At a certain city, a lion having been caught by the King of the city had been put in a house. While the King’s Prince and the Minister’s Prince were playing at ball near the house in which was the lion, the royal Prince’s ball fell into the cage in which the lion is lying. Thereupon the Prince asked the lion for the ball. Then the lion said, “Should you let me go I will give the ball.” Then the Prince having said, “It is good,” and having cheated him, asking for [and getting] the ball remained without letting the lion go.

Having come on the following day, while those two were playing at ball, that day, also, the royal Prince’s ball went and fell at the place where the lion is. The Prince that day also asked the lion for the ball.

At that time the lion says, “You shall not cheat me as on that day, indeed; to-day indeed, unless you let me go I shall not give it.” Then the Prince having let the lion go, asking for [and getting] the ball, played.

The King having come, when he looked the lion was not [there]. “Where is the lion?” the King asked the party of Ministers. The party of Ministers said, “By the Prince the lion [was] sent away.”

Then the King having said, “Should the disobedient Prince remain at this palace I will kill him,” sorrow seized the Queen regarding it, and having given the Prince expenses, and given him also a horse, and said, “Having gone to any country you like, get a living,” sent him off.

The Prince having mounted on the horse, when he was going the Minister-Prince (son of the Minister), the friend of the Prince, asked, “Where are you going?”

Then the Prince says, “Having been guilty of sending away the lion, it has occurred that I am to go away, not staying in this country.”

Thereupon, the Minister-Prince, having said, “If my friend the Prince be not here my remaining is not proper,” set off to go with the Prince.

Having set out, when the two had gone a little far together, [they saw that] a letter had been written, and fixed on a tree. Having taken the letter, when they looked in it there was said that should one go to the right district good will happen, should one go to the left district evil will happen. Thereupon, having looked at the letter the Minister-Prince went to the right district, the royal Prince went to the left district.

While the royal Prince was going he met with a gambling place. He, also, having gone there gambled. Having gambled he lost all the money he took. After that, being without money, while he was staying looking on, owing to a rich He??iya’s being there he sold him the horse, and taking the money played [again]. That also he lost.

After that, having written himself as the slave of the He??iya, and having said, “Should I be unable to bring back the money I will do slave work,” taking the money he gambled [again]. That also he lost.

At that time, the He??iya, having mounted upon the horse, calling the Prince for the horsekeepership went away. The He??iya having gone home established the name “Sokka”2 for the Prince.

That Sokka he told to look after the horse, having well attended to it and bathed it. That Sokka not giving food and water to the horse, the horse went decrepit. Owing to it, the He??irala having become angry, said, “Sokka, you cannot look after the horse. Because of it, work you in the flower garden.”

Then Sokka says, “He??iralahami, in our kingdom it was that very work that was mine. I am much accustomed to it.” Having said this he took charge. [After] taking charge, every day uprooting and uprooting the best (lit., good good) flower trees (plants) he began to plant [them afresh].

The He??irala having gone one day, when he looked saw that all the flower trees had died. Having said, “Sokka, thou canst not [do] this work; thou hast completely done for my flower garden,” he beat him.

He said, “After that, that work is of no use for thee,” and gave him charge of a plantain garden. Having handed it over he said, “Sell the plantains; having brought the money thou art to give it to me.”

Then Sokka said, “It is good, He??iralahami; I am accustomed to that work.”

Well then, what does that Sokka do? Leaving aside the ripe plantains, having cut the immature plantains he takes them to the shop. No one taking them, having brought them back he throws them away. By this means, all the plantain garden went to waste.

The He??irala having gone one day, when he looked the plantain garden had been destroyed. Thereupon, having called Sokka, and having said, “Where is the revenue obtained from this? Thou art a Yaka come to eat me,” he became angry, and scolded him.

Having said, “Thou canst not do that work. Look here (Menna); from to-day attend thou to the grazing of these cattle,” he gave him charge of them.

Then Sokka, having said, “It is good, He??iralahami. In our country I do that for a livelihood; I am well accustomed to it,” took charge of them. Taking charge, he went driving the cattle to the jungle.

Having gone there he looked for a bull to eat, and having killed it, cutting a haunch he came home [with it]. At that time the He??irala having seen the haunch of flesh, asked, “What is that, Sokka?”

Then Sokka says, “As I was going a leopard was [there], seizing a deer. Then I said ‘Hu.’ Then the leopard sprang off and ran away. After that, because I was unable to bring it I came [after] cutting off a haunch.”

Thereupon the He??iralahami said, “Sokka, it is good,” and stroked his head, and said, “Give ye abundantly to eat to Sokka.”

By that method he began to bring the haunch every day, one by one. The He??irala and the He??i-woman on those days were very kind to Sokka.

When a few days had gone, because of the eating of the deer’s meat it appeared that the cattle of the herd were finished. Then, having called Sokka, he asked, “Where are the cattle?”

Sokka says, “I could not drive the cattle to the stalls; they are in the jungle.”

The He??irala, not trusting the word he said, went into the jungle to look at the cattle. When he was going, the stench [of the dead bodies] began to strike him to the extent that he was unable to go into the jungle. Having gone in, when he looked he saw that there are the heads and legs of the cattle. “Sokka is good! I ate the meat. I must kill Sokka,” he got into his mind.

The He??irala had taken a contract to give firewood to a ship. He told Sokka to cut firewood by the yard account for the ship. Because he must give firewood once a month, having cut the firewood by the yard account he was to heap it up. At that time, Sokka, having said, “It is very good, He??iralahami,” taking that work also, went for cutting firewood.

The ship came after a month. The He??irala went and looked, in order to give the firewood. There were only three or four yards of firewood; there was no firewood to give to the ship. When the ship person, having called the He??irala, asked for the firewood, there being no firewood to give a great fault occurred. Having fined the He??irala he destroyed the firewood contract.

“After Sokka came there was great loss of money; this one lost it. I must kill him,” the He??irala got into his mind.

Getting it in his mind, he said to the He??i-woman, “I am going to the quarter in which younger sister is. Having prepared something to eat on the road please give me it.” The He??i-woman having prepared a box of sugared food, and made ready a box of clothes, and tied them as a pingo (carrying stick) load, placed [them ready].

The He??irala having arisen at dawn in the morning and mounted on horse-back, and said, “Sokka, taking that pingo load, come thou,” the He??irala went on horse-back in front.

Sokka, while going on and on (yaddi yaddi), ate the sugared food until the box was finished. When going a little far in that manner, the whip that was in the He??irala’s hand fell down. Sokka picked it up and threw it into the jungle.

The He??irala, having gone a little far, asked, “Where [is the whip], Bola? You met with it.”

Thereupon Sokka said, “I don’t know; there is no whip.”

Then the He??irala having become angry, said, “Thou must bring anything that falls, whether from me or from the horse,” and he scolded him.

After that, Sokka picked up the dung which the horse dropped, and began to put it in the clothes box. In that way and this way, at noon the time for eating came.

On that road there was a travellers’ shed. For the purpose of eating food at that travellers’ shed they halted. Having opened the box in order to eat, when [the He??irala] looked there was nothing of food in the box. “Where is the food that was in this?” he asked Sokka.

Sokka said, “I don’t know what was [in it] when it was given to me, indeed.”

The He??irala being very hungry, and in anger with Sokka also, started to go. Having gone, when they were coming near his younger sister’s village he said to Sokka, “Go thou, and tell them to be quick and cook a little food because I am fatigued.”

Then Sokka having gone said to the He??irala’s younger sister and brother-in-law, “The He??irala is coming; as he has become ill he is coming. Because of it, he does not eat anything. He said that having removed the shells from unripe pulse and prepared balls of it, you are to place them [ready]; and that having killed a fowl for me I am to eat it with cooked rice, he said. The He??irala at night is himself accustomed to salt gruel.”

Afterwards that party, having prepared them, gave them in the evening. The He??irala because of fatigue having eaten these things and drunk a great deal of salt gruel, went to sleep. (It is necessary to draw a veil over the nocturnal difficulties of the He??irala owing to the purgative action of his evening’s repast. In the morning) the He??irala thought to himself, “It is Sokka himself makes the whole of these traps. Because of it I must kill him.”

Well then, having said, “We must go,” and having opened the clothes box, when he looked horse-dung had been put [in it]. Then at the time when the He??irala asked, “Sokka, what is this?” he said, “That day you told me to take anything that falls from the He??irala or from the horse. Because of it I put these things away; I put them in that, without omitting one.”

After that, having set off, they went away to go home. Having gone a considerable distance, when they were approaching the house he said to Sokka, “Go thou, and as there has been no food for me for two days or three days, tell grandmother to prepare something for food.”

Having said “Ha,” Sokka having gone running, says, “Grandmother, madness having seized him, the He??irala is coming. No one can speak [to him]; then he beats them. You will be unable to be rid of it.” He said all these words.

Then the grandmother asked, “What, Sokka, shall we do for it?”

Thereupon Sokka says, “Putting on a black cloth and a black jacket, take two handfuls of branches, and without speaking having gone in front of him, please wave them.”

Having said it and come running back to the He??irala, he said, “He??iralahami, there is no means of doing anything in that way. Madness having seized grandmother she is dancing, [after] putting on a black cloth and a black jacket, and breaking two handfuls of branches.”

When the He??irala was asking at the hand of Sokka, “What shall I do for it?” Sokka said, “Breaking two handfuls of branches, and having gone without even speaking, please strike them on the head of grandmother.”

Thereupon the He??irala, having gone in that very way, without speaking began to beat her. The grandmother also began to beat the He??irala. In this way constantly for half a day they beat each other. Afterwards having recovered their reason, when he learnt, while they were speaking, that it was a work of Sokka’s, he thought of injuring him.

On the following day after that, he wrote a letter to the He??irala’s brother-in-law: “In some way or other please kill the person who brings this letter.” Having said, “Go and give this letter, and bring a reply from brother-in-law,” he gave it into Sokka’s hand.

Sokka, taking the letter, went to a travellers’ shed on the road. While he was there yet [another] man came there. Having broken open this letter and shown it to the man, he asked, “What things are in this letter?”

The man, having looked at the letter, said, “ ‘The person who brings this letter has caused a loss to me of three or four thousand pounds.’ Because of it, it is said [that he is] to kill him.”

Thereupon Sokka, having thrown the letter away, went to a house, and asking for pen and ink and having come back, told that man and caused him to write the [following] letter:—“The person who brings this letter has been of great assistance to me. Because of it, having given to him your daughter [in marriage], give him a half share of your landed property.” Having taken it and gone, he gave it.

Thereupon the He??irala’s brother-in-law having looked at the letter and having been pleased, married to him and gave him his eldest daughter;3 and having given him a half share of his money, and told him to go again to the place where this He??iya is, sent him away.

Well then, the Prince whom the He??iya caught, taking his He??i wife, went away to the district where the Minister-Prince is.

In the Aventures du Gourou Paramarta (Dubois), p. 312, while the Guru and his foolish disciples were on a journey, the Guru being on horseback, the branch of a tree caught his turban, and it fell down. Thinking his disciples would pick it up he said nothing at the time. As he had previously told them to do nothing without orders, however, they left it. When he afterwards asked for it and found it was not brought, he scolded them, and sent one to fetch it, at the same time giving them orders to pick up everything that fell from the horse. While the disciple was returning with the turban he accordingly collected and stored in it the horse’s droppings that he found on the road, and handed over the bundle to his master. The Guru made them wash the turban, and told them when they grumbled at being reprimanded for obeying his orders, “There are articles that are worthy of being picked up, and others that are unworthy of it.”

In Folk-Tales of Kashmir (Knowles), 2nd ed., p. 81, two brothers who had run away from home came to a place where the road bifurcated, and found there an inscription on a stone, which contained a warning that one of the roads should be avoided. The adventurous elder brother went on this road and was robbed by a witch; the younger one selected the other, and after being wrecked became a King.

In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 131 ff., Mr. W. Goonetilleke gave “The Story of Hokka,” in which the man who was sent in advance to announce the coming of the Gamarala, told the daughter that he could take only paddy dust. He left in anger on the following morning, and sent Hokka to let his wife know of his return. Hokka advised her to meet her husband clothed in rags and sitting on an edan?a, or foot-bridge. In the dusk, Hokka, who was in front, kicked her off, calling her “Bitch,” and she fell into the stream and was drowned, the Gamarala thinking it was a dog. The Gamarala had previously mutilated Hokka’s elder brother, as related in No. 195, and Hokka was determined to have his revenge.

The portion omitted on p. 290 will be found at the end of the Additional Notes, by those who wish to see how the villager treats such matters.