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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[APRIL, 1897.
enquire into cases, where there were no eye-wit. your own powers, bad trilled with me." By the nesses to the fact. On hearing this the Musal. time that the crow had gone a little further, it mån removed one of his slippers and began to beat became tived and unable to fly along and was the rogue. The Judge, in a great passion, asked in sore distress. The swan thereupon laughing, him what the matter was. He told him that it placed it on its own wings and prevented it from was because he had not communicated to him falling into the waters below, brought it to the beforehand his intention of robbing his house, shore and left it there. in order that he might have wituesses ready to prove his villainy. The Judge was very much
Thus an impotent fool, who begins by despising troubled at this reply and remained silent.
the strong and the good, will in the end come to
degradation. XXI.
XXII. A crow perched on a banyan tree near the sea. At Tirupati lived a Brahman in poor cirshore, saw a swan passing by and asked where it cumstances, who received on a certain day a was going to which the latter replied that it was pot of flour as a present from a certain merchant. going to the Minasasaras. The crow thereupon He took it, and, being very tired, seated was extremely anxious to accompany the swan, himself on the verandah of a bouse and soliand requested the latter to take it along with it. loquized thus, "If I sell this pot of four, I shall The swan, hearing these words, said, "O crow, get half a rupee for it, with which I can purchase where is the Minasasaras and where are you a kid. This, in a short time, will produce a noch How great is the distance between you and the I will then sell them, and buy cows, buffaloes, etc., saras ?" The crow was very much enraged at the and thus in a few years I shall be the master of reply, and said, "You Rpeak without knowing three thousand head of cattle. I will then pur. what you are about. If you examine the real chase a mansion, which I will furnisb elegantly, truth, you will find that I can fly quicker than and marry a beautiful damsel who will crown my yourself. I will exemplify this at once -- do you set happiness by giving birth to a son. My wife will out and come with me P" So saying, it soared up i be particularly fond of me, but I shall not allow the skies and went a short distance along with the her too much freedom, and shall sometimes send swan. Afterwards it flew ten yards in advance, her away with a kick when she comes to caress me." and ngain coming back to the swan said jocosely, Thus thinking, he thrust out his leg like one “Why, you said something about flying quieker really going to kick, struck the pot and broke than I, and yet you don't accompany me; the fact it into pieces. The flour got mixed with dirt, and of the matter is that you, without looking into all his ideas of happiness vanished.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT SMALL-POX IN
CALCUTTA.
DURING an out-break of small-pox in Calcutta in February, 1897, it was believed that the Goddess Sitala, the deity presiding over small-pox, was seen at dead of night walking quickly along one of the public thoroughfares. A policeman went boldly np to her and was about to lay hands on her, when he was prevented by some unseen influence, and the irate goddess pronounced sentence of death on him at the same hour on the following night, and then vanished into the air. The policeman was said to have related the story before he expired. In consequence of the tale people flocked to the temple of Sitala at Ahiri Tola, which the goddess
was said to have declared to be her seat, and performed pájel there.
Subsequently the story underwent further developments, and the goddess was said to have commanded the policeman to tell the panic-stricken people of Calcutta that she was going to leave them soon and betake herself to "western climes.' The public in consequence, in order to propitiate the goddess and encourago her to depart, abnt. doned their usual food and took to eating only flattened rice and curda. So great was the de. mand for these things, that some people could not get them, and had to be satisfied with milk and sugar as a minor means of propitiating the goddere
