Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/472

 432 The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjah,

following: "The matter was in the hands of Fate, and she (the wife) saved the Raja." "Thou wast not in fault, my Lord, it was in my fate." " What is to be must be borne ; why make plans (to avoid it) ? " " Fortunate is our fate that the Court remembers us." " Thy fate is evil." Here are expressions that recur repeatedly : " I, too, am Fate's victim." " I die for her sake, my fate hath come." Says a king of his minister: " His fate and mine were one." Says an enemy, feeling that he had no chance otherwise : " If Puran's fate be awake {i.e. against him) I will come back and slay him." Cries a young girl: "All my studying is over, for Fate hath brought me love."

The difficulty of accounting for occurrences — the inscrut- ability, in fact, of fate — has of course forced itself on the peasant mind ; and the feeling finds voice in their exclama- tions, of which "There is no fathoming fate" is perhaps the commonest. The most conspicuous quality, however, of fate is necessarily the inevitability of its action, and we accordingly find this fact expressed in many different and sometimes quaint terms, of which good examples are: "The rest is in my daughter's fate (over which) none have power." " Who can vary the lines of fate ? " " This (a throw of dice) was in the power of fate, no power (of ours) avails." " Thy fate hath encompassed thee and there is no way to save thee." " Fate is not to be gainsaid, and God doeth as he listeth." Here is a strong way of putting the rustic view : " Fate hath come on thee : when fate slew such prophets, shalt thou escape ? " Perhaps the most usual ways of all of expressing the hopelessness of fighting against the in- evitable are: "What fate has written who can blot out?" " There is no remedy against fate." And lastly a curious belief in the godlike powers of the founder of the Sikh Religion is to be seen in the expression : " What fate the Guru (Nanak) hath ordained cannot be avoided." But the pathetic cry of a mother over a murdered son seems to point to a latent hope in the villagers' hearts that perad-