Long, long ago, there was a road that led every traveler to death. Some believed it was snake or scorpion bites that caused their deaths. However, whoever traveled on that road met the same fate.
One day, while traveling on that road, an old man sat down to get some rest. Suddenly, he realized that a massive scorpion had turned into a huge snake. To his horror, the snake glided away from that place. The old man decided to follow the snake like a shadow.
The snake traveled day and night. It entered an inn and killed all travelers there. After that, it entered a palace and killed the king and his youngest daughter, both of whom lay fast asleep. Wherever the snake went, people wailed and wept loudly. For his part, the old man continued to stalk the snake.
Both of them made it to a broad river where travelers would wait to cross the river, for they didn’t have the money to pay for the boat rides across. The snake now turned into a buffalo with brass bells around its neck. It stood on the riverbank, waiting to cross the river. Some men climbed up on the buffalo’s back, hoping it would take them across. Some men even held onto its tail. The buffalo swam across the river. Midway through, it shook wildly until all men fell and drowned in the river.
Meanwhile, the old man got to the other side of the river on a boat. Instead of the buffalo, a beautiful ox waited there for him. A farmer took the ox home and kept it in the shed along with the other cattle. At night, the ox turned into a snake. With its poisonous bite, it killed all animals reared in the farm. It then went into the house, killing everyone who lay asleep inside.
The old man followed the snake to another river. Now the snake transformed into an elegantly dressed beautiful girl.
A while later, two soldier brothers passed by her. When she saw them, she began crying bitterly. When the soldiers inquired why she was crying, she told them that her husband drowned in the river while looking for a boat.
The older brother expressed his desire to marry her so she wouldn’t have to worry about her future. The girl told him that she would marry him on one condition.
‘You will never ask me to do any household chores, and you will give me whatever I ask for,’ she asserted. The soldier agreed.
She then asked him to fetch her some water to drink. When the elder brother left to get her water, she asked the younger brother to marry her. The younger brother refused, for his brother was already supposed to marry her. Besides, he regarded her as his sister. When the older brother came back with water, the girl told him that his brother had proposed to her.
The two brothers fought hard with their swords until both of them dropped dead. The girl reverted to her snake form and crept away. The old man continued to follow it like a shadow.
The snake now transformed into an old man, just like him. The old man asked the snake who he was.
‘Everyone calls me the Lord of Death, for wherever I go, I bring death,’ replied the snake.
The old man pleaded with the Lord of Death to grant him death. However, the Lord refused and blessed him with another sixty years instead. The Lord disappeared into thin air, leaving the old man wondering whether it was really the Lord of Death or some devil in disguise.
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 A Celebration of Women Writers.