The Three-Breasted Princess

Then the gold-finder continued: “Bid me farewell. I desire to go home. You may stay here and taste the fruit of the tree of your waywardness.

“Oh,” said the wheel-bearer, “that is uncalled for. Good or evil comes by fate’s decree to men well-behaved or wayward. As the old verse puts it:

Blind man, hunchback, and unblest Princess with an extra breast - Waywardness is prudence, when Fortune favors wayward men.

“How was that?” asked the gold-finder. And the wheel-bearer told the story of

THE THREE-BREASTED PRINCESS

In the north country was a city called Honey-Town, where the king was named Honey-Host. And once there was born to him a daughter with three breasts. As soon as he learned of the birth of a three-breasted girl, he summoned the chamberlain and said: “Sir, let this girl be exposed in the forest, so that not a single soul may learn the fact.

To this the chamberlain replied: “O king of kings, it is a well-known fact that a three-breasted daughter brings misfortune. In spite of this, the Brahmans should be summoned and their opinion asked, in order that no law be offended, whether human or divine. For the proverb says:

A prudent man should always ask

What is beyond his ken: A dreadful fiend the Brahman caught,

But let him go again.

“How was that?” asked the king. And the chamberlain told the story of

THE FIEND WHO WASHED HIS FEET

In a certain forest lived a fiend named Cruel. One day he met a Brahman in his wanderings, climbed on his shoulder, and said: “Now go ahead.

So the terrified Brahman started off with him.

But on observing that the fiend’s feet were soft as a lotus-heart, he asked him: “Sir, why are your feet so tender?

And the fiend replied: “I am under a vow never to touch the ground with my feet until I have washed them.” Soon the Brahman, while meditating a plan of escape, came to a lake. Here the fiend said: “Sir, do not stir from this spot until I come forth from the lake after bathing and worshiping the god.

Thereupon the Brahman thought: “He will be sure to eat me after his worship. I will hurry away. For he will not follow me with unwashen feet.

And when he did so, the fiend, not daring to break his vow, did not follow.

“And that is why I say:

A prudent man should always ask, …

and the rest of it.

After listening to this, the king summoned the Brahmans and said: “Brahmans, a three-breasted daughter has been born to me. Are any remedial measures to be taken, or not?” And they replied: “O King, listen.

A daughter fitted out with limbs

Too numerous or few. Will lose her character, and will

Destroy her husband, too.

But if the father sees a girl With triple breast about.

She dooms him to a speedy death Without a shade of doubt.

“Therefore, O King, shun the sight of her. Give her to anyone who will marry her, but banish him from the country. If this is done, there is no offense to laws human or divine.

When the king had listened to this opinion, he ordered a proclamation to be made everywhere with beat of drum, as follows: “Hear ye! There is a three-breasted princess. To anyone who marries her the king will give a hundred thousand gold-pieces, but will exile him.” For a long time this proclamation was made without anyone marrying the princess, who remained in seclusion and grew to young womanhood.

Now there was a blind man in the city, and as companion he had a hunchback named Slow, who guided him with a staff. These two heard the drum and consulted, saying: “In case we touch that drum, we get girl and gold. With the gold our life will be happy. And even if death results from the girl’s deformity, it will put a final end to the wretchedness of poverty. For

Until a mortal’s belly-pot Is full, he does not care a jot For love or music, wit or shame. For body’s care or scholar’s name. For virtue or for social charm. For lightness or release from harm. For godlike wisdom, youthful beauty. For purity or anxious duty.

Not finding a knife, he went up to Slow in the old way, wrathfully seized him by the feet, whirled him about his head with every bit of strength he could muster, and dashed him against the chest of the three-breasted woman. And the blow from the hunchback’s body forced the third breast in, while the hunchback, when his hump smashed against her bosom, became straight.

“And that is why I say:

Blind man, hunchback, … and the rest of it.