2.5 Pumpkin Monster
Summary
TLDRIn this Halloween-themed podcast episode, 'Stories from India' host Narad Monei narrates a tale of an elderly woman named Aji, who cleverly escapes from predators in a dark forest by promising to return as their dinner once fattened at her daughter's house. With the help of her resourceful daughter, Aji uses a giant pumpkin as a rolling shelter to return home, tricking the animals into believing she's still preparing herself to be their feast. The story, with a humorous twist, highlights wit and survival, and ends with Aji facing the dilemma of being trapped inside the pumpkin, hinting at an ironic resolution.
Takeaways
- 🎙️ The podcast 'Stories from India' is hosted by Narad Monei, who claims to be a figure from Indian mythology with the gift of eternal life and knowledge of past, present, and future.
- 🎃 The podcast episode is a bonus for Halloween and focuses on a pumpkin-themed story.
- 👵 The main character, referred to as 'AI' or 'Aji', which means grandmother in some Indian languages, is an elderly woman living alone in a hut near a dangerous forest.
- 🏠 Aji's only relative is her daughter, who lives across the forest in a village, and Aji decides to visit her despite the risks.
- 🐺 Aji encounters various animals in the forest, including a fox, a wolf, a lion, and a tiger, all of whom she cleverly convinces to let her go by promising to return fatter and more suitable for a meal.
- 🥧 Aji's daughter and son-in-law devise a plan involving a large pumpkin to help her safely return home and avoid the animals she promised to the animals.
- 🕳️ The plan involves carving out the inside of the pumpkin, creating a space for Aji to hide and roll down the hill to her home.
- 🐾 Aji encounters the animals again while inside the pumpkin, but they believe she is still at her daughter's house, getting fatter for them.
- 🚫 Aji finds herself trapped inside the pumpkin with no way to open the door from the inside.
- 🍽️ The twist at the end reveals that Aji's only way out is to eat her way through the pumpkin, which she finds unappealing due to its lack of ripeness.
- 📚 The story is from Maharashtra, a state in Western India, and the podcast includes a note on the variations of the story in different versions.
Q & A
What is the podcast 'Stories from India' about?
-The podcast 'Stories from India' is about myths, legends, and folk tales from India, hosted by Narad Monei who claims to have the gift of eternal life and knowledge of the past, present, and future.
Why is the podcast host, Narad Monei, also known as 'AI' in the story?
-In the story, the host is referred to as 'AI', which means 'grandmother' in a local Indian language and is sometimes colloquially used to address elderly women, reflecting her character as an old woman in the tale.
What is the main character AI's predicament in the story?
-AI's predicament is that she is very lonely and decides to visit her daughter who lives on the other side of a dangerous Dark Forest filled with wild animals.
How does AI manage to avoid becoming dinner for the wild animals she encounters in the forest?
-AI cleverly convinces each animal she encounters, such as the fox, wolf, lion, and tiger, that she will return after visiting her daughter and getting fatter, thus promising to be a better meal in the future.
What is the solution AI's daughter comes up with to help her mother return home safely?
-AI's daughter suggests using a large pumpkin as a means of transportation. They carve out the inside, making a door and holes for air and visibility, so AI can roll downhill in it to her home.
Why do the animals in the forest let the pumpkin, with AI inside, pass without eating it?
-The animals believe that AI is still at her daughter's house, getting fatter as she promised. They think the talking pumpkin is just a peculiar occurrence and do not suspect AI is inside.
What is the twist at the end of the story?
-The twist is that AI gets stuck inside the pumpkin and cannot get out. The only way for her to escape is to eat her way out, but the pumpkin is not ripe, making it an unappetizing option.
What does AI's son-in-law contribute to the plan of using the pumpkin?
-AI's son-in-law helps make a door in the pumpkin and ensures there are holes for breathing and seeing, despite his eagerness to be rid of AI.
How does AI manage to bring sweets with her on the journey inside the pumpkin?
-Before setting out in the pumpkin, AI has a few more platefuls of snacks and sweets for the road and packs more to take with her for the journey.
What is the significance of the pumpkin in the story's cultural context?
-The pumpkin is used as a creative solution to a problem, showcasing the resourcefulness and wit often found in folk tales. It also plays on the idea of a 'pumpkin special' for Halloween, despite the story being set in India.
What are some variations of the story from different versions mentioned in the podcast?
-In some versions, AI fools three of the animals, but the fox is too clever and knows she's inside. In another, the animals fight amongst themselves, allowing her to sneak away. In yet another, she pretends to be a carnivorous pumpkin monster that scares the animals away.
Outlines
🎵 Introduction to 'Stories from India' Podcast 🎵
The script begins with the host, Narad Monei, introducing the 'Stories from India' podcast, which focuses on Indian myths, legends, and folk tales. As a character with eternal life and knowledge, Narad Monei narrates stories from various eras. Acknowledging the positive feedback from listeners, the host expresses gratitude and announces a special Halloween-themed episode about a unique way to travel using a pumpkin, without the need for magical assistance. The story sets in a dark forest where an old woman, referred to as 'AI' or 'grandmother' in local Indian languages, lives in solitude and decides to visit her daughter despite the dangers of the forest.
🦊 Encounters with Forest Creatures 🦊
In the second paragraph, the old woman, AI, encounters various wild animals in the forest, including a fox, a wolf, a lion, and a tiger. Each animal invites her to dinner, with the implication of eating her. However, AI cleverly convinces each animal to let her go by promising to return after visiting her daughter and gaining weight, making her a more appealing meal. Despite the potential pitfalls of her plan, the animals believe her and allow her to continue her journey. AI eventually reaches her daughter's house, where she enjoys a feast and shares her predicament with her family.
🎃 The Pumpkin Escape Plan 🎃
The third paragraph details a creative solution devised by AI's daughter to help her mother return home safely. They decide to use a large pumpkin as a protective vehicle by carving out its inside for AI to hide in and roll downhill back to her home. The plan involves making air holes for breathing and visibility, as well as using the pumpkin's weight and downhill trajectory to navigate. AI, now fatter from the feast, sets off in her pumpkin, encountering the animals she had previously promised to return to. Each animal, deceived by the talking pumpkin, believes AI is still at her daughter's house, growing fatter for their meal, and lets the pumpkin pass by.
🚫 Trapped Inside the Pumpkin 🚫
In the final paragraph, AI successfully reaches her home in the pumpkin but finds herself trapped inside, unable to open the door from within. With no tools to help her escape, she faces the unpleasant reality of having to eat her way out of the pumpkin. The pumpkin, however, turns out to be unripe, making the task even more daunting. The story concludes with a twist, leaving AI with no choice but to chew her way to freedom. The host then provides some background on the story's origin, mentioning it's from Maharashtra, Western India, and acknowledges the various versions of the tale, highlighting the unique ending added for the Halloween special.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Narad Mone
💡Eternal Life
💡Myths
💡Folk Tales
💡Halloween
💡Pumpkin
💡Dark Forest
💡Animals
💡Cleverness
💡Promise
💡Survival
Highlights
Introduction of the podcast 'Stories from India' which explores myths, legends, and folk tales.
Host Narad Monei's unique role as a character in the stories and his gift of eternal life and knowledge.
The podcast's positive feedback and the host's gratitude to the listeners.
Special Halloween episode focusing on a pumpkin-themed story.
The story of an old woman named AI, who is lonely and decides to visit her daughter.
AI's encounter with various wild animals in the Dark Forest and her clever survival tactics.
AI's promise to the animals to return fatter for them to eat, showcasing her wit.
AI's arrival at her daughter's house and the daughter's plan to help her mother return home safely.
The creative solution of using a large pumpkin as a protective vehicle to roll down the hill.
AI's interaction with the animals from inside the pumpkin, tricking them into believing she is still getting fatter.
The animals' reactions to the talking pumpkin and their continued anticipation of AI's return.
AI's successful return home and her relief at escaping the animals.
The twist in the story where AI finds herself trapped inside the pumpkin with no way out.
AI's realization that she must eat her way out of the pumpkin, facing the unpleasant task.
Cultural notes on the story's origin from Maharashtra, India, and variations of the tale.
Invitation for listeners to leave comments, reviews, or suggestions on the podcast's website and social media.
Acknowledgment of the music source from purpleplanet.com used in the podcast.
Teaser for the next episode of 'Stories from India' to be aired the following Sunday.
Transcripts
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hello and welcome to stories from India
a podcast where we talk about myths
Legends and folk tales from India I'm
your host narad monei and I personally
appear in many of these
stories a long time ago I was given the
gift of eternal life and knowledge of
the past the present and the
future and I also always speak the
truth I'm a traveling musician and a
Storyteller by profession so the way I'm
doing my job is by
podcast I've gotten so much positive
feedback from all you listeners so far I
just want to say a big thank you to all
of you to show my appreciation here's a
bonus episode since it's Halloween and
since it's fall in much of the northern
hemisphere I thought I'd do a pumpkin
special today we'll find out how you can
hitch a ride on a pumpkin even if you
don't have a fairy godmother with a
magic
wand the old woman lived by herself in a
hut at the edge of a Dark
Forest let's call her AI which in a
local Indian language or two means
grandmother but is also sometimes
colloquially used to address elderly
women aji's only relative was her
daughter who was married and lived in a
village on the other side of the
forest as you can imagine AI was very
lonely and missed her daughter very
much seeing how this was the
pre-industrial era she had no means of
entertainment communic ation or anything
to distract herself from her
loneliness so she decided to visit her
daughter a good idea but also a terrible
idea visiting her daughter was a
perfectly natural thing to do except it
was also extremely dangerous Dark Forest
remember lots of wild animals in there
and remember no phones no electricity no
weather FOC cast no Uber or lift or Ola
or any kind of public
transport AI decided to go anywhere she
packed up her clothes and set off on
foot she entered the Dark Forest which
was dark because the canopy blocked out
the sun completely and it was hard to
tell whether it was day or
night perfect hunting grounds for
creatures that have eyes well adapted to
see in the dark and that's exactly what
she ran into one after the
other first she heard the high pitched
growl near her she Whirled around to see
a fox who was looking at her mouth
watering at the prospect of eating
her hey Mr Fox Said AI
calmly and as if expecting the animal to
understand
her but surprise surprise understand her
he
did hi Ai he said
why don't you come home with me we'd
love to have you for
dinner I mean have you over for dinner
he corrected
himself but Aji was smart and she knew
exactly what the fox meant to
do she had a
plan and like most plans it basically
amounted to kicking the can down the
road as you wish AI said but I'm barely
a starter I wouldn't serve well as the
main
course the fox cringed at the bad joke
but his Focus was now on something
else he was staring at Ai and he had to
admit she did look pretty
poorly seeing how she seemed all bony
and
thin but something's better than nothing
he
said but wait said AI I've just had an
idea I'm visiting my my daughter who
lives on the other side of the
forest my daughter is an excellent cook
and I can eat and get fat and then I'm
sure I'll taste much much
better now the fox should have seriously
doubted her I mean there's a forest with
other wild animals what if she never
makes it to her daughter's place what if
she changes her mind and doesn't come
back or goes home the long way around
the forest what if she has to work at
her her daughter's place and what if her
daughter doesn't feed her rich
food but the fox somehow concluded that
these were not real objections he let
her
go Aji started on her way again and then
she ran into a
wolf the wolf invited her to be dinner I
mean to eat dinner at his
place yeah I just went through all of
that said
Ai and again she went through a similar
convers ation with the wolf too she
promised to return all fattened up from
her daughter's house and the Wolf let
her
go and the same thing happened with the
lion and the tiger and they too let her
go after she promised to return as the
main
course and yes there are lions and
tigers in this same Forest because
that's actually possible in India unlike
in most places in the
world AI finally made made it out of the
forest her daughter was delighted to see
her she plied her with all kinds of
excellent food and drink and gave her
absolutely no chance to burn any
calories so the fox the wolf the tiger
and the lion were justified in
disregarding some of the tapouts I
mentioned
earlier as she got much fatter and in
between bowlfuls of porridge AI finally
told her daughter she would reveal what
was was bothering
her oh was anything bothering you chimed
in ai's son-in-law I wouldn't have known
it from the way you're eating sh said
the daughter as she ladled out more
sweets onto ai's
plate in between mouthfuls of gulab
jamun and
rulas both are incredibly tasty Indian
sweets in between those mouthfuls she
told them about the animals to whom she
had promised to be
dinner you don't have to go said the
daughter but A promise is a promise said
the son-in-law with a gleam of Hope in
his
eyes nonsense said the daughter I know
just what to
do besides being such an excellent cook
she also grew her own
vegetables they all went out to the
Garden where the daughter pointed out
her prize
pumpkin
I was going to save that for the
Guinness Book of World Records but since
those haven't been invented yet you can
have the pumpkin
mom a pumpkin yes this is the answer to
all my
problems and how exactly is this the
answer to all my problems she
asked after all that desert a pumpkin
might not be the best idea and I hate
eating pumpkin especially if it's not
ripe Maybe if you sauteed with some
onions she
wondered just listen for a minute
interrupted the daughter your house is
on the other side of the forest but it's
also all downhill from here to your
house and your point is said
AI all we have to do is to make a door
carve out the inside of the pumpkin and
you can get inside and roll downhill all
the way to your
house the animals won't eat you they're
all C
caror but won't I suffocate in there and
how will I know I'm going in the right
direction if I'm
inside we'll make holes for air and so
you can see said the
daughter you can probably steer from
inside by just pushing in the direction
you want to
go Ajay thought and finally said that
does sound like a good
idea and if I'm hungry on the way
there's enough space inside for me to
carry lot lots of sweets with me so they
put their plan in action the son-in-law
eager to be rid of Aji made a door and
because he wasn't too evil he did make
some holes so she could breathe and
see Aji had a few more plateful of
snacks and sweets just for the road and
then packed some more to take with her
for the journey and set out in her
pumpkin as expected she ran into the
line the lion was very angry but he
remembered his
manners hey
pumpkin if AI had been fully in
character she wouldn't have
responded but she said hi
back now the Lian thought it was
perfectly normal for a pumpkin to talk
back to him instead of pouncing on it
and eating a up he made normal
conversation with the
pumpkin I shouldn't judge though after
all he's a lion that can
talk hey pumpkin he said did you see a
fat old lady in that house in that exact
Direction you're rolling
from Oh you mean the elegant Lady of
mature years said AI from inside the
pumpkin I wouldn't call her fat but yes
I did see her she was just telling her
family how she needed to eat more so
that she could serve the lion well in a
gravy with peas and carrots
the lion who for all these days hadn't
eaten anything went on waiting but with
renewed hope for ai's
return AI rolled on comfortable inside
the pumpkin munching on the
sweets the same thing happened with the
tiger the wolf and the fox they too were
hungry having eaten nothing for days
they too assumed pumpkin's talk they too
believed Aji was fattening herself up
for them and they too let the pumpkin go
without further
investigation AI rolled on and finally
got home she was eager to get out she
had finished all the snacks and Sweets
she had packed for her journey and
frankly she was sick of eating by
then maybe it was all because of the
Rolling motion but she couldn't imagine
taking another bite of any food for the
next day or two at
least she was also sick of being inside
the pumpkin she hated pumpkins in
general and just couldn't wait to get
away from the pumpkin smell that had
been with her for so
long she pushed at the door to open it
and then she saw what had
happened the door wouldn't open she
couldn't get out of the pumpkin there
was no way out and she had no tools
inside She was drawn to one inescapable
conclusion there there was a way
out she did not relish
it quite literally because the only
way was to eat her way
out still a few days chewing through the
pumpkin might not be the worst thing
ever if the pumpkin was
ripe she sunk her teeth into the wall to
check was it ripe
no it was not
ripe that's it for today some notes on
the
story this story is from Western India a
state called
Maharashtra there are a few variations
of this story but the twist at the end
is something I added because
Halloween in some versions AI fools
three of the animals but the fox is too
clever for her he knows she's inside but
she pretends to still be Pony and thin
and he leaves her alone in another
version the animals all fight against
each other while she sneaks
away in yet another version she pretends
to be a carnivorous pumpkin monster that
scares away the wild
animals in all of these she reaches home
safely if you have any questions
comments or Sugg suggestions please
leave a comment or a review on the site
it's SFI podcast.com the site is also
linked in the show notes and the Twitter
handle is @ SFI
podcast again I'd like to thank my
family and friends and all of you
listeners I'm very grateful for your
support the music is from purple
planet.com that's
purple-planet.com
next week we'll continue with our
regularly scheduled episode episodes
this
Sunday see you
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later
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