Achik Tale Metra Atching — A Garo folktale about two fish — one that swims, one that climbs — and what it teaches about the difference between ambition and self-knowledge.
For further research, see the Garo people of Meghalaya.
From A’Chik Golporang (Garo Folklore) Part II, Story 2 (Metra aro Atching), collected by Dhoronsing K. Sangma. The climbing perch (Anabas testudineus — locally called koi or climbing fish) is found in the streams of Meghalaya and is well known for its ability to travel on land.
In the streams of the Garo hills, there are two kinds of fish who were neighbours. Metra lived in the deeper water — swift, elegant, perfectly adapted to the current. Atching was smaller, and could do something Metra could not: Atching could leave the water.
The climbing fish (Atching) can travel across land using its spiny gill covers as legs, moving from one stream to another, crossing dry ground for short distances when it needs to. It is a fish that is also, in a limited way, a land creature.
One day, after heavy rains had raised the stream and connected several water bodies, Atching crossed a stretch of land to reach a new pool. Metra watched from the deeper water, impressed. When the rains receded and the land dried out, Atching came back.
“How did you do that?” Metra asked.
“My gill covers,” Atching said. “They move like legs when I push them against the ground.”
Metra thought about this for a long time. Then, the next dry season, when a small rivulet between two pools dried up, Metra tried to cross it.
Metra got halfway.
The A’chik storytellers end the story with a precise observation: Dosm krae nuavskaa i gnang — “It is not the same river for both.” The gift Atching had was specifically Atching’s. Metra’s gifts were specifically Metra’s. The question was never which fish was better. The question was: which stream is actually yours?
Every industry is full of Metra trying to cross the land because Atching made it look possible. The restaurant that becomes a catering company. The tea brand that becomes a consultancy. The craftsperson who becomes a content creator because content creators seem to make money.
Sometimes the crossing works. Atching is proof. But Atching’s crossing was Atching’s specific anatomy. The gill cover that functions as a leg is not a feature every fish has or can develop.
The Tea Story is a Metra business. It is not trying to be Atching. The garden grows tea in the West Garo Hills. The factory processes it there. The tea is sold directly from that place. This is Metra’s river. We do not cross land.
What are you doing in your deepest water? That is always the better question.
The hills where this story lives are the same hills where our tea grows. Explore teas from West Garo Hills →
This story draws on A'Chik Golporang (Garo Folklore), compiled by Dhoronsing K. Sangma, published by Tura Book Room, Tura, Garo Hills, Meghalaya. This is an original English narrative — not a translation — using authentic Garo characters and situations as its creative foundation. We gratefully acknowledge the A'chik storytelling tradition.
Tea Story tea is grown in the West Garo Hills — where these stories live. Single-garden, no middlemen, re-brews three times. Explore our teas →
