Human Turning into Parrot

Human Turning into Parrot
- Mee na Tenawa Onba -
- Animal Fables-

A manipuri Folk tale.................

Once upon a time there was a boy named Yukokthong Yaimaba, the grandson of Koubru King. He was not willing to do the duty of man's work and farming so he chose to share his knowledge on business. On the course of his journey, when he reached Kabo valley he stops by a place of a lady named Haoningsang Poudongnu.

As time passes by, Poudongnu gave birth to a daughter. Her father had left home before she was born and never returned home.

On the other side, the daughter of Poudongnu was getting older and older day by day, she was the beau of a sight. Still her father didn't return home. Her mother named her Songri. She raised her daughter by going to each and every houses begging for their basic needs.

As Songri was a grown woman now, she started working in the farms, chopping woods so her mother stopped begging. Daily breads were easily maintained as they started farming.

The Farm land where Songri and her mother were farming was very fertile. The beautiful charms of paddy were giving a hearty looks to every person when they looked at it.

The beauty of the paddy fields were destroyed by many birds and when Poudongnu saw the scene, she told her daughter, ''Dear beloved, go and take care of the farm from the birds today''.

She went to the paddy field with eatables at her mother's command.

She was looking after the field from birds and simultaneously her father Yukokthong who was gone for 14 years for business was passing by the field and they came to meet with each other. He was mesmerized by the beauty of a lady who was standing by. He went to his place and took rest.

When Songri reached home she saw the same guy having traditional tobacco and she hurriedly asked her mother about him. Her mother told her that he is her father who had gone for long years in search of money.

She was ashamed of the truth and told her mother that she will give up her life by jumping in the Ningthi Turel. Her mother didn't know that she was really going to do it and she continued cooking and didn't follow her.

Even after she fed her husband still Songri wasn't home so she decided to look for her daughter. She wasn't able to find her, she asked her friends and still she was unable to seek her, She keeps looking for her child without eating anything all night.

In her dream, her daughter told her that she won't find her again, she had given up her life and now she turned herself to a small fish, if she wanted to see her daughter again she should catch her and cover her with six folded clothes and then she will born alive again.

Poudongnu woke up and as she was told by her daughter, she went to the river and called her daughter, she kept waiting and finally she started catching fish but it was of a different kind whenever she caught one. She let go all of them as she was looking only for her daughter. She kept throwing some small stones off the river, as she cannot find her daughter she returned home weeping in sorrow.

In her next dream, her daughter reminded her that she was in those stones she threw up the river bank, as soon as she heard it she rushed to the spot and found her, she returned home happily wrapping her in her warm clothes. She did as her daughter told her and kept her.

Pudongnu was so curious that she opened it before the time she mentioned. She found her as a bird and now they cannot be together and her daughter told her that she had to fly away to the mountains where birds are supposed to be. She agreed to her faith that they cannot be together and let her daughter free away to sing '' te te'' and they departed that way.

If we do things without thinking, it leads to false claim. Because of her mother's stupidity and doing things without thinking, now Songri was a Parrot and she flew sky high across the mountains and spent her life that way.

"The End"

A Manipur folk tale translated from a Book in Manipuri "Fungawari Singbul" compiled by B. Jayantakumar Sharma.