Tale Bearers: Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumdar
Translator : Stuti
"Waung Moung Khaun
Monisshe Gandhe paung
Dhore dhore khaung"
"I smell a man that I am gonna eat", this is a dangerous story, which begins in a faraway land, its a story of people who ate up their kids, a story of gold and iron and one which entailed long journeys.
Once there was a king who had two queens, one queen was human and her son was named Kusum, the other queen was a Rakkhashi (demoness) , her son was called Ajit. Ajit and Kusum the two brothers were very fond of each other.
The Rakkhashi queen had a heart-felt desire, it made her red tongue waggle in anticipation - to eat the flesh of her step-son. Her eyes glared at her own son as the two brothers were always seen playing with each other. Day and night she waited for the opportunity and waited for her time.
One day she decided that she would get what she wanted and she invited some other fellow Rakkhushs to her palace. Her evil thoughts scarred the night and when she passed elephants and horses of the king's stable died under the influence of her evil thoughts and the good queen passed away in fright. The night turned deadly with the chants of "Waung maun khaun"
One of the Rakkhush she had called burst into the room where the two boys were sleeping with their father the King, and devoured Kusum. The King was scared and was not able to move, but Ajit hit the giant and so the Rakkhush had to flee, before leaving he dropped from his mouth a ball of gold. The Rakkhashi queen was very angry at her son for turning against her, and in her anger she ate up her son. However, soon she felt very sick after eating him and a ball of iron came out of her mouth. She sent back all the rakkhush she had called to where they had come from.
Very anxious about the iron and gold balls she buried them under a clump of bamboo trees where nobody could find them. A few days later, on a beautiful morning when the sun was shining brightly in the sky, a farmer came with his ox to that place and he cut the bamboos, he then saw two eggs one red and one blue. He was very surprised and thought to himself - "Which bird lays eggs like these?" And out of the blue egg came Ajit, and out of red jumped Kusum. Kusum was now called Lalkamal(Red Lotus) and Ajit - Neelkamal(Blue Lotus) after the color of the eggs they had come out from.
There was a kingdom in which Khokkoshes (big monsters) used to devour people in hundreds. To kill them the princes went to the forest and waited in a room which the Khokkoshes haunted at night. Time passed nothing moved, but when it was midnight, the Khokkoshes came creeping to the door smelling a human with chants of "Waung Maang Khaaun" and asked - "Who lies awake in the hut, dim the lights it makes us uncomfortable".
Neelkamal was sleeping and Lalkamal was awake, but Neelkamal had told his brother that when asked he was to say both of them were awake on guard. So Lalkamal said -
" Lalkamal lies awake and Neelkamal lie awake,
And lies awake the sword, which slices flesh like cake,
Can you match the might? Come let us fight".
The Khokkoshes were very scared of Neelkamal as he was the son of a Rakkhushee. To check if he was also a Rakkhush they said
"Show us your bare claws" At this Lalkamal thrust sharp knives through inside the door
"Show us what you spit" Lalkamal threw the oil of a burning lamp at them
"Show us your tongue!" He thrust a sword the Khokkoshes started to pull him out by catching hold of the sword and hurt their hands in the process and they said " We are dead, we are dead the pain is too much".
But even then they did not run away, after a few hours they asked again, "Who is asleep and who is awake", a sleepy Lalkamal replied "Lalkamal lies awake". The Khokkoshes were very happy as Lalkamal was a human and they had nothing to fear and they decided to get inside the hut and eat him up.
They attacked him but Neelkamal awoke, the Khokkoshes said they were very sorry, howled in agony but Neelkamal was awake and he finished them off.
The Khokkoshes were finished but the Rakkushes still remained. The brothers started on a long journey to the Rakkhush kingdom. They rested on the way under a Banyan tree. A Bangoma and Bangomi (birds) living in the same tree had blind children but Lalkamal restored their eyesight by the touch of his hand, and the birds in return flew them to Rakkhush land. There they met the old granny Joti Budhi
"Jute haired old ma, you are our grandma
Jute haired old mum, Aren't we then your grandsons?"
But Lalkamal smelt like a human, so she didn't believe them. She asked them to eat an iron pan to prove what they said was correct, they replaced the frying pan with crunchy peas the Bangomi had given them and said -
"Crunchy munchy, Crunchy munchy iron pan,
Needless you suspect, Don't you see we are your clan?"
When the old granny slept at night, Neelkamal got into her dream, he made his way to a mountain cliff and leapt from there into the big sea. From deep down inside the ocean he retrieved a casket, a magic casket. He opened it with his brother and out came two bees, the carriers of the life of the Rakkhushes and their death. One was the life of the Rakkhushee queen the other of all the demons in the kingdom.
Neelkamal attacked the bees, as soon as he cut off the legs of the bee, the hands and legs of all the Rakkhushes fell off, and when the wings were cut off, all of them became blind. The Rakkhush understood what was happening and in this state they ran after the brothers saying
"Whoung Moung Khaun"
As the sword pierced the heart of one bee, the evil queen fell down dead with a hole in her heart. When the other bee was killed all the Rakkhushes in the land fell down dead and vanished from the face of earth.
Once all the Rakkhushes were finished the heroes Lalkamal and Neelkamal returned home victorious. There was celebration in the entire kingdom
Below is a delightful, animation of this story, its shorter but all elements are beautifully covered :
PS - I don't know any Bengali, translated based on what I understood and the subtitles above but I have tried my best to retain the spirit of the story
Translator : Stuti
"Waung Moung Khaun
Monisshe Gandhe paung
Dhore dhore khaung"
"I smell a man that I am gonna eat", this is a dangerous story, which begins in a faraway land, its a story of people who ate up their kids, a story of gold and iron and one which entailed long journeys.
Once there was a king who had two queens, one queen was human and her son was named Kusum, the other queen was a Rakkhashi (demoness) , her son was called Ajit. Ajit and Kusum the two brothers were very fond of each other.
The Rakkhashi queen had a heart-felt desire, it made her red tongue waggle in anticipation - to eat the flesh of her step-son. Her eyes glared at her own son as the two brothers were always seen playing with each other. Day and night she waited for the opportunity and waited for her time.
One day she decided that she would get what she wanted and she invited some other fellow Rakkhushs to her palace. Her evil thoughts scarred the night and when she passed elephants and horses of the king's stable died under the influence of her evil thoughts and the good queen passed away in fright. The night turned deadly with the chants of "Waung maun khaun"
One of the Rakkhush she had called burst into the room where the two boys were sleeping with their father the King, and devoured Kusum. The King was scared and was not able to move, but Ajit hit the giant and so the Rakkhush had to flee, before leaving he dropped from his mouth a ball of gold. The Rakkhashi queen was very angry at her son for turning against her, and in her anger she ate up her son. However, soon she felt very sick after eating him and a ball of iron came out of her mouth. She sent back all the rakkhush she had called to where they had come from.
Very anxious about the iron and gold balls she buried them under a clump of bamboo trees where nobody could find them. A few days later, on a beautiful morning when the sun was shining brightly in the sky, a farmer came with his ox to that place and he cut the bamboos, he then saw two eggs one red and one blue. He was very surprised and thought to himself - "Which bird lays eggs like these?" And out of the blue egg came Ajit, and out of red jumped Kusum. Kusum was now called Lalkamal(Red Lotus) and Ajit - Neelkamal(Blue Lotus) after the color of the eggs they had come out from.
There was a kingdom in which Khokkoshes (big monsters) used to devour people in hundreds. To kill them the princes went to the forest and waited in a room which the Khokkoshes haunted at night. Time passed nothing moved, but when it was midnight, the Khokkoshes came creeping to the door smelling a human with chants of "Waung Maang Khaaun" and asked - "Who lies awake in the hut, dim the lights it makes us uncomfortable".
Neelkamal was sleeping and Lalkamal was awake, but Neelkamal had told his brother that when asked he was to say both of them were awake on guard. So Lalkamal said -
" Lalkamal lies awake and Neelkamal lie awake,
And lies awake the sword, which slices flesh like cake,
Can you match the might? Come let us fight".
The Khokkoshes were very scared of Neelkamal as he was the son of a Rakkhushee. To check if he was also a Rakkhush they said
"Show us your bare claws" At this Lalkamal thrust sharp knives through inside the door
"Show us what you spit" Lalkamal threw the oil of a burning lamp at them
"Show us your tongue!" He thrust a sword the Khokkoshes started to pull him out by catching hold of the sword and hurt their hands in the process and they said " We are dead, we are dead the pain is too much".
But even then they did not run away, after a few hours they asked again, "Who is asleep and who is awake", a sleepy Lalkamal replied "Lalkamal lies awake". The Khokkoshes were very happy as Lalkamal was a human and they had nothing to fear and they decided to get inside the hut and eat him up.
They attacked him but Neelkamal awoke, the Khokkoshes said they were very sorry, howled in agony but Neelkamal was awake and he finished them off.
The Khokkoshes were finished but the Rakkushes still remained. The brothers started on a long journey to the Rakkhush kingdom. They rested on the way under a Banyan tree. A Bangoma and Bangomi (birds) living in the same tree had blind children but Lalkamal restored their eyesight by the touch of his hand, and the birds in return flew them to Rakkhush land. There they met the old granny Joti Budhi
"Jute haired old ma, you are our grandma
Jute haired old mum, Aren't we then your grandsons?"
But Lalkamal smelt like a human, so she didn't believe them. She asked them to eat an iron pan to prove what they said was correct, they replaced the frying pan with crunchy peas the Bangomi had given them and said -
"Crunchy munchy, Crunchy munchy iron pan,
Needless you suspect, Don't you see we are your clan?"
When the old granny slept at night, Neelkamal got into her dream, he made his way to a mountain cliff and leapt from there into the big sea. From deep down inside the ocean he retrieved a casket, a magic casket. He opened it with his brother and out came two bees, the carriers of the life of the Rakkhushes and their death. One was the life of the Rakkhushee queen the other of all the demons in the kingdom.
Neelkamal attacked the bees, as soon as he cut off the legs of the bee, the hands and legs of all the Rakkhushes fell off, and when the wings were cut off, all of them became blind. The Rakkhush understood what was happening and in this state they ran after the brothers saying
"Whoung Moung Khaun"
As the sword pierced the heart of one bee, the evil queen fell down dead with a hole in her heart. When the other bee was killed all the Rakkhushes in the land fell down dead and vanished from the face of earth.
Once all the Rakkhushes were finished the heroes Lalkamal and Neelkamal returned home victorious. There was celebration in the entire kingdom
Below is a delightful, animation of this story, its shorter but all elements are beautifully covered :
PS - I don't know any Bengali, translated based on what I understood and the subtitles above but I have tried my best to retain the spirit of the story
