The flying Elephant : Samu Apaibi
Fungawari Singbul by B. Jayantakumar Sharma

Translation by Nganthoi Lourembam *

An illustration of Folk tale 'Samu Apaibi' by Nganthoi Lourembam

Once upon a time, a dead body of an elephant was lying in a jungle which was killed after being bitten by honeybees. Some eagles were eating the intestines of the dead elephant making holes inside the stomach of the dead elephant.

As the eagles were eating continuously, once the sun shined so bright that the torn parts and the holes of the dead elephant's stomach became hard like a saddle and the eagles couldn't fly out. Hence the eagles remained inside the stomach of the elephant.

Meanwhile, a man who performs Pala (an art form of Manipuri dance and song, mostly performed in special occasion such as marriage ceremony, dead ceremony and other ritual) came towards the jungle. He saw the elephant lying on the ground and to confirm if it's dead or alive, the man played his Jhwal (a musical instrument) making the sound of 'gwai' 'gwai.'

Listening to the musical sound of the Jhwal, the eagles which were inside the elephant flew up with fear and hence made the elephant fly for a bit and fell down on earth. Once again the man played the instrument and the elephant flew higher but fell down again.

The man found it interesting and hence he hopped on the elephant along with his luggage and played his Jhwal and the elephant started flying. While enjoying the ride on the elephant, the man had an idea, 'I'll take this elephant to the penny-pinching king and if possible I'll sell it to him.'

And thus he brought the elephant towards the palace. He was flying around the palace. Everyone came outside their houses and looked at the miraculous flying object. The man came to know that the king and the queen along with the ministers came out of the palace looking at the elephant.

He slowly took down the elephant towards the ground. The king came near the man and said, "I'll buy your flying elephant in exchange of big-big bags of gold." The man gave the elephant along with his Jhwal and taking the big sacks of gold he quickly ran away to his home.

The king was terribly happy to get the flying elephant and called all his ministers and servants to show his elephant. Later, the king along with his queen prepared to go for a trip riding on the elephant. The elephant was fully decorated. The queen was dressed with luxurious dress and thus the king sat on the right side and the queen on the left side on top of the elephant.

The king started playing the instrument 'gwai' 'gwai' and the elephant started flying up. People waved hands to the king and the queen from earth. With the sound of the Jhwal and the noise of the people the eagles which were inside the elephant became more scared and flew higher and higher.

They flew up touching the clouds and as they go higher the king's pride became higher nor he stopped playing the Jhwal. The queen with her jumbled hair was tightly holding onto the king so as to not fall off.

As the elephant continuously flew into the sky they touched the coldest layer of the sky. Afterwards, the torn parts of the elephant which had earlier become hard like a saddle became smoother and slowly the holes got opened up.

The eagles that were inside the elephant found the holes to come out of the elephant and one by one started flying out of the elephant's body. And later on, the elephant which was earlier flying in the sky flew down towards the earth. The stingy and foolish king fell down on earth along with his queen and lost their lives.

Fools often fall in the trap of wise persons and thus king fell in the trap of the wise Pala singer and not only lost his treasures but lost his life along with the queen.


** From Manipur folk tale Book called "Fungawari Singbul" by B. Jayantakumar Sharma