The man who bought the bottle gourd filled Mandia rice in it. One day when everyone in the house was asleep, the bottle gourd came back to the boy’s house with the rice in it. It asked the boy to open the door. When the boy opened the door, he saw the bottle gourd in front of his door with rice in it. He was very happy and took the bottle gourd in.
After some days the bottle gourd again asked the boy to take it to the market and sell it off. The boy went to another village to sell the bottle gourd. There he sold the bottle gourd from cereal. He came back home with the cereal. One night, when everyone was asleep, the bottle gourd came back to the boy’s house and asked him to open the door. He opened the door and the bottle gourd came inside it.
Again one day, the boy took the bottle gourd to a village. He sold it for five seers of rice. He came back home with the rice. The people filled five seers of rice inside it. The next day the gourd was there with five seers of rice inside the boy’s house. The boy again opened the door and kept it inside.
One day he went to another village to sell the bottle gourd. He sold the gourd to an old man. He had seven daughters. He told the old man, “Buy this. Your daughters can sleep inside it during winter nights. The old man bought the bottle gourd and his daughters slept inside it. One night the bottle gourd took them in and reached the boy’s house. While the boy was taking the gourd inside it fell down and broke into pieces. The girls came out. He married them all.
Illustration: Amrapali Das
Source: Tribal folktales from Orissa, Academy of Tribal Languages & Cultures, Bhubaneshwar
