Reading Notes: Khasi Folktales (Part B)

1. The Leap of Ka Likai

• Synopsis: 
• Ka Likai is a widowed, single mother who remarries in the hopes of providing a better life for her daughter
• The new husband becomes jealous of Ka Likai's love for the child
• He kills and cooks the girl and feeds her to her mother
• Ka Likai throws herself off of a the cliff of a waterfall in her grief
• Posibilities:
• An alternate (happier) ending
• Told from the daughters perspective
• Maybe a little TOO gruesome if the plot remains unchanged
• Epilogue where the mom and/or daughter come back to haunt the husband

2. What Caused the Shadows on the Moon

• Synopsis:
• The moon (in human form) abandoned his family (fire, water, sun) to consort with demons in the underworld
• He came back and asked for his youngest sister's (the sun) hand in marriage
• His mother refused
• The sun found out about his proposal and she threw hot ashes on him and scarred his face
• Possibilities:
• I actually like this one, minimal changes to the original story.
• What if the mother had agreed to the marriage?
• What if all of his sisters teamed up and went "John Tucker Must Die" on him?
• What about the other sisters lives?
• The other two standard elements are earth and air. Perhaps they are the older sisters husbands?

3. U Ksuid Tynjang

• Synopsis:
• U Ksuid Tynjang is a demon cursed with never ending itching
• The itching could only be stopped by human touch, but he was too ugly for people to come willingly
• He kidnapped lost travelers and forced them to rub his body
• If you refused, you would be tickled to death
• 2 sisters and their brother get lost on the way home from a fair
• The sisters are captured but the brother escapes
• The brother returns home and he and his parents request the gods help in saving the sisters
• One god is thought to have left them the axe that the sisters find
• The sisters use the axe to kill the demon
• Demons can't truly die, so he comes back as a vine in the forest
• Possibilities:
• What happens after the sisters escape?
• The sisters simply trick the demon into releasing them
• There's a way to break the curse?
• A la beauty and the beast

4. What Makes the Lightning

• Synopsis:
• The humans had a yearly festival (similar to those represented at modern day Renaissance Festivals)
• The animals saw the humans merriment and decided to have a festival of their own
• The Lynx, U Kui, brought a beautiful silver sword to show off
• U Pyrthat, the thunder giant, asked to borrow said sword
• His dancing and drumming got so intense that he scarred all the animals away and unintentionally stole the Lynx's sword
• The flashing of the sword and banging of the drum are thunder and lightning
• Possibilities:
• This story wasn't that interesting, I don't have any ideas.

5. The Legend of Ka Panshandi, the Lazy Tortoise

• Synopsis:
• There was a pool of water so clear that the stars would use it as a mirror to gaze at their own beauty
• An ugly and lazy turtle swam in the pool nightly
• One of the stars noticed the turtle and fell in love with her, being too far away to notice her ugliness and laziness
• Although he was warned against it, the rich and handsome star came to earth and married the turtle
• When he realized how lazy the turtle was, and that she would not change, the star left her
• The turtle is now used as a warning against being a lazy wife
• Possibilities:
• What if the turtle HAD changed for her husband?
• Is there a reason the turtle is so lazy?

6. How the Cat came to Live with Man

• Synopsis:
• A cat lived with her brother, the king (a tiger)
• The tiger was too lazy to bring home his leftovers from hunting, so the cat had to hunt mice and frogs for herself
• This was considered peasant's work
• The cat attempted to discuss this predicament with her brother, but he grew angry at its mention
• The tiger had guests over and ordered his sister to light the hookah (tobacco)
• This too was considered peasant's work and a great dishonor
•  The cat said there was no fire in order to avoid the task
• The tiger sent her to the human village to get more fire
• The cat got distracted my the village children petting her
• The tiger grew angry at her delayed return
• This led to abuse when she did eventually come back
• The cat decided to live with the humans instead of facing her brother's wrath
• Possibilities:
• The Cat could overthrow her sick brother and become queen
• What if the roles were reversed?
• A first person point of view from either the cat or the lion would be interesting

7. How the Tiger got his Strength

• Synopsis:
• All of the animals, and mankind, had equal strengths and were un able to live in peace
• The gods decided to resolve the issue by giving each species a gift
• Humans: Beauty and Wisdom
• Tigers: Craftiness and Silent Walking
• When man returned home, his mother asked him to go back to the gods and request the gift of strength as well
• The gods agreed and told him to return the next day
• The Tiger had been eaves dropping and decided to take the gift of strength for himself
• When the man returned the next day and the gods realized they had been tricked, they gave man the gift of skill instead
• Possibilities:
• What if the gods had known the tiger was an imposter?
• Rewrite from the man's point of view
• Epilogue where the human encounters the tiger after receiving the gift of skill 

8. Why the Goat lives with Mankind

• Synopsis:
• A goat was eating leaves in the forest and was approached by a tiger
• In her fear, the goat told the tiger that she was eating a tiger rather than eating leaves
• The tiger saw the goats beard and mistook it for a weapon or sign of strength and ran away
• The goat, upon realizing what had happened, began to complain that she was not actually as strong as the tiger believed her to be
• When the same tiger saw the goat later, he hid in fearThe tiger overhears the goat complaining about her lack of strength and kills her to restore his honor
• Other predators began hunting goats
• When they neared extinction, the goats asked the humans to protect them
• Mankind said they would protect the goats, but only if they came to live in the villages with them.
• Possibilities
• I think this story could be told from the tigers perspective
• Could this tale be linked to the one before it?
• What if the Tiger from stories 6, 7, and 8 (as well as some stories in part A) were all the same Tiger?

Baby Goats (They're so CUTE!!!)
Source: Wikimedia Commons

9. How the Ox came to be the servant of Man

• Synopsis:
• Mankind was being wasteful and would not survive as the population grew
• A god sent an Ox to correct the problem with a message to the humans
• On the way, a crow landed on the Ox's back and ate the bugs that were pestering him
• As a way of repaying the crow of taking care of his bug problem, the ox agreed to not tell the humans to stop wasting food
• The left over food is what the crows would eat
• When the ox told the god what he had done, he was punished and banished
• The ox, having nowhere to go, returned to the humans and offered to be their servant in exchange for food and shelter
• Possibilities:
• How would that same god feel about today's society?

Story Source: Folktales of the Khasi