Part 2 — Concerning a Monk and a Yakā
H. (Henry) Parker translation
A monk, tying a Yakā [by magical spells] gets work from him. For seven years he got work. Then the time having come for the Yakā to go, the Yakā 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 Yakā having gone and planed the tank, and having very quickly come, said at the hand of the monk, “Monk, tell me a work.”
Afterwards the Yakā 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 Yakā 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.
Kinnarā. North-western Province.
This story is known throughout the district to the north of Kurunāēgala. The explanation of the Damunu tree incident which was given to me is that the monk, being unable to find enough work for the Yakā, 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 Yakā 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 Yaksanī (female Yakā), 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 Yaksanī 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 Yaksanī, being then free, killed the family, and escaped.
In Folk-Lore of Southern India (Naṭēśa Sāstrī), 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-Rākshasa, who became his servant, at the same time informing him that if he failed to provide work the Rākshasa 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.