XXIX.—RÁJÁ HARICHAND’S PUNISHMENT.

To story1. This king is probably the same as “The Upright King,” Harchand Rájá, p. 68 of this collection.

2. The Kop Shástra. Múniyá says kop is a Hindústání, not a Bengáli word, and has nothing whatever to do with demons. This is what Mr. Tawney writes on the subject: “It might mean kapi, or kapila if the woman is a Bengáli. Kapi is a name of Vishṇu, possibly it might be the Rámáyana as treating of monkeys, but I really do not know. I see Monier Williams says that there are certain demons called kapa. But of course kópa is anger. I suppose you know that the natives of Bengal pronounce the short a as o in the English word hop.” Múniyá pronounces kop like the English word cope. This Shástra seems as hopelessly mythical as the Rát-vashá-ke-dhán.

XXX.—THE KING’S SON AND THE WAZÍR’S DAUGHTER.

To storyIn a Servian story, “Des Vaters letzter Wille,” pp. 134, 135, 136, of the Volksmaerchen der Serben collected by Karadschitsch, the youngest brother has to take his brother-in-law’s horse over a bridge under which he sees an immense kettle full of boiling water in which men’s heads are cooking while eagles peck at them. He then passes through a village where all is song and joyfulness because, so the inhabitants tell him, each year is fruitful with them and they live, therefore, in the midst of plenty. Then he sees two dogs quarrelling which he cannot succeed in separating. He next passes through a village where all is sorrow and tears because each year comes hail, so the inhabitants “have nothing.” Next he sees two boars fighting together and cannot separate them any more than he could part the dogs. Lastly, he reaches a beautiful meadow. In the evening his brother-in-law expounds the meaning of all he has seen. The heads in the boiling vessel represent the everlasting torment in the next world. The happy villagers are good, charitable men, with whom God is well pleased. The dogs are his elder brothers’ wives. The sorrowing villagers are men who know neither righteousness, concord, nor God. The boars are his two wicked elder brothers. The meadow is paradise.

GLOSSARY.

Bél, a fruit; Ægle marmelos.

Bulbul, a kind of nightingale.

Chaprásí, a messenger wearing a badge (chaprás).

Cooly (Tamil kúli), a labourer in the fields; also a porter.

Dál, a kind of pulse; Phaseolus aureus, according to Wilson; Paspalum frumentaceum, according to Forbes.

Dom (the d is lingual), a low-caste Hindú.

Fakír, a Muhammadan religious mendicant.

Ghee (ghí), butter boiled and then set to cool.

Kází, a Muhammadan Judge.

Kotwál, the chief police officer in a town.

Líchí, a fruit; Scytalia litchi, Roxb.

Mahárájá (properly Maháráj), literally great king.

Mahárání, literally great queen.

Mainá, a kind of starling.

Maund (man), a measure of weight, about 87 lb.

Mohur (muhar), a gold coin worth 16 rupees.

Nautch (nátya), a union of song, dance, and instrumental music.

Pálkí, a palanquin.

Pice (paisa), a small copper coin.

Pilau, a dish made of either chicken or mutton, and rice.

Rájá, a king.

Rakshas, a kind of demon that eats men and beasts.

Rání, a queen.

Rohú, a kind of big fish.

Rupee (rúpíya), a silver coin, now worth about twenty pence.

Ryot (ràíyat), a cultivator.

Sarai, a walled enclosure containing small houses for the use of travellers.

Sárí, a long piece of stuff which Hindú women wind round the body as a petticoat, passing one end over the head.

Sepoy (sipáhí), a soldier.

Wazír, prime minister.

Yogí, a Hindú religious mendicant.

LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO.

Bleek. Hottentot Fables and Tales, London, 1864.

Campbell, J. F. Popular Tales of the West Highlands, 4 vols. Edinburgh, 1860.

Dasent, G. Norse Tales, Edinburgh, 1859.

Dietrich, Anton. Russische Volksmaerchen, Leipzig, 1831.

Fiske. Myth and Mythmakers, London, 1873.

Frere, Miss. Old Deccan Days, 2nd edition, London, 1870.

Gonzenbach, Laura. Sicilianische Maerchen, Leipzig, 1870.

Grant, C. Gazetteer of India for the Central Provinces, edited by, 2nd edition, Nágpur, 1870.

Grey. Polynesian Mythology, London, 1855.

Grimm. Kinder und Hausmaerchen, 3 vols., Gœttingen, first 2 vols. 1850, 3rd vol. 1856.

Grimm. Irische Elfenmaerchen, uebersetzt von den Bruedern Grimm, Leipzig, 1826.

Gubernatis, Angelo de. Zoological Mythology, 2 vols., London, 1870.

Guest, Lady Charlotte. The Mabinogion, translated by, 3 vols. Llandovery, 1849.

Haltrich, Joseph. Deutsche Volksmaerchen aus dem Sachsenlande in Siebenbuergen, Berlin, 1856.

Henderson. Folklore of the Northern Counties of England and the Border, London, 1866.

Hunt. Romances and Drolls of the West of England, 2nd edition, London, 1871.

Indian Antiquary, vols. I. (1872), II. (1873), and IV. (1875), Bombay.

Karadschitsch, W. S. Volksmaerchen der Serben, Berlin, 1854.

Lane. Arabian Nights, 3 vols., London, 1859.

Lebar na Huidre. Lithographic facsimile, Dublin, 1870.

Milenowsky. Maerchen aus Boehmen, Breslau, 1853.

Naake. Slavonic Fairy Tales, London, 1874.

Old New Zealand, 1876.

Ralston. Songs of the Russian People, London, 1872. Russian Folk Tales, London, 1873.

Rink. Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, Edinburgh and London, 1875.

Sagas from the Far East, London, 1873.

Schmidt, G. Griechische Volksmaerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder, Leipzig, 1877.

Schott. Wallachische Maerchen, Stuttgart und Tuebingen, 1845.

Stier, G. Ungarische Maerchen und Sagen, Berlin, 1850. Ungarische Volksmaerchen, Pesth (preface is dated 1857).

Taylor, Meadows. Confessions of a Thug, London, 1873.

Thorpe. Yule Tide Stories, London, 1853.

Three Middle Irish Homilies, Calcutta, 1877.

Tylor. Primitive Culture, 2nd edition, London, 1873.

Vogl, Johann, N. Volksmaerchen [Slavonic], Wien, 1837.

INDEX.

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