Indian Antiquary Vol 20

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 40

32
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JANUARY, 1891.
The king in the meanwhile had sent some of his men to see what preparations his son-in-law had made, and when they saw the large palace, and the pandál, and the tables laid out with gold and silver dishes, their eyes were dazzled, and they went and reported what they had seen to the king, who was now more than convinced that his son-in-law was a man of great importance.
The wedding day at last dawned, and our hero had no friends or relatives to accompany him to church, so the fox went into the jungles and began howling, when lo! thousands upon thousands of other foxes came running in from all sides to the spot where our fox was. He explained to them why he had called them together, and they were all willing to follow him. He next cut a lot of palm leaves and tied them to the tails of the foxes.
The bridegroom now set out for the church, to get married, followed by a retinue of foxes. with the palm leaves tied to their tails, which, as they marched along, raised up each a cloud of dast, that the whole village was enveloped in it. The king saw it from afar and was at a loss to understand what could be the cause of it, and feared that it was a foreign king coming with a large army to conque.r his kingdom. So he sent some men to see what it was or who was coming, and they reported that his son-in-law was coming, with thousands upon thousands of guests. The king, who was not prepared to entertain so many people, sent word to his son-in-law not to bring them all, but to come with only a few.
This just suited the l'ox, who sent back all the other foxes and went alone with the bride. groom. They went to the church, where the marriage ceremony was performed, and then all the guests returned to the king's palace, and regaled themselves on a snmptuous dinner which awaited them. Dinner over, the bridegroom, taking his royal bride, returned to his own house, where a very symptuous supper was eaten, after which dancing and singing were kept up till very late in the night, and then everybody went to sleep.
Now it will be remembered that the large handsome palace and the pandál and everything else was only to remain for a short time, and so everything suddenly disappeared, and the follow. ing morning the bridegroom founel to their dismay, that not even the old woman's hat re, nained, and he and his Wilu Were sink in poverty. On that very day the king was to come with all his guests to dinner, and as soon as the fox saw the party coming he cried out at the top of his voice :
"The bride's foot have brought ill-luck! The bride's foot have brought ill-luck! See in what affluent circumstances we were till yesterday, and the bride has been scarcely a day here when everything has disppeared! The bride's feet bave brought ill-luck! The bride's feet have brought ill-luck!”
The king arrived with his retinue, and was surprised to see his daughter and son-in-law in such a position, and he enquired what was the matter. Quick as lightning, the fox replied :** What is the matter? Why, do you ask what is the matter? The matter is this, your daughter's feet have brought ill-lack to us ! your daughter's feet have brought ill-luck to us."
The poor king, whose men had told him of the splendour of his son-in-law's palace and everything else they saw, thought that what the fox said must be true, and that his daughter's feet had brought ill-luck to her husband ! So be consoled him by a promise of half his kingdom in compensation for the loss he had sustained !
Our friend, the poor boy, took it contentedly, and when many years afterwards the fox died, the boy gave him a grand funeral, with music. And after that he lived happily with his royal bride to a very old age.
This is an exceedingly interesting instance of the grateful animal class of tale, in which, contrary to custom, for is the hero. It also exhibits in a remarkable degree the mixture of Hinduism and Christianity that clearly prevails among the poorer Christians of Salsette.-R.C.T.