The Unteachable Princes

Note: In Ryder’s original translation, this story appears as “Mouse-Maid Made Mouse”

MOUSE-MAID MADE MOUSE

The billows of the Ganges were dotted with pearly foam born of the leaping of fishes frightened at hear- ing the roar of the waters that broke on the rugged, rocky shore. On the bank was a hermitage crowded with holy men devoting their time to the performance of sacred rites - chanting, self-denial, self-torture, study, fasting, and sacrifice. They would take puri- fied water only, and that in measured sips. Their bodies wasted under a diet of bulbs, roots, fruits, and moss. A loin-cloth made of bark formed their scanty raiment.

The father of the hermitage was named Yajna- valkya. After he had bathed in the sacred stream and had begun to rinse his mouth, a little female mouse dropped from a hawk’s beak and fell into his hand. When he saw what she was, he laid her on a banyan leaf, repeated his bath and mouth-rinsing, and per- formed a ceremony of purification. Then through the

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magic power of his holiness, he changed her into a girl, and took her with him to his hermitage.

As his wife was childless, he said to her: “Take her, my dear wife. She has come into life as your daughter, and you must rear her carefully.” So the wife reared her and spoiled her with petting. As soon as the girl reached the age of twelve, the mother saw that she was ready for marriage, and said to her husband: “My dear husband, how can you fail to see that the time is passing when your daughter should marry?”

And he replied: “You are quite right, my dear. The saying goes:

Before a man is gratified. These gods must treat her as a bride - The fire, the moon, the choir of heaven; In this way, no offense is given.

Holiness is the gift of fire; A sweet voice, of the heavenly choir; The moon gives purity within: So is a woman free from sin.

Before nubility, ‘tis said That she is white; but after, red; Before her womanhood is plain. She is, though naked, free from stain.

The moon, in mystic fashion, weds A maiden when her beauty spreads; The heavenly choir, when bosoms grow; The fire, upon the monthly flow.

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To wed a maid is therefore good Before developed womanhood; Nor need the loving parents wait Beyond the early age of eight.

The early signs one kinsman slay; The bosom takes the next away; Friends die for passion gratified; The father, if she ne’er be bride.

For if she bides a maiden still. She gives herself to whom she will; Then marry her in tender age: So warns the heaven-begotten sage.

If she, unwed, unpurified. Too long within the home abide. She may no longer married be: A miserable spinster, she.

A father then, avoiding sin, Weds her, the appointed time within (Where’er a husband may be had) To good, indifferent, or bad.

Now I will try to give her to one of her own station. You know the saying:

Where wealth is very much the same.

And similar the family fame, Marriage (or friendship) is secure; But not between the rich and poor.

And finally:

Aim at seven things in marriage; All the rest you may disparage:

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“But

Get money, good looks. And knowledge of books, Good family, youth. Position, and truth.

“So, if she is willing, I will summon the blessM sun, and give her to him.” “I see no harm in that,” said his wife. “Let it be done.”

The holy man therefore summoned the sun, who appeared without delay, and said: “Holy sir, why am I summoned?” The father said: “Here is a daughter of mine. Be kind enough to marry her.” Then, turning to his daughter, he said: “Little girl, how do you like him, this blessed lamp of the three worlds?” “No, father,” said the girl, “He is too burning hot. I could not like him. Please summon another one, more excellent than he is.”

Upon hearing this, the holy man said to the sun: “BlessM one, is there any superior to you?” And the sun replied: “Yes, the cloud is superior even to me. When he covers me, I disappear.”

So the holy man summoned the cloud next, and said to the maiden: “Little girl, I will give you to him.” “No,” said she. “This one is black and frigid. Give me to someone finer than he.”

Then the holy man asked: “O cloud, is there any- one superior to you ?” And the cloud replied: “The wind is superior even to me.”

So he summoned the wind, and said: “Little girl.

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I give you to him.” “Father,” said she, “this one is too fidgety. Please invite somebody superior even to him.” So the holy man said: “O wind, is there any- one superior even to you ?” “Yes,” said the wind. “The mountain is superior to me.”

So he summoned the mountain and said to the maiden: “Little girl, I give you to him.” “Oh, father,” said she. “He is rough all over, and stiff. Please give me to somebody else.”

So the holy man asked: “O kingly mountain, is there anyone superior even to you ?” “Yes,” said the mountain. “Mice are superior to me.”

Then the holy man summoned a mouse, and pre- sented him to the girl, saying: “Little girl, do you like this mouse?”

The moment she saw him, she felt: “My own kind, my own kind,” and her body thrilled and quiv- ered, and she said: “Father dear, turn me into a mouse, and give me to him. Then I can keep house as my kind of people ought to do.”

And her father, through the magic power of his holiness, turned her into a mouse, and gave her to him.

“And that is why I say:

Though mountain, sun, and cloud, and wind, …

and the rest of it.”

But they paid no heed to Red-Eye’s reasoning, and took the crow to their fortress, to the destruction

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of their race. And on the journey Livs’Strong laughed in his heart and said:

The secrets of diplomacy

To him alone were plain Who, instant in his master’s causd.

Advised that I be slain.

“Now if they were to take his advice, not even the slightest misfortune would befall them.”

When they came to the fortress gate, Foe-Crusher said: “Come, my friends! Give this Live-Strong whatever chamber he prefers - for he wishes us well.”

And Live-Strong, hearing this, reflected: “I must now devise a plan for their destruction. This is not possible if I live in their midst. For they would ob- serve motions betraying my purpose, and would keep their eyes open. Only by remaining near the gate can I accomplish my desire.”

He therefore said to the owl-king: “O King, what the king has said, is eminently right. Yet I, too, am a student of diplomacy and a well-wisher. I know that even one who is loyal and pure in purpose should not dwell in the heart of a fortress. I will therefore take my place here at the fortress gate and pay daily homage, my body sanctified by the dust from your lotus feet.”

To this the owl-king agreed, and his efficient caterers daily gave Live-Strong, by special command of the king, the pick of the viands. So that in a very few days he grew strong as a peacock.

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But Red-Eye, seeing how Live-Strong was being pampered, was amazed, and he said to the counselors and to the king himself : “Dear me! These counselors are a pack of fools, and you, too, sir. I cannot think otherwise. Then there is the saying:

I played the fool at first; then he

Who had me on his tether; And then the king and counselor -

We all were fools together.”

“How was that?” they asked. And Red-Eye told the story of