The Tales of Gamarala are a series of stories from Sinhalese folklore in Sri Lanka. If you are surfing for funny stories or funny folktales, the tales of Gamarala would definitely fit in. Most importantly, the stories of Gamarala are ideal as stories for kids. Whether you are looking for funny stories for kids, short bedtime stories for kids, or maybe folktale stories with moral lessons, the stories of Gamarala will be ideal. Here comes the tale of how Gamarala went to heaven for your collection of folktales from around the world.
Once upon a time, there was a man called Gamarala on an island called Lanka. On that island, there were so many villages. They were beautiful villages with a lot of greenery. In a village like that, there was this person called Gamarala. Gamarala was not his name. It was the name of his post. He was the village chieftain. His wife was Gama-hamine or Gama-mahage. And he had a daughter. His house was called Gama-Gedara. Like most of the villagers, Gamarala was also an innocent farmer. He cultivated paddy in his fields. He used to go to the paddy field early in the morning.
One day, he woke up early and went to the paddy field. He saw that the paddy field had some marks. Gamarala looked closely.
“What are these marks? It seems the paddy has been tamped down. The marks are round and large,” Gamarala thought. He took a while and thought about what it could be. “It seems the mortar at my home left the house last night and walked on the paddy field,” Gamarala thought. A mortar is a big implement made out of a big, round cylindrical trunk of hard wood. (Villagers in Sri Lanka still use it to grind grains or remove the outer layer of the grains.)
Gamarala thought of a solution to this and worked in the paddy field. In the evening, when he went home, he tied the mortar to his house, so it could not work again. Then he went to sleep, feeling happy about how he solved the puzzle.
The next day, early in the morning, he walked to his paddy field. He was surprised! Because there were fresh foot steps in the paddy field. “These cannot be from the mortar at my home. These must be from the mortars from other homes in the village.” Gamarala thought. Therefore, he decided to stay awake at the Pala that night. Pala is a shelter made out of wood, rice straw, or coconut leaves on a tree to stay on guard on the cultivation fields in Sri Lanka. It is simply a small deck on a tree high above the ground, only with a roof without any walls. Gamarala decided to stay on that Pala.
So, that night, Gamarala stayed awake in the pala in his paddy field. Slowly, the moon rose in the sky. Still, nothing happened. But Gamarala stayed awake with wide-open eyes towards his paddy field. At midnight, Gamarala saw a black shadow of a huge ball slowly landing on his paddy field.
“What was that?” Gamarala wondered. He had goosebumps. The huge black ball started to move. “It has four legs,” Gamarala mimicked to himself. “No, it has five legs—it’s an elephant!” Gamarala mimicked. “I will catch the one who tamped down my paddy,” Gamarala said to himself. Then he slowly came near the elephant from behind. Once he was behind the elephant, he caught the tail of the elephant.
As Gamarala grabbed its tail, the elephant rose above the ground. The elephant started to fly into the sky. Gamarala was hanging from the elephant’s tail. He cannot release the tail. If he does, he will fall to the ground from the sky. Therefore, Gamarala kept holding onto Elephant’s tail tightly. The elephant flew so far.
Once the elephant landed again, Gamarala could not believe his eyes. The elephant has brought Gamarala to heaven. Because the elephant had come from heaven. Gamarala did not let his eyes lose sight of the elephant. He spent a whole day in heaven. The next day, when the elephant was about to fly again, Gamarala again grabbed its tail. The elephant landed on Gamarala’s paddy field. Gamarala ran home.
After going home, he described his journey to heaven to his wife. Then he told it to the others in the village. As a result, all of them wanted to go to heaven.
“Please, Gamarala, I want to go to heaven. Please take me with you,” everyone requested.
Gamarala showed a proud face and said, “Alright, I’ll take you to heaven.” But you all have to obey me and do exactly as I say.” Gamarala said. Everyone agreed.
That evening, all of them went to Gamarala’s paddy field. They hid and waited until the elephant arrived. As Gamarala said it would, the elephant came. Then, the elephant started to eat the paddy. Gamarala slowly went closer to the elephant behind him. Gamahamine followed Gamarala. As Gamarala told them, they followed Gamarala as a line. Then Gamarala grabbed the elephant’s tail. Meanwhile, Gamahamine grabbed Gamarala’s legs. Like that, all of them grabbed the legs of the one who was in front of them. Then the elephant started to fly.
While on the flight to heaven, the others were really excited about heaven. Because earlier, when Gamarala told them that he went to heaven, they had not experienced that. But now they are experiencing the ride to heaven. Therefore, they started to ask about heaven. Accordingly, Gamarala was proudly answering them. He started to describe heaven.
Gamarala said, “There is a huge pumpkin vine.”
“How big?” Someone in the back asked.
“This is big,” said Gamarala, showing how big the pumpkin vine was with his hands. Instantaneously, everyone fell down.
That’s how Gamarala went to heaven. He lost his focus because he was not careful. And the people around him were not supporting him to keep his focus. Therefore, he and everyone around him lose the opportunity to go to heaven. In fact, the tale of how Gamarala went to heaven is not just a funny folktale. As a comedy story with a moral lesson, this is one of the best stories for kids in Sinhalese folklore.
When we fail to keep our focus on what we should be focusing on, we become vulnerable to losing everything we expect to gain. It doesn’t matter whether we are engaging in an easy task for an easy goal. If we lose focus, if we are not mindful enough, and if we are not surrounded by people who will support us in maintaining a good focus, we are vulnerable to failure. So, focus is as important as talent, skill, and opportunity. This is the lesson this tale of Gamarala tells us