Indian Antiquary Vol 21

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 54

46
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[FEBRUARY, 1892.
asked her to tell him his own fate. She was at first reluctant to do so, but after much pressure, she said :
"Your fate, O prince, is this. To whatever age you may attain; whenever you may die, - now or a hundred years hence, -- it is written in your luck, that your head will be pounded by a strange queen! This, O prince, is in store for you !"
'When the prince heard this, lie thought to himself: - "Surely not! I will not wait to be killed by a strange queen, or have my head pounded."
Thas thinking, he drew his sword and cut off his own head, which flew off and fell into a jam, al close by !
Now it happened that the king of a neighbouring country passed that way on the following morning, and seeing the head of the prince, took it up, carefully wrapped it in a handkerchief, and, carrying it home, put it in a drawer. Every day, before he left the house and as soon as he came home, the king used to open the drawer and look at it. The key of this drawer he kept in his own pocket, while the rest of the keys were in the custody of the queen, who was never told a word about the head. The fact of giving her all the keys but one aroused the curiosity of the queen. So one day she slyly took the key from the king's pocket, and when he was gone, she opened the drawer, and there saw the head. The face being beardless, it looked like that of a woman. She suspected, therefore, that the head must be that of a concubine of the king; and thought that the concubine having died, and the king being very much attached to her, he must have brought home her head and kept it in memoriam, that he might at least have the satisfaction of looking at her head! This naturally aroused a spirit of jealousy in her breast; so she took the head, and putting it in a mortar, pounded it into fine powder with a rice-pounder. Thus was fulfilled what was told by the fortuneteller to the prince !
When the fortune-teller got home it was later than she expected, for she had had to tell the fortunes of two persons. Her daughter asked her why she was so late, and she replied she was late becanse she had had to find out and tell the fortunes of two persons, the páļél's child and the prince. The girl then asked her mother to tell her her own fate, and after much entreaty and pressure, the old woman said: - "In your fortune, daughter, it is written that you will marry a Ming, by whom you will have a son, and later on you will marry your own son. So it is written in yoar fortune !"
* Surely not," thought the daughter to herself. "I marry a Mang! That will never do. I would rather go to a desort and lead a solitary life than remain here and eventually marry a Mång!!
So saying, she left the house then and there, and went into a desert, where she lived on what leaves and fruit she could get. She lived in this state for some time, when one day she saw a person coming towards her on horse-back. The cavalier asked her who she was, and what she was doing there. She told him that she was a person living in retirement. He, too, said he was also living in retirement, and asked her if she would accompany him and live with him. Not knowing who the speaker was, and thinking he was a great personage, the fortune teller's daughter willingly agreed to go with him. Now this man's house was several days' journey from there, and on the way she ate and drank with him. When they reached his house, the fortune-teller's daughter found in it the flesh of dead cattle and date-palm brooms, which are the sure signs of a Mång. She cursed herself for agreeing to accompany the man; but she was reminded of what her mother had told her, and which had proved true, despite her living in retirement ! She left the Mang's house immediately, and again took to the desert, but this time to another one. She, however, became pregnant, and in due time brought forth a son. She took the child, tore a piece of her own sári, and, wrapping ? A Mang is a low caste person ; he is considered even lower than a Mahår. Euphemism for sexual intercourse,