A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
At his new wife’s demand, a man removes his daughter’s eyes and abandons her tied to a forest tree. Her younger brother finds the eyes and, guided by the family dog, rescues her. After bathing her, he invokes their identity as her eyes and they are renewed better than before. A king later marries her, and she bears a son.
Her father and stepmother return with cakes made from snake eggs. When the stepmother smears some on her mouth, she becomes a female cobra and enters an ant-hill. Her brother’s appeal to a golden Kaekiri fruit brings her out in human form to nurse and wash her baby before returning as a snake. The king finally cuts the cobra in two: one piece falls into the ant-hill and the other remains as the queen. She and the king then kill her persecutors by sending them boxes of snakes. These transformations and violent remedies are narrative events, not biological claims or medical practices.
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. 13, The Golden Kaekiri Fruit, pp. 129–134
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. 13, The Golden Kaekiri Fruit, pp. 129–134
Complete tale and all printed notes read. Restored eyes, intermittent human/cobra form, divided-body ending, named daughter and rat tunnel are kept in their respective narratives. No invented original script or personal name for unnamed siblings.
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. 13, The Golden Kaekiri Fruit, pp. 129–134Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.