The flower sister -a folktale from Karnataka

Indira Mukherjee

Once upon a time, there lived two wo sisters with their mother close to a thick forest.

The mother worked day and night to feed them. Both of them were so fond of the younger one that they would often remain hungry to feed her a full meal.

The younger sister was very joyful since her stomach was always full. Their father had gone away somewhere and never returned. One morning, the younger sister noticed that her elder sister and mother had become very weak.

She realized that they were eating less or none. So she kept waking up the whole night and spoke to the stars. Then the stars sent her some messages.

Next morning, the younger one woke her sister up and asked her to follow her. Both came to the dense forest where she saw two earthen pitchers. Younger one asked her to fill them with water and asked her to pour water on her gently.

She told her that after getting welldrenched, she would change her form which would endow her with gifts. The elder sister grew curious and poured water on her, gently.

Lo and behold! The younger sister started growing branches and leaves and gradually turned into a tree with hundreds of rainbow flowers. A wonderful fragrance spread through the forest.

The elder sister stood there fascinated. She knew the flowers were her gifts. She climbed up her treesisters gently and plucked some flowers carefully lest her sister got hurt.

Climbing down, she poured water on her to see her turn into a human again. The sisters came back home quickly and made garlands with flowers and went to the palace to sell them.

The queen loved them and bought all the garlands. The two sisters then bought ration and came back home. The mother asked where they got the money to buy all that.

The sisters lied that they had found some flowers in the forest, sold them and earned money. The mother believed the lie. But when the prince saw the flowers, he did not believe it.

The flowers didn’t look earthy, but heavenly. So the next time the sisters went to the palace to sell flowers the prince followed them secretly. He saw everything.

He went back to the palace and requested the queen that he wanted to marry the younger flower girl. The queen called out the sisters’ mother and told the prince’s wish.

The marriage was solemnised within a few days. At night, the prince took her to the palace garden and asked her to turn into a tree. She was shocked but had to comply.

The prince was really gentle in plucking the rainbow flowers. But unfortunately, his sister saw it all happening. Next morning, the princess came and took the flower girl to the garden and asked her to turn into a tree. She again had to comply.

After she became a tree with rainbow flowers, the princess clapped. Her friends hiding around, came rushing. They climbed up the tree aggressively, started jumping on the branches and breaking them mercilessly.

The princess started crying. She didn’t expect them to do this. Seeing the princes crying, her friends fled. The princess poured water on the mutilated tree gently.

She became human but this time with broken arms, neck and bruises on her face. She fell lifeless. The prince came rushing, called the doctor. Medicine didn’t work. The elder one was called up. She stayed in the palace to look after her.

With all love and care, her sister came back to health. On being watered gently, she turned into a tree again, growing branches slowly. Rainbow flowers were back. The sister and the prince collected the flowers, and planted its seeds all over the earth.

And that is why we get to see the rainbow flowers in some parts of the earth.

The author is a storyteller for over three decades, based in MP.