A good daughter in law
A long time ago, there was a village with only nine families in. There was a forty year old woman named Arshi in the village. Arshi had no child after she got married, and her husband died five years after they got married. Her mother in law was more than eighty years old and blind by that time. They both had no land, so they had to work for other people in order to get food.
Arshi was very nice to her mother in law. Every time when she went to work for someone else and when they ate meals, the meat and fish the other people put into her bowl she didn’t eat, but kept them and brought home to her mother in law. When it was New Year time, she didn’t buy new clothes for herself, but she bought for her mother in law.
She got very tired after her working for some other people, but she never shouted at her mother in law, instead, she gave her food, helped her with shite and urine, and she had always being taking care of her mother in law like this.
One year, there was a famine in that place, so the rich man told her she could no longer work for him. Arshi heard and was very sad, so she pleaded the rich man: “I have a very old person in my house, you don’t have to give me salaries, but only give me two meals a day, it will be enough.”
The rich man wasn’t kind at all, so he said to her: “Fine, if you have an old person at home, then every time when you leave her for home, you can stretch your hand into the corn powder, when you get home, you can wash off the corn powder on your hand and make soup for your mother in law.” Arshi had no other choices, so she could only answer yes with tears. She got home very late every day, and when she got home, she washed off the corn powder from her hand and made soup for her mother in law.
One day, Arshi was returning home from the rich man’s house. It was about to be dark and she was walking along a small path, suddenly a tiger jumped out from the woods and looked at Arshi fiercely. Arshi was very frightened and she thought to himself: “It’s better for me to die, but how pitiful my mother in law is! If I die, no one can take good care of her.” So, she began to cry, and knelt down to beg the tiger: “Tiger, if you want to eat me, I won’t allow you to do so, but please grant me my request, I have an old mother in law who is more than eighty years old and no one can take good care of her, so let me go home, and I will wash off the corn powder from my hand and make the last meal for her, after that then you can eat me.”
The tiger heard and showed mercy on her, so it withdrew to a side. After Arshi got home, she did like usual, washed off the corn powder on hand and made soup for her mother in law. Her mother in law ate and went to bed, and Arshi cover her mother in law with a quilt, left the house with tears. She returned to the tiger, the tiger carried Arshi and walked away.
The tiger walked for a long time, and then put Arshi on top of a stone. The tiger was very tired and went asleep beside her. When Arshi opened her eyes and looked around, there were bones of animals and people, and also many clothes that were torn into pieces. Arshi saw something shining under the clothes. She carefully removed the clothes and saw many silvers and valuable things, and those were from the people whom the tiger carried there. Arshi took off her own clothes and wrapped those valuable things and left that place quietly.
After Arshi returned home, she took those things out for her mother in law to feel them, and then told her what happened to her. Her mother in law was very happy and said to her: “Oh, my daughter, a good person gets good rewards, and an evil person gets evil rewards, this saying is right. We need to save money, and we also need to share with the poor.”
Later, she took her mother in law, the gold and silver and left the village. The two in laws became richer and richer, but they never looked down upon the others. When the poor people had needs, they would give them money and food. From that time on, Hani people called Arshi a good daughter in law.
