The Seven Poor Sons - Laira Macha Taret

" The Seven Poor Sons
- Laira Macha Taret -
- Animal Fables- "

Folk tale of Manipur.....................

Once upon a time, there lived a poor couple who had seven sons. They cannot even once feed their children properly so they decided to abandon them in the forest. So one day, the mother cooked bread for each of them and the father took them to the forest on the pretext of searching fruits. The youngest son was very clever; he did not eat the bread but instead left trials of their route with pieces of his bread.

When they reached deep into the forest, the father told them that he had to attain his nature call and asked them to wait there for him. It was almost dark, but their father did not return to them. The brothers were lost in the forest. However, the youngest brother followed the trial he had made and the brothers reached home late at night.

So the next day, the mother made breads for them and they came to the jungle again. The youngest one as usual left trials of their route. When they reached deep inside the forest, the father vanished again. And when they were about to return home, the bread trials were not found and they were lost in the forest.

The brothers not knowing the way back home started moving north in search of their home. As they walk towards north, they saw a small light coming from a house. As they reached the house, the brothers asked if anyone was there and let them stay there for the night.

A lady answered there call and they went inside the house. The brothers were getting ready to sleep when suddenly the lady wore a coat made of leather and started growing taller. She grew taller and flew away from the house.

In the same house, the seven sons of the demon were also sleeping. The demon sons wore crown on their heads. The brothers went in to sleep beside the demon brothers. Six of the brothers were very tired and slept the moment they took the bed but, the younger brother could not sleep.

The younger brother moved around the house and found lots of human skeleton inside the house. Now he came to realized that it was the house of the demons. So he came back to the room where his brothers and the seven demon sons were sleeping. He took the crowns from their heads and put it on the heads of his brothers and himself and slept.

After a while, the demon came back. She took off her coat and came inside the room where they were sleeping. She started touching the heads of the sleeping children and killed the ones without the crowns. After that, she too went to sleep. After a while she started snoring very loudly.

At that moment, the younger brother woke up his brothers and told them that it was the house of the demon and they had to go now or else they would be in trouble. As they came out of the house, the younger brother took the demon's coat. And when he wore it, he became taller and bigger. It was magic coat and with the help of the power, he took his brothers and flew to a hill far away from the forest.

When the demon woke up, he realized that she had killed her sons instead of the other children. The angry demon started following the brothers, but as she doesn't have the coat, she was slow. The brothers could see the demon following them from the top of the hill, so they hide behind the huge rocks. As the demon started climbing the hill, the brothers pushed down huge stones and killed the demon.

After killing the demon, the brothers flew north with the help of the coat. They saw a palace and went inside it. They narrated the incident and king was very happy on hearing the good news. The king was happy because his kingdom gives one human each everyday as tribute to the demon.

So happy was the king that he gave half his land to the brothers and also many other gifts. The brothers went to fetch their parents and they lived happily ever after.

"The End"

Art Work - Phurailatpam Banti.