In a certain country, at the season when a Gamarala and his son are
causing cattle to graze, having constructed a fold in a good manner
the Gamarala encloses the cattle in the fold.
One day, the Gamarala's son having driven in the cattle, while he
was blocking up the gap (entrance) of the fold the Gamarala said,
it is said, "Ade! Close the gap well; leopards and other animals
(kotiyo-botiyo [328]) will come."
When he was there, a big Leopard which was near having heard this
speech that he is making, thinks, "The Leopard indeed is I; what is
the Botiya?" In fear, with various ideas [about it], he got inside
the fold; but having thought that the Botiya will come now, he went
into the midst of the calves, and in the middle of them, his happiness
being ended, he remained.
In the meantime, a thief having got inside the fold, came
lifting and lifting up the calves [to ascertain which was the
heaviest]. Having come near the Leopard, when he lifted it up he
placed the Leopard on his shoulder [in order to carry it away],
because it was very heavy. The Leopard thinks, "This one, indeed,
is the Botiya." Having thought, "Should I [try to] escape he will
kill me," it was motionless. And the thief because he went quickly in
the night [with it], for that reason thought that the calf was very
good. At the time when he turned and looked at it he perceived that
it was a Leopard, and he considered in what manner he could escape.
Having seen a hill near there, near an abandoned pansala (the
residence of a Buddhist monk), the man threw it down from the hill,
and got inside the pansala. When he shut the door, anger having come
to the Leopard by reason of the harm done to him [owing to his fall],
at the time when he was near the door [trying to enter in order to
kill the man], a Jackal asked the Leopard, "Why is this?"
When he told the Jackal the reason, the Jackal thought he would like
to eat the Leopard's flesh, [and therefore said], "I will tell you,
Sir, a stratagem for opening the door. Should you put that tail of
yours, Sir, through that hole the door will open."
At the time when he said [this], the Leopard having thought that by
this skilful act the door will open, put his tail through. Thereupon
the thief twisted the tail round the post that was near the door.
At the time when he was holding it, the Jackal went to the rice field
near there in which men were working. While the Jackal was crying
and crying out to the men, "Please come near, please come near,"
they went near the pansala. Having seen the Leopard, and beaten and
killed the Leopard, they took away the skin, it is said.
Then the Jackal with much delight ate the Leopard's flesh, it is said.
North-western Province.
This story is a variant of No. 70 in vol. i.
In The Orientalist, vol. iv, p. 30, Mr. W. Goonetilleke gave a
nearly similar story. The fold was one in which goats and sheep were
enclosed. The man carried off the leopard which was concealed among
them, and on discovering his mistake threw it down into a stream as
he was crossing an edanda, or foot-bridge made of a tree trunk. He
then ran off and got hid in a corn-store, where the jackal told him
to twist the tail round a post, as related in vol. i, p. 368.
In The Indian Antiquary, vol. xiv, p. 77 (Tales of the Sun, p. 93),
in a Tamil story given by Natesa Sastri, a shepherd, when he left his
flock temporarily, fixed his stick at the place with his rug over it,
and told it to keep watch, or some thief or bhuta or kuta might try to
steal one. A bhuta, or evil spirit, which had come for this purpose,
overheard this, and being afraid of the unknown animal called a kuta,
lay down amid the flock. Two men who came to steal a goat selected the
bhuta, and carried it off as being the fattest. Thinking these were
the kutas, the bhuta tried to escape, and eventually melted away. The
later incidents do not resemble those of this Sinhalese story.