The Project Gutenberg eBook ofFolk-Tales of Bengal

The Project Gutenberg eBook ofFolk-Tales of BengalThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Folk-Tales of BengalAuthor: Lal Behari DayIllustrator: Warwick GobleRelease date: January 3, 2012 [eBook #38488]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for ProjectGutenberg. (This file was produced from images generouslymade available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLK-TALES OF BENGAL ***

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Folk-Tales of BengalAuthor: Lal Behari DayIllustrator: Warwick GobleRelease date: January 3, 2012 [eBook #38488]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for ProjectGutenberg. (This file was produced from images generouslymade available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

Title: Folk-Tales of Bengal

Author: Lal Behari DayIllustrator: Warwick Goble

Author: Lal Behari Day

Illustrator: Warwick Goble

Release date: January 3, 2012 [eBook #38488]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for ProjectGutenberg. (This file was produced from images generouslymade available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLK-TALES OF BENGAL ***

Folk-Tales of BengalMACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITEDLONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTAMELBOURNETHE MACMILLAN COMPANYNEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGODALLAS · SAN FRANCISCOTHE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.TORONTO“She rushed out of the palace ... and came to the upper world.”“She rushed out of the palace ... and came to the upper world.”Folk-Tales of BengalBy theRev. Lal Behari DayAuthor of ‘Bengal Peasant Life,’ etc.With 32 illustrations in colourByWarwick GobleMacmillan and Co., LimitedSt. Martin’s Street, London1912COPYRIGHTFirst Edition 1883With Coloured Illustrations by Warwick Goble, 1912TORICHARD CARNAC TEMPLECAPTAIN, BENGAL STAFF CORPSF.R.G.S., M.R.A.S., M.A.I., ETC.WHO FIRST SUGGESTED TO THE WRITERTHE IDEA OF COLLECTINGTHESE TALESAND WHO IS DOING SO MUCHIN THE CAUSE OF INDIAN FOLK-LORETHIS LITTLE BOOKIS INSCRIBEDPrefaceIn myPeasant Life in BengalI make the peasant boy Govinda spend some hours every evening in listening to stories told by an old woman, who was called Sambhu’s mother, and who was the best story-teller in the village. On reading that passage, Captain R. C. Temple, of the Bengal Staff Corps, son of the distinguished Indian administrator Sir Richard Temple, wrote to me to say how interesting it would be to get a collection of those unwritten stories which old women in India recite to little children in the evenings, and to ask whether I could not make such a collection. As I was no stranger to theMährchenof the Brothers Grimm, to theNorse Talesso admirably told by Dasent, to Arnason’sIcelandic Storiestranslated by Powell, to theHighland Storiesdone into English by Campbell, and to the fairy stories collected byother writers, and as I believed that the collection suggested would be a contribution, however slight, to that daily increasing literature of folk-lore and comparative mythology which, like comparative philosophy, proves that the swarthy and half-naked peasant on the banks of the Ganges is a cousin, albeit of the hundredth remove, to the fair-skinned and well-dressed Englishman on the banks of the Thames, I readily caught up the idea and cast about for materials. But where was an old story-telling woman to be got? I had myself, when a little boy, heard hundreds—it would be no exaggeration to say thousands—of fairy tales from that same old woman, Sambhu’s mother—for she was no fictitious person; she actually lived in the flesh and bore that name; but I had nearly forgotten those stories, at any rate they had all got confused in my head, the tail of one story being joined to the head of another, and the head of a third to the tail of a fourth. How I wished that poor Sambhu’s mother had been alive! But she had gone long, long ago, to that bourne from which no traveller returns, and her son Sambhu, too, had followed her thither. After a great dealof search I found my Gammer Grethel—though not half so old as theFrau Viehmänninof Hesse-Cassel—in the person of a Bengali Christian woman, who, when a little girl and living in her heathen home, had heard many stories from her old grandmother. She was a good story-teller, but her stock was not large; and after I had heard ten from her I had to look about for fresh sources. An old Brahman told me two stories; an old barber, three; an old servant of mine told me two; and the rest I heard from another old Brahman. None of my authorities knew English; they all told the stories in Bengali, and I translated them into English when I came home. I heard many more stories than those contained in the following pages; but I rejected a great many, as they appeared to me to contain spurious additions to the original stories which I had heard when a boy. I have reason to believe that the stories given in this book are a genuine sample of the old old stories told by old Bengali women from age to age through a hundred generations.Sambhu’s mother used always to end every one of her stories—and every orthodox Bengali story-tellerdoes the same—with repeating the following formula:—Thus my story endeth,The Natiya-thorn withereth.“Why, O Natiya-thorn, dost wither?”“Why does thy cow on me browse?”“Why, O cow, dost thou browse?”“Why does thy neat-herd not tend me?”“Why, O neat-herd, dost not tend the cow?”“Why does thy daughter-in-law not give me rice?”“Why, O daughter-in-law, dost not give rice?”“Why does my child cry?”“Why, O child, dost thou cry?”“Why does the ant bite me?”“Why, O ant, dost thou bite?”Koot! koot! koot!What these lines mean, why they are repeated at the end of every story, and what the connection is of the several parts to one another, I do not know. Perhaps the whole is a string of nonsense purposely put together to amuse little children.Lal Behari Day.Hooghly College,February 27, 1883.ContentsPAGE1.Life’s Secret12.Phakir Chand163.The Indigent Brahman514.The Story of the Rakshasas615.The Story of Swet-Basanta896.The Evil Eye of Sani1047.The Boy whom Seven Mothers suckled1138.The Story of Prince Sobur1199.The Origin of Opium13210.Strike but Hear14011.The Adventures of Two Thieves and of their Sons15212.The Ghost-Brahman17313.The Man who wished to be Perfect17814.A Ghostly Wife18815.The Story of a Brahmadaitya19216.The Story of a Hiraman20017.The Origin of Rubies21118.The Match-making Jackal21719.The Boy with the Moon on his Forehead22720.The Ghost who was Afraid of being Bagged24721.The Field of Bones25122.The Bald Wife269IllustrationsFacing page“She rushed out of the palace ... and came to the upper world” (p. 26)Frontispiece“The Suo queen went to the door with a handful of rice”1“The prince revived, and, walking about, saw a human figure near the gate”9“She took up the jewel in her hand, left the palace, and successfully reached the upper world”22“He rushed out of his hiding-place and killed the serpent”43“Instead of sweetmeats about a score of demons”56“At the door of which stood a lady of exquisite beauty”62“In a trice she woke up, sat up in her bed, and eyeing the stranger, inquired who he was”77The Girl of the Wall-Almirah90“On a sudden an elephant gorgeously caparisoned shot across his path”95“They then set out on their journey”106“A monstrous bird comes out apparently from the palace”117“Hundreds of peacocks of gorgeous plumes came to the embankments to eat thekhai”123“‘You would adorn the palace of the mightiest sovereign’”138“He saw a beautiful woman coming out of the palace”141“‘Husband, take up all this large quantity of gold and these precious stones’”145“They ran away in great fear, leaving behind them the money and jewels”162“The camel-driver alighted, tied the camel to a tree on the spot, and began smoking”170“‘How is it that you have returned so soon?’”174“At dawn he used to cull flowers in the forest”181“The Brahman’s wife had occasion to go to the tank, and as she went she brushed by a Sankchinni”188“The moment the first stroke was given, a great many ghosts rushed towards the Brahman”194“The lady, king, and hiraman all reached the king’s capital safe and sound”210“‘What princess ever puts only one ruby in her hair?’”214“Coming up to the surface they climbed into the boat”216“The jackal ... opened his bundle of betel-leaves, put some into his mouth, and began chewing them”218“A bright light, like that of the moon, was seen shining on his forehead”237“The six queens tried to comfort him”238“‘Now, barber, I am going to destroy you. Who will protect you?’”248“They approached a magnificent pile of buildings”259“Thus the princess was deserted”266“When she got out of the water, what a change was seen in her!”271

Folk-Tales of Bengal

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITEDLONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTAMELBOURNETHE MACMILLAN COMPANYNEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGODALLAS · SAN FRANCISCOTHE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.TORONTO

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITEDLONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTAMELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN COMPANYNEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGODALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.TORONTO

“She rushed out of the palace ... and came to the upper world.”“She rushed out of the palace ... and came to the upper world.”

“She rushed out of the palace ... and came to the upper world.”

Folk-Tales of BengalBy theRev. Lal Behari DayAuthor of ‘Bengal Peasant Life,’ etc.With 32 illustrations in colourByWarwick GobleMacmillan and Co., LimitedSt. Martin’s Street, London1912

Folk-Tales of Bengal

By theRev. Lal Behari DayAuthor of ‘Bengal Peasant Life,’ etc.With 32 illustrations in colourByWarwick Goble

Macmillan and Co., LimitedSt. Martin’s Street, London1912

COPYRIGHTFirst Edition 1883With Coloured Illustrations by Warwick Goble, 1912

First Edition 1883With Coloured Illustrations by Warwick Goble, 1912

TORICHARD CARNAC TEMPLECAPTAIN, BENGAL STAFF CORPSF.R.G.S., M.R.A.S., M.A.I., ETC.WHO FIRST SUGGESTED TO THE WRITERTHE IDEA OF COLLECTINGTHESE TALESAND WHO IS DOING SO MUCHIN THE CAUSE OF INDIAN FOLK-LORETHIS LITTLE BOOKIS INSCRIBED

PrefaceIn myPeasant Life in BengalI make the peasant boy Govinda spend some hours every evening in listening to stories told by an old woman, who was called Sambhu’s mother, and who was the best story-teller in the village. On reading that passage, Captain R. C. Temple, of the Bengal Staff Corps, son of the distinguished Indian administrator Sir Richard Temple, wrote to me to say how interesting it would be to get a collection of those unwritten stories which old women in India recite to little children in the evenings, and to ask whether I could not make such a collection. As I was no stranger to theMährchenof the Brothers Grimm, to theNorse Talesso admirably told by Dasent, to Arnason’sIcelandic Storiestranslated by Powell, to theHighland Storiesdone into English by Campbell, and to the fairy stories collected byother writers, and as I believed that the collection suggested would be a contribution, however slight, to that daily increasing literature of folk-lore and comparative mythology which, like comparative philosophy, proves that the swarthy and half-naked peasant on the banks of the Ganges is a cousin, albeit of the hundredth remove, to the fair-skinned and well-dressed Englishman on the banks of the Thames, I readily caught up the idea and cast about for materials. But where was an old story-telling woman to be got? I had myself, when a little boy, heard hundreds—it would be no exaggeration to say thousands—of fairy tales from that same old woman, Sambhu’s mother—for she was no fictitious person; she actually lived in the flesh and bore that name; but I had nearly forgotten those stories, at any rate they had all got confused in my head, the tail of one story being joined to the head of another, and the head of a third to the tail of a fourth. How I wished that poor Sambhu’s mother had been alive! But she had gone long, long ago, to that bourne from which no traveller returns, and her son Sambhu, too, had followed her thither. After a great dealof search I found my Gammer Grethel—though not half so old as theFrau Viehmänninof Hesse-Cassel—in the person of a Bengali Christian woman, who, when a little girl and living in her heathen home, had heard many stories from her old grandmother. She was a good story-teller, but her stock was not large; and after I had heard ten from her I had to look about for fresh sources. An old Brahman told me two stories; an old barber, three; an old servant of mine told me two; and the rest I heard from another old Brahman. None of my authorities knew English; they all told the stories in Bengali, and I translated them into English when I came home. I heard many more stories than those contained in the following pages; but I rejected a great many, as they appeared to me to contain spurious additions to the original stories which I had heard when a boy. I have reason to believe that the stories given in this book are a genuine sample of the old old stories told by old Bengali women from age to age through a hundred generations.Sambhu’s mother used always to end every one of her stories—and every orthodox Bengali story-tellerdoes the same—with repeating the following formula:—Thus my story endeth,The Natiya-thorn withereth.“Why, O Natiya-thorn, dost wither?”“Why does thy cow on me browse?”“Why, O cow, dost thou browse?”“Why does thy neat-herd not tend me?”“Why, O neat-herd, dost not tend the cow?”“Why does thy daughter-in-law not give me rice?”“Why, O daughter-in-law, dost not give rice?”“Why does my child cry?”“Why, O child, dost thou cry?”“Why does the ant bite me?”“Why, O ant, dost thou bite?”Koot! koot! koot!What these lines mean, why they are repeated at the end of every story, and what the connection is of the several parts to one another, I do not know. Perhaps the whole is a string of nonsense purposely put together to amuse little children.Lal Behari Day.Hooghly College,February 27, 1883.

Preface

In myPeasant Life in BengalI make the peasant boy Govinda spend some hours every evening in listening to stories told by an old woman, who was called Sambhu’s mother, and who was the best story-teller in the village. On reading that passage, Captain R. C. Temple, of the Bengal Staff Corps, son of the distinguished Indian administrator Sir Richard Temple, wrote to me to say how interesting it would be to get a collection of those unwritten stories which old women in India recite to little children in the evenings, and to ask whether I could not make such a collection. As I was no stranger to theMährchenof the Brothers Grimm, to theNorse Talesso admirably told by Dasent, to Arnason’sIcelandic Storiestranslated by Powell, to theHighland Storiesdone into English by Campbell, and to the fairy stories collected byother writers, and as I believed that the collection suggested would be a contribution, however slight, to that daily increasing literature of folk-lore and comparative mythology which, like comparative philosophy, proves that the swarthy and half-naked peasant on the banks of the Ganges is a cousin, albeit of the hundredth remove, to the fair-skinned and well-dressed Englishman on the banks of the Thames, I readily caught up the idea and cast about for materials. But where was an old story-telling woman to be got? I had myself, when a little boy, heard hundreds—it would be no exaggeration to say thousands—of fairy tales from that same old woman, Sambhu’s mother—for she was no fictitious person; she actually lived in the flesh and bore that name; but I had nearly forgotten those stories, at any rate they had all got confused in my head, the tail of one story being joined to the head of another, and the head of a third to the tail of a fourth. How I wished that poor Sambhu’s mother had been alive! But she had gone long, long ago, to that bourne from which no traveller returns, and her son Sambhu, too, had followed her thither. After a great dealof search I found my Gammer Grethel—though not half so old as theFrau Viehmänninof Hesse-Cassel—in the person of a Bengali Christian woman, who, when a little girl and living in her heathen home, had heard many stories from her old grandmother. She was a good story-teller, but her stock was not large; and after I had heard ten from her I had to look about for fresh sources. An old Brahman told me two stories; an old barber, three; an old servant of mine told me two; and the rest I heard from another old Brahman. None of my authorities knew English; they all told the stories in Bengali, and I translated them into English when I came home. I heard many more stories than those contained in the following pages; but I rejected a great many, as they appeared to me to contain spurious additions to the original stories which I had heard when a boy. I have reason to believe that the stories given in this book are a genuine sample of the old old stories told by old Bengali women from age to age through a hundred generations.Sambhu’s mother used always to end every one of her stories—and every orthodox Bengali story-tellerdoes the same—with repeating the following formula:—Thus my story endeth,The Natiya-thorn withereth.“Why, O Natiya-thorn, dost wither?”“Why does thy cow on me browse?”“Why, O cow, dost thou browse?”“Why does thy neat-herd not tend me?”“Why, O neat-herd, dost not tend the cow?”“Why does thy daughter-in-law not give me rice?”“Why, O daughter-in-law, dost not give rice?”“Why does my child cry?”“Why, O child, dost thou cry?”“Why does the ant bite me?”“Why, O ant, dost thou bite?”Koot! koot! koot!What these lines mean, why they are repeated at the end of every story, and what the connection is of the several parts to one another, I do not know. Perhaps the whole is a string of nonsense purposely put together to amuse little children.Lal Behari Day.Hooghly College,February 27, 1883.

Sambhu’s mother used always to end every one of her stories—and every orthodox Bengali story-tellerdoes the same—with repeating the following formula:—

Thus my story endeth,The Natiya-thorn withereth.“Why, O Natiya-thorn, dost wither?”“Why does thy cow on me browse?”“Why, O cow, dost thou browse?”“Why does thy neat-herd not tend me?”“Why, O neat-herd, dost not tend the cow?”“Why does thy daughter-in-law not give me rice?”“Why, O daughter-in-law, dost not give rice?”“Why does my child cry?”“Why, O child, dost thou cry?”“Why does the ant bite me?”“Why, O ant, dost thou bite?”Koot! koot! koot!

Thus my story endeth,

The Natiya-thorn withereth.

“Why, O Natiya-thorn, dost wither?”

“Why does thy cow on me browse?”

“Why, O cow, dost thou browse?”

“Why does thy neat-herd not tend me?”

“Why, O neat-herd, dost not tend the cow?”

“Why does thy daughter-in-law not give me rice?”

“Why, O daughter-in-law, dost not give rice?”

“Why does my child cry?”

“Why, O child, dost thou cry?”

“Why does the ant bite me?”

“Why, O ant, dost thou bite?”

Koot! koot! koot!

What these lines mean, why they are repeated at the end of every story, and what the connection is of the several parts to one another, I do not know. Perhaps the whole is a string of nonsense purposely put together to amuse little children.

Lal Behari Day.

Hooghly College,

February 27, 1883.

ContentsPAGE1.Life’s Secret12.Phakir Chand163.The Indigent Brahman514.The Story of the Rakshasas615.The Story of Swet-Basanta896.The Evil Eye of Sani1047.The Boy whom Seven Mothers suckled1138.The Story of Prince Sobur1199.The Origin of Opium13210.Strike but Hear14011.The Adventures of Two Thieves and of their Sons15212.The Ghost-Brahman17313.The Man who wished to be Perfect17814.A Ghostly Wife18815.The Story of a Brahmadaitya19216.The Story of a Hiraman20017.The Origin of Rubies21118.The Match-making Jackal21719.The Boy with the Moon on his Forehead22720.The Ghost who was Afraid of being Bagged24721.The Field of Bones25122.The Bald Wife269

IllustrationsFacing page“She rushed out of the palace ... and came to the upper world” (p. 26)Frontispiece“The Suo queen went to the door with a handful of rice”1“The prince revived, and, walking about, saw a human figure near the gate”9“She took up the jewel in her hand, left the palace, and successfully reached the upper world”22“He rushed out of his hiding-place and killed the serpent”43“Instead of sweetmeats about a score of demons”56“At the door of which stood a lady of exquisite beauty”62“In a trice she woke up, sat up in her bed, and eyeing the stranger, inquired who he was”77The Girl of the Wall-Almirah90“On a sudden an elephant gorgeously caparisoned shot across his path”95“They then set out on their journey”106“A monstrous bird comes out apparently from the palace”117“Hundreds of peacocks of gorgeous plumes came to the embankments to eat thekhai”123“‘You would adorn the palace of the mightiest sovereign’”138“He saw a beautiful woman coming out of the palace”141“‘Husband, take up all this large quantity of gold and these precious stones’”145“They ran away in great fear, leaving behind them the money and jewels”162“The camel-driver alighted, tied the camel to a tree on the spot, and began smoking”170“‘How is it that you have returned so soon?’”174“At dawn he used to cull flowers in the forest”181“The Brahman’s wife had occasion to go to the tank, and as she went she brushed by a Sankchinni”188“The moment the first stroke was given, a great many ghosts rushed towards the Brahman”194“The lady, king, and hiraman all reached the king’s capital safe and sound”210“‘What princess ever puts only one ruby in her hair?’”214“Coming up to the surface they climbed into the boat”216“The jackal ... opened his bundle of betel-leaves, put some into his mouth, and began chewing them”218“A bright light, like that of the moon, was seen shining on his forehead”237“The six queens tried to comfort him”238“‘Now, barber, I am going to destroy you. Who will protect you?’”248“They approached a magnificent pile of buildings”259“Thus the princess was deserted”266“When she got out of the water, what a change was seen in her!”271

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