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NOVEMBER, 1896.]
THE DEVIL WORSHIP OF THE TULUVAS.
297 .
Then she asked him :-"Why do you want a camel ? "
He replied :-"I take the palm-juice on the back of the camel. I take thirty maands of palm-juice every day. I cannot carry it on my head. Therefore the Balla! has given me a camel. He is very kind to me. I go to his budu thrice a day. If I do not go, the Ballal sends for me."
Then she said:-"Hear me, Sama Aļwa Beidya; you have loosened the bandages which were over my eyes. Therefore you must be my husband."
Then he said :-"O my child, I already told you, you are as my sister. I will call you Deyi Beidyadi. There is my sister's son, Sayana Baidya. He has three younger brothers. So I have four nephews. I will marry you to my oldest nephew, Sayana Beidya."
At this, she said :-" Beidya, you may do with me just as you please; I am at your mercy. When Brahma has written this on my forehead, what is the use of rcpining? If one's face is ugly, why blame the looking-glass?"
As they were thus speaking the sun rose to the meridian, and Sama Alwa, looking at the sun, said :-"It is getting late, my child; now come with me."
At this she said :-“Where else shall I go? I will follow you."
Then he slowly extricated her from the midst of the thorn-bushes, and they came to the place where the camel was. And he said to her :-"Child, stop here ncar the camel ; I will go and climb these palm-trees and take their juice."
So saying he went and climbed the trees and took their juice and poured it into his gourd, and then came down and poured it into the pots slung over the camels. Afterwards lie went with her and the camel to his house. While they were trudging on their way liome, the inmates of Sama Alwa's house became anxious.on account of bim. Said they :-“What has become of our uncle? He used to come early every day. To-day it is very late, and yet he is not returned."
Then the nephews called their mother and said :-“Mother, uncle has not yet come. What is the cause of this ?"
She replied :-“I do not know, my children." Then they said :-“We will go to the forest in search of him." "Wait a little," said she, "and he will soon return."
Then they came and stood in the open space before the house, and looking towards the east they saw the camel at a distance. Then they called their mother and said to her :"O mother, uncle is coming; we see his camel."
Sama Alwa's wife hearing this came out, and looking to the cast sho saw a woman coming behind the camel, and was as if thanderstruck and said :-" O Rama, O Brâhmâ, O my illfortune! What! Has my husband become a fool ?"
She thought that he had become enamoured of the girl on account of her beauty; and said moreover:-“She has deprived me of my bread. Why did not some plague take her ? My husband, looking at her beauty, has become mad on her account and has brought her here. How can I look at her face now? I do not know from what town she comes."
As she was thus bewailing her lot, speaking to herself, they appronched the house, and Sama Alwa's wife and his sister and her sons stood there before the house waiting for them. Then he said, pointing out his sister to the girl :-"See, my girl, that is my sister. She is to be your mother-in-law. Her eldest son, my nephew sayana Beidya, is to be your husband."
Then they came to the open space before the house where Sama Alwa's sister and nephews were. The nephews at once attended to the camel and unloaded it, and took the palm-juice and kept it on a raised platform in vessels. Then Sama Aļwa called his sister and said to
