If you have suffered injustice – exploit and expose the rat and the flawed system. There is nothing wrong with that!
Once there lived a pair of sparrows. They loved and cared for each other until the female got pregnant. The male left her and fled. The female’s life was miserable after that. She gave birth to a chick and raised it in great hardship.
After a few months, the male realized that his child had now grown up and could be of great assistance to him. He came back and demanded the chick. This angered the female. She yelled –
‘What makes you think you can come back and take my child? You left me stranded in time of hardship, what makes you think you can take my child!’
The male wasn’t going to give up. They fought. The male said the chick was rightfully his while the female said there was no such right. They went to the king’s court to settle the issue.
They explained everything to the King.
‘Whose is the chick, your highness?’ asked the female.
‘The chick belongs to the father,’ the King decreed.
‘Then you should write this on an inscription,’ the female said.
The King ordered – ‘A child belongs to the father more than the mother,’ to be written in the inscription. After this, the male took the chick away.
The female was badly hurt. She yelled and cried. She vowed to take revenge on the King.
A few weeks later, she died.
There was a carpenter who worked in the King’s palace. His wife was pregnant. The spirit of the female sparrow transmigrated into his wife’s womb. A daughter was born to them after 10 months.
She grew up endowed with great virtue and talents.
One day, there was a meeting in the palace between kings and the ministers. They were discussing who could grow a pumpkin inside a Gagri (Nepali Water Pitcher). No one thought anyone could.
A Gagri
After a while, one of the ministers spoke –
‘The carpenter is quite wise. He might!’
The King asked the carpenter to be brought to the court immediately and ordered him to do so. The carpenter couldn’t deny so he returned home dejected. He looked disappointed as he entered. His daughter saw this and came running at him. He shared everything with her. She thought for a while and told him to stay calm and go to bed. The father was not convinced but his daughter’s support did manage to calm him. The daughter meanwhile had a plan. (And some special abilities!)
The next day she bought some pumpkin seeds and a clay gagri. She planted the seeds in her garden. It sprang the next day and within a few days, some sprouts emerged in it. She took them and placed them inside the gagri. She took good care of the pumpkin and on the seventh day: The gargri had a pumpkin inside it. She took the gagri to her father and told him to go to the palace and ask the king to take the pumpkin out without breaking it into pieces. The father was pleased. He went to the palace and did as she had asked.
The king was astonished to see this but was nevertheless pleased with the carpenter. He gave some reward and the carpenter returned home.
There was another meeting in the palace after a few days. This time they discussed who could build a house in reverse order. Everyone thought the intelligent carpenter could do it, if anyone. The King summoned the carpenter and asked him to build a house in reverse. This time too, the carpenter couldn’t deny so he returned home dejected. He had the same look of disappointment as he entered. His daughter saw this and asked what was wrong. He shared everything. She thought for a while and told him to stay calm and go to bed. The father was not convinced but his daughter’s support meant a lot to him. The daughter had a plan.
The next day she told her father to go ask for money with the King to build the house. She told him to take a paathi (an archaic nepali cup) and to tell the King to fill the paathi from the opposite end when he is about to give it. The carpenter went to the palace and did what she said. The King yelled at him –
‘Fool! How can a paathi be filled in reverse!’
The carpenter told him that he would require money that has been filled in reverse order to build a house in that order. The King realized the error and pardoned him. The carpenter went home and shared this with his daughter. She was pleased.
During the next meeting at the palace, they discussed who could bring the things of ultimate quality, character, and taste. Once again, they all agreed that only the carpenter could do it. The carpenter was called and was asked to bring them. The carpenter couldn’t deny so he returned home dejected. He looked disappointed when he entered. His daughter saw him and asked what was wrong. He told her everything. She thought for a while and told him to stay calm and go to bed.
The next day she asked him to bring a piece of new cloth. She tore the cloth into three pieces and filled them with salt, chilly, and rice. She gave those to his father and told him to take this to the King and say –
‘The ultimate quality is rice, the ultimate character is chilly, and the ultimate taste is salt.’
The carpenter went to the court and did what his daughter told. The King opened the clothes and was impressed with what the carpenter had done. He rewarded him with two thousand rupees. The carpenter gleefully accepted it and returned home. He gave it to his daughter. She, however, asked him to buy her a horse with it. The daughter began riding the horse around.
The carpenter’s house wasn’t too far from the palace and its stable. There were only female horses there. The daughter sneakily left her horse at that stable every night. After a few months, one of the king’s horses was pregnant. In due time, she gave birth. The daughter then went to the stable, took the foal and brought it with her. When the guards interrupted, she said the foal was hers and didn’t give it back. When this issue couldn’t be resolved by the soldiers, the King had to intervene. He came up to her and said –
‘The foal born of my horse is mine.’
‘Who does a child belong to : the father or the mother, your highness?’ The little girl asked.
‘The mother,’ the King replied.
‘Why don’t you confirm this in one old inscription of yours,’ the girl suggested.
The king asked one of his men to go check. The man returned with the information that a child belonged to the father more than the mother.
And so the little girl took the little foal with her and the King remembered the sparrows.
The female sparrow took her revenge!
DISCUSSION
This is a mystical tale about a character wronged by both her loved-one and the system. The only thing of meaning and comfort is taken away for her. The character vows to take revenge, not just for personal satisfaction but also to expose the fallacy of a thought and a system. The character ends up taking revenge. But it required a great plan from her.
If we remove the mystical element from the tale then it becomes a tale of a woman’s struggle – which frequently occurs in society and people’s lives.
What we can learn from this is –
If you have suffered injustice – exploit and expose the rat and the flawed system. There is nothing wrong with that!
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