第 六 章 · The Magic Fiddle

. The Magic Fiddle

Once upon a time there lived seven brothers and a sister. The brothers

were married, but their wives did not do the cooking for the family.

It was done by their sister, who stopped at home to cook. The wives

for this reason bore their sister-in-law much ill-will, and at length

they combined together to oust her from the office of cook and general

provider, so that one of themselves might obtain it. They said, "She

does not go out to the fields to work, but remains quietly at home,

and yet she has not the meals ready at the proper time." They then

called upon their Bonga, and vowing vows unto him they secured his

good-will and assistance; then they said to the Bonga, "At midday when

our sister-in-law goes to bring water, cause it thus to happen, that

on seeing her pitcher the water shall vanish, and again slowly

re-appear. In this way she will be delayed. Let the water not flow

into her pitcher, and you may keep the maiden as your own."

At noon when she went to bring water, it suddenly dried up before her,

and she began to weep. Then after a while the water began slowly to

rise. When it reached her ankles she tried to fill her pitcher, but it

would not go under the water. Being frightened she began to wail and

cry to her brother:

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"Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my ankles,

Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."

The water continued to rise until it reached her knee, when she began

to wail again:

"Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my knee,

Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."

The water continued to rise, and when it reached her waist, she cried

again:

"Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my waist,

Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."

The water still rose, and when it reached her neck she kept on crying:

"Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my neck,

Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."

At length the water became so deep that she felt herself drowning,

then she cried aloud:

"Oh! my brother, the water measures a man's height,

Oh! my brother, the pitcher begins to fill."

The pitcher filled with water, and along with it she sank and was

drowned. The Bonga then transformed her into a Bonga like himself, and

carried her off.

After a time she re-appeared as a bamboo growing on the embankment of

the tank in which she had been drowned. When the bamboo had grown to

an immense size, a Jogi, who was in the habit of passing that way,

seeing it, said to himself, "This will make a splendid fiddle." So one

day he brought an axe to cut it down; but when he was about to begin,

the bamboo called out, "Do not cut at the root, cut higher up." When

he lifted his axe to cut high up the stem, the bamboo cried out, "Do

not cut near the top, cut at the root." When the Jogi again prepared

himself to cut at the root as requested, the bamboo said, "Do not cut

at the root, cut higher up;" and when he was about to cut higher up,

it again called out to him, "Do not cut high up, cut at the root." The

Jogi by this time felt sure that a Bonga was trying to frighten him,

so becoming angry he cut down the bamboo at the root, and taking it

away made a fiddle out of it. The instrument had a superior tone and

delighted all who heard it. The Jogi carried it with him when he went

a-begging, and through the influence of its sweet music he returned

home every evening with a full wallet.

He now and then visited, when on his rounds, the house of the Bonga

girl's brothers, and the strains of the fiddle affected them greatly.

Some of them were moved even to tears, for the fiddle seemed to wail

as one in bitter anguish. The elder brother wished to purchase it, and

offered to support the Jogi for a whole year if he would consent to

part with his wonderful instrument. The Jogi, however, knew its value,

and refused to sell it.

It so happened that the Jogi some time after went to the house of a

village chief, and after playing a tune or two on his fiddle asked for

something to eat. They offered to buy his fiddle and promised a high

price for it, but he refused to sell it, as his fiddle brought to him

his means of livelihood. When they saw that he was not to be prevailed

upon, they gave him food and a plentiful supply of liquor. Of the

latter he drank so freely that he presently became intoxicated. While

he was in this condition, they took away his fiddle, and substituted

their own old one for it. When the Jogi recovered, he missed his

instrument, and suspecting that it had been stolen asked them to

return it to him. They denied having taken it, so he had to depart,

leaving his fiddle behind him. The chief's son, being a musician, used

to play on the Jogi's fiddle, and in his hands the music it gave forth

delighted the ears of all who heard it.

When all the household were absent at their labours in the fields, the

Bonga girl used to come out of the bamboo fiddle, and prepared the

family meal. Having eaten her own share, she placed that of the

chief's son under his bed, and covering it up to keep off the dust,

re-entered the fiddle. This happening every day, the other members of

the household thought that some girl friend of theirs was in this

manner showing her interest in the young man, so they did not trouble

themselves to find out how it came about. The young chief, however,

was determined to watch, and see which of his girl friends was so

attentive to his comfort. He said in his own mind, "I will catch her

to-day, and give her a sound beating; she is causing me to be ashamed

before the others." So saying, he hid himself in a corner in a pile of

firewood. In a short time the girl came out of the bamboo fiddle, and

began to dress her hair. Having completed her toilet, she cooked the

meal of rice as usual, and having eaten some herself, she placed the

young man's portion under his bed, as before, and was about to enter

the fiddle again, when he, running out from his hiding-place, caught

her in his arms. The Bonga girl exclaimed, "Fie! Fie! you may be a

Dom, or you may be a Hadi of some other caste with whom I cannot

marry." He said, "No. But from to-day, you and I are one." So they

began lovingly to hold converse with each other. When the others

returned home in the evening, they saw that she was both a human being

and a Bonga, and they rejoiced exceedingly.

Now in course of time the Bonga girl's family became very poor, and

her brothers on one occasion came to the chief's house on a visit.

The Bonga girl recognised them at once, but they did not know who she

was. She brought them water on their arrival, and afterwards set

cooked rice before them. Then sitting down near them, she began in

wailing tones to upbraid them on account of the treatment she had been

subjected to by their wives. She related all that had befallen her,

and wound up by saying, "You must have known it all, and yet you did

not interfere to save me." And that was all the revenge she took.

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