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DECEMBER, 1880.]
FOLKLORE IN THE PANJAB.
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she, nothing loth, went to the palace. The tiny box, and in that box is the nine lakh' queen pretended to be wonder-struck, and necklace. Put it on and I shall die." said, "Now you must never leave me. You So when the king returned from hunting, and are only fit to live in a palace. You are my came to visit the queen, she began to sob and cry. sister henceforth.” So the Princess Aubergine, "What is the matter, my queen ?" asked he. nothing loth, stayed, and they exchanged “Oh my life is wasted. I had better die," veils and became sisters.
sobbed she. But the queen saw at a glance that Princess "Not so," answered he, "tell me what it is Aubergine was no human being but a fairy. you want." Therefore she laid strong spells upon her Then she told him her life was bitter to her while she slept, and asked “Now tell me true, unless ste possessed the nine-lakh necklace." in what thing does your life lie " Then the "But where is it to be found," said he. Princess, spell-bound, answered: "In the life of So she said: "In a river far from here lives your eldest son. Kill him and I too will die." a fish. In the fish is a bumble bee, in the bee a So the wicked queen went next day to where box, and inside the box the nine lakh necklace." her young son was sleeping, and killed him Now the king was kind to his wife, and with her own hand. Then she sent the slave girl grieved sincerely for the loss of his seven young to Princess Aubergine's apartments to see if | sons, who, the queen said, had died suddenly of she too were dead, but the girl returned, saying an infectious disease, and being anxious to "She is alive and well, reading her Kalán-ul. comfort her, he ordered all the fishermen in the
kingdom to fish for the queen's red fish. And Then the wicked queen was greatly incensed, when it was caught he had it opened, and sure and laid stronger spells on the princess, asking enough inside was the bumble bee, and inside the her again--"Now tell me true, in what thing doesbee was the box, and inside the box the nine-likh your life lie?" And she answered, " In the life necklace. So the queen put it on and was happy. of your second son. Kill him, and I too shall Now when Princess Aubergine had told her die." So the queen next day killed her second secret, she knew her life was gone, so she son with her own hands, and sent the slave girl returned sadly to the Brahman's hut. She told to see if Princess Aubergine was also dead. the kind old poople she would soon die, and But the slave girl returned, saying " She is alive begged them not to burn or bury her body. and well, reading her Kalám-ul-lal." Then the "This is what you must do," she said, "dress queen was enraged and threw stronger spells on me in my finest clothes, scatter flowers on my the poor princess, and this time when the queen bed, and carry me to the wildest jangal. Place asked, "Now tell me true, in what thing does the bed on the ground, and build a mud wall your life lio P" she answered "In the life of round it so high that no one can see over. And your third son," and so it happened every day, leave me there." till all the queen's seven young sons were killed. So when she died (which she did at the very
Then the queen summoned up all her art, moment the wicked queen put on the nine-lakh and laid such strong spells on the Princess necklace) the old Brahmans did what Princess Aubergine that she could no longer resist them, Aubergine had told them. Then the queen sent but when the queen asked, “Now tell me true the slave girl to the Brahman's house to see in what thing does your life lio?" she sobbed if Aubergine were really dead and buried. She und moaned "In a river far from here, lives returned saying "she is dead, but not burnt i fish red and green. Inside the fish you'll find or buried; they have carried her out to the a humble bee, inside the bumble bee there is a jangal, and built a mud wall round her bed
Amungst the women of the Papjáb a formal exchange of reils and drinking milk together from one cup is the common way of swearing friendship.-F.A.S.
(أدم) ada ana 4d, descended from Adam آدم زاد 2
human.-R.C.T.
35 kalam-ul-lah, that is God's word, the uly Qurin. This is another proof of the mixture of Hinduism and Muhammadaniam in the Panjab among the lower
classes before noticed, for here we have a girl brought up in a Brahran's house reading the Quran !-R. C. T.
445) Nau-lakkå här, the nine lakh necklace, this fabulous necklace of nine lakhs of rapees appears to have no particular story attached to it, and is used in a vague way as we would use the "pbilosopher's stone." The necklace is well known in the Panjab and occurs in many of the folk tales.-R.C.T.
