Page:The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Volume 01.djvu/28

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2. THE ELFIN KNIGHT

dating from the beginning of our era, will very easily be recognized in the Siberian tra- dition of this century, is to this effect. King Rabssaldschal had a rich minister, -who de- sired a suitable wife for his youngest son. A Brahman, his trusty friend, undertook to find one. In the course of his search, which ex- tended through many countries, the Brah- man saw one day a company of five hundred maidens, who were making garlands to offer to Buddha. One of these attracted his notice by her behavior, and impressed him favorably by replies to questions which he put.* The Brahman made jiroposals to her father in behalf of the minister's son. These were ac- cepted, and the minister w^ent with a great train to fetch home the bride. On the way back his life was twice saved by taking her advice, and when she was domiciliated, she so surpassed her sisters-in-law in housekeeping talents and vir- tues that ever^'thing was put under her direc- tion. Discord arose between the king of the country she had left and Rabssaldschal, under whom she was now living. The former wished to make trial whether the latter had an able .and keen-witted minister or not, and sent him two mares, dam and filly, exactly alike in ap- pearance, with the demand that he should dis- tinguish them. Neither king nor counsellor could discern any difference ; but when the minister's daughter heard of their diflaculty, she said, " Nothing is easier. Tie the two to- gether and put grass before them ; the mother will push the best before the foal." This was done ; the king decided accordingly, and the hostile ambassador owned that he was right. Soon after, the foreign prince sent two snakes, of the same size and form, and demanded which was male, which female. The king and his advisers were again in a quandary. The min- ister resorted to his daughter-in-law. She said, " Lay them both on cotton-wool : the female will lie quiet, the male not; for it is of the feminine nature to love the soft and the com- fortable, which the masculine cannot tolerate."

They followed these directions ; the king gave his verdict, the ambassador acquiesced, the minister received splendid presents. For a final trial the unfriendly king sent a long stick of wood, of equal thickness, with no knots or marks, and asked which was the under and which the upper end. No one could say. The minister referred the question to his daughter. She answered, " Put the stick into water : the root end will sink a little, the upper end float." The experiment was tried ; the king said to the ambassador, " This is the upper end, this the root end," to which he assented, and great presents were again given to the minister. The adverse monarch was convinced that his only safe course was peace and con- ciliation, and sent his ambassador back once more with an ofl'ering of precious jewels and of amity for the future. This termination was highly gratifying to Rabssaldschal, who said to his minister, How.could you see through all these things ? The minister said, It was not I, but my clever daughter-in-law. When the king learned this, he raised the young woman to the rank of his younger sister.

The wise daughter is not found in the San- skrit tale,f which also differs from the Bud- dhist versions in this : that in the Sanskrit the minister had become an object of displeasure to the king, and in consequence had long been lying in prison when the crisis occurred which rendered him indispensable, a circumstance which is repeated in the tale of The Wise Hey- kar (Arabian Nights, Breslau transl., Xiii, 73 ff, Cabinet des Fees, xxxix, 266 ff) and in the Life of iEsop. But The Clever Wench reappears in another tale in the same Sanskrit collection (with that express title), and gives her aid to her father, a priest, who h«as been threatened with banishment by his king if he does not clear up a dark matter within five days. She may also be recognized in Morad- bak, in Von der Hagen's 1001 Tag, VIII, 199 ff, and even in the minister's wife in the story of The Wise Heykar.

striking.
 * The resemblance to the Siberiaa tale is here especiallj

t The Shukasaptati, in the form in which we have them, are supposed to date from about the 6th ceutiiiy, and are

regarded as abridgments of longer tales. The Vinaya prob- ably took a permanent shape as early as the beginning of the Christian era. As already remarked, there is scarcely a doubt that the Indian story is some centuries older still. -