In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (collected by Dr. Bodding), p. 115, a Prince while travelling was robbed of all his belongings by a Rāja, and became a labourer. His wife, hearing of it, went to the same place, and it was settled that the person towards whom the Rāja’s cat jumped should possess the wealth taken from the Prince. The Princess had taken a mouse with her, and kept partly uncovering it and covering it again with her shawl. When the cat was released it sprang towards her to seize the mouse, so she regained the property.
In Folk-Tales of Tibet (O’Connor), p. 39, a young man bet a person at whose house he halted that when it became night a cat would not carry a lantern into the room. Each person wagered all his property. The landlord’s cat being trained to bring in the lantern, he won the wager, and the man became his servant. His wife came in search of him disguised as a man. She made the usual bet, got her husband to conceal in his bosom a box containing three mice, and to release these in turn when the cat approached. The cat allowed the first two to run off, but dropped the lantern and chased the last one. The man and his wife returned home with all the landlord’s goods as well as their own.
[1] A tavalama is a caravan or drove of pack cattle or buffaloes, loaded with sacks of goods. It was the old means of transport along paths that were impassable by carts, and is still employed in some jungle districts. [↑]
[2] Hayi-wunā, lit., became fast. The words have a similar meaning in the last sentence of No. 157, a story by a different person. [↑]
[3] Apparently the well-trained cat was sitting on its hams, holding the lamp between its fore-paws. [↑]
[4] Han̆dun kiri-paen, coconut milk, scented with a little sandal-wood. [↑]