230 



journal r. a. s. (ceylon). [Vol. VII., Pt. IlL 



very sick : so he got his friends to assist him, and they started 

 off to the forest in order to find a bees' nest. As they were 

 passing by a deep pond, they beheld the reflection of one which 

 was suspended on an overhanging tree. Having tried vainly 

 to grasp the nest in the water, they thought that it must be 

 deeper down than they supposed, and one of their number 

 was, therefore, sent in. Believing, as he was unable to touch 

 it, that he could not get down far enough, they tied a large stone 

 round his neck. The other fools stood by the whole day waiting 

 for the man to come up with the honey. 



V. — How a Tumpane Man cured his Mother. 



Once upon a time a half-witted villager bought a bullock 

 to use in his hackery, and, as he took it away, the dealer (a philo- 

 sopher in his way) repeated to him this proverb : 



"Ilarak diya-badu wage" lit. " cattle are like watery things," 

 (that is, they are perishable, and consequently require a great 

 deal of care and attention). The man, however, took the saying 

 literally, and, noticing water coming from the bullock as it went 

 along, thought that it had already commenced to dissolve. He 

 was now very anxious to dispose of his bullock before the 

 process went farther, and a man happening to be passing with 

 a ketta (bill-hook) in his hand, the owner of the bullock asked 

 4 what the ketta would do': " fell jungle", said the man. It was 

 then agreed that an exchange should be made of the bullock 

 for the ketta. The half-witted fellow took the axe, and going to 

 some jungle land which belonged to him, placed it upon a stone 

 and went away. Some time afterwards he returned to see how 

 much jungle it had felled, but was surprised to find that it had 

 not cut even a single tree. When he picked it up he found the 

 iron was quite warm, and concluded that it had not been able to 

 work that day as it was suffering from fever. He, therefore, 

 went to the doctor, who, knowing how foolish the man was, 

 appeased him by telling him to bury it in a cool spot until the 

 morning and he would then find the fev.er gone. The man did 

 as he was told, and found his ketta quite cool. Next day, how- 

 eve-ti his mother had a severe attack of fovei*, and. renieinboring 



