Amal Biso is a Sri Lankan folktale about a girl abandoned by her human parents in the fields, when a pair of birds (cranes or storks) fly down to rescue her. She is raised by the birds and, later, goes to borrow some fire source from a demon neighbour that trails after the girl, intent to devour her, but, failing that, the demon neighbour plants a fingernail on the door to the girl's house. The fingernail prickles her skin and she falls into a swoon. Variants of the tale are known in Sri Lanka and in India.
Translations The tale was also translated to Russian as "Амаль Бисо" ("Amal Biso")."Сингальские сказки" [Singalese Fairy Tales]. Составители [Compilers]: Ольга Солнцева, Борис Волхонский. Moskva: Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства «Наука», 1985. pp. 276-278 (Russian translation), 521 (source for tale nr. 113), 535 (classification for tale nr. 113).
Summary A Gamarala and his pregnant wife go to an orchard to gather cucumbers. Suddenly, the woman gives birth to a girl, and orders her husband to protect the baby and bring it home. The man forgets the girl in the fields, but a couple of cranes (storks in the Russian translation) fly in and take her to raise as their child. They name the girl Amal Biso. One day, the storks say they have to leave, for they plan to gift her with golden earrings and bracelets, and ask the girl to watch over their animals, a parrot, a dog and a cat, and to mind the house. After they leave, the girl feeds the animals correctly.
Some days later, she gives the cat only half of its rations and the feline puts out the fire. The girl asks the parrot to search for smoke signals, and the bird spots smoke coming from a house in the distance, which belongs to a rakshasa, although they do not know it. Amal Biso goes to fetch some fire source in the rakshasa's house and meets its wife, a rakshasi. The creature asks her to husk the rice, then to fill broken jars with water, which the girl performs, and the rakshasi gives some ashes in a hollowed out coconut husk, which makes a trail of ashes back to her house.
The rakshasa returns home and his wife directs him to Amal Biso's house by following the trail of ashes. The rakshasa knocks on the door and pretends to be the girl's parents, but first the dog, then the cat warn her not to open the door. The rakshasa kills both animals for ruining its plans, and tries again to trick the girl. A "murungag" tree warns her not to do it, which the rakshasa cuts down. Then, the firewood and the ashes themselves warn Amal Biso not to open the door, and the rakshasa burns the wood and tosses the ashes in the river. Finally, the river itself warns Amal Biso not to open the door, when the rakshasa tries to drink the water, but drinks too much and suffocates. The stork parents return and ask her to open the door. The parrot is with them and repeats the request. Amal Biso opens the door and is gifted gold earrings and bracelets by the storks."Сингальские сказки" [Singalese Fairy Tales]. Составители [Compilers]: Ольга Солнцева, Борис Волхонский. Moskva: Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства «Наука», 1985. pp. 276-278 (Russian translation), 521 (source for tale nr. 113), 535 (classification for tale nr. 113).
Analysis Tale type The tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type AaTh 709A, "The Stork's Daughter": a girl is abandoned in the forest, but a flock of storks find her and raise her in a nest; the heroine, who has been living with her brothers, has to find a source of fire with a neighbour, since her fire has been put out, and finds a ghoul (or ogress) that gives her one; later, the ghoul or ogress comes after her, and, although it is killed, one of its nails (or tooth) pierces the heroine's skin and she falls in a death-like state; her body is preserved in a glass case by the storks, until she is eventually brought back to life by a prince, who marries her.Aarne, Antti; Thompson, Stith. The types of the folktale: a classification and bibliography. Folklore Fellows Communications FFC no. 184. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1961. p. 246. Alternatively, the birds themselves revive their daughter by removing the nail.
However, German scholar Hans-Jörg Uther, in his 2004 revision of the international index, revised the tale type "The Stork's Daughter" and renamed it "The Sister of Nine Brothers". In the revised typing, the heroine is either adopted by the birds, or goes in search of her human nine brothers; both openings lead into the episode of borrowing fire from the ogre.
Motifs According to Stith Thompson and study of motifs of Indian literature and oral folklore, the tale contains the motifs B463.4., "Helpful crane"; B535.0.7.1. "Stork as nurse for child", and B535.0.7.2. "Crane as nurse for child".Thompson, S., Balys, J. (1958). The oral tales of India. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 73, 76.
Variants In his 1961 revision of the tale type index, American folklorist Stith Thompson indicated 9 variants of the type, found only in India.Aarne, Antti; Thompson, Stith. The types of the folktale: a classification and bibliography. Folklore Fellows Communications FFC no. 184. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1961. p. 246. Hence, Thompson and Warren Roberts's work Types of Indic Oral Tales links this tale type "exclusively" to South Asia.Islam, Mazharul. Folklore, the Pulse of the People: In the Context of Indic Folklore. Concept Publishing Company, 1985. pp. 165-166. In addition, according to A. K. Ramanujan, variants of type 709A ("abandoned girl raised by a bird") exist in Kannada, Konkani, Tamil and Telugu.
According to Christine Shojaei-Kawan, in Enzyklopädie des Märchens, the revised tale type is attested in Bulgaria, Turkey and among the Arabs, besides South Asia, and may be preceded by the episode of the birds kidnapping the heroine and raising her.Kawan, Christine Shojaei. "Schneewittchen (AaTh/ATU 709)" [Snow White (ATU 709)]. In: Enzyklopädie des Märchens Band 12: Schinden, Schinder – Sublimierung. Edited by Rudolf Wilhelm Brednich; Hermann Bausinger; Wolfgang Brückner; Daniel Drascek; Helge Gerndt; Ines Köhler-Zülch; Lutz Röhrich; Klaus Roth. De Gruyter, 2016 . p. 133. .
Sri Lanka The Black Storks' Girl Author Henry Parker collected a Sri Lankan tale titled The Black Storks' Girl, from the Northwest Province. In this tale, a man and a woman live together, his cutting jungle in meadow and her weaving baskets. One day, returning from the jungle, he finds an orchard of Kaekiri creepers and eats one. He returns home and his wife notices he ate some fruits. She decides to accompany him to the orchard to eat some Kaekiri. The woman gives birth there to a daughter, and they fill a bag with Kaekiri fruits. They take the bag home and abandon the girl there. A couple of black storks (Mānā) spot the baby midflight and take her to raise as their own child in their house. Years later, the storks announce they will fly to bring golden ornaments for her, and tell her to look after the dog, the cat and the parrot by feeding them correctly, to not let the fire be put out and to not leave the house. After the birds fly, the girl follows their instructions correctly for the first days, but forgets to give the cat its correct portions and it urinates on the hearth. The girl notices the fire is gone and goes to search for another source. The parrot sights a house in the distance that belongs to a Rakshasa family. The girl enters the house and asks to borrow some fire source from the Rakshasa's wife, who agrees to let her have it. After husking the paddy rice and cooking it, the Rakshasa's wife gives the girl a hollowed out coconut shell that drops ashes to mark the path. The Rakshasa returns home to his wife, learns of the human girl and follows the trail of ashes to the storks' house, intent on devouring her. The parrot sights the Rakshasa's coming and bids the girl enters the house quickly. After locking the door, the Rakshasa pretends to be the stork parents to trick the girl into opening the door, but animals warn her it is a trap: first the parrot, then the dog and lastly the cat. The Rakshasa tries to kill the parrot, but it escapes to the forest; he then kills the dog and the cat for their interference. After the animals die, the Gam-Murungā tree (Moringa pterygosperma) next to the house alerts the girl not to open the door. The Rakshasa cuts dwn the tree, but its logs alert the girl, so he burns the logs to ashes and throws them in the river. Still, the river warns the girl of the deception, so the Rakshasa tries to drink up the water and bursts. The black storks return and bring gifts for their human daughter.Parker, Henry. Village folk-tales of Ceylon. Volume 1. London: Luzac & Co., 1910. pp. 120-124.
Henry Parker also reported a tale provided by a Duraya from the Northwestern Province. In this variant, the Gamarala man and his Gama-Mahagē wife abandon their baby girl who is taken by storks. Later, the Rakshasa comes to her house and tries to enter, but the animals (the parrot, the cat and the dog) warn her not to open the door. The Rakshasa fails to kill the bird, but does away with the cat and the dog. Next, the Ash-plantain tree and the Katuru-Murungā tree help the girl. Defeated, the Rakshasa plants a fingernail on the lintel and another on the threshold, then leaves. The black storks parents come with gifts for their daughter, jewels and clothes. The parrot assures her now it is her bird parents, and she leaves the house, but her head and her feet touch the fingernails and she falls dead. The storks revive her by pulling the fingernails. At the end of the tale, the storks send her away, and the girl is taken in by a human woman in a chena.Parker, Henry. Village folk-tales of Ceylon. Volume 1. London: Luzac & Co., 1910. pp. 124-125.
In another variant reported by Parker, collected in the Western Province, the girl is abandoned by her Gamarala father and his wife (a Gama-Mahagē or Gama-Mahayiyā) in a field of Kaekiri fruits and found by crows and taken to their home in a cave. The girl is called Emal Bisawā, "Queen of the Flowers". The crows go to bring her pearls to decorate her, and advise her about the animals' food portions. The dog is the one to put out the fire, and the Emal Bisawa goes to the house of the Rakshasi (female Rakshasa) in search of fire. The Rakshasi's two daughters take her in, make her husk and cook the paddy rice and give her a coconut with a fire source. The Rakshasi goes after he girl and pretends to be the crows, but the Katuru-Murunga tree alerts her. The Rakshasi burns the tree, but its ashes keep alerting Emal Bisawa. After the tree is dealt with, the animals step forward to protect her: first the dog, then the cat, and lastly the parrot. Defeated, the Rakshasi plants two fingernails on the door frame and leaves. The crows returns with pearls and the parrot announces their arrival. Emal Bisawa goes to greet her parents, but brushes her skin on the fingernails and dies. The parrot laments her death.Parker, Henry. Village folk-tales of Ceylon. Volume 1. London: Luzac & Co., 1910. pp. 125-126.