Story 73 - Concerning A Monk And A Yaka

A MONK, tying a Yaka [by magical spells] gets work from him. For seven years he got work. Then the time having come for the Yaka to go, the Yaka every day having gone near the monk says,

“Monk, tell me a work [to do].”

The monk said one day,

“In Galgamuwa tank there will be seven islands. Having gone there and planed them down, come back.”

After that, the Yaka having gone and planed the tank, and having very quickly come, said at the hand of the monk,

“Monk, tell me a work.”

Then the monk said,

“Having cut a well of seven fathoms, and having cut a Damunu {GL_NOTE::} tree, and removed the splinters, and put it down to the bottom of a well, and tied a creeper noose to the Damunu stick, you are to draw it up [from inside the well] to the ground.”

Afterwards the,Yaka having cut a well of seven fathoms, and cut a Damunu tree, and removed the bark from it, and tied a creeper noose to it, and put the Damunu stick to the bottom of the well, the Yaka sitting on the ground holding the creeper noose tried to draw it out. He could not draw it. When he was drawing it, because there was slime on the Damunu stick he was unable to draw it out.

On account of the time during which the Yaka had been delayed near the well, the monk being afraid of the Yaka, the monk went backwards and backwards for three gawwas (twelve miles). The Yaka having pushed against the monk for so much time, and having got a bill-hook also, on the road he drove him (the monk) away. Having gone there [afterwards] to kill the monk, he met with the monk. After that, the Yaka threw the bill-hook, so that having cut the monk with it he would die. After he had thrown it, the bill-hook was behind,{GL_NOTE::} and the monk was in front [of it]. On account of that, the name [of the place] there became Kaettaepa-huwa [a village twenty-one miles from Kurunaegala, on the road to Anuradhapura].

Kinnara. North-western Province.

 

Note:

This story ‘is known throughout the district to the north of Kurunaegala. The explanation of the Damunu tree incident which was given to me is that the monk, being unable to find enough work for the Yaka, gave him this task as one that would provide occupation for him for a long time. When the bark is freshly removed, the Damunu sticks are extremely slippery. The creeper was tied at one end in a ring which was passed over the smooth stem of the tree. When the Yaka endeavoured to raise the tree by pulling at the creeper, the ring slipped up the stem instead of raising the tree.

Elsewhere in the same district I heard of another man, a villager, who had mastered a Yaksani (female Yaka), and who made her perform work for him. In appearance she was an ordinary female, and the man’s wife was unaware of her true character, as he had not informed her of it, being, afraid of alarming her. The man kept the Yaksani under control by means of a magic iron nail, which he had driven in the crown of her head. One day during his absence she went to her mistress, and told her that a thorn had run into her head while she was carrying firewood on it, and that she was unable to draw it out. The woman extracted the nail for her, and the Yaksani, being then free, killed the family, and escaped.

In Folk-Lore of Southern India (Natela Sastri), p. 272 —Tales of the Sun, p. 285—there is a story of a landowner who learnt an incantation by means of which he summoned a Brahma-Rakshasa, who became his servant, at the same time informing him that if he failed to provide work the Rakshasa would kill him. Everything he could think of was done in an incredibly short time—tank repaired and deepened, lands all cultivated—and there being nothing more to be done the wife gave the demon a hair of her head to straighten. He failed to do it, but remembering that goldsmiths heated wires when about to straighten them, he placed the hair on a fire, which burnt it up. He was afraid to face his mistress after it, so he ran away.

Regarding the thorn in the demon’s head, see No. 20.