Folktales help children connect with their cultural roots by transmitting shared values, traditions, and collective memory across generations. We present a folk tale excerpted from Bird Folktales of Meghalaya for Children by Glenn C Kharkongor with Illustrations by Balaiamon Kharngapkynta & Careen Jolin Langstieh (Martin Luther Christian University Press, 2024)

Once upon a time, there was a brave and curious bulbul named Gitchak. He loved to explore new places and experience excitement.

From the valley, he would fly up into the hills and look at a cone in a pine tree.

He would eat the berries from a lantana bush in the farmer’s garden and fly back into the forest.

He flew far and wide, spreading seeds in his droppings all over the land.

Gitchak loved to sit atop a tree so that he could look around the countryside and see far away. If another bird was on a high branch, he would peck and push the bird off his perch so that he could sit there. When he flew into the village, he would sit on the farmer’s rooftop.

Gitchak often took his friends along with him. They would raid mulberry trees, chase the other birds away, and eat the fruit. Though Gitchak was courageous, he was also a bully.

One day, he saw an opening in a hillside. It was the entrance of a cave. Never having been inside a cave, he flew in to explore. He ventured deep into the cave, filled with mystery and wonder. Gitchak flew fearlessly through the dark tunnels, often bumping into walls and skimming over underground streams.

The adventure was thrilling but also scary. He managed to find a sky hole at the top of the cave, and flew back into the sky.

But one day he lost his way and experienced hunger. Luckily, he found a grove of wild banana trees. The bananas were ripe and tempting.

He pecked at the bananas, gobbling up the soft fruit and swallowed many banana seeds. His stomach was full and he soared through the sky.

Suddenly, a severe pain gripped his stomach — he had eaten too many bananas. He stopped to rest on the branch of a tree. His stomach rumbled, and soon he experienced loose bloody stool.

The bananas and seeds had given him a bad case of dysentery. He flew weakly in the sky, stopping frequently to rest. His droppings scattered over the ground and the seeds spread over the hillside.

Because of the blood, his bottom turned red. The descendants of that adventurous bulbul still sport a bright crimson colour around their bottom.

The seeds he spread sprouted and grew into groves of wild banana trees, covering the hills till today.