شهزادو ۽ شهزادي
هڪڙو هو بادشاهه، جنهن کي فقط هڪ پٽ هو. هڪ ڏينهن، بادشاهه کي
اچي خيال ٿيو ته ”پٽ جي شادي اهڙي هنڌان ڪرايان،
جنهن بادشاهه کي به فقط هڪ ڌيءُ هجي، ۽ اُها
منهنجي پٽ وانگر سدا ملوڪ هجي.“ اها ڳالهه ڳڻي ۽
پٽ جي تصوير ڪڍائي، وزير کي ڏنائين ته ”وڃي چڱيءَ
طرح جاچ ڪري، شهزادي لاءِ ڪٿان سڱ ڇڪائي اچ.“ وزير
سفر جو سامان ساڻ ڪري، شهزادي جي تصوير کڻي، روانو
ٿيو، ۽ ٿوري گهڻي ڏينهن، هڪ اهڙيءَ بادشاهيءَ ۾
وڃي پهتو، جتان جي بادشاهه کي پڻ هڪ ئي شهزادي
هئي، ۽ هو پاڻ اهڙي شهزاديءَ لاءِ ڳولائو هو. وزير
پوءِ ان بادشاهه سان ملاقات ڪري، شاديءَ جون
ڳالهيون پڪيون ڪيون ۽ مڱڻي جا سؤڻ ساٺ پورا ڪرائي،
هن سان شاديءَ جو ڏينهن ٻڌي، موٽي پنهنجي ملڪ آيو،
۽ اچي بادشاهه سان حال احوال ڪيائين.
شهزادي کي خيال ٿيو ته ’شاديءَ ۾ ڪجهه وقت دير آهي، تنهنڪري
پنهنجي ڪنوار اڳواٽ ئي ڏسي اچان ته چڱو.‘ تنهنڪري
ٻه چار نوڪر، سامان ۽ خزانو کڻي اوڏانهن روانو
ٿيو. آخر وڃي اُن بادشاهيءَ ۾ پهتو، جتي سندس سهرو
هو. شهزادو سفر جو ٿڪ لاهي، شهر جو واءُ سواءُ
لهي، ۽ فقيراڻو ويس ڪري، گداگر بڻجي، هڪ ٻن درن تي
صدا هڻي، اچي انهيءَ محلات جي ڏيڍيءَ تي صدا هڻي
بيهي رهيو، جتي سندس ڪنوار رهندي هئي. ٻانهيءَ
خيرات کڻي آئي، پر هن چيو ته ”آءٌ خيرات شهزاديءَ
جي هٿ جي وٺندس.“ آخر انهيءَ گهه پيهه ۾ سج لهي
ويو. سج لٿي کانپوءِ، هن پنهنجي گودڙيءَ مان ٻه
لعل ڪڍيا، ۽ ڪڍي پنهنجي آڏو رکي ويهي رهيو. انهن
لعلن جو شعاع ۽ لاٽون وڃي ماڙيءَ تائين پهتيون.
شهزاديءَ، جو مٿان ڏٺو، سو ٻانهيءَ کي چيائين ته
”انهيءَ فقير کان انهن ٻنهي لعلن جي بها پڇي اچ.“
ٻانهيءَ جڏهن لعلن جي بها پڇي، تڏهن هن چيو ته
”هنن جي بها فقط اها آهي، جو شهزادي پنهنجي هٿن
سان پاڻ اچي اهي کڻي.“ ٻانهيءَ وڃي سموري ڳالهه
شهزاديءَ کي ڪري ٻڌائي. شهزادي لعل ڏسي انهن تي
ڇڪن ٿي پيئي هئي، سو نه ڪيائين هم نه ڪيائين تم،
انهن جي شوق ۾ ماڙيءَ تان هيٺ لهي آئي. فقير ڇا
ڪيو، جو لعلن جو چوڌاري ليڪو ڪڍي ڇڏيائين. شهزادي،
جا آئي، تنهن هڪدم ليڪو لنگهي اچي لعل کنيا، پر
کڻڻ کانپوءِ شهزادي تي جو نظر پيس، ته ڏٺائين ته
هي ته فقيريءَ جي ويس ۾ منهنجو گهوٽ آهي. پوءِ ته
گهر وڃي ڏاڍو پڇتايائين، ۽ ان سوداءَ ۾ پئجي ويئي
ته ”آءٌ ته هن جي اڳيان هميشه لاءِ مياردار ٿيس-
چڱو ائين آهي ته آءٌ به ڀيس بدلائي ڪنهن نموني
سان هن جي ڳوٺ وڃي کيس به مياردار ڪري اچان.“ ان
ڪري، پيءُ کان شڪار جي بهاني موڪل وٺي، ستر سهيلين
سان گڏ، پاڻ به مردانو ڀيس ڪري، اوڏانهن رواني ٿي.
ڪهندي ڪهندي، آخر وڃي انهيءَ شهر جي ٻاهران تنبو ۽ تولان
کوڙائي، پڙهو گهمارايائين ته ”اڄوڪي رات ناچ ۽
گانو ٿيندو، جنهن کي ٻڌڻو هجي، سو تنبوءَ ۾ اچي
ٻڌي.“ اهو پڙهو ٻڌي، ڪئين شوقين اچي ڪٺا ٿيا، ۽
شهزادو به اچي سهڙيو. هن هڪ ٻانهيءَ کي ڳائڻي
بنائي، هڪ تنبوءَ ۾ ويهاريو ۽ ان سان لڳ ٻئي خيمي
م پاڻ ڏاڍا هار سينگار ڪري، تيار ٿي ويهي رهي، ۽
ماڻهو موڪلي شهزادي کي پاڻ وٽ آڻائي، يڪدم پڙهو
ڏياريائين ته ”نرتڪيءَ جي طبيعت خراب هئڻ ڪري، ناچ
۽ راڳ سڀاڻي تي ڪبو.“ اهو ٻڌي، سڀ ماڻهو هليا ويا.
هيءَ شهزاديءَ جي ڏاڍي خوشامد ڪرڻ لڳي، ۽ نهايت
سهڻي ۽ شاهاڻي نموني هن جي خاطرداري ڪيائين، ۽
شهزادو به هن جي صحبت ۾ گفتگو ۾ مست ٿي ويو. ڪجهه
وقت کانپوءِ، اُتي ئي پنهنجي نوڪرن کي گهرائي، حڪم
ڪيائين ته ”ڪتي جو گُلر ڪُهي، شهزادي ۽ منهنجي
ماني تيار ڪريو ته اسين ٻيئي گڏجي کائينداسون.“
نوڪرن کي اڳ ۾ سمجهائي ڇڏيو هئائين ته ”اوهان کي
حڪم ملي، ته گلر جي بجاءِ هرڻ ڪهجو.“ خير ماني
تيار ٿي ۽ گڏجي ويهي کاڌائون. ماني کائڻ کانپوءِ،
شهزاديءَ ڳجهه ڳوهه ۾ نوڪرن کي چيو ته ”اوهان ٽپڙ
کڻي، اڳتي هلو، آءٌ پاڻهي ٿي اچي اوهان سان ملان.“
اشاري ملڻ سان نوڪر چاڪر رمندا رهيا. شهزادي پوءِ
هن کي اندر ويهاري، ٻاهران در بند ڪري، کسڪي هلي
ويئي. پويان شهزادي گهڻي ڳولا ڪئي، مگر هوءَ
پنهنجي اٽالي سميت جيئن آئي هئي، تيئن خيرن سان
وڃي پنهنجي ملڪ پهتي.
ڪجهه وقت کانپوءِ، هنن جي شادي ٿي ۽ پهرينءَ رات، شهزادو پاسو
ورائي، ڪاوڙ ۾ ويڙهجي سيڙهجي سمهي رهيو. شهزاديءَ
پڇيو ته ”ڇو، اوهان ناراض آهيو ڇا؟“ چيائين ته
”ڪاوڙ بس ڪيئن نه؟ ماڻهو ٻن لعلن لاءِ ليڪو
لنگهيو اچن!“ تنهن تي شهزاديءَ چيس ته ”ٿوريءَ
لالچ تي ماڻهو ڪتي جي گلر جو گوشت به کايو وڃن...
هو ته آخر لعل هئا!“ اها ڳالهه شهزادي کي به دل
سان لڳي- ۽ پوءِ پاڻ ۾ کلي خوش ٿي، ٺهراءُ ڪري،
سڄي عمر سکيا گذارڻ لڳا.
●●●
ضميمو
ڳالهين جي روايتن جا ماڳ مڪان
[هن ڪتاب ۾ جيڪي ڳالهيون شامل ڪيون ويون آهن، تن جون روايتون
سنڌ جي مختلف ڀاڱن ۾ ملن ٿيون. هيٺ انهن روايتن جي
ماڳن مڪانن جو تفصيل ڏنو وڃي ٿو. ]
”گل انداز بادشاهه (1-29): هن ڳالهه جو مدار اُتر (قنبر ۽ روهڙي
تعلقن) ۽ وچولي (ٽنڊي الهيار ۽ حيدرآباد تعلقن)
مان مليل چئن روايتن تي آهي. تعلقي قنبر ۽ تعلقي
ٽنڊي الهيار مان روايتون عنوان کانسواءِ مليون.
تعلقي روهڙيءَ مان ”ننڊ ولايت“ جي عنوان سان ۽
تعلقي حيدرآباد مان ”گل انداز بادشاهه“ جي عنوان
سان ملي، جنهن کي بنيادي روايت ڪري رکيو ويو آهي.
”گل بادشاهه، شوق شهزادو“ (30-39): هن ڳالهه جي
روايت اُتر (تعلقي ميرپورماٿيلي) مان ملي.
”محمود شاهه“ (40-53): هن ڳالهه جي روايت ٿر
(تعلقي ساماري) مان ملي.
”ڊول شهزادو“ (54-64): هن ڳالهه جي روايت اُتر
(تعلقي اوٻاوڙي) مان ملي.
”شهزور بادشاهه“ (65-64): هن ڳالهه جو مدار اُتر
(تعلقي پني عاقل)، وچولي (تعلقي حيدرآباد)، لاڙ
(تعلقي بدين) ۽ ٿر (تعلقي مٺيءَ) مان مليل چئن
روايتن تي آهي. لاڙ واري روايت ”انصاف ڪنهن جو“ جي
نالي سان، ۽ ٿر واري روايت بنا نالي ملي.
”لال ملوڪ بادشاهه“ (85-99): هن ڳالهه جي روايت ٿر
(تعلقي ساماري) مان ملي، هن ڳالهه جا ڪي واقعا
”امير حمزه ۽ ڪڻڪ راڻي“ (100) ۽ ”محمود شاهه“ (40)
ڳالهين جي واقعن سان ملن ٿا.
”امير حمزه ۽ ڪڻڪ راڻي“ (100-121): هن ڳالهه جي
روايت اُتر (تعلقي اُٻاوڙي) مان ملي.
”سونن وارن واري شهزادي“ (221-135): هن ڳالهه جي
روايت لاڙ (تعلقي بدين) مان ملي.
”ڪرمان ۽ ڪوري بادشاهه“ (631-641): هن ڳالهه جي
روايت لاڙ (تعلقي گوني) مان ملي.
”ڀاڳوند بادشاهه“ (741-351) هن ڳالهه جي روايت
اُتر (تعلقي اوٻاوڙي مان ملي.
”بادشاهه ۽ ٻڪرار“ (451-461) هن ڳالهه جو مدار
اُتر (تعلقي قنبر) ۽ وچولي (حيدرآباد ۽ ٽنڊي
الهيار تعلقن) مان مليل ٽن روايتن تي آهي.
”اُميدن ڀريو بادشاهه“ (561-671): هن ڳالهه جي
روايت اُتر (تعلقي وارهه) مان ملي.
”نور شاهه بادشاهه“ (771-188): هن ڳالهه جي روايت
اُتر (تعلقي وارهه مان ملي.
”جُمڙو بادشاهه“ (189-199): هن ڳالهه جي روايت
ُاتر (تعلقي وارهه) مان ملي.
”چوٻول راڻي“ (200-224): هن ڳالهه جي روايت (تعلقي
حيدرآباد مان ملي.
”اَنٻولهه راڻي“ (225-632): هن ڳالهه جي روايت ٿر
(تعلقي ساماري) مان ملي.
”لال شهزادو“ (237-244): هن ڳالهه جي روايت اُتر
(تعلقي ميرو خان) مان ملي.
”ڪوڙهيو بادشاهه“ (245-256): هن ڳالهه جي روايت
اُتر (تعلقي قنبر) مان ملي.
”ڪدو شهزادو“ (257-262) هن ڳالهه جي روايت وچولي
(تعلقي حيدرآباد) مان ملي.
”سج شهزادو ۽ چنڊ شهزادو“ (263-267): هن ڳالهه جي
روايت اُتر (تعلقي ميرپورماٿيلي) مان ملي.
”شهزادو ۽ فقير“ (268-274): هن ڳالهه جو مدار اُتر
(تعلقي ميرپورماٿيلي ۽ لاڙ (تعلقي بدين) مان مليل
ٻن روايتن تي آهي.
”فقير ۽ شهزادي“ (285-279): هن ڳالهه جي روايت
اُتر (تعلقي شهدادڪوٽ مان ملي.
”آفيمي بادشاهه“ (280-282): هن ڳالهه جي روايت
وچولي (تعلقي ڪوٽڙي) مان ملي.
”سياڻو بادشاهه“ (283-286): هن ڳالهه جي روايت ٿر
(تعلقي ڇاڇڙي) مان بنا نالي جي ملي.
”ولايت شاهه“ (287-292): هن ڳالهه جي روايت لاڙ
(تعلقي ٺٽي) مان ملي.
”سورم راجا ۽ بيکٽ راجا“ (293-316): هن ڳالهه جي
روايت ٿر (تعلقي ساماري) مان ملي.
”شاهي شاهه به جنڊڻ ماري“ (317-331): هن ڳالهه جو
مدار وچولي (تعلقي شهدادپور) ۽ لاڙ (تعلقي بدين)
مان مليل ٻن روايتن تي آهي. لاڙ واري روايت
”بادشاهه چنڊ پيٺو“ جي عنوان سان ملي، وچولي
واريءَ روايت کي بنيادي قرار ڏنو ويو آهي.
”لعل بادشاهه ۽ هيرا راڻي“ (332-339) هن ڳالهه جي
روايت اُتر (تعلقي ڪڪڙ) مان ملي.
”شهزادو لال ملوڪ“ (340-357) هن ڳالهه جو مدار
اُتر (تعلقي وارهه)، وچولي (تعلقي حيدرآباد) ۽ لاڙ
(تعلقي ٺٽي) مان مليل ٽن روايتن تي آهي. اُتر واري
روايت ”لال بادشاهه“ جي نالي سان، وچولي واري
روايت ”لال ملوڪ بادشاهه“ جي نالي سان ۽ لاڙ واري
روايت بنا نالي جي ملي. وچولي واريءَ روايت کي
بنيادي قرار ڏنو ويو آهي.
”گنگل راڻي“ (359-363): هن ڳالهه جي روايت وچولي
(تعلقي شهدادپور) مان ملي.
”غيبي راڻي (364-383): هن ڳالهه جي روايت وچولي
(تعلقي شهدادپور) مان ملي.
”شهزادو تاج الملوڪ“ (370:283): هن ڳالهه جي روايت
وچولي
”شهزادو ساعت ملوڪ“ (384-401): هن ڳالهه جي روايت
وچولي (تعلقي شهدادپور مان ملي.
”گنجو فقير ۽ گلشن شهزادي“ (402-408): هن ڳالهه جي
روايت اُتر (تعلقي شڪارپور مان ملي.
”عقلمند شهزادو“ (409-416): هن ڳالهه جي روايت
اُتر (تعلقي اُٻاوڙي) مان ملي.
”شينهن مار شهزادو“ (417-422): هن ڳالهه جي روايت
وچولي (تعلقي نوشهري) مان ملي.
”ڏتڙيل شهزادو“ (423-428): هن ڳالهه جي روايت اُتر
(تعلقي قنبر) مان ملي.
”شهزادو لعل ۽ شهزادي لعلان“ (429-433): هن ڳالهه
جي روايت اُتر (تعلقي ميرپورماٿيلي) مان ملي.
”شهزادو ۽ شهزادي“ (434-436): هن ڳالهه جي روايت
وچولي (تعلقي شهدادپور مان ملي.
●●●
PREFACE
This is the Twenty-first book compiled under the
Sindhi Adabi Board”s Folklore and literature
Project. In 1956, the Board had approved this
5-year research project (1957-1961) for the
collection, compilation and publication of
Sindhi folklore and literature. The devoted
mainly to the collection of material. The
compilation and publication work commenced from
1959.The material for the project has been
collected both from the oral tradition of the
village folk and the written record. The oral
tradition was reduced to writing through a
network of the field-workers, one stationed in
each Taluka.
The project aims at publishing representative
work pertaining to the following selected
segments of Sindhi folklore and literature: (a)
Fables and Fairy-tales, (b) Pseudo-historical
Romances, (c) Tales of historical nature, (d)
Folk-poetry, (e) Folk-songs, (f) Marriage-songs,
(g) Poems pertaining to ware and other events,
(h) Riddles, (j) Wit and humour, and (k) Folk
Customs and Superstition. It is expected that
forty basic works will be compiled under the
above categories by the end of 1961.
The scheme has been deliberately named as
“Folklore and literature project'. At the
present stage, a considerable body of verse and
tales is current through oral tradition among
the village folk with which the educated and the
intellectuals are not familiar. All this
material in verse and prose is “folklore” in the
sense that it is popular and is preserved with
the village folk; yet, a considerable part “part
of it is standard literature”, and will be
recognized as such after it is published.
Of the Seven books planned under the project to
incorporate different varieties of folk-tales,
legends and other stories, this is the first
book pertaining to what may be called “the tales
of the kings and queens, princes and
princesses”. This is a board classification for
convenience sake. The village folk call all
kinds of tales and legends kahanyoon (tales) or
galhyoon (stories), more often qualifying them
as Badshahan jun kahanyoon or galhiyoon, the
tales or stories of kings, because most of the
tales open with the mention of a king. This may
be considered as the general name for
folk-tales, though individual tales may be
called by the name of the king or an other
person who figures an the tale. Often times, a
tale is called after the name of the central or
significant character in it, who may be a fairy.
a demon, a minister, a merchant a thief, a
shepherd etc.
The plots of the folk-tales are not logical;
they are natural, revealing the simple rambling
folk-mind at work. The Sindhi folk-tales may be
classified as “simple” or “unitary” and
“complex” or “unitary” and “complex “ in the
“simple” tales, the narration follows a straight
course, each event being of a small description
and each event following the previous one,
taking the story further to its ending. In the
complex, type, an event in the narration is
lengthy, even to the extent of being a Tale in
miniature. The succeeding event may not take the
narration further on a straight course towards
the ending but might be located on a side track,
being as offshoot of the main tale. thus in a
,complex, tale. there may be the main tale and
the side tales: there is the foundational or the
framing story to which are linked other
subsidiary tales. the 15th {p.217} the 18th
{p.265} and the 35th {p. 445} tales in the
collection are ,complex, ones, the 15th story
being a combination of the framing story and
nine other subsidiary stories.
The plot of the folk-tale usually consists of an
initial opening story and the main story. In the
opening story the birth of the hero takes place-
he is actually born or comes into the lime
light. The opening story, usually mentions a
king who has more than one wife but no son. He
is blessed by some one and the son is born of
the youngest wife. the child and the mother
suffer due to the jealousy of the other queens.
In case his mother dies the, the young prince
suffers because of his step- mothers and is
usually exiled. his adventures then constitute
the second or the main part of the tale.
The fulfillment of a conditions a more common
cause for the adventure undertaken by the hero.
Besides his own valuar, the success of the hero
in his adventures is either due to the help he
receives from his associates or due to certain
extraordinary objects which he comes to possess.
the following are some of the typical objects
contributing to the success and safety of the
heroes that figure in this collection of the
folk-tales: a string or an amulet given by a
stain; the bow made of the fairy hair; the manu
(the magic stone carried by the king cobra); the
sphinx which flies the hero out of danger; the
udand khatoli (the Flying Cot); the magic ring;
the club and the accepter which beat to order;
the kerchief which drops jewels on waving; the
cap which makes one invisible; a fruit which on
eating transforms one into an animal.
Though the Sindhi folk-tales have no
pre-conceived plot or purpose, the substance of
each tale underlines central ideas as follows:
Adventure: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 15, 20, 25, 35,
36, 37, & 38.
Individual velour & bravery: Nos. 5, 6, 7, 36
The goat-herds wisdom: No. 24.
The Ministers admonition to, The King: No. 23.
Truly fairy tales: Nos. 12, 13, 19, 22222228, 29
& 30.
Magic: 20, 21 & 22.
Step- mothers, jealousy: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 13, 17,
26, 31 & 34. Cruelty of the step- mother: NO.
17.
Characteristics of women: No. 18.
Woman’s wisdom, self confidence and success:
Nos. 30 & 34.
Wife’s wisdom and help to husband: Nos. 29, 31,
32.
Wife teaching a lesson to husband: Nos. 14, 16,
27 & 29.
Wit and homour: Nos. 9 & 10.
Four types of characters figure in these
folk-tales: (a) demons, fairies and genii; (b)
witches, sorcerers, magicians, and dhootis (old
evil women); (c) reptiles birds and animals; and
(d) kings, queens, princes, princesses,
vezeirs merchants and other human characters.
Demons, fairies, and genii (spirits) are the
reminiscent of the early memories of childhood
of human race when supernatural and superstition
ones dominated mans life, Due to, the lack of
maturity and ability to understand the natural
phenomena, man attributed floods, fires,
thunders, storms and other calamities to, the
demons, and some other less momentous but
inexplicable events and experiences of sprits
and the fairies. Witches, sorcerers magicians
and the dhootis belong to the next stage of
development when more intelligent among human
beings devised techniques consisting of rituals
and ceremonies to ward off attacks of the
supernatural forces. They also splice those ,
Methods, as magic or black magic, against the
less intelligent among the human beings. The
witches tend to be imaginary characters, but in
Sindhi folk-tales they are represented as women
who wield almost supernatural powers through the
exercise of magic and sorcery. the reptiles
birds and animals as they figure in the
folk-tales performing all human functions, seem
to belong to a much earlier stage when man was
truly the son of the mother earth, living side
by side witch other creatures. Snakes, parrots,
crows, deers and other animals were his early
associates whose memories have lived through the
folk-tales in which they play a vital part in
the life and adventures of the heroes and the
heroines.
the kings, queens, princes, and veziers, belong
to the later, stage of human settlement and
civilization, the stage which is coming to and
end during this twentieth century. Five hundred
years hence, king and queens will, perhaps, be
relegated to the past and their memories may,
then, appear as fanciful as those of the demons
and the4 fairies today.
these rales included in this volume were
collected from different parts of Sindh. The
field worker was instructed to reduce the tale
to writing exactly as the heard it from the
village folk. these original versions were
finally read in the central office. The common
versions of the same tale, were collected and
significant differing points, if any, were
incorporated in the final complete version for
the purpose of this text. if there was only one
version it was retained with such verbal
modification as was necessary to make it
readable and intelligible
The habited of each tale has been indicated in
the appendix (pp. 477-480) given at the end of
the text. Contents of the tales have been
summarized into English for the benefit of the
general reader.
University of Sindh,
Hyderabad, Pakistan.
December 12, 1960.
N. A. Baloach,
Director
An Abstract of the Contents
1. gul Andaz Badshah (pp. 1-32): A king having
no issue from his six queens, at last married
the seventh wife on the advice of a derwesh.
After a few months the first six queens bore him
six sons, and the king was so much pleased that
the ignored the seventh queen. After some time
she also bore him a son and called him Gul Andaz,
but being displeased with the king she did not
inform him about his birth.
Thereafter, the king had a puzzling dream. His
first six sons set out to seek its
interpretation but they were looted and held by
the robbers.
The same derwesh came again and told the king
that no one but him seventh son, gul Andaz,
could solve the riddle. The king was surprised
at this news, discovered gul Andaz in the palace
and sent him hour in quest of the
interpretation. He was also attacked by the same
robbers; but the defeated them, freed his
brothers and went on his own. On the way he met
a derwesh who gave him an amulet and said that
the would achieve his objective at a certain
dwelling of demons and fairies after crossing
the sea, and that he would not be hurt by the
demons by virtue of the amulet. Another derwesh
gave him three flowers to break the sorceries of
the demons.
After enduring hardships and fighting with the
demons, he discovered the secret of his father's
dream. There he married the daughter of the king
of fairies, and set out for his own country with
his fairy wife and her three friends, who
demonstrated before the king, the interpretation
of his dream.
2. King Flower and Fond Prince (pp. 33-43): The
six wives of king Flower conspire against the
seventh who is expecting a child. They tell the
king that she is responsible for killing his
horse. She is exiled by the king, gives birth to
a son in the jungle, and is given shelter by
another king who funds her there. Her son,
prince fond, grows up and goes to see his father
who is till. His cute lies in the blood of a
“Sea-Horse”. His six sons from the six queens
set out in search of the horse and Prince Fond
follows them. After adventures with demons he
finally secures the 'Sea-Horse'. While
returning, he meets his six brothers who being
penniless, have become wood-cutters. He treats
them kindly but they conspire against him, cut
his arms and legs, steal the Horse and present
it no their father. By the magic of the fairies,
Prince Fond regains his lost arms and legs, is
rescued by his fairy wife, and comes to his
father to tell the true tale. He is honoured
along with his exiled mother, while the other
six queens and their sons are punished and
exiled.
3. King Mahmood (pp.44-59): A king's only son,
who has already two wives, falls in love with a
poor man's daughter. The girl dislikes the
prince and kills his horse. The prince finally
marries her. The two wives conspire against her
and she is exiled while she is pregnant. She
takes refuge with a merchant, gives birth to a
son, and calls him Mahmood.
Mahmood grows up and accompanies the merchant on
his business trips. Once he rescues a fairy and
marries her. The merchant becomes dishonest,
takes away his fairy wife, and leaves Mahmood in
a helpless condition. He is rescued by a holy
man who gives him two magic flowers, and with
their help he comes to his father's court,
exposes the merchant who comes to his father's
domain, and gets back his wife. He there informs
his father who he is, and lives with his father
and mother in peace.
4. Prince Dhol (pp. 60-71): There was a king who
used to go out for hunting. One day he saw a
deer and shot it with an arrow. The deer changed
into a beautiful boy. On hearing his cries, and
old man came out of a cave and cursed the king
saying 'You will live on the fortunes of your
son.”
Thereafter the king's palace was reduced to
ashes and he had to leave his country together
with his wife. After enduring sorrows and
suffering he took refuge in a friend's kingdom.
His wife as well as his friend's wife promise to
marry their children if one of them got a son
and the other a daughter.
The king then returned to his own kingdom. A son
was born to him and he named him 'Dhol'. When
Prince Dhol was of age, he became an expert
deer-hunter. A she deer ran away to the country
of the king's friend and gave birth to a male
deer. The king's daughter brought up the young
deer and when it grew up she sent it to lure
Dhol to her.
The deer came to Prince reached the palace of
the Princess. There he fell in love with her
married her and returned home after many
sufferings. He defeated the minister who had
usurped the throne in his absence and ruled his
country in peace and prosperity.
5- King Champion (pp,65-84): King champion daily
shoots arrows to pass through the nose-ring of
his wife and asks weather there could be any man
stronger than he, is the world. Her answer
always is, “No”. But she fears that the arrow
might kill her one day. Her mother advises her
to tell the king that there may be a more strong
man than he. The daughter follows the advice.
Hearing this, the king sets out in search of
such a man and meets on his way six strong men,
one after another, who join him in his
adventures. they face trail situations in which
king champion surpasses all. At each trail, he
bestows favours on one of his friends, marries
him to a princess and settles him there, till he
is left with only one friend.
At last they reach a place where a princess is
imprisoned by a demon. King Champion kills the
demon by killing his 'life parrot' which he
finds in a cage placed in a well. He marries the
princess, but is deceived by an evil woman, who
throws is 'life sword' into fire and he falls
dead benumbed. His wife and domain are usurped
by another king.
Hearing this, his friends come to his rescue.
They defeat the usurper. The sword is polished
and king champion is brought to life again, and
he returns to his homeland with his wife.
6. King Lal Malook (pp. 85-99): A man and his
wife migrate from their village due to famine.
On the way, they become, very hungry and decide
to kill their baby and cat its flesh. The father
takes the baby in the bushes where he finds the
carrion of a deer. He leaves the baby there to
carry the deer. A lioness takes away the baby
and brings her up together with her cubs. The
boy grows up, roars like a lion, and goes out
hunting with the young lions. Once he is caught
by a king and is given away to a merchant who
has no issue of his own. The merchant and his
wife bring him up as their son and call him Lal
Malook.
When Lal Malook attains youth, the merchant's
wife falls in love with him but he refuses her
overtures. The women set her husband against
him, and in order to see him dead the merchant
sends Lal Malook to bring them milk of a
lioness. Lal Malook brings milk from the mother-
lioness and the lions accompany him on his way
back to the town. The merchant being afraid,
asks Lal Malook to leave his house.
On his way, Lal Malook meets a hunter, a swift
runner, a carpenter, and a demon who have
already been longing to meet him. They accompany
him and reach a ruined town where a beautiful
grill is imprisoned by a demon. The demon is
killed by his demon friend and Lal marries the
girl. As the friends say farewell to him, he
gives a flower to each one of them to watch it
for his safety. The carpenter gives Lal Malook
the sword which contains the latter's life.
Lal Malook's wife loses her shoe while taking
bath, and a fish swallows it. The fish is caught
and brought to a rich man's son, who seeing the
shoe falls in love with her. He sends an evil
woman to search her who finds her and throws the
'life sword' of Lal Malook into water. Lal
Malook falls seriously ill and his wife is
beguiled and delivered to her lover by the evil
woman.
Lal Malook's friends see the flowers withering
and come to his rescue. They recover the sword,
polish it, and he becomes quite alright. His dog
and cat lead the way to his wife who is also
rescued, and Lal Malook and his wife live the
rest of their life in peace.
7. Amir Hamza and Kanak Rani (pp. 101-121): A
king wants to marry his seven sons to seven
sisters of royal lineage. His minister sets out
in search of such sisters, finds them and the
date of marriage is fixed. The king sets out to
the would-be-bride's country together with his
six elder sons leaving Amir Hamza, the youngest
and the wisest of the seven, to look after his
kingdom. Amir Hamza asks him father to marry his
bride to his arrow and also warns that on their
return journey, they should not halt at a
certain place.
After the marriage, they pass the night at the
forbidden place and are held by a demon in the
shape of a dragon, who detains Amir Hamza's wife
and tells them to send Amir Hamza himself to
rescue her.
Amir Hamza comes to that place and the demon
asks him to Resce. Kanak Rani , the beloved of
the Demon, who has been imprisoned by Daphail
demon. He sets out on his way and meets a
shepherd, a buffalo keeper an ironsmith, and an
archer. All of them show their own valour but
become his friends and accompany him. There
after, the friends are deceived and captured by
an old demon, who is defeated by Amir Hamza and
he becomes his friend. The Demon-friend then
defeats three kings and the three friends are
married to the daughters of those kings and are
left with their wives. Amir Hamza gives each one
of them an arrow to watch it for his safety.
Only the demon accompanies with Amir Hamza.
Amir Hamza then reaches the palace of the
Daphail Demon, kills him and frees Kanak Rani
but is involved into trouble by an evil woman
who takes away Kanak Rani and delivers her to a
king who is in love with her. the friends see
the arrows rusted, come to Amir Hamza’s rescue,
defeat the enemy and get bask Kanak Rani. Amir
Hamza returns to the dragon, kills him, and
returns home safe with Kanak Rani.
8. The Princes with golden Hair (pp-135): A King
sands his son exile due to his ill manners.
Three friends -a Brahmin, a goldsmith and a
Carpenter accompany the prince. The Brahmin
says “ I can bring back to life a dead body my
prayers”; the goldsmith says, “I can recognize
the voice of a person who has ever talked to any
one of my friends”; the Carpenter says “icon
make ,Udanad Khatoli, (Flying cot) from wood”;
and the price says, “I am a warrior and will
fight anything that attacks one”. They find the
dead body of a lion and on the Prince's
insistence; the Brahmin brings the lion back to
life. The lion attacks them and the friends run
away but the Prince fights it and puts into
fligle left all alone, the price spends the
night on a tree, killers a serpent and secures
its manu. Following the track of the serpent, he
comes to well full water; the water dries up by
the power of the manu and he goes down into the
well and finds a beautiful princes with golden
hair who had been imprisoned by the serpent. He
informs her that he had killed the serpent and
both of them marry and live together happily.
The princes had a parrot to with she used to
talk when she felt lonely, But after meeting the
prince, She ignored the parrot.
Once both the prince and the princes go to the
river to take bath and there she loses a hair
which is swallowed by a fish. A fisherman
catches the fish and presents it to a king who
is one-eyed. The king falls in love with the '
Princes with the golden Hair' and said an evil
woman to beguile her and her to him. The evil
woman comes to live with the princess, and
though the parrot talks against the woman the
princess ignores its remarks.
One day the woman takes the princess the river
and puts her in a boat; She also secures the
manu from her, comes to the well and the water
dries up. She descends it and enters the palace,
and kills the prince who is asleep. She then
takes the princess to one-eyed King who wants to
marry her. She seeks one year's postponement
from him, and before marriage She spends her
time in alms giving and charity.
By chance, the prince's three friends come to
the capital of One-eyed King. First the
goldsmith meets the princess and she then
summons all the three and they inform her that
they are friends of the prince and they plan to
rescue her.
She then tells One-eyed king to make
preparations for the marriage. The carpenter the
udand khatoli (flying cot) and on the wedding
night, the prices sits on it with three friends
and they fly to the dead prince whom the Brahmin
brings back to life. All of them then return to
their own country. The prince asks his father's
pardon and they al live there in peace and
prosperity.
9. King Kori and King Kirman (pp126-146): King
Kori having no issue, sets out from his palace
together with his retinue, to visit a holy man
living in a cave. At his lamentations, the holy
man prophecies that he would have a son and a
daughter, but after the daughter is grown up he
would be attacks by a neighboring king, but
would finally emerge victorious.
After some time his two wives give birth to a
son and a daughter.
When the daughter grows up, King Kirman and
other kings ask her hand in marriage but King
Kori turns down their requests. Consequently
King Kirman sends a huge army which overawesKing
Kori's army. Finally King Kori himself comes to
the battle field.
His horse runs amock and, in order to save
himself from falling down, he catches hold of a
tree. There hose is so rash that the tree is
rooted out. When King Kirman soldiers see King
Kori coming with a tree in arms they get
frightened and start running away. He throws the
tree upon King Kirman, Kills him, and lives the
rest of his life in peace.
10. King Bhagwand (pp. 147-163): King Bhagwand
(lucky) while chasing a deer loses his way in a
forest. He reaches a lake and lives there fore
some days but finally finds his way to a town.
He catches a deer and takes it to the town to
sell it and buy food and clothes. As he enters
the town, a carpenter calls him 'friend and he
gives away the deer to him gratis. the carpenter
promises to help him when needed. Successively
for three days, he gives away three deers to a
derwesh, a merchant and the prince of that place
who all promise to help him in need.
After some time King Bhagwand is accused of
murder and is ordered to be executed. The four
friends come to see him in the prison and
promise to help him. As they talk, the king of
this town hears their conversation in hiding.
The carpenter “if the king does not set you
free, I will destroy his palace by talking out a
chip from the pillar on which it rests. he
derwash says, “if you are not freed, I will
destroy this kingdom by curse”. The merchant
says, “I will offer two fine horses and even my
wife with whom the king is in love to ransom
you”. The prince says “if you are executed I
will revolt against my father”.
The next day all the four of them request and
threaten the to set King Bhagwand free. As the
king is already aware of their conspiracy he
sets Bhagwand free, gives him his daughter in
marriage and finally Bhagwand returns to his own
kingdom.
11. The King and the shepherd (pp154-164): A
King's only son continues to be in friendship
with a shepherd against the wishes of his
father. Once, both the friends see a princess in
a boat, and the prince and the princess fall in
love with each other. The princess sails away
giving the prince hints of her dwelling place
etc. in the form of a riddle.
Due to separation the prince become love sick
and the king blames the shepherd for this,
Coming to know the real cause, the allows the
prince to seek his love but no one is able to
solve the riddle. Finally the shepherd is called
and he explains the riddle and accompanies the
prince to seek the princess.
After the long search they meet the princess,
who is already in love with the prince, and
agrees to marry and accompany him. The shepherd
hears a magician woman telling her servant that
the prince would be threatened by death at lease
three times, but if the person who saves him
reveals the secret, he would be transformed into
a stone slab. He will come back to life if the
blood of the prince's son is sprinkled on the
stone.
On their return journey, the Shepherd saves the
prince who insists to know the secret. the
shepherd has to tell it and is transformed into
a stone. Both the price and the princess become
grieved. After some time, she gives birth to a
son whose blood is sprinkled over the stone and
the shepherd comes back to life again.
12. Umedun Bharyo Badshah (King Hopeful)
(pp.165-176): The ugly queen of King Hopeful
daily asks her parrot whether there’s any woman
more beautiful than she. To Pease her, the
parrot's answer is always ,No,. But one day
being feed up with her questions, is says ,Neena
Bai, is the most beautiful woman that ever lived
in the world. King Hopeful hears this and sets
out with the parrot to seek ,Neena Bai,'
After a long journey they reach her palace. King
Hopeful sees here and both of them fall in love
with each other. The king brings her his own
kingdom, leaves her in the garden and goes
palace to make arrangements for the marriage. In
the mean while an evil woman throw her into a
well and she turns into a flower. The king is
deceived and is married to the evil woman's
daughter. After some time, the flower becomes a
rose bush giving sweet fragrance. The king daily
sits under the bush, and preserves the flowers
falling from the bush in his pocket without
smelling them. His wife (evil woman's daughter)
fears that Neena Bai is alive in the shape of
thee rose bush which the king looks so much. She
manages to get it uprooted. The King's
shepherded takes away the withered bush to burn
it………..
All of them reached princess chaobol’s town and
the king informed her father about his
intention. But he would give her hand to one who
would make her talk four times. The four
friends, who knew magic, told the king that one
of them would enter into the necklace of the
princess, the other into the pillow, the third
into the candle and the fourth onto the pillar,
and thus help him to make the princess talk.
When the king came to chaobol and tried to make
her talk she kept num. the king then asked her
necklace to tell a story, The necklace related a
story and asked the king’s decision about some
of the points. The king gave his decision but as
chaobol held a different view she gave her own
decision. In the same way the candle, the pillow
and pillar related their own stories one by one
and asked for the king’s decision, but princess
gave her own decision each time. So princess
chaobol talked four times and was given in
marriage to the king.
16-unbolh Rani (queen mum) (pp.225-236):
two birds nest in a tree which catches fire. The
male bird flies away but the female remains with
her young ones. The fire is extinguished by
chance and she is saved. Then the male bird
returns to the nest but she refuses him
admission. Both of them quarrel each claiming
the young ones, and go to the king who gives the
young ones to the father. The female bird goes
away disappointed. Dies in separation, and is
reborn in the house of a Hindu who calls her
Kasumba.
a clot is born to the king’s mare from the horse
belonging to kasumba’s father. She tells him not
to return the colt to the king because according
to the king’s own judgment children belong to
the father, as the king had decided in case of
the birds, the king had to keep quiet, but the
prince in order to avenge the insult planned to
marry Kasumba and then divorce her. The marriage
took place and, thereafter, when the prince told
Kasumba that he was going to divorce her, she
replied, “Divorce me in case you succeed to
marry princess Unbolh”.
The prince set out to marry princess
Unbolh and after a toil some journey he reached
her palace. She put the condition that she would
marry the person who would make her talk, and in
case he failed, he will have to live as a slave.
The prince tried his luck, but failed to make
her talk and was made a slave.
After waiting for a long time, Kasumba set out
herself in the guise of a man, reached the town
of princess Unbolh, where a yogi gave her some
dust to rub on the finger of Unbolh to make her
talk. Talking up the challenge, Kasumba went to
Unbolh and tried to make her talk but she kept
mum. Kasumba then rubbed the dust upon her
finger and Unbolh at once began to converse with
Kasumba. Both of them got “married”, and after
some time they set out of the bridegroom’s own
country together with the slave. When they
arrived there, Kasumba went to her father-in-law
and told him the whole story. The king went out
to welcome Unbolh, and them informed his son
what Kasumba had done. The prince was ashamed of
himself and asked Kasumba to forgive him.
17-Prince Lal (pp.237-244): Prince Lal’s mother
at the time of her death makes her husband
promise not to marry another woman after her
death. For some time the king keeps his promise,
but at the persuasions of his ministers and
courtiers he marries again. The step-mother of
Prince Lal so conspires against him that the
king orders his men to kill him and bring his
eyes to the queen. The executioners take pity on
him, kill a deer instead and take its eyes to
the queen and let the prince go his own way.
By chance a royal marriage procession passes by,
and as the groom is one-eyed and ugly, prince
Lal is hired to be the groom for the wedding
night. After the marriage, when the party is on
their way back, prince Lal is offered some money
and is asked to leave, but when the bride comes
to know of the trick played on her, she runs
away with prince Lal and returns to her father
the king who treats them well, entrusts his
kingdom to prince Lal, and retires.
After some time prince Lal comes back to his
father, exposes his step-mother, and she is
condemned to death.
18-korihiyo Badshah (The leper king)
(pp.245-256): A king suffers from leprosy and is
sick of his wife. His parrot takes pity upon him
and sets out to seek a cure for him.
After flying for several days the parrot is
endangered by heavy rain and storm. He hastens
to a hole for shelter, but there a maina bird
refuses to take him in unless he marries her
daughter, the parrot promises to marry her
daughter after he has found the medicine for the
king. The maina says that the king would be
cured by taking bath in the water with her. The
parrot flies back with the flower without
fulfilling the promise. The king takes bath in
the water of mar flower and is cured.
The maina follows the parrot, find it with the
king and complains against him. The parrot tells
a story to prove that females are unfaithful.
The maina relates another story to refuse the
parrot’s statement. The king decides against the
maina and she goes away disappointed.
19-Prince Kaddu (Pumpkin) (pp.257-262): Once
while walking on the bank of a river, a princess
found a beautiful flower, she swallowed it and
became pregnant. When her father came to know
about it, he sent her into exile. She took
refuge with an old man and his wife.
There she gave birth to a pumpkin and threw it
away in disgust. But pumpkin returned to her
every time she threw it. So she let it remain
with her. As Pumpkin grew up, it used to go out
with the cattle and do other house hold work.
Once it went for a bath when it took off its
outer skin, it turned into a very beautiful boy.
A princess saw him and fell in love with him.
She persistently told her father that she would
marry none else but Pumpkin and requested him to
allow the marriage. The king married her to
Pumpkin with grief and sorrow. While all alone
with his wife, pumpkin used to take of its skin
and turn into a handsome prince. None but the
princess knew the secret.
Once the king threatened by an enemy and he sent
Pumpkin with an army to fight. pumpkin defeated
the adversary and returned victorious. The
princess, there after burnt the outer skin of
her husband while he was sleep. When he woke up
and came to know what she had done, he became
very angry transformed himself into a pigeon and
flow away leaving the princess in a miserable
condition.
20-Prince sun and prince Moon (pp.263-267): A
king had two sons, called sun and moon. The
magician by whose charms both were born, took
away prince moon. At the time of departure,
prince moon gave a ring to his brother saying
“When this ring is rusted, I will be in danger”.
Prince noon finally killed the magician and came
to a town, where a princess fell in love with
him. She forbade him to go in the fourth
direction of the country. For some time prince
moon went in three directions only, but one day
he set out in the forbidden direction, where he
was captured by two evil women. He gambled with
them, lost the game and was imprisoned by them.
Prince sun finding the ring getting rusted, set
out the help his brother. He found him, gambled
with the women, won the game, and rescued prince
moon. Both the brother then returned to their
kingdom.
21-prince and Derwesh (pp.228-274): A king
having no issue seeks blessings of a Derwesh who
takes promise from him that when sons are born
to him he would give one of them to him. The
seven sons are born to the king, but he is
unwilling to give away a son to the Derwesh, who
finally steals away one of them.
When the prince grows up, he kills the Derwesh
finds a pearl in his house and runs away with
it. On the way, kites inform him that if he put
the pearl in his mouth he would be transformed
to whatever shape he liked.
After sometime, rain fall over the dead body of
the Derwesh who comes back to life, sets out in
search of the prince and finds him. Both of them
change their forms several times and fight with
each other. Finally the prince defeats the
Derwesh, breaks his neck, marries a princess and
comes back to his own country.
22- The beggar and the princess (pp.275-279):
The son of a bagger falls in love with a
princess. The king promise to marry her to the
boy provided he demonstrates something wonderful
to him.
The boy sets out to prepare him self, meets a
magician and learns magic from him for one year.
The magician wanted to kill him in the end, but
the boy is saved by the magician’s daughter and
runs away. The magician follows him. Both of
them compete in the presence of the king.
Finally the boy defeats the magician, kills him
and marries the princess by having demonstrates
his magic skill.
23- King opium Eater (pp.280-282): A king was
addict to opium, his minister said, “an opium
eater cannot differentiate between a friend and
a foe”. The king did not agree with him and the
minister promised to prove it.
Once the king went out hunting. He chased a
deer, caught it but lost his way. He took rest
under the shade of a tree, and being very
thirsty, collected a few drops of water falling
from above in a leaf in order to drink it. As
the king was about to drink water, his parrot
turned the leaf upside down. In his wrath the
king at once killed the parrot. At that time,
the minister also arrived. He found that it was
not water. But poison drops falling from the
mouth of a dead dragon lying on the tree. Thus,
the minister provide his statement to be true
and the king gave up opium eating for ever.
24- A Wise king (pp.283-286): A rich man on his
death bed told his four sons to dig the ground
under his cot and share the buried wealth, after
his death, the sons started digging. One of them
found a vessel full of jewels and pearls,
another a vessel full of gold and silver, the
third one a vessel full of bones, and the fourth
a vessel full of dust. The last two quarreled
with the first two to divide the riches equally
amongst them. All the four then set out to place
their case before the king. On their way, they
meet the they prince who told them that the king
was insane, the princess said he was blind and
the queen informed them that the king died over
a year ago.
When, they came to the court they found the king
safe and sound. The king decided that the son
who had the vessel full of bones was to be the
owner of the cattle left by his father, and the
one with the vessel if dust was to hold the
landed property. The brothers were satisfied
were also amazed at the king’s wisdom. They
informed him of what they had heard and asked
for an explanation, the king replied: “The
prince wants to marry but I want him to acquire
knowledge and complete his education first,
therefore he thinks that I am insane the
princess is grow up and she thinks I do not know
about it but I am in search of groom worthy of
her, being busy with the affairs of the state I
have no been able to see the queen for the whole
year, hence, I am dead for her”.
25-Vilayat Shah (pp.287-292): A king sends his
queen into exile due to a petty quarrel, while
she is pregnant. She takes refuge with a king
and gives birth to a son whom she names
“Vilayat Shah”. The king’s minister fall in
love with Vilayat Shah’s mother and conspires to
get Vilayat shah out of his way.
Once he takes Vilayat shah on a journey. Vilayat
shah finds a dice in a well and delivers it to
the minister, who present it to the queen. She
insist that the minister should bring seven more
dices for her girl friend.
The minister again sets out with Vilayat shah,
and when they reach the same place Vilayat shah
goes down into the well, and finds a beautiful
lady who is imprisoned by a demon. He kills the
demon, takes with himself the demon’s riches
together with dices and also the lady. The
minister usurps all the things, takes away the
lady, and throw Vilayat shah into the well.
At last Vilayat shah is rescued by some nomads.
He goes back to the king, and expose the
minister who is executed by the king’s orders.
Vilayat shah them marries the lady. his father
also realizes his mistake, comes to Vilayat shah
and his mother, and takes them back to his own
kingdom.
26-Raja Suram and Raja Bekhat (pp.293-316): A
king and queen died leaving their infant prince
with his step-mother, When the boy grew up she
exiled him and he took refuge with raja Suram. A
Raja named Bekhat, in order to test the wisdom
of Raja Suram, sent him three riddles to solve
but no one could explain them, Finally, the
young Prince gave Suram the correct solution.
Then Raja Bekhat challenged Raja Suram to come
and take away a golden brick and a candle buried
under his cot. The youth under took to
accomplish this, where upon Raja Suram accepted
the challenge. The youth reached Raja Bekhat’s
town and succeeded in taking away the candle and
the brick by deceiving the watchmen. When Raja
Bekhat came to know that it was the youth’s
wisdom and shrewdness, he summoned him to his
court and gave his daughter to him in marriage.
As Raja suram had no male issue, he also married
his daughter to the youth. After the demise of
suram and Bekhat, the youth became the king of
both the states.
Due to the bad administration of his
step-mother, an enemy had attacked, and defeated
her, she ran away and took refuge in Raja
suram’s capital. When the young king learnt
this, he set out to his father’s kingdom, killed
the young king the usurper and freed the
country. He then forgave his step-mother and
lived the rest of his life in peace and
prosperity.
27- Shahinshah bi Jandan mare (the greatest king
grinds grain) (pp.317-331): A king once hears a
girl saying to her sister, “if the king marries
me I will make him grind grain”. The king
marries her and insist that she should fulfill.
What she had said to her sister.
To achieve this, she manages to reach hunting
ground of the king and settle down three. The
king chasing a deer loses his way, comes to her
house and asks for water. She meets him in
disguise and acts so gracefully that the king
falls in love with her. Thereafter he continues
to visit her and she becomes pregnant.
she then leaves that place, return to her palace
and gives birth to a son. When the boy grows up,
she by his help harasses the king, his minister
and soldiers several times. Finally, she
purchases a house in the street through which
the king usually passes.
Once on a dark night, her son wears the clothes
of a girl and grinds the grain. When the king
passes by that house, the boy cries for help.
The boy pretends that a man is around to outrage
her modesty. The king in order to capture the
notorious character wears the clothes of the boy
and sits to grind the stone. At this moment his
wife appears on the scene and informs the king
of what she has done to him. The king feels
ashamed and is pleased to see his son.
28-Prince Lal and Princess Hira (pp.332-339): A
wood cutter is once attacked by a snake and
throw his burden of wood upon it. Then, instead
of snake the wood-cutter finds a ruby under the
wood. His wife sells the ruby to the queen, and
there the ruby is transformed into a beautiful
boy: As the king and the queen have no issue,
they adopt him as their son and call him ‘Lal’
(ruby).
When prince Lal grow up, he vows to marry a
woman as beautiful as he is and rejects the
offer of several princesses. There upon a one
eyed woman in order to tease hi says that prince
Lal would marry none else than princess Hira who
at the other end also makes up her mind to marry
prince Lal. Finally, both of them meet and get
married.
The jealous one-eyed woman plots against prince
Lal. She induces princess Hira to ask prince Lal
his caste. Princess Hira inquires from prince
Lal who avoids to answer her question several
times, but she insist upon getting an answer.
Finally he takes her to the bank of river, dives
into the water, re-appears as a snake and swims
away. She regrets her mistake and laments his
departure.
A fairy friend of princess Hira comes know about
it and tells her that prince Lal is the son of
the king of snakes and as he was not on good
terms with his father, he ran away and adopted
the human form. His father is very fond of music
and dance and listens to musician every Friday
night in human form. If she would visit his
father and sing and dance before him and if he
is pleased with her art, he would grant her
anything she asks, she should then ask for
prince Lal.
Accordingly, she goes to the king of snakes,
sings and dances for three Friday nights and
request, prince Lal takes human form, and both
the loves go back to their original place and
live together happily.
29-Prince Lal Maluk (pp.340-358): A poor
wood-cutter sets out with some friends to seek
livelihood in some other country. One night
while on the way, he puts his bag upon a bush
and falls asleep. When he wakes up, he finds
that his friends have a departed and a snake has
crept into his bag. He returns home with the bag
and shuts up the snake in the flour pot so that
when his quarrelsome wife puts her hand in it,
she is bitten by the snake and he gets rid of
beautiful necklace. She sells it to a jeweler
and gets an enormous sum of money which makes
their living comfortable.
The jeweler sells the necklace to the queen, and
it is transformed there, into a beautiful baby
boy. as the king and the queen had no issue,
they adopt him as their own son and call him Lal
Maluk.
When lal Maluk grow up, the king sends his
Vezier to find a worthy bride for him. The
minister sets out in his quest and engages the
prince with a beautiful princess. In the mean
while the king dies and lal Maluk is crowned as
king by the people.
One day a Derwesh informs him that the vizier
has rebelled and wants to usurp the throne and
marry lal maluk’s fiancée to his own son. Lal Maluk at once leaves his capital, comes to his
fiancée’s town, sends her his picture informing her of the dishonesty of the
vizier, learning this, the princess joins him
and they both hasten back to the capital.
After a long journey they halt at a place for
rest. Prince lal Maluk goes to the town to buy
food, leaving behind, the princess disguised in
man’s attire. In the town, an evil woman ties a
thread around his neck his neck and he is
transformed into a lamb.
His wife dressed as a man sets out to find him,
joins in a feat of arms and surpasses other in
shooting her arrow to reach the king’s palace.
The king marries her daughter to him (her) on
his achievement. But the minister doubts weather
he (she) is actually a man. After many tests the
minister fails to prove his point, and engage
his own daughter to him (her) to find out the
truth.
In the mean while, she purchase the lamb, takes
off the thread from its neck, and lal Maluk
comes back to his human form. Then inform him of
the situation she is in, and he is married to
the minister’s daughter instead of her.
Thereafter, his real mother (snake) comes, in
human form, to his wives and asks the caste of
lal Maluk. They express their ignorance and she
goes away. Then they persuade lal Maluk to tell
them his caste. He takes them to the bank of the
river, dives into the water and goes away
swimming as a snake.
His first wife after a long search meets a snake
which is actually lal Maluk who tells her to
play the drum before his spiritual guide at a
certain place, and when he is pleased, request
him to give her the hand of lal Maluk. She goes
to that place and acts accordingly. The
spiritual guide of lal Maluk becomes pleased
with her in human form.
30-Queen Gangul (pp.359-363): the sons of king
marry seven princess. The eldest princes,
through very beautiful, is deaf and dumb. Her
husband dislikes her and wants to leave her. His
mother-in-law says, “why do you hate my
daughter? Except Queen Gangul, none else is more
beautiful in the world than my daughter”.
Hearing this, the prince makes up his mind to
marry Queen Gangul.
He sets out in search of Queen Gangul and meets
a demon who sends him to an other demon to show
him the way to Queen Gangul. The second demon
sends him to a third one and in this way he
comes to the seventh demon who finally tells him
to dive into a certain well, search for an egg,
take it to his own home break in there, and the
Queen Gangul would come out of it. The prince
goes to the well, dives into it, finds the egg,
returns to his palace, breaks the egg and queen
Gangul comes out of it. He marries her and lives
in peace with both of his wives.
31-The Ghaibi (Unseen) Queen (pp.364-367): A
farmer finds a beautiful girl from inside a
water melon. He and his wife bring her up as
their own child, “When she grow up, the king of
the country falls in love with her and marries
her.
The king passes all of his time with the new
queen. Therefore, his first two wives conspire
to get her out of their way. They send a dhooti
( an evil woman) to find out who she is. The
evil woman comes to know that the new queen’s
life depends upon a pearl in her necklace which
she ( the evil woman) manage to the take into
her own custody, and then delivers it to the
first two queens who wrap it up in an old
blanket and throw it in some corner. The young
queen who is now pregnant, feel suffocated and
tells the king that when she is dead. He should
keep her dead body safely in a room, instead of
burying her.
Soon after, she dies of suffocation and the king
places her body in a room. It is the custom of
the queens to take out the necklace at night,
and again wrap it during the day time. So the
young queen becomes alive at night and remains
dead during the day. After some time she gives
birth to a son and nourishes him during nights.
Once the king comes to the room and find a baby
playing beside the queen’s body. He is amazed
and passes the whole day there. When the sun
sets, the queen comes back to life and tells the
king what has been done to her. Thus, she is
restored to normal life again. The king then
divorces the first two wives and lives with the
young queen and the prince in peace.
32-Prince Taj-ul-Muluk (pp.370-383): a king
sends his son, Taj-ul-Muluk (Crown of the kings)
into exile, due to the conspiracy of his two
wives, the prince’s step-mother, Taj-ul-Muluk
arrives in a kingdom where a demon eats up a man
daily. The king had announced that he would give
his daughter in marriage to one who killed the
demon. Taj-ul-Muluk kills the demon and marries
the princess.
After some time he goes away with his wife to
settle down in another country because she is
disgusted with her two step-mothers. They come
to the town and Taj-ul-Muluk becomes a guard of
the king’s palace. He works so honestly that the
king makes him his prime minister. Another
minister then conspires against Taj-ul-Muluk and
he is about to be executed but is saved by the
sagacity of his wife. The king forgives him and
keeps him as his prime minister.
Thereafter, Taj-ul-Muluk returns to his own
country, meets his father and exposes his
step-mothers. The king sends them both into
exile and lives with his son and his family in
peace and prosperity.
33-Princess sa’at Muluk (pp.384-401): A
king marries his daughter to a paralytic and
sends her into exile, because she would always
says that every done lives on his own fortune.
She departs carrying her paralytic
husband on her back, and becoming extremely
tired halts at a ruined place where she falls
sleep. In the mean while, her hungry husband
eats the leaves of a flower and is cured of his
illness. Then they proceed further and halt on
the bank of a stream. Her husband takes bath and
picks up stones from the bottom of the stream.
His wife recognizes them to be the rubies. They
take the stones with them, sell a few in a town,
buy a beautiful palace and settle down there,
she now calls her husband sa’at Muluk (The Lucky
One).
sa’at Muluk, does not actually know that
the stones are rubies, takes a few of them and
uses them as dices while playing with some
friends. The king’s minister passes by and
seeing the rubies takes one of them from him and
present it to the princess who insists that the
minister should bring one more such ruby for
her. The minister comes to sa’at Muluk and
requests him for another stone, but his wife
refuses to give it to the minister.
sa’at Muluk then sets out alone for the
same stream to fetch more stones, and reaching
the stream he goes further up to see from where
the rubies came. He reaches a palace in which he
sees his a woman hanging upside down in a well.
Drops of her blood falling into the water below,
change into rubies. He touches the side of the
well and she comes back to life and informs him
that she has been imprisoned by a demon. Soon
the demon arrives and sa’at Muluk kills him. He
than takes the woman as his wife, returns to his
palace and gives a stone for the princess who
again asks for another ruby.
His second wife then tells him that he
would get the ruby from “Moti Jan Fairy”, and
tells him how to reach there, he gets out and
meets three Derweshes, one of them gives him a
cudgel which automatically beats any one when
ordered; another present him a cooking vessel
from which an unlimited number of persons could
be feed and the third one gives him an
Udand-Khatoli (flying cot).he takes them and
reaches the place where Moti Jan fairy is
imprisoned by a demon. He kills the demon with
the cudgel and returns with Moti Jan who gives
him rubies for the princess.
The princess then asks for a suit of
flower-clothes. Moti Jan guides sa’at muluk how
to get them from Gulun Pari (flower fairy) . he
reaches a lake where Gulan Pari comes to take
bath with her friends, and sa’at muluk steals
her flower-clothes she enters him to give back
her clothes but he refuse to do so fairly he
takes her to his own palace and delivers clothes
to the princes.
The princes then demands one hundred
she-buffaloes of the same color and age. Sa’at
muluk goes to the cousin of Gulun Pari who is
also imprisoned by a demon. He beats the demo
with the cudgel until he gives him one hundred
buffaloes. He then kills the demon, takes the
fairy back to hid palace, and delivers the
buffaloes to the princess.
The princes finally marries sa’at muluk,
and when her father dies, sa’at muluk becomes
the king. Than he and his first wife along with
others returns to her father, the king and
inform him of their adventures and fortuitous
circumstances. The king repents for what he had
done and requests his daughter to forgive him.
34- Ganjo Faqir and princess Gulshan
(pp.402-408): A king refuse to marry his two
daughter to any one. Princess Gulshan, the
younger one, request to him for her marriage and
the king in his wrath marries her to an ugly old
Ganjo Faqir (Bald head bagger) and turns her out
of the place.
She goes and lives with her husband in a
hut. After some time the bagger enters the
service of a merchant, gets six months salary in
advance which he gives to his wife, and goes
with the merchant on a business trip.
At a halting place, Bald head goes to
fetch water from a well, and finds a fairy in
his bucket who is importuned by her energy
father, The fairy presents him two pomegranates
and asks him to marry her, He promise to do so
after getting consent from his first wife to
whom he sends these pomegranates.
The merchant proceeds further and they
halt near a town. Bald-head goes to see the
town, loses his way in the woods and passes the
night there. He sees some persons burying a box,
and when they leave, he digs out the box and
finds a beautiful baby sleeping in it. The baby
was the only son born to the king of that
country and was buried alive due to the jealousy
of his step-mother. In the morning, Bald-head
took the baby to the king who rewarded him with
abundant wealth.
He then returns to his original home
with all the wealth and the fairy. Here he finds
his wife living in a beautiful place instead of
the hut, She informs him the pomegranates were
full of pearls with which she built the place.
She than permits him to marry the fairy. When
her father comes to know about their fortune, he
makes amends for his past deed and asks his
daughter to forgive him.
35-prince Wise (pp.409-416) A king has
seven sons, the youngest of whom is called
prince wise. Once, all the seven go out hunting
and cross the border of their country. They
reach a place where seven beautiful sisters meet
them and they marry them.
The youngest girl and prince wise are
very fond each other, she tells him that all the
seven sisters are witches, and as a rule, they
would eat away all the seven brothers after they
have spent some days, she then tells him how to
run away.
The next morning Princes Wise informs
his brothers and all of them flee back to their
country. Prince wise is so much love with his
wife that he again sets out on a journey to meet
her, his oldest brother also accompanies him.
They halt at a place and Prince Wise
finds a beautiful girl in a well with a demon
sleeping in her lap. He takes the girl away,
marries her and abandons the idea to go to his
witch wife.
36- Prince Lion-Killer(pp.417-422): A
king marries his daughter to a prince, who keeps
away from his bridge after the marriage.
Once he takes his wife to visit her
parents. On the way a lion attacks them but the
princes cuts it into two halves with one blow of
his sword. When they reach the princess’s
parents she tells them that her husband is an
extraordinary man.
Her father, in order to eliminate him,
sends prince Lion Killer, for hunting in an area
inhabited by a dangerous dragon. In the mean
while the king arranges for her marriage with
another man who is so and coward that she
dislike him. She leaves the place secretly to
meet her husband in the woods.
When she reaches there and finds the
dragon killed and her husband standing by, she
informs him what she had told her parents and
what they wanted to do. Prince says that he had
heard about, this dragon and had vowed that he
would not touch a woman until he killed the
dragon. Them both of them return to their own
kingdom and there in peace and pleasure.
37-Prince Bewildered (pp. 423-428): A
king dies leaving a son and a daughter from his
two wives. His ministers enthrone a shepherd as
a reagent to the young prince. The shepherd
marries the step-mother of the prince and exiles
him and the queen mother. They take refuge with
an old woman her three wood-cutter sons.
When the prince grows up, he goes to cut wood to
earn him living. One day, he finds three locked
rooms in the jungle. He breaks open the lock of
one and finds a drum in it. As he beats the
drums, a demon arrives at once and says, “My
life depends upon the safety of the drum. I am
slave of a princess but I would do whatever you
command”. The prince commands him to bring the
princess which the demon does, and the prince
marries her But when the prince falls a sleep,
the demon takes away the drum and the princess.
The prince then breaks open the second
room and finds a hand-kerchief from which jewels
fall when he swings it. He then go, in search of
his wife and finds her, but she manages to
secure the hand kerchief from him and turns him
out of her house.
The prince then breaks open the third
room finds a cap. As he wears it he becomes
invisible. He again goes to his wife but she
snatches the cap from him as well. The prince
then returns disappointed and wanders in the
country.
Once he eats fruit of a tree and is
transformed into a goat. Then by eating the
fruit of another tree he comes back to his human
form. He again goes to his wife who is ill. He
pretends to be a physician and gives her the
fruit which she eats and becomes a goat. He then
gives her an other fruit by which she regains
her human form. He repeats this several times
and finally she repents and promises to be
faithful to him. He then takes his mother goes
back to his original home. He gives the fruit to
his step-mother and the shepherd and both of
them turn into goats. Thus he gets back his
kingdom and lives happily.
38-Prince Ruby and Princesses Ruby
(pp.429-433): Prince Ruby requests his father to
marry him to princesses. The king refuses the
requests because she lives far away, Prince Ruby
sets out alone, and after a long search finds
Princess Ruby and marries her.
Once Prince Ruby goes out hunting with
his father-in-law who follows a game and leaves
him under the shade of a tree from where a demon
carries him away. The king returns home and
tells his daughter what had happened.
Princess Ruby then goes to that tree
where she meets a fairy and seeks her help. The
fairy who is wife of the demon, takes pity upon
the princess and gives back Prince Ruby to her
in the absence of the Demon. Again, Prince Ruby
goes out for hunting with his father-in-law and
again the demon carries him away. The fairy
again takes pity on Princess Ruby and sets him
free for the second time.
Thereafter, Prince Ruby returns to his
own country with his wife and they live there
happily.
39-The Prince and the Princess
(pp.434-436): A king’s only son is engaged to a
princess. The prince wants to see his fiancée
before marriage and comes to her palace
disguised as a bagger and asks for charity. He
insist that he would take alms only from the
princess, but she refuses to come out. He than
stays there, and in the evening places two
bright rubles on the ground and draws a circle
around them. Seeing the radiant light of the
rubies the princess comes out, enters the circle
and takes them away. But when she comes to know
that the bagger is actually her would-be husband
to shame in turn.
She goes with her maid servants to the
prince’s town in the guise of a dancing party.
The prince sees her and falls in love with her.
At the time of meals she tells him that the meat
he is eating is of a dog, but the prince
continues to eat as he is in love with her.
There after, she returns to her home secretly.
When they are married, the prince
reproaches her for her bad manners whereupon she
also reminds him of the dog’s meat and the
prince is ashamed of his own manners.
Thereafter, both of them continue to live
happily. |