# Folktales from Sikkim

- Link: https://writersworkshopindia.com/2024/12/04/folktales-from-sikkim/
- Published: 2024-12-04T13:30:52+00:00
- Author: us\_basu

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**Editors: **Rosy Chamling and Abrona Lee Pandi Aden[⌊A sample cover of the book: mustard-yellow handloom sari with gold embossed nameplate and lettering for the title and author's name. The border of the sari lines the right hand margin of the cover.⌉](https://writersworkshopindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Folktales-from-Sikkim-Photo.jpeg)
**
Pages:** 132 **Year of Publication:** 2024 **Price:** Rs 600 **ISBN: **978-81-979136-
4-8 (9788197913648)

_**About the Editors**_

Professor Rosy Chamling is Dean, School of Languages and Literature, Sikkim University.

Dr. Abrona Lee Pandi Aden is Assistant Professor, Department of English, Sikkim 
University.

_**About the Book**_

In her introduction to the book, Professor Rosy Chamling writes:

“The present volume is a collection of twenty-eight tales translated by scholars
who had participated in a five-day National Translation Workshop organized by the
Department of English, School of Languages and Literature, Sikkim University, in
September 2022. The workshop curated folktales which were primarily oral in nature,
for which a team of language experts of the primary languages of Sikkim facilitated
the translation in a collaborative mode.

Oral storytelling as an art form has had an independent existence since preliteracy
times. The earliest script dates back to only about six thousand years ago (Ong,
2). Furthermore, storytelling of the indigenous communities further represents an
organic link between their cosmologies, cultures and territories. All the tales 
that have been curated from the workshop are contextual in nature. Since places 
are culturally constructed, these tales have a strong regional flavour from which
the indigenous communities draw their distinct identity.”

_**Extract**_

Excerpt from _Birth of the Moon, a Lepcha Tale_

This tale goes back to the beginning of the universe. There used to be two dazzling
sun-sisters in the sky. They rose and set one after another and thereby there was
no sign of darkness. However, there was excessive sunlight and its heat blighted
everything, and the earth heated up like a ball of fire. The waterbodies dried up,
and the flora was blighted, and this had adverse effects on the fauna.

If this situation persisted, nothing would survive. Knowing that the universe would
end, all the living beings organized a meeting to find a solution to the impending
catastrophe. They discussed and concluded that the sun-sisters could not be restrained
and therefore one of them had to be extinguished to put an end to the misery of 
living beings. The assembly unanimously accepted this decision. The frog agreed 
to accomplish this task. So, the frog made a bow and arrow out of a cockscomb plant,
and knocked down the younger sun-sister. The outcome of extinguishing the younger
sun-sister was not as expected by the living beings. It had an adverse effect. As
the surviving sun-sister realized that her younger sister was no more, she mourned
and became despondent. She started wailing behind the pall of dark clouds. Thus,
the whole universe was enveloped in utter darkness.

 

**Contents**
 28 chapters divided into five sections

 

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