There lived two friends in the world - a shepherd and a prince. One day the prince swore: when he became a raj, he would make his shepherd friend a minister. “Wonderful,” the shepherd answered.
Their days passed in peace and harmony. The shepherd came to the meadow to graze the cows, and the friends, hugging each other, sat down under a tree. The shepherd played the flute, the prince listened. This is how they spent their days serenely.
The time has come - and the prince became a rajah. He took Rani as his wife (Rani is a queen.)
Kancheonmalu is a true pearl of the country. The prince had no time for the shepherd now. He completely forgot his friend.
One day a shepherd came to the palace and stopped at the entrance to the royal chambers - he hadn’t seen his friend yet!
- Get out, get out of here! - the gatekeeper shouted at him.
The shepherd was offended and left, and no one knew where he went.
The next morning the Raja woke up, but could not open his eyes. The Rani is looking at him, the courtiers are looking, and the Raja’s entire face, right down to the hair on his head, is covered with needles. What kind of obsession? There was a cry in the palace.
Raja stopped eating, sleeping, and talking. He realized in his heart that he had broken his vow to his shepherd friend, and was now paying for his bad deed. But he did not dare to tell anyone about this.
The affairs of the poor rajah were completely upset, his head drooped from grief. The saddened Rani Kanchonmala began to rule the kingdom.
One day Rani went to the river to swim. Suddenly an unknown beauty approaches her and says:
“If the Rani wants to buy a maid, that maid could be me.”
“If you could save my husband from needles, I would buy you into service,” answered the Rani.
The beauty undertook to fulfill this condition, and Rani bought her for the bracelet.
Then the maid said:
– Rani-ma (Ma is an affectionate term for a woman), you have become very weak. Who knows how many days you haven’t eaten or bathed properly?! Jewelry dangles from your emaciated body, the hair on your head is tangled. Take off your jewelry and wash yourself thoroughly with potash.
- No, ma, why wash yourself - let everything remain as it is. “Yes,” answered the Rani.
But the maid didn’t seem to hear anything: she took off the decorations from the wound and, rubbing it with potash, said:
- Now, Mom, try taking a dip.
Rani obeyed, went neck-deep into the water and plunged. And the maid instantly threw a Rani sari on herself, put on her jewelry and, standing on the shore, began to say:
Hey, servant Panko,
Do you hear, you became a maid,
Waiting for you on the banks of the Kankonmala River,
The beauty is waiting for you, why did you disappear there?
Stop washing, the lady ordered you to go out!
[Panko is the name of a waterfowl. ]
The Rani looked around and saw that standing in front of her was not a maid, but a mistress.
In the palace, Kankonmala raised everyone to their feet. She reprimanded the minister: “Why didn’t you prepare the elephants and horses, since I’m returning from swimming?” She interrogated the butler: “Why is there no retinue and palanquin when I return home from swimming?”
Both of them were executed.
Everyone was in confusion, no one could understand anything, no one dared to utter a word out of fear.
In this way Kankonmala became a rani and Kanchonmala became a maidservant. But the Raja had no idea about anything.
And now Kanchonmala sits in the dirty yard, cleans the fish and laments:
I hired a maid for my hand bracelet,
But I became a maid, and Rani became a maid,
For what sins did Kancheonmala suffer?
Oh, Raja, why, why did fate punish us so much?
Rani bursts into bitter tears. But there is no limit to the rajah’s suffering: flies bite into his skin, and his face and body burn with fire from the needles. There is no one to fan the Raja, no one to give him medicine.
One day Kanchonmala went to the shore to wash clothes. He sees a man sitting under a tree, and next to him are skeins of yarn. This man says:
If I received a thousand needles -
Then I could buy myself a watermelon;
If I received five thousand needles -
Then I could go to the fair;
If I received a hundred thousand needles,
I could build a royal throne!
Hearing these words, Kancheonmala cautiously approached the man and said:
– If you want to have needles, I can give them to you. But can you pull them out?
In response to this, the man silently picked up the skeins of yarn and followed the rani.
On the way, Kanchonmala told the stranger about her misfortune. He listened to her and said: “Wonderful!”
When they arrived at the palace, the stranger said to Kancheonmala:
- Rani-ma, Rani-ma, today is the day of the milk fast, and therefore everyone in the kingdom must distribute pies. I’ll go dye the yarn red and blue, and you go draw an alpona in the yard (Alpona is a design made with rice paste on the floor or wall on the occasion of a holiday.) and prepare everything for the feast. Let Kankonmala help you.
“Well, let Kankonmala make pies,” agreed Kanchonmala.
And the two of them went to cook.
Oh ma! The pies that Kancheonmala baked were more like flat, hard cakes. But Kankonmala’s pies were made very skillfully: one was in the shape of a crescent, others were in the shape of a flute, others were in the form of tubes, and others were in the shape of sandalwood leaves.
And it became clear to the stranger who was the maid and who was the real Rani.
Having finished with the pies, the women began to make alpon. Grind a whole man. Kanchonmala poured seven jugs of water into it at once and, dipping a hemp shaving brush into this slurry, stained the entire yard with it.
[Man is a measure of weight; Bengal man is equal to 37.3 kg of rice. ]
Kankonmala first chose a corner in the yard, swept it clean, then took a little rice, ground it, added water to it and, dipping a piece of cloth, carefully began to draw lotuses and vines, seven golden jugs, and under the jugs - a crown with garlands of rice stalks on both sides. She also painted a peacock, gods and the footprint of the golden foot of her mother Lakshmi (Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth and beauty)
Then the stranger called Kankonmala and said to her:
- Don’t deny it - you’re the maid! And how dare you pretend to be a Rani with such a face?! Worthless maid, bought for a hand bracelet, you became a Rani, and the Rani became a maid. Answer me, am I wrong?
Kankonmala, the imaginary Rani, flared up and screamed in a wild voice:
- What kind of scoundrel is this?! Get out of here!
She called the executioner and ordered:
- Cut off the head of the maid and this unknown man! I will not be Kankonmala if I do not bathe in their blood.
The executioner grabbed Kanchonmala and the stranger. But the stranger took out a skein of thread and said:
Thread, thread with a knot,
The Raja's whole house is upside down.
Thread, thread, you tie it
Executioner all around.
And instantly the executioner was entangled in threads from head to toe. And the stranger asked:
- Thread, whose are you?
“Whoever owns the skein belongs to me,” answered the thread.
“Thread, thread, if you serve me, go to Kankonmala’s nose,” said the stranger.
Two skeins of thread climbed up Kankonmala's nose. Frightened, Kankonmala ran into the house shouting:
- Doors! Close the doors! He's crazy! The maid brought a madman!
Meanwhile the stranger said:
Thread, thin thread, where is your home, tell me?
Thread the poor Rajah's needles!
Before the stranger had time to turn around, one hundred thousand threads were threaded into one hundred thousand needles on the rajah’s body. And the needles spoke:
- The threads got into us. What should we sew? The stranger answered:
- The eyes and mouth of a worthless servant.
One hundred thousand needles from the Raja's body immediately rushed to Kankonmala's eyes and mouth. Kankonmala ran and rushed about!
Meanwhile, the Raja regained his sight and saw that in front of him was his shepherd friend. Old friends hugged each other and shed a sea of joyful tears.
“Friend, don’t blame me,” said the Raja, “be sure that even in my hundred births I will not find a friend like you.” From today you will be my minister. So many misfortunes happened to me after I left you! We won't be apart again.
“Okay,” answered the shepherd, “but I lost your flute.” You'll have to give me a new one.
The Raja immediately ordered a golden flute to be made for his friend.
And Kankonmala was pricked with needles day and night, and she soon died. Kancheonmala's misfortunes are over.
The shepherd performed the duties of a minister during the day, and at night, when the moonlight flooded the sky, he and the rajah went to the river bank and there, sitting under a tree, played the golden flute. Hugging his minister friend, the Raja listened to his wonderful songs.
Since then, the life of the Raja, Kanchonmala and the shepherd flowed happily.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru