A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

A farm worker denied a promised marriage mistreats the oxen before leaving. They speak to him—the narrator places their speech shortly after the world’s creation—and offer to prove his claim by refusing food and water after seven days of confinement. One injured animal, called Hornbreak and Stumptail and then Breakstump, refuses to cooperate. The earlier account attributes his broken horn and severed tail to the worker’s violence, although other oxen praise that worker’s care. This tension is retained rather than making the man uniformly kind.

At the others’ suggestion the worker pierces Breakstump’s nose. When the animals are released before the king, they hold that nose up with their horns to prevent him grazing; their upward gaze is explained as calling the sun to witness. The king orders the marriage to proceed. Their testimony combines speech, voluntary fasting and coercion, not a miraculous immunity to hunger. The sun does not itself speak in the scene.

Speaking oxen whose coordinated fast supports a marriage claimBuddhist narrative witness
01

Origins & earliest records

Indian Buddhist narrative preserved in Tibetan translation

02

Records & interpretation

Whole chapter and its footnotes directly read in the digitized1906 edition.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources

    F. Anton von Schiefner, Tibetan-to-German translator; W. R. S. Ralston, English translator · 1906

    XXX, Oxen as Witnesses, pp. 315–320; note cites Kah-gyur vi. ff. 228–231

  2. 02

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources — XXX Oxen as Witnesses

    Anonymous Buddhist narrative tradition; F. Anton von Schiefner and W.R.S.Ralston, mediated translators · 1906

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1906, title-page transcription independently checked. Tibetan Kah-gyur to German by F. Anton von Schiefner, then German to English by W.R.S.Ralston. Complete selectedXXIX–XXXIX314–343, including bothXXXIII variants and all notes, independently read. ChapterXXXVIII read as adjacent corpus context without inventing a new profile; source-language originals not collated.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

Schiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources (London, 1906)

XXX, Oxen as Witnesses. XXX, Oxen as Witnesses, pp. 315–320; note cites Kah-gyur vi. ff. 228–231

Complete chapter and all notes read. Translation’s canonical locator retained; original Tibetan not independently inspected. Actual endings, explicit identities and comparative material kept separate, with no death/kinship/anatomy inferred beyond the telling.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources

Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1906, title-page transcription independently checked. Tibetan Kah-gyur to German by F. Anton von Schiefner, then German to English by W.R.S.Ralston. Complete selectedXXIX–XXXIX314–343, including bothXXXIII variants and all notes, independently read. ChapterXXXVIII read as adjacent corpus context without inventing a new profile; source-language originals not collated.

  1. An orphan labours for a promised marriage, then is repeatedly delayed and denied the bride. Oxen offer to support his claim despite his angry mistreatment of them. Breakstump, named after horn and tail mutilations, resists the plan. The other oxen physically restrain him at the test so that their apparent abstention becomes evidence. The king directs the householder to fulfil the promise.

    XXX Oxen as Witnesses, complete315–320; note Kah-gyurvi.ff228–231

Historical German-mediated English rendering, not independently collated Tibetan manuscript. Page labels from hosted transcription. Religious/moral assertions remain narrative framing. No verse, ritual, prayer, medical preparation or modern adaptation copied.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical translation of Buddhist narrativeSchiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales (1906), XXX, Oxen as Witnesses, pp. 315–320; note cites Kah-gyur vi. ff. 228–231Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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