The Goblin Town
After a while, the sound of voices came to their ears, and they saw a crowd of women approaching. Soon the women came to the place where the men were gathered, and they spoke to them.
"Wherefrom do you come, O travelers?" they asked. "has your ship been broken on the rocks? The men of this island left long ago in a ship and have never returned. Come, then, with us to our homes, O travelers! We will care for you and make you happy."
Such were the alluring words of the women, but even as they spoke, they bound the men with magic chains and, not knowing they were drawn by these chains, the men followed the women to their homes. And so they lived some time in the city and ate the rice which the women prepared for them on golden dishes.
But one night, when all the men were asleep, one of the five hundred awoke and heard strange voices.
"Whose are those voices?" he thought. "Are they not the voices of goblins?"
He silently arose from his bed and hid behind a large stone to watch. He was soon rewarded, for he saw that the women, changed into goblins, were walking through the town.
"It is a goblin-town!" the man exclaimed in horror. "I must tell my companions. We must flee from here."
No sooner were his eyes thus opened than he saw that he was bound with chains.
When morning came, he told his companions what he had seen. Some did not believe him, but the others asked, with trembling voices, "How can we escape?"
"We cannot," the man replied. "With magic chains we are bound."
As he said these words, there was a flash of light, and a white horse descended from the sky and landed before them. And they heard a gentle voice from the sea which said:
A flying horse with silver wings has answered to your call;
Mount on his back, your chains will break, and he will save you all.
And those who did not believe the story of their companion stayed with the women in the goblin-town, but the others flew away to their homes on the back of the silver horse, and they all lived happy ever after.
From The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse, with illustrations by W. Robinson (1897): text.
The Goblin City
Long, long ago, in the island of Ceylon, there was a large city full of nothing but Goblins. They were all She-Goblins, too, and if they wanted husbands, they used to get hold of travellers and force them to marry — and afterwards, when they were tired of their husbands, they gobbled them up.
One day a ship was wrecked upon the coast near the goblin city, and five hundred sailors were cast ashore. The She-Goblins came down to the seashore, and brought food and dry clothes for the sailors, and invited them to come into the city. There was nobody else there at all, but for fear that the sailors should be frightened away, the Goblins, by their magic power, made shapes of people appear all around, so that there seemed to be men ploughing in the fields, or shepherds tending their sheep, and huntsmen with hounds, and all the sights of the quiet country life. So, when the sailors looked round, and saw everything as usual, they felt quite secure; although, as you know, it was all a sham.
The end of it was, that they persuaded the sailors to marry them, telling them that their own husbands had gone to sea in a ship and had been gone these three years, so that they must be drowned and lost for ever. But really, as you know, they had served others in just the same way, and their last batch of husbands were then in prison, waiting to be eaten.
In the middle of the night, when the men were all asleep, the She-Goblins rose up, put on their hats, and hurried down to the prison; there they killed a few men, and gnawed their flesh, and ate them up, and after this orgy they went home again.
It so happened that the captain of the sailors woke up before his wife came home, and not seeing her there, he watched. By-and-by in she came; he pretended to be asleep and looked out of the tail of his eye. She was still munching and crunching, and as she munched she muttered:
Man’s meat, man’s meat,
That’s what Goblins like to eat!
She said it over and over again, then lay down, and soon she was snoring loudly.
The captain was horribly frightened to find he had married a Goblin. What was he to do? They could not fight with Goblins, and they were in the Goblins’ power. If they had a ship they might have sailed away because Goblins hate the water worse than a cat, but their ship was gone. He could think of nothing.
However, next morning, he found a chance of telling his mates what he had discovered. Some of them believed him, and some said he must have been dreaming; they were sure their wives would not do such a thing. Those who believed him agreed that they would look out for a chance of escape.
But there was a kind fairy who hated those Goblins, and she determined to save the men. So she told her flying horse to go and carry them away. And accordingly, as the men were out for a walk next day, the captain saw in the air a beautiful horse with large white and gold wings. The horse fluttered down, and hovered just above them, crying out, in a human voice: “Who wants to go home? who wants to go home? who wants to go home?”
“I do, I do!” called out the sailors.
“Climb up, then!” said the horse, dropping within reach. So one climbed up, and then another, and another, and, although the horse looked no bigger than any other horse, there was room for everybody on his back. I think that somehow, when they got up, the fairy made them shrink small, till they were no bigger than so many ants, and thus there was plenty of room for all. When all who wanted to go had got up on his back, away flew the beautiful horse and took them safely home.
As for those who remained behind, that very night the Goblins set upon them and mangled them, and munched them to mincemeat.
From Jataka Tales by H.T. Francis and E. J. Thomas: page.
The Goblin City
In order to make them imagine that theirs is a city of human beings, they make them see here and there men ploughing and tending kine, herds of cattle, dogs, and the like. Then approaching the merchants, they invite them to partake of the gruel, rice, and other food which they bring. The merchants, all unaware, eat of what is offered. When they have eaten and drunken and are taking their rest, the goblins address them thus: "Where do you live? Where do you come from? Whither are you going, and what errand brought you here?"
"We were shipwrecked here," they reply.
"Very good, noble sirs," the others make answer; "'tis three years ago since our own husbands went on board ship; they must have perished. You are merchants too; we will be your wives. Thus they lead them astray by their women's wiles and tricks and dalliance, until they get them into the goblin city; then, if they have any others already caught, they bind these with magic chains, and cast them into the house of torment. And if they find no shipwrecked men in the place where they dwell, they scour the coast as far as the river Kalyani [Kaelani-ganga] on one side and the island of Nagadipa on the other. This is their way.
Now it happened once that five hundred shipwrecked traders were cast ashore near the city of these she-goblins. The goblins came up to them and enticed them till they brought them to their city; those whom they had caught before they bound with magic chains and cast them into the house of torment. Then the chief goblin took the chief man, and the others took the rest, till five hundred had the five hundred traders, and they made the men their husbands. Then in the night time when her man was asleep, the chief she-goblin rose up and made her way to the house of death, slew some of the men and ate them. The others did the same.
When the eldest goblin returned from eating men's flesh, her body was cold. The eldest merchant embraced her and perceived that she was a goblin. "All the five hundred of them must be goblins!" he thought to himself: "we must make our escape!"
So in the early morning, when he went to wash his face, he bespake the other merchants in these words. "These are goblins, and not human beings! As soon as other shipwrecked men can be found, they will make them their husbands, and will eat us; come — let us escape!"
Two hundred and fifty of them replied, "We cannot leave them: go ye, if ye will, but we will not flee away."
Then the chief trader with two hundred and fifty, who were ready to obey him, fled away in fear of the goblins.
Now at that time, the Bodhisatta had come into the world as a flying horse, white all over and beaked like a crow, with hair like munja grass, possessed of supernatural power, able to fly through the air. From Himalaya he flew through the air until he came to Ceylon. There he passed over the ponds and tanks of Ceylon, and ate the paddy that grew wild there. As he passed on thus, he thrice uttered human speech filled with mercy, saying, "Who wants to go home? Who wants to go home?"
The traders heard his saying and cried, "We are going home, master!" joining their hands and raising them respectfully to their foreheads.
"Then climb up on my back," said the Bodhisatta. Thereat some of them climbed up, some laid hold of his tail, and some remained standing, with a respectful salute. Then the Bodhisatta took up even those who stood still saluting him and conveyed all of them, even two hundred and fifty, to their own country and set down each in his own place; then he went back to his place of dwelling.
And the she-goblins, when other men came to that place, slew those two hundred and fifty who were left, and devoured them.
Note: Divyavadana 524, Karandavyuha 52, Beal, Rom. Leg. 332, a Tibetan version by Wenzel, JRAS 1888 503. The magical Valaha horse is one of the king's seven treasures of Empire in Jataka 479, and one of the chariot-horses of Vishnu in the Mahabharata. The magic horse, which in the Pali is a previous incarnation of Buddha, is also an episode in the tale of Supriya (Divyav. 120), and is there an incarnation of Maitreya, and in the Karandavyua of Avalokitesvara. Wenzel compares the myth of the sirens, and explains the magic horse as a myth of the moon, but Beal as the white crested waves at the change of the monsoon. It is illustrated on the bas-reliefs of the temple of Boro-Boedoer in Java (Leemans, Boro-Boudour, pl. 389, Leide, 1874), and on a railing at Mathura (Anderson, Catalogue of the Indian Museum, i. p. 189).
From The Jataka (vol. 1-6), edited by E. B. Cowell: page.
No. 196. Valahassa-Jataka.
"They who will neglect," etc. — This story the Master told while staying in Jetavana, about a Brother who had become a backslider.
When the Master asked him if it was really true that he was a backslider, the Brother replied that it was true. Being questioned for the reason, he replied that his passion had been aroused by seeing a finely dressed woman.
Then the Master thus addressed him:
"Brother, these women tempt men by their figure and voice, scents, perfumes, and touch, and by their wiles and dalliance; thus they get men into their power, and as soon as they perceive that this is done, they ruin them, character, wealth and all, by their evil ways. This gives them the name of she-goblins.
"In former days also, a troop of she-goblins tempted a caravan of traders and got power over them, and afterwards, when they got sight of other men, they killed every one of the first, and then devoured them, crunching them in their teeth while the blood ran down over both cheeks." And then he told an old story.
~ ~ ~
Once upon a time, there was in the island of Ceylon a goblin town called Sirisavatthu, peopled by she-goblins. When a ship is wrecked, these adorn and deck themselves, and taking rice and gruel, with trains of slaves, and their children on their hip, they come up to the merchants. In order to make them imagine that theirs is a city of human beings, they make them see here and there men ploughing and tending kine, herds of cattle, dogs, and the like. Then approaching the merchants, they invite them to partake of the gruel, rice, and other food which they bring. The merchants, all unaware, eat of what is offered. When they have eaten and drunken, and are taking their rest, the goblins address them thus: "Where do you live? Where do you come from? Whither are you going, and what errand brought you here?"
"We were shipwrecked here," they reply.
"Very good, noble sirs," the others make answer; "’tis three years ago since our own husbands went on board ship; they must have perished. You are merchants too; we will be your wives."
Thus they lead them astray by their women's wiles and tricks and dalliance, until they get them into the goblin city; then, if they have any others already caught, they bind these with magic chains and cast them into the house of torment. And if they find no shipwrecked men in the place where they dwell, they scour the coast as far as the river Kalyani on one side and the island of Nagadipa on the other. This is their way.
Now it happened once that five hundred shipwrecked traders were cast ashore near the city of these she-goblins. The goblins came up to them and enticed them till they brought them to their city; those whom they had caught before, they bound with magic chains and cast them into the house of torment.
Then the chief goblin took the chief man, and the others took the rest, till five hundred had the five hundred traders, and they made the men their husbands. Then in the night time, when her man was asleep, the chief she-goblin rose up and made her way to the house of death, slew some of the men, and ate them. The others did the same.
When the eldest goblin returned from eating men's flesh, her body was cold. The eldest merchant embraced her, and perceived that she was a goblin. "All the five hundred of them must be goblins!" he thought to himself: "we must make our escape!"
So in the early morning, when he went to wash his face, he bespake the other merchants in these words. "These are goblins, and not human beings! As soon as other shipwrecked men can be found, they will make them their husbands, and will eat us; come — let us escape!"
Two hundred and fifty of them replied, "We cannot leave them: go ye, if ye will, but we will not flee away."
Then the chief trader with two hundred and fifty, who were ready to obey him, fled away in fear of the goblins.
Now at that time, the Bodhisatta had come into the world as a flying horse, white all over and beaked like a crow, with hair like munja grass, possessed of supernatural power, able to fly through the air. From Himalaya he flew through the air until he came to Ceylon. There he passed over the ponds and tanks of Ceylon, and ate the paddy that grew wild there. As he passed on thus, he thrice uttered human speech filled with mercy, saying, "Who wants to go home? Who wants to go home?
The traders heard his saying and cried, "We are going home, master!" joining their hands, and raising them respectfully to their foreheads.
"Then climb up on my back," said the Bodhisatta. Thereat some of them climbed up, some laid hold of his tail, and some remained standing, with a respectful salute. Then the Bodhisatta took up even those who stood still saluting him, and conveyed all of them, even two hundred and fifty, to their own country, and set down each in his own place; then he went back to his place of dwelling.
And the she-goblins, when other men came to that place, slew those two hundred and fifty who were left, and devoured them.
~ ~ ~
The Master now said, addressing the Brethren: "Brethren, even as these traders perished by falling into the hands of she-goblins but the others by obeying the behest of the wonderful horse each returned safe home again, so, even so, they who neglect the advice of the Buddhas, both Brethren and Sisters, lay Brethren and lay Sisters, come to great misery in the four hells, places where they are punished under the five fetters, and so forth. But those who abide by such advice come to the three kinds of fortunate birth, the six heavens of sense, the twenty worlds of Brahma, and reaching the state of imperishable Nirvana they attain great blessedness."
Then, becoming perfectly enlightened, he recited the following verses:
They who will neglect the Buddha when he tells them what to do,
As the goblins ate the merchants, likewise they shall perish too.
They who hearken to the Buddha when he tells them what to do,
As the bird-horse saved the merchants, they shall win salvation too.
When the Master had ended this discourse, he declared the Truths and identified the Birth — at the conclusion of the Truths the backsliding Brother entered on the Fruit of the First Path, and many others entered on the Fruit of the First, Second, Third or Fourth — "The Buddha's followers were the two hundred and fifty who followed the advice of the horse, and I was the horse myself."
Footnotes. The modern Kaelani-gaṅgā (Journ. of the Pāli Text Soc., 1888, p. 20). On one side of a pillar in a Buddhist railing at Mathura, is a flying horse with people clinging to it, perhaps intended for this scene (Anderson, Catalogue of the Indian Museum, i. p. 189). Saccharum Muñja.
