Having cut down the King and the widow woman, the giant of the ash-heap exercised the sovereignty of that country; and the other giants went back to the very places where each of them stayed.[10]
North-western Province.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. xvii, p. 50, in a Salsette story by Mr. G. Fr. D’Penha, a Prince to avoid marrying his sister went away with a hunter and a carpenter. At a deserted city at which they stayed a Rākshasa came daily when one was left to cook, and ate the rice. On the third day the Prince was the cook, and he killed the Rākshasa. The Prince’s life was in his sword; if it rusted he fell sick, if it broke he would die. He made the carpenter King of the city and the hunter King of another, giving them life-index plants. The Prince then went away, killed another Rākshasa, and got from his waist a diamond which showed a passage through the water of a tank to a palace where he married a Princess and became King. He then forgot his sword, and it rusted. His friends learnt by the fading plants that he was ill, and found him just alive. He recovered when they cleaned and repolished the sword, after which they became his Chief Officers of State.
In Folk-Tales of Hindustan (Shaik Chilli), p. 45, a Prince, accompanied by the sons of a goldsmith, a paṇḍit, and a carpenter, went to kill a giant. While they halted, a giant took the food that each in turn cooked. When the Prince cooked he vanquished the giant, who offered him his daughter in marriage, and joined his party. The Prince married her to the goldsmith’s son, and went to another city where the Prince’s giant killed a giant who ate the people. The King’s daughter was married to the paṇḍit’s son. At a third city the giant killed a lion, and a Princess was married to the carpenter’s son. When they arrived at the city of the giant they had come to kill, the Prince and giant found he was the one already killed at the second city. These giants could take any shape, and thus evidently were Rākshasas. The Prince married a Princess at the fourth city and lived there with his giant. One day his wife lost her shoe while bathing in a stream, and a Rāja’s son found it floating down. A witch undertook to find the owner, dived into the water, came to the fort, became the Princess’s servant, and learnt that the Prince’s life lay in the brightness of his sword; if it became rusty he would die. One night the witch burnt the sword in a furnace, the Prince died, and she took his wife through the water to her admirer’s palace, where she demanded a year’s delay before marrying him. The Prince’s giant found and repolished the sword, and the Prince revived. They summoned the other friends, went in search of the Princess, killed the Rāja, his son, and the witch, and returned home.
In Tales of the Punjab (Mrs. Steele), p. 42, when a Prince was travelling accompanied by a knife-grinder, a blacksmith, and a carpenter, a demon in the form of a mannikin ate the food which the last three cooked in turn, but was killed by the Prince when he cooked. The Prince married the knife-grinder to the King’s daughter, the blacksmith to the daughter of a King at another city at which the Prince killed a ghost (Chuṛel), and the carpenter to a Princess at a third city. To each of the friends the Prince gave a barley plant as his life index; if it drooped he would be in trouble and needing their help. He went on, killed a Jinn who had carried off a Princess with golden hair, married her, and lived at the Jinn’s palace. When bathing she set one or two hairs afloat in a Bō-leaf cup, which was secured by a King lower down the river. A wise woman sent to find their owner, discovered her, ascertained that the Prince’s life was in his sword, at night put it in a fire, and when the hilt rolled off the Prince died. She then carried off the Princess to the King. As the barley plants snapped in two, the three friends came with armies, found the body of the Prince and his sword, repaired and repolished the latter, and thus restored the Prince’s life. The carpenter discovered the Princess, made a flying palankin, into which she, together with the King’s sister and the wise woman, mounted with him, and he sailed back to the Prince, throwing down the other two women on the way.
In Sagas from the Far East, p. 39, four companions took possession of a house on a hill. They cooked in turn, the other three going to hunt. On each day a demoness in the form of a woman a span high begged a taste of the food, and she and the food and cooking-pot then disappeared. The fourth man killed her.
In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 386, the sword incident varies. A Prince’s wife, wishing to deprive him of the magic power conferred by the sword, put the weapon in a fire while he slept. He became unconscious when the sword was dimmed, but recovered when the Goddess Durgā restored its brightness.
In the same work, vol. ii, p. 487, an Asura’s vital point was his left hand; he died when a King shot him through it.
In the Mahā Bhārata (Vaṇa Parva, cccxi) four of the Pāṇḍava Princes were killed in turn by a Yaksha as soon as they drank at a pool. When the eldest brother answered his questions satisfactorily he revived them.