Village Folk-tales of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), vol. 1-3

by Henry Parker | 1910 | 406,533 words

This folk-tale entitled “the prince and the yaka” is gathered from oral sources sources, tracing its origin to ancient Ceylon (Sri Lanka). These tales are often found to contain similarities from stories from Buddhism and Hinduism. This is the story nr. 15 from the collection “stories told by the cultivating caste and vaeddas”.

A KING of a single city had one son, who was a Prince of five years. At that time, a Yaka [1] having settled in that kingdom began to devour the people of the city, and by reason of this the whole city was like to be abandoned. At last, the King and the men of the city, making great efforts, seized the Yaka, and having made an iron house, put him in it, and shut the door.

At that time it became necessary for the King of the city to go to war. After he had gone off to the war, when the King’s son one day had opened the door of the house in which was the man-eating Yaka, and was looking at him, the Yaka fell down, and made obeisance to him, and signifying his misery to the Prince, began to weep. So the Prince, pitying him, told the Yaka to go away.

Then the Yaka, saying to the Prince,

“It is good. I will assist you, too,”

went away.

After he had left, when the Prince had gone home the King who had gone to the war returned, having conquered. When he looked at the room in which the Yaka had been, the door was open. The King asked who had opened the door.

The Queen replied that the Prince opened it. Then the King said,

“To-morrow I must behead that wicked Prince.”

The Queen, being sorry at this, having tied up a packet of cooked rice, and given it and money to the Prince, and having given him a horse and sword, said,

“ The King has settled to behead you to-morrow for letting the Yaka escape. Go away at night to any country you like."

So the Prince, taking the money and the bundle of cooked rice, and the sword, mounted the horse, and set off to go to another country. There was a travellers’ shed at the road along which he was going. As he was unable to go further on account of weariness, he went that night to the travellers’ shed ; and having fastened the horse to one of the posts of the shed, he lay down, placing the bundle of rice at his side.

Then seeing a youth running along the road, he called him, and asked,

“Boy, where art thou going ?”

The boy said,

“I am going to a place where they give to eat and to wear.”

Then the Prince said,

“I will give you pay. Stop and look after my horse.”

The youth said,

“It is good. I will stay.”

The Prince said,

“I do not know the fords in this country ; therefore tell me of a path by which we can go to another country.”

The youth replied,

“There is a river here. On the other side of it there is a city, to go to which there is not a short road from here. However, there is another road further on. By it we must pass over a bridge.”

“If so,” said the Prince,

“having bathed here let us go.”

Having seen that three Princesses who were at the city on the other side were bathing, he also was pleased at bathing there. After he had gone to bathe, the three Princesses of the King of the country on the other side, when they looked saw the good figure of this Prince.

After that, as the Prince wished to go after bathing, the youth who was to look after the horse having mounted it, began to ride away, wearing the Prince’s clothes, and taking the sword.

When the Prince, having bathed, and seen the Princesses on the other bank putting on their clothes, came ashore to put on his clothes, on his looking for them there were no clothes, no sword, no horse. The youngest Princess of the three who had bathed on the other side well knew what had happened.

This Prince, having on only his bathing cloth, bounded off, and while running along overtook the horse and youth.

When he was still far away, the youth said,

“Do not come near me ; should you come I will cut you with the sword. If you are willing to look after this horse, take hold of its tail and come.”

Then because that one in any case must go to the city, he said,

“It is good,”

and having taken hold of the horse’s tail went with him. Going thus from there, they arrived at the city.

It was a custom of the King of that country that, having sent a guard, when any one of the men of another country arrived, he was to write the names of those persons, and come to the King. When these persons arrived, a guard being there asked their names.

The youth who came on the horse said,

“My name is Manikka Settiya ; except the youth who looks after my horse, there is no one else with me.”

The guard having gone, said to the King,

“Lord, a person called Manikka Settiyare has come and is there, together with a horse-keeper.”

Then the King thought,

“Because the man called Manikka Settiyare has this name, Manikka, he will be able to value my gem”

(manikya). A gem of the King’s having been taken through the whole country, no one had been able to value it.

So having summoned that Manikka Settiyare, the King, after giving him food and drink, showed him it, and said,

“Manikka Settiyare, there is my gem. Can you value it ?”

That Manikka Settiyare replied,

“My horse-keeper will tell you the value.”

The King became angry because he said,

“My horse-keeper will tell you it,”

and indignantly caused the horse-keeper to be brought speedily, and asked,

“Can you value this ?”

The horse-keeper Prince said,

“If I try hard I can.”

Then the King gave it into his hands.

Taking it and weighing it, and learning when he looked at it that there was sand inside the gem, he said,

“As it now appears to me, the value of this gem is four sallis”

(half-farthings).

The King becoming angry asked,

“How do you know ?”

The Prince replied,

“There is sand inside this gem.”

Then the King asked,

“Can you cut it, and show me it ?”

The horse-keeper said,

“If you will ask for the sword belonging to that Manikka Settiyare, I will cut it and show you it.”

After that, the King gave him the sword that was in the hand of the Settiyare. Then the horse-keeper, taking the sword, and remembering the name of his father the King, and thinking,

“By the favour of the Gods, if it be appointed that it will happen to me to exercise sovereignty over this city, I must cut this gem like cutting a Kaekiri fruit,”

put the gem on the table, and cut it with the sword. Then the sand that was in the gem fell out, making a sound,

Sara sara.”

Afterwards the King, thinking,

“When this horse-keeper knows so much, how much doesn’t this Settirala know !”

having given food and drink to the horse-keeper, and also to the Settiyare, and having greatly assisted them, made them stay there a little time.

The youngest Princess well knew the wicked things that this Settiyare was saying about the horse-keeper youth. On account of her great sorrow concerning this horse-keeper, the Princess instructed the butler who gave the food at the royal house :

“Give the horse-keeper who accompanied that Manikka Settiyare, food like that you prepare for me, and a bed for sleeping on, and assist him a little.”

After that, the butler and the rest helped him. The Prince was Unwilling to enjoy that pleasure.

“Ane ! I am a horse-keeper. Do not you assist me in that way,”

he said.

After that, the King’s youngest Princess, for the sake of sending the Prince away from the post of looking after the horse, went to the King, and wept while saying thus :

“Ane! Father,[2] because of this youth who looks after them, my sheep are nearly finished. On that account, taking the horse-keeper who came with that Settiyare, to look after my sheep, let us send the youth who looks after the sheep to look after the horse.”

The King replied,

“Having asked the Settiyare we can do it.”

The King having asked the Settiyare the thing she told him,

“You can do it,”

he said; and after he had thus spoken to the Settiyare it was done. So the horse-keeper went to look after the sheep. Having gone there, while he was looking after them for a long time, the sheep increased in number by hundreds of thousands.

One day, when the King had gone for hunting sport into the midst of the forest, he was seized there by a Yaka. After being seized, he undertook to give the Yaka the King’s three Princesses, and having escaped by undertaking this charge he came back.

Next day he made a proclamation through the whole city by beat of tom-toms. What was it ?

“Having been seized yesterday in the forest by a Yaka, I only escaped by promising to give him my three Princesses. To-morrow a Princess, on the day after to-morrow a Princess, on the day after that a Princess ; in this manner in three days I am giving the three Princesses. If a person who is able to do it should deliver them, having married that person to them, I will appoint him to the kingdom.”

Then Manikka Settiyare said,

“I can do it.”

On that day, that Prince who was looking after the sheep went to look after them. While he was there, a man, taking a sheep, ran off into the chena jungle. While bounding after him in order to recover it, having gone very far, the Prince saw him go down the hole of a polanga snake.

After going near the polanga’s hole, and looking down it, and seeing that the hole descended into the earth, the Prince went along that tunnel. Having gone on from there it became dark, and going on in the darkness he saw a very great light. Having gone to the light, when he looked about there was a man asleep, wearing very many clothes.

Then it was in the mind of this shepherd to go away, and in his mind not to go. If you should say,

“Who was sleeping there ?”

it was the Yaka who had formerly been in that iron house, and had left it. That Yaka at that very time saw in a dream that the Prince who had sent him out of that house had come to him, and was there. While seeing him in the dream, the sleeping Yaka awoke, and when he looked up the Prince was beside him.

The Yaka, getting up from there, went to the Prince, and while he was embracing him the Prince became afraid. Then the Yaka said,

“Lord, let not Your Majesty be afraid. The Yaka whom you sent away from that house is I indeed.”

After that, the Prince sat down. Then the Yaka asked,

“Where are you going ?”

The Prince replied,

“That I sent you away, our father the King decreed as a fault in me, and appointed that I should be beheaded. Then our mother, having tied up and given me a bundle of cooked rice, told me to go anywhere I wanted.”

Having said this he told him all the matter.

After that, the Yaka brought the lost sheep, and having given it to the Prince, asked,

“What more do you want ?”

The Prince said,

“I want another assistance.”

“What is the assistance ?”

he asked.

The Prince replied,

“After I had remained in this way, the King, the father of the Princess who looks after the sheep, and of two more Princesses, having gone hunting and been caught by a Yaka, is giving the three Princesses to him as demon offerings.

If there should be a person who can deliver them, he has made proclamation by beat of tomtoms that having given to him the three Princesses in marriage, he will also give him a part of the kingdom.”

The Yaka said,

“It is good. I will bring and give you victory in it. Be good enough to do the thing I tell you. After you have eaten rice in the evening, be good enough to come to this palace.”

He then allowed the Prince to return home.

The Prince having eaten his rice in good time, went to the Yaka.

After he had gone there, the Yaka having given him a good suit of clothes, and a horse, and a sword, instructed him :

“As you go from here there will be a path. Having gone along that path, there will be a great rough tree.

Go aside at it, and while you are waiting there the Yaka from afar will make a cry,

‘Hu.’

Having come to the middle of the chena jungle he will say again,

‘Hu, Hu, Hu.’

At the next step, having bounded to the place where the Princess is stopping, he will again say,

‘Hu.’

After he has said this, as he conies close to the Princess you will be good enough to step in front. Then the Yaka, becoming afraid, will look in the direction of your face ; then be good enough to cut him down with the sword.”

The Prince having gone in that manner to the tree, when he looked about, Manikka Settiyare having climbed aloft was in a fork of the trunk, lamenting, having turned his back. While he was lamenting he saw this Prince coming, and [thinking it was the Yaka], trembled and lost his senses.

Then, in the very manner foretold, the Yaka came, crying and crying out. As he came near the Princess, the Prince cut him down, and having drawn out and cut off his tongue, and also asked for a ring off the hand of the Princess, came away to the palace of the friendly Yaka. Having arrived there, and placed there the clothes, the horse, and the tongue, all of them, he returned to his house before any one arose.

Manikka Settiyare, having descended in the morning, chopped the Yaka’s body into bits, and smeared the blood on his sword. While he was there, the King went in the morning to see if the Princess was dead or alive. Having arrived there, he saw Manikka Settiyare there looking on, and he returned to the city, taking Manikka Settiyare and the Princess.

On the next night, also, they went and tied another Princess. The Prince that night also having gone there, killed a Yaka who came, and cut off the Yaka’s tongue, and after asking for a jewelled ring came away. That time, also, Manikka Settiyare went there, and after smearing blood on his sword remained there. The King went there in the morning, and calling the two persons came away.

On the following day he did the very same to the other Princess. This Prince, having taken away the three jewelled rings that were on the hands of the three Princesses, and the three tongues of the three Yakas that he had cut off, remained silent.

As Manikka Settiya had come falsely smearing blood on his sword each morning, as though he had killed the Yakas, the King sent letters to all royal personages :

“Manikka Settiya has cut down three such powerful Yakas, and has delivered the three Princesses who had been devoted to be given as a demon offering to the Yaka who seized me when I went hunting. Because of that, I am giving the three Princesses to him in marriage. You must come to the festival, and look at the Yakas who have been killed.”

After that, the royal persons came from those countries.

While they were there, that Prince went to the palace of the friendly Yaka. The Yaka having given that Prince golden clothes, and a golden crown and necklace, and a golden sword, told him to go, taking those rings and tongues, and mounted on a white horse. The Prince putting on those things, and mounting the white horse, went.

When he went to the palace where the royal persons were who had come to fulfil the object of the occasion, those royal persons became afraid, and having made obeisance to him, asked,

“Lord, where is Your Majesty going ?”

“‘I have cut down a very powerful sort of Yaka.’

Letters went through foreign countries to this effect, and that there is a marriage festival for the person who killed the Yaka. On account of the news I also have come to look,”

he said.

After that, those royal persons said,

“It is good, Lord,”

and with pleasure showed him the heads of the Yakas.

Then this Prince asked,

“Is there or is there not a tongue to every living being whatever ?”

Every one said,

“Yes, there is one.”

The Prince having looked for the tongues in the mouths of the Yakas, asked,

“What is this, that there are not tongues for these Yakas ?”

After that, every one asked it of Manikka Settiya. Manikka Settiya being afraid, remained without speaking.

Then he asked it of the two eldest Princesses. The two Princesses said,

“We do not know.”

At the time when he was asking it of the youngest Princess, she replied, seizing the hand of the Prince who split off the tongues and took the jewelled rings,

“This one went away after taking in his hand the ring, and cutting off the tongue of the Yaka.”

After that, the Prince brought to light the three rings and the three tongues, and showed them.

Speedily having beheaded and cast out Manikka Settiya, they carried out the wedding festival of the marriage of the three Princesses to the Prince. After that, those royal personages went to their own kingdoms, and the kingdom having been bestowed on this Prince he remained there ruling it.

North-western Province.

 

Note:

In the Jataka story No. 510 (vol. iv, p. 305), an iron house was built, in which a King’s son was confined for sixteen years in order to preserve him from a female Yaka who had carried off two children born previously. The demon was unable to break into it.

In the Jataka story No. 513 (vol. v, p. 13), there is an account of a King who was seized by an Ogre while hunting. The latter allowed the King to go home on a promise to come back next day to be eaten. His heroic son returned in his place, but was spared by the Ogre.

The Prince said of these beings,

“The eyes of Ogres are red, and do not wink. They cast no shadow, and are free from all fear.”

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

In these stories the Yakas are always evil spirits or demons.

[2]:

Piyanan-wahanse.

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