There is a Sinhala saying which goes as 'a grief that comes in the way may turn sweet'. A certain elderly villager once asked me a question: "Do you know the tale behind it?" I was unaware of such a tale. Then he narrated the story.This happened long ago in a remote village. A certain young man who used to live in the forest had several friends. His main preoccupation was always hanging around with them. He treated them quite well. He gave them food whenever he could. His weakness was he was overly treating his friends.
One day his mother called him and said: "You treat your friends too much, and one fine day they will take you for a fool."
But he disagreed with his mother.
"My friends are friends indeed. They will never let me down. I am sure of that."
"But how do you know? Have you tested their loyalty?"
Mother's words pierced his heart. He wanted to test the loyalty of his friends. So one day he came out of the forest, rather tired. He met his friends in the usual place that evening.
"Yes I am. Feeling so disgusted." He responded.
"But why?" They asked.
"I do not want to live any longer."
"What is troubling you?" Friends came closer and inquired.
"I was forced to kill a man."
"Oh!" Some of them almost screamed.
"Are you trying to make fun of us?"
"No, I am a killer. They will capture me very soon."
"So what are you going to do now?"
"Do you know what I am going to do really?"
"No, tell us. We are here with you."
"I want you all to come to the place where the corpse is. And then we all should eat it."
"Oh my god! Eat a dead body?"
"What else? There is no other option."
"Now, why should we do that?"
"Simple. If they locate the corpse, they will sure want to find the killer. Then they will come to know it was me."
"How do you say that?"
"Because, I am the only ranger in the forest."
The friends were dumbfounded. They wanted to know why he killed the man.
"I have not got enough time. Will give you details later. Right now you must join me, go there and eat it."
The friends were looking at each other's faces - as if they relive a fantasy.
"I do not want to repeat this. All I want is to have you with me eating the dead body.
Otherwise I have to eat the whole thing alone."
The fear-struck friends left him. They moved out of the scene admitting they are not cannibals to eat human flesh. But there were two sincere friends. "We will help you get out of this mess. Whatever it is, we are not going to leave you alone in trouble."
The three friends headed towards the forest. They could see a dead body lying on a stone slab. Our protagonist reached for the body and started eating the flesh. His friends too started eating.
"It is really yummy." One said.
"Have another piece." Our protagonist said.
The other two offered him a piece and said: "It reminds me honey cake."
"Yes, it is really honey cake."
The two friends had doubts about the corpse. They kept on eating the whole body only to find it was made out of honey and flour. Our protagonist laughed out aloud.
"You are my real friends. I wanted to test your loyalty. I am so grateful for you. But please do not breathe a word of this to anyone."
Thus a tale has given birth to a saying: 'Even grief can turn into a honey taste'.
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