Folktales from Bengal by Soham Saha Page B

hungry
again.
    And the king? He went on
with his daily wonderings about life, death, sickness, health, and
of all others philosophical doodads there are. Although sometimes,
he had a strange craving for pantabhaat, which he never found out
the recipe for.

The
Louse-lady

    Once there used to be an
old lady, who had a big louse problem. Her hair was filled with
lice, and whenever she cooked, the lice fell on the rice. This used
to make her husband very mad. One day, when she was serving his
food, a lot of lice fell on the rice, as usual. So, the husband got
really angry, and slapped her. She got really angry now, and
slammed the rice pot on the ground into many pieces, then left
home.
    She was walking by the
river, when a crane saw her. He asked,
    “ Hey, old
woman. Where are you going?”
    The louse lady
replied,
    “ My husband
got angry and slapped me,
    I am leaving home now,
let me be.”
    The crane asked, “Why did
your husband hit you?”
    She said,
    “ All my head
is full of lice,
    Some of it fell into the
rice.”
    The crane said, “Lice?
Wonderful. They taste just like ants. How about you live in my
place, and you can cook for me.”
    The old woman agreed.
Every day, the crane brought back fish from the river, and the
louse lady used to cook. When he served, the louse fell on the
crane’s rice, and the crane loved it as extra
flavouring.
    One day, the crane
brought back a large Hilsha fish. The old woman was cooking the
fish, when she fainted, and fell into the fire.
    When the crane got home
and saw this, he was so heartbroken, that he did not eat for seven
days.
    The river saw this, and
said, “My oh my, the crane has not eaten for seven days. Hey crane,
what happened?”
    The crane said, “Mind
your own business.”
    The river said, “Come on,
please tell me.”
    The crane said, “Okay.
But if I tell you, your water is going to turn to foam.”
    The river agreed, and the
crane said,
    “ The louse
lady burnt to death, and so the crane sat fasting.” And
immediately, all the water of the river, turned to foam.
    An elephant used to come
to the river to drink water every day. He saw the strange
phenomenon, and asked the river. “What happened?”
    The river said, “If I
tell you, your tail will fall off.”
    The elephant said, “So be
it.”
    The river
said,
    “ The louse
lady burnt to death,
    And the crane fasted for
seven days,
    I asked him then what was
wrong,
    He told me, and now I am
foam.”
    And immediately, the
elephant’s tail fell off.
    The elephant was walking
under a tree, and the tree asked him, “Wow. What happened to your
tail?”
    The elephant said, “If I
tell you, your leaves will fall off.”
    The tree said, “So be
it.”
    The elephant
said,
    “ The louse
lady burnt to death,
    And the crane fasted for
seven days,
    The river’s water turned
to foam,
    And left without a tail I
roam.”
    Just as he finished, all
the leaves of the tree fell off.
    A dove used to live on
the tree. When he got back to his nest, he saw the tree all bald
and bare. He asked,” What happened here? How long was I
gone?”
    The tree said, “If I tell
you, your eyes will go blind.”
    The dove said, “So be
it.”
    The tree said,
    “ The louse
lady burnt to death,
    The crane fasted for
seven days,
    The river’s water turned
to foam,
    Without a tail the
elephant roams,
    I had to ask him what had
got him,
    And now all my leaves
have fallen.”
    Immediately, the dove
turned blind.
    The blind dove flew to a
field, where a cow herder asked him, “Hey dove, how did your eyes
get blind?”
    The dove said, “If I tell
you, your stick is going to get stuck to your hand.
    The cow herder said, “So
be it.”
    The dove said,
    “ The louse
lady burnt to death,
    The crane fasted for
seven days,
    The river’s water turned
to foam,
    Without a tail the
elephant roams,
    He told the tree and its
leaves fell,
    The tree told me, and now
my eyes aren’t well.”
    And of course, the cow
herder’s stick got stuck to his