Folk Tale from Sri Lanka- “Andare” and the Ministers

Once upon a time in ancient Sri Lanka, there was a clever person called Andare, who was known for his talent to amuse the king. The ministers who worked for the king was jealous of Andare, and one day they planned to teach him a good lesson.

The king and the ministers had a special day that they all go together to have a swim in the lake. Andare used to accompany the king to the pool on such days too. The ministers secretly discussed among themselves and each planned to take an egg each to the pool with them. Andare and the king were both unaware of their plan.

At the lake, one minister asked “who can dive in this lake and find an egg from the bottom and bring it up?” All the ministers volunteered to take the challenge and jumped into the lake. Andare was clueless and didn’t have any option but to jump in and try to find the egg. In a while all the ministers appeared with an egg in hand. But Andare appeared without any in hand. But before anyone could tell anything to him, Andare shouted out loud “cock- a- doodle- doo… You all are hens and I’m the only cock!!!” and gave a hearty laugh to everyone. (Suhadinie, 2015)