Maung Tig Thun - The Gift of the Fish Queen and Other Stories

Wild duck

(Indian folk tale)

Once upon a time in India, there were two young princes named "Rama" and "Narayan". When Rama was 14 years old and Narayan was 12, their mother died.

A year later, their father, the king, appointed another queen, who became the stepmother of the two brothers.

The queen did not want the king to love and care for her two sons so much. She could not remain silent. Therefore, the queen always envied and hated the two brothers.

About two years later, the queen gave birth to a son. The queen wanted her son to have a very important place in the royal palace.

He wanted to receive the king's favor. He wanted the king to love his son. Therefore, he planned to make the two brothers lose their place and the king to make them look bad. Only without the two brothers would his son be able to gain first place in the king's heart.

The Queen is a clever woman. She knows that the King is not one to believe anything without proof.

She accused the two brothers of being bad, but the king did not accept it. So the queen waited for the right moment to prove that the two brothers were in trouble.

At that time, two brothers, Rama and Narayan, used to visit the old woman in the city every Sunday morning.

The old woman was their mother's servant. After her mother passed away, she left the palace and made a living selling flowers. The old woman loved the two princes as if they were her own sons.

Therefore, the two princes would visit the old woman every week and give her money and rice to support her.

Whenever they came, the old lady would cook and serve the princes their favorite dishes. Then, they would tell them about the compassion and kindness of their deceased mother.

One day, while the two brothers were visiting the old woman, they found a wild duck on the road, killed it, and brought it back.

That duck was swimming in the pond in the royal garden. It belonged to the king.

The two princes were supposed to take the baby to their father, the king. However, they decided to take the baby to the old woman, the flower girl, and -

"There are many ducks in our father's garden. We can choose and eat any we like. But the old woman has nothing to eat as a dish. So let's go and give this duck to the old woman," they said.

Thus, the two brothers, dragging the large belly of the dead duck, walked towards the old woman's hut.

At that time, their stepmother, the Queen, heard the news that the two brothers had killed a duck and taken it to the old woman.

Therefore, the queen immediately went to the king and said to him:

"Your Majesty, your two sons have stolen food from your palace and are giving it to the old woman in the city. If you do not believe my report, you can send someone to the old woman's house and have her look. You will find a royal duck being cooked as a dish," he said, using a cunning trick to get the two princes into trouble.

The king sent a messenger to the old woman to find out whether the queen's story was true or not. Soon the messenger returned to the king and reported that the queen's story was true, that the two princes had been seen with the old woman, and that the old woman was preparing a dish of duck meat.

The king, hearing the messenger's report, became very angry. He then declared that Rama and Narayana would be punished and ordered the chief minister to go to the house of the old woman, arrest the two princes, and imprison them.

Hearing the king's order, the wicked queen burst into laughter and said, "I thought the king would punish them by putting out their eyes. If they lost their eyes, they would no longer be able to steal the king's things."

The king agreed to the queen's request and ordered the chief minister to bring the two princes to him immediately.

At that moment, the old woman was urging the two princes to hide and run away. The old woman had known in advance that the two princes were in trouble since the messenger had come to her house to investigate.

The messenger had seen the great belly-bearer, hadn't he? So the old woman urged the prince and his brother to leave this country,

"The Queen is the enemy of your sons. This plan is definitely the Queen's handiwork. The Queen wants to see your sons suffer. If she fails to assassinate your sons this time, she will plot to make them angry and furious again next time," he said.

Then the old woman filled two bags with rice, one with duck wings and the other with duck legs. Then she gave the two bags of food to the two princes,

"This food is enough for two days for my two sons. Let's run away quickly before the king's soldiers come and capture us," he said.

The prince and the old woman -

"Where should we run, old woman?" he asked.

The old woman said -

"You can run wherever you want, my son. Don't stay here. You will be in great trouble here," he replied.

With that, the two princes left the city as quickly as possible. Soon, the chief minister and his soldiers arrived at the old woman's hut to arrest the two princes.

However, the two princes had left and were nowhere to be seen.

The prince and his brother had already traveled quite a distance. In the evening, they arrived at a small stream.

It was a peaceful place. They were relaxing on the green grass beside the stream and eating their food.

In fact, the duck that was captured and killed in the king's garden was not an ordinary duck. It was a magic duck. Even now, the two princes still did not know that the duck meat they were eating was a magic duck meat.

Whoever eats the wings of a duck will become a king within seven days, and whoever eats the legs of a duck will surely become a famous prime minister.

Rama opened the rice bag. Then he saw duck wings on the rice. He was very hungry and ate the rice and vegetables with gusto.

Narayan opened his bag and saw a dish of duck legs on the rice. He was also hungry and ate the food. Then the two brothers, having already eaten their fill, lay down and took a nap.

The next morning the two princes continued their journey. They traveled north and by noon they arrived at a vast, dry desert plain.

There were no plants on the vast sandy plain. They sat on the sand and ate whatever food was left.

The weather was so hot that they were very thirsty and could not find any water to drink. They searched all afternoon for water, but in vain.

They were very thirsty and very tired. Finally, Brother Narayan said:

"Brother, I can't walk any further. Brother, go and find water. Brother, I'll stay here," he said weakly.

Thus Rama set out alone and reached the north. Soon he came to a dusty road leading to a magnificent palace. Rama walked along that road alone.

When Rama reached the palace gate, he stopped to ask for water. He heard a shout and the ringing of bells.

Then, a large group of people led by the king's elephant arrived at the palace gate.