Once there was an orphan boy. He had nobody of his own. Nobody cared for him. One day, he went to play. As he was playing in his backyard, he found a seed of a bottle gourd. He brought it home, dug the soil, sowed it there, and watered it every day. When it became a creeper, he put a support for it. The creeper grew on the support and flowered. Then there was a bottle gourd on the creeper. The bottle gourd ripened, and the creeper dried up. Later, the bottle gourd also dried up. The bottle gourd told the boy, “Please take me home.” Accordingly, the boy took it home. 

When the bottle gourd was fully pried, he made a hole in it. After a few days, the bottle gourd called the boy and said, “You won’t get anything by keeping me at home. Go to the market and sell me off.”The boy went to the market to sell the bottle gourd. He called in the market, “Buy the bottle gourd. You can keep mandia rice (Ragi/Finger millet) inside. Rats can’t get inside. Do buy this.” Someone bought the bottle gourd for five seers of Mandia. The boy returned home with the Mandia. 

The man who bought the bottle gourd filled Mandia rice in it. One day, when everyone in the house was asleep, the bottle gourd came back to the boy’s house with the rice in it. It asked the boy to open the door. When the boy opened the door, he saw the bottle gourd in front of his door with rice in it. He was very happy and took the bottle gourd in. 

After some days, the bottle gourd again asked the boy to take it to the market and sell it off. The boy went to another village to sell the bottle gourd. There, he sold the bottle gourd for cereal. He came back home with the cereal. One night, when everyone was asleep, the bottle gourd came back to the boy’s house and asked him to open the door. He opened the door, and the bottle gourd came inside with cereal inside it. 

Again, one day, the boy took the bottle gourd to a village. Hе sold it for five seers of rice. He came back home with the rice. The buyer filled five seers of rice inside it. The next day, the gourd was with the five seers of rice inside the boy’s house.  One day, he went to another village to sell the bottle gourd. He sold the gourd to an old man. He had seven daughters. He told the old man, “Buy this. Your daughters can sleep inside it during winter nights. The old man bought the bottle gourd, and his daughters slept inside it. One night, the bottle gourd took them to the boy’s house. While the boy was taking the gourd inside, it fell and broke into pieces. The girls came out. He married them all.

A folktale is sourced from Tribal Folktales from Orissa by Dr. Paramananda Patel

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