Written on the 7th of April ’05 at 5 in the everning.
The weather in Mumbai is horrible at the moment, 38 degrees and climbing. The humidity is energy sapping.
Does not help either when you are immobile due to a bad back.
The result?
This story below !
A mish mash of my bad mood, writers block, horrible thoughts and reading my little cousins Amar Chitra Kathas to while away the time.
Please try to read it in the spirit it was written in.
Long, long ago, in a land far, far away, lived a little girl who was cursed by birth.
She was deformed in ways you can never imagine, so I shall spare you the details. There was just one way that she could rid herself of this curse. And no one knew what that way was.
So she lived confused and sad and grew up the same way. She had just one friend, as no one would speak to her for obvious reasons. They grew up together, and one fine day, her friend told her he wanted to marry her. Her joy and her parents’ shock knew no bounds, and they agreed to the match without a thought.
The wedding preparations started immediately, lest the courageous to-be-groom change his mind.
The girl was in a forest, picking flowers and berries for her wedding, when she saw a horse by the stream. She walked towards it, and to her surprise, a handsome prince was lying a little distance away.
As she cautiously neared him, she saw he was severely hurt and had passed out. She sprinkled water on his face and wiped his wounds. She got help, and they carried the prince to her house. The girl cursed by birth served, cured, and revived him completely.
One fine day, the prince finally woke up and, looking at her, screamed and fell into a dead faint again!
She went to her favorite place by the river and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed some more. When she looked up again, her reflection shocked her. It wasn’t her face that looked back at her, but that of a beautiful woman! A woman so exquisite, she could only be a dream.
She was finally rid of the curse!
As she walked back home in a trance, people who had turned away when they saw her earlier gaped open-mouthed.
On walking into the house, her parents did not recognize her nor the man she was about to marry. Only the Prince did an about-turn and sidled up to her, all smarmy, sweet, and fully alert now.
When she narrated her magical tale, everyone was happy. The Prince professed his love for her and asked her for her hand in marriage on bended knee. Everyone waited with bated breath to see what her answer would be. From the corner of her eye, she saw the man who loved her when she wasn’t beautiful, trying to exit quietly without being noticed.
But a resounding sound stopped his steps.
Slap!
The girl no longer cursed and slapped the prince. And how! She continued pounding him till he fainted and was bruised like before she revived him with her care.
She married her friend, who loved her when she wasn’t beautiful, and they lived happily ever after.
Perfect story.Just how fairytale should be.Though I guessed the ending the slapping the prince was an interesting idea