Part 1

Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

VILLAGE FOLK-TALES OF CEYLON

Vol. II

Collected and Translated by

H. PARKER

Late of the Irrigation Department, Ceylon

LONDON LUZAC & CO. Publishers to the India Office 1914

CONTENTS

STORIES OF THE CULTIVATING CASTE

NO. PAGE

76 A Legend of Kandy 3 77 The Gamarala's Daughter 4 78 The Gamarala's Girl 7 79 How Gourds were put in Small-Mouthed Pots 10 80 The Royal Prince and the Carpenter's Son 13 81 Concerning a Royal Prince and a Princess 23 82 The Princes who Learnt the Sciences 33 The Nobleman and his Five Sons (Variant A) 36 The Seven Princes (Variant B) 39 The Attempt of Four Brahmana Princes to Marry (Variant C) 42 83 The Story of Kalundawa 46 84 How the Poor Prince became King 50 85 How the Gardener became King 54 86 How the Foolish Man became King 57 87 The Foolish Man 60 88 The Story of Marirala 64 89 The Invisible Silk Robe 66 90 The Foolish Youth 70 91 The Story of the Seven Thieves 76 92 The King who became a Thief 81 93 The Female Fowl Thief 88 94 Gampolaya and Raehigamaya 90 95 The Story of the Two Liars 96 96 The Three Hettiyas 98 97 Concerning Two Friends 101 98 Concerning Four Friends 107 99 Concerning a Horse 109 100 The Story of the Pearl Necklace 111 101 The Widow Woman and Loku-Appuhami 116 102 The Decoction of Eight Nelli Fruits 121 103 The Prince and Princess and Two Devatawas 124 104 Concerning the Prince and the Princess who was Sold 130 105 The Princess Hettirala 137 106 The Maehiyalle-gama Princess 142 107 The Wicked Princess 146 108 Holman Pissa 151 109 Concerning a Vaedda and a Bride 157 110 A Story about a Vaedda 160 111 The Story of the Four Giants 162 112 The Story about a Giant 172 113 Hitihami the Giant 175 114 The New Speech 181 115 The Master and Servant 191 116 How the Son-in-Law Cut the Chena 192 117 A Girl and a Stepmother 195 118 The Wicked Elder Brother 198 119 Nahakota's Wedding Feast 201 120 How a Man Charmed a Thread 204 121 How the Rice and Curry became Raw 206 122 How a Woman ate Cooked Rice by Stealth 207 123 How a Woman Offered Cakes 208 124 The Manner in which a Woman prepared a Flour Figure 210 125 How a Woman became a Lapwing 212 126 The Story of the Seven Wicked Women 215 127 The Story of the Old Man 219 128 The Magic Lute Player 221 129 The Lad who Sang Songs 223 130 The Hunchback Tale 226 131 The Poor Man and the Jewels 228 132 The Learned Poor Man 230 133 A Poor Man and a Woman 234 134 The Story of the Rakshasa and the Princess 237 135 The Way the Rakshasi Died 241 136 How a Rakshasa turned Men and Bulls into Stone 244 137 The Rakshasa-eating Prakshasa 247 The Rakshasa-eating Prakshasa (Variant A) 256 The Rakshasis-eating Prakshasa (Variant B) 257 The Rice-dust Porridge (Variant C) 262 The Evidence that the Appuhami ate Paddy Dust (Variant D) 266 138 The Story of the Cake Tree 269 The Lad and the Rakshasi (Variant A) 275 The Cake Tree (Variant B) 276 139 The Girl, the Monk, and the Leopard 280 140 The Washerman and the Leopard 286 141 The Frightened Yaka 288 142 The Story of the Seven Yakas 292 143 The Yaka and the Tom-tom Beater 294 144 How a Tom-tom Beater got a Marriage from a Gamarala 296 145 The Gem Yaksani 299 146 The Na, Mi, and Blue-Lotus Flowers' Princesses 309 The Story of the She-Goat (Variant A) 320 The Story of a Nobleman's Son (Variant B) 323 147 The Loss that occurred to the Nobleman's Daughter 330 148 The Ratemahatmaya's Presents 333 149 The Prince and the Minister 334 150 The Story of King Bamba 339 151 Concerning a Royal Princess and a Turtle 345 152 The Story of a King and a Prince 356 153 The Story of the Gourd 361 154 The Story of the Shell Snail 364 155 The Queen of the Rock House 367 155A The Story of the Elder Sister and Younger Brother 377 156 The Queen and the Beggar 380 157 The Frog in the Queen's Nose 382 158 Concerning a Bear and the Queen 385 159 The Leopard and the Princess 388 160 The Story of the Foolish Leopard 393 161 The Story of the Dabukka 396 162 The Leopard and the Calf 399 163 The Ash-Pumpkin Fruit Prince 401 164 The Kabaragoya and the Widow 407 165 The Frog Jacket 409 166 The Four-faced King and the Turtle 411 167 The Story of the Cobra and the Prince 414 168 The Ant Story 417 169 The Gamarala and the Cock 419 170 Concerning the Golden Peacock 421 171 The Story of the Brahmana's Kitten 425 172 The Story of the Mango Bird 430 173 How the Parrot explained the Law-suit 435 174 The Parrot and the Crow 440 175 The Crow and the Darter 442 176 Concerning the Crows and the Owls 443 177 The Female Lark 445

Index 449

See Additional Notes and Corrections in the Appendix, Vol. III.

STORIES OF THE CULTIVATING CASTE

NO. 76

A LEGEND OF KANDY [1]

At a certain place in Lankawa (Ceylon), there was an extensive forest. In that forest there were elephants, bears, leopards, wanduras, [2] and many other jungle animals.

At any time whatever, at the time when any animal springs for seizing an animal that is its prey, it comes running near a rock that is in an open place in the forest. Having arrived near the rock, the animal that ran through fear goes bounding back after the animal that is chasing it. Regarding that rock, it was the custom that it was [known as] "The Rock of the Part where there is Tranquillity" (Sen-kada-gala [3]).

One day a Basket-mender for the purpose of cutting bamboos went into this forest. While he was cutting bamboos a certain jackal went driving a hare on the path. At the time when the hare arrived near this rock the jackal began to run back, and the hare ran behind it.

The Basket-mender, having been looking at this, examined the place, and having gone near the King who was ruling at that time, told him of this circumstance. And the King, having thought that it is a good victorious ground, went there, and having built a city makes it his capital (raja-dhaniya). For that city he made the name Senkadagala [Nuwara--that is, Kandy].

Uva Province.

NO. 77

THE GAMARALA'S DAUGHTER

In a certain country there were a Gamarala and a daughter of the Gamarala's, it is said. Well then, for the Gamarala they brought a Gama-mahage. [4] The Gama-mahage's daughter and that Gamarala's daughter stayed in one place. The Gamarala and the Gama-mahage cook and eat separately; the Gamarala's daughter and the Gama-mahage's daughter cook and eat separately.

A King comes every day to the house in which are the two girls. Afterwards, the Gama-mahage's daughter, having quarrelled with the Gamarala's daughter, went to the Gama-mahage and told tales: "A King comes every day to the house we are in."

Then the woman said, "Daughter, you go to that house to-day [and watch if he comes]." Having said "Ha" (Yes), that girl went.

Afterwards the girl came to the house in which was the Mahage. After having come, she said, "Mother, to-day also the King came."

Then that girl's mother, having cut her finger-nails [5] and given them into the hand of the girl, said, "Daughter, take these and place them upon the beam of the threshold." The girl, having taken them and placed them on the beam of the threshold, came to the Mahage's house.

On the following day the girl did not go to the house of the Gamarala's daughter. That day, also, came the King. After he came he placed his foot on the beam of the threshold; then the finger-nails pricked him. Immediately the King went to the city on the back of the tusk elephant.

On the following day, when that [Gamarala's] girl was weeping and weeping under a tree because he did not come, while some crows were swallowing and swallowing the fruits of the trees a crow said, "Ando! What is that Gamarala's daughter crying for?" The other crow said, "What is it to thee! Do thou in silence quickly swallow two or three fruits off that."

Afterwards, it having become night, part of the crows went to the nests; two still remained over in the tree. One of them said, "Ane! What is that Gamarala's daughter crying for?" The other crow said, "What is it to thee! Do thou in silence swallow the fruits off that. All the crows went away; mustn't we also go? It has become night."

Then the Gamarala's daughter laments, "A light was falling and falling [into my life]; it is not there now."

The crow said, "Being without a light, what art thou lamenting for?"

The girl said, "A King was coming and coming to our house. Our stepmother having placed some finger-nails on the threshold, they pricked the King's foot, and having gone to the city he does not come now. On account of that I am lamenting."

Then the crow said, "What are you lamenting for on that account! Having shot (with bow and arrow) a crow that is flying [in the air] above, and extracted its fat, should you take it to the city in which the King is, when you have rubbed it on the wound in the foot it will heal."

Afterwards the girl, having shot a crow that was flying above, and extracted its fat, and tied up a packet of it, and dressed in men's clothes, went to the city, taking the fat.

The girl, having gone to the city, and gone to the palace in which is the King, said, "What will He give me to cure His foot?" [6]

The King replied, "I will give a gold ring."

Then the girl rubbed the oil [on the wound], and after she drew out the finger-nail the foot became well. After that the King gave the girl the gold ring. The girl, taking it, came home.

The King, taking a sword, on the following day came on the back of the tusk elephant to the house in which is the girl. The girl was asleep. Then the King descended from the tusk elephant, and taking the sword went to the place where the girl was. "Get up, thou," he said. The girl arose. Then the King prepared to cut her neck.

The girl, having made obeisance, said, "Don't cut me with the sword; it was I who cured His foot."

"How didst thou cure it?" he said.

"I went to the city in which He was, and having rubbed fat [on the wound] and drawn out the finger-nail, came back," the girl said.

Then the King said, "How didst thou go to my palace?"

The girl replied, "I went in men's clothes, and having rubbed oil on the foot and drawn out the finger-nail, I came back."

"If thou drewest it out, where is now the gold ring I gave thee?" he said.

Then the girl, saying, "Here is the gold ring He gave me," showed it to the King.

After that, placing the girl on the back of the tusk elephant, he went to the palace in the city.

North-western Province.

Regarding the poisonous nature of the finger-nails, see vol. i, pp. 124 and 128.

In Indian Fairy Tales (M. Stokes), p. 199, a Princess in the disguise of a Yogi cured a Prince who had married her, and who had been poisoned by means of powdered glass laid on his bed. She applied earth from the foot of a tree, mixed with cold water, and rubbed this over him for three days and nights. When the Prince wished to reward her, she asked for a ring and handkerchief that she gave him on their wedding day. She afterwards informed him that it was she who had cured him, but he would not believe her until she produced these articles.

NO. 78

THE GAMARALA'S GIRL

In a certain city there was a King, it is said. The King sends letters into various countries to be explained. When they were sent, no one could explain the things that were in the letters. When he sent the letters, on the following day [the recipients] must come near the King. When they come the King asks the meaning in the letter; no one can tell it. Well then, he beheads the man.

Thus, in that manner he sent letters to seven cities. From the seven cities seven men came to hand over the letters. He beheaded the seven persons.

On the eighth day a letter came to the Gamarala. There is a girl of the Gamarala's. When they brought the letter the girl was not at home; she went to the village to pound paddy. Pounding the paddy and taking the rice, when the girl is coming home the Gamarala is weeping and weeping.

So the girl asked, "What is it, father, you are crying for?"

Then the Gamarala says, "Daughter, why shouldn't I cry? The King who beheaded seven men of seven cities has to-day sent a letter to me also. Now then, the letter which the people of seven cities were unable to explain, how can I explain? Well then, mustn't I take the letter to-morrow? It is I who must take the letter. When I have gone he will behead me. Well then, owing to your being [left] without anyone, indeed, I am weeping."

Then the girl said, "Where is it, for me to look at, that letter?" Asking for it, and having explained all the things that were in the letter, she said to the Gamarala, "Father, having gone to-morrow, to what the King asks say thus and thus."

The Gamarala on the following day went and handed over the letter. The King, in the very way in which he asked those seven persons, brought up the Gamarala, and asked him. The Gamarala replied in the very way the girl said. Then the King asked the Gamarala, "Who expounded this?" The Gamarala said, "There is a daughter of mine; that daughter herself explained it."

After that, the King said, "To-morrow we are coming for the marriage [to your daughter]. You go now, and having built inner sheds and outer sheds, and milked milk from oxen, and caused it to curdle, and expressed oil from sand, place them [ready]; those [previously] unperformed matters," he said.

When the Gamarala is coming home the girl is not at home. Having gone to pound paddy, and having pounded the paddy, when she comes, taking the rice, that day, also, the Gamarala, weeping and weeping, is digging some holes for posts.

So the girl asked, "What, father, are you crying for to-day also?"

Then the Gamarala says, "Ane! Daughter, the King is coming to-morrow to summon you in marriage, and return. Owing to it, the King said to me, 'Having built inner sheds and outer sheds, having milked milk from oxen and caused it to curdle, and having expressed oil from sand, place them [ready].' Now, then, how shall I do those things? It is through being unable that I am weeping."

Then the girl says, "Father, no matter for that. Simply stay [here]. Please build the [usual] sorts of inner sheds and outer sheds. How are you to milk milk from oxen and curdle it? How are you to express oil from sand?" Afterwards the Gamarala indeed built the inner sheds and outer sheds.

On the very day on which the King said he is coming, the girl, with another girl, taking a bundle of cloth, went along the road to meet the King. On the road there is a sesame chena. By the chena they met the King.

When coming very far away, the Ministers said at the hand of the King, "That one coming in front is the Gamarala's daughter herself." The Gamarala's daughter, too, did go in front.

Then the King asked at the hand of the Gamarala's daughter, "Where, girl, art thou going?"

The Gamarala's daughter replied, "We are going [because] our father has become of age [in the same manner as women]. On account of it [we are going] to the washermen."

The King said, "How, girl, are men [affected like women]?"

Then the girl said, "So, indeed! You, Sir, told our father that having built inner sheds and outer sheds, having milked milk from oxen, and caused it to curdle, and having expressed oil from sand, [he is] to place them [ready]. How can these be [possible]? In that way, indeed, is the becoming of age by males [in the same manner as women]."

Then the King, having become pleased with the girl, asked yet a word. He plucked a sesame flower, and taking it in his hand asked the girl, "Girl, in this sesame flower where is the oil?"

Then the girl asked, "When your mother conceived where were you. Sir?" [7]

Immediately (e parama) the King descended from the horse's back; and placing the Gamarala's girl upon the horse, and the King also having got on the horse, they went to the palace. The other girl came alone to that girl's house.

On the second day, the King having sent the Ministers and told the Gamarala to come, marrying the girl to the King she remained [there]. The Gamarala also stayed in that very palace.

North-western Province.

NO. 79

HOW GOURDS WERE PUT IN SMALL-MOUTHED POTS

At a certain time a man cut a sesame chena. In the sesame chena the sesame flowers blossomed. There was a female child of the man's.

The child one day having gone to the sesame chena, while she was there the King came, in order to go near the sesame chena. Thereupon the King asked at the hand of the girl, "Girl, the flower that has blossomed, where did it come from in the plant?"

Then the girl asked at the hand of the King, "Before your mother was married where were you?"

At that time, the King having become angry at the word which the girl said, told the girl's father to come. After he came he said, "Because your girl said such a wicked word, come [to me after] putting a hundred gourd fruits in a hundred [small-mouthed] copper pots."

Thereupon, the man being afraid at this word went home, and remained a dead dolt (manda). Then the girl asked, "Why, father, are you without sense?" Then the man told her the word said by the King.

Having heard it, the girl said, "Father, why are you frightened at that? I will tell you a stratagem for that," and told him to bring a hundred [small-mouthed] copper pots. After he brought them, she told him to bring a hundred gourd-flower fruits (the small fruit at the base of the flower). After he brought them, she told him to put the hundred gourds into those hundred copper pots, and after he put them in, the girl and the man went to the King, and handed them over.

Having given them, as they were coming away, the King said to the girl, "I will cause thee to be in widowhood."

Then the girl said, "I will get a dirty cloth [set] on your head."

The King, after that man and girl went away, came and married her. Having married her, and stayed a little time, in order to make her a widow he went on a journey which delayed him six months.

Having waited until the time when he was going, what does this girl do? Having made up her hair-knot on the top of her head, tying it there, tying on a bosom necklace (malayak) like the Hettiyas, she went to the sewing-shop. Learning sewing for the whole of the six months, she sewed a good hat, putting a dirty cloth at the bottom [inside it], and above it having fastened [precious] stones; it was at the sewing-shop.

At that time, as that King, the six months having been spent, was coming home through the middle of the street, he saw a costly hat in the shop; and having given a thousand masuran, taking the hat and placing it on his head, he went away.

Having gone, he said to the girl, "I caused thee to be in widowhood, didn't I? I said so."

Then the girl said, "On your head you got my dirty cloth, didn't you? I said so."

The King said, "You are not old enough [8] to get your dirty cloth on my head."

Thereupon the girl said, "Break up the hat and look."

Then when the King broke up the hat and looked the dirty cloth was there. After that, having said, "The two persons are equal to each other," they remained in much trust [in each other].

North-central Province.

In Indian Night's Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 315, a girl, the daughter of a smith, whom a Prince wanted to marry, in order to show her cleverness made some large earthenware jars, and without burning them painted and enamelled them, and introduced a small water-melon into each. When the melons had grown so as to fill the jars, she sent two of them to the palace, with a request that the melons should be taken out without breaking the jars or melons. No one being able to do it, she obtained permission to visit the palace, wrapped a wet cloth round each jar until it became soft, expanded the mouths, extracted the melons, and remade the jars as before.

The smart village girl is known in China also. There is an account of one in Chinese Nights' Entertainment (A. M. Fielde), p. 57, the incidents being unlike those of the Sinhalese tale, however.

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton's ed., vol. iii, p. 202) there is a story of a smart village girl and a King of Persia, Kisra Anushirwan, in which the King married the girl.

NO. 80

THE ROYAL PRINCE AND THE CARPENTER'S SON

In a certain country there were a King and a Queen. In the same city there were a Carpenter and his wife. There was a Prince of the King's. There was a son of the Carpenter's.

They sent these two near a teacher to learn letters and sciences. After a number of years, one day, in order to look at this Prince's learning, the King, having gone near the teacher who teaches the sciences, and made inquiry regarding the Prince's lessons, [ascertained that] the King's Prince was not able to [understand] any science; the Carpenter's son was conversant (nipuna) with all sciences.

Thereupon the King, having become grieved, went to the palace, and said to the Queen, "Thy Prince is a decided miserable fool. [9] Because of it, I must behead the Prince," the King settled.