Tapta - A Manipur Folk Tale

Long, long ago, there lived a couple with their small son in Manipur. They reared horses for a living. On one particular rainy night, the tiger was out hunting for his next meal. He crept into the stable and crouched in the corner waiting for his chance to kill a horse. Outside the stable, a thief prowled about, darting from here to there. He approached the stable furtively; he was ready to steal a horse. He reached in and felt around for the leg of a horse.

While the tiger and the thief were planning to steal a horse, the mother was preparing a meal inside their traditional home. Her son started to cry. His cries grew louder and louder, and she tried her best to calm him. She kept on saying to her child, "be quiet, the elephant is coming!" But, he did not. "Be quiet, Lion is coming!" But her son did not stop to cry. 

The mother heard the "tap, tap, tap" of the raindrops splashing into the puddle by the door and it gave her an idea: "Listen to that. Now Tapta had come to get you!" Scared, her son stopped crying.

The thief who was hiding took notice of it and he started wondering. The child did not stop crying for anything but for the Tapta. A Tapta must be a scary thing and it would be wise to get out of there. He reached out for the leg of the biggest horse and in the dark, he grabbed the leg of the big tiger instead. The tiger froze, thinking that the Tapta had got hold of him. He was trembling with fear, when all of a sudden, the thief landed on his back, fixed the harness, and started hitting him into action with a stick! The tiger sprang out of the stable and raced off into the night with the thief on his back. They were just thinking about "Tapta!"

Running a long distance, they stopped when it started to dawn. The thief found out that he did not ride a horse, but a tiger. Afraid that the tiger would kill him, he grabbed the low branch of a tree to escape. He let the tiger go as it raced off. 

The tiger was breathing heavily when he ran into the bear, who asked why he was running so fast. The tiger told him that he met Tapta, and luck only saved him. The Tapta was riding on my back, the scared tiger replied.

The bear wanted the tiger to take him back to the place where he left the tiger. The tiger was still afraid, but he could not show that. The two animals walked to the tree. Meanwhile, the thief hanging from the branch watched the two coming towards the tree. So, he dropped to the ground and hid inside the hollow tree trunk. The tiger and the bear arrived on the scene. They decided that Tapta must be hiding in the tree trunk. Cautiously, the bear inserted his tail into the hole and the thief gave it a firm pull. The bear pulled himself free and ran off screaming "Tail-puller".

The tiger kept on repeating, it was Tapta. When they were arguing the elephant came. He probed the hollow with its trunk. The thief gave a jab on the trunk with the sharp part of the harness. The elephant pulled himself free and ran off saying it was the one who jabbed.

At last, the three animals went to the lion to resolve the issue. The lion was very sensible. After listening to their argument, he commissioned all the animals to verify. Elephant, Bear, Tiger, Fox, Wild Boar, Dog, and Cat assembled there. Seeing all the animals coming together, the thief was certain that he would be killed. He jumped out and ran as fast as he could. 

The lion concluded neither the bear nor the elephant had seen anything mysterious. Their claim could not be trusted. He then announced once and for all that it must be "Tapta".

The animals moved away, and the thief reached home safely. Everyone lived happily thereafter.