At p. 227 there is an account of a caterpillar boy who at night took off his outer skin and went to dance. The Princess who had selected and married him burnt his skin one night, and he retained his Prince’s form afterwards.
[1] Beds are often made by a number of split canes laid longitudinally and fastened at the ends of the frame, with transverse canes interlaced through them. Coir strings (of coconut fibre) are also used. A grass mat is laid over the canes or strings. [↑]
[2] See the description of the circular corn store, opened by raising the roof, in the Introduction, vol. i, p. 10. [↑]
[3] Waru hantiya, end of the stack-like roof. [↑]
[4] That is, they all go together, the men preceding the women. [↑]
[5] I never heard of an instance of a python’s swallowing a human being in Ceylon. Cases are known of their seizing dogs and deer; one which was brought to me had just killed the largest he-goat of a flock; it was eighteen feet long. In the story No. 72 in vol. i, a python is stated to have seized a boy who had rescued a jackal which it had caught. [↑]