Once there lived a wealthy couple in a village in India. Married for many years, they longed for a child. They performed all kinds of holy deeds and went on pilgrimages begging gods to gift them a child. Years passed by and finally they were blessed with a baby girl. The couple were over joyed and named her Kuttalavva. The wealthy couple would dot on their daughter by buying her all the best things in the town. Soon Kuttalavva grew up into a beautiful maiden having the best saris and dresses and jewellery in her collection. As she came of age, the couple got her married to a wealthy Sahukar in the nearby town. But fate had her own designs. One day all of a sudden, Kuttalavva fell ill and died. The old couple were heart broken and so was the whole village as they mourned her untimely demise. They took her body to the village cremation ground and performed the last rites.
Days went by and the old couple gradually reconciled themselves to their fate. Then one day a strange man came into town with a bundle of firewood on his head . He walked around the town trying to sell the firewood but none was interested in buying his firewood. It was mid afternoon and the man was hungry and tired and he had not yet sold his merchandise. Dejected and frustrated, the man came to the couple’s house and placed the bundle of firewood on the ground, cursing his fate for a bad day, he asked the lady for some water. The old lady fetched a tumbler of water and enquired “Oh stranger, from where have you come?”
Tired and frustrated man replied “Oh lady don’t ask me that. I came from the burning ghats and I am going back there?’ The lady knew burning ghats is where her only child Kuttalavva was laid to rest. In jest she asked him “Burning ghats is where my daughter is living. Do you know her by any chance? How is she doing ?”
“Oh yes! your daughter Kuttalavva is our next-door neighbour.” replied the man without looking at the lady.
The old lady was overjoyed to know she had met Kuttalavva’s neighbour. She rushed inside the house to tell her husband but he had left for his business. Thinking of her lovely daughter her eyes welled up with tears. She brought her daughter’s favourite jewellery box and handed it over to the stranger” Look good man! I am glad that I met you. Kuttalavva loved her jewellery but she could not take it with her . Could you do me a favour? Can you give her the jewellery. She would be very happy to have them”.
The stranger looked at the lady with open mouth and his eyes began to shine and all his tiredness vanished. He knew his luck has turned. The day is going to be a fine day! “Gladly Mother!” said the man grabbing the box and hurriedly walking away leaving behind the bundle of firewood. Soon the husband of the old lady returned home on his horse. The old lady was waiting by the door to tell him the good news about how she had met the neighbour of Kuttalavva.
After listening to her story, the old man struck his forehead in despair knowing how a stranger had taken his gullible wife for a ride. He asked her in which direction the man went and the lady pointed the way. Climbing back on his horse the old man rode away following the direction.
Soon he came across a stranger sitting by the sugarcane fields. Taking him to be the labourer, the old man asked him “ Have you by chance seen a man go this way carrying a jewellery box in his hand? He is a thief!” The stranger looked up at the old man and said “Oh Yes ! Just now I saw a man clutching a box running into the sugarcane field. Go quickly and you might be able to catch up on him”. The old man tried to lead his horse into the sugarcane field but the horse refused to step into the dense sugarcane patch. As he was desperate to catch the thief the old man requested the stranger to take care of his horse for a while, and ran into sugarcane field. The sharp edged leaves of the sugarcane slashed and bruised the old man’s face as he searched feverishly all around. But he couldn’t find anyone in the sugarcane field. Finally he gave up and returned to collect his horse, only to find the stranger had disappeared with his horse.
The old man immediately realised how cleverly the thief had taken him and his wife for a ride. “What a bad day!” thought the old man.They had not only lost the precious jewels but also his favourite horse. When he returned home crest fallen, his wife asked him “Where is your horse?”
The old man thought for an instant and replied, “ I sent our horse also to Kuttalavva, as she would need it there.”
The story collected by : Vidya Kamat
Text Source: A flowering tree and other tales from India. By A.K. Ramanujan
Location: Pan India
Image Copyright : Vidya Kamat
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