Retribution visits one who ruthlessly destroys the clay nest of the mason wasp (kumbalâ); a ran kumbalâ builds a nest with lime when a boy is to be born in the house and a metikumbalâ with clay when a girl.
Winged termites issue in swarms in the rainy season and prognosticate a large catch of fish. Spiders were fishermen in a previous existence and the mantis religiosa (dara kettiyâ) a fire-wood thief.
Bugs infest a house when misfortune is impending and crickets (reheyyô) stridulate till they burst.
It is lucky to have ants carrying their eggs about a house, but it is unlucky for the head of the house when large black ants enter it.
When a person is in a bad temper it is sarcastically said that a large sized red ant has broken wind on him.
The small red myriapod (kanvêyâ) causes death by entering the ear.
Every new born child has a louse on its head which is not killed but thrown away or put on another’s head.
As the finger is taken round the bimûrâ (a burrowing insect,) it dances to the couplet “bim ûrâ bim ûrâ tôt natâpiya, mât nattanan.” (Bimûrâ bimûrâ, you better dance and I too shall dance.)
Butterflies go on a pilgrimage from November to February to Adam’s Peak against which they dash themselves and die in sacrifice.
Centipedes run away when their name is mentioned; they are as much affected as the man they bite.