H. Parker

“ The Heṭṭirāla, having remained looking for the Prince’s coming at the time of eating cooked rice during the day, when the time went by thought, “He is a great fool, isn’t he? Having sent the cattle into the gardens of others they have been seized, maybe.” As he did not come at noon to eat cooked rice, he said, “I must go to look”; and having come there, when he looked some had died at the very bottom of the trees to which they were tied, some are drawing and drawing breath.
The Heṭṭirāla asks the Prince, “Why, fool, what a thing this is you did! Do you look after cattle in this way?” ”

“ One day our father the King asked me and my younger brother, ‘Is Destiny the greatest thing or not?’ Thereupon I said, ‘Destiny is the greatest’; younger brother said, ‘It is not the greatest.’ Because I said, ‘Destiny is the greatest,’ he appointed me for death. ”

“ A widow took charge of it, the householder regretted what he had done, rewarded her, and regained it. Finding after some years that the boy was more intelligent than his own son, he abandoned him among some bamboos, but men seeking firewood saved him. When the householder heard of him he felt remorse, paid the men well, and took him back. Again becoming jealous of his intelligence and popularity, he sent him to a metal founder with a note in which the man was ordered to throw into his furnace the child who brought it. ”

“ That day, also, that ring, with the thought, “This Princess will have gone to sleep,” having loosened itself from the finger, when he was becoming ready to eat the cooked rice the Princess having come and said, “Who are you?” seized him.
Thereupon the youth having told her all the circumstances, while staying there became the ring. The magic-performing boy, as it appears to him by the various sciences, said to the Princess, “The teacher who taught me the sciences will come here to-morrow to perform magic. I shall become a good beautiful necklace on your neck. ”

“ The Heṭṭirāla having gone one day, when he looked the plantain garden had been destroyed. Thereupon, having called Sokkā, and having said, “Where is the revenue obtained from this? Thou art a Yakā come to eat me,” he became angry, and scolded him.
Having said, “Thou canst not do that work. Look here (Menna) ; from to-day attend thou to the grazing of these cattle,” he gave him charge of them.
Then Sokkā, having said, “It is good, Heṭṭirālahāmi. In our country I do that for a livelihood; I am well accustomed to it,” took charge of them. Taking charge, he went driving the cattle to the jungle. ”

“ His daughter afterwards illustrated the Buddhist doctrine that a person’s destiny depends on his acts and thoughts in his present life as well as in previous ones:—“As the balance properly hung in the weighing-house causes the end to swing up when the weight is put in, so does a man cause his fate at last to rise if he gathers together every piece of merit little by little.” ”

“ Cousin, my daughter is a daughter possessing much beauty. Because of it, your young child indeed is not good. Should you say, ‘What of the matter of his not being good, indeed!’ Your child is the Turtle ”

“ Well then, a certain goddess who saw that this young Prince in this manner was causing the cattle to graze, having shown great compassion towards him, one day approached near him and said thus, “I will give thee a turtle shell and a spell. By the power of the spell thou canst do the thing thou thinkest. Having got inside the turtle shell thou canst stay there. If not in that way, thou canst become a Prince decorated with beautiful ornaments. But without saying the spell just now, thou art to say it when thou hast become twenty-five years of age,” she said. ”

“ Then the Jackal asked the Crow. The Crow says, “I am not willing, but if the Deer is willing, remain,” he said. After that the whole three were friendly. The Crow’s dwelling was in a tree; the dwelling of the other two was under the tree.
One day when the Jackal is going to seek food, having seen a rice field and come back, he says to the Deer, “Friend, let us two go for food. I have seen a good rice field to-day. You eat the rice there; I will eat crabs there,” he said.
The Deer says, “I will not. It is not good to go there; should we go there we shall come into danger,” he said. ”

“ The Gamarāla, accepting that word, on the following day went to the chena with a large axe, and during the night-time having been hidden, at the time when he was looking out saw that a tusk elephant, having come from the Divine World and trampled on the millet, and eaten it, and thrown it down, goes away. Having seen this wonderful tusk elephant, and thought that having hung even by his tail he must go to the Divine World, he went home and told the Gama-Mahagē to be ready, putting on clothes to-morrow for the purpose of going to the Divine World. ”

“ The King’s tusk elephant every day comes to the pool to bathe. When it is bathing I will creep up its trunk. Having gone to the city from that place, the tusk elephant will fall mad on the days when it rains.1 Then doctors having come, when they are employing medical treatment they cannot cure it. After that, you, Sir, having gone to the royal palace must say, ‘Having employed medical treatment I can cure the tusk elephant.’ Having heard it, the King will allow you to practise the medical treatment. ”

“ O Deity,4 when I was coming away with my wife by the middle of a forest wilderness, a Heṭṭiyā having quarrelled with his father, and said that he was going to another country, and for six days having not a meal, as he was coming fell behind us. We gave him the cooked rice that we brought for our expenses, and came calling him [to accompany us] . As though in that way the assistance were insufficient, the Heṭṭiyā uprooting my wife also [from me] said he will not give her to me, and drove me away. To whom shall I tell this suit? Do you investigate only suits for rich persons? ”

“ An amuṇa of land is the extent sown by one amuṇa of seed, and varies according to the quality of the soil, less seed being needed for good land than poor land, where the plants are small. In the North-Western Province, an amuṇa of rice field is about two and a quarter acres, the amount of seed varying from two to three bushels per acre. One and a half heaped sēru of kurahan (small millet) yield an amuṇa of crop in good chena soil; the yield from one heaped sēruwa of tana, an edible grass cultivated in hill chenas, varies from one to two amuṇas ”

“ A man who had accepted these terms was ordered to plough six acres daily, fence it, bring game for the table, grass for the mare, and firewood, and cook the master’s food. He lost his temper when scolded, and his eye was plucked out. His clever brother determined to avenge him, was engaged by the Moghul, and given the same tasks. He ploughed once round the six acres and twelve furrows across the middle, set up a bundle of brushwood at each corner, tied the bullocks to a tree, and went to sleep. ”

“ The Destiny Prince one day walking in the city, when returning saw that this King his father, and younger brother, and mother are selling firewood. Having seen them, and having come to the palace without speaking, he sent a messenger to tell the three firewood traders to come. The messenger having gone told the three firewood traders that the King says they are to come. Thereupon the three persons becoming afraid, and thinking, “Is selling firewood of the jungle of the Gods and getting a living by it, wrong?” in fear went to the royal palace. ”

“ When the merchant who bought the Queen came to trade, these youths were sent to guard his goods. At night, on the younger one’s asking for a tale his brother said he would relate one out of their own experience, and told him their history, which the Queen overheard, thus ascertaining that they were her sons. By getting the merchant to complain to the King about their conduct she was able to tell him her story, on which he discovered that she was his wife, and all were united. ”

“ After that, the King made public that he will give gold [amounting] to a tusk elephant’s load to a person who should find and give him a Tom-tom Beater.
Then the Gamarāla [and Washerman] having spoken to the King:—“We will give a Tom-tom Beater,” gave him that youth whom they had reared. Well then, the King having caused the youth to dress well, having decorated a tusk elephant, and placed the youth on the back of the tusk elephant, caused the proclamation tom-tom to be beaten by means of the youth.
The youth does not know anything whatever of beating. ”

“ In Folk-Tales of Bengal (L. Behari Day) , p. 160, two thieves determined to live honestly, and were engaged by a householder, one to tend a cow, the other to water a Champaka plant, at which he was told to pour water until some collected round it. The dry earth absorbed all he poured, and in the afternoon, tired out, he went to sleep. The cow taken out by the other man to graze was a wild vicious one; it galloped about into rice fields and sugar-cane plantations, and did much damage, for which the man was well scolded, together with fourteen generations of his forefathers. ”

“ After these four persons with extreme joy went a little distance, the washerman-uncle’s wife spoke to the Gamarāla, and asked thus, “For a certainty, Gamarāla, in that Divine World how great is the size of the quart measure which measures rice?” she asked.
Thereupon the Gamarāla, who was holding the tusk elephant’s tail the very first, said, “The quart measure will be this size.” Having put out his two hands he showed her the size.
At that time, these very four persons being extremely high in the sky, and from that far-off place having fallen to the earth, each one went into dust. ”

“ Thereupon the Prince said thus, “To a person for whom death is not ordained death does not come; death having been ordained that person will die. Because of that, I am wishful to marry (ban̆dinṭa) that very Princess,” he said. Then the King fulfilled his wish. Thus they two having married, according to the custom he sent them away [into a separate dwelling] .
While he was with that very Princess, having remembered the warning given on that day by the astrologer-teacher, being heavy with sleepiness while eating betel, he woke up many times. ”

“ This destitute Brāhmaṇa asked the tom-tom beater, “What is that tom-tom beating for?”
The tom-tom beater says, “A man of this country has died and there is no one to bury him. Because of it I am beating the notice tom-tom,” he said.
This Brāhmaṇa thought, “ ‘When one has gone to a country do not require honours,’ he said.” Having thought, “Because it is so I must bury this nobleman,” this one said, “I can,” and went.
Thereupon this dead nobleman’s son says to the Brāhmaṇa, “Thou having quite alone buried this dead body, come [to me] ; I will give thy wages.” ”

“ The Queen said, “There is no need to behead him. Drive away the Prince whom we do not want to a quarter he likes.” The King said, “It is good.”
The Queen having come near the Prince, said, “Son, he must behead you, says the King. Because of it go to a place you like, to seek a livelihood.”
Then the Prince said, “For me to go for trading give me (dilan) a thousand masuran, and a packet of cooked rice.” After that, the Queen gave him a packet of cooked rice and a thousand masuran. ”

“ Having made the Prince sit upon the tusk elephant, they went near the upper story where the Princess was. The elephant-driver was a servant who was inside the palace for much time. As he was a man to whom the Princess [307] several times had given to eat and drink, the Princess said for the elephant-keeper to hear, “With the tusk-elephant face don’t smash the tips of the cooked rice.”4
The elephant-keeper also understanding the speech, without killing the Prince saved him. Although he employed the tusk elephant even three times, and made it trample on his bonds, at the three times he escaped. ”

“ While the brother was hunting, a Raja met with the sister and wanted to marry her; thinking the youth would object the Raja persuaded the girl to try to get him killed. She pretended to be ill, and told him she could not recover unless he brought a flower which grew in a lake. When the boy was swimming to the flower a gigantic fish swallowed him; but a Rākshasa friend drank the pool dry, caught the fish, and took out the boy alive. ”

“ While it was [there] no long time, a [female] child was born; to Diktalādī a child was born. On the boy, the [adopted] boy she reared, she put a cloth for ploughing (that is, he grew old enough to plough) . After the [female] child grew great and big, [the parents] gave her [in marriage] to that youth whom Diktalādī reared, [and they went to live in another village] .
The boy she reared, after no long time went by, seeking oil, honey, flour, and cooking a bag of cakes, and giving them to that woman [his wife, set off with her] in order to go to look at that mother-in-law and father-in-law. ”

“ Thereupon the Heṭṭirāla’s daughter having become much afraid, asked, “What is the medicine?”
The Prince says, “Don’t be afraid; it is not a difficult medicine [to prepare] . Taking both coconut oil of seven years and the dust of Mā-Vī (the largest kind of paddy) , and having ground them together, when you have made ball-cakes (aggalā) , and placed them [ready] , it will do; that indeed is the medicine. Don’t give him any other thing to eat.”
Thereupon, the Heṭṭirāla’s daughter very quickly having ground up coconut oil and Mā-Vī dust, and made ball-cakes, placed them [ready] . ”

“ In two Sinhalese variants of the North-Western Province, the animal which the man saved was a crocodile, and the first animals applied to for their opinions were a lean cow and a Nāga raja or cobra, both of which advised the crocodile to kill the man. When the jackal was appealed to it sat upon an ant-hill to hear the case, got the crocodile and man to come there out of the water, and then told the man to kill it with a stick, after which it ate the flesh. ”

“ In Folklore of the Santal Parganas, p. 207, the King’s money was stolen by two palace servants. After a soothsayer who was called had eaten the food they brought, he said, “Find or fail, I have at any rate had a square meal.” The thieves’ names being Find and Fail they thought he knew they were guilty, begged him not to tell the Raja, and disclosed the place where the money was buried. The soothsayer read a spell over mustard seed, tapped the ground with a bamboo till he came to the spot, and dug up and handed the money to the Raja, who gave him half. ”