Crocodile promised a wife

Overview

A solitary crocodile accepts a jackal’s offer to find it a wife and carries him across the river to arrange the match. The jackal instead spends each day feeding on a dead elephant and invents successive delays in the negotiations. After the carcass is finished and he is safely back on land, he admits the deception and leaves the crocodile without a bride.

Parker locates the telling in the North-western Province and says it is also known among Village Vaeddās. His note distinguishes an earlier printed version calling the animal an alligator and a Punjab comparison in which a jackal courts a female crocodile to reach fruit. This crocodile speaks and desires marriage but never takes human form, and the promised bride has no independent existence in the narrative.

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.

1. 01

   Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume I

   H. Parker (collector and translator) · 1910

   No. 32, The Crocodile’s Wedding, pp. 216–218

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

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. 32, The Crocodile’s Wedding, pp. 216–218Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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