The Bed’s Legs | A Folk Tale from Uttarakhand

Once upon a time, there lived a grain merchant with his wife and only son. The boy’s parents loved him so dearly that they never allowed him to work hard. Instead, they let him play all the time. When he grew up, they married him to a girl. The newly-wed couple led a carefree life until the boy’s parents were alive.

After the parents passed away, the couple lived on the parents’ savings until they had very little left to spend. At this point, the son’s wife started worrying about how they would lead their lives. One day, seeing the worried look on his wife’s face, the boy inquired why.

‘We don’t have any money left to spend. What are we going to eat?’

The grain merchant’s son said that he would do some work and make money. One day, he took his axe and left home to find some work. Although his wife had no idea what he would do, she packed him some food to eat along the way, anyway.

Every day, he would go to the nearby forest and spend the entire day there. He would go from tree to tree, asking the trees if he could cut them down. Not a single tree answered. For the next few days, he went to the woods and asked the same question to all the trees.

One day, he went to the other side of the forest. In the evening, before going back home, he asked a mango tree if it would allow him to cut the tree down. After the tree answered in the affirmative, the boy chopped the mango tree and carried it home. He placed the chopped wood in one of the rooms. Then, he asked his wife to get him enough food and water for a week. He told his wife not to come to his room until he called her. At the end of the week, he carved the most beautiful bed out of the mango tree.

He took the bed to the royal palace and waited by the gate. When the King’s servants asked him if it was for sale, he replied that he would only speak to the King. Impressed, the King expressed his desire to buy the bed. He told the King that the bed cost a thousand rupees. The King paid him the money and bought the bed. The merchant’s son asked the King to stay awake that night because he would hear and see something intriguing.

Meanwhile, the grain merchant’s wife was happy to see all the money her husband made. He told her that he had sold the bed to the King for a thousand bucks.

At night, when the King lay down on the bed, he heard one of the bed’s legs talking to the other legs.

‘Take care of the King while I’m away,’ it said.

The bed’s leg went to the nearby plains, where two snakes were arguing about who would bite the King. The first snake said it would climb onto the bed and bite the King. The second one contended that it would hide inside the King’s shoe and bite him when he tried to put it on in the morning. The leg went back and told the other legs about this. It also suggested the King to shake his shoe before wearing it in the morning.

Next, the second leg went out to the other side of the plains and saw an old palace of the King. The leg overheard the wind saying that the palace would collapse and kill the King if he ever walked into the dilapidated palace.

Likewise, the third leg then went out and happened to hear a conversation between a yogi and a soldier’s wife. The yogi asked her whom she loved the most.

‘It’s you, my dear,’ said the soldier’s wife.

The yogi asked her to cut the soldier’s head off and bring it to him the next day. The yogi was shocked when she actually turned up at his place the following day with her husband’s decapitated head. He chased the woman away from there. The woman went back home and told everyone that some thieves had barged into their place and beheaded her husband. The third leg now went back to the palace and narrated this whole incident to the other three bed legs. Meanwhile, the King listened to this conversation whilst still in bed.

The fourth leg saw seven thieves who had carried away the King’s daughter as well as his treasure from his palace. The leg went back to the palace and shared this information with the other three legs of the bed. Once again, the King overheard this conversation.

The King immediately summoned his soldiers and rushed to the plains. When he shook his shoe, the snake hiding in it fell out. It was at this point that the King realized that the first leg wasn’t lying. The King then went ahead and rescued his daughter from the thieves. The King also ordered the old palace to be demolished so that no one would be hurt. He then sent his soldiers to arrest the yogi and his former lover. He duly punished them to death.

Thereafter, the King summoned the grain merchant’s son to the palace. He told him about the conversation he had had with the four legs of his bed and how it had saved his and his daughter’s lives. The King asked the merchant’s son to bring as many carts as he could in twelve hours. The merchant’s son complied and went back to his house with the carts full of money. The couple lived happily ever after with their newly found riches.