FolkloreBefore any honey collector steps into the forest, a promise is made to the lady of the wild. It is not a large ceremony. A few words at a shrine that is often nothing more than painted clay under a tin roof, and then the boats go.
Bonbibi is claimed by nobody and asked by everyone. Hindu and Muslim collectors make the same promise in the same place, which in this delta is less remarkable than it sounds. The agreement is simple: take only what you came for, and the forest lets you leave.
Every family here knows someone the agreement did not hold for. That is not treated as evidence against it.