“The Jak fruit (Artocarpus integrifolia), one of the principal articles of food of the Sinhalese, was not even touched, as it was thought to be poisonous. The God Śakra [Indra] bethought himself of teaching mankind that Jak was not a deadly fruit, but an article of wholesome food.”
The story goes on to relate that, assuming the form of an old man, he got a woman to boil some Jak seeds for him, with injunctions not to eat them or she would die; but the smell being appetizing she first tasted one, and then ate a quantity.
[2] It is one of the greatest possible insults in the East to strike a person with a broom. Even demons are supposed to be afraid of being struck by it, and thus it is a powerful demon-scarer. [↑]
No. 2
The Sun, the Moon, and Great Paddy
In a certain country there are a woman and a man, it is said. There are also the children of those two persons, the elder brother and younger brother and elder sister. Well then, while these three persons were there, the man having died those children provided subsistence for the mother of the three.
One day the three persons went to join a party of friends in assisting a neighbour in his work.[1] That mother stayed at home. For that woman there was not a thing to eat. Should those persons bring food, she eats; if not, not.