There once lived an old couple in the mountains. The old lady most of the time refused to cook for the old man, complaining her knees hurt and finding it hard to walk. One day the old man got really frustrated having to labour in the jungle as well work in the kitchen and in a fit of rage hit the old lady’s knees with a pestle. Plop! popped out a frog from the old lady’s knee. As the frog hopped around, he asked the old man to arrange a bride for him. With his wrinkled face and toothless mouth, old man looked carefully at the frog and said, “ I am too old and I can’t help you much in this matter. Why don’t you approach the chieftain of this hamlet. He has a beautiful daughter. Try your luck and see if he is willing to give his daughter to you in marriage”.
So went the frog hopping door to door asking for chieftain’s home. When he found the house he sat on the fence and with his hoarse voice croaked loudly, “Father -in- law, come out , please come out”. Chieftain came out but saw no one and went back inside. Again the frog croaked, “Father -in- law, Father-in -law, please come out.” chieftain would come out and and find no one . This went on for a while till chieftain found out it was a frog, sitting on the fence calling out to him. When chieftain asked him why he is calling him ‘father in law’, frog said, “Sir, I would like to marry your daughter”. Hearing this chieftain laughed out loudly and humiliated the frog for making such a ludicrous proposition. “Go away you stupid ugly frog, you are an insignificant creature. Don’t ever dream of having my daughter’s hand in marriage”.
The frog became sad and his eyes welled up. As soon as his tears rolled out, dark clouds gathered in the sky and strong winds started to blow, then came thunder and lightening. Rain poured down hard as the crying of the frog became louder and louder. The more the frog cried, the harder it rained. This went on for days. People in the village could not go out to fetch fuel or food. There was flood water everywhere. They realized if a solution is not quickly found it might turn into deluge and destroy the village. Finally, people in the village requested the chieftain to give into frog’s demand. Chieftain relented and married his beautiful daughter to the frog. As the frog danced in joy rain stopped immediately and Sun came out from behind the cloud cover. Fruits and grains grew in plenty and the people were overjoyed.
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Story Collected by: Vidya Kamat
Text Source: Myths of North east frontiers of India, by Verrier Elwin
Location: Meghalaya
Image source: wikipedia
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