The Wise Fools of Moira... and Other Folk Tales From Goa

.
The Wise Fools of Moira...

and Other Goan Folk Tales
A Collection by Prof Lucio Rodrigues
August 2020
The Wise Fools of Moira and Other Goan Folk Tales
© 2020 Prof. Lucio Rodrigues
This edition is released under the Creative Commons. Some rights

reserved. This ebook may be copied and shared for non-commercial purposes,
with due acknowledgements to the author and publisher.
Published by
Goa,1556, Saligão 403511 Goa, India.

http://goa1556.in, goa1556@gmail.com +91-9822 122436
Compiled by Prof. Eusebio Rodrigues/Esme Rodrigues-Abedin

Editorial assistance from Pamela D’Mello
Project co-ordination by Frederick Noronha
Cover design and cover artwork by Bina Nayak http://www.binanayak.com
Typeset in LYX www.lyx.org. Text in Bera Serif, 11/14.6
Goa,1556 acknowledges the help to the author’s family in making this ebook
possible.
See Goa,1556 catalogue at http://goa1556.in
Credits for photos and illustrations: Frederick Noronha (p.6; p.11; p.20; p.26;
p.35; Wikimedia Commons (p.214); Pixbay.com (p.222);
ISBN: 978-81-940107-7-7
Contents
The Wise Fools of Moira 9
The Bell of Guirim Church 20
Jesus is not Ours! Jesus is Theirs! 25
The Man from Kunkolim 28
The Baker from the South 33
The Path of Heaven 37
Pascoal and Vincente Bab 44
The Princess Beyond the Seven Seas 49
King Vithoba 62
The Dark Drummer and the Princess 77
The Girl with the Straw Hat 84
The Spell of Evil 95
The Writ of Destiny 102
3
Contents
Destiny Averted 113
The Three Brothers 118
The Girl with Golden Hair 125
The Gambler Who Always Won 132
Loyal Friends 138
The Wicked Step-Mother 145
The Coral Necklace 154
Seven Brothers and a Sister 160
Twenty Brothers and a Sister 164
The Father of Rakshasas 170
The Dull School Boy 175
The Ambitious Fox 178
The Fox and the Crocodile 183
Master Fox and the Honeycomb 186
A State Funeral for Master Fox 189
A Cure for Tale Bearing 193
The Goan Son-in-Law: In Fact and in Fiction 197

The Son-in-law who Sat High . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
The Illiterate Son-in-law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
The Greedy Son-in-law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
4
Contents
The Peasant and the Vicar 210
The Vicar and the Master Tailor 213
Answer to a Prayer 217
The Patron of Lawyers 221
The Old Woman 225
The Brahmin Outwitted 228
Seven Sons and a Daughter 239
The Princess from the Fruit 246
Good for Evil 260
5
‘Tell Us A Story...’1
ell us a story’ – that has been the cry of mankind

‘T from the first syllable of recorded time.
Here is a collection of Goan folk-tales rendered into
English by Lucio Rodrigues. It contains a wide assort-
ment of animal fables and tales, which reflect a belief in
witchcraft and magic in the primitive sense – a feature
which they share with the earliest stories of all nations.
The cruel step-mother, the witch, the fairies and
demons, spells and metamorphoses of humans into ani-
mals and trees – all these figure in this collection. Some
of these tales have been familiar to us from childhood;
they form part of our oral heritage.
Lucio Rodrigues has gone about assiduously collect-
ing these tales, note-book in hand, like John Millington
1
This excerpt from the forward, written by Prof Frank D’Souza, a promi-
nent Goan educationist in Mumbai, was originally penned nearly five decades
ago for the book by Lucio Rodrigues, titled in that edition as Soil and Soul and
Konkani Folk Tales (1974).
6
Prof. Frank D’Souza
Synge in the Aran Islands, and rendering them into En-

glish.
These folk tales are set forth in simple, direct prose,
which contrasts with the more stylized diction of the es-
says; and rightly so. In the folk tales the focus of interest
is the incident narrated, the folk tale is an anonymous
product; in the essay the writer weaves an arabesque of
wit and fancy, shot with all the iridescent colours of his
personality.
Of course, one misses in the translation the tang and
flavor of the native idiom, but Lucio’s limpid prose cap-
tures their haunting appeal. Some of the stories are in-
terspersed with snatches of song, which were part of the
raconteur’s art.
The stories bear witness to the other-worldliness and
down-to-earthness which is marked feature of the Goan
character. The stories – fantastic, macabre, hilarious –
cater to a variety of tastes. ‘The Writ of Destiny’ stands
out among these tales.
It is connected with the old Goan custom of holding
a wake on the sixth day after the birth of a child. The
story moves with the inexorableness of doom to its fated
conclusion. ‘The Goan Son-in-Law’ and ‘The Wise Fools
of Moira’ recount situations with which most of us are fa-
miliar, but they never pall. They have a perennial appeal.
‘The Ambitious Fox’, ‘The Fox and the Crocodile’ and
‘A Cure for Tale-Bearing’ belong to the genre of animal
fables. They are variations on familiar themes, testifying
to a common ancestry of the folk tales and the far-flung
family of man.
7
Prof. Frank D’Souza
Whatever the composition of the folk tale, it illustrates

the basic elements of human nature and illuminates a
primitive morality. Whatever the vicissitudes they have
to pass through, the virtuous live happily afterwards.
The wicked receive condign punishment.
It is Lucio’s achievement that he should have crystal-
lized, sharply and definitively, in this collection the float-
ing mass of tale and legend which constitutes the amor-
phous oral heritage of the Goan people.
FRANK D’SOUZA
May 16, 1974. Vilanta House, Dadar.
8
The Wise Fools of Moira
s there a contradiction between wisdom and folly?

I An English proverb says: “The fool doth think he is
wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
Is the dividing line between wisdom and folly so thin
that it is almost imperceptible? James of England was
described as the wisest fool in Christendom. The inha-
bitants of an insignificant English village have been im-
mortalised in folk lore as the wise fools of Gotham.
This is so not only in England but also
in India.
Moira is a village in the district of Moira village is
Bardez in Goa. It lies a few miles away famous for many
from Mapuça, the capital of the district, things. But its
and the river of Mapuça flows along its wisdom has a stamp
southern, western and northern sides, of its own which
making its soil very fertile. defies definition.
The village is famous for many
things, among others for its banana plantations, which
yield big, long bananas, called munnouchinz kellim in
Konkani, and each fruit is equal to a square meal. Each
grows to the length of nearly a foot with a diameter of
9
about two and a half to three inches; the skin turns from
green to yellow as it matures, and then as it ripens, the
skin becomes soft and darkish brown and thin, which is
a sign that it is ready to be eaten in all its glory.
But the bananas are not Moira’s chief claim to fame
among Goan villages. The people are as famous, if not
more than their kellim, so famous indeed that they have
passed into simile and proverb and legend. They are
among the most industrious people of Goa. Blessed as
they are with fertile land, they have used Nature’s gift
to raise many crops – rice, chillies, vegetables, bananas.
Every Friday will see them wending their way with their
produce on their head to the weekly fair at Mapuça. But
it is not their industriousness that signals them out for
unique honour among their Goan fellows. It is for a leg-
acy that they have inherited from their forefathers – a
wisdom that is traditional.
This wisdom has a stamp of its own which defies defin-
ition. Perhaps you have heard of the wise men of Gotham,
and of their ingenious feats. The wise men of Moira of
old were as ingenious. There is only one other village
in Goa which rivals Moira in this characteristic and that
is Benaulim in Salcete. Even in Konkani it has not been
possible to give this baffling quality an appropriate term.
This is how the people of Bardez describe the indefinite
trait. To moiddekar num re, he is a guy from Moira, sar-
koch moiddekar, every inch like a guy from Moira; take
matxem moiddechem assa, he’s got a bit of it from Moira.
That it is the thing.
10
Imagine a people as simple as simplicity itself, with an

innocence and faith that belonged to the ancient world,
disarming in their naïveté, winning in their irrationality,
and you will have some faint idea of the people and their
capacity for illogic. But it is best to let their ancient ad-
ventures speak of their ancient wisdom.
As their numbers increased from year to year, the people

of Moira found that the village church was not big
enough to contain the growing population. They called
up a meeting to consider the problem.
“Let us have an ex-
tension,” said one of
the elders.
“It is better that
we break down the
old structure and
erect a new and big-
ger one,” said one
of the younger ones,
who believed in new
things.
“To break it down
and reconstruct an-
other will be very ex-
pensive,” said a grey-
haired elder. “We
have no funds for it.”
The village church... not big enough.
“Why break it
down at all?” said the
11
most wizened of them. He was easily the eldest Moid-

dekar alive. “When a coconut tree or a mango tree is
stunted, what do we do? We loosen the soil at the base,
dig it up, and lay manure. Everything in nature grows.
Why not a church?” and he looked round to the nodding
heads, and repeated, “Why not a church?”
“Yes, why shouldn’t the laws of nutrition and growth
apply to the church?” chirped one of the younger men
who had learnt to read and write.
“Manure quickens growth!” the elder continued.
“Let’s manure the church,” he concluded. “A small
church today will grow big tomorrow.”
“Let’s manure the church,” the whole gathering
echoed approval. The solution appealed to the assembly.
It had the irresistible logic of two plus two makes four.
So said, so done. The four sides of the church on the
outside were vigorously dug up, and cart-loads of ma-
nure poured in.
Some years later it was found that there was far too
much space in front of the church, and too little at the
back. It was necessary to bring the whole structure for-
ward.
A meeting of the gaumkars, that is, the owners of the
land, was called, in order to decide how to adjust the
space. The sacristan of the church was invited to attend
the proceedings, though he was from the neighbouring
village of Aldona.
The discussion went far into the night, and no con-
clusion could be arrived at. They were baffled by the
12
problem, though each of the gaumkars took part in the

debate. At last the sacristan stood up and with the per-
mission of the elders suggested a way out.
“What do we do when we want to bring a huge stone
forward?” he posed the question.
“We simply push it,” the others answered. “A thing
moves when it is pushed.”
“A body at rest continues to be at rest until an external
force is applied to it,” said one of the youngsters who had
been to the parish school.
“The church must be brought ahead,” the sacristan
continued. “Let’s push it from the rear. Yes, friends, let
us push it from the rear.”
All heads began to nod approval. “Let’s push it from
the rear,” said everyone. But the sacristan had not fin-
ished. “But how far ahead should we bring the church?”
he asked. The elders pointed the exact spot. “Thus far,”
they said, “near this tree.”
“But there is one more point to be settled,” the shrewd
sacristan continued. “If everyone pushed from the rear,
the church might be pushed far beyond the limit, and
even out of the compound. This must be prevented.”
The sacristan had a plan. “I will stand in front of
the church and give the signal to stop.” The members
agreed.
But the sacristan went on, “There must be no doubt
about it.” And he asked them to spread their woolen
blankets in front of the church right up to the marked
limit, the tree. The woolen blankets were spread as dir-
ected, right up to the tree. The men rushed to the rear
13
of the church and pushed it with all the faith of their

fathers. The clever sacristan in the meanwhile rolled
up all the woolen blankets, and kept them in his room.
When the men were sufficiently exhausted, he shouted a
lusty Halt! Halt! With aching bodies but beaming faces
the men rushed to the front of the church. The woolen
blankets had disappeared, yes, under the church!
They were full of praise for the sacristan who had such
wonderful ideas.
The people of Moira are fine cultivators. One day, a

youngster critical of the old methods of farming said to
this father, “The man who sows tramples on the seed he
scatters. This must be prevented in the interests of a
richer harvest.”
“We must summon a meeting,” his father replied. “It’s
a problem which has to be discussed and solved.”
Accordingly, a conclave of the gaumkars was held.
The wisest brains struggled with the
difficulty, and the discussion went far
into the night. If only the sower could The people of Moira
have wings, he would fly over the field are fine cultivators.
and scatter the seed, and there would One day, a
be no trampling. But how could they youngster was
give him wings? Then, like a sudden critical of the old
illumination it came to one of the octo- methods of
genarians. farming....
“Why, the sower must be placed on a
cot. Then his feet will not touch the ground and trample
the seed.”
14
“Excellent!. Excellent!” cried the others, with hearty

approval.
When seed-time came, a cot was brought into the
fields and the sower stood upon it with the basket of
seed. Four men had to hold the four corners of the cot,
and move the sower from place to place. The eight feet
of the four men trampled the seed. But the feet of the
sower were far above the ground, and did not trample
the seed.
Loyalty to one’s ruler comes next to loyalty to one’s

God. The Rajah of Goa, it is said, once gave the people of
Moira a special grant of land. It was a reward for their
loyalty and for their industry.
The people accepted it with great joy and were proud
that they had won favour in the eyes of the Rajah. The
land donations were a challenge to their sense of gratit-
ude and everyone felt that a suitable return gift should
be made to the Rajah.
“Let’s send our Rajah one hundred of the best picked
mangoes from our trees,” said one elder. It was the
mango season, and the crop that year was excellent. “Let
each bring the best from his trees.”
Every loyal and grateful son of Moira brought the best
fruit, and the assembly hall was covered with heaps of
different varieties and the air was filled with their sweet
smell. There were Malcorado, Affonso, Pairri, Fernand-
ina, Bism, Colaco.
The selection of the best, however, was not easy. To
choose the biggest in size was simple enough; but how
15
to judge the most ripe and luscious fruit? They were all
sunset-coloured, some light in shade, others of a deep
golden hue. The shades were a feast to the eye.
“Colour betrays,” said an elder. “The sourest are often
of the most fascinating hue.”
“Yes,” agreed another, “we cannot go by colour only.
It must smell ripe.”
“But how can just colour and smell tell us that the
fruit is ripe?” said a third. “It must feel full and taut in
the skin.”
“The final test of ripeness, dear brethren, does not lie
in colour or smell or feel,” said the first. “The proof of a
ripe mango lies in the eating. We must taste each of the
mangoes, just a nibble and a suck, and then there can be
no mistake in our selection of the ripest and sweetest of
the fruit.”
The suggestion was accepted, and there was no mis-
take in the choice of the sweetest hundred mangoes.
It was Holy Saturday, and the church of Moira was

crowded with the faithful. The men had shaved their
heads smooth and massaged them with oil, so that the
light of the candles was reflected on their bald, round
tops. The Mass was in progress, and the congregation
knelt devoutly and prayed with folded hands.
Suddenly, the priest intoned the Allelujah, and the
choir burst forth into a series of Alleulujahs. The men
pricked their ears and looked at each other as the whole
church resounded with “Allemlum-yah! Allem-lumyah!
Allem-lum-yah! ”
16
In the green gardens the ginger crop was ready.

Ginger is called allem in Konkani. And here was an or-
der to bring it in! For priest and choirmaster sang, “lum-
yah,” which means “let’s bring it in.”
”Let’s go and bring in the ginger crop,” shouted one
of the men below the choir.
“Let’s go and bring in the ginger crop,” echoed the
others.
There was an immediate rush out of the church to the
green gardens, and the ginger crop was brought in.
Old Salu, Pedro’s neighbour, was

celebrating the feast of the patron saint
of Moira. It was a grand feast. For It was a grand feast.
seven days there were novenas in the For seven days there
morning, and salves in the evening. were novenas in the
The most famous preacher from Old morning, and salves
Goa preached in the morning and in in the evening.
the evening and the band played old
waltzes and marches outside the church. For seven days
the village resounded with the blasts of petards (khozne ),
while after the salve, the night was lit up by fire-works.
The vespers was the grandest ever celebrated.
The pomp and splendour reached its climax on the day
of the feast, Sunday, when the choir rendered the most
solemn of masses, and the preacher preached his most
edifying sermon. During the procession, Old Salu, clad
in a white surplice and red cape, walked proudly, and
Pedro looked at him with admiration. When the priest
17
began the O Salutaris, Pedro pricked his ears and said

to himself. “What a great honour to have his name thus
sung in praise by the choir and the faithful. I will celeb-
rate the feast next year,” he decided on the spot.
The next year, Pedro spared no expenses to have the
best preacher, the best band, the best choir, the best
cook. Pedro was congratulated and praised by one and
all. They had never seen such a celebration. But Pedro
waited for the climax of his ambition. He has ready with
the white surplice and the red cape, ready for the pro-
cession. He knew the exact moment when the celebrant
would begin with his name.
The priest began, O Salutaris. He could not believe
his ears. He turned round with shock. “It’s most insult-
ing,” he cried, “I Pedro, spend all the money for the feast,
and Salu gets the credit. O Salu-taris! I must speak to
the vicar, it must be some trick of Salu.”
The people of Moira rarely went beyond Mapuça,

which they had to visit every Friday in order to sell the
produce of the land. They met the people of the other
villages at the weekly fair in Mapuça and heard many a
tale of their adventures in the Ghats. The people of Ar-
pora, Calangute and Anjuna carried salt and dried fish
and exchanged them for grain from the Ghats.
One day, some Moiddekars decided that they would
also go to the Ghats. Twelve of them set out early at
dawn. But before they left, the elders warned them about
the dangers of the journey.
18
“Be always together. If you halt for rest, and then

proceed, count the number, in order to see that no one is
missing. Remember you are twelve in number.”
The party set out promising to hang together and have
a regular check on their number.
Towards nightfall they rested under a large banyan
tree, and ate what they had brought from home. They
were very tired and slept soundly. Early at cockcrow the
next morning they rose and prepared themselves to pro-
ceed on their journey.
“Let me count if all are present or not,” said one of
them. He began to count, one, two, three, and so on till
eleven. “Eleven only!” he cried out in surprise. “There
is one missing.”
There was a general alarm
“Who is missing?” one shouted.
“Is it Forsu?” asked another, and was promptly as-
sured that Forsu was present.
“Let me count,” said an elder, and he began to count.
One, two, three, four.... He stopped at eleven. “Yes,
there’s one missing,” he said, “Who can it be?”
Another of the travellers said that he could count, but
it was the same. Eleven!
“Ha! Ha! Ha!”, suddenly laughed one who had been
watching the counting from a distance. “Have you coun-
ted yourself, each of you?” he asked.
It was only then that the mystery of the twelfth man
dawned on them. The one who counted was the twelfth
man and he left himself out each time!
19
The Bell of Guirim Church
The Guirim-Sangolda church.
he villages of Sangolda and Guirim in the dis-

T tricts of Bardez in Goa have one church situated
between the two. It is called Igreja de Guirim, which the
people of Guirim interpret as Church of Guirim. But the
people of Sangolda have their own interpretation. The
term Guirim in this context, they aver, has no reference
to the village proper. After all, it is their church as much
as that of the people of Guirim. The particular spot where
the church has been erected was in times gone by known
20
as Guir, they say, and popular usage has given the appel-
lation to the church.
Be that as it may, there has been from times imme-
morial a rivalry between the two villages. This rivalry has
been based on differences of caste. Sangolda has a pop-
ulation composed predominantly of Brahmins. Guirim is
made up of a majority of Gauddes. The Brahmins have
always believed that they are the chosen people of Goa,
and, in any case, superior to the Gauddes. The former
are certainly shrewder and have always got the better
of the latter. The following legend illustrates this. Of
course, it was a Brahmin from Sangolda who told it to
me.
Soon after the church was built a
serious problem arose regarding the
position of the bell. As is common in The problem defied
church architecture in Goa, the Church a satisfactory
of Guirim was constructed with two solution, for each
towers, one on either side, and there- side marshalled
fore with two belfries. The one on the arguments in its
right was towards Guirim, the one on own favour.
the left was towards Sangolda. The
people of Guirim naturally wanted to hoist the bell on
the right, the people of Sangolda as naturally wanted it
on the left.
The problem defied a satisfactory solution, for each
side marshalled arguments in its own favour. The morn-
ing wore on to noon, and the pangs of hunger were for-
gotten in the heated debate. At last, an elderly spokes-
man from Sangolda suggested a truce.
21
“This discussion will not end so soon,” he said, “at

least not till cow-dust. In the meantime our wives are
waiting for us patiently at home. They have cooked the
mid-day meal of rice and curry, and we are hungry. It
is but common sense that we should go home and have
our meal with our wives and children. We can come back
at three in the afternoon and carry on with the discus-
sion. A full stomach will help us in arriving at a common
decision.”
He spoke with such persuasion that the people of
Guirim shook their heads in approval. Then, turning to
his own people, he gave a sly wink, which seemed to be
perfectly understood by them.
“Yes, let us go home and have our meal, and then re-
turn,” said the spokesman of the people of Guirim, and
he led his people homewards, without more ado. They
hurried home in haste, impelled by hunger, without once
looking back.
The people of Sangolda also turned homewards, led
by their spokesman. But it was like the Greeks in the
Trojan war, and when they had gone some distance they
lay low in the fields. Hunger seemed to have sharpened
their wits, while it had definitely dulled the wits of their
rivals.
When all was clear, their spokesman gave the signal,
and they rushed back stealthily to the church, put the
ropes to the bell and heaved it into its position in the
belfry on the left. When they had fixed it properly, they
began to ring it with all their might.
22
They were peals of victory which resounded on all

sides. The people of Guirim who had just sat down to
the plate-full of rice, heard the sounds and flinging the
plate on the kitchen floor rushed back to the church. But
it was too late to do anything. The people of Sangolda
were marching homewards. The bell was swinging on
the left tower, and the boom was in the air.
And that is why the bell of the Church of Guirim is in
the belfry towards Sangolda.
At one time the dispute regarding the rival claims of

Guirim and Sangolda to the church was referred to the
patron Saint Diogo. The people of Sangolda claimed it to
be their church, while the people of Guirim said that it
was theirs.
The elders of both the villages finally
decided to abide by the decision of
their patron saint. There was no doubt At one time, the
that he would be impartial, and solve dispute regarding
the vexed problem with holy justice. the rival claims of
The elders and their followers sta- Guirim and
tioned themselves in the nave of the Sangolda to the
church. The Guirim group stood on the church was referred
right side, while the Sangolda group to the patron Saint
stood on the left side. It was an anxious Diogo.
moment when the question was put to
Saint Diogo whose image stood on the main altar. They
prayed for a sign from him.
Suddenly, the head of the saint turned to his left. It
was the side on which the people of Guirim stood. They
23
breathed an unanimous cry of thanks to the saint, while

the people of Sangolda stood dumb with disappointment.
And since that moment, they say, the church has been
called Igreja de Guirim, the Church of Guirim.
24
“Jesus is not Ours!
Jesus is Theirs!”
aste rivalry between the people of Sangolda and

C the people of Guirim has affected the religious life
of the parishioners of the Church of Guirim. For all com-
mon purposes the church is divided into two parts, on
either side of the nave. The right side is occupied by the
faithful of Guirim; the left side is occupied by the faith-
ful of Sangolda. A stranger who enters the church from
the main door in the front can tell the caste of each of the
faithful by watching which way he turns. If he turns right
and dips his finger in the right-hand font, he is a Gauddo.
If he turns left and dips his finger in the left-hand, he is
a Brahmin.
The centre altar is dedicated to the patron saint, St.
Diogo, but till recent times he did not receive the recog-
nition and honour that is the due a patron saint. The loy-
alties of the faithful were divided between the two side
altars. The altar on the right is dedicated to Our Lady
of the Rosary. The altar on the left is dedicated to the
Holy Name of Jesus. The people of Guirim celebrated
25
Jesus is not Ours! JESUS is Theirs!
the feast of the former; the people of Sangolda celeb-

rated the feast of the latter.
It happened once that an old woman in Guirim was
on her death-bed. She had made her last confession and
communion, and extreme-unction had been administered
to her. It only remained for her to give up her ghost
and enter Heaven, for she was a very devout and good
woman.
Different views, diverse approaches: an Indian interpretation of

Christ. At the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Alto Porvorim.
Now, it is a custom in Goa to teach prayers to the

dying, for such a person’s memory begins to fail as the
last moments approach. A young woman from the village
made her repeat the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the
Glory Be. As the old woman’s breath was fast failing, she
decided to teach her to say the ejaculation, Jesus, help
26
Jesus is not Ours! JESUS is Theirs!
me! “Repeat after me, Jesus help me!” she whispered

into the ears of the dying.
Hardly had she uttered the ejaculation when the old
woman opened her eyes wide, and shook her head most
piously. “Jesus! ” she exclaimed, “Jesus is not ours! Jesus
is theirs!” and she closed her eyes and died.
The humour of the anecdote has an added flavour be-
cause of a dialectical peculiarity. The caste system in
Goa has affected Konkani. The Brahmins say tancho, for
theirs! The other castes say tencho, while the Gauddes
have a tendency to lengthen, nasalise and stress the ini-
tial syllable, te-n-n-cho. When they tell this anecdote the
Brahmins deliberately rub it into the Gaudes by exagger-
ating this linguistic peculiarity. “Jesus te-n-n-cho ”, they
say.
27
The Man from Kunkolim
here was a peasant in Bardez who was a big brag.

T If he saw a goat, he said that he had seen an ele-
phant; if he dug a pit one foot square, he said that he had
dug a ten-foot square well. Every morning he set out to
his landlord’s coconut plantation where he dug round the
stem of each coconut tree. He came home in the evening,
with the hoe on his shoulder, tired and dusty. He entered
the kitchen and with the hoe still on his shoulder he jump-
ed across the round pounding hole, which had a diameter
of six inches. And as he jumped he exclaimed, throwing
forward his chest, “Tell me, wife, is there any one strong-
er than me?” and even as he said these words he beat
his chest with great pride. Then he would sit down for
his meal.
The wife had to listen every even-
ing to this brag of her husband. She
was a very patient woman, but patienceThe wife had to
can be exhausted. One evening, there- listen every evening
fore, when her husband beat himself to this brag....
on the chest and exclaimed his usual
boast, “Tell me, wife, is there any one stronger than me?”
28
she hit back with firmness, “Yes, fool, there is one at

Kunkolim in far away Salcete.”
“Then, I must meet him,” he replied, “get a meal ready
early tomorrow, and I am off.”
The next morning, the wife got up at cockcrow, boiled
a measure of rice; prepared red chilly chutney, and
picked two big pickled green mangoes, and tied the
whole meal in a plantain leaf. The peasant was ready
by then, and with the hot bundle in his hand, he set out
on his adventure. He walked the whole of the day and
the better part of the next before he could reach Salcete.
He had to cross two rivers, and ford a few streams.
He asked for the house of the Man from Kunkolim
when he reached the village, which was full of tall and
strapping men. His figure seemed pigmyish before theirs.
The house of the Man from Kunkolim could be seen from
a great distance, since it was higher than all the sur-
rounding houses. It was as high as the tallest coconut
tree.
Taking courage in both hands, the peasant walked up
to the huge door and put his hand to the knocker. It was
a heavy iron piece in the shape of a lion’s head, and as
it did not yield to his single hand, he had to use both
his hands to lift it and rap it down. There was a loud re-
sounding noise within the house, and a woman immedi-
ately rushed at the door and opened it. Through the half-
open door the peasant could see huge chairs and tables,
and on the walls were hung trophies of huge crab-shells,
tortoise-shells, and heads of lions and tigers. The sight
sent a shiver down the spine of our Bardez hero.
29
“What do you want?” the woman shouted at him.

“I want to see the Man from Kunkoli,” he stammered.
“He’s fishing out yonder at the river,” she said, point-
ing to the right. “You can meet him there.” And with that
she closed the door upon him.
The peasant went in the direction pointed out, trying
to appear as strong as possible. From a distance he could
see the huge size of a man, squatting on the river-bank,
with a fishing rod in his hand. The shape looked like
the gnarled trunk of an old tree. As he approached, the
shape increased in size. The fishing rod was a big-sized
bamboo and the line was a thick twine. The peasant
walked up to the man, a dwarf by the side of a giant, and
tried to draw his attention by coughing. The man looked
down at him, and said, “Who are you?” The strong puffs
of wind that came from the mouth of the man nearly blew
him to the ground. “I am a man from Bardez,” the peas-
ant faltered. “I have come to meet you.”
“Here, give me that bait,” the man said to him. The
peasant saw a huge mass of fish flesh to which the man
pointed, and it was with the greatest difficulty that he
managed to lift a part of it. Hardly had the Man flung
the newly-baited line into the water, when he hooked a
formidable fish. It was a whale of a fish, the like of which
the peasant had not seen even in his dreams.
“Now, hold this rod, and come along with me,” the
Man said as he stood up and flung the fish on his back.
The peasant caught hold of the rod with both his hands
and trudged behind the Man, like a rat walking in the
shadow of a mountain.
30
When they reached the house of the Man, the fish was
handed over to the wife for smoking and the Man sat him-
self down to sharpen his appetite by quaffing large doses
of liquor. The peasant sipped a drink, which coursed
like a flame of fire down his throat. At meal time the
Man swallowed huge chunks of the fish, while the peas-
ant munched small morsels, wondering all the while at
the terrible appetite of the Man. It was the same with
the rice. The Man consumed almost a mountain of rice,
while the peasant could hardly eat a few handfuls.
“And now, let us rest,” said the Man to the peasant.
“Please fetch me my snuff-box.”
It was a full-sized wooden trunk that the peasant had
to bring from inside one of the rooms of the house.
“And now, bring me my nose-tickler,” asked the Man
of the peasant.
The nose-tickler was made up of a number of coconut
tree fronds tied together into a tapering end. The peas-
ant dragged it to the side of the Man.
And now something that was least expected happened.
The Man opened the snuff-box and drew in a deep breath
through his right nostril. A cloud of snuff went rushing
into the right nostril. Then, he drew another deep breath
through his left nostril. The peasant happened to be on
his left side. As the air rushed into the left nostril, the
peasant was lifted off his feet, and drawn in with the
snuff. The Man then took the nose-tickler and tickled
his nose, once, twice, thrice. The result was a deafening
sneeze, which echoed through the village like monsoon
thunder. Such was the force of the sneeze, that the peas-
31
ant was hurtled out into the air, and sent across Ilhas into
Bardez, till he finally dropped under the very eaves of his
house.
The wife heard the thud of the fall, and then the sound
of groans, as of a man in mortal pain. She opened the
door and went towards the spot from where the sounds
came. What was her surprise when she came up to the
snuff-covered figure of her husband!
She brought him in quickly, washed and clothed him.
And from that day there was no more of jumping across
the pounding hole, no beating of the chest, no boasting.
And the wife lived in peace.
32
The Baker from the South
nce there lived a man and his wife who had no chil-
O dren. The man was a thoroughgoing miser who
would rather part with his skin than with a pie. In the
dark corner of his room in which no one was ever al-
lowed to come, not even his wife, he kept a huge clay
jar in which he hoarded every piece of gold he secured.
Every evening he used to bolt the
door and the small window of his room,
and then, with an oil-lamp in his hand, Every pie he earned
he would go to the darkest corner and went to make up a
open the jar. And his face would light gold piece, every
up as he saw the gold coins gleam- gold piece that he
ing in the light of the oil flame. He secured went into
would handle a few coins lovingly, kiss the jar.
them with his lips and press them to
his bosom. Then, carefully keeping them in their proper
place within the jar he would screw the lid very tight and
cover it up with a dark blanket.
Every pie that he earned and saved went to make up
a gold piece, and every gold piece that he secured went
into the jar. His greatest pleasure was to see the level of
33
the gold heap rising higher and higher. Closer and closer
to the brim it rose day by day, and his heart secretly beat
with a fierce joy. Then, one day, he laid the last coin.
The jar could hold no more; it was full to the neck with
beautiful shining coins of gold. It was a day of complete
happiness for the old man.
But, strange to say, from that day the old man became
restless. He could not sleep, for the nights brought fear-
ful dreams. Once, he dreamt that he was tied firmly to
his bed, and in the corner where lay his treasure there
was a large stone. On waking up he rushed to the spot
and found that the jar was intact and that it was only a
dream. Every night he lay awake thinking of a hundred
things. A slight noise outside, the falling of a dry mango-
tree twig, or the flight of an owl, made him listen intently
and he would creep to the window and peer through the
chinks to see if there was anyone lurking outside. Thus,
he grew weaker and weaker everyday.
One day, he decided that he would dispose of the jar,
as it was the cause of all his unhappiness. He did not
want it anywhere near him; he did not want to see it.
In the village there was a merchant who shipped large
quantities of salt to Mangalore. The old man decided that
he would put the jar among the salt jars of the merchant
and thus get rid of it. So he told the merchant that he
would add a jar of salt to be sold for any price it fetched.
And so it was done. The jar full of gold coins was placed
among the jars of salt, and when the ship touched the
port of Mangalore the jar of gold was sold among others
to a baker.
34
You can judge the baker’s surprise when on open-

ing the heavy jar he saw gleaming coins staring at him.
He could not believe his eyes. He took out a handful
and spreading them on his palm gazed with mighty won-
der. Then, holding the jar by the neck he turned it, and
behold, hundreds of bright gleaming coins fell to the
ground. The jar was full of them. It was a fortune. But
had he a right to it?
For a long time he could
not make up his mind what
he should do with this find.
Then he thought of a middle
way. He decided to keep one
half of the gold for himself and
give the other half to the cap-
tain. A bright idea struck him.
He would make a huge cake
and stuff it with half the gold
treasure and send the beautiful
present to the captain.
It was the most wonderful
cake, rising up in the shape of a
tower, and decorated with innu-
merable little things, fruits and Daily rounds: a baker’s
flowers and birds, and finished basket
with a model sailing ship bear-

ing the name of the captain’s vessel. The captain had
never seen such a wonderful cake, and he could not lift
his hand to cut it. He placed it into a glass case and he
was so proud of it that he showed it to all who came to
35
see him in his cabin. The cake remained in the case for
many months, while the ship sailed up and down between
Goa and Mangalore. Gradually, it lost its original bright-
ness, and during the monsoon mildew spread over it on
all sides. The captain took it out of the case, and at first
thought of throwing it into the sea and of giving it an hon-
ourable burial. But on second thoughts, he changed his
mind and said that he would give it to some poor fish-
erman when he reached Mangalore. So when the ship
touched the port, he gave it away to a fisherman who
thanked him for the gift.
The fisherman had no children and as he walked
ashore he asked himself what he would do with the big
cake. He was poor and the only person to whom he could
sell it, was the baker. So he took it to the baker and
offered it to him. The baker at once recognised the cake,
and without wasting time he gave the poor man a bright
gold piece and the man went away happy at his good for-
tune.
The baker took it eagerly into his room, and as he
opened the cake he kept saying to himself, “This time I
must keep the coins to myself. God has sent the money
back to me.”
And so the people of Goa still say in Konkani, Sulchea
poderan khavum, let the baker from the South have it.
36
The Path of Heaven
eaven is the home of the simple.

H Now, Caestano was simple. He was as simple as a
child, and there was none simpler than him in the village.
He was born so. It was ten years before he could begin to
talk. He was his mother’s regret and the schoolmaster’s
victim. At the village school he was the laughing-stock
of all the children. In spite of the heroic efforts of the
schoolmaster, who used the cane with lavish enthusiasm,
poor Caestano was as innocent of abc after five years as
he was at the beginning.
In despair his mother tried to teach him domestic
work, but to no purpose. His hands could never learn
the exact amount of salt to be added to the boiling rice,
nor could he find the difference between frying fish and
burning it. The house was untidy, the furniture invariably
scattered and he would be found rolled up in a corner of
the house, with the cat nestling in his bosom and the dog
stretched at his feet. It was no good having Caestano.
He just could not be done up into a man.
There is only one way of setting matters right, thought
Caestano’s mother. That was to get him married. There
37
The Path of Heaven
is no better way to make a man out of a simpleton than

the way of matrimony. That was what the elders always
said. And Caestano’s mother remembered this prescrip-
tion of traditional wisdom. So thought, so done. After a
little haggling with the match-maker, the mother did the
work, and Caestano found himself one day in the rare po-
sition of a husband to a wife made to his mother’s liking.
But marriage or no marriage, Caes-
tano was Caestano. He was born so.
What could a wife do? She tried softBut marriage or no
ways. She tried sweet ways. She marriage, Caestano
dandled him and fondled him, as be- was Caestano.
comes a good wife. Caestano accepted
the soft ways and the sweet ways. He was pleased with
the dandling and fondling. But he was as idle as of old,
and as useless. There was only one thing he could do,
and do with perfect justice. That was to eat well and reg-
ularly. He knew the hour. He did not need to be called.
An animal instinct led him straight into the kitchen at the
desired hour and fish or no fish, the mountain of rice dis-
appeared in handfuls into the dark caverns of his mouth.
And after meals, the soundest sleep! But he never over-
slept the next meal-hour. His wife in anger called him
several names; good-for-nothing, lazy bones, idler and
parasite. But Caestano accepted his wife’s eloquence
with a harmless and disarming smile.
One morning, she was at the end of her patience and
said to him, “For God’s sake go to church at least. You
can come home at meal-hours.”
38
The Path of Heaven
“But what am I to do in church?” Caestano asked his

wife.
“Do as the others do,” she replied. “Now, go and dress
up and you’ll be in time for the Mass.”
Caestano dressed with alacrity and left the house. He
followed in the footsteps of his neighbours, and entered
the village church. When the one who was immediately
in front of him dipped his finger in the font, he put his
whole hand in the holy water, and then crossed as the
others did. The water dripped down his elbow, forehead
and face, much to the amusement of the little boys.
Caestano knelt down as the others did and looked
round to see what the faithful did. He folded his hands,
looked straight ahead of him at the altar, and kept his
lips moving. When the priest came to the foot of the altar
he watched him with great interest. He crossed himself
when the others did so and bent his head low enough to
kiss the ground. When the altar-server lifted the end of
the chasuble as the priest went up the altar-steps, Caes-
tano took the signal and lifted the end of the coat of the
man in front of him. The one by his right made big eyes
at him and poked him with his finger, shaking his head,
and made a disapproving sound. Caestano made eyes at
the one on his left, poked at him with his finger, shook
his head and made queer sounds, as if he was urging on
a bull, much to the annoyance of the faithful. An elderly
man came up to his ear and asked in a whisper, “What
are you doing like this in church?” He smiled at him and
whispered back “My wife has told me to do as the others
do.”
39
The Path of Heaven
Soon, however, the priest walked up to the pulpit, and

every one sat down. Caestano made himself comfortable
on the floor, and listened with eagerness.
“Brethren,” the priest began, “I will speak to you
today about the path to heaven. You know, dear people,
God has invited us all to come to His Kingdom in heaven,
and be happy there forever and ever. The path that leads
to heaven is a narrow and straight one. It is lined with
thorns and thistles, which scratch and bruise those who
walk it. The closer we come to God, the darker grows the
path, and lonelier the way. But God waits for us anxiously
at the end of the journey. Therefore, brethren, seek ye
this path without delay, and be happy forever in heaven.”
Caestano listened to the words of the priest with rapt
attention, and a sudden decision formed itself in his mind.
Surely, he would like to be happy forever and ever. He
hurried out of the church and went straight home.
“Wife,” he said, “I am going to heaven this very mo-
ment, for God is waiting for me. Get me something to eat
on the way and I am off. I want to be happy forever.”
“So you are going to heaven!” exclaimed his wife, half
with real surprise and half with joy. ”Heaven or hell or
purgatory,” she continued, “the place does not matter. I
shall be the happiest woman the moment you leave the
house and never return. Here take these three wheat
cakes, and leave me in peace. You can be happy forever.”
Caestano stuffed the three cakes into his coat pockets
and set out of the house cheerfully. He walked away from
the beaten track and cut his own way through the grass
and the bushes. Thorns pricked his feet, and brambles
40
The Path of Heaven
caught at his sleeves and arms. Blood began to ooze

freely through the cuts and scratches and he felt his
face, neck and hands burning as the sweat entered the
bruises.
By the side of a hedge he saw a beggar, crying out for
alms. Caestano looked at the shrivelled hand stretched
out to him, and in his heart he felt pity for the hungry
man. “Poor old fellow,” he said. “What are you doing
here by the wayside? Why don’t you come with me to
heaven?” But when he saw that the old man was too
hungry to walk, he said to him, “Here, take this wheat
cake and feed your hunger.” And he gave one of the
wheat cakes he had in his pocket. “I must reach heaven
before it is too dark,” he said as he walked ahead. “You
can follow me, if you want.”
The way now lay through a dense undergrowth, and
the shades of evening soon began to fall. He pushed
aside the thorny branches that came in his path, and
dragged his weary and aching body ahead. Everything
closed up behind him into a wall of darkness so that there
was no retreat. Then he heard a cry in the silence and
discovered another beggar calling out for alms.
He paused and looked at the wrinkled face of the man
and overcome by pity he took the second wheat cake
from his pocket and said, “Eat this and live. I am in a
hurry to reach heaven. You can come with me, if you
want,” and saying these words he moved on.
His journey now lay through utter darkness. Fearful
sounds as of wild animals disturbed the night, but Caest-
ano had never known what fear was. He pushed his way
41
The Path of Heaven
like a blind man, through the impenetrable thicket, al-

ways cheerful and with a strong hope in his heart that
he was near the end of his journey. He was tired and ex-
hausted and there was one wheat cake left in his pocket.
For a moment he felt like easing the pangs of hunger by
resting and eating the cake. But then he might not reach
heaven that night, so he moved on.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light before his eyes,
and right in front of him, against the background of
the thicket, there stood a figure hanging on a cross.
Blood flowed from his hands and feet, and his head was
crowned with thorns. His face was shrunken and he
looked at Caestano with sorrowful eyes.
“Poor man,” Caestano cried out in
pity. “Why have they nailed you to the
cross in this fashion? I can count the “Why have they
ribs on your chest, and your belly is nailed you to the
touching your back. I see that you are cross in this
dying of hunger. Here, take this wheat fashion?”
cake, the last one I have and eat it. I
am on my way to heaven.”
As Caestano offered the wheat cake, the hanging man
disengaged his left hand and took the cake. Then, mov-
ing his right hand forward he put it round the neck of
Caestano, and said, ”Son, your simple faith has led you
straight to heaven. Come with me, and I will take you
to the mansion which my Father has prepared for you.
There you will be happy for ever and ever.”
And with these words, Caestano felt himself lifted
from the dark ground up into the clouds. And as he
42
The Path of Heaven
moved higher and higher he felt as light as the air, like a

bird flying in the sky and heaven opened, and he was
taken into the bosom of the Lord, there to be happy
forever.
43
Pascoal and Vincente Bab
ascoal, vulgarly known as Pasku, was a tenant and

P lived on the estate of his landlord, Vicente Bab. He
had a large family to support, a wife, two sons and six
daughters. His wife and daughters had to do sundry jobs
for the family of the landlord for which they were not
paid, while his two sons helped him in the odd jobs he
did.
Pascoal was a God-fearing man, and it was his habit to
enter the church on his way home from work and kneel in
prayer before the crucifix near the entrance on the right.
One day, as he looked at the hanging figure of Jesus,
he saw tears streaming down the face, rolling from the
sunken cheeks onto the hollow belly. And he felt a great
pity in his heart.
“Dear Christ,” he said, “I am a poor man. Why don’t
you come to my humble house and dine with us?”
“I certainly will,” said Jesus, “come and fetch me to-
morrow.”
Pascoal went home with a great joy in his heart and
told his wife to prepare the best dinner she could. The
next day, nothing was spared to cook the best meal for
44
the divine guest. Pascoal set out from home when all
was ready.
On the way to the church he met an old beggar who
said to him, “Good man, I am dying of hunger. Give me
to eat, for the love of God.” Pascoal had known the pangs
of hunger, so he took the beggar to his house and asked
his wife to give him to eat.
As he hurried back to the church, he came across a
beggar woman, who looked the very picture of starvation.
“I am starving, good man,” she said to him, “help me.”
Pascoal could not bear to leave her to die on the road;
so he lifted her and took her to his house where he gave
her food. It was now getting on to the promised hour, and
he ran towards the church to be in time. But just outside
the church he ran into a child in rags, crying bitterly. “I
am an orphan, good father,” she cried. “Give me to eat.”
Pascoal was touched. The child
might have been his own daughter. He
lifted her up and took her to his house, Pascoal was
where his wife looked after her. He touched. The child
had no time to lose, and so he took the might have been his
shortest cut to the church. own daughter.
“Forgive me for not coming earlier,”
he began. “Dinner is ready, dear Jesus, and I have come
to fetch you.”
“But I have eaten enough,” said Christ to Pascoal.
“Look,” he said pointing to his belly, “I am no longer
hungry.”
“But Lord,” Pascoal said with fear and anxiety, “my
wife has cooked a special dinner for you, and she and my
45
children are waiting for you.”

“Good man, you have given me to eat not once but
thrice. I came to you as a beggar man, and you gave
me to eat. I came to you as an old woman, and you fed
me. I came to you as an orphan child, and you filled my
hunger.” Pascoal was filled with a great wonder and joy
and he fell on his knees with thanksgiving.
“Take this gift,” said Jesus to him offering him a silken
purse, “and go home and live in peace.”
Pascoal went home and gave the gift to his wife and
from that day he was a prosperous man.
When Vicente Bab, the landlord, came to know that
Pascoal had come into a fortune, he sent for him.
“You must have robbed someone,” he said to his ten-
ant and he threatened him with dire punishment. “Tell
me how you got the money,” he said.
“The Lord Jesus gave it to me,” Pascoal replied. “I in-
vited him to dinner, and he gave me the gift. Why don’t
you invite him to your house, Battkar Bab? ” he sugges-
ted.
“Why, certainly, I will!” Vicente Bab exclaimed, and
forthwith he set out on his mission.
Vicente Bab used to go to church only on Sundays and
days of obligation, and he used to hear Mass standing at
the main door. Today he went inside and stood before the
crucifix.
“O Lord,” he cried, “you have been to the house of
Pasku for dinner. He is my manddukar and a very poor
man. I am the richest battkar in Goa, and I have come to
invite you to a banquet at my house.”
46
The Lord accepted the invitation, and Vicente Bab

promised to come and fetch the divine guest on the next
day. He made elaborate preparations for the grand feast,
and fish, fowls and piglings were massacred in profusion.
He invited all the prominent lawyers, doctors and mer-
chants and proprietors.
The next day, he wore his feast-day best and left for
the church. On the way he met an old beggar who cried
out to him: “Battkar Bab, give me to eat.”
“Give you to eat!” Vicente Bab. shouted, “Get out of
my way, you dirty fellow. Jesus is coming to my place,
and there are guests and you have no place there.”
A little way ahead he came across an old woman who
fell on her knees and prayed, “For the love of God, save
me from death. I starve.”
“Get out of my way,” he said, “I have no time for you,”
and he hurried past her.
As he entered the church compound, he met an urchin
who ran after him saying, “Give me bread to eat. Give
me bread, Bab.” Vicente flourished the cane, and hur-
ried into the church. He walked to the crucifix and said,
“Lord I have come to take you for dinner. The guests are
waiting for you, Lord come!”
“But I came to you thrice!” exclaimed the figure of
Christ, “and each time you drove me away.”
“Thrice?” repeated Vicente, “but when?”
“I came to you as an old beggar, and you called me a
dirty fellow. I came to you again as an old woman, and
you drove me away. I came to you lastly as an orphan,
and you threatened me with your stick. Now, go home
47
and have the banquet with your rich guests. Those who
feed beggars, lepers and orphans feed me.”
Vicente Bab went home to his guests and his banquet
with a fallen face.
48
The Princess Beyond the
Seven Seas
nce upon a time there lived a king and a queen

O who had an only son whom they loved beyond
measure. He grew up into a strong prince, and everyone
in the kingdom adored him. He was fond of manly exer-
cises and sports, especially of riding and hunting. There
was nothing he loved better than to go with his attend-
ants into the depths of forests full of wild beasts, and
bring back in triumph, game in plenty. He was a remark-
able shot with his arrow.
One day as he was hunting in a distant forest, he gave
chase to a wild boar and rode alone into the densest part
of the forest, in hot pursuit. But to his disappointment
the boar suddenly slipped out of sight while he took aim,
and in its place stood a peacock with its tail spread out.
It was the most beautiful peacock he had ever seen in his
life, and he was so taken up by the extravagant colours
of the peacock’s fan-shaped tail, that he addressed him
thus in song:
49
The Princess Beyond the Seven Seas
Move out of the way, O peacock,

Fly to the tree on the right;
For the beauty of your feathers
A-dazzle mine eyes.
And the peacock sang in reply:
O Prince, who art like a coral bead,

If my beauty dazzles thine eyes so,
What wilt thou say and do then,
Wert thou to see the Kadamba princess?
“Then I must marry her,” said the Prince, “and I will.” But
before he could ask the peacock where the princess lived,
the bird was gone. He ran forward among the trees,
looking to the right and to the left, but the peacock was
nowhere to be seen. He roamed through the length and
breadth of the forest, but in vain; and when the shades of
evening fell, he turned his footsteps towards the palace.
He was sad and restless and did not know how to face the
king and the queen and his companions. So he quietly
slipped into the stable and lay on a heap of straw.
The king and the queen were quite anxious about him
when they heard that the prince had not returned from
the hunt, and they sent a party of men to look for him.
As the tired prince was about to fall asleep, he heard the
door of the stable open, and he saw their dark servant
entering with a basket full of gram in order to feed the
horses. The prince watched her in silence and saw that
she gave one handful of gram to one horse and the next
handful she put into her own mouth. She went on do-
ing this for some time, and the prince looked at her with
50
an amused smile, till the sight of her bursting cheeks

stuffed with gram made him chuckle with irrepressible
laughter. The servant immediately noticed him in the
corner of the stable and raised an alarm, and the prince
was discovered by his parents to their great relief.
But it was obvious that there was
something wrong with the prince, and
the queen was quick to perceive the It was obvious that
change in him. She called him to her there was
chamber and asked him what it was something wrong
that made him so sad and silent. At with the prince....
first, the prince was reluctant to con-
fide in his mother; but when he saw that his silence was
making his mother worried and unhappy, he told her
that he had heard of the beauty of the daughter of the
Kadamba king, and that he wanted to marry her. He did
not know where she lived, but he would not rest content
until he found her.
The queen promised to tell the king of her son’s de-
sire. She said that she would do all in her power to find
out where the princess lived and secure her hand in mar-
riage to the prince.
The king immediately issued an order that the wise
men of his court should find out where the princess lived,
and in a short time they informed him that she lived bey-
ond the distant and perilous seven seas. Preparations
were then ordered by the king to fit out an expedition
to the far-off country where the princess lived. A stately
ship was specially built, and it was filled with the most
costly gold and diamond presents, and the king engaged
51
the services of seven match-makers in order to go to the

Kadamba kingdom and arrange the marriage of the prin-
cess with the prince.
There was great joy in the heart of the prince, and
he watched the preparations with great interest and
would have gone with the match-makers had the king
and queen allowed him. Before the party set sail the
prince told the men that if they succeeded in their mis-
sion, they should hoist white flags on their home coming
and if they failed, they should hoist black flags.
After many months of sailing in rough and fair
weather, the men sighted land and came to the shores
of the kingdom of the Kadamba king. They went into the
city and took up their lodging with an old woman who
happened to be employed in the king’s palace as nurse
to the princess. “Grandmother,” they asked, “what is the
news in this kingdom?”
“The same old news,” murmured the old woman, “the
same old unhappy news. Our good king’s daughter is as
beautiful as the moon, but she is proud and wilful and
hard to please. In these seven years she has refused
seven hundred suitors; and the old king does not know
what to do.”
The matchmakers then told her that they had come
from across the seven seas, and that their king had sent
them with presents of gold and diamonds in order to ar-
range a match between his son and the daughter of the
Kadamba king. They gave her a shining piece of gold and
said that if she were to help them she would be richly re-
warded. The old woman consented and promised all her
52
help.
The next day, she went to the palace and arranged an
audience with the king. The seven matchmakers went to
the palace with the rich gifts they had brought with them,
and they were received with due ceremony by the king.
When they expressed to the king the purpose of their
mission, the king listened to them with great interest;
but he replied that he could do nothing in the matter,
and said to them, “Go and see the princess, and she will
give you the answer.”
The princess lived on the seventh storey of the palace.
When the seven men made bold to go to her with the
proposal of marriage, she was so furious with their im-
pudence that she summarily dismissed them and ordered
her guards to cut off their noses by way of punishment.
The old woman was sorry at the sad fate of the match-
makers who set out the next day for their country.
They hoisted black flags on the mast as they neared
their kingdom, and the prince who was watching for their
return every day from the shore saw the flags and was
beyond himself with grief. The king and the queen com-
forted him and promised to secure for him a beautiful
bride, but he would have none other than the princess
beyond the seven seas.
One day, when he could no longer bear the anguish
of his vain pining, the prince went to his father, the king,
and told him that he would himself go and fetch the prin-
cess home as his bride. The king and the queen tried
their best to make him change his mind, but he would
not listen to any argument. So once again, a large ship
53
was fitted out and filled with the most costly presents,
and the prince set out on his great adventure, after bid-
ding his father and mother goodbye.
When he reached the kingdom of the Kadamba king,
the prince disguised himself as a merchant and went into
the city. He took with him some of the presents he had
brought, and he came to the house of the old woman. He
asked her the news of the day, and the old woman told
him how the king was sad and the queen full of grief be-
cause their daughter refused each and every suitor who
came to claim her hand. The prince winked at the old
woman and pressed a gold coin into her hand, and told
her how he had come from a far-off land to win the prin-
cess as his bride. The old woman was pleased to hear
of his desire, and she promised that she would do all in
her power to help him in winning the princess. She told
him that the princess lived on the seventh storey of the
palace, and that no one had access to her. She told him
also that the princess refused all presents that were sent
to her however precious they might be.
The next morning, the prince dressed himself up as
a common wayfarer and asked the old woman the way
to the palace. When he reached the part of the build-
ing where the princess lived, he looked up at the seventh
storey but saw that all the windows were closed. “If I
could only get a glimpse of the princess,” he said to him-
self, “just a glimpse of her.” So he began to walk up and
down the gravel path in the garden.
It was just below the chamber of the princess, and
as he walked his heavy sandalled feet made a crunching
54
noise which disturbed the prevailing silence. For hours

he walked up and down with an irritating regularity, and
every now and then he looked up to see if the princess
would show herself. Suddenly, a window was flung open
and the prince looked up at the seventh storey and heard
an angry voice address him thus in song:
What manner of man are thou,

O strange wayfarer,
That thou shouldst walk up and down
Disturbing noonday peace?
But the prince pretended not to have heard what she had
sung to him, and he continued to walk up and down,
crunching the stones under his heavy sandals. Once
again. the princess sang loudly at him:
O strange wayfarer
Thou art a wicked and wilful man
Thus to disturb the peace
Of the noonday hour.
The prince now looked up at the figure of the princess

leaning over the window, and he sang in reply:
O daughter of the Kadamba king,

Why dost thou stand at the window?
The wind is playing with thy skirt
And giving up its secret.
The princess turned red with anger and shame, for she
had never heard anyone dare address her in this fashion.
And she sang to him in reply:
55
The fruit of the mango is ripe;

I would eat it whole,
And its skin and its stone
Would I fling at thee.
The prince sang back:

Why dost thou stand at the window?
The wind is blowing at thy blouse
And giving up its secret.
The princess trembled with fury at this impertinence of

the strange but before she could say anything in reply,
the prince continued:
Were this garden laid waste for years

I would make it bloom in a day;
And I could tempt thee with fancies
And desires beyond thy dreams.
The princess slammed the window, and the prince left the
place where he had been walking the whole day. He told
the old woman all that had happened, and she was very
pleased with his first move. She even promised that she
would arrange a meeting with the princess, though she
did not let him know how she would bring it about. The
next day, she went to the chamber of the princess and
discovered her in a sad and quiet mood. She inquired
what was wrong with her, and the princess told her that
she had bad dreams the previous night, and that she was
haunted by the pale and woebegone faces of the suitors
she had treated so cruelly.
56
“Child,” said the old woman, “you

are too much alone, and it is not good She even promised
for you to be alone. You need company, that she would
my child.” arrange a meeting
“Old Mother,” said the princess, with the princess....
“last night I woke up with a fright, and
I could not sleep for fear. Could you not come and stay
the night with me?” she pleaded.
“I wish, I could,” said the old woman, “but my dear
child, only yesterday my grandchild from the Ghats has
come to stay with me, and I can’t leave her alone in the
house.”
“Bring her here with you,” said the princess, “and let
her stay with me.”
“She’s a country girl, dear child,” said the woman,
“and she is not used to the ways of the city.”
The next day, the old woman told the prince what the
princess had said. He bought a beautiful wreath of mo-
gra flowers and asked the old woman to take it to the
princess and say that her grandchild had woven it spe-
cially for her.
“And if she asks why you have not brought the grand-
child along with you, say that she is shy of meeting
strangers.”
The old woman gave the wreath to the princess
the next morning and told her that it was a gift from
her grandchild from the Ghats. The princess naturally
enough asked her why she had not brought her along,
and the old woman told her that having lived all her life
in the region of the Ghats she was very simple and ex-
57
tremely shy. But the princess once again requested the

old woman to bring the child the following evening and
the old woman said she would try to persuade the shy
child.
When she told this to the prince, he laughed to himself
and said, “The princess will be impatient more than ever
to see me if I refuse this time, and she will ask you once
again. She must want me very much, then alone will I
go.”
The princess was sure enough disappointed when the
old woman came to her the next evening without the
child. She rose up in great anger and threatened to dis-
miss the nurse if she did not bring her grandchild the
next day. The prince, was right glad that he had made
the princess so impatient to see the ‘child’; and so, the
next evening, he told her that he would come. The old
woman got him a simple dress of a country girl and thus
disguised, the prince walked into the chamber of the prin-
cess, his face covered with a veil. The princess was very
pleased to see that the old woman had at last brought
her grandchild with her and she spoke to the disguised
prince in a sweet and gentle manner. The prince, how-
ever, was careful not to speak a single word, and the
princess attributed this to shyness.
Soon after the old woman left the palace, the princess
asked the disguised prince to set about preparing things
for her night’s meal. As the prince went about with as-
sumed slowness and delicacy. The princess perceived
that the newcomer walked in a strange manner, and so
she said:
58
O grand-daughter of my nurse.
You have strange ways indeed.
Why, when you move about the room,
You walk like a man.
The prince, who had as yet not spoken a single word sang
in reply:

Up the Ghats where I live,
Male and female, no difference make;
And so we walk the same way.
The princess then asked the ‘grandchild’ to fetch some

water for the evening ablutions, and the prince brought
it with considerable trepidation. The princess was, how-
ever, too occupied with her own thoughts to see through
the disguise. But the voice of the ‘grandchild’ struck her
as very unnatural; so she asked in song:
O grand-daughter of the old woman,

You are a strange person indeed;
For when you sing,
It is a man’s voice I hear.
The prince did not wait long to reply to her, and so he

sang:

I come from a strange place,
Where male and female
Do sing alike.
59
When the evening meal was done, the princess retired to

her bedchamber and told the ‘grandchild’ to sleep in the
adjoining room.
“And so that I may be able to fall asleep soon, O grand-
child of my old nurse, do tell me a story.”
“There is a most beautiful story of love that I have in
my ear,” said the disguised prince; “but listen; I have a
request to make you.” And then he sang to her of the love
of a far-off prince who came to the Kadamba kingdom to
seek the hand of the beautiful daughter of the king. It
was a most touching song and the princess wanted to
know how the story would end. “Listen,” said the prince:
You are sleeping in that chamber,
And I am sleeping in this;
How can the story end, O princess,
With this distance between us?
The perfect end of the perfect story
Can only come when we meet in glory.
The suspicions of the princess were now fully roused
and she realised that this supposed grandchild of the old
woman was but a man in disguise, perhaps the same who
had walked under her window some days ago. And so she
sang to him:
What has happened has happened,

And it cannot be undone,
But tell me now, you bold man,
What caste you belong to.
The prince in reply said:
60
If you would know my caste,

There is nothing to hide;
I am a low-born man,
A mahar by caste.
But the princess could not believe that he was a mahar.

So she asked him again;
But tell me now, you dissembler,

What caste you belong to.
The prince replied that he was a chamar, but the prin-

cess knew better. She suspected that he was a prince
in disguise, the same prince in the story she had heard
herself. His answers to her request grew more and more
tantalising till finally he confessed who he really was. He
threw off his disguise, and stood before the princess in
his real bearing, a handsome young man whose love had
made him stoop to a female disguise. The heart of the
princess leapt with joy, and the two were soon locked in
an embrace of first love.
And so there was great rejoining in the kingdom,
when the news that an unknown prince from a far-away
land had succeeded in winning the favour of the daugh-
ter of the Kadamba king. There was feasting and merri-
ment for several days and one fine day, the two set sail to
the homeland of the prince where the king and the queen
and all the people received them with universal joy.
There they were married and lived happily ever after.
61
King Vithoba
here was once a king and a queen who had an only

T daughter. She grew up into a beautiful princess,
and she was loved by the king and the queen and by all
the people of the kingdom.
When the princess was twelve years
of age, the queen said to the king:
“Dear, let us marry our daughter when She grew up into a
she is young.” The king replied: “Our beautiful princess...
daughter is too young, let us wait for
two more years, and then I will look for a handsome
prince for her.”
But the queen would not agree to this. She had been
married when she was quite young, and therefore, she
felt that she should have her daughter married quite
young. Every day she spoke to the king of her desire,
till the king, one day, consented to go and fetch a hand-
some prince.
He had an old friend, a neighbouring king, who had
four sons. Three of them were married, and the fourth
and youngest was still single. The young prince had
many proposals from far and near, but he did not want
62
King Vithoba
to marry so early. The king was welcomed by his neigh-

bouring friend who was happy to meet him after a long
time. When the king informed him of his desire to unite
the two families by marrying his only daughter to the
youngest son of his friend, the latter was full of joy and
gladly accepted the proposal. “But I will have to ask my
son,” he said, “because he has already refused three pro-
posals.” Accordingly, he asked his son and said, “I am
growing old, son, and it is my great desire to see you
happily married before I leave this world.”
“I have refused three proposals, father,” said the
young prince, “but if you desire that I should marry, I
will abide by your wish. However, there is one condition
on which I will consent to marry.” The father asked him
what the condition was, and the prince said, “For four-
teen years my bride must not speak a word to me, and if
she agrees to do so, I will marry her.” The father could
not give a definite answer to the young prince, unless
the daughter of his friend agreed to this strange condi-
tion put by his son. He, therefore, informed his friend
about what his son had said.
“In that case,” replied the king, “I will go back and in-
form my wife and ask my daughter.” And with a promise
to come back, he returned to his kingdom.
The queen was impatient to find out what good news
her husband had brought regarding the proposal. She
noticed, however, that the king was very quiet and tried
to avoid the subject. She therefore asked him: “Has the
young prince given his consent?” The king told her what
had happened, and said that the condition which the
63
King Vithoba
prince had put was a strange one, to which their daugh-

ter could not consent. The queen, however, did not think
so. “You leave that to me,” she said, “I will tell our daugh-
ter and persuade her to accept the young man.”
The queen accordingly told the princess and per-
suaded her to give her consent to the marriage. The
king was happy at the news and immediately went to his
friend’s palace to settle the match finally. Preparations
were soon made for the marriage, and it was a happy day
for the two kingdoms when the prince and the princess
were made man and wife.
The young wife heroically kept silent, and it was with
great sacrifice and humility that she lived in the palace.
After a few months, the prince decided to go upon a jour-
ney to a distant country. He informed his parents who
were sorry to hear the news. Before setting out, he told
his mother that he would keep his wife on the seventh
storey of the palace, and that she should be provided
with everything she needed. He also informed his mother
and sisters-in-law that they should for no reason interfere
with his wife. On the night previous to the day of his de-
parture, the prince went up to the seventh storey and put
a ring on the finger of his wife and came down without
speaking to her.
The sisters-in-law were quite jealous of the new wife
who lived on the seventh storey doing nothing, while they
had to attend to all the work in the palace. They went to
the Queen Mother and said, “It is unjust to make us work,
while she sits like a goddess on the seventh storey. Let
her come down and work with us.” The queen, at first,
64
King Vithoba
did not heed their complaint, because of the promise she

had given to her son. But the wicked sisters-in-law were
so insistent, that at last she had to give in. “If she agrees
to come down, you may bring her,” said the queen to her
three daughters-in-law.
This was what the sisters-in-law were waiting for.
They rushed to the seventh storey, opened the door of
the room where the young princess lived, and told her
that the queen had ordered her to come down. They re-
moved the gold ornaments and silk clothes from her body,
dressed her in rags and sent her to the kitchen to work
with the servants.
The princess meekly submitted herself to the humiliat-
ing position and silently worked in the kitchen among the
servants of the palace. Her sisters-in-law enjoyed them-
selves at the table with the best dishes, while they left
the remnants to the young kitchen princess.
In the evenings, the princess daily went out to a
nearby tank to bathe and wash her clothes. There was
a temple near the tank. After her bath, she used to go
into the temple, sweep it, sit down and pray.
One day, a bangle-seller happened to be passing by
the temple. When he saw the tank, he decided to re-
fresh himself by having a bath in the water and cook his
evening meal under the shade of the trees. The prin-
cess who was sitting in the temple at her daily prayers
looked at him through the window. He was a stranger in
the kingdom, and she wondered whether he could have
any news from the kingdom of her father. As the bangle-
seller began to cook his food, she tried to draw his atten-
65
King Vithoba
tion by singing a song:
I am the only princess,

Daughter of King Vithoba,
On my waist I carry
A pot of water,
In my hand I hold a broom,
On my head I carry a basket;
I dwell in front of this temple,
Tell them to come and take me home.
The bangle-seller heard the sweet voice and looked

around, but he could not make out from where the beau-
tiful singing had come. The princess repeated the song a
second time, and a third, and the bangle-seller followed
the sound and came towards the temple and discovered
a lonely girl dressed in rags inside the temple. He was
greatly surprised and touched with pity, “Why are you
singing that song?” he asked. “What is wrong with you?”
The princess told him that she was the daughter of King
Vithoba and requested him to inform her father about
her sorrow. “Tell my father to come and take me home,”
she said, “I will give you a reward.”
“But I will not remember his name,” said the poor
bangle-seller, “and the king will not believe me.” So he
asked her to write a letter to her father which he would
deliver, he said.
The princess gave the bangle-seller a letter to her
father, and he left with the promise that he would surely
give it to her father. That day the princess felt happy
and fell asleep in the temple and when she woke up it
was quite dark and she was late to reach the palace. The
66
King Vithoba
sisters-in-law were quite annoyed with her and asked her

where she had been. “I went to the neighbour to comb
my hair,” she replied. The sisters-in-law got more furious
on hearing this explanation, and they beat her and drove
her into the kitchen.
Now it happened that a year after the daughter was
married, the king and the queen had a son, and when the
son grew to the age of six years, the king and queen died.
The orphan prince grew up alone, and when he was
twelve years old, he married a neighbouring princess in
order to have someone to help him in the affairs of his
kingdom. The young queen loved him very much, espe-
cially as he had neither father nor mother. Now and then,
she used to ask him, “Did you not have a brother or a sis-
ter before you were born?” The young king had never
been told that he had a sister who was married, and so
he told his wife that he was the only son of his parents,
the child of their old age.
One day the queen accidentally broke her bangles.
They were the bangles she wore on her marriage day.
They were beautiful ones, and she was very sad to see
them in pieces. When the king came to know of this, he
immediately sent his guards to fetch any bangle-seller
who happened to come into his kingdom.
After many days of searching a bangle-seller was
found, and the guards seized him and brought him to
the palace. The poor bangle-seller was full of fear, and
wondered why he was thus brought into the palace.
When the king and queen were informed about this, they
asked the guards to bring the bangle-seller before them
67
King Vithoba
and the king asked him to show the queen the best
bangles he had. The bangle-seller displayed a variety
of bangles, one more beautiful than the other and each
more expensive than the other. The queen asked him
to try on her hands the best that he had. However, the
bangles were not big enough for the hands of the queen,
and every time the bangle-seller attempted to slip them
round the hands of the queen, the bangles broke into
pieces. It was quite painful for the queen and she bore
it for some time without a word, but as the bangle-seller
tried pair after pair and each pair broke, the queen finally
burst into tears. The bangle-seller did not know what to
do and asked the king to forgive him, as he had done his
best to satisfy the queen. The king was unhappy at the
sight of the unhappy queen, and he tried to comfort her
by promising her that he would ask the bangle-seller to
bring her other bangles of the size of her hand.
The king then asked the bangle-seller from where he
had come and the bangle-seller said that he had come
from a far-away kingdom. The king then asked the
bangle-seller news of that kingdom, and the bangle-seller
told him of how he had come across a lonely princess
in a temple who had asked him to convey a message to
King Vithoba. The king was surprised to hear the news,
for King Vithoba was his own father, who had died many
years ago.
“I have a letter from the princess,” said the bangle-
seller. ”and she had asked me to deliver it to the king.”
The young king took the letter from the hands of
the bangle-seller and immediately opened it. The queen
68
King Vithoba
wiped her tears when she heard the news and came by
the side of her husband to look at the letter. She was
very happy when she read the contents of the letter and
embraced her husband and said, “You have a sister after
all.” In the letter his sister had asked the father to come
and take her away, as she was very unhappy.
“She must be in great distress,” said the queen. “You
must go and bring her home immediately....”
The king dismissed the bangle-seller with a purse of
money, as a reward of his labour. Then, he immediately
went to the stables and looked for his father’s horse. The
horse was standing in a corner, and the prince went and
patted him on his back. “Why do you pat me today?”
asked the horse.
“I have come to know that I have a sister. Is it true?”
asked the king.
“Why did you not ask me before?” said the horse.
“Take the bunch of keys hanging on that post and open
every room of the palace.”
The king snatched at the bunch and ran into the
palace to open the several rooms, and in one of them he
found the picture of his father and mother with a beau-
tiful girl between them. He was glad to see the beau-
tiful face of his sister and immediately called his wife
and showed the picture to her. The king told her what
the horse had spoken, and she was surprised to hear the
news. “You must bring her back,” said the queen.
The king once again went to the stable and told the
horse to help him to fetch his sister home. The horse
replied to him, “It is a difficult task, but if you do what I
69
King Vithoba
tell you, you can go ahead. Else you should not attempt
the impossible...!” The king was impatient to know what
he should do and promised the horse that he would do
exactly what he was told.
The horse said to him, “Take that sword which hangs
in the corner of this stable. It is your father’s. Polish it
and bring it here to me.”
The king took the sword and went out to have it pol-
ished and then came back to the horse with the flashing
blade.
“Now go and wear the armour of your father, and
bring a sari, and come back to the stable.”
The king did as he was bid, and he came back clothed
in a heavy armour, with a sari in his hand.
“Now sit on my back, and do as I tell you,” said the
horse. “I will fly over land and sea, hold on fast to me.
I will come down just in front of the palace where your
sister lies. When you reach the palace gate, ask for some
water. One of the sisters-in-law will bring the water to
you. Refuse her. The second and the third will come.
Refuse them also. When the kitchen-maid comes with
the water, catch the pot in one hand, and fling your hand
round the waist of the girl. Lift her up and make her sit
in front of you on my back.”
The horse flew high into the air for days and nights,
and the king clung to his mane, lest he might fall. When
the horse landed in front of the palace, the king asked for
water at the palace gates. Seeing a handsome warrior,
one of the sisters-in-law came with a pot of water, but
the king refused to take the water. The second sister-in-
70
King Vithoba
law then came and offered him a pot of water, which he

also refused. He did the same with the third. When the
kitchen maid dressed in rags came with a pot of water,
the king quickly snatched the pot of water in one hand
and lifted the kitchen maid with the other, straight on to
the back of the horse. It was all the matter of a moment.
The horse flew up, much to the surprise of the guards in
the palace. They raised an alarm and shot at the horse
but to no purpose.
As the horse flew, the girl began to sing:
This saddle is from the house of my mother,

This horse is from the house of my father;
Whose is this,—
To which king does it belong?
The girl was surprised, and she did not know who the
man who was taking her away was.
After many days, the horse landed on the earth and
galloped towards the palace. On the way the king came
across a fakir around whom a huge tree was wrapped.
He lay across the road, and as the king rode the fakir
called out to him, “If you want to cross this way and take
the girl with you, there are a few things that you must
do.” The king told the fakir that he was prepared to do
anything, if he could take his sister safe and sound to his
home.
“First, you must dip the sari that you have in the wa-
ter of the lake and dry it without wringing. Then, you
must go three times round the lake, and bathe her in the
lake. After that, you must break a coconut and give her
to drink of the water. Next, you must take a petal from
71
King Vithoba
the lotus in the lake, and put it in her hair, and with your
own hand you must undress her and clothe her in the
sari. If you do these things, I shall let you take her with
you.”
The king did all the things that he
was told to do by the fakir, and he
dressed his sister in the sari that he The king did all the
had brought from home. But the girl things that he was
found it difficult to believe that he was told to do by the
her brother, for she knew that when fakir.
she was married she was the only child
of her parents. She, therefore, thought that he was a
stranger.
Once again, she sang the same words about the
saddle and the horse, and the king replied in the same
manner. Finally they reached home and when the queen
saw her and the king coming towards the palace, she
rushed down to embrace the girl and took her into the
palace with great joy.
Now, when fourteen years had passed, the prince who

had left his kingdom returned as promised. When he
reached the palace, he rushed up to the seventh storey
only to find that his wife was not there. He met his
mother and sisters-in-law and asked for his wife, and the
mother replied that a stranger had come on horse-back,
one day, and taken her away. “We tried to catch the the
stranger,” said the mother, “but it was a flying horse, and
we were unable to do anything.”
72
King Vithoba
The prince, on hearing this, felt very sad, and he im-

mediately left the palace. “I must find her,” he said to
himself, “I will not return till I bring her back,” he told
his mother. He went from city to city, from kingdom to
kingdom, enquiring if anyone had seen a man on horse-
back carrying the girl. But no one could give him any
news about his wife.
At last, he decided to go to the palace of his father-in-
law, and as he was proceeding towards the kingdom, he
met the fakir on the way. The fakir called out to him and
said: “Wait young man, I know where you are going, but
if you go like this, you will not gain anything.” The prince
asked the fakir in surprise, “How do you know where I
am going?” The fakir replied: “You are looking for your
wife, but if you go this way, you will not find her.”
The prince, then, asked the fakir what he should do,
and the fakir replied, “Go to the market and buy a pot,
a dothi, a bag, some kumkum and a bell.” The prince
did as he was directed and showed the things to the fakir.
“Now, do as I tell you,” said the fakir to him: “Remove
your clothes, go and bathe in the lake there, apply this
kumkum to your body, wear this dhoti, and with this bell
in your hand go towards the city, ringing it continually,
saying these words:
I come from a far country,

To beg for alms
Give me alms, friends, give me alms.
The prince went away dressed as a beggar, ringing his

bell and singing the verse. He danced as he sang, and he
visited the house of everyone in the city and the people
73
King Vithoba
gave him alms. At last, he reached the gates of the palace

and began to sing and dance to the tune of his bell.
His wife heard the sound of his voice and she
wondered whether it was not the voice of her own hus-
band. Though fourteen years had already passed, she felt
strangely drawn towards the beggar at the palace gates.
None, however, took any notice of the beggar, and the
palace guards drove him away. That night he came back
to the palace gates and begged to be given a place to
sleep for the night. The guards informed the king about
the obstinate man, and the king out of pity told them to
give him a mat and let him sleep in the verandah.
The beggar-prince kept himself awake and tried to
listen to whatever was going on in the palace. Towards
midnight he heard a sigh and the words, “If I only had
my husband, I would not asleep in another man’s house.”
When he heard these words, he felt very sad, and get-
ting up, he took his bag and bell and tried to go out
of the palace. The guards, however, caught him and
brought him back. When the king was informed about
it, he ordered them to give him enough food and drink
and allow him to go away. The next day the prince went
to the fakir and informed him that he had found his long
neglected queen. “Now, dress up like a prince and go to
the palace gates,” the fakir told him. The prince did as
he was told and presented himself before the guards of
the palace, asking for an audience with the king. “Tell
the king that his brother-in-law has come,” commanded
the prince to the guards.
74
King Vithoba
When the king heard of this, he informed his wife, and

together they planned to find out whether the prince at
the gate was really their brother-in-law or not. “Wear a
sari exactly similar to the one worn by my sister,” he told
the queen. “Both of you wait in the hall. Do not look this
way or that. I will bring the young prince into the hall. If
he comes to you, do not speak to him. Let him make his
choice.”
When all was ready, the king sent for the prince at the
gates, and asked him who he was and from where he had
come.
“I am the son-in-law of this house,” said the prince. “I
have come from my kingdom to look for my wife.” The
king replied to him that there were two women in the
palace. ”Choose the one who is your wife.”
The prince walked into the hall and came face to face
with the two women who were similarly dressed. Both
looked alike. For a moment he was puzzled, but the next
moment he walked towards the one who was his wife. It
was a happy re-union.
They embraced each other after the long separation
of fourteen years. The king then told the prince that he
had brought his sister from the palace because she was
ill-treated there. The wife told her husband of how her
sisters-in-law had poisoned his mother against her, and
made her work like a slave in the kitchen. “Now, I have
found you at last,” she said to him with tears in her eyes.
“Forgive them if they show repentance.”
The mother and sisters-in-law were greatly afraid
when they saw the prince coming home with his wife.
75
King Vithoba
They felt that they had done a great wrong to her, and
they rushed towards them, fell on their knees and asked
for forgiveness. The prince and the princess forgave
them, and the two royal households lived happily ever
after.
76
The Dark Drummer and
the Princess
here was once a king and a queen who had a daugh-

T ter as their only child. The girl was more beautiful
than the lotus and was dearly loved by the father. But it
was foretold that she would be kidnapped, and the king
was very unhappy that such a fate should be reserved for
his daughter. He had taken every precaution against the
danger and he had kept her closely guarded on the sev-
enth storey of the palace, and no one was ever allowed
to go up to her.
One day, as she was stitching near
a window, her needle slipped from her
fingers and fell into the street below. The king did all the
She looked down from the window andthings that he was
seeing a drummer called Demulo Ma- told to do by the
har with his drum slung across his fakir.
shoulder, she shouted out to him and
asked him to find her lost needle. The drummer looked
up at the princess and said, “If you promise to marry
me, I will find your needle.” The princess laughed at the
77
The Dark Drummer and the Princess
fancy of the dark drummer and promised to marry him.

“Then I will come one night and take you away as my
bride,” said the drummer. After looking about for a few
minutes he found the needle and gave it to the servant
whom she had sent down.
A year after this incident a neighbouring prince came
to seek the hand of the princess in marriage, and the king
was happy to accept him as his son-in-law. The two were
betrothed and a day was fixed for the wedding. The king
and queen made all the preparations for their daughter’s
marriage and in their happiness they forgot all about that
which was foretold of the princess.
When the dark drummer heard of the approaching
marriage, he said to himself, “Now my time is come; and
I must carry off the princess and make her my wife.” The
king engaged him as drummer for the occasion and on
the eve of the marriage day the drummer went all around
the city announcing the wedding by the beat of his drum.
When he came back to the palace gate, he walked up
and down below the room of the princess and sang these
words to the beat of his drum:
It’s mine today, yours tomorrow,

Reng-to-te-to-teng.
Up and down he marched to the measure of his drum-

beat and sang the words.
That night when everyone in the palace had gone to
sleep, there was heard a strange noise, as if someone
was boring a hole in the wall. The princess woke up
and heard the grating sound coming from far below. She
called out to her mother and sang:
78
Where are you, dear mother,

Demulo Mahar is boring his way up the stairs.
But the queen laughed at her fears and sang:
No, no my daughter, it’s not Demulo Mahar,

It’s the sound of asses braying.
The princess turned to sleep again but soon the noise

reached her ears, this time louder and nearer. Again,
she called out to her mother and sang:
Where are you, dear mother,

Demul Mahar is boring his way up the stairs.
But the queen sang in reply:
No, no my daughter, it’s not Demulo Mahar,

It’s the sound of asses braying.
But the princess could not sleep. The noise sounded

closer and closer every minute, and grew louder and
louder and the princess huddled herself into her bed and
grew pale with fear. And then she heard the voice of the
dark drummer calling out to her, “I have come, dear prin-
cess. You promised to marry me, and now I have come to
take you and make you my wife.” And before she could
get away, he caught her in his arms and carried her down
the stairs and out into the night.
The guards were quick to give the warning, and the
whole palace woke up. The men went in all directions,
but no one could find which side the drummer had gone.
They searched for the princess far and wide, but in vain.
The king and the queen were stricken with great grief,
79
and the whole kingdom mourned the loss of the princess

on the very eve of her wedding day.
After many years a son was born to the queen, and
once more there was joy in the palace and in the king-
dom. The past loss was forgotten and the king and the
queen found happiness in their son. The boy grew up
into a handsome lad and was sent to school. He was very
intelligent and was adored by his teachers. On the play-
ground he showed himself a keen sportsman. One day,
some of his rivals began to tease him, saying that his sis-
ter was taken away by a dark drummer. The boy had
never been told by his parents that he had a sister; so he
made up his mind to ask his mother. But every day he for-
got to ask her. One day, he tied a stone to his kerchief, so
that he might be reminded to ask her. When he put the
question to his mother, she tried to ignore it, but when
he insisted, she told him with tears in her eyes the story
of his lost sister.
“Then I must go and find her,” he said to his mother.
“I am strong and old enough to look out for her.” But
the old mother tried to dissuade him from such a rash
adventure. She told him that they had tried their best
to find his sister but had failed. She also told him that
many years had now passed and she had probably died.
But the boy could not be made to change his mind. “Give
me a horse and three pots,” he said. “Fill one pot with
fire, the second with thorns and the third with water.”
The king and the queen were sad because he was go-
ing away and they told him to take great care of himself.
The king gave him his own horse and said, “Take this
80
ring and wear it on your finger, your sister will recog-

nise it and know that you come from her father.” And the
queen said, “Take this umbrella. When she sees it, she
will know that it is her mother’s and she will ask you who
you are.”
The boy galloped away and for days and nights rode
without stopping. He looked to the right and to the left to
see if he could meet anyone and ask him about the drum-
mer. The sun burned him during the day, and he some-
times rested under the shade of a tree by the wayside.
But no one seemed to know about the dark drummer.
At last, tired and hungry, he came to a lonely hillside far
out into the west. On its slope he saw a small hut. Alight-
ing from his horse he opened the umbrella and went to-
wards the hut. He knocked at the door and a dark wo-
man came out and asked him what he wanted. He asked
for some water and the woman went inside to fetch it.
He saw that inside the house there was another woman
and wondered who she was. She was fair and looked sad
and lonely. She came out quietly and standing on the
threshold of the door sang:
That is my father’s horse

That is my father’s ring
That is my mother’s umbrella
But I do not know who that man is.
The young prince knew it was his kidnapped sister, and

without delay he quickly took her in his arms, placed her
on his horse and galloped away. The dark woman rushed
out to look for her sister-in-law and saw that the strange
man was taking her away. She shouted to her brother
81
who was up in the hills and told him that someone was
running away with her sister-in-law.
O brother, someone is taking away my sister-in-

law,
Come quickly.
The dark drummer ran down the hills after the flying pair
and shouted as he ran:
O brother, wait for me, wait for me.
Faster and faster he ran after the prince and cut across
hill and dale. When the prince looked behind him, he
saw the dark shape of the drummer coming closer and
closer to him. He flung back the pot of thorns and in-
stantly there was a forest full of thorny trees and, bushes
between him the drummer. The prince then slowed his
pace and ambled leisurely. But soon he heard the voice
of the drummer calling him:
O brother, wait for me, wait for me.
The prince looked behind and seeing the drummer in

hot pursuit he flung the second pot full of fire. All at
once there was an eruption of flames and smoke, and the
drummer was lost in the clouds of smoke. The prince
again rode at ease for many miles. But the drummer’s
voice again reached him from far away, calling upon him
to stop. This time the prince flung the last pot full of wa-
ter and instantly there was a lake between him and the
drummer. From across the water the dark man shouted
to him:
82
O brother, brother,
How can I come across the water?
And the prince shouted out: “Take a stone and tie it

round your neck. Then climb the tallest coconut tree and
jump into the water.” The drummer did as he was told
and was drowned.
And the prince and his sister reached their father’s
palace and the king and the queen were happy to see
them both, especially their daughter whom they had
given up for lost.
83
The Girl with the Straw
Hat
here was once a king who had seven sons. Six of

T them were married, and they went far and wide
in search of adventure. The seventh and youngest was
at home. He was dull-witted and simple, and the king
could not see a way of getting him married, because he
was known to be a simpleton. He looked after the royal
property throughout the kingdom. He set out on horse-
back early in the morning, and returned home late in the
evening, just in time for dinner.
One day, the Chief Counsellor ap-
proached the king and advised him that
he should have his youngest son mar- Six of king’s seven
ried. “The people say that it is a dis- sons were married.
grace that the youngest prince should The sevent was
be left a bachelor,” the Chief Counsel- dull-witted and
lor told the king. simple.
“But who will give his daughter to a
simpleton like my son?” said the king. “I am certainly
prepared to get him married, if you can only find for him
84
The Girl with the Straw Hat
a suitable bride.”
The Chief Counsellor set out with enough gold for a
good bride for the prince, and the king told him that he
could take whatever presents he wanted, in order to buy
a bride for his youngest son.
The Chief Counsellor set out with enough gold for his
purpose, and travelled for many days and nights, stop-
ping at several cities to inquire if any father was pre-
pared to part with his daughter for the son of the king.
But not one was willing to give his daughter to the sim-
pleton. The Chief Counsellor offered the most lavish
presents, but in vain.
He travelled several kingdoms, but without success.
One evening, he reached a lone hillside, tired and dejec-
ted to the utmost. He looked far and near in order to
discover human habitation where he could rest for the
night. At last, he saw a small hut in the distance, and
urged his horse towards it. When he came close to the
hut, he tied his horse to a nearby tree and knocked at the
door of the hut. There was no response for a long time,
though he could feel some movements within the hut.
“I am a stranger who has lost his way in this land,” he
said appealingly. “I am dying of thirst, kind friend. Give
me some water.”
The door of the hut was softly opened, and the Coun-
sellor could see a veiled and shy figure peeping for a mo-
ment, and then closing the door once again.
“Stranger,” said the voice behind the closed door, “My
grandmother has gone to the hill to fetch firewood, and I
am not allowed to open the door to strangers and to men.
85
Wait till she comes, and your request will be granted.”

After some time he saw the figure of a woman, bent
almost double under the weight of firewood, approaching
the hut. He walked up to the hut again. The old woman
opened the door to his knock, and when he asked for
water, she called out to her grand-daughter and told her
to fetch water. The old woman seemed a kindly person,
and she asked the Counsellor what he was doing in that
part of the country so late in the evening.
“I come from a far country,” he said to her, “and I
know not the way in these parts.”
The old woman told him no man had ever come that
side of the hill for the last ten years, since a dreadful fam-
ine had carried away the once flourishing village. “First,
my son died, then his wife, and last my husband. Only
this child remained, and she is the only treasure I have.
I will never part with her to anyone except the son of a
king. For that is written on her forehead.”
The Chief Counsellor pricked his ears when he heard
these words and was full of joy. “God has sent me here
to fulfil the destiny of the child,” he said, “for I have
come from a king who has sent me to fetch a bride for
his youngest son.” And with these words he went to his
horse and brought the box of presents which the king
had given him.
“My king has sent these presents to her, if you only
consent to give her away in marriage to his son,” he said,
opening the box which was full of precious jewels and
gold.
86
“But I have nothing to give her as dowry,” she replied.

“She is very good and obedient and will make an excel-
lent wife and queen.”
“The king wants no dowry, good woman,” said the
Counsellor. “Everything will be provided for her. I will
come to fetch her and bring clothes and jewels that will
make her the most beautiful bride.”
The girl had been listening from behind the inner door,
and the sight of the glistening jewels and gold filled her
with an ecstasy of joy. The old woman gave her consent
and calling the girl told her the happy news.
The Chief Counsellor returned to the palace to tell the
king the glad news of his success and the king imme-
diately ordered that preparations be made for the mar-
riage of his youngest son. The six sisters-in-law were
disturbed over the coming event. They were told of the
ravishing beauty of the bride, and they burned with jeal-
ousy. They surrounded the simple prince and told him
what he should do, and what he should not do and made
him promise that he would listen to all that they told him.
On the appointed day the bride was fetched. She was
beautiful to look at, and the six sisters-in-law were so
jealous of her that they made a plan against her. The
prince went through the ceremony of marriage with the
simplicity and innocence of a child. On the wedding night
the sisters-in-law led the bride into the stable and made
her sleep with the cows and they told the prince that as
she was very tired, he should not disturb her.
The next morning, they sent him to a distant part of
the kingdom to look after the cultivation of the king’s
87
fields. The monsoon was approaching, so they told him

that he should come home after the harvest was brought
in. The young bride was asked to go with the king’s cattle
for grazing. They gave her a broad-brimmed straw hat
and called her ‘Chepem.’ When she came home in the
evening she was given the leavings of the dinner, which
she had in the company of the cattle. She could not com-
plain about the treatment to anyone except the cattle.
She loved one cow in special, and to her she spoke all
the grief of her heart, and the cow seemed to understand
and comforted her.
The prince returned home with the harvest, and found
that his wife slept in the stable. That night he knocked at
the door, saying softly, “I am your husband, dear, I have
come home to you.”
“Our sisters-in-law will kill me if I open the door to
you,” she said to him.
“Fear not,” he assured her, “as long as I am alive, no
one shall hurt you.”
“But you must leave before cockcrow,” she replied,
and then she let him in. The next morning he left the
stable before anyone was awake in the palace.
Every night he came to her and went away in the
morning. Soon she was with child. She felt shy to tell the
good news to her husband. So at midnight she whispered
it into the ears of her favourite cow but the prince who
happened to be awake overheard her and great was his
joy,
“I have a great appetite for a dish of fish,” she added
into the ears of the cow. “But who will give me fish?”
88
The next day, the prince went to the market and

bought the best fish and asked his sisters-in-law to pre-
pare a dish. When the dish was served at table, the
prince tasted a morsel and said, “This fish is rotten, and
not fit to be eaten by human beings.” None of the sisters-
in-law would touch it. He called the servants and told
them to give it to Chepem. “She eats anything,” he said.
When she returned to the stable in the evening, she
found a dish of fish waiting for her, and she ate it with
relish. That night she whispered into the ears of her cow,
“I have a taste for xakoti.”
The next morning, the prince went to the bazaar and
bought a tender fleshy cock and asked the servants to
prepare the most spicy xakoti. When it was served at
table, he said to his sisters-in-law, “I have been fooled.
This is the toughest cock there could be. He must have
been a hundred years old.” The sisters-in-law refused
the dish one by one, and the prince asked the servants to
give it to Chepem. “She can digest anything,” he added.
That evening she was surprised to find xakoti ready
for her. It was hot and spicy, and the meat was beautifully
tender. She thanked the cow, and said, “This is my last
wish, dear friend, I have a great desire to eat ladoos.”
The prince bought the sweetest ladoos the next day,
and at table made a wry face when he tasted one of them.
“The flour is bad,” he said. “Take them away.” “Let’s give
them to Chepem,” said the sisters-in-law in a chorus. And
so it was done.
The young wife ate the ladoos and thanked the cow.
That midnight she went to the ears of the cow and said
89
to her, “It’s the seventh month, and I have to leave you,

dear friend. I must go home to bring forth my first-born.
I will tell my husband now.” Then she went to the prince
who was secretly listening and told him that she must
leave for home the next day. “After six months I will come
back to you with the most beautiful son,” he said.
The next day, it was known that the youngest prince
was going to be the father of an heir, and the king’s joy
knew no bounds. He ordered that all preparations should
be made to take his daughter-in-law to her mother’s
house, and he told his son to accompany her. The sisters-
in-law were shocked at the news and could not under-
stand how it could have happened.
When the time came to bid goodbye, the expectant
mother went to the king and asked him what he would
like to have as a gift on her return. “I want a bed of
gold, so that I can rest royally during the last days of my
life,” he said. She asked her sisters-in-law one by one,
what each of them wanted. The oldest asked for a sari of
gold, the next a tiara of pearls, and the others, a diamond
necklace, a jewelled hair-comb, a pair of gold and velvet
slippers, a pearl-studded notim 2 , and a shawl of woven
gold inlaid with diamonds. She promised to bring the
gifts and bade them goodbye.
The prince accompanied her, as the king had directed.
They rode for several days, camping frequently for their
meals and rest. One day, they were short of water, and
the wife went to a wayside spring. When she came to the
spring she saw three water-nymphs combing their hair
2
Nose-ring.
90
after a bath. “May I draw some water for my husband?”

she asked them. The nymphs took her lota and filled it
with water. “You have suffered much, child,” they said,
“but your sufferings are now at an end.”
Then the oldest of them gave her a grain of rice and
said, “When you reach your grandmother’s hut, throw
this on it, and the hut will change into a palace.” The
second nymph gave her a second grain and said to her,
“Throw this into one of the biggest rooms of the palace,
and the room will be full of riches.” The third gave her
another grain and said: “Throw this in the kitchen, and
you will have a hundred servants.” Then they all said,
“You will bear a beautiful son. When you are on your way
back to your husband’s house, show him to us.”
And with these words, the three
nymphs disappeared into the spring.
She tied the three grains of rice to theThe three nymphs
edge of her palou, and came to her hus- disappeared into the
band with the pot of water. spring.
When they reached the hut, she
flung the grain of rice on it, and immediately a magni-
ficent palace rose on the site, surrounded by a park and
a garden. She threw the second grain into the largest
room, and it was full of infinite riches. Then she went to
the kitchen and threw the last grain and immediately a
hundred servants appeared all over the palace.
The husband was struck with astonishment with what
he saw, and after a day’s rest he went home. “When the
child is born, I will send you a special messenger,” his
wife told him. “Then you may come, and bring the king,
91
the sisters-in-law and the Chief Counsellor with you.”

The king was happy when his son told him of the won-
ders he had seen, but the sisters-in-law grew green with
jealousy.
At the expected hour a son was born, and immediately
a messenger was sent to the prince. Great were the re-
joicings in the kingdom, and the next day the king in the
company of the sisters-in-law and the Chief Counsellor
set out to see the new-born child.
The sight of the palace made the sisters-in-law gape
with wonder, and as they approached they were afraid
that their wickedness might be exposed. They removed
their slippers and walked barefooted on the plush car-
pets. Servants washed their feet with scented water
from golden pots, and served them with sweets, fruits
and drinks of the choicest kind. Then, they were taken to
the chamber where the new-born babe lay. The bed was
of gold, and the baby’s head lay on a velvet pillow. He
was more splendid than the sun. The king was the most
happy, and thanked his Chief Counsellor for his choice.
When it was time to leave, each of the visitors was
given as much gold as the handkerchief could hold,
and the sisters-in-law wished they had brought bigger
handkerchiefs.
The babe grew up into a fine bonny boy, and a fort-
night before it was time to set out for her husband’s
house, she sent for the most clever artificers in gold and
precious stones, in order to prepare the gifts she had
promised the king and her sisters-in-law. A curious bed
of gold was designed and executed and so too the other
92
gifts. Two other special gifts were prepared; an orna-

mented yoke of gold for the favourite cow, and a turban
of gold and precious stones for the Chief Counsellor.
On the way back she remembered her promise to the
water-nymphs, and took the child to the spring. One by
one they took the babe in their arms and caressed him,
and turning to the mother said, “Our Queen desires to
see the child and bless it. We shall take him into the
water kingdom and bring him back to you at midnight.
Keep awake. Take this doll in your arms, so that no one
can find out.“
The king, the prince and whole court came to receive
the new-born prince and his mother. “You can see the
child at midnight,” she said to the gathering and placed
the doll in a cradle of gold. The hall of the palace was full
of guests who had come to see the child.
Punctually at midnight the three nymphs walked into
the hall, went up to the cradle and exchanged the babe
for the doll. Only the mother saw the quick change. Then,
turning to the gathering the eldest said, “The boy shall
grow into a great and wise king,” and the three walked
out of the hall.
Everyone was struck by the beauty of the child. The
sisters-in-law could no more bear their guilt. They fell on
their knees and asked the mother for forgiveness.
Then came the distribution of the gifts, to the king,
the sisters-in-law and the Chief Counsellor. Last came
the cow. She walked up to the cradle and looked at the
child. Then she went before the mother, who kissed her
and placed the yoke of gold on her neck.
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The cow was kept in a special room in the palace and

treated like one of the family. The husbands of the sisters-
in-law returned after many years and as none of them
had any children, they accepted the young prince as the
rightful heir to the throne.
After the old king died, the prince ascended the
throne, and ruled his people with love and justice.
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The Spell of Evil
nce there lived a king and a queen who had no

O children for twenty long years. The king who was
growing old felt very sad that there would be no one to
inherit his kingdom. Day and night, the queen prayed
to God to give her a son on whom she could bestow her
maternal love. She gave alms to beggars and asked them
to pray to God to bless her with child. After years of
prayer and alms and penance, God heard her prayer and
gave her the gift of a son. Great were the rejoicings in
the kingdom at the birth of the prince and the feasting in
the palace lasted for a month.
The young prince soon grew up into
a handsome lad and was the darling of
his father and his mother. He was al- The young prince
soon grew up into a
lowed to have his own way in all things
and nothing was denied him; so that, handsome lad.
he grew up into a wayward and spoilt
child. As the years went by, he fell into bad company
and spent his time in drinking and gambling. Soon it was
known that the young prince, who was to be the future
king of the land, had fallen into evil ways, and instead
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The Spell of Evil
of learning the duties of the state, he spent his time in

the company of a number of mistresses whom he kept in
the city. Every night he stole away from the palace and
returned early in the morning.
The king and the queen did not know of their son’s
habits and they could not suspect such immoral beha-
viour from their darling son. Once a beggar made bold
to inform the queen that the young prince had fallen into
bad company. But the queen would not believe it, and
thinking that the beggar was a malicious liar she had him
severely punished and drove him out of the kingdom.
When the prince came of age, his parents decided to
marry him to the daughter of a neighbouring king. Ac-
cordingly, the prince was informed of the match and pre-
parations for the marriage were made on the most lavish
scale. When the mistresses of the prince came to know
that their prince was to be shortly married, they were
troubled and sad that they would lose him. They got a
sorcerer to cast a spell upon the prince, so that he would
not look at the face of his wife.
The prince was married in great pomp and style. The
princess was as beautiful as the moon, but the prince did
not look at her face on the wedding day. The old habits
were too strong in him, and on the very night of the mar-
riage day, he left his bride alone in the nuptial chamber
and went to his mistresses in the city, with whom he
spent the night and returned early in the morning. This
happened every night. He would spend the day in the
palace, eat and drink with the princess and his parents,
but when night came, he would secretly slip out of the
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The Spell of Evil
palace gates and go to his fancy women. And he never

looked at the face of his wife.
Soon his parents died, and the prince succeeded his
father. But as he had never taken any interest in the
affairs of state, he found himself a stranger to them, and
therefore, he thought it best to leave everything to his
Chief Minister. He drank and gambled and spent a life of
ease with debauched friends and his mistresses.
His wife, the queen, was utterly neglected. She bore
it all patiently. She could not tell her grief to anyone.
Her parents had died and she was alone in her sorrow.
All she could do was pray for strength to be able to en-
dure her misery. She tried all she could to please her
husband but to no purpose. He neither looked at her nor
spoke a single word to her. Every night he disappeared
mysteriously from the palace, and she wondered where
he went.
One day, she took an old beggar woman into confid-
ence and asked her what she should do in order to make
her husband speak a single word to her, one word if not
of love, of anger at least. “Dear child,” said the old wo-
man, “when he comes to table, serve him a dish of rice
with pebbles mixed in it. When he eats the first mouthful,
he will crush the stones between his teeth, and in anger
he will shout at you.”
The queen did as she was told and she put a handful
of pebbles in the rice dish. She watched him taking the
first mouthful and heard him crunching the pebbles. But
instead of getting angry and shouting out, he pushed the
plate away and left the table without a word.
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The Spell of Evil
The next day, the queen told the beggar woman what
had happened. But the woman consoled her and told her
not to give up hope. “Today,” she said, “make his bath
water so hot that he almost burns. Then he will speak to
you.”
The queen did as advised by the beggar woman, but
it was of no use; for the king flung away the pot of hot
water and walked out of the palace into the night and
returned at daybreak.
The queen was very sad that nothing could make her
husband say one word to her. She told the beggar woman
how she had failed again and she wept bitter tears. But
the woman said, “Have faith, my child. When he leaves
the palace tonight, follow him quietly, and see where he
goes.”
The next night, the queen watched in secret the move-
ments of the king, and when he left the palace, she fol-
lowed him closely. The king was on his way as usual to
the house of his kept women, and cut his way through
the dark alleys of the city. He never looked back for a
moment, and in the heart of the city he entered the gate
of a gaily lit house. The queen, wrapped in a dark mantle,
quickened her pace and followed him close at his heels.
The door of the house instantly opened, and the queen
was shocked to see two gorgeously dressed, beautiful wo-
men coming towards him with open arms. Impulsively
the queen uttered a cry of pain and anguish, and the sud-
den sound made the king turn back and behold he saw
the most beautiful face on earth. Before he could do any-
thing, his mistresses swept him into the house.
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The Spell of Evil
The queen hurried home, weeping all the way at her

sad fate. The tears that dropped from her eyes became
pearls, and they fell on the road. She flung herself into
her lonely bed and sobbed away the terrible grief of her
heart.
The strange and beautiful face that he had seen in a
momentary flash haunted the king all the night and he
could not enjoy himself as usual in the company of his
paramours. At the earliest opportunity he escaped from
the house, determined to seek the wonder of the night.
As he walked out of the gate, he saw a trail of pearls. He
followed it closely and was surprised that it led to the
very gate of his palace. Eagerly he went in, and when he
reached the end of the trail, he discovered the vision of
the night, lying on his nuptial bed, her hair dishevelled,
her eyes red with tears. So intoxicating was her beauty
that the king knelt down by the bedside and put out his
arms to meet hers. But the beautiful figure shrunk away
from his approach and said, “Touch me not with those
hands that are soiled with sin. Before you come near me,
go and see what is in each of the five rooms on the left of
the hall. Then come and tell me what you have seen.”
The king woke up from his trance and eagerly went to
the rooms as directed. He opened the first room. What
he saw and heard immediately frightened him. There
were two huge and grim stone pillars in the centre of the
room, and every second they collided violently against
each other, and the sound was deafening.
Unable to bear the noise, the king walked out hur-
riedly from the room and opened the second. Here a
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The Spell of Evil
cool atmosphere enveloped him. In the centre of the

room were two plantain-trees, green and beautifully tall,
and the shade of their broad leaves was refreshing. He
then entered the third room, and saw a tank full of wa-
ter in the middle of the room. Two beautiful little fishes
were swimming in the water. In the fourth room he saw
a lovely rose-tree on which bloomed a solitary rose. In
the last room there stood a chilli tree. It bore one chilli
which was rotten and stinking.
The king then came to the bedside of the queen and
told her what he had seen in each of the five rooms.
“I will tell you the meaning of all the things that you
have seen in the rooms,” she said to him.
“The two grim stone pillars in the first room are your
father and your mother, who are eternally fighting with
each other, because you turned out a spoilt child. Each
of them is blaming the other and that is their punishment
after death.”
“The two plantain-trees are my father and my mother
who are now happy and at peace with each other, they
brought me up in the fear of God.”
“What you saw in the third room is the most bitter
sight of all. They are the two children, a boy and a girl,
who were destined for us. But, because of your evil ways,
God has turned them into two fishes.”
“The rose-tree which you saw in the next room is no
other than myself, whose beauty you did not look at, and
who had to lead a lonely life in marriage.”
“The last, the chilli tree and the rotten chilli stands
for you. Your life of sin has been most hateful to God and
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The Spell of Evil
to man. Repent and mend your ways. And now, goodbye,

my husband.”
Saying these words she died. And the king gazed and
gazed upon her beauty which he had ignored all his mar-
ried life; and he wept bitterly in remorse at his cruel and
selfish behaviour.
And from that day he set himself to a life of prayer
and penance.
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The Writ of Destiny
his is a story as old as the hills and as significant

T as that of Oedipus. It is connected with a strange
old custom in Goa, the custom of holding a wake on the
sixth day after the birth of a child. Birth and death in all
societies have been surrounded by a cluster of strange
rites and observances. Goa of a century ago still had
many birth and death rites. Today, they are no more and
all that is left of them are words, phrases and sayings,
the last tattered remains which have little significance
today. Of the above mentioned custom, for example all
that is left now is sou dissache chonne (boiled gram with
coconut chips given on the sixth day) and the proverb
Sotven boroilolem tem zalem (What destiny has written
will happen).
Even today, many people in Goa celebrate the sixth
day after the birth of a child with a ladainha (The Litany
of the Virgin Mary). Boiled gram with coconut chips are
a traditional speciality for this day. But in days gone by,
this sixth day had a very important significance which
can be measured by the elaborate ritual that was ob-
served on the day, a ritual which was gone through with
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The Writ of Destiny
religious exactness and solemnity. The midwife was the

priestess of this long ceremony. She was the most im-
portant figure in the village. She was midwife, physician,
witch, woman, all rolled into one. She had the authority
of one of the faculty of superstition.
The sixth was the culminating day
of a series of three days marked with
a special importance. The fourth and Even today, many
fifth were days of preparation. The people in Goa
sixth was the day. It was shrouded by celebrate the sixth
some mysterious danger of which none day after the birth
spoke but all knew and understood. On of a child with a
this crucial day a wake was held till ladainha.
midnight. Several members of the fam-
ily, the nearer relations (and they flocked at births and
deaths) and neighbours took part in this vigil. Special
precautions were taken against some imaginary danger
lurking in the background of superstitious beliefs. The
greatest care was taken of the mother and the child.
The mother was placed in the darkest of the dark
rooms of the house and the furthest away from noise of
all kinds which might in any way frighten her. Even a
coconut, it is said, was not cracked in the vicinity of the
room, lest the sharp sound might send a thrill of fear
through the weak and convalescent mother. She was
quite alone in her room. No one was allowed to ven-
ture inside, the midwife alone had right of entrance. She
stood by the bedside and kept watch over the mother. If
the mother had the smallest dream, she had to tell the
midwife all she fancied, she heard and saw in the silent
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The Writ of Destiny
darkness. When each little dream was recounted, the

mother was undressed and she went into new clothes.
The bed was done up and the pillow shifted to the oppos-
ite end. Many other queer little details formed part of
the whole business.
The child enjoyed all the light and all the noise which
the mother was denied. There it was in the hall rock-
ing in the arms of a member of the family who sang
sweet lullabies of simple phrase and melody. It was not
laid to sleep on bed or in cradle. The hall was crowded
by people talking, singing, praying, old and young, men
and women, boys and girls. The newborn babe was the
host of the evening’s party. The floor was covered with a
new bamboo mat. The men and women squatted thereon.
Jolly good company that was, for the bottle of fenni went
round freely to keep up the spirits of the men. Gram
were plentifully strewn on the mat, boiled gram, bushels
of them; and all were busy eating them. The children
filled their pockets and forgot to sleep. The old men and
women munched with their few teeth. The young men
shot them into their mouths in handfuls. The young wo-
men peeled them carefully before eating. Gram, gram,
the floor was littered with husks.
And so time passes on. The shades of night thicken
and deepen. Night grows on in song and jest and good
wishes. The critical hour approaches. There is suspense
in the hearts of the old women. How slow time beats.
They pray between their lips; they mumble sincere ejac-
ulations. May nothing evil befall. May it live long. May it
be happy. Strange forebodings shoot in and out of their
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The Writ of Destiny
minds. The woman in whose arms the child lies hugs it

closer to her bosom murmuring incantations to ward off
all evil influence.
The danger zone of time is gone at last. All’s safe now,
all’s over. God bless the child. All mercy and thanks to
the Great One. The wake is over; and the people depart
to their homes, each wishing the child every happiness.
The mother is removed from the dark room and shifted to
another full of light. The clothes are all left behind. No
one can touch them except the midwife and only when
she has washed them will they be fit for wear again.
Why all this? The people had reason enough; for on
the sixth day it was supposed that the goddess of Destiny
came to bestow her gifts on every new-born. And what
was more important was that she wrote the future of the
child on its forehead. Hence, this bundle of ceremonies
which had almost a religious importance.
But to the story now; here it is as an oral tradition
handed to me.
Once upon a time, there lived a king and a queen who

had no child for several years. Their prayers and those
of their people were all to no purpose. The king was very
sad because there was no child to succeed him on the
throne. The queen found no happiness in all the splend-
our that surrounded her; but she always hoped that one
day she would be blessed with a son or a daughter. Her
best moments were spent among the poor and the sick
who came to her in their need. She helped them, and all
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The Writ of Destiny
she asked of them in return was a prayer that God might

bless her with a child.
One day, a weary beggar approached the palace gates
seeking alms. He walked a great distance and was
hungry and sore of foot. The queen as usual saw to the
needs of the old man who was rather moved by her gen-
erosity and did not know how to thank her enough for it.
As he looked at her, he noticed a tinge of sadness beneath
her smiling tenderness and taking courage he asked her
what she lacked to made her completely happy.
“Only one thing,” replied the queen, “I am without a
child. All else I have in abundance.” The beggar shook
his head slowly and tried to express his sympathy in his
looks. “All I ask of you, dear man,” the queen continued,
“‘is to pray that I may one day have what I most desire.”
There was an earnestness in her voice which moved the
beggar. “This is my only request.”
“Dear Queen,” replied the beggar, “you will get what
you desire one day. Have faith, I will pray”. After a short
silence he said, “A small favour I ask, O queen. When
your first child is born will you let me be its god-father?”
The queen promised. “Only pray” she repeated. The
beggar departed thanking her, happy that one day he
would be the god-father to a royal child.
And so it happened. Within a year a child was born
to the queen. It was a daughter. The king danced for joy
when he heard the good news. There was feasting and
rejoicing throughout the kingdom, for the people were as
happy as the king and the queen. The doors of the prison
were thrown open. The poor were fed for several days.
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The Writ of Destiny
As soon as the beggar heard the news, he hurried to the

palace where he was received right royally.
The first few days soon passed away. Great prepara-
tions were afoot for the sixth day in order to receive the
goddess of destiny in a fitting manner. The great day
came at last. The palace looked a grand sight. Kings
from the neighbouring kingdom came with their retinue
bringing gifts of gold and silver and precious stones. The
multi-coloured uniforms of the guards and the soldiers
and the courtiers, the gorgeous dresses of the ladies, the
flowing robes and diadems of kings and queens formed
an impressive spectacle. The pomp and splendour of
the wake was unequalled. When the chief guest of the
evening walked in at last, the great hall with its music
and talk was hushed into silence. The goddess walked
majestically to the foot of the cradle and inscribed on the
forehead of the new princess her future. Then she went
away.
At the palace gates she was accosted by a man. It was
the beggar. Prompted by a terrible curiosity to know the
secret writing of destiny, he asked the goddess to reveal
it to him. “It is a secret to mortals,” said the goddess
curtly, struck by the man’s boldness. The beggar insisted
obstinately.
“Well then,” said the goddess at last, almost with con-
tempt, “but you’ll be responsible for your fatal curios-
ity. The child will be beautiful beyond compare, but her
beauty will only tempt her father into an incestuous love.
She’ll be the object of the king’s lust.”
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The Writ of Destiny
Before the old man could recover from his horror, the
goddess was gone. He looked all around like one dazed.
Was it a dream, a nightmare? Incest! Incest! The
words struck him like arrows. Better that... he checked
his vagrant thoughts. What could he do? He must of
course. He knew alone. From the distance the strains of
music, the sounds of the revelry came to him. The irony
of it!
He waited outside the gates, thinking furiously. The
noise within died down gradually. Many struggled out of
the gates, the guards were already snoring. He tiptoed
into the hall and saw the aftermath of the Bacchic or-
gies; some sprawling on chairs, others half of the ground,
dead tired, dead drunk, dead asleep. He approached the
place where the child lay in the cradle. The nurse was
asleep. The child too. A chubby ball of flesh. So pure,
so innocent, its forehead.... He tried to forget. He gave
one look all round; then softly catching the babe in his
arms he slipped out of the palace, out into the dark night
running as fast as he could.
The nurse was the first to wake up and find the cradle
empty. She at once raised an alarm and the whole palace
woke up with a start. A hue and cry was at once raised.
There was confusion everywhere. Where laughter and
merry-making reigned the previous evening, there was
now weeping and shouting. Search parties went out in all
directions. The beggar was looked for but was nowhere
to be found. Large rewards were offered. The country
was scoured far and wide, but no trace of the child could
be found.
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The Writ of Destiny
The queen wept over her lost child and day by day
grew pale with grief. The king retired to his cell from
whence he had come out but lately. Days, weeks, months,
years passed. The disappearance of the child remained a
mystery. The king lost all hopes of ever finding his child
again. A thick pall of mourning and grief darkened the
palace.
The child was, however, safe in the hands of the beg-
gar. He had discovered a secret hiding place in a forest
not very far from the palace. It was a deep cavern,
though the outside belied the spacious interior. Here
he reared her with motherly tenderness. In time she
grew up into a beautiful young girl, a full grown child
of Nature. He was both father and mother to her. He
never let her go out of his sight, and when he went out
into the city, she stayed within alone. From his favourite
corner, the old man would often watch her playing out-
side. Sometimes, in a fit of reverie he would think of the
words of the goddess. That strange night! How far off
these words seemed!
Were they true? Yes, she was beauty incarnate. But
the rest? He smiled wistfully. Soon, very soon, he would
take her back to the palace. He would explain, of course.
A neighbouring prince would seek her hand in marriage,
and his work would be done. A triumphant smile lit his
face. Some day in the near future, he would have to re-
veal to her who she really was. He was lost in a whirl
of happy thoughts of what was to come, only to be sud-
denly brought back to the cave by the sweet voice of his
god-child. “What were you thinking of so deeply, dear
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The Writ of Destiny
father?” The beggar blushed, “Why, nothing,”

At the palace the king lived like a hermit. The shock
of the loss had proved too much for the queen who died
of a broken heart in a few years. This second loss added
to the king’s unhappiness. In the first fury of this grief
he left all his affairs of the state into the hand of the
Chancellor who ruled like a king. He denied himself all
kingly comfort and company, and he lived a retired life
for many years. The courtiers tried to persuade him to
come out of his cell and take part in the royal pastimes.
They even proposed that he should marry again. But he
turned a deaf ear to all their entreaties. They, however,
consoled themselves with the thought that time would
cure him of his grief. And time did. After many years
the king yielded to their entreaties. The thought that he
was neglecting his duty towards the people also made
him change his mind; and he came to be seen more and
more among the courtiers who tried their best to make
him forget the past. He took up the reins of government
with a new zeal.
One day, the courtiers persuaded the king to go hunt-
ing, as in the good old days. Early in the morning they
set out on their horses with a pack of hounds. The king
was in the gayest of moods. He enjoyed the keen cutting
of the air of the forest. It was a great day for game; for
the beasts seemed to have been taken by complete sur-
prise. Evening was drawing on where the king sighted
a boar which was always his favourite object of chase.
He darted after it like an arrow. The boar ran into the
deeper part of the forest where the cave was situated.
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The Writ of Destiny
As he pursued it, he saw or thought he saw a fleeting vis-

ion of a lovely girl with flying tresses running as in fright.
It was a vision, sudden and bright, before his eyes. He
gave up the chase and turning back looked in all direc-
tions. There was no one. But he was so sure of what he
had seen. He searched in vain and went away promising
himself that he would come the next day.
It was the princess, of course. Hearing some sounds
she had come out of the cave to see what was going on.
The rush of the terrible boar had frightened her, and she
had tripped inside. When she had recovered from the
fright, she peeped from her covert hiding place, and a
strange sight met her eyes. A man dressed so elegantly
looking this side and that. She watched him fascinated,
and when he went away, she followed him with loving
eyes.
Next day, the king came riding on his quest and saw
the girl disappearing into a dark opening. He tied up his
horse and followed in and soon came before a statue of
loveliness, dumb with fear and wonder. For a time, he
was speechless with admiration and a strange emotion
filled his whole being. He tried to calm her fears and give
expression to his passion. Her story was so strange and
her life so simple and solitary. He left with a promise to
return the next day. Daily he came to see her in the cave
during the absence of the beggar and daily their intimacy
grew. At the palace the courtiers founds the king very
lively. When they proposed that he should marry again
in the interest of an heir, he just smiled. They could not
understand the chuckle. What a surprise he would spring
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The Writ of Destiny
on them, when he brought home the lovely bride of the

forest! The poor father would only too willingly part with
his daughter.
The beggar was quite unaware of the king’s daily vis-
its, for the king had asked the girl to keep it a secret.
He was preparing himself to disclose the mystery of the
stolen princess. One day, coming home earlier than usual
he noticed from a distance a horse tied outside the cave.
At first, he could not believe his eyes. Terrible premon-
itions crossed his mind. His first impulse was to rush
into the cave, but he checked himself and just waited.
His heart beat furiously. He had not long to wait. Two
figures came up to the entrance and parted with a kiss.
The man took to his horse and waved his hand. It was
the king!
It was a terribly disappointed man who slowly made
his way to the cave murmuring to himself, Sotven
boroilolem tem zalem.
Destiny had proved her writ.
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Destiny Averted
ong, long ago there lived a king and a queen who

L had no children for a long time. After many years
of prayer and alms-giving the queen gave birth to a son,
and the whole kingdom rejoiced at the event. The king
was so happy that an heir was born that he declared a
week’s festivities at his own expense, and the people ate,
drank and made merry at the palace.
On the sixth day a wake was held.
The palace was ablaze with lights and
there was singing and music, and while On the sixth day a
the noise was at its highest the goddess wake was held.
of destiny came and wrote the future of
the child on its forehead. As she was leaving the palace
gate a guard caught her by the hair and asked her what
she had written on the forehead of the child. At first,
the goddess refused to disclose the secret, but the guard
was so insistent and obstinate that she finally yielded and
said, “The boy will die by a stroke of lightning at midnight
on his twentieth birthday.” The guard informed the king
of this sad news, and the king wrote it down in a book
noting the exact year and the date of the impending acci-
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Destiny Averted
dent.
The boy grew up into a healthy and strong lad and
was the favourite of all the people. He was winning
in his ways, had a charming and open smile and was a
good companion. As he grew in years he grew in wisdom
and every one in the kingdom was proud of their future
king. But with the passage of every year the old king
grew more and more sorrowful; for he knew that every
year brought his son closer and closer to his doom. The
mother, however, was ignorant of the sad fate in store
for her son, and every time she saw the prince she had
visions of the great future that was his.
One day, the prince accidentally came across the book
where his father had written his doom, and he read the
exact date and year of his death. Knowing that nothing
could change the decree of destiny, the prince thought
of sparing his old father and his dear mother the pain of
seeing him die in their midst. So he decided to go away
from his father’s palace and die in some foreign country.
He told his father that he had a great desire to travel
through foreign lands and see the peoples of the world,
and the king who had never refused the prince anything
granted his request, but on one condition that he should
come home by a certain date, which was two days before
the day on which he was to die. The son promised to
come home in time and set forth on his travels.
The prince tried to make the most of the short time
that he had in this world and went from the one coun-
try to another and saw whatever of interest there was
in each country he visited. One day, as he was passing
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Destiny Averted
through a village he saw a number of men surrounding a

coffin and preventing the mourners from carrying it for
burial. The prince inquired why they did so, and who
would not allow the body to be buried, unless the widow
paid up all the dues. The prince’s heart was touched by
the sight of the widow and her children, and calling all
the creditors he told them that he would pay all the debts
of the dead man. The coffin was taken to the cemetery,
and the prince gave each of the creditors his amount and
went his way.
After many miles of travel the prince decided to take
up a house on the bank of a river and there pass off his
last days. Every evening he took a boat and rowed up
and down the stream. At night he passed most of his
time in playing on the violin.
On the right bank of the river opposite to the prince’s
house, lived a king’s daughter who listened every night
to the sweet strains of the music played by the prince on
his violin, and she fell violently in love with the music.
She told her father that she wished to learn the beauti-
ful instrument. The king, accordingly, sent his men to
the prince and asked him if he would teach his daughter
music.
The prince consented, and he went daily to the house
of the princess to teach her how to play the violin. Soon
the princess fell in love with the prince and asked him
to marry her. But the prince would not hear of it. She
told her father of her love, and the father requested the
prince, but still the prince would not consent. Only a few
days remained of his earthly life and he could not think
115
Destiny Averted
of inflicting sorrow upon the princess by marrying her.

At last the fatal day came, when at the stroke of twelve
he would be struck by lightning. He paid his last visit to
the princess and bade her good-bye, saying that he would
be away for a long time.
It was late when he reached the ferry. He got into a
boat and asked the ferryman to row as fast as he could,
so that he might reach the other side before the stroke
of twelve. Sad at heart the prince prepared himself to
meet his destined end in a state of calm. “It is better,” he
thought, “to be lost in the river than on the land.”
At the stroke of twelve there was a resounding crash
of thunder and a blinding shaft of lightning which he
knew was directed at him. He closed his eyes and
awaited his doom. But the strange ferryman raised his
oar and as the bolt came towards the prince, he struck
the oar against it and changed its direction, so that the
bolt plunged into the river. Dazed the prince looked
around him and wondered whether he was awake.
As he alighted from the boat he noticed something
familiar in the face of the ferryman. He thought he had
seen the face somewhere before. Was it the face of the
man in the coffin? He turned round to look at the man
again, but found to his surprise that there was neither
man nor boat on the shore.
Next day, he went to the house of the princess on the
opposite bank and told her that he was ready to marry
her, now that his destiny had been averted. He told her
why had he refused her before.
116
Destiny Averted
They were married in great state, and after a few days

the prince went to his father’s palace with his bride, and
his parents were happy that their son whom they had
given up as dead was alive and back home in their midst.
And they welcomed the bride and blessed the two.
117
The Three Brothers
n a small hut there once lived an old man, his wife

I and their three sons. The man was too old to do
any work and could scarcely walk even with the help of a
stick. The wife worked hard to feed and clothe them all.
One day, she said to her eldest son, “Son, your father can
no longer work, and I am old and weak. We have a few
more days to live. Go out into the wide world and make
your fortune and try to help your brothers.”
The eldest son kissed his mother
and father and brothers goodbye and
fared forth in search of work. He The man was too old
trudged along for a number of days and to do any work and
came to the bank of a river where he could scarcely walk
saw a small boat tied to a tree. He got even with the help
into the boat and rowed across to the of a stick.
other side of the stream and after tying
the boat to a nearby tree he pursued his way on foot.
Soon, he came to a church and entered the compound.
From a distance he saw a priest going up the altar to say
Mass. The boy did not enter the church but stood outside,
and turning his back to the altar and the priest, he faced
118
The Three Brothers
the water of the river.

When Mass was over, the priest came out of the
church and asked the boy if he would do an errand for
him. “It’s simple,” he said to the boy, “and you will be
rewarded for it.”
The boy readily consented, glad that he was getting
a chance to earn something. The priest then brought a
horse, a loaf of bread and a plantain, and said, “Take this
horse; spur him and he will keep to the right track; when
you feel hungry, eat of this bread and of this plantain.”
When the boy had seated himself safely on the horse,
the priest took out a letter from his pocket and gave it to
the boy. “Give this letter to the first man you meet on the
way,” he said. “Go along yonder road, straight towards
the peepul tree in the east, and may God bless you.”
The boy spurred the horse and galloped away. He
rode for many days and many nights without meeting
anyone on the road. He ate the bread and of the plantain,
rested for a while, and then proceeded. One evening, as
he was galloping away at full speed, his horse suddenly
snorted and reared up on his hind legs. And the boy saw
a strange sight in front of him. In the middle of the road
there yawned a well of fire. The flames leapt up suddenly,
licking the edges of the well, and as suddenly receded
into the depths, leaving a gaping furnace before him.
The boy could hardly see the road across the gulf and
looking around he saw that there was no chance of pro-
ceeding on his quest, unless he leapt across the well. But
he was afraid and said to himself, “How will the priest
know if I drop the letter into the well?”
119
The Three Brothers
So he flung the letter into the flames, and turning his

horse he rode fast in the direction of the church.
The priest was waiting for him at the compound gate.
Alighting from his horse the boy told the priest that he
had safely delivered the letter to the first man he had
come across.
“What did you see on the way?” asked the priest.
“Nothing particular,” said the boy.
The priest then gave the boy a purse full of silver,
and the boy took his way homewards, happy that he had
earned so much.
The old parents were full of joy when they saw their
son. When they saw the bright silver he had brought with
him, their joy knew no bounds. They blessed him a thou-
sand times, and the mother held him up as an example
to the other two. “It’s your turn now,” she said to the
second son.
After a year the second son left his home and went in
search of a living. He crossed the river as his brother
had done, and entered the compound of the church. Like
his eldest brother, he faced the river and turned his back
to the altar and the priest.
At the end of the Mass the priest came out of the
church, and seeing the boy asked him what he was do-
ing there.
“I am looking for some work to earn my living,” the
boy said.
“I will give you the work, and a lot of money, if you
do it well,” said the priest. “Take this letter and give it to
the first man you meet on your way. Here’s a horse who
120
The Three Brothers
knows the way; and this loaf of bread and plantain. It

will keep you from hunger. Go along the road to the east,
and may God bless you.”
The boy galloped away, glad that he was getting some
money to take home to his parents. He rode for many
days and many nights with the dust of the road in his
hair and in his mouth, but he met no human soul. One
day, he reached the well of fire. He reined his horse and
looked with fear in his heart at the strange sight. When
he realised that he had to leap across the well in order
to pursue his way further, he dropped the letter into the
flames and turned back.
At the compound gate he met the priest and told him
that he had given the letter to the first person he had met
on the road. The priest asked him if he had seen anything
strange on his way, and the boy replied that he had seen
nothing but trees. The priest then handed him a purse of
silver, and the boy went home. He proudly showed the
silver to his parents who were full of joy at the fortune.
“We have enough money now,” said the mother, “it
will last us for a lifetime.”
The youngest son now felt that it was his turn to do
something for the family; and so he began to make pre-
parations to go. He was the darling of the aged parents,
and they were loathe to let him go.
“We are rich, son,” said the mother, “and your father
and I have a short time to live. So do not leave us.”
But the boy would not listen. The father and the
mother blessed their dear child and wept over him and
told him to return soon.
121
The Three Brothers
The boy crossed the river and entered the church com-
pound. When he saw the priest mounting the altar steps
to say Mass, he entered the church, faced the altar and
heard Mass with great devotion. When the Mass was
over, the priest came out of the church, and the boy went
up to him and offered his services to him. The priest then
gave him a letter and told him to give it to the first per-
son he would meet on the way. He gave him a horse, a
loaf of bread and a plantain; and the boy rode away with
a “God bless you” from the priest.
He rode for many days without seeing anything un-
usual. As he galloped with great speed along the dusty
road, he suddenly noticed a well of fire in front of him.
He checked his horse and looked at the strange sight of
the fire, now rising, now falling. The leap was wide, but
he was brave, and he knew that he had to give the letter
as promised. The horse shied and reared up as the boy
struck spurs into his sides. Then taking courage the an-
imal dared and with a graceful leap landed on the other
side of the chasm.
The boy patted the horse and galloped away with a
light heart. After a time he came across a mango tree. A
branch of the tree hung over the road, and on it he saw
a bunch of three mangoes. He stopped before the fruit
and saw that two of them were rotten and the third was
ripe. He plucked the third and continued on his way.
Next, he came across a gruesome spectacle. Two
dead bodies, one of a man, the other of a woman, lay
by the side of the road, and a flock of crows were peck-
ing at the corpses. The boy got down from his horse and
122
The Three Brothers
driving away the crows buried the bodies in one grave.

The broad road now narrowed as he went ahead, and
on either side grew large and thick bushes of cactus.
The thorny branches seemed to bend forward to clutch
at him fiercely. His hand and face were scratched and
bruised. It was gathering dark, and strange noises and
weird sights inhabited the surrounding gloom. He rode
on fearlessly, praying God to keep him from harm.
After what seemed an age the darkness suddenly
brightened, and instead of thorns and thistles he saw
beautiful flowers waving on beautiful trees. It was a
huge garden he was passing through. Birds of varied
plumage made sweet music, and the water of innumer-
able fountains made the air cool and pleasant. He would
have looked on forever at the scene before him, had not
his eyes fallen on the most beautiful apparition a few
yards away from him. It was the first living person he
had come across, since he had left the priest. He went
up to the strange man and making an obeisance handed
him the letter. The person took the letter, and before the
boy could speak to him, he disappeared. There were no
flowers, no trees, no fountains, no birds. He rubbed his
eyes to make sure if he was awake. He looked for the let-
ter in his pocket, but it was not there. He remembered
that he had given it to the person, but who was the per-
son and where did he disappear?
He turned his horse and galloped homewards. He
came by the same road, but he was surprised to see that
there were no cacti, no mango tree, no well. He was al-
most afraid that he had lost his way, when in the distance
123
The Three Brothers
he saw the church tower and soon the figure of the priest
waiting for him on the steps of the church came into view.
The boy told him that he had given the letter to a
man who had disappeared as mysteriously as he had ap-
peared. He then told the priest of the strange things he
had come across on the way.
“I will tell you the meaning of all the things you saw
on your way,” said the priest.
“The well that you had to leap across is hell. Your two
brothers, to each of whom I had given a letter, did not go
beyond it. They dropped it in the well.
“The two rotten mangoes you saw on the branch are
your two brothers who have gone the evil way.
“The two corpses you buried are the dead bodies of
your father and your mother who have died in your ab-
sence.
“The thorny narrow path you had to cut through is the
path of trial and suffering in this world.
“The beautiful garden you found yourself in at the end
of your journey is heaven, the reward of the good, and
the figure you saw was a vision of God.”
“And now, dear Child,” said the priest, “what reward
will you ask for your labours? You can ask whatever you
desire and it shall be give you.”
“Father,” said the boy, “I want no money. My father
and my mother are dead. My brothers have gone the evil
way. All I ask is that I may be allowed to follow you into
the church and serve God.”
The priest then turned his feet towards the church
door, and the boy followed him into the service of God.
124
The Girl with Golden Hair
ne day, a boy was throwing stones at frogs in the

O village well, when he noticed something shining
in the water. He fished it out, and to his great surprise
found that it was beautiful, long golden hair.
“How beautiful must be the girl who
has such golden hair,” he exclaimed.
“Such a one shall be my bride, a girl To his great
with golden hair.” surprise, it was
He ran home immediately, and show- beautiful, long
ing the hair to his mother he told her of golden hair.
his desire to marry a girl with golden
hair. The mother smiled at the foolish desire of her son,
and putting back the dishevelled locks of hair that were
hanging over his eyes, she told him to keep such foolish
thoughts out of his mind.
But this was no passing fancy of the boy. He was quite
serious and determined to get such a one as his bride,
and he pleaded with his mother day and night and would
listen to no excuse. He would not rest till she promised
that she would fetch him such a bride.
125
The helpless mother filled a winnowing fan with gold

coins, gave it to her negro female servant and told her to
go round the whole country from door to door and offer
the gold in exchange for a girl with golden hair.
The negro servant went from door to door crying out:
Take this much of gold, folks,

And give my master a girl with golden hair.
But the search was in vain, and the servant returned

home with the winnowing fan full of gold coins and
without the bride. The boy was sad beyond words and
refused to be consoled. He fell ill and pined with grief.
The parents did not know what to do to save the life
of their son. The doctors shook their head and said there
was no help. They had no remedy for the disease of his
imaginary love.
The hair which the boy had found in the well
happened to be from the head of his own sister who had
golden hair.
So the parents decided that the only way to save their
son from death, was to marry him to their own daughter:
When the boy was told that he would be married to a girl
with golden hair, he verily jumped from his bed and was
wild with joy.
Preparations were at once begun for the marriage.
One evening, the girl, his sister went to fetch a handmill
from their neighbour. She was passing through the kit-
chen when the cat which was sitting near the fire-place
began saying: “Shame! Shame, a girl is going to marry
her brother. Shame Shame!” The innocent girl was sur-
prised at the words of the cat, and when the old woman
126
of the house came up, the girl asked her why the cat was
laughing and crying shame on her.
“Listen, child,” said the woman, “your brother is go-
ing to marry you soon, and it’s no good, my child. A boy
never marries his own sister and a girl never marries her
own brother.”
“What am I to do then, Granny? How can I avoid it?”
she asked the old woman.
“You must not marry him, child,” said the woman.
“But how? What am I to do?” the girl asked her.
“Fear not, child, I will help you,” said the woman.
“Take this seed and plant it by the side of the village well.
When all are asleep in the house, go to the well and you
will find there a great tree. Climb it and hide yourself
among the branches.”
The girl did as the old woman had told her. She
planted the seed by the side of the well, and in the night
a tall tree sprang up. When her mother and father and
brother were asleep, she got up and without the slightest
noise went from the house to the well. The moon shone
bright in the blue sky, and its rays peeped in and out of
the leaves. She climbed the tree and hid herself high up.
The next day, the parents found their daughter miss-
ing. They looked for her all over the village and the coun-
try; but she was nowhere to be found.
That evening, the servant of the house went to fetch
water from the village well. As she was drawing water,
she noticed three distinct shadows floating on the water.
She lowered the pot and tugged at it to let the water
enter through the mouth.
127
“This is my shadow; that is the shadow of the tree; but

whose is that other shadow?” she asked herself.
Distracted by these thoughts, she jerked the pot out of
the water and in doing so struck it against the side of the
well and the vessel broke into pieces. She threw away
the broken vessel and went home to fetch a stronger one.
Again she bent forward to draw water, and again she
saw the three moving shadows, and she said to herself:
“This is my shadow; this the shadow of the tree; but
whose shadow is that other one?” Even as she mused,
the vessel struck against the side and the water fell into
the well. Throwing away the broken rim, she hurried
home again to bring a stronger one.
The girl who was sitting among the branches of the
tree watched her servant and was amused by the scene
created by her shadow. When the servant began a third
time to ask herself. “Whose shadow is that other one?”
and struck the vessel against the side of the well, the girl
could not contain herself and burst into a loud peal of
laughter.
The servant looked up to where the laughter come
from and discovered to her surprise and joy her young
mistress hiding among the branches.
“So that was your shadow after all,” she exclaimed.
And without wasting any more words she ran home to
tell the glad news that her young mistress who had dis-
appeared so mysteriously was safe and so very close by.
The old father and mother and their son rushed to the
well. A crowd had already gathered at the foot of the
tree.
128
“Come down, come down,” they all shouted. But in-

stead of coming down the frightened girl went higher
and higher. The brother climbed after her, and the par-
ents from below shouted kind words to their daughter
and the mother wept in fear that she might fall to the
ground. The girl climbed recklessly till she swayed peril-
ously on a thin branch, while at every instant her brother
came closer and closer to her.
Helpless and with big tears in her eyes, she looked up
to heaven for help and saw the bright, moon shining in
the sky, and cried, “Uncle Moon, Uncle Moon, help me.
Take me up to heaven, and I will be thy bride.”
The moon taking pity on the beautiful girl crying to
him in her distress dropped her a long ray-rope and took
her up. And all who were standing at the foot of the tree
saw the girl disappear high up into the clouds.
There was great rejoicing in heaven when the girl
from earth arrived at the palace of the moon. She was
dressed in regal robes of blue and decked with many
stars, and the light of the milky way trailed behind her.
There had never been such music and rejoicing in the
heavens as when the moon married the beautiful earth-
girl with golden hair.
For many years the girl lived a happy life in the palace
of the moon. One day, as she was pricking the pimples
which covered the back of the moon, she remembered
her home on earth, her father and mother and brother
and all the village folk. Tears came to her eyes as she
thought of the happy years she had spent on earth and
they rolled down her cheeks and fell on the back of the
129
moon. Before she could wipe them away, the moon had
turned round and asked her why she was weeping.
“My dear,” said the girl, “for ten long years I have
not seen my father and mother and brother and I long to
go down to the earth and see them once again.” Saying
which, a fresh gush of tears came to her eyes.
The moon tried to comfort her and told her that if she
went down to her home, her parents would not let her
escape and come back to him. But the girl replied, “I will
go and see them in the guise of a mahar. I shall paint
my body with black soot and with a basket under my arm
and a knife in my hand I will go and see them.”
The moon let her have her wish and lowered her down
in her village and the girl walked towards her home. She
went up to the gate of the backyard, and asked the ser-
vant if they had any mending of old mats to be done. The
servant who seemed to hear a familiar voice, but saw
a strange face called the mahar and gave her few old
things to be mended.
The girl was glad to see once again the faces of her
parents and her brother and she asked the servant how
everything was in the village. The servant watched her
at work and noticed that she often cut her fingers – like
one who was new to the job.
The church bell rang at the stroke of mid-day, and the
servant came with a pot of rice and another of curry for
the mahar. She also brought a small pot of water for her.
“Come, wash your hands,” she said, and as she poured
some water on the hands of the maha r, she noticed that
they grew white. Her suspicions were now fully roused
130
and she threw the water on the face of the mahar. The
soot was instantly washed away, and the servant shouted
her discovery and called out loudly for her master and
mistress.
Hearing the cries of the servant, the father and the
mother and the brother rushed out of the house, but the
mahar girl was too quick for them. She escaped from
the backyard, shouting as she ran, “Take me up, take me
up, beloved,” and before her parents could catch her, she
was already taken up by the moon.
131
The Gambler Who Always
Won
here was once a rich man who had an only son. The
T boy was a waster and had taken to gambling and
drinking. As the man was growing old he divided all his
wealth into two equal parts.
One half he left for his son and the other half he
stuffed into one of the beams of his house. One day he
called his son to his bedside and told him that he would
soon die and that he had left him sufficient to live on till
the end of his life.
He advised him to improve his ways,
give up his bad companions and the
vices of drinking and gambling. “And The boy was a
remember,” said the old man finally, waster and had
“should you one day lose all I leave you taken to gambling
and come to despair, enter this room and drinking.
and hang yourself from this beam,” and
he pointed out to him the beam which was stuffed with
gold.
132
The Gambler Who Always Won
The boy inherited the portion left by his father, and

instead of carrying out the wishes of his dead father, he
spent the money recklessly, entertaining his friends and
gambling and drinking all the while. Thus, after a short
time, he became a pauper, and his friends left him to
fend for himself and would not come to his rescue. He
thought of his father’s words and felt sorry that he had
not listened to his advice. And remembering the very last
words he decided to hang himself from the beam in his
father’s room. He flung the rope across the beam, and as
he put the noose round his neck and tugged at the rope,
the beam gave way and the gold pieces fell to the ground.
He was surprised at this good fortune and collecting the
gold he thanked his father for being so thoughtful.
But, as they say, a dog’s tail always coils up, even if
you keep it straightened for twelve years in a pipe. So the
young man took to his old ways. He gambled and drank
and made merry with his new friends, and after a few
months he was again reduced to beggary. He looked for
another windfall all over the house, but in vain. When
he found that none of his friends would now help him,
he sold the house and lived on the money he got. And
when that was over he decided to take the profession of
a beggar. He went out of the city and begged his daily
bread through the countryside.
As he was wandering, he met a fakir and told him his
unfortunate story and said that he would like to be his
servant. So they both wandered together, and the fakir
who knew how to cure diseases by means of medicinal
herbs taught the young man many of his secrets.
133
One day, they came to a country where there was a

strange silence and the people seemed to be in mourn-
ing. They inquired what was wrong and were told that
the daughter of the king was dangerously ill, and that all
the physicians from far and near had given up all hope.
The king had promised a huge reward to the person who
could cure her. The fakir went to the king and offered to
cure the princess and the king consented and asked him
what he needed for the purpose. The fakir told him that
he should be given a special room in which no one would
be allowed to enter.
Taking the young man with him the fakir went into the
room where the princess lay as if in death. He cut the
girl’s body into four parts. Then he put the four pieces in
the form of the girl’s body and blessed them. The young
man was surprised and shocked to see the operation. He
looked on with a great fear in his heart and did as he was
told. When the fakir had blessed the body thrice, the
princess became whole and alive and rose up from her
bed as if nothing had happened to her. When the king
was told of this, his joy knew no bounds. He embraced
her and told the fakir that he could have as much money
as he wanted. The fakir would have nothing for himself.
He told the young man to take what the king gave and
the young man, was loaded with treasure.
The young man soon left the company of the fakir and
went about as a physician who could bring the dead back
to life. He went from place to place and cured diseases
by the use of medicinal herbs. One day, he came to a
city where the son of the king was ill, and no one could
134
cure him. The king had brought physicians from far and
near but they had all failed. The king even promised half
his kingdom to the man who could cure him. When the
young man came to know of this, he went to the king and
told him that he would make his son well in a short time.
The young man was shown into the room where the
king’s son was lying. He told the king that no one should
be allowed to come into the room till he cured the prince.
He then set about performing the operation as he had
seen the fakir do. He cut the prince’s body into four
parts, and laying them on the bed again he blessed the
pieces once, twice, thrice but with no effect. He blessed
again and again but the dead pieces would not come back
to life. He was full of fear and did not know what to do
to escape from the king’s wrath.
When the king entered the room he was shocked to
see that his son’s body was cut out into pieces and laid
on the bed. He immediately arrested the man and sen-
tenced him to the gallows for murder. According, a day
was fixed and the young man was led to the place of ex-
ecution. As the noose was being put round his neck, he
saw in the distance the fakir and shouted out to him. He
told the king that his son could still be saved and asked
him to call the fakir. When the fakir came, the young
man told him what had happened and requested him to
save him from death. The fakir taking pity upon him told
the king to release him and said that he would bring the
prince back to life.
When the king saw his son alive once again, he
thanked the fakir and told him to ask whatever he
135
wanted. The fakir said he did not want any money for
himself and he asked the king to give it to the young
man. The fakir told the man to accept the money and
go home and live peacefully, instead of going about as a
fake physician.
The man promised to go home with the money he got
from the king. But before going home he asked the fakir
if he would grant two of his requests. The fakir promised
and asked him what he wished for. The man then said,
“My first wish is that I may always win at cards. And the
second is that if I sit down in any seat, no one should
have the power to make me get up from it by force, not
even you.”
The fakir granted him these two wishes and went his
way.
The man went home and once again began to live as
of old. But now, when he sat down to cards, he always
won and so he was never at a loss for money.
Thus he lived for many years till he grew old and
died. His last wish before dying was that a pack of cards
should be placed in his coffin This was done and when
Satan came to claim him as his victim and take him to
hell, the man refused to go with the devil, unless he
played a game of cards with him. And he told Satan that
only if he lost in the game he was prepared to accompany
Satan. Satan agreed, and they sat down to play.
Satan was so confident that he would win that in the
beginning, he played carelessly but he soon found that
the man was a card-sharp, and that he won at every deal.
Ashamed that he was beaten by the man, he left him
136
alone and went back to hell.

The man then knocked at the gate of heaven and
St. Peter opened the door. When he saw the man,
St. Peter told him that he had no place in heaven, as he
had gambled and drunk all his life. But the man would
not budge from the door and told St. Peter that he could
ask God about him. So St. Peter went away from the
door to speak to God. As soon as he had gone away, the
man sat down in the chair of St. Peter and waited calmly.
St. Peter came back and saw that the man was sitting
comfortably in his chair. He asked the man to get up but
the man refused and so there was a heated discussion at
the gate of heaven.
After some time God came to the door to see what was
going on and he saw that a man was sitting in St. Peter’s
chair, and that he refused to get up. When St. Peter com-
plained to God, God said to him; “I am sorry Peter, but
nothing can be done in the matter. Once, I met this man
on earth and granted him the privilege of taking posses-
sion of a seat, if he so desired, for any length of time and
now no one can make him get up from your chair, not
even I.”
And so the man occupies the original chair of St. Peter
at the gate of heaven, and St. Peter sits on the opposite
side, waiting for the man to get up. But the man finds
the seat so comfortable that he has no intention of sitting
elsewhere.
137
Loyal Friends
here was once a poor widow who lived in a hut.

T She had an only child. The boy was brought up
with great love by her, but he was stupid and was of no
use at home or at school.
One day, the mother who had pounded some paddy in
order to sell the rice for money, sent him to the market
with a sackful of rice.
The boy put the sack of rice on his
head and left home. On the way he
came across a magician who had a dan- The boy was
cing dog. The boy was greatly taken up brought up with
with the dog and watched it perform- great love by her,
ing antics. When the magician came but he was tupid
round to collect money from the spec- and was of no use at
tators, the boy asked him for the animal home or at school.
and said he would give him the sack of
rice in exchange. The magician gladly consented and the
boy gave him the sack and returned home with the dog.
The mother was furious to know he had given away
the rice in exchange for the dog and had come back
without any money. She beat him black and blue and
138
Loyal Friends
that day they had to go hungry.

The next day, she provided some more paddy and sent
the boy with another sackful of rice to be sold in the mar-
ket in exchange for money. “And see that you don’t bring
cats and dogs into the house,” she said to him as he left
the house.
The boy came across the same magician on his way,
but this time the man had a trained cat with him. The cat
did many amusing tricks and the boy was fascinated by
the animal. He forgot his mother’s warning and parted
with the sack of rice in exchange for the wonder cat.
The boy was very happy with the bargain and walked
homewards with the cat in his arms and whistled merrily
as he walked. As he was crossing a fence, he saw two
cobras engaged in a deadly fight. He watched the cobras
for some time and when he saw that they would not stop,
be flung the cat in their midst. The cat arched her back
and hissed at them fiercely and the cobras gave up the
fight. One of them glided away into a nearby hole while
the other which was wounded seemed to be in a great
pain and looking up at the boy thanked him for saving
his life and said to him, “Dear boy, my father who is King
Cobra will reward you for your good deed.”
The boy picked up his cat and went with the cobra
who moved very slowly and when they reached the place
where King Cobra lived, the wounded cobra told his
father how he was saved by the boy. King Cobra was
happy to hear the good news and thanked the boy and
said to him, “Here, take this ring for your reward. Wear
this on your finger and ask anything that you want; you
139
Loyal Friends
shall have what you ask and live happily.”

The boy took the ring and went away happy to have
the lucky gift. The mother scolded the boy for being
so late, and when she came to know that he had only
brought a cat and no money, she came forward brandish-
ing a broomstick in her hand. The boy showed her the
ring of gold on his finger and told her that it had a won-
derful power.
“Tell me what you want, mother,” he said to her, “I
will ask the ring.”
The mother told him to ask for a big house with
everything that was necessary by way of furniture, crock-
ery and other household effects.
The boy wished for the house and before he had fin-
ished thinking about all that the house should have, the
small hut disappeared and in its place there stood a beau-
tiful big house with many rooms and furnished most eleg-
antly. A number of servants also moved about the house,
so that the mother and the boy could live more luxuri-
ously than the rich landlord.
The news of the sudden rise of the family reached far
and wide and fathers with daughters to offer in marriage
came to the mother with proposals for the young man.
One day, a very rich man called upon the mother and
offered his daughter in marriage. She was the only child
and so all the property was to be hers after the death
of the father. The mother was tempted by the offer and
readily consented. She did not know that the girl was
well-known as a flirt who had many lovers, and that the
father was anxious to have her married in the hope that
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Loyal Friends
she would lead a respectable life. The father had heard

that the boy was stupid but he did not mind it, for the
wealth of the boy made him respected by all.
Accordingly, the marriage was arranged and after the
usual ceremonies and customs, the boy and the girl were
married.
The boy lived an idle life, and he spent his time with
his friends whose number was great. The wife did not
give up her former lovers who came and made merry
in the house. She had one whom she loved more than
the others and she moved about with him so freely and
openly that it was a great scandal in the land. The
mother was grieved by the disgrace. The shock caused
her to take to her bed and she soon passed away.
It was worse after her death, for the wife openly
flouted her husband who she knew was stupid and harm-
less. She had heard of the power of the ring that he had
on his finger, and she often tried to make him part with it
just for a moment in order to try it on her own finger and
find out for herself whether it was true. But her husband
would not part with it.
One day, however, he forgot to wear it and went out
hunting in the forest in the company of his friends. When
the wife saw it lying on his table in his room, she was full
of joy. She slipped it on her finger and rushed into the
hall where her fond lover was waiting for her.
“I wish this house and all it contains be moved on the
bank of a river far away from here, so that we too can be
happy by ourselves,” she said.
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Loyal Friends
No sooner had she said these words than the house

was lifted into space and moved to the bank of a distant
river.
When the boy returned from the hunt, he found the
old hut in place of his palatial house. He knew that he
had forgotten the ring, and that his wife had used it to
have the house removed. He was sad and alone and had
only his two pets, the dog and the cat, to keep him com-
pany. His friends left him now that he had no money to
spend.
The dog and the cat were very sad to see their young
master so unhappy. They decided to go in search of
the vanished house and bring back the ring which the
wife had taken away. They started early in the morning
and after travelling the whole day reached the bank of a
distant river. On the opposite bank there stood the big
house in which they had lived and it was lit up gaily, and
they could hear sounds of music and good cheer.
The dog and the cat jumped into the river and swam
across to the other bank. They could hear the laughter
of the wife as she enjoyed herself in the company of her
lover and friends. The cat told the dog to stay outside
and keep watch while she went inside the house to find
out what best to do.
Now, it happened that there was a wedding of a rat in
the cellar, and all the household rats were having a merry
time in the kitchen. Suddenly, there was a fight between
the bride’s party and the bridegroom’s party, and there
was a great confusion. The cat watched the disturbance
and suddenly pounced upon the bridegroom rat. Imme-
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Loyal Friends
diately the two parties stopped the fight and the bride-
groom’s party rushed to the cat begging her to save the
life of the bridegroom and set him free.
“We promise to do anything for you,” the spokesman
of the party said.
“Then you must do one thing I shall tell you,” the cat
said, holding the bridegroom rat in her paw. “There is
a ring on the finger of the mistress of the house. I must
have it before I release the bridegroom.”
The rats promised to bring the ring, and immediately
they went away to plan how best to secure the ring. They
had to wait till the feasting was over and the mistress
returned to her room. When she was fast asleep, a daring
rat went to her bed and bit off the finger on which the
ring was worn.
The cat slipped the ring from the broken finger and
set the bridegroom rat free. She rushed out of the house
and beckoning the dog to follow her, she ran to the bank
of the river and jumped into the water with the ring in
her mouth. The dog swam by her side in silence. When
they reached the middle of the river, the dog asked her
how she had managed to bring the ring, and the cat for-
getting that the ring was in her mouth began to speak.
Instantly, the ring fell into the water and sank to the bot-
tom.
The cat and the dog did not know what to do, and
when they reached the other bank, they began to weep
bitterly at their misfortune.
A crab who had crawled on the rocks heard the cries
of grief and came to the sorrowing pair and asked them
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Loyal Friends
what had happened to make them cry so bitterly. The

cat told the crab what had happened and said, “How can
we now go back to our master? It is better that we tie a
stone round our neck and drown ourselves.” And saying
this the cat and the dog began to cry most bitterly.
The crab took pity on them and said that she would
go to the bottom of the river and look for the ring. In the
meantime she asked the two faithful friends to pray and
wait for good news.
The crab went to the bottom of the river and crawled
on all sides and at last saw the gleaming ring in the sand.
She picked it up and came to the surface and went to the
spot where the faithful friends were waiting. The dog
and the cat were more happy than words can express,
and they thanked the crab for having found the ring.
“We will tell our master about what happened, and he
will reward you. Come and you can live with us in his
house,” they said.
The crab thanked them for their invitation but said
that she would like to stay in the river because that was
her natural home. The dog and the cat went towards the
hut and their master was surprised to see them returning.
He had thought they had gone away because he was poor.
The cat gave him the ring and when he put the ring on
his finger he wished for another house better than the
one he had before.
His wish was granted and he lived for many years in
the company of his dog and his cat. His wife had no face
to come back to him and he spent his days doing good to
the poor.
144
The Wicked Step-Mother
here was once a rich man who was married but he

T had no children. The wife was very fond of flowers
and trees and kept a lovely garden in front of the house.
The garden was full of plants which daily bloomed with
flowers and it was a joy to the eyes to see the sight.
The wife offered a big bunch of the best flowers to the
church to be placed on the centre altar. She had planted
a coconut tree in the middle of the garden, and it had
grown into a tall and straight tree with a crown of long
green leaves. It yielded coconuts regularly, and the wife
gave them to the poor in charity. She had reared a lovely
cow which used to give plenty of milk, but the milk she
gave to the children of the poor.
When she became very old and had
given up every hope of having a child,
she had a dream in which she was told She had a dream
that she would have a child in nine that she would have
months. She could hardly believe what a child in nine
she had dreamt and did not even think months, when she
that she should mention it to her hus- became very old.
band. But strange enough, the dream
145
proved true, and she gave birth to a fine baby girl after
nine months.
The girl grew up under the loving care of the mother
and father. She was very obedient and gentle and kind.
When she came to the age of nine, the mother took ill
and was confined to her bed. The girl was very sad and
would not leave the bedside of her ailing mother. The old
mother thought of the future of her dear child and tried
to console her. She told her that she should be a good
girl and listen to her father, and pray to God for strength
and grace. She called her husband to her bedside and
told him to look after their child and make her happy.
The father promised her that he would take great care
of their child and that he would never give her any occa-
sion to be unhappy. Soon after this the old mother died.
It was a great blow to the young girl, and she cried bit-
terly in her grief.
The girl grew up into a lovely damsel, and she was
loved by her father very much. For her sake he did not
marry again. He never said an unkind word to her and
she was very devoted to him. He sent her to a school
where she learnt to read and to write. He used to help
her in her lessons. When she came back from school he
told her many stories of his own school days.
The school mistress, one day, asked the young girl
who was it that helped her in her lessons at home. The
girl replied that it was her father. “And your mother?”
asked the school mistress. She told her that she had no
mother, and that she lived with her father.
146
“Then why don’t you ask your father to marry again?”

asked the school mistress. “He will grow old, and you
will one day be married. Then who will look after him?”
she asked.
The innocent girl promised to tell her father what her
teacher had said. But she forgot to ask him the next day.
The teacher asked her what her father had said, and he
was quite disappointed when she heard that the girl had
forgotten to ask her father.
“Today put a stone in your pocket,” she said to her,
“and you will not forget.”
The girl did as told. When she went home she asked
her father why he did not marry again.
The father smiled at her innocent question and said
to her, “I love you so much that I do not need to marry
again. You are everything to me.”
The girl told her teacher what her father had said to
her. The teacher told the girl that she should insist that
he should marry again. “Then you will have two to love
you,” she added. “I would love you like a mother,” she
suggested. “Bother him till he consents.”
The girl asked her father again and he laughed at her
strange idea. But she continued to ask him the same
question day after day, till at last he consented.
“But who will marry me?” he said to her, “I am too old
now.”
“I will ask my school teacher,” the girl said, and the
next day she asked the teacher who was just waiting for
this question.
“I will marry your father for your sake,” she said.
147
Accordingly, the marriage was arranged and the

school teacher came to live with the old father as his
wife. She was gentle and kind in the beginning; but after
some time she began to find fault with the girl and to
scold her.
One day, when the father went to the market place in
the evening the step-mother said to the girl, “This growth
of trees in front of the house looks like a jungle. Let us
cut them and clear up the place.”
The girl was shocked to hear the words about the
garden. “My mother had planted this garden, and my
father loves it very much. He will never allow us to cut it
down,” she said.
“I will not tell your father if you do it,” the step-mother
went on. “Only a baby would tell such a thing.”
The girl would not listen to such a proposal. “I can’t
do such a thing,” she said.
“Then if you won’t, I will,” said the step-mother, who
was now bent on destroying the garden grown by her
husband’s first wife. She seized hold of a big axe and
cut down the trees and plants, while the girl looked on
terror-stricken.
When the father returned home, he saw the garden in
ruins. He was in a rage and asked his daughter who had
done it. But the girl was too frightened to speak and she
began to cry. Then the step-mother put the blame on the
girl and the angry father rushed at her with a stick and
beat her. The girl did not say a single word in defence of
her innocence.
148
The next day, the step-mother cut down the coconut

tree, and the father beat his daughter when he came
home. She took the beating without a word of protest.
The third day, the step-mother killed the cow, and
the father once again beat the girl without asking her
whether she had done it or not.
The step-mother had thought that the father would
drive her out of the house, but the father still loved his
daughter though he had got angry with her and beaten
her three times. Every time he had beaten her, he had
secretly repented. After a year the step-mother gave
birth to a child. The father was happy to hear that it was
a son, and he celebrated the event with a dinner for the
people of the village. The step-mother who day by day
grew jealous of the growing girl in the house, planned a
cruel way of finally getting rid of her. She killed her own
son and placed the dead child in her lap and began to
sing the following verse:
My only loving son,

How cruelly your sister killed you.
When the father heard the words and saw the sight, his
rage knew no bounds. He dressed his young daughter in
the clothes of a bride and took her away on horseback to
a distant forest. He placed her on a rock, drew out one
sword and cut off her right hand. Then he drew out a
second sword and cut off her left-hand. Finally, he drew
out a third sword and struck at her neck, but the sword
slipped from his hand and cut one of his own legs. He
fell to the ground and fainted with loss of blood. When
149
he came to his senses he heard an angel’s voice saying

to him, “Your grandson will tell you the truth.”
He remounted his horse with great difficulty and rode
back home and was confined to his bed.
Meanwhile, the girl whose hands were cut, wandered
in the forests in search of shelter and food. A prince
happened to be hunting in the forest, and when he saw
the beautiful but handless girl he came towards her in
curiosity. She cried out to him to have pity on her and
save her from starvation and death. The prince fell in
love with her beautiful face and promised to return with
food and clothes for her.
He rode back to his palace and told his mother that
he was going to bring a beautiful princess to be his wife.
He got a dress ready for the girl and some food and went
back to the forest: He dressed her in new clothes and
brought her to the palace, where he married her.
The two lived happily in the palace and the prince
loved her more and more as the days went by. He gave
her all the comforts of life, so that she never for a mo-
ment felt that she had no hands.
After some months, the prince had to go on a voyage
to a distant land. He told his wife not to worry and prom-
ised to return home soon. He asked his mother to look
after the princess in his absence and give her all the com-
forts. He told his Chief Counsellor to look after the af-
fairs of the state and keep him informed about anything
that should happen in his absence.
Now, the Chief Counsellor from the beginning had
not liked the idea of the prince marrying a forest girl,
150
when he could have arranged the most suitable match

for him. He, therefore, forged a letter from the prince
to his mother asking her to send his wife away from the
palace when she was with child. The mother read the
letter with great sadness of heart, for she had grown to
love her daughter-in-law, and her son’s order to her was
very inhuman and cruel. She, accordingly, instructed the
Chief Counsellor to carry out the order, and the Counsel-
lor took the princess into a thick wood and left her to her
fate.
The princess gave birth to a boy, and immediately an
angel came and gave her back her hands. She nursed
the boy and provided for herself by begging in a nearby
village.
One day, the prince happened to pass through the
woods and saw the mother and child. He stopped and
looked at the woman whose face seemed familiar to his
eyes. The young lad ran after the prince as if led by in-
stinct, but his mother called him back.
The prince reached home and found that his wife was
not in the palace. When he asked his mother about her he
was told that his order had been obeyed. The prince was
shocked to hear the news, because he had not written
any such thing in his letters. The letter had been faked
by the Counsellor.
The prince immediately remembered the woman and
child he had seen on his way home and rode to the
spot. When he approached the two, the boy called him,
“Father.” The mother scolded him for thus addressing a
stranger. She pulled him to her bosom and held him tight
151
with both her hands. For a long time the prince looked
at the hands which were natural and strange.
Finally, he addressed the woman and said, “Woman,
are you not my wife?”
The woman replied, “O stranger, has your wife both
her hands?”
The prince did not know what to say. He stood as if
rooted to the spot and looked at the boy who looked at
him. Then he said at last, “I have lost a wife and child,
but God has sent me to you, in order that I may rescue
you from this forest life. Come to my palace, woman, and
stay there, and I will bring up this child as my own. He
shall rule this land after I die.”
The princess could no longer contain her secret joy at
having found her prince, and she rushed into his arms
telling him who she really was. She told how she had
been given her hands by an angel of God and how she
had brought up her little son, hoping he would one day
find his father.
The Chief Counsellor was imprisoned and punished
with death for his wickedness, and the prince and prin-
cess lived happily in the palace watching tenderly over
their growing son and heir.
After some years the princess came to know that her

father and step-mother were both ill in the old house
where she had lived during her childhood. She now
longed to see her father who had loved her so much.
She took her husband and her little son with her and
went to see her childhood home. It looked a bleak house
152
without the green garden of old. They walked through

the gate, but there was no sound of any human voice. No
sooner they crossed the threshold than the little boy ran
inside the house and disappeared in one of the rooms in
which lay the bedridden old man and his wife. The prince
and princess ran in great fear to look for him, and when
they found him he was telling his grandfather the story
of his own mother.
The old man recognised his daughter whom he had
treated so cruelly and asked her forgiveness. The prin-
cess embraced him and wept over him and showed him
the prince who was her husband. All the while the step-
mother who was sleeping in a corner of the same room
saw and heard all, and the sense of her own guilt was so
great that she gave up the ghost.
The prince and princess took the old father with them
to the palace, where he spent the remaining days of his
life in the sweet company of his grandson.
It was a re-union which brought father, daughter and
grandson together in a bond of perfect happiness.
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The Coral Necklace
here was once a husband and wife who had no chil-

T dren for many years. When they had given up
all hope, however, a girl was born to them and, after a
couple of years, a boy. They loved the children of their
old age and brought them up tenderly. But before the girl
could reach the age of ten, the parents died and the two
children were left orphans. They had nothing to live on,
and so the girl began to work as a servant in the house
of a neighbour and looked after her brother.
One day, there was a village feast at
which there was a gay fair. All the chil-
dren of the village went with their par- They loved their
ents, but the two children had none to children of their old
take them and they had no money to age and brought
spend at the fair. But the boy was eager them up tenderly.
to visit the fair, and so he told his sister
that they should both go and see the beautiful things at
the fair. The girl had only four pies which she had care-
fully saved up. She gave two pies to her brother and kept
two for herself.
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The Coral Necklace
They went to the church and heard Mass. When it

was over, they came out and went to see the fair. As they
went from stall to stall, the boy was full of wonder at the
beautiful things that were displayed everywhere. In one
stall he saw a necklace of coral beads. They were real,
smooth and shining, and he told his sister he would like
to buy it. The sister asked the pedlar the price of the
necklace and the man told her that it cost only a rupee.
As they had only four pies between them, the girl told
the brother they could not buy it. But the little boy was
so taken up by the necklace that he began to cry. The
pedlar took pity on the boy and said to the girl, “I will let
him have this necklace of beads if you promise to marry
me.”
“But if I marry you, who will look after my brother?”
she asked.
The pedlar replied, “I will look after him.”
The girl promised to marry him and the pedlar gave
the necklace to the boy and the two came home very
happy.
The next day, the pedlar came to the hut where the
two children lived and gave her money, so she could buy
for herself all that she wanted as a bride. He asked her
to make new clothes for her brother.
The marriage day was fixed and the pedlar came and
took her away to his house as his wife. After some days,
the pedlar told the girl that he would start on his yearly
journey to sell his goods far and wide. He told her he
would return after he had disposed of his goods, and that
she should not worry about him. The pedlar then went
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The Coral Necklace
to his mother and told her to look after his wife and her
brother. The mother told him not to worry about them as
she looked upon them as her own children. The girl was
sad when the time for parting came and she wept bitter
tears. The pedlar embraced her and told her he would
come back a rich man in order to make her happy.
The girl was with child and when it was the seventh
month, the mother showed her a ball of thread and said
to her, “Take hold of this end and walk as far the thread
reaches. There you shall give birth to your child, and
your brother will also go with you.”
The girl and her brother left the house and walked on
all the time holding the end of the thread in her hand.
When they had walked a long distance, the girl felt tired
and the pains of child-birth came on her, and she de-
livered a fine bonny babe by the side of a hill.
The young mother felt hungry and exhausted and so
she asked her brother to go back to the village and ask
for rice-gruel. The boy went begging for something to
eat, and at last a kind neighbour gave him a pot of rice-
gruel in which she put coconut shreddings. The boy re-
turned with the pot of rice-gruel on his head and his sis-
ter ate the tasty rice-gruel with great relish.
The news of this reached the ears of her mother-in-law
who was quite annoyed. She went to the neighbour who
had given the rice-gruel and told her that if the boy came
once again, she herself would send a pot of rice-gruel.
The next day, the boy came to the village once again, and
when the mother-in-law heard of this, she sent a pot of
rice with her servant but she mixed up frog-flesh in the
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The Coral Necklace
gruel.
The boy came with a pot of gruel and told his sister
that she should not eat it, but she was so hungry that she
did not listen to him. The boy, however, did not touch
the gruel. As soon as his sister ate the rice-gruel, she
was changed into an eagle and she flew off. The boy was
left with the baby, and there was no mother to nurse him.
When the baby cried out of hunger, the boy sang a tune
to lull him to sleep.
I was attracted by a coral necklace

And, my sister had to marry a roving pedlar
May God bless the kind woman
Who gave rice-gruel with coconut;
May God punish the mother-in-law
Who gave rice gruel with frog-flesh,
Alas, my dear sister,
The little one is crying,
Oh! my roving brother-in-law,
Come back soon.
When the boy had finished the lullaby, the eagle came
flying towards the child. She removed the disguise of
the bird and nursed the child at her own breast. Three
times every day the boy sang the lullaby and three times
she came and nursed the child.
The pedlar who had gone across the seas with his
goods, came back after a year. As he was passing by the
side of the hill, he heard the soft voice of the boy singing
the lullaby. He looked all round till he discovered the
young boy with a baby in his arms. He was surprised at
the sight, and he watched from behind a tree. Soon, he
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The Coral Necklace
saw a huge eagle flying towards the place where the boy
and the baby was. The eagle changed itself into a young
girl to nurse the child and then flew away again in the
shape of an eagle. The pedlar was curious to know who
the boy and the baby and the eagle-mother were. So he
went towards the boy and asked him who he was and how
he was there with the baby. The boy told him the whole
story and the pedlar asked him to sing the lullaby so that
the eagle-mother could come. But the boy told him that
she came at fixed hours and that she would come only at
noon.
When the time came, the husband hid himself behind
a nearby tree, and the boy sang the lullaby. Immediately,
the eagle flew down and the mother began to nurse the
baby. The husband took off his ring and rubbed it with
a little water and sprinkled it on the eagle three times.
The spell which was cast on her by the mother-in-law was
thus removed, and the pedlar was happy to see his wife
restored to her normal self. She was full of joy when she
saw her husband and told him the story of how she had
been treated by his mother.
The pedlar told her not to worry and said, “Wait for
me in the forest till I return.” Then the pedlar went home.
When his mother saw him, she began to cry saying, “Your
wife and child died and the boy, her brother, went away
from the house.”
The pedlar asked her not to weep and not to wear
mourning clothes and said, “After all, I can get many
wives, but I can have only one mother.”
158
The Coral Necklace
Then, he told her to prepare a banquet, but the

mother said to him, “How can we do such a thing when
we are in mourning?” The pedlar replied, “There is noth-
ing wrong, mother. I have lost only a wife and so I can
have the banquet after two months. If you had died, how-
ever, I could have given it only after one year.”
Accordingly, preparations were made for a big ban-
quet. All the people of the village were invited. The ped-
lar told the servants to have three extra plates kept apart
and to bring them when he called for them. In the mean-
time, he went to the forest and brought his wife, his child
and her brother and kept them at the house of a neigh-
bour. When dinner was served and all the guests began
to eat, he sent for the three. The mother saw the three
walking towards the table, and it was a great shock to
her. She knew that she was guilty and she fainted. When
she came round, she begged for forgiveness, and the
daughter-in-law requested her husband to forgive her.
Thereafter, the pedlar and his wife lived happily. The
son grew up into a fine man, and he carried on with his
father’s business and became a rich merchant.
159
Seven Brothers and a
Sister
man and his wife had eight children, seven boys

A and one girl. The girl was loved very much by the
parents as she was their only daughter. When she came
of age, she was married to a young man who lived in the
Ghats, and the parents were very sad when their daugh-
ter had to leave them and go to her husband’s house
which was so far away.
When she was with child, the par-
ents brought her home for the first con-
finement and she gave birth to a boy. Of their eight
Great was the joy of the parents at children, seven were
the birth of a grandson, and the three boys and one a girl.
months that their daughter was with
them were the happiest in their life. When three months
were over, their daughter made preparations to go back
to her husband’s house with the first-born child. The par-
ents prepared a present of wheat cakes and plantains to
be sent with her, and her seven brothers said they would
see her home to the Ghats.
160
Seven Brothers and a Sister
After they had journeyed for some hours, the broth-

ers told their sister that they were hungry and the sister
gave each of them a wheat cake and a plantain. The boys
ate them and then proceeded. But after some time, they
again said they were hungry, and the sister gave them
another wheat cake and a plantain. The boys ate them
and started on their journey once again. After they had
walked for some more miles, the boys again said they
were hungry, and the sister gave them to eat. They went
on asking her in this way, every now and then, so that
all the wheat cakes and the plantains were eaten, and
there was nothing left. When the boys asked again, she
told them that there was nothing she could give them:
but they persisted and said they were hungry. “Then eat
me,” said their sister.
The brothers seized her immediately and tied her
hands and feet with a coir rope and brought a knife to
kill her. Only the youngest did not join them. He said to
them that he would inform their father and mother, and
he ran back in the direction of his home. But the other
brothers ran after him and caught him and tied him too.
They first killed their sister and her child and ate them
up. Then, they killed their youngest brother and made
a meal of him. Their bones they threw by the side of
the road; and they went home and told their parents that
they had reached their sister to her home in the Ghats.
When their parents asked about their youngest brother,
they replied that their sister had kept him to stay with
her in her husband’s house.
161
The husband waited many months for the return of

his wife, and when he found that she did not come, he de-
cided to go and fetch her himself. So he set out towards
the house of his wife. When he came to the place where
his wife and his child had been killed, he saw three beau-
tiful trees by the roadside. The first was in full bloom,
and, seeing the bunches of red berries, the man said to
himself he would take some for his wife and his child. As
he put his hands to the branches, he heard a voice say-
ing:
O my dear brother
A man is plucking my berries.
Another voice said in reply:
It is your husband, my brother-in-law,

He is plucking the berries.
And the first voice said:
Tell him to pluck gently:

The rope bites the flesh,
The sharp knife cuts deep,
And the body aches with pain.
The man was frightened at this strange conversation and

walked away hurriedly towards his wife’s home. When he
reached the house, he was told that his wife had left for
the Ghats many months ago, and the father and mother
of his wife were surprised she had not reached home.
They asked their sons, and they said that they had seen
her home.
162
The old parents, the six brothers and the husband

then set out to look for the missing persons. When
they reached the place where the husband had heard the
voices, the husband being suspicious of foul play, asked
the eldest brother to pluck some flowers from the berry
tree. The boy stepped forward to pluck the flowers, when
a voice sounded:
O my dear brother,
A man is plucking my berries.
And another voice replied:
He is our enemy, sister,

Our own brother.
The husband then asked the second brother to pluck the

flowers. And the voice sang the same words. The third
and the fourth and the fifth and the sixth brothers were
asked to pluck the flowers and the same voices spoke the
same words. Then, they confessed they had killed their
sister and her child and their youngest brother. The hus-
band immediately rubbed his ring on a stone with a little
water and sprinkled the water on the three trees and
the sister, brother and child came alive. And the happy
husband embraced his wife, his child and his youngest
brother-in-law.
The old man and his wife were full of joy. They kissed
their daughter and their grandson good-bye and went
back home, glad to have their youngest darling with
them once again.
163
Twenty Brothers and a
Sister
man and his wife had seven daughters. One day,

A the old father called them to his bedside in order
to give each of them the marriage portion, for they had
all come of age.
He asked the eldest daughter,
“Whose destiny have you been born
to fulfil, yours or mine?” The girl Their old father
answered, “Yours, father.” The old man called his seven
was pleased with the answer of his daughters to his
first-born. He then proceeded to ask bedside, to give
the same question to each of the other them the marriage
daughters. The second, third, fourth, portion.
fifth and sixth repeated the words of
the eldest sister, and with each answer the old man was
filled with greater and greater pleasure.
When it came to the last and the youngest daughter to
answer the question, she said, “Mine, father.” Her sisters
were shocked to hear the words, and the old father flew
into a mighty rage and drove her away from his sight. He
164
Twenty Brothers and a Sister
divided his small property equally among his six daugh-

ters, giving each in addition a special present. To the
youngest he gave nothing and sent her to the kitchen to
work there like a common servant.
One day, a prince happened to be passing by the
house of the old man. He was on his way to a foreign
country. The six daughters stood at the window to watch
the prince, but the seventh was not allowed to come and
see him, because she was covered with rags and black
soot and ashes.
She looked out from the window of the kitchen.
As the prince passed below the window, the eldest of
the sisters said, “If the prince were to marry me, I would
stitch him an embroidered coat.” Each of the other sis-
ters expressed her wish to marry the prince and each
promised a gift made by her own hands. The youngest
who watched him from the kitchen sighed and said, “If
he were to marry me, I would bear him twenty sons and
a daughter.”
When the prince heard these words, he looked round
to see who had said them, and he saw the figure of the
youngest sister behind the bars of the kitchen window.
He instantly fell in love with her and said that he would
marry her.
He came to the house and asked for the girl. The six
sisters said that she was a kitchen maid, but the prince
did not mind who she was and he told the old father of his
desire. The father consented and the two were married
the following day, much to the jealousy of her six sisters.
After a few days the prince told his wife that he had to
165
pursue his journey to some distant land and promised

that on his return he would take her to his father’s house
as his queen. Before he went away, the girl told him that
if she gave birth to twenty sons and a daughter, it would
rain pearls. If not, the spine-creeper would blossom. She
asked him to return as soon as it rained pearls.
The youngest sister had to work in the kitchen for so
long as she lived in her father’s house, and though she
grew big with child, the jealous sisters did not show any
pity for her condition. When the time came for her to de-
liver, the six sisters tied up her eyes, so that she could not
see what was happening. She gave birth to twenty sons
and a daughter, and the sisters immediately put them
into a box and set it afloat on the river. They gave out
that she had given birth to frogs, which was a disgrace.
After a few days the young wife was sent to the kitchen
where she had to work like a servant.
As it had rained pearls in the land where the prince
was journeying, he turned back from his travels and
came to the house of his wife. The jealous sisters showed
him the twenty-one frogs they had brought and told the
prince that his wife had given birth to them. The prince
was greatly disappointed, and he went away leaving the
girl at her father’s house.
The box in which the children lay floated down the
river and was caught in the rushes at the back of a
nearby chapel. The chaplain saw it from his room and
asked his sacristan to bring them the box. When it was
opened, great was his surprise to discover twenty bonny
boys and one girl, all covered with straw.
166
The priest brought them up himself, and the children

grew up fast under his loving care. Every evening he
would take them to the bank of the river, where they
played till dusk, and then he would bring them back to
the chapel.
After many years, the prince happened to pass along
the bank of the river towards evening and when he saw
the twenty boys and a girl, he remembered the girl
whom he had married and who had promised to bear him
twenty boys and a girl. But the thought of the frogs with
which she had cheated him made him sad, and he walked
away looking at the children wistfully.
In the absence of the priest, the servant came to the
riverside and made friends with the children and offered
them poisoned ladoos. The boys took the ladoos, but the
girl refused and warned her brothers not to eat them.
They did not listen to her and ate them and instantly died.
The girl ran to inform the priest of what had happened.
The boys were brought to the chapel, and there the
priest rubbed his ring and sprinkled the water on them
and they came back to life. They were told what had
happened and were warned never again to eat anything
from the hands of strangers. The priest brought each
of the twenty boys a wooden horse, and they played at
horses riding near the bank of the river. When their
aunts came to know that the children were still alive,
they devised ways of how to kill them.
They went with dirty clothes to the river bank where
the boys played. One day, all the twenty boys came with
their horses to the edge of the water and dipped the
167
mouths of their horses as if to make them drink the wa-

ter. The six sisters who stood close by approached them
and asked, “Can wooden horses drink water, dear chil-
dren?” And the boys in reply said, “Can human beings
bear frogs?” The women were stunned to hear the reply
and quietly went on with their washing.
After many years, the prince again happened to pass
by the chapel and saw the twenty lads and the girl. Look-
ing at them closely, he saw that they all looked alike.
Their faces reminded him of the girl whom he had wed
and who had promised him so many children. He called
upon the priest and asked him whose children they were.
The priest told him how he had found them in a box float-
ing in the river. The prince was so struck by what the
priest told him that his suspicions were roused against
the sisters of the girl whom he had married. He told
the priest the story of his marriage with the girl and the
promise she had made; and he asked the priest what he
should do to find out whether the children were really
his. The priest told him to go to the house where his
wife lived and tell her sisters that he would bring the
children living with the priest and that they should pre-
pare a fine dinner for them. He told him that they would
make the best dishes for the children but with poison in
some of them. Therefore, he asked the prince not to al-
low any of the children to taste of a single dish, so that
they might become hungry. “And then,” said the priest,
“bring your wife before the children. If they are her chil-
dren, they will all have their mother’s milk flowing into
their mouths. By that you will know that they are the
168
twenty sons and one daughter she had promised to bear

you.”
The prince did as he was told, and on the appointed
day the six sisters arranged a beautiful banquet for the
children. The prince passed the dishes to each of the
children without giving them time to take any food from
them. Thus, the children grew hungry. When he had
passed all the dishes prepared for them, he called for his
wife. The woman came and stood before the children and
milk from her breasts flowed into the mouth of each one
of the children.
The prince embraced the women whom he had neg-
lected and asked her to forgive him; and he took in his
arms his children and thanked heaven that they were
found. The six sisters were punished for their cruel jeal-
ousy; and the prince took his wife and his children to his
father’s palace, where they lived happily ever after.
169
The Father of Rakshasas
here was a boy in a village who was a great idler

T and a past-master at all sorts of mischief. He was a
terror in the village because of his practical jokes. He got
the village people into all sorts of scrapes and laughed at
their silly credulity. He went to the village school and sat
on the last bench; but the schoolmaster did not bother
himself to take any note of him. He left him to himself,
for the schoolmaster knew what it cost to interfere with
the boy’s ways.
One day, his old mother, who worked
hard day and night to support him, be-
came so angry with him for his idlenessThe boy was a great
and pranks, that in a fury she drove idler and a
him out of the house with a full-sized past-master at all
broom and threatened to kill him if he sorts of mischief.
came back into the house without earn-
ing something for his living.
The boy ran out of the house and took to the road in
search of adventure.
As he was going cheerfully, he came across a man who
was carrying a thick coil of coir rope on his head. The boy
170
provoked a quarrel with him, and after having soundly

thrashed him, he carried away his coil. “It will be of use
to me,” he said to himself.
Next, he saw a man ploughing in the fields. He went
up to him and asked him if he could help him in his work.
The man gladly gave him the plough and watched the boy
breaking deep furrows into the soil. When the plot was
ploughed, the boy unfastened the ploughshare from the
plough, bade goodbye to the man and went away with
the shining steel.
A little way off he saw a man sowing the seed. The
boy immediately went up to him, snatched the basket
from his hands and in a trice scattered the seed in the
furrowed field. Then he went away with the basket under
his arm.
The boy walked on with these articles, and by night-
fall he reached a thick wood. It was growing dark and he
looked about to see if he could discover any human dwell-
ing near-by. He climbed a tree and looking all around he
saw in the dim distance a light. He hurried forward with
the heavy load on his back and as he walked he noticed
the faint light growing more and more bright. Coming
closer he saw that it was a big house from which the
light was streaming out.
He made for the gate, and when he entered the house,
he was surprised not to find anyone about. There was no
sound of any human voice. He entered the hall where
the light burned. It was a huge place, more like a palace
than a house. He moved in towards the right and saw a
long dining table covered with a number of dishes, tall
171
jars of wine and huge roasted joints. He had not eaten

the whole day, so without thinking twice he sat down on
one of the huge chairs and attacked one of the joints. He
drank from the jar and felt quite strong after the hearty
meal and drink.
Then he went round to see the house. The huge dimen-
sions of the rooms and the monstrous trophies on the
walls, skulls and bones, sent a shiver down his spine. Not
daunted, he roamed about and looked for a place where
he could hide for the night. There was a high loft in the
room next to the dining room. So he hid himself up there
and took with him the coil of rope, the ploughshare and
the basket.
He was going off into a doze, when he heard heavy
footsteps, and a noise as of thunder filled the house. He
looked down and saw that the inmates of the house were
not ordinary men but giants, rakshasas. They were tall
and hairy and terrible to look at. One by one they strode
into the hall and sat down into their seats; but as soon
as the leader sat down, he saw that his joint had been
nibbled at. “Someone has been fingering my meal,” he
shouted. The other rakshasas stood up to look at their
leader’s dish and began to talk excitedly. Some ran out
to see if there was any one about the house. Others went
into the various rooms. The leader fumed at the table
and promised to make a nice meal of the intruder. Then,
someone shouted, “Let’s see the loft.” “The loft! The
loft!” the whole house echoed. They all rushed into the
room and the leader shouted in a voice that shook the
rafters, “Who is there up in the loft? Answer me!”
172
The young scapegrace picking up courage shouted

back in as loud a voice as possible, “I, the father of rak-
shasas and my name is Borkos.”
There was a general stir when they heard this, and
each eyed the other questioningly.
The leader then shouted again, “If you are the father
of rakshasas show us your hair.”
The boy immediately flung down the long coil of rope.
There was a great surprise at the sight of the long hair
and each inspected the thick rope closely.
The leader then summoning up courage said, “If you
are really the father of rakshasas show us your ear.”
The boy flung down the big basket, and some raksha-
sas stepped back as it fell to the floor. One whispered
into the ear of the leader that he should leave the giant
in the loft alone and suggested that they should escape
before any harm should come to them. But the leader
would not be frightened and said again, “If you are really
the father of rakshasas show us one of your teeth.”
The boy flung the flashing ploughshare among the
group. “What a tooth!” they exclaimed. A number of
them made for the door, but their leader would not let go
unpunished the man who had touched his meat and wine.
“Come here, all of you,” he said to them. “Let us see for
ourselves who is hiding up there. We will stand one on
the top of the other and reached up to the loft.”
And so it was done. The weakest stood at the bottom,
and one by one the others mounted up on one another’s
shoulders.
173
There was hardly any time for the boy to think of a

plan. He stood at the edge of the loft and shouted down
with all his might, “I’ll knock down the fellow at the bot-
tom and leave the fellow at the top alone.”
The cowardly rakshasas at the bottom shook with
dread and suddenly made for the door bringing down
the whole gang. Mad with fright they rushed out of the
house in all directions, trying to save themselves from
the wrath of the father of rakshasas.
And when all was quiet, the boy took possession of the
house and was rich for the rest of his life.
174
The Dull School Boy
here was once an old widow who had an only son.

T The boy was a good lad, but he was queer in the
head. She sent him to the parish school, but what could
the schoolmaster do with an eccentric boy? The boy
played all along the way to school and arrived late every
day. He entered the class unceremoniously and left it
after a few minutes. It was the same story day after day.
As he entered the class, the school-
master used to say to him, “So you have
come, good!” The boy was a good
The boy would smile back at him and lad, but he was
take his position on the last bench. The queer in the head.
master would shake his head and say,
“So you have sat down, very good!”
The boy would then look around for a few seconds
and get up from the bench. “What, you have got up to go
away!” the master would say in surprise.
The boy would walk away to the door of the classroom.
“So you are going away,” the master would say. When the
boy took to his heels, and sped away, the master would
finally shout at him, “You are running away! Stop! Stop!”
175
The Dull School Boy
Every night the boy used to sit up late, open his book
and shout aloud the sentences which he heard the school-
master saying to him.
One night, at the very moment when he took his seat
in the corner of the room to read his daily lesson, two
robbers came towards the house with a box full of gold,
which they had stolen from the village money-lender.
They walked into the verandah and looked around.
“So you have come, good,” the boy said in a loud voice.
The robbers were taken aback by the words, but as there
was no further noise, they sat down to count the money.
“So you have sat down, very good,” the words rang
out into the silence. The robbers looked at each other
and then all around. They were sure that someone was
watching them, and so they stood up.
“What, you have got up to go away!” the boy shouted
inside. The robbers trembled with fright, and one of
them dropped the box on the ground, while the other
turned to run away.
“So you are going away?” the boy shouted. This was
too much for them, and they took to their heels saying to
themselves that if they had life in their body, they could
beg and keep themselves from starvation.
“You are running away! Stop! Stop!!” he yelled, fi-
nally.
The, thud of the box and the noise of running feet had
made the old widow to suspect that someone was outside
the house. She opened the door and asked her son to look
out. The boy picked up the box and took it to his mother.
“It’s very heavy, mother,” he said. When he opened it,
176
The Dull School Boy
he found that it was full of gold coins. “It’s a treasure,

mother,” he said, “Take it. It’s for you.”
And the two lived happily since that day.
177
The Ambitious Fox
aster Fox had his home on the hillside. Every

M evening he went down to the valley, prowled
about the poultry yards of the farmers and ran back to
the hillside with a fat cock or hen between his teeth.
One evening, as he was going down,
he met God who rebuked him with
these words: “Master Fox, you do a Master Fox had his
great wrong by stealing hens from the home on the hillside.
poor farmers in the valley. You rob
them of their daily bread. Come with
me, and I will teach you to eat and live like a gentleman.”
The idea pleased Master Fox, for he had a great am-
bition to eat and live like a gentleman. So he went with
God. When they reached a clearing, God sat down on a
high rock, and said, “Master Fox, go and fetch me some
stones from yonder.”
Master Fox went forth eagerly and soon collected a
heap of stones. God raised His hand, and blessed them
three times, and behold, the stones were turned into
loaves of fresh bread. “Have your fill now,” he said.
178
The Ambitious Fox
Master Fox fell upon the loaves with a great appetite

and as he ate them he felt that he was on a fair way of
becoming a real gentleman.
“You must be thirsty now,” said God to him. “Would
you like to have some cool, fresh water?”
Master Fox was dry in the mouth, and said readily,
“Yes, please.”
“Go to yonder rock and strike your right knee on it
three times,” God bade him, and He raised His hand and
blessed the spot thrice.
Master Fox did as told, and immediately, there burst
forth a limpid spring from the hard rock. Master Fox
quenched his thirst and left refreshed.
“Now, you will certainly like to have a drive home in
a carriage and pair, like a gentleman, Master Fox,” said
God.
Master Fox had never driven in a carriage and pair,
and he felt that he must drive home like a gentleman.
God told him to bring four sticks, two mice and a red bug.
Master Fox hurried here and there and got the desired
things. God raised His hand and blessed them thrice,
and a beautiful carriage drawn by two horses stood ready
before Master Fox. A red-coated driver held the reins in
his hands. Master Fox felt ecstatic as he looked out of
the window and the fading landscape and the twinkling
lights in the valley. But an idea began to grow fast in his
mind, and before he reached his house, he jumped out of
the carriage and sped fast towards the general meeting
place. He howled loud and long calling upon his fellows
to come for an urgent meeting.
179
The Ambitious Fox
Foxes from all the corners of the hill came forth and
soon there was a large gathering of old and young. Mas-
ter Fox took his stand high up on a prominent rock and
addressed his audience. There was a general hush of si-
lence into which his words rang out clearly.
“Dear brethren, I have called you at this unusual hour,
because I have a matter of great importance to commu-
nicate to you. It concerns your comfort and happiness.
For ages our kind have had to suffer from the cruelty of
farmers, in our attempt to earn our daily flesh and fowl.
From this day we shall never endure any humiliation. I
shall teach you to eat and live like gentlemen.”
The foxes looked at one another in great surprise, and
the elderly wizened ones shook their heads at this high-
falutin idea of this upstart and wiseacre. “The old ways
of our fathers are good enough for us and our children,”
they murmured. But the younger generation was taken
up by the idea, and said, “We would like to eat and live
like gentlemen. Tell us how.”
Master Fox was greatly pleased. “Listen brethren,”
he said, with enthusiasm. “Do as I tell you. Go and fetch,
each of you, a number of stones. Heap them up in front
of me. Here,” he said pointing to a spot. The younger
foxes went in all directions, and cleared the hillside of all
the stones. The heap rose into a tower.
Master Fox then solemnly proceeded to do as God had
done. He raised his right foreleg and waved it in the
form of a cross. Old and young watched him with bated
breath. He waved thrice and looked at the heap of stones.
Nothing happened. The stones were as black and hard
180
The Ambitious Fox
as before.
He tried again, this time with a greater show of ce-
remony. Nothing happened. The spectators looked at
Master Fox and then at one another, and raised their
brows. The elderly ones who had been sceptical shook
their heads as if to say, “What did we say?”
Master Fox wondered what had gone wrong but
thought it better to try again. For the third time he waved
his foreleg. There was a general murmur of impatience
and some of them booed. Master Fox had to act quickly
to save the situation and so he threw out his chest and
said, “Friends, it’s too late to eat bread. Gentlemen eat
bread in the mornings at breakfast. I will give you water
instead. I am sure you are thirsty, for you had to come
running here.”
The idea was welcomed by the younger ones who
were really thirsty.
“It’s simple,” he continued. “Each of you strike your
right knee thrice on the rocky ground and water will
burst forth.”
The thirsty ones struck the ground with their right
knee, while Master Fox raised his foreleg and waved it in
the air. The hillside soon looked like a vast quarry, with
the foxes breaking solid rock with their knees. But the
ground was as dry as ever, and their mouths grew drier
and more parched. There was grumbling all over and
pain and disappointment was written on the faces of the
crowd.
“Patience! Patience!” cried Master Fox, in a voice
that was choking with terror. “It’s the wicked owl that
181
The Ambitious Fox
has cast the evil eye upon me, and caused all this pain
to your knees. You can’t go home limping. I will make a
carriage and pair for each of you, so that you are driven
home like gentlemen. Go and fetch, each of you, four
sticks, a pair of mice and a red bug.”
The foxes limped in all directions, and each fetched
the sticks and mice and bugs. The sceptical elders
watched with growing irritation and said among them-
selves; “Fools learn by experience.” Master Fox once
again began his acrobatics with his foreleg. But the mice
remained mice, and the red bugs remained red bugs.
Soon the hillside became the playground of the mice.
Master Fox was now at his wits end. The whole hill-
side rumbled as if with thunder. He turned to the right
and saw an army of clenched white teeth snarling at him,
and advancing upon him. He turned to the left, and the
same sight met him. He turned to look behind him, and
there were snarling teeth. And in front the whole hillside
gleamed with white teeth and fierce eyes. There was no
escape. Master Fox was torn into a thousand pieces.
182
The Fox and the Crocodile
here was once a fox who was very fond of crabs.

T At low tide he used to go to the riverside and look
for crabs among the rocks and was nearly carried away.
But luckily for him he saw a crocodile sunning itself, and
requested her to take him across to the bank of the river.
The crocodile asked him to sit on her back and swam
towards the other bank and landed the fox on dry soil.
As soon as the fox touched dry
ground, he turned round and, instead
of thanking the crocodile, began to ab- The fox was very
use her and make faces at her. “What fond of crabs.
a hard and scaly and black back you
have!” he taunted her. “I nearly got corns on my hands
and feet, sitting on it.”
The crocodile was very angry with the fox for thus
abusing her, but she could do nothing so long as she was
in the water and the fox was on dry land. She made up
her mind to punish him the next day. She hid herself
among the rocks and waited for the fox.
When the fox put his hand inside the crevices to look
for crabs, she snapped at it and held it tightly between
183
her teeth. “I’ve got you now, Mister Fox,” she cried out
with glee. “So my back is rough and ugly, eh?”
The fox, not to be outwitted, laughed and replied,
“What a fool, what a fool! So you think it’s my hand, do
you? Ha! Ha! Ha! It’s only a bit of a coconut palm frond.
Ha! Ha! Bite it hard.”
When the crocodile heard these words and the
laughter of the fox, she let go the hand and the fox ran to
the shore for dear life and shouted back to the crocodile
that he had got the better of her.
The fox had to give up looking for crabs in the river,
and so he decided to live on figs for the time being. There
was a fig-tree nearby, and every morning he picked up
the ripest and ate them. The crocodile came to know that
he had changed from crabs to figs; so one early morning,
she came to the fig-tree, gathered all the fallen figs and
hid herself under the heap. When the fox came for his
morning meal, he saw the track made by the crocodile
and hastily beat a retreat. When he was far enough, he
shouted back to the crocodile that he had seen through
her trick.
That evening the crocodile decided to have her re-
venge by going into the hut of the fox when he was away
and attacking him on his return.
The fox came back in the evening after his day’s
rounds, and as he approached his hut, he saw a trail lead-
ing to his door. He suspected foul play and ready-witted
as he was, he cried out in a loud voice, “My dear Home!
O my dear Home! O my dearest Home.” After calling out
thrice, he paused for a time, and then continued, “What!
184
Every evening my dear Home used to answer me back,

but what is the matter today? O my dearest Home!”
He gave the last call with great emotion. The cro-
codile who had heard what the fox had said, thought that
it was best to answer and said, “Welcome, my dear mas-
ter!”
This was the signal that the fox was waiting for. He
immediately set fire to the hut and the poor crocodile
was burnt to ashes.
185
Master Fox and the
Honeycomb
ne day, Mistress Fox set out to the woods to fetch

O twigs. On the way she met Master Fox who said
that he would go with her to the woods and help her in
breaking the twigs. And so the two went.
As Mistress Fox was breaking the
twigs, she saw a honeycomb on the
tree. Master Fox told
“I have seen something nice,” she Mistress Fox that he
cried out. “I would have shown it to you, would help her in
but I won’t.” breaking the twigs.
“What is it, Mistress Fox?” he asked
her. “Is it something to eat? I am hungry.”
“I would have told you, but I won’t. You have not been
helping me to break the twigs,” she said to him.
“Tell me what it is, please,” said Master Fox. “I will
help you with the twigs, Mistress Fox. Show me where
it is, and I will share it with you,” he continued with a
cunning appeal in his voice.
186
Master Fox and the Honeycomb
“It’s a big honeycomb,” said Mistress Fox at last.

“Look, it’s up on that tree.”
Master Fox did not wait to say thanks. He jumped on
the tree and climbed it with great speed. Soon, he was
eating the honey. He broke a piece of the comb, sucked
the honey with a loud noise, and flung the wax down at
Mistress Fox.
“I would have given you a bit of the comb, but I won’t.
It’s too sweet, the honey is, my dear,” he said to her.
Mistress Fox knew his selfish ways, and so she said
nothing. Every time he flung a ball of wax at her, she
picked it up and put it in her basket. When Master Fox
finished the honeycomb, he came down smacking his lips
and said that the honey was too sweet for words. But
Mistress Fox bore his taunts very patiently.
That evening, Mistress Fox built a house with the wax
she had collected. And Master Fox built one for himself
using cow dung. It was a very stormy night. There was
a flash of lightning and a great peal of thunder, followed
by a downpour of rain. The wind was so strong that the
roof of the house of Master Fox was blown away, and the
rains washed the walls away. The house of Mistress Fox
was strong because she had made it of wax.
Master Fox was drenched to the bone, and he ran to
the house of Mistress Fox. He stood at the door, his teeth
chattering, and called out, “Dear Mistress Fox,” he said,
“please let me in for the night. I am wet and shivering.”
“Off with you rascal,” shouted Mistress Fox at him.
“I have hens and chickens in the house, and you’ll eat
them.”
187
Master Fox and the Honeycomb
“Dear Mistress Fox, please let me in,” he pleaded, “let

me in, else I will die of the cold.”
“Off with you, rascally glutton,” she replied in an-
ger, “I have pigs and poultry in the house, and you’ll eat
them.”
Master Fox called out again and again but in vain. He
chattered and shivered and died in the cold rains.
188
A State Funeral for Master
Fox
aster Fox was very fond of sweet potatoes and

M every evening he went down the hill to the val-
ley where grew the sweetest potatoes. The farmer tried
many a way to trap Master Fox, but in vain. Then, one
day, he made a straw man and covered him with jack-fruit
and lime. When Master Fox saw the strange creature, he
struck it with his paw. Only to find that his paw stuck
firm and fast. He pulled hard but the lime held it. In a fit
of anger he struck the other paw, and found himself com-
pletely helpless. The more he struggled to free himself,
the more entangled he got.
Soon the farmer was on the scene,
brandishing a stout bamboo stick. “So
Master Fox was very
I’ve caught you at last, Master Fox,” he
shouted in triumph. “Now, I’ll smash fond of sweet
you like a potato.” potatoes.
Master Fox begged the farmer to
spare his life. “I will do anything for you, Sir,” he said,
“and I promise never to touch your potatoes. Only spare
189
A State Funeral for Master Fox
my life.”
“Easier said than done,” said the farmer, and raised
the bamboo stick to deliver a fatal blow on the head of
Master Fox.
“Listen to me, Sir,” said the fox, “I will marry your son
to the King’s daughter. Spare my life and I will do it.”
“The King’s daughter!” exclaimed the farmer. “That’s
something,” and dropped the bamboo stick.
“You’ll be father-in-law of the King’s daughter,” said
the fox. “It’s such a great honour.”
The farmer was glad beyond measure and set about
to free Master Fox from the lime. “You’ll have everything
that you ask,” he said.
“There is only one thing I have to request you,” said
Master Fox. “When I die, you must give me a state fu-
neral.”
The farmer readily agreed. He made a wooden cage
for Master Fox and gave him his regular ration of flesh-
meat. Master Fox sat in his coop, and planned the ar-
rangements. He told the farmer that he would go to the
King’s palace, as the farmer’s ambassador and ask for
the hand of the King’s daughter for his son. Master Fox
went to the forest and brought a hundred elephants, a
hundred horses and a hundred peacocks. The most cun-
ning goldsmith was engaged to make a curious necklace
of gold and precious stones for the princess.
Master Fox dressed himself in silk and velvet and rode
upon the most majestic elephant at the head of his ret-
inue of peacocks and horses and elephants.
190
The King received him with great acclaim and in-

quired about the purpose of his mission.
“Your Excellency,” Master Fox said, “I come to you
from my master who rules a vast kingdom in the west.
He sends you these elephants, horses and peacocks and
begs you to accept them. He has a great desire to form
an alliance with you and begs for the hand of your daugh-
ter in marriage to his son. And in token of his love the
prince sends this necklace to the princess.”
The King was pleased with the gifts and consented
to give away his daughter. Master Fox returned with
presents to his master and son. “You must have a palace
to suit your position,” he told the farmer, and immedi-
ately, he called his forest friends and began the work of
building.
Soon a most magnificent palace was erected where
formerly stood the farmer’s hut. Master Fox went to
fetch the bride with all pomp and ceremony and the mar-
riage was celebrated with feasting and rejoicing.
Master Fox lived in the palace and advised the old
farmer in all his affairs. One day, he said to himself, “I
wonder whether the old farmer will keep his word and
give me a state funeral.” He decided to test it for himself.
He pretended to be very ill, and after a few days he lay
still as if dead.
When the old farmer was told the news of the death
of Master Fox, he said to his servants, “Drag him away
and throw him out of the compound wall.” Master Fox
heard the words, and as the servants laid hands on him,
he opened his eyes and said to the old farmer, “So this is
191
how you keep your promise, you cunning and ungrateful

old fellow.”
The old farmer begged to be forgiven and renewed
his promise. Master Fox lived in peace for a number of
years and one day died of old age. The old farmer dared
not take any chance this time. He kept his promise and
gave Master Fox a state funeral.
192
A Cure for Tale Bearing
nce an ageing Lion took ill and was confined to his

O den. News of his illness was sent round the forest
and his subjects came from far and near to pay their re-
spects to their King and inquire after his well-being. For
days and nights the animals trekked through the forest,
in long queues; and returned after paying their tribute in
kind to their Majesty.
Master Fox was perhaps the only
one who did not bestir himself, hoping
that his absence would pass unnoticed. News of the lion’s
But Mistress Fox, who was a meddle- illness was sent
some thing, kept an eye on his where- round the forest.
abouts, and discovered that on the day
that Master Fox had said he had gone to see the King, he
had really gone to the farmer’s poultry yard and made
a royal feast of his cock. Mistress Fox was a great gos-
sip and a tale-bearer and she could not rest till she had
conveyed the lapse of Master Fox to the King.
She, accordingly went to pay her respects to the King,
and secretly whispered in his ear that Master Fox had
not come to see him. The Lion was full of wrath at this
193
uncivil behaviour of his subject and forthwith issued an

order for the arrest of Master Fox.
“Guards,” he roared, “go forth and bring the rascally
Fox into my presence. He shall pay for his disloyalty to
His Majesty.”
Two Tigers, who were the faithful guards of the Lion,
leapt forth and went in search of Master Fox.
In the meantime, Master Fox heard of the fury of the
Lion, and of the order for his arrest. “I shall make Mis-
tress Fox pay for this dearly,” he said and immediately set
about his task. He took an empty sack on his back and
began picking all the small bits of white paper he could
find on the streets. Soon, he had collected enough to fill
up the whole sack and coming home he began to scan the
slips one by one, as if there was something very import-
ant written on them, all the while shaking his thoughtful
head.
While he was thus busy, the two Tigers came leaping
inside and said, “Master Fox, you are ordered to appear
before His Majesty immediately, and stand trial for dis-
loyalty and high treason.”
Master Fox calmly picked up his sack and said to the
Guards, “I am ready to answer His Majesty’s call,” and
went away escorted by the two Tigers.
The Lion was fuming in his den, nursing the insult that
was flung by his insignificant subject. When the culprit
was brought before him, he roared his loudest in order
to assert his power.
“Your disloyalty, Master Cunning, deserves the sen-
tence of death. Have you anything to say for yourself?”
194
Master Fox fell prostrate at the feet of the Lion and

raising himself on his hind legs he spoke in all humility.
“It is indeed true that I deserve your wrath, because
of my delay in visiting your Majesty. But, Sire, it was
my great concern for your health that caused me to stay
away till now. From the day I heard of your Majesty’s ill-
ness, I roamed the land from East to West and from North
to South, in search of the most infallible cure. I have
been to hundreds of the most famous physicians and col-
lected their prescriptions, which your Majesty may see
in this sack. After the most diligent search, I have found
the one remedy that promises the quickest and most ef-
fective cure for your Majesty’s illness.”
When the Lion heard Master Fox, his wrath cooled
off, and he ordered his Guards to relieve Master Fox of
his burden and beckoning him to his side said to him,
“Master Fox, I am most pleased with your concern for my
health. You have been most foully slandered. Pray read
what is in the prescription.”
Master Fox opened the paper slip and read with great
deliberation. “This is the cure, your Majesty. A three-
inch square piece of the skin on Mistress Fox’s back has
to be placed on your Majesty’s head for three days, and
chilly powder must be rubbed into the flesh of Mistress
Fox. Your Majesty, I myself shall supervise the opera-
tion.”
The Lion immediately ordered Mistress Fox to be
brought, and Master Fox was placed in charge of the
operation. Two Tigers brought in Mistress Fox. Knives
were sharpened and a three-inch patch of skin was
195
ripped from the back of Mistress Fox. Loud were her

screams of pain and louder still when chilly powder was
rubbed into the raw flesh. Mistress Fox howled with pain.
“It’s burning, burning,” she cried out.
“Yes, my dear,” cried Master Fox, “it always burns
with tale-bearers. It always burns.”
The skin-piece of Mistress Fox was placed on the head
of the Lion and after three days he was cured of his ill-
ness.
But it was not only the Lion who was cured. Mistress
Fox was also cured, for since that time she never gos-
siped and never acted the tale-bearer.
196
The Goan Son-in-Law: In
Fact and in Fiction
he son-in-law is an age-old institution in Goa. He

T is called zavuim in Konkani, not only by the father
and mother of his wife and their relatives, but also by
all the “fathers” and “mothers” of the village. They call
him amcho zavuim, our son-in-law; while the brothers
and sisters of his wife call him cunhado (Portuguese for
brother-in-law), and so do the young men and women of
the village.
Freud in Totem and Taboo says that
“a man calls not only his begetter
‘father’ but also every other man who The son-in-law is an
according to tribal regulations might age-old institution in
have been married to his mother.” This Goa.
explains why every Goan son-in-law is
our son-in-law to the elderly folks of the village and our
brother-in-law to every young man and woman.
The mother-in-law looks upon him with the greatest
favour, especially if he is the husband of the eldest daugh-
ter. Saslimaink zavuimacho mog, so they say in Konkani,
197
The Goan Son-in-Law: In Fact and in Fiction
the mother-in-law has a soft corner for the son-in-law.

Even her eldest son occupies a secondary place in her
affections.
One of the indispensable items included in the com-

prehensive list of the dennem (gifts of household art-
icles, like almirahs, utensils and clothes like sari and
cashmere suit), which the bridegroom is entitled to in
addition to the dowry (in cash and in jewellery), is the
“sleeping-suit,” to be worn by the groom on the nuptial
night. The sleeping-suit is an apt symbol of the affection
of the mother-in-law.
The first time he visits his mother-in-law’s home is on
the day following the nuptials, which is marked by cel-
ebrations at his own parents’ house. The marriage party
accompanies him to the bride’s place, where the celeb-
rations are repeated, and then the party returns, leaving
him and the bride in the charge of the fond female parent.
For about a week he enjoys her lavish hospitality. Morn-
ing and evening he is treated to the best fare of chicken
broth, fowl and pork dishes at lunch and dinner and to
the traditional meranda (sweets) at tea-time.
After he has graduated from groom to son-in-law, he
is welcome at the mother-in-law’s on every important oc-
casion. Mauddea vochonk, to go to the mother-in-law’s,
is an accepted social ritual. He is feted and petted and
his every wish is a law unto the household.
He is the privileged guest at the feast of the village
patron saint and at other feasts. It is for him that the
198
fatted pig is killed. On St. John’s Day, June 24, (when,

according to Frazer, the ancient fertility rites of fire and
water find new expression in the celebrations of Midsum-
mer Day), the mother-in-law has to offer a special gift of
a trayful of fruits, such as mangoes, jack-fruit, plantains
and guavas in honour of her new son-in-law to the men
of the village, who go from house to house, crowned with
flowers and leaves, and bathe in every house-well.
There is hardly any direct exchange of conversation
between the mother-in-law and the son-in-law. If she
speaks to him, she does it in an indirect manner, always
using the plural. What she has to say to him, she ad-
dresses to her daughter. She rarely invades the precincts
of the hall when he is present; and the furthest point
that respect for him allows her is the inner door of the
hall, from where she can watch and speak unobtrusively,
skillfully using the palou of her sari for all degrees of
self-effacement and modesty.
The son-in-law enjoys the special confidence of the
younger sister-in-law, who attends to all his needs in the
house. The village look upon him with the greatest re-
spect and indulgence. He is the object of their admira-
tion.
But while in actual fact he is the privileged relation in
his mother-in-law’s house and village, he plays a different
role in folk fiction. Social customs and conventions die
hard. The village wit and raconteur, whose sense of so-
cial justice and fair-play must have been often outraged
by many a bumptious, ignorant, stupid and greedy son-
in-law has humiliated him in anecdotes which he has cre-
199
ated. Society made a petty god of the son-in-law, the ra-

conteur reveals to us that the mother-in-law’s petty god
has feet of clay. The son-in-law in folk fiction cuts a sorry
figure and exposes himself to ridicule. What the folk of
Goa have to endure because of the farce of custom and
convention, they seek to cure by endorsing the version
of the son-in-law given by the humorist and raconteur of
the village.
The following three anecdotes debunk the privileged
son-in-law and reveal the stupidity of one, the ignorance
of the second, and the gluttony of the third. The village
humorist has his last word in each of the three pieces of
fiction.
The Son-in-Law Who Sat High
ee that you don’t do anything that lowers your

“S dignity as a son-in-law.” It was a mother ad-
vising her newly-married son, who was going to his
mother-in-law’s house, accompanied by his wife. “I hope
you have not forgotten to pack his sleeping suit,” she
said turning to the young wife. “Son, sit at the head of
the table. Don’t sit on the floor. Sit on something high.
You must keep up your position. Your father always did.”
It was his second visit to his mother-in-law’s. The first
was during the marriage celebrations. He was a bride-
groom then. Now he was a son-in-law.
He was dressed in the son-in-law fashion. He wore
a cashmere suit with a waist-coat on which he sported
a gold chain from which hung a Queen Victoria sover-
200
eign. Black patent leather shoes and a white straw hat

completed his attire. They had to do a distance of some
five miles by bullock carriage. As the carriage passed
through the village, word went round that the son-in-law
was coming, and people pressed on the windows and
came to the balconies. His wife told him the names of
the various families. Some of the children ran after the
carriage, and their number increased as they neared the
house. The mother-in-law left the masala on the grinding
stone, changed into a fresh sari, put the fator round her
neck; and came to the door leading to the hall. She held
the palou closely over her right shoulder, half-covering
her face.
“How are you?” she asked in the plural, beaming a
welcome. The greetings were a matter of a few words,
for the mother-in-law does not speak much with her son-
in-law. The other members of the family and the children
came to receive him, and the whole house bustled with
excitement.
His wife hurried inside to see that everything was in
order, and he followed her into the bedroom to change
from cashmere to sleeping suit. The bedstead was
covered with clean white linen which smelt of naph-
thalene, and the embroidered pillow cases proclaimed in
loud scarlet, i love you and sweet dreams.
In the hall he sat on the best looking chair, cushioned
and covered with a crochet-worked piece. The chicken
broth was soon served in a cup. Then, a bottle and a
wine glass was placed on the centre table. The village
elders came to pay a courtesy visit, and sipped fenni to
201
his health, smoked a bidi and left. Lunch was served at

two, and he sat at the head of the table. It was traditional
fare, fish, fowl, pork and pulav, and he ate royally. After
lunch the family met in the hall. They sat on chairs. So
he sat on the table. His wife stared at him. The youngest
son and pet of the family pulled a chair, clambered on it
and on the table, so that he could be close to his cunhado.
This was a virtual challenge to his position as a son-
in-law. He had seen a ladder in the adjoining room.
He fetched it into the hall and climbed to the topmost
rung. His head nearly touched the ceiling. His wife was
alarmed, but she could do nothing. The children thought
it great fun and shouted and danced at the foot of the
ladder. The youngest son was taken up by the idea of his
cunhado, and climbed up and perched himself perilously,
on the second last rung, in spite of his sister’s threats.
The wife now took matters in her hands, and gently sug-
gested to her husband that it was time for the afternoon
siesta.
After a sound nap, he was equal to the demands of the
traditional merenda, though he felt quite heavy. So he
decided to have a walk in the compound. The youngest
son accompanied him. At the back of the house he saw a
haystack tapering high like a mountain peak. He climbed
it with the zest of a Tensing, and sat on the very top. The
evening breeze blew full into his face. Soon a crowd of
children collected at the base and cheered him. The little
son clambered up and came by his side.
The family was shocked at this boyishness of their son-
in-law, but they dared not say anything; for the son-in-law,
202
like the king, can do no wrong. The wife felt humiliated

but to say anything to her husband in the hearing of all
would be the limit of disgrace. All they could do was to
shout at the children and threaten them away from the
haystack, and then retire to the kitchen.
The presence of the brat of a brother-in-law on an
equal height was a signal for our hero to carry the battle
to further heights. There was a ladder against the low kit-
chen roof. He gave the little fellow the slip, and quickly
went up the ladder to the kitchen roof, then across the
refectory roof to the roof over the hall. There were two
weather cocks one at either end. He sat between them,
and the last rays of the setting sun fell on his back.
It was the little fellow who screamed with delight
when he discovered his cunhado on the roof top. It was
like playing the game of hide and seek. “There is our
cunhado,” he shouted pointing at him. His wife nearly
fainted when she saw him. One by one the family mem-
bers rushed out to see the sight. The mother-in-law came
last, holding the palou over her mouth. “O dear mother,”
she said, “tell him to come down.”
The Illiterate Son-in-law
here was once a son-in-law who was illiterate. His

T parents had sent him to the parish school when
he was young, but instead of learning to read and write
and sing he had only learnt to climb coconut palm trees
and knock down tender nuts, roast cashew nuts on the
hills, catch birds with lime, and sundry other acts which
203
had made him the leader of truants. It was only before

his marriage that he had assiduously practised his signa-
ture so that he could sign on the marriage register. His
education, however, had been taken for granted by the
mother-in-law.
Soon after his marriage he went to the house of his
wife. The father-in-law was away on a voyage. One day,
the postman brought a letter addressed to the mother-
in-law, who immediately asked her daughter to have it
read by the son-in-law. She was anxious about the health
of her husband, for in the previous letter he had written
that he had been ill. The mother-in-law stood at the door
of the hall, holding the palou of her sari tightly over her
shoulder, and covering her face with the edge. The son-
in-law who was sitting in the hall opened the letter and
stared at the sheet. He could decipher a few alphabets
but the letter remained a mystery.
He stared and stared in silence while his wife and
mother-in-law waited for the news.
“I hope there is no bad news,” said the mother-in-law,
half to herself.
“He will read it to you after he has read it himself,”
said the daughter.
The son-in-law stared at the written matter and a deep
sense of regret at having wasted his school days in tru-
ancy overcame him. To confess his ignorance before his
mother-in-law was the utmost disgrace. A sense of ter-
rible shame filled him and tears welled in his eyes and
rolled down his cheeks.
204
His wife watched him with deep concern. “Is there

anything wrong?” she asked. “It must be some bad
news,” the mother-in-law said. This was too much for the
son-in-law to bear. He could not control himself and burst
forth into sobs. This was a signal for the mother-in-law
to take alarm. It was sure news of death, her husband’s,
certainly. She let out a scream of grief and rushed inside
and began to mourn aloud. The daughter followed her
and joined in the wailing and soon the whole household
took up the refrain.
The neighbours came to offer their condolences and
wiped their eyes in sympathy. It was a house of mourning.
The son-in-law still held the letter in his hand and sobbed
away in the hall, where he was left alone, a very picture
of distress, as all the people crowded round the mother-
in-law. It was only when a school-going village youngster
approached him that he asked him to read the letter.
“Grandfather is coming home tomorrow!” exclaimed
the innocent lad, and rushed to the scene of mourning,
holding the letter triumphantly in his hand and proclaim-
ing to the mourning assembly the glad news. “He says
he is arriving tomorrow!” the boy chirped with delight,
“Grandmother, he is fine, he says.”
The mother-in-law wiped her tears, and all the neigh-
bours felt greatly relieved. It was some time before the
son-in-law could get over his embarrassment.
205
The Greedy Son-in-law
t was quite late in the afternoon when the son-in-law

I had to partake of the merenda and tea. Luncheon
was over at two, and he had not managed to get over the
heaviness which the variety of rich courses had brought
about, in spite of the fenni and the siesta.
The table was loaded with the traditional pudde, pan-
cakes, and rice vermicelli (shir-vohio ). His sister-in-law
gave him a liberal helping of pancakes and pudde, but
when it came to the rice vermicelli which he had never
tasted in his life, he refused the offer with a distinctive
repulsive ‘shi ’. The plate looked as if it was full of earth-
worms.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the vermicelli. Some ate it
with sugared and jaggeried coconut shreddings. Others
poured coconut juice over it, and deftly swallowed the
tangled bunches. His sister-in-law made another attempt
to induce him to take a spoonful, but he politely thanked
her and said that he was full.
He wished he had not said it, for the relish with which
those at table ate the vermicelli seemed to be contagious.
However, a four-inch strip and a coconut shredding had
fallen by the side of his plate, and he deftly slipped them
into his mouth. The taste was superb, and it lingered in
his mouth.
That night he waited for the vermicelli dish to make
its appearance at table after dinner. But it never came,
and its absence made his palate long for it. He lay in bed
patiently till every member of the household was asleep,
206
even his wife. He heard some of the elder members snor-

ing and then slipped quietly out of the bedroom. He felt
his way along the wall in the dark, and finally managed
to reach the kitchen. He could see the shining eyes of the
cat sitting on the fender. He put out his hands and began
to look for the pot in which the vermicelli lay. One false
move and he was exposed. But luckily, his right hand fell
upon the right pot, and soon he was stuffing his mouth
with the delicacy. When his hand could not pick up the
smaller strips he decided to explore the inside of the pot
by putting his head into it and using his tongue to clean
up the sweetness.
It was a move fraught with dire consequences; for
when he tried to pull his head out of the pot, he found
that it was stuck. He tried to extricate himself from his
awkward headgear; without making the least noise, but
the pot would not come off. He thought it best, there-
fore, to make his way back to his bed where his wife
could help him. As he walked back along the wall, he hit
himself against something and the pot broke.
The noise of the broken bits falling to the floor
awakened the mother-in-law, and the whole household. A
match was struck and the lamp lit. The son-in-law made a
most pathetic sight with the rim of the broken pot round
his neck and bits of vermicelli on his head and shoulders.
The taste of the vermicelli lingered in his mouth
throughout the next day. But try as he may, he could
not remember the name of the preparation. He called
his sister-in-law and asked her what the name of the del-
icacy was. It was a new word for him and so he kept on
207
muttering it to himself now and then in order not to for-

get it. When the time came to return to his home he took
leave of the whole household; all the time keeping the
sound of the word in his mind. He said to himself that
the first thing he would ask his wife to prepare as soon
as he reached home was the vermicelli.
Close to his house there was a small stream which had
to be jumped across. The son-in-law took a leap across
the water and as he did so, the great effort brought forth
an instinctive sound as of ‘Hm ’ from his voice. ‘Hm ’, he
went on repeating and forgot the original sound of the
vermicelli which he had been muttering to himself ever
since he had heard it from his sister-in-law. When he had
undressed himself, he called for his wife and told her to
prepare ‘Hm ’ immediately. His wife was at a loss to un-
derstand what her husband was trying to say. She had
never heard of anything by the name ‘Hm ’ and thought
that her husband was being humorous. However, far
from being in a light mood, the husband was very earn-
est and quite impatient to eat of the delicacy, the memory
of which lived in him very strongly. He repeated his re-
quest but the wife could make nothing of what he said.
His eagerness and his wife’s stupidity combined to drive
him into a tremendous rage so that he picked a slipper
from his foot and began to beat her.
The cries of the wife fell upon the ears of the neigh-
bours who ran to see what was wrong. The husband
shouted at her more loudly than ever, and justified him-
self in the eyes of his neighbours. “I tell her to make
Hm, and she obstinately refuses to obey me.” Every one
208
was nonplussed by the word, till an elderly neighbour

ventured to ask the husband exactly what he meant by
Hm. The husband eagerly tried to give a detailed de-
scription of the delicacy, and the old man finally was able
to identify the dish which the husband wanted.
It was great fun for the people and the wife dried up
her tears and promised to satisfy her husband by prepar-
ing the delicacy for the evening tea.
209
The Peasant and the Vicar
peasant was once coming home from a hard day’s

A work, tired and hungry. He took a shortcut by the
path that went by the side of the parish house. As he
passed by the side of the kitchen, a strong whiff of some-
thing being roasted rushed into his nostrils.
He sniffed once, he sniffed twice,
and his nose told him that it must be
a fowl. He remembered that it was The peasant took a
June 29, the feast of St. Peter and St. shortcut by the path
Paul, which the old vicar and his cur- that went by the
ates were celebrating. He walked into side of the parish
the kitchen, hoping that the cook might house.
give him some leavings of the afternoon
meal. But he saw no cook.
Instead he saw a browned fleshy fowl sizzling in a pan
on the fire. The temptation was too great for him. Before
the cook came back, he had lifted the broiling fowl, and
wrapped it in his head cloth. He hurried home and hid
it in the storeroom. But his conscience began to prick
him. “Thou shalt not steal.” He remembered the third
commandment which he had learnt at the Sunday school
210
when young. “Thou shalt not steal,” the vicar had said
to him, and had painted a vision of hell where he would
burn forever and ever.
“Forgive me, God,” he said to himself and beat his
breast. “I must go and make my confession, immediately,
and return the fowl.”
He took the fowl and went to the church. The old vicar
was in the confessional. The peasant tucked the fowl in
his vest, knelt down, examined his conscience and was
ready to make his confession.
“I have stolen a roasted fowl, Father,” he began.
“That’s a grevious sin,” said the vicar, trying to be
stern.
“When did you do it?” he asked.
“Just a little while ago,” the peasant replied.
“Why did you do it?” the vicar raised his voice.
“I was hungry and was tempted by the devil,” the
peasant said.
“Are you sorry for your sin?” the vicar asked him.
“Yes, Father,” the peasant said.
“You must return the fowl immediately,” the vicar told
him. “You must make restitution of stolen things.”
“Yes, Father,” the peasant replied. “I have brought it.
It is inside my vest here. I want to give it. back.”
“Very good, give it back,” said the vicar.
“Take it, Father,” the peasant said, putting his hand
into his vest.
“No, no,” said the vicar, “I don’t want it.”
“Take it Father,” the peasant insisted. “Take it. I am
giving it back.”
211
“No, no,” said the old vicar, “I don’t want it. Now,
say the Act of Contrition,” and he continued to give him
absolution.
The peasant walked out of the church with the fowl
still tucked down himself, and suddenly becoming con-
scious of his hunger, he pulled out the fowl and wrenched
a leg.
It was tender and well-done.
212
The Vicar and the Master
Tailor
oaquim Pascoal was a master tailor and outfitter.

J He had clothed not less than two generations of
men and women and children of the village for all occa-
sions, from birth to death. Christening frocks for babies,
first holy communion dresses for boys and girls, wedding
suits for bridegrooms for the feasts of the village church
and chapels, the black suit in which the men were finally
laid to rest in the village cemetery – all these he had cut
and stitched and sewn to the entire satisfaction of the
people. And above all, he was known as the most eco-
nomical of master tailors. He asked for just the exact
size of cloth, and he cut it without waste, his honesty
was above question. If you asked him how many yards
were required for a particular article of dress he said so
many yards. Or, if you wanted to make a particular type
of wear in fashion, and you asked him how many yards
of material you should buy, he told you to buy the exact
number. There was no mistake about it, and he was very
touchy if you hesitated to accept his decision.
213
The Vicar and the Master Tailor
Now, it happened that, one day, the

new vicar who had just come to the Joaquim Pascoal
village, and therefore new to the mas- clothed not less than
ter tailor, approached him with a yard two generations of
of black taffeta. Joaquim Pascoal rose men and women and
with all deference to the black soutane children.
and inquired what he could make for
the head of the village church. “Here is a yard of the
best taffeta. How many birettas can you make for me
from this piece?”
“One, Padre Vigario,” said the master tailor with a de-
ferential bow.
“What! Only one?”
cried the vicar with in-
credulity. It was an open
challenge to the integ-
rity of Joaquim Pascoal,
but he maintained his
calm in the face of this
public assault. “Can you
not make me three biret-
tas from this piece?” the
vicar questioned.
“Certainly, Padre
Vigario,” said the master
tailor, “if you command
me to make them.”
The Vicar was highly
pleased and said pat- “Can you not make me three
ronisingly to the master birettas...?”
214
tailor, “I knew you would

make so many.” He was daily accustomed to make his
cook prepare and serve his curates the maximum num-
ber of dishes with the minimum supply of raw materials.
“I want them ready by the end of the week,” he finally
said and went away.
The master tailor spread the yard of cloth on the table
and set about with his long scissors cutting it into the
proper strips. As he handled the scissors his lower jaw
kept time with the movement of the blades. He passed
the cut strips to his assistants and then proceeded with
his other orders. The assistants took up the strips and
looked at each other questioningly. But no one dared
open his mouth and comment in the presence of the mas-
ter tailor.
Three neat little birettas were ready within the sched-
uled time. They were three dainty black squares, like
delicate black Chinese porcelain upturned cups, with a
small black tassel on the top.
When the Padre Vigario came to collect his birettas,
he could not believe his eyes. If all three were placed on
the top of his broad head, they would not cover the entire
bald surface! Not one of them would cover the head of
the two-foot image of St. Francis in the church.
The Padre Vigario was red in the face. His eyes
glowered. “These are too small even for a doll’s head!”
he burst out, as he put his hand on one and the other and
the third.
“I said I could make only one,” said the master tailor
with suave calm and concealed irony, “but you said I
215
should make three. I have only carried out your orders,

Padre Vigario.” The assistants eyed one another with
evident enjoyment. Their master had scored magnifi-
cently over the vicar.
The vicar swallowed the ‘but’ that rose upon his lips
and beat a dignified retreat.
216
Answer to a Prayer
simple day labourer had heard the village

A preacher often say the famous words, “Ask and ye
shall receive.” He was an honest labourer, but his fam-
ily was large and what he earned hardly sufficed for his
wife, children and himself.
There was always the thought of the morrow.
One day, he thought it in his mind
that he would put the words of the
preacher to a practical test. He thought “Ask and ye shall
it all out as he was smoking his bidi receive.”
in between the tough spells of wood-
cutting.
“I will sleep at home, close all the doors and windows
and ask for a hundred rupees. When I receive them,
I shall be rich and able to make my wife and children
happy in a large measure.”
That night he told his wife that he would not go to
work the next day. The wife was surprised at the news,
for there was hardly anything to eat in the house, and no
money either to buy any rice.
217
Answer to a Prayer
“So we shall have to starve tomorrow?” the wife flung

back at him, with her arms akimbo. “You and your lazi-
ness will kill us soon.”
“Take no heed of the morrow,” he said with the elo-
quence of the pulpit preacher. “Ask and you shall re-
ceive.”
“So God is going to give you money for doing no work,”
she said sarcastically. “You must be a saint.”
“Saint or no saint, I am going to try, and that’s all
about it,” he said firmly.
The next morning he shut himself in a dark room with
a low roof. He spread a mat and slept on the bare ground
and then began to ask for a hundred rupees. “I will not
take one pie less than a hundred,” he said. ”Not a pie
less,” he repeated.
His prayer could be heard not only by his wife and
children but also those who passed by the house.
Towards sundown the landlord of the village
happened to pass by the house, and he heard with sur-
prise the words coming from somewhere within. He
asked the wife what it all meant and the wife blushed
with shame at the stupidity of her husband.
“Not a pie less will I take,” the labourer repeated with
a special emphasis. It sounded like the “pray for us sin-
ners”, of the litany. The landlord was greatly surprised
at first, then amused. He had a sense of humour, which
prompted him to say to himself, “Well, let me try this
game.”
He hurried home immediately and counted out in
coins, one hundred rupees less a pie, and put the money
218
Answer to a Prayer
in a small bag. He went again to the house of the la-

bourer. It was dusk and he moved to the back of the
house. The roof was low and he was soon clambering up.
He could hear the prayer rising like smoke through the
tiles. He chuckled to himself at the nature of the role of
divinity that he was playing.
He opened one tile, then another; and through the
small hole he peered down. The man was on his back,
lustily and hopefully praying with folded hands. The land-
lord smiled at the simplicity of the man.
Slowly he pushed the bag of coins through the hole
and let it drop inside. The thud, and the jingle of the
coins fell upon the ears of the labourer, and he stopped
his prayer and looked round. There was a bag on the
floor. Why, his prayer must have been answered.
He got on his feet quickly and picked up the bag. It
was heavy and full of money. He opened it and saw gleam-
ing silver and copper pieces. He slipped them through
his fingers and began to count, eagerly, one, two, three,
ninety nine, and hundred – no, one pie was lacking to
make the total hundred. He counted again to check up.
Ninety nine rupees, fifteen annas, eleven pies – not more
not less.
All this time, the landlord watched and waited.
The man looked up puckering his brows and holding
the money bag in his hand, he said with finality: “Well
this time I accept one pie less than what I had asked for.
Only this time.” And he ran to show his reward to his
wife.
The landlord nearly rolled down the roof.
219
Answer to a Prayer
It is not known further whether the labourer tried

again and got richer at the expense of the same landlord
or another.
220
The Patron of Lawyers
ho is the patron of lawyers? There is a legend

W among the people of Goa that it is the devil. The
legend cannot be a very old one. In fact, it cannot be
older than four centuries, for the devil came to Goa with
the Portuguese conquistadores in 1510. This story is cur-
rent in oral tradition.
All the trades and professions in Goa
had succeeded in choosing a particular
and appropriate patron from among the Who is the patron of
saints of Christian tradition. For two lawyers?
long days the lawyers were engaged in
a heated and continuous debate of the choice of the most
appropriate patron saint for their profession. They had
met in the parochial assembly hall. All along the four
walls of the hall there stood the images of the different
saints, from among whom the patron was to be chosen.
They made up a silent audience to the prolonged proceed-
ings. The lawyers, clad in black gowns, sat in concourse
in the middle of the hall, and one by one rose to speak
and put up his candidate for general approval.
221
This was the third day. Morning wore into noon, noon
browned into evening, evening darkened into night, and
still the debate would not end. Each lawyer made a dev-
astating and vehement attack on the demerits of his pre-
decessor’s choice, and proposed his own candidate with
an eloquent and fulsome speech of his merits.
The slow hours of the night dragged on towards
midnight. One of the more impatient of the fratern-
ity, who for some time had been flagrantly yawning,
and now felt that he should move to the conclusion
of sleep, stood up and said, “Honourable and Learned
Gentlemen, long
have we debated
and discussed, and
as usual expen-
ded our forensic
energies on the
otherwise prof-
itable labour of
demonstrating the
whiteness of black,
and the blackness
of white. My sub-
mission to you,
‘
Honourable Gen-
It was a contract... with the devil.
tlemen, giving due
consideration to the
lateness of the hour, is that the only way to arrive at an
irrevocable decision is to blind-fold one of our elders
here and let him choose one saint from among those
222
standing along the walls of this hall. The one on whom

he rests his hand finally shall be our patron.”
The suggestion met with general and immediate ap-
proval.
In the meantime, however, the Devil who was on his
nightly prowl in the vicinity of the parochial hall, seeing
the lighted hall and the concourse of black-coated gentry,
had slipped into the room and stood between two of the
images of the saints.
An elderly lawyer was blindfolded, and turned loose
in the room facing the wall. There was a general hush
of silence. He groped his way and began his tour of the
walls.
He paused for a moment before one image, and then
before another, and moved on undecided and thoughtful.
From one to the other, and so on, till he completed one
full round of the four walls of the room. His compan-
ions watched him with bated breath, each hoping that
the choice of his blindfolded colleague would confirm his
own proposal. The hour was approaching midnight and
he continued his round, keeping everyone in suspense.
At the very stroke of midnight, he stood and put out his
hand. Surprise and amazement was writ large on the
faces of the darkly-clad brotherhood. The blindfolded
lawyer was standing between two images, and his hand
went forth into the apparently empty space, when lo and
behold, his hand rested on a black and hairy head ad-
orned with two horns. It was the Devil who had taken
his stand between the images of the two saints. It was a
fatal choice, but it was a contract with the Devil, and it
223
was final.
And that is why they say that the patron of lawyers is
the devil.
224
The Old Woman
ld women are devils. That is what they say in

O Konkani. And if any proof were needed, there is
an old folk tale which tells of how an old woman suc-
ceeded where the devil had failed. “She is an old woman
with horns,” this is a common popular designation given
to many a village granny. Or, “She is an old woman with
high-heeled boots.” But to the story.
For twelve long years the devil had
been at his sinister work of destroying
the good relations that existed between The old woman
a daughter-in-law and her mother-in- succeeded where
law. The devil had never come across the devil had failed.
such an exchange of love between two
women who are traditional enemies of each other. With
his usual cocksureness he tried to provoke misunder-
standing and quarrels between them. But nothing could
ever spoil the peace that existed between them. They
lived so perfectly happy. Two romantic lovers could not
live more harmoniously than the two women. The devil
was exasperated. He had exhausted all the tricks in his
repertoire.
225
The Old Woman
One day, as he was leaving the house, crestfallen and

most depressed, he met the neighbouring old woman out-
side the gate. She was bent double, and hobbled along
with a long stick. She was dressed in a faded sari, which
she had tied into a kas .
“You look sad and downcast,” she said to the devil.
“What has gone wrong?”
“What shall I tell you, Granny?” spoke the devil. “For
the last twelve years, I have been trying to bring about
a quarrel in your neighbour’s house. The daughter-in-
law and the mother-in-law have not quarrelled even once,
which is, most unnatural. They get on so well. I tried
again this evening, but it is the same old story. I am
beaten.”
“Oh, is that all?” said the old woman, with a queer
laugh, “is that all?” and she shook her head. “I’ll do it
for you. Stay where you are, and watch me.” And she
hobbled away through the gate and went to the kitchen
door, and called out to the daughter-in-law.
“Come here, child, I want to ask you something. Come
closer, closer still,” she said in a soft voice. The daughter-
in-law came close to the old woman, wondering what
secret Granny had to tell her at this time of the evening.
The old woman put her lips into the ears of the daughter-
in-law and asked her in a whisper, “Child, what happens
when boiled paddy is pounded?” “Why, we have rice,”
she replied, surprised that the old woman should ask her
such a silly question.
“That’s all,” said the old woman. “Thank you.” And
with these words she hobbled away towards the gate.
226
The Old Woman
The daughter-in-law watched her going away, and

came back to the kitchen, wondering about the whole in-
cident. The mother-in-law had seen the old woman com-
ing at the kitchen door, and speaking with her daughter-
in-law.
“What did the old Granny tell you, daughter?” she
asked.
“Granny is getting crazy, I think,” she replied, with a
short laugh. “She asked me what happens when paddy
is boiled.”
The mother-in-law could not believe that the old wo-
man could have asked such a question and with such
secrecy. Surely, it must have been something else which
the daughter-in-law was not disclosing to her. The devil
was watching the proceedings from the gate with great
interest. He was intrigued by what he saw. A simple
whisper in the ear of the daughter-in-law! But before the
old woman could reach the gate, he could hear sounds
of a quarrel developing in the house. Soon voices were
raised and there was a war of words.
“The old woman has done in a minute what I have
been trying to do during the last twelve years!” he said
to himself. “She’s more than a match for me.” He fixed a
high-heeled boot to the point of a long bamboo pole and
gave it to the old woman, and flew into the night as fast
as he could.
227
The Brahmin Outwitted
nce there lived a poor old widow who had two

O sons. Since the death of her husband she had
been working hard to bring up the boys so that one day
they might make their own living and support her in her
old age. When the eldest son was fourteen years of age,
she said to him: “Son, you know how difficult it is for me
to feed and clothe you two, and I am no longer as young
and as active as I was last monsoon. You must try your
luck in the world and help your brother and me.”
The son was a timid lad, having been
the pet of his father and mother, but
he knew his responsibilities and so he Since the death of
replied: “Mother, I am ready to do my her husband she
duty towards you and my brother. To- had been working
morrow morning I will leave the house hard to bring up the
and go in search of work wherever I can boys.
find it. Give me two ladoos, one for hun-
ger and the other for thirst.”
The next morning the boy got up at cock-crow and
tying in a handkerchief the two ladoos that his mother
had prepared, he set out with his mother’s blessings and
228
his brother’s good wishes. It was pleasant walking in

the early hours of the morning, but as the sun travelled
higher and higher in the sky the heat increased and the
dusty road burnt his feet and he felt thirsty and hungry.
It was nearing noon. So he sat under the shade of a tree
and opening his handkerchief he ate of the two ladoos
and satisfied his hunger and quenched his thirst. Then
after resting for a while, he pursued his journey feeling
quite refreshed.
By the time of cow-dust he saw some shepherd boys
driving their flocks homewards and so he followed them
into a nearby village.
The village was inhabited by Brahmins, and the boy
approached one of the women and asked for shelter for
the night. She was the wife of one of the Brahmins, and
she asked the boy from where he had come and what he
was doing in the village.
The boy told her that he was looking for work for his
living and that he had come from a distant village. The
woman informed her husband, and the Brahmin came out
and asked the boy what work he was prepared to do. The
boy told him that he was willing to work in any capacity,
so that he could help his old mother and younger brother
at home. The Brahmin asked him if he was willing to look
after the cattle and do sundry work of the house, and the
boy readily accepted the offer. “There is only one con-
dition, however,” said the Brahmin, “if you leave my ser-
vice of your own accord, you will not receive any money
from me, and in the bargain forfeit a piece of your skin
cut from the back. If however, I ask you to leave, I will
229
pay you your wages as well as allow you to take a piece of

skin from my back.” It was a strange condition, but the
boy remembered that he had promised his mother that
he would come home with some earnings of his own to
help them and so he consented to work in the Brahmin’s
house.
Early at cock-crow next morning the Brahmin woke
him up and told him to take the cattle to graze in the
nearby meadow. The boy woke up with a willing heart
and soon set out with the cattle to graze on the green
grass and sat down under a banyan tree nearby.
The cattle, however, were boisterous and moved
about hither and thither, and finally made for the nearby
field. The boy tried in vain to keep them from getting into
the field which was covered with green paddy. When the
farmer to whom the field belonged saw the cattle eating
the paddy, he came with a bamboo and drove away all
the cattle, and then catching hold of the boy gave him
a severe thrashing, so that he could hardly walk. “And if
you come again with the cattle into my field,” warned the
farmer, “I will break all the bones of your body.”
The boy came back home with the cattle, and as he
could not bear the pain of his body he decided that it
would be better to give up this job and ask for some other
work. The Brahmin was full of anger when he heard of
what had happened, and he shouted at and scolded the
boy and told him that if he was not prepared to go the
next day with the cattle for grazing he would have to
forfeit a piece of skin from his back. The boy thought
that it would be better to give the forfeit to the Brahmin
230
and go home to his mother rather than stay and work as

a cowherd. The Brahmin, accordingly, cut a piece of skin
from the boy’s back and the boy ran away towards his
own home howling with pain.
When the mother heard his cries of pain and saw the
wound on his back, she was very sorry and cursed the
Brahmin for his cruelty towards her son. She fetched
some herbs and applied them to the wound and the boy
felt some relief.
By this time the younger son came home, and he
asked his brother what had happened. When he heard
how his brother had been treated by the Brahmin, he de-
cided to punish the Brahmin for his cruelty and told his
mother that he would set out the next day and take up
service with the same Brahmin.
“I promise,” he said, “that instead of giving the skin
from my back to the Brahmin, I will see to it that I bring a
piece of skin from the Brahmin’s back.” The mother tried
to persuade her son against such a course of action, but
the son would not listen. “Give me two ladoos,” he told
his mother, “and I’ll set out tomorrow to the Brahmin’s
house.”
Accordingly, the younger son left his mother and elder
brother the next morning and walked towards the vil-
lage where the Brahmin lived. When he arrived near the
house of the Brahmin he asked the wife if he could take
up service in their house. The Brahmin informed him of
the condition on which he offered service; and the boy
readily agreed to the terms.
231
The next morning the boy set out with the Brahmin’s
cattle. When he had got out of the village he found that
the cattle began to be boisterous, and instead of walking
towards the pasture-ground they strayed into private en-
closures, eating young coconut trees and the vegetable
that was planted in kitchen-gardens. When he reached
the pasture-ground, the cattle strayed into the paddy
field, and it was impossible for the boy to manage them.
The farmer came rushing towards the boy and beat him
severely and drove the cattle out of the field. The boy
suffered the pain in silence and in the evening led the
cattle back to the Brahmin’s house, but he did not tell
the Brahmin what had happened.
The second day he set out with the cattle early in the
morning and took with him a thick bamboo stick. When
he saw that the cattle began their boisterous ways, he
hit them hard with the bamboo stick and thus managed
to lead them to the pasture-ground. But once again the
cattle began to stray into the field. The boy in great an-
ger struck one of them so hard on the leg that the bull
fell down. When the others saw this, they became quite
tame and came back to the place of grazing.
The boy came back home with the cattle in the even-
ing, and the Brahmin noticed that one of the bulls was
limping in the leg. He, therefore, asked the boy what
had happened to the bull. The boy told him how in his
attempt to control the herd he had to strike one of the
bulls with a bamboo stick, and on seeing this the rest of
the cattle became quite tame. When the Brahmin heard
this, he was very angry, but he felt afraid that the boy
232
might hurt and even kill all his cattle; so he told him not
to take the cattle for pasture the next morning. “I will
give you some other work today,” the Brahmin said to
him.
The third day the Brahmin took the boy with him to
his own fields and asked him to pluck all the weeds that
had grown there. “In the meantime I will go home and
get rice gruel for you,” he said. As soon as the Brahmin
went away, the boy began to uproot not only the weeds
but also the paddy, and when the Brahmin came back he
was shocked to see that the boy had cleaned the whole
field of both paddy and weeds. The Brahmin was angry
with the boy and shouted at him for his mischief but the
boy calmly told him that he had done his best to weed
the field, but as the grass was more than the paddy, he
had no recourse but to uproot everything. The wife of
the Brahmin was more shocked than her husband when
she heard what had happened, and she told her husband
not to take him any more into the fields. The boy was
secretly happy that he had outwitted the Brahmin and
his wife so far.
On the fourth day the Brahmin gave a ploughshare
to the boy and a pair of bullocks and took him to one
of his distant fields. When they reached the field, the
Brahmin told the boy to start ploughing the field in a
straight direction. “And as you do this I will go home and
fetch you some rice-gruel,” so saying he went away. The
boy tied the bullocks to the yoke and began to plough the
field. As the Brahmin had told him to plough in a straight
direction, he whipped the bullocks and cut a deep furrow
233
in a straight line. He did not stop when he came to the

end of the Brahmin’s plot but pushed on, so that he cut
across the fields of other people and so on, till he cut a
furrow which was half a mile long. When he could not
proceed further he sat down under a tree waiting for the
rice gruel which the Brahmin has promised to bring. He
waited for a long time and as he felt hungry he looked
around for something to eat. At that moment he saw a
villager going to the market with some ladoos and sweets
in a basket. He called the man and asked him to give him
the sweets, and as he had no money to pay for them he
said that the man could have his pair of bullocks. The
man was glad to part with the sweets in exchange for
the pair of bullocks and he went away with the Brahmin’s
pair.
By this time the Brahmin arrived at the spot where
he had left the boy, but the boy was no where to be
seen, neither the pair of bullocks. He only saw the single
freshly-cut furrow going in a straight direction. So he
walked along the furrow and after a long time came to
the spot where the boy was lying under the tree. He
looked round for his pair of bullocks but they were not
there, and so he asked the boy where they were. The
boy calmly told him that he had waited for a long time
for the pot of rice-gruel, and as he was hungry he had ex-
changed the pair of bullocks for sweets from a villager.
When the Brahmin heard of this it was as if someone had
hit him on the head with a stick. He kept the pot of rice-
gruel on the ground and ran homewards to tell his wife
about the terrible loss.
234
The boy ate the rice-gruel and after resting for some
time came back to the house of the Brahmin. The Brah-
min was now in a fix. If he was to dismiss the boy, he
would have to forfeit a patch of skin from his back. So
he told the boy not to take the plough the next day, and
instead take his horse for grazing. So on the fifth day,
early in the morning the boy took the horse and went to
a distant hillside. There was a fast-flowing stream nearby,
and the boy let the horse graze and came and sat under
a tree.
At that time a prince happened to come riding on his
horse and as he was trying to jump across the swollen
stream, the horse slipped and was caught in the cur-
rent and swept away. The prince, however, saved his
life by swimming across. The prince was now in distress,
as he could not pursue his journey. When the boy saw
him, he approached him and told him that he could have
the horse that he was grazing and ride home on it. The
prince was very happy to hear this and he gave the boy
five hundred rupees as reward and went away riding on
the Brahmin’s horse.
The boy now had to find a way to explain the disap-
pearance of the horse. He walked along the stream, and
after some distance he came across the dead horse which
was washed on the banks. He went close to it, cut off its
tail and its head and went with these towards a nearby
field which was full of soft soil. There he dug two small
holes in one of which he stuck the tail and in the other
he stuck the head. Then he took his way homewards, but
he was careful to hide the money at the foot of the tree.
235
As he approached the village, he began to run fast and

shout as loudly as he could, calling upon the Brahmin
to come as soon as possible. “Your horse is fast sink-
ing into the ground,” he shouted, “come immediately.”
The Brahmin rushed out of the house after the boy, and
he was surprised when he saw the head and tail of his
horse in the field where the boy had buried them. The
Brahmin did not know what to do but the boy was very
shrewd and told him that there was only one way to res-
cue the animal. ”We must pull him out. You take hold
of his head, while I take hold of his tail. And when I say,
‘Heave! Heave!’, you pull at the head and I will pull at
the tail.” The boy pretended to pull with all the force
in his body, while the Brahmin did the same. The result
was that the head came out of the ground in the hands
of the Brahmin and the tail came out in the hands of the
boy. The Brahmin really believed that it was the head
and tail of his own horse which had sunk into the ground.
He came home and informed his wife of the misfortune
and the wife went nearly mad on hearing the sad story.
“We must get rid of the boy,” she said. “He has ruined
our house.” Full of anger she went to her parents’ house
nearby and told the sad story to her four brothers. “My
husband cannot dismiss the boy because he will demand
the patch of skin. The only way is to get rid of him by
death.” Her brothers were angry when they heard of the
mischief of the boy and immediately came with her to the
house of their brother-in-law and decided to put an end
to the boy’s life.
236
When all had eaten the evening meal and gone to

sleep, the four brothers-in-law of the Brahmin woke up
late at night and began to sharpen their knives. The boy
who was sleeping on a small cot in one of the back-rooms
heard the sound of the sharpening of knives. He immedi-
ately got up, and putting his eye to the key-hole he saw
the four brothers-in-law. He realised that his life was
now in danger, so he immediately went into the stable,
brought a young calf and made it sleep on his own bed.
He covered it up with his blanket and slipped out and
went up a nearby tree from where he could see what was
going on inside.
It was nearly midnight and everyone was fast asleep
in the village. The brothers-in-law quietly walked into
the room of the boy, and all the four attacked with their
knives, thinking that the boy was on the cot. They thus
cut the poor calf into four pieces. When the boy saw this,
he began to shout at the top of his voice, and all the Brah-
mins of the village woke up and came rushing towards
the house. The boy came down from the tree and com-
plained to all the Brahmins that his Brahmin master and
his four brothers-in-law were in the habit of killing calves
at night and eating them; and immediately to prove the
truth of this, he led them into his room and showed the
calf that was cut into four pieces. The Brahmins were
shocked at the sight, and believing the boy began to be-
labour the Brahmin and his four brothers-in-law till they
were nearly dead. After this, they decided that no one
should mix with the Brahmin and his family was ostra-
cised.
237
This was the greatest blow to the prestige of the fam-

ily, and the wife of the Brahmin told her husband that it
was impossible to keep the boy any longer, and that he
should forthwith dismiss him even at the cost of his own
skin. Accordingly, the Brahmin had to give the boy his
wages and in the bargain a piece of skin from his back.
The Brahmin yelled with pain when the boy cut off the
skin, and the boy reminded his wife of what the Brahmin
had done to his brother. The Brahmin and his brothers-
in-law were sorry for all their cruelty in the past.
The boy took the bit of skin to show his mother and
his brother. On his way home he dug out the five hun-
dred rupees which the prince had given him and went
happily to tell the whole story to his mother and brother
and showed them the piece of skin and give his mother
the wages he had received from the Brahmin and the re-
ward he had received from the prince.
238
Seven Sons and a Daughter
here was once a king who had no children though

T he was married a long time. He, therefore, mar-
ried again, but his second wife also did not bear him any
children. He married a third time, but he was again dis-
appointed in an issue. Accordingly, he took a fourth wife
but again to no purpose, for he was still without an heir.
He married a sixth wife with the hope that he would have
at least one son or daughter to succeed him. But once
again his hopes were frustrated, and he despaired of ever
having an heir to rule his kingdom after him.
One day, a young princess sent word
to him that if he married her, she would
bear him seven sons and one daughter. A young princess
The king was pleased with the news, sent word that if he
and he immediately accepted the offermarried her, she
and married the princess. His other would bear the king
wives were, however, very jealous of seven sons and one
the seventh wife who, because of her daughter.
promise, became the very darling of
the old king.
239
After a short time the young princess told the king

that she was with child and the king’s happiness knew no
bounds. But the first six wives secretly hated the seventh
wife though they pretended to their husband that they
were as happy as he was at the news.
One day, the king was called on some urgent work to a
distant country and he told his young wife that he would
return home soon. “My six wives will look after you very
carefully in my absence,” he said. The young wife was
sad at the news because she knew that the other wives
did not really love her, but she only said to her husband:
“When I give birth to the boys, it will rain abundantly;
when I give birth to the girl, it will rain pearls. Come
home when this happens.”
The king promised to return as requested by the
young wife, and asked his other wives to take proper care
of the young mother-to-be.
The six wives began to ill-treat the young wife in their
husband’s absence, making her do the household work
and eat what remained on the table after they had en-
joyed the best food. After a few months the time for
child-bearing had come near and the young wife began to
get her pains, and she gave birth to seven boys and one
daughter. The other wives were greatly shocked when
they saw the truth of her promise to their husband and
in their wickedness they took the eight babies and threw
them into a dung-pit, and told the young mother that she
had given birth to seven dogs and one cat. They decided
to tell the same story to the king on his return.
240
The king was very angry when he heard from his

wives that his young wife had given birth to dogs and
a cat. And as a punishment for having deceived him he
ordered a pit to be dug and the young wife was buried
in it up to her neck so that only the head was above the
ground. The young wife did not protest but submitted
herself to this humiliation at her husband’s hands. She
stood buried up to her neck at the back of the palace,
outside the kitchen, her head alone was visible. The
king ordered that the remnants of the food from the table
should be given to her, and the wives saw to it that the
servant did not give her more than that to eat.
One day, the six wives of the king happened to be walk-
ing by the side of the cow-dung pit in the backyard when
they saw seven boys and a girl sitting on the edge of the
pit. They were full of fear that their crime might come to
the knowledge of the king, and so they hurriedly brought
a basket and putting the eight children into it they threw
them into the public well near the palace and went home
unseen by anyone.
The seven boys who were thrown into the well were
transformed into a tall mango-tree which grew out of the
well, while their sister was changed into a broad-leafed
plantain-tree.
The king’s washer-man who came to wash the king’s
clothes the next day, was surprised to see the two trees in
the well. When he saw the broad leaves of the plantain
tree he thought that he would use one of them for the
purpose of keeping the washed clothes on it before put-
ting them out to dry. So he took a knife in his hand and
241
stepped on the edge of the wall, in order to catch hold

of one of the leaves and cut it off. But as he put out his
hand, the leaf moved away from his reach. He turned to
another and the same thing happened, and when he put
out his hand to catch hold of a third leaf, the whole tree
moved into the centre of the well. He was surprised at
this, and as he was getting down from the edge of the
well he heard the following words sung by a sweet voice:
Seven brothers into a mango-tree,

One sister into a plantain-tree
Our washer-man has come, brothers,
To cut a leaf from the plantain-tree.
A chorus of voices then sang in reply:
Do not give any leaf, sister,

We have not seen the face of our mother.
The washerman went immediately to inform the king of

the strange trees and the voices, and the king came to
see the wonder. He stretched out his hand to catch hold
of a leaf from the plantain-tree, but the leaf moved away
from his hand, and it was the same when he tried to catch
hold of another, till the whole tree moved to the centre
of the well. Then he heard a sweet voice singing:

One sister into a plantain-tree;
Our father has come, brothers,
And wants a leaf from the plantain tree.
242

We have seen the face of our father.
The king grew very suspicious and wondered what was

the meaning of the strange trees and the voices. He
called his six wives and the midwife who had attended on
his seventh wife at her confinement and delivery. He took
them with him to the well and first asked the midwife to
pluck one of the plantain-leaves. The six wives felt quite
guilty as they approached the well, but they covered
their guilt with smiles. The leaves of the plantain-tree
behaved as with the washerman and the king, and then
a sweet voice sang the same words:

The midwife has come, brothers,
And wants a leaf from the plantain-tree.

Then the king asked the six wives one by one to catch
hold of the plantain leaves, and each time the same
voices sang the same tune and words:

Our relatives have come, brothers,
And want a leaf from the plantain tree.
And each time the chorus replied:
243

The six wives turned pale with fear that their crime
would be at last discovered but they pretended that they
could not understand the mystery of the trees and the
words. Finally the king ordered his servants to dig up his
seventh wife and he took her to the edge of the well and
asked her to catch one of the leaves of the plantain-tree.
The plantain leaves and the tree behaved as with the
others, and the same sweet voice sang:

Our mother has come, brothers,
And wants a leaf from the plantain-tree.
The chorus of voices replied:
Let her have the leaves, sister,

We have seen the face of our mother.
Then the plantain-tree came towards the edge of the well

and leant lovingly against the right shoulder of the wife
and the mango-tree also moved to the edge and bent
against her left shoulder. The king then realised that the
trees were the children borne by his seventh wife, and
that the other wives had deceived him most cruelly.
He quickly removed the ring from his finger, rubbed
it with a little water and sprinkled the drops on the trees.
Great was his happiness when he saw seven boys and one
girl walking on the surface of the water towards him. He
embraced them all and asked the forgiveness of his wife
244
for his cruel treatment of her. The other six wives and the
midwife were punished with death for their wickedness.
The king and queen then lived happily with their
seven sons and one daughter.
245
The Princess from the
Fruit
here was once a king who had an only son. The

T prince was very fond of hunting and one day he
decided to go into a distant forest where he had never
been before. He asked the son of the Chief Minister to
accompany him on his expedition.
As they rode towards the forest they
came to a place where the road forked
The king had an
into two directions both leading to the
forest. The prince told his companion only son.
that it would be better if they separated
and went in two directions so that they could meet again
somewhere in the middle of the forest. “You go to the
left,” he said, “and I will go to the right. If we do not meet
in the forest we will wait for each other on our return at
this spot in the evening.”
The prince entered deeper and deeper into the forest
in the hope that he would get better game, but he was dis-
appointed to find there was nothing he could sight among
the trees.
246
The Princess from the Fruit
At last he saw on the very top-most branch of a tree

a bird whose feathers shone in the light of the sun. He
approached it very softly in order to have a closer view
and was surprised to find that the bird had feathers of
gold. He lifted his gun and took careful aim but just as
he was about to pull the trigger, the bird flew away and
sat on a nearby tree. The prince followed the bird and
once again took careful aim, but just as he was about to
shoot, the bird flew away and went to a tree a little way
off.
Thus, the prince followed the bird, and every time he
made an attempt to shoot it down the bird flew away. He
was annoyed with himself for not being able to get the
bird, and finally he decided to sit down and watch the
bird and enjoy its beauty. While he thus looked at the
bird, he heard its sweet notes addressed to him. “My
dear prince,” said the bird, “if the beauty of my feathers
has enamoured you so much, how much more will not
the beauty of the princess who lives in the fruit fascin-
ate you!” The prince was surprised when he heard these
words, but before he could ask the bird where the beau-
tiful princess lived, the bird was gone.
The prince wandered a long time in the forest look-
ing for the bird but he could not find it. He was sad and
dejected, and when evening came, he took his way home-
wards, completely forgetting his friend who he had prom-
ised to meet at the junction of the two roads. He did not
feel like going into the palace and so he quietly slipped
into the stable where the horses were kept. There, he
said to himself, he would spend the night.
247
His friend came home in a hurry to enquire if the

prince had arrived and when the king and queen asked
the servants, they came to know that the prince had not
returned to the palace. The king and the queen became
worried about their son and so they sent scouts all round
the country to look for the prince. The scouts returned
late in the night without finding the whereabouts of the
young prince.
The prince passed a sleepless night thinking all the
time about the princess of whom the bird has spoken.
“I must find her,” the prince said to himself, “and I must
marry her.” Early the next morning the door of the stable
was opened by the negro servant who came to fetch the
dung of the horses. When she saw the prince sleeping
among the horses, she raised a cry and informed the king
and queen that the prince was in the stable. The king and
queen asked their son why he was so quiet and sad, and
he told them of the bird that he had seen in the forest and
of the princess whom he wanted to marry. “I must go and
fetch the beautiful princess and make her my wife,” he
told his parents.
“But this is an impossible thing,” his father said, “no
one who has gone to fetch the princess has ever come
back alive. We will get you a beautiful princess, the
daughter of a king.”
But the boy would not listen. He was determined to
go in search of the wonderful princess, even if it was at
the risk of his life.
The king and the queen had to consent finally and the
prince set out on the best horse in the stable and took
248
with him sufficient money for his expenses. He rode on

for many days and one evening reached a lonely hill-side.
It was twilight, and he looked all round to see if there
was any house nearby, but he could see none. After some
time, he saw a small light coming from a long distance
and rode towards it. The light came from a small cottage
and so he approached it. He knocked at the door of the
hut, and he heard the voice of an old woman asking who
he was and what he wanted. He told her that he was a
wayfarer who wanted shelter for the night.
The old woman invited him into the hut and gave him
to eat whatever little she had. After the meal she asked
him where exactly he was going and the prince told her
that he was going in quest of the princess who lived in
the fruit. The old woman shook her head as she heard
his words, and said, “Alas, and you are so young and
handsome. Son, you do not know the dangers of such
an adventure. Many young men like you have gone on
the same quest before you. And none of them has ever
returned, or every one has been turned into a statue of
stone.”
But the prince would not listen to the advice of the
old woman. The next morning the prince got ready to
pursue his journey. He thanked the old woman for her
hospitality and gave her two bright pieces of gold. The
old woman was very happy when she saw the bright gold
pieces and said: “As you are determined to go, I will help
you with my advice. Listen carefully to what I say. And if
you do as I tell you, you will be successful.” The prince
was willing to listen, and so the old woman said to him,
249
“Leave the horse with me. I will change you into a crow
so that you can fly towards the place where the princess
lives. As you go through the sky, you will hear loud cries
and shouts. It will be the voices of those who have been
changed into stones on the way. Some of them will even
call you by your name, but on no account should you look
back but ever go forward without stopping. For if you
look back, you will be changed into a stone.”
The prince promised to do according to what the old
woman had asked him. He tied the horse behind the hut
and came to the front. The old woman made him stand on
the left side of the hut and changed him into a crow and
told him to fly away and never look back again. “When
you reach the tree on which the fruit hangs, strike the
fruit with your beak and holding it firmly turn back and
fly homewards without ever looking back.”
The crow flew away as fast as his wings could carry
him. As he flew he heard from below loud cries and
shouts, just as the old woman had told him. He also
heard his name being called out but he did not look back,
even for once. He flew straight towards the tree and
when he saw the fruit he plucked it with his beak and
turned back homewards.
On the way back he heard cries and shouts just as
before but he did not look back and so he came to the
hut of the old woman who was waiting for him. She was
surprised that he had come back safe and sound. She
was also happy, and she changed him back to his human
shape and told him to put the fruit into his pocket and
warned him not to break it until he reached home. The
250
prince promised not to break the fruit and after giving

the old woman two pieces of gold, he sat on his horse
and went towards his home.
As he was riding happily he became impatient to see
what was in that fruit. The closer he came towards the
palace the greater became his curiosity to have a look
at the princess hidden in the fruit. He reached a lake
and decided to get down from his horse so that he might
drink some water and rest under the tree. As he was
sitting, his curiosity got the better of him and he broke
the fruit and at that very moment there came from the
fruit the most beautiful princess with hair of gold, and
the sight struck his eyes like a sheet of lightning so that
he fell to the ground in a state of unconsciousness.
The princess looked at the fallen prince with great
fear and noticing that he did not move, she looked
around her for help. When she saw the lake full of water,
she ran towards it. At that time a dark servant was graz-
ing her master’s horse and she saw the beautiful prin-
cess coming away from the side of the fallen young man.
She followed the princess to the edge of the lake and in
her heart she became jealous of her beauty. When the
princess bent down to draw some water, the dark ser-
vant pushed her with great force so that the princess fell
into the lake. The servant came to the prince with some
water from the lake and splashed it on the face of the
prince who immediately opened his eyes and regained
consciousness.
He looked round to see the beautiful princess but
there was only a dark woman standing before him. He
251
asked her where the princess had gone and the cunning
servant told him that she was the beautiful princess her-
self. “I went to fetch some water from the lake in or-
der to splash it on your face when you fainted and by
some strange ill-luck as I was drawing the water; the col-
our of my face changed and I became dark.” The prince
was so confused that he could not understand what had
happened. There was no one in that place with whom he
could enquire so he really believed that some evil spirit
had cast a spell upon him and that it was best to go home
with the dark woman before him.
As he neared the palace, news spread round that
the prince was returning home safe and sound with the
famed princess whom he had gone to seek. The king and
queen rushed out of the palace to greet their son whom
they had never expected to see returning alive from the
adventure. But their joy was clouded by displeasure and
even disgust at the sight of the dark and ugly woman
whom the prince had brought along with him as the prin-
cess from the fruit. The whole court was shocked when
they saw the dark creature and they doubted whether
she was the real princess for whom so many young men
had risked their life.
The people, however, were pleased that their future
king had come back safely after such a perilous guest
and he was hailed everywhere with joy and admiration.
The king and queen felt that it was better to have their
son alive amongst them, even with the ugly woman, than
to have him changed into a stone statue in a far-off land.
So, they made preparations for his marriage. The prince
252
could not remember what had happened to him after

he broke open the fruit on the way. He acknowledged
the good wishes of his people but he was strangely un-
happy within himself. Sometimes in the darkness of the
night the vision of the beautiful princess with golden hair,
which he had momentarily seen before he fainted, came
back to him as in a flash. With a sad heart he went
through the marriage ceremony and wished that he had
never gone on that unfortunate adventure.
After some time a beautiful lotus bloomed in the lake.
Its beauty was so great that it attracted the attention of
every passer-by and brought a smile of deep happiness
to the spectator. Many a passer-by tried to pluck it from
the lake but every time an attempt was made, the flower
moved further and further away from the edge of the lake
towards the centre so that no one could secure it.
One day, the prince happened to pass by the side of
the lake, on his way back to the palace from a hunting
expedition. His eyes fell upon the lotus and he felt su-
preme happiness within him which made him smile as
he had never smiled before. The prince was full of great
surprise and he approached the edge of the lake. He
alighted from his horse, entered the water and stretched
out his hand to pluck the flower. Strangely enough the
lotus did not move away as usual so that the prince was
able to pluck it. The beauty of the flower which he now
held in his hand made the prince remember the princess
whom he had seen as in a dream. He rode home and
showed the lotus to his father and mother and the whole
household. Everyone was charmed by the flower and
253
smiled as never before. Only the dark wife of the prince

seemed to be unaffected and she was curious to know
from where the prince had brought the flower. When he
told her about the lake she remembered her guilt and be-
came suspicious of the flower. She asked her husband for
it and he readily gave it to her. She immediately boiled
it in water and then threw the dead flower and the water
out of the window.
In a few days there grew a capsicum tree below the
window where the dead lotus had fallen and it bore a
beautiful red fruit. One day the prince saw the fruit and
he smiled and felt exactly as he had felt when he had seen
the lotus in the lake. Every morning he used to stand at
the window and watch the red fruit with a mysterious
smile upon this face.
His wife one morning saw him at the window smiling
at someone but she could see no one. She watched him
the next day and saw him at the window for a long time,
with a smile on his face. As he seemed to be watching
the fruit of the capsicum tree, she made up her mind to
cut it down in the evening and so she did and flung the
tree outside the gate.
In a short time there grew a huge tree where the cap-
sicum tree had been thrown and soon it bore fruit in
great abundance. It was a very strange fruit, for anyone
who ate it felt completely full as if he had had a square
meal. The people of the kingdom came to know of the
strange quality of the fruit and they gathered all the fruit
that fell and this satisfied their hunger.
254
The dark wife came to know about all this and once
again became suspicious and said to her husband that
it was useless to have the huge tree whose fruit was en-
joyed by any and every passerby. “It is of no use to us,”
she said, “it is better if you order it to be cut down.”
The prince gave the order to have the tree cut down,
and when the people came to know of this they were very
sad. On the day on which the tree was to be cut down,
people from far and near came with big and small bas-
kets to collect the fruit.
There was an old woman who lived by the side of the
palace and who was very eager to have a couple of fruits
from the tree but as she had to attend to her daily work
at a neighbour’s house, she asked her grandson to go to
the palace and bring some of the fruit. The young boy
went with a small basket but on the way he saw some
boys playing in the street. So he stopped to join them
and forgot all about the fruit. After the game he rushed
to the palace where the tree was cut down but all the
fruit had been already gathered and the boy had to come
back home with the empty basket.
The old woman was very disappointed when she saw
the boy had brought not a single fruit. She asked the boy
to go again the next day and bring the base of the trunk
of the tree. “It will be heavy, so you will have to roll it
here.” The boy set out the next morning and began to
push the base of the trunk with all the force in his body.
It was a slow and difficult job but since he had promised
his grandmother that he would bring it, he pushed it on-
wards, helped now and then by some boys along the way
255
till he brought it to the very door of the hut in which

his grandmother and he lived. The old woman was very
happy to see the gnarled part of the tree, and thanked
her grandson.
The next morning she boiled some paddy and spread it
out on a bamboo mat for drying. As she went for her daily
work she told the boy to look after the paddy and see that
no cattle came and ate it. But the boy was playful; so he
joined some of the village boys and began to play with
them. In the meantime, one of the female buffaloes of
the king’s farm strayed near the paddy and began to eat
it. Suddenly, a beautiful woman came out of the trunk of
the tree and drove away the buffalo. It happened that the
dark wife of the prince saw the beautiful woman coming
out of the tree trunk and suspected that it must be the
same princess whom she had four times tried to kill. She
was very jealous that she was still alive and so she called
two workmen and told them to break open the tree-trunk.
“And bring me the heart and liver of the person you find
in it.”
The men broke open the tree-trunk with their
hatchets and out came the beautiful princess and at the
sight of her dazzling beauty they had no heart to kill her.
They informed her what the ugly wife of the prince had
ordered them to do. The princess told them that they
would gain nothing by killing her and offered them a
necklace which she wore by way of reward. But the good
men thanked her for her offer and advised her to go away
immediately to the nearby hillside. The workmen hacked
the trunk to small pieces and in the evening informed the
256
dark wife that they had found nothing in the trunk.

The princess walked into the depths of the forest on
the hill and there made a home for herself. She built a
small cottage and tamed a parrot whom she taught to
speak. She also told him the whole story of her life.
One evening the prince happened to lose his way as
he was returning home from a hunt. It was growing dark
and he could hear the roaring of lions and tigers and the
loud cries of wild beasts. He was all alone and so became
afraid, so he climbed a tall tree and looked all round to
see if there was any human dwelling nearby. After some
time he saw a small light in the distance, right in the very
heart of the forest, and he was for a moment surprised
that anyone should be living in this dangerous part of the
forest. He wondered whether it was a trick of the devil,
and looked hard and long and finally made up his mind
to take the risk of finding whether it was a light from an
inhabited house.
He walked towards the light and after a time came in
front of a beautiful cottage. He wondered who could live
in the centre of the world of tigers and lions, in such a
desolate place. For a moment he was reluctant to knock
at the door, but he gently rapped and waited with hushed
breath. A woman’s voice asked him who he was and what
he wanted.
“I am a hunter who has lost his way in this forest full
of danger. I seek shelter for the night from wild beasts. I
beg you to let me in.”
He waited in silence to hear the reply to his words and
the woman said, “I am all alone in this cottage, hunter,
257
and I never open the door to any man after nightfall. My

parrot is in the verandah outside, you may sleep there.”
“I am afraid of the wild beasts in the forest, dear wo-
man,” said the prince.
But the woman would not open the
door and the prince had no other way
but to sleep in the verandah. But be- But the woman
fore he went to sleep the prince asked would not open the
the woman why she lived all by herself door and the prince
in such a forest haunted by wild beasts. had no other way
“I cannot sleep here for fear of lions but to sleep in the
and tigers,” he said, “dear woman, tell verandah.
me why you live alone in this manner.
You must be unhappy. Do tell me the story of your life, so
that I may pass this night in peace.”
The woman inside then told him the whole story of
how she was treated by the son of a king who fell victim
to the deceit of a dark servant and married her. “I am the
princess whom he had won but later lost.”
The prince listened to the story with rapt attention
and when he came to know that she was the very prin-
cess he himself had won and lost, he was very happy,
and told her who he was and how the cunning negress
had deceived him.
The princess was glad that her patient waiting for the
prince was at an end and so she opened the door and
took him in.
The next morning the prince set out with the princess
and her parrot, to his palace. When they reached the
palace gates the prince called for the negress and asked
258
her if she recognised the beautiful princess. The negress

was shocked to see the princess and was speechless be-
cause of her guilt. The prince then drew his sword and
cut off the head of the negress.
Then he led the princess into the presence of his
father and mother and he told them the whole story of
how he had been deceived by the negress. The king and
queen welcomed the beautiful princess and their happi-
ness knew no bounds.
Soon the prince and princess were married in great
pomp and ceremony and after the death of the king, the
prince ruled the kingdom and the two lived happily ever
afterwards.
259
Good for Evil
here once lived a man and his wife, and they had
T two sons. When the sons came of age, they were
married, and they and their wives lived together with
the old parents. The elder son, however, decided to go
abroad in order to make his living and so he left for a
distant country, leaving his wife at home. The younger
son remained behind in order to help his old parents with
the work in the fields.
The old mother liked the wife of the
younger son, but she disliked the wife
The elder son
of the older brother and ill-treated her
in the house. decided to go
The older daughter-in-law was un- abroad in order to
happy in the house, and one day when make his living.
her patience was exhausted, she left for
her own home. She told her parents of the ill-treatment
that she had received in her mother-in-law’s house since
her husband had gone abroad, and the parents, seeing
that she had been very unhappy in her husband’s house,
asked her to stay with them till her husband returned.
And so she remained with her parents for one year.
260
Good for Evil
When news came to her that her husband was return-

ing, her brother took her home to her husband’s. The old
mother-in-law was very angry with her because she had
stayed away for so long and made up her mind to take
revenge on her.
On the day her elder son came home, she brought a
snake and threw it in the corner of the room where the
elder son and his wife would sleep that night. The young
wife was happy that her husband had come back, for she
knew that the old mother-in-law would not be able to ill-
treat her now.
That night, however, the snake bit the young wife,
while her husband was fast asleep. She was full of pain
from the bite, and the poison gradually began to mount
to her head. So she called out to her father-in-law.
O father-in-law, asleep on the bed,

A snake has bitten me.
But he was fast asleep and did not reply to her. She,
therefore, called out to her brother-in-law.
O brother-in-law, asleep on the bed,

But the brother-in-law was also fast asleep and could not
come to her rescue. She next called out her sister-in-law:
O sister-in-law, asleep on the bed,

But her words fell on deaf ears because the sister-in-law

was asleep, and so she finally called her husband.
261
Good for Evil
The husband woke up on hearing these words and saw

that his wife was in her death-throes, so he said to his
mother in bitter tones:
Mother, asleep on the bed,

You have done away with another’s child.
But his mother calmly said in reply:
Son, you are my first-born,

And I will get you another wife.
Son, you are my first-born,
So sleep in peace.
That night the wife died of the snake-bite and soon pre-
parations were, therefore, made to cremate her body.
The husband went to fetch new articles of wear and other
necessary things in order to prepare her body for the fu-
neral pyre. He first went to the shop of the clothier and
said:
O clothier, asleep in your house,

Open the door to me.
And the clothier said in reply:
At this time of the night,

What urgent business is yours?
And the sorrowing husband replied:
Cursed be the business in hand
The young husband took a sari from the clothier and

went to the bangle-seller and said to him:
262
Good for Evil
O bangle-seller, asleep in your house,

Open the door to me.
The bangle-seller asked him in reply:
At this time of the night,

And the husband said in reply:
Cursed be the business in hand.
He then took some pairs of bangles and went to the wood-

man and called out to him:
O woodman, asleep in your house,

Open your door to me.
The woodman said to him in reply:
At this time of the night.

The husband repeated the words:
Cursed be the business in hand.
With the logs the husband went home and the body of
the wife was prepared for the funeral.
The body was carried to the cremation ground, the
logs were piled up and the body was placed on the top.
But just as the fire was being lighted, the brother of the
girl arrived and asked them to stop the ceremony. He
came close to the body of his sister and squeezed into
her eyes the juice of some herbs, and the girl opened her
eyes and became alive. The mourners were surprised at
263
Good for Evil
this strange event, and the husband was full of joy. The
brother then told the mourners to go back home, and he
took his sister and brother-in-law with him to his own
home where they stayed for some time till they had a
house built for themselves on the outskirts of their own
village. The young man was quite prosperous and the
two lived in perfect happiness.
In the meantime a great misfortune fell upon the old
parents of the boy and his younger brother and sister-in-
law.
They lost all that they had, their money and their prop-
erty, and were reduced to beggary. The younger son and
his wife went about far and near selling firewood which
they gathered from the hills.
One day they passed by the side of the house of
his elder brother who recognised them. It was a big
house, well-furnished and full of servants. The younger
brother and his wife, however, did not recognise the
elder brother and his wife who took pity upon them and
asked their servants to give them enough food to eat and
some clothes, and money. The elder brother asked about
their father and mother and was told that they were very
poor and in great distress. He, therefore, asked the
younger brother to bring them along with them the next
time they came to sell firewood.
The two were very pleased with the treatment they
had received in the big house and when they reached
home the younger son told his father and mother the
good news and showed them the clothes and money they
had brought with them. “They have asked us to bring you
264
Good for Evil
two with us when we go there next,” they finally added.

The whole family, therefore, set out to the distant
place where the elder brother and his wife were eagerly
waiting for them. The old man and his wife were over-
whelmed with joy when they were received so warmly
by the strange pair. The elder son could not keep the
secret of who he was long from his parents, so he told
them who they really were. The discovery was a great
shock to the old parents, especially to the mother who
had treated the daughter-in-law so ill. She fell upon her
knees and prayed for forgiveness and the daughter-in-
law embraced her and forgave her.
The elder son then told them that providence had
united them once again, and he asked his parents to stay
with him and his wife till the end of their days, and he
told his younger brother that he would give him employ-
ment so that he and his wife could live in comfort and
happiness.
Thus, the whole family was reunited in the bonds of
love and gratitude, and lived in harmony till the end of
their lives.
Build the Gift Economy: As a small ‘repayment’ for this book, we

request readers to buy one Goa book and gift the same to
someone in Goa or in the diaspora. Build the Goan reading habit.
Join the Goa Book Club at
http://groups.google.com/group/goa-book-club
265

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The Wise Fools of Moira...

A Collection by Prof Lucio Rodrigues

This edition is released under the Creative Commons. Some rights

Goa,1556, Saligão 403511 Goa, India.

Compiled by Prof. Eusebio Rodrigues/Esme Rodrigues-Abedin

See Goa,1556 catalogue at http://goa1556.in

The Wise Fools of Moira 9

The Bell of Guirim Church 20

Jesus is not Ours! Jesus is Theirs! 25

The Man from Kunkolim 28

The Baker from the South 33

The Path of Heaven 37

Pascoal and Vincente Bab 44

The Princess Beyond the Seven Seas 49

The Dark Drummer and the Princess 77

The Girl with the Straw Hat 84

The Spell of Evil 95

The Writ of Destiny 102

Destiny Averted 113

The Three Brothers 118

The Girl with Golden Hair 125

The Gambler Who Always Won 132

Loyal Friends 138

The Wicked Step-Mother 145

The Coral Necklace 154

Seven Brothers and a Sister 160

Twenty Brothers and a Sister 164

The Father of Rakshasas 170

The Dull School Boy 175

The Ambitious Fox 178

The Fox and the Crocodile 183

Master Fox and the Honeycomb 186

A State Funeral for Master Fox 189

A Cure for Tale Bearing 193

The Goan Son-in-Law: In Fact and in Fiction 197

The Peasant and the Vicar 210

The Vicar and the Master Tailor 213

Answer to a Prayer 217

The Patron of Lawyers 221

The Old Woman 225

The Brahmin Outwitted 228

Seven Sons and a Daughter 239

The Princess from the Fruit 246

Good for Evil 260

ell us a story’ – that has been the cry of mankind

Synge in the Aran Islands, and rendering them into En-

Whatever the composition of the folk tale, it illustrates

s there a contradiction between wisdom and folly?

Imagine a people as simple as simplicity itself, with an

As their numbers increased from year to year, the people

most wizened of them. He was easily the eldest Moid-

problem, though each of the gaumkars took part in the

of the church and pushed it with all the faith of their

The people of Moira are fine cultivators. One day, a

“Excellent!. Excellent!” cried the others, with hearty

Loyalty to one’s ruler comes next to loyalty to one’s

It was Holy Saturday, and the church of Moira was

In the green gardens the ginger crop was ready.

Old Salu, Pedro’s neighbour, was

began the O Salutaris, Pedro pricked his ears and said

The people of Moira rarely went beyond Mapuça,

“Be always together. If you halt for rest, and then