Village Folk-tales of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), vol. 1-3
by Henry Parker | 1910 | 406,533 words
This folk-tale entitled “the seven robbers” 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. 57 from the collection “stories of the durayas”.
Story 57 - The Seven Robbers
IN a country there are seven robbers. Among them, in the same gang, there is a fool. One day they went to commit robbery. While they were there, they got a devil-dancer’s box, containing his mask and ornaments. Having brought it, the seven persons went into a rock cave to sleep.
When they had gone there that foolish man became hungry. After the others went to sleep that fool took out the devil-dancer’s clothes, and having looked at them put them on.
After he had put them on, one of those men opened his eyes. Then on account of the noise of the bells [of the devil-dancer] the others opened their eyes also.
When they saw the man dressed in the devil-dancer's clothes they were frightened, and saying,
“Ade ! The Kohomba deity is coming/' the other six persons ran away.
As they were running, that man who had the clothes ran after them, saying, “Stay there, stay there.”
While they were running those six persons leaped over a well [in the path]. This one also jumped, but Jbeing held back by the clothes he fell into the mouth of the well.
After he had fallen into the well, a woman came to draw water. Then he placed his weight in the bucket when she lowered it. After the woman had got to know of the weight, striving and striving she got the bucket near the mouth of the well.
The man who had fallen, and was in it, said,
“A little more, my mother.”
Then the woman hearing this [and seeing what she thought was a demon in the well], let go, and bounded away.
Duraya. North-western Province.
Note:
In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 136, a story is given regarding twenty-five idiots, in which is a variant of this tale. Some robbers whom one of them was assisting left him outside a house with a basket that he had brought out of it. While they were inside searching for booty, he found in the basket the dress worn in representations of a demon termed Gara Yaka, and put it on. When the robbers came out they thought he was the demon himself, and ran off, with the idiot at their heels. In the end, they jumped into a well, were followed by him, and all were drowned.