A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
In Shelton’s tenth tale, a goddess inhabits the tree beneath which the grieving, impoverished Drashup has fallen asleep. Other goddesses live around her in the woods. When a girl is born in a village below, their duty is to cast lots and foretell her marriage, lifespan and death. The tree’s resident invites the others to meet at her dwelling because she has a sleeping guest; their meeting is not described as a visitation inside his dream.
Drashup overhears them predicting that the infant will marry him and die in middle age after eating a sheep’s shoulder. He rejects the prospect of such a marriage and tries to kill the child with an axe, but she survives. Years later she becomes an orphan, travels to his city and meets him. Only after they fall in love does her account of the scar reveal her identity to him. Their marriage thus fulfils the prediction despite his violent attempt to prevent it.
He then reserves every mutton shoulder for himself without explaining the danger to his wife. While he is away, she eats one, falls gravely ill and dies before he returns. The ending presents the goddesses’ forecast as inescapable; it does not show them returning to punish her or physically causing the illness. They are unnamed female divinities associated with particular trees and fortune-casting, with no stated number, appearance, individual genealogy or Tibetan class name. The historical narrative’s fatalism and gendered judgments are not presented as a universal statement of Tibetan belief.
Origins & earliest records
Tibetan narrated traditions, as mediated by the Shelton collection
Records & interpretation
Complete relevant tale, title-page credits, contents and Flora Beal Shelton’s preface read.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Tibetan Folk Tales
Tale 10, pp. 50–54; opening page confirmed against contents, full ending read.
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
A. L. Shelton, Tibetan Folk Tales, edited by Flora Beal Shelton (1925)
English collection. Tale 10, pp. 50–54
Complete shelton10-complete.txt and original hosted HTML retained; contents opening page checked. He then reserves every mutton shoulder for himself without explaining the danger to his wife. While he is away, she eats one, falls gravely ill and dies before he returns. The ending presents the goddesses’ forecast as inescapable; it does not show them returning to punish her or physically causing the illness. They are unnamed female divinities associated with particular trees and fortune-casting, with no stated number, appearance, individual genealogy or Tibetan class name. The historical narrative’s fatalism and gendered judgments are not presented as a universal statement of Tibetan belief.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical translated folktaleShelton, Tibetan Folk Tales (1925), tale 10, pp. 50–54Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.