PAGE 4
The Clever Wife
by
Some time afterwards she had a little son. The servants were greatly frightened, for they thought their master would not be pleased when he came home; and he was not pleased when he did come two months later. He was so cross that he would not look at the baby-boy, and he would hardly look at his beautiful well.
One night he lay awake thinking, and he thought he would kill his wife and her little son. But the next day she came to him: “Tell me the truth,” she said; “you are angry with me? Don’t be angry, for I want to show you a picture I like very much–the picture of my boy’s father.” Then she showed him his own picture, and the old cap he had given her on board his boat; and she told him how she had been the cowherd’s daughter; and also how she had gained the money to build his well. “You see,” she said, “I have done all you bade me. Here is your well, and here is your son.” Then the merchant was very happy. He kissed and loved his little son, and thought his well was beautiful; and he said to his wife, “What a clever woman you are!”
Told by Múniyá, Calcutta, March 3rd, 1879.
NOTES.
FAIRY TALE TRANSLATED BY MAIVE STOKES.
WITH NOTES BY MARY STOKES
THE CLEVER WIFE.
1. The merchant’s wife tricks the four men into chests. Upakosá makes the like appointments, and plays a similar trick: compare her story translated from the Kathápítha by Dr. G. Bühler in the Indian Antiquary for 4th October, 1872, pp. 305, 306: and in “The Touchstone,” a Dinájpur legend told by Mr. G. H. Damant at p. 337 of the Indian Antiquary for December, 1873, the hero-prince’s second wife, Pránnásiní, in order to regain the touchstone for her husband (like Upakosá and the Clever Wife) makes appointments with, and then tricks, the kotwál, the king’s councillor, the prime minister, and lastly the king himself.
2. She plays cards ( tás ). Forbes in his Hindústání and English Dictionary p. 543, says tás is the word used for Indian playing cards. The Indian pack, he says, contains eight suits, each suit consisting of a king, wazír, and ten cards having various figures represented on them from one to ten in number.
[A close parallel to this tale is Adi’s Wife, a Bengáli legend from Dinagepore, told by the late Mr. Damant in the Indian Antiquary for January, 1880, p. 2.]
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.