Story 104 - Concerning The Prince And The Princess Who Was Sold

IN a certain country there was the son of a King. He gave charge of him to a teacher, and told him to teach the son. On the day on which he was handed over he was not there. On the following day, only, having gone to the school, after that having said he was going to school he went to the high road, and during the whole day-time^[1] having been eating and eating kaju [nuts] in the evening he comes home and says that he went to school. A single person does not know of this deceit.

In this manner, while two or three years are going he did thus. The teacher also did not give information to the King about this matter.

He not giving it, one day the King to look into this Piince’s learning wrote a letter and placed it on the table.

After that lying Prince came, having said that he went to school, [the King], with the view that

“If he was learning it is good for me to ascertain easily by [means of] letters,”

said,

“Son, on that table there is a letter. I omitted (baeri-wuna) to look at it. Break it [open] and look what the letter is.”

Thereupon the Prince, having broken [open] the letter and looked at it, said,

“Ane ! Father, except that in this there are a sort of strokes and strokes, and a sort of drops, I indeed cannot perceive anything.”

Then the King having become angry at the teacher sent him a letter. The teacher having looked at the King’s letter, sent a letter thus:

“Ane ! O King, except that you, Sir, handed over your son, I have not even yet seen the Prince after that.”

Thereupon the King having said,

“We do not want the disobedient son,”

caused the executioners to be brought, and having said,

“Having taken him and gone into the midst of the forest, you must behead him,”

gave him [to them].

At that time the Prince’s Mother-Queen said to the executioners,

“Don’t kill him”;

and having spoken to them and given a hundred thousand masuran to the Prince, and said,

“Without having come bounding into this country again, go you to another country and get your livelihood,”

sent him away.

As the Prince was going away to another country, he saw that four persons, holding a man who is dead, are dragging him to the four sides, and he asked,

“Ane ! You are tormenting that dead man ! Why ?”

Then the men [said],

“We four men are to get four hundred masuran from this man. [For us] to let him go, will you give the four hundred masuran ?”

they asked.

Thereupon this Prince, having seen the torment they were causing to the dead body, said,

“It is good”;

and having given four hundred masuran to the four men, and further having given five hundred masuran, and caused the corpse to be buried, the Prince went away. That dead man having gone, was [re]born, and became a fish in the sea.

When this Prince went from that city to another city, he saw that on account of a want of money the King was selling a Princess and two Princes of the King of the city; and this Prince having become inclined to take that Princess asked the price for the Princess. The King said,

“It is a thousand masuran.”

Then when the Prince looked at the account of the masuran which he had, except that there were a thousand masuran by account, there was not even one in excess.^[2] After that, having been considering and considering it, he gave the thousand masuran, and taking the Princess, went away. That this Prince is a royal Prince no one knows.

Then this Prince, calling the Princess also, went to a house at which washermen stayed. The washermen asked,

“Where are ye going ?”

Thereupon the Princess and Prince said,

“We are going to a place where they give to eat and to wear.”

Then the washermen, in crder to take [them for] work for them, said,

“It is good. If so, remain ye here.”

Thereupon the two persons stayed there.

When they were [there] not much time, the washermen, thinking,

“What are we giving to eat to these two for ?”

said,

“Go ye to any quarter ye want.”

At that time, the young Prince and Princess^[3] having gone to yet [another] garden, building a stick house [there], this Prince having told that Princess to be in the house went and plucked coconuts during the whole day-time (dawal tisse). Taking the coconuts given as his hire (baelagedi), and having given them at the shop, in the evening procuring two gills of rice and the requisite things for it he comes back.

When he brought them, what does that Princess do ? Each day she put away at the rate of half a gill from the rice, and cooked the other things; and having given to the Prince also, and the Princess also having eaten, in this manner, when three or four days had gone, the rice that she put away was collected [sufficient] for eating at still a meal or two.

Then the Princess said to the Prince,

“Elder brother, [in exchange] for the things you obtain to-day not getting anything [else], bring a cubit of cloth, and thread, and a needle.”

Thereupon, having given the coconuts obtained that day he brought a cubit of cloth, and thread, and a needle.

After he brought them, having eaten and drunk in the evening, and spread and given the mat for the Prince to sleep on, what does this Princess do ? Having cut the cubit of cloth, and put sewing on it worth millions (koti ganan) of masuran, she sewed a handkerchief. Having sewn it, and finished as it became light, she said to that Prince,

“Elder brother, give this, and not stating a price, asking for only what the shopkeeper gave [for such an article] bring that.”

Thereupon the Prince, taking the handkerchief, went to three or four shops. The shopkeepers said,

“We have no words [to say] regarding taking that handkerchief.”

At that time there was still a great shop; to it he took it. The shopkeepers, taking the handkerchief, having seen the marvel of it, asked,

“For this handkerchief how much ?”

Then this Prince said,

“I cannot state a price for that. Please give the price that you give.”

Thereupon the shopkeepers having said,

“Take as much rice and vegetables as you can,”

after he got them gave also a hundred thousand masuran.

This Prince taking them and having returned, those two persons remained eating and drinking.

In those days the King who sold the Princess made a proclamation by beat of tom-toms,¹ that is,

“If there should be a person who came [after] finding my Princess, having married the Princess to him I will decorate him with the royal crown.”

Thereupon the King’s Minister having said,

“I can come [after] finding her; I want time for three months, and a handkerchief that the Princess sewed,”

asked for [the handkerchief]. The King gave it.

Then the Minister also having come by sea, landed at the city at which this Princess and Prince stay. Having come there, he showed and showed that handkerhcief at the shops, while asking,

“Are there handkerchiefs of this kind ?”

The shopkeepers who got that handkerchief said,

“Here; we have one,”

and showed it.

Thereupon the Minister asked at the hand of the shopkeepers,

“Who gave this handkerchief ?”

Literally, made public a proclamation tom-tom.

The shopkeepers said,

“Behold. The man who stays at the house in the lower part of that garden brought and gave it.”

So having gone near the house, when he looked only the Princess was [there], not the Prince.

Having said at the hand of the Princess,

“Your father the King said to you [that you are] to go with me,”

he showed the handkerchief.

Thereupon the Princess said,

“No. It is not father who provided subsistence for me for so much time. There is a person who provided my livelihood. Because of it, unless I ask from him and go, without [doing so] I will not go.”

At that time the Prince came.

After he came this Princess said to the Prince,

“Elder brother, my father the King having said that I am to go, has sent this Minister. What do you say about it ?”

she asked.

The Prince said,

“If you will go, go; if you will be [here], stay. It is [according to] any wish of yours.”

Then the Princess spoke,

“Don’t say so, elder brother. Except that if you told me to stay I will stay, and if you told me to go I will go, for the word of my father the King I will not go. Because of it, let the whole three of us go.”

Thereupon the Prince also having said,

“It is good,”

the whole three having embarked began to go. While going thus, except that the Princess and Prince remain on one side, and that Minister on one side, they do not allow him to approach them. The Minister is much annoyed about it.

They went six days on the sea. On the whole six days, having said that the Minister will put into peril and kill the Prince, the Princess without sleeping remains simply looking on when the Prince has gone to sleep. In that way, on the seventh day, after they embarked, the Princess being sleepy could not bear up, and said to the Prince,

“Elder brother, during the time while I sleep a little you remain awake.”

Having said [this], the Princess went to sleep.

The Prince having been awake a little time, through the manner of his recliring went to sleep. Thereupon this Minister having awoke, when he looked having perceived that both were asleep, quickly rolled the Prince into the sea.

Just as he was thus rolling him over, that dead man having become a fish and having been [there], came and seized him behind.

Having thus seized him, placing him on its back the fish asked at the hand of the Prince,

“What will you give me to put you ashore ?”

Then the Prince said,

“I have not a thing to give now. From the [first] things that I obtain afterwards I will' give you a half part.”

Thereupon the fish brought him and put him ashore. Afterwards the Prince went to the Princess’s city.

[Having landed], that Minister said to the Princess,

“Let us go to the palace.”

Thereupon the Princess said,

“I will not go with thee. Tell thou my father to come.”

So the Minister having gone, told the King to come.

Thereupon the King came. At that time that Prince also stayed near, so that he should be visible to the Princess.

The Princess, having seen the Prince, asked,

“Father, in this country how are the laws now regarding journeys ?”

The King said,

“What, daughter, are you saying that for ? They are just like [they were] when you were [here].”

Thereupon the Princess said,

“At the time when you were sending letters to me, my elder brother who gave me food and clothing, and I, and the Minister, having embarked came away. My elder brother who provided subsistence for me was lost. You must make inquiry about it in a thorough manner.”

Then the King having made inquiry and looked [into the matter], getting to know that the Minister threw him into the sea, [found that] unless he beheads the Minister there was nothing else [to do]. Because of it, he commanded them to behead the Minister. After that they beheaded him.

Then, this Princess first marrying the Prince himself, he appointed the Prince to the sovereignty.

Well then, when they are there no long time, the two persons went to the sea to bathe. At that time that fish having come, seizing the Prince’s leg asked,

“Where is the charge you undertook for me that day ?”

This Princess having heard it, asked,

“What does it say ?” 

Thereupon the Prince said,

“When I was falling into the sea that day, this fish, taking me on its back, asked at my hand,

‘What will you give [me] to put you on shore ?’

Then I said,

‘From the things that I obtain first I will give a [half] share.’

That share it now asks for.”

At that time the Princess having given into the Prince’s hand the sword that was on the shore, said,

“It is I whom you obtained first. Because of it, having split a [half] share off me give it to the fish.”

Then the fish said,

“No need of it for me. This Prince one day has expended one thousand (sic) four hundred masuran over a dead body. Please say you do not want that debt. [I was that dead body].”

Thereupon the Prince said,

“I do not want the debt.”

After that, the fish having completely let go went away. The Prince-King and the Princess-Queen, both of them, [after] bathing came to the palace.    Finished.

North-western Province.

 

Note:

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. v, p. 304), Princess Miriam, daughter of the King of France, who had been in a vessel that was captured, was offered for sale in Alexandria, and was bought by a youth for a thousand gold dinars (about £500), all the money he had. Each night she knitted a silk girdle, which he sold in the morning for twenty gold dinars. While he was wearing on his head a beautiful silk handkerchief worked by her, the work was recognised by a Minister sent by the French King in search of her. He bought it for a thousand dinars, and gave a feast at which he made the youth drunk and induced him to sell the Princess for ten thousand dinars; she was carried back to France, and married to the Minister. After some adventures while the youth was endeavouring to carry her off, the two lovers escaped to Baghdad, and were formally married by the Khalif. With her own hand she killed the Minister when he came to demand her return to France.

Sir R. F. Burton agreed with Dr. Bacher that this story is based on a legend of Charlemagne’s daughter Emma and his secretary Eginhardt (vol. vi, p. 290). Notwithstanding its resemblance to this tale, the Sinhalese story may be an independent one. The account of the Princess who works a jacket or scarf occurs in Nos. 8 and 248, in which, also, the sale led to her abduction. In a variant, robbers carried her off and sold her for a thousand masu,

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Dawal tisse, in the thirty [paeyas] of the day-time.

[2]:

Some years appear to have elapsed since he went into exile. This is the case in other stories, although not mentioned by the narrators.

[3]:

Ladaru kumarayo denna, the two young Princes. Kumarayd, Princes, is sometimes used when both a Prince and Princess are referred to.