Once there was a wealthy man with two wives – the elder one, Laagee (refers to Beloved) and the younger one, Aelaagee (refers to ill-favored). Both had one daughter each. The daughter of the younger wife was Champavati. The elder wife was jealous of both Champavati and her mother.
One day, Champavati goes to the rice fields and sings a song to shoo away the birds-
“Little birds go away
Don’t eat my paddy; I’ll give you fried corn.”
Somebody answered from the midst of the forest,
“I’ll eat paddy as well as rice
Marrying Champavati, I’ll take her to my house”.
Champavati was terrified to hear these words, as no one was around. She called out to her parents, and her father agreed to marry her to whoever appeared to them, so a colossal python came out and took the girl as his bride. That night Champavati and the python were kept in one room. While everyone was worried that the python would devour her, the following day, her mother was surprised to see Champavati shining with gold ornaments from head to toe, but the python was not there. The other wife felt jealous of Champavati’s fortune. She started nagging her husband to find a python groom for her daughter. With the help of a few people, the henpecked husband caught a python from a deep forest, and the other daughter was also married off to the python.
But unfortunately, the python swallowed her up. When the mother went to see her the next morning, she found that her daughter was not there, and the python was lying there instead, with its bloated belly with the daughter in it. She then started wailing. After this incident, the husband and his favourite wife could not stand Champavati and her mother and planned to kill them. One day when they went to kill the mother and the daughter, the python husband of Champavati devoured both the rich man and his favourite wife. He carried Champavati and her mother amid a forest. At first, they were afraid, but the python explained everything to them, and all three started living in the forest happily.
Champavati’s mother caught a fever one day during their stay and died soon after. A few days later, when the python had gone out, Champavati was visited by a beggar woman and told her that her husband was an angel underneath the skin of a snake. She urged her to burn the snake’s skin. She was informed that he sheds it off at night when Champavati is asleep and goes to heaven to chitchat with other angels. She followed the old lady’s advice and was very happy to find a handsome man as her husband. They both started living happily after that.
A few days later, that old lady returned and suggested that Champavati eat from her husband’s plate. And meanwhile, she should ask her husband to show the world inside his mouth. To do so, he will say that he will dive into the river and disappear for six years. But Champavati should not move and insist on opening his mouth, as he will again return from the river water. Champavati did accordingly, and her husband disappeared into the river after showing her the world inside her mouth.
Before disappearing, the husband told Champavati that the old lady was a servant of his ogress mother, who wanted to separate them because he married Champavati against her will and wanted to eat Champavati. But he gave her a ring that would protect her from any ogre, ogress, or wild animal.
After six years, they will reunite if the ring is still with her. When he disappeared, Champavati started wailing that she believed the old lady who separated her from her husband and kept roaming in the forest for six years. In the sixth year of their separation, Champa suddenly saw her husband and clasped his feet. The husband wept joyfully at seeing Champa, and both began to live happily once again.
On the other hand, the ogress mother-in-law became very unhappy at the sight of Champavati and waited for a chance to eat her up. As soon as Champa met her husband, the ring disappeared, but the ogress still could not eat her in the presence of her son. One day, the ogress sent Champa to a neighbour’s house without the knowledge of her husband to deliver a letter where it was written, “My chief enemy is the bearer of this letter. Kill her and eat her. Send a share of flesh for me also”. Just then, her husband understood everything and beckoned his wife from behind.
“Oh! My dear Champa
You need not go too fast.
Wait for me a moment”.
Champavati stopped at her husband’s words. He snatched the letter from her hand and went home with Champavati. He cut his mother into pieces with a sword. After that, they left that place, established a new city, and lived there happily ever after.
Folktale Source: Shared by Monalisha Medhi, a PhD student researching Folklore studies
Painting by Reshma Sumaria
