The First Adventure: No More Milk

Magic Cow: Wikimedia

"Tell us a story, Dad! We want to go on an adventure!"

"Alright, kids... today the heroes Kusha and Lava are going to a village called Atpat because there is no more milk there and people are hungry! They need help, but it won't be easy to find enough milk for all of those people! Are you ready for the story?"

"YEAH!!"

In this town called Atpat there were a lot of people, but it was a very poor village. There were lots of people and only a few cows to give them all milk. The cows got very tired and one day they could no longer provide milk for the town, so many of the residents were thirsty, especially the children. The king did all that he could, to no avail. He searched long and hard for a solution to the problem, and eventually he met two brave young men named Lava and Kusha. They had heard about the trouble that the town was in, and they came to offer their assistance to the king. They were very skilled in many things, and the boys were known for resolving problems that nobody else could find a solution to. The king heard that they were coming and told the guards to bring them to him immediately so that he could welcome them and ask for help.

Kusha and Lava spoke with the king and devised a plan. They knew many people who dealt with magic, and they believed that with the right magical items, they could enchant a cow to have infinite milk. But there was a problem; the only person who knew magic well enough was a not-so-nice rakshasi who lived in a very secluded castle very far away. It would be a treacherous journey and it would not be easy to get the rakshasi to talk to them, but they told the king about their plan. The king in return offered Lava and Kusha a secret reward. The young men wondered what this reward could be since the town was so poor, and they were very intrigued by the offer, so off they went on the journey to find a magic cow.

They journeyed long and far, day and night until they reached the secluded area where the rakshasi lived. Surprisingly, she greeted them and said that she had already foreseen their coming and she wanted to help the village. She, however, had one condition: she wanted a favor from Lava and Kusha after the king rewarded them with the special item. She already knew what it was, and she said it would be of use to her. Kusha and Lava hesitantly agreed to this condition and the woman gave them a small leather pouch filled with what appeared to be grass. She told them to take it to the king and feed the grass to the cows in the village. Kusha and Lava thanked the woman, told her that they would soon return with the special item to return the favor, and left to return to Atpat.

When Kusha and Lava got back, the whole village was very excited. The king immediately took the grass and fed it to the cows. The cows became enchanted and every bucket of milk they produced turned into five or ten more buckets when nobody was looking. The town was so full of milk they began selling it to other towns to improve their economic condition.

The king thanked Kusha and Lava profusely and gave them the secret item. It was a lamp, but the king said he didn't know what it did. He had inherited it from his cousin, but everyone had feared its true powers. He told Kusha and Lava that now it was up to them to find the power in the lamp and put it to good use and to make sure that the rakshasi did not do anything bad with it. Kusha and Lava couldn't imagine what the lamp would do... but they were definitely going to go find out!!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: For this story, I used The Monday Story from the Deccan Nursery Tales by C.A. Kincaid, and I twisted it into an adventure for Kusha and Lava to go on. The story was originally in the same village and they had a lack of milk, but the story involved a god who they had to worship properly and one old woman solved the issue by feeding the children before offering to the god. The god's name was Shiva and her offer of the little that she had left created a religious miracle that multiplied the milk. I added the idea of magic cows because I thought it gave the story an interesting twist and it could help the town economically as well. In my version, I kept the name of the town and the basic characters but I added in Kusha and Lava and I made the old woman a rakshasi who did not live in the town, but practiced magic far away. I kept the character of the king, and I involved the lamp because it will lead into my next story.

I am keeping the theme of Rama telling the story to his sons, but I am trying to link the stories together as I go. Next week's story will involve a magic lamp, so if you want to know what the lamp does you will have to read next week to find out!