The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-04
A FROG AND A FORTUNE.
Centuries Old Incident Brought For
ward in Lawsuit I'm CeyIon.
New York Tribune

New York Tribune.
A fortune worth many millions of dollars
once hung OH the life of bullfrog. The
frog died five centuries ago, and the story
might have died with it, except for law
SUIT which has now stirred up the whole
lawsuit, as published in The Times, of
Ceylon, the sad nature of the frogs death
Is portrayed, and still sadder facts
also made public which show how the for
tune went the way of the frog
The claimants to the fortune assert that
they have an ancestor who was veritable
Nimrod. On one occasion, they say, King
Parakrama Bahu vi, who ruled over Cey-
lon in the middle of the fifteenth century,
held a great athletic tournament, and in
yited all the archers to contest for prize.
Of those who entered this contest there
were two whose skill seemed to be equal
There was no target which they could
not hit. The King was at loss to decide
how TO bestow the prize, when a bulifrog
croaked loud and deep in a nearby pond.
At the sound the monarch leaped from his
throne and shouted:
There, therei The man who can kill
that frog shall win the prize"
The two contesting archers looked at the
pond. but saw no frog. The willy reptile
You must shoot by the sound" said
the King. Your eyes are equally keen.
This is a contest of ears
The first archer drew his string and at
the next croak he sped his arrow 1t dis
appeared beneath the water; but a few
moments later there came another croak.
lie dIIOW udu lllSSeO. linen the second
archer bent his bow, and with the second
croak still ringing in his ears he shot at
the invisible target The arrow plunged
into the water, but soon reappeared, float
ing upon the surface, transfixed in the body
of the frog. The reptile had croaked its
last.
Moved by his admiration for such a
marksman, the King presented him with a
tract of fifty thousand acres, including
several villages, and gave him as title to
the estate a "sannas, or copper plate, on
which were inscribed the terms of the gift.
For some reason or other so the present
claimants to this vast fortune say, the
copper plate was lost, and in order to SUBJ
stantiate their claim they had two school
teachers at Gale make another. This they
showed the court as Identical with the
''sannas" which King Parakrama Bahu VI
gave to the peerless frog killer.
AS this whole territory is crown
land, {. NJ. Fernando, who appeared for the
crown, took a shot at the claimants much
as their distinguished ancestor took at the
frog. According TO his arguments, the frog
was killed all right and the land was
granted by the King to the archer. The
fortune might have peacefully descended
from father to son in the family of the
famous frog killer had not one of them
turned traitor and been beheaded for favor
ing the British. AS the result of his I'M
timely end the land escheated TO the crown,
the ''sannas" was taken back and the for
tune lost.
According TO the dispatches from Cey-
lon, the judges who heard the case have not
yet rendered their decision. The two school
teachers, however, have been sentenced TO
five years at hard labor for forgery.