This story begins in the village of Amunugama in the central region of the country.
Amunugama
Long ago, the village of Amunugama had paddy fields as far as the eye could see. Amunugama was a farming community and that is why there were so many paddy fields. At the end of the paddy fields was a huge rock but somehow, no one ever went that way.
In Amunugama there was a man who was a very good farmer. One day, he went towards the large rock and got on to it. In the middle of the rock were two stone slabs which looked like a door. The farmer crept through the doorway and found himself in a large cave. It was quite dark in there. The farmer wended his way down the passage.
Suddenly, golden flashes of light caught his eye. Curious, the farmer went towards them to see what they were.
Golden sickles
To his amazement, he saw that the golden light was coming from a pile of golden sickles. The man took one and came out.
The next day, the farmer took the golden sickle to one of his fields and started harvesting his paddy.The sickle was sharp and cut well, so the farmer found it very easy to harvest his paddy.
In the evening, he cleaned the golden sickle and returned it to the pile of golden sickles in the cave.
Thereafter, the farmer collected a golden sickle every morning and returned it to the cave in the evening.
His work in the field was quick and easy because of the golden sickle.
Wish for a golden sickle
Another farmer saw how easily and quickly this farmer was working with the golden sickle. He too wished for one and spoke to the other fatmer about it.
A measure of paddy
“If you can get me a sickle like the one you have I will give you a fine measure of paddy”.
The first farmer was tempted by the offer of a measure of paddy and agreed to get a golden sickle for the second farmer.
The next day, the first farmer took two golden sickles from the cave but he returned only one golden sickle to the cave in the evening.
To be continued