The bell lay in the
jungle till some monkeys picked it up, and amused themselves by
constantly ringing it. The townspeople found the bones of the man, and
heard the noise of the bell all about the hills; so they gave out that
there was a terrible devil there, whose ears rang like bells as he swung
them about, and whose delight was to devour men. Every one, accordingly,
was leaving the town, when a peasant woman named Karala, who liked
belief the better for a little proof, came to the Rajah.
'Highness!' she observed, 'for a consideration I could settle this
Swing-ear.'
'You could!' exclaimed the Rajah.
'I think so!' repeated the woman.
'Give her a consideration forthwith,' said the Rajah.
"Karala, who had her own ideas upon the matter, took the present and set
out. Being come to the hills, she made a circle, and did homage to
Gunputtee,[13] without whom nothing prospers. Then, taking some fruit
she had brought, such as monkeys love extremely, she scattered it up and
down in the wood, and withdrew to watch. Very soon the monkeys finding
the fruit, put down the bell, to do justice to it, and the woman picking
it up, bore it back to the town, where she became an object of uncommon
veneration.
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