Note 5 — V. FOLK-LORE AND FOLK-TALES.

That orphan had one calf; you could not imagine how fat and sleek it was. His uncles, being unable through envy to look at that calf, killed it. Then the orphan, having taken off the calf’s skin, took one leg and secretly hid it in the house of a rich brahman who lived at a distance. Then the orphan said, “Oh! how strongly the house smells of cow’s flesh!” The brahman, becoming angry, said, “May a tiger eat you, you wicked boy!5 How should there be any cow’s flesh here? I am a brahman—produce it, if you can: if you cannot, I will take your life.” The orphan said, “Very well, I will make a search.” He began to search in a careless, lounging way; but coming to the place where he had hidden the calf’s leg, he suddenly pulled it out. “See, this is cow’s flesh,” said he; “I told you so.” Then the brahman, fearing lest, if other people came in and saw this, his caste would be destroyed, said to the orphan, “Orphan, my good sir! don’t tell any one. I will give you a cloth-full of money.”6 So saying, he gave him a cloth-full of silver, which the orphan took with him to his home. When he arrived there, he said to his mother: “Go and ask my uncles for their basket.” His mother went and called out: “Brothers! your nephew says he wants a basket.” Then the widow’s brothers, having given her a basket, said among themselves, “What does he want to do with the basket? Go and watch.” So they sent the youngest of them, and he went and watched, and saw the orphan measuring the money with the basket. Then the one who had watched returned home and told his brothers: “Where did that nephew of ours get all this money? He is actually measuring the rupees with a basket!” After they had finished measuring the money, the orphan’s mother went and returned the basket. Her brothers said to her, “Send our nephew here.” When the widow reached her house she said to her son, “Your uncles bid me ask you to go and see them; they want to speak to you.” So the orphan went, and his uncles asked him, “Where did you get all that money?” He answered, “It is the price of cow’s flesh; I went a-selling the flesh of my cow which you killed. The people said, ‘There is not enough of it for us,’ and they all bade me to bring more.” His uncles asked him again, “Then if we go selling cow’s flesh, they will take more of it?” The orphan replied, “Certainly they will take more; you have many cows, and if you kill them all and go and sell their flesh, how much money will you bring back!” Then each one of his six uncles killed a cow, and having made the flesh into loads went to sell it. The orphan explained to them, “When you arrive at the village of that rich brahman, offer your meat for sale. Call out in the village as soon as you reach it, ‘Who will take more cow’s flesh?’” So these six brothers, taking up their beef, went on their way, and, arriving at the brahman’s village, they cried, “Who will take more cow’s flesh?” The people answered, “We will take more; bring it here,” and called them in. So when they arrived at the brahman’s house, all the inhabitants of the village, having gathered together, seized those six brothers who had come to sell cow’s flesh, and having tied their hands, beat them soundly, and said, “We are brahmans; do you dare to come here and traffic, offering cow’s flesh for sale?” So saying, they let them go. Then those men who had brought the beef returned homewards, and on the way took counsel together: “Oh, how that orphan has cheated us! Not only has he caused us to kill our cattle; over and above that, he has got us skins that smart all over. As soon as we get home, let us set fire to his house!” So when they reached home, they set fire to the orphan’s house. Then the orphan, having woven two baskets, collected the ashes of his burnt house, and made them into a load, and went to a distant village where the people suffered from sore eyes. In that village there was not a man who had not a pain in his eyes. When they saw the orphan coming with his load of ashes, they asked him “Why have you come hither?” The orphan answered, “Oh! when I heard that your whole village was suffering severely from sore eyes, I came to sell medicine to cure the complaint.” “Oh, that is very good indeed, dear sir,” said they, and all the people of the village collected a load of money, and gave it to the orphan. Then the orphan said, “Do not apply this medicine to your eyes just yet; after I have gone a bit of the way I will call out to you, ‘Apply it’; then rub it in.” So the orphan, having got a load of money in exchange for his ashes, started for home; and when he had got a little bit of the way, the people with sore eyes called out to him, “Shall we not apply the medicine yet?” He answered “Wait a bit!”; and he continued telling them to wait so long as he was near the village. But when he arrived at a distance where he thought they could not catch him, he called out, “Now apply the medicine!” Then the sore-eyed people applied to their eyes the ashes they had bought from the orphan. As soon as the medicine touched them, their eyes began to smart as you cannot imagine! The pain in their eyes became much worse than ever before. They said among themselves, “Oh! how that fellow has cheated us, and gone away! if he comes again, let us bind his hands fast and beat him!”