Oasis Damahana – Balangoda

A folk tale is a story originating among the people and handed down by them. There are many folk tales in Sri Lanka. Here is one of them. This story is about the weaver bird.
Long ago, there was a skilled basket weaver. He was able to weave beautiful cane baskets. One day one of his friends came to his house and admired the beautiful baskets. Then he asked the weaver whether he could teach this craft to his son. Then the weaver gave the following reply.
“I can teach him how to weave, but he will have to help me in my work.” He agreed to that condition and after one week his son came to the weaver’s house and began to work with him. Everyday, the boy had to go to the jungle and bring back some cane. It was a very difficult task. But he did everything happily. Within a short time the boy learnt to weave beautiful baskets. He could work faster than the weaver.
The weaver was jealous of the boy. One night, the weaver killed the boy. God Sacra saw it. He was very angry. He disguised himself as an old man and came to the weaver’s house.
“Why did you kill that innocent boy?” he asked. The weaver thought for a while and decided to tell the truth.
“I was jealous of the boy. So I killed him” he said.
“You told me the truth. You will be able to weave beautifully, but I am going to change you into a bird” said God Sacra, The old weaver looked sad.
“You killed your friend’s son. Your enemies will try to harm your young ones. You will have to work hard to protect them” God Sacra said. At once, the weaver vanished. In his place there was a little brown bird. That bird is the weaver bird. It has to work hard to make its nest safe for its young ones. The entrance to the nest is at the bottom, so snakes cannot get into the nest. The weaver bird is able to protect its young ones.