FOLK-LORE OF THE TELUGUS.
I.
AN UNSEASONABLE ADVICE.
In the country of Kandahar,*[1] a certain king, Mahavira by name, at a great expense, caused a tank to be dug, two palm-trees deep and a yojana wide, and constructed a bank around it. But all the water in it dried up, notwithstanding a heavy rainfall. The king, seeing that no water remained in the tank he had constructed at so great an expense, was sitting on the bank with a grieved heart, when one Erunda Muni passed that way. The king immediately rose, went and prostrated himself before the sage, seated him, and began to converse with him; when the sage, looking at the sorrowful countenance of the king, asked him the reason for it. To which the king replied:—
"Sir, I had this tank dug at an enormous expense, but not a drop of water remains in it, and this is why I am feeling grieved." The sage replied:— "Why weep for this? If you mix boiled rice with the blood of a courageous and liberal king, or with the blood from the throat of a revered yogi endowed with all virtuous qualities, and offer it to Durga, whose temple is very near the tank, I dare to say that the water will never dry, and that the tank will be as full as the ocean."
The king heard these words and thought of the difficulty of getting a king answering the description. Then he thought that the sage himself answered the purpose excellently well, being endowed with all the necessary qualities. So he drew his sword, cut the sage's throat, mingled his blood with boiled rice and made the necessary offering to Durga. From that day forward, the rain stopped in the tank and it was full to the brim.
Those, therefore, who tender advice to kings must do so in season, for otherwise they will assuredly come to grief.
- ↑ * This name in folk-tales, I think, represents always some part of Rajputana—(Ed. Ind. Ant.)