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Written by : Mudita Agarwal

Illustrated by: Sugrib Kumar Juanga, Sanatan

Juanga, Ramani Ranjan Sarangi,Sanatan Juanga, Pradip Kumar

Sahoo, Sugrib Kumar Juanga

The Well of Happiness

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In a small village near the mountains, lived a happy young couple.

While the husband was called Khapocha, his wife was called

Khapochi.

Khapocha worked in the farm all day. When he came home in the

evening, he sat and peacefully talked to his wife, as he ate the

meal cooked by her.

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The couple had a dog called Narayan.

Every morning, when Khapocha left for the fields, Narayan badehim goodbye at the gate.

Narayan then wandered around the village, taking a walk along

the river and meeting his friends.

On the way back home, he always brought back something for

Khapochi to cook for the evening meal.

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Sometimes he would bring back something big, like a tortoise.

The whole family and the neighbourhood animals would enjoy ahearty meal on such days.

On days that he brought back something small to eat, the family

shared the meal amongst themselves and ate happily.

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Every noon, Khapochi would wait for Narayan to bring back

something to be cooked for the meal.

She would then set her big black pot on a pile of sticks and begin

cooking dinner for the family. She gently stirred the contents of the

pot, singing to herself as she cooked.

The smells wafting from her pot attracted the neighbourhood

animals to her hut.

They looked forward to a few morsels of food, which Khapochi

always shared with them.

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One day, a very strange thing happened to Narayan.

On his walk, he met an odd-looking creature who he had never

seen before in the village.

This creature had a huge round face and no hands or body. He had

two big bead-like eyes which were spell-binding. They locked

Narayan in a long steady unblinking stare.

And Narayan was not the same after that.

From then on he refused to go for his walks. He stayed at home,timid and scared.

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Khapochi’s big black pot sat empty under the tree. Nothing was

ever cooked in it now.

The neighbourhood animals sat sadly, waiting for the day when the

sweet smell of a delicious meal being cooked, would waft in the air

again.

They waited and waited......

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The spell cast by the strange creature worked on the whole family

and on their farm too.

Khapocha’s farm soon became dry. It no longer had food and

water.

Khapocha and Khapochi became sad and unhappy.

Days passed into weeks and months.

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Then one day, something magical happened.

Khapocha found a big blue bundle in the middle of his farm. Thevillagers collected around him as he opened it to see its contents.

The bundle contained a small well of water.

Khapocha dug a deep hole and buried the well in the ground.

He was sure that this well would bring happiness in his life again.

He called it the ‘Well of Happiness’.

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And sure enough, very soon, the little ‘Well of Happiness’ was a

river.

All animals came to it and drank happiness to their heart’s

content.

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The farms grew green again.

And Narayan, he was back for his walks around the village. He met

friends and on his way back always carried something that Khapochi

could cook for dinner.

Every neighbourhood animal was happy. Delicious smells had begun

to waft from the big black pot now.

The ‘Well of Happiness’ had indeed made their lives happy again.