No. 25— 18S2.] 



FOLK-LORE IN CEYLON. 



209 



Mr. Steele the author of a metrical translation of the Kusa 

 Jdtaka has, — no doubt with the view of attracting the attention 

 of literary men to this interesting subject, — given a few Sin- 

 halese stories as an appendix to his work, and has concluded 

 them with the following appropriate observations : — 



" Old-world household stories are very plentiful in Ceylon. 

 The foregoing may be of interest as shewing how rich a field, 

 one little harvested yet, lies open to the gleaner. When it is 

 remembered that, besides the aboriginal wild race, the Veddas, 

 the Island is the home of Sinhalese, an A'ryan race from the 

 upper valley of the Ganges, of Tamils, of Moors, the descend- 

 ants of the ancient Arab navigators, who, as Sinbad avouches, 

 voyaged often to Serendib, of Malays, not to mention Parsis, 

 Chinese, Kaffirs from Eastern Africa, Maldivians, Bengalis and 

 many others, — men of widely diverse descent and creeds, the 

 abundance of, so to speak, unwrought folk-lore will be readily 

 recognised. 



" It is the writer's hope, should the present venture meet 

 with favor and acceptance, to offer a large and more varied 

 selection to the reader hereafter." 



The hope here entertained has not, I think, been realized, 

 nor has the subject been taken up by any other writer that I am 

 aware of. 



A complete collection of the tales and stories existing in 

 Ceylon, — and I think they exist as abundantly here as in any 

 other country in the world, — can only be the work of time. It 

 is therefore desirable that, rather than wait to make such a col- 

 lection, writers who may w T ish to labor in this field of literary 

 investigation should publish what stories they may collect in the 

 columns of this Society's Journal as the only literary periodical 

 in the Island. 



The present Paper is merely a beginning in this direction, 

 and it is to be hoped that other writers who are more able than 

 myself to undertake the task, and have more leisure at their 

 disposal than I can command, will from time to time contribute 

 their collections to this Journal, and thus supply a store of ma- 

 terials for future scientific and linguistic investigations. 



