{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_59401/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_59401","id":"gutenberg_59401","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59401","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore -- India -- Punjab","Oral tradition -- India -- Punjab","Panjabis (South Asian people) -- Folklore"],"text":"Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, Barry Abrahamsen, and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n ORAL TRADITION FROM THE INDUS.\n\n\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n[Illustration: Scale 1 In: = 24 Miles.]\n\n[Illustration: (_Frontispiece_). THE VILLAGE H\u00dbJR\u00c2, OR GUEST HOUSE.]\n\n ORAL TRADITION FROM THE INDUS.\n\n COMPRISED IN TALES.\n\n TO WHICH ARE ADDED EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n BY\n\n MAJOR J. F. A. M^cNAIR, R.A., C.M.G.,\n\n _Author of_ \u201c_Perak and the Malays_,\u201d \u201c_Prisoners their own Warders_,\u201d\n _&c., &c._,\n\n AND\n\n THOMAS LAMBERT BARLOW,\n\n _Late Superintendent, Chief Salt-range, India_.\n\n REVISED AND CORRECTED,\n 1908.\n\n ILLUSTRATIONS DRAWN BY MISS L. FENN,\n\n FROM SKETCHES BY THE AUTHORS.\n\n BRIGHTON:\n PRINTED AT THE CRANBOURNE PRINTING WORKS,\n BY R. GOSDEN.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n CONTENTS.\n\n -------\n\n\n PAGE\n\n Introduction ix.\n\n I. The Guru and his Greedy Disciple 1\n\n II. The Donkey-man and the Precious 10\n Stone\n\n III. The Fakir and the Bh\u00e2nds 17\n\n IV. The Miserly Moslem Priest and his 22\n Wife\n\n V. The King\u2019s Son, his Friend, and the 35\n Fakir\n\n VI. Secundur Zulf-Kur-Nain 43\n\n VII. The Farmer, the Crocodile, and the 54\n Jackal\n\n VIII. Faith Opposed to Magic 61\n\n IX. The Fakir and his Quarrelsome Wife 70\n\n X. The Farmer and the Revenue Sowar 76\n\n XI. M\u016blt\u0101n as Hot as Fire 79\n\n XII. Sh\u0101it\u0101n and his Savage Wife 84\n\n XIII. Sakhi, the Generous Moslem 91\n\n XIV. The Priest, the Washerman, and the 104\n Ass\n\n XV. Akbar and his Minister 112\n\n XVI. The Rajah, his Minister, and the 121\n Shepherd\n\n XVII. The Banj\u0101ra, his Dog, and the 128\n Banker\n\n XVIII. How an Evil Spirit was Exorcised 138\n\n XIX. Bahad\u016br Singh and the Blind Beggar 144\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n PAGE\n\n Map of the Indus Map\n\n Frontispiece iv\n\n The Guru and his Greedy Disciple 2\n\n The Miserly Moslem Priest and his 22\n Wife\n\n A Monkey Temple in India (copied) 40\n\n Secundur Zulf-Kur-Nain 44\n\n The Farmer, the Crocodile, and the 54\n Jackal\n\n The Farmer, the Crocodile, and the 57\n Jackal\n\n Faith Opposed to Magic 62\n\n Sh\u0101it\u0101n and his Savage Wife 84\n\n Sakhi, the Generous Moslem 92\n\n Sakhi, the Generous Moslem 94\n\n Akbar and his Minister 112\n\n The Banj\u0101ra, his Dog, and the 128\n Banker\n\n Bahad\u016br Singh and the Blind Beggar 158\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n INTRODUCTION.\n\n\nIt was in the remote and little known village of \u201cGhazi,\u201d situated on\nthe left bank of the stately and classical Indus, and at the distance of\nabout thirty miles from the ancient city of \u201cAttock\u201d (Atak) that most of\nthis Folk-lore was collected.\n\nGhazi in itself is not what would be called a picturesque village in\nthose parts. Its straggling huts and houses are built on a rocky, unkind\nsort of soil, so that fine forest trees which would make a pleasing\npicture of the place will not grow there; indeed the vegetation is\nalmost entirely restricted to scrub and brushwood. There are, however,\nhere and there, thickets of the \u201cPhoolai\u201d and \u201cVahekur\u201d plants, and a\nstunted variety of the Plum tree, known by the natives as \u201cJh\u00e2r Bayri.\u201d\n\nAt some little distance inland, however, the soil improves; and the\nfarmers are able there to cultivate both wheat and barley, and to plant\nthe oil and cotton seeds from which they obtain very fair crops.\n\nThe view, however, looking from the village has a distinct charm of its\nown, owing to the wild, mountainous, and well-wooded country which\nencircles it. Within a few miles to its rear are the Hills of\n\u201cGundghur,\u201d the highest peak of which is by the natives of the place\ncalled \u201cPir Than,\u201d and is the scene of many of their local legends.\n\nFar away towards the north and west are lofty ranges of mountains,\nrunning, as it were, in graduated succession to join the distant line,\nwhich is in point of fact but an extreme western extension of the\nHimalayas.\n\nImmediately at the foot of the village, runs as I have already said, the\nriver Indus, and as its banks are somewhat narrowed at this point the\nstream becomes more rapid, but the river broadens out again a little\nfurther down, until it reaches the city of Attock, where its volume is\nincreased by the waters of the Kabul River.\n\nThe natives who dwell in the village are of that mixture of races\nusually to be found in most of the towns and villages in the \u201cHazara\u201d\ndistrict in which Ghazi is situated.\n\nThe Head men are Pathans of the \u201cThar\u201d tribe, commonly called \u201cThar\nKheyles.\u201d They are believed to be the descendants of Afghan soldiers who\ncame into India with the armies of Timur Baber and Nadir Shah.\n\nThen there are two or three divisions of the farmer class known as\n\u201cAwans,\u201d good soldiers and no better people in all India, and\n\u201cGhurk\u0101s\u201d\u2014fine, tough men. Also the barber class, or \u201cNaies,\u201d also\ncalled \u201cNapit\u201d; the shoemakers, or \u201cMoch\u012bs\u201d; the potters, or \u201cKoobhars\u201d;\nthe weavers, or \u201cPowlees\u201d; the blacksmiths, or \u201cLohars;\u201d and so on, with\na sprinkling of \u201cMerasis,\u201d or \u201cDooms,\u201d who fill the post of Genealogists\nand Bards to the community, and who are the reciters of warlike poetry.\n\nThese last are for the most part the receptacles and custodians of the\nold village folk-lore, though sometimes amongst the farmers living as\nthey do a simple and rustic life, many tales of the remote past have\nbeen retained, and the barbers, too, have been occasionally known to\nrelate them.\n\nAbove Ghazi, and at a distance of about twelve miles on the same side of\nthe river, are the villages known by the general name of \u201cThorbela.\u201d The\nword locally means \u201cBlack Island,\u201d after an island which was situated in\nfront of them, but was washed away in the floods of 1842. Since that\ndate many of the huts have been erected at some distance from the banks.\nThe village is an important one, and contains a thriving and industrious\ncommunity. To get to \u201cThorbela\u201d the traveller has to pass through the\nsmall village of \u201cMohat,\u201d between which and Ghazi is the ferry across\nthe Indus to the populous town of \u201cTopi.\u201d This town contains the same\nadmixture of races as at Ghazi, but in addition a larger proportion of\nthe \u201cJuddoon\u201d tribe who speak the \u201cPushtu\u201d language, which has some\nsimilarity to the Semitic.\n\nThe whole of this district will well repay a visit at any time, and the\ninterest is greatly enhanced when one calls to mind the many historical\nevents that have taken place, in and around it, in years long gone by.\n\nIt was at Attock (Atak) that Alexander the Great is believed to have\ncrossed the Indus B.C. 326. The ancient name of this city was said to be\n\u201cTaxila,\u201d so named after a petty king who joined his forces with those\nof Alexander in the attack and defeat of King Porus, and it was here\nthat Alexander rested his army for three days, and was royally\nentertained by its reigning Sovereign.\n\nIt is, however, quite foreign to my purpose here, to dwell at any length\non the ancient history of this part of India and the Punj\u00e2b generally,\ncalled by the Greeks the \u201cPente Potamia.\u201d I will not either touch upon\nthe supposed route taken by Alexander across the \u201cParopamisus\u201d Mountains\n(Hindu Kush), which is still a very disputed point.\n\nMy purpose in referring to this old history, is to draw attention to the\nfact that in the traditions that these non-recording Ghazi folk have\nhanded down of their gods, their heroes, and preternatural beings, they\nappear to have kept ever in their memories this visit of Alexander to\nIndia, in the legend of \u201cSecundur Zulf Kurnain,\u201d which forms one of the\ntales of this series.\n\nIt was at this little village of Ghazi, and in the districts adjoining\nit, remote at the time from all European influence, that Mr. Thomas\nLambert Barlow resided for over thirty years. He was employed by our\nGovernment in the Salt Revenue Department, and in the execution of these\narduous duties, he was as a matter of course thrown into almost daily\ncontact with all classes of the natives. He found it necessary to\nacquaint himself with their various dialects, and it was not long before\nhe was able to communicate freely with every caste and tribe.\n\nNo European could have had a better opportunity of getting at the\nthoughts and feelings of the people than he had, and being on friendly\nterms with most of them, they would talk to him, and before him, with\nperfect freedom, and altogether with an absence of that kind of\nrestraint, which I can say from my own knowledge, is felt more or less\nby most natives of India when in the presence of a European.\n\nIt has been said, and perhaps with some justice, that many folk tales\nhave to be received with a certain amount of misgiving; and doubtless\nalso each narrative as it descends in successive generations loses some\nof the force of the original. It is also very clear that the Folk-lore\nof a long-established and independent community such as that of Ghazi,\nor other out-of-the-way village of India, is not to be got at all of a\nsudden, for it lies deep down in the memories of only a certain few of\nthe people, and these not always willing to impart it unto strangers to\ntheir country.\n\nIt was not surprising therefore that it was only by degrees, and by very\nslow degrees, that Mr. Barlow, though always a welcome guest at their\nvillage \u201cH\u00fbjr\u00e2s\u201d or meeting places, was able to collect the lore of this\ninteresting, this semi-religious, and warlike people. Many of their\ntales he repeated to the Rev. Mr. Swynnerton, F.S.A., who in 1892\npublished them in his popular work entitled the \u201cIndian Nights,\u201d and\nagain with others in a later volume.\n\nMr. Barlow had not, however, exhausted all his store, and he has been\ngood enough to place these few more at my disposal, and to permit me to\nsend them to the Press in our joint names.\n\nHe has given them to me both orally and from notes, and it has been my\ntask to throw them into a readable form, avoiding as far as possible all\nmodification or undue colouring. In making together the translation into\nEnglish we were conscious sometimes of missing the native expression or\nidiom. When any such difficulty arose we found help in transposing the\noriginal words into the \u201cHindustani\u201d language, a native tongue familiar\nto us both. By this means, and with general care we were able to get\npretty near to the thought and combination of thought of the native\nnarrators, and the homeliness of their style.\n\nIt is perhaps matter for regret that in publishing these rural tales, I\nam not in a position to add the names of those people in Ghazi from whom\nMr. Barlow heard them, nor, of course, can I give their antecedents. It\nmight perhaps have afforded some clue to the source from whence the\ntales had been received, and it would certainly have been an additional\nevidence of their authenticity.\n\nMr. Barlow, however, made no note of these particulars at the time, and\nhe cannot even now trust his memory on these points. He gathered the\ntales more to obtain a better insight into the character of the people,\nand to strengthen his knowledge of the language, and with no ulterior\nview to their publication. He, however, can say with all truth, that\nmost of them were related in his presence by the farmers and \u201cMerasis\u201d\nor bards of the people, and that they are from the original stock\ntransmitted to them by their forefathers.\n\nI have thought it better not to encumber this volume with any elaborate\nanalysis of the Tales. They are very simple and descriptive, and\nfolk-lorists more able than myself, can readily arrange an analysis\naccording to their own system.\n\nIt has been necessary, however, with these Indian Folk-tales to attach a\nfew explanatory notes, chiefly to elucidate the text, but also with the\nview of bringing our readers more into touch with the people of the\ndistrict.\n\nThe Tales gain a great advantage from the drawings of Miss L. Fenn,\nwhich will be found to be full of expression and spirit, and are at the\nsame time faithful representations of the general characteristics of the\npeople of this part of Northern India.\n\nI am indebted also to the late Mr. John W. N. Barlow for much assistance\nto us in describing the native costumes, and for other information\nconnected with the Ghazi community.\n\nThese Tales under a different form and style, were re-printed in 1902,\nfrom the \u201cIndian Antiquary,\u201d by the Education Society\u2019s Press, Bombay;\nand later were kindly edited by W. Crooke, of the Bengal Civil Service\n(retired), the author of the \u201cN.W. Provinces of India,\u201d and other\nvaluable works.\n\nThey are now re-produced by the Original Writers, with some corrections\nand emendations, together with the illustrations to the text referred to\nabove.\n\n J. F. A. M^CNAIR, Major R.A., C.M.G.\n\nBELGRAVE HOUSE,\n\n PRESTON PARK, BRIGHTON.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE GURU AND HIS GREEDY DISCIPLE.\n\n\nIn former years there lived a very learned old \u201cGuru,\u201d or spiritual\nteacher, and he had five very earnest disciples who had become so imbued\nwith his knowledge, and so attached to his person that they agreed to\nfollow him wherever he led the way, even if it were to travel all the\ncountry round.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d he replied, \u201cif I do leave this enamoured spot where I have\nspent most of my life, we shall all have to undergo many privations, and\nperhaps hardships, but I confess I have now a thirst for seeing more of\nthe world: so will you go with me under the prospect of such\ncircumstances?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d they said, \u201cwe certainly will, and no matter what frowns of\nfortune come upon us we shall at least gain knowledge every hour that we\nare in your company.\u201d\n\nHe then proposed that they should visit the various Hindu shrines and\nthe places that had been hallowed by old associations connected with the\nfounders of their Faith.\n\nTo this they readily consented, and having sought for a propitious day,\nthey set forth on their travels.\n\nThey had visited many holy places consecrated by age and sanctity, and\nas they were everywhere made welcome by devotees of their religion, they\nhad few deprivations to encounter.\n\nOne day they were approaching a very populous city where a devout Hindu\nKing resided, and the \u201cGuru\u201d said to his disciples, \u201cI am much fatigued\nby the journey; go you all into the city and buy bread, and return to me\nhere,\u201d for he had determined to rest under a large clump of trees just\noutside the city walls.\n\nIt was not long before they all returned to the \u201cGuru\u201d with a wonderful\naccount of the city, \u201cFor,\u201d said they, \u201cwe have never known so\nremarkable a place, for, strange to relate, every article of merchandise\nis of the same price. In every shop and market all the goods are of one\nand the same value: gold, silver, precious stones, wheat, fruit,\nvegetables, and, indeed, everything that man can wish for and want, can\nbe had for the same sum.\u201d\n\nThe \u201cGuru\u201d said, \u201cYou much surprise me; and although I am very tempted\nto see for myself such a wonderful place, yet I am convinced that such a\nstate of things must bring about great laxity and vice, and that justice\nthere must be at a very low ebb, for that too I suppose is classed with\nthe other commodities. No! let us at once quit this city and make the\nbest of our way to some other more inviting place.\u201d Whereupon they all\nagreed to accompany the \u201cGuru\u201d; but one disciple, a tall strapping\nfellow, and fond of the good things of this life, said that on second\nthoughts he would like to spend two or three days in that city, and that\nhe would join them some marches off if they would only promise to go by\neasy stages.\n\n[Illustration: THE GURU AND HIS GREEDY DISCIPLE.]\n\nIt was in vain that the \u201cGuru\u201d tried to dissuade him from his purpose;\nhe had made up his mind, so he parted company with his fellows, and went\noff alone into the city.\n\nHe had not been there more than two or three days when a burglary,\nattended with murder, was committed in the city, and the \u201cKotwal,\u201d or\nchief Police officer, began to set on foot enquiries as to the\nwhereabouts of the perpetrators of the crime. He came across this\ndisciple of the \u201cGuru,\u201d and finding that he was a strong powerful\nfellow, and a stranger to boot, he was at once taken up on suspicion,\nand very soon witnesses were found who had seen him loafing about the\nplace, and he was there and then tried for the crime, condemned and\nsentenced to death and the sentence was confirmed by the King in due\ncourse.\n\nThis avaricious, this greedy disciple, was then cast into prison to\nawait his execution, and bitterly did he repent that he had not followed\nthe advice of his \u201cGuru.\u201d Thus mourning over his fate, he aroused the\nsympathy of his gaoler, who good-naturedly offered to send a messenger\nto tell his \u201cGuru\u201d what had happened to him, and to bid him return.\n\nThis messenger went off in great haste, and managed to come up with the\n\u201cGuru\u201d and his party at no very great distance from the city. He gave\nthem a full and distinct account of all that had passed, and how that\nhis disciple had been tried and sentenced to death; \u201cBut,\u201d he added,\n\u201cthe day of execution was not fixed when I left the city.\u201d He told the\n\u201cGuru\u201d moreover, that the King always made it his business to be present\nat all times when there was capital punishment to be carried out.\n\nThe \u201cGuru\u201d and his disciples then hurriedly returned with the messenger\nto the city, and when they entered the walls they ascertained that the\nexecution had been arranged for the day following.\n\nWhen the morning broke they hastened to the place of execution, and all\nthe city turned out to witness it. The \u201cGuru\u201d shortly after saw his\ndisciple, surrounded by a number of police, being brought from the\nprison. He at once accosted the Chief Officer and asked his permission\nto say just a word or two to the prisoner before his death. It was not\nusual to allow this, but as he was a \u201cGuru\u201d and a spiritual teacher and\nheld in great reverence by all Hindus, leave was granted him to do so.\n\nHe had only just time to say to his disciple, \u201cSee what you have brought\non yourself by your greediness and avarice; and now do as I tell you.\nWhen you see me prostrate myself before the King, call out at the top of\nyour voice, \u2018No, I will not suffer my holy \u201cGuru\u201d to die for me; I must\nand will die, so go on with the execution.\u2019 Mind you do this, for I\nintend as I prostrate myself to offer my life in exchange for yours.\u201d\n\nHe had scarcely spoken the words when there was a stir amongst the\npeople, for the King was approaching; and now the King had reached the\nspot prepared for him, and with him was a large concourse of nobles and\ncourtiers, indeed a goodly retinue, accompanied with all the pomp and\ndisplay so essential to all Oriental potentates when they move from\ntheir Palaces in State and on Public occasions. As soon as the tumult\nhad ceased the \u201cGuru\u201d approached as near the Presence as he dared, the\npeople making way for him as he was a \u201cGuru.\u201d He then bowed in\nsubmission and made the usual obeisance, and asked leave to speak.\n\nWhen the Prisoner saw his \u201cGuru\u201d prostrating himself before the King, he\ncalled out in a loud voice the very identical words that he had been\ninstructed by his \u201cGuru\u201d to pronounce. The King was beyond all measure\nastonished, for he heard the Prisoner\u2019s words distinctly, and motioning\nto the \u201cGuru\u201d to come nearer, His Majesty said, \u201cThis is a most\nremarkable thing; I have never known anything before like this to take\nplace at an execution. You, a learned \u201cGuru\u201d of our Faith, offer your\nlife as a substitute for the Prisoner\u2019s, and the Prisoner asks to die at\nonce, and seeks no mercy! It is usual rather for one condemned to death\nto solicit pardon at my hands. Can anyone solve this mystery?\u201d And\nturning to his nobles and courtiers he sought for a reply, but none was\nthen given. Then, appealing to the \u201cGuru,\u201d His Majesty said, \u201cCan you\ninterpret this wonderful procedure, for it passes man\u2019s understanding?\u201d\nWhereupon the \u201cGuru\u201d said, \u201cYes, oh King! I can; for is not this the\nvery day, and almost the very hour of the day, when, by our ancient\nSanscrit \u201cVedas\u201d it has been foretold that whosoever on this day and\nhour shall suffer death, or die in a public place, shall in very truth\nbe transported to endless happiness and bliss?\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it so?\u201d responded the King, and then summoning to his side his own\nlearned \u201cGurus,\u201d who in his belief could work miracles and forgive sins,\nhe demanded of them if such had been predicted. Quite oblivious as to\nwhat was passing in the King\u2019s mind at the time, they one and all\nreplied, \u201cTrue, oh King! such is the record.\u201d\n\nThen turning to his Vizier he commanded that the Prisoner should at once\nbe set free, \u201cFor,\u201d said His Majesty, \u201cI now see that fate has reserved\nfor me this propitious opportunity, that I myself should obtain the\nspiritual rewards promised in our sacred writings. Behold _me_ then, all\nof you, the substitute, and not the \u201cGuru.\u201d Whereupon he drew his\n\u201cKuttan,\u201d or dagger, from his belt, and plunged it into his breast.\n\nSo died the devout King of this wonderful City, and was gathered to his\nfathers, to the unutterable grief of all his Court and people.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n\u201c_Guru._\u201d\u2014A Hindu spiritual director or guide. It is a Sanscrit word and\nwas originally applied to a saint or holy man. The disciples of a \u201cGuru\u201d\nare termed \u201cChelah,\u201d also a Sanscrit word, and meaning pupil, servant,\nslave.\n\nAmongst the Mahomedans a \u201cGuru\u201d would be termed a \u201cPir,\u201d a Persian word,\nand in some parts \u201cMurshud,\u201d from the Arabic, and their disciples\n\u201cMureed,\u201d also from the Arabic.\n\nAll communities, either Hindu or Mahomedan, have their \u201cGurus\u201d or\n\u201cPirs.\u201d The disciples usually attend their \u201cGurus\u201d to the Shrines in the\ncase of Hindus, and to the Mosques and Shrines in the case of Moslems.\n\n\u201c_Clump of Trees._\u201d\u2014It is usual round good sized towns to build walls,\nand outside the walls to plant groups of trees, and to cultivate\ngardens, and to provide wells for general use.\n\n\u201c_Kotwal._\u201d\u2014An important Officer, holding in native towns authority\nunder the Rajah; and the idea conveyed by the name is that of an\nofficial appointed to look after others and to see that they obey the\nlaws. It is a Persian word, and the office is of ancient date, but owing\nto British intercourse is now almost superseded by the term Chief of\nPolice.\n\n\u201c_Police._\u201d\u2014In days long gone by it was customary for native kings and\nprinces to attend executions, and the word translated Police here was in\nthe original \u201cBurkundaz,\u201d literally, a match-lock man, because these men\nhad charge of prisoners in native States.\n\n\u201c_Kuttan._\u201d\u2014This is a Sanskrit word, and literally means a dagger with a\nprotected handle. Another name, from the Persian, is \u201cPeshkubz,\u201d but the\nhandle is different.\n\nThe sacrifice of human life to the gods prevailed amongst the early\nAryans of India, and there is evidence of expiatory sacrifices to\n\u201cChandika\u201d to save the life of a king. In this Folk Tale it is the King\nwho gives his life, in hope of reward from the gods.\n\n \u2014_Temple_, _Frere_, _Crooke_.\n\n\u201c_The number Five._\u201d\u2014Amongst the Ghazi folk there is no actual popular\nsuperstition as to this number being lucky or unlucky; but they glory in\nthe fact that they were born in the country of the Five Rivers, or\nPunjab, these rivers descending from the Himalayas and on into their\nparent river, the Indus. Some Mahomedans set rather a special value on\nthe number Seven, possibly from the number of points that the body\ntouches the ground in prostration in prayer, viz., the forehead, the\nelbows, the knees, and the feet.\n\nIn China both the figures Five and Seven are in everything felicitous.\nThey say that all the forces and phenomena of Nature are based upon the\nnumber Five (their primitive idea).\n\nHence, Five active organs of the body: the stomach, the lungs, the\nliver, the heart, and the kidneys. Five primary colours: red, yellow,\ngreen, black, and white. Five varieties of taste: sweet, acrid, sour,\nbitter, salt. Five elements: earth, metal, wood, fire, and water. Five\nprimary planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Five regions\nof the heavens: Centre, North, South, East, and West.\n\nSimilarly, as sounds belong to the phenomena of Nature, they must\ninvariably resolve themselves into Five.\n\n \u201c_Dennys\u2019 Folk-Lore._\u201d\n\n_Note._\u2014In the sacred poetical writings in the Sanskrit tongue\n(\u201cPurana,\u201d literally old) \u201cSiva\u201d as the third person in the Hindu Triad\nis the \u201cDestroyer,\u201d as \u201cBrahma\u201d was the \u201cCreator,\u201d and \u201cVishnu\u201d the\n\u201cPreserver.\u201d Siva is always represented with a third Eye, and the number\n\u201cFive\u201d is a mystical and powerful number with him.\n\n_Note._\u2014Again, all initiated Sikhs who have taken the oath, or pahal,\nhave Five Kukkahs, or conventional marks of distinction, viz.\u2014\n\n Kukkah Kase The long hair.\n\n Kukkah Kurd The small iron knife kept in\n the hair.\n\n Kukkah Kurrah The iron bangle.\n\n Kukkah Kunghah The comb kept in the hair.\n\n Kukkah Kachah The loose drawers to the knee.\n\n_Note._\u2014Also the native jury of Hindu communities is confined to Five,\nand is called a \u201cPunchayet.\u201d Indeed, the number is very generally met\nwith in India as of special significance, both with Mahomedans and\nHindus.\n\n_Note._\u2014In dealing with these numbers our thoughts will naturally recur\nto the well-known sayings in the Scriptures:\n\n\u201cFive of them were wise, and Five of them were foolish.\u201d And again, in\nthe religion of the Jews, how the number Seven is used as a number of\nperfection; and again, the number Five in the appeal of Abraham, \u201cWilt\nthou destroy all the city for lack of five?\u201d\n\n_Note._\u2014Sectarian marks are usual amongst Hindus: It indicates\ndifference of religious sects, not of castes. These are daily renewed on\nthe forehead after the bath. The worshippers of Siva are known by the\nhorizontal position of the mark, the worshippers of Vishnu by the\nvertical. The customary substances used are earths or white ashes from a\nsacred fire, saffron, sandal-wood, and white clay. Circlets are also\nused to distinguish sects as alluded to in Ezekiel ix. 4. Rosaries are\nuniversally used in India and elsewhere among Hindus and Moslems, and\nare composed of various kinds of wild seeds as \u201crudrakhs,\u201d or of glass\nand amber, and with the Hindus pictures of Vishnu and Siva are often\nheld in the hand with the beads to be counted.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE DONKEY-MAN AND THE PRECIOUS STONE.\n\n\nThe sun had gone down one day in the Mahomedan village of \u201cHuzro,\u201d in\nthe Hazara district, and it had become too late to work and too early\nfor sleep, when the young men and others in the village congregated\ntogether to while away the time by narrating tales of the past.\n\nThough really a Mahomedan village, there were several Hindu shops there,\nand some of the Hindus joined the company.\n\nIt was not long before one of the number was encouraged to tell a tale,\nand he began by saying \u201cYek vella: Once upon a time,\u201d and then he\nstopped; then there was a general laugh, and he made bold to begin\nagain, and then said:\n\nMany years ago there was a Donkey-man, a poor man, who used to carry\ngrain from place to place somewhere in the Punjab. One day as he was\ncrossing a small river he picked up a stone of a reddish colour, and as\nit looked pretty and out of the common he thought he would keep it; and\nso to preserve it he tied it on to the neck of his best donkey, and\nthere it hung as a sort of ornament. He did not know it was a gem, you\nsee, but only thought it was a nice-looking stone, and that he had never\nseen one like it before.\n\nAs he journeyed on with his donkeys he had to cross the \u201cChen\u00e2b\u201d river,\nand went down to the ferry, where he got into conversation with the\nFerryman while they were all waiting for sufficient passengers and goods\nto cross the stream. Looking at the donkeys the Ferryman came at last to\nthe donkey with the ornament on his neck, and he said to the\ngrain-carrier, \u201cWhere did you find this pretty stone?\u201d He told him that\nhe was crossing the bed of a little river and saw it. The Ferryman\nlooked at it again, but he did not know that it was a precious stone,\nyet he wanted it to decorate one of his oars; so he said to the\nDonkey-man, \u201cYou do not seem to care much for the stone; give it to me,\nand I will take you and your donkeys across for nothing.\u201d So the\nDonkey-man agreed, and the Ferryman tied it on to his oar, and kept\nlooking at it as he went on with his work, singing his usual song,\n\u201cChiko bh\u00e2yo, Chiko bh\u00e2yo, Chik!\u201d and beating time with his feet.\n\nSome days after this a Jeweller, or \u201cJohari,\u201d was crossing by the ferry,\nand his eye at once caught sight of the stone on the Ferryman\u2019s oar, and\ntaking a look at it (for the Ferryman was rather proud to exhibit it),\nhe in a moment became convinced that it was a ruby of a very large and\nunusual size, and he made up his mind that before he left the ferry he\nwould get it into his possession in some way or another. He was, in\nfact, quite excited about it, and feared that at any moment it might\ndrop into the water and be lost; but he was a cunning man and did not\nshow his feelings, but said quietly to the Ferryman, \u201cThat is a very\npretty sort of a stone you have on your oar; are you not afraid to lose\nit? Will you sell it to me?\u201d Now, the Ferryman was not quite sure that\nhe was a jeweller, or he might have been on his guard, but thought him\nto be only an ordinary traveller, and he too was almost as ignorant as\nthe Donkey-man. The Jeweller said to him, \u201cYou might turn it into\nrupees!\u201d \u201cWell, some day I shall, perhaps, when I want money,\u201d said the\nFerryman, \u201cbut it is not worth very much, and I got it from an old\nDonkey-man for taking him across the stream one day.\u201d When they got to\nthe opposite shore the Jeweller said before leaving, \u201cI will give you\nfive rupees for that stone.\u201d \u201cNo!\u201d said the Ferryman, \u201cI don\u2019t want\nmoney now,\u201d \u201cBut,\u201d said the Jeweller, \u201cIf I give you ten rupees? and I\nam not coming this way again, you had better take it.\u201d To this the\nFerryman agreed, and the Jeweller obtained possession of this precious\nand valuable ruby for so small a sum as ten rupees, and he went away\nvery rejoiced at his bargain.\n\nWhen the Jeweller got home he handled it over and over again and felt\nsure that he had got a great prize; so he folded it in several rags,\nfolds of rag, as the custom of lapidaries, or jewellers is, as you know,\nand put it very carefully by in a little box where he kept his best\njewels.\n\nIt happened a year or two after this that the Rajah of the country not\nfar from where the Jeweller lived, wanted some precious stones for a new\nChair of State, or \u201cTakht,\u201d and he sent his trusted messengers to all\nthe jewellers round about the neighbourhood to make enquiries for gems,\nand especially for rubies.\n\nThe messengers came to the Jeweller who had the stone I have been\ntelling you about, and they asked him whether he had any fine stones to\nsell. At first the Jeweller said, \u201cNo, my friends,\u201d for he feared that\nthe Rajah might take his jewels by force; but when they told him not to\nbe afraid, for the Rajah was very rich but was in need of precious\nstones for his Chair of State, the Jeweller went to his little box, and\nbringing to them the stone that he had set such value upon, he proceeded\nto untie and unwind the soiled rags one by one, in the presence of the\nmessengers.\n\nWhen he had untied the last rag, what was his grief and agony of soul to\nfind that the precious ruby was in two distinct pieces!\n\nHe gazed in amazement for a little, when suddenly, in the hearing of\nthem all, a voice came from the broken ruby, saying, \u201cNow, behold! I\nhave on purpose made myself of no value or service to you! When I was on\nthe donkey\u2019s neck I was in the hands and charge of one who knew not my\nreal value; when, again, I was on the Ferryman\u2019s oar, he was just as\nignorant of his treasure; when I came into your hands, who knew well my\nworth, you estimated my price at five to ten rupees only! Learn,\ntherefore, not to undervalue what is good for a mean and selfish object;\nnor to disparage your best friend, or you will live to rue the day, and\nrepent as bitterly as you now do and will do, for the remainder of your\nlife.\u201d\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n\u201c_Once upon a time._\u201d\u2014The original words are \u201cTek vella,\u201d and this is\nthe best, almost the only interpretation.\n\n\u201c_Carry Grain._\u201d\u2014The carriers of grain are generally called in the\ndistrict \u201cBunni\u00e2s\u201d or corn chandlers, The word \u201cBunni\u00e2\u201d is of Sanscrit\nderivation. Usually they are very intelligent Hindus. The Donkey-man in\nthis tale would more probably be one of the Farmer class, and a\nMahomedan. Other grain carriers are Farmers and Banj\u0101ras.\n\nTheir best oxen or donkeys are held in high esteem, and they decorate\nthem with all kinds of ornaments, such as shells, tassels of silk or\nwool of different colours, and frequently with bells.\n\nThe sacks used for carrying grain are usually made from goats\u2019 hair,\n\u201cJutt,\u201d and are woven by the Barber class, or \u201cNais.\u201d Two are united\nover the back of the animal, and fitted so that when full the weight\nshall be balanced and carried with ease. A good donkey will carry from\ntwo to three \u201cmaunds,\u201d after the Arabic word \u201cmun.\u201d A \u201cmaund\u201d is equal\nto about 80 lbs.\n\n\u201c_You see._\u201d\u2014The original word is \u201cVelcho,\u201d really \u201cDekho,\u201d the \u201cV\u201d\nbeing used instead of the \u201cD\u201d by some dwellers in this district.\n\n\u201c_Oar._\u201d\u2014The native word is \u201cChuppa,\u201d \u201cChupp\u016b\u201d in Hindustani, requiring\ntwo or three men to use it.\n\n\u201c_Chiko bh\u00e2yo._\u201d\u2014\u201cChiko\u201d is a corruption from the Hindustani word\n\u201cKheincho,\u201d pull.\n\n\u201c_Jeweller._\u201d\u2014The translation would be perhaps better rendered by\n\u201clapidary.\u201d A jeweller would be more correctly construed by the Sanscrit\nword \u201cSonar.\u201d\n\nIn days gone by, though in some parts of India it is still the custom\nfor lapidaries to wrap up their stones in bits of soiled rag, the more\nwarily to secrete them from the agents of Rajahs and others, who might\nwish to despoil them.\n\n\u201c_Takht._\u201d\u2014The Persian word for a Throne, which it is usual with Rajahs\nto adorn with precious stones.\n\n_Note._\u2014In the Punjab, Hindu Farmers worship their oxen and plough,\nShepherds their sheep, Bankers and Clerks their books, Grain-sellers\ntheir weights, at certain stated festivals.\u2014_Crooke_.\n\n\u201c_Chen\u00e2b._\u201d\u2014One of the five great rivers of the Punjaub. In the basins\nof the Chen\u00e2b and Jhelum are four distinct races. The Dogra, Pahari,\nKashmiri, and Chaibati.\n\n\u201c_Nai._\u201d\u2014This class of Barber combines also Surgical practice, and in\nsome places Priestly offices are assigned to them.\n\n\u201c_Ruby._\u201d\u2014The best rubies come from India, Burmah, and Ceylon; and the\nsapphire, topaz, and the emerald, though different in appearance, are\nchemically the same substance, or \u201cCorundum.\u201d A rose-red stone is\ndistinguished as Balas-ruby. (_See Balfour and Chambers._) The largest\nOriental ruby is now a jewel in the Imperial Crown of Russia.\n\n_Note._\u2014Precious stones have mystic virtues, and the belief of the\nnarrator was so much hurt at its value being appraised so low, that it\ncould not contain itself, and broke into two pieces.\n\n_Note._\u2014In the district there are the usual jokes amongst the people on\nthe \u201cNais,\u201d or Barbers, who, as it is said above, weave the sacks for\nthe donkeys.\n\n Naie nay sun\u00e2h\n Sorray graunt nay sun\u00e2h.\n\nThe Barber has heard the news, so no fear but that all the village has\nheard it too.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE FAKIR AND THE BH\u00c2NDS.\n\n\nMany years ago there lived in a village on the banks of the Indus River\nan old Fakir, by the name of Shah Bil\u00e2wal. Like most of his class he was\nliving a life of mortification, frequently torturing himself; and the\nfew garments that he wore were rotten and dirty. This old Fakir was one\nday crossing the River Chen\u00e2b in a boat with a number of other persons\nwho were also bound for the other side.\n\nAfter the boatmen had pushed off and had got well into the stream, they\nall fixed their eyes on the Fakir, who they thought was a mad man; for\nhis appearance made him look like one.\n\nSome of the company in the boat belonged to a class called \u201cBh\u00e2nds,\u201d and\nthe boatman said to them \u201cCannot some one of you perform some act that\nwill please the Spirit of the River \u201cKwaja Khizr,\u201d so that we may reach\nthe opposite shore in safety?\u201d\n\nUpon this, some of the Bh\u00e2nds began to snigger and laugh at the Fakir,\nand tried to ridicule him in every possible way; but Shah Bil\u00e2wal, who\nwas a devout man after his class, passed all their sneers away and took\nno notice of them.\n\nMockery, however, in Oriental philosophy, and in the traditions of all\npeople, we know is looked upon with contempt.\n\nA voice came to the Fakir, \u201cAre these mockers to be destroyed?\u201d and he\nreplied audibly, \u201cNo! make them sensible people to respect their Allah,\u201d\nthe Almighty.\n\nBefore they had arrived at the opposite shore they desisted from their\nfun and frolic, and paid all due respect to the Fakir, and became his\nfollowers ever afterwards.\n\nIn the course of time they all died, and their graves are to be seen in\nthe village of \u201cLalli\u00e2n,\u201d in the district of Jang.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n\u201c_Fakir._\u201d\u2014So often described that little new can be really said. There\nare both Mahomedan and Hindu Fakirs. They are indeed ascetics and\nrecluses, or monks who have retired from the world in all its temporal\nconcerns, and have devoted themselves to a religious life.\n\nOrdinarily they are poor men, and so they are mostly represented to be;\nbut some of them are known to possess great wealth, and many are even\nlanded proprietors. Some live in solitude, others in communities under a\nleader or ruler, and the house they congregate in is called a \u201cGuddi,\u201d\nliterally, a seat or cushion, on which the head of the community sits.\n\nThe Mahomedan Fakirs in the district may be divided into, say four\nleading sects, viz., the Chishti, Nuksh-Bhudee, Kadria, and Malang.\nThere is also a sub-division denominated \u201cMajzub,\u201d from the Arabic word\n\u201cjuzb,\u201d which means absorbed. These latter, however, do not keep to the\nstrict rules of Mahomed, and are known to take intoxicants to a great\ndegree, and are called by the natives, \u201cGhair Sherrah,\u201d or outside the\npale. In the case of the Malang it was customary for them to go about in\na state of nudity, but this has been prohibited for some time, and they\nnow go about with hair loose and uncombed.\n\nThe Hindu Fakirs may be said to be sub-divided into three prominent\nsects, viz., the Suny\u0101s\u012bs, the Byr\u00e2gis, and the Jogis. These three\nclasses, and other sub-divisions also, have much in common, being all\nascetics, and striving to attain a command over all elementary matter,\nwhile also endeavouring to effect a junction between the spirit in the\nbody and the spirit pervading all Nature. The Suny\u0101s\u012bs are followers of\nSiva, and the Byr\u00e2gis of Vishnu, while the Jogis, who also worship Siva,\nare close followers of the \u201cYoga\u201d school of philosophy, which was\nintroduced into India about the eighth century, under the name of the\n\u201cPalanjula\u201d school.\n\nThere is a peculiarity about the garments of the latter class, which are\ndyed with red ochre (geyr\u016b). Their body is smeared with the ashes of\nburnt cow-dung, as are indeed the bodies of most of the other two\nclasses.\n\nThere is a sub-division of the Jogis named \u201cK\u0101npathay,\u201d or \u201cear-torn,\u201d\nfrom the fact of their ears being pierced at their initiation, in which\nthey place sometimes a ring made from rhinoceros horn, or at other times\na prickly seed, called a \u201cMoodma.\u201d Those who do not bore the ear are\noften called \u201cOngur.\u201d\n\nThe Byr\u00e2gis, or more correctly Vir\u0101gis, use a short stick, on which they\nlean to support themselves when reclining on the ground. The stick is\nmostly crooked, and they place it beneath the arm-pits. It is called a\nByr\u00e2ga, by some a \u201cZafr-tukeea.\u201d[1]\n\nMany of the Jogis bury their dead in a sitting posture, and place rock\nsalt round the body. Some of these Hindu Fakirs carry medicines, and\nothers again, water from the Ganges for sale. One may meet with many\nalso with a dry gourd slung over their shoulders, with the upper part\ncut to act as a sort of handle. These gourds are frequently covered with\nthe ashes of cow-dung when in growth, and are allowed to remain until\nthey are ripe with seed, so that they may be as hard as possible in the\nrind.\n\nThe \u201cGosains\u201d are also a numerous sect of Hindu mendicants. The\netymology of the word is from the Sanskrit, and means \u201cMaster of the\nsenses and passions.\u201d They are to be found mostly in Southern India. A\ncomplete Gosain is a celibate, and will only eat with a Brahman or\nRajpoot. Some of them have considerable property, and keep elephants and\nhorses.\n\n\u201c_Bh\u00e2nd._\u201d\u2014Literally a clown or buffoon, employed often to make sport at\nfestivals and other assemblages of the people.\n\n\u201c_Spirit of the River._\u201d\u2014River worship is common amongst most Aryan\ntribes, and nearly every river has its tutelary divinity who presides\nover it. The voice would, in the belief of the Fakir, have come from\nthis Spirit.\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n Literally a Pillar of Victory. See \u201cQanoon Islam\u201d for tribes of\n Fakirs.\n\nThe practice of religious veneration for rivers by these races no doubt\npreceded that given to them by the ancient Greeks and Romans. We read of\nXerxes of Persia offering sacrifices to the River Strymon, on his way to\nGreece.\n\nKwaja Khizr, a Mahomedan Saint, is acknowledged to be the special god of\nwater, with whom it is well to keep on the best of terms. In one of\ntheir trite sayings they express themselves thus:\n\n Khuddhee thay vusnah\n Thay Khawja hat baiyr!\n\n\u201cWhat! live on the River bank, and be at enmity with Kwaja!\u201d\n\nOpposite to Rohri, on the Indus, is the Island of Khawja Khizr, and\nthere is now a Mosque on it, with an inscription dated 952 A.D.\n\n \u2014(_See Crooke, Murray, and Balfour_).\n\nThe Mahomedans, on Thursdays in the month \u201cBh\u0101don,\u201d float little lamps\non rafts called B\u0113rah, as an offering to this Saint. Sometimes they have\nthe face of a female, and the crest and breast of a peacock at the prow.\n\nKwaja Khizr is thought by Moslems to be immortal, and to perambulate the\nearth in a green garment, and to appear to different people. By some he\nis supposed to be St. George of England, and they term him Khizr Elias.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE MISERLY MOSLEM PRIEST AND HIS WIFE.\n\n\nIn a village situated on the banks of the Indus, the \u201cAbaseine,\u201d or\nFather of Rivers as it is called, there dwelt many years ago, an Imam,\nor \u201cMullah,\u201d a President of the Mosque, who had come to be much\nrespected by the people for the constant and regular manner in which he\nofficiated, and walked closely in the ways of the Prophet. In his time\nmany used to go to Mosque who never went before. This Imam had his fees\nof course, for the performance of Nikahs, or marriages, and other rites\nof the Mahomedan faith, some of which he bestowed on the sick and poor.\nOn festival days, besides an increase of fees, he generally received\nclothes and other articles from the faithful, so that in point of fact\nhe made a rich harvest.\n\nTowards the latter end of his days, however, this Imam contracted habits\nof stinginess, yet he never failed to preach liberality to others, and\nabove all, the giving of alms to the sick and poor.\n\n[Illustration: THE MISERLY MOSLEM PRIEST AND HIS WIFE.]\n\nHe would tell the faithful, \u201cYou must always give what you can, and if\nyou have no money, give them of the food you prepare for yourselves, and\never remember\u201d he said, \u201cthat those who do this the most exactly will\nobtain the best blessings, and if you give them dishes of a savoury\nnature, so much the greater merit, and so much the better for you.\u201d\n\nThis Imam had but one wife, devoted to his interests in every way, and\nwith the strongest belief in her husband\u2019s sanctity and sincerity, and\nshe looked up to him as her spiritual guide and teacher.\n\nShe had noticed for some time, however, how niggardly he was becoming,\nand her neighbours had also remarked this to her, \u201cBut,\u201d they said, \u201che\nnever ceases to preach to us to give dainty dishes to the poor.\u201d\n\nAll this distressed the wife, so she made up her mind that she would try\none day to hear what the Imam actually did preach to the people.\n\nNow, the Mosque was situated on the road-side, and there was an open\nwindow to that side, and as his wife knew that she could not be admitted\nto the Mosque, she made up her mind to listen at the window.\n\nOne day when she got there quite unperceived, she saw the Imam with his\nface toward Mecca, and he was telling the people just as the neighbours\nhad told her, viz., \u201cThat whatever you do, give alms to the poor, and\nnice dishes when you can, for this will bring you a blessing at the\nlast.\u201d\n\nWhen she heard this she said to herself, \u201cIf this is so, and I believe\nit, I make a vow from this day forward to send nice dishes to the poor,\nfor I am not going to be behind others in this duty.\u201d Whereupon she at\nonce prepared and cooked daily such dishes as she could, and then sent\nthem to the poor living round about her; and sometimes she would spend a\ngood deal of money in the purchases she made for the cooking of \u201cPul\u0101o\u201d\nand \u201cPar\u0101tha\u201d (sweet pudding and cake).\n\nThis she had continued to do for some time, when one day her husband\nreturned from the Mosque a little earlier than usual, and she was\nherself a little late, and coming into the house and seeing the dishes\nready and on a tray, he thought that they had been sent as a gift.\nOpening the covers he exclaimed, \u201cOh! Mother of Mahomed! we are indeed\nin luck\u2019s way. Who, in the name of fortune, can be the blessed of the\nfaithful who has sent us such a savoury meal? Why! here is Pul\u0101o! and\ncakes! and I do not know what beside! What a delicious feast!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo one, sir,\u201d replied the wife, \u201chas sent this, but I have prepared it\nfor the poor!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d said he, \u201cof our money? And what have you spent, pray?\u201d He\nbecame very angry, and she could only wait till he was quiet; then she\nsaid, \u201cDid you not preach to the people, and I dare say do so still,\nthat those who give dainty dishes to the poor shall be blessed\nhereafter? Did you not say that prayer carries us halfway to Allah,\nfasting to His palace gates; but only alms-giving gets us in? Yes, I\nhave heard you say so myself!\u201d He replied, \u201cYou wretched woman, how and\nwhen did you hear this? And if you did hear it, my advice was for\nothers, not for ourselves; I never meant that we were to send to others,\nbut that others were to send to us, and you must stop this waste at\nonce; do you hear me?\u201d \u201cYes, I hear you, but I cannot stop it now, for I\nhave made a solemn promise and vow that I will continue this to my dying\nday. You have said, and I always believe what you say, that the best\nblessings attend those who give dainty dishes to the poor; and you don\u2019t\nwant me to be blessed, eh?\u201d\n\nThe Imam then said, \u201cIf you go on in this way, and spend my money, I\nshall be ill.\u201d And sure enough, he did not rise the next morning in time\nto go to the Mosque, a duty he had not failed in for years. His wife\nwent to rouse him, but he would not get up. At last she said, \u201cAll the\npeople will be waiting for you.\u201d \u201cI cannot help that,\u201d he replied, \u201cbut\nif you will break your wicked vow, I will at once get up and go to the\nMosque.\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d she said, \u201cI have already told you I will on no account\nbreak my vow, and all your talking will never shake my purpose,\u201d \u201cWell,\nthen,\u201d said the Imam, \u201cI shall certainly take to my bed and die.\u201d \u201cThen\ndie you must,\u201d said she, \u201cbut remember that if you do not go to the\nMosque, they will put in some other man instead of you, and you will be\nthe loser.\u201d\n\nThis, however, had no effect upon him, and when she went again to see\nhim he once more asked her to break her vow, and she as steadily\nrefused. She then left him for the night, and the next morning when she\nwent to see him he was to all appearances dead, and failing to get any\nresponse, she called in her friends and neighbours, who pronounced that\nhe had truly passed away; and then they sent up the usual cries and\nlamentations in such cases. The day following, according to custom, the\nbody was washed (ghussal), covered with a shroud, and laid ready on a\nbier, and shortly after carried to the Cemetery, or \u201cKaburist\u0101n,\u201d under\na chorus of mournful voices, saying, \u201cThere is no Deity but Allah, and\nMahomed is his prophet,\u201d or in their own words, viz., La-il-la-ha.\nIllul-la-ho. Mahommadoor Rassool-oolahe.\n\nThe wife contrived to secrete herself in the procession, for she well\nknew that no woman could go to the graveside, and when the bier was\nwaiting after the funeral prayers of \u201ctakbir\u201d and \u201cdua\u201d had been said,\nshe came to the front, and asked to have one more look at her husband.\nThe funeral service contains four Tukbeers (creeds) and the Dua\n(blessing). (See Funeral Obsequies in Jaffur Shurreef\u2019s\n\u201cQanoon-e-Islam.\u201d) Those round about the body were for moving her away,\nbut others cried, \u201cLet her be! Let her be!\u201d Going near the bier she\nwhispered, \u201cYou are just going into the grave; you had better think\nbetter of it.\u201d \u201cSo I will,\u201d he replied softly, \u201cif you will break your\nvow.\u201d Drawing her lips tightly together, she gave a final \u201cNo!\u201d and then\ncalled out at the top of her voice, \u201cFriends and neighbours, this is the\ntime for charity; you see my husband is dead; now go to my house, and\ntake away what things you like. I shall not want them any more, and they\nare of no further use to your old Imam.\u201d\n\nShe had scarcely uttered these words when the Imam rose from the bier\nlike a ghost, scaring away many of the sorrowing mourners near by.\n\u201cWait!\u201d he cried out; \u201crelease me; I am not dead, but only in a trance.\nHear ye! all of you, what this wretched woman says, and mark well her\nextravagance and waste. When I lived with her she squandered my money,\nand now, when I was on the point of being buried, she gives away my\npossessions. She shall not, however, have her way now with what I\npossess at my death, do what she will with the money-bag while I am\nalive.\u201d\n\nIt was some time before the people could be reconciled to the belief\nthat their old Imam had come to life again, but when they were, he was\ntaken back amid much wonder and rejoicing. He appeared again at Mosque,\nand lived for some time afterwards, determined to defy his wife as to\nthe disposal of his goods after death, while she gained her wicked will\nin regard to his property while alive, and continued to send her savoury\ndishes to the poor.\n\nSo you see, my friends, it was the woman, after all, who won the day.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n\u201c_Aba-seine._\u201d\u2014The river Indus is so termed in the Pushtu language, and\nthe word comes from the Arabic: Aba, father, and Seine, a river. Pushtu\nis spoken in the region of Kandahar Kafiristan, and round about Attock,\nand is said to bear a similarity to the Semitic and Iranian languages.\n\n\u201c_Imam._\u201d\u2014From the Arabic, a leader in religious affairs; a priest of\nthe Mahomedan faith; answers to \u201cMullah,\u201d or \u201cMulwanah.\u201d In the district\nround about Ghazi, and in other parts of India, the \u201cImam,\u201d or \u201cMullah,\u201d\nperforms many religious offices. He often calls to prayer as a\n\u201cMuezzin,\u201d from the Arabic word \u201cIzn,\u201d and generally this is done from a\nminaret of the Mosque. After prayers, where with his face to Mecca he\nleads the worshippers, he collects the boys of the village and teaches\nthem the Koran. He also bathes and washes the deceased male members of\nthe faith, and prepares the body for burial, and puts on the \u201cKuffun,\u201d\nor shroud. This Kuffun or shroud consists of three pieces of cloth if\nfor a man, and five if for a woman, and must be white. After shrouding\nthe body, they tie one band above the head, a second below the feet, and\na third about the chest. He is present at all marriages, or \u201cNikahs.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Pul\u0101o._\u201d\u2014From a Persian word, and means a kind of sweet pudding of\nmeat with flour, ghee, and sugar, and sometimes raisins mixed with it.\n\n\u201c_Parata._\u201d\u2014Or \u201cPar\u0101tha,\u201d a kind of bread or cake made from wheaten\nflour mixed with butter or ghee, and of several layers like pie-crust,\nand put on a griddle over a slow fire.\n\n\u201c_Moslem Grave._\u201d\u2014This is dug down for about five feet or so, north and\nsouth. For a woman the depth should be to the height of a man\u2019s chest,\nif for a man to the height of the waist. At the base a recess is cut out\nfrom the soil for the reception of the body, which is laid on its back,\nand the head is so turned as to be facing Mecca. In ordinary soils after\nthe body has been put in the recess, slates or stones are placed to\nprevent the filled-in soil from coming in contact with the body. If the\nsoil is sandy it is kept up by the use of chatties, or earthenware\nvessels, in lieu of slates or stones. There is always a stone placed on\nthe surface at head and foot, to indicate the position of the body.\nThese are called \u201cMoonee.\u201d The grave of a female is indicated by a third\nstone, placed between the others.\n\nIn the Ghazi district some of these head-stones are very high, often of\nfive or six feet in height, and of slate, which is readily obtained in\nthe neighbourhood.\n\nOn some of these slates used as tombstones it is customary to delineate\nover the graves of important Mahomedan personages, and known to have\nbeen devout men, sketches of the Rosary, or \u201cThusbee,\u201d the goblet, or\n\u201cKooza,\u201d and the tooth-stick, or \u201cMiswak.\u201d This stick, used as a\ndentifrice, is made here from the root of the \u201cPilvo\u201d tree. In the\nvillage of \u201cKazeepur,\u201d the names of the deceased are sometimes painted\non the slates.[2]\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n Some people make various kinds of niches for lamps near the head of\n the grave called Churagd\u0101n.\n\nGenerally the graveyards of the Mussulmen are near the road-side, that\nthe deceased may receive the benefit of the \u201cDua Khair,\u201d or solemn\nprayers of devout passers-by.\n\n_Note._\u2014Kazeepur has its local sayings also. Once a very devout man, and\na born poet, visited this village and also that of Ghazi; his name was\n\u201cPeeloh,\u201d and it is currently said that before he quitted the district\nhe ascended the Gundghur Hills, opposite to Harripur, and left the\nfollowing lines with one of the bards of the village.\n\n Peeloh! cheriya Gundgurh thay\n Kias kureh khalo\n Ag\u00ea vag\u00ea Sinde Rani\n Pich\u00ea vag\u00ea Haro.\n Chach binah Summundur dhay\n Jo gudh\u00ea soho\n Dhunnie gurray Rungaree\n Bhummy baith\u00ea ro.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n Peeloh ascended the Hills of Gundgurh\n Was wrapped in deepest thought.\n Before him was the Indus,\n Behind him the Haro.\n The plains of Chach like a sea are there\n Where to plant \u2019tis sure to sprout,\n But to sow your field in the soil of Dhunnie\n You may well sit by its side and weep.\n\nAnother of their poets, a Pathan, and a man of \u201cHuzro,\u201d beholding\nCashmere from the Mountains and the vale of the country stretched out\nbefore him, burst, it is said, into the following stanzas:\n\n Kashmere to ajub ja hai\n Juthay \u00e2p Khud\u00e2 r\u00e2za hai\n Kea kishtee! kea howa hai\n Yek seir hai Huzrut \u201cBul\u201d key\n Vo t\u00e2kht-l-Suleem\u00e2ni\n Kashmere ka thanda p\u00e2ni.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n Cashmere is a wonderful place\n Where even God finds pleasure.\n Behold the boats! and how sublime is the air!\n One excursion is to the Shrine of Huzrut \u201cBul,\u201d\n Another to the Mountain, the \u201cThrone of Solomon.\u201d\n Cashmere too! how cool and refreshing is your water!\n\n\u201c_Musjid._\u201d\u2014The word is Arabic and from the root Sijdah, to bow; musjid,\nplace of bowing; in the original a corrupted pronounciation is used, as\n\u201cmusseeth.\u201d\n\n_Note (see \u201cImam\u201d)._\u2014The natives of the district have a rather pithy\nsaying when referring to an incompetent Imam, or Mullah.\n\n Neem Mull\u00e2hn Kuthray iman,\n Neem Hakeem Kuthray ijan.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n Half a Priest endangers your salvation;\n Half a Doctor imperils your life.\n\n\u201c_Miserly._\u201d\u2014-The word for miser is in the original \u201cSh\u016bm,\u201d an Arabic\nword. Misers are held in great detestation by the people, and they have\nmany sayings about them. One is the soliloquy of a stingy man to a\ncopper coin which he had held tightly in his hand on a hot day until a\ndrop of perspiration fell from it.\n\n Paisa ne r\u00f4\n Merah pallay buddhay r\u00f4\n Mungee, pinnee, Khans\u00e2hn\n Thookee, na kurchay s\u00e2nh.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n Weep not! my beloved Pice!\n You shall not leave the hem of my garment.\n I will ask, I will beg, and thus maintain my lot,\n And never suffer you to be paid away.\n\nStories of misers are to be found in every country, and in Chinese\nFolk-lore it is told of a mean and stingy king that in peace time he\ncaused his cavalry to dismount, that their horses might be used in the\nGovernment mills. War came; the horses were returned to the men, but\nthey kept to their habit, and still persisted in going in a\ncircle.\u2014_Dennys._\n\nThere is a saying also amongst the Punjabis that all misers are\nwretched, and collect money only for others to enjoy. They tell a tale\nof a miser who was once visited by some friends, and he advanced to meet\nthem, and said:\n\n \u201cAoo bow sujjeen\u00e2h\n Ghur bar Toomh\u00e2hr\u00e2\n Khur. Peeoh apn\u00e2h\n Burthun Khumbiarr\u00e2h\n Rul mil Charreeay \u2018Kicheree,\u2019\n Purr \u2018Ghee\u2019 Toomh\u00e2hr\u00e2\n Heeahn jugg\u00e2h tung hai\n B\u00e2hair Thakur Dhivarr\u00e2h.\u201d\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n \u201cCome in; pray sit down, my friends,\n The house and all its contents are yours.\n You must, however, provide your own meats and drinks,\n and perhaps we\u2019ll share in making some \u2018Kicheree,\u2019\n though you must contribute the Ghee.\n See how narrow, too, my home is, so let us adjourn\n outside to the enclosure of the Idol house, where\n you can do all the cooking for me.\u201d\n\n_Note._\u2014The Rosary[3] is, as has been said, (remarked under \u201cMoslem\ngrave,\u201d) called a \u201cThusbee\u201d by the Mahomedans; it is also called\n\u201cM\u00e2ll\u00e2nh\u201d by the Hindus. The aimless counting and turning over of the\nbeads by some is thus denounced by the people of the district:\n\nFootnote 3:\n\n The name comes from the Latin word \u201cRosarium,\u201d a garden or chaplet of\n roses.\n\n Dhil dh\u00e2 mink\u00e2h aik n\u00e2h sattaynn\n Thay gyn sattaynn panj Vee\u00e2nh.\n\n You turn not one of the beads of your heart, though you\n repeat Five score of them on your rosary.\n\n_Note._\u2014It may not be generally known that the \u201cThusbee\u201d or Rosary\nconsists of 100 beads separated by a long bead called \u201cShumshah\u201d (from\nthe Arabic, meaning \u201ctassels\u201d on a rosary) over which there are ten\nbeads called \u201cShumm\u00e2r\u201d (from the Persian, meaning \u201ccounting\u201d). When one\nround of prayers is completed a special short prayer is often added, or\nthe name of Allah is repeated on it one thousand times.\n\nAt the completion of the 100 beads, one bead is separated on the\nShumm\u00e2r, and so on each time, in order to count the 1,000 epithets of\nAllah if it should be so desired. To comprehend the mystic sound of the\nbeads are matters of \u201cMarifat,\u201d or knowledge of Allah!\n\nThe beads are made mostly from the \u201cKaoo\u201d wood, or wild olive, which in\nsome places is called \u201cZythoon.\u201d Walking sticks are often made of it.\nThere are, however, beads made from the sacred clay found near Mecca and\ncalled \u201cKhaka sharreef\u201d; some are also made of glass or agates. Some\nprefer to have coloured glass beads after every 33 of the wooden beads.\nIn early times frequently almonds and nuts were used for counting.\n\nThe M\u00e2ll\u00e2nh of the Hindus consists of 108 beads, independent of one at\nthe top called \u201cSumer.\u201d As in the Hindu Ghastra there are 108 special\nletters, 54 of which are written upright and 54 downward, so this number\nhas been fixed for the M\u00e2ll\u00e2nh. The top bead is to indicate the\ncompletion of the 108. The special worshippers of \u201cKrishna\u201d (the eighth\nincarnation of Vishnu) have rosaries made from the \u201cTulsi\u201d wood (O\u2019cymum\nSanctum or Holy Basil). Tulsi was a nymph beloved by Krishna, and by him\nmetamorphosed into this plant. The wood is held in high veneration by\nall Hindus. Much of this wood comes from Mathra, India. The large bead\nin a Hindu rosary called a \u201cSumeru\u201d after a high mountain, on the summit\nof which is supposed to reside the Hindu deities of Vishnu, Siva, and\nseveral others of lesser note. This bead remains fixed in the hand, and\nis not turned over in counting.\n\nThe Brahmins, when they repeat their prayers on a rosary, designate them\nunder the term \u201cGayathri,\u201d the mother of the Vedas, and of which there\nare five, according to the number of the principal deities. Gayathri is\na form of metre, and is repeated inaudibly in the daily morning worship\nof the Brahmins.\n\n\u201c_Nikah._\u201d\u2014This is the name given to marriages amongst Moslems, as\n\u201cNikah namah\u201d is the marriage certificate.\n\nThe Nikah is the form of words used by the Kazi or Priest, and the Shadi\nor rejoicings are additional at the will of the relatives. Nikah is the\nbinding ceremony, and Shadi is considered a more respectable form, and\nis attended with rejoicings,\n\nNikah is an Arabic word, and Shadi a Persian, meaning pleasure and\ndelight.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE KING\u2019S SON, HIS FRIEND, AND THE FAKIR.\n\n\nIn another H\u00fbjra in the village of \u201cThuvee,\u201d on the left bank of the\nIndus, the young men of the place had collected one day, as was their\ncustom, when one of their number called for a tale, and very shortly the\nwell-known narrator of the village began by saying: There was once a\ngreat King, a very great King, an earthly King, for this great King has\ngone to his dust long ago, but the greatest King of all is above. The\nKing I am going to tell you about lived in ancient times, and he looked\nafter his country very well, and had about him some clever Ministers,\nbut he was not happy in his home. He had two sons, the younger being\nvery fair and good-looking, and the King had them trained in all manner\nof learning that they might succeed him in the kingdom.\n\nUnfortunately, this younger son became at times very riotous, and\noffended his father on many occasions, and though only a youth he became\nso disobedient and troublesome that his father decided on banishing him\nfrom his Palace. One morning when the son arose he found that his shoes\nwere \u201capoota,\u201d or turned the wrong way, so he knew from that, that he\nwas to be turned away from home.\n\nAt a loss to know what to do, he went to his best friend and told him\nwhat had happened, and after consulting together they said, \u201cWe must at\nonce fly this country, and seek our fortune in another country.\u201d So\nproviding themselves with money and horses and provisions for a few\ndays, they mounted their horses and set off on their journey, not\nknowing where to go. They took the high road for some miles, and then,\nlest they might be pursued, they struck off into the jungles, and night\ncoming on they picketed their horses under a tree and slept up the tree\nthemselves for fear of wild beasts. This they continued to do for\nseveral nights, wandering through the jungles in the daytime. One\nevening they noticed at some little distance what they thought to be\nsmoke, so they pushed on in the hope of finding some assistance and\nwelcome in the dreary woods of the forest.\n\nAll of a sudden they came upon a hut surrounded with trees and\nbrushwood, and hearing no sound they thought that it had been deserted,\nbut listening very attentively they overheard the groans of a man as if\nin pain. Dismounting, they opened the little door of the hut, and there\nthey saw a very old Fakir, bent almost double, and like to a bundle of\nrags, and lying on a sort of raised place in the corner. \u201cArrah! Kaun\nhai?\u201d he called out, which means \u201cWho is there?\u201d They then told him that\nthey were benighted in the jungles, had consumed all their food for\nthemselves and their horses, and were about to seek their fortune in the\nKing\u2019s country which was somewhere here-about, they thought. \u201cCan you\nplease give us first some food, and then point us out the way to the\nKing\u2019s country?\u201d Upon this the old Fakir scrambled off his bed place,\nand by the light of the small fire he looked at them very narrowly, and\nat last he said to the King\u2019s son, \u201cBucha (son), I will see what I can\ndo for you.\u201d Presently he went a little distance outside his hut and\nblew a sort of whistle, and in less than no time a whole troop of\nLungoors (large monkeys) came hurriedly down from the trees, chattering\namongst themselves, and looking up into his face. \u201cGo! ten of you, at\nonce,\u201d he said, \u201cto the nearest village, loot it, and bring food for\nthese travellers and corn for their horses.\u201d Without more ado, off went\na party of them in great haste, and in a very short space of time back\nthey came with food and corn, and put it down at the feet of the Fakir,\nwho seemed to speak a word of encouragement, and they departed.\n\nAfter feeding their horses and refreshing themselves with a little food\nthe travellers were about to take their leave of the old Fakir, and\ntrust themselves again to their wanderings, when the Fakir said \u201cNo! you\nmust not go without protection.\u201d So saying, he gave another whistle, and\nmore \u201cLungoors\u201d came, and detaching about twenty of them he told them to\ngo before the travellers and to put them on the high road leading to the\nKing\u2019s country, and then slightly raising his voice he said, \u201cAnd mind\nyou do not go beyond your boundary.\u201d\n\nTaking a kindly leave of the Fakir, the travellers left the hut, guarded\nwith this escort of \u201cLungoors,\u201d who, first on the ground, and then on\nthe trees in front, seemed to point out to them a way through the\njungles. After they had threaded their way for a considerable distance,\nuntil it was about the dawn of the morning, the \u201cLungoors\u201d began to\npause, and then all of a sudden they came to a dead stop, so the\ntravellers knew that they must have come as far as their boundary.\n\nShortly afterwards they heard a great stampede amongst the trees, and\nall their \u201cLungoors\u201d dispersed in an instant; then there seemed to be a\ngreat fight going on amongst them everywhere about, and screams of the\nmost unearthly nature, such as they had never heard in their lives\nbefore. Morning then coming on, they pressed their steeds towards an\nopening in the jungle, and soon reached the high road. And so, on they\nwent at an easy pace until they saw in the distance the walls and smoke\nof a great city, and the towers of a great palace. Arriving at the gates\nthey went in, and proceeded at once to the Palace, and asked to be taken\ninto the Royal presence. Ere long they were ushered before the King, and\nnarrated their adventures, which both interested and amused him very\nmuch.\n\nThe King was pleased to give them service under him, and they remained\nat his Court for some years. Not receiving any news of their own\ncountry, they obtained leave from the King to visit it.\n\nUpon their return thither, they went at once in some fear to the Palace,\nexpecting that the anger of the King might still be poured out upon\nthem; but when they told their story the King received them back into\nfavour, and gave to his son an office in the State, and promoted the\nfriend who had been his companion through their travels.\n\nThe son then bethought him of doing something in return to the kind old\nFakir who had befriended them in the jungles, and he sent a party to\npersuade him to come to the Palace to live near him. The Fakir declined\nto leave his hut, so the party returned. At last the King\u2019s son went\nhimself, and took with him a Palkee, or covered carriage, and brought\noff the Fakir to his Palace. He gave him a beautiful room, with Persian\ncarpets on the floor, and all other luxuries, and hoped that he might\nspend the few more years he might have to live, in every possible\ncomfort. But the old Fakir felt everything very distasteful to him, and\nthe more the King\u2019s son tried to make him at his ease, the more\ndistressed the old man became, so that in the end the Prince had to\nallow him to return to his hut in the jungle where he had spent nearly\nall his life, with the \u201cLungoors\u201d as his friends.\n\nIn course of time the news was brought to the King\u2019s son that the old\nFakir was dead, so he and his friend had him conveyed to the city, where\nhe was buried in great pomp; and afterwards a noble Shrine was erected\nto his memory, and a yearly visit was ever afterwards paid to it by the\nKing\u2019s son and his devoted friend.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n\u201c_Apoota._\u201d\u2014Possibly from the Hindustani word \u201cpoot,\u201d meaning upside\ndown, inverted, or from the Sanscrit word \u201cApoot,\u201d meaning an undutiful\nson. The son\u2019s shoes, which he left the night before as he withdrew his\nfeet from them, were found by him the next morning turned round, an\nunderstood custom to indicate dismissal, or banishment.\n\n\u201c_Bucha._\u201d\u2014A Persian word, signifying son, or child, and often used as a\nterm of affection from old to young.\n\n[Illustration: A MONKEY TEMPLE IN INDIA. (_Copied_).]\n\n\u201c_Lungoor._\u201d\u2014The word is Sanscrit and means baboon, but baboons\ngenerally inhabit Africa, but there is a Bengal Lang\u016br (Presbitis\nentellus) and to these large monkeys the tale would no doubt refer.\nMonkeys play an important part in many folk-tales, and naturally so, for\nthey are held in high respect by all Hindus, and indeed are objects of\nworship by most of that faith. \u201cHanuman\u201d is the name of the \u201cmonkey god\u201d\nof the Ramayana, who assisted Rama in his campaign against the giant\nRavana to recover Sita. (See Crooke\u2019s \u201cPopular Religion and Folk-lore of\nNorthern India.\u201d) It is a belief with many that they were once human\nbeings, and that they refrain from using the voice of man lest they\nshould be compelled to work. In Northern India these \u201cLungoors\u201d are\ncalled \u201cGhunee.\u201d The story is told of a \u201cGujuri,\u201d or milk seller, that\nshe got married and left her own village. After some time, by an adroit\nhabit of adding half water to her milk, she put together a good sum of\nmoney. The husband died, so she determined to return to her village, and\nshe put her rupees in a bag, or what is called a \u201chumy\u0101ni\u201d (made of\ncloth or netting, and arranged to tie round the waist). Passing through\nthe town of Ajudhya, where is a great Shrine to the monkey god Hanuman,\nand where many monkeys live in the trees that overhang the tank near the\nShrine, she made up her mind to bathe in the holy water. Divesting\nherself of her clothes, she placed them on the bank, and the \u201chumyani\u201d\nshe hid beneath them. Occupied with her bathing and praying, she did not\nperceive that the monkeys had come down, and were overhauling her\ngarments. At last to her surprise and regret, she saw her \u201chumyani\u201d in\nthe hands of a big monkey, and that he was off up the trees with it. \u201cOh\nHanuman! Oh Hanuman!\u201d she besought him, \u201crestore to me my money.\u201d But\nthere he was, opening the bag, and soon he threw down one rupee to her\non the bank, and the next rupee into the water, and thus he continued to\ndo until he had emptied the bag. Then he called out, \u201cSee! I have given\nyou the half for your milk, and the other half has gone to the water, to\nwhich it rightly belongs, and not to you.\u201d\n\nHanuman is a Hindu deity, and said to be a son of Siva. He is set up in\ntemples, and supplicated on birth-days to obtain longevity.\n\n_Note._\u2014Monkeys, we know, chatter and gibber, and are celebrated for\ntricks. A voice is produced by most mammals, birds, and reptiles, by\nwhich they make known their wants and feelings; but to speak with the\nhuman voice by imitation merely, is given only to birds, and to very few\nof those. The power of the lower creation to speak and to understand the\nhuman language passes, however, through the folk-tales of every country.\nOn the hill Jako, near Simla, it is well known that the Monkeys are fed\nby a Fakir, who has taken up his abode amongst them, and they come down\nin troops at his well known call. (See page 114, Royal Natural History,\nedited by Richard Lydekker, F.G.S., F.Z.S., etc., etc.\n\n\u201c_Shrines._\u201d\u2014In many towns and villages there are shrines of celebrated\nSaints which are called \u201cChillas\u201d and in some places \u201cAstanas.\u201d They are\nalso termed \u201cKarbala,\u201d after the place where Hussain, the son of Ali,\nwas killed and buried. Throughout the whole of India the common belief\nis that the spirit of their ancestors is, in some form or another, in\nmany animals and birds, and that when they choose they can speak to man\nand understand what he says.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n SECUNDUR ZULF-KUR-NAIN.\n\n\nSecundur (Alexander the Great) of curly locks like horns and fiery eyes,\nfor such is the translation of Zulf-kur-nain, came to India, you know, a\ngreat many years ago.\n\nHe came to conquer, but his principal reason for leaving his country was\nin order that he might drink of the Ab-Hy\u0101tt, or Water of Life, which he\nhad been told was to be found in the hills of India.\n\nFor a very long time he wandered about in Northern India, but could not\ndiscover any tidings about this Water of Life, till one day after\nconquering a special tribe of people, he demanded of them where the\nspring could be found.\n\nThey replied that they had heard about it as somewhere in the hills\nabove where they resided, but that they had never been there, and they\nadded that no one could get there, for that the spring could only be\napproached through a number of winding passages in the jungle, and there\nwas the fear of never getting back, if even you could succeed in\nreaching it.\n\nSecundur said to them, \u201cWell then, cannot you tell me what I can do, for\nI have come all this way to drink of this water?\u201d They replied they\ncould only suggest to him that if he could procure a mare that had\nrecently foaled, and could picket the foal at the entrance to the\nwinding paths, he might ride the mare to the spring, and that she would\nbe sure, from the love for her foal, to bring him safely back to the\nentrance.\n\nThis plan Secundur adopted, and eventually reached the spring from\nwhence was bubbling up the Water of Life. He stooped down, and had taken\nup some of the water in his two hands joining them together like a cup,\nand was about to raise the water to his lips, when he heard a noise like\n_kurr! kurr!_ several times repeated, and looking up he saw a large\nRaven perched on a rock and shaking its head and crying out in a human\nvoice, \u201cDon\u2019t drink! Don\u2019t drink! Look at my piteous plight! See what a\nstate I have come to by drinking this water; only a mass of skin and\nbone and not a feather left, and so I have been for many years, and\nshall never die!\u201d\n\nUpon hearing this Secundur threw back the water into the spring and\ncried out, \u201cYa! Nuseeb! Ya! Nuseeb! Oh, my fate! and so I am not to\ndrink the Water of Life after all my efforts to do so. What shall I do?\nand I _must_ believe this Raven, the bird of fate and omen.\u201d\n\nSecundur then remounted the mare and retraced his steps, and as the\nvillagers said, true enough she had no difficulty in wandering in and\nout amongst the paths till she came again to her foal.\n\nHe then returned to his camp, very sorrowful, and in order to relieve\nhis mind he used to take long walks alone, and always dressed in the\nplainest garb.\n\n[Illustration: SECUNDUR ZULF-KUR-NAIN.]\n\nHe had gone a long distance from the camp when one day he met some\nvillagers, and found out from them that there were two wonderful \u201cTrees\u201d\nnear their village which had the magic power to answer questions put to\nthem, and that their replies were always quite correct. They said, \u201cBut\nwe must get old men to go with you, for they do not understand young\nmen, nor do young men understand them,\u201d\n\nThis they did, and when Secundur was approaching the \u201cTrees\u201d there was a\nvoice heard, \u201cHere comes Secundur! the great king Secundur!\u201d Whereupon\nthe villagers fell down at his feet to ask his pardon, for they had\nthought him all along as a common traveller.\n\nSecundur at once allayed their fears and said, \u201cNever mind! put to the\n\u2018Trees\u2019 the questions I ask you.\u201d And he said, \u201cAsk how long I have to\nlive.\u201d And the reply came, \u201cSeven years!\u201d \u201cAsk again, How long it will\ntake me to return to my country.\u201d And the reply came again, \u201cSeven\nyears!\u201d \u201cOh sorrow upon sorrow!\u201d said Secundur: \u201cIt was not my \u201cKismut\u201d\n(fate) to drink the Water of Life, and now it is not my \u201cKismut\u201d to see\nagain my mother, for I am sure to be delayed on my way back to my native\nland.\u201d\n\nUpon return to his camp he ordered that it should be moved the next day,\nand march in the direction of his own country. He had not made many\nmarches when he came to a town, and the people came out to meet him,\nasking him to deliver them out of the hands of \u201cFreebooters\u201d who were\ncontinually raiding upon them.\n\nSecundur remained with them for some time, and taught them how to build\na wall round the town, but all this delayed him on his way back, as he\nthought it would.\n\nBeing still very sorrowful, he sent one day for two or three of his\nMinisters and said to them, \u201cMy home is yet a long way off, and who can\ntell whether I shall live to return to it? so I am going to give you a\ncommand, and you are to write down what I say; and should I die suddenly\nthe letter which you shall write at my dictation, and which I will sign,\nand which you will keep, shall be at my death sent to my mother and\ndelivered into her hands. Now write as follows:\n\n\u201cFrom your son Secundur:\n\n\u201cI am near dying, and have had this letter written to you and have\nsigned it myself. It is the custom of this country that when a person\ndies in a family, cooked bread is always given away in charity to the\npoor, for it is supposed to do good to the deceased. Now, I am going to\nask you when you hear of my death, only to give cooked bread in charity\nto those who have never lost a relation. Again, should you ever come to\nthe place of my burial and call out, \u2018Secundur, Zulf-kur-Nain,\u2019 I will\nreply to you from my grave.\u201d\n\nNow the first request was so designed because Alexander knew that his\nmother could not find a family that had not to mourn some loss or other;\nand she would thus come to see that she was not alone in her grief, and\nthat all human beings were afflicted with the death of relatives.\n\nAs the tale goes, said the narrator, Secundur did die, and was buried,\nand the letter was sent to his mother.\n\nJust prior to his death, however, he called before him all his Ministers\nand said, \u201cWhen you are carrying my corpse to the grave let all my\ntroops of every arm of the force follow me, and outside of my shroud let\none of my hands be placed with the palm uppermost.\u201d\n\nOf course in those days Ministers never said \u201cNo\u201d to the commands of the\nKing, so they all exclaimed, \u201cYour commands, Sire, shall be obeyed!\u201d\n\nWhen they had come out from the Presence, however, they said one to\nanother, \u201cThat is a singular command of the King! Whoever heard of\ntroops following a dead General? We must really again go and enquire if\nthese are his precise instructions.\u201d But they feared to go all together,\nso deputed the favourite Minister to go into the Presence, who made his\nsalaam, and repeating the King\u2019s commands, asked if these were to be\ncarried out.\n\n\u201cSend for them again,\u201d said the King, \u201cSend for all these ignorant\nMinisters!\u201d When they came he taxed them with their want of sense and\nsaid, \u201cDo you not see that by ordering all my troops to follow me to the\ngrave I wanted to show to you and to all the world that \u2018Secundur\u2019\nthough he conquered with such troops, they could not save him from\ndeath; and by placing my hand out of the shroud, that you and all else\nmight know that empty were my hands when I came into the world, and\nempty are they when I go out of it.\u201d \u201cOh King!\u201d said they all, \u201cnow we\ntruly comprehend the meaning.\u201d\n\nThis all happened just before he died, and everything was done as the\nKing commanded; and the letter was given into the hands of a Minister to\nconvey to the mother, as I told you.\n\nUpon receiving the letter the mother, though borne down with her great\nsorrow, did not long delay before she set out to visit the grave of her\nson. Now there were many graves and many tombs in the graveyard, and she\nwandered up and down for a long time, calling out, \u201cSecundur! Oh my\nSecundur! my beloved Secundur!\u201d but no reply came from any of the tombs.\n\nThen the thought crossed her mind that the letter had said that she was\nto call out, \u201cSecundur Zulf-kur-Nain.\u201d So this she did, and was at once\nreplied to by her son who said, \u201cDid I not tell you to call out\u201d\nSecundur Zulf-kur-Nain\u2019 for there are many Secundurs here?\u201d \u201cYes, alas!\u201d\nshe replied, and the voice then ceased to speak, and though she waited\nit never spoke again.\n\nNow the design of Secundur by this, was also to give his mother another\nreason for pacifying her grief in knowing that there were many\n\u201cSecundurs\u201d who had died and had been buried, and that she was not the\nonly mother in the world who had lost a Secundur.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n\u201c_Zulf-kur-Nain._\u201d\u2014A compound of the two words \u201cZulf\u201d and \u201cKernain.\u201d The\nfirst in Persian represents a curl, and the latter is from the Arabic\nword \u201cKernai,\u201d a horn. It is supposed that \u201cSecundur\u201d or Alexander the\nGreat had two curls on his forehead like horns, so he was given the\nsurname of \u201cHe of the two Horns.\u201d (_See Hughes._)\n\n\u201c_Ab-Hy\u0101tt._\u201d\u2014-Ab, Persian for water; Hy\u0101tt, Arabic for life. The\nincident of Alexander\u2019s search for the Water of Life is referred to by\nCrooke in these words: \u201cAccording to the \u2018Sikandar-Nama\u2019 (written A.D.\n1200 by Abu-Mahomed) Kwaja Khizr was a saint of Islam who presided over\nthe well of immortality, and directed Alexander of Macedon in his vain\nsearch for the blessed waters. The fish is his vehicle, and hence its\nimage is painted over the doors of both Hindus and Mahomedans, while it\nbecame the family crest of the late Royal House of Oudh.\u201d As to\nAlexander, it is generally the result of a great name to be enshrined in\nfables, and as it has been said, to become the basis of mythop\u0153ic\nfiction as in this tale.\n\n\u201c_Raven._\u201d\u2014The word used for this bird by the narrator was Dhur-K\u014dwa;\nK\u014dwa, literally meaning a crow, answering to the word Kaww\u00e2 in\nHindustani.\n\nThe natives of the district draw a great contrast between the raven and\nthe crow. With them the former is an emblem of greed and rapacity; the\nlatter, of quickness and cunning. They hold the raven to be a bird of\nill omen, and are not singular in their belief. In some of our own\ncountry-sides they are said to forbode death.\n\n \u201cThe boding _raven_ on her cottage sat\n And with hoarse croakings warned us of our fate,\u201d\u2014_Gay._\n\nThe raven is often, in the legends of other countries, referred to as a\nbird which causes disappointment. Apollo sent a raven on a message, but\nhe perched on a fig-tree and there waited until the fruit was ripe.\nThere is also the memorable instance recorded in Holy Writ of the Raven\nsent out from the Ark. There are traditions too, about other birds, but\nthat which is considered the most ominous is the \u201cGhoo Ghoo\u201d owl, Ghoo\nGhoo being the Hindustani word for this peculiar owl, whose sound is\ndreaded as a devil-bird. Of the smaller owls they have no such fear.\n\n_Note._\u2014There is a native saying in the district in regard to the habits\nof the crow, which may _appear_ to be asleep, but is ever on the alert.\n\n K\u00e2nh kirrar khut\u00e2h dh\u00e2h\n Vyss\u00e2h nah karreeay sathrydh\u00e2h\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n Put little trust in a sleeping crow, a bunniah, or a dog; their eyes\n are open though they appear to sleep.\n\nIt is as well to add here under this tale of \u201cSecundur\u201d the words they\napply to the uncertainty of his great life.\n\n Saddh\u00e2nh n\u00e2h Baghay \u201cBulbul\u201d bolaynh\n Saddh\u00e2nh n\u00e2h B\u00e2gh Bahar\u00e2nh\n Saddh\u00e2nh n\u00e2h Raj khusheedh\u00e2 hondh\u00e2h\n Saddh\u00e2nh n\u00e2h Mujlio Tarr\u00e2nh.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n For ever the Bulbul in the garden warbles not;\n For ever the garden is not green and flourishing;\n For ever kings do not reign in unalloyed happiness;\n For ever friends each other\u2019s society enjoy not.\n\n_Note as to owl omens._\u2014Certain physical infirmities in man are reckoned\ninauspicious, and forbode evil, such as to be blind of one eye. It is\nvery unlucky to look at a one-eyed man, and even if he should be in a\nhigh position, as was the case a long while ago with a celebrated\nchieftain in the North of India, he does not escape a sneer.\n\nWhen he put an increased tax on the weavers, it is said they taunted him\nin the following rhyme:\n\n Jowahur Singh kanah\n Thray rupeea khuddee. Panj rupeea tana\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n Jowahur Singh, the one-eyed man,\n Fixes a tax of three rupees on the hole we sit in, and five rupees on\n the warp besides.\n\nAgain, they have a saying as to those to be avoided:\n\n Kurria Br\u00e2hman\n Gor\u00e2 Soodh\n Kotay gurduniah\n Kunjah Rajpoot.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n A black Brahmin,\n A fair-coloured Soodh (Soodhra, or low caste)\n A short-necked person\n A blue or grey-eyed Rajpoot.\n\nThere are many other evil omens too numerous to mention; such as,\nmeeting a corpse being carried to burial; an oil seller; or a woman with\nan empty water-pot; a crow sitting on a dry tree with no water near. The\nreverse of the picture is lucky; so it would be a piece of good fortune\nto see a crow sitting on a tree near where there _was_ water.\n\nWith some Hindus it is unfortunate when setting out on a journey for one\nof the party to sneeze, and they generally get down for a while until\nthe evil spell, supposed to be from an evil bird is believed to be over.\nMen of the sweeper caste are often called \u201cKal-jibha,\u201d or black-tongued,\nand whose curses always prevail.\n\n\u201c_Trees._\u201d\u2014There is a universal belief amongst Hindus that in most trees\ncertain spirits take up their abode, and that to destroy a tree is to\ndisturb the spirits, who have to be appeased by offerings of grain and\noil to keep off evil consequences to the village.\n\nThere are certain special trees in addition to the two oracular trees of\nAlexander, called by the natives Mather and Ema\u00fcsae, notably the Ficus\nreligiosa, or \u201cPepul\u201d tree, towards which their veneration shews itself\nin devotional acts which may be termed \u201cTree worship.\u201d In the Hazara and\nother districts it is not an uncommon thing to see small hollow shrines\nplaced beneath this particular class of tree, containing a small lamp,\nand sprinkled over with yellow ochre and oil, while the tree itself is\nencircled by a white thread.\n\nOne such tree was planted years ago in the jail for Indian transports at\nSingapore; the charge of which was for years under Major M^cNair, one of\nthe authors of this volume. It was called by the Hindus \u201cAswatha,\u201d and\nit was currently believed that it spoke and sang through the points of\nits heart-shaped leaves. They looked upon it as the abode of their\nprincipal deities.\n\nThe \u201cTulsi\u201d shrub, or \u201cHoly basil,\u201d as before said, is also held in\ngreat veneration, and has over and over again formed the subject of\nverse. Here is one example:\n\n Tulsi birwa bagh men\n Seencht hay komlahay\n Rah\u00ea bhurlosa Ram kay\n Purbuth pur hurriayi.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n The Tulsi tree that grows in the garden\n Droops even when well watered;\n But where it grows dependent only on God,\n There, even on mountain tops, it is green and fresh.\n\nThe famous fabulous tree, \u201cPari Jatamu,\u201d which one reads of in the\nPuranas, (old Sanscrit records,) a sort of jasmine; and the Vata\nfig-tree of \u201cOrissa,\u201d were said to be endowed with knowledge and speech\nlike the oak of Dodona. By approaching them in a respectful manner you\nobtain from them knowledge, riches, and everything you can wish for, but\nthey are difficult of access.\u2014_Wilford._\n\n_Note._\u2014In many parts of India it is well known that to make an offering\nto a deity offended, and to pacify his wrath, five twigs of the\nfollowing sacred trees are put into a jar of water and invoked.\n\n 1. Aswatha (Ficus religiosa).\n 2. Vata (Ficus Indica).\n 3. Adumbar (Ficus glomerata).\n 4. Sami (Mimosa albida).\n 5. Amra (Mango) (Spondias Mangifera).\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE FARMER, THE CROCODILE, AND THE JACKAL.\n\n\nThere was once a wily old Crocodile who dwelt in a tank hard by a\nvillage, and he was sometimes so ferocious that he would seize children\nwho used to go for water there, then drown and eat them. He had become,\nin fact, the terror of the place.\n\nOne year there was a very great drought, and the tank by degrees began\nto dry up, and at last it got quite dry, and the Crocodile was to be\nseen grilling and roasting in the sun.\n\nHe used to call out to the passers-by, \u201cOh! pray take pity upon me and\nshew me where I can go for water, for I am dying in this heat.\u201d \u201cNo,\nindeed!\u201d they all said; \u201cwe are glad to see you suffering, for have you\nnot often made us suffer by taking our goats, and sometimes even our\nchildren? We shall not help you in any way.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: THE FARMER, THE CROCODILE, AND THE JACKAL.]\n\nAt last an old man passed by, and the Crocodile appealed to him, and at\nfirst he replied as the others did, but afterwards he relented and said,\n\u201cWell, if you will follow me I will take you to a tank which is never\ndry.\u201d So the Crocodile followed him, and he shewed him a tank no great\ndistance off, which was filled with water.\n\nThe old man went first into the tank himself, and calling to the\nCrocodile, he said, \u201cSee here, how deep it is!\u201d No sooner had the\nCrocodile had a good drink, than he made a grab at the old man\u2019s leg.\n\u201cAh-ho! Ah-ho!\u201d said the old man; \u201cWhat are you doing? What are you\ndoing?\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d replied the Crocodile, \u201cI have had a good drink, thanks\nto you, and as I have had no food for many days I am going to make a\nmeal of you. That is what I am going to do.\u201d \u201cYou wretched and\nungrateful brute!\u201d said the old man; \u201cis this the way you reward me?\u201d\n\nAt that moment a Jackal hove in sight, coming for a drink (the Jackals\nwe know are the most cunning of all animals), and the old man said, \u201cI\nwill put my case before him, and if he says you are to eat me, very\ngood, so you shall.\u201d\n\nThe old man then beckoned to the Jackal to come close up to the tank,\nand telling him all the facts of the case, the Jackal said, \u201cYou know I\nam always a just judge, and if you want me to decide, you must shew me\nthe place from whence you brought the Crocodile.\u201d\n\nSo they all three wended their way back to the tank near the village,\nand the Jackal said, \u201cShew me the exact spot where you first found the\nCrocodile;\u201d and when they got there the Jackal said, \u201cNow I am going to\ngive you my judgment, so prepare to listen.\u201d Then turning to the old\nman, he said quietly, \u201cYou silly old idiot! What made you ever help a\nCrocodile? Now, you run one way, and I will run the other.\u201d\n\nThe Jackal gave a skip, and was soon off out of sight, and the old man\ntook to his heels also, and soon got away. The wily old Crocodile, now\nbaulked of his prey, said to himself, \u201cI know my way back to that water\ntank, and I will some day have my revenge on that Jackal, for he is sure\nto come there to lap water.\u201d\n\nSo back he went, and as there were many trees near the tank, some of\nwhose roots went beneath the water, the Crocodile lay in ambush there.\nBy-and-by the Jackal came to drink water, and the Crocodile made a\nsudden snap at his leg, and held it. \u201cOh, you foolish Crocodile!\u201d the\nJackal said; \u201cYou think you have got hold of my leg, do you? but it is\nonly the root of a tree.\u201d So saying, the Crocodile released his hold,\nand the Jackal jumped off in high glee out of his reach.\n\nThe Crocodile then determined that he would try some other plan of\nentrapping him; so, as there were great numbers of a small fruit falling\nfrom one of the trees, which he knew the Jackal came to eat, he one\nnight piled up a heap and hid himself beneath it, leaving only his eyes\nuncovered.\n\nPresently the Jackal came prowling along, and noticing the pile of fruit\nhe felt inclined to partake of some, but he drew near very cautiously,\nand in a moment he caught sight of the two eyes of the Crocodile\nglistening in the moon-light, when he called out, \u201cOh, I see you!\u201d and\nscampered off.\n\n[Illustration: THE FARMER, THE CROCODILE, AND THE JACKAL.]\n\nAfter this, the Crocodile saw that it was no use to try himself to catch\nthe Jackal, \u201cfor,\u201d said he, \u201che is too cunning for me; I must employ\nsomeone who comes to get water here.\u201d So one day he saw a Farmer, and\nsaid to him, \u201cIf you will catch a Jackal for me, I will make you a rich\nman, for I will give you several jewels which people have dropped in\nthis tank for years and years, and they are lying here at the bottom.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d replied the Farmer, \u201cthat is easily done;\u201d so that very night he\nwent into the jungle and lay down as if dead. Presently the Jackal made\nhis appearance, and smelling along he came close up to the body. Then he\nhesitated and said, \u201cI wonder if this is really a dead body or not.\u201d He\nthen called out audibly, \u201cIf it is really dead it will shake its leg,\nand if it is alive it won\u2019t do so.\u201d This he said so quickly and so\nartfully that the Farmer was taken aback, and to make him believe he\n_was_ dead he at once stupidly shook his leg, and off skipped the\nJackal, saying, \u201cI caught you there,\u201d and was lost to view in an\ninstant.\n\nThe Farmer, who was very avaricious, and wanted the jewels badly, made\nup his mind that he would by hook or by crook make sure of the Jackal on\nthe next occasion; so this time he prepared of the softest wax a doll of\nthe size of a child, and digging a small grave and covering it over with\nleaves and mud, he waited in hiding to see the result.\n\nShortly after sunset the Jackal began to prowl about as usual, and\ncoming on the new grave he said to himself, \u201cAh! this is someone lately\nburied; I will try my luck here.\u201d He then began to scratch with his paw,\nand presently one paw got caught in the wax, and in trying to get that\naway, all four became stuck with the wax, when in a moment out came the\nFarmer from his hiding-place and said, \u201cAh! at last I have got you, and\nyou are my prisoner!\u201d The Jackal yelled and howled, and endeavoured to\nescape, but was hindered by the wax on his feet; so then he took to\nfrightening the Farmer, and said, \u201cIf you do not get me out of this\nscrape I will call all the Jackals in a moment of time, and they will\ndestroy you for ever, for do you not know that I am the \u2018king\u2019 of the\nJackals?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat am I to do?\u201d asked the Farmer. \u201cGo!\u201d he said; \u201cgo and get some\noil, and rub it all over me; then get a fowl, and tie it about fifty\nyards away, and bring two men with hatchets to stand over me, so that if\nI attempt to get away they may chop me to pieces!\u201d\n\nThis being done by the Farmer, the Jackal while being held in his hands\nsought his opportunity, and being well greased all over, he made a\nviolent spring and so got clear of the Farmer; then he dashed between\nthe legs of the men with hatchets, when they made a plunge at him, but\nthey only succeeded in hurting their own legs, so the Jackal got finally\noff, and picking up the fowl he was soon lost to view, and so won the\nday.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n\u201c_Crocodile._\u201d\u2014The word used in the original Punjabi was \u201cSainsar,\u201d\nliterally the \u201cGavial,\u201d or rather \u201cgharial.\u201d This animal is called\n\u201cTimsah\u201d in Arabic, but as this class of the Crocodiles lives usually on\nfish, the saurian in the tale must have been unusually ferocious. The\nseizure of the leg of the Jackal by the Crocodile is common to many\nfolk-tales throughout India, and is an indication of the general\ngroundwork of many Aryan tales.\n\n\u201c_Jackal._\u201d\u2014So often described, it is not necessary to do more here than\nto refer to the fact that they usually hunt in packs. When a jackal is\nheard to cry without a response, the natives know that he is a lone\nanimal and what they call \u201cYekaria,\u201d and by some \u201cyeklota,\u201d meaning in\nSanscrit \u201csingle.\u201d This, with them, is an evil omen, and thugs and\nthieves give up their thoughts of plunder and pillage in the district\nwhere he is known to be.\n\nSome of the people believe that in packs of jackals the one who gives\nthe first cry is possessed of a small horn in his forehead, and this is\ntermed by them \u201cSee\u00e2r Singhi,\u201d (possibly from the Persian word \u201cSeah\u201d\nblack, and \u201cSingh\u201d a Hindu title,) or the jackal\u2019s horn. This so-called\nhorn is much prized by the people, and is often mounted by them in\nsilver and placed as a charm round the necks of their children. This\nforehead projection of the jackal is generally hawked about for sale by\na low-caste set of people who are sellers also of certain oils, such as\nthe porpoise, or \u201cS\u016bs\u201d oil, the pelican, or \u201cRak-ham\u201d oil, which is in\nthe Sanscrit language called \u201cGagun-bhir.\u201d Crooke thinks that the \u201cSee\u00e2r\nSinghi\u201d is a jungle plant which resembles a horn; others think it is\nreally the velvety prominence from the deer, but is sold to the\ncredulous as from the jackal.\n\nOur saying of the \u201cgrapes are sour\u201d is rendered by the people as the\n\u201cgrapes are bitter,\u201d and the expression is used in connection with the\njackal and not of the fox.\n\n Dahk\u00e2nh h\u00e2th n\u00e2h up ree\n Thooay kouree.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n The grapes do not come within my reach,\n So spit them out; they are bitter,\n\n\u201c_Tanks._\u201d\u2014In the Persian the word is \u201cTal\u00e2b,\u201d and in the original in\nPunjabi it is \u201cSurr,\u201d a Sanscrit word signifying a large pond or tank. A\nsmall tank in Punjabi is called a \u201cBunni.\u201d\n\nThere is hardly a tank in India that is not more or less associated in\nthe minds of the people with some legend, and many are held sacred to\none or other of their titulary gods and goddesses.\n\nSome tanks are supposed to contain treasure which is reserved under the\ncustody of a Yaksha, or sprite.\n\n \u2014_Crooke._\n\nIn Hindu mythology \u201cYaksha\u201d is an attendant upon \u201cKuv\u0113ra,\u201d the god of\nwealth. The name is said to be derived from \u201cYaksha\u201d to worship. As with\nthe Brownies in Scotland they are called \u201cPunya-jana\u201d or good people,\nbut they are sometimes imps of evil.\n\n \u2014_Williams\u2019_ \u201cNala\u201d; also _Dowson_.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n FAITH OPPOSED TO MAGIC.\n\n\nThere is a hill in the Hazara district of the Punjab known to all by the\nname of \u201cGundghur,\u201d which in days gone by was a stronghold of Banditti.\nIt was well elevated above the plain, and on its crest there were\nseveral projecting rocks, and there were caves among the rocks. In one\nof these caves dwelt a Hindu Fakir of the begging mendicant class, who\nhad for a long time established himself there, and used to come out and\nsit on a large rock called \u201cP\u012br Th\u00e2n.\u201d\n\nThis Fakir had the reputation of being able to produce wonderful effects\nby the aid of his magic and enchantments, could cure serious diseases,\nand when he liked he would say his Ram! Ram! song; for Rama was among\nthe avatara of Vishnu, and he would then ascend into the skies, and go\ncompletely out of sight.\n\nSuch a Fakir was in consequence much feared by the people of the place,\nand indeed in many villages round about. Most of the people living near\nthe Hill were \u201cGujors,\u201d or Mahomedan keepers of Cattle, and from whom\nthe province of Gujerat was named, and it sometimes happened that their\nmilk did not set properly; so they used to go to the Fakir who soon made\neverything right, and though he was a Hindu and they Mahomedans, yet\nthey went to consult him.\n\nIt so happened that one day another Fakir, a Mahomedan, who was on his\nround visiting various shrines and the relics of departed Saints, came\nto this \u201cGhazi\u201d village, which was situated at the foot of the hill.\n\nIt was not long before he was told by the people of the wonderful doings\nof the Hindu Fakir who dwelt on the \u201cP\u012br Th\u00e2n\u201d; how that he could cure\nall diseases, and above all, that he could by his magic go up into the\nair and depart out of sight.\n\n\u201cHe is very good too,\u201d they said, \u201cto us, for when our milk refuses to\nset, he soon makes matters right for us, and so we are going to him\nto-morrow morning about this very thing.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are! are you?\u201d said the Mahomedan Fakir; and he was very angry with\nthem and said, \u201cNow you wait, and you will see that this very night your\nmilk will be all as it should be.\u201d True enough, when the morning broke\nthe milk was properly set.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the Fakir, \u201cwhy do you put your faith in this \u201cpagan\u201d and\n\u201cidolater\u201d who does not believe in Allah? And as for the stories you\ntell me, they are not to be credited, and what he does is by trickery\nand deceit.\u201d With many other words he exhorted his followers not to be\nimposed upon. Turning to the Hindus he said, \u201cIf _you_ choose to ruin\nyourselves that is your affair and not mine.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: FAITH OPPOSED TO MAGIC.]\n\nHis followers, however, besought him just for once to come and see if\nwhat they said was not true. He replied, \u201cWell! you may all go, and if I\ncome at all, it will be later on.\u201d\n\nSo all the people from the village, and from the villages round about,\nwent up to the Gundghur Hill, to see the wonders that this Hindu Fakir\ncould do. There was a large concourse of people, so the Mahomedan Fakir\nthought that he might slip in unperceived; and overcome too with\ncuriosity, he had determined to see what sort of a man the Hindu Fakir\nwas who had carried off so many people as his followers.\n\nThey had all gone to the Gundghur Hill, and the Mahomedan Fakir thought,\n\u201cI will go now and see what is to be seen.\u201d On arrival there he noticed\nthat there was a vast assemblage of people. Looking round he saw a knot\nof his own followers seated together, so he joined himself to them, and\nwaited to see what would take place.\n\nHe was not, however, unobserved by the Hindu Fakir, who, after receiving\nan ovation from all his adherents, addressed himself in a loud voice to\nthe multitude around, and pointing to the Mahomedan Fakir he said, \u201cI\nsee here a Mahomedan Fakir of a false and wicked faith, and I tell him,\nas I tell you all, that as two swords cannot go into one scabbard, so\nneither can two Fakirs live in one and the same spot, and he that proves\nhimself to be master, let him hold the hill.\u201d\n\nThe enthusiasm was very great when he had uttered these words, and his\nown people called out, \u201cAscend, oh! Fakir, and put this new man to\nshame.\u201d He replied, \u201cI will; and if he can surpass me in that, I will\ngive place to him and go away and leave you.\u201d\n\nWhereupon, divesting himself before them all of his garments, with the\nexception of his waist-cloth, and repeating audibly his \u201cJunthur\nMunthur\u201d (two Sanscrit words meaning \u201cincantation,\u201d) and some other\nwords of enchantment, and then kindling a small fire he made some passes\nover it, and in the smoke that it made he gradually rose and vanished\nout of sight.\n\n\u201cAh! there goes our wonderful Fakir!\u201d said all the Hindus; \u201cand as for\nthis other wretched man, he does not look as if he could do anything\nwonderful.\u201d\n\nIn a measure they were right, for the Mahomedan Fakir when he witnessed\nhis ascent, was at his wits\u2019 end to know how to prevail against such a\nrival. Collecting, however, a few of his own followers around him, he\ndrew out his \u201cQoran\u201d from its case. Then opening it with great caution\nand solemnity, he took off the shoe from his right foot, and threw it\ninto the air with all his might. To the bewilderment of all, the shoe\ndid not return, but seemed to go also into the skies whither the Hindu\nFakir had gone. The Hindus then raised a cry: \u201cWhat is a shoe compared\nto a man! Go up yourself, and we will believe in you!\u201d In patience did\nthe Mahomedan Fakir bear their reproaches, when suddenly there was a\nsound heard in the air as if someone was beating a door with the palm of\nhis hand, and very shortly afterwards the body of the Hindu Fakir came\nin sight, and as it descended, there was seen over his head the shoe of\nthe Mahomedan Fakir, which in some unaccountable way was slapping the\nhead of the Hindu Fakir, and beating him down to the earth, and when he\ncame to the ground he fell at the feet of the Mahomedan. Stunned and\nconfused the Hindu made a rush for his cave, and holding up his hands he\nrepeated audibly some words of enchantment, and then fled precipitately\ninto the jungle, and left that country-side for ever.\n\nThis story is told by the Mussulmen in their H\u00fbzr\u00e2hs, as a proof that\nfaith will always in the long run crush and destroy the power of myth\nand magic; and the moral is that Allah is pure and spotless, and there\nis none righteous as He, or, as they have it in their own language:\n\n Khud\u00e2 p\u00e2k sub s\u00ea bhull\u00e2h.\n\n God is pure and righteous above all.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n\u201c_Fakir._\u201d\u2014It might be added here that the word itself is derived from\nthe Arabic \u201cF\u016bkhr,\u201d really three Arabic letters, F, K, and R.\n\n From the F is F\u00e2k\u00e2h, fasting.\n From the K is Kan\u0101at, contentment.\n From the R is Rizz\u0101at, devotion.\n\nThree qualities that all Fakirs should possess; and the formidable\nnature of the pursuit is somewhat tersely told in the following Punjabi\nlines:\n\n Fakira. Fakiri dur hai\n Jitna lumba Kujoor hai\n Chur jai tho piay\n Prami. Rus\n Girjai tochuk n\u0101 choorhai.\n\n THUS TRANSLATED.\n\n It is as difficult to become a true Fakir as it is to ascend a date\n palm. When you reach the summit it is there only that you\n drink the love juice, but if you are timid as you rise you are\n sure to fall and be dashed to atoms.\n\nIn Akbar\u2019s reign the followers of a seceder from the strict tenets of\nIslam, one Pir Roshan, when given to austere devotion, had, it is said,\nto pass through the several gradations of the external ordinances, or\n\u201cSheriat,\u201d viz., reality, or \u201cHakikat,\u201d true knowledge, or \u201cMarifat,\u201d\nproximity, or \u201cKurbut,\u201d union, or \u201cWasalut,\u201d the Arabic for mediation,\nand the indwelling in God, or \u201cSak\u016bnut,\u201d the Arabic for tranquility.\nThese terms were peculiar to that sect.\n\n\u201c_Gujur._\u201d\u2014Originally a brave people of pastoral habits, inhabiting\nAfghanistan. A term also applied to a low class of Hindus, from Gujerat.\nNow used here to designate cattle owners and sellers of milk, many of\nwhom are also Mahomedans.\n\nIn regard to a low caste of cow-herd, called \u201cAh\u012br,\u201d the natives have a\nsaying:\n\n Jummay oouth ke Seengh\n T\u00eal reth s\u00ea nikklay\n Gudh\u00e2 purhay Kor\u00e2n\n Gung\u00e2 lout Poorub s\u00ea.\n Puchhim by hay\n Toh Aheer say Kooch\n Goon nikklay.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n If horns grew on a camel,\n If oil could be extracted from sand,\n If a donkey could read the Kor\u00e2n,\n If the Ganges would flow from east to west,\n Then some good might be expected from an \u201cAh\u012br,\u201d\n\nAnd another saying yet:\n\n Aheer zudury\u00e2 P\u00e2see\n Teenon Saty\u00e2 N\u00e2see.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n An Ah\u012br, a shepherd, and a P\u00e2see (low caste);\n If these three get together, mischief is sure to come.\n\nAh\u012br is a general term for a pastoral race noticed by Ptolemy. They are\ndistinguished as three tribes, viz., the Nand bansa, Yadu bansa, and\nGoala bansa. (_See Wilson and Elliott._)\n\n\u201c_Two Swords in one scabbard._\u201d\u2014Appeals to the sword are very common\nwith natives of Northern India, indeed many of the warlike tribes\nworship their weapons.\n\nWhen sharpened for service by a \u201cSikligur,\u201d a man who makes it his\nbusiness to give a keen edge to swords, he applies two tests. One is\nthat the edge shall be sharp enough to cut through a ball of teazed\ncotton, balanced on the blade, and the other that it shall, with a light\ntouch, lift a copper coin off a table.\n\nA Punjabi Sipahi, referring to this, was overheard to say,\n\n Wudday Uar thay\n Nam Talwar dh\u00e2\n Birreh Sipahi th\u00e2y\n Nam Sirdar dh\u00e2\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n The edge of the sword cuts, and the sword gets the credit; so\n the soldier fights, but his officer gets the fame.\n\n\u201c_Junthur Munthur._\u201d\u2014Sanscrit words, literally meaning enchanting by\nfigures and incantations.\n\n\u201c_Ram Ram Song._\u201d\u2014The appeal of Hindus is invariably to \u201cRam,\u201d as the\ngod ready to help in difficulties, and probably an incarnation of\nVishnu.\n\nThe Fakir\u2019s song would likely be:\n\n Ram jer\u00f4ka bait-kur\n Sabka mujra lay\n Jaisa jiski chakri\n Taiko Thysa dhay.\n\n TRANSLATED THUS:\n\n Ram was sitting at his window, beholding before him a vast\n multitude and waiting to render to each according to the\n amount of work in his cause.\n\n\u201c_Faith opposed to Magic._\u201d\u2014The occult sciences have no doubt found a\ncongenial soil in India and the far East; but is a belief in them\nrestricted to the East? or rather, are not these relics of the middle\nages still found to be lurking amongst the most enlightened of Western\nnations?\n\nAccording to \u201cHolwell\u2019s Mythology,\u201d magic and its accompaniments were\nfirst taken to the Indus by the Cuseans, descendants of Cush, the son of\nHam, who is credited with being the first inventor of the black art. He\nquotes Eusebius as his authority.\n\nUp to this day on the Indus there is no doubt that many believe in the\npower of some specially devout Fakirs to ascend into the air by the aid\nof an invisible rope. The laws of gravity forbid, of course, our belief\nin the capability of any man so to control and overcome them; but the\nwonder is that some of these Fakirs are still able to surprise and\ndeceive so many, and that the riddle is as yet unsolved.\n\nIn China also the power to ascend is not unknown. Conjurors from amongst\nthe Taoist priests ascend to a height of twenty or thirty feet. Of this\nclass are those who in Manchuria call down fire from the sky.\u2014Dr.\nDenny\u2019s \u201cChina Folk-lore.\u201d\n\nThe wandering jugglers and conjurors on the Indus and other parts of\nIndia have a singular refrain used as an invocation before exhibiting\ntheir skill. The burden of their song seems to be:\n\n Ya! Allimas! Ya! Kulloowar Pir! Ya! Malim da Bir!\n\n TRANSLATED THUS:\n\n Oh! Elymas![4] Oh! black hero! Oh! powerful demi-god!\n\n_Note._\u2014Asked to explain a meteor, or shooting-star, the natives say,\n\u201cYou see! Sh\u0101it\u0101n ever since he has been expelled from Heaven is trying\nto get back, and these balls of fire, or \u2018Chawathas\u2019 which some call\n\u201cSh\u00e2b\u201d from the Arabic, are hurled at him to keep him off, and so they\ndo, and he never succeeds.\u201d\n\nFootnote 4:\n\n Acts xiii. 8.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE FAKIR AND HIS QUARRELSOME WIFE.\n\n\nIn a somewhat out-of-the-way village in the Punj\u00e2b there dwelt for many\nyears an old Fakir who was renowned for his wonderful self-denial and\nabstemious habits. He was not one, you know, who assumed their garb\nmerely, but he preached to others of truth and morality, and his\ncharacter bore out all he taught. He did not wander about, but took up\nhis residence in this village, and so, being always there, he came to be\nwell known, and was often visited by many people from distant parts.\n\nOne day another Fakir of the same branch and order as himself, and who\nwas journeying north, came and claimed friendship with him, and finding\nhim in a special place where he usually spent his day, sat down near to\nhim, and talked of the things that concerned them both.\n\nIt being near night-fall the old Fakir asked his brother of the same\nfaith to come as his guest for the night, and to pursue his journey on\nthe morrow. So they trudged together until they arrived at his hut; but\nwhen the wife saw the guest, and knew that he was going to stay the\nnight, she grew much displeased with her husband, and very abusive. It\nwas in vain for the old Fakir to say that his friend was a traveller,\nand of his own avocation; the wife refused to be appeased. The guest\nfinding himself in an awkward position, asked his host whether he had\nnot better go on his journey at once, or find a refuge somewhere else in\nthe village for the night, for it gave him great pain to listen to the\nangry words of a woman.\n\n\u201cOh, no!\u201d said the host, \u201cI know she is very ill-tempered and cross, and\nfrequently gets put out, but I have a great respect for her all the\nsame, and I must tell you the reason.\n\n\u201cDo you not know that I am widely known as a good man? and in\nconsequence of this, and of the advice I give, I am visited by people\nfar and near, and they all flatter and praise me to the skies. Sometimes\nI have thought to myself that if this were to continue, I should be in\ndanger of being proud and puffed up, and so be ruined not only here, but\nhereafter. Now this wife of mine, when she fans herself into a passion,\ndoes me real good, and I become quite subdued; and the more turbulent\nshe becomes the more I control myself and am quiet. So you see there is\na balance established between us, and the effect on me is that it\nsoftens my nature, and I am made more and more what we Fakirs aim to be;\nso what I lose in one way, I gain in another and a better way.\u201d\n\nThe guest remained the night, and went away the next day deeply\nimpressed with the wisdom of his friend and brother.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n\u201c_Fakir._\u201d\u2014Much has been previously said under this heading, but it is\nwell to give here a few of the sayings of the noted Fakir known by the\nname generally of \u201cBaba Far\u012bd,\u201d whose shrine is still to be seen in the\ntown of \u201cPak Pattan\u201d in the Montgomery district, not far from M\u016blt\u0101n. He\nwas one of the \u201cChisti class\u201d and a Shiah, belonging to a tribe of Arab\ndescent. The Shiahs differ from the Sunnis in the belief that Ali ought\nto have succeeded the Prophet, instead of Abubakr, Omar, and Osman.\n\nThe shrine is an extensive one, but in order to enter it, it is\nnecessary to pass in by a small doorway about four feet high and two\nfeet broad, closed by a door made of sandal wood, to which three locks\nare attached, and the key of each is in the custody of a responsible\nperson. On festival days, however, which happen once a year, the locks\nby some magic power fall off of themselves into a cloth held to catch\nthem.\n\nThe devout worshippers enter by the door, and pay each one rupee for the\nprivilege, and as it is calculated that over 100,000 visit the shrine\neach year, the gain to some one class must be enormous. So infatuated do\nthe devotees become, that it is commonly believed by them that the\nparrots cry out \u201cFar\u012bd! Far\u012bd!\u201d as they fly over the shrine.\n\nThere are piles of stones near \u201cAjmere,\u201d arranged in a line, and the\nstory is that a string of camels carrying bags of sugar were going into\nthe city, and \u201cBaba Far\u012bd\u201d meeting them enquired of the drivers what the\ncamels were burdened with. The drivers turned upon him with a sneer and\nsaid, \u201cStones! Stones!\u201d \u201cIs it so?\u201d replied Far\u012bd, \u201cthen let it be\nstones!\u201d and lo, and behold, when they came to unload their beasts they\nfound that the sugar had been really turned into stones, and emptying\nall their bags, they left the stones by the road-side, which are to be\nseen to this day.\n\nSeveral verses, or quatrains, have been ascribed to Baba Far\u012bd, and here\nare two or three:\n\n Oot! Far\u012bda suthia\n Mumm ka deva b\u00e2\u00e2l\n Sahib jinnadhay jagthay\n Nufferan keah sona n\u00e2\u00e2l\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n Rise, Far\u012bda, from your sleep,\n Light the candle of your soul;\n Thy God who is ever wakeful\n His servants should not slumber.\n\nAgain, when seeing a woman grinding at a mill (one well known):\n\n Chukki phirtay veyk kay\n Far\u012bda dhitar ro\n Do purr\u00e2n vitch\n Akay khan na chulley koh\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n Seeing the mill going round\n Far\u012bda began to cry.\n Between two stones he saw\n The grain that comes is crushed.\n\nAnd further, thinking on the mill, Far\u012bda added:\n\n Jo loor eveng salaam th\u00ea\u00ea\n kol kili dh\u00e2 ho.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n To be in safety keep close to the centre peg, which is God, where\n some grains escape the mill, we know.\n\nAgain, and this shall be the last:\n\n Oot Far\u012bda suthia\n Darhi Ayah boor\n Ag\u00ea Ayah nairay\n Piche saha d\u00fbr.\n\n Far\u012bda aisa ho-raho\n Jaisa kukh musseeth\n Luthee pyree latharia\n Tera Sahib n\u00e2\u00e2l purreeth.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n Arise, Far\u012bda, from your sleep;\n Your beard is getting grey.\n That which is to come is near;\n That which has passed is far away.\n\n Strive, oh, Far\u012bda! to be\n As the Musjid trodden grass,\n Humble and self-abased,\n Yet in friendship with your God.\n\nCrooke says of Baba Far\u012bd, that he was called also, Shakkarganj, or\nFountain of Sweets. Shakkar being the Persian for sugar; but more\nprobably from the Arabic word \u201cShookur,\u201d thanksgiving. He was a disciple\nof Qutub-ud-din, who lived near Delhi, who again sat at the feet of\nImam-ud-din of Ajmere, also a great name to swear by. Baba Far\u012bd is said\nto have had the \u201cHidden hand\u201d (dast-i-ghaib), a sort of magic bag which\ngave him anything he wished.\n\nEvery devotee who contrives to get through the door of his mausoleum is\nassured of a free entrance into Paradise, and the crowds are immense.\n\nPak Pattan was called the \u201cFerry of the Pure One,\u201d and the latter days\nof Far\u012bd-ud-Din were spent at Adjudhan, a very ancient city in the\nPunj\u00e2b. This Fakir was instrumental in the conversion of the whole of\nthe Southern Punj\u00e2b to the faith of Islam.\n\n_Note._\u2014The self-inflicted penances of both Hindu and Mahomedan Fakirs\nare well known, but perhaps the \u201cMeasurement Affliction,\u201d or \u201cKusht,\u201d\nfrom the Persian word \u201cKusht,\u201d meaning \u201ckilling,\u201d will be new to some.\nIt consists in making an approach to the shrine from a considerable\ndistance, and measuring that distance by so many lengths of the body,\nfoot after head, until the shrine is reached. But few can go through\nthis extreme torture in the sun, and then only with the assistance of\nrelatives and friends, who supply sherbet and drinks to the devotee, and\nkeep his body cool with fans.\n\n_Note._\u2014In relation to this Folk-tale, it is said in the district:\n\n Burri jungul ki wassar\n Burri khullachnee n\u00e2\u00e2r\n Burri moorick ki hassa\n\nThere are three things that are bad:\n\n Perpetual seclusion in the jungle;\n A quarrelsome and peevish wife;\n The rough horse-play of a boor.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE FARMER AND THE REVENUE SOWAR.\n\n\nYou all know that in certain parts of our country the farmers are in the\nhabit of shifting their hamlets from time to time, according to the\nseasons.\n\nIn winter time they go to live in the big villages, and in the summer\nthey dwell in the fields near to their crops.\n\nOne summer-day a Farmer was ploughing his ground, which was situated not\nfar from a \u201ckuburistan\u201d or burial ground, and a Revenue Sowar came up\nand accosted him, and asked if the Farmer would direct him to a village\nwhere the people were altogether, in order that the rents might be\ncollected. \u201cThe only place that I know of,\u201d said the Farmer, \u201cwhere they\nkeep together, is in that place,\u201d pointing to the burial ground. \u201cThis,\u201d\nsaid the Sowar, \u201cis no answer, sir, to my question. What do you mean?\u201d\nand roundly abused the Farmer, and struck him with his \u201cchab\u016bk\u201d or whip.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the Farmer, \u201cit is quite true; whenever anyone goes to that\nplace he never moves again, but we farmers always move from place to\nplace, according to the seasons.\u201d The Revenue Sowar was a little\nimpressed by his attempt at wit, and was about to ride off, but\noverhearing the Farmer saying something audibly, he listened, and these\nwere his words:\n\n Hurri thi mun bhurri thi\n Motian se jhuri thi\n Rajah ji ke b\u00e2gh men\n Dushalla or\u00eae khurri thi.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n It was green and full\n And set with pearls.\n In the Rajah\u2019s garden\n She stood, and was covered with a shawl.\n\nThe Sowar said to the Farmer, \u201cI overheard what you were repeating, but\nwhat can possibly be the meaning of it, for it is a riddle surely, so\nplease enlighten me.\u201d\n\nThe Farmer replied, \u201cI gave you one piece of knowledge, and you became\nangry and violent; however, I will return you no ill-will, so here is\nthe answer to take away with you.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t you see that it refers to the \u2018Bh\u016btta\u2019 or ear of the \u2018Indian\ncorn\u2019? Its stem is green, its grain like pearls, and its covering sheath\nlike a beautiful shawl.\u201d\n\nFarmers, you see, have their bits of wit; and then he added to the\nSowar:\n\n\u201cSow gull\u00e2n thay hait hull\u00e2nh.\u201d\n\n\u201cI may tell you one hundred tales, but all are inferior to the \u2018plough,\u2019\nfor by it the State gets its revenue, and the people are supplied with\nfood.\u201d\n\nThe Sowar left him, and went away impressed with his quickness and\nmother-wit.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n\u201c_Sowar._\u201d\u2014In former days it was usual in Native States for those\nresponsible for the Land Revenue to send round \u201cSowars\u201d or horsemen, to\nprepare the farmers for the arrival of the tax-gatherers.\n\n_Note._\u2014The Mahomedan Sowar of that day was presumed to be very\nscrupulous in adhering to the truth, and to say everything in exact\naccordance with that which is, has been, or shall be. \u201cHow can I do\notherwise?\u201d said one Sowar, \u201cwhen my Prophet sets me the example?\u201d Asked\nto explain, he replied:\n\n\u201cOnce Mahomed was riding on his ass, and was accosted by a \u2018perd\u00easi,\u2019 or\nstranger, who asked him how many legs his donkey had. Mahomed\ndismounted, counted, and replied, \u2018Four.\u2019 \u2018Could you not have told me,\u2019\nsaid he, \u2018without dismounting?\u2019 \u2018No,\u2019 replied Mahomed. \u2018Who was to know\nwhether, while I was talking to you, Allah might not have given him\neither one leg more or less?\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201c_Chab\u016bk._\u201d\u2014A Persian word for a whip, hence \u201cChab\u016bk-Sowar,\u201d a jockey,\nliterally a whip rider.\n\n\u201c_Bh\u016btta._\u201d\u2014This is from the Hindustani language, and means the Maize,\nor Indian corn (the Zea Mays). It is one of the noblest of Grasses, of\nwhich perhaps the Japanese variety is the most handsome.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n M\u016aLT\u0100N AS HOT AS FIRE.\n\n\nThere was once a Fakir of the name of Shams-i-Tabriz, his first name\nbeing that for \u201cSun\u201d in the language of the Persians, and his second\nbeing that of a great city.\n\nThis Fakir was a very noted man, and wherever he went to reside the\npeople flocked to see him, and he collected in every place a large\nnumber of followers and disciples.\n\nHis fame was spread abroad far and wide, and he lived so long ago that\nit was about the time of Shah Jehan, the Emperor of Delhi.\n\nHis custom was to visit the Shrines and sacred places of various\ncountries, and one day he made up his mind to go to M\u016blt\u0101n. Now, when\nthe Fakirs of M\u016blt\u0101n heard that he was approaching their city they\nbecame much alarmed, and concerted together to keep him out of the\nplace, for fear that many of their disciples should run after him, and\nforsake them.\n\nThey arranged, therefore, to send a messenger to meet \u201cShams,\u201d and when\nthe envoy came to greet him just outside the city walls, he filled to\nthe very brim, with milk, a brass cup that he had in his hand, and then,\naddressing himself to \u201cShams,\u201d he said, \u201cAs is this cup full to the brim\nwith milk, so is M\u016blt\u0101n choke-full with Fakirs, and there is no room for\nyou there, and I am deputed by all the Fakirs so to tell you.\u201d\n\n\u201cShams\u201d then turned about him, and noticing a jasmine flower growing on\na bush hard by, he plucked it, and using great care he managed to\nbalance it on the top of the milk without spilling a drop out of the\nvessel. \u201cNow go,\u201d he said to the messenger, \u201cand tell all the Fakirs\nthat as the flower was above the milk, so will \u201cShams\u201d be over all the\nFakirs of the city; yet he will not disturb them, even as you see the\nflower has not upset the milk.\u201d\n\nSo off went the messenger and gave the message to the Fakirs, and they\nthen hastily called a meeting of their disciples, and gave command that\nno one should give \u201cShams\u201d aught to eat, nor prepare or cook any food\nthat he might bring with him.\n\nOn reaching the city \u201cShams\u201d found to his dismay that he could obtain no\nsustenance of any kind from the people, and though he besought many of\nthem, for pity\u2019s sake, to save him from starvation, the reply was always\nthe same, \u201cWe would do so ourselves, but are in fear of the Fakirs.\u201d\n\nAt last when almost perishing with hunger, \u201cShams\u201d went to a butcher,\nwho so far relented that he gave \u201cShams\u201d a piece of meat, but refused to\ncook it for him.\n\n\u201cShams\u201d in despair then turned his eyes to the skies and made a bitter\nappeal to the Sun, saying, \u201cYou are \u2018Shams,\u2019 and I am \u2018Shams\u2019; we are\nboth called the Sun, so I beseech you to come to my aid and cook for me\nthis piece of meat, that I perish not with hunger.\u201d\n\nIn a moment the Sun heard his request; and lo! and behold! he approached\nnearer to M\u016blt\u0101n by a spear and a half\u2019s length, and the meat was cooked\nby the greater heat, and the hunger of the Fakir appeased.\n\nOwing to this remarkable heat, the occurrence of which the Fakirs and\npeople attributed to \u201cShams,\u201d they all came and asked his pardon, which\nhe readily granted, but declined to alter the position of the Sun over\nthe city; so M\u016blt\u0101n has remained, from that day to this, the notoriously\nhot place that it is known to be.\n\nIt is celebrated, said the narrator, for four things: its heat, its\ndust, its beggars, and its graveyards; and this M\u016blt\u0101n has had three\nnames already, viz., Huss-pur, Bhag-pur, and M\u016blt\u0101n, and will\neventually, before the end of the world, be called Trah-pur Sult\u0101n.\n\n\u201cShams\u201d continued to remain in the city, gathering together numbers of\ndisciples, and eventually died there. A magnificent tomb was erected to\nhis memory, which may be seen to this day.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n\u201c_Shams-i-Tabriz._\u201d\u2014To this day the Shrine of this saint is to be seen\nin M\u016blt\u0101n. He lived in the time of the Emperor Shah Jehan, who had a\npassion for building tombs and palaces. The well-known \u201cTaj Mahal\u201d was\nerected in his reign, A.D. 1627 to 1657.\n\nThis tale can hardly be classed as \u201cFolk-lore,\u201d but it was given as\ntradition, and it is interesting as indicating the element of\nsuperstition which has come to be embodied with what is actual matter of\nfact.\n\nShams-i-Tabriz was a Sufi philosopher, and the leader of Jalal-ud-din,\nand tradition says that he was flayed alive at M\u016blt\u0101n.\n\nThe Sufi doctrines are well known both in India and Turkey, and are\nfollowed to this day, and they rest all their system of morality upon\nthe practice of Divine love, and the Fakirs are their exponents.\n\nSufis have laid down the following rules for their disciples:\n\n Hear, attend, but speak little.\n\n Never answer a question not addressed to you, but if asked answer\n promptly, and never be ashamed to say \u201cI know not.\u201d\n\n Do not dispute for disputation\u2019s sake.\n\n Never boast before your elders.\n\n Never seek the highest place, nor even accept it if offered to you.\n\n Do not be over ceremonious.\n\n Observe in all cases the etiquette appropriate to the time, place,\n and persons present.\n\n In indifferent matters conform to the practice and wishes of those\n with whom you are associating.\n\n Do not make a practice of anything which is not either a duty or\n calculated to increase the comfort of your associates, otherwise\n it will become an \u201cidol\u201d to you, and it is incumbent on everyone\n to break his \u201cidols,\u201d and renounce his habits.\n\n (See Hughes\u2019 \u201cDictionary of Islam.\u201d)\n\nIt has been said by Major Osborne in his \u201cIslam under the Khalifs of\nBaghdad,\u201d that the spread of this Pan-theistic spirit has done harm to\nthe Mahomedans; and that the true function of religion is to vivify and\nilluminate all the ordinary relations of life with light from a Higher\nworld. The weakness to which religious minds are peculiarly prone is to\nsuppose that this world of working life is an atmosphere too gross and\nimpure for them to live in. They attempt to fashion a world for\nthemselves where nothing shall soil the purity of the soul, or disturb\nthe serenity of their thoughts.\n\n\u201c_Tabriz._\u201d\u2014Is the chief town of the Persian province of Azerbij\u0101n, or\nas some call it Adebaijan, the ancient city \u201cMedia Atropotene,\u201d so\ncalled from Atropates who after the death of Alexander made himself\nindependent. Mount Ararat rises on the N.W. border, or as the Persians\ncall it \u201cKoh-e-Nuh,\u201d or Noah\u2019s Mountain.\n\n\u201c_Bh\u0101gp\u016br._\u201d\u2014Bh\u0101g is the Sanscrit for \u201cdestiny,\u201d and P\u016br is the Sanscrit\nfor a City, as also is P\u016bra.\n\n\u201c_Sult\u0101n._\u201d\u2014This is the Arabic title for a King or Emperor, but\nsometimes is applied to saints and martyrs, as for instance, Sult\u0101n\nSurwar, an eminent Mahomedan Saint whose shrine is at Baluch, not far\nfrom M\u016blt\u0101n, and who was distinguished for his purity of manners. At his\ntomb it is narrated several miracles were performed. (See\n\u201cAraesh-e-Muhfil.\u201d)\n\nIt may be added here that several sayings are attributed to\nShams-i-Tabriz such as the following:\n\n Badsh\u00e2h noonh bheek mang\u00e2w\u00e2nh\n Mangla noonh takht Bah\u00e2w\u00e2nh\n Pul vich \u201coolut pullut\u201d kurr sath\u00e2n\n Dhun Hookum merah sirdahi dh\u00e2h\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n Kings I can bring to beggary;\n Beggars I can place upon a throne.\n In a moment I can dissolve all things;\n For mine are the orders of supremacy.\n\nBurton says that the people of M\u016blt\u0101n slew him in order to keep his body\nwith them, but we can trace no local tradition as to this.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n SH\u0100IT\u0100N AND HIS SAVAGE WIFE.\n\n\nOnce upon a time \u201cSh\u0101it\u0101n,\u201d or the Devil, who, as we dwellers in India\nknow, has the power to transform himself into man or animal whenever it\npleases him, one day took it into his head that he would go round the\nworld in the garb and appearance of an ordinary traveller; and so\nadmirably disguised was he, that one day he visited one of the villages\nin the Punj\u00e2b, and finding two men seated at one of their places of\nmeeting, or \u201cH\u00fbzr\u00e2hs,\u201d talking and smoking their \u201chookah,\u201d he approached\nthem as if to speak.\n\nBelieving him to be some traveller wearied by his journey, the two young\nmen asked him to sit down, and then they offered him a smoke and a drink\nof water.\n\nAs they were talking and chatting, they heard a great noise in the\nvillage, and suddenly they saw a farmer who was being pursued and beaten\nby his wife. The young men recognised the woman, and at once said to the\nstranger, \u201cWe know the character of that wretched woman; she is worse\nthan \u2018Sh\u0101it\u0101n\u2019 himself.\u201d Whereupon \u201cSh\u0101it\u0101n\u201d said, \u201cNo! there I cannot\nagree with you, for how can any woman be more hateful than \u2018Sh\u0101it\u0101n,\u2019\nwho is the accursed one, and wears on his neck the necklace of evil?\u201d\n\n[Illustration: SH\u0100IT\u0100N AND HIS SAVAGE WIFE.]\n\nThe young men said, \u201cWell my friend, if ever you get married, and have a\nwife like that woman; you will remember what we have said, and you will\nthen think her not merely as wicked as \u2018Sh\u0101it\u0101n,\u2019 but a thousand times\nworse.\u201d\n\nAfter taking some refreshment he pondered over these words, and bidding\nthem \u201csalaam\u201d \u201cSh\u0101it\u0101n\u201d went on his way.\n\nIt was some little time after this when \u201cSh\u0101it\u0101n\u201d did take unto himself\na wife, and as it happened, she turned out to be a most violent woman,\nand used to abuse and maltreat him on every occasion, and would even go\nso far as to kick and beat him and torture him in a variety of ways.\n\nTheir youngest and best child was a son, and she would even chastise\nhim, and if the father remonstrated or interfered with her, he would\nalways come in for a large share of her ire and abuse. When \u201cSh\u0101it\u0101n\u201d\nhad pondered over the sad plight he was in, his thoughts reverted to the\nsaying of the young men in the village, and he said to himself, \u201cTob\u00e2h!\nTob\u00e2h! Oh tush! fie! why certainly this wife of mine is worse than the\nwoman in the village, yes a thousand times worse.\u201d\n\nNow this son began to grow up a bit of a demon in nature, and as time\nwore on, it was necessary that he should be given something to do, so\nhis father one day called him aside and said, \u201cI want you to hear some\nadvice from me,\u201d but the son replied, \u201cI know you are my father, but I\ncould never be advised by you, for you are \u2018Sh\u0101it\u0101n,\u2019 and you never did\ngive good advice to anyone.\u201d \u201cThat is true,\u201d said the father, \u201cbut\nthough I know it is my way to give bad advice to all, I could not do so\nto my son: come to me at all events, and hear what I have got to say,\u201d\n\u201cSay on!\u201d replied the son, \u201cand I will listen.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou know,\u201d \u201cSh\u0101it\u0101n\u201d said, \u201chow you and I are maltreated by your\nmother, so that life is wellnigh unbearable to both of us: now, my\nadvice to you is that you go on earth as a \u2018Hak\u012bm,\u2019 or doctor.\u201d\n\nThe son replied, \u201cI know nothing of medicine, and how could I be a\nphysician?\u201d \u201cThat is of no consequence,\u201d said his father; \u201cyou do as I\ntell you, and all will go right. When, for instance, you are called to\nsee a patient, as soon as you enter the room, the first thing you do\nshould be to look at the head of the bed or \u2018charpai,\u2019 (literally a\nsleeping place with four legs, \u2018char\u2019 meaning four and \u2018pai\u201d legs, in\nPersian). Should you see my shadow there, you should at once say to the\npeople of the house, \u2018Do not I pray you spend any more money on the\npatient, for he is sure to die.\u2019 The people will then say, \u2018What a\nmarvellous doctor is this, for he tells us before-hand that he knows the\npatient will die, and will not receive any fees!\u2019 By this means your\nfame will become great all over the country.\n\n\u201cBut if you should not see my shadow at the head of any patient\u2019s bed,\nthen you should prescribe any simple thing which is known to the common\npeople round about, and of course you will know from the absence of my\nshadow that the patient will get well, and your renown will go on\nincreasing in this way.\u201d\n\nThe son listened to this counsel, and, thinking for a little, he said,\n\u201cVery good! I agree,\u201d and it was not long ere he began to practise his\nprofession amongst men. True enough, in an incredibly short space of\ntime his fame became noised abroad, and he found himself in an extensive\npractice.\n\nOne day it happened that the Nawab of the country where he was, had a\nnear relation very ill, and hearing of the skill of this doctor, he sent\noff servants and horses and carriages to bring the doctor in great pomp\nto the Palace.\n\nThither he went without delay, and he was received by the Nawab at the\ndoor of the Palace, and after they had partaken of sherbet and had\nsmoked a \u201chookah,\u201d the Nawab showed the way to the room where the sick\nrelative was.\n\nThe Hak\u012bm, or doctor, followed very thoughtfully and anxiously, and he\nkept cogitating to himself, \u201cI sincerely hope that my father\u2019s shadow\nwill not appear to-day over the bed-head of this most important patient,\nfor it is everything to me that it should not, and that the patient\nshould recover.\u201d He was taken along passages and corridors, and at last\nthey reached the room where the sick man lay, and to his horror there\nwas the shadow and no mistake, and he almost collapsed on the spot.\n\nAfter sitting a while near the patient, feeling his pulse and asking\nquestions in the usual way, he requested all persons to quit the room,\nin order that he might be alone with the patient for a little while.\n\nAll this time he was thinking to himself how he could possibly expel and\nget rid of the shadow, this father\u2019s \u201cshadow\u201d which now stood between\nhim and his fortune; when all of a sudden the thought rushed in upon\nhim, \u201cI know what I will do!\u201d So raising his voice to its highest pitch\nhe shrieked out, \u201cFather! Father! Mother is coming!\u201d Whereupon the\n\u201cshadow\u201d vanished with one rapid jump, and never again returned.\n\nAs the tale runs, the patient got quite well very shortly after this,\nand the Hak\u012bm was advanced to high honour and position in the dominions\nof the Nawab.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n\u201c_Sh\u0101it\u0101n._\u201d\u2014From the Hebrew word \u201cShuttun,\u201d to be hostile; hence the\nArabic \u201cSh\u0101it\u0101n,\u201d opposition. According to Mahomedan tradition, he has\nfour lieutenants, viz., Muleeqa, Hamoos, Nabloot, and Yoosoof.\n\nBy some he is known as \u201cIblis\u201d from the Arabic word \u201cdespair,\u201d and the\nwife of a \u201cSh\u0101it\u0101n\u201d would be termed \u201cBhutn\u012b\u201d in Sanscrit. In Persian the\nleader of evil is called \u201cAhurmun,\u201d (Burh\u0101n-i-k\u0101ti), or the evil\nprinciple.\n\nCrooke classes \u201cSh\u0101it\u0101n\u201d with Jinn, or Genii. Divided into the Janii,\nwho are the least powerful of all, the Jinn, the \u201cSh\u0101it\u0101n\u201d or devils,\nthe \u201cIfrit\u201d and the \u201cMar\u012bd,\u201d or rebellious ones, the last of whom rule\nthe rest, Jan is sometimes identified with the Serpent, and sometimes\nwith \u201cIblis,\u201d which has been imported direct from the Greek \u201cDi\u0101bolos.\u201d\nSome have wings and fly; others move like snakes and dogs; others again\nlike men. (Vide \u201cFolk-lore of Northern India.\u201d)\n\nDennys, in his \u201cFolk-lore of China,\u201d says that the belief in the\nexistence of demon monsters is in full force in China. One of the\nEmperors who flourished about A.D. 700, having been taken ill, dreamt he\nsaw a blue half-naked demon coming into his Palace.\n\nHe stole the Empress\u2019s perfume bag, and also the Emperor\u2019s flute inlaid\nwith precious stones, and flew off with them to the Palace roof.\nSuddenly there appeared another blue devil, but of giant stature,\nwearing a black leathern high boot on one foot, the other being bare,\nand he had on a blue gown. One arm was like his foot bare, with which he\nwielded a massive sword. His mouth was like that of a bull. This\nfierce-looking monster seized the little one, and with a blow made an\nend of him. The Emperor asked this monster demon what his name was. He\nsaid his name was \u201cTsung Kivei,\u201d and that he was a Colonel Commandant\nover all imps, ogres, wraiths, hobgoblins, and the like, under heaven.\nThe Emperor was greatly flattered at the visit, and awoke to find his\nillness gone. He called a painter to paint for him what he had seen, and\nit was so faithfully executed that he ordered two hundred ounces of gold\nto be given to him, and that copies of the painting should be\ndistributed through the Empire, so that all the people might know and\nrespect this blue bull-headed demon. To this day he holds a conspicuous\nplace in the temples of the people. According to other tradition the\nname of the wife of \u201cSh\u0101it\u0101n\u201d was Aw-wa, and she bore him nine sons, and\ntheir names are given in Burton\u2019s \u201cArabian Nights,\u201d but as Crooke says,\nwhich of these was the worthy of the text does not appear.\n\n\u201c_Tob\u00e2h! Tob\u00e2h!_\u201d\u2014From the Arabic, meaning penitence; when coupled\ntogether it carries the signification of \u201cOh fie! I promise to sin no\nmore.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Sick room._\u201d\u2014It is usual in the native palaces when anyone is sick to\nhave men waving a fan and a \u201cchauri\u201d over the head, to drive away evil\nspirits who may be fluttering in the air, as well as to act as a\npreventive to further disease. They are often seen in the hands of\nattendants upon the gods. \u201cChauri\u201d is the Hindustani for a whisk or\nfly-flapper of hair.\n\n\u201c_Hook\u00e2h._\u201d\u2014The Hook\u00e2h as shewn in the illustration is the Indian pipe\nand apparatus for smoking. The tobacco, or in the Hindustani language,\nthe \u201cgurakoo\u201d is put into the tobacco holder or \u201cchillum,\u201d and the smoke\nis passed through the water in the Hookah and becomes cold and purified.\nThe flexible tube which conveys it to the mouth is called the \u201cnaicha,\u201d\nand the mouth-piece is of silver or amber. Hookh\u00e2s were much improved in\nthe reign of Akbar.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n SAKHI, THE GENEROUS MOSLEM.\n\n\nIn a certain village in the Punj\u00e2b there lived a long while ago, a very\ncharitable old Mahomedan of the name of \u201cSakhi,\u201d which being interpreted\nfrom the Arabic tongue means \u201cliberal.\u201d This faithful and patient old\nMussulman was famed through all the country round for his repeated deeds\nof charity, and he was visited by many mendicant folk, who profited not\na little from his kindness and hospitality.\n\nThe result of all this almsgiving was that in the end, he himself became\nvery poor, or as the native translation more nearly renders it, he\n\u201cbecame as dry as a fish baked in the sun.\u201d\n\nOne day, as the tale goes, two Fakirs, \u201cKallundars,\u201d or begging monks as\nthey are sometimes called, were on their way to Mecca to perform that\npilgrimage which is obligatory on every devout Moslem once in his life,\nand on their way thither they had to pass through the village in which\n\u201cSakhi\u201d resided, so they made up their minds to pay him a visit, and\nobtain his blessing on their journey.\n\nAs they entered the village they accosted the first man they met, and\nasked him to direct them to the house of the famous \u201cSakhi.\u201d This man,\nwho was no other than \u201cSakhi\u201d himself, replied, \u201cThe name of names is\nthe name of Allah, and I am named \u2018Sakhi.\u2019\u201d Whereupon, according to his\ncustom, he invited them to his abode, and when they entered it they were\nat once struck with the signs of poverty that were to be seen on every\nside; the hut, for such it literally was, was almost devoid of\nfurniture, and the place was quite comfortless.\n\n\u201cSakhi\u2019s\u201d wife rose at their entrance, and he then told her, under a\nbreath, to set food before the travellers, but she replied \u201cYou have\ngiven all your substance away and nothing is left. \u2018Ky\u00e2 Kuren!\u2019 she\nsaid, or what is to be done?\u201d \u201cSakhi\u201d replied, \u201cThese are holy men and\nmust be entertained, so pray borrow of our neighbours.\u201d \u201cSakhi\u201d then\nfollowed his wife for a brief period, which gave time for the travellers\nto say one to another, \u201cHow poor he is; and though we are hungry let us\neat sparingly, and leave some on the dish for him and his family.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile the wife had procured some \u201c\u0101t\u0101,\u201d or flour, and in a short\ntime placed before them some \u201cchap\u0101ties,\u201d or thin cakes, and they all\nbegan to eat, and \u201cSakhi\u2019s\u201d daughter had a portion taken to her.\n\nAfter they had all eaten, the travellers rose to go, and with many\nsalaams, and wishing peace and safety to the house, they were just on\nthe point of starting when \u201cSakhi\u201d said, \u201cI must go with you a little\nway to put you on the right road, for there are many cattle tracks about\nthe village, and you might miss your way.\u201d So saying he accompanied them\nvery nearly to the main road, when they finally bid him \u201cadieu,\u201d\nwondering most of all that though he was so very poor he seemed to be so\nhappy and contented.\n\n[Illustration: SAKHI, THE GENEROUS MOSLEM.]\n\n\u201cSakhi\u201d now turned to go back, when to his astonishment he saw a column\nof smoke ascending from the village, and he quickened his pace, when he\nmet a man running to tell him that his hut had been burnt down, and that\nboth his wife and daughter had perished in the flames.\n\n\u201cSakhi\u201d on reaching the spot, found this to be only too true, and when\nhe could safely venture near, he saw to his horror, only their charred\nremains, and at once cried out \u201cIt is the will of Allah; he is One, and\nMahomed is his prophet. I shall leave this place and go into the City,\nand seek service under the King.\u201d So off he went on his journey feeling\nmuch distressed, but confident that something good would turn up. His\nway lay through a rather dense jungle where there were in some parts of\nit, patches of very high grass. In one of these he thought he would rest\nhimself, and as it was time for the mid-day prayer, he performed his\nregular devotions, and holding out his hands as usual to receive the\nblessing, he spoke out rather more audibly than he was wont to do, when\nto his utter amazement he heard a voice calling out, \u201cRescue us, save us\nfrom this misery!\u201d He then groped about in the long grass, and\ndiscovered that the sound came from a deep, dry well, and looking down\nhe saw a man in great trouble, who must have fallen in by accident he\nthought, and then peering closer he descried also a jackal and a snake.\n\nThe jackal roared out, \u201cTake me out of this place, and take out the\nsnake, but do not take out this bad man.\u201d \u201cSakhi\u201d replied with the usual\ngenerosity of his nature, \u201cNo, if I take out one I shall take you all\nout.\u201d So saying, he undid his \u201ckummerbund,\u201d or waistband, and finding\nthat it was not long enough to reach to the bottom of the well, he bent\nhis turban on to it, and lowered it down, telling the man to tie his\nturban on to it also. By this little contrivance he managed to get them\nall up to the surface in safety. The snake to evince its gratitude,\nvomited from its mouth a small lump of gold, which Indian snake-charmers\nquite believe that certain snakes can do; and asking \u201cSakhi\u201d to follow\nhim, he shewed him some wonderful herbs that would cure most of the ills\nthat flesh is heir to, and which no man was yet acquainted with.\n\n[Illustration: SAKHI, THE GENEROUS MOSLEM.]\n\nOn his return to the well, the jackal expressed his thanks for his\ndeliverance by saying that whenever \u201cSakhi\u201d was in trouble, if he\nthought of him, he would come to his relief; \u201cbut beware,\u201d he said, \u201cof\nthe man, for he will get you into distress.\u201d The man was not much\nconcerned about thanking \u201cSakhi,\u201d but as he was very weak and faint\n\u201cSakhi\u201d felt for him, and they journeyed on together very leisurely.\n\u201cSakhi\u201d found out that he was going to the same city that he had set out\nfor, and that he was in very truth the son of the King. When they neared\nthe city, the Prince said, for such he was of course, \u201cGive me that\npiece of gold I entrusted to your charge.\u201d \u201cSakhi\u201d replied, \u201cYou never\ngave me any gold, and how can I return to you what I never received?\u201d\n\u201cWe will see about that,\u201d said the Prince, and they had no sooner\nentered the streets than the Prince, who was at once recognised by the\npeople, called out to one of the \u201cBurkand\u00e2zis\u201d or armed Police, \u201cSeize\nthis man and search him for a piece of gold he has robbed from me.\u201d This\nthey did, the gold was found upon him, and \u201cSakhi\u201d was taken before the\nexecutive, found guilty, and sentenced to the torture peculiar to that\ncountry.\n\nThis punishment consisted in stripping the body, and placing over it the\nskin of a newly killed heifer, the head only of the victim being\nexposed. The prisoner was then put into the hot sun so that the skin\nmight dry upon his flesh and gradually eat into it. \u201cSakhi\u201d was so\ntreated, and bore all his pains with patience, and recited to himself\nfor his comfort, portions of the Koran which he had committed to memory.\nHe was daily under the charge of a guard, whose duty it was to take him\nto and from his prison-house, and to watch over him during the day. One\nday \u201cSakhi\u201d observed that the sentry was muttering to himself, and\napparently in grief, so \u201cSakhi\u201d asked him what was the matter, and he\nreplied, \u201cOur King is very ill, and none of the doctors can cure him.\u201d\n\u201cOh,\u201d said \u201cSakhi,\u201d \u201cI am a medicine man, and I can cure the King, I do\nnot doubt.\u201d This news soon reached the ears of the people about the\nCourt, and \u201cSakhi\u201d was taken before the Vizier, and there repeated what\nhe had said to the sentry.\n\nThe Vizier ordered that the skin should be taken off \u201cSakhi\u201d which\ncaused him much physical pain, and indeed could only partially be\nremoved. \u201cSakhi\u201d was then put into clothes again, and leave was given\nhim to prepare his remedies. \u201cSakhi\u201d then went at once into the jungle,\nprocured the herbs pointed out to him by the snake, and made from them a\ndraught which he gave to the King. The King believed in his skill,\ncontinued to follow the treatment, and in a very short time he became\nquite cured of the disease from which he was suffering. \u201cNow,\u201d said the\nKing to \u201cSakhi,\u201d \u201cyou have been the means of restoring me to health, and\nas I made an oath at the point of death, that whoever cured me should\nhave my daughter in marriage, and be possessor of half of my kingdom, so\nnow I shall proceed to keep my word.\u201d The King accordingly commanded\nthat the proper document should be made out, and upon a fortunate day\nbeing fixed by the astrologers, the royal marriage was celebrated with\nevery pomp and display. So the poor and patient \u201cSakhi\u201d was thus greatly\nrewarded and enriched.\n\nBut he was not spoilt by splendour, for he never neglected as the proper\nhours came round, to say his prayers five times a day, as the custom is\nof every devout Mahomedan.\n\nThe morning prayer was said at the river side, near the Palace, where he\nprostrated himself in worship on an open green sward.\n\nOne morning, the jackal whom he had rescued from the well came to him\nwith a beautiful flower in its mouth, and he said to \u201cSakhi,\u201d \u201cTake this\nflower; I found it on this green bank after five Fakirs, or \u2018Panj Pir,\u2019\nhad been worshipping here. It has a most fragrant smell, but one thing I\nmust tell you: let no one know you possess it.\u201d So \u201cSakhi\u201d thanked the\njackal, tied the flower in his waistcloth, and went home.\n\nThe perfume of the flower was so strong that his wife at once perceived\nit, and asked what he had about him that smelt so sweet. \u201cSakhi\u201d for a\nlong time evaded the question, for he had in his mind the warning of the\njackal, but at last, in a weak moment, he drew it from his waistbelt and\nhanded it to his wife, saying, \u201cI have yielded to your entreaties, but\nyou must tell no one else about it.\u201d One day her mother came to visit\nher, as she often did, and by some accident \u201cSakhi\u2019s\u201d wife dropped the\nflower on the floor, which her mother picked up unperceived, and took\naway with her, when it at once dried up. The wife had no sooner lost the\nflower than she became depressed and like a mad thing, and at last told\n\u201cSakhi\u201d that she should die unless it could be recovered; so distressed\nindeed was she, that she quite worried him out of his life. \u201cSakhi,\u201d one\nmorning when he was at his usual place of prayer by the riverside,\nthought of the jackal, and he was not long before he made his\nappearance. He then told him all about the flower, and what misery and\nsuffering it had brought upon his wife since the day she had lost it.\nThe jackal remonstrated, and said he could not get another, for it was\nleft on the bank by the five holy men who had never been seen again, but\nhe felt sure that there was some talisman about it. \u201cSakhi\u201d said, \u201cOh!\nIf you could only tell me whither they went, so that I might follow them\nand get them to take the spell off my wife!\u201d The jackal replied, \u201cThey\ndived into that deep pit in the river, that I am sure of, and never rose\nagain.\u201d\n\nThen \u201cSakhi\u201d bethought him that he would also dive in there at the same\nspot, and see what fate and fortune might have in store for him.\n\nThereupon he made a plunge from the bank, and oh! wonder of wonders! He\nfound himself in a glorious place, and mid bowers of bliss, and precious\nstones shining in every direction, so that he was quite bewildered. This\nwas indeed to him rapture and enjoyment, and while he was trying to\ncollect himself, he felt a touch from someone near, and he recognized\nthe voice of the daughter he had lost in the fire, who welcomed him with\nall affection, saying, \u201cMother also is here; I will go and call her.\u201d\n\nSo \u201cSakhi\u201d felt that this was true happiness indeed, to be in such a\nplace with his first wife and daughter, and he decided to remain where\nhe was, and which he now knew must in very truth be the Paradise of\nMahomed. Never more did he wish to return to earth again, to be worried\nby his second wife who was under the spell of that enchanted flower.\n\nAnd so ends the Story of \u201cSakhi the Generous,\u201d and may we all learn to\nbear our troubles with the same patience and resignation that \u201cSakhi\u201d\ndid.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\nThis is one of the tales, says Crooke, of the grateful Animal cycle, for\nwhich see K\u00f6hler and Crooke.\n\n\u201c_Sakhi._\u201d\u2014From the Arabic word, \u201csakhi,\u201d meaning liberal, generous.\n\n\u201c_Kallundar._\u201d\u2014From the Arabic word, \u201ckallundar,\u201d a kind of monk who\ndeserts the world, wife, and friends, and travels about with a shaven\nhead and beard. They belonged to a sect of the Kadiri Fakirs, akin to\nthe Sufis, and do not refuse to take \u201cmurids\u201d or followers; but the\nSufis only tolerate them.\n\n\u201c_\u0100t\u0101._\u201d\u2014A Hindustani word, meaning flour, or meal.\n\n\u201c_Ch\u0101p\u0101ti._\u201d\u2014Also a Hindustani word, meaning thin cakes of unleavened\nbread.\n\n\u201c_Snake and small lump of gold._\u201d\u2014\u201cOld Folk-lore.\u201d See Crooke\u2019s\nreference to Pipa the Brahmin, who gave offerings of milk to a serpent\non the banks of the Sampu, or \u201cSnake Lake,\u201d and was rewarded daily by\nthe serpent with two pieces of gold. In \u201cChinese Folk-lore\u201d (Dennys) the\nEmperor Hoti found a wounded serpent in his path, and having cured and\nreleased it, was rewarded by a carbuncle of exceeding brightness which\nthe snake brought to him. The belief is, however, common to many races,\nand the superstition has been extended to toads and fish, and even to\nhorses. Serpent worship is akin to this, but this subject is too\nelaborate to refer to here.\n\n\u201c_Panj Pir._\u201d\u2014\u201cPanj\u201d is the Persian for Five, as the five fingers, and\nwith the Shiah Mahomedans it is a standard, and the extended hand is\ncarried on a pole during the Mahomedan Mohurrum Festival. As also the\nPanjutun which are the five holy persons amongst Moslems, viz., Mahomed,\nAli, Fatima, Hasan, and Hussain. Sentences from the Qor\u0101n are repeated\nat this festival, and the Fakirs and others call out in chorus, \u201cYahoo!\nYahoo!\u201d the Arabic for \u201cJehovah,\u201d He who is; He who exists. (See\nQanoon-i-Islam.)\n\n\u201c_Dwelling beneath the River._\u201d\u2014This prevails widely through the\nfolk-lore of many countries. Moore in his \u201cManx Folk-lore\u201d has a long\narticle upon \u201cDwellings under the Sea,\u201d splendid cities, towers, gilded\nminarets, and so forth.\n\n\u201c_Wells._\u201d\u2014In the original it is \u201cKooh,\u201d in Sanscrit \u201cKoo\u0101,\u201d in Persian\n\u201cCh\u0101h.\u201d These are wells from whence the water has to be obtained by\nlowering a cord or rope. A well into which people descend by steps to\nget water is termed \u201cB\u0101ol\u012b,\u201d from the Hindustani language.\n\nIn some of the \u201cKoohs\u201d it is a practice to place during winter, frozen\nsnow, and when this melts in the summer months, it is drawn out and sold\nas \u201cAseah\u201d water, and is much appreciated.\n\nIt is considered by the people to be a good action to build a well for\nthe general use of travellers, and a still further work of merit to\nbuild a tank, for then both animals and birds can also enjoy the\nbenefit.\n\nThere are many witty sayings in regard to wells, but one or two must\nsuffice from this district.\n\nIn giving advice to another about to take an important step, the saying\nis:\n\n T\u00eak thrup n\u00e2l kooh deh vitch viso\n Hazah thrup nal na as\u00f4.\n\n TRANSLATED THUS:\n\n One jump will take you into a well, but a thousand will not take\n you out of it.\n\nIf one wishes to say that another has laid a trap and got caught\nhimself, the saying is:\n\n Ch\u00e2 Khundah, Ch\u00e2 derpesh.\n\n TRANSLATED THUS:\n\n If you dig a well for another, you will fall into it yourself.\n\n_Note._\u2014In the 12th century there actually lived a saint called \u201cSakhi\nSarwar,\u201d whose real name was Sayyid Ahmad. His father is said to have\nbeen a native of Baghdad. In another legend he is represented as a\ndisciple of the celebrated Pir Dastagir of Baghdad. Close to the tomb of\nthis saint is a shrine to Baba Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, and a\ntemple to Vishnu.\u2014_Crooke._\n\nIt may be that the \u201cSakhi\u201d of this tale refers to this saint.\n\n\u201c'_Sakhi\u2019s\u2019 grief under torture._\u201d\u2014A common saying amongst the people to\nexpress the fact that no one is without suffering is thus given in part\nPersian:\n\n Darin dune\u00e2h kussay b\u00ea ghrun nebashad Agar barhad, to bunsie\n Adam nabashad.\n\n THUS TRANSLATED:\n\n In this world no living mortal is without grief; if such an one\n perchance there should be, then he is not of the sons of\n Adam.\n\n_Further Note as to Snakes._\u2014There are several kinds of snakes known in\nthe district by snake-charmers, but some of the most important are as\nfollows. First and foremost is the well-known Cobra; one is called\nKooruj; another Mushkee, of a black colour; a third Chujlup, or hooded,\nfrom the hood being like Chuj, or a winnowing basket; a fourth is termed\nKukkur, also a hooded snake, but of a light colour.\n\nOf miscellaneous snakes there are Batung, Bhullard, and the Theer-Ma\u00e2r,\na small snake found in the roofs of houses. Another has a spotted body,\nis small, and has a broad head; this is called Phissee, or Kurnnd\u00e2wah.\nAnother is the Sangch\u016br, a snake of most rapid movement, having a dark\nbody, very glossy skin, with white spots here and there. Of this snake\nthe charmers stand in great dread, for it is instant death to be bitten\nby it.\n\nTo show how deadly this is, they say that the snake calls out, \u201cGet out\nof my way, for fall you must at once, and I don\u2019t want you to fall on\nme.\u201d\n\nSnakes, as has been already said, are worshipped by Hindus, and the\nCobra is a special object of worship, as being intimately connected with\nmany of their idols and deities, especially by the worshippers of the\nLingam, the form under which Siva is worshipped, the most bigoted\nperhaps of all Hindu sects.\n\nWhen the child of a Hindu is suffering from a disease called Sokr\u00e2h, or\nS\u016bkh-Chari (atrophy), or wasting away, it is usual to have it washed\nunder a Cobra, and the water thus falling over the snake on to the child\nis believed to have healing properties.\n\nThe well-known \u201cBezoar\u201d stone (from the Persian words \u201czahr,\u201d poison,\nand \u201cp\u0101d\u201d against, a concretion found in the stomachs of goats or\nantelopes), for the cure of snake poison, and is called in the district\n\u201cZahr Muhra\u201d; and again to cure dogs of distemper it is a common\npractice to wash them with the cast skins of snakes, called\nKhainchillee. It may be added here that snakes, it is said, can be\nkilled with snuff thrown into their eyes and mouth.\n\nSome have doubted whether it could be possible for snakes to be charmed,\nespecially as many naturalists have asserted that the greater part of\nthem are deaf. The Authors can, however, certify to the fact that hooded\nsnakes can be brought under the spell of a shrill musical pipe even when\nin concealment. The pipe the Indian snake-charmers use is called a\n\u201cTunbi;\u201d or by some a \u201cBansh\u012b\u201d or flute is used.\n\nHowever, to continue this subject might as we have before said, lead us\ninto Ophiolatry, which is outside the scope of these Explanatory Notes;\nbut we may say this, that the change of skin by the Serpent has no doubt\nbeen easily associated by some minds, with the springing up of a fresh\nlife, or an endless existence; and so has been one of the means towards\nthe worship of this Reptile.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE PRIEST, THE WASHERMAN, AND THE ASS.\n\n\nThere lived, many years ago, in the city of Azimgurh, in the north-west\nof India, a Moslem Priest, or \u201cMoola,\u201d who, as is usual with that class,\nadded to his income by teaching the Mahomedan youths of the place.\n\nBy chance an old Washerman, or \u201cDhob\u012b,\u201d and his wife while travelling\nhomewards came to the city, and put up under a tree adjoining the Mosque\nwhere the Priest lived, and tied their ass to the tree. The old couple\nwere rich, but were unfortunately childless.\n\nSome time during the day of their arrival, they caught a glimpse of a\nman who was gesticulating before the Priest in a tone of violent\ncomplaint, and they could not help hearing all that he said: \u201cYou are\nthe Priest,\u201d he called out, \u201cand I have paid you all the fees you asked,\nbut you have taught my son nothing at all, and every day he is either\nidling or playing about in the dusty roads with other worthless\nurchins.\u201d Upon this the Priest became greatly enraged, and retorted,\n\u201cNot taught him anything! It is false; he has been educated like the\nrest.\u201d\n\n \u201cYah Yah ka kulma partraya\n Gudh\u00ea s\u00ea admi bunaya.\u201d\n\nWhich means, \u201cI have taught him the creed of Yah Yah, or of the\nrighteous ones, and though he came to me an Ass I have made him into a\nman. You ungrateful wretch! I will have nothing further to say to him,\nand you may take him out of the school.\u201d Upon this the man left the\nPriest and went away down the road.\n\nThe ignorant old Washerman and his equally old and ignorant wife having\nbeen silent listeners of all this conversation, put their heads\ntogether, and began to talk of what they had heard. The Washerman said\nto his wife, \u201cDid you not hear the Priest say that he had changed an\n\u2018ass\u2019 into \u2018a man,\u2019 and you know Priests can do wonderful things! I am\njust thinking that if he could work a change in our \u2018ass\u2019 and make out\nof him a \u2018son\u2019 for us, what a blessing it would be! For we have only\nthis one thing short of being completely happy.\u201d The old wife eagerly\ncaught at the idea, and replied, \u201cYes! Allah has given us much wealth,\nbut what good will it be to us when we die; strangers will get it; but\nif we had a son he would inherit it, and our cup of joy on earth would\nbe full to the brim. Let us go to the Priest, and make a bargain with\nhim, that the curse of having no son may no longer rest upon us.\u201d\n\nWhereupon they both sought an audience of the Priest, and approaching\nhim, said, \u201cOh Sir! we are both very old, as you see, but we have plenty\nof money; but Sir, saddest of all things to tell you is that we are\nchildless. Now Sir, we overheard you say that you had transformed an ass\ninto a man. We have an ass, but we have not a son; would you be so good\nas to change him for us, and we will give you any sum that you like to\nname.\u201d\n\nThe Priest was struck all of a heap with surprise and astonishment at\nthis preposterous request, he said nothing for some minutes, but simply\nstared at the aged old couple while he collected his thoughts. \u201cThese\npeople must clearly have heard me speaking angrily to the father of the\nworthless scholar, and have taken my words altogether in a literal\nsense, but here is evidently a run of luck for me which must not be\nthrown away.\u201d Thus he soliloquised, and the old couplet fixed itself in\nhis thoughts,\n\n G\u00e2n k\u00ea pooreh-get muth ki heenay\n Khuda tujh\u00ea deta-mai leta keunnahin.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n These are rich in purse but weak in intellect;\n Allah gives you the chance, why should you not take it?\n\n Then after this little pause he turned to them and said, \u201cI have been\n considering what is best to be done for you. To comply with your\n request is indeed a difficult task, though not impossible. If you will\n tie your ass to that tree, and come to me a year hence, you shall have\n a son, for it will take all that time to make so complete a\n transformation. Give me now therefore one thousand rupees, and go back\n to your home, and be sure you return to me punctually in a year\u2019s\n time.\u201d\n\n The old people were only too pleased to close with the Priest, so they\n paid him the money, tied the ass to the tree, wished him a hearty\n farewell, and went on their journey homewards.\n\n When a year had elapsed the old Washerman and his wife, with their\n hearts bounding with delight at the prospect of welcoming a son and\n heir, started on their travels again to meet the Priest, and in due\n time arrived at the Mosque.\n\n \u201cWe have come, Sir,\u201d they said, \u201caccording to promise, to claim our\n son.\u201d The Priest replied, \u201cYou are indeed a couple of old fools; if you\n had been true to your time and had come a week ago you would have seen\n him; but now, owing to his great learning, he has been appointed the\n \u201cKazi\u201d (Doctor of Mahomedan Law) at Jaunp\u016br.\u201d\n\n The Priest had hit upon this ruse, and had determined to play off a\n joke on this Kazi of whom he was extremely jealous.\n\n \u201cBut,\u201d replied the old couple, getting alarmed, \u201chow is it possible\n that he will recognise us unless you accompany us?\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t distress\n yourselves; I cannot go, but if you will take this rope with which you\n always tethered your ass, and the \u2018Tobr\u00e2\u2019 or nose-bag in which the ass\n had his grain, and go to Jaunp\u016br all your difficulties will vanish.\n Time your arrival in the city on a Friday at the hour of prayer in the\n Mosque. You will see a large concourse of people being addressed by\n your son, who was, you know, your \u2018ass.\u2019 Put yourselves in a position\n where the Kazi can plainly see you, then keep shaking the rope and the\n nose-bag, and he will soon discover who you are, and come and claim you\n as his father and mother.\n\n So off they went to the city of Jaunp\u016br, reached it on a Friday, and\n went straight to the Mosque, placed themselves in a conspicuous part of\n the outer building within sight of the Kazi, and began, with a\n vengeance, to whisk before him the nose-bag and the rope.\n\n In a very short time the Kazi noticed this strange proceeding, and sent\n one of the congregation to find out the cause, but they told him to\n tell the Kazi that they had a profound secret which could only be told\n to the Kazi himself and to no other mortal.\n\n The Kazi, impelled by curiosity, asked permission of his audience for a\n few moments of leave, and then taking the old couple aside, he begged\n of them to tell him the reason of their strange behaviour. With bated\n breath, and with the deepest earnestness did the old Washerman and his\n wife pour into the Kazi\u2019s ears the whole of the strange story of his\n having once been their ass: how for years they had overloaded him with\n kindness, and never spared the cudgel when he had been obstinate; how\n they deeply regretted their conduct towards one now so exalted as they\n saw their son to be; how, but for the wonderful power of the Priest of\n Azimgurh such a blessing would never have come to them; and how their\n cup of happiness was now complete.\n\n The Kazi at once took in the situation, and saw the plot that his arch\n enemy had so cleverly planned against him, and being a wise man he\n thought to himself, \u201cIf I repudiate this absurd story, in the belief of\n which these ignorant people have bound up their lives, it will be sure\n to be published abroad, to my own annoyance, and from being respected I\n shall be mocked and turned into ridicule, and in fact be the\n laughingstock of the place. I am resolved what to do; I will quietly\n acquiesce in what they say, and so get rid of them.\u201d Turning to the old\n couple he said, \u201cYes; it is all too true, and from henceforth your\n interests are my interests, your good name is identical with mine, and\n I will carry it on. But let me bind you by all that you hold sacred\n that you never breathe a word of this marvellous change that has taken\n place in my being and existence. If you never reveal this secret, I\n will be a dutiful son to you all my life.\u201d\n\n This the old Washerman and his wife agreed to abide by in every iota,\n only stipulating that when they died, which in the course of nature was\n not far off, he would be present to see them interred according to\n Mahomedan rites. This the Kazi on his part faithfully promised to do,\n and the old couple took their departure to their own home with every\n expression of joy and delight, and left all their money to him when\n they died.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n \u201c_Azimgurh._\u201d\u2014\u201cAzim\u201d is the Arabic for great, and is used wherever\n Moslems have spread, in names of towns and in titles, such as Azimgurh,\n Azimpur, or Azim-us-Shan, meaning splendid.\u2014_Balfour._\n\n \u201c_Kazi._\u201d\u2014From the Arabic, and means a judge or justice\u2014one who\n determines and decrees in Mahomedan law.\n\n In days long gone by the ruling of the Kazi was thought more absolute\n than it is now, and there was then no appeal from his judgment. As a\n class they were greatly respected, though some were believed to be able\n to read the law pretty much as it suited them.\n\n The natives tell a story of one of these old Kazis who had two\n favourite sons, named Juttoo and Juttal, and during a severe famine\n these lads were seen to be eating the flesh of an animal that had died\n a natural death, which is strictly contrary to the Mahomedan law. The\n complaint was made to the Kazi of the evil example they had set to the\n people, but he, willing to screen them, enquired of the deputation what\n the animal was. They replied, \u201cKotha\u201d (an ass). \u201cAnd what colour might\n it have been?\u201d he further asked. They replied, \u201cChitta\u201d (white). Then\n making a pretence of hunting up several of his law books, he said, \u201cI\n find an exception here in the case of a white ass, and I therefore thus\n decree:\n\n Julloo and Jullal\n Chitta kotha Hullal.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n To Julloo and Jullal\n The white ass is judged lawful.\u201d\n\n From the earliest times, the White Ass (Albino) has been reserved for\n the use of those who might be highly honoured. In Hindustani the Ass is\n termed a Gudh\u0101 and is of the same breed as those domesticated from the\n original African Ass. They are used in India mostly by Dhob\u012b's, and a\n homeless race called the \u201cYerkala,\u201d and it is said they cripple their\n hind legs to prevent them straying. Most of these Asses have one\n disposition, that they are averse to crossing a stream of water.\n\n For the transformation of men into animals and vice-vers\u00e2, see Crooke\u2019s\n \u201cPopular Folk Lore of Northern India.\u201d This metamorphosis is common\n throughout the whole range of Folk-lore: thus, in one of Somadeva\u2019s\n tales, a man is turned into an Ox, in another his wife transforms him\n into a Buffalo, in a third the angry hermit turns the King into an\n Elephant.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n AKBAR AND HIS MINISTER.\n\n\n In the great and glorious days of the Badshah Akbar (Emperor), he had a\n very favourite minister of the name of B\u012brbal. This minister was\n without doubt the ablest statesman at the Court, and no State question\n was decided without reference to him.\n\n Some say he was also a general in the army, and that by his skill he\n greatly assisted Akbar to extend his dominions. B\u012brbal was, however, a\n Hindu, a Br\u0101hman of the tribe of Bh\u00e2t, and his real name was Mahes D\u0101s,\n but so tolerant was \u201cAkbar Badshah\u201d to all religious sects that if a\n man were wise and skilful he cared not of what faith he might happen to\n be. B\u012brbal was also full of wit and humour, and had such a pleasing way\n of putting things, that he could talk to the Badshah in a manner that\n other ministers would not dare to do.\n\n It so happened, however, that one day he unwittingly gave offence to\n the Badshah, and so enraged did Akbar become that B\u012brbal, fearing his\n wrath, fled the country. Disguising himself as a Fakir, he begged his\n way from village to village, and at last settled down on the extreme\n frontier of the Badshah\u2019s empire.\n\n [Illustration: AKBAR AND HIS MINISTER.]\n\n Days and months passed by, and the Badshah began to feel more and more\n the loss of his once favourite minister, and though himself searching\n in the villages near at hand, and making diligent enquiries everywhere,\n he failed to discover the slightest trace of him.\n\n Crushed by grief and broken-hearted, he at last called a council of his\n ministers, and stated to them how much he missed the presence about him\n of his old attached friend B\u012brbal. They, perhaps somewhat jealous of\n his pre-eminence in the mind of the Badshah, seemed to be callous and\n indifferent as to his fate. Whereupon the Badshah became as enraged\n with them as he had before been with B\u012brbal, and threatened to\n decapitate them if his hiding-place were not soon discovered, and the\n runaway brought back to him.\n\n The ministers and nobles in their alarm, at last hit upon an expedient\n which they submissively laid before the Badshah.\n\n They said, \u201cOh Badshah! If an order is given throughout the Empire of\n so senseless and foolish a nature that it will be impossible for any of\n your Majesty\u2019s subjects to comply with it, there is just a chance that\n we may be able to find out the place of concealment of the ever terse\n and humorous B\u012brbal.\u201d\n\n The Badshah listened to their suggestion, told them to act up to it,\n but under any circumstances, and at the cost of their heads if they\n failed, B\u012brbal must be brought ere long into the Presence.\n\n Accordingly an edict went forth calling upon the \u201cHeadman\u201d of every\n village in the Dominions, on pain of death, to bring the principal\n \u201cwell\u201d of the village to do obeisance to the King\u2019s \u201cwell\u201d at the\n Palace. The edict was entrusted to horsemen who conveyed it to every\n village in the Empire.\n\n The whole country was filled with lamentation and distress, for it was\n seen to be impossible to conform to the order of the Badshah.\n\n When the proclamation reached the village where B\u012brbal was in hiding,\n he shared in the sorrow around him, and bethought him of a way of\n escape for the people, but he was known to them only as a Fakir.\n\n At last he said to the Headman of his village, \u201cTake with you some of\n your principal tenants, and go to the outside of the Badshah\u2019s Palace;\n then send a messenger within the Palace, to say that in obedience to\n the order of the Badshah you have brought your \u2018well\u2019 without the\n walls, and that it is ready to do obeisance to the King\u2019s \u2018well.\u2019 Say\n also that as it is the custom of the country for the elder brother to\n advance to meet the younger, that as soon as your \u2018well\u2019 sees the\n King\u2019s \u2018well\u2019 approaching to it through the gates of the city, it will\n without delay rise to pay its respect, and accompany it back to the\n Palace.\u201d\n\n This they did exactly as the disguised Fakir, B\u012brbal, had told them.\n Arriving at the outside of the city walls they deputed the most\n intelligent man of their party to present himself before the Emperor.\n\n The Emperor was seated on his \u201cPeacock Throne,\u201d or \u201cTakht-e-Taoos,\u201d\n having on the right of the Throne a courtier carrying the \u201cGolden Hand\u201d\n to keep off the Evil Eye, and known as \u201cPunjah,\u201d from its having five\n fingers extended; and upon the left another courtier, bearing the\n emblem of the Fish, termed in Arabic the \u201cMahee-Moor\u00e2tib,\u201d the badge of\n dignity and success.\n\n The Messenger advanced to the Throne and stated his mission to the\n Emperor, and ended by saying that the \u201cwell\u201d of his village was without\n the city walls, waiting to receive the King\u2019s \u201cwell.\u201d\n\n The Emperor was baffled for the time, and then turning to one of his\n ministers, he directed him to visit the delegates beyond the walls. The\n minister went, and at once returned, saying that the reply to the\n Badshah\u2019s order and to the proclamation, given with such sagacity and\n wit, could come, he thought, from no other than the absent minister.\n This the Emperor was ready to credit, and a clue being thus obtained,\n the ministers formed a party and proceeded to the village, where after\n some little time, they succeeded in discovering B\u012brbal in the austere\n garb of a mendicant Fakir.\n\n Surprised and powerless, he was conveyed back to the city, and to the\n Royal Presence, and the Emperor came forward to receive him; and then\n after a few formal greetings the Emperor ordered a robe of honour to be\n brought and put upon him, and he was again promoted to his position and\n rank at the Court.\n\n It was not long after this that the country was at war again with the\n Pathans and tribes in the \u201cBun\u0113r\u201d Mountains. B\u012brbal was given the chief\n command, and here in one of the first engagements he was unfortunately\n killed, but his name still lives amongst us as the most able and witty\n minister that the Badshah Akbar had ever called to his councils.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n \u201c_Akbar and B\u012brbal._\u201d\u2014Both Akbar and B\u012brbal have their place in\n history, about A.D. 1586, and doubtless this tale is told amongst many\n others current in India in order to keep in memory the wit and humour\n of Akbar\u2019s most favourite minister. It is not old folk-lore, but finds\n a place here as oral tradition on the Indus, in the valley of which\n river Akbar was born.\n\n \u201c_B\u012brbal._\u201d\u2014Another tale is told of the same minister who when\n tauntingly asked by the Emperor Akbar why he did not make an effort to\n turn all Moslems into Hindus, replied, \u201cOh King! that is too serious a\n question to answer off-hand, but give me time and I will tell you why.\u201d\n\n Hearing some days afterwards that the Emperor was going down to the\n riverside B\u012brbal contrived to have a man vigorously washing and\n lathering a donkey with soap. \u201cSee here,\u201d said the Emperor, \u201chere is a\n novel sight!\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d replied B\u012brbal, \u201cand a very good reply too to the\n question your Majesty put to me the other day. We believe that Hindus\n are to Mahomedans as horses are to jackasses, and you see, your\n Majesty, that all the washing and lathering in the world will not make\n the donkey into a horse, neither can I by any power that I possess\n transform a Moslem into a Hindu.\u201d\n\n Yet another tale is current on the Indus, intended to perpetuate the\n wit and wisdom of B\u012brbal.\n\n One day the Emperor begged of his minister to solve the problem of\n there being so many religious sects in the Kingdom, such as the\n \u201cRoshan.\u201d[5] B\u012brbal, it is said, took the Emperor to a large hall,\n supported by many pillars all similar, but one of which only was of\n fine gold. There was but a dim light in the hall, and without it, was a\n large concourse of people. B\u012brbal addressed them and said, \u201cYou know\n that all the pillars are much of a shape, but one is of gold; who shall\n discover this? Let me see.\u201d\n\nFootnote 5:\n\n A Heresy under \u201cBayazid,\u201d who set aside the Qor\u0101n, and the many\n divisions amongst the Hindus.\n\n In an instant there was a rush for the hall, and in a little time when\n light was thrown on the scene, each pillar had its man clutching it in\n strong embrace, but only B\u012brbal knew that which was of gold.\n\n \u201cBehold, oh King!\u201d he said \u201cthe scramble for the prize; so it is in the\n world around us: all rush and divide off into sects to lay hold of the\n prop and support of immortal happiness, each in the firm belief of\n exclusive possession. It will only be when the true Light shines, that\n the Deity who alone has the secret shall pronounce the reward.\u201d\n\n There is a class of Hindu boatmen of Attock who keep themselves\n entirely apart from the other boatmen who are Mahomedans.\n\n They are called Mull\u00e2hs, from the Arabic and meaning boatmen, and their\n tradition is that their ancestors were brought up to Attock by Akbar\n from further south, as being skilful oarsmen.\n\n Another local legend at Attock is that the native engineer who made the\n plans for the old fort had his hands cut off by the native Rajah, lest\n he should design another for an enemy; and this is current in Ghazi to\n this day.\n\n With reference to the extended hand to keep off the Evil Eye, and\n carried as an emblem on the right of Akbar\u2019s throne, it should be\n stated here also that it is often carried on a pole by Mahomedans of\n the Shiah sect during the Maharram. It is often imprinted too on huts\n and houses for the same purpose.\n\n The standard of the fish, or in the Persian, \u201cMahee-Moor\u00e2tib,\u201d conveys\n special honours to princes and nobles. \u201cMahee\u201d in Persian means Fish;\n the Fish on which the earth is supposed to rest. The word \u201cMoor\u00e2tib\u201d is\n from the Arabic \u201cMartibah\u201d and means Dignity and Honour.\n\n \u201cThe Fish is the vehicle of \u201cKw\u00e2ja Khizr,\u201d the water god, and hence has\n become a sort of totem of Shiah Mahomedans, and the crest of the late\n Royal Family of Oudh.\u201d\u2014_Crooke._\n\n Pictures of fish are often drawn on houses as a charm against\n demoniacal influence, and we know, that the \u201cMatse Avatar,\u201d represents\n the incarnation of Vishnu in the form of a Fish; and emblematic also of\n the Deluge.\n\n There are many expedients resorted to, to keep off the Evil Eye,\n amongst others, iron rings, precious stones, colours (particularly red\n and yellow), the triangle of equal sides, and pots and chattis, or\n earthenware pots, smeared with lime. The triangle might possibly be\n traced to the three Genii, or Hindu Triad, seated in a triangle, or\n \u201cTricuta.\u201d[6]\n\nFootnote 6:\n\n In the abode of the departed, said to have been seen by Thespesius of\n Soli.\u2014Pur\u00e2n\u00e2s. When the apex of the triangle points downwards Kishnu\n is symbolized, if upwards it is the symbol of Siva.\n\n Armlets to the same intent, and called \u201cTawiz,\u201d from the Arabic word,\n Auz, \u201cfleeing to God for protection,\u201d are in constant use, as a charm,\n and it would seem that the Jews recognized the same practice, possibly\n from the command in Deuteronomy xi. 18.\n\n To speak in praise of a child to its face before the parent is to call\n up the Evil Eye, and is a cause of much alarm. If unwittingly done by a\n friend, the parent will ask him to spit in his hand in order to take\n off the spell.\n\n A particular woodpecker, called the Babee\u00e2h, has an evil spell and is\n dreaded on account of its bringing heavy rains, to the injury of\n agriculture, and in a village called Vasnal the farmers and villagers\n all turned out and drove it from the district, and the rain, they say,\n at once stopped.\n\n Very often, in a large melon field there are placed one or two black\n chattis, so that the eye of passers-by may rest on these first, before\n they see the melons, and so take off any evil spell.\n\n We may add here what is not generally known, that the Emperor Akbar,\n who gave the greatest encouragement to literary accomplishments,\n appointed B\u012brbal to be the Royal poet under the name of \u201cKatr\u0101e.\u201d None\n of the poems he wrote have, as far as we know, been preserved by\n Abul-Fazl or others, but we presume that they would have been of the\n usual figurative type of those days, as for instance the comparing of\n the narcissus flower to the eye, and the feeble stem of that plant\n bending over with the weight of the flower, to the languor of the eyes.\n Pearls again signifying tears or teeth, and the lips to carnations or\n rubies, while the gums are said to be as the flower of the pomegranate\n tree, and the dark foliage of the myrtle, is thought to be like the\n dark hair of the one beloved; or again the eye is said to be like a\n sword, and the eyelids scabbards, the white complexion to be like\n crystals of camphor, while the musk plant is said to betoken a beauty\n spot on the face. (See _Hughes_.)\n\n \u201c_Peacock Throne._\u201d\u2014This was studded with valuable diamonds and\n precious stones, and was considered to be worth seven millions of\n money.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE RAJAH, HIS MINISTER, AND THE SHEPHERD.\n\n\n There lived many years ago a great Rajah in a country far away from our\n village; and he was a very enlightened and clever man, and used to\n travel about to add to his information and knowledge.\n\n On one of his journeys he met a man who told him that there was at no\n very great distance off, a city where everyone was wise, from the King\n on the throne to the poorest beggar in the street.\n\n \u201cThat is impossible,\u201d said the Rajah, but the man persisted in the\n truth of his statement, and said, \u201cIf you do not believe me go and see\n for yourself.\u201d This the Rajah had determined in his own mind to do, but\n for the present he returned to his own Palace.\n\n Calling for his favourite minister he told him of what he had heard,\n and said, \u201cI should much like to visit that city, and acquire some\n further experience and wisdom; for knowledge, I find, can only come\n from what one sees; and you must accompany me on my travels;\u201d to which\n the minister readily assented.\n\n Conversing again together some few days afterwards, they began to\n arrange about the time and manner of going. \u201cIt will not do, oh King!\u201d\n said the minister, \u201cfor your rank and title to be known, nor indeed for\n me to appear as your Vizier. We must throw a veil over all this, and go\n in disguise, or we shall never succeed in getting to know the wisdom of\n this wonderful people and city. Let us go as respectable travellers\n only; then we shall be able to go in and out of the streets without\n anyone molesting us.\u201d\n\n This idea pleased the Rajah, so they had some dresses secretly\n prepared, and on a propitious day they took their departure from the\n Palace. The Rajah knew the road, and in a few days they reached the\n spot where he had met the man who gave him this piece of news. \u201cFrom\n hence,\u201d he said to his Vizier, \u201cthe city cannot be far, for the man\n assured me it was at no great distance from where we are now standing.\u201d\n\n They pushed on, and in two or three days a city, surrounded by a high\n wall, was in full view before them. \u201cThis,\u201d said the Rajah, \u201cis sure to\n be the place, for it has an air of solidity about it. See! there are\n gates to go in and out of it!\u201d\n\n Before, however, venturing into the city, the travellers sat down to\n rest on a little mound of grass just outside the walls. They got into\n conversation together, and observed a shepherd, or \u201cAjuree,\u201d who was\n grazing his goats and sheep very close to where they had sat down. The\n Rajah said to his minister, or Vizier, \u201cI should like to put to you\n four questions, just to sharpen our wits a bit.\u201d\n\n The narrator of the tale then turned, and said to his hearers, \u201cYou\n know that the shepherd is of all classes the most stupid and ignorant;\n he takes his goats and sheep each morning into the jungles, tends and\n feeds and guards them, and before night-fall he returns with them to\n the city; so he hears no information, and has no means of picking up\n knowledge of any kind.\u201d\n\n The Rajah then, within hearing of the Shepherd, of whom he took no\n apparent concern, propounded his questions as follows to the minister:\n\n \u201cMy first question is: Of all lights, which, say you, is the best\n light?\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d replied the minister, \u201cthat is not difficult to answer,\n for there is no light equal to that of the sun which is indeed the\n centre of all light.\u201d \u201cNow for my second question,\u201d said the Rajah. \u201cOf\n all waters, which is the best water?\u201d \u201cThat again is of simple\n solution, for what water can be compared to that from the Ganges? for\n in life we Hindus worship it, and at death, when put into our mouths,\n it insures to us mercy at the last.\u201d \u201cVery good: now I come to my third\n question. Of all sleep, which is the best sleep?\u201d to which the minister\n replied, \u201cWhat sleep can be more refreshing than to recline on a soft\n couch after a fatiguing day?\u201d \u201cNow,\u201d said the Rajah, \u201cfor my fourth and\n last question. Of all flowers, which is the best flower?\u201d \u201cThis,\u201d\n replied the minister, \u201crequires little thought, for the \u201cGul,\u201d or rose,\n has been the favourite flower from all ages; it is beautiful to look\n at, and has the sweetest of all perfumes.\u201d\n\n After the Rajah had finished his interrogations he overheard the\n Shepherd laughing aloud, and he thought he caught the word \u201cfool,\u201d so\n he turned to him and asked, \u201cWhat was that you said?\u201d To which the\n Shepherd replied, \u201cI was talking to my goats, and not to you.\u201d \u201cBut you\n did say something referring to us; what was it?\u201d\n\n \u201cWell,\u201d returned the Shepherd, \u201cI do not mind telling you that I heard\n the questions you put to that man, whoever he is, and the silly replies\n he gave you. You asked him which was the best light, and he said the\n Sun. No, sir; the best light is that of your eyes, for what use is the\n Sun to you if you are blind? Again, you asked him which was the best\n water, and he replied, that from the Ganges, the beloved Ganges; but he\n should have said, the little store of water in a dry and thirsty land\n when the far-off Ganges would be of no avail. Then you asked him of the\n best sleep, and how foolish his reply! He should have said, the sleep\n of health, which will come to refresh you on whatever you may recline;\n and as to the last question, of the flower, he praised the \u201cGul\u201d as the\n best of all, whereas he should have said, the flower of the cotton\n plant, for the rose fades and leaves no useful trace behind, but with\n the cotton plant we have both a beautiful and fragrant flower, and when\n that falls off, there succeeds a pod which supplies a substance from\n which we weave our cloth, to provide us and our descendants after us\n with necessary garments.\u201d\n\n As soon as the Shepherd had concluded this little speech the Rajah\n turned and thanked him; and then looking at his minister he said\n quietly, \u201cWhat think you of that for an ignorant shepherd caught\n hap-hazzard near the place? And if he can make such fools of us both,\n who knows what may happen to us when we enter the city? What think you?\n Have we not had evidence enough of the wisdom of this people? So my\n advice is that we retrace our steps to our own country, and try and\n educate and improve our people, even as they have done.\u201d To this the\n Vizier at once consented, and they journeyed homewards, wiser men than\n when they set out upon their expedition.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n \u201c_Vizier._\u201d\u2014From the Arabic word, \u201cWuzir,\u201d literally, a bearer of a\n burden. A Grand Vizier is the highest temporal dignitary in Mahomedan\n States. The title of \u201cWuzir\u201d dates from the 8th Century and was\n conferred on the Chief Minister of the first Abbaside Califs, a dynasty\n which reigned at Baghdad from about A.D. 740 to 1,250, and they derived\n their name and descent from a paternal uncle of Mahomed.\n\n \u201c_Shepherd._\u201d\u2014The Hindustani word, and that in frequent use, is\n \u201cGadry\u0101,\u201d from \u201cG\u0101dar,\u201d a sheep, but in the original the local word is\n \u201cAjuree,\u201d Ajur being the term for flocks and herds, and \u201cAjuree\u201d the\n caretaker.\n\n The shepherds of this and many other districts are a simple-hearted set\n of men, owing not a little to the rustic kind of life they lead. In\n this district they possess some few sheep and goats of their own, but\n more frequently they graze the flocks of the neighbouring farmers. The\n dogs they have, usually two or three to each shepherd, are bred and\n trained in the district.\n\n They are fierce and savage to strangers, but docile and obedient to\n their own masters, clever in protecting the flocks from wild animals,\n and in controlling their movements from place to place. They do not\n come at the call of a whistle, but at the shrill cry of \u201cToh! Toh!\u201d\n several times repeated. The names they give them are generally after\n the colour of their hair. A black dog would be called \u201cKaldo\u201d or\n \u201cKulwa.\u201d A spotted dog would be \u201cDubboo.\u201d A yellowish grey dog would be\n called \u201cGaindar,\u201d and a reddish coated dog \u201cLoha.\u201d For dogs of a dark\n grey the term would be \u201cSauah,\u201d and a white dog \u201cBugla,\u201d after a crane\n of that colour. It is not an uncommon thing for a dog to be called\n \u201cMotee,\u201d a pearl. Some fine dogs, and standing over three feet in\n height, shaggy in coat, bushy tail, small ears and eyes, not fleet but\n powerful, are bred in the hills in the Kangra district. They are called\n \u201cGudhi\u201d dogs, after a Hindu shepherd tribe.\n\n These dogs will not live long in the plains. There is another fine hill\n dog bred in the country round about Chitral, as large as a good-sized\n Newfoundland, with a head like a mastiff, and long hair.\n\n These Gudhi shepherds in the extreme winter come down to the lower\n ranges of hills, together with all their sheep and goats. The farmers\n are glad to let them pen their flocks on their fallow land for a few\n nights, the shepherd and his dogs being fed by the farmer, who receives\n more than his equivalent in the manure afforded by the flocks.\n\n The shepherds for the most part carry a staff, with or without a crook,\n and by way of a solace they have a wind instrument, of music called an\n \u201cAlgh\u016bza.\u201d It is something in the shape of a piccolo, and usually to\n obtain the double notes they put two in the mouth at the same time.\n They also have sometimes a fife, called a \u201cB\u0101nsli\u201d These are all made\n out of a hard wood, and sometimes from bamboo.\n\n If you ask a shepherd why he grazes goats and sheep together, he\n replies that but for the nimble goats he would never get the sheep\n along. When a murrain breaks out amongst the goats, which it sometimes\n does, there is a class of men called \u201cUnga\u201d who inoculate the healthy\n goats behind the ear with a portion of the caul of the liver of one\n diseased, and this has the effect generally of stopping the spread of\n the disease.\n\n To protect the flocks and herds at nights from the depredation of wild\n animals, the shepherds in the summer time raise a high ring fence of\n thorny bushes; in the winter they are housed at nights in the closed\n sheds.\n\n The Indian Shepherds have a custom which is purely Asiatic, of\n preceding their flocks to pasture, as in the words of the Psalmist \u201cHe\n shall lead me beside the waters of comfort.\u201d Most of the Nomad races in\n India are shepherds, and in Asia generally they were so. Moses herded\n the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, and David tended his father\u2019s\n sheep.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE BANJ\u0100RA, HIS DOG, AND THE BANKER.\n\n\n Once upon a time there was a Banker, or \u201cSait,\u201d who lived in a large\n city in Northern India, and being a man of great wealth was held in\n high repute by the Rajah and people of the place.\n\n He had all the cunning of his class, and had amassed the most of his\n fortune by lending money at a high rate of interest, and by giving\n credit to men engaged in commerce.\n\n [Illustration: THE BANJ\u0100RA, HIS DOG, AND THE BANKER.]\n\n One of his debtors was a \u201cBanj\u0101ra,\u201d or grain merchant who had owed him\n some money for a considerable time, and had paid neither interest nor\n any portion of that which he had borrowed. These Banj\u0101ras are\n well-known people all over India, where they are scattered in large and\n small communities. They are the possessors, you know, of herds of\n cattle, which they employ as pack animals to convey their goods and\n grain from place to place. It is interesting to meet them as they wend\n their way from one camping ground to another, headed by the leading\n bullock, which is called the \u201cGuru Bail,\u201d or \u201cSainted Bullock.\u201d This\n bullock is ornamented in every direction; the horns and pack-saddle\n with cowry shells, bits of scarlet cloth, peacock\u2019s feathers, and\n tassels of various colours, while its neck is encircled by a band of\n leather carrying tinkling bells of different sounds.\n\n The Banj\u0101ra of this story was one day again obliged, on matters of\n business, to go to the city where his creditor, the banker, lived; so,\n to avoid meeting him, he encamped some distance off and then went\n singly and alone to the city, in the hope that he might not come across\n him; still he was haunted with the old native saying, oft repeated, \u201cIf\n you have not seen a tiger, then look at a cat, and if you do not want\n to see the Angel of death, then keep out of the way of your creditor.\u201d\n\n As ill luck would have it, however, he had no sooner got into the\n streets of the town than upon turning a corner he came face to face\n with the Banker, who instantly recognised him, and carried him off to\n his house, and demanded that immediate payment should be made. It was\n quite in vain for the poor Banj\u0101ra to sue for pity and forbearance, for\n the debt was an old one, and the Banker was both hard and unmerciful.\n\n At last the Banj\u0101ra bethought him of an expedient and said, \u201cPermit me\n to go to my encampment, and I will beg and borrow from my friends, and\n return to you with the money without fail in three days\u2019 time.\u201d \u201cNo,\n no,\u201d said the Banker; \u201cI cannot trust you again out of my sight, and by\n my influence here I could, you know, get you thrown into prison. If\n indeed I were merciful enough to let you go to your encampment for the\n money, I should require the very best security.\u201d \u201cI know no one in the\n city,\u201d replied the Banj\u0101ra; \u201cWhat can I do? Oh dear! what can I do? But\n wait a moment. Here is my best friend, my faithful dog, \u201cKaloo\u201d (Kala\n is \u201cblack\u201d in Sanscrit); \u201ctake him as my pledge and security that I\n will return and pay you all I owe.\u201d\n\n Now a Banj\u0101ra\u2019s dog is of a breed well known in India; he is ready of\n resource and of wonderful sagacity, and obedient to the voice and\n gesture of his master in a very marked degree.\n\n After some considerable demur the Banker at last consented to take the\n dog as security, and bringing a collar and chain to the Banj\u0101ra, he bid\n him tie up the dog in the yard of his house.\n\n This the Banj\u0101ra did; then patting and caressing his dog he said, \u201cNow,\n \u2018Kaloo,\u2019 remember you are not to leave this house until I come back to\n fetch you; if you run away you will disgrace my name, and I will never\n forgive you.\u201d\n\n After thus addressing his dog he made a hasty \u201csalaam\u201d to the Banker,\n and took his departure.\n\n When the Banj\u0101ra had returned to his encampment he found the packs as\n he had left them, still under their awning of blankets, and as it was\n sun-down the cattle were being picketed in a circle round the packs,\n and the fires were ready for the night, while the dogs were roaming\n about outside on their usual guard over the camp.\n\n Saluting his friends he said, \u201cNow give me, please, a draught of water\n to drink,\u2014not like the sweet water of the S\u0101gar Lake, my friends, where\n you know the firstborn of our race was sacrificed to the goddess\n \u2018Devi,\u2019 to appease her wrath for drying up the lake,\u2014but the pure\n crystal stream from the hills.\u201d\n\n He had soon refreshed himself with a draught, and then went round the\n encampment in order to collect the money due to the Banker, and by\n early the next morning he had got together enough to liquidate the\n debt.\n\n In the meantime strange things were happening at the Banker\u2019s house,\n for on the night of the very day when the Banj\u0101ra had gone for the\n money the house was attacked by some \u201cbadm\u0101shes,\u201d or thieves, who\n carried off several bags of rupees.\n\n \u201cKaloo\u201d gave tongue, and barked loudly, but he failed to rouse the\n inmates, and the thieves made off with their booty. At last \u201cKaloo\u201d\n succeeded in breaking his chain, and he followed the thieves along the\n road, who finding that the dawn of day was rapidly coming on, hastily\n deposited the money bags in a tank, intending at some future time to\n come again and remove them.\n\n \u201cKaloo\u201d noticed all this, gave up all further chase, and returned to\n the Banker\u2019s house. When the household rose in the morning it was soon\n found out what had happened during the night, and in very quick time a\n large concourse of friends and neighbours came round about the house,\n and condoled with the Banker and his family at the loss they had\n incurred. There were offers of help on every hand, the police were sent\n in pursuit, and all that could be done was done to help the great\n Banker of the city.\n\n While all this stir was going on some of the friends noticed that the\n dog was much agitated, and was every now and then pulling at their\n garments. Many drove him off, and even the Banker said, \u201cAs if I had\n not worry enough without being annoyed by a dog which does not belong\n to me!\u201d\n\n Then the Banker told all his friends how he came to be possessed of the\n dog which belonged to a Banj\u0101ra. Shortly afterwards an old man of the\n party, who knew the quick intelligence of these Banj\u0101ra dogs, said, \u201cI\n think the dog knows more than you give him credit for; look! he has\n come to me, and I shall go where he leads me.\u201d Soon others followed in\n the train, and the dog went knowingly along the road until he came to a\n dead stop near a tank, and went in. The old man said, \u201cThere is\n something here, depend upon it; let some young man go into the tank and\n make a search.\u201d\n\n This was done, and lo and behold! one bag of rupees was brought up out\n of the tank, and then another, and another, until all had been\n recovered that the Banker had lost.\n\n Then came shoutings and congratulations from all the people upon this\n wonderful discovery, and loud praises were lavished on the Banj\u0101ra\u2019s\n dog who had found out the hiding-place of the thieves. The Banker\n himself was so overcome with delight that he gave presents to his\n friends all round, and then looking at \u201cKaloo\u201d he said, \u201cYou faithful\n dog! you most blessed of all securities! I shall now write out a\n receipt in full for the money your master owes me, and tell him all\n that you have done, and you yourself shall be the bearer of the good\n news to him.\u201d\n\n This he at once did, and tied the receipt and the letter on to the\n collar of the dog, and giving him a good feed he dismissed him to his\n master with many smiles and blessings.\n\n \u201cKaloo,\u201d thus released by authority, and proud of having done his duty,\n ran off with great joy to seek his master.\n\n It was not long ere he saw his master hurriedly returning to the city,\n and running up to him he began to play round about him, and to show\n every sign of interest and affection. To \u201cKaloo\u2019s\u201d dismay, however, his\n master did not respond, but on the contrary, was in great anger, and\n much disappointed that his hitherto faithful dog had, as he thought,\n broken his chain and run away from the Banker\u2019s house, where he had\n lodged him as security. In a loud voice he said, \u201cKaloo,\u2019 you are a\n \u2018Namak Harram\u2019 (traitor to your salt); did I not tell you to wait till\n I released you? But instead of that you have disobeyed me, disgraced my\n name, and I can no longer have any confidence in you, and you are not\n fit to live.\u201d Whereupon he at once drew his \u201ctalw\u0101r\u201d (sword) from its\n scabbard, and at one cut severed poor \u201cKaloo\u2019s\u201d head from his body.\n \u201cWretched dog!\u201d he said, \u201cThis is the first time I have known you to\n deceive me, and you richly deserve your fate.\u201d Stooping down, his eye\n suddenly caught sight of a piece of paper tied to the dog\u2019s collar, and\n hastily opening it he discovered to his utmost dismay that it was the\n Banker\u2019s receipt in full for all the money that he owed him, and with\n the receipt was a letter, yes! a letter, describing how that the\n faithful dog had been the means of his recovering all the property that\n some thieves had stolen from his house on the same night of his\n departure from the city.\n\n Plunged at once into the direst horror and grief at what he had done,\n and alone on the road with his faithful friend dead before his eyes, he\n could not resist the impulse, and seizing the open talw\u0101r he thrust it\n into his own body, and so perished by the side of his favourite. In\n this state were they found, and the story of the Banj\u0101ra and his dog,\n and the spot where they died, have ever since been treasured up in the\n memories of the people.\n\n Moral, or \u201cNasihut\u201d: Keep always a steel-plate upon your temper, and a\n \u201cRoth\u00e2s\u201d bridle on your tongue, which you know is the strongest of all,\n and never give way to rash and impulsive acts.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n \u201c_Sait._\u201d\u2014This is a Sanscrit word for a banker, and is pronounced\n \u201cSeth.\u201d The word \u201cChetty\u201d is derived from this, as applied to \u201cTamil\u201d\n traders in Burmah and the Straits Settlements. Those who take up purely\n financial matters are astute men of business; lending money at\n exhorbitant rates of interest they get many of the farmers into\n complete subjection to them. They are wise enough to keep in with the\n people generally, and often build masonry tanks and dig wells for\n general use. Sometimes in the very hot weather they will employ a high\n caste Brahmin to provide drinking water to passing travellers, and will\n keep them in their pay for a whole hot season.\n\n The natives of the district have their saying about this, as they have\n about every class, and it runs as a proverb from mouth to mouth:\n\n Paisah ourr\u00e2h cheez\n Sub noo kurdh\u00e2h yar uzeez.\n\n TRANSLATED THUS:\n\n Money is a great and rare article, and quite a marvel,\n For it makes everyone claim for you the strongest friendship.\n\n \u201c_Banj\u0101ra._\u201d\u2014Derived either from the Sanscrit word \u201cBanj,\u201d meaning\n Trade, or from the Persian word \u201cBrinj,\u201d Rice, and \u201cAr,\u201d Carrying.\n\n The Banj\u0101ras are wandering tribes, leading a sort of gipsy life. They\n possess many valuable pack animals, and carry their own grain, and that\n also of farmers, from one part of the country to another. As a rule\n they are well-to-do.\n\n They are divided into several \u201cG\u00f4ts,\u201d or original races, some of them\n children of the stock of \u201cThurkee,\u201d \u201cBaidh,\u201d and \u201cSubanna,\u201d and many\n claim \u201cGour Brahman\u201d as their ancestor. Nearly every community has a\n Chief, or \u201cNaik,\u201d or \u201cTanda,\u201d who lives a life of asceticism, and to\n whom they yield implicit obedience. Some Banj\u0101ras are known to engage\n in gang robberies, but this is rare with most of the tribes.\n\n They are to be found both amongst the Mahomedans and Hindus. Amongst a\n particular class of them \u201cbull worship\u201d is said to exist. When sickness\n occurs the sick man is led to the feet of the bullock \u201cHatadiya,\u201d\n devoted to the god \u201cBalaji,\u201d a Hindu deity of Gujerat. On this animal\n no burden is ever laid, but he moves steadily at the head of the\n convoy, and the place he lies down on when tired, _that_ they make\n their halting-place for the day.\n\n At his feet they make their vows when difficulties overtake them; and\n in illness, whether of themselves or cattle, they trust to his worship\n for a cure.\u2014_Crooke._\n\n They are believed to have been originally the grain-carriers for the\n old Moghul armies, and had many privileges given to them in\n consequence. Distance and climate do not stand in the way of their\n conveying grain from one part of the country to the other, and being\n held in fear by other natives, they are never molested or interfered\n with. They are gradually dying out, as the traffic in grain is being\n carried on by other means.\n\n \u201c_Faithful Dog._\u201d\u2014Dogs play a prominent part in the Folk-tales of most\n countries, and in India they have ever been the cherished companions of\n many tribes. With the Banj\u0101ras they are the sentinels of their\n encampment; as it is so well known they are equally so to the Bedouins\n in the desert. It is believed by many that they are in touch with the\n spirits of their dead, and a sure protection from evil influences.\n\n There are many legends and omens about them in the district, too\n numerous to mention here.\n\n It is not lucky for a dog to lie on its back.\n It is not lucky for a dog to be given to howl.\n It _is_ lucky for a strange dog to follow one home.\n\n And so on.\n\n When the natives see the wild dog in the jungles, (and they are still\n existing there) they marvel at the triumph that man has had over them,\n to bring them from such a fierce and savage state to be so close a\n friend and companion.\n\n Crooke says there is an old bit of folk-lore from the Mirzapoor\n district, where the merchant kills his faithful dog near a tank.\n\n Our thoughts will also take us to the old Welsh tradition of Prince\n Llewellyn\u2019s hound, still kept in memory in the name of the village,\n Beddgelert, or grave of \u201cGelert.\u201d\n\n These are but further instances of the common groundwork of all\n folk-lore.\n\n There are two breeds of the Banj\u0101ra dogs known in the district. They\n are not unlike the \u201cGudhi\u201d dogs bred in the Kangra district, but devoid\n of their woolly and shaggy coat. The ears with one of the breeds are\n carried erect, and they stand over two feet in height. They are devoted\n to their individual master, and remain attached to him till death. They\n seem to anticipate his every wish and thought, and almost to assume a\n certain likeness to him.\n\n An unfaithful dog is spoken of as:\n\n Khandh\u00e2h peendh\u00e2h saeent-dha ghur\n Vungh Bhonkdh\u00e2h kass\u00e2e dha ghur.\n\n THUS TRANSLATED.\n\n He eats and drinks at his master\u2019s house,\n But he barks for and protects the butcher\u2019s shop.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n HOW AN EVIL SPIRIT WAS EXORCISED.\n\n\n Once upon a time there lived in the city of Peshawar, not very long\n ago, an old Priest who had obtained a reputation for the power he\n possessed over malignant spirits. This Priest usually had under his\n tuition two or three boys who were \u201cJinns,\u201d and to whom as it pleased\n him from time to time he communicated the knowledge he possessed of the\n black art.\n\n This old Priest came to dwell in the village of Haji Shah, and took up\n his abode near to the Mahomedan mosque there. This mosque was in close\n proximity to the quarters of the \u201cChuprassies,\u201d who you know, are\n employed by the Sirkar or Government in the suppression of salt\n smuggling.\n\n The Chief of these \u201cChuprassies\u201d had in his household a man of the name\n of Gopee, whose brother Shivedas was one of the \u201cChuprassies,\u201d and\n lived with the others in the quarters provided for them.\n\n Shivedas was occasionally seized with violent fits, and when under\n their influence would rave like a maniac. All kinds of medicine had\n been tried to relieve him of the disorder, but it was all in vain; so\n at last his friends left him to himself, and only sought to prevent his\n doing any injury to himself when the fits came upon him.\n\n One day when Shivedas was returning to his quarters he was again\n attacked by his old malady, and so violent was he on this occasion that\n it took four men to hold him down on his \u201ccharpai,\u201d or bed. His brother\n Gopee was at once sent for, and he found him in one of the severest\n fits he had ever had. On reaching his bedside, Shivedas cried out,\n \u201cSave me, Gopee; save me!\u201d\n\n Those round the bed, and the four holding him, said, \u201cWhy do you not do\n something for your brother?\u201d He replied, \u201cI have done all I can, but\n there is no cure for his disease.\u201d They said, \u201cThen why do you not send\n for the Priest here, who would soon expel this evil spirit, which comes\n now and again to torment him?\u201d Now Gopee did not believe in the power\n of the Priest. At last one of the \u201cChuprassies\u201d went to their European\n Chief\u2019s house, and begged him to come up to the quarters to see what\n could be done. When he arrived there and saw the state that Shivedas\n was in, and Gopee, his brother, in such great distress, he said, \u201cWhat\n can be done to relieve this man?\u201d They all said, \u201cSend for the Priest,\n the old Peshawar man, and he will soon put him right.\u201d The Chief said,\n \u201cWell, do so if you like.\u201d They replied, \u201cHe will not come for us, for\n he is a grumpy old man; but he will come for you.\u201d So the Chief, to\n relieve the sufferer, and perhaps to satisfy his own curiosity, sent to\n ask the Priest to come.\n\n In a short time he made his appearance, just when Shivedas was in one\n of his worse struggles, and looking at him for some time, he all of a\n sudden seemed to make up his mind, and drawing his \u201cQor\u00e2n\u201d from his\n pocket went close to the bedside and called out, \u201cAre you going to\n leave this man, or not?\u201d And a voice came from Shivedas, \u201cNo! I will\n not.\u201d Now, many present heard the voice, but it was not the voice of\n Shivedas.\n\n The Priest then asked for some rag, and many ran to get a piece of an\n old \u201cChudder,\u201d or cloth, but he said, \u201cNo! this will not do; it must be\n blue rag.\u201d And in very quick time someone ran and brought a piece from\n the Bazaar.\n\n When the Priest took it into his hand he called for a light, and then\n proceeded to burn it in the flame. Then, again advancing to the\n bedside, with the burning rag in one hand and the open Qor\u00e2n in the\n other, he called out in a louder tone than before, \u201cAre you going to\n leave this man, or are you not? If not I will burn you out and all your\n generation.\u201d The same voice then uttered the words, \u201cI will not leave\n him; and who are you?\u201d\n\n The old Priest then placed the smouldering rag to the nose of Shivedas,\n and again threatened the evil spirit; and then, to the astonishment of\n all, the voice said, \u201cI will go away this time if you will not trouble\n nor worry me.\u201d\n\n After this Shivedas became still and tranquil, and went off into a\n profound sleep.\n\n Some hours afterwards, when he awoke, and was questioned as to what had\n occurred, he could call nothing to his remembrance.\n\n The \u201cChuprassies\u201d believed that the evil spirit had been exorcised by\n the Priest, and it is certainly true that Shivedas had no return of his\n fits; and I tell you this tale, for it is believed by many of us to\n this day.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n \u201c_Jinns._\u201d\u2014Before referred to, and meaning that which is internal, and\n cannot be seen. The word is spelt sometimes Djinns, or Ginns. They are\n supposed by some to be deities of the ancient pagans. By the Greeks\n believed to be spirits never engaged in matter, nor ever joined to\n bodies, subdivided into good and bad, every man having one of each to\n attend him at all times.\n\n The Mahomedans believe in several divisions of them, and that they\n inhabited the world many thousands of years before Adam. Falling into\n corruption, they were consigned to the Mountains of K\u00e2f; the mountains\n which in Moslem legends surround the world. They still believe that\n they interest themselves in the affairs of men; that, if assuming human\n shape their eyes are placed longitudinally in their face. In Arab\n mythology Solomon is supposed to have possessed special power over\n them. There are forty troops of them, it is stated, with 600,000 in a\n troop. Crooke, in referring to them, says, they are believed to have\n been resplendently handsome, and sometimes horribly hideous.\n\n They are not confined to any part of the earth in which we live, but\n are to be found in every region.\n\n In Hungary, it is said that many years ago the miners were visited by\n them in the shape of little negro boys who did no mischief, merely on\n occasion blowing out their lamps.\n\n The Malays, who are Mahomedans, have the same beliefs as their\n co-religionists in India, their beneficent spirits being styled Daw\u0101,\n with supernatural powers.\n\n The Chinese idea of Jinns and Genii, as given by one of their writers,\n is that they will live upon air, or even give up breathing the outer\n air, and carry on the process of breathing inwardly, as they say, for\n days together as in a catalepsy (like an Indian Fakir). They will\n become invisible; they will take the form of any bird, beast, fish or\n insect; they will mount up above the clouds; dive into the deepest sea;\n or burrow into the centre of the earth.\n\n The chief Jinn will command spirits and demons of all sorts and sizes\n and hold them at his beck and call. Finally, after living in the world\n for perhaps several hundred years, he does not die (for a Jinn or Genii\n is immortal, though a spirit may not be so), but he rides up to heaven\n on the back of a dragon, where he becomes a ruler of spirits.\n\n The strict \u201cConfucians\u201d deny their existence. One of the most\n celebrated of Genii is in Chinese history named \u201cChang Kwoh,\u201d who\n possessed a white mule which could transport him thousands of miles in\n a single day, and which when he halted he folded up and hid away in his\n wallet.\n\n The Isles of the Genii San Sh\u00ean Shan were supposed to be pretty much\n where \u201cFormosa\u201d actually now exists; vide Deny\u2019s exhaustive work on the\n Folk-lore of China.\n\n \u201c_Chuprassies._\u201d\u2014From the Hindustani word \u201cChupr\u0101s,\u201d a buckle or badge\n worn to show authority, and generally on a belt over the shoulder.\n\n \u201c_Exorcism._\u201d\u2014The so-called art of Divination, or the foretelling of\n events, past and future by other than human means, together with the\n conjuring of spirits both good and evil, and the wearing of charms and\n amulets as a preservative against evils and witchcraft, have all been\n in habitual use from remote ages, and are still resorted to in many\n parts of the world.\n\n India is full of it, where the evil spirits are called \u201cBh\u00fbt,\u201d and so\n is Persia, where necromancers examine for marks and signs the blade\n bone of a newly killed sheep, very much as is done in the art of\n Palmistry which by marks and signs professes to discover the character\n of any person from the palm of his hand.\n\n Exorcism soon followed in the train of most of these superstitions, and\n a class of people supposed to be possessed of devils, and called\n \u201cenergumens,\u201d sought out those who professed to drive them away with a\n magical form of words. The Moslems term all these systems of belief\n \u201cKah\u0101nah,\u201d or a \u201ccausing to tell,\u201d and deem them such as to call for\n disapproval, as indeed also do most Christians in these days.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n BAHAD\u016aR SINGH AND THE BLIND BEGGAR.\n\n\n There lived once in the Punjaub many years ago an old Seikh soldier who\n had gained much renown amongst his fellow-countrymen for the many acts\n of bravery he had shown in the tribal wars that in those days used\n often to take place between the chieftains of the various independent\n states thereabout. We all know that the Seikhs belong to a sect whose\n founder was one \u201cNanak,\u201d who lived in the beginning of the sixteenth\n century, and that the word Seikh means in the Sanscrit language a\n \u201cdisciple.\u201d\n\n This old soldier had for his first name the distinguished appellation\n of \u201cBahad\u016br,\u201d which in the Persian language means \u201cbrave,\u201d so he was\n brave by name as well as by nature.\n\n At the time the incident occurred which I am now about to relate to you\n all, he had retired from active service and had settled down on a small\n competence for a native, in the village of Shumshabad.\n\n In this village, as indeed may be found in many towns and villages of\n Upper India, there was a little colony of blind men who subsisted on\n the alms of the benevolent, and they were generally to be found near\n the markets or bazaars, or along the thoroughfares leading to them.\n They had moreover, a little settlement of their own situated on the\n confines of the town.\n\n One of these blind men at Shumshabad, a wizen-faced, attenuated, old\n fellow, clad in poor garments, and wearing a \u201cKummul,\u201d or native\n blanket, thrown about him, used to sit daily by the wayside begging,\n and ever in the same spot. This old blind man had the habit of calling\n out in a piteous tone, \u201cFriends have pity on the blind, and let him\n only feel and handle a hundred gold mohurs and he will be made happy\n for ever.\u201d\n\n Now, as few people who passed that way had even one coin of that value,\n his wish never seemed likely to be gratified, but he made a pile of\n money for all that, as the sequel of the story will show.\n\n Bahad\u016br Singh used to hear this plaintive cry almost daily when he went\n to the Bazaar, and being kind as well as brave, he often thought to\n himself, I should much like to satisfy that old blind man\u2019s wish, but I\n suppose I shall never be able to do so, for the little I have scarce\n supplies my own daily wants; so he contented himself, with others round\n him, in casting a pice into the blind man\u2019s wallet.\n\n Months, nay years had passed by, when Bahad\u016br Singh had occasion to\n visit a sister who resided at some little distance from Shumshabad, on\n the high road to Jhelum.\n\n Upon his return he stopped to rest near a Tank, as natives often do,\n and upon the bank his eye caught sight of a small dark object, and when\n he had picked it up he found it was very heavy. His curiosity was now\n greatly aroused, and what was his surprise on opening it, but to\n discover that it was full of gold mohurs, and when he had counted them\n over, lo, and behold! there were exactly one hundred.\n\n He was in quite a whirl of delight, and one might have thought that he\n would have kept the money and not have disclosed the secret to anyone,\n but as there were just the very one hundred gold mohurs that by their\n feeling and handling might make the old blind man of his village happy\n for ever, the first idea that entered his head was to go straight to\n the spot where he knew he always asked for alms, to let him run his\n fingers over them.\n\n So without any further ado off he went, and upon reaching the old blind\n man who was calling out in his usual strain; Bahad\u016br Singh said, \u201cHere,\n good old man, this is a lucky day for you, for I have brought you one\n hundred gold mohurs to feel, and to handle, and to be happy for ever.\u201d\n\n Whereupon Bahad\u016br Singh handed the gold mohurs one by one into the old\n blind man\u2019s hand, and he handled them and put them one by one into his\n wallet, repeating after every one, \u201cOh! you blessed and good man.\u201d By\n the time the whole hundred had been counted out a very considerable\n crowd began to collect, so that Bahad\u016br Singh thought it better to\n recover his money and be off. He then asked the old blind man to give\n it back to him, but who would have thought it? the old villain set up\n quite another cry, howling, and saying at the top of his voice,\n \u201cFriends, help me; help the poor blind man who is being robbed of his\n little all!\u201d And laying fast hold of Bahad\u016br Singh\u2019s \u201cdhotee\u201d or cloth,\n he made it appear as if some of his money had already been robbed from\n him.\n\n Of course the crowd took the side of the blind man, so it was all in\n vain for Bahad\u016br Singh to try to get a hearing, and more than that, the\n crowd set upon him, and would have thrashed him unmercifully had he not\n made his escape, so he hurriedly left the scene and his money too.\n\n But he was in a fearful rage, and vowed he would have his revenge, and\n going by a back way to his hut (for he found he was being pursued), he\n reached it unperceived.\n\n Taking down his sword from the wall, he said to himself, \u201cI know the\n place where the blind men live, and I know too that the old blind\n villain will be going home about dusk; I will lie in wait for him and\n cut him down.\u201d\n\n Bahad\u016br Singh\u2019s heart, however, began to fail him, \u201cfor,\u201d said he, \u201cIs\n he not a blind man?\u201d Yet the feelings of revenge had so worked him up,\n that he was furious at being so cunningly deceived and robbed.\n\n In partial hiding he took up his post by the road-side, and he had not\n long to wait, for very soon the old blind villain hove in sight,\n tottering along and leaning on his staff. Bahad\u016br Singh drew his sword\n from its scabbard and looked first at it, and then at the old blind\n villain who was drawing nearer and nearer to him.\n\n In an instant the brave feelings of his nature rose uppermost, for was\n he not Bahad\u016br? and addressing his sword, as the custom of Orientals\n often is, he said, \u201cOh! sword! thou hast been with me in many an\n honourable fight, and shall I now tarnish thy fair fame by using thee\n thus? No. I ask pardon, and return you to your scabbard without a\n stain.\u201d And so saying he let the blind man pass.\n\n But he determined upon following him, and if possible, to recover his\n money; whereupon he crept stealthily behind him and close upon his\n heels, and when the old blind villain arrived at his hut, Bahad\u016br Singh\n saw him open the door, and before he had time to close and fasten it\n from the inside, the brave soldier had managed to slip in too, and\n quite unheard. Keeping very silent, he watched the old villain take off\n his \u201ckummul\u201d and his wallet, and then make his way to a corner of the\n hut. He there took up a tile flush with the floor, and removed from a\n hole beneath it a \u201cchattie,\u201d or earthenware vessel, in which he was\n proceeding to put in from his wallet the money he had collected during\n the day. Bahad\u016br Singh saw his own hundred gold mohurs going in one by\n one, and then overheard the old blind villain say, \u201cI have done well to\n day. I have here four hundred gold mohurs, and with this further one\n hundred, I shall have five hundred gold mohurs, and who so rich as I?\u201d\n And then he carefully returned the \u201cchattie\u201d and put back the tile,\n feeling it over and over again to be sure that it was in its right\n place. He then returned to his \u201ccharpai,\u201d or cot, and sat down,\n apparently to think a bit.\n\n [Illustration: BAHAD\u016aR SINGH AND THE BLIND BEGGAR.]\n\n It was now Bahad\u016br Singh\u2019s turn to try his luck at recovering his\n money; so moving very noiselessly, he crept to the money corner, lifted\n the tile, took out the \u201cchattie,\u201d and was getting back to a spot he had\n selected behind the \u201ccharpai,\u201d when as ill-luck would have it, he\n struck against a shelf projecting from the wall, and the noise at once\n aroused the old blind villain, who rushed to the money corner, only to\n find that his store had vanished. He howled, he shouted at the top of\n his voice, he brandished about him his staff, smashing the water-pots,\n and deluging the hut with water, and it was only by great dexterity\n that Bahad\u016br Singh could keep behind him, and so avoid coming in\n contact either with him or his staff.\n\n In a very short time, however, there came a knock at the door, and the\n old blind villain let in a stranger, who, to Bahad\u016br Singh\u2019s relief,\n was, he noticed, also a blind man. The stranger called out, \u201cWhat is\n all this noise about?\u201d \u201cHai, Hai! Booh, Booh!\u201d said the old blind\n villain; all my money is gone, and I am ruined for ever.\u201d \u201cYour money\n gone\u201d he replied, \u201cHow can that be? Where did you put it?\u201d \u201cHere,\n here,\u201d he said, pulling the stranger to the money corner. \u201cBut what a\n fool you were to keep it there! Why didn\u2019t you do as I always do? When\n I get enough together to make up a gold mohur I sew it up into my\n turban.\u201d\n\n Bahad\u016br Singh, hearing this, at once by a quick and quiet movement\n reached forward and took off the turban of the stranger and put it\n aside, whereupon the stranger rushed at the old blind villain and said,\n \u201cWhy did you take my turban off and where is it?\u201d \u201cI didn\u2019t,\u201d he\n replied. \u201cBut you must have done so, for there is no one else here, and\n you want to take my money now, do you?\u201d So saying, he went for the old\n blind villain, knocked him down on to the slushy floor, and pummelled\n him until he cried hard for mercy.\n\n Bahad\u016br Singh, with something like a smile at seeing his enemy\n punished, then quitted the hut, leaving them to fight it out. He took\n with him the \u201cchattie\u201d and the gold mohurs, and left the turban behind.\n\n He went straight to the village police, told the story, claimed only\n his own one hundred gold mohurs, and left with them the four hundred\n belonging to the old blind villain, which were there and then\n confiscated to the State.\n\n So this old blind villain not only lost his money, but got a terrible\n thrashing into the bargain, and this tale is often told in the\n \u201cH\u00fbjr\u00e2hs,\u201d or places of meeting of the village story-tellers, as a\n capital instance of how best to retaliate, and how cleverly the biter\n was bit.\n\n\n ---------------------\n\n EXPLANATORY NOTES.\n\n \u201c_Nanak._\u201d\u2014This founder of the religious and warlike commonwealth of\n the Sikhs is so fully referred to by the able historians, \u201cHunter\u201d and\n \u201cElphinstone,\u201d that there is little new to tell of him beyond the\n folk-lore of the district to which these tales refer.\n\n He flourished about the end of the fifteenth century, was a disciple of\n \u201cKabir,\u201d and was a sort of Hindu deist, with universal toleration to\n all sects.\n\n He is said to have ridiculed the religious washings and ablutions of\n the Brahmins by telling his hearers that if water will take you to\n Heaven, then what holy creatures the fish and frogs must be who are for\n ever in the water.\n\n The religious divisions of the Sikhs are many, the principal being the\n Oodh\u0101ssee, Baydhee, Thayun, Bhullay, Sodhee, Ak\u0101lis, Nahung, Giannee,\n Soothra, Ghoee, Bhaie, Nirmale, Naga, Mujbee, or Rung, Raytay, Guru ki\n b\u0113tah. In the time of their Gurus, Har Govind and Govind Singh Govind,\n the Sikhs assumed the title of \u201cSingh,\u201d signifying a champion or lion.\n\n A tale is told in the Hazara district that \u201cNanak\u201d once went in\n disguise to Mecca. Absorbed in his reflections, he lay down to rest for\n the night, and quite forgot that his feet were turned towards the\n \u201ckaaba,\u201d which is an insult to the Moslems.\n\n He was aroused by a devout follower of the Prophet, and at once taxed\n with his breach of reverence and respect, and asked who and what he\n was.\n\n \u201cNanak\u201d replied,\n\n Hindu kahen to marianh\n Mussulman bhi na\n Panj tutt ka p\u00fbthl\u00e2\n \u201cNanak\u201d mera n\u00e2m.\n\n Which translated will read,\n\n If I say I am a Hindu you will kill me straight,\n Though Mahomedan I cannot call myself;\n I am rather a personation of the Five elements,\n And my name is \u201cNanak.\u201d\n\n Another anecdote is given, viz., that when he visited the Chen\u0101ab on\n his way to M\u016blt\u0101n, he very much enraged some \u201cJogis,\u201d a description of\n recluse penitents, who by means of mental and corporeal mortifications\n acquire the command over the powers of nature, as stated in previous\n notes.\n\n These men did all they could by their powers of enchantments to terrify\n him. They assumed the shape of wild beasts and snakes, fell from Heaven\n in a shower of fire, and tore away the stars.\n\n \u201cNanak\u201d remained tranquil, and said, \u201cA holy man needs no defence from\n such things; his defence is in the purity of his doctrine, and though\n the world may change, the Creator of it is immutable.\u201d\n\n These words brought them to his feet, and caused their miracles and\n enchantments to cease as if by magic.\n\n \u201c_Blind beggar._\u201d\u2014Many of the blind amongst the Mahomedans are styled\n \u201cHafiz,\u201d which literally signifies in Arabic those of retentive memory,\n and who know the Qor\u00e2n, or Furk\u0101n, by heart: \u201cFurk\u0101n\u201d meaning the book\n which distinguishes truth from falsehood.\n\n These men live upon the alms of the faithful, and on festival days are\n employed to repeat the Qor\u00e2n, being fed from day to day, and at the\n conclusion of the festival they are presented with a whole suit of\n clothes, from head to foot.\n\n Occasionally they are known to earn money by lacing \u201ccharpais\u201d with\n string or tape, which is quite an industry with them.\n\n A blind man from the village of \u201cSheerka\u201d used to be able to wander\n about in the jungle, and find his way back to his hut. He was familiar\n with the cries of many beasts and birds, and would imitate them most\n correctly.\n\n If asked to thread a needle this man would place the needle and cotton\n beneath his tongue, and in a very short time pass the thread through\n the eye of the needle.\n\n \u201c_Kummul._\u201d\u2014From the Sanscrit word \u201cKammal,\u201d meaning literally a\n blanket. It is made of coarse wool, loosely woven and soft in texture;\n the word in its second signification meaning \u201csoft.\u201d A small blanket is\n called a \u201cKumli.\u201d In the winter, farmers and others in the district,\n wear them over their other clothes.\n\n In days long gone by, when the district was under a native yoke, anyone\n found wearing a blanket, or as it was then locally called, a \u201cBh\u016bra,\u201d\n was liable to be pressed to labour for the State; so the farmers had a\n saying amongst themselves which ran thus:\n\n Vassay meenh thay Bhoorah sheenh\n Pavay Pall\u00e2h thay Bhoorah Sh\u00e2llah\n Yekho gul Bhoorah dhee marree\n Thruth nappoundh\u00e2 Veegaree\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n In the rains the blanket is as tough as a tiger;\n In the cold the blanket has the place of a shawl;\n It has, alas, but one reproach:\n Seen on, whether far or near, \u2019tis the signal to be seized for work.\n\n \u201c_Wallet._\u201d\u2014In the original, the word is \u201cJh\u016bli,\u201d from the Hindustani\n language. It is carried over the arm by Fakirs and others.\n\n \u201c_Sword._\u201d\u2014In the original, \u201cTulwar,\u201d from the Sanscrit, and sometimes\n as \u201cTurwar,\u201d a scimitar or sword. It is said that excellent swords used\n to be made at a place called Bunn\u016b. To be wounded by one of them was\n thus expressed:\n\n Lage Bunnoo Thaypah kanoo Bunnoo.\n\n TRANSLATED THUS:\n\n \u201cCut with a Bunnoo sword, of what use then to strap the wound?\u201d\n\n _Note._\u2014The natives of the East often worship their swords and weapons,\n and it is known especially to be common in the Northern districts of\n India, and also among the Mahomedans in the Malay Peninsula (vide\n Crooke, and M^cNair\u2019s \u201cPerak and the Malays\u201d, page 247). It is indeed a\n sort of fetish, and a belief that some mysterious power lurks within\n them.\n\n In a village in the Jhelum district, there lived a noted ironsmith of\n the name of Aruf, who was famed for his sword blades, and the blades\n were termed Arfi, after his name.\n\n Before anyone purchased a sword from him he would take a ramrod from a\n matchlock, and by a particular cut he would sever it in two, saying,\n \u201cIf it will cut iron, surely it will kill any man.\u201d\n\n He was so proud of his power that his daughter thought to humble him,\n so she asked if he would demonstrate to her how he made the wonderful\n cut. He agreed, and she, secreting behind her a small cane sought\n occasion to balk him. Just as he was making the cut she reached forth\n the cane, and he missed the correct angle of the cut and failed, \u201cSee,\u201d\n she said, \u201cit is easy to be proud of your sword-blades and to say that\n they will kill anyone, but how if an enemy should balk you as I have\n done? Then behold the result!\u201d\n\n In the district they have many kinds of swords, but some of the\n principal are the \u201cFoul\u00e2dee,\u201d the \u201cTayg\u00e2,\u201d the \u201cSir\u00f4hhee,\u201d and the\n \u201cSikayl\u00e2h.\u201d These are all curved in the blade. They have a straight\n sword which they call a \u201cSaif.\u201d\n\n The \u201cSir\u00f4hhee\u201d is of polished steel, and rather brittle.\n\n _Note._\u2014There is a story told in the district that when \u201cthuggism\u201d was\n at its height, young men used to be decoyed to a retired spot in the\n jungles, where a most fascinating and beautiful \u201cThugin\u201d resided. She\n had a native sort of seat, placed over a deep dry well; and though to\n all outward appearance it was firm and reliable, yet when any weight\n was put upon it, it suddenly gave way, and the unfortunate victim was\n sent to the bottom, where he was afterwards killed and robbed. Part of\n the proceeds went to the goddess \u201cKali,\u201d and the remainder was divided\n amongst the gang.\n\n Once a young Sipahi succeeded in evading the trap, and recovering\n himself he was attacked on all sides by thugs. Drawing his \u201cSir\u00f4hhee\u201d\n he made a cut or two at them, but it suddenly snapped in his hand. He\n was, however, fleet of foot, and managed to escape.\n\n Telling his friends of his adventures, he said, by way of caution,\n\n Bandh Sir\u00f4hhee Bandho do\n Bandh Sikayl\u00e2h to phir akela.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n If you carry a Sir\u00f4hhee, carry two;\n If you carry a Sikayl\u00e2h, you may venture fearlessly alone.\n\n The scabbards are made from thin wood, and covered with black or green\n leather. The woods used are sometimes the \u201cBaid,\u201d or willow, and the\n \u201cBak\u0101yun,\u201d one of the Meliace\u00e6 of botanists. The hilts are frequently\n inlaid with gold and silver.\n\n \u201c_Bahad\u016br in a rage._\u201d\u2014He was ordinarily a quiet man, and when enraged\n his anger was relentless, according to their saying:\n\n Murdh\u00e2 boleh nahin\n Boleh thay kuffun paray.\n\n TRANSLATION.\n\n A corpse certainly cannot utter a word,\n But if it should, it would cast away its shroud.\n\n \u201c_Gold Mohur._\u201d\u2014Also called \u201cAshrufee\u201d\u2014a gold coin worth about fifteen\n rupees.\n\n \u201c_Dhotee._\u201d\u2014Is a Sanscrit word, and is a cloth worn round the waist,\n and fastened by being tucked in behind, and the appearance becomes that\n of wide or narrow trousers. One of yellow silk, and made chiefly at\n Benares, is called a \u201cP\u012bt-ambar,\u201d also from the Sanscrit.\n\n \u201c_K\u0101\u0101ba._\u201d\u2014This is referred to under \u201cNanak\u201d in these Notes, but it\n should be added, that it is the square building in Mecca, about 35 feet\n in height, and 40 feet square, making almost a \u201ccube,\u201d which \u201ck\u0101b\u0101h\u201d\n means in Arabic. At the S.E. corner of this building is the famous\n black stone, or \u201cHajr-as-Saih\u201d set in silver, which has to be touched\n with the right hand of the pilgrim, but Captain Burton said it was\n often kissed.\n\n \u201c_Kabir._\u201d\u2014Under this same heading also of \u201cNanak\u201d in these Notes is a\n reference to this Fakir \u201cKabir.\u201d The \u201cKabir-panth\u012b\u201d are a sect of\n Hindus numerous in Upper and Central India. They have quite a\n Quaker-like spirit, and have an abhorrence of all violence. Their\n commandments are limited to Five:\n\n I.\u2014Life must not be violated, for it is the gift of God.\n\n II.\u2014The blood of man or beast must not be shed.\n\n III.\u2014Man must never lie.\n\n IV.\u2014Man must practise asceticism, and do the duties of piety and\n devotion.\n\n V.\u2014Man must obey the spiritual guide, the great \u201cKabir,\u201d and sing\n hymns in his praise.\n\n\u201cKabir\u201d died at Gorakhp\u016br, and both Moslems and Hindus claimed the right\nto bury him.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n \u25cf Transcriber\u2019s Notes:\n \u25cb Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.\n \u25cb Typographical errors were silently corrected.\n \u25cb Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only\n when a predominant form was found in this book.\n \u25cb Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).","title":"Oral tradition from the Indus : $b comprised in tales, to which are added explanatory notes","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":42146}