The 'Ou' Kuwori (Grand Mother's tales)

The 'Ou' Kuwori

Once upon a time, there was a king who had two queens. The elder queen gave birth to a boy and the younger one gave birth to an 'Ou Tenga' (elephant Apple). The younger queen was very sad and she threw the 'Ou Tenga' in the dump behind their palace. But the 'Ou Tenga' came crawling back to the queen. No matter how far she threw it, the 'Ou Tenga' would always come back to her.

     One day the 'Ou Tenga' crawled to the bank of the river. The 'Ou Tenga' waited for a while and did not see anybody there. But a prince was fishing nearby. The prince noticed that a very beautiful girl came out of the 'Ou Tenga' and took bath in the river. She then dried her hair in the sun and went inside the 'Ou Tenga'. The 'Ou Tenga' then crawled back to her mother.

     Being attracted very much by the beautiful maid, the prince demanded the king to hold marriage with the 'Ou Tenga' that was crawling along with the other king's palace. The queen at first made a joke and said it was impossible. But the prince was adamant. So the king sent the proposal of marriage for the 'Ou Tenga' at the palace of the other king. The mother of the 'Ou Tenga' at last agreed. although reluctantly. After the marriage, the 'Ou Tenga' was brought to the king's palace.

     The prince was sleeping in the same bedroom with the 'Ou Tenga'. The meal that the prince's mother offered, the prince ate half of it and left the rest. Then he fell asleep. And then the girl from the 'Ou Tenga' came out and ate the food and again went inside the 'Ou Tenga'. The prince was very surprised at not finding the meal after waking up. One day when he was sitting in a sad mood, an old female beggar asked him "Why are you making yourself so sad " The prince then told her what had happened. The lady beggar then taught him a trick. She told him that when the maiden would come out from the 'Ou Tenga' for taking a meal, he would then have to smear it with curd and green banana on her head to bring her to sense. 

    The next night the prince followed the female beggar's advice, as a result of which the 'Ou Tenga' turned into a beautiful princess. On hearing the good news the next day, the parents of the prince and the princess were very glad and re-arranged a wedding ceremony between the prince and the 'Ou-kuwori'.

                                                                                                                                     -Collected from,

Burhi Aair Sadhu(Grandmother's tales)

Lakshminath Bezbaroa(1864-1938)