In a small village, near the sea, there lived a widow with
three daugthers. The two elder daughters were neither pretty nor kind. They
were called Ma Pu and Ma Tin. The youngest daughter however, was very
different. She was sweet and gentle and was given the name of Aye Aye (the
gentle one) by all her friends.
Every day, when the
widow went to the market, she had to pass a mango tree, which had small but
sweet fruit. The widow always searched under the tree for any mangoes which had fallen during the night.
One season, however,
there were no mangoes on the groung, although the tree was full of fruit.
“Bother,” she grumbled aloud. “Somebody else has taken the fruit. How very
mean!”
No sooner had she
said those word than she got a bad
fright. With a loud hiss, a huge snake appeared from among the leaves.
His sharp little eyes looked angrily at the widow.
“I was only looking
for some mangoes,” said the frightened widow. “My daughter love them very
much.”
The snakes hissed
again, but he did not look quite as angry as before. The widow thought that she
might yet take some mangoes home. “Sir,” she said boldly, “would you give me
one mango? In return, I will allow you to marry my eldest daughter.”
Immediately, one
small mango dropped on the ground. The widow picked it up, then she said. “If
you give another mango, you may have the choice between my first and second
daughters.”
Another mango fell on
the ground.
“Well sir,” said the
widow eagerly, “what would you give me for my sweet Aye Aye?”
A rain of fruit
dropped from the tree. The widow quickly picked the delicious fruit and put
them in her basket. Thanking the snake, she hurried home. Only then did she
realieze the dreadful she had promised the snake. She ran along the street.
On the way she meet a
monkey swinging from a branch. “What nice mangoes you have there, auntie.
Please give me some,” he begged.
“Here, take one,
little monkey, but if a snake passes by, don’t tell him which way I have gone.”
Then she hurried
again. After a while, the widow had to cross the river. When she was walking over
the bridge, she heard the river murmuring, “Please drop one mango in my water.”
The widow threw a mango into the water and said, “Here, dear river, take the
mango, but when a snake passes this way, don’t tell him you have seen me.”
She ran on until she
reached the path which led to her cottage. Then she met a child.
“Oh please, auntie,
give me one of these mangoes,” the children asked.
“Here my love, have
one, but if you see a big snake passes by, don’t tell him where I live,”
answered the widow. She gave the child one of her mangoes. At last she was
home. She closed the door tightly behind her. Then she showed her basketful of
mangoes to her three girls. However, she did not tell them who had given her
the fruit.
In the mean time, the
snake had slid down the tree and followed the woman. Soon he met a monkey who
was sucking on a mango. “Which way did the woman who give you that mango,
little friend?”hissed the snake. “You had better tell me, or I’ll eat you up.”
The frightened monkey
quickly pointed in the direction which the widow had taken. Soon the snake
reached the river. There he saw a mango bobbing up and down on the water. “The
woman crossed the water, “ said the snake to himself, and he crawled over the
bridge.
At last he came to a
village. The snake looked around to find which was the widow’s house. At that
moment, he saw a child staring at him. The child was peeling a ripe mango.
“Little one, where
does the woman live who gave you that mango? Tell me or I’ll eat you up,” he
hissed.
With a trembling hand
the child pointed out the widow’s house. The snake slid towards the cottage and
went around the house until he found an open window. In a flash he was inside
and had hid himself in a dark corner. He waited until nightfall when the widow
and her daughter had gone to bed.
In the middle of the
night, the poor woman was suddenly woken up by something cold and heavy on her
legs. She knew immediately it was snake. Now she had to keep her promise or the
snake would certainly kill her.
“Oh sir, have pity on
a poor idow,” she begged. But the snake only coiled himself more tightly around
her legs. The frightened woman called out to her daughters. When the girls saw
the glistening coils, of the snake, they were most alarmed. With a trembeling
voice, the widow told them what had happened that morning under the mango tree.
“Ma Pu, would you
save my life and marry him?” asked the widow.
“Me! Marry a snake!
Oh mother, never in my life!” shrieked Ma Pu, and she ran out of the room.
“What about you, Ma
Tin?” asked the widow.
“No, no, I can’t do
that!” said Ma Tin and she followed her sister.
Only Aye Aye stayed
behind.
“Aye Aye, my sweet,
will you marry master snake to save my life?” pleaded the mother for the third
time.
“Of course I will,
mother,” said the generous Aye Aye. As soon as he heard her words, the snake slid away from the
widow and moved to Aye Aye.
The next day, Aye Aye
and the snake were married. The sweet and gentle girl took good care of her
husband. She fed him fresh milk and soft boiled rice. She preapared a basket
for him to sleep in which she put by her own bedside.
A week after the
marriage, the widow asked her daughter, “Aye Aye, are you happy?”
“Oh yes, mother, I
am,” answered the girl with a bright smile. “Ever since I married master snake,
I have had wonderful dreams. Every night I dream a handsome young prince comes
to me and tells me the most wonderful stories.”
“This is truly a most
unusual snake,” thought the widow. “Perhaps he is enchanted.” She decided to
stay awake that night and watch her daughter’s bed. Nothing happened until
midnight, when the widow heard a slight rusting from the basket. She perred
into the dark, and saw, to her great suprise, a handsome man rising from the
basket. He went to Aye’s bed and tenderly put his arm around the sleeping girl,
murmuring soft words in her ear.
Carefully, the widow
crawled to the basket. In it, she saw a crumpled snake skin. Hastily, she
snatched it from the basket and rushed to the kitchen. She threw the skin into
the fire where it was quickly burnt to ashes. In this way, the widow broke the
spell which had bound the young man.
When the two sisters
saw how handsome and charming Aye Aye’s husband was, they was very jealous.
However, they pretended to be nice and kind to their younger sister. Altough
innoncent Aye Aye did not suspect them, her husband did.
Therefore, the
snake-prince (as the villagers called him) took his wife to a house of their
own. After a year, a healthy baby boy was born. When their son was six months
old, the snake-prince told his wife he had to go on along voyage. He would be
away for several months.
He still did not
trust Ma Pu and Ma Tin and warned his wife against them. “Be careful, my
dearest. Don’t trust these two sisters of you. Stay at home as much as you
can,” he advised. He filled the house with plenty of food and fire-wood, enough
to last for several months. Then he set out to sea.
Ma Pu and Ma Tin were
glad to see him go. Their evil minds thought of many plans to kill their
sister. “If she were dead, the snake-prince would certainly choose one of us as
his wife,” they said to each other.
One morning, the two
sisters called at Aye Aye’s home. “Aye Aye, aren’t you lonely now that your
husband is away? Why don’t you stay with us until he comes back?”
But Aye Aye thought
of her husband’s warning and said, “Thank you sisters, but I don’t feel lonely.
I have my son to keep my company.”
The dissapointed
sisters went away, but they did not give up. A few days later, they called
again and said to Aye Aye. “Aye Aye, comes with us to the market. Perhaps you
needs some rice or fish or fire-wood.”
“Thank you, dear
sisters,” answered Aye Aye, “but my husband left me enough until his return.”
Angrily, the two
women left her, only to come back later in the week. “Come on, Aye Aye, let us
go to beach and row out to sea. Look how nice the weather is,” they said.
Aye Aye was tempted,
to go out, but she remembered her husband’s warning. When the two sisters saw
her hesitate, Ma Pu said, “You don’t seem like us any more Aye Aye. We never
thought you would become so proud after you married. Come Ma Tin, let’s go by
ourselves.”
Aye Aye did not want
to hurt her sister’s feelings, so she said, “I will go with you, sisters. I
haven’t been out for a long time.”
She picked up her
little boy and they all when to the beach. The widow had a little rowing boat
wich she kept on the beach.
“ Sit in the boat,
Aye Aye, and we will pull you along,” Ma Pu said with a friendly smile.
Aye Aye was enjoying
herself very much. This was a game they had pften played. One of them would sit
in the boat and the other two would pull her along the beach. So Aye Aye
stepped into the and put her son on her lap.
But instead of
pulling the boat along the beach, Ma Pu and Ma Tin pushed it out towards the open
sea. The boat was soon swept away. It was tossed in the waves with poor Aye Aye
and her son holding tightly to each other.
The cruel sisters
only laughed. “Bye bye, dear sister,” they called out. “We will take good care
your husband when he comes home.”
For many hours, the
little boat was tossed along by the waves. The frightened Aye Aye held her son and prayed to the gods
for help. The god heard her prayer and they sent her a huge crane.
With his strong beak,
the bird pushed the boat to an uninhabited island. And there Aye Aye stayed.
She ate roots and wild barries and the fish which the crane caught for her.
Each day she stood on the beach looking out to sea for help.
One afternoon, Aye
Aye saw the sails of a big ship. “Oh master crane, that must be my husband’s
ship,” she said. “Please tell him I am here so that he will not sail past.”
The crane, who seemed
to understand every word she said, spread out his wide wings and flew towards
the ship.
It was the
snake-prince ship!
He was on the deck
and looked at the crane as it circled around the ship. The bird flew lower and
lower. It was not afraid of the men.
“Look, how strangely
that bird acts,” said one of sailors.
“What a huge crane!
Perhaps he is a message from the gods,” said anothes.
“He might have a
special message for us,” said the snake-prince. They all watched as the big
bird circled several times above the snake-prince. Then it few back where it
had come from.
“I think he wants us to follow him,” said the
snake-prince. He ordered the man at the wheel to change course and follow the
bird. Soon they came to the island. Aye Aye was waiting on the shore with her
son. How happy she was to see her husband again!
When he heard how the
two sisters had tried to kill his wife, the snake prince become angry. “I’ll
teach them a lesson,” he said. “They will regret what they have done."
In the meantime, the
two sisters waited impatiently for the prince’s return. They told the villagers
that their sisters had drowned in the sea. Not long after, the ship was seen
sailing towards the village. The two woman put on mourning clothes and waited
at the beach. When the ship anchored, the snake-prince came ashore. The two
wicked sisters met him with tears in their eyes.
“What’s the matter,
my dear sisters?,” asked the snake-prince, pretending to be very anxious.
“Where is my wife and son? Why don’t they come to meet me?”
The two sisters
sobbed louder than before. Finally Ma Pu said, “Dear brother, take courage. We
have sad news for you. Although we told her not to go, Aye Aye took the baby
out in the boat. She rowed towards the open sea. But the waves were too big and
the boat overturned. We tried our best to save her, but we failed. Aye Aye and
the baby were drowned.”
The prince sank to
the ground and covered his face with his hands. “My dear wife, my dear child,”
he groaned as if in deep despair.
Ma Pu and Ma Tin
looked at each other with shining eyes, and comforted him with sweet words.
“Come and live with us, dear brother,” they said. “We will take good care of you.
We will make you forget your sorrow.”
“I brought many
present for my wife,” sobbed the prince. “There are beautiful clothes, costly
jewels and rare ornaments. What will I do with those things now?”
Ma Pu and Ma Tin
looked at each other. Their eyes shone with greed. “Leave them with us, dear brother,” they said.
“We will keep for you until you decide what you want to do with them.”
“Yes, perhaps I’ll do
that,” said the snake-prince. The two sisters smile with satisfication. “Comes
home with us now,” they said. “We have prepared a good meal for you.”
“Thank you,” answered
the prince. “But first I must tell you something. I brought my blood sister
with me; she is very dear to my heart. As my wife is not here to welcome her,
do you think you could take her into your house?”
“Of course, of
course, where is she?”
The price gave a
signal to one of his servants who hurried back to the ship. A few minutes later
he came back leading a woman. She was so heavily veiled, the two sisters could
not see her face or figure.
The prince took her
by the hand and led her to the sisters.
“Here are my
sister-in-law,” he said.
The woman pushed her veil aside so that Ma Pu and
Ma Tin could see her face. The smiles vanished from their lips and they turned
pale. The woman was Aye aye!
“A ghost, a ghost!”
they shrieked.
“No, not a ghost,”
said the snake-prince. “The gods were merciful and took care of the sister you
tried to murder.”
When
the villagers heard how cruel the two sisters had been to Aye Aye and her son, they chased them away from the
village. Aye Aye and her husband stayed in the village for the rest of their
lives and were loved by everyone.
