“For those cakes I will teach the Gamarāla a trick,” that poor man said to the Gamarāla. “The husband of the woman who fried the cakes has gone to his village. The woman is now connected with another man. Every day the man having come at night taps at the door when he comes. After she has asked from inside the house, ‘Who is it?’ he makes a grunt, ‘Hum.’ Then having opened the door he is given by her to eat and drink. To-day she will give the cakes made for the Gamarāla.
“After the Gamarāla has gone at night in that manner, and tapped at the door, she will ask, ‘Who is it?’ Then say, ‘Hum.’ Then she will open the door. Having gone into the house without speaking, she will give to eat and drink. Having eaten and drunk, and been there a little time, open the door and come away.” Thus the poor man taught his lesson to the Gamarāla.
In that manner, the Gamarāla having gone after it became night, tapped at the house door.[1] “Who is it?” she asked. “Hum,” he said. Then having opened the door and taken the Gamarāla into the house, she gave him cakes and sweetmeats to eat.
As he was eating them, some one else having come taps at the door. The Gamarāla became afraid. “Don’t be afraid,” she said, and sent the Gamarāla to the corn loft [under the roof of the house, at the level of the top of the side walls].
Having sent him there she asked, “Who tapped at the door?” “Hum,” he said. Then she opened the door, and after she had looked it was the Tambi-elder-brother,[2] who was trading in the village. She got him also into the house, and gave him sweetmeats to eat.
When a little time had gone, again some one tapped at the door. Then the Tambi-elder-brother, having become afraid, prepared to run off without eating the sweetmeats. “Don’t be afraid,” she said, and she put the Tambi also in another part of the corn loft [and he lay down].
Having come back, after she had opened the door and looked, it was the man of the house who, having been to the village, had come back. She gave him water to wash his face, hands, and feet. After he had finished washing, she gave him cakes and the like to eat, and water to drink. The man afterwards lay down to sleep.
When a little time had gone, the man who went first to the corn loft, the Gamarāla, asked for water, saying, “Water, water.” Then the man of the house having opened his eyes, asked, “What is speaking in the corn loft?”
“When you went to the village, as you were away a long time, I made an offering of a leaf-cup of water to the deity. Perhaps the deity is asking for it now,” she said.
Then the man told her to put a coconut in the corn loft. So the woman put a coconut in the corn loft.