In the Jātaka story No. 148 (vol. i, p. 315), a Jackal became imprisoned in the same way, but escaped when a tempest soaked the skin. The tale is also given in No. 490 (vol. iv, p. 206).
In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 77, a man crept inside the skin of an Elephant from which jackals had eaten the flesh. A rain-storm caused it to contract (?) and closed the aperture. The flood carried it into the Ganges and thence to the sea. There a Garuḍa [Rukh] picked it up, and took it to Ceylon, where the man escaped when it tore open the hide. I insert the following as an account of the supposed state of things in Ceylon under the rule of Vibhīsana, the Rākshasa King of Ceylon, after the death of Rāvana: “Two Rākshasas contemplated him from a distance with feelings of fear.” They reported his arrival to Vibhīsana, who sent for him and entertained him in a friendly and hospitable manner. When asked how he came to Ceylon, the Brāhmaṇa cunningly replied that he had been sent by Vishnu, who had informed him that Vibhīsana would present him with wealth. He stayed some time in the island, and was allowed a young Garuḍa on which to ride about the country, and at last he was carried back to Mathurā by it.
In Old Deccan Days (Frere), p. 179, a Jackal got inside a dead bullock, and informed the scavengers who came to bury it that he was the god of their village. They poured water on the hide, and he escaped.
In Indian Folk Tales (Gordon), p. 61, a live Elephant swallowed a Jackal. The Jackal fed on the heart and killed the Elephant, but was imprisoned inside when the skin dried up. When the God Mahādeo (Śiva), who was passing, heard cries and inquired who was there, the Jackal, after ascertaining who it was, said that he was Sahadeo, father of Mahādeo, and induced the latter to prove his identity by causing a heavy rainfall, owing to which the skin was softened and he escaped.
It is said in the Southern Province that all tom-tom beaters are fools.[1] In the North-western Province the same opinion is held regarding some of them. To what extent it is justified I am unable to say, but an example which supported the general notion fell under my own observation. Some jungle was being cut for an irrigation channel, at the side of an uncultivated field belonging to a tom-tom beaters’ village, and one of the men came to watch the progress of the work. I questioned him regarding eggs. He stated at first that only things which could fly laid eggs, but he admitted that this rule did not apply to crocodiles, lizards, and snakes. About bats he was not certain, but thought they do not lay eggs. Rats certainly do not lay them, he said.
I had seen a Green Bee-eater flying near us, and I observed a small hole such as this bird makes as its nest-hole, in the sandy ground. I drew his attention to it, and he at once asserted that it was a rat-hole; of that he had no doubt whatever. “Well then, let us see if there are any eggs in it,” I said, knowing that it was then the breeding season of the Bee-eaters.
He looked on, smiling ironically, while I got one of my men to open the tunnel carefully. When he came to the end, there on the sand, in a little saucer-shaped cavity, were four shining, spherical white eggs of the bird. The man was astonished, but was quite satisfied that they were rat’s eggs. “I saw them with my two eyes,” he said to my men, who all laughed at him.
The following stories were written for me as the foolish doings traditionally attributed to the tom-tom beaters of a village in the North-western Province. Apparently the village is at the side of a rice field.