Toastmaster's Advanced Speech 3 - "Saat Purya Bhaji"

This is speech #1 from  "Storytelling" manual, called "The Folk Tale". The objective is to tell a folk tale that is entertaining and enjoyable for a specific age group; and to use vivid imagery and voice to enhance the tale. Time allotted is 7 to 9 minutes.

Once upon a time, long long ago, in a faraway land, there lived a king with his young daughter and two little sons. The princess was a rare beauty and the apple of the king’s eye. He wanted to marry her off to a really special person and hence put up the most difficult challenge that he could conceive of for her Swayamwar. There was a huge pond in his kingdom, in the middle of which the king got a long smooth oily pillar erected. Whoever could reach the top without using any tool would be the winner of the contest and consequently, his daughter’s hand.

The word spread far and wide and princes from all over the country started pouring in to try their luck at the pillar but no one could climb it - even halfway. Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, months to years but the challenge remained unfulfilled. So much so that the king and the princess became the laughing stock of the country, as far as remote villages and dense forests.

In one such forest, there lived a fiercely huge monster – green colored with bloodshot eyes, stinky teeth, dread-locked hair and sharp pointed nails. When he heard of the challenge, and its reward, he came rushing to the kingdom - and lo and behold – climbed the pillar in no time at all! The honorable king, with a very heavy heart, organized the wedding and sent his precious daughter off in the jungle.

Years passed and there was no news of the princess, now the monster-wife, from the forest. The king’s sons, who were then too little to understand what had happened to their sister, were now young men, restless and eager to meet their sibling. They asked their father where she went and he told them the story. The two brothers, specially the younger one, were aghast by this tale and decided to embark on a journey to bring their sister back.

They packed two lunch boxes with seven poories and cooked vegetables each and started off in the direction on the forest in a bullock cart. They crossed a few miles and the elder one became hungry. The younger said, go ahead and eat your lunch. He ate. Then a few miles later, he became hungry once again. The younger said, go ahead and eat my seven poories too. The elder ate and was finally satiated.

They resumed their journey on the bullock cart and a few miles later, the younger spotted a pot of curd lying in the way. He said to his brother, “Lets take this and keep it in our cart!”. The brother was afraid to do so and said, “We don’t know who this belongs to. That person might come after us and threaten us!”. The younger then said, “Give me my seven poories back or let me take this pot”. The elder had no choice but to relent.

After some time, they came across a rope. Again the younger wanted to keep it, the elder didn’t. So he said, “Give me my seven poories back or let me take this rope.” This way, the bullock cart was stocked with a rope as well. Sometime later, they found a broom lying on the road, the elder said, "It might belong to a sweeper, he will come to us and demand it back.” The younger relied with his standard retort, “Give me my seven poories back or let me take this broom." Then at the edge of the forest, they found a donkey, and with a “Give me my seven poories back or let me take this donkey”, the younger one loaded the cart with a donkey as well.

In this fashion, the two brothers, with their bullock cart and supplies went to see their sister. When they arrived at her home, the monster had gone hunting. The princess was pleased beyond words to see someone from her own clan after so many years..and that too her brothers..now so grown up and gallant! The younger brother immediately said, “We have come to take you away!”.  The poor princess, afraid for her life and now her brothers’ too…asked them to unload their cart on the cellar and put the oxen far away, out of sight of the monster, since he would be back soon. The brothers agreed, took the pot of curd, rope, broom and donkey and the lunch their sister gave them on the cellar.

Soon, the monster came home and said to his wife, “I can smell humans!” She said, “That must be me! There is no one else here!” The monster still surveyed the house but could not find anything and sat down for his own lunch. Exactly at the spot at which the monster was sitting, there was a hole in the cellar at the top, where the brothers were sitting. Suddenly, the younger brother had the urge to relieve himself. The elder said, “Go and take a leak in that hole!”. The younger one obliged for once and urinated directly in the monster’s lunch!

The monster immediately cried out, “Who’s above?”. The young prince, recognizing an opportunity in this encounter replied with all his strength, “Who’s below?”. Monster shouted, “I am a monster”; the brother boomed, “I am a mega monster”. The monster did not believe him and screamed, “Really? Show me your tail!”. The prince took the long rope and started pushing it down the hole, this alarmed the monster a bit and he said, “Show me your puke!”. The younger brother took the pot of curd and poured it down the hole. The monster was seriously scared now, but still managed to ask one more question, “Show me your loudest shout!”, as an answer, the young prince took the broom and started hitting the donkey with it with all his might. The donkey brayed like there was no tomorrow and the terrified monster ran for his life. The brothers then took their sister back with them to the kingdom, her rightful place, and the king welcomed them with open arms. And they lived happily ever after!

The moral of the story is, no matter how ferocious the adversary is, if you decide, you can beat it. Where there is a will, there is a way!

This speech took 10:36 minutes to deliver and was appreciated for vocal variety.