Indian Antiquary Vol 54

SR No.: 032546
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1985
Total Pages: 376
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

Page 326

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ AUGUST, 1925
But she paid no heed, ard walked down to the river-bank, where she took off all her olothes, intending to wash them. But a dog smelt the curry on her sheet, and when she took it off and laid it down, he promptly ran off with it, and she was left naked and ashamed on the bank. Her husband heard her lamentations, and brought her another covering, and then took her home.
64. The Cunning of the Bania.
(Told by Lala Mukund Lal of Mirzapur.) There was once a Bania who was about to go on a pilgrimage, and he did not know what to do with his money. So he went to a Mahâjan and asked him to keep it. The Mahajan said -"Yon must give it to me in private." So they went into the jungle, and the Mahajan said " If any one sees me take this money, perohance he may rob me. Are you quite certain that nobody is watching us?" "I am sure no one is watching us save Parameswar and the trees and the animals of the jungle." "That will not do for me," said the Mahajan, and refused to have anything to do with the money.
Then the Bania went to his Guru and asked him to keep the money, but the Guruji refused. The Bania said to his wife—“No course remains but that we take the money with us." Just then a thief was behind the house and watched the Bania tie up the money in his bundle. When every one was asleep, he broke in and was just laying his hands on the bundle, when the Bania woke and saw him. But he was afraid to try and catch him, lest the thief might do him an injury. So he called out to his wife, "After all I won't go on pilgrimage to-day." " What a fool you are," she answered, "just when you paid the Pandit and he fixed the lucky moment for your departure.” “Is this the proper language to use to your husband ?” and with that he caught up the bundle and threw it at her, and shouted " Help brethren ! my wife is killing me!" Immediately all the neighbours rushed in and said, "What are you fools fighting about?" Said the Bania-"I only wanted to show you that thief in the corner." When the thief was caught, even the Bania's own wife admitted that he was a very crafty fellow.
65. The Cunning of the Paddy Bird.
(Told by Ramnath, Stutent, Musanagar, Cawnpore District.) There was once a paddybird, which lived on the bank of a tank, and so cunning was he that he never tried to catch the fish in the tank, but lived on the worms and grubs he found on the bank. One day the fish came near him in the water, and one of them said "We see that, unlike your kind, you make no attempt to kill us. Why is this go?" The paddy bird answered—“ You must know that I have made the pilgrimage to Jaggan. nath, where no one takes life ; and now I have become pious, and in this way I rule my life.” The fish answered—“We approve of your pious life. May none but you inhabit the banks of our tank." The summer came on and the water in the tank began to dry up. The paddybird went away for a couple of days, and the fish were very anxious about their friend. When he came back, he said " As the summer is coming, I have been very anxious about your safety, and I have been thinking that perchance when the water dries, some evil-minded bird may attack you. Now just at the other side of yonder mound I have found another tank, in which the water is deep, and I will, if you approve, take you there one by one. The fish agreed to the proposal and the paddybird began taking them out one by one. But when he took them to the other side of the mound he ate them. This went on, until in the tank there remained but a single crab. The paddy bird took him in his beak and was just about to eat him, when the crab thrust his claws into the bird's mouth and choked him; and that was the end of the hypocrite.
66. The Frog's Cunning. (Told by Ganesa Lal, Schoolmaster, Digh, Fatehpur District.) In a certain well there lived the frog Ganga Datta, who was the wisest of all the frogs in the land. And in the same well lived the serpent Priya Darsan and the biscobra Bhadre,