Dr. Jagdish Lachhani
agdishlachhani@yahoo.com
Title…..Folk tales from grandma….
Introduction ….
Children love short stories. Once upon a time, grandparents used to narrate them to children, but that is matter of past now. May be , it is because of lack of time or lack of very will to tell ; though however absence of joint family systems could also be one of contributing factors for this changing scenario. Children of the day are different from the ones in yester-years , they are much wiser and intelligent these days than their counterparts of yesteryears. As a result they have become more self-dependent.
Electronic media, that is computers and television have taken over task of elders. Even in such times , I am discharging duty of telling stories.
Earlier, I used to narrate stories to my children, today I am narrating them to my grand-children.
I have narrated one Sindhi folk tale in this book. Folk tales are never outdated nor do they ever lose their charm and sheen. Why do we call them folk tale? Because, it is loved by people (folks). Folk tales are free from narrow boundaries of space, time and geographical frontiers and appeal readers of any age group everywhere.
Of late, not much is written in child literature, but they are kept alive by word of mouth. We have heard them listening with all ears to our grandparents.
These stories are in very simple language and I have used graphics too to make them more interesting.
I would recommend them for bed-time reading to children.
Dr.Jagdish lachhani.
THE QUEEN OF FLOWERS
This is very old tale. There used to be a king.. very gentle, honest and generous. People in his kingdom were too pleased with him. But, this kingdom had very peculiar tradition and according to this tradition, girls had no right to survival. The midwivs appointed by state were given task of throwing female babies on birth into sea.
No body knew why king had made this stipulation and none could dare ever question him on it. People took his word and order as ordained from god and obeyed it blindly .
Two of king’s daughters too were thrown into sea and king was now left with one male child.
The prince , 16 years now, was very handsome and brave too. Sports and hunting were major pursuits that kept prince engaged most often.
One day, while prince was returning from long hunting into jungle, he spotted women with something wrapped up in red cloth and trying to throw it into sea.
The prince noticed movement in the wrapped-up object. In fact, the wrapped object was nothing but one female child brought by these two women for throwing into sea.
But, before these two women, who were mid-wives, could accomplish this act, the prince rushed to stop them..
“ What is all this wrapped up in red cloth that you are trying to throw into sea?”, the prince enquired with them.
The women hesitated for a while and did not say a word. When prince repeated his question , they began trembling in fear . “ Do not worry, I will cause no harm to you if you tell me truth”, the prince said comforting them.
Thus assured , one of them mustered courage to say, “ the wrapped-up thing is female child born today . She is your sister and as per traditions of this kingdom , we are here to throw her into sea”.
“ Is king aware of all this ?”, the prince checked with this duo of midwives.
“ All this has been happening only with king’s orders. It is old practice here that female children are not allowed to be brought up and as such they are to be thrown into sea on very day of birth. We are entrusted with this work”, replied one of these two.
When prince asked them not to go ahead with drowning of his sister, one of them very meekly prayed , with folded hands, “ Prince, please do not ask us not to throw this female child into sea. If king comes to know that we have disobeyed him, we will be no more”.
But, prince was not one to listen to their pleas and assured them he will never talk to king on this subject . He also told midwives that he will take his sister to far off place and bring her up there.The midwives were left with no option but to agree with the proposal and prince happily took away his sister to some secret place to bring up his sister. She was being brought up at the place of one very close and thick friend of prince. Initially, friend’s mother was reluctant for this responsibility, but later prince somehow persuaded her.
The prince kept visiting his sister there every day all these years . She was strictly prohibited from moving out Whenever he called on his sister, they were playing only indoor games.
But, 12-13 years after living in such secluded environs, she wanted to step out. She wanted to move out in open as internal surroundings suddenly became too suffocating for her . She kept pressuring her brother to take her out, but he would dissuade from moving out fearing it may lead to some trouble for him.
Around this time , king was out of kingdom .Prince wanted to take advantage of this situation and allowed his sister , princess, to step out of home for walk .
One day, as the princess was enjoying horse-riding , she suddenly confronted the king who had cut short his trip and was back to kingdom before schedule.
Seeing a girl in front of him, the king was too angry and princess was just left high and dry seeing king in front of her.
The princess was taken in custody.
King was very tense and summoned the midwives assigned with the task of throwing females babies into sea on their very birth .
The fear was writ large on faces of these midwives as king enquired with them about this girl.
“ Your Excellency, if you pardon us, we will tell the truth”, said one of them .
“ You are pardoned , but tell me truth”, said king.
And, they came out with all details as to how they were left with no option but to spare this girl on insistence of prince.
This made king all the more angry when he came to know his very son had disobeyed him.
King called the hangmen of the state and ordered them to take prince and princess into a jungle and kill them there. He also asked them to come back only with evidence of having killed these two. Can anyone dare disobey king’s orders?
The hangmen took both to a thick jungle. But when they were about to kill prince and princess, they simply could not go ahead with execution . The beauty of princess and innocence of prince were disarming enough and one of hangmen told prince,” we are ready to spare you only if you are ready to go out of this very kingdom”.
Prince said yes to condition and hangmen released them.
And, prince and princess riding on horses went to far off place out of kingdom. The hangmen, in order to give evidence of killing prince and princess killed two deer in jungle and took out their eyes .They appeared before king two eyes and container full of blood as evidence of having killed prince and his sister.
King had no reason to distrust them after seeing this evidence in blood-stained clothes , gouged eyes and a little container filled with blood.
The prince and his sister e on other hand had traveled much away out of their kingdom and reached a very strange place. It was strange place because they found people in statue like positions: sweet-meat dealer had turned stationary and lifeless while weighing the sweets, the children had turned in statue-like condition while playing ; people eating had died in that position , women while cooking in kitchens had turned lifeless in that very posture.
The prince and princess were left spell-bound on seeing such shocking scenes. They moved little further to get some clues to unravel these mysteries. They suddenly came across a palace in front of them. It was a small palace but very beautiful and charming one.
Both entered into this palace with many a rooms. Grocery items too were seen there.
Both sat for a while .
After taking meals there, both started wandering around it. They found no other living being there.
Prince asked his sister to remain indoor and headed out of palace. He was restless to resolve all the confusion. He tried to make out as to what all this was happening.
He wanted answer to why all these people had died and that too while they were busy with one or other act and had turned in statue-like positions. .Suddenly, he saw a big gate in front of him. On opening it, he noticed a big orchid with tall plantations in it. Each of these tall trees had either silver or gold and entire orchid began sparking with reflections from gold and silver. It looked as if celestial galaxy had come down upon this big garden.
This big garden was surrounded by streams . There were fountains too adding to beauty of this garden and also spreading fragrance all around with rose water from them.
Prince was in state of ecstasy.
A little further, prince.saw a small room, in one of corners of this big garden. Each part of this room was attractive enough .Prince entered into this room and saw a very attractive and gorgeous woman seated on golden bedding. Prince was awe-struck seeing such an extraordinarily beautiful woman.. On seeing prince, this beautiful woman reacted first by smiling with him and later she started crying. This added to confusions of prince.
The first impression of prince about this woman was that she was mentally upset.
But, it was not so.
He headed towards her and asked her,” who are you?”He also asked her, “why all the people seen outside are dead??”
The beautiful woman replied,” I am princess of this place. A giant staying behind this mountain wanted to marry me. .But, his proposal was acceptable neither to me nor my parents. WE turned down his offer and it made him get all the more wild with us and in retaliation, he killed all the people, the ones you saw outside. He has kept me also in this captivity”
Prince asked her,” why did you first smile and later began crying on seeing me?”
She replied,” I saw somebody after several years and it made me happy. But I began crying because I am afraid you too will meet similar end that has befallen others here. The giant will kill you also”.
The prince was not at all discouraged and asked her: do you want to marry this giant?.
She replied,” not at all.
Prince thought over a plan and told her if she helps him, he can get her rid of this giant.
The princess told him it is not possible to get rid because none has ever dared to confront this giant.
He told princess to only enquire with this giant wherein lies his lifeline and he will do rest to get rid of this giant.
The princess agreed to the plan.
It however began worrying princess where to hide this prince because giant was in habit of entering the room with the doubts that somebody is around. The princess went inside room and returned with a cap. She told prince to wear this cap and it will make him invisible even to the giant.
And, soon, thereafter, there was earth-shaking signaling giant was coming.
The prince immediately wore the cap and became invisible.
The giant made very roaring entry into room and started smelling around for human blood.
“ There is nobody here excepting me. If you want, you can feast on me”, said Princess trying to calm down his hunger for human flesh.
Giant was happy to hear Princess speak so gently after so many days. He forgot his appetite for human flesh. He became happier when princess came closer and sat beside him.” I have troubled you a lot. Please forgive me . I am ready to marry you. But, I have one doubt “, said princess, addressing giant.
“ And, what is that doubt?” asked giant.
“ What will happen to me if somebody kills you?”, asked princess.
“ Oh! You fool , none can kill me “, replied giant arrogantly.
“Why, none can kill you?”, asked the princess.
“Because no one knows my real lifeline. No one knows whereabouts of my lifeline”,said giant.
“ But, I should know it”, princess said trying to extract information about giant’s real life-source.
“ but , why you should know this?”, asked giant.
But, princess kept insisting on it and prince who was invisible to them was listening to this conversation between the giant and princess. The giant ultimately gave in to persistent probing from princess about whereabouts of lifeline and told her,” there is a mountain about 10 kms from here.It is in southward direction. There is small lake there. Underneath this lake, there is a covering . When you lift this lid, you find a well . Inside this well, there is a big tree. There is a cage on this tree and inside this cage, there is one parrot. And, that parrot is my lifeline”.
The prince was listening to all these details and it was getting late in night also. The princess told giant ,” go, invite your relatives to our marriage”
Later, princess went into her room for sleep. In morning, prince set out in search of the parrot, the very life-line of giant.
He headed southward and kept walking . After a while, he saw a big mountain in front of him and climbed it.He also noticed a small lake. After little relaxation, and taking god’s name, he went into this small lake After searching for a while into waters, he felt some covering touching his feet. He paused here. Lifting it he noticed a big tree there and also a cage and parrot in this cage.
The prince came down and stood before this big tree.He hurriedly went up the tree and pulled out the parrot. The moment cage moved, giant started getting jerks and feeling at unease. The giant started feeling more uneasy as prince tried to crush parrot.
Suddenly, prince heard a big roar but he was not one to get panicky. Soon, he cut off parrot’s wings. Giant who was just flying towards prince , fell off . Later, giant broke parrot’s legs too and giant’s legs were paralysed. The giant fell down and started crying .
Holding parrot in his hand, prince asked giant,” tell me how all those dead persons will come back to life?”But, giant was not prepared to co-operate.
Prince threatened giant and said,” if you do not tell how these dead persons can be brought back to life, I will break this parrot into pieces and you will be no more there”.
And, thus giant was compelled to tell prince,” there is one room number 13 in this palace . Go and open it.You will find one more room into it. Hold the door of this room and chant one mantra for three times and giant tells prince that mantra. As soon as mantra recitation is over, the door will automatically open up. You will find one plant on one of walls of this room. There will be a small circular container on this plank containing liquid. When you sprinkle this liquid on dead persons, they will come back to life”
Prince was very happy hearing all this and did all that was told to him to bring dead back to life.
People were grateful of prince and made him king of the place.
There was celebration around as prince married this princess. Prince handed over this parrot to his sister and kept the giant in a well.
The prince also made one more palace for his sister. He used to call on sister everyday and one person used to take meals to giant in the well.
And, after a long long interval …
One day, prince was sitting with his sister. He was telling her about his heroic deeds .Suddenly, the subject changed to the giant .His sister said she wanted to see the giant. Prince often used to fulfill all the desires of his sister. And, anyway, since he was going for hunting , he took sister too with him. After hunting into jungle, he brought sister to a well where giant was held in captivity.
After showing her this place, he went ahead with hunting leaving sister behind but with clear instructions to go directly to back to palace.
But, she did not obey his instruction and did not go home that time..
She kept talking to the giant .Later on, she kept visiting this place and talking to giant ; it went on for days together.
She had fallen in love with the giant and wanted to marry giant.
The giant could not believe that she had fallen in love with him and was also keen for marriage. The giant told her,”it is not at all possible. Your brother will never allow you to marry me”.
“ Then , you will have to think of a plan to kill him”, princess told giant conveying her firmness to marry him. The giant was left speechless hearing it from sister of prince. The giant thought of a plot and told her,” when he comes to meet you, you start crying of pain in stomach. Tell him it is very chronic and can be cured only with milk of white female deer . And, when he goes looking for milk from white female deer into jungle, he will not come back. He will die there. And, then, we can marry”.
She returned to her palace and did as giant had told her to do . She put off her ornaments and switching off lights , she went to bed with dirty clothes and also kept making pretext of pain.
True to regular schedule, prince came to see his sister and was just shocked to find no lights and dark all around .When he came in , he found his sister crying of pain.” Oh! My dear sister, what is wrong with you”, he said heading towards her .
Wearing looks of pain on her face, she said,” I am feeling this pain since some days and it is turning chronic now. Somebody has recommended milk of white female deer to cure it”.
And, without wasting any time , he went out in search of milk from white female deer.He did not even inform his wife that he is going looking for milk in jungle.On other hand, his sister, changing clothes from dirty ones to beautiful ones, went out to meet giant. She was certain that she will be marrying giant because her brother will not be able to bring milk from jungle.
Prince, while in jungle, began hunting for milk. He was frantically searching for it without even caring his meals and rest. He was committed that he will not return to palace without milk. He was madly hunting for milk from white female deer and on other hand, his sister was enjoying best of her times.She kept calling on giant and discussing with him marriage plans. The giant was afraid of her brother and kept delaying the marriage till he heard the news about death of prince.
Searching from place to place in jungle, the prince got too exhausted and one day he fell down out of fatigue and went unconscious. Coincidentally around that time, God Shiva and Goddess Parvati were on outing in celestial arena. Goddess Parvati suddenly had a look at this prince who had gone unconscious of exhaustion.
Goddess took pity on this prince and asked Lord Shiva,” who is this young man?”
Lord Shiva detailed Goddess Parvati how this young man had fallen there and “ Oh! Can we think of sisters being like that”, cried Goddess Parvati hearing this sad tale of a cunning sister.
When Goddess started crying in sympathy with this prince, Lord Shiva told Her, “ do not worry, I will go and help this young man”. He disguised himself as an old sage and appeared before prince. He chanted a mantra and prince regained consciousness. The prince saw an old priest-like person in front of him.
The old sage asked prince,” my son, who are you and what are you doing in this jungle?”.
The prince replied,” my sister has acute stomach pain.Only milk from white female deer can cure her of this trouble.And, I am searching for it in this jungle since several days.Sir, kindly help me”.
“ It seems someone is trying to kill you and that is the reason you are sent here”, said Lord Shiva in guise of old man .
But, prince did not believe it.
Anyway, Lord Shiva helped prince by telling whereabouts of the white female deer and told him,” Go westward. You will find a big Pipal tree after about one kilo meter walk. Climb that tree and remain seated on it . In night-time, white female deer comes there. As soon she comes, catch hold of her and take milk.”. The Lord Shiva gave prince hair and vanished saying “ as and when you are in any trouble, rub these hair ,I will come to your help”.
Prince thanked old priestly person at heart and went ahead as directed.
Soon, he came across big Pipal tree .He climbed it and sat wrapping himself with leaves waiting for nightfall and that white female deer.
At night, several white female deer gathered under the tree .Prince came down hastily and headed towards one of these female deer. After taking milk , he hurried back to sister who was just taken aback seeing him back with milk!.
She was keen to hear the news of his death and here he was with milk..all safe and sound to her discomfort! . The princess was just at wits’ end .She once again made pretext of happiness on said ,” welcome back”.
The prince handing over milk to sister, returned to his palace.
On other hand, his sister quietly slipped out to meet the giant. She told giant about return of her brother.
The giant told her”I had already told you that our marriage is not possible. Your brother is brave person and he likes you very much. And, he will go to any extent to please you”.
She asked giant,” what to do now?”
“ Go and take rest . Leave me to my destiny”, giant told her.
But, she was not prepared to return and insisted that giant tells her some other plot and some other way out
And, giant told her another plot: Tell your brother your stomach pain is not yet over. Tell her that someone has recommended flowers from Queen of Flower.and that only can cure this stomach pain”
In the evening, when Prince came as usual to meet his sister, he once again heard his sister crying of stomach pain. He could not bear seeing her in the pain and asked her,”What is wrong with you once again?”.
“ I still have same old stomach ache. I am told that flowers from Queen of Flowers will cure me of this chronic pain.”, she replied making show of fake pain on her face.
Hearing this, he once again went out in search of these flowers.
He kept walking in the pursuit and enquiring en route with others too about them He reached the kingdom of Queen of Flowers.
People there told him as flowers will start falling once Queen of Flowers is pleased and starts smiling.
There were many enthusiasts of marrying her but she had set some conditions , he was told. And, he who fails to come true to these conditions is slain, people warned prince.
But, prince was not the one to get dismayed despite seeing many a dead bodies hanging from poles of the ones who had not kept these conditions.
The prince went ahead . A little ahead, he read writing on the wall saying: One can marry Queen of Flowers only when one fulfils following conditions: 1) He will empty three rooms full of food-grain in a night , 2)break iron pole with one strike ,3) climb up and down 300 steps carrying 3000 kilos of milk on tip of one of fingers.
The prince said yes to these three conditions.
One night , he was given three rooms full of food-grain and asked to empty them by next morning.
The Prince took out the hair given to him by old sage. The old sage had told him to remember him (sage) and rub this hair as and when he needed any help or as and when he was in any trouble.Taking that hair out, he started warming it up.He remembered old sage and quietly prayed for help. The old sage obliged him and soon several animals were created who took no time to empty these three rooms full with foodgrain.
Next morning, the Queen of Flowers was pleased to see all three rooms emptied over night of their contents.She was happy to see it because earlier none had been able to fulfil the very first condition of emptying these rooms.
Even people in kingdom were happy to hear this .
Come next day, he had to fulfil next condition of striking iron pole in middle of middle of palace.
People gathered in large numbers to see this feat.The prince once again recalling the old sage and keeping the hair given by old sage in his palm hit out at the iron pole and lo! Pole was gone!! And, there was thunderous clapping from people around to greet prince on this act .
The Queen of Flowers too was watching all this from her balcony.
The curiosity grew for third condition to be fulfilled.
Come third day, and the prince had to climb up and down 300 steps carrying 3000 kilos of milk on tip of his finger.
This time, the prince was little nervous because he had lost the magical hair from old sage while hitting the iron pole.
But, he was not one to lose heart. He prayed and asked for support from old sage in fulfilling this condition too believing old adage “ god helps those who help themselves”., The prince also almost succeeded in climbing up and down 300 steps with 3000 kilos of milk on his finger, but while climbing down, one of drops of milk fell off from his finger.
AS per rules of the games, if participant fails in any of the three conditions , he will have to be slain . Now that one drop of milk had fallen off from prince’s finger while climbing down and in other words it meant that prince had failed to keep up one of three conditions for marriage to Queen of Flowers, the hangmen from Queen’s palace started preparing to slay the prince. But, Queen of Flowers came to his rescue and asked them not to slay him .She said,” no drop of milk had fallen off , what you saw was drop of tear from over joy of winning the contest and he be spared”.
People all around were appreciative of prince’s deeds and jubilation mood hang in air as he was married to Prince of Flowers.
One day, prince and Queen of Flowers were all by themselves enjoying ecstasy of each other’s company.The Queen was too pleased . AS she began laughing , flowers started “raining” and prince lost no time to collect these flowers for his sister’s treatment.
The Queen was taken aback. The prince later detailed her on his sister’s condition and he also told her the fact that he had married solely for these flowers.
Queen told him,” But, your sister has just faked her stomach ache. This is conspiracy to get you killed.
Prince was blind in his love for sister and was not prepared to believe what princess of flowers told him. Despite wanting to stop him from going, the princess of flower could not stop him but as he readied to go, she told him,” you can take these flowers to her but remember one thing, if she asks for any more FAVOR from you , then first thing to be done by you will be that you come to me”
He agreed to this condition and rode straight to his sister on the horse given by Queen of Flowers.
Again, sister could not believe her eyes when she found prince BACK before her!But, he was very much there with flowers in hand. He handed over flowers to her and came back to his palace. On other hand, sister, sad with her brother’s repeated success , took flowers to giant. She once again asked giant if there was any other plan to get her brother out of picture and get him killed so that they could happily marry.But, this time, giant had no plan to tell her and this further annoyed her.She threatened him, telling “ if you do not tell me, I will kill the parrot(the lifeline of giant) and you will die a miserable death” .
Afraid of his own death, giant gave her another idea : Tell your brother to bring you waters from undersea. The giant told her that such a water was very powerful to bring dead person back to life.
And, again when prince came to see his sister in evening , she feigned the stomach pain and asks him to bring water from under sea.
Remembering her promise with Queen of Flowers, he immediately went to her and she became very happy to see him back. Prince told her about his sister’s demand for water from undersea.
She consoled him and told him not to worry and will guide him in getting it.She told him all about it and also gave him a container and big rope. He succeeded in getting this water from undersea and came back to Queen of Flowers.She kept half of this water with her and prince goes with remaining half to his sister . She later went to giant with this water. The giant tells her,” now at least drop the idea of marrying me”.
But, women worldover are known for their stubbornness. She insisted on him for any more plans to get her brother out of picture. The giant shows total helplessness and again she threatens to kill the parrot and ultimately he tells her another plan: Tell your brother, there is no stomach ache now. But, make him play cards anyhow. Tell him whosoever loses will be tied with the ropes. And, if he loses, tie him with ropes and call me. I will kill him with my poisonous nails”.
And, this is what she did when her brother came to see her.
The card game began with this condition that whosoever wins first will tie other with ropes. He won first two games and as per rules of games, he tied his sister’s fingers with thread. Third time, his sister won the game and she brought big rope and said, “ I will tie you with this”. Initially, prince smiled at this and took it as a joke . But, she really tied him with a pole and called that giant.
And, giant killed him with poisonous nails.
She cut dead body of prince into pieces and put them in a gunny bag and kept it on back of horse.
But, that horse belonged to Queen of Flowers.The horse ran fast and soon reached Queen of Flowers.The Queen of Flowers took no time to understand that some mishap has taken place.On opening the bag, she found prince cut into pieces. She assembled all these pieces and sprayed the sacred water from undersea and lo! Prince came back to life once again, as if back from sleep.
On other hand, what happened to his sister, let that too be narrated here.
The giant not only refused to marry her but also kept her in custody because of her cruelty. And, she realized all her follies only while remaining in that captivity.
Now, she started remembering brother and kept repenting her acts against brother.
She had just one ambition left : to seek apology from brother.Gradually, she was coming out of giant’s influential spell. She kept crying more and more as she came out of giant’s hypnotic influence.
The prince too kept remembering her. He was somehow confident that giant only was behind all these acts. He was keen to know his sister’s condition. He sent out his sepoy to gather information on his sister.The sepoy could not meet her and came back with the information for prince that she was in custody of giant and she is put to severe torture in custody.He became very emotional on hearing such a condition of his sister and vowed to get her freed from him. He takes handful trusted and brave soldiers to confront giant and unprepared for battle, giant flees from scene.
Prince brings his sister out of giant’s captivity. .Now, she was totally free from hypnotic influence of giant. She was sobbing a lot and also very apologetic for her acts .
But, prince had no ill-feeling against sister and such a generosity and kindness made her cry more out of sense of guilt.
He consoled her and brought her to Queen of Flowers.
They stayed there for sometime and enjoyed every moment of stay. After few days, he started missing his parents and this made him restless. Queen of Flowers could not see this restlessness and started checking with him why he was so .The prince kept avoiding the matter for sometime , but on much insistence from Queen of Flowers, he spoke his mind to her.
The princess told him not to worry and also said she would send her agents to collect information on his parents.
The Queen of Flowers was lost in serious brooding after hearing prince on his parents. She started muttering in her mind that there must be some reasons behind king’s getting all female children killed on birth, but whatever be the reasons, they will have to be removed .
She sent out some of her trusted agents to get information on king but whatever information they came back with, it made her all the more sad and worried.
King was not keeping well now. Becasue of his ill-health, there was chaos in his kingdom.AS a result, bad elements were coming to fore in kingdom. And , there was none to stop them. Because of king’s weakness and ill-health, neighboring kings too had evil designs on his kingdom and were planning to attack and usurp it.
The king had started remembering his son and kept telling his wife,” if prince were with us , we would not have faced this plight. I do not know whom I should make my successor” he keeps saying these days. His wife too was not happy always missing son and daughter.
The Queen of Flowers gave all these details to Prince .This made prince very sad and touched to parents’ bad condition. .The Queen of Flowers told him” Do not worry. I will set things right for you. The king would be saved from enemies and also his misconceptions that there is no need of girls in kingdom will also be answered to”.
She did two main tasks. She gathered information as to when attacks were likely to be made. Queen of Flowers also taught sister of prince all the skills of war .When her agents gave information about war plans from neighboring states, the Queen of Flowers from one side and Prince from other front attacked the enemies. The enemies were not prepared for dual assault and thus caught unaware, they fled.
The king was not keeping good health and was bed ridden while his handful and trusted few soldiers were fighting war . They rushed back to tell king that the enemies were retreating and it made bed-ridden king very happy.
Meanwhile, two females dressed in men’s robes entered palace. The soldiers told king that they have won battle because of these two.
King told them,” I am indebted to you both for standing with me in this difficult moment. But, I fail to understand who you two are”.
The Queen of Flowers removed her turban . The king was wonderstruck seeing a beautiful girl before him. She came closer to him and paying respects to him, she told all about herself.
The king was happy to know his son is alive and King’s daughter- in -law is right in front of him.
Now, king started looking at another young person and just as he began asking Queen of Flowers who was other person who had come with her, she told him,” Sir, please excuse me but let me say the Almighty is great. If He is on your side, none can kill you. She is your daughter”.
And, she too removed her turban.
The king became very emotional and came close to his daughter to give her big parental hug. Addressing Queen of Flowers, he said,” I am indeed ashamed. You have awakened me. I do not know how many girls were sacrificed because of my mistaken beliefs. I know God will never forgive me for these acts”.
Her mother too was happy seeing her daughter after so many years, the prince too came in time .
It was festivity all around and at every nook and corner, poor were being fed free .
And, people began blessing king.
