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TALES OF THE PUNJAB
FOLKLORE OF INDIA

BY

FLORA ANNIE STEEL




CONTENTS



Preface

To the Little Reader

Sir Buzz
The Rat's Wedding
The Faithful Prince
The Bear's Bad Bargain
Prince Lionheart and his Three Friends
The Lambkin
Bopoluchi
Princess Aubergine
Valiant Vicky, the Brave Weaver
The Son of Seven Mothers
The Sparrow and the Crow
The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal
The King of the Crocodiles
Little Anklebone
The Close Alliance
The Two Brothers
The Jackal and the Iguana
The Death and Burial of Poor Hen-Sparrow
Princess Pepperina
Peasie and Beansir
The Jackal and the Partridge
The Snake-woman and King Ali Mardan
The Wonderful Ring
The Jackal and the Pea-hen
The Grain of Corn
The Farmer and the Money-lender
The Lord of Death
The Wrestlers
The Legend of Gwashbrari, the Glacier-Hearted Queen
The Barber's Clever Wife
The Jackal and the Crocodile
How Raja Rasalu Was Born
How Raja Rasalu Went Out Into the World
How Raja Rasalu's Friends Forsook Him
How Raja Rasalu Killed the Giants
How Raja Rasalu Became a Jogi
How Raja Rasalu Journeyed to the City of King Sarkap
How Raja Rasalu Swung the Seventy Fair Maidens, Daughters of the King
How Raja Rasalu Played Chaupur with King Sarkap
The King Who Was Fried
Prince Half-a-Son
The Mother and Daughter Who Worshipped the Sun
The Ruby Prince

Notes to the Tales




PREFACE


Many of the tales in this collection appeared either in the _Indian
Antiquary_, the _Calcutta Review_, or the _Legends of the
Punjab_.  They were then in the form of literal translations, in
many cases uncouth or even unpresentable to ears polite, in all
scarcely intelligible to the untravelled English reader; for it must
be remembered that, with the exception of the Adventures of Raja
Rasalu, all these stories are strictly folk-tales passing current
among a people who can neither read nor write, and whose diction is
full of colloquialisms, and, if we choose to call them so,
vulgarisms.  It would be manifestly unfair, for instance, to compare
the literary standard of such tales with that of the _Arabian
Nights_, the _Tales of a Parrot_, or similar works.  The
manner in which these stories were collected is in itself sufficient
to show how misleading it would be, if, with the intention of giving
the conventional Eastern flavour to the text, it were to be
manipulated into a flowery dignity; and as a description of the
procedure will serve the double purpose of credential and excuse, the
authors give it,--premising that all the stories but three have been
collected by Mrs. F. A. Steel during winter tours through the various
districts of which her husband has been Chief Magistrate.

A carpet is spread under a tree in the vicinity of the spot which the
Magistrate has chosen for his _darbar_, but far enough away from
bureaucracy to let the village idlers approach it should they feel so
inclined.  In a very few minutes, as a rule, some of them begin to
edge up to it, and as they are generally small boys, they commence
nudging each other, whispering, and sniggering.  The fancied approach
of a _chuprasi_, the 'corrupt lictor' of India, who attends at
every _darbar_, will however cause a sudden stampede; but after a
time these become less and less frequent, the wild beasts, as it were,
becoming tamer.  By and by a group of women stop to gaze, and then the
question 'What do you want?' invariably brings the answer 'To see your
honour' (_ap ke darshan ae_).  Once the ice is broken, the only
difficulties are, first, to understand your visitors, and secondly, to
get them to go away.  When the general conversation is fairly started,
inquiries are