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

of a leopard; but the child would not

move from where he was; then Thakur appeared as a bear, and as a snake

and an elephant and in many other forms but the child would not move;

so at last Thakur took the form of an old woman, who lifted him in

her arms and soothed him and carried him to the edge of the jungle

and left him on the outskirts of a village.

 

In the morning a rich Brahman found him and took him home, and as no

one claimed the child he brought him up and made him his goat-herd,

and they gave him the name of Lela. The Brahman's sons and daughters

used to go school, and before he took his goats out to graze Lela

used to carry their books to the school. And going to the school every

day Lela got to know one or two letters and used to draw them in the

sand while minding his goats; later he got the children to give him

an old book saying that he wanted to pretend to the other boys that

he could read and out of this book he taught himself to read: and as

he grew up he became quite a scholar. One day he picked up a letter

and found that it was from one of the village girls arranging to elope

that very evening with a young man. At the appointed time Lela went to

the rendez-vous and hid himself in a tree; soon he saw the Brahman's

daughter come to the place, but as her letter had not been delivered

her lover did not appear. The girl got tired of waiting and then she

began to call to her lover, thinking that perhaps he was hiding for

a joke. When she called, Lela answered from the tree and she thought

that it was her lover and said "Come down and let us be off." So

Lela came down and they started off together; when day dawned she saw

that it was Lela who was with her and she sat down and upbraided him

for deceiving her. Lela said that they had met by chance; he had not

enticed her away, no harm had been done and she could go home if she

liked or come away with him if she liked. The girl considered but she

saw that if she went home now she would be disgraced and her family

would be outcasted, so in the end she agreed to run away with Lela.

 

They went on and after travelling some days they came to a great

city, where they took up their quarters in a tumble-down house and

the next morning Lela went into the city to look for work. He went to

the cutcherry and enrolled himself as a _muktear_ (attorney) and soon

the litigants and the magistrates found out how clever he was and he

acquired a big practice. One day the Raja said, "This fellow is very

handsome, I wonder what his wife is like?" And he sent an old woman

to see; so the old woman went and got into conversation with Lela's

wife and returned to the Raja and told him that none of his wives was

so beautiful as Lela's wife; so the Raja determined to go and see

her himself, and as the old woman said that she would hide herself

in the house if she saw the Raja coming, he disguised himself as a

poor man and went and saw her; he found that the old woman had not

exaggerated and he determined to possess himself of Lela's wife. He

had first to get Lela out of the way, so he sent for him and said,

"You are a fine fellow and have given me satisfaction. I have one

more commission for you, if you perform it I will give you half my

kingdom and my sister in marriage." Lela said that he must hear what

it was before he made any promise. The Raja said "It is this: in a

certain mountain grows the Chandmoni Kusum flower; bring it to me

and I will give you what I have promised:"--but the Raja felt sure

that if Lela went to the mountain he would be eaten by the Rakhas

(ogress) who dwelt there. Lela said that he would go if the Raja

gave him a written bond In the presence of witnesses; and this the

Raja willingly did. Then Lela went and told his wife and she said,

"This is excellent: I have a younger sister in the mountain, her name

is Chandmoni and it was she who planted the Chandmoni Kusum flower;

when you get there call her by her name and she will certainly give

you the flower."

 

So Lela started off and when he was gone his wife fell ill, and

her body became a mass of sores. Directly Lela was out of the way,

the Raja sent the old woman to see what his wife was doing and she

brought back word that she was afflicted with illness; so the Raja

sent medicines and told the old woman to nurse her. Lela went off and

came to the cave in the mountain where Chandmoni lived with the Rakhas;

and the Rakhas was away hunting men, so Lela called out Chandmoni and

told her who he was and begged her to hide him; then they planned how

they should kill the Rakhas, and she hid him in the cave; presently

the Rakhas returned and said to Chandmoni "I smell a man: where is

he?" But Chandmoni said that there was no one there but herself;

and that the smell was probably due to the Rakhas having been eating

human flesh and recommended her to anoint herself with hot ghee. The

Rakhas agreed: so Chandmoni put a great iron pan of ghee on to boil,

and when it was boiling she called the Rakhas, and as the Rakhas was

leaning over the pan, Lela ran out and pushed her into the boiling

ghee and she died. Then Chandmoni asked Lela why he had come, and

he told her, "to fetch the flower." She promised to give it to him

but asked what was to become of her now that the ogress with whom she

lived was dead. Lela promised to take her with him, so they cut off the

tongue and ears and claws of the Rakhas and returned to the city. And

directly Lela returned, his first wife recovered from her illness.

 

Then the Raja saw that it was useless to contend with Lela, and he

gave him half his kingdom and married him to his sister according

to his bond. So Lela lived with his three Ranis and they bore him

children and after some years he told them that he was the son of a

Raja and he wished to visit his own country and see whether his father

was alive. So they set out in great style with horses and elephants

and came to the town where Lela's father lived. Now five or six days

after abandoning Lela, his father had become blind and, he made over

the management of his kingdom to a Dewan, and the Dewan and the Rani

managed everything. When the Dewan heard that Lela had come with a

great force he thought that he would loot the country and he ran away

in fear. Then Lela sent word to his father to come to him, as he was

the son who had been abandoned in the jungle, so the Raja set forth

joyfully and after he had gone a few paces he began to see dimly,

and by the time that he came to Lela's camp he had quite recovered

his eyesight. When they met, father and son embraced and wept over

each other; and Lela ordered a feast to be prepared and while this

was being done a maidservant came running to say that the wicked

Rani had hanged herself, so they went and burned the body and then

returned and enjoyed the feast. Then the Raja resigned his kingdom

to Lela and the ryots begged him to stay and rule over them; so he

remained there and lived happily ever after.

V. (Karmu and Dharmu.)

 

There were once two brothers Karmu and Dharmu. Karmu was a farmer and

Dharmu was a trader; once when Dharmu was away from home Karmu gave

a religious feast and did not invite Dharmu's household; when Dharmu

returned and learnt this, he told his wife that he also would perform

the ceremonies in his house, so they set to work and were employed

in cooking rice and vegetables far into the night; and Karam Gosain

came down to see what preparations Dharmu was making in his honour,

and he watched from the back of the house.

 

Just then Dharmu strained off the water from the cooked rice and threw

it out of the window, and it fell on Karam Gosain and scalded him, and

as the flies and insects worried the wound, Karam Gosain went off to

the Ganges and buried himself in the middle of the stream. As he had

thus offended Karam Gosain, all Dharmu's undertakings failed and he

fell into deep poverty, and had not even enough to eat, so he had to

take service with his brother Karmu. When the time for transplanting

the rice came, Dharmu used to plough and dig the ditches and mend the

gaps along with the day labourers. Karmu told him not to work himself

but act as overseer of the other labourers, and the labourers also told

him that it was not suitable for him to work as a labourer himself,

but Dharmu said that he must earn his wages and insisted on working;

and in the same way Dharmu's wife might have acted as overseer of

the women, but she was ashamed not to work too.

 

One day they were transplanting the rice and Karmu brought out

breakfast for the labourers; he told Dharmu and his wife to wash their

hands and come and eat; but they answered that they belonged to the

household and that the hired labourers should be fed first, so the

labourers ate and they ate up all the rice and there was nothing left

for Dharmu and his wife. When the midday meal was brought the same

thing happened, Dharmu and his wife got nothing; but they hoped that

it would be made up to them when the wages were paid, and worked

on fasting. At evening when they came to pay the wages in kind,

Dharmu's name was called out first, but he told his brother to pay

the labourers first, and in doing this the paddy was all used up and

there was nothing left for Dharmu and his wife; so they went home

sorrowfully and their children cried for food and they had nothing

to give them. In the night Dharmu's wife said "They promised to pay

us for merely looking after the work and instead, we worked hard

and have still got nothing. We will not work for them anymore; come,

let us undo the work we did to-day, you cut down the embankments you

repaired, and I will uproot the seedlings which I planted." So they

went out into the night to do this. But whenever Dharmu raised his

spade a voice called out "Hold, hold!" And whenever his wife put out

her hand to pull up the rice a voice called out "Hold, hold!" Then they

said "Who are you who stop us?" And the voice answered "You have done

evil and offended Karam Gosain by scalding him; this is why you have

become poor and to-day have worked without food and without wages;

he has gone to the Ganges and you must go and propitiate him." And

they asked how they should propitiate him, and the voice said "Grind

turmeric and put it on a plate, and buy new cloth and dye it with

turmeric and make ready oil and take these things to the Ganges and

call on