Part 16

While she was there, the woman having placed paddy on the hearth, and waited until the time when it is boiling, said to that sister-in-law, "Sister-in-law, having gone rubbing castor-oil on your two legs take out the paddy that is on the hearth."

The woman combed the man's head. She said it to the girl unnoticed by the man, to save the girl.

That girl having gone rubbing her two legs, when she was taking out the paddy the heat of the fire on the hearth struck her two legs, and the castor-oil, having become warm, descends down her two legs. Then that woman, having been combing and combing the man's head, says at the hand of the man, "There! You say it is in your mind to call your younger sister [to be your wife]. Look there, at the matter from her legs; her legs are ulcerated." [149]

Then the man says, "It is unnecessary to keep that one; you take that one, and having taken this bill-hook cut that one's neck, and come back."

After that, the woman, calling her sister-in-law and having gone, handed her over to a widow woman, and having secretly taken that man's money also, gave it to the widow woman for her expenses on account of the girl.

While returning, she cut a dog on the path, and smearing the blood on the bill-hook, came back and showed it to the man, "Look here (Menna). The blood that has been cut from your younger sister." Well then, to the man's mind it is good.

At the time when the man is not at home, having cut a tunnel from the woman's house to the widow woman's house, and from the woman's house to the widow woman's house having drawn a silver chain and an iron chain, she said at the hand of the widow woman, "If there be a sorrow shake the iron chain; if there be a pleasure shake the silver chain." [150] Having said it the woman came home.

On a certain day the girl arrived at marriageable age. The widow woman shook the silver chain. Afterwards, this girl having gone [there], when she looked the girl had arrived at a marriageable age; and having distributed the present given to the washerman on the occasion, and the like, she again said at the hand of the widow woman, "If there be a pleasure, shake the silver chain; if a sorrow, shake the iron chain," and came home again.

Again one day she shook the silver chain. This woman having gone again, when she looked [she found that] to give the girl [in marriage] the name [of the man] had been decided. Afterwards, having distributed the [food of the] wedding [feast] and the like, the woman came home.

The girl having been [married] a little time, bore a boy. Afterwards the girl said to the girl's man, "Tying pingo (carrying-stick) loads, let us go to our village." The man also having said "Ha," cooking cakes, and carrying the little one also, they came to the widow woman's house.

Then the widow woman shook the silver chain. The girl's sister-in-law came. Having come, when she looked the girl's little one is there also.

Having given from the cakes to the widow woman, she took the others, and calling the girl, calling the girl's husband also, and carrying the little one, she returned home [with them]. Having gone home, the girl's sister-in-law caused the little one to lie in the waist pocket of the girl's elder brother, and said, "There. Your younger sister's little one!" [and told him how she had been saved].

After that, the elder brother having wept, took the little one in his arms.

North-western Province.

NO. 119

NAHAKOTA'S WEDDING FEAST

In a certain country there are a woman and a man, it is said. While they were there the woman bore two girls and a boy. When they were there a long time the man died.

After that, the big girl having grown up, they gave her in diga (marriage). The boy cannot speak well; his nose is short. The other girl has become considerably big. That boy is older than the girl. It is Nahakota's [151] endeavour to call that younger sister [in marriage]. That woman (their mother) having perceived that, went with the daughter to the place where the other big daughter was given; and having conducted her [there], came back.

After that, a day or two having passed, Nahakota went, in order to call the girl back [to be his wife]. Having gone [he said] at the girl's hand, "Younger sister, mother told me to go back with thee; on that account I came here."

While coming with that girl, having met with villages on the road that girl says, "Elder brother, is our village still far away?"

Then Nahakota says, "Why do you say, 'Elder brother, elder brother?' Would it be bad if you said, 'Husband, husband' (Wahe)?"

Then that girl being frightened, comes without speaking. Again, when coming a little further, she asks, "Elder brother, is our village still far away?"

Then Nahakota says, "Why do you say, 'Elder brother, elder brother?' Would it be bad if you said, 'Husband, husband?'"

Then the girl being frightened comes without speaking. Thus, in that way they came quite home. Having come, Nahakota said to Nahakota's mother, "Mother, pound flour and cook cakes. I am going to spread nets to catch [animals] for my [wedding] feast." Having said it, Nahakota went to spread nets, joining with a man.

After that, the girl says, "Mother, when elder brother and I were coming, I asked at elder brother's hand, 'Elder brother, is our village still further on?' Then elder brother said, 'Why do you say, "Elder brother, elder brother?" If you said, "Husband, husband," would it be bad?'"

Afterwards the woman says, "Daughter, let us two go somewhere or other before that one comes." Having said it, and cut the throat (lit., neck) of a cock, and hung it above the hearth, and placed a cooking-pot on the hearth, and blown the fire, and shut the house door, the woman and the girl went somewhere or other.

Nahakota, having spread nets, came home. While he was in the veranda, as the blood of the fowl [hanging] in that house was falling into the cooking-pot, the pot having become heated, for three watches (each of four hours) when each drop of blood was falling it makes a noise, "Cos, cos," [152] like cooking cakes.

Nahakota thought, "Our mother, etc., cooking cakes, indeed, that is." [153] Having sprung into the open space in front of the house, and beaten and beaten tom-toms on his rear, he began to dance, singing and singing, "Ade! Tude! They are cooking cakes for my Nahakota feast."

Having danced, after it became night, on account of their not opening the door Nahakota knocked at the door and told them to open the door. They did not open it.

Afterwards, having opened the door, when he looked there was nobody. A cock, only, was hung near the hearth, a cooking-pot placed on the hearth, only the fire is blazing on the hearth.

Afterwards, Nahakota having wept, remained there quietly. [154]

North-western Province.

NO. 120

HOW A MAN CHARMED A THREAD

In a certain country there are a woman and a man, it is said. The woman having falsely said that she had the Kadawara disease, [155] taking on false illness lay down. The man every day goes to the watch-hut [in the chena].

One day when he was going to the watch-hut, he asked for thread at the hand of the woman, in order to bring it on the morrow morning, [after] charming it for the Kadawara. After that, the woman gave him thread, having become pleased at it.

The man knows about the woman's trickery. Knowing it, that day evening having gone to the watch-hut the man charmed the thread. How did he charm it? The woman's father's name was Palinguwa.

At the very time when the man was going to sleep, holding the thread, the very manner in which he charmed it [was this]: having made [nine] knots [on it], he charmed it [by] saying and saying [only], "Palinguwa's woman, Palinguwa's woman."

On the following day morning he came back, and tied it on the woman's arm. At the very instant, the woman, quickly having arisen, does her work. While she was thus, the woman says, "Having hastened quickly, you must distribute [betel]." [156]

Afterwards, the man also having said, "It is good," he gave betel to Kadawara Vedas [157] who dance well, and said, "Come on such and such a day." He collected for it the articles to be expended, and caused arrack (spirit distilled from palm-juice) to be brought, and prepared all.

On the Kadawara day the men came, and having eaten and drunk, and dressed themselves [in their dancing costume and ornaments], as they were descending [from the raised veranda] into the open space in front of the house, this woman quickly took out the mat also, and stretching out her two feet at the doorway, sat down on it, (ready for the ceremony, which would be performed in front of her).

Then this man having come speedily, bringing the rice pestle, beat that woman with the pestle and put her in the house. Having shut the door and locked it, and come outside, as he was coming out the Kadawara Vedas, becoming afraid, prepared to run away, saying, "Perhaps this man is a mad-man."

Then this man said, "Don't you run away. Dance well. There is arrack; drink as much as you want."

Afterwards, they having drunk and drunk and danced until it became light, in the morning the man cooked abundantly, and gave the Kadawara Vedas to eat, and having given them presents sent them away.

North-western Province.

NO. 121

HOW THE RICE AND CURRY BECAME RAW

At a certain time there were a woman and her husband, two persons. During the time while they were [there], one day the husband said to the woman, "I am going to-day to the watch-hut. Having gone there, I shall not come back to-morrow morning; I shall be delayed, ploughing the field below that field. Because of it, you must bring me cooked rice to-morrow morning."

Then the woman during the whole night [158] having abundantly given food and the like to her paramours, without sleeping, it became light. After that, the woman went to sleep.

[After] going to sleep, being without the means of bringing cooked rice [through want of time to cook it], she washed rice, putting it in a cooking-pot, and cut up dried fish and brinjal, [159] putting them raw into a large cooking-pot, and took them to the rice field [uncooked].

After she went, that man said, "Bola! Strumpet! Didst thou stay with thy paramours until so much time has gone?" and scolded her [for being late].

Thereupon, this woman, saying, "Apoyi! Because you said such a vile word to me may the cooked rice and curry which I brought for you become raw," put them down on the ground.

When the man looked, the woman's speech was true; the cooked rice and curry had become raw. After that, the man, having said to the woman that she was a good woman, thoroughly respected her.

North-central Province.

NO. 122

HOW A WOMAN ATE COOKED RICE BY STEALTH

In a certain country there are a woman and a man, it is said. There is also a little one of the woman's; the little one cannot talk well yet.

Having waited until the time when the man goes to the watch-hut [at night], this woman every day while he is in the chena having cooked raw-rice [160] eats small beans (maekaral) [with it] in the house. Every day having cooked fry of them (the beans), and given to the little one, they eat it every day at night [without his knowledge].

One day, at the time when the man comes, the little one says, "Father, having cooked maekittan fry, and having cooked raw-rice, let us eat her, eh?"

Then that man says at the hand of the woman, "What, Bolan, does this one say?"

The woman says, "I don't know. He eats in dreams, [161] maybe. Cause thread to be charmed for it and come back."

Afterwards the man, causing the thread to be charmed, came and tied it on the arm of the little one.

North-western Province.

NO. 123

HOW A WOMAN OFFERED CAKES

In a certain country there are a man and a woman, it is said. The woman has been brought from another country (district). A paramour has become associated with the woman.

She said to the woman's husband, "In our country there is a custom. In the lower part of the garden we must offer cakes to the Yaka who is in the lower part of the garden; if not, the Yaka causes sickness. When I was living at my village, too, I offered them every day. Because of it, we must offer them now also."

Afterwards the man said, "Ha, it is good. Continue to offer them. For it, what else do you want, etc.?"

After that, the woman said, "We don't want anything else. Having set up two sticks, cleft into four at the top (aewari kanu), we must offer on one twenty cakes, on one thirty cakes. That is all."

Having cooked the cakes, on the day on which she offers them she cannot cook more [food]. At the house no one can eat [afterwards on that day]; should they eat they will die.

After that, the man having prepared the two cleft sticks in the lower part of the garden, gave her them. From that day, the woman having cooked fifty cakes, at one cleft stick offers twenty, at one cleft stick thirty. [162]

When it is becoming dark, the paramour having come is in the lower part of the garden. The woman having offered the cakes says, "Leaving the twenty, taking the thirty, go, O Yaka." Having said [this] the woman comes home.

The paramour having come, leaving the twenty, eats the thirty, and goes away. Afterwards the woman having come [there], eats the twenty, and goes back.

In that very manner, the woman every day having given cakes to that paramour, the woman also eats. That man was unable to find out the roguery.

North-western Province.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii, p. 118, a man who wished to have meat to eat, induced his sons to kill a sheep and offer the flesh to the deity of a tree which stood in their field, telling them that their prosperity was due to this god.

NO. 124

THE MANNER IN WHICH A WOMAN PREPARED A FLOUR FIGURE

In a certain country there are a woman and a man, it is said; the woman is associated with a paramour. The woman has been brought from another country.

One day (dawasakda) the woman said, "In our country there is a custom. Having constructed a flour figure, and having made it sit upon a chair near the hearth, we must cook cakes and offer them [before it]." After that, the man having sought for the articles for cooking cakes gave her them.

After that, the woman, having pounded flour and made [enough] for two cooking pots, having increased the syrup for one pot, and diminished the syrup for one, and having been there until the time when the man goes somewhere or other (kohedo), told the paramour to come. After having put and smeared flour over the whole body [163] of the man, having brought a chair near the hearth and made him sit upon the chair, the woman sitting down near the hearth cooks the cakes.

That man having come home, when he looked there is the flour figure. While the man in silence is looking on in the raised veranda, having seen that the woman puts the well-cooked cakes separately into a pot and the badly cooked cakes into another pot, and getting to know about the flour figure paramour, to make the woman get up of necessity,--a calf had been brought from the woman's village--the calf had been tied up,--the man having gone very quietly (himimma) unfastened the calf. Very quietly having come again to the veranda he said, "On (there)! The calf that was brought from your village is loose; tie it and come back."

The woman says, "I am unable to go; [164] you go and tie it, and come." The man said, "I will not."

Afterwards the woman having arisen went to tie the calf. [Then] this man, having arisen from the veranda, struck the oil cooking-pot that was on the hearth on the top of the head (ismundune) of the flour figure paramour. The flour figure, crying out, is wriggling about.

That woman having tied up the calf and come, says, "I had prepared the flour figure. Having thrown it away that one will have come and sat there [in its place]. What shall I do? [When] he escaped from you even so much [time], am I indeed going to eat that one's liver? [165] Why didn't you split that one's head?" Having said [this] she caused the man to be deceived.

Finished.

North-western Province.

The woman's remark regarding the liver is an instance of the survival of a very old expression, perhaps connected with magical practices. In the translations from the Chinese Tripitaka published by M. Chavannes in Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues, vol. i, p. 120, a girl cried, "May I become a demoniacal and maleficent being to devour the liver of the elder brother." In Folk-lore of the Santal Parganas (Rev. Dr. Bodding), p. 419, it is stated that witches are believed to cause people's deaths by eating their livers. The Sinhalese text is, "Umbawaen occarawat beruwa mama nan okage kaewtu kanawa nae?" The final word is merely a colloquial expletive which adds emphasis to the question. It occurs also in No. 197, vol. iii, footnote No. 1, and elsewhere. Perhaps this is the original form of the curious syllable sometimes heard at the end of questions put to acquaintances by Burghers of the lower class in Ceylon, as in the query, "I say, man, what are you doing, no?"

NO. 125

HOW A WOMAN BECAME A LAPWING [166]

At a certain village there were an elder sister and a younger brother, it is said. He gave the elder sister [167] in diga [marriage] to a [man of another] country. For the younger brother they brought a wife to the house.

When no long time had gone after the elder sister was given in diga, the elder sister's husband died; and being without [anything] to eat or drink, the elder sister came to the younger brother's house in order to beg for something.

At that time, the man said, "Ade! Give our elder sister amply to eat and drink, and having tied up and given a bag of paddy amounting to a load, send her on her journey;" and in order to look at his wife's trustworthiness or untrustworthiness he stayed in a tree behind the house, looking out, near the path on which the elder sister goes.

Thereupon, the man's wife, having given the man's elder sister a piece of stale cake to eat, put in a [mat] box a little worthless paddy chaff that had been blown away when she fanned paddy, and gave her it.

After that, when this elder sister, being grieved, was going on the path, she went saying and saying, "Ane! If my younger brother were there she would not do thus. Sister-in-law gave me only paddy chaff and a few stale cakes; but [even] should my sister-in-law do magic against me, may a shower of flowers rain at my younger brother's doorway." Then, weeping and weeping she came home.

Then the younger brother who stayed in the tree having been hearing that word, came home, and asked his wife, "Ade! Didst thou give my elder sister amply to eat and drink?"

The woman said, "Andoma! When she had eaten I tied up a bag of paddy equal to a load, and gave it. What else will you tell me to give?"

Thereupon the man having said, "It is good," and having been keeping it in his mind, after two or three days had gone, said, "Ade! Thy mother is ill. Prepare something and give me it [as a present for her, to enable me] to look at her and return," he said. The man said it falsely.

The woman saying, "Perhaps it is true," cooked a packet of rice, and taking thirty ridis, [168] put them at the bottom of the packet of cooked rice, and tied and gave him it, for him to go to her parents' house and return. Unknown to the man [169] she did this dishonesty (i.e., put his money in the bag).

Thereupon the man, taking the packet of cooked rice, went to the house of the man's elder sister. That day he remained there without coming back.

That elder sister having unfastened the bag, when she looked [saw that] at the bottom of the rice there were thirty ridis. Afterwards the elder sister called the younger brother and asked, "Younger brother, whence are these thirty ridis at the bottom of the rice in this bag?"

The younger brother said, "I told her of our house (ape gedara eki [170]) to cook and give me a packet of rice, in order to go to her village. She will have put in the thirty ridis."

At that time a washerwoman who stayed in that village brought clothes to the younger brother's house. Thereupon this woman (his wife) asked at the hand of the washerwoman (radawi atin), "Washerwoman-aunt, our house man went to go to [my] village and return. Didn't you meet him on the way?"

The washerwoman said, "Ane! Madam (mahattine), on the road indeed I did not meet with him; he is staying at the gentleman's (rahamille) elder sister's house. Except that it seemed that he is [171] at the house itself, he did not [otherwise] go to your quarter."

Thereupon, at that instant [172] a disturbance (internal) having come to her, while this woman was saying, "Is it true, washerwoman? Is it true, washerwoman? Saw you him, washerwoman? Saw you him, washerwoman? Gave he them, washerwoman? Got she them, washerwoman? There are thirty ridis, there are thirty, there are thirty," [173] except that she got her breath upwards, she did not hold it down. Having gone in that very manner, when she said there were thirty ridis she became a female Red-wattled Lapwing, [174] and flew away. Now also the Red-wattled Lapwings say, "Hotae tikiri, hotae tikiri." [175] From that time, indeed, the Red-wattled Lapwings increased.

Then the man having come back, not contracting another marriage he remained providing subsistence for his elder sister.

Well then, we came here. [176]

North-western Province.

NO. 126

THE STORY OF THE SEVEN WICKED WOMEN [177]

In a certain country, when seven elder sisters and younger sisters, fastening on bangles (at-wael) are going along, a woman having been near the well asked, "Where are they [178] going?"

Then the seven elder sisters and younger sisters said, "We are going to seek for ourselves seven elder brothers and younger brothers."

Then this woman said, "There are seven elder brothers and younger brothers of mine." Having said, "Let us go, if so, to our house," and having gone calling the seven persons and sent them to seven houses (rooms), she lowered [from the corn store] seven [mat] boxes of paddy, and gave them.

The seven persons having boiled the paddy, and said, "Sister-in-law, look after this," [179] and spread it out to dry, the seven went for firewood. Having gone there they spoke, "Let us find a means [180] of killing sister-in-law."

There was a Brown Monkey (rilawa); catching the monkey they brought it home.

This younger sister having gone to sleep and a great rain having rained, all the paddy was washed away. [181] When those seven persons having come looked, all the paddy had been washed away.

After that, the seven persons again having lowered paddy [from the corn-store], when they were pounding the paddy raw (lit., hard) that younger sister awoke. Having awoke thus, she asked at the hand of those seven, "Sister-in-law, is there cooked rice?"

Then the women said, "Is there cooked rice in our hand? It is in the cooking pot, isn't it?" The women having previously (lit., betimes) broken up bits of potsherds, and put them in the drinking kettle, and put it away, are pounding paddy.

Afterwards that sister-in-law having gone and eaten the cooked rice, and said, "Sister-in-law, give me water," these women said, "Is it in our hand? It is in the house, in the drinking kettle; take it and drink."

Afterwards the sister-in-law having taken the drinking kettle, when she was drinking the water the pieces of potsherds stuck in her throat.