The Fox's Wit : Lamhui Lousing
Fungawari Singbul by B. Jayantakumar Sharma

Translation by Bidyarani Thingujam *

An illustration of Folk tale 'Lamhui Lousing' by Sibananda Thokchom

Once upon a time there lived a very clever fox in a jungle. His wife is pregnant and is expecting a baby very soon.

One day the fox's wife said to him, "Dear, I want to eat fish. As I can't go and search for it, can you please bring me some fish.

The fox replied, "Sure, I'll bring it". The fox then went out and came along the forest path.

At the side of the forest the fox saw a lake and there he thought of catching some fish. At the very lake there lived a crocodile and at that time the crocodile was swimming in the lake.

At the first glance, the fox thought the crocodile to be a floating weed and jump over it to catch fish. The fox caught a lot of fish and without ever thinking that he was standing over a crocodile, he then jump over to the lakeside and went happily to his home.

Meanwhile, the crocodile was very angry at the action of the fox and he decided to beat him if he ever gets a chance.

Next day, the fox came again at the lake to catch fish. Seeing the fox coming by, the crocodile thought of a plan to beat him and he acted like a dead cow and lay still over the water.

Suspicious of the thing, the fox looked closely and he immediately understood the situation.

He knew it is the crocodile and quickly tried to attack him, but the crocodile also angrily tried to hit back and both missed it.

Seeing the fierce behaviour of the crocodile, the fox quickly ran from the place. As soon as he came home, he told his wife to leave everything and they had to leave the place. He narrate the whole story to his wife and they their home immediately.

The couple wander for some time but unfortunately the fox's wife told him that she was expecting at that moment and can't wait.

The fox was very tense and after searching here and there, he found a cave, and there, his wife gave birth to a baby fox. But unfortunately, that cave happens to be the home of a tiger.

He quickly thinks of a way to get rid of the tiger. Not very far from the tiger's cave, there lived a monkey.

He befriends the monkey and the two friends hatched a plan to kill the tiger.

At that time, the tiger suddenly comes home and as he came near his cave, secretly hidden among the bush, the fox said in a loud, gruff tone, "Friend Monkey, when your son was born, I gifted you ten tiger for the feast. Now today, I got a son, how many tiger you are going to present to me for the feast".

As soon as the tiger heard this, he was very scared and ran in the direction where the monkey was hiding.

Then the tiger bumps into the monkey and because of fear, the monkey felt unconscious and was soon dead. The tiger ran without looking back.

After that day, the witty fox lived happily with his wife and children without any worries and enemies.


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