The Snake Charmer’s
Wife
Once upon a time, there lived a snake charmer
named Tipota.
He had a two-headed snake in his basket made of
coconut leaves. He took care of his companion snake and he called it Goyan.
He set out everyday with his pot of milk for
Goyan, the basket of coconut leaves, a bundle for his rest and a pipe to play
music with.
Every morning, he set out from his home in the
marshes, out to the market; where a lot of people came to see him and his
two-headed snake, Goyan.
Tipota and Goyan were like each other’s eyes
and ears. Goyan was both deaf and blind, but he could feel every tune that
Tipota hurled at him through the snake charmer’s pipe. Goyan always got out of
the basket and circled Tipota when he became merry. Tipota played from one side
to the other and he too danced merrily like a child and enthralled the crowd
with his moodful songs.
Goyan’s heads- they were two, they moved from
one side to another and this made all the children merry with delight and they
clapped their hands! Oh how! Tipota loved to show the children who gathered
around that he was happy with his beloved two-headed snake Goyan!
Tipota and Goyan would rest at noon. Goyan
would sip milk from the pot while Tipota met his friends at the market. They spoke
about the nature of life, the comings and goings of twon-folk till dusk
gathered above. :Tipota is such a friendly manwith many charms” they all said.
And he did too, when Goyan would climb over his shoulders and sit placidly on
his arms and sometimes throw his tail over and around Tipota’s neck.
The other marketeers carried enormous birds
with colourful feathers. One time, a man from the village on the shore of sea
many knots and miles away even brought with him, a tamed lion for the crowd to
see and they cheered with glee at that unusual presentation.
Tipota stroked Goyan in affection and some of
the more adventurous children caressed the two-headed snake which made them all
very happy.
Tipota collected fruits and flour, tea and
spices for his wife’s cooking fire and returned home before long.
Huit, his wife, was a very beautiful woman. She
had a knack for braising meat, a hand for plucking scented flowers in the
garden and great big dark eyes that she decorated with kohl. She always wore a
big dimpled smile on her bright face.
That evening, when Tipota returned home,
onerous as he was feeling from his day at the market, needing dinner and a good
massage, Huit was not to be seen outside their hut, like every other day. “
Huit!”, “Huit, where are you Huit na?”he called out, putting the basket with
Goyan in its nook.
There was no answer. Tipota washed up, while
Goyan got out of the basket, sensing that his master and companion was
nonplussed and began snaking around the hut with two heads carefully for the
sound of Huit’s trinkets and anklets. His mistress always wore heavy glass
beads and bells around her anklets so that Goyan would know where she went.
Sometimes, Goyan accomanied her to the fruit orchards where she helped the old
lady who owned the orchards and vineyards pick fruit. Goyan would point out the
fruits that were ripe for plucking, while they chatted about the comings and
goings of town-folk.
Tipota had looked all around thir hut for Huit
and he came back inside looking troubled and flustered this time. Goyan curled
up in his lap with hood open, ready to receive his master’s isntructions to
find and bring back the beloved mistress of their home.
The moon rose above. It was full.
At that moment, Huit called out excitedly, from
the paved road to their dwelling. “ Tipota! Tipota!Goyan! Goyan!,” she cried. “Where
have you been Huit!”Tipota asked, relieved to see her.
“ You will not believe where I have been! Did
you see the moon tonight?
Oh! The three circles and the oasis beyond the
market and the fruit orchards…” Huit uttered breathlessly, while Tipota calmed
her and sat her on his lap and offered her a cup of water.
“ You can tell me all about it, catch your
breath a while, wife.” said Tipota to Huit. Goyan too was excited by
higgedly-piggedly mistress and found himself a cozy spot in the tree, high
above the hut and listened. One of Goyan’s favourite pastimes was to laze by
the moonlight.
Huit smiled, as she began to relate her bold
adventures that day, having found the three circles of ancient fortune, where
she had found a golden locket. Tipota looked enthralled when he learned that
inside of it was a perfect timepiece. “But first, I had to answer wisely , the
three questions that Mandoo, the great, the king of the desert asked me, before
he would give it to me as a product,” she added. “What were the questions and
what did you reply, do tell us Huit, “ quipped Tipota, earnestly pleading with
his own big blue eyes. “ The first came out like a riddle, “Huit continued. “Who,
in the great desert, can slither through the distance or twirl as he likes,
around the forest dense?” Mandoo had asked .
“Why, you, ofcourse!” Huit had replied, knowing
well that Mandoo the great, the king of the desert thought so. “In the desert,
one’s impressions about oneself can go unchallenged for a long time, you see?”
Huit explained to Tipota, who was listening so very keenly to his wife. Mandoo
had been very busy pleased indeed and had proceeded to ask her the second
question, inviting her to the second circle. “Do you know what the meaning of
life is?”
Huit, who was counting the number of circles
she had already seen, blurted “One!” and
when Mandoo heard what he heard, suspecting skullduggery, blurted in turn,”
Would you care to explain that?” to which pat came of her quiet quick-witted
rhetoric, “ Is that another question, then?” when at last, Mandoo conceded his
defeat and acknowledged Huit’s clever and laudable wit. They both broke into
rapturous belly laughter at that, but Mandoo kept his promise no sooner. “You
have mighty pleased me with your delightful presence Huit!” said Mandoo and led
her to the third circle, showing her his resplendent abode where he told her,
she would always be welcome.
“And that’s what kept me so long, so far beyond…”
said Huit, snapping a big yawn, when Goyan, hushed among the trees, rescended
and snaked away into the bushes to meet Mandoo the great and munificent king of
the desert. Who knew perhaps Goyan would find a treasure of his own!
