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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[November, 1893.
man raised his umbrella over his head. They went on farther and camo to village where there was a fine crop of barley standing in a field.
"I wonder if this barley has been ground or not yet!"2 the young man said to the villager.
When they came to the old man's village he invited his companion to put up at his house, and he agreed to do so. When the old man went into his house he said to his daughter:
“Our guest is the greatest fool I ever saw in my life. He goes barefoot on dry land, and puts on his shoes when he walks in water! When he goes under a tree, he holds up his umbrella! When he sees a barley field, he asks if the grain is ground or not!"
“Whoever he may be, he is not such a fool as you think," the girl answered. "He puts on his shoes in water, because he cannot see the thorns as clearly as he can when he walks on land. He holds up his umbrella under a tree, because he is afraid lest a bird should throw down some dirt on his clothes. When he asked if the barley was ground or not, he meant to enquire whether the owner had borrowed the seed or not, and if the crop belonged to him or to the mahajan. This is a wise man: you must get me married to him."
So they were married, and the young man returned with his bride to Âgrå. He told her the business on which he bad set out, and she said:
“I can explain the riddle!” When she reached Agrå, she wrote a letter to the princess :"Be cautious and think over the matter in your mind." When the princess got this message, she was wrath, and said to her father : "It is time that Bîrbal was forced to reuc the riddle or bear the consequences."
When Akbar sent for Birbal, he sent back an answer that his daughter-in-law would explain the matter. So she was called into the zanána, and Akbar was present. The girl said:
“The box of the princess must be opened before the mystery can be explained." "My box shall never be opened," the princess screamed. "Let it be opened at once," shouted Akbar. And lo and behold! When it was opened out bounced four strapping young men !
“Now you see why the fish langhed !" said the girl. Akbar was confounded and had the princess and her lovers buried in the ground with their heads exposed and shot at with arrows till they died.
NOTES. This tale is in many ways instructive. A story very similar is recorded from Kasmir by Mr. Knowles (Folktales of Kashmir, pp. 484-90). The queen of the Kasmiri story has been localised at Âgrå, and the whole tale has been brought home into the familiar Akbar-Bîrbal, Cycle. In the Kasmiri tale, the youth asks the old man to give him a lift, meaning that he should beguile the road by telling stories. They are refused food in a city, and given some in a cemetery. The corn incident is in both, as well as that of the shoes. The youth asks the old man to cut two horses with a knife, meaning sticks, and he enquires if his ridge beam is sound, meaning to ask if he can afford to entertain a guest. The message to the queen is much more mysterious, and a young man disguised as a female slave in the carána, is discovered by all the servants being made to jump over a pit.
Mr. Jacob's remarks (Indian Fairy Tales, p. 250 sq.) may be quoted: “The latter part is the formula of the Clever Lass who guesses riddles. She has been bibliographised by Prof. Child (English and Scolch Ballads, I. 485); see also Benfey, Kl. Schr. II. 156 sq. The sex test
[The ignorance of the rich and great as to agricultural matters is a standing joke among the Indian peasantry.-ED.)
[We are now launched on an interesting set of those stock riddles, which perhaps represent what remains of an ancient form of divination.- ED.)
