Indian Fairy Tales (15 page)

The Prince smiled, saying, "What help could
you
give
me
?"
Nevertheless, he kept the hair and went on his way.

Now, when he reached the city of King Sarkap, seventy maidens,
daughters of the King, came out to meet him,—seventy fair maidens,
merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter; but one, the youngest
of them all, when she saw the gallant young Prince riding on Bhaunr
Iraqi, going gaily to his doom, was filled with pity, and called to him
saying:

"Fair Prince, on the charger so gray,
Turn thee back! turn thee back!
Or lower thy lance for the fray;
Thy head will be forfeit to-day!
Dost love life? then, stranger, I pray,
Turn thee back! turn thee back!"

But he, smiling at the maiden, answered lightly:

"Fair maiden, I come from afar,
Sworn conqueror in love and in war!
King Sarkap my coming will rue,
His head in four pieces I'll hew;
Then forth as a bridegroom I'll ride,
With you, little maid, as my bride!"

Now when Rasalu replied so gallantly, the maiden looked in his face,
and seeing how fair he was, and how brave and strong, she straightway
fell in love with him, and would gladly have followed him through the
world.

But the other sixty-nine maidens, being jealous, laughed scornfully at
her, saying, "Not so fast, oh gallant warrior! If you would marry our
sister you must first do our bidding, for you will be our younger
brother."

"Fair sisters!" quoth Rasalu gaily, "give me my task and I will perform
it."

So the sixty-nine maidens mixed a hundred-weight of millet seed with a
hundredweight of sand, and giving it to Rasalu, bade him separate the
seed from the sand.

Then he bethought him of the cricket, and drawing the feeler from his
pocket, thrust it into the fire. And immediately there was a whirring
noise in the air, and a great flight of crickets alighted beside him,
and amongst them the cricket whose life he had saved.

Then Rasalu said, "Separate the millet seed from the sand."

"Is that all?" quoth the cricket; "had I known how small a job you
wanted me to do, I would not have assembled so many of my brethren."

With that the flight of crickets set to work, and in one night they
separated the seed from the sand.

Now when the sixty-nine fair maidens, daughters of the king saw that
Rasalu had performed his task, they set him another, bidding him swing
them all, one by one, in their swings, until they were tired.

Whereupon he laughed, saying, "There are seventy of you, counting my
little bride yonder, and I am not going to spend my life swinging
girls! Why, by the time I have given each of you a swing, the first
will be wanting another! No! if you want a swing, get in, all seventy
of you, into one swing, and then I'll see what can be done."

So the seventy maidens climbed into one swing, and Raja Rasalu,
standing in his shining armour, fastened the ropes to his mighty bow,
and drew it up to its fullest bent. Then he let go, and like an arrow
the swing shot into the air, with its burden of seventy fair maidens,
merry and careless, full of smiles and laughter.

But as it swung back again, Kasalu, standing there in his shining
armour, drew his sharp sword and severed the ropes. Then the seventy
fair maidens fell to the ground headlong; and some were bruised and
some broken, but the only one who escaped unhurt was the maiden who
loved Rasalu, for she fell out last, on the top of the others, and so
came to no harm.

After this, Rasalu strode on fifteen paces, till he came to the seventy
drums, that every one who came to play chaupur with the King had to
beat in turn; and he beat them so loudly that he broke them all. Then
he came to the seventy gongs, all in a row, and he hammered them so
hard that they cracked to pieces.

Seeing this, the youngest Princess, who was the only one who could run,
fled to her father the King in a great fright, saying:

"A mighty Prince, Sarkap! making havoc, rides along,
He swung us, seventy maidens fair, and threw us out
headlong;
He broke the drums you placed there and the gongs too
in his pride,
Sure, he will kill thee, father mine, and take me for his
bride!"

But King Sarkap replied scornfully:

"Silly maiden, thy words make a lot
Of a very small matter;
For fear of my valour, I wot,
His armour will clatter.
As soon as I've eaten my bread
I'll go forth and cut off his head!"

Notwithstanding these brave and boastful words, he was in reality very
much afraid, having heard of Rasalu's renown. And learning that he was
stopping at the house of an old woman in the city, till the hour for
playing chaupur arrived, Sarkap sent slaves to him with trays of
sweetmeats and fruit, as to an honoured guest. But the food was
poisoned.

Now when the slaves brought the trays to Raja Rasalu, he rose up
haughtily, saying, "Go, tell your master I have nought to do with him
in friendship. I am his sworn enemy, and I eat not of his salt!"

So saying, he threw the sweetmeats to Raja Sarkap's dog, which had
followed the slave, and lo! the dog died.

Then Rasalu was very wroth, and said bitterly, "Go back to Sarkap,
slaves! and tell him that Rasalu deems it no act of bravery to kill
even an enemy by treachery."

Now, when evening came, Raja Rasalu went forth to play chaupur with
King Sarkap, and as he passed some potters' kilns he saw a cat
wandering about restlessly; so he asked what ailed her, that she never
stood still, and she replied, "My kittens are in an unbaked pot in the
kiln yonder. It has just been set alight, and my children will be baked
alive; therefore I cannot rest!"

Her words moved the heart of Raja Rasalu, and, going to the potter, he
asked him to sell the kiln as it was; but the potter replied that he
could not settle a fair price till the pots were burnt, as he could not
tell how many would come out whole. Nevertheless, after some
bargaining, he consented at last to sell the kiln, and Rasalu, having
searched all the pots, restored the kittens to their mother, and she,
in gratitude for his mercy, gave him one of them, saying, "Put it in
your pocket, for it will help you when you are in difficulties." So
Raja Rasalu put the kitten in his pocket, and went to play chaupur with
the King.

Now, before they sat down to play, Raja Sarkap fixed his stakes,—on
the first game, his kingdom; on the second, the wealth of the whole
world; and, on the third, his own head. So, likewise, Raja Rasalu fixed
his stakes,—on the first game, his arms; on the second, his horse;
and, on the third, his own head.

Then they began to play, and it fell to Rasalu's lot to make the first
move. Now he, forgetful of the dead man's warning, played with the dice
given him by Raja Sarkap, besides which, Sarkap let loose his famous
rat, Dhol Raja, and it ran about the board, upsetting the chaupur
pieces on the sly, so that Rasalu lost the first game, and gave up his
shining armour.

Then the second game began, and once more Dhol Raja, the rat, upset the
pieces; and Rasalu, losing the game, gave up his faithful steed. Then
Bhaunr, the Arab steed, who stood by, found voice, and cried to his
master,

"Sea-born am I, bought with much gold;
Dear Prince! trust me now as of old.
I'll carry you far from these wiles—
My flight, all unspurr'd, will be swift as a bird,
For thousands and thousands of miles!
Or if needs you must stay; ere the next game you play,
Place hand in your pocket, I pray!"

Hearing this, Raja Sarkap frowned, and bade his slaves remove Bhaunr,
the Arab steed, since he gave his master advice in the game. Now, when
the slaves came to lead the faithful steed away, Rasalu could not
refrain from tears, thinking over the long years during which Bhaunr,
the Arab steed, had been his companion. But the horse cried out again,

"Weep not, dear Prince! I shall not eat my bread
Of stranger hands, nor to strange stall be led.
Take thy right hand, and place it as I said."

These words roused some recollection in Rasalu's mind, and when, just
at this moment, the kitten in his pocket began to struggle, he
remembered all about the warning, and the dice made from dead men's
bones. Then his heart rose up once more, and he called boldly to Raja
Sarkap, "Leave my horse and arms here for the present. Time enough to
take them away when you have won my head!"

Now, Raja Sarkap, seeing Rasalu's confident bearing, began to be
afraid, and ordered all the women of his palace to come forth in their
gayest attire and stand before Rasalu, so as to distract his attention
from the game. But he never even looked at them, and drawing the dice
from his pocket, said to Sarkap, "We have played with your dice all
this time; now we will play with mine."

Then the kitten went and sat at the window through which the rat Dhol
Raja used to come, and the game began.

After a while, Sarkap, seeing Raja Rasalu was winning, called to his
rat, but when Dhol Raja saw the kitten he was afraid, and would not go
further. So Rasalu won, and took back his arms. Next he played for his
horse, and once more Raja Sarkap called for his rat; but Dhol Raja,
seeing the kitten keeping watch, was afraid. So Rasalu won the second
stake, and took back Bhaunr, the Arab steed.

Then Sarkap brought all his skill to bear on the third and last game,
saying,

"Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!
For sooth this is a man with whom I play.
No paltry risk—but life and death at stake;
As Sarkap does, so do, for Sarkap's sake!"

But Rasalu answered back,

"Oh moulded pieces! favour me to-day!
For sooth it is a man with whom I play.
No paltry risk—but life and death at stake;
As Heaven does, so do, for Heaven's sake!"

So they began to play, whilst the women stood round in a circle, and
the kitten watched Dhol Raja from the window. Then Sarkap lost, first
his kingdom, then the wealth of the whole world, and lastly his head.

Just then, a servant came in to announce the birth of a daughter to
Raja Sarkap, and he, overcome by misfortunes, said, "Kill her at once!
for she has been born in an evil moment, and has brought her father ill
luck!"

But Rasalu rose up in his shining armour, tender-hearted and strong,
saying, "Not so, oh king! She has done no evil. Give me this child to
wife; and if you will vow, by all you hold sacred, never again to play
chaupur for another's head, I will spare yours now!"

Then Sarkap vowed a solemn vow never to play for another's head; and
after that he took a fresh mango branch, and the new-born babe, and
placing them on a golden dish gave them to Rasalu.

Now, as he left the palace, carrying with him the new-born babe and the
mango branch, he met a band of prisoners, and they called out to him,

"A royal hawk art thou, oh King! the rest
But timid wild-fowl. Grant us our request,—
Unloose these chains, and live for ever blest!"

And Raja Rasalu hearkened to them, and bade King Sarkap set them at
liberty.

Then he went to the Murti Hills, and placed the new-born babe, Kokilan,
in an underground palace, and planted the mango branch at the door,
saying, "In twelve years the mango tree will blossom; then will I
return and marry Kokilan."

And after twelve years, the mango tree began to flower, and Raja Rasalu
married the Princess Kokilan, whom he won from Sarkap when he played
chaupur with the King.

At the same time, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the future
Buddha was born one of a peasant family; and when he grew up, he gained
his living by tilling the ground.

At that time a hawker used to go from place to place, trafficking in
goods carried by an ass. Now at each place he came to, when he took the
pack down from the ass's back, he used to clothe him in a lion's skin,
and turn him loose in the rice and barley fields. And when the watchmen
in the fields saw the ass, they dared not go near him, taking him for a
lion.

So one day the hawker stopped in a village; and whilst he was getting
his own breakfast cooked, he dressed the ass in a lion's skin, and
turned him loose in a barley-field. The watchmen in the field dared not
go up to him; but going home, they published the news. Then all the
villagers came out with weapons in their hands; and blowing chanks, and
beating drums, they went near the field and shouted. Terrified with the
fear of death, the ass uttered a cry—the bray of an ass!

And when he knew him then to be an ass, the future Buddha pronounced
the First Verse:

"This is not a lion's roaring,
Nor a tiger's, nor a panther's;
Dressed in a lion's skin,
'Tis a wretched ass that roars!"

But when the villagers knew the creature to be an ass, they beat him
till his bones broke; and, carrying off the lion's skin, went away.
Then the hawker came; and seeing the ass fallen into so bad a plight,
pronounced the Second Verse:

"Long might the ass,
Clad in a lion's skin,
Have fed on the barley green.
But he brayed!
And that moment he came to ruin."

And even whilst he was yet speaking the ass died on the spot!

There was once a farmer who suffered much at the hands of a money-
lender. Good harvests, or bad, the farmer was always poor, the money-
lender rich. At the last, when he hadn't a farthing left, farmer went
to the money-lender's house, and said, "You can't squeeze water from a
stone, and as you have nothing to get by me now, you might tell me the
secret of becoming rich."

"My friend," returned the money-lender, piously, "riches come from Ram
—ask
him
."

"Thank you, I will!" replied the simple farmer; so he prepared three
girdle-cakes to last him on the journey, and set out to find Ram.

First he met a Brahman, and to him he gave a cake, asking him to point
out the road to Ram; but the Brahman only took the cake and went on his
way without a word, Next the farmer met a Jogi or devotee, and to him
he gave a cake, without receiving any help in return. At last, he came
upon a poor man sitting under a tree, and finding out he was hungry,
the kindly farmer gave him his last cake, and sitting down to rest
beside him, entered into conversation.