A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
In the principal North-western Province account, a couple abandons their newborn daughter rather than leave behind a bag of fruit. A male Black Stork, Mānā, and female, Mānī, discover her and raise her in a household with a parrot, dog and cat. When she is older they leave to obtain gold bracelets and anklets, instructing her to feed the animals properly and keep the hearth fire alight.
A fire-seeking errand exposes the girl to a Rākshasa, but a chain of warning animals, tree and river prevents her admitting him. The storks return with the ornaments. In a separate Durayā version they remove the monster’s nails from her head and foot, restoring her after collapse; a fourth version ends with their consenting after a man has taken her away. Parker’s Western Province variant instead uses crow foster parents and names the girl Emal Bisawā. These regional differences are not a single sequence of events, and the English bird label is not independently resolved to a modern species.
Origins & earliest records
Sri Lankan narratives collected and translated by H. Parker
Records & interpretation
Complete tale and all its printed variants/comparative notes read; relevant introduction passages on collection and translation directly read.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume I
No. 12, The Black Storks’ Girl, pp. 120–128
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Primary records and illustrations
Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume I
Volume I. No. 12, The Black Storks’ Girl, pp. 120–128
Full printed section read including all regional variants and comparative notes; missing passage from truncated initial output reread. Introduction’s collection/translation paragraphs directly inspected, not claimed as a full reading of its long ethnographic survey. Regional outcomes and narrator attributions kept separate.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical collected oral narrative translationParker, Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon I — No. 12, The Black Storks’ Girl, pp. 120–128Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.