Story 132 - The Learned Poor Man

IN a certain country a poor man, having nothing to eat, went to another country. Having gone there, and gone to a travellers’ shed, he remained lying down.

During the time while he was there, still [another] man of the city who was without food and clothing came to the travellers’ shed.

Then the man who came first asked the man who came afterwards,

“Where art thou going ?”

The man said,

“Being without [food] to eat, I am going to this city to beg something.”

Then the man who came first says,

“I, indeed, being without [food] to eat have come here. Now then, because we two are men without [food] to eat, I will tell you a device,”

said the man who came first to the man who came afterwards.

Then the man who came afterwards asked,

“What is it ?”

The man says,

“Thou having gone to the royal palace and made obeisance, say at the hand of the King,

‘From the exalted royal palace I ought to receive a salary.’

Then the King will ask,

‘On what account should I give pay to thee ?’

Then say thou,

‘In this your kingdom, Sir, either for any needed fight, or any needed thing, when I have come into the midst of it I can manage the affair. I can [also] beat the notification tom-toms. Because of that, indeed, I am asking pay.’”

Then the man having gone near the royal palace, asked in that manner. The King asked,

“For what shall I give pay to thee ?”

The man replied in the very way which that man told him.

Then the King having heard the words and being pleased, appointed a salary for that man, and said,

“From to-day thou must look after the troubles Of this city.”

The man having said,

“It is good,”

said at the hand of the King,

“I have nothing to eat,”

asking for the pay also, [and he received a sum in advance].

Having gone near that man who gave him the instructions, and told him this talk which occurred at the royal palace, and given the teacher a half share from that pay which was given, taking the other half share the man went to his village. That man who gave the instructions, not going anywhere else, remained cooking and eating at that very travellers’ shed.

Thereafter, for the man who received the pay the King established the name Beri-Nadaya.^[1] Well then, when that Beri-Nadaya was coming and going to [and from] the palace, he was providing assistance for that teacher.

At that time, on a road of the city a lion having lain in wait began to kill people. In those days, Beri-Nadaya, having come to his village, stayed [there]. Without telling Beri-Nadaya, because he was a new man, having sent the old accustomed Ministers and other multitudes for killing the lion, [the King] told them to return [after] killing the lion.

Thereupon, the party having been sent to go, after they went, when Beri-Nadaya was going to the royal palace he went to the place where the teacher was staying.

At that time, the news regarding this lion having reached the teacher, he said,

“In this manner, a lion which eats men is staying at this city. I have news that men went from the royal palace to kill the lion. Because of it, as soon as you go,

‘You must seize the lion,’

the King will say.

Thereupon, say

‘I can,’

and asking for a piece of cord, and placing it [coiled] round your neck, go. Then the men will come [after] killing the lion.

Then say,

‘There ! People, the work you have done is good ! (sarcastically). Asking for a cord I came from the palace [in order] to go [back after] seizing it [alive], so as to place it as a present^[2] [for the King], Concerning this, blame will fall on you from the King.’

Having said this, frighten them.

Thereupon the party will say,

‘Ane ! Beri-Nadaya, don’t say that we killed it.’

Then say thou,

‘It is good. If so, let no one speak [about it]. Having placed [the deed] upon my own back, I will say it myself.’

Then the men will say,

‘It is good.’”

When Beri-Nadaya was doing this, it happened in this very manner. [The King] gave Beri-Nadaya at the rate of a thousand masuran a month. Then Beri-Nadaya, taking the pay, as on other days continued to give little by little [only] to that teacher, so that his regard [for him] became lost, and remained so.

At that time, to seize that city seven Kings and seven armies came, and surrounded the city. On account of it, this King having said,

“To this Mara^[3] army what shall I do ?”

was in fear.

Then the King having waited until the time when Beri-Nadaya came, says,

“It is not like you killed the lion. Seven Kings and seven armies having come, are near the city gates. Go and fight.”

That Beri-Nadaya went near that teacher, and told him this. The teacher said,

“[After] asking for the King’s festival tusk elephant and sword, come thou.”

After that, Beri-Nadaya having gone near the King, when he came [after] asking for the festival tusk elephant and the sword, both of them went for the fight. Having gone, Beri-Nadaya, being on the tusk elephant, when he peeped and looked having seen those monarchs^[4] and the multitude, fell unconscious under the tusk elephant.

Thereupon, that teacher, having dragged Beri-Nadaya aside, and cast him away, wrote a letter and shot it [attached to an arrow] to the place where those seven Kings were. The royal party said,

“What is this that is fallen from the sky ?”

When they looked there was written,

“It is I myself whom they call Danuddara Panditayo.^[5] If you can, be pleased to come to fight.”

The royal party becoming afraid regarding it, all ran off to the quarters to which each one went.

The Panditayo came to the palace on the tusk elephant. After he came, the Panditayo was placed by the King in the post of Prime Minister.

North-western Province.

 

Note:

In The Jataka, No. 80 (vol. i, p. 204) there is a story which closely agrees with this. The clever man was a dwarfish Brahmaria who, aware that he would not be employed on account of his small size, joined with a huge ignorant weaver, who received an appointment as archer to the King at Benares. By following the Brahmana’s instructions the weaver obtained all the credit of killing a tiger and buffalo as in this tale, but becoming proud, he treated his adviser with scorn. Afterwards, when ordered to attack a hostile force he was so overcome with fear that the Brahmana made him descend from the elephant on which they were riding, and he himself then attacked the enemy's camp, captured the King, and was loaded with honours.

The despatch of the message attached to the arrow is not mentioned in this story; but in the Jataka tale No. 181 (vol. ii, p. 62) Prince Asadisa, son of a King of Benares, is represented as scratching a message on an arrow, firing it into the camp of some hostile forces headed by seven Kings who were besieging the city, and thereby scaring these enemies away. A footnote states that in the Maha-vastu the message was wrapped round the arrow.

In two instances in the Maha Bharata (Drona Parva, xcix, and cci) the senders’ names were engraved on arrows.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. 4, p. 103), a Prince wrote a letter, set it on the point of an arrow, and shot it into a garden in which a lady was walking.

In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. i, 519, a young Brah-mana suggested to a Prince that he should receive a daily salary of one hundred gold pieces; this was paid to him. In the same work, vol. ii, p. 251, an unknown man demanded and received five hundred dinars (about £250) as his daily wage. In the Hitopadesha an unknown Rajput was granted four hundred gold pieces as his daily pay.

While the Sinhalese were besieging the Portuguese in Colombo in A.D. 1588, the Sinhalese King shot into the fort a letter containing a demand for the safe conduct of officials who were to arrange a truce (Pieris, Ceylon, vol. i, p. 243).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Tom-tom-voiced one (Bheri+nada+ya).

[2]:

Daekun=dakshiy.a.

[3]:

Death personified.

[4]:

Diviyan, for deviyan, literally, deities.

[5]:

Many-bows-carrying Panditaya (Dhanu + ut + dara); it is a plural honorific form.