Free Folktales from Bengal by Soham Saha Page B

in agreement.
    The old woman went along
the path to her granddaughter’s home, which was in a village a
day’s walk from her house. She went slowly, her head bobbing as she
walked, and her cane tapping the ground. As it happened, the path
to the village ran across a deep and dangerous forest. Many wild
creatures lived there, but the woman was fearless, because she
knew, with her wit, she could outsmart anyone.
    After an hour of walking,
when she was quite deep into the forest, a fox spotted her. He
jumped in her way, and said, “Hello, little old lady. I am going to
eat you now.”
    The woman replied, “Of
course you will. But wait for a while. I am travelling to my
granddaughter’s place. I’ll live there for a month, and fatten up.
Eat me then. If you eat me now, all you’ll get is skin and bones.
“
    The fox said, “All right
then. Fatten up for me, and then I’ll eat you.” And he
left.
    The old woman continued
in her path, cane tapping and head bobbing, for a while more. Now
she was stopped by a tiger.
    The tiger said, “Ah my
lucky day, a three legged woman. I am going to eat you now, if you
don’t mind.”
    “ I don’t mind
at all,” said the woman. “But if you eat me now, all you’ll get are
my skin and bones. I do not have an ounce of flesh on me. But I am
going to my granddaughter’s place. In a month, I will returned, and
have a lot more meat on me then. Can’t you wait for just a month
now?”
    The tiger said, “Very
well. See you in a month,” and went away.
    The old woman walked
again, slowly but surely, with her head bobbing and her cane
tapping. Nearing the afternoon, she was stopped by a
bear.
    The bear said, “Ah, what
a slow little thing you are, on your three legs. Why don’t you stop
now, so I can eat you?”
    “ Well, bear.
You could eat me now, but you’ll be the loser, because in a month I
will return from my granddaughter’s place, where I am going now,
and will be fatter and tastier than ever. Now all I have are these
skin and bones.”
    “ Very well
then. Just a month. No more.” And he went his way.
    Soon after this, the old
woman reached her granddaughter’s house. There, she ate so much
curd and sweets in the following month that she was fat beyond
recognition. If she had eaten a bit more, she would have probably
burst. But when the month was over, she was worried.
    “ Why do you
look so worried, granny?” asked her granddaughter.
    “ Oh my dear
granddaughter, it is time I return home. But I have become so fat,
I cannot walk back. I’ll have to roll back. And there’s a bear and
a tiger and a fox waiting for me in the path, and they will eat me
the moment they see me.”
    “ Don’t worry,
grandma. I am going to put you inside this gourd, and roll you
towards your village. You’ll be safe inside, and the beasts won’t
be able to see you.”
    She carved out the
insides from a giant gourd, and then put the old woman in, with
some sweets in a jar, so that she did not go hungry on the way.
Then she rolled her downhill, and the gourd rolled away in the
direction of her house, through the forest.
    The old woman sang from
inside the gourd,
    “ Dham kurkur
dham kurkur
    Eating sweets in a
jar,
    The old woman goes far
and far.”
    The bear was eagerly
waiting by the path for the woman to return. He did not see the
woman coming back, but saw something peculiar instead. A giant
gourd was rolling down the path, and it was singing.
    He stopped it and turned
it around. He then sniffed it, and licked it. It did not seem
edible at all, and all the while, the gourd kept singing, “The old
woman goes far and far.” After listening to this for a while, he
got frustrated thinking about how the woman had tricked him, and
gave the gourd a kick, and it rolled about in its merry
way.
    About halfway through its
path, the gourd was stopped by the tiger. He considered taking a
bite out of it, but it smelled funny. And he was not a vegetarian,
the tiger, so he decided that the old