They keep their hands one over the other, the palm downwards, and the leader strokes each hand saying, "Aturu muturu, demita muturu Râjakapuru hetiyâ aluta genâ manamâli hâl atak geralâ, hiyala getat bedâla pahala getat bedâlâ, us us daramiti péliyayi, miti miti daramiti péliyayi, kukalâ kapalâ dara pillê, kikili kapalâ veta mullê, sangan pallâ," (Aturu muturu demita muturu; the new bride that the merchant, Râjakapuru, brought, having taken a handful of rice, cleansed it and divided it to the upper and lower house; a row of tall faggots; a row of short faggots; the cock that is killed is on the threshold; the hen that is killed is near the fence; sangan pallâ); one hand is next kept on the owner's forehead and the other at the stomach and the following dialogue ensues:--
Q.--Nalalé monavâda--What is on the forehead?
Q.--Elwaturen hêduvâda--Did you wash it in cold water?
Q.--Kiren hêduvâda--Did you wash it in milk?
(The hand on the forehead is now taken down).
Q.--Badêinne mokada--What is at your stomach?
A.--Kiri batuyi netuva--For want of milk and rice.
Q.--Kô man dunna kiri batuyi--Where is the milk and rice I gave?
A.--Ballayi belalî kêvâ--The dog and the cat ate it.
Q.--Kô ballayi belali--Where is the dog and the cat?
A.--Lindê vetuna--They fell into the well.
A.--Ândiyâ pela hittevvâ,--There ândiyâ plants were planted.
Q.--Kô ândiyâ pela--Where are the ândiyâ plants?
A.--Tampalâ vattata issâ--They were thrown into the tampalâ (Nothosocruva brachiata) garden.
Then the leader pinches the other's cheek and jerks his head backward and forward singing "Tampalâ kâpu hossa genen (give me the jaw that ate the tampalâ).
Story telling is the intellectual effort of people who have little used or have not acquired the art of writing. A story is told for amusement by mothers to their children, or by one adult to another, while guarding their fields at night in their watch hut or before lying down to sleep after their night meal. At each pause during the narration, the listener has to say "hum" as an encouragement to the narrator that he is listening; and every tale begins with the phrase "eka mathaka rata" (in a country that one recalls to mind) and ends with the statement that the heroes of the Story settled down in their country and the narrator returned home.