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AUQUST, 1925)
FOLK-TALES FROM NORTHERN INDIA
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Now Priya Darsan used to prey on the small frogs of the well until they were all consumed, and there remained only the master frog Ganga Datta, who began to reflect that one day Priya Darsan would devour him. So he planned how he could avoid calamity and save his life. One day he went to Priya Darsan and said with folded hands-" MahAraj, I have been considering the case of this well, and I am full of fear lest thou shouldst one day starve, as all the small frogs have now been devoured." "Thy words are true," replied Priya Dargi, "I too am anxious about the future. Hast thou any plan whereby this danger may be removed ?" "My plan is this," answered Ganga Datta, "Close to this well is a tank, in which there are many frogs. If I could only get out of this well, I would go there and on some pretence induce them to come into this well, and thus Your Highness would have a store of food for many years." Priya Darsan replied—"This device of thine is wise. But how can you ascend the wall of this well ?" He said—“Thou hast only to order thy servant Bhadre the biscobra, who flieth, to take me on his back and fly to the top of the well. It is then my part to complete the business."
Priya Darsan agreed and called the biscobra Bhadre and ordered him to carry the frog Ganga Datta to the top of the well. When Ganga Datta reached the upper ground, he was overwhelmed with joy at his escape. So he hastened to the tank and sat on a log and loudly croaked to his brethren, and when they came before him, he told them of the wickedness of the serpent, Priya Darsan. They blessed him for the subtlety of his wit, and just then Bhadre called out-" Ganga Datta, our lord Priya Darsan waits for thy return and the fulfilment of thy promise." But Ganga Datta laughed and answered-" What sin is there which a hungry man will not commit for the sake of food, and what chance have the poor in the presence of the great ? Tell him that now I have escaped, I will never return to the well again."
Bhadre took this message to the serpent Priya Darsan, who lamented that he had been beguiled by the device of the frog Ganga Datta.
67. The Three Wishes. There was once a very poor man who made his living by cutting wood in the forest. One day, as he was working hard in the utmost misery, Mahadeva and Parvati passed by. and Parvati said to her spouse-." You are always blessing some one. Now give a blessing to this poor creature." Mahadeva said," In this life every one gets his due, and it is useless conferring favours on a boor like this." But Parvati insisted ; and at last Mahadeva said to the wood-cutter-" Ask any boon you please." The man said — "My wife is a shrew, and I dare not ask a boon without consulting her." Mahadeva answered -" You can consult her; and when you want to ask a boon, plaster a piece of ground, wash, and sit within the enclosure and make your request. But you can only ask once, and your wife and son may ask too."
**The wood-cutter went home and told his wife what had happened. She said-"I must have my wish first." So she did as the god had ordered, and she prayed-" O Lord, may my body be turned into gold." And it was as she prayed.
Just then the Raja was passing by on his elephant, and looking into the house of the wood-cutter, he saw this woman of gold and he loved her. So he sent his servants and they seized her, placed her in a litter, and carried her off to the palace.
When the wood-cutter saw that he had lost his wife, he too did as the god had ordered and prayed—“O Lord, may my wife be turned into a sow.;" and so it was. When they opened the litter to take her to the Raja, they found within it only a foul sow; and when the door was opened, she ran away and returned to her own house. When the son of the wood-outter saw this loathsome animal enter the house, he rushed at her with a bludgeon.
