... And She Would Tell Her Story Once upon a time on a far far away land, there was a huge kingdom. The king of the kingdom was one of the best kings that the place had ever seen and the queen was as good as the king himself. Together they made a special place in the hearts of their people. It was under their guidance that the kingdom prospered and achieved the best of size, wealth and fame. And soon it was time for merry making in their palace as well as the entire kingdom, as they had their first and only child. The princess was born on the tenth day of the third month, a full moon night. From the very day she was born, it was like a festival throughout the palace. Maids hurried from room to room to just have a look at her eyes that was a deep as the seven seas put together. The king never opened his eyes in the morning before having a look at his daughter. The queen considered her the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. But there was only one thing that distracted everyone a bit � the princess was dusky in the land of those who had fair skin! From the very day she was born, the princess was nurtured with utmost care and would she desire for anything, it was there before her, even before she uttered it! Such was her upbringing, but never ever did that shy and silent girl showed any sign of arrogance. She was a true heir of the king and the queen, making them proud every day of her life. As the time passed by, the princess bloomed from a child to a maiden. People felt so much for her during her public appearances, and always used to think only if she was a bit fairer! She had all the virtues a human could have, except one � her beauty. Her eyes, which spoke a thousand words even when she was silent, could not compensate for her ducky skin and �unconventional� looks. But out princess used to think always, that one day the prince of her dreams shall come and kiss her and they shall live happily ever after. Destiny, on the contrary, thought otherwise! Though she never talked about her thoughts and desires to anyone, as a mother the queen always knew what her shy little girl desired of. Then, as if without delay, came the day when the prince of her dreams, the prince charming happened to cross by the kingdom. The king brought the prince charming to the palace with great pomp and show. Never had anyone in the kingdom seen any such celebration for a guest. And that made everyone clear in their minds, about the secret reason behind all that was being done, precisely for the prince to get impressed and show a desire for marriage with the princess. The prince charming was a unique one among his race had ever produced. Tall and fit in physique, handsome as they said more that the gods themselves, beautiful in mind, plans and behavior as well, such was the prince � an ideal suitor for the princess � a prince whose skin shone as if it were as sheet of gold. How could our dusky princess have remained untouched by his charm? It happened that was bound to happen. The princess lost her heart to a man for the first time. She had known her desires to be fulfilling and flowering for the first time. Not that she had not come into contact with a man before this, and this is what precisely became the reason for finding this man so attractive to her and it was not late before she realized that this was her life�s first experience of a phenomenon, people call love. The love she had been waiting for throughout her life and many other previous lives maybe! Lawns, gardens, orchids, fountain places, dinning halls, corridors, the church, and the beautiful playing rooms � all were the witnesses of the sweet chit-chats they would have from the morning to the night. Our princess was not her usual shy self now. She was transformed completely. And who else, more than the queen, could notice these changes brought about so astoundingly! She knew that her little girl has tasted the waters of the stream that make people forget all things � except for the object of their affection � once they taste it. The prince, though impressed by his surroundings positively, showed no sign of courtship towards the princess. Though the princess was bothered, she rather chose to be carried away in the breeze that she was in and live it for the moment. She often thought in her sleepless nights what if she spoke it herself to the prince? And the next moment � oh no! how could she do it being a lady? After all the proposing was always done from the male side! But she was sure that day would come. One evening, in a ball when the princess had made her mind to take the prince into confidence, he rather chose to do the ball with one of the childhood friends of the princess. The chosen one was as good and sincere in nature as was our dusky princess herself, the only difference being the color of their skins. A slight conversation elaborated into a dance and that further yielded a relationship that resulted into their marriage. Alas! Soon came the wedding day, and the first of the invitations were sent to our dusky princess and her family, as it was because of them that the prince charming had come to know his sweetheart. The prince himself came to hand the invitation over. And our dusky princess, her heart broken into a thousand pieces, all piercing her from within, made her tears burst from her eyes, but never did she allow them to cross her eye lash borders. Little did the prince know how much she loved him and was nothing without him. That she had desired nothing and no one except for him. He kissed on her forehead, smiled at her and bidding goodbye, reminded her to be present at the wedding. The countless mirrors of the palace on which the princess had seen the prince grooming himself showed no reflection of anything, no world, no surroundings. What she could see through her tear filled eyes was he and only he. Married and living happily ever after � our dusky princess had dreamt it for herself from the very beginning. But she was not the one to enjoy that ending. Her story was different and the author had different plans for her. The newly wed couple had a very good relationship with the princess. She would be a part of even the smallest of events in the couple�s life. This was, at least in her view, the only way she could be near the first and the only love she had embraced in her life. Our dusky princess, our lonely princess � oh! how her eyes swollen of crying all night, would laugh just at the view of her prince charming! No, not any more hers, but still hers, for eternity. No man ever could present as much value as the prince had, before our princess, ever in her life. She had the strangest of tendency of finding him and only him in every man she saw, and failed miserably every time. Hands offering courtship came and went, but she could only wait for the next suitor, in false expectation of his coming even any nearer to the prince of her dreams, but in vain. One evening after the super, the princess went out to have a stroll with the prince�s brother, when suddenly she felt his hands touching hers. She tried effortlessly to stay away from him. But in slip of a moment, the darkness of the night had gulped them in a way that only married ones had permission to, in their society. He slept in exhaustion of the love-making but she remained awake, realizing that for an evening, she did not miss her prince. For the first time in so many years, in the arms of a man, a man different from the prince of her dreams, she forgot the later. And from a one-time experience to an addiction, she experienced this every time our princess made love with a new man. A new man every night in her arms � oh! it was actually the other way - she in the arms of a new man every night, just to forget the man she had loved once and forever. Surely a costly deal, but she paid it time and again till the day neither the prince and nor his wife lived. He died so young � she would think. And as even the slightest of his thoughts would enter her mind, she went out to hunt her new man. Our princess did not realize it but neither her father�s kingdom nor the kingdom of her prince charming existed anymore. Neither did she notice nor did she care. She spent her time now to forget that man she had loved years ago! Men and more men, their presence, their odor, their fierce eyes, their voices, she just demanded for more whenever she remembered of him. And as they say, trying to forget is in fact another way of remembering one, she actually never could do what she intended to! Then only what she really cared for was her unquenched desire to forget herself and get herself lost in the arms of a new man. In this time, she did not realize something, but the world did. Now, no one remembered the good-willed and sweet-natured dusky princess of the kingdom and her star-studded palace. No one remembered the prince who stole the heart of the princess at their very first meeting. What they knew now was a witch, who came out in the darkness of night from the wilderness, lured men with her beauty, made love to them and stole their memory! How heartless! � cried women at her mention. Never ever! � said the boldest of men on being to the woods at night. Is she true! � exclaimed innocent children with fear when they were told her stories. Oblivious of all these remarks for her, the dusky princess lived on and on. Then one day came a great saint, determined to capture the witch and devoid her of all the evil powers, to make sure she does not make any other man her prey. Being directed from village to village, he finally landed his horse near the woods, the dark lush, cold woods where she lived � the dusky princess. Without warning he trapped her with some mysterious water he had brought with him and turned her into a rock in no time. The villagers thanked him for his generosity and bade her farewell for-ever. They say that the dusky rock, which does not have even a single blade of grass grown on it still, is on the tip of the mountain covered with flower petals throughout the year. That it cries at the sight of any man who happens to pass by. And that if by chance any one asks it, its story, it begins by saying that its story too began the same way all fairy tales did.
Copyright © 2005 Animesh Kar |