The king and the god (rēḱs deiwos-kʷe) is the title of a short dialogue composed in the Proto-Indo-European language. It is loosely based on the "king Harishcandra" episode of Aitareya Brahmana (7.14 = 33.2). S. K. Sen asked a number of Indo-Europeanists (Y. E. Arbeitman, E. P. Hamp, M. Mayerhofer, J. Puhvel, W. Winter) to reconstruct the PIE "parent" of the text.

• A version mostly based on that by E.P. Hamp appears in the EIEC (1997:503), but replacing Hamp's Lughus with Sen's Werunos:

  To rḗḱs éh₁est. So n̥putlos éh₁est. So rēḱs súhnum éwel(e)t.

  Só tós(y)o ǵʰeutérm̥ (e)pr̥ḱsḱet: "Súh_xnus moi ǵn̥h₁yotām!"

  So ǵʰeutēr
  
  
  
  tom rḗǵm̥ éweukʷet: "Ih_xgeswo deiwóm Wérunom".

  So rḗḱs deiwóm Werunom h₄úpo-sesore nu deiwóm (é)ih_xgeto.

  "ḱludʰí moi, ph_ater Werune!"

  Deiwós Wérunos km̥ta diwós égʷeh_at.

  "Kʷíd welsi?" "Wélmi sú_xnum."

  "Tód h₁éstu", wéukʷet loukós deiwos Werunos.

  Rēǵós pótnih_a súhnum gegonh₁e.

• compare Lehmann's version:

  Pótis gʰe ʔest. Só-kʷe n̥gn̥ʔtós ʔest, sū́num-kʷe wl̥next.

  So ǵʰutérm̥ pr̥ket: "Sū́nus moi gn̥hyotām!"

  ǵʰutḗr nu pótim weukʷet: "Yégeswo gʰi déiwom Wérunom."

  úpo pro pótis-kʷe déiwom sesore déiwom-kʷe yegto.

  "Kludʰí moi, deywe Werune!"

  Só nu km̥ta diwós gʷāt.

  "Kʷód wl̥nexsi?" "Wl̥néxmi sū́num."

  "Tód ʔestu", wéwkʷet lewkós déywos.

  Pótnī gʰi sū́num gegonʔe.

• English translantion:

  Once there was a king. He was childless. The king wanted a son.

  He asked his priest: "May a son be born to me!"

  The priest said to the king: "Pray to the god Werunos".

  The king
  
  
  
  approached the god Werunos to pray now to the god.

  "Hear me, father Werunos!"

  The god Werunos came down from heaven.

  "What do you want?" "I want a son."

  "Let this be so", said the bright god Werunos.

  The king's lady bore a son.

The EIEC spelling largely corresponds to that used in the Proto-Indo-European language article, with h_a for h₂ and h_x for unspecified laryngeals h. Lehmann attempts to give a more phonetical rendering, with x (voiceless velar fricative) for h₂ and ʔ (glottal stop) for h₁. Further differences include Lehmann's avoidance of the augment, and of the palato-alveolars as distinctive phonemes. Altogether, Lehmann's version can be taken as the reconstruction of a slightly later period, after contraction for example of earlier pótnix to pótnī, say of a Centum dialect, that has also lost (or never developed) the augment.

• Sanskrit original:

  athainam uvāca:

  Varuṇaṃ rājānam upadhāva:

  putro me jāyatāṃ, tena tvā yajā iti

  tatheti. sa Varuṇaṃ rājānam upasasāra:

  putro me jāyatāṃ, tena tvā yajā iti. tatheti.

  tasya ha putro jajñe Rohito nāma.

• English translation:

  Then he said to him:

  Have recourse to Varuna, the king, (saying):

  "Let a son be born to me; with him let me sacrifice to thee"

  "Be it so" (he replied). He went up to Varuna, the king (saying)

  "Let a son be born to me; with him let me sacrifice to thee." "Be it so" (he replied)

  To him a son was born, Rohita by name.

References

Sen, S.K., Proto-Indo-European, a multiangular view, JIES 22, 67–90 (1994).

See also

• Schleicher's fable