In The Jātaka, No. 73 (vol. i, p. 178), a snake, a parrot, and a rat assisted a Brāhmaṇa who had saved their lives.
In The Story of Madana Kāma Rāja (Naṭēśa Sāstrī), p. 20, a Prince whose uncle had usurped the throne received a hundred pagodas from his mother in order that he might trade. He first bought a kitten for the money, and subsequently, when she gave him another hundred, a snake; with these he went about begging for twelve years. The snake took him to visit its father, Ādiśēsha, the Snake King, who in return for it gave him his ring which supplied everything wanted while it was worn. By means of the ring the Prince got a palace and kingdom and a capital; he married a Princess also. While she was bathing in the sea one of the hairs from her head came off and was cast on the shore. The King of Cochin found it, ascertained that it was twenty yards long, and promised rewards for the discovery of its owner. An old woman who was received into the Prince’s palace learnt about the powers of the magic ring, and borrowing it to cure a headache returned to Cochin; by its power the Princess was brought there. She demanded a delay of eight days before marrying the King, in order to fast and make a religious donation to the poor. On the seventh day the Prince and his cat joined those who were fed. When rats came to eat the remnants the cat seized the largest one, who proved to be the Rat King, and offered him his liberty in return for the magic ring. His subjects found it in a box, and brought it to the cat, who gave it to the Prince. By means of it he recovered the Princess and his kingdom, and caused the Cochin kingdom to be destroyed and its King to become insane.
In Folklore of the Santal Pargana (collected by Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 24, a youth set afloat in a leaf some hairs that came out while he was bathing. Two Princesses who were bathing lower down got the packet, found that the hairs were twelve cubits long, and the younger one refused food until their owner was discovered. A parrot met with him in the forest, and a crow enticed him to come by flying off with his flute. He married the Princess and became a Raja. See p. 75 ff., and Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, pp. 16 and 113.
In a variant, p. 88, a youth bought a cat, an otter, a rat, and a snake that were about to be killed. The snake took him to its parents, from whom he received a magic ring which provided everything required if it were placed in a quart of milk. After he got married his wife stole the ring, and eloped with a former lover. The youth was imprisoned on a charge of murdering her, but the animals recovered the ring after the rat made the Prince’s wife sneeze it up by tickling her nose with his tail. By means of it he brought up the absconders and was released. On p. 129 there is an account of the four animals and the ring given by the snake, by the aid of which a palace was made.
On p. 228 ff., a boy who had a caterpillar’s shape took off the skin when bathing in his own form. He set two hairs afloat in a leaf which a Princess bathing lower down the river recovered. She found that the hairs were twelve fathoms long, and refused to eat until their owner was brought. When he came she married him, saw him remove his skin covering at night, burnt it, and he remained in his own form afterwards.
In the Kolhān tales (Bompas) appended to the same volume, p. 458, a man whose hair reached to his knees, while bathing set a hair afloat inside a split fruit. A Princess who found it determined to marry the owner, her father sent men who fetched him, and they were united. There is a similar story on p. 460.
In Indian Fairy Tales (Thornhill), p. 67, a merchant’s son who had saved the brother of the Snake King received from the latter a copper ring which converted into gold everything on which it was rubbed. By means of it he turned a palace into gold and married a Princess, whose hair touched the ring and became golden. A single hair fell into a stream, and was found by a Prince a thousand leagues lower down. A woman who was a magician went in search of the owner in a magic ebony boat smeared with the blood and fat of a tiger, which sailed upstream as she sang. She was engaged by the Princess, induced her to enter the boat to see the fishes, and carried her off. Before saving the snake, her husband had obtained a sea parrot and a white cat which divers brought up out of the sea, and he had left these at home on going away. When these two came in search of him and heard of the loss of the Princess they looked for her, the parrot carrying a letter tied on its leg. They delivered the letter and got a reply from her, the cat stole the ring from the old woman, and they returned and informed the Prince, who took an army and rescued his wife.
In Tales of the Punjab (Mrs. F. A. Steel), p. 185, a Prince bought a cat, a dog, a parrot, and a snake, which he reared. The snake took him to its father, who in return for it gave him a ring which granted everything wished for. By means of it he obtained a Princess in marriage, after making a palace of gold in the sea; he also made her golden. One day she set afloat in a leaf cup two hairs which came out as she was washing. In another country a fisherman found them and gave them to the King, who sent a wise woman in search of their owner in a golden boat. She met with the Princess, stayed at the palace, learnt about the ring, induced the Princess to enter the boat, and took her away. The Princess refused to look at the King’s son for six months. The parrot gave her husband the news, went in search of her with the cat, and learnt that the wise woman kept the ring in her mouth. The cat seized the longest-tailed rat that came to eat rice which the Princess scattered; it thrust its tail up the nose of the sleeping woman, and the sneeze she gave caused the ring to fly out of her mouth. The parrot took it to its master, who recovered the Princess by its aid. The ring was only effective when placed in the centre of a clean square place purified by being smeared with cow-dung, and there sprinkled with butter-milk.[4]
In Folk-Tales of Bengal (L. Behari Day), p. 86, a Brāhmaṇa’s son married a Princess whom he rescued from Rākshasas. She tied to a floating shell a hair that came off while she bathed; it was found by her husband’s half-brother, who ascertained that it was seven cubits long. The Queen-Mother sent her servant, a Rākshasī, in search of the owner, in a magic boat which flew along the water wherever required when she uttered a spell and thrice snapped her fingers. She went to the palace, one day persuaded the Princess to enter the boat, and carried her away in it. The Princess said she had vowed not to look at a strange man’s face for six months, her husband found her, was recognised by the King, and all ended happily; but the Rākshasī was buried alive, surrounded by thorns.