85 
1888.] C. Svvynnerton— Folktales from the Upper Panjdb. 
buffalo in the morning and drink the milk, and do you visit her in the 
evening.” Said she, “ But why could not my husband have said so ? 
Now it is all right, and besides I shall be saved all the trouble of setting 
the milk for butter !” 
III. The Weaver and the Water-melon. 
Once upon a time a poor country weaver visited a town, where he saw 
a quantity of water-melons piled up one above the other in front of a 
bania’s shop. “ Eggs of other birds there are,” he said, “ and I have seen 
them : but what bird’s eggs are these eggs ? These must be mare’s eggs !” 
So he asked the bania, “ Are these eggs mare’s eggs ?” The bania instantly 
cocked his ears, and perceiving that he was a simpleton answered, “ Yes, 
these bird’s eggs are mare’s eggs.” “ What is the price?” “ One hundred 
rupees apiece” said the bania. The simple weaver took out his bag of 
money and counting out the price, bought one of the melons and carried 
it off. As he went along the road, he began to say to himself, “ When 
I get home I will put this egg in a warm corner of my house, and by and 
bye a foal will be born, and when the foal is big enough, I shall mount it 
and ride it to the house of my father-in-law. Won’t he be astonished ?” 
As the day was unusually hot, he stopped at a pool of water to bathe.* 
But first of all he deposited the melon most carefully in the middle of a 
low bush, and then he proceeded to undi'ess himself. His garments were 
not half laid aside, when out from the bush sprang a hare, and the 
weaver, snatching up part of his clothing while the rest hung about his legs 
in disorder, made desperate efforts to chase and overtake the hare, crying 
out, “ Ah there goes the foal, wo, old boy, wo, wo !” But he ran in vain, 
for the hare easily escaped, and was soon out of sight. 
The poor weaver reconciled himself to his loss as best he could, “ Kis¬ 
met !” cried he : “ And as for the egg, it is of course of no use now and not 
worth returning for, since the foal has left it.” So he made his way home 
and said to his wife, “ 0 wife, I have had a great loss this day !” “ Why,” 
said she, “ what have you done ?” “ I paid one hundred rupees for a mare’s 
egg, but while I stopped on the road to bathe, the foal jumped out and 
ran away.” His wife replied, “ Ah, what a pity ! if you had only brought 
the foal here, I would have got on his back and ridden him to my 
father’s house !” Hearing this, the weaver fell into a rage, and pulling a 
stick out of his loom began to belabour his wife, crying, “ What, you would 
break the back of a young foal ? Ah you slut, let me break yours !” 
After this he went out, and began to lament his loss to his friends 
and neighbours, warning them all, “If any of you should see a stray 
foal, don’t forget to let me know.” To the village herdsmen especially he 
- * Literally : On his way homo he tarried ut alvum exonera.rct. 
