The River Lord and The Old Hag

The Story of The River Lord And The Old Hag.
By Salim Meghani.

Once upon a very long time ago, in the Land of Mystical Creatures,
there
lived a River Lord called Nadhi-Mookhi. He was a very kind Lord,
protecting
the creatures of Mystical Land from Old Hags who were very bad and
liked to
drink the blood of Gugamools (a bird like delicacy).

Now The Land Of Mystical Creatures was connected to The Land of Witches
and
Wizards. Old Hags used to frequently try to travel to and fro the two
lands
causing a lot of michief by killing Gugamools for sport and to get
very
drunk on their blood.

The Wizards were on the whole, a kind lot and kept themselves to
themselves,
only getting involved if it meant life and death of a Wizard and since
they
were much more powerful than Old Hags, they weren't too bothered by
them.

A bridge connected the two lands and Nadhi-Mookhi lived under the river
in
the middle of the bridge.

One day The Angel of Gugamools travelled to the middle of the bridge
and called
upon Nadhi-Mookhi. "Oh Lord," said the Angel, "The Old Hags kill us
like flies.
Is there nothing you can do to stop them?" "But, Angel, there are only
two hags
left. How come they do so much damage?" replied Nadhi-Mookhi. So, the
conversation
continued between Angel and Lord until Nadhi-Mookhi decided to keep the
remaining
Old Hags apart, because it was only for the party held when meeting
that they drank
the blood of Gugamools. He told the Angel, to send word to both hags
that should they
decide to cross the bridge the River Serpent would gobble them up. He
disguised
himself as a Serpent and went to sleep waiting for someone to cross the
bridge.

Word soon got around in the two lands that a Serpent was asking "If
you'd seen an Old
Hag," if you crossed the bridge. The Old Hags heard about it and were
mad with anger
and hate.

One day, The Old Hag in The Land Of Mystical Creatures decided to
devise a plan to
trick the River Serpent. I know, I'll build a single passenger car and
drive myself
across the bridge. So she did. She worked tirelessly day and night
until she'd
finished the job. Looking proudly at her pedal car, she said "I name
you Bambootia."

The next day, was the Hag in The Land of Witches and Wizards' birthday.
The old hag in Mystical land decided to drive her car with as much
Gugamool blood inside it as she could
across the bridge.

When she reached the middle, the Serpent came out and said "Beware do
not go any further
if you are an Old Hag, because I eat Old Hags and drink their blood."
The Old Hag
replied in a disguised voice "I am a Bambootia, not an Old Hag." After
a very long
pause, the Serpent said "Pass." and let her go. "It worked!" thought
the Old Hag.

She met the other Old Hag and partied till midnight, getting very, very
drunk on
Gugamool blood. Then she kissed her sister goodbye and made her way
back to drive
across the bridge. At the middle of the bridge, the Serpent came out
and said "Bambootia
Bambootia, Dossie ne joi?" Or in English: "Car, car, have you seen an
Old Hag?"

The Old Hag was so drunk and incensed with anger that she got out of
the car and
swore at the Serpent and said "You stupid Serpemt, can't you see I'm a
Bambootia?"

The Serpent replied "But you are an old hag, and now I will gobble you
up!"
(And did so).

The moral of the story : Don't get drunk and drive otherwise you may be
gobbled up
by a Serpemt!