The Leopard and the Princess

THE LEOPARD AND THE PRINCESS In a certain country there are seven Princes, it is said. Younger than all seven there is their younger sister. For the seven…

THE LEOPARD AND THE PRINCESS

In a certain country there are seven Princes, it is said. Younger than all seven there is their younger sister. For the seven Princes seven Princesses have been brought; a Prince having been brought for the younger sister, is settled there.

While they are thus, the younger sister has pregnancy longings (doladuk). One day, while the younger sister and her elder brothers were going to their houses, having seen the whole seven Princesses eating Damba [fruits] the younger sister also stayed there to eat them, and asked at the hand of the eldest sister-in-law, "Sister-in-law, a Damba fruit for me also."

Then the sister-in-law said, "There will not be Damba here to give."

She asked at the hand of the next sister-in-law. That sister-in-law also replied in the same way. Thus, in that manner having asked at the hand of the whole seven, not even one person gave it.

Afterwards, the younger sister having cooked and eaten, went alone to pluck Damba, and having ascended the Damba tree, while she was eating Damba it became night.

A Leopard having come near the Damba tree [said], "[How] if you should throw down a Damba branch with your golden little hand?"

After that, the Princess threw down a Damba branch. The Leopard having eaten [the fruit on] it, said again, "[How] if you should throw down a Damba branch with your golden little hand?"

Again she threw one down. Then the Leopard said, "Holding fast, fast, [how] if you should slowly slowly descend?"

Then through fear the Princess is there without descending.

The Leopard another time said, "Holding fast, fast, [how] if you should slowly slowly descend?"

The Princess descended. Then the Leopard, placing the Princess on his back, went to his rock cave. While living in that manner the Princess bore a child. The Leopard and Princess stayed there very trustfully. The Leopard had much goods. The paddy store-rooms had been filled, the millet store-rooms had been filled, the meneri store-rooms had been filled, there are many cattle.

When they had been living there many days, the Leopard said, "I am about to go on a journey to-morrow; I shall be unable to return for two or three days. You, shutting the rock cave, must be [here]. Until the time when I come do not go outside." On the following day the Leopard went away.

Well then, while the Princess was alone in the rock cave, the elder brothers of the Princess having come hunting, a great rain rained. The Princes having been [sheltering] near a tree, when they were walking along in the rain they met with the rock cave, and saw also their younger sister.

"What art thou here for? We sought and sought so much time, and could not find thee. Here thou art! What was the manner in which thou camest here?" they asked at the hand of their younger sister.

Then the younger sister said, "I asked for Damba at the hand of sisters-in-law. The whole seven did not give it. On account of that I came to eat Damba, and while I was alone in the Damba tree the Leopard came.

"Afterwards he told me to throw down a Damba branch; I threw down two Damba branches. Saying and saying [it was only] until the time when the Leopard was going, I stayed in the tree.

"While I was there it became night. Then the Leopard told me to descend. I stayed [there] without descending. The Leopard told me twice to descend. Afterwards I descended. The Leopard, putting me on his back, came here. From that day I am living here."

Then the Princes asked, "Where is the Leopard?"

The Princess said, "This morning he went somewhere or other; he said he will not come for a day or two."

After that, the Princes said, "No matter for that one; let us go away home. We will take the things that are here."

The Princess said, "I will not." What of her saying, "I will not!" The Princes, having taken all the [household] things that were there, said to the Princess, "Let us go."

Afterwards the Princess through anger cut that child, and hung it aloft, near the hearth. She placed the small pot on the hearth, and taking a [piece of] muslin, all along the path tore and tore and threw down pieces, until the time when they went to the house. Having gone there, without eating she is crying and crying.

Then the Leopard came near the rock cave, and saw that the child having been cut had been hung up; and having seen, also, that the Princess was not there, came away.

Having come all along the path on which the muslin has been torn and thrown down, and having come up to the house [in a human form]; he saw that the Princess is there. While the Leopard is in the open space in front of the house, the Princess saw that the Leopard is [there]; and having come laughing, and given water to the Leopard to wash his face, and given sitting accommodation, and betel to eat, she is cooking in order to give the Leopard to eat.

Then the Princes placed an earthen pot of water on the hearth, to become heated. After it became heated, they cut a hole very deeply, and put sticks on it, and above that leaves, and above that earth; and having taken the pot of water and placed it there, they came near the Leopard, and said to the Leopard, "Let us go, brother-in-law, to bathe."

The Leopard said, "I cannot bathe, brother-in-law. As I was coming I bathed; I cannot bathe another time."

While the Leopard was saying he could not, having gone calling the Leopard they told him to place his feet at the place where those sticks and leaves and earth have been put; and having told him to bend, they poured that pot of boiling water on the Leopard's body. That one having fallen into the hole that was cut deep, died. Those seven Princes having thrown in earth and filled it up, came away and ate cooked rice.

That younger sister, having cooked and finished, seeks the Leopard. While she is seeking him the sisters-in-law say, "Sister-in-law, you eat that cooked rice. Elder brother is eating cooked rice here."

The Princess is [there] without eating. While she is there the sisters-in-law say again, "Sister-in-law, eat; elder brother is eating cooked rice here. He will not come there, having become angry that you have come [away]."

After that, the Princess came to look [for him]. Having looked at the whole seven houses without finding the Leopard, she went to the place where he bathed, and when she looked [saw that] earth was [newly] cut and placed there.

Having seen it, thinking, "Here indeed having murdered him, this earth has been cut and placed [over him]," she went into the house, and did not eat; and having been weeping and weeping, and been two or three days without food, the Princess died through very grief at the loss of the Leopard.

The eight Princes and the seven Princesses, taking the Leopard's goods and the Princess's goods, remained there.