________________
APBIL, 1887.)
FOLKLORE IN SOUTHERN INDIA.
139
اتحاد سیا دت ماب فضایل اكتساب صادق العقيده | بارسال این طور کسی کہ ان مطالب عالیه با حسن والا خلاص سید مظفر را کر بمزيد التفات وعنايت | عبارت خاطر نشان کند مسرور سازند و بسمع همایون
بوده فرستادیم سخن چند | رسیده که کتب سماوی مثل توریت و انجیل و سرافراز مخصوص بالمشافه خواهد گفت اعتماد نمایند و همواره ابواب | زبور بزبان عربي و فارسي در آورده اند اگر ان مکاتبات و مراسلات را مفتوح دارند والسلام | کتب مترجم یا غير ان کے نفع آن عام و فایده على من اتبع الهدي شهر ربيع الاول سنه نهصد و آن نام باشد در آن ولایت بوده باشد فرستند
| درینولا بجهت تاکید مراسم وداد و تشيد. مباني نود نگاشته شد
FOLKLORE IN SOUTHERN INDIA.
BY PANDIT S. M. NATESA SASTRI. No. XVI.-"Pride goeth before a Fall." and the magnificent manner in which the three
Corresponding to this English proverb, there robbers had seated themselves on the grass. At is one in Tamil,- Ahambha vam álai alikkum, the same time he observed that these last had "Pride of self destroys; "and the following story placed their weapons on the ground, in the is related by the common folk to illustrate it :- Assurance of having thoroughly cowed the
In a certain village there lived ten cloth- traders, who were now commencing to dance. merchants, who always went about together. So he took the lead in the dance, and, as a Once upon a time they had travelled far afield, song is always sung by the leader on such and were returning home with a great deal of occasions, to which the rest keep time by hands money which they had obtained by selling their and feet, he thus began to sing :wares. Now there happened to be a dense
Nánanum puli pér, forest near their village, and this, early one
Tálanum tiru pér: morning, they reached. In it there lived
Savana talanai three notorious robbers, of whose existence the
Tiruvanan buttindn, traders had never heard, and while they were
Savana talan midi. still in the middle of it, the robbers stood
T4 tại tôm tadingda. before ther, with swords and cudgels in their
"We are puli men, hands, and ordered them to lay down all they
They are tiru men . had. The traders had no weapons with them;
If one så man, and so, though they were many more in
Surrounds tiru men, number, they had to submit themselves to
Sa man remains. the robbers, who took away everything from
Tã, tai, tôm, tadiigana.” them, even the very clothes they wore, and The robbers were all uneducated, and gave to each only a small loin-cloth (langott), thought that the leader was merely singing a span in breadth and a cubit in length.
& song as usual. So it was in one sense ; The idea that they had conquered ton men, for the leader commenced from a distance, and and plundered all their property, now took bad sung the song over twice, before he and possession of the robbers' minds. They seated his companions commenced to approach the themselves like three monarchs before the men robbers. They had understood his meaning. they had plundered, and ordered them to dance which however, even to the best educated. to them before returning home. The mer- unless trained to the technical expressions of chants now mourned their fate. They had lost trade, would have remained a riddle. all they had, except their chief essential, the When two traders discuss the price of an la ngôti, and still the robbers were not satis- article in the presence of a purchaser, they use an fied, but ordered them to dance !
enigmatic form of language. "What is the price There was, among the ten merchants, one of this cloth P" one trader will ask another. who was very intelligent. He pondered over Puli rupees," another will reply, meaning the calamity that had come upon him and his “ten rapees." Thus, there is no possibility of friends, the dance they would have to perform, the purchaser knowing what is meant unless
