A squirrel enjoying a meal of bread crumbs, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

The story told to children as to how the squirrel got its three stripes.
In ancient times, so the story goes, when King Rama was building a bridge to cross over to Sri Lanka, to rescue his wife Sitha, everyone helped. Rama saw a squirrel carrying loads of small stones to help build the bridge. King Rama took the squirrel in his left palm and stroked its back tenderly, using the three fingers of his right hand. This remained as a permanent mark for the subsequent generations of the sqirrel.