Story 55 - Sigiris Sinno, The Giant

IN a country there was a great person called Sigiris Sinno. He was a very wealthy person; under him ten hired labourers worked.

During the time while he was in this state, Sigiris Sinno having thought he would drink arrack (spirit distilled from palm juice), began to drink a very little. In that way he became accustomed to drink very largely. Afterwards having come [home] drunk he went to beat the labourers; also he did not give them their wages properly. When he had acted in this manner for many days, they, after speaking together, gave Sigiris Sinno a good beating, and on account of their [short] pay took the goods of Sigiris Sinno, and went away. Then no one would give work to Sigiris Sinno, so he drank until the goods in his house were finished.

Then, there being nothing for this one to drink or eat, and having become like a madman, at the time when he was walking and walking about he saw a man carrying a young coconut.

Begging,

“Give me that,”

and taking it, he went to a travellers’ resting-shed.

While he was there eating the young coconut after breaking it, a great number of flies began to settle there. After he had struck at the flies with his hand, twenty died. Thereupon this one went to a person who did tin work, and said,

“Ane ! Friend, do a little work for me and give me it.”

“What is it ?” the tin worker asked.

This one said,

“Cut on a sheet of tin in Tamil and Sinhalese, ‘I killed twenty,’ and give me it.”

Having said,

“It is good,”

he cut it and gave it.

Alter he had cut and given it, this one took it, and preparing a hanging board, and hanging the sheet of tin on it, put the cord on his neck, and walked along the roads. Men who saw this stepped on one side through fear, and went away.

Certain Tamils having seen this at a city, said to Sigiris Sinno,

“In our country the King has a giant. Should any one fight with him and win, the King said he will give him a present of five hundred masuran, and the post of Prime Minister. This being so, can you go there with us [and fight him],”

they asked.

Then Sigiris Sinno, thinking,

“Let me go even should I be struck by lightning,”

said,

“I am able to fight with the giant,”

and went to that city with the Tamils.

Having arrived there, these Tamils handed him over to the King under whom that giant had a post. The King asked this one,

“I have a giant. Canst thou fight with the giant and win ?”

Sigiris Sinno said instantly,

“A son who has killed twenty giants better than that one am I.”

So the King said to his giant,

“Now then, do what fighting thou knowest, and conquer that one.”

Then the giant said to Sigiris Sinno,

“To-day you must come and swim [against me] in the great sea for eight days. We require from the King ten rupees in order to get things to eat while we are swimming.”

Having said this and got them, the two giants went to the shops, and got things for the ten rupees.

Then Sigiris the Giant said to that giant,

“What are these few things ! For one meal I want six quarts of rice and I want three bottles of arrack. I can swim for eight or ten months.”

After that, this giant thought,

“I can’t eat as much as this one, and I can’t drink as much, and I can’t swim for eight or ten months. Therefore I am indeed unable to swim with this giant and beat him.”

He told the King so. The King said,

“If,so, thou wilt lose.”

The giant said,

“At swimming I shall lose. We must fight each other.”

“It is good,” said the King. Then the King asked Sigiris Sinno,

“Canst thou fight with this one ?”

Sigiris Sinno replied,

“I will give that one one blow.”

So the King said,

“Fight ye each other to-morrow.”

Thereupon Sigiris the Giant said,

“Not to-morrow. After a month has gone both giants will fight each other. Having proclaimed it, and put both of us into two houses under one roof, you must give us to eat until the month is finished.”

The King said,

“It is good.”

Sigiris the Giant having sought for an iron nail, from that day dug into the wall of the house in which the giant was [which separated their two rooms]. Having dug [nearly through] it, when the month would be finished to-morrow Sigiris the Giant said to that giant,

“Ade ! Giant, give me a little tobacco.”

That giant said,

“How can I give you tobacco there ?”

Sigiris the Giant replied,

“Knock a hole through that wall with your hand, and give me it.”

“I cannot,” that one said.

Then Sigiris the Giant said,

“What sort of a giant art thou, one who can’t make a hole through that wall and give me a little tobacco !”

Saying,

“Look there ! Give me it through there,”

Sigiris the Giant struck with his hand at the place which he had previously bored. When he struck it his hand made a hole through to the other side. That giant becoming afraid at the blow, began to tremble, and thought,

“I can’t win in fighting with this one.”

On the following day they made them come out to fight. The place was filled with people who had come to look on. Sigiris the Giant thinks in his mind,

“To-day is indeed my Fate. How shall I escape ?”

That giant, through fear his thoughts were the same.

The King said,

“Strike ye each other.”

Having said,

“It is good,”

each one being afraid of the other, said,

“Strike thou.”

Sigiris says to the other,

“Thou strike,”

he says. By that one and by this one not a blow was struck.

Then the King says to Sigiris the Giant,

“Strike thou first.”

Sigiris the Giant said,

“It is good,”

and thinking of running away, and saying to the people, addressing them loudly,

“Get to both sides, and stop there,”

looked round to run off. At that, the other giant, rolling the people over, began to run away, and the people who were there cried “Hu,” after him.

Then the King having become pleased with Sigiris Sinno, and having given him a present of five hundred masuran, established him in the post of Prime Minister.

Tom-tom Beater . North-western Province.

 

Note:

In Wide-Awake Stories (Steel and Temple), p. 89 —Tales of the Punjab, p. 80—a weaver who killed a mosquito thought himself a hero, and eventually became the ruler of half the country.

In Indian Nights’ Entertainment, Panjab (Swynnerton), p. 208, a weaver killed nine flies on his arm, and called himself Nomar Khan, the Nine-killing Prince. He became Commander-in-Chief.