Himalayan Times (1954)

Eight

August 29, 1954

Mandala of Sig Veda.
Sometimes Ri'salu is inves-
ted with a cap which
makes him invisible; at
other times as owner of
a garment which changes
things to gold or of a
oooking pot which never
empties or with tooth of
a lion with wonderful
qualities.

Throughout the3e sto-
ries Risaiu. though posses-
sed of prodigious strength,
never misuses it and re-
mains to this day a symbol
of good-heartedness and
generosity !

Didactic Tales

The second type of
Punjabi folk tales are,
what one might call didac-
tic. They convey a moral
lesson Some of these as,
for instance, the Patch-
tartfara. have animals as
their main characters. A
typical story is that of
a rat who caught in the
rain dug a hole for shel-
ter He came across a
bit of dried root which
he thought would do for
fuel and took it home.
On ithe way, he came
acrosjs a man trying to
light a fire with damp
wood. The rat gavejiim
the dry root and in re-
turn gpt some bread. Then
he ran into a potter whom
he gave the bread in
return for a pot The
next person he met was
a peasant milking a buffalo,
receiving the milk in his
shoe as he had no vessel.

The rat gave him the pot
and got the buffalo in
exchange. The rat was
now convinced that ho
was very good at bargai-
ning. He came uoross a
bridal party carrying a
palanquin. The bearers
wanted the buffalo which
the rat offered. Hi* frighte-
ned them by telling them
of the real own r of the
animal and found himself
owner of the deserted
bride. He tried to sell
the bride till the girl's
mother claimed her. The
rat was "compensated" by
being put on a red ' hot
stool. His tail and half
~?of his hair and skin were
burnt. Thus ends the
story; the moral beirrg left
very much to individual
interpretation.

The Clever Wife
A similar tale is of
Barber's clever wife. The
barber lost all he had.
His wife asked him to go
to the King for help. The
King gave him a piece
of waste land. She made
her husband look after
the land all the twenty-
four, hours and spread the
rumour that he was look-
ing for a pot of gold
buried in it. .In the night
the thieves ploughed it up
to find the gold. She.got
a good harvest which she
sold for a lot of gold
pieces. When the thieves
came to steal it, she told
her husband loudly that
the box was in the niche

by the door. The thieves
carried off the box and
later found it to be full
of dung. When thieves
came again, she told her
husband that the gold
was in a bag hung by
the tree outside, 'ibebag
was hornet's nest and the
thieves got badly stung.
When they came yet ano-
ther time she sliced off
each man's nose as one
by one they tried to enter
through the window. The
thieves then carried her
off while she was asleep.
She caught the branches
of a banyan tree and
sitting thereon pretended
to be a fairy The thieves
ran away thoroughly fri-
ghtened leaving behind
all their loot. After that
the thieves decided to go
to law. 1 he barber's wife
pleaded her caso so well
bringing out the bits of
noses in evidence that the
King made the barber his
Minister saying: "He will
never do a foolish thing
so long as his wife is
alive".

The Way To Ram !

Another folk tale of
a different type is of a
farmer who asked a money-
lender how ho became
rich. He was told that
all came from Ram (God).
The farmer seta out to
Rama. He had

three cakes with him. He
gave one to yogi, the

(Continued on page 10)