THE GAMARALA AND THE WASHERMAN

Once upon time, in a village in the south of Sri Lanka, a GAMARALA and a washer man lived side by side. The GAMARALA was a simple, forgiving man, but the washer man was a cunning old fellow.

          One day, the GAMARALA’s uncle died and left him a piece of land. When the washer man heard about this, he came to the GAMARALA’s house and said, “My friend, the land you’ve INHERITED is full of grass. I’ll help you to clear the land if you’ll give me half the grass to feed my cows.”

          The GAMARALA agreed and early next morning the two neighbors went to the GAMARALA’s field to cut the grass. As they started to work, the sun came up and a cock began to crow. “Oh GAMARALA,” the washer man said, “the sound of that cock crowing will drive me mad. I’ll go and strangle it and come straight back.”

          All day long the GAMARALA worked and the washer man didn’t come back.

The next day they set off together again. Again, the cock began to crow. “I couldn’t catch the cock yesterday,” the washer man said, “but I’ll catch it today.” And off he went. Again, he didn’t come back.

          On the third day the same thing happened. And the GAMARALA finished clearing the fields alone.

          On the fourth day the washer man came for his share of the grass. He said to Gamarala,” Gamarala, the field is clear now. So please give me the grass”. “You did no work,” the GAMARALA answered, “I’ll give you nothing. This grass is all mine.”

          On the fifth day the washer man took the GAMARALA to the village headman’s house for JUDGEMENT. But before they appeared in front of the headman, the washer man borrowed a DHOTIYA from the GAMARALA, saying all his clothes had just been washed. “Gamarala, please lend me your Dhotiya. All my clothes had been washing right now. Only you someone can help me.” said the washer man to Gamarala. “All right, you can choose one of my best dhotiya.” “OK, thank you”,Then they went to the village headman’s house.

          Arriving there, they met the headman and asked,” Mahattayo, we have problem between us but we can’t decide it. So, we asked for your judgement,”

“All right, please tell me the case. Who knows I can help you,” said the headman.

          The GAMARALA presented his case to the village headman. “...he did nothing, MAHATTAYO, so the grass is all mine,” he finished.

          Then the headman turned to the washer man and asked him if he had anything to say.

          The washer man sighed. “What can I say, MAHATTAYO?” he said. “The case is not worth pleading. This man is so greedy, the next thing he’ll say that this DHOTIYA I’m wearing is his. He says everything is his.”

          “But this DHOTIYA is mine! He had just borrowed it from me” The GAMARALA cried. “There! What did I tell you, Mahattayo?” the washer man said, sadly. “Do you think I’m so poor that I need to steal a DHOTIYA from a GAMARALA?  Do you think I’m so poor that I need to steal grass from a GAMARALA?”

          At last the judge ordered the GAMARALA to give half of the grass to the washer man. And the washer man went home laughing.”ha…ha…ha….how stupid you, Gamarala! Ha…ha…ha….” Gamarala was very disappointed and realized that he had a cunning friend.

Glossary :

GAMARALA       : The Sinhalese word for farmer

DHOTIYA         : The cloth Sri Lankans wear around their legs, tied at the waist

MAHATTAYO     : The Sinhalese word meaning ‘My Lord’ or ‘Your Majesty’.

“Moral value from the story is that we must be careful to choose a friend and  cunning is very harmful for others”   

Daftar Kata yang digarisbawahi :

lived       : hidup atau tinggal                     ordered     : menyampaikan pesan

died       : meninggal dunia atau mati           happened    : kejadian

same      : sama                                         finished     : menyelesaikan

left        : meninggalkan atau mewariskan   happened    : kejadian

came      : datang atau berkunjung             fourth       : keempat

said       : yang dikatakan                          fifth        : kelima

feed       : makanan                                    took         : melaporkan

agreed    : menyetujui atau setuju              appeared    : datang menghadap

went       : pergi                                        borrowed    : meminjam

started   : memulai                                    washed      : di cuci

came up   : terbit                                       presented   : menjelaskan

began     : mulai                                         turned       : menatap

worked    : bekerja                                     sighed       :menghela nafas

third      : ketiga                                       cried        : menangis

                                   

Posted in: Narrative text