Afterwards the son-in-law, taking the cake bag, went in front; the
father-in-law taking the bundle of cooked rice, went behind. The
father-in-law was unable to go quickly.
The son-in-law while going on and on ate those cakes. At the place
where the cakes were finished he broke open the mouth of the bag,
and setting it on an ant-hill stopped there looking at it.
Then the father-in-law having come up, asked, "What, son-in-law,
is that?"
The son-in-law said, "I don't know, father-in-law. As you said those
were cobras I placed it on the ant-hill for them to creep out."
Afterwards taking the rice bag, also, that was in the hand of the
father-in-law, he again went a long way in front, opened the rice bag,
and ate the cooked rice, and having thrown away the bag, stopped there,
sitting down.
The Gamarala having come up, said, "Let us eat the bundle of cooked
rice. Where, son-in-law, is the rice bag?"
Then the son-in-law said, "I don't know, father-in-law. As you said
that was for the road, I put it on the road and came away."
They were near a [road-side] shop. At that time, having given the
son-in-law a panama, [142] the Gamarala said, "Go to that shop and
bring plantains."
Then having gone to the shop, taking sixteen plantains for the
panama he thought thus:--"Should I take these sixteen plantains near
father-in-law, I shall receive eight plantains [as my share]. Because
of that, I must eat the eight plantains here and go." Thereupon he
ate eight plantains.
Having eaten them, he thinks again, "Should I take these eight
plantains father-in-law will not eat them without having given me
four plantains. Because of it, I must eat the four plantains in this
very place." So he ate the four plantains.
Having eaten them, still he thinks, "Should I go taking these four,
father-in-law will never eat without giving me two. Because of it,
after eating the two in this very place I must go." So from the four
he ate two.
Having eaten these, still he thinks, "Should I take these two near
father-in-law [143], he will never eat without giving me one. Because
of it, I must go after eating one in this very place." So from the
two he ate one.
Having eaten it, still he thinks, "Should I take this near
father-in-law [143] he will never eat without giving me a piece.
Because of it, I must go after eating the piece here." So breaking
the plantain in two he ate a piece.
Having eaten it, he brought the remaining piece, and gave it to his
father-in-law. Thereupon the Gamarala asks, "Is there [only] so much
plantain, son-in-law?" he asked.
Then the son-in-law said thus, "Father-in-law, I ate my portion;
your portion is that much," he said.
The village at which was the father-in-law's daughter, was very
near. Afterwards the son-in-law said, "Father-in-law, isn't there
scarcity of food now everywhere in the country? On that account it
is wrong for us both to go there at the same time. You come behind;
I will go in front."
Having gone to the place where the daughter was, he said,
"Father-in-law is coming there. It is bad for him to eat anything;
he has eaten a medicine. On account of the medicine he is only eating
[paddy] dust porridge; it is bad to eat anything else. On that account
cook quickly a little porridge from paddy dust, and place it [ready]
for him," he said.
After that, having amply cooked rice and curry for the son-in-law,
she gave him to eat; and for the daughter's father, taking some of
the paddy dust that was in the store-room, she cooked porridge. While
she was looking for him the Gamarala came; afterwards she gave him
the porridge.
The man, thinking, "Ane! Our daughter must be without anything to eat,"
having eaten a very little of the porridge went to sleep.
In the night that daughter's girl was crying. Saying, "I want to
go and sleep near grandfather," she went to the place where the man
was. Having gone there the girl was crying in the same way.
Then the son-in-law, hearing her, asked at the man's hand, "What,
father-in-law, is that girl crying for?"
The father-in-law, being very sleepy, said, "I don't know, son-in-law;
we must split her belly, [144] maybe."
Afterwards the son-in-law, having got up, came to the place where
the girl was, taking a knife, and split the girl's belly.
Next day, having buried the girl, the father-in-law and the son-in-law
came to their village.
After they went, the son-in-law, having become desirous to eat cakes,
told [his wife] to cook cakes. Thereupon the Gamarala's wife said
there was no palm sugar. On account of it, the son-in-law, having
become hostile, was minded to go once again to the village at which
the Gamarala's elder daughter was given [in marriage].
Having gone there, he said to the Gamarala's daughter,
"Ane! Mother-in-law having died, I came here to tell you of the
pinkama. [145] The pinkama is on the day after to-morrow. Because of
it, cooking a few cakes and the like, come," he said. Thereupon the
Gamarala's daughter wept.
Then this son-in-law says, "What are you crying for? As for the
name 'crying,' we also cried. Through crying you will not meet
with her. Because of it, plucking and setting to ripen a spike of
plantains and the like, and cooking a few cakes, come on the day
after to-morrow." Having said this he came back.
Having come there, he said to the Gamarala and the whole of the other
persons who were listening, "Father-in-law, your daughter having died,
the pinkama is on the day after to-morrow. Because of it, they said
to the whole of you that you are to go [after] plucking and setting
to ripen spikes of plantains, and cooking cakes."
Afterwards the Gamarala, the Gamarala's wife, the son-in-law,
the son-in-law's wife, all having wept and wept, cooked cakes and
milk-rice; and taking ripe plantains, and tying pingo (carrying-stick)
loads of cakes and spikes of plantains, the two parties went until
the time when they came face to face.
When they are coming in contact the Gamarala's wife goes weeping,
"Ane! Daughter, he said you died."
Thereupon the daughter comes weeping, "Ane! Mother, it is for your
pinkama we came here."
While both parties, having made lamentation in this manner, are
weeping, the son-in-law who knows the Gamarala's New Speech, said,
"To-day also you cannot cook cakes! Eat ye," and began to eat the
cakes.
After that, their troubles being allayed, when they asked from this
one, "What is this you said?" he said, "This indeed, father-in-law,
is a little of the New Speech. For the purpose of your getting to
know it I did it."
After that all were consoled.
North-western Province.
In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 131, Mr. W. Goonetilleke gives
the incident of the plantain eating as part of a tale called "The
Story of Hokka." The hero of it was a servant of the Gamarala's. He
bought sixteen plantains, and ate his half share, on his way back
repeating the process until only one was left, which he offered to the
Gamarala. His master complained of his stupidity in getting only one
plantain for the money. Hokka replied that he received sixteen, but
had eaten the rest. "How did you [dare to] eat them, you dog?" asked
the Gamarala. Hokka held up the plantain, peeled it, and put it in
his mouth, saying, "This is the way I ate the plantains, your honour."
In Indian Nights' Entertainment (Swynnerton), p. 92, a foolish man who
was taking money to the local treasury, put it in some flour which
he handed to a baker's wife to be made into cakes. In the morning,
when he remembered and asked for it, she refused to return it unless
he told her two stories this way and two that way, and as he could
think of none he went off without it. When his clever brother heard
of it, he put some brass finger-rings into flour, handed it to the
same woman, and in reply to her remarks stated that there were many
rings at the bush where he picked these. When she went to pick some,
thinking them gold, the man told her husband that she had followed
a man who beckoned to her, the husband took a bamboo and gave her a
sound beating. The clever brother, learning that the baker's daughter
was betrothed to a lad at another village, told a person whom he met
to inform the boy's parents that the girl had died from snake-bite;
he himself told the girl's mother that wolves had attacked and killed
the lad. The two mothers met on the way, quarrelled and fought, and
became reconciled on finding the reports false. The brother told the
baker's wife that he had now told her two stories this way, and she was
glad to give him his brother's money before he told her two that way.
In the Katha Sarit Sagara (Tawney), vol. i, p. 289, a barber whose
wife was visited by a King pretended to be sick, and informed the
King that his wife was a witch who extracted and sucked his entrails
while he slept, and then replaced them. When the barber went home
he told his wife that his razor had broken on some abnormal and very
sharp teeth of the King's. When the King came, and the barber's wife
stretched out her hand to find the teeth, the King cried, "A witch! A
witch!" and escaped.
In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton's ed., vol. i, p. 355) a negro
slave related how when his master sent him home for some article, he
informed his wife and daughters that his master had been killed by the
fall of an old wall. They rent their robes, overturned the furniture,
and broke the windows and crockery, the slave assisting them. Then,
led by him, they and the neighbours went lamenting to bring the body
home. The Governor also took labourers with spades and baskets. The
slave got ahead, told the master that his house had fallen and killed
his wife, daughters, and everything else. While his master and his
friends were lamenting and tearing their robes the procession of
mourners arrived and the hoax was discovered. The Governor made the
slave "eat stick" till he fainted.
In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. ii, p. 211, a man
who was sent by his master to buy mangoes, only sweet and fine ones,
tasted each one to ascertain if it was of the requisite quality.