{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_11167/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_11167","id":"gutenberg_11167","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11167","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore -- India","Tales -- India"],"text":"Deccan Nursery Tales\n                               or\n                   Fairy Tales from the South\n\n\n                               by\n\n                      C.A. Kincaid, C.V.O.\n\n\n\n                             1914.\n\n\n\n\n                        To my little son\n\n                             Dennis\n\n                Whose interest in these stories\n          first induced me to offer them to the public\n         this little volume is affectionately inscribed\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nThese stories first appeared in the Times of India newspaper, and my\nacknowledgments are due to the editor for his courtesy in permitting\ntheir publication.\n\nI have translated all of them as literally as possible from the\noriginal Marathi. But, owing to the difference between Marathi and\nEnglish canons of taste, I have had in a very few places slightly\nto change the sense. In some places, owing to the obscurity of the\noriginal text, I have had to amplify the translation. In other places\nI have had to cut short the descriptions of Hindu rites and ceremonies\nso as to avoid wearying the English reader.\n\nIt may not be out of place to say just a word about the Indian gods\nmentioned in the stories. It must be remembered that the main Hindu\ngods are three in number. They are all sprung from a common origin,\nBrahma, but they are quite separate beings. They do not form a trinity,\ni.e. three in one or one in three. And each of them has a wife and a\nfamily. The following genealogical tree will, I hope, help the reader.\n\n\n    Brahma\n        Shiva = Parwati\n            Ganpati\n              = the daughters of Agni\n            Kartakswami [1]\n        Vishnu = Mahalaxmi\n        Brahmadev = Saraswati\n\n\nOf the above gods, Shiva, his son Kartakswami, and his wife Parwati,\nVishnu and his wife Mahalaxmi only are mentioned in the following\nstories. Besides these, however, the Sun and Moon and the five\nprincipal planets obtain a certain amount of worship. The Sun is\nworshipped every morning by every orthodox Hindu. And Shani or Saturn\ninspires a wholesome fear, for his glance is supposed to bring ill\nfortune. Then again, besides the main gods, the world according\nto Hindu belief, which in this respect closely resembles that of\nthe ancient Greeks, is peopled with Asuras (demons), Devkanya\n(wood-nymphs), Nag-kanya (the serpent-maidens of Pat\u00e2la), and\nGandharwas (a kind of cherubim). The first three of these find a\nplace in the ensuing fairy tales.\n\nThe scientific doctrine is that Shiva is the destroyer and Vishnu\nthe preserver of life, and that Brahmadev is the creative spirit. In\npractice, however, Brahmadev is almost entirely disregarded, while the\nHindus worship Shiva, Vishnu, Parwati, or Mahalaxmi just as   they feel\ninclined, or as the particular sect to which they belong requires them.\n\nLastly, it must be borne in mind that the Hindu year consists of\ntwelve lunar months. In the Deccan the year begins with Chaitra,\ncorresponding roughly with April. The months then succeed each other\nin the following order: Vaishak, Jesht, Ashad, Shravan, Bhadrapad,\nAshwin, Kartih, Margshish, Paush, Mag, Phalgun, Each month begins on\nthe first day of the new moon and is divided into two parts. The first\nhalf comprises the period from the new moon to the full moon. This is\nthe bright half of the month. The second half comprises the period\nfrom the full moon to the new moon. This is the dark half of the\nmonth. The lunar months are made to correspond with the solar year by\nthe interposition of an \"adhik\" or intercalary month every third year.\n\nC.A.K.\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n    I.      The Sunday Story\n    II.     The Monday Story\n    III.    The Tuesday Story\n    IV.     The Wednesday and Thursday Story\n    V.      The Friday Story\n    VI.     The Saturday Story\n    VII.    Mahalaxmi and the Two Queens\n    VIII.   The Island Palace\n    IX.     Nagoba, the Snake-King\n    X.      Parwati and the Beggar-Man\n    XL      Parwati and the Brahman\n    XII.    Soma, the Washerwoman\n    XIII.   Vasishta and the Four Queens\n    XIV.    The Lamps and the King's Daughter-in-Law\n    XV.     Parwati and the Priest\n    XVI.    The Rishi and the Brahman\n    XVII.   The King and the Water-Goddesses\n    XVIII.  The Lid of the Sacred Casket\n    XIX.    The Brahman Wife and Her Seven Sons\n    XX.     The Golden Temple\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n\"Gave memorial honours to his dead father\"\n\"It curled itself up inside the earthen jar\"\n\"And fill her lap with wheat cakes and bits of cocoa-nut\"\n\"And stuck them into a corner of the eaves\"\n\"They no longer wished to kill or bite the little daughter-in-law\"\n\"They asked her what the reason was, and she told them\"\n\"She has lived here just as if she had been in her father's house\"\n\"The god revealed himself to the king and his companions in all his\nglory and splendour\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nThe Sunday Story\n\nWhen Englishmen and Englishwomen are little boys and girls, they\nlisten with open ears to the tales of Golden-hair and the three Bears,\nof Cinderella and the Prince, and of the Wolf and Little Red Riding\nHood. As the boys and girls grow up, the stories fade gradually from\ntheir minds. But a time comes when they have children of their own. And\nthen, to amuse the children, they can find no tales more thrilling\nthan those which fascinated them in their own childhood. Thus the\nold nursery tales are handed down for centuries from generation to\ngeneration. Exactly the same process goes on in India, There, too, when\nlittle Indian boys and girls grow up and have little boys and girls of\ntheir own, they too tell to wide-eyed audiences the tales which they\nthemselves found so thrilling in their own childhood. Indian nursery\ntales, it is true, have a more religious tinge than those of Europe,\nbut they are none the less appreciated on that account. The first six\nstories in this little book purport to explain the connexion between\nthe heavenly bodies and the days of the week. So each day of the week\nhas its separate tale. And all through Shravan or August, probably\nbecause it is the wettest month in the year, Deccan mothers tell afresh\nevery week-day that day's story. And little Deccan children listen\nto the tales as they fall due with the same unvarying attention. For\nin nurseries, Indian as well as English, tales are loved the better\nwhen no longer new, and where the end is well known to, and therefore\nthe better understood by, the tiny round-eyed listeners.\n\nNow this is the tale which is told every Sunday [2] in Shravan: Once\nupon a time there was a town called Atpat, and in it there lived a\npoor Brahman. Every day he used to go into the woods to fetch sticks\nand to cut grass. One day he met there some nymphs and wood-fairies,\nwho said that they were performing holy rites in honour of the sun. He\nasked, \"What are these rites?\" They replied, \"If we tell you, you will\nbecome proud and vain and you will not perform them properly.\" But the\nBrahman promised, \"No, I shall not become proud or vain and I shall\nobserve the rites you tell me.\" They then told him that the month of\nShravan was coming, and that on the first Sunday of Shravan he was\nto draw a picture of the sun with red sandal paste, that he was to\noffer to the drawing flowers and fruit, and that he should continue\ndoing this for six months. Thereafter he should in various ways,\nwhich they told him, entertain guests and give alms to the poor.\n\nThe Brahman went home and performed the rites to the letter, so that\nthe sun-god was very pleased. Wealth came to the Brahman and he grew\nricher and richer, and at last the queen of the land sent for him. The\npoor Brahman began to tremble and shake all over, but the queen said,\n\"Do not shake or tremble, but give your daughters in marriage to our\nhouse.\" The Brahman said, \"My daughters are poor; you will make them\nslaves or maid-servants.\" \"No,\" said the queen, \"I shall not make\nthem slaves or maid-servants; I shall marry one to a king, and one to\na minister.\" The Brahman agreed, and when the month of Margashish,\nor December, came he gave his two daughters in marriage, one to the\nking and one to the minister. Immediately after the marriage the\nBrahman said good-bye to his daughters, and did not see them again\nfor twelve years. Then he visited the elder one, who had married the\nking. She gave him a wooden stand on which to sit while eating, and\nwater in which to wash his feet, and then said, \"Papa, papa, there\nis pudding to eat, there is water to drink.\" But the Brahman said,\n\"Before I eat or drink, I must tell you my story.\" But his daughter\nsaid, \"Papa, I have no time to listen to your story; the king is\ngoing a-hunting, and I must not keep him waiting for his dinner.\" The\nBrahman thought this very disrespectful and went off in a great rage\nto the house of his other daughter, who had married a minister. She\nwelcomed her father and gave him a wooden stand on which to eat,\nand water to wash his feet, and said, \"Papa, papa, here is pudding to\neat and here is water to drink.\" But the Brahman said, \"Before I eat\nor drink I must tell you my story.\" His daughter said, \"Of course,\npapa, tell it to me, and I shall listen as long as you like.\" Then\nshe went into an inner room and she fetched six pearls. She took three\nherself and three she put in her father's hand. And he told her how he\nhad met the nymphs and wood-fairies, who had told him to worship the\nsun-god, and she listened to it all without missing a syllable. Then\nthe Brahman ate and drank and went back to his own house. His wife\nasked him about their two daughters. He told her everything and said,\n\"The elder one who would not listen to my story will come to grief.\"\n\nAnd so she did. For the king, her husband, took an army into a\nfar country and never came back. But the daughter who had listened\nto the story lived well and happy. As time went on the undutiful\ndaughter became poorer and poorer, until one day she said to her\neldest son, \"Go to your aunt's house and beg of her to give you a\npresent, and bring back whatever she gives you.\" Next Sunday the\nboy started and went to the village where his aunt lived. Standing\nby the village tank he called out, \"O maids, O slave-girls, whose\nmaids and slave-girls are ye?\" They answered, \"We are the maids and\nthe slave-girls of the minister.\" The boy said, \"Go and tell the\nminister's wife that her sister's son is here. Tell her that he is\nstanding by the village tank, that his coat is tattered and that\nhis garments are torn, and ask her to let him come into her house\nthrough the back door.\" The slave-girls took him in through the\nback door. His aunt had him bathed, and gave him clothes to wear,\nand food to eat, and drink, and a pumpkin hollowed out and filled\nwith gold coins. As he left, she called to him, \"Do not drop it, do\nnot forget it, but take it carefully home.\" But as the boy went home,\nthe sun-god came disguised as a gardener and stole the pumpkin filled\nwith gold. When the boy reached his mother's house she asked, \"Well,\nmy son, what did your aunt give you?\" He said, \"Fortune gave, but Karma\n[3] took away; I lost everything my aunt bestowed on me.\" Next Sunday\nthe second son went and stood by the village tank and called out,\n\"O slave-girls and maid-servants, who is your master?\" They said,\n\"Our master is the minister.\" \"Then tell the minister's wife that\nher nephew is here.\" He was taken in by the back door. He was bathed\nand clothed and given food and drink. As he was going, his aunt gave\nhim a hollow stick full of gold coins and said, \"Do not drop it,\ndo not forget it, mind it carefully and take it home.\" On the way\nthe sun-god came in the guise of a cowherd and stole the stick. When\nthe boy got home his mother asked him what he had brought. He said,\n\"Fortune gave, but Karma took away.\" On the third Sunday a third son\nwent and stood by the village tank. His aunt received him like the\nothers and had him bathed, clothed, and fed. As he was going away,\nshe gave him a hollow cocoa-nut stuffed with gold coins and said,\n\"Do not drop it, do not forget it, but mind it carefully and take it\nhome.\" On the way back he put down the cocoa-nut on the edge of a well,\nand it toppled over and fell into the water with a great splash. When\nhe reached his mother's house she asked him what his aunt's present\nwas. He said, \"I have lost everything which fortune brought me.\" On\nthe fourth Sunday the fourth son went. His aunt welcomed him like\nthe others, and had him bathed and fed. When he left she gave him an\nearthen pot full of gold coins. But the sun-god came in the guise\nof a kite and snatched the pot away. When the boy reached home his\nmother asked him whether his aunt had given him anything. He said,\n\"I have lost everything which my aunt gave me.\" On the fifth Sunday\nthe mother herself got up and went to her sister's village and stood\nby the tank. The minister's wife took her in through her back door\nand had her clothed and fed. Then the minister's wife told her that\nall her trouble had come through not listening to her father's story,\nand the minister's wife repeated it to her. The king's wife listened\nto it, and stayed with her sister until the following month of Shravan,\nor August, when she did fitting worship to the sun.\n\nInstantly good fortune came to her. After years of weary fighting, her\nhusband, the king, at last overcame his enemies, and after taking great\nwealth from them turned homewards with his army. As he went towards his\ncapital, he passed the village where the minister's wife lived. There he\nlearnt that his queen was with her sister, so he sent for her with a\nbefitting escort. \"O auntie, auntie,\" cried all the queen's little\nnephews and nieces, \"umbrellas have come for you, and horse-tails and\nguards and foot-soldiers.\" Every one rushed out to see, and the king and\nqueen greeted each other after years of separation. The sisters gave\neach other gifts of clothes, and the king and his queen went away\ntogether. At the first halting-place the servants cooked the food. The\nqueen filled the king's plate and then her own, and then she thought of\nthe story which her sister had told her. She ordered her servants to go\nthrough the neighbouring village and bring in any one who was hungry and\ntoo poor to buy food. They found none such in the village, but on the\nway back they met a starving wood-cutter, and, bringing him to the\nqueen, told him to listen to the tale which she would tell him. The\nqueen brought six pearls. Three she gave to the wood-cutter, and three\nshe kept herself. Then she told him the story of her father and the\nwood-fairies. The wood-cutter listened with all attention, and as he\nlistened his faggot of wood became all of gold. He went away delighted,\npromising to worship the sun in the way the wood-fairies had shown to\nthe Brahman.\n\nNext day the cavalcade reached the second halting-place. Food was\ncooked; the queen filled the king's plate and then her own plate, and\nagain she told her, servants to bring from the neighbouring village any\none who was hungry and too poor to buy food. They came upon a petty\nfarmer, whose well had dried up and whose crops had withered. He was\nsitting sadly by his field when they called him to go with them and\nlisten to the queen's tale. He went with them to the camp. There the\nqueen brought six pearls and gave three of them to the farmer and\nkept three of them herself. Then she told the story of her father\nand the wood-fairies. And as the farmer listened, all attention,\nthe water began to pour into the well, and the crop began to look\nfresh and green. He went away delighted, and promised to worship the\nsun in the way the wood-fairies had told the Brahman. Next day the\ncavalcade reached the third halting-place. Food was cooked, and the\nqueen filled the king's plate and then her own plate. Then she told\nthe servants to search in the neighbouring village for any one who\nwas hungry and too poor to buy food. They met an old woman. Her eldest\nson had been lost in the forest. Her second son had been drowned in a\npond. Her third son had died of snake-bite. They told her to come and\nlisten to the queen's story. She went with them, and as she listened,\nall attention, first the son who had been lost in the forest walked\ninto the camp, next the son who had been drowned in the pond, and\nlast of all the son who had died of a snake-bite. The old woman went\naway crying with joy, and promising to worship the sun in the way\nthe wood-fairies had instructed the Brahman. Next day the cavalcade\nreached the fourth halting-place. Food was cooked, and the queen first\nfilled the king's plate and then her own. After dinner she sent her\nservants as before to bring in some poor and hungry man from the\nneighbouring village. They found a man whose eyes were so crooked\nthat he could hardly see, who had no arms or legs, and who had not\neven a name. For he was only known as \"Lump of flesh.\" He was lying\non his face, but when they brought him into camp, the queen had him\nplaced on his back and had a jug of water poured over him. Then she\ntook six pearls. Three she kept herself, and three she placed on the\nstomach of \"Lump of flesh.\" Then she told him the tale of her father\nand the wood-fairies. He listened, all attention, and as he listened\nhis arms and legs grew out of his body, and hands and feet appeared\nat the ends of them. He too went away delighted, and he promised to\nworship the sun in the way the wood-fairies had told the Brahman.\n\nAt the end of the next day's march the king and queen reached their\nhome. Food was cooked, and as they sat down to dinner the sun-god\nhimself appeared and joined them at their meal. The king had all\nthe doors flung wide open, and ordered a fresh and far more splendid\ndinner to be prepared, with any number of dishes, each dish having\nsix separate flavours. When it was served the sun-god and the king\nbegan to eat, but in the first mouthful the sun-god found a hair. He\ngot very very angry, and called out, \"To what sinful woman does this\nhair belong?\" Then the poor queen remembered that during her twelve\nyears of poverty she had always sat under the eaves combing her hair,\nand knew that it must have been one of her hairs which had got into\nthe sun-god's food. She begged for mercy, but the sun-god would\nnot forgive her until she had clothed herself in a black blanket,\nplucked a stick out of the eaves, and had gone outside the town and\nthere thrown the stick and the hair over her left shoulder. Then the\nsun-god recovered his good-humour, and finished his dinner. And the\nBrahman, the king and queen, and the wood-cutter and the farmer whose\nwell had dried up, and the old woman who had lost her children, and\n\"Lump of flesh\" with the cross eyes, they all remained in the favour\nof the sun-god and lived happily ever afterwards.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nThe Monday Story\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there lived a\nvery saintly king. One day he formed the wish to fill the shrine of\nShiva, the moon-god, with milk up to the ceiling. He consulted his\nchief minister, and the latter sent a crier through Atpat ordering,\nunder terrible penalties, all the townspeople to bring every Monday all\nthe milk in their houses and offer it to the god Shiva. The townspeople\nwere frightened at the threatened punishments, and the next Monday\nthey brought all the milk in Atpat to Shiva's shrine, not keeping a\ndrop for their calves or even for their children. But although all the\nmilk in Atpat was every Monday poured into Shiva's shrine, it yet did\nnot become full to the ceiling. But one day an old woman came to the\nshrine. She had done all her housework. She had fed all the children\nand had bathed all her little daughters-in-law. Then she took a few\ndrops of milk, a little sandal-wood paste, and a few flowers, and\nhalf-a-dozen grains of rice and went to worship at Shiva's shrine. She\nprayed to Shiva, \"The little milk that I can offer is not likely to\nfill your shrine, seeing that all the milk offered by the king could\nnot. Nevertheless I offer the milk with all my heart.\" She then got\nup and went back to her house. Then a strange thing happened. Directly\nthe old woman turned her back, the shrine filled with milk right up to\nthe ceiling. The priests ran and told the king, but none of them could\nsay how it happened. The following Monday the king placed a soldier\nby the door; and again the old woman came and worshipped, and again\nthe shrine filled with milk to the ceiling. The soldier ran and told\nthe king, but could not explain the cause. The third Monday the king\nhimself went and watched by the shrine. From his hiding-place he saw\nthe old woman come up and noticed that the shrine filled with milk\nimmediately after she had worshipped. He ran after her and caught\nher. The old woman begged the king to spare her life, and this he\npromised to do if she told the truth. She said, \"O King! you ordered\nall the milk in Atpat to be brought to Shiva's shrine. But what was\nthe result? All the calves began lowing and all the children began\ncrying, because they could get no milk. And all the grown-up people\nwere so worried by the noise that they did not know what to do. Shiva\nwas displeased at this, so He would not let the shrine fill. This,\ntherefore, is what you should do. Let the children and the calves\nhave their milk. Then take whatever is over to the shrine, and it\nwill at once fill up to the ceiling.\" The king let the old woman go,\nand had it proclaimed by beat of drum that the townspeople were to\nbring to the shrine on the following Monday only the milk remaining\nafter the children and the calves had been fed. The townspeople were\ndelighted. The children stopped crying and the calves stopped lowing,\nand all the milk left by them was brought to Shiva's shrine. The\nking prayed long and earnestly, and when he looked up he saw that\nthe shrine was full right up to the ceiling. He gave the old woman\na handsome present. And she went back to her home, and she did her\nhousework, and then she bathed all her little daughters and all her\nlittle daughters-in-law.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nThe Tuesday Story\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. [4] In it there lived\na bania who had no son. Every day a religious mendicant used to come\nto his house and call out, \"Alms! Alms! In the name of God, give me\nalms.\" But when the bania's wife offered him alms he refused them,\nbecause she had no children. She told her husband, who advised her\nto play a trick on the mendicant. She hid behind her door, and as he\ncalled out \"Alms! alms!\" she slipped a gold piece into his wallet. But\nthe mendicant caught her and became very angry. He cursed her and\ntold her that she would always remain without any children. She\nwas terrified and fell at his feet and begged for forgiveness. Then\nhe pitied her and said, \"Tell your husband to put on blue clothes,\nmount a blue horse, and ride into the jungle. He should ride on until\nhe meets a horse. He should then dismount and dig in the ground. He\nwill in the end come to a temple to Parwati. He must pray to her and\nshe will bestow a child on him.\" When her husband came back she told\nhim what had happened. So he at once put on blue clothes, mounted a\nblue horse, and rode into the forest. He met the horse, dismounted,\nand began digging. At last he discovered a temple to Parwati, all of\ngold, with diamond pillars and a spire made of rubies. Inside was a\nstatue of the goddess, and to it he prayed, saying, \"I have houses and\ncottages, cattle and horses, money and goods of all kinds, but I am\nvery sad because I have no son.\" The goddess pitied him and asked,\n\"Which will you have, a son who will be good but will die young,\nor a son who will live long but will be born blind?\" The poor bania\nbecame greatly perplexed, but at last said, \"I choose a son who will be\ngood but will die young,\"  The goddess said, \"Very well. Step behind\nme. There you will find an image of Ganpati. Behind it is a mango\ntree. Climb upon Ganpati's stomach and pick one mango. Go home and give\nit to your wife to eat, and your wish will be gratified.\" Parwati then\ndisappeared. The bania climbed upon Ganpati's stomach and ate as many\nmangoes as he could. He next filled a large bundle full of mangoes\nand stepped down. But when he reached the ground he found that there\nwas only one mango in the bundle. He climbed up again and refilled his\nbundle, but when he stepped down he again found only one mango. This\nhappened three or four times. At last Ganpati got very sore and angry\nwith having his stomach trampled on. So he shouted out, \"One mango is\nall you'll get. So be off home!\" The bania was frightened out of his\nwits and galloped home with his one mango. His wife ate it, and in nine\nmonths she presented her husband with a son. When the little boy was\neight years old his sacred thread was put on, and his mother said,\n\"It is time to think of his marriage.\" But the bania said, \"I dare\nnot marry him unless he first makes a pilgrimage to Benares.\" His\nmaternal uncle agreed to take the little boy to Benares.\n\nSo off they started together, and some days later the uncle and nephew\nhalted at a village where some little girls were playing. One of\nthe little girls said to the other, \"You are nothing but a wretched\nlittle widow.\" But the other little girl said, \"Oh no! there are\nnever any widows in our family. Mother worships Parwati and so I\ncan never be a widow.\" The uncle heard this, and thought that if his\nnephew could only marry a little girl who could not become a widow,\nhe would not die young. So he began to think how he could bring\nabout the marriage. Now it so happened that the little girl was\nto be married that day. But in the morning the boy to whom she was\nbetrothed fell ill. Her parents were in great trouble, but at last\nthey thought that, rather than postpone the wedding and disappoint\nall the guests, it would be better to marry their little daughter to\nthe first traveller who passed through the village. So they went to\nthe rest-house to inquire if any one was there. There they found the\nuncle and nephew, and they married their little girl to the latter\nthat very evening when the cows were homing. They drew on the wall\na picture of Shiva and Parwati, and they put the children to bed\nbeneath it. Parwati appeared to the little girl in her sleep. The\ngoddess said, \"My child, a snake will come to bite your husband: give\nit milk to drink. Then put near it a new earthen jar. When the snake\nhas finished drinking, it will enter the earthen jar. Then at once\npull off your bodice and stuff it into the jar's mouth. Next morning\ngive the jar to your mother.\" Next evening everything happened as\nParwati had said. The snake came to bite her husband as he slept. But\nthe little girl offered it milk, which it drank. After drinking,\nit curled itself up inside the earthen jar, and, the moment it did\nso, the little girl slipped off her bodice and stuffed it into the\nmouth of the jar. Next morning her husband gave her a ring, and she\nin exchange gave him a sweet-dish, and he and his uncle continued\ntheir journey to Benares. When they had gone, the little girl gave the\nearthen jar with the snake inside it to her mother. The mother took\nout the bodice, but instead of a snake a garland lay inside, and the\nmother put it round her little daughter's neck. Some weeks passed,\nbut neither uncle nor nephew returned. So the little girl's parents\ngrew anxious. The sick boy who was to have been her husband recovered,\nbut she could no longer marry him, and the boy whom she had married\nhad gone away and might never return. In despair the parents built\na house, in which they entertained every traveller who passed by,\nhoping that sooner or later one of the travellers would prove to be\ntheir daughter's husband. To all of them the mother gave water; the\ndaughter washed their feet; her brother gave them sandal-wood paste;\nand her father gave them betel-nut. But it was all in vain; none of\nthe travellers' fingers fitted the ring given to the little girl by\nher husband, nor could any of them produce the sweet-dish which she\nhad given him in exchange.\n\nIn the meantime the uncle and nephew had reached Benares and had\ngiven large sums in charity, and had visited all the holy places\nand had received the blessings of all the Brahmans. One day the\nlittle boy, fainted. And in a dream he saw the messenger of Yama,\nthe god of death, come close to him as if to carry him off. Next he\nsaw the goddess Parwati come to his rescue and, after a struggle,\ndrive away Yama's messenger. When the boy woke up he told the dream to\nhis uncle. The latter was overjoyed because he felt certain that now\nthe boy would no longer die young. He told his nephew to get ready,\nand next day they left Benares. On their way home they passed by\nthe village where the nephew had been married. As they were having\nbreakfast near the village tank, a maid-servant invited them to come\nto the house which the girl's parents had built for the reception of\ntravellers. At first the uncle declined, but when a palki was sent\nfor them, he and his nephew entered it. When the little girl began to\nwash her husband's feet, she recognised him. She tried on the ring,\nwhich fitted his finger, and he in turn showed her the sweet-dish\nwhich she had given him. The parents were as pleased as possible, and\nthey sent a messenger to invite the boy's parents. They came, and the\nboy's mother threw herself at her daughter-in-law's feet and thanked\nher for saving her son. Then there was a great feast and everybody\nwas very happy indeed, and at the end they all worshipped Parwati,\n[5] so she became as pleased as everybody else.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nThe Wednesday and Thursday Story\n\nThere was once upon a time a town called Atpat. In it there lived\na prince who had seven sons and seven daughters-in-law. Every day\nthere used to come to the prince's house two Brahmans, an uncle and a\nnephew. But when they asked for alms the daughters-in-law sent word\nthat they were too busy to give them any. Some time afterwards the\nprince lost all his riches and became very poor. The two Brahmans\nagain came to beg, but the elder daughter-in-law said to them,\n\"We are no longer busy, but we have nothing to give you. If we had,\nwe should give it to you.\" The youngest daughter-in-law, however,\nwas a clever little girl, and she thought to herself, \"The Brahmans\nwill get very angry with us. When we had money, we gave them nothing;\nand now we give them nothing because we have nothing to give.\" So she\nfell at the elder Brahman's feet and said, \"We have been very wicked\nand have deserved to become poor. But please forgive us and tell me\nhow we may become rich as we were before.\" The elder Brahman said,\n\"Every Wednesday and every Thursday you must invite a Brahman to\ndinner. And if you have no money to pay for the dinner, draw a pair\nof cow's feet on your money-box. If you want grain for the dinner,\ndraw a pair of cow's feet on your corn-bin. Then worship the feet and\nwelcome the Brahmans. For you will find that you will have money in\nyour box and grain in your corn-bin. And in time you will all get as\nrich as you were before.\" The little girl did what the Brahman told\nher. And whenever she invited Brahmans to dinner, she drew the cow's\nfeet on the cash-box and on the corn-bin, and there was always money\nand grain sufficient for the meal.\n\nBut some days later she fell asleep and dreamt that Budh [6] and\nBrahaspati came to her bedside and said, \"Little girl, little girl,\nyour husband has been made king over a great country. Go to him, and,\nwhen you have found him, do not forget to worship us and to give feast\nto the Brahmans.\" Then the little girl woke up and she told the other\nsix daughters-in-law. But they were jealous of her, and they became\nvery angry; and they kicked her so often and boxed her ears so hard\nthat she forgot all about drawing the cow's feet on her money-box and\non the corn-bin. So she never found any money in the box or any corn\nin the bin. And every day they became poorer and poorer. First all the\nmen servants ran away, then the male members of the family left, and\nat last the seven daughters-in-law were left alone in the house. They\nwere starving, but they did not know how to get any food. One day\nthey heard that a king in a neighbouring country wished to construct\na tank and was calling for labourers. So they decided to go to the\ntank and work there just like common coolie women. Now who do you\nthink the king was? He was the youngest son of the prince of Atpat\nand the husband of the youngest daughter-in-law. When the prince had\nlost all his money, his youngest son left the house and set off on\na journey. As he travelled he came to a city, the king of which had\njust died without leaving any children or relatives. His subjects\ndid not know how to choose a successor. At last they gave a garland\nof flowers to a she-elephant and turned it loose. The elephant walked\nstraight to the prince's son and put the garland round his neck. The\ntownspeople were very angry. They snatched away the garland and drove\naway the prince's son. They again gave the garland to the elephant,\nbut the elephant again put the garland round the neck of the prince's\nson. The townspeople again snatched away the garland. But when the\nelephant put it round the young man's neck for the third time, they\nlifted him high in the air and declared him to be their king. At first\nhe was so pleased at being king that he forgot all about his poor\nlittle wife. But one night Budh and Brahaspati appeared to him in a\ndream and reminded him of her and told him how poor she was. But he\ncould not leave his kingdom to go and look for her. So he thought that\nhe would dig a tank and call together labourers from every quarter. And\nevery day he used to go to the tank and search among the labourers to\nsee if his wife was there. One day he recognised his wife and called\nher to him. Then they told each other how Budh and Brahaspati had\nappeared to each of them in a dream. And the king was so delighted at\nfinding his wife that he at once proclaimed her queen of the country.\n\nSo the little daughter-in-law was crowned queen, but she did not let\nthe other daughters-in-law who were also working at the tank know of\nher good fortune. As queen, she gave a great feast to all the workers\non the tank. But in her own palace she took some wheat flour, and\nshe kneaded it into shapes resembling human feet and human fists. And\nwhen the other daughters-in-law were with the crowd of workers eating\nat the feast, she went up to them, and to each daughter-in-law who\nhad kicked her she gave a flour foot, and to each daughter-in-law\nwho had struck her with her hands she gave a flour fist. Then the\ndaughters-in-law recognised who the little queen was, and they fell at\nher feet and begged for her forgiveness. So the little queen forgave\nthem and took them back with her into her husband's palace. And they\nall lived together happily ever afterwards.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nThe Friday Story\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there lived a\nmiserably poor Brahman. He had a wife who was as poor as he was. One\nday she felt her poverty so much that she went to a gossip of hers\nwho lived close by and told her all about her troubles. The neighbour\ncould suggest nothing better than that the poor woman should worship\nthe goddess Shukra or Venus. So she told the Brahman woman to fast\nevery Friday through the month of Shravan. Every Friday evening she\nshould invite a married lady friend to her house. She should bathe her\nfriend's feet. She should give her sweetened milk to drink and fill\nher lap with wheat cakes and bits of cocoa-nut. She should continue\nto worship Shukra in this way every Friday for a whole year, and in\nthe end the goddess would certainly do something for her. The Brahman\nwoman thought the advice good, and every Friday she worshipped Shukra\nand had a married friend to dine with her just as her neighbour had\nadvised her.\n\nNow the Brahman woman had a rich brother living in the same town,\nwho one day invited one thousand Brahmans to dine. At the same\ntime he invited all the townspeople with the single exception of\nhis sister. The poor lady thought that she must have been left out\nby accident, and that there would be no harm in going, even although\nuninvited. She put on her silk dining-clothes, and, taking her children\nwith her, went off to the dinner. She seated herself close to her\nchildren, and was eating away when her brother came round serving\nghee. When he saw his sister he shouted at her, \"You have neither nice\nclothes nor nice jewelry. You have made me a laughing-stock by coming\nas you have come. I shall not turn you out, but do not come to-morrow.\"\n\nNext day she did not want to go, but her children, who had enjoyed\nthe previous day's feast, persuaded their mother to take them again\nto her brother's house. Once more she went and sat down with her\nchildren among the rows of feasters. Her brother saw her as before\nwhen he came round serving the ghee. He shouted at her, \"A beggar\nwoman must, I suppose, act like a village sow, and will not go away\nalthough told to. But do not come to-morrow. If you do, I'll have you\nturned out.\" Next day, however, she again went with her children to\nher brother's house. But near the entrance his servants caught her\nand turned her out before she could eat anything. She went home sad\nand hungry and prayed to Shukra. Now the goddess had been pleased\nwith her devotion and so took pity on her. She helped the poor\nwoman's husband so that he rapidly acquired great wealth. When her\nhusband had become very rich she asked her brother to dinner. But\nthe brother remembered how he had treated her and was ashamed to\naccept. He pressed her to dine with him first, and begged so hard\nthat she at last consented. Next day she put on all her jewels and\nher finest clothes. Her brother gave her a wooden platform to sit on\nand plates made out of leaves from which to eat her dinner. Before\nshe sat down she took off her gold-embroidered shawl and put it\nclose to her plate. Her brother saw her, but thought she did it\nbecause she felt the room hot. She then placed her jewelry on the\nwooden platform. Her brother thought that she did it because she\nfelt the jewelry heavy. She took a portion of rice and placed it on\nher necklace. She put a portion of vegetables on her pendant, and a\nsweet ball she placed on her jewelled star.\n\nHer brother at last asked her, \"What are you doing?\" She said,\n\"I am giving to the guests whom you really invited.\" But he did\nnot understand, and asked, \"Why do you not begin to eat?\" She said,\n\"I have not been invited to this dinner. It was given in honour of\nmy finery and not of me. I had my dinner the day when you gave the\nfeast to the one thousand Brahmans.\"\n\nThe brother felt thoroughly ashamed of himself. He threw himself at\nhis sister's feet and begged for her forgiveness. So she forgave him\nand sat down to dinner. And the brother in turn went to her house and\ndined with her. And Shukra was pleased with both sister and brother,\nand they all lived happily ever afterwards. May I and my readers do\nthe same.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nThe Saturday Story\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town-called Atpat. In it there lived a\npoor Brahman who had three daughters-in-law. He rose early even during\nthe rainy season, and every day immediately after his morning meal he\nused to go to his field with his children and his daughters-in-law. One\nfirst Saturday in Shravan he got up as usual and said to the youngest\nof his daughters-in-law, \"To-day is Saturday; you had better stay\nat home, and although there is very little in the house, you must\ntry to get some sort of a dinner ready. Go upstairs and scrape\ntogether all the grain there is in the grain-jars and make bread\nwith it. For vegetables you had better gather grass and make some\nchutney out of clover leaves.\" When the Brahman had left, his little\ndaughter-in-law followed his orders as best she could. There was in the\njar upstairs only grain for half an ordinary loaf. So she made tiny,\ntiny loaves and prepared some vegetables out of grass and made some\nclover chutney. Then she sat down to wait for the family's return\nfrom the field. As she did so, Saturn came disguised as a beggar all\ncovered with sores, and cried, \"O Lady! I am aching all over: give\nme hot water to bathe in and oil to rub myself with, and then give me\nsomething to eat.\" The little daughter-in-law felt very sorry for the\npoor beggar. She went inside and got him a few drops of oil and warmed\nsome water for his bath, and then gave him one of the tiny loaves to\neat. The beggar ate it, and then gave her his blessing, saying, \"You\nwill never want for anything.\" He then folded up the leaves from which\nhe had eaten, stuck them into a corner of the eaves, and disappeared.\n\nShortly afterwards the family came home and found a splendid dinner\nwaiting for them. They said to themselves, \"Where did this all come\nfrom? There was practically nothing in the house.\" Next Saturday\nanother daughter-in-law stayed at home. Again Saturn in the guise\nof a beggar covered with sores came to the house. He asked as\nbefore for hot water, oil, and food. But his daughter-in-law said,\n\"I have nothing to give you.\" The god pressed her, saying, \"Give me a\nlittle of anything that you have.\" But the daughter-in-law repeated,\n\"I have nothing.\" The god replied, \"Very well, you will lose that\nlittle you have.\" With this threat he disappeared. But, when the\ndaughter-in-law went upstairs to fetch grain for dinner, she could\nfind nothing in any of the jars. Shortly afterwards the family came\nhome, but there was no dinner for them. So they all got angry with\nthe daughter-in-law, and, although she told them about the beggar,\nthey scolded her harder than ever. A third Saturday came round, and\na third daughter-in-law remained at home. Again Saturn came, and the\nthird daughter-in-law behaved just as the second had done. She gave\nthe god neither hot water, oil, nor food. And the god told her that\nshe should lose the little she had. When the family came home there\nwas no dinner for them, and they scolded the third daughter-in-law\njust as hard as they had scolded the second one.\n\nThe fourth Saturday it was once more the\nturn of the youngest daughter-in-law. Again\nSaturn came in the guise of a beggar covered\nwith sores and asked for hot water, oil, and\nfood. The little daughter-in-law gave them\nas she had done before, and the god blessed\nher, saying, \"God will make you rich and\nhappy.\" Then he folded up the leaves from\nwhich he had eaten and stuck them into a\ncorner of the eaves. When the little daughter-in-law\nwent upstairs, she saw any amount of\ngrain in the jars, and she prepared a splendid\ndinner. So when the family came home they\nwere delighted. They could no longer restrain\ntheir curiosity, and exclaimed, \"Where did all\nthis food come from?\" The little daughter-in-law\ntold them about the beggar covered with\nsores and about his blessing. To test her\nstory, they looked for the folded leaves which\nhe had stuck into a corner of the roof. They\nfound them, but when they pulled them out\nthey were full of pearls and diamonds. Then\nthe old Brahman guessed that the beggar was\nSaturn in disguise, and he also understood why,\nwhen the other two daughters-in-law gave him\nnothing and were cursed by him, there was\nnothing for dinner. So they all knelt down\nand prayed to Saturn, and the god forgave the\ntwo-daughters-in-law who had given him\nnothing. And he was more pleased than ever\nwith the little daughter-in-law who had befriended\nhim. And so they all lived happily\never afterwards. And may Saturn be pleased\nwith us all as he was with the little daughter-in-law.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nMahalaxmi and the Two Queens\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there lived\na king who had two queens. Of one of them he was very fond, but\nthe other one he did not care for. The name of the favoured one was\nPatmadhavrani, and the name of the unloved one was Chimadevrani. Now\nthe king had an enemy called Nandanbaneshwar. Such a terrible enemy\nhe was too! He could jump into the clouds or dive into the bottom of\nthe ocean. At one moment he would shoot up into heaven. At another he\nwould sink down into hell, and through fear of his enemy, the king had\nbecome as dry and as thin as an old bit of stick. One day the king, in\ndespair, assembled all his subjects and ordered them to seek out and\nkill Nandanbaneshwar. All the subjects said, \"Certainly, certainly,\nO King,\" and began to search everywhere for Nandanbaneshwar. Now in\nAtpat there lived a poor woman who had one son. On hearing the orders\nof the king, he said to her, \"Mother, Mother, give me some bread,\nfor I am going out to kill the king's enemy.\" The old woman said,\n\"Do not be silly; you are only a poor boy, and people will laugh\nat you. Here, take this bit of bread and go and eat it behind a\ntree.\" The boy said, \"Very well,\" and took the bread. But, after\ntaking it, he joined the other villagers and went at their head to\nseek out and kill Nandanbaneshwar. But when evening fell they had\nnot yet met Nandanbaneshwar, so all the villagers returned home. And\nwhen the king heard of their ill-success he was greatly grieved. But\nthe old woman's son stayed in a wood outside the village. And lo\nand behold! just about midnight the serpent-maidens from Pat\u00e2la [7]\nand the wood-nymphs came close to where he was and began to worship\nMahalaxmi. The boy was at first terribly frightened, but at last he\nplucked up courage enough to ask, \"Ladies, ladies, what does one gain\nby worshipping Mahalaxmi?\" \"Whatever you lose you will find,\" said the\nserpent-maidens from Patala; \"and whatever you want you will get.\" The\nboy resolved that he too would worship Mahalaxmi. And he joined the\nserpent-maidens from Pat\u00e2la and the wood-nymphs, and all night long\nthey blew on earthen pots to do the goddess honour; and the woods\nechoed and re-echoed with the deep-booming noise which they made. [8]\n\nAt dawn Mahalaxmi revealed herself, and all of them, the boy included,\nprostrated themselves before her and asked for her blessing. She first\nblessed the serpent--maidens from Pat\u00e2la and then the wood-nymphs. And\nthen she blessed the poor old woman's son and said, \"You will get half\nthe kingdom of Atpat and half the king's treasure. He will build you a\nhouse as high as his own, and he will give you the name of 'Navalvat'\nor 'Wonderways.' For this very morning the king's mighty enemy will\nbreak his neck and be found lying dead in the king's courtyard,\"\nWith these words the goddess vanished and flew to Kolhapur, [9] and\nthe old woman's son went home. Now at dawn Queen Patmadhavrani got up\nand went into the king's courtyard, and there she saw Nandanbaneshwar\nlying dead from a broken neck. She was overjoyed, and ran back\ninto the palace to tell the king. The king inquired who had killed\nNandanbaneshwar. Every one said that the old woman's son must have\nkilled him, because he stayed behind when the others went home. The\nking sent for the old woman's son. He was very frightened, and when\nhe reached the royal hall he called out, \"I have made no false charge\nagainst any one. I have done no one any harm. Why, therefore, O King,\nhave you sent for me?\" \"Do not be afraid,\" said the king. \"My enemy\nNandanbaneshwar is dead, and every one says that it is you who killed\nhim. Tell me if this is true.\" \"No, O King,\" said the boy, \"he was\nkilled by the arts of Mahalaxmi.\" \"Where did you meet her?\" asked the\nking. The boy said, \"I stayed when the other villagers returned home,\nand during the night there came the serpent-maidens from Pat\u00e2la and the\nwood-nymphs. They taught me how to worship Mahalaxmi. In the morning\nshe revealed herself and promised me that Nandanbaneshwar would be\nfound lying dead, that you would give me half your kingdom and half\nyour treasure, that you would build me a palace as high as your own,\nand that you would call me Navalvat or Wonderways.\" The king did as\nthe goddess had foretold. He handed half his provinces and half his\ntreasuries to Wonderways, and built him a palace of which the roof\nwas exactly on the same level as that of his own palace.\n\nWhen Queen Patmadhavrani heard what had happened, she sent for\nWonderways and asked him how to worship Mahalaxmi. And he told\nher all that he had seen the serpent-maidens of Pat\u00e2la do, and\nhe also told her on the eighth day of the month of Ashwin [10] to\ntie on her wrist a thread with sixteen strands in it, and to wear\nit continually for the rest of the month. When the 8th of Ashwin\ncame, Queen Patmadhavrani dutifully tied round her wrist a thread of\nsixteen strands, and resolved to wear it every day for the rest of the\nmonth. But a day or two later the king came to Queen Patmadhavrani's\napartments and began to play saripat [11] with her. As they played\nhe noticed the thread on her wrist and asked what it was. She told\nhim how Wonderways had instructed her to tie it on. But the king got\nvery angry and roared out, \"I have in my palace garlands and twine,\nbracelets, and hobbling-ropes. So throw away that wretched piece of\nthread. I will not let you wear it.\" The queen did as she was bid, and,\npulling off the thread bracelet, threw it on the floor. Next morning\nthe maids and the slave-girls began to sweep the palace, and among\nthe sweepings one of them noticed the queen's thread bracelet. She\npicked it up and showed it to Wonderways, and he grew very wroth with\nQueen Patmadhavrani. He took the thread and at once went with it to\nthe palace of the unloved Queen Chimadevrani. He told her what had\nhappened, and she begged him to give the thread to her and to tell\nher how to worship Mahalaxmi. But he said, \"You will grow vain and\nget so conceited that you will not do what I tell you to do.\" But\nshe promised that she would obey him in everything. So just as he had\ntold the Queen Patmadhavrani, he told Queen Chimadevrani all the rites\nwhich he had seen the serpent-maidens from Patala and the wood-nymphs\nperform. Everything went on just the same for a whole year. But the\nnext year on the 8th of Ashwin a very strange thing happened. The\ngoddess Mahalaxmi disguised herself as an old beggar-woman and\ncame to Atpat. First she went to the part of the palace where Queen\nPatmadhavrani lived. But no one there was paying the least honour\nto the goddess Mahalaxmi, although it was the 8th of Ashwin, and\ntherefore specially sacred to her. Mahalaxmi was dreadfully put out\nat this, and when she saw Queen Patmadhavrani she said, \"Lady, lady,\nPatmadhavrani, mother of sons, what have you in your house to-day?\" The\nqueen replied, \"I have nothing in my house to-day.\" The old woman\nwent on, \"Lady, lady, Patmadhavrani, mother of sons, if you give\nthis beggar-woman a little water, you will acquire merit sufficient\nfor all your kingdom.\" But the queen replied, \"Even if I were to\ngive you a copper cauldron of water it would not suffice for all my\nkingdom.\" The old woman then said, \"Lady, lady, Patmadhavrani, mother\nof sons, if you give this old beggar-woman a little rice and curds,\nyou will gain enough merit for all your kingdom.\" The queen replied,\n\"Even if I were to give you a big dinner of nothing but rice and curds,\nI should not gain enough merit for all my kingdom.\" Then the old woman\ngot very angry and cursed the queen, saying, \"You will become half a\nfrog and half a human being, and you will stand outside your co-wife's\nbath-room and croak like a frog.\" But the queen did not mind her the\nleast little bit, and she laughed so loud at the old woman that the\nnoise was like two chains rattling together. Mahalaxmi went off in a\ngreat rage and entered Queen Chimadevrani's part of the palace. There\nshe saw all the accessories of worship ready, and there was a beautiful\nimage of Mahalaxmi leaning against the wall; The old woman cried,\n\"Lady, lady, Chimadevrani, mother of sons, what have you in your house\nto-day?\" \"To-day,\" said the queen, \"we are worshipping Mahalaxmi.\" Then\nthe old beggar-woman said, \"I am Mahalaxmi.\" But the queen doubted and\nasked her, \"By what sign shall I know you?\" The goddess replied, \"In\nthe morning I shall take the shape of a little girl. In the afternoon\nI shall take that of a young married woman. In the evening I shall\nbecome an old hag.\" After the goddess had taken all three shapes,\nQueen Chimadevrani called her into the palace and bathed and anointed\nher. She gave her a silk skirt and a platform to sit upon. Then she\nsent for Wonderways, and both of them worshipped the old beggar-woman\nand blew on earthen pots in her honour. The king heard the blowing\non the pots and told a sepoy to find out why there was such a noise\nin Queen Chimadevrani's quarters. The sepoy went there, and when he\nsaw what was happening joined also in the worship. After a little\nwhile he went back and told the king. The king said that he would\ngo there too. He followed the sepoy, and Queen Chimadevrani came\nto the steps and met him and took him upstairs, where both played\nat saripat until dawn. And all the time Mahalaxmi sat by and watched\nthem. At dawn Queen Chimadevrani asked Mahalaxmi for her blessing. She\nblessed the queen and said, \"The king will take you back with him to\nthe palace, and your co-wife will become half frog, half human being,\nand will have to croak outside your bath-room while you bathe.\" But\nQueen Chimadevrani begged the goddess not to place such a terrible\ncurse on Patmadhavrani. The goddess relented a little, but said,\n\"The king will drive her into the jungle for twelve years.\" At these\nwords she vanished and flew to Kolhapur. When the sun rose the king\nplaced Queen Chimadevrani in his chariot and drove her to his own\npart of the palace. He then sent a message to Queen Patmadhavrani\nasking her to join them. Shortly afterwards Queen Patmadhavrani\nappeared, dressed all in rags with a skirt round her legs and her\nhair all unfastened. On her head was a pot full of burning coal,\nand she began to shout and scream at the top of her voice. The king\nbecame very angry and roared out, \"Who is this that is shouting\nand screaming? Is it a ghost or a she-devil or what?\" The sepoys\nreplied, \"O King, it is neither a ghost nor a she-devil, it is your\nQueen Patmadhavrani.\" \"Take her into the jungle,\" roared the king,\n\"and kill her there.\" Then he went back into the palace and began\nto live in great happiness with Queen Chimadevrani. But the sepoys\ntook Patmadhavrani into the jungle and told her that they had been\nordered to kill her. She began to weep. The sepoys were kind-hearted\nmen and they felt very sorry for her. They said, \"Lady, lady, do not\nweep. We have eaten bread and drunk water at your hands so we cannot\nkill you. We will leave you here, but you must never come back into\nthe kingdom again.\" The sepoys left her and returned to Atpat. But\nthe poor queen wandered on until she came to a distant town, where\nshe entered a coppersmith's lane. Therein a coppersmith was making\nbangles for a beautiful young princess who had just been crowned\nqueen of the city. But suddenly none of the bangles would join. He\nbegan to search for the cause, and asked his workmen whether any\nstranger had come near his house. The workmen looked about and found\nQueen Patmadhavrani in hiding close by. They told the coppersmith,\nand he and his men beat her soundly and drove her away. She ran\ninto the lane of some weavers who were weaving a sari for the new\nqueen. Suddenly none of the looms would work. They began looking\nabout to see if any stranger had come. After a little while they found\nthe queen. So they beat her soundly and drove her away. Then she ran\nout of the town back into the jungle. There she wandered about until\nshe came to the cave of a rishi or sage. The rishi was sitting lost\nin meditation. But she bided her time, and, when he went to bathe,\nshe slipped into the cave and swept it and neaped it and tidied up\nall the utensils used by him for worship. Then she slipped out of\nthe cave and ran back into the jungle. This went on every day for\ntwelve years without the rishi showing that he was aware of what she\nwas doing. But in his heart he was really pleased with her. And one\nday he called out in a loud voice, \"Who is it who sweeps and neaps my\ncave? Whoever she is, let her step forward.\" The queen stepped into\nthe presence of the rishi and threw herself at his feet and said, \"If\nyou promise not to punish me, I shall tell you.\" The rishi promised,\nand she told him her story. The rishi took out his magic books and,\nconsulting them, learned that Mahalaxmi had cursed her. So he taught\nher how to worship Mahalaxmi, and all night long they blew on earthen\npots and performed rites in her honour. At dawn she revealed herself\nand the queen asked her for her blessing. But the goddess was still\nvery angry with the queen. Then the rishi joined her in begging the\ngoddess's pardon, and at last she relented. She said to the queen,\n\"Put under that tree a foot-bath full of water, sandal-wood ointment,\nplates full of fruit, a stick of camphor, fans made of odorous\ngrasses; and handle them all so that they retain the fragrance of\nsome scent which the king will remember you used. To-morrow the king\nwill come. He will be thirsty. He will send his sepoys to look for\nwater. They will see all your things ready. And when they go back and\ntell him, he will come himself.\" Next morning, as the goddess had\nforetold, the king came. He saw the cool shade of the tree. He was\ntired with hunting, so he sat down and rested. He washed his feet\nin the foot-bath. He ate up all the fruit, drank the cold water,\nand sucked the stick of camphor. When he had rested to his heart's\ncontent, he asked the sepoy, \"How is it that in the water I drank,\nin the fruit I took, in the camphor I ate, I noticed a scent which\nPatmadhavrani always used?\" The sepoys replied, \"If the king promises\nto pardon us, we will tell him.\" The king promised. The sepoys then\ntold him how they had not killed the queen, because they had eaten\nbread and had drunk water at her hands, but had let her go. The king\ntold them to look and see if she was anywhere about. They searched\nand searched until they came to the rishi's cave. Then they ran back\nand told the king. The king rose, and going to the cave did homage to\nthe rishi. The rishi accepted the homage and lectured him at great\nlength. At last he ordered the king to prostrate himself before the\nqueen. The king obeyed, and the rishi handed Patmadhavrani back to\nhis care and blessed both her and her husband. The king put her in\nhis chariot and took her to Atpat. Outside the town the king stopped\nhis chariot and sent for Queen Chimadevrani Chimadevrani bathed\nand anointed herself, and put on all her silk clothes, her shawls,\nher embroideries, and her jewels. In front of her she placed all the\nhorn-blowers of Atpat. And as she went to meet the king they blew their\nvery loudest on their horns. The king was amazed when he heard the\nnoise, and roared out, \"Who is coming with such pomp and splendour? Is\nit the serpent-maidens of Pat\u00e2la or is it the wood-nymphs who live\nin the heart of the forest?\" The sepoys said, \"O King, it is neither\nthe serpent-maidens of Pat\u00e2la nor is it the wood-nymphs who live in\nthe heart of the forest. It is Queen Chimadevrani, who is coming to\nmeet you as you ordered.\" The king turned to Patmadhavrani and said,\n\"If you had come in this guise to meet me, instead of coming like a mad\nwoman, you would never have suffered as you did.\" Queen Patmadhavrani\nsaid nothing, but sat still in the chariot, and the king lifted Queen\nChimadevrani into the chariot, and all three entered the city. And as\nthey entered, the horn-blowers blew so loud that every one was quite\ndeafened. And the king lived from that time forth in perfect happiness\nwith both his wives. And because of his happiness, he ruled so well\nthat his subjects thought that King Ramchandra of Ayodhya had come\nback to rule over them.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nThe Island Palace\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there lived a\nBrahman. He had a disciple who used every day to go to the village pond\nand bathe and worship the god Shiva. On the way he had to walk through\nthe sandy island in the dry bed of the river. And, as he went home\nacross the island, he used to hear a voice cry, \"Shall I come? Shall I\ncome? Shall I come?\"; but when he looked round he could see no one. The\nBrahman's disciple at last got so frightened that he withered up until\nhe became as dry and as thin as a bone. At last the Brahman said,\n\"You have no wish to eat or drink; yet you are so thin. What is the\nreason?\" The boy replied, \"I neither wish to eat, nor want to eat,\nnor crave to eat. But I am frightened out of my wits. For whenever\nI come back from my bath I hear a voice behind me call out, 'Shall I\ncome? Shall I come? Shall I come?'; but when I look round there is no\none there.\" The Brahman said, \"Do not be afraid, and when you next hear\nthe voice, do not look behind you, but call out as boldly as you can,\n'Come along, come along, come along.'\" Next day the disciple went as\nusual to his bath in the village pond. He worshipped the god Shiva,\nand as he came home he heard the cry behind him, \"Shall I come? Shall\nI come? Shall I come?\" The boy was very frightened, but he did not\nlook behind him. In a short time he mastered his fears, and then in\na voice like a bull roaring he cried out, \"Come along, come along,\ncome along.\" At last he reached home, calling all the time and without\nonce looking behind him.\n\nThe Brahman looked up as the disciple came in, and he saw that just\nbehind was walking a young girl. He at once married the girl to his\ndisciple and gave them a house to live in close by his own. Now, on\nthe first Monday in the month of Shravan, or August, the disciple\ngot up and said to his wife, \"I am going out to worship the god\nShiva. But do not wait for me. Just eat your breakfast directly you\nfeel hungry.\"  He went out, and in a little time his wife began\nto feel hungry. Nevertheless, she knew that, in spite of what\nher husband had said, she ought not to eat anything while he was\nworshipping Shiva. So she waited for a little time, but at last she\ngot so terribly hungry that she could not wait any more. So she sat\ndown and cooked her breakfast, and had just put one mouthful into\nher mouth when her husband came to the outer door. \"Wife, wife,\" he\ncalled, \"open the door!\" Then the little wife got very frightened. She\npushed the uneaten breakfast under the bed, got up, washed her hands,\nand opened the door. She then told her husband that she had waited\nfor him, and she cooked a fresh breakfast, which both ate one after\nthe other. Next Monday exactly the same thing happened. The little\nwife cooked her breakfast and was just beginning it when her husband\ncame. She then hid her uneaten breakfast under her bed and pretended\nthat she had waited for his return. And on the two following Mondays\nthe naughty little wife deceived her husband in just the same way.\n\nNow on the last Sunday in Shravan, when husband and wife went to lie\ndown, the former noticed a light shining under the bed. He looked to\nsee what it was, and saw several platefuls of jewels. He asked his wife\nwhence they had come. Now they were really the uneaten breakfasts,\nwhich the god Shiva had turned into gold and jewels. But the naughty\nlittle wife got very frightened and told her husband a bigger story\nthan ever. \"They are presents,\" she said, \"from my mother and father\nand their family.\" \"But where is your father's house?\" asked the\nhusband. \"It is in the sandy island,\" said the little wife, \"which\nlies in the dry bed of the river.\" \"You must take me there,\" said her\nhusband. Next morning they started off together. And the naughty little\nwife could hardly walk, she was so frightened. For she knew quite well\nthat her father had no house in the sandy island. But on the way she\nprayed to Shiva, \"Please, please, god Shiva, create a house for my\nfather in the sandy island which lies in the dry bed of the river,\neven if it be only for half an hour.\"\n\nAt last the husband and wife came to the sandy island. And there, lo\nand behold! they saw a great big palace, and a splendidly dressed young\nman came forward and greeted the disciple as his brother-in-law. And\na handsome old knight came forward and greeted the disciple as his\nson-in-law. And a beautiful young woman greeted the naughty little\nwife as the sister of her husband. And a lovely little girl ran up and\nembraced her and called her \"sister.\" And slave girls and maid-servants\nran forward to offer her their service. A guard of soldiers kept\nwatch by the palace, and at the door there were sentries, who made\nway for them as they passed. Inside the house the little wife and\nher husband were given platforms to sit upon, and a splendid feast\nwas all ready prepared for them to eat. After they had feasted, they\ngot up and said good-bye to the little wife's father and mother, and\ngarlands of flowers were placed round their necks, and they started\nfor their home. When they had gone half-way, the naughty little wife\nremembered that she had hung her garland on a peg and had forgotten\nto bring it with her. So she and her husband went back to the sandy\nisland. But when they got there, there was no palace, there were no\nsoldiers to guard it, there were no sentries at the door, there were\nno maid-servants nor slave girls. There was nothing there but just\na sandy island in the middle of a dry river-bed. And on the sand lay\nthe garland which the naughty little wife had forgotten. She took it\nup and put it round her neck.\n\nBut her husband asked her, \"What has happened to your father's\nhouse?\" The naughty little wife replied, all in tears, \"As it came,\nso it went. But if you promise to forgive me, I shall tell you.\" The\nhusband promised. So she told him how every Monday she had felt so\nhungry and how she had cooked her breakfast, and then, on hearing her\nhusband's voice, had pushed it under their bed. She also told him that\nthe god Shiva had turned the food into gold and jewels. \"Then when you\nasked me,\" she went on, \"I felt so frightened that I said they were\npresents from my father and mother and the rest of my family. And\nwhen you made me take you to my father's house, I prayed the god\nShiva to create, if only for half an hour, a house for my father on\nthe sandy island in the dry river-bed. And he graciously granted my\nrequest.\" Then the husband forgave the naughty little wife. And she\nbecame quite good and never told him any more stories. And they both\nwent home and lived happily ever afterwards.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nNagoba, the Snake-King\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there lived\na Brahman who had seven little daughters-in-law. In the fulness of\ntime the month of Shravan came and with it Nagpanchmi Day [12]. In\nhonour of the festival, one little daughter-in-law went to her\ngrandpapa's house, another went to her great grandpapa's house,\nanother went to her father's house, until at last only the youngest\ndaughter-in-law remained behind. Her father and mother were dead,\nand she had no uncles and no aunts and no little brothers or\nsisters. So the poor little daughter-in-law felt very sad and\nsat down and cried in a corner. Then she remembered that it was\nNagpanchmi Day, and that it was a festival in honour of Nagoba, the\ngreat snake-king. So she prayed under her breath, \"Please, please,\nsnake-king, come and pretend that you have been sent to fetch me\nto my father's house!\" And the great snake-king heard the prayer\nand felt quite sorry for the poor little daughter-in-law who was\ncrying in the corner. He assumed the guise of a Brahman and came to\nthe house where the little daughter-in-law was, and said that he had\nbeen sent to fetch her to her father's house. Her father-in-law was\nvery much astonished. For he wondered why, if the new-comer really\nwas a relative of the little daughter-in-law, he had never paid him\na visit before. At last he asked the little daughter-in-law who the\nnew-comer was. She did not know in the least. But she was so overjoyed\nthat some one should have come for her that she at once answered,\n\"He is my mother's brother.\" Her father-in-law believed her and sent\nher off in the care of Nagoba, the snake-king. Still disguised as a\nBrahman, he took her to the entrance of his underground palace and\nthere he told her who he was. He then reassumed his true appearance,\nand, expanding the mighty hood behind his head, he seated the little\ngirl on it and took her down to his splendid dwelling-house beneath\nthe earth. In the central hall he presented her to the snake-queen\nand to all the snake-princes, and told them that in no circumstances\nwhatever were they to bite the little daughter-in-law.\n\nOne day the snake-queen was about to be confined. So she asked\nthe little daughter-in-law to sit by her side with the lamp in\nher hand. The little daughter-in-law did so, and a little time\nafterwards the snake-queen gave birth to a fresh litter of little\nsnake-princes. When the little daughter-in-law saw them all wriggling\nabout, she was frightened out of her wits. She let the lamp slip\nout of her hands. It fell on the ground and burnt all the little\nsnakes' tails off. The snake-queen did her best to comfort them,\nbut the stumps of the little princes' tails ached so dreadfully that\nit was ever so long before the snake-queen could put them off to\nsleep. When the snake-king came home that evening, she told him what\nhad happened. And she was so cross with the little daughter-in-law,\nthat the snake-king had to promise that she should go back to her\nfather-in-law's house. A few days later, the snake-king assumed once\nagain the guise of a Brahman, and, loading the little daughter-in-law\nwith presents, took her back to her husband's home. In the course of\ntime the little snake-princes grew up, but their tails never grew\nagain. So their father, the snake-king, called one little prince,\nNo-tail; and the second little prince, Cut-tail; and the third little\nprince, Dock-tail. And one day they asked the snake-queen how it was\nthat their tails had been broken off. She told them how the little\ndaughter-in-law had burnt them off by dropping the lamp on them.\n\nThe snake-princes, when they heard their mother's answer, were\nterribly cross with the little daughter-in-law, and they vowed that\nthey would be revenged on her. So they found out where she lived,\nand they sent a message to her house, saying that they were coming to\npay her a visit. But they really meant to bite her to death directly\nthey saw her. The little daughter-in-law was overjoyed when she heard\nthat the snake-princes were coming to visit her. For ever since the\nsnake-king had pretended to be her uncle, she always thought of little\nNo-tail and little Cut-tail and little Dock-tail as if they had been\nher own cousins. Now it so happened that the very day on which they\nwere expected at the little daughter-in-law's house was Nagpanchmi\nDay. The little daughter-in-law was sitting in the house all alone\nwaiting for little Prince No-tail, little Prince Cut-tail, and little\nPrince Dock-tail. They were late in coming, so to pass the time she\ndrew pictures of Nagoba, the snake-king, on her dining-platform and on\nthe wall. When she had finished the pictures, she worshipped them and\noffered them milk and food. Then she prayed to the great snake-king,\n\"Please please, King Nagoba, guard from all hurt, wherever they may\nbe, my little cousins No-tail and Cut-tail and Dock-tail.\" And last\nof all she prostrated herself at full length before the pictures\nwhich she had drawn on the wall and on her dining-platform.\n\nIn the meantime little Prince No-tail and little Prince Cut-tail and\nlittle Prince Dock-tail had come up without the little daughter-in-law\nnoticing them. But when they saw the honour which she was paying\ntheir father, King Nagoba, and heard the prayer which she had offered\non their behalf, they no longer wished to kill or bite the little\ndaughter-in-law. On the contrary, they made themselves known to\nher and stayed all that day in the house and were as good and as\nnice as possible. When night fell, they drank the milk which she\nhad offered to the snake-king. And in its place they put a necklace\nwith nine beautiful jewels in it. Before day broke they went away\nquietly and returned to their father's palace under the ground. Next\nmorning when the little daughter-in-law woke up she saw the lovely\nnecklace lying where the milk had been. She gave a shout of delight,\nand putting it round her neck, she ran all over the house showing it\nto everybody. And every one was perfectly charmed with it. And the\nsnake-princes never again came to bite any one in that household. And\nthe little daughter-in-law and her husband and her father-in-law and\nlittle Prince No-tail and little Prince Cut-tail and little Prince\nDock-tail, they all lived happily for ever so long afterwards.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nParwati and the Beggar-Man\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In It there lived\na Brahman. He had seven daughters, and when they had reached a\nmarriageable age he asked them who would arrange their marriages\nand bring them handsome husbands and make their fortunes. The six\neldest daughters said, \"Papa, Papa, you of course. You will arrange\nour marriages and bring us handsome husbands and make our fortunes\nfor us.\" But the youngest daughter was a naughty little girl. She\ngot into a temper all about nothing, and she stamped her foot, and\nshe turned her back on her father and said, \"I will arrange my own\nmarriage, and I will get a handsome husband for myself, and I will\nmake my fortune myself.\" The Brahman was very angry with her, and so\nhow do you think he punished her? He first searched about and found\nsix rich and handsome boys. Then he married them with great pomp and\ndisplay to his six eldest daughters. But the youngest girl he gave in\nmarriage to a miserable beggar-man. You never saw such a beggar-man\nas he was! There was not a spot on his skin that was not black with\nleprosy, and his feet and hands had rotted right off. If you had seen\nhim you would have said, \"If that beggar-man does not die to-day\nhe will certainly die to-morrow. For he cannot possibly live any\nlonger!\" When the marriage was celebrated, the little girl's mother\nfilled her lap with pulse and then handed her over to the beggar-man\nto see what sort of fortune would be hers. But in a few days the\nbeggar-man died. His corpse was taken to the burning-ground, and\nhis little widow followed it. But when his relatives wanted to burn\nthe body, she forbade them and told them to go away. For she said,\n\"My fortune is still to come, whatever it may be.\" They all got round\nher and tried to persuade her that there was no use in her staying by\nthe corpse, but she would not mind what they said. At last they were\nquite tired out and went home, leaving her in the burning-ground. When\nthey had gone she took her husband's corpse on to her lap. Then she\nprayed to the god Shiva and said:\n\n\n    \"My parents disown me. O why was I born\n    Both as orphan and widow to live all forlorn?\"\n\n\nAs she prayed, she put the pulse which her mother had put into her\nlap grain by grain in the dead man's mouth. Then she sat there crying\nuntil midnight. Now it happened that on that very night Shiva and\nParwati were in their chariot driving through the air over that very\nplace. Parwati said suddenly to her husband, \"I hear a woman crying,\nlet us go and see what it is.\" The god Shiva drove his chariot down to\nearth. He and Parwati got out and saw the Brahman's youngest daughter\ncrying. They asked her what the reason was, and she told them. Then\nParwati pitied her and said, \"Your aunt has acquired great merit by\nher piety and devotions. You go to her and get her to give you all\nher merit and so you will bring your husband back to life.\" The god\nShiva and Parwati then mounted on their chariot and disappeared. Next\nmorning the little widow left her husband's body, went to her aunt's\nhouse and begged her to give her all the merit which she had acquired,\nand told her the cause of the request. The aunt was very good and\ngave her all her own merit. The little widow then went back to the\nburning-ground and with its aid brought her husband back to life. But\nthis time he was no longer a beggar-man black with leprosy and with\nfeet and hands that had rotted away. He was a beautiful young man\nwith well-shaped feet and a beautiful fair skin, and the little widow\ntook her husband back to her father's house. \"Papa, Papa,\" she said,\n\"you turned me out, but the gods have brought me back, and good fortune\ncame to me without your bringing it.\" The father was too frightened\nof Parwati to say anything, so he held his peace. And the little girl\nand her husband, the beggar-man, lived happily ever afterwards.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nParwati and the Brahman\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there lived a\npoor Brahman. When the month of Bhadrapad came round, every household\nbought little images of Parwati, and the women began to walk about\nthe streets and sound gongs. When the poor Brahman's children saw\nthis they went home and said to their mother, \"Mummy, Mummy, please\nbuy us little images of Parwati like the other little boys and girls\nhave.\" But their mother said, \"What is the use of my buying images\nof Parwati? If I do we shall have to make offerings, and there is\nabsolutely nothing in the house. You run to papa and tell him to go\ninto the bazaar and buy grain. If he buys grain I'll buy you images of\nParwati.\" The children got up and ran to their father and cried out,\n\"Papa, Papa, Mama says that she will buy us images of Parwati if you\nwill go into the bazaar and get food to offer to them.\" Their father\nat first searched all over the house but could find no grain. And\nthen he looked in his purse but he could find no money with which to\ngo to the bazaar and buy grain. But although he tried to explain this\nto his children, they would not listen to him. They screamed at him\nand shouted, \"Papa, Papa, Mummy says that she will buy us images of\nParwati if you will get food to offer to them.\" \"Papa, Papa, why should\nwe not have images of Parwati like the other little boys and girls.\" At\nlast they bothered the poor Brahman so much that he felt worried to\ndeath. \"I love,\" he said, \"my children as if they were made of gold,\nbut they will not mind what I say. They will not understand that it\nis nothing but poverty which prevents my buying food and offering it\nto Parwati. I might go out and beg, but when I do, no one ever gives\nme anything. Death is better than a life like this.\" With these words\nhe got up and walked to the edge of the village pond and determined\nto drown himself. It was dark when he started, and half-way he met\nan old woman. She heard him coming and asked him who he was. He told\nher all his trouble, and said that he meant to jump into the pond to\nescape from his children. The woman comforted him and prevailed on him\nto turn home again. He took her home. His wife came to the door with\na lamp and asked who she was. The husband did not like to say that he\nhad only just met her on the road, so he said to his wife, \"She is my\ngrandmother.\" The wife thereupon welcomed her and invited her to come\nin and stay to supper. But her heart felt as heavy as lead, for she\nknew that there was nothing to eat inside the house. When the old woman\nhad seated herself inside the house, the Brahman's wife got up and, in\ndespair, went to look inside the grain-pots. She knew they were empty,\nbut she thought that she would first look into them once again. But,\nlo and behold! when she looked this time she found the grain-pots\nbrimming over with grain. She called her husband, and they were both\nperfectly delighted. And the wife prepared bowls full of rice-gruel,\nand every one, children and all, ate the rice-gruel till the skins\non their stomachs felt quite tight. And they went to bed as happy as\npossible. Next morning the old woman called to the Brahman, \"My son,\nmy son, get me water for my bath and cook me a nice hot dinner, and\nplease be quick about it, and do not start making objections.\" The\nBrahman got up and called his wife, and they got water for the old\nwoman's bath, and then the Brahman went out to beg. When he had gone\nout before, no one had ever given him anything. But to-day every one\nran out and gave him food and molasses and copper coins. Then he went\nback home in splendid spirits. His wife prepared a glorious dinner, and\nthe children ate so much that the skin on their stomachs felt as tight\nas a kettle-drum. After breakfast the old woman said to the Brahman,\n\"To-morrow I want a milk-pudding for dinner.\" \"But, Grandmamma,\" said\nthe Brahman, \"where shall I get the milk from?\" The old woman said,\n\"Don't worry about that. Just get up and hammer down as many pegs as\nyou can in your courtyard. Then this evening, when the cattle come\nhome, call to the village cows and buffaloes by name, and they will\ncome to you, and if you milk them you will get enough milk for my\npudding to-morrow.\" The Brahman did as the old woman ordered him,\nand that evening he called to the cows and buffaloes by name to come\nto his courtyard. And from every direction the cows and buffaloes came\nrunning up. And behind them galloped all the little calves with their\nheels in the air and their tails stuck out straight behind them. At\nlast the Brahman's courtyard was filled so full that no more cows or\nbuffaloes could enter. And he milked them all, and next day his wife\ncooked a milk-pudding such as one would not see again if one lived a\nthousand years. And the children ate until they were so tired of eating\nthat they just rolled over and went fast asleep. But that evening the\nold woman said, \"My son, my son, I want you to take me home.\" \"But,\nGrandmamma, Grandmamma,\" said the Brahman, \"how can I take you home,\nfor I have had all this good luck only because of you. Directly you go\naway my good luck will vanish.\" \"Do not be afraid,\" said the old woman,\n\"for I am Parwati. If I bless you your good luck will never\nvanish. Therefore you must come with me and see me home.\" But the\nBrahman said, \"I do not want my good luck only to continue. I want\nit to increase.\" The old woman said, \"If you come with me I shall\ngive you some sand. When you go back home, scatter it all over the\nhouse and over your jars and your pots, and put it inside your boxes\nand your cupboards, and scatter it all over your courtyard too, and\nyou will find that your good luck will never be any less than it is\nnow.\" The Brahman was satisfied with this. He worshipped the old woman\nand went with her towards the tank until she suddenly disappeared. He\nreturned home and scattered sand all over his house and over his\njars and his pots and inside his boxes and his cupboards, and from\nthat day on, his good luck never left him. And his wealth increased,\nand his children increased. And they all lived happily ever afterwards.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nSoma, the Washerwoman\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there lived a\npoor Brahman who had seven sons and seven daughters-in-law. He had also\none daughter called Gunvanti and a wife called Dhanvanti. Whenever\na mendicant Brahman came to this house, it was the custom of all\nthe ladies to give him alms and then prostrate themselves in front\nof him. One day a Brahman came, tall as a tree and shining like the\nsun. The seven daughters-in-law ran out as usual and gave him alms\nand then threw themselves at full length at his feet. The Brahman\nblessed them and said, \"Increase of children be yours; increase of\nwealth be yours; may your husbands cherish you all your lives.\" But\nthe Brahman's daughter Gunvanti was a lazy little girl, and when the\nmendicant came she was still in bed. Her mother, Dhanvanti, rushed\ninto her room and cried, \"Daughter, daughter, get up and give the\nBrahman alms,\" The little girl jumped up in a fright and ran out and\nput alms before him and prostrated herself at his feet. The mendicant\nblessed her and said, \"Observe the precepts of religion.\"\n\nThe little girl ran back to her mother. \"Mother, Mother,\" she cried,\n\"Bhatji [13] did not give me the same blessing as he gave to my\nsisters-in-law,\" Her mother said, \"Go back again and give him some\nmore alms and see what he does,\" The little girl ran back, put\nsome more alms before the mendicant, and again prostrating herself\nasked for his blessing. Once more he said, \"Observe the precepts\nof religion,\" Then Dhanvanti asked him why he gave her daughter\nsuch a strange blessing. The mendicant replied, \"Because widowhood\nwill come upon her immediately after her marriage,\" Dhanvanti threw\nherself before the Brahman and grasped his feet and cried, weeping,\n\"Tell me how I may escape this evil; what shall I do to save my one\nlittle girl from becoming a widow?\" The Brahman pitied her and said,\n\"Lady, lady, do not weep; I shall give you a remedy by which to cure\nthis evil. Across the seven seas there is an island. In it there lives\na washerwoman called Soma. If you can fetch her to your daughter's\nwedding, she will escape the evil that threatens her. When the wedding\nis over, you must send Soma back with all honour to her house.\" With\nthese words the mendicant took up his wallet and went to collect alms\nelsewhere. When her husband returned home Dhanvanti told him what had\nhappened. \"Some one,\" she added, \"must go across the seven seas, to\nfetch Soma, the washerwoman.\" The father and mother called up their\nsons and said, \"Those of you who honour your parents will take your\nsister and cross the seven seas to bring Soma here.\" But all the\nsons turned to their mother and said, \"All you care about is your\ndaughter. You do not love us the least little bit. So we shall not\ncross the seven seas and bring Soma here just on her account.\" The\nmother began to cry, and the father got very cross. He turned to his\nwife and said, \"From henceforth you have no sons. To me our seven sons\nare as if they had never been born. But do not get frightened about\nour little girl I myself shall cross the seven seas and fetch Soma, the\nwasherwoman.\" Then the youngest of the seven sons said to his father,\n\"Daddy, Daddy, you must not say that you have no sons when here we are,\nall seven of us. I shall take my sister Gunvanti with me, and we shall\ngo and fetch Soma, the washerwoman.\" A few days later the two children\nprostrated themselves before their parents and began their voyage.\n\nIn course of time they came to the seashore. But the wind was\nblowing, the waves were rolling in, and the foam was splashing over\nthe rocks. The brother and sister could not imagine how they were to\ncontinue their journey. There was no one near to give them food, there\nwas no one near to give them drink, and they could think of nothing\nbetter than to lie down and die. But they first resolved to pray to\nthe god Shiva, \"Please, please, God Shiva,\" prayed the two children,\n\"get us out of this terrible trouble.\" After praying they went and\nsat under a banian tree, and all day long they had nothing to eat or\ndrink. Now on the very top of the banian tree was an eagle's nest,\nand in it there were several little eagles. When evening came, father\neagle and mother eagle came home and began to feed their young. But\nthe little eagles would not eat anything at all. Mother eagle said,\n\"Children, children, what is the matter?\" \"O Mummy, Mummy,\" cried\nthe little eagles, \"two strangers have come to our house, and they\nare sitting under our tree, and they have had nothing to eat all\nday!\" Father eagle and mother eagle flew to the ground and began to\nask the boy what his trouble was. \"Do not be frightened,\" said father\neagle; \"whatever your business, I'll help you to get it done. Do not\ngo to bed without supper. I'll bring you some fruit. Eat some of it\nyourself and give the rest to your little sister.\"\n\nThe boy told father eagle what had happened, and how it was that they\nhad to cross the seven seas. Father eagle said, \"I shall carry you\nboth across directly you wake up to-morrow, and I shall put you down\nat Soma the washerwoman's door.\" Then the two children felt very happy\nand thanked the god Shiva. And after eating father eagle's fruit,\nthey lay down under the tree and fell fast asleep in no time. Next\nmorning father eagle and mother eagle came down the tree, and father\neagle took the boy on his back, and mother eagle took the girl on\nher back, and off they flew across the seven seas. The wind blew,\nand the waves rolled mountains high, and the foam splashed over the\nrocks. But father eagle and mother eagle flew straight on until they\ncame to the door of Soma, the washerwoman. There they left the boy and\ngirl and went back to the tree where the little eagles were waiting\nfor them. The boy and girl were too frightened to walk into Soma's\nhouse, so they hid all that day, and next morning they got up at dawn\nand they swept the courtyard and neaped the floor with cow-dung. And\nthen, before any one could see them, they ran away and hid. And this\nthey did every day for a whole year.\n\nAt last Soma one day called all her children and all her little\ndaughters-in-law and said, \"Who among you gets up so early? Who sweeps\nmy courtyard? Who clears my floor?\" All the children and all the\nlittle daughters-in-law said, \"It is not I,\" \"It is not I,\" \"It is not\nI.\" Then Soma became very curious to know who it was. So the following\nnight she did not go to bed. She sat up, but nothing happened until\njust after dawn. Then she saw the little Brahman girl sweeping the\ncourtyard and her brother cleaning the floor. Soma got up and said,\n\"Children, who are you?\" They replied, \"We are Brahmans.\" \"But I am\nonly a washerwoman,\" said Soma; \"I am a low-caste woman, why do you\nsweep my courtyard and neap my floor? It will be reckoned unto me\nas a sin If I accept the service of Brahmans.\" The boy said, \"This\nis my sister, and a Brahman has told us that unless you come to her\nwedding she will be widowed shortly after marriage. Our father and\nmother told us to go and bring you back with us. So, in order to make\nyou pleased with us, we have been working as your servants.\" \"Do not\nwork for me any more,\" said Soma, \"I shall gladly go to your wedding,\"\nShe then called to her daughters-in-law and said, \"I am going to this\nchild's wedding. But if any one of our relations dies when I am away,\ndo not burn his body until I come back.\" She went with the two Brahman\nchildren to the seashore. The wind was blowing, and the great waves\nwere rolling in, and the foam was splashing over the rocks. But Soma\ntook the boy under one arm and the girl under the other. She jumped\nfar up into the sky and right over the seven seas, and when she got\nto the opposite shore she put the children down again. They led her to\ntheir father's house. Their mother Dhanvanti welcomed the washerwoman\nand fell at her feet to thank her for her coming. The youngest brother\nthen went to Ujjain, and after making inquiries brought back a boy of\nsuitable caste and age to be a husband for his sister. On an auspicious\nday the wedding was celebrated. But as the bridegroom and bride were\nthrowing rice [14] over each other, the bridegroom fainted. He fell\non the ground and lay there motionless. The little bride did not know\nwhat to do, she was so frightened. And all the grown-up people were\nalmost as frightened as she was. But Soma, the washerwoman, stepped\nforward and said, \"It is nothing, do not be afraid.\" She took some\nwater in her hand and sprinkled it over herself. Now the secret of\nSoma's power was this:--\n\nShe had acquired great merit by observing every Monday the following\npractices: She would get up early, bathe, dress in silence, make\nvarious gifts to Brahmans, and then walk one hundred and eight times\nround a peepul tree. But now by sprinkling water over herself she had\ntransferred the whole of her merit to Gunvanti. By this means the\nlittle bride had been able to restore her husband to life, and the\nwedding ceremony finished amidst the happiness of all. Soma then took\nleave to go, and started on her homeward journey. When she reached the\nseashore, the wind was blowing, and the great waves came rolling in,\nand the spray was splashing over the rocks. But now that she had given\naway all her merit to Gunvanti, she had none left by means of which she\ncould jump across the seven seas. She sat down forlorn by the bank of\na river. Then she got up, bathed in the water, and prayed to the god\nVishnu. Next she took one hundred and eight sand-grains in her hand,\nand then walked one hundred and eight times round a peepul tree by\nthe river's edge. Instantly her powers returned to her, and going back\nto the shore, she sprang into the heavens and over the seven seas and\nalighted close to her own door. There all her little daughters-in-law\nran out to meet her and cried, \"O Mother-in-law, Mother-in-law, we\nhave been watching for you. For while you were away your sons, your\nhusband, and all your sons-in-law died. But just as you told us to do,\nwe did not burn their corpses, but kept them in the house. And now\nthey have all suddenly come back to life.\" Soma questioned the little\ndaughters-in-law and learnt that her sons and husband and sons-in-law\nhad all died at the very moment when she gave her merit to Gunvanti,\nand that they had come back to life precisely when she finished her\none-hundred-and-eighth turn round the peepul tree. And they were all so\nglad to have Soma back with them again, and for ever such a long time\nafterwards she and her family lived happily together. And the Brahman\nin his joy at his son-in-law's recovery forgave his disobedient sons,\nand they too all lived happily together ever afterwards.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nVasishta and the Four Queens\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there ruled\na king who had four wives. They were always quarrelling over the\nhousework; so, in order to get some peace at home, the king himself\ndivided the work between them. To the first queen he gave all the\ndairy work, to the second queen he gave all the cooking, to the\nthird he gave the nursery, and he ordered the fourth to look after\nthe royal wardrobe. At first all went well. But in a little while\nthe first queen said to the third queen, \"Why should you have charge\nof the nursery? Why should you not work in the dairy?\" The second\nqueen said to the fourth queen, \"Why should I have to do all the\ncooking?\" The third queen asked, \"Why should I have always to look\nafter the children?\" And the fourth queen stamped her foot and said, \"I\nwon't look after the king's clothes.\" And all day long they quarrelled\nand screamed at each other, and the poor king was more uncomfortable\nthan ever. His face grew sad and careworn, and, from the time he got\nup to the time he went to bed, he could think of nothing but the way\nthat his four queens were squabbling with each other.\n\nOne day the rishi, or sage, Vasishta [15] paid the king a visit. The\nking prostrated himself before the great sage and gave him a throne\nto sit upon. Vasishta looked at the king's face and saw how sad and\ncareworn it was. He asked the cause, and the king told him. Then\nthe rishi rose, and the king went with him to the palace of the\nfour queens. When they reached it, they called to the queens to come\nout. The rishi then asked them why they quarrelled. The first queen\ncried out, \"Why should I have to do the dairy work?\" And the second\nqueen cried out, \"Why should I be only a cook-woman?\" And the third\ncried out, \"Why should I have all the children to look after?\" And the\nfourth cried out, \"Why should I have all the bother of sorting out all\nthe king's clothes?\" The king said, \"You must do these things because\nI ordered you to.\" But the queens did not mind a word that he said,\nand they all screamed together so loud that the king and the rishi\nhad to put their fingers in their ears to save themselves from being\ndeafened. For a while the rishi became absorbed in thought, and then\nhe turned to the first queen and said, \"You have been placed in charge\nof the dairy, have you not?\" The first queen assented. \"Then listen\nto me,\" said Vasishta. \"In a former life you were a cow, and near the\nspot in the jungle where you used to graze was an altar to Shiva. And\nevery day at noon you used to come and stand near it and let milk\ndrop upon it. And, because in this way you honoured the god Shiva, you\nhave in this life become one of the queens of the king of Atpat. But\nyou did not in your former life attain to full merit.  So the god\nShiva directed the king to place you in charge of his dairy, and the\nking conveyed the god's directions to you. You should therefore obey\nthem, and you should honour the king as if he were Shiva himself. In\nthis way you will attain to full merit and ascend to Shiva's heaven,\nKailas.\" Vasishta then blessed the first queen. She prostrated herself\nbefore him, and, giving up all thought of quarrelling, went away and\nbusied herself with her dairy work.\n\nThen Vasishta turned to the second queen and asked, \"What are\nyou quarrelling about?\" She replied, \"Why should I be just a\ncook-woman?\" The rishi thought for a while and said, \"Lady, in a\nformer life you were the wife of a poor Brahman, and you used to beg\nyour food from door to door. But every Monday you used to fast, and\nwhatever grain you begged that day you used to cook and offer to the\ngod Shiva. And he was pleased with your devotion. Therefore in this\nlife he made you one of the queens of Atpat. And because you cooked\nfor the god Shiva, he directed the king to put you in charge of his\nkitchen. Therefore, obey the god's directions and give a great feast\nto all in Atpat. In this way you will gain the favour of Shiva, and he\nwill take you with him to Kailas.\" Then he blessed the second queen,\nand she prostrated herself and went off quite cheerfully to cook the\nking's dinner.\n\nThe sage next turned to the third queen and asked, \"What are you\nquarrelling about?\" The queen answered, \"Why should I do nothing but\nfiddle about the nursery?\" Vasishta thought for a while and said,\n\"In a former life, O Queen, you were a maid of a jungle tribe. Every\nMonday you used to fast yourself and offer the choicest fruits that\nyou picked to the god Shiva. In return for them he has made you a\nqueen, and he has entrusted the king's children to you. Therefore\nlook after them and be kind to them, and in the end he will take you\nto live with him in Kailas.\" The rishi then blessed the third queen,\nand she prostrated herself before him. Then she ran off, her face\nall smiles, to play with the king's children.\n\nVasishta last of all turned to the fourth queen and said, \"What are\nyou quarrelling about?\" She answered, \"Why should I do nothing but\nlook after the king's clothes?\" The rishi said, \"In a former life,\nO Queen, you were a kite that flew high up in the heavens. Beneath\nwhere you used to fly was an altar to Shiva, and every day at noon\nyou would spread your wings over it and shade it from the sun's\nheat. So the god was pleased with you and in this life made you one\nof the queens of Atpat. As you spread your wings over Shiva's altar,\nso now a canopy hangs over your bed. And just as you served Shiva,\nnow do service to the king, your husband. And you will thereby gain\nfull merit and in the end reach Kailas.\" Then the rishi blessed her,\nand she went off quite gaily to attend to the king's clothes.\n\nAnd the four queens never quarrelled any more, but lived happily ever\nafterwards with the king. And all little girls who hear this story\nshould try to be as good as the queens were after Vasishta had cured\nthem of their squabbling.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nThe Lamps and the King's Daughter-in-Law\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there lived a\nking who had one little daughter-in-law. Now she was a very greedy\nlittle girl, and one day when some sweetmeats were got ready for all\nthe family she went quietly and ate them all up herself. Then she\ngot very frightened, for she knew that, if the king knew what she\nhad done, he would order her to be well slapped. So, when the family\nbegan asking where the sweetmeats were she said that the mice had\neaten them. And then every one began abusing the mice, saying what\nhorrid little wretches they were, and what a good thing it would be\nif the cat caught and ate them up. But, when the mice heard all this,\nthey were very angry with the little daughter-in-law for bringing a\nfalse charge against them, and they all met together and vowed that\nthey would be revenged on her. Some days later the king invited a\nguest to his house, and the same night the mice went into the little\ndaughter-in-law's room and dragged out one of her bodices and put\nit across the guest's bed. Next morning the bodice was discovered\nin the stranger's bed, and the little daughter-in-law was utterly\ndisgraced. Her father-in-law and all her brothers-in-law scolded her\ndreadfully, and at last the king drove her out of the house. Now it\nso happened that it had till then always been the work of the little\ndaughter-in-law to look after the lamps in the king's palace. Every\nmorning she used to rub them well and trim the wicks. She used to light\nthem herself and neap the burners with sugar-candy, and on Divali [16]\nDay she used to worship them and make them suitable offerings. But,\ndirectly the little daughter-in-law was driven away, none of the\nlamps were any longer cared for. On the next Divali Day the king was\nreturning from a hunt, and he camped under a tree. Suddenly he saw all\nthe lamps in his town of Atpat come and settle on its branches. One\nlamp after another told what was happening in its house--when there had\nbeen a dinner party, what there had been to eat, who had been invited,\nhow they themselves had been cared for, and what honours they had\nreceived on Divali Day. After all the other lamps had told their story,\nthe big lamp from the king's palace began, \"Brother lamps, I do not\nknow how to tell you. For none among you is so wretched as I am. In\nformer years I was the most fortunate of all the lamps in Atpat. No\nother lamp had such honours paid it as I had, and this year I have\nto drag out my days In unspeakable misery.\" All the other lamps tried\nto comfort it, and asked it how it was that ill-fortune had overtaken\nit. \"O brother lamps, how can I tell you?\" repeated the big lamp. \"I\nam the chief among the lamps that shine In the palace of the King of\nAtpat. One day the king's little daughter-in-law ate some sweetmeats\nand to save herself blamed the mice. To revenge themselves, they in\nturn brought a false charge against her by putting her bodice on the\nbed of one of the king's guests. So she was disgraced and driven out\nof the house. And after she left ill-fortune came upon me. For every\nyear it was she who worshipped me and paid me honour; and wherever she\nis I wish her well, and I give her my blessing.\" The king listened\nattentively to the talk between the lamps, and thus he learnt that\nhis daughter-in-law was innocent. He went home and asked whether\nthere was any other evidence against her besides her bodice. And\nwhen he learnt that there was none, and that no one had seen anything\nhappen between her and the king's guest, he sent a messenger for her\nand had her brought home. And he begged her pardon for the past, and\ngave her full authority over all his household; and the king lived\nand ruled ever afterwards as wisely and as well as King Ramchandra\nof Ayodhya. And if any one brings a false charge against any of us,\nmay the lamps save us as they did the king's little daughter-in-law.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nParwati and the Priest\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there was a\ntemple to the god Shiva. One day when Shiva and his wife Parwati\nwere walking about they happened to come to this temple. They sat\ndown there and began to play saripat. [17] After some time Parwati\nseeing a priest close by asked him who had won, she or Shiva. \"Shiva,\"\nthe priest replied. Parwati became very angry and cursed him, so that\nhe became a leper, and the pains which overtook him were absolutely\nunendurable. One day a band of Apsaras [18] came down from heaven to\nthe temple. They saw that the priest who lived in it was a leper,\nand they asked him the reason. He told them how Parwati had cursed\nhim. They replied, \"Do not be afraid; do as we tell you and you will\nget rid of your leprosy. Fast all next Monday, bathe that evening,\nworship the god Shiva, and then get half a pound of flour and mix\nit with treacle and ghee and eat it for dinner. But whatever you do,\neat no salt all day. Do this for sixteen Mondays in succession, and\non the seventeenth Monday get five pounds of flour, mix with it ghee\nand treacle, and offer it to Shiva inside this temple. Then divide it\ninto three parts; leave one for the god, distribute a second among\nthe Brahmans or give it to your cows, and take the third home to\nbe eaten by you and your family.\" The Apsaras disappeared, and the\npriest followed their instructions and became quite well. Some time\nafterwards Shiva and Parwati came again to the temple. Parwati saw\nthe priest cured of his leprosy and asked him how he had got rid of\nit. He told her exactly what he had done. She was very much surprised,\nand thought that if she did the same she might win back her son\nKartakswami, [19] who had quarrelled with her and had run off in a\nrage. On the seventeenth Monday Kartakswami suddenly appeared, and\nboth of them were reconciled. Later on, Kartakswami asked Parwati how\nshe had brought him back, and Parwati told him. Now Kartakswami had a\nBrahman friend who had gone into a far-off country, and Kartakswami\nmet him by accident shortly afterwards. He told the Brahman how the\npriest had cured himself of leprosy, and how he and Parwati had become\nreconciled. So the Brahman also practised the same rites for seventeen\nMondays. He then set out for a distant country. As he travelled he\ncame to a town. Now it happened that in that town arrangements were\nbeing made for the marriage of the king's daughter. Several princes\nhad come from far-off countries to compete for her hand, and the king\nhad erected a splendid pavilion for the royal betrothal. But he would\nnot himself choose a prince to be his daughter's husband. He ordered\nthat a garland should be placed on a she-elephant's trunk, and that\nthe prince round whose neck the she-elephant threw the garland should\nbe chosen to marry the king's daughter. But the she-elephant passed\nby all the princes in turn, until she came to where the Brahman\nstood. For he had come with the crowds of people to see the royal\nbetrothal. Then the she-elephant stopped and put the garland round\nthe Brahman's neck. The king ordered the Brahman to step forward, and\nhe married him to his daughter. Some years later when the princess\ngrew up, and she and the Brahman began to live together, she asked\nher husband by what merit he had succeeded in winning her for his\nwife, and he told her. And she in turn practised the same rites for\nseventeen Mondays. Nine months later a beautiful baby boy was born to\nher; and when he in turn grew up she told him the rites which she had\npractised to obtain him. And he in turn began to perform them. On the\nsixteenth Monday he set out for a journey. As he travelled in a distant\ncountry he came to a town over which ruled a king who had no son and\nonly one daughter. The king had for a long time past been searching\nfor a beautiful and virtuous young man, resolved when he found him to\nhand over to him his kingdom and marry him to his daughter. As the\nBrahman's son entered the town the king saw him and noticed on him\nall the marks of royal origin. So he summoned him to his house and\nmarried him to his daughter and seated him on his own throne. Now\nthe next Monday was the seventeenth Monday since the Brahman's son\nhad begun the rites which the Apsaras had told to the priest. That\nmorning he got up and went to the temple and sent a message home to\nhis wife that she should send him five sers of flour mixed with ghee\nand treacle. But the queen was too proud to do this. For she feared\nthat the people in the street would laugh at her if she sent her\nhusband five sers of flour mixed with ghee and treacle. So instead\nshe sent him five hundred rupees in a plate. But because the flour\nand ghee and treacle were not sent, the king was unable to complete\nhis ceremonial, and it was all spoilt. And the god Shiva instead of\nbeing pleased became very angry indeed. And he told the king that,\nif he kept the queen as his wife, he would lose his kingdom and die\na beggar. Next day the king sent for his chief minister and told him\nwhat had happened. At first the minister said, \"The kingdom belongs\nto the queen's father. If you drive her out your subjects will hate\nyou.\" But the king replied, \"Yes, but not to obey the god's command\nis a worse thing still.\" At last the minister agreed with the king,\nand the order went forth that the queen should be driven out of the\ncity. So the queen was driven out and became quite poor and wandered\nalong the road. At last she came to a distant town and lodged there\nwith an old woman, who gave her food and drink. One day the old woman\nsent the queen out to sell fruit puddings. As she went into the bazaar\na great wind came and carried off the fruit puddings. When she returned\nto the old woman's house, the queen told her what had happened, and\nthe old woman drove her out of the house. Then she went and lodged\nwith an oilman, who had great jars full of oil. But one day she went\nand looked inside the jars, and all the oil disappeared. So the oilman\ndrove her off out of the house. The queen left the town and walked\nalong until she came to a river with abundant water in it. But directly\nher eyes fell on the water, it all flowed away and left the water-bed\nquite dry. She then journeyed on until she came to a beautiful lake,\nbut when her glance rested on the lake, it became full of worms, and\nthe water began to stink. And, when the cowherds came as usual to\nwater their cattle, the cattle would not drink the stinking water,\nand they had to go home thirsty. By chance a Gosavi, or holy man,\ncame that way and saw the queen, and she told him her story. The\nholy man took her to his house and treated her as his own daughter,\nand she did her best to serve him faithfully. But, at whatever thing\nshe looked, it would either disappear or become full of worms and\nmaggots. At last the holy man searched for the cause of this by means\nof his inner knowledge. And thus he learnt that she had incurred the\nsin of spoiling the worship of Shiva, which the Apsaras had first\ntaught the priest. Unless that sin were atoned for, her evil glance\nwould never be purified. So the holy man prayed to the god Shiva,\nand the god was pleased with him; and when the holy man interceded\nwith him on the queen's behalf, the god said that he would forgive her\nif she began and completed properly the rites which she had spoiled\nwhen her husband was performing them. The queen did so, and the god's\nanger vanished. Suddenly there rose in the heart of her husband, the\nking, a wish to see his queen, and he sent out messengers on every\nside to look for her. At last one of the messengers saw the queen in\nthe holy man's hermitage and went back and told the king. The king\nwas overjoyed, and, taking his chief minister with him, he journeyed\nto the hermitage. He threw himself at the holy man's feet and then\nloaded him with presents. And the holy man was pleased and said,\n\"O King, I have treated your wife exactly as if she had been my own\ndaughter. She has lived here just as if she had been in her father's\nhouse. Now take her with you back again and once more go through the\nmarriage ceremony with her.\" The king consented, and both he and the\nqueen prostrated themselves before the holy man, and then they both\nreturned to Atpat. And they celebrated their home-coming with the\ngreatest splendour. And the rest of the king's reign was as happy as\npossible. And we shall be just as happy if we honour Shiva like the\nKing of Atpat did.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nThe Rishi and the Brahman\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there lived a\nBrahman. For many years he lived happily and cultivated his fields of\nrice and grain. But one day his wife gave up the observances imposed\non her, and, as a result, the whole house was stained by her conduct,\nand pollution hung like a black cloud over it. Her husband should\nhave driven her out, but he had not the heart to do so. So he, too,\nincurred the blame of his wife's sin. In course of time they died,\nand, as a punishment for their wickedness, the husband became in his\nnext life a bullock, and the wife became a dog. But the gods so far\nrelented as to find them a home in the house of their only son.\n\nNow the son was a very pious man, who never failed in his religious\nrites. He worshipped the gods, gave memorial honours to his dead\nfather, and welcomed to his house every Brahman who passed by. One\nyear, on the anniversary of his father's death, he told his wife\nto prepare a milk-pudding in honour of the dead, and announced that\nhe would invite Brahmans to partake of it. The wife was as pious as\nher husband and never failed to obey his commands. So she made a big\nmilk-pudding, and she boiled vegetables and stewed fruits. But just as\nshe had finished and was about to invite her husband and his Brahman\nguests to begin their feast, the dog saw that a snake had entered the\ngrain-jar, which had not been properly shut, and that it had left its\npoisonous trail all over the grain from which the milk-pudding had been\nprepared. The dog at once realised that, if the Brahmans who had been\ninvited to the memorial feast ate the poisoned grain, they would die,\nand that the sin of Brahman murder would be incurred by the host,\nher son. So she suddenly rushed up and put her foot right into the\nmiddle of the milk-pudding. The son's wife was very angry. She threw\na red-hot coal at the dog with such skill that it dropped on to the\nmiddle of her back and burnt a big hole in it. Then the son's wife\ncooked a fresh milk-pudding and fed the Brahmans. But she was so\ncross with the dog that she would not give her the smallest possible\nscrap. So the poor dog remained hungry all day. When night fell she\nwent to the bullock who had been her husband and began to howl as\nloudly as she could. The bullock asked her what the matter was. She\ntold him how she had seen that a snake had poisoned the grain, and\nhow, to prevent the Brahmans dying and her son incurring the sin of\ntheir death, she had put her paw into the middle of the milk-pudding;\nhow her daughter-in-law had been angry and had burnt a hole in her\nback with a live coal, and how her back hurt so that she did not know\nwhat to do. The bullock answered, \"You are suffering for the pollution\nwith which you darkened our house in a former life, and, because I\nlet you remain in the house and touched you, I too am suffering, and\nI have become a bullock. Only to-day my son fastened me to his plough,\ntied up my mouth, and beat me, I too have, like you, had nothing to eat\nall day. Thus all my son's memorial services are useless.\" Now the son\nhappened to be passing by the stable and heard this conversation. He\nat once fetched the bullock some grass and the dog some food, and he\nbrought them both water to drink; and then he went to bed very sad at\nheart. Next morning he got up early and went into a dark forest until\nat last he came to the hermitage of a rishi. He prostrated himself\nbefore the rishi, who asked him why he was so sad. The Brahman's son\nsaid, \"I am sad because my father has been born again as a bullock\nand my mother as a dog. Pray tell me how I can get their release,\" The\nrishi said, \"There is only one way to help them. You must worship the\nseven sages who have their home in the Great Bear.\" [20] And he told\nthe Brahman's son the ceremonies which he should observe, and how he\nshould worship the seven sages continually every month of Bhadrapad, or\nSeptember, for seven years. The Brahman's son obeyed the rishi, and at\nthe end of the seven years a fiery chariot came down from heaven. The\nbullock suddenly became a handsome man, and the dog became a handsome\nwoman. They both seated themselves in the chariot and were carried off\nto live with the sages who have their home for ever in the Great Bear.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nThe King and the Water-Goddesses\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. Over it there ruled\na king. One day he founded a new village, and close by he built a\nvillage tank. But no matter how hard he tried he could not get it\nfilled with water. So he prayed to the water-goddesses to help him,\nand the water-goddesses were pleased and said, \"O King, O King,\nsacrifice to us the eldest son of your daughter-in-law, and the\ntank will fill with water.\" The king heard it and went home very\ntroubled. He was ready to sacrifice his grandson; for though he loved\nthe boy, yet he knew that the life of one was less than the welfare of\nmany. But he knew that his daughter-in-law would never agree. At last\nhe thought of a trick. He went up to her and said, \"Daughter-in-law,\nit is a long time since you went to see your parents. You had better\ngo and pay them a visit and leave your eldest boy behind. I shall look\nafter him here.\" The daughter-in-law consented and went to visit her\nparents, leaving her son behind. The king waited for a favourable\nday and then bathed and anointed his grandson. He gave a feast in\nhis honour and covered his body with costly jewelry. He then took\nhim into the middle of the pond and made him lie down on a bed and\ntold him not to stir. The water-goddesses were pleased, and a great\nmass of water suddenly rushed into the tank, and it was filled right\nup to the brink. After a time the daughter-in-law came back from her\nfather's house and brought her brother with her. They asked where her\nson was, but they could get no information. Whenever they asked the\nking, he did nothing but say how the water had come into the tank,\nand what a beautiful tank it was, and how happy it would make all\nthe villagers. At last the daughter-in-law guessed what had happened,\nand when the seventh day of the bright half of the month of Shravan,\nor August, came round, she and her brother went to the edge of the\ntank and began to worship the water-goddesses. She took a cucumber\nleaf, and on it she placed some curds and rice. Next she mixed\nwith them some butter and a farthing's worth of betel-nut. Then she\ntold her brother to pray, \"O Goddess, Mother of All, if any one of\nour family is drowned in the tank please give him back to us.\" He\ndid so and then threw the offering into the lake. Then they both\nturned to go home. But as she was turning homewards, she felt some\none pull her by the legs. She looked down and saw that it was her\nmissing son. When she saw him she dragged him with all her might to\nthe bank, and then she and her brother walked home with him. When\nthe king heard that she was coming, together with her missing son,\nhe wondered greatly, and going to her he fell at her feet and said,\n\"O my daughter, I offered your son to the water-goddesses; how has\nhe come back again?\" She said, \"I worshipped the water-goddesses\nand made offerings to them. Then my son came out of the water, and\nI lifted him up and drew him to the shore.\" The king was overjoyed\nand showed the greatest favour to his daughter-in-law. And she and\nher little son lived happily ever afterwards.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nThe Lid of the Sacred Casket\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there lived a\nBrahman who had two twin sons. While they were still quite young,\nthe twins' parents died, and their relatives stole from them all\ntheir property and then turned them out of the house. The twins\nwandered along until they came to a town. It was then noon, and\nthe boys were weary with walking and were tortured with hunger and\nthirst. As they entered the town, a Brahman came out of his door\nto throw food to the crows. He saw the two boys and called them in,\nfed them, and then made them tell him their story. When he heard it\nhe resolved to provide for them, and he lodged them in his house and\ntaught them to recite the Vedas. On Lalita Panchmi Day the Brahman\nbegan to perform certain ceremonies. His pupils asked him why he did\nso. The sage replied that by doing so one could attain to wealth,\nknowledge, and to the wish of one's heart. The boys begged him to\ninstruct them, and they quickly learnt how to worship the goddess\nParwati. Not long afterwards the Brahman provided them with wives,\nand they returned to their own city, acquired wealth, and were very\nhappy. A year or two later the twins separated. But the elder was a\nwise boy and never forgot to worship the goddess Parwati on Lalita\nPanchmi Day. So he retained the riches which he had gained. But the\nyounger was foolish and forgot all about it, so the goddess began to\ndislike him, and he lost all his money. And at last he became so poor\nthat he and his wife had to give up their house and go and live on\nthe charity of his elder brother. One day the elder brother's wife\nspoke so crossly and said such nasty things to the younger twin,\nthat he felt that he could not stay in the house any longer. And he\nremembered then that of recent years he had entirely forgotten to\nworship Parwati. He felt very penitent, and he decided that somehow or\nother he would win back the goddess's favour. Taking his wife with him,\nhe left his brother's house and journeyed to a distant country. At\nlast he came near a town, and, meeting a cowherd, the younger twin\nasked him what its name was. The cowherd said, \"The town is called\nUpang.\" \"Who is the king?\" asked the younger twin. The cowherd replied,\n\"He also is called Upang.\" The wanderer then asked whether there was\nany place where he and his wife could lodge. The cowherd told him\nthat in the town there was a temple of Parwati, and close to it\nwas a rest-house where the wanderer and his wife could lodge. The\ncowherd directed them to the rest-house. And before lying down the\nyounger twin worshipped Parwati in the temple and begged her pardon\nfor his previous neglect. Parwati felt sorry for him, and that night\nshe appeared to him in a dream. She told him to go to King Upang's\npalace and to beg from him the lid of the sacred casket in which\nthe accessories of worship were kept. He should, thereafter, always\npray to it, and in the end he would come by his heart's desire. The\nyounger twin woke up, and the same morning he went to King Upang's\npalace and begged from him the lid of the sacred casket in which were\nkept the accessories of worship. The king at first refused, but when\nthe younger twin told the king of his dream the king consented. The\nBrahman took the lid home, worshipped it, and, just as the goddess\nhad foretold, he came by his heart's desire. Property and happiness\nreturned, and a year later his wife bore him a daughter. As the years\npassed the little girl grew up. One day she took the lid of the sacred\ncasket and went with some playmates to play and bathe by the bank of\na river. Suddenly the corpse of a Brahman came floating by. Seeing\nit, the little girl took the lid of the casket and for fun began to\nsplash water on it. Such was the power of the sacred lid, that the\ncorpse instantly became alive again and became a Brahman, tall as a\ntree and beautiful as the sun. The little girl fell in love with him\non the spot and told him that he must become her husband. \"But,\" said\nthe Brahman, \"how shall I manage it?\" The little girl said, \"Come home\nwith me at dinner-time, take as usual water [21] in your hand, but do\nnot sip it. Then my daddy will ask you, 'Bhatji, Bhatji, why do you\nnot sip the water in your hand?' You must reply, 'I am ready to dine\nif you marry me to your daughter. If you will not, I shall get up and\ngo away.' Then he will consent to our marriage.\" The Brahman agreed,\nand he went home with the little girl, and everything happened as she\nhad planned. To prevent the Brahman from getting up without any food,\nthe little girl's father agreed to their marriage. When a favourable\nday came they were married, and when she was old enough the little\ngirl went to her husband's house. As she went she carried off the\nlid of the sacred casket of King Upang. But, because it had gone,\nher father lost all his wealth and fell once more into the greatest\npoverty. His wife went to her daughter's house and asked for it\nback, but she refused to give it up. The wife was very angry and\nevery day began to hate her son-in-law more and more. But for him,\nas she thought, the little girl would never have married and would\nnot have stolen the lid of the sacred casket. One day the wife met\nher son-in-law on the road, and she gave him such a fearful slap in\nthe face that he instantly fell on the ground and became a corpse\nagain. His mother-in-law then-snatched from him the lid of the casket,\nwhich he happened to have in his hand, and ran away home. There he\nlay until the little girl, his wife, began to search for him. When\nshe found him she prayed to the goddess, and by her aid and by means\nof the merit which she had acquired by worshipping the lid of the\ncasket while she had it, she restored her husband to life. But the\ntwin and his wife went on becoming poorer and poorer. And at last\nthey went back to his brother's house and asked him why it was that\nthe younger twin was always losing his wealth as fast as he gained\nit. The elder brother listened to the whole story and then he said,\n\"I do not wonder at it. First you lost the lid of the casket, then,\nin order to get it back, your wife killed a Brahman. Your only chance\nnow is to worship Parwati harder than ever, and perhaps in the end\nyou may recover your good estate.\" So the younger brother went home\nand worshipped Parwati with greater vigour than ever. And at last\nshe relented and gave him her blessing. He recovered his wealth and\ncame by all that his heart desired. And he and his wife lived happily\never afterwards.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nThe Brahman Wife and Her Seven Sons\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there lived a\npoor Brahman who used always to perform Shradh or memorial ceremonies\nto his father on the last day of the month of Shravan. When performing\nthese ceremonies he always invited other Brahmans to dine. But it so\nhappened that on every last day of the month of Shravan, [22] from the\nday of his father's death onwards, his daughter-in-law gave birth to a\nlittle boy. And just as the Brahmans had begun to enjoy their dinner,\nthe child would die. So all the Shradh ceremonies had to cease,\nand the poor Brahmans had to be sent away feeling most dreadfully\nhungry. This happened regularly for six years. But, when the seventh\nlittle boy was born only to die just as his guests were beginning\nto enjoy their dinner, the poor Brahman lost all patience. He took\nthe newly-born child and placed it in his daughter-in-law's lap and\nthen drove her out of the house and into the jungle. The poor woman\nwalked along until she came to a great, dark forest. In it she met the\nwife of a hobgoblin, [23] who asked, \"Lady, Lady, whose wife are you,\nand why do you come here? Run away as quickly as you can. For, if my\nhusband the hobgoblin sees you, he will tear you to pieces and gobble\nyou up.\" The poor woman said she was the daughter-in-law of a Brahman,\nand explained how every year she had given birth to a son on the last\nday of Shravan, how it had died in the middle of the Shradh feast,\nand how at last her father-in-law had put the child in her lap and\nhad driven her from home and into the forest. The hobgoblin's wife\nrepeated, \"If you value your life at all, go away.\" The Brahman\nwoman began to cry, until at last the hobgoblin's wife had pity on\nher and said, \"Do not be afraid; walk a little way until you come to\nan altar to the god Shiva, Close by is a bel [24] tree; climb into it\nand hide among the branches. To-night the serpent-maidens from Pat\u00e2la\nand the wood-nymphs, together with a train of seven demon Asuras,\n[25] will come and worship at the altar. After making their offerings\nto the god, they will call out, 'Is there any uninvited guest present\nto whom we can make a gift?' You must then call out in reply, 'Yes,\nI am here.' They will see you and question you, and you must tell them\nall your story.\" The poor Brahman woman agreed. She walked on until\nshe came to the god Shiva's altar. She climbed into the branches of\nthe bel tree. She remained there until midnight came. Suddenly the\nserpent-maidens from Pat\u00e2la and the wood-nymphs, accompanied by a\ntrain of seven demon Asuras, came and worshipped at the altar. After\nmaking offerings to the god they called out, \"Is there any uninvited\nguest present to whom we can make a gift?\" The Brahman woman at once\nclimbed down the bel tree and called out in answer, \"Yes, I am here,\"\nThe serpent-maidens from P\u00e2tala and the wood-nymphs, greatly surprised,\nasked her who she was, and she told them all her story. Then the\nserpent-maidens of P\u00e2tala and the wood-nymphs ordered their train\nof demon Asuras to go and search for the seven sons of the Brahman\nwoman. The seven demon Asuras spurred their horses and rode off in all\ndirections. In a little time the giant captain of the demon guards\nrode up carrying in his arms the body of a little boy of six. Then\nanother rode up carrying the body of a little boy of five. And four\nothers rode up carrying a little boy of four, a little boy of three,\na little boy of two, and a little boy only one year old. Last of\nall the seventh demon Asura rode up with a newly-born baby boy. The\ndemons placed the bodies in front of the serpent-maidens from Pat\u00e2la\nand of the wood-nymphs. And first of all the little boy of six came to\nlife and got up and ran to his mother. Next the little boy of five,\nand then the little boy of four, and then the little boy of three\ncame to life and ran to their mother. Then the little boy of two\ncame to life and got up, but he could only walk to his mother. Next\nthe little one-year-old boy came to life, but he could not get up,\nso he lay on his back and kicked up his legs. And last of all the\nnewly-born baby came to life, but he could not even kick up his\nlegs. And they were all delighted to see their mother, and she was\noverjoyed to have all her sons again. But the serpent-maidens from\nPat\u00e2la and the wood-nymphs warned her that she must pray to the\nsixty-four Yoginis, the attendants who wait on Durga, the Goddess\nof Death, or else her children would be snatched from her again. And\nthey told her to pray her hardest, for her prayer had to travel down\nto the depths of Hell. So the Brahman woman prayed her hardest to\nthe sixty-four Yoginis, and then she prostrated herself before the\nserpent-maidens from Pat\u00e2la, and the wood-nymphs, and their train of\ndemon Asuras. And then she took the little one-year-old boy on her hip,\nand the newly-born baby boy in her arms, and she walked with her other\nfive sons to the village. When the villagers saw her coming they ran\nand said to the Brahman, \"Bhatji, Bhatji, your daughter-in-law is\ncoming back home.\" And the Brahman became very angry and vowed that\nhe would drive her away again. So he watched for her coming. But\nfirst of all he saw walking towards his house a little boy of six,\nand then a little boy of five, and then a little boy of four, and\nthen two other little boys of three and two. Last of all he saw his\ndaughter-in-law with a one-year-old boy on her hip and a newly-born\nbaby in her arms. He rose and fetched a cauldron of water and two\nhandfuls of rice from his house. And he waved his hands filled with\nrice round the heads of his daughter-in-law and of all her children,\nand last of all he washed their feet. In this way he welcomed back to\nhis house his grandchildren and their mother. And he made her tell\nhim all her story; and she, and her children, and the Brahman spent\nthe rest of their lives in great peace and perfect happiness.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\nThe Golden Temple\n\nOnce upon a time there was a town called Atpat. In it there reigned a\nking who had four daughters-in-law. He loved three of them very dearly,\nbut the fourth, who was an ugly little girl, he did not like at all. To\nthe three daughters-in-law he gave nice food and fine clothes. But\nto the ugly little daughter-in-law he gave nothing but scraps from\nhis table and thick, coarse clothes to wear. He would not even let her\nsleep inside the house, but made her sleep in the stable and look after\nthe cows. The poor ugly daughter-in-law grew so unhappy that, when the\nfirst Monday in Shravan [26] came, she ran out of the palace, and out\nof the town, and then away as fast as her fat little legs would carry\nher. At last she went and hid herself in the woods. Now it so happened\nthat that very day a band of serpent-maidens [27] had come up from\nPatala. After wandering through the forest and bathing in the running\nstreams, they had joined a bevy of wood-nymphs and were coming in her\ndirection. At first she was too terrified to say a single word. But at\nlast she asked, \"Ladies, ladies, where are you going?\" \"To the temple\nof Shiva,\" they replied, \"to worship the god. For by doing that, one\nwins the love of one's husband, one obtains children, and one comes by\nthe wish of one's heart.\" When the ugly daughter-in-law heard that by\ndoing what the serpent-maidens and the wood-nymphs were about to do\nshe could win love for herself, she at once thought that in this way\nshe, too, might win the love of her father-in-law. So she told the\nserpent-maidens of Patala and the wood-nymphs that she would go with\nthem. They went deeper and deeper into the forest until at last they\ncame to a temple of the god Shiva. There the serpent-maidens and the\nwood-nymphs offered to the god rice, betel-nut, incense, flowers, and\nthe leaves of the bel tree. The ugly little daughter-in-law did just\nas they did. And when she had finished she cried out, \"O God Shiva,\nplease, please vouchsafe my prayer also, and make my father-in-law\nand my mother-in-law, my brothers-in-law and my sisters-in-law like\nme as much as they now dislike me.\" That evening she went home and\nfasted, and all the scraps which they threw to her from the king's\ntable she gave to her favourite cow. And then she sat by herself and\nprayed to the god Shiva. The following Monday she once more ran out of\nthe palace and out of the town and into the woods as fast as her fat\nlittle legs would carry her. There she met again the serpent-maidens\nof Pat\u00e2la and the bevy of wood-nymphs and went with them to the\ntemple of Shiva in the distant heart of the forest. The first time the\nserpent-maidens and the wood-nymphs had given her the incense and the\nflowers, the rice and the betel-nut, and the leaves of the bel tree,\nwith which to perform her worship. But they had told her that the\nnext time she must bring them herself. So when she ran away on the\nsecond Monday in Shravan she brought with her incense and flowers,\nrice and betel-nut and bel-tree leaves, and after offering them and\nsome sesamums to the god she once more prayed, \"O God Shiva, please,\nplease grant my prayer and make my father-in-law and my mother-in-law,\nmy brothers-in-law and my sisters-in-law like me as much as they now\ndislike me.\" Then she went home and fasted, and giving all her dinner\nto her favourite cow she sat by herself and prayed to Shiva. That\nevening the king asked her who the god was whom she was honouring,\nand where he lived. The ugly little daughter-in-law replied, \"Afar\noff my god lives, and the roads to him are hard, and the paths to him\nare full of thorns. Where snakes abound and where tigers lie in wait,\nthere is his temple.\" The third Monday in Shravan, the ugly little\ndaughter-in-law again started from the palace with her flowers and\nincense, her betel-nut and bel leaves, her rice and sesamum, in order\nto meet the serpent-maidens of Pat\u00e2la and the bevy of wood-nymphs, and\nwith them to worship the god in the hidden depths of the forest. This\ntime the king and her other male relatives followed her and said\nto her, \"Ugly little daughter-in-law, take us with you and show us\nyour god.\" But the temple of Shiva was ever so far from the king's\npalace. The ugly daughter-in-law did not mind, for she was used to\ncruel treatment. She had also walked to the temple twice before, and\nher feet had got as hard as two little stones. But the king and his\nrelatives were tired to death; and their feet swelled up to the size\nof an elephant's, and they became as full of thorns as the back of a\nporcupine. And they muttered to each other, \"How on earth does that\nugly little daughter-in-law manage to walk as she does through the\nheart of the forest?\" The ugly daughter-in-law at last felt sorry for\nthem. She prayed to the god Shiva to build a temple near at hand. The\ngod consented, and, with the help of the serpent-maidens of Pat\u00e2la\nand of the wood-nymphs, he created suddenly a beautiful temple all of\npure, yellow gold. Its pillars were studded with jewels, and the jars\nin it were all of crystal. In the middle there rose from the ground\nan altar to the god Shiva. And last of all the god revealed himself\nto the king and his companions in all his glory and splendour. For\na moment only they saw him; and then he vanished. The king and his\ncompanions stared, too astonished to move or speak. But the ugly\nlittle daughter-in-law prostrated herself and offered to the god\nflowers and incense. Then she cried out, \"O God Shiva, please, please\nvouchsafe my prayer and make my father-in-law and my mother-in-law,\nmy brothers-in-law and my sisters-in-law like me as much as they now\ndislike me.\" When the king heard her prayer his heart softened to her,\nand he spoke kindly to her and gave her jewelry and trinkets. In a\nlittle while he took off his turban and, placing it on a peg, walked\nout to look at a lovely lake which, unnoticed by any one before,\nnow stretched out close by the temple. And behind him strolled out\nhis companions. But when they had gone out of sight, the beautiful\ngolden temple by the lake vanished for ever. After looking at the\nlake the king came back to fetch his turban which he had left in\nthe temple. But he could not find the beautiful temple all of pure,\nyellow gold, with its jewel-studded pillars and its crystal jars. The\nking asked the little daughter-in-law the cause. She said nothing,\nbut straightway walked deeper into the forest. And the king and his\ncompanions, although weary to death, followed her. At last they came to\nthe temple where she had worshipped, together with the serpent-maidens\nfrom Pat\u00e2la and the bevy of wood-nymphs. It was a tiny temple,\nand inside it there was a rough altar. At the foot of the altar lay\nthe flowers which the ugly daughter-in-law had offered to the god,\nand close by on a peg hung the turban left by the king. Again the\nking asked his daughter-in-law the meaning of what had happened. She\nreplied, \"This temple that you see is my own poor little temple. But,\nbecause of my prayers, the god Shiva showed himself to you in the\nbeautiful temple, all of pure, yellow gold, with its jewel-studded\npillars and its crystal jars.\" When the king heard her reply, he grew\nmore pleased than ever with the daughter-in-law whom formerly he had\nso disliked. And because the god had revealed himself at her prayer,\nthe king, to do her honour, sent for his royal palanquin and had her\ncarried home in state. And the ugly little daughter-in-law became out\nof the four the king's favourite. And he was so much nicer to her than\nhe was to his other three daughters-in-law that they became as jealous\nas cats. But the king and the ugly little daughter-in-law did not mind\nthem the least little bit. And they both lived happily ever afterwards.\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n[1] For an account of the birth of Kartakswami see The Tale of the\nTulsi Plants p. 93.\n\n[2] In India days of the week have the same mysterious connexion\nwith the astral bodies that they have in Europe. Aditwar or Raviwar\nis sun's day (Sunday); Somwar is moon's day (Monday); Mangalwar is\nMars' day (mardi); Budhwar is Mercury's day (mercredi); Brihaspatiwar\nis the day of Diespiter or Jupiter (jeudi); Shukrawar is Venus' day\n(vendredi); Shaniwar is Saturn's day (Saturday).\n\n[3] His bad actions in a former life.\n\n[4] All these stories take place in Atpat town. This literally means\n\"City Splendid.\" But in the tales it is simply a fabulous city.\n\n[5] Although Tuesday is really the day of Mars, Mangal, this tale\nby a popular error connects the day with Mangalgauri or Parwati,\nShiva's wife.\n\n[6] Budh is Mercury; Brahaspati is Jupiter.\n\n[7] For serpent-maidens of Pat\u00e2la see note to Story XX.\n\n[8] Mahalaxmi is always worshipped in this way. And it is a common\npractice for anyone who wants anything to blow on a pot and then wish\nfor it.\n\n[9] Kolhapur is the chief seat of the worship of Mahalaxmi.\n\n[10] Ashwin corresponds approximately with October.\n\n[11] A kind of draughts.\n\n[12] Nagpanchmi Day falls on Shravan Sud 5, i.e. the 5th day of the\nbright half of Shravan.\n\n[13] Bhatji is the name by which a mendicant Brahman is addressed.\n\n[14] This is called the akshataropan.\n\n[15] Vasishta was the family priest of King Dasaratha, father of\nRamchandra. After death he became one of the stars in the constellation\nof the Great Bear.\n\n[16] Divali is the feast of lamps in the month of Kartih.\n\n[17] Saripat is a kind of draughts.\n\n[18] Apsaras are attendants on the gods.\n\n[19] Kartakswami was really Parwati's step-son (see Preface).\n\n[20] The Indians do not associate the Great Bear constellation with a\nbear, but they believe it to be the habitation of seven rishis. The\nseven rishis vary in different works. In the Mahabharat the names\ngiven are Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulaha, Kratu, Pulatya, and Vasishta.\n\n[21] Aposhani. This is the water which a Brahman sips from his hand\nbefore and after his meal.\n\n[22] Shravan corresponds roughly with August. The death of the child\nnullified all the virtue of the Shradh feast, which had at once to\nbe stopped.\n\n[23] Zhoting is really the unquiet ghost of a Musulman, but hobgoblin\nis probably a sufficiently close translation.\n\n[24] A tree sacred to Shiva.\n\n[25] The Asuras, who are now reckoned petty demons, had once upon\na time a much higher position. They are the same as Ahura-Magda,\nthe Jupiter of the Iranians. The latter, curiously enough,\ndegraded the Devas or Hindu Gods to the subordinate place of\ndemons. (Cf. Rawlinson's Bactria, page 21.)\n\n[26] Shravan = August.\n\n[27] Nag-kanya. These are the maidens of the race of the Nagas, who\nare said to have sprung from Kadru, wife of Kasyapa. One of them,\nUlupi, married the hero Arjuna. They live in Pat\u00e2la, the lowest of\nthe seven underground regions.\n\n\nTHE END","title":"Deccan Nursery Tales; or, Fairy Tales from the South","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":26599}