Story 101 - The Widow Woman And Loku-appuhami

AT a village a Siti^[1] widow-mother had a son having the name Appuhami. That Loku-Appuhami, having seen that the men of that district are gambling, came to his mother, and said,

“Mother, the men of this village are gambling. Having cooked rice during the day time give me it, and a little money, for me to go to gamble,”

he said.

Then the woman says,

“Ane ! Son, whence is there money for us ? You be quiet,”^[2]

she said.

The boy having heard the mother’s word, through being unable to gamble went outside the house. When going, this boy saw that two men having been at the cattle herd near a tamarind tree, went away. Having seen them, this boy went there and looked; when he looked two sallis (half-farthings) had fallen down there.

After that, this boy having taken the two sallis, said to his mother,

“Mother, now then, cook and give me rice, to go to gamble,”

he said.

Hearing that, the old woman asked,

“Whence is there money for you ?”

Then the boy said,

“There were two sallis for me at the root of the tamarind tree; they will do for me,”

he said.

After that, the widow-mother having cooked rice dust, gave it. The boy having eaten the rice, went to the gambling place. Having gone, he laid down those two sallis, and told the men to play. The men did not play.

Then a youth of that very sort having been there played for it. Then for the two sallis yet two sallis came. Next, he wagered (lit., held) the whole four sallis. On that occasion, for those four sallis yet four sallis came. In this manner he that day won a large amount.

Having won and gone from there, on the following day, also, he came. Having come, and when playing that day having lost the money, he played also on credit. Having played on credit, after he went away, on the following day those creditors, through ill-feeling for him, went in order to ask for the debts.

When they were going, this boy they call Loku-Appuhami was colouring a cudgel in a good manner. Before that, he had said to his mother,^[3] “At first when the men come, when I am asking for betel and areka-nut, you remain silent, looking on. Then I shall come and beat you [with this cudgel]; then fall down as though you died. When I am calling you a second time, do you, having gone into the house and dressed well, like a good-looking young girl, bring the betel box,” he said.

Well then, she did in that manner. When he did it (i.e., struck her) the woman in that very way fell down. Having fallen, when she was [there] that one (araya) again called her. Then [getting up and] dressing well [inside the house] like a young girl, she takes a betel box.

When [she was] coming, those men who came to take the debts asked,

“What did you to your mother ?”

they asked.

Then he says,

“I made her Tirihan,”^[4]

he said. Having said it, the man went into the house.

After he went into the house these men who came to take the debt, thinking,

“Ade ! It is good for us also to make our women Tirihan; we don’t want this debt,”

and taking that cudgel, bounded off.

When they were bounding ofi, that Loku-Appuhami having quickly (wijahata) sprung out and called those persons (arunta) says,

“Ade ! You are taking it; that is right. Beat seven persons, and put them into one house (room), and remain without opening the door until the time when seven days are going, [for them] to become Tirihan,”

he said, Having heard him the party went.

Having gone, and having beaten seven persons, and put them into one house, when they were there seven days blue-flies began to go over the walls of the house. Then this party say,

“It is indeed because they have become Tirihan that the blue-flies are going.”

Having said [this] they looked; when they looked all had died.

After that, they came in order to seize Loku-Appuhami. Having come they seized him; seizing him, and having placed his arms behind his back and tying him, they went to throw him into the river. Having gone, there was a travellers’ shed near the river; having tied him at the post of. the travellers’ shed, those men went outside, and went away [temporarily].

After they went, a Moorman, taking a drove of laden pack-bulls (tavalama), went near the travellers’ shed.

When going, having seen that man who is tied to the post, this Moorman asks,

“Why, Loku-Appuhami, are you caught and tied to that tree ?”

“Ane! Tambi-elder-brother, because I have lumbago I am tied.”

Then he says,

“Ane ! Loku-Appu, I also have lumbago. Because of it, catch and tie me also to that tree,”

he says. Then Loku-Appu said,

“If so, unfasten me.”

After that, the Tambi having come, unfastened him. After he unfastened him, Loku-Appuhami having caught him, and placed him at the tree, and tied him, went away, driving the drove of pack-bulls.

After he went, those men having come, when they looked he was the Tambi.

Then those men say,

“Ade ! Loku-Appuhami took the appearance of a Moorman !”

Having ipoken together, and seized that Moorman, they put him into the river and went away.

Then Loku-Appuhami, taking that Moorman’s drove of pack-bulls, goes through the midst of those men’s houses.

When [he was] going, a woman said to the men,

“Look there ! Loku Appuhami who went to be thrown into the river,—On ! he is bringing a drove of pack-bulls !”

she said.

Then a man, being in the house, said, " Strumpet, don’t thou tell lies.” Scolding her in this manner, the man also came out and looked; when he looked, in very truth (haebaewatama) he is coming ! After that, he asked,

“Loku-Appuhami, whence (kohendae) are you bringing that drove of pack-bulls and the goods ?”

Then Loku-Appuhami said,

“Having gone to the bottom of the water in the river, when I looked these were [there]. After that, having looked out a good one from them (i.e., a good drove of bulls), [after] selecting it I came away,”

he said.

Having heard that word, the party, as many as stayed at home, said,

“We also having gone there, put us into the river to bring an excellent^[5] bit of pack-bull drove.”

Having said,

“It is good,”

calling the party, Loku-Appuhami put a person into the water. Then, having gone into the water, when dying he made a sound,

“Boka, Boka,”^[6]

and dust came to the surface.

Then the party who stayed on the bank asked,

“What, Loku-Appuhami, is that ?”

Loku-Appuhami says,

“That is [because] he is finding excellent droves of pack-bulls.”

Then the other persons, also, who were on the bank, said, " If so, put us in also, to select good droves of pack-bulls and come.”

After that, he put that party in also. In that very way the whole of the persons went and died in the river.

Loku-Appuhami having returned, taking all the goods that were in those persons’ houses, went to those persons’ houses. Having gone, he became rich to a good degree (honda haetiyata).

North-western Province.

 

Note:

This story is another version of the tales numbered 9 and 12, in vol. i, at the end of which the outlines of some variants are given.

There is also a Khassonka story of West Africa extremely like the later incidents of No. 10, in Contes Soudanais (C. Monteil), p. 67. When his mother continually interrupted a young thief who was being questioned by a King, the son stabbed her with his dagger, in reality merely piercing a bottle of ox’s blood which was concealed under her cloth. She fell down, the blood poured out, and she seemed to be dead. The son then, uttering spells, three times sprinkled the deceased’s face with a cow’s tail dipped in water. She recovered, and the son sold the cow’s tail to the King for two thousand slaves.

When the King cut the throat of his favourite wife and failed to restore her to life, he ordered the thief to be thrown into the river sewn up in an ox-hide. While the slaves who carried him left their bundle on the roadside, the thief, hearing the voices of a pious Muhammadan priest and his pupils and servants, began to cry out that he preferred a life on earth to one in Paradise. The priest opened the skin, and learning that the youth was being forcibly taken to Paradise, gladly exchanged places with him, and was drowned.

The thief then took some gold that he found in the priest’s house, and reported to the King that the King’s father had sent him with it for the King, adding that there was much more to be got in Paradise. The King gave him half the gold, and got himself and his relatives sewn up in hides and thrown into the deepest part of the river. As they did not return the people made the thief King.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Feminine adjective of Sitana, a nobleman, or in some cases a Treasurer.

[2]:

Nikan indin.

[3]:

Maeniyaendaeta.

[4]:

Tirisana is “one of the lower animals.” In a variant of the Western Province he terms the stick a Tirihan cudgel.

[5]:

Honda honda.

[6]:

This resembles the cry, “Mok, Mok,” made when driving cattle especially cart-bulls and pack-bulls.