A long time ago, there was a king who decided to get his only son married to the daughter of a nobleman. On the day prior to the wedding, the nobleman’s daughter looked at the doll she used to play with as a little girl. She cried bitterly, for she wouldn’t be able to play with the doll after marriage.
The doll granted her two boons before they parted. The first boon gave her the power to understand the call of animals and birds. The second boon would give her the power to see everything that no other human could.
After marriage, the girl went to live with the prince in the palace. Years passed by, and a grand funeral was arranged following the king’s demise.
While looking at the king’s pyre, the princess began laughing uncontrollably. Shocked at her behavior, everyone began whispering among themselves. Although the prince also saw her laughing, he chose not to say anything.
A few months later, the prime minister passed away. A grand funeral was arranged and everyone came to attend it. Looking at the prime minister’s pyre, the princess started crying at the top of her voice. The prince saw her crying, but once again, he chose not to say anything.
One day, the prince took the princess to her father, the nobleman. The prince told him that his daughter didn’t know how to behave in public.
‘She wouldn’t stop laughing during my father’s funeral, but she couldn’t hold her tears back during the prime minister’s,’ he said, incensed.
Feeling ashamed after learning what his daughter had been up to, the nobleman asked his daughter to explain her actions.
‘I didn’t do anything wrong,’ she replied. ‘While they cremated the king’s body, his five spirits wouldn’t stop kicking his corpse. I could hear the spirits tell the king that he was evil and that they couldn’t stand residing inside his body. He oppressed his people and never loved his wife. As his body was brimming with sins, the five spirits seemed happy to get away from that body. However, the five spirits lamented the prime minister’s demise because he was a kind soul.’
She then told them about the boons she had received from the doll. Using those boons, she could see what others couldn’t. She could also understand animals and birds.
The prince still wasn’t willing to believe his wife. Just then, a crow cawed from the branch of a nearby tree. It told the other crows that a dead body with a magical ring on its ring finger was floating down the river. The prince sent his servants down to the river to check if the princess was right about it. Much to his surprise, the servants came back with with the magical ring!
The prince finally believed his wife’s words and took her back to the palace, where they lived happily ever after.
Kalai is passionate about reading and reinterpreting folk tales from all over the country. Write to her at kalai.muse@gmail.com to know more about her.
Folk tale adopted and abridged from E-Pao.