Santal (South Asian people) -- Folklore; Santali literature -- Translations into English; Tales -- India
The next day after he had again shown great skill with the bow and
arrow the raja's son and his companion said, "The fatherless boy hits
the mark every time." Hearing this he again went home weeping, and
said to his mother, "Oh! mother, where is my father?" She replied,
"He has gone to visit his friends." Every day the boy came crying to
his mother asking where his father was, so at last she told him. She
said, "Your father, child, was carried away on the horns of a Gand
Garur [18]."
The boy then said to his mother, "Prepare me some flour. I will
go in search of him." His mother tried to dissuade him, saying,
"Where can you go in such a jungle as this?" He, however, insisted,
and she prepared flour for him, and he set out.
After travelling many hours he entered the primeval forest, and
presently darkness came upon him. After a short time he came to
the dwelling of Huti [19] Budhi, and requested permission to pass
the night there. This was accorded to him, and he lay down and fell
asleep. During the night he was awakened by the Huti Budhi eating
his bow and arrows. He called out to her "Oh! old woman, What have
you been nibbling at since evening?" The Huti Budhi replied, "It is
only some roasted grain, which I brought a while ago from the house
of the Chief."
In a short time the nibbling sound was again heard, and he again
enquired what she was eating. She returned the same answer as
before. "Oh! my son, it is only roasted grain which the chief's people
gave me." He did not know that all the time she was eating his bow
and arrows.
When morning dawned he requested her to give him his weapons, and
on his attempting to string the bow it broke in his hands. The Huti
Budhi had eaten the heart out of the wood, and had left only the
outer shell. He left her house planning revenge.
During the day he had an iron bow and iron arrows made. All was iron
like the arrow heads. In the evening he returned to sleep at the Huti
Budhi's house.
During the night he heard the Huti Budhi trying to nibble his bow and
arrows. So he enquired what she was doing. The answer she gave was,
"Do you think the Huti Budhi can eat iron."
When morning dawned he demanded his bow and arrows, and received
them uninjured, but the lower part of the Huti Budhi's face was all
swollen. She had been trying to eat the iron bow and arrows. Her
lodger strung his bow, and having saluted her, went his way.
As he journeyed he entered another unexplored forest in the midst of
which he discovered a lake, to which all the birds and beasts resorted
to quench their thirst. He obtained this information by an examination
of its banks, on which he saw the footprints of the various beasts and
birds. He now took some flour from his bag, and having moistened it
with water made a hearty meal, and then sat down to wait for evening.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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