Once upon a time, there lived a King with his Queen and two sons. His fair rule ensured that the kingdom was peaceful and prosperous. Everyone lived a blissful life.
One day, while the Queen was playing with her sons in the garden, a bird flew in, fluttering from tree to tree. It perched on the Queen’s shoulder and asked her a bizarre question.
‘Ask the King if I should come now or later,’ it inquired.
Puzzled, the Queen ignored the question.
The bird showed up again the following day. It buzzed around the trees before flying to the Queen. It asked the Queen the same question. Scared and confused, the Queen told her husband about the bird and its strange question. Although bewildered, the King pacified the Queen.
‘If the bird asks you the same question again, tell it to come immediately,’ said the King, wanting to see what could happen.
The following day as well, the bird flew into the garden. It perched on the Queen’s shoulder and asked what the King had said in response to its question.
‘While I didn’t understand your question, the King has asked you to come at once,’ the Queen replied.
Hearing this, the bird flapped its wings and then said, ‘Let it be!’.
The bird flew into the palace through the main gate. It glided through every room in the palace and left through the back door. It never came back.
The King and Queen eventually forgot about the bird. Days passed by. A severe drought wreaked havoc on the kingdom. The drought was followed by a famine. The King tried his level best to help the people during the famine. To make matters worse, the king from a neighboring country attacked the kingdom and captured the King. He even sold the Queen off as a maidservant. Defeated and exiled, their lives became painful in every way possible.
The two sons grew up and worked hard to reclaim their former glory. They even rescued the old King and Queen. Reunited, the Queen asked the King why he didn’t ask the bird to come back later, even when it could have changed their fate.
‘No one can escape the wheel of fate,’ replied the King. ‘Even the great Pandavas couldn’t escape their eventual misfortune. It is better to face adversity when we are young than going through it in our old age. The bird was none other than the Goddess of Fate. When She asked me when She must come, I asked Her to come immediately so we would face Her wrath while we were still young.’
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 Talking Myths.