Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 14, 1903.djvu/449

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Collectanea.
407

"What is the name of this city?"
The old man replied, "Anta Permana.
"The son-in-law has been long ill,
"Indra Bangsāwan, moreover, is his name."
Then replied Sahpri,
"Make known to the king that a holy man
"Says he can give medicine to cure,
"If the king will give him a reward."
An order is given by the king to call him.
The holy man comes and makes obeisance.
When he is seen by the king
"This holy one, is not he young?"
The king takes him into the palace.
He sees his brother together with the princess.
"What do you think, now you have seen him, oh, holy one?
"Is there any medicine to cure my child?"
Then spoke the holy man, "Certainly,
"Let your excellency only have patience,
"For God alone can give us health,
"But your servant has the medicine to give."
They bring him basins and water.
Sahpri soaked the Bezoar stone in the water
And bathed the face of his brother.
Then, behold, Indra Bangsāwan opened his eyes.
And saw his brother and greeted him.
The two brothers wept together,
After which the king addressed them,
"This, then, is the elder brother."
Further, his Excellency the king begged,
"Cure my child, her Excellency the princess."
The water he sprinkled on the face of his sister.
And behold the princess opened her eyes.
Here endeth the poem of Indra Bangsāwan.




Witchcraft in Northern India.

The following account of a case, the basis of which is witchcraft, was sent to me by Mr. K. N. Knox, assistant magistrate of Banda, a very primitive district south of the River Jumna, and adjoining the hill country of Central India, where beliefs of this kind are very prevalent. "Muth" is the technical phrase for some magical substance, which after being the subject of sundry incantations by