Ramesh who wanted to learn shivering

There was a small village in Kerala called Branthan (mad people) Kavu. Here lived a cultivator called Shiva. He had two sons, called Rama and Ramesh. Rama was a very good boy and learnt how to till the land. He always learnt new things. All people said Rama was a very good boy. But Ramesh was more handsome than he was. He never learnt how to cultivate. He used to spend days together without doing anything. Shiva used to chide him daily. “You should learn cultivation. You should learn new things like Rama.” But Ramesh never bothered.

In the Branthan Kavu, one day there was torrential rain accompanied with thunder and lightning. Everybody was shivering with fear. But Ramesh was not bothered. He was singing and playing. Shiva asked him, “Are you not afraid? Don’t you shiver?” Ramesh just laughed and told, “ What is fear, what is shivering? I want to learn that. Tomorrow I am going to learn shivering.” All villagers laughed at Ramesh. One of them danced before him with a tiger’s mask. Another pushed Ramesh in to the well. Another shouted at him, when he was not expecting. But Ramesh did not bother. He only told, “Will some body teach me how to shiver?”

Shiva got wild and told Ramesh, “There is nobody in this village who can teach you to shiver. So you go out some where and learn at least shivering.” Ramesh agreed to this and went out of his village. He started walking away from his village. After some time he came to a big town.

He met one woodcutter in this village. Woodcutter asked him, “Child why have you come here. What do you want to learn.” Ramesh replied, “I want to learn to shiver.” Woodcutter laughed aloud and told, “OK, I will teach you how to shiver.”

That wood cutter took Ramesh to the forest at night and tied him to a big tree and told him,” I will come tomorrow. By that time you would have learned to shiver.” That night one tiger and one lion came near the tree. But Ramesh was not afraid of them, because he knew who they were. Then suddenly some black body fell down on Ramesh. Ramesh was not at all afraid and slept well.” Next day the wood cutter came and to his surprise Ramesh told him, “Hey, I have not still learnt how to shiver.”

Then the woodcutter took him to the local thief. The thief was black and had big beard. He laughed very loudly. He asked, Ramesh, “What do want to learn.” Ramesh told him, I want to learn shivering. Then the thief told , you come again to my house alone at night. Ramesh said Ok. That night, Ramesh went to meet the thief. Thief had applied lot of charcoal on his face. When Ramesh met him, he also pushed Ramesh down and started to climb on him. Ramesh was a very strong boy. He pushed the thief down and told him, “You are looking funny?” and started laughing. The thief told, “I cannot teach you to shiver. Do one thing. Go to the King’s booth Bungalow and stay there for three days.”

King agreed to all this and Ramesh was taken to the booth bungalow and left there. Till it was dark there were no problem. Ramesh swept a room, cleaned it well and raised a raging fire and sat near it along with the knife and a broom. That night after it struck ten, he heard a noise. When he turned he saw two big black cats with red eyes coming towards him. They were crying horribly. They told, “We are cold. Allow us to sit near the fire.” Ramesh welcomed them to sit near him. Both of them again started crying and told, “We both are hungry. We will eat you.” Ramesh told them,” By all means, but please cut your nails first. “He then asked them to show their nails. They agreed. He went near them and killed both of them with his knife and threw them in the fire. At that time it struck 12 and every thing became all right. Next day morning the king came and to his surprise found Ramesh all right.

The next night around 10 PM, suddenly a big cot came in to the room, where Ramesh was sitting. Ramesh thought wonderful and jumped on the cot. Then the cot started moving at a great speed. Ramesh tied himself to the cot with a bed sheet and started sleeping. Then suddenly lot of eagles came to the room. Ramesh liked those birds and invited them to play with him. When they came near, he hit them with a broom and put them in the fire. The clock struck 12 and the birds and cots vanished. Next day morning, again the king came to see Ramesh. Ramesh was happy and told him about the cot and the birds. The king asked him, “Where you not afraid?” Ramesh asked, “What is it to be afraid? I do not know.”

The third night at around 10 PM, some 4 people brought a very cold man in to the room. The man was not speaking. Ramesh sat near the cold man and started rubbing his body with his hands. But the cold man was only shouting horribly. Ramesh did not bother and took the cold man near the fire. Even then the man was cold. Then ramesh hugged the cold man and started sleeping. Around 12 those four people came again and took away the cold man. They told Ramesh, “You are very brave.”

Next day the king came and found that Ramesh has still not learned how to shiver. He liked Ramesh so much and gave his daughter in marriage to him. Ramesh thus became a king. But daily he would be muttering, I do not know how to shiver. One day the princess got wild and when Ramesh was sleeping put a frog and some ice inside the shirt he was wearing . Ramesh suddenly woke up and started running here and there. The frog was moving all over his body. Ramesh started shivering.