Tapta
One rainy night, a baby was uncontrollably crying. The mother was trying hard to console the baby. But the baby will not stop her crying. The more she tried to console the more the baby started to cry.
The mother told the baby scary things so that he might stop crying. She told him that if he doesn’t stop crying the jackal would come and take him away to the jungle. But the baby continued to cry. The mother then said if he continues to cry, the ghost would surely come and take him away. This time also the baby showed no response and continued crying.
Meanwhile a tiger was listening to what the mother was telling the baby. The tiger had come to the house to steal a cow for dinner. The baby continued to cry.
The mother was at her wits end to stop the baby from crying. She then said. “If you don’t stop crying this time, the tiger will surely come and take you away and eat you up.” But instead the baby started to cry more loudly as if he wasn’t afraid of the tiger coming and eating him. The mother paused for a while and thought of ways to quieten the baby.
She heard the rain fall outside and the sound it made when it fell from the rooftops to ground…tap-tap-tap. She suddenly said, “If you don’t stop crying now, *Tapta will come and take you away.” By share coincidence, the baby stopped crying. The tiger who had been listening carefully to the whole thing was intrigued and scared by what he just heard. He thought to himself, “The baby didn’t stop crying when his mother told that the jackal would come and take him to the jungle. He didn’t stop crying when he was told that the ghost would take him away. Moreover, he didn’t also stop when he was told that the tiger would take him away. He wasn’t scared of anything. He wasn’t even scared of me! But when the mother said that Tapta would come and take him away, he instantly stopped crying.” The tiger wondered what kind of a beast could Tapta possibly be.
In the meantime, a thief came to the same cowshed where the tiger was to steal a cow. Due to darkness he couldn’t see anything. And the tiger was so engrossed in his own thoughts trying to figure out what Tapta could possibly be, that he missed the late entry of the thief in the cowshed.
The thief began to check out the cows by touching them. He wanted to make sure that he stole the best cow. And so he was touching the cows one by one with his hand, trying to figure out which was the fattest. By chance his hand fell on the back of the tiger. The tiger was frozen with fear. He thought that Tapta caught him. And the thief was satisfied that the cow he was touching was the fattest and healthiest. So he grabbed it hard and jumped on it.
The poor tiger was startled. He thought that it was best to run away and forget about the cow. So the tiger made a jump start and fled from the place. The thief thought it was indeed a healthy cow and tightly held on the neck of the tiger. The tiger made a dash but the thief managed to mount on top of him. The tiger ran for his life but the thief was still holding him tightly sitting on top of the tiger. The tiger didn’t even dare look up at what was on top of him. The thief was unable to see that he was riding a tiger, and not a cow due to the darkness. After some time, at the break of down the thief saw the stripes of the tiger, and suddenly it dawned upon him that he was riding a tiger and not a cow!
He was very scared. They were now approaching the jungle. The thief started to think of ways to get away from the tiger. When they approached the jungle, the thief managed to get hold of a low lying branch and managed to get off from the tiger. The tiger felt the sudden weightlessness. But he didn’t dare to look back and headed straightway to the jungle.
After some distance, a bear saw the tiger running. He called out the tiger. The tiger stopped when he heard the bear calling him. He thought it was safe now to stop running. The bear inquired of the tiger why he was running. The tiger narrated the whole story and told the bear that there was a terrible beat called Tapta, the most ferocious beast on earth.
The bear was skeptical. He said he has never heard of Tapta in his entire life. But the tiger was still shaking and said that it was the truth. The bear became very curious to see Tapta. So he asked the tiger to take him where Tapta had gotten off from him. But the tiger was too afraid to go back. The bear kept on insisting that the tiger take him to the place. Finally the tiger said, “If you really want to go, you go, I will tell you the place but I won’t accompany you.” He told the bear that Tapta got off near a banyan tree at the approach of the jungle.
The bear came looking for Tapta. The thief saw from a distant the approaching bear. He was still shocked from his earlier experience. He hurriedly hid himself in the hollow trunk of the banyan tree which was large enough for him to hide. The bear approached the banyan tree, but could not see the thief. He looked here and there and finally saw the hollow trunk. He was now certain that Tapta was hiding inside the hole. He sneaked his head to see but it was too dark inside to see anything. The thief was really scared. He didn’t know what to do, he held his breath. But the bear was not giving up. He sneaked further inside. This time the thief lit a matchstick and burned the bear’s face with it. The sudden flash of light and accompanying heat and pain scared the bear so much that he also fled from there without even looking back. The tiger saw the bear coming his way screaming that he joined the bear and they both ran for their lives.
It was only after some time that the thief came out of the hole and headed back to the village. The whole incident scared him so much that he vowed never to steal again.
Glossary:
Tapta: Derived from the sound made by falling raindrops; onomatopoeia.