Story 40 - A Kadambawa Man's Journey To Puttalam

IN order to go to Puttalam, a Kadambawa man having yoked his bull in his cart, sent it in advance with the cart, saying,

“My bull knows the way to Puttalam.”

He himself walked behind the cart.

The bull [being without guidance], having gone completely round the rice field, came again to the path leading to the man’s house. There the man’s children came out, saying,

“Ade ! Has our father been to Puttalam and come back ?”

The man [thinking he had come to another village] said,

“What are you saying ‘ Father ’ to me for ? I am a Kadambawa man. I am going to Puttalam.”

Then he again sent on the bull in front [as before].

In the same manner as before, the bull having gone round the rice field came again to the house. Then those children saying,

“Ade ! Has our father been to Puttalam and come back ?”

went on in front.

Then the man said,

“Ha ! At each place that I go to, the boys call me ‘Father.’ I am a Kadambawa man. I am going to Puttalam. At a village on the road, also, certain boys said ‘Father’ to me.”

So saying, he again sent on the bull in front.

In the same way as before, the bull turning round the rice field came again to the village. Again the man’s children said,

“Ade ! Has our father been to Puttalam and come back ? Have you come on in front [of the others who went] ?”

Then the man said,

“Ha ! At each place that I go to, the boys say ‘Father’ to me. I am a Kadambawa man. I am going to Puttalam. At two villages on the road the boys called me ‘Father.’ ”

As he was setting off to go again, the man’s wife came and spoke to him. Then the man having recognised that it was his own house, unfastened the bull, and having sent it off to eat food stayed quietly at home.

 

Note:

In The Orientalist, vol. ii, p. 102, there is a story by Mr. A. E. R. Corea, in which a man who was going to a village in order to hire out his bull, allowed the animal to take its own way while he trudged behind it. The bull wandered about eating, and at last lay down near a stream. The man being tired out also lay down, and fell asleep. He was close to his own house, and was found by his children when they went for firewood. When they spoke to him, he denied that he was their father, and drove them away; but his wife afterwards came, and by means of her broom-stick convinced him that he was at home.