Old Deccan Days

by Mary Frere

OLD DECCAN DAYS

CHUNDUN RANEE.

OLD

DECCAN DAYS

OR

HINDOO FAIRY LEGENDS

Current in Southern India

COLLECTED FROM ORAL TRADITION

BY MARY FRERE.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY

The late Rt. Hon. SIR BARTLE FRERE, Bart.

G.C.B., G.C.S.I., ETC.

Fifth Impression.

LONDON

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET

1898

THE ILLUSTRATIONS

By CATHERINE FRANCES FRERE.

THESE STORIES,

ORIGINALLY DEDICATED TO

THE LITTLE SISTER

FOR WHOM THEY WERE WRITTEN DOWN

I Dedicate

TO THOSE IN ENGLAND THAT LOVE INDIA

AND TO THOSE IN INDIA THAT LOVE ENGLAND.

CONTENTS.

	PAGE
PREFACE TO THE THIRD ENGLISH EDITION	ix
INTRODUCTION	xii
THE COLLECTOR'S APOLOGY	xviii
THE NARRATOR'S NARRATIVE	xxiii
1. PUNCHKIN	1
2. A FUNNY STORY	13
3. BRAVE SEVENTEE BAI	18
4. TRUTH'S TRIUMPH	38
5. RAMA AND LUXMAN; OR, THE LEARNED OWL	50
6. LITTLE SURYA BAI	60
7. THE WANDERINGS OF VICRAM MAHARAJAH	71
8. LESS INEQUALITY THAN MEN DEEM	93
9. PANCH-PHUL RANEE	95
10. HOW THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE WIND WENT OUT TO DINNER	115
11. SINGH RAJAH AND THE CUNNING LITTLE JACKALS	117
12. THE JACKAL, THE BARBER, AND THE BRAHMAN WHO HAD SEVEN DAUGHTERS	120
13. TIT FOR TAT	133
14. THE BRAHMAN, THE TIGER, AND THE SIX JUDGES	135
15. THE SELFISH SPARROW AND THE HOUSELESS CROWS	139
16. THE VALIANT CHATTEE-MAKER	141
17. THE RAKSHAS' PALACE	147
18. THE BLIND MAN, THE DEAF MAN, AND THE DONKEY	156
19. MUCHIE-LAL	163
20. CHUNDUN RAJAH	170
21. SODEWA BAI	179
22. CHANDRA'S VENGEANCE	187
23. HOW THE THREE CLEVER MEN OUTWITTED THE DEMONS	203
24. THE ALLIGATOR AND THE JACKAL	211
NOTES	215
GLOSSARY	224

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LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.

CHUNDUN RANEE	Frontispiece.
ANNA LIBERATA DE SOUZA (the Narrator)	to face page xxiii
THE LITTLE FORTUNE-TELLERS	56
THE JACKAL-PHYSICIAN	104
THE ROYAL FLOWER	152