Little Golden-Hood - Part Two

“Hello Golden-Hood.” The Wolf pleasantly greeted Blanchette.

Blanchette frowned. “How do you know me? Who are you?”

“As I told you, I am Wolf, your friend.” The Wolf studied the basket in Blanchette’s hands. “Where are you going?”

“I am going to see my grandmother,” Blanchette told the wolf, forgetting all about her promise to her mother about not talking to strangers. 

The wolf pretended to look even more interested. “And where does your grandmother live?”

Blanchette waved forward. “On the other side of the forest. Her house is the first in the village near the windmill.”

The wolf nodded hurriedly. “I am also going there to another place nearby. I think that you will reach there faster than with your nimble legs.”

After that Blanchette continued on her journey.

The wolf raced across the forest and reached the grandmother's house in a very short time.

When Wolf had reached the grandmother's house, the grandmother had gone out to sell herbs in the town.

The Wolf found the grandmother's clothes and wore it. Then it laid down on the bed trying to pretend to be the grandmother.

Meanwhile Blanchette picked up the flowers, studied the little birds and ran after the butterflies and slowly made her way to grandmother's house.

Adapted from Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales

Little Golden-Hood - Part One

 

That was once a little patient girl whose name was Blanchette. Unlike Little Red Riding Hood, Blanchette had a golden hood. Blanchette’s cloak was the colour of gold and fire. Blanchette’s grandmother gave her this cloak and told her that the cloak would always bring her good luck for it was made of ray of sunshine. 

Blanchette’s grandmother lived on the other side of a dense forest and everyone in Blanchette’s village along with Blanchette herself believed that her grandmother was a witch. 

So Blanchette always wore the golden hood. 

It was for this that Blanchette was called Little Golden Hood.

Once Little Golden Hood’s mother called her. “I want to see whether you can find your way back home. So take this piece of cake for your grandmother.” Her mother studied her severely. “Little Golden Hood, do not talk to any strangers on the way. Do you understand?”

Blanchette agreed and decided to visit her grandmother the next day.

The next morning, as Blanchette stepped into the forest, she heard a sound.

“Who is it?” Blanchette asked, looking around.

“I am Friend Wolf.” Replied the voice.

Now Wolf had seen Blanchette enter the forest alone and Wolf wanted to eat Blanchette. However, at that time some woodcutters also came to the forest. So instead Wolf pretended to be Blanchette’s friend.

Adapted from Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales

Princess Rosette and the King of Peacocks - Part Seven

Rosette thanked the old man for his kindness. 

However when it came to the question of food, Rosette was able to arrange the food for herself.

She turned to her dog Frisk. “Get the finest food in the entire kingdom.”

Frisk knew that the best food in the kingdom was available in the house of the King of Peacocks. So Frisk went to the castle of the King of Peacocks. From the kitchen of the castle, Frisk got all the food there.

After that, there was no food for the people in the royal castle.

The King of Peacocks was very hungry, but he did not know who had stolen the food from the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Rosette, Frisk and the old man had plenty of food in the little cottage.

This went on for two more days.

Finally, one of the ministers kept watch to find who was stealing the food. The minister followed Frisk and finally found the cottage with the old man and the beautiful girl.

After that the King of the Peacocks also came to the cottage.

That was when everyone realized that this was the real Princess Rosette. 

The King of Peacocks realized that he wanted to marry this girl because she was more pretty than he imagined. 

The sentence on the two elder brothers was called off.

The nurse, her daughter and the boatman were imprisoned for life in a huge tower.

Princess Rosette and the King of Peacocks married each other and lived happily ever after.

Adapted from Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales

Princess Rosette and the King of Peacocks - Part Six

The nurse dressed her daughter in the prettiest dresses available in the ship. However the nurse’s daughter was not as pretty as Rosette. Further the nurse’s daughter also found all the dresses very cumbersome and she was very grumpy all throughout.

When the ship reached the island of the King of Peacocks, the King of Peacocks had sent guards to bring the princess to his palace. However the nurse’s daughter misbehaved with the guards. 

The annoyed guards of the King of Peacocks saw her and realized that not only was the princess ugly, she was also wicked.

The King of the Peacock came to the ship himself and he saw that his guards were right and Rosette was very ugly. The King of Peacock had the Princess and the nurse imprisoned in a tower and the King of Peacock also decided to behead the two princes who had lied about their sister’s beauty.

When the two princes learnt about the sentence that was to be executed they pleaded before the King of Peacocks who grudgingly allowed them seven days to prove their innocence.

Meanwhile back to Princess it so happened that she was asleep when the nurse and the boatman had thrown her into the sea so she did not know how she had ended up in the sea in her mattress and Frisk beside her.

She somehow felt that the King of Peacocks did not want to marry her any more and that was the reason that all this had happened to her. 

Princess Rosette was sad and did not know what to do but the mattress floated in the sea and finally took her to the island of the King of Peacock.

On the shore of the island was an old man who lived all alone in a cottage. He heard Frisk’s barking and came out to investigate and found the beautiful Princess Rosette and saved her from the sea.

Adapted from Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales

Princess Rosette and the King of Peacocks - Part Five

 

When Princess Rosette read the letter of her brothers that she had to pack all her treasures and come to the kingdom of the King of Peacocks because the king wanted to marry her, her joy knew no bounds.

She had ruled the kingdom well in the absence of her brothers. Now she placed the kingdom in the care of the wisest old men of the kingdom, telling them to take charge of everything and not spend any money, but save it for the return of the King.

After packing everything Princess Rosette and her dog Frisk set out for the Kingdom of Peacocks. Princess Rosette’s nurse and the nurse’s daughter also accompanied them on the journey.

However disaster struck the royal family at that time.

The nurse who had come along with Princess Rosette was an evil woman. Seeing the entire thing, she realized that she had a golden opportunity here.

The nurse right from the beginning of the boat journey kept talking to the boat man. Finally she managed to convince and she also bribed the boatman to help her drown the princess in sea. The nurse had the idea of dressing up her own daughter as Princess Rosette so that her own daughter would be able to marry the King of Peacock and the nurse’s daughter would be able to live a luxurious and lavish life.

One night when the princess was fast asleep in her mattress which was made of phoenix feathers the nurse and the boat man together threw the Princess along with her mattress, pillows and blanket into the sea. Frisk was near the princess on the bed. 

The nurse and the boatman managed to do this without waking up the princess.

The phoenix feathers were a very special kind of feather and it could keep afloat on water, no matter what the weight that was placed on it. 

That was the reason that Princess Rosette and Frisk did not drown at sea.

However, unaware of all this, the nurse dressed her daughter up as Princess Rosette and they reached the kingdom of the King of Peacocks. 

Adapted from Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales

Princess Rosette and the King of Peacocks - Part Four

 

The city of the peacocks was very beautiful. The two princes found that men and women dressed entirely in peacock feathers.

Even as they were walking into the kingdom they saw the King of Peacocks who was in a beautiful Golden carriage that glittered with diamonds. The carriage of the King of Peacocks was drawn by twelve beautiful peacocks.

What stuck them the two princes was that the King of Peacocks was a very handsome man.

On seeing the two strangers in his kingdom the King of Peacocks stopped his carriage and got out to talk with them.

As they were talking one thing led to another and the elder prince finally showed the portrait of his little sister to the King of Peacocks. 

On seeing the portrait, the King of Peacocks had been unable to talk for a very long time.

“My little sister is prettier than she is drawn in the portrait. She is also very good and kind. She wishes to marry the King of Peacocks. So can you marry her?” The elder prince asked the King of Peacocks, hesitatingly.

The King of the peacock studied the portrait once more and finally nodded at the elder prince. “If your sister is as lovely as she is in the portrait I have no problems in marrying her.” However the King of Peacocks suddenly looked annoyed. “If your words turn out to be untrue, then I will have your heads cut off.”

The two princes had no worries because they knew that their little sister was much more pretty than she was seen in the portrait.

There was, however, a catch. 

The King of Peacocks was unsure whether the princess was really as beautiful as she was seen in the portrait, so he had the two princes thrown in prison though they were not ill treated there.  The King of Peacocks promised to let the two princes go as soon as Princess Rosette came to the kingdom and the King of Peacocks found her even more beautiful than the portrait. 

The two princes had no problems with this and they agreed to stay in the prison.

From prison the two princes sent a message to their sister that they had found the King of Peacocks who was willing to marry her.

Knowing that Rosette would worry about them, the two princes did not mention in the message that they were in prison.

Adapted from Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales

Princess Rosette and the King of Peacocks - Part Three

 

“Where will we find the king of peacocks?” The elder brother who had now become a king, studied his sister, looking confused.

The Little Princess shook her head. “I do not know. But I will marry no one else other than the King of Peacocks.”

The Princes considered how they could help their little sister. If they had to help the King of Peacocks marry their sister, it was first important that they had a portrait of the princess.

So the princes first had a beautiful portrait of the princess made. 

After that the two brothers reached a decision.

They placed Princess Rosette in charge of the kingdom so that she could rule the kingdom on their behalf. Now that the kingdom had been taken care of, the two princes decided to go around the world to find the King of Peacocks.

The two princes were sure that Princess Rosette would not be alone here in the kingdom because ruling of the kingdom was not easy. Besides Princess Rosette also had the peacock which had come to the garden and Frisk her dog which would give her company at all times.

The two princes set off on their journey. 

No matter where they went they did not find any place where they could find a lead to the King of Peacocks.

At last the two princes came to a kingdom where there were many beetles. It was not surprising because that was the Kingdom of the Cockchafers which was a variety of beetles found in Europe.

“Do you know the way to the King of Peacocks?” The elder prince asked. 

A distinguished looking beetle nodded. “Yes, the king of the peacock lives about thirty thousand leagues from your kingdom, king.”

The king was surprised. “How do you know me? How do you know the King of Peacocks?”

“I know who you are,” the beetle told the king. “I have come to your garden two or three months every year and I have also seen the garden of the King of Peacock.”

After that the two princes set off the Kingdom of Peacocks and they found it too.

Adapted from Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales

Princess Rosette and the King of Peacocks - Part Two

The royal couple begin to think about how to avoid the disaster. The king thought that taking the life of Rosette was an option to save their sons. However the queen could not hear of it. 

Near the kingdom lived a wise old hermit who lived in a hollow tree. People from all over went to the wise men to consult him.

When the queen met him and told him all that the fairies had told her about Rosette’s future, the hermit suggested that Rosette had to be locked up in a tower and never let come out of it. That way she could not influence her brother's fate in any way.

The queen went back to her castle and told the King all that the hermit had told her.

The royal couple decided that this was the course of action to be taken. They had a great tower built and Princess Rosette was shut up there. 

The king, queen and two brothers visited Rosette in the tower daily.

The two princes loved their little sister very much and they believed that she was the sweetest and prettiest princess to have ever lived.

Things continued this way and when Rosette turned fifteen living this way in the tower, the elder prince wanted the king to find a good match for the little princess.

However though the king and the queen thought about it before either of them could act on it, the king and the queen passed away.

The elder Prince soon became the king and he along with his brother decided that they had to bring their sister out of the tower where she had lived till then. 

The Princess was brought out and she enjoyed the normal things around the castle.

She especially loved the beautiful garden trees and flowers which she had never seen before.

At that time she also had got her little dog which she called Frisk. 

It was at this time that Rosette saw a beautiful bird with pretty feathers all over. She was mesmerized with the beauty of the bird and she went to her brothers and asked what the bird was. 

That was a peacock and the more Rosette saw it, the more she was impressed with the bird.

She decided that she was going to marry the King of Peacocks and after that she would take good care of all the peacocks in the world.

Adapted from Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales

Princess Rosette and the King of Peacocks - Part One

Once a King and a Queen had three children - two sons and a daughter.

They called their daughter Rosette during a lavish christening ceremony.

During the christening of the beautiful little daughter, the Queen called all the fairies to be present there.

After it was over, the fairies said nothing and just looked to walk away from there. 

However, the Queen would not let it go easily. 

She insisted that the fairies tell her whether anything bad was going to happen to the princess and that was the reason that the fairies would not tell her anything about the princess. 

The fairies looked sad and did not want to answer.

However, the Queen finally managed to persuade the fairies otherwise.

Finally, the fairies told the Queen that there was a chance that the princess would bring great misfortune to her brothers. The fairies were afraid that Princess Rosette could even lead to their death of her brothers.

Once the Queen heard this, she was very sad.  

The king noticed it and studied her. “What is bothering you?”

The Queen shrugged and could not bring herself to tell the truth to the king. 

She first lied to the king that she had burnt all the flax that she had because she had been sitting too close to the fire. 

The king in an attempt to cheer the Queen brought her plenty of flax that the Queen could spin for a hundred years. 

However, the Queen was still unhappy and when the king again asked for the reason, the Queen lied again that she had dropped one of her green satin slippers into the water. 

The king had many slippers made for the Queen with all the shoemakers in his kingdom. 

However, all this still did not cheer the Queen.

Finally, when the king asked the Queen for the third time, the Queen again lied that she had swallowed her wedding ring by mistake while she had been eating the porridge because the ring had fallen into the porridge.

The king, however, knew that the Queen was lying because he was the one who had the ring with him.

The queen now had no choice and finally told the king what the fairies had told her about Rosette's future.

Adapted from Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales

The Single-Tusked Ganesha

Ganesha is an elephant headed God in Hinduism. He is pot-bellied, short and stout and he is loved by all. In Hinduism it is believed that any and all occasions have to be commenced by the first worship to Ganesha.

One of the names of Ganesha is Vigneshwara – which means the ‘remover of obstacles’. That is the reason for worshiping Ganesha before the commencement of any work – Ganesha removes the obstacles and this helps in the successful completion of the work.

One of the mounts of Ganesha is the mouse. 

In folk stories it is very often believed that the mouse was a destructive pet as it destroyed crops. However, the mouse is placed at the foot of Ganesha with the idea that Ganesha is someone who can control even such destruction and hence Ganesha is considered as the remover of obstacles.

However, in most of the idols of Ganesha, he is shown with only one tusk.

There are countless stories in Hinduism about the single tusk of Ganesha.

The moon and its dark spots and the waning and the waxing period of the moon has been the subject of folk stories in almost all cultures.

In most of the ancient cultures, the Moon is worshiped either as a God or a Goddess. In ancient Greece, Selene is the Goddess of the Moon. Similarly, Luna is the Roman Lunar Goddess. Among ancient Egyptians, Ibis and Khonsu were male Gods of the Moon. In Hinduism, the Moon God is called as Chandra Deva.

This is the story of Ganesha and the moon.

************

Ganesha was very happy.

His devotees had given him plenty of sweets and he had taken as many as he could and stuffed himself with a lot of sweets as he was walking home.

Naturally, Ganesha was traveling on his vehicle – the mouse, and the two of them scurried along and they were back home.

As they were passing along a dense forest basking under the bright moonlight, out of nowhere, came a huge snake.

On seeing its natural enemy, Ganesha’s mouse trembled and ran from there.

Ganesha did not even have time to soothe his pet, as he fell down hard on the ground, and the sweets which he was carrying split and scattered all over the ground.

But Ganesha had a bigger problem. As Ganesha had fallen, his stomach had pierced.

Quickly, Ganesha pulled the snake with one hand and tied it as a belt around his stomach to prevent any further damage.

However Ganesha’s misadventure had not been unobserved.

The moon God – Chandra Deva saw this and unable to stop himself, the Moon God laughed.

Angrily, Ganesha pulled one of his tusk and threw it at the Moon God, breaking the moon into many pieces.

Chandra Deva was shocked but Ganesha was not yet done.
"You will always be dark!" The little Ganesha cursed the Moon God.

***********

After being cursed by Ganesha, the dark Chandra Deva pleaded with Ganesha in vain to take back his curse. But Ganesha was adamant. 

Shiva

So finally, Chandra Deva went to Shiva. Shiva is the father of Ganesha. Shiva is a three-eyed God who lives in Kailash with his wife Parvathi and two children – Ganesha and Kartikeya.

Finally with the intervention of Lord Shiva, Ganesha agreed to modify the curse on the moon and so came the fifteen days of growing moon and the fifteen days of the waning moon.

As Ganesha had plucked his tusk and threw it at the Moon to break it into 

many pieces, this is believed to be as one of the reasons why Ganesha has 

only one tusk.

Audio Story in Youtube