VILLAGE FOLK-TALES OF CEYLON

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

ANCIENT CEYLON, 1909. 680 pages, 25s. net.

VILLAGE FOLK-TALES OF CEYLON. Vol. I., 1910. 396 pages. 12s. net.

VILLAGE FOLK-TALES OF CEYLON. Vol. II., 1914. 466 pages. 12s. net.

London

LUZAC AND CO.

Original Title Page.

VILLAGE FOLK-TALES OF CEYLON

Vol. III

Collected and Translated by
H. PARKER
Late of the Irrigation Department, Ceylon

LONDON
LUZAC & CO.
Publishers to the India Office
1914
[All Rights Reserved]

CONTENTS

STORIES OF THE CULTIVATING CASTE

NO. |  | PAGE
178 | Concerning the Friendship of the Hare and the Parrot | 3
179 | The Deer and its Friends | 5
| The Deer, the Jackal, and the Crow (Variant a) | 8
| The Rat and the Turtle that kept the Precepts (Variant b) | 9
180 | The Foolish Bird | 13
181 | The Golden Oriole | 16
182 | The Story of the Vīra Tree Fish-Owls | 18
183 | The Lion and the Bull’s trust in him | 22
184 | The Lizard and the Iguana | 24
185 | The Cobra and the Polan̆gā | 26
| The Widow and the Mungus | 27
185A | The Crab and the Frog | 29
186 | A Louse and a Bug | 30

STORIES OF THE LOWER CASTES

STORIES OF THE POTTERS

187 | The Three Yakās | 35
188 | The Time of Scholars | 38

STORIES OF THE WASHERMEN

189 | The Thief called Harantikā | 41
| The Dexterous Thief and his Son (Variant) | 43
190 | The Story of the Four-fold Trap | 48
191 | The Foolish Prince | 52
192 | The Jackal and the Gamarāla | 54

STORIES OF THE TOM-TOM BEATERS

193 | The Story of Batmasurā | 57
194 | The Story of Ayiwandā | 62
195 | The Gamarāla’s Son-in-law | 71
196 | The Story of the Gamarāla’s Son | 78
197 | The Manner in which the Gamarāla buried his Sons | 84
198 | The Story of the Wooden Peacock | 89
199 | The Wicked Step-mother | 94
200 | The Woman who ate by stealth | 99
201 | The Story of the Bitch | 102
202 | The Elephant Guard | 106
203 | The Elephant-Fool | 110
204 | The Girl who took Gruel | 112
205 | The Boy who went to learn the Sciences | 115
206 | The Prince and the Ascetics | 117
207 | The Turtle Prince | 121
208 | The Gem-set Ring | 127
209 | The Story of the Brāhmaṇa | 136
210 | The Story of a Siwurāla | 141
211 | How the Poor Man became Wealthy | 144
212 | The Story of Mādampē-rāla | 146
213 | Æwariyakkā | 149
214 | The Horikaḍayā Story | 152
215 | The Story of Bahu-Bhūtayā | 155
216 | The Story of Goḷu-Bayiyā | 158
217 | The Yakā of the Akaraganē Jungle | 161
218 | The Four Rākshasas | 166
219 | The Story of the Rākshasa | 173
220 | The Thief and the Rākshasas | 176
221 | King Gaja-Bāhu and the Crow | 183
222 | The Assistance which the Snake gave | 185
223 | The Leveret, or the Story of the Seven Women | 187
224 | The Greedy Palm-cat | 189

STORIES OF THE WESTERN PROVINCE AND SOUTHERN INDIA

NO. |  | PAGE
225 | The Wax Horse | 193
226 | The Three-cornered Hatter | 200
227 | The Gamarāla who went to the God-World | 207
| The Tusk Elephant of the Divine World (Variant) | 209
228 | The Gamarāla who ate Black Fowls’ Flesh | 212
229 | How the Gamarāla drove away the Lion | 217
230 | The Son who was Blind at Night | 220
231 | The Son and the Mother | 223
| The Wicked Daughter-in-law (Variant) | 228
232 | Concerning the Heṭṭi Man’s Son | 230
233 | The Fortunate Boy | 234
234 | How the Daughter-in-law got the Masuran | 240
235 | The Monkey and the Beggar | 243
236 | How the Beggar and the King gambled | 249
237 | The Story of the King | 253
238 | The King who learnt the Speech of Animals | 258
239 | The Mad King | 261
| The Kahawaṇa sowing (Variant) | 262
240 | Concerning the Prince with his Life in his Sword | 265
241 | The Royal Prince and the Heṭṭirāla | 272
242 | Prince Sokkā | 285
243 | The Affectionate Prince | 293
244 | The Prince who received the Turtle Shell | 300
245 | Concerning a Prince and a Kinnara Woman | 304
246 | The Way in which the Prince traded | 310
247 | A Princess and a Prince | 313
248 | Concerning a Royal Princess and Two Thieves | 321
249 | How the Nāgayā became the Princess | 325
250 | The Story of the Cobra’s Bite | 328
251 | How they killed the Great-bellied Tambi | 336
252 | How Mārayā was put in the Bottle | 339
253 | The Woman Pre-eminent in Cunning | 343
254 | Mātalānā | 347
255 | The Five Lies quite like Truth | 352
256 | The Three Truths | 354
257 | The False Tale | 355
258 | The Story of Koṭā | 359
| The Flower-Garden Story (Variant) | 361
259 | The Story of Sokkā | 367
260 | The Giant and his Two Friends | 373
261 | How they formerly Ate and Drank | 380
262 | The Gourd Fruit Devil-Dance | 384
263 | The Ascetic and the Jackal | 386

SOUTH INDIAN STORIES

264 | Concerning the Blind-Eyed Man | 388
265 | The Destiny Prince | 392
266 | The Teacher and his Pupil | 400
| The Teacher and the Bull (Variant a) | 405
| The Brāhmaṇa and the Scholar (Variant b) | 407

SINHALESE TEXTS OF STORIES

| Introductory Remarks | 413
81 | Concerning a Royal Prince and a Princess | 419
126 | The Story of the Seven Wicked Women | 423
134 | The Story of the Rākshasa and the Princess | 424
207 | The Turtle Prince | 426
216 | The Story of Goḷu-Bayiyā | 429
225 | The Wax Horse | 430

APPENDIX

ADDITIONAL NOTES, AND CORRECTIONS

Omitted Incidents        457

Index        459

STORIES OF THE CULTIVATING CASTE

No. 178

Concerning the Friendship of the Hare and the Parrot

In a certain country there are a Hare, and a Mouse-deer, and a Parrot near a river, it is said. The three every day come to the river to drink water.

One day the Parrot said to the Hare, “Friend.”

Then the Hare having said, “What? We two are friends indeed. From our friendship what will be the profit? Should you find and give me a mate we should indeed be friends,” afterwards the Parrot said, “If so, stay there until the time when I come [after] finding a mate for you,” and the Parrot drank water and went away.

On the following day, when the Parrot came he met with a Mouse-deer. Having seen the Parrot the Mouse-deer says, “Friend, where is your friend?”

The Parrot says, “My friend has not come to-day.”

Then the Mouse-deer says, “What friendship with those Hares! If you become friendly with us what things cannot we do!”

Then the Parrot says, “Friend, he is [my] former first friend; now then, I cannot abandon him.”

At that the Mouse-deer having become a little angry went away. Having so gone, the Mouse-deer, seeking the Hare, says to¹ the Hare, “Friend, with that Parrot what friendship! The food which that one eats is different, the place where that one lies down is different, that one is an animal which flies [in the air] above. Are we so? We lie down in one place, we eat one food. Because of it, give up [your] friendship with that one.” At that the Hare became a little angry.

After that, the Mouse-deer, having gone near the Parrot, says, “Take you [to heart] the things that I say, O Parrot-youngster.”

Thereupon the Parrot said, “What, friend?”

The Mouse-deer says, “The sort called Hares at any place whatever are not trusted.”

Then the Parrot asked, “Well then, what are you telling me to do?”

Then the Mouse-deer says, “On account of it, give up your friendship with the Hare.” To that the Parrot did not consent.

After that, the Mouse-deer, having gone near the Hare, said, “Friend, we having been in the midst of this forest, except that there is convenience through the water, through the food there is none. Because of it, let us go into the midst of the villages.”

The Hare also being pleased at this, and having said, “Hā; let us go,” the two together went into the midst of the villages. Having gone there, the two crept into a bush.

A man saw that this Hare and Mouse-deer crept into the bush. Having seen it, the man spoke to yet [other] men, and having brought nets they fixed them. When they had thus fixed them the Hare bounded away; the Mouse-deer was caught.

The Hare having bounded away from there, went to the spot where it formerly stayed at first. After that, it met with the Parrot. Then the Parrot asked the Hare,² “Where, friend, is the Mouse-deer?”

The Hare said, “Friend, men seized the one who tried to break the friendship of us two.”

Then the Parrot says, “Friend, through his going to break our friendship that we [have had] for a long time, danger befel that very one.” Having said it, the friendship of the two was in the very same manner [as before],

Anun nahanḍa yanakoṭa tamumma nahinawā.

While they are going to kill others they die themselves.

North-western Province.

1 Lit., with (ekka), a common form of expression. 

2 Lit., from the hand of the Hare. 

No. 179

The Deer and its Friends

At a certain time there were three years without rain. Because there was no rain, water everywhere was wanting. In the wilderness in the midst of the forest there was water at a single rock-hole. There a Deer drank water.

At the time when the Deer, having eaten and eaten food in the jungle, was going, he met with a Crow. The Crow said, “Friend, you are in health, as though without any want of food or water. For us there is not a drop of water for bathing or drinking. Anē! Merit will be attained.¹ Please tell me also the place where you drink water.” Thereupon he told the Crow the path to the rock-hole in which there is water.

At the time when the two are coming thus and drinking the water, the Woodpecker met them. “Friends, where do you drink water? Merit will be attained; tell me also,” the Woodpecker said. Afterwards they told the Woodpecker the path.

At the time when the three were drinking the water, a Turtle met them. The Turtle also asked, “Friend, where do you drink water? We indeed are going (lit. making) to die. Merit will be attained. Tell us, too, the place where you drink water.” They showed the path to the Turtle also.

Well then, at the time when the four were drinking the water, a Jackal met them. The Jackal says, “Friend, where do you drink water? There is no want of food and water for you, indeed. Anē! Merit will be attained; tell me also.”

[The animals] having shown the path to the Jackal also, while the five were drinking the water there, a Vaeddā having gone hunting also saw the water-hole. He saw that a Deer had drunk water at the water-hole. Having seen it, the Vaeddā thought, “I must catch this Deer.” He set a deer-hide noose there to catch the Deer. Well then, when the Deer was going [there] to drink water, the Deer was caught in that Vaeddā’s deer-hide noose.

The Turtle, and the Crow, and the Woodpecker, and the Jackal, these four friends, having come to drink water, when they looked the Deer had been caught.

Well then, the four having said, “Anē! Our friend who showed us the road to drink water to-day has been caught for killing,” the other three said to the Jackal, “Anē! Friend, you indeed are able to bite this fold of deer-hide.”

The Jackal, thinking, “To-day a good eating has been hung up for me,” said, “Anē! Friend, I am indeed unable to bite the deer-hide fold. My teeth are shaking about.”

Then those three said, “Anē! Friend, don’t tell those lies; you can indeed somehow or other bite it.”

Having said, “Anē! I cannot,” the Jackal lay down at the edge of the jungle. In [every] possible way the three told the Jackal. The Jackal did not bite it at all. Having said [to himself], “I shall obtain the stomach,” he remained silent.

The Turtle was biting and biting [the cord] as much as he could, during that day night-time. On the following day, as it became light, the Crow said to the Woodpecker, “Friend, you go, and when the Vaeddā is preparing to come, make an evil omen (bādā).”

At dawn, the Vaeddā having arisen says to the Vaedi woman (his wife), “Cook a packet of rice, and give me it. I have set a noose. In order to go to look at it.”

At that time the Woodpecker cried out. Then the Vaeddā says, “Bolan, there is a bad omen. Having waited a little time, cook.”²

Afterwards, having waited a little time the woman arose. At that time, also, the Woodpecker cried out. When she was taking the rice also, the Woodpecker cried out, yet the woman having cooked the packet of rice gave it to the Vaeddā.

The Vaeddā taking the axe and taking the packet of cooked rice, at the time when the Vaeddā is going, the Woodpecker having come flying above tells the other friends, “Anē! Friend, now then indeed, we cannot save him. I made evil omens as much as possible; without hearkening to them the Vaeddā is coming.”

Afterwards, the three beseeched the Jackal, and told it [to bite the cord]. Yet the Jackal did not bite it. Having said [to himself], “I shall obtain the stomach,” without speaking he remained lying down.

Then the Vaeddā having come, and seen that the Deer has been caught, hung the packet of cooked rice on a tree, and taking the axe came near the Deer. As he was coming, the Crow tore open the packet of cooked rice. Then when the Vaeddā is coming near the packet of cooked rice, the Crow goes away.

When the Vaeddā is going back near the Deer, again the Crow tears the packet of cooked rice. The Vaeddā, having become angry at it, threw the axe to strike the Crow. The Crow flew away. The axe having struck the Jackal, the Jackal died. Then the Deer, breaking the deer-hide cord, bounded off. Well then, the friends having joined together went away.

The Vaeddā saying and saying, “Anē! Was it the Deer that I got, or the packet of cooked rice I got?”³ went away.

P. B. Madahapola, Raṭēmahatmayā, North-western Province.

The Deer, the Jackal, and the Crow. (Variant a.)

In a certain country, when a Deer and a Crow were friends while a long time was going, one day the Deer met with a Jackal. The Jackal, having seen the Deer, says, “I also should be pleased to be friendly with you. Because of it, are you willing or not?” he asked.

Then the Deer says, “I indeed am willing. I don’t know if the Crow which has become my friend is willing or not.”

Then the Jackal asked the Crow. The Crow says, “I am not willing, but if the Deer is willing, remain,” he said. After that the whole three were friendly. The Crow’s dwelling was in a tree; the dwelling of the other two was under the tree.

One day when the Jackal is going to seek food, having seen a rice field and come back, he says to the Deer, “Friend, let us two go for food. I have seen a good rice field to-day. You eat the rice there; I will eat crabs there,” he said.

The Deer says, “I will not. It is not good to go there; should we go there we shall come into danger,” he said.

The Jackal, on the following day having gone [there] and come back, says to the Deer, “Nothing having been done [to me] there, let us very two go to-morrow.” This Jackal says thus with the intention that having killed the Deer he may eat the flesh.

The Deer, trusting the word of the Jackal, went. Having gone, when he looked there is a paddy field. Having seen it and eaten the paddy (growing rice) that day, he came back. On the following day, too, the Jackal said, “Let us go.” And because the Deer could not break the Jackal’s word, on that day, also, he went.

That day, the man whose field it is, the owner of the field, having come, when he looked saw that deer had eaten it; and having come home, and gone back taking a noose which was twisted from hides, he set it at the gap [in the fence] through which the Deer came.

Thereupon, in order to eat the paddy the Jackal and Deer came to the field. While they were coming [through the fence] the Deer was caught in the noose which had been set. Then the Deer says, “Friend, to-day having come they will kill me. Because of it bite this noose,” he said.

Thereupon the Jackal says, “I cannot. This is Sunday;⁴ how shall I bite hides to-day?” Having said this, the Jackal got hid and waited.

The Crow, also, having seen that the Deer does not come for a long time, the Crow also came to seek the Deer. Having come, when he looked he saw that the Deer had been caught in the noose, and asked, “Friend, what is [the reason of] it?”

And the Deer says, “This indeed is the Jackal’s contrivance. To-day how shall I get free?” he asked the Crow.

The Crow says, “I will tell you a stratagem. At the time when the rice-field owner is coming I will peck at your eye [as though you were dead]. I will caw at a [certain] time. At that time spring up and run away,” he said.

Thereupon the rice-field owner came, taking a cudgel. Having come, when he looked he saw that the Deer, having been caught in the noose, is dead. Then he began the folding up of the noose. When the Crow was cawing the Deer sprang up and ran away.

Having seen the running Deer and thrown the cudgel that was in his hand, [it struck the Jackal, and] at the blow which was struck the Jackal died.

(This is the story as it is found in the Hitōpadēśa, with an antelope in place of the deer.)

North-western Province.

The Rat and the Turtle that kept the Precepts. (Variant b.)

In a certain country there is a river. At the river there is a Rat; in that river there is a Turtle. Every day when this Turtle rises to the surface this Rat is here. The Turtle said, “Friend, what are you [doing] there?” he said.

“I am keeping the Precepts” (of Buddha).

“Is it good for me also to come?” the Turtle said.

This Rat said, “It is very good.” After that the Turtle came.

At the time when these two are keeping the Precepts a Deer came to the river for drinking water. Having seen these two here, “What, friends, are you [doing] there?” [he said].

“We are keeping the Precepts.”

“Is it good for me to come?”

“Anē! It is very good,” they said. After that, the Deer came.

At the time when these three are keeping the Precepts a Crow came flying. The Crow said, “What, friends, are you [doing] there?”

“We three are keeping the Precepts.”

“Would it be good for me to come, too?” he said.

“You [Crows] are not trustworthy.”

“It is true, friend, [regarding the others]; nevertheless there is trustworthiness in me,” he said. Thereupon they said, “Come.” The Crow came.

At the time when these four are keeping the Precepts a Jackal came. Having seen these four the Jackal said, “What, friends, are you [doing] there?”

“We are keeping the Precepts.”

“Would it be good for me to come, too?” he said.

“Your kind are not trustworthy,” they said.

“Yes, it is true [regarding the others]; nevertheless I am trustworthy,” he said.

“If so, come,” they said. Afterwards the Jackal came.

At the time when the five are keeping the Precepts, when the Jackal went for food and went to the Gamarāla’s chena, he saw that there is good corn there, and he said to the Deer, “Friend, there is a good food for you in the Gamarāla’s chena,” he said.

The Deer said, “[For you] to tell me the road let us go together,” he said. The Jackal and Deer, both, having gone, the Deer ate food and filling his belly returned.

On the following day, when the Jackal was going alone to the Gamarāla’s chena the Gamarāla was [there].

This Jackal said, “Doesn’t the corn disappear in this chena? The Deer, indeed, has eaten it. You can’t find the gap [by which he came]; shall I find and show (lit., give) you it?”

The Gamarāla said “Hā.”

“Here, look; the gap. Having made the noose, and seized and killed it, you must give me meat,” he said. The Gamarāla made the noose.

On the following day, when the Deer went to eat food on the high ground, he was tied in the noose. When the Jackal went he had been tied. The Jackal went near the Gamarāla [and told him].

The Crow said, “Our friend went for food; why has he not come?” When he went to look, having seen that he had been tied in the noose, he said to the Rat, “Friend, that friend of ours went to eat food; having been tied in the noose he is unable to come.”

After that, the Rat having gone cut the noose. He said to this Deer, “Remain lying down in the grass field,” he said. (To make it appear to be dead the Crow perched on the body of the Deer.)

When [he saw that] this Crow had perched on the back of the Deer, that Gamarāla says to the Jackal, “To-day indeed he has died.”

When this Gamarāla was going near the Deer, the Deer, having said “Hū,” bounded away. Then the Gamarāla struck the Jackal [with his axe]. The Jackal says, “Not being obedient [to the Precepts], an axe-thunderbolt struck me,” [and died].

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In The Jātaka, No. 16 (vol. i, p. 49), a deer that was snared is described as shamming death⁵ as in the second of these tales, and escaping when the hunter unfastened the noose.

In the Jātaka tale No. 216 (vol. ii, p. 106), when an antelope, a woodpecker, and a tortoise (turtle) lived near a lake, a hunter caught the antelope in a leather noose. While the tortoise endeavoured to gnaw through the leather, the woodpecker went off to make evil omens and delay the hunter in the early morning. It did this by uttering a cry, flapping its wings, and striking him in the face as he opened the front door of his hut. He thought “Some bird of evil omen has struck me,” so he turned back and lay down for a short time. By repeating this at the back-door the bird made the man remain at home till sunrise. When at last he approached the antelope the tortoise had gnawed through all but one thong; the antelope burst this and escaped. The jackal is not introduced into this version, which being illustrated in the early Bharahat reliefs is of earlier date than 250 B.C.

In Le Pantcha-Tantra of the Abbé Dubois, a crow, a rat, a turtle, and a gazelle formed a friendship together. When the gazelle was caught the rat brought others and gnawed through the nets and saved it. Afterwards when the rat and turtle were likely to be seized, the gazelle led the hunters away, and its friends escaped. The jackal is not mentioned.

In the Hitōpadēśa a crow, a rat, a turtle, and an antelope were friends; a hunter caught the turtle and tied it to his bow in order to take it home. By the rat’s advice the antelope feigned death, the crow perched on it, and while the hunter went with his knife to the antelope the rat gnawed in two the string that held the turtle, which at once plunged into the water; the antelope then ran off. In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 52, a mouse takes the place of the rat.

1 Pin sidda-weyi, a common expression of beggars when asking alms. 

2 In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 285, it is stated that “an evil omen presenting itself to people engaged in any undertaking, if not counteracted by delay and other methods, produces misfortune.” One of the other methods was a drinking bout (see the same work, vol. i, p. 331). 

3 That is, “I lost the deer in order to save the packet of rice.” 

4 Sunday is not a good day for beginning any new work; of course this has no connection with the idea of the Christian sabbath. Wednesday and Saturday are the most unlucky days of the week. Thursday is the luckiest one for all purposes. (See vol. ii., p. 192.) 

5 Partially trained cart-bulls, the little black humped ones, often pretend to be dead in order to avoid drawing a cart, and I have seen a wounded jackal and crocodile escape after behaving in this manner; I am not aware that deer act thus. (See Tennent’s Nat. Hist., p. 285.) 

No. 180

The Foolish Bird¹

In a certain country a hen bird laid eggs on a rock; when she was there a considerable time young ones were hatched from the eggs. While the young ones are on the rock, the bird having come [after] seeking food, gives it to the young ones.

One day, when the bird was going seeking and seeking food, there was a Mī tree² in the jungle. The Mī flowers of that Mī tree had fallen on the ground. The bird, gathering the flowers, and having come and spread them out on the rock on which were the young ones, said to the young ones, “Children, until the time when I come [after] seeking food for you, look after these.”

Afterwards the young ones, having said “Hā,” stayed looking in the very direction of the Mī flowers. The bird went to seek food.

The sun’s heat having fallen on them, [through their] drying and drying up the Mī flowers became extremely less; when one looked the Mī flowers were not even to be seen.

The bird seeking food and having come, when she looked there were no Mī flowers. Having said, “The young birds ate them, indeed,” she asked the young ones about it. The young birds said, “We did not eat them.”

The bird having become angry and said, “If ye did not eat them, who ate them?” struck all the young birds on the rock and killed them.

Then the white lotus throne of Śakra, the Divine King, having become hot, he rained a rain. When it was thus raining it soaked those Mī flowers that had dried up, and [as they expanded again] the rock was filled with them in the same manner as before.

The bird having been looking on, said, “Anē! My foolishness in killing my children!” and called her children. She called them in the manner of verse:—

They dried and dried until they shrank; my children on the rock I’ve slain.

King Śakra’s eyes divine beheld; he rainèd down a flowery rain.

Then in the very form they had, a rock was filled with flowers again;

But crying, “Son! My callow ones!” your mother called to you in vain.

That indeed. Now also, those birds saying “Kuṭurun, Son, Son!”³ call them.

North-western Province.

The text of the verse is:—

Wēli wēli aḍu-wena turu, daruwan galē gaesuwā.

Saek rajunē diwas balā, mal waessak waessā.

Etakoṭa mal tibunu lesama galen ekak pirunā.

“Pubborun, putē,” kiyā, ammā an̆ḍa-gaesuwā.

In a variant by a Tom-tom Beater the verse is:—

Blossoms of jungle tree I saw and brought, and on the rock I strew.

They dried and dried until they shrank; my children then I beat and slew.

Now, crying, “Kuṭuru, Son, ku!” your mother vainly calls to you.

Kaelē gasē pub daekalā, galē genat waenuwā.

Wēli wēli aḍu-wena turu, daruwan gasalā maeruwā.

“Kuṭuru, pute, ku,”³ kiyā, ammā a[n̆]ḍa-gasati.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, p. 228, two pigeons collected ripe fruits and filled their nest with them. During drought which followed they shrank considerably; the male pigeon charged the female with eating them alone, and although she denied it he said, “If it were not that you have eaten them alone how could they have decreased?” and pecked her to death. When rain which fell afterwards caused the fruits to enlarge to their former size, the bird saw it, and felt remorse, and “then began to call his female with plaintive cries.”

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. iv, p. 117) there is a similar story. A pair of pigeons collected a store of wheat and barley during winter, but when summer came it was shrivelled with the heat, and shrank. The male pigeon charged the hen with eating it; when she denied it he beat and pecked her till he killed her. In the next cold season the grain swelled out again as at first; and the male pigeon, seeing that the hen was innocent, mourned over her, refused food, and died of grief. Sir R. Burton refers also to a variant in the Book of Sindibād, and Kalilah and Damnah.

In the last line of the text of the verse on the preceding page, if Kuṭuru be corrected to Kūṭuru, and if the bird’s cry is to be interpreted, the meaning might be, “[my] falsehood is great, O Son, [and my] guilt.”

1 Another title is, “The Story of the Female Turtle Dove.” 

2 Bassia longifolia. 

3 An imitation of the notes of the Turtle Dove (Turtur suratensis). 

No. 181

The Golden Oriole

At a certain time, a Golden Oriole having perched on a tree, while it was [there] reflected, “On account of my [golden] colour when shall I obtain a food [suitable] for me?”

At the time when he was thinking thus, he saw that a fruit on a Jak-tree had ripened. Then a crow having come, dug into that very Jak-fruit. Thereupon the Golden Oriole, being pleased, laughed. Then after the crow flew away the Golden Oriole went near the Jak-fruit, and taking a section from it flew away.

Putting away somewhere the food possessing the [golden] colour equal to his colour, he sang songs.

He saw near there a King-Coconut tree, and thinking, “The fruit and flowers on the King-Coconut tree, and I, and my food are of one [golden] colour,” he was pleased.

Having perched on the King-Coconut tree, while he was eating the section of Jak a Crested Eagle, flying above, seizing the Golden Oriole for the purpose of the Crested Eagle’s food, flew aloft [with him].

While it was flying [away with him] the Golden Oriole says, “For the fault that I committed (i.e., the pride in his personal appearance), taking me let us go flying still higher,” he said to the Crested Eagle. Thereupon the Crested Eagle having killed the Golden Oriole ate him.

North-central Province.

This story reminds me of a little tragedy that I witnessed many years ago at Anurādhapura. While I was sitting in the veranda of the Rest-house, my attention was attracted by a friendly Black Robin (Thamnobia fulicata), a bird in habits much like the common Robin of Europe and with the same trustful confidence in man. After picking up insects on the ground close to the veranda it flew up, and perching in the shade on the lower branch of a tree a few feet distant from me, in the full enjoyment of its innocent life uttered a happy little song. Suddenly, in the midst of its notes there was a downward rush of a dark bird from behind, and in an instant the hapless Robin was being carried away in the merciless claws of a Sparrowhawk which must have been hidden in another part of the tree. The hawk was merely fulfilling the Law of Nature; the strong always devours the weak, without pity.

In A. von Schiefner’s Tibetan Tales (Ralston), p. 355, a crow which uttered agreeable (that is, auspicious) sounds when a woman’s husband was absent on a journey, was promised a golden cap by her if he returned safe and sound. When he came back in health and the crow repeated the agreeable sounds, she gave it the cap, and the crow put it on and flew about proudly with it. A falcon, seeing the cap, then tore off the crow’s head on account of it (apparently because it coveted the gold).

No. 182

The Story of the Vīra Tree Fish-Owls¹

There was a certain Bakarāwatā City. At the same city seven Fish-Owls who were friends dwelt at one place. Out of them the name of one was Rāwanā-Face; [the names of the others were] Great-Fisher, Long-Boned-One, Dumb-One, Trap-Setter, Noisy-Drummer, Big-Fool.²

While they are in friendship in this way, without a marriage, one day, having called the others, [one of them] said thus:—“The whole of us are beings possessing much dignity. Because of it, let us summon a woman [as wife] for the whole seven of us.”

Having [thus] talked, for the purpose of asking for the daughter of King Moṭānis [in marriage] the two called Noisy-Drummer and Trap-Setter having gone to Kurupiṭi City, and perched on the portico (toraṇa) near the palace of King Moṭānis, cried with the sound, “Ūm, Ūm.”³

At that time the King having come out, and perceiving, because he knows the Fish-Owl language, the matter for which they called out [to him], the King asks them, “What is the business that ye do? Your livelihood being of a different sort, how is it?” he asked Noisy-Drummer.

Thereupon he says, “O King, Your Majesty, it is I indeed whom in Bakarāwatā City they call Noisy-Drummer. In the same city the Minister of King Kuru am I.”

Then the Fish-Owl called Trap-Setter says, “I am the son of King Moṭābā, who is near the same city,” he said.

Thereupon the King says, “Unless King Moṭābā will give marriage to you, we are unable [to do] so.” Having said, “Ye are of the lower animals” (tirisannu), he abused them, and drove them away.

After that Noisy-Drummer and Trap-Setter came to Bakarāwatā City, [and told the others of the failure of their mission]. While they were there, to Noisy-Drummer the other five say, “Ye fools! When ye asked for marriage in that way will they give it?” Having said [this], they quarrelled [with them]. What was that for? Because King Moṭābā is not an overlord of lineage,⁴ if they had asked for the marriage from an overlord of lineage it would be good. Having said [this], they five quarrelled with them.

After that, the two Fish-Owls called Great-Fisher and Long-Bones went to Sulambāwatī City in order to ask for [marriage with] the Nadakāra Kumārī,⁵ the daughter of King Aṭṭapāla.

While they were there, sitting upon the porch of the palace of King Aṭṭapāla, Long-Bones called out, “King Aṭṭapāla!”

After that the King having come, when he asked, “What is it?” as they were sitting upon the porch Long-Bones spoke to the King, “We came to ask for a marriage.”

At that time, King Aṭṭapāla asks Great-Fisher, “Is this one thy brother, or thy friend?”

Thereupon Great-Fisher says, “O Lord, this is our Long-Bones; he is my eldest brother. He is a person of the royal race. Just now, as we got cold in the head many days ago, our faces have become heavy [looking],” he said.

After that, when the King asked them, “How do you get a living?” they say, “Aniccan̥ dukkhan̥!⁶ When Your Majesty is ruling you obtain all things, and get a subsistence [in that way]. We are not thus. For us seven brothers, at one place there are rice-fields [extending] over sixty yālas.⁷ At yet [another] place there are nine amuṇas. The others indeed I am unable to mention separately. The whole [of the cultivators] of these rice-fields having come near us, after having asked [permission from] us work [in them], and bring and give the paddy at our very house.” He wove and told a great many [such] lies.

Having said, “It is good; I will give my Princess to thee. Come thou into the palace to look if she is beautiful,” the King went inside the palace. At that time they also went.

When he was threatening them,—“Now then, I will give ye a good marriage now!” becoming afraid, and having said, “There is no need of this marriage for us,” they sprang off; and having gone even to Bakarāwatā City, they say to the others, “The King of that city is an extremely wicked one (wasa napurek). He abused and disgraced us in many ways,” they said.

Thereupon, Big-Fool says, “Ye are fools! If you went to a place where there is [good] lineage, and asked for a marriage, they will give it. By asking for a marriage from persons without lineage, will they give it?”

Having said this, these two called Rāwanā-Face and Dumb-One also went for the purpose of finding the marriage. While they were journeying thus, they arrived near the Sun, the Divine King. While they were there, having seen the Sun they say thus, “O Lord, we came to ask to take in marriage for us Your Majesty’s daughter, that is, Paduma Kumārī,” they said.

Thereupon the Sun asked, “Of what lineage are ye, Fish-Owls?”

“We are of Brāhmaṇa race,” they said.

Thereupon the Sun, the Divine King, having become angry, scolded them and drove them away.

Then, having turned back and come to their own house, they say falsely in this way to the others, that is, “There is indeed a marriage. Because [our] country is far away he says he cannot give it,” they said.

After that, Big-Fool says, “No one of you is able to bring a [bride in] marriage. I must go.”

Tying up a package of cooked rice, and having gone quite alone to Toṭagamu City, and seen the King of the city, he got hid; and firstly having gone near the Fish-Owls of that city, he inquired, “How many daughters of the King are there?” Having looked, he ascertained that there are seven.

Thereafter having gone near their palace, he cried out for the King to hear, “Will you give the youngest of the seven, Princess Sunumallī?”

Princess Sunumallī having heard the voice, came outside and looked. Thereupon desire for the Fish-Owl having stirred her mind, secretly calling him near her they conversed; and he having been there many days, and thereafter having got hid, these two went to Bakarāwatā City.

While there, this Princess was [the wife] in common for the whole seven; but because they were of the lower animals no children were born to her. To get medical treatment for it one of them went away, and when he asked the Vedarāla (doctor) of Kukkāpiṭiya, the Vedarāla said, “Taking Black Cummin seed and White Cummin seed at the rate of four lāhas (one-tenth of an amuṇa, of about six bushels), and having ground it, [you are] to give it to her to drink with human urine,” he said.

He having come home, in that manner the whole seven together made the medicine in the very way the Vedā said, and gave it to her to drink. Thereupon, through the [quantity of the] four lāhas, she burst open and died.

After that, these seven having become very sorrowful, Long-Bones being unconscious, and Rāwanā-Face splitting his head, and Great-Fisher having jumped into the well, and Noisy-Drummer having jumped into the sea, and Dumb-One having cut his throat (neck), and Big-Fool having fallen from the top of a tree, [all these] died, Trap-Setter alone being left over. He, taking afresh a female Fish-Owl [as his wife], lived.

North-western Province.

This story is an evident satire, making fun of people who go about endeavouring to contract unsuitable marriages with the members of families much higher than their own in descent or position. The village medical practitioner is also parodied.

1 Ketupa ceylonensis. The tree is Hemicyclia sepiaria. 

2 The Sinhalese names are, Mūnā-Rāwanā, Pari-kewullā, Dikaeṭayā, Goḷuwā, Aṭawannā, Nādakāra-Panikkiyā, Baka-mōḍayā. 

3 The ordinary call of this Fish-Owl; to be sounded through the nose, with the lips closed, the second note on a lower key than the first. 

4 Wan̥sādipatiyek. 

5 Delight-making Princess. 

6 See p. 64. 

7 About 2,800 acres, at two and a half bushels of sowing extent per acre. The yāla is 20 amuṇas, each 5.7 or 6 bushels. 

No. 183

The Lion and the Bull’s Trust in Him

A Jackal having seen that a Lion and a Bull are friendly, the Jackal went and asked the Bull, “Friend, how am I also to be friendly with you two?” Concerning it the Bull said, “You cannot.”

The Jackal being angry with the Bull because of it, thinking, “I must break the friendship of the Bull and the Lion,” went one day, and said to the Lion, “O Lord, Your Majesty, your friend the Bull said at my hand regarding you, ‘However much ability of that Lion there should be to do things, [after] taking and sifting out my share of it, should it be taken away the Lion will be destroyed.’ ”

After that, the Jackal, having gone again near the Bull, said, “Anē! Friend, the Lion says of you, ‘However much prowess and might of that one’s there should be, should I once make the Lion’s roar the other animals die, putting that one [out of consideration].’ ”

Thereupon the Bull having said, “When we have remained on good terms such a time, if he says that of me I also am willing to fight with him.”

Having come near the Lion he said, “We two remained on good terms such a time. Because of [what you have said], to-day we must die.”

When he was fighting with the Lion the Lion made the Lion’s roar. When he was making the Lion’s roar the Bull came and gored him. In this way, on account of the Lion’s roar the Bull died,¹ and the Bull having gored him the Lion died.

After that, having said these false slanders and pushed the quarrel, the Jackal who had caused them to be killed having come after these two died, and having said, “He was unable through haughtiness to take me as his friend; how about it now?” ate the mouth from that one and the mouth from this one. While eating them, having summoned still [other] Jackals, and said, “I did such a clever deed; what did ye?” he laughed. “If ye also want, eat ye,” he said.

Central Province.

In the Jātaka story No. 349 (vol. iii, p. 100), a jackal in order to taste their flesh, set a friendly lion and bull at variance. “He said, ‘This is the way he speaks of you,’ and thus dividing them one from another, he soon brought about a quarrel and reduced them to a dying condition.” When a King came to see them, “the jackal highly delighted was eating, now the flesh of the lion, and now that of the bull.” This story, being included in the Bharaḥat carvings must be of earlier date than 250 B.C.

In the Hitōpadēśa, as the lion was afraid of the bellowing of a bull that was abandoned on a journey, two jackals persuaded the bull to appear before the lion, which became friendly with it. Afterwards the jackals, determining to get the bull destroyed as it induced the lion to curtail their supply of meat, informed both the lion and bull that the other intended to kill it. When the bull approached the lion they had a long fight in which the lion was victorious. The same story is given in the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 27. In Le Pantcha-Tantra of the Abbé Dubois, p. 30, the story is nearly the same.

In Sagas from the Far East, p. 192, a lioness before dying advised her cub and a calf she had reared to live together in peace. A fox which became jealous of the calf told it and the young lion false tales of their mutual intentions, and when they met they killed each other.

In A. von Schiefner’s Tibetan Tales (Ralston), p. 325, the calumniator was a jackal. In the same work, p. 328, there is a variant in which the friendly animals were a lion and tiger which a jackal set at variance. When about to attack each other they spoke, ascertained that the whole quarrel was due to the jackal’s falsehoods, and the lion thereupon killed it. This story is given in Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, pp. 233 and 425; in the latter example a lion and bull killed each other.

In Fables and Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest (Skeat), p. 30, a mouse-deer in the same way induced two bulls to fight, and when one was killed the deer feasted on the flesh, after frightening away a tiger that wanted to share it with him.

1 In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, p. 339, a jackal’s heart broke into seven pieces on hearing several lions roar. 

No. 184

The Lizard and the Iguana

At a certain time a small Lizard¹ and an Iguana² became friends it is said. In this state they remained for much time. During the time while they were thus, these two quarrelled; having quarrelled, both struck each other with their tails. When they were striking each other the small Lizard lost. The Lizard, having sprung aside, was panting and panting. There was an ant-hill there; the Iguana crept into the ant-hill.

A Vaeddā from a distant place when walking about for hunting, not meeting with game is coming away. While he is coming, this panting Lizard asked, “Friend, where are you going?”

Then the Vaeddā said, “Friend, I went hunting, and did not meet with game.”

After that, the Lizard says, “Friend, an Iguana having dropped into this ant-hill is staying in it. Break it open, and take it.”

Then the Vaeddā, having gone to his village and brought a digging hoe, goes breaking and breaking open the ant-hill. Thereupon the Iguana also, digging and digging, goes on in front [of him]. The Vaeddā, a half-day having passed [in this way], took much trouble over this.

When he had been digging for a great distance he did not meet with the Iguana. Thereupon, anger on account of [getting] no game, and anger on account of the trouble [he had taken uselessly] having seized the Vaeddā, and having become angry also at the Lizard, he struck the Lizard with the digging hoe that was in the hand of the Vaeddā. The Lizard rolled over and died.

Owing to the injustice through which he went to kill his friend, he himself died.

North-western Province.

In the Jātaka story No. 141 (vol. i, p. 303), a chameleon induced an iguana-trapper to kill a number of iguanas by digging out their burrows because he found his friendship with one of them troublesome.

1 Kaṭussā. 

2 The Monitor Lizard (Varanus dracaena). 

No. 185

The Cobra and the Polan̆gā

At the time of a drought there was not even a little water for a Cobra to drink, it is said. Well then, when the Cobra went to a village, a little child at a house was playing with the water in a large bowl. The child’s mother was not at home.

The Cobra having gone there, while it is drinking the water the child throws water out of the coconut shell on the Cobra’s head, and strikes it with hand and foot. On account of it nothing angry is aroused in the Cobra; having drunk its belly full of water it goes away.

Thus, in that manner, when the Cobra was going drinking and drinking the water for two or three days, one day it met with a Polan̆gā.¹ The Polan̆gā asked, “Where, friend, do you drink water?”

The Cobra said, “I drink it nowhere whatever. In this drought where is there water for anyone to drink?”

Again the Polan̆gā said, “Friend, do not you say so; you have drunk. Tell me also the quarter where you drink.”

After the Cobra had continued not telling it, it afterwards said, “At such and such a house a little child is playing and playing with the water in the bowl. Having gone there, as I drink the water the child throws water on my head with the coconut shell, and strikes me with hand and foot. Not becoming angry at all, I drink and come away. You, indeed, will be unable [to restrain yourself]. If you can [remain] without doing anything [to the child], go and drink, and come away.”

The Cobra having sent the Polan̆gā, went behind, and having got hid, while it remained looking on [the child] throws water on the [Polan̆gā’s] head with the coconut shell, and strikes it with hand and foot. Until the time when the Polan̆gā drinks its belly full, it remains doing nothing [to the child]. After it drank it bit the crown of the child’s head. At the blow the child fell into the bowl as though dead.

The Cobra having come running, sucked the poison from the crown of the child’s head, and having made it conscious pursued after the Polan̆gā. Having joined the Polan̆gā it bit and killed it.

From that day the Cobra and Polan̆gā are opposed.

North-western Province.

The Widow and the Mungus

I have not met with this tale as a true village folk-story, but it was related as one of the episodes in the series of tales included under the title of “The Four Paṇḍitayās,” in which various stories were told in order to induce a King not to execute the youngest Paṇḍitayā for wiping off the Queen’s body a drop of blood which fell on her at night when he cut in two a cobra that was about to bite the King. The whole story is an Indian one.

The account given to me is as follows:—[The Paṇḍitayā said,] “O Lord, Your Majesty, I myself will tell you a story, be pleased to hear it.” Having said this he began thus:—“At a time, at a city a widow-mother reared a Mungus. The widow-mother alone takes firewood and water home. One day the woman having placed her child in the house, while the Mungus stays there she went for firewood. Having gone for firewood, when she was returning, the Mungus,² having blood smeared on its body and head, came in front of the widow-woman. The woman thought that having indeed bitten her child it came here. At the time when through anger at it she struck the Mungus with the firewood sticks that were in her hand, causing it to fall, it died.

“When she came home, having seen that the Mungus had bitten in pieces a Polan̆gā which came to bite (lit., eat) the child, she said, ‘Anē! If not for my Mungus the Polan̆gā would have bitten my child. Now, not making inquiry I killed the Mungus, the Mungus!’ and having become grieved she died. After her death the child also died.”

P. B. Madahapola, Raṭēmahatmayā, North-western Province.

In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 213, Mr. H. A. Pieris gave this story, the widow killing the Mungus with the rice pestle, and in the end committing suicide.

In the Hitōpadēśa and Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, p. 300, the story is similar, the owner of the animal being a Brāhmaṇa, who was overwhelmed with grief when he realised what he had done.

Regarding the supposed enmity between the Cobra and Polan̆gā, Capt. R. Knox wrote, “if the Polonga and the Noya meet together, they cease not fighting till one hath kill’d the other.” (Hist. Rel., p. 29.) In my own experience I have seen nothing to support this belief; but as both snakes live on similar food it is probable that on their casually meeting when in search of it the stronger or fiercer one will drive the other away, and occasionally this may result in a fight.

1 Daboia russelli, the most venomous snake in Ceylon. 

2 Lit., by the Mungus. 

No. 185a

The Crab and the Frog

At a certain time for a certain Frog food became deficient. Having gone near a certain Crab he brought paddy. He having brought the paddy, after not much time had gone the Crab asked the Frog for the [repayment of the] paddy debt. Then the Frog said, “I will afterwards give [you] the debt.”

For the Frog’s getting two from the naeliya¹ that holds four patas, the Crab falsely asked for seven.

So the Frog in this fashion swears:—“By Karagama Devi, by the one daughter of mine, out of the naeliya of four patas [it was], two, two, two, two.”²

Then the Turtle, being there, says from a side, “If [you] got them, give; if [you] got them, give.”³

Notwithstanding this, the Frog did not give them.

North-western Province.

1 A dry measure said by Clough to be about three pints wine measure. See the Additional Notes at the end of this volume. 

2 Karagama Devi pal, eka mage duwa pal, hatara pata naeliyen dek, deka, deka, deka. Lit., “the protection of Karagama Devi,” etc. The oaths of this kind most commonly heard are ammā pal, “by [my] mother,” and aes deka pal, “by [my] two eyes.” But ammappā pal, “by [my] mother and father,” and maha poḷowa pal, “by the great earth,” are not unusual. 

3 Gattā nan̥ dī, gattā naṇ dī. All these are imitations of the voices of croaking frogs, the first being the rapid and shriller cries of the small frogs, and the second the deeper and slower calls of the larger frogs. 

No. 186

A Louse and a Bug

In a certain country, at a King’s palace there is a delightful bed for reclining on. There was a female Louse which dwelt among the exceedingly white sheets spread on the bed. And that female Louse, drinking blood on the body of the King, passed the time in happiness.

At that time, one day a certain Bug walking anywhere came to the bed. At that time the White Louse said with a displeased countenance, “Embā! O meritorious Bug, because of what camest thou to this place? Before anyone gets to know about it go thou quickly from here.”

At that time the Bug said, “Embā! O meritorious female, although [addressed even] to a wicked person who came to the house, speech like this is not proper. Whether of acrid taste, bitter taste, or sour taste, the fault of [requiring] food being the cause, various kinds of blood of several low men were sucked and drunk by me. By me at any time a sweet blood was not drunk. On that account, sitting down, if thou art willing, [the desire of] very sweet food being the cause, by sucking for myself thus, betimes, the blood—any blood, be it inferior—on the body of this King, to-day I shall dwell in happiness. Therefore, to me who, not having obtained food, came to the house, may you be pleased to give this very food. The drinking this King’s blood solitarily, by thee only, is not proper,” he said.

Having heard that, the Louse said, “O meritorious Bug, I suck and drink the blood of this very King who has gone to sleep. If thou swiftly shouldst be drinking the blood with me, thou wilt drink much blood.”

Having heard that, the Bug said, “O meritorious female, I will not do in that way; while thou drinkest the blood I will not drink. In the presence of this excellent King I will do it till full.”

While both of them were talking in this way they approached the King’s bed. Thereupon the Bug having arrived at great greediness, bit the King.

At that time the King having arisen from the bed and gone, said, “There are bugs in the bed; wipe it down to clean it.”

The servants having come there, and at the time when they looked having seen the White Louse, killed it. The Bug crept into a corner of the bed [and escaped].

Ūva Province.

STORIES OF THE LOWER CASTES

STORIES OF THE POTTERS

No. 187

The Three Yakās

In a spacious great city three Yakās were born. Well then, the three Yakās spoke together: “Let us three Yakās go to the school of the Chief of the Yakā forces (Yaksa Sēnādipotiyā),¹ to learn letters.”

After they learnt letters the three spoke together: “Let us go to learn the sciences.” The three having walked along the path came to the travellers’ shed at the place where there are again three paths. The three spoke together. One said, “I will learn the science of killing a man.” One said, “I will learn the science of causing [re-]birth.” The other said, “I will learn to do magic.” In the hand of one Yakā [was] the sword; in the hand of one Yakā, the betel-cutter; in the hand of one Yakā, the axe.

Those three Yakās said, “You go on that path; I will go on this path.” Then the three Yakās go on the three paths. Before they went they said, “When any matter of sickness has happened to a person out of us three, how shall we get to know?”

Then one said, “I will plant a lime tree”; one said, “I will plant a flower tree”; one said, “I will make a flower pool.”² Well then, saying that should any accident occur to the Yakās the fruit will fall from the lime tree, or the flowers on the flower tree will fade, or the water of the pool will become muddy,³ they went on the three paths.

Having gone on the three paths, when they came to three countries the three summoned three wives, ordinary women (nikan gāēnu). The Yakās taking human appearance, putting on good clothes like men, putting aside the teeth of Yakās (Yak-dat), taking good teeth, the women do not know that the three are Yakās.

After a long time, a man died in the village of the Yakā who planted the lime tree. That Yakā having taken the corpse after they buried it, and having drawn it to the surface, ate it.⁴

An old thief saw it. Having seen it, on seeing that woman he told her, “In this manner, the man who is in your house in this way eats human flesh,” having seen that woman, he told that. Owing to it, that woman that day got to know that said Yakā is a Yakā. After that she prepared to kill him.

The Yakā’s wife asked, “Where is your life?”

The Yakā said, “In my stomach.”

“No, you are telling lies.”

The Yakā said, “In my breast.”

“That also is false,” she says. “Tell me the truth.”

The Yakā said, “In my neck.”

“It is not there, also,” she says.

At last the Yakā said, “My life is in [the brightness of] my sword.”

Afterwards, placing the sword near his head, he went to sleep. Then this woman having gone, collected a bon-fire (gini goḍak), and quietly taking the sword put it into the hearth. Well then, the woman having come back, when she looked that Yakā was dead.

That eldest Yakā having arisen, when he looked [saw that] the flowers and fruit had all fallen from the lime tree. The Yakā said, “Anē! Bola, there will have been some accident; I must go to look.” Well then, the eldest Yakā having tied up the lime fruits, and come to that Yakā’s country, taking them, when he looked his younger brother was dead. When he sought for that sword it was not [there].

Afterwards, when he looked at the fire heap that sword was in the heap. Well then, taking the limes and having cut them, when he was thoroughly polishing it with the limes that dead Yakā revived (lit., was born). Then the elder Yakā, calling the revived Yakā, came to his [own] house [with him].

A pestilence having stricken the second Yakā, one morning when those two looked the flowers on that planted tree had fallen. Well then, having said, “Appā! Bolan, some accident will have stricken our Yakā,” putting together those flowers also, they went away.

Having gone, and having offered the flowers to the Gods of that country, the disease was cured; and calling that Yakā also, they came to that eldest Yakā’s house.

Having come [there], that eldest Yakā said to one Yakā, “You do loading work, and having loaded cattle get your living.” To the other Yakā he said, “You trade and get your living. I will cultivate,” he said.

Well then, the three taking human appearance, all remained at the city where that eldest Yakā was. That Yakā who loaded sacks [with produce with which he went on trading journeys] was ruined by that very thing, and died.

Then [in the case of] the Yakā who traded [at a shop], an old thief stole all the goods [obtained] by his trading. Out of grief on that account that Yakā died.

That eldest Yakā, doing cultivation and having become abundantly wealthy, stayed at that very city, and abandoned the Yakā appearance.

Potter. North-western Province.

1 In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii, p. 115, the King of the demons is called Pāñcika. Professor Chavannes noted that in the Divyāvadāna, p. 447, he has the title Yaksha-sēnāpati, General of the Yakshas. 

2 A pool containing lotuses. 

3 In The Jātaka, No. 506 (vol. iv, p. 283), the life-index of a serpent King was a pool, which would become turbid if he were struck or hurt, and blood-red if a snake-charmer seized him. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 321, the life-index of a cow was some of her milk, which would become red like blood if she were killed by a tigress, as she expected. 

4 The narrator explained that this was in early times. He stated that they do not eat human flesh now; it is done only by Rākshasas. 

No. 188

The Time of Scholars

In a certain country there is, it is said, a [man called] Dikpiṭiyā. A [married woman called] Diktalādī is rearing an [adopted] child. While it was [there] no long time, a [female] child was born; to Diktalādī a child was born. On the boy, the [adopted] boy she reared, she put a cloth for ploughing (that is, he grew old enough to plough). After the [female] child grew great and big, [the parents] gave her [in marriage] to that youth whom Diktalādī reared, [and they went to live in another village].

The boy she reared, after no long time went by, seeking oil, honey, flour, and cooking a bag of cakes, and giving them to that woman [his wife, set off with her] in order to go to look at that mother-in-law and father-in-law.

At the time when the two are going together, having seen that much water is going in the river [which it was necessary to cross], both of them became much afraid in mind. Thereupon, when they are staying [there], these two persons, having seen that the one called Dikpiṭiyā was on the opposite bank fishing and fishing, said, “Anē! It is a great hindrance that has occurred to us. Anē! In our hand there is not a thing for us to eat, not a place to sit down at. Should you take us two [across] to that side, it will be charity”; and those two persons make obeisance to Dikpiṭiyā.

Afterwards Dikpiṭiyā, having left his bait creeper¹ (fishing-line), came swimming to this side. Having come, “Where are ye two going?” he asked.

“Anē! We are going to look at our mother-in-law and father-in-law.”

Dikpiṭiyā placed the bag of cakes on one shoulder, and placed the woman on the [other] shoulder. Afterwards he crossed, swimming, to that [far] side.

After having crossed to that side [he said to the woman], “What a man that man is! The scare-crow tied in the paddy field! We two are of one sort; let us two go [off together].”

Afterwards, unfastening the bag of cakes [they counted them, and he] having given [some] to the woman, the inferior ones, eating and eating the cakes both of them began to go away.

After that, [when her husband came across and claimed her], Dippiṭiyā having cried out, and dragged her, and obstructed her going with feet and hands, he said, “Having snatched away my wife canst thou strike blows? Come and go [with me]”; and they went for the trial [regarding their rival claims to be the woman’s husband].

Having gone near the King, [and laid a complaint regarding it], the King [finding that both men claimed her], says, “Imprison ye the three of them in three houses.”

Afterwards the King asks at the hand of Dippiṭiyā, “What is the name of thy mother?”

“Our mother’s name is Sarasayu-wirī.”²

“Secondly, how many is the number of the cakes?”

“Three less than three hundred.”

Having caused Diktalādī’s daughter to be brought, he asks, “What is thy mother’s name?”

“Kamalolī” (Love-desiring).

“How many is the number of the cakes?”

“Three less than three hundred.”

After that, [as both agreed regarding the number] he handed over the wife [to him]. Both of them, making and making obeisance, went away.

Potter. North-western Province.

With the exception of the ending, this is the sixth test case which was settled by the wise Mahōsadha, in The Jātaka, No. 546 (vol. vi, p. 163);³ but the variations show that, like some other Sinhalese folk-tales, it is not taken over directly from the Jātaka story, which appears to be one of the latest in that collection.

There was a village, apparently of Vaeddās, called Dippiṭigama, in the North-western Province⁴; and “the house of the Dippiṭiyās,⁵ at the village called Koṭikāpola” is mentioned in the story numbered 215 in this volume, related by a Tom-tom Beater. This latter tale apparently contains a large amount of fact, and ends “the persons who saw these [things said] they are in the form of a folk-tale.” Thus there is a possibility that this part of the Jātaka story is derived from a Sinhalese folk-tale of which the Potter’s story gives the modern version.

1 Where bushes or reeds are in the water near the shore, fishing is usually done by means of a baited hook at the end of a short fishing line attached to the extremity of a number of canes tied end to end. These float on the surface of the water, and are gradually pushed forward until the bait is in an open space in the water. 

2 “Soft are the six seasons of woman”; but the text is so full of mistakes that it is possible this may be intended for Sarasāyu-wirī, “the bee’s life is delicate,” or Sarāsayu-wirī, “soft are the six seasons of Love.” 

3 See also A. von Schiefner’s Tibetan Tales (Ralston), p. 134, in which the names are omitted. 

4 See Ancient Ceylon, p. 100. 

5 Dippiṭiyalāge gedara. 

STORIES OF THE WASHERMEN

No. 189

The Thief called Haranṭikā

In a certain city there was a thief, Haranṭikayā by name. The thief, together with his father, goes to commit robberies. For a long period, at the time when they are committing robberies at that city not a single person could seize that thief.

One day, the father and son having spoken about breaking in to the box of valuables at the foot of the bed¹ of the King of the city, entered the King’s palace. Having entered it, and gone by a window into the kitchen, and eaten the royal food that was cooked for the King, he went into the very room and broke into the box at the foot of the bed; and taking the goods and having come back into the kitchen, he put [outside] the articles he had brought. It was the father who went into the house, and put out the articles. The son stayed near the window, on the outer side.

Well then, the father tries (lit., makes) to come out by the window; [because of the quantity of food he has eaten] he cannot come.² Thereafter, the father, having put out his neck through the window, told the son to drag him out.

Well then, the son tried hard to drag him out. Because he also could not do it the son cut off the father’s head. Then the thief called Haranṭikā (the son), taking the head and the articles stolen out of the box at the foot of the bed, came home.

Thereafter, having come home he says at the hand of his mother, “Mother, our father was unable to come [out by the window at which he entered the kitchen at the palace]. He endeavoured as much as possible. Because father was unable to come, cutting father’s neck with the knife that was in my hand, [I brought away his head and] I returned here. The theft will come to light. Now then, to-morrow, during the day, having said, ‘Whose is the corpse?’ they will bring it along these four streets. Don’t you either cry out, or lament, or tell about us.” These matters he told his mother.

On the morning of the following day, fixing a noose to the two feet of the dead body, the King ordered the Ministers to take it, and walk [dragging the corpse] along the four streets. Next, he gave orders to the city that everyone, not going anywhere, must remain to observe whose was this dead body. Thereafter, when the Ministers were going along dragging the corpse, the men [and women of the city] remained looking on.

At the time when the wife of the dead man, [on seeing the body] is crying out, “O my husband!” the thief called Haranṭikā, having been in a Murun̆gā tree [in front of the doorway], broke a Murun̆gā branch, and fell to the ground.

Well then, these city people having said, “Who is this who cried out?” at the time when they hear it a part say, “A boy fell from a tree; on that account she is crying out.” Well then, that she cried out on account of this corpse nobody knows. That thief called Haranṭikā was saved by that.

It is owing to that, indeed, they say, “The stratagems which the thief has, even the God Gaṇēśa (the God of Wisdom) does not possess.”

Washerman. North-western Province.

The Dexterous Thief and his Son. (Variant.)

In a certain country there was a very dexterous thief, it is said. This thief had a son and two daughters. These two daughters were wealthy, wearing better silver and golden sorts of things than the women-folk of the other important families of the village.

Well then, because this principal thief’s son was a person possessing divine skill (sura-nuwana), ascertaining that they had become wealthy because of the dexterous character of his father’s robbery, he got into his mind [the notion] to earn the very same livelihood as his father, having become a dexterous thief to the same degree.

When this principal thief was going for robbery it was a custom [of his] to go [after] tying two pairs of small bells on both feet. When the thief’s son asked his mother, “What is the motive for going for robbery, tying on the bells?” she said thus: “Why, son? As though they are not hearing the noise of your father’s pair of little bells, he goes [after] tying on the pair of little bells, having put them on the foot by way of ingenuity, for the purpose of remembering to commit [only] theft.”

Well then, one day, when the father had started to go for robbery, the son also asked his mother [for permission] to go with him. At that time his mother said thus: “Son, because of [your not possessing] your father’s dexterity, at no time are you able, indeed, to get a bare subsistence by doing that for a livelihood. Because of that don’t you try to go.”

On the following day, when the father was going for robbery this son also went without concealing himself, just behind his father. [The father] having dug into a house, when he was becoming ready to enter the house, this son went behind quietly, and cutting off the two pairs of little bells that were on his father’s two feet, came home.

The father, also, perceiving, before entering the house, that some one had cut both pairs of little bells off his two feet, having dropped the doing house-robbery, and having gone running home, from that day remained lying down, without eating, without drinking. When this thief’s wife asked, “Why are you doing that?” the thief says, “After he cut off my two pairs of little bells, which, from the day I was born, for so much time were committing robbery more cleverly than all, well, I shall not go for robbery, and shall not eat, and shall not drink,” he said.

Because the thief’s wife had ascertained that his son had cut off his father’s two pairs of little bells, having said to the thief, “Don’t be grieved,” she told him that his own son cut off the two pairs of little bells. Thereupon the thief was extremely satisfied regarding his son.

Again one day, on the day when there was a feast at the King’s house, the principal thief was ready to go to commit robbery in the royal house. His son also said that he was wishful to go. Thereupon the father said, “Because thou also art a dexterous thief of my own quality, come.” They two having gone, and having dug into the royal palace, while the son remained outside the father went into the house, and having brought gold, silver, pearls, gems, various other things, gave them to his son.

From the time when the father, having dug into the house, entered it, the son said, “Father, however sweet the royal food should be, don’t eat even a little, indeed.” But as soon as the father’s nose perceived the sweet odour of the tasty sorts of food, the father began to eat the royal provisions to the possible extent. Having thus eaten, and having finished, taking also a quantity of goods, when, having filled his belly, [he was] coming to give them to his son, his belly having been filled and having become enlarged, he was unable to creep out by the place which he first dug; and he stuck fast.

Thereupon the son, having gone running to the house, taking also the goods, informed his mother about this; and again having gone to the King’s house, taking a sword also, and having seen that the father having been stuck fast was dead, cutting the father’s neck with the sword he brought home only the head.

On the following day, in the morning having perceived that the goods at the royal house have been stolen, and having caused soothsayers to be brought to find the thief, when [the King] asked the sooth the soothsayers said, “The thief has entered on such and such a side of such and such a store-house, having dug a long tunnel. The thief indeed can be found; the things cannot be found.” Thereupon the King, having made inquiry and when he looked having seen that in the end of the tunnel a man without the head part had become stuck fast, for the purpose of finding who are the relatives whom the man has, and his friends, commanded that during the whole of three days [they were] to walk, bringing the corpse, everywhere in the city.

Well then, as this corpse—the above-mentioned corpse—was coming to pass in front of the house of its owners, the above-mentioned son said to his mother and sisters, “They are now taking our father’s corpse [and are about to pass] in front of our house. Having seen it, don’t anyone of you lament.” This word the mother and sisters accepted. But because this son thinks there is uncertainty if they will lament, having ascended a Murun̆gā tree that was in front of the doorway he remained [there].

At the time when he is thus, as they are taking the corpse in front of the said house, that mother and the sisters, unable to go on restraining their grief, cried out, “Anē! O our father!”³ There and then, the son who was in the Murun̆gā tree, breaking a branch also from the tree jumped down, and was as though dead.

At that time that mother and the sisters, calling out, “Anē! O my son! Anē! O our elder brother!” and having come running, and gone, taking the son, into the house, gave him medicine and began to attend to him. Thereupon the people who were carrying that corpse thought, “They are crying owing to that woman’s son’s having died,” and went away.

By this means the people of the thief’s family, not tasting (lit., eating) death from the King, escaped.

Western Province.

In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 59, Mr. W. Goonetilleke gave the story as it was related in the Supplement to the Ceylon Observer. The thief passed through a small pre-existing tunnel into the King’s palace, and after feasting inside stuck fast in it on his way back, and ordered his son to cut off his head and escape with it. The youth acted accordingly and threw it in a weighted basket into the river. The rest of the story agrees with those given above.

In the story related by Herodotus (Euterpe, 121, 1) of the robbery of the treasury of King Rhampsinitus, the thief entered by removing a loose stone, laid for the purpose by his father when he was building the treasury. He did not feast inside the palace nor stick fast on his way out, but was caught in a trap laid for him in the treasury. His brother entered, and at his own request cut off his head to save the family reputation. The King hung the body from the wall, and stationed sentinels who were commanded to arrest anyone who wept on seeing it. The brother made them drunk and carried off the corpse by his mother’s orders. After vainly making use of his daughter as a bait for the thief, in the end the King forgave him on account of his cleverness and married his daughter to him.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 93, Karpara, one of two thieves, broke through the wall of the palace and entered the room of the Princess. She fell in love with him, but he remained too long, and was arrested and hanged; while being led away he signalled to his friend to carry off the Princess. The friend, Ghaṭa, at night dug a tunnel into the palace, found the Princess in fetters, and brought her away. The King set guards near Karpara’s body to arrest anyone who came to burn the corpse and perform the funeral rites, but Ghaṭa tricked them, lamented over the body, burned it, and threw the remains of the bones into the Ganges. Although the King offered half his kingdom if the thief would reveal himself, Ghaṭa left the country with the Princess. The translator mentioned European and other parallels (pp. 93 and 100).

In A. von Schiefner’s Tibetan Tales (Ralston), p. 39, a weaver went with a clever nephew to break into a house. As he was passing feet foremost through the hole they made, the people inside seized his feet and began to drag him through, so the boy cut off his head and decamped with it. The King ordered the trunk to be exposed at the cross-roads in the main street, in order to arrest anyone who wailed over it. The youth, personating various people, wailed over it as a madman, burned it, presented cakes, and threw the bones into the Ganges. The King then set his daughter at the river bank as a bait, and left a guard near. After sending down a number of floating water vessels the thief covered his head with one, and swam to the Princess, who afterwards had a son by means of whom the King identified the thief, to whom he formally gave the Princess and half the kingdom. In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, p. 380, the story is similar.

1 Pāmula peṭṭiya. See vol. i, p. 183, footnote. 

2 See vol. i, p. 10, on the small size of modern windows in the villages. 

3 A very common exclamation of grief, surprise, or sometimes annoyance. The relative addressed is always either the father, the mother, or the elder brother, in such cases. 

No. 190

The Story of the Four-Fold Trap¹

In a certain country there was a Gamarāla. The Gamarāla having tried for seven years caught a White Rat-snake. A Dēvatāwā having come by dream told the Gamarāla that when he had eaten the Rat-snake’s head he would obtain the kingship. Having told the Gamarāla’s wife to cook the White Rat-snake the Gamarāla went to wash his head (to purify himself).²

After that, a Tom-tom Beater (Naekatiyek), weaving a cloth, came to the Gamarāla’s house [with it]. The Gama-Mahagē (the Gamarāla’s wife) through stinginess [unwilling] to give meat, gave the Tom-tom Beater rice and that White Rat-snake’s head, not knowing [its property].

The Gamarāla having come [after] washing his head, asked the Gama-Mahagē for the White Rat-snake’s head. Then the woman said, “I gave it to eat, to the Tom-tom Beater (Berawāyā) who came [after] weaving the cloth.” Thereupon the Gamarāla said, “Thou gavest it to thy man! Why? When seven years have gone by from this time he will obtain the sovereignty.”

After the seven years went by, it was commanded to give the kingship to the Tom-tom Beater. But the people of the city said they could not give him the kingship, because he was a Tom-tom Beater. Because, through the act of his eating the White Rat-snake’s head they were unable to avoid giving (nodī) him the kingship, they said, “Let us give him the sovereignty for one paeya (twenty-four minutes). A strong man having shot an arrow aloft, let us give the kingship until it falls to the ground.” Having promised this he shot it.

For thirty years that arrow did not fall to the ground; Śakra held it. After thirty years had gone, the arrow afterwards fell to the ground. The kingship of that King Moṭā-Tissa having been changed that day, again a Prince of the royal line, suitable for the city, obtained the kingship.

After that, on account of the Tom-tom Beaters who were in this Lan̥kāwa (Ceylon) claiming, “We, too, are of the royal line,” the King and the other people, also, having become angry, say, “Can anyone, indeed, construct a Four-fold Trap?” they asked. A smith who knows various expedients (upā-waeḍa), having said, “I can,” constructed a Four-fold Trap.

Inside the Four-fold Trap having placed cakes and milk-rice, the King said, “To the Tom-tom Beaters who are in Ceylon the King will give an eating (feast).” He sent letters to the Tom-tom Beaters to come. They call that one with one mouth (entrance) like the Habaka (a snare-trap) the Four-fold Trap (Hatara-maha Lūla).

Well then, after all the Tom-tom Beaters came, the King says, “All of you go at one time into that house,”³ he said. After that, all the Tom-tom Beaters at one time entered the house. Afterwards the King struck off (gaesuwāya) the Four-fold Trap. Well then, all the Tom-tom Beaters died.

Because one pregnant woman, only, was at the corner (or end, assē), the woman’s neck having been caught she died. As ten months had fully gone, the infant was brought forth outside. Thereafter, at the time when the Gamarāla, and the King of the city, and the Washerman who washes the clothes are going near the Four-fold Trap, an infant was crying and crying. Afterwards the Gamarāla and the Washerman (Radā minihā) having gone away carrying the infant, reared it.

After not much time, the King having died another Prince obtained the kingship. For the purpose of making [his accession to] the sovereignty public to the world, he told them to beat on the double kettle-drum. Although all the people of the country beat on the double kettle-drum the sound did not spread. The King asked, “Who must beat it for the sound of this to spread?”

Then the people say, “Should a Tom-tom Beater beat, indeed, the sound of this will spread.”

Thereupon the King asks, “Are there not Tom-tom Beaters in this city?”

Then the people say, “In the time of such and such a King, having constructed the Four-fold Trap he killed all the Tom-tom Beaters.”

The King asked, “Because of what circumstance did he kill them in that way?”

Well then, these people [said], “Previously one of them called Moṭā-Tissa was a King. Well then, because of their arrogance, the King who next obtained the sovereignty, having prepared a Four-fold Trap, killed them all.” They told the King all the matters that occurred.

After that, the King made public that he will give gold [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load to a person who should find and give him a Tom-tom Beater.

Then the Gamarāla [and Washerman] having spoken to the King:—“We will give a Tom-tom Beater,” gave him that youth whom they had reared. Well then, the King having caused the youth to dress well, having decorated a tusk elephant, and placed the youth on the back of the tusk elephant, caused the proclamation tom-tom to be beaten by means of the youth.

The youth does not know anything whatever of beating. The Gamarāla and the Washerman who reared the youth taught him, “Beat thou the tom-tom (berē) thus: ‘Thy mother [was] Tan̥gi, thy father [was] Ton̥gi; Tan̥gi and Ton̥gi.’ ”⁴ When the youth beat in that manner the proclamation by beat of tom-toms (aṇḍa-bera) was published in the city.

Well then, because there was not much weaving (bō wīmak) by him (owing to his household work), the King says, “Out of this city, by any method thou wantest, take any woman thou wantest,” he said to the youth.

Subsequently, the Gamarāla and that Washerman said to the youth, “Because the Smiths who constructed the Four-fold Trap killed thy family, on account of it go thou and bring a Smith (caste) woman.” After that, the youth, having brought a Smith (caste) woman, married her.

The King having given many offices to the youth, he lived in happiness at the city.

Washerman. North-western Province.

In A. von Schiefner’s Tibetan Tales derived from Indian Sources (Ralston), p. 129, the widow of a son of the King of Vidēhā, who had a son called Bahvannapāna, was given in marriage by the King of Pañcāla, her father, to his Purōhita or spiritual adviser. The Purōhita one day heard a Brāhmaṇa predict when he heard a cock crow near the house, that the person who ate its flesh would become King. He therefore killed the cock, told his wife to cook it at once, and went to the palace on business. During his absence Bahvannapāna returned hungry from school, saw the bird in the pan, cut off its head, and ate it. When the Purōhita came back he heard of this, and ate up the rest of the fowl. On consulting the Brāhmaṇa about it he was informed that he who ate the head would become King, and that one who killed him and ate his head in turn would also become King, so he determined to kill the boy. His mother perceived this and sent the boy away to Vidēhā, and he lay down to sleep in a park there. The King had just died, apparently without an heir, and the funeral ceremonies could not be performed until a new King was chosen. The Ministers, officials, Brāhmaṇas, etc., went in search of a suitable heir, saw the boy, aroused him, ascertained that he was the true heir to the throne, and proclaimed him King.

Messrs. H. B. Andris and Co., of Kandy, have been good enough to inform me that the Hatara-maha Lūla is a large four-sided trap, made for catching large animals, such as deer and wild pigs. It has four entrances and four nooses. They state that the Habaka mentioned on p. 49 is a similar but smaller trap, with one noose, used for catching hares, mouse-deer, wild cats, etc.

1 Hatara-maha Lūla. I am doubtful regarding the meaning of maha; it appears to be derived from Skt. mā, to measure or be contained. According to Clough, lūla is a snare or wicker fish-basket, perhaps from the Skt. lū, to cut or destroy. See final note. 

2 This would include the bathing of the whole body. 

3 The word gē, house, is used in the villages for “room.” In this case the “house” was the trap. 

4 Togē ammā tan̥gi, togē appā ton̥gi; tan̥gitton̥git. 

No. 191

The Foolish Prince

At a certain city there were a Prince and a Princess. One day when the two are staying talking and talking, the Princess says, “Lord, please tell a story for me to hear,” she said.

Then the Prince said, “It is good. I know a story that no one knows; I will tell you it,” and beginning it he told the story.

At the time when he was telling it a Brāhmaṇa was listening. The Brāhmaṇa having gone away, said to the Brāhmaṇa’s wife, “I know a story.” Then the woman said, “If so, tell the story, for me to hear it.” The Brāhmaṇa told the story.

The Brāhmaṇa’s wife also learning it, having come on the following day told the story to that Princess. The Princess asked the Brāhmaṇa’s wife, “Who told you this?” Then the woman said falsely, “I learnt it [some time] previously.”

Well then, this Princess having said [to herself], “My Prince is indeed associated with this woman. If not, how does this woman know to-day the story which my Prince told yesterday for me to hear?” and having become angry with the Prince, the Princess also associated with another Prince. This Prince, ascertaining this, killed the Princess.

In no long time after that, the thought having occurred to the Prince, “If my Princess were [here] it would be good for me,” having walked throughout the whole of Lan̥kāwa (Ceylon) he looked where the Princess is now.¹

One day, this Prince asked another man, “Did you see my Princess?”

At that time the [other] Prince said, “I saw that the Princess was staying yesterday in the daytime in the midst of such and such a forest.”

Well then, this Prince, asking and asking the way, having gone to the midst of the forest, at the time when he was walking in it a bear having bitten the Prince he died.

Washerman. North-western Province.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 4, it is stated that when the God Śiva was relating a story to his wife Pārvatī, one of his dependants, a Gaṇa named Pushpadanta, entered unseen by his magic power, and listened to it. Afterwards he related it to his wife Jayā, who recited it in the presence of Pārvatī, whereupon the Goddess lost her temper, reproached Śiva for telling her an old story known by others, and when she heard from him the true explanation, cursed Pushpadanta and turned him into a mortal.

1 Apparently, he thought she would be reborn on the earth again, with her former appearance. 

No. 192

The Jackal and the Gamarāla

In a certain country, while a Gamarāla, being without cattle to plough, was going for the purpose of asking for a yoke of cattle after making a lump of milk-rice, he met two Jackals.

Thereupon the Jackals ask, “Where, Gamarāla, are you going?”

“I am going to borrow (lit., ask for) a yoke of cattle to plough.”

“What things are on your head?”

“A box of milk-rice.”

“Should you give us the box we will plough.”

Having said, “Ijaw! Eat ye it,” he gave it. Thereupon the Jackals ate it.

After that, having come dragging the two Jackals and tied the yoke [on their necks], they tried to draw [the plough]; the Jackals cannot draw it. After that, having beaten and beaten them he threw them into the weeds.

On the following day, while he is going [after] cooking a box [of milk-rice], having met with two Jackals [they said], “Gamarāla, where are you going?”

“I am going to borrow a yoke of cattle to plough.”

“What things are on your head?”

“On my head is a box of milk-rice.”

“Should you give us the box we will plough.”

“Yesterday also, having given milk-rice to a yoke of Jackals I was foolish.”

“They were Jackals of the brinjal (egg-plant) caste; owing to being in full bloom we are Jackals of the tusk elephant caste,” they said.

After that, having said, “Inḍaw,” he gave them it. After they ate it, having come dragging the two Jackals and tied the yoke [on their necks], he tried to plough. Thereupon, when they were unable to draw [the plough] having beaten and beaten them he threw them into the weeds. At that time they saw that those [former] Jackals are groaning and groaning. These Jackals also having gone away, lay down.

A Jackal having gone near the Wild Cat,¹ says, “Preceptor, [tell me] how to eat a little milk-rice from the Gamarāla’s house?”

“If so, having hidden at the place of the firewood bundles remain [there].”

After that, the Jackal having gone, remained hidden at the place of the firewood bundles. Having waited there, at the time when the Gamarāla’s wife is going for water the Cat told the Jackal to come into the house. Thereupon the Jackal having gone into the house got upon the platform (at the level of the top of the side walls). Then the Cat having gone, gave him a little milk-rice in a piece of coconut shell. While he was on the platform with the Cat it became evening.

At that time, in the evening the Jackals having come to the rice field, howled. Thereupon this Jackal said, “Preceptor, I must bring to remembrance my religion.”²

Then the Cat said, “Anē! Appā! Having killed thee they will kill me.”

Again the Jackals at midnight having come into the rice field, howled. Thereupon the Jackal [said], “Preceptor, I must bring to remembrance my religion; I cannot endure it.”

When [the Cat] was saying, “The top of thy head will be split,” he howled, “Hokkiyā!”

Then the Gamarāla having awoke, at the time when he looked on the platform he saw that a Jackal was [there]. Thereupon, having beaten the Jackal he killed it outright.

Washerman. North-western Province.

In the Totā Kahānī (Small), p. 221, after an ass and a stag which were friends had feasted one night in a garden, the ass became exhilarated and suggested that they should sing a song together. The stag endeavoured to prevent this, but the ass would not listen to it, and began to bray, on which the gardener came with some men, and caught and crucified both the animals.

In Folk-Tales from Tibet (O’Connor), p. 64, a hare and a fox induced a wolf to leave a dead horse on which it was feeding, and to accompany them to a house where there was a wedding feast, at which they could obtain plenty to eat and drink. They got through a window into the larder, and after feasting abundantly decided, at the hare’s suggestion, to carry away other provisions, the hare some cheese, the fox a fowl, and the wolf a jar of wine through the handle of which he put his head. Then the hare proposed a song before they started, and after some persuasion the wolf began to sing. When the people heard it they rushed to the larder. The hare and fox jumped through the window, but the wolf was stopped by the jar of wine, and was killed by the men.

In A. von Schiefner’s Tibetan Tales (Ralston), p. 323, an ass joined a bull which was accustomed to break through a fence and feed in the evening in the King’s bean-field. After eating, the ass suggested that it should sing; the bull told it to wait until he had gone and then do as it pleased. When it began to bray it was seized, its ears were cut off, a pestle was fastened to its neck, and it was set free. The same story is given in Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, p. 374.

In the former work, p. 337, and in the latter one, vol. ii, p. 417, it is stated with reference to the jackal’s uncontrollable desire to howl, “it is according to the nature of things that jackals, if they hear a jackal howl without howling themselves, lose their hair.”

1 Wal-bowā, a domestic cat that has become wild, or the descendant of such a cat. 

2 After the manner of the Muhammadans, who chant prayers in the evening after sunset, and later on in the night. 

STORIES OF THE TOM-TOM BEATERS

No. 193

The Story of Batmasurā¹

In a certain country there are a God Îswara (Śiva) and a Princess (Umā), it is said. That God Îswara was a good soothsayer.

News of it having reached another country, a man called Batmasurā came to learn soothsaying. Having come and been there a long time he learnt soothsaying. That Batmasurā who was learning it went to his village.

Having gone and been there a long time, he again came near the God Îswara. When he came there the God Îswara was not at home; only the Princess was there. Having soaked the cloth which the Princess wore she had placed it in the veranda [before washing it].

That Batmasurā taking the cloth, and having gone and washed it, as he was holding it out [to dry] this Princess saw him. Having seen him she sat silently. Then Batmasurā having come [after] drying the cloth, gave it into the hand of the Princess.

After that, the Princess gave Batmasurā the rice which had been cooked for the God Îswara. As Batmasurā, having eaten the cooked rice, was finishing, the God Îswara came. After he came that Princess set about making ready food for the God Îswara.

Then the God Îswara asked at the hand of the Princess, “What is the food so late to-day for?”

After that, the Princess said, “That Batmasurā having come, and that one having washed and brought and given my (man̆ge) cloth, on account of it I gave him the food. Did you teach that one all soothsaying?” the Princess asked at the hand of the God Īswara.

The God Īswara said, “I taught him all soothsaying indeed; only the Īswara incantation (daehaena) I did not teach him.”

Then the Princess said, “Teach him that also.”

The God Īswara said, “Should I utter to him the Īswara incantation also, that one will seize me.”

The Princess said, “He will not do so; utter it.”

After that, the God Īswara told the Princess to call Batmasurā near. The Princess called to Batmasurā [to come] near; Batmasurā came near.

Thereupon the God Īswara said to that Batmasurā, “When I have uttered the Īswara incantation to thee, thou wilt seize me, maybe.”

Then Batmasurā said, “I will not seize thee; be good enough to utter it, Sir.”

After that, the God Īswara said, “Hold thou my hand,” to Batmasurā; so Batmasurā held his hand. Thereupon the God Īswara uttered it (maeturuwā).

After that, Batmasurā thought to himself, “Having killed the God Īswara I will go to my village, summoning the Princess [to be my wife].” Thinking it, Batmasurā bounded on the path of the God Īswara.

When the God Īswara was going running, the brother-in-law (Vishṇu) of the God Īswara was rocking and rocking in a golden swing. Having seen that this God Īswara is running, the brother-in-law of the God Īswara asked at the hand of the God Īswara, “Where are you running?”

Then the God Īswara said, “At Batmasurā’s hand I uttered over the hand the Īswara incantation. That one is [now] coming to seize me.”

After that, the brother-in-law of the God Īswara told him to stop [after] having gone running still a little distance further. So the God Īswara having gone running a little distance further, stopped there.

Then while the brother-in-law of the God Īswara, creating for himself the appearance of a woman (Mōhinī, the Deluder), was rocking and rocking in the golden swing, Batmasurā came running [there].

Batmasurā while coming there having seen with delight that woman who was rocking in the golden swing, his mind went to that woman. His mind having gone there, the [other] incantations that he had learnt were forgotten, and the Īswara incantation was forgotten.

Then the woman asked at the hand of Batmasurā, “Where are you going?”

Then Batmasurā said, “I am going to seek the God Īswara.” Having said that, he asked at the hand of the woman, “What are you here for?”

The woman said, “Nothing. I am simply here” (that is, for no special purpose).

After that, Batmasurā asked, “Can you go with me?”

The woman said, “I can indeed go. Is there your wife?” (that is, “Have you a wife?”). Batmasurā said, “There is.”

Then the woman said, “If so, how can I go? I am with child. You go, and having asked at the hand of your wife about it, come back.”

After that, Batmasurā came home and asked at the hand of his wife, “There is a woman at the road, rocking and rocking in a golden swing. The woman is with child. Shall I summon her to come [as my wife]?” The woman told him to summon her to come.

Afterwards, when Batmasurā was coming again to the place where this woman was, the woman having borne a child, that one was in her hand, and again she was with child.

Then Batmasurā having come, said, “Let us go,” to that woman.

The woman said, “There is [a child] in hand, and again I am with child. Having asked [about it] come back.”

After that, Batmasurā went home again and asked at the hand of the woman, “She is carrying one in the arms, and is again with child. Shall I summon her to come?”

The woman said, “Summon her and come.”

Afterwards as Batmasurā was coming again to the place where the woman was, the woman was carrying two in the arms, and was again with child.

Then Batmasurā came, and said to the woman, “Let us go.”

The woman said, “How shall I go carrying two in the arms, and again with child? Go and ask about it, and come back.”

Afterwards Batmasurā, having gone home, asked at the hand of his wife, “She is carrying two in the arms, and is again with child.” Then the woman told him to summon her and come.

After that Batmasurā having come to the place where this woman stayed, when he looked there was neither woman nor children. Thereupon that one went away home.

After that, the God Îswara went away to the house of the God Îswara. Having gone there, when a long time had passed Batmasurā died, and having come was [re]-born inside the God Îswara.

Afterwards the God Îswara went near another deity and asked, “What is this? My belly is enlarging!”

That deity said, “Another living being (parāna-kārayek) has been caused to come inside your body. On account of it, you must split open your body, and throw it away.”

The God Îswara could not split open his body. Having said, “I shall die,” he came home. Having come there, he ate medicine from another doctor; that also was no good.

Again he went near that very deity. Having gone there, the God Îswara asked at the hand of that deity, “What, now then, shall I do for this?”

Then the deity said, “There is nothing else to do; you must split your body.”

Then the God Îswara said, “When I have split my body shall I not be destroyed?”

The deity said, “You will not be destroyed; your life will remain over.”

Afterwards, the God Îswara told him to split open his body. Having split the body, when he looked there was a lump of flesh. He seized it and threw it away. After that, the God Îswara having become well, went home.

When a Lord (Buddhist monk) was coming with the begging-bowl, that lump of flesh was on the path. Having gathered it together with his walking-stick it fell into a hole (wala).²

Next day, as he was coming with the begging-bowl, that lump of flesh sprang at the body of the Lord. Then the Lord having said, “Cī! Wala, hā!”³ gathered it together [again] with his walking-stick.

Thence, indeed, was the Bear (walahā).

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

With reference to the last paragraphs, it is strange that a somewhat similar notion regarding the fœtal form of newly born bears was long current in Europe. In the thirteenth century Encyclopedia of Bartholomew Anglicus (ed. 1535), cap. cxii, it is stated that “Avicenna saith that the bear bringeth forth a piece of flesh imperfect and evil shapen, and the mother licketh the lump, and shapeth the members with licking.… For the whelp is a piece of flesh little more than a mouse, having neither eyes nor ears, and having claws some-deal bourgeoning [sprouting], and so this lump she licketh, and shapeth a whelp with licking” (Medieval Lore, Steele, p. 137).

This is taken from Pliny, who wrote of bears: “At the first they seeme to be a lumpe of white flesh without all forme, little bigger than rattons, without eyes, and wanting hair; onely there is some shew and appearance of clawes that put forth. This rude lumpe, with licking they fashion by little and little into some shape” (Nat. Hist., P. Holland’s translation, 1601, p. 215.)

1 More correctly spelt Bhasmāsura. See another legend of him in Ancient Ceylon, p. 156. 

2 The village spelling. 

3 Cī, an exclamation of disgust. “Hole, don’t,” appears to be the meaning. 

No. 194

The Story of Ayiwandā

In a certain city there are an elder brother and a younger sister, two persons, it is said. Of them, the elder brother is a very rich person; the younger sister has nothing (mokut na͞e). The younger sister is a widow woman; there is one boy. The boy himself lodges at his uncle’s watch-huts and the like; the youngster’s name is Ayiwandā.

The uncle having scraped a little rice from the bottom of the cooking-pot, and given him it, says, “Aḍē! Ayiwandā, be off to the watch-hut [at the cattle-fold].” The youngster came to the watch-hut.

The uncle having gone and looked, [saw that] one or two calves were dead in the cattle-fold. Then the uncle having come home scolds Ayiwandā, “Ayiwandā, at the time when thou wert going to the watch-hut thou drankest a little milk, and there being no milk for the calves they are dying.”

Afterwards Ayiwandā having gone that day to the watch-hut, and having said that he must catch the thieves, without sleeping stayed awake until the time when it became dawn.

Then Gōpalu Dēvatāwā, having opened the entrance (kaḍulla), came into the cattle-fold. Having come there and placed on the path his cord and club,¹ he began to drink milk. Afterwards Ayiwandā, having descended from the watch-hut, very quietly got both the cord and the club. Taking them he went again to the watch-hut.

Well then, Gōpalu Dēvatāwā having drunk milk and the like, when he looked for both the cord and the club in order to go, they were not [there]. Afterwards, Gōpalu Dēvatāwā having gone near the watch-hut asked for the cord and club. Ayiwandā taking the two descended from the watch-hut to the ground.

Then Gōpalu Dēvatāwā asked for the rope and cudgel, both, at the hand of Ayiwandā. Then Ayiwandā said, “I have heard scoldings for so much time, that as I drank the milk the calves are dying. To-day I stayed awake and caught the thief. Except that if you will give me an authority on that account I will give you the rope and cudgel, I will not otherwise give them.”

Then Gōpalu Dēvatāwā said to Ayiwandā, “Think in your mind, ‘If there be an authority which Gōpalu Dēvatāwā gave, may that hill and this hill, both, become united into one.’ ”

Afterwards Ayiwandā thought in that way. Then the two hills became united into one.

Then Gōpalu Dēvatāwā said to Ayiwandā, “Think in your mind, ‘If there be an authority which Gōpalu Dēvatāwā gave, these hills are again to become separated.’ ”

Afterwards Ayiwandā thought in that manner. The two hills again became separated.

Gōpalu Dēvatāwā said to Ayiwandā, “Think in your mind, ‘If there be an authority which Gōpalu Dēvatāwā gave, that tree and this tree are both to become one.’ ”

Afterwards Ayiwandā thought in that manner. The two trees became united into one.

Gōpalu Dēvatāwā said again to Ayiwandā, “Think in your mind, ‘If there be an authority which Gōpalu Dēvatāwā gave, the two trees are again to become separate.’ ”

Ayiwandā thought in that manner. Then the two trees became separate.

Now then, Gōpalu Dēvatāwā said, “The authority that Gōpalu Dēvatāwā gave [you] is true.” Having said that, and told him that having gone he was to keep it in mind, he assured him of the fact (satta dunnā). After that, to Gōpalu Dēvatāwā Ayiwandā gave both the cord and the cudgel. Well then, Gōpalu Dēvatāwā taking them went away.

Ayiwandā having been [there] until the time when it became light, came home and said at the hand of Ayiwandā’s mother, “Mother, ask for uncle’s girl and come back.”

Then Ayiwandā’s mother says, “Anē! Son, who will give [marriage] feasts to us? [We have] not a house to be in; we are in the hollow of a Tamarind. I will not. You go and ask, and come back,” she said.

Afterwards Ayiwandā went and asked. Then Ayiwandā’s uncle said, “Who will give girls to thee?” Having said, “Be off!”² he scolded him. After that, Ayiwandā having come back is silent.

Having come from an outside village, [people] asked for Ayiwandā’s uncle’s girl [in marriage]. Then he promised to give her there. He appointed it to be on such and such a day. The men went away.

Then Ayiwandā’s uncle gave betel to shooters who were in the neighbourhood, [so that they should shoot animals for the wedding-feast]. Ayiwandā thought in his mind, “Let those shooters not meet with anything, if there be an authority which Gōpalu Dēvatāwā gave.” Afterwards the shooters walked about at the time when they are saying that the [wedding] feast is to-morrow. They did not meet with even a thing.

After that, Ayiwandā went to his uncle’s house. When he said that the [wedding] feast would be to-morrow, to-day in the evening he asked, “Uncle, give me that bow and arrow.”

Thereupon his uncle said, “Ansca!³ Bola, because there is no hunting-meat have you come to rebuke me? So many shooters were unable [to do it], and [yet] you will seek hunting-meat!” Having said [this], he scolded Ayiwandā. “Through being without hunting-meat, my girl, leaving the house and the like, will not stay, [you think]!”⁴

Afterwards Ayiwandā came home. Then his mother told Ayiwandā to eat the rice scraped from the cooking-pot which had been brought from his uncle’s house. Ayiwandā having eaten a little of the scraped rice, gave the other little to Ayiwandā’s mother, and thought in his mind, “Preparing the bow from the rice-pestle and preparing the arrow from love-grass, I having gone to the watch-hut and ascended into the watch-hut, if there be an authority which Gōpalu Dēvatāwā gave, may a Sambhar deer with horns come there and remain sleeping as I arise in the morning.” Having said [this] Ayiwandā went to sleep.

Having awoke in the morning, when he looked a Sambhar deer with horns having come was sleeping in the middle of the cattle-fold. Ayiwandā having descended from the watch-hut, taking the bow made from the rice pestle and the arrow made from love-grass, came near the Sambhar deer, and thought in his mind, “If there be an authority which Gōpalu Dēvatāwā gave, that which is shot at this Sambhar deer from this side is to be passed out from the other side.” Having thought it he shot. In that very manner the Sambhar deer died.

Ayiwandā having gone to his uncle’s house, said, “Uncle, there! I have shot down a Sambhar deer with horns at the cattle-fold; it is [there]. Go and cut it up, and come back.”

Then his uncle said, “Ansca dukkan̥! There is no hunting-meat of thine. I shall not make the feast desolate; somehow or other I shall indeed give it. Hast thou come to rebuke me?”

After that, Ayiwandā, calling men and having gone, having come back [after] cutting up the Sambhar deer, put down the meat at his uncle’s house.

Thereafter, just before the feasters came having cooked the meat and cooked rice, he placed for Ayiwandā a little of the rice scrapings and two bones from the meat; and having given them to Ayiwandā, he said, “Eat those, and go thou to the watch-hut.”

Ayiwandā having eaten them and gone to the watch-hut, thought, “Now, at daybreak, may those who take hold of the cloth at the place where [the bridegroom] gives it to wear,⁵ remain in that very way, if there be an authority which Gōpalu Dēvatāwā gave.”

In that very way, at daybreak, when he was giving [her] the cloth to put on they remain in the very position in which the bridegroom held an end and the bride an end.

Then the palm-sugar maker and the washerman⁶ having gone and said, “What are you doing? Be good enough to take that cloth,” those two also remained in the position in which they took hold at the two ends.

Then the girl’s father having gone and said, “What is this, Bola, that thou hast not yet taken that cloth?” that man also remained in the very position in which he got hold of an end. The bride, the bridegroom, the palm-sugar maker, the washerman, the girl’s father, in the position in which they took hold of the cloth, in that very manner had become [like] stone.

Having seen it, the girl’s mother went running in the village, and having summoned two men made them go on a journey for medicine. The two men having gone to the Vedarāla’s house are coming calling the Vedarāla, by the middle of a large grass field.

Then Ayiwandā came after being in the watch-hut, and while he is at the place where his aunt is, saw the Vedarāla and the two men going. Ayiwandā thought, “If there be an authority which Gōpalu Dēvatāwā gave, may the Vedarāla think of sitting down on the bullock’s skull which is in that grass field.”

Then the Vedarāla sat down on the bullock’s skull. From morning until the time when it became night he pressed on it. Those two men are calling and calling to the Vedarāla to come. The bullock’s skull will not get free. Thus, in that manner until it became night he pressed against it.

Afterwards Ayiwandā thought, “If there be an authority which Gōpalu Dēvatāwā gave, the bullock’s skull having become free, may the Vedarāla succeed in going back again.”

After that, the Vedarāla’s bullock’s skull having become free he went back home. Having said, “Never mind that medical treatment,” the two men who went to summon the Vedarāla to come, came to the bride’s house.

Then the bride’s mother asked, “Where is the Vedarāla?”

The two persons say, “Andō! How well the Vedarāla came! There was a bullock’s skull in that grass field. From morning the Vedarāla sat on it, and got up and tried to release the bullock’s skull [from himself]. He could not release it, being pressed [against it]. Hardly releasing himself now he went back home. He has not come; he said he wouldn’t.”

Afterwards near Ayiwandā came the bride’s mother. Having come there she said, “Father has consented in this way [you wish]. Now then, let the girl be for you. If you know [how], do something for this.” Having said [this], the woman came away.

Ayiwandā thought in his mind, “If there be an authority which Gōpalu Dēvatāwā gave, as soon as each one is released may each one go away.”

Thereupon the persons who were holding the cloth having been freed, went away. They did not go summoning the bride; they did not [even] eat the cooked rice. Having been holding the cloth from morning, in the evening they went to their villages. Afterwards the aunt and uncle having gone, came back [after] summoning Ayiwandā, and gave the bride to Ayiwandā.

Ayiwandā sleeps on the mat on which the girl wipes her feet and places them. Then he eats what has been left over on the girl’s leaf [plate]. The girl says, “Aḍē!⁷ Ayiwandā, eat thou this little.” When she has told him he eats. The girl sleeps on the bed, Ayiwandā sleeps under the bed.

Well then, they remained in that way, without the girl’s being good to Ayiwandā. When they had been in that very way for seven or eight days, a fine young man of the village having died, they buried him.

Ayiwandā having waited until the time when the girl was sleeping, opened the door and went out; and having brought the corpse, and cut and cut off a great deal of flesh, he put only the bones under the bed under which Ayiwandā sleeps; and he shut the door and went away.

On the morning of the following day, Ayiwandā’s mother stayed looking out [for him], having said, “Ayiwandā will come out.” He did not come out. The woman came into the house, and when she looked [for him] there is a heap of bones under the bed. After that, the woman says, “Anē! This one ate my son.” Having said this she wept; having wept she went away.

Ayiwandā having gone, joined a Moormen’s tavalama⁸ and drove cattle for hire. At the time when he was driving the cattle for three or four days he said, “Ansca, Bola! Whence is this tavalama for thee? It is mine, isn’t it?”

Then the men said, “Ansca, Bola! Whence is it for thee, for a man called up for hire?”

Ayiwandā said, “If it be your tavalama, throw up five hundred dried areka-nuts, and catch them without even one’s falling on the ground.” The men tried to catch them; all the dried areka-nuts fell on the ground.

Then Ayiwandā, after throwing up five hundred dried areka-nuts, thought, “If there be an authority which Gōpalu Dēvatāwā gave, may I be able to catch the whole of these five hundred dried areka-nuts without even one’s falling on the ground.” Having thrown up the five hundred dried areka-nuts, Ayiwandā caught them without even one’s falling on the ground. After that, the tavalama became secured (hayi-wunā)⁹ to Ayiwandā himself. The Moormen left it and went away.

Afterwards, getting ready hired labourers for Ayiwandā, he went to Puttalam. Having gone there, loading [sundried] salt fish,¹⁰ now then, Ayiwandā, having become a very great wealthy person, set off to come to Ayiwandā’s village, taking the tavalama, together with the hired labourers. Having come, he caused the sacks to be put down under a Kōn tree¹¹ in the field near the house of his aunt and uncle.

Ayiwandā’s mother came to the tank to pluck the leaves of a plant¹² [to cook as a vegetable]. Having come, through hearing the wooden cattle-bells of the herd of cattle she came near the tavalama. Having come [there] she says, “Anē! A son of mine was like the Heṭṭirāla. That son having gone [to be married], at the place where he was made to stay the woman killed and ate my son.” Having said [this] repeatedly at the very hand of Ayiwandā, she wept.

Then Ayiwandā says, “Don’t cry. There is salt fish [here]; take [some] and cooking it eat. What are you plucking vegetables for [but to eat in curry]?” Having said [this], he gave rice and salt fish to Ayiwandā’s mother. Thus, in that way he gave them for seven or eight days.

After that, his aunt and uncle came near Ayiwandā for salt fish. Then Ayiwandā said, “I am not the Heṭṭirāla. It is I myself they call Ayiwandā. Take ye these things, so as to go.”

Afterwards he dragged the tavalama and the salt fish to the house. Summoning that very bride,¹³ Ayiwandā having eaten, when a little [food] is left over on the leaf [plate] he gives it to her. Ayiwandā [now] sleeps on the bed; Ayiwandā’s wife sleeps on the mat on which Ayiwandā wipes his feet, under the bed on which Ayiwandā sleeps.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In a Tamil story taken from the New Year Supplement to the Ceylon Observer, 1885, and reproduced in The Orientalist, vol. ii, p. 22, Katirkāman, a poet who had acquired magical powers, awoke one night to find that some burglars had broken into the house and were removing the goods in it. He scratched a spell on a piece of palm-leaf, placed it under his pillow, and went to sleep again. When he awoke he found all the robbers silent and motionless in the positions they occupied when the spell affected them, some with the goods on their heads or shoulders, others with their hands on keys or door handles. When he spoke to them they apologised humbly, stated that they had mistaken the place and person they were to encounter, and promised never to attempt to rob the house again. He made them put back the goods, gave them a bath and a good meal, and stated that in future they should always have the right to eat and drink there.

1 Ban̆dayi pollayi. 

2 Pala yanḍa. 

3 The text has Ansca, evidently intended for Anicca. This is part of a Buddhist exclamation in Pāli, Aniccan̥ dukkhan̥, “transient is sorrow,” often used colloquially to express astonishment. A Buddhist monk of my acquaintance invariably used it to express even slight surprise at anything, strongly accenting the last syllable of the first word; in fact, all is usually pronounced as though it formed only one word. See also p. 71 below. 

4 This appears to be the meaning. 

5 As a preliminary proceeding, the bridegroom gives the bride a new cloth to put on. 

6 Kandeyayi hēnayayi. Kandeyā, he of the hill = hakurā. 

7 This is a very disrespectful exclamation when addressed by a woman to a man, or an inferior to a superior. A Tamil head-mason once complained to me of the manner in which one of his men, a person of lower caste, had addressed him, and concluded by remarking, “He will say ‘Aḍē!’ to me next.” 

8 A drove of pack-oxen, driven in this instance by “Moormen” (Marakkala men). This method of transporting goods is still practised in districts deficient in cart roads. 

9 See p. 138, vol. ii. 

10 Karōla, for karawala. 

11 An Oak-like tree, Schleichera trijuga. 

12 Mukunu-waella kola, apparently Alternanthera sp., termed by Clough Mukuṇu-waenna or Mīkan-palā. 

13 In the text the expression is man̆gula, feast; this word is sometimes used to denote the bride, as well as the wedding feast or the wedding itself. In a story not published we have, haya denekuṭa man̆gul genat innawā, for six persons brides have been brought. 

No. 195

The Gamarāla’s Son-in-law

At a city there is a Gamarāla. There are two daughters of the Gamarāla’s; one is given in dīga [marriage] two gawwas (eight miles) distant, the other is not given. He said he would give her to him who comes to ask for her. From [the time] when he said it he did not give her.

Having brought [a man] he caused him to stay. On the following day morning the father-in-law says, “Child, there is a rice field of mine of sixty yālas twelve amuṇas.¹ Having ploughed the rice field in just one day, and sown paddy there, and chopped the earthen ridges in it, and on that very day blocked up the gaps [in the fence], and come back, and given to the twelve dogs twelve haunches of Sambhar deer, and given leaves to the twelve calves, and poured water on the twelve betel creepers, and come back [after] cutting the Milla stump, and warmed water, can you bathe me?” he asks.

Then the son-in-law says, “Aniccan̥ dukkhan̥! Who can do these things?” he says.

Then saying, “I shall cut off [your] nose,” he cuts off his nose. In that country they cannot say, “Aniccan̥ dukkhan̥”; should they say it he cuts off the nose.

Well then, giving [his daughter] in this fraudulent way, in the aforesaid manner having told two or three persons [these works], in the same way he cut off [their] noses, too.

During the time which is going by in that way, there are an elder brother and a younger brother, two persons. The elder brother’s wife having died, he came in the said manner. When he asked for [the girl], the Gamarāla said he will give her. Then in the aforesaid manner he cut off his nose.

Having gone away, through shame at going home he remained hidden near the well. The above-mentioned younger brother’s wife having gone [there], when she looked saw that he was hidden, and having come running back, on seeing her husband told him. He went, and when he looked saw that his brother is there.

Having seen him, when he asked, “What is it?” he says, “He cut off my nose.”

When he asked, “Why so?” he told him in the aforesaid manner. After that, that man says, “Elder brother, you stay [here]; I will go.” Having said [this], and given charge of his wife to the elder brother, he went.

Having gone, he asked for the above-mentioned marriage. When he asked, [the Gamarāla] said he will give her. Then he asked if he can work² in the above-mentioned manner. He said, “I can.”

“If so, go to the rice field,” he said. Having said this, and loaded the paddy [to be sown], he gave it.

The man, taking a plough, a yoke pole, a digging hoe, a water gourd, the articles for eating betel, and driving the cattle, went to the rice field.

Having gone [there], and tied the yoke on the unoccupied pair of bulls, and tied them exactly in the middle [of the field], and tied at both sides [of the field] the bulls which draw the load, he tore open the corners of the sacks.

Having torn [them open] and allowed the paddy to fall, he began to plough. While he was turning two or three times there and here along the rice field, all the paddy fell down.

After it fell he unfastened the bulls, and taking the digging hoe, put two or three sods on the earthen ridges (niyara); and having come, and brought away the plough and the yoke pole, and set the yoke pole as a stake in the gap [in the fence], and fixed the plough across it and tied it, and gone away to the house driving the above-mentioned bulls, and cut up the six bulls, and given [their] twelve haunches to the twelve dogs, and drawn out two or three betel-creeper plants, and given them to the twelve calves, and come after cutting the Milla stump, he began to warm the water.

When it was becoming hot, he took water and poured it on the betel creepers. Having left the remaining water to thoroughly boil, he called to his father-in-law, “[Be pleased] to bathe with the water,” and having cooled a little water, he poured it first on his body.

Secondly, taking [some] of that boiling water he sprinkled it on his body. Thereupon his body was burnt. The Gamarāla, crying out, began to run about; having checked and checked him he began to sprinkle [him again]. Thereafter, both of them came home and stayed there.

While they are there the Gamarāla, talking to his wife, says, “This son-in-law is not a good sort of son-in-law. I must kill this one.” Having sought [in vain] for a contrivance to kill him, he says, “We cannot kill this one. Let us send him near our elder daughter.”

Having cooked a kuruniya (one-fortieth of an amuṇa) of cakes, and written a letter, and put it in the middle of the cakes, and given it into the hand of his boy (son), he says to the son-in-law, “Child, go near my elder (lit., big) daughter [and give her this box of cakes], and come back.” Having said [this] he sent him near the above-mentioned elder daughter.

These two persons (the little son and the son-in-law) having set off, while they were going away, when the boy went into the jungle the son-in-law went [with the box of cakes] to the travellers’ shed that was there; and having unfastened the cake box he began to eat.

While he was going on eating he met with the above-mentioned letter. Taking it, and when he looked in it having seen that there was said in it that [the daughter] is to kill him, he tore it up. Then having thought of the name of the boy who goes with him and written that she is to kill the boy, he put it in the box, and as soon as he put it in tied up [the box] and placed [it aside].

The boy having come and taken the box, and said, “Let us go,” they set off.

Having gone to the house, while he is [there] the above-mentioned elder daughter having cooked and given him to eat, and unfastened the box, while going on eating the cakes met with this letter. Taking it, and when she looked having seen that there was said [that she was] to kill her brother, quite without inquiry she quickly killed him outright.

There was a Bali (evil planetary influence) sending away³ at the house in which she was. When the woman was wishing and wishing long life (that is, responding loudly, Āyibō! Āyibō!) the boy (her son) said that he wanted to go out. Thereupon, speaking to her sister’s husband, she says, “Conduct this boy to the door.”

When she said it, the man, calling the boy, went to the door. There the man with his knife pricks him. Thereupon the boy in fear comes running near his mother. After a little time, when he again said he wanted to go out, his mother says, “Anē! Bolan, split this one’s belly.”⁴

When she said it, having gone taking the boy he split his belly. Having come back he asked for a little water to wash the knife. The boy’s mother having come crying, when she looked the boy was killed.

This one bounded off, and came running to the very house of the above-mentioned Gamarāla.

The Gamarāla having sent a letter to the elder daughter and told her to come, after she came says, “Daughter, when you have gone off to sleep we will put a rope into the house. Put that rope on that one’s neck and fasten it tightly,” he said.

Having put the Gamarāla’s younger son-in-law, and younger daughter and elder daughter, these very three persons, in one house, and shut the door, and left them to sleep, he extended a rope from the cat-window (the space between the top of the outer wall and the roof).

The elder daughter who had been taught the above-mentioned method [of killing the son-in-law], went to sleep, and stayed so. While this man was looking about, he saw that the rope is coming [over the wall into the room].

Taking the rope, he put it on the elder daughter’s neck and made it tight. The Gamarāla, who stayed outside, having tied the [other end of the] rope to the necks of a yoke of buffalo bulls, made them agitated.

When the yoke of cattle had drawn the rope [tight], the Gamarāla, springing and springing upward while clapping his hands, says, “On other days, indeed, he escaped. To-day, indeed, he is caught,” he said.

Thereupon the son-in-law, having stayed in the house, came outside and said, “It is not [done] to me; it is your elder daughter herself,” he said.

Thereupon the Gamarāla in a perplexity says, “Aniccan̥ dukkhan̥! It is the thing which this one has done!” Just as he was saying it the son-in-law cut off his nose. Having cut it off he went to his own country.

Because the word which cannot be said was said [by the Gamarāla] he cut off his nose.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 131, Mr. W. Goonetilleke gave a story about a Gamarāla who cut off the nose of any servant who used the words Aniccan̥ dukkhan̥. A young man took service under him in order to avenge his brother who had been thus mutilated; but the incidents differ from those related in the story given by me. The Gamarāla was surprised into saying the forbidden words when the man poured scalding water over him. The servant immediately cut off his nose, ran home with it, and kicked his brother, who was squatting at the hearth, so that he fell with his face against the hearth stone. This reopened the wound; and when the Gamarāla’s nose was fitted on and bandaged there after application of the juice of a plant which heals cuts, it became firmly attached, and as serviceable as the original nose.

In Indian Nights’ Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 106, there is a story of a Moghul who engaged servants on the condition that if he or the servant became angry the other should pull out his eye. A man who had accepted these terms was ordered to plough six acres daily, fence it, bring game for the table, grass for the mare, and firewood, and cook the master’s food. He lost his temper when scolded, and his eye was plucked out. His clever brother determined to avenge him, was engaged by the Moghul, and given the same tasks. He ploughed once round the six acres and twelve furrows across the middle, set up a bundle of brushwood at each corner, tied the bullocks to a tree, and went to sleep. He played various other tricks on his master, including the cooking of his favourite dog for his food. When the master was going for a new wife, the servant, who was sent to notify his coming, said his master was ill and by his doctor’s orders took only common soap made into a porridge with asafœtida and spices. He was sick in the night after taking it, and next morning the man refused to remove the vessel he had used. As the Moghul was carrying it out covered up with a sheet, the friends being told by the man that he was leaving through anger at the food they gave him, ran out and seized his arms to draw him back, and caused him to drop and break the vessel. On their way home they had a quarrel and a scuffle, the Moghul admitted he was angry at last, and the man got him down and plucked out his eye. Some of the incidents are found in the stories numbered 241 and 242 in this volume.

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 98, there is an account of a merchant who cut off the nose of any servant who was angry or abusive. In order to be revenged on him, the brother of a man who had been thus mutilated took service under the merchant, irritated him in various ways, was struck in the face, and thereupon cut off his master’s nose.

In Folktales of the Santal Parganas (collected by Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 124, a Prince and a merchant’s son ran away, and were engaged as labourers on the condition that if they threw up their work they should lose one hand and one ear, the master to be similarly mutilated if he dismissed them while they were willing to work. When the Prince was ordered to hoe sugar-cane he dug it up, when told to scrape and spin hemp he cut it into pieces, when sent to wash his master’s child he beat it on a stone as a washerman beats cloths until it was dead. To get rid of him the master sent him to his father-in-law with a letter in which it was requested that he should be killed. The Prince read it, wrote a fresh one requesting that he should be married to the father-in-law’s daughter, and was married accordingly. He killed his master when about to be killed by him. Some of the incidents are given in the story numbered 242 in this volume.

In the same work, p. 258, a Prince who had wasted his money, took service with a farmer on the terms that if he gave it up his little finger was to be cut off, and if dismissed while working well the master was to suffer the same penalty. His friend took his place and over-reached the farmer, who ran away to save himself.

In the Kolhān tales (Bompas) appended to the same volume, p. 497, there is also a story of a Prince who was accompanied by a barber when he was exiled. To get a living the Prince took service on the mutilation terms, the penalty being the loss of a piece of skin a span long. He worked badly and was mutilated. The barber to avenge him took his place, and irritated his master until he got an opportunity of mutilating him in the same way.

1 The yāla being twenty amuṇas, the total area was the extent that would be sown with 1,212 amuṇas, each being six bushels (or 5·7 bushels in the district where the story was related). At two and a half bushels per acre this would be about 2,900 acres. 

2 Lit., Can he work. The same form of expression is used by the Irish. 

3 Bali aerumak, conducted by a person termed Bali-tiyannā. The patient and a friend sitting on each side of him or her, respond in a loud voice, “Āyibō, Āyibō!” (Long life!) at each pause in the invocations. The wish of long life is addressed to the deity of the planet. 

4 See vol. ii, p. 187. 

No. 196

The Story of the Gamarāla’s Son

In a certain country there is a Gamarāla; the Gamarāla had no wives. While he was thus, at one time (eka pārama) he brought seven wives; all the seven had no children. Again he brought yet a woman; that woman also had no children.

After that, when the man was going in order to escort the woman [on returning her to her parents], they met with a Sannyāsi. The Sannyāsi asked, “What is it? Where are you going?”

The man said, “I brought seven wives; all seven had no children. After that, I brought this woman. Because the woman also had no children I am going in order to escort her [to her parents again].”

Then the Sannyāsi says, “I will perform a protective spell (ārakshāwa) for children to be born, if you will give me the lad who is born first of all.” The Gamarāla promised, “I will give him.”

Afterwards the Gamarāla having come back, when a little time had gone she bore a boy. After the boy became somewhat big he planted a flower tree. The Gamarāla having told the Sannyāsi to come gave him the boy; the Sannyāsi having taken him went away. The lad says to the Gamarāla, “Should I die the flowers on the flower tree will fade.” Younger than this lad [the Gamarāla’s wife] bore yet a boy.

When the Sannyāsi was taking the lad he met with a man. This man said to the lad, “Lad, the Sannyāsi will give you a thread. Tie it to a tree, and having got out of the way remain [there].”

The Sannyāsi having gone with the lad near a hidden treasure, gave a thread into the boy’s hand, saying, “Remain holding this.” The lad tied the thread to a tree; having hidden himself he remained [there].

The Sannyāsi put “life” into it.¹ Then the Yakā [who guarded the treasure] having come, asked from the Sannyāsi, “Where is the demon offering (billa)?”

Thereupon the Sannyāsi said, “There (ān̥) he is, [at the end of the thread].” Then when the Yakā looked there was no one. Well then, the Yakā broke the Sannyāsi’s neck and drank his blood.

After the Yakā went away the hidden treasure burst open. That lad having come and taken the things of the hidden treasure (nin̆dānē kaḷamanā), again went to a Gamarāla’s² house. Having gone, and taken lodgings at the house, while he is there they are preparing (tānawā) to give that Gamarāla’s girl in dīga (marriage). They will give her for the manner in which the Cinnamon-peeler’s cloth is worn, and to a person who wore the cloth [most correctly]. Well, anyone of those who were there was unable to do it. This youth wore it. After that, the Gamarāla gave the girl to the lad.

When the lad was bathing one day the girl saw the beauty of the lad’s figure. After that, the girl having said, “This man’s figure is too beautiful!³ I don’t want him,” prepared a contrivance to kill him. Having got a false illness she lay down.

Afterwards the lad said, “What is the difficulty for you?”

Then the girl [said], “You must bring and give me the milk of the wild Elephant that is in the jungle; if not, I shall die.”

After that, the lad having taken the coconut water-vessel,⁴ and having gone into the jungle, went near the Elephant calves. Then the Elephant calves [asked], “What have you come for?”

This lad said, “Anē! I came to take a little milk from the Elephant for medicine for me.”

The Elephant calves said, “If so, you remain hidden there; we will take and give it to you.”

The Elephant calves having gone near the female Elephant, one Elephant calf stayed near the Elephant’s trunk; the other one drinks a little milk, and puts a little into the coconut water-vessel. Having done thus, and collected milk for that coconut water-vessel, it brought and gave it to this lad. The lad having brought it,⁵ gave it to the woman, and told her to drink it. Afterwards the woman drank it.

In still a little time, again having said that she had an illness, she lay down. That lad asked, “What are you again lying down for?”

The girl says, “Bring the milk of the female Bear (walasdena) in the jungle. Should I drink it this illness of mine will be cured.”

Afterwards, this lad, having taken the coconut water-vessel, and gone to the jungle and gone near a Bear cub, said, “Anē! You must take and give to me a little Bear’s milk for medicine.”

Afterwards, the Bear cub having said, “If so, you remain hidden there until the time when I bring it,” took the coconut water-vessel, and having gone near the female Bear, drinks a little milk, and again pours a little into the coconut water-vessel. In that way having collected it, it brought and gave it to that lad. The lad brought the Bear’s milk home, and gave it to the woman to drink.

The girl having drunk it, in still a few days again lay down. The lad asked, “What are you again lying down for (budi)?”

Then the girl [said], “Having brought for me the milk of the Giju-lihinī⁶ which is in the jungle, should I drink it this illness will be cured.”

Afterwards the lad, having taken the coconut water-vessel and gone, went near the young ones of the Giju-lihinī, and said, “Anē! I must take a little milk of the Giju-lihinī for medicine.”

Afterwards, those Giju-lihinī young ones having told the lad to remain hidden, in the very same manner as before brought and gave the milk. The lad brought and gave it to the girl to drink. The girl having drunk it said that the illness was cured.

Well then, these two persons have a boy (son). Still having said that she had illness, this girl lay down. The lad asked her [about it] in the same manner as before.

The girl said, “Having wrestled⁷ with the Yaksanī who is in the jungle, should you come back after conquering, indeed, my illness will be cured.”

After the lad went into the jungle he met with the Yaksanī. Having met with her, the Yaksanī said, “We two must wrestle to-day; having wrestled, the fallen person (waeṭicci kenā) will lose.”

This lad said, “It is good,” and having wrestled the lad fell, and the Yaksanī killed the lad.

Then at that place [where he planted it] the flower also faded. Well then, the Gamarāla sent the other younger youth on horseback to look [for him]. When the youth was coming he met with the Yaksanī who killed that lad. Having met with her the youth said, “Give me (dila) my elder brother,” he asked.

The Yaksanī said, “I don’t know [about that].”

Then the youth [said], “Don’t say ‘No’; you must give him, quickly.”

The Yaksanī said, “Let you and me wrestle. Having wrestled, should you fall I shall not give him; should I fall I will give you your elder brother.” Both having agreed to it, they wrestled. Having wrestled, the Yaksanī lost.

After that, the Yaksanī having caused that killed lad to come to life,⁸ gave him to that youth. Well then, the elder brother and younger brother, both of them, having mounted on the back of the horse went to the very city where the elder brother stayed. The younger brother again came [home], having caused the elder brother to remain at that very place.

Well then, that elder brother’s boy having said, “Father, there is no stopping here for us; let us go to another country,” the two started, and at the time when they were going they met with a tank.

The boy asked, “Father, how far (koccara taen) can you swim in this tank?”

The boy’s father said “Let us see,” and having swum a little space (ṭikak taen) being unable [to swim further] came back.

The boy said, “Father, if you cannot swim, clasping my hand let us go,” he said. The man was held by the boy’s hand.

While swimming, the boy when he was going to the far bank caught a shark also. Having taken it also and gone to the far bank, he cut up the shark and divided it into three. Having divided it, and eaten two heaps of it, and taken the other heap,⁹ they go away to another country.

Having gone there they arrived (eli-baessā) at the palace (vimānē) of a Rākshasa. When they went two Rākshasa lads were [there]. The Rākshasa and Rākshasī went to eat human flesh. The two Rākshasa lads said, “Anē! What have you come to this place for? Should our mother and father come they will eat you up (kālā damayi).”

Then these two having said, “Anē! Don’t say so; to-day you must somehow or other (kohomawat) save us and send us away,” those two Rākshasa lads hid them.

The Rākshasa and Rākshasī came. Having come there, “What is this smell of dead bodies?” they asked.

The Rākshasa lads [said], “Having come after eating men’s flesh, what do you say ‘smell of dead bodies’ for?”

Well then, the Rākshasī and Rākshasa swore, “We will not eat; son, tell us.”

At that place these two Rākshasa lads showed those two, father and son, to these two. Although this Rākshasī and Rākshasa could not bear not to eat those two, because they had sworn that day they were forbearing.

On the next day the two persons went away to another country. Having gone there they arrived near a tank. Both having descended at the bank, swam. When they were going to the middle of the tank both of them being soaked with the water died.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

1 Jīvan keruwā, made magical “life” or power in it, by means of spells. 

2 Gamarāla kenekunnē; this plural form is often used for the singular. A few lines further on we have, redda aendapu kenekunḍayi. 

3 Probably said sarcastically; he may have had a bad figure. This kind of sarcastic talk is very common in the villages. 

4 A coconut shell slung from cords, for use as a water-vessel (mungawē). 

5 Lit., “them,” kiri, milk, being a plural noun. 

6 Compare the similar account on p. 296, vol. i. In Clough’s Dictionary, Giju-lihiṇiyā (lit., Vulture-glider or hawk) is termed Golden Eagle, a bird which is not found in India or Ceylon. Apparently the word is a synonym of Rukh (the Æt-kanda Lihiṇiyā), which in the second note, p. 300, vol. i, is said to be “of the nature of vultures.” In Man, vol. xiii, p. 73, Captain W. E. H. Barrett published an A’Kikuyu (East African) story in which when a man took refuge inside a dead elephant the animal was carried off by a huge vulture to a tree in the midst of a great lake. The man escaped by grasping one of the bird’s tail feathers when it flew away, and being thus carried by it to land, without its knowledge. 

7 Oṭṭu-welā, having pushed against. 

8 Lit., to be (re-)born. 

9 The narrator, belonging to a village in the far interior, evidently thought a shark is a small fish, little larger than those caught in the tanks. Compare also No. 214, in which a Queen carries a shark home to eat. 

No. 197

The Manner in which the Gamarāla buried his Sons

In a certain country there are a Gamarāla and a Gama-Mahagē (his wife), it is said. When they were there not much time (nom̆bō kālayak), for the Mahagē [there was] pregnancy longing; well then, she is not eating food.

The Gamarāla asked, “What is it, Bolan? You are not eating food,” he asked.

The woman said, “I have pregnancy longing.” The man asked, “What can you eat?” The woman said, “Seven days (haddawasak) having warmed water (paen) give it to me.” The Gamarāla having warmed water gave it [on] seven days; the Gama-Mahagē bathed seven days [with] the water. The Gamarāla asked, “Now then, is it well, the pregnancy longing?” The woman said, “It is well.”

Well, ten months having been fulfilled she bore a boy. Until the time the boy becomes able to talk they reared him.

[Then] the Gamarāla said, “To look what this boy says, having taken him let us bury him.”¹ The Gama-Mahagē also having said “Hā,” they took him to bury. Having cut the grave (lit., hole) and placed him in the grave, they covered [him with] earth (pas waehaewwā).

Then the boy said, “Anē! What did mother and father² bury me for? If I remained with [them]—the smith does not beat the piece of iron [after] having placed it on the anvil—many will I beat (hammer) for them both.”³

The Gamarāla and the Mahagē having said, “That one to us [is] a smith’s boy,” and having well trampled still [more] earth [on him] came home.

When they were thus for no long time, for the Mahagē again [there was] pregnancy longing; well then, she is not eating food. The Gamarāla asked, “What is it, Bolan? You are not eating food.” The woman said, “I have pregnancy longing.” The Gamarāla said, “What can you eat for the pregnancy longing?” The woman said, “[On] seven days from the Blue-lotus-flower pool having brought water, seven days having warmed it give me it (dilan) to drink.” The Gamarāla having brought the water, [on] seven days having warmed it gave it; the woman on the very seven days drank. The Gamarāla asked, “Now then, is it well, the pregnancy longing?” The woman said, “It is well.”

Well then, ten months having been fulfilled (lit., filled) she bore a son. Until the time he became able to talk they reared him.

[Then] the Gamarāla said, “To look what this one says, let us bury him.” The woman having said “Hā,” they took him, and having cut the grave and placed him in the grave, they covered [him with] earth.

The boy said and said, “Anē! What did they bury me for? If I remained [with them]—the potter does not beat [the clay for] the pots—[for] many will I beat it.”

The two persons having said, “That one is not ours⁴—a potter’s boy,” and having put still [more] earth [on him] and trampled it, came home.

Having come there, when they were [there] no long time, for the woman [there was] pregnancy longing; she is without food. The Gamarāla asked, “What is it, Bolan? You are not eating food.” The woman said, “I have pregnancy longing.” The Gamarāla asked, “What can you eat?” The woman said, “Having cut a hollow well (puhu lin̆dak) and brought the water (diya), seven days having warmed it give me it for me to bathe.” The Gamarāla having cut a hollow well, [on] seven days having warmed the water gave it. The woman seven days bathed [with] the water. The Gamarāla said, “Now then even, is the pregnancy longing well?” The woman said, “It is well.”

When she was [there] not much time she bore a boy. Having reared him until the time when the boy became able to talk, the Gamarāla said, “Having taken this one let us bury him, to look what he says.” The Gama-Mahagē having said “Hā,” they took him, and having cut the grave and placed him in the grave, covered [him with] earth.

The boy said, “Anē! If I remained [with them]—the washerman does not wash cloth for them—many will I wash.”

The two persons having said, “That one [is] not ours—a washerman’s boy,” put still [more] earth [on him] and having trampled it came home.

(On the next occasion the woman stated, in reply to her husband’s inquiry as to what food she wanted, that she required nothing. When the son was buried he said, “What [did they bury] me for? For them⁵ I—the tom-tom beater does not beat the tom-tom—will beat many.”⁶ They said, “That one [is] not ours—a tom-tom beater’s boy,” and they finished the burial and returned home.

On the fifth occasion, when asked what she could eat, the woman said, “There is the mind to eat (sic) buffalo milk.” When the boy was placed in the grave he said, “Anē! What did our mother and father bury me for? If I remained [with them], having arrived near a King, [after I am] exercising the sovereignty won’t our mother and father, both of them, get subsistence for themselves?”⁷ The story continues:—)

Well then, the two persons having said, “This one himself [is] our child,” getting him to the surface⁸ they brought him home.

(On the sixth occasion the woman required cow’s milk. After she had “eaten” it (lit., them, the word for milk being a plural noun) the longing was allayed. Like the others, the boy who was born was buried when he could talk. He said, “Anē! What did our mother and father bury me for? If I remained [with them] won’t the two persons get a subsistence, I having even done cultivation and trading?”)

The rest of the story is as follows:—The two persons having said, “This one himself [is] our child,” getting him to the surface they brought him home. When they were rearing him not much time, the Gamarāla’s two eyes became blind. This boy having become big is continuing to give assistance to the two persons. Then the Gamarāla died.

The elder (lit., big) boy has taken the sovereignty. The elder brother and younger brother, both, [assisting her]—one having done cultivation (goyitan) and trading, one having exercised the sovereignty—that woman is obtaining a subsistence.

The woman having become old, one day (dawasakdā) that younger brother went to see that elder brother and return to the city. Having gone, as he was coming back Śakra having come, taking an old appearance, took away the Gama-Mahagē.

The boy having come and looked [for her], at his mother’s absence is weeping and weeping. Śakra, creating an old appearance, having come asked at the boy’s hand, “What are you weeping for?”

The boy said, “On account of our mother’s absence I am weeping.”

Śakra said, “Why? While your mother has become old you weep! Whatever time it should be, life goes.”

The boy said, “I must go to see our mother’s life.”

Śakra having taken him to the Śakra residence (bawana) showed him the boy’s mother. Having shown her, Śakra asked, “Can you stay here?”

Then the boy said, “I having asked at elder brother’s hand must come,” and came [back to earth]. Having gone to the elder brother’s city and said, “Elder brother, our mother having gone is in the Śakra residence; I also will go,” the elder brother replied, “If you can, go.” He having said it, he came away to go, [but] the boy not knowing the path simply stayed [at home].

Finished.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

I have inserted this pointless tale on account of the evidence it affords of a belief that infanticide was practised in former times; I may add that I have adhered as closely as possible to the text. It agrees with the story numbered 243 in this volume (a tale from Ratmalāna, about eight miles south of Colombo), that children who were not likely to prove useful were sometimes buried alive. For other instances of infanticide see the Index to vol. i.

I am unable to refer to Indian instances in which Śakra occupies the position of Yama as the God of Death; but in Ceylon he is sometimes represented as being a Dharma-raja, a god of righteousness or justice, and this is a function of Yama. See the verse at the end of the story numbered 179 in vol. ii; in No. 107, vol. ii, it is Śakra who kills the wicked Princess.

The reason for cutting a special well with the water of which the women wished to bathe, was that they would thus obtain undefiled water.

1 Their idea apparently was that when at the point of death he would speak the truth, and they would thus learn if he were likely to be useful to them. 

2 Ammayi abuccayi. 

3 Nē owun dennāṭa talannē. 

4 Lit., Not for us. 

5 Owanḍa. 

6 Berē taḍi-gahan[nē] naehae, newē talannē. 

7 Raksā kara-gannawā nāē. 

8 Goḍa aragana. 

No. 198

The Story of the Wooden Peacock

In a certain country there are a Carpenter and a Heṭṭirāla, it is said. There are also the wives of the two persons; there are also the two sons of the two persons.

The Carpenter and the Heṭṭirāla spoke together: “Let us send our two children to school.” Having spoken thus, they sent the Carpenter’s son and the Heṭṭirāla’s son to school. At the time when the two had been going to school no long period, the Heṭṭirāla took and gave a cart and a bull to the Heṭṭirāla’s son. Well then, the Heṭṭirāla’s son goes to school in the cart; the Carpenter’s son goes on the ground. A day or two having gone by he does not go again.

Afterwards the Carpenter asked, “Why, Aḍē! dost thou not go to school?”

Then said the youngster, “The Heṭṭirāla’s son goes in the cart; I cannot go on the ground.”

After that, the Carpenter also took and gave (anna dunnā) a cart and a yoke of bulls to the Carpenter’s son. Now then, the Carpenter’s son also, tying [the bulls to] the cart, goes to school.

Then the Heṭṭirāla’s son, having sold the cart and bull, got a horse and horse carriage. The Heṭṭirāla’s son began to go in the horse carriage. Then the Carpenter’s son does not go to school.

Then the Carpenter asked, “What dost thou not go to school for?”

The Carpenter’s son said, “The Heṭṭirāla’s son goes in the horse carriage; I cannot go in an ordinary (nikan) cart.”

Afterwards, the Carpenter having said, “If the Heṭṭirāla’s son goes in the horse carriage, am I not a Carpenter? Having made a better one than that I will give you it,” constructed a wooden Peacock (dan̆ḍu mon̆ḍarā) and gave it to the Carpenter’s son. Afterwards the Carpenter’s son, rowing on the wooden Peacock [through the air], goes to school.

When they were thus for not a long time, the Carpenter died; the Carpenter’s wife also died. Afterwards this Carpenter’s son thought to himself that he must seek for a marriage for himself. Having thought it he went rowing the wooden Peacock to a city.

There is a Princess of that city. The Princess alone was at the palace when the Carpenter’s son was going. Afterwards the Carpenter’s son asked at the hand of the Princess, “Can you (puḷuhanida) go with me to our country?”

Then the Princess said, “I will not go; if you be here I can [marry you].” After that, the Carpenter’s son marrying¹ the Princess, stays [there]. While he was there two Princes were born.

After that, the Carpenter’s son said to the Princess, “Taking these two Princes also, let us go to our country.”

The Princess said “Hā.”

Well then, while the Princess and the Carpenter’s son, and the two Princes of these two, were going [through the air] on the back of that wooden Peacock, that younger Prince said, “I am thirsty.”² The Carpenter’s son having split his [own] palm gave him blood. The Prince said, “I cannot drink blood; I must drink water.”

Afterwards, having lowered the wooden Peacock to the ground, [the Carpenter’s son] went to seek water. [While he was absent] the younger Prince cut the cord of the wooden Peacock.

The Carpenter’s son having gone thus, [after] finding water came back and gave it to the Prince. Afterwards, after the Prince drank the water he tried to make the wooden Peacock row aloft; he could not, because [the young Prince] cut the wooden Peacock’s cord.

Afterwards, having left (damalā) the wooden Peacock there, [the Carpenter’s son] came to the river with the Princess and the two Princes; having come [there] they told the boatman to put them across (ekan-karawanḍa).

Afterwards, the boatman firstly having placed the Carpenter’s son on the high ground on the other bank (egoḍa goḍē), and having come back to this bank, placing the Princess in the boat took her below along the river, and handed over the Princess to the King of the boatman’s city.

The Carpenter’s son having stayed on the high ground on the other bank, became a beggar, and went away.³ Those two Princes having been weeping and weeping on this bank, jumped into the river. The two Princes went upwards and upwards in the river—there is a crocodile-house (burrow)—along the crocodile-house they went upward [and came to the surface of the ground].

Having gone there, while they were there weeping and weeping a widow woman having come for water (watura pārē) asked, “What are you weeping and weeping there for?” at the hand of the two Princes.

Then the two Princes say, “Anē! Being without our mother and father we are weeping and weeping.”

Then the widow woman said, “Come, if so, and go with me.” Afterwards, having said “Hā,” the two Princes went with the widow woman. Having thus gone, the widow woman gave food to the two Princes.

While they were growing big and large the King said at the hand of that Princess, “Now then, let us marry.”

Then the Princess said, “In our country, when a Princess has either been sent away (divorced, aericcahamawat) or has made mistakes (pāḍāwāri weccahamawat), she does not marry until the time when three years⁴ go by. When the three years have gone (gihāma) let us marry.” Afterwards the King, having placed a guard for the Princess, waited until the time when the three years go by.

These two Princes who jumped into the river one day went to be on guard. The Princess asked at the hand of the Princes, “Whence are you?”

Then the Princes said, “While we were young at a very distant city our mother and father were lost near the river. A widow woman having brought us away is now rearing us.”

Then the Princess said, “It is your (um̆balē) mother indeed who is I; your father is now walking about, continuing to beg and eat. I will perform a meritorious deed (pinkomak) and bring him; you, also, join yourselves to the beggars’ party.” Having said this, and given the two Princes silver and gold things, she sent them away.

That Princess at the hand of the King said, “I must perform a meritorious deed, to give money to those with crippled arms, lame persons, and beggars.”

Afterwards the King by the notification tom-toms gave public notice to those with crippled arms, and lame persons, and beggars, to come [for the alms-giving]. Afterwards they came; that Carpenter’s son, the beggar, also came.

To the whole of them⁵ she gave money; to that Carpenter’s son she gave much,—silver and gold. Having given it, the Princess said, “Having taken these and gone, not losing them, construct a city for us to stay in when we have come together again,” she said. “Our two Princes also are near such and such a widow woman; [after] joining them, go.”

Afterwards that Carpenter’s son, joining the two Princes also, went and built a city. Afterwards this Princess—having placed a guard over whom, the King had stopped—having bounded off, unknown to the King⁶ went to the city which the Carpenter’s son and the two Princes built.

Well then, the Princess, and the Carpenter’s son, and the two Princes stayed at the city.

Finished.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In the Jātaka story No. 193 (vol. ii, p. 82), a Prince who was travelling alone with his wife is described as cutting his right knee with his sword when she was overcome with thirst, in order to give her blood to drink.

In Old Deccan Days (M. Frere), p. 142, a Prince married a carpenter’s daughter, and afterwards became poor, and a drum-beater for conjurers and dancers, a fate from which his second wife and her son rescued him.

In a story of the Western Province numbered 240 in this volume, a Princess recovered her husband by giving a dāna, or feast for poor people, and observing those who came to eat it. See also No. 247.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. iii, p. 84), in the story of “Āli Shār and Zumurrud,” the lady, who while disguised as a man had been chosen as King, recovered her husband by giving a free feast to all comers at the new moon of each month, and watching the persons who came, her husband Āli Shār, then a poor man, being present at the fifth full moon. At each of the earlier feasts she found and punished men who had been responsible for her own and her husband’s misfortunes.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 101, a merchant’s son who was travelling through a waterless desert for seven days, kept his wife alive by giving her his own flesh and blood.

See vol. ii, Nos. 80 and 81, and the appended notes.

1 Lit., “tying the hand”; the little fingers of the bride and bridegroom are tied together by a thread in the marriage ceremony. 

2 Lit., “Water-thirst.” 

3 In the text this sentence follows the next one. 

4 Lit., a tri-ennium, a three-year, tun-awuruddak. This is an invention of the woman’s; there is no custom of the kind in Ceylon. 

5 Ewunḍa okkōṭama. 

6 Rajjuruwanḍa hemin. 

No. 199

The Wicked Step-mother

At a certain city there are a King and a Queen. There are also two Princes.

During the time while they were living thus, while the Queen was lying down at noon, a hen-sparrow had built a house (nest) on the ridge-pole. The Queen remained looking at it. When the Queen was there on the following day [the bird] hatched young ones.

When they had been there many days, a young sparrow, having fallen to the ground, died. The Queen, taking the young sparrow in her hand, looked at it. Having opened its mouth, when she looked in it there was a fish spine in the mouth. The Queen threw the young one away.

After that, the hen-sparrow was not at the nest; another hen having come, stayed there. Afterwards, two young sparrows having fallen to the ground again and died, when the Queen taking them in her hand looked at them, two fish spines were in their mouths. The Queen threw them both away, too.

On account of what she saw the Queen thought, “[This] is not the hen which hatched these young ones. [The cock-sparrow] having called in another one [as his mate], she has been making them eat these spines to kill them.” Then from this the Queen got in her mind, “When I am not [here] it will indeed be like this for my children.” Well then, through that grief the Queen died.

After she died the King brought another Queen. This Queen beats and scolds the two Princes. Afterwards the Princes said to their father the King, “We must go even to our uncle’s¹ house.”

“Why must you go?” asked the King.

The Princes said, “Our step-mother beats and scolds us.”

Afterwards the King said, “Go there, you.”

When the two Princes went to their uncle’s house, “What, Princes, have you come for?” the uncle asked.

“Our step-mother beats and scolds us; on that account we came.”

“If so, stay,” the uncle said.

Afterwards, when they had been there in that way not much time, as they were going playing and playing with oranges through the midst of the city, an orange fruit fell in the King’s palace.

Then the Princes asked for it at the hand of the Queen: “Step-mother, give us that orange fruit.”

The Queen said, “Am I a slave to drag about anybody’s orange?”

After that, the big Prince having gone to the palace, taking the orange fruit came away.

Afterwards, tearing the cloth that was on the Queen’s waist, and stabbing herself with a knife [the Queen] awaited the time when the King, who went to war, came back.

The King having come asked, “What is it?”

“Your two Princes having come and done [this] work went away.”

On account of it the King appointed to kill the two Princes. Having given information of it to the King’s younger brother also, the younger brother asked, “What is that for?”

The King said, “After I went to the war these two Princes went to the palace, and tore the Queen’s cloth also, and having stabbed and cut her with their knives, the blood was flowing down when I came.”

After that, the King’s younger brother asked at the hand of those Princes, “Why did you come and beat the Queen, and stab and cut her with the knife, and go away?”

The Princes said, “We did not do even one thing in that way. As we were coming playing and playing with oranges, our orange fruit having fallen in the palace, when we asked our step-mother for it she did not give it. ‘Am I a slave to drag about oranges?’ she said. Afterwards we went into the palace, and taking the orange fruit went away. We did not do a thing of that kind,” they said.

The King, however, did not take that to be true. “I must kill the two Princes,” he said. Their uncle took the word of the two Princes for the truth.

Afterwards the Princes’ uncle said, “Go to the river, and [after] washing your heads come back.”

As they were setting off the Princes took a bow and arrow; and having gone to the river, while they were there, when they were becoming ready to wash their heads, two hares, bounding and bounding along, came in front of the two Princes. Having seen the hares, the younger son said, “Elder brother, shoot those two hares.” He shot at them; at the stroke the two hares died.

The two Princes, washing their heads, took away the two hares also. Having gone to the city, and given them into the uncle’s hand, the uncle plucked out the four eye-balls of the hares, and gave them into the Queen’s hands:—“Here; they are the four eye-balls of the Princes,” he said.

Afterwards, having looked and looked at the eyes, she brought an In̆di (wild Date) spike, and saying and saying, “Having looked and looked with these eyes, did you torment me so much?” she went to the palace where the King was, and pierced [with the spike] the very four [eyes].

After that, having cooked the hares’ flesh, and cooked and given them a bundle of rice, the uncle told the two Princes to go where they wanted, and both of them went away.

(Apparently the story is incomplete, but the narrator knew of no continuation, and I did not meet with it elsewhere.)

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In The Jātaka, No. 120 (vol. i, p. 265), a Queen of the King of Benares is described as scratching herself, rubbing oil on her limbs, and putting on dirty clothes in order to support the charge she brought against the Chaplain, of assaulting her during the King’s absence on a warlike expedition. In No. 472 (vol. iv, p. 118) a Queen scratched herself and put on soiled clothes in order to induce the King to believe that her son-in-law, Prince Paduma, had assaulted her. Paduma was accordingly sentenced to be thrown down a precipice.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 27, a Queen who was a Prince’s step-mother behaved in the same way until the King promised to kill the boy. He smeared the blood of a dog on his sword, and abandoned the boy in the forest.

In Indian Nights’ Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 273, a King observed that two swallows had a nest in a veranda at the palace. The hen disappeared, having been caught by a falconer. The cock constantly attended to the young ones, but when it brought a fresh mate the two came only once on the second day, and the cock then disappeared. The King then examined the nest, and found in it four dead young ones, each with a thorn in its throat. He concluded that if his wife died and he married again the new Queen might ill-treat his two sons. After a while the Queen died and the King was persuaded by the Ministers to marry again. One day when the two Princes were amusing themselves with pigeons one of the birds alighted near the new Queen, who hid it under a basket and denied that she had seen it, but guided by signs made by an old nurse the younger Prince found and took it. On another occasion the elder Prince recovered one in the same way, though forcibly opposed by the Queen. The Queen then charged them with insulting her, the King banished them, and they went away.

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 166, a King and Queen while in the veranda of the palace watched a pair of birds at a nest. One day a strange hen was seen to go with the cock to the nest, carrying thorns in her bill. When the nest was examined it was discovered that the thorns had been given to the young ones, and that they were dead. The King and Queen discussed it, and the King promised not to marry again if the Queen died. When she died, by the Ministers’ advice and after many refusals he married a Minister’s daughter who became jealous of the two Princes, complained of their disobedience and abusive language, and induced the King to order them to be killed in the jungle. There the soldiers’ swords being turned into wood they allowed the boys to escape. The rest of the story is given in the last note, vol. i, p. 91.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. iv, p. 71), in the Sindibad-nāmeh, the favourite concubine of the King of China fell in love with his only son and offered to poison his father, but on his rejection of her offers she tore her robes and hair, and charged him with assaulting her. The seven Wazīrs told the King tales of the perfidy of women, and persuaded him to countermand the death penalty to which the Prince was sentenced, the Prince explained the affair, and the woman was sent away.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. i, p. 107, the favourite concubine of a King being repulsed by the Crown Prince, charged him with improper conduct towards her, and induced the King to send him to govern the frontier districts. She and a Counsellor then forged an order that he must pluck out and send his eyes. When she received them she hung them before her bed and addressed opprobrious language to them. The Prince became a flute player, and while earning a living thus, accompanied by his wife, was recognised by his father, who scourged the two plotters with thorns, poured boiling oil on their wounds, and buried them alive.

In Santal Folk Tales (Campbell), p. 33, a raja and his wife observed the attention paid by a hen-sparrow to her young ones, and that after she died another mate who was brought let them die of hunger. The queen pointed this out, and told the raja to take care of her children in case she died. When he was persuaded by his subjects to marry afresh after her death, the new wife took a dislike to the elder son, and by an assumed illness induced the raja to exile him. The other brother accompanied him, and they had various adventures.

1 Bāppā, the father’s younger brother. 

No. 200

The Woman who ate by stealth

At a certain village there is a woman, it is said; the woman went in a dīga [marriage]. Having gone in the dīga, when she is there a great many days she began to eat by stealth (horā-kanḍa). Afterwards the man having said, “I don’t want the woman who eats by stealth,” and having gone [with her] to her village, put her back [there].

Afterwards, after many days went by, yet [another] man having come, went back, calling her [in marriage]. [When living] near (i.e., with) that man also she began to eat by stealth. Afterwards that man also having said, “I don’t want this woman who eats by stealth,” and having gone [with her] to her village, put her back [there].

Thus, in that way she went in ten or twelve dīga [marriages], it is said. Because she eats by stealth, they bring her back and place her [at home again].

Afterwards, still a man came and asked [for her in marriage]. The woman’s father said, “Child, I gave her in ten or twelve dīga [marriages]. Because she eats by stealth, having brought and brought her, they put her [back here]. Because of it, should I give her to you it will not be successful,” he said.

Then the man said, “Father-in-law, no matter that she ate by stealth. If you will give her give her to me,” he said. Afterwards the woman’s father said, “If you are willing in that way, even now call her and go,” he said. Thereupon the man, calling her, went away.¹

Having investigated for a great many days, when he looked [he saw that] she eats by stealth. Afterwards the man said to the woman, “Bolan, it has become necessary for me to eat a [special] food. How about it?” he said.

“What is it?” the woman asked.

“It is in my mind to eat milk-cake,”² he said.

Then the woman said, “Is that a very wonderful work? Let us cook it on any day you want it,” she said.

Afterwards the man said, “If so, when you cook it I cannot look and look on, eyeing it, and [then] eat it. To-day I am going on a journey; you cook.”

Having said [this], the man dressed himself well, and having left the house behind, and gone a considerable distance [returned and got hid]. When he was hidden, the woman, taking the large water-pot, went for water. Having seen it, the man went running, and having got on the platform in the room (at the level of the top of the side walls), remained looking out.

The woman, taking rice and having put it to soak and pounded it into flour, began to cook. After having [cooked some cakes and eaten part of them, she] cooked a fresh package of cakes, and finished; and having put the fresh package of cakes into syrup, and laid the packet of cakes over the others which remained, and covered them, she took the water-pot and went to the well, and having taken water after bathing, set off to come back.

The man quickly descended from the platform, and having gone to the path, got hid. The woman came to the house, taking the water, and having placed the water-pot [there], when she was taking betel the man came out from the place where he was hidden, and came to the house.

Afterwards, the woman having apportioned the milk-cake on the plate, and said, “In̆dā! Eat,” gave him it. Thereupon the man, looking in the direction of the plate, says, “What are ye saying? Get out of the way. Should she eat it secretly in that way, it is for her stomach, and should she eat it openly it is for her stomach,” he said. In that way he says it two or three times. The woman heard.

Afterwards the woman asked, “Without eating the milk-cake, what do you say that for?” she asked.

Thereupon the man says, “These flies are saying to me that after you were cooking, you cooked a fresh package of cakes, and having finished, and put the package of cakes into syrup, you ate the package. Afterwards I said, ‘Should she eat it secretly (hemin̥) it is for her (un̥daege) stomach; should she eat it openly it is for her stomach,’ ” he said.

Beginning from that day, the woman, having said, “Do you tell tales in that way?” began to kill the flies. She also stopped eating by stealth.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

1 The consent of the parent or legal guardian was the only essential for a legal marriage, according to the ancient customs. 

2 Kī-roṭi. I do not know the cake, nor the meaning of the first syllable unless it be derived from kshīra, milk. 

No. 201

The Story of the Bitch

In a certain country there are a woman and a man, it is said. The woman has a pregnancy longing to eat Kaṭuwala [yams]. There is a Bitch, also; she also has a pregnancy longing; that also is to eat Kaṭuwala [yams].

After that, the man and the woman and the Bitch, the three, went to uproot Kaṭuwala [yams]. Having gone there, and the man having said, “This is for her of ours” (his wife),¹ when he uprooted it on it there was no yam. Having said, “This is for the Bitch,” when he uprooted it on it there were yams such that the hands could not lift them. Uprooting them, and having come home and boiled them, when they were eating the Bitch stayed at the doorway. Without giving [any] to the Bitch the man and woman ate them.

Afterwards the Bitch thought, “For their not giving the Kaṭuwala [yams] to me may the children born in my body be born in the woman’s body, and the children born in the woman’s body be born in my body.”

The Bitch went to the forest jungle (himāle); having gone, and entered a rock cave, she bore two Princesses. Having borne them the Bitch went to eat food. [The Princesses grew up there.]

Then a Vaeddā having come shooting, when he looked there are two Princesses. Having seen them, the Vaeddā, breaking and breaking branches [to mark the way to the cave], came to the city. Having come there he told at the hand of the King, “In the chena jungle, at such and such a place, in a rock cave there are two Princesses. It is to say this I have come here.”

Afterwards the King sent the King’s two Princes to go with the Vaeddā to summon the Princesses and come. While going there the Vaeddā said on the road, to the Princes, “When I have gone and am begging for a little fire at the hand of the two Princesses, they will open the door in order to give the fire. Then you two must spring into the house.”

Having gone near the rock cave, the Vaeddā asked for fire. Then the Princesses having opened the door a very little, when they were preparing to give the fire the two Princes sprang into the house. Then the two Princesses fainted, having become afraid. Afterwards, causing them to become conscious, summoning the two Princesses they went to the city [and married them].

The Bitch having come, when she looked the two Princesses were not [there]. After that, having gone along the path on which they had gone breaking branches she went to the city in which the Princesses are.

Having gone there, when she went to the place where the elder Princess is, the Princess said, “Cī, Cī,² bitch!” and having beaten her, drove her away.

Having gone from there, when she went to the place where the younger Princess is, she bathed her in water scented with sandal wood and placed her upon the bed. Then the Bitch became a golden ash-pumpkin.

Then the Prince having come, asked at the hand of the Princess, “Whence the golden ash-pumpkin upon the bed?”

The Princess said, “Our mother brought and gave it.”

Then the Prince thought, “When she brought so much to the house, after we have gone to her house how much will she not give!”

Having said to the Princess, “Let us go,” they take a cart also. On the road on which they are going there is a spired ant-hill (kot hum̆baha).

Having gone near the ant-hill the Princess said, “Anē, Nāga King! Whence has our mother silver and golden things? Let a thunderbolt strike me!”

Then the Cobra [came out, and] not having raised his hood, said, “Look there. There are silver and golden things as much as you want [in the cave].”

After that, the Prince and the Princess having taken the cart, and gone near the rock cave, when they looked silver and golden things had been created. Afterwards, loading them in the cart they brought them away.

The elder Princess’s Prince having seen that they are bringing silver and golden things, [and having heard their account of their journey for them], said at the hand of the Princess, “Younger brother having gone in that way, brought from your village silver and golden goods. Let us also go to bring [some].”

When the elder Prince and Princess, having taken a cart, were going near the spired ant-hill that was on the road, the Princess said, “Anē, Nāga King! Whence has our mother silver and golden goods? Please give me a thunderbolt.”

Then the Cobra having come and having raised his hood, bit the crown of the Princess’s head, and went back into the ant-hill.

The Prince, taking the cart, came to the city. The Princess died there.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In Tales of the Punjab (Mrs. F. A. Steel), p. 284, a poverty-stricken girl who was driven from home by her mother, married a Prince. When the mother came to her to claim a share of her good fortune, the girl prayed to the Sun for help; and on her husband’s entering the room her mother had become a golden stool, which the girl declared had come from her home. The Prince determined to visit it, and again the girl appealed to the Sun for assistance. When they reached the hut they found it transformed into a golden palace, full of golden articles. When the Prince looked back after a three days’ visit and saw only the hut, he charged his wife with being a witch, so she told him the whole story, and he became a Sun worshipper.

In Old Deccan Days (M. Frere), p. 18, a Raja’s wife bore two puppies, and their pet dog bore two girls which she deposited in a cave. A Raja and his brother while hunting discovered the girls, whom they carried away and married. When the bitch went in search of them, the elder one treated it kindly, but the other ordered her servants to throw stones at it and drive it away. One stone wounded it on the head, and it died at the elder daughter’s house. The Raja tripped over the basket under which the body was placed, and found under it the life-size figure of a dog made of precious stones set in gold, which his wife said was a present from her parents. As her husband determined to visit them she decided to commit suicide, and put her finger in the open mouth of a cobra that was on an ant-hill; by doing so she relieved it of a thorn which had stuck in the snake’s mouth. The grateful cobra agreed to assist her, and when she returned with her husband they found a great palace built of precious stones and gold, with a Raja and his wife inside to represent her parents. After a visit of six months, when they looked back on their way home they saw the whole place in flames which totally destroyed it. On seeing the valuable presents they took back, and hearing her sister’s story, the younger sister went in the same manner, put her finger in the cobra’s mouth, was bitten by it, and died.

In Sagas from the Far East, p. 125, in a Kalmuk tale, after the girl who had been taken out of a box found on the steppe³ had three children, the people began to complain of her want of respectable relatives, and she went home with her sons. Instead of her former poor dwelling she found there palaces, many labourers at work, and a youth who claimed to be her brother. Her parents entertained her well, and the Khan and Ministers came, and returned quite satisfied. On the following morning the palaces and all had vanished, and she returned to the Khan’s palace, perceiving that the Dēvas had created the illusion on her behalf. (As she had claimed to be the daughter of the Serpent God, it would appear to have been the Nāgas who had exerted their powers and done this for her. In the story numbered 252 in this volume, Māra, the god of death, assisted the son of a woman who had stated that he was her husband.)

1 Apē ewundaeṭa, a pl. hon. form. Husbands and wives do not usually mention each other’s names; the wife is commonly termed apē gedara ēkī, “she of our house” (as in No. 125), or the mother of the youngest child if there be one, or “she of ours,” or merely “she.” 

2 C is pronounced as ch in English. 

3 See notes of variants appended to No. 139, vol. ii. 

No. 202

The Elephant Guard

In a certain country there are a woman and a man; there are a boy and a girl of those two. During the time when these four were [there], they heard the notification tom-tom at another city. Then the man said, “I am going to look what this notification tom-tom is that we hear.”

After the man went to the city the King said, “Canst thou guard my elephants?”

The man said, “What will you give me?”

The King said, “I will give a thousand masuran, and expenses¹ for eating.”

Thereupon the man says, “It is too little for me and my wife, and my boy and girl, for us four persons.”

After that the King said, “I will give two thousand masuran, and expenses for eating for you four persons.”

Thereupon the man said, “Having returned to my village I will go and call my wife and children to come.”

As he was going, a jewelled ring of a Maharaja had fallen [on the path]. This man, taking the jewelled ring in his hand, thought, “It is bad for me to destroy this jewelled ring; this I must give to the King.”

Thinking thus he went home, and summoning his wife and children came to the city. After he presented² that jewelled ring to the King, the King asked, “Whence [came] this jewelled ring to thee?”

This man said, “This jewelled ring as I was going to the village had fallen on the path. It is that [ring] indeed which I placed [before you] as this present.”

After that the King [said], “A ring of a greater King than I! Because it is so it is bad to destroy this ring. What dost thou say about [thy reward for] it?”

“I say nothing. The thing that is given to me I will take.”

Thereupon the King said, “Are you quite satisfied [for me] to give a district from the kingdom, and goods [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load?” This man said “Hā.”

After he said it the King gave them. Thereupon this man took charge of the guarding of the elephants.

One day when he was guarding the elephants the Rākshasa came. This man asked, “What came you for?”

The Rākshasa said, “It is to eat thee that I came.”

This man said, “What will you eat me for? Eat our King,” he said.

After that, the Rākshasa having come into the city, when he went near the King the King asked, “What hast thou come for?”

The Rākshasa said, “I came to eat you, Sir.”

“Who, Bola, told thee?” the King said.

Thereupon the Rākshasa said, “The man who guards the elephants told me.”

Then the King said, “What will you eat me for? Go thou and eat the man who guards the elephants.” Afterwards the Rākshasa went near the man who guards the elephants.

Thereupon the man asked, “What have you come here again for?”

The Rākshasa said, “The King told me to eat you,” he said.

After that, the man said, “[First] bring the few silver and gold articles that there are of yours,” he said.

The Rākshasa having gone home, after he brought the few silver and gold things this man said to the Rākshasa, “Having come [after] drawing out a creeper, tie a turn on the elephant’s neck and on your neck tie a turn.”

The Rākshasa having come after drawing out a creeper, tied a turn on the elephant’s neck and tied a turn on the Rākshasa’s neck. Afterwards this man said, “Hā; now then, come and eat me.” When the Rākshasa tried to go dragging the elephant, the elephant struck the Rākshasa; then the Rākshasa died.

Afterwards, while this man, taking those few silver and gold things, is guarding the elephants, one day having been soaked owing to the rain when is he squatting at the bottom of a tree, a snake appeared.

This man thinking, “Anē! I must go to warm myself with a little fire,” having gone away, when he looked about there were two Princesses in a rock-house (cave). Having seen them he went near [and said], “Anē! Will you give me a little fire?”

Afterwards the eldest Princess said, “Come here; having warmed yourself a little at the fire go away.”

After that, the man went into the rock-house and warmed himself at the fire, and taking the elephants came to the city, and told the King, “Having seen that in this manner there are two Princesses in a rock-house I came to tell you,” he said.

The King said, “Our elder brother and I and you, we three, let us go to-morrow to fetch the two Princesses.” The man said “Hā.”

On the following day the three persons having gone near the rock-house, that man went near that rock-house and asked for fire. At that time, when the eldest Princess is preparing to give the fire these three persons sprang in, and having drawn the two Princesses outside, when they were seizing them the two Princesses lost their senses. Afterwards restoring them to consciousness they came to the King’s city.

When the mother of these two Princesses [after] seeking food came to the rock-house, these two Princesses were not [there]. After that, when this widow woman is going weeping and weeping along a path, having seen that a great tusk elephant King is on the path this woman said, “Did you meet with my two Princesses?”

The tusk elephant King said, “Two royal thieves and a man who guards the elephants, placing the two Princesses on the back of an elephant went away.”

Afterwards, when this widow woman was going to the city along the path on which they took the tusk elephant she saw that the elder Princess is near the well. This widow woman having become thirsty asked for a little water.

The Princess said, “Go away, widow woman, there is not any water to give thee.”

Afterwards, when this widow woman met with the younger sister’s house, the Princess having been in the house came out, and said, “Our mother!” Quickly having bathed her with coconut milk scented with sandal wood and placed her on the bed, as she is going aside that woman said, “Daughter (putē), go for a little silver and gold for yourself. As you are going along the path on which you came there will be a tusk-elephant King. The tusk-elephant King will give it.”

Afterwards, [when she had got the silver and gold] the Princess and the widow woman went away. They went away with another King.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

1 That is, the food materials. 

2 Daekun tibbāṭa passē. 

No. 203

The Elephant-Fool

There is a man’s elephant. Yet [another] man having gone [to him], said, “Friend, give (that is, lend) me your elephant; there is a work for me to do for myself,” and asked for it. Then the man who owned the elephant says, “Take it and go.” Afterwards the man having taken it, while it was doing his work the elephant died.

Afterwards this man having come, says, “Friend, while your elephant was with me it died. On that account am I to take an elephant and give it to you; or if not am I to give the money it is worth?” he asked.

Thereupon the man who owned the elephant says, “I don’t want another elephant; I don’t want the money, too. Give me my elephant itself,” he says.

Then this man says, “I cannot give the elephant that died. Do the thing that thou canst,” he said.

Thereupon the man who owned the elephant says, “I will kill thee.”

One day, having seen this man who owned the elephant coming, this man’s wife says to the man, “Placing a large water-pot near the door, shut the door.” This one having said, “It is good,” placed a large water-pot near the door, and shut the door.

Thereupon the man who owned the elephant having come to the house, asked the woman, “Where is thy husband?” Then the woman said, “There. He is in the house.”

Having said, “Open the door, courtesan’s son,” when he struck his hand on the door the door opened, and the water-pot was broken.

Then this woman asks for it, saying, “After thou hast broken my water-pot, give it to me immediately.”

The man said, “I will bring a water-pot and give you it.”

“I don’t want another; give me my very water-pot,” she says.

Thereupon, being unable to escape from this woman, having said, “For the debt of the elephant let the water-pot be substituted,” the man who owned the elephant went away.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

A variant related by a Potter is nearly similar, except that both persons instituted lawsuits for the recovery of the elephant and the waterpot. The judge who tried the cases was the celebrated Mariyada Rāman, termed by the narrator “Mariyaddurāme,” a word which suggests the name Amīr Abd ur-Rahman.

There is also a Chinese variant, given in Chinese Nights’ Entertainments (A. M. Fielde), p. 111, in which a dishonest old woman lent a newly-married girl her cat, in order to kill the mice. The cat ran home, and the woman then applied for its return, praised its excellence, and estimated its value at two hundred ounces of silver. The girl discovered that her father-in-law had once lent the woman an old wooden ladle, and when the old woman called again about the cat she reminded her of it, and demanded its return. The cases were taken before a magistrate. The girl claimed that the ladle was made from a branch which fell down from the moon, and never diminished the food, oil, or money from which anything was taken by means of it; and she asserted that her father-in-law had refused an offer of three thousand ounces of silver for it. The magistrate decided that the two claims balanced each other.

No. 204

How a Girl took Gruel

In a certain country there are a girl and the girl’s father, it is said. While they were there, one day the man went to plough, saying to the girl, “Bring gruel to the rice field.” They spring across a stream as they go to the rice field.

The girl, cooking gruel, pouring it into a wide-mouthed cooking-pot and placing the pot on her head, goes away to the field. While going there she met a Prince near the river. The girl asked at the Prince’s hand, “Where are you going?” Having told him to sit down and given to him from the gruel, she said, “Go to our house and wait until the time when I come after giving the gruel to father;” and placing the gruel pot on her head she went to the far bank of the river.

Then the Prince asked, “Are you coming immediately?”

The Princess said, “Should [it] come [I] shall not come; should [it] not come, I shall come.”¹

The Prince got into his mind, “This meant indeed (lit., said), ‘Should water come in the river I cannot come; should water not come I will come.’ ”

Again the Prince asked, “On which road go you to your house?”

Then the girl unfastened her hair knot; having unloosed it she went to the rice field.

Afterwards the Prince thought to himself, “Because of the girl’s unloosing her hair knot she goes near the Kitul palm tree indeed.”²

The Prince having gone near the Kitul tree to the girl’s home, remained lying down in the veranda until the girl came.

The girl having given the gruel came home. Having come there and cooked for the Prince she gave him to eat. Then the girl’s father came. After that, the girl and the Prince having married remained there.

While they were [there], one day the Prince said, “I must go to our city.” Then the girl also having said that she must go, as the girl and the girl’s father and the Prince, the three persons, were going along there was a rice field.

The girl’s father asked at the hand of the Prince, “Son-in-law, is this rice field a cultivated rice field, or an unworked rice field?”

Then the Prince said, “What of its being cultivated! If its corners and angles are not cut this field is an unworked one.”

When they were going still a little distance there was a heap of fence sticks. Concerning it the Prince asked, “Father-in-law, are these cut fence-sticks, or uncut fence-sticks?”

Then the father-in-law says, “What of their being cut! If they are not sharpened these are uncut sticks.”

Well then, having gone in that manner, and gone to the Prince’s city, he made the girl and the girl’s father stay in a calf house near the palace, saying, “This indeed is our house.”

The Prince having gone to the palace said at the hand of the Prince’s mother, “Mother, I have come, calling [a wife] from such and such a city. The Princess is in that calf house. Call her and come back after going [there].”

After that, the Queen having gone near the calf house, when she looked a light had fallen throughout the whole of the calf house. The girl was in the house. After that the Queen, calling the girl and the girl’s father, came to the palace.

Well then, the girl, and the girl’s father, and the Prince remained at the palace.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

The questions and answers remind one of those asked and given by Mahōsadha and Amarā, the girl whom he married, in the Jātaka story No. 546 (vol. vi, p. 182), and one remark is the same,—that regarding the river water.

Heroines are sometimes described as emitting a brilliant light, as in No. 145, vol. ii. In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 158, there is a Princess who “comes and sits on her roof, and she shines so that she lights up all the country and our houses, and we can see to do our work as if it were day.”

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 133, a heavenly maiden illuminated a wood, though it was night. In the same volume, p. 145, a girl “gleamed as if she were the light of the sun.”

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., pp. 484 ff., the son of a Wazīr asked a farmer whom he accompanied a number of cryptic questions which were understood by the farmer’s daughter, whom he afterwards married. They have a general resemblance to those in the Sinhalese story, but differ from them. In one he asked if a field of ripe corn was eaten or not, meaning that if the owner were in debt it was as good as eaten already.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (Rev. Dr. Bodding) there are several instances of enigmatical replies of this kind. See pp. 269, 349, 368. In a Kolhān tale appended to the vol. by Mr. Bompas, p. 462, a Princess who was in a Bēl fruit had such brilliancy that the youth who split it open fell dead when he saw her.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), a brilliant Prince is described in vol. i, p. 301, and a heroine in vol. ii, p. 17. In vol. iii, p. 172, a Prince’s face shone like the moon among the stars. Buddha is usually described as possessing great brilliancy.

In No. 237 below, there is a Prince whose brilliance dazzled a Princess so much that she swooned.

1 Āwot ennē nāe; nāwot eññan. 

2 Because Kitul fibre is like hair which is hanging loose. 

No. 205

The Boy who went to learn the Sciences

In a certain country a boy was sent by his two parents near a teacher for learning the arts and sciences. Then the boy, [after] learning for a long time the sixty-four mechanical arts,¹ came back to his home.

The boy’s parents asked the boy, “Did you learn all the sciences?” The boy told his parents that he learnt the whole of the sciences. At that time his father asked, “Did you learn the subtlety (māyama) of women?” Thereupon the boy said he did not. Having said, “[After] learning that very science come back,” he was sent away again by his two parents.

The boy having set off from there, at the time when he was going along, in the King’s garden were the King and Queen. The King was walking and walking in the garden. The Queen, sewing and sewing a shawl,² was [sitting] in the shade under a tree. Having seen that this very boy is going, the Queen, calling the boy, asked, “Where are you going?”

Thereupon the boy says, “When I came home [after] learning the arts and sciences, and the sixty-four mechanical arts, my parents asked, ‘Did you learn the arts?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ Then they asked, ‘Did you learn the subtlety of women?’ When I myself said I did not, because they said, ‘[After] learning that very science come back,’ I am going away to learn that very science,” he said to the Queen.

Thereupon that very Queen said, “I will teach you the subtlety,” and calling the boy near, placed the boy’s head on the Queen’s thigh, and having told him to lie [still], and taken the shawl that the Queen was sewing and sewing, and covered the boy [with it], the Queen remained sewing and sewing. At that time the King was not there.

After that, the King came there. Then the Queen, having called the King [and said], “I wish to tell you a story,” told the King to listen to the story. The King was pleased regarding it.

The Queen, leaving the thigh on which was the head of the above-mentioned boy, having placed the head of the King on the other thigh, and told him to lie [there], told the story. The story indeed was:—“Like we are here, a King and Queen of the fore-going time, like we came here went for garden-sport, it is said. At that time the King went to walk in the garden, it is said. While that very Queen was staying [there] sewing a shawl, a boy came there. Then the Queen asked the boy, ‘Where are you going?’ Thereupon the boy says, ‘Because my parents said I am to learn the subtlety of women, I am going away to learn that very subtlety,’ he said. Then the Queen having said, ‘I will teach you,’ called the boy, and having placed his head on her thigh, and told him to lie [still], sewed the shawl. At that time the King came, like you now have come here. Then, having told the King to place his head on the other thigh and having told him this story, with the shawl that covered the boy she covered the King.” [As she said this, she covered the King with the shawl.] Thereupon the boy quickly jumped up and went away.

When his parents afterwards asked the boy, “Did you learn the subtlety of women?” he said that he had learnt it.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In The Jātaka, No. 61 (vol. i, p. 148), there is an account of a Brāhmaṇa youth who, on completing the usual education, was asked by his mother if he had learnt the Dolour Texts, and on his replying in the negative was sent back to learn them. There were no such texts, but his mother intended him to learn the wickedness of women. This he did, but not in the manner related in the Sinhalese story.

1 Siwsaeṭa kalā śilpaya. 

2 Sāluwak. 

No. 206

The Prince and the Ascetics

In a certain country there is a Prince, it is said. After the Prince became big, for the purpose of marrying him they began to visit all cities to seek an unpolluted Princess. Because they did not meet with one according to the Prince’s thought, he began to look at many sooth books.

While looking, from a book he got to know one circumstance. The matter indeed [was this]:—There was [written] in the book that when the Prince remains no long time inside the hollow of a large tree, a Princess will be born from the Prince’s very blood. Thereupon having considered it, according to the manner in which it was mentioned he stayed inside the tree. When he was there not much time he met with a Princess, also, in that before-mentioned manner. The Prince thereupon took the Princess in marriage.

After he took her in marriage, having constructed a palace in the midst of that forest both of them stayed in it. While they are [there], the Prince having come every day [after] shooting animals, skinned them, and taking the skins and having fixed them on the wall, asks the Princess, “What animals’ skins are these?” He asks the names from the Princess. Then the Princess says, “I don’t know.”

On the day after that, after the Prince went for hunting a Vaeddā came near the palace. The Princess having seen the Vaeddā called him. Then the Vaeddā went to the palace.

After he went the Princess asked the Vaeddā, “What animals’ skins are these?” The Vaeddā informed (lit., told and gave) the Princess of the names of the animals. Then the Princess asks the Vaeddā, “Where do you live?”

The Vaeddā says, “I, also, live very near this palace, in the midst of the forest.”

The Princess says, “Vaeddā, advise me how to cause you to be brought to me at the time when I want you.”

Then the Vaeddā said, “I will tie a hawk’s-bell in my house, and having tied a cord to it, and tied it on a tree near the palace, and pointed it out, at the time when the Princess wants me shake the cord. Then I shall come,” he said.

The Vaeddā having informed the Princess about this matter, after the Vaeddā went away the Prince having come back [after] doing hunting, just as on other days asked the Princess the names of these animals. That day the Princess told him the names of the animals. After that, she was unable to inform him of the name of the animal he brought.

The Prince having reflected, walked round the palace. When he looked about, having seen that a cord was tied to a tree he shook it. Then having seen that the Vaeddā comes to the palace the Prince remained hidden. The Vaeddā having come and spoken to the Princess, after the Vaeddā went away the Prince having gone to the palace went for hunting.

Walking in the midst of the forest he went near a river, and when he was looking about having heard the talk of men the Prince went into a tree. Having gone [there], while he was looking three men (minis) came, and having slipped off their clothes and finished, after they descended to bathe from the three betel boxes of the three persons three women came out. They having opened the mouths of the three betel boxes of the three women, when he was looking the Prince saw that three men are inside their three betel boxes.

After that, the Prince descended from the tree to the ground, and asked the three men [when they had bathed], “Who are you?”

Then the men say, “We all three are ascetics,” they said. After that the Prince, calling the three persons, went to the palace. Having gone [there] the Prince told the Princess to cook rice for twelve.

After she cooked he said, “Having set twelve plates of cooked rice, place them on the table.”

After she put them [there] the Prince told the ascetics to sit down to eat cooked rice. After they sat down he said, “Tell the three wives of you three persons to sit down.” [They came out and sat down.] Then when he told the three men (minis) who are in the three betel boxes of the three women to sit down, all were astonished.

Then he told the Princess to call that Vaeddā, and return. “I don’t know [anything about him],” the Princess said untruthfully. Then the Prince pulled that cord; the Vaeddā came running. Afterwards the whole twelve sitting down ate cooked rice.

Afterwards, those said three ascetics and the Prince having talked, abandoned this party, and the whole four went again to practise austerities (tapas rakinḍa).

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In The Jātaka, No. 145 (vol. i, p. 310), the Bōdhisatta is represented as remarking, “You might carry a woman about in your arms and yet she would not be safe.” In No. 436 (vol. iii, p. 314), an Asura demon who had seized a woman kept her in a box, which he swallowed. When he ejected it and allowed her liberty while he bathed, she managed to hide a magician with her in the box, which the unsuspecting demon again swallowed. An ascetic knew by his power of insight what had occurred, and informed the demon, who at once ejected the box. On his opening it the magician uttered a spell and escaped.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. i, p. 9), two Kings whose wives had been unfaithful, saw a Jinni (or Rākshasa) take a lady out of a casket fastened with seven steel padlocks and placed in a crystal box; he went to sleep with his head on her lap under the tree in which they were hidden. Noticing the men in the tree, she put the Jinni’s head softly on the ground, and by threatening to rouse her husband made them descend. In her purse she had a knotted string on which were strung five hundred and seventy seal rings of the persons she had met in this way though kept at the bottom of the sea, and adding their rings to her collection she sent them away. In vol. iv, p. 130, the story is told of a Prince, and the woman had more than eighty rings.

In the Totā Kahānī (Small), p. 41, a Yōgī took the form of an elephant, and to insure his wife’s chastity carried her in a haudā or litter on his back. A man climbed up a tree for safety from the elephant, which halted under the tree, put down the litter, and went off to feed. The man descended and joined the woman, who took out a knotted cord and added another knot on it, making a hundred and one, which represented the number of men she had met in that way.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 80, two young Brāhmaṇas, hiding at night in a tree close to a lake, saw a number of men appear out of the water and prepare a place and food which a handsome person, who came out of the water also, came to eat. He ejected from his mouth two ladies who were his wives; they ate the meal and he went to sleep. The Brāhmaṇas descended from the tree to inquire about it. When the elder youth declined the advances of one of the women she showed him a hundred rings taken from the lovers she had had. She then awoke her husband and charged the youth with attempted violence, but the other told the truth and saved him. The being whose wives the women were is termed a water-genius and later on a Yaksha, who was subject to a curse. He told the youths that he kept his wives in his heart, out of jealousy.

There is a nearly similar story in the same work, vol. ii, p. 98, in which the being who came out of the water was a snake-god who ejected a couch and his wife. When he went to sleep a traveller who was lying under the tree became her hundredth lover. When the snake-god awoke and saw them he reduced them to ashes by fire discharged from his mouth.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. i, p. 378, a Prince who had climbed up a tree saw a Brāhmaṇa, who first bathed there, eject from his mouth a pot, out of which came a woman. While the Brāhmaṇa was asleep she also ejected a pot out of which came a young man, her lover; when he afterwards re-entered the pot she swallowed it again. Then the Brāhmaṇa awoke, swallowed her in the same way, and went off. The Prince told the King to invite the Brāhmaṇa to a feast, at which food for three was set near him. On his saying he was alone the Prince invited him to produce the woman, and when he had done so, she was made to bring out her lover, and all three ate the meal together. The Prince thus proved to his father, who had kept his wives in seclusion, that it was useless to shut women up.

No. 207

The Turtle Prince¹

At a certain city two noblemen² stay in two houses. When they are there, for the two noblemen there are two Queens. One Queen bore seven female children; the other Queen bore six male children and a Turtle.

Then the same two noblemen spoke: “Cousin, not contracting the marriages of your children and my children outside, let us ourselves do giving and taking,” they said.

Having said, “If so, let us marry the eldest children,” they married them. The second two children they also married. The third two children they also married. The fourth two children they also married. The fifth two children they also married. The sixth two children they also married. There was no way to marry the seventh two children.

The matter of their not [marrying] indeed [was this:—the father of the girls] said, “Cousin, my daughter is a daughter possessing much beauty. Because of it, your young child indeed is not good. Should you say, ‘What of the matter of his not being good, indeed!’ Your child is the Turtle; because it is so I cannot [marry my daughter to him],” he said.

Then the other cousin says, “Cousin, you cannot say so. The Turtle who is my young child says, ‘I, father, if there be not that marriage for me, I will jump into the well, and make various quarrels,’ the Turtle says. Because it is so you must marry your very child [to him], he says. If you cannot [do] so, let us cancel the marriages of the whole of the several persons,” says the Turtle’s father.

Then he says, “If so, cousin, no matter about cancelling the marriages; I will give my daughter to the Turtle,” he said. Having thus given her, they contracted the marriage.

Having married them, when they were [there] there was notified by the King of the same city, “Can anyone, having brought it, give me the Fire Cock³ that is at the house of the Rākshasa?”⁴ he notified. The same King published by beat of tom-toms that to the persons who brought and gave it he will give many offices. Secondly, “I will give my kingdom also,” he notified.

That word the Turtle having ascertained, he said, “Mother, you go, and seeing the King, ‘The Turtle who is my son is able,’ say, ‘to bring and give the Fire Cock.’ ” [She went accordingly.]

Then the King said, “Tell your son to come to-morrow morning,” he said.

The following day morning the same Turtle having gone says, “I can bring and give the Fire Cock in seven days.”

Then the King said, “Not to mention⁵ the Turtle, should anyone [whatever] bring and give it, I will give him offices and my kingdom also.”

The Turtle having come home said to the Turtle’s wife, “Bolan, having cooked for me a packet⁶ of rice, bring it,” he said.

Then the Turtle’s wife asked, “What is the packet of cooked rice for you for?” she asked.

“It is arranged by the King for me to bring and give him the Fire Cock that is at the Rākshasa’s house. Because it is so, cook the lump of rice,” he said.

“Having cooked the lump of rice I can give it, indeed. How will you take it and go?” she said.

Then the Turtle said, “Having put the cooked rice in a bag, place it on my back and tie it. I am able to take it and go,” he said.

After having placed it on his back and tied it, the same Turtle, having gone on the journey, while on the road went to a screen formed by Mahamidi [trees].⁷ Having gone there and unfastened the packet of cooked rice, and removed and put aside the turtle jacket, he ate the lump of cooked rice. Having eaten and finished, he hid the turtle jacket, and went on the journey [in the form of a Prince].

When he was going on the journey, it having become night while he was on the road he went to the house of a widow-mother. Having gone [there], “Mother, you must give me a resting-place,” he said.

Then the widow-mother said, “A resting-place indeed I can give,” she said; “to give to eat [there is] not a thing.”

“If so, no matter for the food; should you give me only the resting-place it will do,” he said.

Then the widow-mother asked, “Where are you, son, going?” she asked.

Then he said, “I am going for the Jewelled Cock at the Rākshasa’s house,” he said.

The widow-mother then said, “Son, go you to [your] village without speaking [about it]. People, many multitudes in number, having stayed in the resting-place here, went for the Fire Cock. Except that they went, they did not bring the Fire Cock. Because it is so don’t you go.”

Then he said, “However much you, mother, should say it, I indeed must really go.”

“Since you are going, not paying heed to my saying, eat this little rice dust that I cooked, and go.”

Then he said, “Except that to-day you cooked rice dust [for me], I shall not be able to cook [even] rice dust again for you,” he said. [“Raw-rice, be created.”] With the same speed [as his saying it] raw-rice⁸ was created, [and he gave her power to do the same].

“Son, like the power which you gave, I will give you a power. You having gone to the Rākshasa’s house, at the time when you are coming back the Rākshasa will come [for the purpose of] stopping you. Then on account of it having taken this piece of stone and said, ‘Cī! Mountain, be created,’ cast it down; the mountain will be created. The Rākshasa having gone up the mountain, while he is descending below you will be able then to go a considerable distance.”

Taking that [stone and] power from there when he was going away, while he was on the road it became night. After it became night, again he went to the house of a widow woman. The widow woman asked, “Where, son, are you going in this way when it has become night?”

Then he said, “I am going for the Fire Cock at the Rākshasa’s house,” he said.

“Don’t you go on that journey; the people who go for that Fire Cock, except that they go, do not return.”

“Don’t at any rate tell that fact to me indeed; I indeed must really go for the Fire Cock. I came here at the time when I wanted a resting-place.”

“A resting-place indeed I can give. To give to eat [there is] not a thing,” the widow-mother said.

“No matter for the food; should you give me a resting-place it will do,” he said.

While the person of the resting-place was staying looking on, because he could not eat, from what she had cooked of rice dust she gave him a little to eat.

“Mother, being unable to cook again for you, although to-day you cooked rice dust, I will give you a power,” he said. “Raw-rice, be created,” [and he gave her power to do the same].

“If so, son, I will give you a power. Here (Men̥na). Having taken away this bamboo stick, for the Rākshasa’s stopping you on the path when you are coming away, say, ‘Cī! Bamboo, be created,’ and throw down the bamboo stick. Then the bamboo fence will be created. The Rākshasa having gone up it, while he is coming down [on the other side] you will be able to come a considerable distance.”

When he was going away from there on the following day, while he was on the road it became night. It having become night, again he went to the house of a widow woman. Having gone there he asked for a resting-place.

“In this way when night has come, where are you going?” she asked.

Then he said, “I am going to bring the Fire Cock at the Rākshasa’s house,” he said.

“Except that thousands of robbers, thousands of archers⁹ go, except that the persons who went there went, they did not come back. Because it is so don’t you go.”

“I indeed must really go for the Fire Cock. For me to stay here [to-night] you must give the resting-place.”

Then she said, “I can indeed give it. To give you to eat [there is] not a thing to give.”

“No matter for food for me; should you give me a resting-place it will do.”

The widow-mother having cooked a little rice dust gave him to eat.

“Mother, I shall not again be able to cook [even] rice dust for you. I will give you a good power.” He gave her a power to create raw-rice.

“Better than the power you gave me I will give you a power. Having gone to the Rākshasa’s house, when you are coming, taking the Fire Cock also, the Rākshasa will come running to eat you. When he is thus coming, here, having taken away this piece of charcoal and said, ‘Cī! Fire, be created,’ throw it down; the fire fence will be created. Then the Rākshasa having come will jump into the fire. Without speaking, slowly come home.”

[The Prince went, stole the Fire Cock, and escaped from the pursuit of the Rākshasa by means of the three gifts.¹⁰ The Rākshasa was burnt at the fire fence.]

[The Prince] having come there [again], and gone to the place where the turtle jacket is, putting on his body the turtle jacket [and resuming his turtle shape], came to his village. Having come there he handed over the Fire Cock to the King. When he was giving it the King said, “From to-day my country, together with the goods, is in charge for thee.”

“There are goods [belonging] to me which are better than that; I don’t want it,” he said.

The same King, in order to make a [religious] offering of those goods, commanded a Bana (recitation of the Buddhist scriptures).

When the Turtle’s wife and yet [other] women are going to hear the Bana, the other women who are coming to hear the Bana, say, “O Turtle’s wife, come, to go to hear the Bana.” Having gone there, while they are hearing the Bana the Turtle, having taken off the turtle jacket [and become a Prince again], went to hear the Bana.

Then the Turtle’s wife thought, “It is my very husband,¹¹ this.” Having thought it and come home, at the time when she looked she saw that the turtle jacket was there, and taking out the goods that were in it she put the same jacket on the [fire on the] hearth, and went [back] to hear the Bana.

The Turtle’s wife’s husband having come home, when he looked the turtle jacket was not [there]. Having got into the house he remained silent.

The Turtle’s wife came home gaily. Other women asked, “What is [the reason of] so much sportiveness of the Turtle’s wife which there is to-day?”

“You will perceive [the reason of] my playfulness when you have gone to the house.”

The other women, to look at [the meaning of] those words, came to the house of the Turtle’s wife with the Turtle’s wife. Having come, when they looked the husband of the Turtle’s wife is like a King.

This story is the two noblemen’s.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

1 The text of this story is given at the end of this volume. 

2 Hiṭānan̥ den̥nek. 

3 Gini kukulā, the fire [coloured] Cock. 

4 Rāssayāe gedara. 

5 Tiyā, putting [out of consideration]. 

6 Geḍiyak, a round lump, made into a package. 

7 Premna latifolia. 

8 Kaekuḷu hāl, rice from which the skin has been removed without first softening it in hot or boiling water. It is used for making milk-rice (kiri-bat), but not usually for rice used with curries, as the grains are apt to coalesce when cooked. 

9 Kola dās, mala dās. 

10 As on p. 70, vol. i. 

11 Lit., “man,” the word translated “wife” in this story being also literally “woman.” These words are commonly employed with these meanings by the villagers. 

No. 208

The Gem-set Ring

In a certain country there are a King and a Queen, it is said; there are seven Princes of these two persons. Out of the seven, the youngest Prince from the day on which he was born is lying down; only those six perform service, go on journeys after journeys (gaman sagaman).

Well then, at the time when this Prince is living thus, the King said at the hand of the Queen, “Should this Prince remain there is no advantage to us; I must behead him.”

The Queen said, “There is no need to behead him. Drive away the Prince whom we do not want to a quarter he likes.” The King said, “It is good.”

The Queen having come near the Prince, said, “Son, he must behead you, says the King. Because of it go to a place you like, to seek a livelihood.”

Then the Prince said, “For me to go for trading give me (dilan) a thousand masuran, and a packet of cooked rice.” After that, the Queen gave him a packet of cooked rice and a thousand masuran.

The Prince having taken the packet of cooked rice and the thousand masuran, arrived (eli-baessā) at a travellers’ shed. At the time when he is sitting in the travellers’ shed a man came, bringing a Cobra.

Then the Prince asked, “For how much will you sell the Cobra?”

The man said, “It is a thousand masuran.”

Afterwards the Prince said, “There are a thousand masuran of mine. Here (in̆dā), take them.” Having given the thousand masuran he got the Cobra.

Taking it, and having unfastened the packet of cooked rice, the Cobra and the Prince ate, and the Prince, taking the Cobra, came back to the Prince’s city.

Then the Queen asked, “Son, what is the merchandise you have brought?”

The Prince said, “Mother, having given those thousand masuran that I took, I brought a Cobra.”

Afterwards the Queen said, “Appā! Son, should that one remain it will bite us. Take it to a forest, and having conducted it a short distance come back.”

The Prince having taken it and put it in a rock house (cave) in the forest, shut the door, and came back. At the time when he was there the Queen said, “Son, should the King come to know that you are [here] he will behead you. Because of it go to any place you like.”

Afterwards the Prince said, “Give me a thousand masuran, and a packet of cooked rice.” The Queen gave them.

After that, the Prince taking them and having gone, while he was in that travellers’ shed a man taking a Parrot came to the travellers’ shed.

The Prince asked, “Will you sell that Parrot?” The man said he would sell it. The Prince asked, “For how much?” The man said, “It is a thousand masuran.” The Prince gave the thousand masuran and got the Parrot. The Prince and the Parrot having eaten the packet of cooked rice, the two came to the Prince’s city.

The Queen asked, “Son, what is the merchandise you have brought to-day?”

The Prince says, “Mother, having given those thousand masuran that I took I have brought a Parrot.”

Afterwards the Queen said, “We don’t want the Parrot. Take it and put it in the forest, and come back.”

The Prince having taken the Parrot and put the Parrot also in the rock house in which is the Cobra, shut the door, and came back.

While he was there the Queen said, “Son, should the King see that you are [here] he will behead you. Because of it go to any place you like.”

The Prince said, “Mother, give me a thousand masuran, and a packet of cooked rice.” The Queen gave him a packet of cooked rice and a thousand masuran. Afterwards, the Prince having taken them, while he was at that travellers’ shed again a man is taking a Cat which eats by stealth, in order to put it into the river.

This Prince asked, “Will you sell that?” The man said he would sell it. The Prince asked, “For how much?” The man [said], “I will sell it for a thousand masuran.”

Afterwards the Prince gave the thousand masuran that were in his hand, and taking the Cat, and the Prince and the Cat having eaten the packet of cooked rice, the two came to the Prince’s city.

Then the Queen asked, “Son, on this journey what have you brought?”

The Prince says, “Mother, having given the thousand masuran that I took I brought a Cat.”

Then the Queen said, “Don’t thou come again. Go to any place thou wantest.”

The Prince said, “Mother, give me a thousand masuran, and a packet of cooked rice.” After that, the Queen gave him a packet of cooked rice and a thousand masuran. The Prince, taking them and taking also the Cat, came to the rock house; and the whole four having eaten the packet of cooked rice started to go away.

Having gone away, and having gone near a large Nā tree,¹ while they were there the Cobra said, “You stay² here until I come back [after] seeking the Nāga King.”

The Cobra having gone, and having returned near the large Nā tree [after] seeking [and bringing] the Nāga King, the Cobra said to the Nāga King, “This Prince has been of very great assistance to me. Because of it you must set me free [by giving a suitable ransom].”

Afterwards the Nāga King gave the Prince a gem-set ring (pēraes-munda), and said, “With this ring you can create anything you want.”³ The Nāga King, taking that Cobra, went away.

As this Prince and the Parrot and the Cat were going away the Prince thought, “Let a palace and a Princess be created here for me.” Putting the gem-set ring on his hand he thought it. Then a palace and a Princess were created.

At the time when they were there, the Princess and Prince went to the sea to bathe. Having gone there, while bathing a lock of hair (isakeyā raelak) from the head of the Princess fell into the sea. Having gone it became fastened in the net of net fishermen. They, taking it, gave it to the King. The King being unable to guess whether it was a hair or a golden thread, sent out the notification tom-toms. A widow stopped the tom-toms. Having stopped them the woman went near the King and said, “This is not a golden thread (kenda), it is indeed hair of the head (isakeyā gahamayi).”

After that the King said, “Can you find the Princess who owns this hair?”

The woman having said, “I can,” came to the very city where the Princess is. When she came there, there was not any work place there. She asked at the hand of the Princess, “How, daughter (putē), do you eat?”

Then the Princess says, “We eat by the power of the gem-set ring.”

Afterwards, the woman that day night having stayed there, after the Prince went to sleep taking the gem-set ring and taking also the Princess [by means of it], gave them to the King.

The Prince having awoke, when he looked there were no Princess and no gem-set ring. The Parrot indeed knows the place where they are. He cannot summon the Princess and come [with her], he cannot get the gem-set ring.

Owing to it he told the Cat to be [lying as though] sleeping at the corn-stack threshing-floor (kola-kamatē):—“While you are there the rats will put their paws into your mouth. Do not seize them. When the King has put his paws in it seize him; do not let him go.”

After that, the Cat having gone [there], while he was [lying as though] sleeping at the corn-stack threshing-floor, the rats put their paws in his mouth. He did not seize them. The Rat King having come, and said, “One with cooking pot’s mouth (appallā-katā), are you asleep?” put his paw there. Then the Cat seized him. [He explained to the Rat King that he wanted a rat to assist him, as the condition on which he would release him.]

The Rat King said, “Seize thou any rat thou wantest.” Having said, “Take this rat chief,” he gave him. Afterwards the Cat let go [the Rat King].

The Parrot, calling that rat [who had been appointed to assist him], went to the palace in which was the Princess. After the rat had cut [his way into] seven boxes, there was a gem-set ring [in the last one].

Taking it, when he gave it to the Parrot, the Parrot said, “This ring is not ours (apaṭa nāe).”

Afterwards the Parrot and the rat having come near the Prince, [the rat] said, “I cut into seven boxes; there was one ring. When I gave it to the Parrot youngster (girā-pōṭakayāṭa) the Parrot said, ‘It is not ours,’ ” he said.

Then the Prince said, “Are there not other boxes?”

The rat said, “There is one more.”

The Prince said, “If so, cut thou [a hole in] it.”

The Parrot and the rat having gone [there], the rat cut into that box. Then the gem-set ring was there. [The rat took it to the Parrot, who handed it over to the Prince. By means of it he recovered the Princess.]

Taking the ring, and having brought back the Princess, they all remained at the palace.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In The Jātaka, No. 73 (vol. i, p. 178), a snake, a parrot, and a rat assisted a Brāhmaṇa who had saved their lives.

In The Story of Madana Kāma Rāja (Naṭēśa Sāstrī), p. 20, a Prince whose uncle had usurped the throne received a hundred pagodas from his mother in order that he might trade. He first bought a kitten for the money, and subsequently, when she gave him another hundred, a snake; with these he went about begging for twelve years. The snake took him to visit its father, Ādiśēsha, the Snake King, who in return for it gave him his ring which supplied everything wanted while it was worn. By means of the ring the Prince got a palace and kingdom and a capital; he married a Princess also. While she was bathing in the sea one of the hairs from her head came off and was cast on the shore. The King of Cochin found it, ascertained that it was twenty yards long, and promised rewards for the discovery of its owner. An old woman who was received into the Prince’s palace learnt about the powers of the magic ring, and borrowing it to cure a headache returned to Cochin; by its power the Princess was brought there. She demanded a delay of eight days before marrying the King, in order to fast and make a religious donation to the poor. On the seventh day the Prince and his cat joined those who were fed. When rats came to eat the remnants the cat seized the largest one, who proved to be the Rat King, and offered him his liberty in return for the magic ring. His subjects found it in a box, and brought it to the cat, who gave it to the Prince. By means of it he recovered the Princess and his kingdom, and caused the Cochin kingdom to be destroyed and its King to become insane.

In Folklore of the Santal Pargana (collected by Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 24, a youth set afloat in a leaf some hairs that came out while he was bathing. Two Princesses who were bathing lower down got the packet, found that the hairs were twelve cubits long, and the younger one refused food until their owner was discovered. A parrot met with him in the forest, and a crow enticed him to come by flying off with his flute. He married the Princess and became a Raja. See p. 75 ff., and Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, pp. 16 and 113.

In a variant, p. 88, a youth bought a cat, an otter, a rat, and a snake that were about to be killed. The snake took him to its parents, from whom he received a magic ring which provided everything required if it were placed in a quart of milk. After he got married his wife stole the ring, and eloped with a former lover. The youth was imprisoned on a charge of murdering her, but the animals recovered the ring after the rat made the Prince’s wife sneeze it up by tickling her nose with his tail. By means of it he brought up the absconders and was released. On p. 129 there is an account of the four animals and the ring given by the snake, by the aid of which a palace was made.

On p. 228 ff., a boy who had a caterpillar’s shape took off the skin when bathing in his own form. He set two hairs afloat in a leaf which a Princess bathing lower down the river recovered. She found that the hairs were twelve fathoms long, and refused to eat until their owner was brought. When he came she married him, saw him remove his skin covering at night, burnt it, and he remained in his own form afterwards.

In the Kolhān tales (Bompas) appended to the same volume, p. 458, a man whose hair reached to his knees, while bathing set a hair afloat inside a split fruit. A Princess who found it determined to marry the owner, her father sent men who fetched him, and they were united. There is a similar story on p. 460.

In Indian Fairy Tales (Thornhill), p. 67, a merchant’s son who had saved the brother of the Snake King received from the latter a copper ring which converted into gold everything on which it was rubbed. By means of it he turned a palace into gold and married a Princess, whose hair touched the ring and became golden. A single hair fell into a stream, and was found by a Prince a thousand leagues lower down. A woman who was a magician went in search of the owner in a magic ebony boat smeared with the blood and fat of a tiger, which sailed upstream as she sang. She was engaged by the Princess, induced her to enter the boat to see the fishes, and carried her off. Before saving the snake, her husband had obtained a sea parrot and a white cat which divers brought up out of the sea, and he had left these at home on going away. When these two came in search of him and heard of the loss of the Princess they looked for her, the parrot carrying a letter tied on its leg. They delivered the letter and got a reply from her, the cat stole the ring from the old woman, and they returned and informed the Prince, who took an army and rescued his wife.

In Tales of the Punjab (Mrs. F. A. Steel), p. 185, a Prince bought a cat, a dog, a parrot, and a snake, which he reared. The snake took him to its father, who in return for it gave him a ring which granted everything wished for. By means of it he obtained a Princess in marriage, after making a palace of gold in the sea; he also made her golden. One day she set afloat in a leaf cup two hairs which came out as she was washing. In another country a fisherman found them and gave them to the King, who sent a wise woman in search of their owner in a golden boat. She met with the Princess, stayed at the palace, learnt about the ring, induced the Princess to enter the boat, and took her away. The Princess refused to look at the King’s son for six months. The parrot gave her husband the news, went in search of her with the cat, and learnt that the wise woman kept the ring in her mouth. The cat seized the longest-tailed rat that came to eat rice which the Princess scattered; it thrust its tail up the nose of the sleeping woman, and the sneeze she gave caused the ring to fly out of her mouth. The parrot took it to its master, who recovered the Princess by its aid. The ring was only effective when placed in the centre of a clean square place purified by being smeared with cow-dung, and there sprinkled with butter-milk.⁴

In Folk-Tales of Bengal (L. Behari Day), p. 86, a Brāhmaṇa’s son married a Princess whom he rescued from Rākshasas. She tied to a floating shell a hair that came off while she bathed; it was found by her husband’s half-brother, who ascertained that it was seven cubits long. The Queen-Mother sent her servant, a Rākshasī, in search of the owner, in a magic boat which flew along the water wherever required when she uttered a spell and thrice snapped her fingers. She went to the palace, one day persuaded the Princess to enter the boat, and carried her away in it. The Princess said she had vowed not to look at a strange man’s face for six months, her husband found her, was recognised by the King, and all ended happily; but the Rākshasī was buried alive, surrounded by thorns.

A golden-haired Princess is often described in folk-tales. See No. 240 in this volume, and Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), pp. 62 and 98. In one of the Santal variants a grateful snake made a man’s hair like gold by breathing on it (op. cit., p. 75).

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 20, a merchant’s son bought a dog, cat, and snake that were likely to be killed. By means of a ring which the snake’s father gave him he got a mansion and a wife with golden hair. She set afloat some hairs inside a reed; a Prince found them lower down the river, and his father sent his aunt, an ogress, to bring their possessor. She flew to the place in the form of a bee, became an old hag, was received as the girl’s aunt, borrowed the ring, flew off with it, and by its means the Princess was brought away. She demanded a month’s delay before marrying, the cat and dog found her, and secured the ring (which the ogress kept in her stomach) by seizing the Rat King’s eldest son and getting it as his ransom, a rat having made the ogress cough it up by inserting its tail in her throat while she slept. They returned with it, and the Prince recovered his wife by it.

At p. 132, a crow carried off the comb of a Princess whom a Prince had rescued from a Rākshasa and married, and it was discovered at a palace, inside a fish that had swallowed it when it was dropped in the sea. A woman sent to find the owner poisoned the Prince; the King carried off the widow, but she refused to marry him for six months. The Prince’s two friends, a Brāhmaṇa and a Carpenter, found her, and by means of a magic horse of sandal wood which the latter made, that flew where required, they returned with her. By a touch the Brāhmaṇa restored to life the Prince’s corpse which his wife had enclosed in a box.

In Sagas from the Far East, p. 108, in a Kalmuk story, a Khan carried off a youth’s wife who dropped in a stream, while bathing, a gem-set ring, which the Khan got. Her husband was killed and buried by his emissaries. When his life-index tree withered, his five comrades found and revived him, and made a flying bird by means of which he regained his wife.

At p. 222, in a Kalmuk story, a maidservant gave a Khan some wonderful hairs which clung to her water jar, and which a wife whom the Snake King gave to a man had lost when bathing. The Khan’s men captured her; after a year she made her husband dance, dressed in feathers, before her and the Khan. When the Khan to please her exchanged dresses with him, she ordered the Khan to be driven out, the dogs overtook and killed him, and her husband became King. Compare the ending of No. 18, vol. i.

At p. 135, in a Kalmuk tale, a Brāhmaṇa’s son bought and set free a mouse, a young ape and a young bear; when he was afterwards enclosed in a chest and thrown into the river the animals rescued him. He found a talisman as large as a pigeon’s egg, made by its aid a city, palace, etc., exchanged the talisman for a caravan-load of goods, and all vanished. The animals recovered it, the palace was reconstructed, and he got a divine wife.

In Korean Tales (Dr. Allen), p. 43, a man lost an amber talisman that a supernatural caller gave him. His dog and cat found it, and regained it by the aid of the rat-chief, who made a mouse creep into the soap-stone box in which it was hidden, after the rats gnawed a hole through the side.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii, p. 258, a King sent a youth for a Nāga girl whose hairs, one hundred feet long, were found in a swallow’s nest. By means of a cap of invisibility and shoes for walking on water, which he stole from two persons who were quarrelling about them, the youth fetched her; but seeing that the King was ugly she threw at him a cake of gold she had brought, the blow killed him, and the youth became King and married her.

1 Nān̆ga rūssayak, Ironwood tree. 

2 Um̆balā hiṭillā. 

3 The magical power lay in the Nāga gem that was set in the ring. See notes, vol. i, p. 269, regarding the stone. 

4 Compare the story of Prince Lionheart in Tales of the Punjab, p. 42 ff. 

No. 209

The Story of the Brāhmaṇa

In a city a Brāhmaṇa has a small piece of ground; only that belongs to him. He sold that place for three masuran. “Now then, I shall go and earn a living. You remain [at home], getting a livelihood to the extent you can,” he said to his wife.

When the Brāhmaṇa was going along a path, yet [another] Brāhmaṇa was going in front. From the Brāhmaṇa who is going in front this Brāhmaṇa asks, “Embā! Brāhmaṇa, will you say a word [of advice] to me?”

“If you will give me a masurama I will say it,” he said. This one said, “I will give it.”

After he gave it, he says, “When you have gone to a country don’t require honour.” Having said it, the two persons go away [together].

When they had been going a considerable distance, this Brāhmaṇa asked, “Will you still say a word [of advice] to me?”

“If you will give me yet a masurama I will say it,” he said. “I will give it,” he said.

After he gave it, he said, “Don’t do anything without investigation.” He goes on in silence.

When they had gone still a considerable distance, this one spoke, “Embā! Brāhmaṇa.” “What is it?” he asked. “Will you say yet a word [of advice] to me?” he asked.

“Then will you give me still a masurama?” he said. Having said, “I will give it,” he gave him one masurama.

“To one’s own wife don’t tell a secret.”

The Brāhmaṇa [whom he had met], turning to go along a different path, asked at the hand of this one, “Are there still masuran in your hand?”

Then this one said, “I sold a plot of ground, and brought three masuran. For even my expenses there is no other in my hand.”

Having said, “If so, I will say a word without payment (nikan); don’t tell lies to Kings,” he went away.

Thereupon this one being weakened by hunger, at the time when he was going on, a nobleman (siṭānan kenek) of a city near there having died and there being no one to bury him, they gave notice by beat of tom-toms that they will give five hundred masuran to a person who can [do it].

This destitute Brāhmaṇa asked the tom-tom beater, “What is that tom-tom beating for?”

The tom-tom beater says, “A man of this country has died and there is no one to bury him. Because of it I am beating the notice tom-tom,” he said.

This Brāhmaṇa thought, “ ‘When one has gone to a country do not require honours,’ he said.” Having thought, “Because it is so I must bury this nobleman,” this one said, “I can,” and went.

Thereupon this dead nobleman’s son says to the Brāhmaṇa, “Thou having quite alone buried this dead body, come [to me]; I will give thy wages.”

This one having said, “It is good,” and taken away the corpse, and cut the grave, thinks, “A sooth-saying Brāhmaṇa said to-day, ‘Without investigation don’t do a thing.’ ” Having said this he unfastened the cloth round the waist of this dead nobleman, and looked at the body. There was a belt. He unfastened it and looked [at it]; the belt was full of masuran. Having taken them he buried the corpse and came to the nobleman’s house. Well then, the nobleman’s son gave the Brāhmaṇa five hundred masuran.

This one having taken them, came near a goldsmith, and causing him to make for his wife the things that she needed, he went to the Brāhmaṇa’s village. Having gone he spoke to his wife and gave her these articles.

After he gave them this woman asks the Brāhmaṇa, “Whence did you bring these?” in order that he should say the manner in which he brought them.

This one thought, “Yet [another] Brāhmaṇa having taken one masurama from me said, ‘To one’s own wife don’t tell a secret,’ didn’t he?” Thinking this, not telling her the way in which he brought them, he said, “Having become thirsty when I was coming home, when I looked about there was not a place to drink at. Having drunk a great quantity of Euphorbia milk¹ because the thirst was excessive, I was lying down upon a rock. Then the rock having split, masuran were thrown out. Collecting as many as I could, I got these things made,” he said to his wife.

As soon as he said it (kīwā wahama), this woman having gone running told it in this manner to a great number of women besides. Thereupon the women having come running to their houses said it to their husbands. Those persons, about twenty-five, taking cooking pots, went to drink Euphorbia milk. Out of the persons who drank it a portion died; the other persons [after] vomiting came back.

Having said to this Brāhmaṇa and his wife, “You told our men to drink Euphorbia milk, and caused them to die,” those women instituted a law-suit before a King.

Thereupon the King caused both parties to be brought. The King asks the Brāhmaṇa, “How did this occur?”

The Brāhmaṇa says, “Your Majesty (Dēvayan wahansē), having given three masuran, I asked for and got three words [of advice] from a Brāhmaṇa. ‘Having gone to a country don’t require honours,’ he said; ‘Without investigation don’t do a thing,’ he said; ‘To one’s own wife don’t tell a secret,’ he said; thereupon, the masuran being finished, he said without masuran, ‘Don’t tell lies to Kings.’ ”

He then repeated to the King the true story (already given) of his adventures and actions, which I omit; and he ended by saying “On account of [the other Brāhmaṇa’s] saying, ‘Don’t tell lies to Kings,’ I told you the fact.”

The King having investigated the law-suit, set free the Brāhmaṇa and the Brāhmaṇa’s wife.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

With this may be compared the advice given to the Prince in the story No. 250 in this volume.

In Indian Nights’ Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 213 ff., a poor weaver who went away to improve his fortunes after borrowing forty rupees, met with a man who was silent until paid twenty rupees, when he said, “Friend, when four men give you [the same] advice, take it.” When he gave the man his remaining twenty rupees, and said, “Speak again,” the man warned him not to tell his wife what happened to him. After this, the weaver met with four men sitting round a corpse, and consented to carry it to the adjoining river for them, and throw it in. He found diamonds tied round its waist, appropriated them, returned home, repaid his loan, and lived in luxury. The village headmen wished to know how the weaver became rich, and the man’s wife pestered him about it until he stated that while on his travels he was told to drink half a pint of mustard oil early in the morning, and he would then see hidden treasure. The headman’s wife being told this by her, gave her husband and six children the dose at night, and in the morning they were all dead. When the King held an inquiry she charged the weaver’s wife with advising her to do it; but the latter totally denied it, and the headman’s wife was hanged.

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 32, a Brāhmaṇa’s wife sold to a Prince for a lakh of rupees four pieces of advice written by her husband, and the King banished the Prince for his foolishness in wasting the money thus. The advice was that a person when travelling must be careful at a strange place, and keep awake, (2) a man in need must test his friends, (3) a man who visits a married sister in good style will be well received, but if poor will be disowned, (4) a man must do his own work well. The Prince was saved from murder by keeping awake at night in his lodgings; was nearly executed when he visited his brother-in-law as a poor Yōgī; rid a Princess of two snakes which issued from her nostrils, and was appointed her father’s successor; was then received with humility by his brother-in-law, and cured his father’s blindness by laying his hands on his eyes.

At p. 332, four exiled Princes agreed to keep watch at night over the corpse of a great merchant; the reward was to be four thousand rupees. They had adventures with the corpse and demons.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (collected by Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 53, a Prince paid a man his only three gold coins for three pieces of advice, and the man gave him a fourth free of charge. The first was not to sit without moving the stool or mat offered; the second, not to bathe where others bathed; the third, to act according to the opinion of the majority; and, lastly, to restrain his anger, hear an explanation, and weigh it well before acting. The first saved him from being dropped into a well; the second saved his purse when left behind on bathing; the third obtained for him a roll of coin out of the waist cloth of a corpse which he threw into a ravine; and on returning home at night, when he found a pair of slippers and a sword outside his wife’s door, inquiry showed that only her sister was with her.

1 The milky sap which exudes from cuts in the bark or leaves. It is acrid, and blisters the skin if left on it. 

No. 210

The Story of a Siwurāla¹

In a certain country a Lord (monk) having been a monk is without clothes [to put on, in order] to abandon his monk’s robes (siwru). Asking at the hand of a novice for a cloth and a handkerchief, he abandoned his robes (thus becoming a layman again).

Having thus come away, when he was bathing in a river an elder sister and a younger sister were bathing lower down the river. Then, having seen that man who, having abandoned his robes and come [there], is bathing, the elder sister said, “That heap of wood which is coming is for me.”

Then the younger sister said, “The things that are in that heap of wood are for me.”

Then the elder sister went home for a cloth, to give to the man to wear. Afterwards the younger sister, having torn a piece from the cloth she was wearing, and having given it, goes away to her house with the man. Then the elder sister brings the cloth, too; having seen that these two are going the elder sister went back home. The younger sister and the Siwrāla went home [and he remained there as her husband]. The man, continuing to eat without doing work, is quite unemployed.

Afterwards the younger sister’s mother, having told the younger sister and the Siwrāla to eat separately, gave her a gill of rice, a small water-pot (koraha), a small cooking-pot (muṭṭiya), a large cooking-pot (appallē), a rice-cleaning bowl (nāem̆biliya), and a spoon.

The man having gone into the village² and been [there], when he is coming the younger sister is weeping and weeping. So the man asked, “What are you crying for?”

Then the woman says, “Having said that you do not work, mother told us to eat separately.” Having said, “The things she gave (dīpuwā), there they are,” she showed him them.

Afterwards the man having gone asked the Gamarāla (his wife’s father), “How [are we to do], then? There is not a thing for us to eat. I came here to ask to cut even a pāela (quarter of an amuṇa) of your paddy on shares.”

The Gamarāla said, “Andō! Thou indeed wilt not cut the paddy, having been sitting doing nothing.”

Then the man said, “No. I will cut a pāela or two of paddy and come back.” Having gone to the rice field, and that very day having cut the paddy [plants] for two pāelas of paddy (when threshed), and collected them, and heaped them at the corners of the encircling [ridges], and carried them to the threshing floor, and trampled them [by means of buffaloes] that very day, he went to the Gamarāla and said, “The paddy equal to two pāelas has been cut and trampled (threshed). Let us go at once to measure it.”

Afterwards the Gamarāla having gone there, [said], “I don’t want this paddy; thou take it.”

The man having brought the paddy home, said [to his wife], “You present this as a religious act.”³ The woman having pounded the paddy and cooked it, gave away [the cooked rice] as a religious act.

The man went [to a river near] the sea, to help men to cross to the other side.⁴ When he helped them to cross, the man does not take the money which the men [offer to] give.

When he was helping men to cross in that way, one day an old man came. He helped the man to cross. The man’s betel bag, and walking stick, and oil bottle were forgotten⁵ on that bank. Afterwards the old man says, “Anē! My betel bag was forgotten.” That Siwrāla, having gone to that bank, brought and gave him the betel bag.

Then that old man said, “Anē! My walking-stick was forgotten.” The Siwrāla brought and gave that also. Then that old man said, “Anē! My oil bottle was forgotten.” The Siwrāla brought and gave that also.

Well then, that old man tried to give money to this man; the Siwrāla did not take it. The old man went away.

This Siwrāla came home. Having gone there, the Siwrāla, having got fever, lay down. Well then, the Siwrāla says, “I shall be still a little delayed.”

The woman asked, “What are you saying? Am I not becoming afraid [when you talk in that way]?”

Then the man says, “Nay, I will say nothing. They are telling me to mount on that carriage, and telling me to mount on this carriage.”

The woman said, “That is false you are saying.”

Then the man said, “To look if it is false, string a flower garland and give me it.”

Afterwards the woman having strung a flower garland, gave it. The man, taking the flower garland, threw it on the [celestial] carriage [in the air]. Then the flower garland was arranged on the carriage. Having seen it, that woman, covering her face, died.

Having died there, the woman having been [re]-born in the divine world, when she was coming again to the house the man had not yet died. On account of it the woman said, “Why have you not died yet? I, having died, and gone, and been [re]-born in the divine world,—is it not so?—came here. Come, and go with me,” she said.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

The account of the dying man’s words and the flower garland which hung on the celestial carriage is borrowed from Mah. I., p. 226 (Dr. Geiger’s translation). When six gods invited the dying King Duṭṭha-Gāmaṇi to join them on their celestial cars and proceed to their heavenly world, he motioned to them to wait while sacred verses were being chanted, and explained to the monks what his gesture signified. As it was thought that his mind was affected, he ordered flower garlands to be thrown into the air, and these arranged themselves on the cars, which were invisible to all but the King.

1 An ex-monk. 

2 Gaemmaeddē. 

3 Um̆ba mewwā damma-dīpan. 

4 Ekan-karawaṇda. 

5 Baeri-wunā, were unable (to be remembered), or omitted. 

No. 211

How the Poor Man became Wealthy

In a certain country there are a woman and a man, it is said. During the time while they are there, there is an infant [son] of the two persons. After the infant became big they were stricken by a very great scarcity of food.

Having given all and eaten, being without anything, at the time when, doing work at cities and having brought rice dust, they were continuing to eat, a King came, and calling that boy went away [with him].

The King having come again to this boy’s house, said at the hand of the boy’s mother and father, “How is the manner in which you get a living now?”

The two persons said, “Having worked in these cities and brought rice dust [we cook and eat it].”

The King said, “Can you go with me to my city?”

The two persons having said “Hā,” the two went with the King to the King’s city. The King built and gave the two persons a house also (gēkut), to be in, and the two, doing work at the city, [after] cooking continue to eat.

All the city spoke of giving a dānaya (religious feast) to the Gods and the host who come with the Gods. These two also spoke, “Let us also give (demu) a dānaya.” Having been there without eating for two or three days, they got together the things for the dāna.

When they will give the dāna on the morrow, to seek a fish for the dāna this man went to the sea quarter. As he is going, the sea fishermen, having drawn their nets ashore, are stringing the fishes together. Then the fishermen asked, “Where are you going?”

This man said, “I am to give a dānaya to the Gods to-morrow. For it I am going to seek a fish.”

The fishermen said, “We will give it. String these fishes.”

The man having said “Hā,” until it became evening strung the fishes. Afterwards the fishermen gave that man a fish. Taking it, as he was coming a considerable distance he met a widow woman. The woman said, “Where did you go?”

Then the man said, “I went to this sea quarter. I am giving a dānaya to the Gods; I went to seek a fish for it.”

The woman said, “I also will go,” and came with the man.

At dawn the widow woman, asking [permission] from those two, cooked the dānē for the Gods. One cannot stay in the city on account of the sweet [smell] of that fish having entered it.

Those Gods and their host having come at the time of the dāna, all at the city apportioned the whole of the food.¹ Near these three persons there was no one. So Śakra, [observing it], creating an old man’s appearance, came.

This man called to Śakra, “Come here, you; there is not a person here for the dānē.”

Having spread a single-fold (tani-poṭa) mat, he gave the dānē to Śakra. Śakra having eaten the dānē went away. Those Gods and their host then also went.²

As this man was folding the mat which he gave to that Śakra to sit upon, under it silver and golden things had been heaped up.

The man with that silver and gold caused a city to be well built. That King’s sovereignty having been changed, this man’s son obtained the sovereignty. When he had been [there] not much time a very great scarcity of food struck the [former] King of the city, and the people. Doing work at the city of this [formerly] poor man, and having eaten, they remained there.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

1 The food was to be eaten by any poor people who came for it. Of course the deities required only the essence. 

2 Ara deviyoyi sēnāwayi ēt giyā. 

No. 212

The Story of Mādampē-rāla

At a certain city there is a person, Mādampē-rāla. For that Mādampē-rāla he brought a [bride in] marriage, it is said. That bride (man̆gula) was sent away (aerunā). Still he brought a bride, it is said; that bride also was sent away. In that manner, he brought seven persons. The youngest one of the whole seven having prospered, remained. The whole of those very seven persons were sisters. Those six persons were sent away, having said they would not grind millet.

While the above-mentioned youngest woman is prospering, one day the man says, “Bolan, cook for me to-morrow morning while it is still night, and give me it. It is [necessary] to go to cut jungle (wal),” he said.

The woman during the night itself cooked seven [millet] cakes, and cooked the flesh of a deer, and packed them in a box; and having cooked still seven cakes and the flesh of a deer, and given [these last to him] to eat, he finished. That Mādampē-rāla ate the seven cakes and the flesh of the deer, and went to cut jungle, taking the other seven cakes and the flesh of the deer.

Having gone, and having placed the things he took at the bottom of a tree, he began to cut jungle. Having cut three and a half chenas,¹ and come [to the tree] and eaten the seven cakes and the flesh of the deer which he took, and drunk a gourd (labbak) of water, he cut another three and a half chenas, and went home.

A little time having halted and been at home, he came back to the chena, and having set fire to it he began to work [again]. Having sown it and finished, bringing his wife and bags after the millet (kurahan) ripened they went to the chena, and she began to cut the millet. In the whole seven chenas she cut the millet in just one day. Having cut it and collected it at one place, together with the man she dragged² (carried) it home. That she cut the millet in the whole seven chenas the man was much pleased.

Having finished with the millet work, there having been a little paddy of his he cut that little, and collected it together.

Having said that he must go to his father-in-law’s village, while he is going away [after] tying five pingo (carrying-stick) loads, when going along through the middle of the King’s rice field the men who are in the field seized him.

Thereupon he says, “Don’t seize me. There being no paddy for me to cut, a little paddy of my father-in-law’s has ripened; to cut that little and return, I am going [after] tying also five pingo loads [of presents for my father-in-law]. I am unable³ to stay to cut paddy [for you],” he said.

Thereupon, the men while giving answer asked, “Bola, any person who goes through the middle of this field goes [after] having cut paddy.⁴ If thou cut [some] and went, would it be bad?”

Thereupon, the man began to cut the paddy. Having cut the seven amuṇas (about sixteen acres), and finished, he descended to the unripe paddy⁵ and began to cut it. Having cut the unripe paddy and finished, he began to cut the young paddy.⁶ That he cuts with an elephant’s-rib pin.

When he is cutting the young paddy, the men having gone running to the royal palace, say, “We called and got a man who was going on the path. That man having cut down all the [ripe] paddy is cutting the young paddy,” they said.

Thereupon the King having come to the rice field and called the man, when he asked, “What are you cutting the unripe paddy for?” the man says, “When I was going to father-in-law’s village [after] tying five pingo-loads, they told me to cut paddy,” he said.

The King calling the man and having gone with him [to the palace], tied ten pingo-loads more, and sent him away with men [carrying them], it is said.

Having gone to his father-in-law’s house, while he is there, when the man is preparing to go to the watch hut [in the rice field] his father-in-law says, “Son-in-law, you cannot go. A malignant (wasa) boar comes to the rice field. It has eaten three or four men,” he said.

Having said, “No matter to me for that; I am not afraid of it,” he went off, taking a large rice pestle. Having gone, when he was [there] the boar came; it having come there he shouted. Through fear at that it descended to rip open the man. When it was coming, the boar came and sprang to eat him. The man having given it blows with the rice pestle, killed it; having killed it he began to cut the paddy. In that paddy field he cut all the paddy before light falls. Having cut it and come away, he entered the watch hut and went to sleep.

After light fell, his father-in-law who stayed at home was expecting that he would come; because [he did] not, with much grief he went to the rice field to look if the boar had eaten him. Having gone [there], when he looked he had gone to sleep.

When his father-in-law spoke to him he turned and got up. When he said, “Boy, we were afraid that the boar would have eaten you,” he replied, “The boar indeed came; I beat it. Look there; it is dead, look.” Having looked at it, both of them went home, taking it. Thereafter he was much pleased with the son-in-law. Afterwards [the man] came home.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

1 That is, three and a half times the extent usually cleared by one man for the season’s crop. 

2 Æddēya. See note, vol. i, p. 193. 

3 Lit., it is not for me to stay. 

4 A common custom in the royal fields, I believe. Villagers employed on my works sometimes impressed wayfarers in this manner, as a joke. 

5 Amu koyamaṭa. 

6 Dalu goyan. 

No. 213

Æwariyakkā

The first part of this story is a repetition, with little variation, of the incidents in No. 58, vol. i, and the first part of No. 10. After eating the fruit in the plantain garden the youth was set afloat in the river, and had a similar experience at a Kaekiri garden, where he said his name was Ena-ena-gaeṭa Kannā, Wael Peralannā,—Eater of the young fruits which keep coming, Turner-over of creepers. The present story continues:—

Then the ship (raft) went to the place where the washerman-uncle was washing clothes. “Anē! Washerman-uncle, take me out,” the boy said. He got him ashore, and after taking him asked, “What is your name?” “Hūkiyannā” (He who calls “Hū”), he said. Well then, calling him they went home. The woman who was in the house asked, “What is your name?” “Āsiyā,”¹ he said.

After that, the boy went with the washerman-uncle to a house, to tie cloths for decoration [on the walls and ceiling].² While tying them the cloths became insufficient, so the washerman-uncle said, “Go home; take cloths from the box at the foot of the bed,³ and bring them.”

The boy having gone home and opened the box, took cloths from it, and as he was coming back decorated with the cloths a Jambu tree⁴ that was near the path. Having decorated it (that is, hung them from the branches), while he was there Heṭṭirālas who were going trading in cloth [came up and] asked the boy, “What is that?”

“This Jambu tree produces cloth as fruit,” he said.

When he said this, the Heṭṭirālas said, “Give the cloth tree to us for money.”

Afterwards the boy having given them the cloth tree for money, said, “I have no cloth to wear. Give me those two cloths; the tree will bear other cloths for you.” The men gave him the two cloths.

After that, while he was taking the cloths he met with a Banyan tree, and decorated that tree also with the two cloths. While he was there [after] decorating it, a man was taking an elephant [along the path]. When he came near the tree he asked, “What is that?”

“This Banyan tree produces cloth as fruit,” the boy replied.

After he said this [the man] said, “Taking this elephant give me that cloth tree.”

Then the boy, having given that man the cloth tree, took the elephant to a house.

After he went there, having tied up the elephant he made the elephant eat (swallow) the gold [coins] which he had [got from the cloth traders]. Next morning it had voided them.

Afterwards, taking [the elephant’s dung], while he was washing it [and picking out the gold coins] the house man, [learning from him that the elephant always dropped gold coins in that way], said, “Give that elephant to me for money.” He gave the elephant.

After that, the boy, taking the money, went to his father’s house.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

The last incident is given in The Indian Antiquary, vol. xviii, p. 120, in a Tamil story by Pandit Naṭēśa Sāstrī. A Brāhmaṇa’s son who was sent away by his father, stayed at a courtesan’s house. At dawn he put two gold coins in each of the droppings of his horse, and when the sweeper came he refused to let him remove the horse dung until he took out his money. After the courtesan bought the horse, and learnt the spell which he said was necessary, he went away to Madura.

In the same Journal, vol. iii, p. 11, in a Bengal story by Mr. G. H. Damant, a farmer made his cow swallow one hundred rupees. Six men who saw him afterwards collecting the rupees from the cow-dung, bought the animal for five thousand rupees. When they returned after discovering the trickery the stick incident followed, in which the wife was beaten in order to change her into a girl.

In Indian Nights’ Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 109, a man made his servant insert rupees into his mule’s dung overnight, and in the morning break it up and remove them. He then sold the mule for four thousand rupees to some people who had robbed his brother.

In a Khassonka story of the interior of West Africa, given in Contes Soudanais (C. Monteil), p. 66, a boy received from a credulous King a thousand slaves in exchange for a hen which he averred changed all the herbs it ate into nuggets of gold. He explained that he did not know what to do with it because gold was nothing to him. The King kept the hen in confinement for a month, caused the dung to be washed, and of course found no gold.

1 Apparently “The Ace,” with a personal suffix; but his real meaning was, “He who goes about cheating” (ā + śṛi + yā). 

2 Wiyan. This work is always done by the local washerman, who supplies the cloth for it. 

3 Pamula peṭṭiya. See note, vol. i, p. 183. 

4 This is an old notion. In A Catena of Buddhist Scriptures (Beal), p. 74, it is stated, “Again, there are different kinds of kalpa trees which produce garments, from which they can select every sort of robe to wear.” 

No. 214

The Horikaḍayā Story

In a certain country there are seven Queens, it is said. For the whole seven Queens there are no children.

In the King’s garden one Jak fruit grew¹; after the Jak fruit ripened he cut it; in it there was one section containing a seed (madula). Afterwards the King said, “Can a Queen eat this Jak section and bear a child?” Six Queens said they cannot; one Queen ate it.

She having eaten it, ten months were fulfilled (lit., filled) for bearing a child. Then the King happened to go for a war. Afterwards pains seized that Queen; she bore a Chank shell. Then when the six Queens made an Asura figure,² having taken that Chank shell they buried it in the dunghill. Well then, having waited until the time when the King came, the six persons showed him the Asura figure. Afterwards the King having struck blows at the Queen who was confined, drove her away.

A bull having come to the place where that Chank shell was buried, and dug it with its horns, saw the Chank shell and swallowed it. The bull having gone to the sea evacuated the Chank shell; there also the shark having seen it swallowed it. From there, having killed the shark, fishermen (kewulō) took it to the city; when taking it along the street to sell, the Queen who bore that Chank shell met with them. Having seen the shark the Queen asked, “For how much are you selling this shark?”

The fishermen said, “We are selling it for four tuṭṭu (three half-pence).”

Afterwards the Queen having given four tuṭṭu, took the shark. Having brought it to her lodgings and cut it, when she looked there was a Chank shell in its stomach. Having put the Chank shell away, [after] cooking the shark meat she ate.

When she was [there after] putting away the Chank shell, one day she looked at it. Then having seen that inside the Chank shell a Prince is drinking milk that is in his hand,³ she took the Prince out. At that time (ē pāra) the Queen got to know that it was the Chank shell that she bore. She gave the Prince a jacket. At the time when she put it on⁴ there was a cutaneous eruption (hori) on his body. Afterwards the Queen said he was Horikaḍayā (the one with the bit of hori).

After the Prince became big he went to the smithy; having gone and brought a bow, and an arrow-stem, and an arrow-head,⁵ he went to shoot animals, and shot a deer. Having come [after] shooting it, he gave it to his nearest uncle.⁶ Thus, in that manner, shooting and shooting deer he eats.

When he was thus, one day when going to shoot he met with an Egret (kokkā); when he caught it alive (amuwen), taking it [home] he reared it. [After] rearing it, the Egret and Horikaḍayā every day go to the chena jungle for hunting-meat,⁷ to shoot deer for themselves.

One day when they were going thus they saw that there were a horse, and a Prince, and a Minister; afterwards the two went there. Having gone, at that Prince’s hand, “What [are you doing here]?” Horikaḍayā asked.

“Because our father the King tried to kill us, on account of it we came and sprang into the chena jungle,” the Prince said. Afterwards the five live in one place.

While there, Horikaḍayā said to the Prince, “Let us go to seek a marriage.”

Afterwards the whole five having gone very near a city to seek the marriage, the Prince and the Minister having gone inside the city, and having tied the horse in the open space (midula) of the city, Horikaḍayā and the Egret remained among the branches [in the jungle].

The Prince asked the city Princess [in marriage]. The Princess said, “To the Prince I cannot go; I will go indeed to Horikaḍayā.” Afterwards Horikaḍayā and the Princess contracted (lit., tied) the marriage.

When the whole six having collected together are coming to the village, the horse and the Prince and the Minister say, “We can’t give that Princess to that Horikaḍayā; owing to it let us kill Horikaḍayā.”

Afterwards, when the three, summoning Horikaḍayā, were going to the forest they met with a well. They made Horikaḍayā descend into the well; having made him descend and thrown down stones, they trampled [them down]. There Horikaḍayā died.

Afterwards the three, calling the Princess, came away (enḍa āwā) to the village. The Egret being without Horikaḍayā went away (giyā yanḍa).

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. i, p. 82, a girl who was married to a King bore one hundred eggs, out of which eventually issued one hundred Princes. The Queen and concubines, being jealous of her, showed the King a piece of plantain fruit trimmed so as to represent a demon, and stated that she had given birth to it. They placed the eggs in a pot (cruche) and set it afloat in a river, whence a King of a country lower down obtained it.

In the same work, vol. i, p. 305, Śakra gave a Queen of Pañcāla a fruit, telling her that after eating it she would have a son.

1 Palā-gattā. 

2 Danu rūkaḍayak. 

3 Atē kiri bonawā, usually meaning sucking the thumb. 

4 Damāpu pāra. 

5 Dunnakuyi, īgahakuyi, ītalayakuyi. 

6 Ewaessa māmā, mother’s brother. 

7 Daḍayan pāra. 

No. 215

The Story of Bahu-Bhūtayā

In a certain city a woman had become dexterous at dancing. It became public everywhere that there was not a single person in the whole of Great Dam̆badiva (India) to dance with (i.e., equal to) the woman.

At the same time, there was also a boy called Bahu-Bhūtayā, a boy of a widow woman. While he is [there], one day the aforesaid woman went for dancing to the village called Balaellāewa.¹ Having danced that day, she obtained a thousand masuran.

Thereafter, she went to dance at the house of the Dippiṭiyās², at the village called Koṭikāpola, which was near the same village. On the same day the aforesaid Bahu-Bhūtayā also went in order to look at the woman’s dances. Bahu-Bhūtayā before this had learnt dances from the Danḍapola Kōrāla (headman).

While Bahu-Bhūtayā, having gone, and looked and looked, was there, she began to dance, having sung and sung poetical songs, and beaten and beaten cymbals. The woman says,

“The savages that are to Lan̥kā bound!

Alas! the savages upon my Lan̥kā bound!”³

When, in singing it, she had made it about Lan̥kāwa (Ceylon), when she [thought she] had made no opportunity (iḍak) for any other dancing person who might be present [to surpass her], having sung the poetical song she danced.

At that time Bahu-Bhūtayā, after having decorated himself with [dancer’s] dress, taking the uḍakkiya (the small hand tom-tom), and asking permission from all (according to the usual custom), sang a song (a parody of the other). The very song indeed [was]:—

“Alas! Alas! Daub oil my head around;

Or, if you won’t,

Athwart my chest observe how hairs abound.”⁵

(Anē! Anē! Mage isa waṭa tel gāpan̥

Baeri nan̥ bada⁶ waṭa kehuru balan̥.)

Having sung the song, Bahu-Bhūtayā descended to dance.

Because the Danḍapola Kōrāla previously taught Bahu-Bhūtayā that same song, and because the same teacher had given his sworn word [not to teach it to another person], the woman was unable to dance the same song. After having made obeisance to Bahu-Bhūtayā, she says, “You, Sir, must give me teaching,” the woman said to Bahu-Bhūtayā.

After that, Bahu-Bhūtayā, marrying that very woman, began to teach her. After he had taught her, one day the woman thinks, “I must kill this Bahu-Bhūtayā,” she thought. “What of my being married to this Bahu-Bhūtayā! From dancing I have no advantage; he himself receives the things. Because of it I will kill him,” she thought.

One day, lying down in the house, saying, “I have a very severe (lit., difficult) illness,” the woman remained lying down. Bahu-Bhūtayā having gone for a work, when he came back saw that she is lying down. Having seen it, he says, “What is it? What illness have you?” he asked.

The woman, in order to kill the man, says, “Now then, I shall not recover; I have much illness,” she said.

Thereupon Bahu-Bhūtayā, because the woman was good-[looking], thinks, “What medical treatment shall I give for this?” he thought.

After that, the woman says, “If you are to cure my illness, having brought a little water which is at the bottom of the Great Sea beyond the Seventh Ocean, should I drink it (bunnot) my illness will be cured,” she said.

After that, Bahu-Bhūtayā began to go. Having gone on and on he went on the Great Ocean. Through affection for his wife, because she was very handsome, he jumped [into it] to get the water from the bottom of the ocean. After he jumped [into it], the fishes having bitten him and the water having soaked him, he died.

Beginning from that time, this woman, having associated with another husband also, when dancing brought back presents. After a long time, that very woman also, through the crime committed respecting her first husband, fell into the water and died.

From that time, the persons who saw these [things said] they are in the form of a folk-tale.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

1 This may be the modern Balalli-waewa, on the Pādeniya-Anurādhapura road. 

2 Dippiṭiyalāge gedara. 

3

Laka waṭa baedi⁴ sawaran̥!

Anē! Mage Laka waṭa baedi sawaran̥!

4 There is a play on this word, baedi meaning jungle, while bae[n̆]di, which is sometimes written baedi, means tied, bound. A meaning might be, “The savages of the jungle around Lan̥kā (Ceylon).” 

5 A line of hairs from the throat to the navel is said to be considered a thing of beauty. 

6 Bada is for ban̆da. 

No. 216

The Story of Goḷu-Bayiyā¹

In a country there was, it is said, a man called Gōnaka-Bokkā. There were ten younger brothers of that Gōna-Bokkā, it is said.

The ten younger brothers spoke: “From elder brother Gōna-Bokkā there is not any advantage for us [because he idles and does no work]. It is difficult for us, doing [house] work for ourselves. On account of it, we will bring one [woman in] marriage for us ten persons.” After having said it, having said, “Let us go to the village called Oṭannāpahuwa,” the young younger brother went to the village, it is said. He went to that Oṭannāpahuwa to ask about the marriage.

After that, the other nine persons speak, it is said: “When we say to our elder brother, ‘Gōna-Bokkā,’ the woman they are bringing for us will say, Bola, that the name called Gōna-Bokkā is not good caste [enough] for her. The woman they are bringing for us will come [now]. On account of it, let us call him Goḷu-Bayiyā. Let us give her to our Goḷu-Bayi elder brother also to neutralise² our [inferior] names,” they are talking together, it is said.

Then, several days wearing down the road, the youngest brother of all having come, said, it is said, “Elder brothers, I went to ask at Oṭannāpahuwa. The woman indeed is of good lineage (wan̥śe). They sent word, ‘Who gives in marriage to a young youngster?³ Tell the elder brothers, one of them, to come.’ ”

After that, the ten persons speak [together], it is said, “Let us send elder brother Goḷu-Bayiyā, older than we ten, to ask about the marriage,” they talk.

Well, the person they call Goḷu-Bayiyā is a great fool, it is said. After that, those ten spoke: “Elder brother, if you also agree (lit., come) to the things we say, you also come [after] calling [a woman] to live in one marriage for the whole of us eleven.”

After that, Goḷu-Bayiyā said, “It is good; I will go.” Causing them to cook a lump of rice, he set off and went. He goes and he goes. Because he does not know the path, having gone [part of the way], sitting down on a rock in the midst of the forest he ate the lump of cooked rice.

Having eaten it, while he is there a woman of another country, having become poor, is coming away, it is said, along the path. Having come, she sat down near the rock on which is that Goḷu-Bayiyā. After that, the woman asks, it is said, “Of what country are you? Of what village?” the woman asked the man.

The man said, “I am going to Oṭannāpahuwa to ask about a marriage,” he said. [He told her of his brother’s visit.]

After that, the woman says, “Aniccan̥ dukkhan̥! The woman of that village who was asked is I. My two parents, having made a mistake, drove me away. Because of it I am going to a place where they give to eat and to drink,” she said.

After that, Goḷu-Bayiyā having thought, “Because the woman is good-looking, and because she has been asked before, not having gone at all to Oṭannāpahuwa I must go [back] calling her [in marriage],” summoning the woman whom he met with while on the path he came to the village. Having come, he says to his younger brothers, “I went to Oṭannāpahuwa.” Having said, “The bride,—there, [that is] the woman; for the whole of us let us call her [to be our wife],” he said.

After that, the other ten persons, because they had not seen her [before], from that day marrying the woman stayed [there with her]. Marrying her, while they were there several days the younger ten persons speak: “Elder brother quite alone, without anyone whatever [to assist him], came back calling our [bride in] marriage. It was good cleverness that our elder brother showed (lit., did). Because of it let us all do work. Having handed over our wife to our elder brother Goḷu-Bayiyā to guard her continually, let us do work. Elder brother, guard the woman,” they said.

Having said, “It is good; I will guard her,” to the places where the woman goes and comes, and to all other places if the woman goes, that Goḷu-Bayiyā also goes.

While [matters were] thus, one day a man came to the village for trading. The man’s name was Gaeṭapadayā. That Gaeṭapadayā for several days having continued to do trading at the same house, stayed in the maḍuwa (open shed) at the same house [at which the brothers lived]. While staying there, Goḷu-Bayiyā’s wife associated with the same man they call Gaeṭapadayā.

While they are thus, on a day when the first-mentioned ten persons went to work, Gaeṭapadayā says to the aforesaid Goḷu-Bayiyā, “I saw a dream to-day. What was it? At such and such a place on the path I saw that a Sambhar deer is dead.” Gaeṭapadayā told Goḷu-Bayiyā to look at it and come back.

While Goḷu-Bayiyā went to look at the Sambhar deer, Gaeṭapadayā taking the woman, taking also the goods that were at the house, both of them absconded.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

1 The text is given at the end of this volume. 

2 Makanṭa, to obliterate, but the meaning of the narrator appears to be more nearly expressed by the word I have inserted. 

3 When a woman has more than one husband (brothers always), she goes through the marriage ceremony with the eldest, and is formally given to him only. 

No. 217

The Yakā of the Akaraganē Jungle

In a certain country there are a woman and a man, it is said. The man has worked in a rice field; in it he also built a watch-hut. The man is in the watch-hut every day.

At the time when he is thus, a beggar came to the man’s house. Afterwards the man having heaped up a great many coconut husks in the watch-hut [for making fires at night], told the beggar to go to the watch-hut. The beggar went to the watch-hut.

Afterwards this man having gone to the watch-hut and set fire to the watch-hut, came back, and said at the hand of his wife, “You say, ‘Our man, having been burnt at the watch-hut, died.’ ”¹ Furthermore he said, “Every day when I say ‘Hū,’ near the stile of the rice field, put a leaf-cup of cooked rice for me”; having said it the man went into the jungle.

After it became night, the man having come to the rice field cried “Hū” near the stile. Then the woman brought the cooked rice and placed it there; having placed it there the woman went home. The man ate the cooked rice, and went again into the jungle.

On the following day, also, the man, after it became night, came to the rice field and cried “Hū.” Then the woman brought cooked rice and placed it there. While she was there, the man having come said, “Don’t you bring cooked rice again; I am going to the Akaraganē jungle.” Afterwards the woman came home.

That man, having eaten the cooked rice, went to the Akaraganē jungle, and having rolled himself in a mud hole,² came to the path and remained [there].

Then, when a man was coming bringing cakes and plantains along the path, this man, breaking a bundle of branches, sprang in front of that man who was coming. Thereupon, the man having thrown down the cakes and plantains at that very spot, bounded off and went away.

When this man, [after] taking and putting away the pingo (carrying-stick) load, was there, a potter comes along bringing a pingo load of pots. Then this man, again breaking a bundle of branches, sprang in front of that man who was coming. Thereupon the potter, having thrown down the pingo load of pots at that very spot, bounded off and went away. After that, the man, taking and putting away the pingo load of pots, remains [there].

(He frightened other men in the same manner, and secured pingo loads of coconuts, turmeric, chillies, salt, onions, rice, vegetables, and a bundle of clothes. Thus he had the materials that he required for making curries. The narrator gave the account of each capture in the same words as before.)

Afterwards, this man having taken and put away there the pingo load of rice and vegetables,—near that forest there is a city,—having gone to the city and brought fire, [after] cooking ate. While he was [there], when a man who had gone to a devil-dance (kankāriyakaṭa) was coming, this man, breaking a bundle of branches, sprang in front of that man who was coming. Then that tom-tom beater, having thrown down there the box of decorations, and jingling bangles, and all, bounded off and went away.

Afterwards, when this man was there [after] tying them on, while certain men who had gone to a [wedding] feast were coming calling the bride, again this man, breaking a bundle of branches, sprang in front of those men who were coming; and taking the bride and placing her in the chena jungle he sprang into a rock house (cave). Those men through fear bounded off and went away.

Afterwards the King of the city said, “Who can seize that Yakā?”

Then a man said, “I can.”

The King said, “What do you want?”

“Having built a house in the chena jungle (landē) and tied white cloths [inside, on the walls and ceiling],³ and put a bed [in it], you must give me it.”

Afterwards the King having caused a house to be built, and caused white cloths to be tied, and caused a bed to be placed [in it], gave it.

Afterwards this man having caused the bride to stay in the rock house, and having gone much beforehand (kalimma), crept under the end of the bed in the house and remained [there] silently.

The man who said he could seize the Yakā, after it became night having eaten and drunk, taking also a thread, came onto the bed in the house; having come he utters spells (maturanawā). Then the man who is under the bed shakes the jingling bangle a little.

The man who is uttering spells, after saying, “Hā, are you getting caught?” utters spells loudly, loudly.⁴

Then the man who was under the bed having arisen, taking the man together with the bed also, went to the rock house. Having gone there, when he was placing the bed in the rock house, the man who was on the bed, crying out and having got up, went to the city.

Then the King asked, “What is it? Didst thou seize the Yakā?”

The man having said, “Anē! O Lord, I indeed cannot seize him,” went to the man’s village.

Afterwards the King having said that he can seize him, and the King having mounted on his horse, came with the army to the Akaraganē jungle.

Then this man, breaking a bundle of branches, sprang in front [of him]. Having sprung in front of the King who was coming, seizing the horse this man came to the rock house. The King and the army went to the city through fear.

After they returned a Lord⁵ came. The King asked if the Lord could seize the Yakā who is in the Akaraganē jungle. Then the Lord asked, “When I have seized the Yakā what will you give me?”

The King said, “I will give a district from the kingdom, and goods [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load, and the Akaraganē jungle.” The King said, “For seizing the Yakā what do you want?”

The Lord said, “Having built a house, and tied cloths at it, and placed a bed [in it], please give me it.”

Afterwards the King having put a bed in that house which was built [already], gave him it.

This man, just as on that day, crept beforehand under the bed in the house, and remained [there]. Afterwards the Lord having gone, taking also a thread, utters spells while sitting on the bed.

Then the man who is under the bed shakes the jingling bangle a little. Then the Lord while uttering spells says, “Hā, being caught, come.” Saying and saying it, he utters spells very loudly.

Then the man who was under the bed, having shaken the jingling bangles loudly, lifting up [and carrying] the bed also, went to the rock house. Having gone there, when he was placing it [there], the Lord, crying out, bounded off and went away.

Having thus gone, when he was [at the palace] the King asked, “What is it? Did you seize the Yakā?”

Then the Lord having said, “Anē! I indeed cannot seize him,” the Lord went to his pansala.

Having caused the bride of the man who is in the rock house to remain in the rock house, and having taken off the man’s jingling bangles and placed them in the rock house, [the man] came near the King.

Then the King asked, “Can you seize the Yakā of the Akaraganē jungle?”

The man having said, “I can,” said, “What will you give me?”

The King said, “I will give a district from the kingdom, and goods [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load. I will also give the Akaraganē jungle as a Nindema.”⁶ The King said, “For seizing the Yakā what do you want?”

Then the man said, “I don’t want anything.”

Having gone to the Akaraganē jungle, and having come on the following day taking the jingling bangle and box of tom-tom beater’s decorations, he showed them to the King, and said he seized the Yakā.

Afterwards the King, having given the man the articles which the man took [to him], gave the man a district from the kingdom, and goods [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load, and the Akaraganē jungle.

The man having taken them, and come to the rock house, that woman and five children were [there]. The five children having gone to the man’s village, in the man’s village were his first wife and five children of the woman’s. The children having sold the house at that village, and the two women and the ten children having come again to the Akaraganē jungle, building a house in that jungle all remained in that very place.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

1 Apparently the fire originated accidentally, and the man was afraid of being charged with murdering the beggar. Compare story No. 21, vol. i, of which the Western Province has a variant. 

2 Man̆ḍa walaka. In village talk and writing, the semi-consonants n̆, ṇ̆, and n̐ are often inserted in words in which they do not occur in ordinary Sinhalese; on the other hand, these letters, and m̆ as a semi-consonant, are often omitted in writing words in which they are always pronounced. 

3 Wiyan baen̆dalā. 

4 Hayiyen hayiyen. 

5 Hāmun̆duru namak, a Buddhist monk. 

6 Tract “assigned for the exclusive use of the grantee,” and his descendants. See Wickremasinghe (Epigraphia Zeylanica, vol. i, p. 244). 

No. 218

The Four Rākshasas

At a certain village there are five Gamarālas; for those five there are five wives. While the five persons are [there], five traders came to the house. To those women say the five traders, “Go with us.” Having said, “Let us go,” they went. Then when the five Gamarālas came home, having seen that the five women were not [there] they went to seek them.

When going, they went into the forest jungle (himālē) in which are four Rākshasas. The Rākshasas seized the men. Well then, the four Rākshasas having shared four men ate them; one person remained over.

One Rākshasa said to another Rākshasa, “Take him for yourself.”

Then the other Rākshasa says, “I don’t want him; you take him.”

This Rākshasa says, “I don’t want him.”

Then that Rākshasa said, “Give him to me, if so.”

The other Rākshasa said, “I will not give him now, because previously when I was giving him you did not take him.”

Owing to it there having been a quarrel, the two [fought each other, and] died.

Still two Rākshasas remained over. One Rākshasa having handed over the man to the other Rākshasa, says to the other Rākshasa, “You take charge of this man. Stay in this jungle; I am going to another jungle.” After he said it the Rākshasa goes away.

When going, he met with yet [another] man. Seizing the man he says, “What is in your box?”

“In my box, cakes,” he said.

Then the Rākshasa says, “I don’t want cakes; I must eat you.”

The man says, “It is I alone you eat now. [Spare me, and] I will give you cakes to eat,” he said.

The Rākshasa said, “I indeed don’t eat these.”

The man says, “O Rākshasa (Rāksayeni), it is for the name of thy Goddess, Mīdum Ammā,¹ [that thou must spare me].” He having said this name, the Rākshasa, taking a cake, went to the river; he let the man go.

Then the Rākshasa, having broken the cake into bits, says, “Under the protection (saranē) of Mīdum Ammā, this cake is sprouting.” Then it sprouted.

Then the Rākshasa says, “On this tree four branches are being distributed, under the protection of Mīdum Ammā.” They were distributed.

After they were distributed, he said, “On this tree four flowers are becoming full-grown, under the protection of Mīdum Ammā.” Then four flowers were full-grown.

After that, he said, “Four cakes are becoming fruit on this tree, under the protection of Mīdum Ammā.” Then four cakes became fruit. After they became fruit the Rākshasa climbed the tree. While he was ascending, a Rākshasī came. Having come, she says, “O Rākshasa, please give me also cakes.”

The Rākshasa says, “Because I asked and got them from Mīdum Ammā I cannot give them.”

The Rākshasī says, “Anē! O Rākshasa, you cannot say so. Please give me cakes.” Then the Rākshasa gave her a [cake]-fruit.

The Rākshasī said falsely, “The cake fell into the heap of cow-dung.”

Then the Rākshasa says, “To give cakes to thee, I shall not give again.”

The Rākshasī says, “O Rākshasa, [for me] to take [thee] to my house, place two cakes in thy two armpits, and taking one in [each] hand, do thou please jump into my sack.”

The Rākshasa says, “O Rākshasī, what happened to thy Rākshasa?”

The Rākshasī says, “There is no Rākshasa of ours. O Rākshasa, I must take thee away.” Then the Rākshasa says, “It is good.”

The Rākshasī says, “Having been in that cake tree, please jump into my sack.” Then she held the sack. The Rākshasa jumped. He having jumped [into it], the Rākshasī tied the mouth of the sack, and placing it on her head goes on the path to the jungle.²

When going, she met with a Moorman (Marakkek). The Rākshasī, having become afraid at seeing the man, bounded off. After she sprang off, the Moorman, having gone near the sack, placed the sack on his head; he took the sack away. Having gone again to the jungle he stays [there]. Then the Rākshasa came out and seized the Moorman. The man says, “What didst thou seize me for?”

“Because there is not any food for me I seized thee to eat.”

The Moorman says, “Thou wilt eat me, only, now. There are five hundred children [of mine]. In the month I will give thee the children.” Afterwards the Rākshasa let him go.

The Moorman went home. The whole of the five hundred children of the Moorman go to school. When they came home from school the Moorman says, “Sons, come, to go on a journey.” The five hundred and the Moorman having gone to the jungle, went to the place where the Rākshasa is. Having gone there, he called the Rākshasa; the Rākshasa came. Seeing the Rākshasa, this Moorman says, “O Rākshasa, they are in thy charge, these five hundred.”

Then the Rākshasa again seized the Moorman. The Moorman says, “What didst thou seize me for?”

The Rākshasa says, “To eat thee I seized thee.”

Then the Moorman says, “My five hundred cattle are [there]; I will give them to thee.”

The Rākshasa says, “If so, wilt thou bring and give them?”

The Moorman says, “I will bring and give them.”

Then the Moorman went to his house. Having gone [there], he came back, taking the five hundred cattle. He gave him them.

Then the Rākshasa again seized the Moorman. The Moorman says, “What didst thou seize me for?”

The Rākshasa says, “To eat thee.”

The Moorman says, “Five hundred goats are [there]. I will give them to thee; let me go.” Then he let go the Moorman. The Moorman, having gone home, brought those five hundred goats and gave them.

After he gave them the Rākshasa again seized the Moorman. When he was seizing him, he said to the Rākshasa, “I have brought and given thee so many things; thou didst not eat them.”

The Rākshasa says, “That is the truth. Take thy five hundred children; take thy five hundred cattle.” When he said thus, the Rākshasa, taking the five hundred goats, ate. After that, the Moorman was sent home by the hand of the Rākshasa. After he sent him, this Rākshasa, having come to the Rākshasa’s boundary, called the Moorman, and said, “Please take charge of this jungle; I am going away.”

The Moorman says, “O Rākshasa, where are you going?”

The Rākshasa says, “I cannot live in this jungle!”

The Moorman says, “If so, I will take over this chena jungle.” He took it, the Moorman.

The Rākshasa afterwards having gone from the jungle, a Yakā went into the jungle. In that jungle there is a very excellent³ tree. In the excellent [tree] in that jungle the Yakā lives. When he was [there] he saw that the Rākshasa is going, the Yakā. The Yakā having become afraid began to run off, having descended.

Then the Rākshasa came near the tree. Having come, when he looked he perceived that the Yakā had been [there]. The Rākshasa thought, “I must create for myself a man’s disguise”; he created it. [After] creating it he ascended that tree; having ascended the tree he stayed [there] seven days.

He saw two men taking a hidden treasure. The Rākshasa thought, “I must eat these two persons.” Afterwards these two men came to that very tree. After they came the Rākshasa slowly descended. After having descended (baehaelā hiṭan), having come near those men he says, “Where went ye?”

Then the men say, “We came for no special purpose (nikan).”

“What is this meat in your hand?” he asks.

The men say, “This meat is indeed human.”⁴

Then the Rākshasa says, “Why didst thou tell me lies?” Having said it he seized them. Having finished seizing them, to those men says the Rākshasa, “I must eat you.”

The men say, “Shouldst thou eat us thy head will split into seven pieces.”

Then the Rākshasa says, “Art thou a greater person than I, Bola?” Thereupon the Rākshasa created and took the Rākshasa appearance. After he took it he asks, “Now then, art thou afraid of me now?” Then he ate a man. Seeing the other man, he seized his two hands.⁵

After he seized them that man says, “O Rākshasa, what didst thou hold me for?”

The Rākshasa says, “I hold thee for me to eat.”

“I have the tiger, greater than thee. Having employed the tiger I will kill thee,” [the man said].

Then the Rākshasa, having abandoned the Rākshasa appearance, created the tiger appearance. After creating it, when he seized that man he says, “Is there a child of thine?”

The man says, “There are two children of mine.”

The tiger says, “Am I to eat thee, or wilt thou give me thy two children?” he says.

Then he says, “Don’t eat me; I will give my two children.”

The tiger says, “Thou art telling lies.”

The man says, “In three days I will bring and give them to thee.”

Both the boys went to the jungle to break firewood. Afterwards, this man having come home, when he looked [they were] not at home. The man asked at the hand of his wife, “Where are the two youths?”

The woman says, “The two boys went to break firewood.”

Then the man beat that woman. “Why didst thou send them to the chena jungle?” he said.

The two youths came home. After they came they saw that their mother is weeping and weeping. “What, mother, are you weeping for?” they asked.

Then said that woman, “Sons, your father beat me.”

Then the two youths say, “It is good, mother; if so, let him beat.”⁶

Thereupon the father called those two youths: “Having gone quite along this path, let one go on the rock that is on the path,—one,” he said. He told the other youth to stay below the rock. Then he said to the youth who was going on the rock, “Having gone to the rock call your younger brother.”

Those boys having gone to that rock, the youth who went onto it called the other youth. The tiger heard that word. Having heard it he abandoned the tiger appearance; again he created the Rākshasa appearance. [After] creating it, he came running near the rock, the Rākshasa.

Then after that youth who stayed on the ground had seen that Rākshasa, he seized the youth. After seizing him he says, “Who sent thee?”

That youth said, “Father sent me into this chena jungle.”

The Rākshasa says, “Didst thou come alone?”⁷

The youth says, “I came with my elder brother.” Then the Rākshasa ate him.

After that, that youth who is on the top of the rock says to his younger brother, “Younger brother, hold out your hands; I will jump.”

Having said, “Hā, jump,” this Rākshasa opened his mouth. Then the youth jumped into his mouth. He having jumped into his mouth the Rākshasa ate him.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

This rambling story was related by a boy who supplied me with several other better ones. I have inserted it because it is the only one which mentions the deity of the Rākshasas, Mīdum Ammā, the Mist Mother. The rest of the story gives a fair representation of some of the notions of the villagers regarding the Rākshasas.

Their own statements to me regarding them are that the Rākshasas were found chiefly or only in the jungle called himālē, the wild and little-frequented mixture of high forest and undergrowth. There are none in Ceylon now, they say; but in former times they are believed to have lived in the forest about some hills near this village of Tom-tom Beaters, at the north-western end of the Doḷukanda hills, in the Kuruna͞egala district.

Those at each place have a boundary (kaḍa-ima), beyond which they cannot pass without invitation; this is referred to in the story No. 135. Ordinarily, they can only seize people who go within their boundary, unless they have been invited to enter houses or persons have been specially placed in their power.

They are much larger than men, but can take any shape. Their teeth are very long, and are curved like bangles; they are as thick as a boy’s arm. Their tangled hair hangs down over their bodies.

They build good houses, and have an abundance of things in them, as well as silver and gold. They commonly rear only horses and parrots. They live on the men and animals they catch. Men are very much afraid when they see them; they seize anyone they can catch, and eat him,—or any animals whatever.

Yakās (Yaksayō) do not usually eat men; they only frighten them. Rākshasas are much worse and more powerful than Yakās.

Other notions of the villagers regarding these two classes of supernatural beings may be gathered from their folk-tales.

In Tales of the Punjab (Mrs. F. A. Steel), p. 135, a Rākshasa is represented as living partly on goats. In the notes, p. 310, Sir R. Temple remarked that this was curious. It is in accordance with Sinhalese belief.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 602, a Rākshasa who had seized a man and was about to eat him, allowed him to go on his taking an oath that he would return, after doing a service for a Brāhmaṇa that he had promised. He got married in the place of the Brāhmaṇa’s son, stole off in the night to redeem his promise, and was followed by his wife, who offered herself to the Rākshasa in his place. When the Rākshasa said that she could live by alms, and stated that if anyone refused her alms his head should split into a hundred pieces, the woman asked him for her husband by way of alms, and on his refusing to give him the Rākshasa’s head split up, and he died. See also vol. i, p. 141, of these Sinhalese stories.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. i, p. 405, a demon released a King on his promising to return to be eaten.

1 Mist Mother. In the Ṛig Veda, v, 32, 4, Śushṇa, the Dānava, is termed Child of the Mist. 

2 This episode is given in No. 138, vol. ii. 

3 Ursha = vṛisha. 

4 Required as an offering to the demon in charge of the hidden treasure. Compare No. 196. 

5 At deka gāwin allāgattā. 

6 This reply is intended to show that the boys do not deserve sympathy. 

7 Tō taniyenda āwē? 

No. 219

The Story of the Rākshasa

In a certain country three youths, brothers, go to school. When not much time is going by, the youths’ father called them in order to look at their lessons. The youngest one can say the lessons, the other two cannot say the lessons. After that their father drove them from the house.

Well then, the two, setting off, went away from the house. Thereupon this young younger brother began to go with them both. Both those elder brothers having said, “Don’t come,” beat that youth. Taking no notice of it¹ he went behind them, weeping and weeping.

Having gone thus, and entered a forest wilderness, while they were going they met with the Rākshasa’s house. The youngest youth says, “Anē! Elder brother, having gone into the house place me in the middle, and sit down.”

At that time the Rākshasa brought and gave them food for all three to eat. These three said, “We cannot eat.” After that, for the three persons to sleep the Rākshasa gave three mats. The Rākshasa sent the Rākshasa’s two boys, also, to sleep. Those three wore red cloths; that Rākshasa’s two boys wore white cloths.

After that, the Rākshasa, having opened the door, came to eat those three persons. At that time the youngest youth was awake; owing to it the Rākshasa was unable to eat those boys.² He went back and lay down.

Then that youngest youth taking the white cloths which the Rākshasa youths had put on, these three put them on. They put on those two the red cloths which these three had put on.

When the Rākshasa came still [another] time, the three were lying down. That time, taking those two youths of the Rākshasa’s who wore red cloths he ate them.

When it was becoming light the three persons went to another village. After that, the two eldest contracted two marriages; that youngest youth remained to watch goats. To the owner of the goats those two who got married said, “At the Rākshasa’s house there is a good parrot.”

The owner of the goats asked, “Who can bring it?”

That youth who watched the goats said, “I can bring it.” After that, the youth went at night to that Rākshasa’s house, and having cut the parrot’s cage brought the parrot, and gave it.

Then those two said, “There is a good horse at that Rākshasa’s house.”

Then, “Who can bring it?” he asked.

The youth who watches the goats said, “I can bring it.” After that, he went at night, and having unfastened the horse he brought it. Having brought it, he gave that also to the man who owned the goats.

Then those two said, “At the Rākshasa’s house there is a golden pillow.”

The man who owned the goats asked, “Who can bring the golden pillow?”

The third boy said, “I can bring it.” After that, having gone to the Rākshasa’s house at night, opening the doors he went into the house. Having gone in, he took hold of the golden pillow in order to get it. On that occasion (ē pāra) the Rākshasa awoke; after he awoke he seized that youth. He lit the lamp. Then he prepared to eat that youth, the Rākshasa. That youth said, “You cannot eat me in this way; having roasted me you must eat me.”

After that, that Rākshasa having given that youth into the hand of the Rākshasī, went to cut firewood. Then the youth calling the Rākshasī [to accompany him] came back, taking the Rākshasī and the pillow. Having brought them, he gave the pillow to the man who owned the goats.

Thereupon the man who owned the goats told the boy to marry his girl (daughter). That youth said, “I cannot. When the woman who saved my life is here, I will marry that woman.” After that, he married the Rākshasa’s wife.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

1 Ē tiyaddin, “placing it” [aside or out of consideration]. 

2 See footnote, vol. ii, p. 369. 

No. 220

The Thief and the Rākshasas

In a certain village a man and a Rākshasa, having become friends, dwell. While they are there this friend went to the Rākshasa jungle. When going, the Rākshasa seized him to eat. Then the man says, “Don’t eat me; I will give thee demon offerings.” The Rākshasa, having said, “It is good,” allowed him to go home.

After that, that man having brought a youth gave him to the Rākshasa to eat. In that manner every day he brought and gave a youth until the time when the youths of the village were finished. All the youths having been finished there was not a youth for this man to give. While he was thus the man died.

After he died, the Hūniyan Yakā¹ began to come to the house [visiting the widow in the disguise of a man]. When he was coming, the woman’s father having seen him went into the house to seize him. Having gone [there], when he looked there was not a Yakā. After that, the man having gone away went to sleep. Then the Hūniyan Yakā having gone to that man’s village, said, “Don’t come to look at me.”

The man said afterwards to his daughter, “Daughter, ask for wealth at the hand of that man.” After that, the woman says to the Yakā, “Bring and give me wealth.” Thereupon the Yakā says, “I will bring and give it.”

Having gone to the place where that man is sleeping, says the Yakā, “Come thou, to go [with me] for me to give thee wealth.” He went with the man near the hidden treasure. Having gone, he opened the door of the hidden treasure. “Take for thyself the treasure thou wantest,” he said. Then the man took a golden necklace, two cloths, four gem-lamps, four cat’s-eye stones (wayirōḍiya gal), and twelve pearls. Taking those, the man came home.

When he was coming home, [four] other men having seen that he brought the wealth, the men went to break [into] the hidden treasure. After they went there, the four men having uttered spells, and put “life”² (i.e., magical life or power) into four stones, buried them at the four corners, in such a manner that no one could come [within the square formed by them]. After that, half the men break into the hidden treasure. (The others were repeating protective spells to keep away evil spirits.)

The Hūniyan Yakā ascertained about the breaking. Having ascertained it he came near the hidden treasure, but as the four stones are there he cannot seize the men.

Having come, he created for himself the Cobra appearance; those four persons gave fowls’ eggs to the Cobra. Again, he created the Elephant appearance; to the Elephant they gave a plantain stump. Again, a Hen with Chickens began to come near the hidden treasure; to the Chickens and to the Hen the men gave millet (kurahan). After having eaten they went away.³

The Hūniyan Yakā, [being unable to approach the place on account of the charmed stones, and the feeding of the animals], went to that woman’s house. He went to the place where the woman’s father is sleeping. The Yakā says, “Quickly go near the hidden treasure.” Without hearing it the man slept. Then having come yet [another] time he struck the man. The man having arisen began to run naked near that hidden treasure.

Those men who are breaking [into it], having seen the man [and thought he was a demon], uttered spells still more and more; they uttered spells to the extent they learnt. Notwithstanding, this man comes on. After having seen this man who is coming, those men began to run off through fear; they ran away.

This man ran behind them. Those men, looking and looking back, run; this man runs behind. Then this man says, “Don’t run; I am not a Yakā.” The men say, “That is false which he says; that is indeed a Yakā.” While running, one man stumbled and fell.

Then that man who was coming behind went to the place where the man fell. After that, that man says, “Where are you going?”

That man who had fallen says, “We having come to break [into] a hidden treasure, a Yakā came as we were running on the path. Then, indeed, I fell here.” Those other men bounded off and went away.

After that, these two men lament, “What is it that has happened to us? In this forest wilderness what are we to do?” they said.

Having heard that lamenting, that Rākshasa came and said, “What are ye lamenting for?” Having come, he seized both of them. After he seized them he did not let either of them go. The men said, “Don’t eat us. We two have two sons; we will give them to thee.” Afterwards he let both of them go, and the men came to the village.

After that, taking a youth they gave him to the Rākshasa. After that, they went and gave the other youth. Then that Rākshasa says to that man, “I must eat thee also; for to-morrow there is no corpse for me.”

Then the man says, “I must go home and come back,” he said. The Rākshasa said, “Thou wilt not come.” “I will come back,” he said. Then the Rākshasa allowed him to go home.

When he went home, the man having amply cooked, ate. After he ate, the man charmed his body (by repeating spells, etc.). Thereafter having gone to the jungle he called out to the Rākshasa. When the Rākshasa came, after he seized the man he ate him. After that, the Rākshasa remains there. A sleepiness came. After he went to sleep, the Rākshasa, having split in two, died. By the power of the [charmed] oil which that man rubbed [on his body], the Rākshasa having been split, died.

The Rākshasa having gone, was [re]-born in the body of a Yaksanī. The Yaksanī says to the Yakā, “I am thirsty.” Then the Yakā (her husband) having gone, brought and gave her water. The Yaksanī again says to the Yakā, “I must sleep.” The Yakā told her to go into the house and sleep. Then [while she was asleep], the Yaksanī’s bosom having been split, she died.

That Rākshasa who was in her body at that time, splitting the bosom came outside. Having come he says to the Yakā (his apparent father), “You cannot remain in this jungle.”

Then the Yakā says, “Are thou a greater one than I?”

The Yakā youngster (the former Rākshasa) says, “These beings called Yakās are much afraid of Rākshasas. Let us two go into the Rākshasa forest, the jungle (himālē) where they are.”

Then that Yakā says, “Is that also an impossible thing [for me]?” The Yakā youngster became angry; then the two go to the Rākshasa forest.

A parrot having been at the side of the road at the time when they are going away, says, “Don’t ye go into the midst of this forest.”

Then that big Yakā through fear says he cannot go. That Rākshasa youngster says, “Where are you going?”

“I am going to the new grave,” that Yakā said. Well then, having gone to the burial place, he remains there.

A man, catching a thief, is coming [with him] to the burial place. Having come [there], that man tied the thief to the corpse that was at the burial place, back to back. Then while the thief is [left] at the grave, the man came to his village. When he came he went to the thief’s house, and seeing the mother and father he says, “Don’t ye open the door; to-day, in the night, a Yakā will come.” Having gone to the house, also, of that thief’s wife, he says, “Don’t thou open the door to-day; a Yakā will come to thy house to-day.” Having gone to all the houses and said this, he went away.

After that, taking on his back that dead body which was at the burial place, the thief came to his house. When he came he tells the woman to open the door. The woman is silent through fear. Then the thief says, “I am not a Yakā; you must open the door.” The woman at that time, also, is silent through fear.

He went to his father’s house, this thief. Having gone, he says, “Mother, open the door.” Then the woman through fear is silent. He went to the house of the thief’s friends: “O friend, open the door.” Having said, “This is a Yakā,” the friends did not open the door.

That thief afterwards went by the outside villages. When he was going on the journey the light fell. He went to the jungle in which is that Rākshasa. When going, the thief met with a parrot. Then the parrot says, “Friend, what did you come to this jungle for?”

The thief thought, “Who spoke here?” When he looked up he got to know that the parrot is [there]. After that, he says to the parrot, “What art thou here for?”

The parrot says, “I am sitting in my nest.”

The thief says, “If so, how shall I go from this jungle?”

After the parrot descended it cut the tyings of that dead body. Having cut them and finished the parrot says, “Thou canst not go in this jungle.”

The thief says, “What is that for?”

Then the parrot says, “In this there is the Rākshasa. Catching thee he will eat thee. Because of it don’t thou go.” The thief without hearkening to the parrot’s word said he must go.

Then the parrot says, “Listen to the word I am saying. The Rākshasa who is in this jungle is my friend. Say thou camest because I told thee to come.” Afterwards the man went.

After he went, the Rākshasa, with a great loud evil roar, seized the man on the path. After he seized him, the man says, “What didst thou seize me for?”

Thereupon the Rākshasa says, “To eat thee.”

Then the man says, “A parrot told me to come in this manner: ‘The Rākshasa is my friend,’ [he said].”

The Rākshasa says, “Those are lies thou art saying. Let us go, let us go, us two, near the parrot.”

When they came near the parrot, the Rākshasa says to the parrot, “Friend, didst thou send this one to my forest?”

The parrot says, “I sent him.”

Then the Rākshasa says, “Am I to eat this one?”

The parrot says, “Seize another man and eat him. Let that man go.” Then the Rākshasa let him go; after that the man went away.

Having gone and hidden, he stayed in the midst of the forest. The Rākshasa went to watch the path. After that, that man came to the Rākshasa’s house. Having come, the man says to the Rākshasa’s boy (son), “O youth (kollōweni), thy Rākshasa died.”

The Rākshasa youth is grieved, and says, “You are not my mother, not my father; what man are you?”

Then the man says, “I am thy Rākshasa’s elder brother.” The man told a lie.

The Rākshasa youth says, “It is good. There is much wealth of my father’s,” he said.

Then the man went into the Rākshasa’s house to take the wealth. Having gone in, there was a golden mat (kalālē); he took it. There was a golden cloth; he took it. Taking these, the man went away unknown to the Rākshasa youths.⁴

After he went secretly (himin), the Rākshasa next (dewanu) came to the house. Having finished coming,⁵ he says, “Where is my golden mat?” he asked.

Thereupon, the Rākshasa youth said, “Your elder brother came and took away the mat.”

Then the Rākshasa says, “Where have I, Bola, an elder brother?”

That thief went near the parrot. “Look here, I met with a golden mat in the midst of this forest,” he said. “Parrot, am I to take thee?” he said. Thereupon the parrot came near the thief.

After he came, he seized the parrot by its two legs. Having waited until the time when he is catching it, when he caught it the thief killed the parrot. After that, the thief went away plucking and plucking off the feathers.

The Rākshasa says to that Rākshasa’s youth, “Where went this thief?”

“He entered your forest wilderness,” he said.

The Rākshasa having gone along the thief’s footprints, after he went to the place where the parrot was, the parrot was not [there]. He looked to see who killed this parrot:—“It is the very thief who killed this parrot.” Then the Rākshasa fell down and wept through grief that the parrot was not [there].

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In the Mahā Bhārata (Śānti Parva, CLXX) a crane sent a poor Brāhmaṇa to a Rākshasa King who was his friend. He was well-received on account of the bird’s friendship, was presented with a large quantity of gold, returned to the bird, and killed and ate it. When the Rākshasa King noticed that the bird did not visit him as usual, he sent his son to ascertain the reason, the remains of the bird were found, and the Brāhmaṇa was pursued and cut to pieces.

In Santal Folk Tales (Campbell), p. 81, a hero in search of gems possessed by an Apsaras (Indarpuri Kuri) fed, as he went and returned, her three animal guards stationed at her three doors,—an elephant with grass, a tiger with a goat, and a dog with a shoe which it worried.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. i, p. 179, a man killed a monkey that had saved his life. In vol. iii, p. 51, a corpse was tied on a man’s back.

1 The Yakā who gives effect to evil magic spells and charms, and to the evil eye and evil mouth, that is, evil wishes and curses. 

2 Jīvan karalā. 

3 In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., pp. 411, 412, a Prince who was going for a magical sandal-wood tree, fed two tigers which protected it, with the leg of a sheep, and the serpents with bread and curdled milk, after which they did not attempt to harm him.

In Ceylon, it is believed that the demons who protect the treasure, or those who are summoned by means of evil invocations in other cases, take at first various forms of animals; and it is imperative that these animals must be fed with appropriate food, otherwise the demon would be able to destroy the persons engaged in the business. 

4 Kollanṭa himin. 

5 Æwadin ahākwelā. 

No. 221

King Gaja-Bāhu and the Crow

At the time when King Gaja-Bāhu¹ was lying in the shade one day in his garden, he said, “There is not a greater King than I.” He having said it, a Crow that was in the tree dropped excreta in his mouth.²

Then he gave orders for the Crow to be caught alive, and published them by beat of tom-toms on the four sides. All the men said, “We cannot.” Then a widow woman went to the King and said, “I can catch that Crow.”

The King asked, “What are the things you require for it?”

The woman said, “I want a suckling woman and an [infant] child. How about the maintenance of those two?”

The King said, “Up to the time when you catch the Crow I will give their maintenance.”

Afterwards the King caused a suckling woman and an [infant] child to be brought to her. With these two that woman went to her village, and having gone there began to give food to the crows every day. Many crows collected together there for it. She caused that child to be near the crows at the place where the crows were eating the food. During the time while it was there, that little one was playing in the midst of the party of crows, the crows surrounding it. [At last it came to understand their language.]

Afterwards she taught the child, “When the crows are quarrelling, on hearing a crow say, ‘It was thou who droppedst excreta in Gaja-Bāhu’s mouth,’ seize that very Crow [which did it].”

When the crows came to eat the food they quarrelled. At the time when they were quarrelling the child stayed in that very party of crows. Then a crow which was quarrelling said to another crow, “Wilt thou be [quiet], without quarrelling with me? It was thou who droppedst excreta in Gaja-Bāhu’s mouth.” As it was saying the words the child seized that Crow. The woman having come, caught the Crow and imprisoned it, without allowing it to go.

On the following day she took the Crow to the King. The King asked at the hand of that woman, “How didst thou recognise this Crow, so as to catch it?” The woman told him the manner in which it was caught.

Then the King asked the Crow, “Why didst thou drop excreta in my mouth?” At the time when he was asking it there was a jewelled ring on his finger.

The Crow replied, “You said, ‘There is not a greater King than I.’ I saw that there is a greater King than that; on that account I did this.”

Then the King asked, “How dost thou know?”

The Crow said, “I have seen the jewelled ring that is on the finger of that King; it is larger than your jewelled ring. Owing to that I know.”

The King asked, “Where is that ring?” Then the Crow having said, “I can show you,” calling him, went to a city.

At that city there is a very large rock house (cave). Having gone near the rock house, he told him to dig in the bottom of the house, and look. The King caused them to dig, and having dug, a jewelled ring came to light.

King Gaja-Bāhu, taking the jewelled ring and the Crow, came back to his city. Having come there he put the jewelled ring on his head, and it fell down his body to the ground. Well then, the King on account of the strange event let the Crow go, and gave employment to the widow woman.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

1 Probably Gaja-Bāhu I, A.D. 113–135. 

2 The Hitōpadēśa relates this of a traveller near Ujjain. 

No. 222

The Assistance which the Snake gave

In a certain country the King’s elephant every day having descended into a pool, bathes. In the water a Water Snake (Diya nayā) stayed.

One day a beggar went to the pool to bathe. As soon as he came the Snake came to bite him. When it came, the man having beseeched it and made obeisance, said, “Anē! O Lord, for me to bathe you must either go to the bottom or come ashore.”

“If so, because thou madest obeisance to me I will give thee a good assistance,” the Snake said. “The King’s tusk elephant every day comes to the pool to bathe. When it is bathing I will creep up its trunk. Having gone to the city from that place, the tusk elephant will fall mad on the days when it rains.¹ Then doctors having come, when they are employing medical treatment they cannot cure it. After that, you, Sir, having gone to the royal palace must say, ‘Having employed medical treatment I can cure the tusk elephant.’ Having heard it, the King will allow you to practise the medical treatment. Should you ask, ‘What is the medical treatment?’ [it is this:]—Having brought a large water-pot to the place where the tusk elephant is, and placed the elephant’s trunk in the water, and covered and closed yourself and the tusk elephant with cloths, and tapped on the forehead of the elephant, [you must say], ‘Anē! O Lord, you must descend into the water-pot; if not, to-day I shall cut my throat (lit., neck).’ Then I shall descend into the water.”

This was all done as the Snake said. The beggar tapped on the tusk elephant’s forehead, and said, “Anē! O Lord, you must descend into the water-pot; if not, to-day I shall cut my throat.” Then the Snake came down the tusk elephant’s trunk into the water-pot, as he had promised.

The beggar then took the tusk elephant to the King; it was no longer mad. The King rode on it along the four streets, and came back to the palace, and descended.

Then he asked the beggar, “How didst thou cure this sickness?”

The beggar said, “I caused a Water Snake to come down the tusk elephant’s trunk into the water-pot, and thus cured him.”

Then the King went with the beggar to look at the Snake. When he saw it in the water-pot he ascertained that the man’s statement was true. After that he gave offices to the beggar.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

Dr. J. Pearson, Director of the Colombo Museum, has been good enough to inform me that the water-snake termed diya nayā in Sinhalese (lit., Water Cobra) is Tropidonotus asperrimus. Though neither large nor venomous, snakes of this species sometimes attacked my men when they were bathing at a pool in a river, or endeavoured to carry off fishes which they had placed in the water after stringing them through the gills on a creeper. They did this even when the man held the other end of the creeper.

1 The narrator explained that when the rain came the snake would twist about inside the elephant’s head, and drive it mad. 

No. 223

The Leveret, or the Story of the Seven Women

At a certain city there were seven women. The seven went into the jungle for firewood. Out of them one woman met with a young female Hare (Hā paeṭikkī). The other six persons brought six bundles of firewood; the woman brought the Leveret.

There were seven Princes (sons) of the woman who brought the Leveret. Out of them, to the youngest Prince she gave the Leveret in marriage.

The above-mentioned seven Princes cut a chena. Having sown millet (kurahan) in the chena it ripened. After that, for cutting the millet the six wives of the above-mentioned six brothers having come out, said to the youngest Prince, “Tell your wife to come.”

Thereupon the Prince says, “How are there women for me? My parents gave me a female Leveret in marriage.”

Thereupon the Leveret says, “What is it to you? ṭik; I am proud, ṭik.”¹ Having said it, springing into the house she stayed [there].

Having waited [there] in this way, when it was becoming night she went into the jungle, and collecting the whole of the hares of both sides (m. and f.) went to the chena, and having cut all the millet they carried the whole to the store-room. After that, having allowed all the hares (hāhō) to go, the Leveret the same night came home.

After it became light, the above-mentioned female Hare’s husband went to the chena. At the time when he looked there, ascertaining that the millet is cut and finished, he said thus, “Anē! Elder brothers’ wives, with no helper, have finished the millet. Having divided the millet there they brought it [home].”

Not a long time afterwards, while they are [there], people came for giving betel for a wedding at that village.² Having given betel there to the seven persons they went away.

On the day for going there to the wedding they came [for them]. After that, the above-mentioned six women came out, and said, “Tell your wife to come out to go.”

Thereupon that Prince says, “How are there women for me? My two parents gave me a female Hare in marriage. I am unable to go,” he said.

Thereupon the female Hare says, “You go,” she said. So the Prince went.

Afterwards the female Hare went there; having taken off her hare jacket on the road, she went to the [wedding] feast.

The Prince [recognised her there, went back, and found and] burned the hare jacket which she had hidden [so that she was unable to resume her hare form again].

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

In Folk-Tales of Hindustan (Shaik Chilli), p. 54, the youngest of seven Princes married a female Monkey who in the end proved to be a fairy, and took off her monkey skin.

1 Obaṭa mokada, ṭik; mama oda, ṭik. The ṭik represents the stamp of the hare’s foot, or a snort, perhaps. 

2 Each person who receives a packet is considered to be invited. 

No. 224

The Greedy Palm-cat¹

At a certain city three cultivators cut a chena. Having cut it they spoke [about it]: “Let us plant plantains.” Having planted plantains, the flowers that came on the plantains began to fall when the fruits were coming to mature.

When they looked, having seen that except the fresh ones [the trees] were without ripe [fruits], they began to seek [the reason]. Having sought and sought it, they do not perceive whether some one is destroying them [or not]. Owing to it they contrived a device. What was it? Having brought a plantain tree they set it up [? after inserting poison in the fruits that were on it].

The flowers on it having fallen, and [the fruits] having become ripe, after they were emitting a fragrant smell [a female Palm-cat came there with its kitten]. When the [young] Palm-cat looked upward the female Palm-cat says, “Cultivator, that is not good.”

When it said it, the [young] Palm-cat says, “What though I looked up, if I didn’t go up the tree!” it said.

It went up the tree. Once more the female Palm-cat said again, “Don’t.”

Thereupon the [young] Palm-cat says, “What if I went up the tree, if I didn’t take hold of it!” it said.

Having taken hold of it, it looked at it. When the female Palm-cat said, “What is that [you are doing]?” it said, “What if I took hold of it! If I didn’t eat it is there any harm?”

After it removed the rind, when she said, “What is that [you are doing]?” it says, “What if I removed the rind, if I didn’t eat it!”

Having set it to its nose it smelt at it. When she said, “What is that [you are doing]?” it said, “What if I put it to my nose, if I didn’t eat it!”

It put it in its mouth. “What if I put it in my mouth, if I didn’t swallow it!” it said.

It swallowed it; then it fell down. It having fallen down and died, the female Palm-cat went away lamenting.

The thief of the garden was caught.

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

1 Kalavaeddā (Paradoxurus musanga). 

STORIES OF THE WESTERN PROVINCE AND SOUTHERN INDIA

No. 225

The Wax Horse¹

In a certain country a son was born to a certain King, it is said. Having caused Brāhmaṇas to be brought to write this Prince’s horoscope, at the time when they handed it over, after they gave information to the King that when the Prince arrived at maturity he was to leave the country and go away, the King, for the Prince to be most thoroughly guarded, caused a room on an upper story to be made [for his occupation], it is said.

This infant Prince having become somewhat big, being suitable for game amusements and the like, during the time while he was passing the days he saw in the street a Wax Horse that [persons] brought to sell; and having told his father the King to take and give him it, at the time when he considered it his father the King paid the price, and taking the horse gave it to his son, it is said. This horse, furnished with two wings, was one possessing the ability to fly in the sky.

After he had got this horse for a little time, when the Prince became big to a certain extent, not concealing it from anyone whatever, by the help of the Wax Horse he went to fly. Well then, the saying, too, of the soothsayer-Brāhmaṇa became true.

The Prince having gone flying by the power of the horse, went to the house of an old mother, who having strung [chaplets or garlands of] flowers gives them at the palace of yet [another] King. While here, having hidden the Wax Horse somewhere, when staying at the flower-mother’s house he asked the flower-mother [about] the whole of the circumstances of the royal house, and got to know them.

Ascertaining them in this way, and after a little time getting to know the chamber, etc., on the floor of the upper story in which the King’s daughter stays, he went during the night time by the Wax Horse to a room in which is the beautiful Princess; and for even several days, without concealing himself having eaten and drunk the food and drink, etc., that had been brought for the Princess, he went away [before she awoke]. And the Princess, perceiving that after she got to sleep some one or other had come to the chamber and gone, on the following day not having slept, remained looking out, it is said.

At that time the Prince having come, when he is partaking of the food and drink, etc., the Princess, taking a sword in one hand and seizing the Prince with one hand, asked, “Who art thou?”²

The Prince having informed her that he was a person belonging to a royal family, and while conversing with her having become friendly, he, making a contract to marry her also, began to come during the following days after that.

Well then, there was a custom of weighing this Princess in the morning on all days.³ During the days after the Prince became [accustomed] to come, the Princess’s weight having by degrees gone on increasing, the King, ascertaining that she was pregnant, and having thought that there will be a friendship of the Minister with the Princess, settled to kill the Minister.

And during the time when the Minister was becoming very sorrowful, when the other daughters of the King having come asked the Minister, “Why are you in much grief?” he gave them information of the whole of the circumstances. The Princesses having assembled together, in order to save the Minister contrived a stratagem thus, that is, having thought that without a fault of the Minister’s indeed, some one or other, a person from outside, by some stratagem or other will be coming near the Princess, they put poison in the bathing scented-water boat, and placed guards at the pool which is at the royal palace gateway.

The Prince having come, when he bathed in the scented water prior to going to the Princess’s chamber the poison burned him, and having gone running, when he sprang into the pool the guards seized him. Having gone [after] causing this Prince to be seized, when they gave the explanation of the affair to the King he freed the Minister, and ordered the Prince to be killed.

At the time when the executioners were taking the Prince, having said “A thing of mine is [there]; I will take it and give it to you,” he climbed a tree, and taking the Wax Horse which at first he had placed and hidden there among the leaves, he flew away.⁴ Having gone thus a little far, and stopped, during the night time he came again to the royal palace; and calling the Princess, while they were going [on the flying horse] by the middle of a great forest wilderness, when pain in the body was felt by the Princess they alighted on the ground. Having caused her to halt [there] he went to a village near by, in order to bring medicine and other materials that she needed for it; and having set the Wax Horse near a shop and gone to yet [another] shop, when coming he saw that there having been a fire near the shop the Wax Horse having been melted had gone. After the Wax Horse was lost this Prince was unable to go to the place where the Princess stayed.

And the Princess while in the midst of the forest having borne a son, said, “I don’t want even the son of the base Prince”; and having put the child down she went into the neighbourhood of villages. During the time when this Princess’s father went into the midst of the forest for hunting he met with this child, and having brought it to the royal house he reared it.

The Princess who was this child’s mother, having joined a company of girls,⁵ during the time while she was dwelling [there] this boy whom [the King] reared having arrived at maturity went and sought a marriage; and having seen his own mother formed the design to marry her. Having thought thus, when on even three days he set off to go for the marriage contract there having been an unlucky omen while on the road, on even three days having turned he came back.

One day, having mounted on horse-back, while he was on the journey going for the marriage contract some young birds having been trampled on by the horse, the hen in this way scolded the Prince, that is, “As it is insufficient that this one is going to take his mother [in marriage], he killed my few young ones.” [Thus] she scolded him. Because during this day there was [this] unlucky omen, having turned back and come, he went on the following day.

When going on that [second] day, a young goat having been trampled on by the horse the female goat also scolded him: “As it is insufficient that he is going to take this one’s mother [in marriage], he killed our young ones.”

When going on the third day also, just as before there was the unlucky omen.

This Prince in this way sought a marriage from the girls’ society itself, because he being a foundling⁶ no one gives a [daughter in] marriage on that account. Before this, one day while at the playground, when the other boys said, “He is base-born,” he having asked the King who reared him where his two parents were, had ascertained that having brought him from the midst of the forest he reared him.

Well then, on the third day, also, there having been the unlucky omen, not heeding it and having gone for the contract, not knowing even a little about his mother, from her bearing him up to the time when she came to the girls’ society he asked about the principal occurrences [of her life. Hearing her account of her abandonment of her child], he said, “It was I indeed who was met with in the midst of the forest in such and such a district; because of it this is indeed my mother.”

Ascertaining it, and having gone spreading the news, and seeking out even his father and having returned, he was also appointed to the sovereignty in succession to the King his relative, or who was his mother’s father; and having married [a Princess] from a royal family, he caused the time to go with glory, it is said.

Western Province.

See the first note after No. 81, vol. ii.

In The Story of Madana Kāma Rāja (Pandit Naṭēśa Sāstrī), p. 50, a Prince who had been adopted by a King of Madura, whom he had succeeded on the throne, saw, at the house occupied by dancing-girls, his own mother, from whom he had been separated since his birth, and who had been banished,—and took a fancy for her. When he was about to visit the house in the evening he trod on the tail of a calf and crushed it. In reply to the calf’s complaint, the cow exclaimed that such an act might well not be considered a dishonour by one who was about to visit his own mother. The young King, who understood the language of animals, retraced his steps, prosecuted inquiries, learnt from the Goddess Kālī the story of his birth, his abandonment, and protection by her, and the history of his mother. He brought his mother to the palace, and thanks to Kālī’s advice recovered his father, who had been spirited away by the Sapta-kanyās or Seven Divine Maids.

In The Kathākoça (Tawney), p. 49, a Prince, who when an infant had been carried off and adopted by a Vidyādhara, afterwards saw his mother seated at a window, fell in love with her, and by the magical art of the Vidyādharas, which he had acquired, carried her off in an aerial chariot. While he was in a garden with her he heard the conversation of two monkeys, and learnt from it that he was her son. Two hermits confirmed this, and in the end the Prince and his parents became Jain hermits.

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., pp. 177 ff., the son of a woman who had been sent away during her husband’s absence, in the belief that she was an ogress, was sold to a Queen soon after birth by the widow with whom his mother lodged, and was brought up as her son, the King believing her false statement that she had borne him. When he grew up, the supposed Prince saw his mother, who still lived with the widow, fell in love with her, and induced the King to agree to his marriage to her. She stated that she was already married, and obtained a postponement of the wedding for six months. In the meantime her husband returned, went in search of his wife, heard that she was to be married to the Prince, sent her his ring, and they were reunited. The Prince ascertained that he was their son, the widow who sold him was executed, and the Queen was banished.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 79, a Brāhmaṇa who had obtained a young Garuḍa or Rukh from Vibhīsana, the Rākshasa King of Ceylon, visited on it, on three successive nights, a courtesan with whom he had fallen in love, whom he eventually married.

In Old Deccan Days (M. Frere), p. 145, there is an account of a Princess who was weighed every day against five lotus flowers, being no heavier than they were.

In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 1 ff., there is a story of a Princess who was weighed against one flower every day, after her bath. She was married by her parents to a Rāja of the same weight as herself.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. i, p. 376, a girl who was reared by a crane in its nest on the top of a tree was weighed daily by it. In this manner it ascertained that she had improper relations with a young man who had climbed up the tree and was concealed there by her.

In Folk-Tales of Hindustan (Shaik Chilli), p. 108, a Prince got his grandfather, who was a carpenter, to make a wonderful wooden horse which could either move on the earth or fly in the air, as it was bidden.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. iii, p. 137 ff.), an aged Persian sage presented a Persian King with a flying horse made of ebony, which could carry its rider where he wished, and “cover in a single day the space of a year.” In return for it the King promised him his daughter in marriage, but her brother objected to this, tried the horse, and was carried far away before he found the pin which controlled the descent. He alighted at night on a palace roof, entered a Princess’s room, was discovered, offered to fight all the troops if he had his own horse, and while they awaited his charge rose in the air and returned home. At night he sailed back and brought away the Princess.

In a foot-note, p. 139, Sir R. Burton suggested that the Arabian magic wooden horse may have originated in an Indian story of a wooden Garuḍa [bird]. The legend of a flying horse, however, is found in the earliest hymns of the Ṛig Veda. If this period was about 2,000 B.C., the notion may have arisen in the third millennium B.C. In the hymn 163 of Book I, the horse is mentioned as possessing wings—“Limbs of the deer hadst thou, and eagle pinions” (Griffith’s translation). In iv, 40, 2, the horse Dadhikrās is described as having wings. In i, 85, 6, the wings of the spotted deer (clouds) which draw the cars of the Maruts, the Storm Gods, are referred to; the car of the Aśvins was drawn by winged asses (i, 116–117, 2).

At a later date, the account of the treasures produced by the great Churning of the Ocean by the Gods and Asuras includes the winged horse Uccaihśravas.

In the Jātaka tale No. 196, the Bōdhisatta is described as transforming himself into a flying horse which carried a party of wrecked merchants and sailors from Ceylon to India.

Two or three steps further bring us to the position in the folk-tales:—(1) the creation of a wooden flying horse by a supernatural being, (2) the construction of a similar animal by a human being, by magical art, (3) the construction of one by mechanical art. Thus, if this development occurred in India or Ceylon, the notion of a wooden or wax flying horse, such as the folk-tales describe, is possibly of earlier date than the time of Christ. Arabian traders or travellers may have carried the idea to their own country either by way of Persia or more directly by sea. They may have had a local tradition of flying quadrupeds, however, based on the winged lions and bulls of Assyria, belonging to the eighth and ninth centuries B.C. Winged quadrupeds of a composite character were known to the Babylonians in the time of Gudea, Patesi of Lagash (2450 B.C.), and probably some centuries earlier;⁷ the idea may have spread from them to the early Āryans in the first place.

1 The text is given at the end of this volume. 

2 This incident is also related on pp. 62 and 63 of vol. i. 

3 In No. 245 the Princess was weighed once a week. 

4 Lit., ran flying. 

5 Kanya paṅtiyak; apparently they were courtesans or dancing girls. 

6 Hadāgat purushayek. 

7 Mesopotamian Archæology (Handcock), pp. 295, 329. 

No. 226

The Three-cornered Hatter¹

In a certain country a greatly-poor man dwelt, it is said. The man having prayed to a friend of his [for assistance], received from his friend a calf. In order to sell the calf for himself, having set out from the village at which he stayed, and come and descended to the road, at the time when he was going along driving it he met with three young men of yet [another] village.

At the time when the three young persons saw this poor man, they spoke together in this fashion. The speech indeed was, “Having cheated the man who is going driving this bull, let us seize the bull,” they said.

Having spoken to the man, when they asked him, “Will you give us the goat?” the poor man who is going driving the bull, says, “Friends, I am not taking the goat; it is a bull,” he said.

Then the men who were cheating him began to say, “Why, O fool, when you have come driving the goat, are you trying to make it a bull? We recognise goats, and we recognise bulls. Don’t make fun [of us]. Having given us that goat, and taken a sufficient amount, go away,” they said.

Having said and said thus, when these three persons began to make an uproar [about it], the poor man who is driving the bull, having made the bull the goat, and spoken to the three persons, says, “It is good, friends. Taking this goat that I brought, and having fixed a sufficient price, give [me it],” he said.

When he said thus, those three enemies say, “What are you saying? The full value of a goat is five rupees; this one is worth three rupees, but we shall not do in that manner to you. To you we will give four rupees,” they said.

Having said thus, and given that poor man four rupees, “Now then, you go away,” they said.

When they said thus, that man who went driving the bull having spoken [to himself]: “I will do a good work for these three persons,” says, “Anē! Friends, except that I have a thought that I also having joined you three persons [should be] obtaining a livelihood, for what purpose should I go to my village? It is not the fact [that I think of going there]. It is my thought to live joined with you,” he said.

When he said this, those thieves say, “It is good. We also are much pleased at your living joined with us,” they said.

The two parties speaking thus, the man who came driving the bull stayed near those men who cheated him. Having stayed thus, after about eight days or ten days had gone, he said, “I will do a thing for their having cheated me and taken the bull”; and making a hat which had three corners he put it on his head.

While he is there [after] thus putting the three-cornered hat on his head, those three persons ask, “What is it, friend? Where did you meet with a hat of a kind which is not [elsewhere]? This is the first time we saw such hats,” they said.

When they said thus, the man says, “Anē! Friends, if you knew the facts about this hat you will not speak in this way,” he said.

“Because of what circumstances are you praising this hat?” they asked.

This poor man says, “By this hat I can obtain food and drink while at any place I like. Moreover, by the power of this hat I can also do anything I think of,” he said.

When he said thus, those three persons say, “Anē! Friend, will you give us that hat?”

When they asked him, he says, “Having shown you the power which there is in my hat, I can give you the hat also for a sufficient sum,” he said.

They said, “If so, show us the power that is in your hat. We having looked at the power of the hat, we will give you the whole of the goods that there are of ours, and take the hat.”

Having said, “It is good. I will show you to-morrow the power of my hat,” that day evening he went to the eating-houses that are in that village, and spoke to the persons who are in the eating-houses: “We four persons to-morrow are coming for food. When we have come you must promise to treat us four persons well. Take the money for it to-day.”

Having given the money, and also having gone to the place where they eat during the [mid]day, and the place where they drink tea, and the place where they eat at night, speaking in that manner he gave the money.

On the following day he says to those three persons, “I will show you the power of my hat. Come along.”² Summoning them, and putting on that hat, at the place where he came and gave the money first he went in, together with the three friends.

Having taken off the three-cornered hat, when he lowered his head the men who were in the eating-house say, “It is good. Will you, Sirs, be seated there?” Having placed and given them chairs, and made ready the food, they quickly gave them to eat, and when they had finished, gave them cheroots.

Having been talking and talking very much, the Three-cornered Hatter says, “Now then, we must go, and come [again].”

When he said it, the men of the eating-house say, “It is good; having gone, come [again]. Should you come [this way] don’t go away without coming here.”

When they said it, the Three-cornered Hatter says, “Yes; should we come, we will not go away without coming here.”

Having gone from there, and walked there and here, and at the time for the [mid] day rice having gone to the place where he gave the money, in that very manner they ate and drank. Having also gone to the tea drinking place, and in that very way having drunk, after it became night they went to the place where he gave the money for the night food, and ate.

From the time when they came back to the place where they dwell, those three persons speak [together], “This hat is not a so-so³ hat. To-day we saw the power there is in the hat. What are the goods for, that we have? Having given the whole of our goods, let us take that hat.” Speaking [thus], and having spoken to the Three-cornered Hatter, they say, “Friend, taking any price you will take, give us this hat.”

When they said it [he replied], “Anē! Friends, having made the bull the goat, even should you [be willing to] take it, I cannot give this hat. My life is protected by that hat.”

When he said [this, they replied], “If so, it is good. Taking the whole of the goods that there are of us three persons, give us the hat.”

When they said [this], the Three-cornered Hatter says, “It is good. Because you are saying it very importunately,⁴ and because up to this time from the first [I have been] the friend of you three persons, taking the hat give me the goods.”

Having said [this], tying all the goods belonging to the three persons in bundles, the Three-cornered Hatter says, “Now then, I am going. I gave you the hat that I had for the protection of my life; you will take good care of that hat.” Having said it, the Three-cornered Hatter bounded off and went away.

On the following day after that, those three persons made ready to go in the first manner, for eating. One putting on the hat, they went, and sitting in the eating-house they ate and drank.

Having finished and talked, when they said, “We are going,”⁵ [the people of the eating-house] ask, “Where is the money?” When they said, “Having given the money, go away,” where have these three got money to give?

When they did not give it on the spot, the men who are in the eating-house, seizing them and having beaten them, put them out of the eating-house.

When they put them out, these three persons are quarrelling along the road. [One of them] said, “Because, indeed, they did not see that you went [after] putting on the hat, we two also ate blows. I will see [about it]; I will put it on and go. Give me it here.”

This one, taking the hat from that man, and having gone [after] putting it on, to the place where they eat during the [mid] day, they ate and drank in the first manner. Having been there talking and talking for a little time, they say to the men of the eating-house, “Now then, we are going.”

When they said it, the men of the eating-house say, “Having gone, no matter if you should come again. For what you ate to-day we want the money. Give the money, and having gone, come [again].”

When they said [this], these three persons, except that they ate in order to look at the power of the hat, whence are they to give the money? While they were there without speaking, they said in the very first manner, “Thrash these three thieves for the money,” and there and then also seizing the men, beat them.

When they had put them to the door, having descended to the path on the journey on which they are going, the man who did not put on the hat says, “[The people] not seeing you two [wearing it] and your putting on of that hat, can you go and look at the power of the hat, stupids both? If you want, you can look for yourselves [this] evening. Give me that hat. In the evening, at the place where they eat food I will show you the power of the hat.”

Having said [this], the man having gone in the evening [after] putting on the hat, to the place where they eat food, in the very first manner they ate and drank. Having been talking and talking, they say, “Well, we are going.”

When they said it, “Having given the money for what you ate, go,” they said.

Then these three persons, whence are they to give the money? Many a time (bohoma kalak) having asked for the money, while they were there without speaking, the men having well beaten these three persons put them out of the eating-house.

The three persons that day’s day having eaten blows three times, in much distress each one comes to his own house. In not many days, on account of these blows that they ate, and through sorrow at the loss of their goods, the end of the lives of the three persons was reached.

The Three-cornered Hatter having gone away taking the goods of these three persons, and having eaten and drunk in happiness, [at last] he died. For their making the Three-cornered Hatter’s bull the goat, taking the goods of these three he also destroyed the lives of the three persons.

Western Province.

In the Hitōpadēśa, a well-known form of the first incident occurs. Three rogues, seeing a Brāhmaṇa carrying home a goat on his shoulder for sacrifice, sat down under three trees at some distance apart on the road. As the man came up, the first rogue said, “O Brāhmaṇa, why dost thou carry that dog on thy shoulder?” “It is not a dog,” said the Brāhmaṇa, “it is a goat for sacrifice,” and he went on. When the second rogue asked the same question, the Brāhmaṇa put down the goat, looked at it, returned it to his shoulder, and resumed his journey. When the third man inquired in the same way, the Brāhmaṇa threw down the goat and went home without it, the rogues of course taking it to eat. This story is given in the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 68, with the difference that first one man spoke to the Brāhmaṇa, then two men, and lastly three.

In Indian Nights’ Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 106, when a foolish man was passing through a village driving a buffalo that he had bought, some men asked him where he got the ram; and as the whole of them insisted that it was a ram he left it with them through fear of his brother’s anger at his buying a ram instead of a buffalo.

In Folk-Tales of the Telugus (G. R. Subramiah Pantulu), p. 61, it is repeated with the variation that the Brāhmaṇa had four or five goats which he was leading. Four Śūdras (men of low caste) who wished to get them, in turn asked him why he was taking a number of mad dogs. The last Śūdra suggested that it was unsafe to release them, so he tied them to a tree, whence the four men removed them when he had gone.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. iii, p. 200), a thief promised another that he would steal an ass that a man was leading by a halter. He went up to it, quietly took off the halter and placed it on his own head without the ass-owner’s observing it, and his friend led away the ass. When he had gone off with it, the haltered man stood still, and on the ass-owner’s turning to look at his ass, told him that he was really the ass, and that he had been transformed into it because of his mother’s curse when he went home drunk and beat her. She had now relented, and as the result of her prayers he had taken his original form once more. The ass-owner apologised for any bad treatment meted out to him, went home, and told his wife, who gave alms by way of atonement, and prayed to Heaven for pardon. Afterwards, when the owner went to purchase another ass he saw his own in the market, and whispered to it, “Doubtless thou hast been getting drunk again and beating thy mother! But, by Allah, I will never buy thee more.”

1 Tun-muḷu-Toppiyā, the one with the three-cornered hat. 

2 Lit., Come to go. 

3 Esē-mesē. 

4 Bohoma duraṭa, lit. very far. 

5 Lit., We having gone, will come. 

No. 227

The Gamarāla who went to the God-World

In a certain country there was a newly-married Gamarāla, it is said. For the purpose of the livelihood of these two persons (himself and his wife), he begged and got a piece of chena from the King, to plant it on shares.¹ Near the time when they obtained the chena, having taken great pains and cut the ground and tied the fence, they sowed the millet (kurahan). But during the course of time having completely forgotten about the millet chena, they remained doing house work.

After two or three months passed away in this manner, one day the Gama-Mahagē (Gamarāla’s wife) having remembered the millet chena, spoke to her husband, “Have cattle eaten the millet chena?” and she sent him to look.

The Gamarāla, too, having gone hastily at the very time when he heard the word, saw at the time when he looked that rice mortars having gone had trampled the millet, and eaten it, and thrown it down. Having come home, perceiving at the time when he looked that his very own rice mortar had gone, making it fast he tied it to a tree.

On the following day also having gone, and again having seen, at the time when he looked, that the rice mortars had come and had eaten the millet, he walked everywhere in the village, and ordered [the owners] to tie up the rice mortars that were at the whole of the houses. The residents in the village being other fools did in the way he said.

On the third day, also, the Gamarāla having come, and having seen at the time when he looked that the rice mortars still had come, he thought, “It is our own rice mortar,” and having gone home he split the rice mortar with his axe, and burned it. The ashes he threw into the river.

Nevertheless, on the fourth day having come, and at the time when he looked having seen that rice mortars had come, not being able to bear his anger he came home, and while he is [there] he remains in the house, extremely annoyed.

“Why is it?” his wife asked.

Thereupon the Gamarāla replied thus, “The rice mortars having come to cause our millet eating to cease, I am not rich. Art thou clever enough to arrange a contrivance for it?” he asked. And the Gama-Mahagē, having considered a little time, ordered the Gamarāla to watch in the watch-hut at the chena.

The Gamarāla, accepting that word, on the following day went to the chena with a large axe, and during the night-time having been hidden, at the time when he was looking out saw that a tusk elephant, having come from the Divine World and trampled on the millet, and eaten it, and thrown it down, goes away. Having seen this wonderful tusk elephant, and thought that having hung even by his tail he must go to the Divine World, he went home and told the Gama-Mahagē to be ready, putting on clothes to-morrow for the purpose of going to the Divine World. At the time when the Gama-Mahagē also asked “In what manner is that [to be done]?” he made known to her all the news.

The Gamarāla’s wife hereupon wanted to know the means to get clothes washed when she went to the Divine World. At that time the Gamarāla said that they must perhaps take the washerman-uncle, [so he went to him and told him]. When the washerman-uncle set off to go he wanted his wife also to go, [and he brought her with him].

At last, these very four said persons having become ready and having been in the chena until the tusk elephant comes, after the tusk elephant came, at the very first the Gamarāla hung by the tail. The Gamarāla’s wife hung at his back corner (pitị mulla). After that, while the washerman-uncle and his wife were hung in turn behind the others, the tusk elephant, having eaten the millet, began to go to the Divine World.

After these four persons with extreme joy went a little distance, the washerman-uncle’s wife spoke to the Gamarāla, and asked thus, “For a certainty, Gamarāla, in that Divine World how great is the size of the quart measure which measures rice?” she asked.

Thereupon the Gamarāla, who was holding the tusk elephant’s tail the very first, said, “The quart measure will be this size.” Having put out his two hands he showed her the size.

At that time, these very four persons being extremely high in the sky, and from that far-off place having fallen to the earth, each one went into dust.

Western Province.

The Tusk Elephant of the Divine World (Variant).

In a certain country a man having worked a rice field, after the paddy became big a tusk elephant comes from the Divine World and eats the paddy.

The man having gone, when he looked (balāpuwama) there are no gaps [in the fence] for any animal whatever to come; there are footprints. The man thought, “It is the rice mortars of the men of our village that have eaten this; I must tell the men to tie the rice mortars to the trees.” Thinking it, in the evening the man having told it to the whole of the houses,² together with the man they tied all the rice mortars to the trees. Having tied them, the man who owned the rice field and the men of that village went to the rice field and remained looking out.

Then from the Divine World they saw a tusk elephant, and with the tusk elephant also a man, come. Having seen them, when the men having become afraid are looking on, the tusk elephant eats the paddy. Then the men asked at the hand of the man who came with the tusk elephant, “You [come] whence?”

Then the man said, “We come from the Divine World; if you also like, come.”

After that, the men having said “Hā,” [added], “How shall we come now? At the speed at which you go we cannot come.”

Then the man said, “As soon as the tusk elephant has got in front³ I will hang at the elephant’s tail. One of you also take hold at my waist,⁴ let still [another] man take hold at the man’s waist, and thus in that manner all come.”

After that, the men having said “Hā,” in that very way the tusk elephant got in front. The man having hung from the tusk elephant’s tail, when they were going away, the other men holding the waists, there was a coconut tree in the path.

Then the man who came from the Divine World said, “Andō! The largeness of these coconuts!”

Then these men asked, “In the Divine World are the coconuts very large?”

Then the man [in order] to say, “They will be this much [across],” released the hand which remained holding the tail of the tusk elephant. So the man fell to the ground, and all the other men fell to the ground.

Only the tusk elephant went to the Divine World.

Cultivating Caste, North-western Province.

In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 234, Mr. C. J. R. Le Mesurier mentioned the man who tied up the rice mortars in the belief that the elephants’ foot-prints in a rice field were caused by them.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 111, a man who got a tank made found that some animal tore up the surface of the embankment. When he remained on the watch for it he saw a bull descend from heaven, and gore it; and thinking he might go to heaven with it, he held the tail and was carried up to Kailāsa, the bull evidently being the riding animal of the God Śiva. After spending some time in happiness he descended in the same way, in order to see his friends. They asked him to take them with him on his return, and he consented. He seized the bull’s tail, the next man held his feet, the third his, and so on, in a chain. While they were on their way upward one of the men inquired how large were the sweetmeats he ate in heaven. The first man let go, joined his hands in a cup shape, and said, “So big.” Thereupon they all fell down and were killed. The story adds that “the people who saw it were much amused.”

1 That is, the amount of the seed being first deducted, a certain share of the produce would be taken by the cultivator—sometimes one-half or one-third,—the rest going to the owner of the land, in this case the King. 

2 Gedarawal gānēṭtama. Gānē or gāna = gahana, multitude; compare kaḍawal gānēma, vol. i, p. 86, line 17. 

3 Issara weccahama. 

4 Um̆balat ekkenek magē ina gāwin allā-ganillā (hon. pl.); gāwin, “near,” is commonly used for “at” or “by,” as in ata gāwin allāgana, seizing the hand (vol. i, p. 127, line 23). 

No. 228

The Gamarāla who ate Black Fowls’ Flesh and Hīn-aeṭi Rice

In a certain country there were a Gamarāla and a Gama-Mahagē, it is said. There was a paramour for this Gama-Mahagē, it is said. Because the Gamarāla was at home the paramour was unable for many days to come to look at the Gama-Mahagē.

Because of it, the Gama-Mahagē having thought she must make her husband’s eyes blind, went on the whole of the days to the bottom of a spacious tree in which it was believed that there is a Dēvatāwā, and cried, “O Deity, make my man’s eyes blind.”

Having seen that in this way incessantly (nokaḍawama) the Gama-Mahagē in the evening having abandoned all house work goes into the jungle, the Gamarāla wanted to ascertain what she goes here for. The Gamarāla also in order to stop this going of the Gama-Mahagē settled in the afternoon that there will be a great quantity of work [for her] to do. The Gamarāla, who saw that nevertheless, whatever extent of work there should be, having quickly finished all the possible extent she goes into the jungle, on the following day in the evening having been reminded of the preceding reflections, remained hidden in a hollow in the tree there.

And the Gama-Mahagē, just as on other days, in the evening having finished the work and having come, cried, “O Dēvatāwā who is in this tree, make my man’s eyes blind.” Having cleared the root of the tree and offered flowers, she also lighted a lamp.

The Gamarāla who was looking at all these, having been struck with astonishment, after the Gama-Mahagē went away descended from the tree and went home.

On the following day, also, in the evening the Gamarāla, catching a pigeon and having gone [with it], remained hidden in the hollow of the very same tree. At the time when he is staying in this way, the Gama-Mahagē having come, and having offered oil, flowers, etc., just as before, when she cried out [to the deity] to blind her man’s eyes, the Gamarāla from the hollow of the tree, having changed his voice, spoke, “Bola!”

Thereupon the Gama-Mahagē, having thought, “It is this Deity spoke,” said, “O Lord.”

At that time the Gamarāla said thus, “If [I am] to make thy man’s eyes blind, give [him] black fowls’ flesh¹ and cooked rice of Hīn-aeṭi rice.” Having said [this], he allowed the pigeon which he had caught to fly away.

Thereupon the Gama-Mahagē having thought, “This Deity is going in the appearance of a pigeon,” having turned and turned to the direction in which the pigeon is going and going, began to worship it. And the Gamarāla after that having slowly descended from the tree, went away.

Beginning from that day, the Gama-Mahagē, walking everywhere, having sought for black fowls’ flesh and Hīn-aeṭi rice, began to give the Gamarāla amply to eat. While the Gamarāla, too, is eating this tasty food, after a little time he says to the Gama-Mahagē, “Anē! Ban̥,² my eyesight is now less.” When he said thus, the Gama-Mahagē more and more gave him black fowls’ flesh and cooked Hīn-aeṭi rice.

After a little time more went by, he informed her that by degrees the Gamarāla’s eyesight is becoming less. At this time the Gama-Mahagē’s paramour began to come without any fear. The Gamarāla, groping and groping like a blind man, when he is walking in the house saw well that the paramour has come.

Having said, “Ban̥, at the time when you are not [here], dogs having come into the house overturn the pots,” the Gamarāla asked for a large cudgel. Keeping the cudgel in this manner while he was lying down, when the paramour came having seized his two hands and beaten him with the cudgel, he killed him outright.

While he was thus, when the Gama-Mahagē came he said, “Look there, Ban̥. Some dogs having come from somewhere or other, came running and jumping into this. Having thrown them down with the cudgel, I beat them. What became of them I don’t know.”

Having heard this matter, at the time when the Gama-Mahagē looked she saw that the paramour was killed, and having become much troubled about it because there was also fear that blame would come to her from the Government, lifting up the corpse and having gone and caused it to lean against a plantain-tree in her father’s garden, she set it there.

Her father having gone during the night-time to safeguard the plantain enclosure, and having seen that a man is [there], beat him with his cudgel. Although the blows he struck were not too hard, having seen that the man fell and was killed, the plantain enclosure person, having become afraid, lifting up the corpse and having gone [with it], pressed the head part in the angle of the shop of a trader in salt, and went away.

The salt dealer having thought, “A thief is entering the house,” struck a blow with a cudgel. But having come near and looked, and seen that the man is dead, at the time when it became light he informed the Government. He said that the man could not die at his blow, and that some person or other had put him there.³

Because on account of the dead man there was not any person to lament, having employed women for hire he caused them to lament. At this time one woman lamented: “First, it is my misfortune; next to that, father’s misfortune; and after that the salt dealer’s misfortune.”⁴ At the time when they asked, “What is that?” when she related the whole account for her punishment they ordered her to be killed.

Western Province.

In The Jātaka, No. 98 (vol. i, p. 239), a man in order to cheat his partner got his father to enter a hollow tree, and personate a Tree-Sprite who was supposed to occupy it. When the matter in dispute was referred to this deity, the father gave a decision in favour of his son.

In The Adventures of Rājā Rasālu (Swynnerton), p. 138, a man whose wife absented herself every night, followed her and discovered that she prayed at the grave of a fakīr that her husband might become blind. He hid himself in the shrine, and on the next night told her that if she fed her husband with sweet pudding and roast fowl he would be blind in a week; he then hurried home before her. Next morning she remarked that he was very thin and that she must feed him well; he acquiesced and was duly fed on the two dishes. He first stated that his eyes were getting dim, and after the seventh day that he was quite blind. Her paramour now began to visit the house openly. One day the man saw his wife hide him in a roll of matting; he tied it up, and saying he would go to Mecca, shouldered it and left. He met another man similarly cheated, and they agreed to let the lovers go.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 40, after two brothers buried at the foot of a tree two thousand gold dīnārs, one of them secretly carried them off,⁵ and afterwards charged the other with stealing them. As the King could not decide the case, the thief claimed that the tree at which the money was buried would give evidence for him. The question was put to it next day and a voice replied that the innocent brother took the money; but when the officers applied smoke to the hollow the father who was hidden there fell out and died, so the thief was punished by mutilation.

In Folk-Tales of the Telugus (G. R. Subramiah Pantulu), p. 28, there is a similar story in which the thief was sentenced to pay the whole amount to the other man.

In the Kolhān folk-tales (Bompas) appended to Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 482, a Potter’s wife whom a Raja advised to kill her husband, set up a figure of a deity in her house, and prayed daily to it that the man might become blind and die. On overhearing her, the Potter hid behind the figure, said her prayer was granted, and predicted that he would be blind in two days. When he feigned blindness she sent for the Raja, who together with the woman was killed at night by him, and his corpse placed in a neighbour’s vegetable garden. Towards morning the neighbour saw an apparent thief, struck him on the head, and discovered he had killed the Raja. He consulted the Potter and by his advice placed the body among some buffaloes, where their owner knocked it over as a milk thief, and after consulting the Potter threw it into a well. It was discovered there and cremated.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (collected by Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 247, a smith was the hero in place of the Potter. The body of a Prince was left at three houses in turn, the last householder being imprisoned.

In Santal Folk Tales (Campbell), p. 100, a man whose wife died left her corpse in a wheat field, tied in a bag loaded on a bullock, and got hid. When the field owner thrashed the bullock the man came forward, charged him with killing his sick wife, and received six maunds of rupees as hush money. The standard maund being one of 40 sers, each of 80 tolas or rupee-weights (Hobson-Jobson), this would be 19,200 rupees.

Regarding the black fowls, Bernier stated that in India there was “a small hen, delicate and tender, which I call Ethiopian, the skin being quite black” (Travels, Constable’s translation, p. 251). In a note, the translator added the remarks of Linschoten (1583–1589) on Mozambique fowls:—“There are certain hennes that are so blacke both of feathers, flesh, and bones, that being sodden they seeme as black as ink; yet of very sweet taste, and are accounted better than the other; whereof some are likewise found in India, but not so many as in Mossambique” (Voyage, i, 25, 26. Hakluyt Soc.).

1 A breed of black fowls is considered to have the tenderest flesh of all; the flesh is very white, but the bones are black on the surface. 

2 Contraction of Bolan, apparently; a Low-country expression. 

3 These adventures of the corpse remind one of the Hunchback of the Arabian Nights, but they are Indian episodes. 

4 Issarawelā maganē; ī gāwaṭa appanē; īṭat passe ḷunu huppanē. maganē = magē + anaya or anē. 

5 When money stolen from me was buried, the leader of the thieves removed it during the same night, and buried it at a fresh place in the jungle. 

No. 229

How the Gamarāla drove away the Lion

In a certain country the wife of a Gamarāla had a paramour. Having given this paramour to eat and drink, because she wants him to stay there talking and associated [with her] the Gama-Mahan̆gē every day at daybreak tells the Gamarāla to go to the chena, and at night tells him to go to lie down at the watch hut; even having come to eat cooked rice, she does not allow him to stay at home a little time.

The Gamarāla, having felt doubtful that perhaps there may be a paramour for the Gama-Mahan̆gē, one day at night quite unexpectedly went home and tapped at the door.

Then, because the paramour was inside the house, the Gama-Mahan̆gē practised a trick in this manner. During the day time the Gamarāla had put in the open space in front of the house a large log of firewood that was [formerly] at a grave. “A Yakā having been in this log of firewood, and having caused me to be brought to fear, go and put down that log of firewood afar. Until you come I cannot open the door,” the Gama-Mahan̆gē said.

The Gamarāla having been deceived by it, lifting up the log of firewood in order to go and put it away, went off [with it]. Then the paramour who was in the house having opened the door, she sent him out. When the Gamarāla came back (āpuwāma) anybody was not there.

After this, one day when the Gamarāla came at the time when the door had been opened, because the paramour was in the house the Gama-Mahan̆gē told the paramour to creep out by the corner of the roof [over the top of the wall], to the quarter at the back of the house, and go away.

But having crept a little [way], because he remained looking back the Gama-Mahan̆gē says, “You are laughing. Should he even cut my body there will be no blood [of yours shed]. Creep quickly. If not, there will be great destruction for us both.” But because he does not speak, when she came near and looked she saw that the paramour having stuck fast was dead. Because his mouth was opened, this woman thought, “At that also he is laughing.”

Well then, when the Gamarāla came into the house the Gama-Mahan̆gē said, “Look here. A thief having come and having prepared to steal the goods that are in the house, is dead on the path on which he crept from here when I was coming. It is a good work,” she said. The Gamarāla, taking this for the truth, buried the man.

After this the Gama-Mahan̆gē met with another paramour. The man said to the Gama-Mahan̆gē, “We must kill the Gamarāla. The mode of killing [shall be] thus:—Because it troubles men when a lion that is in the midst of such and such a forest in this country is roaring, to-morrow during the day the King will cause a proclamation tom-tom to be beaten [to notify] that he will give goods [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load to a person who killed¹ the lion, or to a person who drove it away. You having caused the proclamation tom-tom to halt, say that our Gamarāla can kill the lion,” the paramour taught the Gama-Mahan̆gē.

In this said manner, the Gama-Mahan̆gē on the following day having stopped the proclamation tom-tom, said, “Our Gamarāla can kill the lion.”

Well then, when the Gamarāla came [home] they told him about this matter. Then the Gamarāla, having scolded and scolded her, began to lament, and said, “Why, O archer, can I kill the lion?” But because the King sent the message telling the person whom they said can kill the lion, to come, when the Gamarāla, having submitted to the King’s command, went to the royal house [the King] asked, “What things do you require to kill the lion?”

Thereupon the Gamarāla thought, “Asking for [provisions] to eat and drink for three months, and causing a large strong iron cage to be made, I must go into the midst of the forest, and having entered the cage, continuing to eat and drink I must remain in it doing nothing.” Having thought it, asking the King for the things and having gone into the midst of the forest, he got into the iron cage, and continuing to eat and drink stayed in it doing nothing.

While he was staying in this manner, one day the lion having scented the iron cage looked at it. Then the Gamarāla with a lance that was in his hand stabbed [at it, for the blade] to go along the nose. The Gamarāla did thus through fear; but the lion having become afraid, not staying in the midst of that forest went to another forest.

After that, the Gamarāla [informed the King that he had driven it away, and] taking the goods [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load, went home and dwelt in happiness.

Western Province.

In The Orientalist, vol. ii, p. 175, in a story given by Mr. T. B. Panabokke, a foolish Adikār who was sent to kill a lion, ran off as it was coming, and climbed up a tree. The lion came, and resting its fore-paws against the tree trunk, tried to climb up it. The man was so terrified that he dropped his sword, which entered its open mouth and killed it. He then descended, cut off the head, and returned in triumph. In a variant in the same volume, p. 102, the animal was a tiger. The story is given in Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, p. 207, the animal being a lion.

In Tales of the Punjab (Mrs. F. A. Steel), p. 85, a weaver who had been made Commander-in-Chief killed a savage tiger by accident in the same manner, through his dagger’s falling into its open mouth when he was in a tree.

In The Indian Antiquary, vol. xiv, p. 109, in a South Indian story by Naṭēśa Sāstrī, a man who was sent to kill a lioness climbed up a tree for safety. When the lioness came below it and yawned he was so much alarmed that he dropped his sword, which entered her open mouth and killed her.

1 Lit., having killed, gave. 

No. 230

The Son who was Blind at Night

In an older time than this, in a certain village there was a nobleman’s family. In the nobleman’s family there was a Prince whose eyes do not see at night.

Because the nobleman-Prince is not of any assistance to his parents, the nobleman having spoken to his wife, told her that having given him suitable things, etc., she is to send off this one to any place he can go to, to obtain a livelihood. The lady (siṭu-dēvī) having tied up a packet of cooked rice and given it to her son, says, “Go in happiness, and earn your living.”

Thereupon this Prince whose eyes were blind at night, taking the packet of cooked rice and having started, goes away. Having gone thus, and at the time when it was becoming evening having eaten the packet of cooked rice, he thinks, “Should it become late at night my eyes do not see.” Having thought, “Prior to that, I must go to this village near by,” and having arisen from there very speedily, he arrived at a village.

Having gone there and come to a house, during the time while he is dwelling with them this one says, “I am going away [from] there for no special reason (nikan). I am going for the purpose of seeking a marriage for myself,” he said.

Thereupon they say, “There is a daughter to be given with our assent. We do not give that person in that manner (i.e., not merely because she is sought for). From our grandfather’s time there is a book in our house. To a person who has read and explained the book we are giving our daughter in marriage,” they said.

At that time this person who is blind at night asked for the book. The party brought and gave him the book. This person who is blind at night, taking the book into his hand, began to weep.

When they asked, “What are you weeping for?” he says, “Except that in my own mind I completely understand the difficulty of the matters that are in this book, I wept because of the extreme difficulty that there is for some one else in expounding it,” he said.

At that time the party think, “To give our daughter [in marriage] we have obtained a suitable son-in-law.” They gave her in marriage.

At the time when he is living thus for a few days, his father-in-law having spoken, says, “Don’t you be unoccupied (nikan). There is our chena; having gone to the chena with the other brothers-in-law, taking a tract of ground for yourself clear it and sow it for yourself.”

This one having said, “It is good,” and having gone, taking a side of the chena began to clear it. This one worked more quickly than the other persons. Thereupon the father-in-law felt much affection for this person who was blind at night.

During that time when he was clearing it, a porcupine having been there at the corner of a bush, he killed it unseen by anyone, and put it away and hid it. At the time when it became evening the other dependants (pirisa) went home. This one, his eyes not seeing, was in the chena, clasping the dead body of the porcupine.

During the time while he was thus, the father-in-law came to seek him. Thereupon he says to the father-in-law, “It is excellent that you came first to do a work. Was it good to go home empty-handed? When I stopped for this business you went away, didn’t you?”

Thereupon the father-in-law says, “Don’t you be displeased; we did not know that you stopped. Come, to go home.”

Then he says, “I cannot go in that way. Getting a stick and having come, hang this animal in the manner of the carrying-pole load (taḍa), in order to carry it,” he said.

Thereupon, tying the carrying-pole, and placing the father-in-law in front,¹ he came to the house. That his eyes do not see, this one did not inform the father-in-law.

While a few days are going in that manner, the work in the chena having been finished he sowed it, and fitting up a watch-hut there he is [watching it] carefully.

While he is thus, thieves having broken into the house of the King of that country came near the watch-hut to which this one goes, in order to divide the goods. When they were sitting there dividing the goods, this one opened his eyes, and becoming afraid says, “Seize them! Beat them! Tie them!”

At once the thieves, leaving the goods and having become afraid, jumped up and ran away. When this one, collecting the heap of goods and having arrived at the house, informed the father-in-law, the father-in-law gave the King notice of it. The King having become much pleased, caused this one to be brought, and having given him various things appointed him to the office of Treasurer² of that city.

Western Province.

1 That is, at the front end of the pole; the other man held the rear end on his shoulder, and was thus guided by it along the path which his eyes could not distinguish. 

2 Or nobleman. 

No. 231

The Son and the Mother¹

In a certain country a widow woman lived with her only son, it is said. At the time when her son arrived at a young man’s age, this woman for the purpose of bringing and giving him a [bride in] marriage, having descended to the road, set off to go to a village not distant from it. While this woman was going thus, in order to quench her weariness she went to a travellers’ shed that was at the side of the path.

After a little time, yet [another] woman having arrived at this very travellers’ shed, when these two were conversing one of those persons asked [the other] on account of what circumstances she went along by that road. At that time the woman who had come first to the travellers’ shed gave answer thus, that is, “My husband having died I have only one son. Because of it, in order to seek a marriage for that son I set out and came in this manner,” she said.

Thereupon the other woman says, “My husband also having died, I have only one daughter. I came on the search for a suitable husband for that daughter,” she said.

After that, these two persons ascertaining that they were people belonging to the [good] castes, agreed to marry the son and daughter of these two persons. [After] promising in this manner, having given in marriage the other woman’s daughter to the son of the first-mentioned woman, because the daughter’s mother is living alone they summoned the whole four persons to one house, and resided there.

When they are coming and dwelling in that manner a very little time, the young man said to his mother that his wife was not good. A very little time having gone thus, the young woman says to her husband, “I cannot reside here with your mother. Because of it [please] kill her. If it be not so, having gone away with my mother we shall live alone,” she said.

Although even many times he did not give heed to the word of his wife, because the young man was unwilling to kill his mother, in the end, at the time when his wife set off to go away, he said, “It is good; I will kill mother. You must tell me the way to kill her.”

Thereupon his wife said thus, “In the night time, when thy mother is sleeping, taking completely² the bed and having gone [with it], let us throw it in the river,” she said.

In the night time, at the time when all are sleeping, the young woman having tied a cord to the leg of the bed on which her mother-in-law is sleeping, went to sleep, placing an end of the cord in her hand.

The young man having seen this circumstance, after his wife went to sleep unfastened the end of the cord that was tied to the leg of his mother’s bed, and tied it to the leg of the bed of his wife’s mother. While it was thus, suddenly this young woman arose, and spoke to her husband: “Now the time is good,” she said.

When he asked, “Because there is darkness how shall we find our mother’s bed?” “I have been placing a mark,” the woman said. Well then, because the end of the cord was tied to the leg of this woman’s bed, both together lifting up the bed went and threw it in the river.

After it became light, when she looked, perceiving that the young woman’s mother was thrown into the river, and coming to grief, and having wept, she said thus to her husband, “For committing some fault³ we have thrown my mother into the river. Well, let us kill your mother, too,” she said again.

The husband being not satisfied with this, because the request of his wife was stronger than that [disinclination], said, “It is good; let us kill her.”

When her husband further asked, “By what method shall we kill mother?” she said, “When thy mother is asleep, lifting up the bed completely and having gone [with it], and having placed a pile of sticks at a new grave, let us burn her.” The husband approved of her word.

On the following day, subsequently to its becoming light, when the woman whom the two persons were lifting up was asleep, having gone [after] lifting up the bed completely, they placed this woman together with the bed on the middle of the pile of firewood which they had gathered together previously. But to set fire to the heap of firewood they did not remember to take fire. Because of it, and because to bring fire each person was afraid to go alone, both set off and went.

During the time while they were going thus, when strong dew was falling like rain the woman who was asleep on the pile of firewood having opened her eyes, said, “Am I not at this grave mound?” She also having looked far and near,⁴ thought, “It is indeed a work, this, of my son and daughter-in-law;” and having descended from the pile of firewood, lifting up a new corpse that was at the grave, and having gone and placed it upon that bed that was on the pile of firewood, she plucked off her cloth, and having clothed the corpse she entered the jungle quite unclothed.

The son and daughter-in-law having come, remained looking about. Then her son and daughter-in-law procuring fire,⁵ and having come to the new grave, both persons made the fire burn at the two ends of the pile of firewood, and went away.

The woman, who had looked very well at this business, because she was unclothed could not come near villages. Having entered a forest wilderness that was near there, when going a considerable distance she saw a rock house (cave). Having gone to this rock house, when she looked [in it] she saw that a great number of clothes, and ornaments, and kinds of food and drink were in this rock house, and having thought, “For these there will be owners,” she remained quite afraid to seize them.

At that time a gang of thieves who owned the goods, hundreds of thousands in number, that were in this rock house, having come and looked in the direction of the rock house, saw that an unclothed Yaksanī had entered there. Having become afraid at it, the whole of them bounded off, and having gone running arrived near a Yakadurā,⁶ and said thus, “Friend, one Yaksanī having entered is now staying at the rock house in which are the goods that we collected and placed [there] during the whole eight years in which we now have been committing robberies. Because of it, should you by any means of success whatever drive away the Yaksanī for us, we will give a half from the goods,” they said to the Yakadurā.

Thereupon the Yakadurā being pleased, when he went to the neighbourhood of the rock house with the thieves, the thieves, through fear to go, halted. The Yakadurā having gone quite alone to the rock house, when he asked the woman who was unclothed, “Art thou a human daughter⁷ or a Yaksanī?” she gave answer, “I am a human daughter.”

At that time the Yakadurā said, “If so, I cannot believe thy word. Of a Yaksanī, indeed, there is no tongue; of a human being there is the tongue. Because of it, please extend the tongue [for me] to look at it, having rubbed my tongue on thy tongue,” the Yakadurā said.

Thereupon this woman thought thus, “If so, these men having thought I am a Yaksanī, are afraid of me. Because of it, having frightened them a little more I must get these goods,” she thought.

Having thought thus, and having come near the Yakadurā, at the time when he extended the tongue she bit his tongue. Thereupon, when the Yakadurā began to run away, blood pouring and pouring from his mouth, the thieves, having become more frightened at it, ran away; and having said, “If she did so to the Yakadurā who went possessing protective spells and diagrams, [after] uttering spells over limes, and uttering spells over threads coloured with turmeric, how will she do to us?” they did not go after that to even that district.

Well then, that woman, putting on clothes that were in the rock house, and having eaten and drunk to the possible extent [after] making up the goods into bundles as much as possible, came to look for her son. When the daughter-in-law and son saw her coming while afar, having arrived at astonishment at it, they asked, “How have you who were put on the pile of firewood and burnt, come again? Whence are these goods?”

Thereupon the woman says, “Why, Bola, don’t you know that after their life, when they have burnt men they receive goods?” she asked.

Then her daughter-in-law, having thought that she will be able to bring goods, said, “Anē! Please burn me also in that way.”

Having said, “It is good,” the mother-in-law, having gone taking her daughter-in-law, and having put her on the pile of firewood, set fire [to it].

At that time, “Apoyi! I indeed cannot stay,” she cried when she began to burn.

Thereupon her mother-in-law cries out, “Hā! Hā! Don’t cry out. Should you cry out you will not receive the goods. While you were burning me did I also cry out? Anē! Because you are stronger than I, [after] making a great many articles into bundles come back,” she said. In this manner having told and told her, and having burnt the daughter-in-law, the mother-in-law went home.

After a few days had gone, her son asks, “Mother, you by this time came bringing the goods. This giantess⁸ has not [come] yet; what is that for?” he asked.

She said, “No, son; she is staying to bring a great many goods.”

Having waited, one day the son having thoroughly tied the mother to kill her, on account of the manner in which he accepted the daughter-in-law’s word, she said, “Why, Bola, fool! Dead men having arisen from the dead, will there be a country also to which they come?⁹ I came in this manner,” and having told her whole story, and employed her son, they went taking a great many carts, and brought to the village the whole of the goods that were in the above-mentioned rock house.

After that, this son contracted another marriage. Having seen his wealthiness, the King of that country gave him a post as Treasurer.¹⁰

Western Province.

This is also a folk-tale called “The Wicked Daughter-in-law,” in the North-western Province, the parents of the young man being a Gamarāla and Gama-Mahagē. The wife wished to kill her mother-in-law because the latter and her own mother were quarrelling. She and her husband threw the first bed into a forest pool (eba). The incident of the return of the robbers to the cave where they had hidden their plunder is omitted; the Mahagē simply put on a number of silver and gold articles and carried home a bundle of others, including necklaces and corals. She told her daughter-in-law that there were many more at the burial ground, and the latter went to fetch them. When she arrived there she saw a fresh corpse, and became so much afraid that she fainted, and fell down and died.

This story is given in The Jataka, No. 432 (vol. iii, p. 303).

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 88, a servant girl who had absconded with her master’s store of gold, climbed up a leafy tree to escape from him. One of his servants climbed up it in search of her. Seeing that she would be captured, she pretended to be in love with him, and as she was kissing his mouth she bit off his tongue, and he fell down unable to speak. Her master thought he had been attacked by a demon, and at once ran off.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii, p. 141, a woman who wished to kill her mother-in-law persuaded her husband to believe that if she were burnt she would be re-born as a deity, and receive continual offerings from them. They made a great fire in a deep trench, gave a feast at it, and when the people had gone pushed the mother over the edge into it, and ran off. She fell on a ledge in the side of the trench and thus escaped, was unable to return home in the darkness, and climbed up a tree for safety from animals and demons. While she was there, robbers came to the foot of the tree with valuable articles they had stolen, and when they heard her sneeze ran off, thinking she was a demon. In the morning she returned home with a heavy bundle of jewellery they had left, told the daughter-in-law that she had become a deity and had therefore received these valuables, and offered to send her also. The fire was made up afresh, the man pushed his wife into it, and she was burnt up.

1 Putā saha Māeniyō; in the folk-tales the word meaning “son” is always spelt thus, with long a. 

2 Piṭimma 

3 That is, as a punishment for some fault of theirs they had killed the wrong person. 

4 Āet māet. 

5 That is, blowing the glowing fire-sticks into flames. 

6 A demon expeller of low caste. 

7 Manuksa duwek: in the reply the first of these words is manussa. 

8 Yōdī, an expression often applied jestingly to a child, or a person who thinks herself strong. 

9 In Sagas from the Far East, p. 22, a Khan’s son with a friend had killed two serpent deities which ate the people, when he went to be their prey in the place of his father. His friend then suggested that they should return home, but the Khan’s son replied, “Not so, for if we went back to our own land the people would only mock us, saying, ‘The dead return not to the living!’ and we should find no place among them.” In vol. i, p. 77, of these Sinhalese tales, a man asks, “Can anyone in the other world come to this world?” But other Sinhalese stories show that there is, or was, a belief that people who have died may sometimes reappear on earth immediately, in their previous form, and not merely as new-born children, the common idea, as on p. 308, below. See Nos. 191 and 210. For the text of the sentence see p. 416. 

10 Siṭi tanaturak. 

No. 232

Concerning the Heṭṭi Man’s Son

In a former time, in a certain country there was a certain Heṭṭi family possessing a great quantity of goods, it is said. There were seven sons of the Heṭṭiyā. For the purpose of learning he sent the seven sons to school. Out of the Heṭṭi children who go to school, as the youngest son was a mischievous rough fellow, having set out from the house in order to go to school, while on the road he got hid, not going to the school. At the time when, the school having been dismissed, the other children are coming back, this child also, like a person who went to school, comes to the house with his brothers, and dwells [there].

That this one did not go (non̆giyā) to school no one tells either the father or mother. Because of what thing? Because of the harshness that there is of his, should they give information to his parents that he did not go to school they are afraid he will cause great annoyance to the people who give the information.

In that manner going to the school and coming according to his will, and making disturbance with the other children (lamō), and walking to several places at the time when he is dwelling [there], he one day in the eventide having descended to the city street goes to walk.

While going, a certain horse-keeper taking a horse brought it for sale. He having stopped the horse-keeper, asks, “To which district are you taking this horse?”

To that the horse-keeper gives answer, “I am taking this horse for sale.”

Thereupon he said, “It is good. For how much money will you give this horse?”

Then the horse-keeper says, “You a man who takes horses, indeed! There is not any profit in telling you the amount. The value of this horse is much,” he said.

Thereupon, having much scolded the horse-keeper, and having arrived at his house calling [the man to bring] the horse, he speaks to his father and says, “Take and give me this horse.”

At that time his father the Heṭṭiyā having rebuked him, drove him away. As this one was a vile rough fellow, taking the saying heavily, he began to make disturbance with his father. Thereupon anger having gone to the father, seizing him and having beaten him, he drove him away.

Having done thus, this one came into the house, and taking a gun speaks to his father and says, “Should you not take and give me this horse, shooting myself I will die.” Thereupon his father having become afraid, took the horse and gave [him it].

From the day when he took and gave the horse, he did not even go to the school. Having gone away according to his own notion, he joined the war army of that country. During the time when he was thus, also, he began to work there, so as to be a great dexterous person. The Chief of the war army there showed him much favour.

When a little time had gone thus, having been ordered to a war they came [for it]. Thereupon this one also having gone with the war force, and having been halted on the battle-ground, during the time while they are [there] the Chief of the Army spoke to this force (pirisa). When he said that in order to fight, a person who is able is to go to the enemy-King, and give the leaf missive (pattraya) which the Counsellor had prepared for the purpose, having seen that everyone remained without speaking, this one came forward, and having said, “I am able to go and give it,” asked for the letter.

When he thus asked, the Commander of the Army, having arrived at great sorrow, says, “By this fight to whom will occur victory, defeat, or any other thing I am unable to say. But should you stay on the battle-ground, harm not befalling you at any time, you may escape. The messenger who goes in order to give notice to this enemy-King does not escape at any time. When, having said the message, he is dismissed, the guards strike him down. I know that you are a person of a great wealthy family. I know that the advantage that is obtained from another twelve soldiers I am receiving from you. [But] because at the time when I spoke to any person who was willing to despatch and make known this message, you came forward, it is not justice to cause another person to go.” Having said [this], the General arrived at great sorrow.

Thereupon this one says, “Don’t be afraid. Having gone and given the letter I shall come back. But I cannot go thus; I don’t want these clothes. Please make afresh and give me clothes in the manner I say.” When he said [this], the General, in the manner he said, made and gave him the clothes.

Thereupon, putting on the clothes and having mounted on the back of the horse which his father took and gave him, taking the leaf that was written for the purpose of giving the notice to the enemy-King, he went off.

At the time when he was going there, the guards of the King’s house thought that a trader gentleman was coming in order to give assistance connected with the war. Without any fear whatever he went on horse-back to the royal palace; and having given the leaf and turned back, driving the horse a little slowly to the place where the guards are, and, having come there, driving the horse with the speed possible, he arrived at the place where his force is.

When he arrived thus, the General, having become much attached to him, established this one as the third person for that force. After that, having fought he obtained victory in the fight also. After he obtained victory in the fight, he appointed him to the chiefship of the army. During the time while he was dwelling thus, he went and in still many battles he obtained victory.

After that, having appointed him to the kingship,¹ he sent him to improve the out-districts. Having dwelt in that manner for much time, and having reached old age, he performed the act of death (kālakkiriyā).

Western Province.

1 Evidently a post in which he had the title of Raja, and not the general government of the whole country. A ruler termed “the Eastern King” (Pacina Raja) is mentioned in an early inscription (Dr. Müller’s, No. 34A); as no such title is found in the histories, he may have been a district governor. The hero of this story appears to have received a somewhat similar post. 

No. 233

The Fortunate Boy¹

At a certain city there was a poor family, it is said. Of that family, the father having died, the mother and also a son remained, it is said. The mother, by [reason of] her destitute state without food, was supported by pounding [rice into] flour for hire at the shops, it is said.

While getting a living thus, having sent the son to school he began to learn letters. While he was staying in that way for learning them, one day [his mother] having sent him to school, at the time when he was coming home he was looking on nearby while a great rich man was getting a ship prepared on the sea shore. While he was thus looking, at the time when this boy having gone near looked, the work at the ship was becoming finished, it is said.

Owing to it, the boy, speaking to the rich man, says, “Will you sell this ship?” He asked [thus], it is said.

[In reply] to it, the rich man having looked in the boy’s direction, said in fun, “Yes, I will sell it.”

The boy asked, “For how much will you sell it?”

“For five hundred pounds for the ship on which pounds, thousands in number, have been spent I will give it,” he said.

On account of it the boy, having placed in pawn his books and slates at a shop near by, and having [thus got and] brought twenty-five cents,² and given them as earnest money for the ship, says, “To-morrow morning at nine, having secured the money I will take the ship,” he said. The rich man through inability to say two words remained without speaking, it is said.

The boy having gone home, at the time when he was there, when his mother asked, “Why, Bola, where are thy books and slates?” the boy says, “Having asked the price for a new ship of such and such a rich man, and agreed to take it, I placed the slates and books in pawn, and bringing twenty-five cents I gave them as earnest money,” he said.

His mother having become angry at it, and having beaten the boy, scolding him drove him away without giving him food, it is said.

At the time when she drove him away, having gone near a Heṭṭiyā of that city he says, “Anē! Heṭṭirāla, I having agreed to take such and such a rich man’s ship, and having gone to school, at the time when I was coming I placed my books and slates in pledge at a shop; and bringing twenty-five cents and having given them as earnest money, and agreed to secure the remaining money to-morrow morning at nine, I was going home meanwhile. When I told my mother these matters, she bringing anger into her (undae) mind, beat me, and drove me from the house without having given me food. Because it is so, you having paid this price for this ship keep it in your name,” he said.

The Heṭṭiyā becoming pleased at it, on the following day morning having made ready the money and gone with the boy, the Heṭṭiyā says, “I will stay here. You having gone with this money and given it to him, take the ship. As soon as you take it (ē aragana wahāma) speak to me; then I will come,” he said.

Then the boy, having gone in the manner he said, at the agreed time, and having spoken to the rich man, says, “According to the agreed manner, here (menna), I brought the price for you. Taking charge of it and having written the deeds, give me the ship,” he said.

The rich man, as soon as he was out of a great astonishment,³ having gone and written the deeds, and having handed over the ship, says, “Aḍē! Bola, boy, is thy filth (kunu) a religious merit? Where, indeed, if this had not broken and fallen [on me], for a price of that manner was I to give the ship on which I incurred expenses to the amount of thousands of pounds! Thy birth having been consistent with it, it will be a debt [of a previous existence] which I was to give to thee. Because it is so, I will launch on the great sea this ship on which these five hundred pounds are spent, and will give [thee it there],” he said.

On account of it, the boy having summoned the Heṭṭiyā, says, “There (Onna)! I got the ship! Although I got it, the price I gave for the ship was not mine; it was yours. Because of that, load into this ship the goods you want [to send], and having placed hired workmen [on board] for it, give charge of it to me. I having gone to some country or other [after] doing trading shall come back in happiness,” he said.

Then that man who sold the ship, having collected together people and incurred great expenses, and caused the ship to be launched on the sea, gave him it, it is said. Having acted in that manner and given it, out of that price not bringing a cent home, he spent it over that; and having related the circumstance to his family, not feeling (ne-gena) any grief, in good happiness he dispatched the time (kal aeriyā), it is said. If you said, “What is [the reason of] that?” “There is no need for us to take [to heart] sorrow. From the debt that we were to give him [in a previous existence] we are released,” he said.

After that, the Heṭṭiyā having loaded into the ship bags of rice, thousands in number, and placed [over it] a hired captain, made the boy the principal (palamuweniyā), and having given him charge sent it off, it is said.

While the ship was going, time went by, many days in number, it is said; but while they were going on as a land (goḍak) was not yet to be perceived, the ship drifted to a great never-seen country, it is said. When they investigated in the country, and looked at the auspicious character of the kind of men who are [there], their faces were of the manner of dogs’ faces, the body like these bodies of ours,⁴ but the food was human-flesh food, it is said.

On account of it, the persons who were in the ship being afraid, say, “Anē! This is indeed a cause for both ourselves and our ship to be lost!”

While they are staying [there] the boy says anew, “I think of an expedient for this, that is, let us cook a great rice [feast] on the ship. Having cooked it, I will go to this village, and having spoken to the men and come [after] assembling them, and having eaten this food of ours, we will tell them to look [round the ship].”

Having caused the rice to be made ready the boy went to the village, and having come [after] assembling the men, while giving them the food to eat, these men, perceiving that it was a food possessing great flavour that they had not eaten and not seen (no-kā nu-duṭu) say, “This sort you call ‘rice’ we [first] saw to-day indeed. For what things will you give this?”⁵ they asked.

To that the sailors say, “Except that we give for money, for another thing we do not give,” they said, it is said.

Meanwhile the men (minisun) say, “In our country there is not a kind called ‘money’; in our country there are pieces of silver and gold. If you will give it for them, give it,” they said, it is said.

After that, the sailors having spoken [together] and caused them to bring those things, began to measure and measure and give the rice, it is said. Should you say, “In what manner was that?” that kind of men, putting the pieces of silver and gold into sacks and having brought them, began to take away rice to the extent they give, it is said.

During the time while they are doing taking and giving (ganu denu) in that way, because the sailors had great fear of staying, at night, at about the time when both heaps were equal (hari) by stealth they began to navigate the ship, it is said. At that very time, at the time when they looked at the accounts of that rice they gave, the cost had been not more than a hundred bags in number, it is said. For the rice that was of that cost there had been collected sacks of gold and silver,—about twelve were assembled, it is said.

Having gone to yet [another] country, and sold those things, and made them into money (mudal kara), taking for the money yet nine ships, and together with this ship having loaded goods into the whole ten ships, he began to come to his own city.

While coming there, at the time when [the citizens] looked at this it was like the mode of coming for a great fight. Meanwhile, not allowing them to approach their own country, the King asked, “Of what country are these ships? Are they coming for some fight, or what?”

At that, having raised the flag of the ship they say, “No; we have not come for a fight. In these ships are trading-goods. In any other way but that we have not come,” they said.

Yet still the King asked, through the excess of his fear, saying and saying, “Whose ships? Who is the owner?”

To that the boy, having caused them to raise the ship’s flag, says, “Such and such a Heṭṭirāla’s indeed are these ships,” he said.

Then speedily having caused the Heṭṭiyā to be brought, when he asked him, the Heṭṭiyā says, “These ships are not for me. I bought such and such a rich man’s ship for such and such a boy, and loaded rice in it; since I sent it (aeriya haeṭiyē) there is not even news yet,” the Heṭṭiyā said.

After that, having sent a boat, and caused the principal person of the ships to be brought, when he asked, indeed, thereafter the Heṭṭiyā gets to know [the facts]. As soon as he ascertained he caused the ships to be brought, and when the Heṭṭiyā asked the boy about these matters the boy gave account of (kiyā-dunnā) the wonderful things that occurred, it is said.

At the time when he reported them the Heṭṭiyā says, “I will not take charge of these ships. Should you ask, ‘What is [the reason of] that?’ because your merit (pina) is great, when I have taken the things you obtained they will not flourish for me,” he said. On account of it, the Heṭṭiyā took only the five hundred pounds that the Heṭṭiyā gave the boy, and the price of the rice, it is said.

Thereupon the boy, having caused a great palace to be built, and having decorated his mother with great beauty, causing her to ascend a great horse-carriage, published it by beat of tom-toms; and obtaining the office of Treasurer (siṭu tanataera) he dwelt in that palace. Having established hired persons for the ships, he began to send them to various countries (raṭa raṭawala), it is said.

Western Province.

1 The Sinhalese title is, “The Story of the Ship and the Heṭṭiyā.” 

2 A quarter of a rupee, which in Ceylon was subdivided into one hundred cents about forty years ago. 

3 Or, “having been in a great astonishment, speedily having gone,” etc. The text is Mahat pudumayakin in̆da wahama gos. 

4 In the paintings on the walls or ceilings of Buddhist temples, many Yakshas are represented as having the heads of animals, such as bears, dogs, snakes, and parrots, with bodies like those of human beings. 

5 Lit., “these,” hāl, rice, being a plural noun. 

No. 234

How the Daughter-in-law got the Masuran

In a certain city there was a nobleman.¹ There had been a great quantity of the nobleman’s goods, but the goods in time having become destroyed, he arrived at a very indigent condition. During the time while he was [thus], existing by his son and daughter’s continuing to strongly exert themselves as much as possible, at last this nobleman died.

After that, at the time when his son arrived at full age, his mother began to say to the son, “Son, because I am now a person who is approaching old age, you are unable quite alone to provide for me. Because it is so, thou must take in marriage a woman from a suitable family,” she said.

Well then, after he had married, the woman does not exert herself for his mother. Her husband having succeeded in ascertaining that she does not exert herself in this manner, and having thought that for [counteracting] this he must make a means of success, collected a quantity of fragments of plates that were at the whole of the places in the village; and taking a large skin, and having caused a purse to be made from the skin, and put in the skin purse the quantity of fragments of plate that he collected, he says to his mother, “Mother, when you have come near that woman, open the box so as to be visible from afar, and having behaved as though there were great wealth in it, and shaken this skin bag, place it in the box [again], and put it away.”

When he said thus, his mother, taking [to heart] her son’s saying, having made a sound with the skin bag in the manner he said, so as to be noticed by her son’s wife, and having treated it carefully, placed it in the box.

From the day on which the son’s wife saw it, she began to exert herself for her mother-in-law. During the time when she is exerting herself thus, a leprosy disease attacked her mother-in-law. Thereupon the son spoke to his mother, and said, “Mother, taking that skin bag, and placing it at the spot where you sleep, say in this manner to your relatives and my wife, that is, ‘Beginning on the day when I was little (poḍi dawasē paṭan) until this [time] I gathered together these articles. For not any other reason but in order to give them at the time of my being near death, to a person who has exerted herself for me, I gathered these together. Should any person out of you exert [herself] for me, to that person I will give these.’ You say [this],” he said secretly to his mother.

After that, his mother having gathered together her relatives, and having called her daughter-in-law near, while in front of the whole of them she said in the mode which her son taught her, that to the person who exerted herself for her she will give the skin bag of masuran.

Thereupon each one, competing according to the measure of her power, attended on this female leper. That son’s mind arrived at [a state of] much delight. [After] in this manner enjoying pleasure, when a little time had gone this female leper died. Thereupon, anybody among the relatives not having hidden it, the son’s wife, stealing the masuran bag, concealed it.

Having buried the corpse, after the disturbance was done with the son’s wife unfastened the bag of masuran. When she looked [in it], having seen that it had been filled with only the fragments of the plates that were in the village, she arrived at extreme grief.

That woman’s mother also having come at this time, very noisily asked, “Did my daughter receive the bag of masuran?”

Thereupon her daughter having told her that she was cheated, when she had shown her the bag of fragments of plates both of them wept; and that woman having become angry with her husband separated from him, and went to her own house.

Western Province.

In The Orientalist, vol. iv, p. 121, Miss S. H. Goonetilleke published nearly the same story without the introductory part, presumably as it is found in Kandy. The son gave his mother a bag containing stones, telling her to pretend that it held valuables. She threatened to leave owing to her daughter-in-law’s neglect of her, and to go to her own daughter’s house, and she went off while the daughter-in-law was asleep. The son scolded his wife, and told her the bag of gold would now be left to his mother’s daughter, so she went off next morning, coaxed her back, and attended to her carefully afterwards, and only learnt about the trick when the woman was dying.

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 241, an old man who was wealthy, thinking he was about to die, divided his property among his sons, who afterwards neglected and abused him, and treated him with cruelty. A friend to whom he related his troubles afterwards came with four bags of stones, and told him to pretend that he had returned to pay off an old debt of large amount, on no account allowing the sons to get the bags. This had the desired effect; the sons attended carefully to him until he died, and then greedily opening the bags learnt how they had been tricked.

1 Siṭānan kenek. 

No. 235

The Monkey and the Beggar, or the Monkey Appusiññō and the Beggar Babāsiññō

A certain Beggar having gone from village to village was earning a subsistence by making a Monkey¹ dance and dance. By it those two collected a very little money. Having changed the small coins they got a pound in gold, and a rupee. During that time the Monkey was well accustomed to [visit] the royal house.

For marrying and giving the Princess of the King of the country, the King began to seek Princes. At that time royal Princes not being anywhere in those countries, he stayed without doing anything (nikan).

At that time the Monkey called Appusiññō asked Babāsiññō the Beggar, “Am I to arrange and give you an opportunity [for a marriage]?”

Then Babāsiññō said, “What is this you are saying, Appusiññō? For you and for us what [wedding] feast!”

Then Appusiññō said, “It doesn’t matter to you. I will arrange and give it from somewhere or other.”

Having said thus, Appusiññō went to the royal house. At that time the King having seen Appusiññō, asked, “What have you come for?”

Then Appusiññō said, “The Mudaliyār² Babāsiññō told me to go and ask for the bushel for measuring golden pounds. On that account I came.”

Then the King thinking, “Who is it, Bola, who is a rich man to that degree?” told him to ask a servant for it, and go. So Appusiññō, asking a servant for it, went back [with it].

[Afterwards] taking the golden pound which, having changed [their small coins for it], they were hiding, and having glued it in the bushel so as not to be noticed, he handed over the bushel, with the golden pound also, at the royal house. Thereupon the King, having looked at the bushel, said, “Look here. A golden pound has been overlooked³ in this. Appusiññō, take it away.”

Thereupon Appusiññō said, “Golden pounds like that are swept up into the various corners of the house of our Lord Mudaliyār Babāsiññō. Because of it, what of that one!”

The King thought, “Maybe this person is a richer man than I!”

The Lord Mudaliyār Babāsiññō and Appusiññō stay in a hut enclosed with leaves.⁴ There are deficiencies of goods for those persons, for cooking and eating; there are only the small cooking pot (muṭṭiya) and the large cooking pot (appalla) [as their goods].

On yet a day Appusiññō went running to the royal house. Having said that the Lord Mudaliyār told him to go and ask for the bushel for measuring rupees, he asked for it.

At that time the King asked Appusiññō, “Whence comes this money?”

Appusiññō said, “All is indeed the revenue which he receives from gardens, and grass fields, and rice fields.”

After that, he took away the vessel. At that time taking the rupee which was hidden, having brought it again, he gave it [with the rupee inside].

That day also the King said, “Look here. A rupee has been overlooked; take it away.”

Thereupon he says, “If one gather up rupees at home in that way there are many [there]. What of that one!”

Appusiññō having gone, and having walked to the shops in the villages, [after] finding about a hundred old keys, returned. Having brought the keys, and having thoroughly cleaned them, and made them into a bunch of keys, he tied them at his waist. [After] tying them at his waist he went in the direction of the royal house. The King, having seen this bunch of keys, asked, “Whence, Appusiññō, keys to this extent?”

“They are the keys of the cash-boxes in the wardrobes of the Lord Mudaliyār,” he said. Having said it, Appusiññō said, “O Lord King, Your Majesty, will you, Sir, be angry at my speaking?”

The King replied, “I am not angry at your speaking, or at your saying anything you want.”

Thereupon Appusiññō says, “Our Lord Mudaliyār having walked to every place in this country, there was not an opportunity (iḍak) [for a marriage] to be found.” The Monkey informed the King that although during the little time that had passed he was poor, at present he was a great rich man, and that he was a person born formerly of an extremely important lineage. “Because of it I am speaking,” he said.

At that time the King said, “That there are signs of his wealth, I know. His caste and birth⁵ I do not know. Hereafter (dewenu) having inquired [about them], I will say.”

Thereupon Appusiññō having gone into a multitude of villages, told the men, “The King having sent messages and told you to come, will ask, ‘Is Babāsiññō a very wealthy person? Is he a person of good lineage?’ Then say, ‘He is of a very good caste.’ ”

After that, the King having summoned the Talipat fan men⁶ who were in that country, made inquiry, “Is Babāsiññō’s house (i.e., lineage) good or bad?”

The whole of them began to say, “He is a monied man, an overlord of lineage,”⁷ they said.

After that, Appusiññō came once to the royal palace. At that time the King said to Appusiññō that he must see the bridegroom.

Thereupon Appusiññō having gone home, and again having gone to the bazaar and bought a piece of soap, caused the Lord Mudaliyār Babāsiññō to bathe.

Again, the Monkey known as Appusiññō, splitting his head with a stone, went running to the royal house.

Thereupon the King asked Appusiññō, “What has split your head?”

Appusiññō says, “The Lord Mudaliyār sought for the keys to get clothes to go somewhere or other. Out of my hand the keys were lost. On account of it having beaten me with a club and my head having been split, I came running here,” he said.

Thereupon the King says, “You can find the keys some time. Until then, there are the needful clothes. Go and give him any cloth you want out of them,” he said.

So having taken a good cloth in which gold work was put, he dressed him, and he having come to the royal house, the King became pleased with the Lord Mudaliyār Babāsiññō; and having caused the naekat (planetary prognostics) to be looked at, settled to marry [him to his daughter]. Thereupon, having told the men who were in that country, and having decorated the city, he observed the [wedding] festival, having also been surrounded by much sound of the five instruments of music in an extremely agreeable manner.

Well then, while they were going summoning the Princess to Babāsiññō’s own country, the Monkey through extreme delight ran jumping and jumping in front. While the Monkey was going thus, a party of boys who were causing certain goats to graze, having heard the noise of the five instruments of music, became afraid. At the time when they asked, “What is this?” “They are coming breaking up a country, upsetting a country. If ye are to save these goats, say they are the Lord Mudaliyār Babāsiññō’s,” the Monkey said.

When they are going a little further, certain herdsmen who are looking after cattle having become afraid, at the time when they asked [what the noise was], “They are coming breaking up a country, upsetting a country. If ye are to escape say, ‘We are causing the Lord Mudaliyār Babāsiññō’s cattle to graze,’ ” the Monkey said.

When they are going a little further, certain men who are doing rice-field work having become afraid, at the time when they asked, “What is this noise?” he said, “They are coming breaking up a country, upsetting a country. If ye are to escape say, ‘We are doing work in the Lord Mudaliyār Babāsiññō’s rice fields.’ ”

At the whole of the aforesaid places the men observed the method which the Monkey said.

The Monkey saw during the time he was staying in the midst of the forest, a house in which is a Yaksanī. As in that house there are riches, silver and gold, like a palace, and because there was nothing in Babāsiññō’s house, he thought of going there. Having thought it, and having left the bride and bridegroom and the whole of them to come in carts, and having said, “Come on this path,” Appusiññō got in front, and having gone to the place where the Yaksanī is, said, “Isn’t there even news that they are coming breaking up a country, upsetting a country? The King is coming to behead you. Because of it, go to that stone well and get hid.”

Thereupon, the Yaksanī having gone to the stone well, got hid. While she was hiding [in it], this Appusiññō having thrown stones [into it], and having killed the Yaksanī, swept the Yaksanī’s house, and when the party were coming was there.

The King and the rest having come, when they looked much wealth and corn were there. Having said, “This one is a great rich person, indeed,” while the servants and the Princess remained there the King came back to the city.

But however much assistance the Monkey gave, Babāsiññō having forgotten the whole of it did not even look whether they gave the Monkey to eat.

Well then, while the party are staying there, one day, to look, “Does the Lord Mudaliyār Babāsiññō regard me?” Appusiññō was getting false illness.

At that time Babāsiññō said, “What a vile remnant⁸ is this! Take it and throw it away into the jungle.”

Thereupon the Monkey made visible and showed the absence (naetikama) of Babāsiññō’s good qualities (guna), bringing forward many circumstances [in proof of it. He said], “Putting [out of consideration] that I was of so much assistance, you said thus!” Having said, “Because of it, staying here is not proper,” he went into the midst of the forest.

Western Province.

1 Rilawā, the brown monkey, Macacus pileatus. A variant terms it a Wan̆durā (Semnopithecus). 

2 The title of a superior chief in the Low-country, equivalent to the Raṭēmahatmayā of the Kandians. 

3 Baeri-welā tiyenawā. 

4 That is, the spaces in the stick walls were merely closed with leafy twigs. 

5 Jātiya-jammē. 

6 Talattāeni minissu. 

7 Kāsi aettek, wan̥sādipotiyek. 

8 Narakātiyak. 

No. 236

How the Beggar and the King gambled

In a certain country there was a King who having gambled gets the victory. At that time, in that country there was a Beggar.

One day, Senasurā,¹ having come near the Beggar, said, “Taking the money that thou hast begged and got, go near the King, and say thou, ‘Let us gamble.’ Then the King will say, ‘I will not.’ Then say thou, ‘Somehow or other, to the degree in which you, Sir, hold [a wager], I will hold wagers. Because of that you ought to play.’ Then the King will say, ‘Hā.’ ”

At that time the Beggar by begging had obtained about a thousand pounds. Having taken that little money he spoke to the King about the gambling. Then the King scolded him: “What gambling with thee, Beggar!”

Then the Beggar says, “Should I hold the wager that you, Sir, hold, that is as much [as matters] to you, isn’t it? Why are you saying so? Let us gamble.” Then anger having come to the King, and having said “Hā, it is good,” he became ready to gamble.

Having made ready the two gambled. While gambling the King began to lose at the wagers they were laying and laying. Having thus lost, he staked (lit., placed) the palace, also, and played. By that [throw] also, he lost. Then having staked Lan̥kāwa (Ceylon) also, he played. By that [throw] also, he lost.

After that, going from the palace the King and Queen made an outer palace, and the Beggar stayed in the palace. This King and Queen [afterwards] went away. Being unable to go on, they sat down at a place. While they were sitting the Queen lay down, and placed her head on the foot of the King. During the time while the Queen was asleep, the King taking a ball of straw placed it for the Queen’s head; and while the Queen was sleeping there the King went away.

At that time some men came there, bringing laden oxen. Then having heard the noise of the caravan (tavalama), the Queen awoke. When she looked about the King was not there. Then the Queen also having joined the caravan people, went away [with them].

Having gone, while she was lying down at a place, Senasurā, having come taking the disguise of a leopard, sprang at the party of caravan cattle. Then all the cattle which were tied up, breaking [loose] bounded off. Having bounded off, while they were running all these men sprang off on that road. This Queen sprang off to one hand (a different direction).

Having bounded off she entered a city. The mother who makes garlands for the royal house, being without a person [as an assistant], having sought one and walked there, met with this Queen. At the time when she asked at the hand of the Queen [if she would help her], she said, “I can work.” Well then, the Queen stayed [there], doing and doing garland-making work.

That King having abandoned the Queen, while he was going away, Senasurā, taking the disguise of a polan̆gā² (snake), stayed on the path. When the King was going from there the polan̆gā said, “Having swallowed a prey I am here, unable to go. Because of it take hold of my tail, and having drawn me aside and left me, go away.”

Thereupon the King having taken hold of the tail of the polan̆gā, while he was drawing it aside it bit him on the hand. Then leprosy having struck the King, the King’s eye became foul.

At that time a horse belonging to the King of yet [another] city was born. [The King went there, and was appointed as a horse-keeper under the King who owned the horse.]

That garland-making mother (the ex-Queen) one day having gone taking flowers, placed them on the couches at the palace. When she was coming out, a trader who sold clothes when at that gambling city, having brought clothes to this city and having seen her as that garland-making mother was coming out, this trader made obeisance to this garland-making mother.

Thereupon the Queen of the King of the city having seen it summoned the trader, and asked him, “Why didst thou make an obeisance to our garland-making mother?”

The trader says, “What of that Queen’s doing garland-making work! [She is] the Queen of the King of such and such a city. Having seen her before, through being accustomed to it I made obeisance.” When she asked the garland-making mother about the circumstances, all was correct.

After that having told the King, when the King, having heard of it, went looking at her she was the King’s elder sister. Thereupon he caused the garland-making mother to bathe in sandal-wood water, and robed her.

Having heard the circumstances, in order to find the King (her husband) he made use of an expedient in this manner. Settling to eat a feast, he sent letters to the royal personages of cities successively, to come to this city. Then on the day the whole of the Kings came. Before that, he had told that Queen that should that King come she was to ascertain it.

All these royal parties and their horse-keepers having come, and the royal party having arrived at the palace, that horse-keeper (the former King) went to another quarter, and placed a gill of rice on the hearth [to boil]. Cooking it and having eaten, because he was a King before that he set off to look at this royal party when eating food, and having come, peeped a little and looked. When he looked he saw that that Queen was there.

Thereupon both these persons having seen each other began to weep. Then the whole of the Kings, having hit upon a little about it, inquired, “What is it?” Then the [royal] party said, “It is thus and thus.”

Then the King summoned the horse-keeper, and having made him bathe in sandal-wood water, kept the Queen and the King in the palace. Having much thanked that royal party [of guests] and said, “It was for the sake of finding this one, indeed, that I laid this feast,” he sent the party [of guests] to those cities. This party (the King and Queen) remained at this royal house.

Western Province.

This story is a variant of the Indian tale of King Nala and Queen Damayantī. The two dice, Kali and Dwāpara, personified, as well as several Gods, were in love with Damayantī, but she married Nala, selecting him at a Swayamvara (at which a Princess makes her own choice of a husband). In order to separate them, Kali entered Nala when he had neglected his religious practices one day; and he became a drunkard and a gambler, and thus lost his kingdom, which was won by his brother at dice. He and his wife wandered away, and after showing her the path to her father’s kingdom, he abandoned her while she was asleep. He met with Kārkōṭaka, a snake King, and carried him from a fire which scorched him. The snake then bit him on the forehead, causing him to become deformed, and gave him garments which restored his original form when worn; and he entered the service of a King as cook and horse-keeper. Damayantī joined a caravan, and then became a palace attendant of a Queen who proved to be her mother’s sister. A Minister of her father’s recognised her; and on her story’s becoming known her uncle sent her back to her father. She heard of a clever cook and horse-keeper whom she suspected to be Nala; when she got a false notice of a Swayamvara to be sent to the King his employer he made Nala drive him there. Nala was tested in various ways by Damayantī, who at last felt sure of his identity; she then sent for him, and Kali having now left him he told his story, put on his magic garments, and they were re-united. He afterwards recovered his kingdom from his brother.

In the Sinhalese version which has been given, the dice are not mentioned, and the reason why Senasurā brought about the misfortunes of the King and Queen,—that is, his jealousy,—is also not explained.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 144, the story is given without any intervention of the deities or personified dice. After being abandoned, the Princess was engaged as a servant at a palace, and the Prince became a groom at the same place. She saw and recognised him, and afterwards the younger brother restored half the kingdom to him.

1 The deity of the planet Saturn. 

2 Daboia russelli. 

No. 237

The Story of the King

In a certain country, during the time when a King was exercising sovereignty the King married a Queen, it is said. In the Queen’s womb, begotten by the Great King, three Princes were conceived, it is said.

While the three Princes were in the state approaching full age, the eldest Prince of the three Princes improved himself in throwing stones with the stone-bow, it is said. During the time when he was improving himself thus, he became a very skilful and dexterous person at stone-bow throwing. After that, the same Prince having abandoned the stone-bow began the shooting of animals with the bow and arrows. By that means, having shot at animals and killed animals, while eating the flesh with good joy and pleasure he passed the time in happiness with his father the King, and his mother the Queen, and his younger brothers who were the other two Princes.

At the time when he passed the time thus, his mother reached the other world. Not much time after it the Great King effected the wedding festival for yet [another] Queen from another country. The Queen was a childless proud woman. Because it was so, her happiness was in passing the time in discourtesy.

Furthermore, by this Queen there not being any notice of the three Princes, and as she was passing the time in anger and jealousy, the three Princes spoke together, “When our father the King has gone to war with any city, we three persons, taking three bags of masuran and causing a bag of cooked rice to be made ready, will go to another country.”

[After] saying [this], at the time when they are there the King received the message to go to a war. As soon as he received it,¹ having spoken to the Princes and the Queen, “Remain in happiness, looking after the country and the palace,” the Great King having been adorned to go went away.

After he went, the three Princes, making ready the bags of masuran and cooked rice, and forsaking the country, having started to go to another country, went off. While they were thus going, a very severe water-thirst² seized the elder Prince. While going seeking water, perceiving that there was no water he said to the other young Princes, “Having gone to a high hill or up a large tree, look if there is water near.” Then a Prince having gone up a tree, when he looked said that very far away a pool of water is visible.

After that, having gone to the quarter in which is the pool and having met with water, staying there and dividing the bag of cooked rice they ate. Having eaten and drunk, and having finished, they spoke together, “Let us three pluck three [lotus] flowers from this pool. [After] plucking them let us go to three countries. When we have gone there, should there be harm to anyone whatever of us, the flowers of the remaining two will fade.” Having said [this], the three Princes [plucked three flowers, and taking them with them] went to three countries.

After they went there, while the eldest Prince was going on the road, a palace of great height was visible. When he went to the palace that was visible, there was a Princess [at it] possessing much beauty. Having seen this Prince’s splendour³ that very Princess fell down unconscious, without sense. Afterwards the Prince having restored the Princess to consciousness, asked, “What happened?”

The Princess having spoken, said, “Having seen your beauty, Sir, it caused a great dizziness to seize me, and I fell down.”

After that, the Prince, begging a little water from the Princess, drank. After he drank, “Why is there no one in this palace?” he asked.

The Princess spoke, “My father the King, and mother went for bathing their heads with water.⁴ I and the flower-mother alone are [here],” she said.

When the Prince asked on account of it, “Will the party come now?” “They will come now quickly,” said the Princess.

Then the King and the Queen, [after] doing the head-bathing, came. The King and the Queen having seen this Prince became greatly afraid. “Of what country are you, Sir? Who and whose?” they asked the Prince.

The Prince says, “I am a son of such and such a King of such and such a city,” he said.

Because of it, the Great King asked, “Came you with the thought of perhaps a war, or what?”

Then the Prince said, “No. After my mother died, while I was remaining in great sorrow, when my father the King, marrying another Queen, was there, for me a great shame entered my mind because of the Queen’s unseasonable action; and while the King went for a war I having forsaken my country came to this country.”

After that, the truth of it went to the Great King, to his mind. As soon as it went there,⁵ when a [little] time was going by, having married and given the King’s daughter [to him], and made it public by the proclamation tom-tom, and having handed over the country also, he decorated them [with the regal ornaments].

While he was exercising the kingship of that country, the other Princes of the country, having become angry concerning this Prince and having thought of a means of killing him, said, “We will give the flower-mother five hundred masuran to give him this small quantity of poisonous drug, having deceived the Princess by some method or other.” [They said to her], “Should you do as we said, we will give you these presents.” Should she be unable in that manner they told her to [tell] the Princess to ask where the Prince’s life is.

In that way, the flower-mother having prepared a new [sort of] food for the Prince, and having also put [into it] this drug and deceived the Princess, at the time when the Prince is eating food she told her to give him this new food. This having seemed the truth to the Princess, at the time when the Prince was eating food she gave it. The Prince, too, having been much pleased with the food, and having eaten and drunk, finished. Owing to it, anything did not happen.

On the following day the flower-mother says to the Princess, “Where is the Prince’s life?” She told her to ask. When she asked the Prince on account of it, “My life is in my breast,” he said. When she told it to the flower-mother in the morning, the flower-woman said, “What he said is false.” She told her to ask thoroughly.

At night on the following day, when she asked he asked for oaths from the Princess, [of a nature to ensure] the impossibility of escaping from them, that the Princess must not tell it to any person. Afterwards the Princess swore, “I will not tell it.” Then the Prince says, “My life is in my sword,” he said.

On the following day, when the flower-woman asked, having deceived the Princess, the Princess said, “If you will not tell it to anyone I will tell you. [For me] to tell it, you [must] take an oath with me,” she said. When the flower-mother swore to it the Princess said, “The Prince’s life is in the Prince’s sword.”

From the day when she heard the fact for herself, that flower-mother to an extent never [done] before, began to pile up a heap of firewood and coconut husks. When the Princess asked, “What is that for?” she says, “For us to put in the hearth at the time when rain rains,” she said.

While not much time was going in that way, one day not having shut the door of the palace, at night this flower-mother stole the Prince’s sword, put it into that piled up heap of firewood, and set it on fire; but the handle for holding the sword was left outside the flames. That fire fell into the heap.⁶ At the time when it was thoroughly burning the Prince’s life was becoming ended here. After the sword was burnt the Prince completely died.

Not allowing them to bury the dead body, the Princess having caused a coffin to be made, and placed the dead body inside the coffin, remained in much grief.

While she was thus, the flowers of the Prince’s brothers having faded, when they came seeking him ascertaining the truth they went to the palace. At the time when they went, having seen the Princess who was in the palace they asked the Princess, “Why? For what [reason] are you without cause (nikan) in this great trouble?” they asked.

To that the Princess says, “At the time when a Prince of such and such a King of such and such a country came to this country, my father the King having asked the Prince his age, and looked [into his horoscope], married and gave me to him; and having given him charge to rule the country also, that person (her father) died,” she said. “After that, while he is exercising the kingship this flower-mother told me to ask where the Prince’s life is. When I asked, the Prince’s life is in the Prince’s sword, he said. After that, whether such and such a thing occurred I do not understand,” she said.

When those Princes sought for the sword there was no sword. Afterwards they looked in that heap of ashes on the fire ground. They met with only the piece of that hilt for holding. Having met with it, one person having gone running and having come [after] plucking limes, began to polish that piece of sword. The other having opened that coffin (lit. corpse-box) was near it. While he was there, by an authorisation of the Deity the sword was restored (lit. went right) better than it was [before]. Then life being as though [re-]established for the Prince also, he arose.

After that, having investigated about these matters and looked [into them], perceiving what the flower-mother did he impaled that woman and killed her. Afterwards these three Princes and the Princess sought their father the King, and went to [their own] country.

Western Province.

1 Laebunu wahama. 

2 There being several thirsts besides that caused by want of water,—such as thirsts for spirituous liquor, power, knowledge, happiness, etc.—the villager usually defines the former as water-thirst, diya or watura-tibbaha. 

3 Tējasē daeka. 

4 Paen is-nānayaṭa. It includes the bathing of the whole body. 

5 Ē giya wahama. 

6 That is, the fire burned into the midst of the heap, where the sword was placed. 

No. 238

The King who learnt the Speech of Animals

In a certain country a King was rearing wild animals. The King had learnt in a thorough manner the speech of animals.

One day at that time the fowls were saying, “Our King assists us very much; he gives us food and drink.” They thanked the King very much. The King having heard their talk, the King laughed with pleasure.

The royal Queen having been near, asked, “What did you laugh at?”

“I merely (nikan) laughed,” the King said. Should he explain and give the talk to any person the King will die. Because of it he did not explain and give it. That the King knows the speech of animals he does not inform anyone.

The royal Queen says, “There is no one who laughs in that way without a reason. Should you not say the reason I am going away, or having jumped into a well I shall die.”

Thereupon the King, because he was unable to be released from [the importunity of] the Queen, thought, “Even if I am to die I must explain and give this.”

Thinking thus, he went to give food to the animals. Then it was evident to those animals that this King is going to die. Out of the party of animals first a cock says, “His Majesty our King is going to be lost. We don’t want the food. We shall not receive assistance. Unless His Majesty the King perish thus we shall not perish. In submission to me there are many hens. When I have called them the hens come. When I have told them to eat they eat. When I have told them to go they go. The King, having become submissive in that manner to the thing that his wife has said, is going to die.” The King having heard it, laughed at it, also.

Then, also, the royal Queen asked, “What did you laugh at?”

Thereupon, not saying the [true] word, the King said, “Thinking of constructing a tank, I laughed.”

Then the Queen said, “Having caused the animals that are in this Lan̥kāwa (Ceylon) to be brought, let us build a tank.”

Then the King having said, “It is good,” caused the animals to be brought. The King having gone with the animals, showed them a place [in which] to build a tank; and telling them to build it came away.

The animals, at the King’s command being unable to do anything, all together began to struggle on the mound of earth. Those which can take earth in the mouth take it in the mouth. All work in this manner. The Jackal, not doing any work, having bounded away remained looking on.

After three or four days, the King having gone [there] trickishly stayed looking on. The King saw that the other animals are all moving about as though working; the Jackal, only, having bounded off is looking on.

Having seen it he asked the Jackal, “The others are all working; thou, only, art looking upward. Why?”

Thereupon the Jackal said, “No, O Lord; I looked into an account.”

Then the King asked, “What account art thou looking at?”

The Jackal says, “I looked whether in this country the females are in excess or the males are in excess.”

The King asked, “By the account which thou knowest, are the females in excess or the males in excess?”

The Jackal said, “So far as I can perceive, the females are in excess in this country.”

Then the King said that men are in excess. Having said it the King said, “I myself having gone home and looked at the books, if males are in excess I shall give thee a good punishment.”

The King having come home and looked at the books, it appeared that the males were in excess. Thereupon the King called the Jackal, and said, “Bola, males are in excess.”

Then the Jackal says, “No, O Lord, Your Majesty; they are not as many as the females. Having also put down to the female account the males who hearken to the things that females say, after they counted them the females would be in excess.” Then the Jackal said, “Are the animals able to build tanks? How shall they carry the earth?”

Thereupon the King having considered it, and having said, “Wild animals, wild animals, you are to go to the midst of the forest,” came home.

At that time, the Queen asked, “Is the tank built and finished?”

Then the King, taking a cane, began to beat the Queen. Thereupon the Queen, having said, “Anē! O Lord, Your Majesty, I will never again say anything, or even ask anything,” began to cry aloud.

The King got to know that the Jackal was a wise animal.

Western Province.

Compare vol. ii., Nos. 167 and 168.

In Santal Folk-Tales (Campbell), p. 22, after a King had received from the Snake King the power of understanding the speech of animals, he laughed on hearing a dispute between a fly and an ant over some grains of rice. As the Queen insisted on being told the reason, to disclose which he had been warned would be fatal to him, he was about to tell her and then get her to push him into the Ganges, when he overheard the talk of some goats. A he-goat replied to a she-goat’s request that he would bring her some grass from an island in the river, that he would not be made like this foolish King who vainly tried to please a woman and was about to die because of it. The King saw his foolishness, made the Queen kneel to pay obeisance to him in order to be told the secret, and then beheaded her.

No. 239

The Mad King

In a certain country there was a King. Madness seized the King. It having seized him, he caused all the men of the city to be brought, and seized from them their gains; should the party say even a word about it he kills them.

Having killed them in this manner, when the city was diminished a half share, he sent to tell the Treasurer (siṭānō) to come. He knows thoroughly that in order to kill that person he had been told to come.

The Treasurer asked at the hand of the Treasurer’s wife, “What shall I do for this?”

Thereupon the woman said, “You having gone, to the talk which the King says having said nothing [else] in reply, say ‘Eheyi’ (Yes),¹ to the whole.” Having heard her word the Treasurer went to the palace.

The King asked, “Treasurer, is there rain in your quarter?” The Treasurer said “Eheyi, Lord.”

“Are you well now?” he asked. The Treasurer, not saying another speech, to that also said, “Eheyi, Lord.”

In this manner they talked until the time for eating rice in the day time. To all he said, “Eheyi.”

Then the King said to the Treasurer, “Treasurer, now the time for eating rice has come, hasn’t it?” The Treasurer said, “Eheyi, Lord.”

Thereupon the King said, “Treasurer, let us go to bathe.” The Treasurer said, “Eheyi, Lord.”

The King said, “Ask for the copper water-pot.” The Treasurer said, “Eheyi, Lord.” Having said it and gone, he returned [after] asking for [and getting] it.

Then the King said, “Get in front.” The Treasurer said, “Eheyi, Lord”; having said it the Treasurer got in front. Having gone to the river, the King took off his clothes, and putting on the bathing cloth, [entered the water, and] asked the Treasurer, “Treasurer, won’t you bathe?” The Treasurer, having said, “Eheyi, Lord,” remained on the rock.

While the King was talking and going backwards and backwards, he was caught by an eddy in the water, and went to the bottom. Having sunk, when he was rising to the surface he said, “Treasurer, I shall die; draw me out quickly.” Thereupon the Treasurer said, “Eheyi, Lord,” [but did not move]. When he was going to the bottom the next time the King died.

Then the Treasurer, taking the few royal ornaments, came home. Having come, he said at the hand of the Treasurer’s wife, “The King died,” [and he gave an account of his death].

Thereupon the woman said, “O fool! I said that indeed. Putting on those royal ornaments, go to the royal palace and say, ‘It is I who am King; also I killed the King. If ye do not hearken to the things I say I will kill you also.’ ”

The Treasurer did in that very way. The whole of the men of the city were afraid. Well then, the Treasurer exercising the sovereignty over the city, the Treasurer’s wife became the Queen.

Western Province.

The Kahawana Sowing (Variant)

At a certain city there was a foolish King. At the time when the King says anything he kills the whole of the Ministers who do not give answer, “Yahapati” (It is good), to it. In this way, by not remembering to say Yahapati a great number of Ministers tasted death.² By his doing thus, on account of his making this order [in the end] there was not a Minister for the King.

After that, he caused notice to be given by tom-toms in the city for a person to come for the ministership (aemaeptiyakama). Because they were not willing to taste death anybody was unwilling to do it.

At last, a drunken cheat having the name Jobbuwā arrived. “Yahapati; be pleased to give me the office of Minister,” he said. The King having said, “Yahapati,” gave him the office of Minister.

While time was passing, he spoke to the Minister one day, and said, “Cannot I obtain profit by cultivating kahawanas (coins)?”

“Yahapati; you can get much gain by it,” he said.

“If so, for the purpose of sowing them cause a chena to be cut,” the King said to the Minister.

The Minister, having said, “Yahapataeyi” (It is good), went away, and firstly having told the Chiefs (pradānīnṭa) of the village to collect and bring Tamarind seeds, told the villagers to put in order a wide, level, open place on the border of a certain river. The villagers having put the Tamarind seeds into sacks and stitched them up, brought them.

Having cut the chena, after it was completed the Minister having gone, asked the King for kahawanas [to sow in it]. The King said, “Take as many as you require for sowing in the chena.” The Minister having brought the kahawanas home, caused the Tamarind seeds to be sown in the chena.

After they sprouted, the King said he must go to look at the chena. The Minister inviting the King [to go], having gone in state (peraharin) with him, and caused the army to stay on one side, the King and the Minister went into the chena. Because, when the Tamarind seeds sprouted, many young shoots were of golden colour³ the King said, “These are very good.”

While he was walking there a long time, having arrived at weariness the King went to the river to bathe. In that river the water is very rapid. Because of it, at the time when the King descended into the water he began to be drawn down into the water. Thereupon, at the time when the King says, “Take hold of me,” the Minister, having said, “Yahapati,” remained looking on.

After the King had been swallowed up in the river and died, the Minister, having put on the royal ornaments and gone away with the army, exercised the sovereignty of that city with renown.

Ūva Province.

1 A very respectful form of affirmative. 

2 Maerum kāēwōya, ate dying. 

3 It is evident that some kahawanas were golden ones. See also vol. i, p. 348, and the Appendix, p. 454. 

No. 240

Concerning the Prince with his Life in his Sword

In a certain country there was a King. There were seven Princes for the King. Having instructed the whole seven, the King tried to fit them [for their position]. The party without wanting to do anything whatever passed the days in amusement.

The King thought when he looked [at their idleness], “From this party of seven persons there is not an advantage,” and having punished (daḍa gahalā) the whole seven, “Go to any kingdom you can; don’t stay in this country,” he said.

The seven persons speaking [together] said, “Our father the King told us to go!” and the whole of them went.

Out of them, the eldest Prince, took six flower seeds. The whole seven having arrived at a kingdom, to the youngest Prince the eldest Prince said, “Getting any livelihood you can, remain in this country. At the place where you stay plant this flower seed for yourself. It having sprouted, when the flower tree has grown, on the tree a flower will blossom. At the time when the flower has faded come seeking me.” Having told him thus he made the Prince stay in that country.

In that very way he made the other five stay in five countries. Having given to those persons five flower seeds, he told them [about them] in the very way he told that Prince.

To the last country the eldest Prince went. When he was living in that country doing cultivation work, one day he went to walk in the midst of the forest. In the midst of the forest there is a house. The Prince saw it. Having gone to that rock house (cave), when he looked a Princess was [there].

He asked the Princess, “Are you a human daughter, or a Yaksa-daughter?”

Thereupon the Princess said, “I am a daughter of a King. Having eaten food at night I went to sleep. That Yakā having brought me, I am in this rock house. I also do not know a path for going away; I stay in fear,” the Princess said.

Then the Prince asked the Princess, “Will you come to go with me?”

At that time the Princess having said, “It is good,” the two together having bounded off, proceeded to the place where the Prince who went there stays. During the time while these persons are staying there obtaining a livelihood, the Prince’s life is in his sword. Except that his brothers know that his life is in this sword, no other person knows.

The Princess one day went to the river to bathe. While bathing there, three or four hairs of her head in the Princess’s hair knot having become loosened and having floated, went away in the river. When the Prince of the King of that country was bathing lower down in the river, those hairs of her head which went became entangled on the hand of the Prince. When the Prince, having said, “What is this?” was looking, it was a sort of long hairs of the head, hair of the head of gold colour, and about two fathoms’ length.

Having seen this hair, and known that these were the very best, like [those of] a royal Princess, he thought, “I must seek this Princess,” and went to the palace. Having taken the hairs of the head he showed them to his father the King. Having shown them he told him to do whatever [was necessary], and seek and give him the Princess to whom this hair of the head belongs.

He published by the notification tom-tom that to a person who, having found, gave her, he will give goods [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load. An old woman who stayed near there said, “I can.” Having told the old woman to come, the King asked, “What do you want in order to go to seek the Princess?”

“I don’t want anything, O Lord; I only want a boat,” she said. So he gave her a boat.

Having gone to the river taking the boat, the old woman sat in the boat, saying and saying lamentations, and having floated she went up¹ the river. Having gone in that way, and tied the boat on that side, the old woman went to the place where the Princess possessing that hair, and the Prince, are staying.

When the old woman was going there the Prince was not at home. To the Princess the old woman said, “Anē! Daughter, there is no person to look after me. Assist me for the sake of charity,” she said. The Princess becoming grieved at it told the old woman to remain.

After a little, the Prince came home. Having come he asked, “This mother, a person from where is she? What came she here for?”

Thereupon the Princess also [said], “She came and said, ‘There is no one to give me to eat!’ Because of it, I being alone I said, ‘Remain with me,’ ” she said.

While she was [there] in that way, at the time when the Prince was not [there] the old woman said to the Princess, “You having eaten and drunk, when you are lying down by way of fun ask the Prince, ‘Where is your life?’ ”

So the Princess asked the Prince, “Where is your life?”

At that time the Prince said, “My life is in my sword.”

Through the ignorance of the Princess regarding it, she told that old woman that his life is in the sword. Well then, the old woman from that day, having said that it was for putting in the hearth on rainy days, sought for firewood and heaped it up. When the old woman is going to sleep, every day having built a bon-fire she goes to sleep.

One day during the day time, having been [there] at the time when the Prince is not there, she looked where the sword is. Thereupon, at night a rain began. Having said, “To-day there is rain,” she strengthened the bon-fire. After the Princess and the Prince went to sleep she brought the sword and put it in the bon-fire.

Having arisen in the morning, when she looked the Prince having died the Princess began to lament. The old woman also falsely lamented. The two persons having been lamenting and lamenting a little time, the old woman, calling the Princess, went to obtain shelter at another place. Having gone there, and handed over the Princess to the King of that country, taking the presents also, the old woman went home.

At that time the King told the Princess to take that Prince in marriage. Thereupon the Princess said, “My Prince is now dead only two or three days. Because of it I want time for a month.” Having found an upper-story house very near there, he sent the Princess to stay in the upper-story house in that street.

Having seen that the flowers of the flower trees of the younger brothers of that Prince had faded, [his brothers] began to seek him. Seeking him, they went to the place where the Prince is dead. Having gone, these six persons together said, “Where is the sword?” and began to seek it. When seeking it, the sword having been in a heap of ashes they took it. Thereafter having taken the sword to the river, they cleaned it; at that time life was [re-]established for that Prince. Then the Prince having arisen spoke to those Princes, and having said, “Now then, go you to each of the places where you were,” he did that cultivation work, and remained obtaining a livelihood [thus].

This one got news that that old woman having taken the Princess and given her to the King, received for herself presents and distinctions. At that time sorrow having gone to the Prince he went to seek the Princess. When [he was] going walking in the street in which is the Princess, the Princess saw that this one is going. The Prince did not see her.

At that time the Princess began to write a letter. Having written the letter, the Princess remained in expectation of the time when the Prince is coming. The Prince, through news that she is in that very street, came back. At that time the Princess, having seen that the Prince is coming, taking the letter dropped it [so as] to fall in front of him. The Prince having taken the letter, when he looked at it and read it there was written, “That old woman who stayed near us having deceived us and having brought and given me to the King, received for herself presents and distinctions. The King said to me that he must marry and give me to the King’s Prince. Thereupon I said, ‘My Prince is not dead a month now.’ Because of it, asking for time for a month, I am staying in another house,” there was written. “I said so through the thought that I shall obtain my Prince again. In three days more we are going to the church (palliya) to marry. Because of it, having got a horse carriage should you come on that day to the church we can escape and go off,” there was written.

Thereupon the Prince on the day she told him having got a horse carriage also, went near the church in the disguise of a horse-keeper, and halting the carriage, remained [there].

On the wedding day the King, the Prince, the Princess, the whole of the party, went in a horse carriage. The Princess saw that that Prince is staying like the horse-keeper, holding the horse. But when the Princess looking [at him] went into the church, the horse-keeper [Prince] having remained standing, becoming sleepy reclined a little. Then the Prince went to sleep.

That Princess having got married and come, and having ascended into the carriage which the Prince brought, not knowing that the Prince was asleep struck the horse, and making it bound went off as though she flew. The other people who were there, not observing the quarter to which the Princess went, went away. The King and the married Prince after that sought her; they did not meet with her. The sleeping horse-keeper Prince having ascertained that the carriage was not [there], weeping and weeping began to go along the path on which that Princess went.

When the Princess was going in the midst of a forest wilderness, Vaeddās having been there came and watched in order to seize her. Having watched, they said to the Princess, “If thou come not with us we will shoot and kill thee.”

Thereupon the Princess asked, “I can come with one of you. How shall I come with four or five persons?”

The Vaeddās asked the Princess, “If so, how is it [to be]?”

Thereupon the Princess says, “You having been set in line, all at one discharge shoot. Having shot, I will join the person whose arrow should fall far, who came [after] picking up the arrow, and will come [with him],” she said.

At that time the whole of the party having been fixed in line shot [for the arrows] to go very far. Having shot, all ran for the purpose of bringing the arrows. Thereupon the Princess having struck the horse, driving it off went away without being perceived. The Vaeddās having got the arrows and come, went away without the Princess.

When she was going to that side from the forest wilderness in which are the Vaeddās, the Princess thought that should she go by the carriage she will be unable to escape. So she descended from the carriage to the ground, and having unloosed the horse drove it into the jungle. She rolled the carriage over into the jungle.

The Princess having thrown away the Princess’s dress, dressing like a Heṭṭiyā went away. In this manner she went to another kingdom. In that country, establishing shops, there was a rich Heṭṭiyā. She approached near him. At that time the shopkeeper Heṭṭiyā having become much pleased with the [apparent] Heṭṭiyā, told him to remain there. Well then, the shopkeeper Heṭṭiyā asked, “Who art thou?”

Thereupon the Princess said, “I am a Heṭṭirāla of a country; I came to establish a shop.”

The shopkeeper having heard that word, said, “If so, let us two trade in partnership.” Having said [this] he handed over a shop to the Princess resembling a Heṭṭiyā. He gave for it suitable servants.

At that time this Princess says, “I having come to a new country, when establishing a shop have the thought to give a dāna (free donation of food), and secondly to establish the shop.”

Thereupon the shopkeeper Heṭṭirāla having become pleased, and having said, “Let us two pay the amount that the cost comes to,” they gave the dāna.

Then that horse-keeper Prince having come, approached there. The Heṭṭirāla having seen the horse-keeper gave him alms. The [Princess] Heṭṭirāla after the man ate the food put him in a house and told the servants to shut the door.

During that night having given the dāna and having finished, “Whence are you?” the new Heṭṭirāla asked the horse-keeper.

At that time the horse-keeper said to that Heṭṭirāla, “Anē! Heṭṭirāla, I indeed am a royal Prince. The Princess whom I had married, driving off in the horse-carriage came here. I also having become hungry when coming here [saw that] there was an alms-house. Because of it I came here,” he said.

The Heṭṭirāla, having cast off those clothes and put on clothes in the manner of a Princess, came and asked, “Am I the Princess?”

Having said, “You indeed are my Princess,” holding her hand he began to weep. The clothes that she wore like the Heṭṭirāla that Prince put on. After that, having gone near the shopkeeper Heṭṭirāla, they told him completely the things that occurred to these people. This Heṭṭirāla having become pleased at it told them to stay at that very shop. The two persons trading at the shop and having become very wealthy, remained at that very city.

Western Province.

1 In the MS. the words are gañga-pahalaṭa, ‘down the river,’ an evident mistake, as the hair passed down with the current. 

No. 241

The Royal Prince and the Heṭṭirāla¹

In a certain country both the royal Prince and the Minister-Prince were joined together by much friendship, it is said. Thus, having been in that way, one day the royal Prince having talked with the Minister-Prince, says, “Friend, we two having come to a foreign country, let us do trading.”

The Minister-Prince also having said, “It is good,” the two persons taking as much money as each can carry for the purpose of trading, set off to go to a foreign country.

During the time when they are going thus, the two having met with a junction of two roads, the two persons say, “We two having separated at these roads let us go to two districts.” So speaking, having separated they went to two districts.

Out of them, the royal Prince having arrived at the place where a courtesan woman is gambling, and having staked with the courtesan woman this money he brought, gambled. The courtesan woman won the whole of the money. Well then, the royal Prince having staked the clothes he was wearing, when he gambled the Prince lost them also.

Well then, the Prince says, “It is good.² If so, you and I having staked ourselves let us gamble.”

So speaking, staking each against the other they gambled. Thereupon the Prince lost. Having shaved the Prince’s head, taking him for the state of labourer, while he was drawing water and washing pots, when the Heṭṭirāla of that village was going by that street he saw the Prince who was washing and washing pots, and great sorrow having been produced for the Heṭṭirāla, he spoke to the courtesan woman, and says, “The labourer who is washing these pots is of very white colour. It is not worth [while] taking this work from him. If you will give me him I can give him a suitable means of livelihood.”

Thereupon the courtesan woman says, “Yes, if there is sorrow for you concerning him; although I can give him I cannot give him without payment (nikan). Why? He has let me in³ for a thousand masuran. If the Heṭṭi-elder-brother give that money I can give him; if not so, I cannot give him,” the courtesan woman said.

Then the Heṭṭirāla says, “It is good. Taking the money from me give me him.”

The Heṭṭirāla gave the money; and taking the Prince and having arrived at his house the Heṭṭirāla having spoken to the Prince, asks, “What can you do?”

The Prince says, “I can do anything.”

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla says, “Don’t you do work [so as] to become tired. There are my shops; you can stay at a shop.” When he asked, “Can you [do] letter accounts?”⁴ the Prince said, “I can.” When he said it, having said, “If so, go to my shop,” he started him, and having gone with the Heṭṭirāla he gave him charge of the shop.

Thereupon the Prince asks, “Do you give the shop goods on credit (nayaṭa) and the like? How is the mode of selling the goods?”

The Heṭṭirāla says, “Yes, give them on credit. When giving them on credit don’t merely give them; [after] writing the name give them.”

Thereupon the Prince having said, “It is good,” and taking charge, from that time spoke to men who are going on the road. When the men came he asked, “Where are you going? Where is your village? What is your name?” Afterwards he says, “It is good. Taking anything you want, go.” Having said and said it, and having brought in that manner all the men going on the road, in a week’s time he finished the goods that were in the shop. During the time when he was giving the goods in that way, should anyone come and having given money ask for goods, taking the money he gave goods for the money.

When he finished the goods in that manner, the Heṭṭirāla, not knowing [about it], having become much pleased, said, “You are very good, having looked with this promptitude at the account of the money for which you sold the goods. Bringing goods afresh will be good, will it not?”

When he was preparing to look at the accounts, having brought the book in which he wrote the men’s names, and a little money, [the Prince] placed them [before him]. The Heṭṭirāla asked, “What is this?”

Then the Prince says, “Why, what is it you are asking? Have I blundered? In the book, indeed, the names will be correct; having indeed written the names I gave the goods. I did not give goods to even a person without having written the name.”

The Heṭṭirāla says, “Anē! You are a great fool; you are not a person who can do trading.” Having said [this], the Heṭṭirāla, calling the Prince, went home again.

Having gone [there], when three or four days were going the Heṭṭirāla’s wife began to scold the Heṭṭirāla, “For what reason are we causing this one to stay, and undergoing expense by giving him to eat and to wear?” When she shouted to the Heṭṭirāla, “If this thief is sitting unemployed, this very day having beaten him I shall drive him away,” the Heṭṭirāla asks the Prince, “Child, there are many cattle of mine; can you look after the cattle?”

At that time the Prince says, “It is good; I can look after cattle.”

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla having gone, calling the Prince, to the district where the cattle are, and having shown him the cattle, says, “All these cattle are mine. You must look after them, taking care of them very well. Do not send them into outside gardens. You must tie the fastening (baemma) well.”

Thereupon the Prince says, “It is good, Heṭṭi-elder-brother. Don’t be afraid. Having well tied the fastening I shall look after the cattle.”

Having started off the Heṭṭirāla and sent him away, the Prince placed each one of the cattle at each tree, and having tied the fastenings and tightened them to the degree that they were unable to take breath, was looking in the direction of the cattle. While he was there some cattle died, some were drawing the breath (i.e., gasping for breath). At that time, the time of eating cooked rice went by.

The Heṭṭirāla, having remained looking for the Prince’s coming at the time of eating cooked rice during the day, when the time went by thought, “He is a great fool, isn’t he? Having sent the cattle into the gardens of others they have been seized, maybe.” As he did not come at noon to eat cooked rice, he said, “I must go to look”; and having come there, when he looked some had died at the very bottom of the trees to which they were tied, some are drawing and drawing breath.

The Heṭṭirāla asks the Prince, “Why, fool, what a thing this is you did! Do you look after cattle in this way?” Having said [this], he scolded him.

Thereupon the Prince says, “What is the Heṭṭi-elder-brother saying? The Heṭṭi-elder-brother said at first, ‘Having tied the fastenings well, look after them, not letting (nen̆dī) them go into the gardens of others.’ I tied the fastenings well, and stayed looking at them. What is it you are saying? Have I tied them badly? If there is a fault in the tying, tell me.”

Well then, the Heṭṭirāla being without a reply to say, [thought], “Because I told this fool to tie the fastenings well, he, thinking foolishly, in observance of the order killed my few cattle. I was foolish; this fool will not have the ability to do this work;” and he went, calling the Prince again, to the Heṭṭirāla’s house.

When he is there three or four days, in the very [same] manner as at first the Heṭṭirāla’s wife began to scold the Heṭṭirāla:—“Having come calling this thief again, is he simply sitting down? Even for a day there will not be [the means] here to give this one to eat, sitting down unemployed. This very day I will drive him from the house.” Having said various things she scolded the Heṭṭirāla.

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla having spoken to the Prince asks, “Can you plough rice fields?”

At that time the Prince says, “It is good. I am able to do that work.”

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla says, “It is good. If so get ready to go to-morrow morning.”

Having given the Prince a plough also, and having arisen at daybreak, the Heṭṭirāla set off to go on a journey. Calling the Prince on the journey on which he is going, and having gone and shown the Prince the Heṭṭirāla’s fields, he says, “Look there. From the place where that egret is perched plough to that side until the time when I have gone on this journey and come back.”

Well then, this Prince says to the Heṭṭirāla, “It is good, Heṭṭi-elder-brother. Let Him go on the journey He is going.⁵ I will plough to the place where the egret is.”

Taking over the charge, and having started off the Heṭṭirāla and sent him away, he tied the yoke of bulls in the plough. When he went driving them to the place where the egret is, the egret having gone flying perched at another place. Driving the yoke of bulls he went there also. The egret having gone flying from there also, perched at another place. Driving the yoke of bulls he went there also. From there also the egret having gone flying, perched at another place. Thereupon the Prince, driving the yoke of bulls and having gone to the root of the tree, taking a large stick and beating and beating the yoke of bulls, says, “Why, bulls (gonnunē)! Go to the place where the egret is. Should you two not go to the place where the egret is I shall not succeed in escaping from the Heṭṭirāla; to-day there is not any work [done], and I myself did not eat.” Saying and saying [this], he began to beat the yoke of bulls. While he was there beating and beating them it became night.

The Heṭṭirāla, also, having made that journey, came to the house. Having come there the Heṭṭirāla asks, he asks from the house people, “Hasn’t the fool himself who went to the rice field come?”

Thereupon the house people say, “After he went with the Heṭṭi-elder-brother in the morning, he did not come back.”

The Heṭṭirāla says, “Apoyi! As that fool himself came not there will be some accident or other!”

Quickly having gone running to the rice field, when he looked, at no place in the rice field had [the ground] been ploughed, and he does not see the yoke of bulls or the man. When the Heṭṭirāla looks on that and this side, the Prince whom the Heṭṭirāla came to seek having seen him, breaking a large cudgel he began to beat the yoke of bulls more and more, as though he did not see him.

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla, having heard this noise when he looked, having heard it and gone running, asks, “Why, fool! What is this you are doing?”

The Prince says, “Go away, go aside. From the morning itself I drove and drove this yoke of bulls [so as] to go to the place where the egret is. They did not go yet. You are good, the way the bulls have been trained!” Having said [this], the Prince began to scold the Heṭṭirāla.

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla says, “Yes, the way that yoke of bulls has been trained is indeed not good. Because the bulls will not go up trees those bulls are not good. Afterwards taking a yoke of bulls that go up trees you can plough. Let us go now, to go home.” Having said [this], he came calling the Prince.

The Heṭṭirāla’s wife asks, “Even to-day did that fool do even that work?”

The Heṭṭirāla says, “To-day indeed don’t speak to that fool. He has been very angry. Because he was angry I came calling him, without speaking anything.”

Thereupon the woman having been silent that day, on the next day began to scold the Heṭṭirāla and the Prince. The Heṭṭirāla having thought, “Should I remain causing this fool to stay he will cause much loss to me. Having gone, taking him, and having spoken to my son-in-law, I must put him in a ship and send him away.” Having thought thus, and having spoken to the Heṭṭirāla’s wife, he says, “Don’t you scold; I am sending him away soon.” Thereupon the woman remained without making any talk.

Then the Heṭṭirāla says, “Taking him I must go to-morrow or the next day; having prepared a suitable thing (food) for it give me it.” Thereupon the woman having gone, and very well prepared a food box to give to her daughter and son-in-law, and for these two persons to eat for food on the road a package of cooked rice, gave him them.

The Heṭṭirāla tied them well, and taking also a suit (coat and cloth, kuṭṭamak) of the Heṭṭirāla’s new clothes to wear when they got near the son-in-law’s house, and having tied them in one bundle, and called the Prince, he says, “We two must go on a journey and return. Can you go?”

When he asked the Prince, the Prince says, “It is good; I can go.”

The Heṭṭirāla having said, “If so, take these two bundles,” gave him the two packages. Just as he is taking the two bundles in his hand, the Prince asks, “What are these?”

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla says, “One bundle is my clothes; one is things for us for the road, to eat.”

The Prince taking them, when he was starting to go on the journey the Heṭṭirāla’s wife gave him yet a package. The Prince asks, “What is this?”

Thereupon the woman says, “For our son-in-law there is need of snakes’ eggs; in that packet there are snakes’ eggs. Having gone, give that packet into either son-in-law’s hand or daughter’s hand.” The Prince, taking the packet, put it away.

The Heṭṭirāla, dressing well, mounted upon the back of a horse, and calling the Prince went off. When he had gone a considerable distance, the Prince alone ate the package which she prepared and gave him to eat for the road. Taking the food which was in the packet that she told him to give to the son-in-law, having said they were snakes’ eggs, he ate of them to the possible extent; and having thrown the remaining ones there and here, and seen an ant-hill on the path when coming, he broke a stick, and taking it, prodding and prodding [the ground] round the ant-hill he began to cry out. The Heṭṭirāla having turned back, when he looked the Prince says, “The snakes that were in this packet, look! they entered this ant-hill!” Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla, ascertaining that he is telling lies, having said, “It is good; if so, you come on,” calling him, goes on.

At that time, the time for eating cooked rice at noon having arrived, the Heṭṭirāla, stopping the horse, said, “Bola, I am now hungry. Take out even the packet which you brought to eat for the road.”

Thereupon to the Heṭṭirāla the Prince says, “Heṭṭi-elder-brother, what is this you say? Because you said, ‘They are for the road, to eat,’ I threw them away for the road to eat, and came. For eating for the road, what shall we eat?”

Well then, much anger having gone to the Heṭṭirāla, because there was not a thing to do he said, “If so, come, to go.”

As they were going, the Heṭṭirāla, having hunger which he was unable to bear, says to the Prince, “Bola, can you climb this tree, and pluck a young coconut for me and give it?” Thereupon the Prince says, “I can.”

Having climbed the tree, and gone round the stems of the branches of the tree, holding two stems firmly, with his two feet he began to kick down the clusters of [ripe] coconuts into the jungle, and the clusters of young coconuts into the jungle. Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla having descended from the horse’s back, began to shout, “Hā! Hā! Don’t pluck them, don’t pluck them!” At that time the person who owned the place having come, prepared to beat him.

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla says, “It is I who sent him up the tree to make him pluck a young coconut. He is a great fool; don’t beat him.”

The man, treating with respect the Heṭṭirāla’s saying, said, “It is good. If so, having eaten as many young coconuts as possible, go ye”; and the man went away.

Thereupon the Prince having eaten young coconut with the Heṭṭirāla, when they set off to go the Heṭṭirāla says, “Having struck [thy hand] on my head, swear thou in such a way that thou wilt not go [in future] by even a foot-bridge (ēdanḍa) in which a coconut trunk is laid, putting [out of consideration] going up a coconut tree.”

Thereupon the Prince having struck on the Heṭṭirāla’s head, swears, “I will not go up a coconut tree, and I will not go by a foot-bridge in which a coconut trunk is placed.” Having sworn this, they began to go.

When going they met with a bridge in which a great many coconut trunks were placed. The Heṭṭirāla having gone to the other side, spoke to the Prince, [telling him to follow]. Thereupon the Prince says, “Anē! I cannot come. Having struck on the head of the Heṭṭi-elder-brother and sworn, how can I come?”

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla having descended from the back of the horse, came [across]; and lifting up the Prince and having gone [over], placed him on the other side. Through that disturbance the cloth that was on the Heṭṭirāla’s head fell on the ground. The Heṭṭirāla did not see it. The Prince having seen that the cloth fell, took it with his foot, and having thrown it into the bush went on.

When going a considerable distance, ascertaining that the cloth on the Heṭṭirāla’s head was not [there], he asks the Prince, “My cloth fell on the ground; didn’t you see it?”

Thereupon the Prince says, “The thing which the Heṭṭi-elder-brother has thrown away when coming, why should I bring? I threw it into the bush with my foot.”

Then the Heṭṭirāla says, “Since you threw away the cloth and came, beginning from this time when anything has fallen from us don’t leave it and come.”

The Prince says, “It is good. If so, beginning from this time, without throwing it away I will bring it.”

Beginning from there, taking the horse-dung and earth from the staling-place he went along putting and putting them in the Heṭṭirāla’s clothes box. Having gone there, when they came near the house of the Heṭṭirāla’s daughter, [the Heṭṭirāla] having spoken to the Prince asking for the bundle of clothes, he unfastened it. When he looked, he saw that the horse-dung and mud were in the bundle of clothes, and much anger having gone to the Heṭṭirāla, he said, “Ǣ! Enemy, what is this?”

Thereupon the Prince says, “What, Heṭṭi-elder-brother, are you saying? At first you said, ‘Don’t throw away anything that falls from us.’ What is this thing you are saying now?”

Then the Heṭṭirāla thought to himself the word he said at the beginning was wrong; bearing it because of it, he says, “With these clothes on my back I cannot go to the house of son-in-law’s people. My clothes are very dirty. I shall come when it has become night. Thou having gone immediately (daemmama) say that I am coming.” Having said [this], and told the Prince the road going to the house, he started him.

Thereupon the Prince having gone to that house and having spoken, says, “The Heṭṭi-elder-brother started and came in order to come with me. Thereupon he got a stomach-ache.⁶ Before this also⁷ he got a stomach-ache. The Heṭṭi-elder-brother having told me the medical treatment he applies for the stomach-ache, and started me quickly, sent me to prepare the medicine,” he said.

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla’s daughter having become much afraid, asked, “What is the medicine?”

The Prince says, “Don’t be afraid; it is not a difficult medicine [to prepare]. Taking both coconut oil of seven years and the dust of Mā-Vī (the largest kind of paddy), and having ground them together, when you have made ball-cakes (aggalā), and placed them [ready], it will do; that indeed is the medicine. Don’t give him any other thing to eat.”

Thereupon, the Heṭṭirāla’s daughter very quickly having ground up coconut oil and Mā-Vī dust, and made ball-cakes, placed them [ready]. When, after a very long time, the Heṭṭirāla came, quickly having given him to wash his face, hands, and feet, as soon as he had finished she gave him that ball-cake to eat.

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla thinks, “My daughter and son-in-law having become very poor, are now without a thing also to eat”; but through shame to ask he remained without speaking. Well, then, at the time for eating rice at night, although the whole of the [other] persons ate cooked rice and finished, she did not give cooked rice to the Heṭṭirāla. Having made ready [the necessary things,—mat and pillow]—to sleep, only, she gave them.

The Heṭṭirāla lay down. Having been in hunger during the daytime and night, when he had eaten the ball-cakes he began [to experience the purgative effect of the oil]. After he had [been affected] four or five times, being without water to wash his hands and feet, having spoken to the Prince he asks, “Bola, the water is finished; there is not a means to wash my hands and feet. Didn’t you see a place where there is water?”

Thereupon the Prince says, “I saw it. There is a sort of water-pot.” Having gone to the place where there are pots of palm juice, and filled a cooking pot, he brought the palm juice, and saying it was water gave it.

Thereupon the whole of his body having been smeared with the palm juice, he says, “Bola, this is not water; it is a sort of palm juice. Seek something to wipe this, and give me it.”

Then the Prince having torn in two the pillow that was [there] for placing the head upon, gave him the cotton to wipe off the palm juice. When the Heṭṭirāla was wiping off the palm juice with the cotton, the palm juice and cotton having held together, it became more difficult than it was. Thereupon having become very angry with the Prince, and having looked to that and this hand, finding a little water and slightly washing himself he came to the bed, and made ready to go to sleep. Again [the purgative affected him violently, and he was compelled to utilise a cooking-pot which the Prince brought him]. When he was removing it in the early morning, unobserved by the people at the house, [the Prince] having gone running says to the Heṭṭirāla’s daughter, “Look there. Last night it was very difficult for your father. Having become angry that you did not pay attention to him he is going away.”

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla’s daughter having gone, embraced the Heṭṭirāla. When she embraced him, the Heṭṭirāla and the Heṭṭirāla’s daughter were [befouled by the contents of the vessel].

The Heṭṭirāla having become very angry said, “He having done me much injury until this time, now he smeared this on my body, didn’t he?” Being unable to bear it, and having told his son-in-law all these matters in secret, “Taking him, we will go away and put him in a distant country,” he said.

The son-in-law having said, “It is good,” and having spoken to the Prince, says, “We two are to go on a journey. The three [of us] having gone together, let us return.” So saying, on the following day after that, the Heṭṭirāla, and the Prince, and the Heṭṭirāla’s son-in-law, the three persons together, went to the wharf (naew-toṭṭa).

Thereupon the Prince thought, “Now then, it is not good; I must spring off and go.” Having thought [this], when he said to the two persons, “I must go aside [for necessary reasons],” the two said, “If so, having gone, come back.”

Having gone running from there to the place where the Heṭṭirāla’s daughter is, he says, “They told me to ask for the money which he gave yesterday to be put away, and to go back quickly.” Having said it, asking for [and getting] the money from the Heṭṭiyā’s daughter, he bounded off and ran, and in much time arrived at his city.

The Heṭṭirāla and the Heṭṭirāla’s son-in-law having remained looking till the Prince comes, said, “Let that fool go to any place he wants.” When they went home, ascertaining that he went [after] taking the money also, [they searched until] they became much fatigued, but did not succeed in finding him.

The Minister-Prince, who having joined with the royal Prince went away, [after] trading very well and gaining profit, again arrived in happiness at the city. Having seen the royal Prince, while the two are [there], having discussed each other’s happiness and sorrow, and binding their friendship in the very first manner, when the royal Prince’s father the King died, the royal Prince was appointed to the sovereignty, and gave the post of Chief Minister to the Minister-Prince.

Western Province.

(By Saddhunanda Sthavira of Ratmalāna Wihāra.)

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 149, a young man who went to gamble lost everything he possessed, and was himself made a prisoner until he was rescued by his wife.

Regarding some of the Heṭṭirāla’s experiences, see the story of the Moghul and his servant, of which a condensed account is appended to the tale numbered 195 in this volume.

In “The Story of Hokkā,” given by Mr. W. Goonetilleke in The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 131 ff., there is the incident of the tying up of the cattle. The order of the Gamarāla was that the man was to look after them, but the Sinhalese word balāpiya means also “look at,” and the servant acted accordingly after tying up the cattle, the result being that they were too weak to stand when the Gamarāla went to inspect them.

1 The Sinhalese title is, “The Royal Prince and the Minister-Prince” (aemati-kumārayā). 

2 This means here, “No matter.” 

3 Maṭa ahuwelā tiyennē. 

4 Akuru gaṇan, that is, “Can you keep accounts?” 

5 The third person used honorifically instead of the second. 

6 Baḍē gāyak sāedunāya. 

7 Mīṭa paḷamuwenut. 

No. 242

Prince Sokkā¹

At a certain city, a lion having been caught by the King of the city had been put in a house. While the King’s Prince and the Minister’s Prince were playing at ball near the house in which was the lion, the royal Prince’s ball fell into the cage in which the lion is lying. Thereupon the Prince asked the lion for the ball. Then the lion said, “Should you let me go I will give the ball.” Then the Prince having said, “It is good,” and having cheated him, asking for [and getting] the ball remained without letting the lion go.

Having come on the following day, while those two were playing at ball, that day, also, the royal Prince’s ball went and fell at the place where the lion is. The Prince that day also asked the lion for the ball.

At that time the lion says, “You shall not cheat me as on that day, indeed; to-day indeed, unless you let me go I shall not give it.” Then the Prince having let the lion go, asking for [and getting] the ball, played.

The King having come, when he looked the lion was not [there]. “Where is the lion?” the King asked the party of Ministers. The party of Ministers said, “By the Prince the lion [was] sent away.”

Then the King having said, “Should the disobedient Prince remain at this palace I will kill him,” sorrow seized the Queen regarding it, and having given the Prince expenses, and given him also a horse, and said, “Having gone to any country you like, get a living,” sent him off.

The Prince having mounted on the horse, when he was going the Minister-Prince (son of the Minister), the friend of the Prince, asked, “Where are you going?”

Then the Prince says, “Having been guilty of sending away the lion, it has occurred that I am to go away, not staying in this country.”

Thereupon, the Minister-Prince, having said, “If my friend the Prince be not here my remaining is not proper,” set off to go with the Prince.

Having set out, when the two had gone a little far together, [they saw that] a letter had been written, and fixed on a tree. Having taken the letter, when they looked in it there was said that should one go to the right district good will happen, should one go to the left district evil will happen. Thereupon, having looked at the letter the Minister-Prince went to the right district, the royal Prince went to the left district.

While the royal Prince was going he met with a gambling place. He, also, having gone there gambled. Having gambled he lost all the money he took. After that, being without money, while he was staying looking on, owing to a rich Heṭṭiyā’s being there he sold him the horse, and taking the money played [again]. That also he lost.

After that, having written himself as the slave of the Heṭṭiyā, and having said, “Should I be unable to bring back the money I will do slave work,” taking the money he gambled [again]. That also he lost.

At that time, the Heṭṭiyā, having mounted upon the horse, calling the Prince for the horsekeepership went away. The Heṭṭiyā having gone home established the name “Sokkā”² for the Prince.

That Sokkā he told to look after the horse, having well attended to it and bathed it. That Sokkā not giving food and water to the horse, the horse went decrepit. Owing to it, the Heṭṭirāla having become angry, said, “Sokkā, you cannot look after the horse. Because of it, work you in the flower garden.”

Then Sokkā says, “Heṭṭirālahāmi, in our kingdom it was that very work that was mine. I am much accustomed to it.” Having said this he took charge. [After] taking charge, every day uprooting and uprooting the best (lit., good good) flower trees (plants) he began to plant [them afresh].

The Heṭṭirāla having gone one day, when he looked saw that all the flower trees had died. Having said, “Sokkā, thou canst not [do] this work; thou hast completely done for my flower garden,” he beat him.

He said, “After that, that work is of no use for thee,” and gave him charge of a plantain garden. Having handed it over he said, “Sell the plantains; having brought the money thou art to give it to me.”

Then Sokkā said, “It is good, Heṭṭirālahāmi; I am accustomed to that work.”

Well then, what does that Sokkā do? Leaving aside the ripe plantains, having cut the immature plantains he takes them to the shop. No one taking them, having brought them back he throws them away. By this means, all the plantain garden went to waste.

The Heṭṭirāla having gone one day, when he looked the plantain garden had been destroyed. Thereupon, having called Sokkā, and having said, “Where is the revenue obtained from this? Thou art a Yakā come to eat me,” he became angry, and scolded him.

Having said, “Thou canst not do that work. Look here (Menna); from to-day attend thou to the grazing of these cattle,” he gave him charge of them.

Then Sokkā, having said, “It is good, Heṭṭirālahāmi. In our country I do that for a livelihood; I am well accustomed to it,” took charge of them. Taking charge, he went driving the cattle to the jungle.

Having gone there he looked for a bull to eat, and having killed it, cutting a haunch he came home [with it]. At that time the Heṭṭirāla having seen the haunch of flesh, asked, “What is that, Sokkā?”

Then Sokkā says, “As I was going a leopard was [there], seizing a deer. Then I said ‘Hū.’ Then the leopard sprang off and ran away. After that, because I was unable to bring it I came [after] cutting off a haunch.”

Thereupon the Heṭṭirālahāmi said, “Sokkā, it is good,” and stroked his head, and said, “Give ye abundantly to eat to Sokkā.”

By that method he began to bring the haunch every day, one by one. The Heṭṭirāla and the Heṭṭi-woman on those days were very kind to Sokkā.

When a few days had gone, because of the eating of the deer’s meat it appeared that the cattle of the herd were finished. Then, having called Sokkā, he asked, “Where are the cattle?”

Sokkā says, “I could not drive the cattle to the stalls; they are in the jungle.”

The Heṭṭirāla, not trusting the word he said, went into the jungle to look at the cattle. When he was going, the stench [of the dead bodies] began to strike him to the extent that he was unable to go into the jungle. Having gone in, when he looked he saw that there are the heads and legs of the cattle. “Sokkā is good! I ate the meat. I must kill Sokkā,” he got into his mind.

The Heṭṭirāla had taken a contract to give firewood to a ship. He told Sokkā to cut firewood by the yard account for the ship. Because he must give firewood once a month, having cut the firewood by the yard account he was to heap it up. At that time, Sokkā, having said, “It is very good, Heṭṭirālahāmi,” taking that work also, went for cutting firewood.

The ship came after a month. The Heṭṭirāla went and looked, in order to give the firewood. There were only three or four yards of firewood; there was no firewood to give to the ship. When the ship person, having called the Heṭṭirāla, asked for the firewood, there being no firewood to give a great fault occurred. Having fined the Heṭṭirāla he destroyed the firewood contract.

“After Sokkā came there was great loss of money; this one lost it. I must kill him,” the Heṭṭirāla got into his mind.

Getting it in his mind, he said to the Heṭṭi-woman, “I am going to the quarter in which younger sister is. Having prepared something to eat on the road please give me it.” The Heṭṭi-woman having prepared a box of sugared food, and made ready a box of clothes, and tied them as a pingo (carrying stick) load, placed [them ready].

The Heṭṭirāla having arisen at dawn in the morning and mounted on horse-back, and said, “Sokkā, taking that pingo load, come thou,” the Heṭṭirāla went on horse-back in front.

Sokkā, while going on and on (yaddī yaddī), ate the sugared food until the box was finished. When going a little far in that manner, the whip that was in the Heṭṭirāla’s hand fell down. Sokkā picked it up and threw it into the jungle.

The Heṭṭirāla, having gone a little far, asked, “Where [is the whip], Bola? You met with it.”

Thereupon Sokkā said, “I don’t know; there is no whip.”

Then the Heṭṭirāla having become angry, said, “Thou must bring anything that falls, whether from me or from the horse,” and he scolded him.

After that, Sokkā picked up the dung which the horse dropped, and began to put it in the clothes box. In that way and this way, at noon the time for eating came.

On that road there was a travellers’ shed. For the purpose of eating food at that travellers’ shed they halted. Having opened the box in order to eat, when [the Heṭṭirāla] looked there was nothing of food in the box. “Where is the food that was in this?” he asked Sokkā.

Sokkā said, “I don’t know what was [in it] when it was given to me, indeed.”

The Heṭṭirāla being very hungry, and in anger with Sokkā also, started to go. Having gone, when they were coming near his younger sister’s village he said to Sokkā, “Go thou, and tell them to be quick and cook a little food because I am fatigued.”

Then Sokkā having gone said to the Heṭṭirāla’s younger sister and brother-in-law, “The Heṭṭirāla is coming; as he has become ill he is coming. Because of it, he does not eat anything. He said that having removed the shells from unripe pulse and prepared balls of it, you are to place them [ready]; and that having killed a fowl for me I am to eat it with cooked rice, he said. The Heṭṭirāla at night is himself accustomed to salt gruel.”

Afterwards that party, having prepared them, gave them in the evening. The Heṭṭirāla because of fatigue having eaten these things and drunk a great deal of salt gruel, went to sleep. (It is necessary to draw a veil over the nocturnal difficulties of the Heṭṭirāla owing to the purgative action of his evening’s repast. In the morning) the Heṭṭirāla thought to himself, “It is Sokkā himself makes the whole of these traps. Because of it I must kill him.”

Well then, having said, “We must go,” and having opened the clothes box, when he looked horse-dung had been put [in it]. Then at the time when the Heṭṭirāla asked, “Sokkā, what is this?” he said, “That day you told me to take anything that falls from the Heṭṭirāla or from the horse. Because of it I put these things away; I put them in that, without omitting one.”

After that, having set off, they went away to go home. Having gone a considerable distance, when they were approaching the house he said to Sokkā, “Go thou, and as there has been no food for me for two days or three days, tell grandmother to prepare something for food.”

Having said “Hā,” Sokkā having gone running, says, “Grandmother, madness having seized him, the Heṭṭirāla is coming. No one can speak [to him]; then he beats them. You will be unable to be rid of it.” He said all these words.

Then the grandmother asked, “What, Sokkā, shall we do for it?”

Thereupon Sokkā says, “Putting on a black cloth and a black jacket, take two handfuls of branches, and without speaking having gone in front of him, please wave them.”

Having said it and come running back to the Heṭṭirāla, he said, “Heṭṭirālahāmi, there is no means of doing anything in that way. Madness having seized grandmother she is dancing, [after] putting on a black cloth and a black jacket, and breaking two handfuls of branches.”

When the Heṭṭirāla was asking at the hand of Sokkā, “What shall I do for it?” Sokkā said, “Breaking two handfuls of branches, and having gone without even speaking, please strike them on the head of grandmother.”

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla, having gone in that very way, without speaking began to beat her. The grandmother also began to beat the Heṭṭirāla. In this way constantly for half a day they beat each other. Afterwards having recovered their reason, when he learnt, while they were speaking, that it was a work of Sokkā’s, he thought of injuring him.

On the following day after that, he wrote a letter to the Heṭṭirāla’s brother-in-law: “In some way or other please kill the person who brings this letter.” Having said, “Go and give this letter, and bring a reply from brother-in-law,” he gave it into Sokkā’s hand.

Sokkā, taking the letter, went to a travellers’ shed on the road. While he was there yet [another] man came there. Having broken open this letter and shown it to the man, he asked, “What things are in this letter?”

The man, having looked at the letter, said, “ ‘The person who brings this letter has caused a loss to me of three or four thousand pounds.’ Because of it, it is said [that he is] to kill him.”

Thereupon Sokkā, having thrown the letter away, went to a house, and asking for pen and ink and having come back, told that man and caused him to write the [following] letter:—“The person who brings this letter has been of great assistance to me. Because of it, having given to him your daughter [in marriage], give him a half share of your landed property.” Having taken it and gone, he gave it.

Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla’s brother-in-law having looked at the letter and having been pleased, married to him and gave him his eldest daughter;³ and having given him a half share of his money, and told him to go again to the place where this Heṭṭiyā is, sent him away.

Well then, the Prince whom the Heṭṭiyā caught, taking his Heṭṭi wife, went away to the district where the Minister-Prince is.

Western Province.

In the Aventures du Gourou Paramarta (Dubois), p. 312, while the Guru and his foolish disciples were on a journey, the Guru being on horseback, the branch of a tree caught his turban, and it fell down. Thinking his disciples would pick it up he said nothing at the time. As he had previously told them to do nothing without orders, however, they left it. When he afterwards asked for it and found it was not brought, he scolded them, and sent one to fetch it, at the same time giving them orders to pick up everything that fell from the horse. While the disciple was returning with the turban he accordingly collected and stored in it the horse’s droppings that he found on the road, and handed over the bundle to his master. The Guru made them wash the turban, and told them when they grumbled at being reprimanded for obeying his orders, “There are articles that are worthy of being picked up, and others that are unworthy of it.”

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 81, two brothers who had run away from home came to a place where the road bifurcated, and found there an inscription on a stone, which contained a warning that one of the roads should be avoided. The adventurous elder brother went on this road and was robbed by a witch; the younger one selected the other, and after being wrecked became a King.

In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 131 ff., Mr. W. Goonetilleke gave “The Story of Hokkā,” in which the man who was sent in advance to announce the coming of the Gamarāla, told the daughter that he could take only paddy dust. He left in anger on the following morning, and sent Hokkā to let his wife know of his return. Hokkā advised her to meet her husband clothed in rags and sitting on an ēdanḍa, or foot-bridge. In the dusk, Hokkā, who was in front, kicked her off, calling her “Bitch,” and she fell into the stream and was drowned, the Gamarāla thinking it was a dog. The Gamarāla had previously mutilated Hokkā’s elder brother, as related in No. 195, and Hokkā was determined to have his revenge.

The portion omitted on p. 290 will be found at the end of the Additional Notes, by those who wish to see how the villager treats such matters.

1 The Sinhalese title is, “Concerning the Royal Prince and the Minister-Prince.” 

2 Sōka + ekā, the one of sorrows; he was not aware that the sorrows were to be his own. 

3 This incident occurs in Folklore of the Santal Parganas (Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 261, the young man being a servant who was playing tricks on a farmer and had burnt his house down. 

No. 243

The Affectionate Prince

In a certain city there was a King; the King was married. If the Queen bore a Prince they rear the Prince; if she bore a Princess, at the very time when she was born, [even] should she be alive, they bury her. This order is a thing commanded by the King.

The King’s Queen formerly having given birth to a first-born Prince, and having reared him and been satisfied with him, he continued to stay there. During the time while he was there the Queen bore yet a Princess.

Then the King told them to bury the Princess. The midwife having given her into the hand of a man told him to bury her. So the man in order to bury the Princess took her and went to the burial ground.

At that very time, as the elder Prince of the King, who had been for sport, was coming back, he saw that this man [after] putting this Princess into a bundle was going to the ground for new burials; and he asked the man, “What is that you are going with, [after] making it into a bundle?”

The man said, “In this bundle is your younger sister, Sir.”

Then the Prince said, “Anē! Stop there for me to look at her a little.” So the man stopped.

When this Prince went and looked, she was a Princess who was beautiful to the extent that through sorrow he could not look at her. Thereupon asking the man for the Princess, what does this Prince do? Having given her to another woman, having given sufficient hire for it, he said, “Having very thoroughly brought her up until she reaches maturity, not showing her to anyone, hand her over to me.” The woman said. “It is good.”

Well then, the Princess in not much time had reached maturity. After that, this Prince, sewing suitable robes for the Princess, came, and causing the Princess to put them on went with her to the palace at which he stayed.

Then the King, having become angry at the Prince, contrived a stratagem to kill her, that is, he wrote to a great person of the city, “My Princess is [here]. To kill the Princess make ready an eating (feast) at your house, and having put poison into the food for the Princess send a letter to all of us to come for the eating.”

So the great man having made it ready just like that, sent a letter to this King for all who are at the royal palace to come. Thereupon the King, having looked at the letter, prepared to go there.

This Prince perceived that it was a device which was adopted by the King for the purpose of killing the Princess. Having perceived it and told those parties to go before, at the time when they were going this Prince and his younger sister, both of them, mounted on a cart (carriage), and went along another path to the midst of a forest. As they were going on, leaving the forest wilderness behind, there was a city which a [wild] tusk elephant, having come, is making desolate. They went to the city. While they were going to the city it did not become light.

As this Prince and Princess were going, not knowing that there is a tusk elephant laying waste the city, the tusk elephant walked through the whole city, and having broken down the houses, while it was coming to go back to the midst of the forest this Prince and Princess met it in front.

Having met it, it chased the Prince and Princess along the road. As it was going chasing them this Prince drew his sword and struck it. Then the sword went and pierced the stomach of the elephant, and it died. After it died they stayed that day night at the city.

The King of the city having gone with the city tusk elephant to stay at night at certain other rock houses (caves), comes to this city only for hearing law-suits in the daytime. Having come and repaired the houses which that [wild] tusk elephant had broken, and heard law-suits, as it becomes night he goes to the rock house.

The King [had] notified by beat of tom-toms¹: “To the person who [shall have] killed this tusk elephant I will give a portion from my kingdom and marry my Princess, and I will send him to stay at this city.” Every one was unable.

On the morning on which this Prince killed the tusk elephant, men came in order to build [the damaged houses in] the city. When they looked about that day, they said that the tusk elephant is still staying there, sleeping; and the men having become afraid, ran away.

After that, a man came, and having slowly come near the tusk elephant, when he was looking at it perceived that was dead. Thereupon the man having come near, when he looked [saw that] some one had stabbed the tusk elephant.

There was a house near by. Having gone near it, when he looked he saw that a Prince and a Princess were sleeping. Having seen them, he spoke to the Prince and awoke him, and asked, “How did you kill this tusk elephant?”

Then the Prince said, “I stabbed it with my sword and killed it.”

The man said, “Anē! By favour to me you must stay there a little,” and having gone he said to the King, “Last night a Prince and Princess came to our city; and having stabbed the tusk elephant with the sword and killed it, they are still staying [there], sleeping.”

Thereupon the King having come, when he looked they were there. The King having heard from the Prince about the matter, and having gone calling them to the palace, and given them food and drink, asked to marry his Princess to the Prince.

At that time the Prince said, “Until the time when I marry and give my younger sister I will not marry”; and they went away to yet a city.

When he was going, [persons] are robbing the city of this [other] King. Because of it, [the King] gave notice by beat of tom-toms, “Can any one seize them?” Thereupon all said they could not.

This Prince having said, “I will endeavour [to do] this,” went away. While going, he met with a young Leopard, a young Parrot, and a Kitten. Taking the three and placing them in a cart, while going on he saw in the midst of the forest a very large house like a prison.

Thereupon the Prince, not going to look at it during the daytime, waited until it became night; and having gone at daybreak, when he was looking about, the robbers having come [after] committing robbery he ascertained that they were making ready to sleep.

Having waited a little time after the men had gone to sleep, when he looked for an opening, because there was not one, being on the back of his horse he sprang on the wall. Having sprung on it, when he looked [he saw that after] putting down their armour on going to sleep, they were sleeping well. Thereupon the Prince cut them all down, beginning from one end. One of them having been wounded and got hid in the room, remained; all the other men died. The blood that came from them flowed to the depth of the Prince’s knee.

After that, having waited until it became light he cut a hole, and having put the dead bodies into the hole he thoroughly washed the houses and cleaned them. Because there were many silver and golden things there he stayed a little time.

While he was staying, one day, having told the Princess to remain [there], the Prince, taking a gun, went to hunt. At that time the Parrot, the Leopard, and the Cat went with the Prince.

The three and the Prince, or a person who would send him away, not being near, that robber who had been wounded that day, and having got hid remained after the Prince went away, came out into the light; and asking for cooked rice from the Princess and having eaten it, became associated with the Princess, and stayed a few days without the Prince’s knowing it, healing those wounds and the like.

Then that robber spoke to the Princess, “Having killed your elder brother and we two having married, let us remain [here].”

Thereupon the Princess also being willing regarding it, asked the robber, “How shall we kill elder brother?”

Then the robber said, “At the time when your elder brother comes, say that you have got fever, and remain lying down. Then he having come will be grieved. Then say, ‘Elder brother, the deity who protects us—who he is I do not know—said there is a pool in the midst of this forest. In the pool there is a lotus flower. Unless, plucking the lotus flower, you come and boil it, and I should drink the gravy, my fever will not be cured otherwise.’ ”

The Princess asked the robber, “When he has gone to the pool what will happen?”

The robber said, “There is a Crocodile in the pool. No one can descend into the pool. Because the Celestial Nymphs (Apsarases) bathe [there], should another person go the Crocodile will swallow him.”

Then the Princess having become pleased, at the time when the Prince, having gone for hunting-sport, came back, she remained lying down groaning and groaning.

The Prince having come asked, “What is it, younger sister?”

The Princess said, “Anē! Elder brother, I have got fever.”

Thereupon the Prince through grief that the Princess had got fever does not eat the cooked rice. Then the Princess said all the words which the robber told her. So having said, “I will bring the lotus flower,” the Prince went.

Having gone and found the pool, when he looked there was a large lotus flower in the manner she said. The Prince, putting on the bathing cloth,² and fastening his sword in his waist string, prepared to descend into the pool.

Thereupon, the three animals that went with the Prince said, “Don’t descend,” and began to say it again and again. Out of them the Parrot said, “Elder brother, having gone flying, I will bring each pollen grain of the flower. Don’t you descend.”

The Prince said, “While thou art going and bringing each grain of pollen it will become night. On that account I will go, and cutting the flower from the outside will come back”; and he descended into the pool. As he descended, the Crocodile having come swallowed him. When it was swallowing him the sword fixed at the Prince’s waist pierced the Crocodile’s stomach, and the Crocodile and the Prince died.

Thereupon the three animals which remained on the bank, rolling over and over on the ground, breaking and breaking up the soil of the earth, began to cry out.

At that time the Celestial Nymphs came to the pool to bathe. Having come, and seen the lamentation of these animals, they told the Dēvatāwā of the pool to come, and splitting open the stomach of the Crocodile he caused the Prince to be [re]-born. Having come to life, the Prince, plucking the lotus flower, came to the bank.

Then the four, taking the lotus flower and having come back, and boiled and given it to that Princess, the false fever of the Princess was cured. Well then, by that they were unable to kill him.

So the robber asked the Princess, “Now then, how to kill your elder brother?”

Then the Princess said, “Elder brother having come [after] walking, goes from this side near the screen to wash his face. You stay on the other side [of the screen] and cut him with your sword.” So he remained that day in that way.

That day the Prince having come [after] walking did not go to the side to which he goes before; he went to the other side. At that time the man having been [there] tried to spring away. Then having cut down the man with the sword that was in the Prince’s hand, he asked the Princess, “Whence this man?” The Princess remained silent.

Thereupon the Prince said, “I shall not do anything to you; say the fact.” The Princess told him the fact.

Then the Prince having said, “Thou faithless one! Go thou also,” cut her down with the sword; and taking those things, went with the three animals to the city where he killed that tusk elephant.

Having gone there, and told the King the manner in which he killed the robbers, and all the dangers that had befallen him, the King, having been pleased, married the King’s Princess [to him]; and having given the kingdom also to that very Prince, he remained there.

The Prince having gone to his [father’s] city, said to the King, “Father, having destroyed the word which you, Sir, said, by the acts that I performed, I was made to ascertain [the wisdom of] it.”

Having made obeisance to his father the King, and told him all the circumstances that had occurred, thereafter he came back with contentment to that city. Having come, he remained ruling over that city.

Western Province.

In the Kolhān tales (Bompas) appended to Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 468, a girl and her brother, fearing their father wished to kill them, ran away and lived in the jungle. While the brother was hunting, a Raja met with the sister and wanted to marry her; thinking the youth would object the Raja persuaded the girl to try to get him killed. She pretended to be ill, and told him she could not recover unless he brought a flower which grew in a lake. When the boy was swimming to the flower a gigantic fish swallowed him; but a Rākshasa friend drank the pool dry, caught the fish, and took out the boy alive. The Raja carried off the girl, but was defeated by the youth and Rākshasa and some animal friends, gave the youth half his kingdom, and married him to his own daughter.

In the actions of the animals, expressive of their grief at the death of the Prince, there is a striking resemblance to those ascribed to the Werewolf in William of Palerne (E.E.T.S., ed. Skeat), on discovering that the child he was rearing was missing:

For reuliche (ruefully) gan he rore · and rente al his hide,

And fret (gnawed) oft of the erthe · and fel doun on swowe,

And made the most dool (sorrow) · that man mizt diuise.

The English translation of this twelfth-century Romance is said to date from about A.D. 1350.

In vol. i, p. 130, a dog shows its grief by rolling about and howling, and in vol. iii, p. 446, a man rolls on the ground in feigned sorrow.

1 Aṇḍa bera gaesuwāya, beat the proclamation tom-toms. 

2 Ambuñḍa gahagana. 

No. 244

The Prince who received the Turtle Shell

In a certain country there was a son of a King. After this son had become big to a certain extent, for the purpose of teaching him he sent him near a teacher; but as time was going on, the teacher, ascertaining that he could not teach this one, gave notice to His Majesty the King. Thereupon the King having summoned the Prince near him, sent him to stay unoccupied (nikan) in the royal house.

During the time while he was thus, the other Princes, having finished learning the sciences and having again arrived near the King, began to show him, one by one, their dexterity. Some of them began to make jests about this ignorant Prince. Thereupon this Prince being much ashamed, and his father the King also not concealing it, his Prince, putting on his ornaments and decorating himself with his sword, bow, etc., having entered a forest wilderness went away.

When he had gone in this manner for a considerable distance through the midst of the forest wilderness, he saw a house of a cow-herd. The Prince went to this cow-herd’s house, and having told him of his hunger, asked for a little food.

The cow-herd’s wife, having thought that she must take the Prince’s costly ornaments, gave the Prince to eat, drink, and sit, and [permitted him] to stay; and having told him to unfasten his clothes and go to sleep, handed over to him a bed also.

Thereupon having thought, “This woman is a most kind person,” the Prince having taken off his ornaments, gave them together with his weapons to the cow-herd’s wife. The Prince having been sleeping, after his eyes were opened, when he asked for the ornaments from the cow-herd’s wife, without giving them she told the Prince to dwell there.

Well then, a certain goddess who saw that this young Prince in this manner was causing the cattle to graze, having shown great compassion towards him, one day approached near him and said thus, “I will give thee a turtle shell and a spell. By the power of the spell thou canst do the thing thou thinkest. Having got inside the turtle shell thou canst stay there. If not in that way, thou canst become a Prince decorated with beautiful ornaments. But without saying the spell just now, thou art to say it when thou hast become twenty-five years of age,” she said.

But this Prince, for the purpose of seeing whether the spell is true or false, having said it, became a Turtle; and again having said it became a handsome Prince. After that, until the twenty-fifth year arrives he put away and hid the turtle shell.

After this time, the Prince having stayed [there] causing the cattle to graze, when the twenty-fifth year arrived, taking also the turtle shell he set off in the very disguise of a poor man, and went away to another country. This Prince having arrived at the house of a flower-mother who gives flowers to the King of that country, dwelt [with her] like a son. During the time when he was staying thus, he got to know the affairs of the royal house.

Out of the King’s seven daughters six having contracted marriages, only the youngest Princess was left. When the husbands of those six Princesses went hunting, the Prince who stayed near the flower-mother having gone into the midst of the forest became an extremely handsome Prince; and having decorated himself with the sword, bow, etc., and mounted upon a horse, and waited to be visible to the other Princes who were in the midst of the forest, when they were coming to look [at him] immediately having become a Turtle he hides in a bush.

When he acted in this manner on very many days, the husbands of the six Princesses related this circumstance while at the royal house. [Their account of] this matter the youngest Princess who was unmarried heard.

Thereafter, one day the six Princesses and their husbands also, went to the festival pool to bathe. The youngest Princess went with these. The Prince who had become the son of the flower-mother, creating a most handsome Prince’s body, and having gone after the whole of them, waited [there] to show a pleasure to these Princesses who came to bathe; and immediately having become a Turtle, got hid at the side of the pool.

Only the youngest Princess saw this circumstance. Having thus seen it, catching the Turtle and wrapping it in her silk robe she took it to the palace. After she took it to the Princess’s chamber, the Turtle, having become the Prince, talking with the Princess told her all his story, and when he told her that he was a royal Prince the two persons agreed to marry each other.

Beginning from that time (taen), this Prince whom men were thinking was the son of the flower-mother, by the favour of the Princess began to go to the floor of the upper story where the Princess resides. During the progress of time, the King perceived that the Princess was pregnant, and having menaced the Princess and asked who was the offender regarding it, ascertaining that he was the flower-mother’s son, he gave the Princess to the flower-mother’s son, and turned them out of the palace.

After this, one day because of a great feast at the royal house, the King ordered these six Princes to go for hunting, and return. Because the flower-mother’s son was in an extremely poor condition, except that the other Princes made jests at him they did not notice him. The other six Princesses ask the Princess of the flower-mother’s son, “Is your husband going for the hunting-sport to-day?”

Then having exhibited a most sorrowful state, the Princess says, “That I do not know. I must ask my husband, and ascertain.”

When the other Princes had ornamented [themselves] for the hunting-sport, the flower-mother’s son, seeking a rust-eaten sword and rotten bow, went to the midst of the forest, and taking a Prince’s appearance, mounted upon a horse. Having gone [hunting], cutting off the tongues of the whole of the animals that he hunted [and killed], and taking only a rat-snake [besides], he returned to the palace before everybody [in his ordinary form].

The King required to look at the animals which these Princes had hunted [and killed]. Thereupon, to be visible above the meat procured by the hunting of the whole of them, [the Prince] placed [on the top of them] the dead body of his rat-snake. Then the whole of them abused this one, it is said.

Thereupon this one says to the King, “It was not these Princes; I killed these animals.” Having said, “If these killed them, where are the tongues of these animals?” he opened [their] mouths and showed them. Having shown the King the tongues of the animals which he had, and caused them to see [him in] the likeness of the Prince decorated with all the ornaments, like the full moon, this flower-mother’s son stood before the King. Thereupon, the King and the other Princes also, retreated in extreme astonishment.

Thereupon, when he gave the King information of all the account of this Prince from the commencement, [the King] having handed over the sovereignty to him he put on the crowns.¹

Western Province.

1 Ceylon was formerly sometimes termed Tri-Siṇhala, because it was divided into three districts, Pihiṭi-raṭa, the northern part, containing the capital; Malaya-raṭa, consisting of the mountainous part; and Ruhuṇu-raṭa, the southern part, round the hills. It is very doubtful if the supreme King ever wore a triple crown that symbolised his rule over the three districts; on the other hand, a triple head-covering like the Pope’s tiara was certainly known, and is represented in the frontispiece to Ancient Ceylon. 

No. 245

Concerning a Prince and a Kinnara Woman

In a certain country there was a King, it is said. There was a single daughter of the King’s. From many places they spoke of marriage to that royal Princess, but her father the King did not agree to it.

At last, when a certain royal Prince asked to marry this Princess, her father the King, having made inquiry, because of his not happening to be a son of the Chief Queen was not satisfied with it.

But on account of the Prince’s possessing a mind extremely attached to the said Princess, having considered several means of success for bringing away this Princess, he made a very large brass lamp. The chamber of the lamp had a size [sufficient] for the Prince to be concealed [in it].

Having caused the lamp to be constructed in this manner, after the Prince entered there, having employed four persons they took this very lamp to sell. In order to go in this way, the Prince said thus to his servants, “There is necessity for me to enter such and such a royal house. While [you are] taking this lamp, when anyone [elsewhere] asks for it, mention a price which it is not worth; but having gone to the royal house give it at whatever they ask it for,” he said.

Thereafter the servants, keeping this word in mind, and the Prince being concealed [in it], took the lamp to the royal house, it is said. The King, having seen the lamp and having thought, “This is an extremely fine lamp. This is suitable for placing in my daughter’s chamber,” asked the price of it, it is said. Thereupon the servants who took the lamp fixed the price at four hundred masuran. And when the King said, “This is not worth so much; I will give seventy-five¹ masuran,” the servants because of the Prince’s word gave the lamp at that price, it is said.

Thereafter, for the purpose of beautifying the royal Princess’s chamber he placed there this lamp. The Prince, also, having entered the lamp was [in it].

Although for the care of the Princess many servants were staying there, the Prince obtained opportunity in order to bring about conversation with the Princess, it is said. By this method obtaining about a [half] share of the Princess’s food, the Prince remained hidden for a time.

They give the Princess only one quantity of food. It was the custom once in seven days to weigh this Princess;² but as the Prince was eating a share of the Princess’s food, the Princess having become thin became less in weight.

Having seen that the Princess’s weight by degrees was growing less, the servant women, becoming afraid, informed the King that the Princess perhaps had some illness. The King also having thought that the Princess perhaps had some sickness (ābādayak), made inquiry, and having ascertained that she had not a sickness in that way, ordered them to give additional food on account of it. After this time, having seen that the Princess is increasing in weight by the method, at the time when he inquired about it, he ascertained, it is said, that the Princess had been pregnant for eight months.

After this, although the King investigated by several methods regarding the manner in which this disgrace occurred to the Princess, he was unable to learn it. Everyone in the country got to know about this.

In this way, after the King was coming to great grief, he caused notification to be made by beat of tom-toms throughout the country that to a person who should seize and give him the wicked man who caused the disgrace to the royal Princess, he will give goods [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load.

A certain old woman, having caused the proclamation tom-tom to stop, said, “I can catch and give the thief,” it is said. Thereupon they took the old mother near the King.

Then the King having spoken, asked, “Canst thou catch and give the thief?”

“It is so; may the Gods cause me to be wise,” the old woman said, it is said.

“Dost thou require something for it?” he asked.

“[You] must give me a permission for it in this manner,” she said. “That is to say, whether in the [right] time or in unseasonable time,³ it is proper that I should receive permission for coming to any place I please in the palace,” she said. And the King gave permission for it.

The old mother, upon that same permission having come to the royal house, while conversing in a friendly manner with the Princess after many days had gone by ascertained that from outside anyone was unable to approach the palace. But perceiving that some one could hide inside the lamp that is in the Princess’s chamber, one day, in the evening, at the time when darkness was about to fall, she came to the Princess’s chamber, and having been talking, dishonestly to the Princess she scattered white sand round the lamp, and went away.

In the morning, having arrived, when she looked she saw the foot-marks of a person who went out of the lamp, and perceiving that most undoubtedly the rogue is in the lamp, told the King (rajuhaṭa), it is said. Thereupon the King having employed the servants and brought the rogue out, made the tusk elephant drink seven large pots of arrack (palm spirit), and ordered them to kill him by means of the tusk elephant.

Having made the Prince sit upon the tusk elephant, they went near the upper story where the Princess was. The elephant-driver was a servant who was inside the palace for much time. As he was a man to whom the Princess several times had given to eat and drink, the Princess said for the elephant-keeper to hear, “With the tusk-elephant face don’t smash the tips of the cooked rice.”⁴

The elephant-keeper also understanding the speech, without killing the Prince saved him. Although he employed the tusk elephant even three times, and made it trample on his bonds, at the three times he escaped.

Thereupon the King [said], “This one is a meritorious person;”⁵ and having caused him to be summoned, and made notification of these things after he came, at the time when he asked, “Who art thou? What is thy name?” he told all, without concealing [anything]. Thereupon he married and gave the Princess to the Prince.

While the two persons were living thus, a longing arose for the Princess to wear blue-lotus flowers. As this time was a season without flowers, having heard that there would be flowers only at one pool at a Kinnara village at a great distance, the Prince went there. While he was there, a Roḍi (Kinnara) woman by means of a [knowledge of the] teaching of the Kala⁶ spells caused the Prince to stop there, it is said.

When time went in this manner without the Prince’s coming, the King started off and sent four Ministers for the purpose of finding him. The four persons, ascertaining that the Prince had been captured and taken into the Kinnara caste, went there, and spoke to the Prince.

Perceiving that while by the mouth of the Roḍi (Kinnara)⁷ woman the word “Go” was being said, he was unable to go,⁸ they spoke to the Prince, and did a trick thus, it is said; that is, they told the Prince to say, “Certain of my friends have come; we must give them amply to eat and drink.” “Because of it [be pleased] to tell the Kinnara woman to cook food amply,” they said. When the Prince told the Kinnarī to cook food in that manner she did so.

When the Prince summoned the Ministers to the food, they, the four persons, putting sand in their waist pockets and mixing it with the food, endeavoured to eat, it is said. Having done so, the four Ministers said, “Although we came so far seeking our friend, we were unable to eat even a mouthful of rice from our friend without sand and stones [being] in it,” and having scolded the Prince they went away. At that time the Prince appeared as though approaching great grief.

The Roḍi (Kinnara) woman who saw this spoke to the Prince, “Go, calling your friends to come,” she said. After the way in which she said this [word] “Go,” the Prince very speedily having started, went with the four Ministers to his own country. Having gone thus and arrived at the palace, he told of the beauty of the Kinnara woman, and all his story.

In the meantime the Kinnara woman also having arrived in front of him, the Kinnara woman having said, “Here he is,” when she seized the Prince’s hand the King, having pushed the Roḍi (Kinnara) woman from there, sent her out of the way.

The Kinnara woman because of this trouble drew out her tongue, and having bit it died, it is said; and after that having cast out the dead body they burned it. On the grave mound a plant [used as a] vegetable grew.

Two women of the village near this place came here to break fire-wood. Because one of the two women had pregnancy longing, uprooting the plant [used as a] vegetable, she cooked and ate it to allay the longing. After she ate thus, the woman having given birth to a female child she grew up extremely beautiful, like the dead Kinnara woman.

During this time, the Prince in succession to his father-in-law had come to the sovereignty, it is said. At the time when the child born like the Kinnara woman had arrived at sufficient age, the King having come and having seen her when he was going [past], remembered the dead Kinnara woman, and having tied his affections on the young woman endeavoured to obtain her, it is said. But her two parents not being pleased at it, as the King was going to walk away beat him, and killed him.

After the King died, when the King’s men were burying him they gave the kingship to his son. After this son arrived at the time when he understood matters, he asked his mother how his father the King died, and ascertaining it he seized the men of the village at which they killed the King, and having put them in a ship he launched it on the sea. The men having cast nets, catching fish [in them] got their livelihood. After this, having cast the net and made efforts, catching a hundred Seer fishes they went to the village that was visible on shore. That village, indeed, is now Mīgamuwa (Negombo).

Western Province.

The capture of the Prince by a low-caste village girl is apparently borrowed from Sinhalese history. In the second century before Christ, Prince Sāli, the only son of King Duṭṭha-Gāmaṇi, fell in love with a beautiful village girl of low-caste,—according to tradition a Duraya girl—married her, and in order to retain her abandoned his succession to the throne. According to the historians, his infatuation was due to his grandfather’s having been a pious man of low-caste in his former life, and to the Prince’s marrying the girl in a previous existence, both of them then being of the same caste.

1 Tun pas-wissak, lit., three [times] a five [and] twenty. 

2 Compare No. 225. 

3 Wēlāwē hō awēlāwē hō. 

4 Æt-muhunin bat munu bin̆ḍinṭa epāya. 

5 Because he thought the elephant was supernaturally prevented from killing him. 

6 Apparently from Skt. kal, to impel, hold, fasten. (See p. 340.) 

7 The narrator thought that Roḍiyās are Kinnarās. 

8 That is, she said the word with a mental reservation that he should be unable to act accordingly. 

No. 246

The Way in which the Prince traded

In a certain country the son of a King having thought that he himself earning it he must obtain a living, asked permission for it from his father the King.

Then the King said, “Son, if the goods that there are of mine will do without your earning a living and [thus] obtaining it, you can live happily, enjoying the possession of this wealth which there is,” he said.

But the Prince, being dissatisfied with it, said to his father the King, “In order for me to do trading, having loaded goods in a ship please give me charge of it,” he said.

Because of the strong wish of the Prince in this matter, the King having caused three ships to be constructed, loaded goods in one and gave the Prince charge of it, and sent the other two ships for the purpose of his protection.

After these three ships had sailed a considerable distance, a strong wind struck them; and the two ships which went for his protection having sunk, the ship in which was the Prince drifted to a shore.

Thereupon the Prince having said, “At what country have we arrived?” when he began to walk there for the purpose of looking, he saw a city in which were houses without men, and an abandoned palace. At that time, in order to find a country in which are men, he caused a dependant of this Prince to climb up a very high tree; when he looked he saw at a place not far from there a city at which men are dwelling, and they went there.

When the Prince asked the men who were at the city the reason of there being a city with abandoned houses and an abandoned palace, the men said thus, that is, “Because the King who exercised the sovereignty over that city did much wrong, a deity having sent a fire-ball¹ through the whole city once in three months, began to destroy it.”

Thereupon this Prince who owned the ship, asking for a very clever clerk from the Minister who ruled the city, arrived there on the day on which he sends the fire-ball to destroy the city. When he is sending the fire-ball the Prince asked the deity, “What is the reason for sending this fire-ball?”

The deity said, “The King who ruled here stole the goods of such and such men to these extents, put in prison falsely such and such men.” When he is saying a quantity of such-like matters, the clerk who went with the Prince wrote down the whole.

Thereupon the Prince said to the deity, “The goods which the King stole from the men I will apportion and give to them. I will assist the men who were put in prison without cause. Because of it, henceforward do not send the fire-ball and destroy the city.” When he said it the deity accepted it.

After that, the Prince having sold the goods that were in the ship and the ship also, and having assisted the families whom the wicked King had injured, together with the Minister governed the country.

One day this Prince having gone for hunting-sport, when he was going hunting, a deer, feeling the wound at the shooting and shooting, ran off in front. The Prince having run after the deer, became separated from his retinue. Having seen, when going along, that a very beautiful Princess is at a rock cave in the midst of the forest, when he asked her [regarding] the circumstance, she said, “A Yakā brought me and put me in this rock cave. Once in three months he comes to look [at me].” Thereupon the Prince, calling for his retinue, and when it came having gone away taking this Princess, gave her in marriage to the Minister.

After this, because neither this Princess nor the Minister, both of them, paid regard to this Prince who had assisted them, the Prince having become angry went away.

Having gone thus, becoming wearied he went to sleep near a pool in the midst of the forest. At this time, two robbers having come, placed [there] a very beautiful Princess on a golden bed, and being unable to divide them, [each] cried out, saying, “The bed for me; the Princess for me. Give me them.”

Thereupon the Prince, having opened his eyes and said, “Who are ye?” sprang near them, taking his sword, and said, “I am such and such a Prince. I will kill you. If I am not to kill you, give me the Princess, and if ye want the bed take ye it away.” The two robbers having become afraid, taking the bed went away.

This Prince went away, taking the Princess, and having arrived at a country, dwelt there in misery. At this time, her father the King made public that to the person who, having found, gave him this Princess, he will give a share from the kingdom, and marry and give her.

Well then, for the purpose of finding her, a young man from the Princess’s country having walked to all places, at last arrived by chance at the place where both of them are residing. Recognising the Princess, and during that day night getting a resting-place there and having stayed at it, he stole the Princess, and went near her father the King.

Thereupon the Princess said to her father the King, “Do not give me in marriage to this wicked one. There is a Prince who at the very first delivered me from robbers. While that Prince was there [after] finding me, this wicked one having gone [there], stealing me by force came away.” Thereupon the King commanded them to impale this man, and kill him.

Through grief at [her loss], that Prince who was [there] having come after seeking her for three months, [the King] gave him this Princess in marriage, and gave him the kingship of that country, also.

Western Province.

1 Gini geḍiyak. 

No. 247

A Princess and a Prince

In a certain country a King had an only daughter, it is said. The Princess was a possessor of an extremely beautiful figure. The King taught her the sciences to the extent to which she was able to learn. This Princess having arrived at maturity, the King ordained that a Prince who having heaped up masuran [amounting] to five tusk elephants’ loads, should show [and give] him them, may marry her.

After that, although from several countries Princes came to marry her because this Princess’s figure is beautiful, having been unable to procure masuran [amounting] to five tusk elephants’ loads their minds became disheartened, and they went away.

At last, out of the seven sons of a certain Emperor-King, one person said to his father the King, “Father,¹ should you not give me masuran [equal] to five tusk elephants’ loads, undoubtedly, cutting my throat (lit., neck) myself, I shall die.”

The King asked, “What is that for?”

“In such and such a country there is a very beautiful daughter of the King. To marry her, first it is necessary to give masuran [equal] to five tusk elephants’ loads.”

Thereupon the Emperor-King having loaded the masuran into a number of carts, handed them over to the Prince. Well then, this Prince, taking the masuran also, approached near the Princess’s father, the King. Having weighed his masuran, when he looked [into the account] still a few were short. Because of it having sold even the tusk elephant which the Prince brought, and having righted the five tusk elephants’ loads, after he showed them to the King, the father of the Princess, he gave the Princess in marriage to this Prince.

Because of this Prince’s act, the Princes who having come first to marry the Princess and having been unable went away, became angry, and formed the design to steal the Princess for themselves.

After the Prince lived in happiness for a little time at the palace of the King, the father of the Princess, he asked the King, the Princess’s father, for permission to go to his own country with the Princess. When he had asked permission even many a time because the father of the Princess was very unwilling, by very strong effort he set off to go, together with the Princess.

When going thus, the Princess’s father gave her ten masuran. As these two persons, taking the ten masuran, were going journeying they fell into a great forest wilderness. Leaving behind the forest wilderness, when they arrived at another country, because [only] two masuran remained over for them, getting a living became very difficult.

Thereupon the Princess said to the Prince, “I know the means to earn our living, therefore be not afraid. For [the value of] the remaining two masuran bring threads of such and such colours,” she said.

The Prince having brought them, the beautiful Princess knitted a scarf [like one] she was wearing, and having put flower work, etc., [in it], and finished, gave it to the Prince, and said, “Having gone taking this scarf and sold it to a shop, please bring and give me the money,” she said. Thereupon the Prince having taken it and gone, and having sold it for twenty masuran, thereafter bought at the price the requisite threads of several colours, and gave them to the Princess. Well then, while the Princess is making ready scarves, having obtained money and rented a house at the city, she dwelt with the Prince.

While [they were] dwelling thus, a Prince came to the shop at which she sold the scarves, and buying an invaluable scarf of these, and ascertaining that it was the scarf woven by such and such a Princess, asked the shopkeeper, “Who brought and sold the scarves?”

Then the shopkeeper said, “Such and such a handsome man sold them to me,” he said.

Having said, “When will the scarf trader come again to the shop?” and having ascertained it from the shopkeeper, he came on the day which the shopkeeper mentioned, in order to meet the Prince scarf trader.

Having come thus, and met with the very Prince who trades in the scarves, and conversed well, he asked, “Who knits the scarves?”

Then the Prince gave answer, “My wife knits them.”

Thereupon the other Prince said, “The scarves are extremely good. I want to get knitted and to take about ten or fifteen of them.”

Having said [this], and having come to the place where this Princess and Prince are living, and given a deposit of part of the money for the month, he got a resting-place there that day night.

In this manner getting a resting-place and having been there, in the middle of the night stealing the Princess, the Prince who got the resting-place took her to his palace. This Prince, for the Princess whom he stole and the Prince who was her lord to become unconscious, caused them to drink a poisonous drug while they were sleeping. This Prince who stole the Princess was a person who at first having gone to marry her, was not wealthy [enough] to procure the masuran [amounting] to five tusk elephants’ loads.

Well then, on the day on which he went stealing the Princess, he received a letter from his father the King, that he must go for a war. Because of it, having put the Princess whom he stole in the palace, and placed guards, and commanded that they should not allow her to go outside it, he went for the war.

While she was [there] in this manner, in the morning consciousness having come to the Prince who had married the Princess and become her lord, he opened his eyes, and having seen that the Princess was not there, as though with madness he began to walk to that and this hand. While going thus, he went to go by the street near the palace in which his Princess is put. When going there, after the Princess had looked in the direction of the street from the floor of the upper story, she saw that her Prince is going; and at that very time having written a letter she sent it to the Prince by the hand of a messenger.

In the letter was said, “At night, at such and such a time please come to such and such a place. Then I having arrived there, and both of us having joined together, let us go by stealth to another country.”

The Prince as soon as he received the letter went near a jungle, and thinking, “Here are no men,” read the letter somewhat loudly.

Then a man who, having gone into the jungle to draw out creepers and having become fatigued, was lying down near there, heard his reading of the letter. Because the man heard this matter, in the night time, at the time which was written in the Princess’s letter, taking a sword also, he went to the place which she mentioned. When the Princess, too, at the appointed time went to the said place, the man who went to cut creepers having waited there, seized her hand, and they quickly travelled away. While they were going, in order that the guards and city residents should not be able to recognise them, not doing much talking they journeyed quickly in the darkness, by the jungle, to the road.

The Prince who was appointed the husband of the Princess, having read without patience the letter which the Princess sent, arrived at the place mentioned before the appointed time; and having [sat down and] leaned against a tree until she comes, after the journey he made went to sleep. At this time the man who went to cut creepers came, bringing the sword. If he had met with the Prince, he would have even killed him, with the design to take away the Princess.

This Princess, together with that man, having arrived at a great forest wilderness, both persons went to sleep under a tree. After it became light, having opened her eyes, and when she looked having seen that she had come with a very ugly man, unpleasing to look at, becoming very distressed she began to weep.

Then the man said, “After you have now come so far with me, should you leave me you will appoint yourself to destruction. Because of it, are you willing that I should marry you?” he asked.

The Princess said, “I am willing; but in our country there is a custom. In that manner we must keep it,” she said.

The creeper cutter agreed to it, that is, the woman and man, both of them, who are to marry, having looked face to face, with two ropes of fine thread are to be tied at a post, and after they have proclaimed their willingness or unwillingness for their marrying, they must marry. “Well then, because in this forest wilderness there are not ropes of fine thread, let us tie ourselves with creepers,” she said.

Because there was not anyone to tie the two persons at once (eka pāraṭa), the other having tied one person, after this one proclaimed her or his willingness the other was to be tied. Firstly having tied the Princess with a turn of creeper, after she proclaimed her consent he unloosed her. After that, the Princess, having very thoroughly made tight and tied to the tree the creeper cutter, quickly went away backward to seek her lord.

While going in that way she met with two Vaeddās. Thereupon the two Vaeddās, with the design to take this Princess, began to make uproar.

Thereupon the Princess said, “Out of you two, I am willing to come with the skilful one in shooting furthest,” she said.

At that time the two Vaeddās, having exerted themselves as much as possible, shot the two arrows [so as] to go very far, and to fetch the arrows went running to the place where they fell. While they were in the midst of it the Princess went off very stealthily.

The two Vaeddās having come and having seen that the Princess had gone, began to seek her. When they were thus seeking her, that creeper cutter whom she had tied and placed there when she came away, somehow or other unfastening the tying, came seeking the Princess; and having joined with these Vaeddās began to seek [her with them].

While they were in the midst of it, the Princess having gone walking, met with a trader. The trader, taking her and having journeyed, at noon became wearied, and went to sleep in the shade under a tree. Then the Princess taking a part of the trader’s clothes and putting them on, went like a man, and arrived at a royal palace. The King having said to this one, “What can you do?” [after] ascertaining it, gave this one the charge to teach the King’s son and also the Minister’s son.

During the time while she is thus educating in the sciences these two Princes, one day the Minister’s son, because of an accidental necessary matter went into the room where this Princess who was made his teacher is sleeping. At the time when he went, the Princess’s outer robe having been aslant, the Minister-Prince saw her two breasts, and went seeking the King’s son to inform him that she was a woman.

The Princess, ascertaining this circumstance, stealing from the palace the clothes of a royal Prince and putting them on, went away very hastily. She went away thus in the disguise of a Prince, by a street near a palace of the chief city in another country.

Because a handsome husband, pleasing to the mind of the daughter of the King of that country, had not been obtained by her, she remained for much time without having married. Although many royal Princes came she was not pleased with them. But having been looking in the direction of the street from a window of the upper story floor, and having seen this Princess of extremely beautiful figure going in the disguise of a Prince, very hastily she sent to her father the King, and informed him, “Please give me the hand of that Prince who is travelling in the street, as my lord-husband.”

Then the King, having sent a messenger and caused this Prince to be brought near the King, and shown him the Princess, said, “You must marry this Princess. If not, I shall appoint you to death.” This Princess who was in the disguise of a Prince through fear of death consented to it.

After that, having appointed the wedding festival in a great ostentatious manner, they married these two persons. In that night the Princess who was in the disguise of a Prince, having told the other Princess all the dangers that occurred to her, and told her that she is a Princess, said to her, “Don’t inform any one about it.”

Remaining in this manner, the Princess who is in the Prince disguise began to seek her husband. It was thus:—This Princess having caused to be made ready a very spacious hall which causes the minds of the spectators who saw it to rejoice to the degree that from the outer districts men come to look at it, began to cause donations [of food] to be given to all who arrive there.

Having caused her own figure to be made from wax, and having put clothes on it, and established it at a place in front of this hall, she caused guards to be stationed around, and commanded them, “Any person having come near this wax figure, at the very time when he has touched it you are to bring that person near me.” She said [thus] to the guards.

While a few days were going, men came from many districts to look at this hall. Among them, having walked and walked seeking this Princess, were her Prince and the creeper cutter, the two Vaeddās and the trader, the royal Prince and the Minister-Prince. The whole of them having come and seen this wax figure, touched the hand of the wax figure. The guards who were stationed there, because the whole of these said persons touched the wax figure, arrested them and gave charge of them to the Princess.

Thereupon the Princess commanded them to kill the creeper cutter. Having censured the Vaeddās she told them to go. To the son of the King who caused her to teach, she gave in marriage the Princess whom, having come in the disguise of the Prince, she married. Taking charge of her own Lord she from that time lived in happiness.

Western Province.

The story of the Prince and Princess (No. 8, vol. i) bears a close resemblance to this tale in some of the incidents; see also No. 108 in vol. ii.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. iii, p. 62) the story of Āli Shār and Zumurrud also contains similarities. When the two had no other means of support, Zumurrud sent her master or husband to buy a piece of silk and thread for working on it. She then embroidered it for eight days as a curtain, which Āli Shār sold for fifty dīnārs to a merchant in the bazaar, after she had warned him not to part with it to a passer-by. They lived thus for a year, till at last he sold one to a stranger, owing to the urging of the merchants. The purchaser followed him home, inserted opiates into a half plantain which he presented to him, and when Āli Shār became unconscious fetched his brother, a former would-be purchaser of Zumurrud, and they carried off the girl. By arrangement with an old woman, a friend of the youth’s, she lowered herself from a window at midnight, but Āli Shār, who waited there for her, had fallen asleep, and a Kurdish thief in the darkness took her away, and left her in charge of his mother. When this woman fell asleep she escaped on horse-back in male attire, was elected King at a city at which she arrived, and by giving a monthly feast to all comers in a great pavilion that she erected for the purpose, seized all her captors, and caused them to be flayed alive. At last she found her husband in this way.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (collected by Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 301, the marriage of the disguised wife of a Prince to a Princess occurs. While they were travelling the Prince was imprisoned on a false charge, his wife dressed as a man, was seen by a Princess who fell in love with her, and agreed to marry the Princess if according to the custom of her own country the vermilion were applied to the bride’s forehead with a sword (the marriage to the sword). When she told the Princess her story the latter informed the Raja, who released the Prince and remarried his daughter to him.

1 Piyāneni. 

No. 248

Concerning a Royal Princess and Two Thieves

In a certain country there was a King. There was one Princess, only, of the King’s. Except the King’s Queen and Princess, only, there was not any other child. At the time when the Princess was twelve years old the King died. After he died any person does not go to do the work at the royal house as in the time when the King was there. By reason of this, the Princess and Queen are doing the work in the palace without any one.

When not much time had gone, two men came to the royal house without [anything] to eat and to wear. At that time this royal Queen asked, “What have ye come for?”

Thereupon these men said that being without [anything] to eat and to wear they came seeking a means of subsistence.

Then the Queen said, “It is good. If so, remain ye here.” The men having said, “It is good,” stayed there. The work she gave them, indeed, was [this]: she told one person to cause the cattle to graze; she told one person to pour water [on the plants] at the flower garden.

After that, the man who looks after the cattle having taken the cattle to a garden of someone or other and left them, was lying down under a tree. At that time the owner of the garden having come, and having beaten him and the cattle, drove them away. After that, the man having put the cattle somewhere else, [after] causing them to graze there went to the palace.

The man to whom was given the charge to pour the water, from morning until evening comes having drawn water, became much fatigued. On the following day, with the thought of changing [the work of] both persons that day, he asked the man who went to cause the cattle to graze, “Friend, how is the work you went for? Is it easy or difficult?”

Thereupon the man who looks after the cattle said, “Anē! Friend, having taken the cattle and put them in a garden, I lie down. When it becomes evening I come driving them, and tie them up. Except that, there is not any difficulty for me,” he said. Having said thus, the man who looks after the cattle asked the man who pours the water, “How, friend, is your work?”

The man said, “What, friend, is my work? Having poured a bucket or two of water on the flower trees I simply amuse myself.”

Then the man who looks after the cattle said, “If so, friend, I will pour the water at the flower garden to-morrow; you take the cattle.” Thereupon the man, being thankful, said, “It is good.”

On the following day both persons did accordingly. That day, also, he beat the man who looks after the cattle, in an inordinate manner. The man who remained at home, having poured water until it became night, was wearied.

Having seen that these two works were difficult, both these men in the evening spoke together very softly. The Queen and Princess having become frightened at it, put all the money into an iron box, and having shut it and taken care of it, put it away.

These men having heard that noise, and having waited until the time when the Princess and the Queen were sleeping, these two, lifting up that box, came away with it. There was a waterless well. Having said they would hide it in the well, one told [the other] to descend into the well. What did the other do? Taking a large round stone, he dropped it into the well, so that the man who was in the well should die. Having dropped it, the man, taking the cash-box, went somewhere else. That stone not having struck the man who descended into the well, with much exertion he came to the surface of the ground, and when he looked the man was not [there].

On the following day, the Queen having arisen, at the time when she looked she perceived that the cash-box was not [there]. Having perceived it, she asked the man who remained [regarding it]. The man said, “Anē! I don’t know.”

When the Queen asked, “Where is the other man?” this man said, “That man himself will have taken it. The man is not here.”

The Queen having said, “Well, what can I do?” remained without doing anything.

The man who stayed at the palace having inquired on the following day, when he looked about met with the cash-box, [the other man] having placed it in the chena jungle. Having taken it, he came back and gave it to the Queen.

Thereupon, the Queen being very thankful, and having married and given that Princess to the man, he remained [there] exercising the kingship virtuously, as [was done] before.

Western Province.

In Folk-Tales of Bengal (L. Behari Day), p. 160, two thieves determined to live honestly, and were engaged by a householder, one to tend a cow, the other to water a Champaka plant, at which he was told to pour water until some collected round it. The dry earth absorbed all he poured, and in the afternoon, tired out, he went to sleep. The cow taken out by the other man to graze was a wild vicious one; it galloped about into rice fields and sugar-cane plantations, and did much damage, for which the man was well scolded, together with fourteen generations of his forefathers. At last he managed to catch the cow, and bring it home. Each man told the other of the easy day he had had, intending to get the other man’s work; and at last they arranged to exchange duties. On the following day, when they met in the evening, both worn out, they laughed, and agreed that stealing was preferable to what people called honest labour. They decided to dig at the root of the plant, and learn why it took so much water. Their subsequent adventures are given in vol. ii, p. 94. A similar story is given in Folklore of the Santal Parganas (Dr. Bodding), p. 139, the men being two brothers who went off and were engaged as labourers, one by an oilman and the other by a potter.

In The Indian Antiquary, vol. xxv, p. 21, in a story by Naṭēśa Sāstrī, two rogues who agreed to work for an old woman had similar experiences, each boasting of the easy day he had had. In this tale the woman had secret subterranean channels which carried the water to a field that she cultivated. Afterwards, as she overheard them arranging to rob her she buried her treasure in a corner of the house, filled the box which had contained it with stones and pieces of old iron, told them she hid it in the well during the dark half of the month (when thieves might try to take it), and made them carry it there and drop it in. At night they went to remove it, the man who descended opened it in the well and found she had tricked them, but being afraid the other would leave him in the well he emptied it, sat in it, said it was full of treasure, and told the other to draw it up. The man absconded with it as soon as he raised it, until a voice told him to walk more slowly, on which he opened it and found the other rogue in it.

No. 249

How the Nāgayā became the Princess

In a certain country there was a royal Prince, it is said. This Prince one day having gone for garden sport, and while on his return journey having seen a beautiful woman belonging to a nobleman’s family, his mind was attracted towards her, it is said. When the Prince with his mind thus greatly attracted towards the woman is feeling keen sorrow, not obtaining sleep, dwelling foodless, for several days in succession not having eaten, his body grew extremely emaciated.

At the time when his father the King inquired what were the reasons of it, he informed him that he wanted to take in marriage a nobleman’s daughter, it is said. The King having heard his word, asked the assemblage of Ministers whether the transaction was suitable or unsuitable. And the assemblage of Ministers having said that should he take [a wife] in marriage in that manner a disgrace will go to the royal race, he rejected it. But having seen that because of the young Prince’s grief from day to day his body becomes [more] emaciated, his father the King took and gave him a [bride in] marriage from another royal family. Yet except that he contracted this marriage because of the urgent request of his father the King, for himself, indeed, he did not desire even to look in the direction of the Princess whom he married.

At the time when he is thus, having concealed from the King that he does not pay regard to his married wife, since thereafter the Prince attempted the obtaining of the nobleman’s daughter for himself [the King] ordered the Prince to go out of the country.

The Prince, upon the word of his father the King having mounted on a ship and become ready to go to the foreign country, put the Princess whom he took in marriage into a rock house (cave), and having placed guards around, and made them give her food once in four days, said thus to the Princess, “When, having gone to a foreign country, I come again to this country, having borne a Prince like me do thou keep and rear him virtuously. Should it not be so I will speedily cause thee to be killed and cut into bits,” he said. The Prince said thus with the intention of indeed killing the Princess. Why was that? Because from the day when he contracted the marriage there had not been a [conjugal] association of these two.

Well then, she ascertained that she cannot perform even one of the orders that were told to the Princess. Well, this Princess’s father had presented and given to her two tunnelling rats.¹ By the help of these rats having made a tunnel [by which] to go outside from the rock house, she came out by the tunnel, and making even the guards her friends, went near a woman who knows extremely clever dances; and having given money, [after] learning up to the other shore itself² her art of dancing, she went to the neighbourhood [of the place] from which on the first occasion the Prince was to mount into the ship, putting on a dress that was attracting the wonder of each of the persons who saw it, in such a manner that anyone should be unable to recognise her. Having shown dances in front of the Prince, and caused his mind to long for her, and that day night having slept with him, on the following day she went to the house of the King her father.

The Prince having gone to foreign countries, the Princess was living in happiness at the house of her father until learning news of his coming again to his own country. Having heard news that the Prince descended from the ship, and having gone to the rock house together with the guards of whom at first she was making friends, she remained [there] in the manner which the Prince ordered on going. Because the Prince came after a number of years had passed away, she had a fine infant Prince.

Well then, the Prince, having descended from the ship and having come with the intention [after] having killed his wife to take in marriage the nobleman’s Princess, opened the door of the rock house, and at the time when he looked saw that the Princess is [there] with an infant Prince in the very manner he said. While he was in extreme anger, the Princess, while in the midst between the Royal Council and her husband, related the method by which she obtained her child.

After that, when in a very public manner the Prince completely abandoned his wife her parents did not take charge of her. Because of it, having gone near an indigent woman she dwelt with her child. Because the Prince had extreme affection for the child he thought to take the child [after] having given poison to the Princess and killed her.

At this time, because the Siṭu Princess whom the Prince was intending to take in marriage had been taken and given and settled for another person, he contracted marriage with another Princess. On the day of the festival at which he contracts³ this marriage, on his sending to his indigent former wife a sort of cakes in which poison was mixed, when she was partaking of them she performed the act of Yama.⁴

After she died, a Nāga maiden began to give milk to the infant. The Prince having gone on horseback to bring the infant, at the time when he brought it to the royal house the Nāga maiden also went behind [in her snake form]. The Prince having seen the Nāga maiden while the head part of the Nāgayā was inside the doorway and the tail part outside the doorway, when he cut it in two with his sword the Nāgayā vanished, and the Princess who was the mother of the infant remained in front [of him].⁵ The Prince ascertaining [thereby] that he was unable to kill her, established her in the post of Chief Queen.

Western Province.

1 Uman̥-mīyō. Compare p. 81, vol. ii. 

2 Para-teraṭama, completely, from top to bottom. 

3 Lit., ties. 

4 The God of Death. 

5 Compare the similar incident in vol. i, p. 133. 

No. 250

The Story of the Cobra’s Bite

In a certain country there was a King, it is said. Belonging to that King there was only a single son-Prince. He handed over this Prince to a Royal Preceptor for teaching him the arts and sciences. Although until this Prince became big to a [considerable] degree he was learning near the Royal Preceptor, he did not properly get to know even a single letter.

While he was staying thus, a King of another country sent a letter to his father the King. Thereupon he gave this letter to the Prince to read. The Prince, bringing the letter near his forehead, looked at it, rubbing his eye he looked, (after) running round the house he looked; but he was unable to read it. The royal retinue who saw this laughed.

At that time anger having arisen in the King concerning this, he very quickly caused the Royal Preceptor to be brought. He spoke to him angrily. The Royal Preceptor, becoming afraid [said], “Your Majesty, your son is unable to learn. Let this [other] child who learnt at the same time with that Prince, and this child who came to learn after that, read, if you please;” and he presented two children before him. Thereupon the two children read the letter with ease. After that, the King being angry with his Prince, settled to kill him on the following day.

His mother the Queen having arrived at much grief concerning this, on the following day, at the point of its becoming light, having tied up a packet of masuran and given it to him, ordered him to set off and go away from the country. And the Prince, in the manner his mother said, taking the packet of masuran set off and went away from the country.

While he was thus going he saw a place where an astrologer, assembling children (lamō) together, is teaching. The Prince having halted at that place and spoken to the teacher about learning [under him], remained there. And although, having stayed there much time, he endeavoured to learn, while he was there also he was unable to learn.

During this time the astrologer-teacher having become afflicted with disease, dismissed and started off the whole of the scholars. He told the Prince to go away. At the time when the Prince was going, he approached to take permission from the teacher. Thereupon the teacher, having spoken to the Prince, said, “Learning even the advice which I now give to yourself, take it and establish it in your mind as long as there is life.” The Prince answered, “It is good.”

The advice indeed was this:—“Having gone to a place to which you did not go [before], should they give any seat for sitting down, without sitting there at once you must draw out and shake the seat, and [then] sit down. While you are at any place, should they give to eat, not eating the food at once, [but] taking a very little from the food, after having given it to an animal and looked at it a little time you must eat. Having come to an evil place to take sleep, not lying down at once you must lie down at the time of being sleepy. Not believing anything that any person has only said, should you hear it with the ear and see it with the eye [even], not believing it on that account only, [but] having inquired still further, you must act.”

[After] hearing this advice the Prince having set out from there, went away. At the time when he had gone a considerable distance, the Prince became hungry; and the Prince having halted at a place, said to the house man, “Anē! Friend, I am very hungry. I will give you the expenses; give me to eat for one meal.”

Having said [this], the Prince unfastened the packet of masuran that was in his hand, and from it gave him a single masurama. The man after having seen these told his wife about the packet of masuran that the Prince had.¹ The wife also having become desirous to take the packet of masuran, told her husband the stratagem to kill the Prince and take them. Talking in this way, they dug a secret (boru) hole and covered it, and having fixed a seat upon it made him sit there to eat food.

The Prince having established in his mind the advice which the astrologer-teacher gave, drew away and shook the seat; at the time when he endeavoured to look [at the place] all the things that were there fell into the secret hole. Having seen this and arrived at fear, the Prince set off from there and began to go away.

Having thus gone a considerable distance, and having halted at a place because of hunger, the Prince said to a man, “On my giving the expenses give me to eat for one meal.” Thereupon the man said, “It is good.”

Then the Prince, having unfastened the packet of masuran, bringing a masurama gave it to the man. The man having told his wife also about the matter of the masuran, they arranged a means to kill the Prince and take the masuran. Having thought of giving poison to the Prince to kill him while here, they put poison into the food, and having set a seat and brought a kettle of water for washing himself, gave it to him.

The Prince, after washing his [right] hand and mouth, having gone and sat down, according to the advice of the astrologer-teacher taking from all the food a very little gave it to the dog and cat that were near the Prince, and remained looking [at them] a little time. While he was [waiting] thus, in a little time the dog and cat died and fell down. Having seen this and become afraid, the Prince set off from there and began to go away.

Having gone on and on in this way, near the palace of another King through hunger-weakness he fell, and struck the ground. The men who saw this having gone running, said to the King [that] a man like a royal Prince had fallen down, and was not far from the palace. The King gave orders, “Very speedily bring him here.” Thereupon the men having lifted him up, took him to the royal house.

While he was there, when he asked him [regarding] the circumstances, “I am very weak through hunger;² for many days I have not obtained any food,” he said.

“At first having made rice gruel, give ye him a little,” the King said.

Thereupon the servants having said, “It is good” (Yahapataeyi), prepared and gave it. After his weakness was removed in this way, he asked him [about] the circumstances. Commencing at the beginning, from the time (taen) when he went near the Royal Preceptor, he told the story before the King (raju).

Then the King spoke, “Wast thou unable to learn letters? Not thus should a royal Prince understand. Wast thou unable to learn the art of swords, the art of bows, etc.?” he asked.

Thereupon, when answering he said he knew the whole of those arts; only letters he did not know.

At that time the King thought thus, “Because of his not knowing only letters, ordering them to kill him was wrong, the first-born son. Remain thou near me,” he commanded.

Belonging to the King there was a single daughter only. As there were no sons he regarded this Prince like a son. When not much time had gone thus, the King thought of giving [a Princess] in marriage to him. The King having spoken to him, said thus, “Tell me which place is good for bringing [a Princess from], to marry to thee.” Many a time he told him [this].

And the Prince when replying on all the occasions said, “I am not willing to leave His Majesty the King and go away.”

Thereupon ascertaining that he says thus through willingness that he should marry the King’s daughter to him, he said, “I am not willing to give my daughter to thee. Shouldst thou say, ‘Why is that?’ seven times now, seven Princes married (baen̆dēya) that person. They having died, on the following day after the Princes married her it befel that I must bury them. Because death will occur to thee in the very same way, I am not willing to give my daughter to thee,” he said.

Thereupon the Prince said thus, “To a person for whom death is not ordained death does not come; death having been ordained that person will die. Because of that, I am wishful to marry (ban̆dinṭa) that very Princess,” he said. Then the King fulfilled his wish. Thus they two having married, according to the custom he sent them away [into a separate dwelling].

While he was with that very Princess, having remembered the warning given on that day by the astrologer-teacher, being heavy with sleepiness while eating betel, he woke up many times. At this time the Princess had gone to sleep.

[At last] he hears a sound in the house. The Prince having heard it and become afraid, at the time when he was looking about [after] taking his sword in his hand, he saw a cobra of a size equal to a Palmira trunk descending from the roof. This cobra, indeed, was a young man who had tied his affection to this Princess, a person who having died through his love [for her] was [re-]born a cobra. Through anger towards all who marry the Princess he killed them.

The royal Prince having gone aside, in a little time it descended until it was near the ground. [Then] the Prince by one stroke of the sword cut the cobra into three pieces. Thus the danger which there had been for much time that day was destroyed.

On the following day, according to custom with fear the servants arrived in front of the Princess’s house. But the Prince having come out, placed the three pieces of the cobra upon a post. Thereupon having been amazed, the royal servants very speedily ran off and told the King (rajuhaṭa) about this. The King, also, having arrived there was astonished, and commanded them to take the trunk of the cobra to the cemetery, and burn it.

During these very days, another King having asked the Great King for assistance for a war, sent letters. And the King sent this Prince to the war, with the army. When he had thus gone, in a few days the Princess bore a son.

The war lasted twelve years. After twelve years, having conquered in the war he was ready to come to his own country. By this time the Princess’s son had become big. But the people of the country, not knowing whose son [he was], thought him a person who had married the Princess. And this news had become spread through the country.

The royal Prince having arrived near his own country, the Prince got to hear the news; but having remembered the warning of the astrologer-teacher, he thought that to believe it in the future he must make inquiry.

Coming close to the royal palace by degrees, he addressed the army; and thereafter, after he had beaten on the notification tom-tom, “Assemble ye,” having allowed them to go, when it became night he arrived inside the palace by an outer window. Thus he arrived in the house called after the Princess.

Having come in that way and seen that a youth was living with the Princess, he became angry, and said, “I will cut down the two persons,” taking the sword in his hand. [But] having remembered the warning of the astrologer-teacher, he said, “Without being hasty I will still test them,” and again he put the sword into the sheath.

At the sound, the [young] Prince who was with his mother opened his eyes, and having seen his father and become afraid, saying, “Mother, mother,” crept under the bed. The mother, too, having opened her eyes at this time and when she looked having seen her lord, spoke [to him]. Thereupon he told the Princess the whole circumstances, and for the Princess there was great sorrow [at the report spread regarding her].

On the morning of the following day, the Prince having seen the Great King told him about the war, and the manner in which he got the victory in it. And the King, being much pleased, appointed great festivals at the city; and having decorated the Prince with the Crown and given him the kingship, the King began to perform acts in view of the other world.

Western Province.

Compare the advice given to the Brāhmaṇa in No. 209 in this vol., and the variants appended.

In Folk-Tales of Bengal (L. Behari Day), p. 100, a Queen was married afresh every day to a person selected by the royal elephant, this new King each morning being found dead in some mysterious manner in the bed-room. A merchant’s son who had been obliged to leave his home was chosen as King by the elephant, and heard of the nocturnal danger. While he lay awake armed, he saw a long thread issue from the Queen’s left nostril; it grew thicker until at last it was a huge snake. He at once cut off its head, and remained there as the permanent King.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 137, each time the daughter of a King was married the bride-groom was found dead in the chamber on the following morning. When royal bride-grooms could be obtained no longer, the King ordered that from each house in turn a person of either the royal or Brāhmaṇa caste should be brought and allowed to remain in the room for one night, on the understanding that anyone who survived should be married to the Princess. All died, until at last a brave Brāhmaṇa from another country offered to take the place of the son of the widow with whom he was lodging. He remained awake, and in the night saw a terrible Rākshasa open the door, and stretch out his arm. The Brāhmaṇa at once stepped forward and cut off the arm, and the Rākshasa fled. The hero was afterwards married to the Princess. He met with the Rākshasa in the same way at another city, and learnt from him that by Śiva’s orders he was preventing the Princesses from being married to cowards.

In the same work, vol. ii, p. 449, there is an account of a Brāhmaṇa who placed himself under a teacher at Pāṭaliputra, but was so stupid that he did not manage to learn a single syllable.

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 32 ff., there is a variant; see note after No. 209 in this volume. The closest resemblance is in the episode in which the Prince takes the place of the Potter’s son who was about to be summoned to be married to the Princess whose husbands had all died on their wedding night. During the night the Prince was careful not to sleep; he lay down with his sword in his hand. In the middle of the night he saw two snakes issue from the nostrils of the Princess, and come towards him. He struck at them and killed them. Next morning the King was surprised to find him alive, and chatting with his daughters. The Prince then told the King who he was, and he became the heir apparent.

In Sagas from the Far East, p. 291, after a certain King died, the persons who were elected in turn as his successor died each night without any apparent cause. Vikramāditya and his companion, a youth who had been reared by wolves, took the place of a youth who had been chosen as King, and on inquiry learnt that as secret offerings that were made by the former King to the devas and spirits had been discontinued, it must be the offended spirits who killed each new King every night. When the offerings were made the deities were appeased, and no more deaths occurred in this way.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. iii, p. 263), there is an account of a haunted house in Baghdad; any person who stayed during the night in it was found dead in the morning. This was the act of a Jinni (demon) who was guarding a treasure which was to be made over to a specified person only. He broke the necks of all others, but when the right man came he gave him the treasure.

There is a variant of the first danger from which the youth escaped, in a Sierra Leone story given in Cunnie Rabbit, Mr. Spider, and the Other Beef (Cronise and Ward), p. 251. A King who had been falsely told that his son was likely to depose him, gave him two tasks which he accomplished successfully, and afterwards caused a deep hole to be dug, placed broken bottles in the bottom, spread a mat over it, set a chair on it, and told the boy to sit on it. The boy replied that he never sat down without first shaking the place. When he beat the mat with a heavy stick the chair fell into the hole, and the boy escaped.

For the pit-fall compare No. 159, vol. ii, and the appended notes.

1 Lit., that was near the Prince. 

2 Lit., “For me [there is] much hunger-weakness.” 

No. 251.

How they killed the Great-bellied Tambi¹

In a certain country there was a King, it is said. This King’s palace having been dug into by three dexterous thieves, they stole and got the goods.

Having seized these very three robbers, for the purpose of effecting their trial they brought them into the presence of the King. When the King asked these three robbers if they committed the robbery or not, they said that they committed the robbery. “If you thus committed the robbery are ye guilty or not guilty persons?” he asked. Thereupon they gave notice that they were not guilty persons.

When he asked, “How is that?” [they said that], as it was easy for them to dig into [the wall], because when the mason built the palace the mortar had been put in loosely, the mason was the guilty person owing to his doing that matter.

Thereupon the King having summoned the mason, when he asked him whether, because he put in the mortar loosely, he was guilty or not guilty, he gave notice that he was not guilty.

When he asked again, “How is that?” the mason said thus, “I had appointed a labourer to mix the lime. Owing to his inattention when doing it the mortar had become loose. Because of that, the labourer is the guilty person,” the mason said.

Thereupon having summoned the said labourer, he asked him whether because he put the mortar in loose (i.e., improperly mixed) he was guilty or not guilty. Then he gave notice that he was not the guilty person. How is that? While he was staying mixing the lime, having seen a beautiful woman going by that road, because his mind became attached to her the work became neglected. The labourer said that the woman was the guilty person.

Thereupon having summoned the woman, just as before he asked whether, regarding the circumstance that having gone by that road she caused the neglect of the labourer’s work, she was guilty or not guilty. She, too, said that she was not guilty. Why was that? A goldsmith having promised some of her goods, through her going to fetch them because he did not give them on the [appointed] day, this fault having occurred owing to her doing this business, the goldsmith was the guilty person.

Thereupon having summoned the goldsmith, when he asked him just as before he was not inclined to give any reply. Because of that, the King, having declared the goldsmith the guilty person, commanded them to kill the goldsmith by [causing him to be] gored by the tusk of the festival tusk elephant. He ordered them to kill this goldsmith, having set him against a large slab of rock, and causing the tusk elephant to gore him through the middle of the belly.

Well then, when the executioner was taking the goldsmith he began to weep. When [the King] asked him why that was, the goldsmith said thus, “Two such shining clean tusks of the King’s festival tusk elephant having bored a hole through my extremely thin body and having struck against the stone slab, will be broken. Because of sorrow for that I wept,” he gave answer.

“What is proper to be done concerning it?” the King asked.

Then the goldsmith says, “In the street I saw an extremely great-bellied Tambi. If in the case of that Tambi, indeed, the tusk elephant gore the belly, no wound will occur to the two tusks,” the goldsmith said.

Thereupon the King having summoned the great-bellied Tambi, caused the tusk elephant to gore him through his belly.

The goldsmith and the whole of the aforesaid [persons] went away in happiness.

Western Province.

In The Indian Antiquary, vol. xx, p. 78, a South-Indian variant was given by Naṭēśa Sāstrī. In order to commit robbery, a thief made a hole through a wall newly built of mud which slipped down on his neck and killed him. His comrade found the body, and reported that the owner of the house had murdered him. The owner blamed the cooly who built the wall; he blamed the cooly who used too much water in mixing the mud; he attributed it to the potter’s making too large a mouth for the water-pot; he blamed a dancing-girl for passing at the time and distracting his attention. She in turn laid the blame on a goldsmith who had not re-set in time a jewel which she gave him; he blamed a merchant who had not supplied it in time, though often demanded. He being unintelligent could offer no excuse, and was therefore impaled for causing the thief’s death.

1 Moorman, a Muhammadan trader. 

No. 252

How Mārayā was put in the Bottle

In a certain country, a woman without a husband in marriage bore a son, it is said. At that time the men living in the neighbourhood having come, asked the woman, “Who is thy husband?” Then the woman replied, “My husband is Mārayā.”¹

Mārayā having heard this word and being much pleased, thought, “I must get this woman’s son into a successful state.”

Having thought thus, after some time had gone, speaking to the son Mārayā said thus, that is to say, “Become a Vedarāla. I will give you one medicine only. Should I stay at the head side of any sick person, by giving the sick person the medicine the sick person will become well. Should I be at the feet side you cannot cure the sick person.” After that, this son having gone from place to place and having applied medical treatment, became a very celebrated doctor.

One day when this Vedarāla went to look at a sick person whom he very greatly liked, Mārayā was at the feet part of the sick person. At that time the Vedarāla having thought, “I must do a good work,” told them to completely turn round the bed and the sick person. Then the head side became the part where Mārayā stayed. Well then, when he had given him the Vedarāla’s medicine the sick person became well.

Mārayā having become angry with the Vedarāla concerning this matter, and having thought, “I must kill him,” Mārayā sat on a chair of the Vedarāla’s.

Because the Vedarāla had a spell which enabled him to perform the matters that he thought [of doing],² he [repeated it mentally and] thought, “May it be as though Mārayā is unable to rise from the chair.” Having thought thus, “Now then, kill me,” the Vedarāla said to Mārayā.

Well then, because Mārayā could not rise from the chair he told the Vedarāla to release him from it.

Then the Vedarāla said to Mārayā, “If, prior to killing me, you will give me time for three years I will release you,” he said.

Mārayā, being helpless,³ having given the Vedarāla three years’ time went away.

After the three years were ended Mārayā went to the Vedarāla’s house. The Vedarāla having become afraid, did a trick for this. The Vedarāla said to Mārayā, “Kill me, but before you kill me, having climbed⁴ up the coconut tree at this door you must pluck a young coconut to give me,” he said.

After Mārayā climbed up the coconut tree, having uttered the Vedarāla’s spell the Vedarāla thought, “May Mārayā be unable to descend from the tree.”

Well then, Mārayā, ascertaining that he could not descend from the tree, told the Vedarāla to release him. At that time the Vedarāla, asking [and obtaining] from Mārayā [a promise] that he should not kill him until still three years had gone, having released Mārayā sent him away.

The three years having been ended, on the day when Mārayā comes to the Vedarāla’s house the Vedarāla entered a room, and shutting the door remained [there]. But Mārayā entered straightway (kelimma) inside the room.

Then the Vedarāla asked, “How did you come into a room the doors of which were closed?”

Thereupon Mārayā said, “I came by the hole into which the key is put.”

The Vedarāla then said, it is said, “If I am to believe that matter, be pleased to creep inside this bottle,” he said.

Well then, after Mārayā crept into the bottle the Vedarāla tightened the lid (mūḍiya) of the bottle, and having beaten it down put it away.

From that day, when going to apply medical treatment on all days having gone taking the bottle in which he put Mārayā, he placed the bottle at the head side of the sick person; and having applied medical treatment cured the sick person. In this manner he got his livelihood.

Western Province.

In The Indian Antiquary, vol. i, p. 345, in a Bengal story by Mr. G. H. Damant, a shepherd discriminates a demon from a man whose form he has taken,—living with his wife during the man’s absence,—by boring through a reed, and saying that the true person must be the one who could pass through it. As the demon was passing through it he stopped both ends of the reed with mud, and killed him.

In the South Indian Tales of Mariyada Rāman (P. Ramachandra Rao), p. 43, a husband was returning home on an unlucky day (the ninth of the lunar fortnight), with his wife, who had been visiting her parents. When he left her on the path for a few moments, “Navami Purusha,” the deity who presided over the ninth day, made his appearance in the form of the husband and went away with the wife. The husband followed, and took the matter before Mariyada Rāman. The judge got a very narrow-necked jug prepared, and declared that he would give her to the claimant who could enter and leave the jug without damaging it or himself. When the deity did it the judge made obeisance to him, and was informed that the man’s form had been taken by him to punish him for travelling on an unlucky day against the Purōhita’s advice.

In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 182, when a Brāhmaṇa returned home after some years’ absence he was turned away by a person of his own appearance, and the King could not decide the matter. A boy elected as King by others in their play offered to settle it, and producing a narrow-mouthed phial stated that the one who entered it should have judgment in his favour. When the ghost transformed himself into “a small creature like an insect” and crept inside, the boy corked it up and ordered the Brāhmaṇa to throw it into the sea and repossess his home. The first part resembles a story in the Kathākoça (Tawney), p. 41, the interloper being a deity in it.

In the well-known tale in the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. i, p. 33), the receptacle in which the Jinni was imprisoned was “a cucumber-shaped jar of yellow copper” or brass, closed by a leaden cap stamped with the seal-ring of Solomon. In vol. iii, p. 54, and vol. iv, p. 32, other Ifrits were enclosed in similar jars made of brass, sealed with lead.

1 Māra, the God of Death, or Death personified. 

2 Compare the Kala spell in No. 245 of this vol., and the notes, p. 342, vol. ii. and p. 70 in this vol. 

3 Baeri taena, in a position of inability [to do anything]. 

4 Baḍa gālā, that is, by clasping his arms round it and rubbing his body on it, as he “swarmed” up it. 

No. 253

The Woman Pre-eminent in Cunning¹

At a city there was a very rich Heṭṭi young man. During the time when he was [there], they brought a bride² for the young man. What of their bringing her! The Heṭṭi young man was [engaged] in giving goods to many ships. Because of it, while the bride³ married (lit., tied) to the Heṭṭi young man was staying at home, the Heṭṭiyā went to give goods to ships. Having gone, [before his] coming back about six months passed.

At that time, [while he was absent], the Heṭṭi girl who was married [to him] one day went to the well to bring [water]. When she was going, a beard-cutting Barber man having stayed on the path and seen this beautiful woman, laughed. Thereupon the woman, not looking completely on that hand, looked at him with the roguish eye (hora aehin), and went to the village.

On the following day also, the Barber having come, just as before laughed. At that time also the woman, just as before, looked with the roguish eye, and went away.

The woman on the following day also came in order to go for water. That day also, the Barber having stayed on the path laughed. That day the woman having spoken to the Barber, asked, “What did you laugh for when I was coming? Why?”

The Barber said, “I did not laugh at anything whatever but because of the affection which you caused.”

Thereupon the woman asked, “Were you inclined to come with me?” The Barber said, “Yes.”

Then this woman said, “If you come, you cannot come in that way.⁴ The Great King having gone, after the Second King has come to Ceylon (Seyilama), after jasmine flowers have blossomed without [being on] creepers, having cut twenty, having stabbed thirty persons, having pounded three persons into one, when two dead sticks are being kneaded into one having mounted on two dead ones, should you come you can talk with me.”

Thereupon the Barber went home, and grief having bound him because he could not do [according to] the words which this woman said, he remained unable to eat cooked rice also.

At that time the Barber woman asked, “What are you staying [in this way] for, not eating cooked rice, without life in your body?”

The Barber said, “I thought of taking in marriage such and such a Heṭṭi woman. Owing to it the Heṭṭi woman said, ‘When the Great King has gone, when the Second King has come to Ceylon, when the flower of the creeperless jasmine has blossomed, having cut twenty, having stabbed thirty, having pounded three persons into one, when two dead sticks are becoming knocked into one, come mounted on the back of two dead ones.’ Because I cannot do it I remain in grief.”

Thereupon the Barber woman said, “Indō! Don’t you get so much grief over that. For it, I will tell you an advice. ‘The Great King having gone, when the Second King came to Ceylon,’ meant (lit., said), when the sun has set and when the moon is rising. ‘When the creeperless jasmine flower is blossoming,’ meant, when the stars are becoming clear. ‘Having cut twenty,’ meant, having cut the twenty finger [and toe] nails. ‘Having stabbed thirty,’ meant, having well cleaned the teeth (with the tooth-stick), to wash them well. ‘Having pounded three persons into one,’ meant, having eaten a mouthful of betel (consisting of betel leaf, areka-nut, and lime) you are to come. [These] are the matters she said.⁵ Because of it, why are you staying without eating? If you must go, without getting grieved go in this manner, and come back.”

Thereupon the Barber having gone in that manner, while he was there yet two [other] persons heard that those two are talking. When they heard—there is a custom in that country. The custom indeed is [this]: There is a temple [kōvila] in the country. Except that they give [adulterers, or perhaps only offenders against caste prohibitions in such cases as this?] as demon offerings (bili) for the temple, they do not inflict a different punishment [on them]. Because of it, seizing these two they took them for the purpose of giving [them as] demon offerings for the temple.

This Barber woman, learning about it, in order to save her husband undertook the charge of the food offering⁶ for the temple, and went to the temple taking rice and coconuts. Having gone there, and said that they were for the kapuwā⁷ (priest) of the temple, she came away calling her husband, too.

Then to that Heṭṭi woman this Barber woman [said], “Having said that you are cooking the food offering (pusē) which I brought, stay at the temple until the time when the Heṭṭirāla comes. The deity will not take you as the demon offering (billa).⁸ Your husband having come back will seek and look [for you]. When he comes seeking, say, ‘I having married my husband, he went away now six months ago. Because of it, having told my husband to come I undertook the charge for [cooking] the food offering.⁹ Just as I was undertaking the charge he came. Because of it, not having seen the face of my lord (himiyā), paying respect to the deity I came to cook the food offering.’ Continue to say this.”

Thereupon the Heṭṭi woman having done in that very manner, the Heṭṭiyā came. Well then, she having made the woman [appear] a good woman, [her husband], taking charge of her, came calling her to the house, and she remained [there] virtuously (hon̆da seyin).

This story was related by a woman in the North-central Province, to a man whom I sent to write down some stories at a village at which I had been promised them. Her name, given as Sayimanhāmī (Lady Simon), and expressions she used, show that she probably belonged originally to the Western Province.

It is difficult to understand how the condemned persons escaped. The interesting fact of the tale is the reference to the presentation of human offerings at a temple devoted to either one of the demons or the goddess Kālī. The Sinhalese expression, deviyan wahansē, deity, given in the text, might be applied to either.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 91, it is related in one story that “whenever a man is found at night with another man’s wife, he is placed with her within the inner chamber of the Yaksha’s (Maṇibhadra) temple.” In the morning the man was punished by the King; the country in which this occurred is not stated, but it was far from Tāmraliptā. When a merchant and a woman were so imprisoned, the merchant’s wife, hearing of it, went at night with offerings, and was permitted to enter. She changed clothes with the woman, and sent her out; and in the morning, as the woman in the temple was found to be the merchant’s own wife, the King dismissed the case, and freed the merchant “as it were from the mouth of death.” Thus the usual punishment appears to have been death, as in the Sinhalese tale.

1 Prayōga parannāwanta ga͞enī. 

2 Man̆gulak, a word which usually means a [wedding] feast, but is often used in the villages to signify the bride. 

3 Kasādē, literally “marriage,” here also used to signify the bride. 

4 That is, merely because he was inclined to go. 

5 The narrator omitted to make the woman explain the last two cryptic sayings. The final one, that he was to go mounted on the back of two dead ones, of course means that he was to wear a pair of shoes or sandals. 

6 Puseka, also pusē later on. Doubtless this is the Tamil pūsei (Skt. pūja), one meaning of which is food given as a religious offering. Puseka is puse + eka, one, used in such instances to express the definite article, as in kōṭeka, the coat. 

7 Kapiwaṭa in the text. The meaning is uncertain, kapi being a monkey, a sacred animal at Hindu temples. 

8 Perhaps because she would acquire sanctity through cooking the consecrated food. 

9 That is, made a vow to present or cook a food offering. 

No. 254

Mātalānā

In a certain country there was a man called Mātalānā, it is said. This man was the son of the concubine of the King of that country, it is said. That Mātalānā from infancy was getting his living by committing robbery.

Having been committing robbery in this manner, and having arrived at the age of a young man, Mātalānā having spoken to his mother, asked, “Mother, who is our father?”

Thereupon his mother says to him, “Son, thou art not a so-so (esē-mesē) person. The King of this country is thy father.”

When his mother said thus, having said, “It is good. If so, I will do a good work,” he began to steal things belonging to the King. During the time while he is thus committing robbery, the King in various ways having fixed guards, endeavoured to catch the thief, but he was unable to seize him.

Mātalānā getting to know that guard has been very carefully placed at the royal house, without going for robbery to the royal house began to steal the goods belonging to the King that are outside. Thereupon the King, having thought that somehow or other having caught the thief he must put him in the stocks, and having made the guards stop everywhere, caused a carpenter to be brought and said, “Having seized the thief who steals the things that are the King’s property, to make him fast in the stocks make a pair of stocks in a thorough manner. Regarding it, ask for and take the whole of the requisite things from the royal house.”

When the King ordered it, the carpenter, taking all the things suitable for it and having gone, made the stocks. On the day on which they were finished, Mātalānā, having arrived at the carpenter’s house, and having been talking very well [with him], asks the carpenter, “Friend, what is this you are making?”

Thereupon the carpenter says, “Why, friend, don’t you know? These are indeed the stocks I am making for the purpose of putting in the stocks the thief who steals the goods belonging to the King,” he said.

When Mātalānā asked, “Anē! How do you put the thief in the stocks in this,” the carpenter having put his two legs in the two holes of the stocks, to show him the method of putting him in the stocks at the time while he is making them, Mātalānā, having [thus] put the carpenter in the stocks, taking the key in his hand [after locking them], struck the carpenter seven or eight blows, and said, “[After] opening a hard trap remain sitting in it your own self, master,” and saying a four line verse also,¹ went away.

On the following day, when the King came to look at the stocks he saw that the carpenter has been put in the stocks. When he asked, “What is this?” he ascertained that the thief named Mātalānā, who is stealing the goods belonging to the King, had come, and having put the carpenter in the stocks and struck him blows went away. Thereupon the King having said, “It is good, the way the thief was put in the stocks!” dismissed the carpenter and went away.

After that, Mātalānā having gone stealing the King’s own clothes that were given for washing at the washerman’s house, at night descended to the King’s pool, and began to wash them very hard. The washerman, ascertaining that circumstance, gave information to the King. Thereupon the King, having mounted upon the back of a horse and the army also surrounding him, went near the pool to seize Mātalānā.

Mātalānā getting to know that the King is coming, the army surrounding him, came to the bank at one side of the pool, carrying a cooking pot that he himself had taken, and having launched [it bottom upwards] and sent it [into the pool], began to cry out, “Your Majesty, look there! The thief sank under the water; [that is his head]. We will descend into the pool from this side; Your Majesty will please look out from that side.”

While he was making the uproar, the foolish King, having unfastened [and thrown down] his clothes, descended into the pool.

Then Mātalānā [quickly came round in the dark, and] putting on the King’s clothes, and having mounted upon the back of the horse, says, “Look there, Bola, the thief! It is indeed he.” When he said, “Seize ye him,” the royal soldiers having seized the King, who had unloosed [and thrown off] his clothes, tied him even while he was saying, “I am the King.” Having tied the King to the leg of the horse on which Mātalānā had mounted, and, employing the King’s retinue, having caused them to thrash him, Mātalānā, in the very manner in which he was [before], having unloosed [and thrown off] the clothes [of the King], bounded off and went away.

After that, the retinue who came with the King having gone taking the [supposed] thief to the royal house, when they were looking perceiving that instead of the thief they had gone tying the King, were in fear of death. The King, not becoming angry at it, consoled his servants; and having been exceedingly angry regarding the deed done by Mātalānā, and having thought by what method he must seize Mātalānā, made them send the notification tom-tom everywhere.

After that, Mātalānā, again arranging a stratagem to steal clothes from the washerman, and preparing a very tasty sort of cakes, hung the cakes on the trees in the jungle, in the district where the washerman washes. Mātalānā, taking in his hand two or three cakes and having gone eating and eating one, asked the washerman for a little water.

Thereupon the washerman asked Mātalānā, “What is that you are eating?”

“Why, friend, haven’t you eaten the Kaeppiṭiyā² cakes that are on the trees near this, where you wash?” he asked.

Thereupon the washerman says, “Anē! Friend, although I washed so many days I have not eaten cakes of trees of the style you mention that are in this district,” he said.

“If so, please eat one from these, to look [what they are like].”

When he gave it to the washerman, the washerman having eaten the cake and having found much flavour in it,³ says, “Anē! Ōyi! Until the time when I have gone [there] and come [after] plucking a few of these cakes, you please remain here.”

When he said it, having said, “It is good. Because of the heat of the sun I will stay beneath this tree,” Mātalānā, having sent the washerman to pluck the Kaeppiṭiyā cakes and return, [after] tying in a bundle as many of the King’s clothes as there were, went away [with them].

When the washerman comes [after] plucking the cakes, either the clothes or the man he had set for their protection, not being visible, he went speedily and gave information to the King. The King having become more angry than he was before, again employed the notification tom-tom [to proclaim] that to a person who, having seized, gives him this Mātalānā who steals the things belonging to the King, he will give goods [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load, and a share from the kingdom.

Mātalānā, ascertaining that he sent the notification tom-tom, having stayed on the path and made the notification tom-tom halt, promised: “I know Mātalānā. Within still three months I will seize and give that Mātalānā while in a courtesan’s house.” The notification tom-tom beater, accepting this word, went, and when he gave information to the King, the King, because of the anger there was [in him] with this thief, having become much pleased told him to summon the man to come.

Thereupon, after Mātalānā came to the royal house, when he asked, “In about how many days can you seize and give Mātalānā?” he said, “In about three months I can.”

After that, Mātalānā having been like a friend of the King until three months are coming to an end, one day, at the time when the King is going to the courtesan’s house, he said to the King’s Ministers and servants, “To-day I saw the place where the Mātalan-thief is. In order to seize him [be pleased] to come.”

Summoning in the night time the whole royal retinue, and having gone and surrounded the house of the courtesan, and said [the King] was Mātalānā, there and then also they seized the King. When they seized him in this way, the King through shame remained without speaking. After that, seizing the King and having gone, and having very thoroughly struck him blows, and put him in prison, and kept [him there], in the morning when they looked, just as before they saw that the King had been seized, and struck blows, and put in the stocks.

After all these things, Mātalānā, having again broken into the King’s house, stealing a great quantity of goods, reached an outside district, and dwelt there.

Western Province.

This story is partly a variant of No. 92 in vol. ii.

1 Not given by the narrator. 

2 A jungle bush or small tree on which lac is formed, Croton lacciferum. 

3 Lit., much flavour having fallen. 

No. 255

The Five Lies quite like Truth¹

A certain King sent for his Minister and informed him that if he could not tell him next morning five lies so closely resembling the truth that he would believe them, he should be beheaded.

The Minister went home with a sorrowful heart; he refused to eat or drink, and threw himself on his bed. His wife came and inquired the reason for such behaviour. “What has a dying man to do with eating and drinking?” he replied, “to-morrow morning I must die;” and then he told her what the King had said.

His wife answered, “Don’t be afraid; I will tell you what to say to the King;” and she persuaded him to take his food as usual.

She then related to him this story:—In a certain country there were four friends, a carpenter, a goldsmith, an areka-nut seller, and a dried-fish seller. The three latter persons decided to go and trade, and for that purpose they requested the carpenter to build them a ship. The carpenter did so; and understanding that large profits were to be made in other countries, he also decided to join them.

The four men then wished to engage a servant to cook for them on board the ship, but they had considerable difficulty in finding one. At last they met with a youth who lived with an old woman named Hokkī, who had adopted him as her son. The youth was willing to go, and as there was no one at home to take charge of the old woman after he left, it was settled that she should accompany them.

Then they all sailed away, the goldsmith taking a number of hair-pins (koṇḍa-kūru) for sale, and the other traders taking areka-nuts (puwak) and sun-dried fish (karawala). After going some distance the ship ran on a rock and was totally wrecked, and all the party were drowned.

In his next life the carpenter became a Barbet, which bores holes in trees, looking for a good tree with which to build a ship.

The goldsmith became a Mosquito, which always comes to the ears and asks for the hair-pins (kūru-kūru) that he lost.

The dried-fish seller became a Darter, and constantly searches for his dried-fish in the water.

The areka-nut seller became a Water-hen (Gallinula phœnicura), and every morning calls out, “Areka-nuts [amounting] to a ship [-load], areka-nuts!” (a good imitation of the cry of the bird, Kapparakaṭa puwak′, puwak′).

And the cook became a Jackal, who still always cries for his mother, “Seek for Hokkī, seek” (Hokkī hoyā, hoyā, the beginning of the Jackal’s howl).

Next morning the Minister told the story to the King, who fully believed the whole of it. The Minister then explained that it was pure fiction, whereupon the King instead of cutting off his head gave him presents of great value.

Mātara, Southern Province.

I met with a story of this kind among the Mandiṅkō of the Gambia, in West Africa, and as it is unpublished I give it here. It was related in the Mandiṅkā language, and translated by the clerk on the Government river steamer, the Mansa Kīlah.

1 This story appeared in The Orientalist, vol. ii, p. 54. 

No. 256

The Three Truths

One day a Hyæna met a Goat by the way. He tells the Goat, “Before you move from this place you tell me three words which shall all be true, or I eat you.”

The Goat said, “You met me in this place. If you return, [and if] you reach the other Hyænas and tell them, ‘I have met a Goat by the way, but I did not kill him,’ they will say, ‘You are telling a lie.’ ”

The Hyæna said, “It is true.”

The Goat said, “If I get out here myself, if I reach the other Goats at home, and I tell them, ‘I met a Hyæna by the way, but he did not kill me,’ they will say, ‘You are telling a lie.’ ”

The Hyæna said, “It is true.”

He said to him, “The third one is:—If you see us two talking about this matter you are not hungry.”

Then the Hyæna said, “Pass, and go your way. I am not hungry; if I were hungry we should not be here talking about it.”

McCarthy Island, Gambia.

No. 257

The False Tale

At a certain city there was a poor family, it is said. In that family there were only a man called Hendrik, a female called Lusihāmī, and a boy called Poḍi-Appu. There was a brother younger than Hendrik, it is said. That person’s name was Juwan-Appu. At the time when the two brothers were getting a living in one house, they having quarrelled, Juwan-Appu in the day time went away into the country.

While the afore-said three persons are getting a living in that way, Poḍi-Appu’s father died. The boy was very young. While Lusihāmī was doing work for hire, her boy got to be a little big. At that time the boy is a boy of the size for walking about and playing.

One day, when the boy went to another house he saw that the children are playing. Having thought, “This boy must go for those games,” he went there. From that day the boy goes for those games daily.

In another city there is a soothsayer. The soothsayer is a very good clever person for bringing hidden treasures, it is said, the city in which the soothsayer stayed not being included in this talk. When he was going looking in the manner of his sooth, it appeared to him that there is an outside city at which is a very great hidden treasure. For taking the hidden treasure it appeared, according to his sooth, that he must give a human demon offering (nara billak). When he looked who is the man for the human demon offering, it appeared, according to the sooth, that he must give for the demon offering Poḍi-Appu, being the son of the aforesaid Lusihāmī.

The soothsayer set off to seek this boy. What did he bring? Plantains, biscuits, lozenges (losinjar); in that manner he brought things that gladden the mind of the child.

Having come to the district in which is the boy, walking to the places where children are playing, when walking in that district while dwelling there, one day having gone to the place where Poḍi-Appu and the like are playing he stayed looking on. Meanwhile, according to the soothsayer’s thought, he had in mind that Poḍi-Appu was good [for his purpose].

Next, the soothsayer having gone to one side, taking his medicine wallet, when he turned over and looked at the book there was mentioned that it was Poḍi-Appu [who should be offered].

Afterwards calling the boy near him he gave him sorts of food. Meanwhile the boy’s mind was delighted. Next, he gave him a little money. To the boy said the soothsayer, “Your father is lost, is it not so?” he asked; “that is I,” the soothsayer said. The soothsayer by some device or other ascertained that the person’s father¹ had left the country and gone.

Afterwards the boy, he having told that tale, went home and informed his mother. And the mother said, “Anē! Son, that your father indeed was [here] is true. For this difficult time for us, if that livelihood-bringing excellent person were here how good it would be! You go, and calling that very one return.” Afterwards the boy having gone, came home with the soothsayer.

While both are spending the days with much happiness, one day in the morning he said, “Son, let us go on a journey, and having gone, come; let us go,” he said.

[The boy] having said, “It is good,” with the little boy the soothsayer went away.

Well then, the boy goes and goes. Both his legs ache. The boy says, “Father, I indeed cannot go; carry me,” he said.

Having said, “It is a little more; come, son,” while on the road in that way the boy, being [almost] unable to go, weeping and weeping went near the hidden treasure.

The soothsayer, having offered there things suitable to offer, began to repeat spells. Then the door of the hidden treasure was opened; the path was [there]. He said to the boy, “Son, having descended into this, when you are going along it, in the chamber a standard lamp² is burning. Without rubbing that kettle (the round body of the lamp) with your body, having removed the lamp and immediately for the light to go out having tilted it from the top, come back bringing the lamp.” Having said [this], he caused the boy to descend inside the hidden treasure [chamber].

The boy having descended, when he looked about the boy had not the mind to come from it. He says, “It will be exactly a heavenly world. I will mention an abridgement of the things that are in it: golden king-coconuts, golden oranges, golden pine-apples, golden mandarin-oranges.” Having told him in that manner, “I cannot make an end of them, indeed,” he said.

The boy, plucking a great many of them and having gone into the chamber as the soothsayer said, placing the lamp on his shoulder came away near the door.

The soothsayer says, “First give me the lamp, in order to get you to the surface.”

The boy says, “I cannot in that way; first take me out,” he says.

In that manner there is a struggle of the two persons there. At the time when they are going on struggling in that way, anger having come to the soothsayer he moved the door, for it to shut. Then the boy having got into the middle of [the doorway] the door shut. The soothsayer went away.

While the boy quite alone is wriggling and wriggling about there, in some way or other again, as it was at first the door of the hidden treasure opened. The boy placing the lamp on his shoulder and having become very tired, [carried away and] put the lamp and book in his house; and because of too much weariness fell down and went to sleep.

The soothsayer went to his village.

Western Province.

This appears to be the first part of the story of Ala-addin, transformed into a Sinhalese folk-tale; but the variant quoted below shows that the general idea is of much older date and of Indian origin. A variant from the Ūva Province is nearly the same, and also ends with the boy’s return home.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 558, an ascetic induced a King to join him in obtaining a magical sword. Accompanied by the King, the ascetic went at night, and in the King’s words, “having by means of a burnt-offering and other rites discovered an opening in the earth, the ascetic said to me, ‘Hero, enter thou first, and after thou hast obtained the sword, come out, and cause me also to enter; make a compact with me to do this.’ ” The King entered, found a palace of jewels, and “the chief of the Asura maidens who dwelt there” gave him a sword, the possession of which conferred the power of flying through the air and bestowed “all magical faculties.” The ascetic took it from him afterwards, but the King at last recovered it.

1 The son’s father’s brothers are called his fathers in Sinhalese, the father’s sisters being, however, his aunts, not mothers. 

2 Kot vilakku pānak. 

No. 258

The Story of Koṭā

In a certain country there were two brothers, it is said. Of these two the elder one got married. The younger brother had a secret friendship with his elder brother’s wife. One day, the elder brother having succeeded in ascertaining about this, and having gone summoning the younger brother into the midst of the forest, cut off his two hands and his two feet.

Then the younger brother says, “Elder brother, you having cut off my hands and feet gave me the punishment that is to be inflicted. Please stop even now,” he said.

Thereupon the elder brother, having placed this Koṭā¹ without hands and feet in a boat and launched it in the river, sent him away. Prior to launching and sending him off, because he told him to bring and give him a Bana² book that was at the younger brother’s house, he brought the book and having placed it on Koṭā’s breast sent him away.

Well then, this boat with Koṭā also, going drifting by the margin of the river, two old women having been [there], one said, “That boat which comes drifting is for me.” The other woman said, “Should there be anything whatever inside the boat it is for me.” Well then, when the boat drifted ashore, out of these two women one took the boat, one having taken Koṭā gave him to eat.

During the time when he is thus, having heard that they were beating a notification tom-tom on the road [to proclaim] that to a person who having seized gave him the thieves who are stealing flowers in the King’s flower garden, [the King] will give goods [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load, Koṭā caused this notice tom-tom to stop, having said, “I can.” Causing them to build a little house in the flower garden, and he himself having told men, they lifted him up and went [with him there]; and lying down inside the little house, on the loft, in a very sweet voice he began to read his Bana book.

At the time when he is saying Bana in this way, at night seven Princesses having come to pluck flowers, and having heard the sweet sound of Koṭā’s saying Bana, went near the house and told him to open the door. Then, because in order to arise he had not two feet nor also two hands, when Koṭā said that he was unable to open the door, one person out of these Princesses having put on a ring able to display extreme power which she had, caused Koṭā’s hands and feet to be created [afresh]. Then Koṭā having opened the door said Bana for the Princesses.

The Princesses having heard the Bana, when they were going the youngest Princess on whose hand was the ring went after the whole. Then Koṭā having seized the hand of the Princess who went after, and drawn her into the house, shut the door.

After it became light, having gone taking the Princess, and having given charge of her to the old woman who took charge of Koṭā, Koṭā went to the royal house to say that he caught the thief who plucks the flowers. When going there, Koṭā went [after] putting on the Princess’s ring of power,³ having given part of [the Princess’s] clothes to the old woman.

Koṭā having gone, told the King that he caught the thief. He told him to come with the thief. When Koṭā came home to bring the thief, he saw that having cheated the old woman, the Princess [after] asking for [and getting] her clothes had gone, and had concealed herself; and Koṭā’s mind having become disheartened, he went away out of that country.

While thus travelling, having seen six Princesses taking water from a pool that was in the middle of the forest, when Koṭā went near them he recognised that they were the Princesses who went to steal the flowers; and having seen that the Princess whom he seized was not there, for the purpose of obtaining the Princess he invented a false story in order to go to the place where they are staying. That is, this one, having asked the Princesses for a little water to drink, and having drunk, put into one’s water jar the ring of power that was on his hand, and having allowed them to go, he went behind.

When these six royal Princesses went to the palace of their father the King, Koṭā also went. Then when the royal servants asked Koṭā, “Why have you come to the royal house without permission?” he said that the Princesses had stolen his priceless ring. He came in order to tell the King, and ask for and take the ring, he said. “The ring will be in one of the Princesses’ water jars,” he said. But the whole seven Princesses, ascertaining that it was the ring of the youngest Princess of them, gave information accordingly to the King. Thereupon the King having much warned Koṭā, told him to give information of the circumstances under which he had come, without concealing them. Then Koṭā in order to obtain the youngest Princess told him how he came.

Having said, “If you are a clever person able to perform and give the works I tell you, I will give [you] the Princess in marriage,” the King ordered Koṭā to plough and give in a little time a yam enclosure of hundreds of acres.

This Koṭā, while going quickly from the old woman after having left the country, obtaining for money a pingo (carrying-stick) load of young pigs that [a man] was taking to kill, for the sake of religious merit sent them off to go into the jungle. When any necessity [for them] reached Koṭā, when he remembered the young pigs they promised to come and be of assistance to him.

Again, when going, having seen that [men] are carrying a flock of doves to sell, and a collection of fire-flies, taking them for money, for the sake of religious merit [he released them, and] they went away. These doves and fire-flies promised to be of assistance to Koṭā.

Because he had done these things in this manner, when [the King] told Koṭā to dig and give the yams he remembered about the young pigs. Then the young pigs having come, dug and gave all the yam enclosure. Well then Koṭā having [thus] dug and given the yams, pleased the King.

Again, the King having sown a number of bushels of mustard [seed] in a chena, told him to collect the whole of it and give it to the King.

Thereupon, when Koṭā remembered about the doves, all of them having come and collected the whole of the mustard seeds with their bills, gave him them. Having gone to the King and given that also, he pleased the King.

At the last, the King having put all his seven daughters in a dark room, told him to take the youngest Princess by the hand among them, and come out into the light.

Thereupon, when Koṭā remembered the fire-flies, the whole of them having come, when they began to light up the chamber, Koṭā, recognising the youngest Princess and taking her by the hand, came into the light.

After that, the King gave the Princess in marriage to Koṭā. They two lived happily.

Western Province.

Regarding the ring in the jar of water, and the tasks to be performed before the Princess could be married, see vol. i, p. 294.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 142, a Brāhmaṇa who wished to let his wife, a Vidyādharī who had taken refuge on Udaya, the Dawn Mountain, know of his arrival, dropped a jewelled ring into a water pitcher when one of the attendants who had come for water in which to bathe her, asked him to lift it up to her shoulder. When the water was poured over his wife she saw and recognised the ring, and sent for him.

In A. von Schiefner’s Tibetan Tales (Ralston), p. 71, Prince Sudhana, who had made his way to the city of the Kinnara King in search of his wife, the Kinnarī Manōharā, met with some Kinnara females drawing water for pouring over Manōharā, to purify her after her residence with him. He placed her finger-ring in one pot, and requested that it might be the first to be emptied over her. When the ring fell down she recognised it and sent for him, introduced him to her father the King, and after he performed three tasks was formally married to him. The third task was the identification of Manōharā among a thousand Kinnarīs. In this she assisted him by stepping forward at his request.

The incident of the ring sent in the water that was taken for a Princess’s bath, also occurs in Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. i, p. 302. She recognised it, and sent for her husband who had thus notified his arrival in search of her.

The Flower-Garden Story (Variant)

In a certain country there are a King and a Queen, it is said. While the two persons were acquiring merit for themselves a son was born. The child having become big, while he was increasing in size [the Queen] again bore one.

They sent the second Prince to a pansala (residence of a Buddhist monk) to learn letters. When he was at the pansala the two eyes of his father the King having been injured (antarā-welā) became blind. The Queen’s two eyes also became blind. Owing to it the big Prince told the younger brother to come.

After he came he said, “Younger brother (Malē), the trouble that has struck us! Do you night and day say Bana.”⁴ So the younger brother night and day says Bana.

He called to the elder brother, “Elder brother, come here.” The elder brother asked, “What?” “For us three persons you are unable to provide hospitality; you bring a wife (hirayak),” the younger brother said. The elder brother said, “For my ear even to hear that don’t mention it to me.”

After that, the younger brother again called the elder brother near. “For us three persons you are unable to provide hospitality; you bring a [bride in] marriage.” The elder brother on this occasion (gamanē) said “Hā.” When he said it, having gone to another city he asked a [bride in] marriage⁵; having asked he came back. Having gone again he returned, summoning her. After that, for the four persons the Prince is providing hospitality.

One day (dawasakdā) he having gone to chop the earthen ridges in the rice field, the Prince’s Princess was pounding paddy in order to [convert it into rice and] cook. To winnow it she leaned the pestle against the wall; it having fallen upon a waterpot the waterpot broke. When, having seen it, the Princess was weeping and weeping, the Prince (her husband) came from the rice field. “What are you crying for?” he asked.

“Here! (Mēn), I am crying at the manner you, husband,⁶ behaved,” the Princess said. Afterwards the Princess said, “Go and conduct me to my village.”

When the Prince said, “What shall I go and escort you for? Cook thou,” he called to the younger brother, “Younger brother, come here.”⁷

The younger brother having come, asked, “What?”

“While she is cooking for us let us go to cut a stick,” the elder brother said.

Afterwards the two persons having gone to the chena jungle cut the stick. After having cut it⁸ the elder brother said, “You lie down⁹ [for me] to cut the stick to your length.” When he was lying down the elder brother cut off his two feet and two hands. He having cut them, when he was coming away the younger brother said, “If you are going, pick up my book and place it upon my breast.” After having placed it, the elder brother went away¹⁰; the younger brother remained saying and saying Bana.

After the elder brother went, seven widow women having gone to break firewood and having heard that he was saying Bana, the seven persons came to the place and saw the Prince. “A Yakā or a human being (manuswayekda)?” they asked.

The Prince asked, “Does a Yakā or a human being ask? The Bana a human being indeed is saying,” he said.

“And human beings indeed ask,” the widow women said.

Well, having said thus they came to hear the Bana. While hearing it, a woman having said, “Aḍē! We having been here, the gill of rice will be spoilt¹¹; let us go to break firewood,” six persons went away.

The other woman saying, “I [am] to go home carrying (lit., lifting) Koṭā,” and having stayed, lifting him and having gone and placed him [there], and cooked rice, and given him to eat, while he was [there] he heard the notification by beat of tom-toms:—“At the King’s garden thieves are plucking the flowers.”

On seeing that widow, Koṭā said, “I can catch the thieves; you go to the King and tell him.”

Then the woman having gone to the place where the King is, the King asked, “What have you come for?” Well then, the woman said, “There is a Koṭā (Short One) with (lit., near) me; that one can catch the thieves, he says.”

The King [asked], “What does he require¹² for it?”

Afterwards she said, “You must build a house.”

Then the King having built a house in the flower garden, having taken Koṭā the woman placed him in the house. In the evening having placed [him there], and lit the lamp, and placed the book, she came to her house.

Well then, when Koṭā is saying Bana, five Nāga Maidens¹³ having come to pluck the flowers hear the Bana. Until the very time when light falls they heard the Bana. When the light was falling the five Nāga Maidens said, “We [are] to go; we must give him powers (waram).”

That Koṭā said, “Who said she will give power to me?”

Then out of the five persons one said, “I will give powers for one hand to be created”; well then, for one hand to be created the Nāga Maiden gave powers. [For] the other hand to be created another Nāga Maiden gave powers. Also [for] the two feet to be created other two gave powers. The other Nāga Maiden’s robes (salu) Koṭā hid himself. Those four persons were conducted away¹⁴; one person stayed in that house (that is, the one whose clothes he had concealed).

After that, the King came to look at the flower garden. Having come, when he looked¹⁵ the flowers [were] not plucked. Having become pleased at that he gave Koṭā charge of the garden, to look after it, and he gave a thousand masuran, also goods [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load, a district from the kingdom.

That Koṭā handed over the district to the widow woman; those goods¹⁶ [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load he gave to the woman. Having split his thigh he put those masuran inside it.

Tom-tom Beater, North-western Province.

In the Story of Madana Kāma Rāja (Naṭēśa Sāstrī), p. 87, a Prince, by the advice of an old woman for whom he worked, carried off the robe of Indra’s daughter when she came to bathe in a pool. He handed it to the old woman, who in order to conceal it tore open his thigh, placed the robe in the cavity, and stitched up the wound.

1 Lit., “short person.” 

2 Buddhist Scriptures, and other religious works. 

3 Bala-aeti mudda, power-possessing ring. 

4 That is, recite the Buddhist Scriptures, apparently with a view to their parents’ recovering their sight as a reward for his religious zeal. 

5 Magulak aehaewwā. 

6 Hurā. To screen herself she blamed him for leaving her alone with the younger brother, thus suggesting that he had behaved improperly to her. 

7 Malē, mehe waren kō; kō is intensitive, making the order more imperative, like our “I say.” 

8 Kapalā hiṭan. 

9 Budiyā-ganin. 

10 Yanḍa giyā. 

11 Waeradeyi, will go wrong. 

12 Ōnāennē = ōnāe wennē. 

13 Nāga-kanyāwō. 

14 Aeradi-wunā ahākata; I am not sure of the exact meaning. 

15 Balāpuwāma. 

16 In these stories I have translated wastu as “goods,” this being in the plural number, and wastuwa as “wealth.” 

No. 259

The Story of Sokkā

In a certain country there was a man called Sokkā, it is said. For the purpose of this man’s living, catching a monkey (Wan̆durā) and having made it dance, he began to get money. [After] getting money in that way, when Sokkā, drinking arrack (palm spirit) very well, is walking to that and this hand, the monkey sprang off and went away.

After that, Sokkā, having by means of the money which remained again drunk arrack very well and become drunk, fell into the ditch. Thereupon many flies began to settle on this man’s body. This Sokkā having become angry at it, when he struck at the flies with both hands a great many flies fell dead.

In a little time his intoxication having evaporated his sense came. Thorough sense having come in that manner, when he looked round about he saw near him the quantity (rāsiya) of flies that had died. While he was there, thinking, “Æyi, Bola, at one blow with my hand they were deprived of life to this extent; isn’t it so?” a very foolish man who dwelt in that village came to go near this Sokkā.

The man having seen Sokkā asked, “Friend, what are you doing?”

Thereupon Sokkā says, “Aḍē! What art thou saying? I being a person who has now killed ten or fifteen, thou art not enough even to put on my bathing-cloth for me.”¹

This foolish man having become frightened by the very extent [of the deaths] that he heard of in this word of Sokkā’s, began to run off. As he was running he met with yet a man who is going on the road; he asks at the hand of this foolish man, “What, friend, are you running for?”

Then this fool says, “Friend, a man who killed ten or fifteen men tried to kill me. Because of it I am running through fear,” he said. At that time that man also, through the extent [of the deaths] that he heard of in that speech having become afraid, began to run off. As these two persons were running they said thus to the men going on the road, that is, “On the road there is a great murderer. Don’t any one go.”

After that, having [thus] made Sokkā a great furious one, it became public. The King of the city also got to know of it. Well then, the King having caused this Sokkā to be brought, [said], “You are a dexterous swordsman and a dexterous fighter, they say. Is it true?”

Then Sokkā says, “O King, Your Majesty, when I have struck with one hand of mine, should there be ten or fifteen staying on that side the men fall dead.”

Thereupon the King asks Sokkā, “If you are a dexterous man to that degree, will you come to fight with the first dexterous fighter of my war army?”

Sokkā says, “When ten or fifteen are dying by one hand of mine, what occupation is there [for me] with one! I am now ready for it.”

The King says, “When for three days time is going by, on the third day you having fought in the midst of a great assembly, the person out of the two who conquers I will establish in the post of Chief of the Army (Senā-Nāyaka).” Sokkā was pleased at it.

The King having put these two persons into two rooms, placed guards. While they were thus, Sokkā having spoken to the dexterous fighter, says, “You having come for the fight with me will not escape. To this and this degree I am a dexterous one at fighting. Fight in the midst of the assembly, and don’t be shy.”

The dexterous fighter having become frightened at Sokkā’s word, got out of the chamber by some means or other, and not staying in the city, bounded off and went away.²

When the third day arrived, the whole of the forces dwelling in the city assembled together to look at the fight of these two persons. Thereupon, only Sokkā arrived there. Then when Sokkā became more and more famous the King was favouring him.

During the time while he is thus, a war arrived for the King. The King says to Sokkā, “We must do battle with a war army of this extent. Because of it, having gone together with my war army can you defeat the enemies?”³

Sokkā says, “I don’t want Your Honour’s army. Having gone quite alone I can defeat them.”

Thereupon the King said, “What do you require?”

Sokkā, asking for a very rapidly running horse and a very sharp-edged sword, mounted upon the back of the horse, and having bounded into the middle of the hostile army who were building the enemy’s encampment, driving on the horse to the extent possible, he began to cut on that and this hand (ē mē ata). Sokkā having cut down as many as possible, stringing a head, also, on his very sword, came to the royal palace. Thereupon, the forces (pirisa) who were building the encampment, thought, “If so much damage came from one man, how much will there be from the other forces!” Having thought [this], they bounded off and ran away.

Then the King having been pleased, married and gave his daughter, also, to Sokkā, and gave him much wealth also.

During the time while Sokkā is dwelling in this manner at the royal house, Sokkā thought to drink arrack, [after] going and taking the ornaments that his wife is wearing. Having thought it, as though he had an illness he remained lying on a bed, not eating, not drinking.⁴ Thereupon his wife having approached near him asked the cause of the illness.

At that time Sokkā asks, “Dost thou think that I have obtained thee (tī) without doing anything (nikan)? To obtain thee I undertook a great charge. The charge is that thou and I (tīt māt) having gone to such and such a mountain must offer gifts.”

Thereupon the Princess says, “Don’t be troubled. To-morrow we two persons having gone [there], let us fulfil the charge,” she said.

Sokkā having become pleased at it, on the following day, with a great retinue also, they went to fulfil the charge. Having gone in this manner, and caused the whole of the retinue to halt on the road, these two persons went to the top of the mountain. Sokkā thereupon says, “I have come here now for the purpose of killing thee, so that, having killed thee, taking thy ornaments I may drink arrack.”

Then the Princess asked, “If I and the ornaments belong to Your Honour,⁵ for what purpose will you kill me?”

At that time Sokkā said, “[Even] should that be so, I must kill thee.”

The Princess thereupon says, “If Your Honour kill me now, fault will occur to you at my hand; because of it please bear with me until the time when you forgive me,” she said.

Having said thus while remaining in front of him, and having knelt, she made obeisance. Then having gone behind his back, and exhibited the manner of making obeisance, she seized his neck, and having pushed him threw Sokkā from the mountain, down the precipice. Sokkā having become scattered into dust, died.

After that, the Princess turned back with her retinue, and went to the royal palace.

Western Province.

In The Orientalist, vol. ii, p. 176, the foolish Adikār (Minister) mentioned in the first note after the folk-tale numbered 229, was sent (on account of his destruction of the lion) at the head of an army, against an enemy who had defeated the best generals. His horse bolted and carried him towards the enemy’s troops, who ran off when they observed his approach. He then rejoined and brought up his men, captured the contents of the camp, returned to the King with it, was handsomely rewarded, and retained the royal favour until his death.

In The Jātaka, No. 193 (vol. ii, p. 82), a woman in order to kill her husband pretended that she had taken a vow to make an offering to a hill spirit, and said, “Now this spirit haunts me; and I desire to pay my offering.”

They climbed up to the hill-top, taking the offering. She then declared that her husband being her chief deity she would first walk reverently round him, saluting him and offering flowers, and afterwards make the offering to the mountain spirit. She placed her husband facing a precipice, and when she was behind him pushed him over it.

In No. 419 (vol. iii, p. 261), it was a robber who took his wealthy wife who had saved his life, to a mountain top, on the pretence of making an offering to a tree deity. They went with a great retinue, whom he left at the foot of the hill. When they arrived at the precipice at the summit, he informed her that he had brought her in order to kill her, so as to run off with her valuable jewellery. She said she must first make obeisance to him on all four sides, and when she was behind him threw him down the precipice, after which she returned home with her retinue.

In Old Deccan Days (M. Frere), p. 209, a potter who had caught a tiger, and had consequently been appointed Commander-in-Chief, made his wife tie him firmly on his horse when he was ordered to defeat an enemy’s troops. His horse bolted towards the enemy. In the hope of checking it, he seized a small tree which came up by the roots, and holding this he galloped forward, frightening the opposing force so much that they all ran away, abandoning their camp and its contents. Peace was made, and he received great honours.

In Indian Nights’ Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 210, the same story is given, the hero being a weaver.

In Sagas from the Far East, p. 181, a poor weaver who had asked to marry the daughter of the King of India, was sent to attack an enemy who was invading the kingdom. His troops refused to fight under him, so he went on alone. His horse bolted towards the enemy, he seized a young tree which was pulled up by the roots and with which he knocked down several of the opposing troops. The rest fled, throwing away their arms and armour, and he loaded a horse with it and returned to the King in triumph. Afterwards he killed by accident a great fox and seven demons, became the King’s son-in-law, and ruled half the kingdom.

In The Indian Antiquary, vol. xiv, p. 109, in a South Indian story by Naṭēśa Sāstrī, a man who had accidentally saved a Princess whom some robbers were abducting, was sent to attack the enemy’s troops who had invaded the kingdom. The horse given to him was wild, so he was tied on it. It galloped towards the enemy, swam across a river at which he seized a palmira tree that was about to fall, and the enemy, seeing him approaching with it, ran away. This version is also given in The Orientalist, vol. ii, p. 102 ff., by Miss A. R. Corea. According to this Sinhalese tale the man succeeded to the throne at the death of the King, having previously been made Commander-in-Chief.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. i, p. 50, a woman who wished to kill her husband pretended to have a headache, for which it was necessary to offer prayers on a mountain to a local deity. She accompanied her husband to a precipice, made him stand facing the sun, went round him several times, and then pushed him over. He was saved by falling into a tree.

In vol. i, p. 112, a woman who had fallen in love with a cripple determined to kill her husband, who had saved her life. On the pretence of assisting him to collect fruits she accompanied him up a mountain and seized an opportunity to push him over a precipice. He was saved by a local deity.

In vol. ii, p. 140, there is an account of the weaver who frightened the enemy’s troops when those of his own side were being defeated; these returned and gained a complete victory. The man was made Minister, with rank next the King.

1 Ambuḍē gahaganṭawat. Compare p. 297, note. 

2 Up to this point the story is a variant of the tale called “Sīgiris Siññō the Giant,” in vol. i, p. 312. 

3 The meaning is, “Can you take my war army and defeat the enemies?” To express this in Sinhalese the narrator should have said, “Taking my war army, can you,” etc. 

4 Nokā nom̆bī. 

5 Num̆ba-wahansē. 

No. 260

The Giant and his Two Friends

In a certain country a Prince was born to a King, it is said. For the purpose of giving milk to the Prince he caused a wet-nurse¹ to be brought. Because the nurse’s milk was insufficient for the Prince, he caused yet [another] person to be brought. That also being insufficient he caused yet [another] person to be brought. In that manner having caused seven wet-nurses to be brought, the whole seven gave milk to the Prince. That milk also being insufficient, for the day he gave him also the cooked rice from a quarter [bushel] of rice, and a quarter of a goat, to eat. Having eaten this food, during the time when the Prince became somewhat big [so as] to walk here and there, he gave him the cooked rice from a half bushel of rice and the meat of a goat, to eat. Until the time when ten years were completed for the Prince he gave food thus.

At that time the Prince began to jump that side and this side in the river. That circumstance was published in all cities. During the time when it was thus published, the people of the cities were collected together to look at this Prince. Thereupon, when the Prince was jumping to that bank of the river, while in the midst of the great multitude he fell into water of about two fathoms. Thereupon the Prince, having swum with great shame and having gone to the bank, again jumped to this bank. That time he fell into water of about three fathoms. At that time the Prince becoming very highly ashamed, not speaking at all, went to the royal house, and having been adorned with the five weapons,² entered the midst of the forest and went away.

While going thus a little far he met with an old mother. Thereupon this Prince speaks to the old woman, “Anē! Mother, I am very hungry. Prepare and give me a little cooked rice to eat,” he said. When he said so, the old woman, calling the Prince and having gone to her house, and given [him] a sort of vegetable stew to eat, says, “Anē! Son, to cook and give boiled rice I cannot get water. The crocodile in the river has fallen mad. I cannot go also into the midst of the forest to get firewood, the leopard having fallen mad. Should you bring and give firewood and water I can cook and give cooked rice,” she said.

Thereupon the Prince having said, “It is good,” and taken his sword, and gone into the midst of the forest, when [he was] breaking firewood the leopard came and sprang [at him]. After that, the Prince having chopped with the sword and killed the leopard, cutting off his tongue and breaking as much firewood as he can bring, brought it and threw it down at the old woman’s house.

Thereafter, having taken his sword and the water-pot, at the time when he is going near the river the crocodile came springing [at him]. Thereupon, having chopped it with the sword, he cut the crocodile into four or five [pieces], cutting off its tongue also; and having come back [after] taking also a pot of water he gave it to the old woman; and having told her to make ready and give the food, because of pain in the body of the Prince, as soon as he had reclined a little he went to sleep.

While he was there for a little time, the old woman having seen that a man is lifting up the leopard which the Prince killed, and going away [with it], having spoken to the Prince, says, “Son, a man, killing the leopard which had fallen mad is taking it to the royal house. The King had appointed that to a person who, having killed, gave the leopard and the crocodile, he will give much wealth. The King having given much wealth to the man, at the time when you went into the midst of the forest didn’t you meet with the leopard?” Having said it, she told him the whole of these matters.

After that, the Prince, not speaking at all, went to the royal house behind the man who is lifting and going with the leopard. The man having gone to the royal house, and made obeisance to the King, [and shown him the leopard], said, “O King, in the midst of the forest I killed the leopard that had fallen mad. Regarding it, please give me the wealth that Your Honour has appointed.”

Thereupon the King being much pleased, at the time when he is preparing to give the wealth this Prince went near the King, [and said], “O Great King, I killed this leopard. This man, taking the carcase of the leopard I killed, came to obtain the wealth for himself. If this man killed it be good enough to look where this leopard’s tongue is. I have killed not only this leopard. The crocodile, too, that had fallen mad in the river will be [found to be] killed.” Having said, “Here, look; the two tongues of those two,” he gave them to the King. The King, too, having taken the two tongues and looked at them, believed that he killed the leopard, and having killed the man who told the lies gave much wealth to this Prince.

The Prince, bringing the wealth and having given it to the old woman, and been there two or three days, the Prince went to another district. While going thus he met with a dried areka-nut dealer. Thereupon the two persons having become friends, while they were going along they met with an arrow maker. The three persons having joined together, talk together: “Friend, what can you do?”

Thereupon the dried areka-nut dealer says, “Having uttered spells over this dried areka-nut of mine, when I have struck it having gone everywhere it comes again into my hand. After that, I can do what I have thought (hitu andamak),” he said.

When they asked the arrow maker, he informed them that, in the very way which the dried areka-nut dealer said, with the arrow also he can display power.

After that, the Prince says, “The cleverness of you two is from the dried areka-nut and the arrow; my cleverness is from the strength of my body. Should I think of going in the sky further than ye two, having sprung into the sky I go,” he said. Thereupon those two persons having made obeisance to the Prince, the whole three went to one district.

In that village, at a great wealthy house, an illness due to a demon (yaksa ledak) having been caused in a young woman, they had been unable to cure her. These three persons at that very house got resting-places. These three persons ascertaining this circumstance, the Prince having performed many demon ceremonies and cured the young woman’s demon illness, married and gave the young woman to the dried areka-nut dealer; and having planted a lime seedling in the open ground in front of the house, he says, “Some day, should the leaves of this lime tree wither and the fruit drop, ascertaining that an accident has occurred to me, plucking the limes off this tree come very speedily seeking me.” Having made him stay there he went away with the arrow maker.

When going a little far, anciently a great collection of goods having been at yet [another] house, and it afterwards having reached a state of poverty, the principal person of the family having died, they got resting-places at the house, at which there are only a daughter and a son. At the time when these two asked the two persons of the house, “Is there nobody of your elders?” they told these two the whole of the accidents that had happened to the people.

Thereupon the Prince, having spoken to the arrow maker and made him halt there, just as in the former way planted a lime seedling; and in the very manner of the dried areka-nut dealer having given him warning, the Prince went away quite alone.

Having gone thus and arrived at a certain village, when he looked about, except that the houses of the village were visible there were no men to be seen. Arriving at a nobleman’s house³ in the village, a house at which there is only one Siṭu daughter, this Prince got a resting-place. Having given the resting-place, this Siṭu daughter began to weep. Thereupon this Prince asked, “Because of what circumstance art thou weeping?”

Thereupon this Siṭu daughter says, “My parents and relatives a certain Yakā ate; to-day evening he will eat me too. Through the fear of that death I weep,” she said.

At that time the Prince says, “Putting (tabā) [out of consideration] one Yakā, should a hundred Yakās come I will not give them an opportunity⁴ to eat thee. Don’t thou be afraid.” Having satisfied her mind he asks, “Dost thou know the time when the Yakā comes?”

Thereupon the Siṭu daughter said, “Yes, I know it. When coming, he says three [times], ‘Hū, Hū, Hū’; that is, when he is setting off, one Hū, and while near the stile, one Hū, and while near the house, one Hū; he says three Hūs.”

Thereupon the Prince asked, “Are there dried areka-nuts?”

Afterwards the Siṭu daughter said, “There are.”

“If so, filling a large sack please come [with it],” he said.

The Siṭu daughter having brought a sack of dried areka-nuts gave them. The Prince also having put them down thinly at the doorway, the Prince sitting inside the house and taking his sword also in his hand, waited.

Thereupon he said the Hū that he says when setting out. At that time the Siṭu daughter in fear began to weep. When the Prince is saying and saying to the Siṭu daughter, “Don’t cry,” he said “Hū,” the other Hū near the stile. In a little time more having come to the open ground in front of the house saying a Hū, when he was springing into the house the Yakā fell on the heap of dried areka-nuts. At that time the Prince with his sword cut the Yakā into four or five [pieces].⁵

Taking in marriage the Siṭu daughter, while he was dwelling there a long time, to take in marriage the Siṭu daughter they began to come from many various countries, because the Siṭu daughter is very beautiful.

Out of them, a Prince caused the notification tom-tom to be beaten [to proclaim] that should anyone take and give him the Princess who is at the nobleman’s house in such and such a village, he will give him much goods. Thereupon a certain woman having said, “I can obtain and give her,” stopped the notification tom-tom, and having gone to the royal house, asking for three months’ time went to the village at which that Prince and Princess are, and having become the female servant at that house, remained there.

Meanwhile this woman asks the Princess, “Anē! Please tell me by what means your lord displays strength and prowess to this degree,” she asked with humility.

Thereupon the Princess said, “Don’t you tell anyone; our Prince’s life is in his sword.”

That woman from that day began to collect coconut husks and coconut shells. The Princess having seen it asked, “What are you collecting those coconut husks and coconut shells for?”

Thereupon the woman said, “Anē! What is this you are asking? For houses, on the days when it rains is there not much advantage in [having] coconut husks?” And the Princess having said, “It is good,” did nothing. While she was thus, the three months were passing away.

One day, when this Prince and Princess were sleeping, in the night this woman, stealing the sword that was upon the Prince’s breast and having put it under those coconut husks and coconut shells that she had previously collected, set fire to the heap. When the sword was becoming red [hot] the Prince became unconscious.

Before this, this woman had sent a message to the Prince who caused that notification tom-tom to be beaten, to come with his retinue, taking a ship. That very day at night the retinue came. After that Prince became unconscious, this retinue having taken that Princess by very force, put her in the ship to go to their city.

That Prince’s two friends having arisen in the morning, and when they looked, having seen that the leaves had faded on the lime trees and the fruits had dropped, plucking the limes off them came seeking the Prince. Having come there, when they looked, except that the Prince is unconscious there is no one to see. Having seen that a bonfire is blazing very fiercely, they quickly poured water in the bonfire and extinguished the fire. When they were looking, the sword having burnt [away] (piccilā) a little was left. Having got this piece of sword these two persons took it away. Having cut the limes, when they were rubbing and rubbing them on it, by the influence of the Prince the sword became perfect.

At that time the Prince arose in health; and when he is looking perceiving that the Princess is not [there], he went running with those two persons to the port, and saw that at the distance at which it is [just] visible the ship is going.

This Prince asked these two, “Can you swim to that ship?”

Thereupon these two persons said, “If you, Sir, will swim we also will come.”

Then the Prince asked, “When you have gone to the ship how many men can you cut down?”

The dried areka-nut dealer said, “I can cut until the time when the blood mounts to the height of a knee.” The arrow maker also said, “I can cut until the time when the blood mounts to the height of a hip.”

Thereupon the Prince having said, “If you two will cut until the blood is at the height of a knee, and until the blood is at the height of a hip, I will cut until the blood is at the height of a shoulder,” the whole three persons sprang into the river. Having gone swimming and mounted upon the ship, the areka-nut dealer, taking the [Prince’s] sword and having cut the dead bodies until the blood is a knee [deep], gave the sword to the arrow maker. The arrow maker taking the sword and having cut dead bodies until the blood is a hip [deep], gave the sword to the Prince. The Prince having cut the men until the blood is shoulder deep, and having cast the dead trunks into the river, causing the ship to turn arrived with the Princess at his village.

Having come there, the Prince [and Princess] resided there in health. Those two persons having gone to the cities at which each of them (tamu tamun) stayed, passed the time in health.

Western Province.

1 Kiri-maw, milk-mother. 

2 Sword, spear, bow, battle-axe, and shield (Clough). 

3 Siṭu gedaraka. 

4 Lit., leave place to them. 

5 A similar episode occurs in vol. i, p. 163. 

No. 261

How they formerly Ate and Drank

In a certain country there was a very important rich family, it is said. In this family were the two parents and their children, two sons only.

In the course of time the people of the family arrived at a very poor condition, it is said. During the time when they are thus, the mother of these two young children having gone near a shipping town,¹ winnowed the rice of the ships and continued to get her living. One day when she was winnowing the rice of a ship, quite unperceived by her the ship went to sea [with her on board].

During the time when he was thus unaware to which hand this woman who was the chief support² of the family—or the mother—went, the father one day for some necessary matter having gone together with the two sons to cross to that other bank of the river, tied one son to a tree on the bank on this side and placed him [there]; and having gone with the other one to the bank on that side, and tied the son to a tree there, came to take the other son [across]. While on the return journey in this way, this old man having been caught by a current in the river, and been taken by force to a very distant country, went to a village where they dry salt fish.

An old woman having seen the two children who had been tied on the two banks by him, unfastened their bonds (baemi); having heard [from one of them] about their birth and two parents, learning all the circumstances, she employed some person and caused even the child who was on the bank on that [other] side to be brought, and reared both of them.

During the time while the father of the two children was getting his living, drying salt fish, the King of that country died. Well then, because there was not a Crown Prince³ of the King of the country, according to the mode of the custom of that country having decorated the King’s festival tusk elephant and placed the crown on its back, they sent it [in search of a new King]. And the tusk elephant having gone walking, and gone in front of that poor man who was drying salt fish, when it bent the knee he mounted on the back of the tusk elephant, and having come to the palace was appointed to the sovereignty.

After he was thus exercising the sovereignty a little time, it became necessary for this King to go somewhere to a country, and having mounted on a ship it began to sail away. The two sons who belonged in the former time to this King, who were being reared by the old woman, having become big were stationed for their livelihood as guards on this very ship. Their mother who was lost during the former time, earned a living by winnowing rice on this very ship.

Well then, while these very four persons remained unable to get knowledge of each other, during the night time, when the ship is sailing, in order to remove the sleepiness of the two brothers who were on the ship as guards, the younger brother told the elder brother to relate a story. And when the elder brother said, “I do not know how to tell stories,” because again and again he was forcing him to relate anything whatever, he said, “I do know indeed how to relate the manner of [our] ancient eating and drinking.”

“It is good. If so, relate even that,” the younger brother said.

Thereupon, the elder brother, beginning from the time when their parents were lost, told the story of the manner in which they formerly ate and drank, up to the time when they came for the watching on the ship,—how the two persons, eating and drinking, were getting their living.

These two persons’ mother, and the King who was their father, both of them, having remained listening to this story from the root to the top, at the last said, “These are our two sons.” Having smelt (kissed) each other, all four persons obtaining knowledge of each other after that lived in happiness, enjoying royal greatness.

Western Province.

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 154, a defeated King who was driven into exile with his wife and two children, engaged a passage by a vessel, but it sailed away with the Queen before the others got on board. She was sold to a merchant whom she agreed to marry if she did not meet with her husband and children in two years. The King, while returning for the other child after crossing a river with one, was carried away by the current, sank, and was swallowed by a fish, and saved by a potter when it died on the bank. He became a potter, and was selected as King by the royal elephant and hawk. A fisherman who had reared the two sons became a favourite, and the boys were kept near the King. When the merchant who bought the Queen came to trade, these youths were sent to guard his goods. At night, on the younger one’s asking for a tale his brother said he would relate one out of their own experience, and told him their history, which the Queen overheard, thus ascertaining that they were her sons. By getting the merchant to complain to the King about their conduct she was able to tell him her story, on which he discovered that she was his wife, and all were united.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (collected by Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 183, while a Raja and his wife were travelling in poverty the Queen was shut up by a rich merchant. At a river the Raja was swept away while returning for the child left on the bank, and afterwards selected as King by two state elephants. The children, reared by an old woman, took service under him, were appointed as guards for the merchant’s wife (the former Queen) when she was brought to a festival, and were recognised by her. The merchant complained of the guards, and on hearing their story the King discovered that they were his sons and the woman was his wife. In a variant the children were left on one bank of the river, and a fish swallowed their father, the boys being reared by a cow-herd.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. iii, p. 366), a ship in which were an indigent Jew and his wife and two sons, was wrecked, one boy being picked up by a vessel, and the others cast ashore in different countries. The father secured buried treasures which a voice disclosed to him on an island, and became King there; the sons, hearing of his generosity, came to him and received appointments, but did not know each other. A merchant who came with their mother was invited to remain at the palace, the youths being sent to guard his goods and their mother at night. While conversing they found they were brothers; their mother, overhearing the story, recognised them, got the merchant to complain of their improper conduct, and on their repeating their history the King found they were his sons. The mother then unveiled herself, and all were united.

1 Naew-paṭunak. 

2 Pradhā stri. 

3 Oṭunna-himi-kumārayek, lit., a Crown-Lord-Prince. 

No. 262

The Gourd Fruit Devil-Dance

In a certain country a Gamarāla cut a chena, it is said. Having planted a gourd creeper in the chena, on it a gourd fruit fruited. The gourd fruit, when not much time had gone, became very large, and ripened.

The Gamarāla, being unable to bring it alone, summoned several men of the village, and having given them to eat and gone with the men, and come back [after] plucking the fruit, and cut open the “eye” (at the end of the neck), placed it [for the contents] to rot. After it rotted he [cleaned it out and] dried it, so as to take it for work (use), and put it on a high place (ihalakin).

In order to perform a devil-dance (kankāriya) for the Gamarāla, having given betel for it and told devil-dancers (yakdessō) to come, one day he made ready [for] the devil-dance. Having made ready that day, when they were dancing a very great rain rained, and the water was held up so that the houses were being completely submerged.

At that time all the persons of this company being without a quarter to go to, all the men crept inside the Gourd fruit, and having blocked up with wax the eye that was cut open into the Gourd fruit, began to dance the devil-dance inside it.

Then the houses, also, of the country having been submerged, the water overflowing them began to flow away. Then this Gourd fruit also having gone, went down into a river, and having gone along the river descended to the sea, and while it was going like a ship a fish came, and swallowed the Gourd fruit.

Having swallowed it, the fish, as though it was stupefied, remained turning and turning round on the water. While it was staying there, a great hawk that was flying above having come and swallowed that fish, became unconscious on a branch.

Then a woman says to her husband, “Bolan, [after] seeking something for curry come back.” At that time, while the man, taking also his gun, is going walking about, he met with that hawk which had swallowed the fish. He shot the hawk.

Having shot it and brought it home, he said to his wife that she was to pluck off the feathers and cook it.

Then the woman having plucked off the feathers, when she cut [it open] there was a fish [inside]. Then the woman says, “Aḍē! Bolan, for one curry there are two meats!”¹

Taking the fish she cut [it open]; then there was a Gourd fruit. Thereupon the woman says, “Aḍē! Bolan, for one curry there are three meats!” When she looked the Gourd fruit was dried up.

After that, having cooked those meats (or curries) and eaten, on account of hearing a noise very slightly in that Gourd fruit, taking a bill-hook she struck the Gourd fruit.

Thereupon the whole of those men being in the Gourd fruit, said, “People, people!” and came outside. Having got down outside, when they looked it was another country. After that, having asked the ways, they went each one to his own country. And then only the men knew that light had fallen [and it was the next day].

Western Province.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 599, a fish swallowed a ship, with its crew and passengers. When it was carried by a current and stranded on the shore of Suvarṇadwīpa, the people ran up and cut it open, and the persons who were inside it came out alive.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii, pp. 229 and 244, two infants who were thrown or fell into the water of rivers were swallowed by fishes and rescued alive after seven days, in the first instance by the child’s father, and in the second by the King of the country in which the fish had been caught.

1 Eka māluwakaṭa mālu dekayi. The chief ingredients of curries are all termed mālu or māḷu by villagers, whether meat, fish, or vegetables. The same word also means “curry.” 

No. 263

The Ascetic and the Jackal

In a certain country, in the midst of a forest a pack of Jackals stayed, it is said. One out of the Jackals having gone near villages one day for the purpose of catching and eating the fowls and various animals, at the time when he was walking about having arrived at a shed in which was some toddy (fresh palm-juice), and having drunk toddy until his belly fills, after he became drunk fell down at one place and stayed [there], it is said.

When he was staying thus, the Jackal went very thoroughly asleep, it is said. Having stayed in this way, when it was just becoming light the Jackal’s eyes were opened. Well then, at that time the Jackal was unable to go to the pack. Because of what [reason] was that? Because the eyes of the whole of the persons in the village were opened. Owing to it he got into a jungle near by, and when he was there an extremely old ascetic came to go by the place where the Jackal is.

The Jackal having seen the ascetic and spoken to him, says, “Meritorious ascetic, having been in which district are you, Sir, coming? I have sought and sought a meritorious person like you, Sir, and [now] I have met with you; it is very good,” he said.

When the Jackal spoke thus the ascetic asks, “On account of what matter dost thou speak to me in that manner?”

When he asked him thus, the Jackal says, “I did not say thus to you, Sir, for my profit. I had sought and sought an excellent person like you, Sir. A quantity of my masuran are in the midst of such and such a forest. To give those masuran I did not meet with a good person like you, Sir. For many days I was watching and looking on this search, but until this occurred I did not meet with a meritorious excellent person, except only you, Sir. I am very happy to give the masuran to you, Sir,” he said.

The ascetic having been much pleased, asks the Jackal, “Regarding it, what must be done by me for thee?”

When he said [this] the Jackal says, “I don’t want you, Sir, to do any favour at all for me. If I am to give the masuran to you, Sir, please carry me to the place where the masuran are,” he said.

Thereupon the ascetic, carrying in his arms the Jackal, went into the midst of the forest where he said the masuran are. When he went into the midst of the forest, the Jackal having spoken to the ascetic, says, “Look, the masuran are here; please place me here,” he said.

Thereupon the ascetic placed the Jackal on the ground. The Jackal then says, “Taking your outer robe, Sir, and having spread it on the ground, please remain looking in the direction of the sun, not letting the eyelid fall. Having dug up the masuran I will put them into your robe, Sir,” he said.

When the Jackal said thus, the ascetic, through greed for the masuran, without thinking anything having spread the robe on the ground, was looking in the direction of the sun. When he was looking thus for a little time, the Jackal having dunged into the robe, and for a little time more having falsely dug the ground, said to the ascetic, “Now then, be pleased to take the masuran.”

Thereupon when the ascetic through greed for the masuran looks in the direction of the robe, because of the sun’s rays his eyes having become weak, the Jackal dung that he had put [there] appeared like masuran.¹ Making [the robe] into a bundle he went away.

The Jackal having bounded off, went into the midst of the forest.

Western Province.

This tale agrees in some respects with the Jātaka story No. 113 (vol. i. p. 256), in which the person who carried the Jackal was a Brāhmaṇa, who, however, was not told to look at the sun, as in the Sinhalese tale No. 65, in vol. i, of which this is a variant.

1 Gold, according to a variant of the N.W. Province. Some of these coins were made of gold. See Appendix. 

SOUTH INDIAN STORIES

No. 264

Concerning the Blind-Eyed Man

In a certain country there was a blind man. The man had married a fine handsome woman. While the two persons were staying a little time begging, and seeking and getting a living, having said that country was not good and having thought of going to another country, one day the blind man said to his wife, “While we are staying in this country we have much inconvenience. Because of it let us go to another country.” Thereupon the woman, too, said of it, “It is good.”

After that the two persons having set off, journeyed through the middle of a forest wilderness. At that time a Heṭṭiyā, also, of that city having quarrelled with his father, he also, as he was going to another country travelled on the path in the midst of the forest on which this blind man and his wife are going. The Heṭṭiyā encountered that blind man and his wife on the road. Thereupon, while this Heṭṭiyā was talking with the two persons he asked, “Where are you two going in the jungle in this forest wilderness?”

Then this blind man and his wife said, “We are going to another country for the sake of a livelihood.”

The Heṭṭiyā said, “It is good, if so. I also having quarrelled with our father am going to another country. If so, let us all three go [together].”

Thereupon all three having said, “It is good,” while they were talking and journeying, because the blind person’s wife is beautiful to the Heṭṭiyā his mind became attached to her, like marrying her. Because the Heṭṭiyā was a young man to the blind person’s wife, also, her mind became attached to him.

When these two persons, thinking in this manner, were going a little far, the Heṭṭiyā spoke to that woman, unknown to the blind person,¹ “Let us two go [off together].” Thereupon the woman gave her word, “It is good.”

To drop the blind person and go, the scheme which the woman told the blind person [was this]: “Anē! Husband, there is a kind of fruit-tree fruits in this forest wilderness which it gratifies me to eat. Therefore you must give permission to me to eat them and come back.” Having said [this] she made obeisance.

At that time the blind man, thinking it is true, said, “It is good. I will remain beneath this tree; you go, and having eaten the fruit come quickly.” Thereupon the woman, saying, “It is good,” while the blind person was continuing to stay there went with the Heṭṭiyā somewhere or other to a country.

This blind man remained night and day in hunger beneath the tree, for six days. After that, yet [another] Heṭṭiyā, while going to the village of the woman who had married that Heṭṭiyā, tying up a packet of cooked rice also, to eat for the road, travelled with his wife by the middle of that forest wilderness.

Thereupon the Heṭṭiyā met with that blind-eyed man. So the Heṭṭiyā spoke to his wife, “There is a man near that tree. Let us go near, and [after] looking let us go.” The woman said, “It is good.”

Then the two persons having gone near that blind person, asked, “Who are you?”

Then the blind person made many lamentations to that Heṭṭiyā: “Anē! Friend, I am a blind person. I having spoken with my wife about going to another country, while we were going in the middle of this forest wilderness, my wife got hid and went off with yet [another] man. I am now staying six days without any food. You arrived through my good luck. Anē! Friend, having gone, calling me, to the country to which you are going, send me to an asylum.² If not, in this forest wilderness there is not any all-refuge.”³

Thereupon the Heṭṭiyā, having become much grieved, unfastened the cooked rice that the party brought to eat for the road, and having given the blind person to eat, as they were going, inviting the blind person, to the city to which the party are going, he told that Heṭṭiyā’s (his own) wife to come holding [one end of] the blind person’s walking-stick (to guide him).

Then the Heṭṭi woman said, “Anē! O Lord, should I go holding this blind person’s leading stick they will say I am the blind man’s wife. I have heard that kind of story before this. But if you, Sir, say so, I will come holding it.”

The Heṭṭiyā said, “No matter, come holding it.”

While [she was] thus holding it, calling him they went to the city to which the party are going. Having gone [there] and told the blind man to stay [with them] that day night, they gave him amply food and drink, and the mat also for sleeping on. Next day after light fell having said to the blind person, “Now then; there! You having gone into that street and begged, seeking something, eat,” with much kindness they started him.

Then the blind person having gone near the royal house at that city, said, “Anē! O Deity,⁴ when I was coming away with my wife by the middle of a forest wilderness, a Heṭṭiyā having quarrelled with his father, and said that he was going to another country, and for six days having not a meal, as he was coming fell behind us. We gave him the cooked rice that we brought for our expenses, and came calling him [to accompany us]. As though in that way the assistance were insufficient, the Heṭṭiyā uprooting my wife also [from me] said he will not give her to me, and drove me away. To whom shall I tell this suit? Do you investigate only suits for rich persons? Do you not institute suits for poor persons? Now then, how shall I obtain a living?” Having said [this] he began to weep.

At that time the [royal] messengers having gone, told it to the King. Thereupon the King also having become grieved regarding it, sent messengers and caused the Heṭṭiyā who came with the blind person, and his wife, to be brought.

Having heard the case, he said, “This young Heṭṭiyā did not take a wife [for himself]; he took the blind person’s wife,” and ordered them to behead the Heṭṭiyā.⁵ Having said, “The woman having come in dīga [marriage] to the blind person and in the meantime having endangered him, went with another man,” he ordered them to put her in a lime-kiln and burn her. Having given a little money to the blind person he told him to go.

Thereupon the blind person, taking the money also and having gone outside the royal palace, was saying and saying, “Anē! O Gods, what is it that has occurred to me! At the time when I remained for six days in the midst of the forest, this Heṭṭiyā and his wife having met with me while they are coming, and given food to me who was in hunger for six days, brought me to this city, and let me go. I having told all these (lit., these these) lies [in order] to take the woman, I was not allowed to take the woman, nor were the two persons allowed to live well together. The foolish King without giving me the woman ordered them to kill her. Now then, where shall I go?”

At that time a man having heard him, quickly went and said to the King that this blind person says thus. Then the King quickly having caused the blind person to be brought, and having released the Heṭṭiyā and the woman from death, and given presents to the two persons, and sent them away, ordered the blind person to be killed.

Immigrant from Malayālam, Southern India. (Written in Sinhalese, and partly related in that language.)

This story is given in Tales of the Sun (Mrs. H. Kingscote and Naṭēśa Sāstrī), p. 165.

1 Poṭṭayāṭa hemin. 

2 Seyilamakaṭa. 

3 Saw-saraṇak, refuge from all things. 

4 Deviyanē, honorific title of a King. 

5 Lit., to cut the Heṭṭiyā’s neck. 

No. 265

The Destiny Prince

In a certain country a King had two Princes. After the two Princes became big, calling them near the King the King asked both, “Is Destiny the greatest thing or not?”¹

At that time the big Prince said, “Destiny is the greatest (widi lokuyi)”; the young Prince said, “It is insufficiently great (madi lokuyi).” Because the big Prince said, “Destiny is the greatest,” the King commanded that they should behead and kill him. Thereupon the Prince’s mother, having given him a little money, and said, “Son, go thou to a country thou likest,” sent him away. Then the Prince having looked for a country to proceed to, went away.

When he is going on the path, the men whom he meets ask, “Where are you going?” Thereupon the Prince, not saying another speech, gives answer to the talk, saying, “Destiny.” However much they speak, this Prince, except that he says, “Destiny,” does not give a different reply. While giving replies in this manner, this Prince walks through various countries.

In yet [another] city, a daughter of the King, and a daughter of the Minister, and a daughter of a rich Heṭṭiyā called the Money Heṭṭiyā, these three having been born on one and the same day and the three having gone to one school learning letters, after they became big gave presents to the teacher.

What of their giving presents to the teacher! Regarding the teacher’s instructing these three children, it was in name only. There was a chief scholar; it was the scholar indeed who taught the letters to all these three children. Notwithstanding that it was so, they did not give him presents or anything.

Because of it he being grieved at it, and thinking that if there should be a word which the King’s daughter says, the Minister’s Princess and the Money Heṭṭiyā’s daughter hearken to it, he sent a letter in this manner to the royal Princess: “O Royal Princess, except that I taught you three persons the sciences [for him], our teacher did not teach them. Having tried so much and taught you three, at your not thinking of me I am much grieved.” He wrote [thus] and sent it.

The royal Princess had ordered the Minister’s daughter and the Money Heṭṭiyā’s daughter every day in the morning to come to the royal palace. Therefore the two persons, having stayed at home only at night, in the morning arrive at the royal palace.

One day, while these very three are stopping and playing at the royal palace, a man brought a letter and gave it into the royal Princess’s hand. Thereupon the royal Princess having broken open the letter, when she looked [in it] the party’s second teacher [had written] that he was displeased.

Then the Princess said thus to the Minister’s daughter and the Money Heṭṭiyā’s daughter: “Look. Omitting to give our presents or anything to our second teacher who took much trouble and taught us, and having given presents to our big teacher, when coming away we did not even speak, he has written. It is indeed foolishness at our hand. Because of it, let us write anything we want to send, and send a letter [to him]. Having sent it let us give anything he asks for,” she spoke [to them]. [Thus] speaking, she wrote and sent: “Anything you ask we will give. Please write what thing you want.”

Thereupon, the letter having gone the party’s second teacher received it. Having received it, owing to the form of the letter that person writes, “I want nothing. Because you three said you will give anything I want, I am coming to marry you three persons. What do you say about it?” He wrote and sent [this].

The letter having gone, the royal Princess, together with the other persons also, received it. When they looked at the letter, the party perceived that the letter they wrote was wrong. Perceiving it, the royal Princess said, “Comrades,² the word that we wrote and sent was wrong. The second teacher has sent letters [asking] how he is to come to marry us three. Because we made a mistake, and as we cannot tell lies, let us appoint a day and send [word].” Thereupon the two persons gave permission for such a word [to be sent].

She wrote and sent the letter: “To-morrow night, at twelve, you must come to the palace; at one you must come to the Minister’s house; at three, you must come to the Money Heṭṭiyā’s house.” Having written it, [after] sending it in this manner the three persons making ready distilled Attar water³ and several sweet drugs to put on his body when he comes, and priceless food, waited for him.

That day, that royal Prince who is walking along saying “Destiny,” coming to the city at night time and having become hungry, remained sleeping near the gate⁴ of that palace. The second teacher loitered a little in coming. After the royal Prince had gone to sleep during the whole night [up to midnight], placing food and fragrant sorts on a tray in her own hands, and having come near the gate of the palace and felt about, when [the Princess] looked the Prince who says “Destiny” was there.

At that time the royal Princess, thinking he was the second teacher, said, “What are you sleeping for? Get up.”

That Prince, saying, “Destiny,” being unable to arise [through sleepiness,] remained lying down. Thereupon the royal Princess, touching his body with her hand, made him arise; and having given him this food to eat, and having sprinkled distilled Attar water on his body, and having complied with immoral practice,⁵ the Princess went to the palace. Then the Prince who says “Destiny” was sleeping [again] near the gate of the palace.

At that time the second teacher came. Having come there, he asked that Prince who says “Destiny,” “Who are you, Aḍā?” Then that Prince said, “Destiny.” “What is, Aḍā, Destiny?” he asked. Then again he gave answer, “Destiny.” At this next occasion, having said, “What Destiny, Aḍā!” he pushed him away.

Thereupon the Destiny Prince [having gone] near the gate of the Minister’s house, was sleeping [there]. Then the Minister’s daughter having come, asked, “Who are you?” The Prince said, “Destiny.”

Then the Minister’s daughter said, “What is it you call Destiny? On account of the letter you sent, the royal Princess and we two also, having spoken have made ready. Eat these things quickly; I must go.”

Thereupon the Prince said, “Destiny.” Then the Minister’s daughter having touched him on the body and caused him to arise, gave him the food to eat, and having put distilled Attar water and several sweet drugs on the Prince’s body, and complied with immoral practice, went away. The Destiny Prince went to sleep there.

At that time the second teacher, having stayed looking about near the palace and the Princess not being [there], thinking he must go even to the Minister’s house, came to the Minister’s house. At that time the Destiny Prince was there. The second teacher having gone, asked this one, “Who are you, Aḍā?” He said, “Destiny.” Thereupon having said, “What Destiny! Be off!” and having beaten him he drove him away. Having driven him away the second teacher stayed there looking about.

The Destiny Prince having gone to the house of the Money Heṭṭiyā, there also stayed sleeping near the gate. Then the Heṭṭiyā’s daughter having come with sandal-wood scent and distilled Attar water, asked, “Who are you?” At that time the Prince said, “Destiny.”

The Heṭṭiyā’s daughter having said, “What Destiny! Get up,” touched his body, causing him to arise; and having given him food also, putting distilled Attar water on his body, complied with immoral practice, and went into the house. The Destiny Prince went to sleep there.

That second teacher having stayed looking about at the Minister’s house, and having said [to himself] that because the Minister’s daughter did not come he must go even to the Money Heṭṭiyā’s house, came there. At that time, the Destiny Prince was sleeping there also.

Then the second teacher asked, “Who are you, Aḍā?” Thereupon the Prince said, “Destiny.” Saying, “What Destiny, Aḍā!” and having struck him a blow, he pushed him away. Thereupon the Destiny Prince having gone, remained sleeping in a grass field more than four miles away. That second teacher having stayed there watching until it was becoming light, went to his city.

On the following day morning this fragrance [from the scents sprinkled on the Prince] having gone through the whole city, when the King was making inquiry [he learnt] that this Princess, too, had put on this scent. Thereupon the King thought, “Besides the Minister no other person comes to my palace. It is a work of his, this,” he got into his mind.

The Minister thinking, “Besides the King no other person comes to my house; this is a disgraceful step (kulappaḍiyak) of the King’s,” got angry.

The Money Heṭṭiyā, thinking, “Except that the King comes, no one else comes to my house; because of that, this is indeed a disgraceful step of the King’s,” got angry.

After that, the whole three having met at one place, speaking about this, when they were making inquiry the fragrance of the distilled Attar water on the body of the Destiny Prince came [to them]. Then seizing him and having come back, for the fault that he committed they appointed to kill him.

At that time the royal Princess and the other two persons having come before them, said, “It is not an offence [of his]. After you kill that man please kill us three”; [and they gave a full account of the matter]. Before they said this word the Destiny Prince said even more words than anyone was saying and saying.

After that, the King also having freed him from death, asked the Destiny Prince, “Of which village are you; of which country?”

Then the Destiny Prince said, “I am of such and such a city, the son of the King. One day our father the King asked me and my younger brother, ‘Is Destiny the greatest thing or not?’ Thereupon I said, ‘Destiny is the greatest’; younger brother said, ‘It is not the greatest.’ Because I said, ‘Destiny is the greatest,’ he appointed me for death. I having run away from there, I dwelt in this manner, walking through a multitude of cities. When they were speaking, I replied, ‘Destiny.’ ”

At that time the King and Minister, including also the Heṭṭiyā, speaking together, said, “This will be done to this one by the Gods. Therefore let us marry these three to this one; we did not marry and give the three to him.”

They married them accordingly, [and] the King handed over charge of the King’s kingdom [to him]. After that, he remained exercising the kingship in a good manner, with justice.

Another King having gone to the city in which the King the Prince’s father stayed, [after] fighting him and taking the city, banished the King and his Queen and Prince. After that, the three persons having come away arrived at the city where the Destiny Prince was ruling, and stayed there, obtaining a living by breaking firewood and selling it.

The Destiny Prince one day walking in the city, when returning saw that this King his father, and younger brother, and mother are selling firewood. Having seen them, and having come to the palace without speaking, he sent a messenger to tell the three firewood traders to come. The messenger having gone told the three firewood traders that the King says they are to come. Thereupon the three persons becoming afraid, and thinking, “Is selling firewood of the jungle of the Gods and getting a living by it, wrong?” in fear went to the royal palace.

Then the Destiny Prince asked, “Of what city are you?”

The party said, “We were exercising the kingship of such and such a city. Another King having gone [there], oppressing us and seizing the kingdom, told us to go away. Because of that, having come away and arrived at this city, we remain getting a living, breaking firewood in the jungle.”

Thereupon the Destiny King asked, “When you were staying at that city how many children had you?”

The firewood trader said, “I had two Princes.”

Then the Destiny King asked, “Where then is the other Prince? Did he die?”

The firewood trader said, “That Prince did not die. One day, when I was asking that Prince and this Prince, ‘Is Destiny the greatest thing or not?’ the Prince said, ‘Destiny is the greatest’; this Prince said, ‘It is insufficiently great.’ Because of it I sent him out of the kingdom.”

Thereupon the Destiny Prince, saying, “It is I myself who am that Prince,” told them the circumstances that had occurred to him. Both parties after that having become sorrowful, remained living [there], protecting that city in happiness.

Immigrant from Malayālam, Southern India. (Written in Sinhalese, and partly related in that language.)

In the Jātaka story No. 544 (vol. vi, p. 117), the King of Vidēha sums up the Hindū belief in predestination from the day of a person’s birth, as follows: “There is no door to heaven: only wait on destiny: all will at last reach deliverance from transmigration.”

His daughter afterwards illustrated the Buddhist doctrine that a person’s destiny depends on his acts and thoughts in his present life as well as in previous ones:—“As the balance properly hung in the weighing-house causes the end to swing up when the weight is put in, so does a man cause his fate at last to rise if he gathers together every piece of merit little by little.”

The Mahā Bhārata (Śānti Parva, cclviii), states that all gods must inevitably become mortals, and all mortals must become gods; and also (ccxcix) that whatever one’s lot may be it is the result of deeds done in previous lives.

The inevitable action of Karma is well exhibited in a story in Folk-Tales of the Telugus (G. R. Subramiah Pantulu), p. 59, in which when the God Śiva and his wife Pārvatī saw a poverty-stricken Brāhmaṇa on his way home, and the latter wished to give him riches, Śiva remarked that Brahmā had not written on his face [at his birth] that he must enjoy wealth. To test this, Pārvatī threw down on the path a heap of a thousand gold muhrs (£1,500). When the Brāhmaṇa got within ten yards of it, he was suddenly struck by the idea that he would see if he could walk along like a blind man, so he shut his eyes, and did not open them until he had gone past the money.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 280, a Princess who had arranged through a confidante to meet a man in a temple at night, met there instead a Prince who was accidentally spending the night there, and without recognising who he was, accepted him as her husband, and afterwards returned to the palace. On the following day the Prince appeared before the King, who formally bestowed the Princess on him, one of the Ministers remarking to the King, “Fate watches to insure the objects of auspicious persons.”

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 327, a King asked his two daughters which was the greater, Karma (fate, as the effect of acts in previous lives), or Dharma (righteousness). The younger said “Karma,” the elder, “Dharma.” He was so angry that he married the younger one to a young Brāhmaṇa thief; but he became very wealthy in a miraculous manner, and afterwards invited his father-in-law to a feast at which he was waited on by his daughter, the disgraced Princess, whom he did not recognise. At the end of it she told him who they were, and he promised to give the kingdom to her husband.

In The Kathākoça (Tawney), p. 82, a Princess had as her companions the daughters of a merchant and a gardener who were born on the same day as herself. When the Princess was married she requested that her two comrades might be married to the same young man, and this was done.

1 Widi lokuda madi lokuda, lit., Is Destiny great or insufficiently great? 

2 The word in the text is gollē, “O party.” 

3 Attara pini-diya. 

4 Gēṭṭuwa. 

5 Anācāra darmmē yedī. In the two later instances the second word is darmmayehi. 

No. 266

The Teacher and his Pupil

In a certain country there were a woman and her two children. After the woman’s husband went and died, there not being any all-refuge (saw-saraṇak) for the woman and children, after the children became big they remained without learning.

Thereupon the men of that country said to the woman, “Your children are male children, are they not? Because of it, make efforts and teach them. Should the persons learn a little it will be good for you.”

And the woman accepting this very speech, as she had nothing for expenses for teaching the children she went near a teacher, and said, “Anē! Mr. Teacher, from anyone whatever I have no all-protection. Therefore I have nothing to pay for an expense. Because of it, you, Sir, by favour to me having taught these two children, you taking one child be good enough to give me one child.”

The teacher also being pleased regarding it, said, “It is good,” and took charge of the two children. [After] thus taking charge of them, although having made efforts he taught both children, and the young child, having more intelligence than the teacher, learnt, the other elder child was unable to learn even a little. Because he could not learn he sent him to look after the teacher’s cattle.

After the young child had thoroughly learned, the teacher, thinking a deceitful thought, for the purpose of causing the young child to remain and of sending the elder child home, taught the young child in this manner: “Child, I am sending a letter to your mother to-morrow [as follows]; ‘Your young son indeed knows nothing; the elder child is learning very thoroughly. Because of it, having come [for him], go back summoning him [to accompany you].’ When I have sent the letter your mother will come to-morrow. Then, putting on bad clothes, you remain, smearing cow-dung and the like on your hands. The elder child I shall dress well, and send to stay [at home],” he said.

Because the young child was unable to say anything at that time on account of the teacher’s word, he said, “It is good.” After it became night, taking the disguise of a bird and having gone that night to his mother’s house, and taught her [as follows], he came back:—“Mother, to-morrow our teacher will send you a letter [to this effect]: ‘Your elder child is learning well; the young child indeed cannot [learn] anything. Because of it, you having come call the elder child and go.’ In that way he will send the letter. Elder brother was unable to learn anything, therefore I am learning in a thorough manner. On account of it, to-morrow, when you are coming, our teacher, with the thought to cause me to stay, having smeared cow-dung on my body and put on me bad clothes, will put good clothes on elder brother. Then teacher will say, ‘Look here. This big child indeed is learning a little; the young child cannot [learn] anything. Having put aside the young child for me, even to look after the cattle, call the big child and go.’ Then you say, ‘No, Mr. Teacher, you, Sir, having made such efforts, I do not want the child whom you have taught. Should you give me the young child it will do.’ Somehow having made efforts, asking for me come [home].”

And the teacher on the following day having written in the above-said manner, sent a letter. At that time the woman arrived at the teacher’s house. After that the teacher said, “Your big child is learning the arts and sciences better than I; the young child knows nothing. Because of it, having caused the young child to stay to attend to the grazing of the cattle for me, you go back, summoning the elder child [to accompany you].”

At that time, the woman said, “Anē! Teacher, you, Sir, having made such efforts, be good enough to take for yourself the child who has embraced [the learning]. Should you give me the young child, it will do.”

Thereupon the teacher said, “No, you are a poor woman, are you not? Because of it, calling the elder child go.”

Then the woman having said it in the very [same] way as before, calling the younger child went away.

At that time the teacher having become angry regarding the young child, said: “Son of the courtesan! It is a work of yours, indeed, this! Somehow or other, should I be able I will take you.”

The young child having gone to his mother’s house, the child said to his mother, “Mother, there is no way for us to obtain a livelihood. Because of it, I will create myself a vegetable garden. You having uprooted the vegetables and tied them in bundles, place them [aside]. Men will come and ask for vegetables. Give the vegetables; do not give the cord that is tied round the vegetables,” he said.

Thereupon, having said, “It is good,” she did so, not giving the cord. Having sold the vegetables, for a few days they obtained a livelihood.

After that, the child said to his mother, “Mother, now then, there is no way for us to obtain a livelihood. Because of it, I will become a fighting-cock. Men having come and given the price you say and say, will take the cock. Don’t you give the cord only, with which the cock has been tied. Should you give it the men will capture me.”

His mother said of it, “It is good.”

After that, having become the fighting-cock, while he was so, certain men having come asked for the fighting-cock. After that, saying a great price and having given the cock, taking the cord that had tied the cock, and the money, with the money for a little time they obtained a livelihood.

After that the child said to his mother, “Mother, because we have nothing for food or drink I will become a horse. Our teacher will come to take me. You give only the horse; don’t give the cord.”

After that having become the horse, while he is it the teacher who taught him came. Having come and having offered a price for the horse he gave the money. Having given it, when he was preparing to bring away the horse that woman said she could not give the cord.

At that time the teacher said, “I cannot give you the cord. I gave the money for the cord with it”; and not having given the cord to the woman, holding the cord and having mounted on the back of the horse he made it bound along without stopping, as though killing it. Causing it to bound along in this manner, when he was near a piece of water the horse, being unable to run [further], taking the appearance of a frog sprang into the water.

The teacher became angry at it, and having collected a multitude of men besides, taking a net tried to catch the frog. At that time the frog having become a golden finger-ring, and crept inside [a crevice in] a stone step at the place where the royal Princess bathes at that tank, remained [there]. Although that teacher with extreme quickness made efforts to find the frog he did not meet with it.

After that, a royal Princess and a female slave having come to the pool, when they were bathing the ring having been at the angle of the stone the female slave met with it. Having met with it she showed it to the royal Princess. Thereupon the royal Princess, taking it, put it on her hand. Placing it on her hand, and having bathed and finished, she went to the palace.

The Princess having been sleeping, eats the evening food at about twelve at night. That day, in the night, the female slave, having taken cooked rice and gone to the royal Princess, and having placed it on the table, and made ready betel and areka-nut for the betel box, and placed it [ready], went to sleep.

After all went to sleep, that ring, having loosened itself from the hand of that Princess and having become a man, and eaten a share from the cooked rice that was for the Princess, and eaten also a mouthful of betel, and come near the bed on which the royal Princess is sleeping, expectorated¹ on the Princess’s clothes, and having come to her finger, remained like a ring on her hand.

The Princess having arisen to eat the cooked rice, when she looked [saliva stained red by] betel [and areka-nut] had been expectorated on her clothes. Having said, “Who is it?” and having gone, when she looked at the cooked rice at that time a half of the cooked rice had been eaten. After that, not eating the rice, and thinking, “By whom will this work be done?” she went to sleep. Regarding this she did not tell anyone else.

On the following day, also, in that way she went to sleep. That day, also, that ring having gone in that manner and eaten the cooked rice, and eaten the betel, and expectorated on the clothes, and gone [back] to the finger, remained [there]. The Princess that day also having awoke, when she looked, that day also, having eaten half the cooked rice and betel, he had expectorated on the clothes.

On the following day, with the thought, “Somehow or other I must catch this man who comes,” having pricked the Princess’s finger with a needle and put a lime fruit on it, except that she simply stays closing her eyes, by its paining she remained without going to sleep.

That day, also, that ring, with the thought, “This Princess will have gone to sleep,” having loosened itself from the finger, when he was becoming ready to eat the cooked rice the Princess having come and said, “Who are you?” seized him.

Thereupon the youth having told her all the circumstances, while staying there became the ring. The magic-performing boy, as it appears to him by the various sciences, said to the Princess, “The teacher who taught me the sciences will come here to-morrow to perform magic. I shall become a good beautiful necklace on your neck. He having come, and having thoroughly performed magic for the King’s mind to become pleased, will think of getting presents. Then the King will ask, ‘What dost thou want?’ At that time that person will say, ‘We indeed do not want any other thing; should you give that Princess’s necklace it will be enough.’ Then the King will tell you to give it. Thereupon, you, as though you became angry, having unfastened it from the neck and crushed it in the hand, throw it away into the open space in front of the palace. When throwing it there one grain will burst open. Then that magician, taking the appearance of a cock, will pick up each grain [of corn out of that one] and eat it. Then you remain treading on one grain [of corn] with your foot. Having been treading on it, when [the cock], having eaten all, is coming to an end, raise the foot. Then I having become a jackal, catching the cock will eat it.”

To that speech the Princess said, “It is good.”

On the following day, in the above-mentioned manner that magician came. In that way doing magic, he asked for that necklace as a present. The Princess did just as that youth said. At that time a grain burst. Thereupon the magician, having become a cock, ate the grains [of corn which came out of it]. Then the Princess having come, remained treading on one with the foot. The cock having eaten the grains, when they were becoming finished the Princess raised the foot. At that time the grain seed that was under the foot having become a jackal, caught and ate that cock.

After that, the King, ascertaining that the youth was cleverer than that magician, having married and given to him the King’s Princess, gave him the sovereignty also. After that, causing to be brought there the youth’s mother and his elder brother also who stayed near the teacher, he remained exercising the kingship in a good manner.

Immigrant from Malayālam, Southern India. (Written in Sinhalese, and partly related in that language.)

The Teacher and the Bull (Variant a)

In a certain country there was a most skilful teacher. One day when this teacher went to walk in the village, having seen that there were two sons of a widow woman at one house, asking for these two children from the woman for the purpose of teaching them the sciences he went away [with them].

The teacher began to teach these two the sciences. But perceiving that the elder one could not learn the sciences he taught him the method of cooking, and the younger one the sciences. After he had taught these two the sciences it was [agreed] that the mother should select the person [of them] whom she liked.

When their learning was near being finished, the younger one having gone home said, “You ask for me; elder brother knows how to cook, only.”

The mother having said, “It is good,” after their learning was finished the teacher told the mother to take the person she liked. That day she brought away the younger one. The teacher, perceiving the trick that the younger one had done for him, was displeased.

The widow woman was very poor. One day the boy said, “Mother, let us sell cattle”; and taking a [charmed] cord and having given it to his mother, he said, “Having fixed this cord to my neck, at that time I shall become a bull. At the time when you sell the bull do not give the cord to anyone.”

When the woman put the cord on her son’s neck he became a most handsome bull. Having taken the bull to the city and sold it, she brought the cord home. At the time when the merchant [who had bought the bull] looked in the evening, the bull had broken loose and gone away.

After having done thus many a time, the merchant related the circumstance to the teacher of that district. The teacher, knowing the matter, said, “Having brought the bull together with the cord, place it and tie it at the side of a jungle.”

That woman on the following day having taken the bull [for sale], he gave about double the price he was paying for the bull, and having brought the cord also, tied it at the side of a jungle, [and informed the teacher].

While it was [there], in the evening the teacher having approached it in a leopard-disguise killed the bull.

Ūva Province.

The Brāhmaṇa and the Scholar (Variant b)

At a certain city there was a famous Brāhmaṇa. He taught a certain youth the whole of his science. After the scholar learnt the science the Brāhmaṇa became angry [with him]. While the time is going on thus, the Brāhmaṇa thought of killing the scholar. The scholar also got to know about it.

While they were at a certain place, these two persons having struck [each other] on the face, the Brāhmaṇa chased the scholar along the path. The scholar being unable to run [further], took the appearance of a bull, and ran off. The Brāhmaṇa, also, bringing a leopard’s appearance, chased him. The scholar being unable to run thus, becoming a parrot began to fly. The Brāhmaṇa, also, becoming a hawk began to go chasing it. At last the parrot, being unable to fly, entered the palace of a certain King by the window. The Brāhmaṇa, also, bringing a youth’s appearance became appointed for looking after the oxen of a house near by.

In this royal palace there was a Princess. The parrot having been during the day time in the disguise of a parrot, in the night time took also the appearance of a Prince. In the night time, in the appearance of a Prince he went near the Princess. Having been thus, in the day time, at the time when the parrot is bathing daily a cock comes. The parrot having gone away immediately got hid.

Having been thus, and being unable to escape, one day at night having uttered spells over and given [the Princess] three Mī² seeds, he said that at the time when the cock comes she is to break them in pieces.

On the following day, at the time when [the parrot] was bathing, the Brāhmaṇa came in the disguise of a cock. Thereupon she broke up the three Mī seeds. Immediately a jackal having come, seizing the neck of the cock went off [with it].

After that, the Prince, marrying the royal Princess, in succession to the King exercised the sovereignty over the city.

Ūva Province.

This story with its variants is the first tale of The Story of Madana Kāma Rāja (Naṭēśa Sāstrī), p. 2. The two sons of a deposed King who became a beggar were educated by a Brāhmaṇa on the understanding that he should keep one of them. By the younger son’s advice he was selected by the parents, his brother being too stupid to learn anything. He first became a hen which the King bought for a hundred pagodas; in the night she became a bandicoot, a large rat, and returned home. Then he became a horse which the Brāhmaṇa bought for a thousand pagodas, and rode and flogged till it was exhausted. At a pool the spirit of the Prince entered a dead fish, and the horse fell down lifeless; then to save himself he entered a dead buffalo which thereupon became alive, and lastly a dead parrot which when pursued by the Brāhmaṇa in the form of a kite took refuge in a Princess’s lap, and was put in a cage. On two nights while she slept the Prince resumed his own shape, rubbed sandal on her, ate her sweetmeats, and returned to the cage; on the third night she saw him and heard his story. As predicted by him, the Brāhmaṇa came with rope-dancers, and as a reward for their performance demanded the bird. By the Prince’s advice the Princess broke its neck when giving it, and his spirit entered her necklace. She broke it, casting the pearls into the court-yard, where they became worms. When the Brāhmaṇa while still in the swing took a second shape as a cock and began to pick up the worms, the Prince became a cat and seized it. By the King’s intervention the enemies were reconciled, the Prince married the Princess, and afterwards recovered his father’s kingdom.

In Indian Nights’ Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 216, the first part is similar, the teacher being a fakīr. The youth turned himself into a bull which was sold, without the head-stall, for a hundred rupees, disappeared, and became the youth again. When he next changed himself into a horse the fakīr chased it; it became a dove and the fakīr a hawk, then it turned into a fish and the fakīr a crocodile. When near capture the fish became a mosquito and crept up the nostril of a hanging corpse; the fakīr blocked the nostril with mud and induced a merchant to bring him the body. Then follow some of the Vikrama stories, and at last at the corpse’s request the merchant removed the mud, and the youth escaped. The fakīr then accepted the boy’s challenge that he should be a goat and the fakīr a tiger, and one should devour the other. The goat was tied outside the town at night, men who were stationed to shoot the tiger when it came, fired, and both animals were killed.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (collected by Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 134, a Queen bore two sons owing to magical aid given by a Jōgī, who was to have one of them as a reward. The clever younger one whom he wanted ran off. The man first chased him as a leopard, then they were a pigeon and hawk, a fly and egret. The fly settled on the rice plate of a Queen; when the Jōgī induced her to throw the rice on the ground the boy became a coral bead in her necklace. The man then got her to scatter the beads on the floor, and while as a pigeon he was picking them up, the boy took the form of a cat and killed it.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 342, a man became an ox when a witch tied a string round his neck, and regained his shape when it was removed. On p. 340 the animal was an ape; when the string was taken off a spell was also necessary to restore the man’s form. In vol. ii, pp. 157, 168, a man was similarly turned into a peacock, and resumed his shape when the thread was removed.

In Sagas from the Far East, p. 2, the elder son of a Khan studied without result under seven magicians for seven years; the younger son acquired their mystic knowledge by peeping through a crack in the door. The elder one afterwards sold the younger to them in the form of a horse; as they were killing it he entered a fish, which as seven larger fishes they chased. Then he became a dove, which when seven hawks pursued it took refuge in Nāgārjuna’s bosom and told him its story. When the seven men asked for his rosary he put the large bead in his mouth as requested by the youth, and biting the string, let the others fall, on which they became worms that seven cocks began to pick up. On the large bead’s falling it changed into a man who killed the cocks with a stick; they became human corpses.

In the same work, p. 273, when the father of Vikramāditya went to fight a demon he left his body near an image of Buddha for safety. On his younger wife’s burning it on a pyre, he appeared in a heavenly form and stated that as his body was destroyed he could not revisit the earth.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. i, p. 118) a Princess-magician summoned an Ifrit (Rākshasa) who had turned a Prince into an ape, and with a sword made from a hair of her head cut him in two as a lion. They then became a scorpion and python, a vulture and eagle, a black cat and wolf. The cat became a worm which crept into a pomegranate; when this broke up and the seeds fell on the floor, the wolf (Princess) became a white cock which ate all but one that sprang into the water of a fountain and became a fish, the cock as a larger fish pursuing it. At last they fought with fire in their true forms, and were reduced to ashes.

In the same work, vol. iv, p. 492, a magician warned a Prince not to part with the bridle of a mule which was a metamorphosed Queen, but her old mother bought the animal and got the bridle with it. When she removed the bridle and sprinkled water on the mule it became the Queen again at her orders.

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara, vol. i, p. 420, the Asura Maya showed a King his former Asura body. The King magically re-entered the body, abandoning his own frame, and the dead Asura arose. He embalmed and kept his human body, saying that it might prove useful to him. Apparently this approaches the Egyptian belief in the return of the soul to its body after death. Mr. Tawney referred such ideas in China to Buddhist influence.

In the same work, vol. ii, p. 353, a decrepit old hermit who had magical power left his own body, and entered that of a boy of sixteen years who was brought to be burnt, after which he threw his old abandoned body into a ravine, and resumed his ascetic duties as a youth.

In Dr. De Groot’s The Religious System of China, vol. iv, p. 134 ff, instances are quoted from Chinese writers, of bodies which had been reanimated by souls of others who died, and it is stated that “it is a commonplace thing in China, a matter of almost daily occurrence, that corpses are resuscitated by their own souls returning into them.”

In the Rev. Dr. Macgowan’s Chinese Folk-lore Tales, p. 109, the spirit of a King who was murdered by being pushed into a well three years before, appeared to a monk, gave an account of the murder, and said, “My soul has not yet been loosed from my body, but is still confined within it in the well.” The body was taken out, and revived when a few drops of the Elixir of Life were applied to the lips. (See also the first note on p. 376, vol. ii.)

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 71, a cord placed round the neck of a Prince by the daughter of a sorceress changed him into a ram; when it was accidentally removed he became a Prince again.

In The Kathākoça (Tawney), p. 38, a Vidyādhara gave a Prince the power of entering another body. When he utilised it, it was given out that he was dead. His spirit returned to his own body by its own volition.

1 Leaving a red mark like blood, owing to the areka-nut he had chewed. 

2 Bassia longifolia. 

SINHALESE TEXTS OF STORIES

The texts of a few of the stories in the second and third volumes are appended at the suggestion of Professor Dr. Geiger of Erlangen, who has expressed the opinion that they will be of interest to philological students, retaining as they do some old grammatical forms and expressions which elsewhere have been abandoned. They are fair examples of the Sinhalese tongue which is found in the villages, and the dialogues in particular give the language exactly as it is spoken in them. I regret that the size to which the work has grown compels me to restrict the number of stories thus given in Sinhalese.

In order that the texts should possess a representative character, stories by different narrators have been selected. The village orthography has been carefully adhered to except in instances where a consonant has been accidentally omitted, or has been duplicated in carrying forward part of a word to the next line. Where a missing letter has been thus inserted by me it is enclosed in square brackets.

The stories were written in pencil, always in unbroken lines, without separation into words and sentences, and without punctuation except an occasional full-stop. For convenience of reference, however, I have marked the dialogues and sentences as in the translations.

My acquaintance with Pāli and Eḷu is too slight to enable me to make special observations on the grammatical forms met with in the stories generally. I therefore merely note a few peculiarities, most of which I think are not included in Mr. Guṇasēkara’s Grammar.

In the nouns and pronouns a genitive form in ǣ or lǣ is often employed in both the singular and plural numbers. Thus, among numerous other instances, in the singular we have:—Diribari-Lakālǣ gedara, the house of Diribari-Lakā (i, 177, line 14); nændāmāmalǣ gedara giyāya, [they] went to the house of [his] mother-in-law and father-in-law (ii, 404, line 14); unnæhælǣ akkalǣ gedara siṭinawā mama dækkā misa, tamuselǣ dihāṭa nam giyē nǣ, except that I saw [he] is at the gentleman’s elder sister’s house, [he] did not go to your quarter, indeed (ii, 214, variant); mī pæṭikkilǣ gamaṭa gihin, having gone to the f. mouseling’s village (i, 310, line 2); rāssayǣ gedara, the rākshasa’s house (iii, 122, note); um̆balǣ gamaṭa, to your village; um̆mbalǣ gedara, your house; um̆balǣ piya-rajjuruwō, your father the king; as well as the titles of Nos. 127 and 216. In the plural:—Mewwǣ ingan kiyāpan, tell [us] the limits of these (ii, 241, line 5); um̆balǣ piya-rajjuruwanḍa enḍa bǣ, um̆balǣ piya-rajjuruwō, etc., your father the king cannot come, your father the king, etc. (i, 267, line 30); ayiyalǣ gǣnu, the elder brothers’ wives; mama dannē nǣ ēwǣ wagak, I don’t know anything of those [matters]; um̆balǣ mas, your flesh. (See also No. 207 below.)

Hoṭǣ (vol. ii, 214, line 24) is perhaps a special plural form. I was informed that the word garā, a kind of demon, has two plurals, garayō and gærǣ; I do not remember other instances.

As a termination, ǣ usually takes the place of a in such words as kawaddǣ,¹ kawdǣ, kīyaṭadǣ, kohedǣ, kohomadǣ, mokaddǣ, mokak welādǣ, mokaṭadǣ, monawadǣ; we have also such forms as, āwæn passē, bǣn̆dæn passē, damamuyæyi, giyæn pasu, issaræhæṭa, kapannēyæyi, nikæ hiṭapan, palāpannæyi, weyæyi, wunæyin pasu.

There are numerous instances in which a noun or pronoun as the subject takes an instrumental position, always governed by wisin or wihin, by; this is a common feature in Hindūstānī and Gujarātī also. In translating such sentences I have occasionally made use of the passive verb when it appeared to suit the context—(as in the last paragraph of No. 98)—in order to retain the preposition. I may here mention that the passive form with laba is practically never used by the villager; there are not half a dozen sentences in which it occurs in the stories. The following are a few examples of the subject in the instrumental position—or, rather, governed by wisin or wihin:—

Vol. i, 247, line 19: Rajjuruwō wihin wan̆durā allanḍa niyama-keruwāya, (by) the king ordered [them] to seize the wandurā.

Vol. ii, 126, line 15: Itin wedā wisin kiyannē, well then, (by) the vedā says; line 31: Ewiṭa raja wisin noyek tānāntra dī, thereupon (by) the king having given several great offices.

Vol. ii, 137, line 3: Kumāriyak genat dunnā rajjuruwoyi dēwinnānseyi wihin, a princess brought and gave (by) the king and queen.

Vol. ii, 147, line 5: Mama wisin dæn maranawāya, (by) I shall now kill [you].

Vol. ii, 206, line 3: Purusayā wisin … kīwāya, (by) the husband said.

Vol. ii, 258, line 12: Rāksayak wisin aragana giyāya, (by) a rākshasa took away.

Vol. iii, 22, line 12: Ayet nariyā wisin gonā lan̆gaṭa gihin, (by) the jackal having gone again near the bull.

Other instances are: Anit baḍu horunḍa bǣna wisin dunnā, the other goods (by) the son-in-law gave to the thieves. Raja wisin æhæwwā, (by) the king asked. Raja wisin asā, (by) the king having heard [it]. Some examples are noted in the stories also.

In the Sinhalese Mahāvansa, c. 37, v. 10, wisin is employed in the same manner; in the Swapna-mālaya occurs the line, Satten kiwu ē bawa pan̆ḍi wisinā, truly said regarding it (by) the pandit.

As in Eḷu works, there is much irregularity in the indefinite forms of the terminations of feminine nouns, but very rarely in those of masculine nouns, and never in neuter nouns, although these last are irregular in Eḷu. Thus we have quite usually gǣniyak instead of gǣniyek, a woman, but always minihek, a man. Similar forms are:—diwidenak, a leopardess; duwak, a daughter; eḷudenak, a f. goat; girawak, a parrot; kaputiyak, a f. crow; kellak, a girl; kenak, a person; kumārikāwak, kumārikāwiyak, kumāriyak, a princess; manamāliyak, a bride; mīminniyak, a f. mouse-deer; mī-pæṭikkiyak, a f. mouseling; yaksaniyak, a yaksanī.

Similarly, in Mah. ii, 37, 159, we have dēwiyaktomō; in Thup. (1901), p. 50, putakhu, p. 60, wan̆durakhu; in Amāwatura (1887), i, p. 23, ājīwakayakhu, p. 31, dewduwak.

With regard to the general use of the word atin,—which, in order to retain the expression, I have translated, “at the hand of,”²—this has virtually the power of a postposition commonly meaning “to,” “of” or “from,” and more rarely “by.”³ The following are examples:—Ē minihā æhæwwā mē gǣnī atin, the man asked (of) this woman. Ē kumārayāge kiri-appā atin kīwā, [he] told (to) the prince’s grandfather. Sitānange gǣni atin kīwā, [he] told (to) the treasurer’s wife. Welihinnī me kollā atin æhæwwā, the f. bear asked (of) this youth. Ē minissu atin rilawat illuwā, (from) the men the monkey also begged. Ūrā atin æhæwwā ara hat denā, (of) the boar asked those seven. Gamarāla … ketta atin kīwā, the gamarāla told (to) the girl.

The same use of this expression is found in Eḷu:—Amāwatura, i, p. 24, raja … uyanpallā atin asā, the king having heard from the gardener; Thup., p. 40, bodhisattwayō atin tun sīyak lā, (by) the Bodhisattwa having put three hundred (masuran).

One of the commonest forms of the conjunction “and” is ignored by the grammars. In these stories there are many hundreds of instances in which “and” is represented by the particle yi or uyi, suffixed to each conjoined word. When the word ends in a vowel, yi is suffixed; when it terminates in a consonant, uyi, the pronunciation of this being practically wi. Some examples have been given in the stories; a few others are:—gætayi geḍiyi maluyi, immature fruits and [ripe] fruits and flowers; heṭṭiyāge wālaṭayi heṭṭiyāṭayi, to the heṭṭiyā’s slave and the heṭṭiyā; kolayi potuyi, leaves and bark; minihayi gǣniyi ē bælliyi, the man and woman and the bitch; mōlgahayi wangeḍiyayi kurahan-galayi bereyi, the rice pestle and rice mortar and millet stone (quern) and tom-tom; rilawayi pæṭiyayi ammayi, the monkey and youngster and [his] mother; talayi aluyi, sesame and ashes; udēṭayi hǣndǣwaṭayi, in the morning and evening; yanawayi enawayi [they] are going and coming; duwekuyi putekuyi, a daughter and a son; girawekuyi, ballekuyi, balalekuyi, a parrot and a dog and a cat; akkayi māyi, elder sister and I; um̆bayi mamayi, you and I,—(but tīt⁴ māt, thou and I).

As in ordinary Sinhalese, many words that are well known as pairs are commonly written without conjunctions, as ammā-appā, mother and father, (also, ammayi appayi or ammayi abuccayi); akkō-nagō, elder sisters and younger sisters; ayiyō-malayō, elder brothers and younger brothers; ǣt-mǣt, far and near; rǣ-dāwal, night and day; hawaha-udē, evening and morning; at-kakul, hands and feet; gankum̆buru, villages and rice fields; ganu-denu, taking and giving; batmālu, boiled rice and curry, (but also batuyi māluyi).

Usually when a particle, especially yi, is suffixed to a noun or pronoun ending in a long vowel, this is shortened, in accordance with the common village pronunciation, as in several of the examples given above. Thus minihā, with yi or ṭa, becomes minihayi, minihaṭa; ammā and ayiyā, with yi or lā, become ammayi, ammalā, ayiyayi, ayiyalā; mal-ammā, with ṭa, is mal-ammaṭa; girawā, nariyā, and hāwā, with yi, become girawayi, nariyayi, and hāwayi; dēwinnānsē, with yi or ṭa, becomes dēwinnānseyi, dēwinnānseṭa.

There are a few instances of a form of verbal noun derived from a participial adjective, which is not mentioned by Mr. Guṇasēkara. In vol. iii, 146, line 5, we have dīpuwā, evidently equal to dīpu ewwā, the things [she] gave. In vol. i, 274, line 14, there is also, me nuwara hiṭapuwō okkama yakā kǣwā, [a] yakā ate all those who stayed at this city. In vol. iii, 79, line 20, the same noun occurs in the form hiṭapuwanḍa, those who were [there]. At p. 370, line 6, we have palā tanbāpuwā wagayak kanṭa dīlā, having given [him] a sort of vegetable stew to eat. See also uyāpuwæn̥ p. 428, line 12.

From another form of the participial adjective we have in vol. iii, 66, line 38, redda allāgattuwō, those who took hold of the cloth. In the same vol., p. 228, line 1, there is, mæricci minissu maḷawungen nækiṭa ena raṭakut ædda, dead men having arisen from the dead will there be a country, also, to which they come? On p. 315, line 11, there is, itā wisālawū duṭu duṭuwangē sit piṇa-wana … sālāwak, a very spacious hall, which causes the minds of the spectators who saw it to rejoice. In the Swapna-mālaya the same expression occurs:—duṭuwanhaṭa aniṭuyi me sīnat, for the beholders this dream, too, is inauspicious.

There are several examples of a peculiar form of subjunctive, one of which has been given in vol. ii, 323, note 1. Some others are:—apagē piya-rajjuruwō āwōtin um̆ba kayi, should our father-king come [he] will eat you; ē beheta e kumāri atin dæmmōtin, should the princess apply the medicine with [her] hand; kiri ṭikak bīwōtin misa, unless [I] should drink a little milk; yan wæḍak kīwuwōtin, should [he] tell [you] any work. In the work Swapna-mālaya there are other similar expressions, such as, pibidunōtin, pibidunahotin, duṭōtin, duṭuwōtina; the second of these exhibits the uncontracted form.

A short form of participle is often employed, with either a present or a past signification. As a present participle:—ballā burāna enawā, the dog comes growling; budiyāna innakoṭa, when [they] are sleeping; ēka balāna hiṭiyā, [he] remained looking at it; kumārayā budiyāna in̆dalā, the prince having been sleeping. With a past participial meaning:—atu miṭiyak kaḍāna issarahæṭa pænnā, breaking a bundle of branches [he] sprang in front; ewwā kaḍāna æwit, having come [after] plucking them; kændana æwidin, having come [after] calling [her]; okkē isa tiyāna budiyā-gattā, placing [his] head on [her] waist-pocket, [he] slept; wastuwa hoyāna enḍa, to come [after] seeking wealth.

There is often omission to mark the long vowels, many of which, however, are shortened in the pronunciation of the Kandian villagers. As regards spelling, I have noted the following variations of the word gos, having gone:—gosin, gosin̥, gohin, gihin, gihun, gihun̥, guhin, gusin, gehun, gehun̥, ginun̥.

I also here mention the marked avoidance of the use of the personal and possessive pronouns of the third person, and of the guttural n̆, the palatal ñ, and the cerebral ṇ, as well as the employment of the binduwa in the story No. 207, “The Turtle Prince,” for all forms of mute n when followed by any consonant. Its use in this manner in this story, as well as in others sometimes, may indicate the origin of the curled form of the attached semi-consonantal n of all classes, which originally appears to have been a degraded form of the binduwa written hurriedly and united by an upstroke to the next letter. The abandonment of the first two forms of n is, I venture to think, an advantage in every way, since the class of these letters, and especially of the first one, would rarely be mistaken in Sinhalese, whatever form be used, and every step towards simplification of the alphabet under such conditions is an improvement. On the other hand, the class of t or ṭ, d or ḍ, is never mistaken by these villagers, except in the word katantaraya (which is sometimes written kaṭantaraya) and in another word or two; but la usually takes the place of ḷa, and sa of s’a.

In his Sumero-Accadian Grammar, Mr. Bertin has classified the grammatical elements of a sentence under seven headings:—s, the subject; o, the object; i, the indirect object; r, the reason for the action; c, the complement, or manner of the action; d, the determinative of time (dt), place (dp), or state (ds); and v, the verb, with or without pronouns and particles; together with q, any qualificative which explains or specifies these elements, as the words, ‘of honour,’ in the expression, ‘sword of honour.’

With this classification, the ordinary formula of the arrangement of a complete sentence in Sinhalese is, dt—dp—s—r—ds—i—o—c—v. In the stories, however, the order of the components is most irregular, and very rarely quite accords with this, although most of the sentences partly adhere to this sequence. I have not met with all the elements in one sentence, partly because of the constant omission of the pronouns. The accompanying few examples show the want of uniformity in the arrangement; their order follows the position in which s occurs:

s—dt—ds—v—c. Ibbā hat-awuruddak weli welī hiṭiyā diya nætuwa, the turtle a seven-year having dried and dried up, stayed water without.

dt—qs—qi—r—o—v. Ewiṭa e nuwara rajjuruwō wena nuwarawalwala rajunḍa kæmaṭa enḍa liyun æriyāya, at that time the city king to other cities’ kings for the eating to come, letters sent.

dt—s—ds—o—v—i. Ewiṭa berawāyā issara wāgēma salli illuwāya gamarālagen, at that time the tom-tom beater, in the former very manner, money asked-for from the gamarāla.

dt—r—qs—o—v. Me dawaswaladīma, maha rajagen yuddayakaṭa udaw illā, wena raja kenek liyun ewwēya, during these very days, from the great king for a war assistance having asked, another king letters sent.

r—dt—s—v. Ē kumārikāwaṭa dæn bohoma dawasaka hiṭa pissurōgayak sǣdilā, for the princess, now many a day since, an insanity having been developed.

dt—c—i—s—v—o. Etakoṭa hīnen gǣniṭa dēwatāwā kīwā, “Toṭa, etc.,” then, by dream, to the woman the dēwatāwā said, “For thee, etc.”

dt—qo—i—v—qs. Īṭapassē rajjen palātakuyi ætek-baraṭa wastuwayi dēwinnānseṭa dunnā kumārayāge piya-rajjuruwō, after that, from the kingdom a district and to a tusk-elephant-load wealth, to the queen gave the prince’s father-king.

i—o—v—s. Ē kumārayanṭa kǣma uyalā-dennē mal-ammā kenek, to the princes food having-cooked-gives a flower-mother.

i—ds—o—v—s. Ē kumārayāṭa, masuran haddāhak dīlā, kumāriyak genat-dunnā rajjuruwoyi dēwinnānseyi wihin, to the prince, masuran seven thousand having given, a princess having-brought-gave the king and queen (by).

The following transliteration has been adopted in these texts, being the same as in the translations of the stories, with the exceptions æ, ǣ, and ṣa.

Initials: | අ a, ආ ā, ඉ i, ඊ ī, උ u, ඌ ū, එ e, ඒ ē, ඔ o, ඕ ō, ඖ au, ඇ æ, ඈ ǣ.
Gutturals: | ක ka, | ඛ kha, | ග ga, | ඝ gha, | ඞ n̆a.
Palatals: | ච ca, | ඡ cha, | ජ ja, | ඣ jha, | ඤ ña.
Cerebrals: | ට ṭa, | ඨ ṭha, | ඩ ḍa, | ඪ ḍha, | ණ ṇa.
Dentals: | ත ta, | ථ tha, | ද da, | ධ dha, | න na.
Labials: | ප pa, | ඵ pha, | බ ba, | භ bha, | ම ma.
Semi-vowels: | ය ya, ර ra, ල la, ව wa, ළ ḷa, ං n̥.
Sibilants, etc.: | ශ śa, ෂ ṣa, හ sa, හ ha.
Semi-consonants thus: | n̆g, n̆ḍ, n̆d, m̆b.

1 A form, kawaddā, may indicate the intermediate stage; I think it occurs only once. 

2 See Guṇasēkara’s Grammar, p. 180. 

3 Thup., quoted in the next paragraph. See vol. iii, p. 169, line 18. 

4 Although Mr. Guṇasēkara states (Gram., p. 162, footnote) that tī is not used colloquially, the word is several times found in these tales, and I have heard it employed by villagers. 

No. 81

Concerning a Royal Prince and a Princess

Rāja-kumārayakut Kumārikāwak gæna

Ekōmat eka nuwaraka raja kenekuyi waḍuwekuyi hēnayakuyi hiṭiyāya. Me tun denāgē pirimi daruwo tun denek siṭiyāya. Me lamayi tun denā yodunak ipiṭa nohot hatara gawuwakin ipiṭa guruwarayek la[n̆]gaṭa akuru iganaganḍa hæriyāya. Me tun denā eka ǣwara nuwarin piṭat-welā akuraṭa giyāma ara rāja-kumārayat hēnakollat dennā guhin akuru kiyalā enakoṭa waḍuwage putā tawama maga yanawā. Ara denna bohoma kaḍisarakamin yanawā. E nisā waḍuwage putā ohugē piyā atin kiwuwā “Api tun denā eka ǣwara nuwarin piṭat-welā giyāma ara dennā issara-welā guhin akuru kiyalat enawā. Ekama dawasakwat eka ǣwara guhin akuru kiyalā enḍa bæri-unāya.” Næwata waḍuwage putāṭa da[n̆]ḍu monara yantreyak tanalā dīlā eyā eka pædagana guhin akuru kiyalā enakoṭa ara denna tawama yanawā akuraṭa. Eka dawasak rāja-kumārayā waḍuge putāṭa kiwuwā “Anē yāluwe maṭat denawada da[n̆]ḍu monara yantre pædalā balanḍa” kiyalā æhæwuwāya. Ewiṭa waḍuwage putā “Hon̆dayi” kiyalā lanu da[n̆]gē pāgana hæṭi kiyalā dunnāya. Kumārayā lanu da[n̆]gē allanakoṭama da[n̆]ḍu monara yantre guhin ahasē walākulwala ræ[n̆]dunāya. Ewiṭa e nuwara rajjuruwot sēnāwat baya-welā hiṭ[iy]a. Næwata e nuwara sǣstra-kārayot ganitak-kārayot ekatu-karalā æhæwuwā “Mē kumārayā kawadaṭa da[n̆]ḍu monara yantre ænna pāt-weyida.” Ewiṭa sǣstra-kārayō kiwuwā “Tun awurudu tun māsayak giya tæna æwit mūdē wæṭenawāya.” Ewiṭa rajjuruwo æmættayinḍa kiwuwā “E awurudu ganan dawas ganan ayiru-karaganā in̆dalā muda waṭakara dæl damāna i[n̆]dalā kumārayā wæṭena wahama goḍa-ganḍa onǣya” kiyalā niyama-keruwāya. Næwata kumārayā da[n̆]ḍu monara yantrē lanu allana welāwaṭa pāt-bahinḍa paṭan-gattāya. Wenin nuwaraka sohon bumiyaka nuga ukṣayak piṭaṭa da[n̆]ḍu monara yantrē pāt-unāya. Ewiṭa kumārayā da[n̆]ḍu monara yantrē gaha uḍa tiyalā gahen bæhælā e nuwaraṭa guhin æwidinḍa paṭan-gattāya. E nuwara rajju[ru]wannē kumārikāwat tawat kumārikāwo samaga wilaka nāna welāwaṭa mē kumārayat æwidagana yana welāwaṭa kumārikāwa duṭuwāya. Dækapu wahama kumārikāwa hituwā “Kumārayā kara-kāra bæ[n̆]da-gannawā nam ho[n̆]dayi” kiyalā. Kumārayat hituwā “Mē kumārī maṭa kara-kāra bæ[n̆]da-gannawā nam ho[n̆]dayi” kiyalā. Denna dennaṭa hitā-gattā misa katā-karaganḍa māruwak næti nisā kumārī e wilē mānel malak kaḍāgana eka isē tiyalā ibalā hiṭa næwata poḍi-karalā pāgalā dæmmāya. Kumārī mehema keruwē kumārayā sarana-pāwā gattahama eyāṭa yaṭahat-welā kīkaru-welā, inna bawa dænenḍayi. Kumārayaṭa eka tērilā hitaṭa gattāya. Næwata kumārayā e nuwara æwidagana yana welāwaṭa kumārī inna māligāwa sambu-unāya. Kumārayā ṭika welāwak etana inna welāwaṭa kumārīkāwa uḍu-mahan-talāwe janēleyak æralā wīdiya dihā balā inna welāwaṭa me kumārayā inna bawa dækalā katā-keruwāya. Ewiṭa kumārayaṭa kiwuwā “Oba ræ unāyin passē mama me janēlē æralā tiyanawā. Oba waren.” Næwata kumārayā māligāwe sērama nidā-gattaṭa passē æwit balāpuwāma janēlē æralā tibunāya. Kumāriṭa katā-karalā māligāwaṭa ætul-unāya. Næwata denna katā-baha-karalā kumārayā eli-wenḍa palamuwen māligāwen piṭa-welā guhin ræ wena kal i[n̆]dalā āyet enawāya. Ewiṭa kumāri kumārayā māligāwēma tiyāgannā pinisa e nuwara ācāri minihekuṭa rahasē enḍa kiyalā masuran dahasakut dīlā minihā ho[n̆]daṭa diwurawalā kumāri kiwuwā “Loku pān-kandak tanalā eka ætulē minihekuṭa inḍa tanalā ekaṭa yaturu iskūppu karakawalā wikunanḍa genena hæṭiyaṭa raja-wāsalaṭa ænna waren genahama mama rajjuruwanḍa kiyalā mama gañan.” Ewiṭa gurunnæha guhin kumāri kiyāpu hæṭiyaṭa pān-kanda tanalā rajjuruwo la[n̆]gaṭa genāwāya. Næwata kumāri æwit “Mēka maṭa onǣ” kiyalā ænna guhin māligāwe tiyā-gattāya. Gurunnæhæṭa rajjuruwo masuran pan siyayak dunnāya. Næwata ara kumārayā pān-kanda atulaṭa damalā hiṭiyāya. Nobo dawasak yanakoṭa kumārī baḍa-gærbba unāya. Kumāri baḍin inna bawa rajjuruwanḍa dænilā māligāwa waṭēṭa mura tiyalā a[n̆]ḍa bera prasidda kalā mē horā allanḍa rajjuruwot mura-kārayot puluwan ussaha-keruwā horā allanḍa numut bæri-unāya. Eka kanawændum gǣniyak kiwuwā “Maṭa allanḍa puluwani horā allanḍa maṭa hawaha udæhana kumāri inna māligāwaṭa yanḍa denawā nam.” Ewiṭa rajjuruwo e gǣniṭa tissē de wēlē yanḍa iḍa dunnāya. Kīpa dawasak yana welāwaṭa ara pān-kanda ætulē minihek inna bawa me gæniṭa dænilā dawasak hīn wæli poṭṭaniyakut æragana guhin kumārī ekka katā-kara kara hiṭapu gaman wæli poṭṭaniya pān-kanda waṭēṭa damalā tunī-karalā āwāya. Kumāriṭa meka soyā-ganḍa bæri-unā. Ara gæni pahuwa dā udēma guhin bæluwāma kumārayāgē aḍi tibunāya ara wællē. Duṭu wahama gæni guhin rajjuruwo ekka kiwuwā “Mama horā ælluwā. Yan balanḍa.” Mæhællī guhin “Onna oya pān-kanda ætulē tamayi horā innē” kiyalā rajjuruwanḍa pennuwāya. Ewiṭa rajju[ru]wo pān-kanda kaḍalā bæluwāma horā hiṭiyāya. Næwata rajjuruwo niyama-keruwā horāṭa wada-karalā ænna guhin kapalā damanḍa kiyalā wada-karuwanḍa kīwāya. Ewiṭa wada-karuwo kumārayā bæ[n̆]dagana wada-bera gahagana ara sohon bumiyaṭa anna giyāya. Ewiṭa kumārayā kiwuwā wada-karuwanḍa “Yam kenek maranawā nam eyāṭa hitu dē kanḍa bonḍa dīlā neweda marannē. E nisā mama mē nuga gahaṭa guhin nuga geḍi dekak kālā enakal obalā me gaha waṭeṭa ræggana hiṭapallā. Maṭa wena pænalā yanḍa tænak næta.” Ewiṭa wada-karuwo “Ho[n̆]dayi” kiyalā kumārayā gahaṭa goḍa-welā ara da[n̆]ḍu monara yantrēṭa goḍa-welā ahasaṭa pæddāya. Wada-karuwo balāna hiṭiyakoṭa kumārayā igililā giyāya. Næwata wada-karuwo rajjuruwannen sōli wæṭeyi kiyalā kaṭussek allalā kapalā kaḍuwe lē gāgana guhin rajjuruwanḍa pennuwā horā kapalā dæmmāya kiyalā. Edā hiṭa kumārī sōken kannē bonnē nætuwa hiṭiyāya. Kīpa dawasakaṭa passē kumārayā da[n̆]ḍu monara yantrē pædagana æwit kumārī inna māligāwa uḍa hiṭawalā ulu ahak-karalā kumārayāgē atē tibunu pēræs-munda kumārī inna tænaṭa ætæriyāya. Kumārayāge saluwakut atǣriyāya. Ewiṭa kumāri kumārayā bawa dænagana redi ihalaṭa wīsu-keruwāya. At-wæla bæ[n̆]dagana bahinḍa ewiṭa kumārayā bæhælā kumāriṭa kiwuwā “Mama maranḍa sohon bumiyaṭa ænna giyā. Mama wada-karuwo rawaṭawalā gahaṭa goḍa-welā mage da[n̆]ḍu monara yantrē gaha uḍa tibunā mama ekaṭa goḍa-welā pædagana giyāya.” Næwata kumārit kumārayat dennama giyāya. Yana welāwaṭa kumāriṭa dasa masa sampurna-welā hiṭiyāya. Yana welāwaṭa baḍē rudā allanḍa paṭan-gattāya. Næwata da[n̆]ḍu monara yantrē maha himālēkaṭa pāt-karalā wināḍiyaṭa atu-geyak tanalā kumāri wæduwāya. Ewiṭa kumārayā kiwuwā “Mama mehe guhin gindara ṭikak aragana ena kal hiṭapan” kiyalā kumāriṭa kiyāgana da[n̆]ḍu monara yantrē pædagana kumārayā giyāya. Guhin pol-lellakaṭa gindara aragana pædagana muda mædin ena welāwaṭa pol-lella dālā da[n̆]ḍu monara yantrēṭa gindara allalā dǣwāya. Næwata kumārayā æwit mūdē wæṭunāya. Ara palamu kiyāpu awurudu gananat edāṭa kammutu-welā tibunāya. Mudē dæl damāna hiṭapu aya kumārayā wæṭunu wahama goḍa-gattāya. E kumārayā e nuwara uyan-wattak wawāgana etana hiṭiyāya. Ara himālē wadāpu kumāriṭa kisi sawu-saranak nætuwa inna atara e himālē tapas rakina tāpasa kenekuṭa me duka penilā kumārī inna tænaṭa æwit katā-keruwāya. Ewiṭa kumāri tāpasayo duṭuwaṭa passē hitē tibunu karadarē ṭikak arilā tāpasa-inḍa kiwuwā “Mama me wanāntarē æwidalā palawæla ṭikak soyāgana ena turu me lamayā balā-gannawada” kiyalā æhæwuwā. Næwata tāpasayō kiwuwā “Mama lamayā ælluwot maṭa kiluṭayi. E nisā oba mæssak tanalā ēka wælakin ellalā mæssē wælak bæ[n̆]dalā lamayā mæssē budi-karawalā hiṭa palayan. Lamayā a[n̆]ḍana welāwaṭa mama æwit wæla gāwin allalā hollanñan ewiṭa lamayā nawatinawā æta.” Tāpasayo kiyāpu hæṭiyaṭa karalā kumāri palawæla soyāgana kǣwāya. Eka dawasak kumārī lamayaṭa kiri powalā mæssē budi-karawalā palawæla soyanḍa giyāya. Næwata ara lamayā mæssen peralilā bimaṭa wæṭilā a[n̆]ḍana welāwaṭa tāpasa-inḍa æhilā æwit bæluwāma lamayā peralilā bima wæṭilā hiṭiyāya. Ewiṭa tāpasa-inḍa lamayā allanḍa kiluṭa nisā malak kaḍalā malaṭa sattak kriyā-karalā “Me lamayā wāgēma lamayek mæwiyan” kiyalā hituwāya. Næwata e wāgēma lamayek mæwunāya. Kumārī æwit balāpuwāma lamayi dennek innawā dækalā kumārī tāpasa-ingen æhæwuwā “Mokada ada lamayi dennek.” Næwata tāpasayō kiwuwā “Mama enakoṭa lamayā wæṭilā a[n̆]ḍa a[n̆]ḍā hiṭiyā. Maṭa lamayā allanḍa kiluṭa nisā mama e wāgēma lamayek mæwuwāya.” Næwata kumāri kiwuwā “Maṭa oya wacanē wiswāsa-karanḍa bæriya. Ehe nan āyet lamayek mawanḍa onǣ maṭa balanḍa.” Ewiṭa tāpasayo kiwuwā “Obaṭa eka lamayā tanāganḍa tiyena amāruwē hæṭiyaṭa tun denek unāma kopamana amāruwakda.” “Kamak næta. Mawalā denḍeyi. Maṭa tanāganḍa puluwani.” Ewiṭa tāpasayō malak kaḍalā sattak kriyā-karalā mæssa uḍa tiyāpuwāma e wāgēma lamayek mæwunāya. Næwata kumārī santosa-welā lamayi tænuwāya. Næwata lamayi tænilā e lamayi wihin wanāntare æwidalā palawæla soyāgana æwit mawuṭa dīlā kanḍa paṭan-gattāya. Eka dawasak me tun denā æwidagana yana welāwaṭa loku gan̥gāwak sambu-unāya. Balāpuwāma ga[n̆]gen egoḍa loku uyan-wattak penenawāya. Ewiṭa me tun denā “Pīnanḍa pulu wanda” kiyalā hu[n̆]gak duraṭa pīnalā āpahu æwidin “Heṭa uḍēma emu” kiyāgana ṭika ṭika palawæla soyāgana guhin mawuṭa dīlā pahuwa dā udēma dunu italut æragana tun denama ga[n̆]ga gāwaṭa giyāya. Guhin tun denama pīnāgana uyan-wattaṭa guhi[n] bæluwāma noyek palawæla jāti tibunāya. Næwata me tun denā kaḍalā kana welāwaṭa e uyana rakina uyan-gowuwo dækalā duwagana æwit allanḍa tænuwāya. Ewiṭa me tu[n de]nā dunu æraga[na] widinḍa tænuwāya. Næwata uyan-gowuwo pænalā duwagana guhin rajjuruwo atin kiwuwāya. Me tun denā puluwan tarama kālā hu[n̆]gak kaḍāgana ekan-welā giyāya. Ewiṭa rajjuru[wō] uyan-gowuwanḍa kiwuwā “Heṭat mē horu āwot wahama maṭa dannawāpallāya.” Pahuwa dat ara tun denā æwit kaḍana welāwaṭa uyan-gowuwo guhin kiwuwā. Ewiṭa rajjuruwo dunu ītalut aragana æwit widdāya. Widapuwāma ītalē guhin ara kumārayō la[n̆]ga āpahu balā wæṭunāya. Næwata e gollat rajjuruwanḍa widdāya. Et e hæṭiyaṭama ītalē guhin rajjuruwo la[n̆]ga āpahu balā wæṭunāya. Næwata de-gollama lan-welā hiṭa katā-keruwāya “Mēka loku pudumayak unē. De-gollagen kāṭawat wædunē næti kāriya loku pudumayak. E nisā de-gollama yan̥ panḍitayō la[n̆]gaṭa mēka tōranḍa.” Ewiṭa de-gollama guhin panḍitayinḍa kiwuwā me unu kāriya. Ewiṭa panḍitayō tōralā kiwuwā rajjuruwanḍa “Tamunnānsē dænaṭa tun hatara awuruddakaṭa ihatadī kumārikāwak kændana hiṭiyā. E kumārīgē tamayi mē tun denā tamunnānsēṭa jātaka daruwo. E nisā dewiyo wihin mēka pennalā innē. Kumārikāwa inna tænakin guhin kændana enḍeyi” kiyalā panḍitayō rajjuruwan[ḍa] kīwāya. Næwata rajjuruwanḍa matakwelā wināḍiyaṭa næwak sarasāgana panca-suriya (sic) nādēn ara kumārī inna wanāntareṭa guhin kumārī a[n̆]ḍa-gahagana æwit kumārit kumārayō tun denat rajjuruwot e uyanē hiṭiyāya kiyalā tibenawāya.

Cultivator, North-Central Province.

No. 126

The Story of the Seven Wicked Women

Napuru Gǣnu Haddenāge Katantaraya

Ekōmat eka raṭaka akkō nagō haddenek at-wæl bæn̆dagana yanakoṭa gǣniyak lin̆da gāwa in̆dalā æhæwwā “Kohedǣ tamālā yannē” kiyalā. Etakoṭa ē akkō nagō haddenā kīwā “Api ayiyō malayō haddenek hoyā-ganḍa yanawā” kiyalā. Etakoṭa mē gǣnī kīwā “Mage innawā ayyō malayō haddenek. Yamallā ehe nan apē gedara” kiyalā ē haddenā kændana gihin gewal hatakaṭa ærala wī peṭṭi hatak bālā dunnā. Ē haddenā ē wī tambalā mē gǣniṭa “Nǣnē mewwā balā-ganin” kiyalā wī wanalā ē haddenā dara pārē giyā. Ē gihin katā-wunā “Nǣnā maranḍa api upaharana karamu” kiyalā. Rilawek hiṭiyā ē rilawā allā-gana gedara genāwā. Mē nagāṭa budi gihin maha warusāwak wæhælā wī okkama agārē giyā. Ara haddenā æwidin bælukoṭa wī okkama agārē gihin. Īṭā passē ē haddenā aye wī bālā ē wī kækulen koṭanakoṭa ara nagāṭa æhærunā. Ē æhærilā ara haddenā atin æhæwwā “Nǣnē bat tiyeyi” kiyalā. Etakoṭa ē gǣnu kīwā “Bat tiyennē api atēyæyi hæliyē newē tiyennē” kiyalā. Ē gǣnu kalimma kotaleṭa kæbilicca kaṭu kuḍu-karalā damalā tiyāyi wī koṭannē. Passē ara nǣnā gihin bat kālā “Nǣnē watura dilalā” kiyalā mē gǣnu kīwā “Api atēyæyi tiyennē geyi kotalē tiyanawā anna bīpan” kiyalā. Passē ē nǣnā kotalē anna diya bonakoṭa kæbilicca kaṭu ugurē ræn̆duna. Mē haddenā katā-wunā “Ōkige ayiyalā āwot nan maranḍa bæri-weyi. Enḍa issara maramu” kiyalā ē katā-welā nǣnayi ara rilawayi mallakaṭa damalā bæn̆dalā yaṭa-līyē elluwā. Ē ellalā ē haddenā wī koṭamin hiṭa haddenā hat pārak gahanawā mōl-gaswalin ē mallaṭa. Ē gahana gānē ara rilā pæna pæna ara mallē inna gǣnī sūranawā. Ē sūralā passē mallen lē bahinawā. Etakoṭa ē haddenā “Itin inḍa narakayi mun̆dalā damamu” kiyalā malla mun̆dalā ē nǣnā pilikannaṭa dæmmā. Etakoṭa ē nǣnage ayiyalā gedara āwā. Ē æwidin wæḍimal ayiyā æhæwwā “Koyi apē nagā” kiyalā. Etakoṭa mē gǣnu haddenā kīwā “Api danne nǣ. Roḍī passē gihin kula wæṭilā ōn pilikanna dihā an̆ḍa an̆ḍā innawā” kiyalā. Passē wæḍimal ayiyā gihin “Mokadǣ nagē um̆baṭa wunē” kiyalā æhæwwā nagā atin. Nagāṭa katā-karanḍa bǣ kæbilicca kaṭuwak ugurē ræ[n̆]dilā tiyana nisā. Ē ayiyālā haddenama gihin katā-keruwā. Katā-keruwe næti nisā wæḍimal ayiyā kīwā “Mē nagā kapanḍa kāṭadǣ pustuhan” kiyalā. Anit ayiyalā pas denāma bǣ kīwā bāla ayiyā kīwā “Maṭa nan pustuwani” kiyalā. Ē kiyalā bat geḍiyak uyawāgana nagat kændana kaḍuwat aragana bat geḍiyat aragana himālēkaṭa giyā. Ē gihin nagāṭa kīwā “Nagē um̆bē oluwē ukunan balanḍa budiyā-ganin kō” kiyalā. Passē nagā budiyā-gattā itin ayiyā ukunan bin̆dinḍa paṭan-gattā. Etakoṭa nagāṭa budi-giyā. Passē ē ayiyā nagāge oluwa himimma bima tiyalā emin pāra gærenḍiyek kapalā kaḍuwē lē gāgana gedara inna ættanḍa kaḍuwa pennuwā. Passē ara nagā æhærilā bælukoṭa ayiyā nǣ wanantarē. Itin an̆ḍa an̆ḍā bat geḍiyat anna pārakaṭa pænalā yanḍa paṭan-gattā. Ē gihin rāksayā kana nuwara kiyalā nuwarak tiyanawā ē nuwara dan-sælak tiyanawā etenḍa gihin eli-bæssā. Etanin ara bat geḍiya kālā dan dena ættanḍa ek-welā dan denḍa paṭan-gattā. Mē ayiyalā haddenāgeyi gǣnu haddenāgeyi okkagēma æs kana-wunā. Īṭa passē ē ættanḍat āranci-wunā rāksayā kana nuwara dan-sælak tiyanawā kiyalā. Īṭa passē ewun daha-hatara denama ē dan-sæla gāwaṭa giyā. Ara nǣnā dīgēkut gihin darawekut wadalāt innawā. Mē gollaṭa kǣma dīlā ara nǣnayi nǣnage lamayayi budi-yenḍa tānakoṭa ē lamayā kīwā nǣnaṭa “Ammē maṭa ahanḍa katā-wastuwak kiyāpan” kiyalā. Etakoṭa ē nǣnā “Putē mama monawadǣ dannē maṭa wecci ewwā nan kiyaññan” kiyalā. Etakoṭa putā kīwā “Hon̆dayi kiyāpan” kiyalā. Passē mē nǣnāṭa wecca kāranā sērama kīwā. Ē kiyana ewwā ara ayiyalā haddenāṭa æhilā “Anē apē nagā ada apē warunē kiyannē” kiyalā sādu-kāra dīpu pārama ayiyalā haddenāgēma æs pǣdunā. Gǣnu haddenāge æs pǣdunē nǣ. Ē ayiyalā haddenat nagā inna nuwarama hiṭiyā. Gǣnu haddenā baḍi-ginnema in̆dalā un maerilā giyā. Nimi.

Cultivator, Hiriyāla Hat Pattu District, North-Western Province.

No. 134

The Story of the Rākshasa and the Princess

Rāksayāgeyi Kumārikāwageyi Katantaraya

Ekōmat eka raṭaka rajjuruwō kenekuyi dēwinnānsē kenekuyi innawā ḷu. Ē dēwinnānsē kumārikāwak wæduwā. Ē raṭēma raksayekuyi raksiyekuyi innawā. Ē raksit rāksayek wǣduwā. Ara kumārikāwagē handahanē tibuna raksayekuṭa kasāta ban̆dinawā kiyalā ara rāksayāgē handahanē tibunā kumārikāwak kasāta ban̆dinawā kiyalā. Ē dennāma hun̆gak loku-wunāṭa passē rajjuruwoyi dēwinnānsēyi mærunā ara kumārikāwa witarayi māligāwē innē. Rāksayāṭa hitāpu deyak mawanḍa puḷuwani. Ē rāksayā hituwā “Māligāwayi māligāwē tiyana rāja wastuwayi sērama næti-wēnḍa” kiyalā ē hæṭiyaṭama næti-wunā. Kumārikāwaṭa inḍa tænak nætuwa an̆ḍa an̆ḍā innakoṭa rāksayā etenḍa æwit kumārikāwa atin æhuwa “Mokada an̆ḍannē” kiyalā. Etakoṭa kumārikāwa kīwā “Mama an̆ḍannē maṭa inḍa tænak nǣ kanḍa deyak nǣ ē nisā” kiyalā. Īṭa passē rāksayā kīwā “Mama kǣ-æn̆dīma deññan. Apē gedara enḍa puḷuwanda” kiyalā. Etakoṭa kumārikāwa kīwā “Puḷuwani” kiyalā. Īṭa passē rāksayayi kumārikāwayi rāksayāgē gedara āwā. Etakoṭa raksayā atin æhæwwā rāksayāgē ammā “Kawdǣ putē oye” kiyalā. Etakoṭa kīwā “Ammē ahawal rajjuruwannē kumārikāwa mama kændana āwā um̆baṭa lēhuwak karawā-ganḍa” kiyalā. Īṭa passē raksī “Hā hon̆dayi” kiyalā kumārikāwa rāksīngē wæḍa-kāriyak wāgē sērama wæḍa kumārikāwa lawwā karawāgana innakoṭa rāksiṭa hit-unā “Kumārikāwa kanawā nam” kiyalā. Ē hitilā dawasakdā rāksī minī kanḍa yanḍa tānakoṭa kumārikāwa ati[n] kīwā “Mama enakoṭa diya kalageḍi hatak genat tiyalā dara miṭi hatak genat tiyalā wī hæli hatak tambalā koṭalā gēwal hatē goma gālā uyalā maṭa nānḍa watura unu-karalā tiyāpiya næt nam tō kanawā” kiyalā rāksī minī kanḍa giyā. Īṭa passē kumārikāwa an̆ḍa an̆ḍā siṭiyā. Etakoṭa rāksayā æhuwā “Mokada tō an̆ḍannē” kiyalā. Kumārikāwa kīwā “Ammā maṭa meccara wæḍa kiyāgana giyā. Ewwā mama kohomada karannē” kiyā. Etakoṭa rāksayā kīwā “Tō ēkaṭa hæka-wēnḍa epā. Ammā æwadin ahapuwāma ē wæḍa okkama keruwā kiyāpiya” kiyalā. Īṭa passē kumārikāwa rāksayā kiyāpu hæṭiyaṭama karabana in̆dalā rāksī atin ē wæḍa keruwā kiyalā. Rāksī ē wæḍa harida kiyalā balāpuwāma sērama hari. Itin kumārikāwa kanḍa hæṭiyak nǣ rāksiṭa. Īṭa passē rāksige nan̆gāṭa wacanaya æriyā “Māligāwē kellak innawā ē kella maṭa kanḍa hæṭiyak nǣ koyi wæḍak kīwwāwat ē wæḍē hariyaṭama karalā tiyanawā. Itin kohomada kannē. Mama mē kella um̆ba lan̆gaṭa ewaññan etakoṭa um̆ba kāpan” kiyalā. Ē rāksī kumārikāwa atin kīwā “Apē nan̆gālǣ gedara gihin ehe magē peṭṭiyak tiyanawā. Ēka genāwē næt nam tō kanawā” kiyalā. Īṭa passē kumārikāwa kaḍulla lan̆gaṭa æwit an̆ḍa an̆ḍā innakoṭa raksayā etenḍa æwidin æhæwwā “Mokadǣ tō an̆ḍannē” kiyalā. Etakoṭa kumārikāwa kīwā “Ammā maṭa kīwā pinci ammalǣ gedara peṭṭiyak tiyanawā. Gene[n]ḍa kiyalā næt nam kanawā kiyalā peṭṭiya pārē giyāma pinci ammā mama kanawā æti. Ada nam maṭa bērenḍa bǣ” kiyalā. Īṭa passē rāksayā “Pinci ammā lipaṭa pim̆ba pim̆ba innawā peṭṭiya dora lan̆ga tiyanawā. Tō duwagana gihin peṭṭiya aragana wara” kiyalā. Passē duwagana gihin kumārī bǣlu wiṭa ē rāksī lipaṭa pim̆ba pim̆ba innawā peṭṭiya dora lan̆ga tibunā. Kumārikāwa geṭa gihin peṭṭiyat aragana duwagana āwā. Raksit passen pannā-gattā kanḍa bæri-wunā. Ara rāksīṭa etaninut kanḍa hæṭiyak nǣ. Ohoma ohoma hun̆gak kalak innakoṭa rāksayāṭa man̆gulak æhæwwā. Ē ahalā rāksit man̆gulē yanḍa dōḍu-welā kumārikāwa atin kīwā “Api manamālī kændana enakoṭa gedara hon̆daṭa hari-gassalā mēsa puṭu hadalā man̆gul-kārayinḍa tæmma uyalā tiyāpiya” kiyāgana raksī man̆gulē giyā. Rāksayā pahu-wela in̆dalā kumārikāwa atin kīwā “Tō karabana in̆dalā ammā kiyāpu wæḍa okkama keruwā kiyāpiya” kiyalā rāksayāt man̆gulē giyā. Passē kumārikāwa karabana in̆dalā manamālī kændāgana man̆gul-kārayō āwaṭa passē rāksī kumārikāwa atin æhæwwā “Mama kiyāpu wæḍa okkama keruwāda keruwāda” kiyalā. Īṭa passē kumārikāwa “Ow” kīwā. Raksī bælūkoṭa ē wæḍa sērama hari etaninut kanḍa hæṭiyak nǣ. Passē ē manamāliṭa igænnuwā “Putē ōn oye kella um̆baṭa puḷuwan nan kāpan mama puḷuwan hæṭiyē kanḍa tænuwā” kiyalā. Īṭa passē ē kella puḷuwan kanḍa tænuwā kumārikāwa kanḍa bæri-wunā. Ohoma ohoma hun̆gak kal innakoṭa rāksayayi kumārikāwayi hæn̆gilā giyā. Ē gihin kumārikāwagē rāja māligāwa tibuna hæṭiyaṭama mawalā ē dennā māligāwē hiṭiyā. Nimi.

Cultivator, Hiriyāla Hat-Pattu District, North-Western Province.

No. 207

The Turtle Prince

Ibi Kumārayā

Ekōmat eka nuwaraka hiṭānan̥ den̥nek gedarawal dekaka hiṭinawā. E in̥nakoṭa e hiṭanan̥ den̥nāṭa dēwīn̥nān̥selā den̥nakut hiṭinawā. E in̥na atara eka dēwīn̥nān̥sē kenek gǣnu daruwō hat denek wæduwā anik dēwīn̥nān̥sē pirimi daruwō haya denakut ibbakut wæduwā. Etakoṭa ema hiṭānō den̥nā katā-kalā “Massinē obē daruwōyi mage daruwōyi piṭaṭa kasāta no-bæ[n̆]da api apima denu ganu karagamu” kīwā. “Ehenan̥ waeḍimal daruwō den̥nā kasāta ba[n̆]dimu” kiyā kasāta bændā. Deweni daruwō den̥nat kasāta bæn̥dā. Tun̥weni daruwō den̥nat kasāta bæn̥dā. Hatara-weni daruwō den̥nat kasāta bæn̥dā. Pasweni daruwō den̥nat kasāta bæn̥dā. Haweni daruwō den̥nat kasāta bæn̥dā. Hatweni daruwō den̥nā kasāta ba[n̆]din̥ṭa hæṭiyak næta. E næti kāriya nan̥ “Massinē magē duwa bohōma alan̥kāra æti duwa. Ema nisā obē bāla daruwā nan̥ ho[n̆]da næta” kīwā. “E ho[n̆]da næti kāriya nan̥ mokadǣ kīwōt obē daruwā ibbā ema nisā bǣ” kīwā. Etakoṭa anik massinā kiyanawā “Massinē ehēma kiyalā bæ. Magē bāla daruwā wana ibbā kiyanawā ‘Mama appucciyē maṭa ē magula næt nan̥ mama li[n̆]daṭa payinawā noyekut perali-karanawā’ kiyalā ibbā kiyanawā. Ema nisā obē daruwāma kasāta ba[n̆]din̥ḍa ōnǣ” kiyanawā. “Ehema bæri nan̥ daru kīpa denāgema kasāta kaṭu-gāmu” kiyanawā ibbāgē appā. Etakoṭa kiyanawā “Ehe nan̥ massinē kasāta kaṭu-gǣmen̥ kamak nǣ māgē duwa ibbaṭa denawā” kīwā. Ē dīlā kasāta bæn̥dā. E kasāta bæ[n̆]dalā in̥nakoṭa ema nuwara rajjuruwan̥nen̥ yedunā “Rāssayǣ gedara in̥na gini kukulā genat den̥ṭa kāṭa puḷuwan̥da” kiyā yedunā. Ema rajjuruwan̥nen̥ genat dun̥nu kenekun̥ḍa noyek tānān̥tara denawā kiyā an̆ḍa-bera gæsuwā. Deweni “Māgē rājjayat denawā” kiyā yedunā. E wacanē ibbaṭa dænī “Ammē oba gosin̥ kīyāpan̥ rajjuruwō dækkin “Magē putā wana ibbaṭa puḷuwani” kiyalā kiyāpan̥ “gini kukulā genat den̥ḍa.” Etakoṭa rajjuruwō kīwā “Obē putāṭa en̥ḍa kiyāpan̥ heṭa ude” kīwā. Pasuwa dā ude ema ibbā gosin̥ kiyanawā “Maṭa gini kukulā genat den̥ḍa puḷuwani saddawasaṭa.” Etakoṭa rajjuruwō kīwā “Ibbā tiyā kawuru genat dun̥nat tānān̥tara saha māgē rājjayat denawā.” Ibbā gedara æwit ibbāgē gǣnīṭa kīwā “Maṭa bolan̥ bat geḍiyak uyalā genen̥” kīwā. Etakoṭa ibbāgē gǣnī æsuwā “Obaṭa bat geḍiya mokaṭadǣ” kiyā æsuwā. “Maṭa rajjuruwan̥nen̥ yedunā rāssayæ gedara in̥na gini kukulā genat den̥ḍa yedunā. Ema nisā bat geḍiya uyāpan̥” kīwā. Etakoṭa “Bat geḍiya uyalā den̥ḍa nan̥ puḷuwani oba kohomadæ æn̥na yan̥nē” kīwā. Etakoṭa ibbā kīwā “Bat mallakaṭa damalā maye piṭē tiyalā bæ[n̆]dapan̥ maṭa æn̥na gihǣkī” kīwā. Piṭē tiyalā bæn̥dæn̥ passē ema ibbā gamana gosin̥ magadin̥ mahamidi gæsicci rodakaṭa giyā. E gosin̥ bat geḍiya unā ibi hæṭṭaya galawā tiyā bat geḍiya kǣwā. Kālā ahak-welā ibi hæṭṭaya han̥gā gamana giyā. E gamana yanakoṭa magadī rǣ welā kanawæn̥dun̥ ammāge gedara giyā. E gosin̥ “Ammē maṭa nawā-tænak den̥ḍa ōnǣ” kīwā. Etakoṭa kanawæn̥dun̥ amman̥ḍi kīwā “Nawā-tænak nan̥ den̥ḍa puḷuwani” kīwā “kan̥ḍa den̥ḍa deyak nǣ.” “Ehe nan̥ kǣmen̥ kamak nǣ nawā-tæna witarak dun̥not ati” kīwā. Etakoṭa kanawæn̥dun̥ an̥man̥ḍi æsuwā “Oba kohēdǣ putē yan̥nē” kiyalā æsuwā. Etakoṭa kīwā “Rāssayæ gedara mini kukulā pārē yanawā” kīwā. Kanawæn̥dun̥ amman̥ḍi etakoṭa kīwā “Putē oba karabāgana gamaṭa palayan̥. Bohō rāsi gananak senaga metana nawā-tænē hiṭalā gini kukulā pārē giyā. Giyā misa gini kukulā æn̥na āwē nǣ. Ema nisā oba yan̥ḍa epā. Etakoṭa kīwā “Oba amme koccara kīwat mama nan̥ yan̥ḍama ōnǣ. “Mayē kīma no salakā oba yanawaṭa passē mē man̥ uyāpu kuḍu-hunusal ṭikak kālā palayan̥.” Etakoṭa kīwā, “Ada oba kuḍu-hunusal iwuwā misa aye obaṭa kuḍu-hunusal uyan̥ḍa han̥ba-wen̥nē nǣ” kiyalā kīwā. Ema wahama kækuḷu hāl mæwunā. “Putē oba dun̥nu warama wāgē mamat obaṭa waramak den̥ñan̥. Oba rāssayǣ gedara gosin̥ ena welāwaṭa rāssayā nawatāgana eyi. E etakoṭa mē gal-kæṭē æn̥na gosin̥ ‘Cī kan̥da mæwiyan̥’ kiyalā damāpan̥ kan̥da mæweyi. Rāssayā kan̥da diga ihalaṭa gosin̥ pahalaṭa bahinakoṭa obaṭa etakoṭa hun̆gak tæn̥ gi-hǣkī.” Etanīn̥e warama æragana yan̥ḍa yanakoṭa magadin̥ rǣ unā. Rǣ unæn pasu ayet kanawæn̥dun̥ an̥man̥ḍi kenekunn̥gē gedaraṭa giyā. Kanawæn̥dun̥ an̥man̥ḍi æsuwā “Kohedǣ putē oba mē rǣ unu māna yan̥nē.” Etakoṭa kīwā “Mama rāssayǣ gedara gini¹ kukulā pārē yanawā” kīwā. “Oba oye gamana yan̥ḍa epā gini¹ kukulā pārē yana senaga yanawā misa en̥nē nǣ.” “Kohetma e waga maṭa nan̥ kiyan̥da epā mama nan̥ gini¹ kukulā pārē yan̥dama ōnǣ. Mama mehe āwe nawā-tænak ōnǣ wēlā.” “Nawā-tæna nan̥ den̥da puḷuwani. Kan̥ḍa den̥ḍa deyak nǣ” kiyalā kanawæn̥dun̥ an̥man̥ḍi kīwā. “Kǣmen kamak nǣ maṭa nawā-tæna dun̥not æti” kīwā. Nawā-tæn̥ kārayā balāna iddin̥ kan̥ḍa bǣri han̥ḍā kuḍu-hunusal uyāpuwæn̥ ṭikak kan̥ḍa dun̥nā. “Ammē obaṭa kuḍu-hunusal ada iwuwā misa aye uyan̥ḍa han̥bawen̥nē nætuwa mama waramak den̥ñan̥” kiyalā “Kækuḷu hāl mæwiyan̥ kiyalā kīwā. “Ehe nan̥ putē obaṭa man̥ waramak den̥ñan̥ kiyalā men̥na mē una kōṭuwa æn̥na gosin̥ rāssayā oba pārē nawatana en̥ḍa enakoṭa ‘Cī una mæwiyan̥’ kiyalā una kōṭuwa damāpan. Etakoṭa una wæṭa mæweyi. Una pa[n̆]dura diga rāssayā ihalaṭa gosin̥ pahalaṭa enakoṭa obaṭa hu[n̆]gak tæn̥ ǣ-haeki.” Etanin̥ pasuwa dā yan̥ḍa yanakoṭa magadī rǣ unā. Rǣ welā ayet kanawaen̥dun̥ an̥man̥ḍi kenekun̥nē gedarakaṭa giyā. E gosin nawā-tænak illuwā. “Me rǣ wunu māna oba kohedǣ yan̥nē” kiyalā æsuwā. Etakoṭa kīwā “Mama rāssayǣ gedara gini kukulā genen̥ḍa yanawā” kīwā. “Kola dās mala dās yanawā misa e giya ættō giyā misa āwē nǣ. Ema nisā oba yan̥ḍa epā.” “Mama nan̥ gini¹ kukulā pārē yan̥ḍama ōnǣ. Maṭa metana in̥ḍa nawā-tæna den̥ḍa ōnǣ.” Etakoṭa kīwā “Den̥ḍa nan̥ puḷuwani kan̥ḍa den̥ḍa denḋa deyak nǣ.” “Maṭa kǣmen̥ kamak nǣ maṭa nawā-tæna dun̥not æti.” Kanawæn̥dun̥ an̥man̥ḍi wisin̥ kuḍu-hunusal ṭikak uyalā kan̥ḍa dun̥nā. “Ammē obaṭa aye kuḍu-hunusal uyan̥ḍa læben̥nē nǣ mama ho[n̆]da waramak den̥[ñ]an̥.” Kækuḷu hāl mæwen̥ḍa waramak dunnā. “Oba dun̥nu waramaṭa waḍā mama den̥ñan̥ waramak. Rāssayāge gedara gosin̥ gini kukulat æn̥na enakoṭa rāssayā kan̥ḍa duwagana eyi. E enakoṭa men̥na me a[n̆]guru kæṭē æn̥na gosin̥ ‘Cī gini mæwiyan̥’ kiyalā damāpan̥, gini wæṭa mæweyi. Etakoṭa rāssayā æwit gin̥daraṭa panī. Karabana hemihiṭa gedara waren.” E æwadin̥ ibi hæṭṭaya tiyana tænaṭa gosin̥ ibi hæṭṭaya æ[n̆]gaṭa porawāgana gamaṭa āwā. Ē æwadin̥ rajjuruwan̥ḍa gini kukulā bāra-dun̥nā. E denakoṭa rajjuruwō kīwā “Ada hiṭan̥ māgē raṭa saha wastu samaga toṭa bārayi.” “Oyiṭa waḍā wastu maṭa tiyanawā maṭa epa” kīwa. Ema rajjuruwō wisin̥ e wastu pujā-karan̥ḍa banak niyama-kalā. E bana ahan̥ḍa ibbāgē [gǣ]ni saha tawat gænu bana ahanḍa yanakoṭa anik ena gǣnu kiyanawā “Ibbæ gǣniyē bana ahan̥ḍa yan̥ḍa wara.” E gihin̥ bana ahanakoṭa ibbā ibi hæṭṭaya galawalā bana ahan̥ḍa giyā. Etakoṭa ibbi gǣni kalpanā-kalā “Maye minihāmayi me” kiyalā. Kalpanā-welā gedara æwadin̥ bæḷu kala ibi hæṭṭaya tiyanawā dækalā ekē tibba wastuwa æn̥na ema hæṭṭaya lipaṭa damā bana ahan̥ḍa giyā. Ibbǣ gǣnige minihā gedara æwit bæḷukoṭa ibi hæṭṭē nǣ. Geṭa welā karabana hiṭiyā. Ibbæ gǣnī sellamen̥ gedara āwā. Wena gǣnu “Ibbǣ gǣnīgē ada occara tiyana sellama mokadǣ” kiyā æsuwā. “Mage sellama gedara gihāma dæneyi.” Ibbǣ gǣnit samaga wena gǣnu e wacanē balan̥ḍa ibbæ gǣnīgē gedara āwā. Æwadin̥ bæḷukoṭa ibbæ gǣnigē minihā raja kenek samānayi. Mē kaṭan̥taraya hiṭānawaru den̥nāgē.

Tom-tom Beater, Hiriyāla Hat-Pattu District, North-Western Province.

1 Corrected in MS., from Mini; apparently either word is correct. 

No. 216

The Story of Goḷu-Bayiyā

Goḷu Bayiyæ Kathāwa

Eka raṭaka siṭiya ḷu Gonaka Bokkā kiyalā minihek. E Gōna Bokkage malayo dasa denek siṭiya ḷu. Malayo dasa dena kathā-karalā “Apaṭa Gona Bokkā ayiyagen apaṭa kisi prayojanak næta. Apaṭa wæḍapala karana apaṭa amāruyi. Ēkaṭa api dasa denāṭama eka magulak genamu” kīyā hiṭa “Oṭannāpahuwa kiyana gamaṭa yan̥” kiyā gamaṭa bāla malayā giyā ḷu. Ē Oṭannāpahuwaṭa magulak ahanṭa giyāya. Īṭa passe anik nawa dena kathā-karanawa ḷu “Ape ayyāṭa ‘Gōna Bokkā’ kiyanakoṭa apaṭa gēna gæni kiyayi bola Gōna Bokkā ki[ya]na nama wan̥sa næti ewunṭayi kiyā. Apaṭa gēna gæni yayi. Ekaṭa Goḷu Bayiyā kiyamu” kiyā. “Apē Goḷu Bayi ayaṭat apē [na]m makanṭa demu” kiyā kathā-karagana innawa ḷu. Etakoṭa kīpa dawasak maga gewāgena hæmaṭama bāla malayā æwit hiṭa kīwa ḷu “Ayiyanela Oṭannāpahuwe mama ahanṭa giyā Gænī nan̥ wan̥śe ho[n̆]dayi. ‘Bāla pæṭiyakuṭa magul denne kawudæ. Wæḍimal sahodarayinṭa ekkenakunṭa enṭa kiyāpan̥’ kiyā-ewwāya.” Īṭa passē e daha dena kathā-karaṇawa ḷu “Api dasa denāṭa wæḍimal Goḷu Bayi ayiyā magul ahanṭa arimu” kiyalā kathā-karanawāya. Itin̥ ē Goḷu Bayiyā kiyana ættā maha moḍayek ḷu. Īṭa passē ara dasa dena “Ayye api kiyana dēṭa obat enawā nam api ekolohama eka magulak kændāgana inṭa obat warenna” kiyalā katā-karaṇawā ḷu. Īta passē Goḷu Bayyā kīwa ḷu “Ho[n̆]dayi mama yaññan̥” kiyā. Bat geḍi[ya]k uyawāgana piṭat-welā giyā ḷu. Yanawā yanawā. Pāra no-dannā nisā gihun̥ galak uḍa wanantare i[n̆]dagana bat geḍiya kæwāya. Kālā innakoṭa wenin̥ raṭaka gæniyak duppat welā enṭa enawā ḷu pāra diga. Æwit e Goḷu Bayiyā inna gala gāwā i[n̆]da-gattāya. In pasu gæni ahanawa ḷu “Oba koyi raṭeda koyi gameda” kiyā gæeni miniyagen æsuwāya. In pasu miniyā kīwā ḷu “Mama magulak ahanṭa Oṭannāpahuwaṭa yanawāya” kiyā kīwāya. Īṭa pasu gæni kiyanawā ḷu “Anicchan̥ dukkhan̥ e game æsū gæni mamayi. Mama māge de-mawu-piyo wæræddak-welā pænnuwāya. E nisā mama kanṭa bonḍa dena tænakaṭa yanawaȳa” kiwuwāya. In pasu Goḷu Bayiyā “Gæni ho[n̆]da nisāt palamu ahalā tiyena nisāt mama Oṭannāpahuwaṭa no-gohinma kændāgana yanḍa ōnæya” hitā e pa̱rēdi ham̆ba-wunu gæni kændāgana gamaṭa āwāya. Æwit malayalāṭa kiyanawā “Mama Oṭannāpahuwaṭa giyāya. Malawāli onna gæni” kiyā “siyallaṭama kændāgamu” kiyalā kīwāya. Īṭa pasu anik dasa dena nu-duṭu nisā edā paṭan gæni pāwāgana hiṭiyāya. Pawāgana kīpa dawasak inna atara ē bāla dasa denā kathā-karanawā ḷu “Ape magul ayiyā tanikarēma kisi kenekma nætuwa kændāgana āwāya. Apē ayiyā kalē ho[n̆]da hapan̥kamayi. Ē nisā api siyaḷu wæḍapala karamu. Apē gǣni nilantarayen apē Goḷu Bayi ayiyāṭa rakinṭa bāradī api wæḍapala karamu. Ayiyā gæni rækapan̥” kīwāya. “Ho[n̆]dayi mama rakimi” kiyā gæni yana ena tænaṭa ādī hǣma tænakaṭa gǣni yā nan̥ ē Goḷu Bayiyāt yanawāya. Ē atara ek dawasak wela[n̆]dāmaṭa ek miniyek ē gamaṭa āwāya. Ē miniyāge nama Gæṭapadayayā. Ē Gæṭapadayā kīpa dawasak ema gedara wela[n̆]dām kara kara ema gedara maḍuwe siṭiyāya. Siṭina ataradī ema Gæṭapadayā kiyana miniyāṭa me Goḷu Bayiyage gæni ek-unāya. Ē inna atara palamū kī dasa dena wæḍaṭa giya dawasakadī pera kī Goḷu Bayiyaṭa Gætapadayā kiyannē “Mama ada hīnayak duṭuwāya. Mokada. Asawal tæna pāre gōnek mærilā innawā duṭuwāya.” Ēka balalā enṭa Goḷu Bayiyāṭa Gæṭapadayā kīwāya. Goḷu Bayiyā e gōnā balan̥ḍa gi atara Gæṭapadayā gǣnit ænna gedara tibū baḍut æna dennama palā-giyāya. Goḷu Bayyae katāwa.

Tom-tom Beater, Hiriyāla Hat-Pattu District, North-Western Province.

No. 225

The Wax Horse

Iṭi Aśwayā

Ekamat eka raṭaka raja kenekuṭa putrayek upannā ḷu. Brāhmaṇayin genwā mē kumārayāgē han̆dahana liyawanṭa bāradun wiṭa kumarāyā wæḍi-wiya pæmununāma raṭa æra-yanṭa tibena bawa rajjuruwanṭa dænun dunnāma rajjuruwō kumārayāwa uḍu-mahal-talē kāmarayaka itā su-rækiwa inṭa sælæssuwā ḷu. Mē ladaru kumārayā taramak loku wī keḷi-sellam ādiyehi yedī dawas yawana kālayēdī wīthiyē wikunanṭa geṇa-yannāwu iṭi aśwayek dæka ūwa aragaṇa denṭa kiyā piya-rajjuruwanṭa sæla-kala kalhī piya-rajjuruwō aśwayāwa mila dī rægeṇa tama putrayāṭa dunnā ḷu. Mē aśwayā piyāpat dekakin yuktawu guwanehi igilenṭa puḷuwankama æti ekek wīya. Mē aśwayā gattāṭa pasu swalpa kālayak siṭa kumārayā taramak loku wunāma kisiwek-haṭawat no-han̆gawā iṭi aśwayāgē upakārayen igilī yanṭa giyā ḷu. Itin śāstrakāra-Brāhmaṇayingē kīmat sæbǣ wiya. Kumārayā aśwayāgē balayen igillīgaṇa gos tawat raja kenekungē māligāwaṭa mal amunā dena mahaḷu ammaṇḍi kenekugē gedaraṭa giyā ḷu. Mehidī iṭi aśwayāwa kotanada san̆gawā mal-ammagē gedara siṭimin raja gedara toraturu siyallama mal-ammageṇ asā dæna-gattā ḷu. Mesē dænagaṇa ṭika kalak siṭa rajjuruwangē diyaniyan siṭina uḍu-mahal-talē kāmara ādiya dænagaṇa lakṣanawu kumārikāwak siṭina kāmarayakaṭa rātri kālayēdī iṭi aśwayāgen gos kumārikāwaṭa genat tibuna kǣma bīmādiya kā bī kīpa dawasakma no-han̆gawā yanṭa giyā ḷu. Kumārikāwada kāmarayaṭa ǣ nidā-gattāṭa pasu kawuru-namut æwit gihin tibena bawa dæna pasuwa dā no-nidā balā siṭiyā ḷu. Ewiṭa kumārayā æwit kǣma bīmādiya anubhawa karaṇa-koṭa kumārī kaḍuwa eka atakin aragaṇa kumārayāwa eka atakin alwāgeṇa “Topa kawudæyi” kiyā æsuwā ḷu. Kumārayāt raja pawulakaṭa ayiti kenek bawa danwā ǣ samaga kathā-bas-koṭa yāḷu-wī ǣwa kara-kāra ban̆dinṭat giwisagaṇa īṭa pasuwa dawaswaladīt enṭa paṭan-gattā ḷu. Itin mē kumārīwa sǣma dawaswalama udēṭa kiraṇa siritak tibunā ḷu. Kumārayā enṭa wunāṭa pasuwa dawaswaladī kumārīgē bara kramayen wæḍi-wēgaṇa gos ǣ baḍa-gæbbarin siṭi bawa rajjuruwō dænagana kumāri samaga amātyayāgē mitra-satthawayak ætæyi sitā amātyayāwa maranṭa niyama-kaḷā ḷu. Amātyayāda itā sōkayaṭa pæmina siṭina kālayēdī rajjuruwangē anikut dūru æwi[t] “Itā sōkayakin siṭinnē mandæyi” kiyā amātyayāgen æsu wiṭa siyaḷu toraturuma owunṭa dænun dunnā ḷu. Ē kumārikāwan ræs-wī æmættayāwa galawana piṇisa mesē upakramayak yeduwā ḷu enam amātyayāgē nam dōṣayak næta kawuru-namut piṭa-kenek mona upakramayakin namut kumārī samīpayaṭa enawā ætæyi sitā nāna suwan̆da pæn oruwē wisa damā raja wāsala doraṭuwē tibena pokunē mura tibbā ḷu. Kumārayā æwit kumārigē kāmarēṭa yanṭa prathama suwan̆da pæn nǣwāma ohuṭa wisa pattu-wī duwagana gos pokunē pænnāma murakārayō ohuwa allā-gattā ḷu. Mē kumārayāwa alwāgaṇa gos rajjuruwanṭa kāraṇa tērum kara-dunnāma æmættayāwa bērā kumārayāwa maranṭa niyama-kalā ḷu. Kumārayāwa wada-karuwō geṇayana wiṭa “Magē wastuwak tibenawāya ēka topaṭa aragaṇa dennan (sic)” kiyā gahakaṭa nægī ehi kola aturehi paḷamuwen tabā san̆gawā tibuna iṭi aśwayāwa aragana igillī-diwwā ḷu. Mesē madak dura gos næwatī rātri kālayehī næwatat raja wāsalaṭa æwit kumāriyawat an̆ḍa-gasāgaṇa mahā wanāntarayak mædin yanakoṭa kumārīṭa bada-rudāwa sædunāma bimaṭa bæsa ǣwa nawatwā īṭa ōnǣ karaṇa behet ādi upakaraṇa geṇa ena piṇisa swamīpa grāmayakaṭa gos iṭi aśwayāwa kaḍayak lan̆ga tabā tawat kaḍēkaṭa gihin enakoṭa kaḍē lan̆ga gindarak tibī iṭi aśwayāwa diya-wī gos tibunā duṭuwā ḷu. Iṭi aśwaya næti-wunāyin pasu kumāriya siṭi tænaṭa mē kumārayāṭa yanṭa bæri-wunā ḷu. Kumārīda wanāntrayēdī putrayek wadā “Asat-puruṣawu kumārayāgē putrayāwat maṭa epāya” kiyāla daruwāwat damā gam samīpayakaṭa ǣ giyā ḷu. Mē kumārīgē piyā wanāntarayē daḍayamaṭa giya kālayēdī mē ladaruwāwa sambhawī raja gedaraṭa genat æti-kalā ḷu. Mē ladaruwāgē maw wana kumārīkāwī kanya paṅtiyakaṭa bæn̆dī wāsaya-karaṇa kālayēdī mē æti-karagatta lamayā wæḍi-wiya pæmiṇa saraṇayak soyā gos tamāgēma mǣniyō dæka ǣwa kāra-kāra ban̆dinṭa adahas kaḷā ḷu. Mesē sitā tun dawasakma saraṇa wicāranṭa yanṭa piṭat-wuna wiṭa mārggayēdī bādā wī tun dawasēdīma hæri āwā ḷu. Eka dawasak aśwayā piṭa nægī saraṇa wicāranṭa yana gamanēdī kurul pæṭaw wagayak aśwayāṭa pǣgī kirillī kumārayāṭa mesē bænnā ḷu enam “Mū mugē mō ganṭa yanawā madiwāṭa magē pæṭaw ṭikat marā-dæmmāya” kiyā bænnā ḷu. Mē dawasēdī bādā wuna nisā āpasu hæri æwit īṭa pasuwa dā giyā ḷu. Edā yanakoṭa eḷu pæṭiyekwa aśwayāṭa pǣgī eḷudenat “Mugē ammā ganṭa yanawā madiwāṭa apē pæṭaw marā-dæmuwāya” kiyā bænnā ḷu. Tunweni dawasēdīt yanakoṭa pera sēma bādā wunā ḷu. Mē kumārayā mesē kanya paṅtiyenma saraṇayak sewwē ohu hadāgat puruṣayek nisā kisikenek saraṇa no-dena bæwinya. Mīṭa pera eka dawasak sellampalēdī “Awajātakayāyayi” anikut lamayin wisin kīwāma ohuwa æti-karagatta rajjuruwangen ohugē de-maw-piyō koyidæyi asā wanāntarayē siṭa ohuwa genat hadāgat bawa dænagana tibunā ḷu. Itin tunweni dawasēdīt bādā welā ē gæṇa no-salakā saraṇa wicāranṭa gos tamāgē mǣniyō bawa madakwat no-dæna ǣgē utpattiyē siṭa kanya paṅtiyaṭa ā kālaya dakwā waga tu[n̆]ga asā “Wanāntarayē ahawal palātēdī samba-wī tibennē māwa tamayi ē nisā mē magē mǣniyo tamayi” kiyā. Dænagana āran̥ci karagaṇa gos tamāgē piyāwat soyāgana æwit ohugē sīyāwū hewat ohugē mǣniyangē piyā wana rajjuruwangē ǣwǣmen rājjayaṭada pat-wī raja pawulakin kara-kāra bæn̆da yahatin kal yæwwā ḷu.

Ratmalāna, Western Province.

Corrections.—Page 424, line 7, for pustuhan read puḷuhan.

Line 9, for pustuwani read puḷuwani.

APPENDIX

ADDITIONAL NOTES, AND CORRECTIONS, VOLUME I.

Page 21, line 4. For trades read traders.

Page 27, line 19. For Ratemahatmayā read Raṭēmahatmayā.

Page 40. Tāmalitta. In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara, vol. i, p. 329, note, Mr. Tawney stated that the Tāmalitta district probably comprised the tract of country to the westward of the Hūghli river, from Bardwān and Kalna on the north to the Kosai river on the south.

Page 41. Lāṭa. A country of this name is stated in a note in the same work in vol ii, p. 221, to have comprised Khandesh and part of Gujarāt. It was a seat of the fine arts, and its silk weavers are mentioned in an inscription of 473–74 A.D., some of them having settled at Mandasōr in the western Mālwa (Ind. Ant., vol. xiv, p. 198). The Lāḷa of Wijaya’s father was evidently a different district. It is probably due to the similarity of the names of these two districts—the letters ṭ and ḷ being interchangeable—that Wijaya was supposed to have sailed for Ceylon from a port on the western coast of India, to which a resident in Lāṭa would naturally proceed on his way to that island.

Page 49. According to the Mahā Bhārata, the Kali Yuga is followed by the Kṛita Yuga.

Page 51. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas (Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 401, the sky was formerly quite close to the earth; but one day when a woman after a meal threw out her leaf-plate a gust of wind carried it up to the sky. The supreme deity, the Sun, objected to be pelted with dirty leaf-plates, so he removed the sky to its present position.

Page 53, note 3. Delete the second sentence.

In Old Deccan Days, p. 169, the Sun, Moon, and Wind went to dine with Thunder and Lightning. The Sun and Wind forgot their mother, a star; but the Moon took home food for her under her finger-nails. The mother cursed the Sun and Wind, but blessed the Moon, her daughter, and promised that she should be ever cool and bright.

Page 66. After Kathā Sarit Sāgara in the last note, add vol. i.

In the same work, vol. i, p. 489, a King caused his portrait to be painted, and sent the artist to show it to another King and his beautiful daughter, and also to paint a likeness of her and return with it. She and the King were afterwards married. In vol. ii, p. 371, a King sent an ambassador to show a portrait of his son, and ask for a Princess in marriage for him.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 251, a Raja with five daughters determined to marry them to five brothers, and the Princes’ father had a similar intention. Emissaries from both met at a river, the Princes and girls were seen, and the wedding day fixed. When his brothers went the eldest Prince gave them his shield and sword, and told them to perform the ceremony for him by putting the usual vermilion mark of Indian brides on his bride’s forehead with the sword. Unlike the girl in the Sinhalese story, she at first refused to allow the ceremony to be performed, but in the end consented. On the return journey sixteen hundred Rākshasas devoured all the party except the eldest Princess, who was preserved by the Sun God, Chando. Her husband killed them, and brought the party to life.

On p. 302, there is another account of a sword marriage, the bridegroom being a Princess disguised as a Prince.

Page 71. In the Mahā Bhārata (Vaṇa Parva, cxcii) King Parikshit married a Frog Princess who must never see water.

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 49, a Prince received from a Rākshasī, thanks to a changed letter, a jar of soap that when dropped became a mountain, a jar of needles that when dropped became a hill bristling with needles, and a jar of water which when poured out became a sea. He used these only for conquering other countries.

In Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), pp. 82, 87, the magic obstacles also occur. In the former instance, some fat which was given was to be put on a stone; the cannibal pursuers then fought for the stone. In the latter case, a girl carried an egg, a milk-sack, a pot, and a smooth stone; her father pursued her. When thrown down, the egg became a mist, the milk-sack a sheet of water, the pot became darkness, and the stone a rock over which the man could not climb.

Pages 73, 74, 304, 306, and Index. For tuttu read tuṭṭu.

Page 92. In Chinese Folk-Lore Tales (Rev. Dr. Macgowan), p. 25, a person called Kwang-jui purchased a fish and set it free in the river in which it was caught. It proved to be the River God in disguise, who afterwards saved Kwang-jui when he was stabbed and thrown into a river.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 239, two Princes who had saved some young birds by killing the snake which annually ate those in the same nest, were given food by their parents, and informed that he who ate the first piece would marry a Raja’s daughter and he who ate the second piece would spit gold. These results followed.

Page 107. In the same vol., p. 189, a dwarf a span high let a buffalo hide fall among some thieves who were dividing their booty under the tree in which he was hidden; they ran off and he took home the gold they had left, and informed his uncles that he got it by selling his buffalo skin. They killed all their buffaloes and were laughed at when they took the hides to sell. They then burned his house down, after which followed the pretended sale of the ashes, etc., as in a Bengal variant. In Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, p. 30, the story is similar, the persons cheated being the father-in-law (a King) and brothers-in-law, who were drowned when they were put in the river in bags, in order to find cattle such as the boy obtained from a cow-herd by changing places with him.

At p. 204 of Folklore of the Santal Parganas, a mungus-boy propped the dead body of his mother against a tree as a drove of pack-bullocks was approaching. When she was knocked down he charged the drovers with causing her death, and got their cattle and goods as compensation.

Page 112. For his vicious tricks the brothers of the same mungus-boy carried him off in a palankin to drown him. While they were searching for a deep pool, a shepherd came up with a flock of sheep. The boy cried out that he was being carried off to be married against his will, and would change places with anyone. The shepherd, thinking it a cheap marriage, took his place and was drowned, the boy driving off his sheep. After some days he reappeared, and said he got the sheep in the pool into which he was thrown, but in the deeper parts there were oxen and buffaloes. The brothers in order to get these took palankins, and were pushed into the water in them by the boy, and were drowned. At p. 242, there is the incident of the pretended rejuvenation of the wife by beating her. The man who saw it stole the club and afterwards beat his own wife severely without success.

In the Kolhān tales (Bompas) appended to the same vol., p. 455, a jackal got a drum made out of the skin of a goat of his which the other jackals killed and ate; he stated that he found it in the river, where there were many more. The other jackals jumped in to get them, and were drowned.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. 4, p. 367) a woman was sentenced to be tied on a cross by her hair, with ten men as guards. While the guards slept, an ignorant Badawi, coming that way, spoke to himself of his intention to taste honey fritters, and believed the woman when she informed him that she was to be freed after eating ten pounds of the fritters, which she detested. He offered to eat them for her, took her place, and she rode off on his horse, dressed in his clothes.

Page 128. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 226, a potter’s wife who gave birth to a boy while digging clay, decided to take home her basket of clay, and leave the child, which was found and reared by a tiger. On p. 289, a woman who had borne twins in the jungle while collecting fruit, left them, and took home her basket of fruit instead. They were found and reared by two vultures, rejoined their parents, and being discovered by the birds were torn in two during the struggle for them.

Page 133. In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii, p. 29, the King of Vidēha sent to the King of Kāśi, as a present, a casket containing two poisonous snakes. When the King opened it the venom of the snakes blinded him.

Page 136. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 348, a deaf Santal who was ploughing at cross roads was asked by a Hindū where the roads went, and not understanding the language thought he was claiming the bulls of the plough. After the question had been repeated several times he began to think the man really had a claim to them, so to avoid being beaten he unyoked them and handed them over to the man, who went off with them. The next mistake was about the food brought by his mother to the field; she complained of it when she returned home, and scolded her daughter-in-law.

Page 145. In the Mahā-Bhārata (Ādi Parva, cxlii), a Rākshasa called Vaka protected a country, but required daily one cart-load of rice, two buffaloes, and a man, as his supply of food. One of the five Pāṇḍava Princes, Bhimasēna, at his mother’s request took the place of a Brāhmaṇa whose turn had come to be eaten, ate up the food in front of the Rākshasa, and then threw him down and broke his neck.

Page 159. In the Mahā Bhārata (Udyoga Parva, cix) it is stated that the residence of the gods who subsist on smoke is in the south. In Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), p. 22, it is said that “the hunger of the spirit is allayed with the smoke” of the burnt offerings of animals.

Page 166. In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara, vol. i, p. 86, Śiva gave two red-lotus flowers to a man and his wife, saying that if one of them proved unfaithful the other’s lotus would fade. In vol. ii, p. 601, a man said that his wife had given him a garland which would not fade if she remained chaste.

In a Khassonka story in Contes Soudanais (C. Monteil), p. 134, a lion gave a herb to his friend who had become King, telling him that while it was green and fresh the lion would be alive, but when it withered and became yellow he would be dead.

In Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), p. 81, a boy who was about to visit cannibals stuck his assagai in the ground, and said, “If it stands still, you will know I am safe; if it shakes, you will know I am running; if it falls down, you will know I am dead.”

In Sagas from the Far East, p. 106, six friends separated at a place where six streams met, and each one planted at his stream a tree that would wither if evil befel him. When five returned and saw that the tree of the sixth had withered they went in search of him.

Page 167. In Folk-Tales of Kashmir, 2nd ed., p. 73, the life of a sorcerer was bound up in an earthen pot which he left with his sister; when it was broken he died.

In Folk-Tales from Tibet (O’Connor), p. 113, the life of an ogre was in a boy seated in an underground chamber, holding a crystal goblet of liquor, each drop of which was the spirit of a person whom the ogre had killed. At p. 154, the life of an ogre was in a green parrot in a rock cave.

In the Arabian Nights, vol. 5, p. 20, the soul of a Jinni was in the crop of a sparrow which was shut up in a box placed in a casket; this was enclosed in seven others, outside which were seven chests. These were kept in an alabaster coffer which was buried in the sea, and only the person wearing Solomon’s seal ring could conjure it to the surface. The Jinni died when the sparrow was strangled.

In a story of Southern Nigeria (The Lower Niger and its Tribes, Leonard, p. 320) the life of a King was in a small brown bird perched on the top of a tree. When it was shot by the third arrow discharged by a sky-born youth the King died.

Page 173, line 4 from bottom. For burnt read rubbed.

Page 177, line 18. For burnt read rubbed.

To the last note, add, A young man lost all he had, and was then made a prisoner.

Page 178. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 245, a Raja became blind on kissing his youngest son. He ordered him to be killed, but his mother persuaded the soldiers to take him to a distant country instead; there he married the Raja’s daughter, and in order to cure his father went by her advice in search of a Rākshasa, whose daughter he married. The two returned with a magical flower of hers and a hair of the Rākshasa’s head, calling on the way for his first wife. By means of the hair a golden palace was created, and when his father’s eyes were touched with the flower they were cured.

Page 185. In the notes, lines 10 and 11, the letters v and h in jivha should be transposed.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 207, the King’s money was stolen by two palace servants. After a soothsayer who was called had eaten the food they brought, he said, “Find or fail, I have at any rate had a square meal.” The thieves’ names being Find and Fail they thought he knew they were guilty, begged him not to tell the Raja, and disclosed the place where the money was buried. The soothsayer read a spell over mustard seed, tapped the ground with a bamboo till he came to the spot, and dug up and handed the money to the Raja, who gave him half.

In Sagas from the Far East, p. 58, in a Kalmuk tale, an assumed soothsayer recovered a talisman that he saw a Khan’s daughter drop. Through overhearing the conversation of two Rākshasas he was able to free the Khan from them, and at last by his wife’s cleverness was appointed to rule half the kingdom.

In Chinese Nights’ Entertainment (Fielde), p. 18, a poor man, overhearing his wife and son’s talk about food, pretended that he could find things by scent, and told his wife what food was in the cupboard. The news spread, and he was ordered to discover the Emperor’s lost seal. He feared punishment, and remarked, “This is sharp distress! This is dire calamity!” Hearing this, two courtiers, Sharp and Dyer, told him they had thrown the seal into a well, and begged him not to betray them; he recovered the seal. The Empress then hid a kitten in a basket, and asked what it contained. Expecting to be beheaded, he said, “The bagged cat dies.” When the basket was opened the kitten was dead.

Page 190. In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara, vol. i, p. 211, a woman having told a man that she wished to give her husband who was impaled a drink of water, he bent down and she stood on his back. On looking up he saw that she was eating the man’s flesh. He seized her by one foot, but she flew away, leaving her jewelled anklet, which he gave to the King, who married him to his daughter. When the Queen wanted a second anklet the man met with the Rākshasī again at the cemetery; she gave him the anklet and married her daughter to him.

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir, 2nd ed., p. 334, a Prince while keeping watch over a dead body, cut off the leg of an ogress who came. When he gave the King her shoe he was rewarded.

Page 196. The escape of the Prince by sending his foster-brother finds a parallel in a story recorded in the Sinhalese history, the Mahāvansa, chapter x. The uncles of Prince Paṇḍukābhaya had endeavoured to murder him because of a prophecy that he would kill them in order to gain the sovereignty, and he had taken refuge among some herdsmen. The account then continues in Dr. Geiger’s translation, p. 69:—“When the uncles again heard that the boy was alive they charged (their followers) to kill all the herdsmen. Just on that day the herdsmen had taken a deer and sent the boy into the village to bring fire. He went home, but sent his foster-father’s son out, saying: ‘I am footsore, take thou fire for the herdsmen; then thou too wilt have some of the roast to eat.’ Hearing these words he took fire to the herdsmen: and at that moment those (men) despatched to do it surrounded the herdsmen and killed them all.”

In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara, vol. i, p. 162, a King and Queen ordered their cook to kill the person who brought a message, and sent a Brāhmaṇa with it. On the way, the King’s son told him to get a pair of ear-rings made, took the message, and was killed by the cook.

In the Kathākoça, p. 172, a merchant who wished to get a youth killed, sent him with a letter to his son ordering poison (vishan̥) to be given to him. While the youth was asleep in the temple of the God of Love, the merchant’s daughter Vishā came there, read the letter, corrected the spelling of her name, and her brother married her to the youth. Eventually, the merchant’s son was killed by mistake in place of the youth, who became the heir, and the merchant died of grief.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes, extracted from the Chinese Tripiṭaka), vol. i, p. 165, we find the Indian form of the whole story. A wealthy childless Brāhmaṇa householder adopted an abandoned infant (the Bōdhisattva), but when his wife was about to be confined he left it in a ditch, where a ewe suckled it till the shepherd returned it to him. He next left it in a rut in a road, but when many hundred carts came next morning the bulls refused to advance until the child was placed in a cart. A widow took charge of it, the householder regretted what he had done, rewarded her, and regained it. Finding after some years that the boy was more intelligent than his own son, he abandoned him among some bamboos, but men seeking firewood saved him. When the householder heard of him he felt remorse, paid the men well, and took him back. Again becoming jealous of his intelligence and popularity, he sent him to a metal founder with a note in which the man was ordered to throw into his furnace the child who brought it. On his way the householder’s son, who was playing with others at throwing walnuts, told him to collect his nuts, delivered the letter, and was thrown into the furnace. The householder feared some accident, but arrived too late to save him. Determined to kill the elder boy he sent him with a letter to a distant dependant, who was ordered to drown him. On the road the youth called at the house of a Brāhmaṇa friend of the householder, where during the night the host’s clever daughter abstracted and read the letter, and replaced it by one giving instructions for the immediate marriage of the youth to her, and the presentation of handsome wedding presents; this was done. When he heard of it the householder became seriously ill; the couple went to salute him, and on seeing them he died in a fit of fury.

Page 198. In Sagas from the Far East, p. 201, in a Kalmuk tale, a woman picked up some tufts of wool, said she would weave cloth and sell it until an ass could be bought for her child, and would have a foal. When the child said he would ride the foal, his mother ordered him to be silent and to punish him went after him with a stick; as he was trying to escape the blow fell on his head and killed him.

In the Arabian Nights, vol. 5, p. 388, there is a story of a Fakīr who hung over his head a pot-ful of ghī which he had saved out of his allowance. With the money for which he could sell it he thought he would get a ewe, and gradually breeding sheep and then cattle, would become rich, get married, and have a son whom he would strike if he were disobedient. As he thought this he raised his staff, which struck and smashed the pot of ghī; this fell on him, and spoilt his clothes and bed.

Page 200. In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara, vol. ii, p. 60, a foolish King who wished to make his daughter grow quickly, was told by his doctors that they must place her in concealment while they were procuring the necessary medicine from a distant country. After several years they produced her, saying that she had grown by the power of the medicine, and the King loaded them with wealth. This story is given in Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. ii, p. 166.

Page 206. In Reynard the Fox in Southern Africa (Dr. Bleek), p. 33, there is a Hottentot variant. The clothes of a tailor had been torn by a Mouse which denied it and blamed the Cat; the blame was passed on to the Dog, the Wood, the Fire, the Water, the Elephant, and the Ant. The tailor got the Baboon to try them; in order to catch the real culprit it made each one punish the other.

In a Sierra Leone story in Cunnie Rabbit, etc. (Cronise and Ward), p. 313, a boy killed a bird with a stone and his sister ate it, giving him in exchange a grain of corn. White ants ate this and gave him a waterpot. This was swept away by the water, which gave him a fish. A hawk took it and gave him its own wing, which the wind carried off, giving him in exchange much fruit. A baboon ate this and gave him an axe; the Chief took this and satisfied him by presenting him with money and slaves.

Page 208, line 6 of notes. For crane read egret.

Page 212. In Folktales of the Santal Parganas, p. 338, the hare, wanting a dinner of rice cooked with milk, lay down while watch was kept by its friend the jackal. Men taking rice put down their baskets and chased the hare, the jackal meanwhile removing the rice. In this way they got also milk, firewood, a cooking-pot, and some leaf-plates. The jackal brought a fire-brand, cooked the food, and hurried over his bath, at which the hare spent a long time. While it was away, the jackal ate as much rice as he wanted, and filled up the pot with filth over which he placed the remaining rice. When the hare discovered this he threw the contents over the jackal, and drove it away.

Page 215. In the same work, p. 339, the animals were a leopard and a he-goat which occupied its cave and frightened it by saying “Hum Pakpak.” The leopard returned with the jackal, their tails tied together, but when the goat stood up and the leopard remarked on the dreadful expressions it used in the morning, they both ran away and the hair was scraped off the jackal’s tail.

In Folk-Tales from Tibet, p. 76, two jackals with three cubs occupied a tiger’s den, frightened it by telling the cubs they would soon be eating tiger’s flesh, and it returned with a baboon which laughed heartily at the story. The jackal called out to the baboon to bring up the tiger quickly, and said they had expected two or three at least. The tiger bolted and bumped the baboon to death, their tails being twisted together.

In Les Avadānas (Julien), No. cxxii, vol. ii, p. 146, the animals are a tiger and stag which frightened it in the same way when a monkey was leading it in search of an animal to kill. It said, “I never would have believed the monkey was so wicked; it seems he wants to sacrifice me to pay his old debts.”

In Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest (Skeat), p. 45, in order to save an elephant a mouse-deer frightened a tiger. An ape went back with the tiger, the mouse-deer said it refused to accept only one tiger when two had been promised, and the tiger ran away.

In Old Hendrik’s Tales (Vaughan), p. 19, in a Hottentot variant a wolf and baboon, their tails tied together, were about to punish the jackal. When the female jackal made the cub squall, the male jackal said he had sent the baboon for wolf-meat and he was now bringing one. As he moved towards them, the wolf bolted, dragging the baboon, which got a kink in its tail.

In Reynard the Fox in Southern Africa, p. 24, there is another Hottentot story, the animals being a leopard and ram. When the former ran off, a jackal took it back, fastened to it by a leather thong. As they drew near, the leopard wished to turn back. On the ram’s praising the jackal for bringing the leopard to be eaten when its child was crying for food, it bolted and dragged the jackal till it was half-dead.

Page 225, first line. For Crows’ read Parrots’.

Page 227. In Sagas from the Far East, p. 309, when a wise parrot saw a man take a large net to spread over their tree, the parrots roosted on a rock. Refusing the leader’s advice to move again they were netted, and escaped as in the Sinhalese story, when the bird-catcher counted, “Seventy-one.”

Page 230. Mr. Pieris has pointed out in his recent work, Ceylon, vol. i, p. 554, that Nayide was formerly an honorific title of the sons of Chiefs. It is not now so applied.

Page 233. See also The Jātaka, No. 546 (vol. vi, p. 167), where one of the tasks of Mahōsadha was to overcome the difficulty said to have arisen through the royal bull’s being in calf; he settled it by a question.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 49, an oilman claimed that his bull bore a calf that a man left near it. The calf-owner was assisted by a night-jar and a jackal, which after pretending to sleep related their dreams; the former had seen one egg sitting on another, the latter had been eating the fishes burnt when the sea got on fire. When the jackal explained that they were as probable as the bull’s bearing a calf, the man got it back.

Page 240. In Les Avadānas, No. lvi, vol. i, p. 199. a turtle escaped when a boy at a man’s recommendation threw it into water to drown it. This is given in Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. ii, p. 230, in which work also two forms of the earlier part of the Sinhalese tale appear. In vol. i, p. 404, a single large crane carried away the turtle in its bill. While passing over a town the turtle continually asked “What’s this? What’s that?” At last the crane opened its mouth to reply, and the turtle fell and was killed and eaten. In vol. ii, pp. 340 and 430, the birds were two wild-geese, and the turtle let itself fall when it spoke. It was killed by the fall in one variant, and by children in the other.

In Sagas from the Far East, p. 215, in a Kalmuk tale, a frog advised a crow that had caught it to wash it before eating it. When the crow put it into a streamlet it crept into a hole in the rock and escaped.

Page 244. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 329, the animals which raced were an elephant and some ants. Whenever the elephant looked down it saw two ants on the ground, and at last it died of exhaustion. The challenging ants never ran; ants were so numerous that some were always to be seen.

In The Fetish Folk of West Africa (Milligan), p. 214, a chameleon challenged an elephant to race through the forest. After starting it turned back, having arranged that others should be at the end of each stage.

Page 240. In Kaffir Folk-Lore, p. 187, when a lion who had been cheated by a jackal chased it, the jackal took refuge in a hole under a tree, but the lion seized its tail as it entered. The jackal said, “That is not my tail you have hold of; it is a root of the tree.” The lion then let go, and the jackal escaped into the hole.

Page 248. The same portion of the tale is found in the Jātaka story No. 321 (vol. iii, p. 48).

Page 251. The incident of the crows on the floating carcase is given in the Jātaka story No. 529 (vol. v, p. 131).

Page 253. In the title, for Kaḍmbāwa read Kaḍambāwa.

Page 259. In Folk-Tales of Kashmir, 2nd ed., p. 322, ten peasants who counted themselves as only nine, remained weeping until a man told them to put their skull-caps down and count them.

Page 263. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 352, while three men were sitting under a tree a stranger came up, placed a bunch of plantains on the ground before them, bowed, and went away. Each claimed the obeisance and plantains, and called the others fools; they related their foolish actions in the matter of their wives, and at last divided the fruit equally.

Page 275, line 20. For Rakshasī read Rākshasī.

Page 277. In The Kathākoça (Tawney), p. 164, a Prince whose eyes had been plucked out heard a Bhāruṇḍa bird tell its young one that if the juice of a creeper growing at the root of the Banyan tree under which he sat were sprinkled on the eyes of a blind Princess she would regain her sight. He first cured himself with it, and afterwards the Princess, whom he married.

Page 279, line 19. For pāēya (twenty minutes) read paeya (twenty-four minutes).

Page 282, line 4. For footing and footing read clearing and clearing.

Page 283. In Folk-Tales of Kashmir, 2nd ed., p. 186, a jackal whose life a farmer had spared persuaded a King to marry his daughter to him. He explained away the man’s want of manners, and burned his house down when the King was on his way to visit it.

Page 299. Add footnote. Large crocodiles that lived in the ocean are mentioned in the Arabian Nights, vol. 5, p. 14. Sir R. Burton stated in a note that the crocodile cannot live in sea water, but it is well known that a large and dangerous species (C. porosus) is found in the mouths of rivers, where at times of drought the water in some sites is almost pure sea water. When I resided at Mount Lavinia, about seven miles south of Colombo, one of these crocodiles found its way into the sea there during some floods, and lived in it for a week or ten days. Residents informed me that others had been known to remain in the sea there for several days.

Page 300, first line. After 15 insert, and in Indian Fairy Tales (Stokes), p. 182.

Page 301. In a variant by a person of the Cultivating Caste, N.W.P., a Queen sent her three sons to bring three turtle doves from the Pearl Fort (Mutu Kōṭṭē). On the way, while the youngest Prince, aged seven years, was asleep his eldest brother blinded him with two thorns (tim̆bol kaṭu); but after he had been abandoned he learnt from the conversation of two Dēvatāwās, who lived in adjoining trees, that by eating the bark of one of their trees he would be cured. After being twice again blinded in this way and regaining his sight, he killed a cobra that each year destroyed and ate the young of two Mainas (starlings, Saela-lihiniyā) which had a nest on a tree. He climbed up to the nest, had similar experiences to those related in the story, was carried to the Pearl Fort by a Maina, and brought away three turtle-doves.

In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 160, a Prince had three tasks before marrying a Princess; he was to crush the oil out of eighty pounds of mustard seed, to kill two demons, and to cut a thick tree trunk with a wax hatchet. Ants did the first task, two tigers killed the demons, and with a hair from the head of the Princess fixed along the edge of the hatchet he cut the tree.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 45, a girl was given three tasks by her sisters-in-law. (1) To collect a basket of mustard seed when sown; pigeons picked it up for her. (2) To bring bear’s hair for an armlet; two bear cubs helped her to get it. (3) To bring tiger’s milk; two tiger cubs got it for her. Three other tasks do not resemble those of the Sinhalese tale. In Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, p. 119, a variant occurs in which bear’s milk replaces the hair.

In the Kolhān tales (Bompas) appended to the former vol., p. 481, a Potter was sent by a Raja for tiger’s milk, which he obtained by the aid of the cubs. On p. 469 a girl was ordered by her sisters-in-law to collect pulse sown in a field; pigeons helped her to do it. She then went for bear’s milk, which a she-bear gave her.

In Folk-Tales from Tibet, p. 98, a boy by killing a dragon saved three young gryphons that were in a nest on a cliff. When they told their parents, the gryphons fed him, and the male carried him to the Fairy King.

In A. von Schiefner’s Tibetan Tales (Ralston), p. 72, the Kinnara King gave Prince Sudhāna three tasks to perform before marrying his daughter. The last was her identification among a thousand Kinnarīs; she assisted him by stepping forward.

Page 307. In Folk-lore of the Telugus (G. R. Subramiah Pantulu), p. 48, a poor Brāhmaṇa who had been presented with a pot of flour, thought he would buy a kid with the money he would get for it, and gradually obtain cattle till he was worth three thousand rupees. He would then marry, and have an affectionate son, and keep his wife under control by an occasional kick. As he thought this he kicked, broke the pot, and lost the flour in the dust.

In the Hitōpadēśa a Brāhmaṇa who got a pot containing bread thought he would get ten cowries for it, buy larger pots, and at last become a rich dealer in areka-nuts and betel leaves. He would marry four wives, the youngest being his favourite; and the others being jealous of her he would beat them with his stick. He struck the blow with his stick and smashed his pot.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 140, a man who was carrying some pots of oil for two annas, thought he would buy chickens with one anna and gradually obtain cattle and land, and get married. When his children told him to wash quickly on his return from work, he would shake his head, and say, “Not yet.” As he said this he shook his head, and the pots on it fell and were smashed.

In Folk-Tales from Tibet, p. 31, a foolish young Mussalman who was promised a hen in return for carrying a jar of oil, thought he would become rich in the same way, and get married. When his child was naughty he would stamp his foot; he stamped as he thought it, and the pot fell and was broken.

Page 311. In Sagas from the Far East, p. 92, in a Kalmuk tale, the wife of a person who usually had the form of a white bird, burned his feathers, cage, and perch while he was absent in his human form at a festival. On his return he informed her that his soul was in the cage, and that he would be taken away by the gods and demons.

At p. 221, also in a Kalmuk tale, a man received from the Serpent-King a red dog which laid aside its form and became a beautiful maiden whom he married. Every morning she became a dog, until one day when she went to bathe he burned her form,—apparently the skin.

At p. 244, in a Mongolian account of Vikramāditya it is stated that Indra gave his father the form of an ass, which he left outside the door when he visited his wife. She burned it, and he remained a man.

In Reynard the Fox in Southern Africa, p. 52, a lion who had eaten a woman preserved her skin whole, and wore it and her ornaments, “so that he looked quite like a woman.” He went to her kraal, and at last was detected through part of the lion’s hair being visible. The hut was removed and a grass fire made over the sleeping lion.

In Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), p. 38, when a girl who had married a crocodile licked its face at its request, it cast off its skin, and became a powerful man.

Page 315. In China it is believed that only wicked persons are struck by lightning. Doolittle’s Social Life of the Chinese (Paxton Hood), p. 557. In The Kathākoça, p. 159, three persons who expressed evil thoughts were struck by lightning. In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. i, p. 104, a Queen who caused the Bōdhisatta, in the form of an elephant, to be destroyed in order that she might have his tusks, was killed by a thunderbolt when she looked at them. In vol. iii, p. 125, a man who was about to kill his mother was similarly destroyed.

Page 318. In the Arabian Nights, vol. 4, p. 383, a girl in Baghdad pretended that while drawing water for a man her finger-ring fell into the well; when he threw off his upper clothes and descended she left him there. As the owner’s groom was drawing water afterwards the man came up in the bucket, the groom thought him a demon, dropped the cord, and the man fell down again. The well-owner got him exorcised, but he came up again when the bucket was raised, and sprang out amid shouts of “Ifrit!”

Page 319, last line. For greul read gruel.

Page 320, line 9. For don’t read Don’t.

Line 31. For plantains read plantains’.

Page 321. In Les Avadānas, vol. ii, p. 51, and Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. ii, p. 183, a man who drank water that was flowing through a wooden pipe twice ordered the water to stop when he had finished. He was called a fool, and led away.

In the latter work, vol. ii, p. 269, there is an account of the boy who killed the mosquito that had settled on his sleeping father’s head.

Page 327. Add to second note, In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara, vol. ii, p. 497, the assessors at a trial acted as judges, but the sentence was pronounced by the King,—as in The Little Clay Cart, also. Compare also the orders of King Mahinda IV (A.D. 1026–1042) regarding the judicial powers of a court of village assessors, consisting of headmen and householders. They were required to try even cases of murder and robbery with violence, and to inflict the death penalty (Wickremasinghe, Epigraphia Zeylanica, vol. i, p. 249).

Page 329. In The Indian Antiquary, vol. iii, p. 28, in a Maisur story by V. Narasimmiyengār, the Bhāratas’ Government took as its share or tax the upper half of a root crop, and got only leaves and stalks. For the next year, when the Government announced that the root part of the crop would be taken, the cultivators sowed paddy, rāgi (millet), wheat, etc., and the tax collector got only straw.

In Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, p. 93, a tiger and crane joined together, and planted a garden with turmeric. The tiger had the first choice of his share of the crop, and decided to take the leaves, leaving the roots for the crane. When the crop was gathered and the tiger found his share was valueless he quarrelled with the crane, which pecked his eyes and blinded him.

Page 335. A variant regarding a Maḍitiya tree (Adenanthera pavonina) was related by a Tom-tom Beater of the North-Western Province. A man told the King that he had planted a golden seedling, and was given food and drink and ordered to take great care of it. When a flood carried it away he lamented and rolled about in assumed grief before the King, who after pacifying him ordered him to plant another golden seed. He made the same cryptic remark to his wife as in the other tale.

Page 338. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 260, the incident of the sickle that had fever occurs, but the person who left it to reap the crop was an intelligent man who pretended to be stupid so as to trick a farmer.

Page 341. In two Sinhalese variants of the North-Western Province, the animal which the man saved was a crocodile, and the first animals applied to for their opinions were a lean cow and a Nāga raja or cobra, both of which advised the crocodile to kill the man. When the jackal was appealed to it sat upon an ant-hill to hear the case, got the crocodile and man to come there out of the water, and then told the man to kill it with a stick, after which it ate the flesh.

In Folk-Tales from Tibet, p. 12, a musk-deer that let a tiger out of a house was seized by it, and appealed to a tree, a buffalo cow, and a hare. The two former condemned it; the hare induced the tiger to re-enter the house, shut the door, and left it to die of starvation.

In Reynard the Fox in Southern Africa, p. 11, there is a Hottentot variant. A white man saved a snake’s life by removing a stone that had fallen on it. When it was about to bite him it agreed to obtain the opinions of some wise people. A hyæna when asked replied, “What would it matter?” A jackal when questioned about the matter refused to believe that the snake would be unable to rise when under the stone, got the man to replace the stone on it, and then told him to leave it to escape by itself. On p. 13, in a variant, application was first made to a hare and afterwards to these other animals.

I am indebted to my friend Mr. McKie, of Castletown, for an Eastern Bengal variant recently published in an Isle of Man paper. A benevolent Brāhmaṇa saved a tiger that was stuck in the mud of a tank. As the tiger was then about to eat him he appealed to a Banyan tree and an old pot, both of which condemned him. When the opinion of the jackal was asked for, it wished to see the place where the tiger was stuck fast, got the animal into its original position, and then ran off accompanied by the man. The tiger sank more deeply in the mud, and perished. A variant of this story is given in Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, p. 40, the pot being replaced by a cow, and the Brāhmaṇa by several men, who at last stoned and killed the tiger.

In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 150, the Panjāb form of the tale is given, in which the bride saved the man. In the same vol., p. 313, a leopard which was about to eat a man who had saved its life, agreed to make inquiry if this was fair. The water and tree recommended that he should be eaten, but the jackal induced the leopard to enter the man’s sack as before, and then told the man to smash its head with a stone.

Page 346. In Folk-tales of the Telugus, p. 72, the story is told of a crane and some fish, to which it stated that it was doing penance, predicted a twelve years’ drought, offered to carry them to an adjoining lake, and ate them. The crab is not introduced into this story.

In the Arabian Nights, vol. v, p. 391, no bird is mentioned. The fishes applied to the crab for advice on account of the drought, and were recommended to pray to Allah, and wait patiently. They did so, and in a few days a heavy rain refilled their pond.

Page 349, in last line of Notes. For kā, doer, read ekā, one.

Page 354. In A. von Schiefner’s Tibetan Tales, p. 344, there is a story like that in The Jātaka, the animals being an old cat that pretended to be doing penance, and five hundred mice; the cat seized the last mouse as they returned to their hole. The mouse chief exposed its false penance.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. ii, p. 414, the same story is given, the animals that were eaten being rats. In vol. iii, p. 139, a heron suggested that it and other birds should live together; during their absence it ate their eggs and young ones. They noticed this, and scolded and left it.

Page 358. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 23, the last incident regarding the boy and the leopard occurs with little variation.

In Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, p. 42, the daily fights of a tiger and lizard are described, the latter being victorious each time. When the tiger was carrying off a man whom it intended to eat it was frightened away by being told that he had the lizard with him.

Page 363. The jackal’s instruction to the lion to eat while seated is in accordance with the rules given in the Mahā Bhārata (Anuśāsana Parva).

Page 366. There is a variant in the Sierra Leone district, given in Cunnie Rabbit, etc., p. 265. The surviving wife of two ill-treated the other’s daughter, and sent her to get the devil to wash their rice stick. She behaved civilly to some hoe handles tied in a bundle which spoke to her, and to a one-eyed person,—(both being forms assumed by the demon),—and removed insects from the devil’s head; he washed the rice stick for her, and told her to take four eggs from his house. She selected small ones, threw them down, one after another, on her way home, as he told her, and received houses, servants, soldiers, wealth, goods, and jewellery. She also, as instructed by him, pounded rice on her dead mother’s grave, and sang, calling her back to life. When the other woman’s daughter was sent she behaved rudely to all, and selected four large eggs, out of which came bees that stung her, snakes that threatened her, men who flogged her, and fire which burned up her house, her mother, and herself.

Page 368. In last line of text, for tika read ṭika.

Page 377. In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. iii, p. 250, a man was told when buying a demon (Piśāca) that he might be killed by him if he did not provide continual work for him. He did the work of ten men, and was employed for some years, his master becoming rich in consequence. One day when he forgot to provide work for the demon the latter put his master’s son in a pot and cooked him.

Page 379. After the first note, add, See also the Kathā Sarit Sāgara, vol. ii, pp. 242, 258.

Page 381. In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 341, there is the story of the jackal who escaped from the crocodile; when he said it must be a fool to seize a root instead of his leg it released him.

In The Indian Antiquary, vol. iii, p. 10, in a Bengal story by Mr. G. H. Damant, the crocodile seized the jackal’s leg, and let go on being told it was a stick for measuring the height of the water. It then waited in the jackal’s house. He noticed this, and addressed the house, “O house! O house of earth! What have you to say?” The crocodile grunted in reply, and the jackal ran off.

In Folk-Tales from Tibet, p. 145, a tortoise [turtle] wishing to punish a monkey, hid in the cave they both occupied. The monkey, suspecting it, called out “O great cave! O great cave!” When he repeated it and remarked on the absence of the usual echo, the tortoise repeated the words, and the monkey escaped.

In Old Hendrik’s Tales, p. 107, there is a Hottentot variant. The wolf, in order to settle some outstanding scores, got hid in the jackal’s house during his absence; but the jackal, seeing his footprints, suspected this, and called out, “My ole house! My ole house!” When no reply came on his repeating it, he said he knew Ou’ Wolf must be inside, or the house would say “Come in,” as usual. On the wolf’s repeating the words he laughed, and ordered it out.

Page 384, line 16. For burning read rubbing.

(I have been unable to examine the volumes of The Indian Antiquary after 1897.)

VOLUME II.

Page 13, footnote. For mōdayā read mōḍayā.

Page 20. The second footnote should be deleted, and in the story the last paragraph but one should be:—Thereafter, this Prince and Princess having caused that widow woman to be brought, and having tried her judicially (naḍuwa ahalā), subjected her to the thirty-two tortures, etc.

Messrs. H. B. Andris and Co., of Kandy, have been good enough to send me a list of the thirty-two tortures, compiled from Sinhalese manuscripts. As I think such a list has not been published I append it here, with the English equivalents.

The Thirty-two Tortures.

1. Kaṭu-saemiṭiyen taelīma. Flogging with the thorny scourge.

2. Wē-waelen taelīma. Flogging with cane.

3. Atak digaṭa aeti muguruwalin taelīma. Beating with clubs (or mallets) of the length of a hand.

4. Ata kaepīma. Cutting off the hand.

5. Paya kaepīma. Cutting off the foot.

6. At-pā de-koṭasama kaepīma. Cutting off both the hands and the feet.

7. Kana kaepīma. Cutting off the ear.

8. Nāsaya kaepīma. Cutting off the nose.

9. Kan-nāsa de-koṭasama kaepīma. Cutting off both the ears and the nose.

10. Isē sama galawā ehi kāḍi-diya waekkerīma. Removing the skin of the head and pouring vinegar there.

11. Isē boraḷu ulā sak patak men sudu-kerīma. Rubbing gravel on the head, and cleaning it like a chank or leaf (of a manuscript book).

12. Mukhaya de-kan lan̆gaṭa irā tel-redi purawā gini tibīma. Splitting the mouth near the two ears, filling it with oiled cloth, and setting fire [to this].

13. Siyalu sarīra tel-piliyen welā gini tibīma. Twining oiled cloth round the whole body and setting fire [to it].

14. Hastayan tel-redi welā gini taebīma. Twining oiled cloth on the hands and setting fire [to it].

15. Śrīwayehi paṭan hama galawā keṇḍayehi taebīma. Removing the skin, beginning at the neck, and placing it on the calf.

16. Tana mattehi paṭan sama uguḷuwā isehi taebīma. Causing the skin to be plucked off, beginning at the top of the breasts, and placing it on the head.

17. Bima howā dedena de-waelamiṭi yahul gasā waṭa-koṭa gini dael-wīma. Causing [the person] to lie on the ground, striking iron pins through both elbows, and making flames of fire round [him].

18. Bili-kaṭuwalin paehaera sam mas nahara uguḷuwā-daemīma. Removing skin, flesh, with fish-hooks, and causing the tendons to be plucked completely out.

19. Kahawanu men sakala śarīrayehi mas kaepīma. Cutting the flesh from the whole body [in pieces] like kahāpaṇas (coins).

20. Sakala śarīraya kēn̆dīlā kshārawu kāraṇ gaelwīma. Making incisions in the whole body and causing salt corrosiveness to sink [into them].

21. Ek aelayakin bima howā kanehi yawul gasā karakaewīma. Causing [the person] to lie on the ground in a trench, striking iron pins (or rods) in the ear, and turning them round.

22. Śarīrayehi aeṭa-mas poḍi-koṭa piduru su[m̆]buluwak men kerīma. Bruising the flesh on the bones in the body, and making it like a straw envelope.

23. Kakiyawana-lada tel aen̆gehi isīma. Sprinkling boiling oil on the body.

24. Sayin pīḍīta sunakhayan lawā mas anubawa-kerīma. Devouring the flesh by means of dogs suffering from starvation.

25. Kaṭu-berē peralīma. Rolling [the person] in the drum containing thorns.

26. Sakramē karakaerīma. Turning [the person] round on the wheel.

27. Æsak uguluwā anik aesaṭa penwīma. Plucking out an eye, and showing it to the other eye.

28. Æha maeda yahul gasā karakaewīma. Striking an iron pin into the middle of the eye, and turning it round.

29. Æn̆ga-mas kapā baeda kaewīma. Cutting off the flesh of the body, frying it, and making [the person] eat it.

30. Būta-seyyāwen hin̆duwā nūl gasā wāēyen saehīma. Setting [the person] in the attitude in which goblins recline (i.e., on the back), marking [the body by means of blackened] strings (as sawyers do), and slicing off [the projecting parts] with the adze.

31. Diwas-ula in̆duwīma. Setting [the person] on the impaling stake.

32. Kaḍuwen isa kapā-daemīma. Cutting off the head completely with the sword.

Page 26, note. For Tissē dē wēlē read Tissē de wēlē.

Page 32, line 19. After footnote add, and Part II, p. 164.

Page 34, line 36. For seven read four.

Page 36, note, and p. 116, note. For Siṭānā read Siṭāna.

Page 46, line 23. For the figure, read a “Sending” (sihāērumak). Other Sendings are mentioned in vol. iii, pp. 178 and 250.

Page 47. To the first note, add, See also Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. iii, p. 92.

Pages 70, 71. For tuttu read tuṭṭu.

Page 80. Add, In Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, p. 127, a simpleton who accompanied some thieves placed boiling rice and milk in the open mouth of a man who said in his sleep, “I will eat.”

Page 89, line 14. For through read though.

Page 97, footnote. For No. 263 read No. 262.

Page 108. Add, In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. ii, p. 413, a sheep with its wool on fire owing to a blow with a fire-brand, set the hay on fire at the quarters of the royal elephants. In vol. iii, p. 145, a ram set fire to a village in the same manner.

Page 119, note. For Honda read Hon̆da.

Page 126, line 13. For the read her.

Page 136, footnotes, line 20. For 248 read 247.

Page 160, second footnote. For 212 and 241 read 211 and 240.

Page 165 and p. 169, footnotes. After 237 insert 240.

Page 168, footnotes. After 208 add 240.

Page 171. Add, In Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, p. 21, a man falsely claimed the reward for killing a demon whom two brothers had shot; when they exposed him he was beaten. On p. 59, a youth who was sent in search of the bones of an elephant that he had thrown across the Seven Seas, was joined by a giant who was fishing with a Palmira palm as a rod and an elephant as a bait. Afterwards they added to their party another who held a Banyan tree as a shade for his ploughmen.

Page 184, line 24. For ambuda baen̆ḍaganda read ambuḍa baen̆dagana.

Page 202, line 24. For four read three. According to Clough, the yāma, or watch, is one of four hours, but the Swapna-mālaya makes it three:—

Dawasakaṭa paeya saeṭa

Wēya, yāmada aṭakaṭa.

In tis paeyaka rāēkaṭa

Yāma satarak wēya niyataṭa.

For a [whole] day, paeyas sixty

Occur, and watches up to eight.

From them, thirty paeyas for a night,

[Or] watches four, occur for certain.

Page 213. Regarding the Ridī, Tavernier remarked (Voyages, 1679, i, p. 589), “This money is called Larin, and is of the same standard as our écus. Five pieces are worth our écu.” On p. 591, vol. ii, he noted that, “The rupee of gold … is worth in the country [India] fourteen rupees of silver. We reckon the rupee of silver at thirty sols. Thus the rupee of gold comes to 21 livres of France.… All the gold and silver which enters on the lands of the Great Mogol is refined to the highest standard (au dernier tître) before being coined.”

Our sovereign contains 113 grains of fine gold; and as the full weight of the gold rupee or muhr (mohur) of the Mughal rulers was 175 grains, its full value as fine gold was £1 11s. of our money. At the mean weight of the gold (167.22 grs.) in 46 coins, as recorded in Hobson-Jobson, p. 438, the value would be £1 9s. 7¼d. By Tavernier’s reckoning (at 21 livres) the full value was £1 11s. 6d. One-fourteenth of £1 11s. is 26.57d.; this was therefore the value of the silver rupee of the Mughals, which had the same weight as the gold coin. With the muhr at £1 11s. 6d. the value of the rupee would be 2s. 3d. At 26.57/30d., the French sol was worth 0.885d. Bernier remarked (Travels, Constable’s translation, p. 200) that the value of the silver rupee was about 30 sols, and on p. 223, about 29 sols, Tavernier also agreeing that the actual value should be under 30 sols; in the latter case the sol would be equal to 0.916d. Taking the average value at 0.9d., and 20 sols to a livre, the value of the livre was 1s. 6d. Three livres were equal to one écu (4s. 6d.), one-fifth of which, as noted above, would make the value of the larin 10.8d. This was not an accurate estimate of its value, since according to Tavernier (i, p. 136) 46 livres 1½ deniers (each = one-twelfth of a sol) were the exact equivalent of a Persian tōmān of that period, which was thus worth £3 9s. 2¼d. of our money; and as 80 larins made one tōmān (i, p. 136; ii, p. 590) the true value of the larin in Persia (and India) in the middle of the seventeenth century was 10.375d. This would require the silver in it to weigh 76.08 grains. According to Dr. J. G. Da Cunha, Sir John Chardin stated that the value was two and a half shāhis, or 11 sols 3 deniers, that is, 10.122d.; but by Tavernier’s reckoning (i, p. 135) two and a half shāhis would be worth 10.406d. Tavernier added that from Baghdad to Ceylon all business was done in larins. W. Barret writing in 1584 on Money and Measures (Hakluyt), remarked of them, “These be the best currant money in all the Indies.”

Dr. Davy stated (Travels, etc., p. 181) that fifty ridīs were equal to about twenty-nine shillings (1820); thus the value of the coin was then only about seven pence in Ceylon.

Although Prof. Rhys Davids mentioned (Coins and Measures of Ceylon, p. 35) that five ridīs were spoken of [about 1870] as the equivalent of a rix-dollar—both coins being then out of circulation—thus making the value of the ridī less than fivepence, he gave the weight of three of these coins as being from 72½ to 74½ grains. Dr. Da Cunha gave a weight of 68½ to 72 grains (Contributions, etc., part 3, p. 10). With an allowance for wear, it is therefore probable that the Persian weight of 76 grains was adhered to in Ceylon, and also in India.

In answer to my inquiry, Messrs. H. B. Andris and Co., of Kandy, have confirmed the statement made to me elsewhere, that the later value of the ridī in Ceylon was one-third of a rupee,—“panam pahayi salli hatarayi,” five panams and four sallis.

Prof. Rhys Davids noted that Pyrard stated the value of those made early in the seventeenth century in the Maldives, to be about eight sols, that is, 7.2d. It is not clear why the money had the low values recorded above, unless the quality of the silver had deteriorated. In Ceylon, in Knox’s time all the coins were tested in the fire.

According to the Mahāvansa, King Bhuvanēka-Bāhu VI in about A.D. 1475 constructed a relic casket out of seven thousand coins which are termed rajata in the Pāli original, and ridī in the Sinhalese edition, both words meaning silver. As there appear to have been comparatively few other silver coins in the country, none, so far as is known, having been coined since the beginning of the previous century, these were probably larins.

The next reference to the coin in Ceylon goes back to about the same date; it is given by Mr. Pieris (Ceylon: the Portuguese Era, i, p. 50), apparently taken from the manuscript history of de Queiroz. King Dharma Parākrama-Bāhu in 1518 related to the Portuguese Governor of Colombo that in his youth a certain man who had killed another did not possess the fifty larins which would have ransomed his life, and therefore he was executed. One would understand from this that these coins were plentiful in the island before A.D. 1500.

In the same work (i, p. 298) it is recorded that in 1596 the Portuguese captured five elephants laden with larins. Diogo do Couto mentioned that while besieged in Kōṭṭē in 1565, the Portuguese made some larins, “there being craftsmen of that calling” (Ferguson’s translation, p. 233), thus confirming Knox’s statement that this money was coined in Ceylon.

The Massa or Masurama which is mentioned so frequently in the stories is probably in most cases a copper coin, but gold and silver massas were also issued. In vol. iii, pp. 136, 137, line 31, 150, 1. 24, 387, 1. 29, the coins appear to have been gold massas. It is apparently the gold massa which is referred to in Mah. ii, 81, v. 45, where it is stated that King Wijaya-Bāhu (A.D. 1236–1240) paid 84,000 gold kahāpaṇas to transcribers of “the sacred book of the law.” Perhaps, also, in the stories the kahāpaṇas may have been golden massas or double massas. Compare vol. i, p. 348, and vol. iii, p. 263, line 33, and see below.

The commoner or standard coins of all three denominations have practically the same weight, which in the heavier examples is usually about 66 or 67 grains, though a few gold and silver coins exceed this weight, two silver ones of Niśśaṅka-Malla, from Mahiyangana wihāra, for which I am indebted to Prof. C. G. Seligmann, averaging 77½ grains. Out of 150 copper coins only one turned the scale at 69 grains. If we assume that the Indian copper scale of General Cunningham was followed, and that, with allowance for wear and oxidation, the correct original weight of all three classes was 72 grains, a massa of fine gold would be worth 12s. 8.92d. of our money. Compared with the Persian larin, the value of the silver massa of 72 grains, if fine silver, would be 9.82d., or 1/15.56 of the gold one. Respecting the copper coin, Dr. Davy stated early last century (Travels, p. 245) that the ridī (or larin) was then equivalent to sixty-four “Kandian challies,” that is, as he also terms them, “Dambadinia challies,” the common village name of the copper massas; at this ratio the silver massa of 72 grains would be equivalent to 60.57 copper massas, each being worth 0.162d., or about one-sixth of a penny.¹ Late in the fifteenth century the Indian ratio of the value of copper to silver appears, according to Thomas, to have been 64 to 1, and at the beginning of the sixteenth, according to Whiteway, 80 to 1.2 I have met with no villager who knew what the coins termed kahawaṇuwa (kahāpaṇa) and masurama were.

Messrs. H. B. Andris and Co., of Kandy, have been good enough to send me the following table of the old values of Sinhalese coins, kindly supplied by the “High Priest” of the Malwatta Wihara, at Kandy, on what authority I am unaware:—

4 salli | = 1 tuṭṭuwa.
8 tuṭṭu | = 1 massa. [? 20 tuṭṭu].
5 mahu (or masu) | = 1 kahawaṇuwa. [? 2 masu].

In the latter half of last century, twelve salli, or four tuṭṭu, made one copper paṇama, sixteen of which went to a rupee; the intrinsic value of this being 1s. 10½d., the salliya was worth 0.117d., or nearly half a farthing. In the absence of more ancient data, applying this value to the coins in the table the ancient tuṭṭuwa would be worth 0.468d., the massa 3.744d., and the silver kahawaṇuwa, 1s. 6.72d., a little less than the value of two silver massas of 72 grains. A double silver massa, which would appear to be this coin, has been discovered by Col. Lowsley;³ its weight was not stated.

With regard to the values of other coins, Capt. Percival wrote in 1803 that the rix-dollar “goes for about two shillings sterling; and four of them are equivalent to a star pagoda [the Tamil varākam, Sin. warāgan], a Madras coin worth about eight shillings sterling” [in Ceylon; in India its official value was always three and a half rupees].

Page 229. Add, In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. iii, p. 226, a man observed that birds that visited an island, inaccessible to man, in which there were great quantities of jewels, roosted at night in tall trees planted by him. He prepared some exquisite food for them with which they satiated themselves, afterwards vomiting pearls that covered the whole ground. He collected them, and became very wealthy.

Page 238, line 11. For pǣlas read hæliyas (large pots); and delete the following note in brackets.

Page 257, first note. See also Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, pp. 8 and 9. In the same work, p. 25 ff., there is an account of a boy one span in height. See also ante, note to p. 107, vol. i.

Page 261. Add, In Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, p. 19, some tigers who wanted to catch two men who had taken refuge on a palm tree, asked how they had ascended; they replied that they stood on each other’s shoulders. When the tigers did the same, one of the men called to the other to give him his battle-axe, so that he might hamstring the tailless tiger (which was at the bottom). It jumped aside, and all fell down, and ran off.

Page 266, note. For Bastḍā or Bastḍāra read Baṇḍā or Baṇḍāra.

Page 274. Add, In Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, p. 12, a man who was in a tree was carried away in a bag by a demon. He escaped by putting a stone in it during the temporary absence of the demon, and was brought a second time. When the demon’s daughter admired his long hair he informed her that it became long by being pounded, on which she put her head down to have her hair lengthened; he then killed her, cooked her, and the demon and his friends who came for the feast ate her. The man wore the daughter’s clothes and was not recognised.

Page 281, line 37. For tadak read taḍak.

Page 303. K. Raja-Sin̥ha had a three-tiered hat (Knox, p. 34).

Page 319, line 24, and Index. For Amrapāli, read Āmrapāli.

Page 321, note. For ewidinawā read aewidinawā. According to Mr. Guṇasēkara’s Grammar, p. 452, this means, “the bees come as far as two miles.”

Page 324, line 12. After two feet insert (do paya).

Page 344, line 37. Add, In vol. ii, p. 125, a lion was killed by the poisonous breath of a man-snake, and in vol. iii, p. 70, a lion and elephant perished in the same manner.

Page 374, line 11. For 137 read 117.

Page 398. Add, In Campbell’s Santal Folk Tales, p. 12, a horse thief saddled and rode a tiger until daylight, thinking it a horse. On p. 46 it was a simpleton who rode. The tiger unwillingly returned with a jackal and bear, each holding the preceding one’s tail. When they reached the thicket where the man was supposed to be, the tiger’s courage gave way, and he bolted, dragging the others after him. A variant is given on p. 49, also.

Page 408, line 7. For While read while.

Page 433, line 7 of Sinhalese text. For deggatten read daeggatten.

VOLUME III.

Page 29, note 1. Through the kindness of Messrs. H. B. Andris and Co., I am able to add the following information regarding Kandian dry measures, chiefly furnished by Mr. A. J. W. Marambe, Raṭēmahatmayā of Uḍa Bulatgama. In the Kandian districts only heaped dry measures are employed, that is, the grain or whatever is being measured is raised up above the edge of the measure in as high a cone as is possible while pouring it out loosely.

Kandian Dry Measures.

2 heaped pat (pl. of pata) | = 1 heaped manāwa⁴ (0.01146 c. ft.).
2 heaped manā | = 1 heaped naeliya (0.02292 c. ft.).
2 heaped naeli | = 1 heaped sēruwa (0.04584 c. ft.).
28 heaped sēru (or 32 cut sēru) | = 1 imperial or cut bushel (1.28366 c. ft.).
5 heaped sēru | = 1 standard kuruṇiya or lāhe.
10 heaped kuruṇi, lāhas or lās | = 1 pāēla.
4 pāēl | = 1 amuṇa.
20 amuṇu | = 1 yāla.

A sēruwa is a quart. Although the standard Kandian kuruṇiya is said by Mr. Marambe to be one of five heaped sēru, there are others, according to him, of 4, 6 and 7 heaped sēru, the latter being said to be employed in the Wanni or northern districts. In the interior of the North-Western Province, to the north and east of Kurunāēgala, where most of the folk-tales were collected, the kuruṇiya was said to contain four heaped sēru, according to which the local amuṇa would be 5.71 bushels. The Kandian amuṇa, at five sēru to the kuruṇiya, would be equal to 7.1 bushels. An amuṇa of land is the extent sown by one amuṇa of seed, and varies according to the quality of the soil, less seed being needed for good land than poor land, where the plants are small. In the North-Western Province, an amuṇa of rice field is about two and a quarter acres, the amount of seed varying from two to three bushels per acre. One and a half heaped sēru of kurahan (small millet) yield an amuṇa of crop in good chena soil; the yield from one heaped sēruwa of tana, an edible grass cultivated in hill chenas, varies from one to two amuṇas; for the same out-turn with menēri four sēru of seed are necessary.

1 This is the intrinsic value compared with our money; the purchasing value may have been thirty times as high in the stories, in which a masurama was paid for a day’s food of rice and curry, and a country pony was bought for fifty. 

2 A pound of copper was priced at 9.8d. of our money; the present wholesale values (July 9, 1914) are—silver, 25⅞d. per oz. (Troy); copper, £62 5s. per ton, the ratio being 41.566. 

3 Numismatic Chronicle, 1895, p. 221. 

4 Apparently the same as the huṇḍuwa (Tamil suṇḍu), the colloquial term. 

Omitted Incidents.

The incidents which were omitted in vol. ii and vol. iii are as follows:—

Vol. ii, p. 260, line 3. Then at dawn, at the micturition time, urine having become oppressive (bara-wī) for the Tom-tom Beater, he spoke to the Gamarāla. At that time the Gamarāla having become frightened said, “The Rākshasa will eat us both; don’t speak.” Then the Tom-tom Beater, having remained on the upper-story floor, urinated. The urine came and fell on the body of the Rākshasa who was sleeping on the ground. At that time the Rākshasa having arisen asked the Gamarāla’s daughter. “What is the juice?” Then the girl said, “For the purpose of smearing the walls during the day-time, I put some water upon the upper floor. It will have been upset (namanḍa aeti) by the rats.” Thereupon the Rākshasa silently went to sleep.

Then the Tom-tom Beater still [another] time became [obliged] to go outside.¹ At that time having spoken to the Gamarāla he told him. The Gamarāla said, “Don’t talk.” Thereupon the Tom-tom Beater evacuated. Then the filth having gone, fell on the Rākshasa’s body. The Rākshasa having arisen, at the hand of the girl, having scolded her, asked, “What is this?” Thereupon the girl says, “I put some cow-dung on the upper-story floor; it (lit. they) will have fallen.” Then the Rākshasa without speaking went to sleep.

Vol. iii, p. 290, line 4. Thereupon, in the night, for the Heṭṭirāla it became [necessary] to go outside.¹ So he spoke to Sokkā, “I must go outside.” Then Sokkā cried out, “I cannot [find a utensil] in this night.” When he was beseeching him to go to the door, having sought for a cooking-pot from there he gave him it.

During the whole thirty [paeyas] of that night the Heṭṭirāla began to have diarrhœa. Then at dawn, when the Heṭṭirāla was saying, “Sokkā, take away and put down this closet utensil (muṭṭiya),” Sokkā began to cry aloud, “I will not.” Then at the time when the Heṭṭirāla was asking Sokkā, “What shall I do for this?” Sokkā says, “Putting on a cloth from the head [downwards], and placing the closet utensil in your armpit, go in the manner of proceeding to go outside, and having put it down please return.” After that, the Heṭṭirāla having done thus, when the Heṭṭirāla was going Sokkā went and said at the hand of the Heṭṭirāla’s younger sister, “The Heṭṭirāla having become angry is going, maybe. Please go and take him by the hand.” The woman having gone running and said, “Elder brother, where are you going?” caught him by the hand. Then the closet utensil having fallen on the ground, and the bodies of both persons having been smeared, both went and bathed.

1 Eli-bahinḍa, a word which when thus used is well understood to refer to a necessary natural function. 

INDEX

Abandoned city, 310

Abduction, of Apsaras, 366;
bride, 163;
girl, 299, 320;
Nāga maiden, 366;
Princess, 91, 103, 108, 130, 266, 268, 311, 312, 315, 316, 371, 378;
woman, 197

Abuccā, 84, 416

Act of Truth, 63–68

Aḍē, disrespectful, 67;
also an exclamation denoting astonishment or interest

Adikār or man kills lion or tiger accidentally, 219;
taken by horse among enemy, 370

Ādiśēsha, snake K., gives magic ring, 131

Adultery, death for, 52, 218, 345, 346, 359

Advice bought, 136–140;
given, 329

Ǣ final, 413, 414

Æwariyakkā, rogueries of, 149 ff.;
sells cloth trees, 150,
gold-voiding elephant, 150

Akaragane jungle granted, 161–165;
Yakā, 161 ff.

Ala-addīn story, 358

Āli-Shār and Zumurrud, 93

Almsgiving to discover husband, 92, 93

Amuṇa, 19–21, 71, 456, 457

And, conjunction, 415

Andris, H. B. and Co., on coins, 453, 454;
measures, 456;
tortures, 449;
traps, 51

Aniccan̥ dukkhan̥, 19, 64, 65, 68, 71, 75, 159

Animal guards at magic tree or treasure must be fed, 177;
of Apsaras, 182

Animal jacket, shell or skin, 121–126, 132, 188, 301, 302, 435, 445

Animals accompany and assist Brāhmaṇa, Prince or youth, 129–135, 296–299, 361, 362;
girl, 443;
cause Prince’s life to be restored, 298;
expression of grief, 298, 299;
feign death, 11;
ordered to make tank, 259, 260;
said to void gold or money, 150, 151;
speech, fatal to impart knowledge of, 258, 260;
ungrateful to man who saved them:—crocodile, 446;
leopard, 447;
snake, 447;
tiger, 446, 447

Animation suspended, 434

Ants race elephant, 442

Appusiññō, monkey, story of, 243 ff.

Apsaras caught by hiding robe, 366;
guarded by animals, 182

Apsarases bathe in pool, 297, 298, 366;
restore dead Prince to life, 298

Ārakshāwa, 78

Arrow, magical, 65;
maker, 375, 376, 379;
shot, thirty years in falling, 49

Arts and sciences learnt, 115, 313, 318, 328, 401, 405, 407

Ascetic cheated by jackal, 386, 387;
soul enters dead youth, 410

Ascetics, Brāhmaṇa and demons cheated by women carried in boxes or pot, 118, 119

Āsiyā, 149

Ass, and bull or deer killed in field or garden, 56;
stolen while led, 206

Assessors, judicial, powers of, 446

Astrologer gives advice to Prince, 329

Asura, deceived by woman, 119;
figure shown as Q.’s child, 152;
maidens in underground palace, 358;
Maya, 409

Atin, 415

Attar water sprinkled on bridegroom, 394–396

Avicenna on bear cubs, 61

Āyibō, 74

Ayiwandā, story of, 62 ff.;
magic power given, 63;
obtains tavalama, 68;
shoots deer, 65;
stops Vedarāla and wedding, 66

Babāsiññō, the beggar, 243 ff.;
marries Princess, 246

Baeri-taena, 340

Bahu-Bhūtayā, marries dancing girl, 156;
sent for sea-water, 157

Bakarāwatā city, 18–20

Balaellāewa, 155

Bali aerumak, 74

Baṇa recitation, 126, 360, 363–365

Banishment of defeated K., 382, 397;
of Princes or sons for attempted abduction, 325,
belief in destiny, 392,
disobedience, 285,
extravagance, 139,
false charge, 97, 98,
idleness, 127, 265,
ignorance, 173,
uselessness, 220;
of Q. or wife, 152, 197

Barber’s wife’s cunning, 344–346

Barbet, story of, 353

Barrenness, cure or prescription for, 21, 152, 154;
spell for, 78

Barter or exchange, cat for ladle, 111;
elephant for cloth tree, 150,
for water-pot, 110, 111;
slaves for hen, 151

Bathing head, 255

Batmasurā, story of, 57 ff.;
deceived by Mōhinī, 58–60;
learnt spells and chased Śiva, 58;
reborn inside Śiva, 60

Beads of necklace become seeds or worms, 405, 408, 409

Bear, assists Brāhmaṇa’s son, 135;
fœtal form of young, 61;
hair brought, 444;
kills Prince, 53;
milk brought, 80, 144

Beating wife, 151, 260

Beggar, and monkey, 243 ff.;
assisted by snake, 185;
cures elephant, 186;
gambles with K. and wins sovereignty, 249;
married to Princess, 246

Bernier on black fowls, 216

Bhāratas’ government cheated, 446

Bhārunda bird, 443

Billa, demon offering, 79, 345, 346, 355

Binduwa, use of, 417

Binna marriage, 36, 67, 71, 72, 79, 90, 141, 221, 255, 299, 307, 312, 314, 323, 332, 362, 369, 376, 377, 397

Birds killed, 16, 17;
vomit pearls, 455;
young killed, 13, 15, 94, 97, 98,
by Prince, 196

Bitch bears daughters, 102;
changed into golden pumpkin or gem-set figure, 103, 105;
ill-treated or killed by daughter, 103, 105

Black fowls, 213, 216

Blind man, abandoned by wife, 390;
and Heṭṭiyā, 388–391;
death sentence, 391

Blindness caused by kissing, 437,
by thorns, 443;
cured by eating bark, 443,
by touch of flower or hand, 139, 437;
night blindness, 220–222;
pretended, 213–216

Blood, animal’s, smeared on sword to prove death, 97;
given to drink, 90, 93

Blue-lotus pool, 85, 307

Boat sails up-stream, 133, 267

Boy, assisted by gryphons, 444,
caterpillar, 132,
his long hair, 132;
cheats Heṭṭiyās, 150,
K., 151,
relatives, 435;
frightens leopard, 448,
thieves, 435;
in treasure chamber, 357;
kills dragon, 443,
mosquito on father’s head, 446;
learns arts, and women’s subtlety, 115, 116;
killed, 406;
kills magician, 405, 406;
magical transformations, 401–409;
marries Princess and becomes K., 405;
receives articles, 440;
taken as demon offering, 355–357;
unable to learn, 400, 401, 406, 408, 409

Boy, fortunate, buys ships, 234–236, 238;
sells rice to monsters, 236–238;
made Treasurer, 239

Brāhmaṇa, and goat, 205;
and mungus, 28;
and Rākshasa, 182;
and Vidyādhara wife, 362;
becomes K., 334;
breaks pot of flour or bread, 444;
buries corpse, 137;
cheated by jackal, 387,
by woman kept in pot, 120;
cheated or killed by pupil, 407, 408;
could not be enriched, 398, 399;
kills crane who befriended him, 182;
maims Rākshasa, 334;
marries courtesan, 198;
or man or Prince buys advice, 136–140;
or youth avoids death by sending another, 438, 439;
prediction of, 51, 193;
rides Garuḍa at night, 198;
tells story, 52;
unable to learn, 334

Brāhmaṇa’s son, assisted by animals, 135;
learns women’s wickedness, 116;
power of his talisman, 135;
rescues and marries Princess, 133;
sells gold-voiding horse, 151

Bride, abducted, 163;
cheats Rākshasa, 172;
price, 313

Bridegroom killed on wedding night, 331, 332, 334

Brilliance of Buddha, 114,
heroine, 113, 114,
Prince, 114, 254

Buddha as flying horse, 199

Buddhist doctrine regarding Karma, 332, 398

Buffalo made ram, 205

Bug and louse story, 30

Bull, and ass in bean field, 56;
and lion kill each other, 22, 23;
and mouse-deer, 23;
feigns death, 11;
heavenly, visits tank, 210, 211;
made goat, 200;
swallows chank shell, 152

Burial, alive:—children, 84–87, 293,
criminals, 98,
Rākshasī, 134;
of K., 309,
nobleman, 137,
nobleman’s wife, 241,
Prince, 257, 332,
villager, 68, 218

Burton, Sir R., on flying horse, 198

Bushel measure, 244, 456, 457

Cage, iron, made, 219

Cakes cooked, 100;
on trees, 349, 350;
cake tree created, 167

Calf claimed as bull’s, 441

Car, celestial, taken for dying man, 143;
flying, 197

Carpenter, 89;
makes flying horse, 134, 198,
flying peacock, 90;
put in stocks, 348;
story of, 352, 353

Carpenter’s son, becomes beggar, 91;
constructs city, 92;
flies on peacock and marries Princess, 90;
gives his blood to drink, 90;
wife abducted, 91

Cash box, 322, 324

Cat, and jackal, 55;
and Prince or youth, 128, 130, 131, 133, 296, 298;
false penance of, 447, 448;
helps to recover Princess, 130, 131,
ring or talisman, 130–135;
out of sea, 133

Cattle, bells, wooden, 69;
feign death, 11;
fold, 62, 63, 65

Cents, 234, 236

Chameleon races elephant, 442

Chank shell, borne by Q., 152,
Prince in it, 153;
swallowed by bull and shark, 152

Charms to kill Rākshasa, 179;
to protect from demons, 227

Chastity index, 436

Cheats cheated, 200 ff.

Chena cultivation, 146, 147, 207, 221, 222

Child-bearing, prescription for, 21;
spell for, 78

Children, abandoned, 195, 435, 436;
buried alive, 84–87, 293;
lost and recovered, 380–383;
reared by vultures, 436

Chinese belief in re-animation of corpses, 410

City of Bakarāwatā, 18, 20;
Kurupiṭiya, 18;
Sulambāwatī, 19;
Toṭagamuwa, 21

Clothes growing on trees, 150;
cloth trees sold, 150

Club to rejuvenate women, 435

Cobra, and polan̆gā, 26;
assists kind Princess, 104, 105;
bought by Prince, 127;
brings Nāga K., 129;
cremated, 332;
enemy of polan̆gā, 27, 28;
killed, 27, 332, 443;
kills bridegroom on wedding night, 332,
polan̆gā, 27,
unkind Princess, 104, 105;
“Sending,” 177;
sucks poison from wound, 27;
was man in former life, 332

Cock and K., 258;
predicts K.’s death, 258

Coconut-shell water vessel, 79–81

Coffin, 134, 257

Coins:—Anna, 444;
cent, 234–236;
dīnār, 215, 320;
French, value, 452;
gold, 92, 139, 140, 150, 151;
gold kahāpaṇa, 263, 454;
gold masurama, 386, 387, 453, 454;
kahāpaṇa, 450, 454, 455;
larin or ridī, 452, 453;
massa, double, 454, 455;
massa or masurama, 106, 127–129, 136–138, 155, 241, 253–255, 273, 305, 313–315, 328–330, 366, 453, 454;
measures for, 244;
muhr (mohur), 399, 452;
pagoda (warāgan), 131, 408, 455;
paṇama, 453, 455;
pound, 234, 236, 239, 243, 244, 249, 291, 452;
pretended, 240–242;
rix-dollar, 453, 455;
rupee, 139, 151, 201, 216, 243–245, 408, 444, 452, 455;
salliya, 453–455;
shāhi, 452;
silver, 92, 452–455;
tōmān, 452;
tuṭṭuwa, 152, 454, 455

Compact, to marry children, 121;
with ascetic, 358;
with boys’ teacher, 400, 408

Concealment of money or robe inside thigh, 366

Concubine’s false charge, 97, 98;
son, 347

Conjunction and, form of, 415, 416;
omission of, 416

Copper, ratio to silver, and value, 454

Corpse, drawn through streets or exposed, 42, 45, 46;
guarded at night, 139;
left at cemetery, 179, 225, 228;
gems or money tied at waist, 137, 139, 140;
set up as though alive, 214, 216;
thrown away, 139, 140;
tied on man’s back, 179, 182

Counsellor, 231

Counting incident, ten peasants, 442

Courtesan keeps gambling house, 272;
sells losing gambler, 273

Crab, and fishes, 447;
and frog, 29

Crane, and tiger’s cultivation, 446;
false penance, 447;
friend of Rākshasa, 182;
or geese carry turtle, 442;
rears and weighs girl on tree, 198

Creation, of cake tree by Rākshasa, 167;
palace and valuables by cobra, Nāga K. or Sun, 104, 105;
palace, 105, 130–135, 437;
Princess, 130;
raw-rice, 123–125

Cremation, of cobra, 332;
friend, 46;
raja, 216, 409;
woman, 225, 227, 229, 308;
youth, 410

Croaking of frogs imitated, 29

Crocodile, and man, 446;
cheated by jackal, 448, 449;
feigns death, 11;
guards Apsarases’ pool, 297;
in sea, 443;
jacket of man, 445;
swallows Prince, 298

Crow, and deer, 5–12;
and frog, 442;
caw auspicious, 17;
drops excreta in K.’s or man’s mouth, 183, 184;
finds K.’s ring, 184;
killed for gold cap, 17;
language learnt, 183;
on floating carcase, 442;
untrustworthy, 10

Crown, 303, 333, 381, 456

Crown Prince, 98, 381

Cryptic sayings, 112, 114, 344, 345, 446

Cultivation customs, 142, 146, 147, 207

Curry, 385

Curse, 53, 206, 433

Cymbals, 155

Damayantī, story of, 252

Dānaya, given to find husband, 132, 270, 271, 319;
given to Gods and poor, 144, 145;
Śakra as old man eats it, 145

Dancing, girl, 155, 156, 195, 197;
drowned for causing husband’s death, 157;
song parodied by tom-tom beater, 156;
learnt by Princess, 326

Danḍapola, 155, 156

Darter, a dried-fish trader, 353

Daughter as bait for thief, 46, 47;
drowns mother, 224

Daughter-in-law, burnt, 227, 229;
deceived by sham money, 240–242;
tries to kill mother-in-law, 225–229

Davids, Prof. Rhys, on larin, 453

Davy, Dr., on larin and massa, 453, 454

Dead, notions regarding, 52, 143, 228;
revived, 37, 82, 134, 143, 257, 268, 298, 408, 410

Deaf man gives away cattle, 436

Death, feigned, 9–12;
of bridegroom on wedding night, 331–334

Death sentence on, blind man, Heṭṭiyā and woman, 391;
Minister, 194;
Prince, 96, 97, 153, 195, 306, 328, 392, 396, 437;
woman, 215

Debt of previous existence paid, 236

Deer, and friends, 5–12;
escapes when caught, 7, 9, 11;
feigns death, 9, 11, 12;
frightens tiger, 441;
killed in garden, 56

Deity, destroys city, 311;
cheated by Vedarāla, 340, 341,
woman, 119, 120;
enters bottle or jug, 341, 342;
gives Prince turtle shell, 301;
prayed to make husband blind, 212, 213, 215;
restores sword, 257;
splits Śiva open, 60

Demon assists kind girl, punishes unkind, 448;
attitude when reclining, 451;
carries man in bag, 455;
ceremonies, 162, 376, 384;
daughter killed and eaten, 455;
forms of, 341, 448;
killed by tigers, 443;
K.’s name, 35;
offerings, human, to, 79, 168, 170, 176, 178, 345, 346, 355, 356;
shot, 451;
slave’s work and revenge, 448

Destiny is all-powerful, 392, 398, 399

Dēvatāwā gives information by dream, 48, 418;
in tree, 443;
offering to, 212, 213;
personated, 213, 215;
revives Prince, 298

Devil dance, 162, 384

Dharma, doctrine of, 398, 399

Dice personified, their jealousy, 252

Dikpiṭiyā, story of, 38;
elopes with man’s wife, 39;
Dippiṭiyās, 40, 155

Diktalādī, 38, 39

Dīnārs, 215, 320

Dīpuwā, 142, 416

Districts of Ceylon, 303

Divorce for greediness, 99;
idleness, 146;
sterility, 78;
pretended custom, 91

Doves saved assist youth, 362

Dream, 48, 160, 416, 417

Duṭṭha-Gāmaṇi, story of death-bed, 143

Dwarf or boy cheats and drowns relatives and frightens thieves, 435

Earnest money, 235

Eating seated, 448

Ēdanḍa, 280, 292

Egret hunts with Prince, 153

Eight, blows, 348;
days, 132, 201, 320;
months, 305;
years, 226

Ejection of boxes or pots containing women, 119, 120

Elephant, as fishing bait, 451;
carried by vulture, 81;
demanded when dead, 110, 111;
from divine world, 208, 210;
given for water-pot, 111;
gives gold and silver to Princess, 109;
guard of Apsaras, 182;
killed by Prince, 294,
by snake’s breath, 456;
kills Rākshasa, 108;
man shelters in dead one, 81;
milk brought, 79, 80;
races ant and chameleon, 442;
“Sending,” 177;
selects K., 381, 382;
snake in head, 185, 186;
sold as voiding gold coins, 150;
thrown over Seven Seas, 451

Elephant guard, 106–108;
finds Princesses in cave, 108,
ring, 106;
kills Rākshasa, 108

Elopement, 39, 46, 109, 132, 160, 166, 175, 195, 198, 389

Escape of culprits by charging others, 336–338;
of condemned prisoners, 345, 346

Euphorbia milk drunk, 138

Exchange of cloths, 174

Fakīr breaks his pot, 440

Fate, 332, 392 ff.;
Buddhist and Hindū doctrines of, 398, 399

Father-in-law or master scalded, 73, 75

Feast or food given to find husband, 92, 93;
brother-in-law, 252

Feigning death, 9, 11, 12

Fifty dīnārs, 320;
larins, 453

Figure, Asura, 152;
wax, of Princess, 319

Final vowel shortened before particle, 416

Fire-ball sent to destroy city, 311

Fire cock, jewelled, of Rākshasa stolen, 122–125

Fire flies assist youth, 361, 362

Fish, and crab, 447;
and crane, 447;
magical, 408, 409;
swallows hawk with gourd and people in it, 385,
infants, 385,
K., 382,
ship and people, 385,
youth, 299;
was river god, 434

Fish curer chosen by elephant as K., 381

Fish-hook, 450;
fishing with hook, 38, 451

Fish-owls, marry Princess, 21;
search for bride, 18–21

Five brothers, 434;
comrades, 134;
daughters, 434;
elephants, 453;
Gamarālas, 166;
lies, 352;
larins, 453;
loads of masuran, 313, 315,
lotus flowers, 198;
musical instruments, 246;
Nāga maidens, 365;
pingo loads, 147;
weapons, 373

Five hundred, areka nuts, 68;
cattle, children, goats, 168, 169;
masuran, 137, 255;
mice, 447;
pounds, 234, 236, 239

Flaying alive, 450

Flogging, 449

Flower mother or woman, 250, 251, 255, 256;
burns Prince’s sword, 256;
impaled, 257;
poisons Prince, 255, 256;
was Q., 250, 251

Flower-plant or tree as life index, 35, 78, 81

Flying animals or things:—Asses, 198;
bird, wooden, 134;
bulls, stone, 199;
car, 197;
composite animals, 199;
deer, 198;
horse, 198, 199,
wax, 193 ff.,
wooden, 134, 198;
lions, stone, 199;
peacock, wooden, 89–91;
quadrupeds, 198, 199;
sword, 358

Food carried under finger nail, 433

Foolish, Adikār kills lion or tiger, 219;
ass owner, 206;
boy kills mosquito on father’s head, 446;
man leaves buffalo or goat, 205,
orders water to stop running, 445,
or thief rides on tiger, 456;
men claim obeisance, 442;
Rākshasa, 174;
thief scalds sleeping man, 451

Fortunate boy, becomes Treasurer, 239;
buys ships, 234, 236, 238;
trades with monsters, 236–238

Fortune from pot of bread, flour or oil, 444

Foundling reared by K., 195

Four bags, 242;
branches, 167;
cats-eye stones, 177;
days, 326;
friends, 352;
gem-lamps, 177;
hours, 451;
hundred masuran, 305;
lāhas, 21;
miles, 396;
Ministers, 307;
pieces of advice, 136–140;
persons, 223;
Rākshasas, 166;
servants, 304;
streets, 42, 186;
Śūdras, 205;
tasks, 79–81;
thousand rupees, 139, 151;
tuṭṭu, 152;
wives, 444;
Paṇḍitayās, 27

Fowls, black, 213, 216;
and K., 258

Fox, hare and wolf in larder, 56

Frog, and crab, 29;
marries K., 434;
washed, 442

Fruit eaten to bear child, 152, 154

Gaja-Bāhu, K., and crow, 183;
his ring, 184

Gama-mahagē, buries children alive, 84–87;
cheated by husband, 213;
journey to heaven, 208, 209;
prays for husband’s blindness, 212, 213;
sentenced to death, 215;
sets up corpse in garden, 214;
taken to heaven by Śakra, 87;
takes thieves’ booty, 228

Gamarāla, and divine elephant, 207 ff.;
and ex-monk, 142;
and Hokkā, 292;
and tom-tom beater, 457;
buries sons alive, 84–87;
catches white rat-snake, 48;
cheated by jackals, 54, 55,
by son-in-law, 72–75,
by wife, 217, 218;
drives lion away, 219;
eaten by Rākshasa, 166;
has devil-dance inside gourd fruit, 384;
his crop spoilt by rice-mortars, 207;
his eight wives, 78;
his tasks, 84–87;
killed on journey to heaven, 209;
kills jackal, 55, 56,
paramour, 214;
mutilates servant or son-in-law, 71–75;
mutilated, 75;
personates Dēvatāwā, 213;
rears and teaches tom-tom beater, 49–51;
scalded, 73, 75;
wives elope, 166

Gamarāla’s daughter, and Rākshasa, 457;
killed, 75;
kills nephew, 74;
marries ex-monk, 141;
returns to earth after death, 143

Gamarāla’s son, becomes K., 87;
catches shark, 82;
drowns mother-in-law, 228;
escapes from Rākshasa, 82, 83;
his four tasks, 79–81;
killed and revived by Yaksanī, 81;
life index tree, 78;
taken as demon offering, 79;
taken to heaven, 87;
tries to burn mother, 228, 229

Gamarāla’s son-in-law, 71 ff., cuts off Gamarāla’s nose, 75;
nose cut off, 71, 72;
tasks given, 71

Gambling, 272, 284, 286;
K. loses kingdom, 249, 252

Game with oranges or pigeons, 95, 97;
ball, 285

Gānē, 209

Gaṇēśa, 42

Garland maker, 250

Garuḍa, tame, in Ceylon, 198

Gāwin, 210

Gē, 49

Gem-set or magic ring of Nāga K. or snake, its powers, 129–134;
woman’s, 134

General appoints K., 232;
frightens enemy single-handed, 369–372;
Yaksha, 35

Genitive case in ǣ or lǣ, 413, 414

Giant (Prince) cures demon illness, 376;
fishes with elephant bait, 451;
his food, 373;
jumps across river or into sky, 373, 375;
kills mad crocodile and leopard, 374,
Yakā, 377;
life in sword, 378, 379;
marries Siṭu girl, 377;
throws elephant across Seven Seas, 451;
wife abducted and recovered, 378, 379

Giju-lihinī (= rukh), 80;
milk taken, 81

Gini, geḍiyak, 311;
kukuḷā, 122

Girl abducted, 299;
and Prince, 112–114;
assisted by demon, 448;
by Sun, 104;
bears 100 eggs, 154;
elected as K., 320;
her brilliance, 113, 114;
her cryptic sayings, 112, 114;
needlework, 320;
plots to kill brother, 297–299;
reared by crane and weighed daily, 198

Goat, and hyæna, 354;
eaten by Rākshasa, 169–172;
frightens leopard, 440;
made dog, 205

Goddess gives Prince magical power and turtle shell, 301

Gods come to dānaya, 144, 145;
must become mortals, 398

Gold or gold coins in dung, 150, 151

Golden bed, 312;
hair of Princess or heroine, 130, 133, 134, 266;
seedling planted, 446

Goḷu-Bayiyā, fetches bride, 158, 159;
name changed, 158;
goes for deer dreamt of, 160

Gōpalu Dēvatāwā at cattle fold, 62;
emblems, 62;
gives magic power to youth, 63

Gos, forms of, 417

Gourd, devil-dance inside, 384;
swallowed by fish and hawk, 384, 385

Grammar of stories, notes on, 413 ff.

Grateful animals assist men, 131–135

Grief, rolling on ground a mark of, 182, 298, 299, 446

Guards, animal, of Apsaras, 182

Habaka trap, 49, 51

Hāhō, 187

Hair, cuts tree, 443;
floats away in water, 130–134, 266;
golden, of man or Princess, 130, 133, 134, 266;
lengthened by pounding, 455;
long, 131–133, 135;
line on body, 156

Hanging, 46

Haranṭikā, the thief, 41 ff.;
beheads father, 41;
falls from tree, 42

Hare, and jackal’s rice eating, 440;
and parrot, 3;
cuts millet, 187;
fox and wolf in larder, 56;
eyes shown as Princes’, 96;
married to Prince, 187

Hat, three-cornered, story of, 200 ff.;
of K. Raja-Sin̥ha, 456

Hatara-maha lūla trap, 48, 49, 51

Hayi-wunā, 68

Head, of slave shaved, 272;
to split into pieces, 170, 171;
washing, 48, 255

Heaven, journey to, 87, 208, 211

Hero, difficulty of killing, 438, 439

Heṭṭiyā or Heṭṭirāla, 69;
and blind man, 388–391;
and Sokkā, 457 ff.;
advances money for buying ship and trading, 235–239;
bride’s adventure, 343–346;
buys Prince, 273, 286;
cheated by boy or Prince, 150, 273–291;
his diarrhœa, 458;
refuses profit, 239;
shopkeeper gives dāna, 270;
wife cheated, 240, 241

Heṭṭiyā’s daughter goes to school, 392;
married to Prince, 397;
Princess’s friend, 392

Heṭṭiyā’s son avoids school, 89, 230;
joins army, 231;
made local K., 232, 233

Hidden treasure, 176, 177;
lighted lamp in chamber, 357;
mode of taking, 169, 170, 177, 178, 355, 357;
takers protected by charmed stones, 177

Hills and trees joined and separated by Act of Truth, 63

Himālaya or himālē, 102, 166, 172, 179, 421, 424

Hokkā and Gamarāla, 292;
Hokkī, 352

Horikaḍayā, born in chank shell, 153;
marries Princess and killed in well, 154

Horoscope, 193, 257, 425, 430

Horse-dung collected on journey, 280, 289, 290, 292

Horse, Minister and Prince, friendship of, 153, 154;
flying (wax), 193 ff.;
flying (wooden), 134, 198, 199;
kept by Rākshasa, 172

Hoṭǣ, 414

House-breaking, 41, 43, 44, 336, 338

Human demon offering, 168, 170, 176, 178, 345, 346, 355, 356

Hundred, acres, 361;
bags, 238;
carts, 439;
feet, 135;
lovers, 120;
masuran, 305;
ounces of silver, 111;
pagodas, 131;
pieces, 172;
Princes, 154;
Rākshasas, 434;
rings, 120;
rupees, 151, 408;
seer fishes, 309;
Yakās, 377

Hundred thousands, 226

Huṇḍuwa, 456

Hūniyan Yakā, functions, 176;
gives treasure, 176, 177;
“Sendings” of, 177;
visits woman in man’s disguise, 176

Hunting episode, 302, 303

Hurā, 364

Husband displaced by deity, 341;
pushed over precipice, 370–372

Hyæna and goat, 354

Identification by ring, 362, 363

Iguana, and lizard, 24;
killed by trapper, 25

Impalement, 257, 312, 338, 438, 451

Imprisonment, demon in reed, 341;
ghost in phial, 341;
Jinni in jar, 342;
Mārayā in bottle, 341;
Princess, 315, 326

Inability to learn, 300, 328, 329, 334, 400, 401, 406, 408, 409

Infanticide, 84–88, 293

Īśwara, 57–60;
īśwara incantation, 58

Jackal, advice to lion, 448;
and cat, 55;
and deer, 5 ff., 11;
and K., 259, 260;
and tiger and bear, 456;
assists man, 443, 447;
causes death of bull and lion or tiger, 22, 23;
cheats ascetic, 386, 387,
Brāhmaṇa, 387,
crocodile, 448, 449,
hare, 440,
lion, 442,
other jackals, 435,
wolf, 449;
declares excess of females, 259, 260;
feigns death, 11;
frightens tiger or wolf, 441;
gets drunk, 386;
heart burst at lion’s roar, 22;
killed by cultivator, 9,
by Gamarāla, 56,
by Vaeddā, 7;
must howl, 55, 56;
settles law-suit, 441;
story of, 353;
taken to plough, 54, 55;
untrustworthy, 10

Jacket, skin or shell, removable:—bird, crocodile, dog, 445;
caterpillar, 132;
hare, monkey, 188;
mungus, 435;
turtle, 121–126, 301, 302

Jātiya-jammē, 245

Jew becomes K., 382;
recovers lost children and wife, 383

Jewelled ring, 108, 127 ff., 184

Journey to heaven, 87, 208–211

Kaekuḷu hāl, raw-rice, 123

Kahāpaṇa, 450;
golden, 454,
cultivation of, 263;
= double massa, 454, 455

Kala spells, 307

Kālī, 346;
assists K., 197

Kali yuga, 433

Kandeyā, palm-sugar maker, 66

Karagama Dēvī, oath by, 29

Kārkōṭaka, snake K., 252

Karma, doctrine of, 332, 392, 397–399

Katirkāman arrests burglars by spell, 69, 70

King, 31, 92, 93;
abandons Q. on journey, 250, 252;
abducts Princess, 103, 108, 130, 132–134;
adopts Prince, 195, 197;
afraid of strange ships, 238;
and ascetic find treasure, 358;
and beggar gamble, 249;
and elephant, 294, 295;
and elephant guard, 106–108;
and fowls, 258;
and girl plot youth’s death, 299;
and goat, 260;
and golden seedling, 263, 446;
and jackal, 259, 260;
and Minister, 262–264, 352, 353;
and monkey, 243–247;
and pretended Yakā, 163–165;
and Q., 94;
and thieves, 42, 45–47, 215, 336;
and sons, 96;
and Treasurer, 261, 262;
appointed through eating cock’s head, 51,
rat-snake’s head, 48;
banished, 382, 397;
banishes Prince, 127, 139;
beaten, imprisoned, and put in stocks, 349–351;
beats Q., 260;
becomes firewood seller, 397,
horsekeeper, 250, 252;
beheads Q., 260;
bitten by snake, 250;
blinded by snake’s venom, 436;
buried, 309;
buries infant daughters alive, 293;
cheated by boy, 151,
doctors, 440,
Minister, 263, 264,
monkey, 243–247,
Q., 116, 197,
son, 347–351;
cremated, 216, 409;
death sentence on Minister, 194,
Prince, 96, 97, 195, 437;
demon K., 35;
deposed, 145;
divorces Q., 152;
drowned, 262, 264, 410, 435;
elopes with Princess, 109;
finds sister’s husband, 251, 252;
flowers stolen, 365;
Gamarāla’s son appointed K., 87;
gives three tasks before daughter’s wedding, 362,
two tasks to son, 335;
goes to seize Yakā, 163, 164;
grants Akaragane jungle, 165;
hears law-suits or trials, 39, 40, 294, 295, 391;
killed by potter or smith, 216,
by villagers, 309;
kills tom-tom beaters, 50, 51;
knows animals’ speech, 258;
loses kingdom by gambling, 249, 252;
mad, 261;
marries daughter to beggar, 246,
thief, 46, 47;
marries frog, 434;
necessary for predecessor’s funeral ceremony, 51;
orders Minister to invent credible lies, 352;
provincial K. appointed, 233;
punishes innocent persons, 311, 336–338;
rears foundling, 195;
recovers lost family, 381–383;
returns to be eaten, 172;
robbed, 41, 44, 347–351;
robs subjects, 261, 311;
selected by elephant, 334, 381, 382,
by officials, 51;
receives magic sword, 358;
sends for golden or long-haired Princess, 130–134,
Gamarāla to kill lion, 218,
turtle for fire-cock, 122;
scheme to poison daughter, 294;
secludes wives in vain, 120;
sets daughter as bait for thief, 46, 47;
son killed in place of Brāhmaṇa, 438, 439;
swallowed by fish, 382;
tom-tom beater appointed K., 48;
unable to decide law-suit, 215;
woman made K., 93, 320

Kingship, provincial, 233

Kinnarī, and Prince, 362, 363;
cremated, 308;
death by biting tongue, 308;
detains Prince by spells, 307, 308;
reborn as infant and plant, 308

Kī-roti, 100

Kissing son causes blindness, 437

Knitting scarves, 314, 315

Knox on cobra and polan̆gā, 28

Kot, hum̆baha, 103; vilakku pānak, 357

Koṭā, aided by grateful animals, 362;
cured by Nāga maidens, 365, 366,
Princess, 360;
discovers thieves, 360, 365;
marries Princess, 362;
mutilated by brother, 359, 364

Koṭikāpola, 40, 155 (? Polpiṭigama)

Kukkāpiṭiya, 21

Kuluppaḍiyak, 396

Kuruṇiya, 73, 456

Kurupiṭiya city, 18

Lāha or lāhe, 21, 456

Lament, for hire, 214;
of animals, 298, 299,
man, 446

Lamō, 329

Lamp, standard, containing Prince, 304–306;
in treasure chamber, 357

Larin or ridī, value and weight, 452, 453

Lāṭa district, 433

Law-suits, claims, or trials:—Cat and ladle, 111;
deaths of men, 138, 139;
elephant and waterpot, 110, 111;
heard by K., 294, 336;
theft of money, 215;
thieves, 336–338;
wife, 39, 40

Leaf, cup, 132, 133, 161;
missive, 231, 232;
plate, 67, 69, 433, 440

Leopard accompanies Prince, 296–299;
frightened by boy, 448,
goat or ram, 440, 441;
its ingratitude, 447;
killed by Prince, 374, 375;
“Sending,” 177

Letter, changed, 73, 74, 76, 291;
fixed on tree, 286;
despatched, 73, 76, 231, 232, 251, 268, 269, 294, 315, 316, 328, 332, 393, 394, 401, 439

Leveret married to Prince, 187;
girl in disguise, 188

Life in bird, boy, parrot, sparrow, 437,
plant, 308,
sword, 36, 256, 257, 266–268, 378, 379

Life-index:—Assagai, 436,
flower, 35, 78, 81, 254, 257, 265, 268,
herb, 436,
lime tree, 35, 376, 378,
milk, 36,
pool, 35, 36,
tree, 134, 437

Lightning strikes wicked persons, 445

Lime, fruit for repolishing sword to restore life, 37, 257;
magic, 227;
tree as life index, 35, 376, 378

Linschoten on black fowls, 216

Lion, and bull kill each other, 22, 23;
cheated by jackal, 442;
killed by snake’s breath, 456;
or tiger killed or driven off, 219;
roar kills bull and jackal, 22;
taken alive, 285

Lizard, and iguana, 24;
conquers tiger, 448;
killed by Vaeddā, 25

Lotus as life-index, 254;
pool, 35, 85, 297, 298, 307

Louse and bug, 30

Lucky and unlucky days, 9

Madahapola, P. B., story by, 5, 27

Mādampērāla, his cultivation and marriages, 146, 147

Madura K. falls in love with mother, 197

Maḍuwa, 160

Maerum kanawā, 262

Magical, articles:—Areka-nut, 375;
arrow, 375;
art, 197, 199;
bead, 405, 408, 409;
bird, 134, 401;
boat, 133, 134, 267;
bow and arrow, 65;
bridle, 409;
cap, 135;
car, flying, 197;
cat and parrot, 133;
cock, 402, 405, 407–409;
cord, 402, 403, 406, 408–410;
crocodile, 408;
fishes, 408, 409;
flower, 437;
food, 434;
fowl, 402, 408, 409;
frog, 403;
garden, 402;
garments, 252;
grain of corn, 405;
goat, 408;
hair, 437;
hat, 201 ff.;
horse, flying, 134, 198, 199;
horse, 402, 408, 409;
jackal, 405, 407;
life, 79, 177;
limes, 227;
mosquito, 408;
necklace, 404; 408;
obstacles, 124, 125, 434;
oil, 179;
ring, 129, 131–134, 360, 361, 403, 404;
rosary, 409;
sandal tree, 177;
shoes, 135;
spells, 70, 78, 79, 119, 133, 134, 151, 163, 164, 177–179, 226, 227, 267, 301, 307, 340, 357, 358, 375, 407, 409, 437, 448;
stone, 177;
sword, 358;
talisman, 135;
thread, 79, 163, 164, 227;
tiger, 408;
tree, 177;
turtle shell, 301, 302.
Power, 62, 408, 410;
of Gaṇa, 53;
of Nāga maidens, 365, 366;
of Nāga or snake’s ring, 129, 130–134;
to create raw-rice, 123–125;
put into thread, 79,
stone, 177.
Transformations, 401–410

Magula or man̆gula, 69, 146, 343

Mahagē, and paramour, 217, 218;
or mother-in-law escapes burning and gets thieves’ booty, 226, 228

Mahinda IV., K., on powers of Assessors, 446

Mahōsadha, 40, 114

Maina carries Prince, 443;
young killed by cobra, 443

Males in excess, 259, 260

Mālu, 385

Malwatta High Priest on old coins, 454

Man, and crocodile, 446;
and greedy wife, 99–101;
and leopard or tiger, 447;
and snake, 447;
becomes K., 372;
bird form of, 445;
burnt in watch-hut, 161;
carried in bag by demon, 445,
by vulture, 81;
disguised deposes Khan, 135;
enslaved through gambling, 284;
frightens enemy, 371, 372,
tiger, 448;
kills and cooks demon’s daughter, 455;
kills lioness, 219,
monkey and parrot that saved his life, 182;
long-haired, 132;
personates Yakā, 161 ff.;
returns to be eaten, 172;
saves Princess, 371;
thought a demon, 180, 445

Marambe, A. J. W., on Kandian measures, 456

Mārayā assists Vedarāla, 105, 339;
cheated by him, 340, 341;
present at death-beds, 339

Mariyada Rāman, 111;
detects deity, 341

Marriage, conditions, 99, 220, 221, 320, 361, 362;
custom, alleged, 91, 188, 317;
in church, 269;
of Prince to Siṭu girl a disgrace, 325;
polyandrous, 18, 21, 158, 159;
postponed, 132–134, 197, 198, 268;
to seven sisters in succession, 146;
to sword, 320, 434;
without ceremony, 99, 141

Massa or Masurama, 106, 127–129, 136–138, 155, 241, 253–255, 273, 305, 313–315, 328–330, 366, 453, 454;
double, 454, 455;
golden, 386, 387, 453, 454;
pretended, 240, 241

Mātalāna, his robberies and tricks, 347 ff.

Māyama, 115

Measures, Kandian, 456

Medical treatment:—Blindness, 139, 443;
elephant’s madness, 185, 186;
fever, 297, 298;
growth of child, 440;
headache, 372;
pestilence, 37;
pretended illness, 79, 80, 156

Messengers killed, 232

Mice or rats and cat, 447, 448

Mī seeds, magic, 407

Mīdum Ammā, goddess of Rākshasas, 167, 172

Milk, as life-index, 36;
fetched to cure pretended illness, 79, 80

Millet cut by hares, 187

Minis, 118, 119

Minister, 153, 154;
and K., 325, 352, 353;
cheats K., 263, 264;
daughter and Princess, 392 ff.;
death sentence, 194;
killed by K., 262;
seizes throne, 264;
stratagem to save Prince, 307, 308

Minister’s son, accompanies Prince into exile, 286, 291;
appointed Minister, 284;
goes with Prince to trade, 272

Moghul and servant, 75, 76

Mōhinī cheats Batmasurā and saves Śiva, 58, 60

Money:—Anna, 444;
cent, 234–236;
cowry, 444;
dīnār, 215, 320;
earnest, 235;
French, values, 452;
gold, 92, 139, 140, 150, 151;
gold kahāpaṇa, 263, 454;
masurama, 386, 387, 453, 454;
hidden in thigh, 366,
in dung, 150, 151,
in waist-cloth, 137–140;
kahāpaṇa, 450, 454, 455;
larin or ridī, 452, 453;
massa, double, 454, 455;
massa or masurama, 106, 127–129, 136–138, 155, 241, 253–255, 273, 305, 313–315, 328–330, 366, 453, 454;
measures for, 244;
muhr (mohur), 399, 452;
pagoda (warāgan), 131, 408, 455;
paṇama, 453, 455;
pound, 234, 236, 239, 243, 244, 249, 291, 452;
pretended, 240–242;
rix-dollar, 453, 455;
rupee, 139, 151, 201, 216, 243–245, 408, 444, 452, 455;
salliya, 453–455;
shāhi, 452;
silver, 92, 452–455;
tōmān, 452;
tuṭṭuwa, 152, 454, 455

Monk, and bear fœtus, 61;
and pretended Yakā, 164

Monkey, and beggar, 343 ff., 367;
deceives K., 244–247;
frightens cultivators and herdsmen, 247;
killed by man whose life it saved, 182;
kills Yaksanī, 247;
married to Prince, 188;
outwits turtle, 449

Moon-blindness, 220–222

Moorman, and Rākshasa, 168, 169;
his cattle, children and goats, 168, 169;
killed by elephant, 337

Mortars, rice, trample crop, 207–209

Mosquito, a goldsmith, 353

Mother-in-law, and daughter-in-law, 225, 228,
burns her, 227–229,
cheats her, 240, 241;
drowned, 224, 228

Mouse-deer, hare and parrot, 3, 4;
induces bulls to fight, 23

Mudaliyār, 243–247

Muhr, 399, 452

Mungawē, 79

Mungus killed by Brāhmaṇa or widow, 27, 28;
kills polan̆gā, 28

Mungus-boy, tricks of, 435

Mutilation, 215, 359, 364, 449;
compact, 71, 72, 75–77

Mutu Kōṭṭē, Pearl Fort, 443

Naekata, 246

Naeliya, 29, 456

Nāga, a Princess, 327;
K. or cobra assists kind, kills unkind Princess, 104,
gives gold and silver articles, 104,
magic ring, 129, 131–134;
power of gem, 129–131

Nāga maiden captured by hiding clothes, 366;
kills K., 135;
long hair, 135;
maidens restore hands and feet, 365, 366,
steal flowers, 365

Nāgārjuna, 409

Nala and Damayantī, 252;
misfortunes due to Kali’s jealousy, 252

Names of husband and wife not mentioned, 102

Nayide, former title of Chiefs’ sons, 441

Needlework of Princess, 314, 315;
Q., 115, 116

Netting animals, 4, 12

Nindema, 165

Nobleman (siṭāna), buried, 137;
daughter marries Prince, 377;
son becomes Treasurer, 222;
wife bears turtle, 121, 122

Nonsense tale, 384

Noose of leather or raw hide set for deer, 6, 8, 11, 12

Nose or finger cut off by compact, 71, 72, 75, 76

Nouns, irregularity in terminations, 415;
verbal forms, 416, 417

Oath, 29, 83, 172, 256, 280

Obstacles, magic, 434;
bamboo, charcoal, stone, 124, 125;
egg, fat, milk-sack, needles, pot, soap, water, 434

Offering at hidden treasure, 170, 177, 357;
to hill or tree deity, 212, 213, 370, 372;
to Rākshasa, 172.
See Demon

Oilman claims calf as bull’s, 441

Omens:—Cry of crow, 17,
of cock, 51,
of woodpecker, 6, 7, 12;
injury caused to animals, 196, 197;
counteracted by delay, 7, 196

Omitted incidents, 457

Oriole, golden, eaten by eagle, 16

Oṭannāpahuwa, 158, 159

Paddy or rice dust eaten, 123–125, 144, 281, 292

Pǣla, 456

Pæya, length, 452, 458

Pagoda (warāgan), 131, 408, 455

Palace created, 105, 130–135, 437;
underground, 358

Palm-cat and mother, 189, 190

Pāmula peṭṭiya, 41, 149

Paṇama, 453, 455

Pañcāla K., 51; Q., 154

Pāñcika, General or K. of demons, 35

Paṇḍitayā killed cobra and saved K., 27

Paṇḍukābhaya K., story of, 438

Paramour, 118–120, 176, 212–218, 296–298, 345, 346, 372

Parody, 21, 156

Parrot, and hare, 3;
accompanies Prince, 296–298;
assists Brāhmaṇa, 131;
bought by Prince, 128;
escapes from net, 441;
friend of Rākshasa, 180–182;
kept by Rākshasa, 172–174;
out of sea, 133;
recovers Princess and ring, 130, 131

Participle, form of, 417

Pārvatī curses Gaṇa, 53;
unable to enrich Brāhmaṇa, 398, 399

Pata, 29, 456

Pāṭaliputra, 334

Peacock, wooden flying, 90

Pearl Fort, 443;
pearls in hidden treasure, 177,
vomited by birds, 455

Pearson, Dr. J., on name of water-snake, 186

People taken alive out of fishes, 385

Percival, Capt., on coins, 455

Pestilence cured by flower offering, 37

Pigs assist youth who saved them, 361, 362

Pinkama for beggars and cripples, 92

Piśāca kills boy, 448

Pitfall to kill Prince, 330, 335

Plate fragments as money, 240–241

Pliny on bear cubs, 61

Poisoning, 134, 189, 255, 256, 294, 315, 327, 330;
poisonous snakes as present to blind K., 436

Polan̆gā killed by cobra, 27;
by mungus, 28;
as “Sending,” 250

Polyandry, 18, 21, 158–160

Polygamy, 59, 78, 120, 152, 165, 327, 397, 399, 438

Pool as life-index, 35, 36;
at palace gate, 195;
drunk dry, 299;
of Apsarases, 297, 298

Portents:—caw of crow, 17;
crow of cock, 51;
cry of woodpecker, 6, 7, 12;
injury caused to animals, 196, 197

Portraits painted, 433, 434

Pots, household, 141, 244

Potter chosen as K. by elephant and hawk, 382;
frightens enemy, 371;
kills raja, treatment of corpse, 216

Pound, 234, 236, 239, 243, 244, 249, 291, 452

Precepts, Buddhist, 10, 11

Prediction, 48, 51, 193, 258

Pregnancy longings, 84–87, 102, 308

Prince, abandoned by mother, 195;
abandons wife, 252, 326, 327;
abduction of wife, 130–134, 315, 378, 379;
accompanied or assisted by animals, 131–133, 296–299, 361, 362;
and ascetics, 117;
and farmer, 76, 77;
and foster-brother, 438;
and Heṭṭiyā, 273 ff., 286 ff.;
and lion, 285;
and Minister’s son, 272, 283–284, 291;
attends school, 300, 363;
avoids pit-fall, 330, 335;
banished, 97, 98, 127, 139, 220, 265, 285, 325, 392;
becomes ascetic, 119,
cow-herd, 287, 301,
cultivator, 265, 268,
drummer, 93,
flute-player, 98,
gardener, 287,
general, 332,
K., 51, 131, 132, 197, 255, 283, 299, 303, 309, 312, 333, 397,
labourer, 76, 77,
shop-keeper, 271,
slave, 272, 286,
Treasurer, 222;
blind at night, 220;
blinded, 443;
born in chank shell, 153;
brilliance of, 114, 254;
buried, 257, 332;
buys advice, 139–140,
animals, 127, 129,
wife, 313;
changes letter, 291;
cheated by wife, 118, 119;
cheats Heṭṭiyā, 273–281;
consults magical books, 117;
creates palace and Princess, 130;
cures blindness, 443, 447,
demon illness, 376;
cuts chena, 221;
cuts off leg of ogress, 438;
death sentence, 96, 97, 153, 174, 195, 306, 328, 392, 396;
eats master’s food, 278, 279;
escapes from dangers, 195, 198, 330, 332, 333,
slavery, 283, 291;
elopes with Princess, 195, 198;
falsely charged by step-mother, 95–98;
feeds guards of magic tree, 177;
finds Princess in cave, 266, 311;
flies on wax or wooden horse, 193, 198;
frightens thieves, 222, 312;
foundling reared by K., 195;
giant, 373 ff.;
(or man) gives blood to be drunk, 90, 93;
gives master’s goods away, 273, 274;
goes for lotus flower, 297, 298, 307,
turtle-doves, 443,
to trade, 131, 272, 310;
his humble friends, 375;
imprisons wife, 326;
in love with mother, 196, 197;
inside lamp, 304–308;
jumps across river, 373;
killed by bear, 53,
by burning his sword, 257, 268,
by villagers, 309,
in well, 154;
kills cattle as deer, 287, 288,
cobra or snakes, 332, 334, 443,
mad crocodile and leopard, 374,
mad elephant, 294,
master, 76,
Prince, 154,
Rākshasas, 434,
robbers and sister, 296, 298,
snakes, 334, 434,
wife through jealousy, 52,
Yakā, 377;
learns women’s deception, 118–120;
leaves country, 300;
leaves his own body, 410;
life-index, 254, 257, 265, 268, 376, 378;
life in sword, 256, 266–268, 378, 379;
lives with flower mother, 193, 301,
Kinnarās, 307, 308;
marriage to Siṭu girl a disgrace, 325;
marries carpenter’s daughter, 93,
girl found in cave, 103, 266,
Heṭṭi girl, 291,
Kinnarī, 362, 363,
leveret, 187,
low-caste girl, 309,
monkey, 188,
poor girl, 104,
Princess and her two friends, 397, 399,
Princess born from his blood, 117,
Rākshasa’s daughter, 437,
Siṭu girl, 377,
village girl, 113, 309;
meritorious because spared by elephant, 307;
mutilated, 77, 98;
poisoned food given, 134, 256, 315, 330;
poisons wife, 327;
ploughs after egret, 276, 277;
puts horse-dung in master’s clothes, 280, 281, 289, 290;
rears egret, 153;
receives advice from teacher, 329,
magic food, 434,
magic ring, 129, 131, 133,
turtle shell, 301;
recovers kingdom, 252;
refuses to marry before sister, 295;
rescues Princess from robbers, 312,
from snakes, 139,
from Yakā, 266;
revived when dead, 257, 268, 298;
revives dead, 434;
rogueries, 273–291;
saves city from destruction, 311,
infant sister, 293, 294;
seeks Princess, 268–271,
dead wife, 52;
shoots animals, 96, 117, 118;
slaughters enemies, 379;
slavery through gambling, 272, 286;
sleeps while awaiting Princess, 269, 316;
sold for a thousand masuran, 273;
swallowed by crocodile, 297, 298;
takes oath, 280;
tells story, 52;
ties up cattle, 275, 284;
tasks before marriage, 443;
unable to learn, 300, 328, 329;
visits Princess at night, 194

Princes, abandon country, 253, 254;
abduct Princesses, 103;
banished, 96, 97, 265;
born from eggs, 154;
cut chena, 187;
death sentence, 97;
falsely charged by step-mother, 95, 97, 98;
game with oranges or pigeons, 95, 97;
go for turtle-doves, 443,
valuables, 103, 104;
hares’ eyes given as theirs, 96;
identified when guards, 92, 382, 383;
killed on wedding night, 331, 332, 334;
kill snake, 404;
life-indexes, 254, 257;
reared by widow, 91;
revive dead Prince, 257, 268

Princess, and boy-magician, 403–405;
and creeper cutter, 316, 317, 319;
and two friends agree to marry teacher, 392 ff.;
and trader, 270, 271, 318;
and Vaeddās, 117–119, 269, 270, 317–319;
abducted, 91, 130–134, 266, 268, 311, 312, 315, 316, 371, 378, 379;
about to marry son, 196;
bait for thief, 46, 47;
becomes Nāgayā when poisoned, 327,
shop-keeper, 270, 271;
born from Prince’s blood, 117;
brilliance, 113, 114;
created, 130;
deceives Prince, 118, 119;
disguised to attract husband, 326;
does household work, 321;
dresses as man, 270, 318, 320,
(or girl) elected K., 320;
elopes with fish-owl, 21,
Prince, 195, 198,
thief, 46;
escapes after marriage, 269,
from prison, 326,
from Vaeddās and others, 270, 317, 318;
falsely charges brother-in-law, 364;
fights Ifrit, 409;
finds husband by giving dāna, feast or pinkama, 92, 93, 270, 271;
finds long floating hair, 132;
frog, 434;
golden bed of, 312;
golden or long hair floats away, 130–133, 266;
hears story, 52;
husbands killed on wedding night, 331, 334;
identifies sons as guards, 92;
imprisoned, 315, 326;
keeps husband’s corpse in coffin, 257;
killed by brother, 298,
cobra, 104,
husband 52, 327;
kills husband, 370;
knits scarves, 314, 315;
learns and teaches sciences, 313, 318;
learns dancing, 326;
marries boy-magician, 405, 407, 408,
brave man, 438,
carpenter’s son, 90, 92,
caterpillar-boy, 132,
eight times, 331, 332,
farmer, 443,
Koṭā, 362,
Minister, 311,
Prince, 154, 302, 377, 397, 399,
Princess, 319, 320,
Sokkā, 369,
thief, 46, 47, 323, 399;
needlework of, 320;
ordered to be buried alive, 293;
plots to kill brother, 296–298;
poisoned, 327;
polyandry of, 18–21;
postpones wedding, 91, 298;
reborn as Nāga, 327;
receives wealth from elephant K. or Nāga K., 103, 104;
recovered by animals, 130–134,
by wax figure, 319;
seizes youth in room, 404;
selects husband, 318;
snakes issue from nostrils, 139;
swoons at Prince’s brilliance, 254;
takes oath, 256;
weighed daily, 194, 198,
weekly, 305;
wife of fish-owls, 21;
writes letter, 268, 316, 393, 394

Princesses, abducted, 103, 108;
buried alive, 293;
daughters of bitch, 102;
live in forest cave, 103, 108;
treatment by cobra or Nāga K., 104,
of mother, 103, 109;
steal K.’s flowers, 360, 361;
stratagem to catch sister’s lover, 195

Prognostic, 94, 97, 98, 246

Pronouns avoided, 417

Punishments:—Beating, 214, 260;
beheading, 127, 260, 352, 391, 392;
burning in lime-kiln, 391;
burying alive, 98, 134;
death, 52, 96, 97, 194, 195, 197, 214, 258, 298, 391, 446;
exile, 97, 98, 127, 197, 265, 285, 325, 346;
fine, 215;
flaying alive, 320;
giving as demon offering, 345;
goring by tusk elephant, 337, 338;
hanging, 46;
impalement, 257, 312, 338, 438, 451;
imprisonment, 216;
killing in trap, 49;
mutilation, 71, 72, 75–77, 215, 359, 364, 449;
plucking eyes out, 96, 98;
putting in stocks, 347, 348, 351;
throwing down precipice, 97;
trampling by elephant, 307;
turning K. mad, 132

Puseka, 345

Queen, abandoned by K., 250, 252;
abducted, 382;
adopts bought infant, 197;
and daughter do housework, 321;
and girl, 113;
and K., 115, 116, 258, 260;
and thieves, 321–323;
and young birds, 94, 97, 98;
assisted by cobra and devas, 104;
Asura or demon figure shown as her child, 152, 154;
banished, 152, 197;
bears chank shell, 152,
hundred eggs, 154;
beaten, 260;
becomes garland maker, 250, 251,
servant, 252;
beheaded, 260;
buys shark, 152;
Chief Q., 304, 327;
compact with Jōgī, 408;
does house work, 321;
eats fruit to bear child, 152, 154;
false charges made, 95–98;
jealousy, 253;
killed by lightning, 445;
misfortunes caused by deities’ jealousy, 252;
pierces eyes with spike, 96;
recovers lost husband, 251, 252,
and children, 381, 382;
removes thorn in cobra’s mouth, 105;
sells firewood, 397;
sends away Prince, 285, 392;
sends Princes for turtle-doves, 443;
sews shawl, 115, 116;
sold, 382;
teaches women’s subtlety, 115, 116;
tells K. a story, 116;
Treasurer’s wife becomes Q., 262;
turned into mule, 407

Queens, seven, 152;
false charge by six, 152

Races of animals, 442

Rākshasa, and elephant guard, 107;
and men, 166–170;
and tom-tom beater, 457;
and Yakā, 169;
boundary of, 169, 172;
burnt, 125;
carried in sack, 168;
creates cake-tree, 167;
deceived by woman, 119, 457;
disguises of, 169–171;
drinks pool dry, 299;
eats goats, 169, 172,
his sons or youths, 166, 170–172, 178;
jewelled fire-cock stolen, 122, 125;
foolish, 107, 174;
friend of man, 176,
of crane or parrot, 180–182;
goddess of (Mīdum Ammā), 167;
gold and silver goods, 107, 172, 174, 181, 182;
guards treasure, 335;
killed by Bhimasēna, 436,
by eating charmed body, 179,
by elephant, 108,
on refusing alms, 172;
(or spirits) kill bridegroom on wedding night, 334, 335;
palace of, 82, 172;
protects country, 436;
re-birth from Yaksanī’s bosom, 179;
releases man on promise to return to be eaten, or provide substitute, 167–170, 172, 176, 178;
robbed by thief, 181,
youth, 174;
unable to eat wakeful boys, 173;
wife elopes, 175;
youths save travellers, 83

Rākshasas abduct Princess, 133;
animals, dwellings and habits of, 172, 174;
driven away by man, 438;
eat Gamarālas, 166;
exceed Yakās in power, 169, 172, 179;
fatal fight of, 166;
not in Ceylon, 172;
oath not to eat visitors, 83

Rākshasī abducts Princess, 134;
afraid of Moorman, 168;
assists man or Prince, 434, 438;
becomes bee, 134;
begs cakes, 167;
buried alive, 134;
carries Rākshasa in sack, 168;
magic boat of, 133, 134;
marries youth, 175

Ram frightens leopard, 441

Rat, and turtle, 9, 12;
assists deer to escape, 11, 12,
Brāhmaṇa or Prince to recover stolen ring or talisman, 131–135.
Rats dig tunnel, 326

Rat-snake, white, eating head confers sovereignty, 48

Reaping custom, 147

Re-birth, 35, 37, 52, 60, 179, 228, 229, 308, 327, 332

Removable animal jacket, shell or skin:—Ass, bird, crocodile, dog, woman’s skin, 445;
caterpillar, 132;
hare, monkey, 188;
mungus, 435;
turtle, 121–126, 301, 302

Return to earth after death, 52, 143, 227, 228

Rewards by K. or Princes, claimed falsely, 375, 451;
daughter’s hand, 46;
daughter’s hand and half or share of kingdom, 46, 47, 295, 312, 371;
district and elephant’s load of goods, 107, 164, 165, 350;
district, elephant’s load of goods, and a thousand masuran, 366;
elephant’s load of goods, 218, 219, 266, 306, 360;
five hundred masuran, 255;
kingship and offices, 122;
Office of Commander-in-Chief or Minister, 372;
offices, 186;
presents or wealth, 353, 374, 375, 440;
Treasurer’s post, 222

Rhampsinitus K., story of, 46

Rice, dust eaten, 123, 125, 144;
field custom, 142, 147;
mortars tied up for trampling crops, 207, 209;
pounded at grave, 448;
raw, 123–125

Ridī (larin) value and weight, 452, 453

Ring, as trophy, 119, 120;
identification by, 197, 362, 363;
in well, 445;
jewelled, of K., 106, 107, 184;
magic, becomes Prince, 403, 404,
cures mutilated youth, 360,
turns things to gold, 133;
power of Nāga or snake’s ring, 129, 134;
sent in water-jar, 361–363

River God saves man, 434

Rix-dollar, 453, 455

Roads, bad and good, 272, 286, 292

Robe hidden in thigh, 366;
of Apsaras or Nāga maiden concealed, 366

Robin, black, killed, 17

Rolling on ground, a mark of grief, 298, 299, 446

Royal Council, 327

Royal Preceptor, 328, 331

Rukh, 81, 198

Rupee, 139, 151, 201, 216, 243–245, 408, 444, 452, 455

Saddhunanda Sthavira, story by, 272

Śakra as god of death, 87, 88,
old man, 87, 145;
eats dāna and leaves presents, 145;
gives fruit to be eaten to bear son, 154;
prevents arrow from falling, 49;
sends rain, 14;
white throne of, 14

Sale of child, 197;
land, 136;
Q., 382

Sāli, Prince, marriage of, 309

Salliya, 453–455

Sannyāsi, killed by Yakā, 79;
performs spell for birth of children, 78

Sapta-Kanyās, 197

Sawu-sarana, saw-saraṇak, 400, 421

Scarecrow, 39

Scarves knitted by Princess, 314, 315

School, 35, 89, 90, 115, 168, 173, 230, 231, 234, 300, 392, 400, 406, 407;
at pansala, 363

Sciences learnt, by boy, 115,
Princess, 313,
Yakās, 35;
taught by Princess, 318

Seed and out-turn, 457

Semi-consonants, omission or misuse of, 162

Senasurā, as leopard and polan̆gā, 250;
his jealousy, 252;
induces beggar to gamble, 249

Sendings, animal, 451;
by Senasurā, 250;
by Yakā, 177

Sentence, irregularity of arrangement, 418;
seven headings, 418

Sēruwa, 456

Seven, amuṇas, 147;
blows, 348;
boxes, 131;
brides, 146;
caskets, chests, 437;
chenas, 146;
children, 121;
cocks, 409;
cubits, 133;
days, 68, 69, 84, 93, 169, 215, 385;
demons, 371;
divine maids, 197;
fishes, 409;
fish-owls, 18–21;
magicians, 409;
marriages, 331;
padlocks, 119;
patas, 29;
pieces, 22, 170;
pots of arrack, 306;
Princes, 127, 187, 265, 331;
Princesses, 301, 360;
Queens, 152;
seas, 157, 451;
sons, 230, 313;
wazīrs, 97;
wet-nurses, 373;
widows, 364;
wives, 78;
women, 187;
years, 48, 409, 443.
Seventy-five masuran, 305

Shāhi, Persian coin, value, 452

Shark bought, 152;
caught and eaten, 82;
swallows chank, 152

Sheep’s burning fleece fires buildings, 451

Shillings, 453, 455

Ship bought, 234–236;
swallowed by fish, 385

Shooting, 49, 64, 65, 96, 153, 253, 270

Sickle gets fever, 446

Sisters, seven married in turn, 146

Siṭāna, buried, 137;
daughter married by Prince, 377;
reduced to poverty, 240;
son becomes Treasurer, 220–222;
wife bears turtle, 121,
buried, 241

Śiva, and Batmasurā, 57 ff.;
and Pārvatī, 398;
causes bridegrooms to be killed, 334;
his bull visits earth, 211;
saved by Mōhinī, 58–60;
split open, 60;
teaches soothsaying, 58;
tells story to wife, 53

Siwurāla assists travellers, 142, 143;
celestial cars sent for him, 143;
wife returns after death, 143

Six, acres, 76;
bulls, 73;
children, 139;
days, 389–391;
friends, 436;
maunds, 216;
months, 133, 134, 197, 343;
sons, 84–87.
Sixty yālas, 71

Skin jacket or shell, removable, 123, 126, 132, 188, 301, 302, 435, 445

Sky near earth, 433

Slavery, 273 ff., 284, 286;
slave’s head shaved, 272,
sold for 1,000 masuran, 273

Smelling heads, 382

Smith makes bow and arrow, 153,
trap, 49

Smoke eaten by deities, 436

Snake, and man who saved it, 447;
assists beggar, 185, 186;
bought by Brāhmaṇa or Prince, 127, 131;
breath kills elephant and lion, 456;
deities ate men, 228;
deity burns lovers, 120;
drives elephant mad, 185;
gives dog’s form to girl, 445,
magic ring, 129, 131–134,
power to understand animals’ speech, 260;
issues from nostril of Princess or Q., 334;
killed or cut in two, 228, 327, 332, 334, 434;
K. bites and disguises Nala, 250, 252;
kills bridegroom on wedding night, 332–334;
venom blinds K., 436

Sokkā, beggar, story of, 367 ff.;
frightens enemy, 369;
kills flies and thought a murderer, 367;
plot to kill wife, 369;
killed by her, 370

Sokkā (Prince), and Heṭṭiyā, story of his slavery, 285 ff., 457, 458

Son, and mother, 223 ff.,
drowns mother-in-law, 224;
killed instead of intended victim, 438, 439;
made Treasurer, 228;
wife burnt, 227, 229

Son-in-law cheats and mutilates Gamarāla, 71–75;
mutilated, 71;
(or servant) scalds father-in-law or master, 73, 76

Sons deceived by sham money, 242;
identified when guards, 92, 382, 383

Soothsayer, and boy, 355;
finds hidden treasure, 355;
pretended, becomes sub-K., 437, 438;
robbery explained by, 45

Soothsaying studied by Prince, 117;
taught by Śiva, 58

Soul in cage, 445;
in dead body, 410

South, residence of smoke-eating gods, 436

Sovereign, 452

Sparrows’ or swallows’ nestlings killed by spines or thorns, 94, 97

Spell, 58, 59, 79;
Kala, 307;
protective, 119, 177, 178, 226, 227;
to bear children, 78;
to cause horse to void coins, 151;
to find lost property, 437;
to find or open treasure chamber, 357, 358;
to give magic power to articles, 375, 407;
to keep off demons, 177, 178;
to kill Rākshasa, 179;
to perform desired acts, 301, 375;
to prevent movement, 70, 307, 340;
to restore human form, 409;
to revive mother, 448;
to sail boat, 133, 134;
to seize Yakā, 163, 164

Spirit, human, enters and revives dead animals, 408, 410;
man’s spirit leaves body, 409, 410

Splitting stomach, 60, 74

Statue, wax, made, 319

Step-mother falsely charges Princes, 95, 97, 98;
pierces eyes with spike, 96

Stocks constructed, 347, 348;
maker and K. put in them, 348, 351

Stone-bow, 253

Stones as coins or valuables, 242

Stories, how written, 413;
story told, 52, 53, 116, 381, 382

Subject governed by wisin, 414

Subjunctive, form of, 417

Subtlety of women, 115, 116, 118–120

Sulambāwatī city, 19

Sun God, and fish owls, 20;
assists girl, 104;
moon and wind, story of, 433

Swapna-mālaya, 415, 417;
on length of pæya and watch, 452

Swimming, 39, 82, 83, 298, 299, 379

Sword, becomes wooden, 97;
life in, 36, 256, 257, 266–268, 378, 379;
magic, 358, 409;
marriage, 320, 434

Tailor’s clothes, story of, 440

Talisman, 135

Tāmalitta, 346, 433

Tamarinds sown, 263

Tambi, innocent, executed, 338

Tasks given:—To girl or potter—to bring bear’s hair or milk, collect mustard seed or pulse, bring tiger’s milk, 443, 444;
to husband—to bring bear’s, elephant’s, giju-lihinī’s milk, and wrestle with Yaksanī, 79, 81;
to Prince, two, 335,
three, 363, 443, 444;
to servant, or son-in-law, 71, 76;
to wife,—to bear son, 326;
to youth,—to bring Nāga girl, 135,
before marriage to collect mustard seed, 362,
plough yam enclosure, 361,
select Princess in dark, 362

Tavalama, 68, 69, 250

Teacher and girl pupils, 392–396;
cheated by magician-pupil, 401–409

Ten, children, 165;
cowries, 444;
days, 201, 368;
flies, 367, 368;
marriages of woman, 99;
masuran, 314;
men, 448;
peasants, 442;
pingo loads, 148;
pounds of fritters, 434

Texts of stories, 419 ff.

Thief becomes K., 323;
beheads brother or father, 41, 44, 46;
elopes with Princess, 46;
falls from tree, 42, 45;
hanged, 46;
hides stolen money, 215;
impaled, 338;
killed by Prince, 298;
kills parrot that saved his life, 180, 182;
married to Princess, 46, 47, 323, 399;
mutilated, 215;
personates K., 349,
Yakā, 162–164,
Rākshasa, 181;
plot to kill Prince, 296, 297;
puts carpenter and K. in stocks, 348, 351;
rides tiger, 456;
robs Yakā, 37;
scalds sleeping man, 451;
steals K.’s clothes, 348–350,
led ass, 206;
thrown down precipice, 371;
tied to corpse and thought a Yakā, 179, 180

Thieves cheat each other, 321–324;
killed by Prince, 296;
made motionless by spell, 70;
robbed of booty, 222, 225–226, 228, 229;
steal flowers, 360, 361

Thigh split and money or robe hidden in it, 366

Thirsts, 90, 254

Thousands:—Archers 125;
bags of rice, 236;
dīnārs, 215;
gold kahāpaṇas, 454;
Kinnarīs, 363;
leagues, 133;
masuran, 106, 127–129, 155, 273;
muhrs, 399;
ounces of silver, 111;
pagodas, 408;
pounds, 234, 236, 249, 291;
ridīs, 453;
robbers, 125;
rupees, 139, 151, 444;
slaves, 151;
stolen goods, 226

Thread magic, 79, 163, 164, 227

Three, animal guards, 182;
arrows, 437;
bags of masuran, 254;
brothers, 173;
children, 105;
cornered hat, 201;
countries, 254;
cultivators, 189;
days, 45, 170, 269;
districts, 303;
doors, 182;
flowers, 254;
girls, 393;
gold coins, 139;
gryphons, 444;
houses, 39, 216;
hundred cakes, 39;
magic obstacles, 123–125, 434;
masuran, 136;
meats, 385;
men, 118, 200, 442;
mī seeds, 407;
months, 218, 311, 312, 350, 378;
omens, 196;
paths, 35;
pieces, 332;
persons, 363, 445;
Princes, 253, 443;
rogues, 205;
ships, 310;
sons, 443;
tasks, 362, 363, 443, 444;
thieves, 336;
thousand rupees, 444;
times, 307;
trees, 205;
truths, 354;
turtle-doves, 443;
widows, 123–125;
women, 118;
Yakās, 35;
years, 91, 340, 410

Three-cornered Hatter’s bull made goat, 200;
his revenge, 201 ff.

Throne of Śakra, 14

Tī, 370, 416

Tiger, and man or musk-deer who saved it, 446, 447;
assists Prince, 443;
fights lizard, 448;
foolish, loses crop, 446;
frightened by animals, 441,
man, 455, 456;
ridden by man, 456

Tōmān, Persian, value, 452

Tom-tom beater and Gamarāla and Rākshasa, 457;
becomes K., 48, 49;
beaters killed, 49;
beating, 50

Tongue bitten by man or woman, 226, 229, 308

Tortures:—Burying alive, 98;
impaling, 257, 312, 338, 438, 451;
pouring boiling oil into wounds, 98;
scourging with thorns, 98;
thirty-two, list of, 449

Toṭagamu city, 21

Transformations:—Bitch into golden pumpkin, 103,
precious stones, 105;
boy and magician, 401–409;
of man, 409;
Princess and Ifrit, 409;
Q. into mule, 407;
woman into gold stool, 104

Transliteration, table of, 419

Travellers’ shed (ambalama), 35, 73, 223

Treasure, hidden, discovered by Sannyāsi, 79,
soothsayer, 355;
guarded by Yakā, 79,
by Jinni, 335;
human flesh offering to demon in charge, 79, 170, 355;
procedure on taking, 79, 177, 178, 357;
revealed by Yakā, 176, 177

Treasurer, and mad K., 261, 262;
boy appointed, 239,
rich man, 228,
Siṭu man, 222;
seizes throne, 262

Tree, as life-index, 35;
bears clothes, 150;
cut with hair or wax hatchet, 443;
deity personated, 212, 215;
or figure as judge or witness, 215, 216

Tri-Sin̥hala, 303

Tun pas-wissak, 305

Tunnel dug by rats, 326

Turtle, 29;
and deer, 5–12;
and rat, 9–12;
carried by crane or geese, 442;
disguised Prince, 301, 302;
goes for jewelled Fire-cock, 122–125;
marries Princess, 122;
out-witted by monkey, 449;
receives three magic obstacles, 123–125;
turtle shell burnt, 126

Turtle doves brought from Pearl Fort, 443;
turtle dove or pigeon kills mate or young, 13–15

Turtle Prince, 301–303;
becomes K., 303;
hunting episode, 302, 303

Tuṭṭuwa, 152, 454, 455

Twelve, amuṇas, betel-creepers, calves, dogs, haunches of venison, 71, 73;
cubits, 132;
fathoms, 132;
furrows, 76;
pearls, 177;
persons, 119;
plates of rice, 119;
sacks, 238;
soldiers, 232;
years, 131, 321, 333;
years’ drought, 447

Twenty-five years, 138, 301

Uḍakkiya, 156

Udaya, dawn mountain, 362

Umā and Batmasurā, 57, 58

Uncle = boy’s father, 356

Ungrateful men kill animals that assist or save them, 182

Unlucky day, 341

Vaeddā, and deer, 6, 7;
and iguana, 24, 25;
and Princess, 117, 119;
finds Princesses in cave, 102, 103

Vaeddās and Princess, 269, 270, 317–319

Vedarāla, cheats Mārayā, 339 ff.;
prescription of, 21;
stuck to bullock’s skull, 66, 67

Vibhīsana, K., supplies young Garuḍa to Brāhmaṇa, 198

Vidēhā K., 51

Vikramāditya, story of, 334

Villager buried, 68, 218;
corpse left at cemetery, 179, 225, 228;
cremated, 308;
fall on journey to heaven, 209–211

Vow, 345, 369–371

Vowels shortened, 417

Vulture carries off elephant and man, 81;
rears children, 436

Walahā, derivation, 61

Wal-bowā, wild cat, 55

Wan̥sādipati, 19, 245

Wasa, 20, 148

Washerman, cheated and robbed, 349, 350;
rears and instructs tom-tom beater youth, 49–51

Watch, length, 451, 452

Watch-hut, 62, 63, 65, 66, 148, 161, 217, 222

Water, ordered to stop running, 445;
thirst, 254

Waterhen, an areka-nut trader, 353

Wax flying horse, 193 ff.;
melted, 195

Weaver appointed Minister, 372;
frightens enemy, 371, 372;
kills demons, 371,
tiger, 219;
marries Princess, 371

Wedding customs, 64, 66, 188

Weighing Princess or girl, 194, 198, 305

Wheel, turning on, 450

Widow kills mungus which saved her child, 27, 28;
witch or ogress abducts Princess, 130–134

Wife beaten, 151, 260;
cheated, 240–242;
name not mentioned, 102

Wijaya-Bāhu paid kahāpaṇas for relic casket, 454

Wolf, fox and hare in larder, 56;
out-witted by jackal, 449

Woman abandons blind husband, 339;
abducts Princess, 130, 131–134, 378;
appointed K., 93;
becomes gold stool, 104;
burnt, 225, 227;
cheats ascetics, deities, men, 118, 120,
Badawi, 435;
dancing, 155, 157;
death sentence, 391;
divorced for greediness, 99,
idleness, 146,
sterility, 78;
elopes, 39, 160;
frightens demon-expeller, thieves, servant, 226, 229;
impaled, 257;
kills son, 439;
many marriages, 99, 158, 160;
prays for husband’s blindness, 212, 213, 215, 216;
pushes husband over precipice, 371, 372;
reaps millet, 147;
rears lost children, 380, 381;
returns to earth after death, 143;
son assisted by Mārayā, 105, 339

Woodpecker, and deer, 5 ff.;
makes evil omens, 6, 7, 12

Wrestling, 81, 82

Yakā abducts Princess, 266, 311;
afraid of Rākshasa, 169, 172, 179;
at burial place, 179;
causes illness, 376;
chief, general or K., 35;
deceived by woman, 120;
eats corpse, 36,
people, 337;
gives wealth, 176, 177;
in log, 217;
in tree, 169;
killed by Prince, 377,
by wife, 36;
kills treasure seeker, 79;
life in sword, 36;
mode of invocation, 163, 164;
not usually man-eating, 36, 172;
personated, 162, 164;
“Sendings” of, 177;
visits woman in guise of man, 176

Yakā, pretended, 161 ff.;
attempts to seize him, 163, 164;
carries off articles and bride, 162;
grants made to him, 165

Yakadurā, tongue bitten by pretended demoness, 226

Yakās attend school, 35;
emblems, 35;
learn sciences, 35,
life-indexes, 35;
cultivate, trade, marry women, 36, 37;
forms of, 237

Yaksanī bears Rākshasa by bosom, 179;
has no tongue, 226;
her wealth, 247;
killed by monkey, 247;
kills and revives man, 81, 82;
pretended, 226;
wrestles with man, 81, 82

Yāla, 19, 71, 456

Yama, 88, 327

Yōgī deceived by woman, 120

Young birds killed by step-mother, 94, 97, 98

Youth, banished for uselessness, 220;
becomes K., 132, 135, 145, 334;
conceals coins inside thigh, 366;
elopes with Rākshasa’s wife, 175;
frightens thieves, 222;
jumps into Rākshasa’s mouth, 171;
kills snake issuing from wife’s nostrils, 334;
long hair of, 132;
made Treasurer, 222;
marries Princess, 361, 362;
mutilated by brother, 359, 364;
performs K.’s tasks, 361, 362;
robs and escapes from Rākshasa, 174, 175;
set afloat on raft, 149;
taken alive out of fish, 299

Youths, and Rākshasa, 171, 173–175;
change his sons’ clothes, 173;
eaten by R., 171, 178;
not eaten when awake, 173

BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.

Colophon

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Metadata

Title: | Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon; Volume III |
Author: | Henry Parker (1849–) | Info
Language: | English |
Original publication date: | 1914 |
Keywords: | Sinhalese Tales |

Revision History

2019-02-09 Started.

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Corrections

The following corrections have been applied to the text:

Page | Source | Correction | Edit distance
9, 62, 152, 161, 165, 352 | [Not in source] | . | 1
20, 71, 147 | amunas | amuṇas | 1 / 0
36 | [Not in source] | told | 5
49 | Sakra | Śakra | 1 / 0
84 | Ha | Hā | 1 / 0
88 | she | they | 2
97 | disobedence | disobedience | 1
105 | anthill | ant-hill | 1
107 | [Not in source] | ” | 1
138 | Brāhman̥a | Brāhmaṇa | 2 / 0
169 | ? | ! | 1
197 | Śtory | Story | 1 / 0
203 | ‘ | “ | 1
250 | ]. | .] | 2
255 | , | . | 1
299 | Werwolf | Werewolf | 1
377 | “ | ‘ | 1
377 | ” | ’ | 1
398 | Sānti | Śānti | 1 / 0
415 | : | ; | 1
424 | kiyala | kiyalā | 1 / 0
426 | kumārikawa | kumārikāwa | 1 / 0
430 | Golu | Goḷu | 1 / 0
432 | lu | ḷu | 1 / 0
437 | ) | , | 1
459 | . | , | 1
463, 472, 472, 473 | ; | , | 1
467, 470, 471, 475, 477, 477 | [Not in source] | , | 1
470 | , | [Deleted] | 1
471 | 28 | 284 | 1
475 | polangā | polan̆gā | 1 / 0
477, 478 | , | ; | 1