Tembalaithak
Fungawari Singbul by B. Jayantakumar Sharma

Translation by Nganthoi Lourembam *

An illustration of Folk tale 'Tembalaithak' by Nganthoi Lourembam

Once upon a time there lived a man called Tembalaithak. He was in his mid age but unmarried. He never liked any women except for the one and only beautiful, Ngangbiton, the daughter of Keirakpa who was the minister of his place. But Temba thought he was inferior and liking her was like reaching out for the moon.

Temba got peculiar characters; he was short, dark in colour, narrow eyes and flat nose, very hairy and got a rough voice. There was nobody to look after him. But he was a stubborn man who does anything he wants. And for that people used to get scared of him and hated him.

Once, Temba invited some elderly people from his society for a lunch. He pleaded them to go to Keirakpa and ask for his daughter, Ngangbiton's hands. The seniors couldn't refuse to Temba's request and went with the proposal to Keirakpa on a fine morning. Even though Keirakpa declined the proposal, he showed respects to the elder and thus the elders returned contentedly.

When Keirakpa heard the elders, he said, "Alright, I am glad that everyone (the elders) went. The proposal was just for formality. Now I'll marry her even if approved or not. I appreciate everyone's concern." All the elderly people went back home.

Temba took out a long knife from his house. He sharpened blade of his knife with a stone. He went towards the harbour of Keirakpa. He waited Ngangbiton to come out for taking a bath. Ngangbiton never takes a bath in the river but as written in her faith she came with some of her friends that day in the river to take bath.

Temba immediately went near Ngangbiton and grabbed her hand. Ngangbiton's friends ran away with fear. Frightened Nganbiton asked Temba what he was doing and Temba replied, "Dear, I love you and I truly like you. Since I am not perfect I won't be able to have you for this life. In order to have you in my next birth I'll kill you and later I'll kill myself." And Temba kept the knife on her throat. Ngangbiton pleaded to save her life.

Temba made her a promise and then he let her go. According to the promise, on the same night, Temba went inside the house of Keirakpa. When Temba slightly pushed the door of the room where Ngangbiton was sleeping, the door opened itself. Then Temba lied in front of Ngangbiton's bed and pretended to be dead.

In the morning when the people living in Keirakpa's house saw the condition of Temba, everyone was shocked. Controlling his anger, Keirakpa said, "Alright, bury the dead body near the river bank." Following the order from Keirakpa, his servants took the body of Temba to a river bank. While the servants were digging the grave, Temba quickly ran away from there. When Keirakpa heard the news he was very furious.

'It all happened because of my bad daughter' and Keirakpa scolded Ngangbiton with awful words. Feeling ashamed of herself, Ngangbiton went to Tembalaithak's house on her own. Temba gladly welcomed her. On the other side, Keirakpa broke Chafu-Uyan (earthen pots used to make rice and curry) assuming Ngangbiton died.

Tembalaithak and Ngangbiton were poor. They became poorer day by day. 'If I get married to Keirakpa's daughter I'll get lots of dowry. But it is happening the other way around.' Temba thought, "How do we survive? What work should I do to live?" At the end he decided that he will become a fortune-teller.

One day, Temba put ten Ngamu (Murrel fish) in a pond when no one was around. When he saw some women going to market he told them, "There will be ten Ngamu inside this pond, see with your naked eyes if you don't trust me." Temba went inside the water folding his clothes. The women remained outside the water, watching him.

Taking one big steps at a time, Temba put his arm inside the water and pulled up the ten fishes one after another. Those women who were tricked by Temba thought that Temba was a person with psychic ability and spread the rumour which finally made him become a famous astrologer. Temba heard the rumour. He was finally happy and he became a fortune-teller.

One late night, Temba entered the house of Keirakpa and stole all the utensils. He buried the utensils in a yard. He returned home and slept as if he had done nothing.

The following day, Keirakpa's family got to know the house has been robbed and the news was spread across the village. Everyone said, "Keirakpa has got nothing to worry of as his son in law, Temba is there." But Temba and Keirakpa weren't talking to each other. But the people who care for Keirakpa suggested that Keirakpa should approve his daughter and son in law and let Temba find the lost stuffs from the house.

Keirakpa thought they were correct and approved the marriage of his daughter and Temba. Later, Keirakpa told Temba about the lost.

Temba predicted the place of the stuffs, which was hidden by him, in front of the people as if God has informed him. When the servants searched for the stuffs at the place Temba had instructed they found each of the lost items. From this incident, Temba became more famous. He was treated as God. His reputation was heard by the neighbouring country.

One day, when Temba was sitting in front of his house at the yard, two servants sent by the neighbouring king came looking for him. Temba was told that the king lost his boat and he was asked to search for it. Temba was scared. He now knew that his tricks would not work. He normally said to his wife, "This time will shake everything down." Listening to Temba the two servants trembled with fear.

Temba knew human gestures very well and took advantage of it. He said, "I know everything. Don't be afraid. I will save you both. So tell me everything." The two servants revealed the place where they had hidden the boat of the king. Now Temba was not afraid of anyone. Along with the two servants, Temba went to the neighbouring kingdom. He acted as if he foresaw it and said the place where the boat was hidden.

The king sent some of his servants to the pond which lies inside the palace. The servants discovered the stolen boat. The king was very much pleased with Temba and rewarded him with bags full of gold and silver. Not only Temba was successful but he returned home with bags full of treasure.

Afterwards, Temba was again called by a different king from another kingdom. The king said, "Look Maichou (prophet), no rain has fallen in our kingdom for a long time. All the people are suffering because of drought. We knew if Maichou could do some prayers and offering it will surely rain. Hence we called you to do the offerings."

Temba was frightened; he knew he could not trick this time. He thought that all the tricks he had been doing will be caught in a moment. While wondering what to do Temba came out towards the field outside the palace. While he passed by a field, a frog croaked. When Temba heard the frog he was very thrilled with happiness. He knew that if frog croaks it will surely rain.

Temba happily went to the king and asked him to arrange stuffs for prayer. After the prayer, Temba said to the king, "My lord, the god of frog listened to our prayer. It'll surely rain. Within three days it will rain." The king got furious and said, "What did you say, Maichou? What do you mean by the god of frog listened to us? Are you teasing me?" Temba realised what he said was incorrect and corrected his statement, "Please don't be upset my lord. What I mean was rain is blessed by frogs and instead of praying other gods I offered the prayer to frogs." The king also thought he was right and concealed his anger.

Three days had passed. But the sky was blue and there was no cloud. It doesn't seem like it will rain. Poor Temba, he would lose everything now! Suddenly the eastern part of the sky was filled with cloud, it started lightening. With no time the sky was covered with rainy cloud. Within a short period of time it started pouring rain heavily. Everyone of the kingdom was pleased with happiness. The people even danced under rain.

Temba satisfied the king and as a reward the king gifted Temba with lots of treasures. As there is a saying when the elephant's tooth pops out not even the hard tortoise or tamarind cannot strike it back - thus Temba became undefeated and famous. Temba along with his wife Ngangbiton, daughter of Keirakpa, lived happily throughout their lives.


** From Manipur folk tale Book called "Fungawari Singbul" by B. Jayantakumar Sharma