propertyproblemsinsrilanka

I often checked on the “state” of the well water, there were a few fish in the well to keep mosquitoes to a minimum as well as being indicators to water quality, fish floating = water bad or poisoned,

 on this occasion the water was very dirty, It looked “stirred up” and muddy instead of crystal clear, so a pump was hired and the well was emptied, the fish were put into a bucket for safe keeping, our trusted builders labourer went down the well and cleaned out the accumulated years of sludge, the fish were put back and within 24 hours the well was as full as it would have been and it was crystal clear water,

 The following day Chathurika came rushing up to tell me a confused story which I only understood a while later and “come see“, many people were crossing the rice paddy, there was incense burning and they had a 3 legged “table or stool” that they were “walking” in our direction,

 It was explained to me then that some houses in the village opposite had been robbed and that as the police did not know who was responsible an old traditional way of finding the culprits was bought into play, the stool would “walk” to the houses of those who were guilty,

I was expecting the stool and everyone to turn right once they reached the road, but instead it turned and led everyone to the left and then right into my cinnamon land, the stool then led them to the well before exiting the cinnamon onto the new entrance drive,

down the drive and a left turn to continue in the direction I first thought it would go, an armed (they all are) policeman accompanied the villagers and eventually the stool went to 3 separate houses where the culprits lived, local justice was meted out in the form of beatings, property recovered and everyone went home, I was still puzzled about the stool visiting the well but had not connected that to the murky water of the previous day until I was told that the thieves revealed that when they were returning home with their booty certain items were hidden in the well, and grappled out the following day,

but how did the stool know that??