In a certain city there are an elder brother and a younger sister, two
persons, it is said. Of them, the elder brother is a very rich person;
the younger sister has nothing (mokut nae). The younger sister is a
widow woman; there is one boy. The boy himself lodges at his uncle's
watch-huts and the like; the youngster's name is Ayiwanda.
The uncle having scraped a little rice from the bottom of the
cooking-pot, and given him it, says, "Ade! Ayiwanda, be off to the
watch-hut [at the cattle-fold]." The youngster came to the watch-hut.
The uncle having gone and looked, [saw that] one or two calves
were dead in the cattle-fold. Then the uncle having come home scolds
Ayiwanda, "Ayiwanda, at the time when thou wert going to the watch-hut
thou drankest a little milk, and there being no milk for the calves
they are dying."
Afterwards Ayiwanda having gone that day to the watch-hut, and having
said that he must catch the thieves, without sleeping stayed awake
until the time when it became dawn.
Then Gopalu Devatawa, having opened the entrance (kadulla), came
into the cattle-fold. Having come there and placed on the path his
cord and club, [48] he began to drink milk. Afterwards Ayiwanda,
having descended from the watch-hut, very quietly got both the cord
and the club. Taking them he went again to the watch-hut.
Well then, Gopalu Devatawa having drunk milk and the like, when he
looked for both the cord and the club in order to go, they were not
[there]. Afterwards, Gopalu Devatawa having gone near the watch-hut
asked for the cord and club. Ayiwanda taking the two descended from
the watch-hut to the ground.
Then Gopalu Devatawa asked for the rope and cudgel, both, at the
hand of Ayiwanda. Then Ayiwanda said, "I have heard scoldings for so
much time, that as I drank the milk the calves are dying. To-day I
stayed awake and caught the thief. Except that if you will give me
an authority on that account I will give you the rope and cudgel,
I will not otherwise give them."
Then Gopalu Devatawa said to Ayiwanda, "Think in your mind, 'If there
be an authority which Gopalu Devatawa gave, may that hill and this
hill, both, become united into one.'"
Afterwards Ayiwanda thought in that way. Then the two hills became
united into one.
Then Gopalu Devatawa said to Ayiwanda, "Think in your mind, 'If there
be an authority which Gopalu Devatawa gave, these hills are again to
become separated.'"
Afterwards Ayiwanda thought in that manner. The two hills again
became separated.
Gopalu Devatawa said to Ayiwanda, "Think in your mind, 'If there be
an authority which Gopalu Devatawa gave, that tree and this tree are
both to become one.'"
Afterwards Ayiwanda thought in that manner. The two trees became
united into one.
Gopalu Devatawa said again to Ayiwanda, "Think in your mind, 'If
there be an authority which Gopalu Devatawa gave, the two trees are
again to become separate.'"
Ayiwanda thought in that manner. Then the two trees became separate.
Now then, Gopalu Devatawa said, "The authority that Gopalu Devatawa
gave [you] is true." Having said that, and told him that having
gone he was to keep it in mind, he assured him of the fact (satta
dunna). After that, to Gopalu Devatawa Ayiwanda gave both the cord
and the cudgel. Well then, Gopalu Devatawa taking them went away.
Ayiwanda having been [there] until the time when it became light,
came home and said at the hand of Ayiwanda's mother, "Mother, ask
for uncle's girl and come back."
Then Ayiwanda's mother says, "Ane! Son, who will give [marriage]
feasts to us? [We have] not a house to be in; we are in the hollow
of a Tamarind. I will not. You go and ask, and come back," she said.
Afterwards Ayiwanda went and asked. Then Ayiwanda's uncle said,
"Who will give girls to thee?" Having said, "Be off!" [49] he scolded
him. After that, Ayiwanda having come back is silent.
Having come from an outside village, [people] asked for Ayiwanda's
uncle's girl [in marriage]. Then he promised to give her there. He
appointed it to be on such and such a day. The men went away.
Then Ayiwanda's uncle gave betel to shooters who were in
the neighbourhood, [so that they should shoot animals for the
wedding-feast]. Ayiwanda thought in his mind, "Let those shooters not
meet with anything, if there be an authority which Gopalu Devatawa
gave." Afterwards the shooters walked about at the time when they are
saying that the [wedding] feast is to-morrow. They did not meet with
even a thing.
After that, Ayiwanda went to his uncle's house. When he said that the
[wedding] feast would be to-morrow, to-day in the evening he asked,
"Uncle, give me that bow and arrow."
Thereupon his uncle said, "Ansca! [50] Bola, because there is no
hunting-meat have you come to rebuke me? So many shooters were unable
[to do it], and [yet] you will seek hunting-meat!" Having said [this],
he scolded Ayiwanda. "Through being without hunting-meat, my girl,
leaving the house and the like, will not stay, [you think]!" [51]
Afterwards Ayiwanda came home. Then his mother told Ayiwanda to eat
the rice scraped from the cooking-pot which had been brought from his
uncle's house. Ayiwanda having eaten a little of the scraped rice,
gave the other little to Ayiwanda's mother, and thought in his mind,
"Preparing the bow from the rice-pestle and preparing the arrow
from love-grass, I having gone to the watch-hut and ascended into
the watch-hut, if there be an authority which Gopalu Devatawa gave,
may a Sambhar deer with horns come there and remain sleeping as I
arise in the morning." Having said [this] Ayiwanda went to sleep.
Having awoke in the morning, when he looked a Sambhar deer with horns
having come was sleeping in the middle of the cattle-fold. Ayiwanda
having descended from the watch-hut, taking the bow made from the
rice pestle and the arrow made from love-grass, came near the Sambhar
deer, and thought in his mind, "If there be an authority which Gopalu
Devatawa gave, that which is shot at this Sambhar deer from this
side is to be passed out from the other side." Having thought it he
shot. In that very manner the Sambhar deer died.
Ayiwanda having gone to his uncle's house, said, "Uncle, there! I
have shot down a Sambhar deer with horns at the cattle-fold; it is
[there]. Go and cut it up, and come back."
Then his uncle said, "Ansca dukkan! There is no hunting-meat of
thine. I shall not make the feast desolate; somehow or other I shall
indeed give it. Hast thou come to rebuke me?"
After that, Ayiwanda, calling men and having gone, having come back
[after] cutting up the Sambhar deer, put down the meat at his uncle's
house.
Thereafter, just before the feasters came having cooked the meat and
cooked rice, he placed for Ayiwanda a little of the rice scrapings and
two bones from the meat; and having given them to Ayiwanda, he said,
"Eat those, and go thou to the watch-hut."
Ayiwanda having eaten them and gone to the watch-hut, thought, "Now,
at daybreak, may those who take hold of the cloth at the place where
[the bridegroom] gives it to wear, [52] remain in that very way,
if there be an authority which Gopalu Devatawa gave."
In that very way, at daybreak, when he was giving [her] the cloth to
put on they remain in the very position in which the bridegroom held
an end and the bride an end.
Then the palm-sugar maker and the washerman [53] having gone and said,
"What are you doing? Be good enough to take that cloth," those two
also remained in the position in which they took hold at the two ends.
Then the girl's father having gone and said, "What is this, Bola,
that thou hast not yet taken that cloth?" that man also remained
in the very position in which he got hold of an end. The bride, the
bridegroom, the palm-sugar maker, the washerman, the girl's father,
in the position in which they took hold of the cloth, in that very
manner had become [like] stone.
Having seen it, the girl's mother went running in the village, and
having summoned two men made them go on a journey for medicine. The
two men having gone to the Vedarala's house are coming calling the
Vedarala, by the middle of a large grass field.
Then Ayiwanda came after being in the watch-hut, and while he is
at the place where his aunt is, saw the Vedarala and the two men
going. Ayiwanda thought, "If there be an authority which Gopalu
Devatawa gave, may the Vedarala think of sitting down on the bullock's
skull which is in that grass field."
Then the Vedarala sat down on the bullock's skull. From morning until
the time when it became night he pressed on it. Those two men are
calling and calling to the Vedarala to come. The bullock's skull will
not get free. Thus, in that manner until it became night he pressed
against it.
Afterwards Ayiwanda thought, "If there be an authority which Gopalu
Devatawa gave, the bullock's skull having become free, may the Vedarala
succeed in going back again."
After that, the Vedarala's bullock's skull having become free he went
back home. Having said, "Never mind that medical treatment," the two
men who went to summon the Vedarala to come, came to the bride's house.