The Cobra King with the gem, a diamond, which he laid down while feeding, and swallowed afterwards, occurs in Old Deccan Days (Frere), p. 36. A girl, disguised as a Prince, hung in a tree a large iron trap fitted with knives underneath. Below it she scattered flowers and sweet scents “such as cobras love,” and when the Cobra came at night she dropped the trap on him, and killed him. When she went to wash the diamond in the lake, the water on being touched by it rolled aside, and revealed a path which led to the garden at the Cobra’s palace. In the garden she found a tree with a silver stem, golden leaves, and clusters of pearls as fruits. In the end, the Cobra’s daughter came away with her.
In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 18, a Cobra rose out of a tank, with a brilliant gem on its hood, which shone “like a thousand diamonds,” and lit up everything around. The snake put it down and went in search of food, and swallowed the two horses of a Prince and his friend, the son of the Minister, who were belated, and sitting in a tree. While the snake was at some distance, the Minister’s son descended, covered the gem with horse dung, and climbed back. The snake rushed to the spot, but could not find the gem, and eventually died. Next morning they descended, washed the gem in water, and saw by its light a palace under the water, in which they found a Princess whom the Prince married.
In the Jātaka story No. 253 (vol. ii, p. 197) we learn that the Nāga King called Maṇi-Kaṇṭha, “Jewel-throat,” appears to have kept the gem in his throat. He said—
Rich food and drink in plenty I can have
By means of this fine jewel which you crave.
In the story No. 543 (vol. vi, p. 94), the Nāga gem is mentioned as “the jewel which grants all desires.” Nāga youths are described as placing it on a hillock of sand, and “playing all night in the water by its radiance.” One on the head of the Nāga King is referred to on p. 97 as being one which, “bright-red like a lady-bird, glows on his head a diadem.”
In the Panchatantra (Dubois), three jōgīs when killed while eating became three large copper pots filled with gold and valuable jewels.
In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 176—Tales of the Punjab (Steel), p. 166—a Princess was brought to life by cutting off, at one blow of the Sword, the heads of a pair of ducks.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. i., p. 115, in a Bengal story by Mr. G. H. Damant, a King dreamt of a silver tree, with golden branches, diamond leaves, and pearl fruits; peacocks were playing in the branches and eating the fruits. The tree was a girl, imprisoned by Rākshasas. When a Prince cut her in two she became the tree; when he dropped the knife she took her own shape again.