Story: Ramai and his Animals

Ramai had always loved animals, of all kinds, ever since he was a very young boy. Naturally he had always wanted a pet of his own, but his parents always denied his request. So, in order to meet him halfway, they would take Ramai to the zoo as often as they were able. The boy enjoyed every moment of these occasional trips, but once it was time to leave his excitement would vanish. 

Over the years Ramai’s parents reconsidered getting a pet for their son, along with his brother and sister, and gave each of them money to pick out a pet from the pet store. 

After this the three children set off to find their new best friends. Ramai’s sister chose a rambunctious schnauzer puppy, while his brother settled on a lizard of some kind. 

Ramai, on the other hand, was distracted along the way by a group of boys who were torturing a small orange cat and immediately ran to its rescue. 

“Hey! Stop! Leave the poor thing alone!” Ramai yelled. 

The kids just glared as Ramai approached them and the biggest boy blocked his path so that he couldn’t reach the frightened feline. 

“You can’t tell us what to do, loser!” he spit out. Just then the boy noticed the dollar bill sticking out of Ramai’s pocket and sneered. “Unless you’re willing to pay up.” 

Ramai watched as the bully glanced at the money his parents gave him and began to reach for it. “Fine! I’ll give you some of my money, but ONLY if you let me take the poor cat you’ve been messing with.” 

The other boy smiled, “Deal.” 

Ramai then handed him 10 of the 50 dollars he had, scooped up the shivering orange tabby, and left. 

As he continued on he noticed a scrawny brown dog tied to a fence, without shelter or water during the hot day. Ramai instantly walked up to it and began to scratch it behind the ears, and just as this was happening a middle-aged woman came towards him. 

“Do you want this dog?” She asked.

Ramai looked at her for a moment before nodding. 

“Well, he’s mine. But I can’t afford to take care of him anymore. He’s yours for 20 dollars.” she replied. 

Ramai then handed her another portion of his money, took the chain off the dog, and headed down the street with both of the animals he had acquired in the last half hour. 

Once again, he found another animal in need. This time it was an otter, strangely enough. A man was fishing along the river and had accidentally hooked the poor creature. It looked as if he was about to put it out of its misery before Ramai rushed forward to stop him. 

“Please don’t hurt it!” Ramai called out. “I’ll pay you to spare it!” 

The toothless man looked puzzled by his request, but handed over the otter in exchange for 10 dollars. Now Ramai was the owner of three miscellaneous animals, and decided to head back home. He felt that it was best to skip out on a trip to the pet store. 

However, along the way, he heard a terrified yell in a nearby yard and went to investigate. Once he got there he saw a mortified young girl pointing at a small garter snake. An older man, probably her father, was about to kill the snake with a shovel. 

Ramai stopped yet another animal from being harmed by hollering at the man, who gave him an annoyed look. 

“Sir, would it be okay if I take the snake? Instead of you killing it?” Ramai asked. 

The man looked towards his daughter and shrugged. He then agreed and asked for money in return.  Ramai then gave the man the last of his money and gently picked up the tiny snake. 

Over the course of the day he had somehow acquired a cat, a dog, an otter, and a snake. 

His parents wouldn’t be happy. 

Ramai pondered what to do as he took the long walk home, and passed by a small abandoned shed. He then got the idea to house his animals there for the time being. 

(The old shed Ramai kept his animals, source) 

Inside the shed he found that there was enough space for all of his rescued animals, and left them there so that he could go home to get them food and water. 

His parents questioned him when he arrived, and were even more puzzled when he began taking bread and sandwich meat from the fridge. 

“You DIDN’T get a pet today?

“But you’ve always wanted a pet Ramai.”

“Why are you taking all the sandwich meat?” 

Ramai brushed them off and mentioned that he was going to hang out with a friend, and that he promised to bring sandwiches. He then ran out the door, stuffing a couple water bottles and bowls into a backpack. 

After a while he reached his miniature zoo and divided up the bread, sandwich meat, and water among the starving animals. The dog and cat ate the food happily, but the otter and snake didn’t touch it at all. This worried Ramai and he wondered what he should do next. 

What food would the two animals enjoy?

As Ramai was trying to come up with a game plan he heard rustling around the door of his shed. He quickly looked over his shoulder in that direction and saw his mom and dad staring in disbelief. 

“Ramai. Where did you get all these animals?” his mom questioned. 

“You do know that you can’t just feed them meat and bread right?” his father mentioned. 

Ramai sighed and began to explain himself to his parents. Surprisingly they weren’t mad, and in fact they were happily hugging him by the end of his story. 

“We’re SO proud of you son!” his father exclaimed. “You tried to help these animals when they were in need.” 

His mother nodded and looked at her husband. “What do you say we let Ramai keep his little ragtag team of animals? I think he’d take great care of them, with the right supplies of course.”

His father agreed and Ramai smiled so big that has face began to hurt. He then gathered his cat, dog, otter, and snake in for a group hug. In the end he got his pet, but he also got a zoo. 

Author’s Note: I based this story off of the story “Ramai and his Animals” from the Santal Folklore Unit, and I changed it quite a bit. In the original Ramai’s father did give him and his siblings money, but they were supposed to use it in a “profitable” way. His brothers spent their money on cattle and horses, but Ramai used his to rescue animals who were going to be killed. I used that part for my re-write, and took off the end of the original story because the father ends up killing Ramai’s animals, and I didn’t want that. 

Bibliography: Santal Folklore translated by C.H Bompas, "Ramai and his Animals." Source.