PART V

CLX.  The Beginning of Things
CLXI.  Chando and His Wife
CLXII.  The Sikhar Rajah
CLXIII.  The Origin of Tobacco
CLXIV.  The Transmigration of Souls
CLXV.  The Next World
CLXVI.  After Death
CLXVII.  Hares and Men
CLXVIII.  A Legend
CLXIX.  Pregnant Women
CLXX.  The Influence of the Moon
CLXXI.  Illegitimate Children
CLXXII.  The Dead
CLXXIII.  A Hunting Custom

Part VI

CLXXIV.  Witchcraft
CLXXV.  Of Dains and Ojhas
CLXXVI.  Initiation Into Witchcraft
CLXXVII.  Witch Craft
CLXXVIII.  Witch Stories
CLXXIX.  Witch Stories
CLXXX.  Witch Stories
CLXXXI.  The Two Witches
CLXXXII.  The Sister-in-Law Who Was a Witch
CLXXXIII.  Ramjit Bonga
CLXXXIV.  The Herd Boy and the Witches
CLXXXV.  The Man-Tiger

Glossary

Appendix

Folklore of the Kolhan

Part I.

In these stories there are many incidents which appear in stories collected in other parts of India, though it is rather surprising that so few of them appear elsewhere in their entirety.  We have however, instances of the husk myth, the youngest son who surpasses his brother, the life of the ogre placed in some external object, the jealous stepmother, the selection of a king by an elephant, the queen whose husband is invariably killed on his wedding night, etc. etc.

Few of the old Indian stories found in the Katha Sarit Sagara or the Buddhist Birth stories appear in recognizable form in the present collection.

I. Bajun and Jhore.

Once upon a time there were two brothers named Bajun and Jhore.  Bajun was married and one day his wife fell ill of fever.  So, as he was going ploughing, Bajun told Jhore to stay at home and cook the dinner and he bade him put into the pot three measures of rice.  Jhore stayed at home and filled the pot with water and put it on to boil; then he went to look for rice measures; there was only one in the house and Jhore thought “My brother told me to put in three measures and if I only put in one I shall get into trouble.”  So he went to a neighbour’s house and borrowed two more measures, and put them into the pot and left them to boil.  At noon Bajun came back from ploughing and found Jhore stirring the pot and asked him whether the rice was ready.  Jhore made no answer, so Bajun took the spoon from him, saying “Let me feel how it is getting on”, but when he stirred with the spoon he heard a rattling noise and when he looked into the pot he found no rice but only three wooden measures floating about; then he turned and abused Jhore for his folly, but Jhore said “You yourself told me to put in three measures and I have done so.”  So Bajun had to set to work and cook the rice himself and got his dinner very late.