TonotesONCE there was a great king called Burtal, and he had a hundred and sixty wives, but he had no children, which made him sad. One day he said to his wives, “I am going to a very distant jungle which is full of antelopes, to hunt them.” “Very well,” they answered, “go.” So he went. In that jungle lived neither tigers nor men, but only antelopes. When King Burtal reached the jungle, some of the antelopes came to him and said, “Pray don’t kill the black antelope, for he is our RÁjÁ, and we have no other antelope like him among us; but try to kill any of the others—the brown or the yellow antelopes—that you choose.” Now, the king was not a kind man, and he said, “I will kill your black antelope, and no other.” So he shot him dead. When the other antelopes saw this they began to scream and cry with sorrow. But the dead antelope’s wife said to them, “There is a holy man, a fakÍr, in the jungle. Let us take the dead body to him and ask him to bring our RÁjÁ to life.” And King Burtal laughed at them and said, “How can any man bring a dead antelope to life?” But the antelopes took the body of their dead RÁjÁ on their backs, and the dead antelope’s wife went at their head; and King Burtal went too; and they carried it to the fakÍr, who was called GoraknÁth, and who was resting in the jungle, and they said to him, “Bring our RÁjÁ to life again, King Burtal had stood by all the time, and he said to GoraknÁth, “Make me a fakÍr like yourself,” for he thought it would be fine to do such wonderful things. But GoraknÁth would not, and King Burtal stayed in the jungle with GoraknÁth for twelve years, and all that time he never ceased begging and praying to be made a fakÍr, till at last GoraknÁth said, “I cannot make you a fakÍr unless you go home and address your wives as ‘Mamma,’ and ask them to give you money and food.” Now, it is a very shameful thing to call one’s wife ‘Mamma,’ for if a wife is called ‘Mamma’ she has to leave her husband. Then GoraknÁth took off the king’s clothes, and dressed him only in a cloth and a tiger’s skin; and the king went to his palace and began begging for rice and food, and he would not take any from the palace servants: he said he must and would see the RÁnÍs, and that they themselves should give him food. The servants told the RÁnÍs about this fakÍr who said he must and would see them himself, and that they should give him food and rice with their own hands, and one of their ayahs, In old days men who intended to become fakÍrs had to do three tasks set them by one who was already a fakÍr; so GoraknÁth said to the king, “Now you must go to a jungle that I will show you, and stay there for twelve years.” Then King Burtal took the flat pan and the rolling-pin which he used in making his flour cakes, and was quite ready to start for the jungle, but the fakÍr stopped him. “You must leave your pan and your rolling-pin behind,” he said; “and all these twelve years you must neither eat nor drink, or you can never be a fakÍr. You must sit quite still on the same spot and never move.” “I shall die if I don’t eat,” said the king; “but I don’t care if I do die, so I will do all you tell me.” Then the fakÍr took him to a jungle, and made him sit down on the grass, and instantly all the grass round him grew up so tall and thick that King Burtal was quite hidden by it, and no one could see him. Here he lived for twelve years, and never moved, and he ate nothing, and drank nothing, and nobody knew he was there. At the end of that time GoraknÁth came and took him “Now,” said GoraknÁth, “you must learn to be sweeper to all the beasts of the jungle, and you must serve them for twelve years.” So for twelve years King Burtal cleared the grass and kept the jungle clean for all the creatures in it—cows, sheep, goats, tigers, cats, bears. Sometimes he stayed in one part of the jungle, and sometimes in another. When the twelve years were over he went to GoraknÁth, who said to him, “Good; you have learnt to serve the wild beasts; now you must learn to serve men.” Then the fakÍr took the king to a village, and bade him sweep it and keep it clean for twelve years. Here King Burtal stayed for another twelve years, and all that time he was the village-sweeper and kept the village clean, and he swept all the dust and dirt into a great heap till the heap was as high and as big as a hut. When the twelve years were over he returned to GoraknÁth and stood before him, and as he stood there came a man who was an angel sent by God, and he threw some dirt on King Burtal’s head; but the king never moved The river in which he was sent to bathe was the JamnÁ. In this river lived water-nymphs, and the nymph GangÁ was playing in it when her sister JamnÁ JamnÁ finding her sister did not follow her, came up from the bottom of the river to look for her, and she asked whether any one had seen her, and at last some one said, “King Burtal has taken her away.” JamnÁ set off to King Burtal and said, “Give me my sister GangÁ, for our father is dying and wants to see her.” “It is true that I took her away,” said King Burtal, “but I have not got her now; she is with MahÁdeo.” So JamnÁ went to MahÁdeo,—“Give me my sister quickly, for our father is dying and wants to see her.” (Now GangÁ was in a great passion inside her box.) “I cannot give you GangÁ,” said MahÁdeo, “for she is so angry that if I let her loose she will flood the country with water.” “No, she will not; indeed, she will not,” said JamnÁ. “If I give her to you, you will not be able to keep her,” said MahÁdeo. “Yes, yes, I shall,” said JamnÁ. “I do not think you will,” said MahÁdeo; “but here is the box in which said is. Hold it tight, and be careful that neither you nor any one else mentions her name on the journey.” JamnÁ said she would be very careful, and took the box; but she had to pass through a jungle in which were a number of cowherds and holy men, one of whom was called GangÁ. Just as JamnÁ passed by, one of these men called to this man by his name, GangÁ, and instantly GangÁ burst the box and flooded the country with water. The holy men and the cowherd called to her to have pity on them, and so did JamnÁ; but GangÁ was too angry to listen to them or speak to them, so she drowned all the holy men and the cowherds, After this, King Burtal went to GoraknÁth and stayed with him some years, till GoraknÁth said, “Now go to your own kingdom.” But King Burtal refused, saying, “I wish to stay with you; my wives have never given me a child. I have no son. I do not care to return to my kingdom.” However, GoraknÁth would not allow him to stay. “Go to your own kingdom,” he said again; “but first tell me how many wives you have.” “A hundred and sixty,” answered the King. “Here are a hundred and sixty lÍchÍ fruits for you,” said the fakÍr. “Give one to each of your wives to eat, and they will each have a son, and I will go with you.” So King Burtal obeyed, and GoraknÁth went with him. Seventy years had passed since King Burtal had left his kingdom. When he and GoraknÁth reached it, they went to an open plain and made a fire and sat down beside it. Everybody who passed them said, “Who are these fakÍrs?” Some servants of King Burtal’s RÁnÍs passed too, and when they got home they told the RÁnÍs that their husband had returned to his kingdom. But the RÁnÍs said, “What nonsense you talk! King Burtal went away with the fakÍr GoraknÁth.” The servants answered, “We are quite sure that King Burtal is here, for GoraknÁth is here, and with him is another man, and we are sure this man is King Burtal.” So all the RÁnÍs went to see for themselves, and when they saw the fakÍr that was with GoraknÁth they knew he was their husband. Then the first RÁnÍ, who was very angry with him for having left them, said a spell over him: “God is very angry with you for leaving us, and he will send you a bad illness.” But King Burtal answered, “Do not be angry with Then GoraknÁth said he must now go away, but first he asked King Burtal to show him a grand feat as a proof of his skill. So King Burtal sent to the smith for a great iron chain. Then he lit a big fire. This alarmed the palace servants, who wondered if he were going to burn his palace and his wives. King Burtal next sent for some ghee. “What is he going to do with the ghee?” said the palace servants. Then he drove a nail into the wall, rubbed his hands with the ghee, put the iron chain into the fire and drew it out red-hot; flames came from the iron. Then King Burtal hung it on the nail and pulled and pulled at the chain till he drew it off the nail, and his hands were not in the least burnt. The RÁnÍs and palace servants were greatly astonished and GoraknÁth much pleased. “You know how to do your work well,” said he to the king. Then GoraknÁth bade him good bye, telling him to look after his kingdom and his wives; but they all said he must not leave them, and they built him a grand house in the compound, and gave him a great many servants to wait on him, and plenty of money; so GoraknÁth agreed to live in this house; only, as he was a fakÍr, he often went away by himself to spend some time in his jungle, always returning to his house in King Burtal’s compound. Meanwhile King Burtal gave each of his wives a lÍchÍ to eat, and after a little while each wife had a little son. They were all such beautiful children; but the biggest and handsomest of all was the eldest RÁnÍ’s little son. His name was SazÁdÁ, and his father and mother loved him dearly. When Prince SazÁdÁ was about six or seven years old, the fakÍr GoraknÁth came to King Burtal and said, “Now GoraknÁth took the little prince to IndrÁsan to be taught by the fairies, and on arriving he married him to JahÚr RÁnÍ, who was the daughter of the greatest of the fairy queens. GoraknÁth made a grand wedding for the little prince, and all the fairies were delighted that he should be the little JahÚr RÁnÍ’s husband, for he was such a beautiful child they all fell in love with him the moment they saw him, and they taught him to play on all kinds of instruments, and to sing beautifully, and to read and write, and he grew handsomer and handsomer every day in the fairy kingdom. GoraknÁth came often to see him, and the fairies took great care of him. When Prince SazÁdÁ had grown a fine strong young man, GoraknÁth took him and his wife, the JahÚr RÁnÍ, and brought them in great state to King Burtal’s kingdom. First he took the young prince and presented him to his father and said, “See, here is your son. Now he can read and write, sing and play on all kinds of instruments, for I have had him taught all these things.” But they, when they saw him, fell on their faces, for they could not look at him on account of his great beauty. He had grown so handsome in IndrÁsan, and his cheeks were red. “How can this beautiful boy be our son?” they said, and they did not recognize him. “Stand up,” said GoraknÁth. “This is your son SazÁdÁ; do not fall down before your son.” So they stood up, and the fakÍr said, “I have married your son to the fairy princess JahÚr RÁnÍ, and I will bring her to you.” So then he brought the little RÁnÍ, and when they saw her they fell down again, for they could not look at her beauty. Her hair was like red gold, her eyes were dark, and her eyelashes black. But GoraknÁth made them stand up; and when they really Told by DunknÍ. Decorative tail-piece Decorative head-piece
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