Princess Tangal Part VII: The Great Boar Hunt

• Tangal has just had a very bad dream. In it she saw Komban, the great boar living in the hunters’ forest. He was attacking her brothers.  

• Tangal had seen this boar in the forest when she was just five years old. Her mother had told her the story of how this beast was born to a specific destiny. He would one day confront Ponnivala and try to destroy it!

• Komban had an angry look, awesome tusks and red eyes, from the day of his birth!

• Later the forest princess Viratangal befriended this forest beast and made him her pet. She used to feed him every day, which is one of the reasons he grew to be so big!

• Then one day Komban announced that he was going to attack and destroy the Ponnivala farmers’ fine fields. Before leaving on this mission he took the blessings of the hunters’ own family goddess, the dark skinned and fearful Karukali.

• Komban went to Ponnivala’s most beautiful sugar cane first. There he stomped and routed around until this beautiful crop was left in ruins.

• Ponnar and Shankar declared war on Komban and organized a large group of local men to join them on a hunt for this beast. They would take all the village dogs with them and camp in the forest to await a sighting of their enemy!

• But when they asked Tangal for her blessings, she demanded they undergo her magical test first. She was going to throw mustard and black pepper seed into the air. Her brothers had to cut every seed in half before it reached the ground!

• Then Tangal threw the seeds up above her head as high as she could.

• When the seeds fell back to earth Tangal sorted them in her winnowing fan.

• It was then that she saw that two remained uncut, one mustard seed and one peppercorn. She knew that was a bad omen. Her test predicted that her two brothers’ heads would remain in the forest, left to an unknown fate.

• Tangal was very worried. But she did not tell her brothers they did not pass her test. Instead she simply requested that they say goodbye to all the villagers nearby before leaving.

• She asked them to ride down every village street in their lovely palanquin so that each family could bless them before their departure.

• Now Tangal’s brothers asked her to bless their swords for a second time. But was more courageous this time.

• She simply told them that there could be no blessing ritual because she knew that they had already put their swords in their scabbards!

• Her brothers set off on their dangerous expedition without the magical protection they had requested.

• Tangal bids them a sad farewell from the palace doorway.

[Continue to Part VIII ==>]

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