The story of Tapta- Tapta gee wari

       

Once upon a time in Manipur there lived a couple with their small son. They had many horses in their stable as the boy’s father rear horses for a living. One rainy night, a Tiger came in lurking inside the stable to grab his prey and at the same a Thief entered the stable to steal one of the best horses. Meanwhile the mother was preparing dinner in the Chakshang(Kitchen) and her son started crying out loud. The small boy’s cry became louder and louder and his mother was trying hard to calm him. She tries everything to console her small boy from his cry but was of no use.

The mother hears the sound of raindrops falling ‘tap, tap, tap’ from the roof and it gives her an idea: “Listen to that.” That’s the sound of ‘Tapta’ coming to get you! And all of a sudden the small boy stopped crying out of fright.

 The Tiger and the Thief were listening to the mother’s words and wonder, this Tapta must be a very scary creature for taht reason the child had stopped crying hearing its name. The Thief thought, it will be better to steal a horse and leave this place as soon as possible. So he stretched out his hands searching for the biggest leg among the horses; and in the dark he mistakenly caught the leg of the Tiger. On the other hand the Tiger trembled out in fear thinking that ‘Tapta’ has got its back and they raced off fast from the stable.

After a long run the early light of the dawn came and the Thief realized that he has been riding on the back of a Tiger all this time. Before the Tiger could see him he escaped out by grabbing a low branch of a tree while the tiger left him hanging there thinking that Tapta  has left him unhurt and he was free.

As the Tiger was running fast breathing heavily with fright he met the Bear on the way and the Bear asked,’ What happened?’ ‘Why are you running in such a hurry?’ The Tiger replied, I met the mighty Tapta last night and I was lucky to escape with my life. Hearing the Tiger, the Bear said,’Tapta’, he was not Tapta, I know him, he once got hold of my tail. He is a ‘Meichingbi’(tailpuller)!! Between this conversation there was also an Elephant present among them,the elephant said to the Bear, you  are wrong, it was not Meichingbi, I met him and he got jabbed my trunk. He is Meithingbi(the one who jabs)!!

The three animals started arguing on the issue and at last they decided to went to the Lion king to settle the matter. The Lion was quite wise and sensible. He asked the Bear, “Have you ever seen the thing you so called Meichingbi that pulls your tail?” to this the Bear said, “No, I have not?” The Lion turned to the Elephant next and asked, “Have you ever seen the thing you so called Meithingbi that jabs your trunk?” The Elephant replied,”No, I have not seen it.” At such the Lion concluded saying, “neither the Bear nor the Elephant has seen the so called creatures Meichngbi and Meithingbi but the Tiger had encounter with the scary creature’Tapta’. Therefore I would like to tell everyone to be alert and protect themselves from Tapta.

pic courtesy: Internet