The Cat's Daughters (Grand Mother's Tales)

The Cat's Daughters

        Once upon a time there was a cat in a poor family. The cat was pregnant. The mistress of the cat was also pregnant at the same time. One day the cat wanted to eat fish. She said "I wish to eat fish. Can you cook some fish for me?" The mistress replied, "If you do not bring fish, how can I cook it for you?" Hearing this, the cat started stealing fish from other people's houses and gave it to her mistress. The mistress would cook and eat the stolen fish and she gave fish-bones to the cat. Thus, the cat would never get to eat the fishes she stole. So the cat was very angry and she cursed the mistress, "I wish I wish, what my womb is bearing, let it go to her and what her womb is bearing, let it come to me." Miraculously, the babies were exchanged. The cat gave birth to two beautiful girls and the mistress gave birth to two kittens. The cat brought up the girls with love and care. As the cat's daughters grew up, one day they asked their mother "Mother, if anything bad happens to you, how would we come to know?" The cat gave a basil plant and a jar of milk to the girls and said, "If anything bad happens to me, then the basil plant will droop and the milk in the jar will turn black, then you can go in search of me." After few years, one day the basil plant drooped and the milk in the jar turned black. The girls set out in search of their mother. They went far away from their house. On their way, they reached a river. They felt thirsty. The elder sister went down the river to drink water and bring some for her sister. She asked her younger sister to wait for her on the bank of the river. The elder sister drank a handful of water. But when she tried to bring water to her sister the water of the river dried up and the prince of water appeared. He said, "If you give me your ring then I shall gave you water She thought "The ring has no value compared to my sister". So she gave the ring to the prince of water and brought water to her sister, The younger sister drank water and asked her sister to bring the ring back. The elder sister went hack to the river to get the ring. But as soon as she stepped into the water, the prince of water swept her away. When the younger sister saw it, she was very sad and she cried aloud on the bank of the river. After some time a merchant was passing by the river. He saw that the girl was crying while sitting alone on the bank of the river. He took her along in his boat. When the merchant reached his house, he married the girl and she became his third wife. He loved his third wife a lot more than his other two wives. So, the two elder wives of the merchant grew jealous. They began to think of ways to make their husband hate the third wife. When the third wife of the merchant was going to deliver her first baby, the other two wives of the merchant blind folded her eyes and lied to her that she had delivered a piece of wood. They took the new-born boy and threw him into the river. Few years later, the third wife of the merchant was pregnant again. On the time of the delivery, the two elder wives of the merchant blind folded her eyes again and told her that she had delivered a pumpkin and they threw the new-born boy into the river like before. In the meantime, the elder sister who was swept away by the prince of water came to know that the two baby boys were the sons of her younger sister. So she took care of them and brought them up with all tenderness. But, the merchant thought that his third wife was not a normal woman and she was a cursed one. So he let her live in the dump behind his house. She passed her days very miserably. One day, when the merchant went for business the prince of the river caught his boat in the mid-stream of the river and said, "If you promise to fix a date to hold a big function then I shall release your boat." The merchant was puzzled, he fixed a date to hold function and threw a handkerchief and his cane into the water. Then his boat was released. The prince took the objects to the wife and told her about the merchant. The wife told the boys the whole story of their birth. She told them to announce the story on the occasion of the function which was held by their father and gave them the handkerchief and the cane. They started their journey and reached the merchant's house. At first, they went to their mother's house who lived in the dump behind their father's house. they called their mother and said "Mom, please give us some water to drink." The lady thought the two boys were joking and she answered "Why are you joking? Please go and eat whatever you find on the function." Then they told her everything and introduced themselves as her sons. They went to the function and they told everything in front of the villagers who attended the function and they showed the handkerchief and the cane to the merchant as proof. When the merchant realized what had happened, he drove away his two elder wives from his house and lived happily with his third wife and his two sons.

-Collected from,

Burhi Aair Sadhu(Grandmother's tales)

Lakshminath Bezbaroa(1864-1938)