Story 50 - The Nikini Story

^[1]

IN a certain country there are a man and a woman, it is said. There is a girl (daughter) of those two persons. The girl was asked [in marriage] for a Gamarala of another country who had much wealth in money. The girl having been summoned, and having gone to the Gamarala, and been with him for a long time, he went to chop jungle [for making a chena].

There he met with a fawn, and having returned home said to the girl,

“Bolan, there was a fawn in the chena.”

The girl said,

“Ane ! After you hg.ve gone to-morrow bring it.”

On the following day the Gamarala brought it.

When the girl had reared it for a long time, a longing came to her, and she lay down.

Afterwards the Gamarala asked the Deer,

“What, Deer, is thy elder sister's illness ?”

Then the Deer said,

“Our elder sister has a longing.”

The Gamarala said,

“What can she eat for it ?”

The Deer replied,

“Our elder sister can eat the stars in the sky.”

Afterwards the Gamarala, having gone to seek the stars, and to seek for the corner of the sky [where it joined the earth, so as to ascend to them], searched until he became aged, but was unable to find the comer ; and the Gamarala died.

Then the girl, having sold the Gamarala’s village, took the money that was obtained there, and the wealth that he possessed [and left]. While the girl and the Deer were going on their way they met with a King.

He asked the Deer,

“Where, Deer, are ye going ?”

The Deer said,

“Our elder sister on account of thirst Is going to seek a little water.”

Then the King said,

“Wilt thou give thy elder sister to me [in marriage] ?”

The Deer said “Ha”; so having placed the Deer and the Deer’s elder sister on the back of the King’s elephant, they went to the palace.

When a long time had passed, a longing came again to the girl, and she lay down.

The King asked the Deer,

“What is thy elder sister’s illness ?”

The Deer said,

“Our elder sister has a longing.”

The King asked,

“What can she eat for it ?”

The Deer said,

“Should you bring for our elder sister the sand which is at the bottom of the ocean, if she slept upon it she would be well.”

Afterwards, when the King was going to the bottom of the sea to take the sand, he was soaked with the water, and died.

After this, when the Deer and the Deer’s elder sister, taking all the King’s things, and cooking a bundle of rice, were on their way again, they met with a man.

The man asked the Deer,

“ Where, Deer, are ye going ?”

The Deer said

“We are going to seek a man for our elder sister.”

The man said,

“If so, give thy elder sister to me.”

The Deer said “Ha,” and the Deer and the Deer’s elder sister went to the man’s house.

When they had been there a long time, a longing came to the woman, and she lay down.

The man asked,

“What, Deer, is thy elder sister’s illness ?”

The Deer said,

“Our elder sister has a longing.”

The man asked,

“What can she eat for it ?”

The Deer said,

“Our elder sister must eat Nikini. Should she not eat it, it will not only be very difficult for her [to recover] ; her life will be lost.”

Now the sort called “Nikini” is not in anyplace whatever in the world. That ignorant man, not knowing of its non-existence, on account of the love that he bore for his wife went away on a search for Nikini.

Afterwards, when the foolish man was on his way to seek for Nikini, a man was ploughing. The man who was ploughing ajsked,

“Where are you going ?”

This man said,

“I am going to seek for a little Nikini.”

Then the man said to this man,

“If so, come here [and help me to plough].”

Those two having ploughed during the whole of that day, went in the, evening to the house of the man who had been ploughing.

Both of them having eaten cooked rice, the man who went to seek for Nikini asked that man,

“Ane! Now then, tell me the place where there is Nikini.”

The man said,

“Ane! I don’t know. Go you away.”

After that, when he had slept there that night, that man gave him a little cooked rice. Having eaten a little, while he was going on his way to seek for Nikini, a man was chopping earthen ridges in a rice field.

The man asked,

“Where are you going ?”

This man said,

“I am going to seek for a little Nikini.”

Then that man said,

“If so, come here [and help mel.”

After those two persons had chopped the ridges during the whole day, they went in the evening to the man’s house. While they were [there], having eaten cooked rice this man who went to seek for Nikini said,

“Ane ! Tell me the site where there is Nikini.”

The man said,

“Ane ! I don’t know. Go and ask at the hand of another person.”

When this man had slept there that day night, on the next day that man gave him a little cooked rice. Having eaten it he set off to go and seek Nikini. Then a man'was sowing a rice field.

The man asked him,

“Where are you going ?”

This man said,

“I am going to seek for a little Nikini.”

The man asked,

“What for ?”

This man replied,

“A longing has come to our houSe-mistress, so she told me to go and bring a little Nikini.”

The man said,

“If so, come here and sow.”

For the whole¹ of that day those two sowed. In the evening they came to the man’s house, -and both of them

having eaten cooked rice, while they were there this man said,

“Now then, tell me the place where there is Nikini.”

Then the man said

“Yako,^[2] that was not [asked for] through want of Nikini. That was said through wanting to cause you to be killed. Your wife has a paramour.”

The man quarrelled with him, saying,

“Not in any way. My wife is very good. She has great love for me. If you again say such a thing as that one is there, I shall strike you.”

The other man asked,

“What will you give me to catch that paramour for you.”

The person who went on the search for Nikini said,

“I have a gem which has continued with us from generation to generation. I will give you that gem.”

[The man accepted this offer].

Then the two persons made a cage called,

“The Cage of the God Sivalinga,”

and tied white cloth in it [as a lining], and trimmed a wooden cudgel and placed it inside. The man [who had gone for Nikini] was also placed inside the cage with a cloth on his shoulders, and Qlosed in with similar cloths. Men having been fetched [and engaged to carry it] —saying that he was bringing the God Sivalinga—took it' on their shoulders, and going off with it they went to a Hettirala’s shop.

Then that man said [to the person inside the cage],

“After I have placed it inside the shop, take the cash-box which is in it, and put it inside the cage.”

The Hettirala asked,

“What is that cage ?”

The man said,

“Our deity, the God Sivalinga.”

The Hettirala asked,

“What is it, then, that is necessary for offering to that deity ?”

The man said,

“The cooked rice from two quarts of raw rice, and sweet plantains are wanted.”

So the Hettirala brought and gave him the cooked rice from two quarts of raw rice, and ripe sweet plantains. After that, the man gave to the man in the cage the cooked rice from a quart of the raw rice, and half the plantains. The other man ate the rice from the other quart, and the remaining plantains.

In the evening the man gave the cage into the hands of the Hettiya, and told him to place it in the house. So the Hettiya put the cage in the house. [During the night the man inside it stole the cash-box.]

When it got near midnight the man asked for the cage, saying,

“Hetti-elder-brother, give me my cage so that I may go.”

The Hettirala gave it.

As the man, taking the cage, was going along he met with a city. Then that man said [to the man in the cage],

“After I have taken this cage and placed it in the palace, you get the things in it and put them inside the cage.”

Having said this they went to the palace. The King asked,

“What is that ?”

The man said,

“Our deity, the God Sivalinga. We are able to say sooth and the like.”

The King asked,

“What do you require for him ?”

The man said,

“Rice cooked from raw rice, and sweet plantains are necessary.”

So the King gave him cooked rice and sweet plantains. The man having given [a share of them] to the man in the cage, said,

“It is necessary to place this cage inside the palace [for the night].”

The King having said “Ha,” he brought it, and placed it inside the palace.

As it was becoming light the man said,

“Now then, I want the cage in order to worship the deity.”

So the King gave him the cage.

Afterwards, as the man was taking the cage near a tank it became light. He remained there until it was night, and then went to the house of the man who went to seek Nikini, and found that the woman had called in another man who was there.

That man asked,

“What is that ?”

The man said,

“This is our deity, the God Sivalinga. We are able to tell sooth.”

The man said,

“Ha. It is good. There is a sooth that we, too, require to ask about.”

Then the [pretended] Kapurala, whom the God Sivalinga was [supposed to be] goading.^[3] to it, became possessed. When he was saying sooth, the wife of the man who went to seek Nikini and the false husband who had joined her, came with their arms interlaced, and saying to the deity that a long time had elapsed since her husband had gone in search of Nikini,they asked,

“Has anything happened to him now ?”

At that time the God Sivalinga said through the person possessed by Sivalinga,

“The man has now become blind. Besides that, he will not be permitted to return to his village. He will die while in that state.”

Then because he said this in the manner that was in the mind of the woman, she took the food off the fire, and together with the false husband brought the deity to her house, and gave the rice cooked from two quarts of raw rice, and sweet plantains, in order that the Kapurala might present an offering.

That night, when he had eaten, the Kapurala said,

“We must place this our cage inside that [room].”

“You may do it,” they said, and they placed it in the house.

Then when the wife of the man who was inside the cage and the false husband were spreading mats [to lie upon], and making ready for sleeping, the Kapurala who remained outside said,

“Except that [cage], there is no room for two.”

Thereupon the man who was inside the cage came out, and beat the false husband even on the cheeks with the cudgel that he had taken. So the man died.

After that, the man, as it was becoming light, went and threw the Deer’s elder sister into the river. Having returned, and gone to the village with the Deer, the man who went for Nikini cooked for the other man, and gave him to eat. Then the two divided the money, and he gave the man the gem which he had, as a present for him, and sent that man back to his village.

Afterwards this man, taking another wife, remained there. [According to another version, however, he became a Buddhist monk.]

Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.

 

Note:

The story is also related in a contracted form in the Western Province.

In a variant by a Tom-tom Beater of the North-western Province, a young Boar takes the place of the Deer, and the woman married first a King, and afterwards a Rakshasa who was sent for the Nikini. At the Boar's suggestion he died by jumping into a fire made by the girl, and the Boar then followed his example, and was burnt up. The girl is represented as “smearing a great deal of gold on herself” before this, apparently becoming gilded.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Called also, “The Deer and the Girl and Nikini.”

[2]:

An expression often used in village talk, without any connexion with its literal meaning, “O demon.” “Fellow !” nearly expresses its ordinary meaning, which is less respectful than that of the word Bola.

[3]:

Totra karanawa.