Story 226 - The Three-cornered Hatter

^[1]

IN a certain country a greatly-poor man dwelt, it is said. The man having prayed to a friend of his [for assistance], received from his friend a calf. In order to sell the calf for himself, having set out from the village at which he stayed, and come and descended to the road, at the time when he was going along driving it he met with three young men of yet [another] village.

At the time when the three young persons saw this poor man, they spoke together in this fashion. The speech indeed was,

“Having cheated the man who is going driving this bull, let us seize the bull,”

they said.

Having spoken to the man, when they asked him,

“Will you give us the goat ?”

the poor man who is going driving the bull, says,

“Friends, I am not taking the goat; it is a bull,”

he said.

Then the men who were cheating him began to say,

“Why, O fool, when you have come driving the goat, are you trying to make it a bull ? We recognise goats, and we recognise bulls. Don’t make fun [of us]. Having given us that goat, and taken a sufficient amount, go away,”

they said.

Having said and said thus, when these three persons began to make an uproar [about it], the poor man who is driving the bull, having made the bull the goat, and spoken to the three persons, says,

“It is good, friends. Taking this goat that I brought, and having fixed a sufficient price, give [me it],”

he said.

When he said thus, those three enemies say,

“ What are you saying ? The full value of a goat is five rupees; this one is worth three rupees, but we shall not do in that manner to you. To you we will give four rupees,”

they said.

Having said thus, and given that poor man four rupees,

“Now then, you go away,”

they said.

When they said thus, that man who went driving the bull having spoken [to himself]:

“I will do a good work for these three persons,”

says,

“Ane ! Friends, except that I have a thought that I also having joined you three persons [should be] obtaining a livelihood, for what purpose should I go to my village ? It is not the fact [that I think of going there]. It is my thought to live joined with you,”

he said.

When he said this, those thieves say,

“It is good. We also are much pleased at your living joined with us,”

they said.

The two parties speaking thus, the man who came driving the bull stayed near those men who cheated him.

Having stayed thus, after about eight days or ten days had gone, he said,

“I will do a thing for their having cheated me and taken the bull”;

and making a hat which had three corners he put it on his head.

While he is there [after] thus putting the three-cornered hat on his head, those three persons ask,

“What is it, friend ? Where did you meet with a hat of a kind which is not [elsewhere] ? This is the first time we saw such hats,”

they said.

When they said thus, the man says,

“Ane ! Friends, if you knew the facts about this hat you will not speak in this way,”

he said.

“Because of what circumstances are you praising this hat ?”

they asked.

This poor man says,

“By this hat I can obtain food and drink while at any place I like. Moreover, by the power of this hat I can also do anything I think of,”

he said.

When he said thus, those three persons say,

“Ane ! Friend, will you give us that hat ?”

When they asked him, he says,

“Having shown you the power which there is in my hat, I can give you the hat also for a sufficient sum,”

he said.

They said,

“If so, show us the power that is in your hat. We having looked at the power of the hat, we will give you the whole of the goods that there are of ours, and take the hat.”

Having said,

“It is good. I will show you to-morrow the power of my hat,”

that day evening he went to the eating-houses that are in that village, and spoke to the persons who are in the eating-houses:

“We four persons to-morrow are coming for food. When we have come you must promise to treat us four persons well. Take the money for it to-day.”

Having given the money, and also having gone to the place where they eat during the [midjday, and the place where they drink tea, and the place where they eat at night, speaking in that manner he gave the money.

On the following day he says to those three persons,

“I will show you the power of my hat. Come along.”^[2]

Summoning them, and putting on that hat, at the place where he came and gave the money first he went in, together with the three friends.

Having taken off the three-cornered hat, when he lowered his head the men who were in the eating-house say,

“It is good. Will you, Sirs, be seated there ?”

Having placed and given them chairs, and made ready the food, they quickly gave them to eat, and when they had finished, gave them cheroots.

Having been talking and talking very much, the Three-cornered Hatter says,

“Now then, we must go, and come [again].”

When he said it, the men of the eating-house say,

“It is good; having gone, come [again]. Should you come [this way] don’t go away without coming here.”

When they said it, the Three-cornered Hatter says,

“Yes; should we come, we will not go away without coming here.”

Having gone from there, and walked there and here, and at the time for the [mid] day rice having gone to the place where he gave the money, in that very manner they ate and drank. Having also gone to the tea drinking place, and in that very way having drunk, after it became night they went to the place where he gave the money for the night food, and ate.

From the time when they came back to the place where they dwell, those three persons speak [together],

“This hat is not a so-so^[3] hat. To-day we saw the power there is in the hat. What are the goods for, that we have ? Having given the whole of our goods, let us take that hat.”

Speaking [thus], and having spoken to the Three-cornered Hatter, they say,

“Friend, taking any price you will take, give us this hat.”

When they said it [he replied],

“Ane ! Friends, having made the bull the goat, even should you [be willing to] take it, I cannot give this hat. My life is protected by that hat.”

When he said [this, they replied],

“If so, it is good. Taking the whole of the goods that there are of us three persons, give us the hat.”

When they said [this], the Three-cornered Hatter says,

“It is good. Because you are saying it very importunately,^[4] and because up to this tune from the first [I have been] the friend of you three persons, taking the hat give me the goods.”

Having said [this], tying all the goods belonging to the three persons in bundles, the Three-cornered Hatter says,

“Now then, I am going. I gave you the hat that I had for the protection of my life; you will take good care of that hat.”

Having said it, the Three-cornered Hatter boimded off and went away.

On the following day after that, those three persons made ready to go in the first manner, for eating. One putting on the hat, they went, and sitting in the eating-house they ate and drank.

Having finished and talked, when they said,

“We are going,”^[5]

[the people of the eating-house] ask, ‘Where is the money?”

When they said,

“Having given the money, go away,”

where have these three got money to give ?

When they did not give it on the spot, the men who are in the eating-house, seizing them and having beaten them, put them out of the eating-house.

When they put them out,these three persons are quarrelling along the road. [One of them] said,

“Because, indeed, they did not see that you went [after] putting on the hat, we two also ate blows. I will see [about it]; I will put it on and go. Give me it here.”

This one, taking the hat from that man, and having gone [after] putting it on, to the place where they eat during the [mid] day, they ate and drank in the first manner. Having been there talking and talking for a little time, they say to the men of the eating-house,

“Now then, we are going.”

When they said it, the men of the eating-house say,

“Having gone, no matter if you should come again. For what you ate to-day we want the money. Give the money, and having gone, come [again].”

When they said [this], these three persons, except that they ate in order to look at the power of the hat, whence are they to give the money ? While they were there without speaking, they said in the very first manner,

“Thrash these three thieves for the money,”

and there and then also seizing the men, beat them.

When they had put them to the door, having descended to the path on the journey on which they are going, the man who did not put on the hat says,

“[The people] not seeing you two [wearing it] and your putting on of that hat, can you go and look at the power of the hat, stupids both ? If you want, you can look for yourselves [this] evening. Give me that hat. In the evening, at the place where they eat food I will show you the power of the hat.”

Having said [this], the man having gone in the evening [after] putting on the hat, to the place where they eat food, in the very first manner they ate and drank. Having been talking and talking, they say,

“Well, we are going.”

When they said it,

“Having given the money for what you ate, go,”

they said.

Then these three persons, whence are they to give the money ? Many a time (bohoma kalak) having asked for the money, while they were there without speaking, the men having well beaten these three persons put them out of the eating-house.

The three persons that day’s day having eaten blows three times, in much distress each one comes to his own house. In not many days, on account of these blows that they ate, and through sorrow at the loss of their goods, the end of the lives of the three persons was reached.

The Three-cornered Hatter having gone away taking the goods of these three persons, and having eaten and drunk in happiness, [at last] he died. For their making the Three-cornered Hatter’s bull the goat, taking the goods of these three he also destroyed the lives of the three persons.

Western Province.

 

Notes:

In the Hitopadesha, a well-known form of the first incident occurs. Three rogues, seeing a Brahmana carrying home a goat on his shoulder for sacrifice, sat down under three trees at some distance apart on the road.

As the man came up, the first rogue said,

“O Brahmana, why dost thou carry that dog on thy shoulder ?”

“It is not a dog,”

the Brahmana, “it is a goat for sacrifice,” and he went on. When the second rogue asked the same question, the Brahmana put down the goat, looked at it, returned it to his shoulder, and resumed his journey. When the third man inquired in the same way, the Brahmana threw down the goat and went home without it, the rogues of course taking it to eat. This story is given in the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 68, with the difference that first one man spoke to the Brahmana, then two men, and lastly three.

In Indian Nights’ Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 106, when a foolish man was passing through a village driving a buffalo that he had bought, some men asked him where he got the ram; and as the whole of them insisted that it was a ram he left it with them through fear of his brother’s anger at his buying a ram instead of a buffalo.

In Folk-Tales of the Telugus (G. R. Subramiah Pantulu), p. 61, it is . repeated with the variation that the Brahmana had four or five goats which he was leading. Four Shudras (men of low caste) who wished to get them, in turn asked him why he was taking a number of mad dogs. The last Sudra suggested that it was unsafe to release them, so he tied them to a tree, whence the four men removed them when he had gone.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. iii, p. 200), a thief promised another that he would steal an ass that a man was leading by a halter. He went up to it, quietly took off the halter and placed-it on his own head without the ass-owner’s observing it, and his triend led away the ass. When he had gone off with it, the haltered man stood still, and on the ass-owner’s turning to look at his ass, told him that he was really the ass, and that he had been transformed into it because of his mother’s curse when he went home drunk and beat her. She had now relented, and as the result of her prayers he had taken his original form once more. The ass-owner apologised for any bad treatment meted out to him, went home, and told his wife, who gave alms by way of atonement, and prayed to Heaven for pardon. Afterwards, when the owner went to purchase another ass he saw his own in the market, and whispered to it,

“Doubtless thou hast been getting drunk again and beating thy mother 1 But, by Allah, I will never buy thee more.”

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Tun-mutu-Toppiya, the one with the three-cornered hat.

[2]:

Lit., Come to go.

[3]:

Ese-mese.

[4]:

Bohorna durata, lit. very far.

[5]:

Lit., We having gone, will come.