Concerning a Monk and a Yaka

スリランカ(Sri Lanka) ／本文の言語英語／原話の言語 si ／出典の刊年 1910 ／ 358 語

出典と権利

出典の本	Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume 1
提供	Project Gutenberg ／ https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56614
採集・編者	Henry Parker
翻訳	Henry Parker
刊年の根拠	扉に『LONDON LUZAC & CO … 1910』
権利状態	Public Domain (United States)(US)／確認日 2026-09-14
地図上の位置	緯度 7.9 / 経度 80.7(精度 `culture_region`)。話の舞台でも採集地でもなく、この本が扱う文化圏のおおよその中心である。

本文

Project Gutenberg の本文から、PG のヘッダ・フッタ・商標文言を除いたもの。段落は原文のままである。

A monk, tying a Yaka [by magical spells] gets work from him. For seven years he got work. Then the time having come for the Yaka to go, the Yaka every day having gone near the monk says, "Monk, tell me a work [to do]."

The monk said one day, "In Galgamuwa tank there will be seven islands. Having gone there and planed them down, come back." After that, the Yaka having gone and planed the tank, and having very quickly come, said at the hand of the monk, "Monk, tell me a work."

Then the monk said, "Having cut a well of seven fathoms, and having cut a Damunu [147] tree, and removed the splinters, and put it down to the bottom of a well, and tied a creeper noose to the Damunu stick, you are to draw it up [from inside the well] to the ground."

Afterwards the Yaka having cut a well of seven fathoms, and cut a Damunu tree, and removed the bark from it, and tied a creeper noose to it, and put the Damunu stick to the bottom of the well, the Yaka sitting on the ground holding the creeper noose tried to draw it out. He could not draw it. When he was drawing it, because there was slime on the Damunu stick he was unable to draw it out.

On account of the time during which the Yaka had been delayed near the well, the monk being afraid of the Yaka, the monk went backwards and backwards for three gawwas (twelve miles). The Yaka having pushed against the monk for so much time, and having got a bill-hook also, on the road he drove him (the monk) away. Having gone there [afterwards] to kill the monk, he met with the monk. After that, the Yaka threw the bill-hook, so that having cut the monk with it he would die. After he had thrown it, the bill-hook was behind, [148] and the monk was in front [of it]. On account of that, the name [of the place] there became Kaettaepahuwa [a village twenty-one miles from Kurunaegala, on the road to Anuradhapura].

本に付いていた註

Kinnara. North-western Province.



This story is known throughout the district to the north of
Kurunaegala. The explanation of the Damunu tree incident which was
given to me is that the monk, being unable to find enough work for
the Yaka, gave him this task as one that would provide occupation for
him for a long time. When the bark is freshly removed, the Damunu
sticks are extremely slippery. The creeper was tied at one end in
a ring which was passed over the smooth stem of the tree. When the
Yaka endeavoured to raise the tree by pulling at the creeper, the
ring slipped up the stem instead of raising the tree.



Elsewhere in the same district I heard of another man, a villager,
who had mastered a Yaksani (female Yaka), 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 Yaksani 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 Yaksani, being then free, killed
the family, and escaped.



In Folk-Lore of Southern India (Natesa Sastri), 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-Rakshasa, who
became his servant, at the same time informing him that if he failed
to provide work the Rakshasa 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.

緊張のうつりかわり

本文を 12 等分し、張りつめた語(死・血・恐れ・剣…)から和らいだ語(祝い・眠り・婚礼…)を引いて、話の中で 0〜1 に均したもの。自前の辞書である。翻訳を経た本文を測っているので、これは原話ではなくこの訳の性質である。

縦は緊張度(この話の中での相対値。話をまたいで比べられる量ではない)、横は本文の進行。上端の小さな字は、その区画で不釣り合いに多く出た出来事語である。

出来事の並び(数え上げ)

区画ごとに、コーパス全体の出現率に対して不釣り合いに多く出た引き金語を採っている。生の回数で採ると、`father`/`mother` を持つ Family がほぼ全区画で勝つ(実測)。

Journey→Encounter→Journey

似ている民話

多言語 Embedding のコサイン近傍。類似度は歴史的な起源や伝播を証明する値ではない。同じ本の話は文体を共有するぶん必ず似るので、そう分かるよう印を付けてある。

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5	The Seven Princesses	スリランカ	0.918	同じ本
6	Mongan’s Frenzy	アイルランド	0.918	別の本
7	Lonopuha; Or, Origin of the Art of Healing in Hawaii	ハワイ	0.918	別の本
8	Strike but Hear	ベンガル	0.918	別の本
9	The Kule-baka Flowers	スリランカ	0.916	同じ本
10	The Man who wished to be Perfect	ベンガル	0.916	別の本
11	Tamarind Tikka	スリランカ	0.916	同じ本
12	The White Turtle	スリランカ	0.915	同じ本

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