Story 97 - Concerning Two Friends

AT a certain time there were two men, friends. Of them, one person not having [food] to eat, was very poor. The other man had amply to eat and drink. At that time the man who had not [food] to eat, in order to get an assistance went near the friend who had [food] to eat.

Then at the time when he went to the friend’s house, having amply given him food and drink, the friend asked,

“What have you come for ?”

Thereupon the man said,

“Ane ! Dear friend, not having to eat and to wear I came near you in order to get an assistance.”

Then the man having gone calling him to the bread shop, taking bread for ten shillings gave it to him, and said,

“Here, friend, selling these things get a living. I am unable to give an assistance for more than ten shillings.”

Thereupon the man having said,

“It is good,”

at the time when he was bounding about taking the bread box having walked until it was becoming black, did not sell [anything]. Through anger that he did not sell it, this man sat down near a tree, and said,

“This day on which I got the evil-looking (musala) bread is not good; I will eat these things.”

At that time, the D evatawa who was in the tree, having become afraid, said,

“Ane ! O Lord, don’t eat me; I will give you a good article,”

and gave him a plate.

The man, taking the plate, asked,

“With this plate what shall I do ?”

The Devatawa said,

“ Having taken away the plate, and well polished it, and spread a white cloth, place it upon the table. Then you will receive tasty food [from it].”

So the man, taking the plate, came to the Hettiya’s shop.

The Hettiya asked,

“Appuhami, have you met with anything even to-day ?”

The man said,

“To-day, indeed, I met with a plate.”

[He gave the Hettiya an account of its good properties.]

Thereupon, the Hettiya, having made the man drink arrack (spirit distilled from palm-juice), and made him drunk, and allowed him to sleep on the bed, took the plate. Taking it, he put another plate into the man’s bread box.

Then the man having become conscious, and gone home, told the man’s wife,

“Don’t cook; we shall receive food.”

Having well polished the plate, and spread a white cloth, placing it upon the table he waited.

Having ascertained that cooked rice did not descend, the man’s wife came, and taking the plate threw it away, and having cooked, ate.

On the following day, also, the man having walked without selling bread, came near that tree, and said in the former way,

“I will eat. I will eat.”^[1]

Thereupon, the Yaka^[2] on that day gave him a ring, and said,

“Having sold the ring, when you are going ten fathoms away the ring will come and place itself again in your hand.”

On that day, also, the Hettiya asked [what he had met with]. The man, just as in the former manner, said,

“I obtained a ring,”

[and told him its property]. So the Hettiya on that day, also, made the man drunk, and taking the ring and having caused another ring to be made, put it on the man’s hand.

The man having become conscious, and gone away taking the ring, sold it. Having sold it, he went ten fathoms, and looked. That, also, did not come.

Then the man on the following day also came without having sold the bread, and having come near that tree, said on that day, also, just as in the former manner.

At that time the Devatawa gave him a cow which drops gold. “Having taken away this cow, take good care of it, and tie it up and keep it,” he said.

Thereupon the man, taking also the cow, just as before went away near that Hettiya’s house.

The Hettiya that day also asked,

“What is it, Appuhami, that you have obtained to-day ?”

The man said,

“To-day, indeed, I obtained, Hettirala, a cow which drops gold.”

So the Hettiya, that day also having given the man arrack to drink, and made him drunk, and allowed him to sleep on the bed, brought the Hettiya’s old cow, and having tied it there the Hettiya took the cow which drops gold.

Then that man having become conscious, and having gone away taking that cow also, washed the cow-dung which the cow dropped. Excepting cow-dung, there was no gold.

Thereupon the man on the following day, also, having gone for bread-selling did not sell [any]. That day, also, he went near that tree, and said,

“Thou son of a courtesan, when I told thee to provide me with a living thou cheatedst me. On account of it, to-day I shall eat thee indeed,”

and he began to chase the Yaka on the path.

Then the Yaka said,

“O Lord, do not chase me on the path.”

The Devatawa well kn ows about the theft of the articles. Having said,

“The things that I give to this man yet [another] man takes,”

he gave him a cudgel.

The man asked,

“With this cudgel what shall I do ?”

The Yaka said,

“Should anyone ask,

‘What is this ?’

say

‘Allan Bostan.’^[3]

Having said it, say,

‘Stop, Bostan,’ [in order to stop it].”

Then the man, taking the cudgel, went just as before to the Hettiya’s house. At that time the Hettiya, in the very same way as before, asked [what he had received].

The man said,

“To-day I obtained a cudgel.”

Then the Hettiya asked,

“What is the name of the cudgel ?”

The man said,

“That, indeed, is Allan Bostan.”

Then the cudgel went and began to beat the Hettiya.

Thereupon the Hettiya said,

“Lord, don’t beat me. I will give you all the things I took.”

So the man said,

“Stop, Bostan.”

Then the cudgel stopped the beating. After that [the Hettiya] gave him that stolen plate and ring, and the cow that dropped gold, these very three things. After that, the man having become wealthy, remained so.

North-central Province.

 

Note:

In The Story of Madana Kama Raja (Natesha Sastri), p. 130, a Prince stole the articles left by a dying Sannyasi,—a cup which supplied food, a bag which yielded everything desired, sandals that transported their wearer where he wished to go, and a cudgel which thrashed all enemies but is not mentioned again. By means of the bag he obtained a palace, but two dancing women cheated him and stole all his magical articles; he recovered them by the aid of some miraculous fruits.

In Folk-Tales of Bengal (L. Behari Day), p. 53, an indigent Brahmana received from the goddess Durga an earthen pot out of which food fell when it was reversed. At an inn it was changed for a common one, and he was driven away. Durga gave him another pot out of which when reversed a number of demons issued and beat him, returning to it when it was set mouth upwards. When he was bathing the innkeeper reversed the pot, was thrashed by the demons, and the Brahmana regained the pot formerly stolen.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (collected by Dr. Bodding), p. 83, an indigent Prince received a magic cow that granted everything desired, from a jackal whose protection he craved. It was afterwards changed by a man at whose house he lodged for the night, but by the help of the jackal he recovered it.

In Old Deccan Days (M. Frere), p. 182, a Brahmana who had seven daughters married the eldest to a jackal who was in reality a Raja in disguise and a magician. He gave the Brahmaria a melon to plant; the fruits, which were ripe next day, contained precious stones, but, unaware of it, the man sold some and was cheated out of the others. The jackal gave him a pot which contained food when required, a Raja took it, and the man then received from his son-in-law another pot containing a stick and rope which would tie and beat people when ordered. When the Raja, hearing he had got a better pot than before, came to take it, the man caused him and his attendants to be beaten until he got back the former pot. In the same way he recovered all the precious stones.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii, p. 256, a religious mendicant gave an inexhaustible jar of copper to a poor man who had presented food to him, and warned him against inviting the King to his house. The man neglected the advice, and the King took the jar. He then received from the donor a pot filled with sticks and stones. When he demanded the copper jar the King ordered him to be seized, but the men were beaten by the articles whch issued from the second jar, and the King returned the first one. In the same volume, p. 267, there is an account of a rice measure, a jar of ambrosia, and a bag of jewels which were all inexhaustible. When a King sent men to take them a magical stick drove them away.

In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 32, a foolish youth broke cakes into five pieces in the jungle, and said, "  Now I’ll eat this one, then the second, then the third, then the fourth, and then the fifth.” The fairies who haunted the place thought he was about to devour them, and gave him a cooking pot out of which any food could be procured; at a cook’s shop it was changed for a common one. When no food issued from this, he took five more cakes, repeated the words, received a box which produced any clothes required, and was drugged by the cook, who substituted a common box for it. He again took five cakes, and received a rope and stick which would tie and beat men when ordered. With these he recovered the other articles.

In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 13, a King called Putraka persuaded two Asuras to race for the possession of articles left by their father,—shoes on which one could fly, a stafi that wrote only truth, and a food vessel. The King then put on the shoes, carried off the other things, and founded the city called Pataliputra after Patali (his wife) and himself. The translator gave references to an Indian variant in which the rod is replaced by a purse, and to European examples.

In vol. ii., p. 3, of the same work four Yakshas presented a poor man with an inexhaustible food pitcher. When his kinsmen inquired about it he took it on his shoulder and began to dance, his foot slipped, the pitcher fell and was broken, and he reverted to his former poverty. This story is found in Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, p. 74. Inexhaustible bowls filled with jewels are mentioned in vol. ii, p. 220, also.

In Les Avadanas (Julien), vol. ii, p. 8, and Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. ii, p. 185, the story of the demons (Pishacas) is almost the same as that above quoted. In the latter work, vol. iii, p. 259, two persons were quarrelling over a hat which rendered the wearer invisible, shoes with which he could walk on water, and a cudgel that would beat a person to death. When they raced for an arrow that a man shot he made off with the things.

In Sagas from the Far East, p. 84, in a Kalmuk tale, a man who frightened away some demons found that they had left an inexhaustible gold goblet which provided food and drink. He exchanged it for a magic cudgel, a hammer which when struck on the ground nine times caused a nine story tower to rise, and a goat-skin bag out of which rain fell when it was shaken, in each case sending back the cudgel to recover the articles.

In the Maha Bharata (Vana Parva, iii) Yudhisthira recited a Hymn to the Sun, on which this deity bestowed on him an inexhaustible copper pot out of which fruit, roots, meat, and vegetables were produced.

There is a Bamana variant from the interior of Senegambia, given in Contes Soudanais (C. Monteil), p. 58. A hyaena found a small pot called The Generous Pot, out of which he obtained rice, kus-kus (large millet), and other food. His hostess informed the King, who after testing it, kept it, and attached it to his arm. The hyaena then found a cutlas which told him its name was Cutlas-who-strikes. The King heard from his hostess that it was better than the pot. When he took it the hyaena stood beside his arm on which the pot hung, told him the name of the cutlas, and while it was striking him snatched away the pot and absconded.

In Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria (Dayrell), p. 20, a King had a drum the beating of which caused food to appear, but if the owner stepped over a stick or tree the food went bad, and men with sticks beat the guests and owner.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

In Sinhalese this might mean, “I will eat [you].”

[2]:

In the Jataka story No. 527 (vol. v, p. 112) a supposed tree-deity is termed a Yakkha (the Pali word for Yaka).

[3]:

“Seize [him], Walking-stick” (bastama).