The Most Precious of Relatives

[Full title: Parallel elements in Folk and Epic literature (10) The Most Precious of Relatives]

A perfect parallel exists between a Philippine(s) tale 90 and an Indian story? 91 The tales are almost identical, and a brief synopsis of each is cited antecedent to a short discourse on the aspects of the tales. The Ucchanga Jetaka. Three husbandmen were by mistake imprisoned by order of the king of Kosala for robbery allegedly committed by them. The wife of one came to the king and asked for her husband. The king asked what her relation to the three was. She replied that one was her Out of anger, she seizes the inert forms of her babies and throws them to the ground in different directions. They became the stars. 90 Fansler, Tale No. 31 "Who is the Nearest Relative?" 91 Ucchanga Jataka (No. 67, The Jatakas (Cambridge Edition), v).

-290 husband, the other her brother and the third her son. The king asked her to choose any one of them, and the woman answered: "Sire, if I live, I can never get another brother. So give me my brother, Sire!" The king, pleased with her arguments, released all three. The Nearest Relative. The grandfather (Old Julian), having been importuned by his grandson (Antonio) for more stories, relents, and tells a problematic story. old Julian, however, lays the condition, for the narration of more stories that Antonio must answer the problem in the tale. The story runs thus - A young man, Federico by name, wanted to become a priest, but had to prove that he had no ancestors or living relatives who were not bandits. later found that he had an uncle, a revolucionario, whom he sought out in the jungles. He found him, and decided to remain with him. His father followed in search of the son, but also decided to stay with them. He Later, the revolucionarios including the uncle, the father and the son were captured by the government forces. The mother learned of this, and went to the government authorities to plead for the release of the three. After so much tears and emotional entreaties, she was finally granted the choice to save one, but only one among the three. She was put in a dilemma, which of the three loved ones - her husband, the other half of her life?; her son,

-291 the fruit of her love?; and her brother, who came from the same womb as she and sucked the same milk from the same mother? Now, the dilemma was thrown to the grandson, who after consulting his uncle gives a classic answer in the similar ingenious way King Vikramasena answered the questions of the Vetala: "The mother selects her brother who is Federico's uncle, for," Antonio continues his reply, "the woman would be right in selecting her brother... Because, what to a woman is a husband? She can marry again; she can find another. x x x and what to a woman is her son? Is it not possible to bear another one after she marries again? x x x But, ... is it possible for her to bring forth into the world another brother? ... The woman's parents are dead. Therefore, she would be right in selecting her brother instead of her husband and her son." Perhaps, the idea in the folktale or the Jataka has its origins in the epic Ram., where Rama, upon Laksmana's fall, soliloquizes: "Alas, what shall I do with Janaki when heroic Laksmana has thus fallen? What further necessity is there for life? I find out, if I search the world for it, another woman like Janaki, but never a brother like Laksmana...1" Or the Jataka tale may have suggested the idea in the epic. However, it appears that the epic episode is

-292 an archetype of the Jataka. If so, it may well be suggestive of its antiquity. In the Philippine(s) tale, two distinctly interesting elements which D. S. Fansler missed in his note (to this tale) are evident. (He, nevertheless, refers to the Ram. episode.) The first element is the dilemma of the wife, which The ingenis more or less similar to the Jataka element. uity of the choice - in the Jataka however, shows the release of all the three, while in the Philippine(s) tale, it is not known whether they were released. The second element in the Philippine(s) tale is the participation of the listener in the solution of the dilemma, made apparent by the narrator, and the ingenious reply. This element shows an apparent parallel with the problems posed by the Vetala upon King Vikramasena after every tale and the ingenious solutions given by the latter. The reply of the grandson, Antonio, in the Philippine(s) tale reveals the type of the Vetla tales - a type which can not escape the notice of a student of comparative folk-literature. The question, therefore, may be asked: "Did the type and style of the Vetala tales ever migrate outside India?" Perhaps, the question may be answered in analogy with the genealogy of the Pancatantra in the East. Moreover, although the tale does not have any paral-

-293 lel in the Vetala stories, it may be conjectured that the narrator knows the Vetala tales, or that his sources may have been influenced by this cycle of stories, unknown, nevertheless, by the narrator of the Island tale.92 92 A Note on the Philippine(s) tale. The Philippine tale shows hispanic elements which apparently are late interpolations. Indeed, it may be seen how deep the Spanish influence has penetrated into the matrix of Philippine(s) culture. However, in the final analysis, after sifting out these hispanic interpolations, it becomes evident that the tale has very early native (and non-hispanic) antecedents.