Traditions and Transitions folk narrative in the contemporary world
16-20
July 2001 The University of Melbourne, Australia
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Traditions and Transitions folk narrative in the contemporary world |
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The Balochi oral tradition recounts that Shey Murid, son
of the chief of the Kahiri tribe, is deprived of his fiancée who is then
married to Mir Chakar Rind, the ruler of Balochistan in the fifeenth to
sixteenth century. Shey Murid, who passionately loves his fiancée, abandons his
homeland and sets out for foreign lands.
After thirty years of wandering he returns to his city at the time of an
archery contest organised by the Rind nobles. Reaching there, he asks for a bow
and arrow to test his arm. The nobles do not recognize him and make fun of him
but give him a bow and an arrow amidst mocking and jeering. He draws the bow
but it is unable to withstand the power of his arm and breaks into pieces. They
give him another that also breaks. After he breaks the third bow they ask
someone to bring the ‘iron bow of Shey Murid’, which nobody has been able to
draw since Murid's departure.
They bring him the bow but it is in very poor condition as it has been
neglected for so many years. He kisses and hugs it as if it were his beloved
and, after fixing it with great care and skill, he looses three arrows, passing
one through the end of the other. As no one else has ever been able to draw the
‘iron bow’, the Rind nobles begin to suspect that he is Shey Murid and send
someone to ask Shey Murid’s childhood playmate and sweetheart Hani to describe
any marks by which they may identify him. Hani obliges and the unknown bowman
is subsequently identified as Shey Murid. Feeling pity for his plight, the
nobles urge Mir Chakar to divorce Hani so that the two lovers can be reunited
and Mir Chakar agrees.
This story is preserved in oral epics sung by wandering minstrels and passed
from generation to generation.
In this paper I will discuss the bow motif in Shey Murid with special reference to Homer's Odysseus.
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