Week 5 Story: A Giant Escape

The clan of giants who lived near the city of Nila were content with their lives. The people of the city saw their size and strength, and so the giants had quickly received what they believed to be proper tribute from the people of the city.

Their tribute was what they believed to be a fair price: one young man, a single buffalo, and a basket full of cakes each day. The giants considered this to be fair tribute, as there were ten of them and they could easily have demanded more; instead, they supplemented the rest of their food by hunting. Any pain and loss felt by the villagers meant nothing for them.

One day, one of the giants noticed a difference in their tribute. The man who came from the village was riding a horse! The giant grinned. "Oho, so they have sent a horse along with our tribute today? Perhaps I will simply eat it here, and not tell the others."

The giant reached his hand out, only for his palm to erupt in pain. Drawing his arm back with a shout, the giant saw the bloody blade in the horse rider's hands.

Running from the man, the giant found one of his sisters. "Sister! The man who came as tribute is no common man! He attacked me, and was able to hurt me!"

His sister was worried, and the two of them made their way to their brother, who was an astrologer. Their brother had foreseen a human coming to attack them, a human named Raja Rasalu, but none had believed him. But now when they asked him if Raja Rasalu had been born into this world, the giant astrologer confirmed it.

"What shall we do?" One of the giants asked, for all of them had gathered when they saw the two giants rushing to their astrologer sibling. "We have not enough time to run - he will be here too soon, and his horse can outrun us!"

Then the sister who had first gone to the astrologer had an idea. "What if we trick him?" She explained her idea, and the rest of the giants agreed.

When Rasalu came to them and declared his name, one giant stepped forward. "I do not believe that you are the true Rasalu! When the real Rasalu comes, his horse's heel-ropes will move by themselves and bind heavy sacks to our backs!"

Rasalu cut the heel-ropes of his steed, and the ropes came alive, finding nearby sacks and tying them tightly to the backs of the giants. But what Rasalu did not know is that these sacks were full of supplies that the giants had packed before Rasalu arrived.

Another giant stepped forward, speaking before Rasalu could start to kill them. "I still do not believe you! When the real Rasalu comes, he will stab his sword into the ground, and create a hole deeper than two giants!"

Rasalu aimed his sword downwards and stabbed, burying his sword into the dirt. A large hole opened up in the earth, and a hole deeper than two giants was made.

Then, having snuck up behind Rasalu, one of the giants shoved Rasalu into the pit that the man had created. The giants had no illusion that Rasalu would die from such a trick, he was too formidable a foe for that. However, what they had earned was time.

"Now, let us run!" And so the entire clan of giants fled, supplies tied to their backs and Rasalu down in a hole.

By the time that Rasalu had pulled himself out of the hole, all of the giants were completely gone, no trace of their flight left. But Rasalu knew that the giants were gone for good, so when he returned to the city of Nila, he span a tale of how he had slaughtered all of the giants except for one giantess, who he had blocked in a cave with a statue of himself.

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Author's Note: The original tale was called "How Raja Rasalu Killed the Giants", and had a similar beginning although it followed Rasalu. He arrived in Nila, heard about the giants, and took the place of one of the men in order to take down the giants. When he arrived, he sliced open the hand of one. The giants and their astrologer sibling checking to see if Raja Rasalu was born is in the story, but there was no idea from the giants about how to deal with Rasalu. Instead, the feats that they proposed for Rasalu to prove himself were explained as the giants trying to act brave and pretend that Raja Rasalu was not truly the one who would kill them. The original proofs were the heel-ropes binding the giants and the sword cutting them up of its own accord, and Rasalu piercing seven girdles (for cooking) with a single arrow, which ended up also piercing seven of the eight giants left alive at that point. The last giantess was dealt with as mentioned at the end of the story, staying in the cave out of fear of Raja Rasalu until she starved to death.

Originally when I read the part about the giants demanding proof that Rasalu was the 'true' Raja Rasalu, I expected them to try and trick Rasalu, and for Rasalu to prove himself while not falling for their tricks. I was almost disappointed that nothing of the sort happened, which was what led to my version of the story.

Image from the Romantic Tales from the Punjab

Bibliography: How Raja Rasalu Killed the Giants from Tales of the Punjab by Flora Annie Steel. Web Source.