The anthology 'The Greatest Stories from the Northeast Ever Told', edited by Jobeth Ann Warjri and published by Aleph Book Company, features a story titled 'The Madness of Tree Ghosts' by Shalim M Hussain. The narrative weaves folklore with human tragedy, set during the dry season when snakes shed their skins and hibernate.
Exile and Illness
A man's wife breathes the last breath of a snake, a terrible thing that causes her skin to dry like a snake's. The villagers recognize the disease and call a meeting. Because the woman is too ill to attend, they summon her husband. 'Your wife has the disease,' they say. 'She must live outside the village.' They allow the husband and son to remain if uninfected. The husband, a reasonable man, decides to go with his wife and son, saying they will not return until the illness takes her or them.
The family chooses a spot at the forest's edge, marked by a row of betel nut trees. They carry twenty sacks of rice and ten bags of pulses, enough for six months. They build a hut next to an old pond filled with fish and hyacinth. The woman's condition worsens: water-filled boils grow on her body, turn to pus, and burst, causing terrible pain. The man and son bathe her with ash and pond water, but it is useless. Clothes stick to her open wounds, so they remove them, wash her, and lay her naked on a reed mat wiped with mustard oil. The oil irritates the wounds, and the mat digs into her raw skin.
The Search for Banana Leaves
The man tells his son the only way to relieve his mother's pain is to roll her in tender banana leaves. He instructs the boy to care for her while he goes to the forest to fetch leaves. The son, young and innocent, agrees. The man takes his dao (a traditional blade) and leaves. The son fans his mother with a tal leaf to keep flies away. As the sun sets, the father does not return.
The son ties a mosquito net around his mother's bed and whispers, 'Mother, please remain asleep. Father has not come home. I should go find him.' On the way, he meets an old woman returning from the ration shop with kerosene and salt. He offers to carry her rations home, but she declines, saying she will sit with his mother instead. The boy thanks her and leaves.
The Mad Tree Ghost
In the forest, there are tree ghosts—invisible beings who love human food. They pick one tree and live on it for eternity, throwing mud patties to scare travelers and steal food. To ward them off, people hang dried cow dung around pots of puffed rice and date palm jaggery, as tree ghosts hate dung, chillies, and iron. These ghosts are closer to humans in form, beings of fire and steam without a body, seeking only food and self-preservation.
One tree ghost has gone mad. His madness condenses his formless being into a tiny seed, gaining a minuscule weight—like a loose eyelash in the eye. For the first time, he feels held down. His hunger shifts from sweets and rice to human flesh. The seed becomes a magnet, pulling him toward the nearest human: the man cutting banana leaves in the forest.
From a distance, the mad ghost shivers. Madness for a ghost is the path from ethereality to complete existence. The seed condenses remaining fire and steam into a solid form, combined with unbearable hunger. The ghost, still mostly spirit, can fit into any space and mould his liquid body into any form. He drags his new body toward the man and opens his mouth wide to swallow him. But he sees the large iron dao hidden under the banana leaves on the man's shoulder. Unable to touch the man because of the iron, the clever ghost hides behind a gamhar tree and waits for him to pass. He observes the man closely, acquiring his features: wide shoulders, chest hair like a peacock's wings, and a slight stoop. He grows hands and feet, but his feet are heavy from never having been on the ground. The father goes deeper into the forest, oblivious, while the ghost drags his feet toward the village in search of humans.
