Pikku : The Storyteller 👧

T he tale goes centuries back to the city of Paithan(modern day Maharashtra somewhere close to Aurangabad) . In a small village called Sauviragram, which lay along the banks of the great river Godavari, lived a woman named Ilaa. Her family was engaged in cotton farming. It was the harvest season, and cotton had to be picked from the plants. The wholesalers and traders from the city would be arriving in just a few weeks, carrying gold and goods for barter. The bales of cotton had to be ready in time! Work was at its peak! But Ilaa was not to be found in the fields. She wasn't working. Instead, she was sitting by the banks of the great river Godavari. 'I am sick of this!' she grunted loudly. No ear was there to hear her grudge. But her absence was conspicuous to her mother. ‘Where is Ilaa?’ asked her mother to Utsa, one of Ilaa’s sisters. ‘Same answer Aaii, annoyed at someone’s behaviour, sitting at the banks of Godavari, with legs in water, dreaming of some be...