In Himachal Pradesh storytelling is part of the daily routine.
It's a way of life since every conversation has a story, a tale or a
metaphor involved. Himachalis love conversations turned into
interesting narratives. Thus, part of the DNA, storytelling is alive
through folklore and folktales. Even today, you will find a number of
folktales with didactic as well as entertaining element which have
assimilated into people's life.
A famous folktale which we have listened to several times from our
grandmother and other elders as we grew along has a lot of influence
on our minds even today. The folktale is about seven sisters.
Once upon a time a king had seven daughters whom he did not like,
since he wanted a male child. Frustrated, he once told his mantri to
take his daughters deep into the forest so that they could not find
way out and eventually become food for animals. The mantri followed
the master and left them in the forest with a pretense. Days went by,
as they loitered in the forest helpless. Dark and shady, the forest
kept them imprisoned in its loop. They had not eaten anything for
days, since they had nothing to eat. Walking in the forest for days,
one sister then found a sesame pod. Six sisters shared
one pod to quench their hunger, while the seventh sister got nothing.
All six sisters then scraped the sesame stuck in their teeth and gave
to the seventh. Having walked miles, they finally reached a kingdom
far from their home. The prince of that kingdom fell in love with
them and married them.
The story is small yet it has a depth to teach all of us. It tells
us how to live together and share even the smallest crumb together so
that no body sleeps hungry. However, as child I never liked the
story. It was later when I understood the meaning. There are hundreds
of such stories grandmothers would tell in the evening. Today, the
tradition of folktale is threatened by the onset of TV.
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