THE TALE OF THE CAT’S DAUGHTERS

A family had a pet cat. She was about to deliver kittens. At the 
same time, the lady of the house too was pregnant. As the cat wanted 
to eat fish, she said to the mistress, "I have a great desire to eat fish. 
The mistress replied, "My sweet girl, how can I give you fish to eat 
unless you bring it?" Hearing this, from that day onwards, the cat used 
to bring fish from other people's house, by stealing or by force. On the 
other hand, the mistress used to cook and eat the fish and, the fish- 
bones were given to the cat. In this way, she was deprived of the fish 
which she collected every day. At this, she felt very hurt and cursed the 
mistress, "Whatever my womb is bearing, let it go to her and whatever 
her womb is bearing, let it come to me." 



Both the cat and the lady of the house were pregnant. 




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UKAINUMA o 


THE TALE OF THE CAT'S DAUGHTERS 


3 


Truly ! After a few days, the mistress gave birth to two kittens while 
the cat gave birth to two baby-girls. The cat somehow managed to bring 
up the two girls with affection. Leaving the girls behind, she used to go 
out in search of fish, milk and other eatables. As the two girls grew 
up, they became concerned and one day said to the cat, "Mother, if 
someone kills you while going to the village, how would we come to 
know and what should we do?" Then, the cat planted a basil sapling 
and placed a round earthem-vessel containing milk and said, "If 
someone kills me, then this plant will wither and the milk in the vessel 
will turn black. Then you go out in search of me". A few days later, the 
plant withered and the milk in the vessel turned black. Knowing what 
must have taken place, they went out in search of their mother. They 
came quite a distance when the younger of the two felt thirsty. While 
searching for water, they reached a river. 



While searching for water, the two sisters reached a river. 


Leaving her sister on the bank, the elder one descended to bring 
water. After quenching her thirst, she was about to collect water for her 
younger sister. As she was doing so, the water dried up and the prince 
of the river said, "If you hand over your ring to me, then only you can 
take some water". Compared to her sister, the ring was of no value. So, 
she gave the ring in return for some water. After drinking water, the 
younger sister sent the elder one to bring back the ring. This time, as 
soon as the elder sister descended to the river, the prince of the river 
took her away. When she saw her sister being taken away, the younger 
one sat on the bank and cried 
aloud. After some time, a 
merchant was coming along 
the river. On seeing the 
beautiful girl sitting alone on 
the bank, he took her away in 
his boat. 

When he reached home, 
he accorded her the status of 
his third wife. The merchant 
showered more affection on his 
newly-wed tender-aged wife 
than on his other two wives. 

Out of jealousy, the two older 
wives began to think of ways 
to make their husband hate his 
third wife. On the ceremonial 
function occasioned by the 
birth of the third wife's first 
child, the other two 
blindfolded her saying that she begot a pestle and floated the new-born 
male child on the river. Next time too, in the same way, they lied to her 
that she begot a pumpkin and made the male baby to drift along the 
river. On the other hand, when the elder sister who was carried away 
by the river-prince came to know that the babies belonged to her 
younger sister, she adopted them and brought them up. The merchant 
thought these incidents of birth to be true and considered the youngest 
wife to be a cursed woman. He drove her out of his house and built 
a house for her in the backyard. She used to stay in that house in 
sorrow. One day when the merchant was venturing out on business, 
the river-prince seized of his boat in the mid-stream. The merchant was 



The younger sister sat on the bank 
and cried aloud