Nari Bena ( The Jackal Son-In-Law )
A farmer and his wife lived near the edge of a forest. They had a very beautiful daughter. One day, the farmer said, “Wife, I think our daughter is ready for marriage.”
“I’ll tell everyone in the village it is time for our daughter to marry,” said his wife. “She’s very beautiful. The boys will come by the hundreds. There’ll be no problem picking a suitable husband.”
And sure enough, hundreds of young men came to see the farmer’s daughter. But the girl was a vain as she was beautiful. She found fault with every one of the young men who come to see her.
“His ears are too big,” she said of one.
“His eyes are too small,” she said of another.
“His too thin, he’s too thin, he’s too short, he’s too fat, he’s too poor.” Her complaints went on and on.
Then, one day, her mother got very angry. “You’re the most useless daughter a mother could have,” she cried.
“You seem to think that just because you’re beautiful you can act like a princess. I’m going to give you to the jackal for a bride.”
In Sri Lanka the jackal is said to be the lowest and most cunning of all animals. To give something to the jackal shows how worthless it is.
Now it so happened that as a farmer’s wife has scolding her daughter, a jackal, who lived in the forest, was passing by. He heard that the farmer’s wife was saying and decided it would be nice to have a beautiful human bride, even if she were vain. And here was the perfect chance.
So he knocked on the door of the hut. When the farmer’s wife opened the door what did she see but a jackal standing up on hind legs, bowing low.
“I’ve come to marry your daughter,” he said politely, “I’ve heard that it’s your wish that your daughter should become a jackal’s bride.”
Now people always kept their word in Sri Lanka in those days, and the jackal knew it. So, although the farmer and his wife hated it, they had to agree to the jackal marrying their daughter.
The girl cried as though her heart would break but it was of no use. She was married to the jackal and people came from far and wide to see the jackal son-in-law.
After they were married, the jackal took his bride to his home in the forest. It was a large and beautiful house set in a clearing. The jackal treated his wife well. She had plenty to eat, beautiful clothes and many animals to look after her. But she was unhappy. Wouldn’t you be unhappy if you were married to a jackal? The jackal was pleased that he had been clever enough to get himself a human bride.
Back at the edge of the forest the farmer’s wife was very sad. Although her daughter was silly and vain, she loved her and wanted her back. Then one day she hit upon a way which the could get her back and yet not break their word.
“But you gave your word,” the farmer cried when she told him she wanted her daughter back home again.
“And we kept it,” his wife cried. “We gave her as a bride, because that is what I said when I was angry with her, and our agreement with the jackal was that he could have her as a bride, but that does not mean that he can kept her for a wife.”
Finally, the farmer agreed that they would not be breaking their word, and they mad a plan to get their daughter back. It was a custom time that one month after the wedding, the parents would visit their daughter in her new home and bring her a chest full of her dowry.
One month passed, and the farmer and his wife and all their relatives went to visit the girl and the jackal son-in-law. With them they took a huge chest.
The jackal and his bride were both very glad to see them. The girl was happy because she was very lonely with no other humans to talk to, and the jackal was happy because he saw a huge chest full of her dowry. “My parents-in-law must like me a lot,” he thought.
He had the chest put in his room, and the door locked so no one would disturb him when he had a look inside. He opened the lid, and out jumped the biggest and most fierce-looking dog the jackal had ever seen. In one bound and with a horrible howl, the dog leapt on the jackal and killed him.
The farmer and his wife rejoiced. They took their daughter back home. She became an obedient and loving girl after this terrible experience. And she was soon married to one of the wealthiest and most handsome of her suitor.
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