Two Princesses – Santali Folk Tale – {Ep.148}

In this episode, we’re covering a Santali folk tale from Jharkhand that one of you listeners requested. This one is a Santali story about two princesses who venture into the forest and have a lot of weird things happen to them. Almost entirely because the characters in the story make one bad decision after another. That’s the thing about going into dark forests without adequate protection. Something terrible is waiting to happen to you. And that something includes a group of monkeys who would love to have a human girl for dinner.

Let’s jump right into the story.

It begins in medieval India with two Princesses. They had the same King and Queen as parents, so no evil stepsister thing going on between them. The elder sister, whom I shall call Mitkudi took care of her younger sister who was called Baarkudi.

The sisters were on the Palace grounds, just playing games as was to be expected of Princesses who never had to depend on studying or working to ensure a comfortable life ahead. As they were playing some sort of a ball game, Baarkudi noticed something in the sky. “Was it a Plane? Was it Superman?”. No, it was a bird. Mitkudi thought it was a crow, and Baarkudi thought it was a raven. But because crows have 16 primary feathers called pinions, and because Ravens have 17 of those, I guess the distinction between Crows and Ravens was a matter of a pinion here

It was not at all unusual to see a bird flying in the sky. I mean that’s what birds do. What was different was that this crow dropped something. It was a piece of fruit, a persimmon, and it landed right near the sisters.

Without a thought, the sisters picked up the fruit and grabbed a bit of it. A bit shocking and unsanitary. I mean the piece of fruit was partially bitten into by the crow. It had also been carried in the crow’s talons which for sure had never been cleaned. Ugh. Not to mention that the piece of fruit had landed down on the ground and picked up some dirt from the ground too.

Miraculously, the sisters ate the fruit and did not need to be rushed to the emergency room. Quite the contrary. The fruit tasted marvelous. They had never tried a persimmon before and thought this was the tastiest thing since sliced bread. Which isn’t saying much. The Princesses absolutely wanted to have some more. So they decided to follow the source.

Thankfully for them, they hadn’t lost sight of the crow that brought the fruit in the first place. It was easy not to lose track because the crow had immediately landed on the branch of a nearby tree and had been cawing away furiously as he saw the sisters steal and eat the meal that he had worked hard for. Maybe this is why crows have such a tendency to keep stealing unattended human food left outside. They’re really taking revenge for this incident. 

Anyway, the crow eventually stopped cawing as he saw that the Princesses weren’t going to leave him even a bite. And that he would have to go back and get another fruit. So he turned around and took flight and headed in the direction of the persimmon tree.

“Quick, let’s follow the crow. He’ll lead us to the tree” suggested Mitkudi.

“Umm, we’re Princesses. We should have servants do this for us” said Baarkudi.

But there was no one around. Not a soul. And the crow might disappear from view any minute so they must hurry.

And they did hurry. Surprisingly these palace grounds did not have so much as a guard at the walls, so these two young Princesses went straight from palace grounds to dark forest within minutes without meeting any one. The Kingdom had labor shortages or budget cuts or something. The Princesses didn’t know. And hadn’t cared enough to learn the whole story..

Anyway the crow seemed to be very accommodating of being followed by two very slow Princesses, despite his earlier animosity towards said Princesses for having eaten his meals. It even flew under the tree line in the dark forest so that the Princesses could continue to track its flight. Was the crow doing this so that the sisters could share in and probably finish up all the fruits of his favorite tree? Of course not. It had something far more sinister in mind. The crow would have sent them GPS directions and turn by turn navigation instructions if he could have. But in the absence of that technology, he had to make do with patiently guiding them to what he was sure would be their doom.

When the girls finally got to the tree, they were completely exhausted. But also delighted at seeing the tree full of fruit. They climbed and grabbed and ate as many of the fruits as they could. 

And then the Princesses took stock of their situation and began to worry. They had no way of knowing where they were, and where the path back home was. The crow had long gone. As soon as they had reached the tree, it had grabbed another piece of fruit and flown off. Baarkudi got the distinct impression that it had an evil grin as if it was assured that the Princesses were about to meet their end or something.

Anyway, they had a more immediate problem than finding their way home. Baarkudi said she was thirsty. Very thirsty. And also too tired to move an inch, so she couldn’t walk even one extra step.

Mitkudi decided she would go fetch some water for her sister. It was a good sign that Mitkudi was starting to act more responsible now. Running away from the palace without notifying anyone, was very irresponsible. She had put their lives in danger and jeopardized the Kingdom’s succession plan.

In a further show of her increasing sense of responsibility, she told Baarkudi to hide in the hollow of a tree to avoid being caught by any predators that might be looking for a snack.

Mitkudi rushed in a few different directions until she heard the sound of running water. She rushed in the direction of the sound and found a little stream. Quickly she had her fill. And then made a pretty little cup of leaves and collected some water in the cup and walked in the direction of the tree where Baarkudi was waiting. 

Unfortunately there was a mischievous forest spirit that was floating around at that time. It decided to play a practical joke on Mitkudi. By puncturing a big hole in the leaf cup. The spirit was also invisible so Mitkudi was really puzzled how a hole had appeared out of nowhere and drained the water. But she decided she must try again. So she went back and made another leaf cup, but the spirit was watching and swooped out and did its thing again. This happened several more times. Mitkudi at some point should have questioned the value of the leaf cups she was making and perhaps considered that if she couldn’t take water to Baarkudi, she could have taken Baarkudi to the water. Even carried her if she was still tired.

And all this while, a King, whom we shall call Raj, was hunting in the area. Raj observed Mitkudi’s attempts. He decided based on just her appearance that she was a Princess. He was right about that! He also decided that he needed a wife so she could perform repeated tasks for him at his palace including cooking for him and cleaning his room. Yeah, talk about the expectations in a patriarchal society. And Raj’s kingdom was probably also suffering budget cuts or labor shortages similar to Mitkudi’s so the Queen herself would have to chip in to help with cooking and cleaning.
To Raj, Mitkudi had demonstrated her ability to pigheadedly perform the same tasks mechanically without complaining or expressing frustration, so she was ideal for the role. 

Raj jumped out from behind the bushes, frightening Mitkudi into dropping her water from her 21st leaf cup. Before the spirit even had a chance to sabotage this cup. The spirit thought that this new tactic of having Mitkudi drop the water out of fright was more interesting than puncturing a hole in the leaf cup, which was getting boring now. But the spirit would not get to try this new tactic. Not on Mitkudi at least.

Because Raj also told Mitkudi that she was hired! As his Queen.

Strange men jumping out from behind the bushes and suddenly offering to make you their wife. I don’t know. But Mitkudi went by his richly dressed appearance and thought why not?

She was about to formally accept his proposal but then realized that Raj wasn’t waiting for an answer. He had assumed she would say yes and was now carrying her off to his kingdom.

And just like him to not even care about whom Mitkudi was taking water to. Mitkudi for her part should have brought a halt to the wedding festivities and all that followed and rescued her sister but strangely, she didn’t. Maybe she was busy with the incredibly misogynistic Raj having thrust books at her that claimed to be a crash course on domestic duties including cooking and cleaning. Even the fact that Mitkudi was a complete novice at domestic stuff and Baarkudi enjoyed cooking should have been a reminder to go help her sister stuck in the tree.

Baarkudi meanwhile still waited and waited for Mitkudi to return with water. For days. Finally, she was plucking the courage to go look for water herself, when she heard chatter and a large group of monkeys came upon the scene. Looking at these giant monkeys with sharp teeth she decided it would be best for her to stay hidden in the hollow for now. 

All the monkeys except a very old one climbed the tree and began eating all the fruit. They went bananas over the persimmon, just as the Princesses had done.

The very old monkey could not climb. He begged the others to throw down some fruit, but they all refused. They thought he would be ungrateful and not do them any favors in return.

This very old monkey remarked that it was exactly the opposite. He would share with them this meal he had found in the hollow of a nearby tree. But everyone thought he was deceiving them.

He appealed to one of the monkeys, pointing out that they shared an Amazon account and that made them prime-mates, to which the monkey in question replied that it was this old monkey’s poor dad jokes that got him such a cold shoulder in the first place.

The old monkey resorted to saying that he had two cold shoulders waiting in the hollow. And he’d get to eat this person all by himself. But no one paid him any attention.

Baarkudi did not gasp in reaction to having been discovered and having been named as the main course in tonight’s dinner. Probably because she didn’t understand the monkey language.

After the rest of the monkeys departed, the old monkey suddenly pulled her out and devoured the Princess. Just like that. That’s not the end of the story, however.

The old monkey walked over to the stream, drank his fill, and then walked over to Raj’s palace gardens to do a bit of mischief there. But it must have been his age, or maybe he ate too much that night, and Princesses are such a rich food in monkey culture, that his old body could not handle it anymore. When he reached the garden, he simply lay down and died.

On the spot where his body was, a plant soon emerged, which soon grew quickly into a healthy little tree. It’s unclear why the gardener didn’t clear the monkey’s body, maybe there was a labor shortage or budget cuts in the garden too.

By and by, the King’s personal musician was strolling through the garden and saw this new little tree. He figured that this was the perfect sized tree to make a musical instrument out of. So he chopped it down and fashioned himself a brand new banjo. He didn’t need to fill out paperwork or wait for permission. The garden was neglected. It was beautiful, even if he said so himself. The one thing that was odd about it was that no matter what notes he played, the banjo always made the same tune. Which meant it was a terrible banjo for writing new songs on. But on the flip side, this banjo was the perfect instrument to use for concerts. It would never get a single note wrong. He just had to lip-sync to the words it was making. 

Now as a purist musician myself I should frown upon this new mechanism of deceiving the public. But it had a good outcome in the end. You see, the very first concert that the musician used the Banjo on, was attended by the Queen, Mitkudi. I guess she had a break from her cooking and cleaning duties that night.

Mitkudi was struck by the lyrics of the song, which went something like this:

Who went looking for fruits? My sister and I

Who went looking for water? My sister, not I

Who became Queen of the land? My sister, not I

And who got eaten by monkeys? I, not my sister.

Mitkudi was sure Baarkudi had somehow gotten recycled into that Banjo. And so she was determined to have it. She called the musician over for an intimate after-party for his amazing new composition. Just the two of them. The Queen praised the banjo player heavily until he fell asleep from the drugged wine she had offered him. And then when he was asleep, she quickly switched his banjo for a substitute that she had commissioned for the purpose. 

The musician woke up the next morning dazed and confused and convinced he must have done something wrong. He grabbed his banjo and ran out of the area. By the time he realized that the Banjo he had picked up was not his magic banjo, he was too far away and too scared to return and ask for it.

Mitkudi meanwhile took excellent care of the Banjo every day. She polished it, and heard the song, even though it was a painful reminder of her own negligence. Mitkudi was certain that even the voice of the banjo had been turning more and more human every day and it sounded identical to Baarkudi’s.

At some point, the King began to notice that the taste of his wife’s cooking had changed. And come to think of it, it might not have even been Mitkudi who was doing the cooking and cleaning. She seemed to have a lot more time to herself these days and that didn’t sit well with Raj.

One evening when they were out walking, he casually asked her who was doing all the cooking and cleaning now.

Mitkudi was surprised by the question. Funny he should ask when he had hired a replacement.

But Raj protested that he hadn’t hired anyone. Why would he if Mitkudi had so much free time?

But then who’s the girl who cleans up every day? She’s been coming since the day I got the banjo. I mean since the day our banjo player disappeared. Come to think of it, added Mitkudi. She hadn’t actually seen the girl but she had felt her presence.

They both looked at each other and rushed home to investigate. As they peeked in, Mitkudi was thrilled to see that the girl cleaning everything was Baarkudi. Yes, her sister had survived. Unlike their parents’ kingdom, which lay in ruins in the absence of a successor.

Baarkudi was about to go and hide in her home which seemed to be inside the banjo, but Raj jumped out of hiding and told her she would be his Queen, just as he had done with Mithkudi when proposing to make her his Queen.

Now I wish Baarkudi had said no, and rudely dealt with Raj for the way he was bossing over them, but she thought she was not in a position to choose, what with her own father’s kingdom in ruins and all. And she wasn’t ready for another adventure.

In a tale full of miserable twists and turns, it would be at least a little redeeming to say that something good came out of it. So let’s pretend that Mithkudi and Baarkudi tag teamed and jointly began running the Kingdom and relegated Raj to the position of cook and cleaner. After all, it was his mismanagement that had left him – a King without basic domestic staff and yet spending money on hunting trips and musicians.

That’s all for now

Some notes on the show

There are several variations of this story in the areas where Santali is spoken, including Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal. In some versions, it’s not a group of monkeys but a tiger who devours the younger sister. In others, it’s actually cannibals, which is a bit more gruesome.

The story makes no attempt to explain why Mitkudi did not go back and get her sister Baarkudi.

As is traditional on the show, the names of the characters are derived from the roles they play. Both names Mitkudi and Baarkudi are amalgamations of Santaali words. Mit and Baar are the numerals one and two respectively, and Kudi means girl. Raj refers to a King.

Other folk tales we have covered before

A handy Santali vocabulary guide is here

That’s all for now. 

Next Time

In the next episode, we’ll go sailing! Yes, we’re going to dip into the Ocean of the Stream of Stories, or the Kathasaritasagara as it is called.