Question on panchatantra

[Dominik Wujastyk]

Wouldn't this story be accurately referenced in Stith Thompson's 
Motif-Index?

Dominik


On Thu, 8 Mar 2007, Dean Anderson wrote:

> A fellow scholar asked me to post this here:
>
> Dean Anderson
>
>      I am doing important folklore-related research and need to learn 
> some details about a story in the Panchatantra.  I have only read a 
> summary of it in another book and have not yet been able to find a full 
> English translation.  According to the summary I read, two women are 
> traveling together with their infants.  While asleep in a forest, a wolf 
> kills one of the babies, and the mother swaps the corpse for the other’s 
> child while the latter is still asleep.  A dispute ensues, and the women 
> appear at the court of Gopicandra, where they present their case.  A 
> wise parrot advises that the disputed child be cut in half.  The true 
> mother objects. This reveals the authenticity of her claim, and she is 
> awarded the child.
>
> The reference that was given for the story is Vikramodaya, No. 14 in 
> Hertel’s Panchatantra (1914), 154.  However, this reference appears to 
> be inaccurate; and I have not been able to find a version of this story 
> in any of the English translations that I’ve looked through.
>