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TALES OF THE PUNJABFOLKLORE OF INDIA

BY

FLORA ANNIE STEEL

CONTENTS

Preface

To the Little Reader

Sir Buzz
The Rat's Wedding
The Faithful Prince
The Bear's Bad Bargain
Prince Lionheart and his Three Friends
The Lambkin
Bopolûchî
Princess Aubergine
Valiant Vicky, the Brave Weaver
The Son of Seven Mothers
The Sparrow and the Crow
The Tiger, the Brâhman, and the Jackal
The King of the Crocodiles
Little Anklebone
The Close Alliance
The Two Brothers
The Jackal and the Iguana
The Death and Burial of Poor Hen-Sparrow
Princess Pepperina
Peasie and Beansir
The Jackal and the Partridge
The Snake-woman and King Ali Mardan
The Wonderful Ring
The Jackal and the Pea-hen
The Grain of Corn
The Farmer and the Money-lender
The Lord of Death
The Wrestlers
The Legend of Gwâshbrâri, the Glacier-Hearted Queen
The Barber's Clever Wife
The Jackal and the Crocodile
How Raja Rasâlu Was Born
How Raja Rasâlu Went Out Into the World
How Raja Rasâlu's Friends Forsook Him
How Raja Rasâlu Killed the Giants
How Raja Rasâlu Became a Jôgi
How Raja Rasâlu Journeyed to the City of King Sarkap
How Raja Rasâlu Swung the Seventy Fair Maidens, Daughters of the King
How Raja Rasâlu Played Chaupur with King Sarkap
The King Who Was Fried
Prince Half-a-Son
The Mother and Daughter Who Worshipped the Sun
The Ruby Prince

Notes to the Tales

PREFACE

Many of the tales in this collection appeared either in the IndianAntiquary, the Calcutta Review, or the Legends of thePunjab. They were then in the form of literal translations, inmany cases uncouth or even unpresentable to ears polite, in allscarcely intelligible to the untravelled English reader; for it mustbe remembered that, with the exception of the Adventures of RajaRasâlu, all these stories are strictly folk-tales passing currentamong a people who can neither read nor write, and whose diction isfull of colloquialisms, and, if we choose to call them so,vulgarisms. It would be manifestly unfair, for instance, to comparethe literary standard of such tales with that of the ArabianNights, the Tales of a Parrot, or similar works. Themanner in which these stories were collected is in itself sufficientto show how misleading it would be, if, with the intention of givingthe conventional Eastern flavour to the text, it were to bemanipulated into a flowery dignity; and as a description of theprocedure will serve the double purpose of credential and excuse, theauthors give it,—premising that all the stories but three have beencollected by Mrs. F. A. Steel during winter tours through the variousdistricts of which her husband has been Chief Magistrate.

A carpet is spread under a tree in the vicinity of the spot which theMagistrate has chosen for his darbâr, but far enough away frombureaucracy to let the village idlers approach it should they feel soinclined. In a very few minutes, as a rule, some of them begin toedge up to it, and as they are generally small boys, they commencenudging each other, whispering, and sniggering. The fancied approachof a chuprâsî, the 'corrupt lictor' of India, who attends atevery