Once upon a time, a Pandyan King had a silver vessel of enormous size made for the use of the palace, and superstitiously believed that its first contents should not be of an ordinary kind. So he ordered his minister to publish abroad that all his subjects were to put into the vessel a chembu-full of milk from each house. The frugal Komatis, hearing of this, thought, each to himself, that, as the king had ordered such a large quantity, and others would bring milk, it would suffice if they took a chembu-full of water, as a little water poured into such a large quantity of milk would not change its colour, and it would not be known that they only contributed water. All the Komatis accordingly each brought a chembu-full of water, and none of them told the others of the trick he was about to play. But it so happened that the Komatis were the first to enter the palace, while they thought that the people of other castes had come and gone. The vessel was placed behind a screen, so that no one might cast the evil eye on it, and the Komatis were let in one by one. This they did in all haste, and left with great joy at the success of their trick. Thus there was nothing but water in the vessel. Now it had been arranged that the king was to be the first person to see the contents of his new vessel, and he was thunderstruck to find that it contained only water. He ordered his minister to punish the Komatis severely. But the ready-witted Komatis came forward, and said "Oh! gracious King, appease thy anger, and kindly listen to what we have to say. We each brought a chembu-full of water, to find out how much the precious vessel will hold. Now that we have taken the measurement, we will forthwith fetch the quantity of milk required." The king was exceedingly pleased, and sent them away. A story is told to the effect that, when a Komati was asked to identify a horse about which a Muhammadan and Hindu were quarrelling, he said that the fore-part looked like the Muhammadan's, and the hind-part like the Hindu's. Another story is told of a Komati, who when asked by a Judge what he knew about a fight between two men, deposed that he saw them standing in front of each other and speaking in angry tones when a dust-storm arose. He shut his eyes, and the sound of blows reached his ears, but he could not say which of the men beat the other. Of proverbs relating to the Komatis, the following may be noted:-- A Brahman will learn if he suffers, and a Komati will learn if he is ruined. If I ask whether you have salt, you say that you have dhol (a kind of pulse). Like the burning of a Komati's house, which would mean a heavy loss.