Indian Antiquary Vol 25

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

Page 53

FEBRUARY, 1896.) FOLKLORE IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES; No. 2.
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was he in his new love and entangled in the wiles of his plotting wife. Far different was the case with the prince when he heard that the character of his sister, notwithstanding her tender years, was calumniated by the step-mother, for this so exasperated him that he, taking his sister with him, left the palace of his father, who had now become a tool in the hands of the queen.
Having left the palace the prince and the princess did not remain long in their father's territory, but repaired to a distant country, being afraid of falling again into the clutches of their obdurate step-mother. There they lived without being persecuted, the prince given to the pleasures of the chase and leading the life of an independent country gentleman. On returning one day from one of his hunting expeditions the prince saw & snake, after having regaled itself, about to enter the mouth of his sleeping sister. He at once out short ite career by a stroke of the scimitar, which hang by his waist-belt, and without awakening his sister and telling her of what had happened, he threw away the dead reptile and thought within himself thus:
“Ah! I now understand that this is the repulsive creature that made my little sister appear pregnant and thus furnished a ground to our step-mother for calumniating the innocent girl, notwithstanding her tender years. This is the reptile that created an inordinate hunger in my sister, as if she was a glutton; and a glutton, I know, she is not."
It chanced that the remains of the dead snake fell into one of the upper rooms of the mansion, and they grew into beautiful lilies of sweet fragrance. The prince came to where these were one day, and was very much surprised that the plants had grown in such a place spontaneously without being planted by him; and inferring that some evil might befall bim or his sister by reason of his having in his possession this unwishod for botanical treasure, probably surcharged with mischief, he always kept the room padlocked, keeping the key with him. But one day he left the key at home, and ouriosity led the princess to open the door of this very room, where to her extreme joy she found lilies of the first magnitude blossoming with flowers, with which she thought within herself to decorate the head of her brother.
It was the wont of the princess to comb the hair of her brother ocoasionally, and one day, when the prince was taking his siesta, she combed his hair, oiled it, and thinking that something was wanting to impart beauty to the beautiful glossy jet black hair, the delectable lilies with their sweet scented flowers stood before ber nind's eye. On this without a second thought she stole away, without making any poise or awakening her brother, to the room where the plants were, and fetched one flower. Hardly had the beautiful lily been put into the hair of the prince than he turned into a huge snake and in this strange form wriggled out of the room, Very much troubled in spirit on account of the strange transformation of her brother due to the lily, the princess began to lament bitterly, and crying, "Brother! brother," followed the snake wherever it went.
The snake very soon entered a dense forest, and thither, too, the sister, anmindful of herself, followed. Hard by the forest was a moand of earth, which the reptile entered through one of the holes. The grief of the princess at this juncture was at its height, and her ories were heard for miles around.
It so happened that a neighbouring king was then hunting in the forest, when his ears caught the cries of distress. Without losing a minute he summoned one of his servants and spoke to him thus:
"I hear the lamentation of a woman in distress from that direction. Go and ascertain the cause of it."
The servent repaired to the spot, whence the lamentation came, approached the distracted teir lady, and respectfully enquired into the cause of her grief: but eliciting no reply - 30