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MAY, 1906.]
FOLKTALES FROM NORTHERN INDIA.
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like?” Then the second man held the hand of the first and made him touch the rice-milk. The other, when he touched it, said: "You rascal! Why are you asking me to eat this filthy stuff? I will never touch it."
IX.
The Fate of the Thieves. Once apon a time the four Ages of the World met, and Treti Yuga asked Krita Yuga what the law in his time was. Krita Yuga replied: “In my time it was the law that if his subjects behaved sinfully the Rajâ was punished." Treta Yaga answered: “It was a cruel law to panish the Râjâ for the sins of his subjects."
The Dwapara Yuga asked Tretâ Ynga what the law in his time was. Tretà Yuga answered: “In my time it was the law that if the people sinned the landholders were punished." Dwapara Yoga replied: "This indeed was a very cruel law."
Then Kali Yuga asked Dwapara what the law in his time was. Dwapara Yuga answered : "In my time it was the law that if a junior member of a family committed sin, the head of the family suffered for it." Kali Yoga answered : " This indeed was an unjust law."
So the three Ages asked Kali Yuga: "And in your time what is the law ?” He replied: "In my time the law is that he who sins suffers himself.” “How can this be " they asked.
Then Kali Yuga went into the jungle and laid there a great brick of gold. Just as he did so, two goldsmiths passed by, and when they saw the brick of gold they snatched it up at once and hid it in their luggage. Then one of them said: "Brother, if you will I will go to some village and buy food." His friend agreed, and the goldsmith hastened to his house and told his wife that when he was going through the jungle with his friend he had found a brick of gold. She said: "I will cook some sweetmeats and put poison in them, which you can give to your comrade. Then all the gold will be yours." He agreed, and when the sweetmeats were ready, he took them and hastened to the place where he had left his comrade with the gold.
He also had been planning how to outwit his comrade. So when he saw him coming up with the sweetmeats he said: “Let us bathe before we eat." The two then went to a neighbouring well to bathe, and as his comrade stood at the edge, his friend pushed him in. Then he came back to where his friend had placed the sweetmeats, and having eaten some he died.
“This," said Kali Yaga, “is the way in which in my time punishment falls on the sinner."
The Tale of the Two Thieves 10 There was once a noted thief who took his nephew, the son of his sister, and began to train him in the art of thievery.
One day the thief stole a pigeon, and bringing it home told his nephew to cook it and have it ready by the time he came back. The boy set about roasting the bird, and when it was ready he ate the liver.
When the thief returned he missed the liver and asked the boy where it was. "Pigeons," said the boy, "you ought to know never have livers." The thief knew that the boy was deceiving him, but he said nothing and waited a chance of taking his revenge.
• Told by Pandit Brindaban Miar, teacher of the school of Nar Mahal, Agra District, N.-W.P. 16 Told by Khabt 14m, Kayapth of Sainyo, Agra District, N.-W.P.
