Long, long ago in Nicobar, there lived a rich fisherman by the name of Arong. He lived with his wife and children. Shan, his eldest son, enjoyed swimming and canoeing.
One day, when Aron went deep-sea fishing, he took Shan along with him. The sea looked calm on that hot day, the sun blazing in the clear blue sky. A gentle breeze was blowing, helping them start a perfect voyage.
While sailing, Arong began teaching Shan some tricks on how to catch big fish easily. Both of them were so engrossed in fishing that they failed to notice that a violent storm had started brewing. Soon, the storm came knocking as a gigantic wave smashed into their canoe. Arong asked his son to hold on tight. However, the very next wave knocked the father-son duo into the turbulent ocean.
After a while, the canoe reemerged on the surface of the sea. Shan was alone on the canoe, and his father was nowhere to be seen. Tired, hungry and thirsty, Shan fell unconscious on the canoe.
Shan regained consciousness a few minutes later. To his surprise, he found himself riding a whale. Shan asked the whale where it was taking him. He started to weep bitterly, scared.
The whale, however, comforted him with its fins and told him that it would save Shan if he agreed to a deal.
‘I’m the king of the ocean. If you agree to marry my daughter, I will spare your life.’
To save himself from drowning, Shan agreed to the deal.
The whale dived deep into the ocean and took Shan to a lovely crystal palace on the seabed. The whale’s daughter, Gori, behaved arrogantly and made Shan dance to her tune. As days went by, Shan grew homesick and desperately wanted to visit his mother and siblings.
However, there was no escaping from the transparent crystal palace. Even if he tried to look out the window, there was always a giant hammer whale swimming around to block his view.
Shan came up with a plan to hoodwink Gori. He told her it would be great if she could see herself in a mirror. After all, for all its opulence, the palace didn’t have a mirror.
‘You really need to take a look at yourself in the mirror to appreciate your beauty,’ he egged her on.
Gori wanted to know what a mirror looked like. Shan told her he would go home in the village and get it for her. At this, Shan’s whale-wife promised to take him to the island so he could fetch the mirror.
The next day, the couple reached the island. Shan asked her to hide in the coral reef while he went to see his mother and siblings. Meanwhile, the islanders were preparing for the Ossuary Feast, for they thought Arong and Shan were dead.
Shan walked up to them and told them everything. He also narrated how a whale had forced him to marry his daughter. The witch doctor in the village figured that the whale was an evil spirit.
‘She might even swallow you if you go back to her,’ he warned Shan.
The witch doctor started chanting something. The sea became turbulent as giant waves began rushing toward the village.
The witch doctor asked if anyone there had promised to give something to someone.
‘If it isn’t given immediately, no one in the village will survive,’ he declared.
Shan remembered promising to give the mirror to the whale.
He ran to his house, picked up the mirror, and threw it into the choppy waters. The ghost whale caught the mirror with her fins and disappeared. The waves immediately settled and the ocean calmed down.
Even today, whenever big waves come knocking on the Nicobarese seashore, the locals fondly remember the boy from Nicobar who married the whale.
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 Folk Tales of Nicobar by Rabin Roychowdhury.