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How King Burtal Became A Fakir
by
In these tales a single hair from the head of the Princess Labám (the lunar ray can pierce the cloud as well as a solar ray) cuts a thick tree-trunk in two, p. 163.
Hair has another property; it can tell things to its owners. See the three hairs the Queen gives Coachman Toms, saying, “They will always tell you the truth when you question them.” (Stier’s Ungarische Volksmaerchen, p. 176), and which, later in the story (p. 186) adjudge the king worthy of death. (See Grimm’s story Kinder und Hausmaerchen, vol. II. p. 174, “The clear sun brings day.”) Also “Das wunderbare Haar” (Karadschitsch Volksmaerchen der Serben, p. 180), which is blood-red, and in which when split open were found written a multitude of noteworthy events from the beginning of the world. (The sun’s rays have existed since the early ages of the world.) The girl from whose head the hair is taken threads a needle with the sun’s rays and embroiders a net made of the hair of heroes.
See, too, the Eskimo account of the removal of Disco Island in Rink’s Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, p. 464, where one old man vainly tries to keep back the island by means of a seal-skin thong which snaps, while two other old men haul it away triumphantly by the hair from the head of a little child, chanting their spells all the time. Their success was, perhaps, due to the spells, not to the hair. In the notes to Der Capit�n Dreizehn in Schmidt’s Griechische Maerchen, Sagen und Volkslieder, there are some instances of the strength given by hair to those on whom it grows.
2. The líchí is Nephelium Litchi.
3. King Burtal’s eldest son’s name Sazádá is perhaps the boy’s title Shahzádá (born of a king), prince. Dunkní says it is his name.
GLOSSARY.
Bél, a fruit; Ægle marmelos.
Bulbul, a kind of nightingale.
Chaprásí, a messenger wearing a badge ( chaprás ).
Cooly (Tamil kúli ), a labourer in the fields; also a porter.
Dál, a kind of pulse; Phaseolus aureus, according to Wilson; Paspalum frumentaceum, according to Forbes.
Dom (the d is lingual), a low-caste Hindú.
Fakír, a Muhammadan religious mendicant.
Ghee ( ghí ), butter boiled and then set to cool.
Kází, a Muhammadan Judge.
Kotwál, the chief police officer in a town.
Líchí, a fruit; Scytalia litchi, Roxb.
Mahárájá (properly Maháráj), literally great king.
Mahárání, literally great queen.
Mainá, a kind of starling.
Maund ( man ), a measure of weight, about 87 lb.
Mohur ( muhar ), a gold coin worth 16 rupees.
Nautch ( nátya ), a union of song, dance, and instrumental music.
Pálkí, a palanquin.
Pice ( paisa ), a small copper coin.
Pilau, a dish made of either chicken or mutton, and rice.
Rájá, a king.
Rakshas, a kind of demon that eats men and beasts.
Rání, a queen.
Rohú, a kind of big fish.
Rupee ( rúpíya ), a silver coin, now worth about twenty pence.
Ryot ( ràíyat ), a cultivator.
Sarai, a walled enclosure containing small houses for the use of travellers.
Sárí, a long piece of stuff which Hindú women wind round the body as a petticoat, passing one end over the head.
Sepoy ( sipáhí ), a soldier.
Wazír, prime minister.
Yogí, a Hindú religious mendicant.