Angangdagi Mairen Onba : The Child Who Turned into a Pumpkin
- From a book by N. Bemni Singha -

James Oinam *

An Illustration of 'Angangdagi Mairen Onba' by James Oinam

Long time ago in a kingdom ruled a bad-tempered king, there lived a couple who had no child.

The couple prayed to this God and that God for a child, and at last the Lord blessed them.

After carrying a child for ten full moons, the woman gave birth to a baby boy. But their happiness was short-lived.

From the sixth day from his birth, the child cried day and night, from early morning to late midnight.

Even their neighbours could not have a moment's peace. They asked one another, 'Whose child is that? All the peace and quiet of this village has gone.'

But the child cried louder and louder.

The noise reached the king's palace. He could not sleep or conduct his business because of the noise.

'Do you hear the noise? Bring the confounded child to the palace,' he ordered to his men at last.

Following the direction from which the sound was coming, the king's soldiers came to the couple's house.

'Is anyone in the house?' they shouted at the top of their voices.

The husband came out.

'The king has ordered us to fetch your child to the palace,' said the men to the couple.

The man was confused what to do. He knew what it meant.

The soldiers forced their way into the house. The mother was trying to soothe the baby.

Seeing the unwillingness of the mother to give away the child, the soldiers snatched the child from her and took him away to the palace.

The boy did not stop crying and the king was beside himself, 'Bury this beast tomorrow (leiron chankho).'

And so, the child was handed to the executioner.

The couple got the news and they could not sleep properly. When the woman was in half-drowsy state, someone appeared before her.

'Your child will be buried tomorrow.
Both of you must go to his cemetery.
Drop a stone each over it and come back to your house without looking back.
In the bed, you will find your boy.
He will not cry anymore.'

The woman woke up and told her husband everything. They went to the king.

'O great king, please let us see our boy for the last time,' they pleaded.

The king took pity on them and allowed them to go to the cemetery.

The body of the child was put into the grave. Both of them cried.

After the body was properly buried, the husband and the wife dropped a stone each over the grave and started for their home without looking back.

They heard someone following them. It seemed as if the follower was dragging a huge branch of a tree.

The 'soro, soro' sound made by the dragging branch completely unnerved the woman.

When they reached the gate of their house, the woman forgot everything and looked back at the sound.

In no time the pumpkin plant growing in their kitchen garden wrapped up whatever was making that awful sound.

The child was not there on the bed. Every year, the pumpkin plant in their kitchen garden bore many pumpkins.

But the couple never ate them because they thought it was their boy.

They spent their long life in misery crying over their fate.


Source Details:

Translated from 'Angangdagi Mairen Onba' story in the collected work Funga Wari, Vol. 3
Author: N. Bemni Singha
Book Illustrator: N. Nongdon Sana
Publisher: Naharol Khorjei Thaugallup Jaribon
Year of Publication: 1999