Folk-lore of the Telugus - G. R. Subramiah Pantulu

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Deaf Friend

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      IV.

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      THE DEAF FRIEND.

      In a certain village there lived a merchant who had a deaf friend. The latter learning that the former was ill, went to enquire after him, and while going along the road, determined to hold the following conversation with his sick friend; "After the usual greeting, I will first ask, 'well, Sir, how do you feel yourself to-day'? He will reply, 'better,' and I shall rejoin, 'very good.' I will then make enquiries about his diet, and he will reply 'rice without salt,' and I shall rejoin, 'may it do you much service.' I shall then put the question, 'pray, who is your doctor' ? He will, of course, tell me that such and such a person is his doctor and I may safely add, may Grod assist him in the fulfilment of his work.' "

      At length, having come to a resolve, he reached the house, and after the usual greetings seated himself near the patient and said:—

      "My friend, how are you"? ​ To which the patient replied:—"I am very much troubled with a virulent attack of fever."

      The deaf man, not understanding what he said, thought that he was answering according to the plan he had settled beforehand, and responded:—"Very good: I hope God will keep you so!"

      The patient, who was already peevish with the disease, was made more so by this speech of his deaf companion. The latter next asked what his diet was, and was told that it was the dust of the earth!

      "May it do you much good," said he! "and pray, my good friend, which doctor attends you"?

      The sick merchant, boiling with wrath cried:—"Doctor? Death himself."

      "Very well, may God speed his medicines!" said the deaf companion, and returned home.

      ​

      The Sagacious Minister

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      V.

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      THE SAGACIOUS MINISTER.

      One day, as the king and the minister were returning from the hunt, two owls were sitting screaming upon a tree by the road-side. The king, hearing the noises, called upon his minister to tell him what the birds were conversing about. The premier listened for a short time, as though he really understood the conversation, and then ​told the king that they were not words fit for him to hear. The king, however, insisted upon hearing the words.

      The vizier, therefore, represented the conversation to be as follows:—"One of the owls had a son and the other a daughter, and the two parent-birds are negotiating a marriage between their children. The former parent said to the latter:—'Then, you will give your daughter to my son, but will you give him fifty ruined villages'? To which the latter parent replied:—'While our Sultan Mahmud by the grace of the Almighty rules so happily, can there be a dearth of ruined villages? You only asked me for a paltry fifty, I will give you five hundred."

      When the Sultan heard this, he was very much grieved at heart. So he at once ordered the rebuilding of all the ruined villages in the realm, and made his subjects happy and prosperous.

      1 ↑ * (There have been so many Mahamud Shahs in the Dakhan that it is difficult to say which of them is meant in this story. The probability is it refers to the very notable doings of the Tughlaks, of whom Sultan Mahmud Tughlak was the last {1394–1413 A.D.)—Ed., Ind. Ant.)

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      The Lion and the Jackal

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      VI.

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      THE LION AND THE JACKAL.

      In the Dandaka forest was a lion which was in the habit of attacking and consuming all the beasts thereof. To rid themselves from the constant fear in which they were kept on his approach, all the other animals proposed to supply the lion with an animal a day if it would not attack them any longer. This promise was agreed to, and kept up for some time. Some time after, it fell to the lot of a fox to be sent to the lion, who, by no means relishing the idea of being devoured, walked slowly along, thinking all the while of some plan by which to put an end to the lion and save his own life. The lion, not finding the animal at the proper moment, was very much enraged, and insisted upon an explanation of the delay. The fox rejoined:—"Sir, another fox was sent under my charge by all the animals of the forest as an offering for you, but on the road I met another lion, who took away your meal, and told me to tell you of it." ​ The lion ordered the fox to take him instantly to the place of his enemy. The cunning fox took the lion to the side of a well, and, saying that the other lion was in it, begged the lion to take him in his arms that he might also have a peep into the well. When the lion saw the reflection of himself in the waters with the fox in his arms, he instantly came to the conclusion that he was looking on his enemy; and having let the fox drop, made a furious leap into the well and immediately perished.

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      Dream consciousness

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      VII.

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      DREAM CONSCIOUSNESS.

      There was a harlot in the city of Kalyanapura, who was in the habit of fleecing a hundred pagodas from whomsoever might appear to her in her dreams. It came to pass that on a certain night a Brahman appeared to her in a dream. She described him to her servants, and told them to fetch him and extort the money from him. They seized the Brahman as he was going along the road, and told him of the affair, and demanded the money. The Brahman was very much troubled, and pleaded poverty, but they would not let him go under any circumstances. He accordingly represented his grievances to the king who sent for the woman and demanded an explanation of her procedure.

      She replied that she demanded the money as the Brahman appeared to her in her dream. The king said that he would pay her the amount if she should wait a little. He accordingly ​caused a post to be fixed in the street and the sum tied to the hem of a garment and suspended from the top of the pole. He then placed a mirror underneath, and sent for the woman, and told her what he had done and called upon her to put her hand into the mirror and receive the money. She informed him of the impossibility of

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