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170
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JUNE, 1882.
Then the pipal said to him: "What has happened ?"
"Don't ask me," said cock-sparrow. "It isn't decent to ask questions when a body is in mourning."
But the pipal wouldn't be satisfied, so at last with sobs and tears the poor bereaved cock-sparrow said
“Ik chamkhat hát:
Chisi rangan chashi;
Chird bedano kari." "One hen painted,
And the other was dyed,
And the cock loved her." Then the pipal was overwhelmed with grief too, and said "I must mourn also." So it shed all its leaves on the spot. By and bye a buffalo came in the heat of the day to rest in the shade of the pipal, and was astonished to find nothing but bare twige. "What has happened to you?" said the buffalo, "you were as green as possible yesterday." "Don't ask me," whimpered the pipal," where are your manners ? Don't you know it isn't decent to ask questions when people are mourning P"
But the buffalo insisted, and at last with sobs and sighs the pipal said
"Ik chamkhat hui: Chiri rangan chashi ; Chişá bedan kart :
Pipal pattre jhare." "One hen painted, And the other was dyed, And the cock loved her;
So the pipal shed its leaves." “Dear! dear! dear!" cried the buffalo. "How very sad! I must mourn too." So she iramediately cast her horns and wept and wailed. After a while she went to drink water in the river.
"What is the matter " cried the river. "And what have you done with your horns P"
"How rude you are ?" wept the buffalo, "can't you see I am in deep mourning P Don't you know it isn't manners to ask questions P"
Chamkhat, chamakht, chamkhat is a word whose origin I cannot trace. It is used with karnd and hond with & Bons of to put on a falae appearance by discolouring the skin or the face, or by dying the hair : to disguise, paint oneself: to rouge: to make up.-R. C. T.
Bedan, love; of. Sansk. vvid, to perceive, feel, find, PO BOBB, Boquire, marry: Panj., bedhna, to contract an Amorous friendship: Hind. bedna and bedhnd, to ache, pain.-R. C. T.
Nat was the word taed, which is very interesting.
But the river insisted till the buffalo with many sighs said :
“Ik chamkhat hút ; Chisi rangan chashi; Chird bedan kari; Pipal pattré jhari; Mahino sing jhari." "One hen painted, And the other was dyed, And the cock loved her, So the pî pal shed its leaves,
And the buffalo her horns." "Dreadful !" cried the river, and wept so much that its water became quite salt.
By and bye a cuckoo" came to bathe in the river. “What has happened P" said the cncko "you are as salt as tears."
"Don't ask me," mourned the river, "it's too dreadful for words." But when the cuckoo insisted, it said :
"Ik chamkhat hú:
Chisi rangan chashi; Chisa bedan kari; Pipal pattré jhari; Mahin sing jhari; Ndin bahí khari."19 "One hen painted, And the other was dyed, And the cock loved her, So the pîpal shed its leaves, And the buffalo her horns,
So the river became salt." "Oh dear! oh dear!" cried the cuckoo, "How very shocking! I must mourn too." So he plucked out an eye and went and sat by a tradesman's shop and wept.
“What's the matter P" cried Bhagtu," the tradesman.
"Don't ask me," snivelled the cuckoo, "it is such awful grief! such sorrow!"
But when the tradesman persisted the cuckoo said :
“Ik chamkhat hái;
Chiri rangan chashi;
Chira bedan kari; Sansk, nad, to roar, whence the Hind. and Panj. nadi and nadyda river, but Prak. naf, a river, which the modern dialectic word has preserved exactly. R.C.T.
10 Mahti, mahi, Panj. a buffalo-Hind, bacis.-R. C. T.
1 Koyal, koil, the black Indian cuckoo : cuculus Indicus.-R. C. 1.
1 Lit. the river flowed brackish.-R. C. T. 13 Bhagtu, the familiar diminutive form of the Hindu name Bhagat Ram.-R. C.T.
