Three Mice

THIS IS A STORY I GREW UP LISTENING FROM AMMAJI, MY GRANDMOTHER.....PUBLISHED HERE IN HER MEMORY!

Once upon a time there were three little mice.  Chooia was the oldest sister and she lived in the sugar-cane fields.  Sukhia was the middle sister and she lived in the forest.  The third sister was called Chakia and she lived in a millstone grinder in the house of an oil trader.  All three had a happy life and tried to keep in touch with each other.

Suddenly, one day, Sukhia of the forest heard that her sister in the sugar-cane fields was getting married.  She was very happy and excited.  She could not wait to share the news with Chakia, the third sister.  But how to send the message?  Several days later, Sukhia spotted the very oil trader passing through the forest whose house Chakia lived in.  Sukhia thought this as her chance to send her message but had to think hard as to how.  Then she had an idea!  She hid behind a pipal tree and started singing:

“Oil man, Oil man, walking through the woods,

    Oh please, Oh Please, if you could;

Give this message to the mouse,

    Who lives in the Chakki in your house;

That your sister in the sugar cane fields,

    She is to be wed!”

The old trader heard the singing and looked around the forest.  He could not see anybody.  He thought he imagined the sound and kept walking.  Sukhia followed the man, hid behind a tree and sang her song again:

“Oil man, Oil man, walking through the woods,

    Oh please, Oh Please, if you could;

Give this message to the mouse,

    Who lives in the Chakki in your house;

That your sister in the sugar cane fields,

    She is to be wed!”

The man looked around again and without seeing anybody, thought the forest was haunted.  He got scared and ran as fast as he could, out of the forest!

Finally, when he arrived home after dark, he sat down to eat his dinner in the kitchen with his wife.  As they ate, he remembered the strange song from the forest.  He told his wife, “when I was returning home tonight after my trade on the other side of the forest, I heard some singing among the trees”.  She asked, “Who was singing?”  He replied, “I don’t know, there was no one there.  Perhaps it was a ghost”.  His wife then asked, “What was the song?”  He sang the song he had heard;

“Oil man, Oil man, walking through the woods,

    Oh please, Oh Please, if you could;

Give this message to the mouse,

    Who lives in the Chakki in your house;

That your sister in the sugar cane fields,

    She is to be wed!”

They both said together, “But what does it mean?”

Suddenly, they saw in their kitchen a tiny mouse come out of their millstone grinder with her head covered by a scarf and tears of joy in her eyes.  She bobbed her head from side to side repeating:

“Brother, is the wedding today or tomorrow, today or tomorrow?  Is the wedding today or tomorrow?”

Translation:

CHOOIA – female mouse

SUKHIA/SUKHI – happy, content

CHAKIA or CHAKKI – millstone grinder

PIPAL – banyan tree