Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/91

 Collectanea. 79

In answer to the question, what becomes of the water after it is "cut" from the river at sunrise? I have found out that it is kept untouched in the temple for a year, and when new water is again " cut " and brought next year, the old " vintage " is put into a second^reserved vessel and used to cure diseases, act as charms, land-devil-dispellers, &c. But note that it is kept a year before using it in that way.

R. J. Drummond.

Belgravia, Talawakelle, Ceylon.

PuLi Raja, or the Tiger Prince.

A Hindu Folk-Tale from vSouth India. Recorded by M. N. Venkatasvami, M.R.A.S., and edited by W. Crooke.

There was once a King who, though he paid many a vow, had no heir. At last, in despair, his Queen urged him to retire to the forest. So he made over the kingdom to his Wazir and they went off to the forest, in which lived many tigers, but none of them harmed mankind. One day the Queen saw a tigress with her cubs, and she said, " Would that God would bestow on me even a tiger cub ! " And as she prayed her wish was granted, and in due time she bore a tiger cub, which they named Puli Raja, the Tiger Prince. They had a nice cage made and put him in it, and he was brought up there, and they did not go to see him for many a long day. But when at last they visited him he said, " It is time I were married. Get me a wife."

The King was much distressed at this, and consulted his Wazir. " Be not troubled," he answered. " Give me four bags of varas} and I will get him a bride." The King gave the money to the Wazir and he started off. By-and-by he came to an inn, so he went in to eat, and when he paid for his meals he opened the bags in the forecourt of the house and began counting the money. "Why have you brought this money?" the innkeeper asked. " I am come to buy a girl to be wife for the King's son." " Take my eldest daughter," said she. So he brought the girl back, and the King had a marriage booth made as high as the sky

' A coin worth about seven shillings.