How the Son-in-law Cut the Chena

In a certain country there are a woman and a man, it is said. There is a daughter of those two persons. Having brought a man to the house for the girl, he stayed there.

One day the father-in-law said to the son-in-law, “[After] asking for a Naekata (a lucky hour, depending on the positions of the planets), and returning, prepare to cut a little jungle [for making a chena].”

After that, the son-in-law went near the Naekatrāla (astrologer) and asked for a naekata. Then the Naekatrāla said, “The naekata will be on Thursday” (Burahaspotindā, sic).

Afterwards the son-in-law, saying, “Burahās, burahās,” comes away. The path on which to come is along the [front of the] Gamarāla’s house; except that, there is no other path. When he is coming away along the [front of the] Gamarāla’s house, the Gamarāla’s dog comes growling (burāna) in front of him. Well then, the son-in-law forgets the naekata.

Well then, having gone back again near the Naekatrāla, he said, “Anē! Naekatrāla, not having remembered the day I have come here again.” Then the Naekatrāla says, “Why do you forget; didn’t I say Thursday?”

When the son-in-law, again saying and saying, “Burahās, burahās,” is coming away along the [front of the] Gamarāla’s house, the dog comes growling. Well then, again this man forgets the naekat day.

Again having gone near the Naekatrāla, he asks him. Thus, in that manner, that day until it becomes night he walks there and here.

Afterwards the Naekatrāla said, “What has happened to you that you are forgetting in that way?”

Then this son-in-law says, “What is it, Naekatrāla? Isn’t it because of the Gamarāla’s dog? What else?”

Then the Naekatrāla said, “Why do you become unable [to remember] because of the dog?”

This son-in-law replies, “When I am going from here saying and saying, ‘Burahās, burahās,’ along the [front of the] Gamarāla’s house, that dog comes in front of me growling. Well then, I forget it.”

The Naekatrāla having given into the man’s hand a cudgel, said, “Should the dog come, beat it with this;” and saying, “The day is Thursday,” sent him away.

After that, the man came home in the manner the Naekatrāla said. That day was Wednesday; the next day, indeed, was the naekata. On that day he said to the man’s wife, “To-morrow, indeed, is the naekata, Thursday. Early in the morning you must make ready a bundle of cooked rice.”

On the following day the woman cooked a bundle of rice and gave him it. The man, having taken the bundle of cooked rice and hung it on a tree, clearing at the tree only [sufficient] for the man to lie down, slept there until the time when it becomes noon. At noon, bathing in water and returning, he ate the bundle of cooked rice; and having been sleeping there again until the time when it becomes night, he came home in the evening. Thus, in that way, until the time comes for setting fire to the jungle, he ate the bundles of cooked rice.

Then when men told the son-in-law they were going to set fire to the jungle [at their chenas] he said, “Father-in-law, I must set fire to my jungle. I cannot quite alone. If you go too it will be good.”

Afterwards the father-in-law said, “Hā, if so, let us go,” and taking a blind (smouldering) torch, and taking also a bundle of [unlit] torches, the father-in-law quite loaded, the son-in-law empty-handed in front, they go on and on, without end.

The father-in-law said, “Where, son-in-law, are we going still?”

The son-in-law says, “Still a little further. Come along.” Having said this, and gone near the tree where he ate the rice, a buffalo was asleep in the place which he had cleared and had been sleeping at. The son-in-law, cutting a stick, came and struck the buffalo, and drove it away, saying, “What did you come to sleep in my chena for?”

Then the father-in-law asked, “Where, son-in-law, is the chena?”

After that, the father-in-law, having become angry, came home.

North-western Province.