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Bengal: The Boy whom Seven Mothers Suckled (cont.)

This story is part of the Bengali Folktales unit. Story source: Folk-Tales of Bengal by the Rev. Lal Behari Day, with illustrations by Warwick Goble (1912).




The Boy whom Seven Mothers Suckled (cont.)

At last the boy, who had been suckled by seven mothers and who had now grown up to a stalwart youth, volunteered his services. He attended on the king and took every care to prevent the queen from swallowing him up, for he went away home long before nightfall, and the Rakshasi-queen never seized her victims except at night. Hence the queen determined in some other way to get rid of the boy.

As the boy always boasted that he was equal to any work, however hard, the queen told him that she was suffering from some disease which could be cured only by eating a certain species of melon which was twelve cubits long, but the stone of which was thirteen cubits long, and that that fruit could be had only from her mother, who lived on the other side of the ocean. She gave him a letter of introduction to her mother, in which she requested her to devour the boy the moment he put the letter into her hands.

The boy, suspecting foul play, tore up the letter and proceeded on his journey. The dauntless youth passed through many lands, and at last stood on the shore of the ocean, on the other side of which was the country of the Rakshasis.

He then bawled as loud as he could, and said, “Granny! granny! Come and save your daughter; she is dangerously ill.” An old Rakshasi on the other side of the ocean heard the words, crossed the ocean, came to the boy, and on hearing the message took the boy on her back and re-crossed the ocean.

So the boy was in the country of the Rakshasis. The twelve-cubit melon with its thirteen-cubit stone was given to the boy at once, and he was told to perform the journey back. But the boy pleaded fatigue and begged to be allowed to rest one day. To this the old Rakshasi consented.

Observing a stout club and a rope hanging in the Rakshasi’s room, the boy inquired what they were there for. She replied, “Child, by that club and rope I cross the ocean. If any one takes the club and the rope in his hands, and addresses them in the following magical words — O stout club! O strong rope! Take me at once to the other side!” — then immediately the club and rope will take him to the other side of the ocean.”

Observing a bird in a cage hanging in one corner of the room, the boy inquired what it was. The old Rakshasi replied, “It contains a secret, child, which must not be disclosed to mortals, and yet how can I hide it from my own grandchild? That bird, child, contains the life of your mother. If the bird is killed, your mother will at once die.”

Armed with these secrets, the boy went to bed that night. Next morning the old Rakshasi, together with all the other Rakshasis, went to distant countries for forage. The boy took down the cage from the ceiling, as well as the club and rope. Having well secured the bird, he addressed the club and rope thus — “O stout club! O strong rope! Take me at once to the other side!”

In the twinkling of an eye, the boy was put on this side of the ocean. He then retraced his steps, came to the queen, and gave her, to her astonishment, the twelve-cubit melon with its thirteen-cubit stone; but the cage with the bird in it he kept carefully concealed.

In the course of time the people of the city came to the king and said, “A monstrous bird comes out apparently from the palace every evening, and seizes the passengers in the streets, and swallows them up. This has been going on for so long a time that the city has become almost desolate.”

The king could not make out what this monstrous bird was. The king’s servant, the boy, replied that he knew the monstrous bir, and that he would kill it provided the queen stood beside the king.

By royal command the queen was made to stand beside the king. The boy then took the bird from the cage which he had brought from the other side of the ocean, on seeing which she fell into a fainting fit.

Turning to the king the boy said, “Sire, you will soon perceive who the monstrous bird is that devours your subjects every evening. As I tear off each limb of this bird, the corresponding limb of the man-devourer will fall off.”

The boy then tore off one leg of the bird in his hand; immediately, to the astonishment of the whole assembly, for the citizens were all present, one of the legs of the queen fell off. And when the boy squeezed the throat of the bird, the queen gave up the ghost.

The boy then related his own history and that of his mother and his stepmothers. The seven queens, whose eyesight was miraculously restored, were brought back to the palace, and the boy that was suckled by seven mothers was recognised by the king as his rightful heir.

So they lived together happily.


(900 words)