FOLKTALES OF MANIPUR~MANIPURGEE PHUNGGA WARI

Long long time ago there lived a widowed woman with her only son who was physically abnormal. His physique was not quite matched with his age as he had small limbs and small body, but his head was very big and so everyone named him Makok(Head). The mother and the son were very poor and Makok’s mother had to work hard to feed their stomach. Makok felt pity on his mother’s condition and wanted to help her by doing some work. So he told his mother that he will join his uncles in their boat business and earn money. On hearing his words Makok’s mother replied, My son, boat business is very tiring work, it will take days to carry the business, you will become weaker and this type of work is not good for your health. Though his mother refused him Makok persuaded her again and again and hence she agreed to send him along with her brothers in their business. On the other hand, Makok’s uncles who were not ready at first decided to take him along with them as they thought that going ou

Long time ago in the remote side of Manipur there was a small village which remained hidden and covered with the fear of a demoness around who was believed to have long hands and who killed and eats children in the absence of the male in the family. People of that village called her Lai khutsaangbi. In that part of the village lived a happy couple with their newly born baby whom they lovingly called ‘Sashi’. Though he was just a baby, Sashi was a stubborn child and often take up the whole day crying. Sashi’s mother had to take utmost care of him in order to stop him crying so as to avoid the so-called Lai khutsaangbi from hearing him cry. One day, Sashi’s father had to leave the village for some days to carry some work and he warned his wife to be aware of the Lai khutsaangbi and to take care of Sashi. Sashi’s mother was a clever woman, she assured her husband that she will keep Sashi safe and not to worry about the demoness. Later that night, Sashi’s mother fed him and

Once there lived a very poor couple with their seven sons. Driven by poverty the couple could not even feed their children a course of meal properly and so the helpless couple decided to abandon their children in the forest. The next day the father went to the forest with his seven sons to search for fruits and berries and thought of leaving his sons behind in the forest. The mother cooked some bread for each of them and they set off for the forest. On the way the youngest boy did not ate the bread , instead he left out pieces of bread as trials of their route. While the boys were busy searching for fruits, the father immediately escaped from their sights and ran away. The boys realized that they were lost and began to worry. However, the youngest boy showed his brothers the way back by following the trials and they reached home at night. The same thing happened the next day, the mother cooked bread for the sons, they went to the forest and as usual the youngest boy lea

Once there lived a middle aged poor man in the outskirt of a village. The man had no one to called his own and so he was all alone in the house doing all the household chores and working to feed himself. There  was no one to look after him when he get sick, no shoulder to lean on when he felt tired and no one to share and cook delicious meal with him. He so longed for a company that he decided to go to the architect and get sculpted a lady made of wood. The sculpture was so beautiful that it looked like a real woman and the poor man was so happy to see it. He bought the sculpture home and begin to treat it as his wife. He started talking to the sculpture and pretended it to be alive. He would often asked “Dear, have you cooked the meal?” to himself and at the same time he would reply in a woman voice, “Yes, yes dear! Thus he lived happily in this way with the sculpture. One day he told the sculpture, “Dear I am going out to meet some of my friends, get the meal ready when I