Week 13 Storytelling: The Legend of the Waterfall

Khasi Ghost Stories

The Legend of the Waterfall 

Once there was a woman Ka Likai, average in most ways, but set apart by the series of terrible events that defined her life and continue to precede her name long after her death. Her story begins in a modest home where she lived happily with her husband and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of her first child. The happy couple filled was filled with excitement and their love grew just as quickly as their baby did. They fell more in love every day and were genuinely pleased with their lives. Sure, they weren’t rich, but they were happy and they were about to receive the greatest gift of all.

Finally the day came and Ka Likai went into labor. She held herself well, not panicking and continuing to walk around the house while focusing on her breathing and rubbing her belly. Her husband followed closely behind, one hand on her shoulder the other holding her hand. He stayed by her side for the entire 8 hours of labor as her contractions increased in frequency and strength. He watched his wife’s pain grow but was incredibly proud of how strong she was and how lucky he was to have her. She delivered a beautiful baby girl and he helped her clean their new child up. The new parents cried together and held the baby tight. Neither had ever been happier and everything seemed to be going so incredibly well. 

Unfortunately, this happiness was short-lived. 2 months after the birth of their daughter, tragedy struck and the husband grew very ill. He fought, but was simply not able to overcome the illness and died leaving his wife and daughter behind. Ka Likai struggled greatly to stay strong for her daughter under the crippling sadness of losing her husband. She got a second job and worked long hours day and night with her baby swaddled on her back but it wasn’t enough. She could not support them. 

Ka Likai spent many hours clutching her daughter and crying. How was she going to get through this? After lots of contemplation, she finally came to the conclusion that she would have to marry again. She did not want to, but she would do anything to make sure her daughter is okay. She found a husband and they were married, but it wasn’t long before she came to realize that he was a cruel and jealous man. He treated her with contempt, but most of his anger was directed at her daughter. He hated how Ka Likai paid so much attention to her daughter and so little to him. His jealousy was all-consuming and he vowed to change his situation.

He quit working, forcing Ka Likai to work even more and giving him plenty of time to stay home with his step-daughter. Ka Likai thought this would be a perfect opportunity to bond, and hoped it would diffuse some of the tension between her husband and daughter. However, his time spent with the young girl was spent bullying and abusing her. Each day his abuse got worse until one day he found out that the only reason his wife married him was to take care of her daughter. He was furious and decided that abusing the girl simply wasn’t enough to get back at his foolish wife. 

So, he called the girl into the kitchen and stabbed her repeatedly, killing her viciously before chopping her up and cooking the pieces. When his wife came home, he had the table set and he greeted her at the door with a smile and a hug. Ka Likai had no idea what had gotten into him, but liked the change in his attitude. She was briefly concerned when her daughter didn’t come bounding up to the door, but he told her that he had sent her to a friend’s house so they could have some time alone. She accepted his answer and sat down. Together they ate and the meal seemed to be going really well until it came to the end and she reached into the dessert basket and felt something strange. “What’s this?” she wondered aloud as she pulled out the mystery object from the basket. 

To her horror it was her daughter’s severed hand! She screamed and demanded to know what was going on. Her husband broke down and confessed everything. Ka Likai’s eyes grew wide with horror and she screamed before bawling into her hands. She was beside herself with grief and proceeded to run out the front door, her husband chasing after behind her. She ran, tears streaming down her face, to the edge of the great waterfall. She never stopped, never slowed down, and shot off the edge. She fell fast and landed with a great slap followed by silence. 

She was gone, but her legend endured. It is said that even today if you stand near the falls and listen really carefully you can still hear her agonizing cries and moans. No one has forgotten Ka Likai and her story serves as a cautionary tale for women contemplating remarrying. 

Author's Note:

I chose this story over the others in the Khasi Folktales unit because it was a cool and creepy story behind the naming of a natural feature. It kept with last week's theme of messed up stories. Plus, I thought it was interesting that people use this tale as a way to discourage widows from remarrying. It definitely highlights cultural differences between the Khasi and my own western values and such. Also, I love ghost tales. I am a big fan of ghost adventures and other ghost shows or stories and have been on multiple ghost-hunting adventures of my own with my family and friends. This week's storytelling reflects my macabre interests and fascination with circumstances and cultural practices surrounding death. It is a little long, but I was just having a lot of fun writing it. I'm hoping I broke it up enough to keep it from seeming long or from boring readers. 

Here's a link to the original story: The Leap of Ka Likai

Image Information:

1. Waterfall at Pua’a Ka’a State Wayside Park

Photo by Kan, found on Kan Walk Will Travel

2. Baby, Child, Daughter, Family, Girl, Happy

Public domain, found on Pixabay

3. Mourning of the Angel

Photo by Phospheros, found on Flickr

4. Esposas de Matrimonio

Uploaded by Hohum, found on Wikipedia

5. People, Knife, Stabbing, Stab, Kill, Murder, Man

Public domain, found on Pixabay

6. Skin

Photo by SplitShire, found on Pixabay