Story 7 - The Turtle Dove

IN a certain city there are two Princes, it is said. A flower-mother ^[1] cooks and gives food to the two Princes. The mother of the Princes is dead,- the father is alive. The King has married another Queen, and because the Queen is not good to the Princes they live with the flower-mother.

One day, while they were living in that manner, the two Princes having gone to shoot birds with bows and arrows, walked until night-fall, but were unable to find any birds. As they were coming back, there was a Horse-radish tree {Murunga) ^[2] at the front of the King’s palace, in which was a turtle dove. The younger brother saw it, and said to the elder brother,

“Elder brother, there ! There is a turtledove.”

The elder brother shot at the turtle-dove, and it fell dead.

Afterwards, the younger brother having picked it up and come back, said at the hand of the elder brother

“Elder brother, are we to give this to our father the King, or are we to give it to the flower-mother ?”

Then the elder brother said,

“Why should we give it to our father the King ? We will give it to the flower-mother who gives us food and clothing.”

Taking the tur'tle-dove, the two Princes came to the house of the flower-mother, and gave it into the flower-mother’s hand.

On that day the King was not at the palace; only the Queen was there. The Queen remained listening to all that the two Princes said, and stayed looking [to see] if they gave the turtle-dove into the hand of the flower-mother.

That being so, after the King’s return to the palace in the evening the Queen told at the hand of the King what the Princes said, and the fact that they gave the turtle-dove into the hand of the flower-mother.

After that, the King settled to behead both Princes on the morrow. The flower-mother on hearing of it said at the hand of the Princes,

“Children, the King said that he must behead you two to-morrow. To save both your lives go away somewhere.”

Having cooked a bundle of rice in the night, she placed gem-stones at the bottom of the bag and the cooked rice above them ; and having tied up the bag she gave it into the hands of the Princes before it became light, and told them to go.

The two Princes took the bundle of cooked rice and went away. Having gone on and on, being hungry they sat down in the shade of a great forest. For rinsing their mouths after chewing betel, before eating rice, there was no water.

While they were seated there, a turtle-dove came and fell down, making a noise, “tas,” as it struck the ground.

The younger brother asked,

“Elder brother, what shall we do with this turtle-dove ?”

Then the elder brother said,

“Hide it in a heap of leaves, for us to eat it yet.”

The younger brother hid it.

Thereupon a Vaedda came, and asked at the hand of the two brothers,

“Ane ! Didn’t a turtle-dove fall here ?”

The two Princes said,

“No.”

So the Vaedda sought for it, continuing to say,

“Ane ! After trying for seven years, I shot the turtle-dove with my bow and arrow.”

Then the Princes said,

“Ane ! Vaedi-elder-brother, why is the turtle-dove such a good one ?”

The Vaedda replied,

“Why should’nt it be good ? The person who has eaten the right portion at that very time will receive the sovereignty. The person who has eaten the left portion will receive the sovereignty after seven years have gone by.”

Having said thus, the Vaedda sought and sought it; he was unable to find the turtle-dove, and he went away. Then, having cooked it, the elder Prince ate the right half ; the younger Prince ate the left half.

Having eaten it, the elder Prince, taking the small copper water-pot which the flower-mother gave them, went to seek for water. The younger brother remained there.

The elder brother, breaking and throwing down branches all along the path, having gone on and on, came to a large stream. Hearing a beating of tom-toms while getting water in the pot, he stayed there, looking [to see] what it was about. While he was there, the tom-toming having come near him, a tusk elephant came close to the Prince and knelt down.

The Prince knew that the royal elephant had selected him for the sovereignty, and said,

“Ane! A younger brother of mine is there; iiow can I go without him ? I will go there and come with him.”

Then the men who were there said,

“You cannot seek your younger brother; you must mount now.”

Afterwards the Prince having mounted on the elephant, went to the city of that kingdom, and became the king.

The younger brother, after having looked and looked for a long time, taking the bundle of cooked rice, came along the path on which the branches were broken, and descended to the stream. Then, having seen the elephant’s footprints, continuing to say,

“Ane! It is this very elephant that has killed elder brother,”

weeping and weeping he drank water ; and having eaten part of the cooked rice, tied up the other part and went away.

While going along the path on which were the elephant’s footprints, he saw that his Prince’s robes were tom and tom, and repeating,

“Ane ! Elder brother has been killed. It is this very elephant. Kill me also, O Gods,”

weeping and weeping, going on and on, he went after nightfall to a Hettiya’s house at some city or other, and said,

“Ane ! You must give me a resting-place for the night.”

The Hettiya was not at home ; only his wife was there. The woman said to the Prince,

“No resting-place will be given here. We do not allow any one to come to our house. The Hettirala goes to the King, to fan his face. On that account the Hettirala does not permit any one to come to this house. To-day the Hettirala went to the King, to fan his face. He will come at this time. Before he comes go away quickly.”

The Prince said

“Ane ! Don’t say so. There is not a quarter to which I can go now. In some way or other you must give me it.”

Then the woman, taking a bit of mat, gave it into the Prince’s hand, saying,

“If so, go to that calf house. When the Hettiya comes don’t even cough or anything. You must be silent.”

Afterwards, when the Prince was sitting in the calf house, the Hettiya returned, and while he was eating rice a cough came to the Prince. The Prince tried and tried to be silent. He could not. He coughed.

The Hettiya having heard it said to his wife,

“What is that, Bola, I hear there ?”

The woman said,

“Ane ! A youth, not vicious nor low, came and asked for a resting-place. I told him to go to the calf house. Do nothing to him. I told him to get up before daylight and go away.”

Then the Hettiya, saying,

“I told thee, ‘ Do not give a resting-place to any one ’; is it not so ? Why didst thou give it ?”

beat the woman. Having finished eating rice he came into the raised veranda.

When he was there, that Prince took the remains of his rice, and while eating it and thinking in his mind,

“Ane ! Was I not indeed a royal Prince before; why must I stop now in a calf house ?”

he saw the gem-stones at the bottom of the rice, and placing one on his knee ate the rice by its light.

The Hettiya having seen the light, asked at the hand of the woman,

“Ade ! Did you go and give a light also to that one ?”

The woman said,

“It is not a light that I took and gave him.”

Then the Hettiya got up and went to look, and having seen the gem-stone, scolded the woman.

“Ade ! When my friend from a foreign town came dost thou give him a resting-place in this way ? What hast thou given it at the calf house for ? Was there no better place to give ?”

Having said this, and again beaten the woman,

“Quickly warm water,”

he said. After waiting while she was warming it, he took the water into the house, and having placed it there, said to the Prince,

“Let us go, younger brother, to bathe,”

and gave him a bath. After finishing bathing him, having cooked food abundantly and laid the table, he gave him to eat.

When that was finished, he prepared a bed for sleeping, and said,

“Younger brother, come and sleep.”

The Prince came. Afterwards the Hettiya said to the Prince,

“Younger brother, if there are any things of value in your hands give them into my hands. I will return them to you at the time when you ask for them. If they be kept in your hands they may be lost. There are thieves hereabouts; we cannot get rid of them. They will not let us keep anything; they carry it off.”

Then the Prince said

“Ane ! There is nothing in my hands.”

The Hettiya said,

“Nay, there was a gem-stone in your hand ; I saw it. It will be there yet; give me it. I shall not take it in that way. I will give you it at the time when you ask for it.”

The Prince said,

“Ane ! Hetti-elder-brother, I know your Hetti slumber. It is necessary for me to arise early, while it is still night, and go away.”

Then the Hettiya said,

“I shall give you it when you ask for it, no matter if I should be asleep. You can awake me ; then I will give it-”

Having said thus and thus, the Prince gave all the gem-stones into the hands of the Hettiya. The Hettiya taking them and placing them in a house in the middle of seven houses, went to sleep.

Afterwards, the Prince having been asleep, arose while it was still night, and awoke the Hettiya, saying,

“Ane! Hetti-elder-brother, it is necessary for me to go expeditiously. Quickly give me those few gem-stones.”

Thus, in this manner he asks and asks. It is no affair of the Hettiya’s. Then the woman said,

“What is this ! One cannot exist for this troubling. Must not persons who took a thing give it back ? Must not this youth who is not vicious nor low go away ? Why are you keeping them back ?”

After that, the Hettiya, having got up, opening the seven doors of the seven houses came out into the light, and saying,

“When, Bola, did I get gem-stones from thee ?”

he cut off the hair-knot of the Prince, and took him for his slave. So the Prince remained there, continuing to do slave work for the Hettiya.    .

Afterwards, one day the Hettiya and the Prince having gone on a journey somewhere, as they were coming to a stream the seven Princesses of the King of that country having been bathing in the stream, saw the Hettiya and the Prince going on the road.

The youngest Princess said to the other Princesses,

“Elder sisters, that one going there is indeed a Prince.”

The six Princesses said,

“ So indeed ! The Hettiya’s slave has become a Prince to thee !”

Then the Princess said another time,

“However much you should say it is not so, that is indeed a Prince going along there.”

The six Princesses said,

“It is not merely that to thee the Hettiya’s slave has become a Prince; he will come to call thee [to be his wife].”

Then the Princess replied still another time,

“It is really so ; he is inviting me indeed. However much you should say that, it was really a Prince who went there.”

The six Princesses said,

“If he is inviting thee go thou also. The Hettiya’s slave is going there; go thou before he departs.”

The Princess replied,

“I shall really go. You look. What though I have not gone now! Shall I not go hereafter ?”

After the seven Princesses had come to the palace, the youngest Princess said at the hand of her father the King,

“When we were bathing now, a slave youth went along with the Hettiya. That slave youth is really a Prince.”

Then the King sent an order to the Hettiya that the Hettiya’s slave and the Hettiya should come to him. Afterwards the Hettiya and the Hettiya’s slave went to the King.

The King asked,

“Whence this slave youth ?”

Then before the Hettiya said anything the Prince replied,

“I was formerly a royal Prince ; now I am doing slave work for this Hetti-elder-brother.”

The King asked at the hand of the Hettiya,

“Is he doing slave work for you ?”

The Hettiya said,

“Yes.”

After that, the King decided that he would give his youngest daughter to the slave youth (as his wife), so he sent away the Hettiya, and the Princess with the slave youth.

As those three were going to the Hettiya’s house, the Hettiya, becoming hungry while on the way, gave money into the hand of the Prince, and said,

“With this money get three gills of rice, and with these ten sallis (half farthings) get a sun-dried fish, and come back and cook them.”

He gave money for it separately into the Prince’s hand.

The Prince having bought three gills of rice with the money given for it, and placed it on the hearth to boil, took the ten sallis and went to the shops for the dried fish. When he looked at the dried fish there was none to get for ten sallis.

As he was coming back bringing the ten sallis, a man was on the road, having laid down a heap of dried fish. When the Prince came there the man asked him,

“Where, younger brother, are you going P”

The Prince said,

“I came for a dried fish; I have ten sallis. There being no dried fish to get for ten sallis I am going away.”

Then the man said,

“Give me the ten sallis. Take any dried fish you want.”

So the Prince having given the ten sallis to the trader, selected a large dried fish, and putting it on his shoulder, as he was coming near the river the dried fish was laughing. After laughing, it asked,

“ Are you taking me in this manner to cook ?”

The Prince replied,

“Yes, to cook indeed.”

The dried fish said,

“Do not take me. You are going to die now. From that I will deliver you. Put me into the river.”

The Prince having placed the dried fish in the river, and come back “simply” (that is, without it), made sauce and cooked the rice. When he had finished, the Hettiya said,

“Separate and give me the cooked rice boiled from two gills.”

So the Prince separated the rice from two gills and gave it. Then the Hettiya asked,

“Where is the dried fish ?”

The Prince said,

“I could not get a dried fish for ten sallis ; I walked through the whole of the bazaar. I came back empty-handed (‘simply').”

Afterwards, the Hettiya having eaten half the rice in silence, heaped up the other half in the direction of the Princess (thus inviting her to eat it). The Princess saying,

“Go thou ! Have I come to eat rice out of the Hettiya’s bowl ?” ^[3]

went to the place where the Prince was eating, and ate rice from the Prince’s plate.

Then the Hettiya said,

“If it is wrong for thee to eat from my bowl, how is it thou art eating from my slave’s bowl ?”

The Princess said,

“Hettiya, shouldst thou any day say ‘slave’ again, I will tell it at the hand of my father the King, and get thee quartered and hung at the city gates.”

After that the Hettiya was silent.

The whole three having finished eating rice, went on board the vessel that was to carry them along the river. While going along in the vessel, the Hettiya said to the Prince,

“Cut me a mouthful of betel and areka-nut, and give me it.”

The Princess said,

“Now then, having already cut betel and areka-nut, his food is done.”

The Prince saying,

“It is not wrong ; I will cut and give it,”

cut and gave it to the Hettiya.

Afterwards the Hettiya again said to the Prince,

“Get a little water and give me it.”

The Princess saying,

“Now then, your doing slave work is stopped,”

told the Prince not to give it.

The Prince said,

“When there is thirst, how can one not give water ? I will give him a little.”

While he was bending down over the side of the vessel to get the water, the Hettiya raised him, and threw him into the river.

As the Prince fell into the river, the dried fish that he had previously put in the river took him on its back, and having brought him to the shore, left him there. The Hettiya and the Princess went on in the ship to the Hettiya’s house.

The Prince was in the sun, on a sandbank. Then, as a flower-mother was coming to the river for water, she saw the Prince, and said,

“What is this, son, that you are in the sun ? Come away and go with me.”

Inviting him, and going to her house with him, she warmed some water and made him bathe, and gs.ve him food.

While he was there, the Prince told all at the hand of the flower-mother. After telling it, when he said,

“I must go again to the Hettiya’s house,”

the flower mother said,

“O son, let him do what he likes. Don’t you go. Stop here.”

The Prince replying,

“I cannot stay without going, O flower-mother; I will go there and come back to you,”

went there. After he had gone to the Hettiya’s house he found that men had collected together there, and were saying that the Hettiya and the Princess were to be married on such and such a day. He stayed listening to them, and went again to the flower-mother’s house.

After he returned, asking for four sallis at the hand of the flower-mother he went to the potters’ village, and, giving them the four sallis told them,

“When I come to-morrow you must have ready a kettle having three zig-zag lines round it and twelve spouts.”

So saying, he came back to the flower-mother’s house.

On the morning of the following day he walked to the potters’ village, and taking the kettle, came to the Hettiya’s house. As he arrived, men were dancing, and the King was looking on. At the time when they were finishing dancing he got on the raised veranda, and looked on. The dancing being ended he came out to the wedding hall. Then the Princess saw him and laughed. At that moment the Hettiya trembled.

The Prince having gone there said,

“Stop that. It is necessary for me to dance a little.”

Then he began to tell them all from the very beginning :

“We were of such and such a city, the sons of the King of such and such a name. We were two Princes, an elder brother and a younger brother. Our mother was dead. A flower-mother gave us food and clothing.”

Having thus said a little of the story that he was relating, he danced, and while dancing sang to the kettle that he held in his hand—

Possessing three bent lines, a dozen spouts as well,
Little kettle, hear this our trouble that befel. ^[4]

Then he said,

“ While living thus we said one day,

‘Let us go and shoot birds,’

and elder brother and I went. Having walked till night-fall we did not meet with a single one. While we were returning home, as it was becoming night, there was a Horse-radish tree in front of the palace of our father the King. In that Horse-radish tree was a turtle-dove which elder brother shot; at the stroke it fell dead.

“Afterwards I asked at elder brother’s hand regarding it,

‘Elder brother, to whom are we to give this ?’

Then elder brother said,

‘There is no need to give it to our father the King; let us give it to the flower-mother who gives us food and clothing.’

So saying, we took it home and gave it to the flower-mother.”

Again he danced, and sang while dancing—

Possessing three bent lines, a dozen spouts as well.
Little kettle, hear this our trouble that befel.

“Our Punci-Amma (step-mother, lit. ' little mother ’) after hearing this, on the return of our father the King told him of it, and our father the King appointed to behead us. Afterwards our flower-mother to save the lives of us both told us to go away. Having cooked a bundle of rice, and tied up a bag of it, placing gem-stones at the bottom and the cooked rice above, she gave it into the hand of both of us, and told us to go away somewhere before it became light. So we both came away. Walking on and on, we came to a great forest, and both of us sat down in the shade.”

Then he danced again, and sang while dancing—

Possessing three bent lines, a dozen spouts as well,
Little kettle, hear this our trouble that befel.

After that, he told a further part of his tale, and then danced again. Thus, in that way he related all the things that had occurred.

The King who had come to celebrate the wedding was the Prince’s elder brother. While the Prince was relating all these things the King wept.

Then the King asked at the hand of the Hettiya, 

“Is what he has said regarding the gem-stones, and the taking him as a slave, true ?”

The Hettiya replied,

“It is true.”

Then the King caused the Hettiya to be quartered, and hung at the four gateways of the city.

After the King had caused the Prince and Princess to be married, and had given that kingdom to the Prince, both the King and the Prince went to their cities.

The elder brother who had eaten the right portion of the turtle-dove shot by the Vaedda, at that very time obtained the sovereignty. The younger brother having eaten the left portion, when seven years had passed, on that day obtained the sovereignty.

So the Prince and Princess remained at their city.

North-western Province.

 

Note:

The notion that the persons who ate two birds, or the halves of one bird or of a fruit, would become Kings, or a King and his minister, is found throughout India in folk-tales.

In the Jataka stories No. 284 (vol. ii, p. 280), and No. 445 (vol. iv, p. 24), two cocks were overheard to say that whoever ate one would get a thousand pieces of money, and the person who ate the other would become King, Chief Queen or Commander-in-Chief, and Treasurer or King’s favourite cleric. The second one was selected and eaten, with the corresponding result.

In The Orientalist, vol. ii, p. 150, there is a story by Miss S. J. Goonetilleke, in which a blind man, sitting under a tree, heard a Rakshasa who was in the tree saying to others that if the fruit of the tree were rubbed on the eyes of a blind man he would recover •his sight, and that a person who ate the fruit on the top of the tree would become a King within seven days. The man regained his sight in this way, and having also eaten the fruit was selected as King by the royal elephant, which knelt before him. The man who had blinded him married his Prime Minister’s daughter; and ascertaining how the King recovered his sight and obtained his position, he got his wife to treat him in the same way and leave him under a tree, where he died.

In The Indian Antiquary, vol. xvii, p. 75, there is a tale of two Princes who were ordered to be blinded because of a false charge made by the Queen, their step-mother. They escaped, and killed a Chakwa (Sheldrake) which they heard informing its mate that he who ate its head would become a King, and he who ate the liver would be very happy after twelve years’ wanderings. The elder brother went for food to a city, where the royal elephant threw a garland’over his neck, and he became King. The younger brother being unable to find him worked for a potter, then travelled on and took the place of a woman’s son who was going to be offered to an Ogre, who had forced a King to give him daily a cart-load of sweet cakes, a couple of goats, and a young man. The Prince killed the Ogre while he was eating the cakes. The King gave him his daughter in marriage, and half the kingdom. The elder brother came to the wedding, and they recognised each other. When they visited their father he sent the Queen into exile.

In the Tamil work, The Story of Madana Kama Raja (Natesha Sastri), p. 125 ff., a Mango tree growing in a thick forest bore a magical fruit once in one hundred years. A sage waited for it, and went to bathe in order to purify himself before eating it. As two Princes whose parents had been reduced to poverty, were passing, the younger one picked up the fruit and placed it in their packet of rice. The sage followed them, but they denied all knowledge of the fruit. He informed them that the person who ate the outer part would become a king, and that from the mouth of the person who ate the seed, gems would drop whenever he laughed. The brothers divided the fruit in this way, and a royal elephant coming in search of a new King placed a garland on the neck of the elder one, and depositing him on its back went oft with him. The younger one, thinking he was carried oft by a wild elephant, left the wood, GL_PAGE:91:}and was received at the house of a dancing girl. One day when he laughed gems fell from his mouth, and after getting many more, they gave him a purgative pill and secured the magic stone. After other adventures he was united to his brother, recovered the mango stone, and became a King himself.

In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 138 ff., Tales of the Punjab (F. A. Steel), p. 129, two Princes ran away on account of their step-mother’s cruelty, and while resting under a tree heard a Maina (Starling) and a Parrot telling each other that the two persons who ate them would become a King and a Prime Minister. They shot the birds with crossbows, and ate them. The younger one went back for the other’s whip, which was left at a spring, and was bitten and killed by a snake. The elder was selected as King, by a royal elephant. A magician found the dead Prince, drained the spring into his wife’s small brass pot, and the snakes being waterless gave back the Prince’s life. After stirring adventures, the younger Prince married a Prime Minister’s daughter, who went on a ship with him. There he was thrown overboard, but caught a rope and got back to his wife’s cabin unobserved. He met his brother the King at last, and was made to relate his life story. This he did in sections, on seven days, and at the end the King claimed him as his brother, and he became Prime Minister.

In Indian Nights’ Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 276 ff., a stepmother got two Princes exiled. At night while they were under a tree two birds were heard predicting that those who ate them would become a King and a Minister, so they shot and ate them. The whip and snake incident are as above, the guilty snake being brought up by a cowry shell, of which the magician had despatched four to the four quarters. The snake breathed into the Prince’s mouth and revived him. He had wonderful adventures, and married a Princess, went on a ship with her, was thrown overboard, and assisted a gardener. The Princess had been sold at the palace, where the King, who was the elder brother, wished to marry her. The younger brother went disguised as a woman, and related his story by sections in three days, when the Princess claimed him as her husband. His brother made him Chief Counsellor, and at last he succeeded to his father’s kingdom.

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 78, the persons who ate the head and breast of a bird became Kings.

At p. 159, the King’s elephant selected a person as King, the olephant bowing down to him, and the royal hawk perching on his hand.

At p. 167 ff., two Princes who escaped their death sentence, which was due to their step-mother’s plotting, heard two birds say of two Others that they who ate them would become a King and Minister. They shot and ate them. The whip and snake incident occurred, the latter being a dragon. The elder brother was selected as King by the royal elephant and hawk. A jogl emptied the spring and made the dragon restore the Prince, who was captured by robbers, saved by the daughter of one, went with her on board a ship, was pushed overboard, and was saved by the girl. They landed at the city where the elder brother was reigning, and he was made Minister, and eventually King when the elder brother succeeded their father.

In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 99, a royal elephant with a rich howdah on its back selected a Prince as King, and took him to the city.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Old flower-seller.

[2]:

Moringa pierygosperma.

[3]:

A thing only done by a man’s wife.

[4]:

Wangi tunak aeti, kembi dolahak aeti,
Apata waeduna duka me asapan kota kotali.