Banana Blossoms

One couple had been married for three years, and had only one daughter, named Dohkoba. When Dohkoba turned 10 years old, it was clear that the couple had no other children. The wife then told the husband to consult Wee, who was considered a village fortune teller, and ask her whether they would have more children. The husband visited Wee and asked her whether they would have more children. Wee answered, "Both of you are destined to have only one child." The husband returned home and told the wife what Wee had answered. 

One year later, the wife made the husband revisit Wee and ask her whether it was true that it was their destiny to have only one child. The husband went to Wee's house and asked her what his wife had demanded him to ask. Wee gave the same answer as the previous year, "Yes, both of you are destined to have only one child. However, this child of yours will rarely work or do anything because someone else would do all the work for her." 

Another year passed and the wife, again, made her husband revisit Wee's house to ask the same question. This time, Wee instructed them to kill their daughter, Dohkoba, which would allow them to have many more children afterwards. The husband returned home, told his wife what Wee had advised them to do, and persuaded her to kill their own daughter. He gave a reason that every day she was visited by many men and did not manage to finish her work. In the meantime, Dohkoba, who had been working in the fields, returned home and was confronted by her own mother who said, "You are the only child we have. You have no siblings. Wee advised us to kill you so we can have more children. I've instructed Dad to kill you tomorrow." Having heard that, Dohkoba became silent. Her friends walked past by, inviting her to join them for a bath, but she refused to go. Another group of friends invited her to go have food with them, but she, again, refused to eat. At night, Dohkoba could not sleep, as she kept thinking about being killed by her own father on the next day. 

In the morning, Dohkoba's parents woke up early to kill a chicken because they wanted to cook chicken soup for their daughter as her last meal. Dohkoba saw her parents awake and told them that, "If you want to kill me, please do it in the deep forest." Her father agreed. Then, Dohkoba and her father walked into the deep forest. The father was carrying a shovel with him, while Dohkoba was carrying a bag full of her clothes and possessions. During the trip, they walked past the field of Johpokae when they accidentally saw them walking by. With curiosity, Johpokae followed the father and daughter and sneaked up on them. When arriving at the forest, Dohkoba told her father this was the place for him to kill her and it was time to do so. Before killing her, the father fed her with some food and water, but she refused to eat. The only thing she did was to turn her back away from her father, who eventually stabbed her in the back with his shovel and then walked away. 

Right after the father left Dohkoba's body, Johpokae rushed out from his hiding and attempted to help Dohkoba. He had so much sympathy for Dohkoba that he wrapped his arms around her body until he fell asleep. During his sleep, he saw an old man in his dream. The old man said to him, "If you really want to save Dohkoba, you must follow my instructions. When you wake up, you must jump forward. Whatever you jump into, either a tree or a bamboo, you must bite off a piece of that tree, chew it thoroughly, and use it to treat Dohkoba's wound." Immediately, Johpokae woke up and jumped forward. He crashed into a tree and, unfortunately, got unconscious. When regaining consciousness, Johpokae found that he got a cut on his head and some of his hair got stuck to the tree. Johpokae immediately bit off some wood from the tree he had crashed into, chewed it thoroughly and used it to treat Dohkoba's wound. After a while, Dohkoba regained consciousness. Johpokae carried her back to his field, where they rested and later harvested rice in the field together.  

When it got dark, Johpokae did not go back home. His grandmother got worried about him, so she packed some food and walked to the field looking for him. There, the grandmother found her grandson with Dohkoba. Johpokae told his grandmother everything he had seen and everything that had happened to Dohkoba. The grandmother decided to take both of them home. After that, she got Johpokae and Dohkoba to tie a knot, meaning "to get married". 

Since then, Johpokae and Dohkoba had lived a happy life, helping each other to work until their granary was filled with rice grain. In contrast, Dohkoba's parents had to live a difficult life, having neither food nor water to eat. They had to make a living from weaving and selling leashes used for cows, oxen, and buffalos. Whenever they earned money, they had to use it to buy rice. One day, Johpokae saw Dokoba's parents by chance and learned from other villagers about their hard life. He told other villagers that, "If any of you happen to meet Dohkoba's parents, tell them to make some cow leashes and trade with my rice." When his announcement eventually reached Dohkoba’s father, he immediately wove some leashes and rushed to Johpokae 's house. There, he met Johpokae and Johpokae 's wife, but he did not know that Johpokae’s wife was his own daughter because he did not recognize her. Johpokae told him to return the next day with his wife, and Johpokae would give them a lot of rice. On the following day, both Dokoba's father and mother went to Johpokae 's house. Johpokae went upstairs and killed chickens and a pig to be used for their wedding ceremony. Then, Johpokae told them the truth that his wife was actually their daughter, whom they had attempted to murder but had been rescued and survived. He then gave them pork and rice. After going back home, Dokoba's parents were stressed, thinking about what they had done to their own daughter. They sighed heavily with stress, and their heavy sigh turned into fire. Unfortunately, the fire burned down their house and killed them.