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

man and his wife lay talking in bed, the woman told

her husband that she had dreamt that in a certain place she had dug

up a pot full of rupees, and she proposed that they should go and

look for it and see whether the dream was true. While they talked, it

chanced that some thieves, who had climbed on to the roof, overheard

the conversation and at once decided to forestall the others. So they

went off to the place which the woman had described and began to dig,

and after digging a little they were delighted to come on a pot with

a lid on. But when they took off the lid an enormous snake raised

its head and hissed at them. At this the thieves cursed the woman

who had misled them and agreed to take the snake and drop it through

the roof on to the man and his wife as they lay in bed. So they shut

the snake up again and carried it off to the house and, making a hole

in the thatch, dropped it through. But as it fell the snake changed

into a stream of money, which came rattling down on the couple below;

the thieves found a snake, but it was not a real snake, it was Thakur;

and it was his will to give the money to the man and his wife. When

these two had recovered from their astonishment, they gathered up

the money, and lived in wealth ever afterwards.

 

XLVIII. (The King of the Bhuyans.)

 

There was once a king of the Bhuyans and near his palace was a village

of Santals; he was a kind ruler and both Santals and Bhuyans were very

happy under his sway. But when he died, he was succeeded by his son,

who was a very severe master and soon fell out with the Santals. If

he found any cattle or buffaloes grazing anywhere near his crops,

he had the cowherds beaten severely: so that no one dared to take

the cattle in that direction.

 

The Santals were very angry at this and longed to get even with the

Raja; they planned to turn the cattle into the Raja's crops at night

when no one could see them or catch them, but in the end their courage

failed them.

 

One year after the rice had been cut, but before the millet crop was

gathered, the youths and maidens of the Santal village had a dance

and danced all night till nearly morning; then they agreed that it

was not worth while to go to bed and they had better take the cattle

out to graze at once.

 

After grazing their fill, the cattle all collected at the midday

resting place and the cowherds were so sleepy after their night's

dancing, that they fell fast asleep on the bare ground. After a time

the buffaloes began to move again and seeing a nice field of millet

belonging to the Raja soon made their way to it and grazed the whole

field down. The Raja happened to pass that way and was filled with

wrath at the sight; he at once ordered his _sipahis_ to go and beat

the cowherds within an inch of their lives and so the _sipahis_

ran to the place with sticks. Their approach roused the sleeping

cowherds who jumped up and ran off home as hard as they could;

all but the servant of the village _paramanik_ (assistant headman)

he did not run away but went to drive the cattle out of the field;

he knew that this was his duty to his master and he was resolved to

do his duty even at the cost of his life.

 

As all the other boys had got away the sipahis turned their attention

to him, but as they aimed blows at him with the sticks, he caught the

blows on his arms and the sticks shivered to atoms without harming him;

so then they went to kick him but a great _cibei_ snake came rustling

up behind them; so they saw it was no use to contend with him and

desisted: whereupon he drove all the village cattle home in triumph.

 

The sipahis reported to the Raja how the cowherds had all made good

their escape, and how the paramanik's herd boy had driven off the

cattle. Then the Raja told them to go that afternoon at the time

the cattle were brought home for the night and wait at the end of

the village street and then give the cowherds the thrashing they

deserved; The sipahis did as they were ordered and that evening waited

for the returning herd boys; and caught them as they came home and

thrashed them within an inch of their lives. The others were all

left senseless on the ground: but the sipahis did not dare to lay

hands on the paramanik's herd boy, he drove the cattle back into the

village, and told the villagers what had been done to their sons. So

the villagers went out with beds and carried the wounded boys home;

then they assembled and resolved to go and punish the Raja, so they

went to him and asked what he meant by killing their children. "Dear

me," said the Raja, "are they really dead?" "Well, if not not quite

dead, they are very ill," was the answer. "I am sorry," said the Raja:

"I admit that I have done wrong, but if you will forgive me this time,

I will undertake to cure them in a minute and make them as well as

ever; go and fetch them here."

 

So the Santals went off to fetch the wounded cowherds and carried

them to the Raja, all lying senseless on beds and put them down before

him. While they were away the Raja had told his sipahis to grind some

good hot _chilis_; and when the cowherds were brought to him he told

the sipahis to thrust the chili paste up their noses; this was done

and the smarting soon made the cowherds jump up and run away in a

very lively fashion, and that was the way the Raja kept his word and

cured them.

XLIX. (The Foolish Sons.)

 

There was once a man of the blacksmith caste who had six sons; the

sons were all married and the whole family lived together. But the

sons' wives took to quarrelling and at last the sons went to their

parents and proposed that they should set up separate households,

as the women folk could not live in peace.

 

The blacksmith and his wife did not like the idea at all and pointed

out that it would be most inadvisable; while, so far, there was plenty

of food and clothing for all, they would find it much more expensive

to have seven separate households and split up what was quite enough

so long as they lived together, and what was to become of their old

parents who were now too old to work? The sons protested that they

would support their father and mother as long as they lived, even

though the family separated.

 

At last the old man said that he would put them to the test and see

whether they were clever enough to manage their own affairs and smart

enough to cheat people into giving them what they wanted. "I will

see," said he, "how you would manage to support the family in time

of famine or if we fell into poverty. I and your mother have managed

to bring up a large family, and you know nothing of the anxiety that

it has cost us; you have merely had to enjoy yourselves and eat your

meals; if you insist on it, I will let you separate, but don't blame

me afterwards. However to-morrow I will take you on a journey and

find some means of testing your cleverness."

 

So the next morning they made ready for the journey; their father only

allowed them to take one meal of rice tied up in their cloths and he

gave each of them one pice, which he said was their inheritance. They

set off and after travelling some way they sat down and ate up their

rice and then went on again. By the middle of the afternoon they

began to feel hungry, so the father proposed their going to a bazar

which was in sight; but between them and the bazar was a channel of

stagnant water, very deep, and with its surface covered by a coating

of weeds. They tried to cross, but directly they set foot on it they

sank through the weeds, and it was too deep for wading. So their father

said they would all camp on the bank and he would see whether they were

clever enough to get across the channel and bring food for a meal;

if they could do that he would believe that they could support their

families in time of famine.

 

So the old man spread his cloth on the ground and set down and watched

them try their luck one by one. The eldest brother first jumped up

to try but he could not cross the channel; everytime he tried, he

sank through the weeds, at last he gave up in despair and admitted

that he could not feed the party. Then the other brothers all tried

in turn and failed. At last it came to the turn of the youngest; he

modestly said that he was not likely to succeed where his elders had

failed but he would have a try, so he went to the edge of the water

and spreading out his cloth on the weeds lay down on it so that his

weight was distributed; in this position the weeds supported him and

he managed to wriggle himself across on his face to the other side.

 

Once across, he went to the bazar, and going to a shop began to

talk with the shopkeeper; after a little he asked for the loan of an

anna; the shopkeeper said that he could not lend to a stranger; the

blacksmith's son gave the name of some village as his home and pressed

for the loan, promising to pay him one anna as interest within a week

and pulling out his pice he said "See here, I will pay you this pice

as part of the interest in advance." At this the shopkeeper suffered

himself to be persuaded and lent him the anna.

 

With this the blacksmith's son went off to a second shop and begged

for the loan of four annas, as he had pressing need of it; he promised

to pay an anna a week interest, and to pay down at once the interest

for the first week. After some hesitation the shopkeeper was deceived

into lending the four annas. Then he went off to another shop and

borrowed a rupee by promising to pay eight annas a month as interest

and putting down four annas as advance.

 

Then he went to a Marwari's shop and asked for the loan of ten rupees;

the Marwari asked for interest at the rate of one rupee a day; the

blacksmith's son protested that that was too high but offered to pay

one rupee every two days and to pay one rupee of interest in