The Monkey Prince

Once upon a time there was a Raja called Jabhu Raja, and he had a
great many wives; at least he had seven wives, but he had no children.
Although he had married seven wives, not one of them had given him a
child. At this he was greatly vexed and said, "I have married seven
wives, and not one of them has given me a child." And he got very
angry with God: he said, "Why does not God give me any children? I
will go into the jungle and die by myself." The Ranis coaxed him to
stay, but he wouldn't; he would go out into the jungle.

So he went out into the jungle very far, and God sent him an old fakir
leaning on a stick. The Raja met him, and the fakir said, "Why do you
come into the jungle? If you go far into the jungle you will meet
plenty of tigers, and they will eat you. Tell me what you want.
Whatever you want I will give you." "No, I won't tell you," said the
Raja. But at last the Raja told him, "I have seven wives, and none of
them has given me any children, and so here I will die by myself."
Then the fakir said, "Take this stick, and a little way off you will
find a mango-tree with some mangoes on it. Throw the stick at the
mangoes with one hand, and catch them as they fall with the other, and
when you have caught them all, take them home and give one to each of
your seven wives." So the Raja went and knocked the mangoes off the
tree and caught them as the fakir had told him. Then he looked about
for the fakir, but he could not find him, for he had gone away into
another part of the jungle. So he went home and gave the seven mangoes
to his wives. But the fruit was so good that six of the wives ate it
up, and would not give the youngest wife any. She cried very much, and
went into the compound and picked up one of the mango stones which one
of the six wives had thrown away, and ate it. By and by each of the
six wives had a son; but the one who had eaten the stone had a monkey,
who was called in consequence Bandarsabasa, or Prince Monkey. He was
really a boy, but no one knew it, for he had a monkey-skin covering
him. His six brothers hated him. They went to school every day; and
the monkey went under the ground, and was taught by the fairies. His
mother did not know this; she thought, as he was a monkey, he went to
the jungle and swung in the trees. He was the best and the cleverest
of all the boys.

Now, in a kingdom a three months' journey off by land from Jabhu
Raja's country, there lived a king called King Jamarsa. He had a very
beautiful daughter whose name was Princess Jahuran, and as her father
wanted a very strong son-in-law, he had a large heavy iron ball made,
and he sent letters to all the Rajas and Rajas' sons far and near to
say that whoever wished to marry his daughter, the Princess Jahuran,
must be able to throw this heavy ball at her and hit her. So many
Rajas went to try, but none of them could even lift the ball. Now, one
of these letters had come to Jabhu Raja, and his six elder sons
determined they would go to King Jamarsa's country, for each of them
was sure he could throw the ball, and win the princess.

Prince Monkey laughed softly and said to himself, "I will go and try
too. I know I shall succeed."

Off, therefore, the six brothers set on their long journey, and the
monkey followed them; but before he did so, he went into the jungle
and took off his monkey-skin, and God sent him a beautiful horse and
beautiful clothes. Then he followed his brothers and overtook them,
and gave them betel-leaf and lovely flowers. "What a beautiful boy!"
they said. "Who is it owns such a beautiful boy? He must be some
Raja's son." Then he galloped quickly away, took off his grand clothes
and put them on his horse, and the horse rose into the air. He put on
his monkey-skin and followed his brothers.

When they reached King Jamarsa's palace they pitched their tents in
his compound, which was very big. Every evening the princess used to
stand in her verandah and let down her long golden hair so that it
fell all round her, and then the Rajas who wished to marry her had to
try to hit her with the great heavy ball that lay on the ground just
in front of where she stood.

King Jamarsa's house had more than one storey, and you had to go
upstairs to get to the Princess Jahuran's rooms which led into the
verandah in which she used to stand.

Well, Prince Monkey's six elder brothers all got ready to go up to the
palace and throw the ball. They were quite sure they would throw it
without any trouble. Before they went they told their monkey brother
to take care of their tents, and to have a good dinner ready for them
when they returned. "If the dinner is not ready, we will beat you."

As soon as they were gone, Prince Monkey took some gold mohurs he had,
and he went to a traveller's resting-house, which was a little way
outside King Jamarsa's compound, and gave them to the man who owned
it, and bade him give him a grand dinner for his six brothers. Then he
took the dinner to the tents, went into the jungle, and took off his
monkey-skin. And God sent him a grand horse from heaven, and splendid
clothes. These he put on, mounted his horse, and rode to King
Jamarsa's compound. There he took no notice of either the king, or
his daughter, or of the ball, or of the Rajas who were there to try
and lift it. He spoke only to his brothers, and gave them lovely
flowers and betel-leaf. Meanwhile, everybody was looking at him and
talking about him. "Who can he be? Did you ever see any one so lovely?
Where does he come from? Just look at his clothes! In our countries we
cannot get any like them!" As for the Princess Jahuran she thought to
herself, "That Raja shall be my husband, whether he lifts the ball or
not." When he had given his brothers the flowers and betel-leaf,
Prince Monkey rode straight to the jungle, took off his clothes, laid
them on his horse (which instantly went up to heaven), put on his
monkey-skin, went back to the tents, and lay down to sleep.

When his brothers came home they were talking eagerly about the
unknown beautiful Raja. All the time they were eating their dinner
they could speak of nothing else.

Well, every evening for about ten evenings it was just the same story.
Only every evening Prince Monkey appeared in a different dress. The
princess always thought, "That is the man I will marry, whether he can
throw the ball or not." Then about the eleventh evening, after he had
given his brothers the flowers and betel-leaf, he said to all the
Rajas who were standing there, and to King Jamarsa and to all the
servants, "Now every one of you go and stand far away, for I am going
to throw the ball." "No, no!" they all cried, "we will stand here and
see you." "You must go far away. You can look on at a distance," said
the Monkey Prince; "the ball might fall back among you and hurt you."
So they all went off and stood round him at a distance.

"Now," said Prince Monkey to himself, "I won't hit the princess this
time; but I will hit the verandah railing." Then he took up the ball
with one hand, just as if it were quite light, and threw it on the
verandah railing, and then he rode off fast to the jungle.

The next evening it was the same thing over again, only this time he
threw the ball into the Princess Jahuran's clothes.

The next evening the ball fell on one of her feet, and hurt her little
toe-nail. Now, Princess Jahuran was very angry that this unknown
beautiful prince should have thrown the ball three times, and hit her
twice, and hurt her the third time, and yet had never spoken to her
father, or let any one know who he was, and had always, on the
contrary, ridden away as hard as he could, no one knew where. She was
very much in love with him, and was very anxious to find this Raja who
had hit her twice, so she ordered a bow and arrow to be brought to
her, and said she would shoot the Raja the next time he hit her. She
would not kill him; she would only shoot the arrow at him. Well, the
next evening Prince Monkey threw the ball, and it fell on her other
foot and hurt her great toe-nail. When he saw she was hurt, he was
very sorry in his heart, and said, "Did I hurt you?" "Yes," she said,
"very much." "Oh, I am so sorry," said the prince. "I would not have
thrown the ball so hard had I thought it would hurt you." Then she
shot the arrow, and hit him in the leg, and a great deal of blood came
out of the wound; but he rode hard away to the jungle all the same,
only this time he did not take off his fine clothes, but he drew the
monkey-skin over them, and his horse went up to heaven, and he went
back to the tents. Then the princess sent a servant into the town, and
said, whoever or whatever he should hear crying with pain, he should
bring to her--were it a man, or a jackal, or a dog, or a wild beast.
So the servant went round the town. The six brothers had gone to
sleep, but the poor monkey brother could not sleep, but sat up crying
from pain. He could not help it, do what he would, and the servant, as
he went round the town, heard him crying. So he took him and brought
him to the princess, and the princess said she would marry him.

"What!" cried her father, "marry that monkey? Never! Who ever heard
of any one marrying a monkey, a nasty monkey?" But in spite of all the
king said, the princess declared marry that monkey she would. "I like
that monkey very, very much," she said. "I will marry him. It is my
pleasure to marry him." "Well," said the Raja at last, "if it is your
pleasure to marry him, you must marry him; but who ever heard of any
one marrying a nasty monkey?"

So they were married at once; and the Monkey Prince wore his
monkey-skin for a wedding garment.

That night when they went to bed, the young prince drew off his skin
and lay down by Jahuran, and when she saw her beautiful husband she
was so glad, so glad. "Why do you wear a monkey-skin?" she asked. He
answered, "I wear it as a protection, because my brothers are naughty,
and would kill me if they knew what I really am."

They lived very happily with King Jamarsa for six months, and the six
elder brothers went on living there too, and hating him more and more
for having such a beautiful wife.

But one night Prince Monkey thought of his mother, and he said to his
wife, "My mother perhaps is crying for me. Let us go to my father's
kingdom, and see her." Princess Jahuran agreed; so next morning they
spoke to King Jamarsa, who said they might go.

The six brothers at once said, "We will go with you;" and they also
said, "Let us get two big boats, one for you and the princess, and one
for ourselves, and let us go by water, and not by land." Now by water
it took only six days to get to Jabhu Raja's kingdom, by land it took
three months. The Monkey Prince agreed to all his brothers said.

Princess Jahuran heard them planning to throw the monkey into the
water on the journey, and then to take her home to their father as the
wife of one of them; so as she was very wise she went to her father
and begged him to have six large beautiful mattresses, well stuffed
with cotton, made for her.

"What can you want with six mattresses?" said the king. "I want my
bed to be very comfortable on board the boat," said his daughter. Her
father loved her dearly, so he had her mattresses made, beautiful
mattresses and well stuffed with cotton. The princess had them all
carried to her boat.

When everything was ready they went on board the boats with the
monkey's six brothers. Now, the princess had warned her husband of his
brothers' wicked plans, and she said to him, "Never go near your
brothers; never speak to your brothers; for they want to kill you."
The first day the six brothers said to the monkey, "Please bring us a
little salt." But the monkey said, "No; my wife will take you some."
"No," said the brothers, "your wife cannot bring us any. She is a
princess. Do you bring us some." So they threw a rope from one boat to
another, and the monkey went on the rope, and the brothers untied it,
and the monkey fell into the water. Then the princess cried out, "My
husband will be drowned! My husband will be drowned!" And she threw
out one of the mattresses; the monkey sat on it; it floated back to
his boat, and the crew drew him up.

The next day the six brothers begged Prince Monkey to bring them
water, and they threw a plank from their boat to his for him to cross
on. The prince set off with the water, in spite of all his wife's
entreaties, and his brothers tilted the plank into the water. The
prince would have been drowned had not the Princess Jahuran thrown him
a mattress. And the same thing happened during the next four days. The
brothers wanted something to eat or drink, and their monkey-brother
brought it them across a rope or plank, which they cut or dropped into
the water, and he would have died but for the mattresses which his
wife threw to him one by one.

When they reached Jabhu Raja's kingdom, the eldest son went on shore
up to his father's palace. Each of the Raja's seven wives had a house
to herself in his compound. He went to his mother's house and said,
"Give me your palanquin, mother, for I have brought home a most lovely
wife, and want to bring her to the palace."

At this news his mother was delighted, and she told it to the other
Ranis, and said, "My son has brought home such a lovely wife! I am so
glad! oh, I am so glad!" The youngest Rani began to cry bitterly. "My
son," she said, "is nothing but a monkey; he will never be married; he
will never have a wife at all."

Then the palanquin was got ready, and the seven Ranis and the prince
went with it to the boat. The Princess Jahuran came on land with her
monkey, and when the Ranis saw her, they all cried, "How lovely she
is! how beautiful!" And the eldest Rani was gladder than ever, and the
youngest cried still more. The princess got into the palanquin with
her monkey. "What are you doing with that horrid monkey?" said the
eldest prince. "Put him out of the palanquin directly." "Indeed I will
not," said the princess. "He is my husband, and I love him." "What!"
cried all the Ranis, "are you married to that monkey?" "Yes," said the
princess. "Then get out of my palanquin at once," said the eldest
Rani. "You shall not ride in my palanquin with that nasty monkey." The
youngest Rani was very glad her son had such a beautiful wife. So the
princess got out, and took her monkey in her arms and walked with him
to the youngest Rani's house, and there they all lived for some time.
Now the little Rani did not know her son was really a beautiful man,
for the princess never told her, as her husband had forbidden her to
tell any one.

One evening Jabhu Raja's servants had a grand nautch in the Raja's
compound, and the Raja and his sons and the neighbouring Rajas all
came to see it. Prince Monkey said to his wife, "I, too, will go and
see this nautch." So he took off his monkey-skin, folded it up and
laid it under her pillow. Then he put on the clothes God had sent him
from heaven the last time he threw the ball, and which he had not
laid on his horse's back when he put his monkey-skin on again, and
when he came among all the Rajas and people who were looking on at the
nautch, they all exclaimed, "Who is that? Who can it be?" He was very
handsome, and he had beautiful hair all gold. When he had stayed some
time, Prince Monkey went quickly back to his wife, and in the morning
he put on his monkey-skin again.

Now the little Rani, his mother, though she was very glad her monkey
son had such a wife, could never understand how it was that her
daughter-in-law was so happy with him. "How could you marry him?" she
used to say to her. "Because it pleased me to marry him," the princess
used to answer. "How can you be so happy with him?" said the mother.
"I love him," said the princess; and the poor Rani used to wonder at
this more and more.

Well, one day there was another nautch, and Prince Monkey went to it;
but he left his skin under his wife's pillow. As soon as he had gone,
she called the little Rani, and said, "See, you think my husband is a
monkey; he is no monkey, but a very handsome man. There is no one like
him, he is so beautiful." The Rani did not believe her. Then the
princess took the skin from under her pillow. "See," she said, "when
your son puts this on, then he is a monkey; when he takes it off he is
a beautiful man. And now, I think I will burn this skin, and then he
must always be a man. What do you say?" "Are you sure it won't hurt
him if you burn his skin?" said his mother. "Perhaps he may die if it
is burnt." "Oh, no, he won't die," said the princess. "Shall I burn
it?" "Burn it," said the little Rani. Then the princess threw the skin
on the fire and burnt it quite up.

Prince Monkey was sitting looking on at the nautch when suddenly his
heart told him his wife had burnt his skin. He jumped up directly and
went home, and when he found his heart had told him true, he was so
angry with his wife, that he would say nothing to her but "Why did you
burn my skin?" and he was in such a rage that he went straight to bed
and went to sleep.

In the morning, while he slept, the princess went to the little Rani,
and said, "Come and see your beautiful son." "I am ashamed to do so,"
said the Rani. "Ashamed to look at your own son? What nonsense! Come
directly," said Princess Jahuran. Then the little Rani went with her,
and when she saw her beautiful son she was indeed glad, and the prince
opened his eyes and saw her, and then he kissed her, and they were
very happy.

The news spread through the compound, and Jabhu Raja and his sons and
everybody came at once to see if it were true. When they saw the
beautiful young prince, with his hair all gold, they could not stand,
but fell down. Prince Monkey lifted his father and loved him, and put
his arms round him, and said, "I am your son, your own son; you must
not fall down before me." "Why did you wear that monkey-skin?" asked
his father. "Because," he said, "my mother ate the mango stone instead
of eating the mango, and so I was born with this skin, and God ordered
me to wear it till I had found a wife." His brothers said, "Who could
have guessed there was such a beautiful man inside that monkey-skin?
God's decrees are good!" And they left off hating their brother,
Prince Monkey.

There were great rejoicings and feasts now, and all were very happy.
The six elder brothers lived always with their father and Prince
Monkey, but none of them ever married.