XXIV.

RETALIATION- PALIKKUPPALI.

There is a proverb in Tâmil called Palikkuppalivangukiradu which would best be translated by theexpression" tit for tat," and the following story Iheard when a boy from my step- mother, illustratingthat proverb, and I have of late found the samestory also in the Trichinopoly districts.

In a certain village there lived a poor S'ûdra. Hehad made a vow to the goddess of his village, thatif he came out successfully in a certain undertakinghe would offer her a couple of goats. And hesucceeded in his undertaking, and thought that hisgoddess alone had granted his request. Great washis joy and greater became his faith in her extraor-dinary powers.And as he promised he brought twofat goats and sacrificed them to her.

These goats thus sacrificed and the S'ûdra sacri-ficer who meanwhile had died by a sudden fever,after a short time were all re- born in the world toundergo the results of their goodness or sin. Thetwo goats, because they were sacrificed to the