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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JANUARY, 1926
tather returned, Birbal asked him to explain. "It is plain enough," said he : "My daughter is boiling arhar pulse with dead arbar stalks. I went to bury a corpse, and my wife is crush. ing peas, when each grain is split in two." "These are the people to answer Akbar's riddle," thought Birbal. So he repeated it, and the man said: "The upper lid is the sky and the lower the earth. Between them is the melon, Man, which can be cut in pieces by a knife of wax, because the least thing destroys his life." Akbar accepted the answer and loaded Birbal and the poor man's family with gifts.
81. How Akbar became Emperor. (Told by Ram Bihari Misra of Amapur and recorded by Sankar Datt, Rae Bareli District.)
There was once a leper who lay by the tank of Somnath, and Jagannath appeared unto him in a dream .and said "Bathe in this tank and thou shalt be made whole." So he bathed and was cured of his leprosy. When he came out of the water, he began to laugh, and a fox who was standing near said: "Why are you laughing at me?" "I am not laughing at you," the man replied. “I laugh because this tank cures the leprous." "Perhaps," said the fox, "if I were to bathe, I might become a human being." "Try," said the other; and lo! when the fox went into the water, he turned into a lovely girl. An old woman who was picking cowdung close by, then came up and said to the girl, who was laughing, “You were a fox a minute ago ; what right have you to laugh at me ?" "I was not laughing at you," said the girl, "I was only laughing to think that the tank can turn a fox into a human being." "Perhaps if I were to bathe," said the woman, "my son who is in a distant land may come back to me." "Try," said the girl ; and lo ! when the old woman entered the water, her son stood on the bank. At this she laughed and her son said, "When a man oomes home from afar, his mother gives him a drink of water and a smoke, and does not laugh at him." "I did not laugh at you," she said, "I was only laughing because bathing in this tank causes distant friends to return." "Perhaps if I were to bathe," said he, "I might get married." "Try," said his mother. And lo! the moment he entered the water, a bride and a grand marriage procession stood before him. Then he began to laugh, and the bride said "Is this the way for a man to weloome his bride, by laughing at her?" "I was not laughing at you," said he. "I was laughing to think that a man gets a bride by bathing here." "Were I to bathe here," said the bride, “perchance I might bear a son." "Try," gaid her husband. And lo! a sun was born to her. When the babe was born, his mother laughed, and the child said "It is hard for a woman to laugh at her son when he is born." "I was not laughing at you," she said. "I was only laughing when I thought that bathing here brings a woman a son." "Perhaps if I were to bathe here, I might become Emperor," said the child. "Try," said his mother; and when he went into the water, he was carried off , and this was Akbar, the Emperor of Delhi.
82. Sulaiman the wood-cutter. (Told by Shaikh Muhammad Kasim and recorded by Kamiruddin of Sandila, Hardoi District.)
There was once in the city of Agra a wood-cutter named Sulaiman, who was very poor and used to cut wood every day in the jungle, and thus he made his living.
One day, as he was walking in the jungle, he saw a whirlwind approaching; and out of it came a man dressed in green with a green lance; and when Sulaiman saw him, he bowed to the ground before him. The horseman asked him who he was and what was his business. When Sulaiman told him, he said "You need work at this trade no longer. I give you & ruby which you can take to a banker and sell. The proceeds of it will support you for the rest of your life."
The man gave him the ruby and disappeared. Sulaiman tied it in his turban, and with the bundle of wood on his head started for the city. On the way a kite swooped down and carried off his turban.
