Just then she heard the sound, “tsahlahhk” as the chain was hurled down.
Dangbo..o..o Dingbo..o..o.. in a lone house on a hill top there dwelt a farmer with his wife and their daughter. The elderly couple were tired of farming their little patch of land which yielded so little. But more than that they had heard that there was a sinpo in the locality who was terrorizing everybody so that they had decided to run away and leave their daughter. One day the mother handed her daughter a roll of bamboo mat and said, “Bomed,spread out this bamboo mat and dry the barley in the sun. Tomorrow I shall grind some flour. Stay there and mind the grain.”
When any grains are spread out to dry the pigeons and the ravens always take great risks just to steal a few. So the girl sat near the bamboo mat on which the grain had been spread out and waved a long bamboo stick about, calling “shoo shoo” to chase away the birds. While the girl was thus engaged the parents were busy making preparations to go away. Suddenly the girl noticed that a raven was sitting on the peach tree near the house and was cawing something to her with a tone of urgency. She listened and it said, “Bomed you stay, your father and mother are going away.”
The girl jumped up and ran into the house. She was so relieved to see that her parents were still in the house. They had made a basket of tsog. “Lunch is not ready yet. We will call you for lunch. Go back to the barley before the birds finish it all.” said the mother sternly. She went back and once again began chasing away the birds.
The raven went on cawing but she did not pay any attention to it until it began to dance excitedly and caw loudly and impatiently, “Bomed, you are alone, your parents have gone away!” This time when the girl rushed into the house she was dismayed to see that they had indeed gone.
The girl was sad and lonely so she climbed up the peach tree to see if she could spot her parents in the distance. She looked in all directions but she could see nothing. She remained among the branches, frightened and tearful, when she suddenly heard a voice that said, “Whay, Bomed, throw me a peach.”
Without realizing who the person was she plucked a big ripe peach and threw it to the stranger.
“A khai, that’s fallen in the pig dung. Come down a few branches and throw me another,” said the stranger.
The girl came down a few branches, again plucked another ripe peach and threw it to the person. Again the person said, “A khai, this one is gone into the cow dung. Come down and hand me a peach.”
The girl innocently came down low enough to hand him a peach when the sinpo caught her hand and pulled her down. He then pushed her into the sack which he carried over his shoulders and took her to his house in sinpoiyul.
As they entered the sinpo’s house the girl noticed a sickly old dog who feebly raised its head and looked at her. The dog had not been fed and it was starving. As she was passed by, it whispered, “Give me a mouthful of food and I will tell you three words of wisdom.”
The girl took a piece of tsog which she still had in the folds of her kira and gave it to the dog who ate it gratefully and said, “Look into my ear and take out the three little packets. The seeds in each packet will be useful when you try to escape from the sinpo.” The girl took the packet and put it in the folds of her kira.
The poor captive girl was not only very frightened but also extremely distressed for she knew that she would soon be eaten by the sinpo. One day the sinpo told her to pound some rice. As she pounded the rice the sinpo would call out to her and she had to answer his call, “Yes, I am here.”. In this way he could be sure that she would not run away. With tears streaming down her cheeks and her head hung low in hopelessness she pounded rice despondently. A louse in her hair took pity on her and spoke to her. It said, “I will help you to run away from the sinpo.”
“Who is that? “ asked the girl, taken aback, for she had seen nobody in the house.
“It’s me, a louse in your hair,” whispered the diminutive voice.
“How can you help me?” asked the girl, at once filled with hope.
“You must take me out of you hair and place me on the mortar in a bit of your spittle. Then you must run away as quickly as you can.”
The girl found the louse and pulled it out of her hair and placed it in a bit of her spittle and ran away.
Now every time the sinpo called the girl the louse replied saying, “Yes, I am here. I still have more rice to pound.”
The sinpo did not realize that each time the voice of the louse was growing fainter. Finally all the spit dried up and the louse died. So when the sinpo heard no answer to his call he at once came to see what the matter was. On seeing that the girl had escaped he was indignant and began to pursue her right away. It was not long before the girl saw the sinpo in the distance following her. She ran as fast as she could but she knew that the sinpo would soon overtake her for he ran like the wind. She was quite desperate and did not know what to do for the sinpo was right behind her. Then she remembered the three seeds the dog had given her. She took the acorn pepper seed out and threw it towards the sinpo. In a trice a thick forest of pepper trees grew between her and the sinpo. The sinpo had to struggle through the forest and she could put some distance between her and her pursuer.
But it was not very long before the sinpo was close behind her, reaching out and trying to catch her, when she threw the pine seed. A thick forest of pines that grew close together kept the sinpo scrambling through the trees for a while but this neither thwarted nor exhausted him. He soon caught up with her and she threw down the last seed—and a huge field of bamboo sprung up. The bamboo stems were entwined like a net and the sinpo had to work very hard to get through this forest.
The hour was late and darkness was fast descending upon them. Soon the moon was rising, sending a faint glow all over the sky. The girl looked up towards the eastern hills and saw the full moon. She called out to him, “Acho La La, please save me from the sinpo. Send down your iron chain and not your woolen ladder.”
Acho La La yawned prodigiously and said, “Wait a little. I am just rising.”
“Please hurry, the sinpo will soon be here,” pleaded the girl.
“Wait a bit, I’m just washing myself,” said Acho La La, without a trace of haste in his voice.
“I can now see the sinpo has come very close, please throw your iron chain.”
“Wait a little, I am just making my breakfast,” said the moon.
The girl thought,” This is hopeless,” yet she implored the moon to hurry. But Acho La La was in no hurry at all.
“I am just eating my breakfast,” announced the moon.
“Please, please hurry up,” begged the girl.
“Wait a little, I am just putting away the dishes,” said Acho La La, as if there was all the time in the world.
“The sinpo is here, hurry up, Acho La La!” cried the girl.
“Wait a little, I am just looking for the chain,” said Acho La La as calmly as possible.
“I can feel the sinpo’s breath, hurry up, please, please,” cried the girl, now growing quite faint with fatigue and fear.
“Wait a little, I am just straightening out the chain,” said Acho La La.
Now the girl could hardly speak “Please hurry,” was all she could say. Just then she heard the sound, “tsahlahhk” as the chain was hurled down. With the last bit of her strength she climbed it as Acho La La began to pull up the chain. The girl could feel the tips of the sinpo’s nails touch the soles of her feet as he stretched out his long arms to catch her.
On seeing what had happened the sinpo was totally incensed and he gruffly demanded that Acho La La1 throw a chain for him too. But Acho La La went through the whole process of rising, washing, preparing breakfast and having it, and then finally looking for the chain. By this time the girl was safely in the moon. Acho La La finally threw down the woolen ladder which floated down flimsily, for it was made of wool. The sinpo impatiently seized it and began to climb it with incredible speed. When the sinpo was half-way up to the moon, Acho La La took out a huge knife, which was rather blunt and rusty from disuse and began to saw away at the woolen ladder for a long time until it broke and sent the sinpo plunging to the ground with a tremendous “Byaaaak”. The impact of the fall was such that the sinpo went through the ground and was buried deep down in the earth. The girl decided to stay in the moon and look after the moon’s cow. Today if you look carefully at the full moon, you might just be lucky enough to see the shape of the girl as she milks the moon’s cow.
1 When somebody is very calm and slow in a situation that demands extreme urgency, it is said that the person is like Acho La La.