Five flower-garden Nāga maidens

Overview

In the North-western Province variant printed after Parker’s No. 258, five Nāga maidens enter a king’s flower garden to pluck flowers. They hear a young man reciting Buddhist religious texts in a hut and remain listening until dawn. The narrator calls them Nāga-kanyāwō, glossed as Nāga maidens; no individual names or account of their serpent anatomy appears.

The reader is a prince whose elder brother has severed his hands and feet after a misleading accusation by the elder brother’s wife. An older woman carries him to the garden so he can catch the flower thieves. Before departing, the maidens propose to grant him powers. Four of them each restore a missing limb: two hands and two feet. This restoration is explicitly effected through their granted power, rather than a physician’s treatment.

The recovered man hides the fifth maiden’s robes, leaving her unable to depart with the others. Parker flags uncertainty about the exact expression used for the other four going away. No marriage is stated in this variant, nor does the maiden receive a later farewell or release. The king rewards the man because the garden’s flowers remain unplucked; he passes land and goods to the older woman and hides the money in his own thigh. The separate main tale has seven princesses, a powerful ring, grateful animals and a marriage after three tests. Those details should not be substituted for this five-maiden account.

Origins & earliest records

Tom-tom-beater narrator, North-western Province; individual unnamed

Records & interpretation

Complete No.258 main tale, Flower-Garden variant and all notes directly read.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume III

   H. Parker (collector and translator) · 1914

   The Flower-Garden Story, variant following No.258, pp.363–366 and notes; kept distinct from Western Province main tale pp.359–362.

Family & connections

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Primary records and illustrations

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Historical primary folklore collectionParker, Volume III — The Flower-Garden StoryResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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