Written by Nawang Chhoetso

“No Childik rang ache pula sum”-Brother Childik and his three sisters

It is probably my favourite tale, which was often narrated by my grandparents during my childhood before going to sleep.
It always starts with the sentence, “Ache pula sum la no chichik yotuk” i.e. three sisters had a younger brother named Childik.

Childik is a very unusual name as no one in our region has such a name. I am not sure if this name has any meaning. Maybe errors in oral traditions over several generations resulted in a name like Childik, or maybe it’s a word that we lost over the generations.
Although there is a word “Chikdil” in Bhoti language that means unity.

This story is about three sisters and their younger brother and an incident that happened one day during winter .So before the onset of winter, Childik was advised by his sisters to make preparations for winter .
This is a common thing even today as many people still have earthen houses. During summers people with earthen houses cover their roof with a layer of “shala” (made by mixing cow dung, solution of boiled jaggery and barley). This is done to reduce water penetration.

Along with this Childik was also advised to build a “Raa“( Raa is a room for cattle that is inside the building of the house) for his Yak because “Thara“( Thara is an open space for cattle with walls but no roof) will be filled with ice and snow. Childik refused to do so as he wanted to enjoy the pleasant weather before the onset of harsh winter.

When winter came Childik was troubled by water leakages in his house, his Yak had no place to stay . So he went to his eldest sister and knocked on her door singing,
“Ache Ache”
“Sister sister”

“Ache ngala go yee perang“
“Sister please open the door for me.”

“Makang Gaangpo chuyi yi duk, Balang nagla thar duk”
“My room is filled with water, the cattle yard is filled with ice.”

His eldest sister refused to shelter him and complained about how he ignored their concerns earlier when he was told to prepare for the winter.

After being denied entry by his two elder sisters, Childik went to the youngest sister. Seeing her younger brother in a such poor condition, she immediately invited him inside.
Firstly she made space for his Yak in her “Raa“. Then she made “Joo Baksel“, still a very popular dish with older people in Spiti; it is made with “bala” (dairy product) and “baksel” (made with wheat), which are both locally available since old times.
After having lots of Joo baksel, Childik requested his sister to bring a utensil as he needed to vomit. To which his sister said that he’d have to vomit in the Bakso (a bucket kept for waste food).

Childik refused and asked for a clean utensil.Tired, his sister agreed to his demand and brought a clean utensil for him. But to their surprise, Childik vomited turquoise, red precious stone, Berak( traditional ornament worn on the head during marriage ceremonies made of silver and turquoise).

He gifted these jewels to his sister and expressed his gratitude. Next morning when the weather became clear, his sister wore her new jewellery and went out to remove snow from her roof, because if kept longer the sun would melt the snow and that could’ve damaged her earthen house.

Surprised by her jewellery the elder sisters inquired as to who gave it to her. So she narrated the entire incident to them.
Next day Childik was invited to the elder sister’s house. He was offered the same food but this time instead of ornaments he vomited for real. And this story ends here.

Childik’s story was an important part of my childhood as we would treat our younger siblings kindly, taking a moral lesson from this story; although greed too had a role to play in it.