THE KING, THE DRONGO AND GOMA MAruE

THE KING, THE DRONGO AND GOMA MAruE

Th e firs t lime I went to Philippe Sagant's course on Nepalese civilisati on at Langues Orientales, he brought Tarap and brandished it in front of us, saying, "You may wan t to look at pic ture-boo ks on Nepal. If so, I suggest yo u c hoose a boo k like thi s, becau se such anthropologists lovc th c pcople they photograph". This

impressed me and suits, I Lhink rath er well, Come ille J est. Furthermore, in my case, it was a confirmation o r

whaL I confusedl y fclt when, still younger, I c hose to

Commullo llu !S de ton gues

till

is always diflic ult to later deter- mine the reaSons for such immature decis ions, but it is certai n that Co me ille's pho tographs had some thing to do with il. The magic of his pictures probabl y ste ms part ly from the peopl e and places he captured on film , their mi xture of ex treme poverty a nd s pl endour.

the photogmphe r plays hi s rolc in this magic: if beautiful , his pictures are not aesthetic but narrative. They arc real

"invitations au voyage"

This first impulsion in the orientation of my work wa.'\ followed by constalll help from Comeillc who sec-

med to have auained a kind of anthropological Boddhi- hood. leading him to o ffer, espec ially L o beginne rs,

fro m Germ an a nd even precio us fie ldw ork d ata. I myself part ic ularl y abu sed such gene rosity and mu st say that all my writings bene fited fro m Corneill e's

Lo ng before becomin g a grand-fath er, Comeille Jest

22

paid parti cularly close attention to childre n, th eir games

informants, because lik e anthropo logists, th ey ha vc to undcrstand what is going o n around the m. This is why I have chosen tu here dedicate a portrait of Goma. who sat on my la p during a good pa rt of my stay in Darling.

alo ng with a story that madc her laugh and which was inte nded to go L o Prance.

was reco unted by Radha Dev i Lalsing (Darling, G ulmi Distric t).

"The Dron go bird

Once upon a lime there was a Drongo bird who went

to the garden of th e ki ng. As he we nt . he found the re an iron piece of a s ickle. So he we nt to the king's palace.

in the co urtyard , and said ' my rice is bigger th an the king's!' The k ing fe lt angry: ' Oh o h. hi s iron rice is bigger than mine, le t's kill him', a nd so saying decided L o kill him and eaL his mcat. Thus we nt thc soldie rs who kill ed the bird. Having killed him a nd brought him back, what did he say w hen he was cut (in pieces), eve n cut, w hat did he say? 'Thc king is o ne, I am numcro us·.

And the kin g said. 'Cook it quick ly. I' ll cat him '. So he was prepared to be cooked. The pices once ground. he

be

' It

be

eaten , he s till spoke from the bell y, 'Th e king is outsi-

going to s hit. you will stay around my ass holding your

kukhuri knives'. The kjn g saL

shit. The Drongo bird

we nt out and new away while the soldi ers cut the ass of

the king. The n he went on a tnee and said, ' the king' s

ass is c ut, and what did you c ut of my self?! '

A golden necklace to the lisleners. a flower nec klace

Ihe teller, may th is ta lc go to Fra nce!"

Cibc ciirii

Eu\ii dbc cara rahecha rc, Tyo cibc

rajako phUlbiirimii gaccha. Hndiikhcri rajako phulbarima, hiis iyako ,ukra bhetaecha. Bhetaundakheri rajako darbiirmii gaec ha, aganma gaecha : " riija ko dhllnbh,lnda mcrn dhan !hu l o" bhanec ha ra. Rajii lai ris u\hyo . "A u, au ni, mcro dhan bhanda yasko dhan phal5mko !ukra !hUlo bhayo, yes

miiro,

ye~liii

marera yasko mas u khanchu" bhaneeha re.

Ab

gacra yeslai miirechan . Marcra !iicTa, ka!diikhcri kc bhanyo rc, kiilepani ke bhanyo re :

"'Riij. ! ClIIll. Illtl maslai", bhanccha. hYcsla i chilo piikiiidiyo, ma khiinch u" bhanyo rajii lc. Ab piikauna liigyo

Mas:11ii piscra hii!cra, besiir hlilera bu!na

!iig yo. Bcsiir hiildiikheri kc bhanyo re : "raja phur.-u Ill'! pahc!o" bhancra. "Yeslai nakhiic hunna.

chilel khanu pa me ho" raja!c bhanyo. Khaecha re, KhiimHlkh cri pclbh ilTO. pani bolyo re " raja. ba.hira

hhiIT;J" bhanyo re . Raja ba hira ma bh

ra bhandiikhc ri sipiihiharuliii bhanyo re "ma la bas nu

ha gna. limiharu kukhuri samalera mero cak ko

\'arip>lri ba s nuparcha" , aphu hagna bas yo. Cibc cii riij hai ni s kic ra b5g yo, riijiiko cak kiildiyo

~lpiihih;lrUrC.

Ab u yeSlo but1ii lll 3 gii.era kc bha nyo

Iya~lc :

"riijiiko

kii.1Yo mcro

cha tyo", bhana bh:ulIlu yo rc.

Sunncliii s unko malii. bhannclai phi1lko mii.lii , yo

sa~t:tr

Phransm1i