From Nicobarese Folklore
There was once a widow who had four children. Three of them were grown up to be quite big girls, but the youngest was a baby; its name was To-mi-rook. The names of the others were To-ken (“Industrious”), the eldest; To-pet-ngen (“One who minds one’s own business”), the second; and Va-mi-ro (“Story-teller”), the third – all girls.
Now they had a small garden at some distance from the house, and one day the children were sent by their mother to go and weed it. She herself could not go with them, as there was no one else to mind the baby.
Early in the morning “Industrious” and her two sisters set out for the garden, and when they got there, at once set about to begin the weeding.
But soon the sun got up and it began to get hot, and “Story-teller” got tired and went into the shade to rest. Then she began to sing and to climb up on the boughs of trees (some of which had been chopped down and were lying full length on the ground). There she played and amused herself by swinging and did no more work for the rest of the day. This was the mother’s favourite.
The two elder girls kept hard at their work out in the sun, and got very much sunburnt. “Va-mi-ro, please do come and help us, so that we may get the wedding finished,” said To-ken to her. But the request was in vain, for Va-mi-ro simply would not do any work.
Then said To-pet-ngen (“One who minded her own business”): “We will tell mother about you when we get home, so that you will get a whipping.” But Va-mi-ro would not budge, and did not say anything in reply.
When it got well on in the afternoon, Va-mi-ro began to sprinkle rubbish on her head, and then went home before the others, and said to her mother: “I have been the only one to do any work today; those other two did nothing but play the whole time. I left them now in the garden, still in the midst of their games.”
The mother got extremely angered against the others when she heard “Story-tellers’” account of them, and she said: “Wait till they come and I will teach them a lesson. You have your dinner now, for you are tired. You will find it on the shelf.”
Then, after a whole, the two elder girls came home, and they felt disappointed that there was not a word of welcome for them on their arrival. They merely had some food given to them, which they ate.
Then, after they had finished their dinner, their mother asked them if the food they had had, had been nice, and they replied that it had been good. “I gave you food to eat which I had befouled; for you two have been lazy today; indeed, you never mind anything but play and amusement.”
They did not say anything in reply, for they knew that she was repeating one of Va-mi-ro’s fabrications which she believed.
Then the two elder girls talked over matters together, and determined to run away from home. They got their few things together and put their little box on their shoulders; and off they went. They were anxious to go up to the moon, for they felt that their mother would find them out if they remained anywhere on the island.
Now there was hanging down a creeper called to-a-ngu-o, and they tried to ascend to the skies by it; but it began to break.
“Come, let us try to ascend by the cobweb,” said “Industrious.”
“Shall we not fare still worse if, as soon as we tread on it, it should snap?” said To-pet-ngen.
“In any case let us try,” the other one replied.
So To-ken (“Industrious”) went up first, and then her sister followed her; and the cobweb did not break.
When they had already got a good distance up, they suddenly remembered that they had forgotten their little basket (made of ra-foh, the spathe of the betel-nut); and To-ken sent her younger sister to fetch it.
However, she ran across her mother in the house, and was at once stopped. The mother then told Va-mi-ro to keep watch over To-pet-ngen, whilst she herself went in search of To-ken.
She found her on the cobweb, not far from the ground, for she was waiting for To-pet-ngen, and had come down some distance to meet her.
The mother caught hold of To-ken by the foot, and tugged at it, but she held on fast to the cobweb, and by dint of vigorous kicking she managed to get free from her mother’s grip.
To-ken’s ankle was twisted out of its socket by reason of her mother tugging so at it, and she only accomplished the ascent to the moon by dint of painful perseverance.
But she thought no more of the pain, for she had got up to the face of the moon and was now far away from her insulting and unjust mother.
There she lay down on the surface of the moon and slept, having her box for her pillow. Her ankle remained out of joint, and To-pet-ngen much missed her, for she was still in the clutches of their insulting mother.
Source:
In the Nicobar Islands, George Whitehead, 1924
Kotharian Lightning 