She chose a fairly small log and sat down on it and immediately took the basket straps off her shoulders.
There is some debate among the elders as to where exactly this story actually took place. Some storytellers talk of the girl as being a Kurtoizam, a girl from Kurtoi while others talk of her as a Khengzam, a girl from Kheng. One thing, however, is clear and that is that the incident which is about to be related took place in a sub-tropical part of Bhutan where bemchi or pythons are known to inhabit the thick jungles. As most Kurtoipas today claim that there are no pythons in Kurtoi it is most likely that this incident took place somewhere in Kheng.
Now, people are known to venture into the jungles in search of food, both in times of plenty and in times of scarcity. In times of plenty they go to look for variety and in times of scarcity they are driven into the wild by hunger. There are mushrooms, ferns, orchids, tubers, and fruits to be had from the jungles. So it was not unusual for the petite eleven-year-old girl who lived in a village on the fringes of an enormous expanse of sub-tropical forest to carry her basket on her back, stick her sickle into her belt, and head for the jungle.
The vegetation was luxuriant and the undergrowth thick but the girl pushed into the jungle with the confidence of one who had done this many times before. She could see the tracks of the cattle and she followed them. As she walked on she continually had to push away the branches that got in her way and unhook the numerous thorns that caught on her clothes. She did not mind these trivial obstacles for already she could smell the mushrooms and see the tender ferns. She collected whatever she could see. She was even lucky enough to find some wonderful orchids which she could pick from a low-hanging branch.
Now her basket was filling up and she began to feel its weight. She needed to rest for a while. She decided that after a good rest she would head for home. So she was very pleased when she soon come into a little clearing in the forest where she could rest. She searched around for a suitable place to sit. There were several logs lying around. She chose a fairly small log and sat down on it and immediately took the basket straps off her shoulders. Suddenly there was a violent movement and the log on which she was sitting on turned around. The last thing she saw before she was swallowed by the bemchi was her basket falling onto the ground and the ferns, mushrooms, and orchids being scattered around.
The next moment she felt that she was being lifted off the ground and being squeezed into a very thin and tight tunnel. It was like being jammed into a bag that was far too small. Complete darkness descended upon her and she could neither see nor move. This realization was followed by pain all over her body. Her shoulders and her pelvic bones felt as if they were being crushed. After a while she felt numb all over. The only sensation she felt was the pain of the sickle in her belt pressing against her.
She tried to reach for the sickle. But it was impossible as her arms were locked into position so tightly that no movement was possible. Then she realized that the bag in which she was trapped was being dragged along. The next instant one arm was released by some movement of the bag. She could actually move her arm towards the sickle in her belt and just about touch the tip of the handle with the tips of her fingers. Try as she might, she could not move her arm any further-it seemed to have been once again locked in this new position. She was a strong-willed girl and she knew that she had to make the effort to live. With total concentration, and gathering up all her fast-ebbing strength, she pushed her arm towards the handle, further and further until finally she managed to grasp it and hold onto it. Then she pulled it out from her belt ever so painstakingly, for any movement was restrained and difficult. There was only one thought in her otherwise dulled mind, “I have to slit open this bag and get out.” She dug the sickle tip into the side of the bag that was on the ground and held onto it as firmly as possible. As the bag dragged along she suddenly saw light again and her body was free of the pressing and crushing sensations that she had experienced just a little while ago. A great sense of relief overcame her but the next moment complete darkness descended upon her again and she was unconscious.
In the meantime her parents noticed her absence and began to get anxious. She was taking much longer than usual. So the mother called her two sons, the girl’s older brothers, and asked them to go in search of her, for it was not unusual for children to wander too far into the jungle and lose their way.
The two boys had no difficulty in following her tracks. They quickly found the cluster of ferns from which she had collected some and the freshly disturbed soil from where she picked the mushrooms. These clues soon led them to the little clearing. Suddenly both boys stood still in their tracks, their bodies taut with alarm and caution, for within an arm’s length was a gigantic python that seemed to be resting in the fork of a huge tree. Hardly daring to breathe they watched the creature. But something was strange, for the creature did not move and its head was drooping down towards the ground and its great body was as limp and flaccid as a rope. They took a few cautious steps to take a closer look when suddenly the body of their sister sprawled face down on the ground came into view. “Ya lama, kesa kud na (the worst has happened)” was all the older brother could say as he rushed towards his sister. The other brother stood transfixed, gaping and gulping, until the older brother called to say that their sister was still alive. When he reached her she had been turned over. She was covered with a slimy substance and her right hand still grasped the sickle so tightly that her knuckles showed white.
Immensely relieved, the boys saw that their sister was only unconscious and stiff all over as if in rigor mortis. But they could not understand what had happened until one of the brothers saw that the underside of the python was slit open along its entire length. They concluded rightly, as confirmed by their sister later, that she had driven her sickle into the body of the python and that it had slithered along and slit itself as she held the sickle in the ground.
The boys carried their sister home. She was bathed again and again in water with the leaves of the medicinal wormwood plant. But where the slimy substance had come in contact with the skin, blisters broke out which festered and became sores. The girl finally recovered after much care and rimdoe, or powerful health-restoring rites and rituals. The sores on her face, hands, arms, and legs remained on her for her entire life as a constant reminder of her terrible encounter in the forest.