In a certain country a Lord (monk) having been a monk is
without clothes [to put on, in order] to abandon his monk's robes
(siwru). Asking at the hand of a novice for a cloth and a handkerchief,
he abandoned his robes (thus becoming a layman again).
Having thus come away, when he was bathing in a river an elder sister
and a younger sister were bathing lower down the river. Then, having
seen that man who, having abandoned his robes and come [there], is
bathing, the elder sister said, "That heap of wood which is coming
is for me."
Then the younger sister said, "The things that are in that heap of
wood are for me."
Then the elder sister went home for a cloth, to give to the man to
wear. Afterwards the younger sister, having torn a piece from the cloth
she was wearing, and having given it, goes away to her house with the
man. Then the elder sister brings the cloth, too; having seen that
these two are going the elder sister went back home. The younger sister
and the Siwrala went home [and he remained there as her husband]. The
man, continuing to eat without doing work, is quite unemployed.
Afterwards the younger sister's mother, having told the younger
sister and the Siwrala to eat separately, gave her a gill of rice,
a small water-pot (koraha), a small cooking-pot (muttiya), a large
cooking-pot (appalle), a rice-cleaning bowl (naembiliya), and a spoon.
The man having gone into the village [117] and been [there], when he
is coming the younger sister is weeping and weeping. So the man asked,
"What are you crying for?"
Then the woman says, "Having said that you do not work, mother told
us to eat separately." Having said, "The things she gave (dipuwa),
there they are," she showed him them.
Afterwards the man having gone asked the Gamarala (his wife's father),
"How [are we to do], then? There is not a thing for us to eat. I came
here to ask to cut even a paela (quarter of an amuna) of your paddy
on shares."
The Gamarala said, "Ando! Thou indeed wilt not cut the paddy, having
been sitting doing nothing."
Then the man said, "No. I will cut a paela or two of paddy and come
back." Having gone to the rice field, and that very day having cut
the paddy [plants] for two paelas of paddy (when threshed), and
collected them, and heaped them at the corners of the encircling
[ridges], and carried them to the threshing floor, and trampled
them [by means of buffaloes] that very day, he went to the Gamarala
and said, "The paddy equal to two paelas has been cut and trampled
(threshed). Let us go at once to measure it."
Afterwards the Gamarala having gone there, [said], "I don't want this
paddy; thou take it."
The man having brought the paddy home, said [to his wife], "You
present this as a religious act." [118] The woman having pounded the
paddy and cooked it, gave away [the cooked rice] as a religious act.
The man went [to a river near] the sea, to help men to cross to the
other side. [119] When he helped them to cross, the man does not take
the money which the men [offer to] give.
When he was helping men to cross in that way, one day an old man
came. He helped the man to cross. The man's betel bag, and walking
stick, and oil bottle were forgotten [120] on that bank. Afterwards
the old man says, "Ane! My betel bag was forgotten." That Siwrala,
having gone to that bank, brought and gave him the betel bag.
Then that old man said, "Ane! My walking-stick was forgotten." The
Siwrala brought and gave that also. Then that old man said, "Ane! My
oil bottle was forgotten." The Siwrala brought and gave that also.
Well then, that old man tried to give money to this man; the Siwrala
did not take it. The old man went away.
This Siwrala came home. Having gone there, the Siwrala, having got
fever, lay down. Well then, the Siwrala says, "I shall be still a
little delayed."
The woman asked, "What are you saying? Am I not becoming afraid
[when you talk in that way]?"
Then the man says, "Nay, I will say nothing. They are telling me to
mount on that carriage, and telling me to mount on this carriage."