Week 7: A Ghost Took Over My Life (Storytelling)

I stood before a group of cow herders. One sat in a rickety chair, while the others stood in a semi-circle behind him. To my right stood a man who looked identical to me, behind us stood my mother and wife, the two people this man stole from me.

“Neat-Herd King,” I addressed the young man sitting in the chair, “this man has stolen my life and claims to be me. If I tell you what happened, will you decide which of us is the true Brahman and end this madness?”

“I will,” he said. “Please, tell your story.”

Illustration by Warwick Goble from Folk-Tales of Bengal 

And so I began:

Have you ever gone away for a few years and come back to find a ghost living your life? I’m gonna guess you haven’t. Well, I've lived this nightmare and now I want my family back. But let me start from the beginning, just so you know I’m the real Brahman.

I was poor and couldn't support my wife and mother on the money I had. So I decided to travel to a distant land to work and earn enough money for us to live off. I knew I’d be gone for a while and I told my wife and mother this.

Leaving them was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but I knew that without money we wouldn't survive. So I hugged my mother and kissed my wife and set off on the great journey. I worked for years, saving everything I made. Finally, I knew I had enough money to give my family a comfortable life.

When I returned, I was so excited to see my wife and mother. I couldn't wait to show them the money I had made and buy them new clothes and the best food. But things did not go as I planned. I came back, and there was a man inside the house…a man who looked exactly like me.

I was looking at a living reflection of myself who had lived with my family the years I was away. I was shocked and couldn't understand what happened.

“What are you doing here? This is my house!” I shouted at the man.

He looked me over and smirked, just a little. “No,” he said. “This is my house. This is my wife and this is my mother. I've lived here for years and now you just come here and claim it all for yourself? No. This is my family.”

I stared at the imposter who had taken over my life. After years of hard work, I come to find my life is being lived by someone else. I decided to bring the matter before the King of our kingdom. If anyone could discover the truth and give me my life back it was him.

Of course, the King was just as vexed as I. When I brought the look-alike to court to plead my case, he simply stared between the two of us, not knowing what to do. Finally he said he’d decide tomorrow. And then he said the next day, and then next.

As I was leaving the King’s court one day, a herdsman called me over. He said the Neat-Herd King would decide the case if the real King said it was all right. When I asked the King, he eagerly gave the responsibility over to the cow herder.

*** 

“And now, I am here, pleading my case to you, Neat-Herd King,” I said, watching the Cow Herder King look between the imposter and me.

“Well,” the herder said as he stood from his chair. He grabbed a small bottle from one of the men behind him. “This is what we’ll do. Whoever can get inside this bottle will be the man who keeps the home, wife, and mother.”

I stared at the cow herder incredulously. “What do you mean!?” I shouted. “It’s impossible! Even a herder should know that!”

The imposter jumped at his opportunity. “Of course I can do that,” he said. Before I could blink, the man transformed from my double into a small bug and flew into the bottle.

I was about to despair. I thought this cow herder was going to give this fake my family  for flying in a bottle. But the Neat-Herd King quickly took a cap and sealed the bottle.

“Of course it’s impossible,” the Herder King said, “at least for a real human.” He smiled at me and gestured to my wife and mother. “This is your real son and husband. The other was a ghost who tricked you. It happened to me once before.” The Herder King handed me the bottle, which held the small bug the ghost had transformed into. “He can’t escape as long as you keep the bottle sealed,” the Neat-Herd King said.

I took the bottle from him and nodded. “Thank you. I doubted you, but you are true and clever.” With the bottle in one hand, I rejoined my family who began crying and hugging me. Finally life could go back to normal.

***

Author's Note: My retelling this week is from the Bengal Folktales reading unit. The original story was called The Ghost Brahman.

The first thing I would like to make sure is clear is that in the story, "Neat-Herd King" is the king or leader of Cow Herders.

The was about a man who went to work in a distant land to earn money for his wife, mother, and himself to live comfortably. However, the day he left, a ghost took his form and convinced the wife and mother that he had decided to stay, thus taking over the Brahman's life. The Brahman returns, rich and ready to be home, only to find that someone who looks identical to him is living his life. He tries to make the ghost leave, but the ghost continues to insist he is the real Brahman. The man then asks the King for help but the King is confused and doesn't know what to do, so he continues putting off the decision. Finally, the Brahman asks for the help of the leader of the cow herders, who tricks the ghost into a small vial and seals it. The Brahman then gets his life back with the ghost successfully locked away. 

For my story, I focused on when the Brahman was trying to convince the Neat-Herd King of his identity and the actions of the Herder King afterwards. I thought the way the herder tricked the ghost was clever and I loved that in the end the lowly cow herder was the one to discover the truth and give the Brahman his life back.

I didn't change much in the story. I did add that the Neat-Herd King had dealt with similar ghosts before because I thought that would better explain how he decided to trick the ghost.

Story source:Folk-Tales of Bengal by the Rev. Lal Behari Day, with illustrations by Warwick Goble (1912).