Balkoba Sangkame: Next time I'll get it right

Another story from the Marathi (India) by Shrimati Jayashreedevi Shirole, via Suniti Namjoshi (more contributions here), with notes also below the story.

This is ATU Tale Type 1696: What should I have done?

You can skip the somewhat scary clown and start the actual story at


BALKOBA SANGKAMÉ


One Sunday Balkoba Sangkame went to visit his aunt. When it was time to go home, his aunt gave him a lump of butter to take with him. Balkoba wrapped it up in a piece of paper and put it under his cap.  By the time he got home, the sun had melted the butter and it was trickling down his face.

His mother was a bit cross, but she explained to him that he should have wrapped up the butter in a banana leaf.

“Sorry,” said Balkoba. “Next time I’ll get it right.”

When Sunday came around, he went to visit his aunt again. This time she gave him a puppy. He wrapped up the puppy in a banana leaf and brought it home. The poor thing had nearly smothered to death.

His mother sighed and explained patiently that he should have tied a string around the puppy’s neck and led it back.

 “Sorry,” said Balkoba. “But next time I will get it right.”

It was Sunday again and he went to visit his aunt.  This time she gave him a jelabi to take back with him. He was determined to be careful. He tied a string around it and dragged it back.

His mother just looked at him sorrowfully and explained that jelabis are to be carried in a paper bag. And so the next time when his aunt gave him some buttermilk…

The tale of Balkoba Sangkame, who had to be told each time how to do things right, but who  managed somehow to get them wrong, is too long for one person to tell and so everyone is invited to help.


NOTES

Bal means child or boy, but when it’s turned into ‘Balkoba’  there’s a slightly sarcastic, though not unkind, tinge to it.  Marathi tends to be imbued with sarcasm and irony. Sangkamé refers to a person who has to be told to do something every single time and who never gets anything right. The word literally means ‘has to be told chores.’


Here is a video in Marathi:




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