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MAY, 1925
FOLK-TALES FROM NORTHERN INDIA
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implored her forgiveness, pleading that her son had been attacked with sudden madness. The Rani said :-"Let him give up his sweeper's trade and go into the forest and devote himself to the worship of Mahadeva."
The boy went into the forest and devoted himself to meditation, so that he became a mighty saint, and all the great ones of the land used to go to him and procure the realization of their desires. After a while the Râni said to the Raja :-"Let me too visit this famous saint, that I may pray for the long life of thee and my children." The Raja gave her leave, and she approached the saint. "I am she," said she, "whom thou sawest in the upper chamber." The saint replied:"I am not the same. The great ones of the land honour me; and this is all through devotion to the Almighty." Thus he became a real saint, and his fame spread abroad.
50. Vishnu Sarma and His Wife.
(Told by Pandit Gore Lal of Kailganwa, Lalipur, and recorded by Pandit Radhika Prasad.) There was once a Pandit named Vishnu Sarma, who for a long time refused to marry. At last, under pressure from his friends, he married a blind Brahman girl. When she became pregnant, he went to her, and after reciting mantras threw some rice over her; whereupon the child in her womb spoke and said that he was indeed his son. So he was wont to do, whenever she became with child: and the child always spoke from her womb and testified to its legitimacy.
The other women used to laugh at her, saying:-"If your husband is as learned as this, why does he not cure your blindness?" So she told her husband that if he would not give her her sight, she would commit suicide. Hereupon he threw rice over her and repeated mantras, and she recovered her sight.
One day after the time of her purification, she was bathing on the roof of her house, when her eyes fell on a groom, and she conceived. Then the Pandit threw rice over her, according to the usual practice; but the child made no reply. When he asked his wife, she would not tell him how matters stood. So for very grief and shame he fell ill and died.
After his death a son was born, who claimed a share in the estate, which the others refused to give. The case came before Raja Vikramaditya, and he asked his queen to test the matter. So she donned her royal robes and called all the sons to her. She asked each in turn to sit beside her on the couch, and those who were the legitimate sons of Vishnu Sarma refused by reason of the modesty of noble birth, while he that was the son of the 'groom took his seat beside her. Thus she knew that he was not the legal heir, and his claim was disallowed by the Raja.
[For instances of these supernatural births, see The Legend of Perseus by Hartland. -W. CROOKE.J
51. The Rogue and the Goat.
A goat once strayed into the house of a rogue, who forthwith killed and ate it. The owner came to him soon afterwards and asked him if he had seen his goat. The rogue replied:-"Not only have I seen it, but I have eaten it." "Then you must give me one as good or pay the price," said the owner. "Why should I pay for it?" said the rogue. "If you don't," answered the other, "I will claim it from you on the Day of Judgment." "But suppose I deny the matter." "Then the goat itself will come and give testimony against you." "Well," said the rogue, "when I see the goat coming before the Almighty, I will catch it by its ear and say to you, Take your goat and don't come annoying me with false charges'."
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