Lita’s cat, otter and rat

Overview

Lita buys a milk-stealing cat, a fish-taking otter and a paper-gnawing rat from people hunting them. Later his wife takes his magical ring and leaves with her lover, staging a disappearance that leads to his imprisonment. The rat enters the prison, hears his request for help and relays it to the others. The three search together, finding the couple’s splendid palace beyond the Ganges; the otter carries the cat on its back and the rat rides on the cat.

The rat recruits others to tunnel through the wall and eventually tickles the sleeping woman’s nose with its tail, making her sneeze out the ring hidden in her mouth. The cat blocks the tunnel until it is recovered. During the return crossing a kite’s attack makes the rat drop the ring. The otter finds it in a fish, but another kite attack carries that fish away; after women take the fish, the cat follows them and obtains its stomach, recovering the ring a third time.

The restored ring enables Lita to bring the eloping couple before the magistrate and clear himself. He later releases his helpers near a market and fish-filled tank, and their mutual promises of assistance remain. The final gifts are a caught fish from the otter and stolen milk from the cat. Their speech, cooperation and distinct skills are explicit; the text supplies no personal names or transformations and does not make the animals biological relatives.

Origins & earliest records

Santal Parganas, eastern India; source-specific Santali storytelling

Records & interpretation

Complete relevant tale directly read with existing collection preface and narrator-chain record.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Folklore of the Santal Parganas

   Cecil Henry Bompas, translator; O. Bodding, collector; Sagram Murmu, principal Santali writer credited in preface · 1909

   XXII, Lita and His Animals, pp. 88–97

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Historical translation of collected narrativesBompas, Folklore of the Santal Parganas (1909), XXII, Lita and His Animals, pp. 88–97Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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