Reading Notes: The Folk-Tales of Bengal, Part A

This week I ended up reading The Boy Whom Seven Mothers Suckled, which is from the Folk-Tales of Bengal, by the Rev. Lal Behari Day. In this story, a king with multiple wives ends up marrying a mythological creature that threatens the other wives.

Reading Notes

• As I previously stated, the king had seven wives, and he was sad that all of them were barren. 
• A holy man recommended to him that if he go to a mango tree and pluck the seven mangos growing on one branch, then give his wives one mango each, they’d become pregnant.
• The king did this, and soon all of his wives were pregnant.
• But one day the king was out hunting, saw a beautiful woman, and fell in love with her.
• He brought her back and married her, but he didn’t realize that she was a Rakshasi, a mythological creature.
• She challenged the king one day, and said that if he really loved her, he would blind his other wives and then have them killed.
• So for whatever reason, the king ordered all of his pregnant wives to have their eyes removed, and he ordered his minister to kill them.
• But his minister hid the wives in a cave in a hill, rather than have them killed.
• The eldest queen eventually gave birth, but she said that since they were all blind and starving, she would kill the child and they could each have a piece to eat.
• So that’s what they all did, except the youngest queen, who just kept the piece. 
• Each of the queens gave birth in order of age, and each of them killed their child and cut it into pieces to share with the others, except for the youngest queen.
• When the youngest queen gave birth to her son, she decided to keep him alive rather than kill him.
• The other queens demanded their portion, and she gave them the pieces she’d save from their children.
• But since the meat was dry, the other queens knew this wasn’t fresh meat.
• When confronted, the youngest queen admitted that she wanted to keep her son alive; the other queens admired her for this, and they all agreed to nurse the son.
• So the son grew big and strong thanks to all the queens working together.
• Meanwhile, the Rakshasi was causing trouble in the king’s palace.
• She would go out at night and eat all the animals and people she could find, and the king had no one left to help him. 

One of the representations of a Rakshasi (Source)