In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 349, four Brāhmaṇa brothers decided to “search through the earth and acquire some magic power.” So they separated and went east, west, north, and south, after fixing upon a meeting-place. The rest of the story differs from the Sinhalese one; they met together, found a piece of bone, gave it flesh, hide, limbs, and life, so that it became a lion which killed them.
In the same work, vol. i, p. 499, four men wanted to marry a Princess; one was a clever weaver, one a Vaiśya who knew the language of beasts and birds, the third a Kshatriya who was an expert swordsman, the fourth a Brāhmaṇa who could raise the dead to life. She refused all four, and died after three months, and the Brāhmaṇa was unable to restore life to her corpse as she was only human owing to a curse which had come to an end. See also vol. ii, p. 276.
In the same work, vol. ii, pp. 242, 258, there are variants in the series of Trivikramasēna and the Vētāla, the second one being like the Sinhalese tales in several respects. The father promised a girl to a man who had magic power, the mother promised her to one who had knowledge, her brother promised her to a hero. When they all came on the appointed day, she had disappeared. The learned man ascertained that she had been abducted by a Rākshasa, the magician prepared a magic chariot in which all three went to rescue her, and the hero killed the Rākshasa. Each one claimed her in a similar form of words to that employed by the learned man, who said, “If I had not known where this maiden was, how would she have been discovered when concealed?” The King decided that the hero ought to marry her.
In the Totā Kahānī (Small), p. 51, a carpenter, goldsmith, tailor, and hermit, halting in a forest one night and each working in turn, carved the figure of a beautiful woman, robed it, adorned it, and caused it to be endowed with life. In the morning they quarrelled regarding the ownership of the woman, and all those to whom the matter was referred also claimed her. When the decision was left to a large old tree, “the tree of decision,” it burst open, and the woman entering it became wood once more.
In the same work, p. 139, three young men saved a merchant’s daughter from a fairy who had abducted her. One discovered where she was, the second made a flying wooden horse, on which the third rode and brought her back after killing the fairy. They then quarrelled regarding their claims to marry her. The parrot which related the story considered that she belonged to the last one because he risked his life for her.
At p. 157 also, a girl’s husband who had vowed to offer his own head to a deity in case he married her, decapitated himself at the temple. A Brāhmaṇa who entered feared he would be charged with murdering him, and cut off his head also. The girl came, and was about to follow their example when a voice from the shrine informed her that if she joined the heads to the trunks the two persons would be restored to life. In doing this she misplaced the heads, and both persons then claimed her. The parrot was of opinion that she belonged to the man with her husband’s head. There is a variant in the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 261, the second man being the girl’s brother.
In Sagas from the Far East, p. 109, five companions went in search of the sixth, whose life-index tree had withered. One found him buried under a rock; the second, a smith’s son, broke it and took out the body; the third, a doctor’s son, made a potion which caused it to revive. The five then helped the man to recover his wife, who had been abducted by a Khan, and each one claimed her as his reward. In their struggle for her she was torn in pieces.
In the same work, p. 299, four youths, working in turn, made a girl out of wood and gave her a soul; each one claimed her. The decision was that she belonged to the fourth, who gave the figure life.
In this work, p. 277, it is stated that Prince Vikramāditya learnt from robber bands the art of robbery, and from fraudulent dealers to lie.