Stories for Children
A Collection of Children’s Stories by
Ratan Lal Basu
Copyright 2011 Ratan Lal Basu
Contents
The Funny Leopardess
The Kurukhs and the Turks
Tragedy of the Hunter
The Giant Mango Tree
The Author
The Funny Leopardess
Oh children of humans I’ll today tell you the story of a funny leopardess that used to reside on my bushy branches. These large cats you know live in deep forests and at times invade the human habitations to hunt cattle and even children. But this time a leopardess settled at a bushy ditch close to my trunk to protect her cubs from their father who if found alone would kill and eat the small cubs. This is the custom of the cats. There are also other ferocious beasts around and therefore the leopardess always kept close to the cubs, breast-fed them and lived on small animals, rabbits, rats, birds that could be found close by. She became very weak and famished at first. The eyes of the beautiful cubs opened in a few days and now they could move out and play, but their mother always kept strict watch so that they could not go to the jungles and endanger their lives. Soon they learnt to climb trees and now their mother could go out for hunting and kill deer and other larger animals for the family. It was exhilarating to watch the games and mock fights of the cubs. They liked to play hide and seek on my branches. People of the locality do not kill or harass mother beasts and so they abandoned the road alongside me and took another road for going to places lest the leopardess attack apprehending they would do harm to the cubs. Some, however, were intrepid enough to offer goat flesh to the mother and the cubs and they watched, with amazement, the leopardess and the tiny ones devouring the flesh.
After some time the mother left with the cubs into the deep forest. None of them except the smart one who was a deft climber returned again. The naughty one was a female and she liked to swing from and sleep on my branches at night and I enjoyed the hug of her pulpy body. She soon grew into a full fledged leopardess and still she never liked to trespass into the villages and human habitations. She used to come to me at night, played for a long time and then slept on a broad branch. She climbed the highest branch in moonlit nights and watched the views around. She hunted rabbits, rats and birds in the bushes and trees around. Sometimes she harassed the small animals by chasing them simply for fun and letting them go when they were panic stricken and exhausted and thereafter she laughed loudly. I once admonished her, “why do you harass the poor animals for nothing?” She replied, “it’s an interesting game.” She, however, learnt a lesson very soon and it was very funny.
It was a moonlit night and a wild boar entered the land losing its way and started moving hither and thither to find the way out. The leopardess, who was then swinging in a lowly branch, noticed the boar and jumped down and started laughing and chasing the panicked animal. Noticing the large leopard after it the poor animal got more confused and started running aimlessly and after some time its back got stuck on a closely knit cluster of trees. Our heroin started closing in with a majestic style, frightening the boar with clenched teeth and grave roars and the latter having no way out unleashed its spear-like sharp fangs and started running toward its adversary in a last bid to save its life. In a moment our bullying heroin turned back and hastened to climb up my branches. I was amazed to feel the flutter of her terrified heart and started laughing aloud. She said angrily, “why are you laughing like a fool?” I retorted smiling, “you always rejoice frightening weaker animals and now you have a good lesson being frightened by a smaller and weaker animal.” She protested, “not at all, my running and climbing is just a part of the funny game.”
“May be.” I laughed aloud again.
She got angry and started scratching my barks with her nails, tearing off leaves and breaking off small twigs. For the rest of the night she did not return. But the next evening she came again and said politely, “sorry for my rude behavior.”
One night she disclosed to me her plan that she would steal a calf from the cowshed of a villager. I cautioned her, “don’t do this; it may lead you to trouble.”
“No trouble at all; the wattle walls of the shed are brittle and at night when nobody is around I can easily steal the calf and I hope the soft flesh would be excellent.”
“No, you should not do this; don’t incur the enmity of the humans, they are dangerous. If you are on their right side they are the most benevolent friends but if on the wrong side, they are the cruelest enemies.”
She laughed out loud, “dangerous! They are the weakest animals.”
“Weakest physically indeed, but they have heads which none else have. They have poison arrows and I’ve seen a new weapon, the fire-club that emits fire with a thud and can kill even an elephant.”
She didn’t believe me and stole the calf and devoured it. Then men from all the villages came out with clubs, spears and bows and were frantically looking for the cat who, sensing trouble, had already fled to the deep jungle. Then came a white man with the fire-club and planned to wait on my branches at night to kill her. Fortunately the stage for the hunter could not be prepared that night and when the cat came to sleep I told her the situation. She had already been terrified to see the prowess of the weakly humans and fled into the deep forest and never came back.
The Kurukhs and the Turks
Kurukh is a tribal residing in various parts of India and known under various names like, Oraons, Madeshias, Dhangars etc. Their mythical ancestral land was Rohtasgarh fort from where they were driven out by the Turks. The tribal folklore of the war between the Turks and the Kurukh women is very interesting.
The Rohtasgarh fort where the Kurukhs lived since time immemorial was defended by the most invincible fort and according to folklore. It was founded by Rohtas, the son of Harishchandra of Hindu mythology. The Turks came from a distant land Turkistan and invaded India and the Sultans captured Delhi and established their kingdom in India. Now they wanted to expand their kingdom by subjugating the independent states. They realized that in eastern India, capturing Rohtasgarh would give them tremendous strategic advantage. So they rushed with their force to capture the fort but observing the invincible fort and prowess of the Kurukh warriors they fled. Then the spies of the Sultan found a Kurukh whore at Delhi and promised to pay her a lucrative amount if she could inform the Turks about the weaknesses of the Kurukhs at Rohtasgarh. The whore informed them that during the Sahrul and Karam festivals all the Kurukh males get drunk with haria, the rice fermented drink. Karam is held during the rains and disadvantageous to attack at that time. So they decided to invade the fort at the time of Sahrul in spring.
The Sahrul festival is a flower festival and it is held in spring as then the saal trees are adorned with blossoms. The festival begins with the puza of the village deity who, the tribal people believe, protects them from all hazards and brings prosperity to them. The puza is performed by the Pahan, the priest of the Kurukhs. In the evening before the worship of the gods the Pahan fills three new earthen pots with water. Next dawn, the Pahan bathes, puts on new clothes (kacchha dhaga) and examines the water levels of the earthen pots. If the water levels remain unchanged, it’s a sign of good rains and prosperity. On the other hand, decrease in water levels portends hazards like drought and famine.
After checking up the water of the pots, the Pahan gets ready for the puza and his wife washes his feet and seeks his blessings. Then the Pahan along with the devotees proceed for the sarna or jaher.’
This is the saal tree in which the supreme invisible god (Singbonga of the Santhals or Dharmesh of the Kurukhs) resides according to tribal faith. There is an interesting folklore about the discovery of the jaher deep inside the forest
by the tribal people.
Some tribal people, while resting under a tree in course of hunting in deep forest, started discussing about the abode of their creator, the Supreme God. But they could not come to a conclusion and eventually decided that they would send an arrow high up in the sky and abode of their creator must be at the place where the arrow drops. They sent the arrow in the sky and it traveled down on a saal tree inside the forest and since then the saal tree became the place of their worship of the Supreme God.
After reaching the jaher with the villagers, the Pahan offers three chickens of different colors – the first one for the Supreme God, the second one for the village deities and the third for their ancestors.
While the Pahan performs the puza