Stories from India, Part 2

Our tent at Sumoor, Nubra Valley

This was a story told to me by my grandmother in Nubra Valley. On the first day of our arrival in the valley, there was no power, so I decided to have a “story time” before we headed off to bed. This is what came out of it:

Once upon a time, there was a great king who had seven wives. The first six were childless, but the seventh one was pregnant. Jealousy and envy filled the hearts of the first six, who knew that as soon as the child was born, the youngest wife would be the king’s favorite. The eldest came up with a plan that would depend on the six being present at the time of the delivery. So when the king arranged for a midwife to aid the youngest queen with her birth, the six persuaded the king that no midwife would be necessary; instead, they would be more than happy to help her.

The day came when the queen was due to give birth to her child. To the surprise of the other six queens, the youngest didn’t give birth to just one child; she gave birth to seven boys and one girl. The other queens quickly took the children, put them in a dirt pot, and then buried them in the earth. They then brought 8 young dogs, and showed them to the king, saying that that is what the youngest queen delivered. The king, outraged, banished the youngest queen to the forest on the outskirts of his dominion. The youngest queen, wondering what had happened, resigned herself to her fate, and built herself a small hut and lived off of the fruits and berries from the trees.

Meanwhile, the kingdom was slowly deteriorating. A drought affected the crops in the kingdom, leading to a great famine in the kingdom. The crime rate exponentially increased, with robberies and murders becoming everyday affairs. The war in the southern part of the kingdom was at a stalemate, and lives were being lost each day. The king, praying that his kingdom would be saved, decided to perform a pooja (a religious ceremony) to appease the Gods. The head priest told him that he needed 7 champa flower and 1 naga flower (not really sure if that’s how you translate it from Hindi to English) and that the flowers had to be picked by the queens. These flowers were only located in the forest at the border of his kingdom. So the queens went on an expedition to find the flowers. When they finally found the tree with the 8 flowers, the eldest queen went up to the tree to pick the flowers when the tree grew slightly bigger, leaving the flowers slightly out of reach of the queen. Out of nowhere, someone said, “Tell the king to come.” The queens and their bodyguards looked around, but there was no one there. The second oldest queen came, but the same thing happened, with the statement repeated. Each successive queen had the same thing happen to them.

Finally, the queens brought the king to the sight of the tree with the 7 champa flowers and 1 naga flower. When the king went to pick the flowers, to his surprise, the flowers turned into 7 boys and 1 girl. One of the boys told the story of how when they had just been born, the queens buried them under the earth. They turned into these flowers, hoping that one day, the king would come and they could become children again. The king, furious at what his queens had done, banished them from his kingdom, and together with his 8 children, he went to find his youngest queen.

And they all lived happily ever after.