Elsewhere in the same district I heard of another man, a villager, who had mastered a Yaksanī (female Yakā), and who made her perform work for him. In appearance she was an ordinary female, and the man’s wife was unaware of her true character, as he had not informed her of it, being afraid of alarming her. The man kept the Yaksanī under control by means of a magic iron nail, which he had driven in the crown of her head. One day during his absence she went to her mistress, and told her that a thorn had run into her head while she was carrying firewood on it, and that she was unable to draw it out. The woman extracted the nail for her, and the Yaksanī, being then free, killed the family, and escaped.
In Folk-Lore of Southern India (Naṭēśa Sāstrī), p. 272—Tales of the Sun, p. 285—there is a story of a landowner who learnt an incantation by means of which he summoned a Brahma-Rākshasa, who became his servant, at the same time informing him that if he failed to provide work the Rākshasa would kill him. Everything he could think of was done in an incredibly short time—tank repaired and deepened, lands all cultivated—and there being nothing more to be done the wife gave the demon a hair of her head to straighten. He failed to do it, but remembering that goldsmiths heated wires when about to straighten them, he placed the hair on a fire, which burnt it up. He was afraid to face his mistress after it, so he ran away.
Regarding the thorn in the demon’s head, see No. 20.
[1] Grewia tiliaefolia (?). [↑]