The two persons say, "Ando! How well the Vedarala came! There was
a bullock's skull in that grass field. From morning the Vedarala
sat on it, and got up and tried to release the bullock's skull [from
himself]. He could not release it, being pressed [against it]. Hardly
releasing himself now he went back home. He has not come; he said
he wouldn't."
Afterwards near Ayiwanda came the bride's mother. Having come there
she said, "Father has consented in this way [you wish]. Now then, let
the girl be for you. If you know [how], do something for this." Having
said [this], the woman came away.
Ayiwanda thought in his mind, "If there be an authority which Gopalu
Devatawa gave, as soon as each one is released may each one go away."
Thereupon the persons who were holding the cloth having been freed,
went away. They did not go summoning the bride; they did not [even]
eat the cooked rice. Having been holding the cloth from morning,
in the evening they went to their villages. Afterwards the aunt and
uncle having gone, came back [after] summoning Ayiwanda, and gave
the bride to Ayiwanda.
Ayiwanda sleeps on the mat on which the girl wipes her feet and
places them. Then he eats what has been left over on the girl's
leaf [plate]. The girl says, "Ade! [54] Ayiwanda, eat thou this
little." When she has told him he eats. The girl sleeps on the bed,
Ayiwanda sleeps under the bed.
Well then, they remained in that way, without the girl's being good
to Ayiwanda. When they had been in that very way for seven or eight
days, a fine young man of the village having died, they buried him.
Ayiwanda having waited until the time when the girl was sleeping,
opened the door and went out; and having brought the corpse, and cut
and cut off a great deal of flesh, he put only the bones under the
bed under which Ayiwanda sleeps; and he shut the door and went away.
On the morning of the following day, Ayiwanda's mother stayed looking
out [for him], having said, "Ayiwanda will come out." He did not come
out. The woman came into the house, and when she looked [for him]
there is a heap of bones under the bed. After that, the woman says,
"Ane! This one ate my son." Having said this she wept; having wept
she went away.
Ayiwanda having gone, joined a Moormen's tavalama [55] and drove cattle
for hire. At the time when he was driving the cattle for three or four
days he said, "Ansca, Bola! Whence is this tavalama for thee? It is
mine, isn't it?"
Then the men said, "Ansca, Bola! Whence is it for thee, for a man
called up for hire?"
Ayiwanda said, "If it be your tavalama, throw up five hundred
dried areka-nuts, and catch them without even one's falling on the
ground." The men tried to catch them; all the dried areka-nuts fell
on the ground.
Then Ayiwanda, after throwing up five hundred dried areka-nuts,
thought, "If there be an authority which Gopalu Devatawa gave, may I be
able to catch the whole of these five hundred dried areka-nuts without
even one's falling on the ground." Having thrown up the five hundred
dried areka-nuts, Ayiwanda caught them without even one's falling
on the ground. After that, the tavalama became secured (hayi-wuna)
[56] to Ayiwanda himself. The Moormen left it and went away.
Afterwards, getting ready hired labourers for Ayiwanda, he went to
Puttalam. Having gone there, loading [sundried] salt fish, [57] now
then, Ayiwanda, having become a very great wealthy person, set off
to come to Ayiwanda's village, taking the tavalama, together with the
hired labourers. Having come, he caused the sacks to be put down under
a Kon tree [58] in the field near the house of his aunt and uncle.
Ayiwanda's mother came to the tank to pluck the leaves of a plant [59]
[to cook as a vegetable]. Having come, through hearing the wooden
cattle-bells of the herd of cattle she came near the tavalama. Having
come [there] she says, "Ane! A son of mine was like the Hettirala. That
son having gone [to be married], at the place where he was made to
stay the woman killed and ate my son." Having said [this] repeatedly
at the very hand of Ayiwanda, she wept.
Then Ayiwanda says, "Don't cry. There is salt fish [here]; take [some]
and cooking it eat. What are you plucking vegetables for [but to eat in
curry]?" Having said [this], he gave rice and salt fish to Ayiwanda's
mother. Thus, in that way he gave them for seven or eight days.
After that, his aunt and uncle came near Ayiwanda for salt fish. Then
Ayiwanda said, "I am not the Hettirala. It is I myself they call
Ayiwanda. Take ye these things, so as to go."
Afterwards he dragged the tavalama and the salt fish to the
house. Summoning that very bride, [60] Ayiwanda having eaten, when
a little [food] is left over on the leaf [plate] he gives it to
her. Ayiwanda [now] sleeps on the bed; Ayiwanda's wife sleeps on
the mat on which Ayiwanda wipes his feet, under the bed on which
Ayiwanda sleeps.
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
In a Tamil story taken from the New Year Supplement to the Ceylon
Observer, 1885, and reproduced in The Orientalist, vol. ii, p. 22,
Katirkaman, a poet who had acquired magical powers, awoke one night
to find that some burglars had broken into the house and were removing
the goods in it. He scratched a spell on a piece of palm-leaf, placed
it under his pillow, and went to sleep again. When he awoke he found
all the robbers silent and motionless in the positions they occupied
when the spell affected them, some with the goods on their heads or
shoulders, others with their hands on keys or door handles. When he
spoke to them they apologised humbly, stated that they had mistaken
the place and person they were to encounter, and promised never to
attempt to rob the house again. He made them put back the goods,
gave them a bath and a good meal, and stated that in future they
should always have the right to eat and drink there.