________________ 8 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY ( JULY, 1924 him all the milk and butter." Soon after the Guru appeared and asked the woman where her husband was. She said "Poor man, he has lost his wits and he cannot bear the sight of a beggar about the place. Just now a poor man came to the door, and my husband has gone hunting him through the village with the chaff-chopper." When he heard this, the Babaji was sore afraid and he ran away. Just then the Ahir came back from his field and asked his wife if the Babaji had been to see him. "Yes," she said, "he was here just now and wanted our rice-pounder. But I did not dare to give it to him as you were not at home." The Ahin seized the rice-pounder and ran after the Guru. "Babaji," he shouted, "stop ! here is the rice-pounder." But the more he called to the Babaji to stop, the fast *r he ran; and that was the last the Ahir and his wife ever saw of him. 21. How the Ahirin was outwitted. (Told by Ganga Sahai, schoolmaster, Hathras, Aligarh District. ) There was once an Ahir, who had a very deceitful wife. When she was cooking, she used to make all the good flour into cakes and eat them herself, while those she made for her husband were only of chaff and refuse. Her husband, being an easy-going man, stood this for some time : but one day, as he found himself growing weaker, he said :-"How is it that when I give you plenty of good food, my cakes are made only of chaff and rubbish.": She replied in verse : Gangapar teri bahin basen, Jake jamhen kank uren, Pisen getun kukas khayan Is se balam latte jaen. 6.e., " Your sister lives beyond the Ganges. When she yawns, all the good flour is blown away. I grind wheat and eat rubbish. Hence my husband is pining away." When her husband heard this, he thought he would go and give his sister a beating. His wife tried to dissuade him ; but he went. When he came to his sister's house, she received him hospitably and gave him a good dinner. Said she ---" Alas! brother. I see that you are very weak. Why is this so?" "How can I be strong," he answered, "when every time you yawn, you blow away all the good flour and my poor wife is left with only the husks to cook?" She asked--"How did you find that this was so ?" He said "My wife told me." His sister knew that this was some roguery on the part of his wife. So she went to a carpenter, who was a neighbour of hers and a great wizard, and she got from him four magic pegs, which she gave to the husband and said, "When you reach home, plant one of these at each corner of your house." The Ahir did as she told him, and planted one of the pegs at each corner of his house. Next day, when the woman was cooking, and as usual taking all the good flour for her own cakes, one peg said--"What are you doing?" The second said--"This is what she does every day." The third said--"Has she no fear of Narayan?" The fourth replied--"If she feared him, she would not act in this way." When the Ahirin heard these words, she did not know who was talking, and thought phat some of her neighbours had seen her. So she cooked the bread in an honest way that day, and when her husband came home, she set it before him. Said he-"I am pleased to see that my sister did not yawn to-day." After this the pegs used to speak whenever she tried to do any roguery, and though she searched everywhere, she could never find out who was watching her, and she became so stricken with fear that she was forced to amend her ways and give her husband his fair share of the food.
