A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
In the principal North-western Province tale, a Gam-Murungā tree warns a girl not to open the door to a Rākshasa pretending to be her foster parent. Cutting it down does not silence it: the logs repeat the warning, then the ashes speak after he burns them. When he throws the ashes into the river, the water takes up the same warning, prompting his fatal attempt to drink it all.
Parker’s footnote identifies the principal tree with the historical botanical name Moringa pterygosperma. His variants mention an Ash-plantain and Katuru-Murungā, and the Western Province telling retains speech from the latter’s ashes but ends differently. The principal story explicitly transfers the warning to water; it does not describe the tree becoming a walking human or the girl’s reincarnated parent.
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. 123–126
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. 123–126
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. 123–126Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.