[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ccording to Angami folk lore, which is sometimes influenced by contact with other people and even the mention of a horse, once upon a time a man went riding along a road and he put a lot of ashes under his saddle, and then he came up with a man and his mother.
And the old woman, being very tired, said, “Please lend me your horse to ride on,” and her son said too, “Please if you are not tired, lend us your horse to get home.” And the horseman answered, “I am not tired, but when your mother rides on this horse all my rupees will turn into ashes.” But the old woman and her son, disbelieving this, said, “Oh if they do, we will pay back your rupees. How much have got in the horse?” And the man replied, “I have so many.”Then the son said, “All right, if necessary, I will sell my rice fields and my house and pay you.” And when the old woman got on the horse the ashes flew out. So she and her son straightaway sold their rice fields and paid the owner of the horse, and he returning to his village, told the villagers that he had exchanged the ashes for the rupees.
They accordingly all burnt down their houses and gathered the ashes to sell, but no one would buy them. And he used to deceive his fellow villagers in this way at other times.
Now the way the man had got the ashes to put under his saddle was this:- His elder brother was a king and he himself kept cattle—a large number. One day all his cattle fell over a precipice and were killed. So he went and stripped off all their hides and hung them on the branch of a great tree and made a fire underneath to dry them.
And it was very cold, so some men who were passing by brought a lot of money to count it out by the fire, but the branches of the tree broke, and those men were frightened and ran off without their money, and the man who was drying his hides took the money and told his fellow villagers that he had killed his cattle and sold their skins for this money, so that the credulous villagers killed their cattle too and flayed them and tried to sell them, but nobody would buy.
Then they came back and burnt the deceiver’s house, and he, gathering his hides, mounted his horse and deceived the old woman and her son in the manner described.
And after the villagers had been again deceived about the sale of ashes they took the man and tied him up preparing to throw him into the river; but leaving him alone for a while, he started to sing. This attracted another cowherd, who set him free that he might sing and more easily, for he wished to hear the song, but as soon he was free he tied up the cowherd boy in his place, and the villagers coming back, threw the boy into the river. So cruelly did this man entreat his fellow villagers.
Apropos of this story, Folk lore points out that “the story of the deceiver who is ultimately caught, but escapes by cunning and puts his enemies to confusion, is found in many savage tribes,” and gives some references to similar stories.
