Prem and the Goddess

1. Prem and the Goddess Once upon a time there lived a poor widow named Boodi. Boodi was as kind as she was poor and her only joy in this world was Prem, her son, a lively little boy who looked very much like his father, now deceased. Prem was very clever. So clever was Prem that he had taught himself to read and write from an old book which used to belong to his father. Prem was very keen to learn and he kept asking Boodi to send him to school. Unfortunately, there was no school in the village where Prem and Boodi lived. The nearest school was some seven miles away, in a village called Noagaon.

2. “Fear not, beloved mother,” Prem said, “fourteen miles is not the end of the world. I am strong, my legs will carry me fast and Saraswati, the goddess of learning, will help me. I am sure she will protect me and stay by my side if I need help in the jungle.” Prem trusted the goddess of learning completely. Saraswati, the goddess of learning, was sitting cross-legged on her lotus flower up in the sky, and she was getting very bored. For quite a while, it seemed to her, people on the earth below had forgotten her. Saraswati was beginning to feel that nobody was interested in learning any more. It was then that she heard a little voice saying, “Saraswati will help me, I am sure she will protect me and stay by my side if I need help in the jungle.’ “Prem, my darling, I cannot afford to send you to stay in the school hostel in Noagaon. We are too poor and I do not have the money to pay for the hostel. If I work longer hours and am very careful with everything, if we eat a bit less and work a bit more, I may be able to pay your school fees. I will gladly do this, my son, but if I do, you will have to walk to Noagaon and back every day, seven miles going and seven miles coming back through the thick of the jungle. Fourteen miles a day is no joke, especially the return journey when it gets dark and the jungle is filled with wild beasts. Think twice, oh Prem,” Boodi said.

3. Who could that voice belong to? The goddess looked down and saw Prem talking to his mother. The boy was standing in a dark little hut, but Saraswati could see his eyes shining as he spoke. Saraswati smiled and muttered to herself aloud: “So shall it be indeed.” Boodi, who loved Prem with all her heart, told him, “Well, if you insist, I shall not stop you. Give me time; let me earn enough to pay for school and then you can go.’ Prem thanked his mother and promised to try to earn some money too. “I can collect twigs from the jungle for firewood and you can sell the twigs, mother dear.” For the next few months, Boodi and Prem worked hard and saved all they could in order to pay for the school. At last there was enough money for Prem’s dream to come true. One fine morning, he set out for school at the crack of dawn. He had to walk seven miles before getting there. Although it was very early indeed, the sun already shone brightly, but most of the animals were still asleep. The morning dew had turned the spiders’ webs into strings of diamonds. The spiders, like the wild beasts, were asleep in their dens, full after the night’s meal. On his way to Noagaon, Prem met a couple of spotted deer, a young monkey who had lost his way, and some giant butterflies. But nobody else.

4. In a tightly knotted corner of his loin cloth he was carrying the school money, and in a small basket of bamboo slats he was carrying his lunch – two pancakes of coarse millet flour and one pickle, his food for the whole day. As soon as Prem got to school he gave the money to the teacher and took his place with the other boys - all sitting cross-legged in rows on the floor of the classroom. The first day of school went very well, even though Prem was dressed very differently from the other boys. The other boys came from quite rich families, and wore shirts and shorts; some of them even wore silk garments. One boy, called Motu, had a skull cap embroidered with real gold. Prem wore a coarse loin cloth of home-spun cotton. Boodi had spun the thread herself and Alganal, the village weaver, had woven it for her on his hand-made loom. The other boys all had sandals, while Prem was barefoot. This however, did not make such a difference since everybody, including the teacher, had to leave their shoes outside on the school verandah. Prem was new, yet he did not have too much difficulty in following the lesson. The teacher was quick to notice that Prem was keen to learn, and he took special trouble to help him to understand what was going on.

5. The first day of school went very well, even though Prem was dressed very differently from the other boys. The other boys came from quite rich families, and wore shirts and shorts; some of them even wore silk garments. One boy, called Motu, had a skull cap embroidered with real gold. Prem wore a coarse loin cloth of home-spun cotton. Boodi had spun the thread herself and Alganal, the village weaver, had woven it for her on his hand-made loom. The other boys all had sandals, while Prem was barefoot. This however, did not make such a difference since everybody, including the teacher, had to leave their shoes outside on the school verandah. Prem was new, yet he did not have too much difficulty in following the lesson. The teacher was quick to notice that Prem was keen to learn, and he took special trouble to help him to understand what was going on. During the break he asked Prem where he had learned to read and write. “Really, boy, you learned to read and write by yourself – from an old book? That is very, very good indeed!” Prem was so happy with his first day at school that he even forgot to eat the lunch he was carrying in his bamboo basket. After school he started back for his village, singing happily through the jungle. As he walked, he realized that he was hungry. No wonder – he had not eaten for well over twelve hours. He stopped and sat on his heels; knees tucked under his chin, and began to eat.

6. Suddenly he heard a squeak. It was a chipmunk, begging for a crumb. Before he knew where he was or what had happened, Prem was surrounded by little animals – green tailed parrots, chipmunks, monkeys, even a porcupine, all begging for crumbs. He gave them a bit and ate the rest and got up to go home. He walked on through the thick jungle followed by his little friends. The sun had begun to set on the horizon, and the jungle now looked as if it was aglow with a huge fire as the last rays of the sun shone blood-red through the leaves. But Prem was not worried. He was not alone, he had all his little friends with him. Just as he was beginning to think how nice it was of them to walk him home, he heard a strange noise ahead. The leaves were rustling in an odd way; his little friends suddenly became very quiet and then began to run for dear life, even the porcupine. Prem was left quite alone in the dark jungle. Prem was scared. Why had they all run away? Could it be that there was danger ahead? As if to answer his thought, a terrific roar rolled through the dark jungle. It was Sher Khan, the tiger, who had gone a-hunting. Poor Prem did not know what to do, where to hide. In his terror he shouted, ”Saraswati, goddess of learning, I beg you – help me!”

7. No sooner had he shouted then he saw a kind lady carrying a veena in her hand. Prem ran to her, “A tiger! There is a tiger!” he stuttered. “I know,” said the goddess, for it was she, “I know. Sher Khan will not harm you as long as you continue to be a good boy. See how he loves my music,” and Saraswati began to play the veena. The music was so sweet that Sher Khan came out of the jungle and rolled at her feet, purring like a gigantic cat. Sarawati, Prem and Sher Khan walked through the darkened jungle as far as the outskirts of the village, where Boodi was anxiously waiting for her son to return. As they got near the village, Saraswati stopped and told Prem and Sher Khan, “You two must be friends from now on. Sher Khan, it will be your duty to escort Prem back through the jungle every evening. See that nothing happens to him. I shall keep an eye on you from my home in the sky.” She then vanished. Boodi wanted to hear everything that had happened at school, how the teacher had greeted Prem, how the other boys behaved. After Prem had eaten his evening meal of boiled rice and spices and a little bit of yogurt, he told Boodi about the other boys and the kind teacher, but he did not tell her that the other boys were better dressed and he did not tell her about his adventure with the tiger. He did not want to worry his mother, and he was so tired that he fell asleep without telling her about meeting Saraswati on the jungle.

8. Every morning, Prem got up at the crack of dawn and walked through the jungle, carrying his lunch in his little bamboo basket. At school he worked well and made such good progress that he was soon top of the form. The other boys did not like this; they made fun of him because his peasant’s clothes and his bare feet. At lunch time they would stay away from him and eat the food that their parents had sent them – pancakes of golden wheat flour, sweetmeats and candies, fruit and curries. They never offered Prem anything. Indeed, Prem felt so shy with his two pancakes of coarse millet flour and his one little pickle that he never unpacked his lunch at school. He would wait until the return walk through the jungle to eat his meal. He always shared it with his friends, the little animals, and gave some crumbs to Sher Khan also. Every evening Sher Khan would wait for Prem at the place where it got dark and walk him to the outskirts of the village. He and Sher Khan became fast friends; sometimes She Khan would give Prem a pickaback ride. For Prem, the last day of the term was a day he came to dread above all days. The custom in the school was for each pupil to give the teacher a present. Prem was very fond of his teacher and very grateful for all the trouble he was taking over him. But he and Boodi were so poor that he could not spare anything to give his teacher as a present. At first, Prem had thought of bringing his teacher a bunch of wild orchids picked on his way to school.

9. The jungle was full of lovely wild orchids. Some grew on trees, others on the ground; all he would have to do was to pick them. But when Prem heard the other boys boasting to each other of the presents they were going to bring, he lost heart. How could a bunch of wild orchids compare with a pound of tea, or a couple of fat chickens, or a sari for the teacher’s wife, or with the silk bedspread with gold tassels which Motu, the merchant’s son, was going to bring? “And what will you bring you peasant beggar?” the other boys teased Prem. “Teacher’s pet, you will probably bring him nothing, or at best some wild flowers which cost you nothing.” What could Prem bring? To ask Boodi was out of the question. She was already saving up to pay for next term. So, on the last day of school, Prem was walking slowly instead of running happily with a song on his lips as he usually did. Suddenly, he had an idea. He would not go to school. He would pretend he had been ill with fever. But that would be a lie. Besides, Prem wanted so much to give a present to his teacher. “Oh Saraswati, goddess of learning, oh wise one, give me an idea,” Prem said without realizing that he was thinking aloud. The goddess heard. Without coming to earth, she shouted into the jungle, “Who can give more than what he has? Share your meal with your teacher.”

10. Prem heard her. That day, like every day, he was carrying two pancakes and one pickle in his little bamboo basket. But today, because it was his last day of the term, Boodi had made the pancakes with precious wheat flour, as a surprise. Prem did not know this. He had heard the goddess and sat down to cry. The whole class would laugh. But if the goddess said that he must share his meal, he must obey her. Prem heaved a deep sigh, wiped his eyes with the corner of his loin cloth, and walked to school. At the lunch break, all the pupils brought out their presents. The teacher was very pleased, especially with Motu’s silk and golden bedspread. Prem waited until all the other boys had given their presents, then, timidly, he came forward, holding his little bamboo basket. “Sir,” he said, his voice trembling with shame, “please share my modest lunch with me.” The teacher who knew how poor Prem was, said kindly, “Thank you Prem, thank you very much.” He opened the little bamboo basket and took the pickle and one pancake, handing the other pancake to Prem. “Let us eat together,” he said. As he was going to close the empty bamboo basket, he saw to his surprise that it contained yet another pickle and two more pancakes. He gave another pancake and the pickle to Prem, and took the remaining pancake for himself. Now, the bamboo basket would be empty.

11. That evening, on his way home, Prem was dancing through the jungle. He was so happy that he gave all his animal friends lots of pancakes of golden wheat flour and ate a lot himself. The friend that got the most pancakes and pickles was, of course, Sher Khan, because he was the biggest. When he got home, Prem told Boodi what had happened and he fed her a princely meal of wheat pancakes and pickles. Before going to sleep, both mother and son prayed to the goddess Saraswati and thanked her for the good care she was taking of Prem. During the night, Prem had a dream. The goddess came to his bedside, smiling in a friendly way, to tell him that tomorrow the bamboo basket would no longer be magic But nothing of the sort. Inside there was still a pickle and two pancakes. The teacher was puzzled. Calling Motu, he told him to bring a tray. When the tray was brought, the teacher began to take out pancakes and pickles from the little bamboo basket, but her could not empty it. The more pancakes he took out, the more were left in Prem’s bamboo basket. The tray was heaped full and so was another tray and another, and yet the bamboo basket was not empty. The boys and the teacher became quite excited. “Truly this is a miracle!” said the teacher, and the boys began to look at Prem with respect.

12. “Knowledge, not magic, Prem, is the fountain of plenty. Learn all that you can, become wise, and you will not go hungry. If you learn, you will be able to earn wealth and fame and also be able to look after your mother.” Her image faded away and Prem awoke to find that the little bamboo basket by his side, magic no longer, was empty The End To be used in connection with unit of study on Nepalese Folk Tales prepared by Marianne Peel Forman, Language Arts Teacher, C.E. MacDonald Middle School, East Lansing, Michigan