Read Folktales from Bengal Online
Authors: Soham Saha
Tags: #bengali, #children 0 to 12, #bengali classics, #sukumar ray, #upendrakishore
“
My sickle
has a fever, what am I going to do now? Someone call a
doctor.”
Another farmer was
working in a nearby field. He heard him, and asked him, “What is
wrong, son? Why are you crying?”
“
My sickle
has a fever.”
“
Is that it?
I know just the remedy. Immerse in in water for a while. That will
cure it.” The farmer said, smiling.
“
What a
strange cure,” thought the boy. But he did as he was told, and the
sickle cooled down in a moment. He finished up the day’s work and
trotted home happily, singing to himself.
When he got home, he saw
that his mother was still lying on the bed.
“
What is
wrong with you, mother?” he asked.
“
The fever’s
gone up. Leave me alone.” She replied.
“
Don’t worry
mother, I know just the cure.” he lifted her up, took her to the
pond, and held her under the water. The more the old woman
struggled, the stronger he held her. “Just a little more,” he said,
“The fever is as good as gone.”
When she stopped
squirming, he took her out of the water, and to his utter shock, he
found her dead. He did not know what he did wrong, but he was so
sad, he sat there, crying and sobbing and moping. He did not move,
and he did not eat anything for three days. He just cried, and
cried and cried.
A fox was the friend of
the boy. He felt truly sorry seeing his friend’s condition, and
tried to comfort him. “Life is short. It was not your fault. Her
time had come.” But the more the fox talked, the more the boy
cried.
Finally, the fox told
him, “Crying won’t bring your mother back. But you know what
would’ve made her happy? If you married the princess, that’s
what.”
The boy stopped crying
and asked him, “But how do I do that?”
“
Wait and
see, my friend.”
They spent the next few
days carrying out the old lady’s funeral. But every day, the farmer
asked the fox, “So, how do I marry the King’s daughter?”
The fox replied, “All in
due time. Now why don’t you weave a few good clothes for me and for
you?”
That is exactly what the
boy did. When the clothes were ready, the fox put on a coat and a
turban of the finest silk, and went to the king.
With his turban and shawl
and shoes and cane, and with a pen neatly tucked in his ear, the
fox looked very learned indeed. When the king saw him, he was awed,
thinking what a great scholar the fox must be. “So, what brings you
here, Mr. Fox?”
“
O great
king. I heard that you are looking for a groom for your daughter. I
have good news for you. I come from far, only to ask for your
daughter’s hand for marriage to our Maharaja.”
The fox wasn’t lying,
because the farmer boy’s name indeed was Maharaja. But the king did
not know that, and thought that the fox was actually talking about
a king. He asked the fox to describe this Maharaja.
The fox sand
aloud,
“
Very
handsome is this king of mine,
At night his house does
moonlight shine.
Clever he is, as he is
learned,
His kinsmen clothe and
dine from what he’s earned.
And of his might what
should I say,
Foes fall before him like
hay.”
Now none of these
descriptions were false at all. The farmer might have been poor,
but he was very handsome. He was poor, and had a lot of holes in
his room, and so moonlight did shine into his house at night. But
the king thought that the Maharajah lived in a magnificent house,
just like himself.
We already know how
‘clever’ the boy was, but he was illiterate as well. And that is
exactly what the fox had said. “Clever he is, as he is learned.”
Could you really blame him if the king actually interpreted this as
– the king is both very clever, and very learned?
And we all know that Raja
was also good at weaving. And that’s what the fox meant when he
said, “His kinsmen clothe and dine from what he’s earned.” Of
course, the king only took these as descriptions of how rich this
“Maharaja” was.
The last part was a
little exaggerated. What the fox meant was that being a farmer, the
closest thing to an enemy he had were weeds, and they did indeed
fall like hay when he slashed them. After all, honesty was never
the strongest character of the foxes. The king, obviously, thought
that this Maharajah was a mighty fellow.
The king was both excited
and happy. He gave the fox a thousand gold pieces as a reward, and
told him to bring his king down to the palace for the wedding
ceremony. “The wedding is in eight days, fox. Hurry to your master
now.”
The fox returned to the
village. Raja had already sowed hundreds of beautiful clothes. The
fox gave each of the villagers one of the clothes and a couple of
gold pieces, and told them,” After eight days, my friend is getting
married to the king’s daughter. All of you are invited.”
Everyone was happy.
Although Raja was a simpleton, he had a good heart, and always
helped his fellow men in times of need. Everyone said that they
would come.
Then the fox went to all
the other foxes in the forest, and told them, “Brothers, my
friend’s marriage is coming up. All of you have to sing for him.”
The foxes howled, “Yes we will come, and we will sing.”
He went to the frogs and
told them,” My friend is getting married. All of you have to come
and sing for him.” The frogs croaked, “We will come. We will
come.”
He went to the swallows
and told them,” My friend is getting married. All of you have to
come and sing for him.” The swallows twitted, “We will come. We
will come.”
He went to the crows and
told them,” My friend is getting married. All of you have to come
and sing for him.” The crows cawed, “We will come. We will
come.”
He went to the monkeys
and told them,” My friend is getting married. All of you have to
come and sing for him.” The monkeys chattered, “We will come. We
will come.”
He went to the owls and
told them,” My friend is getting married. All of you have to come
and sing for him.” The owls hooted, “We will come. We will
come.”
And he went to the
peacocks, the ducks, the swans, the cranes, the hedgehogs, the
moles, the mice, and all the creatures in the forest to invite them
to the wedding, and this took seven days and nights.
On the eighth day, the
fox borrowed some expensive clothes and ornaments for his friend,
and when Raja wore these, he really started to look like a king. By
night, everything was in order, and all the guests, including the
animals, were ready. They went for the king’s palace in a huge
procession.
When they were a mile
from the palace, the fox said. “Everyone stand here now. We are
almost there. Now shout and rejoice, my friends.”
And five thousand foxes
howled, “Hukka Huaaaa!”
Ten thousand frogs
croaked, “Ghangor ghang, ghangor ghang.”
Six thousand crows said,”
Caw, caw, caw, caw.”
Ten thousand Hyenas
laughed, “Ha ha, ho ho, he he.”
A thousand owls hooted,
“Whooo, whoooo.”
Monkeys chattered,
peacocks danced, chickens clucked, elephants trumpeted and hippos
stomped. There was not a single animal of the forest who did not
participate in the tumultuous noise.
Everyone in the king’s
palace was shivering all over. And that was the fox’s plan all
along. Now when he arrived at the palace to greet the king, the
king asked him nervously, “Fox, what is that earth shattering
noise?”
“
It’s just
the sound of our people rejoicing.”
That made the king very
nervous. Where was he supposed to sit all these people? And what
would he feed them? He confided the problem to the fox, who closed
his eyes in deep meditation, and then, after five minutes of utter
silence, he said, “I will send everyone back and bring just the
king in.”
The king was immensely
relieved, and immediately paid the fox a thousand gold coins. The
clever fox used this to buy all kinds of foods, sweets and drinks,
and took these back to his fellow animals and men. They had a great
feast at the edge of the forest, and then the villagers and the
animals went back to their homes.
Then he took Raja to the
palace. But he warned him. “Whatever you do, do not
speak.”
Everyone at the palace
was delighted to see the groom. “What a handsome young man,” they
said. ”But why doesn’t he talk?”
The fox replied. ”His
mother recently died. He does not speak of grief.”
“
Oho, the
poor, fellow,” said everyone. But the real reason the fox told him
not to talk was that the moment Raja spoke, they would realize he
is not a king.
When it was time for
dinner, the servants gave him rice in a golden plate, and a hundred
different types of dishes to go with it. There were sweets, curry,
chutneys, roti, sweetmeats, fries, and what not. But Raja had never
seen any of the food before. He picked them one by one, then
sniffed them, and finally, poured everything into the rice. The
result was a disaster. He just took one mouthful of the stuff, and
lost his appetite. But he did not want to waste all the food, so he
laid out his shawl, and poured the remaining food there.
Everybody asked, “What is
he doing? Does he not know how to dine?”
The fox covered for him,
“My king never eats the same kind of food twice, and hence he had
but a mouthful. The rest he wants to give to a beggar.” Then he
carried the shawl outside and gave it to a beggar.
When it was time for
sleep, Raja was in even more trouble. There was an ivory bed, with
a mosquito net hanging from the ceiling. He had never seen a bed
before, let alone a mosquito net.
First, he crawled under
the bed. He did not see any mattress there, so he crawled out. Then
he said aloud, “Oh, they’ve made a house inside a house, and made
the door on the roof.”
He tried climbing up the
mosquito net, and the thing snapped, and he crashed on the bed,
breaking everything.
He cried out, “I should
have stuck to weaving and farming. I tried to marry the king’s
daughter, and ended up breaking my back.”
The princess heard all
these. She cried and scolded the fox again and again. But she was a
clever girl, and did not break the news to anyone else.
The next day, the fox
said to the king, “My king wants to travel the world with your
daughter. And he wants to start today.”
The king arranged for a
grand procession, with soldiers, horsemen, guards, and more money
than they could spend. The princes took Raja to another kingdom,
where she kept learned scholars to teach him the art of kings. In a
couple of years, Raja was as learned as any of them. He returned
home wiser than ever.
The king gladly left his
kingdom to his new groom and his daughter, and went on vacation.
And everyone lived happily ever after.
And the fox? He went on
to his next great adventure.
Once, the fox met the
crocodile, and said, “Hunting season’s almost over. There is no
animal left to hunt. Real profit lies in farming. With my cunning
and your strength, we could make a fortune.”
The crocodile agreed.
Together, they bought some land, and ploughed and tilled it until
it got ready for sowing. They decided they would grow potatoes. The
crocodile did not know that potatoes grew underground. He thought
they grew on the top of the tree, like mangoes. And he wanted to
cheat the fox, and said, “We should divide the yield equally. I get
the top half of the plant, and you get the bottom.”
“
Fine with
me,” said the fox, and grinned.
During harvest, the
crocodile came early in the morning, cut all the plants, and took
the entire top halves home with him. But when he got back home, he
saw that there was no potato there. He ran back to the field, only
to see that the fox had dug all the potatoes up and taken
home.
“
You fooled
me once, fox, but it won’t happen again.” He thought.
The next time, he told
the fox, “I’ll take the bottom half this time, fox. This time, no
cheating.”
The fox shrugged and
said, “Suit yourself. We’re planting rice.”
During the harvest, the
fox carried home all the rice, and the crocodile was left with only
straw.
He banged his head on the
ground when he saw he had been cheated again. So he decided that
this time, he will get a larger share.
He went up to the fox,
and said, “Fox, it’s not fair you got the better half of the yield
both times. This time, I will take the top, and the bottom. You can
take the middle half – the stem.”
The fox smiled and said,
“Whatever you say, friend.”
This time, the crop was
sugarcane. After the yield, the crocodile took home the hay from
the top, and the roots from the bottom, and the fox feasted on the
juicy stems. The crocodile chewed up the roots and the leaves, and
found that there was not a bit of sugar in them. So he went to the
fox, and said, “That’s it. I am never farming with you again. You
are a big cheater.”