The curtains we pull..
1290 Words
"Grandfather ..if Prathama was first and it meant first. Why were you called Pratham ? That meant two firsts.." The grandson asked.
The grandfather asked , " Ah so have you been reading you school topics well ? Do they teach you about birth and twins ? Many like my mother believed that the twin born second is actually the first .. so Prathama was actually second and hence I was Pratham."
Looking at the glazed eyes of his beloved grandson, he patted his hair and said," You would remember the story I hope my dear boy. Someday this till be lost to the grievous crime that our forefather ordered. But atleast you would know for a few generations how a brave twenty one year old tried to right the past a little.."
Prathama at around ten started hearing about the story of a Princess who cursed their land with her last breath. She knew the story would have no teller in the rocky home, so she ventured into the roads to the house of her old caretaker. The caretaker who was getting old wanted to send her away but then told the story of what he knew of it.
My father and fore fathers were all caretakers of the children my Princess.. (he like many continued to call the children Prince and Princess). They never were a part of that crime that happened that day, may be that is why ours is the only house which was spared from the curse of a mute first born girl..Sorry I go fast. Let me narrate this in my fore father's words for I have lived through it many times since my childhood imagining me stopping it.
The princess and everyone called her Rajkumari was beautiful and an apple of the eye of the Prince. The Prince never gave any time to the other children he had but she was her first born and most dear. We also cherished her the most. We did not know then that the King, the Prince's father did not like Rajkumari, possibly because she was better than all his own children including the Prince,may be because she did not have a royal mother... We, that is my fore father, just knew that when the Princess and the Nomadic King met, the King had rejoiced secretly. Later we understood that it was not joy of making a match with the Nomadic King. He had got his longstanding enemy on the knees through a meeting he had planned and used the young Princess as a bait. Why they were enemies ? The nomad King controlled the entire desert while the King of ours had only a small land. Controlling the desert meant controlling the trades that came through that route. The King hated the old agreement of paying taxes to the Nomad King for keeping his kingdom safe of any stray attacks from the desert and also safe delivery of all trades that happened through the desert. Ofcourse these are all in hindsight that we understood..
What exactly happened that day was not known. But at dusk when the two met , the Nomadic King was captured blinded in one eye, one hand broken, one leg destroyed , when I saw him .. I mean my fore father's saw him being dragged down the staircase that he never knew existed. It was a hidden entrance to the Dungeon. I do not know why they did not simply kill him, was it because the King wanted the Prince to be like him ruthless with his opponents or was he just a person who liked giving pain I do not know.
What happened in the dungeon was unspeakable tortures but I could .. like the others shiver of the takes and sounds that echoed. I seem to hear them often even now like my fore father. he narrated how the Princess was unrestrainable.. but was making strange sounds.. someone had cut of her tongue when she had tried to warn the Nomad King. The King ordered her to be handed over to the mother who was thrown out of the house at her birth. But she fought all, she wanted to go down the dungeon, and she was a powerful and skilled fighter. It was said that her own father put the knife through her chest and her eyes begged him, to see her beloved once and to free him. The body of hers were thrown out of the narrow entrance which some women of the Prince knew. Her mother, a woman we have not seen for years was there. She took her away as a new born and we lost track after of them. Tales in the village say she coughed blood that refused to stop straining all houses on the path with blood.. for no houses opened for them to even give a glass of water. My forefather was myself thrown into prison for wanting to go after them and give her assistance for he had known Princess from childhood. He had shouted that this was a mistake..and the time won't forgive and the time did not. By next few days, as all the blood bath of the Nomad King happened, the Princess and her mother disappeared without a trace. The Prince who went in search of them never came back. It was only a week later that the King was seen again. I shiver to think if the entire period he spent torturing the Nomadic King. But the palace had fallen quiet, the dungeon had not. The Nomadic King was still alive and shouting for his beloved one last time. It was said someone threw him the tongue and then it started. The desert storm , one like we have never seen.. maybe when you were born..
The palace had to be vacated for it was filled with sand. My fore father was freed then.. When the storm stopped, the palace was inhabitable . People suggested to the King too see if the Nomadic King was dead. They were afraid now that he was using sorcery. He refused. He allowed the Nomads to settle in the town's causing the people in the kingdom get upset about people whom they considered as intruders. No one spoke that they all could hear long wails for the Princess from an old well in the forest.. No one knew if the dungeon had an exit there but they were afraid that the Nomadic King will be searching for his beloved in the dusk and stopped stepping out of the homes as soon as the sun went towards west.
What happened to the King.. well many believe including me, he is still waiting for his beloved and hence the wailing sounds from the well. The Princess is believed to have perished on that journey back. Many say her mother sent her father into the desert giving him false hope that the daughter will be there. It was believed that when the storm came he perished the in it still searching for the storm . The Princess' mother never said to my forefather about what happened to the Princess. He claimed that he often met her in the dark nights when everyone was asleep she walked. But I believe it was a figment of imagination.
I am not sure if the story helped you Princess Prathama. I do wish I was nimble enough to get down the well and free the Nomad King and let him follow his princess in death. My mother believed the curse will end when that happened. But I believe they will be born and will meet in real life and fullfill they destiny for the curse to lift.
- Writer
