Folktales from Bengal

by Soham Saha

  After this, it was a very bad time for the fox. He could not hunt, and he could not return to his cave. Whenever the tiger spotted him, he roared and gave chase. So after a few days, the fox became very frail and weak. He thought, “At this rate, I am going to die anyways. So why don’t I go to the tiger myself and try to appease him?”

  The next morning, the tiger saw the fox coming to his cave. Every few steps, the fox stopped, bowed down, and saluted the tiger. “All hail the king of the forest.” He yelled. “Indeed, there is no one as mighty as him.” He bowed again, and continued, “And there is no one more full of forgiveness that our king.”

  The tiger was very pleased to hear all these praises, and so, let the fox near without breaking his neck.

  “So, Fox. What brings you here?” he said, his voice soft.

  The fox jumped to the tiger’s feet at this, and said, “Oh uncle, I could not bear to see you suffer so, trying every day to catch me. You seem so stressed and tired. So I came down here myself. Just kill me now, from the comfort of your home.” He gulped and closed his eyes.

  The words left the tiger speechless and confused. He was not used to getting his prey home delivered. So he did not kill the fox, but scolded him, “You scoundrel! Why did you make me fall inside the well?”

  “Don’t even think of such evil, my dear uncle,” said the fox. “The land there was too soft for your mighty feet. So it collapsed when you jumped on it. And I was only running to get help, which, being this powerful, you did not need. Tell me this, could someone so weak and pathetic as me trick someone so mighty and clever as you?”

  The tiger closed its eyes and smiled, “You are right, nephew. I must have had landed too strongly for the ground to handle.”

  So they were friends again. But the fox never forgave the tiger for the helplessness and the hunger he had caused him. He bid his time, and waited for another opportunity for revenge.

  One day, the fox was walking by the river, and saw a crocodile resting on the river bank. He ran to the tiger, and said, “Uncle, hey uncle. I bought a boat. Come and take a ride.”

  The tiger came to the river, and saw the sleeping crocodile, and thought that it was actually a boat. So he sat on top of it.

  “I’ll go fetch an oar,” said the fox, and trotted off to a safe distance, while the tiger made himself comfortable.

  The crocodile did not like at all having a tiger sitting on him, and so, in one large snap, he caught the tiger by the neck, and dragged him into the water, where he drowned. And finally, the fox returned home, happy as ever.

  The Fox and the Foolish Farmer

  Not a long time ago, in a village not so far away, a young farmer lived in a small hut, with his mother. One night, the mother was not feeling well, and called up her son.

  “Listen, and listen well, you fool of a boy. I am not feeling well today, so you will have to get up real early tomorrow and cut the crop. Wake up really early tomorrow, okay?”

  “Why do I need to wake up so early, mother?”

  “So that the sun is low when you are in the field,” the mother replied.

  “What if it goes high up in the sky?” he asked.

  “If you work in the sun for too long, you’ll get a fever.”

  “What’s a fever?” he asked.

  “It’s when you fall sick and you heat up, like I am doing right now. Touch my forehead.”

  So he did, and it felt really hot. “You’re burning up, mother.”

  “That is because I worked all day in the sun. So don’t make the same mistake.”

  “Okay, mother.” Then he fell asleep.

  When he woke up, it was nearly noon. So he hurried off to the field with his sickle and began to cut the rice plants as fast as he could. He sweated in the heat and very soon, got tired. He fell asleep in the field again. When he woke up, he saw that the sickle was very hot. Naturally, it had to be, for it had been lying all afternoon in the sun. But the foolish farmer thought that his sickle had caught a fever. He sat down and started to cry.

  “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.

  The Fox and the Crocodile

  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.”