Once upon a time,
there lived a lovely little girl. Her name was Mauruong. She was the only
child, happily living with her parents. But her father had fallen in love with
their neighbor whoman who wanted dispose Mauruong’s mother by any means. One
day, Mauruong’s parents went to another village in search of grain. On their
way back, they had to crosss a very big river by a bridge. When they reached
the middle of the bridge, Mauruong’s father pushed Mauruong’s mother into the
river and she got drowned. Mauruong was waiting for her parents at the outskirt
of their village anxiously. She saw only her father coming. She enquired about
her mother but her father did not like to tell her the truth.
One day, during the absence of Mauruong and her
father, the woman who fell in love with Mauruong’s father, extinguished the
fire in the heart of their house. Mauuong was sent to the house of the woman to
fetch fire. The woman said to her, “If your father does not marry me, I shall
not give you my fire.” Dumbfounded, she came back home and reported it to her
father. As already planned, Mauruong’s father agreed to marry her. The woman
also brought her own daughter called Subimtaitawt to live with them.
For sometime all was well. Slowly the step-mother
revealed her true nature. She began to ill-treat Mauruong and gave her food fit
for pigs only. She gave her dirty, tattered and shabby clothes. As a result,
she grew thinner and thinner and looked sick. In sheer despair, Mauruong
wandered from place to place. One day, she happened to pass by one river where
her mother got drowned. There her mother had turned into a dolphin. When she
saw her daughter, she was surprised at her emaciated look. “Why do you look so
thin and pale?” she asked.
Mauruong narrated in details about her pathetic and
sad story. Her mother was deeply moved. She asked Mauruong to come to the river
every day for food. She caught fishes and crabs and prepared nice dishes and
offered to her daughter every day. As a result, Mauruong was growing in stature
and in beauty gradually. Her step-mother was worried at her changed look and
detailed Subimtaitawt to tail her. Her going to the river everyday for food was
found out. The step-mother invited the whole villages for fishing in the river
with poisonous plants. Dry season came and water was receding. It was the right
season for fishing. All the adults carried poisonous plants on their back to
the river. Mauruong was worried for her mother. She went ahead and warned her
mother of the impending danger. “I will give you danger signal. When I sing,
“Mother, down the river, you swim up the river,” and when I sing, “Mother, up
the river, you swim down the river.” The mother nodded.
People arrived and pounded the poisonous plants on
the bank of the river and dipped into the water. The water turned brownish and
was foaming. Small fishes ran helter shelter upside down. The poison spread and
began to take tolls. Then, Mauruong started singing, “Mother, up the river,
mother down the river.” Her mother ran up and down to escape the danger. “As
long as this girl was here, we wouldn’t be able to catch this big dolphin”,
said they. So they dragged her away and caught the dolphin. They divided the
flesh among themselves and Mauruong collected the bones. She buried it on the
river bank. From that day onward Mauruong had been suffering from malnutrition.
She grew pale and thin. In sheer despair, she visited the river bank and to her
surprise, saw the bones sprouting into a beautiful Phunchawng plant. Soon it
was blooming. She visited the tree every day and enjoyed its nectar. Gradually
she became normal and her look changed almost every day. Her step-mother was
worried again at her changed look. So, she detailed Subimtaitawt to tail her
again. At last, it was found that she visited the tree daily and enjoyed its
nectar. Once again the step-mother invited the villagers to fell the tree. The
villagers cut the tree with axe. As they were cutting, Mauruong cried, “Mother,
don’t give away. Mother, don’t give away.” So long as she cried like this it
could not fall down. “As long as this girl is with us, we should not be able to
fell down this tree”, they said. So, they dragged her away and the tree fell down
with a loud thud.
Mauruong’s father had two separate jhum, one for
Mauruong and the other for Subimtaitawt. The step-mother gave all the good
seeds to her daughter and all the bad seeds to Mauruong. However, Mauruong’s
seeds sprouted nicely and she weeded the jhum properly. Subimtaitawt’s seeds
did not sprout nicely and she didn’t weed the jhum properly. Monsoon came and
the jhum looked green. Whereas in Mauruong’s jhum, all kinds of vegetables such
as cucumber, melon, maize, etc grew abundantly.
An inter-village path passed through Mauruong’s
jhum. One day, as she was weeding the jhum alone, a group of strangers entered
her thatched jhum-hut and took rest. Mauruong offered them cucumber, melon and
maize which they relished very much. They were surprised at her hospitality to
the strangers. At last, their leader told her purpose of their visit saying,
“We are visiting this village in search of a suitable match for our master
Vailal*. We are satisfied with you. We shall take you to be our master’s wife,
if you agree.” “I have no objection, but I have a step-mother, she also has a
daughter and may favour her more than me”, replied she modestly. They all put
their heads together as to what to do about it. At last, the leader advanced a
proposal, “Alright, we shall go to your house with marriage proposal and if she
favoured her own daughter we shall have no objection. We shall carry her by a
palanquin and you also should accompany us up to the forest. Then we shall
throw her out and carry you in her place.” They all agreed to the proposal.
They reached the village and entered the house with the marriage proposal. He
step-mother favoured Subimtaitaw and talked of her modesty, industry and all
her feminine qualities at the expense of Mauruong. So, they agreed to take
Subimtaitawt. They pad the bride-price also. The mother’s joy knew no bounds.
They carried Subimtaitawt by a palanquin and Mauruong was following them
pretending to see her half-sister off. When they reached a forest, they threw
her out and carried Mauruong instead. Subimtaitawt cried and returned home in
shame. Her mother’s wrath defied all description.
When Vailal saw Mauruong, he admired her beauty and
loved her very much. He brought her cotton thread, spinning wheel and all
weaving materials. She was an expert in weaving loin-looms of various designs.
They had a very happy conjugal life. The step-mother was thinking seriously as
to how she was to take revenge. She sent a nice message to Vailal expressing
her joy at their happy conjugal life and her desire to see them. At the same
time she reminded him that it was time either for the bridegroom or the bride
to visit the bride’s parents some months after marriage. Unaware of the danger
waiting for her, Mauruong had to oblige her step-mother’s word.
Unfortunately, her husband could not accompany her
for domestic reasons. She reached home and was received by her step-mother
openly and warmly, hiding her real feelings. One day she said, “My daughter
Mauruong, you have been away for some months. There mayhave been many lice on
your head.” So saying she parted Mauruong’s long hair from behind on the
elevated open porch. She sat just behind Mauruong and started her feigned
search for live. She purposely dropped her comb through the hole and said, “Oh
No! I dropped my comb”, and asked Mauruong to go down and pick it up. Unaware
of her step-mother’s motive, she went down to pick up the comb. As she was
bending to take the comb, her step-mother poured a big potfull of boiling water
on her. She collapsed unconsciously and was thrown away presuming her to be
dead.
Months had passed. Mauruong did not return to her
husband. At last, Vailal sent a group of his men to take her. When they reached
home, Subimtaitawt was presented to them saying that she was not Mauruong, but
they did not know how to argue because Mauruong was no more. “this is the real
Mauruong, your rightful mistress”, insisted the mother. However, in spite of
their honest doubts, they had to carry Subimtaitawt. As they were passing
through the forest, a bird on the way side chirped, “Whom you’re carrying is
not Vailal’s wife, but Subimtaitawt.” As long as they were carrying her, the
bird was chirping like that.
They arrived home. When Vailal looked at her, she
was a different woman. “Why, your mistress was very different”, he enquired.
They also expressed thir doubts. “Let us test her”, one of them suggested. So,
they asked her to weave the unfinished loin-loom left by Mauruong. She sat on
it, but didn’t know how to handle it. A bird perching on the branch of a nearby
tree instructed her, “Turn the one end upside down and the other downside up.”
“You bloody bird, what are you saying? Shut up”, she shouted at the bird. Some
of Vailal’s men were out hunting in the thick forest. In the silence of the
forest where the sound of the running brook along was heard, a peculiar human
voice was heard:
“In the old old days,
Vailal’s wife I was;
But now was I,
Tending Sajaw’s baby;
Sleep my baby, sleep.”
She was lulling the baby to sleep on the huge branch
of a tree. They cocked their ears/ “Unbelievable”, said they to one another.
One of them crawled steadily and had a clearer look and to his surprise she was
no other than his old mistress. They took courage and approach her. She
narrated her pathetic story from the beginning, how she was thrown away
presumed to be dead and that Sajaw chanced upon her and healed her with
medicinal herbs and made her a servant. They persuaded her to accompany them
right away. But she couldn’t leave Sajaw’s house without his permission as she
owed her life to him. So they waited till he returned from jhum. When he came,
they told him everything. They gave him two bananas and took their mistress
back. When they reached home, Vailal was very happy to see his long parted
rightful wife. They thought out a plan to eliminate Subimtaitawt. They told
Mauruong of their plan. They prepared two swords, one the real one which was
very sharp and the other made from wood which looked sharp outwardly because it
was painted white. They were to fight a duel. Subimtaitawt was the one to
choose the sword first. Obviously she chooses the wooden sword as it looked
better and sharper. Mauruong asked her to strike her first. Subimtaitawt struck
her at the shoulder but to no effect. Mauruong’s turn came, she cut her in two.
The servants of Vailal made Sathu out of her flesh.
They sent words to her mother in the name of Subimtaitawt that they killed
their big pig and made Sathu. Accordingly, Subimtaitawt’s mother went there and
brought back three gourds full of Sathu. When she approached home, she shared
it with her neighbours telling them that Subimtaitawt had given all these
things. Her neighbour widow was also given one gourdful of it. When she poured
out, she found to her utter surprise, fingers bones and toe bones of human
being. She also found a scar mark which was in Subimtaitawt’s face. “Ah, this
scar mark looks like that of Subimtaitawt’s”, she expressed in surprise. When
she looked at the toe bones and finger bones, they resembled that of
Subimtaitawt’s. She ran to Subimtaitawt’s mother and expressed her doubts. But
Subimtaitawt’s mother rebuked her like anything. “What the hell are you talking
about? How do you say that it is my daughter’s flesh? I’m cent per cent sure
that its pork.” However, she had a lurking doubt about it. So, secretly she
examined the flesh and at last confirmed that it was the flesh of her own
daughter. She prepared to take revenge and proceeded to the Vailal’s village.
Soon the servants of Vailal saw Subimtaitatw’s
mother coming towards them. As she came nearer, she started murmuring and
shouted at them, saying, “You scoundrel, you have cheated me that my daughter
Subimtaitawt has killed me a pig. But instead, you have killed her and made me
carry home her permeated flesh.’ With a sharp sword in her hand, she was
running amuck. At this, the servants of Vailal threw their spears at her and
killed her. From that time onwards, Mauruong lived with her husband happily and
peacefully.
Source: Prof.(Dr.) Lal Dena,Hmar Folk Tales, Scholar
Publishing House, New Delhi, 1995
