Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/261

 Rh again, have thought that the Koh-i-Nûr, Koh-i-Tûr, and Abbas Mîrza were all fragments of the Great Mogul; but this theory cannot be sustained in the face of the all but certainty that the Great Mogul (which has so strangely vanished out of sight) was only found about the year 1630, while the history of the Koh-i-Nûr dates back to 1304, and its traditional fame extends to a time more remote by many thousand years.

Here is the folk-tale:—

There was question about the Koh-i-Nûr, and the Sikh said: "We have known all about it for ages. In times out of mind it was the property of a great (mythological) rajah who wore this with its twin-brother in an armlet on his arm. This is how it was lost in the depth of ages, and was recovered, and came into possession of the Rajahs of Lahore:—

One day a native was at his occupation by the river, and at noon came his wife and brought him, as usual, his dinner, tied up in a little bag. She set it down before him, but eftsoons a kite swooped down and carried it off. The woman broke into laughter; not so the man, who said—"What is there to laugh at?" and slapped her face, or worse. "Wait, sir," said she, "and I will explain. It suddenly was revealed to my mind that thousands of years ago I myself was a kite, and was hovering over a tremendous battle on those plains between two demigod Rajahs, one of whom wore the diamond in his armlet. This latter fell in the battle, and great search was made for his corpse. When it was found the arm was missing, and I know how. Seeing the arm cut off, I dropped down, and bore it away, but after a time, finding it heavy, I let it fall."

Now, when this tale of the Sikh woman got abroad, it caused much sensation at Lahore, and great search was made for the possible spot where the arm might have fallen, all over the district where the traditional battle had been fought. At last a little heap, or unevenness of the ground was discovered, and on opening the soil the armlet, enriched with the diamonds, was found. This is how they came several hundred years ago into the possession of the Rajahs of Lahore, as every body knows."