At the beginning of time, the animals were free and living wild and unruly lives. However, there were so many disputes and quarrels that they convened a council to choose a king to reign over them. With one voice they nominated the tiger to be king, not for any special wisdom or merit which he possessed. He was chosen because of his great strength, by which he could subdue the turbulent beasts.
Although the tiger possessed greater strength than any of his relatives, he was more ignorant of the ways and habits of his subjects than any of the animals. He was so self-absorbed that he never troubled himself to study the ways of others. This caused him to act very foolishly at times and to make himself look ridiculous. Other animals were tempted to take advantage of his great ignorance and to play tricks upon him whenever they thought they could. This tale relates how the monkeys played a cunning trick on their king which resulted in enmity between monkeys and tigers.
One summer day the tiger walked abroad to take a look around the forest. But the sun was blazing so hot, he turned aside to shelter under some leafy trees and there he fell asleep. Suddenly he awoke, and he heard very melodious singing. He listened intently, and began nodding his head left and right.. and left and right... in appreciation.
It was the little insect called Shalymmen, who was chirping on a leaf, but she was so small the tiger could not see her. Being an ignorant beast, he had no idea whose voice it was. He looked beyond the
branches right and left, trying to discover the singer. But he only saw a company of monkeys who were at play in the trees. The tiger began to question them who it was that was singing above him.
Now the monkeys and all the jungle animals were perfectly familiar with the singing of Shalymmen and recognized the voice from afar. They thought it was unfortunate and worthy of contempt that the king of the jungle should be so ignorant. One audacious young monkey, in a spirit of mischief, answered that the singer was their youngest sister.
The other monkeys were quite taken aback when they heard their brother giving such an impish answer. They thought that the tiger would be offended and would punish them with his great strength. They were preparing to run away by jumping to the cluster of tall trees not too far away. But to their amazement, they heard the tiger replying to their rash young brother in a gentle voice and with the most affable manners. The tiger said, “Your sister has the most beautiful voice in the jungle; I will make her my wife.You, my brother-in-law, help me meet my bride. ”
If the predicament of the monkeys was bad at the beginning, it was doubly so now. They felt that, things having taken such an unexpected turn, it would be impossible to tell the tiger what the truth was. They decided, however, not to desert their young brother. If possible, they were prepared to try and rescue him. With that intent, they approached the tiger. With much seeming courtesy and honour they put forward the excuse that their sister was very young and not yet of
marriageable age. This excuse made no impression on the king, for he said:
“So much the better. As she is young, she can learn the ways of the tigers. She can then raise my children like tigresses do,which would not be so easy if she were fully mature.”
To which the monkeys replied, “Our sister is not a good learner. She is stubborn and fond of her own will.”
The tiger, however, was so lovesick that no argument could convince him. He thought the brothers were harsh in their judgement of their own sister. Maybe they were even jealous that their sister was going to marry a tiger. He roared loudly and declared that his lady love cannot be so selfish and stubborn, because she was forgoing her midday rest for the sake of making music to cheer other animals. He ordered them to come down from the trees and to lead their sister to him.
After this the monkeys feared to argue further, so they pretended to agree to his commands. But they asked for a little time to make preparations. They pleaded that it would not be becoming for a royal tiger, a creature of such a high pedigree, to join himself in alliance with a poor family like theirs if the wedding was a simple and forgetful one. “Allow us to show adequate honour such as was due to your rank”, the leader of the monkeys pleaded.
This request the tiger granted, and it was arranged between them that he was to come and claim his bride at the time of the full moon. The
wedding was scheduled, a week from that day, and so the tiger departed with evident goodwill.
As soon as they found themselves alone, the monkeys began to think out some plans by which they could meet the situation and escape the wrath of the mighty tiger. They decided to call together a council of the whole tribe of monkeys. They well foresaw that the whole tribe would be in peril if the tiger found out what they had done. So the monkeys came to hold a council. In that council it was decided that they must continue to keep up the facade that had been painted by the young monkey.In order to keep the tiger humoured still further, they planned to make a clay image after the fashion of a woman and to present her to the tiger as his bride. They made preparations for a great feast, but they did not invite anybody except their own tribe to attend.
During the succeeding days the monkeys busied themselves collecting clay and moulding it into an image, which they propped against a tree. They were unable to make the head of one piece with the body, so they moulded the head separately. When it was finished they placed it loosely on the body of the image. They then proceeded to dress the image in the finest silks they could procure, and adorned the clay image with the shiniest jewels and the brightest pearls. Finally, they carefully covered the head and face with a veil to hide it from the eyes of the bridegroom.
The night of the full moon arrived, and all the monkeys were assembled at the appointed place. With much clatter and seeming joy they awaited the arrival of the tiger. Deep within, they were really very
anxious about the consequences. Everything was ready, and the place was laid out with many kinds of food, to lead the tiger to think that they were sincere in their welcome.
He came early. He had spent the day in the river, bathing and cleaning himself, his coat was shining and his eyes were glowing. He was carrying over his shoulder a net full of betel nut and pan leaves.The humans followed this custom, he thought, so why shouldn’t the King of the jungle?
When the tiger arrived, he was received with loud applause by his prospective relatives. But the tiger hardly acknowledged them or offered his greeting. So impatient was he to meet his bride, that he demanded to be taken to her immediately. The monkeys led him with great ceremony to the clay image. Their hearts were beating fast with fear. The were concerned about how the tiger would react should he discover their fraud.
When they reached the image they said, “This is our sister. Take her and may she be worthy of the great honour you have conferred upon her.” Shortly after that they retired to a safe distance and climbed up on the trees that surrounded the venue of the wedding.
When the tiger saw how finely dressed she was and how modestly she had veiled herself. He felt a little timid, because she was so much prettier than the little grey monkey he had been picturing to himself. He came up to her and said deferentially, as he slung the net of betel nut round her neck:
“You are the chief person at this feast, take the pan and the betel nut and divide them among the company according to custom.”
The bride, however, remained motionless and mute. The tiger asked the monkeys in a displeased voice, “Why doesn't your sister answer me nor obey my commands?”
“She is very young,” they replied, “perhaps she has fallen asleep while waiting for you. Pull the string of the net and she will awaken.”
Upon this the tiger gave the string a sharp tug, and the loose head of the image rolled on to the floor. After which the monkeys, uttering the most piercing shrieks, pounced upon the tiger in a mob, declaring that he had killed their sister. They claimed that he had only made a pretense of marrying her in order to get hold of her to kill her.
A fierce and bloody fight ensued in which the tiger was nearly killed. Ever since then the tiger has feared the monkeys, and they are the only animals in the jungle that dare challenge him to fight. He never discovered their scheme, but he learned one very effective lesson.
Since that incident, he has never proposed marriage to an unknown bride since that unfortunate affair with the monkeys. To this date, the monkeys celebrate the cunning by which they saved their brother and their tribe from punishment.
This story is a folk tale of the Khasis, which has been adapted by gaathastory. Parts of this story have been revised for language and context.