Cinderella in Tibet (Central Asia)

Again the prince went back to the cemetery. [As before] he said, "My master is Nakazun-a Jiruken; I am the King of the Good and Peaceful Deeds; my net is of nine-fold-twisted steel; my staff is of purple sandalwood; my rope is a fine chain; my knife has a blade that cuts stone; and my provender is inexhaustible. Corpse! Are you coming down or not? I shall cut down your tree." The corpse came down whereupon [the prince] hit him with his staff, put him in his net and hoisted him on his back with his rope. He had walked only ten steps when [the corpse] said, "Prince, Prince! You tell a story, otherwise I will tell a story [for you] to hear." "I know what he is up to," the prince thought and said not a word, so [the corpse said], "Since you won't say anything, Prince, you listen."

In early times at the lower end of a valley lived a great king. In the upper valley lived a woman and her daughter and in their village there lived an ogress with her daughter. One day when the human girl went to the house of the ogress to ask for fire, the ogress and her daughter gave the girl a small piece of a human ear which they had roasted. The girl said, "It tastes very good!" "Come and be our friend," they said. "Even though I want to, my mother will not let me." "If you kill your mother you could come," they said and the girl asked, "How do I kill her?" The ogress instructed her as follows: "Say that you are ill and she will surely ask, 'What is there to cure your illness?' Then you say, 'There is a way to cure my illness but you will never do it.' And when she says, 'If there is a way, no matter what it is, I will do it,' you must say, 'Then you let me hold the millstone and if you beat it with your breasts, that will help me.' She will say, 'If it helps you, my daughter, no matter what it is, I will do it. Let me beat the stone.' And when she says that, hit her with the stone and kill her." The girl did as the ogress had instructed and when her mother was beating the stone she hacked at [her mother's] breasts with the stone and her mother, her breasts severed, died.

The girl said to the ogress and her daughter, "Come quick! I have killed my mother." They both came over. The ogress and her daughter ate the meat and gnawed the bones; the last bits were eaten up by the ogress herself. They gave the girl some tasteless gruel and made her gather firewood and herd the cows. The daughter of the ogress put on the girl's nice boots and clothes and the girl had to wear the old, worm out boots and the clothes of the ogress.

The girl suffered and had to work very hard every day carrying wood and tending the cows, but very soon afterward, her mother was born as a cow of the ogress [to be] where the girl was. All the milk that was taken from that cow turned into cream; all that was churned became butter; that was the kind of cow she was.

After several days the cow said to the girl, "You who have cast away good fortune and bought misery, spread out your apron and go to sleep." The girl spread out her apron and slept until it was evening. She rose quickly and when she looked around, all her wool had been spun; a load of firewood had been gathered, and on her apron was set a large meal. All the cattle were lying quietly having eaten so that their stomachs were bulging more than ever before. After a time had passed and [the girl] had enjoyed this for a few days, the ogress said, "I give meat and butter and sugar to my own daughter; to you I give mixed gruel and you look healthy and fat; why is this?" The girl thought, "If I don't tell her the truth, she will surely kill me." And so she told her, "When our red cow said 'You who have bartered good fortune for misery, spread out your apron and go to sleep,' I spread my apron and then there was a meal prepared, the wool was spun by itself, the firewood gathered, the cows were full to bulging, and I dined. In that way I was satisfied." "Why didn't you say anything sooner? Tomorrow I will send my daughter out. I hardly realized that beggar woman had such powers. Now you stay here; I will send out your elder sister [i.e., my daughter]."

The next day when the daughter of the ogress went out to tend the cows, [the cow said,]"0 daughter, who has bartered good fortune for misery, hold out your apron and go to sleep." The girl lay down and slept but when she arose, in the middle of the apron was [a heap of] cow manure, the wool was all hanging from the tops of the trees, the cows were scattered throughout the valley and so the girl, much distressed by her work, returned very late. "Daughter, why so late?" the ogre mother complained. The [ogre] daughter said to her mother, "When the cow said, 'Daughter who has bartered good fortune for misery, hold out your apron and go to sleep,' I held out my apron, as she said, and went to sleep. On the apron she produced a large [heap] of fresh dung, and tangled the wool in the tops of the trees, the cows were all scattered throughout the valley and so I was very busy and arrived late." "That bad, beggar woman mother, has turned [herself] into this cow; we will kill her."

When the girl went out again the next time, the cow instructed her, "You who have rejected good fortune and bought misery, 0 Daughter, today those two are going to kill me; after the killing is done, you must say, 'I need some parts of my dead mother's flesh; will you give me the four hooves?' Ask for the skin of the four legs and some parts of the intestines. Next use any means to beg the ogre mother for some bits of flesh and whatever she gives you, wrap it in the skin and bury it beneath the door sill."

The ogress killed the cow and said, "Girl, what parts of your mother's flesh do you need?" And the girl asked as she had been instructed, wrapped the flesh she was given in the skin and, without being seen, buried it under the door sill.

After a while it was time for the great fair at the lower end of the valley The ogress and her daughter both dressed up and put on their jewelry The mother set out a full pot of barley and a full pot of mustard seeds; she mixed them together and said, "Girl, if you don't finish pounding this today, prepare for your death." The two of them left.

Suddenly a dove appeared and said, "Girl, who has exchanged good fortune for misery, take out what you buried under the door sill and put on your robe and boots, fasten your belt, adorn yourself with gold and jade and go to the fair." When the girl took out those things, she saw that the skin had become clothing and two of the hooves had become boots, the intestines had become a belt and the other bits of flesh had become gold and jade. She put on the robe and boots and fastened the belt. The other two hooves had become a pair of slippers. These she took and after she had adorned herself with the gold and jade, she went to where the dove was and said, "The clothes and jewelry are very fine but if I do not finish grinding the pot of mustard seeds and the pot of barley, [they] will kill me tonight when they come back." "The mustard seeds and barley I will grind; you go to the fair, only come back a bit early," said [the dove].

The girl went to the fair; she circled the crowd to the right and saw that those two were there begging for something to eat. She then circled against the [direction of the] sun and there saw a great prince who was most handsome of all. She enjoyed herself very much looking at all the things at the fair. Before the crowd dispersed, she hurried home but on the way back she lost one of her slippers while jumping across a stream. When she got home she hid away all her clothes and jewelry. Both the mustard seeds and barley had been ground.

When the prince's horse keeper went out to water the horses, the bay horse did not drink but instead wandered upstream and the keeper followed after it. The horse sniffed out a beautiful slipper, which the keeper picked up, and when the horses were watered, he led them back and gave the slipper to the prince and reported the matter. The prince said, "Yesterday among the crowd was a girl about fifteen years old who had all the signs and marks of a goddess. If she comes again today, since I have found her through [the good offices of] this fine horse, I shall make her my queen and take her into the palace."

When the ogress and her daughter returned, the girl asked, "Did mother and elder sister enjoy themselves when they went to the fair? Who was the most outstanding many Who was the most outstanding woman?" "The prince stood out above all the men and my daughter stood out above all the women. Have you finished grinding the mustard seeds and barley?" said [the ogress]. "I have finished grinding [the whole] bucket full." You are very good. It is all right for you to stay here." The ogre daughter said [then], "We saw a young person going about who resembled you and was beautifully dressed and adorned; I said to my mother that it must be you, but she said that was absolutely impossible, and she was right."

So they went to bed and when they arose the sun was up and they once again mixed a pot full of mustard seed and barley and said, "Grind this without delay," and the mother and daughter [ogres] went off to the fair. Then in a short while a flock of doves arrived and one among them said to the girl, "O Girl, put on your finery of yesterday and take your slipper and go. You will be able to escape the clutches of the ogress." The girl put on her finery, took the slipper in her hand and when she arrived at the gathering a minister of the king held up the slipper [which they had found previously] and said, "Whoever this fits, she will become the wife of the king." But there appeared to be no girl whom the slipper fit. The daughter of the ogress tried her right foot but it did not fit; she tried her left foot and it did not fit; even the tip of her toe did not fit into the slipper. Then finally when no other person whom [the slipper] fit came forth, the girl took off her two boots, slung them onto her shoulder and went up saying, "That slipper is mine. Here is the other one," and she put the two slippers on one after the other. The ogress and her daughter, who were there, saw this and the daughter said, "That girl is the one." And the mother said, "How has she come to have such good fortune?" The girl became the wife of the king.

The ogress and her daughter returned home and there were bird tracks all over the house inside. The seeds and grains were broken open and eaten and the pots were filled with bird droppings. The ogress said, "That woman [i.e., girl's mother] planned to have it this way and this is what has happened. She is surely a female devil reborn as a dove."

After [the girl] became queen, she gave birth to a boy whom they called Jalayu Ardasidl. From the time the girl arrived, there was complete happiness in the land.

After a while the daughter of the ogress arrived saying, "I am visiting my friend." "Let her in," it was ordered, and she was allowed to come in. The queen thought, "When one has power, one must not be haughty," and she had her eat the same food as her own and had her wear the same clothes as her own. A little while later the ogre daughter began to ask questions to deceive [the girl], saying, "Sister! Ah, what do you give to the king? And what do you give to the courtiers?" "Ah, I give the king gruel and the courtiers I honor with the best of the three flavors." "What do you give to the bay horse? What do you give to the dogs Ngang-dkar and Dungchung?" "To the bay horse I give bones, to Ngang-dkar and Dungchung I give horse feed." The ogre daughter then said, "How do you look after your son Ardasidi? And how do you look at the subjects?" "My son Ardasidi I slap once when I go up to him and once when I go away from him. The subjects I look at with a flick of the eye when I go up to them and when I leave them I give them a sidelong glance." "How do you go out the door and down the steps?" "I slam the door and tromp loudly down the steps." "What do you put into the fire?" "I put a solid ball of thread into the fire."

After a while the ogre daughter said, "O Elder [Sister], it would be good if you washed your hair. Let me help you do it. In order to be a queen, you must be well washed. Let me undo your braids." The queen reluctantly agreed and she prepared to wash her head with some water. "Because you are a queen, you should go to the lake [to wash]," said [the ogre daughter] and pulled her along. When they arrived at the side of the lake, [the queen] took off her jewelry and robes and wearing only her shift she bent her head down to wash her hair when the ogre daughter pushed her into the lake. She put on the queen's clothing and jewelry and went back [to the palace].

She made a display of being like the former queen, each time she opened and closed the door she slammed it until it broke, and when she climbed the stairs she stomped [as if to] break them. Whenever she approached or left Ardasidi she would each time give him a slap. She always gave a thin watery soup to the king and the good and nourishing food to the courtiers. To Ngang dkar and Dungchung, the dogs, she gave horse feed and always gave bones to the bay horse. To friends who came from nearby, she was unpleasant and rude; at others, who were from farther away, she looked askance in disdain. She put a solid knot of thread in the embers and so everyday she had to go out to beg someone for fire. The servants began to say amongst themselves: "Ever since the ogre daughter left, the queen's behavior has been odd; her speech and her nature have all changed; can we ever see [our previous] happiness again?"

After a while when the horse herder went to water the bay horse at the usual spring, it did not drink from this place, but struggled to escape toward the lake which it had seen before, drank a bit, and, as its tears were dropping profusely, out of the middle of the lake came a golden lark with turquoise feathers on its head and settled in a tree by the water's edge. It spoke thus: "Ah, is the former queen's respect for the king greater or is the respect of the latter queen greater? Is the care given before to the child Ardasidi greater or the care given later? Is the former queen more solicitous of the subjects or is the latter queen more solicitous? Did the former queen take better care of the dogs Ngang dkar and Dungchung or does the latter queen take better care of them? Did the former owner treat the bay horse better or does the present owner treat him better?" Saying this it went back into the water.

The horse herder watered the horses, then hurried back and reported to the king, "Our bay horse did not drink from the spring but broke away and went toward the lake, and when it drank, it whinnied and shed tears, and a golden lark with a turquoise head appeared, settled on a tree by the lake, and spoke in the following fashion," and he reported carefully all that was said before. The king said, "Tomorrow I shall go to see. My dreams have indeed been bad. The nature of this girl [my wife] has indeed changed."

The next day the king, the prime minister, and the horse herder went to the edge of the lake. The bird, as described [by the herdsman], came out [of the water] and settled on the top of a tree and spoke the same words it had spoken before. The king wept and said, "Please come over here and speak to me; I will listen carefully." The bird landed on the head of the king and [the king] said, "Bird, please come to my hand and speak." When [the bird, resting] on his hand, had spoken as before, the king seized it.

The bird said, "The daughter of mine has committed a great wrong. Let me, this bird, go," and repeated this several times. The king said, "Is there no way? Tell me one. Is there no gift one could prepare? Tell me one. What kind of a disaster has befallen you?" The bird said to the king, "The one who is now in your house is the daughter of an ogress. Through the unpaid debt of a previous life, I was as if lost in darkness and ignorance. That girl lead me to the lake side and pushed me in." She continued, "Now there is possibly a good plan. King, Minister, please do not say that I am here. [Take me] from this place and go to the palace, wrap me in a five colored scarf and put me in the treasure house. Have all the nobles gather to perform the Buyan Keseg and perform the Nasun-u botugel rites for seven days." Build a very large fire saying you are going to make wine; under the place where the daughter of the ogress sits dig a hole large enough to contain her body, next make the sides of it smooth and cover the opening. On top of it put the girl's mat; when she sits on it she will fall head-over-heels into the hole. When this happens, dump in the fire that has been prepared on top of her and she will die. After this, I will be restored to life."

The king and the minister happily prepared all as the girl had told them. As soon as the daughter of the ogress sat on her place, she fell head first [into the hole]. They put the fire in on top of her and she was burned to death. When they went into the treasure house, the other girl was alive again, her beautiful face unmarred as before. The queen [i.e., the girl] came forth and told the subjects, "Cut off the head of the ogre daughter." This she wrapped in a ball of thread as big as a cooking pot. She filled a container full of good things to eat, tied the two to the back of the saddle of the bay horse and she set off for the house of the ogress. She came to her as her own daughter and nicely offered the good food to "her mother" saying, "Have you been well here all alone?" "I have been fine alone. Were you able to trick the queen? The king probably does not know. Were you able to be just like the girl?" Then the girl went upstairs and through a hole in the window let out a length of red silk. She went down again and said, "The king will scold me. Mother, help me to untangle this ball of thread. I must go now." The ogress said, "Farewell! Don't be discovered by the king. Cooperate with the subjects and take care of the child in exactly the same way that girl did." Then with the old woman holding the ball, the girl left taking one end of the thread. When it was nearly run out, she got onto her horse and dashed off pell-mell. When the thread ran out, from inside the bundle the rim of an ear could be seen; making sure what it was, the woman recognized that it was the head of her own daughter. She immediately chased after the girl and just as she was about to catch her, the girl said, "Ogre Mother, it will matter little if you strike me, your house is on fire. [Besides] my horse is fast and you cannot overtake it." The ogress turned to look and saw the red silk fluttering from the window and so turned back. The girl returned to the side of the king. The queen had avenged herself of the evil deeds done her by the ogress and her daughter and she assisted the king to govern his kingdom according to the Law, and their subjects flourished more greatly than ever before.

When the corpse had finished, The King of Good and Peaceful Deeds said, "If the queen had not killed her own mother in the first place, she could have had a very happy life. Of these two, mother and daughter, the mother became a goddess [daginis] and the daughter escaped the jaws of the ogres to become the wife of the king-that was great good fortune." When he said this, [the corpse] cried, "You've spoken to a corpse!" and as sparks flew from the steel net, he struck three times and crying "hur!" was gone from [the prince's] back like a falcon. "I have given myself trouble by not paying attention. If I return [without the corpse], the lama will surely scold me," thought the prince, and so he went off toward the corpses [once again]. Those which cried "ha-la" he struck with his staff and he trod upon those that cried "hulu." Eventually he came to the foot of the tree.