Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume 1

Excerpt: INTRODUCTION When the forest and jungle of north-central or north-western Ceylon is viewed from the upper part of a hill of considerable height, it has the appearance of a dark green sea, across which, if there be any wind, waves closely resembling those of the ocean roll along in parallel lines as the swaying tree tops bend under the gusts of the breeze. As clouds pass between it and the sun their shadows of darker green follow each other over this seemingly illimitable ocean. The undulations of the ground are lost; all appears to be at one general level, except that here and there a little island is visible where a low rocky mound succeeds in raising its head above the verdant waves. The Black Storks’ Girl In a certain country there are a woman and a man, it is said. The man cuts jungle at a chena clearing; the woman is weaving a bag. After the man comes home, the woman asks, “Is the jungle cut yet?” The man says, “A couple of bushes are cut; is the bag woven?” The woman says, “A couple of rows are woven.” Continuing in that way, after the end of two or three days the man, while returning from cutting jungle, saw a Kaekiri creeper at a threshing-floor, and having come near, and seen that there was a fruit on it, plucked and ate it. A Kaekiri seed remained fixed in his beard. After he came home, the woman, seeing it, asked, “Where did you eat Kaekiri?” The man said, “When I was coming home there was a Kaekiri creeper at a threshing-floor on the way; on it there was a fruit. I ate it.” Then the woman said, “There will be more on that creeper. After I have woven the bag let us go there.” Afterwards, having gone with him to the threshing-floor, she saw that the Kaekiri creeper had spread completely over the floor, and that there were as many fruits as leaves. While plucking them, she bore a girl there. Afterwards, the man having plucked Kaekiri, and filled and tied up the bag, said to the woman, “Shall I take the girl, or shall I take the bag?” The woman told him to take the bag, leaving the girl there. So the girl was left at the threshing-floor, and the man and woman went home, taking the bag of fruit with them. Read more