This is one of the stories related of Mariyada Rāman (translation by Mr. P. Ramachandra Rao, p. 11), in which four dealers in cotton reared a cat, each one owning one leg. The judgment was that given by the King in the Sinhalese version. This form of the story is known in Ceylon, and was related by a Tom-tom Beater of the interior of the North-western Province.
No. 99
Concerning a Horse
A man, taking a horse, went on its back. When so going the [skin on the] horse’s back was broken, An oil trader, when coming on that path taking oil, having seen that [the skin on] this horse’s back was broken, smeared a little of that oil on it, and went away. Still [another] man having come, when he looked [saw that] a horse had fallen down. When the man looked at it he saw that the [skin on the] back was broken, and that man, taking a great many large rags, bandaged the back well, for it to become strong. Having bandaged it, and having further poured a little oil on it, he went away. Near the path on which was the horse a man cut a chena, and set fire to the chena. When it was blazing some fire-sparks having come and fallen on the oil-rags on this horse’s back, the fire seized the horse. Having seized it, when [the rags were] burning it was unable to get up [at first]. The horse having got up, and gone running, jumped into a citronella (paengiri) garden, and while it was running there and here, the fire seized the citronella plants, and the citronella plants burnt completely. The man who owned that citronella garden went near the King for the law-suit. Having gone, he said to the King, “O Lord, Your Majesty, a horse, which having broken [the skin of] its back was wrapped with oil-rags, having jumped into my citronella garden, the citronella garden was totally burnt.” Having said this he instituted the action.