Note 4 — INTRODUCTION.

There is another, but wholly different, Tamil tale, with the same title, which is described in Taylor’s Catalogue Raisonné of Oriental Manuscripts in the Government Library, Madras, vol. iii, page 460: “A king’s daughter forms an attachment at first sight to the stupid son of another king, who cannot read the writing which she conveys to him, but shows it to a diseased wretch, who tells him it warns him to flee for his life. The king’s daughter is imposed upon by the leper, kills herself, and becomes a disembodied evil spirit, haunting a choultry (or serai for travellers), whom during the night, if they do not answer aright to her cries, she strangles, and vampyre-like sucks their blood.” To be brief, the famous Tamil poetess Avaiyar gets leave of the people to sleep in the choultry in order to put an end to this calamity, and having three times composed a recondite stanza from the strange cries, the evil spirit owns herself conquered and departs. She is re-born as an exceedingly clever princess, and tests the learning and poetical skill of her suitors, till at last she is won by a poor student.—It will be readily supposed that the chief merit of this story consists in the poetical contests.