Chapter VIII: Part I (4)

In another variant of the Western Province the two birds which reared the child were Crows. After the child was born, the mother, a Gamarala's wife (Gama-Mahage or Gama-Mahayiya) said, "Are we to take the child, or are we to take the bag of Kaekiri?" Her husband replied, "Should we take the child it will be [necessary] to give it to eat and to wear; should we take the bag of Kaekiri we shall be able to eat it for one meal." "So the Gama-Mahage, having put the child among the Kaekiri creepers, taking the bag went home." The Crows carried away the infant, and called it Emal Bisawa, Queen of the Flowers. When the girl had grown up, the birds went to bring pearls for her to wear, after giving her the usual injunctions regarding the food of the Dog, the Cat and the Parrot. She reduced the Dog's food, and it put out the fire. The Parrot found smoke rising from the house of a Rakshasi, and guided her to the place. The Rakshasi was absent; her two daughters gave the girl two amunas (nearly twelve bushels) of paddy to pound. "She thought, 'Having been pounded, go into the house,' and it became pounded of its own accord." Then they gave her seven perforated pots to be filled with water and brought. She filled them and handed them over. They gave her a piece of coconut husk with a hole in it, and a perforated coconut shell, and filled the former with sesame seeds, and the latter with ashes on which was placed burning charcoal. She hurried home with these, being warned by the Parrot that the Rakshasi was coming.

When the Rakshasi asked her daughters who had been to the house, they replied that the female Crow's girl had taken some fire, and that there would be sesame and ashes along the path by which she had gone. The Rakshasi ran along it, found the door shut, and said, "Mother has come. Father has come. We are bringing pearls of the sea; we are bringing also wire for stringing the pearls. Open the door, O daughter." The Katuru-Murunga tree warned her that it was false; when it was burnt, its ashes repeated the warning, then the Dog, the Cat, and the Parrot. Then the Rakshasi, "having broken her finger nails, and having fixed one above and one below in the door-frame, went away. After that, her mother and father came, and said, 'Mother has come. Father has come. We are bringing pearls of the sea; we are bringing also wire for stringing the pearls. Open the door, my daughter.' The Parrot said the same. As she opened the door, a finger-nail having entered the crown of her head she died. When they asked the Parrot, 'What has happened?' 'Because of the Rakshasi elder sister died,' he said."

In a fourth variant of the North-western Province the aspect of the story is partly changed, and I give a translation of the latter portion, because it contains an account of a runaway match, such as still sometimes occurs.

In this story, a Gamarala's wife went with another woman to the chena while the Gamarala was asleep, and after eating as much fruit as possible they filled a bag also. As they were proceeding home rapidly with it, the Gamarala's wife gave birth to a child at a hollow in which pigs wallowed. She asked the other woman to carry it home for her, but this person refused, and took the bag of Kaekiri fruit instead, so the child was abandoned.

Then the two Storks came, and carried the child to their cave, and reared it. After the girl grew up, they went off to seek bracelets and necklaces for her, instructing the girl to "give an equal quantity of food to the Cock, the Dog, the Cat, the Parrot, the Crow, the Rat, and the other creatures," and warning her that if she gave less to the Rat it would extinguish the fire. After some days she reduced the Rat's food, so it put out the fire.

The Parrot found a house--not a Rakshasa's--from which smoke was rising, and guided the girl to it. The woman who was at it gave her some fire without delaying her, and she returned home with it. I now translate the concluding part.

"After the son of the woman who had the fire came home, the woman says to her son, 'To-day a good-looking Princess came to the house.' Then the son asks, 'Mother, by which stile did the Princess go?' His mother says, 'Here, by this stile,' and showed him it.

"Then the man having set off, and having gone near the cave, and seen the Princess, when he said, 'Let us go to our house,' the Princess said, 'Because my parents are not here [to give their consent] I cannot go.' This man says, 'No matter for that,' and seizing the hand of the Princess, they came to his house.

"Afterwards the two Black Storks which went seeking bracelets and rings, having come near the cave, when they looked the Princess was not there. The Black Storks ask the Dog, the Cat, the Crow, the Parrot, the Rat, and the Cock, 'Where is the Princess?' They all say, 'A man came, and while the Princess was saying she could not go he seized her hand and took her away.' When the Storks asked, 'By which stile did he take her?' saying, 'There, by that stile,' the animals showed them it.

"Then the two Black Storks having gone flying, when they looked the Princess was staying at the house. Afterwards the two Storks gave the Princess the bracelets, rings, and coral necklaces which they had brought; and having handed her over to the man, the two Black Storks went to their dwelling."

In Old Deccan Days, Ganges Valley (Frere), p. 87 ff., there is a variant according to which the child was carried off to their nest by two eagles, from the side of the mother. After the eagles went to bring a ring for her, the cat stole some food, and on being punished by the girl put out the fire.

The girl went to a Rakshasa's house for a light, and was detained by his mother, pounding rice and doing other housework. She left at last with instructions to scatter corn along the path.

The Rakshasa followed the track and climbed to the nest, but the outer door was bolted, and he could not enter, so he left his nail in a crack of the door. When the girl opened the outer door--there were seven in all--the nail wounded her hand, and being poisonous apparently killed her. The eagles returned, and seeing this flew away. When a King arrived and drew out the nail, she recovered, and he married her.

NO. 13

THE GOLDEN KAEKIRI FRUIT

In a certain city there are a man and his daughter, it is said. The man's wife being dead, the girl cooks food for the man. The man cuts jungle at a chena clearing. The girl every day having cooked, and placed the food ready for her father, goes to rock in a golden swing. [36] Then a Mahage [37] comes and says, "Daughter, give me a little fire." The girl sitting in the swing says, "Is it here with me? It is at the hearth; take it." The Mahage goes into the house, pulls out and takes the things which that girl has cooked and placed there, and having eaten, carries away the fire.

So, after two or three days had passed in that manner, the man asked, "Who, daughter, while I am coming home has eaten the rice that you have cooked and placed for me?"

Then the girl said, "I don't know, father. Every day when I have cooked the food and placed it ready for you, and gone to rock in the golden swing, a Mahage comes and begs fire from me. Then I say, 'Is it here with me? It is at the hearth; take it.' It will be the Mahage."

Then the man, having said, "Ha. Daughter, cook and arrange the food to-day also, and go to the golden swing," got onto the shelf, and stayed there.

Afterwards the girl, having cooked and placed the food exactly as on other days, went to the golden swing. Then the Mahage having come on that day also, begged, "Daughter, give me a little fire." The girl said, "Is it here with me? It is at the hearth; take it."

Then the Mahage having gone into the house, and drawn out the pots, and eaten part of the rice, when she was about to rise after taking the fire, the man on the shelf asked, "What is that you have been doing?"

The Mahage said, "What indeed! Why don't you invite me [to be your wife]?"

The man said, "Ha. Stop here." So the woman stayed.

After a great many days had passed, the woman lay down. "What are you lying down for?" asked the man.

The woman said, "It is in my mind to eat your daughter's two eyes."

Afterwards the man called the girl, and said, "Daughter, a yoke of cattle are missing; let us go and seek them." While he went with the girl, taking a cord, the dog also followed behind.

Having gone into a great forest, he said, "Daughter, come here in order that I may look at your head." [38] While he was looking and looking at it, the girl fell asleep. Then the man placed the girl against a tree, and tied her to it; and having cut out her two eyes, came home and placed one on the shelf and one in the salt pot. The dog that went with the man having come home, howled, rolling about in the open space in front of the house.

There was also a child. That little one having gone somewhere, on coming back bringing a mango, asked that Mahage, "Loku-Amma, give me a knife." The woman said, "Have I got one here? It is on the shelf; get it."

Then the child, going into the house, and putting his hand on the shelf, caught hold of the eye placed there by the man, and said, "This is indeed our elder sister's eye. Loku-Amma, give me a piece of salt."

The woman said, "Have I got any here? Take it from the salt pot."

When the child put his hand into the salt pot the other eye was there. He took it also. When he stepped down from the veranda of the house into the compound, the dog went in front, and the child followed after him.

Having gone on and on, the dog came to the place in the great forest where the girl was, and stopped there. When the child looked, his elder sister was tied to the tree. He saw that red ants were biting her from her eyes downward, and having quickly unfastened her he took her to a tank, and bathed her. Then taking both her eyes in his hand, he said, "If these are our elder sister's eyes, may they be created afresh," and threw them down. After that, they were created better than before.

Afterwards the girl said, "Younger brother, we cannot go again to that house. Let us go away somewhere." So they went off. While they were going along the road, a King was coming on horseback, tossing and tossing up a golden Kaekiri fruit. The child, after looking at it, said, "Elder sister, ask for the golden Kaekiri."

The girl replied, "Appa! Younger brother, he will kill both of us. Come on without speaking."

Then the child another time said, "Elder sister, ask for it and give me it."

The King having heard it, asked, "What, Bola, is that one saying?"

The girl replied, "O Lord, nothing at all."

"It was not nothing at all. Tell me," the King said a second time.

Then the girl replied, "O Lord, I am much afraid to say it. He is asking for that golden Kaekiri."

The King said, "I will give the golden Kaekiri if thou wilt give me thy elder sister."

The child said, "Elder sister and I, both of us, will come."

So the King, having placed the girl on horseback, went to his city with the child, and married the girl.

After many days had passed, when the King was about to go to a war the girl was near her confinement. So the King said, "If it be a girl, shake an iron chain. If it be a boy, shake a silver chain." Afterwards the girl bore a boy, and shook a silver chain.

Before the King came back, the girl's father and Loku-Amma (step-mother), having collected cobras' eggs, polangas' [39] eggs, and the like, the eggs of all kinds of snakes, and having cooked cakes made of them, came to the place where the girl was.

The girl's Loku-Amma told her to eat some of the cakes. When she did not eat them, that woman, taking some in her hand, came to her and rubbed some on her mouth. At that very moment the girl became a female cobra, and dropped down into a hole in an ant-hill. Her father and Loku-Amma went home again. The infant was crying on the bed.

Afterwards, when the girl's younger brother was saying to the golden Kaekiri:--

They'll me myself to kill devise;
In bed the gold-hued nephew cries;
As a lady, gold-hued sister rise," [40]

the cobra returned [in her woman's form], and having suckled and bathed the infant, and sent it to sleep, again [becoming a snake] goes back to the ant-hill.

Then the King having returned, asked the younger brother, "Where, Bola, is thy elder sister?"

The child said, "Our father and Loku-Amma having cooked a sort of cakes came and gave us them, and Loku-Amma told elder sister to eat. Afterwards, as she did not eat, Loku-Amma, taking some, rubbed them on elder sister's mouth. At that very moment elder sister became a female cobra, and dropped down into an ant-hill."

Then the King asked, "Did she not return again, after she had dropped down into the ant-hill?"

The child replied, "While I was calling her she came back once."

The King said, "Call her again in that very way."

So the boy said to the golden Kaekiri,

They'll me myself to kill devise;
In bed the gold-hued nephew cries;
As a lady, gold-hued sister rise."

Afterwards, the cobra came [in her woman's form], and having suckled and bathed the child, and sent it to sleep, cooked for the King, and apportioned the food for him.

Then when she tried to go away [in her cobra form], the King cut the cobra in two with his sword. One piece dropped down into the ant-hill; the other piece became the Queen, and remained there.

After that, the King collected cobras, polangas, all kinds of snakes, and having, with the Queen, put them into two corn measures, they took the two boxes, and went to the house where the Queen's father and Loku-Amma were. There they gave them the two boxes, and said, "We have brought presents for you. Go into the house, and having shut the door, and lowered the bolt, open the mouths of the two boxes. Otherwise, do not open the mouths in the light." The King and Queen remained outside.

The Queen's father and Loku-Amma, taking the two boxes, went into the house, and having shut the door and bolted it, opened the mouths of the two boxes. At that moment, the snakes that were in them came out, and bit both of them, and both of them died.

Afterwards, the King and Queen came to the city, and stayed there.

North-western Province.

In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 132, a girl received a fan, the shaking of which summoned a Prince, however far away he might be.

At p. 239 also, a Queen received a golden bell, the ringing of which summoned the absent King.

In the Sinhalese story, it is evidently to be understood that the shaking of the chain would be heard by the King while he was away, although the narrator omitted to mention this.

NO. 14

THE FOUR DEAF PERSONS

In a certain city there were a woman and a man, it is said. Both of them were deaf. A female child was born to that man, and this child was also deaf. The man to whom she was given in marriage when she grew up was also deaf.

The girl's husband went to plough a rice field at the side of the high road. While he was ploughing, a man who was going along the road asked the way. Continuing to plough with the yoke of bulls, the deaf man said, "I brought this bull from the village. This other bull is from father-in-law's herd."

"What are the facts about the bulls to me? Tell me the way," the man said.

The deaf man replied, "The bull is from my herd."

The man said again, "What are the facts about the bulls to me? Tell me the way."

Then the deaf man, replying, "Don't say that another time," beat the man with the goad, and the man having received the blows went away.

Afterwards, the deaf man's wife having brought cooked rice to the field, he unfastened the cattle which had been ploughing, and while he was eating said to the woman, "A man came just now, and saying, 'Whose is the yoke of bulls?' quarrelled with me about them."

The woman replied, "Through seeking firewood and water and vegetables, and cooking, I was a little late in the day in coming."

Having quarrelled with him over it, she bounded off, and having gone home, went to the place where her mother was plaiting a mat, and said to her, "Mother, our house man quarrelled with me, saying that I was late in taking the rice."

The woman said, "Marry thy father! What is it to thee whether my works are good or not good now?" and she quarrelled with her.

The woman having gone to the place where her husband was watching a sweet-potato chena during the day time, on account of thieves uprooting the plants, said, "To-day my daughter having taken cooked rice to the field, and having given it and returned, quarrelled with me, saying that the plaiting of my mat was bad. I also indeed scolded her a great deal, saying, 'What is it to thee whether my works are good or not good now?' I have come to tell you about it."

Then the man said, "Bola, you infamous woman! Because I stopped in the chena you cooked and ate three sweet-potatoes, did you?" and he beat and drove away the woman.

Then saying that it was useless to go on with the chena when his wife was eating the crop, he cut the fence, and abandoned it to the cattle. And the man left the village and the district, and went away.

North-western Province.

The quarrels of deaf persons through misunderstanding each other's remarks form a common subject of folk-tales. The mistakes of three deaf people are related in Folklore in Southern India (Natesa Sastri), p. 3 ff., and Tales of the Sun (Kingscote and N. Sastri), p. 1 ff.

The Abbé Dubois published another amusing South Indian variant, which recounted the mistakes of four deaf men (le Pantcha-Tantra, 1872, p. 339 ff.). The four persons in it were a shepherd, a village watchman, a traveller who was riding a stolen horse, and a Brahmana. The shepherd requested the watchman to look after his flock during his temporary absence. In reply the latter refused to let him have the grass that he had cut. On the shepherd's return, he offered him a lame lamb as a reward for the trouble he thought the man had taken, but the watchman fancied he was being accused of laming it. They stopped a horseman who was riding past, and asked him to decide their quarrel. In reply, he admitted that the horse was not his. Each thought the decision was against him, and cursed him for it; and while the quarrel was at its height they referred it to a Brahmana who came up, who replied that it was useless for them to stop him, as he was determined never to return to his wicked wife. "In the crew of devils I defy any one to find one who equals her in wickedness," he said. The horse-thief, observing men coming in the distance, made off on foot, the shepherd returned to his flock, the watchman, seeing the lamb left, took it home in order to punish the shepherd for his false charge, and the Brahmana stayed at a rest-house, and went home again next day.

In the Contes Soudanais (W. Africa), by C. Monteil, p. 18 ff., there is a story which resembles both this South Indian one and the Sinhalese one, in part. A shepherd in search of a lost sheep asked a cultivator about it. He replied, "My field begins before me and ends behind me." The shepherd found the sheep, and offered it to the cultivator in payment for quarters for the night. The latter thought he was being charged with stealing it, and took him before a village headman, who remarked, "Still another story about women! Truly this can't continue; I shall leave the village." When he told his wife to accompany him, she said she would never live with a man who was always talking of divorcing her.

NO. 15

THE PRINCE AND THE YAKA

A king of a single city had one son, who was a Prince of five years. At that time, a Yaka [41] having settled in that kingdom began to devour the people of the city, and by reason of this the whole city was like to be abandoned. At last, the King and the men of the city, making great efforts, seized the Yaka, and having made an iron house, put him in it, and shut the door.

At that time it became necessary for the King of the city to go to war. After he had gone off to the war, when the King's son one day had opened the door of the house in which was the man-eating Yaka, and was looking at him, the Yaka fell down, and made obeisance to him, and signifying his misery to the Prince, began to weep. So the Prince, pitying him, told the Yaka to go away. Then the Yaka, saying to the Prince, "It is good. I will assist you, too," went away.

After he had left, when the Prince had gone home the King who had gone to the war returned, having conquered. When he looked at the room in which the Yaka had been, the door was open. The King asked who had opened the door. The Queen replied that the Prince opened it. Then the King said, "To-morrow I must behead that wicked Prince."

The Queen, being sorry at this, having tied up a packet of cooked rice, and given it and money to the Prince, and having given him a horse and sword, said, "The King has settled to behead you to-morrow for letting the Yaka escape. Go away at night to any country you like."

So the Prince, taking the money and the bundle of cooked rice, and the sword, mounted the horse, and set off to go to another country. There was a travellers' shed at the road along which he was going. As he was unable to go further on account of weariness, he went that night to the travellers' shed; and having fastened the horse to one of the posts of the shed, he lay down, placing the bundle of rice at his side.

Then seeing a youth running along the road, he called him, and asked, "Boy, where art thou going?"

The boy said, "I am going to a place where they give to eat and to wear."

Then the Prince said, "I will give you pay. Stop and look after my horse."

The youth said, "It is good. I will stay."

The Prince said, "I do not know the fords in this country; therefore tell me of a path by which we can go to another country."

The youth replied, "There is a river here. On the other side of it there is a city, to go to which there is not a short road from here. However, there is another road further on. By it we must pass over a bridge."

"If so," said the Prince, "having bathed here let us go."

Having seen that three Princesses who were at the city on the other side were bathing, he also was pleased at bathing there. After he had gone to bathe, the three Princesses of the King of the country on the other side, when they looked saw the good figure of this Prince.

After that, as the Prince wished to go after bathing, the youth who was to look after the horse having mounted it, began to ride away, wearing the Prince's clothes, and taking the sword.

When the Prince, having bathed, and seen the Princesses on the other bank putting on their clothes, came ashore to put on his clothes, on his looking for them there were no clothes, no sword, no horse. The youngest Princess of the three who had bathed on the other side well knew what had happened.

This Prince, having on only his bathing cloth, bounded off, and while running along overtook the horse and youth. When he was still far away, the youth said, "Do not come near me; should you come I will cut you with the sword. If you are willing to look after this horse, take hold of its tail and come."

Then because that one in any case must go to the city, he said, "It is good," and having taken hold of the horse's tail went with him. Going thus from there, they arrived at the city.

It was a custom of the King of that country that, having sent a guard, when any one of the men of another country arrived, he was to write the names of those persons, and come to the King. When these persons arrived, a guard being there asked their names. The youth who came on the horse said, "My name is Manikka Settiya; except the youth who looks after my horse, there is no one else with me."

The guard having gone, said to the King, "Lord, a person called Manikka Settiyare has come and is there, together with a horse-keeper."

Then the King thought, "Because the man called Manikka Settiyare has this name, Manikka, he will be able to value my gem" (manikya). A gem of the King's having been taken through the whole country, no one had been able to value it.

So having summoned that Manikka Settiyare, the King, after giving him food and drink, showed him it, and said, "Manikka Settiyare, there is my gem. Can you value it?"

That Manikka Settiyare replied, "My horse-keeper will tell you the value."

The King became angry because he said, "My horse-keeper will tell you it," and indignantly caused the horse-keeper to be brought speedily, and asked, "Can you value this?" The horse-keeper Prince said, "If I try hard I can." Then the King gave it into his hands.

Taking it and weighing it, and learning when he looked at it that there was sand inside the gem, he said, "As it now appears to me, the value of this gem is four sallis" (half-farthings).

The King becoming angry asked, "How do you know?"

The Prince replied, "There is sand inside this gem."

Then the King asked, "Can you cut it, and show me it?"

The horse-keeper said, "If you will ask for the sword belonging to that Manikka Settiyare, I will cut it and show you it."

After that, the King gave him the sword that was in the hand of the Settiyare. Then the horse-keeper, taking the sword, and remembering the name of his father the King, and thinking, "By the favour of the Gods, if it be appointed that it will happen to me to exercise sovereignty over this city, I must cut this gem like cutting a Kaekiri fruit," put the gem on the table, and cut it with the sword. Then the sand that was in the gem fell out, making a sound, "Sara sara."

Afterwards the King, thinking, "When this horse-keeper knows so much, how much doesn't this Settirala know!" having given food and drink to the horse-keeper, and also to the Settiyare, and having greatly assisted them, made them stay there a little time.

The youngest Princess well knew the wicked things that this Settiyare was saying about the horse-keeper youth. On account of her great sorrow concerning this horse-keeper, the Princess instructed the butler who gave the food at the royal house: "Give the horse-keeper who accompanied that Manikka Settiyare, food like that you prepare for me, and a bed for sleeping on, and assist him a little."

After that, the butler and the rest helped him. The Prince was unwilling to enjoy that pleasure. "Ane! I am a horse-keeper. Do not you assist me in that way," he said.

After that, the King's youngest Princess, for the sake of sending the Prince away from the post of looking after the horse, went to the King, and wept while saying thus: "Ane! Father, [42] because of this youth who looks after them, my sheep are nearly finished. On that account, taking the horse-keeper who came with that Settiyare, to look after my sheep, let us send the youth who looks after the sheep to look after the horse."

The King replied, "Having asked the Settiyare we can do it."

The King having asked the Settiyare the thing she told him, "You can do it," he said; and after he had thus spoken to the Settiyare it was done. So the horse-keeper went to look after the sheep. Having gone there, while he was looking after them for a long time, the sheep increased in number by hundreds of thousands.

One day, when the King had gone for hunting sport into the midst of the forest, he was seized there by a Yaka. After being seized, he undertook to give the Yaka the King's three Princesses, and having escaped by undertaking this charge he came back.

Next day he made a proclamation through the whole city by beat of tom-toms. What was it? "Having been seized yesterday in the forest by a Yaka, I only escaped by promising to give him my three Princesses. To-morrow a Princess, on the day after to-morrow a Princess, on the day after that a Princess; in this manner in three days I am giving the three Princesses. If a person who is able to do it should deliver them, having married that person to them, I will appoint him to the kingdom."

Then Manikka Settiyare said, "I can do it."

On that day, that Prince who was looking after the sheep went to look after them. While he was there, a man, taking a sheep, ran off into the chena jungle. While bounding after him in order to recover it, having gone very far, the Prince saw him go down the hole of a polanga snake.

After going near the polanga's hole, and looking down it, and seeing that the hole descended into the earth, the Prince went along that tunnel. Having gone on from there it became dark, and going on in the darkness he saw a very great light. Having gone to the light, when he looked about there was a man asleep, wearing very many clothes.

Then it was in the mind of this shepherd to go away, and in his mind not to go. If you should say, "Who was sleeping there?" it was the Yaka who had formerly been in that iron house, and had left it. That Yaka at that very time saw in a dream that the Prince who had sent him out of that house had come to him, and was there. While seeing him in the dream, the sleeping Yaka awoke, and when he looked up the Prince was beside him.

The Yaka, getting up from there, went to the Prince, and while he was embracing him the Prince became afraid. Then the Yaka said, "Lord, let not Your Majesty be afraid. The Yaka whom you sent away from that house is I indeed."

After that, the Prince sat down. Then the Yaka asked, "Where are you going?"

The Prince replied, "That I sent you away, our father the King decreed as a fault in me, and appointed that I should be beheaded. Then our mother, having tied up and given me a bundle of cooked rice, told me to go anywhere I wanted." Having said this he told him all the matter.

After that, the Yaka brought the lost sheep, and having given it to the Prince, asked, "What more do you want?"

The Prince said, "I want another assistance."

"What is the assistance?" he asked.

The Prince replied, "After I had remained in this way, the King, the father of the Princess who looks after the sheep, and of two more Princesses, having gone hunting and been caught by a Yaka, is giving the three Princesses to him as demon offerings. If there should be a person who can deliver them, he has made proclamation by beat of tom-toms that having given to him the three Princesses in marriage, he will also give him a part of the kingdom."

The Yaka said, "It is good. I will bring and give you victory in it. Be good enough to do the thing I tell you. After you have eaten rice in the evening, be good enough to come to this palace." He then allowed the Prince to return home.

The Prince having eaten his rice in good time, went to the Yaka. After he had gone there, the Yaka having given him a good suit of clothes, and a horse, and a sword, instructed him: "As you go from here there will be a path. Having gone along that path, there will be a great rough tree. Go aside at it, and while you are waiting there the Yaka from afar will make a cry, 'Hu.' Having come to the middle of the chena jungle he will say again, 'Hu, Hu, Hu.' At the next step, having bounded to the place where the Princess is stopping, he will again say, 'Hu.' After he has said this, as he comes close to the Princess you will be good enough to step in front. Then the Yaka, becoming afraid, will look in the direction of your face; then be good enough to cut him down with the sword."

The Prince having gone in that manner to the tree, when he looked about, Manikka Settiyare having climbed aloft was in a fork of the trunk, lamenting, having turned his back. While he was lamenting he saw this Prince coming, and [thinking it was the Yaka], trembled and lost his senses.

Then, in the very manner foretold, the Yaka came, crying and crying out. As he came near the Princess, the Prince cut him down, and having drawn out and cut off his tongue, and also asked for a ring off the hand of the Princess, came away to the palace of the friendly Yaka. Having arrived there, and placed there the clothes, the horse, and the tongue, all of them, he returned to his house before any one arose.

Manikka Settiyare, having descended in the morning, chopped the Yaka's body into bits, and smeared the blood on his sword. While he was there, the King went in the morning to see if the Princess was dead or alive. Having arrived there, he saw Manikka Settiyare there looking on, and he returned to the city, taking Manikka Settiyare and the Princess.

On the next night, also, they went and tied another Princess. The Prince that night also having gone there, killed a Yaka who came, and cut off the Yaka's tongue, and after asking for a jewelled ring came away. That time, also, Manikka Settiyare went there, and after smearing blood on his sword remained there. The King went there in the morning, and calling the two persons came away.

On the following day he did the very same to the other Princess. This Prince, having taken away the three jewelled rings that were on the hands of the three Princesses, and the three tongues of the three Yakas that he had cut off, remained silent.

As Manikka Settiya had come falsely smearing blood on his sword each morning, as though he had killed the Yakas, the King sent letters to all royal personages: "Manikka Settiya has cut down three such powerful Yakas, and has delivered the three Princesses who had been devoted to be given as a demon offering to the Yaka who seized me when I went hunting. Because of that, I am giving the three Princesses to him in marriage. You must come to the festival, and look at the Yakas who have been killed." After that, the royal persons came from those countries.

While they were there, that Prince went to the palace of the friendly Yaka. The Yaka having given that Prince golden clothes, and a golden crown and necklace, and a golden sword, told him to go, taking those rings and tongues, and mounted on a white horse. The Prince putting on those things, and mounting the white horse, went.

When he went to the palace where the royal persons were who had come to fulfil the object of the occasion, those royal persons became afraid, and having made obeisance to him, asked, "Lord, where is Your Majesty going?"

"'I have cut down a very powerful sort of Yaka.' Letters went through foreign countries to this effect, and that there is a marriage festival for the person who killed the Yaka. On account of the news I also have come to look," he said.

After that, those royal persons said, "It is good, Lord," and with pleasure showed him the heads of the Yakas.

Then this Prince asked, "Is there or is there not a tongue to every living being whatever?"

Every one said, "Yes, there is one."

The Prince having looked for the tongues in the mouths of the Yakas, asked, "What is this, that there are not tongues for these Yakas?"

After that, every one asked it of Manikka Settiya. Manikka Settiya being afraid, remained without speaking.

Then he asked it of the two eldest Princesses. The two Princesses said, "We do not know."

At the time when he was asking it of the youngest Princess, she replied, seizing the hand of the Prince who split off the tongues and took the jewelled rings, "This one went away after taking in his hand the ring, and cutting off the tongue of the Yaka." After that, the Prince brought to light the three rings and the three tongues, and showed them.

Speedily having beheaded and cast out Manikka Settiya, they carried out the wedding festival of the marriage of the three Princesses to the Prince. After that, those royal personages went to their own kingdoms, and the kingdom having been bestowed on this Prince he remained there ruling it.

North-western Province.

In the Jataka story No. 510 (vol. iv, p. 305), an iron house was built, in which a King's son was confined for sixteen years in order to preserve him from a female Yaka who had carried off two children born previously. The demon was unable to break into it.

In the Jataka story No. 513 (vol. v, p. 13), there is an account of a King who was seized by an Ogre while hunting. The latter allowed the King to go home on a promise to come back next day to be eaten. His heroic son returned in his place, but was spared by the Ogre. The Prince said of these beings, "The eyes of Ogres are red, and do not wink. They cast no shadow, and are free from all fear."

NO. 16

HOW A YAKA AND A MAN FOUGHT

In a certain country three men went shooting, [43] it is said. At the time when the three persons were going, one man was obliged to go aside for a certain purpose. The man went aside without telling those two men.

A Yaka saw the man separate from those two persons. Having seen it, the Yaka seized the man, and began to push against him. At that time those two men were very distant. The men having said, "What has happened to this man?" came to look for him. When they came [they saw that] there was a black one near the man. The two persons spoke together, "Let us shoot this black one." So they shot [43] him. Then the black one went out of the way.

Afterwards the men went to look near at hand. When they went the man had fallen. After that, having taken hold of the man and raised him, when they looked at him the man's body having gone quite slimy he was unconscious also.

Afterwards, while the two men, raising [and carrying] that man, were [endeavouring] to come away, the Yaka did not allow them to come. He shakes the bushes; he breaks the trees; he blocked up the path all along. One man of the two men looked upward. Then the Yaka spit into the man's eye, and the man's eye became blind.

Well then, the two men having uttered and uttered spells, with pain lifting up [and carrying] that man, came to the village. Having come there, and summoned a Yaksa Vedarala [44] to restore the man to consciousness, when he arrived they showed him this man. Then the Yaksa Vedarala told them to warm a large pot of water. So they warmed the water. After that, having bathed the man, and having uttered spells, after the Vedarala had tied protective written spells and diagrams [45] on him the man became conscious.

After that, the Yaksa Vedarala and those two men asked about the circumstances that had occurred. The man said, "A Yaka having come, seizing me pressed against me for me to roll over on to the ground. What of that? I did not fall [on account of it]. After you two fired, indeed, I fell. Then the Yaka bounded off, and went away. Well, I don't know anything after that. Whether you came and lifted me up, or what, I do not know."

The man having recovered from that, again the Yaka came, and having possessed the man he began to have the powers conferred by "possession." [46] Afterwards that Yaksa Vedarala having come again, and given the Yaka many offerings placed on frames (dola pideni), the Yaka went out of the way. The man remained very well [afterwards].

North-western Province.

NO. 17

CONCERNING A MAN AND TWO YAKAS

In a certain country there was a man who had cut a chena. The man, without any one joining with him, went one day and made ready to cut a fresh chena at a place where there was a large tree.

Then the Yaka who dwelt in the tree became afraid, and having descended to the ground, and having said, "Lord, do not cut a chena here. At every eventide I will bring and give you rice, coconuts, chillies, etc.," he made obeisance. The man said, "It is good," and went home.

That very evening the Yaka brought and gave him rice and all things sufficient for curries, and went away. After that, in no long time the man became in a good position and wealthy, through the Yaka's bringing him his provisions.

When coming afterwards, the Yaka met another Yaka, who asked, "Where are you taking those things?"

The Yaka replied, "A man came to cut the residence in which I stay. On account of it, I promised to give him food and goods."

Then the Yaka said, "Do thou give the things to-day only. I will kill the man to-morrow."

The other Yaka said, "It is good."

On the following day, when the man of that house was going somewhere or other, the Yaka who said, "I will kill him," came to the house, and having crept under the bed remained there. At that time the man returned, and sitting on the bed, said to his wife, "Bola, I am hungry enough to eat a Yaka."

His wife had placed the knife on the shelf, and having plucked a pine-apple had put it under the bed. The woman [not seeing the Yaka], said, "Look there! On the shelf. Look there! Under the bed."

So the man, taking the knife that was on the shelf, went near the bed to get the pine-apple. Then the Yaka, thinking he was coming to kill and eat him, said, "Lord, do not eat me. I will bring and give you each month anything you want."

So the man saying, "It is good," sent away the Yaka.

Then the Yaka met that other Yaka, and said, "When I went to set you free I also was caught. Both of us are in the same state."

After that he gave the things monthly. Then this man having become a great wealthy person, remained so.

North-western Province.

In a variant in Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), pp. 258-260, a barber frightened a Bhuta (evil spirit) who was going to eat him, by threatening to put him in his bag. He took out his looking-glass, and showed the Bhuta his reflection, which the evil spirit thought was another imprisoned one. The Bhuta promised to obey the barber's orders, and provided money, and a granary filled with paddy. The Bhuta's uncle told him that he had been cheated; but he was treated in the same way, and made to build another granary, and fill it with rice.

NO. 18

THE THREE QUESTIONS [47]

In a certain country, as a man was going through the middle of a city he met a man of the city, and asked him, "In what manner does the King of this city rule?"

The man said, "It does not appear to us that he has any fault."

Then the man said [sarcastically]: "Does the King of this city know these three matters--the centre of this country, the number of the stars in the sky, and the work which the King of the world of the Devas [48] does?" Having asked this, that wicked man went through the midst of the city.

Afterwards, the man of the city came to the palace, and declared to the King that there were three matters regarding which a man had wanted information. After he had informed him, the King asked, "What are the three matters?"

The man said, "The centre of the country, the number of the stars in the sky, and the work which the King of the world of the Devas does; these three matters," he said.

Then the King, having caused the Ratemahatmayas--(the highest provincial Chiefs)--to be told that he ordered them to come, after he had asked them concerning these three matters, the Chiefs said that they could not tell him the answers. When they said that, the king commanded that the Ratemahatmayas should be beheaded. Thereupon the executioners came and beheaded them.

After that, he caused the Adikaramas--(the Ministers)--to be brought, and asked them if they knew these three matters. Those persons also said that they could not explain them. He commanded that party also to be beheaded, and the executioners came and beheaded them.

Having beheaded all the people of both parties, there remained still the Royal Preceptor [49] only, so he caused the Royal Preceptor to be brought, and asked him regarding these matters. Then the Royal Preceptor said, "I cannot tell you about them to-day. I will tell you to-morrow." After he had said this he returned to his house, and having come there, lying down prone on the bed he remained without speaking a word.

The youth who looked after the Royal Preceptor's goats came at that time, and asked, "For what reason are you lying down, Sir?"

The Royal Preceptor said, "They beheaded the Adikarama party and the Ratemahatmaya party to-day; they will behead me to-morrow. The post that I have told thee of [under the executioner] will be made over to one's self."

The youth said, "Lord, you must tell me the reasons for it."

The Royal Preceptor replied, "If I should be unable to-morrow to say which is the centre of the country, the number of the stars, and the work which the God of the world of the Devas does, they will behead me to-morrow."

Then the youth said, "Are you so much troubled about that? I will say those very things for you."

Afterwards, at the time when the Royal Preceptor, on the morning of the following day, was setting off to go to the palace, he called the youth, and went with him to the palace. The King asked for the answers to these three sayings. Then the Royal Preceptor said, "What is there in these for me to tell you? Even the youth who looks after the goats for me knows those three sayings." Then he told the youth to come forward, and the youth came near the King.

The King asked, "Dost thou know the centre of the country, and the number of the stars, and the work which the God of the world of the Devas does?"

The youth fixed a stick in the ground, and showed it. "Behold! Here is the centre of one's country. Measure from the four quarters, and after you have looked at the account, if it should not be correct be good enough to behead me," he said. The King lost over that.

Then he told him to say the number of the stars in the sky. Throwing down on the ground the goat-skin that he was wearing, "Count these hairs, and count the stars in the sky. Should they not be equal be good enough to behead me," he said. The King lost over that also.

Thirdly, he told him to say what work the God of the world of the Devas does.

The youth said, "I will not say it thus."

The King asked, "If so, how will you say it?"

The youth said, "Should you decorate me with the Royal Insignia, and put on me the Crown, and give the Sword into my hands, and place me on the Lion-throne, I will say it."

Then the King, having caused that youth to bathe, and having decorated him, placed him upon the Lion-throne.

After that, he called the executioners, and said to them, "Ade! This one beheaded so many [innocent] people; because of that take him and go, and having beheaded him, cast him out. Behold! That indeed is the work which the King of the world of the Devas does," he said.

Thus, having killed the foolish King, the youth who looked after the goats obtained the sovereignty; and ruling the kingdom together with the Royal Preceptor, he remained there in prosperity.

North-western Province.

The dramatic, and apparently improbable, ending of this Kandian story is founded upon an historical fact. It is recorded in the Mahavansa, the Sinhalese history (Part I, chapter 35), that King Yasalalaka-Tissa, who reigned in Ceylon from 52 to 60 A.D., had a young gate porter or messenger called Subha, who closely resembled him in appearance. The Mahavansa relates the story of the King's deposition by him as follows (Turnour's translation):--

"The monarch Yasalalaka, in a merry mood, having decked out the said Subha, the messenger, in the vestments of royalty, and seated him on the throne, putting the livery bonnet of the messenger on his own head, stationed himself at a palace gate, with the porter's staff in his hand. While the ministers of state were bowing down to him who was seated on the throne, the King was enjoying the deception.

"He was in the habit, from time to time, of indulging in these scenes. On a certain occasion (when this farce was repeated), addressing himself to the merry monarch, the messenger exclaimed: 'How does that messenger dare to laugh in my presence?' and succeeded in getting the King put to death. The messenger Subha thus usurped the sovereignty, and administered it for six years."

A variant was related to me by the resident monk at a Buddhist temple to the south of Colombo. Its tenour was as follows:--

THE FOUR DIFFICULT QUESTIONS.

A certain King put four questions to a Sangha-raja, or Superior of the Buddhist monks. The first one was, "How deep is the sea?" the second, "How many stars are there?" the third, "Which is the centre of the earth?" and fourthly, he must tell the King what he, the King, thought. The Sangha-raja was allowed a certain time in which to find answers to the questions.

One day a monk seeing him sad, asked him the reason, and was told that the King had put these questions to him, and had threatened to take his life if he could not answer them.