The Blind Kōmati and Vishnu.
A blind Kōmati prayed to Vishnu for the restoration of his eyesight, and at last the god appeared before him, and asked him what he wanted. “Oh! God,” he replied, “I want to see from above the seventh storey of my mansion my great-grandsons playing in the streets, and eating their cakes from golden vessels.”
Vishnu was so astonished at the request of the blind man, which combined riches, issue, and the restoration of his eyesight in one demand, that he granted all his desires.
The Kōmati and the Thief.
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.
The Kōmati and his Cakes.
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.
The Kōmati and the Scorpion.
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 a fine smell! I have never experienced the like.” This induced another man to put his finger in, and he too was stung, and made similar pretence. All of them were thus stung in succession, and then consoled each other.
The Kōmati and the Milk Tax.