A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Two fugitive princes hide a turtle-dove shot by a Vaeddā hunter. Searching for his quarry, the hunter explains that eating its right half brings sovereignty immediately, while the left half brings it after seven years. Once he has left, the brothers cook and divide the bird accordingly. This is the second turtle-dove in the story: an earlier ordinary bird shot outside their father’s palace occasioned their exile, and the text does not identify the two birds as one being.

The elder brother is soon selected by a kneeling royal elephant and becomes king. The younger endures theft, enslavement and attempted drowning before his brother recognizes him and grants him a kingdom, explicitly after seven years. No jewel, retained bone or external soul is involved in the bird’s stated effect. Parker’s North-western Province telling keeps the right/left division, rather than the head/liver or separate-bird mechanisms in his comparative notes.

Bird whose right and left portions grant kingship at different timesVersion-specific collected narrative
01

Origins & earliest records

Sri Lankan narratives collected and translated by H. Parker

02

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.

  1. 01

    Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume I

    H. Parker (collector and translator) · 1910

    No. 7, The Turtle Dove, pp. 79–89; comparative notes pp. 89–92

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

Direct primary record

Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume I

Volume I. No. 7, The Turtle Dove, pp. 79–89; comparative notes pp. 89–92

Whole No.7, all comparisons and four footnotes read in two bounded sections. First ordinary turtle-dove distinguished from later sovereignty bird; dried fish’s revival mechanism not supplied by text.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical collected oral narrative translationParker, Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon I — No. 7, The Turtle Dove, pp. 79–89; comparative notes pp. 89–92Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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