Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/67

54 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY, [February, 187-5* Motherless ! ah ! I am deserted : my mother, who is no. more I Fatherless J oh I I am left alone : my father, who is no more ! To be motherless is a great sorrow ; To be fatherless, is it not deep darkness r O my mother, who is no more ! my father, who is no more ! To be now a servant, that is most painful ; To be a hireling 1 is also very sail. my mother, who is no more ! my father, who is no more ! This song is also very harmonious in Mnndari. 14. Warning about going home gmek Run, girl, on the broad way j Trip, girl, trip on the long footpath. Run, girl, run, your mother's house is on fire ; Trip, girl, trip, in your father's house a bole is burnt. If my mother's house is burning, then will If a hole is burnt in the father's house, then will I run. BENGALI FOLKLORE -LEGENDS FROM DINAJPUR.* By G. H. DA3IANT, B.C.8., BANCPUB. Tlie Finding of the Dream. There was onoe a king who had two queens, named Durum and Suraui ; he was very much distressed because neither of them bad borne him a son, so he worshipped God and both con- ceived, but SurAni bore a son first, and when the ceremony of i&sti was performed the name of Chandra was given him. After that Durant ljore her son. and at his sdsti ceremony ho was called Siva Das, Now before Siva Das was born, a soothsayer had come, and, after making magical calculations, had declared that the king would become blind if he saw the child who was in the womb of Dtirani ; so directly the child was born the king put Dor-sin 3 and her son forth from the women's apartments, and made them live in a house which he had pro- vided in another place, neither could he bear to bear her or her son T s name mentioned. When Siva Das reached the age of ten or twelve years, both he and his mother suffered great hardships from want of food, for they lived by begging, and only obtained juat enough to eat. Siva Das was very much devoted t< , | he worship of Siva, and never ate or drank with- out first worshipping him. Siva was very much pleased with him, am! one day disguised him- self as a sanydsi- &nd went to his house as a guest. As soon as Siva Das saw htm, ho saluted and wrapped his cloth round his throat and said with folded hands, " My lord Brahman, this is a lucky day for me, since I have seen your honoured foot." He then wont to his mother to mak e some arrangement for his guest's food, and asked her what they had in the house : she said, " Child, we have nothing at all ; what you get by begging in one day is only enough for us two, mother and son, for one meal ; it is not sufficient for two meals. Who suffers hardships like us V Hearing this, Siva D&s began to cry, and to think what ho could give his guest to eat, DuranJ, seeing her son crying, went into the house and began to search amongst the pots nnd pans, till in one corner of the house, in a pot, she found a little broken rice, and thought that if she had seen it before, it would not have been left there,— it must have been overlooked. So she took about half a ser to the sanydsi and said, " This is all I Lave, be kind enough to accept it : " so he took the rice and cooked and ate it, and Siva Das and his mother ate what was left. The nanydti was pleased with Siva Das and said to him, " I will give yon a sword which you must always keep with you ; it has many good qualities: if yon say to it, 'Sword given by Siva, take me to 'such a place/ it wii! In,- Bt&ntly fly with you there, and yon will be victorious in battle, and as long as it remains with you you will never die." With th..,e words he gave him the sword and went away, and Siva Das always kept the sword by him. In the meantime Suraui's son, Chandra, was about sixteen or seventeen years old, and OOuId read and write very well. One night the king saw a very wonderful dream, and remained awake till next morning thinking about it. At one watch next day he was still in bed , ae di- Cootiimed from Vol. II I