Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / EP 328: Panchatantra- ch25 The Monk ch26 The Girl ch27 Poor Blossom (Ryder)

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EP 328: Panchatantra- ch25 The Monk ch26 The Girl ch27 Poor Blossom (Ryder) · Sandman Stories Presents

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Welcome back, listeners to Sam Man's Stories Presents, a
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folklore podcast where I read you to sleep or until the next
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story. I'm your host Dustin, and if you
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want more Sandman that's too spicy for the main feed, go over
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to Patreon. Check me out.
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You can even do it for free. Today we are back in the first
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book of the Pancha Tantra called The Loss of Friends.
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In the previous chapter, we read about the Jackal that helped a
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poor man become a king. In this chapter we learn a bit
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about a king who is hoodwinked by a charlatan and it all
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relates back to Rusty and Victor in Cheek and Lively.
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OK, let's continue Chapter 25. The monk who left his body
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behind In the Koshala country is a city called Unassailable.
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In it ruled a king named Fine Chariot, over whose footstool
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rippled rays of light from the diadems of uncounted vassal
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Princess. One day a forest Ranger came
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with this report. Master, all the forest kings
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have become turbulent, and in their midst is a forest chief
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called Vindyaka. It is the King's job to teach
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him modest manners. On hearing this report, the king
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summoned Counselor Strong and dispatched him with orders to
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chastise the forest chieftains. Now, in the absence of the
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counselor, a naked monk arrived in the city at the end of the
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hot season. He was a master of star reading,
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like problems and etymologies, Zodiac signs, augury, eclipses
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and the subdivisions of signs. Also stellar mansions divided
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into 9 parts, 12 parts, 30 parts, the shadow of the gnomon,
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supernovas and numerous other mysteries.
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With these arts, the follow won over in the entire population in
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a few days, as if he had bought and paid for them.
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Finally, as the matter went from mouth to mouth, the king heard a
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report of its character, and had the curiosity to summon the monk
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to his palace. There he offered him a seat and
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asked, Is it true, professor, as they say that you can read the
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thoughts of others that will be shown in the sequel, replied the
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monk, and by discourses adopted to the occasion, he brought the
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poor king to the extreme pitch of curiosity.
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One day he failed to appear at the regular hour, but the
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following day, on entering the palace, he announced, O King, I
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bring you the best of good tidings at dawn.
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Today I've flung this body aside within my cell, assuming a body
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fit for the world of the gods, and inspired with the knowledge
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that all the immortals thought of me with longing, I went to
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heaven and have just returned. While there I was requested by
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the gods to inquire in their name after the King's welfare.
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When he heard this, the king said, his extreme curiosity
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beginning a feeling of amazement.
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What, professor? You go to heaven, O mighty king,
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replied the fellow. I go to heaven every day.
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The king believed it, the poor dullard.
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Then he grew negligent of all the royal business and all the
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duties toward the ladies, concentrating his attention on
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the monk. While matters were in this
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state, Strong entered the King's presence.
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After settling all disturbances in the forest domain, he found
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the master wholly indifferent to every one of his counsellors.
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Withdrawn in private conference with that naked monk, discussing
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what seemed to be some miraculous occurrence, his Lotus
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face so blossom. On learning the facts, Strong
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bowed low and said, Victory, O King, may the gods give you wit.
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Thereupon the king inquired concerning the counselor's
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health, and said, Sir, do you know this professor?
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To which the counselor replied, How could there be any acreage
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of one who is Lord and creator of a whole school of professors?
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Moreover, I've heard that this professor goes to heaven.
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Is it a fact? Everything that you have heard
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answered, the king, is beyond the shadow of doubt.
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Thereupon the monk said, If this counsellor feels any curiosity,
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he may see for himself. With this he entered the cell,
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barred the door from within, and waited there.
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After the lapse of a mere moment, the counsellor spoke, O
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king, he said, How soon will he return?
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And the king replied, Why this impatience?
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You must know that he leaves his lifeless body within this cell,
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and returns with another a heavenly body.
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If this is indeed the case, said Strong, then bring me a great
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quantity of firewood, so thy might set fire to a cell.
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For what purpose? Asked the king, And the
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counselor continued, So that when this lifeless body has been
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burned, the gentleman may stand before the king and that other
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body which visits heaven. In this connection I will tell
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you the story of The Girl who married a snake.
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Chapter 26. The Girl who Married a Snake in
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Palace City lived a Brahman named Godly, whose childless
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wife cried bitterly when she saw the neighbors youngsters.
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But one day the Brahman said, Forget your sorrow, mother dear,
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see, when I was offering the sacrifice for birth of children,
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an invisible being said to me in the clearest words, Brahman, you
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shall have a son surpassing all mankind in beauty, character and
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charm. When she heard this, the wife
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felt her heart swell with supreme delight.
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I only hope his promises come true, she said.
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Presently she conceived, and in course of time gave birth to a
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snake. When she saw him she paid no
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attention to her companions, who all advised her to throw him
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away. Instead she took him and bathed
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him and laid him with motherly tenderness and a large clean
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box, and pampered him with milk, fresh butter, and other good
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things, so that before many days had passed he grew into
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maturity. But one day the Brahman's wife
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was watching a marriage festival of a neighbor's son, and the
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tears streamed down her face, and she said to her husband, I
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know that you despise me because you do nothing about a marriage
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festival for my boy, my Good Wife, He answered, Am I to go to
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the depths of the underworld and beseech Vasuki the Serpent King?
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Who else, you foolish woman, would give his own daughter to
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the snake? But when he had spoken, he was
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disturbed at seeing the utter woe in his wife's countenance.
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He therefore packed provisions for a long journey and took
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foreign travel out of love for his wife.
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In the course of some months he arrived at a spot called Coto
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City in a distant land. There in the House of a kinsman
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whom he could visit with pleasure, since they both
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respected each other's character.
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He was hospitably received, was given a bath, food and the like,
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and there he spent the night. Now at dawn, when he paid his
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respects to his Brahman host and he made ready to depart, the
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other asked him, what was your purpose in coming here, and
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where will you go after this? To this he replied, I've come in
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search of a fit wife for my son. In that case, said his host, I
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have a very beautiful daughter, and my own person is yours to
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command. Pray take her for your son.
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So the Brahman took the girl with her attendance and returned
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to his place. But when the people of the
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country beheld her incomparable opulence of beauty, her supreme
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loveliness and superhuman graces, not to mention her
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intellect, their eyes popped out with pleasure.
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And they said to her attendants, How can right thinking persons
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bestow such a Pearl of a girl upon a snake?
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On hearing this, all her elderly relatives, without exception
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were troubled at heart, and they said Let her be taken from this
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impridden creature. But the girl said no more of
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this mockery. Remember the text, do once, once
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only these three things once spoken stands the word of kings
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speech of Saints has no miscarriage.
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A maid is given once in marriage, and again all fated
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happenings derived from any former state must changeless
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stand. The very gods endure poor
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Blossoms fate. Whereupon they all asked in
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chorus, who was this blossom person, and the girl told the
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story of poor blossom. Chapter 27 Poor Blossom God
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Indra once had a parrot named Blossom.
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He enjoyed supreme beauty, loveliness, and various graces,
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while his intelligence was not blunted by his extensive
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scientific attainments. One day he was resting on the
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palm of great and dear's hand, his body thrilled with the
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delight at that contact, and was reciting a variety of
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authoritative formulas, when he caught sight of Yama, the Lord
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of Death, who had come to pay his respect, at the same time
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appointed seeing the God. The parrot edged away, and all
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the thronging immortals asked him, Why did you move away, Sir,
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upon beholding that personage? But, said the parrot, he brings
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harm to all living creatures, why not move away from him?
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Upon hearing this, they all desired to calm his fears.
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So said to Yama, As a favour to us, you must please not kill
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this parrot. And Yama replied, I do not know
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about that. It is Time who determines these
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matters. They therefore took Blossom with
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them and paid a visit to Time and made the same request.
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To which Time replied, It is Death who is posted in these
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affairs, Pray speak to him. But when they did so, the parrot
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died at the mere sight of death, and they were all distressed at
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seeing the occurrence. So that they say to Yama, What
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does this mean? And Yama said it was simply
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fated that he should die at the mere sight of death.
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With this reply they went back to heaven.
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And that is why I say all fated happenings and the rest of it.
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Furthermore, I do not wish my father reports for this double
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dealing on the part of his daughter.
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When she had said this, she married the snake with the
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permission of her companions, and at once devoted attendance
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upon him by offering milk to drink and performing other
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services. One night the serpent issued
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from the generous chest which had been set before him in a
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chamber, and enter her bed. Who is this?
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She cried. He has the form of a man, and
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thinking him a strange man, she started up trembling in every
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limb, unlocked the door, and was about to dart away when she
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heard him say, Stay, my dear wife, I'm your husband.
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Then in order to convince her, he re entered the body which he
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had left behind in the chest, issued from it again, and came
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to her. When she beheld him flashing
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with a lofty diadem, with earrings, bracelets, arm bands
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and rings, she fell at his feet, and they sank into a glad
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embrace. Now his father, the Brahman,
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rose batimes and discovered how matters stood.
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He therefore seized the serpent's skin that lay in the
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chest and consumed it with fire. For he thought, I do not want
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him to enter that again. And in the morning he and his
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wife, with the greatest possible joy, introduced to everybody as
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their own an extraordinarily handsome son, quite wrapped up
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in his love affair. After Strong had related this
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parallel case to the king, he set fire to the cell that
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contained the naked monk. And that is why I say the
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counsellor whose name was Strong, and the rest of it poor
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fool. Such men are true counsellors,
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not creatures like you who make a living by a mere pretense of
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administrative competence. Though quite ignorant of the
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ways of statecraft, your evil conduct demonstrates an
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inherited lack of executive capacity.
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Surely your father before you was the same kind of person for
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the character of sons the father ever reflects who from a
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scrupine tree, an embolic fruit, expects.
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While men in the learning and native dignity and inner
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weakness is not detected even within the lapse of time, it
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remains hidden unless their own accord.
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They cast dignity aside and display what is vulnerable for
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the mines. For did not the silly Peacock
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wheel and giddy dance at Thunder's peel?
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What peering effort could reveal his nakedness?
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Since then you are a villain, good advice is thrown away upon
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you. As the saying goes, no knife
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prevails against a stone, nor bends at the unbending tree.
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No good advice from Needle face helped into solid he.
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How was that asked? Victor and Teak told the story
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of the unteachable monkey. To be continued.