[What I Have, the King Doesn’t]
Language: Original in Khadi Boli, Hindi
English Translation by SHREYASI SHARMA
Mere Hai, Raja Ke Nahi
A little bird living in the forests harped and chattered. For days and days, she used to call out,
“What I Have, the King Doesn’t!”
“What I Have, the King Doesn’t!”
“What I Have, the King Doesn’t!”
One day, the King hears these words and got really angry. In his fury, he ordered his sepoys to go and snatch all that the bird had.
The King’s men went and looted her.
However, when the sepoys left, the bird began another call:
“The King did not have it. I had it. Took it away!”
“The King did not have it. I had it. Took it away!”
“The King did not have it. I had it. Took it away!”
Hearing this, the King’s councils advised the King to give the money back.
So, the King’s men went back to the bird and returned all her money.
“Fear led the King to return it!”
“Fear led the King to take it!”
“Fear led the King to return it!”
“Fear led the King to take it!”
The King heard this. He thought to himself even after all the ordeal the bird is still abusing him.
“Fine then, arrest and torture her,” commanded the King.
With this the King ordered the bird to be pelted with stones.
The bird was grievously injured but even in the pain she kept saying:
“I am wearing a red stole (chunariya)!”
“I am wearing a red stole (chunariya)!”
“I am wearing a red stole (chunariya)!”
.
“Drop her in boiling water,” came the next order from the King.
“Am bubbling in the boiling, frothing water!”
“Am bubbling in the boiling, frothing water!”
“Am bubbling in the boiling, frothing water!”
.
The King ate her up.
Suddenly from somewhere inside his stomach, a voice started booming loud and clear:
“Have entered a palace!”
“Have entered a palace!”
“Have entered a palace!”
The King was furious that even now the bird hadn’t stopped voicing. He thought of a way to take out the bird and kill her forever.
He ordered his men to shoot the bird when he goes to the toilet to defecate.
The bullet missed the bird. And hit the King.
And the King was dead.
About the Story and her Teller: Comes from the oral archives of my great grandmother, Imartee Devi, who is the original storyteller and writer of this story. This story has been retold numerous times in the family. This version has been written and translated by myself. [A note supplied by Shreyasi Sharma]
Shreyasi Sharma, What the Bird Had: Noticing Nonhuman life and Writing through Fables
What would it be like for a bird to take on a king through a unique (chattering) conversation?
In my presentation, I will be retelling an old fable about a bird confronting a King through her unique chattering and explore how such a fable enriches the communication about nonhuman life. Thereby, making us pay attention to nature and its voices – a practice which has transcended in my creative writings about nonhuman entanglement with everyday life.
Originally heard in Western Uttar Pradesh, India, Mere Hai, Raja Ke Nahi [What I Have, The King Doesn’t], in many ways is a lost tale of the region but it is well preserved in my family’s oral conversations. The fable symbolises climate crisis. It also satirises the politics and power dynamics of current times. The interplay of indirect and direct conversation between the Bird and the King could also be read to think about what we have been doing to our environment and the ways in which climate crisis has been showing up in the stories.
By sharing this fable in both Hindi and English, I will be reflecting on how fables have been affecting my practice as a creative writer. I will explore how the fable, through its unique interplay of words from local dialect, rhythm and humour, is showing pathways of understanding and writing about nonhuman life.