Hindu Tales from the Sanskrit
 

Hindu Tales from the Sanskrit

by S. M. Mitra and Nancy Bell


Introductory Note


Thanks to Mr. S. M. Mitra, the well-known Hindu psychologist and
politician, who has done so much to draw more closely together
the land of his birth and that of his adoption, I am able to bring
within reach of English children a number of typical Hindu Tales,
translated by him from the Sanskrit, some of them culled from the
ancient classics of India, others from widely separated sources. The
latter have hitherto been quite inaccessible to western students,
as they are not yet embodied in literature, but have been transmitted
orally from generation to generation for many centuries.

Re: Hindu Tales from the Sanskrit
 

These tales are not only of a kind to enchain the attention of
children. They also illustrate well the close affinity between the two
chief branches of the great Aryan race, and are of considerable ethical
value, reflecting, as they do, the philosophy of self-realisation
which lies at the root of Hindu culture. They have been used from
time immemorial by the best teachers of India as a means of building
up the personalities of the young and maintaining the efficiency of
the adult. They serve in fact as text-books of the unique system of
Mind-Training which has been in use in India from remote Vedic times,
the root principle of which is as simple as it is effective.

Hindu children become familiar at their mothers' knees with these
stories, and are trained to answer questions on them, subtly chosen to
suit their ages and call into action their mental faculties. Appealing
to them as an amusing game, in which they vie with each other in
trying to solve the problems presented for their consideration,
the boys and girls, who are educated together till they are ten or
twelve years old, early learn to concentrate their attention; whilst
the simultaneous development of all their powers is encouraged and
they are, imperceptibly to themselves led to control their thoughts
and emotions from within, instead of having to obey orders which
they do not understand from without. They realize indeed, whilst
still in the nursery, the ideal suggested by the sage Vidura in the
Mahabharata: "Seek to know thyself by means of thyself, keeping thy
mind, intellect and senses, under control; for self is thy friend as
it is also thy foe."

Nancy Bell.

Southbourne on Sea, 1918.

Re: Hindu Tales from the Sanskrit
 

Contents


1. The Magic Pitcher

2. The Story of a Cat, a Mouse, a Lizard and an Owl

3. A Royal Thief-Catcher

4. The Magic Shoes and Staff

5. The Jewelled Arrow

6. The Beetle and the Silken Thread

7. A Crow and His Three Friends

8. A Clever Thief

9. The Hermit's Daughter

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The Magic Pitcher


CHAPTER I


Long, long ago there lived far away in India a woodcutter called Subha
Datta and his family, who were all very happy together. The father
went every day to the forest near his home to get supplies of wood,
which he sold to his neighbours, earning by that means quite enough
to give his wife and children all that they needed. Sometimes he took
his three boys with him, and now and then, as a special treat, his two
little girls were allowed to trot along beside him. The boys longed to
be allowed to chop wood for themselves, and their father told them that
as soon as they were old enough he would give each of them a little axe
of his own. The girls, he said, must be content with breaking off small
twigs from the branches he cut down, for he did not wish them to chop
their own fingers off. This will show you what a kind father he was,
and you will be very sorry for him when you hear about his troubles.

Re: Hindu Tales from the Sanskrit
 

All went well with Subha Datta for a long time. Each of the boys had
his own little axe at last, and each of the girls had a little pair
of scissors to cut off twigs; and very proud they all were when they
brought some wood home to their mother to use in the house. One day,
however, their father told them they could none of them come with him,
for he meant to go a very long way into the forest, to see if he could
find better wood there than nearer home. Vainly the boys entreated him
to take them with him. "Not to-day," he said, "you would be too tired
to go all the way, and would lose yourselves coming back alone. You
must help your mother to-day and play with your sisters." They had
to be content, for although Hindu children are as fond of asking
questions as English boys and girls, they are very obedient to their
parents and do all they are told without making any fuss about it.

Of course, they expected their father would come back the day he
started for the depths of the forest, although they knew he would
be late. What then was their surprise when darkness came and there
was no sign of him! Again and again their mother went to the door
to look for him, expecting every moment to see him coming along the
beaten path which led to their door. Again and again she mistook the
cry of some night-bird for his voice calling to her. She was obliged
at last to go to bed with a heavy heart, fearing some wild beast had
killed him and that she would never see him again.

1. What do you think had become of Subha Datta?

2. What would you have done when he did not come back?

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CHAPTER II


When Subha Datta started for the forest, he fully intended to come
back the same evening; but as he was busy cutting down a tree, he
suddenly had a feeling that he was no longer alone. He looked up, and
there, quite close to him, in a little clearing where the trees had
been cut down by some other woodcutter, he saw four beautiful young
girls looking like fairies in their thin summer dresses and with
their long hair flowing down their backs, dancing round and round,
holding each other's hands. Subha Datta was so astonished at the
sight that he let his axe fall, and the noise startled the dancers,
who all four stood still and stared at him.

The woodcutter could not say a word, but just gazed and gazed at them,
till one of them said to him: "Who are you, and what are you doing in
the very depths of the forest where we have never before seen a man?"

"I am only a poor woodcutter," he replied, "come to get some wood to
sell, so as to give my wife and children something to eat and some
clothes to wear."

"That is a very stupid thing to do," said one of the girls. "You can't
get much money that way. If you will only stop with us we will have
your wife and children looked after for you much better than you can
do it yourself."

3. What would you have said if you had been the woodcutter?

4. Do you think the fairies really meant that they could do as they
offered?

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CHAPTER III


Subha Datta, though he certainly did love his wife and children, was
so tempted at the idea of stopping in the forest with the beautiful
girls that, after hesitating a little while, he said, "Yes, I will stop
with you, if you are quite sure all will be well with my dear ones."

"You need not be afraid about that," said another of the girls. "We
are fairies, you see, and we can do all sorts of wonderful things. It
isn't even necessary for us to go where your dear ones are. We shall
just wish them everything they want, and they will get it. And the
first thing to be done is to give you some food. You must work for
us in return, of course."

Subha Datta at once replied, "I will do anything you wish."

"Well, begin by sweeping away all the dead leaves from the clearing,
and then we will all sit down and eat together."

Subha Datta was very glad that what he was asked to do was so easy. He
began by cutting a branch from a tree, and with it he swept the floor
of what was to be the dining-room. Then he looked about for the food,
but he could see nothing but a great big pitcher standing in the
shade of a tree, the branches of which hung over the clearing. So
he said to one of the fairies, "Will you show me where the food is,
and exactly where you would like me to set it out?"

At these questions all the fairies began to laugh, and the sound of
their laughter was like the tinkling of a number of bells.

5. What was there to laugh at in the questions of Subha Datta?

6. What is your idea of a fairy?

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CHAPTER IV


When the fairies saw how astonished Subha Datta was at the way they
laughed, it made them laugh still more, and they seized each other's
hands again and whirled round and round, laughing all the time.

Poor Subha Datta, who was very tired and hungry, began to get unhappy
and to wish he had gone straight home after all. He stooped down to
pick up his axe, and was just about to turn away with it, when the
fairies stopped their mad whirl and cried to him to stop. So he waited,
and one of them said:

"We don't have to bother about fetching this and fetching that. You
see that big pitcher. Well, we get all our food and everything else
we want out of it. We just have to wish as we put our hands in,
and there it is. It's a magic pitcher--the only one there is in the
whole wide world. You get the food you would like to have first,
and then we'll tell you what we want."

Subha Datta could hardly believe his ears when he heard that. Down he
threw his axe, and hastened to put his hand in the pitcher, wishing
for the food he was used to. He loved curried rice and milk, lentils,
fruit and vegetables, and very soon he had a beautiful meal spread
out for himself on the ground. Then the fairies called out, one after
the other, what they wanted for food, things the woodcutter had never
heard of or seen, which made him quite discontented with what he had
chosen for himself.

7. What would you have wished for if you had had a magic pitcher?

8. Would it be a good thing, do you think, to be able to get food
without working for it or paying for it?

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CHAPTER V


The next few days passed away like a dream, and at first Subha Datta
thought he had never been so happy in his life. The fairies often went
off together leaving him alone, only coming back to the clearing when
they wanted something out of the pitcher. The woodcutter got all kinds
of things he fancied for himself, but presently he began to wish he
had his wife and children with him to share his wonderful meals. He
began to miss them terribly, and he missed his work too. It was no
good cutting trees down and chopping up wood when all the food was
ready cooked. Sometimes he thought he would slip off home when the
fairies were away, but when he looked at the pitcher he could not
bear the thought of leaving it.

9. What sort of man do you think Subha Datta was from what this story
tells you about him?

10. What do you think was the chief cause of his becoming discontented
after he had been in the service of the fairies for a few days?

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CHAPTER VI


Soon Subha Datta could not sleep well for thinking of the wife and
children he had deserted. Suppose they were hungry when he had plenty
to eat! It even came into his head that he might steal the pitcher
and take it home with him when the fairies were away. But he had not
after all the courage to do this; for even when the beautiful girls
were not in sight, he had a feeling that they would know if he tried
to go off with the pitcher, and that they would be able to punish him
in some terrible way. One night he had a dream that troubled him very
much. He saw his wife sitting crying bitterly in the little home he
used to love, holding the youngest child on her knee whilst the other
three stood beside her looking at her very, very sadly. He started up
from the ground on which he lay, determined to go home at once; but
at a little distance off he saw the fairies dancing in the moonlight,
and somehow he felt again he could not leave them and the pitcher. The
next day, however, he was so miserable that the fairies noticed it,
and one of them said to him: "Whatever is the matter? We don't care
to keep unhappy people here. If you can't enjoy life as we do, you
had better go home."

Then Subha Datta was very much frightened lest they should really
send him away; so he told them about his dream and that he was afraid
his dear ones were starving for want of the money lie used to earn
for them.

"Don't worry about them," was the reply: "we will let your wife know
what keeps you away. We will whisper in her ear when she is asleep,
and she will be so glad to think of your happiness that she will
forget her own troubles."

11. Do you think what the fairies said to the woodcutter was likely
to comfort him about his wife and children?

12. If you had been in Subha Datta's place what would you have said
to the fairies when they made this promise?