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

waited for the

Rakhas, thinking of all the people who had been killed as they passed

along the road below the tree: however he was determined to outwit

the Rakhas if he could. All night long he watched in vain but just at

dawn the Rakhas appeared. At the sight of him Jhalka shook so much

with fright that the branches of the tree swayed. The Rakhas smelt

that there was a human being about and looking up into the tree saw

the branches waving. "Ha," said he, "here is my breakfast."' Jhalka

retorted "Ha! here is another Rakhas to match those I have got"

"What are you talking about?" asked the Rakhas: "I am glad to have

met you at last" returned Jhalka. "Why?" asked the Rakhas, "and what

are you trembling for?" "I am trembling with rage: we shall now see

whether I am to eat you or you are to eat me."

 

"Come down and try."

 

"No, you come up here and try."

 

Jhalka would not leave the tree and the Rakhas would not climb it:

so they waited. At last the Rakhas asked "Who are you? I have seen a

thousand men like you" And Jhalka answered "Who are you? I have seen

a thousand like you." At this the Rakhas began to hesitate and wonder

whether Jhalka was really his equal in strength, so he changed the

subject and asked what the big box was. "That is the box into which

I put Rakhases like you when I catch them; I have got plenty more at

home." "How many are there in the box?" "Two or three."

 

The Rakhas asked to see them, but Jhalka would not leave the tree until

the Rakhas had sworn an oath to do him no harm; then he came down and

opened the box and made the Rakhas look into the mirror inside the box;

and he also held up the second mirror saying that there was another

Rakhas. The Rakhas was fascinated at the sight of his own reflection;

when he grinned or opened his mouth the reflection did the same; and

while he was amusing himself with making different grimaces Jhalka

suddenly cut him down with the battleaxe, and he fell down dead. Then

Jhalka cut off the ears and tongue and toes and hastened with them

to the Raja. When it was found that the Rakhas was really dead the

Raja assembled all his subjects and in their presence married Jhalka

to his daughter and made over to him half the kingdom and gave him

horses and elephants and half of everything in his palace.

XCVI. (The Children and the Vultures.)

 

Once upon a time all the women of a village went to the jungle to

gather _karla_ fruit; and one of them was pregnant. In the jungle she

felt that her time was come and she went aside without telling any

of her friends and gave birth to twin boys. The other women went on

gathering fruit and when they had filled their baskets and were on

their way home they noticed that one of their number was missing,

but as it was late they were afraid to go back and look for her,

and besides they felt sure that she must have been devoured by some

wild animal.

 

Meanwhile the mother of the twins began to call to her friends,

but they were far out of hearing; so she debated whether she should

carry home the two babes or her basket of _karla_ fruit; she did

not feel strong enough to carry both the infants in her arms and so

she decided to take the basket of fruit, especially as she would

probably have plenty more children, while the _karla_ fruit could

not be replaced. She covered the twins with leaves of the Asan tree

and went home.

 

But when her husband heard what had happened he was very angry,

and scolded her well; she could easily have thrown away the fruit

and carried home the children in the basket tinsead of taking so

much trouble about the _karla_ fruit, as if no one had ever seen

any before. He wanted to take a few friends and go and look for the

children at once; but his father and mother begged him not to risk his

life in the jungle at night; the woman had been a fool but that could

not be remedied; people must learn by experience; as the Hindu proverb

says "When your caste goes, wisdom comes." They could not allow the

breadwinner of the family to risk his life; though the roof and doors

of the house had gone, the walls remained; as long as the tree stood

new branches would grow; but if the tree fell there was no more hope;

so in the end the children were left where they were.

 

No sooner had the mother gone than a pair of king vultures swooped down

to make a meal of the children but they cried so pitifully that the

vultures had hot the heart to kill them but instead carried them up

to their nest and brought them food: and nurtured them. And when the

children began to walk they carried them down to the ground and when

they were big enough to take care of themselves they told them to go

into the neighbouring villages and beg; but they forbade them to go

towards the village in which their real parents lived. So every day

the two boys went out begging, and as they went from house to house,

they sang:--

 

 

    "Our mother took away the _karla_ fruit

    She covered us up with Asan leaves.

    The pair of King vultures

    Reared us.--Give us alms."

 

 

And people had pity on them and gave them enough to live on. One day

the two boys thought that they would go and see what the country was

like in the direction which had been forbidden to them; so they set

out singing their usual song, and when they came to the house where

their mother lived she heard them sing and knew that they must be her

children; so she called them and bathed them and oiled their bodies

and told them that she was their mother and they were very glad to

stay with her.

 

But when the children did not return, the vultures flew in search

of them and circled round and round in the air looking for them. The

mother saw them and knew what they wanted, so she took the children

into the house and hid them under a large basket. But the vultures flew

down to the house and tore a hole in the thatch and entered through it

and overturned the basket and seized the children. Then the father and

mother also caught hold of them and the vultures pulled and the parents

pulled until the children were torn in two and the vultures flew away

with the portions they had secured. The father and mother sorrowfully

burnt on a pyre the remains of the children that were left to them.

 

The vultures when they reached their nest were unwilling to eat the

flesh of the children they had reared, so they set fire to their nest;

but as the flames rose high, some juice spirted out from the burning

flesh on to the vultures and they tasted it and found it so good

that they pulled the rest of the flesh out of the flames and ate it,

and from that time vultures feed on human bodies.

 

XCVII. (The Ferryman.)

 

There was once a ferryman who plied a ferry across a big river, and he

had two wives. By the elder wife he had five sons and by the younger

only one. When he grew old he gave up work himself and left his sons

to manage the boats; but the step-brothers could not agree and were

always quarrelling. So the father gave one boat to the son of the

younger wife and told him to work it by himself at a separate crossing

higher up the river, while the five other brothers plied to old ferry.

 

It turned out that most passengers used to cross at the youngest

brother's ferry and as he had no one to share the profits with him,

his earnings were very large. Because of this he used to jeer at his

other brothers who were not so well off. This made them hate him more

than ever, and they resolved to be revenged; so one day when he was

alone in the boat they set it adrift down the river without any oars.

 

As he drifted helplessly down the river he saw a river snake, as

long as the river was broad, waiting for him with open mouth. He

thought that his last hour had come, but he seized a knife which was

in the boat and waited. When the stream brought him within reach,

the snake swallowed him, boat and all, and swam to the bank. When he

felt the snake climbing up the bank he began to cut his way out of its

stomach with his knife, and soon made a wound which killed the snake

and enabled him to make his way out and pull out the boat. Then he

looked about him and saw a large village near by; so he went towards

it to tell the villagers how he had killed the great snake. But when

he reached it he found it deserted; he went from house to house but

found no one. At last he came to a house in which there was one girl,

who told him that she was the only inhabitant left, as the great river

snake had eaten up all the other people. Then he told her how he had

killed the snake and took her to see its dead body. The village was

full of the wealth left by its former inhabitants; so he and the girl

decided to stay there, and there were such riches that they lived

like a Raja and Rani.

 

One morning his wife told him that she had had a dream, in which

she was warned that he must on no account go out towards the south

of the village; but he laughed at her, because he had up to that

time moved about wherever he liked without any harm. She begged him

to listen to her advice, because it was by her wisdom that she had

saved her life when every one else in the village had been killed,

so for a few days he obeyed her, but one morning he took a sword and

went off towards the south. He had not gone far when he came to a cow,

which had fallen into a pit, and it called to him. "Oh Brother, I have

fallen into great trouble; help me out and one day I will do the same

to you, if you ask my aid." So he took pity on the cow and pulled it

out. Going on a little further he came to a buffalo which had stuck

fast in a bog and it also called to him for help and promised to do

the like for him in case of need. So he pulled it out of the mud,

and went on his