he could think of was done in an incredibly short time-tank repaired and deepened, lands all cultivated—and there being nothing more to be done the wife gave the demon a hair of her head to straighten. He failed to do it, but remembering that goldsmiths heated wires when about to straighten them, he placed the hair on a fire, which burnt it up. He was afraid to face his mistress after it, so he ran away.

Regarding the thorn in the demon's head, see No. 20.

IN

No. 74

The Three Suitors

N a certain country dwelt a man and a woman, it is said. These two had a son and a daughter.

When a man came one day and asked for the daughter [in marriage] at the hand of the father, the father said, "It is good. Come on Wednesday." The man having said "Hā," went away.

Afterwards another man came and asked for the girl at the hand of the mother. The mother said, "It is good. Come on Wednesday." The man having said “Hā,"

went away.

After that, yet a man came and asked for her at the hand of the girl's younger brother. The younger brother said, "It is good. Come on Wednesday." The man having said "Hā," went away.

Well then, the company of three persons having come on Wednesday and eaten rice and betel, caused the girl to come out [of the house], inviting her to go. Then the three persons endeavoured to call her to go in three [different] directions. Because the girl was unable to settle the dispute she ate a kind of poison, and lying down died there and then. Afterwards they buried her.

After that, the man who came first went to a soothsayer. The man who came next watched alone at the place where they buried her. The man who came last having said, "It doesn't matter to me," went to his village.

The man who went to ask for sooth having inquired about it, came to the place where they buried the girl. Having come and made incantations in the manner prescribed by the sooth-sayer, he made her arise, and got her

[back to life]. After she had recovered she went to the village. The man also went there.

Now then, after the three men had come together there, the man who brought her back to life asked, "To whom do you belong?"

The girl said, "The man who watched alone at the grave is my mother. The man who went to inquire of the soothsayer is my father. The man who went to his village is my man."

Having said this, the girl went with the man to his village. Kinnari. North-western Province.

This is a story of Vikrama and the Vampire, one of the puzzling questions set to the King being a decision as to whom the girl belonged.

In Indian Nights' Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 237, the girl threw herself down from the house-top. One of the suitors sprang on the funeral pile, and was burnt with her. The second watched over the grave. The third became a Fakir, and learnt how to revive the dead. He revived both the girl and the burnt suitor. The merchant whose opinion was required decided that the two who were burnt together were brother and sister, the Fakir who gave them renewed life was their father, and the man who merely sat by the grave must become her husband.

In the Jātaka story No. 150 (vol. i, p. 321), there is an account of a person who had learnt the spell for reviving the dead. In this case it was a tiger, who killed him.

In Totā Kahānī (Small), p. 139, out of three suitors for the hand of a girl who was carried off by a fairy, one learnt the manner of her disappearance and the place where she was, the second made a magical flying wooden horse, on which the third rode to rescue her, killed the fairy, and brought her back. The Parrot's decision was that the last one had the best right to her, as he had risked his life for her.

IN

No. 75

The Crocodile and the Jackal

N a river in a certain country a Crocodile stayed, it is said. While it was living there, the Crocodile having become friendly with a Crab, the Crocodile said to the Crab, "Friend, you call the Jackal to drink water, so that I may seize and eat the Jackal after he has come." The Crab said "Hā."

1

On the bank of that river there were Muruta 1 trees, and there were flowers on those Muruta trees. The Crocodile said to the Crab, "I will lie down on the high ground. You bring flowers that have fallen below those Muruta trees and cover me." Having said [this], the Crocodile lay down on the high ground near the water, and the Crab having brought the Muruta flowers covered the Crocodile.

Having covered him, the Crab, calling the Jackal, came to drink water. The Crocodile stayed as though dead. Then the Jackal having come near the Crocodile said, "In our country, indeed, dead Crocodiles wag their tails. This Crocodile, why doesn't he wag his tail? Maybe he isn't dead."

Then that Crocodile which remained as though dead, wagged his tail. After that, the Jackal, without stopping even to drink water, bounded off, and went away.

Afterwards the Crocodile said to the Crab, "Friend, tomorrow I will stop at the bottom of the water. You come there with the Jackal. Then I will seize and eat him."

The Crab having said "Ha," on the following day came with the Jackal to the place where the Crocodile was. Then the Crocodile seized the Jackal by the foot [as he was going to drink water]. The Jackal said

1 Lagerstroemia flos-reginae.

"Are the Crocodiles cheated quite, Thus the Ketala yam to bite ?"

Kimbulundāē raewatundāē
Ketala alē dāē ganḍāē?

Then the Crocodile let go. After that, on that day also without drinking water he bounded off, and went away. From that day, the Jackals having become angry with the Crabs, and having seized and bitten the Crabs in the rice fields, place the Crabs' claws on the earthen ridges in the fields.

Kinnarā. North-western Province.

In The Orientalist, vol. ii, p. 46, there is a story of a Jackal and a Crocodile, in the latter part of which the first incident is given, the tree being a Veralu (Elaeocarpus serratus). The Crab is not introduced into it.

In the Jātaka story No. 57 (vol. i, p. 142) a Crocodile endeavoured to entrap a Monkey by lying still on the top of a rock. The Monkey, suspecting some trick, from the unusual height of the rock, addressed the rock and inquired why it did not reply as usual. The Crocodile then spoke.

In Indian Folk Tales (Gordon), p. 63, the God Mahādeo (Šiva) took the place of the Crocodile, in order to be revenged on the Jackal for cheating him in the matter of the dead elephant (see No. 39, note); and the two incidents of the shamming death and seizure of the root are related.

In Old Deccan Days (Frere) p. 310, a Jackal escaped from an Alligator [Crocodile] in the same manner.