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.