July 9. Story of the Day: Tortoise and Monkeys

This is a Lushai folktale from The Lakhers by N. E. Parry. The Lushai people, also known as the Mizo, live in northeastern India, and also in neighboring regions in Burma and Bangladesh. You can read more about them at Wikipedia.

I do not have a classification for this story, but I decided to include it because of the nice series of animals who show up, each larger than the next: first the small barking deer, then the larger sambar deer, and then the very large elephant.

SEILAKANGPA

The Tortoise

(Indian tortoise)

Once, long ago, Seilakangpa [tortoise] went to a strange village to buy some salt. On his return he saw many monkeys up in a big tree eating the fruit. He asked them to throw some down to him, which they did. Having eaten it, he called out, "Throw me down some more."

But the monkeys refused to throw down any more and said, "Climb up the tree and fetch some more if you want it."

Seilakangpa said, "I cannot climb trees."

So the monkeys said, "If you like, we will carry you up."

And, as the tortoise agreed, they carried him up and put him in a forked branch. But when they had eaten as much fruit as they wanted, the monkeys left the tree without helping the tortoise down again, and went and carried off all his salt.

He dared not jump, and, being afraid that he would die, he began to weep bitterly, and tears streamed from his eyes, and his nose began to run so fast that a small stream was formed near the foot of the tree.

Presently a barking deer came by and, drinking from the stream, said, "How very nice the water from this stream is."

The tortoise from up the tree immediately called out, "This is not a stream at all: it is my tears."

He told the deer why he was weeping, and the deer said, "Jump down onto my back."

The tortoise replied, "Your back is only four fingers in width; I am afraid to jump."

Presently a sambhur stag came by, and also exclaimed at the excellent quality of the water.

The tortoise again said, "It is not a stream, but my tears," and told the sambhur why he was weeping.

The sambhur said, "Jump down onto my back."

But the tortoise replied, "Your back is only two hands-width across; I am afraid to jump."

However, soon an elephant passed by. He drank from the water and said, "What a very nice spring this is."

"It is not a spring," said the tortoise, "it is my tears," and told the elephant why he was weeping.

On learning what had happened, the elephant said, "My back is as broad as a sieve. Jump on me; it will be quite safe."

So the tortoise jumped, and landed sideways on the elephant's spine, which at once broke, so that the elephant died.

The tortoise ate as much as he could of the elephant's meat, and presently he went near the monkeys' village to defecate. A little later the monkeys came out to go to their fields, and, thinking the dung was meat, ate it all up.

The tortoise then said, "A little while ago you left me in a tree, and now you have eaten my dung."

The monkeys were very angry on hearing this, and ate some chaaw [parkia tree beans], and then all went and defecated near the house of the tortoise, after which they all hid in a basket.

The tortoise came out, and, finding the dung, searched for the monkeys, and found them all hiding in the basket. So after tying them up in the basket he threw them over a precipice, where they all died except one female monkey, who was pregnant, and who was able to catch hold of a creeper hanging over the precipice.

This monkey had many young ones, and it is said that all monkeys are descendants of this survivor.