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244
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1893.
Upon this the gosûnvi again asked her:-"Is there any one that will eat it ?", meaning "Have you got any children who will enjoy all this gold ?"
"No!" said the queen in a sorrowful tone; "and that is the reason why I am sitting here with this sieve full of gold in order that, by distributing it, the receivers of it may pray and obtain a son for me; but up to this time it seems that their prayers have not been heard."
The queen was then asked where her husband, the king, was; and she said that he was gone out.
"Very well," said the gosánvi. "Tell the king, when he comes back, to come to a certain village where is my mat, and then I will tell him what to do in order that your desires may be satisfied."
Thus saying the gosúnvi received some alms from the queen and went away.
Now, when the king came back in the evening, the queen laid out supper for him, and while he was partaking of it, the queen said:"My dear husband, this morning as I was seated as usual in the balcony with a sieve fall of gold to distribute to beggars, a gósánvi, who says his hut is in such and such a village, came up to me and asked me what I had in the sieve, and when I told him it was gold, he asked me if there was one who would eat it, to which I said 'no,' and that I was distributing it in order to obtain a son through the prayers of the beggars. Upon this he asked me if you were at home, and I told him that you were not at home. Then, telling me where his hut was, he asked me to send you to him, when, he said he would tell you what to do to obtain our desires."
The king listened to her very attentively, and, when she had finished speaking, said:"But, my dear wife, you are distributing, a sieve full of gold every morning, and we are both performing other charitable acts, and all to no avail; what can the gosánvi tell and much less do, that our desires may be fulfilled? It won't be worth my while to go to him."
But the queen pressed and begged of him to go, saying:-"Let us see what he says. Who knows but that he may help us to obtain our wishes ?"
After much entreaty the king consented, and, having finished his supper, set out for the mat (hut) of the gôsánvi. When he reached it, the gêsánvi asked him what he wanted.
The king said:"Did you not go to the palace this morning and tell my wife to send me to you when I came home ?"
"Yes, my lord," answered the gêsánvi. "I will now tell you what to do. Go to a certain place where you will find a tree laden with fruit. Climb the tree and shake it. Come down and take two of the fruit. Mind you do not take more than two. Eat one yourself, and give the other to your wife, the queen; thereby you will obtain your desires."
The king went in the direction that the gosánvi mentioned, and saw a large tree, which was bent down by the weight of its fruit. He climbed up and shook and shook the tree till he saw hundreds of the fruit fall on the ground, but when he came down and went to pick up the fruit he found only two. So he climbed again, and again shook the tree for a long while, and again. he heard the sound of hundreds of fruit falling, but, as before, when he was picking up he got only two. The king was astonished at this occurrence, and climbed up in the tree a third time, and shook and shook the tree with all his might for a very long time till he was quite fatigued, and he heard the sound of some thousands of the fruit dropping on the ground. When he came down, the ground under the tree was so covered up by the fruit that he could not put his feet down but fell on heaps of fruit, which made him glad to think that he had now plenty of them, but, to his great astonishment, as he proceeded to gather them, all the fruit went up again in the tree, and there remained for him to carry only two.
A 'holy' man's hut.
It is to be regretted that the tree and the fruit are not mentioned by name.
