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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[MAS, 1936
47. The punishment of Raja Indra.
(Told by Bansidhar, schoolmaster, Bah, Agra District.) Once upon a time there were a swan and his wife, and the land in which they lived was ruined by famine. So the swan said to his mate :-"Let us seck another land." They flew on and on, till they came to a lovely garden, in the midst of which was a lake. The awan said :-"Let us halt here." Now the master of the garden was a crow, and he received them hospitably. They stayed a few days, and as they were going away the crow said to the swan "Why are you taking your mate away with you? She belongs to me, because she was my nate in a foriner life." The swan refused to give her up, and the crow said :“Let us call a Panchayat of the birds." Now there were in that land no other birds but crows. So, before the council met, the crow went round to all his brethren and asked them to give a decree in his favour. The trial came on, and when both sides had stated their case, the council gave a verdict in favour of the crow and made over the female swan to him. The swan said: "I appeal to Raja Indra." So to Raja Indra they went, and before the case came on, the crow went to Raja Indra and said :-"If you give the case in my favour, I will bring you the fruit of immortality.” Through his longing for the fruit, Raja Indra gave the case in favour of the crow. The crow took the swan, and they nested on a tree over the palace of Raja Indra. One day Raja Indra was going to worship his god, when the crow, who had just been rooting in a dunghil, flew by and dropped a piece of filth on the head of the idol. When Raja Indra saw that his worship was defiled, he cursed the crow and said:"Faithless wretch, you promised me the fruit of immortality. Not only did you break your word, but you have defiled the deity as I am worshipping him." The crow answered :" Who art thou to claim the fruit of immortality, when thou hast lost thy virtue and doest injustice?” Raja Indra was ashamed, and the crow called the swan and said "Take your mate. I did this only to prove that even among the gods there are liars."
48. The Pound of Flesh.
(Told by Rasul Baksh, combmaker, Saharanpur.) Two men, who were gambling with dice, made a wager that the loser was to allow the other to cut off a ser of flesh. One of them having lost, the other was preparing to cut his flesh, when the loser objected. So they both referred the matter to the Kazi. After considering the case, the Kazi said to the winner "Bring your knife and cut off a ser of flesh. But if you take even the weight of a rati more or less and spill a single drop of blood, your life will be forfeited." The winner, fearing to violate this condition, abandoned the wager.
[The pound of flesh, of which the tale of Shylock is the most famous instance, has been bibliographised by R. Kohler in Orient und Occident, 315 ff. It is possibly of Oriental origin : but whether the above version is original is another matter.-W. CROOKE.]
49. The Sweeper Youth and the Rani. (Told by Pandit Tej Raja and recorded by Munshi Har Prasad, Dinaganj, Budaun District.)
There was once an old sweeper woman who used to clean the courts of the Raja's palace. One day she fell ill, and being unable to work, she dressed up her son in woman's clothes and sent him to sweep the palace instead. As the lad was sweeping, he saw the Rani sitting at the window of her chamber combing her hair : and when his eyes beheld her, he was overcome with love, and crying, "Alas for the Rani ! Alas for the Rani!” he ran home and lay there as if dead.
His mother seeing this, was amazed and feared the wrath of the Raja, if the matter came to light. So she went secretly to the Rani, told her what had happened, and
