ENTERING ANOTHER'S BODY. 15 



Kubja, " Hunchback ; " i. c, the word has become a proper name 

 without relevance of any sort. The story is, moreover, dashed 

 with motifs that had nothing to do with it originally: The king 

 learns the art from a sorcerer. Kubja overhears the charm. The 

 king sees a female harisa-bird in distress, because her mate has been 

 shot by a hunter. The king, out of pity, enters the male hahsa's 

 body;-® Kubja enters the king's body, usurps the kingdom, but is 

 flouted by the queen. The king abandons the body of the haiisa, 

 enters that of a beggar, and consults with the sorcerer. The latter 

 tells the story to the king's minister. The minister advises the 

 queen to kill her parrot, and to tell the fake king that she will 

 receive him, if he reanimates the parrot. The false king enters into 

 the parrot and is slain. 



All versions of the story with King Vikrama in the center are 

 clearly marked off from the Mukunda story. They supplant the 

 hunchback by a magician (Yogin) and do not pivot about the 

 stanza, " That which belongs to six ears is betrayed." As far as I 

 know there are four versions of this story, to wit : Lescallier's, 

 alluded to above ; a version which appears in a manuscript of the 

 Vetalapancavihgati, edited and translated by Uhle in ZDMG. 

 XXin. 443 ff. ; a very brief summary in Merutuiiga's Prabandha- 

 cintamani, p. 12; and a full and brilliant version in Parcvanatha 

 Caritra, 3. 105-324.'^ Moreover this tale has great vogue in Hindu 

 folk-lore, where it is usually blended with other parrot stories 

 and with other Vikrama stories : see Frere, " Old Deccan Days," 

 pp. 102 ff. (Vicram Maharajah Parrot) ; J. H. Knowles, "Dictionary 

 of Kashmiri Proverbs," p. 98 (§§4 and 5) ; Anaryan (pseudonym 

 of F. Arbuthnot) in "Early Ideas, Hindoo Stories," pp. 131 ff., 

 where the story is ascribed to the Prakrit poet Hurridas (Hari- 

 dasa) ;^° Butterworth, "Zig-Zag Journeys in India," p. 167: "The 

 parrot with the soul of a Rajah." 



28 For this trait of the story see Ramayana i. 2. 9 ff. 



29 Deslongchamps, 1. c, states that the story occurs, " avec d'autres details, 

 dans le recueil Sanscrit qui a pour titre Vrhat-Katha " (voyez le Quarterly 

 Oriental Magazine de Calcutta, mars 1824). Vrhat-Katha is doubtless in- 

 tended for " Kathasaritsagara," but the story is not there. The Quarterly 

 Oriental Magazine is not accessible. 



30 That the story did exist in some Prakrit version seems to be likely, 



