[ I tried to find a Garhwali folktale but couldn't find one so made up this from popular Russian lore . The end kind of reflects Garhwali sensibility ]
Gairola and Badola were two childhood friends, lazy bums; in American idiom you can say pathetic losers. Gairola was the stronger of the two. Tired of their ways the villagers booted them out of the village. The friends decided they will try luck in town but between the town and village lay a dense forest. Summoning all their courage the two friends embarked on this treacherous journey through the forest. They spent the night in jungle trembling in fear under a tree, the sole source of relief was a fire that kept them warm and also provided succour from darkness and elements. They were lazy bums but not short on empathy. In the middle of night a terrified squirrel fell on their
lap. They caringly provided it shelter and comfort.
At dawn the squirrel morphed into a yaksh. Pleased with their conduct the yaksh bestowed on them a boon each.
“Ask for anything Gairola” he said.
“Any thing?”
“Sure anything reasonable; I will try to make it happen”
So the Gairola thought for a while and them said,
“I want a goat”
Bingo! There was a robust goat by the side of Gairola. It was now turn of Badola,
"You, Badola! ask anything”
Badola took even more time to think and then said resignedly,
“I want Gairola’s goat to die”
In a flash the goat was dead, very inert……….
Yaksh was puzzled, he asked Badola
“You could have asked for two goats Badola”
Badola whispered quietly in Yaks’ ears, “I thought about it. Life yaksh is a little complex not everything is works out the way you want. If I had asked for two goats, I would have eventually ended up with nothing and Gairola with three goats.
Gairola and Badola were two childhood friends, lazy bums; in American idiom you can say pathetic losers. Gairola was the stronger of the two. Tired of their ways the villagers booted them out of the village. The friends decided they will try luck in town but between the town and village lay a dense forest. Summoning all their courage the two friends embarked on this treacherous journey through the forest. They spent the night in jungle trembling in fear under a tree, the sole source of relief was a fire that kept them warm and also provided succour from darkness and elements. They were lazy bums but not short on empathy. In the middle of night a terrified squirrel fell on their
lap. They caringly provided it shelter and comfort.
At dawn the squirrel morphed into a yaksh. Pleased with their conduct the yaksh bestowed on them a boon each.
“Ask for anything Gairola” he said.
“Any thing?”
“Sure anything reasonable; I will try to make it happen”
So the Gairola thought for a while and them said,
“I want a goat”
Bingo! There was a robust goat by the side of Gairola. It was now turn of Badola,
"You, Badola! ask anything”
Badola took even more time to think and then said resignedly,
“I want Gairola’s goat to die”
In a flash the goat was dead, very inert……….
Yaksh was puzzled, he asked Badola
“You could have asked for two goats Badola”
Badola whispered quietly in Yaks’ ears, “I thought about it. Life yaksh is a little complex not everything is works out the way you want. If I had asked for two goats, I would have eventually ended up with nothing and Gairola with three goats.
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