Chapter
LXXVII (Vetála)
Then the
heroic king Trivikramasena again went to the aśoka-tree, to fetch the Vetála.
And he found him there in the corpse, and again took him up on his shoulder,
and began to return with him in silence. And as he was going along, the Vetála,
who was on his back, said to him, “It is wonderful, king, that you are not
cowed with this going backwards and forwards at night. So I will tell you
another story to solace you, listen.”
Story
of the king, and the two wise birds.
There is on
the earth a famous city named Páṭaliputra. In it there lived of old time a king
named Vikramakeśarin, whom Providence made a storehouse of virtues as well as
of jewels. And he possessed a parrot of godlike intellect, knowing all the
śástras, that had been born in that condition owing to a curse, and its name
was Vidagdhachúḍámaṇi. And the prince married as a wife, by the advice of the
parrot, a princess of equal birth, of the royal family of Magadha, named
Chandraprabhá. That princess also possessed a similar hen-maina, of the name of
Somiká, remarkable for knowledge and discernment. And the two, the parrot and
the maina, remained there in the same cage, assisting with their discernment
their master and mistress.
One day the
parrot became enamoured of the maina, and said to her, “Marry me, fair one, as
we sleep, perch, and feed in the same cage.” But the maina answered him, “I do
not desire intimate union with a male, for all males are wicked and
ungrateful.” The parrot retorted, “It is not true that males are wicked, but
females are wicked and cruel-hearted.” And so a dispute arose between them. The
two birds then made a bargain that, if the parrot won, he should have the maina
for wife, and if the maina won, the parrot should be her slave, and they came
before the prince to get a true judgment. The prince, who was in his father’s
judgment-hall, heard the point at issue between them, and then said to the
maina, “Tell me, how are males ungrateful?” Then the maina said, “Listen,” and
in order to establish her contention, proceeded to relate this story
illustrating the faults of males.
The
maina’s story.
There is on
the earth a famous city, of the name of Kámandakí. In it there was a rich
merchant, of the name of Arthadatta. And he had a son born to him, of the name
of Dhanadatta. When his father died, the young man became dissipated. And
rogues got round him, and plunged him in the love of gambling and other vices.
In truth the society of the wicked is the root of the tree of vice. In a short
time his wealth was exhausted by dissipation, and being ashamed of his poverty,
he left his own country, to wander about in foreign lands.
And in the
course of his travels, he reached a place named Chaṇḍanapura, and desiring
food, he entered the house of a certain merchant. As fate would have it, the
merchant, seeing that he was a handsome youth, asked him his descent and other
things, and finding out that he was of good birth, entertained him, and adopted
him as a protégé. And he gave him his daughter Ratnávalí, with a dower, and
thenceforth Dhanadatta lived in his father-in-law’s house.
And in the
course of some days, he forgot in his present happiness his former misery, and
having acquired wealth, and longing for fresh dissipation, he wished to go back
to his own land. Then the rascal with difficulty wrung a permission from his
unwilling father-in-law, whose daughter was his only child, and taking with him
his wife, covered with ornaments, accompanied by an old woman, set out from
that place, with a party of three in all. And in course of time he reached a
distant wood, and on the plea that there was danger of robbers, he took those
ornaments from his wife and got them into his own possession. Alas! Observe
that the heart of ungrateful males, addicted to the hateful vices of dicing and
drabbing, is as hard as a sword.
Then the
villain, being determined to kill his wife, though she was virtuous, for the
sake of her wealth, threw her and the old woman into a ravine. And after he had
thrown them there, he went away. The old woman was killed, but his wife was
caught in a mass of creepers and did not die. And she slowly climbed up out of
the chasm, weeping bitterly, supporting herself by clinging to grass and
creepers, for the appointed end of her life had not yet come. And asking her
way, step by step, she arrived, by the road by which she came, at the house of
her father, with difficulty, for her limbs were sorely bruised. When she
arrived there suddenly, in this state, her mother and father questioned her
eagerly. And the virtuous lady weeping told this tale, “We were robbed on the
way by bandits, and my husband was dragged away bound; the old woman died, but
I survived, though I fell into a ravine. Then I was dragged out of the ravine
by a certain benevolent traveller, who came that way, and by the favour of
destiny I have arrived here.” When the good Ratnávalí said this, her father and
mother comforted her, and she remained there, thinking only of her husband.
And in
course of time her husband Dhanadatta, who had gone back to his own country,
and wasted that wealth in gambling, said to himself, “I will go and fetch more
wealth, begging it from my father-in-law, and I will tell him that I have left
his daughter in my house here.” Thinking thus in his heart, he set out for that
house of his father-in-law, and when he drew near, his wife beheld him from a
distance, and she ran and fell at his feet, though he was a villain. For,
though a husband is wicked, a good wife does not alter her feelings towards
him. And when he was frightened, she told him all the fictitious story she had
previously told her parents about the robbery, her fall, and so on. Then he
entered fearlessly with her the house of his father-in-law; and his
father-in-law and mother-in-law, when they saw him, welcomed him joyfully. And
his father-in-law called his friends together, and made a great feast on the
occasion, exclaiming, “It is indeed a happy thing, that my son-in-law has been
let go with life by the robbers.” Then Dhanadatta lived happily with that wife
of his Ratnávalí, enjoying the wealth of his father-in-law. But, fie! what the
cruel man did one night, though it should not be told for shame, must still for
the story’s sake be related. He killed his wife when asleep in his bosom, and
took away all her ornaments, and then went away unobserved to his own country.
“So wicked
are males!” When the maina had said this, the king said to the parrot—“Now say
your say.”—Then the parrot said—“King, females are of intolerable audacity,
immoral and wicked; hear a tale in proof of it.”
The
parrot’s story.
There is a
city of the name of Harshavatí, and in it there was a leading merchant named
Dharmadatta, possessed of many crores. And that merchant had a daughter named
Vasudattá, matchless in beauty, whom he loved more than his life. And she was
given to an excellent young merchant named Samudradatta, equal to her in rank,
distinguished for wealth and youth, who was an object that the eyes of lovely
women loved to feast on, as the partridges on the rays of the moon, and who
dwelt in the city of Támraliptí which is inhabited by honourable men. Once on a
time, the merchant’s daughter, while she was living in her father’s house, and
her husband was in his own country, saw at a distance a certain young and
good-looking man. The fickle woman, deluded by Mára, invited him by means of a
confidante, and made him her secret paramour. And from that time forth she
spent every night with him, and her affections were fixed upon him only.
But one day
the husband of her youth returned from his own land, appearing to her parents
like delight in bodily form. And on that day of rejoicing she was adorned, but
she would have nothing to say to her husband in spite of her mother’s
injunctions, but when he spoke to her, she pretended to be asleep, as her heart
was fixed on another. And then her husband, being drowsy with wine, and tired
with his journey, was overpowered by sleep. In the meanwhile, as all the people
of the house, having eaten and drunk, were fast asleep, a thief made a hole in
the wall and entered their apartment. At that very moment the merchant’s
daughter rose up, without seeing the thief, and went out secretly, having made
an assignation with her lover. When the thief saw that, his object being
frustrated, he said to himself, “She has gone out in the dead of night adorned
with those very ornaments which I came here to steal; so I will watch where she
goes.” When the thief had formed this intention, he went out, and followed that
merchant’s daughter Vasudattá, keeping an eye on her, but himself unobserved.
But she,
with flowers and other things of the kind in her hands, went out, accompanied
by a single confidante, who was in the secret, and entered a garden at no great
distance outside the city.
And in it
she saw her lover, who had come there to meet her, hanging dead on a tree, with
a halter round his neck, for the city-guards had caught him there at night and
hanged him, on the supposition that he was a thief. Then she was distracted and
beside herself, and exclaiming, “I am ruined,” she fell on the ground and
lamented with plaintive cries. Then she took down her dead paramour from the
tree, and placing him in a sitting position, she adorned him with unguents and
flowers, and though he was senseless, embraced him, with mind blinded by
passion and grief. And when in her sorrow she raised up his mouth and kissed
it, her dead paramour, being animated by a Vetála, suddenly bit off her nose.
Then she left him in confusion and agony, but still the unfortunate woman came
back once more, and looked at him to see if he was still alive. And when she
saw that the Vetála had left his body, and that he was dead and motionless, she
departed slowly, weeping with fear and humiliation.
In the
meanwhile the thief, who was hidden there, saw all, and said to himself, “What
is this that this wicked woman has done? Alas! the mind of females is terrible
and black like a dark well, unfathomable, exceedingly deep for a fall. So I
wonder what she will do now.” After these reflections, the thief again followed
her at a distance, out of curiosity.
She went on
and entered her own chamber, where her husband was asleep, and cried out
weeping, “Help! Help! This wicked enemy, calling himself a husband, has cut off
my nose, though I have done nothing wrong.” Then her husband, and her father,
and the servants, hearing her repeated cries, woke up, and arose in a state of
excitement. Then her father, seeing that her nose had been recently taken off,
was angry, and had her husband bound as having injured his wife. But even while
he was being bound, he remained speechless, like a dumb man, and said nothing,
for all the listeners, his father-in-law and the others, had altogether turned
against him.
When the
thief had seen all this, he slipped away nimbly, and the night, which was spent
in tumult, gradually passed away, and then the merchant’s son was taken by his
father-in-law to the king, together with his wife who had been deprived of her
nose. And the king, after he had been informed by them of the circumstances,
ordered the execution of the young merchant, on the ground that he had maimed
his own wife, rejecting with contempt his version of the story. Then, as he was
being led to the place of execution, with drums beating, the thief came up to
the king’s officers and said to them, “You ought not to put this man to death
without cause; I know the circumstances, take me to the king, that I may tell
him the whole story.” When the thief said this, they took him to the king, and
after he had received a promise of pardon, he told him the whole history of the
night from the beginning. And he said, “If your Majesty does not believe my
words, look at once at the woman’s nose, which is in the mouth of that corpse.”
When the king heard that, he sent servants to look, and finding that the
statement was true, he gave orders that the young merchant should not suffer
capital punishment. But he banished his wicked wife from the country, after
cutting off her ears also, and punished his father-in-law by confiscating all
his wealth, and being pleased with the thief, he made him chief magistrate of
the city.
“So you see
that females are naturally wicked and treacherous.” When the parrot had told
this tale, the curse imposed on him by Indra lost its force, and he became once
more the Gandharva Chitraratha, and assuming a celestial form, he went to
heaven. And at the same moment the maina’s curse came to an end, and she became
the heavenly nymph Tilottamá, and went at once to heaven. And so their dispute
remained undecided in the judgment-hall.
When the
Vetála had told this tale, he again said to the king, “So let your Majesty
decide, which are the worst, males or females. But if you know and do not say,
your head shall split in pieces.”
When the
king was asked this question by the Vetála, that was on his shoulder, he said
to him, “Chief of magicians, women are the worst. For it is possible that once
in a way a man may be so wicked, but females are, as a rule, always such
everywhere.” When the king said this, the Vetála disappeared, as before, from
his shoulder, and the king once more resumed the task of fetching him.
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