The jackal roared out, “Take me out of this place, and take out the snake, but do not take out this bad man.” “Sakhi” replied with the usual generosity of his nature, “No, if I take out one I shall take you all out.” So saying, he undid his “kummerbund,” or waistband, and finding that it was not long enough to reach to the bottom of the well, he bent his turban on to it, and lowered it down, telling the man to tie his turban on to it also. By this little contrivance he managed to get them all up to the surface in safety. The snake to evince its gratitude, vomited from its mouth a small lump of gold, which Indian snake-charmers quite believe that certain snakes can do; and asking “Sakhi” to follow him, he shewed him some wonderful herbs that would cure most of the ills that flesh is heir to, and which no man was yet acquainted with.
SAKHI, THE GENEROUS MOSLEM.
On his return to the well, the jackal expressed his thanks for his deliverance by saying that whenever “Sakhi” was in trouble, if he thought of him, he would come to his relief; “but beware,” he said, “of the man, for he will get you into distress.” The man was not much concerned about thanking “Sakhi,” but as he was very weak and faint “Sakhi” felt for him, and they journeyed on together very leisurely. “Sakhi” found out that he was going to the same city that he had set out for, and that he was in very truth the son of the King. When they neared the city, the Prince said, for such he was of course, “Give me that piece of gold I entrusted to your charge.” “Sakhi” replied, “You never gave me any gold, and how can I return to you what I never received?” “We will see about that,” said the Prince, and they had no sooner entered the streets than the Prince, who was at once recognised by the people, called out to one of the “Burkandâzis” or armed Police, “Seize this man and search him for a piece of gold he has robbed from me.” This they did, the gold was found upon him, and “Sakhi” was taken before the executive, found guilty, and sentenced to the torture peculiar to that country.
This punishment consisted in stripping the body, and placing over it the skin of a newly killed heifer, the head only of the victim being exposed. The prisoner was then put into the hot sun so that the skin might dry upon his flesh and gradually eat into it. “Sakhi” was so treated, and bore all his pains with patience, and recited to himself for his comfort, portions of the Koran which he had committed to memory. He was daily under the charge of a guard, whose duty it was to take him to and from his prison-house, and to watch over him during the day. One day “Sakhi” observed that the sentry was muttering to himself, and apparently in grief, so “Sakhi” asked him what was the matter, and he replied, “Our King is very ill, and none of the doctors can cure him.” “Oh,” said “Sakhi,” “I am a medicine man, and I can cure the King, I do not doubt.” This news soon reached the ears of the people about the Court, and “Sakhi” was taken before the Vizier, and there repeated what he had said to the sentry.
The Vizier ordered that the skin should be taken off “Sakhi” which caused him much physical pain, and indeed could only partially be removed. “Sakhi” was then put into clothes again, and leave was given him to prepare his remedies. “Sakhi” then went at once into the jungle, procured the herbs pointed out to him by the snake, and made from them a draught which he gave to the King. The King believed in his skill, continued to follow the treatment, and in a very short time he became quite cured of the disease from which he was suffering. “Now,” said the King to “Sakhi,” “you have been the means of restoring me to health, and as I made an oath at the point of death, that whoever cured me should have my daughter in marriage, and be possessor of half of my kingdom, so now I shall proceed to keep my word.” The King accordingly commanded that the proper document should be made out, and upon a fortunate day being fixed by the astrologers, the royal marriage was celebrated with every pomp and display. So the poor and patient “Sakhi” was thus greatly rewarded and enriched.
But he was not spoilt by splendour, for he never neglected as the proper hours came round, to say his prayers five times a day, as the custom is of every devout Mahomedan.
The morning prayer was said at the river side, near the Palace, where he prostrated himself in worship on an open green sward.
One morning, the jackal whom he had rescued from the well came to him with a beautiful flower in its mouth, and he said to “Sakhi,” “Take this flower; I found it on this green bank after five Fakirs, or ‘Panj Pir,’ had been worshipping here. It has a most fragrant smell, but one thing I must tell you: let no one know you possess it.” So “Sakhi” thanked the jackal, tied the flower in his waistcloth, and went home.
The perfume of the flower was so strong that his wife at once perceived it, and asked what he had about him that smelt so sweet. “Sakhi” for a long time evaded the question, for he had in his mind the warning of the jackal, but at last, in a weak moment, he drew it from his waistbelt and handed it to his wife, saying, “I have yielded to your entreaties, but you must tell no one else about it.” One day her mother came to visit her, as she often did, and by some accident “Sakhi’s” wife dropped the flower on the floor, which her mother picked up unperceived, and took away with her, when it at once dried up. The wife had no sooner lost the flower than she became depressed and like a mad thing, and at last told “Sakhi” that she should die unless it could be recovered; so distressed indeed was she, that she quite worried him out of his life. “Sakhi,” one morning when he was at his usual place of prayer by the riverside, thought of the jackal, and he was not long before he made his appearance. He then told him all about the flower, and what misery and suffering it had brought upon his wife since the day she had lost it. The jackal remonstrated, and said he could not get another, for it was left on the bank by the five holy men who had never been seen again, but he felt sure that there was some talisman about it. “Sakhi” said, “Oh! If you could only tell me whither they went, so that I might follow them and get them to take the spell off my wife!” The jackal replied, “They dived into that deep pit in the river, that I am sure of, and never rose again.”