Part 26

In the Wevaelkaetiya Inscription (Epigraphia Zeylanica, vol. i, p. 250), King Mahinda IV. (A.D. 1026-1042) ordered that persons convicted of robbery with violence should be hanged. Mr. Wickremasinghe in giving a translation of this inscription added a note to the effect that he had not found this punishment mentioned elsewhere in Sinhalese literature; but in the Mahavansa, ii, lxxv, vv. 166 and 196, and in the Rajavaliya (translation), p. 66, there are accounts of the hanging of people. In Marshall's Ceylon, p. 39, it is stated that "the punishment of death was usually carried into effect by hanging, or being killed by elephants." In Davy's work also, p. 182, it is said that "the sentence of death, in cases of murder, was carried into effect by hanging."

In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 185, a young man who was in love with a Princess received her portrait from a painter, and "spent his time in gazing on, coaxing and touching, and adorning her picture; ... he seemed to see her, though she was only a painted figure, talking to him and kissing him, ... and he was contented, because the whole world was for him contained in that piece of painted canvas."

In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton's ed., vol. i, p. 183), when a Wazir showed his young son to a Sultan, the latter was so much pleased with him that he said, "O Wazir, thou must needs bring him daily to my presence."

NO. 150

THE STORY OF KING BAMBA

In a certain country there is a King. There are seven Princesses (daughters) of the King. He does not allow the seven Princesses to go anywhere outside [the palace precincts], and having caused a pool to be dug in the very palace for bathing, also, the Princesses bathe [in it].

When they have bathed, there is a drain for letting out the water. A Turtle came along the drain, and having entered the pool, when it was there, one day the water having filled the pool the Princesses went. While they were having water-games, one Princess struck against the Turtle, and while she was crying out [in alarm], the other six having become afraid sprang ashore. Having sprung there and gone running, they told their father the King.

Afterwards the King and Ministers having come and opened the drain, when they looked after the water lowered there was a Turtle. The Ministers took away the Turtle. Thereupon the King said, "For the fault that it frightened my Princesses, what is the suitable punishment to inflict on this one?"

Then a Minister said, "Having fixed a noose to its neck and hung it up for thirty paeyas (twelve hours), let it go."

Thereupon another Minister said, "The punishment is not good enough. Not in that way. Having prepared a bon-fire you ought to put this Turtle into the bon-fire." Thereupon the Turtle laughed.

Then yet [another] Minister said, "That punishment is not good enough; I will tell you one. In the Atirawati [281] river the water is very swift; the water goes and falls into the Naga residence. [282] Having taken that one you ought to put it into that."

Then the Turtle, after having shrugged its shoulders, said, "O Lord, Your Majesty, though you should inflict all other punishments don't inflict that punishment on me."

Just as it was saying it, the King said, "Ade! Take that to that very one and put it in." After that, the Ministers having taken the Turtle put it into the Atirawati river.

When it was put in, the Turtle, having gone turning and turning round, fell into the Naga residence. Well then, the shore is not a suitable place. Now then, the Turtle thinks, "Should I stay thus the Nagayas, seizing me, will eat me. Because of it, I must go near the great Naga King, Mahakela [283] by name."

The great Naga King, Mahakela by name, having seen this Turtle, asked, "Whence camest thou? Who art thou?"

Then the Turtle gave answer, "O Lord, Your Majesty, they call me, indeed, the Minister, Purnaka by name, of King Bamba of Bamba City. Because there was no other man to come [to make] appearance (daekuma) before Your Honour (numba-wahanse), His Majesty our King sent me."

Then the Naga King asked, "What is the business for which he sent thee?"

Then the Turtle says, "There are seven Princesses of His Majesty our King. Out of them, His Majesty our King is willing to give any Princess you want, for the Naga residence. Because of it he sent me."

Thereupon the Naga King says, "It is good. If he is thus willing I will cause two persons to make the journey with thee."

Then the Turtle says, "O Lord, Your Majesty, permission has been given to me for [only] seven days' [absence]; because of it, I must go this very day."

Afterwards the great Naga King, Mahakela by name, having despatched two Nagayas, said, "Ye having gone to the world of men (nara-lowa), looking into matters there, until ye come back do no injury to anyone."

Well then, when these two Nagayas and the Turtle are coming along the Turtle says, "I am unable to go like Your Honours go; having lifted me up carry me a little." After that, the two Nagayas, lifting up the Turtle, came [with him] to this world.

Having come near the city, the Turtle said, "Now then, place me on the ground; I cannot go thus. When I have gone to the palace, the Princesses having come and said, 'Our Minister has come,' will ask at my hand certain articles. Because of it, I will go to that pool; until the time when I come [after] plucking a handful of flowers, you stay here."

Having said [this], the Turtle went to the pool; after it descended [into it] those two Nagayas are looking [out for it]. The Turtle having gone to the pool, got hid.

The two Nagayas having gone to Bamba City, after they went near the King, the King asked, "From what country came ye?"

Then the Nagayas said, "What is [the meaning of] that speech that Your Honour is saying? Your Honour must understand. By Your Honour a Minister [was] sent to our Naga dwelling-place--was he not?--thereafter to tell us to come. That there are Your Honour's seven Princesses, Your Honour's Minister, Purnaka by name, went and told our King. Afterwards our King sent us two, with Your Honour's Minister, Purnaka by name."

Then King Bamba says, "Is it true that a King like me gives [in] marriage to frog-eating beasts like you?" Having said it, he scolded them with many low words.

Afterwards the two Nagayas having gone again to the Naga residence told the Naga King, "King Bamba scolded us much;" having said it the two wept.

Afterwards collecting as many Nagayas as were [there], the Naga King having come to Bamba City, the Naga King called Mahakela and yet [another] Naga King twined [themselves] from the King's head down to the two feet, and raising their heads above [him] asked at the hand of King Bamba, "Wilt thou give thy Princess or not?"

King Bamba said, "To thy taking any Princess thou wantest to thy country, there is not any impediment by me."

Afterwards the Naga King [284] having taken a good [looking] Princess, [a daughter of the King], and gone to the Naga residence, married the Princess to a Nagaya.

During the time when she was [there] a child [was] conceived in her womb. After it was conceived, ten months having become complete she bore a Nagaya. That Nagaya in not much time having become big, asked at the hand of his mother, "Mother, what is [the reason] why you alone are unable to take the appearance you want?"

Then the Princess said, "Son, how can I take the appearance I want? I am a human being (manussayek)."

The Nagaya asks, "How, mother, was the manner in which you came to this country?"

Then his mother says, "In this manner: As many Nagayas as were in this Naga residence having gone and fought with our father the King, taking me came away."

Afterwards the Naga Prince says, "Mother, I cannot stay in this country; I must go to the world of men. For it, give me permission." Afterwards his mother gave the Naga Prince permission.

Well then (etin), the Nagaya having come to the world of men began to practise asceticism in a rock cave. When no long time had gone in that manner, a Vaedda having seen that the Nagaya is in that rock cave, said to a snake charmer (ahi-kantayek), "I have seen a Nagaya thus. Canst thou catch him?"

The snake charmer (ahi-kantakaya) having said "I can," and having gone with the Vaedda, as soon as he saw the Nagaya the snake charmer [by magic spells] put on it inability to move. [285] Having put it on, and caught the Nagaya, and at city by city successively [286] having made the Cobra dance, the snake charmer obtained many presents; the snake charmer became very wealthy.

After that, the Nagaya's mother bore a Nagaya again. After that Nagaya also became big, just like the first Nagaya asked, he asked at the hand of his mother [regarding her appearance]. Then his mother, too, told him just like she told that first Nagaya.

Afterwards, the Nagaya also asking permission at the hand of his mother to come to the world of men, on the very day when he came to the world of men, at the time when the snake charmer was making that first Cobra dance at the palace of King Bamba, creating a thousand hoods, the Nagaya who was born afterwards saw him. The dancing Nagaya also saw that that Nagaya is coming. At his very coming he sent a poisonous smoke to the snake charmer. The poisonous smoke having struck him, the snake charmer died at that very place.

Afterwards, when the two Nagayas were conversing, the elder Nagaya said, "Our grandfather's palace, indeed, is this. Because of it, indeed, to-day I danced, creating a thousand hoods. From to-day I shall not dance again."

Well then, the two, creating divine bodies, having gone to the midst of the forest, practised asceticism.

North-western Province.

In The Jataka, No. 543 (vol. vi, p. 83) there is an account of a tortoise (turtle) that frightened the semi-Naga sons of Brahmadatta, King of Benares, by raising its head out of the water of the royal pool when they were playing there. When it was netted the attendants suggested pounding it to powder in a mortar, or cooking and eating it, or baking it; and at last a Minister recommended that it should be thrown into the whirlpool of the Yamuna river. The turtle begged to be spared this last fate,--the one it desired,--but the King ordered it to be thrown into the river, in which a current led it to the dwelling of the Nagas. When the sons of the Naga King Dhatarattha found it, the turtle invented the story of its being a messenger called Cittacula, sent by the King of Benares to offer his daughter to the Naga King. Four Naga youths returned with the turtle to fix the wedding day, the turtle concealing itself in a pool on the way, on the plea of collecting lotus flowers. When the Nagas were treated with scorn, the Naga King and his forces compelled the King to surrender his daughter Samuddaja, who was married to the Naga King.

Her second semi-Naga son out of four with only his Naga wife's knowledge went to fast on the earth, with a view to being re-born among the Gods. Lying as a cobra on an ant-hill he was pointed out by an outcast Brahmana, captured by means of a magical spell, taken to dance in villages, and at last brought to the King of Benares. The Naga's eldest brother disguised as an ascetic, with his Naga sister, disguised as a young frog that was hidden in his hair, rescued him. The heat from three drops of poison emitted by the frog turned the snake charmer into a leper; their virulence, had it not been magically quenched, would have caused a seven years' drought.

Snake doctors in Ceylon classify the frog as a very poisonous form of serpent. In Sagas from the Far East, p. 213, a gold frog was the daughter of the Serpent King, who may have been a Naga.

In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. i, p. 188, the story resembles that given in the Jataka tale. The King's name was Angada; he had a son and a daughter Añjana. When the turtle was caught the Ministers advised beheading it, burning it alive, or chopping it up and making it into soup; another said these deaths were not cruel enough, and recommended casting it into the sea; it was thrown into a river. The Naga's parents, sister, and brother sought for it in the form of birds, and the snake charmer was sent away by Angada, with presents.

In the same work, vol. iii, p. 346, a Queen bore a human son after being visited by a great serpent while half asleep. Professor Chavannes referred to other early instances of such supposed births.

In the Kolhan folk-tales (Bompas) appended to Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 452, there is an account of a woman who was married to a water-snake and lived with him under the water, where she bore four snake sons.

In Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), p. 155, a girl became the wife of Long Snake; after she ran away her sister married him. When he visited their father the house was set on fire and he was killed. On p. 55 a girl married a five-headed snake who became a man. (See p. 401 below, also).

NO. 151

CONCERNING A ROYAL PRINCESS AND A TURTLE

At a certain period, at the time when a King and a Minister are passing the time with great trust [in each other], the King and the Minister had a talk in this manner. The talk, indeed, was thus: To the Minister the King says, "Minister, let us two at one time contract marriage; having contracted it, and your Queen (Devi) having borne a daughter, should my Queen bear a son let us accomplish the wedding festival of the two children who are born first." [This] was his speech.

Thereupon the Minister said thus, "It is good, O King; your Queen having borne a Princess, should my Queen bear a Prince, [or] my Queen having borne a Princess should your Queen bear a Prince, let us accomplish the wedding festival," he said. At that the King having been much pleased, the two persons contracted marriage and remained passing the time in friendship.

During the time when they are [thus], the royal Queen bore a Princess endowed with much beauty. On that very day [287] the Minister's Queen also bore a Turtle. Concerning the circumstance that the Minister's Queen bore the Turtle, the King and the Minister also remained in much grief. During the time when they were thus, the royal Queen bore yet six Princesses. At the time when she had borne [the last of them] ten years were fulfilled for the Princess whom she bore first.

Thereupon this Minister asked the King thus, "O Lord, Your Majesty, for your Princess and my Turtle, for both of them, the age has now become equal. Because of it, now then, let us accomplish the wedding festival;" [thus] he spoke.

At that time, getting into his mind the notion (lit., word) that, breaking the word the King has said at first, should he subsequently say a word otherwise he will go into hostility, the King unwillingly said thus: "You go and ask my Princess about it," he said.

Thereupon the Minister having gone near the Princess asked her.

The Princess said thus, "Ane! Appa! I cannot accomplish the festival of the marriage to that Turtle," she said.

Thereupon the Minister, not even speaking anything about it, came out of the palace. Having come, while still a long time is going he remained without coming back.

Having so remained, after no long time went by they were ready to accomplish the wedding festival for the other six Princesses of the King's, also. At that time the Minister having gone still [another] time, asked the King; the King told him in the very manner he said before that. Thereupon the Minister having gone asked the Princess.

Thereupon the Princess said thus: "If I am to marry the Turtle, tell the Turtle to bring a Suriya-kanta flower; should he bring it I will marry him," she said.

The Minister having returned [home], it having come [to him] he told it to the Turtle. "Father, I can bring and give it," the Turtle said.

Then the Minister would say a word thus [doubtingly] to the Turtle, "Turtle, when would you bring it indeed?"

Thereupon the Turtle, feeling (lit., bringing) shame at it in its mind, having descended into a river, went away; and having gone to the place where the Sun [God, Suriya], having risen, his chariot comes, and presented its head to [be crushed by] the chariot wheel, remained [there].

At that time the Sun asks thus, "O Turtle, why didst thou place thy head at this chariot wheel?" he asked.

The Turtle says thus, "Ane! O Sun [God], you, Sir, must give me a fifth part from your rays (that is, one-fifth of their brilliancy). If not, unless I die here I will not go," it said.

Thereupon the Sun having given power to the Turtle for the manner of its coming out into the light from its turtle shell, told it to come outside. Then by the authority of the Sun, the Turtle, abandoning the turtle shell, came into the light. After it came out it was created a man. Thereupon he gave him a fifth part from the Sun's rays. After he gave it, "What do you want still?" he asked. He said he wanted a Suriya-kanta flower also.

Then the Sun, having shown the path to the house of the Devatawa who sleeps three months [at a time], and having said, "Thou having gone, when he arises while thou art displaying games then ask thou [regarding it]," the Sun rose on this side.

Thereupon the Prince who was fettered by the disguise of the turtle, having gone near the Devatawa who sleeps three months, when he was displaying games the Devatawa awoke, and asked, "Because of what came you here?"

The Prince said, "We came regarding the want of a Suriya-kanta flower for me."

At that time the Devatawa showed him the path [leading] near the Devatawa who sleeps two months. Having gone there also, he awoke him. Having awakened, he asked the Prince thus, "Regarding what matter did you awake me?" he asked. There, also, the Prince said he came about the want of a Suriya-kanta flower.

Thereupon the Devatawa showed him the path to the house of the Devatawa who sleeps one month. [288] Having gone there also, when he was displaying games that Devatawa also awoke. At that time he too asked regarding what want [he had come]. Thereupon he told him in the very manner he formerly said.

After that, the Devatawa said thus, "Look there. When you have gone along that path there will be a pool in which the Virgin Women (Kanniya-Striyo [289]) bathe. Having gone there and been hidden, as soon as the Virgin Women have descended into the pool to bathe take even those persons' wearing apparel. There will be a dewalaya (temple) just there; having gone into the dewale shut the door yourself. Then the Virgin Women having come and told you to open the door, will make games, a disturbance, and the like. Do you, without opening the door through their saying those things, say thus: 'Except that should you bring and give me a Suri-kanta flower I will open the door and give you these ornaments, I will not otherwise give them.' Say [this]." While saying it he showed the Prince the path.

The Prince having gone in that very manner, and got hid, while he was there, in the very way the Devatawa said, the Virgin Women came and descended into the pool to bathe.

Thereupon this Prince, taking the wearing apparel of the Virgin Women, went into the dewalaya which was near there, and shut the door himself. At that time the Virgin Women having come played games [outside]. This Prince, not having looked in their direction even, in the very manner the Devatawa told him before asked for a Suriya-kanta flower.

The Virgin Women said, "We will give a Suri-kanta flower; [be pleased] to give us our clothes."

Thereupon the Prince while giving only [some] clothes for them to put on until the time when they give the Suriya-kanta flower, kept back the other wearing apparel. After that, the Virgin Women, having given oaths, begged for and got the other wearing apparel, too. [After] begging for them, they brought and gave him a Suriya-kanta flower.

After they gave it, the Prince came near the Devatawa who told him the path. As soon as he came the Devatawa asked, "What else do you want?"

"You must give me a power to beat men, even millions in number," he said.

Thereupon the Devatawa having given him a cudgel, said, "However many [there may be], even to [the extent of] an army, place this cudgel in the road, and tell it [after] beating them to come back. [After] beating however many persons [there may be] it will come."

Taking that also, the Prince went near the other Devatawa. When he went, that Devatawa also asked, "What else do you want?"

Thereupon the Prince said, "You must still give me a [magic] lute (venawa), and a power to display the hidden things thought of."

After that, having given him a bag called Kokka, [290] he said thus, "Having placed this bag called Kokka [hanging from your shoulder], think that anything you want is to make its appearance; anything you want will appear." Having said this he gave him it. He gave him a lute: "Being at any place you like, play (lit., rub) it; any person He [291] wants will hear and come," he said.

Taking these and having come here from there, because the Virgin Women are possessors of the power of flight through the air, in order for them to come from the sky he remembered the party, and played the lute.

Thereupon, the party came with the speed with which he played it. After they came, he gave that cudgel and the bag called Kokka, both of them, into the hand of the Virgin Women, saying, "When I want these, as soon as I play the lute you must very speedily bring and give me them;" and taking also the lute he crept into the turtle shell again, and came to his own city. What of his coming! Because he is inside the turtle shell he is still the Turtle.

Well then, having given food and drink to the Turtle, "Did you bring a Suriya-kanta flower?" his father the Minister joked.

Thereupon the Turtle said, "I have brought a Suriya-kanta flower."

After that, "If so, bring it," the Turtle's father said.

After that, having gone outside the city gate, when he was playing the lute the Virgin Women brought and gave him the Suri-kanta flower. After they gave it, having brought it he gave it into his father's hand. Having so given it, when he presented it to the Princess they accomplished the wedding festival of [the marriages of] six other Princes to the six younger Princesses who still remained to the King, and of the Turtle to the eldest Princess.

Having accomplished it, during the time when they are thus those six Princes went hunting. Because they married and gave the eldest daughter to the Turtle, having built a house outside the palace and given it to these two, they separated [them from the others].

When this party are going near that house they ask at the hand of that eldest daughter, "Where [is he], Bola? Isn't thy Turtle going hunting?"

Thereupon the Princess remains grieved at it. The Turtle, who had heard it, having called the Princess (devi), said, "Go to the royal palace, and asking for a horse and a sword for me bring them." At that speech the Princess went and asked for them at the King's hand. At that time the King having said, "For the Turtle what horses! what swords!" became angry at the Princess. The Princess having become grieved, told the Turtle that her father the King will not give them.

After that, having said, "Asking for an old mare and a short sword, come [with them]," he sent her yet [another] time. After that, he gave her an old mare and a short sword. Having given them, after she brought them to the Turtle's house, to the Princess the Turtle says, "Pull creepers, and having placed me on the back of the mare, twine them [round me and the mare]."

Thereupon the Princess having pulled creepers, wrapped [them round him on the mare]. Having wrapped them, making [the mare] bound he went somewhat far; and having come out of the turtle-shell, the Prince (as he now was), taking the lute, played the lute for the Virgin Women to come. Then the Virgin Women came.