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Kolo and Koli (2) Goa's
popular folk tale from the book THE PREPARATION "You are looking very thin. Have you been sick?" asked Kolo. "No, Kolo dear, I have not been sick. I have been working very hard for my dowry," answered Koli. "Dowry? What dowry are you going to give me, darling?" "Ten huge jars of the choicest honey. I have made six jars. I still hat to make four more." "Honey!" exclaimed Kolo, smacking his lips. He looked eagerly into each of the six jars. "Where is the honey?" he asked. "Ah! that is a secret. It will take me one week to finish these four jars. I will then lead you to the biggest beehive in the world. You will require one full week to take out the honey. I will show you the beehive only if you promise on oath to marry me three days after these ten jars have been filled." "Why wait for seventeen days?" wailed Kolo. "Show me the beehive today and I will marry you tomorrow." "No, no," said Koli in a firm voice. "First I must have all the jars filled with honey. Then, I will require three days to prepare the wedding banquet. We will invite everyone in the forest. It must be the finest wedding they ever saw." "How lovely!" whispered Kolo as he hugged Koli and gave her a big kiss. "Why, my Kolo? You surprise me! You have not done this for months and months." Kolo laughed, dropped her a curtsey and strode away saying: "I'll be back next Monday morning at 5 O'clock with everything ready for the beehive hunt." Both Koli and Kolo worked hard for the great day. Koli collected mud and wet it to make a paste. She shaped the paste into four large jars. These jars were allowed to dry in the sun. She dug a pit. She placed the four jars in the pit. She covered the top of the pit with an iron plate and placed earth on top of the plate. She then placed dry leaves, branches and wood on the top and all around the pit. She lit a fire and kept it going for two days. She allowed the oven to cool down before she removed the four jars. They were baked hard and strong. Kolo collected the husks of three hundred coconuts. He removed the coir and kept it soaking in water for two days. He cleaned the fibres and wove them into a rope one hundred feet long. He cut dry branches of trees with his chopper and made two neat bundles of faggots. He borrowed a gourd from Tomloo, the toddy tapper. Tomloo made the gourd by allowing a pumpkin to dry till the skin became very hard. He then made hole at the top and scraped out the inside, to leave only the outer skin. He allowed this to dry still further in the sun. Kolo ate less than usual on Saturday for breakfast and lunch. He skipped his dinner. On Sunday, he had a light breakfast, but no lunch or dinner. He awoke at cock-crow on Monday. He made one cup of tea, fried one egg and buttered one slice of bread. Hastily swallowing this scanty meal, he was at Koli's door as the clock struck five. SMOKING OUT THE BEES "I have a treat for you," said Koli, picking up her picnic basket and two empty jars." "What is it, dear?" asked Kolo. "Your favorite roast chicken and apple pie." Kolo smacked his lips, but whispered to himself: "I prefer pure honey!" Koli led the way with the picnic basket and the two empty jars. Kolo followed with two bundles of wood, a chopper, a box of matches, gourd and rope. Every fifteen minutes they stopped to set down their loads and rest their aching muscles. After an hour they reached an open space. Before them stood the banyan tree. "There's my dowry!" exclaimed Koli. Kolo stared at the monstrous tree. He put down his load and slowly walked around the tree. He examined it from all angles and selected the easiest way to climb to the top. He hitched his chopper to his belt and started climbing. He took out his chopper and lopped off the branches that came in his way. He whistled when he sighted the bottom of the beehive. "Pheew! What a beauty! It's as broad as an eight room house." He climbed higher and higher. He took care not to touch the hive or to disturb the bees. One little slip and he would be stung to death. He reached tthe top of the beehive. A million bees shot out of the hive. A million bees returned like little golden bullets. The buzz of the bees was deafening. Kolo climbed down. He studied the direction of the wind and selected a place to build a fire. "Come, Koli dear, help me," Kolo said. He placed three large stones at right angles to each other. Inside the gap he placed dry twigs and struck a match stick. When he had a fire going, he added thicker sticks. He then placed green leaves of the branches he had cut on the fire. This caused a dense cloud of smoke. This smoke was blown into the beehive by the steady breeze. There was pin-drop silence for a while, followed by an angry roar as the bees formed ranks to battle this unknown menace. But what could the poor creatures do against the endless stream of smoke? They sneezed and coughed. They tried to take shelter in the wax cells. But the black smoke kept on following them. There was utter confusion. Hundreds of bees fell down choked to death. Thousands fled from the black horror and watched from a distance. More and more bees joined them. They looked like a golden cloud as they watched the spiralling smoke. After half an hour the Queen Bee left the beehive. She was followed by the Regal Bodyguard of the thousand picked warriors. The golden cloud move after them. "Ha, ha," laughed Kolo. "The honey is mine." "Ours you mean," corrected Koli. Kolo laughed, smacked a noisy kiss on Koli's cheek and said: "Of course, it's ours." Kolo hitched both the chopper and the gourd, with the rope inside the gourd, to his belt and started scaling the tree...
Arthur Francis “Meurin” Santos |
The cunning
fox called Kolo and the sweet and kind Koli were deeply in love. Koli
wanted to get married soon, but Kolo kept putting it off with one excuse
after another. This went on for years and years until Koli showed him
the "largest beehive in the world". So let's see what happened
later...