The Language of Animals
folktales of Aarne-Thompson type 670
about wife beating
selected and edited by
D. L. Ashliman
© 1999
folktales of Aarne-Thompson type 670
about wife beating
selected and edited by
D. L. Ashliman
© 1999
Return to Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts.
Once upon a time when a king named Senaka was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was Sakka. The king Senaka was friendly with a certain naga king. This naga king, they say, left the naga world and ranged the earth seeking food. The village boys seeing him said, "This is a snake," and struck him with clods and other things.
The king, going to amuse himself in his garden, saw them, and being told they were beating a snake, said, "Don't let them beat him. Drive them away." And this was done.
So the naga king got his life, and when he went back to the naga world. He took many jewels, and coming at midnight to the king's bedchamber he gave them to him, saying, "I got my life through you." So he made friendship with the king and came again and again to see him. He appointed one of his naga girls, insatiate in pleasures, to be near the king and protect him, and he gave the king a charm, saying, "If ever you do not see her, repeat this charm."
One day the king went to the garden with the naga girl and was amusing himself in the lotus tank. The naga girl seeing a water snake quitted her human shape and made love with him. The king not seeing the girl said, "Where is she gone?" and repeated the spell. Then he saw her in her misconduct and struck her with a piece of bamboo.
She went in anger to the naga world, and when she was asked, "Why are you come?" she said, "Your friend struck me on the back because I did not do his bidding," showing the mark of the blow.
The naga king, not knowing the truth, called four naga youths and sent them with orders to enter Senaka's bedchamber and destroy him like chaff by the breath of their nostrils. They entered the chamber at the royal bedtime.
As they came in, the king was saying to the queen, "Lady, do you know where the naga girl has gone?"
"King, I do not."
"Today when we were bathing in the tank, she quitted her shape and misconducted herself with a water snake. I said, 'Don't do that,' and struck her with a piece of bamboo to give her a lesson. And now I fear she may have gone to the naga world and told some lie to my friend, destroying his goodwill to me."
The young nagas hearing this turned back at once to the naga world and told their king. He being moved went instantly to the king's chamber, told him all and was forgiven. Then he said, "In this way I make amends," and gave the king a charm giving knowledge of all sounds. "This, O king, is a priceless spell. If you give anyone this spell you will at once enter the fire and die."
The king said, "It is well," and accepted it. From that time he understood the voice even of ants.
One day he was sitting on the dais eating solid food with honey and molasses, and a drop of honey, a drop of molasses, and a morsel of cake fell on the ground. An ant seeing this comes crying, "The king's honey jar is broken on the dais, his molasses cart and cake cart are upset. Come and eat honey and molasses and cake."
The king hearing the cry laughed. The queen being near him thought, "What has the king seen that he laughs?"
When the king had eaten his solid food and bathed and sat down cross-legged, a fly said to his wife, "Come, lady, let us enjoy love."
She said, "Excuse me for a little, husband. They will soon be bringing perfumes to the king. As he perfumes himself some powder will fall at his feet. I will stay there and become fragrant, then we will enjoy ourselves lying on the king's back."
The king hearing the voice laughed again. The queen thought again, "What has he seen that he laughs?"
Again when the king was eating his supper, a lump of rice fell on the ground. The ants cried, "A wagon of rice has broken in the king's palace, and there is none to eat it."
The king hearing this laughed again. The queen took a golden spoon and helping him reflected, "Is it at the sight of me that the king laughs?"
She went to the bedchamber with the king and at bedtime she asked, "Why did you laugh, O king?"
He said, "What have you to do with why I laugh?" But being asked again and again her told her.
Then she said, "Give me your spell of knowledge."
He said, "It cannot be given." But though repulsed she pressed him again.
The king said, "If I give you this spell, I shall die."
"Even though you die, give it me."
The king, being in the power of womankind, saying, "It is well," consented and went to the park in a chariot, saying, "I shall enter the fire after giving away this spell."
At that moment Sakka, king of gods, looked down on the earth and seeing this case said, "This foolish king, knowing that he will enter the fire through womankind, is on the way; I will give him his life." So he took Suja, daughter of the Asuras, and went to Benares. He became a he-goat and made her a she-goat, and resolving that the people should not see them, he stood before the king's chariot. The king and the Sindh asses yoked in the chariot saw him, but none else saw him. For the sake of starting talk he was as if making love with the she-goat.
One of the Sindh asses yoked in the chariot seeing him said, "Friend goat, we have heard before, but not seen, that goats are stupid and shameless. But you are doing, with all of us looking on, this thing that should be done in secret and in a private place, and are not ashamed. What we have heard before agrees with this that we see."
And so he spoke the first stanza:
"Goats are stupid," says the wise man, and the words are surely true:
This one knows not he's parading what in secret he should do.
The goat hearing him spoke two stanzas:
O, sir donkey, think and realize your own stupidity,
You're tied with ropes, your jaw is wrenched, and very downcast is your eye.When you're loosed, you don't escape, sir, that's a stupid habit too:
And that Senaka you carry, he's more stupid still than you.
The king understood the talk of both animals, and hearing it he quickly sent away the chariot. The ass hearing the goat's talk spoke the fourth stanza:
Well. sir king of goats, you fully know my great stupidity:
But how Senaka is stupid, prithee do explain to me.
The goat explaining this spoke the fifth stanza:
He who his own special treasure on his wife will throw away,
Cannot keep her faithful ever and his life he must betray.
The king hearing his words said, "King of goats, you will surely act for my advantage. Tell me now what is right for me to do."
Then the goat said, "King, to all animals no one is dearer than self. It is not good to destroy oneself and abandon the honor one has gained for the sake of anything that is dear." So he spoke the sixth stanza:
A king, like thee, may have conceived desire
And yet renounced it if his life's the cost.
Life is the chief thing. What can man seek higher?
If life's secured, desires need ne'er be crossed.
So the Bodhisatta exhorted the king. The king, delighted, asked, "King of goats, whence come you?"
"I am Sakka, O king, come to save you from death out of pity for you."
"King of gods, I promised to give her the charm. What am I to do now?"
"There is no need for the ruin of both of you. You say, 'It is the way of the craft,' and have her beaten with some blows. By this means she will not get it."
The king said, "It is well," and agreed. The Bodhisatta after exhortation to the king went to Sakka's heaven. The king went to the garden, had the queen summoned and then said, "Lady, will you have the charm?"
"Yes, lord."
"Then go through the usual custom."
"What custom?"
"A hundred stripes on the back, but you must not make a sound."
She consented through greed for the charm. The king made his slaves take whips and beat her on both sides. She endured two or three stripes and then cried, "I don't want the charm."
The king said, "You would have killed me to get the charm," and so flogging the skin off her back he sent her away. After that she could not bear to talk of it again.
In a certain country a king was rearing wild animals. The king had learnt in a thorough manner the speech of animals.
One day at that time the fowls were saying, "Our king assists us very much; he gives us food and drink." They thanked the king very much. The king having heard their talk, the king laughed with pleasure.
The royal queen having been near, asked, "What did you laugh at?"
"I merely (nikan) laughed," the king said. Should he explain and give the talk to any person the king will die. Because of it he did not explain and give it. That the king knows the speech of animals he does not inform anyone.
The royal queen says, "There is no one who laughs in that way without a reason. Should you not say the reason I am going away, or having jumped into a well I shall die."
Thereupon the king, because he was unable to be released from [the importunity of] the queen, thought, "Even if I am to die I must explain and give this."
Thinking thus, he went to give food to the animals. Then it was evident to those animals that this king is going to die. Out of the party of animals first a cock says, "His majesty our king is going to be lost. We don't want the food. We shall not receive assistance. Unless his majesty the king perish thus we shall not perish. In submission to me there are many hens. When I have called them the hens come. When I have told them to eat they eat. When I have told them to go they go. The king, having become submissive in that manner to the thing that his wife has said, is going to die."
The king having heard it, laughed at it also.
Then, also, the royal queen asked, "What did you laugh at?"
Thereupon, not saying the [true] word, the king said, "Thinking of constructing a tank, I laughed."
Then the queen said, "Having caused the animals that are in this Lankawa (Ceylon) to be brought, let us build a tank."
Then the king having said, "It is good," caused the animals to be brought. The king having gone with the animals, showed them a place [in which] to build a tank; and telling them to build it came away.
The animals, at the king's command being unable to do anything, all together began to struggle on the mound of earth. Those which can take earth in the mouth take it in the mouth. All work in this manner. The jackal, not doing work, having bounded away remained looking on.
After three or four days, the king having gone [there] trickishly stayed looking on. The king saw that the other animals are all moving about as though working. The jackal, only, having bounded off is looking on.
Having seen it he asked the jackal, "The others are all working. Thou, only, art looking upward. Why?"
Thereupon the jackal said, "No, O lord, I looked into an account."
Then the king asked, "What account art thou looking at?"
The jackal says, "I looked whether in this country the female3s are in excess or the males are in excess."
The king asked, "By the account which thou knowest, are the females in excess or the males in excess?"
The jackal said, "So far as I can perceive, the females are in excess in this country."
Then the king said that men are in excess. Having said it the king said, "I myself having gone home and looked at the books, if males are in excess I shall give thee a good punishment."
The king having come home and looked at the books, it appeared that the males were in excess. Thereupon the king called the jackal, and said, "Bola, males are in excess."
Then the jackal says, "No, O lord, your majesty, they are not as many as the females. Having also put down to the female account the males who hearken to the things that females say, after they counted them the females would be in excess."
Then the jackal said, "Are the animals able to build tanks? How shall they carry the earth?"
Thereupon the king having considered it, and having said, "Wild animals, wild animals, you are to go to the midst of the forest," came home.
At that time, the queen asked, "Is the tank built and finished?"
Then the king, taking a cane, began to beat the queen. Thereupon the queen, having said, "Ané! O lord, your majesty, I will never again say anything, or even ask anything," began to cry aloud.
The king got to know that the jackal was a wise animal.
Western Province.
Once Allah endowed a wealthy husbandman with the ability to understand the language of every kind of beast and bird, commanding him, under pain of death, never to divulge this gift. Fearing for his life, the husbandman guarded the secret well.
One day while observing his animals, he heard a bull say to a donkey, "Lucky one, you enjoy the best of care, while I suffer all manner of ill treatment. I toil under the yoke by day, receive but a meager ration of beans and straw, and must lie at night in a filthy stall. You, by comparison, eat well and lie about at ease unless the master chooses to ride you into town, which happens seldom enough, and even then he returns with you straight-away."
"You fool," replied the donkey. "You could have an easier life, if you would only feign illness. When they next take you to your stall, fall to the ground, puff out your belly, and refuse to eat. This will surely bring a reprieve from your accustomed blows and toil."
The bull did as the donkey recommended and pretended to be sick. However, the master, who had overheard their conversation, responded by binding the wily donkey to the plow and forcing him to do the bull's work. The donkey, unaccustomed to such labor, suffered greatly under the yoke and the plowman's stick, while the bull enjoyed a day of rest. At day's end, the donkey, nearly dead from exertion and blows, came quickly to a new plan. "My friend," he said to the bull, "you have a bleak future if you do not soon recover your strength. I heard the master say that he intends to deliver you to the butcher, who will turn your flesh into meat for the poor and your hide into a leather mat." The husbandman heard this all.
The next morning the husbandman, accompanied by his wife, approached the bull in his stall. The beast gave a great show of health and vigor, whisking his tail, farting, and frisking lustily about. The master, greatly amused at the turn of events, broke into laughter.
"Why do you laugh?" asked his wife.
"I cannot tell you, lest I die." replied the man.
"So be it," answered the woman, "but I must know why you laughed." She continued to wheedle and to beg, until he, sensing that he could not forever resist her unrelenting pleas, resigned himself to his fate. He brought his affairs to order, then prepared to reveal his secret and to die.
Now the husbandman had some fifty hens, all serviced by one cock. The cock, lustily mounting one hen after the other, was interrupted by one of the farm dogs, who said, "For shame, that you thus satisfy your lust on this day that our master is to die."
The cock replied, "What sort of master do we have, who cannot manage a single wife? I control fifty hens."
"And what should the master do?" asked the dog.
"He should cut a branch from yonder mulberry tree then use it on her back and ribs until she repents. Then let him give her another beating for good measure, and henceforth he will sleep well and enjoy life."
The husbandman heard this conversation between the dog and the cock, and he took it to heart. He cut a branch from the mulberry tree and proceeded with it to his wife's room. Locking the door behind him, he announced that he was about to reveal his secret to her, but then began to beat her soundly about her back, shoulders, ribs, arms, and legs, all the while saying, "Are you ever again going to ask questions about matters that do not concern you?" Nearly senseless, she finally cried out, "I repent! With Allah as a witness, I will never again question you." She then kissed his hands and his feet, and he led her from the room as submissive as a wife should be. Her parents and other members of the family rejoiced at the turn of events.
Thus the husbandman learned family discipline from his cock, and he and his wife lived together the happiest of lives until they died.
There was once a merchant who knew the language of beasts. But this knowledge had been granted him only upon condition that, if he told the secrets learnt by its means, he should instantly die. No one, not even his wife, was aware that he was gifted beyond the common.
One evening, standing near his stables, he heard an ox, which had just returned from plowing, complaining bitterly of his hard labor, and asking the ass on which the merchant rode to business how he might lighten it. The ass advised him to be very ill, to leave his food untouched and roll on the ground in pain when the plowman came to take him to the field. The ox took this advice, and next day his master was told he was too ill to work. The merchant prescribed rest and extra food for the ox, and ordered that the donkey, which was strong and fat, should be yoked to the plow in his place.
That evening the merchant stood again by the stable, listening. When the ass came in from plowing, the ox thanked him for his advice, and expressed his intention to act upon it again next morning.
"I don't advise you to do that," said the ass, "if you value your life. Today while I was plowing, your master came and told the plowman to take you to the butcher's tomorrow, as you seemed ailing, and have you killed to save your life. For should you sicken and die, he would lose the value of your carcass."
"What shall I do?" cried the ox in terror.
"Be well and strong tomorrow morning," said the ass.
At that the merchant, unaware that his wife stood near him, laughed aloud, and excited her curiosity. His evasive answers only made her more inquisitive; and when he absolutely refused to satisfy her, she lost her temper, and went to complain of him to her relations, who soon threatened him with a divorce. The poor man, who really loved his wife, in despair resolved to tell her all and die. So he put his affairs in order, made his will, and promised to content her on the morrow.
Next morning, at a window overlooking the stable yard, where the cock was gallanting with a number of hens, he heard his watchdog reprove the bird for such light conduct on a day of grief.
"Why! What is the matter?" inquired the cock.
The dog told the story of their master's trouble, when the cock exclaimed, "Our master is a fool. He cannot keep one wife in order while I have no trouble with twenty. He has only to take a stick and give his mistress a sound thrashing to make her amiable."
These words came as light to the merchant's gloom. Forthwith he called his wife into an inner room, and there chastised her within an inch of her life. And from that hour she gave him no more trouble.
Once upon a time there lived a shepherd who served his master faithfully and honestly. One day whilst keeping the sheep in the forest, he heard a hissing, and wondered what the noise could be. So he went farther into the wood to try and find out. There he saw that the forest was on fire, and a snake was hissing in the midst of the flames. The shepherd watched to see what the snake would do, for it was quite surrounded by the fire, which approached it nearer and nearer.
Then the snake cried out, "For God's sake, good shepherd, save me from the fire!"
So the shepherd stretched his crook across the flames and the snake glided rapidly over the staff and up his arm onto his shoulder, till at last it wound itself round his neck. Then the shepherd was terrified and exclaimed, "What shall I do? What an unlucky wretch I am! I saved you, and now your are about to kill me!"
The snake answered, "Do not be afraid. Only take me to the house of my father. My father is the king of snakes."
But the shepherd, being already in great fear, began to excuse himself, saying he must not leave his sheep. Then the snake said, "Nothing will happen to your sheep. Do not be anxious about them. But let us hurry home."
So the shepherd went on with the snake through the forest, until they came to a gate made entirely of snakes. Then the snake on the neck of the shepherd hissed, and instantly the snakes untwined themselves, so that the man could pass through. As soon as they had gone through, the snake said to him, "When you reach my father's house he will offer to give you whatever you like -- gold, silver, or precious stones. Do not, however, take any of these things. Choose, instead, the language of animals. He will hesitate at first, but at last he will give it you."
Meanwhile they arrived at the palace, and the king of snakes said, weeping, "For God's sake, my child, where were you?" Thereupon the snake told him all that had happened, how he had been surrounded by fire, and the shepherd had saved him. Then the snake king said to the shepherd, "What do you wish that I should give you for saving my son?"
The shepherd answered, "I desire nothing but the language of animals."
The snake king, however, said, "That is not good for you, for if I give it you, and you tell anyone about it, you will instantly die. Therefore it is better that you ask me for something else."
"If you wish to give me anything," replied the shepherd, "give me the language of animals. If you will not give me that, I want nothing -- so good-bye," and he turned to go away.
Then the snake king called him back, saying, "If you indeed wish it so much, take it. Open your mouth." The shepherd did so, and the snake king blew into his mouth, and said, "Now blow once yourself in my mouth." The Shepherd did so, and then the snake king blew again into his mouth, and this they did three times. After that the snake said, "Now you possess the language of animals. Go, in God's name, but do not for the world tell anyone about it. If you tell anyone you will instantly die."
The shepherd returned across the forest, and, passing through it, he understood everything the birds and animals, and even the plants were saying to each other. When he came to his sheep he found them all there, safe and sound, so he laid himself down to rest a little.
Hardly had he done so before two or three ravens settled on a tree near him, and began to converse together, saying, "If that shepherd only knew that just on the spot where the black sheep is lying there is, deep in the earth, a cave full of gold and silver!"
When the shepherd heard that he went off to his master and told him. The master brought a cart, and dug down to the cave, and carried the treasure away home. But the master was honest, so he gave up the whole of the treasure to the shepherd, saying, "Here my son, all this wealth belongs to you. For to you God gave it. Build a house, marry, and live upon the treasure."
So the shepherd took the money, built a house, and married, and by and by he became the richest man in the whole neighborhood. He kept his own shepherd, and cattle driver, and swineherd. In short, he had great property and made much money.
Once, just at Christmas, he said to his wife, "Get ready some wine and other food, and tomorrow we will feast the shepherds."
The wife did so, and in the morning they went to their farm. Towards evening the master said to the shepherds, "Come here, all of you. You shall eat, drink, and make merry together, and I will go myself this night to watch the sheep."
So the master went to watch his sheep, and, about midnight, the wolves began to howl and the dogs to bark. The wolves spoke, in wolf language, "May we come and take something? You also, shall get a part of the prey."
And the dogs answered, in dog language, "Come! We also are ready to eat something."
But there was one old dog there who had only two teeth left. This old dog shouted furiously, "Come on, you miserable wretches, if you dare. So long as I have these two teeth left you shall not do any damage to my master's property."
All this the master heard and understood. Next day he ordered all the dogs to be killed except that old one. The servants began to remonstrate, saying, "For God's sake, master, it is a pity to do this."
But the master answered, "Do as I have ordered you," and started with his wife to go home. They rode on horseback, he on a fine horse and his wife on a handsome mare. But the master's horse went so fast that the wife remained a little behind.
Then the master's horse neighed, and said to the mare, "Come on, why do you stay behind?"
And the mare answered, "Ah, to you it is easy -- you are carrying only one weight, and I am carrying three."
Thereupon the man turned his head and laughed. The wife saw him laughing, and urged the mare on quicker till she came up to her husband, and asked him, "Why were you laughing?"
He said merely, "I had good reason to laugh!"
But the wife was not satisfied, and again begged he would tell her why he laughed. He excused himself, exclaiming, "Give up questioning me. What has come to you, my wife? I forget now why it was I laughed."
But the more he refused to tell her, the more she wished to know. At last the man said, "If I tell you I shall die immediately!"
That, however, did not quiet her, and she kept on asking, saying to him, "You must tell me."
In the meantime they reached their house. When they had done so the man ordered a coffin to be made, and, when it was ready, had it placed in front of the house, and laid himself down in it. Then he said to his wife, "Now I will tell you why I laughed, but the moment I tell you I shall die."
So he looked around once more, and saw that the old dog had come from the field, and had taken his stand over his head, and was howling. When the man noticed this he said to his wife, "Bring a piece of bread for this poor dog."
The wife brought a piece and threw it to the dog, but the dog did not even look at it, and a cock came near and began to peck at it.
Then the dog said to the cock, "You think only about eating. Do you know that our master is going to die?"
And the cock answered, "Well, let him die, since he is so stupid. I have a hundred wives, and often at nights I gather them all round a grain of corn, and, when they are all there, I pick it up myself. If any of them are angry, I peck them. That is my way of keeping them quiet. Only look at the master, however. He is not able to rule one single wife!"
The man, hearing that, got out of the coffin, took a stick, and called his wife to him, saying, "Come now, and I will tell you what you want to know."
The wife, seeing she was in danger of getting a beating, left him in peace, and never asked him again why it was he laughed.
One day the dog and the cock were walking in the farmyard. The cock was cheerful, flapping his wings and crowing lustily, but the dog hung his tail and appeared to be buried in sad thoughts. Angry at the cock's cheerfulness, he said, "I cannot understand how you can be so happy!"
"Why not?" asked the cock.
"Can't you see," said the dog, "that our master has been going around with a long face for a few days now? I think that we should be sharing his concerns."
"What are his concerns?" asked the cock.
"About his wife," said the dog. "She is so bad that he never gets a good word from her. She is never satisfied with anything he does or says. A woman like that can be the death of a man!"
"She wouldn't be the death of me," answered the cock. "I have seventy wives, and if I ever had to hang my head because something went wrong, the devil would be in charge, not I. No, I handle them differently. My wives receive blows if they are stubborn and don't want to listen to me. And if they get in each others' hair, I pull them apart. In this manner I get along splendidly with my seventy wives, and if our master can't deal with his one wife, then he is a sorry fellow indeed!" And with that the cock proudly and cheerfully went on his way.
Now the master had been listening in on this entire conversation, so he went to his wife. Once again she had bad words for him, so he answered her with an appropriate measure of blows, and from that time onward she was as tame and agreeable as never before.