Long, long ago, there lived a poor couple with their only son. Working as daily wagers, the couple earned very little money. Growing up, their son started working as well. However, it still wasn’t enough to help them meet their expenses. He decided to go to a faraway town to make more money and get his family out of penury.
The son crossed a dense forest, where he saw an old well covered with old vines and poisonous snakes. He saw a snake tangled in the vines. The poor animal was squirming restlessly but to no avail.
The snake asked the boy to set him free from the vines. The boy hesitated to help the snake, for he feared that it might bite him. The snake assured him that it wouldn’t do so. The boy trusted the snake’s word and freed it from the vines. The snake slithered away into the thick bushes.
The boy then came across a man trapped in a deep pit. Once again, he helped the man get out of the pit. The man shared his address with the boy and left.
On his way, the boy ran into a tiger. A thorn had impaled the poor tiger’s feet, so much so that it could hardly walk. The tiger requested the boy to pull the thorn out. The boy used his knife to pluck the thorn. Relieved from its pain, the tiger thanked the boy and walked away.
The boy got to a village after traveling for hours. Unfortunately, he couldn’t land any job. Disappointed, he decided to head back home to his parents. As he was walking through the woods, the tiger whom he had helped stopped him and handed him a big bag.
‘It contains some gold and a lot of coins. I got this bag by killing the prince and his horse, for they were out to hunt me.’
The boy resumed his journey with the gifts he received from the tiger. However, he didn’t want to carry so many precious items while traveling at night. So, he got to the house of the man whom he had saved from the deep pit. He requested the man to let him stay at his place for the night.
‘I’ll leave early in the morning,’ he said. The man agreed.
The boy kept the bag near his pillow and fell asleep. Making the most of the situation, the man stole his bag. The man opened the bag to find lots of rings, jewels, and royal clothes.
Suspecting the boy of killing the prince, the man rushed to the palace and told the king that he had caught the man responsible for killing his son and stealing his valuables. The king immediately dispatched his soldiers to arrest the boy. The boy felt confused because he knew that it was the tiger that had killed the prince.
‘I didn’t kill the prince; the tiger did,’ the prince told the soldiers.
The boy was shocked when he learned that the man he saved had told the soldiers so. He felt sad, for the animals he saved had turned out to be more grateful and compassionate than a human being. The king ordered his soldiers to get the boy trampled by an elephant the following morning. Locked in prison, the boy began to cry at the top of his voice.
The snake heard him and inquired as to why he was crying. He told the snake what had happened.
‘I’ll go bite the princess. When everyone fails to save her, you must ask the king for an opportunity to do so.’
The boy did as he was asked to. With no alternative in sight, the king acceded. The boy went to the princess’ chamber and held his hand out over her. The snake’s poison immediately left her body. That was when the boy revealed the truth to the king. The compassionate animals had protected him, whereas the human had betrayed him. The enraged king sentenced the man to death, and married his daughter to the boy. The couple lived happily ever after.
Kalai is passionate about reading and reinterpreting folk tales from all over the country. Write to her at kalai.muse@gmail.com to know more about her.
Folk tale adopted and abridged from Animal Helpers by Kalaicelvi.