The Magic Fiddle
Reading edition
“Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my ankles,
Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my ankles,
Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip,
Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip.”
The water continued to rise until it reached her knee, when she began to wail as follows;—
“Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my knee,
Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my knee,
Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip,
Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip.”
The water continued to rise, and when it reached her waist, she wailed as follows;—
“Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my waist,
“Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my waist,
“Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip,
“Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip.”
The water in the tank continued to rise, and when it reached her breast, she wailed as follows;—
“Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my breast,
“Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my breast,
“Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not fill,
“Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not fill.”
The water still rose, and when it reached her neck she wailed as follows;—
“Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my neck,
“Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my neck,
“Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip,
“Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip.”
At length the water became so deep that she felt herself to be drowning, then she wailed as follows;—
“Oh! my brother, the water measures a man’s height,
“Oh! my brother, the water measures a man’s height,
“Oh! my brother, the pitcher begins to fill,
“Oh! my brother, the pitcher begins to fill.”
The pitcher filled with water, and along with it she sank and was drowned. The bonga then transformed her into a bonga like himself, and carried her off.
After a time she re-appeared as a bamboo growing on the embankment of the tank in which she had been drowned. When the bamboo had grown to an immense size, a Jugi, who was in the habit of passing that way, seeing it, said to himself, this will make a splendid fiddle. So one day he brought an axe to cut it down; but when he was about to begin, the bamboo exclaimed, “Do not cut at the root, cut higher up.” When he lifted his axe to cut high up the stem, the bamboo cried out, “Do not cut near the top, cut at the root.” When the Jugi again prepared himself to cut at the root as requested, the bamboo said, “Do not cut at the root, cut higher up;” and when he was about to cut higher up, it again called out to him, “Do not cut high up, cut at the root.” The Jugi by this time was aware that a bonga was trying to frighten him, so becoming angry he cut down the bamboo at the root, and taking it away made a fiddle out of it. The instrument had a superior tone and delighted all who heard it. The Jugi carried it with him when he went a-begging, and through the influence of its sweet music he returned home every evening with a full wallet.
He now and again visited, when on his rounds, the house of the bonga girl’s brothers, and the strains of the fiddle affected them greatly. Some of them were moved even to tears, for the fiddle seemed to wail as one in bitter anguish. The elder brother wished to purchase it, and offered to support the Jugi for a whole year, if he would consent to part with his magical instrument. The Jugi, however, knew its value, and refused to sell it.
It so happened that the Jugi sometime after went to the house of a village chief, and after playing a tune or two on his fiddle asked something to eat. They offered to buy his fiddle and promised a high price for it, but he rejected all such overtures, his fiddle being to him his means of livelihood. When they saw that he was not to be prevailed upon, they gave him food and a plentiful supply of liquor. Of the latter he partook so freely that he presently became intoxicated. While he was in this condition, they took away his fiddle, and substituted their own old one for it. When the Jugi recovered, he missed his instrument, and suspecting that it had been stolen requested them to return it to him. They denied having taken it, so he had to depart, leaving his fiddle behind him. The chief’s son being a musician, used to play on the Jugi’s fiddle, and in his hands the music it gave forth delighted the ears of all within hearing.
Through course of time the bonga girl’s family became very poor, and her brothers on one occasion came to the chief’s house on a visit.
The bonga girl recognised them at once, but they did not know who she was. She brought them water on their arrival, and afterwards set cooked rice before them. Then sitting down near them, she began in wailing tones to upbraid them on account of the treatment she had been subjected to by their wives. She related all that had befallen her, and wound up by saying, “It is probable that you knew it all, and yet you did not interfere to save me.”
After a time she became reconciled to her sisters-in-law, and no longer harboured enmity in her mind against them, for the injury they had done her.