Mr. Mache, the cunning guy from Naga Folktale

Naga Folktale about Mache

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Credit: .deccanchronicle.com

Mache is a very mischievous, sly and wily young man lived in a village of Nagaland. He was so full of tricks and lived to plague his fellow villagers in many ways. Mache used to rob children off their food every day, so the children told their parents and the parents took counsel to kill Mache. They asked, ”What shall we do with him?” to which Mache replied, “Shut me in a box and push me into the river, that will kill me.” And they said, “We will do so.” But when was put in the box and thrown into the river, he saw two girls fishing and said, “if you let me out I will fill your baskets full of fishes.” So the girls let him out and as they were going back to the far bank he defecated into their baskets and gave it to them. The girls, seeing what he had done, went to the village and complained that Mache had deceived them. Mache went back to the village and continued robbing the children off their food. So while the parents were discussing, Mache came to them again and said, “Pile up a lot of thatch on top of me and burn it, that will kill me.” And the man did so but instead the whole village got burnt while Mache escaped the burning village

On another occasion, Mache went riding along a road with a lot of ashes under his saddle, where he met a man and his mother. The old woman, being very tired from the journey said, “Please lend me your horse to ride on,” and her son said too, “Please if you are not tired, lend us your horse to get home.” To which he answered, “I am not tired, but if your mother rides on this horse all my money will turn to ashes.” But the old woman and her son, disbelieving this said, ”Oh, if they do, we will pay you back your money. How much have you got in the horse?” Mache replied that he have lots. Then the son said, “Alright, if necessary I will sell my rice fields and my houses and pay you. Mache said, “Very well, I will lend you my horse.” When the old woman got on the horse the ashes flew out. So she and her son straightaway sold their rice fields and paid the owner of the horse, and he, returning to his village, told the villagers that he had exchanged the ashes for money. They accordingly burnt down their houses and gathered the ashes to sell but no one would buy them.

Now let me get to how he got the ashes to put under his saddle in the first place. Mache’s brother was a rich man and has a large number of cattle. One day all his cattle fell over a precipice and were killed. Mache was sent to strip off all their hides. He hung them on the branches of a tree and made fire underneath it to dry them.

And as it was very cold that day, some men who were passing by with a lot of money sat near the fire to count the money. But unfortunately, the branches of the tree broke, and these men were frightened and ran off without their money. Mache who later returned to check on the hides found the money and told his fellow villagers that he had killed his cattle and sold their skins for money.

The credulous villagers killed their cattle too and flayed them and tried to sell them, but nobody would buy. Then they came back and burnt the deceiver’s house, he then gathered the ashes, mounted on his horse and deceived the old woman and her son.
By Akholu Zango