In the foregoing narrative the hermit plays much the same part as the Savage Man of Sicily. It is he who finds the heroine in the desert, and rescues her from death. It is by following his instructions that she obtains riches, and is enabled to triumph over her father's perversity. If at the last the hermit does not suffer death in order to provide the wealth, at all events when the wealth has been got he sinks into oblivion. An Indian variant[1] of near akin, however, reverses, to a great extent, the parts of the heroine and her protector, endowing him with the wealth obtained by her sagacity and good fortune. A Badshaw one morning calls his seven daughters before him, and asks, "By whom are you supported?" The six elder answer that they are dependent upon himself, but the youngest says, as in The Four Dervishes, that she is supported by her own fate. Irritated with this the Badshaw replies, "Whomsoever I meet with to-morrow, I will make you over to him, you ungrateful child!" Accordingly, he marries her to a wood-cutter, the first person he sees the next day. The heroine proves an excellent wife. Having discovered her husband's wood to be sandal-wood chips from a great tree in the forest, she induces him to cut the tree down, and he commences a lucrative trade with the wood. It then occurs to her that it was the practice of some men to bury their wealth at the feet of such trees. She digs at the roots, and finds four great jars full of money. In a few years the wood-cutter and his wife become wealthy; they erect a stately palace, and give a grand feast to the people of the neighbouring villages. Some of the guests chance to mention that the once opulent Badshaw had been reduced to poverty, and compelled to do menial work for his livelihood. At this news the lady is penetrated with sorrow. She orders the excavation of a large tank, such as is common in Hindoo villages, and causes only such persons as are really in want and without food to be employed. Among these the Badshaw becomes a hired labourer. He is so changed as to be recognized by no one; but the manager of the works, seeing that he
- ↑ Vernieux, The Hermit of Motee Jhurna, or Pearl-spring (Calcutta, 1873), p. 103. I am indebted to Mr. W. A. Clouston for an abstract of this tale, as well as for other kind assistance and sympathy, which I desire most gratefully to acknowledge.
