Essay: A Mother's Love

There is no love comparable to that of a mother’s love for her child. We see this in everyday life that most mothers go to the ends of the earth to protect and do what is best for their children. In the Leap of Ka Likai a family is torn apart when the father is killed. The widowed woman clings to her only child even more closely because she is all that she has left. She goes on to marry another man begrudgingly because she knows that she alone cannot provide for her little girl. The man she married was a cruel and terrible one and made her do all the work. While she was away one day her husband killed her baby, cooked her in a stew, and then fed it to his unsuspecting wife. When she discovered what he did she flung herself off the side of cliff over a waterfall to kill herself.

In this story we see three acts of the mother putting her child over herself. First is when she marries the second man. She loved her first husband very much and had no desire to take another. She knew however, that she alone could not work and care for the baby and give her a life she felt she deserved. So she married. The second act was when she went to work in place of her husband. The woman still clung to the notion that being married provided her child with a better future so she did as she was told and went to work. Lastly was when she discovered the demise of her child and flung herself off a cliff because she couldn’t bear the grief. This was the mother’s ultimate sacrifice for her child because she couldn’t stand the thought of living in a world without her precious child. 

The mother n this story perfectly embodies any good mother who loves her children. A true mother puts her children above all else and will do anything and everything for them. This story unfortunately had a really sad ending but it showed the strength of a mothers love knows no bounds.

(A Mother's Love)

Storytelling Week 4: The Leap

In a small village there lived a man and his wife and they were very deeply in love. The couple had been blessed with a beautiful and healthy baby girl. She was their pride and joy and nothing made them happier. While away on a hunt with the other men of the village they encountered a mighty tiger. The beast killed two men before the husband was able to attack. He was able to thrust his spear in the tiger as it leapt on top of him. The man killed the tiger but sustained great injuries to himself in the process.

The other men made a makeshift hammock of large leaves to carry him home in. They wrapped him in the pelt of the tiger in hopes this would give him the strength he needed to make it back to the village. They carried their injured friend as fast as they could in hopes the healer could save him. He was brought immediately to his tent and the medicine man began his work. The wife was then informed of her husband’s condition. However, he passed before she was able to make it to the tent. The wife was inconsolable over the loss of her husband, but what really made her heart ache was knowing her sweet child would grow up without a father.

A great funeral feast was held to honor the husband and the other two men who were killed by the mighty tiger. The pelt of the beast was offered to the wife since he was the one who slayed it and prevented further loss of life. A customary time of grieving was allowed for the woman before suitors began approaching her.

She was definitely the most beautiful of the women in the village and the available men sought after her greatly. All though she could never love another man as she had her husband she knew she could not provide a good life for her daughter without a strong man who could work far better than she. For this reason alone the woman accepted the proposal of the strongest man in the village.

The man she married was a brutal and selfish man. He had few friends because most were scared of him. He wished to marry the woman because he felt only she was worthy of him. He felt this way because she was the most beautiful and he deserved nothing less than the best. Though she was the only one worthy of him, he quickly became bored with her. All she could do was talk about and play with her baby. He grew to resent his wife and her child because she didn’t love him as much as she did her baby. He soon grew very abusive towards his wife and the little girl.  He quit working and demanded his wife start working to earn her keep. The woman had no choice but to obey her husband so she would leave her child with him when she went to work the fields.

The anger had built up so much within the man that he killed the baby in a fit of rage when it wouldn’t stop crying. The man felt no remorse over this act but still thought to hide it from his wife. In his eyes now that the baby was gone his wife might finally love him. He proceeded to chop up the baby and cook her in a stew.

When the wife came home from a hard day of labor she was quite surprised to see her husband seemed to be in a cheerful mood and had even cooked her dinner. She questioned where her daughter was but the man dismissed her and told her to eat. The two sat down and together they ate they stew made from her baby. For once they actually enjoyed their time together and the husband grew hopeful thinking about their future. When the wife went to get the desert she discovered the hand of her child hidden in a basket. Her husband quickly confessed and claimed it was only out of love for her. The grief over took her for she loved nothing as much as her sweet baby girl. She kept calm though because she needed to take care of her wicked husband.

She acknowledged her husband’s love for her and verified he had truly done her a good service. She asked that they could go watch the sunset from the nearby waterfall in honor of their first night truly together as man and wife. The husband obliged and together they went to the waterfall hand in hand. Once there the woman wrapped her arms around her husband, looked him in the eyes, and said, “Die”. With that she used all her might to fling the both of them off the side of the cliff.  

The husband did not deserve the wonderful life he had on Earth and the wife could not bear to live a day without her sweet baby. To this day the woman’s wails are the reason the waterfalls bellow so loudly. They grieve for the loss of the baby and the mother who loved her so dearly.

Author’s Note: This story is based on The Leap of Ka Likai. I chose to detail the death of the original husband to illustrate the love the two shared. I found it odd that the original didn't even mention how he died. Another difference between my telling and the original is the behavior of the second husband. I chose to make him actually love the wife instead of entirely hating her. Lastly I changed the very end when only the woman flung herself off the side of the cliff. I didn’t think the husband deserved to live after killing the baby so I had the woman kill him as well.

(The Waterfall)

Reading Diary B: Khasi Folktales

For the second half of the Khasi Folktales unit it primarily contained stories that attempted to describe natural phenomena. During older times people would create myths to describe what they see around them; why thunder occurs, why the waterfalls are so loud, or how the dog came to be at the service of man. These three were exemplified in the stories within this unit amongst several others. The second half of the unit had several stories that really grabbed my attention. In particular I really liked What Caused the Shadows on the Moon. The story detailed the lives of a mother and her four children; Water, Fire, Moon, and Sun. Moon and Sun were equally beautiful and bright but Moon disregarded the advice of his mother. He did what he wanted and when he wanted. At one point he left home and did not return for a great deal of time (this explains why there are lunar eclipses). When he finally returned home he had forgotten that the Sun was his sister. He was so blown away by her beauty that he asked their mother for permission to marry her. The mother was so disgusted she sent the Moon away, once the Sun heard about this she burned the face of Moon out of anger. This is why the moon is so pale and has dark crevices according to the Khasi. In today’s society stories like this don’t hold up due to the scientific advances we have made. However, I personally love reading stories like this because it shows the thirst for knowledge the people of past generations had.

(The Moon's Disfigured Face)

Reading Diary A: Khasi Folktales

 

Of all the readings in the Khasi Folktales unit my favorite was definitely the story of The Stag and the Snail. It seemed to me like a variation of the Tortoise and the Hare story I grew up hearing as a child. Within this story the stag is bragging about being the swiftest of all the animals and this angers the snail because there is more to life than just being quick. The snail challenges the stag to a race through the jungle which all the animals laugh at the idea of. The stag accepts the challenge so the snail calls a meeting amongst all of the snails. They formulate a plan to fool the stag and win the race. All of the snails form a line through the path of the race so the stag can hear their voices call out to him to think the snail is keeping up. The last snail in the line proceeds to make it to the final mark so the stag thinks he lost the race. This story teaches the importance of cunning and wit over smugness and athletic ability. The ending is a bit bizarre because the stag proceeds to throw up his gall bladder. They explained this as the reasoning for why stags anatomically lack gall bladders. During these old times people often used mythology to explain natural phenomena because they didn’t have real reasons as to why something occurred the way it did. Over all it was an intriguing story and was my favorite of the unit!

(Smarts Wins Again)