Week 5 Storytelling: The Trickster's Karma

There once was a hunter, Kalinag, who lived adjacent to his fellow villagers. Kalinag, though skilled, was extremely egotistical. The reason why he did not have his hut alongside the others was because of this ego. He always thought that he was better than the rest of the men of his village due to the fact that he was able to bring back so much meat and skins from each of his hunting trips. However, his aptitude for trapping and hunting was not correlated to that of his skill with the bow, rather it had something to do with his ability to bait and trick animals into his traps.

Whereas other hunters of the village simply hunted for food and supplies, Kalinag saw hunting more as a competition to prove who is best. After bragging to the rest of the village about his haul, instead of donating his unneeded meat/skins, Kalinag simply discarded them in the nearby river. With his ability to catch so many animals, and the fact that he would dump their remains into where they drink and bathe, the animals of the jungle grew to fear Kalinag. So much so, the mighty Lion decided to meet with Kalinag to discuss a truce. The Lion understood that humans hunted for food and supplies, much like he and his kin hunt for food. However, the Lion could not stand idly by as the innocent denizens of the jungle were slaughtered for sport. Upon entering the village, the Lion was greeted by Kalinag and offered a meal at his home. The Lion agreed to the meal, and after satisfying his hunger, a sudden wave of exhaustion rushed over him. Instantly, the Lion was on the ground, asleep from whatever Kalinag had used to pacify him. Kalinag seized this opportunity and moved the Lion into a cage he kept behind his hut, and so began Kalinag's downfall.

Finding out that it was so easy to lure the jungle animals into his home with the promise of a meal, Kalinag posted a notice near the river so that all animals may see that they were invited. At first skeptical, only a few accepted his offer at first. Lured in by the smell of sweet berries and ripened fruit, animals flocked to his home, only to be put to sleep by Kalinag's drug. One by one, Kalinag dumped his catches into cage that he treated as a trophy now. For weeks, this practice continued on. Kalinag loved the fact that he was able to catch so many animals. He decided that once he was satisfied with the amount of animals caught, he would skin them all and show the villages how big of a collection he was able to bring back. However, he was never satisfied. As weeks passed, the cage became more and more cramped by the unsuspecting animals, until eventually the cage was filled end to end. Any sensible person could see that the cage was too full; that if Kalinag wanted to carry out his plan, he would have to do it then. However, due to his pride, Kalinag continued. One day, due to the constant movement of those that were trapped, the cage finally bursted apart, animals swarming out and filling Kalinag's home. This happened at night, so Kalinag was asleep on his bed, but being awake still would not have saved him from the dozens of animal that jumped onto his bed.

The next morning, many villages spoke of screaming that they thought they heard coming from Kalinag's hut. However, due to his uncouth manners, nobody bothered to check on him. It wasn't until villages started to notice dozens of tracks leading out of his hut did they investigate. Upon entering the hut, the villagers were greeted by a room covered in blood. Days later, Kalinag's body was discovered alongside the river bank. It was then that the all the villagers decided to pass a law to restrict hunting for food and supplies only.

Author's Note: I decided to create a story using the Santal readings and their heavy theme of tricksters. However, I wanted to put my own spin on it. Whereas most of the Santal readings had the tricksters use their tricks to get out of problems, I wanted my trickster to meet his downfall due to his tricks. Other things I saw was that the stories like to personify animals, so I wanted to do that as well. It's good to see that these stories are a far cry from the trickster stories that we read in the beginning of the year.

(A hunter, much how I envisioned Kalinag:

Pinterest)

Bibliography: Folklore of the Santal Parganas, Cecil Henry Bompas; link.