Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/383

Rh of his eyesight in one demand, that he granted all his desires. Rh

An old Kōmati observed a thief at dead of night lurking under a pomegranate tree, and cried out to his wife to bring him a low stool. On this he seated himself in front of the thief, and bawled out for hot water, which his wife brought him. Pretending that he was suffering from severe tooth -ache, he gargled the water, and spat it out continuously at the wondering thief. This went on till daybreak, when he called out his neighbours, who captured the thief, and handed him over to the police. Rh A Kōmati was on his way to the weekly market, with his plate of cakes to sell there. A couple of thieves met him when he was half way there, and, after giving him a severe thrashing, walked off with the cakes. The discomfited Kōmati, on his way back home with the empty plate, was met by another Kōmati going to market with his cakes. The latter asked how the demand for cakes was at the market, and the former replied " Why go to the market, when half-way people come and demand your cakes?" and passed on. The unsuspecting Kōmati went on, and, like the other, was the recipient of a sound thrashing at the hands of the thieves. Rh A number of Kōmatis went one day to a temple. One of them put one of his fingers into the navel of the image of Vināyakan (the elephant god) at the gateway, when a scorpion, which was inside it, stung him. Putting his finger to his nose, the Kōmati remarked "What