132
shaken prosperity, which can only be ensured by a capable governor." On hearing that, every one of them desired the headship for himself; thereupon Chakradhara after reflection again said to those fools; " As you are so addicted to mutual rivalry I propose to you a basis of agreement. In the neighbouring cemetery three robbers have been executed by impalement; whoever is daring enough to cut off the noses of those three by night and to bring them here, he shall be your head, for courage merits command.*[1]" When Chakradhara made this proposal to the Bráhmans, Vidúshaka, who was standing near, said to them ; " Do this, what is there to be afraid of?" Then the Bráhmans said to him; " We are not bold enough to do it, let whoever is able, do it, and we will abide by the agreement." Then Vidúshaka said, " Well, I will do it, I will cut off the noses of those robbers by night and bring them from the cemetery." Then those fools, thinking the task a difficult one, said to him; " If you do this you shall be our lord, we make this agreement." When they had pronounced this agreement, and night had set in, Vidúshaka took leave of those Brahmans and went to the cemetery. So the hero entered the cemetery awful as his own undertaking, with the sword of the Fire-god, that came with a thought, as his only companion. And in the middle of that cemetery where the cries of vultures and jackals were swelled by the screams of witches, and the flames of the funeral pyres were reinforced by the fires in the mouths of the fire-breathing demons, he beheld those impaled men with their faces turned up, as if through fear of having their noses cut off. And when he approached them, those three being tenanted by demons struck him with their fists †[2]; and he for his part slashed them in return with his sword, for fear has not learned to bestir herself in the breast of the resolute. Accordingly the corpses ceased to be convulsed with demons, and then the successful hero cut off their noses and brought them away, binding them up in his garment. And as he was returning, he beheld in that cemetery a religious mendicant sitting on a corpse muttering charms, and through curiosity to have the amusement of seeing what he was doing, he stood concealed behind that mendicant. In a moment the corpse under the mendicant gave forth a hissing sound, and flames issued from its mouth, and from its navel mustard- seeds. And then the mendicant took the mustard-seeds, and rising up struck the corpse with the flat of his hand, and the corpse, which was
- ↑ * So in Grimm's Märchen von einem der auszog das Fürchten zu lernen the youth is recommended to sit under the gallows where seven men have been executed. Cp. also the story of "The Shroud" in Ralston's Russian Folk -Tales, p. 307.
- ↑ † Cp. Ralston's account of the Vampire as represented in the Skazkas. " It is as a vitalized corpse that the visitor from the other world comes to trouble mankind, often subject to human appetites, constantly endowed with more than human strength and malignity."— Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, p. 306.
