The Sea Gulls of Oiso Bay - Part Two

From his room in the inn Takadai Jiro tried to see Kinu. However in the daytime O Kino was out in the sea with her father. She generally returned in the dusk of the evening and in the dim light of the evening and subsequent night, Takadai Jiro could not see her clearly. 

Once Takadai Jiro tried to speak to O Kino but she had nothing to say to him. She just continued helping her father to carry the net and the fish to their cottage. 

At last Takadai decided that he had to do something about it. He called his most confidential servant and sent the servant to O Kino’s hut with a letter.

O Kino read the letter but she did not write a letter in reply to it. She asked the servant to tell Takadai Jiro that she was very grateful for the letter and his proposal of marriage. But she said that no good would come out of a union between someone who was of high birth and a diving girl. And that it would make them a badly matched couple and they would never make a happy home.

Takadai Jiro was shocked when he heard the words of O Kino. 

After some time Takadai Jiro thought that O Kino San had refused his proposal out of coyness and decided to wait for a day or two, so that O Kino may reconsider. 

Takadai Jiro stayed in his room for the next three days believing that O Kino was also pining for him. 

On the fourth day, he wrote another letter to O Kino full of love and sent it through his servant and waited for a reply.

Adapted from Japanese Folk-lore

The Sea Gulls of Oiso Bay - Part One

Oiso Bay was a celebrated place in a kingdom. A knight whose name was Takadai Jiro came to this place. 

Takadai Jiro had become ill in the town of Kamakura and he had been advised to rest in the Oiso bay.

After getting permission, Takadai Jiro came to an inn and settled in a room which faced the sea.

Takadai Jiro enjoyed himself by looking at the sea day and night.

Takadai was a good swimmer and once after he had rested well, he plunged into the sea. 

However, at that time, Takadai was seized with a violent cramp, and he began to sink in the waters. 

At that time a fishing boat with a man and a diving girl happened to see him. 

They tried to rescue him and by this time, Takadai had sunk for the third time. 

The diving girl was O Kinu, and she was the diving girl. She jumped overboard and swam to the spot where Takadai had disappeared.  She dived deep and brought him to the surface and held him there until the boat came up. 

She and her father, who had been on the boat, brought Takadai on the boat. 

Subconsciously, Takadai realized that the soft arm that clung around his neck was that of a woman.  

He was conscious by the time they had reached shore. 

Once on land, Takadai saw the beautiful diving girl who was not more than seventeen years of age. 

Having seen her, Takadai was in love. 

Determined to repay the kindness of the diving girl, Takadai helped to haul the boat back and he carried their fish and nets to their thatched little cottage. 

He thanked O Kinu for the noble and gallant act of saving him and congratulated her father for having such a brave daughter. After that, he returned to his inn, which was a few hundred yards away.  

From that day Takadai knew no peace. There was no sleep for him and he saw nothing other than the beautiful face of O Kinu.

Adapted from Japanese Folk-lore

The Two Friends and the Golden Vase - Part Two

The man decided to go back to his home.

On the way out, he turned and looked at his friend. “Your children must get bored to be around your home all the time. My home is fresh green and warm with plenty of grass for the cattle and fruits in abundance.  Why don't you send your two sons with me for some time?” 

His friend agreed that it would be a nice trip for his children and he asked them to accompany the other man as he was going home. 

On the way to his home with the two sons, the man bought two monkeys and took them with him. 

The man taught the monkey tricks and even taught them to dance when he sang. The man named the two monkeys after the sons of his friend. The man taught the two monkeys to come when called by their name. 

A month later the other man said that he was coming to bring his sons back.

When he came to the place, he found his friend crying and looking very sick.

“Why? What is the matter?” 

“I do not have the guts to tell you.” The other man said, still sobbing. 

His friend was worried. “Please tell me what is wrong.” 

“Do you know those two boys of yours? They came to my home and suddenly changed into monkeys.” 

At first the father was sure that the other man was pulling his leg. But then the other man called the two monkeys which answered the names of the two boys.  

The man looked around the friend's house and realized that his sons were nowhere to be seen. That was because he did not know that his friend had taken the two boys to a cave in the morning and asked them to stay there for some time. 

The wicked man realized that he had done wrong to a man who is smarter than him and admitted that he had lied about the golden vase. 

So the two men decided to undo what had been done. 

 

The man brought the two sons of the man back from the cave and in return the other man sold the golden vase and gave half of the proceeds to the other man.

Adapted from Tibetan Folk Tales

The Two Friends and the Golden Vase - Part One

Two friends decided to go walking around the top of the mountain. Not many people had come to this place and the place had been untouched by humans for a long time. 

At the top of the mountain, the two friends found a golden vase. Out of the two friends, one of them wanted to take the golden vase and share the proceeds after selling the vase equally between the two of them. The other wanted to cheat the friend with him and take the golden vase for himself. 

So the wicked man looked around the golden vase and nodded at his friend. “I do not think this is made of real gold.  It is only an illusion. I am sure that if we take it, it will vanish. We should probably leave it here.” 

However the friend was not convinced that that was the right thing to do.

Finally, the two friends agreed to take the vase with them.

On getting down from the mountain they first reached the house of the wicked man who wanted to keep the vase for himself.

“The vase is heavy.” The wicked man told his friend. “I think you should leave it here for sometime. Go home now and when you return, we will be able to sell the vase, divide the money between us and use the money as we please.”

The friend agreed to this and returned to his home.

The friend came back to the wicked man's home after four days and he was shocked to see the wicked man looking distressed and devastated. “What happened?” 

The wicked man sighed and shook his head as words failed him. Finally, the friend managed to calm the wicked man and ask him the reason for his misery.  The wicked man sobbed out his story. “The golden vase which we found turned out to be made of pewter. I checked it with the people here and they told me this.”

The friend shook his head and easily overcame his unhappiness. “That does not matter. We did not pay anything for it, so we have lost nothing.” 

The wicked man was happy that his friend had bought his lie so easily and stopped himself from gleefully smiling at his friend.

Adapted from Tibetan Folk Tales

The Story of Pataliputra - Part Four

Putraka put on his shoes that night and flew into the palace of the princess. As he entered the bedroom of the princess, he was stunned to see the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen in his life. 

He was gazing at her and that was when she woke up because of an alien sound in her room. 

The princess was equally stunned to see Putraka in her room.

It was love at first sight for both of them.

King Putraka and Patali married in the Gandharva form of marriage, which required only the consent of the couple.  

After this, every night the king would come to see the princess and move away back to the old woman's house in the morning. 

One of the servants of the palace noticed something odd in the princess room at night.

Then, after hearing this, the king of Akarshika appointed a woman to keep a watch on the room of the princess. 

The woman immediately found out about Putraka’s visit to the princess’s room. 

When Putraka was asleep in Patali's room the lady smeared Putraka’s clothes with a red colour so that she could recognise him.

In the morning she told the king what she had done. 

The king then sent out spies to find the man whom the lady spy had marked. 

They found Putraka in the house of the old woman.

Seeing that he had been discovered. Putraka wore his shoes and flew in the direction of Patali's palace. After reaching her room, Putraka picked up Patali and flew away from the place. 

After that they came to the bank of the River Ganga and he provided his beloved wife with the food from the magic vessel. 

After that, with the request of Patali, Putraka sketched out a city with his staff . Putraka established himself as the king of the city. This city was called Pataliputra and it became the home of wealth and learning.

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara

The Story of Pataliputra - Part Three

As Putraka wondered about the forests of Vindhya, he found two men having a wrestling match. The two men seemed very angry with each other. 

Putraka stopped the two men and asked them why they were fighting. 

One of them replied, “We are the sons of Asura Maya. Maya’s wealth belongs to the two of us. This vessel, the stick and these shoes belonged to our father, and now they belong to us. We are fighting to see who among us is more worthy to take them.”

Putraka smiled. “What is so special about the vessel, the stick and the shoes?”

The other son of Asura Maya replied, “If you put these shoes on, you can fly through the air.  Whatever is written with this staff will turn out to be true. And you can find any food that you want in this vessel.” 

Putraka thought for a few seconds.

“Why do you have to fight for this?” He studied the two men. “Organize a competition like this. Whoever runs the fastest among the two of you shall get the three gifts.” 

The simple-minded sons of Asura Maya agreed to this. 

They started the race and ran from there. 

At the time Putraka put on the shoes flew up in the air, taking the staff and vessel with him. 

He flew on and at that time he came to the city of Akarshika.

There was an old woman who lived in the outskirts of the city of Akarshika. 

Putraka decided to stay in the woman’s house. As Putraka did not interfere with the old woman’s life, she had no issues with it.

It was through the old woman that Putraka learnt about the princess of Akarshika. Her name was Patali and she was the daughter of the king of the place. 

Putraka heard the description of Patali from the old woman and he decided that he had to see this ravishing beauty for himself.

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara

The Story of Pataliputra - Part Two

The three women had the same dream where Lord Shiva told them about their son.

The three women were thrilled to find gold coins under the pillow of Putraka every morning and realized that Lord Shiva had indeed blessed them and their son.

After that, the entire family lived luxuriously.

The three women gave away a lot of the wealth in charity.

It so happened that Putraka became a great king because of the fortune that he had accumulated in his short life. 

Yagnadatta told Putraka about his father and uncles who had gone away to the world on account of a famine.

Yagnadatta asked Putraka to give more alms so that Putraka's father and uncles would hear of this and they would come back. In connection with this, Yagnadatta told Putraka the story of Brahmadatta.

In the Kingdom of Baneras, King Brahmadatta saw a pair of swans flying in the night sky. The two swans were golden in colour and seemed like a flash of lightning surrounded by the other dull white swans.  

King Brahmadatta had a beautiful tank in his garden so that the golden swans could come and rest there. There the king could see the swans for however, long he wished after 

The swans eventually came to the tank. 

When the king went to the tank, the swans told the king that they told the King that in their previous birth, they had been fighting over the offering in the temple of Lord Shiva. The birds further told the king that alms had been offered in the temple of Lord Shiva. The two birds had been fighting over it and had fallen dead there. That was the reason they were born as golden swans. 

After having told this story to Putraka, Yagnadatta told Putraka to give away alms so that Putraka’s father and uncles would come back.  

Wonders of wonders, Putraka’s father and the uncles did come back.

On seeing the wealth of Putraka, the three wicked men decided to do away with the king and take over the entire kingdom. 

The three men decided to murder Putraka. They asked Putraka to go to the temple of Goddess Durga.  There the three men employed an assassin who would kill Putraka. 

However, Putraka saw the assassins and talked them out of this plan. He even got the assassins to tell him whom they were working for.

Putraca offered the assassins more money and even gave the assassins his priceless jeweled ornament in return for sparing his life. 

Putraka told the assassins to lie to the three men that they had done away with the king, because Putraka was disgusted with his father and uncles and he did not plan on returning to this kingdom after this. 

The assassin agreed to this and they went away. 

However, after this incident, when Putraka’s father and uncles decided to take over the throne, Putraka’s father and uncles were killed as traitors by the ministers of King Putraka.

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara