THE TWO BROTHERS
Barley meal instead of wheaten cakes—Jau kî roti, barley bread, is the poor man's food, as opposed to gihûn kî rotî, wheaten bread, the rich man's food. Barley bread is apt to produce flatulence.
With empty stomachs, etc.—The saying is well known and runs thus—
Kahîn mat jâo khâlî pet.
Hove mâgh yâ hove jeth.
Go nowhere on an empty stomach,
Be it winter or be it summer.
Very necessary and salutary advice in a feverish country like India.
If any man eats me, etc.—Apparent allusion to the saying rendered in the following verse—
Jo nar totâ mârkar khâve per ke heth, Kuchh sansâ man na dhare, woh hogâ râjâ jeth. Jo mainâ ko mâr khâ, man men rakhe dhîr; Kuchh chintâ man na kare, woh sadâ rahegâ wazîr.
Who kills a parrot and eats him under a tree,
Should have no doubt in his mind, he will be a great king.
Who kills and eats a starling, let him be patient:
Let him not be troubled in his mind, he will be minister for life.
Snake-demon—The word was isdâr, which represents the Persian izhdahâ, izhdâr, or izhdar, a large serpent, python.
Sacred elephant.—The reference here is to the legend of the safed hâthî or dhaulâ gaj, the white elephant. He is the elephant-headed God Ganesa, and as such is, or rather was formerly, kept by Râjâs as a pet, and fed to surfeit every Tuesday (Mangalwâr) with sweet cakes (chûrîs). After which he was taught to go down on his knees to the Râjâ and swing his trunk to and fro, and this was taken as sign that he acknowledged his royalty. He was never ridden except occasionally by the Râjâ himself. Two sayings, common to the present day, illustrate these ideas—'Woh to Mahârâjâ hai, dhaule gaj par sowâr: he is indeed king, for he rides the white elephant.' And 'Mahârâjâ dhaulâ gajpati kidohâî: (I claim the) protection of the great king, the lord of the white elephant.' The idea appears to be a very old one, for Ælian (Hist. Anim. vol. iii. p. 46), quoting Megasthenes, mentions the white elephant. See M'Crindle, India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian, pp. 118, 119; Indian Antiquary, vol. vi. p. 333 and footnote.
Brass drinking bowl.—The lotâ, universal throughout India.
Ogre.—In the original râkhas = the Sanskrit râkhasa, translated ogre advisedly for the following reasons:—The râkhasa (râkhas, an injury) is universal in Hindu mythology as a superhuman malignant fiend inimical to man, on whom he preys, and that is his character, too, throughout Indian folk-tales. He is elaborately described in many an orthodox legend, but very little reading between the lines in these shows him to have been an alien enemy on the borders of Aryan tribes. The really human character of the râkhasa is abundantly evident from the stories about him and his doings. He occupies almost exactly the position in Indian tales that the ogre does in European story, and for the same reason, as he represents the memory of the savage tribes along the old Aryan borders. The ogre, no doubt, is the Uighur Tâtar magnified by fear into a malignant demon. For the râkhasa see the Dictionaries of Dowson, Garrett, and Monier Williams, in verbo; Muir's Sanskrit Texts, vol. ii. p. 420, etc.: and for the ogre see Panjâb Notes and Queries, vol. i., in verbo.
Goat.—The ogre's eating a goat is curious: cf. the Sanskrit name ajagara, goat-eater, for the python (nowadays ajgar), which corresponds to the izhdahâ or serpent-demon on p. 131.
THE JACKAL AND THE LIZARD.
The verses.—In the original they are—
Chândî dâ merâ chauntrâ, koî sonâ lipâî!
Kâne men merâ gûkrû, shâhzâdâ baithâ hai!
My platform is of silver, plastered with gold!
Jewels are in my ears, I sit here a prince!
The verses.—In the original they are—
Hadî dâ terâ chauntrâ, koî gobar lipaî!
Kâne men terî jûtî; koî gîdar baithâ hai!
Thy platform is of bones, plastered with cow-dung!
Shoes are in thy ears; some jackal sits there!
THE SPARROW'S MISFORTUNE
Verses.—In the original these are—
Saukan rangan men charhî,
Main bhî rangan men parî,
My co-wife got dyed,
I too fell into the vat.
Verses.—In the original—
Ik sarî, ik balî;
Ik hinak mode charhî,
One is vexed and one grieved;
And one is carried laughing on the shoulder.
The allusion here is to a common tale. The story goes that a man who had two wives wanted to cross a river. Both wives wanted to go across first with him, so in the end, leaving the elder to walk, he took the younger on his shoulder, who mocked the elder with the words—
Ik sarî, dûî balî;
Dûî jâî mûnde charhî.
First she was vexed, next she grieved;
While the other went across on the shoulder.
Hence the sting of the old sparrow's taunt.
Verses.—In the original—
Ik chamkhat hûî;
Chirî rangan charhî;
Chirâ bedan karî;
Pîpal patte jharî;
Mahîn sing jharî;
Naîn bahí khârî;
Koïl hûî kânî;
Bhagtû diwanî;
Bandî padnî;
Rânî nâchnî;
Putr dholkî bajânî;
Râjâ sargî bajânî;
One hen painted,
And the other was dyed,
And the cock loved her,
So the pîpal shed its leaves,
And the buffalo her horns,
So the river became salt,
And the cuckoo lost an eye,
So Bhagtû went mad,
And the maid took to swearing,
So the Queen took to dancing,
And the Prince took to drumming,
And the King took to thrumming.
THE PRINCESS PEPPERINA
Princess Pepperina.—In the original Shâhzâdî Mirchâ or Filfil Shâhzâdî: mirch is the Capsicum annuum or common chilli, green and red.
Sheldrakes.—The chakwâ, male, and chakwî, female, is the ruddy goose or sheldrake, known to Europeans as the Brâhmanî duck, Anas casarca or Casarca rutila. It is found all over India in the winter, and its plaintive night cry has given rise to a very pretty legend. Two lovers are said to have been for some indiscretion turned into Brâhmanî ducks, and condemned to pass the night apart from each other, on the opposite sides of a river. All night long each asks the other in turn if it shall join its mate, and the answer is always 'no.' The words supposed to be said are—
Chakwâ, main âwân? Nâ, Chakwî!
Chakwî, main âwân? Nâ, Chakwâ!
Chakwâ, shall I come? No, Chakwî!
Chakwî, shall I come? No, Chakwâ!