceptable.

Th is false reasoning .could not, however , s ilencethe vo ice of consc ience. 9‘ I have enj oyed

'

an

unsnll ied reputation so long ; said he to h imself ; Why tarnish it ' nowin the

- eve o f my'

l ife, and disgrace my white h air ? But .then ;

when fortune knocks at my door, it is foolishto turn her away. Honesty is tmbest .po licy,

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110 m u n ronxtou .

Turns was a tk ol i named Bhalo who pretended to be vary pious and devout. Carryinga rosary o f beads in one hand, in the other a

country guitar, and with a mark made wi ththe sacred yellowearth upon h is forehead, hechanted hymns day and n ight in praise o f

Rama. He preached broad princ iples o f m ora

l lty to the v illagers, and exhorted them to

be honest, truthful and god- fear ing. A ll th is,

however, was meant for the market, not fo r

home consumption. In short , he was fa irwithout

,but foul with in.

Once a body of pilgr ims was go ing to

Kashi ( modern Benares )and Bhalo Bhagataccompanied them. After bathing in the sacred

waters of the mother Ganges, they performedthe ir obe isance to the Lord of Kash i and tookcer tain vows. Bhalo took a vownever to gofish ing.

On h is way back, he came up on a poo lo f water, about a m ile from h is native place,abounding in fish. He had a great wish to

take some, but he could not do so,as he had

taken a vowto that effect. At last he h it

T K oli =A member of the labour ing class.

INDIAN FOLKLORE. l 11

upon a plan that would answer h is purposew ithout violating the v ow. From the poolto the vil lage gate, l.o traced a line withh is stick

,and when h is caste - fellows came to

welcome h im home, he uttered the fol lowingwords which if r ightly interpreted would leadthem to the pool I will neither po int itout with my finger, nor utter a word as to

its where -abouts ; but if you fol low the tracko f the stick , i t wil l guide you to a poo l ofplenty l ”

Two or three Ko l is at once made for the

pool, and on arriving there, caug h t a numberof fish and brough t them h ome to be servedto the IBhagat. Thus the se - called Bhagatgot the fish and kept h is vowas wel l.

M oan .

Oh ! what a man may within h im

Though angel on the outward s ide.Cf. alsoWords and promises that yok eThe utterer are quickly broke

,

L ike Samson’

s Cufi'

s,though by his own

Direction and advice put on.1Bhagat - a rel ig ions man.

2 man y“

toma toes:

STORY X LI IL

‘He‘

that is won with a nut may be lost

I N one of the native states under the RewaKanthaAgency, there Was a magistrate namedAbi didas who sold justice to the highest -bidderfirm ly bel ieving that gold is the god of the

wor ld. He never looked to th e mer its or de

mer i ts of the case, or considered pros and cons,

but decided i t in favour of the party'

whooffered the h ighest pr ice for a dec ision in h is

A widow of the K havz’

ts communi ty owed2 50 rupees to a Ban ia who fi led a sui t againsther in A nandidas

’

s court. The Ban ia whoknew the Magistrat e well , bough t a turbanworth Rs 30 , and presented it to "him , on

condi tion that a decree should be passed in hisfavour. The Mag istrate, wh ile accepting theturban, assured the Bania that it would surely

be decided m his favour .

When the case came before the court for

h earing,the Magistrate showed a marked ten

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114 m u s rename“ .

account- books, he said , You seem to havedeceived this poor widow who knows verylittle o f matters of account. The Bania at

once understood the cause of this suddenchange in the Magistrate’s conduct, and in

order to remind him of the turban he . said ,What about the turban, S ir l ” The turbanhas been swal lowed up by the buffalo, myfriend ! replied the Magistrate coolly. He

then dismissed the suit.M om z—Judges should be dis interested.Of. The dog and the sheep. E sop

’

s fables.

STORY XLIV.

A fig to the doctor when cured)

THERE lived in Daman a merchant namedBoghasha who lost so heavily in a businesstransaction that he was unable to meet thedemands o f h is numerous creditors. He

»

therefore, shut up h is shop , and k ept ia

doors to escape the var ious demands for pay

I NDIAN FOLKLORE.

ment. A. fr iend of h is named Dhiraj lal, know»

ing that Boghztsha was in great t rouble wen tto h is house and asked h imhow the matterstood

My fr iend,said Boghasha, you k now

that I have i ncurred a very heavy loss in thatwheat transaction. A s a banker of long standing and some reputation, I ho ld deposi ts froma number o f persons I am qui te unable tosatisfy them all at the present moment. I f

you can show me a way out o f i t, you willlay me under a l ife- long obligation.

You know as wel l as I do, repliedD hiraj lal , that you owe me too a large sum.

N owif I show you a nice tr ick to get out of

the difficulty,prom ise me that you won

’t putit in force against me also .

”

You need not be afraid of that ; for,

I am not so ungrateful as that. Once I am

free from the clutches o f my other cred itorsI wil l pay up every pie that I owe you.

”

L isten to me then, said Dhiraj lal,whenever a creditor comes and askee you

for payment, say‘ mew in reply to every

question that is asked you. T hey would then

116 moms se rm ons.

think that sudden m is fortune has affected yourbrains. You w il l thus be left unmo lested, and

in the end you will come off successful ! but

m ind , the pol icy of ‘A. fig to the doctor whencured won’t do for me Z”

From early morning next day, credito r sbegan to pour in, but Boghashai met them all

with that excellent m onosyllable mew.

’

Settle my account, Boghaisha”cried a

M ewl ” replied the debtor .That won’t do shouted a banker. “ P ay

me this instant, or I will tak e legal stepsagainst you.

M ew was Boghdshzi’

s only reply to the

I have depos ited a hundred rupees with

you. Iwant them back this moment ; c rie da wood- cutter.

M ewl ”

Then a widow spoke, “ Sheth Saheb, youknow that I am solely dependent on the ia

tercet that my deposi t brings me every m onth.

The loss ,

c f it would render me utter ly helpless. 'I have. no other means o f livel ihood.

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W AN FOLKLORE.

h im the way out of h is difficulty , but repent.“

anee came too late,for , the chance was past.

M ORAL - Howoften do men incur uncal ledfor liabilities on the assurances of personswhose later conduct proves them to be nu

worthy of confidence,and hence br ing m isery

and disaster on themselves ?Cf.

If you trust before you try,

Y ou may repen t before you die.

Of.

The kite and the P igeons. JESOP’

S fables

STORY XLV.

Can‘

t help it, my friend ; for , I have

the misfortune to be a Patidar .

THERE lived in N ar iad a Fetider named

Lalbhai. Like their brother land- ho lders, theRajputs , the P atidars keep their ladies inPau la, take opium and sweetmeats in companytwice a day and spend a lot on the occas ion

mmw rom on . I“

of a death, marr iage or pregnancy. Poor

Lalbhai had to do all th is . He had a veryl im i ted income wh ich hardly sufficed for the

maintenance of his large fam ily ; but he wasbound to keep up the reputation of his eneass

tors and whether he could afford it or not,

spend as others did. A s a result of th is falseidea o f reputation ,

he was overwhelmed withdebt. Even at - the present time

, almost al lP atidars are o f the above type, and their esc

tates are heavily encumbered. Their reputation is the cause of the ir ruin, and unlessand unti l these thoughtless and extravagantcustomes are put a stop to , by the Governmentif not by themselves , they wi ll continue to s inknever to rise again.When Lalbhai went out in t he evening

he was always accompanied by hal f a dozenattendants , and as became a P atidar , he carrieda s i lver- huk ka, and h is s ilk - bordered Dhotiswept the ground - so lowwas i t worn. Once

when he was asked by a s tranger why he worethe Dhoti so low, he replied , Can’t help i t,my fr iend ; for , I have the m isfortune to be a

12 0 m m roam “ .

Mon a—Idle pleasures are only temporaryand evanescent and there is no so lid happinessinthem. Running headlong into debt make sa man m iserable and h is l ife becomes a burdento himself and others.

STORY XLVI.

The boy who bit his mother.

was once a boy who ,losing h is

father when he was very young, was underthe sole care o f his widowed mo ther. she wass o extremely indulgent to the fatherless childthat she never reproved him even when he

quarel led with other boys and got into serious

misch ief. T he wilful and m isguided ch i ld hadh is way in everyth ing and was thus led

into many vices among wh ich theft s tood

foremost. Whenever he brought som ethinghome, h is mother never inquired how he got

‘

it, but praised him for h is shrewdness ; and

the chi ld was thus led to bel ieve that he was

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12 2 m u s roam “ .

word aga inst my m isd eeds, but encouragedme to follow them with greater zeal. She aloneis to blame for thus leading me astray and I

curse bgl r from the bottom of my hear t forwilful ne

glect of duty. I will

,howev er, teach

her a lesson before I per ish.When the day, on which he was to be

hanged dawned, he was conducted to the p laceo f execution and was asked if anyth ing couldbe done for h im . He prayed to be allowedto see h is mother and say a fewwords to herin pr ivate. The prayer was granmd and the

boy approached h is mother who was standingin a corner beating her breast and cryingpiteous ly. A s if he wanted to confide some

secret to her before he died, he drew her facetowards h is and hit her nose clean off I and

then exclaimed.

“ I owe i t entirely to you,

wretche d woman, that I die an ignomious

death 2 i t was your duty to br ing me up in

the path of virtue. Y ou neglected that dutyand th is is the result of your neglect. Whydo you weep ? It is too late to gr ieve, for,

your tear s can do me no good nowl ” Thenaddressing the people, he said, Good people,

m um roLxLoar. 12 3

you see me here an example of shame and

punishment. But i t is th is mother of m inewho brought me to i t. I f she had punishedme severely for the little things that I stolewhen I was a boy, I should no t have come

to the gallows as a man .

Mor an —Spare the rod and spo i l the

chi ld . W icked dispos itions should be checkedearly. To perm it a ser ious fault in a ch i ldto go unpun ished is abso lute cruelty to it ;

and the fool ish mother, who spares her son

then,is prepar ing bitter pain for h im in the

future.

STORY XLV II.

Where have you been, Ralia Gadhavi 7“ On a.wild goose chase.

Tan s l ived in Ranisar, a village near

Ahmedabad , a I Charan or Gadhav i named

Ral io. He was a bustling- do noth ing sort o f

I Charan or Gu lhavi z N atia/e bards .

moms seam en.

fol low, and.

cared more about other people ’s

busi ness than about his own. Being naturallyaverse to earn ing his bread by hard labourhe managed to l ive on the char ity of the landedpropr ietors o f the place, who gave him aquan~tity of Juwar at harvest time. Th is he groundinto flour

,bo iled it with water and l ived there

on. He could not afford to buy vegetables ,ghee or sugar with it.

He was so tired of th is sor t of food thathe made up h is m ind to go on a visit for a

week. He had a double object in so doing.F irst

,he would get a var iety o f food elsewhere ,

and secondly by h is absence for a week , hecould save about 7 lbs. of Jfivar wh ich hethough t of sel ling on h is return , intending tobuy sweetmeats with the proceeds I With th isobject in view, he wandered from one place toanother , and returned home at the end o f a

week. B ut as chance would haven

it,he was

accosted by half a'

dozen of h is caste - fellowsas he entered the gates of his native vil lage.He had to tak e them home with '

h im and feedthem all. They consumed all that theGadhav i’swife had laid by dur ing her husband’s absence

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12 6 INDIAN m am as.

the intention of putting up with h im for the

n ight, they went to h is house where theyreceived a warm welcome from the owner.But in real ity , the M iawas much annoyedat heart to meet so many o f his old friends,all o f whom must be fed, not with bread and

vegetables , but with sweetmeats ; For , he had

enjoyed their hospital ity very o ften during h istenure of office. At last, he h it upon a planto avo id this necessity

,and said, “ You wai t

here,my fr iends. I shal l soon be back with

ghee, sugar and other artic les o f food for you.

You don’t come every day, and I must show

you that I am anyth ing but ungrateful . ”

W ith these words he left the house and wentto a friend o f his named Jhalimkhan to ask

h is advice as to howhe could get rid of h is

troublesome guests without giving them ofi'

ence.

After some thought, Jhal imkhan said “ Ican showyou a way ,

and an excellent one ;but i t involves some r isk which you mustundertake. You go back to your house. I

will followyou with in hal f an hour , accompa

n ied by half a dozen men, all armed to the

teeth. and mak e a rowin front of your house.

m u s rem nant . 12 7

I shall ask you ei ther to hand over the vil lagersto me or figh t with me on their behalf, and

you must prefer the latter alternative. I f thissham fight induces them to leave the house,well and good ; if not

,I .shal l have to wound

you which may prove ser ious ; but it wil lassuredly put them t o fl ight ; there is not

the least doubt about it. Seeing you engagedin their cause and risking your very life forthem , they will praise you more than everwhen they return to their village.

That is an excellent plan,

repl iedFattehk han dubiously. But I don't likethe latter part of i t. Can’t you manage itwithout wounding me

Nothing venture, nothing have. saidJhalimk han. you can

’t have gain withoutr isk of some sort.

Fattehk han expremed h is willingness toact according to h is fr iend’s advice. He re

turned home andwas soon followed by Jhalimkhan as previously arranged. Reaching hisfriend’s house, Jhal imk han ask ed him in a

peremptory tone to hand over his guests tohint, for, he said they had murdered his Father

12 8 mm rom eo“ .

years ago i To this'

Fattehk han replied , I

won’t deliver my guests to you as long as

there is a spark of l ife in me. Kil l me firs tand then have them if you can. So sayinghe seized h is gun and rushed out. The poor

y il lagcrs thought that it was a m istake and

would soon be put right. But when they sawthe combatants ser iously engaged , and the irchampion wounded in the arm

,they took to

their heels and soon disappeared l The Ma ho ~

medeus stopped fighting as soon as the guestswere gone. Fattehk han

’s woundwas not '

very

serious, thoug h i t took about a week to hea lbut i t saved him an expense of about tenrupees !

M ORAL z—The il l -disposed w il l easily inventan excuse for wrongd oing.

STORY I L.

Be a turn- coat.

cm as the Collector of Ahmedabad was

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180 mou nt rot ate“ .

for having detained you so long fo r nothing IMon a—We are justified in using prudence

in the ordinary occasions of life ; and it is

wise to aim at and acquire a certain readinessof m ind

,so that in cases o f dimculty we may

be able to do the best we can honestly for

ourselves.

STORY L.

The beggar is nev er out of his way.

Tu ms once l ived in Bhavnagar a Brahm innamed M adhavj i Bhatt who did not understandh is duty as a Brahm in according to the six

Shastras , and had quite forgotten the l ittle hehad learnt in his youth. He was content tofol lowh is ancestral profession, that of hmc lu e

,and went about the town every morn ing

uttering ‘ Laxmi bless you, Happiness attend

you,’ ‘God grant you long life, and such

other phrases well- k nown to the profession.

The morning trip brought him about 4lbs. offlour and he del ired nothing more. A week

moms FOLKLORE. 131

before and after i Sank rati, he wandered fromv illag e to v illag e in quest o f aims, and collecteda large quanti ty of corn and half a dosen suite

of clothes. On the iBaleva day, he went fromhouse to house and tied a thread round everybody’

s arm as a preventive against ev ils, and earned quite a number of coppers. On newyear’sday,

he wished good luck to everybody whomhe met and extracted silver and copper co insin return for the blessing. Inwinter he wentround with a subscription l ist m eant to prov ideh im wit h a warm garment ; in rainy season

tiles for his roof and an umbrella for h imselfwere obta ined by s im ilar means. I n shortBhattaj i had dev ised a thonsand and one waysof robbing the public , and there was no wanto f dupes who could be easily imposed upon.Thus Bhattaj i amassed a fortune and bui lt ahouse of h is own.

The Brahmin next took to the profess ion

t Shank ranti z l t in a rel igious holiday fallingabout the 12 th January. Food and clothes are g ivenaway to the beggars on that day.

IBaleva z l t falls in August. The Brahmins changetheir sacred threads on that day.

13 2 INDIAN FOLKLORE.

o f a story- teller,

and in order to master th e

var ious tales from the Rameyan and the Maha

bharat—the two Indian Epics—he picked up

the alphabet, and later on a l ittle reading and

wr i ting.Once he was repeating rel ig ious legends

in a temple,and on the seventh day when

they were finished, the people presented h im

with money,clothes and corn. I n order to

conduct the Bhattj l to h is house,they

seated h im on an elephant, with hundredso f people walk ing in front of th e process ion .

The procession was passing through a street,

when Bhattj i’

s eyes fell on a man distr ibutingradishes among the beggars. Although he

was seated on an elephant, he could notwithstand the temptation ,

and at once ask ed for

a radish wh ich was g iven to h im with the

following remark —“You are seated on an

elephant, and have gold rings round your arm ;

even pear ls can be had for the asking , but

v ou ough t to have considered your presentposition l

”

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134 mmw FOLKLORE.

they made away w ith it. Then after play ingthe fox with the robbers, the Bania quietlywent to sleep, congratulating h imself on the

fertil ity of h is brain.

The next morn ing, the th ieves gave thebag of mustard seed to their agent and sen thim to the Bazar to sel l it, th inking it wouldbr ing them at least a thousand rupees. The

agent went from shop to shop showing sample ;but was nowhere Offered more than two rupeesa maund which was all he had. He wen tat last to the shop o f the r ightful owner of

the mustard , and asked h im at what rate hewould buy it. The Bania offered a rupee

per maund, at wh ich the agent exclaimed,

I hear that mustard is getting scarce in

Bombay,

and the rates have therefore r isentremendously. I t was so , last n ight, "

repl ied the Bania ; but they have g onedown rapidly since then. He then fo llowedthe agent to the thieves ’

den and had themarrested and pun ished.

M onanz Decei t deserves to be deceived.

The stratagem of the Bania is excusable whenthe .evi l design of the thieves is considered.

m un rOLxLoar. 185

The disappointment of the latter does not winour sympathy for

,the Bania had a narrow

escape from their clutches}

STORY LII

There is difference between man and

man. says Anand to Parmanand ;for , one can

’t be had for money,

while another is not worth

Turns was'

a weal thy merchant in P or

bunder whose shop was managed by an old

and trustworthy i Munim. A s the Munimwas a thorough business man , and had an

extens ive exper ience o f ever v depar tment o f

trade, the § Sh’

eth left h im the sole management o f the shop. He was handsomely re

munerated for his serv ices e nd was treated as

f‘

,

Munim =- The manager of a shop.

5 Sheth s mm l’

.

13 6 mmw FOLKLORE.

The i Shethfini , however, did not l ike theM unim to be so treated

,wh ile her broth er

was s itting without emp loyment. She wish edh er brother to be appo inted to the Munim

’

s

place, and never fa iled to m ake a suggestionto that effec t whenever an opportun ity presen t~ed i tself. Once

,when the Sheth was pra ising

the tact and honesty of the Munim ,h is wife

angr i ly exc laimed,What is there in that

man that you praise h im so much It isworking that m akes awo rkman. I fyou appo intmy bro ther in h is place

,he wi l l do the work

equally well, i f not better Although th e

Sheth knew that. h is brother - ln- law was a.

sense less do lt , he gave h im the Munim’s post

in order to please his wife, and showher thatthe tellowwas no good. He explained the

situation to h is faithful servant and asked himnot to attend the shOp for a week .

After the newMunim had been installedin h is o ffi ce, the Sheth sent h im one morning

to buy 5 00 cans of ghee that had arr ived forsale the previous nigh t. He went and came

back three or four times. Once to repor t the

i Shethani - s Sheth'

s wife.

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138 m un roLxLonr.

business.One morn ing, the Sheth had a severe at

tack of fever, so h is wife sent her brother tocall a physician. On h is way to the physic ian’

s

house, the newMunim began to say to him

self, My s ister and her husband Often te l lme that the ex-Munim used to do a numberof th ings at a time. I will show them to-da

’

ythat I am also capable o f do ing the same.

The Sheth is very il l and the case may provefatal ! they will then require bamboo , cottonthread and cocoa- nuts to prepare the nanam i

for h im what if I buy these th ings in advance ?I t would save so much trouble later on l He

ask ed the physic ian to go at once to the houseand h imself went to the Bazar, and boughteverything that he thought would be usefulin case the Sheth died l

A s a rule such th ings are bought aftera person is dead. N owseveral people had seen

the M finim make purchases, and they naturally

thought that the Sheth mus t have breathed hisl ast. SO they fo llowed h im to his house M

Nanamiz l dt-means n

'

u-nameablc. a bamboo'

hier fer the ~dead.

worm FOLKLORE. 139

moaning the Sheth’

s death, though he was stil lin the land of the l iving ! when the m istressof the house sawpeople com ing to attend the

funeral ceremony , she summoned her brotherto her presence and dism issed h im with the

following words, Leave the house th is momentand never show your face here again. I nowful lv recogn ise the truth o f my husband

’

s statement that there is difference between man and

man.

STORY LIII.

A cross and per verse Mia.

THERE was once a M ahomedan named

A dek h.’tn who never gave a straight and directanswer to any question that was asked h im ,

even if i t were for h is own good. Two Punditsnamed Dhiraj ram and Suraj rftm were one day

discuss ing the tendenc ies of human nature,when

the former said , “ I fwe treat otherswith respectand k indness , we are sure to receive a s im ilartreatment in return ; for , kindness begets

140 INDIAN FOLKLORE,

kindness — is the lawof nature. I have no

faith in persons who find fault with others,

for they fi nd everyth ing yel low,because th eir

own eyes are jaundiced. Y ou may be r igh t,replied the o ther

, but persons naturally inc l ined to vic e are rec la imed with difficulty ,

you m igh t as well try to keep ducks from

water. For myself, I am of opinion that whatis crooked by nature is never made straigh tby education.

A s the two fr iends, a fewdays after the

above d iscussion,were passing along a stree t

they met A dek hzin wi th his son, coming from

the opp osi te direction. To pro ve the truth o f

h is statement,Suraj rzim accosted the M ia,

Good morning , M ia saheb. ” “ You must

have some bus iness with me replied theM ia suspic iously “

or you would not saluteme

,I am sure.

You are m istaken ,my fr iend ; I have

no business with you. We meet after a verylong time, and I am very g lad to see you.

I see you almost every day”

; growledthe M ia ; You must be blind not to see

me, you book-worm l

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142 moms renam es.

Wh i le theywere thus talking, a well- knowncharacter named Bhag lo happened to pass by .

Suraj ram stopped h im and po inting h im out

to the M ia, said, “ I f you say one word, such

as you have said to me , to the gentleman herehe will make you open your eyes very wide. ”

What do I care for him Replied the

M ia. I am not afraid of such hedge- bornbratsAt th is

,Bhaglo , without more ado dealt

h im a severe blow on the head, level ling h imto the ear th ,

and the M ia gather ing h imsel fup very slowly quietly went home.

STORY LIV.

You fed with ghee and.

molasses, and

yet you won’

t wal k well 1

IN the service of one of the native statesof Kathiawar, there was an Arab namedAbuddha. He was once sent an an escort w ith

mom s m u ons. 143

a bullock cart loaded with money bags to bedel ivered to a bank er living in another town.

With his gun and sc im i tar the Arab wasfollow ing the car t, when h is foot slipped on a

fresh cowdung cake lying on the road The

Arab fel l flat on the ground and his compan ions began to laugh at h im. The Arab wasso enraged at this that he took out h is

scim i tar , and str iking the foot that had slipped,exclaimed , “ Take th is, then. I feed you as

wel l as your twin brother meaning the otherfoot—with ghee and mo lasses and yet you

won’t walk we l l !” This thoughtless act ren

dered him qui te unfit for further travel onfoot. The dr iver, however , offered h im a seatby his side, and put him down at h is houseon their return. The wound took a fortnightto heal , but it did not cure the wild Arabof his thoughtless conduct.

The Arabs are as fai thful and honest asthey are stupid and peevish.

144 mom : FOLKLORE.

STORY LV.

There was Rama and there was Ravana.Ravana carr ied away Rama’s wifeand the latter took h is life and

k ingdom. That’s the sum and

substance of the Ramayana.’

A Barm an: was reading aloud to th e

public the legend of Ramayana n ight after

n ight. One n ight, three o r four M ahomedan

Opium - eaters happened to pass by the placewith huk kas in their hands .

“What has th isBrahmin been do ing for so long a timeAsked one of the Mias of his compan ions.These Brahm ins are very fond of making

much out o f nothing , replied the person O

ap.

pealed to. “ They deceive the ignorant peopleby making a mountain of a mo leh i ll, addedthe th ird. “ But do you know what he hasbeen tel l ing them for the last six months 2

They call i t the Ramayana, the long and shor to f wh ich is that there was Rama and therewasR i vana. Ravana carr ied away Rama

’

s wifeand the latter deprived him of his life and

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11mm : roam “ .

on all that was bought and sold through him.

N ot even h is most intimate friends escaped thistaxation.

One evening as M angaldas was returningfrom a neighbour ing village, he came to a

r iver wh ich had to be crossed in order to

gain the opposite bank. The waters werevery deep, and there was no br idge. Manga ldds resolved, therefore, to swim across the

r iver ; but by the time he arr ived in the

middle of the stream , hewas qui te exhausted,and the rapid and forc ible current dragged himtowards the mouth of the river . A few v il

lagers , who had come to see the tide, observedthe Bania, and one of them said to another ,The .poor Bania wi ll soon perish. You are

a fast swimmer and can save h im if youw ill."

You don’t know,

repl ied ted to ,

“ he never does a thing unless has

some definite object to gain. Besides , he hasnever in his life helped a fellowcreature, so

why should others endanger their lives for

him ? I am sure he has fallen into the riverto tak e out something

, and he must ab ide bythe consequences. So saying they stayed

m um rom pers. 147

where they were and quietly observed thestruggle. The helpless Bania fought hard forh is l ife, but at last per ished in the strugg le.

M om nz—Do to others as you would he

done by ; that is the perfect standard for

the g uidance of men in their dealings iv ith

each other . It is a r ighteous retr ibution whenthe conductwe mete out to others is measuredback to ourse lves. Where villany goes before,;vengeance follows after.

STORY LV IICal l me an ass.

Orton upon a time a v illager was dr ivinga bul lock cart full of hay, from one

to another . On the way he fell in with a

Kathi who begged him to give h im a seatin the cart. I wil l take you up on one con

dition,

replied the v illager ; I am verymuch afraid of that buk ka in your hand. The

wind is blowing hard, and a spark of fire from

Kathi : a class of land- holders from whomKathiawar ( land of the Kathie)takes i ts name.

INDIAN FOLKLORE.

your bukka- bowl will reduce all my h ay to

ashes in no time ; but if you put out the

fire, I have no objection to taking you withme.

I’

ill take great care of the bowl , said

the Kath i . You need have no concern aboutit.

I am not so sure of that. A tiny sparkis sure to set the whole cart ablaze. I am

not prepared to take that r isk.But I assure you that I won

’

t let a sparkfly out and burn your hay, urged the K athi.

“ But what if the worst comes to the

worstCall me an ass if it turns out to be so !

”

Call ing you an ass will do me no g ood,

responded the villager. “ So , to be on the

safe side, I won’t have you in my cart.

So saying he drove on leav ing the Kath ibeh ind.

M osAnz We must be careful in whomwe put our trust, and not imagine that those,whose general character is bad, will sh owexceptional favour and k indness to ourselv es.

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E150 m u n rom an .

the Tirthank ers plainly told me that theywere heartily tired of th is wor ld and i ts

inhabitants and would shortly leave th em .

They seem to have kept their word, and Ifear the rest will do the sam e in a short time !

but I am forgetting to tell you one thi ng.At my earnest prayer to leave at least one

for us to worsh ip, they prom ised to leave us

the marble image of P trshvanath and the

surround ing wooden idols l The sil ly Shrawak s( Jains)believed every word of this fabr icationand trembled at the divine wrath to wh ichthey had fallen victims.

The dishonest Pajari at once made awaywith the remaining images and left the stoneone to take care of itself.

Hosu z—Credulous persons are the preyof crafty ones.

STORY LIX.

Jack wouldwipe his nose if he had one !3

mpu s t orm ent . 151

A M monrnw named K hacln used to

fetch a bundle of hay from the fields every

morning, and maintain h imself and fam ily on

what it brought h im. H is body had never.

feltthe touch of new clothes , nor had his feet

ever exper ienced the luxury of shoes. Al thoughthe M ia was in such a m iserable condition ,

pr ide lurked under h is thread - bare cloak .He quarrelled with h is wi fe all day long, and

beat and abused her for noth ing.One day the bundle of hay did not fetch

suflicient money to buy food for the whole day ,

and the M in had therefore to go wi thoutsupper at nigh t. A s if i t were the faul tof h is wife, he took her to task and beganto abuse her r ight and left. I had noth ingin the house

,or I would have cooked it for

you, meekly sa id the Bibi (wife), i t is no

use abus ing me for what is no faul t of m ine.

It is not my fault ei ther said the Mi a

indignantly ; if you won’t keep quiet, I ’il lbreak your head with my shoes. But whereon earth have you got them ? appropriatelyremarked the Bibi ; buy a pair first, and thentalk of breaking my head with them !

15 2 mnu u rotxnonr .

The M ia was s ilenced by this just and

appropriate retort .

STORY LX.

The handle of the axe is the destruction

of its progenitor.

A Wooncnrr sa went one day into a forestwith only the blade o f an axe

,to fel l trees.

The trees, instead of being sorry at their ap

proaching destruction , began to laugh loudly ;for , they knewvery wel l that the blade byitself could do them no harm . The woodc utter tried the blade on every tree, but without success. He returned home much dejectedand related his m isfortune to h is fr iends . Theyadvised him to get ha andle of wood attachedto the blade

,before be next went into the

woods. He at once went to a joiner , got a

strong handle of wood fixed to the blade,and

went to the woods next morn ing. When the

trees sawhim, they began to weep and say

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154 m m rom onl .

while the rest of the building was sold to a

Bania. I t was plainly stated in the document

of sale that the n iche dedicated to a Peerand s ituated in such and such a room wasthe Mia’

s,and that he could mak e what use

he would of it. Fai ling to perceive the Mia’

s

motive in reserving such a r igh t in the houseto h imself, the Ban ia did not object to it.A week after the Ban ia came into posses

sion o f the house, the M ia went there, and

after burn ing incense and offer ing prayers toth e Peer , went away. On the fo llowing fr iday

,

he went to the house wi th half a dozen mos

lems who had vows to perform , so he said,

to the Peer. The Bania objected to give ad

miss ion to so many persons, but the M ia re

ferred h im to the deed,and c laimed entrance

as a matter of r ight. The Bania had no al

ternative but to quietly put up wi th the ia

convenience and trouble wh ich he himself hadbrought upon h is fam ily.

Things were go ing on in this way, whenthe time came for the performance of the

marr iage ceremony o f the Bania’

s only son .

Peer z A Saint.

mama tom cat. 15 5

In the evening of the marr iage guests beganto pour in and were arranged in two rows.Sweetmeats and vegetables were served, and

the host was exhorting them to do ful l justiceto the fare when the Mia accompaniiad by a

number of Mussalmans broke in like a bol tfrom the blue. He peremptor ily asked the

Bania to let h im pass on to thefin iche of his

Peer where he had to sacr ifice a goat thatnight. The poor Ban ia was in a fix. He

could not al lowthe M ia to pass as that wouldpol lute the whole caste, nor could he refuse

h im the adm ission to which he was entitled.

Again the ki l ling of a goat in the house,

where the sacred marr iage ceremony was tobe performed ,was a sin that would tell heavilyagainst the newly un i ted couple. The

guests came to the Bania’

s help and askedthe M ia on what terms he would resign h is

r ight to the n iche. The M ia, who had all

along been waiting for this opportunity, de

manded as much for the small hole in the

wall as he had received for the whole house.

The Ban ia had to satisfy the demand, unjustand unreasonable as i t was, to escape further

15 6 man s roam “ .

molestation. F rom thatday the Bania reso lvedto th ink twice before he acted.

M oan . Experience teaches. N 0 secondwarning is required to teach a wise man to

eschewo

what he has once proved to be h ur t

ful. A burnt ch i ld naturally dreads the fi re .

STORY LXII.

Stick ing fast to a thing .

Tarzan lived in Petlad a K finbi named

Har i Patel . He was one of the leading persons o f h is cas te and was ofen appo inted an

arbitrator in caste disputes ; he had an on lyson named Bhago who was a great blockheadand knew very little about the world and its

ways. When the Pa tel was on h is death - bed

be summoned Bhago before h im and addressedh im as follows My son

, I have not longto l ive in th is wor ld ; what I gr ieve mos tabout is what will become of you after I havepassed away. You are too stupid to look after

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15 8 mm rom an .

and kicked but Bhago ‘stuck fast ’ to i t. I n

order to get free , the ass kicked Bhaga r igh tand left and hurt h im in several places, buthe would not let go h is hold. He suffered

h imself to be dragged through the streets o f

Petlad and laughed at by the people, but h edid not for a moment th ink of violating th e

sacred prom ise made to his father on h is deathbed ! Be ing much bruised, he at last becam e

unconsc ious , and it was only then that the tai lsl ipped out of h is hands.

M osu z—I t is wise to consider a course

of conduct in al l its bear ings before we determ ine on i t. We must weigh wel l the conse

quences before we jump at a thing.

STORY LX III .

8 0 got, so gone.’

A M inimum l iving in a village to

go every morning and evening to a neighbouring town to sel l m i lk. For a few months

mnu n m u ons. 159

she supplied her customers with pure and freshm ilk and established her reputation as an

honest dealer , until at last her custom rose

80 high that the m ilk she brought fell shortof demand. In order to meet the growing demand, she

,one day, m i xed

,with the m ilk,

some water from a r ivulet that lay betweenher vil lage and the town. The m ixture wassoon disposed of

, and with money in her pet,she left the town for her native place. On

her way, she stopped on the bank of the r ivuletto drink some water . After satisfying herthirst, she took the money out of the pot,

and after counting it,depos ited i t on the bank

and began to wash the milk-

pot.

N owit so happened that a kite, th ink ingit to be some sort of food, pounced upon the

coppers and seiz ing as many as her beak couldhold flewaway. The milkmaid began to cry

and beat her breast at this sudden loss and

was cursing her fate when the k ite let fallthe money into the rivulet

,on which another

milkmaid, who had noticed the adulterationthat morning, remark ed, Why do you weep,sister ? you must k now that cheating never

160 m m roam s .

prospers and craft br ings noth ing h ome. I n

fact you have lost noth ing ; for, to naugh tit has gone that came from naugh t. Thi ssilenced the woman and from that day sh e

left off m ixing water with m i lk.Men u—Howoften do men give up

honour and future prosper ity for a temporarypleasure or gaiu l They don’t see that th e

retr ibution of their sin can not fai l to overtak ethem in the end. They must k now that honestyis the best policy.

STORY LXIV.

A boon ask ed by a blind man.

Texan lived in Somntth Patan a Banianamed Ramdas. Small- pox had

'

depr ived himof his eyesigh t when hewas a mere

'

child, and

to add to his misfortunes, h is parents diedleaving him qui te helpless and dependent on

compassion on h im and prov ided h im wi th a

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16 2 mam : ronxt oax.

with me I have no other desire but to see

my youngest son’

s wife churning cream in a

gold pot on the seventh storey of my h ouse 2 ’

This meant eyesigh t, a wife, sons more than

one,

r iches, a palatial building and m uchelse. Shankara had to grant all these thing s

to keep h is prom ise, but from that day he

thought twice before he made a prom ise to a

Bania

STORY LXV.

The Bhats of M esana dine to morrow.

THERE is a large population of Bhate in

M esana who in ancient time claimed, as a

matter of r ight, to be fed when there was a

caste- dinner among the Baniao

s. A s it wasthought very unreasonable and expensive,

the Banias had wisely stopped the caste

dinners altogether. Once, however, a r ich

Bania resolved to give a caste- dinner and ex

c lude the Bhats therefrom. With this obj ect,he issued inv itations among the Banias only.

mnrw roaxnons. 16 3

When the Bhats heard this, they proceededin a body to the Sheth’s house and sat therefasting in order to enforce their c laim. The’

r Mahaj an, however, did not listen to them ;

whereupon the Bhats took to extreme mea

sures,and with swords and knives in hand ,

they threatened the Banias that if they persisted in not feeding them ,

they would shed

their own blood, and the sin would devolve

upon the Ban ias’ heads. This was too muchfor the Ban ias

,and in order to stop bloodshed

they prom ised the Bhats to feed them the

next day. The Bhats were not, however , tobe taken in l ike that, but replied that thevmust h av e the prom ise in black and white.

A document was therefore prepared in wh ichwere wr i tten the fo llowing words The

Bhats of Hssaine dine tomorrow. Neitherplace nor date were mentioned. The Mahajanafi xed their s igns manual to it, and the Bhatsretmrned to their places to prepare for the next

Sheth=A leader among the Ban ias.1 Mahaj an =Lead ing persons of the Bania com

mun ity.

164 mmss rorxnons.

The next morning the Bhats wen t tothe Mahajan and demanded a large quan ti tyo f flour, ghee and sugar to prepare sweet ba lls .

The Mahajan laughed at them and asked themwith surprise in their looks what righ t theyhad to make such a foo lish demand. W e

have your promise in black and wh ite, an

grily excla imed the Bhats ,“and we won’t

let you escape it. ” A nd what does tha tprom ise say Asked one of the Ban ias .

That the Bhats of Mesawi dine tomorr ow’

;

IVcll, then why do you come to- day

? Askedthe BaniaS. Because the prom ise was m adeyesterday, retorted the Bhats. Does the

document bear yesterday’s date ? Demanded

the Banias. the Bhats referred to the dome

m ent but there was no date in it. So theysaid

,Never mind the document. We hav e

your word and that is enough. That comes

too late , my fr iends, said the Ban ias weare prepared to carry out whatever is wr ittenon that paper . You had better leave us at

present and come when the prom ise falls due.Th is curt reply struck the Bhats dumb .

They tore the paper to pieces and went away .

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16 6 INDIAN l em ons.

and Uttar. The'

country bred Kanbi hadnever in h is life seen Uttar

,so he recei ved

it in the hollow of h is hand,and th inking i t

to be sacred water of some sort,he first appl ied

i t to h is eyes and forehead and then l ickedi t ofi' Th is made the who le Kutcher i roarwith laug h ter .

A fewdays later , Gando Patel wen t tothe king on some business connected with h is

land, when the k ing referred to the Uttar iae ident, and advised the Patel to teach manners

to his son. He is a stupid boy,my l iege ,

sa id the Pate l,

or he would not have used

the costly Uttar in that way ! if I were inh is place, I would have taken it home and

eaten it with Bajr i- bread l ” The k ing coul dnot help laugh i ng at the Patel's ignoranc eand was at a loss to dec ide whether the fatheror the son was the wiser !

STORY LXVII.

Waging war against the sun’I

mom : rom eo“ . 16 7

A on u m village of Gujarat, chiefly iahabited by M ahomedan land- owners, was underBr itish jur isdiction, and the Government officeswere situated in a town five miles from the

village ; so that the M iss had to go therev ery often. A s a rule , they took their breakfast, consisting of a large dose o f opium and

a larger one of sweetmeats , after sun r ise, andthen leisurely proceeded to the town withbukhas in their hands. After doing bus inessin the town, they left i t in the afternoon,

after another dose o f opium and sweetmeats .

A s the town was situated due East fromthe village, they had to put up with the burningrays o f the sun wh ich played directly on theirfaces at both times of the day.

Once in summer , as the Mias were returning from the town in the afternoon

,they felt

the heat so trying that the first th ing theyresolved to do on reach ing home was to holda meeting to discuss the means of effectuallystopping the m isch ievous pranks of the sun.

The meeting was accordingly held and i t wasunanimously resolved to dec lare war against

16 8 INDIAK rotunonr.

Next morn ing all the M ahomedans o f

the place armed themselves with swords and

spears and bows and arrows , and marched outo f the village gate to meet the common foe

in the open field ! A Bania, who had se e n

the m ar tial process ion move out,followed them

to the village gate ,and approach ing th e

general of the warl ike hand, he said,I t is

not fa ir to march against an enemy withoutpreviously inform ing him o f your intentio n .

Again,seeing you in earnest, he will m o s t

probably come to terms and spare you nu

necessary trouble. But who will take o ur

m essage to him and settle the dispute am i

cably ? asked the general . “ I will do th atfor you,

if you prom ise to pay me 5 0 0 rupeesafter I have am icably settled the dispute .

The Mias agreed to the proposal,went hom e

a nd eager ly awai ted the Ban ia’s return.

A t night fall the B an ia came back wi tha radiant face and exc la imed, I have succeeded .

He wouldn’t l isten to me at first, but when I

mentioned your name he actually trembledwith fear . He has

,however agreed to keep

away from your path on one condition and I

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170 worm ronxtoaz.

about 5» lb. of fine thread wh ich she sold tothe weavers. The spinning wheels and weav inglooms were all worked with hand as nobodyk new anything about spinning and weavingm ills worked by steam power. This manua llabour afforded daily bread to so many widowsand orphans that the one-meal - a-day state o f

things and starvation were unknown in thosedays. Much of the Indian cotton was th en

exported to England, for, the product was muc hin excess to the consumption.

Once Bibijan went to Cambay to see h er

parents. A s she was one day walking on th e

t Bunder with her daughter, the girl’s eyesfell on a large sh ip laden with bales, and sh e

asked her mother what they contained and

where they were taking them.“ They conta in

co tton,my dear , replied the mother, and

they send them to V i lziyat to be spun and

woven into cloth .

” “My lord l ” exc laimedthe girl , “who can spin so much cotton ?

1 Bunder nz A sea - port ; here it means sea shor e .

V i layat z Lit means‘ Home

’

,England being

the home of the Eng lishmen is known as

V ilayat in this country.

mam : rou t e“ . 171

V ilayat mus t surely be a country inhabitedby widows only I!”

M ORAL z—They that be in hell th ink there'sno heaven.

STORY LXIX.

18 your mace that commands respect.

not you.

Tunas was , in the serv ica of a nativeprince, a mace -bearer who oppressed the peoplevery much ; h is ch ief business be ing to get

unpaid labourers for the state. Th is was likeputting a naked sword in a mad man

’s hand.

He was a terror to the poor who ran awayat the mere s igh t of h im . They dared not

complain against h im to the king, for he was aroyal favour i te , and they had, there for e, no otheral ternative but to patiently subm it to h is rod

of iron.

One evening the mace~bearer went to

172. m um roam “ .

*Dhe :lh-wa£da to get hold of some D hedhfia

for TV ctha. The poo r Dhedhnaretur ned from a hard day’s workquite tired out. When,

therefore,

as

the mace~bearer to go with h im ,they

replied that as they were qui te ex!

they would do his bidding in the

But the maceobearer was not a man

trifled with . He began to abuse and beatthem right and left. Being unable to s tandthis sort of th ing any longer , one o f the

D hadhas came forward and spoke as fol lowsD o your worst, man. We won'

t move an

inch hence . Wewould showyou what stuff weare made o f, but that mace in your hand d is

arms us. P ut that aside and see what we can

do. The mace- bearer threwdown the m ace

and commanded the Dhedhzis in h is own nam e

to go with h im that instant. Seeing h im reducedto the same level as themselves, the Dhedh asattacked h im in a body and beat h im to the irhearts’ content.

The mace- bearer lodged a complaint againstDhedh-wad a=A p lace inhabited by Dhedhas.

1 V etha=Forced labour.

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174 INDIAN FOLKLORE.

neither put out to interest nor kept them in

a box in h is house, He dug a deep h o le in

the cow- shed just under a nail,

and put t ingthe rupees in an earthen j ar and sea l ing its

mouth with wheat paste, be bur ied it fourfeet deep.

Ful io was cons idered a very r ich man in

h is caste. The first and the only ques t ion,

he put to every customer that came to h is

shop, was howmuch ready cash he owned.

I f it was more than 999 , he would keep qu ie t ;but if i t chanced to be less, he would laughat its possessor and cal l h im a comparati v elypoor man. The words ‘

n ine hundred and

n inety n ine ’ were on the tip o f h is tongue,and

were repeated twice in an hour. Everybodyin the town knew what Fulio was worth , butnobody was aware of the whereabouts of the

nine hundred and n inety- n ine.One day, two persons of very questionable

reputation went to Fnl ia’

s shep , and after

giving the measurement of their feet for a

couple of pairs o f shoes,they purposely referr ed

to the capital and capital ists of the town .

Fnlio at once ask ed them what they themselves

11m m FOLKLORE. 175

were worth. The nocturial knights said veryhesitatingly that they were very poor , and

did not own more than five hundred rupeesbetween them . That’s noth ing, ” said Fulie ;I have with me at th is m oment 9 99 rupees.”

The thieves made as if they doubted the truthof Fnlia

’s statement and sa id, There is neither

a box nor a cupboard in your house. Whereon earth do you keep such a large sum 7 ”

“ In the cow- shed, under the nail , repliedFulio promptly ; that’s the safest place ;for

,nobody would look for rupees there.After talking for a while

,the customers

took their leave. At midnight they brokeinto Ful ia’

s compound, and digging out the

rupees, they made away with them. The nextmorning

,Fulio found to his gr ief that the

rupees were sto len. He had nobody but himself to blame, for, h is m isfortune was of his

own creation.

M oan . - A foo l and his money are soon

parted. M any of the troubles of life are

brought on men by their own faults.

176 m u s t enu ous.

STORY LXXI.

A learned fool .

Turns. l ived in Soy trd.a village in G uj arat,a learned Brahm in named Gafalshank er. He

was well- versed in the Vedas and mainta inedsacr ificial fire in h is house. He had an o nlyson named V idyadhara whom he wished to

bring up as a”Vedia. When V idyadh ara

was seven years of age , the sacred- thread cere

mony was performed, and in the fol lowing yearhe was marr ied to a g irl o f a good fam i ly.Immediately after marriage the boy was

sent to Kash i to study the Vedas and o th erreligious books. There he lived with a 1

' Gur uwho gave h im free board and lodging and

imparted tuition free of charge. In return forthis tremendous obligation, V idyadhara h ad

to go a- begging for the Gumevery morning,

and do al l sorts of work for the §Gorani ;c leaning the cooking pots, sweeping the house

V edifi z One well- versed in the V edas.

1 (36 141o re ligious preceptor.s commen t

'

.wife.

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178 morn ! roam s.

Pundit. Yes they are, with one excep tion.

A nd what is that 21"

You just take off your clothes and s tandin the bed of the river ; then I ’ll i te l l youwhat it is, ” responded the Ban ia.

The Pundit did as he was asked to do

and then asked Ban ia what it was . The

Bania said with a grave face, your wifeh as become a widowl ”

“ Poor woman, I am much grieved to

hear that. So saying the Brahm in began to

weep piteously. The Bania conso led h im and

advised him to cover his face with a c lothand go home weeping. The learned foo l didso

,and sat at the door of h is house weeping

loudly. The noise attracmd the . inmates o f

the house. W i th great trouble they stoppedh im crying, and tak ing him indoors , ask ed himthe cause of his so doing. You know the

reason as wel l as I do, said the Pundit ;“ Why did you

'

not M ann me at Kathi thatmy poor wife was widowed ? ” His widoweds is ter who .was standing by could not helplaughing at the signphc ity of her brother.“ Howis that possible, you idiot She re

mom s FOLKLORE. 179

marked. She can’t be a widow as long as

you are in the land o f the l ivingWhat has my l ife or death to do with

her widowhoo d Argued the Pundit “why ,

take your own case. They cal l you a widowin spite of my being al ive ! what preventsmy wi fe t hen from being so cal led l ”

M ORAL z—A handful o f common sense is

better than a bushel of learning. There is a

saying and a true one that ‘ knowledge wi thout practice makes but hal f an artist. ’

Rea d

not books alone but men.

STORY LXXII.‘Half the newer belongs to men

A Mm om an named Resulk hAnwas thet K otwal o f Palanpnr, a town,

which formeda part of theM ogul Empire. Rasulkhan l ivedthere as the only representative of the Mogul

Juwar z A sort of food grain.1 K otwel s A police Magistrate.

180 131mm FOLKLORE.

Emperor,and was entrusted with judic ia l as

wel l as executive powers. Unl ike h is ca s tefellows, he was a pol itic ian of no mean abil i t ies,an instance of wh ich is given below.

A Bania was once getting a cellar c leanedand plastere d for the sto rage of Jfiwar , as a

provision against fam ine. When the ce l larwas filled to the br im , and the Ban ia wasprepar ing the account thereof to be depos i tedalong wi th the J!war for future refer ence, th eKot il happened to pass by his house, and

the Bania invited him to have a look at the

cellar. After complimenting, the Ban ia on

h is prudence and foresight,the Kotwal picked

up a grain of J (war from the cellar , and

div iding it into two pieces, he put one intothe cel lar and threw away the other. He

then ask ed the Bania to mention in the paperthat hal f the Jfiwar belonged to M id ! Suspec ting this demand to be the outcome of some

evil design, the Bania at first refused to do so,

but by force and persuasion, more espec iallythe former, the M ia at last prevailed uponthe Bania to accept his share and mak e men

tion of it in the paper to be deposited along

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18 2 m um rOLxLoar .

M ou L z—Words m ay pass away and be

forgotten,but that wh ich is comm i tted to

wr iting wil l remain as evidence. we must ,therefore, be very careful of what we give inblack and white.

STORY L X X I IL

A Shepherd always dreams Of open fi elds

Turn: was once a shepherd named N oghan

who owned some cattle and led the l ife of a

nomad. A European Gentleman once bough th is cowand took the shepherd with h im to

'

Bombay to look after i t. N oghan who had

passed his l ife between v illages and fieldswaswonderstruck with the palatial buildings of

Bombay and a variety of th ings he had neverseen in his l i fe.

The Saheb lived in a grand bungalowon the A ppol lo Bunder ; The shepherd wasassigned a room furnished with th ick carpets

,

bent wood chairs, sofas, a spring cot and a

m u n rom onu. 183

clock . The shepherd did not feel at homein the bungalow and looked much con

fused After passing a few weary hours in

this unknown place,he ask ed one of the ser

vants where he could go to answer the cal lof nature . The servant led him to a latr ine ;but no sooner did N oghan enter i t than h e

came back, and running to the Saheb h e ex

claimed, “ That fellow there played me an

evi l tr ick. I asked him to lead me to a latr inc

and he took me to the k i tchen instead,for

,

I saw a stone hear th there with my owneyes ! ” The Saheb laughed at h im and ex

plained to h im that it was not a kitchen buta latr ine.

I n the evening the Saheb’s servants too kh im out for a walk. But he had not movedmore than a few steps from the bungalowwhen he stopped short in the m iddle of the

road and asked the servan ts to take him backto the bungalow. When asked the reason,

he

pointed to several houses standing in front o f

h im and exclaimed . “They have heaped therooms one over another without fastening themwith ropes ! They are sure to come down

INDIAN FOLKLORE.

o ne o f these days,

and I won’t r isk my lifeby walk ing under them 1

”

At n ight N oghan did not sleep on the

c o t for fear of fal ling down. He laid h im selfd awn on the floor , but he could not s leep ,t h e tuck tuck o f the clock kept h im awak e fort he whole n ight. He could not identify the

GN U“! wi th that o f any bird or beast, tame

o r wil l,that he had come across in thewoods.

I l e got up ear ly next morn ing, went to the

S aheb’s room and prayed h im with tear s inh is eyes to let h im go to h is native vi llage.

MORAL —He who stays in the valley wil lm ver go over the h i ll.

C f. Give me again my hollowtree ,

A. crust of bread and l iberty.

STORY LXXIV.

A negro think s his own child the hand

somest.

A K ING once asked his negro slave to

procure him the handsomest ch ild from the

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186 worm rOLxLORz.

STORY LXXV.

Come and stay in us e if you are

afraid Of‘

rAl lah.

"

MALI A is a small town s ituated in the

North- west of Kathiawar. It is ch iefly ih

habited by the M idnds—a warl ike thoug h ig norant race—all M ahomedaus by rel igion and

k nowing as much of th e Koran as they do of

the Vedas. They are creatures of impu lse,and killing a human be ing is to them l ikek il l ing an ant. However

, if you have once

broken bread with them,they will not h urt

a hair of your head as long as they l ive.

There is honour even among robbers,they say.

About ten years ago, Miana outlaws were a

terror to the whole of Kath iawar , but the

Br itish ofii cers hunted them from place to placel ike w ild beasts and at last succeeded in cap

~

tur ing and packing most of them Off to PortBlair, a penal settlement in the A ndamans i

pthe Bay of Bengal .

Once upon a time a M iana was return ing1 Allah=God

INDIAN ROLKLORE. l 87

from a v il lage, when h is eyes fel l upon an

Arab perform ing h is 1N imaiz. The Mianahad never performed the N imaz h imself

,al«»

though he was a Mahomedan ,nor had he ever

seen anybody perform ing it. He was thereforesurpr ised to see the Arab standing up for a

while, then sitting down on his knees, and thenprostrating h imsel f on the ground, mutteringsometh ing all the time. He thought to himself that the Arab must be greatly troubledin m ind

,and did not therefore knowwhat he

was about. “ Whom are you afraid of,my

fr iend ? Asked the Miana. Of nobody ,

answered the Arab. “ But your movementsshow that you are.

” Urged the M iana. Iwas only o ffer ing my prayers to Allah ,

”rep

lied the Arab. A ndwho may He be and whyshould you pray to Him Asked the Miana.

He is the giver o f bread and protector of the

whole Un iverse He forgives our sins if webe really sorry for them , and prom ise Him not

to repeat them. He punishes the ev il—doers ifthey don’t mend their ways. I see, exclaimed

the Miana, you pray to Him to escape punish

188 INDIAN ROLRLORz.

ment. Well , if you are afraid ofAllah , com e and

stay in Malia,for

,nobody cares for H im th ere 1"

The Arab thanked h im for h is k in d sug.

gestion and said he would gladly have recourse

to i t when he was past redemption.

STORY LXXVI.

Presence Of mind is the best weap on.

ONCE the Emperor Akbar asked L ahdwfiwhat was the best weapon

,to wh ich the jester

replied that i t depended much on the purposefor wh ich i t was required. A gun would bethe best weapon to fight with from a distance,wh ile a sword would be more useful than a

gun in a hand to hand fight. “ Personally Ith ink presence of m ind is the best weapon,added the jester. The Emperor was anythingbut satisfied with the strange reply, and saidthat he would some day put h is statem entto the test.A few days after th is, the Em peror

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190 nevu s FOLKLORB.

STORY LXXVII.

I would die. if it were only to mak e

you a widow.

Tum s was a Marwar i who had com e to

and settled in Bombay ; where he s tar tedbus iness as a petty grocer and gradua l ly rose

to be a thriving money- lender. He accom odat

ed many a prodigal son of m iser ly fatherswith large sums of m oney on Double the

pr inc ipal on father’s death " terms. He had

come to Bombay with a score o f rupees plusa fewcooking pots, and was nowworth twohundred thousand in hard cash , and as manyinvested in a row of houses , which broughth im a good round sum every month.

N ow,i f you have a look at the census

returns, you will find that among the Marwarismales outnumber the females. It is but naturalthat where the demand is greater than the

supply, the commodity fetches a phenominal

price. Th is is exactly the case with the Man

war i girl of marriageable age. She is worthher weight ‘

in gold ; for, a girl in her teens,

m u s m m“ . 191

weighing about 7 stone, fetches as many as

twenty thousand rupees. You may cal l thisslavery, this buying and sell ing of girls ; but

we don’t care what other people cal l it. - I t

is enough that we call it “Kenya-dam, and it

is our look out what terms to make whilebestowing the gift. But I am d igressing.

A fter a stay of over twenty years in

Bombay, and when he was in h is fortiethyear, the Marwar i though t i t was t ime to buya wife, and with the objec t of secur ing one,

he went to h is native place and was soon

marr ied. There is a saying that ‘when a

woman comes in happ iness fi ies.’ “ The land

of marriage, says a Frenchman,

has thispecul iarity that strangers are desirous of in

willing ly be banished thence. ” To the p oor

Marwar i wedlock turned out to be a real padb

lock . The woman proved to be a termagantand was so quarrelsome that the poor fellowk new no rest and cursed the day he wasmarried. He had bought her for rupees,and he found out when it was too late that

KauyL-dan z Gift of bride.

192 mo ms rOLK LORr .

h is wick edly acquired money was foo l ish lyspent. He abused her and he beat her

, but

she took care to repay it in kind and thatwith interest. The Merwari got at last so

tired that he resolved to commit suic ide and

thus put an end to h is unpleasant l ife. He

communicated h is intention to h is better- half,th inking it would have a salutary effect, but

the woman said quietly,

“ That does not

concern me at all ; You are your own masterand do what you will with yourself. The

Marwar i was so enraged at th is that he tookout a k nife and whi le dealing a blow on his

throat he exclaimed, “ I wil l die, if it wereOnly to make you a widow. These wordswere scarcely out of h is month when he fellunconscious on the ground and soon per ished.His brothers took possess ion of his proper ty,moveable and immoveables and the woman

was given a hut to l ive in and repent of hersins at leisure.

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194 m u n rOLKLORx.

reach the Opposite bank, and dr ipping w ithwater and shivering with cold, he asked h is

fr iend what he had cal led h im for. I wouldhave come over “

to you with my cattle, sa idNajo, but the stream won’t allow me to do

that. I say ,where sha ll we graze our ca ttle

today 7 Shavdas knewnot whether to laug hor be angry at his friend’

s conduct. Assum ingtherefore

,a serious exPression he said, Y ou

could have asked me that from where I was .

There was no need of making me cross the

r iver at the r isk Of my l ife.” “ I did not

know that you had grown so lazy as that , or

I wouldn’t have called you at al l I”

retortedN ajo .

MORAL :—He who listens to a foo l is a

greater fool.

STORY LXXIX.

To go for wool and come home

Tam lived in Mangrol a barber namedMale. By hard work and str ict economy, he

moms FOLKLORE. 195

had laid by a sum of two hundred rupees.Human nature is the same all over the wor ldand poor Male was no exception to it. He

longed to turn h is two hundred into as many

thousand.Th is M dlo was the fam i ly barber of many

a big *Sheth ia. Barbers are known as newsmongers in every country and Malo was a

worthy member o f, h is class. Whenever hewas summoned by a Shethia on professionalduty, he kept prattl ing from the beginningto the end o f shaving operation. What eachShethia was worth and howhe came by h is

fortune were Mala’s questions to everybody.When he was once to ld by one of h is r ichchea ts that he owed h is fortune to trade.Malo at once reso lved to turn a trader without knowing the A,

B,C , of the business He

asked the Shethia what he had better do.You had better be content with what youhave, sa id the Shethia, for , trade is not

in your l ine and you wil l never succeed in i t.”

The foo l ish barber thought that the Sheth iadid not

.

Wish that he should be a r ich man,

Shethia=A r ich merchant.

196 INDIAN mam as.

and therefore dissuaded him from try ing his

hand at commerce. He,therefore sough t the

advice of another Sheth ia who happened to

be a great rogue. He knewMalo ’

s pro pensities and though t of teach ing h im a lessonthat would br ing him to his senses. One day,

therefore, when Malo as usual put h im the

question, he said,

I hear from my agen tat Junagadh that a company of Sepoys wi llshortly leave there for Mangrol. They willarr ive here by the end of the week. Th eseSepoys are very fond of potherbs , and anybodywho lays in a stock o f those vegetables aga insttheir arr ival is sure to make a fortune. I t isbelow my dignity, and my caste - fellows wouldnot allowme to do it, or I myself would goand buy up all potherbs to be had ten miles

round and sel l them to the troopers at a

t apse ‘

n pound !Malo hastily finished the operation , wen t

home, and with the two hundred rupees inhis pocket, he ran to the Bazar and boughtoff al l the potherbs. Then he went to th e

surrounding v il lages and imported cart- loadsof the vegetables from thence, and deposi ted

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198 m um rom oaz.

present day, every tem pting wave of specula

tion leads people to r isk'

its per ils , and th eyare happy if they gain prudence by the los so f their first venture.

STORY LXXX.

She is no gift ; for, I have paid for her .

”

BHAGWANDAS was a Un iversity man. He

was a member of the Kayastha commun i tyand h is parents l ived in Broach. He attendedev ery meeting o f the soc ial conference and

was a fsfldharawallah at heart. He strong lyheld that social reforms must precede po l i t ica lones , and h is mind was therefore bent upo neradicating soc ial evils at any cost. He beg anat the beginn ing and strove to impress uponthe ignorant mass that ear ly marr iages and

the sale of gir ls were the two potent causes of

the increasing number o f widows every year .

He firm ly held that the quest ion ofwidow re

marriage would to .a great extent disappear if

these two evils were checked in time. Whenthe people of the old schoo l heard him , theyT Shdbhrhwfilléh=A social reformer.

mnrw rom os s. 199

shook their heads and said, He is yet a

ch ild and has not seen the world. Exper iencecomes with age. The sil ly boy thinks that hisancestors were fools ”

Once he was invited to a marr iage partyheld in honour of a bridegroom aged s ix ty and

a baby- br ide of thirteen ! He was so struck at

the difference between their age, that he gave a

free expression to h is feel ings and left in disgust. H is caste- fellows resented h is conduct

and came to a private understanding that none

should ever propose to give his daugh ter in marr iage to Bhagwandas. The young reformer did

not in the least m ind th is step of theirs, but h is

aged father felt it very much . He longed tosee h is son mar r ied and settled in l ife beforeh is eyes were c losed. He therefore pr ivatelyarranged with a needy father to give h is

daughter in marr iage to Bhagwandas in returnfor rupees paid to h im in advance. A l

though the sale of daughters is going on on

an extensive scale at the present day and has

proved a capital invention ,it has not as yet

gained a universal sanction and has not therefore grown into a custom . But i t is making

2 0 0 nevu s roLxLosx.

rapid strides and has made its way into m os tfam il ies whence i t

'

is not l ikely to be turnedout. However that may be, the sale o f g ir ls '

is looked upon as a disg race and the bar g ainis invariably struck in pr ivate and care is takenthat the secret does no t leak out.

When Bhagwandas heard of h is betro thalhe was very much exc i ted

,but he was no t at

l iberty to give express ion to his feel ings,fo r ,

in Indian Soc iety there is no appeal agai nsta father’s order. On the m arriage day, th e

proc ess ion headed by the br idegroom march edto the bride’s house and the marr iage ceremo nybegan. The fam i ly pr iest joined the handso f the husband and wi fe , and asked th e

parents o f the bride to give their daugh te raway.

“We bestow the gift upon thee,

uttered the parents o f the bride s imultaneously.

Bhagwandas was then called upon to say in

response , I accept it w ith thanks ; but h e

would not say that ; when pressed by the pr ies tand his relatives to speak out the words

,h e

angri ly exc laimed, I won’t tel l a l ie ; she

is no gift ; for, I have paid for her. N o

sooner were these words out of h is mouth,

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2 02 m u n roLxLoar.

STORY LXXXI.

If the cap fits, wear it.

Tans : l ived in a certain village a rev enue

Patel named Bhoj o. He owned several acresof arable land and was a man of wel l- to -do

'

circumstances. He understood the difference“

between ‘come

’and ‘

go’and therefore ti lled

his land in person ,staying all day in th e

fields ; and h is wi fe Radha took h im his

m id-day meal cons isting of Bajri - bread and

onions, wh ich he relished more than sumptuousdishes, after half a day’

s good work. The

Patel and his wi fe had no children. The m an’

s

attentionwas therefore so lely fixed on impro vingh is land and the woman

’

s in taking car e o f

the produce thereof.One year the Patel had sowed sesamum

seeds in one of h is fields and it gave him'

a

good crop. The Patel brought the beans h omewhen they were r ipe, and instructed h is w ifehowto take out the seeds. Wh ile separa tingthe seeds from the chaff

,the woman he l ped

herself freely to the T il ’ ( sesamum for, she

INDIAN FOLKLORE. 2 0 3

liked i t very much . N ow,a calf

,that was

tied to a nail in the courtyard and had seen

the woman eating the Til,kept bleating al l

the time the Patel ’s wife ate the seeds . The

woman took th is to be an insult and was verymuch afraid lest it m igh t betray her to her

neighbours who would laugh at her and callher names for helping herself to the ses

a mum

without her husband’

s knowledge. When therefore the Patel came home in tho evening , she

put on an agrieved look and would not talk toh im as was her wont. When the Patel loving lyasked her the reason, she said with tear ful

eyes , “ Th is calf o f yours watches my m ovements as if I were a cr im inal. When I waseating a l ittle of the sesamum seeds t oday, i twent on blabbing all the wh i le. I f our neighhours come to knowof it, they would jeer at

me and take me for a th ief. Either I or thecal f mus t leave the house. We both can

’

t

l ive beneath the same roof. I am readyto turn the insolent ca l f out, said the Patel ,“ but once in the streets i t wil l blab out the

secret al l the more vigorously. A n excel lentidea strikes me. In the capac i ty o f the head

2 04 mums sonxLosn.

man of the vi llage, I Ill ask the public - cr ier to

go from street to street and cry out as fo l lows :I f the young calf tells you that the P a tel 'swife stole Ti l and ate it, don

’t bel ieve i t ; for,

i t is false l ” Raidhawas greatly pleased w i ththe arrangement. She did not see tha t byjusti fying herself before the public she dec laredherself gui lty.

STORY LXXXII.

The greatest clerk s are not always the

wisest men.

In the old days when there were relig ious

schools in Kash i , Brahm in lads flocked therefrom al l quarters to study Sanskr it, themo therof languages. The students were ch iefly taughthundreds and thousands of §Shlok as by heart ,thus burdening the memory without an attem ptat expanding the intellect. They would tel l

Shlok as ==Sansk ri t V erses.

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2 0 6 moms ronxnosz.

journey on a summer day was enlivened bya l ively discussion on the or igin and roo ts of

certain words every one ofwh ich occupied half

an hour at least in being traced home . Bym id- day they arr ived at a well. The Guruat once went up the marg in, perhaps to gaugethe water ; but either to make sure o f its

depth or to quench his thirst, he fel l in to ithead downwards. The water fortunate ly wasnot deep, so he could keep h is head above the

water without m uch inconvenience. W hen

the disc iple sawh is Guru fall into the well,he cried out at the top o f h is vo ice ; but he didso in Sanskr it

,for , Prakrit he would not Speak

even to save h is own l ife ; My Guru has

fal len into the well; run, people, run ! Therewere several people working in the fieldsclose by, but they did not m ind h im

,

for , they understood not a word of what hesaid. The GM who was very much shakenby the fal l heard h im

, and said, “ Speak to

them in Prakr it, or they will never com e.

The boy did so. The cultivators respondedto his call and helped to drawthe pot

- bel liedpr iest out of the well.

mums roLxLonn. 2 07

Moun d—Learn to accomodate yourself tothe time and c ircumstances in which you l ive.

STORY LXXXIII .

A l ittle learning ,is a. dangerous thing .

A oconnmo to the present standard of Edu

cation prevailing in India, a student is re

quired to pass in a var iety of subjects. Thenatural result of this faul ty process is thata student tries to learn something of everything , and that something is too l ittle to beof any practical use to him i n the world, and

at times proves dangerous.A student named P arbho once p icked up

in the course of a lecture that the sun, the

moon, the stars, the earth a what not had

no substantial suppor ts to k eep them from

fall ing, but were k ept in their places by theforce of attraction. He had also learnt thata ball when thrown up falls back on the groundand does not k eep in the air or go heavenwards,

2 0 8 mom rom oas .

because it is nearer the earth than h eavenand the earth being the greater body o f the

two possesses greater attrac tive power thanthe ball. I f i t were otherwise, the earth wouldfly to the hal l and where we should all be

in that case it is d iffi cult to guess.P arbho

’

s father who was an as tro logerof good repute was once summoned by a r ichBan ia to read h is horoscope. After exam in ingthe pos i tion and influence of every planet,the astro loger adv ised his patron to give a

1Seedhfi to a Brahm in for the pacification of

Saturn, and to take only one meal on satur~days. The Bania natural ly asked the TJosh ito send his son for the Seedha.

When P arbho was return ing home withflour

,sugar , r ice and pulse tied at four co rners

of his kerchief, and a pot of ghee in his handa quest ion rose in h is m ind. '

He asked h im

self wh ich of the two—ghee or pot—had the

greater power of attraction. The exp erimentmust be made at any cost . He held the pot

I Seedha=Q uantity of flour , sugar , rice, puk e,and ghee suflieien t for one man.

1’ Joshi‘

z An 5 8157010 30 12

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810 worm rom an.

When the sel lers cal led upon h im for paym ent,he made calculations and found that h e requiredfive thousand rupees more to fully pay uptheir bills. Requesting the merchants to wai tfor an hour , he went to the Bazar and askeda banker to accomodate h im with rupeeswhich he said he would rem it to h im withinterest with in a month . The banker naturallyask ed h im for a reference, but Tek chand ex

plained to h im that he was there for the firsttime in h is l ife and was therefore not knownto anybody. I want the sum on my owncredit, if you can advance i t, he added.But you must giveme some sort of assurancethat you can and will repay the sum

,repl ied

the banker.“ I give you my word of honour that I

will repay the sum w ithin a month. Whatfurther assurance can I giv e you in a foreignplace where nobody k nows me AskedTek chand.

I f you can’t do that, have you any

objection to mortgaging a hair of your mus

tache for the sum Suggeswd the bank er.Pulling out a hair from h is mustache

INDIAN remnant. 2 11

and giving it to the banker, Tek chand said,“ Keep it in safe custody , sir, for, I will sendfo r i t in a few days. The banker afterexamining the hair

,said, “Th is hair is crook

ed ; let me have a stra ight one instead." Crooked or not c rooked makes very littledifference

,cr ied out Tek chand who was much

enraged at seeing h is ha ir sl igh ted You

wi l l have to return it soon. Wi ll you advancethe sum on it ? ” Th e banker was convincedbeyond a shadow of doubt that Tek chandwas an honourable man, and he forthwi thcomplied with his request. Tek chaud

,o fcourse,

returned the money in due time.

Th is hair story travelled from place to

place,and everybody adm ired Tek chand’

s se lfrespect and honourable conduct. A n adven

turer of l ittle means and less reputation at

once proceeded to Rangoon to try the experi

ment and enrich himse lf if i t succeeded. He

went to the same banker’s shop and demandeda large sum on credit. The banker asked h imfor a hair of h is mustache wh ich he gavevery will ing ly. When ,

however , the bankerdemanded another

,on the plea that the one

2 12 m m : m u ons.

he gave h im was crook ed , he pul led out

another , and offered i t to him without ex hi biting the slightest offence. The banker coo l lyasked h im to walk away, telling him that hewould not advance a pie to a man who hadno regard for his mustache.

M ORAL z—Respect thyself and thou wiltwin the respec t of others . The best ti tle of

a man to the respect o f others must be foundedon h is own actions.Honour is like the eye wh ich cannot suffer

the least impur i ty w ithout damage ; i t is a

prec ious stone the pr ice of which is lessenedby the least flaw.

STORY Lxxxv'

.

Weak threads united form a.strong rope.

Os : night a th ief brok e into the houseof a Bania and laid hands on the strong box ,

but before he could break it open , the Baniawoke up. Without giving an alarm or los ing

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214 moms rom an.

One hundred and eight threads one over the

other formed a strong rope, and at the end

of the c a the th ief found h imsel f secur elyfastened to the pillar. He asked the Ban iato untie the bond

,but the latter calm ly re

plied,

“That’s the work of the watchmen whowil l soon be here !” so say ing he summ oned

the pol ice and handed over the thief to them .

M oaan z—Never drawyour dirk wh en a

dunt will do.

STORY LXXXVI .‘ Vain g lory blossoms but never bears .

’

Te s sa l ived in Halvad a Brahmin nam ed

Jatashank er who once had occas ion to go to

Ahmedabad accompan ied by h is son who wasten years old. A.

”“Dhotar hardly reach ingthe knee, a sh irt covered all over with patches,a rope- like ragged turban , and a thick coarse

wool len blank et,

constituted the Brahm in’s

dress. 'Ou one shoulder he carr ied a bag contaim

Dhotar==a' lone- c loth.

111mm renam es.

ing cooking utensils and brass gods, and from

the other was suspended a 1Tumbdi w ith a

cotton string for drawing water from the way4s ide welIS.

On the third day of their stay in Ahmeds ‘

bad,a r ich Brahm in invited al l h is caste- fellows

to a grand dinner. From th ree o’

c lock in the

afternoon, guests began to pour in . Almostall of them had on

'

silk en Dhotars wi th go ldborders, silken kerchiefs thrown across theirshoulders , r ings enc ircl ing their arm s and fin

gore, and gold and pearl chains worn round theirnecks. They carr ied in their hands brass §lotasfi lled with dr inking water .

It was some time before Jatashank er

found the place and he was therefore amongthe late comers. He had his coarse blanketwrapt round the lo ins

, and this shabby exter iortogether with the Tdmbdi gave h im a beggarlylook . The Brahm ins taking h im to be one

made h im sit apar t from themselves at some

distance. Jatashank er felt himsel f sl ighted butkept quiet.

Lotd z A small watoi

r pot.

2 16 11mm : roam ” .

It took abeut an hour to serve swee tm eatsand vegetables o f var ious kinds. The gods ofthe ear th were then requested by the host to dojustice to the homely fare. N owthere is th isd is tinction between the caste- dinners of Gujaratand those o f Kath iawar that to th e Kath iawar iBrahm ins a copious flowo f ghee is indispeable wh i le they don’t care much for vegetables.To the Gujaratis , var iety 111 food 18 more plea~s ing. Jatashank er

’

s son naturally thereforeasked h is father when they would ser ve ghee.

To th is he gravely replied, These peopledon

’

t like ghee very much , for , i t is a costlyth ing. We are not nowin our own Kath iawar ;where on occassions l ike th is they spend withboth hands. These Gujaratis are a very m iser lyset o f people." Th is was overheard by a

Brahm in sitting near them,and he sarcastica lly

remarked , Maharaj,the frog can not live

o ut of her bog. I t’

s no wonder you don’t l ike

these th ings, for , you have probably neverseen them in your l ife- time, much less tastedthem. Again, beggars should not be choosers.But where do you come from

,my fr iend i

I come from Halvad in Kathiawar, rep lied

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2 18 mm rotate“ .

native place and cashed it in Ahmedabad.On the 13 th day, he invited al l the Brahm insof the place, and fed them with "K ansa raand ghee. He instructed the wai ters to serveghee without reserve. The dinner cost h imabout four thousand rupees, but at the same

time it humbled the Gujarati Brahm ins forever.

M onan z—India is sadly lacking in wellorgan ised charitable ins ti tutions. They wouldspend thousands on death and marr iage occa

s ions and would even incur debts to meet theextrava

gent expenses

,but if you ask them

to jo in and star t an asylum for the old and

diseased, or to establish scholarships, you

would find them very close- li sted. Their char i tyis m isdirected and they don

’t know howto

make the r ight use of money.

K ansara=A kind of sweetmeat made of wheatflour and molasses.

m um rom an . 2 19

STORY LXXXVII.

A k nife in the box .

A n old Ban ia named N emchand dealt ina var iety of drugs and enjoyed a very goodcustom. To save h imself the trouble of Openingthe cash box every now and then. he hadcut two holes on the lid large enough for thes i lver and copper coins to glide in. I n th isbox, he also kept a pen- kn ife wh ich he frequently required for mending his reed -pens.

Once when the druggist was mending h ispen , a customer came in with a long l ist of

drugs to buy. He asked the Ban ia to attendto him at once

,for

,the drugs , he said

, had

to be decoc ted and adm iniste red to a relativeo f h is whose l ife was in per i l. The drugg ist

put the pen as ide and thrust the kn ife withopen blade into t he box.

A s usual he carried the box home at

night and put i t under h is bedstead as wash is wont. At about m idnight

,he suddenly

woke up and began to say to himself, “ I wasreally a foo l to leave the k n ife open ; suppose

INDIAN FOLKLORE.

the bedstead is turned upside down by an

earth -quake or the tape gives way, I am sure

to fall upon the box underneath . The l id m igh tbreak and the knife I have left open m ightenter my body , and the wound m igh t provefatal ! I thank my stars that it is not too

l ate yet. So saying he got up from the

bed and open ing the box he carefully c losedthe knife and then quietly went to bed aga in.

M ORAL - Th is is an extreme case and

may not have come to pass at all, yet, m en

ought not to shut their eyes against the th reatened danger and pursue their own course tillthe possibil ity of prevention has passed away.C f. After wits are dear ly bough t ;

L et thy forc it guide thy though t.’

Cf. The swal lowand

other birds.’ £ 3 017 3 fi lm“ .

STORY LXXXV III.

Seeta

P Harana means abduction as well as a deer.

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INDIAN BOLKLOR'.

night. N ext morning he left for a neigh bouring v il lage where he had some business.When a couple of days later he came backand went to the meeting at n ight

, the firstquestion he put to the story- te ller was th is,Before you proceed further tell me whetherSeeta is still a Harana (deer)or has resumed

her human form ? ” The whole audience laughedat h is simpl ic ity

,and the story- teller exp la ined

to h im that ‘ Harana meant abduction and

not a deer in that particular place.MORAL : It were better, says Lord

Bacon , to have no opin ion of God at al l

than such an Opinion as is unworthy of H im,

STORY LXXXIX.

Bobbing the robbers.

A s a Bania’s §Jan were going from the

bride’s house to the Bridegroom’s native place

which was a fewm i les distant, they were way

5 Jan -: A marriage party.

DIBIAN FOLKLOEE.

laid by several robbers. A s is the custom, the

Ban ias had the ir best c lothes and costl iestjewels on for th is joyous occasion. They werestopped in the m iddle of the road and peremp

torily asked to g ive up all they had.The bridegroom who was an ingenuous

young man was equal to the occasion. He

got down from the bullock cart with his l ittlebr ide by h is side, and pointing to the marr iageknot he said

,

“ Th is knot tied at the time of

performing the marriage ceremony can onlybe untied before our fam ily goddess and wehave to perform a regular ceremony aecom

panied by music and danc ing before we do so.

Dire calamity befalls everyone who disregardsthis or interferes with its performance. You

w ill therefore allow us to perform the ceremonyat the end of which everything will be handedover to you. The robbers who happened tobe votaries of Kalee readily agreed to the

proposal.The Banias then took off their clothes

and assumed various garbs, some of males

and the others of females, of difi'

erent castes.

They borrowed the robbers trousers and stick s

INDIAN FOLKLORE.

to play the Rajput, and began to sing merr ilyand dance about. Gradually they increasedthe distance between themselves and the robbersand then unperceived by the latter , they despatched one of their company to the neighbouring village for help. The robbers, who weregreatly amused by the fun, and were unawareof the Bania’

s tr ick,encouraged them in their

play, and never once though t of putting a

stop to it.The mock actors ’

eyes were eager ly turnedtowards the v i llage whence they expected helpevery m inute, when the c latter of horses’

hoofs and clash of arms were heard. The

robbers took to their heels on hearing the

no ise, leaving their c lothes and sticks behind.The Banias then leisurely changed their appareland quietly returned home without furthermolestation on the way.

MORAL - Policy often effects what forcecan not.

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2 2 6 INDIAN roLxLoar.

them ? You see t hat the .question was not

prompted by idle cur iosity on my par t, butan earnest desire to help you. I wi l l soonbr ing out a pair o f scales and the necessaryweights for you.

”So saying he went into

the house and brough t out everything thatwas wanted. He then began to Weig h the

pods. At the end of every instalmen t of one

maund, he bawled out at the top of h is v o ice,

Th is is one and that is two and so on.

The no ise made by the Ban ia attracted theneighbours and the patrol that were go ing a

m idnight round, to the place; and the burg larswere secured and dragged to the ipolice- ch owk i.

STORY LX X X X I.

A thief and the scorpion.

IN times of fam ine, people of the lowerorders take to house breaking and theft. I f

they succeed in the act, they get something

I Police -Ghowk i =Police Station.

mmas roam m . 2 2 7

to live upon for a time. I f they are caughtred- handed, they are sent to jail, where inspite of all hardships , they get their food.

Thus the ir m ain object o f any how gettingtheir bread is obtained either way.

Once in a fam ine year , thefts grew so

numerous that the people o f a certa in villagebegan to be seriously alarmed for their l ivesand property. The v illage po lice were too fewto effectually stop the burglar ies wh ich werecomm itted every night in one house or another.The v illagers kept lights burning the who lenigh t, sat up by turns, and engaged watc h-men

to take care o f their property. A Banial iving in the place adopted a novel plan of

protecting his r iches aga inst the noc turnalvisi tors . He bought a large scorpion from a

bird-catcher and carefully kept it in his cash

box from wh ich the gold and s i lver was tak enout and bur ied under the hearth.

One night a th ief entered the Ban ia’s

house and began to search for valuables , whenthe latter said to h is wife, I say. where have

you left the k ey of my cash - box l .” The wifewhom he had taken into h is confidence, re

2 2 8 mum s rot xtou .

plied , “ I have carefully locked the box and

p laced it in a recess in the wal l of the nextroom and have lefl; the k ey on the lid. The

Ban ia got wild at th is and said, Don’t you

knowthat the box contains gold and s i lverornaments worth thousands ? You, womenare a curse to soc iety. Suppose your th iefof a father enters the house and carr ies itall away. In that case I shan

’t have a p ie

left. Go and br ing me the k ey th is mom ent."

The word th ief has sent a thr ill of fear

through my body and has utterly paralyzedmy limbs. I won

’t for the wor lds leave the

bed, said the woman.

“ \Ve11, if you can’t

go now,do i t the first thing in the morn ing.”

So saying they kept quiet and feigned to havefallen asleep !Taking up the hint, the th ief rushed into the

next room and soon came upon the box . He

seized the k ey and opening the lock,thrust

his hand into the box. But he had no sooner

done so than he drew i t back with a ye ll ?What's the matter

,my fr iend ; can I do

anyth ing for you ? asked the Bania.The thief hurr iedly withdrew from the

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2 3 0 INDIAN FOLKLORE.

When they had gone about hal f way ,

the carts were suddenly stopped by four footpads. They asked the drivers to ho ld theirpeace, and called upon A smalj i to h and overto them four of the smallest but most valuableboxes from the lot. The poor Vobora did as

he was b id, and when the robbers had g onea g reat distance, he resumed h is journey.

The dr iv ers adv ised h im to make known h is

loss at the next v i llage and ask for help , butA smalj i told them that everyth ing would be

recovered in timewithout the help of author i t ies.A bout m idn ight he arr ived at h is nat iv e

p lace and heaped the boxes in a warehouse.Next morn ing , when L fi k manj l went to the

ware -house and counted the boxes, he foundthem too fewby four. He at once sent forh is servant and asked h im to explain the short

age. We were waylaid by four robbers and

they have carr ied away the four boxes . But

you need have no concern about them ,ex

plained A smalj i. D o you hold a c lue to theirwhereabouts Or have the Ahmedabad autho

r ities given you any hOpes7 In short have

you any hopes of recovering our lost goods ?

INDIAN roam s. 2 81

Demanded his mas ter. It’s no use informing

the authorities,

”Asmalj r assured h im , in as

much as it entai ls much waste of time and

money and the result is generally nil. I haveplayed the robbers an excel lent tr ick and theywill have to come back to us Ridiculousexclaimed L t‘lkmanj i. They have no furtheroccasion to show their faces after robbing youof your goods.

“ Never m ind the goods ; the invo ice isstill with me. Howwil l they sell the th ings ,the pr ices of wh ich they don’t know So , be

fore disposing of the things , they needs come

to us to learn their pr ices ! ”“ Y ou are an ass

,shouted Lukmanj l

what on earth do they want the invo ice for !They haven’t paid for the th ings that theyshould th ink of profit or loss wh i le disposingo f them. Was th is the reason that kept youfrom inform ing against them ? You are so

good that you are good for nothing. h avem e this instant

,for

,I am better without you

than with you.

”

2 32 mm tonn e“ .

STORY L X X X X I II.

I wil l please you.

Tarzan lived in Ahmedabad a Bania named

A mtho—shaat whose house an astrologer namedBhogal Bhatt was a constant visi tor. The

sheth always overwhehned h im with questionswith regard to h is future, the com ing rains,

rates of var ious ar ticles of trade and what not ;wh i le the astrologer was never at a loss tofind suitable and ambiguous answers for all

h is questions.Once the sheth

’

s only son fel l ill and

his li fe was dispaired of. The female mem

bers o f the household ascr ibed the il lness to

the influence of some evil spir i ts and insis tedupon having the opinion of the Bhatt on thepo int. Bhogal Bhatt was consequently sum

moued to the s ick- bed,and the sheth spread

before h in his son’

s horoscope and prayed the

Josh i to find out and report to them the

cause of his son’s il lness. After marking the

positions of the var ious planets and makinglong calculations, the Bhatt raised his head

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2 34 mom : ronxmar .

who would flay a fl int. When he arr ivedat the sheth

’s house the latter offered h im a

seat and congratulated h im on the accuracy

o f his c alculations and the fulfi lment o f h is

prophecy.When ,however , the astrologer c laim ed

h is reward,the Ban ia said, Y ou wi ll soon

h ave it ; you are in no haste, I bel ieve. Th is

particular day is doubly joyous to us a l l.

I t has g iven m e back my only ch ild, and a

son and an heir to our king. You know,my

fr iend, that the king has grown old and i tgr iev ed h im v ery much to have no son to

leave h is throne to. It is really a red letterday and everybody ough t to be pleased with it.Aren

’t v ou pleased, my fr iend ?” Th e p oor

B rahmm was in a fix. I f he said that hewas not pleased he would be accused of h ightreason and h is head would be cut off. I f h e

s aid that he was pleased, then farewel l to thefi ve rupees and a quarter ; for

,he was to be

p leased and pleased he was. He had to be

pleased to save h is head wh ich be valued at

more than five rupees and a quarter.