Folklore of the Santal Parganas - Cecil Henry Bompas (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📗

 

Once there was a poor widow who had two children; she lived by daily

labour and if she got no work any day, then that day they had to go

without food. One morning she went out to look for work and a rich

woman called her and asked if she wanted a job; she said "Yes, that

is what I am looking for," then the rich woman said "Stay here and

pick the lice out of my hair, and I will pay you your usual wages and

give you your dinner as well." So the poor widow agreed and spent the

day picking out the lice and at evening the rich woman brought out

a measure of rice to give her as her wages and, as she was measuring

it, she felt her head itch and she put up her hand and scratched and

pulled out a large louse.

 

Then she got very angry and scolded the widow and said that she would

pay her nothing as she had not done her work properly and she turned

her out. Then the widow was very unhappy for she had nothing to give

her starving children and she wished that she had stuck to her usual

work. When she got home and her children began to cry for food, she

remembered that she had seen some wild _saru_ (vegetable) growing in

a certain place; so she took a basket and a sickle and telling her

children not to cry went out to gather it. It was dark and lonely

and she felt frightened but then she thought of her children and

went on and gathered the _saru_, and returned home crying because

she had nothing better to give her offspring. On the way she met an

old man who asked her why she was crying and she told him all her

story. Then he told her to take the herbs home and chop them all up

and to put some in every basket and pot she had and to cook the rest

for supper. So when she got home she did as she had been directed and

when she came to take the herbs which she had cooked out of the pot,

she found that they had turned into rice, and she and her children

ate it with joy. The next morning she found that every pot and basket

into which she had put the herbs was full of rice; and from that time

she prospered and bought goats and pigs and cattle and lived happily

ever after.

 

But no one knew where the old man came from, as she had forgotten to

ask him.

XXXII. (The Monkey and the Girl.)

 

Once upon a time the boys and girls of a village used to watch the

crops of _but_ growing by a river, and there was a Hanuman monkey who

wished to eat the _but,_ but they drove him away. So he made a plan:

he used to make a garland of flowers and go with it to the field and,

when he was driven away, he would leave the flowers behind; and the

children were pleased with the flowers and ended by making friends with

the monkey and did not drive him away. There was one of the young girls

who was fascinated by the monkey and promised to marry him. Some of

the other children told this in the village and the girl's father and

mother came to hear of it and were angry and the father took some of

the villagers and went and shot the monkey. Then they decided not to

throw away the body, but to burn it like the corpse of a man. So they

made a pyre and put the body on it and set fire to it; just then the

girl came and they told her to go away, but she said that she wished

to see whether they really burned him like a man. So she stood by

and when the pyre was in full blaze, she called out "Oh look, what is

happening to the stars in the sky!" at this every one looked up at the

sky; then she took some sand which she had in the fold of her cloth

and threw it into the air and it fell into their eyes and blinded them.

 

While they were rubbing the sand out of their eyes the girl leapt on to

the pyre, and was burned along with the monkey and died a _sati_. Her

father and brothers were very angry at this and said that the girl

must have had a monkey's soul and so she was fascinated by him;

and so saying they bathed and went home.

XXXIII. (Ramai and the Animals.)

 

Once there was a blacksmith who had five sons and the sons were always

quarrelling. Their father used to scold them, but they paid no heed;

so he got angry and one day he sent for them and said: "You waste

your time quarrelling. I have brought you up and have amassed wealth;

I should like to see what you are worth. I will put it to the test:

I will give you each one hundred rupees, and I will see how you employ

the money; if any of you puts it to profitable use, I will call him

my son; but if any of you squander it, I shall call him a girl." So

they went forth with the money and one bought buffaloes and one bought

horses and another cattle, each according to his judgement, and brought

them home. But the youngest son, who was named Ramai, soon after he

started, found some men killing a cat and he begged them not to kill

the cat, but let him have it and he bought it of them, and going on

he found some men killing a dog which they had caught stealing and

he bought it of them to save its life. By and bye he came to some men

hunting an otter and he asked what they were doing, and they said that

the otter ate the fish in a Raja's tank and so they were going to kill

it; and he asked them to catch it and sell it to him, and promised

to take it away where it could do no harm; and they did so. Then he

went on and came to some men who were killing a young black snake

and he saved that also, and then returned home with his four animals,

and he tethered the cat and the dog and the otter in the yard and he

put the snake into a pot with a lid on and hung it in the cow shed.

 

When his father saw Ramai's animals, he was very angry and jeered at

him and said that he had no more mind than a woman; and especially

he told him to throw away the snake at once, if he did not want it

killed. So Ramai took down the pot with the snake in it, and the snake

said: "Take me to my father and mother and they will reward you, and

when they ask what you would like, take nothing but the ring which

is on my father's hand: it is a magic ring and has the property that

it will give you whatever you ask."

 

So Ramai took the young snake to its home and its father and mother

were very grateful and asked what reward he would accept: and he said

he would take nothing but the ring, so they gave it to him. On the way

home he thought that he would test its virtues: so he bathed and spread

out a cloth and then prayed: "Oh ring, give me some luncheon," and

behold he saw a nice lunch heaped up in the middle of the cloth. He ate

it joyfully and went back home, and there he found that his father had

killed the other animals and he reproached him; but his father said:

"They were useless and were only eating their heads off, why should

not I kill them?" Ramai answered: "These were not useless, they were

most valuable animals, much better than those my brothers bought; if

you asked my brothers for a gold palace they could not make you one,

but I could do so at once, thanks to the snake, and I could marry a

princess and get anything else I want."

 

His father said that he would like to see him try: so Ramai asked

the ring for a gold palace and immediately one appeared in their

garden. Then his father was very repentant about having killed the

other animals. But Ramai's boast that he could marry a princess got

abroad and the Raja heard of it and as he was glad to have so rich

a son-in-law, he gave him his daughter in marriage. And with his

daughter the Raja sent elephants and horses, but Ramai sent them back

again, lest it should be said that he had become rich through the

bounty of the Raja; and by virtue of the ring they lived in wealthy

and prosperity.

 

XXXIV. (The Magic Bedstead.)

 

Once upon a time a carpenter made a bedstead, and when it was ready he

put it in his verandah. At night he heard the four legs of the bedstead

talking together and saying: "We will save the life of anyone who

sleeps on this bedstead and protect him from his enemies." When the

carpenter heard this, he decided not to part with the bed for less

than a hundred rupees. So next day he went out to try and get this

price for the bed, but people laughed at him and said that no one

could pay such a price but the Raja; so he went to the Raja and the

Raja asked why he wanted one hundred rupees for a bedstead that was

apparently worth only five or six annas. The carpenter answered that

the bed would protect its owner from all enemies; the Raja doubted at

first but as the man persisted in his story, he agreed to buy the bed,

but he stipulated that if he found the story about it not to be true,

he should take back his money.

 

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