Folk-tales of Kashmir / by the Rev. J. Hinton Knowles.

  • James Hinton Knowles
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Folk-tales of Kashmir / by the Rev. J. Hinton Knowles. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE CAT WHO BECAME A QUEEN.^ “ All me ! all me ! What availeth my marriage with all these women ? Never a son has the Deity vouchsafed me. Must I die, and my name be altogether forgotten in the land ? ” Thus soliloquised one of the greatest monarchs that ever reigned in Kashmir, and then went to his zandna, and threatened his numerous wives wdth banishment if they did not bear him a son within the next year. The women prayed most earnestly to the god Shiva to help them to fulfil the king’s desire, and waited most anxi- ously for several months, hoping against hope, till at last they knew that it was all in vain, and that they must dissemble matters if they wished to remain in the royal household. Accordingly, on an appointed time, word was sent to the king that one of his wives was encicnte, and a little while afterwards the news was spread abroad that a little princess was born. But this, as we have said, was not so. Nothing of the kind had happened. The truth was, that a cat had given birth to a lot of kittens, one of which had been appropriated by the king’s wives. When His Majesty heard the news he v’as exceedingly glad, and ordered the child to be brought to him—a very natural re- quest, which the king’s wives had anticipated, and there- fore were quite prepared with a reply. “ Go and tell the king,” said they to the messenger, ‘‘ that the Brahmans have declared that the child must not be seen by her father until she is married.” Thus the matter was hushed for a time. Constantly did the king inquire after his Narrator’s name, Razi, a pan- ty Pandit Anand Kol of Zainah ditdnt, living in Srinagar. Collected Kadal, Srinagar.
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