The Son of Seven Queens

The Son of Seven Queens – Retold by Navin

Once upon a time, in India, there was a wealthy king. This king lived in a magnificent palace and had seven wives, all of whom he loved dearly. It was a great grief to him that none of his wives had yet borne children, but one day, a holy saint told him that a son would be born to him. The king was overjoyed and arranged all possible festivities. The splendid palace of the seven queens was decked in ornaments; everything looked wonderful. One day, the king decided to lead a hunt. The seven queens arose that morning with a strange dread in their hearts. They went to the king and asked him that while hunting, he should not hunt in the north, lest some tragedy befall him. The king agreed and set off for his hunting. He toiled all day in the south, but no game was to be found. He also tried to hunt in the east and west, but still had no luck. Being a keen sportsman, the king resolved not to return home without a catch. He turned to the north and began to hunt again. For a while, he had no luck there as well, but within a short time, he heard a noise in the bushes. As he crept closer, a beautiful white doe leapt out and darted into the north. The king, who had never seen a deer as beautiful, started chasing it, as he wanted to catch it. The king followed the doe for many days, and he finally found himself at the base of a mountain at the northern edge of the world. The doe was nowhere to be seen, and the only thing in sight was an ugly hut. He walked into the hut to ask for water. There was an old woman spinning thread inside, and she called her daughter to give their guest a drink. The girl came out, and the king was astonished to see that she was extremely beautiful. She was pale and had golden hair, and the king realized that she was the doe in human form. Before he knew what happened, the crafty magic hind (female deer) put him under her spell. He was stricken by her magic and asked her to be his bride. The cruel hind asked for the vision of his wives in return for her hand. The king returned to his kingdom and had the power of sight of his wives put into a jar, which he gave to the hind. The hind gave the jar to her mother, and bidding farewell, returned with the king.

The hind now wielded mastery over much of the kingdom, and she ordered that the seven blind queens be thrown into a noisome dungeon. The poor queens spent their days in the darkness, slowly starving. One day, the youngest of the queens bore a handsome son. At first, the other queens were jealous, but this soon vanished, as the boy thought of all of them as his mothers. As soon as he could walk, the lad began scraping at the wall, and soon, there was a small tunnel through which he could crawl to the outside world. Nobody in the town knew where the tiny child came from, but all were amused by his charm and tricks. Whenever the boy returned to the noisome dungeon, he carried sweets and foods given to him by the villagers. This he would split equally among his seven mothers. The boy grew up kind and strong. One day, the boy climbed the palace wall to catch a pigeon that sat upon the roof. The hind, who had till now believed that the queens had starved to death, knew by her powers that the boy was the king’s son. She asked for his pigeon, and the innocent youth refused, saying that it was a pet for his blind mothers who sat in the noisome dungeon. The hind promised the boy his mothers’ vision in return, and now the lad gladly accepted. The hind gave him a piece of pottery and told him to take it to the hut at the northernmost mountain, and the boy set off. He was not aware that on the shard was written “Kill the boy who carries this.” On his way, the boy found a kingdom in which everyone was depressed. He learned that they were sad because the king’s only daughter asked to marry a boy with seven mothers, and where could one like this be found? But when she saw the lad, the princess blushed and said, “Father, this is my choice,” at which there was great rejoicing in the kingdom. The son agreed to marry the princess after giving his mothers their sight back, and told the girl his whole story. The princess, being literate, read the potshard and rewrote the message, saying “Give the boy who carries this whatever he wants.” When, at the northernmost edge of the world, the hind’s mother read the potshard, she immediately gave the boy the jar of his mothers’ sight, as she was dreadfully afraid of her daughter the hind. The boy gladly went and returned the sight to his mothers, and they were all very joyful.

The boy went to thank the hind, and she was enraged to see that he was still alive. She gave him another shard of pottery, saying, “Go and ask my mother to give you some grain, and show her this shard.” Obediently, the boy set off, not knowing that the shard said, “Kill the boy without fail this time.” The son of seven queens decided to pay a visit to his fiancé on his journey. When she read this second potshard, she rewrote it to say, “Give the boy who holds this a million-fold rice that ripens in one night, and our magic cow.” For rumors of the hind’s special possessions had been heard in many kingdoms. The old woman of the north immediately gave the boy the magic rice and cow, and the boy returned to his mothers. After selling the rice and the never ending rich milk that the cow gave, the boy and the queens became very rich. The villagers helped them build a magnificent palace identical to the one they had before, and the boy was married to the daughter from the other kingdom. The king who was bewitched by the hind now came to see what all the hullabaloo was about. When he walked into the new palace and saw his seven queens exactly as they were before, the hind’s spell was broken and he rushed towards them, overwhelmed with emotion. The whole story came out, and the king immediately ordered the hind to be banished. He welcomed his son’s wife and her father, and they all lived happily ever after…The End!

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